Cover Story
Icing the Batter Electric
Cake decorators both professional and passionately amateur prep for local competition
“The Immigrant”
“The Immigrant” 1917, NR, 20 min. Directed by Charlie Chaplin, Starring Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance. “The Immigrant” is a 20-minute short that pits Chaplin’s slapstick against the rocking waves of the ocean and stranger-in-a-strange-land schtick.
Hustle & Flow Premiere
Hustle & Flow Premiere 2005, R, 114 min. Directed by Craig Brewer, Starring Terrence Howard, DJ Qualls, Taryn Manning, Anthony Anderson, Isaac Hayes, Ludacris, Taraji P. Henson, Elise Neal, Paula Jai Parker. Emerging as one of the big hits of the last Sundance, Hustle & Flow is the story of a Memphis pimp who turns…
Nick Drake Hoot Night and “A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake”
Nick Drake Hoot Night and “A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake” 2000, NR, 48 min. Directed by Jeroen Berkvens. Hoot Night in honor of what would have been Nick Drake’s birthday on June 19 is supplemented by this Dutch documentary on the suicidal musician, whose legacy has posthumously grown mighty.
East of Eden
East of Eden 1955, PG, 115 min. Directed by Elia Kazan, Starring James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Jo Van Fleet, Burl Ives. New theatrical film prints have been struck in honor of the 50th anniversary of this classic the commemoration of Dean’s death in 1955. It’s the movie in which Dean made his starring…
September 30, 1955
September 30, 1955 1978, PG, 101 min. Directed by James Bridges, Starring Richard Thomas, Susan Tyrell, Deborah Benson-Wald, Lisa Blount, Tom Hulce, Dennis Quaid. The title marks the date of James Dean’s death, and this tells the story of an Arkansas undergraduate who’s so upset by the news that he organizes a drinking party with…
My Body Hungers
My Body Hungers 1967, NR, 80 min. Directed by Joseph W. Sarno, Starring Gretchen Rudolph, John Aristedes, Tammy Latour. Sexploitation murder mystery.
Page Two
The artistic genius of 79-year-old cinematographer Haskell Wexler is only the beginning of his story; the passion and eloquence of his lifelong political commitment stand equal to his cinematic achievements
Phases & Stages
Kansas City JazzBy Frank Driggs & Chuck Haddix Oxford Press, 274 pp., $32 Kansas City has been cited, along with New Orleans, Chicago, and New York, among the most important early jazz centers, but one which, according to authors Frank Driggs and Chuck Haddix, has received less attention than it deserves. Lester Young, Count Basie,…
Naked City
Politicos get wild at Sine Die parties
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D
Robert Rodriguez adds a dimension with this kids fantasy movie, but only in the most literal sense – 3-D.
Letters at 3AM
We take cars for granted, yet people have been living like this only a short time, and, when this era exhausts itself, people may never live like this again. What will they think of us, I wonder.
Phases & Stages
Quasimoto The Further Adventures of Lord Quas (Stones Throw) Give or take a Funkee Homosapien, hallucinogens and hip-hop have never fully met fry to eye as they do on a Quasimoto release. 2000’s The Unseen witnessed Madlib, the foremost intrepid traveler of experimental rap, pitch-shifting his voice into a loony bin of Melvin Van Peebles-derived…
Naked City
Texas biodiesel industry faces brick wall
Lords of Dogtown
This narrative re-creation of the skateboarding doc Dogtown and Z-Boys is a blast, as accurate as it ought to be with more than enough mythology and gut thrills thrown in for good measure.
After a Fashion
Are you languishing in one of ‘The Stages of Self-Acceptance for Gay Men’? Let Uncle Stephen guide you through.
Phases & Stages
Brian EnoAnother Day on Earth (Opal/Ryko) The old man has stolen the laptop: Brian Eno, who invented both ambient music and Moby, is back. He’s lived in studios practically since leaving his mother’s womb and has straddled a career going back to the early Seventies. On Another Day on Earth, his first album with vocals…
Naked City
Activists call attention to big-box retailer’s poor record of providing affordable health care to employees
The Honeymooners
Instead of reworking the original TV show’s subject matter regarding class and marriage, this is plodding mimicry featuring a predominantly African-American cast.
