Cover Story
Seek and Destroy
One Swordsman’s ‘diary’ highlights of three months on the road with Metallica
Hanging with the Pulpwood Queens
They’ve got tiaras and leopard print. I’ve got a book I desperately want the Pulpwood Queens to read. Welcome to Girlfriend Weekend!
“Female Oz?” Staring Leisha Hailey
L-Word spin-off? In the pokey?
Watson’s Speech for Preserving Two-Thirds Rule
“State government appears to be more concerned with protecting partisan rule than governing to protect the people”
The Lineup
Recommended music for the week of Jan. 16-22
TYC Announces Layoffs
Juvenile prisons to fire 100, leave 330 vacancies unfilled to reflect smaller roll
Mining the Soul Part 2
Reissues, continued
Boot Camp Challenge
A sports blogger and his beer belly enter boot camp
Introducing “LegeLand”
New dedicated page for ‘Chronicle’ Lege coverage
Hot for House
Exotic real estate in print and on TV
Keepers of the Flame Part 2
RIP Gary Kurfirst
Logo Throwdown: Place ? Edition
Moving on to what’s really important
Submerge Yourself in Texas Monthly’s New Editor
Texas Monthly Editor Jake Silverstein to read at BookPeople
Shooting Hoops With the Defuser
APD’s superhero at national free-throw competition today
It’s a Beautiful World
Devo whips SXSW 09 good
Sunset: End Texas Youth Commission
Legislative committee votes narrowly to combine juvenile probation and prison systems
Rockin’ With the Lege
Oh, the horror
Two-Thirds Rule Scuttled for Voter ID
Day of hard feelings in Senate comes to end
Spring in the Air?
Austin Aztex announce three home games against top MLS opponents
Hust FM: I Declare!
The Hustle’s ChronCast is inveighing on Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s launch
Anarchy in the Senate
Two-thirds fight continues
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Who is dressing Kanye?
Two-Thirds Debate Heated
Voter ID has suddenly become the top issue of the Senate
Quan Cosby Autograph Session
UT football star will be signing at the University Co-op this Saturday
Jazzed About Jazz
Trans kid explains it all.
Straus on the Record
New speaker talks policy, budget, management style and environmental policy
A Geezerville Mixtape
More of the best of 2008
Want to Watch the Lege Live?
See it from your desktop
The Final Answer
Slumdog’s soundtrack is no slouch itself
Well, That Was Quick
Senators immediately adjourn, probably to discuss two-thirds rule
Love. Hate. Action. Death. eBay.
Samuel Fuller’s White Dog comes to DVD
Bush’s Bye-Bye
He’s coming back to Texas, you know
“How Dare You, My Mom Bought Me This Blouse!”
Wode’s Paint by Boudicca
Lotto Fever
Business Deal Records practices random acts of rockness
Dewhurst Thinks Two-Thirds Rule Will Hold
Lt. Governor says voter ID fight can be resolved
Live from the House
Regular updates from the swearing in
Sen. Duncan Nominated for President Pro Tempore
God, make it stop!
Update: Inaugural Events on TV: Bravo
Bravo joins the inaugural fray.
Perry in da House (er, Senate)
The governor says Senate united by love of Texas
And the Fighting Begins …
Senate Republicans want no 2/3 rule on redistricting, Voter ID
View From the House Floor
In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s a session about to start
Smoking McCrack
Straight from my nightmares to YouTube
Inauguration Swearing in Ceremony Program
An outline of events from the Presidential Inauguration Committee
Tell the U.S. Department of Justice to Leave Medi-Pot Patients Alone
NORML wants to make sure Holder will keep President Barack Obama’s campaign promises
SXSW Film Cops to Seth Rogen and More
SXSW Film announces the premiere of a new Seth Rogen comedy, as well as new panelist and docs
Harry Ransom Center to Showcase Mamet
Winter lecture series includes David Mamet and Azar Nafisi
City Hall Hustle: Take the Bull by the Strayhorn
Fun for 20-year-olds, 30-year-olds, and 40-year-olds of all ages!
Dreams of Obama Online Now
Frontline series offers a bio of the incoming POTUS.
Ten Years On, It Still Feels Good to Be a Gangster
Office Space celebrates 10 years with a shindig at the Paramount
Keepers of the Flame
RIP Manny Castillo
Strayhorn Away
“One tough grandma” declares for mayor; one tough campaign to follow?
Spilt Milk
Sean Penn: As far as we are concerned, your globe is golden.
