Cover Story
Running the Funny
Club manager Margie Coyle has kept the laughter going for 20 years
Meet the New Boss (Not the Big Boss)
Pearce Middle School community hears more from Carstarphen, but still in the dark about Commissioner Scott
Lege Team Shuffle
Some familiar names cropping up in the Perry, Straus campaign teams
Goin’ Hard
SouthBound’s vice verses
In With the OutCast
If you missed Kate on KOOP’s OutCast, the audio is now up.
This Week’s Waste of Time
Retro Gaming the Internet With Street Fighter II
Phil Ivey Makes the 2009 WSOP November Nine
Ali in Zaire, Phelps in Beijing, Hendrix at Woodstock, and now Ivey in Vegas
The Copa Aztex and More Soccer News
UT and the Austin Aztex join forces for the Copa Aztex, and more
Pearce Meeting Tonight
District seeks community input on saving school and debunks myth of Commissioner Scott’s appeal
Filthy Animals Take Waterloo Records for a Spin
BookPeople gets back in the Alternative Softball swing
Happy Scrappy
Scrappy Jud Newcomb takes up residence
Wise and Not White
White Republicans spend Tuesday wondering whether Sotomayor is unbiased…
Welcome to the District, Meria Carstarphen
AISD Board President Mark Williams lays out the scale of the new superintendent’s Pearce problems
Austin Fashion Week: Get Out and Shop
Austin’s inaugural Fashion Week
Opie on Top
AFF to honor Ron Howard’s extraordinary contribution to filmmaking
Fantastic Fest First Wave Films Announced (Finally)
Fantastic Fest 2009, Round One
Whoa-Oh-Oh-Oh, On the Radio!
Tuesday at 6pm, Kate will be on KOOP radio.
Thank You Ms. or Mr. Mystery
Somebody sent me something. Thank you.
Residencies and Roky
Something old, something new
Abortion Foes Burst Forth and Cornyn Gets Corny
Anti-abortion protestors give a shout out… Cornyn on what it takes to be a Supreme… and more from the first day of Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing
Senators Consider Sotomayor Nomination
Confirmation hearing kicks off this morning
Kress Bashes Pearce
No Child Left Behind architect gloats over middle school closure
ACC Vice-Chair Leaving
Rivera to join Mexican American Legal Defense Fund in DC
The Pilgrim and the Stars
Q&A with Italian trumpet standard Enrico Rava at the Montréal Jazz Festival
The Lineup
Recommended music for the week of July 10-16
Off the Record – 33RPM
Checking in with Leeann Atherton in Japan, finding a place to crash with Better Than the Van, and catching up with David Wingo of Ola Podrida
Perry Appoints Lowe as SBOE Chair
Governor selects another fundamentalist, albeit a lower-key one
Kathy Griffin Rocks My Socks
D-Lister Griffin loves up on the Long Center.
The Urge to Break Your Skull
The Coathangers’ hook and crook
And the Winner is… No One
UT gubernatorial poll clarifies little
New in Fiction
With dust-dry wit, James Hannaham charts a Homeric course for his protagonist through a sham marriage, an identity change, Atlanta’s gay underground, an extended pray-away-the-gay program, and more
The Fall Guy
Legendary stuntman Gary Kent to read at BookPeople
Enter Austin Post
New online venture seeks to create a ‘conversational democracy’
The Hurt Locker
An elite bomb-dismantling squad in Iraq tread the fine line between keeping themselves alive and coming back for another adrenaline rush.
New in Fiction
Helen Oyeyemi’s third novel is a chilling, lyrical story, crafted from murder and madness
Family Is for Life
Austin Film Festival to honor Arrested Development‘s Mitchell Hurwitz
Oops!
Due to an editing error in last week’s News story “$4 Million Later,” a passage intended to quote Suzy Gulliver on the activities of Waco’s Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans was mistakenly attributed to Department of Veterans Affairs spokeswoman Diana Struski. In last week’s Screens story about Austin Studios, “Split Decision,”…
Moon
A man (Sam Rockwell) and his computer (voiced pitch-perfectly by Kevin Spacey) – alone on a moon-based work station of the future – plumb the depths of identity and inner space.
