Cover Story
New Year’s Eve Events
As the coming new year begins to claw its way through the still-living carcass of the old one and citizens start jockeying for the best position from which to celebrate the consummation of this temporal abstraction, your crack team of Chronicle chrononauts is on the ball with the pertinent lowdown. Never too busy mixing metaphors…
Articulations
Austin playwright John Walch goes to Louisville for its festival of new plays; Vincent Kitch goes to Washington for Americans for the Arts; and Everett Quinton goes to Seattle for a new production of Twisted Olivia.
The True Story
Grandfather fought in the Philippines — after that, things get kinda blurry …
Girl of Their Dreams
Disney was struggling to find a young star for Young Black Stallion. Then, Austinite Biana Tamimi found them.
The Latest in Paper
Kurt Wallender, a senior detective with the Ystad Police Department, is the focus of a series of international bestsellers by Swedish author Henning Mankell. Police procedurals, these kinds of novels are called, but these books are about police procedure the way Philip K. Dick’s science fiction was about star wars: not really.
Chapman out the door, off the hook
A surprise retirement spares the APD assistant chief.
Short Cuts
With Screaming Black Yak Day upon us, Marc Savlov kindly gives out some kudos and guidance.
Readings
The characters that inhabit the four short stories and a novella in Alan Rifkin’s slim volume are all strikingly out of place and emotionally disconnected.
Lucy Neyens Asks: Is My Case Closed?
The APD sexual-misconduct case remains in official limbo.
TV Eye
Native American actors playing Native Americans? On a major network? With no white guy in sight? This might be a good time to talk about diversity on the small screen in 2004.
Readings
Because the jacket of Sheila Kohler’s new collection of short stories bears warm endorsements from Amy Tan and J.M. Coetzee, her fellow South African native and recent winner of the Nobel Prize, it has a lot to live up to.
Stratus 2003: Make Way for HEB
Neighborhood negotiations go much better for Stratus the second time around.
Readings
In this, her third novel, Julianna Baggott joins her poetic voice with her consummate sense of story to craft a jazzy, soaring tale of the lives of women in West Virginia, circa 1924.
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Big Fish
Tim Burton is all grown up and getting serious.
Page Two
Meditations on memory, politics, and sexuality, brought on by the Beach Boys.
Naked City
The state attorney general tells the city what it already knew.
Cold Mountain
Swoony kisses and true grit mark this Civil War epic from the director of The English Patient.
After a Fashion
The story of how the Style Avatar got his sew on
Naked City
Neighbors are pleasantly surprised with their Supercenter deal.
House of Sand and Fog
Moody and offbeat adaptation of Andre Dubus III bestseller heralds strong debut for new director and dandy performances by Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley.
Daytrips
Christmas isn’t over till the last light comes down.
Naked City
Can the state settle with the insurer without policyholders’ consent?
21 Grams
Powerful performances resonate in this devastating and weighty follow-up picture from the director of Amores Perros.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukah, and barely domestic fruitcakes
Naked City
The feds give their blessing to the new map, though the courts may still object
Cheaper by the Dozen
Cheaper comedy dozen’t add up.
Cuisines String
All for the love of Pinot: Three Austinites make serious waves in the world of wine.
The Common Law
Can I cancel an order and get my money back because the item is taking so long to get here?
Naked City
A beleaguered Waco charter outfit enters the virtual-school derby.
Peter Pan
There’s a definite sexual tension between Peter and Wendy in this live-action Pan that’s heavy on the special effects.
Second Helpings
Babbo�s Italian Gelato & Coffee, Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse & Cafe, Jo�s Hot Coffee & Good Food, JP�s Java, Ruta Maya International Headquarters, Trianon
To Your Health
Until recently I had never heard of a vitamin called biotin. What is it good for, and what foods have it?
Naked City
AG Greg Abbott — of all people — says Texas isn’t liable under the federal law.
The Jerk
The Jerk reigns supreme in the movies-about-really-stupid-men department
Best-Ofs
ROBERT PLANTSixty Six to Timbuktu (Atlantic) Eight solo albums, endless tributes (Elvis, Skip Spence, Arthur Alexander, Rainer Ptacek), and soundtracks/compilations (Porky’s Revenge!; Afro-Celt Sound System) should’ve been sequenced chronologically. After the cheap Eighties techno wears off disc one’s solo slapdashery, and pre-Zep Bonzo blues clash against the contemporary B-sides of disc two, Percy’s tall, cool…
Letters at 3AM
Learning to listen to your soul in all aspects of your life.
Naked City
Medical marijuana backers score another victory in the appellate courts.
TCB
What a sampling of the Austin music scene wants for Christmas.
About AIDS
Happy New Year … and Thanks!
What’s at Stake?
The federal redistricting trial will reverberate through national politics for years.
Food-o-File
As 2003 swiftly comes to a close, I’ve taken a few minutes out of the holiday madness to ponder things I’d like to see in the coming year.
Austin @ Large: What Happens Next?
Suggestions for a 2004 City Hall to-do list
Hanging Up the Torches
After 20 years of juggling fire and other foolery, the Flaming Idiots are calling it quits.
No Dominion
A partial roll call of people who died in 2003.
The Hightower Report
Jim’s holiday gift list; and Sears gets a present from ABC.
New Wind to Blow Through Austin
Internationally recognized composer John Corigliano has chosen the UT School of Music to premiere his Symphony No. 3 for Wind Ensemble.
Maps, Balls, and Testifying
The testimony gets mighty strange at the re-redistricting trial.
‘One From the Heart’
Coppola’s critically, commercially, and conversationally ravaged Las Vegas romance makes a comeback
Luv Doc Recommends: 12 Steps to a More Dysfunctional Christmas
Friday is Boxing Day, the Feast of St. Stephen. You remember St. Steve, right? The first Christian to be martyred (stoned to death, to be specific) for his faith? The patron saint of headaches? No, really. Look it up. Then again, you might be more familiar with him as the patron saint of stonemasons or…
