Cover Story
Catastrophe and the Cure
Behind the scenes of Explosions in the Sky’s most challenging and personal album
This Week’s Waste of Time
Free Gaming Via Adult Swim
Wednesday Rewind
New videos from Akina Adderly, Bill Callahan, Quiet Company and more
Borges’ Lone Star Link
A New York essayist excavates Borges’ ties to Texas
The Ward
A dead patient stalks the residents of a psychiatric facility in Carpenter’s first film in 10 years.
We Rock FOX
Weekend shows and new CDs
No Rockets Red Glare
Fireworks, outdoor fires banned through Independence Day
Reefer Roundup: 7/4/11
Your patriotic drug news roundup
Drill, Balcones Road, Drill
Out in West Austin, they’re drinking your milkshake
Flix Brewhouse Arrives in Round Rock
Company adds “microbrewery” to in-theater dining concept
Spotlight on Frank
A small photo gallery of The Octopus Club’s event Spotlight on Frank.
You Can’t MAKE This Shit Up
Well, maybe YOU can’t, but THEY can
Kiss & Tell
A photo gallery from LUSH’s Kiss & Tell protest.
TV Eye: Go LoCo
Awards, and a word about what’s on the horizon for ‘TV Eye’
City Hall Hustle: Skid Marks on the Dais
The (slightly) new council takes up high-speed chicanes
Culture Flash!
A tour of China for Tapestry and another arts honor for Ada Anderson
Dining Del Lago 2011
A few other spots not to be overlooked
Larry Crowne
Tom Hanks directs and co-stars in this rom-com with Julia Roberts, though I suspect neither actor will list it high on their résumés.
‘Chronicle’ 2011 Lake Food: Trailers
Cupcakes take over Lakeway; citizens rejoice
Life and Death After Death Row
Few headlines marked the passing of Randall Dale Adams
Texas Performing Arts
A major grant lets UT’s arts presenter boost the profile of classical music
Dining Del Lago
More places to eat
Bbuddah: Hoga Terra Baap
A retired hit man has settled in Paris but comes back to India for one last job.
Event Menu
Delicious ways to celebrate our country’s independence
The Widget Theory of Higher Education
Right-wing coalition brings its own notion of ‘productivity’ to criticism of UT
Austin Symphony Orchestra July Fourth Concert & Fireworks
With fireworks banned and cash tight, ASO cancels its holiday concert
Letters at 3AM: About 18 a Day
About 18 U.S. veterans commit suicide on an average day
Delhi Belly
Three average guys are the unwitting targets of a deadly crime syndicate in this Indian comedy.
After a Fashion
A chicken, a dog, and a homecoming: Just another week in the life of Your Style Avatar
This Planet’s Going South
SXSW sprouts a new eco-conference
Room for the Unexpected
With the budget season not yet in full swing, there’s still time for hope
Page Two: It’s Time To Vote
In this issue: ‘Best of Austin’ 2011 ballot
Page One: Inside The New York Times
The slow death of print media and the often shambling efforts of newspapers to reinvent themselves is one of the main topics of this documentary.
A Council United?
Council gets a new mayor pro tem
A Taxing Proposition
Current (FY 2011) Property Tax Rate: $0.4571 (per $100 valuation) Projected (FY 2012) Tax Rate: $0.4876 According to city officials, the 3-cent increase in property tax – the highest allowed without a special election – is needed to offset a $9.8 million revenue shortfall; staying at the current rate widens the gap between expenses and…
30 Things
This week in “30 Things” – our lists of 30 notable (or laughable or lamentable) takes on the Chronicle’s coverage, culture, and commentary – we celebrate three decades of dodging the pitfalls of perfection with Nora Ankrum’s corrections collection, “30 Oopses: Errors We Regret.” You can find it all on our website: austinchronicle.com/year30.
Texas Platters
Centro-matic Candidate Waltz “The mystery, the clarity/all the things I find,” huffs Will Johnson on “Only in My Double Mind,” a rusted stomp of bare-knuckle simplicity at the center of Centro-matic’s 10th full-length. Consider it a summary of the prolific Monsters of Folk member’s balancing act over the past decade, alternating between the iridescent avant-Americana…
Quote of the Week
“It was the least they could do, and they still chose not to do it.” – Texas AFT President Linda Bridges, on conference committee rejection of a state budget amendment to dedicate any two-year increases in the Rainy Day Fund to covering costs associated with public school enrollment growth
Mona Remix
Leonardo’s lady gets a modern makeover in Rino Pizzi’s Mona Lisa Project
Police Group at Odds Over Property Deal
Should APA board have asked members to decide on a building purchase?
