Cover Story
Austin Music Awards
2002-2003 results
Long Arm of the Godfather
Long Arm of the Godfather 1972, NR, 90 min. Directed by Nardo Bonomi, Starring Adolfo Celi, Peter Lee Lawrence, Erika Blanc. Violent Italian crime drama recounts a double-cross and a heist gone wrong.
SXSW Live Shot
Cat PowerStubb’s, Friday, March 14 Clear skies and perfect temperatures made an evening of music in Stubb’s big back yard seem like the perfect thing. The line that formed around the corner and down the block for the early set by Cat Power suggested that many had the same idea. Her new album, the formidable…
SXSW Live Shot
SXSW Interview: Tony WilsonAustin Convention Center, Friday, March 14 Founder of Factory Records (New Order, Happy Mondays), Tony Wilson — or someone who claimed to be him — showed up in a queue the other night. After the vague, beer-fueled pleasantries that are part and parcel of virtually every meeting in Austin this week, Wilson…
SXSW Live Shot
Trachtenburg Family Slide Show PlayersLa Zona Rosa, Friday, March 14 The smoky, cavernous environs of La Zona Rosa are hardly the optimal venue for a family slide show, but this was no ordinary family slide show. The Trachtenburg family, guitarist/keyboardist/dad Jason, projectionist/mom Tina, and 9-year-old drummer/daughter Rachel, goes around buying old slides at estate sales…
SXSW Live Shot
The Life and Work of Patsy ClineAustin Convention Center, Friday, March 14 If Ringo Starr were to sit in on a panel discussing the life and work of John Lennon, sharing anecdotes and insights into the Beatles’ studio workings and personal interactions, then close the discussion playing along with a recording of “I Wanna Hold…
SXSW Live Shot
Dan Brodie & the Broken ArrowsMother Egan’s, Friday, March 14 With folks proclaiming alt.country on its deathbed, it should come as no surprise that the most exciting new band working that territory this week in Austin comes from Melbourne, Australia. Dan Brodie and the Broken Arrows are a quintet of long, tall, and young roots…
SXSW Live Shot
Roky Erickson’s Psychedelic Ice-Cream SocialThreadgill’s World Headquarters, Friday, March 14 Before things really got going, as we all sat around in the shade, enjoying the breeze, a few old hippies debated the relative merits of dosing the day’s dessert. “Is there acid in the ice cream?” one wondered aloud. “There should be. … This would…
Second Helpings: Irish Pubs
Booze clues
SXSW Live Shot
Elizabeth McQueen & the FirebrandsBroken Spoke, Friday, March 14 Even the folks that love country music to death would have to admit that it’s a fairly confining genre. Take the shuffle, the train-beat, the two-beat, the up-tempo honky-tonker, and the slow ballad, and you’ve just about summed up most of country music’s menu. That’s where…
Second Helpings: Pub Grub
Drunk? Eat something, for god’s sake.
SXSW Live Shot
WEBeerland, Friday, March 14 Maybe it’s the lack of vitamin D or the shades of gray-induced angst, but places that don’t get a lot of sunlight often produce heavy and loud bands. Other locales do, too, but there’s something about darker climes and heavy-duty rock & roll: Seattle and grunge, “Detroit Rock City,” the Scorpions…
Music Strang
Dragon Slayers Taking a breather at the Spin party Friday afternoon was mirror-shaded local vocalist Doe Montoya, who said she had been spending most of SXSW “walking up and down the street going to any place that would let my son in.” Also crowding her schedule were rehearsals with her band 20- Eyed Dragon for…
SXSW Live Shots
Jean GraeVenue, Friday, March 14 It was about time for a female MC to show ‘n’ prove at SXSW 03, and Jean Grae did just that. Representing the sole female pheromones to touch the stage, the thug bitch seemed prepared to flip the script on a showcase headlined by a trio of Def Jux masculinity.…
TCB
Frame by Frame Still a bit bleary-eyed — OK, a lot bleary-eyed — from the Charles Attal Management throwdown Friday morning in far, far East Austin, where the Sugar Hill Gang was upstaged by an 8-foot gold robot resembling C-3PO on steroids, “TCB” dragged our lazy bones to the Convention Center. Upon our arrival, college…
Music Strang
Ask a Townie Today: Kevin Shivers, Privilege HAVE YOU SEEN ANYTHING GOOD? “I thought the Sugar Hill Gang was pretty good last night when I was bartending.” HAVE YOU MET ANYONE REALLY INTERESTING? “I met these guys from Goldthwaite, Texas (population 500) at the Spin party.” HOW WELL DO OUT-OF-TOWNERS TIP? “Last night, people from…
SXSW Live Shots
Sondre LercheTequila Rock, Friday, March 14 Everyone has that certain something that provides comfort during the storm — macaroni and cheese in the throes of heartbreak, a fuzzy blanket during a storm, what have you. Scrappy young Norwegian Sondre Lerche proved himself to be the ultimate in soothing comfort in the midst of this chaotic…
Spotilight: The Coral
More Liverpudlians who are bigger than JHC
In the Mood for Love
“I fucking love romance movies you can watch when you’re depressed,” says writer/director Alex Holdridge. “Romance movies that you can’t watch when you’re depressed are full of shit. They rub your face in it. It’s like when there’s a bright sunny day, and you’re depressed, and you think, ‘Why can’t it be drizzly and rainy?’…
Spotlight: Joe Jackson Band
On the 25th anniversary of Look Sharp!, Joe Jackson remains the man.
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
THE BURIAL SOCIETYD: Nicholas Racz; with Rob LaBelle, Jan Rube, David Paymer, Seymour Cassell, Allan Richbill Meilen. Narrative Feature First Films Following in the grand tradition of edgy thrillers featuring mousy Jewish accountants and old orthodox men comes The Burial Society. We meet Sheldon Kasner just as his day job at the Hebrew Savings and…
Spotlight: Camper Van Beethoven
The return of Camper Van Beethoven — and Tusk?
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
THE EYED: The Pang Brothers; with Lee Sin-Je, Lawrence Chou, Chutcha Rujinanon, Candy Lo, Pierre Pang. Narrative Feature Special Screenings, U.S. Premiere For anyone disappointed that the recent Daredevil didn’t dare take any of the risks its sightless-superhero premise offered, The Eye is a must-see. In this elegantly unsettling thriller from the Pang Brothers, a…
Spotlight: Nina Nastasia
Nina Nastasia bewitches.
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
GIRLHOODD: Liz Garbus. Documentary Feature Competition, U.S. Premiere There are moments of unexpected humor, as when a teacher lectures about “effectiveness” with diagrams of squeaky-clean square kids straight out of the 1950s, but the real thrust of this documentary is its unsparing candor. Shanae, convicted of murder after a fight, celebrates her 13th birthday inside…
Spotlight: Those Peabodys
Angus, Malcolm, Bon, and Those Peabodys
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
GIRL WRESTLERD: Diane Zander. Documentary Feature Competition, World Premiere Tara O’Neal meets her hero, Olympic gold medalist Brandon Slay. He happily signs her T-shirt. But then he says he “doesn’t believe” boys and girls should wrestle each other past high school. “OK, so I don’t look up to him as much as I used to,”…
Spotlight: Drive-By Truckers
The DBT will rise again.
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
MELVIN GOES TO DINNERD: Bob Odenkirk; with Michael Blieden, Stephanie Courtney, Annabelle Gurwitz, Matt Price. Narrative Feature First Films, Regional Premiere Four thirtysomethings meet for dinner. They drink, they talk, they lose track of time. We know what happens next; it occurs in film and, more importantly, in real life — discussions lead to arguments…
The Insider: Beatle Bob
Friday, March 14 Who: Beatle Bob Where: Spin Party at Stubb’s Insider: This is your eighth year at SXSW. When did people start paying attention to you? BB: It started the first year. There are a lot of bands I’ve seen at home in St. Louis and at festivals that would mention me onstage or…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISEDD: Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’Briain. Documentary Feature Special Screenings, U.S. Premiere This film is a finely crafted work, but it is the story itself that will keep you leaning forward in your seat, hands clenched to your knees. The filmmakers were allowed unfettered access to Hugo Chavez, the controversial…
SXSW Live Shot
My Education, Halley, MaseratiBlue Theater, Friday, March 14 While most folks bombarded either the Bloodshot Records party at the Yard Dog or the huge clusterfuck at Emo’s, over at the Blue Theater was a much more intimate, hangover-friendly day party. A seated affair no less. With hot dogs on the grill and the warm afternoon…
SXSW Live Shot
Artists Panel: Activism and ProtestAustin Convention Center, Friday, March 14 Monday night, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks told their London audience, “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” Maines’ statement has since ignited a furor back home, with several stations boycotting the Chicks. Meanwhile, country radio…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
SPUND: Jonas Åkerlund; with Jason Schwartzman, John Leguizamo, Mena Suvari, Patrick Fugit, Brittany Murphy, Mickey Rourke. Narrative Feature Midnighter, Regional Premiere There’s no better way to experience writer Will De Los Santos’ ostensibly autobiographical speed-freak odyssey than catching it midway through a week of sleepless film-festival excess. Should you happen to nod off, then jerk…
SXSW Live Shot
Canoe BD Riley’s, Friday, March 14 It’s always something of a crapshoot playing a bar you’ve never been to before. You don’t know what they serve, you don’t know if they’ll serve you, and you sure as hell don’t know what the acoustics are like or who’s running the soundboard. Austin’s Canoe, luckily, draws quick…
SXSW Live Shot
About a Mover: Doug SahmAustin Convention Center, Friday, March 14 Doug Sahm was the quintessential Texas musician of the 20th century. Amazingly versatile, he played rock, blues, country, and Tex-Mex with style and confidence that was both unique and energizing. His death in the fall of 1999 left a big hole in a lot of…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
THE WEATHER UNDERGROUNDD: Sam Green. Documentary Feature Special Screenings, Regional Premiere”Asylum” D: Sandy McLeod. Documentary Short Special Screenings SXSW has long had a reputation for programming great documentaries, but Sam Green’s The Weather Underground may well be a perfect example of the form. Taut, concise, and overflowing with exceedingly timely details of the militant splinter…
Book Reviews
Jay Trachtenberg reviews Robert Kaplan’s Warrior Politics, which is now in paperback.
