Karaoke Fever
Karaoke Fever 2001, NR, 90 min. Directed by Arthur Borman, Steve Danielson, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Karaoke aficionados forgive the culture’s self-reflexive nature, which gives total schlubs like you and me a momentary taste of elusive star power. But karaoke virgins – or worse, karaoke scoffers – wonder why people subject…
Rashomon
Rashomon 1950, NR, 88 min. D: Akira Kurasawa; with Toshirô Mifune, Masayuki Mori. It’s not often that a movie title enters the common vernacular, but these days, when we describe something as Rashomon-like, we are referring to this movie’s presentation of multiple versions of the truth of a rape and murder. Kurosawa’s first big international…
Stray Dog
Stray Dog 1949, NR, 122 min. Directed by Akira Kurosawa, Starring Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji. In this contemporary film noir set in post-WWII Tokyo. Mifune plays a detective who is on a mission to relocate his stolen gun and find a killer.
The Horse Thief
The Horse Thief 1986, NR, 88 min. Directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang, Starring Rigzin Tseshang, Jiji Dan, Jamco Jayang. A thief who is ostracized from his clan seeks a return to his community for the sake of his wife and newborn child.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923, NR, 133 min. Directed by Wallace Worsley, Starring Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller. This classic silent movie about a social outcast and his lady love stars the great Lon Chaney (the Man of a Thousand Faces) as Quasimodo.
Tremors
A good cast keeps the above-ground energy high, while the below-ground creepy crawlies remain plenty scary.
Seven Samurai
This Kurosawa classic’s blend of action, comedy, and 16th century Japanese philosophy makes this a cinematic lodestone. The film was remade in America as The Magnificent Seven.
Exhibitionism
Local chorus Conspirare, headed to New York City for the American Choral Directors Association convention, previewed the trip with a local concert of what amounted to two programs: a collection spanning Renaissance to modern works and a mostly modern collection of songs ranging from the flowing to the formal, the basic to the brash.
Phases and Stages
This Microwave WorldThe Same Things Kill Your Kids EP (How+Why?) Ever noticed a bunch of locals running around town with jet-black hair and stylish ‘dos, sometimes sporting faux British accents? Who knows why, but Austin’s mod squad rules the roost here in many circles. It must be a sign o’ the times that the New…
Will Seton Touch Down at Mueller?
The old airport may become home to a new Children’s Hospital.
The Hightower Lowdown
Nancy delivers Victory for cell-phone companies; Rick Perry admits he’s not up to the job.
Exhibitionism
The Post-Neanderthal Diet is a slight but enjoyable satire of quick-fix culture by Hans Frank (of Lonely Highway), in which guru Nubby Farnsworth Jr., a chain-smoking huckster who seems to have taken a swim in an oil leak, promises to improve your life with bizarre insights and a gag-inducing fruit-and-raw-meat smoothie.
Phases and Stages
The MidgetmenPool Party Emergency Breathe deeply and you’ll get a whiff of the stale PBR and overheated tube amps in the Midgetmen’s practice space. Plenty of toil, sweat, and beer has gone into this band, it’s obvious. Songs like “Someday,” “True Friend,” and “Sick Day” bounce off the walls with abundant indie rock energy. Unlike…
Pierce Freed After Three Years: “Godspeed”
The DA drops charges against Maurice Pierce for the yogurt shop murders.
(Re)learning Japanese
One was a hardworking Renaissance man, a student of literature. The other was a hard-living military veteran, a cameraman-in-training who stumbled into acting after his grizzled mug and gruff mien won a talent search. Together, Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune created some of the Japanese cinema’s most enduring treasures.
The Latest in Paper
“No doubt about it,” writes Jesse Sublett of Javier Marías’ When I Was Mortal, “this is fairly odd stuff, and the patterns of quirks pile up like clues in a baroque murder mystery.”
Phases and Stages
Micky and the MotorcarsWhich Way From Here If you guessed that Micky and the Motorcars is the name of a power pop band, one that worships Cheap Trick and Big Star, you were wrong. Oh so wrong. Instead, Micky and the Motorcars is a relatively new addition to the Austin scene, one taking its cues…
T.A.B. Takes Legal Offensive
An attorney for the Texas Association of Business will ask a judge next week to throw out one of two lawsuits filed against the lobbying group in the wake of last fall’s election. A summary judgment hearing is scheduled for Feb. 13 in connection with a suit filed by James Sylvester, a Democrat who lost…
Kurosawa/Mifune Retrospective Schedule
The Kurosawa/Mifune retrospective runs Feb. 7-20 at the Dobie Theatre (in the Dobie Mall at 21st and Guadalupe). See “Film Listings” for showtimes. Friday-Saturday, Feb. 7-8: High and Low (1963) and Throne of Blood (1957) Sunday-Monday, Feb. 9-10: Hidden Fortress (1958) Tuesday-Thursday, Feb. 11-13: Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962) Friday-Tuesday, Feb. 14-18: Seven Samurai (1954)…
Page Two
Expect the next decade to be dominated by a weak economy and precarious international politics — the consequences of Bush’s successes.
