PLUS: Summer Camps

February 15 • 2008

Feb 15-21, 2008 / Vol. 27 / No. 24
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Cover Story

Pack Up Your tokidoki

A few months ago I lamented in this space about needing something a little snappier than my tattered Chucks for adventures outside Austin. I bought a fancy pair of Ferragamo Varina flats, had a stern talk with myself in the shoe closet, and felt relatively prepared for a civilized gathering. Then came the call that…

by Anne Harris

Sports Radio (Wars)

As the Chronicle’s Kevin Brass reports this week in his News “Media Watch” column, the waves are choppy at 1300AM the Zone (KVET-AM) and Horns fans aren’t feeling it. With ESPN 1530 (KZNX-AM) drawing listeners away from the Zone, the “Longhorn Station” best figure things out, and quick. Read all about the upheaval by clicking…

by Mark Fagan

Aztex Announce Head Coach Hire

This just in: “Austin Aztex Soccer Club today announced the appointment of Adrian Heath as Head Coach.” Heath, 47, played for 18 years at the top levels in England and Spain, and has a modest, but solid coaching record, mostly in the English second division. He began his career with the hometown Stoke City club…

by Nick Barbaro

Amp’d Play Season Finale, Potters Continue Their Surge, and More

Saturday night is the season finale for Austin Amp’d, Austin’s semipro indoor soccer team, competing in the Premier Arena Soccer League. They take on the Lubbock Lonestar, Feb. 23, 7:30pm, SoccerZone, 1220 Toro Grande Dr. in Cedar Park. www.soccerzoneaustin.com. As semipredicted last week, the Stoke Potters have moved into first place in the English League…

by Nick Barbaro

TEXAS STATE ARTS FESTIVAL

Texas Independence Day Weekend Saturday and Sunday, March 1 – 2, 2007 Downtown Austin Texas at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr Blvd and Congress Avenue, in the shadow of the State Capitol across from the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Saturday & Sunday hours 10am – 7pm Admission $5 per day 12…

by Chronicle Staff

Longhorn’s All-Star Weekend … and Beyond!

Just when things looked up, another injury takes our boy T.J. Ford to the bench. February 10, and T.J. walks out of Minnesota with a 105-82 victory and one hell of a John Stockton impersonation dishing out 13 dimes. One day later, he manages only nine minutes of action before finding himself sidelined with a…

by Andy Denham

Phillies Trade Kendrick for Hot-Dog Champ

In breaking news that is shocking Major League Baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies have traded starting pitcher Kyle Kendrick (10-4, 3.87 ERA in 2007) to Japan for hot-dog-eating legend Takeru Kobayashi. Please see below for Kendrick’s reaction to this unusual move.

by Mark Fagan

D.J. Spins Out of His Slump

For two weeks, it seemed like Texas guard D.J. Augustin couldn’t score on a 7-foot goal. But by halftime, the crowd at the Erwin Center seemed surprised that his three-fourths-court buzzer-beating attempt didn’t go in. On Big Monday against the Aggies, No. 14 made up for his shooting slump on one of the biggest stages…

by Ricky Treon

Kitty at Her Foot, and She Wants to Touch It

Sunday, Feb. 17, three days after Valentine’s Day, the Austin Convention Center’s Exhibition Hall 5 was a sea of red and pink. In the first official Texas Roller Derby Lonestar Rollergirls bout of the year, the Rhinestone Cowgirls faced off with the Hellcats. The Cowgirls, wearing red-and-white gingham shirts combined with pleated jean skirts, or…

by Sofia Resnick

Fashion Freak Out

A little after 10pm on Saturday, Feb. 16, the hot, skinny hipsters were out in full force two blocks north of the Drag, at Spider House Patio Bar & Cafe (2908 Fruth, 480-9562). Young waifs with backless shirts sipped steaming mugs of soy chai lattes while strapping, mustache-bedecked UT art/philosophy majors chain-smoked and sipped glasses…

