Cover Stories
Babies Behind Bars
In the mirror world of TDCJ, life goes on
The Least That Money Can Buy
Prison health care is caught between growing demand and shrinking resources
Hot and Bothered
Hot and Bothered 1974, R. Directed by Sergio Martino, Starring Susan Player, Riccardo Cucciolla. An Italian sex comedy.
The Human Tornado
The Human Tornado 1976, R, 85 min. Directed by Cliff Roquemore, Starring Rudy Ray Moore, Gloria Delaney. A sequel to Dolemite, again starring Rudy Ray Moore as the blaxploitation hero who is a martial artist, nightclub entrepreneur, and mack daddy supreme.
Legend of Zu
Legend of Zu 2001, PG-13, 104 min. Directed by Tsui Hark, Starring Ekin Cheng, Louis Koo, Cecilia Cheung. Lots of impressive effects can’t obscure story’s incoherence.
Readings
Callgirl by Jeannette Angell (Permanent Press, $26, August)Angell, whose usual beat is passable historical fiction, remembers her days as a university lecturer by day and a prostitute by night. The memoir, as interesting as it is, serves mainly as framework for an attack on so many societal assumptions. A Book Sense 76 pick, Callgirl will…
Meet the New Boss
Slaid Cleaves, road warrior, conqueror
The Hightower Report
Light rail – it’s not just for lefties anymore; and parks officials are forced to be Bush spokesmen
Second Helpings
Saccone’s Pizza & Subs 13812 Research, 257-1200 Monday-Saturday, 11am-10pm; Sunday, 3-9pm 2701 Hwy. 183 S., Leander, 512/259-1882 Monday-Saturday, 11am-9pm; Sunday, 3-9pm Saccone’s motto is “Pizza With a Jersey Attitude.” While it’s hard to muster up Jersey attitude in a restaurant full of Little Leaguers screaming for more video game quarters, Saccone’s many varieties of thin-crust…
Readings
Off Ramp: Adventures and Heartache in the American Elsewhere by Hank Stuever (Holt, $24) The former Statesman writer and Pulitzer Prize-winner does the kind of writing we’ll always need: funny, fascinating stories of people and places. He’ll be at BookPeople on Monday, July 19, 7pm, and we should go listen to him read some. For…
Odometer
12 weeks on the road 20,556 miles in the Blue Whale, plus 2,000 miles in the UK Most miles in one week: 2,567 (June 1-7) 5 oil changes (performed by myself, of course) 2 tire rotations (ditto) 1 intake manifold gasket repair (ditto) $3,647.67 in gasoline 53 shows 31 promotional appearances (radio/TV/in-stores) Most gigs in…
Crimes of Motherhood
The crimes of women who gave birth in the TDCJ in 2003
Teen Beat on the Eastside
‘Latinitas’ magazine online is giving latina girls a louder voice
TCB
This week’s column brought to you by the letters J, O, U, R, N, E, and Y
Readings
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon, $17.95, August) We named Satrapi’s stunning debut graphic novel one of the best books of 2003; the second installment in this Iranian coming-of-age epic, a memoir whose debt to Maus is unmistakable, follows Satrapi out of the Islamic Revolution and into secular education. Scary,…
Phases and Stages
What Made Milwaukee FamousTrying to Never Catch Up It’s not exactly cool for an album to be challenging. Challenging implies difficulty, struggle – weird angles. Given the present cultural aversion to anything off-kilter, challenging is likely dismissed out of hand. More’s the pity, because Trying to Never Catch Up isn’t an easy album to pin…
You Can’t Have That!
‘Chronicle’ sues city to release APD records
Puppet Summit
Friday, July 16, 8pm
Refresh Your Eyeballs
In “Summer Swim,” 2040 Gallery owner Mo Scollan has put together a cooling and exquisite show
Readings
Local bestsellers are based on sales at Austin bookstores selected to reflect a variety of reading interests. This week’s list comes from BookPeople, 603 N. Lamar.
Phases and Stages
The Polyphonic SpreeTogether We’re Heavy (Hollywood) Together We’re Heavy is a terrific Flaming Lips, er, Pink Floyd album. The meticulously arranged sonic textures and horn embellishments reveal that the man behind the curtain is listening to Dark Side of the Moon. Who knows what prompted the 20-strong Dallas outfit led by Tim DeLaughter to amp…
The Emmis Shoe Falls at KLBJ
The new radio business model comes to KLBJ-FM
DVD Watch
The Tin Drum Criterion, $39.95 Finding good things to say about Oklahoma is challenging enough this side of I-35. Oklahomans weren’t helping matters when, in 1996, God-fearing fundamentalists persuaded an Okie judge to declare obscene Volker Schlöndorff’s 1979 Academy Award-winning adaptation of Günter Grass’ German Lit 101 classic The Tin Drum. Preserving the safety of…
Hail to the Chiefs
By popular demand, the boys of ‘The Dead Presidents’ Club’ are back in town
Page Two
There’s no such thing as a free road, there’s no such thing as an objective documentary, and there might be no such thing as our 1,000th issue
Phases and Stages
Matson BelleGoodbye Juggernaut The cool synth tones of “All the Fine Gentlemen” rise and drift vaporlike on Goodbye Juggernaut, Matson Belle’s first CD. At only eight songs, it’s barely a full-length offering, yet the Middle Eastern electronica of “Shampoo on My Pillow” leaves no doubt of the band’s intent to weld pop with a techno…
Divided CAMPO Says Yes to Toll Plan
At a late and noisy meeting, CAMPO moves to toll Central Texas
TV Eye
In filmmaking, it’s best not to settle for the obvious target. Paul Stekler’s ‘Last Man Standing’ shows why.
