Cover Story
All Eyes on First Night
Fireworks rule, parades with kids and bikes rule, giant art rules …
When the Saints Go Marching In
Am I dreaming? Or maybe I’m still so bloated from holiday consumption that my mind has ventured into a candy-coated alternate reality? I ask because according to any source I check, the New Orleans Saints earned themselves a first-round bye in the NFC playoffs and are now only two victories away from their first-ever appearance…
Federal Judge Poised to Release Anthony Graves on Bond
Rebuke to state court keeping Graves imprisoned
Strange Cases on the 40 Acres
“Best of 2006”, worst of frat hazing
Scooped by the ‘Statesman’: This One Burns
McCracken a literary titan
Ramon, We Hardly Knew Ye
A correction, and some Top 10s
Top 10 Local and Regional Stories of ’06
1) With arguably the greatest performance in college football history, Vince Young led UT to a 41-38 upset victory over USC in the Rose Bowl on the fourth day of 2006 and then went on to lead the struggling Tennessee Titans to an 8-5 record in his 13 starts, including beating the Texans with a…
Top 10 Soccer Stories of the Year
An exciting year in soccer recapped
Save Town Lake Enters the Fray
The lakefront firestorm’s only going to get hotter this year
Maybe Starring Matthew McConaughey as the Coach?
After I described the ending of Boise State’s Fiesta Bowl victory to my wife, she commented on how it was a Hollywood ending. I said, “You know, if that was the ending to a football movie, I’d have stomped out of the theatre grumbling, ‘That’s stupid. Real football games don’t end like that.'”
Texas Microbrewers Head to Lege
Small breweries want to sell directly to consumers
Pat Robertson: Jesus Freak (Minus the Jesus Part)
Robertson will kill you in 2007
Traffic Fatalitites for the Year
Straight from the APD to you
Local Round-Up: Novus Annus Edition
News bits for the new year
The More Things Change
A blast from the past
Crystal’s Football-Related Injury
FOX QB Cotti Shaken but OK, Still Hot
And Like That … He’s Gone
Jay Williams was waived by the Toros earlier this week so he can rehabilitate a nagging groin injury. There’s no injured list in the D-League, but the Toros will have the right of first refusal if and when Williams gets better. Filling his spot on coach Dennis Johnson’s struggling roster will be Troy Bell, a…
Twister on Tuesday
Insane House speaker race goes to an official vote (or two) next Tuesday
Downtown Boise Burning, Cars Overturned, Nightlong Riots
Well OK, no it’s not. But hey, they did get a whole 200 people in the streets celebrating!
Let’s Have a College Football Playoff Already
Is it too late for a real college football playoff? How about a revote on the Heisman? Cuz if there were, I’d be betting on Boise State to slip past Ohio State with rethought Heisman winner Jared Zabransky going pass-happy on the Buckeyes. Sorry, OSU fans, you can put an asterisk next to this title…
Humble Suggestions
Well, Toros fans, your team was officially 0-12 after Tuesday’s blowout loss at home to Los Angeles. It was their second loss in three days to the D-Fenders (perhaps the worst-named team in the D-League — seriously, it sounds like a low-grade comic book series). Then, two days later – like a lightning bolt out…
Saddam Hussein Dies Tonight?
You would’ve thought they’d save it for Super Bowl halftime, with Jessica Simpson dressed as Martha Washington giving him a final lapdance before they throw the switch. Or you’d think the administration would kick off the State of the Union with it, Bush addressing the nation whilst standing on his smoldering, electrocuted corpse. But no,…
NoDak Urges DEA to Waive Hemp Registration Requirements for State Farmers
As North Dakota moves ever closer to licensing its first farmers to begin cultivating industrial hemp, Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson on Dec. 27 said he has asked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to waive individual federal registration requirements for duly licensed NoDak hemp farmers. “This would simplify the process for growers, while enhancing DEA’s ability…
A Kinky 2006
<a href="http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2607"target="_blank"Burnt Orange Report is in a contemplative mood, looking back at the major events of the year. Their biggest scoop was posting years-old clips of Kinky Friedman’s comedy routine, wherein the entertainer lets loose with the dreaded N-word in the course of his routine. BOR magnate Phillip Martin says “I’m not sorry for posting…
Austin Theatre: What will be will be
Three Austin theatre artists – actress Lee Eddy, choreographer Robin Lewis, and Adam Sultan – dish about their visions of the year to come
Oops!
