Food-o-File
by Virginia B. Wood This time of year, most folks are content just to make resolutions about health and fitness, but my full mailbox indicates that there are plenty of courageous souls who have resolved to open new restaurants and seek new jobs. A brave way to start the new year. Bob Russell is no…
High Road Construction Ahead
High Road director and Delta-9 main man Tommy Pallottaphotograph by Minh Carrico Austin-based independent filmmaker Thomas Pallotta is still cutting his teeth as an artist, but he’s already gained a couple of key insights into his chosen profession: 1. Raging against the Hollywood machine is not only a serious rush but a sacred American right…
Articulations
Still puzzling out that connection between art and the Internet? Does art really connect on the World Wide Web? What kinds of gizmos does one need to make Net art? Can a cyber-showing of one’s art really enhance an artist’s career in the real world? Or is it a short cut to some legal mess?…
Just Like Ma Used to Make
Ma Ferguson’s Restaurant 600 Middle Fiskville Rd. (Austin Hilton), 206-3030 7am-11pm, daily photograph by John Anderson Miriam A. Ferguson (1875-1961) was the first woman elected governor of Texas, serving two non-consecutive terms (1924-26, 1932-34). In 1991, family members donated Mrs. Ferguson’s entire collection of memorabilia, including a large assortment of cookbooks and handwritten recipes, to…
Scanlines
D: Joel Coen; with William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Kristin Rudrud, Harve Presnell. VHS Home Video It would be hard to find a film from 1996 as talked about as Fargo, the Coen brothers’ (Blood Simple, The Hudsucker Proxy) twisted tale of something rotten in the Great White North, and it…
Whose House
illustrations by Robert Faires Last fall, August Wilson started a fire in my head. I was actually just killing time, thumbing through the September issue of American Theatre that I had had in my bag for several weeks. But once I reached page 14, a transcript of Wilson’s June 26 address to the Theatre Communications…
Juice Joint
1625 Barton Springs Rd., 494-1767 7am-7pm daily Lately, the general populace seems ready and willing to toss back just about anything in the name of good health. The Juice Joint, serving liquid fortification out of a carrot-topped stone cottage on Barton Springs Road, is one of several drinking establishments that have sprouted up recently to…
Shortcuts
by Jen Scoville The frigid weather this week has tempered my envy of the cine-heads who get to spend a string of days (Jan 16-26) watching independent films and discussing them at the Sundance Film Festival. At least Austin filmmakers George Langworthy and Paige Martinez — both heading north to present their works — have…
Local Palette
Pablo Picasso Ruth Borinstein Gallery on display until sold Bull With Human Head by Pablo Picasso, 1937 No doubt one of the most famous and controversial paintings of this century is Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, an elaborate depiction of the distastrous German bombing of Guernica, Spain in 1937. The mammoth work, 11′ 51/2″ by 25′ 53/4″,…
Hoots and Horrors
Though the modern day Hoot Night may be a direct descendent of the old-time hootenanny, would-be hoot organizers should stand warned of one aspect wherein the two are practically polar opposites. Where the hootenanny was largely an offhand, sometimes spontaneous collection of singers and songs, today’s Hoot Nights are all about planning, without which an…
Jailhouse Blues
illustration by Bernadette Noll What are you in for? “Uh, my husband went through a red light on his bicycle and I wouldn’t tell the cop who he was.” “You mean where he was.” “No. I didn’t know where he was, I wouldn’t tell them who he was.” This was my first night ever in…
Postscripts
by Lee Nichols & Margaret Moser *FRI, JAN 17: Kay Turner will promote her new work, Between Us: A Legacy of Lesbian Love Letters, a collection of love letters from the mid-19th century to the present, at Book People at 7pm. * SAT, JAN 18: Dr. Ron Klinger, local family therapist, will promote his new…
Dancing About Architecture
Yep, time marches on, and as the snow and ice subsides, what’s revealed isn’t a frozen woolly mammoth, tundra, or even Captain America, but the first words of progress from this year’s Austin Music Awards. Set for March 12 at the Austin Music Hall, the 15th anniversary show has confirmed acts including Jimmie Dale Gilmore…
The Portrait of a Lady
Jane Campion brings her modern sensibilities to this story of Henry James’ 1870s heroine Isabel Archer, a young, sharp-minded, American woman abroad who inherits unexpected wealth and uses it to live as she likes, traveling and rejecting numerous suitors until she falls into an unwise marriage that nearly becomes her ruination.
