They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? 1969, PG, 121 min. Directed by Sydney Pollack, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young, Red Buttons, Bonnie Bedelia, Bruce Dern, Al Lewis. Bleak but exquisitely fashioned microcosm of American life during the Depression is on display in this story of a…
Klute
Klute 1971, R, 114 min. D: Alan J. Pakula; with Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland. Fonda (who received an Oscar) and Sutherland are at the top of their game in this mystery/thriller that also provides a fasinating look into the mind and soul of a top NYC callgirl.
Chilly Scenes of Winter
Chilly Scenes of Winter 1979, PG, 93 min. Directed by Joan Micklin Silver, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring John Heard, Mary Beth Hurt, Peter Riegert, Kenneth Mcmillan, Gloria Grahame, Griffin Dunne. Joan Micklin Silver first came to national attention in 1975 with her stirring and evocative film Hester Street, starring Carol Kane as…
Postscripts
The Pharamacist’s Mate is Amy Fusselman’s precise (86 page) meditation on trying to get pregnant with her husband Frank while reacting to her father’s death. But it’s also a kind of anti-memoir.
It’s a Wrap!
A Legislative Wrap-Up on the 77th Session
Short Cuts
Landmark Theatres makes some changes, Laura Dunn wins gold (or silver, or bronze), Alison Macor teaches film theory, and the Cinemaker Co-op visits otherwordly places.
Second Helpings: Local Pizza
Austin pizza places in this week’s “Second Helpings”
Page Two
Local promoter and legend Tim O’Connor is retiring (well, he says he’s retiring), and I want only to praise him. Hell, look at his accomplishments — Castle Creek, Austin Opera House, Backyard, Austin Music Hall, La Zona Rosa, Willie, Farm Aid, and that’s just the beginning.
Hate Crimes Law Caps Long Struggle
1 Members of the New Black Panther Movement march in Jasper following the funeral of James Byrd Jr., who died June 7, 1998.
TV Eye
The WB finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the series premiere of TNT’s WitchBlade, and the series finale of Star Trek Voyager.
Got to Get Ourselves Back to the Garden
The exhibition “Charles Umlauf: A Retrospective, 1933-1992” at the gallery Spazio by Lytle Pressley, is a fresh reminder that Umlauf was an artistic virtuoso in many ways and not simply an artist who lived in Austin, but an artist who was Austin, who embodied something of the character of the city and revealed it in…
Public Notice
Two words for this week in “Public Notice”: Pride and Ride. Okay.
Hate Crimes Law Caps Long Struggle
2 The November 1993 death of Nicholas West touched off a statewide movement to enact stronger hate crimes laws. The Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby of Texas organized a rally that drew 2,000 supporters to Bergfield Park in Tyler, a gay gathering place where West was picked up by a man who turned out to be…
Video Reviews
On the surface, Gold Diggers is fluffy musical fare with Busby Berkeley’s delightfully surreal production numbers, but the Great Depression left its mark on the film.
Articulations
Central Texas writer Tom Grimes has a play date in L.A., Deborah Hay duets with Baryshnikov in Brooklyn, and Jouét flies off to Louisville, plus legislative applause for Austin musicals Jouét and Oliver!
Day Trips
The venerable, towering National Forests of Texas.
Hate Crimes Law Caps Long Struggle
3 James Byrd Sr. is flanked by three of his children at the funeral of his son, James Byrd Jr.
Video Reviews
My Cousin Vinny combines a good dose of Northeastern pomposity and Southern ignorance to produce a great comedy.
Exhibitionism
Watching Rob Nash morph from character to character at cell-phone speed is like watching Alexander Nemov perfect a somersault after a double flip in an Olympic floorshow. In his new solo show, Sex Farce, Nash handily embodies 14 characters and umpteen sound effects aided only by a chair and an offstage voice, but an unwieldy…
Mr. Smarty Pants
Meaty, nutritious data and data by-products—now in bite-sized chunks!
Hate Crimes Law Caps Long Struggle
4 Ken Stern holds the cross given to him by his partner of 16 years, Fred Mangione of Katy, who was stabbed to death Jan. 4, 1996. Stern found Mangione bleeding from 35 stab wounds. “Breathe with me,” Stern said over and over as he held his dying lover. Two self-proclaimed white supremacists are serving…
What’s the Worst That Could Happen?
