Cover Story
I’m New Here
Smog descends on Austin in the guise of Bill Callahan
Light From the East
Light From the East 2005, NR, 72 min. Directed by Amy Grappell. During a cultural exchange program in Kiev, which the director was capturing on film, the American actors become caught up in the political ferment of the moment. They advocate for Ukrainian freedoms in the bilingual play, while also joining in the street demonstrations…
La Salamandre
La Salamandre 1971, NR, 125 min. Directed by Alain Tanner, Starring Bulle Ogier, Jean-Luc Bideau, Jacques Denis. This French movie is a charming exercise in truth-telling. A journalist and a novelist, both men, separately investigate the murder charges against a woman, and in the process, become hopelessly taken with her. Fact, imagination, interviews, observations, and…
Little Vera
Little Vera 1988, NR, 110 min. Directed by Vasili Pichul, Starring Natalya Negoda, Andrei Sokolov, Yuri Nazarov, Lyudmila Zajtseva. The story’s titular young, working-class woman is freshly open about her sexual activities and her love of rock & roll, providing a modern look at Russia in the post-glasnost era.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Tom Cruise hates e-mail
Texas Platters
Roky Erickson Don’t Slander Me (Rykodisc/Restless) Roky EricksonGremlins Have Pictures (Rykodisc/Restless) If not for this year’s lovingly thorough 2-CD Roky Erickson anthology, I Have Always Been Here Before (Shout! Factory), these reissues would be a much bigger deal. Don’t Slander Me and Gremlins Have Pictures were originally released on Enigma’s Pink Dust subsidiary in 1986.…
Inside the Actor’s Superego
How Michael Baldwin got here (hint: It involves a showbiz upbringing, Oreo cookies, and shrieking armadas of flying, brain-sucking spheres)
Keep Austin Chilled
Where to go for sweet relief from the heat
Soccer Watch
The Austin Lightning gave up six second-half goals to the first-place El Paso Patriots to squander a 2-0 halftime lead, and a chance to move into second place in the PDL Midsouth. They get another shot this weekend in their next-to-last home game of the season, hosting the Nashville Metros, Sat., July 2, 7:30pm at…
Texas Platters
Adam CarrollFar Away Blues (Blue Corn) Adam Carroll’s facility with words peppered with dry humor suits him well. He composes neatly stitched tunes in the guitar-and-harmonica vein such that his craftsmanship is never called into question. On the 12 songs of Carroll’s third studio LP, clever ditties abound (“AFL-CIO,” “Picture Show,” “Alright”), while the spoken…
From Method to Make-Do
Austin: You can’t sneeze in this town without getting a director/producer/screenwriter soggy. But when it comes to the fine art of drama, i.e., acting, we’ve got nearly as many brilliant, talented, and enthusiastic coaches, teachers, and workshop warriors as anywhere else you’d care to name. (No fair naming Los Angeles. Or New York.) That said,…
TCB
Murder in San Antonio, an old Austin scenester passes by the Bay, and the sorry state of U.S. pop. Happy Fourth of July!
Oops!
A “Naked City” item last issue about former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson incorrectly stated that Lampson “lost to Al Green when congressional lines were redrawn with a helpful hand from DeLay.” Lampson actually lost to Ted Poe.
Texas Platters
Sara Hamilton Call My Name (Stag) Sara Hamilton claims she actually left Austin to become a songwriter. A student at UT, she returned home to Mansfield, Texas, near Dallas, in 2002 with her degree and a desire for a more supportive social structure. It’s a little out of the ordinary, but judging by Hamilton’s Jesse…
Michael Baldwin Fun Facts
• The Baldwin-scripted and co-produced Vice Girls stars Lana Clarkson, best known these days as the woman Beatles and Ramones producer Phil Spector allegedly murdered. Says Baldwin, “She was a piece of work but she didn’t deserve that!” • Baldwin introduced bride and groom (and longtime friends) Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt and performed the…
Oh, Give Me a Home
The 20th ‘New American Talent’ exhibition reveals a country struggling with isolation and power
Food-o-file
Rachael Ray is on her way; plus, a tasty local tag team
Not So Red
A “blue state” reporter journeys through the multi-colored regions of the Lone Star State
Film News
Ron Perryman, an Austin film pioneer, died last Saturday
Summer of the King ‘B’
Relax, Schroeder! Beethoven gets his due at this year’s Austin Chamber Music Festival.