Our latest batch
Best Ofs
Jefferson AirplaneThe Worst of Jefferson Airplane (RCA Legacy) When “Somebody to Love” exploded out of car radios spring 1967, it heralded the onset of the Summer of Love. After that, Jefferson Airplane came to define the folk-rock-cum-psychedelic San Francisco sound for the rest of the planet. First appearing in 1970, Worst Of, now with two…
Capitalists, Conservationists Say No to Dirty Coal
Showdown taking shape over plans to build 16 old-style coal-fired power plants, which threaten to push Austin’s marginal air quality into the red
Austin Lyric Opera: Fat lady sings for artistic/managing director split
Austin Lyric Opera Artistic Director Richard Buckley and Managing Director Tamara Hale are both leaving their posts in June 2007, after which ALO will return to a single general director running the show
Bubblicious
The year’s best champagnes and sparkling wines
Best Ofs
Tim BuckleyThe Best of (Rhino) The short trajectory of Tim Buckley’s life was lightninglike, and you know what they say about lightning and jars. From the soft paisley folk of “Aren’t You the Girl” and “Song for Janie” on his self-titled 1966 debut and the theatric, incense-whiffing follow-up “Goodbye and Hello,” wrapped in Buckley’s androgynous…
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Rollin’ on the ‘River’
TexARTS co-founder Robin Lewis (left, front), shown here in rehearsal for the company’s concert production of The Music Man last summer, has been spending the holidays getting another big musical ready for the Paramount stage. And we mean “big” literally: It’s Big River, the Tony-winning Broadway adaptation of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with music…
Shopping for the Celebration
Your best bet in a wine shop is to find someone you trust, then shop with them regularly so that they get an idea of your taste, your budget, and your level of adventurousness. In case you need an introduction, below is a list of trustworthy folks. There are many other good wine people in…
Best Ofs
Stereolab Serene Velocity/A Stereolab Anthology (Elektra) Cramming 11 years of Stereolab’s best output for Elektra onto one disc is damn near impossible, but Serene Velocity spins well enough that only the hard-to-please will find fault with it. Arranged chronologically, it offers a liberal dose of the UK band’s infectious space-age pop while demonstrating their multilevel…
Graves Update: Judge thumbs nose at feds
Lawyers for Graves fire back at Burleson Co. District Judge Reva Towslee-Corbett, who, in an apparent screw you to federal bench, set $1 million bond for Graves to be released from jail
Culture Flash!
NEA grants in the stockings of three Austin arts groups, plus the Rude Mechs get their Big Apple on at the Public Theater’s Under the Radar festival
Will Travel for Food and Drink
Austria, Poland, and the Czech Republic
Best Ofs
U2U218: Singles (Interscope) Besides passable Green Day duet “The Saints Are Coming” and “Electrical Storm” rewrite “Window on the Skies,” there’s nothing here you haven’t heard a thousand times before, nothing you wouldn’t mind hearing a thousand times again. Die-hards have to wait until the box set for “Gloria” and “Faraway (So Close!),” or even…
Cracking Craddick’s Calendar
Judge gives Craddick until Jan. 12 to provide information to court to determine whether his private calendar contains details about public business that would warrant its release under open-records laws
Arts Review
There’s something inherently entertaining about men in women’s clothing, and you’ll rarely see so many men in so much women’s clothing as you will in Naughty Austin’s quite entertaining revival of Pageant
Why Whip In Rules
Sorry, Travis Heights: your secret’s out
Best Ofs
The ReplacementsDon’t You Know Who I Think I Was? The Best of the Replacements (Sire) Simply brilliant distillation of the Replacements, Minneapolis’ Eighties bar band who made alienation and boredom sound inviting. It’s their first compilation to include songs from the early Twin/Tone days and, as a bonus for the hardcore, two new ones. “Message…
Sony CDs Busted by AG
AG reaches settlements with Sony BMG and Internet-based digital-phone provider Vonage Holdings Corp.