Live Shots
Festival International de Jazz de Montreal Montreal, Quebec, Canada, June 30–July 3 Never travel for music. From Johnny Cash at Emo’s to Beck at Westlake High School, the superstars eventually come to you, Austin. True, the Montreal Jazz Festival’s global get this year, Stevie Wonder, who bookended the international gathering’s initial headliner 30 years ago,…
Food-o-File
New stoves and local nonprofits garner support despite difficult economic times
Page Two: Rules of Disorder
The best democracy is a messy one
Live Shots
Explosions in the Sky Stubb’s, July 4 “Count of three, say your favorite thing about America,” prompted Octopus Project’s Josh Lambert during the local electro-rockers’ knockout set. Explosions in the Sky! In Austin on the Fourth of July! The headliners acknowledged most acts’ reluctance to follow OctProj’s big-stage thrills, but not them, not this night,…
Event Menu
An overview of local foodie events for July 10-14
Rejiggering the Sunset Process
With the passage of the Sunset rescheduling bill in the special session, lawmakers ensured the doors will remain open at the Departments of Transportation and Insurance during the next two years. That was a real concern since their “Sunset” bills, along with those for three smaller agencies, didn’t pass in the regular session. Rather than…
Bill Maher
The political satirist weighs in on Republican sex scandals and Texas secession
Fried Chicken, Part III
The third installment of our fried-chicken adventures
Playing Through
Is football a sport only for men? The women who play for the Austin Outlaws think not.
‘The Doyle and Debbie Show’
The creator of the hit country music satire reveals its Grand Ole Opry roots
The 1821 Club
Tuning in to the future of Austin’s music scene today
Developing Stories: Great Public Spaces Summit
Dancing in the streets, singing odes to streetscapes
The Hightower Report
Lessons of the ‘Booze Indicators’; and Perking Up CEO Pay
Off the Record
Better Than the Van finds a place to crash in Austin, as does Ola Podrida’s David Wingo, while Leeann Atherton goes big in Japan and Martín Perna stays up late with the Roots
City Hall Hustle: Songs in the Key of Council
Players in proposed music department singing off different pages
After a Fashion
Where will Stephen make over Carole Keeton Etc. Etc. now that Pink is closing?
Day Trips
Approximately 300,000 bats live year-round underneath the Waugh Drive bridge in Houston
Headlines
• A month before the new academic year starts, Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott announced Wednesday he is closing Pearce Middle School, while ordering Austin ISD to hire “professional services” to assist with Reagan High. Scott said he ordered the closure because the school, in Northeast Austin, is entering its fifth year classified as…
The Common Law
My Neighbor Wastes Water, and It’s Driving Me Crazy
McMoldy High School?
For one McCallum High student, every day is a sick day
Naked City
• SO LONG, MARSHALL It’s official: After a rocky decade as the president of the Austin Revitalization Authority – a nonprofit contracted by the city to redevelop East 11th and 12th streets – Byron Marshall is leaving to become chief administrative officer of Richmond, Va. The Richmond City Council approved his hiring on a 9-0…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Eating feces, rubbing humps, and much more
Gay Place
Gay Place bids Ash Bell Godspeed, adieu, and a fond farewell
Res Publica
Citizens calendar, July 9-15
Restaurant Reviews
This South Austin Indian oasis does not disappoint
Special Session: In and Out in a Jiffy
Lawmakers passed two key bills – then they went home
Keeping It Bearden
Stand-up comedian Matt Bearden was the headliner on the night (June 23) our “Running the Funny” feature was in utero. Wayne Alan Brenner interviews him for this Chronicle online exclusive: Austin Chronicle: How did you get started in comedy? I mean professionally, not just being funny. Because I’m sure that came, ah, genetically or something.…
Restaurant Reviews
Attention to detail makes this North Campus hangout a success
Martinez Corners Cornyn
Martinez queries Cornyn on Sotomayor
Arts Review
Tutto Theatre and Bulgakov’s satire are a wonderful marriage of zany energy and deep meaning
Climate Bill
Doggett worries that the climate bill may be worse than doing nothing
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
So a mammoth, a sloth, and a saber-toothed tiger walk into a Mesozoic Age ….
On the Download
Dispatches from Wii’s Virtual Console
Arts Review
This double-sided tribute to Janis Joplin works as engaging story and rocking concert
AISD Working Out Technology Costs and Kinks
Austin ISD goes on computer-buying spree
Brüno
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Brüno is less specific and less interesting than Borat – and therefore less funny.
Arts Review
A subtle nod to the longevity and cultural relevance of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition
Drought Prompts Call for Conservation
With Lake Travis and Barton Springs hit hard by the drought, the call for more conservation funding grows louder
Short Kut: The Con Is On
In this Bollywood comedy, two con artists connive their way up the movie-industry ladder.
TV Eye
Remembering the televised Michael Jackson: intimate and iconic
Sitting in a Tin Can, Where Hell Is Still Other People
Pondering the existential self in writer/director Duncan Jones’ Moon
Cap Metro Shifts Routes, Riles Drivers
Transit agency says budget crunch prompted changes
The Girl From Monaco
This French film is equal parts sex farce, Mai-Decembre romance, middle-aged white male fantasy, and wannabe Hitchockian intrigue.
Luv Doc Recommends: Bastille Day Celebration
Here’s a helpful hint if you’re putting on a festival in the next few millennia: Whatever it is, whoever it benefits, no matter how wonderful the cause or how awesome the party, don’t turn it into a “-palooza” – even if you’re Perry fucking Ferrell himself. No. Seriously. Unless you’re putting on a music festival…
