Cover Story
Here Comes the Guv
Kinky Friedman lights up his campaign
The Spook Who Sat by the Door
The Spook Who Sat by the Door 1973, PG, 102 min. Directed by Ivan Dixon, Starring Larry Cook, Paula Kelly, Janet League, J.A. Preston, Paul Butler. Actor (Nothing But a Man)-turned director (Trouble Man) Ivan Dixon helms this incendiary Black Power movie about a token CIA recruit who uses his clandestine knowledge to foment the…
Arts Review
In Teatro Vivo’s staging of ‘Rosita’s Jalapeño Kitchen,’ a full cast acts as ingredients for recognized recipes to Mexican life
The Common Law
Common law divorce?
Primary Colors: Part II
Early voting for the March 7 primaries for both the Democratic and Republican parties begins Tuesday, Feb. 21. Last week we briefly previewed the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and State Board of Education races for Central Texas voters. This week we preview the contested races for the state House and Travis Co. Commissioners Court, and…
Education Irony
Texas Education Agency gives $10 million to schools slated for closure in AISD repurposing plan
Ballets Russes
Majestic movie about once celebrated, now long defunct ballet company that changed the face of modern dance.
Arts Review
‘Oh Mother’ is refreshingly eclectic in its celebration of its theme, its dances as individual as the children of the women who dance so eloquently in it
Soccer Watch
The U.S. men take on Guatamala in Frisco, Texas, and more
Primary Colors: Part II
State House, District 47, Republican: How right can you run? If you’re a Republican running for District 47, the way to distinguish yourself from the pack is not to – how else to explain the frontrunner status of Bill Welch? The five candidates – Welch, Alex Castano, Terry Dill, Rich Phillips, and Dick Reynolds –…
Point Austin: Not So Smart
Jury rules in favor of officer, but APD policy still stings
Freedomland
This Richard Price story about simmering racial tension that boils over during the course of a police investigation is choppy and erratic.
Arts Review
The art show ‘In Between’ provides the viewer with a rare opportunity to interact with the ideas that inform the exhibited works
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
What’s French for “banana”
Primary Colors: Part II
State House, District 47, Democrat: Inside baseball When Jason Earle declared for the House seat now vacated by Republican incumbent Terry Keel (who is aiming for a seat on the Court of Criminal Appeals), he seemed to be the de facto frontrunner, if only because of the name recognition of his dad, Travis Co. District…
Point Austin: Beside the Point
Council ponders limiting McMansions
Caché
In this challenging, tension-agitating film a privileged French couple become vulnerable when menaced by an unseen observer who constantly watches them.
14th Annual ‘Austin Chronicle’ Short Story Contest
The winners, the judges, and the reasons why
Oops!
Due to mathematical incompetence, last week’s article “The Primary Colors” incorrectly stated that Congressional District 10 candidates Ted Ankrum and Paul Foreman are in their “mid-40s.” Actually, they were born in the mid-1940s – which, obviously, makes them 63 and 62, respectively. The Chronicle regrets the error.
