Five Masters of Death
Five Masters of Death 1975, R, 100 min. Directed by Chang Cheh, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring David Chiang, Lung Ti, Sheng Fu. The mainstay director of Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers studio was Chang Cheh. His Shaolin Temple kung fu movies contained mythical grandeur and kinetic action that laid the groundwork for the…
Naked City
Kids in the Leander Independent School District — which includes most of the Northwest Corridor — are leaving their health teachers speechless when they ask, as did Bill Clinton, if oral and anal sex are, you know, sex. The district’s adopted sex education curriculum does not cover these acts, which are reportedly far more common…
Vital Currency
Through copper wire woven into life-size human figures and micro-architectural sculpture made from twigs, handmade paper, and almost infinitely knotted strands of horsehair, Patricia Greene and Oscar Silva’s “Unconfined Weaving” exhibition at the Butridge Gallery proves elemental and galvanizing.
Holiday Wish Lists 2002
Despite gloomy predictions, latent Santas all over Austin will still perform their appointed rounds — especially those that help fellow humans. Smart Santas also know that the end of the calendar year is a fine time to unload some excess and qualify for some much-needed tax relief. We hope these Public Service Wish Lists help…
Phases and Stages
Warren ZevonGenius: The Best of Warren Zevon (Elektra) While there has been a previous best-of collection and an anthology of Warren Zevon’s work, Genius is a final roundup of sorts now that the rascally songwriter has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. It has all the hits, yet still includes a tangy taste of just how…
Phases and Stages
Junior KimbroughYou Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough (Fat Possum) “The beginning and the end of music” is how rockabilly pioneer Charlie Feathers immortalized Mississippi blues specter Junior Kimbrough, who died in 1998 at the age of 67. The crazy-making drone that connects Mother Africa to John Lee Hooker trances out over 12 tracks and…
Naked City
The Austin Independent School District’s sixth-grade secret is out — sort of. Last week, we reported that AISD had requested an attorney general’s opinion allowing it to withhold drafts of its two task-force reports on proposals to add a sixth grade at Kealing Junior High School and expand the sixth grade at Martin Middle School.…
Articulations
The National Endowment for the Arts played Santa Claus last week, dropping federal funding in the stockings of arts organizations, and even went so far as “comin’ to town” to do it, announcing $26 million in grants, including $287,000 to 14 local artists and arts organizations, from here in Austin.
One Two Three Faw!
A brief history of Texas garage rock.
Phases and Stages
David BowieBest of Bowie (EMI) “The Man Who Sold the World” hasn’t aged a day, “Dancing in the Streets” with Mick Jagger remains an ill-conceived lark, and Tin Machine’s “Under the God” rocks way more than anyone ever gave it credit for. With precious few missteps, the 2-CD Best of Bowie traces Mr. Jones’ ongoing…
The Theft of Wages Is Sin: Fighting for Migrant Workers
Advocates for migrant workers and local law enforcement team up to get deadbeat employers to pay up.
Naked City
No matter how hot debates over social issues get on the House and Senate floor, it’s when discussing the state budget that real blood is spilled at the Lege. And that battle has already begun, even though the session doesn’t begin for two weeks. State Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander signaled last week that she now…
Exhibitionism
The Santaland Diaries, which recounts writer David Sedaris’ experience as a Macy’s elf, is funny, irreverent, and sneakily heartwarming, and with Martin Burke in the driver’s seat as Krumpet the elf, the Zachary Scott Theatre Center production is a nonstop, exhilarating ride.
One Two Three Faw!
