Top Books
Poet Rocker/Wacko: Wesley Willis My list of top ten crime books of 1996 is dedicated to Eugene Izzi, the ultra-tough Chicago crime writer whose body was found dangling from the window of his office with a rope around his neck just before Christmas. He was wearing a bullet-proof vest and had $400 and some brass…
Critics Poll
Beets: The Makers, Emo’s/Neil Diamond, Erwin Center Cohen: Ben Folds Five, Electric Lounge Gray: Joan Jett, Electric Lounge Hernandez: Bruce Springsteen, Austin Music Hall/Sponge, Liberty Lunch Langer: Ben Harper, Liberty Lunch Messer: Evil Stig, Liberty Lunch Moser: Cowboy Junkies, Paramount Theatre Nichols: El Vez, Continental Club Stegall: D Generation, Liberty Lunch Trachtenberg: Terence Blanchard, Elephant…
Movie Titles for 1996
Movie Titles for 1996 [ Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 ] FAN, THE2.0(M.S.)8/16/96 FARGO4.0(M.S.)3/22/96 FEAR1.0(J.O.)4/19/96 FEELING MINNESOTA1.5(M.S.)9/20/96 FINAL OPTION, THE1.5(J.O.)5/3/96 FIRST KID2.5(M.B.)8/30/96 FIRST WIVES CLUB, THE1.5(A.M.)9/20/96 FLED1.5(M.S.)7/19/96 FLIPPER1.5(H.C.)5/31/96 FLIRT3.0(A.M.)10/11/96 FLIRTING WITH DISASTER3.5(S.D.)4/5/96 FLOWER OF MY SECRET, THE3.5(M.B.)4/26/96 FLY AWAY HOME3.0(H.C.)9/13/96…
“I’m HIV-Positive — Doing Okay — What Now?”
If you know that you are HIV-positive, that means that at some time you answered “Yes” to the question, “Should I take the HIV antibody test?” It’s likely you’ve been grappling with questions ever since. Perhaps you’ve asked yourself, your friends, your doctor whether AZT, ddI, Zerit, 3TC, the protease inhibitors, or combination therapy is…
Dancing About Architecture
Well, the Grammy Awards may be more irrelevant than ever this year, serving only to remind you that, yes, Journey is still around — and that Hillary Rodham Clinton is hip enough in her book to get a nomination in the Best Spoken Word category. On the other hand, with the music industry splintering, more…
Movie Titles for 1996
Movie Titles for 1996 [ Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 ] HIGH SCHOOL HIGH1.5(M.B.)11/8/96 HOMEWARD BOUND II: LOST IN SAN FRANCISCO2.0(H.C.)3/15/96 HORSEMAN ON THE ROOF, THE2.5(A.M.)5/31/96 HOUSE ARREST2.0(R.F.) 8/23/96 HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, THE2.0(M.B.)6/21/96 HUSTLER WHITE2.0(M.B.)11/15/96 HYENASPreview(M.B.)2/9/96 HYPE!4.0(R.S.)11/22/96 I CAN�T…
I’m Mad Too, Suzy
Dear Suzy, I am renovating an old house and need to upgrade my water service. My house has only one bath and a kitchen now, but soon will boast two kitchens, four baths, a utility room, and a few other odds and ends. The house is also tall and on top of a hill so…
Music Recommended
Friday: Jack Saunders, Saxon Pub Saturday: Sixteen Deluxe, Mazinga Phazer, Maxine’s Radiator, Electric Lounge Sunday: Suzi Stern Quartet, Alex Coke, Manuel’s; James Polk & Co., Elephant Room Monday: Horsewreck, Donuts, Andy & Dan, Hole in the Wall; Blort!, Cornpone, Emo’s Tuesday: Patty David, Broken Spoke Wednesday: Susanna Van Tassel, Jovita’s Thursday: Hyde Park Unplugged, Joel…
Movie Titles for 1996
Movie Titles for 1996 [ Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 ] LOVE IN THE TIME OF TWILIGHT3.0(J.O.)4/12/96 LOVEMASTER, THE0(A.M.)11/8/96 LOW LIFE, THE3.0(S.D.)5/17/96 MA SAISON PREFEREE3.5(M.B.)9/20/96 MADAME BUTTERFLY3.0(R.S.)11/29/96 MAN OF THE YEAR2.5(A.M.)5/31/96 MANNY & LO4.0(M.B.)9/20/96 MARS ATTACKS!3.5(A.M.)12/13/96 MARY REILLY2.0(M.S.)3/1/96 MATILDA3.5(H.C.)8/9/96 MAXIMUM…
Benefits
Anti-Helmet Law Party with the Texas Meat Purveyors to benefit the League of Bicycling Voters, at Manor Road Coffee House, 1809 Manor. Free. 452-3379. SAT 18 Crombie the Coat Party, 1997 to benefit HOBO (Helping Our Brothers Out), at Voodoo Lounge, 308 E. Third. Cost is $5 or donation of a warm coat. 459-1060. The…