Arts Review
The overall effect of “The Downtown Show: The New York Art Scene, 1974-1984” is almost patriotic, showing an appreciation of the radical thought and freedom of action that made the U.S. the young revolutionary in that time
Wine Shopping at Chevron
I’d received wine advice at a gas station once before and walked out with a bottle of MD 20/20
Best Ofs
Old 97’sThe Best of Old 97’s: Hit by a Train (Elektra/Rhino) Rhino’s Old 97s best-of hits with “Timebomb,” of course; Rhett Miller’s duet with Exene Cervenka, “Four Leaf Clover”; Satellite Rides’ addictive “Rollerskate Skinny”; and a live version of “Barrier Reef.” There’s also Marty Robbins’ “El Paso,” recorded for King of the Hill, and the…
Point Austin: Good, Bad, and Ugly
Sustainability Project snap-shoots our present, future
Arts Review
“Abstract Expressionism, 1940s-1960s” is at once a stand-alone illustration of a pivotal time in American art and a prelude to the continued explosions of radical artistic energy that marked New York throughout the 20th century
Gallo Family Vineyards Gold Medal Awards
Deadline: Feb. 28, 2007
Best Ofs
Buck Owens 21 #1 Hits: The Ultimate Collection (Rhino) Buck Owens’ goofy persona on Hee Haw is buried on this Ultimate single disc. Between 1963-1967, Bakersfield’s buckaroo topped the country-music charts with an astounding 15 consecutive singles. That focus means most of his best-known songs are here – “Act Naturally,” “Love’s Gonna Live Here,” “I’ve…
Beside the Point
A card for council-watchers
Readings
“Surely,” editor Allan Gurganus writes, “we should expect our literature to do a bit more than distract us from our desperate age”
Food-o-File
What we’d like to see happen in 2007
Phases and Stages
Nickel CreekReasons Why: The Very Best (Sugar Hill) Reasons Why doesn’t answer the question Nickel Creek poses on their last release for Sugar Hill, Why Should the Fire Die? For that consider mandolin maven Chris Thile’s two 2006 solo releases, his intricate Live Duets with Mike Marshall or How to Grow a Woman from the…
The Hightower Report
Prissy Politicos; and My Gift for George W.
TCB
“O Death, where is thy sting?” – 1 Corinthians 15:55
Readings
San Francisco-based journo Harmon Leon makes it his business to go where others only dream, or fear, to tread
Troublemaker
Ed Ward’s first-hand account of Willie Nelson’s Complete Atlantic Sessions.
Best Ofs
Depeche ModeThe Best of Depeche Mode Vol. 1 (Sire/Reprise/Mute) Everything counts in large amounts. Maybe it’s that “Enjoy the Silence” and “Strangelove” have lost precious little to the march of time or that the Basildon-born group’s off years still yielded classic singles like “Shake the Disease” and “It’s No Good,” or that there’s plenty left…
Champion of the World Cinema
Chief curator Chale Nafus on the Austin Film Society’s latest Essential series, South by Southeast: Films of Thailand and Vietnam
Black Christmas
Although this horror remake isn’t as suspenseful or emotionally draining as its influential 1974 predecessor, the film almost makes up for that with its overriding weirdness.
Readings
Impulse Records was the one jazz label that best reflected the social, political, and cultural turbulence of the 1960s as well as the spiritual awareness of the era
Best Ofs
Duncan SheikBrighter/Later: A Duncan Sheik Anthology (Atlantic/Rhino) Anyone who’s paid careful attention to Duncan Sheik’s music – and his cult following is rather modest – has probably noticed how carefully considered every element of his music is. The L.A.-based singer-songwriter knows precisely how to use his voice and his guitar to sound a lament, voice…
Developing Stories: Where Are They Now?
The latest on this year’s big digs
Film News
TV to the rescue, ‘Madman’ Robert Rodriguez, and more news
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
Like a dream, the Quay Brothers’ The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes is wispy and ethereal; like a nightmare, it lodges in your hindbrain and gnaws away with gleeful abandon.
