Cover Story
A Browner Shade of Black
Blazing trails of Chicano soul
Your City Manager Semifinalists (Updated)
Almost three and a half hours after convening, City Council has returned from their closed-door discussions with a list of eight city manager semifinalists. The “internal” candidates are no surprise: Austin Energy General Manager Juan Garza and assistant city managers Rudy Garza and Laura Huffman. Five external candidates – arguably slightly more than expected –…
Josh Rosenblatt Has Seen the Future, and It Isn’t Pretty
Magic eight-balling 2008, month by month
Durant Sits Out With Finger Injury
Kevin Durant rode the bench for the first time this season, but unlike the rook’s preseason knee injury, it was a sprained index finger that kept him sidelined. That’s a $4.2 million finger Durant’s nursing back to health after leaving late in the first quarter in a contest against the Garnett-less Timberwolves. Though X-ray results…
LaMarcus Aldridge Is Blazin’ Through His Second Year
In only his second year out of UT, LaMarcus Aldridge and his Portland Trail Blazers are tearing through their schedule … at least now they are. To call Portland streaky would be like calling “two girls one cup” a bit uncouth. After dropping their first three contests to open the season, the Trail Blazers flashed,…
City Manager Search Under Way
Council begins CM candidate selection, but has one contender turned out the lights?
Ice Bat Jason Tessier Named to All-Star Team
Defenseman Jason Tessier will be the sole representative for the Austin Ice Bats at this year’s CHL All-Star Game taking place in Broomfield, Colo., on January 16. This is the fourth time Tessier has been chosen to play in the All-Star game. His 19 points (8 goals, 11 assists) rank him third on the Ice…
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The rush of events is a horror. This is the key.
Sports Top 10s for 2007
In a year that was full of loss and disappointment (the tragic deaths of Mike Coolbaugh and Dennis Johnson, the Mitchell Report), there was never a shortage of sports stories and events to remind us of why we love these childish games so much. The numbers on the scoreboard are meaningful, but the tales and…
Top 10 Soccer Stories of the Year
‘Soccer Watch’ picks for the Top 10 soccer stories of the year: 1) Beckhamania! The $250,000,000 man was a PR bonanza for Major League Soccer not just in the U.S. but around the world. Maybe next year he’ll even play. 2) England fails to qualify for Euro 2008. On paper, they’re still one of the…
Meurer Demurs on Replacing Earle
Meurer not among Democrats hoping to replace Ronnie Earle
Final Filers Flurry for State Rep
GOPers to challenge Naishtat, Bolton, Howard, and Strama
Futrell Refutes Maxey
City manager backs Spears campaign’s version of foreclosure stats
Jamaal Charles Leaving for NFL
Back ran for 1,619 yards this season
Keel for District 47 – Again, for the First Time
Parliamentarian’s sister-in-law to run for his old seat.
Austin Going, Going, Gone
Newsdesk shares their thoughts on redesigning the city’s official website
SXSW Rolls the Dice on Its Opening-Night Film
21 kicks off SXSW Film 2008
McMurrey/Noriega Debate Next Week
Dem candidates will face off downtown
Has the City Manager Search Spoiled?
The process hasn’t even started, and already trouble’s on the horizon
(T.J.) Ford Tough, Part Deuce
Good news on the Terrance Jerod injury front, who – if you remember – took a “spill” at the hands of Hawks rookie Al Horford. After the Raptors’ T.J. Ford met with New York-based neurologist Dr. Patrick O’Leary on Wednesday, December 19, The Toronto Sun reported as of December 28 Ford claimed to be 90%…
Vice President Who?
Primary filings end today in Texas, but who’s really running for the vice-presidency?
Number 5
We hear New Hampshire is lovely in June.
Slowly, With Feeling
K8’s NYE.
Got Yer Auld Lang Syne Right Here
NYE: Whut Getty du.
Year-End Self-Loathing
What the hell happened this year?