Exhibitionism
Much of the Seventies send-up Debbie Does Dallas – The Musical is so bad it’s good, but overall, Naughty Austin’s production is wildly inconsistent
Page Two: Counting to 1,000
Welcome to our 1,000th issue, perhaps
Phases and Stages
Sarah SharpFourth Person Sarah Sharp shatters unmistakable influences from Alanis Morrissette to Jewel, creating a protein shake of mid-1990s female-oriented pop/rock on her Fourth Person. Unlike some of her inspirations, however, Sharp’s debut is light on the protein and heavy on the shake. What shakes is a blissful pulse, one in which songs about love-breaking…
House Park Skateboarders Roll for Action
A downtown skate fest raises the call for a city skateboard park
Short Cuts
The Austin Film Society asks for your assistance, and SXSW does the summer thing; plus, Mike Judge’s garage sale
‘Idol’ Hands
Comic art contest kept Austin’s John Rubio drawing furiously for a month
After a Fashion
Well, your Style Avatar is no stranger to sibling hijinks, so it’s about time he got it together with the Olsen twins. (We don’t even know what that means …)
Phases and Stages
CataventoLanguage of the Heart Austin has long been an unlikely hotbed for the appreciation of Brazilian music. The most recent band to be birthed into this nurturing environment is Catavento, an all-acoustic quartet that specializes in songs of love. The most familiar face here is Samba Police vocalist Susanna Sharpe, one of the music’s true…
Naked City
Breaking news stories from Austin and elsewhere.
Exhibitionism
Despite its seemingly morose story, Zilker Theater Productions’ The Secret Garden is most assuredly uplifting, even moving
Soccer Watch
Top level South American football comes to Austin TV
Phases and Stages
Davíd Garza A Strange Mess of Flowers (Wide Open) Since his emergence from UT’s West Mall a decade and a half ago, there’s never been any question of Davíd Garza’s prolificacy. Now, with the release of the 4-CD/1-DVD A Strange Mess of Flowers, Austin’s cottage indie-stry demonstrates the melodic fecundity of Bob Pollard. Unveiled across…
Ethics Lawyer Changes Places
Texas Ethics Commission executive director Karen Lundquist moves on
A Cinderella Story
Hilary Duff’s Cinderella tale goes splat like a pumpkin.
A Plum Job for Bloom
Michael Bloom plucked to head the country’s oldest regional theatre
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Bill, James, Lance, Tom, Burt, Ken, Festus, and Tommy
Phases and Stages
Antonio Dionisio Songs From Javaland (Marolo) Albums with guest musicians often collapse under the weight of all those gifts. Not so with Songs From Javaland, the second full-length from Brazilian composer/guitarist/vocalist Antonio Dionisio. Tracked in Austin and Rio de Janeiro, Javaland picks up where Dionisio’s 1994 debut Afro-Brazilian Rhythms left off: Brazilian-seasoned songs of the…
A ‘Truth-Teller’ Passes On
Friends and family honor the memory of Lucy Selby
I, Robot
This summer, Will Smith saves the world from … robots.
Big Apple Benefit
Twisted Olivia star Everett Quinton joins the cast for Zach’s House Arrest
To Your Health
How can I reduce the amount of chlorine absorbed during showering?
Phases and Stages
Nick Curran & the NitelifesPlayer! (Blind Pig) OK, so Nick Curran overdoes the retro bit. Somehow, he gets away with it, maybe because he just steamrolls right over it with such undeniable fire and force that you’ve no choice but to step back and let the man blow. Curran first surfaced in Dallas as a…
A Deal for the Ozo 3
Prosecutors reduce charges on Ozomatli members; everybody saves face
De-Lovely
Affectionate biography of Cole Porter’s life is packed wall-to-wall with song-and-dance numbers but is short on new insights.