What’s the Worst That Could Happen? 2001, PG-13, 95 min. Directed by Sam Weisman, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Larry Miller, Bernie Mac, Glenne Headly, Nora Dunn, William Fichtner, John Leguizamo, Carmen Ejogo, Martin Lawrence, Danny Devito. Its title is live bait for critics. One of the co-stars is an executive producer. The…
Exhibitionism
In the Zachary Scott Theatre Center production of Terence McNally’s Master Class, Lisa Bansavage is exceptional as Maria Callas. Whether bantering with the audience or berating her students, Bansavage is charming, funny, and imposing — but then, she’s La Divina.
After a Fashion
Always avant Austin retailer By George’s new store is alight with style; starting this week, SoCo stays up late on the First Thursday of every month.
Hate Crimes Law Caps Long Struggle
5 This is the stretch of East Texas road in Jasper where James Byrd Jr., a black man, was dragged to death from the rear of a pickup truck. Three men were convicted of the crime, with two sentenced to death and a third sentenced to life in prison.
Bread and Roses
Bread and Roses 2001, R, 105 min. Directed by Ken Loach, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring George Lopez, Elpidia Carrillo, Adrien Brody, Pilar Padilla. Over the course of his 30-plus-years-long career, British film director Ken Loach has carved out a unique and brutally consistent style of socially committed filmmaking. His protagonists are always…
About AIDS
Where to get tested for HIV and other STDs.
Hate Crimes Law Caps Long Struggle
6 Denise Guerrero of Austin cries during 1999 Senate testimony on the hate crimes bill. Guerrero’s brother, Ernest Saldaña (shown in framed picture), was murdered on their mother’s birthday, Nov. 3, 1994. Saldaña’s assailants yelled, “faggot, faggot,” as they beat him to death. Sen. Rodney Ellis, sponsor of the Senate bill, sits next to Guerrero.
Moulin Rouge
This musical sucks you in with its own brand of willful illogic and breathtaking visuals. Set in turn-of-the-century Paris, a penniless poet falls madly in love with a nightclub’s star performer, a chanteuse-cum-courtesan who has a heart of gold and is an incipient consumptive. The music is a combination of restructured modern pop tunes manhandled…
Summer Reading
Summer Vacation/Found Photographs T. Adler Books, 126 pp., $30 In so many ways, this book takes me back to my grandmother’s couch on a lazy summer afternoon. Sinking deeper until finally I’m close to finishing that third bowl of ice cream, asking in amazement, “Hey! Who’s this guy? … He looks just like me!!!” Endless…
To Your Health
I don’t know how much vitamin C I should take. The government has one figure and books I have read have others. Who is right?
Hate Crimes Law Caps Long Struggle
7 Rep. Senfronia Thompson, sponsor of hate crimes legislation in the House, holds a picture of James Byrd Jr. during a 1999 prayer vigil at the Capitol. The 1999 legislation passed in the House, but died in the Senate.
The King is Alive
The King is Alive 2000, R, 105 min. Directed by Kristian Levring, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Romane Bohringer, David Calder, Bruce Davison, Janet McTeer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Peter Kubheka. Ultimately, I think, it comes down to aesthetics — a necessarily vague and academic-sounding term, like “postmodern” or “organic.” Twenty-five-cent words that people…
Summer Reading
Fraud by David Rakoff Doubleday, 228 pp., $21.95 I often entertain the dream that David Rakoff isn’t the charming, suave-yet-jaded New York author appearing on his dust jacket, but is, instead, a stunted, dwarfish fellow, just a goat hair above trollism, who calmly bides his time waiting for errant out-of-towners beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, sharpening…
Coach’s Corner
The human being isn’t such a smart animal; smart being a relative term. Millions of words have been written by the more verbal of our breed trying to convince us of human superiority. This is delusional thinking, placing people like Phil Jackson above the common gray squirrel in your back yard, just because a fluke…
Hate Crimes Law Caps Long Struggle
8 On May 11, Gov. Rick Perry signed the James Byrd Jr. hate crimes bill into law. From left are: James Byrd’s parents, Stella and James Byrd Sr.; Rep. Senfronia Thompson, Perry, and Sens. Rodney Ellis and Royce West.
Summer Reading
Back When We Were Grownups: A Novel by Anne Tyler Knopf, 279 pp., $25 I love Anne Tyler, and I’m not alone in that sentiment — her novels have consistently been bestsellers. But more than that, they have been those rare deserving bestsellers — honestly told, entertaining, full of engaging characters, and well written. Admittedly,…
The Big Show
The aesthetic at Girasole speaks to the food fashion of our age, according to Chronicle writer Rachel Feit. It is studied, indeed, almost market-researched in its appropriateness.
