Cover Story
She’s Her Own Grandma
Carole Keeton Strayhorn – what a long strange trip it’s been
Austin Soccer Links
A directory of local soccer organizations
Classe Tous Risques
Classe Tous Risques 1960, NR, 103 min. Directed by Claude Sautet, Starring Lino Ventura, Sandra Milo, Jean-Paul Belmondo. Newly restored print of forgotten French crime stunner starring two of the French cinema’s greatest male icons. The story invovles a Milan payroll heist, and is filmed on the streets, and is said to rival the work…
Weird World
Weird World Six short weird films will screen. Included are Steve Collins short, “Gretchen and the Night Danger,” from which his LAIFF award-winning feature was derived. Also screening are Collins’ “The Ballad of Courtney & James,” Pritesh Chheda’s “The Package,” “Debt Consolidated,” “Saturday Afternoon Fever,” and John Bryant’s “Oh My God.” For full descriptions see…
“Take a Chance on Me”: The ABBA Sing-Along
“Take a Chance on Me”: The ABBA Sing-Along A gathering of the best ABBA music videos and notable movie and TV appearances.
Superman Returns: An IMAX 3D Experience
Superman Returns: An IMAX 3D Experience 2006, PG-13, 154 min. Directed by Bryan Singer, Starring Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden, Frank Langella, Parker Posey, Eva Marie Saint. In this IMAX 3D version, four scenes which total about 20 minutes) have been converted to 3-D. See Still Playing section for review.
‘NFL Head Coach’ for the PlayStation2
With the No. 1 pick of the 2006 NFL draft, the Houston Texans select … Mario Williams. Mario Williams? With Reggie Bush and Vince Young on the board, the Texans chose to go for a relatively unknown defensive end, thereby bypassing two of college football’s greatest players of all time. Whether this is a monumental…
Players’ Guide
News and rumors and just flat-out lies about local gaming
After a Fashion
Your Style Avatar strikes a blow against the empire of 23-cent-overcharging convenience stores
Live Shots
Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pitbull Daycare La Zona Rosa, July 20 The bullhorn. The metallic punch and industrial grind. The crazy-quilt film footage. The charismatic lead vocalist. No, it’s not the Butthole Surfers at Liberty Lunch in the Nineties, it’s 2006 and Uncle Al Jourgensen got a wild hair up his ass while working on Rio…
WilCo Shooting
What took sheriff’s office so long to release info on incident?
Film News
Solid reporting and decent rumors
To Your Health
What is ‘vitamin U’ and what are its benefits healthwise?
Live Shots
Ralph White, Weird Weeds, W-S BurnThe Peacock, July 21 From the outside, the Peacock looks like another Eastside dive with bars on the windows. But inside, it looks like a glittering version of a hotel bar in a Raymond Chandler novel. Chandeliers glimmer, peacocks adorn the walls, and women sip martinis; you almost expect Philip…
Hardcore Housing Limbo
FEMA’s emergency rent assistance program for last year’s hurricane evacuees comes to an end
In Space
Somebody’s watching
The Common Law
Illegal dumping – doggy style
Live Shots
Danny Barnes, Robyn LudwickCactus Cafe, July 22 To some, a singer-songwriter has become the equivalent of a folk singer. But on Saturday night, Robyn Ludwick and Danny Barnes offered proof of just how far folk music really is from today’s typical singer-songwriter wankery. Ludwick opened the show with a set of rawboned songs of life…
DVD Watch
‘Tempest’ in a jailhouse, and its implications
Day Trips
Perini Ranch Steakhouse serves up what must be one of the best steaks in a state known for its beefsteaks
Live Shots
DJ ScrewfestPasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, Texas, July 22 With the recent unsolved murder of Houston rapper Big Hawk looming large over its proceedings, the first DJ Screwfest galvanized the resolve of a city in crisis. While advertised promises of a UGK reunion, as well as performances by the likes of Lil’ Flip, Devin the Dude,…
TV Eye
POV’s ‘Al Otro Lado’
Lear Jaunt
Matthew Radford explains how a professional British actor wound up playing Lear in a Central Texas barn
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Asian women using skin whiteners; polygamy now more popular than ever
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
High-concept farce crashes down pretty low: Think Fatal Attraction meets X-Men and you basically have the gist.
Shakespeare at Winedale 2006 Schedule
The 2006 Shakespeare at Winedale season runs through Aug. 13. All performances take place at the Theatre Barn of the Winedale Historical Center, four miles from Round Top, Texas. Tickets are $10 ($5 students). For more information, call 471-4726 or visit www.shakespeare-winedale.org. The schedule is: King Lear: Saturday, July 29, 2pm; Sunday, July 30, 7:30pm;…
Soccer Watch
The Italian match-fixing scandal and more
The Money Primary
(Candidate: Money Raised / Cash on Hand) Rick Perry: $4.7 million / $10 million Carole Strayhorn: $3.1 million / $8.1 million Chris Bell: $1.63 million / $654,501 Kinky Friedman: $1.55 million / $491,372 Period covered: January-June 2006 Source: Texas Ethics Commission
The Ant Bully
Childhood’s fascination with all things small and squirmy makes this story of a boy who becomes an ant a pleasant, if undernourished, tale.
Richard Buckley
Austin Lyric Opera artistic director Richard Buckley is taking his baton up to Ohio to serve as principal conductor for Opera Cleveland
Oops!
Our latest batch
The McClellan Boys
You can fault Carole Keeton Strayhorn for a lot of things, but you can’t fault this single mom for raising four nice, well-behaved boys who stay out of trouble. Strayhorn’s own enemies will give her that much. Here’s what’s become of them: Mark McClellan – The only doctor in a family of lawyers and teachers,…
Miami Vice
Perhaps vice isn’t what it used to be, or maybe Crockett and Tubbs don’t belong in this new time slot, but Michael Mann’s movie turns out to be dreary and monochromatic.