In the Beginning: the Sixties After Gordon McLendon created Top 40 on Dallas’ KLIF, the airwaves opened to local music across the state. KLIF’s Top 40 playlists in the Nuggets-defined years of 1965-68 offer their own version of Texas garage rock history. In the wake of the Beatles and tougher counterparts like the Rolling Stones…
Phases and Stages
RamonesLoud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits (Sire/Rhino) A single-disc truncation of the far more comprehensive and satisfying Hey Ho Let’s Go! anthology from 1999. Surviving compiler Johnny Ramone hammers together 30 loud, fast Dee Dee-heavy punk rockers culminating in the late bassist’s little-known, late-career trio of champions, “Main Man,” “Strength to Endure,” and “The Crusher.”…
Expanding the Recharge Zone
Area landowners may face tighter development restrictions next year if the state agrees to expand the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer. The Barton Springs/ Edwards Aquifer Conservation District wants to add another 8.5 square miles to the existing recharge zone, or environmentally sensitive area, which now covers about 89 square miles of Travis and…
Naked City
Considering the hullabaloo this year over the application of Austin’s new police oversight system, it’s interesting to note that Rep. Paul Moreno, D-El Paso, has filed a bill seeking to mandate some form of police oversight in all Texas municipalities with populations of over 200,000. Moreno’s HB 279 — which languished in committee during the…
Exhibitionism
Paola Morsiani, curator of the Austin Museum Of Art’s exhibition “Pertaining to Painting,” fit in the show’s four rooms so many -isms and nationalities that he could have called this exhibition “Now That’s What I Call Painting, 2002!”
One Two Three Faw!
The Other Sixties Garage Gods: Red Krayola Garage rock is a hard elephant to describe, in the light or in the dark. In some ways, almost everything qualifies. In others, nothing quite fits the bill. During the Sixties, most novice rock & roll groups rehearsed in their parents’ dens, leaving the garage for the regulation…
Phases and Stages
Black SabbathSymptom of the Universe: 1970-1978 (Warner Bros./Rhino) While the term “heavy metal” was allegedly coined to describe Led Zeppelin, it was Black Sabbath who created a sound that was heavy beyond description. The 2-CD Symptom of the Universe collects 29 remastered tracks from the band’s first eight albums, with original members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony…
Mala Sangre Flows Again at APD
The third whistle-blower suit by an Austin cop over the truncated Mala Sangre probe goes to court.
Naked City
The Lower Colorado River Authority has signed off on an “integrated pest management” plan to tame the hydrilla scourge in Lake Austin. The noxious, fast-growing Asian water weed, imported to the U.S. for use in aquariums, is now invading waterways throughout the South, covers more than 300 acres of Lake Austin, and has been blamed…
News/Print
I’ve some good news and I’ve got some bad news. Which do you want first?
One Two Three Faw!
10 Texas Garage Rockers From the Sixties 1. “99th Floor,” the Moving Sidewalks 2. “Mary Jane’s to Love,” Sweet Smoke 3. “She’s About a Mover,” Sir Douglas Quintet 4. “Face to Face,” Zakary Thaks 5. “Levitation,” 13th Floor Elevators 6. “Hot Smoke & Sasafras,” Bubble Puppy 7. “I Never Cared for You,” Homer 8. “Do…
Phases and Stages
RideOX4 — The Best Of (The First Time) Nothing here you haven’t swooned over before; OX4 — The Best Of is the same as last year’s Ignition import, which was incorporated into the 3-CD Ride box set. Not that the swarming guitars and soaring vocals of these reverb-infested Nineties UK princes are any less intoxicating.…
Beds, Banks, and (Dirt) Bikers
Lest you think protecting the environment is a lost cause in the new Legislature, along comes a bipartisan push to salvage Texas rivers with a proposed ban on off-road vehicles in the state’s waterways. Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs is leading the charge to pass legislation prohibiting the all-terrain machines from further destruction of aquatic life…
Austin @ Large: A Very Mayor-y Christmas
Enjoy your present from Gus Garcia. (You can’t return it. Some assembly required.)
Page Two
The mayoral race is on, with and without some usual suspects.
One Two Three Faw!
Original Artyfacts: the Seventies Did Texas garage rock die between the end of the Sixties and the beginning of punk? Well, that all depends. The era of young Texas bands cranking out sneering, sunbaked variations on the British Invasion for a shot at regional airplay was over by 1970. Roky Erickson was locked up at…
Phases and Stages
Siouxsie & the BansheesBest Of (Interscope) Siouxsie’s set list at April’s Coachella Festival was culled exclusively from B-sides and non-hits, so it’s refreshing to see this 2-CD compendium of gothic goodies. Part one is unremarkable best-of fodder, including early greats “Cities in Dust” and Beatles cover “Dear Prudence.” It’s the 12-inch/remix-heavy second disc that boggles…
Will King Fisher Creek Beat the Clock?
