Mister Smarty Pants Knows
Police in Manila end each workday by participating in dance exercise classes. The “@” (at-sign) might have originated in the Sixth or Seventh century, but is more likely from the 12th or 13th century. It is a ligature — two letters tied together — that represents the Latin preposition “ad,” which means “at, to, toward.”…
Who’s In, Who’s Out
Here are some of the cutbacks in benefits that immigrants may experience after September 22, 1997, according to the current federal welfare reform bill, which is destined to undergo yet more changes before becoming law. Food Stamps and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) will be denied to legal immigrants with the following exceptions: veterans and their…
Articulations
The new Uptown Cultural District — that area of hot galleries and restaurants bounded by 15th Street, Lavaca, Martin Luther King Boulevard, and San Antonio Street — hosts its first event this week in conjunction with the opening of Austin Visual Arts Association’s 20th anniversary membership show in the Artists Coalition of Austin Gallery @…
Food-O-File
Usually, there’s not much action in the River City restaurant business in the summertime. However, this summer is already shaping up as a particularly eventful one, what with restaurant openings, new chefs, new pubs, and saloons popping up. On June 18th, Sullivan’s (300 Colorado, 474-1862) threw a charity soir�e for the Paramount Theatre to christen…
Residential Glossary
Naturalized Citizen: An immigrant who has applied for and received citizenship status from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Requirements include basic English language and writing skills, as well as some knowledge of American history and civics. Immigrants cannot apply until they have lived in this country for five years. However, immigrants who marry a…
Exhibitionism
The Public Domain Gallery, through June 29 Running Time: 40 min There’s just something about watching a tale unfold in front of your eyes that is somehow mystical, as if you were diving deeper into the ocean and watching as the environment becomes more and more unusual. It’s even more delicious when you have to…
You Made Me Love You
Romeo’s photograph by John Anderson Romeo’s 1500 Barton Springs Rd., 476-1090 Sun-Thu, 11am-10pm; Fri & Sat, 11am-11pm Forget Juliet, Romeo’s love affair is with big Italian food in the “straight-outta-Mama’s-kitchen” tradition. The Barton Springs Road restaurant makes the perfect match for those seeking plates of plenty, each of its pizzas, pastas, and meat specialties served…
Oh, What a Site!
Call my computer “Frank,” short for Frankenstein. (Actually, its name used to be “Drella” and now it’s “Venus in Furs.” Warhol fans will follow that line of thinking without trouble.) The Macintosh has created a monster in me because of the accessibility it provides to major TV network and cable websites that I have been…
`Tis the Season…
cover photograph by Bruce Dye The road to Colonus was neither short nor easy, not for Oedipus or for the Zachary Scott Theatre Center. The tragic king of ancient Greek drama took years to reach the site of his redemption, and the same is true of Zach. From the time its artistic leaders first discussed…
Marye’s Gourmet Pizza
2712 Bee Caves Rd., 327-5222 Mon-Fri, 11am-8:45pm; Sat, 1pm-8pm Recipes based on the hallowed combo of tomatoes, cheese, and bread hold a special place in my heart, a place big enough that traditional pizzas don’t butt heads with fashionable “gourmet” ones, a space ample enough even for “Take and Bake”-style pizza, the Nineties’ fresh-food equivalent…
Sister Act
Filmmakers Gretchen and Julia Dyer Making a name for themselves as one of the few sister teams producing films today are Julia and Gretchen Dyer. The release of their film Late Bloomers, which was shot completely in the Dallas area, marks the culmination of two years of work that started in early 1994 when Gretchen…
Other 1997-98 Seasons
Austin Lyric Opera Bass Concert Hall, UT campus, 472-5992 Andrea Ch�nier, by Giordano, Nov 21-24 CAV/PAG (Cavalleria Rusticana, by Mascagni; I Pagliacci, by Leoncavallo), Jan 9-11 The Barber of Seville, by Rossini, Mar 13-16 Ballet Austin Bass Concert Hall, UT campus, 476-2163 Cinderella, choreography: Mills & Lambrou, Sep 12-14 Serenade, choreography: Balanchine; Size Nine Spirit,…
Roger’s Right Hand
