Dead Women Owned His Soul
He should have known he’d have to go back. Not just part of the way. All the way. That’s where the answers are. He should have known because that’s the way it is in noir fiction. He should have known it like Robert Mitchum knew it midway through Out of the Past. He doesn’t just…
Dancing About Architecture
To heck with the bands, the most interesting list for me, as far as SXSW is concerned, is always the one of all the people who’ll be in town to speak at the various parts of the conference. This year, among those scheduled to appear on panels or in other similar speaking posts at either…
The Harvey Chronicles: Episode 2
Chronicle cover, Vol. 5, No. 25, August 15, 1986 “So, Margaret, I’m coming to town in February — ya got anything I can write for ya?” A phone call from Harvey Pekar is always an occasion. An occasion for stark terror — oh no, he’s back! — as well as incipient amusement: Harvey Pekar’s presence…
Postscripts
Vallie Fletcher Taylor, author of Rebel Private: Front and Rear, will speak on diaries and memoirs at the Thu., Feb. 20 meeting of the Austin Writers’ League (AWL), 7pm at the First Unitarian/Universalist Church. Fletcher’s book is a revised memoir of her great grandfather’s experiences in the Civil War, which he originally had published in…
Live Shots
Vince Herman and Tye North of Leftover Salmon at Steamboat, February 8photograph by John Carrico DAMON BRAMBLETT Stubb’s, February 1 Music journalists always hope they can be the first one to “discover” someone great, and since I can’t recall seeing any write-ups on Damon Bramblett elsewhere, I’m calling first dibs on him. If I’m wrong…
Events:
1. Sonnets From the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. For Valentine’s Day, there isn’t anything any better than this collection of sonnets (including “How Do I Love Thee, Let me count the ways…). Serve with chocolate. 2. Fried Green Tomatoes at the WhistleStop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. Even if you saw the movie, pick up…
“Let’s Talk About Your Meds”
Over the last several years, the treatment and management of HIV/AIDS has become better than ever. Many new treatments and medications have become available due to extensive research and encouraging breakthroughs. Along with these advances have come some complicated medication regimens. Many times these include one or more medications, many of which require specific instructions…
Recommended
Friday: Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Kelly Willis, Dale Watson, Texas Union Ballroom; Diamond Smugglers, Cattleguard, Electric Lounge; The Queers, Groovie Ghoulies, Emo’s Saturday: Alejandro Escovedo, Cactus Cafe; Nora York, Top of the Marc Sunday: Knapsack, Jimmy Eat World, Voodoo Lounge; James Polk, Elephant Room Monday: Los Tigres Guapos, Cruel & Unusual, Emo’s Tuesday: Lyle Lovett, Keb…
Bad Livers
Hogs on the Highway (Sugar Hill) It’s been three long years since Horses in the Mines, the Bad Livers’ last album, and a lot has changed, but even more has stayed the same. Ralph White is out as fiddle player, replaced by Bob Grant, a mandolin player from New York City (!), yet both appear…
Hearth & Soul
Where does the Lone Ranger take his garbage? To the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump. I swore when I turned 30 I would never go to the dump again. Well, that landmark birthday is long in my past and I’ve been to the dump plenty of times since then. I was…
Roadkill
Hole in the Wall, Saturday, February 15 Every band has a signing story — even those that aren’t signed. Entering South by Southwest season, you’re bound to hear a few good ones, and seeing as Minneapolis’ Rex Daisy were the buzz band at SXSW ’94 (along with Veruca Salt), and eventually signed with Geffen, it’s…
Benefits