Exhibitionism
In Second Youth Family Theatre’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, two energetic actors perform a brisk version of the book with ingenuity and unexpected flair
The Common Law
Starting a local nonprofit organization
Phases and Stages
The Transgressors(Shamrock)Stevie Tombstone7:30 a.m. (Saustex Media) Not unlike a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds karaoke party, the Transgressors’ eponymous debut is a disjointed mass of strained vocals and shaky guitar that comes up short but is chock-full of effort. Opener “Depot No. 7” attempts to bring the Rev. Horton Heat into a darker place,…
Weed Watch: Medical Pot Initiatives
Marijuana law updates from around the country
Valentín
Big-hearted Argentinean import sees life from a young boy’s perspective.
Readings
Let’s Stop Beating Around the Bush: More Political Subversion From Jim Hightowerby Jim Hightower Viking, 288 pp., $21.95 When George Bush and the Supremes absconded with the American presidency in 2000, they inadvertently gave birth to a whole new genre: Bushbashery. Bushbashery now has its filmmakers, its pundits, its biographers, and its radio personalities. Jim…
Day Trips
The Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center in Pampa is singing the praises of one of America’s favorite folksingers
Phases and Stages
The Put-DownsNo Worse Off (Super Secret) Despite its vibrant musical history, Beaumont ain’t exactly known as a punk rock Mecca. With their second full-length, the Put-Downs continue a valiant struggle to put the “Wrong Side of Texas” on the map via Austin’s Super Secret label. No Worse Off bolts right into overdrive with “Resolution,” an…
E-Voting in the Hot Box
Activists meet at the Capitol to address cybervoting threats to democracy
The Story of the Weeping Camel
A story about a Mongolian camel and her newborn calf becomes a transfixing lesson about the rhythms of life.
Readings
The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $23) Opinions are mixed on Greer’s second novel, a love story set in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. Max Tivoli, the narrator, ages normally on the inside and quite the opposite on the outside: He starts as a shriveled-up old man and ends up…
About AIDS
A new HIV drug named Fuzeon became available last year, and AIDS Services of Austin will host a free dinner program on Wednesday, July 21, to explain the drug’s pros and cons. Fuzeon (enfuvirtide, known as T-20 during its trials) is a dramatic breakthrough in HIV treatment, as it is the first in a whole…
Phases and Stages
The Flatlanders Live ’72 (New West) Since the first incarnation of the Flatlanders performed fewer than 20 times, that this recording exists at all is remarkable. Considering that few people in 1972 had the means to record shows from the audience, the fact that it’s aurally pleasing is beyond belief. The story goes that the…
If It’s July, It Must Be Re-Org
City Manager Toby Futrell moves to reorganize planning – once again
Readings
Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists, and Activists Have Fueled the Climate Crisis – and What We Can Do to Avert Disaster by Ross Gelbspan (Basic, $22) The title – and Gelbspan’s track record as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist – pretty much says it all.
New Look, Better Great Taste!
Doña Emilia’s outgrew itself on East Seventh. It’s outdoing itself on Cesar Chavez.
Phases and Stages
Jeff PlankenhornPlank (Blue Corn Music) On the inside of his solo debut, Plank, local guitarist Jeff Plankenhorn confesses that the working title was I Owe It All to Ray Wylie Hubbard. That’s probably no joke, since Plankenhorn credits Hubbard with inspiring his relocation from Nashville to Austin, a move that’s led to his backing up…
Mud Still Flowing at Lick Creek
The West Cypress Hills development still can’t make the Lick Creek water run clear again
Readings
Mr. Dynamite by Meredith Brosnan (Dalkey Archive, $13.50, paper) This is a story of a punk-rock slacker well past his prime and one big blown chance. It’s a risky, aggressive debut effort from Brosnan – whose life more than mirrors his protagonist, Jarleth Prendergast’s – but it works out more than well. Much like the…
Liquid Assets
Cowboys and Gauchos
Phases and Stages
Kris KristoffersonThird World Warrior/Repossessed (Oh Boy) Kris KristoffersonBreakthrough (Oh Boy) War makes people do strange things. Sometimes, it makes them re-release outdated music that maybe shouldn’t have come out in the first place. Such is the case with the double-album re-release of Kris Kristofferson’s solo albums, 1986’s Repossessed and 1990’s Third World Warrior, as well…
More Hope Restored
The North Central Area Command hosts another cleanup on Galewood Drive
Readings
China by Alan Wall (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s, $24.95) Rarely do we see a novel actually live up to the responsibility of the form: to seek human meaning with all of fiction’s gifts deployed, all of its graces, its many advantages. Wall’s 10th book possesses a patient, sprawling scope, sliding as it does between the…
Food-o-File
V.B.W.’s birthday treat for her sister Suzy is a summertime treat for all!
Picking Up the CHIPs
Clarendon scandal opens a window on the joys of privatization
Luv Doc Recommends: Red, White & Americana
Oh, Jesus fucking Christ no, please God, not another SIMS benefit. Don’t they have enough money already? That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it? Or maybe you’ve read the fine print enough times to know what the SIMS Foundation is: A nonprofit organization providing access to low-cost mental health services for Austin area musicians and their…
