Food-O-File
by Virginia B. Wood If you’re still looking for the perfect fine dining menu to ring in the New Year, some of Austin’s best restaurants are eager to help. The Sfuzzi folks are excited about their New Year’s deal: a twilight seating with the option of an a la carte or three-course $32.50 prix fixe…
Road Shows
DECEMBER THU 26 Derrick Edmondson, Rodney Lee, Elephant Room FRI 27 Banana Blender Surprise, Antone’s FRI 27 Mojo Nixon, Continental Club SAT 28 American Fuse, Emo’s SAT 28, SUN 29 Buckwheat Zydeco, Antone’s SUN 29 Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Stubb’s TUE 31 Man… or Astroman?, Emo’s TUE 31 Derrick Edmonson, Rodney Lee, Elephant Room TUE 31…
The Grinch v. Charlie Brown
The Grinch or Charlie Brown? Snoopy or Max? All the Who’s in Who-ville or the whole Peanuts gang? These are questions that inflame passions this time of year, leading to raised voices, bulging neck veins and fingers jabbed into chests. As a member of the generation that spent a childhood squatting small and squinty in…
A Toast to Tradition
illustration by Lisa Kirkpatrick Chalk it up to an emphasis on libations or my lack of enthusiasm for black-eyed peas, but New Year’s Eve never seemed much of a food-centered holiday. Sure, there were the incidental finger foods to fiddle with and on occasion, a luxurious flourish such as cold, peel-and-eat shrimp devoured long before…
Concrete Carpet Ride
Austin’s velvety evergreen hills are now rough-hewn with the defoliated thickets of winter, but the long and winding road through the middle of them — the Southwest Parkway — remains as it has season after season. Change, however, is afoot. The Travis Country neighborhood, chiseled from those hills not far from MoPac and nestled apart…
The Man Behind the TV Grinch
Mr. Naylor makes a compelling analysis of the most enduring of the televised holiday specials, but it would be a shame to let any discussion of their respective virtues pass without at least a mention of the folks whose contributions figured most heavily into their creation. Of course, both specials were drawn from the printed…
Articulations
We’re now less than a month away from the annual explosion of theatre that’s called FronteraFest. Come January 22, Hyde Park Theatre will be bursting at the seams with theatre, dance, solo efforts, group pieces, all manner of performance — 50 short works over five weeks. Playwrights, directors, actors, and dancers all over the area…
Naked City
Hemp, hemp, hooray! That could be the victory cry of the Texas Hemp Campaign (THC) if the group succeeds in getting its Compassionate Cannibis Initiative Petition on the local ballot next year. Sound far-fetched? Not really. Voters in California and Arizona overwhelmingly passed similar measures in November. The initiative, spelled out at a THC press…
Scanlines
D: Peter Jackson; with Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin, Jeffrey Combs. VHS Home Video One of the most underrated films of the year, The Frighteners has zipped its way to home video in record time. Directed by New Zealander Peter Jackson, the man behind Bad Taste, Dead Alive, and 1994’s masterpiece…
Art of the State
AMON CARTER ART MUSEUM presents Plain Pictures: Images of the American Prairie, paintings, prints, and photographs depicting the American prairie from the 19th century through the present, through February 23. 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth. 817/738-1933. DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART presents Concentrations 28: Matthew McCaslin: Harnessing Nature, video and sound installations of water moving…
Good Works
by Louisa C. Brinsmade By 9am Saturday morning, half the old shingles were torn off the roof, and the living room was scraped and ready to be painted. By the end of the day, Elvolia Alexander’s home on 1711 Springdale would have a new roof, a patched ceiling in the dining room where the old…
Dance With the Devil
Mardi Gras in New Orleans will be a little different for the Krewe of Sinbad this year. They’ve been driven into exile. Their yearly masquerade ball will not be held during the Carnival season — which runs from Twelfth Night in January until the most famous Tuesday on the social calendar. No, Sinbad’s ball happens…
Pray For Politicians
Lyndon Johnson was an inveterate churchgoer. Raised a Baptist, he became an elder at the Disciples of Christ church in Johnson City. Yet, as an adult, he often attended Catholic masses in order to be with his daughter Luci, and then later that same morning, he would go to Episcopal services with his daughter Lynda.…
