Butthole Surfer Update!
Fooled you! There’s really nothing here about the Butthole Surfers this week! Instead, how about this: Wammo, who was seen scarfing free chow at the Buttholes’ Capitol Records party a few weeks ago, has signed to Mercury Records! Yes, it’s true; Wammo — whose real name I will reveal at the end of this column…
Flaco Jimenez
Buena Suerte, Se�orita (Arista Texas) From the almond brandy, title-track bolero to the deliriously wicked boot-stompers, you want to sit back and soak this album in — soak it in and crank it up. This is vintage Flaco with an all-star cast, making love to and on a passionate pillow of compressed air, the squeezebox…
The Soul of ConjuntoI
I was lucky, man,” says Flaco Jimenez, reclining against a picnic table under the afternoon shade in a Southside San Antonio back yard. “People knew my father, Don Santiago Jimenez, Sr. And when they started taking an interest in the accordion, they came around looking for the roots. For them, I was an extension of…
Record Reviews
JUNIOR BROWN Semi-Crazy (Curb) Semi-Crazy, huh? Psychoanalysis aside, Junior Brown only has one thing to worry about — and it’s not his state of mind. We’ll leave those details to the lovely Tanya Rae. It’s Nashville’s siren song that’ll drive Junior into the drink, so to speak. But whatever temptations those Nashvegas boys carry in…
LightMyFuse
Just in case you’ve forgotten what state you live in, July 4 traditionally means one thing in Texas: Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic. Luckenbach is the site of musical convergence, and a partial list of this year’s acts includes: Asleep at the Wheel, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Robert Earl Keen, Kimmie Rhodes, Leon Russell, Billy…
Off the Desk:
Black churches have burned throughout the South; redistricting to give blacks a voting majority was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court; and now affirmative action was dealt a devastating blow at the University of Texas last Tuesday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a reverse discrimination case against UT’s School of Law.…
Also Playing
Friday: Wayne Hancock, Roy Heinrich, Stubb’s Saturday: Banana Blender Surprise, Antone’s Sunday: Verve Pipe, Howlin’ Maggie, Liberty Lunch Monday: Sammy Hagar Quit Van Halen Celebration, Hole in the Wall; Don Walser, Babe’s Tuesday: Michele Solberg, Ruta Maya Wednesday: Dog’s Eye View, Wallflowers, Joe Henry, Liberty Lunch; Dale Watson, Babe’s Thursday: CO2, Waterloo Ice House 6th
They’ll Be Booming
by Mike Clark-Madison I don’t know about your parents, but mine are part of all the hottest trends. They’re moving to Georgetown. Actually, they’re moving past Georgetown, on the way to Andice, near Sun City but not, emphatically, to Sun City. The Madisons are not yet old enough to get neighborly with Del Webb, and…
Aces High
You heard of the New Kids on the Block?” asks 56-year-old Vox organ tamer August “Augie” Meyers. “We’re the Old Farts in the Neighborhood!” Everyone’s reuniting this year: KISS, the Sex Pistols, the Misfits, Radio Birdman, the Bay City Rollers. There’s so many damned corpses getting out of their graves and walking around nowadays, you…
Cash for Trash?