Twenty-five years ago, I believed that anyone who didn’t like the Byrds needed their head examined. I still believe that. It isn’t an issue anymore. The Byrds are surely certain to endure without any ferocious special pleading from me.” Thus began an essay included in the 4-CD Byrds box set issued by Columbia in 1990.…
Mr. Easy Rider Takes a Wild Flyer
“Ulee’s Gold has blasted me right out my pigeonhole and into a bluebird’s nest” — Peter Fonda Peter Fonda may have been, as he often remarks, “born famous,” but that’s not to say he registers very strongly on most movie fans’ perceptual radar. In fact, prior to his starring role in Victor Nunez’s newly released…
Unrepentant Truths
photograph by John Anderson If you ask, Tammy Gomez will tell you she works with words. Others have called her an activist and multimedia artist, and to that I’ll add punk rocker. Many of her poems center around distaff struggle (A woman who survives is a walking journal of her woes), love (do you trip…
Dancing About Architecture
Fire & Ice “Please don’t slaughter us,” begs Popular Talent’s Mark Shaberg, “we did everything we could to keep our crowd happy!” He’s speaking of last Wednesday’s Vanilla Ice debacle. That evening, at the fratty Bob Popular’s on Sixth Street, a riot nearly erupted since, inexplicably, the featured performer — a has-been white rapper whose…
Scanlines
(“Scanlines” wishes to thank Encore Movies & Music, I Luv Video, and Vulcan Video for their help in providing videos and laser discs.) Once Hong Kong movie fans have traversed the entry-level John Woo/Jackie Chen/Ringo Lam fare, Zu: Warriors of Magic Mountain comes highly recommended. Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain D: Tsui Hark (1983)…
In Person
It might have been called an abuse of the autograph. Where the escalators lead up to and then exit the second floor of Barnes & Noble, the area was full on Wednesday, June 11. Smartly dressed baby boomers from in and around Austin drank soft drinks, nibbled cookies, and viewed the unveiling of the premier…
Amplifying Little Voices
Almost 40 years ago, folklorist Alan Lomax embarked on two journeys through America’s Deep Sout@  � <  en-state-of-the-art recording equipment, he sought out pockets of civilization that were still untouched — or at least unaffected — by the pervasive influence of mass media. And he found them. Lomax discovered people who, when they…
Short Cuts
Will you be making Contact on July 10? Just scheduled is an advance local benefit screening of the new Jodie Foster-Matthew McConaughey movie, Contact, based on the Carl Sagan novel and directed by Forrest Gump’s Robert Zemeckis. McConaughey (in town filming The Newton Boys) and other special guests will be in attendance at the Paramount…
In Person
Richard Ford, the highly acclaimed bard of the angst-ridden American bourgeoisie, will be at Borders Books and Music to read from and sign his latest collection of stories, Women With Men (Knopf, $23 hard) on July 1 at 7pm. For those irreverent few who wish to challenge Ford’s reputation, sentence for sentence, as the best…
Ono — Oh Yes!
The whole world hated me and my music,” Yoko Ono remembers saying when asked to compile material from her catalogue for a 1992 boxed set. “Let’s bury it and leave it alone.” The executives at Rykodisc did not, and the ensuing 6-CD collection, Onobox, sparked critical hosannas that continued with last year’s album of new…
A Phoned-in Romance
illustration by Jason Stout Not long ago, I got two checks in the mail. One was from a small magazine for a story I had written. The other was from a major phone company as an incentive to choose them as my long distance carrier. The magazine check and its amount was exactly as I…
Postscripts
Today, Thursday, June 26, 7-9pm, Resistencia Bookstore and Red Salmon Arts present Honoring All Nations, a program to feature speakers Rey Hernan-dez, councilmember of the Coahuiltecan Nation, and Raul Salinas, local poet/activist. On exhibit will be two murals-in-progress produced by students of Save Our Youth, led by community artists Henry Gonzalez and G.C. Walter. Mario…
Recommended
Friday: Coffee Sergeants, Hole in the Wall Saturday: Austin Lounge Lizards, Geezinslaws, Texas Union Ballroom; Ponty Bone, Jovita’s Sunday: Jubal Clark Benefit, Saxon Pub Monday: Policy, Voodoo Lounge Tuesday: Tony Campise’s Big Band, Elephant Room Wednesday: Abra Moore, Kacy Crowley, Stubb’s Thursday: Joseph Vincelli, Sullivan’s
Check, Please!
