Project Kill
Project Kill 1980, R, 90 min. Directed by William Girdler, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Nancy Kwan, Gary Lockwood, Leslie Nielsen. Leslie Nielsen plays things straight as a kung fu expert/double secret agent in this film that was made in 1976 but not released until 1980 after the director’s death. (For more on…
Lakeboat
Lakeboat 2000, R, 98 min. Directed by Joe Mantegna, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Charles Durning, Peter Falk, Robert Forster, J.J. Johnston, Denis Leary, Tony Mamet, Jack Wallace, George Wendt. “So I saw this movie.” “You saw a movie?” “Do I fuckin’ stutter?” “Hey hey, no need to be that way. Was it…
Graffiti on the Superhighway
The digital age has ushered a new era in visual art, with the Internet offering artists a new medium for the creation of art, an infinite space to display their work, and a marketing tool. But with this expansion of creative opportunities come sticky questions of ownership and the communal experience of art.
The Tastes of Taste
The Elements of Taste Gray Kunz and Peter Kaminsky’s new book, The Elements of Taste (Little, Brown & Co., $40), focuses on the palate — a word that we food writers love to throw around, but that, for many people, means little more than “mouth.” A quick flip through the book reveals well-lit photographs and…
Phases and Stages
Lyle Lovett Anthology Volume One: Cowboy Man (Curb/MCA) While not really a best-of, this collection gives a good overview of Lyle Lovett’s first three albums. Those were the days when Lovett was working with producer Tony Brown and was considered, or at least being marketed, as a country artist of a different stripe. Two new…
Naked City
Loitering Doggett? While Democrats and Republicans prepare for the 2002 mudslinging battle, the Travis County Green Party has entered the electoral race on a much calmer note. In December, the Party filed applications on behalf of Houston resident Charles Mauch, who will run for Railroad Commissioner, and Tom Wakely of Manor, who will vie for…
A Matter of Taste (Une Affaire De Gout)
A Matter of Taste (Une Affaire De Gout) 1999, R, 90 min. Directed by Bernard Rapp, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Charles Berling, Florence Thomassin, Jean-Pierre Lorit, Bernard Giraudeau. This French psychological drama opens many twisted avenues for discovery, yet by the time it concludes we’re only twisting in the wind.…
A Class Act
Called by no less than The New York Times “the suavest of all male cabaret performers,” Steve Ross is the personification of refined, romantic, elegant, and effervescent cabaret, and that makes him an ideal guest artist for the debut season of Austin Cabaret Theatre.
Liquid Assets
Marilyn Monroe bathed in it (or so they say). Winston Churchill fueled his courage with it. We break it over the boughs of new ships, use it to toast births, weddings, and promotions. Oh, and we drink lots of it at holidays. We are speaking, of course, of Champagne and its wannabe cousin, sparkling wine.…
Phases and Stages
Clint BlackGreatest Hits II (RCA) Hunky Nashville numbskull Clint Black has had a lot longer legs than most of the hat pack from Music Row. This disc explains why; replete with pictures of Black with better-half Lisa Hartman and young ‘un Pearl, it’s unobtrusive country Velveeta without hot-dog playing or controversial subjects. “One More Payment,”…
Naked City
‘Nokoa’ Nudges Along Last week’s edition of the progressive African-American newsweekly Nokoa included a rare plea for financial assistance from Akwasi Evans, the paper’s founder, publisher, and editor. “Unforeseen circumstances and unkept pledges have driven us to the point where our best recourse is to humbly ask our readers to come to our rescue,” he…
The Shipping News
The Shipping News 2002, R, 111 min. Directed by Lasse Hallström, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Alyssa Gainer, Lauren, Kaitlyn, Scott Glenn, Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Julianne Moore, Kevin Spacey. The widespread critical enthusiasm for Lasse Hallstrom’s heart-tugging oeuvre must royally chap directors like Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, whose films are often…
Articulations
The National Endowment for the Arts puts federal grants in the stockings of nine Austin arts organizations, and Ben Bentzin takes leave of Arts Center Stage.