A controversial Southeast Austin housing project rushes to open by a Dec. 31 deadline for federal support.
Capitol Chronicle
As the year turns, the auguries of war predict the worst
After a Fashion
Put this column on the top of your holiday shopping list, and while you’re at it, pick out something special for Zsa Zsa Gabor.
One Two Three Faw!
10 Notable Texas Seventies Bands With Garage Rock Roots 1. The Nervebreakers 2. Doug Sahm’s various incarnations 3. The Violators 4. The Skunks 5. Standing Waves 6. The Next 7. Really Red 8. The Telefones 9. The Ideals 10. Stick Men With Rayguns
Phases and Stages
Cabaret VoltaireThe Original Sound of Sheffield:’78/’82 Best Of (Mute) Like the Dadaist performance troupe they’re named after, the sound of industrial pioneers Cabaret Voltaire in their early years is the sound of pure art. Brutally manipulated vocals, white noise collages, and eerie carnivalesque synths present an absurd clash of aural brutality and plush jigs as…
Puzzle
Puzzle 1974, NR, 92 min. Directed by Duccio Tessari, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Senta Berger, Luc Merenda, Umberto Orsini. This Italian giallo is a stylish thriller about an amnesiac. It was originally titled Man Without a Memory.
The Hightower Report
Corporations now charge you to pay them; and Calpers corrals big business deserters.
Mr. Smarty Pants
On Jan. 1, 1993, the World Health Organization deleted homosexuality from its list of diseases.The song “The 12 Days of Christmas” contains coded lyrics used by Catholics persecuted in England trying to teach their children the true meaning of the holiday. For example, “Partridge in a pear tree” refers to Jesus.Traditional New Year’s foods in…
One Two Three Faw!
Un-‘Happy Days’: the Eighties The Eighties started out with such promise. The second British Invasion brought music full circle to its first British Invasion roots, and any punk band worth its salt had a classic garage rock tune in its repertoire. The Big Boys, Butthole Surfers, Dicks, and Scratch Acid kept the punk spirit alive…
Phases and Stages
BjörkGreatest Hits (Elektra) Why don’t all artists do it this way? Icelandian chanteuse-cum-perpetual-pixie Björk solicited fan input via her Web site to determine her greatest hits. This means not only the obvious “hits” like the lumbering “Human Behavior” and Tank Girl fave “Army of Me,” but also the lilting, electroclashy and previously unreleased “It’s in…
Evelyn
Evelyn 2002, PG, 93 min. Directed by Bruce Beresford, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Pierce Brosnan, Julianna Margulies, Aidan Quinn, John Lynch, Alan Bates, Stephen Rea, Sophie Vavasseur, Niall Beagan, Frank Kelly. Woe be to Evelyn if James Bond had not come to its rescue. With a nicely modulated performance as the film’s…
Frontier Television
The Territory 2003 season schedule
Day Trips
World-class museums exist right here within the borders of the Lone Star State. Whatever your interest, from Egyptian Art to Western photography, Texas has the old money to do it up right. This holiday season make a just-for-fun visit to a museum part of your travel itinerary. Here is a list of some of my…
One Two Three Faw!
10 Garage Rockers From the Eighties 1. “Dicks Hate the Police,” the Dicks 2. “Baby Let’s Play God,” Big Boys 3. “I Was a Teenage Fuckup,” Really Red 4. “Brand New Way,” Hickoids 5. “Texas Pride,” Party Owls 6. “John Wayne Was a Nazi,” the Stains (M.D.C.) 7. “Nurture My Pig,” Loco Gringos 8. “Gimme…
Phases and Stages
AterciopeladosEvolución • Grandes Exitos (BMG Latin) Our first stop is Bogotá, to check the Colombian fields of Aterciopelados. Sticky, orange, down-home ‘n’ dope Stereolab lava-lamp rock, spanning 1993-2003. It’s scratchy at first, but when “Luz Azul” shimmers 13 songs in, followed by the twittering, beat sexy “Rompecabezas” — both from 2000’s powerfully joyful crossover hit…
Catch Me If You Can
The film is based on the autobiography by Frank Abagnale Jr., who at the tender age of 17 led the FBI and various other law enforcement agencies on a giddy global romp while he kited, forged, and manufactured checks over a four-year period.