El Paso Council Wants to End the War on Drugs
El Paso council is calling for an honest discussion on how to end the failing War on Drugs
Taylor Swift: You Had Me at Tim McGraw!
I love Taylor Swift.
Yogurt Shop Defendants Ask for Bond
Judge Lynch seems to have changed his tune about whether mounting evidence might be enough to allow Springsteen and Scott out of jail on bond
Bill Holloway Dies
Co-chair of Travis County Greens found dead in his home
TXRG Wants You
Last weekend to join Texas Rollergirl’s 2009 rec league
BCS BS
The Bowl Championship Series is bull and should be revised like the latest version of Vista
Straus Taps Dem for Chief of Staff
Next speaker appoints former Athens state rep to senior post
Princes of Punk
New Kinks “Picture Book”
McCaul on Gaza Conflict
Austin congressman stands behind Israel
We Have Winners! We Have Haiku!
The deadline has passed, and we have winners for Sharon Bridgforth’s new thing-thang.
And If McCaul Runs for AG …
who replaces him in Congress?
Update 2: Inaugural Events on TV—CNN.com & Facebook
CNN.com & Facebook join forces on I-Day MediaWeek.com reports
Free Tickets? Just Dandi!
Tonight and tomorrow night are the only two nights to see Sharon Bridgforth’s delta dandi. Win tix here!
Bill Would Move UIL State Competitions Away From Austin
Events contribute millions to local economy
Phases & Stages
Fucked Up The Chemistry of Common Life (Matador) It takes stainless-steel balls to open a hardcore album with a flute solo, but that’s exactly what sets Torontoan sixpiece Fucked Up apart from a billion others. This is third wave hardcore, and it’s a return to form, where commentary rules and violence and ignorance won’t be…
Arts Review
Moore frames the remains of birds with such beauty and care as to be heartbreaking
Respublica
Citizens’ calendar, Jan. 8-15
Phases & Stages
Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm 2 Man Wrecking Crew (Delta Groove Music) Under the tutelage of grandfather R.L. Burnside and fellow North Mississippi players Otha Turner and Junior Kimbrough, Cedric Burnside learned at a young age that you “Don’t Just Sing About the Blues.” You gotta live them. On his latest, 2 Man Wrecking Crew,…
A Revolution of Spirit
Ritual jazz theatre pioneer Sharon Bridgforth premieres a new work, her last in Austin
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and beyond
Phases & Stages
Femi Kuti Day by Day (Mercer Street) “Do you know Fela Anikulapo Kuti?” asks his son at the end of “Do You Know” from Day by Day. The question’s rhetorical; any fan of Femi Kuti most likely basks in the colossal shadow cast by his pioneering Afrobeat father. Fair or not, Femi will never escape…
Art + Activism Intertwined
Steps on a path
Page Two: Inertia, Inverted
It isn’t the outside world but oneself that most often determines the nature of experience
Phases & Stages
Los Campesinos! We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed (Arts & Crafts) The history of UK pop is built on melancholy and loneliness. Even New Order put a pretty face on Manchester gloom. Those days of darkness are officially over if Welsh sevenpiece Los Campesinos! has anything to do with it. Second LP We Are Beautiful,…
Gay Place
HAPPY NEW QUEER Resolved: 2009. Be a better gay. More gay. Solidarigay. As gay as the day is gay. And then some. I hope my fellow Gay Placers (see the Gay Place Blog) and readers will join this quest. Further resolved: I shall not succumb to capital “G” Gay stereotypical behavior. I will modify my…
Phases & Stages
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan Sunday at Devil Dirt. (Fontana) This second collaboration between the baritone growl of Screaming Tree Mark Lanegan and the cotton-ball purr of former Belle & Sebastian member Isobel Campbell continues the mellow flow of 2006’s Ballad of the Broken Seas. Here, Lanegan tries on his best Lee Hazlewood with varying…
Day Trips
Kids of all ages will love the life-sized dinosaur replicas at Dinosaur World
Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood directs and stars in what could be a perfect career-capper due to the perceptive way the character he plays seems to be a culmination of all the roles he’s played before.
Carol Burnett
The great comedienne explains what made her show work and why recent attempts don’t
Keeping Those Weight-Loss Resolutions
Diet-friendly dining to start off the new year
Off the Record
The best things in life are free, at least on Red River for the first week of January
The Wrestler
In the latest film from Darren Aronofsky, Mickey Rourke rips his tattered name from the dustbin of history with his portrayal of an aging professional wrestler.
