District 47
We couldn’t have dreamed up a better story: three of the four candidates running in the Republican primary in District 47 of the Texas Legislature are among Travis County’s most controversial figures. Each has achieved singular notoriety, but all together in one race, they make for bang-up politics. Sheriff Terry Keel, whose heroic antics in…
The $369.4 Million Bond Proposal
Election date: April 13 Prop. 1: $120.5 million for renovations for all 96 campuses. Prop. 2: $176.9 million for construction of eight elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school; also for the construction of over 150 classroom additions. Prop. 3: $72 million for safety and security equipment, technology infrastructure, Americans with Disabilities Act…
Scanlines
Meet the Feebles D: Peter Jackson; with all-puppet cast. VHS Home Video Before Kiwi filmmaker Peter Jackson (Dead Alive) learned how to pop bloody pustules on humans, he tried his hand with puppets. Meet the Feebles, a behind-the-scenes narrative involving the drug-crazed, sex-obsessed cast of a Muppet Show-like variety hour, pulls no punches while indulging…
The EUD’s Last Good Years
If you watched last Thursday’s council meeting, you might think Austin was just a quiet little Texas town, its city council concerned with pedestrian topics such as liability for the city’s housing corporation, and its citizens fighting the traditional zoning battles. But a piece of the real meat happened the day before at the Wednesday…
Being Seen
Austin playwright David Bucci, author of Kid Carnivore and MedVegas, currently has a hit play in the nation’s capital. His Lynnwood Pharmacy, “a satire on kitchen sink dramas,” has been staged by the noted Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company of Washington, D.C., and has done so well that it’s being held over. Bucci traces his good…
Makes the World Go Round
The similarities are too many to ignore. Both companies are allied with ruthless regimes who depend heavily on the money generated by their operations. In return, the companies depend on their despotic partners to provide hundreds of soldiers to guard their facilities. Both companies have despoiled the environment. And both companies have refused to denounce…
How $50,000 Is Shaking Up Austin’s Black Artists Buried Treasure
The $50,000 in unused funds lies in wait. Already ear-marked for the African-American arts community, it feels like an elusive miracle cure for any number of worthy Austin groups who are feeling the lack-of-funding crunch that reverberates throughout arts circles nationwide. One prominent local artist is making a concerted effort not only to receive those…
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and Royal/Dutch Shell, A Comparison:
Freeport Shell Company value (# of shares times share price) $6.8 billion $120 billion Country of operation Indonesia Nigeria Type of government dictatorship military junta Year minerals extraction began 1972 1958 Value of minerals extracted in 1995 $1.8 billion $1.5 billion Profits earned on the operations in 1995 $199 million $180 million Indigenous tribes located…
African-American Theatre Symposium II
Progressive Arts Collective’s Second Sym-posium for African-American Theatre Artists and their Allies is set for Saturday, February 24, at Austin Community College, Rio Grande campus. This follow-up to Pro Arts’ November symposium is expected to draw an even larger turn-out, based in part on advance conversation prompted by questions from Dr. Joni Jones: “Do we…
After The Fall
By 9:30 Wednesday, February 7, Travis County District Judge Joe Hart’s courtroom was deserted. The jury had been dismissed. No lawyers, clerks, or judges were in sight. More than a dozen maps, showing pollution plumes, pipelines, and tank locations, lay against a wall. Two dozen boxes of documents and exhibits were nearby. They were the…
Spoken Word Crash Course at Hyde Park Theater
On Thursday, Feb 29 at 8 pm, Hyde Park Theater offers a tempting opportunity to catch up with Austin’s performance poetry scene, with six of the more talented local writers together on one stage, reading in a high-energy, round-robin format. David Jewell, who wrote the love poem featured in Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, is often…
Women on the Verge