SXSW Picks and Sleepers
Friday Sleepers All showcase times subject to change. Please check official SXSW schedule. JETPACK: Nashville rock quartet Jetpack pops off into the galaxy of Weezer, which orbits the old moon of Redd Kross. In other words, last year’s self-titled debut was all nerd-boy vocals and lighthearted power chords. (Momos, 8pm) — Raoul Hernandez BLU SANDERS:…
Phases and Stages
Hot Hot HeatMake Up the Breakdown (Sub Pop) Names like the Cure and XTC and even Led Zeppelin have been thrown around in attempts to define Hot Hot Heat’s nostalgic pop-punk sound, but all of them are decidedly wrong. The answer, friends, dwells in the dustiest parts of your music collection, likely in the cassettes…
Phases and Stages
Stratford 4Love & Distortion (Jetset) When it comes to shoegazer pop, it’s tough not plucking names out of the movement’s gloriously obscure but persistent history and tossing them around like Velcro darts. Some fall away from their intended target, but many stick. This certainly goes for San Francisco quartet Stratford 4. They, like the others,…
Naked City
At a hearing held last week, dozens of neighbors of the Holly Power Plant and representatives from leading environmental groups asked the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to deny a permit that would let the plant operate until at least 2009 — when Austin Energy plans to shut it down. Connie Leaverton, who lives near…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
RAISING VICTOR VARGASD: Peter Sollett; with Victor Rasuk, Judy Marte, Melonie Diaz, Altagracia Guzman. Narrative Feature Special Screenings, Regional Premiere Writer/director Peter Sollett and cinematographer Tim Orr (of George Washington fame) have created a beautiful urban coming-of-age drama that is fresh enough to elicit a perm-a-smile throughout the film. The story is pretty basic: It…
TV Eye
That lean, mean, tanning machine George Hamilton is back on TV, playing a parody of himself on the new reality series The Family.
Spotlight: Alabama Thunderpussy
Call ’em Pussies, but don’t call ’em stoner rock.
SXSW Live Shots
Powersolo/MopedsFriends, Thursday, March 13 What do you think of when you hear the name “Powersolo”? ‘Round Denmark way, the moniker apparently conjures the trash-rock psychobilly legacy of Hasil Adkins, the Cramps, and Southern Culture on the Skids. Powersolo may be a power trio, but in this case, the prog-metal acrobatics of Rush are replaced with…
Willard
Willard 2003, PG-13, 100 min. Directed by Glen Morgan, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Crispin Glover, Jackie Burroughs, R. Lee Ermey, Laura Elena Harring, David Parker. The casting of cult actor Crispin Hellion Glover as Willard Stiles, the gangly misfit who befriends an army of rats and employs them to wreak vengeance on…
Best Cover Band
RUNNERS-UP: Memphis Train Revue, Tabu, The Atlantics, Diamond Smugglers, Big Balls, Bang, The Brew, Dysfunkshun Junction, The Stummies
Best Bass Guitar
RUNNERS-UP: Albert Besteiro, Del Castillo; Omar Vallejo, Vallejo; Chris Maresh, Eric Johnson; Roger Blevins Sr., Mingo Fishtrap; Bruce Hughes, The Scabs; Anne Marie Harrup, Shelley King Band; Linda Mallard, Dream Trybe; Pat Fogerty, Pushmonkey; Glenn Fukunaga, Terri Hendrix
Best Cover Art
RUNNERS-UP: “Isola” by Isola; “The Highway” Shelley King by Banowetz & Co.; “Songs of Ireland”, The Brobdingnagian Bards by Nancy E. Pearsall; “Faithful Heart” Sara Hickman by Sara Hickman and Stingray; “The Ring” Terri Hendrix by Melissa Webb and George Zupp; “Create & Hustle” Bavu Blakes by BDix Design; “Souvenir” Eric Johnson by Max Crace;…
Book Reviews
Harvey Pekar discusses the Dalkey Archive’s reissue of Douglas Woolf’s Ya! and John-Juan.
SXSW Picks and Sleepers
Saturday Picks All showcase times subject to change. Please check official SXSW schedule. KGSR 107.1 PRESENTS: … one of the best bills of SXSW, led off by a pair of local shit-kickers, Reckless Kelly and Alejandro Escovedo, and rammed into sunset with a trio of reunions. Joe Jackson has reassembled 1979’s stomp-time Look Sharp band…
Phases and Stages
Pleasure ClubHere Comes the Trick In 1996, Geffen signed James Hall but didn’t know what to do with him. They had a bombshell in this New Orleans dandy, but stuck him in the dud pile with the AAA farts. Major label marketing at its most clueless. Against the odds, Hall has reassembled the faithful and…
Phases and Stages
Voyager OneMonster Zero (Loveless) The label, Loveless, is the first clue. If that doesn’t do it, spacecraft reference should suffice. It’s space rock, alright, and yes, the My Bloody Valentine reference is apt, although the Anglophilic brogue of Voyager One vocalist Jeramy Koepping sounds like he hitched aboard the Ride. On cuts like “Wires” and…
Naked City
Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio (whose district includes much of South Austin), has added to a growing pile of anti-gay bills at the Legislature by filing SB 630, the Texas Defense of Marriage Act, which would prohibit same-sex marriages. The state already bans such unions, but Wentworth and 20 Senate co-sponsors (all of the chamber’s…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
ROLLING KANSASD: Thomas Haden Church; with Charlie Finn, Sam Huntington, Ryan McDow, Jay Paulson, Rip Torn. Narrative Feature Narcoleptics, wheelchairs, bunny rabbits, and a detached human nose: These are but a few of the everyday objects put to comedic use in Rolling Kansas, a lighthearted road-trip flick about five bumbling guys navigating the Great Plains…
After a Fashion: SXSW Wednesday
Ka-plam! Your Style Avatar is out and about and making the scene at SXSW. It’s just begun, y’all.
Spotlight: Mr. Lif
Mr. Lif MCs it like it is.
SXSW Live Shots
SpettroZero Degrees, Thursday, March 13 All it took was “a little pop-pop and boom-boom” for smooth selectah/San Antone native DJ Spettro to shift the party into gear as a powerful precursor to a night of bass-laden electronics. The swanky spinner started the set by warming up the tables and mood with a funky foundation of…
Agent Cody Banks
Agent Cody Banks 2003, PG, 110 min. Directed by Harald Zwart, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Frankie Muniz, Hilary Duff, Angie Harmon, Ian McShane, Keith David, Arnold Vosloo, Daniel Roebuck, Cynthia Stevenson. Almost all Hollywood kids fare can be assessed with a single sentence: The youthful star is likable enough, the action is…
Best Electronica/DJ
RUNNERS-UP: DJ Organic, That Mysterious Honey, DJ Mel, Trey Lopez, Miles McGriff, DJ Crash, Strüb, DJ Baby G, Buddy System
Best Drums/Percussion
RUNNERS-UP: Alex Vallejo, Vallejo; Bill Maddox, Eric Johnson; Perry Drake, Shelley King Band; Paul Pearcy; Yogi Maxwell, Cruiderweight; David Fore, The Eggmen; Brannen Temple, Blaze; Ronn Dixon, Kevin Fowler Band; Frosty
Best Instrument/Equipment Store
RUNNERS-UP: Ray Hennig’s Heart of Texas, South Austin Music, Strait Music, Mars, Musicmakers, Tommy’s Drum Shop, The Bass Emporium, Guitar Resurrection, Music Exhchange, Rock ‘n’ Roll Rental
Second Helpings: Down-home country cooking
Come on down and get comfortable, in this week’s “Second Helpings.”
News/Print
You’d better believe it!
SXSW Picks and Sleepers
Saturday Sleepers All showcase times subject to change. Please check official SXSW schedule. HEIRUSPECS: Falling off the same Twin City tree that’s brought us a Midwest movement of garage-hop with bleeding heart poetics, Heiruspecs brings another new sound to hip-hop. Bluesy live instrumentation, including flute, bass, guitar, and DJs keeps a tempo that MCs like…
Phases and Stages
Sondre LercheFaces Down (Astralwerks) Sondre Lerche may well surpass A-ha as Norway’s most appealing musical export on the strength of his debut, Faces Down. The lengthy album casts a spell from the outset, opening on a swanky, loungey note with “Dead Passengers,” which showcases Lerche’s deep, sexy tenor and unassailably cute accent (especially when singing…
Phases and Stages
Doyle BramhallFitchburg Street (Yep Roc) You can’t write the history of the Austin blues scene without including singer-songwriter/drummer Doyle Bramhall. Joining a host of fellow Dallas musicians that included Jimmie Vaughan, Denny Freeman, Paul Ray, and a very young Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bramhall and his buddies set up shop Tuesday nights at the legendary Red…
Naked City
The Human Rights Campaign Austin holds its annual black-tie ball Saturday, March 15, at the Four Seasons Hotel. This year’s HRC Equality Awards recipients include fundraiser favorite the Austin Babtist Women, an all-male singing and comedy troupe; Ted Smith, philanthropist/activist and founding chair of the major-donors program for AIDS Services of Austin; and filmmakers Laura…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
SECURITYD: Brien Burroughs; with Tim Orr, Bill Lillehammer, Stephen Kearin, Pat Sullivan. Narrative Feature Competition Brien Burrough’s latest comedy, Security, follows Pat and Bill, two patrolmen at a chocolate factory, as they uncover a sinister plot involving stolen chocolate prototypes or, as Pat likes to put it, “prototypical chocolates.” Pat and Bill are unlikely heroes;…
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
Book Culture 2003: For Whom the Web Tolls (March 10, 10-11am) In Print: From Passion to Publish (March 10, 11:30am-12:30pm) It wasn’t that long ago that the Chicken Littles were saying the Web would be the death of books. In 2003, nothing could be further from the truth. The written word is alive and well,…
Spotlight: Molotov
Mexico’s Molotov soccer up their “patada en los cojones.”