Spies Like Us
Now you can snoop on your own friends and family. The question is, are they really worth snooping on?
To Your Health
Is it worth the extra expense to buy organically grown produce?
One Two Three Faw!
Cleanliness Is Next to the Gutter: the Nineties Garage rock barely existed in Nineties Austin. The underground was dominated by Trance Syndicate’s psychedelic gutter noise that evolved from Crust and Ed Hall into …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead by 1999. Otherwise, the decade’s other signature bands had too much pop…
Phases and Stages
BellySweet Ride: The Best of Belly (Rhino) The best band to ever come out of Rhode Island, Belly deserved much better than they got: two albums and also-ran in the alt.rock sweepstakes. Their hidden strength was always Tanya Donnelly’s V.C. Andrews-derived lyrics (decapitated dolls, shaken babies, “screamers”) on top of the band’s incandescent rock; “Super-Connected,”…
Alias Betty
Alias Betty 2001, NR, 103 min. Directed by Claude Miller, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Alexis Chatrian, Yves Jacques, Stéphane Freiss, Edouard Baer, Luck Mervil, Mathilde Seigner, Nicole Garcia, Sandrine Kiberlain. Alias Betty is either a fascinating study of the relationship between mothers and their children or a disturbing story about sociopaths and…
Meals From Middle-Earth
A benefit raffle raised enough cash to fund nearly 3000 meals for Capital Area Food Bank.
About AIDS
Happy New Year … and Thanks! Amid the crass commercialism and often phony sentiment of the holiday season, we at ASA are moved each year by the genuine outpouring of concern and help from the Central Texas community. It is truly humbling, and we and our clients are deeply grateful. It reminds us of what…
One Two Three Faw!
Monkeywrench in the Works: Tim Kerr Not too many guys are covering songs as diverse as Mose Allison’s “Young Man Blues,” the Seeds’ “Just Let Go,” and the Beatles’ “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide.” Tim Kerr has, is, and does, and no discussion of Texas garage rock would be complete without him. Producer, guitarist, and…
Phases and Stages
Smashing PumpkinsEarphoria (Virgin) In 1993-94, you couldn’t swing a dead bat in the UT dorms without hearing Siamese Dream pumping out of some crevice. Bootlegs were prevalent then, which explains 1994’s promo-only live CD Earphoria, soundtrack to the Vieuphoria VHS, now on DVD. Eight years later, it gets a proper release; it’s basically live versions…
In Print
UT professor Lewis Gould compiles the best of his father Jack Gould’s columns into an enlightening discourse on the early days of television.
Letters at 3AM
Reflections on how Western civilization lost its moral authority.
One Two Three Faw!
The Modern Age: 2000 and Beyond So, here we are, up to the present. The one moment in time when “garage rock” means something to consumers forking over $17.99 for the new Hives album, and to the record-label suits trying to keep this trend afloat. Given this fresh context, has the definition of garage rock…
Phases and Stages
FastballPainting the Corners: The Best of Fastball (Hollywood) Slider, low and away: Too moody to be much fun, with two throwaway unreleased rockers, though “The Way” follow-up “You’re an Ocean” remains a strike, as do tracks from the Austin trio’s still-sharp debut, 1996’s Make Your Mama Proud. The encoded video for “Vampires,” off their third…
Second Helpings: Coffeehouses Part II
One more cup of coffee before you go to the valley below, in this week’s “Second Helpings.”
Short Cuts
Local asses contribute to community.
Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere
Champagne wishes bubble up around the holidays, and Wes Marshall is the man to help you make them come true.
One Two Three Faw!
10 Nineties Garage Rock Descendents 1. The Motards 2. The Sons of Hercules 3. Sugar Shack 4. The Fuckemos 5. The Dropouts 6. The Inhalants 7. The Chumps 8. Pork 9. The Reclusives 10. Lord High Fixers
Phases and Stages
HeartThe Essential Heart (Columbia Legacy) They didn’t just bust stereotypes, the Seattle-born Wilson sisters demanded — and got — success in the male-dominated genre of hard rock in the Seventies and Eighties. They exude a blazing sexuality on this 2-CD package, starting with the wildly romantic “Crazy on You.” Thirty-seven songs later, they were undisputed…
Faces of the Enemy
Photographs from Iraq by Alan Pogue
Farmers Beats Back Ballard
In a Dec. 19 decision, the 3rd Court of Appeals severely reduced the $32 million judgement awarded last year to Melinda Ballard in her mold case against Farmers Insurance Group, knocking down the award to $4 million and change. According to the appeals court, there was sufficient evidence to uphold the Travis Co. jury’s finding…
Video 101
The rags-to-riches storyline is mere pretext for the musical numbers but oh my stars and garters, what musical numbers.
