Cover Story
Risk: It’s What They Do
What’s at stake for the frontier-crossing artists in Long Fringe 2005
UT Says No Nukes
Yudof recommends against Los Alamos bid
Readings
It would be an understatement to claim that Haruki Murakami’s newest novel is a departure from his other novels
The Goose & the Gander
The Rise and Recover and what it’s like to live like a rock star – sometimes
Assault on Precinct 13
This new version of John Carpenter’s classic is superfluous in the extreme, and while it’s not technically a bad movie, per se, viewers unfamiliar with the film’s lineage will likely write it off as yet another midwinter also-ran, the sort of action film that never quite takes off and instead focuses on random gun battles…
Still Fighting Redistricting
Plaintiffs argue state used inaccurate census data
Readings
For the serious Sherlockian, there is Leslie S. Klinger’s Sherlock Holmes Reference Library, an exhaustive nine-volume survey of scholarship from Gasogene Press. For the rest of us – serious Sherlockians in the making – there is this mammoth two-volume set.
Phases & Stages
Gorch Fock, Attack Formation, Attic TedThe Parish, Jan. 14 “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person,” Irish prerock critic Oscar Wilde wrote way back in 1891. “Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” Were he still among the living, Oscar the Grouch surely would have appreciated the…
Are We There Yet?
Despite bearing a title that practically cries out for disrespect from antsy filmgoers, the new Ice Cube picture (he stars as well as co-produces) demonstrates the actor’s amiable side and proves he can headline a family picture.
An Education Wish List
A business think tank says more funding is needed to send low-income kids to college
Page Two
The unprecedented outcry over toll roads ignores a larger problem: We want more government services than we can pay for
Phases & Stages
Brownout!Copa, Jan. 14 Before samplers there was the break. The part of a song where the melodic instruments lay out, leaving the rhythm section to rip into the raw essence of funk. Nothing attracts dancers quite like the syncopated nature of a well-executed break. Latin music certainly makes itself aware of second-line science, which is…
The Work and the Glory
Not reviewed at press time.
On the Lege
The Lege solves school finance. Or not.
Letters at 3AM
No concept lies more firmly embedded in our national character than the notion that the U.S.A. is No. 1,’ the greatest.’ A number of facts reveal that we can no longer even consider ourselves among the Top 10 nations in the world.
Phases & Stages
Carolyn WonderlandSaxon Pub, Jan. 13 With a Groucho-esque waggle of her slender brows, Carolyn Wonderland tossed the red mane of hair matching her Les Paul and looked over her eye-popping rhinestone guitar strap. Smiling to her band through a curl of cigarette smoke, she nodded her head as they slipped into comfortable blues rock. “I’ve…
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
First-time director Niels Mueller tells “the mad story of a true man” in this tragic portrait of Sam Bicke, who tried to fly an airplane into the White House in 1974.
The Hightower Report
Pentagon helps rip off veterans and taxpayers
After a Fashion
We find a (very) few gab-worthy Globes moments, our favorite model / lawyer checks in, and your style diva does Dallas
Phases & Stages
‘Rank & Revue’ Second Anniversary PartyEmo’s, Jan. 13 Billed as the “Red River Review Magazine,” Rank & Revue is a fan-fueled, organically grown zine that salutes the overlapping underground, hard rock, punk, and hardcore scenes. And R&R has many reasons to kick loose: new distribution and circulation, new employees, and an expanded format. Most importantly,…
Vera Drake
With this period piece set in 1950 London, British filmmaker Mike Leigh delivers his best picture in some time, and with it he seemingly aims to provoke conversation about the ethics of abortion.
Into Thin Air
In New York, former Austin resident Jay Duplass settles into that special corner of his apartment where a cell phone actually works to give an interview for this article, but my first question is cut off by a more important call. The post-production house finishing his feature, The Puffy Chair, to High Definition video is…
Day Trips
The Gonzales Food Market makes headlines as well as terrific barbecue and sausage
When Is a Lie Not a Lie?