About AIDS
For HIV-positive people, a few simple precautions can make trips safer and more fun
Phases & Stages
ColdplayX&Y (Capitol) Surprise, Chris Martin went totally sappy on us. Not that London’s Coldplay was ever serious and brooding, but their third effort after the multiplatinum Parachutes (2000) and A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) is like rice paper: see-through. Not that X&Y is a disappointment. Quite the opposite. Divided in half, X’s…
Naked City
Let the games begin
High Tension
A gripping piece of splatterpunk, despite the fact that there’s not much to it and the plot crumbles in the third act.
To Your Health
Is an annual DEXA test enough to assure that I won’t ever develop osteoporosis?
Phases & Stages
The White StripesGet Behind Me Satan (V2) Are you there Jack? It’s me, God. That’s what Get Behind Me Satan should’ve been titled. Instead, despite its decidedly black title, the fifth album from Jack and Meg White is still pepperminty faux blues. Opener “Blue Orchid” is van-rockin’ enough, and although Jack now looks like a…
Naked City
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has abandoned its job of protecting the salamander’s aquatic environment, says alliance in intention-to-sue letter
It’s All Gone Pete Tong
A superstar DJ goes deaf in Ibeza in this mockumentary that observes his process of coping.
Shake Yo Rump-ah!
Photographer Will Van Overbeek goes back to school for prom and finds a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on.
The Common Law
Copyright – registering a copyright & ‘poor man’s copyright’
Little Athletes, Big Dreams
Austin’s youth sports boom is young athletes, big competition – and big money
Point Austin: Playing the Numbers
A farewell to faithful servants, and a preliminary look at the city’s priorities
Rock School
More than his Philadelphia school of rock, it’s blustery instructor Paul Green who becomes the true subject of this documentary.
Almost Grown
Ana Egge and Adam Carroll reflect over their songwriting adolescence
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Next year the United States will spend as much on defense as the rest of the world combined
You Are There!
The bottom of the barrel isn’t low enough for local TV news
Small Victories
When Democrats ruled the House, Austin Reps. Elliott Naishtat and Glen Maxey – two of the chamber’s most prolific filers of health and human services legislation – were old hands at moving bills through the process, of finding incremental but significant ways to improve conditions for the state’s most vulnerable citizens. “We were always in…
Mondovino
Sprawling documentary about the globalization of the wine industry is ambitious but frequently directionless – for true connoisseurs only.
TCB
Choosing Darkness, a Chairman, and the much-appreciated new air-conditioning at Emo’s
Day Trips
The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge encompasses a rare island of native grassland and its natural occupants
The Results
Preliminary Nielsen rating estimates for Monday-Friday newscasts, based on overnight averages for the sweeps period. (RATING/SHARE) 6am 5pm 6pm 10pm KVUE (ABC) 4.3 /19 7.1/16 5.6/11 7.4/12 KXAN (NBC) 1.9 / 8 5.3/12* 5.9/12 7.2/12 KTBC (Fox) 2.5 /10 2.4/ 5 4.0/ 8** *** KEYE (CBS) 1.0 / 4 3.4/ 7 3.3/ 7 6.2/10 *…
The Hightower Report
Norquist disowns stinky pal; and forget about a living wage
May I Have the Envelope, Please?
The 2004-2005 Austin Critics Table Awards
Soccer Watch
The Austin Lightning are on the road this weekend, visiting the undefeated El Paso Patriots. They’ll be back in town next Saturday, June 18, for the second half of a back-to-back, home-and-away matchup with their archrival DFW Tornados. No late drama in Asia, and no surprises either, as South Korea, Japan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia…
Keel’s Firestorm
A bill that critics charged would have increased the pace of Texas executions dies and takes a judicial pay raise bill down with it
Tween Titans
The adventures of Taylor Lautner and Taylor Dooley (Sharkboy and Lavagirl, respectively), in conversation
Conference Confluence
Austin hosts not one, but two national conferences on the arts the same weekend in June
Oops!
“The Hightower Report” referred to a bill under consideration in the Texas Legislature that would have increased the pensions of legislators. Although SB 368 was alive when the column was drafted, the bill was dead by the time the piece ran.