Phases and Stages
Lost John CasnerDon’t Make Me Laugh (While I’m Drinkin’) (Spectrum) Says plenty that the cover of Don’t Make Me Laugh While I’m Drinkin’ sports ol’ Lost John himself enjoying a shot of bourbon with Rowdy, the seated, customer-fooling mannequin that’s a permanent fixture at the Broken Spoke. Casner is a longtime fixture of Austin’s country…
Naked City
Quote of the Week: “I would walk to a federal court with a boy who didn’t want to kill or be killed in Vietnam. It was as if I had walked in with a mass murderer. People are frightened, including some judges, when you represent a political or religious dissenter.” — Maury Maverick Jr., in…
Come What May
Be it buckets of blood or PBS adaptations, Austin native and newly crowned angel of death Angela Bettis is up for it.
A Danse Macabre
Our national preparations for war follow a choreography that has predetermined steps.
Phases and Stages
Bill NeelyAustin’s Original Singer-Songwriter (Lost Art) Bill Neely’s country-blues are as thick as the coffee-black soil in cotton-patch outpost McKinney, Texas, where in 1916 he was born to an area still several decades away from Metroplex sprawl. The key song on this recording, from a February 1985 KUT LiveSet, is “Blackland Farm,” wherein a road-bound…
Naked City
“We’re not trying to make a buck, we’re trying to make a statement.” That’s the battle cry of the emerging “Stop War Run More” campaign, a shoestring endeavor of Jodi Harris and Jeremy Edwards. The Austin couple is trying to raise $2,500 to cover the cost of printing 1,000 T-shirts bearing the aforementioned anti-war slogan…
¡Ay, Almodóvar!
You can’t begin to explain the bewildering, gorgeous operatics of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar’s universe, where chance meets destiny and words take a way backseat to the communicative powers of hot, howling sex.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
The tartans that advertise 3M Scotch tape have no connection to any Scottish clan – they’re fake. They were designed by color consultant Arthur Allen in the 1940s.The Hawaiian version of falsetto contains an important added element called the ha’i, or break in the voice.Former Eldorado, Texas, schoolteacher Mrs. Corrine Robinson confiscated so many thousands…
Phases and Stages
Richard Buckner(Overcoat) For fans of Richard Buckner’s early work, especially those who loved his first two albums, Bloomed and Devotion + Doubt, the 11 songs on this self-titled release are a treasure trove. It’s just the enigmatic, just-passing-through new Austinite and his guitar, stripped naked and free of the many sonic layers he’s become fond…
Naked City
Promising to face and deal with current challenges and put Austin back on track to “set the tone for what a great American city should be,” Council Member Will Wynn “finally and formally” kicked off his mayoral campaign to a cheering Downtown throng Tuesday. While acknowledging the “painful process” of budget balancing that will be…
Short Cuts
Welcome to the Alamo Drafthouse Version 3.0.
Day Trips
Haak Vineyards and Winery looks like an old Spanish mission on the flat plains of Galveston County outside the village of Santa Fe. Inside the two-story building is a modern winemaking enterprise that has been growing by leaps and bounds since it opened in January 2001. The same could be said about Texas wineries in…
Phases and Stages
Ruben RamosOn the Prowl (Revolution) At least six lifetimes in (63 next month), Ruben “El Gato Negro” Ramos is forever On the Prowl. Following 2000’s self-explanatory A Class Act and before that a Grammy for his singular contribution to Los Super Seven (Ramos being the all-star group’s anchor and senior member), East Austin’s Tejano veteran…
Naked City
Japanese newspapers reported Tuesday and the Associated Press Wednesday that San Antonio has been selected as the site of Toyota’s new U.S. car plant, for which the Alamo City has lobbied heavily. The project is expected to pump more than $80 million annually into the San Antonio economy and create at least 2,000 jobs. The…
Video Reviews
IT’S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER (1955)D: Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen; with Kelly, Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Michael Kidd, Dolores Gray, David Burns. Is this the age of the Cynical Musical? Is that an oxymoron? The high-kickin’ Chicago and Moulin Rouge have left their mark on appreciative audiences wary of treacle, but each film throws off…
After a Fashion
Whose hair made Stephen say, “DHOH!” at the GG’s this year, and who was TLWIH? And that’s just the national scene. … Locally, which partygoers were also BOAers and who counts as Stephen’s NBF??? U must read 2 C!!