UT a Players-Hata?
Burger joint on MLK threatened by university expansion plans
In Space
It won’t torment you with joint horoscopes, Starbucks ads, or group bulletins full of memes, but Conspyr – Austin-based and mere months old – is a networking site
Theatrical Impresario Larry Gatlin
Recording star Larry Gatlin is now a man of the theatre and busily working on a pair of musicals here in Austin
Smog Reviewed
SmogA River Ain’t Too Much to Love (Drag City) In downtown Houston’s Sam Houston Park, surrounded by some of the most imposing skyscrapers in North America, is a small cedar cabin. Thought to have been built in 1823, then moved to the park sometime thereafter, its only name is “The Old Place.” Bill Callahan, aka…
Study: Parking Lots Pollute
Common pavement sealant could be damaging waterways
DVD Watch
‘What we had,’ said Jerry Lewis, ‘was lightning in a bottle.’ And now we have it in public domain.
Bigger Is Better, for Once
The production team for Coda Theater Project’s new version of Jean Giraudoux’s ‘Ondine’ is bigger than most – 50 people – and that’s all for the best
Smog Discography
A River Ain’t Too Much to Love (Drag City) 2005 Supper (Drag City) 2003 Accumulation: None (Drag City) 2002 Rain on Lens (Drag City) 2001 ‘Neath the Puke Tree EP (Drag City) 2000 Dongs of Sevotion (Drag City) 2000 The Manta Rays of Time EP (Spunk) 2000 Knock Knock (Drag City) 1999 Red Apple Falls…
Take That!: Supremes Allow Takings for Development
Effect on notable local cases still uncertain
TV Eye
Saving the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is going to require stepping outside the bleeding-heart comfort zone
Arts Review
The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Austin’s latest production of ‘The Mikado’ is a somewhat flawed jewel, all the more charming for its blemishes
Texas Platters
Janis Joplin Pearl (Columbia/Legacy) What if Janis Joplin had lived past 27? Would she have stayed on the left coast, schooling the Sheryl Crows of the music world on the heights and depths of “chick singers,” the salty Texan’s preferred term? Maybe she’d have a lifetime Thursday night residency at Threadgill’s, and even made peace…
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Arts Review
As long as it has its mind squarely on fanged freaks, horror cliches, and musicals it can shamelessly riff off, ‘Batboy: The Musical’ is one bloody good time
Texas Platters
SpoonStubb’s, June 25 It’s homecoming night, and everyone’s aglow. Even Britt Daniel, who, with his trademarked bed head, is typically a vision of cool. As he leads his crew onstage to the din of the largest nonfestival local audience the band’s faced, the lanky one’s all grins. This, the last night of a 22-date tour,…
Naked City
Comptroller says numbers don’t add up, Perry accuses her of campaigning
War of the Worlds
Spielberg and the gang at Industrial Light & Magic have knocked the ball not only out of the park but out of Earth orbit as well.
Arts Review
Now and Tomorrow II Creative Research Laboratory, through July 3 The gallery walls at Creative Research Lab are filled with children’s self-portraits, painted abstracts inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe, and crudely handled embroidered images on burlap – works not identifiably different from those found in the hallways of any school. On the surface, the works in…
Texas Platters
For Those Who Know (Christmas Mountains) The closing scene of Lost in Translation: Bill Murray whispers into Scarlett Johansson’s ear then drives off to the airport while the Jesus & Mary Chain croon “Just Like Honey.” The perfect ending to a beautiful movie, the song drowning the emotion in a pool of fuzz. Newbie Austin…
Naked City
Feds say dispensaries are illegal drug fronts; advocates say medical patients are under attack
Paheli
The Hindi megastar Shahrukh Khan and the arthouse director Amol Palekar combine forces for this new Bollywood fable.
