Live Shots
La Zona Rosa, Wednesday 18 It couldn’t have been just a coincidence that the Cowboy Junkies show opened with only siblings Michael and Margo Timmins stepping out on stage for a completely stripped-down version of “Sun Comes Up It’s Tuesday Morning.” With slight apologies to their brother Peter, the group’s drummer, as well as bassist…
A Match Made in Cyberspace
The recently announced $4 billion mega merger between AOL and Netscape promises to accelerate the growth of online retailing. The two giants are also teaming up with Sun Microsystems, developer of the popular Java programming language. AOL gets Netscape’s award-winning browser technology and access to one of the hottest portals on the Web. Netscape gets…
Articulations
Earlier this week, while discussing the recent Zachary Scott Theatre Center production of Angels in America, fellow Chronicle editor and colleague on the theatre beat Sarah Hepola mentioned a conversation she’d had on Sunday with some friends who had seen the play’s first part, Millennium Approaches, in the spring. “Hey,” they said, “we heard that…
Mr. South Austin
photograph by John Carrico If one were to choose a musician who is emblematic of South Austin, that person would simply have to play accordion. It’s only proper. South Austin is utterly funky. So are accordions. For many years, South Austin was shunned by the elite. So were accordions. Today, South Austin is suddenly becoming…
The Pros and Cons of Online Shopping
*Credit and Debit Cards: You need a card to shop online, but it doesn’t have to be a credit card. Most banks offer debit cards with the Visa name that are accepted like a credit card but work just like a check. If you have a checking account, you can shop online. *Convenience: Online shopping…
Exhibitionism
McCullough Theatre, November 22 For its 16th season, Sharir Dance Company, the popular modern dance troupe, has undergone some changes. It is now guided by two creative forces, with Jos� Luis Bustamante a full artistic co-director alongside Yacov Sharir, and it has taken a new name to reflect that dual leadership: Sharir+Bustamante Danceworks. It’s fitting,…
A World in Which All Worlds Fit
Don Walser at the granddaddy of South Austin live music venues, the Broken Spoke. photograph by John Carrico The first time Willie Nelson played the Broken Spoke, he spoke softly, lived in Nashville, and looked the part of a humble country singer: short hair, clean-shaven, a modest turtleneck and Western vest. His band was dressed…
Parkingless Shopping
Yahoo! Shopping http://shopping.yahoo.com/ One of the top shopping portals on the Net. Netscape Shopping http://excite.netscape.com/shopping/ Maybe the biggest portal of them all. MSN Shopping http://shopping.msn.com/msnlink/index.asp Microsoft’s shopping portal. Junglee http://www.junglee.com/ Get a glimpse of the evolution of Web retail joint ventures while you shop. EarthFind http://www.incrediweb.com/ Yet another portal contender. Consumer Information Consumer Reports Online…
The South Bank
illustration by Robert Faires Crossing the river… If you live in Austin and happen to love theatre, dance, classical music, or opera, that action means a lot. Heading north, it means you’re moving toward the city’s performing arts treasure trove — some two dozen spaces of all sizes and ages and uses, from the tiny,…
A Saintly Anchor
It didn’t take too long for St. Ed’s to become a source of South Austin pride. The Old Main building was for years the largest structure south of the river, and when it was nearly destroyed by fire in 1900, and again by a freak tornado in 1922, Southsiders were among the contributors who helped…
Scanlines
Woo D: Daisy Von Scherler Mayer (1998) with Jada Pinkett-Smith, Tommy Davidson, LL Cool J, Dave Chapelle, Billy Dee Williams The title itself is fairly stupid (as are many of the scenarios presented within the film), but all is not rotten in the world of Woo. Imagine a cross between Blake Edwards’ mediocre Blind Date…
Postscripts
In December, bookstores tend to lighten the load of visiting authors because it’s the holidays and because they’re busy selling books. Nonetheless, there’s a great wealth of events going on at local stores this month, so here’s a compilation of as many of them as will fit into this space: Terry Galloway, performance artist and…