Writer/Folklorist Kay TurnerBetween Us
Kay Turner: Author…Folklorist…Activist…Musician…photograph by Jana Birchum Surprisingly, Between Us: A Legacy of Lesbian Love Letters (Chronicle Books, $17.95, hard), a collection of some 60 letters written between women who love other women, is the first such volume. Drawn from thousands of letters gathered by Austin folklorist, writer, and Girls in the Nose songstress Kay Turner,…
Sloppy, Glorious, and Completely Indigenous
illustration by Roy Tompkins Many “experts” seem to believe that Marshall McLuhan’s vision of a global-mediated village came true a long time ago. Paraphrased, McLuhan’s theory stated, more or less, that thanks to the mass media’s successful invasion of every aspect of daily life, there are no longer differences between communities. We wear the same…
Mother
Mother 1996, PG-13, 104 min. Directed by Albert Brooks, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Albert Brooks, Debbie Reynolds, Rob Morrow, Lisa Kudrow, Isabel Glaser, Peter White. John Henderson (Brooks) is a science fiction writer who, following his second divorce, decides that it’s time for him to figure out, once and for all, the…
Excerpts from Between Us
“It’s not just a matter of a woman falling in love with another woman, it’s a whole way of approaching life…” (Charoula to Gail, 1961) “I love that we’re nice to each other… I don’t feel that there’s anything I haven’t told you that I’ve needed to. I have been as honest as I know…
Live Shots
Junior Brown at the Continental Club, December 29photograph by John Carrico QUATROPAW Stubb’s, January 7 You wouldn’t really know it by the size of the sparse and weather-braving crowd, but Quatropaw’s headlining gigs at Stubb’s can and should fast become a regular occurrence at the Waller Creek venue. Like James McMurtry at the Saxon Pub,…
Everyone Says I Love You
Everyone Says I Love You 1996, R, 101 min. Directed by Woody Allen, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Woody Allen, Goldie Hawn, Alan Alda, Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, Edward Norton, Tim Roth, Lukas Haas, Natalie Portman. A feeble attempt to recreate the magic of the movie musical, Everyone Says I Love You is…
About AIDS
C.A.R.E.’s Journey Program Serves HIV+ People With Drug Use Problems On November 19, the C.A.R.E. Program opened its new Journey Outpatient Treatment Program, designed to meet the personal needs of HIV+ people with substance use issues. Journey’s treatment goals are based on helping people to assume responsibility for self-selected behavior changes. This approach is a…
Recommended
Friday: Bobby Mack CD release, Pearl’s Saturday: Dead End Cruisers, Cruel & Unusual, Emo’s; The Grassy Knoll, Liberty Lunch Sunday: Iguanas, $1000 Car, Continental Club Monday: Jean Caffeine, Lisa Mednick, Hole in the Wall; Blue Monday, Antone’s Tuesday: Los Tigres Guapos, Flamingo Cantina Wednesday: Rubinchyk’s Orkyster, Flipnotics Thursday: Susanna Van Tassel, Broken Spoke
Jackie Chan’s First Strike
Jackie Chan’s First Strike 1996, PG-13, 88 min. Directed by Stanley Tong, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jackie Chan, Jackson Lou, Annie Wu. Jackie Chan’s Clean Break might be a more fitting title for this latest step in Chan’s outreach to an international audience. Though nominally the fourth installment in the long-running Police…
hearth & soul
Silence Is Golden Dear Suzy, I really want to soundproof our bedroom. Recently, we spent the night at a bed and breakfast and slept the soundest that we can remember — no airport nearby, no highway nearby, such a small town there were no sirens, no fire trucks, no EMS emergencies. It made me stop…
Corrosion of Conformity
Back Room Saturday, January 18 “You can definitely shake your ass to us,” says Corrosion of Conformity founder and drummer Reed Mullin. Shake ass? Isn’t COC — together an astonishing 15 years — best credited with being hardcore, metal, and grunge before each was cool? “You know what it was?” Mullin asks in return. “It…
The High Road
The High Road 1996, NR, 85 min. Directed by Thomas Pallotta, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Fella Speer, Allison Parks, David Dart, Loren Guerra. A version of this review ran in The Austin Chronicle in March 1996 when this film premiered in Austin at the SXSW Film Festival. Running out of gas is…
Benefits
Crombie the Coat Party, 1997 to benefit HOBO (Helping Our Brothers Out), at Austin Music Hall, 208 Nueces. Cost is $5 or donation of a warm coat. 459-1060. Acclaimed Violinist Corinne Chapelle will perform Sat & Sun to benefit Sri Atmananda Memorial School, 4100 Red River, Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. $10-$25. 451-7044. WED 22 Sincola,…