If this were a union town, labor leaders would have lined up in protest at city hall last month after Mayor Bruce Todd launched his crusade to privatize a variety of city services. But this isn’t Cleveland or Detroit, where worker representation carries punch; this is Austin, Texas, where people like Willie Rhodes, the even-tempered…
Nutcracker Nut Growing
Everyone wants something in their stocking for Christmas, and Ballet Austin is no exception; the company is fervently wishing for all-new sets and costumes for its annual production of The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky knows, replacements are well warranted; the current stuff shows the wear of 15 seasons. But a new look comes with a hefty price…
In Good With the Boys
Daryl Slusher’s a hit. In Week One, the rookie delivered on his campaign promise for hard-line scrutiny of city affairs, sans plunging into conflict. Here an occasional joke, there compliments to developers he opposed, Slusher was composed and tactful. Of course, the honeymoon just started and everyone’s trying extra hard to remember their manners. But…
At Your Service? Austin’s Private Landfills
All things considered, Austin’s solid waste services division has more pressing matters on the table than privatizing its trash collection routes. The privatization priority these days centers around the city’s disposal services, a lucrative job that has three area landfill owners preening and positioning themselves for the grand prize — 115,000 tons of garbage and…
It’s a Family Affair
Why would anyone come to Austin? To many people who have not visited our fair city, Austin means miserable summers, slacker-dom, over-the-hill hippies, and good-ol’-boy politicians. While there is some truth to these stereotypes, we know that Austin is also home to a thriving arts scene full to the brim with talent, energy, and support.…
One Big, Happy Family
by Chris Walters “Have you heard the news?” he said with a grin, “The Vice-President’s gone mad!” “Where?” “Downtown.” “When?” “Last night.” “Hmm, say, that’s too bad!” “Well, there’s nothin’ we can do about it,” said the neighbor, “It’s just something we’re gonna have to forget.” — Bob Dylan, “Clothes Line Saga” It was clear…
Polishing His ACT
Austin is following closely on the heels of Santa Fe as the best place in the country to buy a crystal, go to a Ram Dass lecture, and do four hours of the yoga lion position, all in time to break your Wiccan fast with a macrobiotic tempeh and chard lunch. As an Austinite, you…
Keepsakes
Eve Arnold Leeds Gallery, UT campus through August 30 It feels almost wrong to label Eve Arnold a photographer; “era chronicler” or “truth seeker” seems more fitting. For more than four decades, Arnold has captured the lives of countless people in innumerable situations, and while her images bear the mark of a skilled photographer –…
The Texas Tornados
4 Aces (Reprise/Warner Bros.) There’s a reason Tex-Mex cuisine is popular. Its scrubby components are readily available and its possibilities are many. Tex-Mex gets little respect, though, often regarded with the disdain gourmets give sour cream on enchiladas. But the combinations are pleasing and it doesn’t take a great chef to make a good taco,…
Beyond Rangoon
D: John Boorman; with Patricia Arquette, Frances McDormand, Spalding Gray, U Aung Ko. VHS Home Video Vulcan Video, 609 W. 29th St. Now this is an action adventure! Who needs Bruce Willis or any of the testosterone team when you have a heroine like Patricia Arquette? Arquette portrays Laura Bowman, a woman coming to terms…
Lunatics and Secrets
New Works by Denton and Mitchell Lunatics and Secrets by Lars Eigner Lunatics by Bradley Denton St. Martin’s Press, $23.95 hard Lunatics is a charming bit of Magic Realism set in Austin, in 1993 to be exact. Denton has called it his first adult novel, “not in the sense of adult bookstore, but adult in…
Joe Gould’s Secret
by Joseph Mitchell Modern Library, $13.50 hard Sometimes, beauty lies in the back issues. Such is the case with a pair of character pieces, originally published in The New Yorker in 1944 and ’64 respectively — the latter bearing this slim volume’s title — written by long- time contributor to the noted weekly, Joseph Mitchell.…
“I’m HIV-Positive — Doing Okay — What Now?”