Phases and Stages
The Malford Milligan BandSweet Cherry Soul (Stagger Lee) Malford Milligan, doing his soul thing, backed by musicians from Holland!? It’s true, and knowing Milligan, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Always his own man, Malligan possesses one of the most distinctive voices in Austin, and anyone who’s seen him fronting Storyville, Double Trouble, or most…
Naked City
Local churches, in collaboration with AIDS Services of Austin, Austin/Travis Co. Health & Human Services’ Black Church Outreach Project, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and Rosewood Recreation Center, are sponsoring an East Austin HIV/AIDS State of Urgency March & Rally in observance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness and Information Day on Saturday, 1-5pm. Participants will rally…
TV Eye
What NBC’s new Kingpin means for the representation and presentation of Latinos on television
To Your Health
What is inulin good for, and where can I buy it?
Phases and Stages
Monte MontgomeryLive! at the Caravan of Dreams (TMG) The first thing to know about Live! at the Caravan of Dreams is that you don’t have to buy it. The second thing is that Austin’s Monte Montgomery is an enormously talented guitarist. The third is that talent and proficiency don’t necessarily make compelling recordings. This 2-CD…
Naked City
John “Jackie” Elliott was executed Tuesday evening for the 1986 rape and murder of 19-year-old Joyce Munguia in East Austin. Elliott held dual British-American citizenship (he was born in England and his family moved to the U.S. when he was a child), and his case became a national cause across the UK, provoking a personal…
Final Destination 2
Final Destination 2 2003, R, 100 min. Directed by David R. Ellis, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ali Larter, A.J. Cook, Michael Landes, T.C. Carson, Jonathan Cherry, Keegan Connor Tracy, Tony Todd. It’s difficult to say with any certainty whether or not Rube Goldberg would have enjoyed this gross-out teen horror film, but…
Second Helpings: Sushi
Sushi: The possibilities are quiet literally endless.
About AIDS
Make Your Voice Heard, Feb. 10-11! Underfunding of the Texas HIV Medication Program may leave 4,200 HIV-positive Texans with no access to their life-saving “drug cocktail.” Budget shortfalls at the Texas Department of Health are forcing rule changes that will prevent anyone with an income of over $12,400 from participating in the assistance program, which…
Phases and Stages
Oh, Beast!(Perverted Son) Emerging from the ashes of local prog-punk stalwarts Zulu As Kono, Oh, Beast! hones in on the former band’s predilection for jagged cacophony from an entirely new angle. Whereas Zulu sought to blitzkrieg the listener with a six-man, double-drummer lineup, Oh, Beast! is a power trio with surgical strike precision. This six-track…
Naked City
Some Downtown boosters are ready to rumble over a proposal that would siphon $25 million from the stalled Waller Creek improvement project and redirect it to the also-stalled Long Center for the Performing Arts. The Long Center, a $110 million dream project planned to be financed solely by private donations, has only raised $62 million…
Deliver Us From Eva
Deliver Us From Eva 2003, R, 105 min. Directed by Gary Hardwick, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring LL Cool J, Gabrielle Union, Duane Martin, Essence Atkins, Robinne Lee, Meagan Good, Mel Jackson, Dartanyan Edmonds, Jazsmin Lewis, Kim Whitley. The fact that there’s little new in the roundabout urban updating of Shakespeare’s The Taming…
TCB
SXSW looms on the horizon, and “TCB” is already neck-deep in it.
The Comforts of Home Cooking
Two Austin schools are teaching the old-fashioned way.
Phases and Stages
J ChurchPalestine (Honey Bear) J Church’s Lance Hahn is sad to see Sound Exchange go, not only because it jibes with the sad, sloppy, funny punk aesthetic his band has radiated for over a decade, but also because it means he’s out of a job. Hahn will probably get by; after all, he’s done as…
Naked City
As expected, “homeland security” and the public’s right and need to know have butted heads, and Austin has become one of the battlegrounds. Last fall, an investigative reporter with The Daily Texan presented UT and the city of Austin with open-records requests for the locations, recording hours, and technical specifications of surveillance cameras used by…
May
May 2002, R, 95 min. Directed by Lucky McKee, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, Anna Faris, James Duval, Nichole Hiltz, Kevin Gage, Marle Kennedy, Chandler Hecht, Will Estes. “I like weird,” announces Adam (Sisto), the guy on whom the socially awkward and budding sociopath May (Bettis) has set her…
Culture Cash
Austin’s artists and arts groups are working hard to survive the economic downturn, and now more than ever it’s essential for the city that they do.
