Cover Story
Living With ‘Monstrosities’
Jen Hirt and Scott Webel and their Museum of Natural and Artificial Ephemerata
Floorshaker
Boris spikes Mohawk
Happy 4th from the Chrontourage!
Here at the Chronicle we love a good celebration as much as the next alternative weekly, and what better time to celebrate than the birth of the good ol’ U.S. of ‘merica! That’s right, it’s July 4th again and that means plenty of BBQ, beer, sunshine, good friends (hopefully), and of course ‘splosions! Living in…
Paula Nelson Kicks Butt on Film
She’s become a YouTube celeb for the kick-ass kick she planted on an overzealous and probably over-served fan at the Saxon Pub. Now Paula Nelson is kicking it up as Michael Madsen’s mistress in the political thriller Conflict of Interest. Even more interesting and synchronistic, Saxon Pub owner Joe Ables plays the role of a…
Film Fight Has Landed
Okay, it’s circling the tarmac. Check here to find out more. See you on Monday.
Adios, Karl Anderson!
Karl Anderson departs ASoF
Matthew Shepard Lives!
Honor Matthew Shepard and get on the Info Bus!
Star-Crossed Nuke Crosses Stars With La Lauper
Mz. Lauper sprinkles her fairy dust on Oakdale.
Austin Aztex Last Home Games of the Season?!?
Boy did that go fast. The Premier Development League regular season is only 10 weeks long – yet another reason to look forward to the debut next year of the USL-1 Aztex, and its six-month-long season. Anyway, the Aztex U-23s play their last two home games of the regular season this week – Thursday, July…
Sheikh Yr Booty (or Beat It With a Beltbuckle)
In my country, sending over a bottle of champagne to a gentleman I do not know is simply an invitation to 40 lashes!
Dukes Recovering From Surgery
Austin state rep underwent two procedures Monday
10 Grand Buys a Lot of Hope
The Doorstop Film Project recently sponsored phase one of a short film contest – in which filmmakers tackled such lofty topics as “Love, Freedom, Pain, Energy, Redemption, Greed, or Forgiveness” – and turns out “Freedom” freed some creative firepower from Austinite Jeff Guerrero. Guerrero was recently announced as one of only 15 finalists for the…
Tyson Homosexual Has Been Auto-Replaced
Tyson Gay not Tyson Homosexual.
My Night at the Movies Part II
Our boards have been busy lately with disgruntlement over Josh Rosenblatt’s recent pan of Wanted – he called the comic-book adaptation from Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov “so salacious and voyeuristic as to be almost pornographic.” Sounds intriguing, no? So I checked it out last night, in part as “research” for next week’s online debate, Film…
Best of 2008 (So Far)
It’s been an encouraging year so far. Locally, there’s a lot to be excited about with upstart acts like Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears, Dustin Welch & the House Band, the Band of Heathens, the Belleville Outfit, and Suzanna Choffel proving the scene remains diverse and vibrant. Meanwhile, veterans like Joe Ely, Alejandro…
The Sound of One Fan Clapping
I was an X-Files fan back in the day, but I have to say, when I heard they were making The X-Files: I Want to Believe – 10 years after the first installment, and 6 years after the TV series closed up shop – I couldn’t help but wonder, is anybody really clamoring for another…
Ripping That Brooklyn Soul
Jay-Z meets Marvin Gaye in Brooklyn
TXRG: Heartbreakers Hope to Break Some Hearts
End of regular season puts all-or-nothing spotlight on Honky Tonk Heartbreakers
A Spanish Futbol Dream Come True
There are few adjectives to describe the atmosphere in Vienna on the afternoon of June 29, 2008. For most soccer fans, it’s a dream to go to a World Cup Final or a UEFA Euro Final. Although I wasn’t able to be there in person, I couldn’t help but feel the passion of the game…
Score None for the Judicial Process
DNA testing overturns 22-year-old rape conviction, but nine years too late
Flash Mobs Blow Out Five Candles
Almost as soon as they started, flash mobs have been eulogized as a crested trend.
