Cover Story
Fantastic Journey
Alejandro Escovedo comes full circle
Coyotes Speed Past Wranglers to Victory
In a game more known for personalities and mascots than “X”s and “O”s, there is more of an opportunity to get to know athletes and their fans on a level rarely seen in sport. I decided to watch the Wranglers vs. Central Valley Coyotes game, which was in Fresno, Calif., at Third Base, a bar…
Freak Show
Freaks, maybe with beaks, at Antone’s tomorrow!
Outlaws Shut Out Fury
Despite last Saturday’s blazing hot temperatures and rough field conditions, the Outlaws kept their playoff hopes alive, with another big win against the Dallas-based North Texas Fury. Early in the first quarter, Dallas intercepted the ball at their 9-yard line – preventing the Outlaws from scoring. But the Outlaws’ “Darkside” defense responded with a series…
I Got Tough-Loved by a Mini Pony!
The Gay Place hangs with Brett Michaels, Pony! Poni! Pone! and Andy Warhol before the True Colors Tour show in Houston.
Boris: Heavy Rocks
The essential Boris
Calling All Musicians & Music Biz Types
City wants your input for the Live Music Task Force
Earache in My Eye: Episode Two
Shopping for kicks with Phranchyze and Zeale
Aztex Host Monterrey’s Tigres This Sunday
The Austin Aztex continue to step up their game, literally and organizationally. Two weeks ago it was going up two levels, to host the First Division Atlanta Silverbacks in the U.S. Open Cup; this weekend they skip right on past the MLS level, to take on Monterrey’s UANL Tigres of Mexico’s Primera División – a…
Mr. Rose Goes to Washington
Dripping Springs state rep to give Congressional testimony on Pedernales Electric Cooperative
Ink on the Street
“Welcome to my life, tattoo! I’m a man now, thanks to you. I expect I’ll regret you, but the skin-graft man won’t get you, You’ll be there when I die, tattoo!” – The Who’s “Tattoo” Nothing says “loyal fan” like getting some artwork inked into your skin forever. These Austinites felt moved to wear their…
When Geek Squad Becomes Geek Posse
State regs would force computer repair firms to get private investigator license
Cuba’s Pride Parade Cancelled
Gay Pride Parade cancelled before it began.
A Flying (High on Good Reviews) Dutchman
Joseph O’Neill reads at BookPeople
You Say ‘Maricon’ Like It’s a Bad Thing
Cuba holds it first Pride Parade. Kate holds her breath.
St. Tom
Tom Waits for no man in the Big D
Show Your Library Some Love
The Austin Public Library Foundation is a nonprofit that raises private funds to “help support and strengthen Austin’s public libraries” – with priority number one being the proposed breaking-ground of a new Downtown library by winter 2011, with an eye toward opening in spring/summer of 2014. But multi-million dollar Central libraries that overlook Lady Bird…
The 9513
A new country music site gets real
City Council Swearing-In Going Down
Shade, Morrison ascend to the dais, host throwdown at Antone’s
Who Loves the Sun
Roy Ayers in the sunshine
Texecutioners Take Gotham Beat-Down
Texas Rollergirls takes significant loss, redeeming win at East Coast Derby Extravaganza
Hold the Mayo
Cheek-pinchingly cute ad pulled for queer content.
Dusty the Mystery Horse
APD charges police horse attacked, but doing well.
(Chet) Edwards for Veep?
Pelosi pushes conservative Waco Democrat for Obama running mate
Didn’t Anyone Else Notice This?
Barack in Kimmelland: Sway away from the gays…
Smear the Queer? I Think Not!
A self-contained way to express your “Rainbow Rage.”
Paige & Katy Wed!
Paige and Katy make family… and while they’re at it, make history.
Northcross Wal-Mart Size Cut in Half
Revised plans call for 99,000 square feet; RG4N says it will drop lawsuit
Tootsie
In this superlative comedy of the Eighties, Hoffman plays a fussy, underemployed actor who finds work only when he disguises himself (superbly) as a woman.
Perry’s Pals Get Green, or Just Greenwashed?