If you know that you are HIV-positive, that means that at some time you answered “Yes” to the question, “Should I take the HIV antibody test?” It’s likely you’ve been grappling with questions ever since. Perhaps you’ve asked yourself, your friends, or your doctor whether AZT, ddI, Zerit, 3TC, the protease inhibitors or combination therapy…
Day Trips
Hank Lee spends his days surrounded by a collection of colorful hookers, skeletons, saints, and animals at San Angel Folk Art. The handmade Mexican art fills Lee’s gallery in the Blue Star Arts Complex south of downtown San Antonio. In Mexico, the papier-m�ch� and clay figurines originated as religious symbols, Lee said. The shelves of…
Purple Martin
Richard and I recently suffered through a run of bad luck. Nothing too serious, just niggling financial snafus, minor health problems, the drought, and broken air conditioners everywhere we turned. A friend — who was having a much worse time of it since both she and her husband lost their jobs, broke an ankle, wrenched…
Page Two
Well, here we are again, dear reader, stuck with each other for about 10.5 inches because our dear friend Louis Black, almost as an afterthought as he headed for the door a few hours before deadline — on his way out of town for the long Cinco de Julio weekend, no doubt, before we get…
Fri 5
DoubleDave’s Disc Golf Tournament will be held through July 6 to benefit American Heart Association, at Circle C Ranch and Searight Park: Register before July 5. 472-3472. SUN 7 Jerry Jeff Walker will perform to benefit Live Oak Theatre, at State Theatre, 719 Congress, 7pm. 477-0036 or 472-7134. SUN 14 Esther’s Follies will perform to…
Public Notice
Most musicians need only go back a generation or two to discover ancestor musicians in their family fronds. Ours goes back two, to a certain Uncle Clyde or “Red” as he was better known, whose gospel and country twangings earned him both a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame and a son-in-law named…
The Ex-Files
About two years into my marriage, I walked into the living room of our small apartment and saw my wife sitting on the couch. She looked at me. There was nothing dramatic in the way she looked at me, her features were the same, yet this was another face entirely. A face I’d never seen.…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on Breed’s Hill. According to Wired, some U.S. experts reportedly believe the Soviets used a “seismic weapon” to trigger an earthquake in Beijing in 1977. There is only one surviving photo of Abraham Lincoln laying at rest in his coffin. The expression “it’s raining cats and dogs” originally…
Hyde Park Bakery & Cafe
411 E. 43rd St., 459-5411 Open daily, 7am-10pm Hyde Park Bakery & Cafe is a favorite haunt I’ve hesitated to divulge for fear it would lose its cozy, neighborhood feeling. People eat at the cafe of course, but in the tradition of European street cafes, they also hang out, read, think, talk, write, whatever… without…
Food-O-File
The local restaurant scene has been a whirlwind of activity the past few weeks, with both openings and closings. Loyal fans from the old Westlake location will be glad to know that Laura’s Bluebonnet Kitchen is back in business after a long hiatus, this time at 5408 Burnet Road. Laura and her new crew are…
Shirley King Cooks at Central Market
In order to make a living in the food business these days it is often necessary to wear many different hats. Talented and resourceful Englishwoman Shirley King has one of the most impressive resum�s around: cookbook author, chef, cooking instructor, artist, photographer, food stylist, caterer. King brought her considerable skills to Austin recently to promote…
7 & 7 Is
Among the slowcore, lowcore, and snorecore bands — just make that the Bedhead set — Austin’s American Analog Set may be the best. In fact, their recent, red-vinyl single on the Trance Syndicate imprint, Emperor Jones, seems more zoned on early Pink Floyd than anything else and the results are one of the best local…
Sophisticated Italian
Trattoria Grande Renaissance Austin Hotel in the Arboretum, 343-2626 Lunch: Mon-Fri,11:30am-2pm; Dinner: Mon-Thu 6-10pm, Fri & Sat til 11pm For me, the word “trattoria” — a small family rest- aurant serving simple Italian fare — conjures up a certain set of expectations: a bustling family restaurant with a casual atmosphere, carafes of country wines, simply…
Bonus Tracks
BOO HEWERDINE AND DARDEN SMITH Evidence (Compass) If you’re waiting for Darden Smith to find a new label, kill time with this reissue of his 1989 collaboration with Boo Hewerdine. Smith’s penchant for Seventies SoCal pop hooks and Hewerdine’s keen sense of Sixties Britpop blend well, while backing by Sonny Landreth, Reese Wynans, and Syd…
