Cover Story
The Mob House Rules
Trail of Dead introduces their new epic release to the world
Used Cars
Used Cars 1980, R, 113 min. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Starring Kurt Russell, Jack Warden, Gerrit Graham, Deborah Harmon. Black comedy, only Robert Zemeckis’ (Forrest Gump) second feature, has aged into a cult classic.
Ringu
Ringu 1998, NR, 96 min. Directed by Hideo Nakata, Starring Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani. A mysterious video kills its viewers. This is the Japanese source for the American thriller The Ring. (Double bill: The Ring)
Austin Playwrights
The playwrights of Austin Script Works are continuing to gain ground in their takeover of the American theatre
Soccer Watch
On American soccer, and soccer in America
ACC South Austin: Plain, Weird, or Just Plain Weird?
Board spends $1.1 million on architecture fees and gets a Kleenex box
DVD Watch
Leave it to the Japanese, arbiters of the bizarre, to find a way to make mannequins even scarier – by making them domestic
Arts Review
In Vortex Repertory Company’s mesmerizing St. Enid and the Black Hand,’ an archetypal family enacts a fairy tale with many-layered meanings
Liquid Assets
I know, most of our Super Bowl drinks will probably be from Shiner, Texas, but I thought it might be fun to pull together a group of wines that would go well with snacks and screams
Naked City
News and happening from Austin and beyond
Arts Review
Austin Playhouse’s Enchanted April’ taps the story’s timeless charms and envelops you in a captivating glow, as warming as spring sunshine
Food-o-file
You still have a chance to Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? for Project Transitions; plus, events from all over the Austin food map
Naked City
How much partisan gerrymandering is too much?
Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation 2005
Spike & Mike has always been a hit-or-miss program, and this year is no different, with a few genuinely brilliant pieces surrounded by examples of puerile fun and juvenile humor.
Arts Review
Despite not always fully engaging with soloist Peter Serkin, the Austin Symphony Orchestra was clear, tidy, and provided some sweeping music
Naked City
Toilet flappers rank high on enviromentalists’ agenda. Yes, toilet flappers.
Hide and Seek
John Polson’s psychological thriller about a father (Robert De Niro), daughter (Dakota Fanning), and the creepy goings-on in their house in the woods dangles over the precipitous edge of awfulness a full 90 minutes before toppling into that abyss with a resounding clatter.
Arts Review
Liz and Maurice Treviño’s new, poster-art- influenced paintings are tragic, but they’re too specific, sharp, and clean to be morose
Trail of Dead Reviewed
… And You Will Know Us by the Trail of DeadWorlds Apart (Interscope) There was a major shift between Trail of Dead’s 2000 release, Madonna, and 2002’s shimmering Source Tags & Codes. The latter found them experimenting with strings, horns, piano – actual compositions. Of course their infamous live shows remained chaotic and cathartic. With…
Naked City
A Republican will take the stand for the Democrats
Million Dollar Baby
Glorious performances and Eastwood’s confident direction result in a film that transcends the rules of its genre and shows us, with an unvarnished simplicity, how human beings struggle to come to terms with the unthinkable.
Culture Flash!
Esther’s crowns new wits, and Chase Staggs gets a check from SVT
Phases & Stages
Bright EyesI’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (Saddle Creek) Bright EyesDigital Ash in a Digital Urn (Saddle Creek) Bob Dylan’s recently painted masterpiece (Chronicles) means that once again all pink-cheeked young musical poets must be measured up against the door frame of his songcraft. Having gone to the head of his generational class (Rhett Miller, Ryan…
Naked City
Former Scarlet Angel salon owner passes away
13th Annual ‘Austin Chronicle’ Short Story Contest Update
Submissions were down this year – nonfiction is in, after all – but we’re still excited with the 350 short stories we received from Texas to Colombia to Wyoming to New York to the UK. By now, we’ve narrowed down the pool considerably, and our wonderful judges – UT English and Gender and Women’s Studies…
Phases & Stages
The Arcade FireEmo’s, Jan. 21 “I grew up just south of here,” Arcade Fire singer Win Butler said midset last Friday night to a sold-out crowd. He paused, and smiled: “Is Houston still a shit hole?” The crowd answered in the affirmative. Then someone screamed out, “You’re French!” and the band launched into “Neighborhood #1…
Naked City
Legislators give homebuilders what they pay for
Readings
In addition to bolstering tourism, Gregory David Robert’s Shantaram’ will do for India what Alex Garland’s The Beach’ did for Thailand: realistically color a foreign world as an accessible frontier for adventure, intrigue, and, most importantly, new beginnings
Phases & Stages
Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne ShorterBy Michelle Mercer Tarcher/Penguin, 272 pp., $24.95 When it comes to creating music, Wayne Shorter has a particularly unique way of looking at things. “Music is like a piece of clay. You get inside it, make a cubbyhole, and then punch your way out.” In a career that…
Naked City
Military taxation resisters direct their money toward peace
Readings
Wow. Wayne Alan Brenner actually gives something a negative review. You’ll want to see this, and soon.