Page Two: Red-State Specials
In the current political climate, reasoned debate turns too easily to ideological hate
Best Ofs
Cee-LoCloset Freak: The Best of Cee-Lo Green the Soul Machine (Arista) As the hip-hop crowd scorns its favored MCs for departing from strict codes of rap conduct, the rest of the world typically celebrates those brave enough to test uncharted waters. Former Goodie Mob lyricist Cee-Lo invokes sweaty gospel sermons blossoming within bountiful rabbit holes…
DVD Watch
Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Mereilles-produced City of Men goes a long way to expanding the vocabulary of television and moving the medium toward a more cinematic approach
The Cave of the Yellow Dog
Shot on location in Mongolia with a real nomad family, The Cave of the Yellow Dog blurs the line between documentary and fiction and, in doing so, creates its own singular dramatic language.
After a Fashion
Throw down after throw down, 2006 was one biiiig par-tay for your Style Avatar
Best Ofs
Luther VandrossThe Ultimate Luther Vandross (J/Epic/Legacy) Light the candles and draw the blinds. Even death can’t curb the sexy growl of Luther Vandross (1951-2005). The Ultimate spans the entire career of the New York soul star, who won eight Grammys and sold more than 25 million records. The ooze of Carpenters cover “Superstar,” the lighter…
God vs. Taser: Officer Sues APD
Former rookie officer claims he was forced to resign because of his religious beliefs after he refused to comply with a supervisor’s order to use excessive force on a suspect
TV Eye
The overs and the unders
The Painted Veil
Set in China and starring Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, and Liev Schreiber, this melodic adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham’s novel is the story of many things – but it is most of all the story of a marriage.
Day Trips
Don’t mess with Texas, unless it comes to per capita spending on parks, where we are ranked 49th in the country
Best Ofs
Mary J. BligeReflections (A Retrospective) (Geffen) As the Recording Academy mints new mantle mates for MJB’s previous Grammys, Geffen takes time out for Reflections. Not enough to commission a backstory, discography, or even its R&B sovereign’s Top 10 totality, but the new title track, plus single “We Ride (I See the Future),” and “My Life…
Soccer Watch
Inter Milan wins 11 straight, and more
Best Ofs
P.O.D.Greatest Hits: The Atlantic Years (Rhino) Capitalizing on corporate America’s born- and dead-again Christian clichés, Southtown’s P.O.D. mixed subversive spirituality, teen angst, and mainstream nü-metal for an ambiguous and generic sound suitable for both Young Life summer camps and the main stage at Ozzfest (alongside Crazy Town and Adema). The worst of both realms, The…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
It’s about time for the end of time
Best Ofs
Jane’s AddictionUp From the Catacombs: The Best of Jane’s Addiction (Warner Bros./Rhino) For people too smart to fill their veins with China White but wanting to hear visions of the perfect late-Eighties psychedelic/punk/metal synthesis, 16-song refresher Catacombs breaks it down. Remember, Jane’s was competing with the likes of W.A.S.P. and Poison for gigs, making the…
Media Watch: Marfa Ready for NPR?
An attempt to bring public radio to West Texas shows that no good deed goes unpunished
First Night Schedule
Family Festival: 2-5pm Ongoing all afternoon Mexic-Arte Museum – Feliz Años, Feliz Familias, Mexic-Arte Museum, 419 Congress. Create traditional Latin American holiday crafts: maracacitos (noisemakers), papel picados (small banners), and masks. 2-4pm. Park(ing) Lot, Frost Bank Tower, 401 Congress. Take respite in a visual installation that transforms two metered parking spaces into a tiny green…
The Common Law
Late delivery on holiday present – do I still have to pay?
Best Ofs
The Dead C.Vain, Erudite and Stupid: Selected Works, 1987-2005 (Ba Da Bing!) “Best of” and the Dead C. aren’t exactly synonymous, but somehow the New Zealand trio’s 18-year recording career has been chopped up on this 2-CD set into the Kiwis finest (and highest) hours. 1988’s “Max Harris” opens the first disc, but three later…
Luv Doc Recommends: New Year’s Eve with K-Tel Hit Machine and Tosca Strings
This year, New Year’s Eve falls on the Lord’s Day, which is surely happy news for recidivist 12-stepping alcoholics, but for the rest of us, it requires an extra step of irksome planning. Part of the fun of New Year’s is that last-minute run to the liquor store to grab a frantic armload of hooch…
