Bonus Tracks
COVENANT Sentience This record would have sounded unoriginal even if Erasure hadn’t existed. Unfortunately for Covenant, Depeche Mode, Yaz, and New Age music have also come and gone. Their bigger problem is that they probably believe they sound far more cutting edge than they do, what with their talk of “the digital evolution of rock…
Cultural Evolution
In the early Eighties, when Sylvia Orozco and Pio Pulido were struggling to establish a place for Mexic-Arte Museum among Austin’s arts organizations, Herlinda Zamora was still finishing high school. Now, the young woman with the easy, dark smile and heart-shaped face serves as interim director of the Museum. She was chosen by Orozco, who…
Dancing About Architecture
Riots! Explosions! Indecent exposure! Public (gasp!) urination! Fireworks illegally detonated within city limits! Sixth Street has become a war zone! Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating a little. Still, don’t look for Internet music pioneers Machine Screw to appear at the White Rabbit again anytime soon. Their gigs that were scheduled there on the 14th and…
Food-0-File
Mucho’s Mexican Food Eight locations; most open Sun-Thu, 11am-11pm, Fri & Sat, 11am-midnight I would love to have been a fly on the wall at the board meeting where the incestuous commingling of Church’s Fried Chicken and Mucho’s Mexican Food was given the thumbs-up. Decisions like these either land you in the “Movin’ on Up”…
Tales From Planet Rohypnol
1) “They can take more pills than me and still play.” 2) “Sean’s tattoos.” 3) “They are all bigger freaks than I could ever hope to be.” 4) “Those crazy vocals.” 5) “They rock!” Following the release of Fuck Emos Can Kill You , other releases followed: a split single with Chaindrive on 6-inch Doylie,…
Native Son
Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie Atlantic Monthly Press, $21 hard The legendary Mississippi bluesman Robert Johnson didn’t die in 1938. Instead, after making his deal with the devil at the crossroads and recording the 29 songs that would haunt the world forever, he faked his death. Robert Johnson wandered, wandered across time and the continent,…
Austin’s Waterloo
It’s a creek, it’s a park, it’s a drainage ditch, it’s an eyesore. It’s a sidewalk, a hike-and-bike, a shopping arcade, and a shooting gallery. It’s a habitat for wild life of both the human and animal variety. It’s an amenity, an obstacle, and a dangerous threat. It’s the Convention Center’s front yard, Memorial Stadium’s…
No-Cost Travel
Everyone’s summer reading list is different. If you check out five different vacation reading lists, you’ll find someone with a stack of Fabio romance novels, another with a collection of techno-thrillers, a reader with a penchant for steamy potboilers a la Jackie Collins, and then a reader with a fondness for historical fiction or biographies.…
Council Watch
Freeport-McMoRan and the city are wheeling and dealing again. This time the stakes are smaller, but this current deal, scheduled for a vote next Thursday, is again arousing skepticism and alarm. Concern is that the deal may abet the creation of Freeport’s proposed planned unit development (PUD) above Barton Creek. The centerpiece of the current…
Unheard Voices
You’re listening to a men’s chorale sing… say, a Bach cantata. The music is glorious and gloriously rendered but there comes a point at which the men’s voices fall still and in that rest you catch the sound of another voice singing. This voice has a character different from the ones you had been hearing…
Arch-Subversive
If architecture can be subversive, then Pliny Fisk’s latest creation is a Molotov cocktail, Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, and the Declaration of Independence rolled into one shiny edifice. Combining the lowest of low tech with the highest of high tech, the building is designed to be as self-sufficient as possible. Rather than relying on a…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows…
The word “bald” originally meant “white headed,” as in the name “bald eagle.” The publication Nutz & Boltz recommends that people who own cars with anti-lock brake systems (ABS) shouldn’t pump the brakes during slippery conditions. Such action can trigger a sudden loss of control. It’s best to take your foot off the gas and…
Naked City
Edited by Louisa C. Brinsmade, with contributions this week by Roger Baker and Andy Langer. NAKED MUSIC CITY: Which of the following doesn’t belong on Sixth Street: rock, blues, daiquiris, punk, stand-up comedy, gyros, or bare breasts? Austin’s Planning and Development Department has chosen the bare breasts. As the only topless bar on Sixth Street,…
Scan Lines
THE ART OF BUSTER KEATON: VOLUMES 1-3 (laserdiscs) Image Entertainment For years, only a few of Buster Keaton’s silent masterpieces were available on laserdisc. Thanks to Image, Kino Video, and Blackhawk Films, this lamentable situation has finally been rectified. These three boxed sets of laserdiscs contain all of Keaton’s short and feature films from 1920…