Got Their Mojo Workin’
“I guess it all started when Joe Lansdale approached me in September of ’93 about doing Weird Business. We started talking about doing this massive book, but it turned out to be a lot more massive than we expected.” That’s Mojo Press managing editor Richard Klaw speaking about their ground-breaking second project, the 400-plus page…
The Religious Left
Jim Rigby, pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Churchphotograph by Laura Skelding At a time when conservative Christians are raising Cain over the decline of old-fashioned morals and family values, another religious organization has come along with a rejoinder: Chill, for Pete’s sake. This new voice that’s struggling to be heard above the fray is the…
Post Scripts
* SUN, DEC 29: Attorney Bert Pluymen will give a speech and appear for a booksigning at Unity Church of the Hills (Williamson Square Shopping Plaza on Anderson Mill Rd.) at 10am for his book The Thinking Person’s Guide to Sobriety. * ONGOING: The Austin Writers’ League (AWL) is taking entries for two awards programs.…
Hell Yeah, I’m Spiritual
Karen Davidson couldn’t cut her hair or wear shorts or pants, even on the weekends. She was a member of the Church of Puritan Rebirth, or some such, and her religious observances lent her — a pale, dull third-grader — an air of mystery. When she invited a group of us girls to a “children’s…
Benefits
New Year`s 2 Party & Breakfast to benefit Christopher House, at Four Seasons Hotel, 98 San Jacinto, 9pm. $75 per person. 473-8566. The Chronicle benefits database extends a year or more into the future. Call Julie Lucksinger, 454-5766, to list your event. Deadline: Friday, 5pm, one week previous to the issue.
East of Austin
Daryl Reedphotograph by Minh Carrico Highway 183 is truly an enchanted place — for some, even blessed. Maybe you’ve been there recently to complete your gift-buying tasks as part of the festive holiday season. Or perhaps you enjoy — or endure — commuting to and fro on 183 every day. Whatever your relationship is to…
Coach’s Corner
October 19, Travis County Exposition Center: It’s a typically incongruous Austin fall night: sultry, windy, and muggy. Not the kind of evening you’d associate with a hockey game, but what the hell, it’s opening night for Austin’s only professional sports team. It’s a happening. I must go. In a line of automobiles trying to find…
The Word Made Flesh
Rev. Marvin Griffinphotograph by Minh Carrico The Downtown view is impressive, but the scene in the near distance is more depressing — blasted blocks, decrepit housing, and chronically vacant lots, the popular image of East Austin, crowded in the shadows cast by the Gothic heft of Ebenezer Baptist Church. Dr. Marvin Griffin, pastor at Ebenezer…
Day Trips
Ratcliff Recreation Area quietly celebrated its 60th birthday this year. But isn’t that how you would expect a secluded campground deep in the heart of the 161,497-acre Davy Crockett National Forest to honor the passing of another year? The fertile and densely forested area east of Crockett has been occupied by humans for centuries. Indians…
Jewish in Austin
One of the main reasons I moved to Austin was to feel Jewish again. I had a really good Jewish thing going when I left San Antonio at the age of 16. I could have made a run at president of the San Antonio Federation of Temple Youth (SAFTY); that’s how popular I felt. And…
Black-eyes for ’97
The devout ritual of watching football games surrounded by snack food and beer is a mid-20th-century addition to Texas holiday foodways. During the previous 100 years, Texans were known to gather on New Year’s Day, raise a glass of their chosen holiday cheer and eat black-eyed peas to ensure good luck in the coming year…
God on the Bench
illustration by A.J. Garces The most distinguishing feature of Judge John Devine’s courtroom in Houston is a painting of the tablets upon which the Ten Commandants are inscribed. Aside from being a sprightly departure from the usual courtroom drabness, the painting has inspired creative lawyering. One Houston attorney tried to stop Devine from presiding over…
The Great Roots-Rock Scare of ’96
by Jim Caligiuri illustration by Roy Tompkins The alternative country panel at 1996’s year’s South by Southwest was clearly no ordinary panel. Instead of attracting a scattered, half-interested audience busy perusing their showcase schedules for that evening’s buzz bands, this S.R.O. crowd, which spilled into the hallway, was bristling with energy. The air was electric.…