Greg Beets’ National Top Ten
1. Rodd Keith, I Died Today (Tzadik) 2. Lollipop, Dog Piss on Dog (Amphetamine Reptile) 3. Beck, Odelay! (DGC) 4. Various Artists, Product Music Vol. 1: Industrial Show Tunes in Praise of the Products We Trust (Honest-Abe Disc!) 5. Brainiac, Hissing Prigs in Static Couture (Touch and Go) 6. Quad City DJ’s, “C’Mon N’ Ride…
Movie Titles for 1996
Movie Titles for 1996 [ Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 ] PATLABOR 2Preview(M.B.)2/9/96 PERFECT CANDIDATE, A2.5(S.D.)10/11/96 PHANTOM, THE3.0(M.S.) 6/14/96 PHENOMENON1.5(M.B.)7/12/96 POSTCARDS FROM AMERICA3.0(S.D.)2/2/96 PREACHER�S WIFE, THE3.0(R.S.)12/13/96 PRIMAL FEAR2.5(A.M.)4/5/96 PRODIGAL SON, THE3.5(J.O.)7/26/96 PURPLE NOON4.0(M.S.)7/26/96 QUEST, THE1.0(J.O.)5/3/96 RACE THE SUN1.5(H.C.)3/29/96 RANSOM1.0(S.D.)11/8/96 REGGAE…
Coach’s Corner
Pity poor Sisyphus, condemned for an eternity, to push the rock up a mountain, only to have — with the summit in sight — the weight of the boulder overwhelm the struggling monarch, rolling the poor bastard back to the bottom of the hill, over and over again. I, for one, can relate. My relationship…
The Dean of Texas Songwriters
The Texas music community suffered a major blow on New Year’s Day when Townes Van Zandt, the dean of Texas songwriters, passed away at his home in Smyrna, Tennessee, a few miles outside of Nashville. A heart attack, no doubt brought on by years of living the quintessential drifting troubadour life, ended the brilliant, Fort…
Movie Titles for 1996
Movie Titles for 1996 [ Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 ] SUBSTITUTE, THE0(J.O.)4/26/96 SUITE 162.0(M.B.)9/6/96 SUNSET PARK2.0(A.M.)5/3/96 SUPERCOP3.0(J.O.)7/26/96 SURVIVING PICASSO2.0(A.M.)10/18/96 SWINGERS3.5(A.M.)11/1/96 SWITCHBLADE SISTERS3.0(M.B.)8/16/96 SXSW FILM FESTIVAL: #1(M.B.)3/8/96 SXSW FILM FESTIVAL: #2(M.B.)3/15/96 SYNTHETIC PLEASURES2.5(M.B.)9/27/96 TALES FROM THE CRYPT PRESENTS BORDELLO OF…
day trips
Here is a list of 10 events from 1996, not the best or the worst, but events that effect day tripping in Texas. Attwater’s Prairie Chickens (pictured above at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center) were released into the wild from captive breeding programs around the state. Biologists released 83 of the “most endangered birds in North…
Dead Rabbits
When I got a call the other morning telling me Townes Van Zandt had died, my first thoughts were on a story he’d told me the last time I’d seen him. He’d been in Berlin for a concert, accompanied by his friend and manager Harold Eggers, who had some business to talk over with me.…
Page Two
Max Nofziger should withdraw from his ill-considered bid for mayor. He owes at least this to the city of Austin, to its citizens, and especially to his longtime supporters. Nofziger’s election to the City Council is still one of the great symbolic acts on the part of the people of Austin — electing someone with…
Education Top 10
AISD Superintendent Jim Fox In a year when Austinites saddled themselves with the largest bond packages in their history, voters across the state welcomed the Christian Coalition onto school boards everywhere, and the nationwide debate on how to handle Black English hit the classrooms, it was hard to choose the ten best stories in education.…
Public Notice
What standards are utilized to determine the “Public Notice” Top Ten? Weeeeelllllllll… None, really. It’s all fairly random, actually. Maybe we thought a benefit concept was stellar. Perhaps some spark of genius inherent in the event inspired us to write silly things. Or maybe we just really dug the headline… We tried to give a…