Celebrity, South Austin Style
photograph by Todd V. Wolfson When Danny Young talks about his arrival in South Austin from Kingsville 23 years ago, he doesn’t simply say “I moved here.” He weaves a romantic tale that rivals many married couples’ stories of their first meeting. Young fell hard. Kind of a chance-meeting, love-at-first-site, across-a-crowded-city thing. “About three days…
Short Cuts
Details have been finalized for the premiere of Robert Rodriguez’s hot new horror thriller The Faculty. The event will be a benefit for theTexas Filmmakers’ Production Fund, hosted by the Austin Film Society, on Wednesday, December 16 at the Paramount Theatre. Tickets for AFS members go on sale at the Paramount box office on Monday,…
I Wanna Take You Higher
Grown Up All Wrong by Robert Christgau Harvard University Press, $29.95 hard Pop culture aesthete/connoisseur and senior music critic for the Village Voice, Robert Christgau has assembled a collection of essays from his career that span from 1972 to 1997. At almost every moment he reveals himself an insightful, open-minded, appreciative, and adulatory fan of…
All-Star Team
illustration by Doug Potter When the Texas Legislature convenes its 76th regular session this Jan. 12, a passel of legislative gunslingers will ride up to defend the capital city ready for war, raring to ward off the aggression of the representatives who come to town every other year. Or maybe not. For the next round…
Coach’s Corner
Thanksgiving #1 occurred at the traditional time, after I weaseled a last-minute invitation from my pal, Leonard the Lawyer. Usually, I like Thanksgiving.It’s what I’d classify a good holiday, as opposed to potentially suicidal times like Christmas, or overrated holidays like the Fourth of July, which promises only ghastly heat, dripping sweat, and picnics highlighted…
The Lobbyists’ Bios
Reggie Bashur: Governmental relations and communications consultant; deputy executive assistant to Gov. George W. Bush; press secretary to Gov. Bill Clements; news reporter with Dix Newspapers of Ohio. Cliff Johnson: Senior adviser to Bush; Texas water commissioner; legislative director for Clements; former state Rep. Clayton Pope: Governmental consultant; Texas water commissioner; former state Rep. Don…
The Rock Pile
Music From the Heart by Rod Kennedy Eakin Press $39.95 hard/29.95 paper This book deserves much more than the few lines it will get here, but suffice it to say that Kerrville Folk Festival founder/producer Rod Kennedy’s very personal reminiscences are what give this book its character. The pages are filled with his behind-the-scenes goings-on…
Southern Living
Although business owners are quick to laud the rest of the city’s sudden “discovery” of South Austin, most say the area’s improving climate has been an ongoing, if largely invisible, project over several years. “This whole ‘revitalization’ thing is great, but this has been going on for years by all of us,” says Ellen Johnson,…
About AIDS
In late October a Louisiana doctor was found guilty of attempted murder based in part on similarity of HIV strains. Dr. Richard Schmidt was accused of injecting a former lover with HIV-infected blood when she broke up with him. The prosecution charged that the angry physician took blood from one of his HIV patients and…
The New Bubbaville
–Industrial-sized barbecue grills decorate the neighbor’s driveway. A different auto mechanic lives on every block, each with his own specialty. Impromptu block parties erupt, and families have seemingly perpetual yard sales operating on their front lawns. It’s the stuff of South Austin legend. The only catch is, more and more often these days North Austin…
Day Trips
The Empresario Restaurant in Goliad photograph by Gerald E. McLeod The Empresario Restaurant in Goliad provides good home cooking in a small-town coffee shop atmosphere that is pure Americana. The choice of items on the menu honors the cooking traditions of South Texas with Mexican dishes, Bubba’s Gourmet barbeque, and a few seafood items to…
It’s Not Just a ZIP Code
Barton Hills-Horseshoe Bend NA http://www.austin360.com/community/groups/BHHBNA/ index.html Contact: Peter Hess, 2502 Rock Terrace Drive, 441-2049, phess@mail.utexas.edu; Pat Whiteside, 2307 Barton Hills Drive, 443-4879 Boundaries:N — Intersection of Barton Springs Road and Robert E. Lee; S and W — Barton Creek; E — Robert E. Lee to Rabb to Rae Dell to Barton Skyway to South Lamar…