Governor gets some on-line help from the food industry in his push against ethanol
The Alternative Softball League
It’s the first official season of the Alternative Softball League, and hopefully will be one to remember
Tony Visconti Part 2 (The Encores)
Interviews, by phone or in person, generally top out at 45 minutes, an hour. Anything going longer demands either a recess or a follow-up, or else both parties start getting fidgety. File it under the theory that focused concentration requires some sort of reset every 60 minutes. Tony Visconti, record producer to the stars, spoke…
Davie Allan’s Aim Is True
Don’t let the title track fool you. Davie Allan isn’t just moving right along. He’s put his fuzz–pedal to the metal for Moving Right Along on Lifeguard Records. The man who fused surf and psychedelia with six strings is back with ripped-up (mostly) instrumentals old and new, and serves notice that he’s still the king…
This Is Your Film Career On Drugs…
It’s not what you’re thinking: Jason Mewes remains clean and sober. However, we received an email from our pal Bob Ray over the weekend with the above subject line and, boy-howdy, he wasn’t kidding. This is not the sort of Austin film community gossip you want to try and wrap your mind around on a…
McClellan, Salinger and Ziegler
Where does the former Bush spokesman fit into the history of the office?
City Hall High Tea
This week, guest host Richard Whittaker takes the reins to witness Place 4 City Council candidate Laura Morrison kick opponent Cid Galindo to the curb
True Colors Winner!!!
Olin M. won the True Colors tickets!!
Maximum Minis
V’s Mini Burgers: Maxi flava.
Homeless Community Put on Hold
Council member calls for one year moratorium on planned homeless community
Jumanji
This film based on Chris Van Allsburg’s book is the visual equivalent of a wild ride in a very surreal jungle theme park.
Platinum Songwriters Showcase
The Saxon Pub’s new series
Roll the Bones
Rush joins the ranks of Hollywood elite
Saturday Night Is Fight Night at the Erwin Center
The sweet science returns to the Erwin Center this Saturday night with nine bouts currently on the card. The main event features Adauto Gonzalez (8-4-1) and Justo Vallecillo (5-4) pounding it out for a scheduled eight-round fight to claim the belt as the Texas super featherweight champion. Fight Night will also serve as the official…
The Bad News, the Good News
We got your last minute tickets to tomorrow night’s True Colors show in Houston.
Austin Area Economy Better Than TX, National
Austin-Round Rock area adding jobs, but jobless stats rise slightly
Letters @ 3AM
Reality is cracked and alive; the one constant is change
Phases & Stages
The Last Shadow Puppets The Age of Understatement (Domino) There’s nothing understated about this debut collaboration between the Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner and Miles Kane of UK’s the Rascals. With a steady pulse provided by James Ford from Simian Mobile Disco and backed by the 22-piece London Metropolitan Orchestra – conducted by Final Fantasy’s Owen…
Film Yr Idols
When Sonic Youth rocked Reno, seven high schoolers and their substitute teacher turned their cameras on
CCA Jump-Starts the Death Machine
Executions resume after Court of Criminal Appeals rules against death row inmates’ challenges
The Common Law
Becoming a U.S. Citizen
Phases & Stages
Lil Wayne Tha Carter III (Cash Money/Universal) Rap’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (here “Dr. Carter”/”Mr. Carter”) bends and breaks, mumbles and shouts, testing an unfathomable range of voices on Tha Carter III that shrills a clusterfuck of sonic inconsistencies mixed harder than codeine and Coke. It’s Wayne’s personality that both floats and sinks TC…
TV Eye
TV Eye turns off the TV and turns on the Internet
Long Wait for Yogurt Shop Murders DNA
New DNA testing could exonerate defendants, lawyers say – if only they could see those test results.
After a Fashion
Stephen MacMillan Moser is enjoying a well-deserved break this week; in the meantime, enjoy these images from the Austin Pride Parade 2008.