Primary Colors: Part II
Travis Co. Commissioner, Precinct 2, Democrat: What have you done for us lately? Although Sarah Eckhardt is personally a political newbie, her family has a legacy of public service, notably that of her late father, Bob Eckhardt, a former state representative and U.S. Congressman and co-founder of The Texas Observer. For her first foray, eight-year…
The Hightower Report
President Pinocchio speaks to the nation; and Lobbyists reject restrictions
The Winners
First Place: ‘Chlorine’ Originally from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, Gail Miller now resides with her husband in Albuquerque, N.M. She is a frequent visitor to Austin, where her sister teaches fourth grade at St. Elmo Elementary. “Chlorine” was inspired by a friend who actually does spend her summers conducting sting operations on city pools…
Plated Safe
A young chef shines, but with a menu short on surprises
Primary Colors: Part II
Travis Co. Commissioner, Precinct 4, Democrat: Southeast showdown Incumbent Margaret Gómez and Travis Co. Deputy Constable Yolanda Montemayor are battling to represent southeast Travis Co. on the Commissioners Court. Gómez, vice-chair on Capital Metro’s board of directors, she didn’t win many friends among bus drivers during the recent labor standoff when she argued that state…
Nerd Burn
How WEFAIL Web design has found success while spending way too much time online
The Judges
Robert Byington, a writer and filmmaker, won last year’s Austin Chronicle Short Story contest. He lives in Austin and is making a romantic comedy about a man getting out of jail and trying to readjust to civilian life, titled Registered Sex Offender. Doug Dorst, who teaches creative writing at St. Edward’s University, is a graduate…
Brentwood Tavern
One of North Austin’s best-kept secrets is about to be out
Howard Defeats Bentzin
Dems claim a ‘Republican’ district
The ‘Gatchaman’ Cometh
Four episodes of seminal Seventies animé get Alamo treatment
Chlorine
First place
Liquid Assets
Little brewery, big flavors
Making the Energy Grid Smarter
New nonprofit pushes energy providers for efficiency via high tech
In Print
The X List: The National Society of Film Critics’ Guide to the Movies That Turn Us OnIts reach is ambitious, covering films from the mainstream and the fringes, from the buddy flick to good, old-fashioned hard-core porn.
That One Sad One
Second place
Food-o-File
Boomerang’s: Australian for pie; plus, Ruta Maya recognized and Las Palomas celebrated
CCET Membership
Current members of the Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technology include: • Austin-based Freescale Semiconductor; • Investor-owned utilities TXU Electric Delivery, CenterPoint Energy, American Electric Power Texas, and Avistar Inc.; • a consortium of six public universities: Texas Tech, Texas A&M-College Station and Texas A&M-Kingsville, the University of Houston, UT-Austin, and UT-Arlington. CCET’s Milton…
In Print
The Big Book of Porn: A Penetrating Look at the World of Dirty MoviesLike the titillating genre, the book is loaded with enticing eye candy and a fun, flirtatious layout – imagine Skinemax doing a VH1 special:’Behind the Porn,’ in book form
Mojo Nixon is God
Third place
Outlaw Onda
If Tejano music isn’t on the radio, does it still exist?
March 7 Primaries
Sample Travis County ballots – actual ballots will vary according to precinct. (Only contested races are shown.)DEMOCRAT U.S. Senator• Barbara Ann Radnofsky • Gene Kelly • Darrel Reece Hunter U.S. Rep., District 10• Ted Ankrum • Sid Smith • Paul Foreman • Pat Mynatt Governor• Bob Gammage • Chris Bell • Rashad Jafer Lieutenant Governor•…
Monthly aGLIFF Program Launches With Celebration of Raval
P.J. Raval the first to be fêted
The Next Steps
Ballet Austin seeks out tomorrow’s Balanchines with a new and unique choreographic showcase
An Unfit Man
Honorable mention
Phases & Stages
Jenny Lewis with the Watson TwinsRabbit Fur Coat (Team Love) The ElectedSun, Sun, Sun (Sub Pop) Loose FurBorn Again in the USA (Drag City) Glenn KotcheMobile (Nonesuch) Bands as adored as Rilo Kiley and Wilco have a hard time relaxing. Mostly there’s the microscopic level of scrutiny from their adoring fans, who expect answers to…
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Crime, Punishment, & Country Music
‘Lifers’ premieres locally at Ruta Maya
TCB
It’s been rough out there, for you, me, Red River, Knife in the Water, and R. Kelly. Who else is ‘Trapped in the Closet’?