Change Ain’t Easy
County reluctant to rename courthouse
Stay Sweet, BFF, KIT
‘Freaks and Geeks’ fans and their bittersweet assembly at the Alamo
It Is Easy Being Green
Rather than make you puzzle out for yourself what environmental art is, Austin Green Art is hosting a summerlong, citywide exhibition that shows you what it is
A Brief History of School Desegregation
1896: In Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court establishes the doctrine of “separate but equal,” helping to promote segregationist laws and policies. 1948: In Sipuel v. Board of Regents, the Supreme Court orders the University of Oklahoma to admit an African-American law student because the state does not provide a separate law school for…
Film News
Rodriguez and Q.T. go back to the grind; plus, ‘Screen Door Jesus,’ back to Sundance, and all kinds of opportunities to get involved
Arts Review
The continuum of tap from 1930s elegance to today’s stomping rhythm pulsed in the concert concluding Tapestry Dance Company’s 2005 Soul to Sole Festival
Let Them Decorate: Resources
All in One Bakeshop 8566 Research, 371-3401 www.allinonebakeshop.com The Frosting 5320 Manchaca, 445-7475 Fantasy Cakes 1310 Hermitage Rd. #103 in Round Rock, 512/310-2534 Wilton Method Instruction and SuppliesMichaels (various Austin locations) www.wilton.com American Cake Decorating; Mailbox News: Idea Book for Cake DecoratorsPO Box 21658 St. Paul, MN 55121-0658 800/869-6882 customerservice@americancakedecorating.com International Cake Exploration SocietéMembership: ICES…
High School by Redesign
Garza Independence High School students get involved with plans to rework local high schools
DVD Watch
Ernst Lubitsch’s first effort in Technicolor shimmers like Champagne in crystal: all bubbles, trifles, and blithe sophistication
Arts Review
Irrational and impotent posturing distinguishes the figures in the drawings that George Lopez is exhibiting in the Eastside Art Palace’s “Figure It Out.”
The Cake Lexicon
Tiered cakes: cakes of multiple layers of graduated sizes; may be made in many different shapes and/or flavors Sculpted cakes: cakes cut and formed to resemble three-dimensional objects; usually made from pound cake and covered with rolled fondant Rolled fondant: a sugar paste made from confectioners’ sugar, gelatin, glucose or corn syrup, and glycerin that…
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and elsewhere.
TV Eye
This ain’t your grandma’s antiques show
Culture Flash!
Benefits help a playwright pay off medical bills and a dance company keep dancing
Food-o-File
Beau Theriot has got the Oasis back on track; plus, grillin’, tea, ‘The Future of Food,’ and Roy’s recipes
Naked City
Watchdog group Campaigns for People releases newest findings
Arts Review
Rupert Holmes’ adaptation of ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ has more to do with Victorian music hall entertainment than Dickensian literature – and is all the more engaging for it
Readings
As almost no one on this side of the pond gives a rat’s ass about Naim Attallah, Erdal’s account of their relationship in Ghosting allows American readers to appreciate their story for what it really is: how two misfits in British society negotiate space for themselves through the written word
Phases & Stages
AudioslaveOut of Exile (Interscope/Epic) Audioslave’s self-titled 2002 debut was pound for pound the best big-ticket hard rock album since Tool’s Aenima, even though it amounted to Chris Cornell’s head grafted onto Rage Against the Machine’s body. Only on airwave-conquering ballads “Like a Stone” and “I Am the Highway” did the Promethean quartet hint at something…
Naked City
Top 10 ludicrous sessions moments
Dumping on Del Valle
Residents wary of waste processing site
Readings
In his afterword, historian Stephen Eric Bronner describes The Plot as “a fitting legacy [to] a long and distinguished career.” I couldn’t agree more.
Phases & Stages
Marc Bolan & T. RexBorn to Boogie (Sanctuary) With even Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr declaring him bigger than the Beatles, it’s little wonder Marc Bolan plays Born to Boogie’s central concert in a T-shirt bearing his image while dwarfed by an enormous stage-prop of himself. 1972 needed all the glamour it could muster. Decades…
Naked City
Perry heads to church to sign parental consent bill and ‘defense of marriage’ constitutional amendment
Luv Doc Recommends: The Intergalactic Nemesis: Twin Infinity
To truly claim citizenship in Austin means having to occasionally step far out of your comfort zone. Not so bad you say? Well, maybe not, but in most places being uncomfortable means having to tell your neighbor that you’re not interested in buying AmWay products, regardless of their superior quality and cost savings. It might…