Food-o-File
How to give a gift and help the Austin community this holiday season.
Phases and Stages
Lightning Hopkins The Best of Lightning Hopkins (Arhoolie) The pre-eminent Texas bluesman, Lightning Hopkins was a fascinating figure who bridged the gap between rural and urban styles. Arhoolie owner Chris Strachwitz claims in the disc’s liner notes that he started the label with the express purpose of recording Hopkins in the juke joints of Houston.…
The Hightower Lowdown
Resurrecting Cointelpro; The Cold Side of ‘Workfare’
Kate & Leopold
Kate & Leopold 2001, PG-13, 114 min. Directed by James Mangold, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Meg Ryan, Hugh Jackman, Breckin Meyer, Liev Schreiber, Natasha Lyonne, Bradley Whitford, Philip Bosco. There’s a telling moment in Kate & Leopold in which an artsy-fartsy film director whirls on our heroine, a careerist test marketer, and…
Exhibitionism
With Ariel Dance Theatre in Concert, the collaboration between the ever-energetic, always searching, always stretching herself Andrea Ariel and composers Graham Reynolds and Peter Stopschinski and operatic soprano Cheryl Parrish generated the heat and light of a pure flame that was bright and intense and exhilarating to see.
Smells Like Preteen Spirit
Kid rockers Three Hourz Sleep confront their first major crisis when their drummer moves away.
Phases and Stages
Fred McDowellThe Best of Mississippi Fred McDowell (Arhoolie) Fred McDowell’s recordings for Arhoolie are perhaps his best. The label’s owner, Chris Strachwitz, had a gift for catching McDowell at the right time and place. The Tennessee bluesman played haunting, gut-wrenching country blues matched by only a handful of his peers. This 17-track disc is drawn…
Behind the Screens
A new play by Neal LaBute falls flat on paper; new and reissued books about gay and lesbian Hollywood, Andy Milligan, Alan Smithee and the auteur theory, and Maya Deren reviewed.
How High
How High 2001, R, 92 min. Directed by Jesse Dylan, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Method Man, Redman, Obba Babatundé, Anna Maria Horsford, Fred Willard, Mike Epps, Spalding Gray, Jeffrey Jones, Hector Elizondo. Pot comedy. Let’s concede at the outset that artistic immortality is not what this subgenre of filmmaking is after. Pot…
Exhibitionism
For its debut show, the Silverstar Theater Group staged Rebecca Schwarz’s The USO Christmas Show, a new musical set during a 1940s radio broadcast. But inconsistencies in style had the Forties ambience fading in and out like a distant radio signal.
Dancing About Architecture
That was the year that was in the Live Music Capital …
Phases and Stages
Randy NewmanThe Best of Randy Newman (Warner Archives) Coming from one of the undisputed masters of the craft, this could have been titled 21 Songs in deference to Newman’s brilliant 12 Songs. It also might be more correct to call these “greatest hits,” as they represent the bulk of his radio repertoire (“Mama Told Me…
Behind the Screens
Behind the Screen by William J. Mann Viking, 422 pp., $29.95 For a history of Hollywood subtitled How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969, it’s a little surprising that by page 128 (by which point we’ve arrived at the year 1933) the official justification for the suppression of homosexuality has already appeared in the form…
A Beautiful Mind
A Beautiful Mind 2001, PG-13, 129 min. D: Ron Howard; with Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly. So many things come together so beautifully in this movie based on the life of John Forbes Nash Jr. that you’re likely to find yourself willing to benignly overlook its occasional biographical lapses and narrative sweetening. The movie is as…
Exhibitionism
In Rob Nash’s new show, he performs characters performing bits of Romeo and Juliet, and all the different parts come together like a theatrical jigsaw puzzle joining itself on the stage before us, forming a fine drama within a sharp comedy of eros and social dynamics.