You could say that Rebecca Miller was born into the artistic life. Her parents are photographer Inge Morath and dramatist Arthur Miller. At the time of her birth 32 years ago, Miller’s parents roomed at New York’s famed residence of artists, the Chelsea Hotel. Miller’s path to filmmaking was not a direct one. She began…
Hyemeyohsts Storm’s Seven Arrows & Lightningbolt
Seven Arrows, an exquisitely illustrated epic chronicle of the Plains Indians’ legends and traditions, has been eagerly read by followers of Native Amer-ican culture for nearly a quarter of a century. Hyemeyohsts Storm’s best-selling 1972 classic taught the Way of the Medicine Wheels — the spiritual discipline and intricate science around which Native Americans believe…
Launching Bottle Rocket
Set in the low-rent Central Texas domain of the slacker, Bottle Rocket, the debut feature from director Wes Anderson and friends (and siblings) Owen, Luke, and Andrew Wilson, is a quiet little gem of a movie. It’s the kind of film you’re at first not sure what to make of but then end up telling…
Specialty Bookstores
The nice thing about large general bookstores, in addition to comfy chairs and other amenities, is that they’re huge — you can get anything there. Larger focus means more customers, which in turn means higher revenue and the kind of financial clout that can mean better prices on the books you like to read. But…
Unforgettable
Unforgettable 1996, R, 119 min. Directed by John Dahl, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ray Liotta, Linda Fiorentino, Peter Coyote, Christopher McDonald, Kim Cattrall, Kim Coates, David Paymer. Hideaway meets Quincy at Sid’s house. Unforgettable is a disappointing fourth outing for director Dahl, whose previous efforts include the brilliant Red Rock West and…
Only the Tip of the Iceberg…
And these, listed below, are indeed just a few of the many specialty bookstores around Austin. This doesn’t include the myriad used bookstores like Asylum Books, the secrets of Mysteries & More, gaming paradises like Dragon’s Lair, or neighborhood shops like Deep Eddy Books. Hopefully, you will be inspired to seek out the unusual and…
Angela
Angela 1995, NR, 103 min. Directed by Rebecca Miller, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Anna Thomson, John Ventimiglia, Miranda Stuart Rhyne, Charlotte Blythe, Peter Facinelli, Vincent Gallo. “We’re Christian Scientists,” 10-year-old Angela (Rhyne) explains to a new friend. “We use electricity to make people’s souls clean.” Angela’s definition of her and her 6-year-old…
Coach’s Corner
The Alamodome is taking a public relations beating. Spurs ownership-by-committee wants out of the Dome. They have the improbable notion someone, somehow, is going to build a special, highly profitable place for their little basketball team. They’re thinking someplace like New Braunfels or Selma. Spurs management does not lack for imagination. It’s true the Alamodome…
You Can Make A Difference!
You can make a difference in the continuing battle against AIDS in our community. You can make a difference by giving of the most important resource you have… your time and yourself. Our volunteers meet with clients one-to-one to provide friendship, companionship, support, outings, shopping trips, playing cards, going out to eat, playing with pets,…
Richard III
Richard III 1995, R, 108 min. Directed by Richard Loncraine, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ian Mckellen, Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent, Robert Downey, Nigel Hawthorne, Kristen Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, John Wood. He is the most audacious villain on the planet. He kills the King of England. He kills the heir to the…
Day Trips
Enchanted Rock has been attracting visitors for as long as they have been coming to this part of the world. A hike to the top of the pink granite dome is as exhilarating as it is exhausting — and the closer you get to the top, the more you realize what a unique and fragile…
Home Away From Home
Part One There are times I’m stuck in the city between appointments with a few hours to kill. I’m always looking for a comforting spot, a place where I can drink too much coffee or loiter around some books or stare into space undisturbed. A home away from home. One such place, although not officially…
Mr. Wrong