Texas Platters
Foster & Lloyd It’s Already Tomorrow (Effin Ell) Texans Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd pulled off the late-1980s feat of having their songs played on both country and college radio. Mixing Byrds jangle, Everly Brothers harmonies, Texas twang, and impeccable songcraft, the pair captured the ears of those attuned to both R.E.M. and Rodney Crowell.…
Res Publica
Citizens’ calendar, June 30-July 6
Dining Del Lago 2011
Make it a date on the lake
Tovo Takes Up (White) Lodging
Place 3 action on convention center hotel, social service funding
Texas Platters
Ruthie Foster Live at Antone’s (Blue Corn) If superlatives are left for Austin’s Ruthie Foster, they must be translated from a foreign language. And given the CD/DVD combo Live at Antone’s, new ones could be invented. For starters, it’s a quick summation of her career: soulful, spiritual, real. Foster weaves a magical blend of roots…
Headlines
• After several weeks of debating the merits of the city’s sponsorship of Formula One, City Council voted 5-2 Wednesday to sign on to the racing event. Newly elected Council Member Kathie Tovo (who campaigned against taxpayer dollars going to F1) joined Laura Morrison in voting against the proposition. “I still don’t believe it’s the…
Dining Del Lago 2011
Dzintra does her alma mater proud with her Plate
Nature Violates City Code
City’s green goals conflict with its ordinances
Texas Platters
Stephen Barber Astral Vinyl (Navona) Composer/arranger/keyboardist Stephen Barber haunts your daydreams with Astral Vinyl. Enlisting the collaborative and interpretative skills of the Tosca Strings (“Chanson Rond Point”) and operatic regality of Lucy Schaufer (“Marbles”), the local Van Dyke Parks-like visionary lets the American Repertory Ensemble (“Conversatio Morum” movements), Meridian Arts Ensemble (“Multiple Points of View…
Take This Job and Shove It
Hugging it out with the cast of Party Down
Dining Del Lago 2011
Sobani is a great place for locals to pick up a well-prepared, dependably imaginative meal
Bias in Animal Adoption Center Criteria?
Council adopts recommendations for TLAC
Texas Platters
Ancient VVisdom A Godlike Inferno (Shinebox) Unplugged doom? Austin brotherhood Ancient VVisdom (pronounced “wisdom”) pairs Nathan Opposition and his brother Michael Jochum, both late of Cleveland metalcore legacy Integrity, with Iron Age metallurgists Justin Mason and Alex Hughes in a quartet of Satan-worshipping Americana subverts. Opening convocation “After Reality” tolls with Shriners-deep vox matching the…
Anatomy of a Scene
New York and No Wave in Blank City
Dining Del Lago 2011
The personal attention at J5 Steakhouse can’t be rivaled
Death Penalty: Older but Not Wiser
New report looks back at 35 years of the death penalty
Texas Platters
ZZ Top Live in Germany 1980 (Eagle/Rockpalast) Imagine what it was like to be ZZ Top in 1980, selling beards and old-school blues-rock to a world with a Mohawk attitude and punk ethic. It would be three years before MTV redeemed them as a soundtrack for spandex-clad New Wavers, but at the dawn of a…
Food-o-File
Beat the heat with foodie TV this summer
Dining Del Lago 2011
Santa Catarina is without a doubt this critic’s pick for best lake-area dining
Labor Changes Irk Transit Workers
New law and money woes prompt Cap Metro changes
Texas Platters
Not in the Face Bikini (Electric Factory) Local roots songwriter Jonathan Terrell amplifies his Mr. Hyde with Not in the Face, a raunchy twopiece detonating a minor blues explosion with snarling odes to one-night stands and “Yuppie Monday.” His bleary-eyed hiccup peaks early on garage-bop opener “Way To Go Baby,” leading to a Kings of…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Hugh Hefner’s bunny, Fred Flintstone’s mustache, and more
Dining Del Lago 2011
Silver Whisk aims to teach both adults and children how to cultivate improved eating habits through home cooking
Doggett Draws District 35 Challenger
There are already rumblings from the proposed district designed to oust Doggett
Soccer Watch
U.S. Women defeat North Korea in their World Cup opener, and more
The Hightower Report
Perry Peddles Texas Snake Oil; and Obama Goes Courting
Dining Del Lago 2011
This Maudie’s location is bound to become a neighborhood standby, just like the original
Summer Under the Dome
The first special winds down
The Pop Palette
Artists and indie entrepreneurs get artsy & crafty with their pop culture icons
Round Rock Express
Bob Schneider performs following Saturday’s game
Arts Review
The design impresses, but the actors struggle against a noisy air conditioner
Off the Record
Exit Music: Nakia leaves The Voice, Corcoran retires, and Mike Wiebe walks the plank
Day Trips
Hill Country and Central Texas guidebooks have been updated, expanded, and reissued
Point Austin: No Choice
When bosses say their hands are tied, handcuffs follow
Arts Review
The artist’s meta-referentiality in her media is not merely clever but also wise
Dining Del Lago 2011
What a great way to end a day at the lake, cher!
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Both ridiculous and ridiculously fun, this is over-the-top robotic mayhem.
Gay Place
There may be no fireworks, but we know where the fur will fly
Come Together
Latino poets building a community at CantoMundo
Big Doings in Oasis, Texas
These two new spots do impressive work considering their volume
Bad Teacher
Cameron Diaz productively sidesteps her good-times-gal image to play this human cancer who lays waste to everyone who gets in her way.
Austin Gets Some V8
Circuit of the Americas snags ethanol-powered race
Luv Doc Recommends: Red, White ‘n Buda
Fourth of July without fireworks? What kind of America is it when people can’t blow shit up and recklessly endanger themselves and their neighbors? How can we have special memories of the birth of our nation if we can’t marry them with the memory of a cousin running into the house with a charred eyeball…