Austin Ain’t Boys’ Town
photograph by Minh Carrico There’s an old joke that goes, “The day you become a bishop, you will never again have a bad meal or hear the truth.” No offense, but Bishop John McCarthy, who presides over the Catholic Diocese of Austin, has heard that one before. He’s had plenty of bad meals since his…
Great Expectations
Success and failure will always be subjective terms, but when it comes to album sales by Austin’s “Class of ’96,” it’s tough not to figure the “Austin Curse” has struck again. After all, there was quite the air of hope last January surrounding the imminent release of a dozen new albums by local artists on…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows a Bit About Religion
In the old days, playing music that contained augmented 4th chords in any key was avoided because it was thought to invoke the Devil. Anacletus II, who was elected Pope in 1130, was the great grandson of Baruch, a successful Jewish businessman who had served as an adviser, financier, and steward to Pope Benedict IX.…
Page Two
Whether it’s at the new Hindu temple located southwest of town, or at the Whole Life Expo where New Age gurus offer attendees their prescriptions for serenity and happiness, Austin overflows with religious vibrations. The city has — according to listings in the Yellow Pages — more than 600 churches and other places of worship.…
Dancing About Architecture
Jimmie Dale Gilmore is in no rush to get into the studio or on the road right now. Manager Mike Crowley says Gilmore is “just letting the holidays pass” before thinking about touring in February, a stint that includes a Valentine’s show at the Texas Union Ballroom. That doesn’t mean the singer’s keeping silent, however.…
Religion Poll Results
The response to the Chronicle’s religion questionnaire, which was published in August and September, was far greater than we expected. More than 70 responses came in, with the vast majority of respondents saying that religion was playing a larger role in their lives. Only a handful of responses were from agnostics or atheists. Some of…
Public Notice
Hope for `97? Going back to the end of last October, the Texas Department of Health released its 1996-1997 edition of the Texas HIV/STD Community Resource Directory. The guide lists and cross-references the myriad public and non-profit AIDS service organizations across the Lone Star State — which means it is of epic proportions. The annual…
Also Playing
Wednesday: White Christmas, Steamboat Thursday: George Devore & the Roam, La Zona Rosa; Fat Daddy & the Bel-Airs, Emo’s Friday: Asleep at the Wheel, Broken Spoke Saturday: Raggamassive, DJ Winston, Flamingo Cantina; LeRoi Bros., Continental Club Sunday: Buckwheat Zydeco, Antone’s; Gatemouth Brown, Stubb’s; Slaid Cleaves, Gingerman Pub Monday: Mike Nicolai, Damnations, Gourds, Hole in the…
Gay Friendly
Richard Bates believes St. Luke’s United Methodist Church should become a Reconciled Congregation — one that is intentionally inclusive of homosexuals.photograph by Minh Carrico Richard Bates attended last month’s board meeting of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church to bring up the subject of becoming a Reconciled Congregation — one that officially welcomes gays and lesbians.…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows…
About 30 percent of all American families own at least one dog. When public-health laboratories were started in Great Britain in 1946, there were some 1,000 cases of salmonella a year. Today, the number of cases is 30,000 a year. Robert Bosch invented the spark plug. An Ohio driver’s license is suspended every 45 seconds…
Record Reviews
JASON FALKNER Jason Falkner Presents Author Unknown (Elektra) Jason Falkner does not deserve to be stalked by goofy Jellyfish fans for the rest of his career. He may have been the original guitarist in the defunct, pop band deluxe (not to mention the bassist, back-up vocalist, and occasional arranger on their debut, Bellybutton), but after…
Fargo, You Betcha
Fargo, Joel and Ethan Coen’s dark comedy, has been named best picture of 1996 by the Society of Texas Film Critics (STFC). Frances McDormand, Fargo’s pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson, was also named as best actress of the year by the society. Other winners include Geoffrey Rush for best actor in Shine, Edward Norton for…