Austin Museum of Art
For the third time in 25 years, AMOA’s plans for a new museum are put on hold
Welcome to the 81st
Will a new speaker and more Democrats spell ‘change’ at the Capitol?
Yogurt Shop Saga: New Unknown DNA Evidence
The DNA of yet two more unknown males has been discovered
Revolutionary Road
Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio co-star in this drama set 50 years ago in suburban Connecticut about a married couple who yearns to stand out from its peers, but whose tragedy is that they are cut from the same cloth.
New in Fiction
“He who owns the oil will own the world …”: Barry Unsworth’s latest is a finely drawn novel set in 1914 Mesopotamia
Phases & Stages
Digging For Dirt: The Life and Death of ODB by Jaime Lowe Faber and Faber Inc., 273 pp., $25 Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s life wasn’t an act. From Ason Unique and Osirus to Big Baby Jesus, the late Wu-Tang Clan MC embodied myriad personalities, yet whatever you were getting was full-on authentic. Jaime Lowe’s Digging for…
Activists Raise Concerns About FBI Informant
Two Austinites, David Guy McKay, 22, and Bradley Neal Crowder, 23, are currently being held in Minnesota without bail for their alleged involvement in a plot to use Molotov cocktails during the Republican National Convention. The two will remain incarcerated as they await trial, currently set, after several postponements, for Jan. 26. According to the…
New in Fiction
This debut novel is a brutal portrait of a Korean-American teenager living on the streets
Phases & Stages
The Kinks Picture Book (Sanctuary) Compiled by Ray Davies, Picture Book’s 138 tracks on six discs come stamped with the singer’s sole writing credit on all but 13 songs. He positions brother Dave’s compositions/vocal contributions to dazzling effect, such as the younger sibling’s tangy “Love Me Till the Sun Shines” live in 1968 on the…
DOJ: 160 Ways Austin Police Can Improve
Department of Justice issues recommendations for improving APD
The Common Law
My Lawyer Won’t Return My Call
The Hightower Report
Speculators and Our Food: E-I-E-I-O!; Airlines Outsourcing Our Safety and Jobs
Charter School Approval Sparks More Debate
Williamson County charter school wins approval, but the charter school issue in general remains contentious
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Good-looking partners, ‘anal’ SUVs, and more
The Obsessive
AFS Essential Cinema presents the early films of Brian De Palma
T. Don Hutto: Lipstick on a Doberman
WilCo commissioners voted to renew the T. Don Hutto contract, apparently because it’s good for children
After a Fashion
Stephen’s holiday star stocking … or star stalking?!
Into Thin Air and Back
AFS Documentary Tour presents Stranded: I’ve Come From a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
Looks Like a Straus Waltz to House Speaker
With the help of House Democrats, San Antonio Republican locks up votes for speaker
Restaurant Review
This California-based outlet might be steep for classic American diner fare, but its $2 kids meals are a hit
Being Bad Never Looked So Good
Austin Public Library tackles Tough Guys and Feisty Femmes in a new film series. And it’s free!
Playing Through
Did UT’s performance in the Fiesta Bowl prove them to be the No. 1 team in college football?
Food-o-File
Begin the new year with new local restaurant openings, count the dollars local charities collected last year, and more Central Texas foodie news
DVD Watch
Hepburn and Astaire say, ‘Bonjours, Paris!’ in the still-spry Funny Face
City Hall Hustle: McCracken’s Gambit
Was McCracken’s challenge to Leffingwell a shrewd move or petty politics?
Event Menu
Your local foodie events for Jan. 8-10
TV Eye
‘TV Eye’ scratches its head over the Golden Globe nominees
Point Austin: Welcome to 2009
From foreign wars to local follies, the world still turns
Arts Review
Jason Robert Brown’s musical anatomy of a relationship gets a tender, wistful staging
Headlines
• Israel nears the second week of its bombardment of Gaza in retaliation for Hamas rocket fire. Women and children were killed at a United Nations school hit by Israel, bringing the Palestinian death toll close to 700. With American disinterest in procuring peace, France is trying to broker a cease-fire. • Two-term Rep. Joe…
Luv Doc Recommends: Eldridge Goins Benefit Concert
Damn, maybe you shouldn’t have voted for Obama. Think of all the great benefit concerts that won’t ever happen if he somehow manages to pull a universal health-care rabbit out of his hat. You really screwed the pooch on that vote, didn’t you? Imagine if the next time an Austin musician gets leukemia, hep C,…