F8 Fine Art Gallery
It’s truly the last picture show for F8 Fine Art Gallery as Amy and Richard Griffin close its doors after six years to pursue their creative careers as photographers
In Print
An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
Carole Rising
(YEAR: POLITICAL OFFICE / HOW SHE GOT THE JOB … / HOW SHE LEFT THE JOB) 1972-1977: AISD Board Member and President / Elected 1972 / Resigned one year before end of term to run for mayor 1977-1983: Austin Mayor / Elected 1977 / Resigned four months before end of third term to serve on…
Free Zone
Israeli film presents the region’s conflict in terms of the world’s most annoying, dysfunctional-family road trip, which renders the proceedings almost as exhausting as the real thing.
‘Kazillionaire’
Jeremy Lamb and Madeline Malka’s new sketch and improv show ‘Kazillionaire’ is starkly divided between bits of physical comedy that are genius and spoken segments that are relentlessly awkward and dull
Sampaio’s
The inviting space on Burnet Road is classy and modern yet comfortable and relaxed with a neighborhood restaurant feel
Graduation at Escuelita
If there is a cloud of foreboding over the 200 block of Congress Avenue, you couldn’t tell it from the happy and noisy festivities Friday evening, behind the Copa Bar & Grill. A couple of days before, the formal announcement had finally come that the Finley Co., owner of most of this block, had indeed…
TCB
What the Back Room leaves behind, what’s ahead in the Sound Team-Pitchfork feud, and which rock superstars come calling in October
Scoop
Woody Allen’s second British film with Scarlett Johansson finds the director falling back into the rut he carved for himself with every forgettable comedy since the underrated Deconstructing Harry.
Arts Review
With Teatro Vivo’s enjoyable revival of the bilingual comedy ‘Petra’s Cuento,’ no matter what language the characters are speaking, it’s a language you’ll understand
Misung 888
The prices might seem a little high at first glance, but the quality of the panchan more than makes up for it
Media Watch
Fox-7 anchor bails from the biz; Time Warner feuds with National Geographic
More Cantu Controversy
Unfair bias questions hit Bexar Co. District Attorney’s Office in wake of publication of comments by DA investigators conducting an inquiry into possible wrongful conviction and execution of Ruben Cantu
Who Killed the Electric Car?
This multifaceted documentary about the history of GM’s electric car seeks the culprit responsible for its demise and finds plenty of blame to go around.
Arts Review
An Arabian Midsummer Night’s Dream doesn’t do justice to Shakespeare’s comedy, but the goodwill, visual splendor, and flashes of magic in Tongue and Groove Theatre’s show can transport you halfway ’round the world
MT Supermarket
Need fresh, boneless chicken feet, duck heads, pig ears, or six different types of fresh fishballs? Not a problem!
City v. La Bare
Is Austin being prude?
Point Austin: Gentlemen’s Disagreement
Martinez says community needs to look at council districting once again
America: Freedom to Fascism
Although grounded in Libertarian theory, this documentary by producer-turned-director Aaron Russo presents provocative material about the perceived illegality of income taxes – and various freedom-restricting consequences of the new world order.
Arts Review
The agenda is quiet in Okay Mountain’s summer group show ‘Active Disappearance,’ with four photographers focusing their lenses on differing subjects but all recording change
Food-o-File
Chef stuff and tube news
There Goes the Sun
Will a new study cause the sun to set on Austin’s solar program?
Beside the Point
‘I always feel like … somebody’s waaatching me’
Omkara
Shakespeare’s Othello is reimagined for the Indian audience in this Hindi-language film.
Culture Flash!
The 411 on Zachary Scott, how public art is made, and auditioning for the Macy’s Parade
Welcome to the Jungle
Metal and alt-rock collide and flourish during the Back Room’s glory years
Psst! Wanna buy some (slightly ruined) eight-liners?
With stacks of ruined gambling evidence, the city, the county, and the APD are eagerly pointing fingers
The Hightower Report
The “New” FEMA; and Subsidizing Boeing’s Criminality
Readings
Appearing in English for the first time, Eloy Urroz’s debut is clearly a shot across the bow
Final Countdown
Thirty-three years of Back Room shows and events can hardly be summed up in one timeline
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Team Players
Guilds take the lonesome gamer out of seclusion … kind of
Readings
It must be hard to come up with a new conceit for a novel at this late moment in literary history
Exit Pole
Jason McMaster reflects on the passing of the Back Room
Finley Murder Update
Jury indicts Karen Bunton and William “Tony” Holmes for capital murder in death of Bunton’s niece
NFL Head Coach
NFL Head CoachEA Sports PlayStation 2 $39.95 With the No. 1 pick of the 2006 NFL draft, the Houston Texans select … Mario Williams. Mario Williams? With Reggie Bush and Vince Young on the board, the Texans chose to go for a relatively unknown defensive end, thereby bypassing two of college football’s greatest players of…
Page Two: Here and There
The ‘Chronicle’ offers its Web forums and reaches out for a community conversation
The Player
Jim Ramsey reflects on the passing of the Back Room
Austin Reaches Biodiesel Big Leagues
New local partnership makes Austin biodiesel pump headquarters
Luv Doc Recommends: Smokin’ Singles Night With the K-Tel Hit Machine
All singles events are suspect. Any person/business/organization with a hard-on for playing Yentl probably has an ulterior motive. Know it. Own it. That way, if you should find yourself holding up the wallpaper at the Red Lion Inn cocktail lounge on a Saturday night with 20 or 30 other anxious looking people sporting business casual…