SXSW Live Shots
The RaveonettesVenue, Thursday, March 13 “We’re the Raveonettes.” And thus the most talked-about and well-attended showcase of the evening commenced, marked by brain-piercing feedback and guitar squeals that segued into a moody, Gothic rendition of Buddy Holly’s “Everyday.” You’d think that a minor-key rendition, complete with atonal vocal harmonies, of one of the happiest songs…
City of God
City of God, like the Rio de Janeiro housing project for which it’s named, is often grim and dire, but the film is also imbued with hope and transcendence.
Best Folk
RUNNERS-UP: Harris & Ryden, Terri Hendrix, Shelley King Band, Brobdingnagian Bards, South Austin Jug Band, Eliza Gilkyson, Ruthie Foster, The Gourds, Toni Price
Best Electric Guitar
RUNNERS-UP: Heath Clark, Vallejo; Zach Loy,Vallejo; Monte Montgomery; Roger Blevins Jr., Mingo Fishtrap; Mark Del Castillo; Wayne Sutton, Black Box Rebellion; Steve Garvey, Kissinger; Ian Moore; Howie Behrens, Pushmonkey; Red Volkaert, Heybale; Keith Davis, Kevin Fowler Band; Colin Slagle, True Penny; Eddie Willis, Wide Awake; Ady Hernandez, Dahebegebees
Best Live Music Venue
RUNNERS-UP: Steamboat, Stubb’s, Emo’s, Mercury, Continental, The Backyard, Red Eyed Fly, Saxon, Cactus, Beerland, The Vibe, Hill’s Café, Momos, Room 710, Flamingo Cantina, Flipnotics, La Zona Rosa, Broken Spoke, Cedar Street
TCB
Attacking the busiest week in the Live Music Capitol
Page Two
If war is inevitable, you might as well be in Austin, enjoying South by Southwest.
SXSW Picks and Sleepers
Sunday Sleepers All showcase times subject to change. Please check official SXSW schedule. AUSTIN ECLECTIC: Fast becoming an annual SXSW tradition on par with Alejandro Escovedo’s unofficial closing ceremonies at the Continental Club, the pairing of Austin’s Dung Beatles — Spinal Tap goes scatological — and beloved the Diamond Smugglers — Neil Diamond goes Spinal…
Phases and Stages
The Mountain GoatsTallahassee (4AD) After 2001’s All Hail West Texas on Austin indie Emperor Jones, there was reason to believe that chief Mountain Goat John Darnielle had a Texas connection. With the Goats’ major label debut, Tallahassee, it’s obvious the current Ames, Iowa, resident is just trying to cover as much geographic ground as possible.…
Phases and Stages
MastodonRemission (Relapse)Burnt by the SunSoundtrack to the Personal Revolution (Relapse) Philadelphia’s Relapse Records has blossomed in recent years as the headquarters of complex metal, hardcore, stoner rock, and all sorts of extreme heaviness. On their debut, Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution, New Jersey’s Burnt by the Sun betrays their hardcore background, many songs clocking in…
Naked City
For months, residents of the eastern Travis Co. village of Webberville have opposed expansion of gravel-mining operations in the area. Now the grassroots Village of Webberville Committee is worried about nearby J-V Dirt & Loam’s plans to expand its composting operations, located on an 80-acre site just south of the intersection of FM 969 and…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
“WRITE OR WRONG: A LOOK AT FILM JOURNALISM”With Dana Harris (Variety), Ann Hornaday (The Washington Post), Joe Leydon (The San Francisco Examiner, Variety), Elvis Mitchell (The New York Times), Chris Nashawaty (Entertainment Weekly), and Robert Wilonsky (The Dallas Observer); moderated by Chris Gore (Film Threat) Sunday, March 9, 11am-12:30pm @ Austin Convention Center At the…
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
Why I Dig Working in the Cultural Gutter Monday, March 10, 3:30-4:30pm Jim Munroe noticed a certain disdain at cocktail parties when told people he wrote science-fiction. Cory Doctorow could go him one worse: “I write sci-fi aimed at slash-dot readers,” he said, “and that’s something even sci-fi writers look down on.” And as for…
Spotlight: Johnny Irion & Sarah Lee Guthrie
Woody Guthrie’s granddaughter joins the family business.
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
BOLLYWOOD/HOLLYWOODD: Deepa Mehta; with Rahul Khanna, Lisa Ray, Moushumi Chatterjee, Dina Pathak, Kulbhushan Kharbanda. Narrative Feature Special Screenings, Regional Premiere At first glance, having Deepa Mehta direct this frothy romantic comedy makes as much sense as it would to have Al Maysles shoot jackass. After all, Mehta’s poignant explorations of lesbian love (Fire) and interreligious…
The Safety of Objects
The Safety of Objects 2001, R, 120 min. Directed by Rose Troche, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Glenn Close, Patricia Clarkson, Dermot Mulroney, Moira Kelly, Kristen Stewart, Jessica Campbell, Joshua Jackson, Alex House, Mary Kay Place, Timothy Olyphant, Robert Klein. A guitar. An antique chest. A Barbie doll. These are some of the…
Best Funk
RUNNERS-UP: The Scabs, Soul Masquerade, Dahebegebees, Memphis Train Revue, The Atlantics, Grupo Fantasma, Jerkuleez, Vallejo, Blue Construction
Best Female Vocals
RUNNERS-UP: Patty Griffin; Stella Maxwell, Cruiserweight; Patirce Pike; Toni Price; Lisa Tingle; Shelley King; Terri Hendrix; Katie Matson, Matson Belle; Sara Hickman; Carolyn Wonderland; Ruthie Foster; Eliza Gilkyson; Laura Giamonna, Shadow Box; Pauline Reese; Jane Bond; Carrie Rodriguez; Erin Bobruk, Cluan; Trish Murphy; Susan Gibson
Best Local Music TV Show
RUNNERS-UP: Raw Time CapZeyeZ, ACAC; Dr. Large, AMN; B-Doe, AMN; Fox 7 in the Morning; MIDNIGHT FROM MASTER CONTROL, AMN; PRIME TIME TEJANO, ACAC; Andy Langer, News 8; One Nation Underground; The Show With No Name
Screens String
The Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards
After a Fashion
Matthew McConaughey, Peter Fonda, Luke Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Owen Wilson, Farrah Fawcett, Louis Black: Which godlike celebrity did Style Avatar Stephen deign to spend a hot 15 minutes in a trailer with? Oh, wouldn’t you like to know …
Phases and Stages
IdlewildThe Remote Part (Capitol) Traditionally, or at least in the cases of Simple Minds and the Proclaimers, Scottish bands have made a big splash in the U.S. and then disappeared without a trace. Pray that doesn’t happen to Idlewild. The Edinburgh lads’ second album, The Remote Part, is the best stargazing rock LP since Remy…
Phases and Stages
Songs: OhiaThe Magnolia Electric Co. (Secretly Canadian) In the liner notes of The Magnolia Electric Co., Jason Molina, lone regular of Bloomington, Indiana’s Songs: Ohia, writes, “This isn’t a good time, and everybody knows it.” Straight off, the tone is set: This is a response to the fucked-up state of our country and the world.…
Phases and Stages
Underground hip-hop has become streets readily roamed, part of the plan known as Urban Renewal (Chocolate Industries). Grounded in an open-minded coalition of collaborative artists that includes Mos Def, Mr. Lif, Tortoise, and DJ Food, saturated in tweaked-out production from Prefuse-73 and RJD2, this aggressively experimental sound sampler is here one minute, out in the…
Naked City
Twenty-eight Mexican immigrants used false information to obtain low-level jobs in secure areas at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, but did their actions warrant criminal prosecution? The federal government thinks so, hence its recent sweep — code-named Operation Tarmac — of some 100 airports across the country, resulting in the arrests of nearly 700 Latinos from Mexico…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN TO PLOW BY READING BOOKS AND ‘LIVE FROM SHIVA’S DANCEFLOOR’With Richard Linklater and Speed Levitch Sunday, March 9, 4pm @ Paramount Theatre “It’s cool that we’re screening this here at the Paramount,” said native son Linklater, “because now all of my films have been shown here.” Linklater’s little-seen first feature, the…
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
Computers vs. Blackboards: Net Learning or Not Learning? Monday, March 10, 10-11am The next generation may feel comfortable beaming a wireless e-mail from their PDA, but will they be able to write a complete sentence? This panel included a wide spectrum of educators and education experts discussing the effect of the digital age on learning…
The Insider: Wavy Gravy
Thursday, March 13 Who: Wavy Gravy Where: Wild About Music, 721 Congress Insider: As an activist are you effective because you’re having fun? Gravy: I hope so. I’m an intuitive clown, and it’s the job of the intuitive clown to turn shit into fun. And if war ain’t shit, I don’t know what is. It’s…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
DEPRIVATIOND: Jesse Scolaro; with Neil Driscoll Jr., Jeremy Davidson, Kellee Stewart, Carlos Trevino, Melanie Torres, Mary Monohan, Larissa Raphael, Deana Barone. Narrative Feature First Films, World Premiere The first chilly tickle of dread crawls up early, when high school friends Steven (Driscoll Jr.) and Thomas (Davidson) reunite at the Port Authority in New York City…
Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony
Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony 2002, NR, 103 min. Directed by Lee Hirsch, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . (This Chronicle review is reprinted from an earlier screening of the film at the Austin Film Festival 2002.) The history of apartheid in South Africa is an ugly story, but one that needs…
Best Hip Hop
RUNNERS-UP: Mingo Fishtrap, Dirty Wormz, Bavu Blakes, Megatron Bombsquad, Liquid Stereo Project, Boneglove, Mirage, Arctectonics, DJ Mel
Best Horns
RUNNERS-UP: The Grooveline Horns, Ephraim Owens, Omar Vallejo, David Chenu, Richard Price, Tony Park, Tomas Ramirez, Mace Hibbard, Grupo Fantasma
Best Music Writer
RUNNERS-UP: Margaret Moser, Michael Corcoran, Ken Lieck, Chris Gray, Richard Skanse, Greg Beets, Michael Chamy, Kate Messer, Raoul Hernandez
TCB
Cruise Control Someone would have to knock on a lot of doors before finding a nicer band than the 2003 Austin Music Award winner for Best Alternative/Punk Band, Cruiserweight, who joined “TCB” for ice cream at the Marble Slab after playing an in-store Wednesday afternoon at Jupiter Records. Still surfing the wave of popularity created…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
A collection of 60 hand-carved wooden figures based on the Lord of the Rings books resides at the Gaston T. Gooch Library at Navarro College in Corsicana. The figures took 14 years to carve and were donated by Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Samuels of Corsicana.According to one source, Cary Grant turned Timothy Leary on to…
Phases and Stages
The Coral(Deltasonic/Columbia)The CoralSkeleton Key EP (Deltasonic/Columbia) From the first lysergic chord on their eponymous full-length debut, Liverpool sextet the Coral sucker punch the current wave of UK guitar rock, leaving the likes of Elbow, Travis, and all things electro battered on the doorstep of Syd Barrett and Sixties psychedelia. Sporting the best organ riffs since…
Phases and Stages
Daniel JohnstonFear Yourself (Gammon) Mad props to whoever came up with the idea of pairing Daniel Johnston with Mark Linkous from Sparklehorse. Linkous’ lush, slightly unhinged instrumental beds turn Johnston’s songs of unfulfilled desire and lost love into rough-hewed mini-epics vaguely reminiscent of Tom Waits’ Black Rider. As if to acknowledge Johnston’s history, the album’s…
The Entertainment Economy
As the Austin film, music, and gaming scenes become a “cluster,” civic leaders are looking for industrial-strength creativity
Naked City
The battle of several Democratic lawmakers, led by Reps. Garnet Coleman of Houston and Elliott Naishtat of Austin, to force the Texas Dept. of Health to spend money in its budget already dedicated to children with special health care needs took an interesting turn last week. The program is intended to serve a relatively small…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
SXSW FILM TRAILERS Almost as anticipated as the films themselves are SXSW’s legendary trailers. This year’s batch comes from local filmmakers, winners of this summer’s Cinemaker Co-op/ SXSW sponsored contest. Catch the half-dozen trailers before all screenings, and post-fest, look for them online at www.sxsw.com.
