Coach’s Corner
Two years ago, my friend Dick invited me to his annual Super Bowl party. Then, as Dallas prepared to play Pittsburgh, the house was charged with Cowboy electricity. A ceremonial lucky ball sat perched atop the TV. Cowboy paraphernalia – shirts, mugs, beer steins – were everywhere. As the game began, everyone – even some…
Conventional Wisdom
Ric Luber, Executive Director of the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau, shares his vision of Austin’s future. photograph by Jana Birchum We’re told that the out-of-town wallets that downtown needs in order to thrive can’t fit into the Austin Convention Center. But will an expanded Center, and the tourists it hopes to attract, fit into…
Spike & Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation ’98
Spike & Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation ’98 1998, NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . You don’t need the U.S. Supreme Court to find Spike & Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation ’98 “…utterly without redeeming social value by contemporary community standards.” Not when the producers…
Day Trips
photograph by Gerald E. McLeod A good gargoyle is hard to find in downtown Austin. That is not to say that the mythical creatures can’t be found on some lofty perch staring down on the equally strange throngs of oblivious passersby. Nor does it mean that downtown Austin buildings are without subtle adornments. A walking…
Village People
photograph by John Anderson “Well, isn’t it because that’s where the fags have always been?” responds Richard Gabaree — who should know since he’s spent two years as a bartender at two of Austin’s gay bars — when asked why he thinks most of Austin’s gay bars (eight out of nine) are located downtown. If…
Phantoms
Phantoms 1998, R, 91 min. Directed by Joe Chappelle, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Peter O’Toole, Rose Mcgowan, Joanna Going, Liev Schreiber, Ben Affleck, Nicky Katt, Clifton Powell, Rick Otto, Rachel Shane, Adam Nelson. Ballyhoo abounds regarding the improbable fact that for once, author Dean Koontz is getting behind a film adaptation of…
Page Two
There are these lines from a Loudon Wainwright III song (first album) that keep going through my head. They are there when I walk through the office, which is humming at an extra-charged rate, and when I shower in the morning. Driving to work I hear them instead of the radio. “Downtown is where it’s…
Competing Tunnel Visions
Local business owner Evan Williams says that all the DAA wants is to get people in and out of town as quickly as possible. photograph by John Anderson Shopping in the retail area along West Sixth on a sunny Saturday afternoon is an oddly incongruous experience. The sidewalks fronting the arts and antique stores are…
Public Notice
A community’s vitality is often measured by the increase of area business and construction. That surge of flowing capital is called “progress” to many folks. It’s hard to believe that our local economy was not always so booming. The Texas bust of the mid-Eighties seems so far removed. Retail and services are growing, catering to…
Business Vs. Neighbors
The Downtown Austin Alliance wants to solve the impending increase in traffic from the proposed Market Place at Sixth and Lamar by converting Fifth and Sixth streets into express tunnels that would run east/west and cross underneath Lamar. However, area retailers and residents, championed by the Old West Austin Neighborhood Association (OWANA) and the West…
Mister Smarty Pants Knows
Over 23 million pounds of plastic foam peanuts are recycled annually – enough to fill up the Empire State Building. According to one source, one cannot be kicked to death by a camel because of the soft pads on the soles of their feet. One can contract syphilis from camel spit, however. And one can…
I Plan, Therefore I Am
1839: Judge Edwin Waller, later Austin’s first mayor, lays out the original city of Austin — today’s downtown. Envisioned by Republic of Texas President Mirabeau Lamar as “a seat of Empire,” Austin features the widest streets in Texas, east-west thoroughfares named for trees, and four public squares, of which three still exist — Brush, Republic,…
Chow Downtown
The Old Pecan Street Cafe has since become Shakespeare’s Pub photograph by John Anderson The three stoned college students were chilled after their late evening bike ride and began looking for someplace to stop for coffee. They rode through the deserted Capitol grounds and down lonely Congress Avenue, stopping at the corner of Sixth and…
Production Row
Austin Film Center photograph by Bruce Dye For a city that has as many filmmakers and cin�astes as Austin has, you might have imagined that the production end of the community would have centralized long ago into a single area. At least, that’s what common sense dictates. Los Angeles has its studio row and New…
