Cover Story
Only the Fourth Wall Is Forever
After 10 years, Salvage Vanguard Theater is moving on
Abortions Decrease in Texas After HB 2, Data Shows
DSHS finally releases 2014 abortion stats after ACLU request
Dip, Sip, & ’Que: A Texas Trilogy
Day Trips on the best barbecue and swimming holes in Central Texas
Boogarins é Foda
Brazilian psych-pop foursome takes up residency at Hotel Vegas
Arts and Music: Passengers on the Omnibus
The 21st century has not been kind to Austin’s live music and creative communities. They never really recovered from the double whammy of the dot-com bust and Great Recession the way much of the city did, and even as a good deal of Austin prospered using them as its attractive face – Live Music Capital…
Grupo Fantasma Melts Austin City Limits
Latin hornographers’ second PBS taping pulls out all the stops
RTX Hits ATX Again
Rooster Teeth’s Gus Sorola runs down a bigger, better fest
Street Now Open, Sellers Coming Soon
Daily Austin food news
Sound on Sound Fest’s Renaissance
Beach House, Explosions in the Sky, Death Grips get medieval
Providers Caution Clinics Won’t Reopen Soon
Abortion landscape in Texas will take “years” to rebuild post-HB 2
Casar Kicks Off
Campaigns rumble into gear – and Doggett talks House sit-in
Omnibus Resolution Report Arrives
Mayor’s plan to save Austin music takes shape
The Flatlanders’ Centennial
Whole Hogg with the Lubbock trio’s “Borderless Love”
AFS Hosts Advance Screening of Pete’s Dragon
Director David Lowery in attendance
The Present in the Past Tense
Chuck Klosterman talks about what now will look like later
BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Anti-Abortion Law HB 2
In a 5-3 ruling, SCOTUS says HB 2 creates an undue burden for women
DVDanger: The Midnight After
Pure, raw WTF from Hong Kong, plus Rabid Dogs
While Austin Slept
City Council passes major bond package – & lots of other stuff
Coast, Jinya Ramen Bar Set Opening Dates
Daily Austin food news
First Look: General Tso’Boy
Rock Rose newcomer breaks fast-casual rules
And on Keyboards, John Carpenter!
Horror master successfully re-tunes his career
Summoning The Neon Demon
Nicolas Winding Refn, Cliff Martinez on horror and fashion
Bill Ham Had My Back
ZZ Top’s onetime manager made rock & roll history
Lookin’ Gayly Ahead
Fab queer events to prepare for this summer
Genius
Editor Maxwell Perkins and author Thomas Wolfe collaborate in biopic
Free State of Jones
Matthew McConaughey stars in pic about little-known Civil War event
De Palma
Director Brian De Palma reveals tales and insights from his career
The Neon Demon
Cinema’s bad boy, Nicolas Winding Refn, strikes again
Dheepan
Cannes Palme d’Or winner about Tamil refugees in France
Udta Punjab
Bollywood crime drama about the growing scourge of substance abuse
The Witness
Documentary reveals new facts about the Kitty Genovese murder
Texas Platters
Guitarist and producer Adrian Quesada remains best known for his stints in Austin’s Brownout and Grupo Fantasma, but his most daring musical ideas have always been stashed away in side projects like Ocote Soul Sounds and now the Echocentrics. Like its predecessor, debut Sunshadows in 2011, Echo Hotel invokes the big skies and arid climes…
Zimmerman, TPPF Sue City Over “Sharing Economy” Regulations
D6 CM files suit over language in the Prop 1 ride-hailing ordinance
Quote of the Week
“We have a traffic congestion and mobility crisis because we have chosen not to fix it. We need to fix it now.” – Mayor Steve Adler, presenting to City Council a $720 million mobility bond proposal for the November ballot
Texas Platters
Bonnie Bishop, originally from Houston, had a go-round in Central Texas lasting 13 years and five albums of country, folk, and blues in the early part of the new century. Despite being a hard worker, she never reached more than a moderate-sized audience. While spending time in Nashville, Bishop had a physical and mental breakdown…
How Do You Get to 100%?
Council seeks consensus on a transportation bond
Public Notice: The Year of Immobility
If it’s not one thing, it’s another …
Texas Platters
The blues is ancient, but some acts reinvigorate it for a new millennium. While these locals come by way of Canada, singer/guitarist Kevin McKeown and drummer Eric Owen brandish the genre with a wild-eyed ferocity and Southern toughness on fourth studio album Don’t Wake the Riot. The album continues to find comfort in the duo’s…
Logistical Issue Delays Grove Public Hearing
The Zoning and Platting Commission postpones public hearing on Grove at Shoal Creek to July 5
The Take-Out
What’s in a restaurant name?
