Cover Story
Bassboss Speaker Systems Take Charge of Austin’s Low End
These go to 11
Merit Coffee Moves to Town
New location, new brand: San Antonio coffee staple moves north
Notes on “Notes on Sugar”
The story behind Neon Queen Collective’s first art exhibition
Express Yourself? Texas Senate Committee Considers Free Speech on College Campuses
Wednesday hearing begins lengthy process
Austin Opera Terminates Buckley’s Contract
Artistic director said to have violated policy on harassment
Where to Watch the Super Bowl
Where to watch or not watch Sunday’s Big Game
“We Build Bridges, Not Walls”
Council Members target companies building border wall
SXSW’s Sixth Artist List
Bully, White Reaper, Wye Oak, and 99 more luftballons
How José González Took Off
Swedish Argentine reflects on his quietude
Springdale Farm Is Closing
Beloved East Austin urban farm announces summer closure
Day Trips & Beyond: February Events Roundup
February fun in the Year of the Dog
Ruby’s BBQ Set to Close
The beloved barbecue restaurant will shutter by the end of February
SXSW Unleashes Massive Film List
High-concept horror A Quiet Place to open fest
Moontower Comedy 2018: Still More Headliners
Tig Notaro, Jo Koy, Nikki Glaser, David Cross join the party
What Is CodeNEXT?!
What is a land use code and why are we rewriting ours?
Fast Cars and Craft Beer
The Beer Diaries co-creator debuts new brews at Lockhart hot rod fest
Spike Lee, Rian Johnson, and Chelsea Manning for SXSW
Plus major tech names, Westworld panel, and more added
A Place in the Sun
A Place in the Sun 1951, NR, 122 min. Directed by George Stevens, Starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters. A working-class man with a dream of upward mobility gets caught between two women in different social strata. Tragedy ensues.
Judge Temporarily Strikes Down Fetal Burial Rule
Ezra says law will likely show “undue burden” on women
Zaragoza Resigns From Planning Commission
Todd Shaw tapped as replacement
DVDanger: Animation Nations
Napping Princess leads this week’s home releases
Comedy, This Month!
Who brings laughs to Austin stages in the next few weeks?
Day Trips & Beyond: Mardi Gras in NWLA
Northwestern Louisiana really heats up during Mardi Gras season
Six New Shows to Distract Yourself With This Year
Your 2018 TV preview
ICE Misled Public on Raid Arrests
FOIA shows number nearly three times previously reported
Five Recommended Art Events This Weekend
How can you lose with a sweet list to use before it’s time to choose?
Witness a Live Duel!
Metallic heshers test Electric Church’s new mobile studio
Nic Cage Plays Happy Families in Mom and Dad
The Oscar winner on parental love, and the calm before the storm
BPM (Beats Per Minute)
France’s AIDS community battles big pharma in the 1990s
In the Fade
Revenge, German immigration, and neo-Nazis clash
Den of Thieves
Bank heist rips off Heat for little gain
The Final Year
Behind the scenes with the Obama foreign policy team
Mom and Dad
Nic Cage goes crazy/crazier in this kid-killing black comedy
Maze Runner: The Death Cure
YA dystopian trilogy finally comes to a close
Texas Platters
All so-called “art-rock” should have actually rocked. Like Terminal Mind in 1979. Prior to reincarnating as a psychedelic shaman in noisy freak-out specialists Miracle Room and, more recently, Evil Triplet, Steve Marsh was a wired and gangly punk bassist with a heartful of artful angst. Alongside future Skunks/Big Boys twins Greg and Doug Murray manning…
Van Boven vs. the Texas Medical Board … the Sequel
Despite exoneration, Medical Board fails to clear doctor’s name
The Austin Film Festival Calendar
Plan out your 2018 Fest schedule
Texas Platters
Pining folk (Leatherbag), post-punk drive (No Future), and static-ripped noise via Fahey-esque guitar marks Randy Reynolds’ evolution over the past decade. Positiveness collects from all such instincts, pulling at those various threads to both reflect and reset. Openers “After the Light” and “Mirror to the Mountain” sink gently in a warm if wanting wash that…
CodeNEXT’s New Friend, the Strategic Mobility Plan
Plans can’t be made in silos
Acornseekers Brings Jamón Ibérico to Texas
The Spanish specialty looks to make its way to the Lone Star State
Texas Platters
On his debut as PR Newman, Spencer Garland excels at a charming, clamorous jangle. Accented by horns, harmonica, handclaps, and whistles, Turn Out’s big-band jaunt presents the former Berkshire Hound’s own brand of groovy twang-pop, unafraid of garage rock (“But, No”) or soul (“Right Here, Yeah, Ya”). A multitude of sounds coalesce organically in Garland’s…
City Council: As the Year Turns
Council kicks off 2018 with long agenda
Polenta Is Just Fancy Porridge
Why chefs love polenta, or, how to polish a turd
Texas Platters
Mike & the Moonpies’ fifth studio album kicks off where the highway-burning Austin sextet’s 2016 live double disc left off, hard charging and tuned to entertain with uproarious boogie. As such, the surprise to Steak Night at the Prairie Rose occurs in the ballads, which bottle the band’s tight stage energy with Adam Odor’s production…
What Future for Flying Plastic Bags?