Keene Prize, Kudos to George Brant
Since those halcyon days of deep-pocketed patrons are long gone, struggling writers typically have to make do with the occasional grant or free lit mag subscriptions. But for the lucky few – three so far – there’s the pinch-me-I’m-dreaming Keene Prize for Literature, a not-uncontroversial $50,000 jackpot delivered annually to one University of Texas student…
Justices Get Jumped on for Jessica’s Law
Texas lawmakers bemoan Supreme Court decision barring executions for child abuse
Wranglers Tied for First
Pretty aqua pants, but they didn’t help the Texas Copperheads put any points on the board early in their 38-41 loss to our own Austin Wranglers. Three and out is not a way to start the game. After the first drive stalled, a fan got to come out on the field and take a few…
Just Don’t Call Him Bugsy
East Texas guitarist continues the fireworks
The Abominable Inaugural
The City Council is inaugurated – and when the Hustle bum-rushes the show, we put the swearing into this swearing-in.
Cornyn’s Coat Calamity
Texas senator tries to dress down Chuck Schumer and Jon Stewart over dress-up jokes
BookPeople vs. ‘Chronicle’ and Emo’s vs. Waterloo
Two games, two fields, two totally different outcomes
Bavu Blakes on the Regular
52 weeks of hip-hop from Mr. Blakes
Arts Review
Conspirare’s performance of the Verdi work provided a blazing vision of Judgment Day and a transcendent glimpse of glory
Mabuta no Ura
The Japanese rainbow spectrum of Boris’ amplifier worship
Better Than Book-Learnin’
Master Class With John Pierson premieres on KUT
Playing Through
It’s not the NFL, but Arena Football League 2 is still professional football, and ‘you gotta take pride in what you do’
The Singing Revolution
Using a combination of historical footage and modern-day scenes, this documentary about Estonia’s independence movement is a welcome shot of unsentimental optimism.
Six, Three Times
An abridged guide to Boris
The Fight Stuff
Jamaa Fanaka on racial myths and the ailing film industry
Oops!
Due to an editing error, the News story “Cops Walk in Round Rock Shooting” reported last week that the Round Rock Police Department took over mental-health duties in 2005 when in fact it was the Williamson Co. Sheriff’s Office that did so. The Chronicle regrets the error.
‘What I Want Right Now’: Title Match
Titling a play can sometimes be a tenuous proposition, as was the case with Tom White’s most recent work
The Big Chill
Wild Thing Chip Taylor waxes political on ‘New Songs of Freedom’
The City of Angels, Air-Kissing Austin
Dispatch from the Los Angeles Film Festival
Page Two: Unreasonably Reasonable
When you get right down to it, what the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says seems fairly simple. It is only one sentence: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” Yet it is no…
Aztlan Dance Company: A Dancer’s Life
Longtime Aztlan dancer Stephanie Mayorga Keeton doesn’t just like to dance: She needs to dance
The Hightower Report
Wrecking the Airline Industry; and Rewriting Some PATRIOT Act Stupidity
TV Eye
TV Eye enters week three of no TV (okay, with an itty-bitty cheat)
Point Austin: Burning Questions
Hoo, boy. It’s not a great moment for representative government. Closest to home, our new city manager has egg all over his face for his response to the June 8 fire at the Governor’s Mansion, of which he apparently wasn’t aware until sometime the next afternoon. City Manager Marc Ott was reportedly sequestered with visiting…
KMFA: The Man Behind ‘Classically Austin’ Leaves for Portland
Jack Allen, the man who recharged Austin’s classical radio station, is off to do the same for a West Coast station
Phases & Stages
Tom Waits Palladium, Dallas, June 23 Monday night in Dallas, Tom Waits walked onstage, and it got 10 degrees hotter. There were reports that Mr. Waits himself wanted the air conditioner turned off during the show, but there he was, dressed in a black jacket and bowler, lit red as the devil, stomping around in…
A Dose of Integrity for Texas Criminal Justice
The Court of Criminal Appeals has created an Integrity Unit – but can the CCA really be part of the solution when it’s so much a part of the problem?
Beside the Point
Making a bonfire out of a campfire
Why’s Everybody Always Picking On Him?
