Cover Story
Hatching a Plan
When former electrical engineer David Ansell began his soup delivery business in 2001, he worked out of his home kitchen. Like most people starting out in the food business with a good idea or recipe, that was all the overhead he could afford at first. The catch-22 most people face is that commercial kitchen space…
How to Draw a Bunny
How to Draw a Bunny 2002, NR, 90 min. Directed by John W. Walter. As enigmatic in death as he was in life, artist Ray Johnson is the subject of this probing documentary. A collagist and the founding father of mail art, Johnson has become much more widely known since his suicide in 1995, which…
A Jester’s Tale
A Jester’s Tale 1964, NR, 83 min. Directed by Karel Zeman, Starring Petr Kostka, Emília Vásáryová. An anti-war children’s story, A Jester’s Tale follows the adventures of two soldiers trying to avoid death due to the decisions of callous generals.
Breathless
Breathless 1960, NR, 87 min. D: Jean-Luc Godard; with Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg. Godard’s breakthrough film ushered in the French New Wave. The film’s use of jump cuts and general insouciance lends this genre piece a stylistic energy, and stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg – an American in Paris – are icons of cool.
Last Tango in Paris
Last Tango in Paris 1973, R, 127 min. Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, Starring Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Jean-Pierre Léaud. This ever-controversial Bertolucci stunner features one of Brando’s best performances and cinematography by the great Vittorio Storaro.
The Gates of Hell
The Gates of Hell 1980, NR, 92 min. Directed by Lucio Fulci, Starring Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Carlo De Mejo. A suicide in a church cemetery causes the portals of hell to open wide, allowing the dead to rise and take over.
One Crazy Summer
One Crazy Summer 1986, PG, 93 min. Directed by Savage Steve Holland, Starring John Cusack, Demi Moore. Holland’s follow-up to Better Off Dead is a loose comedy about a teenage malcontent during one summer in Nantucket.
A Piece of Work
A combination of inscrutability and aristocratic beauty seduces the viewer of Ray Donley’s ‘Figure in Black Cap’
Pop Rocks
Making music in mecca for parents and children alike
Mission, Not Accomplished
The city’s draft budget is on the table, and the cuts just keep on coming
Short Cuts
Like Kerry in the comics
Saltz Exposes Himself
The senior art critic for ‘The Village Voice’ kept everyone laughing during his lecture at Arthouse
Phases and Stages
B-Boy City 11Alamo Drafthouse, June 11/ Montopolis Recreation Center, June 12/ Emo’s, June 13 A hip-hop extravaganza of the highest order, B-Boy City 11 began with a screening of Charlie Ahearn’s Wild Style at Alamo Drafthouse on Friday, continued with battle preliminaries at Montopolis Recreation Center on Saturday, and culminated with battle finals and artist…
Scott Appeals Conviction in Yogurt Shop Case
A recent Supreme Court decision may undercut both verdicts
TV Eye
Could Paris Hilton or Jonathan Antin teach Dubya a thing or two about how to work it?
Arts Bullets
It’s Edinburgh for ‘Bolero,’ the Big Apple for ‘Flawed’ and ‘St. Enid,’ and AMOA for PR guy David Wyatt
Phases and Stages
Girlie Action’s J cups runneth over, and Candye Kane isn’t even around. Instead, we get Lucky (Fortunate Records) with local singer-songwriter Jean Synodinos. The 11 cuts are wry and scattershot, from the jazzy trumpet of “I Want to Know You” to her divine Bobbie Gentry tribute, “Ode to Billie Joe.” As fine a vocalist as…
Endorsements
Veronica Rivera There’s an election Saturday, June 19. Our first and second choices for the open ACC board position, Guadalupe Sosa and Rodney Ahart, got hammered in the first round, so we’re feeling a little gun-shy in endorsing attorney Rivera in the run-off. But Rivera, who began her career as a schoolteacher, has solid political…
News/Print
Choose your own adventure
Exhibitionism
Zachary Scott Theatre Center’s production of Cabaret embraces the play’s sexuality and hedonism but doesn’t always convey its debauched defiance
Phases and Stages
91.7 FM KVRX Presents: Local Live Volume 8 – It Came From the Basement Variety is the spice of life, and KVRX has embraced that adage with fervor. This eighth installment of tracks from the UT college radio station’s touted Local Live Sunday night show shines with a melange of genres and an honest representation…
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Exhibitionism
The kid art in Creative Research Laboratory’s “Now and Tomorrow” exhibit is more than notebook doodling; it’s inventive, arresting self-expression
Phases and Stages
GradyY.U. So Shady? Pulp blues: the eternal sound of tarpaper juke joints, county-line roadhouses, and smoke-fogged biker bars. Its blare is resurrected yet again in Austin by Canadian transplants Gordie Johnson (aka “Grady”) and Big Ben Richardson, with the “Whip” himself, Chris Layton, beating time. Y.U. So Shady? engages original 12-bar patron Mephistopheles in a…
Naked City
The CAMPO board sticks up for fiscal equity on the highway front
Around the World in 80 Days
Jackie Chan finally emerges as plausible English-language star in this international romp that’s as light as a hot-air balloon.