When an APD officer does it, it’s a lie. When a supervisor does it …
TCB
Floating down Okkervil’s river of golden dreams, taking Pinetop Perkins, Helios Creed, and a bunch of T-shirts along for the ride
Back in the Mirror
First-time director Niels Mueller on ‘The Assassination of Richard Nixon’
About AIDS
Big Brother wants to destroy your medical privacy. That’s the likely outcome of a plan to assign us each a national medical ID number, blandly called a “unique health identifier.” The guvmint could then track every doctor’s visit you have and every pill you take, eventually even your genetic data. Recent history suggests it wouldn’t…
Point Austin: Call Us in 2105
As the city drops its time capsule, we hope there’ll be something to drink to – and with – in 100 years
Screens String
Inside the production of Richard Linklater’s ‘A Scanner Darkly’
It’s Open … Come On In
Screen Door Film welcomes short-film makers
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Ford was Leslie Lynch, a scientific truth about horses, nuclear tests on the moon, and calculus
Weed Watch
Supreme Court tosses out mandatory sentencing … sort of
Council Gives Long Center Unanimous Go
At their Jan. 13 meeting, Austin City Council members voted 7-0 to approve a revised lease for the Long Center for the Performing Arts
Film News
Updates on Robert’s and Rick’s adaptations, Texas on TV, and ‘Dot’ plays L.A.; plus, have you ever considered a double bill of ‘Tarnation’ and ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’?
To Your Health
As ‘nanotechnology’ enters into the field of medicine, what is now called ‘blood spot testing’ may emerge as the future of blood testing
Oh, Now They Care About Ethics
Former Democratic rep gets $10,000 fine; similar fine for Republican successor was reduced
Through the Green Fuse
‘Through the Green Fuse,’ Conspirare’s first professional recording, is a shimmering, iridescent prayer in which the beauty of the subject is magnified by the sensitivity and sensuousness of these voices
DVD Watch
You don’t even want to know
The Common Law
ATM, debit, and credit cards
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
LBJ Swings Like the Pendulum Do
For a fun Sixties flashback – sans acid – see the LBJ Library’s ‘Signs of the Times: Life in the Swingin’ Sixties’
TV Eye
I saw two seemingly unrelated things on TV that set my mind ablaze last week. The first was a commercial for toddlers’ disposable underwear. The second was the series premiere of Jonny Zero on Fox.
Soccer Watch
Of strikes and scabs
Naked City
Alliance for a Clean Texas says lawmakers can create one
Naked City
Council (again) tries to tackle roadside advertising clutter
Arts Review
Steve Tesich’s bitingly funny, dark play Square One’ posits an oppressive U.S. frighteningly close to our country today.
Oops
In last week’s news story, “Peace and Progress Come to Shoal Creek,” Daniel Mottola incorrectly reported that a 2000 city restriping plan for Shoal Creek Boulevard proposed the addition of one bike lane, when in actuality the plan suggested adding two bike lanes, one on either side. The Chronicle regrets the error.
Naked City
The GAO condemns White House Drug Office ‘news reports’ on itself as ‘illegal covert propaganda’
Naked City
The Sunset Commission issues recommendations to improve the Texas Education Agency
Arts Review
There’s a sincerity and sweetness to Different Stages’ production of Pericles, Prince of Tyre’ that makes the show tender and touching
The Cocciante Quotient
Hospitality matters at Andiamo
Naked City
South Congress’ 1400 block would be completely overhauled with condos, garage
Naked City
Progressive lawmakers seek to protect gay, lesbian, and transgendered students
Arts Review
The Jan. 14 Short Fringe program featured a humdrum radio thriller, a comedy about tourism, a graceful commentary on rape, a provocative performance about sexism, and a thoughtful, funny reflection on headlines
The Dinner Guest Lecturer
Food historian Andrew F. Smith brings ‘The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America’ to Austin
Naked City
State AG tries to shut down the nation’s biggest mass e-mailers
Naked City
Dems wary of, but don’t challenge, new Ethics Committee powers
Arts Review
Strange, funny, obvious, and obscure, Deborah Hay and company’s The Match’ gave me, in more ways than one, the time of my life
Cilantro’s
Proof that Mexican home cooking is alive and well in far South Austin
Naked City
Your guide to Black Thursday activities
Arts Review
In an interesting exhibit at D. Berman Gallery, a number of unexpected commonalities emerge among the works of Janet Kastner, Joseph Janson, and Brad Ellis.
Food-o-File
Romeo’s sold; a new Quack’s in a new spot; and you should really try Reido’s; plus, Roberto Santibanez returns
Elektra
Watching Jennifer Garner as Elektra turn somersaults over her foes in her drop-dead-sexy assassin’s gear isn’t nearly as invigorating as it ought to be.
Luv Doc Recommends: FronteraFest Short Fringe “Best of the Week”
“If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out.” No, that’s not some deranged, sadistic Old Testament rant, but a paraphrase (what else could it be, really?) straight out the relatively light reading of the New Testament – from of the Gospels of Matt and Mark, respectively. It’s a wonderful thing that it is generally assumed…