Texas Platters
“This trip could last a long, long time,” sings Full Service drummer/vocalist Hoag on “Mushed ‘Em,” opener of the locals’ 12th studio album, Lockers. The exhilarating kickoff pops with manic drum fills and a sunny guitar lead courtesy of Bonesaw before giving way to an electrifying riff and Hoag’s vocals, which fall somewhere between Claudio…
ACLU to State Health Department: Stop Hiding Abortion Data
ACLU of Texas sharply accused the state health department of shielding valuable statistics on the state’s abortion rates from the public
AC Date Night: Gelateria Gemelli & Milonga Room
Amaro never dies
Gay Place
A year of Marriage Equality symbolizes how far we’ve come, while Orlando shows us how much further we have to go
Challengers Emerge for CM Delia Garza’s Seat
Wesley Faulkner to focus on housing and transportation
Eminent Domain
Rock Rose takes over North Austin
At What Cost?
Code amendment approval could put East Austin seniors on the street
The Luv Doc: Frozen
A little homespun wisdom from Dub Nelly
Death Watch: New Rodney Reed Filing
Death row inmate’s lawyers seek retrial
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Herbert Spencer popularized the phrase “survival of the fittest” and the use of the Oxford comma (a comma inserted after the second to last item in a list of three or more items). According to the Sierra Club, all apples can be traced back to two trees in Kazakhstan. NBC network suits forbade Barbara Eden…
The Hightower Report
A news media betrayal of journalism
To Sleep, Perchance to Die
Stay awake for Rooster Teeth’s new series Day 5
Austin Playhouse’s A Little Night Music
Wonderful musical numbers, strong voices highlight Austin Playhouse’s A Little Night Music
I Like to Watch
Wrapping up this season of Game of Thrones
“Low Down: New Works on Paper by Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz”
How the strange visions in this solo show relate to one another is difficult to say, but they’re all both ancient and immediate
How Uber and Lyft’s Competition Stacks Up
Can’t read the small print? Click here to download a full-sized PDF.
“Sara Madandar: AnOther Birth” at Courtyard Gallery
The dozen works in this solo show are impressive in their variety, though many seem more like sketches than completed works
Tonal Proximity
NMASS matured into Austin’s foremost showcase of performance sound art, audiovisual improvisation, nonconformative music, and sensory installations
72 Hours (or So) of Ridesharing
With Uber and Lyft still boycotting Austin, we take the competition for a drive
Day Trips: Bisti Badlands, New Mexico
Unusual rock formations in an ancient river delta
Texas Platters
For Austinites who’ve followed her since her early teens, the fact that Wimberley native Sarah Jarosz blossomed into one of the most stirring musicians of her generation comes as absolutely no surprise. Undercurrent, her fourth studio full-length, arrives far more quietly in terms of production tricks than her previous work, with a smidge less risk-taking.…
Leftovers and Special Occasions
There are apps I elected to not use, based on time limitations or redundancy. Also, I didn’t need to go to the airport. Strictly for black cars and taxis, ZTrip (3.5 rating in the Apple App Store, with eight reviews) offers no social link or PayPal during registration. Surprisingly, it has one of the clunkier…
Playback: If the Gloves Fit
Gloves INTL ices funk, Allegro Media Group ices local label, and the ATX6 plan to ice international festivals
Texas Platters
Aaron Einhouse writes for the big stage, anthemic country rockers that trade subtlety for power. Openers “Dancin'” and “That’s What You Get” set the Austin native’s fourth LP off on a rodeo circuit, but even slower numbers like Hal Ketchum co-write “It Ain’t Pretty” or highlight “My Susannah” can’t resist big riffs against his blues-burnt…
Page Two: Same as It Ever Was
Massacres, mass shootings, lynchings, and other forms of social interaction
Soccer Watch
Tournament month continues: The Copa America Centenario is down to the final weekend as the European Championships head into their knockout stages starting Saturday. Copa America Centenario The U.S. reached its pre-tournament goal, advancing to the semifinals in elite company, then couldn’t prove they deserved to be there, falling completely flat in a 4-0 loss…
Texas Platters
Through Chili Cold Blood’s blues and the Moonhangers’ country, Doug Strahan has never been pigeonholed. Little surprise, then, that the local hat act’s current outfit serves an unexpected twist of funky roots soul. Leading off with the jamming “Moving to the Country,” the eponymous nine-song set plays like a back-porch picking session, “Lighten Up, Joe”…
Herding Council Cats
City Council takes on 103 items ranging from bonds to staff review
Point Austin: How Smart Are We?
Council ponders a bond that voters will swallow
Texas Platters
The solo debut from this former Papermoon frontman finds David Messier reaching stylistically. Cutting sharp lyrics and melodies from the outset with the easy roll of “Don’t Say Nothin’,” Messier wraps his voice warmly around the weathered but smooth “Change.” Waiting for Eldridge then takes a sharp turn on the alternative pop twist in “Last…
Charter School Loophole Vote Pushed Another Week
Seemingly settled issue of planning and land use for charter schools drags out
Headlines
City Council meets today (June 23) … and meets, and meets, and meets. The lengthy agenda includes more debate and a possible vote on a November transportation bond, a special session to consider expanding the property tax homestead exemption, and much, much more. (See “Herding Council Cats,” June 24.) The U.S. Department of Transportation will…