Food-O-File
Seems like it’s been January forever now and the unseasonable weather just adds to the confusion. There is usually a chill in the air heralding the arrival of February and Valentine’s Day, but they’ll surely get here, cold weather or not. Just in time to get everyone focused on hearts, the nonprofit Latino arts organization…
Scanlines
(“Scanlines” wishes to thank Encore Movies & Music, I Luv Video, and Vulcan Video for their help in providing videos and laser discs.) Gary Sinise directed and starred in the 1992 remake of Of Mice and Men. And if you think Nick Nolte was miscast in Cannery Row, consider that Raquel Welch had Debra Winger’s…
Austin City Limits: That Magic Spot
January 31: Junior Brown/Robbie Fulks February 7: Patty Loveless/Collin Raye February 14: Marcia Ball, Tracy Nelson, Irma Thomas February 21: Manhattan Transfer, with guests Asleep at the Wheel, and Ricky Skaggs February 28: Indigo Girls, with guests Freedy Johnston, Vonda Shepard, and Mark Eitzel/Kim Richey March 7: Loretta Lynn March 14: Nanci Griffith with the…
Short Cuts
This spring, amid unsubstantiated rumors that MTV’s Austin Stories may depart for a Pacific Coast locale, the city of Austin will take on the look of a bustling filmmaking capital. It was announced in the trades this week that Mike Judge of Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill fame, will direct a live-action…
It’s All History
illustration by Roy Tompkins Two days prior to the re-opening of Cedar Street, Shannon Burke was in a forgiving mood. Burke, who hosts a weeknight talk show on KJFK, was forgiving listeners their sins. There was no real or theological absolution being offered; the pardoning was done in jest. Nonetheless, Burke did not forgive Sinclair…
Naked City
Existing neighborhood libraries should take priority over a new downtown regional facility, the Library Commission recommended Tuesday in a 7-1 decision. The vote followed a lengthy bond proposal hearing in which most speakers appeared to favor a central library plan. “We’re not opposed to a new downtown central facility, but we believe more detailed planning…
Articulations
In the calm of a late Sunday morning this past week, hundreds of theatre artists, educators, students, friends, and family members of David Mark Cohen gathered to remember and pay tribute to the playwright, educator, and critic, who was killed in a traffic accident near Fort Worth on the night of December 23. In a…
Dancing About Architecture
Yep, this is my last chance to hammer home to ya that this is your last chance to vote in the 1997/98 Austin Chronicle Music Poll. Find it on p.15 of this issue or check our website at http://www.auschron.com/feedback/musicpoll98/ to help your favorite musicians (and deejays, poster artists, and music writers) get the recognition they…
The Tango Lesson
The Tango Lesson 1997, PG, 101 min. Directed by Sally Potter, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Sally Potter, Pablo Veron, Carlos Copello, Olga Besio, Caroline Iotti, Gustavo Naveira. It’s time to tango in Paris once more. This new excursion comes courtesy of arthouse filmmaker Sally Potter (Orlando), but her footwork has little of…
Dream On
The future home of the Austin Museum of Art at the corner of Third and Guadalupe photograph by Jana Birchum Think “dream house.” Imagine that years ago, you envisioned the ideal home for yourself. You knew the neighborhood where it would be, the plot of land on which it would sit, the square footage, the…
Prime Time Irony?
illustration by Jason Stout It is, as Liberty Lunch co-owner Mark Pratz tells it, an irony made for Prime Time: “The Live Music Capital of the World” tears down the most popular live music venue in the city. It hasn’t happened yet – at least not in its present incarnation on city property at Second…
Desperate Measures
Desperate Measures 1998, R, 101 min. Directed by Barbet Schroeder, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Andy Garcia, Michael Keaton, Brian Cox, Marcia Gay Harden, Erik King, Joseph Cross. Desperate, indeed. While the crazed implausibilities in films such as Face/Off induce a fevered delirium that’s like some sweet drug, the inane plottings in movies…
Exhibitionism
Bass Concert Hall, through February 22 Running Time: 2 hrs, 25 min Phantom of the Opera In the Christmases of my childhood, I recall standing at certain department store windows, transfixed by the elaborate and fanciful holiday displays therein. They were unlike anything in those windows at any other time of year: ornate scenes of…
Live Shots