Phases & Stages
Death Cab for Cutie Narrow Stairs (Atlantic) Since 2005 Atlantic debut Plans, Death Cab for Cutie got a shout-out on The OC and was nominated for a Grammy. Yet as Ben Gibbard and crew continue to age out of the demographic so fond of their earnest, guitar-driven love songs and into thirtysomething unease, the foursome…
Day Trips
Fort Leaton State Historic Site stands as a stark reminder of the rugged life of the pioneers on the Texas frontier
Johnston High School: TEA Allows ‘Repurposing’
Generations of Johnston High alums ponder the fate of the ‘Pride of the Eastside’
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Cameron Diaz likes sexy firefighters, the Bugatti Veyron’s fuel efficiency, and more
Phases & Stages
Love Forever Changes: Collector’s Edition (Elektra/Rhino) Psychedelia ’67’s great singer-songwriter record gets Elektra/Rhino’s Fun House treatment in two discs, the alternate LP mix stripping production most notably in the vocals (Bryan MacLean’s tremulous “Old Man”). Thirty minutes of obsessionography restores wondrous outtake “Wonder People (I Do Wonder),” edits together the evolution of guitar lobotomy “Your…
Playing Through
The greats, like Tiger Woods, excel on and off the course
Happenings
For more details and events, see Community Listings. Thursday 19 BURNING THE FUTURE Join Texas Public Citizen’s Tom “Smitty” Smith for a panel discussion following a screening of Burning the Future: Coal in America. 6pm. Ruta Maya, 3601 S. Congress. 474-0605. CIVIL WAR & TRAUMA IN EL SALVADOR A talk from UT professor Ricardo Ainslie.…
The Healthy Yogurt Invasion
The healthy yogurt fad is invading Austin with Piccomolo and Yogoberry, and we couldn’t be more pleased
Phases & Stages
Simon & Garfunkel Live 1969 (Columbia/Legacy) Recorded but (until now) never released spin-off from the projected Bridge Over Troubled Water tour, these 59 minutes preview an upcoming LP that proved the factious duo’s last until 1982’s equally capsule-worthy The Concert in Central Park. “Bridge” bristles then breaches “The Sound of Silence,” crashing valiantly into “I…
Oops!
In last week’s “Naked City” report on the massive tree kill in Oak Hill, we mistakenly wrote that Cadence McShane Corp. President Neal Harper had not returned our call as of press time. In fact, Harper did call back, but due to oversight, the quote did not make it into the article. As for Harper’s…
Quote of the Week
“We now have the opportunity to do some green things that the Historical Commission wouldn’t let us do before.” – Gov. Rick Perry, wryly referring to the burned Governor’s Mansion in his remarks Monday at the grand opening of the AMD Lone Star campus
Chillin’ Books
Homemade ice cream can be an all-seasons dessert
Yogoberry Review
Yogoberry 515 S. Congress #104, 707-7379 Monday-Saturday, noon-10pm; Sunday, noon-8pm The newest entry in Austin’s frozen treat sweepstakes is Yogoberry. Entrepreneur Pyeong Kim took over an abandoned paleteria location early this year and created a new business selling low-fat frozen yogurt. The comfortable shop is tucked into the 515 Center at the corner of Riverside…
Phases & Stages
Larry Norman Rebel Poet, Jukebox Balladeer: The Anthology (Arrco) “Harry Nilsson beat me to the punch with ‘Can’t Live If Living Is Without You,'” annotates Norman on one of 20 Anthology tracks months before his death Feb. 24. Nilsson, Bread’s David Gates, Harry Chapin – both coasts of 1960s post-folk – count the Corpus-born/S.F.-bred spiritualist…
Page Two: Music of the Spheres
We cannot work together unless we can talk to each other
Headlines
• At press time Wednesday, Pete Collins, chief information officer for the city of Austin charged with overseeing the city’s computer infrastructure, was placed on administrative leave pending a police investigation into allegations he used city resources on personal, noncity projects. • Texas inmate Charles Dean Hood, slated for execution Tuesday was granted a reprieve…
Culture Flash!