FRI 14 Valentine’s Day Dinner to benefit Tomorrow’s Women in Science and Technology (TWIST), at Top of the Marc, 618 W. Sixth. Cost is $75 . 472-2037. SAT 15 12th Annual Baile de Amor to benefit ALLGO (Austin Latino/a Lesbian & Gay Organization), at Hyatt Regency Hotel, 9pm-1am. $12 advance/$15 at the door. 472-2001. Swap…
AISD Notebook
Concerned that students who are teetering on the edge of dropping out will “disengage” from the entire school system, AISD administration last month announced a bottom floor for students’ six-week grades. In a January 15 memo to all high school principals, AISD Deputy Superintendent Kay Psencik instructed, “As we strive to implement a student-driven curriculum…
Coach’s Corner
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column commenting on some issues raised by Texas basketball coach Tom Penders. Penders complained, at a post-game press conference and later in the week on his radio show, about the tepid response his team receives in the too empty, too quiet, Frank Erwin Center. This turned out…
Jackie Be Good, Man
Forget the mayor. The real moderate on the council is Jackie Goodman. As Gus Garcia has grown more environmentally conscious and Bruce Todd less, Goodman has emerged as the council’s most reliable swing vote, the middlewoman who hopes to simultaneously please big money and little people. Bill Cosby once said he didn’t know the secret…
Day Trips
The Ant Street Inn in Brenham has turned a 96-year-old mercantile building into one of the most luxurious accommodations between Houston and Austin, perfect for a romantic getaway or a relaxing holiday. The red brick, two-story Renaissance Revival building looks deceptively plain from the outside. Built in 1899 to house a wholesale dry goods and…
Infill On Trial
by Mike Clark-Madison photos by Kenny Braun The new digs of ad agency GSD&M on Sixth Street, one block east of Lamar, reflect a trend that may revitalize downtown more than any shopping mall ever could. Welcome to Austin Tomorrow. That is, Austin today. Which was supposed to be Austin yesterday. Austin Tomorrow, you may…
Page Two
The most important question facing Austin is where and how it will grow. This affects all other issues, including basic city services, education, traffic, transportation, and growth. The question is neither na�ve nor environmental — it is practical. Most of the problems facing the city have to do with its being overwhelmed by growth. These…
One Family Won’t Abandon Ship: The Last Holdout
photograph by Kenny Braun Lupe Riojas traces his finger along the faded date etched into his cement front porch: July 15, ’61. “This is the date we moved in here,” he recalls. More than a third of a century has passed since Riojas’ home on Henderson Street was part of a sleepy neighborhood running along…
Public Notice
Austin bands upchuck prechewed songs by other locals in the Austin Eats Its Own Hoot Night, Wed, Feb 19, 9pm at the Hole in the Wall. The hoot will benefit the SIMS Foundation, the group dedicated to offering low-cost mental health care services to the Austin music community. Bigfoot Chester, Texas Meat Purveyors, Sincola, Kathy…
Naked City
How does the name Seton of Circle C grab you? Like a crab? The healthcare network had its telephone pollsters dialing up folks during X-Files Sunday night to see whether the idea of a Seton outpatient post at Circle C would fly with area residents. One Hays County homeowner reported that one of the pollsters…
Mister Smarty Pants Knows
Valentine’s Day was originally associated with the mating of birds. Chaucer wrote in “Assembly of Fowls:” “For this was on Saint Valentine’s Day, Where ev’ry fowl cometh to choose her mate.” More than 80 million Little Debbie Be My Valentine Cakes are sold each year. “Cupid” is a comprehensive model of plant-environment interaction developed by…
Hancock Center, R.I.P.