Asides
You’ll Put Your Eye Out, Kid I’ve seen a champagne cork blow a hole in a ceiling tile. Opening a bottle is always tricky, but here’s how to do it like a pro. First, NO POPS! You want the escaping gas to make a quiet hiss. Second, if you are new to this, put a…
Phases and Stages
Nirvana(DGC) This by-the-numbers best-of may work for kid brothers who missed out on Nirvana the first time, but anyone invested in the catalog will be rightfully pissed at having to buy an entire album for “You Know You’re Right.” Twenty years ago, Nirvana’s last recorded song together would’ve come out as a single. Today, the…
Phases and Stages
Fleetwood MacThe Very Best of Fleetwood Mac (Rhino/Reprise) At their best, these masters of multitracking were as dense psychologically as they were instrumentally (“Go Your Own Way,” “Paper Doll”), or else they just let Stevie Nicks loose on skirt-twirling classics like “Gypsy.” Either is preferable to the inconsequential froth (“Everywhere”) and outright crap (“Family Man”)…
Naked City
Quote of the Week: “I must admit I had segregationist feelings [about Rep. Cynthia McKinney] … I mean, she was such a bitch.” — U.S. Rep. Cass Ballenger, R-N.C., claiming the now-ousted Georgia Democrat drove him into solidarity with disgraced Sen. Trent “Vacant” Lott. “Mold queen” Melinda Ballard’s $32 million judgment against Farmers Insurance was…
TV Eye
The pre-Top 10, unofficial year in review.
Our Dinner With Tony
Wes Marshall and Mick Vann do dinner with a worldly renegade chef.
Phases and Stages
U2The Best of 1990-2000 (Interscope) Two new songs, the luminous “Electrical Storm” and ruminative “Hands That Built America,” join the cream of Achtung Baby and Zooropa, three unremarkable Pop remixes, only two cuts from All That You Can’t Leave Behind, and effluvia like “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.” The limited edition 2-CD…
Phases and Stages
Paul SimonThe Paul Simon Collection (Warner Bros.) This collection is a fine single-disc overview illustrating the many musical roads Paul Simon has traveled, from the tropical “Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard” to the transcendent “Graceland” and beyond. Filled with songs that have become part of America, this is a Technicolor snapshot of a…
Naked City
Neighbors in the East Cesar Chavez planning area have succeeded in putting the brakes on Capital Metro’s plans to solicit proposals to develop the transit authority’s Eastside rail-yard property. The request for proposals, officially in the works since August, was supposed to go out by the end of the month. But after hearing ECC activist…
What It Is to Be Human
Actor Martin Burke, now in the midst of his fifth sell-out run as David Sedaris’ Little Elf in The Santaland Diaries, talks about that show’s success and his career as an actor.
Food-o-File
Virginia B. Wood introduces you to the most fascinating food people of 2002.
Phases and Stages
Rolling StonesForty Licks (Virgin) Forty Licks warns that the Rolling Stones are still capable of sticking that tongue down your throat, baby. Three dozen gas-gas-gas songs that defined the face of rock & roll: “Satisfaction,” “Honky Tonk Women,” and four new tunes: “Stealing My Heart,” “Don’t Stop,” “Keys to Your Heart,” and Keith’s fabulous, boozy…
Phases and Stages
Gregg AllmanNo Stranger to the Dark (Epic/Legacy) No Stranger to the Dark cops its title from, and opens with, Allman’s bad-boy theme “I’m No Angel,” followed by 14 classics from his solo works. It’s not enough to praise his spectacularly earthy vocals or his impeccable musicianship, it’s that covers like “Slip Away,” “Before the Bullets…