by Sofia Resnick

Stoke Takes Over First Place in English League Championship

Stoke City, with a huge advantage in possession, came back from a 2-0 halftime deficit to beat Scunthorpe, 3-2, and move into first place in the English League Championship (second division) on Friday. The Potters got two goals from midfielder Liam Lawrence to earn their fourth straight win. The lead may be short-lived, as the…

by Nick Barbaro

Texas Platters

Melbourne, Australia’s Grey Daturas tone and drone, circle and shriek, like vultures picking the guts out of feedbacking guitars in the Australian Outback. Cut in oasis Austin at Infinity Recording Studios and released by local vinyl downpressor Emperor Jones, 22 minutes of ambient instrumentalism build into the biblical sandstorm of “Owly Claw” b/w “Hammer,” a…

by Raoul Hernandez

Oops!

In a News item last week, “Tempest in the PACT Teapot,” Feb. 8, we misspelled Public Access Community Television Executive Director Linda Litowsky’s name. The Chronicle regrets the error. “Film News” inaccurately reported in last week’s issue that Andrew Shapter’s documentary Happiness Is will be screening at the South by Southwest Film Festival; it will…

by Chronicle Staff

Naked City

Quote of the Week “Texas is about to become the center of the political universe.” – State Rep. Juan Garcia, D-Corpus Christi. Pictured are Garcia (r), wife Denise, and presidential candidate Barack Obama (l). Headlines • Texas is indeed in play. The Democratic presidential campaign arrives in Austin Thursday, Feb. 21, as Hillary Clinton debates…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Broken Teeth Electric (Tex-Tone/Cargo) Sweet: the point at which a band begins transcending its influences. Austin hard rock quintet Broken Teeth has screeched first-generation AC/DC from its first blown amp, and like the Cult breakthrough of the same title, Electric pounds thrillingly no-frills. Produced by the band, its ferocious, two-guitar duck walk raunches with all…

by Raoul Hernandez

Texas Platters

Reverend Organ Drum Hi-Fi Stereo (Yep Roc) The Rev. Jim Heath has returned to testify. Alongside Asleep at the Wheel’s Tim Alexander on Hammond organ and percussionist Todd Soesbe, the Horton Heat frontman redefines the power trio with Hi-Fi Stereo, an hourlong, mostly instrumental collection of covers that spans Ray Charles’ “I Got a Woman”…

by Austin Powell

Arts Review

Despite the script’s weaknesses, this NXNW production stays engaging because all five women are fun to watch

by Hannah Kenah

DVD Watch

Spencer Parsons has been waiting for a proper DVD of Fincher’s essay on the dorkiness of evil since end titles rolled in the theatre

by Spencer Parsons

Texas Platters

Marshall Styler A Face in the Clouds Quick, name Austin’s ex-rocker who traded stardom to become Texas’ New Age king. If you didn’t name Marshall Styler, that’s okay: Few people remember his wild years as Duke Jupiter’s vocalist, but astute locals will recognize his canny talent on the keyboards. With five other conceptual instrumental recordings…

by Margaret Moser

Texas Platters

All in the Golden Afternoon (Mind Expansion) The name comes from a hallucinogenic Lewis Carroll poem, but the newly married Rachel Staggs (Experimental Aircraft) and Carlos Jackson (the Shells) have infused their local debut as All in the Golden Afternoon with more looking glass, less rabbit hole. The title track is a reverb cruise through…

by Audra Schroeder

Texas Platters

Jeff Tracy Moments in Time (Aardvark) Jeff Tracy, singer and guitarist for local pop polishers Blue Cartoon, has placed his friends in an awkward position with this solo effort. Imagine: “How do I like your record? Oh, um. Have you lost weight? New glasses?” In other words – and this means you, Austinites at large…

by Melanie Haupt

Winners

First Place: “Black as Your Lungs, Black as Pitch” Greg Koehler is a James A. Michener Fellow in poetry at the University of Texas. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Ninth Letter, the tiny, Handsome, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Second Place: “Why Jimmy” Erin Pringle’s story “The Only Child” was nominated for a…

by Chronicle Staff

DVD Watch

Alex Cox managed to make an anti-American film (funded by Universal) about Nicaragua (on location) during a volatile and secretly funded U.S. opposition to Nicaragua. Sneaky.