Mr. Wrong 1996, PG-13, 92 min. Directed by Nick Castle, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ellen Degeneres, Bill Pullman, Joan Cusack, Joan Plowright, Dean Stockwell, Ellen Cleghorne, John Livingston, Robert Goulet. Any movie that has the word “wrong” in the title should be very, very careful to get things right. The makers of…
Page Two
Spent the morning getting lost in some folders of dusty papers, the all-too-clearly preserved past of the Chronicle. I was trying to find exactly when we published the first Musicians Register issue but as usual I got mired in the quicksand of the past, sucked into looking at too many back issues of the Chronicle.…
Pao’s Shows the Way Beyond Kung Pao ChickenModern Chinese Secret
Pao’s Mandarin House 800 Brazos, 482-8100 Open daily,11am-2:30pm; for dinner, 4:30-10pm. (Fri. & Sat. ’til 10:30pm) Pao’s has won three Chronicle critics’ choice awards over the years and has been the subject of at least two glowing reviews (this will be the third). Yet the place remains obscure outside of downtown lunch circles. Several friends,…
Gospa
Gospa 1995, NR, 125 min. Directed by Jakov Sedlar, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Martin Sheen, Michael York, Morgan Fairchild. In English, the Croatian word “Gospa” translates as “Our Lady.” If “Our Lady” is someone with whom you’d like to spend more time, then Gospa is the movie for you. Gospa is less…
Public Notice
The Dark Past Has Taught Us Dispersed from homelands like seeds to the wind since the origin of humanity, the African peoples and their presence in the Americas, marked by years of struggle and survival, have influenced not only the culture of their direct descendants but also of mainstream America and global pop culture. With…
Epiphanies for the Blind
Guadalupe is always good for a carnival-like parade of odd couples and unexplainables, the bizarre sights that cause my occasionally visiting father to shake his head in disgust — or perhaps confusion — and mutter, Austin. A particularly puzzling phenomenon that’s stumped me for years is the clustering of blind children around scruffy, alternative types…
Bottle Rocket
The Wilson brothers made their auspicious, no-budget film debut with this deadpan caper film.
Food-O-File
Remember where you were on February 19, 1976? Could it have been the Texas Chili Parlor? The venerable local watering hole opened that day and is in the midst of a week-long 20 Years Young Celebration Week, February 17-23. They’ve rolled back the price of beer to what it was in 1976 and printed special…
The SXSW Expansion Club
It’s hard to say which is growing faster: the size of SXSW or the number of clubs in town. Luckily, the two tend to be symbiotic. SXSW this year has added no less than 13 venues that it hadn’t used before, most of which didn’t even exist at this time last year. Work on the…
Rumble in the Bronx
This fast-paced, funny film served as America’s introduction to Jackie Chan and the hyperactive world of Hong Kong action filmmaking.
The Original Pancake House
8127 Mesa Blvd, 795-8969 Weekdays 6:30am-8pm, Weekends 7am-8pm I really love breakfast, though not necessarily first thing in the morning. So I’m predisposed to favor a restaurant that serves breakfast all day long and I’ve discovered another one at the Original Pancake House. Knowledgeable friends told me this unassuming family restaurant had been designated one…
Dick Dale
Steamboat, Thursday 29 Deja vu. If it seems like this lead “Recommended” just happened, it did. Dick Dale was here only a few weeks ago (see “Live Shots”), but he’s back already. The reason? He blew the frigging roof off a packed Steamboat last time. Dale was so pleased, in fact, he called the club…
Austin Pizza Garden
6266 Highway 290 West, 891-998011am-10pm Sun.-Thur., ’til 11pm Fri-Sat. Driving through Oak Hill, you’d swear you were on the outskirts of Disney’s FrontierLand. Oak Hill is where South Austin gives way to Hill Country scrub, and zoning regulations apparently require 50% of businesses to reflect “Our Collective Cowboy Heritage.”As you pass Red’s Shootin’ Range and…
You Don’t Need Money, Just a Little Bit a Month…
It’s sweet music to the ears of some, but disingenuous noise to others. Upon setting a $369 million bond election for April 13, the AISD Board of Trustees joined ranks with trustees of Austin Community College in not pledging to steer any new campuses away from the Edwards Aquifer. And environmentalists want to know: Why…
