Cover Story
Tacos of Texas Takes Cultural Exploration to the Screen
Episodes feature one taco and one Texas city
What’s a Rooster Teeth? The Beginner’s Guide to RTX
A veteran explains this week’s convention for noobs
KUTX Announces Summer Jam
Showcase hosted by The Breaks benefits Kids in a New Groove
Chronicle Recommends: The Many Faces of Frankenstein
Celebrating the cinematic legacy of Mary Shelley’s creation
Mayor Calls for End to CodeNEXT
“Divisive and poisoned” zoning rewrite now in real jeopardy
Beach House Storms the Moody
Neo-gothic atmospherics come on like a hurricane
John Kerry to Kick Off Texas Tribune Festival
Other speakers include Nancy Pelosi, Beto O’Rourke, Jeff Flake
Texas Dems Want Stronger Immigrant Detention Oversight
More than 5,000 immigrant children in detention centers
Pacific Asian Eatery Slated for Late Summer Opening
She’s Not Here focuses on cocktails and snacks
Weekend Wine
Olema Cab, great with a steak
The Blaze Issue
“Blaze Foley is the Snuffleupagus of the outlaw country music scene. I first heard of him when I heard John Prine’s cover of the song ‘Clay Pigeons’ and I thought it was one of the best country songs I’d ever heard. As I looked more and more into who wrote it, the story of Blaze’s…
They’re Here! Fantastic Fest Wave One Arrives
Overlord, Apostle headline fest opening salvo
Austin Gets Real on TV
Locals compete on Face Off and Making It tonight
Kendra Scott Walks Back Support for Local Crisis Pregnancy Center
Jeweler regrets hosting fundraiser for Pflugerville CPC
#bossbabesATX Announces Lineup for Babes Fest 2018
Celebrating women-identifying and nonbinary artists
David Tennant Joins Cast of Gen:LOCK
Doctor Who star cast alongside Michael B. Jordan in Rooster Teeth Show
Friends Handle the Heavy Lifting for Kent “Omar” Dykes
Howler hampered by flesh-eating arm disease gets benefit
Get Gory With Castlevania Season 2 Trailer
Fresh footage of Netflix series from Austin’s Powerhouse Animation
Review: The Annotated Big Sleep
Everything you need to know about Raymond Chandler’s classic
Review: The Big Book of the Continental Op
All of the Dashiel Hammett PI’s cases in one energetic volume
Day Trips & Beyond: Wright in Wisconsin
Wisconsin driving trail showcases architect’s diverse styles
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Tom Cruise risks life and limb in one of the best missions yet
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies
Forget that horrible live-action trailer – here’s your real Teen Titans
Blindspotting
Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal astound in this perfect state of the union story
Mentally Ill Undocumented Immigrant on ICE Hold
Tania Silva arrested by APD on July 21
Point Austin: Loaded Dice
If we can’t pull together on climate change, we face an unlivable future
Skam Austin Makes Our Social Media Part of the Story
Facebook Watch show follows teens, onscreen and IRL
Texas Platters
In May 2017, days before succumbing to cancer, Jimmy LaFave staged a final show in Austin at the Paramount Theatre, an all-star farewell and thank you to the music community he adoringly called home. Even in his own passing at the age of 61, LaFave’s voice provided comfort, wisdom, and healing to a hurting world.…
EEOC Takes Up Balcombe’s Case
Former Travis County court reporter who claimed sexual harassment and retaliation will get a hearing
Exposing the Art of the Scam in Lie, Cheat & Steal
Comics Pat Sirois and Kath Barbadaro school you on the grift in their podcast
RAICES Rejects Salesforce Donation
Check (yourself), please
How Much Harder Can Skeleton Get?
They’re already the most savage specimen of homegrown hardcore
An HIV-Free Generation?