by Raymond Blanton

Texas Platters

Austin Collins Roses Are Black (Fat Caddy) Roses Are Black, the sophomore offering from local songwriter Austin Collins, is rooted firmly in familiar soil, a well-trodden alt.country field that’s already been harvested for all its worth. With production from Centro-matic’s Will Johnson, Collins’ quartet sounds solid but hardly blossoms beyond the shadow of 1990s precursors…

by Doug Freeman

Judges

Shawn Badgley coordinated The Austin Chronicle Short Story Contest as Books editor from late 2002 through early 2007. This is his first novel. Alex Smith is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and prize-winning author of short fiction. He, along with his twin brother, Andrew, co-wrote and co-directed the award-winning feature film The Slaughter Rule. He recently sold…

by Chronicle Staff

Off the Record

Armed Forces Entertainment’s metal of honor, the Judy’s reunite for the Austin Music Awards, Bobby Whitlock and CoCo Carmel’s Double Fantasy

by Austin Powell

Texas Platters

Any Random Six (Media Arts & Literary Institute) If you don’t know the Jena 6 yet, it’s best you get familiar. December 2006, six black high school students are arrested and detained for beating up a white kid after three nooses are found hanging from the school’s notoriously white tree. Austin’s Media Arts & Literacy…

by Chase Hoffberger

Texas Platters

The Reivers Parish, Saturday, Feb. 9 As its original moniker suggests, the local band formerly known as Zeitgeist palpably encapsulated the spirit of its era. Saturday night’s Reivers reunion at the Parish, the first of two performances at the Sixth Street venue, was a soaring, jangling step back in time to an Austin that had…

by Greg Beets

Texas Platters

El Tule Volumen 1 Many songs from El Tule’s debut, Volumen 1, begin as traditional salsa and cumbia tunes, but more often than not, the Austin sixpiece takes delightful and unexpected detours along the way, dipping in pools of funk, reggae, rock, and psychedelia. The stunning “Media Noche” slowly builds from a slinky groove into…

by Thomas Fawcett

Texas Platters

School Police II (Non) Some of the instruments listed on School Police’s II include hair iron, tambourine, scream, and Speak & Spell. This throw-it-all-against-the-wall approach drives the Austin quartet’s instrumental musical chairs. Featuring vocals from members of the Hunnies and Belaire, II packs 27 songs into the group’s third album, integrating a handful of genres.…

by Audra Schroeder

Texas Platters

The Word Association Lucid. Aside from the slow-as-molasses “Mothafuckas better wake up” lead into Lucid.’s dub-hop opener, the Word Association’s debut runs closer to Minneapolis hip-hop than that of Houston. The San Marcos troupe demonstrates verbose lyricism, an honest albeit bleak “Self’s Reflection” of Rhymesayers style. Austin’s DJ Crown sprays tripped-out keys and ominous guitar…

by Chase Hoffberger

TV Eye

The writers’ strike may be almost over, but we’re gonna be feeling it for a while now

by Belinda Acosta

Texas Platters

The Service Industry Limited Coverage (Sauspop) The most remarkable thing about the Service Industry is that no one did it sooner. With all the kitchen-bred musicians in Austin, it’s high time a band coalesced around the plight of beleaguered day-jobbers. Following last year’s restaurant-centric debut, Ranch Is the New French, the local pop collective emerges…

by Greg Beets

Texas Platters

From the liner notes, it’s difficult to judge if Garland, Texas, superstar LeAnn Rimes’ Family (Curb) is more fashion shoot or album. She’s capable of carrying both equally well, though the glamour shots don’t really reckon with the everyday-woman country-pop Rimes is dishing. Her vocals are polished and suave, like a more powerful, smoother Lee…

by Doug Freeman

Dirt Road to Psychedelia

This documentary traces the changeover of Austin’s youth culture from beatniks to hippies, folkies to rockers, and potheads to day-trippers – with side trips into all the music along the way.

