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Exhibitionism

Three galleries at Canopy offer such resonant and vital prints that they’re hard to tear your vision from

by W. A. Brenner

Texas Platters

Bad Lovers Wild Times (Burger City Rock N Roll) Austin’s Bad Lovers throw on fringe jackets and tap a keg of soul, country, and oldies on their second LP. A bongo groove on opener “Askin’ for Disaster” and Four Seasons falsettos on “Got It Bad” evidence ambition beyond their garage origins, singer Jimmy Wildcat’s youthfully…

by Kevin Curtin

The Luv Doc: Adults Only Please

Dear Luv Doc, I recently threw a party for my friend to celebrate her engagement. We wanted it to be an adults-only party and since we have a lot of friends who have children we made sure to put on the invitation, “adults only please, no children.” Then, on the night of the party, we…

by The Luv Doc

Devil’s Due

She’s having an unholy baby – but isn’t that every pregnant woman’s fear? The only new ingredient in this horror setup is the found-footage element.

by Marc Savlov

The Cost of Art: A Series

You know what it costs you to see a play or a chamber music concert or an exhibit at a museum. You know what you have to pay to acquire a painting or print. The prices are made plain to you. What you may not know, however, unless you’re an artist – and sometimes not…

by Robert Faires

The Invisible Woman

The woman who must remain invisible in this drama is Nelly Ternan, an actress who’s not only the mistress of married Charles Dickens, but also 27 years his junior.

by Steve Davis

Gimme Shelter

Vanessa Hudgeons stars in this bland exercise in very serious and meaningful young-adult drama.

by Louis Black

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

Will Brooker earned a scholarship to Cardiff University and wrote his Ph.D. thesis on the cultural history of Batman. Now at Kingston University, one of Dr. Brooker’s students is studying Superman. Before its Islamic revolution, most of the world’s pistachios came from Iran. Now they come from California. Even Pakistan imports California pistachios. To produce…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

MetroRapid 101: What’s a Bendy Bus?

So what’s the deal with those weird accordion buses? That’s a MetroRapid bus, part of the new bus rapid transit (BRT) system. Capital Metro won a $38 million federal grant in 2012, and some of that has gone to buy 22 of these 60-foot buses. They’re able to carry more passengers than the regular 40-foot…

by Richard Whittaker

Food-o-File

I stopped by the newly opened outlet of Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken (117 San Jacinto) a couple weeks back and found it packed. Longtime local hospitality pro Brian O’Neill is the general manager of the first Texas outlet for the popular Tennessee-based chain and he reports that Gus’s has received a very enthusiastic reception…

by Virginia B. Wood

Civics 101

Thursday 23 MONTOPOLIS RECREATION CENTER DESIGN INPUT MEETING Discuss site and building planning, and programming. 6:30-8pm. Montopolis Rec Center, 1200 Montopolis. Free. www.speakupaustin.org. Friday 24 COMMUNITY CHARACTER WORK­SHOP Chime in on the revision of Austin’s land development code. 7:30-9:30am. St. David’s Episcopal Church, 301 E. Eighth. Free. www.austintexas.gov/codenext. ECONOMIC CRISIS AND COOPERAT­IVE SOLUTIONS Scholar and…

by Chronicle Staff

What is ‘Bus Rapid Transit’?

Capital Metro calls the new MetroRapid service a bus rapid transit system (BRT), but that term is about more than just fast buses. In fact, there’s no international or even national consensus on exactly what is and isn’t BRT, nor are all BRT systems created equal: The Institute for Transportation & Development Policy grades systems…

by Richard Whittaker

Texas Platters

The Black and White Years Strange Figurines (Modern Outsider) Judging by their band moniker alone, Austin’s Black and White Years cultivate a fascination with the past. Utilizing third LP Strange Figurines as a litmus test, this particular vintage sweeps off dance floors from the cocaine-coated Eighties. The energetic pop fivepiece bottles that decade’s party fever,…

by Abby Johnston

Kernel to Cup

Blacklands Malt harnesses water, time, and fire to create the perfect beginnings for your beer

by Anna Toon

Gay Place

Every few years, Austin dykes wake up and smell the lack of lesbian bar, then do something about it

by Kate X Messer

Texas Platters

Brian Beattie Ivy and the Wicker Suitcase (Earmovie Music) Born from a recurring childhood nightmare, Glass Eye bassist/producer Brian Beattie’s aural epic about a 10-year-old girl who falls down a hole into Hell percolates with the delightfully twisted ethos of its forebearers. Like Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, Ivy and the Wicker…

by Greg Beets

Day Trips

Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse is an old-school barbecue joint with the downtown Dallas skyline as a backdrop. When it opened in 1958, the original Sonny Bryan’s stood on the edge of town and the city soon built up around it. There’s no telling how many medicinal plates of barbecue Sonny’s crew has provided over the years…

by Gerald E. McLeod

Quote of the Week

“I find ‘unlawful’ to be a harsh and jarring word and would’ve expected better advocacy from the Attorney General’s office.” – District Judge Lee Yeakel on the AG’s choice of words to describe its position that Yeakel is not allowed to consider the latest appeal from condemned inmate Edgar Tamayo.

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Lucinda Williams (Lucinda Williams Records) Truly great albums might go in and out of print – this one was unavailable for 10 years – but they seldom go out of style. Lucinda Williams released two blues-heavy efforts before this, but this self-titled album, released on UK indie Rough Trade in 1988, began her journey to…

by Jim Caligiuri

Soccer Watch

The Austin Aztex made a splash in the MLS SuperDraft for the second year in a row, with five former Aztex players drafted – three of whom came out of local high schools. Drafted were: Robbie Derschang (29th, Philadelphia Union), Kris Tyrpak (40th, Dripping Springs, Chivas USA), Michael Kafari (51st, Vancouver Whitecaps), Michael Lisch (54th,…

by Nick Barbaro

Texas Platters

Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys Lost and Found: The Famous Living Room Tape Before he became the world’s first redneck Borscht Belt noir novelist and the Man Who Should Have Been Texas Governor, Richard “Kinky” Friedman became a thorn in the side of country music. Composer of dangerous, obscene, and hilarious honky-tonk anthems like…

by Tim Stegall

Headlines

› City Council returns today (Jan. 23) for its first formal 2014 meeting, with the heavy lifting likely to be the staff briefing on an economic incentives proposal for AthenaHealth Inc. to become a major corporate tenant in the Seaholm Power Plant development. See Council: From the Brow of Zeus. › Tuesday, Jan. 28, is…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Extreme Heat Soulstice Brassy originals pop and punch with the veteran musicianship of Extreme Heat on Soulstice. Armed with a double shot of vocals via lanky, longtime vocalist Bruce Spelman (“Voices”) and bassist Mike Roeder (“Survivor”), Austin’s Eighties-vintage band of Texas-style funkateers layers chunky guitars from Mike Barnes and Mac McNabb (“You’re Gonna Want Me”)…

by Margaret Moser

‘Chronicle’ Endorsement

Here is the Chronicle editorial board’s endorsement for the Jan. 28 special election run-off, for which early voting runs Jan. 21-24. Texas House District 50: Celia Israel Israel was our choice over two other solid Democratic candidates running in the interim special election last fall. We again strongly endorse her candidacy as she faces a…

by Chronicle Staff

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