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New-Look Texans Anoint Matt Schaub QB No. 1

The David Carr era is officially over. It’s hard to hate a guy of upstanding character like Carr, but he’s been given more than enough time to prove he’s a winner, failed at that, and now it’s time for a change. That change comes in the form of three-year NFLer Matt Schaub whom the Texans…

by Mark Fagan

Astros Invade the Dell Diamond Next Thursday

Now that SXSW is over and UT is out of the NCAA tournament, the distractions are gone and only 10 tantalizing days remain until life begins anew and all is again right with the world. Opening Day, proof that God is a lot more benevolent and merciful than we give Him credit for. He’s even…

by Christopher Gray

‘NCAA March Madness 07’ for the PlayStation2

With the University of Southern California enacting some payback for their Rose Bowl loss, showing UT the door in an embarrassing 87-68 drubbing, and the Jody Conradt-coached women’s team not even making the NCAA tournament, local college hoops fans have no option but to take a crack at leading the Longhorns through their own March…

by Mark Fagan

Houston Dynamo Beat Pachuca, U.S. Men in Action, and More

The Houston Dynamo took a hard-fought 2-0 win in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champi­ons Cup semifinal against Pachuca on Thursday. Brian Ching, rounding into form, scored a goal, and overall, the team seemed a lot more composed and focused than in their first-round outings. The return leg is in Pachuca on April 5,…

by Nick Barbaro

Ice Bats Eliminated From Playoff Contention

About halfway through the second period last night, Rio Grande Valley’s David Masse scored a power-play goal putting his Killer Bees up 3-0 and pretty much dashed the Ice Bats hopes of appearing in the Central Hockey League postseason. Masse added another power-play goal in the third and the Bees cruised to 4-0 victory giving…

by Mark Fagan

Thirty-five and Still Illegal …

March 22 marks the 35th anniversary of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse’s famed report, “Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding,” which concluded that marijuana use and distribution, in large part, should be made legal. The report was the product of the Shafer Commission – named after its chair, Pennsylvania Gov. Raymond Shafer –…

by Jordan Smith

The Gauntlet

So I’m some 48 hours late posting for the end of the end of this year’s SXSW film festival, but I can’t leave well enough alone. I’ll try to be brief, and round up the last few things I wanted to write about at more length, but, well, you know, I got too carried away…

by Spencer Parsons

Piranha

Piranha 1978, R, 94 min. D: Joe Dante. Flesh-eating fish are released into the water after a government experiment goes awry in this classic Roger Corman pic launched in the wake of Jaws’s mega-success. A notable early career marker for director Joe Dante and screenwriter John Sayles.

by Chronicle Staff

Voter Education

While some legislators want to make voting harder, one rep want to clear up questions of voter eligibility.

by Lee Nichols

Grindhouse Premiere

Grindhouse Premiere 2007. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Starring Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodríguez, Josh Brolin, Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Zoe Bell. The boys are back in town – finally. Directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino and other special guests will be present for this premiere. Tickets go on sale to the public on March…

by Chronicle Staff

Copying Beethoven

Copying Beethoven 2006, PG-13, 104 min. Directed by Agnieszka Holland, Starring Ed Harris, Diane Kruger. The film is the story of the passions shared between Beethoven and his young female copyist. But do they share more than a passion for music? Musician P.K. Waddle leads his group though live performances of three chamber works by…

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Film

Scary Possibilities: Ti West on ‘Trigger Man’ When blood flows in Ti West’s Trigger Man, it jolts almost as much for the effect of red upon a palette of relentless green and brown as for the eruption of violence itself. Also shocking is how very different this film is from West’s killer-bat feature, The Roost,…

by Spencer Parsons

Live Shots

Duncan SheikCentral Presbyterian Church, Friday, March 16 What do you do when you’re expecting an enormous, juicy steak, one you’ve been looking forward to all day, and instead you’re given just a bite? Bitter disappointment takes the place of gleeful anticipation, and you leave hungrier than you came. Such was the case at the close…