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
The Hollywood Agenda Tuesday, March 11, 11:30am-12:30pm The pirates are coming! The pirates are coming! And guess what? It could be your grandfather, using the video camera to film junior’s first steps, and oops — is that a Barney cartoon in the background? What about your friend who wants to share their DVD copy of…
SXSW Live Shots
Label Heads Sound OffAustin Convention Center, Thursday, March 13 There were obviously lots of issues eating away at the minds of these record execs, and this freeform rant-style panel gave them just the platform to air their concerns. Featuring New West Records President Cameron Strang, V2’s Andrew Gershon, and Beggars Group/Matador CEO Lesley Bleakley, this…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS ONED: Various. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, if you happen to live here), three-quarters of the filmmakers in the Documentary Shorts One program call Austin home, with the lone outsider being David Ellsworth, whose fluid, melancholy “Super-8 Mom” utilizes small-gauge footage originally shot by his mother when he was a child. Hitched to mom’s contemporary…
Best Jazz
RUNNERS-UP: Jon Barry Project, The Brew, Golden Arm Trio, Odd Man Out, Victrola, Blue Noise Band, Torch, Ephraim Owens, Old Waterloo Jazz Band
Best Keyboards
RUNNERS-UP: Ginger Doss, Dream Trybe; Brandon Jack, Matson Belle; Tom Burgess, the Eggmen; Bukka Allen, Ian Moore; Marcia Ball; David Boyle, The Scabs; Graham Reynolds, The Golden Arm Trio; Earle Poole Ball; Chris Gage, Albert & Gage
Best New Club
RUNNERS-UP: Chuggin’ Monkey, Sake on Sixth, The Red Fez, Hot Freaks, The Apple Bar, Ludwig’s, Ruta May, Hill’s Café, Reed’s Supper, Cuba Libre, Easy Rhino
Daytrips
The Windmill Farm and Bed & Breakfast between Granbury and Tolar keeps history turning. The collection of wind-powered fans covers nearly a century of water-pumping technology and is one of the few private collections of windmills open to the public in Texas. Each of the 37 windmills in the collection that lines the dirt road…
Phases and Stages
The RaveonettesWhip It On (Crunchy Frog) Twenty minutes is an eternity. Ample time, certainly, to Whip It On, whip it off, and leave a welt swelling with excitement. Copenhagen’s musical Bonnie and Clyde, axe man Sune Rose Wagner and his six-foot blonde bassist/ accomplice Sharin Foo, are going postal faster than an AP bulletin thanks…
Phases and Stages
Phillips & DriverTogetherness (Bar None) Longtime Austinites know Gretchen Phillips has a way of coaxing original sentiment out of cover songs. Togetherness finds her paired with New York-based cabaret singer David Driver, performing an eclectic selection of longing love songs. The album has the veneer of a late-Sixties release of vocalists like Mel Tormé singing…
Austin Music: A $616 Million Industry
A 2001 study by Texas Perspectives found that Austin’s music industry generates $616 million a year in economic activity — a little more than half from “music related industries” (live performance and recording/production) and the rest from music-related tourism. In both cases, retail trade accounts for the bulk of the money, with professional services, manufacturing…
Naked City
The Austin ISD board of trustees released a district report, “Success for Our Students,” at Ridgetop Elementary last week, tracking the district’s progress since 1999, when Pat Forgione became superintendent. Board Vice-President Ingrid Taylor called attention to the AISD’s state-recognized academic success, its balanced budget, and healthy fund balance, but said the district is now…
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
The Upside of the Downturn Tuesday, March 11, 11:30am-12:30pm This panel could just have easily been called the Downside of the Upturn. Heather Gold, freelance writer, stand-up comic, and designer of Subvert.com, doesn’t miss those heady days at all. “Back in ’99,” she said, “we had all these young guys who shopped at Banana Republic…
SXSW Live Shots
Liz Phair InterviewAustin Convention Center, Thursday, March 13 You know an interview is going into the shitter when the artist prefaces a statement with, “Don’t hate me because I’m a rock star, but ….” Such was the case this afternoon with Liz Phair, as she sat down for a chat with recently inaugurated Recording Academy…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
GO FURTHERD: Ron Mann. Documentary Feature Special Screenings, World Premiere If you’ve lived in Austin long enough, you’ve probably developed a healthy aversion to patchouli oil, wheat-grass shots, and other bastions of the aging/nouveau hippie set. That aversion is a legitimate reason to approach Go Further — a road trip documentary promoting healthy living –…
Band of the Year
RUNNERS-UP: Vallejo, Kevin Fowler BandKevin Fowler Band, Spoon, Harris & Ryden, Mingo Fishtrap, Kissinger, Cruiserweight, Alien Love Child, Grupo Fantasma, Shelley King Band, Pushmonkey, Damesviolet, Endochine, Powderburn
Best Latin Contemporary
RUNNERS-UP: Del Castillo, La Tribu, Cadaques, Cubanobop, Teye and Viva El Flamenco, Sun Vocina, Sambaxé, Sangre del Chango, Dario y su comborican
Best Male Vocals
RUNNERS-UP: Alex Ruiz, Del Castillo; Bob Schneider; AJ Vallejo; Pat Green; Eric Johnson; Tony Park, Pushmonkey; Beaux Loy, Vallejo; Chopper, Kissinger; Malford Milligan; Dale Watson; guy Forsyth; Corey Morrow; Ian Moore; Roger Blevins Jr.
Best Radio Personality
RUNNERS-UP: Charlie Hodge, KLBJ FM; Bob Cole, KVET; Jody Denberg, 107.1 KGSR; John Aielli, KUT; Sammy Alred, KVET; Kevin Connor, 107.1 KGSR; Miss Kitty, Mega 93; John Erler, KVRX; Trina Quinn, 101X; Johnny Walker, KLBJ; Marnie Sutton, 107.1 KGSR; Larry Monroe, KUT; Drew Bennett, 101X; Loris Lowe, KLBJ; Sandy Rivers, The Mix; Paul Ray, KUT;…
Rock Your Eyes Out
“The Musikshow” and “The Rawkshow,” a pair of linked exhibitions at Gallery Lombardi, explore the connection between rock music and art, one from the angle of musicians who also make art, the other from the angle of artists who also make music.
To Your Health
Q. I would like to try SAMe for depression. What is good and what is bad about it, and is it safe? A. S-Adenosyl Methionine (SAMe) comes with a lot of good news and only one bit of bad news: It is really expensive. The good news is that it appears to be entirely safe,…
Phases and Stages
Derailers Genuine (Lucky Dog) The title of the Derailers fifth album is Genuine, and it is pronounced “jen-u-whine.” That’s easy. The more difficult part is trying to explain exactly why this collection of songs from one of Austin’s best bands doesn’t jump out of the speakers like their previous discs. To their credit, the Derailers…
Phases and Stages
The Be Good TanyasChinatown (Nettwerk) Who other than a benevolent higher power would think to unite three women from the Vancouver area — vagabond environmentalists who met once — to make such spellbinding music? The trio calls their brand of rootsy Americana “porch music,” as in music you might have heard on a front porch…
Jobs in Austin’s Entertainment Industry
According to census figures, about 40% of Austin workers are in “creative jobs.” Of those, fewer than half are in the directly “creative” occupations that creative-class auteur Richard Florida dubs the “supercreative core.” And of those, only a small fraction are in the arts, entertainment, and media. While recent studies suggest that “creative work” makes…
Capitol Chronicle
The pundits say Karl Rove is the One, but he’s really only one among many.
