California Forest Fire: Cleopatra Degher
Emmylou Harris for a new generation of folk?
Whitmire: Janek Must Go From Health and Human Services
Update: Second lawmaker call for resignation over contracts
Segle George Fry III, 1937-2015
Restaurateur, musician brought two scenes together at Good Eats Cafe
Specht Speaks!
More Q&A with Migratory Animals author Mary Helen Specht
The AggreGAYtor: January 14
What happened today in gay? Here’s your QILTBAG recap of queer news.
Boyhood Nominated for Six Oscars
Academy singles out Linklater, Adair, Arquette, Hawke
Mardi Gras 2015: Gather Your Krewe
Follow the purple-gold-green rainbow to our online Mardi Gras series
The Slow Death of R&B
In the face of the Austin Urban Music Festival, where’s the love?
I Knead That Pastry Pop-Up at Métier
Clever bakery has treats you need
SXsports Announces Second Squad
Second-year track brings Charles Barkley, Deion Sanders into town
Farewell to Linda Bridges, Hero of Texas Schools
Teachers union leader passes, leaving legacy of advocacy
SXSW Interactive’s Latest Speakers Announced
Starring Dr. Astro Teller, Jesse Jackson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, & more
Talking Trash
Trash Dance streams here for the next two weeks – for free
SXSW Music: Third Whopping List
Another 547 acts booked for the 2015 Music Conference
The AggreGAYtor: January 13
What happened today in gay? Here’s your QILTBAG recap of queer news.
The AggreGAYtor: January 12
What happened today in gay? Here’s your QILTBAG recap of queer news.
Culinary Ladies of the Eighties – Amy Simmons
Ice cream entrepreneur wants to make your day
Austin Noise Enters the No Zone
Anarchist Scott Crow tops Jan. 16 anti-music bill
The Q&A Hole: What Does It Take to Succeed in This World?
With Rebecca Beegle, Alex Dobrenko, Asaf Ronen, and more.
Evolution of a Criminal Airs on PBS
Texas filmmaker probes his own criminal past in searching doc
News Roundup: Council, Court, and the Lege
Council announces proposal, 5th Circuit hears arguments, and more
City Kiboshes Cycle Championship Because of Rain
Update: Did Lance Armstrong save the day?
Then But Also Now
Past meets present in Sunday’s free Black History Concert
UPDATED Food-o-File: Friday Lagniappe
A little extra Austin food news
DVDanger: Real Monsters
Documentarian John Borowski studies Serial Killer Culture
Saturday Snow Day
Bad weather forecast means weekend closures
Estate Sale Roundup: January 10-11
Baby, it’s cold outside, but your holiday money is burning your pocket.
Tearjerker John Moreland
Okie songsmith breaks out with songs on Sons of Anarchy
One in a Crowd: The Juani Begood Show
Keep Austin’s awkward sketch comedy on the Interwebs
Bye-Bye, Bearden – Hello, Mac & Joe!
Cap City Comedy’s PUNCH! showcase goes ALL’S WELL as of … now.
Sign Here for Prejudice
Efforts to repeal Plano’s ban on discrimination
Austin Restaurants Star on TV in 2015
Two new cable shows debut showcasing Austin food
Rain on 4th: Now With More Gay
Popular Fourth Street nightclub announces new ownership
Alejandro Escovedo – Not Slowing Down
Third annual Moody show on Saturday whips up a hurricane
Looking at People Looking at Art
Frederick Wiseman’s extraordinary National Gallery screens Sunday
The AggreGAYtor: January 9
What happened today in gay? Here’s your QILTBAG recap of queer news.
The Luv Doc: Not. One. BJ.
Ed. Note: This week the “Luv Doc Question Box” in the Chronicle lobby contained a condom and a packet of Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise®, both of which were mercifully unopened. It also contained the following question: Dear Luv Doc, I have dated a girl for over six months and haven’t received one blow job. Not. One.…
The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death
The eeriness is palpable but the suspense is not.
Selma
Although it’s dramatically uneven, this film is a commendable historical drama about Martin Luther King Jr. that sidesteps the common pitfalls of adulatory biopics.
Inherent Vice
Highbrow mixes with lowbrow in Paul Thomas Anderson’s screen adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel.
Gopala Gopala
Telugu satire.
Tevar
Bollywood film.
Help Desk
Can teens and adults safely connect on social media?