by Melanie Haupt

TCB: Saturday

“I hate bands.” – Austin American-Statesman music writer Michael Corcoran at the Spin party Taint Misbehavin Y’all ain’t ready for Taint, the punk-rock/Southern rap supergroup co-managed by TCB and the Houston Press’ John Lomax. Staying up until 5:30am Friday plotting their imminent SXSW domination was a little rough on the minibar, but necessary. You thought…

by Christopher Gray

SXSW Film

ThemD: David Moreau and Xavier Palud; with Olivia Bonamy, Michaël Cohen Set deep in the Romanian forest, Them is based on the true story of a couple tortured by mysterious creatures driven by a propensity for playtime. It’s a classic slasher scenario: Girl meets boy in their isolated, under-construction manor; there are creaky floors, squeaking…

by Darcie Stevens

Girls Can Tell

GIRL DRINK DRUNK Walk into an Austin bar and ask for the girliest drink in the house and you might be surprised with what the bartender hands over: Beauty Bar: Pint of Blood (vodka, coconut rum, pineapple juice), $7 Moonshine: Ruby Slipper (vodka, grapefruit juice, champagne float), $7 Antone’s: cherry vodka sour (vodka, sweet and…

by Melanie Haupt

Ballroom Dancing

SXSW Interview: Booker T. JonesAustin Convention Center, Friday, March 16 More than 40 years after his group the MGs scored a most indelible hit in “Green Onions,” Booker T. Jones opened up a treasure chest of anecdotal music history for a modest assembly of Friday afternoon SXSW registrants. From guitarist Steve Cropper’s days as a…

by Robert Gabriel

Ballroom Dancing

Rock & Roll Is for Kids!Austin Convention Center, Friday, March 16 The subject wasn’t quite as the panel name suggested, but to the six panelists, it was music to the ears. Labels, musicians, and parents convened to talk about the lucrative yet underestimated genre of music made and packaged for kids, which is only partly…

by Margaret Moser

Day Party Crawl

The Stooges/The Cynics’Austin City Limits’ studio/Antone’s Records, Friday, March 16 Seeing the Stooges perform for a morning radio broadcast on Seattle’s KEXP was a bit like watching Iggy Pop yuk it up with Dinah Shore. Nevertheless, the band created a formidable racket in plowing through four songs off their middling new album, The Weirdness. “ATM”…

by Greg Beets

Ballroom Dancing

What Do You Want From Life?Austin Convention Center, Friday, March 16 How many people here this week will realize they’re never going to make it? Probably quite a few. And yet, few musicians who have that epiphany pawn all their equipment. A panel of musicians involved in answering the very amorphous question – what do…

by Audra Schroeder

Day Party Crawl

Pitchfork Day PartyEmo’s, Friday, March 16 Welcome to the battle of hype vs. hope. As the reigning queen of band-breaking, Pitchfork blasts into SXSW with a lineup strung with lights. Instrumental Montreal post-rock outfit Do Make Say Think opened up the ring with a set of metal riffs conjoined with trumpet blasts and waves of…

by Darcie Stevens

Ballroom Dancing

The Relevance of RetailAustin Convention Center, Friday, March 16 The biggest problem in the music business today is that of retail. Record stores are closing, CD sales are down, and the recent bankruptcy of the Tower Records chain has shaken the industry to its core. Industry vet Clay Pasternack decided to concentrate on the positive…

by Jim Caligiuri

Day Party Crawl

Australian Music Collective Presents/’Pop Culture Press’ Day PartyBrush Square Park/Dog and Duck, Friday, March 16 If you really want to rock, the best strategy is (a) be old or (b) have four or fewer members in your band. If there were a (c) it would be “be Australian,” but Boston’s Buffalo Tom was the exception…

by Michael Bertin

Ballroom Dancing

Placement in TV and MoviesAustin Convention Center, Friday, March 16 Placing your music on a TV show or film means more exposure, more revenue, but how can artists taste this sweet plum? Gary Calamar of GO Music Services moderated five other music supervisors – Chris Douridas, Season Kent, Madonna Wade-Reed, Russell Ziecker, Danny Benair –…