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
User Not Found: Dealing With the Death of Online Friends Saturday, March 8, 3:30-4:30pm Death is not new to avid bloggers and others active in Internet communities. Whether it’s “killing” off an online persona, an online friend inexplicably dropping offline, “killing” an opponent in a gaming community, or literally dying, death can be as bewildering…
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
Tomorrow Now Tuesday, March 11, 3:30-4:30pm “The question on everyone’s mind is … ” began Bruce Sterling’s discussion on what the future holds, “will I invite the entire audience home for beer again? And the answer is … yes! Come on by!” Party invites were distributed, and the future, at least in the short-term, looked…
SXSW Live Shots
Creating a Music BiographyAustin Convention Center, Thursday, March 13 The general tone of this panel was that of a debate: on one side, Jim DeRogatis, rock critic for the Chicago Sun Times and author of the recent biography of Lester Bangs. On the other side, David Ritz, former Texas Monthly writer and biographer of such…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
JON E. EDWARDS IS IN LOVE D: Chris Bradley and Kyle La Brache. Documentary Feature Competition Jon E. Edwards is a mediocre singer, a so-so dancer, and an iffy lyricist, but he’s in possession of a smooth postmodern wit, a wad of charisma, and some damn well-cut suits. Jon E. Edwards rates himself the world’s…
Best New Band
RUNNERS-UP: Wide Awake, Truepenny, Stealing Silence, 2 Guy Trio, Sis DeVille, Manatee, Awake For Days, Lesermor, Fauver Dog
Best Latin Traditional
RUNNERS-UP: Grupo Fantasma, Cadaques, Los Pinkys, Tish Hinojosa, Ruben Ramos, Flaco Jimenez, Sisters Morales, Sun Vocina, Cerronato
Best Miscellaneous Instrument
RUNNERS-UP: Diego Simmons, percussion; Rick Holman, percussion; Chris Whitten, fiddle; Andrew McKee, recorder; Linda Mallard, flute; Rob Roy Parnell, harmonica; Lloyd Mains, steel pedal; Brian Jepson, spoon; Matt Slusher, mandolin
Best Radio Program
RUNNERS-UP: Sam and Bob KVET Morning Call-In Show: Sammy Allred, Bob Cole; KVET; Ekletikos: John Aielli; KUT; KGSR in the Morning: Kevin Connor and Marnie Sutton; KGSR; J.B. and Sandy Morning Show: J.B. Hager, Sandy Rivers; The Mix; Trina and Drew on the Morning X: Drew Bennett, Trina Quinn; 101X; Elk Mating Ritual Hour: John…
Organniversary Party
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the Visser-Rowland Organ, the UT School of Music is hosting a special recital that allows you to listen to glorious music made by a machine that seems alive, step inside the machine and spend some time with it, meet the organ’s designer, Piet Visser, and its keeper, Dr.…
About AIDS
One-third of the world is infected with the tuberculosis bacterium, including 15 million Americans. Worldwide, 23 million people die every year of TB, and it is the leading killer of people with AIDS. Texas ranks among the top four states in the U.S. in the number of reported cases of both TB and HIV/AIDS. In…
Phases and Stages
The Minus 5Down With Wilco (Yep Roc) On their latest outing, the Minus 5, the ever-morphing musical project headed up by Scott McCaughey of Young Fresh Fellows, becomes a pop consortium of the highest order. Alongside McCaughey are Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Ken Stringfellow (Posies), and as the Down With implies, the gents from Wilco, whose…
Phases and Stages
CalexicoFeast of Wire (Quarterstick) Over the course of three full-lengths and myriad EPs, singles, and collaborations, Tucson, Ariz.’s Joey Burns and John Convertino have carved out a unique brand of desert music — an untouchable blend of mariachi, jazz, pop, and spaghetti Western. Their fourth long player, Feast of Wire, finds Calexico fusing the sunny…
Lawyers, Drugs, and Money: The Latest on Metabolife
Ephedra is in the headlines again, following the death of a Major League Baseball player during spring training in Florida. Steve Bechler, 23, of the Baltimore Orioles, collapsed in Tampa Feb. 16 and died the next day of heat stroke. Bechler had been trying to lose weight and was taking a “nutritional supplement” called Xenadrine…
Austin @ Large: Austin at Large
All hail Leslie Cochran, Austin’s queen of political soul.
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
I, Cyborg Saturday, March 8, 5-6pm A short way into his lecture, Kevin Warwick, professional cyborg and professor at the University of Reading, UK, revealed the real reason why a professor would be willing to go under the knife and prove that cybernetics can work. “Why should I really have to lecture?” he said, half-jesting.…
After a Fashion: SXSW Thursday
Which local / international celeb has a “nice butt,” according to a bevy of hot tub beauties? Who wore white tennies with her black Liz Claiborne? And who needs a bike more? A Fish? Or a Woody? You know you’ll only find out in here!
SXSW Live Shots
Auditing & Accounting: Getting the Numbers StraightAustin Convention Center, Thursday, March 13 Attorney Dina LaPolt jokingly introduced this engaging all-business panel as “the sexiest topic at SXSW.” While talk of royalties and recouping may not be as arousing as contemplating the creative process, there’s nothing sexy about losing money in the labyrinth accounting systems of…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
LILYA 4-EVERD: Lukas Moodysson; with Oksana Akinshina, Artyom Bogucharsky, Elina Benenson, Liliya Shinkaryova, Pavel Ponomaryov. Narrative Feature Special Screenings, U.S. Premiere Warning: Lilya 4-ever, the story of a Russian teenager driven by desperation to prostitution, is not an upper. It’s a film that ranges from grim to bleak, its emotional palette mirroring the sickly yellow…
Musician of the Year
RUNNERS-UP: Bob Schneider, Eric Johnson, Patty Griffin, Monte Montgomery, Shelley King, Britt Daniel, Willie Nelso, Steven Fromholz, Rick Del Castillo, Roger Blevins Jr., Pat Cieply, Kelly Willis, Mark Del Castillo, Terri Hendrix
Best Metal/Industrial
RUNNERS-UP: Human, Pushmonkey, Saucer, Sycamore, Gahdzilla Motor Company, Rubberhed, Strüb, StoneKracker, Boneglove
Best Singer-Songwriter
RUNNERS-UP: Bob Schneider, Kevin Fowler, Shelley King, Chris Ryden, Terri Hendrix, Monte Montgomery, Patrice Pike, Bruce Robinson, Eric Johnson, Adam Carroll, Sara Hickman, Eliza Gilkyson, Willie Nelson, Kelly Willis
Best Radio Station
RUNNERS-UP: KLBJ 93.7, KUT 90.5, KVET 98.1, KROX 101.5 101, KVRX 91.7, KOOP 91.7, KKMX 94.7 The Mix, KTND 107.7 The End, KMGX 93.3 Mega 93, KPEZ 102.3 Z102, KASE 101.1, KAZI 88.7, KQBT 104.3 The Beat, KMFA 89.5, KFMK 105.9 Jammin’ Oldies, KAOS 95.9, KISS 96.7, KNBT 92.1, KKMJ 95.5 Majic 95
Articulations
Esther’s veteran Joel McKean passes away, and during a rare Broadway strike Austin playwright John Walch is honored by the American Theatre Critics Association.
Fast, Fresh, Portable, Affordable
Hello, hungry traveler. Welcome to the land of the breakfast taco!
Phases and Stages
Jon Langford & His Sadies Mayor of the Moon (Bloodshot) One of the great strengths of Bloodshot’s Canadian journeymen the Sadies has always been their versatility. They can knuckle down and bust out some squawky rock, go ramrod-straight and play like Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, or lay it down behind the beat and…
Phases and Stages
Clem SnideYou Were a Diamond (SpinArt) Out of print, back in vogue — good reasons for a reissue. A better one is because folks missed it the first time. How were you supposed to notice the tender, quiet revolution going on when Clem Snide, a former Boston hard rock band, put out You Were a…
Mauro on Metabolife
In the wake of the death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler, linked to use of the natural stimulant ephedra, bad national PR has brought the Metabolife International story back into Texas headlines. Metabolife has spent generously on state and national politicians of both parties — most prominently Gov. Gray Davis of California, Sen. Orrin…
The Hightower Report
Bush ignores the terror of tainted meat — and Americans are revolting.
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
Doug Lenat Keynote Speech Sunday, March 9, 2-3:30pm Doug Lenat, founder of Cycorp, has been working on Artificial Intelligence for 20 years, and his work has advanced to the point where his PDA can now give him advice about liability insurance for his new Segway. OK, so we’re still a ways from producing a pathos-ridden…
Second Helpings: Local Barbecue
You’re here for SXSW, but you’re also here for barbecue, right?
SXSW Live Shots
Daniel LanoisAustin Convention Center, Thursday, March 13 A SXSW keynote speaker must be two things: well-known enough to attract people, and experienced enough to captivate them for 40 minutes. No problem on either front for Daniel Lanois, who — like Ray Davies and Robbie Robertson in years past — gave a memorable keynote. At first,…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
“NUTRIA” D: Ted Gesing. Documentary Short Competition Louisiana is losing what little solid ground it has to rampant erosion. A major player in the problem is the onslaught of nutria, the fast-breeding, long-whiskered, possum-tailed swamp rats decimating the plants that keep the soil in place. The two best solutions? Shoot ’em and cook ’em, according…
Album of the Year
RUNNERS-UP: Run, Harris & Ryden Band; Stereo, Vallejo; 1000 Kisses, Patty Griffin; Kill the Moonlight, Spoon; Souvenir, Eric Johnson; The Ring, Terri Hendrix; The Highway, Shelley King; Grupo Fantasma, Grupo Fantasma; Fencing Under Fire, Patrice Pike & the Blackbox Rebellion; Bigger, Wideawake; Back Porch Mary, Back Porch Mary; Faithful Heart, Sara Hickman; Freak of Nature,…
Best None of the Above
RUNNERS-UP: Dream Trybe, Shadow Box, Megatron Bombsquad, The Bards, Hot Flash, Shorty Long, South Austin Jug Band, Dahebegebees, Cluan
Best Songwriter
RUNNERS-UP: Patty Griffin, Bruce Robison, Bob Schneider, Shelley King, Eric Johnson, Terri Hendrix, Patrice Pike, Monte Montgomery, Alex Ruiz
Best Record Producer
RUNNERS-UP: Merel Brigante: “Run” by Harris & Ryden Band; “Live at the Satellite Lounge” by Honeybrowne; Lloyd Maines: “Home” by the Dixie Chicks; “The Ring” by Terri Hendrix; Carl Thiel: “Stereo” by Vallejo, “6’s & 7’s” by Speer; Andrew McKee: “Songs of Ireland” by the Brobdingnagian Bards; Shelley King: The Highway; Eric Johnson: Souvenir; Gurf…
Exhibitionism
Austin Playhouse’s production of Damn Yankees doesn’t always serve up the vocal prowess to make his tender moments sweet, but the overall production is a true-blue treat: a traditional home-cooked musical, well done.