Naked City
The Constitution may not allow the city to prohibit sleeping in public places, but there’s another way to get the homeless off sidewalks in the Central Business District — don’t let them sit or lie down. An ordinance passed on first reading by the City Council Thursday essentially reinstates a provision of the city’s 1996…
Summer Reading
Facing the Wind: A True Story of Tragedy and Reconciliation by Julie Salamon Random House, 302 pp., $24.95 I would have loved to have heard the pitch for Julie Salamon’s Facing the Wind, a true crime. I can hear the marketing staff saying, “Are there any really gory photos?” “No.” “Any really kinky sex?” The…
Food-o-File
What’s cooking in the Central Texas food scene.
Naked City
Testimony concludes in the trial of Robert Springsteen IV, accused of taking part in the infamous “yogurt shop murders.”
Summer Reading
Chang and Eng: A Novel by Darin Strauss Plume, 323 pp., $13 (paper) Darin Strauss’ colossal first effort begins and ends in Wilkesboro, NC, the dusty mountain town where conjoined twin brothers Chang and Eng Bunker settled during the mid-1800s. It begins and ends, more importantly, with their deaths. “This is the end I have…
Liquid Assets
Sometimes you feel like a lot, sometimes you don’t. Several Austin restaurants are catching on to the fact that many diners would rather just have a glass or two of wine instead of a whole bottle. That way they can try different wines with their appetizers and their main course. While the majority of our…
Naked City
Austin freshman Ann Kitchen proves a quick study in her first session at the Texas House of Representatives.
The Claim
The Claim 2001, R, 120 min. Directed by Michael Winterbottom, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Milla Jovovich, Sarah Polley, Nastassja Kinski. The Claim trafficks in a particular brand of pain: a huge, bone-crushing, mute melancholy, like when you open your mouth in a dream to scream and nothing comes…
Summer Reading
Banvard’s Folly: Thirteen Tales of Renowned Obscurity, Famous Anonymity, and Rotten Luck by Paul Collins Picador USA, 272 pp., $25 History usually remembers its winners, and the occasional high-profile loser, but what about its many near-misses? Somewhere between glory and disgrace lie the one-time contenders who — because of circumstance, character flaws, or ill fortune…
Ruling the Roost
Austin Preeminent Concert Promoter Ponders Retirement
Naked City
UT students protest the school’s contract with Sodexho Marriott, a major stockholder in the world’s largest private prison system.
Summer Reading
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand Random House, 399 pp., $24.95 Once upon a time, one of America’s biggest celebrities was a horse named Seabiscuit. In 1938 he got more news coverage than Roosevelt, Hitler, or Mussolini. Forty thousand fans would show up to watch him practice. On cross-country train trips, fans would line…
Dancing About Architecture
Woodshock, forever turbulent.
Naked City
The city gets into the affordable housing development business, buying land in East Austin for a mixed-use development there.
Summer Reading
Take the Cannoli: Stories From the New World by Sarah Vowell Touchstone Books, 224 pp., $12 (paper) No other voice in America is quite like Sarah Vowell’s. In the paperback release of her anthology Take the Cannoli: Stories From the New World, the frequent contributor to Public Radio International’s This American Life writes about the…
Woodshock Schedule
Our resident Marshmallow Peep relates the news and hearsay in and around the Live Music Capital…
The Hightower Lowdown
The Bush energy pose, the FTAA farce & Biotech cynicism
Summer Reading
Shiksa Goddess, Or, How I Spent My Forties: Essays by Wendy Wasserstein Knopf, 235 pp., $23 Wendy Wasserstein is mistress of a self-conscious, neurotic style specific to New York and a casual regard for decadence specific to the Upper East Side. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (author of The Heidi Chronicles and The Sisters Rosensweig, among…
Live Shots
KGSR Blues FestivalWaterloo Park, May 19 Rest assured, the climax of the KGSR Blues Festival was Ray Charles crooning “America the Beautiful” on a perfect Central Texas night with a 40-piece orchestra made up of locals purring along behind him, but it was almost anticlimactic all the same. By then, there had been more than…
Bohemian Rhapsody
The love affair with Baz Luhrmann began almost 10 years ago, when I worked at a sleepy mom-and-pop video store in North Carolina. One day I stuck a tape of his directorial debut, Strictly Ballroom, in the VCR; I think I liked the flashy blue box. And flashy certainly is the word for the Australian…