David Sedaris on nitpicky fact-checkers and spiders’ thighs
Phases & Stages
Duffy Rockferry (Mercury) Billed as the next Amy Winehouse, oh-so-blond Aimee Anne Duffy snores coffee-shop product. Debut LP Rockferry, written with Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, attempts to smooth Winehouse’s edges via a straightedge singer and former contestant on Welsh megahit Wawffactor. Wanna guess the show’s premise? Vanilla as it is carbon, Rockferry opens with its…
YBP Moves With Heavy Load, Light Heart
Yellow Bike Project moves two semi-trailer trucks’ worth of stuff – minus the trucks, of course
Quote of the Week
“I’m certainly responsible so that this doesn’t occur again.”– City Manager Marc Ott, quoted in a Statesman editorial criticizing his firing of the city communications director for failing to tell him about the widely reported fire at the Governor’s Mansion
The Common Law
Immigrant Worker’s Rights
Phases & Stages
Emmylou Harris All I Intended to Be (Nonesuch) Emmylou Harris goes down like fine wine, more elegant and potent with each passing year. Harris’ first solo album in five years reveals the 2008 Country Music Hall of Famer lingering poignantly retrospective with longing and resolve. Reuniting with original producer Brian Ahern contributes to reflective covers…
DPS Turns to Secret Service for Security Advice
Mansion fire not the ‘finest moment’ for DPS
Headlines
• Welcome aboard! New Council Members Randi Shade and Laura Morrison, along with returning incumbent Lee Leffingwell, were sworn in Wednesday at City Hall, as the new council forms in time to take its summer hiatus – and starts to get its arms around next year’s budget. • Not such a big box after all:…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Sex equals money, the Beatles consider a reunion show for $3,000, and more
Phases & Stages
Dizzee Rascal Maths + English (Definitive Jux/XL) Emmanuel Jal Warchild (Sonic360) East London’s Dizzee Rascal rushes the “World Outside” with third LP Maths + English, cold grime bodied up by the genre’s pioneer. “Young, black, rich, and ruthless,” boasts Dizzee on psychotic diss track “Pussy’ole” to a cut up of Rob Base’s “It Takes Two…
McClellan Takes the Mic
On tour with his new book, ‘What Happened,’ the former White House press secretary made a hometown pit stop
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and elsewhere
After a Fashion
Your gracious Style Avatar on throwing rocks and giving ’em ‘the finger’
Phases & Stages
Love Story (Start) “Why weren’t we as big as the Beatles?” murmurs Arthur Lee, holding court, attired as if he were still in prison. “One is because I didn’t cooperate,” he acknowledges, wagging his head. Then up shoots his chin. “And the other is, I’m not gonna go out and eat shit … out on…
Now That’s a ROT of Money
Now that the engine fumes have cleared from the Republic of Texas Biker Rally, city and county staff are counting the estimated $36 million the event brought into the local economy. Travis County Expo Center staff estimates 45,000 visitors crowded into the rally site over June 11-14 – that doesn’t include bikers and spectators who…
Beyond City Limits
• On June 23, by a vote of 8-1, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas must provide counsel to indigent defendants upon arrest and not wait until indictment. Upon review of Rothgery v. Gillespie County, justices deemed Texas to be out of step nationally. “We merely reaffirm what we have held before and what…
Restaurant Review
Joe DiMaggio’s Italian Chophouse has perfectly made drinks, a solid selection of fish and steak, as well as an ambiance that suggests Joe and Marilyn are nuzzling in the next booth
Phases & Stages
The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beats by Grandmaster Flash with David Ritz Broadway Books, 258 pp., $22.95 Grandmaster Flash didn’t create the break. That credential belongs to neighborhood hero Kool Herc. Rather, Flash made the modern DJ. He turned the role from a playground party fixture to a staple of clubs across…
Happenings
For more details and events, see Community Listings. Thursday 26 CENTRAL WEST AUSTIN NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN WORKSHOP 6:30-9pm. Lower Colorado River Authority Headquarters, 3700 Lake Austin Blvd. www.ci.austin.tx.us/zoning/central_west_austin.htm. COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INSTITUTE TRADE SHOW Learn tools for keeping relations friendly between community associations and homeowners. 4:30-8:30pm. Norris Conference Center, 2525 W. Anderson. bbenley@gatesource.net, www.caionline.org. GREEN NETWORK MEETING…
Restaurant Review
We could not be happier with the arrival of Sichuan Garden, even if it is in Round Rock
Phases & Stages
Abe Vigoda Skeleton (Post Present Medium) Vampire Weekend coined the genre “Upper West Side Soweto,” an Ivy League version of the tropical mess concocted by L.A.’s Abe Vigoda. Emerging from the same skuzzy art-punk scene that birthed No Age, Mika Miko, and Health and taking its name from the Godfather and Barney Miller actor, the…
WilCo Follies
Was it OK for a deputy to shoot a suicidal man holding a gun to his own head? The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will soon weigh in.