Exhibitionism
Kathryn Walat’s Know Dog is a tale of loneliness and longing, but an authentic howl of desperation is missing from Salvage Vanguard Theater’s world premiere
Phases and Stages
Bahrain This most definitely isn’t the feel-good hit of the summer. Bahrain grooves on the anxious nihilism of displaced souls turned both out and on, though not necessarily in that order. A dose of their dark, wintry take on psychedelia is the sort of thing that might send meeker members of the love crowd running…
Naked City
Last week, in a ceremony at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum – aka “The Mausoleum Obscured by a Big Star” – Gov. Rick Perry unveiled the newly minted Texas quarter, featuring a Daniel Miller design soon to be known as “The Outline of Texas Obscured by a Big Star.” Perry declared, “I have…
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
In this goofy and lowbrow Vince Vaughn/Ben Stiller comedy, the good guys are lovable losers and the bad guys have frosted feathered hair and unitards with inflatable codpieces.
Page Two
The rhetorical extremes about Ronald Reagan belie a country balanced on a rhythm of democracy
Phases and Stages
MidlakeBamnan and Slivercork (Bella Union) Somewhere in the sea of disenchantment floats Midlake, kept adrift by rolling waves of keys and Tim Smith’s lighthouse vocals, which warn of impending doom while relating life’s stories. The Denton quintet’s full-length debut, Bamnan and Slivercork, is comprised of limestone layers and swirling pools, dreamscapes and foggy mornings. It’s…
Naked City
The city and county are in a mighty hurry to get the new agency rolling
The Return
A long-absent father returns to his family in this prize-winning Russian drama, and for his two young sons the unexplained reason for his return is as mysterious as his absence.
After a Fashion
Stephen’s date gets hit on, and, remarkably, there’s no word of bloodshed. Read all about it.
Phases and Stages
Tucker Livingston (Austin Music Foundation)Jane BondVol. II • Live From the Continental Club (Luther) Winner of the Austin Music Foundation’s first country/roots Incubator grant, Tucker Livingston’s eponymous debut is a bittersweet portrait of poignant, endemic rootlessness. In 30 minutes of travelers, partings, and lovers doomed by the inexorable march of time, he examines the emotional…
Naked City
Hill Country developer in deep silt over waterway’s pollution
The Terminal
Steven Spielberg enters his Capra period with this optimistic melting-pot tale starring pal Tom Hanks, whose underused comic instincts come to the fore.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
There’s something familiar about the Japanese weasel
Phases and Stages
Kimmie RhodesLost & Found (Sunbird) Although it’s just leftovers from the past seven years, Lost & Found is better than might be expected. Nevertheless, it demonstrates Kimmie Rhodes’ continuing lack of originality, that which separates her from other like-minded artists, Emmylou Harris and Nanci Griffith among them. Lost & Found is full of atmospheric folk…
Naked City
Forgione proposes dipping into savings to boost teacher salaries
The Last Horror Movie
The U.S. premiere of this self-reflexive horror film from England is presented in Austin by Fangoria magazine.