Food-o-File
Virginia B. Wood dishes up all the event news you can stomach, in this week’s “Food-o-File.”
Phases and Stages
SlobberboneCrow Pot Pie (New West)SlobberboneBarrel Chested (New West) Since what’s left of Austin’s Doolittle Records has been absorbed by the now-local New West label, they’ve reissued a few of their older titles under the new imprint. In the process, the first two Slobberbone albums, produced by former Dootlittle maven Jeff Cole, have shown their faces…
Phases and Stages
Iron & Wine The Creek Drank the Cradle (Sub Pop) Music is generally a social event, but sometimes working by oneself can be a highly clarifying endeavor, not fraught with difficulties of consensus-by-committee decision making. This is the case with Iron & Wine, the musical nom de plume of Sam Beam, a film professor from…
Eight Years Later, Elgin Man Becomes a ‘Terrorist’
A 1994 outburst lands a local man in jail — last fall
Life, Death, and Dance
Robert Duvall loves to tango. Robert Duvall loves Buenos Aires. And Robert Duvall loves Luciana Pedraza, the ravishing Argentinean-born woman who plays opposite him in Assassination Tango, a film in which the screen legend somehow conflates all these things.
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
Some Rights Reserved: The Creative Commons Project Sunday, March 9, 11:30am-12:30pm Creative Commons offers a perfectly legal, digital solution to the current draconian state of copyright law, which effectively prohibits the use of every kind of cultural product, whether the creator intends it to be copyrighted or not. Thanks to these laws, almost nothing is…
Second Helpings: Regional Barbecue
You’re here for SXSW, but you’re also here for barbecue, right?
SXSW Live Shots
Flatstock 2Austin Convention Center, Friday/Saturday Art is rock, rock is art, and Austin’s exploding poster scene is gearing up for the single largest event in the history of their craft: Flatstock 2. Running concurrently with SXSW at the Convention Center, Flatstock is being sponsored in the capital city by local art collective Factor27, whose Geoff…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
156 RIVINGTOND: Andrea Meller. Documentary Feature First Films, U.S. Premiere In the 1980s, 156 Rivington was an abandoned building in New York’s depressed Lower East Side (known as Alphabet City or Loisaida to black and Puerto Rican residents). Angered at the way the city was embracing gentrification, several renegade artists seized the space and set…
Best Single
RUNNERS-UP: “Senorita Mas Fina” by Kevin Fowler, “This Hard Town” by Harris & Ryden, “Take A Ride” by Vallejo, “Get To Go” by Eric Johnson, “Rain” by Patty Griffin, “Sweet Tequila Blues” by Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez, “Laredo” by Grupo Fantasma, “Nation” Powderburn, “Fatal Error” by Matson Belle
Best Pop
RUNNERS-UP: Mingo Fishtrap, Cruiserweight, Schröedinger’s Cat, Shadow Box, Damesviolet, Vallejo, Spoon, Kissinger, Dahebegebees
Best Strings
RUNNERS-UP: Brad Reed, Omar Lopez, Will Taylor & Strings Attached, Marc Gunn, Warren Wood, Carrie Rodriguez, Heather Gilmer, Amy Farris, Chris Buckley, Phoebe Hunt, Jason Roberts, Ryan Delahoussaye, Shane O’ Madden, Sam Moses
Best Record Store
RUNNERS-UP: Cheapo Disc & DVD’s, Thirty-Three Degrees, Jupiter Records, Tower Records-Video-Books, Sound Exchange, CD Warehouse, Encore Movie & Music, Alien Records, Things Celtic
Exhibitionism
The “Texas Photographers” exhibit at Flatbed World Headquarters features several images by several of the artists from the show at Blue Star Art Space in San Antonio, and their relatively simple compositions manage to convey a tremendous range of contrasting colors.
Together Again
Reuniting the team behind Teatro, Willie Nelson and Daniel Lanois
Phases and Stages
The Forty-FivesFight Dirty (Yep Roc) Good times and great oldies. Except the Forty-Fives aren’t old. These young Atlantans are contemporaries of Ludacris and the Drive-By Truckers, not Them and the Young Rascals, but they do manic Sixties garage-soul better than almost any other batch of twentysomethings out there. That could be because they have the…
Phases and Stages
(SMOG)Supper (Drag City) Maybe it’s the weather, the gray mist that turns a cold, rainy street scene into a languid blur. While Bill Callahan’s exquisitely detached introspection stands on its own regardless of climate, it resonates to the marrow on indoor days like these. Supper is the 11th full-length from Callahan’s (Smog). While the album…
Brack’s Ex-Watchdogs Say Seton Thwarts ‘Oversight’
Two departing members of the Brackenridge Hospital Oversight Council say Seton’s strategies rob the group of any useful purpose.
SXSW Film 2003 Festival Winners
JURY AWARDSNarrative FeatureJury Award for Best Narrative Feature Sexless (D: Alex Holdridge) Special Jury Award for Narrative Feature Happy Here and Now (D: Michael Almereyda) Documentary FeatureJury Award for Best Documentary Feature Flag Wars (D: Linda Goode Bryant and Laura Poitras) Special Jury Award for Documentary Feature Jon E. Edwards Is in Love (D: Chris…
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
People Whose Lives Have Been Changed by the Web Sunday, March 9, 10-11am John Halcyon Styn wasn’t always flamboyant. Before he danced on tables and wore pink fur pants, before he traded all that in for yoga and Zen koans, before he decided to just chill out and be himself — John Styn was shy.…
Music Strung
Scene and Heard This year’s honorary Icarus Line “Fuck Shit Up” award goes to NYC garage-rockers the Mooney Suzuki, who got a little carried away at their Tower Records in-store Thursday afternoon. Both the group’s singer and guitarist’s enthusiastic, ceiling-grabbing antics resulted in a shelf of CDs being knocked over and the wanton destruction of…
SXSW Liveshots
Godspeed You! Black EmperorTexas Union Ballroom, Thursday, March 13 How long can you keep up the apocalypse? The last time Godspeed You! Black Emperor graced the River City was 1999, or two years before 9/11, in apocalypse-speak. This nine-member French Canadian coalition has made their name on haunting themes, samples of derelicts preaching about the…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
REBEL WITHOUT A PAUSED: Nancy Savoca. Documentary Feature Special Screenings, Regional Premiere As comedian Reno lets fly the irreverent opening salvos of Rebel Without a Pause, her stand-up routine about September 11 filmed by Nancy Savoca, it’s virtually impossible to believe that within half an hour, a recording of “God Bless America” will be making…
MP3 of the Year
RUNNERS-UP: “Medic” by Isola, “Bigger Than Ourselves” by WideAwake, “Get To Go” by Eric Johnson, “Daydream” by Pavlov’s Dogs, “Empowered” by Strüb, “Sitting In My Room” by Stealing Silence, “Latin Breeze” by Jon Barry Project, “Days of Grace” by Sundowner, “Lies” by Plow Monday
Best Rock
RUNNERS-UP: Kissinger, Pushmonkey, Damesviolet, Cruiserweight, Endochine, Powderburn, Wide Awake, Truepenny, Isola, Shadow Box, Echoset, Stealing Silence, Sundowner, Lesermor
Best Acoustic Venue
RUNNERS-UP: Flipnotics, Saxon Pub, Lucky Lounge, Café Mundi, Hills Café, Momos, Stubb’s, Mercury, Acoustic Cafe
Exhibitionism
Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème brings to life a fantastic world through gorgeous music, and Austin Lyric Opera’s production treated the audience to rich glimpses of that fantastic world: 1870s Paris bustling with people, ideas, love, and song.
SXSW Picks and Sleepers
Blurbs on (mostly local) bands showcasing Wednesday night at SXSW 03.
Phases and Stages
The Datsuns(V2) Since it takes exactly one song for frontman Dolf D. Datsun to go off about “hazy days that blow my mind,” The Datsuns may best be appreciated by people who remember actual Datsuns, turbo-charged penis extensions (i.e. sports cars) for alpha males on a budget. But then, anyone confessing a fondness for Trans…
Phases and Stages
The Mendoza LineIf They Knew This Was the End (Bar/None)The Burnside ProjectThe Networks, the Circuits, the Streams, the Harmonies (Bar/None) When they formed in 1996, the original lineup of the Mendoza Line endeavored to put together a killer debut — this one — but ended up scrapping it until now. Wandering between folksy, down-home acoustic…
Weed Watch
The draconian R.A.V.E. Act sneaks back into Congress, but reform advocates are pushing drug bills across the nation — including in Texas
2003 SXSW Web Awards Winners
Web site competition winners.
