Cover Story
The Movies That Matter
An interview with Killer Films producer Christine Vachon
Marcia Brady Fetish Night
Marcia Brady Fetish Night Sing-along. Drinking game. Look-alike contest. Films.
F@#k Mickey Mouse
F@#k Mickey Mouse Archivist/exhibitor Dennis Nyback presents cartoons from the Thirties and Forties from the non-Disney Studios that tried to compete.
The Wild Life
The Wild Life 1984, R, 96 min. Directed by Art Linson, Starring Chris Penn, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Jenny Wright, Lea Thompson, Rick Moranis. Teen romp elevated by fun cast, script by Cameron Crowe, and music by Van Halen.
Ley Lines
Ley Lines 1999, NR, 105 min. Directed by Takashi Miike, Starring Dan Li, Hua Rong Wong. The third installment of Miike’s Triad Society trilogy looks at yakuz survivors of Osaka’s mean streets.
Immoral Tales
Immoral Tales 1974, NR, 103 min. Directed by Walerian Borowczyk, Starring Fabrice Luchini, Lise Danvers, Charlotte Alexandra, Paloma Picasso, Florence Bellamy. This feature-length compendium of four shorts stories is the best-known of cult director Borowczyk’s erotic films.
Billie Holiday: From First to Last
Billie Holiday: From First to Last All Holiday’s film appearances compiled here by archivist/exhibitor Dennis Nyback. Also includes the complete Sound of Jazz TV show from 1957.
The Dark Side of Dr. Seuss
The Dark Side of Dr. Seuss During the Forties in his pre-Dr. Suess days, Ted Geisel made propaganda and training films for the U.S. Army. Nyback poses a correlation between Geisel’s mind-control efforts for children and adults.
Ooh La La: A History of Lingerie
Ooh La La: A History of Lingerie Take a peek at undies on film – a fashion parqade presented by archivist/historian Dennis Nyback.
Arts Review
Despite some inexperienced acting and lax direction, ‘Ugly Maria’ deserves notice for its audacious exploration of the social stigma of rape
SXSW Records
Mary GauthierMercy Now (Lost Highway) Tough, bitter, and hard as iron nails, Mary Gauthier chewed up lyrics and spit them out like bullets on 2003’s Filth & Fire. She’s back with Mercy Now, yet there’s little justice for all. Gauthier calls her rootsy alt-folk “country noir,” but it’s closer to Southern gothic, and more akin…
Naked City
Algae blooms near development previously cited for construction runoff, but LCRA says growth is normal
Anxiety of Influence
Teenagers Georgia and Wyatt Pierson on their family’s filmic mission to Fiji
Arts Review
Susan Whyne’s ‘Pocket full of posy (all fall down)’ at D Berman Gallery is a dreamlike reflection of her emotions surrounding 9 / 11
What to Read on How to Become a Cookie
Barbecue, Biscuits & Beans: Chuck Wagon Cooking by Bill Cauble and Cliff Teinert Bright Sky Press, 191 pp., $24.95 Chuck wagon cooking experts Cauble and Teinert have written a definitive Texas cookbook – one that ably addresses our Western heritage while reflecting the various regional and ethnic culinary influences that help create our fondness for…
SXSW Records
Jennifer GentleValende (Sub Pop) What is it with Italians and Pink Floyd? Maybe writing warbly psych songs is in their blood, but the amount of Sixties psych reverence churning out of the boot is pretty steady. Hailing from Padova, Italy, the duo Jennifer Gentle (Marco Fasolo and Alessio Gastaldello) speak English on their Sub Pop…
Naked City
Full-scale privatization resisted
Horror, Period
‘Dead Birds’
Readings
When Tom Wolfe’s introduction to The New Journalism’ appeared in the 1970s, did he anticipate the semantic fallout his term would create?
What to Read on How to Become a Cookie
Texas Cowboy Cookingby Tom Perini, with Paschal Fowlkes Comanche Moon Pub, 192 pp., $24.95 Abilene native Tom Perini was a rancher and cowboy cook for many years before he opened the destination Perini’s Steakhouse on his ranch in Buffalo Gap. Based on recipes from the trail, the restaurant, his grandmother, and family friends, this is…
Here Today, There Tomorrow
Austin ISD Schools grapple with high student turnover – and all its consequences
Naked City
Transit-Oriented Development Ordinance rolls closer to passage
Miami Heat
‘Code 33’
Readings
Unless you’re a Hornby completist driven to paroxysms over the man’s every quotidian observance, get ready to throw the book at the wall more than once: at the twee (titular) references to the Believer’ brass, at a gratuitous excerpt from Great Expectations,’ and at Hornby’s grousing about having too few chances to read
What to Read on How to Become a Cookie
Cooking With Texas Highways edited by Nola McKey University of Texas Press, 256 pp., $24.95 With this colorful cookbook, it’s now possible to prepare dishes from the width and breadth of Texas cuisine without having to drive from Borger to Brownsville and El Paso to Texarkana, because the editors of Texas Highways magazine have done…
Mobility By The Numbers
AISD’s most stable schools are on the west side, while the highest turnover is on the east. Not surprisingly, high stability corresponds with high test scores and state performance ratings, while high mobility corresponds to a more struggling student population. The figures below show the most and least mobile schools, with the percentage of student…
Point Austin: High Tuition
As the centex toll plan moves forward, Austin becomes a reluctant stepchild
Sleaze, Camp, and Social Justice
AFS presents On the Border: Films of Rogelio Agras& #225;nchez Sr.