The Longs give a million, the Rudes add a co-PAD, Mills shows his new dance, and Kitch joins a board
Veldhuizen Family Farm Cheeses
In Dublin, Texas, Veldhuizen Family Farm cheeses are giving Dr Pepper some sharp competition
Phases & Stages
Midnight Oil Diesel and Dust (Columbia/Legacy) Down Under’s antipodal Clash bled its commercial high-water mark after touring the aboriginal outback with the native Warumpi Band. The gently proselytizing hourlong DVD doc demands its own soundtrack, while the original disc, remastered on a bubble of analog bass, still blisters acoustic on “Beds Are Burning,” “Dreamworld,” and…
Point Austin: Raising the Bar
AMD opens its Lantana campus, and the questions continue
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and elsewhere
Tomorrow, the World
Craig Hella Johnson’s company of voices has long been world-class; now the world is hearing it
Food-o-File
This summer, Castle Hill Cafe gets a makeover to become the Corazon of Mexican Interior fans
Phases & Stages
Mudhoney Superfuzz Bigmuff: Deluxe Edition (Sub Pop) Mudhoney’s singular March to Fuzz (2000) continues at a Civil War scale by encasing the Seattle quartet’s six-track EP/vacuum-cleaner explosion of 20 years ago with amp-crushing era peerage, including the group’s definitive cover of the Dicks’ “Hate the Police” and 1990 Sonic Youth split-single scare “Halloween.” Seventy excoriating…
Beside the Point: Run-Off 101
Morrison won the City Council run-off, but apparently only 4.99% of you care
Beyond City Limits
• In becoming more bike-friendly, Austin could take a big lesson from the Big Apple, which this week announced Summer Streets, a program that will temporarily create a 6.9-mile car-free route across the city on three consecutive Saturdays this August. “In Bogotá, they call it Ciclovia, or bikeway. In Paris, it’s the Plage, or beach.…
Verdi’s Greatest Opera
Why the Verdi Requiem for Conspirare’s first concert in Dell Hall? It wasn’t really a question that required a lot of thought for Craig Hella Johnson. “It was just right in so many ways,” says the Conspirare director. He knew whatever work the company performed “needed to be something that would fill the room and…
Event Menu: June 20-26
Locally grown Tomato Me Crazy Day, red meat and wine pairings, and more
Phases & Stages
Mogwai Young Team (Chemikal Underground) Glaswegian instrumentalists slipcase their seminally tensile 1997 debut with a second CD of odds and sods (Spacemen 3 tribute “Honey”), including live torrents of biblical album bookends “Like Herod” and enormous theological quandary “Mogwai Fear Satan.” New world soundscapes, but no new ground in their reappraisal.
(Further) Beside the Point
Council members – some for their very last time – attempt to dot all their i’s and cross all their t’s before summer break
‘Necessary Targets’: A Reason for Revisiting Bosnia
The Paradox Players believe Eve Ensler’s play about the decade-old Bosnian war is as timely as ever
Who Did He Serve?
Scott McClellan on Bush, bipartisanship, loyalty, and duty
The Mentality of Politics as War
Scott McClellan on his time in the Bush Administration
The Happening
In M. Night Shyamalan’s mystery spooker, logic-defying episodes of death and destruction suddenly erupt across America.
Sterling Allen: Residencies!
The Austin artist and Okay Mountaineer has been picked for a pair of prestigious residencies in San Antonio and Omaha
Bowie, Escovedo, and the Brooklyn Boy
Bowie/Bolan/Lynott producer Tony Visconti strings up a Real Animal
McClellan’s Regrets: What Didn’t Happen
In ‘What Happened,’ McClellan remains a spokesman – an expert in not letting his opponents find gaps in his statements
Morrison Prevails in Place 4 Run-Off
With the campaign behind her, Morrison gets ready to tackle the city budget
Get Smart
A giggly summer movie, Get Smart is a well-cast chip off the old block, although the toothless action sequences detract from the comedy.
First Night Austin: New Year’s Festival Names New Director
First Night International’s executive director brings decades of experience with First Night to the local celebration
Chuck Prophet, Always a Friend
Chuck Prophet and Alejandro Escovedo wrote an album together – call the cops!