WALL-E
By turns sad, hilarious, exciting, and ultimately, hopeful, this is a film of Great Truths masquerading as child’s play.
Event Menu
June 28-July 3
Phases & Stages
No Age Nouns (Sub Pop) No Age became poster bros for the burgeoning DIY scene bred out of L.A. punk club the Smell. Nouns, drummer Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall’s Sub Pop debut and follow-up to last year’s raw comp, Weirdo Rippers, comes packaged with their scene: photos of people (fans), places (clubs), and…
Wal-Mart Puts Smiley Faces on Neighbors
Wal-Mart shrinks, and neighbors rejoice
Wanted
Based on Mark Millar’s ultraviolent comic-book miniseries, Wanted isn’t so much a movie as it is a parade of fast cars, big guns, heavy metal guitars, exposed cleavage, and tests of masculinity.
Food-o-File
Central Texas food and wine get national attention
Off the Record
Peering through the walls of Austin history to pay tribute to an original member of the 13th Floor Elevators and preserve Raul’s rats
Homeless RV Park Seeks Good Neighbors
Eastside residents balk at proposed mobile-home park for the homeless
Flight of the Red Balloon
Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien directs this contemporary homage to the classic international short, “The Red Balloon.”
Pedal-Powered Pictures
Not sure what a “goose-necked trailer” is or who’d be crazy enough to haul one behind their bike? See for yourself in these pics taken by Daniel Mottola during last weekend’s big bike move.
The Zealous Pursuit of the Perfect Cocktail
‘You shake a drink to wake it up, not to put it to sleep’
Hill Country Militia
Grassroots homesteaders tighten ranks to fight urban encroachment
Developing Stories
What can the City of Brotherly Love teach Austin?
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
In this new Hindi movie, four orphaned children are blessed with a nanny.
Arts Review
A refreshingly different after-the-bomb fable that gets at our impulse to create through a playful acting-out of ‘Frankenstein’
White Turmeric/Mango Ginger
MGM Indian Foods brings mango ginger to the West
The Centex Brigade
From San Antonio to Austin and back again
Design Advocacy Voices: Austin
We invited design and planning professionals (and city representatives) to take a quick look at www.designadvocacy.org and consider: Would a similar group would be beneficial in Austin? Brett Rhode, AIA, Rhode Partners: I think it’s a great idea. It would be nice to have something like DAG for Austin. I would certainly get involved with…
The Children of Huang Shi
This would-be epic tells the story of George Hogg, an English adventurer who saved the lives of Chinese orphans during the Sino-Japanese War of the 1930s and Forties.
Arts Review
While the staging could use more swash with its buckle, this take on the G&S pirate musical succeeds where it must: with the music
Pedal-Powered Movie
Watch the Yellow Bike Project folks, plus 75 of their friends, move two semi-trailer trucks’ worth of stuff by bike! And listen to a jaunty tune!
Brothers in Arms
Jeff Nichols’ Southern Gothic family saga, ‘Shotgun Stories’
Day Trips
Wimberley Zipline Adventures offers Hill Country thrill-seekers a ride they won’t forget
Reprise
This bracingly good Norwegian film is many things at once: portraits of mental illness, obsessive love, the uneasy transition from punk rock youth to “upstanding” adulthood, and fraternal competitiveness.
Luv Doc Recommends: Keep Austin Weird 5K and Festival
Keeping Austin weird is full-time work. The weirdness is not like it used to be. It’s on a much broader and more magnificent scale. You can’t just skate along baking pot brownies every morning or wearing glitter mascara and fairy wings when you go to the convenience store. Yawn. Seen it. Weird isn’t just about…