by David Lynch

Day Party Crawl

‘Vice’ Saves TexasLongbranch Inn/Kenny Dorham’s Backyard/Victory Grill, Friday, March 16 Only Japanese metal saviors Boris held the power to save Vice’s disastrous block party. Following their cancellation, along with Houston’s Indian Jewelry and David Yow’s latest noise bomb Qui, the hipster empire suffered a painful fall from grace. Gris Gris frontman Greg Ashley opened with…

by Austin Powell

My SXSW

I arrived in Austin on Wednesday morning. My flight left New York City at 6:50am, so I decided not to sleep the night before. I stayed up all Tuesday night, into Wednesday morning, and went straight to LaGuardia Airport. I had a great time on the flight to Austin. All I did was sleep. I…

by Andrew W. K.

Live Shots

Amy WinehouseLa Zona Rosa, Friday, March 16 Long live Nina Simone. North Londoner Amy Winehouse has the look down pat. She’s got the band and the groove and the lungs of steel. The only thing she’s missing is that raw Nina growl. Strutting onstage to the Chiffons’ mood-setter “He’s So Fine” with hair up to…

by Darcie Stevens

SXSW Film

Customer Service: Rob VanAlkemade and the Reverend Billy on ‘What Would Jesus Buy?’ The Reverend Billy & the Church of Stop Shopping are not your average performance-art-comedy activists. Using humor, spiritual messages, and more than 30 robed gospel singers, the Reverend Billy’s mission is to save our souls from consumerism. In 2005, the Church of…

by Toddy Burton

Live Shots

Viktor Krauss Cedar Street Courtyard, Friday, March 16 Anyone who recognizes his name was probably introduced to Viktor Krauss in the early-Nineties when he played stand-up bass with his sister, Alison, or perhaps as a member of Lyle Lovett’s Large Band. If you were expecting bluegrass, nugrass, or country from Krauss on his own, however,…

by Jim Caligiuri

SXSW Film

Big RigD: Doug Pray Anyone who purchases their produce at their local farmers’ market will likely not be sympathetic to many of the ideas expressed in Big Rig, a documentary portraying the isolated and often dangerous lives of truckers. Despite this possible ideological divide between the film and its audience, it’s hard not to develop…

by Melanie Haupt

Live Shots

Powell St. John The Hideout, Friday, March 16 Hard as it may be to imagine now, there was a time when being “weird” wasn’t an attribute in Austin. Songwriter Powell St. John emerged from the same embattled mid-Sixties enclave that birthed Janis Joplin and Roky Erickson. He contributed six songs to the 13th Floor Elevators,…

by Greg Beets

SXSW Film

Billy the Kid D: Jennifer Venditti In her near-perfect directorial debut, Venditti lovingly captures the trials of one troubled adolescent’s life in small-town Maine. At 15, Billy Price is practically a genius. He’s interested in girls, Kiss, and slasher movies. He has a purple belt in karate and hopes to one day come to the…

by Diana Welch

Live Shots

Thurston Moore InstrumentalMohawk, Friday, March 16 If you’re a recognized rock star who owns a small record label, there’s probably no better way to advertise the company than to prostitute yourself. In the case of Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, he and three friends officially launched two stages worth of acts from his Ecstatic Peace! Records…

by David Lynch

SXSW Film

Great World of SoundD: Craig Zobel; with Pat Healy, Kene Holliday Martin is a nonentity, a failed radio engineer who dreamed of being a deejay. As played by Healy, he hangs onto a shadow of his dream of being “something” in music. With Holliday’s gregarious Clarence, he’s dispatched by a record firm as a talent…

by Richard Whittaker

Live Shots

Public Enemy Auditorium Shores, Friday, March 16 With Austin’s ever-expanding skyline as its backdrop, Public Enemy’s Auditorium Shores performance garnered a groundswell of appreciation from a town quickly losing touch with its renowned liberalism. Whereas conservative pundits used to cream their pants over labeling Public Enemy a divisive influence, Chuck D and company made it…