Page Two
Advice for artists, inspired during the whirlwind of SXSW 2005
What to Read on How to Become a Cookie
American Chuck Wagon Association Cookbookby American Chuck Wagon Association Members (www.chuckwagon.org) self-published, 246 pp., $15 “May your appetites be great, the wood dry, and the wind a gentle breeze.” Besides loving their old wagons, pretty much the raison d’être of the American Chuck Wagon Association is to prepare tasty food outdoors over open fires, in…
Racial Profiling Data Illuminating, yet Inconclusive
The nation’s most comprehensive study to date shows a pattern suggesting profiling, but reporting methods need more uniformity
So What – Now?
The TRMPAC trial concludes, as the fight continues over the 2002 Lege races
Film News
Look no further than this alt-weekly’s SXSW coverage for proof that Austin is the film capital of Texas, but don’t forget some of the stuff going on ‘Between the Scenes’
After a Fashion
Stephen gears up for the celebrity onslaught by skewering more … celebrities!
Food-o-File
Mangia in the movies, Living Foods & Juice at Whole Foods, and Italy in Austin
More to Education Than Test Preparation
Austin Interfaith asks AISD to de-emphasize standardized testing
The Hightower Report
Bush wants to deplete your Social Security; ChoicePoint may have helped deplete your bank account
TV Eye
Caution should rule when making comparisons to milestone series. Yet, the folks at ABC thought it clever to compare their new John Stamos series, Jake in Progress,’ to one of my favorites in its promotion of the show
About AIDS
“New HIV superbug resistant to treatment! Causes AIDS in 3 months!” screamed the New York Times on Feb. 4, after a strident announcement by NYC health commissioner Friedman. The article went on about the gay male patient and his crystal meth-fueled sex binges. (It ran in Austin two days later.) Reporters, HIV-service staff, clients, e-mailers…
Not Fade Away
The 2004 / 05 Austin Music Awards. In a word, roots.
Police Officers Burned by Comments
Cops punished after cheering the fire that burned nightclub
DVD Watch
The 1990s were a golden era for intelligent, uniquely designed superhero animation series
To Your Health
Does dairy consumption at a meal interfere with iron absorption?
SXSW Picks & Sleepers
Blurbing the first night of SXSW music
Austin to Vote Smoke-Free?
Anti-smoking ordinance lands on May 7 ballot
Land of Plenty Time
The fifth annual Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards
The Common Law
Who gets the engagement ring if the wedding is called off?
Wednesday Picks
All showcase times subject to change JASON MORAN12mid, Cedar Street Courtyard Pianist Jason Moran stands at the forefront of a new generation of jazz musicians. His sixth album for Blue Note, Same Mother, has just been released. Austin Chronicle: How did growing up in Houston influence your music? Jason Moran: Once you leave Texas you…
No More Juvie Executions
The Supreme Court’s ban on executing kids has repercussions all the way back to Austin
I Live My Broken Dreams
This year’s rock docs examine the ‘outsider myth’ and more among the likes of Daniel Johnston, Townes Van Zandt, and Wild Man Fischer
Robots
There are no great animation advance in Robots, but neither is it a return to The Ice Age.
TCB
Bracing for SXSW, hailing the Dicks, avoiding the cow pies
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Les Diables Bleus, moonquakes, and a Tunnel of Fudge Cake
Wednesday Sleepers
All showcase times subject to changeJAWBONE8pm, Red Eyed Fly A one-man Motor City blues band with a penchant for racket, Jawbone (Bob Zabor) was one of the last performers under the patronage of legendary UK deejay John Peel. It’s not hard to see why: In a landscape littered with Black Keys and Bob Logs, 2003’s…
Naked City
Quote of the Week”Being called vindictive and partisan by Tom DeLay is like being called ugly by a frog.” – Travis Co. District Attorney Ronnie Earle, on CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday.Headlines• The House bills on public school finance and property taxes went to the House floor, with passage expected this week. See “Beyond City…
The Enron Autopsy
Alex Gibney on The Smartest Guys in the Room’
A Tale of Two Sisters
Dread and mystery are the hallmarks of this South Korean psychological thriller.
Working Beauty
In spinning a fairy tale of gifts, outsiders, and thorns, Bonnie Cullum’s own story gets told
Day Trips
The Knot in the Loop Saloon could be described as a neighborhood bar, but the neighborhood is one of the prettiest in the Hill Country
Songs of Pain Was Not in Vain
The day a skinny young kid named Daniel Johnston came shuffling to the back door of the ‘Chronicle’
Naked City
Enviro group launches Web site opposing Hill Country Development
We Interrupt This Program
Don’t go trying to see any films until you read this
Imaginary Heroes
Only this troubled suburbanite family knows if they are imaginary heroes or ordinary people.