Environs Top 10
1. The Texas Legislature finally deals with water. In the wake of this summer’s drought, the Lege will make an attempt to assess the state’s future water needs. It won’t be enough and it won’t solve what are certain to be future water shortages, but it will mark the first high-level attempt to deal with…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
In Burma, a condom costs more than sex does. Oklahoma City’s two airports are named after people who died in plane crashes — the largest, Will Rogers World Airport, is named after the humorist, and Wiley Post Airport, a smaller field, is named after the aviator who died with Will Rogers. When he was a…
Media Top 10
Wyatt Roberts’ prayers for a Triangle flame-out went unanswered “It’s like being in a race against speed itself,” quoth Laurie Anderson at the Paramount Theater late last year. She referred to the media/digital/information continuum-thing in particular, and to the warp and woof of life at the end of the millennium in general, where change spawns…
Food-o-file
Regency Caterers at the Hyatt (208 Barton Springs) are putting the city’s first exclusive glatt kosher kitchen to good use. They will present a Kosher Restaurant Night every month with reservations required. This month, the kosher dinner is scheduled for Sunday, January 19, 6-9pm in the Foothills Ballroom II. The reasonably priced, four-course meal will…
Naked City
At last, City Councilmember Gus Garcia has added some much-needed grist for the mill in what had otherwise been a ho-hum Place 2 race between Becky Motal, Becky Motal, and Becky Motal. Garcia said Monday that he had outgrown his Place 5 seat on council (the post traditionally reserved for Hispanic candidates) and was shooting…
Food Top Tens 1996: A Year of Good Tastes
1. English Stilton Cheese Jeffrey’s chef David Garrido has a loyal customer and friend who travels regularly to England and buys cheese from the Royal Family’s cheesemonger. After a holiday meal in the restaurant, the chef shared a room-temperature wedge of Stilton with some sliced pears. It was regal, it was divine, it was, to…
Politics Top 10
1. It’s the Utility, stupid. The story of the year has to be the city’s collective anxiety over the inevitable deregulation of the electric utility industry. Like junkies protecting their stash, councilmembers, city staff, and electric utility commissioners racked their brains in 1996 for ways to ensure that the publicly owned Electric Utility Department (EUD)…
Austin Music Network
Austin CableVision Channel 15 THURSDAY 9 7am Tex Mix #214: Mellower Moods 7:30 Alma Tejano, Cinco De Mayo 94 8am Soul Source #10 8:30 Indigo Girls 9am Tex Mix #227: Fly Away 9:30 Campanas De America, Mariachi Espectacular 96 10am Tex Mix #215: All Live 10:30 Nadia Rojas, AMN Exclusive 11am New Country 137 11:30…
Net Emissaries
Trying to come up with a list of the top ten local websites is an odd job. Not only is it hard to tell what’s “local” from what’s not, it’s hard to decide what to include when the medium itself is nearly as ubiquitous as paper and Xerox machines. Nevertheless, here’s a brief look at…
Braver Newer World
Nineteen ninety-six was the year we remembered the millennium. It came on gradually at first, faint rumblings from the underground, but suddenly one day, somebody — everybody — looked down at their checkbook calendar and realized the year 2000 wasn’t just some Orwellian plot device, it was a bill coming due. The future, that future…
Scanlines
Crumb Waterloo Video 1016 W. Sixth, 474-2525 1. Mighty Aphrodite 2. Smoke 3. To Die For 4. Fargo 5. The Usual Suspects 6. Braveheart 7. Casino 8. Crumb 9. Sense & Sensibility 10. Clueless I Luv Video 4631 Airport, 450-1966 1. Reuben & Ed 2. Rocco Goes to Prague 3. Vampyros Lesbos 4. Holy Weapon…