Food-o-File
Virginia B. Wood has nothing but good news.
Phases and Stages
Butthole SurfersButthole Surfers + Live PCPPEP (Latino Bugger Veil) The sphincter opens and out spills Paul Leary, screaming. “There’s a time to fuck and a time to pray, but the shah sleeps in Lee Harvey’s grave!!!” A musical apocalypse accompanies, no doubt via strict, Cagian deconstruction principles, but the guitarist ain’t done. “There’s a time…
Naked City
Travis Co. District Attorney Ronnie Earle now must decide whether to retry former Austin police officer Samuel Ramirez, after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Earle’s bid on Jan. 29 to have Ramirez’s conviction reinstated. Ramirez was convicted in April 2001 of official oppression, stemming from a 1999 charge that he forced a Southeast…
Unkindest Cuts of All
A snapshot of the impact that this year’s 31% cut in Cultural Contract funding had on 10 Austin arts companies that were on a strong growth track and had that growth in city funding abruptly reversed.
This Good Thing
The Stingers know they don’t fit in. These days “ska” means Goldfinger, Sublime, and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and that’s if anyone’s thinking about ska at all. It’s been at least one music revolution since Rancid and Reel Big Fish were on the radio, and Dropkick Murphys are too House of Pain. The electro-New Wave…
Changing Places
The new Pickle Elementary School is a crucible of the changing St. Johns neighborhood
Naked City
With all the hustle and bustle last week in and around District Judge Julie Kocurek’s courtroom on the seventh floor of the Travis Co. Criminal Justice Complex, you might have thought some complex, gritty legal issues of national importance were under consideration at the bar. You would be wrong. What was all the fuss? The…
Choosing Peace
On the second anniversary of being named Ballet Austin’s permanent artistic director, Stephen Mills reflects on his first two years and the company’s current program, Director’s Choice.
Reviewed
The Stingers ATXThis Good Thing (Grover) Remember back in the mid-to-late Nineties when ska became the flavor of the week? Back when bands like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Goldfinger, and the Dancehall Crashers were floggin’ it? Austin’s Stingers aren’t anything like that. Ska is all about the groove, not speed, and the Stingers mine a…
On the Lege: Bombshells and Budget Officers
The Legislature begins to get down to business.
Naked City
Last week Travis Co. Attorney Ken Oden told Naked City that his ethics investigation of state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, and former Rep. Rick Green, R-Dripping Springs, remains ongoing. The probe began last year in response to a complaint that the two legislators may have engaged in potentially illegal lobbying of the Texas Dept.…
Articulations
Long Center supporters do a funding turnaround by asking the city for $25 million in bond money, and Austin Musical Theatre finds new life as Broadway Texas.
Phases and Stages
Flametrick SubsSomething in Japanese (Kranzke) What’s to be said about the Flametrick Subs that hasn’t been said about the Cramps? Plenty. The Cramps don’t call Austin home, and they’ve never played anything as rousing to a Lone Star heart as “The Pride o’ Texas.” The Subs make no bones about kissing the Cramps’ skull ring…
STAR Flight Strife Leads to Stand-Down
The fallout from an employee lawsuit briefly shuts down Travis County’s air ambulance service and vexes the Commissioners Court.
Austin @ Large: Austin at Large
Our fiscal crisis is exactly the reason we need a City Council resolution on Iraq
Exhibitionism
While the material in Personals, a revue built around the ads placed by men and women desperately seeking soul mates, suffers somewhat from age, Naughty Austin’s production makes a fine match with a cast that is exceedingly appealing and extremely adept at musical comedy.
Phases and Stages
Slum CityHot Beef Rejection (Super Secret) When straight-laced parents agonize over whether to condone their child’s involvement in rock music, it’s bands like Slum City that populate their worst nightmares. And who could blame them? Slum City comes off like a female-fronted version of Fang with all the inebriated mayhem that implies. Starting with its…
Getting Down, Standing Up
Though the daily reported that 3,500 people attended last Sunday’s Get Up, Stand Up! concert/teach-in/rally, the bleachers of the Toney Burger Center sure seemed emptier than that. But regardless of the crowd size, enthusiasm ran high at the three-hour event, which included music, tabling, and quite a bit of peace-sign displaying. A hodge-podge of speakers,…
Capitol Chronicle
A farewell to Maury Maverick Jr.