Phases & Stages
Rufus WainwrightWant Two (Geffen) One look at the Divine Mr. W. kitted out as a medieval peasant girl on the cover of Want Two is enough to strike fear in one’s heart that this might be a bit too … fabulous to enjoy on any deep level. After all, Want One was just so stagy…
Naked City
Howard Stern’s move to satellite pleases local hip-hop fans
Picking the Spread
The best bets for watching Super Bowl XXXIX in Austin
Page Two
The vision of a healthy, dynamic, impressively powerful country having a tortured, ongoing internal dialogue about its actions serves to inspire rather than discourage dreams
Phases & Stages
The ComasConductor (Yep Roc) Outer-space breakups are no picnic on the moon. Just radio Comas’ “Hologram” Andy Herod, transmitting haplessly from zero gravity, catching no buzz from the “Moonrainbow.” Nicole Gehweiler, Herod’s trusty co-pilot, helps tow the wounded Conductor back to port, after trawling through the organic ethereality of Beachwood Sparks, acid-washed in Flaming Lips…
Point Austin: Getting Into Bonds
When the wish lists are written, will the money follow the speeches?
Food Strung
Philadelphia vs. New England
About AIDS
What would you think if your doctor came at you with a humongo hypodermic needle like you see in those vintage mad-scientist movies, and he told you that the doctors in his family had used it since 1890? Well, it’s only a slight exaggeration to say that’s essentially what happens every time we get a…
Here Comes the Train
Can city staff, citizens, and neighborhoods realize – and build – a more livable city?
The Election, the Baby, and the Bathwater
By the time the Lunar New Year rolls in early next month, the state’s Asian-American community may well have a whole new perspective on Texas politics. Perhaps it’s a long shot, but the Year of the Rooster could bring about a dramatic shift in the voting patterns of Asian Americans, who typically vote conservatively but…
TCB
Kicking it red-state style with the Yuppie Pricks, Asleep at the Wheel, and Snoop Dogg. Suck it, blue states!
To Your Health
Reducing the risk of appendicitis
Policing Sixth Street – in White and Black
Two conflicting stories – did a Downtown partier get out of control, or did the cops?
The Hightower Report
Newt Gingrich is back … hooray! And, job numbers are up – but wages aren’t.
Charting the TODs
Some visual samples of the neighborhood plans for Transit Oriented Development
The Common Law
Topless in Texas
What the Cops Say vs. What the Lawyer Says
At least according to the arrest affidavit of APD Officer J. Marquez’s account of the incident, Phillips’ lessons in meekness apparently hadn’t succeeded. Shortly before 3am on Dec. 31, Marquez wrote, APD police were trying to clear Sixth Street in preparation for reopening the street to traffic. “At this time I observed several individuals standing…
Walk a Mile
The Texas Documentary Tour: Ramona Diaz’s ‘Imelda’
The Company You Keep
There’s no knowing Andrea Ariel without knowing the artists she works with
After a Fashion
This may very well be the only time you will see Barney, Tinky-Winky, Winnie the Pooh, and Cher appear in the same ‘After a Fashion.’ What are you waiting for?
McCracken Charges Toll Road Cover-up
Council Member says toll road proponents overplayed direness of funding situation
Possible Lives
The third annual Austin Jewish Film Festival
Home Front
In our post-9/11 world, Michelle Mayer’s ‘Open House’ hits us where we live
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Waiting around for pots to boil, Spock’s home world, and a fecund brain in a petri dish
Pondering Planning in Southwest Travis County
Citizens try to balance development and conservation in sensitive Hill Country land
The Adventures of Austin’s March
Thin-slice this, bitch! SXSW 05 is on its way, and we’ve got names
Elaborate Life
His love of theatre has led ‘Aida’ director Matt Lenz on an amazing journey
Day Trips
The Benini Sculpture Ranch outside of Johnson City uses the rugged Hill Country landscape as a backdrop for two-dozen designs by internationally recognized artists
Now Appearing on Local Stages: Willie Nelson and Austin Biofuels
The Red-headed Stranger tries to cut down on smoke in the air. The bad kind, that is.
TV Eye
I’m going to Vegas, baybee! For work, of course.
Luv Doc Recommends: Austin Lounge Lizards’ 25th Anniversary Show
Ah, the Hawaiian shirt … fashion staple of the middle-aged white dude (MAWD, acronymically). Short of strapping on a fanny pack or wearing a cell phone on a belt clip (hey, no one is denying the utility), nothing screams “over 50” louder than an obnoxiously colorful, devil-may-care floral pattern. If you’re going to flaunt it…