Free Week Live Shots
Lord Buffalo, O’Conqueror, Wiretree, Emily Bell Lamberts, Jan. 3 Has a star been born in Emily Bell? Showcasing the right amount of vocal grain and enough charisma to corral loquacious Lamberts clientele, Bell and her fivepiece band banged out a spunky set of swampy roots pop and slinky sexabilly that predicts a quick rise through…
District 4 Results Confirmed
Run-off results confirmed, Pressley unsatisfied
Revisiting Rivette
Essential Cinema revives the films of Jacques Rivette
Free Week Live Shots
Purple, Tia Carrera, Que Pasa, Pharaohs Swan Dive, Jan. 3 Fresh-faced cheapos filed into Swan Dive, escaping a frigid downpour. Rattling loudly on the lacy white stage, locals Que Pasa, fronted by Dikes of Holland’s Liz Burrito, who on New Year’s Eve led a clumsy tribute to early Pink Floyd (“Stink Floyd”). Two nights later,…
The Hightower Report: College bowl games become corporate money games
Games now bring us to the sponsors
Education: Dialing for Dollars
School funding remains unconstitutional: Will the Lege act?
Free Week Live Shots
American Sharks, Flash Boys Hotel Vegas, Jan. 3 “The rest of this set is all instrumentals,” lied Flash Boys beacon Frankie Nowhere three songs in – before what felt like half of Austin’s population stuffed inside a closet. “My throat hurts.” Then the ex-Chump/Eastside Suicide went off again, howling another recidivist anthem, popping eyes and…
Public Notice: Get Your Meeting On
A roundup of civic events to start the year off right
The Most Important Meal
It’s time for Austin to have breakfast
Health Care: Diminishing Returns
GOP legislators look for additional cuts to health care
Free Week Live Shots
Hard Proof, Eastern Sea, Whiite Walls Mohawk, Jan. 3 With two stages pumped up simultaneously and a typically huge Saturday night crowd, Mohawk felt more like South by Southwest than Free Week. Whiite Walls’ electro-dance (some might call it disco) pulsed smoothly considering the quartet’s snotty stage patter. Bassist George Garcia anchors mega grooves that…
Quote of the Week
“It is important to remember that there are over 860,000 people living in Austin. Sometimes it can be difficult to keep this in mind when you’re facing 200 loud voices in the Council Chamber.” – Outgoing mayor Lee Leffingwell’s advice to incoming mayor Steve Adler.
Odd Future
Is Oddwood Ales Austin’s next great beer?
Transportation: Pay As You Go
Transportation bills focus on funding and taxes
Free Week Live Shots
Pi, Sun Machine, Rotten Mangos Beerland, Jan. 4 After the teenage hordes of ACL Fest, prickly punks and lines at FFF Fest, and a bulging Fan Fest, the earnest grins and tumult of young locals at Beerland for Free Week felt like a respite. San Marcos garage trio Pi opened with sheer reverb, Trent Langley’s…
New CM Zimmerman Loses to Bulldog
New District 6 Council member dinged for suing publication
Food-o-File
The case of the barbecue bandits
Environment: Adaptation and Mitigation
A few early bills promise environmental action – good and bad
Free Week Live Shots
Magna Carda, Crew 54, P-tek Holy Mountain, Jan. 4 The initially light crowd swelled into a sizable Sunday night force despite the chill. A tall, bearded, corduroy-wearing slacker is what Scuare’s appearance would lead you to believe – until he opens his mouth and delivers a multiplicity of flow. P-Tek joined the lanky MC before…
The Newest in Trustees
AISD swearing-in suggests both comity and dissension
St. Philip
St. Philip is mostly divine
Criminal Justice: Mercy at the Margins
Small changes proposed in state criminal laws
Free Week Live Shots
Golden Dawn Arkestra, Digital Wild, Feral Future Red 7, Jan. 3 Red 7 split between two worlds Saturday night, with the inside firmly grounded in the doom growl of the Well and the outside’s wildly cosmic lift-off helmed by the Golden Dawn Arkestra. Outdoors, the indie pop of Citadel recalled Brazos’ melodic dreaminess as it…
Hunting for Housing
As promised by the Texas Apartment Association earlier this month, a state legislator has filed a bill for the upcoming legislative session to prohibit cities from enacting “source-of-income” anti-discrimination ordinances, measures meant to grant low-income renters greater housing options. With support from tenants and affordable housing advocates, City Council passed such a measure on Dec.…
Gay Place: 13 Hours
Kick off your queer year with these Gay Place recommendeds
Labor: Good, Bad … and Ugly
Pro-worker bills filed – anti-worker bills with better prospects
Free Week Live Shots
Shivery Shakes, Jonly Bonly Holy Mountain, Jan. 5 Neither chilly temps nor Monday malaise halted Free Week as it rolled out of its first weekend into a full week. Sporting a pot-leaf tee and Coke-bottle glasses, Slow singer Garrick Thurston hurtled the quartet through post-punk guitar rock, quickened tune “How Are You” the set-list standout.…
Official Oppression
Do APD officers have a pattern of dismissing sexual assaults?