Phases and Stages
Green DayInternational Superhits! (Reprise) The Green Day chartbusters that necessitated this 21-song anthology — “Longview,” “When I Come Around,” “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” — aren’t nearly as invigorating as the less successful “J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva),” “Geek Stink Breath,” or “Stuck With Me.” Still, whether rocking out full-force (“Jaded”), doing their best Stray…
Phases and Stages
Ol’ Dirty BastardThe Dirty Story: The Best of ODB (Elektra) Some might quarrel with the logic of ODB releasing a best-of after only two proper albums, but don’t forget who we’re dealing with here. The only Wu-Tanger capable of verbally upstaging Method Man, Dirty’s finer moments are indeed on display: the ruffneck “Brooklyn Zoo,” dirty-sweet…
Behind the Screens
Directed by Allen Smithee edited by Jeremy Braddock and Stephen Hock University of Minnesota Press, 312 pp., $18.95 (paper) Allen Smithee boasts more than 30 films to his name, ranging in genre from B-grade horror to revisionist Western, from soft-core skinema to Hollywood blockbusters starring Brad Pitt and Al Pacino. Smithee also holds the distinct…
Page Two
The curse and the blessing of living in interesting times
Phases and Stages
Dinosaur Jr.Ear Bleeding Country: The Best of Dinosaur Jr. (Warner Archives/Rhino) If you’re a fan, you’ve already got You’re Living All Over Me, and probably the Fossils compilation. If not, Ear Bleeding Country is Dino 101 for the definitive version of “Just Like Heaven,” “Freak Scene,” and for the folks who never gave Green Mind…
Phases and Stages
Ice CubeGreatest Hits (Priority) A superior collection of post-NWA sides from the n***a ya (still) love to hate. Cube’s ultra-graphic, frequently incendiary rhymes have always been among hip-hop’s finest, whether on bellicose gangsta narratives (“Steady Mobbin'”) or simply detailing the virtues of chillin’ in the hood (“It Was a Good Day”). Greatest Hits also showcases…
Behind the Screens
The Ghastly One: The Sex-Gore Netherworld of Filmmaker Andy Milligan by Jimmy McDonough Acappella, 375 pp., $26.95 Grindhouse filmmaker Andy Milligan died of AIDS in 1990 after completing some 29 movies, none of which played at your local multiplex. How could they? Filled with lurid sex, hyperviolent sadomasochism, and shocking, if poorly lit, scenes of…
Letters at 3am
We are swiftly losing our civil liberties as a result of the USA-PATRIOT Act, although this administration has shown it is not impervious to citizen complaints.
Phases and Stages
The Smashing PumpkinsRotten Apples — Greatest Hits (Virgin) Hard to believe it’s only taken six long years to forget, “Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage.” Like U2’s Best Of comp a few years ago, Rotten Apples includes a second disc of B-sides and rarities, which while not nearly…
Filings
Former County Commissioner Bob “Road Warrior” Honts has filed to run as a Republican for Travis County Judge, a job now held by Democrat Sam Biscoe. Honts, whose tenure on the court was characterized by controversy and legal troubles, tried to make a comeback in 1998 in a race for Pct. 2 commissioner but lost…
Behind the Screens
Maya Deren and the American Avant-Garde edited by Bill Nichols University of California Press, 333 pp., $19.95 (paper) With her striking beauty, fierce-willed self-promotion, and outspoken pronouncements on the liberation of cinema, Maya Deren is ingrained in the mythology of American experimental film as much for her outsized persona as for her oeuvre of revolutionary…
Mr. Smarty Pants
Car horns in Germany must not exceed a statutory noise level of 180 decibels as heard from a predetermined distance.Under that glittering mask of teak, brass, leather, and chrome, the beating heart of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a Vauxhall Ventura engine.Looking for the antioxidant lycopene? The substance can be found in ketchup and other…
Phases and Stages
PigfaceThe Best of Pigface (Invisible) Unfairly lumped into the Ministry mix too often, roving collective Pigface founding members Martin Atkins and Chris Connelly may have at one time used industrial sturm und drang as their template, but the group’s output quickly left the indentured servitude of the Wax Trax! crowd behind. This 2-CD retrospective is…
The Three Amigos
Before they left town for the holidays, supporters of Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Goodman gathered at the palatial South Austin home of Claudette and Hugh Lowe for a Dec. 20 fundraiser in support of Goodman’s bid for three more years on City Council. To beat the two-term council limit, Goodman — like Beverly Griffith and…
Behind the Screens
The Shape of Things: A Play by Neil LaBute Faber and Faber, 138 pp., $13 (paper) The shape of Neil LaBute’s older things — like his scripts for his film directorial debut, In the Company of Men, and its follow-up, Your Friends and Neighbors — were all sharp edges, lacerating works made up of one…
Day Trips
At Fred’s Lounge in Mamou, Louisiana, the good times roll pretty early.