photograph by John Anderson What started as a feature has turned into a eulogy, now that the bulk of Hancock Center has heard the call of the wrecking ball. The site signs promising a “major redevelopment” now overlook fields of rubble where once stood Austin’s toniest stores and trendiest shoppers, the shock troops in the…
Grey Rain at Graceland
illustration by A.J. Garces Driving west on a Tennessee two-lane, listening to Shelby Foote speak of Gettysburg. His Old South accent gives the bloodiest battle fought on this continent a daguerreotype, sepia-toned look in my mind’s eye: I see a battleground where the living seem not quite living, the dead not quite dead. An odd…
Patching Things Up
This open field at the “Triangle” bordered by Guadalupe, Lamar and 45th Street will soon be filled with a Randall’s supermarket, a cinema, restaurants, coffee shops, various retail, and a big parking lot.photograph by Kenny Braun In the history of Austin’s great war between developers and citizens, the “Triangle Development” probably will not be remembered…
Food-O-FIle
by Virginia B. Wood Last-minute planning for Valentine’s Day? Those romantic private dining rooms at Bertram’s were booked days ago and the elegant, new, small private dining room at Jeffrey’s with its own china and crystal has long since been taken. Castle Hill only accepts reservations once a year and you forgot to call? Don’t…
A Whole Lotta Lava Going On
Volcano It could well be that we have already witnessed the biggest movie event of 1997 — and all before tearing off the January page of our new calendars. Star Wars: Special Edition, a re-release of the 1977 film with a touch of new footage and technical tweaking added, has seized the American box office…
Food Fetish
photo courtesy “Inter Courses – an Aphrodisiac Cookbook” The holiday of love is upon us yet again, and as you prepare this year’s plan of seduction, remember that food plays as important a role in stirring passions as a schmaltzy card, eloquent love letter, or an intimate gift. Strong cheese may seem a turn-off to…
Also Playing
Griffin Dunne directs Matthew Broderick, Tchey Karo, Kelly Preston, and Meg Ryan in ADDICTED TO LOVE, a romance in which two spurned lovers team up to spy on their exes… Leo Tolstoy’s classic ANNA KARENINA was shot on location in St. Petersburg with Sophie Marceau, Alfred Molina, and Sean Bean… Michael Myers stars as AUSTIN…
Articulations
What’s that they say about New York? If you can make it there…. One of our own is pretty darn close to doing that. Playwright/performer/director Amparo Garcia — Renee in the Capitol City Playhouse production of Dark Rapture, Luz in Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre’s staging of Unmerciful Good Fortune, author of A Roomful of Men, which…
Texas Rebel Radio
photograph by Nathan Jensen Surely you’ve heard of it by now. In a few scattered areas around the nation — 76, at last count — there are even radio stations that play it. And not merely as an augmentation of the larger AAA (Adult Album Alternative) format, or as a once-a-week specialty show, but rather…
Loaded
D: Anna Campion; with Oliver Milburn, Dearbhla Molloy, Danny Cunningham, Catherine McCormack, Thandie Newton, Nick Patrick, Brady Hodson, Matthew Eggleton, Caleb Lloyd. VHS Home Video Waterloo Video, 1016 W. Sixth Camp Crystal Lake meets Psych-Out in this feature film debut (1994) of Australian writer-director Anna Campion, encouraged by famous sister Jane (The Piano, The Portrait…
Local Palette
Various Artists Ruta Maya Coffee House through February 28 Untitled, by Cuban artist Tito I find it interesting that the quality of art in some local coffee shops and restaurants often rivals the collections in many galleries. I won’t climb on my soapbox about the serious deficiency of galleries in Austin, and I’m not necessarily…
Picking Up Where KFAN Leaves Off: KNBT
While Austin could certainly lay claim to being the Americana/alt-country music capital of the world, the Hill Country has us whipped on radio stations. KFAN has become well-established in Fredericksburg, and now there’s an Americana upstart in New Braunfels, as well. KNBT was your typical “Hot Hit Country” station until about seven months ago, when…
Shortcuts
by Jen Scoville Of all the panel discussions planned for the upcoming South by Southwest Multimedia/Interactive Festival, there’s one that’s sure to get its audience hot under the collar. The Future of Sex, whose five speakers include A Touch of Latex fanzine founder Lily Burana, co-founder of FutureSex magazine Richard Kadrey, director of UT’s Interactive…
Miracle on E. 7th St.
photograph by Minh Carrico For Ruperto Reyes, Jr., Petra’s Pecado brings him full circle. After more than 20 years, Reyes is again involved in the heart of Latino theatre in Austin. Reyes, a dark-skinned, forty-something man who sports a bushy Mexican mustache, was raised on a farm near Manor. It was there that he first…
Phantom Power & Spiritual Benefits
L-R: Mark Rubin, Ralph White, Danny Barnes, and Bob Grantphotograph by George Brainard Check the date: It’s Valentine’s Day. It’s almost too tempting not to take this opportunity to picture the experiences of the lucky (albeit fictitious) winner of this august journal’s “Win a Date with the Bad Livers” contest. “Oh!” enthuses “the loud guy…
It’s Not the Pot
Whatever criteria are used when labeling a film `alternative’ these days, it’s certain that Use Your Head would qualify based on its subject matter alone — fictitious sessions excerpted from a government-funded drug study designed to determine the effects of marijuana and alcohol in combination. For one thing, the six characters we follow exist in…