Supreme Court ponders single-use bag bans
Seen / Soon: Jan. 26
Photographer Nancy Mims explores unknown lands in her neighborhood, and writers Meg Gardiner and Mark Pryor kill it with crime fiction
Texas Platters
Opposite Day’s 10th album – and last with Roland V-Drums national champion Pat Kennedy – rewires neural pathways through sheer musical force. Kennedy’s kick drum serves as fulcrum while guitarist/vocalist Sam Arnold and bassist Greg Yancey construct increasingly intricate spirals that fuse Lee Ritenour to Iron Maiden. In doing so, they navigate past labyrinthine intellectual…
Death Watch: Rayford, Battaglia
Huntsville heats up
Snapshot: Day of Resistance
If you had 15 seconds alone with Trump, what would you say?
Texas Platters
Interpreting Pietist Christian hymns from his home village of Oppdal, Norwegian-born/Austin-based bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten testifies to his heritage on Den Signede Dag (“The Blessed Day”). Doctrinal singer Gunvor Fagerhaug Gustavsen and hardanger fiddle by Andreas Bjørkås form the foundation of these tracks, but Bob Hoffnar’s pedal steel on “Jesus Al Min Fryd og Ære”…
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
APD fires two cops for excessive force and ushers in new de-escalation policy
Gay Place
Here and queer – UT Austin launches an LGBTQ Studies program
Texas Platters
Comprised of two husband-and-wife duos, Blushing’s second EP wades the tumultuous waters of intimacy in dramatic, rise-and-fall dream-pop. Michelle Soto’s crystalline intonation builds lush layers with classically trained singer/bassist Christina Carmona. Both float over shoegaze crescendos, keeping Slowdive’s influence alive in the new year. Upbeat start “Weak” lets Soto lead a cascade of wailing guitar…
Autobiography of the Other Woman
The real-life affair of a director and his star inspires On the Beach at Night Alone
The Luv Doc: A Hard “No”
It’s not uncommon to have awkward, shitty dates
Texas Platters
In a final tape before their forthcoming name change and new direction, nonchalant pop-rock group Hola Beach recounts the years with equal parts sympathy and dejection. Downtrodden guitar lines swirl prominently, pushing back on Will Kurzner’s blank, conversational vocals. Remarks on interpersonal anxieties come to a head with “Positiv” (“I don’t feel positive about who…
Headlines
City Council returns to public meetings next week, with a Tuesday work session (Jan. 30) followed Thursday, Feb. 1, by the first regular meeting of 2018. The opening agenda is a doozy: 122 Items, including the appointment of new City Manager Spencer Cronk and the re-re-re-return of the Champion Tract 3. See “Council: As the…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
In remote Thailand forests, fireflies along miles of river banks blink on and off in synchrony. According to a recent Census Bureau report on “predominately renter” cities, College Station is at No. 1 nationally, with nearly 60% of its residents in rental housing. New York City had fewer murders in 2017 than in any year…
Texas Platters
Reverb-laced, garage-based – Teevee’s Bask checks all the boxes for big fuzz. Through heavy guitar divulging and outro oscillations, the locals’ second EP maintains a sonically propelled lightness, best played out in first of four “Loretta.” Alex Capistran’s soft, slithery croon phases through early Oh Sees and a shoegaze-infused sprawl, topping off the buoyant capture…
Point Austin: Amazon in Austin’s Pocket
A business model built on public subsidies shouldn’t have its hand out
My Obsession: Time Travel in Movies
Falling down the wormhole of chronophysics in film
Vortex Repertory Company’s The Way She Spoke
At the Vortex, Isaac Gomez’s drama made us remember the lost women of Juárez
Quote of the Week
“It is the policy of the City Council, to the best of its ability, not to procure services from any company involved in the design, construction, or maintenance of the border wall.” – From a resolution to be discussed by City Council Feb. 1, regarding the Trump administration’s plan for a wall between the U.S.…
Landmarks’ Amistad América
You want a wall? Landmarks and artist José Parlá have a wall for you.
Southwest Theatre Productions’ If I Forget
While the play is a compelling kitchen-sink drama, this staging doesn’t quite reach the promise of the material
Public Notice: Old News on CodeNEXT
Scattershots, while waiting for Draft Three
FotoATX: “Austin Women by Austin Women” at the Elisabet Ney Museum
The five women showing photographs capture the beauty, passion, grace, and resilience of being a woman in Austin today
ATX Film News
Our monthly guide to what’s filming and screening
Location, Location, Location
AISD is moving its administrative offices from West Sixth Street to Highway 290. Why would any government entity do that?
Day Trips: Mardi Gras, Shreveport-Bossier City, La.
The food and parades are worth the drive to northwestern Louisiana
Immigrant Women Stuck in Detention
T. Don Hutto detainees can’t get their day in court
Review: Krua Urban Thai
South Lamar restaurant offers bold flavors and mixed emotions
Page Three: Still Free After All These Years, But …
Ways to support your favorite alternative weekly
Travis County Plans New Women’s Jail
Del Valle’s new digs
First Concert: Will Bridges
Raging at Rage Against the Machine at the long-departed South Park Meadows outback
Champion Tract 3 Draws Fire Again
Plans for the land development run afoul of city’s Environmental Commission
Texas Platters
Austin-based Parisian pop chanteuse Lou Rebecca debuts with an eponymous, electronically edged, and arresting extended play that accentuates the natural nostalgia in the singer’s winsome voice. Although tremendously bright atop synth/keyboard washes and percussion pinging off elastic basslines, the four-song 12-inch remains steeped in the signature analog glow of homegrown cottage industry Holodeck Records. Eli…
Homeless Count Saturday
Ending Community Homelessness Coalition to conduct annual survey