photograph by Minh A recent informal (and highly un-empiric) survey of friends and fellow staff members suggests that long distance telephone company incentive checks have not exactly ceased to exist. The companies in question, however, dodge specifics when it comes to inquiries regarding these promotional incentives. Multiple calls to both MCI and AT&T home customer…
About AIDS
In spite of all the recent headlines about medical advances, the truth is that the number of people living with AIDS continues to increase. This growth is leading to greater, not lesser, need — and to a call to all of us to make sure people do not have to go through this alone. Interfaith…
Reissues
THE MUSIC FROM U.N.C.L.E. (THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK AFFAIR) (Razor & Tie) Capsule B was standard issue in the cache of tricks carried by agents of the United Network Command for Law & Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.). It gave spys like the suave Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and dreamy Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) three days of amnesia, so…
Hearth & Soul
When I was a kid, I ate in the Land of Cans. One of our standard meals on Wednesday nights when my mom went bowling was canned green peas, Minute Rice, and Salisbury steak in a can. We spooned the gravy from the canned meat over our rice and plopped down in front of the…
Road Shows
JUNE FRI 27 Indigo Girls, Lift, Backyard FRI 27 Red Meat, Jovita’s Cantina FRI 27 Homegrown, Voodoo Lounge FRI 27 Suicidal Tendencies, Stubb’s FRI 27 Pervis, Stinkerbell, Chevy Heston, Emo’s FRI 27 Screwdriver, Buffalo Soldier, Flamingo Cantina FRI 27 Guided by Voices, Liberty Lunch FRI 27 Sugartooth, Days of the New, Electric Lounge SAT 28…
Benefits
Mon 30 Keith Ferguson Blues & Pop Fiesta to benefit the family of Keith Ferguson, at Antone’s Nite Club, 213 W. Fifth, 6pm-2am. Cost is $10. 474-5315. Thu 3 When the Music Stops to benefit Victims of Violent Crime, at Austin Music Hall, 208 Nueces, 8pm. Cost is $15. 441-3722. The Chronicle benefits database extends…
AISD Notebook
After about a month-long marathon of exhaustive work sessions, public hearings, and staff presentations on the 1997-98 budget for AISD, you would have thought that the last thing anyone would find edifying was a retrospective of those discussions. But when AISD administrators surprised the board at the budget adoption session with video clips of themselves…
Coach’s Corner
I just finished watching three national newspaper columnists on ESPN’s SportsReporters expounding on the greatness of Mike Tyson. According to these wise scribes, only Tyson’s place in the boxing pantheon of Gods is still to be decided. If Tyson hadn’t the misfortune to spend those three silly years in prison, why, they might have renamed…
Hays County Hell
Hays County Comissioner Jefferson Barton says that when Travis County lost the battle against Elgin Bank, he was forced to approve this colonia-like development. photograph by Jana Birchum A couple of miles east of the interstate, near Kyle, a subdivision called the “I-35 South Ranches” lies on acres of beautiful, rolling Hays County countryside. Like…
day trips
photograph by Gerald E. McLeod The Fort Worth Nature Center is the largest city-owned and -operated facility of its kind in the United States and quite possibly the world. The 3,500-acre preserve encompasses five distinct ecosystems and habitats for hundreds of native animals and birds. Acquired by the city in February 1964, the 360-acre Greer…
Developers’ Gift Horse
The failure of the Elgin Bank legislation in the session has left counties wondering how they can recapture some of their regulatory strength before tackling the issue in the next session, which doesn’t convene until January 1999. State Rep. Ron Lewis (D-Mauriceville) carried legislation that would have reversed much of the Elgin Bank ruling, but…
Page Two
So many issues; so little time… As this issue goes to press, on Wednesday, June 25, the newly elected Austin City Council is still enjoying their honeymoon. By the time you read this, as of Thursday, June 26, the honeymoon will have ended. That’s because tomorrow afternoon, Kirk Watson will call to order the first…
Naked City
Edited by Amy Smith, with contributions this week from Kevin Fullerton, Claiborne K.H. Smith, and Kayte VanScoy. Off the Desk: Sunday, June 29, marks the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that rocked America. The Furman v. Georgia ruling declared the death penalty unconstitutional. Local poets, musicians, and activists will gather on that anniversary…
Public Notice
As with the recent tornado disasters, the Austin-Travis County Emergency Operations Center has asked that folks stay away from areas ravaged by these horrible Hill Country Summer Floods of 1997. Volunteers to assist in physical clean-up are not needed at this time. We will post notices here when they are. Meanwhile, the best way to…
America the Brutal
“They are naturalizing because of fear, the fear of potentiallly losing their benefits,” says Luis Plascensia,who is shown at left, teaching Antonio Mauricio during a citizenship class at El Buen Samaritano. photograph by Jana Birchum Hye Nan Jung, 33, also came to Webb Middle School seeking answers from the Legal Aid volunteers, but not about…