Conrad Keely …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead at Liberty Lunch, January 23 photograph by Brian Easley THE JESUS LIZARD Emo’s, January 16 Austin old school. And for The Jesus Lizard, a line reaching down the block to the Blue Flamingo (old school closed). Most were still out there when the…
Great Expectations
Great Expectations 1998, R, 111 min. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Ethan Hawke, Anne Bancroft, Chris Cooper, Robert De Niro. At the risk of getting drummed out of the brethren of former English Lit majors, I have to say this radical makeover of Dickens’ “beloved classic” (beloved…
Never-Ending Story
Congress Avenue Booksellers photograph by John Anderson There’s no hard data to corroborate the claim that many Austinites are highly attuned to the political consequences of their consumer choices, but for the simple sake of argument let’s accept the claim as valid. It could even be ventured that in Austin there are more consumers per…
Recommended
Friday: Alice Parker, First Presbyterian Church Saturday: The Coasters, Top of the Marc Sunday: Junior Brown, Damnations, Alejandro Escovedo, Continental Club Monday: Cornershop, Electric Lounge Tuesday: C-TEC, Fetish Group, Atomic Cafe Wednesday: Lord of the Dance, Erwin Center Thursday: Roy Heinrich, Broken Spoke
Deep Rising
Deep Rising 1998, R, 106 min. Directed by Stephen Sommers, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Treat Williams, Famke Janssen, Anthony Heald, Kevin J. O’Connor, Wes Studi, Derrick O’Connor, Jason Flemyng, Djimon Hounsou. “Cheese Rising” might have been a more apt title for this Giant Monster from the Depths throwback. Despite its obvious drawbacks,…
In Person
Anita Shreve at Book People At the heart of Anita Shreve’s most recent novel, The Weight of Water, is the story of an actual murder. In 1873, two women were hacked to death with an axe on Smuttynose Island, a barren island located in the Isle of Shoals, in the Atlantic. The survivor, Maren Hontvedt,…
Road Shows
JANUARY FRI 30 Sweet Diesel, Man Will Surrender, Six Going on Seven, Emo’s FRI 30, SAT 31 Rebirth Brass Band, Stubb’s SAT 31 Paul Burlison w/Rocky Burnette, Continental Club SAT 31 Silver Apples, Electric Lounge SAT 31 Course of Empire, Liberty Lunch SAT 31 The Coasters, Top of the Marc FEBRUARY SUN 1 Ladysmith Black…
The Education of Little Tree
The Education of Little Tree 1997, PG, 117 min. Directed by Richard Friedenberg, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring James Cromwell, Tantoo Cardinal, Joseph Ashton, Graham Greene. Boomer parents, whose selective memories belie their own youthful history of sneaking into movies like Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! now cry out as one for benign, traditional…
Postscripts
How strange it is to write that last week it was decided Katherine Anne Porter will be the poster figure for this year’s Texas Writers Month, since she is dead and all, but poster figure she will be and she’s a timely choice; Southwest Texas State and Hays County Preservation Associates are presently raising funds…
Let’s Make a Deal
illustration byy Doug Potter Sometimes it’s what doesn’thappen that counts. In fact, what didn’t come up at last Thursday’s council meeting will lay the groundwork for the future of Austin’s downtown and the lasting legacy of this city council. Two giant steps in the council’s ambitious plan for downtown revitalization made it to the agenda,…
Illtown
Illtown 1996, R, 96 min. Directed by Nick Gomez, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Michael Rapaport, Lili Taylor, Adam Trese, Kevin Corrigan, Angela Featherstone, Tony Danza, Isaac Hayes, Paul Schulze, Saul Stein. To Nick Gomez, heaven is 18 holes of green and a blue, blue sky. At least that’s one of the striking,…
Benefits
FRI 30 El Ni�a Club Skirt party for women to benefit Cornerstone Gay & Lesbian Community Center, at Zilker Clubhouse, 200 Zilker Clubhouse Rd., 7pm. $10. 708-1515. SAT 7 Evening of Music for Alison Kennedy featuring Leeann Atherton, Dosmillard, Shades of Pearl, Killing Ophelia, Laughing Dogs, and Humblebums to benefit Alison Kennedy, at Waterloo Ice…
Can’t Tell the Players Without a Scorecard
Third & Colorado, a limited liability corporation owned by brothers John and Jeff Wooley, will receive $150,000 a year for leasing its downtown property to AMLI and Bonner Carrington, which will develop apartment complexes on the site, and on the adjacent city-owned site. AMLI Residential Properties Trust, a real estate investment trust, will build and…
It’s in the Water
It’s in the Water 1997, NR, 99 min. Directed by Kelli Herd, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Keri Jo Chapman, Teresa Garrett, John Hallum, Barbara Lasater, Derrick Sanders. In this reprised favorite from last year’s Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, young SMU graduate Kelli Herd tells a story that’s sure to click…