How to Make a Piñata
Honorable mention
Phases & Stages
Folk Alliance ConferenceAustin Hilton Hotel, Feb. 10-14 It wasn’t until Sunday night that the Folk Alliance felt like the musical feast that had been predicted. Entering downtown’s Hilton Hotel, for instance, you’d have been accosted by a young band of Cajuns stomping out a rhythm in front of an elevator bank, while in an upstairs…
SOS: The Amendment That Didn’t Bark
SOS slow to submit paired “open government” petitions to city
South by Southwest Film Passes
Now on sale
La Follia’s Musical Moonlighting
In the concert Musical Moonlighting, Baroque ensemble La Follia focuses on compositions by people who spent their days working in fields other than music
Page Two: Dial 1-800-Bentzin
How a rejected candidate can win back hearts and minds
Phases & Stages
Triksta: Life and Death and New Orleans RapBy Nik Cohn Alfred A. Knopf, 211 pp., $22.95 British journalist Nik Cohn earned his stars and stripes chronicling American subcultures in his screenplay to 1977’s Saturday Night Fever. This time around, the ambitious scribe delves deep into the marginalized world of New Orleans rap as Triksta traces…
City Cuts Scofflaw Cafe No slack
South Congress Cafe appeals unsuccessfully for code variances for illegal deck and patio
DVD Watch
Jean Renoir shot it in 1938, just as Hitler’s troops were occupying the Sudetenland and Neville Chamberlain and his band of appeasers were bending Europe’s back to the whims of the Third Reich. So, you’ll forgive him for making such a dark picture.
State Theatre Company
It’s a new year, and the State Theater has a new artistic director, who has announced some new additions to the theatre’s season
Letters at 3AM
Our national self-doubt and self-conflict are nothing new, but what is new, in the last 40 years or so, is a state of confused and conflicted values. It is the signature of our era that we live in a world so unstable that its limits may be tested merely by a bumper sticker.
Phases & Stages
Jay DeeDonuts (Stones Throw) Suffering from lupus, Detroit’s James Yancey died from kidney failure Feb. 10, only days after his 32nd birthday. Known as Jay Dee or J Dilla, the seminal hip-hop producer leaves behind a decade’s worth of phenomenal beat production, lending his signature drum warmth, sparse musical touch, and newfangled sample alignments to…
Sayonara Shoal Creek Frankencurbs
City hands down death sentence to street’s controversial curb islands
TV Eye
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A Latino goes to an audition but doesn’t get the job because he’s too ethnic
American Repertory Ensemble
Figuring dance and music to be great tastes that taste great together, American Repertory Ensemble aims to bring those art forms together in an organizational peanut butter cup
After a Fashion
Tom Ford is creepy and Stephen travels to Houston for fabric
NASA Joke Has Aggie Punchline
It takes a real Aggie to spot an Aggie wannabe
Stella Adler and the American Theater
UT’s Harry Ransom Center, which acquired the complete archive of Stella Adler, celebrates her impact on American acting in the symposium Stella Adler and the American Theater
Day Trips
Novosad’s BBQ and Sausage Market in Hallettsville takes great pride in continuing a tradition of doing things a little bit different than most of the other barbecue joints on the coastal plains of Texas. In this Czech community they like their smoked meats well done and juicy. Not an easy balancing act for even the…
Kinky’s Mexican Riptide
A near-death experience convinced Freidman that ‘I have to do more with my life’
Tree Flakes?
Recent Austin tree spats are symptoms of our need for a coordinated plan to manage the urban forest
Firewall
This high-tech heist thriller is like a For Dummies guide to the genre.
Arts Review
The Jewish Community Association of Austin production of ‘Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!’ is that rare revue where you actually care about the characters and what happens to them
To Your Health
What can be done to counter the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation?
Primary Colors: Part II
More races to watch, up and down the ballot
Birdshot Blunders
White House turns what could have been a forgivable hunting accident into suspicious cover-up, replete with excuses, denials, and, of course, no apologies
Eight Below
We smell penguins, even though Eight Below‘s animals are really a pack of sled dogs in a wonderful man-and-dog movie.
Luv Doc Recommends: Lucky Tomblin CD Release
Last weekend Vice President “Deadeye Dick” Cheney went “Final Fantasy” and declared open season on lawyers. Apparently the V.P. is among those who believe that lawyers, like quail, are an intolerable nuisance that must be flushed out and exterminated with extreme prejudice. Cheney’s birdshot facial of Austin attorney Harry Whittington (a.k.a. “that wascuhwy Hehwy Whittington”)…