Soccer Watch
News and jokes from Euro2004
Phases and Stages
James CottonBaby, Don’t You Tear My Clothes (Telarc) Even though he’s approaching 70 years old, James Cotton, who relocated to Austin several years ago, shows no signs of slowing down. The world-renowned harmonica player’s Baby, Don’t You Tear My Clothes is surely one of the top blues discs of the year. It features Cotton and…
Naked City
More than 1,000 deaths a year from polluting power plants, report claims
To Your Health
Are there natural alternatives to the prescription cholesterol-lowering medications?
Phases and Stages
ZZ TopGreatest Hits: The Video Collection (Warner Bros.)ZZ TopRancho Texicano: The Very Best of ZZ Top (Warner Bros.) Whereas most bands of ZZ Top’s vintage stood passively by while the MTV train blew past, the Houston trio hopped right aboard and turned in some of the most enduring videos of the network’s early years. Of…
Naked City
A series of legal memos document the Bush administration’s ongoing attempt to justify and legalize torture for the ‘war on terror’
The Common Law
Deciding whether to file suit in small claims court
Phases and Stages
Edward HobizalAnamnesis (Boundless Music) Every time you turn around it seems like Edward Hobizal pops up. The Houston-bred local pianist can be found spicing up female jazz vocal trio the Beat Divas, adding his percussive touch to Strings Attached, or being lauded in a phone interview recently with Bad Plus pianist Ethan Iverson. Let’s not…
Austin @ Large: Mueller in the Middle
Whatever disasters City Hall hath wrought, the old airport isn’t one of them
Day Trips
Is there anything better on a lazy summer day than lounging around in a cool pool watching the world go by?
Phases and Stages
CluanThe High Road When it comes to “jam bands,” the Celts are left out, yet the proliferation of local groups such as Poor Man’s Fortune, the Sarah Dinan Band, Carey Street, and the Tea Merchants is proof the genre is alive and, well, jamming. The Austin sixpiece Cluan is known for quality Irish music, but…
Bait and Switch
We may get another special session, but school funding remains a poor bet
Second Helpings
Austin Brain Freezers Krieg Fields at Pleasant Valley Monday-Friday, 2-9pm; Saturday-Sunday, noon-9pm Visit their Web site at www.austinbrainfreezers.com. Casey’s New Orleans Snowballs 808 E. 51st This Louisiana transplant operates out of a house/trailer at the corner of East 51st and Airport, and there’s always a line down the block when they’re open. Their 36 custom,…
Phases and Stages
The Dung BeatlesAss Masters Volume One (Parlothrone/Crapitol) In an even less perfect world, the idea of slathering the Beatles catalog with a steaming heap of scatological lyrics could’ve easily been a junior high lunchroom epiphany that never got properly acted upon. While lesser poo-minded youth grew into useless lawyers and bankers, the Dung Beatles returned…
The Hightower Report
Oh, the indignity! Royalty gets the commoner treatment, sort of; and ‘offshoring’ gets a new name
TCB
O beautiful, for Prince, Ray Charles, and 100 pounds of weed
Red Hot Mama
Jill Lewis simply doesn’t understand what “can’t” means. In just a few years, she and spouse/business partner Kevin Lewis have turned a passionate avocation into Austin Slow Burn, a thriving international business that manufactures chile-pepper products that win prizes and friends all over the world. Lewis began her food career at age 13, busing tables…
‘It All Leads Back to Texas’
Robert Bryce on the Texas-Washington-international crony network
Four Eyes, Three Dimensions
Alamo brings in big technology for ‘Little Expo’
In Search of the Wild Art
‘Cracks in the Pavement’ leaves art objects in unexpected spaces throughout the city
Food-o-File
Osteria Amerigo’s on hold, while 7’s expanding
The Military-Petroleum Complex
The Second Iraq War and the cronies of state capitalism
In Space
PrayforReason.org
Luv Doc Recommends: ASA’s Viva, Las Vegas!
When it comes to love, sometimes you’ve just got to roll the dice. No, seriously. If you want to meet someone outside of your break-room-coffee-pot-watching crowd, you’re going to have to take a few chances…get out there…work the room. It’s true, being a social butterfly demands a lot of tiresome wing flapping, but then caterpillars…