Phases and Stages
Einstürzende NeubautenStrategies Against Architecture III: 1991-2001 (Mute) The third entry in the long-running Strategies series documents a fully ripe Einstürzende Neubauten that has progressed from the sheet-metal rhythms that helped define “industrial” music to a more nuanced sound carpentry. The always riveting Blixa Bargeld remains the world’s most underrated singer/whisperer/screamer, in any language. The smattering…
Bush’s Xmas Stocking: Burning Coal?
New state and federal regulations threaten the Clean Air Act
Native Talent
Local filmmaker and UT RTF student Bennie Klain has been invited to screen his new short film, “Yada Yada,” at the Sundance Film Festival. It’s the second film he’s ever made — it’s also his second film to show at Sundance.
After a Fashion
What would you give if you could give any celebrity in the world anything? Happy Holidays from “After a Fashion!”
Phases and Stages
The CureGreatest Hits (Elektra) This Greatest Hits essentially halves the long-running English band’s two singles compilations, omitting their mopier efforts in favor of chirpy pop twists like “The Love Cats” and “Friday I’m in Love.” Even minus “Fascination Street” and (perhaps prudently) “Killing an Arab,” there’s still at least a half-dozen songs on here no…
CPS: Protecting Children or Destroying Families?
Parents organize group in an effort to reform Child Protective Services
Royal Jest
Does Wes Anderson’s new film, The Royal Tenenbaums, seem familiar? Why not ask David Foster Wallace?
To Your Health
I’ve heard that beans are good food, but I have a problem with excessive gas after I eat them. Are they worth it?
Phases and Stages
MorrisseyThe Best of (Rhino/Warner Bros./Sire) 1990 produced the singles collection Bona Drag, the quintessential document from the precocious mouthpiece of the “woe is me” teen years. Best of reprises the cream of the crop (“Every Day Is Like Sunday,” “Suedehead”) with some choice nuggets from ’92’s Your Arsenal, but the later material and notable omissions…
More of Moore
Perhaps the lead headline in the daily’s Metro & State section last week should have read: “Commissioner choice rankles GOP — and Statesman editorial board.” It was the editorial board, after all, that called on County Judge Sam Biscoe to appoint a Republican to succeed Todd Baxter, who resigned from his Pct. 3 post to…
Short cuts
We are potential Davids all, at this time and in this place more than ever before.
About AIDS
Although this year’s winter holiday observances have been a tad less extravagant than usual, the turn of the New Year is generally swamped by crass commercialism and phony sentiment. And yet, chronological milestones offer the opportunity for reflection on the past months and years, especially given the momentous events of this fall. Many Americans have…
Phases and Stages
MadonnaGreatest Hits Volume 2 (Maverick/Warner Bros.) What you see is what you get with the cheeky Madonna, the woman of 1,000 faces. GHV2 follows the Blonde One’s past decade or so of singles, most of them strong and memorable single edits (“Secret,” “Bedtime Story”) with a few radio edits (“Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” “Erotica”)…
A Very Fuzzy Profile
Police officer Tim Enlow’s “racial profiling” case may not be open and shut.