Page Two
This issue we present TheAustin Chronicle Guide to South Austin, the final entry in our quartet of Central Austin City Guides (along with Downtown, UT Area, and East Austin). Although these certainly are service pieces, oriented toward providing our readers with detailed, factual information, these guides are also something else. The way Austin neighborhoods grow…
Naked City
It’s been a while since we’ve heard the word “boondoggle” in relation to a City Council deal, but that word is cropping up more and more in casual conversation in relation to yet another ambitious downtown plan. It includes the construction of a new City Hall facing Town Lake, the purchase of the William P.…
Public Notice
“Buy locally; give thoughtfully,” we say. Here are a few items for sale and the proceeds of which will benefit some cool concerns. The Volunteer Services Council of the Austin State Hospital is offering Patient Art Note Cards, assortments of eight brightly and wildly colored cards with envelopes for the holiday season. Sets sell for…
Regular Folk
South Austin has longcaptivated the rest of the city with its diversity and funky charm. But it seems as if, just when Austin is really warming up to the South, the true South Austinites have less and less use for the rest of us. Several strolls through South Austin neighborhoods yielded conversations with every kind…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
After his death in 323 B.C., Alexander the Great was embalmed in a coffin filled with honey. Scientists at the University of Westminster have discovered that the smell of chocolate may boost the human immune system. They also have discovered that the smell of rotting meat makes it less effective. According to one source, Sherman…
Our Little Town
In 1891, after the new bridge had spurred a boom along South Congress, the “Village of South Austin” was officially annexed to the city, which typically promised better public services and then failed to deliver. It was not until 1904 that South Austin would have a fire station, and not until 1914 that South Austin’s…
That’s Amore!
Tony’s Vineyard 2348 Guadalupe, 474-8040 Daily, 11am-9pm (delivery after 5pm) Atmosphere is the first reason I recommend lunch or dinner at Tony’s Vineyard — you know, that curious pizzeria on the Drag? The decor is budget Italian, but each detail — the plastic grapes and vines, the shelf of Italian dry goods, the gold-framed poster…
Awn-te’s Inferno
illustration by KERRY AWN Avenue bridge Kerry suggests his own favorite metaphor for the area: “If you think of Austin as a human being, Town Lake is pretty much the belt. So everything in South Austin is below the belt. A lot of important functions take place below the belt, they’re just not always too…
Food-O-File
By one o’clock on Sunday, November 22, the friendly folks at ClayWays Pottery Studio (5442 Burnet, 459-6445) had dazed but happy expressions on their faces and rightly so. In the first two hours of the Empty Bowl fund-raiser, hundreds of civic-minded pottery lovers snatched up the custom-made bowls and slurpeddelicious soup, generating pots of money…
Cartoons, Slight Return
The Professor and Count Kook created Milton the Monster during the show’s credits, singing, “Six drops of the Essence of error! Five drops of Sinister Sauce!” Perhaps the Novem-ber television offerings are better left unexamined. I finally forked over for the cable box so I could watch the History Channel, the Sci-Fi Network, and The…
Dancing About Architecture
I remember it as though it were only yesterday, but in truth it was nearly a week ago. Thanksgiving Day, not yet on my way to the family hoedown for the holiday weekend, sitting in front of the tube, I saw it: an ad for the new “Jammin’ Oldies” station on Austin’s FM radio dial.…
The Second Coolest Thing Online
illustration by Jason Stout Just a few years ago, the coolest thing you could do on the Web was look at live pictures of someone’s fish. The simple novelty of graphics-based Web pages was enough to send nerds into paroxysms of rapture. Few people were worried about useful application of the new technology. It was…