Chamber of Avarice
Environmentalists and other citizen groups have just gone too far. Sure, they have some worthy goals, but they’re wrecking the city treasury and simply must be reined back in before they destroy the city. This is becoming the dominant orthodoxy. The message is repeated like a mantra by suburban developers, the Chamber of Commerce, and…
Let’s Talk Positive
Women who test positive for HIV infection fear loss of control over their lives, possible loss of their children and housing, and the ultimate loss of social supports. For this reason, many women who are tested and who test HIV-antibody positive keep the information secret. Women who are infected tend to isolate themselves and often…
Live Music Recommended
Esther’s Follies, Sunday 9 Perhaps the best off-handed recommendation for this internationally revered, Amsterdam-based ensemble came from a dyed-in-the-wool rock & roll fan who saw the Kollektief’s last Austin gig a few years ago: “This is the best band I’ve ever seen without a guitar player,” he beamed. Austin saxist/flutist Alex Coke, who has been…
Coach’s Corner
Northern Michigan University is located in a remote afterthought of the United States few people know exists, called the Upper Peninsula. It’s separated from the lower half of Michigan by a 10-mile aqua-hiccup in the continent at the confluence of Lakes Huron and Michigan. Miles of water must be crossed to reach the Upper Peninsula,…
Show Times
Showtimes listed below start Friday, July 7 and cover the week ending Thursday, July 13. *An asterisk (*) before a title means that no passes or special admission discounts (apart from matinee discounts) will be accepted for any screening. *Parentheses indicate weekend showtimes for Saturdays and Sundays only, unless otherwise noted. *Changes may sometimes occur,…
Day Trips
The Orange Show sits on a quiet, residential Houston street, a monument to art in a sea of people and buildings. This is more than a collection of an industrial society’s discarded parts that have been welded together, painted bright colors, and arranged in a maze of cement passages. This is fun art. Art you…
Lagniappe
Entire generations of Americans have grown up believing in the myth of valiant settlers facing overwhelming odds in their struggle to tame the wild frontier and subdue savage and ignorant Indians. Through the deliberate dissemination of nationalist propaganda and outright lies we have been able to bury the truth of our abhorrent treatment of the…
Pure Gold
Suzy, We have decided that it is finally time to get rid of our Harvest Gold kitchen. Now that we are jumping into the Nineties we don’t quite know how to proceed. We will have to do this renovation in phases due to monetary concerns (of course, who else would still have a gold sink?).…
Gals Panic
I Think We Need Helicopters (Goopy Pyramid) GP is flat-out goofy. Their material is a big fat zero on the social value scale. We’re talking down in the Wayne Newton range. Ditties about the incompatibility of dogs and controlled substances, cosmonauts, video game addiction, and metal spines just do not a “Smells Like Teen Spirit”…
Film
THE POSTMAN (IL POSTINO)D: Michael Radford; with Massimo Troisi, Philippe Noiret, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Linda Moretti, Renato Scarpa, Anna Bonaiuto. This new film by British director Michael Radford (White Mischief, 1984) is an Italian co-production titled The Postman, a film with a production history as tragically romantic as the poetry of one of its main…
Record Reviews
AUSTIN LOUNGE LIZARDS Small Minds (Watermelon) As David St. Hubbins once said, “There’s a fine line between stupid and clever.” A comedy/novelty band making a concept album would seem to fall into the former category. However, such a band managing to pull it off would have to be moved to the latter. Small Minds is…
Homeless Astronauts
There’s a really weird vibe hovering in and around the coffeehouse. Down on Barton Springs Road there’s a motor crash. Two cars traveling in opposing directions just couldn’t seem to agree on who should get first go at a coveted left turn. Back on the second floor, a friendly writer guy is nervously embarking upon…
7 & 7 is
The best thing about Magneto USA is that the Austin trio combines punk with New Wave in a way that begets energetic pop songs with balls. Case in point is bassist Tony Scalzo’s (the punk part of the equation) ripping “Human Torch” and Miles Zuniga’s (the New Wave half) “Back Door,” both of which can…
20 Years of the Blues
Here at the Chronicle we write about music. We analyze, criticize, praise, and sometimes bury bands, musicians, and clubs while examining the ins and outs of the scene. But rarely do we talk about what makes a club special or why one venue survives year after year when others go under. For Antone’s, the answer…