Road Shows
JANUARY FRI 17 CJ Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, Antone’s FRI 17 Alex Coke, Waterloo Ice House 6th FRI 17 Bob Goblin, Liberty Lunch SAT 18 Mike Henderson & The Bluebloods, Antone’s SAT 18 Corrosion of Conformity, Orange 9mm, Back Room SAT 18 The Grassy Knoll, Liberty Lunch SAT 18 Lara y Reyes,…
Coach’s Corner
Hello, anyone home? Last week, Sisyphus. This week, continuing our tour of legends from Greek mythology, is Tantalus, condemned in Hades to stand in water that receded whenever he tried to drink and to never reach fruit whenever he tried to take a bite. Don’t press me too much on this Greek stuff. My knowledge…
No Parking at Pease
Bobbitt asked to extend his driveway across green to access Kingsbury Road After a three-week hiatus from the desperations of government, the council displayed a decidedly recuperative tone at last week’s meeting. Generally pedestrian items prevailed, ensuring the city’s continued functioning without worsening holiday hangovers. In the near-total absence of weightiness, a seemingly false drama…
Daytrips
The Ernest Tubb Record Shop sits in the back of Stockyards Station in Fort Worth as a reminder of the influence that the native Texan had on country music when it was in its infancy. This is no record superstore, but rather a collection of old and new music with a distinctive country twang. Despite…
Fightin’ Words
illustration by Doug Potter Often the most delightful reading is found in personal correspondence. Take, for example, a recent exchange between two public journalism figures: Texas Monthly publisher Mike Levy and Austin American-Statesman editor Rich Oppel. No love letters these. The wordsmiths disagreed sharply on a number of points, even exhibiting a sharp claw or…
Page Two
Even though it’s January, supposedly a relatively quiet month, the Austin conferences and festivals are building up healthy heads of steam. We are less than two months out from the mid-March insanity, a cornucopia of films, music, multimedia, people and Austin, Austin, Austin everywhere until you almost want to scream (Note: The Austin Chronicle is…
Billy Clayton’s Flying Circus
And there you are, with your eye on a new house or second house, round about French Place or Cherrywood or Windsor Park or Ridgetop. You know, where the deals are, now that the airport’s moving. Buy now, avoid the rush. But wait. What’s that sound? That, friends and neighbors, is the sound of the…
Public Notice
Zachary Scott Theatre takes a hard look at manipulation, drive, aggression, and greed, with a story of ambition-gone-mad. Hmmmmm… Sounds like it could be about the publishing industry…. Well, this special benefit performance of Ruthless! The Musical does benefit our locally produced, statewide gay newspaper The Texas Triangle, and premieres (tonight) Thu, Jan 16, 8pm…
Billy Clayton and the Lobby’s Revolving Door
You can’t expect a former speaker of the Texas House to return to a quiet life in the private sector after his or her stint is over. There’s too much money to be made at the Capitol by former speakers who can use their connections for fun and profit. Take Billy Clayton, the 68-year-old former…
Mister Smarty Pants Knows
Thomas Alva Edison once electrocuted an elephant named Topsy for killing her three trainers. American troops in Bosnia are testing a computer called the Falcon (Forward Area Language Converter) that gives instant translations of foreign-language documents. A caravan of camels once caused a cattle stampede on Austin’s South Congress Avenue. Toho Productions filmed two different…
State Pooling Board
Created in 1979 while Billy Clayton was Speaker of the House, the State Aircraft Pooling Board (SAPB) controls the state’s airplanes. Now chaired by Clayton, one of the highest-paid lobbyists at the Capitol, the agency, which has an annual budget of $2.6 million, employs 39 people who fly and maintain 56 aircraft. Of those planes,…
One Double, Six Ingredients
illustration by A.J. Garces I wasn’t exactly lost, but I was on the wrong road. Except for it being Mother’s Day, I didn’t feel the presence of anything ominous. I certainly didn’t feel that a mystery would soon be revealed to me (revealed, but not explained). I was just wondering how to find the right…
Naked City
Say howdy to the 75th session of the Texas Legislature. State lawmakers opened their biannual run Tuesday with a meaty agenda and a lean budget. That means long days, long nights, and good floor fights. Beginning Friday (Jan. 17), the Chronicle will make a legislative splash of its own with a debut of a Web…