The Fall That Was
Sneaking into the last weekend of regular season games, I am looking back on the fall that was for the NFL and can think of no other like it. The Browns went from being the second-worst team in all the land, to the most exciting. Sadly, Sean Taylor was shot to death in his own…
Finally: Design Within Reach
This summer, the United States Post Office will issue a series of Charles and Ray Eames stamps.
Taking the Capitol Out of Capital Metro
Capital Metro: ready to establish the caliphate.
RG4N Loss Likely Won’t Stop Meeker Council Run
RG4N spokesman reflects on court loss
Extended Play ’07
Off the Record scratches the surface
Durant Watch Part II
Kevin Durant continues to set himself apart from the other frosh with one hell of a game December 21 against the Bucks, leading all scorers with 27 points, aided by a four-of-five night from the arc. The only blemish was his five giveaways, but after the Sonics 123-115 victory, no one was talking about KD’s…
Monumental Shift
Major personnel changes across the Austin arts scene signal the start of a new era
Phases & Stages
Bob Dylan Dylan (Columbia/Legacy) This career-spanning 3-CD set of Dylan’s greatest, from 1962’s “Song to Woody” to Modern Times’ “When the Deal Goes Down,” is remastered and mind-boggling. The hardcores already own all of this, but newbies can do their homework in one swoop.
Arts Review
This show demonstrates how two painters working from the same subject can end up with radically different canvases
The Christmas Mountains
‘I’m the Realtor for the state of Texas,’ Patterson says
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
What to expect in 2008: a great earthquake, a pole shift, many months of darkness, Princess Diana’s ghost, and much more
Texas Gets Spirited Away
Taste-testing Texas liquors against the world
Should Austin Sack Plastic Bags?
Local effort to get rid of plastic bags growing
Viking Stand Mixer
Viking Range Corp. mixes and kneads with the big boys
Phases & Stages
Lisa Gerrard The Best of Lisa Gerrard (4AD) From Dead Can Dance to the haunting Gladiator soundtrack, Lisa Gerrard needs no words for her otherworldly hum.
In Print
Part travel guide, part history lesson, Southern Belly is a mouthwatering expedition of beloved Southern food institutions
WTP 4: Home for the Holidays
Road to decades-delayed Water Treatment Plant No. 4 may be coming to amicable end
Food-o-File
Looking back on Austin food in 2007
Phases & Stages
Led Zeppelin Mothership (Atlantic) Besting November’s reissue of The Song Remains the Same by a truckload of platinum, the 2-CD Mothership lands a wallop. Produced crisp and powerful by Jimmy Page.
Film News
Casting shuffles for Malick’s new picture and more
Report: Teen Birthrate Rose in 2006
First such rise since 1991
Phases & Stages
R.E.M. Live (Warner Bros.) The first live album released from the Athens, Ga., superstars, Live doubles as a greatest-hits album. Recorded in Dublin, 2005, the 2-CD/1-DVD set bores through nonhits but paints a vivid picture of legends in a post-9/11 world.
Point Austin: Shifting Winds
An interim election and an AG opinion stir thoughts of Capitol changes
Canyon Creek Rebels Target MUD Lawsuit
Municipal utility district board members resist suggestion they withdraw federal suit
Culture Flash!
The Blanton tweaks its schedule, Conspirare’s fave composer takes the prize, and Hot September Flurries in June?
Off the Record
Welcome to “Spazmodica,” the future of Austin music
Phases & Stages
Spice Girls Greatest Hits (Virgin) Fifteen songs of girl power, in case you didn’t get enough the first time around.