The Good Eye: New Year’s Resolutions
Weight, weight, don’t tell me
Keeping It Weird: Bills on the Fringe
Early bills show reliable signs of Texas Weird
Day Trips: Twin Sisters Dance Hall
The oldest dance hall in Texas?
Buehler’s Case Dismissed
Case dropped for interference with officer
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
James Caan used to be a lifeguard. In 2012, the United States ranked worst in the developed world for the percentage of its workers in low-paying jobs. That’s according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development data. According to the Goodwell Company, the average person will throw away about 300 toothbrushes in a lifetime. According…
Playback: Your Austin Music Poll Ballot
Armadillos for sale, Free Week, and an Austin Music Poll primer
Deus Ex Machina
Deus Ex Machina lets audiences literally play god and choose what happens to the House of Atreus
All Over Creation: Wide Open Spaces
A new crop of arts venues is sprouting all over Austin
Free Week Live Shots
First weekend Free Week highlights as we head into week two
Bach’s Herd of Harpsichords V: Double Play
You’ll always find something unexpected at a La Follia harpsichord concert, but you can expect the instrument to be well-played
One of the Good Guys
Is Chris Ohlson the nicest film producer in town, or just the hardest working?
Free Week Live Shots
Sweet Spirit, Harvest Thieves, A. Sinclair, Borrisokane Holy Mountain, Jan. 2 A cold, hard rain didn’t keep crowds away from the kickoff to the first weekend of Free Week at Holy Mountain. That each act plied a distinctive sound kept things lively, while sleek 40-minute sets proved the ideal format. Play the best of whatever…
“Jackie Lee Young curated by Sandy Carson”
Lower Left Gallery exhibits a dusty doublewide Americana in this photographic solo show
Excitingly Unpredictable
The best fringe since fashion week, FronteraFest 2015 promises a month of exhilarating alternative performance
Free Week Live Shots
Midnight Masses, Ghost Knife, Dead Space, Gloves North Door, Jan. 2 The best Free Week bills show off Austin at its most eclectic, as reflected by this North Door gig. After three tunes from visiting Chicago electrofunkateer Netherfriends, Gloves came on in long-sleeved black T-shirts and gold chains for a brief set of post-punk pop…
Soccer Watch
Tickets to the inaugural ATX Pro Challenge, a four-team MLS preseason tournament hosted by the Austin Aztex, Feb. 13-15 at UT’s Mike Myers Stadium, go on sale this Friday, Jan. 9 at www.texassports.com. They start as low as $20 for a Friday Pass, $30 for a Sunday Pass, or $40 for the full, four-game Weekend…
Fringe-Worthy 2015
Here are a few performances of interest in the 22nd edition of FronteraFest, as cited by festival producer Christi Moore and Chronicle Arts Editor Robert Faires. • “MYHEB,” by Raul Garza. A monologue delivered by a loyal H-E-B customer comedically managing food/identity/cultural/economic issues. 25 min. Tue, Jan. 14, 8pm. Hyde Park. • “Hey Girl, It’s…
Free Week Live Shots
Messages, Berkshire Hounds, Violinda, Mother Falcon Empire Garage, Jan. 2 Cold generally remains the great bête noire of live music, even for a free show. Those braving icebox temperatures and a bullying rain were treated to warm, full-bodied performances. String instruments quickly became a motif, starting with Violinda, a talented Texas State student with the…
Under Construction
As the session begins, continuity and inexperience are the major questions
Free Week Live Shots
Como Las Movies, Cilantro Boombox, Este Vato Spider House, Jan. 2 Infusing the first Friday of Free Week with sizzling Latin rhythms, Austin’s brightest crews banished the indie shuffle from Spider House’s Ballroom. Eightpiece hip-hop syndicate Este Vato optimized every inch of the stage with its rambunctious brass chapter and a key query: “Where are…
Headlines
Before a packed house, and with a bit of hoopla, the new mayor, Steve Adler, and 10 City Council members were sworn in Tuesday night, ending a yearlong 10-1 campaign. First official meeting is Jan. 29, with plenty of prep before then. Short Straws? Actually, it was black or white marbles that determined four-year terms…
Budget: Artificial Limits
Despite economic boom, Lege looks to restrict spending
Free Week Live Shots
First of the Month Smokeout Flamingo Cantina, Jan. 3 A music scene thrives on depth. Artists push others toward improvement. Saturday’s First of the Month Smokeout at Flamingo Cantina proved both in spades. An audience of ATX mainstays including Zeale, League of Extraordinary Gz orchestrator Reggie Coby, the Subkulture Patriots, and Gary Clark Jr. gathered…
Point Austin: The Day That 10-1 Began
Pomp, circumstance, and possibility at the new City Hall