Page Two
Please, don’t ask my son if we are related
Texas Platters
Business Deal Top 40 of 2005(Business Deal) Featuring a small group of musicians and local bands under different names and guises who are somehow related to the local Business Deal Records, the Top 40 features a great idea behind its format: the songs are counted off like a Top 40 radio show, Casey Kasem style,…
Naked City
Progressives organize – yet again – to fight the right
Rize
Celebrity photographer David LaChapelle casts his lens toward the newest L.A. dance craze.
After a Fashion
Ooooh, Oprah! Grrrrl, those sales clerks locked you out? And that model did what to Cameron? And Leo DiCap got hit where? What is this world coming to?
Texas Platters
Secret Weapons (Pet Peeve) Ashleigh Daniel, guitarist/vocalist of local trio Secret Weapons, sings like the woman your mother warned you about. Her lyrics are alluringly clever, and her slurred delivery suggests a more-than-passing familiarity with the rock & roll lifestyle. The badass imprimaturs of female forebears like Joan Jett, Exene Cervenka, and Courtney Love weave…
Naked City
Austin PD among departments studied
Mysterious Skin
With this disturbing story about the lingering affects of child sexual abuse, Gregg Araki creates a film that is psychologically rich, emotionally haunting, and technically superior to anything he has ever done.
About AIDS
We need your participation in a focus group, specifically to gather the insights of the Austin gay male community regarding issues about volunteerism.
Texas Platters
Lucinda WilliamsLive From Austin, TX (New West) Richard ThompsonLive From Austin, TX (New West) Son VoltLive From Austin, TX (New West) Parceling out 30 years of Austin City Limits on DVD remains a no-brainer, though these three titles are only the second rollout from the archives of the internally renowned PBS staple (see “Texas Platters,”…
Dems Almost Steal School Finance Thunder
Underdogs’ ambitious education package carried the support of a dozen Republicans and every House Democrat
Rebound
Although this Mighty Ducks/Bad News Bears clone is predictable and inoffensive, it’s filled with sweet humor and well-drawn young characters.
To Your Health
Using DNA to provide customized vitamins based on genetic needs
Texas Platters
The White Ghost Shivers Hokum if You Got ‘Em (Chicken Ranch) Merging bluegrass, vaudeville, ragtime, hot jazz, and blues, Austin’s White Ghost Shivers may be the only local band that boasts bookings at the epicenter of genteel family life, Central Market and the strip club Crazy Lady. The burlesque angle is easy, as Hokum if…
Lege Notes
Odds and ends – mostly odds – from under the pink granite dome
Saving Face
In this breezy Chinese-American coming-out comedy, ethnic, generational, and family identities collide with the anything-goes ethos of modern love.
Day Trips
Good Records in Dallas is what happens when music lovers take over the record store
Texas Platters
Willie Graham Legg-Perthes BenefitContinental Club, June 24 It was an orgy, a marathon, or as one attendee put it, “Heaven.” Whatever you call it, this benefit for Jon Dee Graham’s son Willie was likely one of the greatest outpourings of love this town has ever witnessed. The sold-out show also demonstrated yet again the power,…
Point Austin: A Life of Quality
In the shadow of another tragedy, the city takes a step toward justice
The Common Law
Are the Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournaments that I host in my home illegal?
Texas Platters
13th Floor Elevators: A Photographic History of Easter Everywhere Edited by Stephen Curran Prism Marketing, 32 pp., $40 (softcover) The title says it all: This coffeetable book serves as a souvenir program from the 13th Floor Elevators’ second album, 1967’s Easter Everywhere. Editor Stephen Curran collected Guy Clark’s photos (yes, that Guy Clark) in an…
The Hightower Report
U.S. media establishment yawned at damming Downing Street Memo; and Merck launches advertising blitz to portray itself as ‘huggable teddy bear of a corporation’
Luv Doc Recommends: Austin Symphony 4th of July Concert and Fireworks
Traditionally, the Fourth of July is when we celebrate freedom, and what better way to celebrate freedom than a three-day weekend? That’s a respectable chunk of freedom, isn’t it? And freedom is almost better than blowing shit up. Almost. The best combo, really, is when you get to blow shit up in the name of…