Video Reviews
This 1978 animated Rankin & Bass production of Tolkien’s The Hobbit works successfully on both a children’s and a universal level.
Coach’s Corner
What with the computer crash and the gas grill fiasco, you’re lucky you’re even getting a column from The Coach this week. Random thoughts are a bonus.
Phases and Stages
EnigmaLoveSensualityDevotion (Virgin) Enigma emerged from somewhere in Europe, presumably a cave with a lot of electrical outlets, in 1990 with “Sadeness Part 1,” which combined flyweight techno beats with a vocal overlay of chanting Gregorian pseudo-monks. Aural saltpeter masquerading as breathy Serge Gainsbourg-esque romance, the band landed a half-dozen lucrative film soundtrack gigs before vanishing…
Naked City
A coalition of peace advocacy groups will hold a candlelight vigil for peace in Israel and Palestine at 5pm Friday, Dec. 28 on the south steps of the Capitol. Vigils are expected to take place on the same day in more than 90 cities around the globe, including Jerusalem. The Austin vigil will feature music…
Tube Temptations
Keeping one eye on television and the other on pop culture
Second Helpings
Greg Beets provides a fast-food tour of Austin in this week’s “Second Helpings.”
The Tastes of Taste
Two books that dissect the palate — one metaphorically, the other scientifically. And Chronicle wine writer Wes Marshall gives the lowdown on the spots in Austin for finding good deals on Champagne.
Phases and Stages
Pink FloydEchoes: The Best of (Capitol) Gilmour, Waters, Mason, and Wright make the interesting choice here of taking 26 of the band’s finest pieces and scrambling the track order. The upside: It masks the incomplete feeling of concept-album fragments with captivating fades like Dark Side of the Moon’s ultra-mellow “Us and Them” into the slo-mo…
Naked City
Filtered Tobacco Austin-based nonprofit Texans for Public Justice recently announced it has received a $50,000 grant from the Arca Foundation to support TPJ’s ongoing research into the relationships between private money, corporate power, and public policy in Texas. “It is rewarding to know that respected philanthropic institutions such as the Arca Foundation are supporting TPJ’s…
Ali
Mann’s film, which has some terrific moments, hits the highlights only. Will Smith, layered in subtle facial prosthetics in order to resemble Ali, does no disservice to the memory of the Greatest, but the best thing here is Jon Voight, who loses himself thoroughly in the role of sportscaster Howard Cosell.
Phases and Stages
Ocean Colour SceneThe Best of Ocean Colour Scene (Ark 21) They were never as big as the Gallagher brothers would’ve liked, and they never cracked the U.S. at all, but the Lennon/McCartney lilt of “The Day We Caught the Train” and the Davies brothers stomp of “Crazy Lowdown Ways” proves this Birmingham quartet sure knew…
The Tastes of Taste
The Devil’s Larder Jim Crace’s most recent collection of short stories, The Devil’s Larder (FSG, $20) tackles a popular topic: food. Characteristically, however, Crace’s treatment of his subject matter goes well past its previously prescribed limits, past the mouth and stomach, into the lower depths somewhere between Rabelais and Freud. Jim Crace has become something…
Phases and Stages
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.Eee-O 11: The Best of the Rat Pack (Capitol) Despite its cash-in pedigree, Eee-O 11 is a fun collection that captures the lighthearted, anything-goes nature of the Rat Pack’s Sands Hotel shows. As the “leader” and the artist who recorded for Capitol the longest, Sinatra rules the roost with…
Naked City
Enron’s Money Trail For a healthy taste of the kind of info the best foundation money can buy, check out TPJ’s report on the Enron Corp.’s political money trail, at www.tpj.org/Lobby_Watch/enron.html. The report catalogs the major Texas recipients of Enron’s largesse (George W. Bush, Gov. Rick Perry, John Cornyn, the state Supreme Court, Carole Keeton…