Beside the Point
What awaits council under the tree
Hodge Indicted for Altering Convention Center Surveys
Travis Co. grand jury indicts former Austin Convention Center director on 16 counts of tampering with a government record
Magic Time
Oh, the sights you’ll see at First Night Austin
Phases & Stages
Wu-Tang Clan 8 Diagrams (Street/Universal Motown) Ghostface Killah The Big Doe Rehab (Def Jam) To expect Iron Flag Part 2 would be wrong. 2001 marked the last time the Wu-Tang Clan swarmed as one, Flag an assault of poisonous darts shot over streetwise RZA bangers. Six years later, fifth WTC LP 8 Diagrams pops vintage…
Phases & Stages
Ringo Starr Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo (Capitol) 1-CD/1-DVD collection spanning 37 years of Richard Starkey’s hits and pitfalls while sliding downhill from the crystalline early years (“Photograph,” “Early 1970”).
Naked City
Quote of the Week “Even though the Court may not agree with the results of the City’s interpretation of the ordinance, it is for the City Council, not this Court, to change the ordinance.” – Judge Orlinda Naranjo, ruling against Responsible Growth for Northcross in its lawsuit to stop the construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter…
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Nicolas Cage is again on the prowl in this sequel to the 2004 smash success.
Austin Visual Arts: ‘Art in America’ surveys the scene
For a national magazine to do a story on Austin that’s just about the visual arts scene is pretty much unheard of
Phases & Stages
Levon Helm Dirt Farmer (Vanguard) If Levon Helm’s first studio album in 25 years strikes an overly joyous chord, it’s not without good reason. Diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998, the backbeat of the Band was left bankrupt and voiceless, slowly recovering from both with Midnight Rambles at his studio-barn in Woodstock. Dirt Farmer thus…
Phases & Stages
Jim Stricklan Vintage ’47: The Best of Jim Stricklan (Skinny Man) Austinite and KVET deejay Jim Stricklan has been strumming and singing county, folk, and swing for 25 years, equal parts Austin quirk, minimal simplicity, and guitar geekery. A Mighty Wind for cosmic cowboys.
Soccer Watch
No break for the Brits, and more
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Apocalyptic monster mash makes big crash.
Art City Austin: A new kind of art fair
Art Alliance Austin is calling on artists and architects to make work that will reinvent its annual art fair
Phases & Stages
Sea Wolf Leaves in the River (Dangerbird) Into a year of Horses (Band of), Birds (Andrew), and Bears (Panda) dog-paddles Sea Wolf. Baring fangs, Alex Brown Church follows up May’s five-song solo debut, Get to the River Before It Runs Too Low, which led off with “You’re a Wolf,” minor key UK melancholy strummed to…
Phases & Stages
Keith Urban Greatest Hits: 18 Kids (Capitol) Mr. Kidman buffs Nashville-via-Australia Hot 100 country to a high sheen with 16 bona fide hits plus the Steve Forbert-penned “Romeo’s Tune” and new sure-thing “Got It Right This Time (the Celebration).”
Playing Through
While only a freshman at Westlake, Brenden Redfern is already putting adults to shame on local golf courses
The Orphanage
Although Guillermo Del Toro is the producer, this new Spanish horror film is derivative and not on par with Del Toro’s spooky childhood stories.
Does Harry Potter Cause Sexual Violence? Only in Texas.
Defending a new nudity tax, the AG says topless bars cause sexual violence
The Last Word
The Harry Ransom Center opens Norman Mailer’s archives
Phases & Stages
Eagles Long Road out of Eden (ERC) Fitting that the Eagles’ first studio gathering since 1979’s The Long Run should be a Wal-Mart exclusive, since the entire 2-CD affair is a generic sprawl aimed for the largest (read: lowest) common denominator. Following the tepid harmonies of opener “No More Walks in the Wood,” disc one…
Border Crossing
AFS Essential Cinema presents 3 Mexicanas en Hollywood
Clarification
Last week’s “Return to ACC’s Room 221” implied that Ron McMahan tested recently obtained dust and air samples at the behest of Corinne Irwin; in fact, Irwin says McMahan offered to perform the testing on the samples but did not act on any request from her. Also, the only room having renovation and abatement performed…
The Savages
Starring Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, this smart, funny, thoughtful, and exquisitely realized film is one of the best of the year.