Stage Top 10s
1. (tie) The Bacchae: Torn to Pieces, The Gospel at Colonus (Hopeful Monsters/Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre, Zachary Scott Theatre Center): What are the odds? In one year, two Austin theatres stage modern adaptations of Greek tragedies, and both provide drama of astonishing immediacy and power. Susan Fenichell’s updated Bacchae reset that savage tale in a modern…
Raoul Hernandez’s National Top Ten
11. Me’Shell Ndegeocello, Peace Beyond Passion (Maverick/Reprise) 12. The Congoes, Heart of the Congoes (Blood and Fire) 13. Don Pullen, Sacred Common Ground (Blue Note) 14. Imperial Teen, Seasick (Slash/London) 15. The Humpers, Live Forever or Die Trying (Epitaph) 16. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Murder Ballads (Reprise) 17. Gillian Welch, Revival (Almo) 18.…
Shortcuts
by Jen Scoville Right after the new year the low hum that exists in town many months before the March SXSW Festivals increases decibels to an excited buzz that will surely get louder as the dates near. We’re hearing now that the SXSW Film Festival & Conference has a special registrants-only screening planned of director…
Visual Arts Top 10
Best UT Archer M. Huntington Gallery Exhibition: Dennis Oppenheim. This internationally recognized art figure, known for his cerebral earthworks and site-specific constructions, brought maquettes, several large, noisy, movable sculptures, and huge drawings rendered in soft pastel colors to Austin. He even left one of the drawings with the University for its collection. The artist was…
Raoul Hernandez’s Local Top Ten
1. Willie Nelson, Spirit (Island) 2. Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Braver Newer World (Elektra) 3. Spoon, Telephono (Matador) 4. Kimmie Rhodes, West Texas Heaven (Justice) 5. Libbi Bosworth, Outskirts of You (Freedom) 6. Derailers, Jackpot (Watermelon) 7. Alejandro Escovedo, With These Hands (Rykodisc) 8. Fastball, Make Your Mama Proud (Hollywood) 9. The American Analog Set, The…
Movie Titles for 1996
Movie Titles for 1996 [ Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 ] TitleStarsAuthorReviewed 2 DAYS IN THE VALLEY2.5(M.B.)9/27/96 12 MONKEYS3.5(M.S.)1/5/96 101 DALMATIANS2.0(H.C.)11/29/96 301�3023.0(M.B.)10/11/96 ADVENTURERS, THE2.0(J.O.)3/22/96 ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO, THE3.0(A.M.)7/26/96 ALASKA2.0(M.B.)8/16/96 ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN 2Preview(M.B.)4/5/96 AMERICAN BUFFALO3.5(R.F.)10/4/96 ANGELA3.0(A.M.)2/23/96 ANGELS AND…
Postscripts
by Margaret Moser and Lee Nichols * THU, JAN 9: Naomi Bennett will speak about her book, Passion, Attraction, Astrology and You at Book People at 7pm… Simultaneously, Book People also will host Bert Pluymen as he signs and discusses his The Thinking Person’s Guide to Sobriety. * FRI, JAN 10: Daniel Quinn will come…
Blessed Are the Buttholes
January: It sounds funny to say that the first great show of the year was a funeral but it was. When Rev. Elmo Franklin, Jr. died, not only did his Eastside friends and family turn out in huge crowds for the former member of the Mighty Clouds of Joy, but fellow Cloud Joe Ligon and…
Movie Titles for 1996
Movie Titles for 1996 [ Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 ] TitleStarsAuthorReviewed CEMETERY MAN3.0(M.S.)6/28/96 CHAIN REACTION.5(J.O.)8/2/96 CHAMBER, THE2.0(J.O.)10/11/96 CHUNGKING EXPRESS4.0(J.O.)4/26/96 CITY HALL3.5(M.S.)2/16/96 CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, THE3.5(J.O.)3/1/96 CITY ON FIREPreview(M.B.)10/25/96 COLD COMFORT FARM3.5(A.M.)6/14/96 COLD FEVER3.0(M.B.)7/26/96 CONVENT, THE1.5(M.B.)3/1/96 COSTA BRAVA2.5(A.M.)5/24/96 COURAGE…