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Culture Flash

Applause for Austin playwrights in Louisville and New York, hats off to Chia, and a tuba player of note

by Robert Faires

Texas Platters

The Heavy Circles (Dynamite Child) Songwriter and composer Harper Simon, son of Paul, and stepmom Edie Brickell (only six years his senior) collaborate on a project that’s both ambitious and listenable. While it’s tempting to screech, “Nepotism!” it would be neither accurate nor fair to do so; this is totally Simon’s ball game. Simon’s first…

by Melanie Haupt

Texas Platters

Rich Harney Where Love Begins (Aardvark) No stranger to the local scene, Rich Harney’s swinging, soulful style has made him a most in-demand jazz pianist for more than two decades, playing with everyone in town from Tina Marsh to Redd Volkaert. Harney’s instrumental prowess takes a back seat here as he slows the tempo and…

by Jay Trachtenberg

Definitely, Maybe

Before giving in to romantic frippery, Definitely, Maybe functions as a believable, era-zagging retelling of one man’s overlapping love affairs with three women.

by Kimberley Jones

Raúl Salinas: In memoriam

Local poet, activist, and Resistencia Bookstore founder Raúl Salinas passed away Wednesday morning, Feb. 13, after a long illness. See next week’s issue for remembrances from his friends and colleagues; see austinchronicle.com/chronic for up-to-date information on tributes, readings, and funeral arrangements.

by Kimberley Jones

Texas Platters

Luna Tart Luna Tart Died If your vinyl copies of Cabaret and The Threepenny Opera are begging to be replaced, consider the retro-nostalgia offering Luna Tart Died, because she comes off a lot like Sally Bowles and Lotte Lenya’s long-lost love child. Yes, it’s music you could Charleston to, and this local wouldn’t be out…

by Margaret Moser

Texas Platters

Robert Skiles The Noble Grapes (Regalo) Pianist/composer Robert Skiles is best known to Austinites as the leader of that riotous, Latin party band and venerable musical institution known as Beto & the Fairlanes. He’s also an accomplished and respected jazz and classical player who lends his talents to this brief set of meditative piano solos…

by Jay Trachtenberg

Jumper

Jumper is pretty slick, entertaining stuff about what young male teens might do if given the ability to teleport.

by Marc Savlov

Texas Platters

That Damned Band 999 Surreal Eyes That Damned Band is a peculiar animal. Cut from the same cloth as the White Ghost Shivers, Asylum Street Spankers, and Jolly Garogers – that is, bawdy delivery and performative schtick – the local sixpiece and their friends began as the sonic air conditioning for 999 Eyes, a human…

by David Lynch

Letters @ 3AM

The real election is being decided in the primaries, and unless disaster intervenes, the next president will be Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama

by Michael Ventura

Texas Platters

The Politics These Bridges Will Not Stand The debut album from local trio the Politics bridges post-rock and dance punk, and, if there’s a music god, this rehashed conflagration will be taken out with an RPG. It’s possible that brothers Patrick (vocals, guitar) and Steven (drums) Gonzalez and bassist Andrew Campbell were going for the…

by Darcie Stevens

Texas Platters

One Trick Monkey Unleashed What do One Trick Monkey and P. Diddy have in common? A vodka endorsement! Yet whereas Sean Combs’ booze affiliation is but one cog in his empire, this fresh Austin group’s adult potable pairing creates literal buzz in a world packed with similar rock outfits. A respectable debut, the eight cuts…

by David Lynch

Taxi to the Dark Side

Alex Gibney’s new documentary focuses on the patterns of abuse committed by American armed forces against enemy combatants in Iraq and elsewhere. Instead of bad apples, he finds bad orders.

by Marc Savlov

Luv Doc Recommends: Harold and Maude

If there is a god in heaven, you weren’t even a zygote in 1971, otherwise you’re one of those hags or geezers who are dragging the Chronicle’s demos north … as in up I-35 toward Sun City. As far as the publishing business goes, that’s a death march – certainly for the alternative press, whose…

by The Luv Doc

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