New clinic to help city, county eradicate HIV
Austin Street Art Enters Into a New Era
With the city cracking down on graffiti and Hope Outdoor Gallery set to close, artists look for permission to paint
Texas Platters
Notching Eliza Gilkyson’s 20th album, Secularia offers the steadfast patience that permeates the veteran folk artist’s tunes like a lighthouse to stormy seas. The singer exudes a poetic wisdom few songwriters achieve, and a timeless quality to the album’s secular hymns hearkens Leonard Cohen. Opener “Solitary Singer,” written by her grandmother and father, turns in…
Council: Break’s Over, Budget Time Begins
Number crunching
Texas Platters
An Americana artist adept at psychedelic layering, Israel Nash expands into kaleidoscopic sonic textures on fifth studio album Lifted. Bass and drums rumble under Nash’s starry, Dripping Springs sky alongside streaming guitars and synthesizer. One of two whirring instrumental intros on the LP precedes “Rolling On,” a triumphant tribute to personal persistence. The brazen track…
Election Notes: Ward Politics
Troxclair gets her man
“Morale Is Terrible” at the State Office of Administrative Hearings
Employee survey reflects strong dissatisfaction with SOAH leadership
Texas Platters
Quick follow-up to last year’s debut, Have a Nice Trip hews to the local power trio’s modus operandi: acid grunge, space-tripping lyrics, and a general aura of extradimensional haze. Opener “Space Kitten” gains in texture from increased use of keyboards behind a blunt riff seemingly inspired by Mick Ronson’s tenure with the Spiders From Mars.…
AISD Readies a Modernization Project
21st century schooling
Texas Platters
Since their first two releases, 2012’s Lost in Those Dunes and Time Brothers, Thousand Foot Whale Claw basks in the cosmos. Songs sometimes elongating to 10 minutes or more, the Austinites’ sprawling opuses smolder like stars when not combusting into clouds of heat and dust on Black Hole Party, which furthers their glide along the…
Fetal Burial Trial Concludes
Five-day trial into draconian law yields no indication from judge on eventual ruling
Texas Platters
Wife and husband team Lauren and Eric Larson, alongside new drummer Aaron Perez, catapult heavy riffs and haunting melodies to headbanging peaks on Other Nature, the Austin trio’s first album since 2014. Lauren Larson casts an enchantment with shredder skill over clenched growls when her ethereal vocals don’t hypnotize, even as Ume’s priorities have shifted…
Dark Money v. Precourt?
Fighting a “billion-dollar giveaway”
Recommended True Crime Podcasts
Fill your auditory canals with nefarious activities
Texas Platters
Dripping in steadfast tenacity even at its most downtrodden, synth-pop quintet Carry Illinois treads the tumults of body politics and queer self-acceptance on this fifth EP. Bubbly indie aesthetics combined with singer-songwriter Lizzy Lehman’s encouraging verse lend the five tracks a guiding light. Strident “Scattered” layers gritty guitar fuzz over twee instrumentalism. “Runaway” dives deep…
Hyde Park Theatre’s The Antipodes
A ton of tales enliven this play by Annie Baker, but what do they tell us about the state of storytelling?
Playback: The Healing Hand of Jonathan Horne
Following the free jazz guitar phenom as he undergoes hand surgery
Texas Platters
In a parting gift to her hometown before heading to NYU’s esteemed Tisch School of the Arts, 18-year-old Christina Cavazos delivers adept, charming pop on her third EP. Following 2016 debut About You and 2017 follow-up Cold, the six simple tracks play on her tranquil, gently enduring voice, accented by acoustic guitar and some stormier…
Soccer Watch
World Cup Wrap: 19-year-old French star Kylian Mbappe revealed this week that he played the last two games of the World Cup with three displaced vertebrae. “It was essential not to alert our opponents, otherwise they could have taken advantage of that and targeted this sensitive area,” he told France Football magazine. He scored a…
Snapshot: 24 Hours in Angers
David Brendan Hall dives in to the cultural details of Austin’s sister city in France
Texas Platters
A seasoned assemblage from other abrasive acts, Mujeres Podridas’ second EP is a highly concentrated hardcore offering, each of the four tracks clocking in at under two minutes. Fulfilling classical punk bite and brunt, the quartet tweaks the recipe with prodding, post-punk guitar roughage and off-kilter additions. Dru Molina’s supercharged Spanish-language verse flips from bite-sized…
Day Trips: Lakewood Brewery, Garland
Garland full-flavored craft brewery sets itself apart
The Luv Doc: A Barney Fife God’s Universe
People are just no damn good
Into the Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner
In the sequel to UNSUB, Gardiner pits Caitlin Hendrix against a killer based on Ted Bundy and shows again what a great storyteller she is
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Edinburgh is home to the first organized municipal fire brigade in the world. It was formed in 1824, following a series of disastrous fires. It is believed many early fire fighters had beards and mustaches because they soaked them in water for use as a smoke filter in effect. Saddam Hussein used an Arabic version…
My Obsession: TV Monster Movies
Forget Seventies glamour: The decade’s made-for-TV movie monsters were the real stars
Headlines
Official ballot filing began Monday for November’s City Council election. As of Wednesday morning, Mayor Steve Adler and Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo (District 9) had filed, along with Lewis Conway Jr. and Reedy Spigner (D1), and Frank Ward (D8). Filing deadline is Aug. 20. School Board, Too: Candidates are lining up for the AISD…
Texas Platters Hall of Fame: Pantera’s Far Beyond Driven
Brownout frontman pays tribute to Dimebag
(Please Still) Bring Your Own Bags
City will try to persuade businesses to advocate for reusable bags
Public Notice: Troll Wars
A social media bullying story
Gay Place
Straight-ish movies that shaped queer identity
Cody Wilson Print Your Gun
DIY gun manufacturer will be able to print instructions online again on Aug. 1
Quote of the Week: J. Alexander Lawrence
Attorney for abortion providers explains nonsensical nature of state’s fetal burial law