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
Journalism: Old vs. New Sunday, March 9, 11:30am-12:30pm Can bloggers commit acts of journalism? What is “good journalism,” and can readers tell the difference between quality journalism and something less? Is there a New York Times equivalent of blogs, and if so, wouldn’t it be the antithesis to blogging? Panelists ranging from “old school” journalists…
Music Strung
Damned if You Do … “We haven’t broken up,” insists Damnations bassist/pianist/singer Amy Boone. “People keep coming up to us and asking if we broke up.” Such rumors, which Boone thinks began when she played a solo show with the Gourds New Year’s Eve at the Mercury, couldn’t be further from the truth. “We’re family,”…
SXSW Liveshots
The D4Emo’s, Thursday, March 13 No doubt the D4 have become weary of being compared to their most obvious antecedents, Radio Birdman and the MC5. Let’s try a different approach then. What’s soul music all about, other than Stax/Volt and Motown? Billy Sherrill-period George Jones is soul music. Sun Records rockabilly is soul music. CCR…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
SCREEN DOOR JESUSD: Kirk Davis; with Buck Taylor, Myk Watford, Cynthia Dorn, Silvia Moore, Scarlett McAlister. Narrative Feature Special Screenings The imagery in Davis’ adaptation of the eponymous Christopher Cook short-story collection pops off the screen as if superimposed, lush with purples and blues and greens, heavy-textured with summer rust and an oily East Texas…
Song of the Year
RUNNERS-UP: “Vida” by Rick del Castillo and Alex Ruiz for Del Castillo, “Hard Town” by Chris Ryden for Harris & Ryden, “Texas Blue Moon” by Shelley King for the Shelley King Band, “Sweet Tequila Blues” by Chip Taylor for Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez, “Long Ride Home” by Patti Griffin for Patty Griffin, “Get To…
Best Roots Rock
RUNNERS-UP: Shelley King Band, Reckless Kelly, The Gourds, Honeybrowne, Jimmy La Fave, The Leroi Bros., South Austin Jug Band, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Back Porch Mary
Best All Ages Venue
RUNNERS-UP: Antone’s, Steamboat, Flipnotics, The Vibe, Stubb’s, Café Mundi, Broken Spoke, Hill’s Café, The Backyard
SXSW Picks and Sleepers
Thursday Picks All showcase times subject to change. Please check official SXSW schedule. NARAS PRESENTS: … the Austin Music Awards’ new Super Bowl champs, Del Castillo, Austin’s explosive version of the Gipsy Kings. Jorge Moreno brings Miami next, and he better bring plenty, going on before Monterrey’s Tejano version of Slipknot, Big Circo, accordions, black…
Phases and Stages
The D46Twenty (Flying Nun) Australia and New Zealand have been the home of some really great punk rock in the past. Really great. Radio Birdman, the Saints, the Scientists, Celibate Rifles, Lime Spiders, New Race — the list goes on. If you’re not up on Aussie punk, you’re not worth your Doc Martens. That’s quite…
Phases and Stages
Joe JacksonVolume 4 (Rykodisc) In the early days of New Wave, Joe Jackson was always in the shadow of his contemporaries Elvis Costello and Graham Parker. Like them, he had literate, often witty lyrics, an idiosyncratic voice, and a crack band to back him up. In the years since, Jackson’s l979 debut, Look Sharp!, has…
Morales Takes Federal Rap
Former Texas attorney general and 2002 gubernatorial candidate Dan Morales was indicted in federal court on March 6 on 12 counts, including fraud, conspiracy, and filing a false tax return. Among the charges is that Morales attempted to defraud Texas of a portion of its tobacco-lawsuit settlement to “enrich” his friend, Houston attorney Marc Murr,…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
Reviews, live shots, film critic smackdowns … SXSW Film 2003
Snippets From SXSW Interactive 2003
Trends in How the Internet Connects People Sunday, March 9, 10-11am If two is company and three is a crowd, then things are going well for three popular social Internet sites. According to site developers James Hong of HotorNot.com, Brad Fitzpatrick of LiveJournal.com, and Scott Heiferman of Meetup.com, not only can the Internet connect people…
Music Strung
Ask a Townie Today: Megan Stokes of Waterloo Records HOW ARE YOU ENJOYING SXSW SO FAR? “I want all the out-of-towners to leave, except my friends. They can stay.” ANY TROUBLE WITH PARKING OR OTHER INCONVENIENCES? “I want all the out-of-towners to leave, except my friends. They can stay.” WHO ARE YOU EXCITED TO SEE?…
SXSW Liveshots
Fire Marshalls of BethlehemTexas Union Theatre, Thursday, March 13 The first thing that Austin music fans will want to know about the Fire Marshalls of Bethlehem is that they’re John Croslin’s first band since the demise of the Reivers more than a decade ago. The band’s name is purportedly the answer to the question “Two…
After a Fashion: SXSW Friday
While old geezers Camper Van Beethoven may be back in town taking the skinheads bowling, our Style Avatar gets all, “I’m With the Band,” with Ms. You-Know-Who Des Barres herself, and takes the celeb shopping.
Best Alternative/Punk
RUNNERS-UP: Kissinger, Spoon, Damesviolet, Vallejo, Isola, Stealing Silence, Endochine, Truepenny, Lesermor
Best Space Rock/Jam/Experimental
RUNNERS-UP: Halley, Larry, Dirty Wormz, e.f.c.a., Echobase, Groovin’ Ground, Pong, Experimental Aircraft, Explosions in the Sky
Best Band Website
RUNNERS-UP: delcastillomusic.com, endochine.com, isolaband.com, Vallejomusic.com, matsonbelle.com, cruiserweight.com, damesviolet.com, grupofantasma.com, kissingertheband.com
Book Reviews
Jordan Smith reviews Adrian Nicole LeBlanc’s Random Family.
SXSW Picks and Sleepers
Thursday Sleepers All showcase times subject to change. Please check official SXSW schedule. VIOLET CROWN: Violet Crown rests easily at the head of Austin’s melodic-rock class, due in part to the cello and steel sounds of Frank Kammerdiener. Such airy elegance is balanced by Larry Seaman’s pensive, often-wistful lyrics, and a loping bass courtesy of…
Phases and Stages
Ted Leo & the PharmacistsHearts of Oak (Lookout!) This is pop music custom-made for its time, fondly recalling touchstones of the past to steel you against an uncertain future. Jersey-bred punk veteran Ted Leo plays like a well-read barstool philosopher, and the Pharmacists back him with the nut-tight energy of the Attractions. While this isn’t…
Phases and Stages
The ThermalsMore Parts Per Million (Sub Pop) Everybody loves an indie rock fairy tale like this: In the space of four months, a quartet of erstwhile scene veterans form a side-project band on a lark, record a slew of incendiary living-room demos for $60 and wind up inking a deal with Sub Pop. That’s what…
Linebarger’s Legal Travails
Just-retired Travis Co. Attorney Ken Oden joined the law firm of Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson Monday as the firm’s “ethics manager” or ombudsman, charged with monitoring ethical practices and procedures within the firm. Oden should have plenty of work. His hiring was partly in response to the indictment of Juan Peña, a partner in…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
GO FURTHERWith Ron Mann, Woody Harrelson, and the cast of Go Further Friday, March 7, 7pm @ Paramount Theatre One long, strange trip just barely reached its destination at the Paramount on Friday night. Go Further, a documentary by Ron Mann, two years in the making, was finished the day before its world premiere at…
Short Cuts
SXSW Film Festival 03 update
Spotlight: Cat Power
Chan Marshall gets cagey.
SXSW Liveshots
Sally CreweBD Riley’s, Thursday, March 13 I’d be lying if I pretended that the possibility of Britt Daniel and Jim Eno, aka Spoon, serving as London singer-songwriter Sally Crewe’s band had nothing to do with my attendance at this show. After all, Daniel and Eno share production credit and perform band duties for Crewe’s new…
Best Blues
RUNNERS-UP: Alien Love Child, Guy Forsyth, Rob Roy Parnell, Toni Price, Carolyn Wonderland, Los Lonely Boys, Ruthie Foster, Marcia Ball, Chris Duarte
Best World Music
RUNNERS-UP: Grupo Fantasma, Del Castillo, Cadaques, Brobdingnagian Bards, Teye and Viva El Flamenco, La Tribu, Sambaxé, Cluan, Oliver Rajamani, The Stingers, Poor Man’s Fortune, Govinda, Papa Mali, Atash
Best Concert By a Touring Artist
RUNNERS-UP: Tool, Erwin Center, July 26; Beck/Flaming Lips, Bass Concert Hall, Nov. 12; Incubus, Erwin Center, July 2; Elvis Costello, Backyard, Oct. 6; Maceo Parker, Antone’s, Jan. 5, 2003; George Strait, Erwin Center, Jan. 19, 2003; Pete Yorn, Stubb’s, May 13; Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Stubb’s, Sept. 13
Book Reviews
James McWilliams reviews Hugh Thomson’s The White Rock.
SXSW Picks and Sleepers
Friday Picks All showcase times subject to change. Please check official SXSW schedule. DAVIS McLARTY AGENCY PRESENTS: … three Austin acts the former Ely drummer, forever Booze Weasel-turned-booker books: Hank Williams’ illegitimate honky-tonker, Wayne Hancock; twang-bangers the Derailers; and Austin’s answer to the Band, the Gourds. Now take it easy on the libations, there’s still…
Phases and Stages
Fabulous DisasterPanty Raid! (Pink & Black) They may look like L7’s butchier cousins — the bassist’s name is Mr. Nancy, if that helps — but San Francisco foursome Fabulous Disaster’s Panty Raid! has a serious Josie & the Pussycats fetish. Nonstop, Marshall-stacked, cherry-sweet California punk most prominently practiced by beachgoing brats Blink-182 and Face to…
Phases and Stages
Concrete BlondeLive in Brazil (Ark 21) Neither rock & roll’s grand dame (Marianne Faithfull), punk mother (Patti Smith), sister (Chrissie Hynde), nor cousin (Kim Gordon), Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano nevertheless stakes rightful claim to at least a duchesshood on Live in Brazil. Considering that last year’s Group Therapy — the now 20-year-old L.A. trio’s first…
Naked City
Quote of the Week: “It’s like a ketchup bottle. You smack the bottom, you smack it, you smack it — and you don’t get any ketchup. You keep on smacking it, and all of a sudden you’ve got ketchup all over your plate.” — Scott McCown, director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, on…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
THE DANCED: John Darling Haynes. Documentary Feature Competition, World Premiere This visually poetic documentary is about Billy “Pops” Roth, an ex-boxer, trainer, coach, and referee who has been sharing the sweet science with Louisiana state inmates for over 40 years. Shot on a mixture of film and video, The Dance demonstrates how one man can…
Spotlight: Riverboat Gamblers
Denton’s Riverboat Gamblers are Austin punkers in everything but location.