Stand-up’s Best Medicine Show
The Comedians of Comedy provide stand-up’s best medicine show
Soccer Watch
The monkey on Chelsea’s back
SXSW Records
A FramesBlack Forest (Sub Pop) This Black Forest isn’t the picturesque pine-painted mountains of southwest Germany, but rather the smoldering detritus of society after the digital age has devolved into something out of Philip K. Dick. Some near-future time when, according to Seattle’s A Frames, “humanity is erased.” Par-tee! For one thing, with no more…
Naked City
UT conservatives may or may not have planned an “immigrant hunt,” but get an earful regardless
This Is a Love Story
Back and forth with Tood Solondz on his new film, ‘Palindromes’
Arthouse Texas Prize Finalists
Arthouse has named four finalists for its first-ever Arthouse Texas Prize, worth $30,000
Chuck It
We’re so hungry we could eat just about everything served up at and around the Star of Texas Fair & Rodeo
SXSW Records
With its biggest new star belting “Freebird” and top draw outing himself as a “Ramblin’ Man” at last month’s Grammys, country officially became stuck in the Seventies. It’s been lingering there for a while, timely for Universal South, currently rolling the dice on a pair of twentysomethings entering their family business. Son of Waylon, Shooter…
Naked City
GOP attorney says he wants “clarification” of state’s campaign finance laws
The Redeemers
Ellen Spiro on ‘Troop 1500,’ the story of Girl Scouts and the inmate mothers who love them
Death by ‘Chunklet’
Athens, Ga.-based ‘Chunklet’ magazine is the bible of cutting-edge stand-up comedy and underground rock coverage
Chuck It
Kick-Start: The Cowboy Breakfast The annual calendar is tracked as much by cuisine cycles as by annual events. In our calendar, summer in these here parts means bushels of Hill Country peaches and flats of local blueberries. It must be autumn when chestnuts appear in the cupboard and stews begin simmering. And when the baking…
SXSW Records
Hubert SumlinAbout Them Shoes (Tone-Cool/Artemis) Antone’s nightclub not only bestowed Austin its world-class reputation as a blues town, it delivered the goods. Chicago stalwarts especially benefited by owner Clifford Antone’s dedication, and Hubert Sumlin has been among the most enduring supporters. It’s no wonder Austin considers the Mississippi-born bluesman one of its own; he is,…
Naked City
Lengthy discussions on dog ordinance have county officials a bit snappish
Andrew Does the Book of Luke
The Wilson boys are back in town with their ‘Wendell Baker Story,’ which took one an eternity to write and the other a month to shoot
Culture Flash!
ALO has blood on the tracks in 2006, and Salvage Vanguard lands a new office
Chuck It
Cook-Off at High Noon, or Near It If you happen to be looking across the grounds of the Travis County Expo Center about daybreak on Saturday, March 12, you might see some smoke from 22 campfires mingling with the early morning mists. This is the signal that dedicated wagon-camp cooks are beginning preparations for the…
SXSW Records
Scott H. BiramThe Dirty Old One Man Band (Bloodshot) After three albums of lo-fi, scratchy, and distorted, Austin’s Scott H. Biram has his sound upgraded somewhat on his debut for Chicago indie Bloodshot. Biram continues at the crossroads of blues, punk, hillbilly, and through his twisted vision, it all makes sense. This time, however, some…
Naked City
Smoking and toll roads drive the races for jobs that will spend more time on zoning cases
Uneasy Lovin’
The Puffy Chair’
Arts Review
In Kirk Lynn’s playful and wistful ‘The Jinn,’ three couples with magic lamps find out if what they wish for is really what they want
Chuck It
Fixin’ to Hit the Stall Crawl, Y’All! Last year, Krista Weirman, one of my New Orleans Saints buddies, invited me to participate in her third annual Stall Crawl at the Star of Texas Fair & Rodeo’s Barbeque Cook-Off. Since I’m an enthusiastic eater of Texas barbecue, it sounded like a promising idea. Having never been…
Phases and Stages
Jason MoranSame Mother (Blue Note) With his sixth album for Blue Note, this Houston-born pianist continues to use traditional forms in unconventional ways to forge one of the freshest new visions the jazz world has seen in ages. This time, Moran explores the relationship between blues and jazz, both offspring of the “same mother,” and…
Naked City
Lawmaker seeks to keep Texas from becoming national nuclear waste dump
Pray Tell
‘The Education of Shelby Knox’
Luv Doc Recommends: The Fearless Freaks World Premiere
Ah yes. Another SXSW. The yearly reality check for all the starry-eyed dreamers looking to make it big in show business. As a flesh and blood representation of the daunting statistical odds against becoming the next Tarantino or Modest Mouse, SXSW is off the charts. It’s hard to conceptualize that the world is literally teeming…