Neighbor Helping Neighbor: McClellan and Bush
Selected quotes from ‘What Happened’
Numbers: Morrison Crunches Galindo
Not much to report in analyzing the numbers of the Place 4 run-off, except the obvious: Morrison’s victory was dominating. She took a 60% lead in early voting and expanded it to almost 70% on election day and 65% overall. Looking at the most valuable boxes in Austin (the top 20 vote-producers at right), one…
The Love Guru
Is it redundant to mock self-help culture? Not if you’re Mike Myers and have a new sketch-comedy character to introduce.
Arts Review
This Beauty Queen is harsh but effective, gritty as a sandpaper shamrock
Record Review
Alejandro Escovedo Real Animal (Back Porch/Manhattan/EMI) Alejandro Escovedo never just wore his heart on his sleeve. He’s laboriously stitched his very soul into his material, beginning with his earliest compositions. As a musician, he nearly self-destructed, rising like a phoenix and reinventing himself amid marriages, suicide, several generations of children, life-threatening disease, and a remarkable…
Scott McClellan and Family
A telling timeline of McClellan’s life
Mansion Fire Leaves Burning Questions
Who was that guy in the cargo pants? And why wasn’t he stopped?
The Duchess of Langeais
Jacques Rivette adapts a Balzac novel and creates a period piece that’s also a timeless tale about obsessive love and hate.
Arts Review
Steve Brudniak’s newest exhibition is thoroughly retro-futuristic, but don’t use the “s” word to describe it
Off the Record
Red River rolls out the red carpet with bottle service at Beauty Bar, the Jungle Rockers get down on the Bo Diddley beat, and the Kadane brothers return to Austin
The Hightower Report
BIG OIL’S FREE-MARKET HOKUM Five honchos of Big Oil appeared before Congress last month, singing in perfect harmony their old song that skyrocketing gasoline prices are simply the product of free-market forces. “The fundamental laws of supply and demand are at work,” crooned the president of Shell Oil. Bovine excrement! There is no free market…
Cops Walk in Round Rock Shooting
Police acted ‘reasonably’ when they shot a naked man six times, says grand jury
Dasavatharam
New Indian film is a biotechnology action mystery that takes place one week before the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004.
Book Review
Gore Vidal’s essays are marshaled into two halves – literary and political – in this streamlined, eminently readable volume
Phases & Stages
My Morning Jacket Evil Urges (ATO) At last year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival, My Morning Jacket bent bizarre and epic, frontman Jim James’ wigged theatrics almost mocking his harrowing Rolling Thunder white-faced cover of Dylan’s “Goin’ to Acapulco” for 2007 film I’m Not There. The contrast was appropriate given James’ equally iconic and elusive…
Film News
Mr. Blonde and the Six Million Dollar Man, making a movie in Kyle
Don’t Spray It! ‘Bad’ Effluent Threatens Hill Country
Spraying treated sewage over the aquifer isn’t cool
Mongol
Kazakhstan’s Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film is an epic drama about the early years of Genghis Khan.
Book Review
This hugely important volume is not intended to be the end-all of Comanche histories but rather a starting point
Phases & Stages
Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop) Brandishing the delicate, wood-smoked harmonies of Crosby, Stills & Nash and rustic reverbed vision of My Morning Jacket’s Tennessee Fire, the debut LP from Seattle’s Fleet Foxes opens on a brief a cappella hymn, an enchanting displacement that melts into the dazzling psychedelic folk strum of “Sun It Rises.” The quintet’s…
DVD Watch
Lions Gate lionizes two icons – one French, one Italian – in two new collections
Manor Road Housing Project Looking for a Home
Neighborhoods balk at a proposed homeless and low-income housing development on Manor Road
Roman de Gare
Until its piffling ending, Frenchman Claude Lelouch delivers a film that’s intellectually cagey, potentially romantic, and, above all, an entertaining puzzle box.
Luv Doc Recommends: Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead
Wallflowers get all the wool. There’s a T-shirt you’re never going to see. Sure, there may be a few bashful types who manage to reel in some fish, but you can bet they’re so good looking they can only be viewed directly through welding goggles. If your looks are anywhere short of magnificent, you’re going…