Readings
Profits from the sales of this priceless anthology of short stories will benefit 826NYC
Phases & Stages
The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 9: 1969 (Hip-O Select) Even as the Jackson 5’s debut single, “I Want You Back,” spun on a dime straight to No. 1, the Temptations’ burning house of love engulfed Hitsville USA as the label transitioned from Detroit to Hollywood. In between, stretches of desolation. On the 6-CD Complete Motown…
All in the Family
The Agrasánchez Film Archives
Day Trips
Taking a wine-tasting journey through Texas wineries
After a Fashion
Stephen’s calling the kettle black again. OK, these are some pretty black kettles.
Phases & Stages
Lupe Fiasco Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool (Atlantic) Tireless hall monitor aesthetics and suspect taste be damned, Lupe Fiasco’s narrative gifts and labyrinth flow carry weight. Alas, the game isn’t kind to virtuosos who don’t slow down workout regimens long enough to revel in ironic minstrelsy. Tough to imagine this guy getting any more famous, but…
In Print
How could any true film nerd resist a book with a chapter titled “Symbolism, Meaning, and Nihilism in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction“?; and a new book from the Philosophy of Popular Culture series contends that science fiction is the only film genre truly centered on the question of what it means to be a human…
Wage Vigilance
Local businessman under fire for owing money to employees of his former West Lake Hills restaurant
The Common Law
I ordered a holiday present, and it never showed up
Phases & Stages
Youssou N’dour Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take) (Nonesuch) A colossus of world music, Youssou N’dour’s collaborations with Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel stamped him as one of Africa’s most recognizable voices, and his 2002 album Egypt, melding Arabic music with that of his native Senegal, earned him a Grammy. On Rokku Mi Rokka (Give…
DVD Watch
One of the most influential films of all time, it’s almost superfluous to discuss the film itself and its considerable merits
Judge Rules Against RG4N in Wal-Mart Lawsuit
Responsible Growth for Northcross loses suit against Wal-Mart construction on former Northcross Mall property
Fun, Healthy, and Green
A profile of the practice and business of pedicabbing
Phases & Stages
Mary J. Blige Growing Pains (Geffen) Alicia Keys As I Am (J) New York City soulstresses born in January a decade apart (’71 and ’80, respectively), Mary J. Blige and Alicia Keys flex their commercial empowerment in passionate opposition. Yonkers street survivor Blige and Manhattan piano prodigy Keys presently command career-high profiles with voices incapable…
Sneak Peek at SXSW Film 2008
The first announcements from SXSW Film 08 are trickling in
Seaholm and Green District: Changes Afoot
Proposed and favored location for new central library is current Seaholm substation site
The Hightower Report
Commander Bush Wins One; and Gifts for a Happier New Year
Phases & Stages
Common ThisIsMe Then: The Best of Common (Relativity/Legacy) Common’s early years marked by Bill Cosby intros, Lauryn Hill jams, and four bonus videos. Old-school and dated but still original.
Arts Review
Forever Plaid‘s seasonal sequel delivers just what’s wanted this time of year: Tidings of comfort and joy
@ Chronic
Travis County Republican Party chair announces he’s stepping down
TV Eye
‘Tis the season for TV marathons, plus, mark your calendar for the last season of The Wire, and no news is bad news on the strike front
Phases & Stages
Ani DiFranco Canon (Righteous Babe) Ani’s gone from riot grrrl to folk hero, and it’s all here: 16 years of guitar pluckery and patchouli lyricism on a double disc, including “reimagined” versions of “Napoleon,” “Shameless,” and more.
Arts Review
This showcase of a variety of Christmas traditions in Celtic history made for a most festive night
Happenings
Dec. 27-Jan. 2
Luv Doc Recommends: White Ghost Shivers
Christmas is over. Nice to finally shake that dog off your leg, right? Nothing like sitting around all day after the presents are opened drinking eggnog and listening to grandpa fart into his recliner. Now you’ve had a couple of days to contemplate what to do with that Indonesian-made green Wal-Mart sweatshirt your uncle from…