SXSW Live Shots
NARAS Latin Music ShowcaseTown Lake Stage at Auditorium Shores, Thursday, March 13 Del Castillo may be this year’s Austin Music Awards’ Band of the Year. And David Lee Garza y los Musicales may have been what the black-hatted Tejano fans were waiting for. But it was Big Circo from Brownsville, Texas, (not Monterrey, Mexico, as…
Best Country
RUNNERS-UP: Harris & Ryden Band, Dale Watson, Pat Green, Willie Nelson, Kelli Willis, Geezinslaws, The Weary Boys, South Austin Jug Band, Shelley King Band, The Derailers, Kings of the Motel 6, Reckless Kelly, Cornell Hurd Band, Asleep At the Wheel
Best Acoustic Guitar
RUNNERS-UP: Rick Del Castillo, Anuj Timblo, Mark Del Castillo, Teye, Shelley King, Casper Rawls, Mitch Watkins, Sara Hickman, AJ Vallejo
Best Concert Poster
RUNNERS-UP: Isola by Matt Niemann; Mercury, Nov. 14, 2002; Austin Celtic Festival by Larry Beasley; Fiesta Gardens, Nov. 2-3, 2002; Cornell Hurd Band by Guy Juke; Jovita’s, Oct. 31, 2002; Supersuckers by Billy Perkins; La Zona Rosa, Oct. 31, 2002; Oliver Future by Mike Garza; Mercury, July 27, 2002; Pat Green & Friends by Factor…
Second Helpings: Bagels, Beignets, Doughnuts, and Kolaches
Store some SXSW energy by eating lots of carb-loaded dough.
SXSW Live Shots
HobbleRoom 710, Wednesday, March 12 It is indeed a great jolt to the system to go from a Jeff “Skunk” Baxter guitar clinic to a Hobble show. One of the pet peeves elucidated by the former Steely Dan/Doobie Brothers guitarist at his SXSW workshop is using loudness as a crutch. Perhaps Austin’s Hobble is guilty…
Music String
SXSW Photo Quiz These people are … a) international musicians waiting to clear customs at the airport. b) music journalists whose invitation to the SPIN party got lost in the mail. c) former major label executives in the unemployment line. d) SXSW volunteers who finally got a bathroom break.
Austin Music Awards 2002-03
The more things change … If you listen closely, you could probably hear the carping when the 2002-03 Austin Music Awards lineup was first announced, “C’mon, Steven Fromholz, Ray Benson, Billy Joe Shaver, Ray Wylie Hubbard? Isn’t that a little predictable?” Not predictable were Shaver’s stunning version of “Honky Tonk Heroes,” Ray Wylie Hubbard’s raw…
SXSW Live Shots
ManateeBack Room, Wednesday, March 12 The dank confines of the Back Room’s live music half were well filled by 8:45pm, a strange occurrence during a regular night, an even stranger development during SXSW given the club’s off-the-beaten-path location. Perhaps folks were there to hear the melodic punk sounds of showcase opener Air Tight Alibi. Perhaps…
The Insider: Cheech Marin
Tuesday, March 11 Who: Cheech Marin Where: BMI’s Howdy Texas! Party at Stubb’s. What: is your best memory of Austin? Marin: Cheech & Chong played the Armadillo. We shared a bill with Freddie King. And I got laid. It was great. I played with Freddie King and got laid the same night. That’s heaven. Insider:…
SXSW Live Shots
PalomarFriends, Wednesday, March 12 The Friends sweatbox was filled to a comfy, steamy density by the time the gals of Palomar took up their guitars, and the music they sprang upon the expectant crowd did nothing to temper the thermostat. Speedy, catchy, superprecise power pop, with about as much charisma as the stage could contain…
Spotlight: Sahara Hotnights
Sweden comes to SXSW in the guise of Sahara Hotnights.
SXSW Live Shots
Soviet/KinskiEmo’s Main Room, Wednesday, March 12 Judging by the massive lines outside Emo’s as early as 8pm on this SXSW Wednesday, the word was out on this formidable lineup. The Kindercore showcase on the inside stage was no small shake, but on this night, the outside stage was home to two of the finest representatives…
Spotlight: Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
Ted Leo is Rising.
SXSW Liveshots
Tony Joe WhiteAntone’s, Wednesday, March 12 This relatively rare appearance by Tony Joe White was one of the most highly anticipated shows of this year’s SXSW. How else to explain the crush at the door almost an hour before he was scheduled to appear? Still, it was only a moderate success and less a testament…
Spotlight: Halley
Halley lights up Austin with their deliberate supernova rock.
SXSW Liveshots
ZykosMercury, Wednesday, March 12 It was muggy out, and it seemed like every club was bursting at the seams with enthusiastic music lovers, drooping hair, and shiny foreheads. The Mercury, host to local label Post-Parlo’s showcase (also featuring Western Keys, Explosions in the Sky, and Knife in the Water), was no exception as this up-and-coming…
Spotlight: Kathleen Edwards
Kathleen Edwards says f**k the buzz.
Born Again
Let’s face it: Joel Schumacher is probably not the kind of director you expect to find at an independent film festival, and yet it makes perfect sense to host the regional premiere for his latest film, Phone Booth, at SXSW. Whether it’s a matter of penance or a newfound artistic compulsion, Schumacher has taken a…
Spotlight: Milton Mapes
Look out Uncle Tupelo, here comes grandpa Milton Mapes.
The Weasel Has Landed
Forget Pauly Shore, “the Weasel.” Meet Pauly Shore, buzz-cut guerilla indie filmmaker, whose HD magnum opus, alternately titled Pauly Shore Is Dead, wowed a crowd of admirers Tuesday night at the Alamo Drafthouse. The audience might have been too young for Totally Pauly but cheered when SXSW’s Matt Dentler announced the creation of the “Pauly…
Spotlight: Raveonettes
The Raveonettes: three chords and the brute.
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
A CERTAIN KIND OF DEATHD: Grover Babcock and Blue Hadaegh. Documentary Feature First Films, Regional Premiere First, there are the bodies: days or weeks dead, some maggoty and a little runny, measured and manhandled, wrapped in clear plastic and dragged bumping down the stairs. What follows is mostly a lot of cleaning and clerical work:…
SXSW Live Shots
Crash Course: Guitar Workshop With Jeff “Skunk” BaxterAustin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 12 Best known for his work with Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter is one of the foremost studio-bred guitarists to emerge from the Seventies. Although his trademark beret and handlebar mustache give him the visual aura of California mellow,…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
CINEMANIAD: Angela Christlieb and Stephen Kijak. Documentary Feature Special Screenings, Regional Premiere At what point does an escape become a prison? Cinemania follows three New Yorkers whose love of movies is a decidedly double-edged sword, displacing romance, social activity, even their jobs. Obviously, the big screen compensates for something in their lives — they are…
SXSW Live Shots
DIY: What Does It Mean, What Does It Take?Austin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 12 According to Dave Marsh, DIY was born with punk rock, when those pioneers dared to ask, “What would happen if we decided to make our own music instead of absorbing what’s given to us?” In an age wherein greedy record labels…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
DIRTD: Nancy Savoca. Narrative Feature Special Screenings, World Premiere Dolores (Ortiz) is an undocumented worker from El Salvador who cleans luxury apartments in uptown New York. Among the splendor of her clients’ homes, Dolores worries about immigration, her unemployed husband, and her rebellious teenage son, whose attachment to life in the U.S. grows, while Dolores…
SXSW Live Shots
Crash Course: MerchandisingAustin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 12 If you only need a few T-shirts for friends and family, go see a printer. If you’re ready to merch — network, brand your name to thousands of accessories — then Felix Sebacious, president of Blue Grape Merchandise, is your man. Sebacious has the keys to putting…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
FLAG WARSD: Linda Goode Bryant and Laura Poitras. Documentary Feature Competition There are no good guys and bad guys in Flag Wars, only competing interpretations of the American Dream. The documentary shows what happens when well-off gay whites look at the decaying mansions of a working-class neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, and see economic opportunity, while…
SXSW Live Shots
The Governor’s Annual Salute to Texas MusicLa Zona Rosa, Wednesday, March 12 Gov. Rick Perry broke the proverbial champagne bottle over SXSW 03 Wednesday night at La Zona Rosa during the third annual Governor’s Salute to Texas Music bash. Before the guv took center stage, merrymakers dined on finger-sandwich versions of chicken salad on croissants…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
THE FLUTE PLAYERD: Jocelyn Glatzer. Documentary Feature First Films, World Premiere Arn Chorn-Pond floats through Glatzer’s first full-length documentary as if an avenging angel. He shouldn’t be here, for starters, considering that his most vulnerable years, as a kid growing up in Cambodia, were spent in the violent darkness of Pol Pot’s shadow. As two…
SXSW Live Shots
SIMS Health Fair/Caritas South by Soup FestRepublic Park/Caritas of Austin, Wednesday, March 12 The low, gray ceiling that refused to dissipate this afternoon dampened the day’s activities just a bit, but not enough to keep people from plugging in and playing in the rain for a good cause. Over at Republic Square Park at Fourth…
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
THE HARD WORDD: Scott Roberts; with Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffiths, Robert Taylor, Joel Edgerton. Narrative Feature Special Screenings, U.S. Premiere Not just the “butcher talk” needs subtitles in Scott Roberts’ Australian caper. With its over-the-top setup and mile-a-minute dialogue, the movie plays like a Down Under riff on familiar Tarantino turf, but it actually owes…
SXSW Live Shots
Soviet Soviet revisits the Eighties at Thirty Three Degrees, Wednesday, March 12.
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
MAMA/M.A.M.A.D: Nonny de la Pena. Documentary Feature Special Screenings, Regional Premiere When baby Philip was dying mysteriously in the hospital, a doctor offered the desperate mother his diagnosis: Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. In other words, her fault. After the baby died — which we witness in gruesome, heartbreaking photos — it took four years to…
Second Helpings: Always — or Almost Always — Open
Consider these always-open or almost-always-open places the enablers in your life of depravity and self-abuse.
SXSW Live Shots
Trachtenburg Family Two-thirds of the Trachtenburg Family Slide Show Players at Tower Records, Wednesday, March 12.
Live From SXSW’s Screening Room
NOSEY PARKER D: John O’Brien; with George Lyford, Natalie Picoe, Richard Snee. Narrative Feature Special Screenings, World Premiere Sophisticates Natalie and Richard Newman buy their dream house in rural Vermont, then wait for the hand-carved butternut staircase, gold-plated bathroom fixtures, and breathtaking views to heal what’s ailing them. Natalie compulsively checks her unblinking machine for…