by Robert Gabriel

SXSW Film

Hell on WheelsD: Bob Ray Sure, there’s a compound fracture, group spankings, and hot women on roller skates repeatedly falling into a pile, but the real drama in Ray’s five-year Roller Derby opus is at the meetings. Here, an Austin Roller Derby league evolves from a half-baked notion to a postfeminist grassroots movement – and…

by Marrit Ingman

Live Shots

Dana Falconberry18th Floor @ Hilton Garden Inn, Friday, March 16 Eighteen stories above the maddening din of SXSW, Dana Falconberry’s voice rang out stunningly against the sunset-streaked Austin skyline. Equal parts sultry and sweet, the local songwriter was appropriately aided by the removed location at the Hilton and filled the seats to overflowing. Calmly seated…

by Doug Freeman

SXSW Film

HelveticaD: Gary Hustwit With beautiful cinematography, a kickass soundtrack, and one delightfully quotable interview after another, this little doc about a font is truly a work of art. Dedicated to Helvetica, the world’s most ubiquitous typeface (“It’s the default; you have to breathe, so you have to use Helvetica,” says one designer), the film travels…

by Nora Ankrum

Live Shots

Peter & the WolfEternal, Friday, March 16 The charitable thing to do would be to not review the Peter & the Wolf showcase because any review would have a hard time being charitable. The bottom line is that it just wasn’t that musical, which is a little unusual for, you know, a music conference. The…

by Michael Bertin

SXSW Film

Run Granny RunD: Marlo Poras “Democracy is not something we have but something we do,” articulates Doris “Granny D” Haddock in Poras’ inspiring Run Granny Run, which documents the activist’s fight for campaign-finance reform. In 1999, she walked 3,200 miles across the United States to raise awareness and support for the cause. By the time…

by Sofia Resnick

Live Shots

Andrew BirdStubb’s, Friday, March 16 Revealing the mystery behind the production of his latest golden egg, Andrew Bird gracefully flew through the majority of Armchair Apocrypha, his seventh LP and first for Fat Possum, which finally hatches next Tuesday. The Chicago-based troubadour, backed for the occasion on drums and keys by longtime collaborator Martin Dosh,…

by Austin Powell

Who the Heck Is Kristoffer Ragnstam?

I have listened to the song “Sweet Bills” so many times in the past five days, screaming along, feeling it, with windows open on Guadalupe, so many times that I have worn down the album to bareness. It now skips. Balls. But, I did get it for free and by accident (to the goddess) so…

by Kate Getty

Album of the Year

RUNNERS-UP: Live From Momo’s, Band of Heathens; Reinventing the Wheel, Asleep at the Wheel; Unraveling, Patrice Pike; Passover, The Black Angels; House of Apples & Eyeballs, Black Moth Super Rainbow and the Octopus Project; Spiritual Boy: An Appreciation of Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan & the Bump Band; Reckless Kelly Was Here, Reckless Kelly; Origin Story,…

by Chronicle Staff

Best Miscellaneous Instrument

RUNNERS-UP: Eddie Rivers, steel guitar; John Pointer, boom box; Arty Passes, steel guitar; Andrew McKee, recorder; Scott Kinnebrew, laptop; Cody Braun, harmonica; Bildeaux, laptop; Guy Forsyth, singing saw; Charlie Branch, bouzouki

by Chronicle Staff

Best Thing to Happen

RUNNERS-UP: Corky left, Club Cairo opened, KTSB, Western Swing Month, Nothing, More national recognition, Chronicle went weekly, Liberty Lunch stayed open, Musicmakers of Austin opened, Billy White w/Dokken

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

Mary WeissDangerous Game (Norton) Mary Weiss’ tough demeanor, defiant expression, and fraught-with-emotion vocals on Shangri-La hits “Leader of the Pack,” “Sophisticated Boom Boom,” and “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” influenced an entire generation of first-wave girl punkers with her pegged pants, heavy eyeliner, and rebel-with-a-bra attitude. All Weiss’ sass, heartache, and anguish, which made…

by Margaret Moser

SXSW Reviews

The PackSkateboards 2 Scrapers (Jive) Four Berkeley teenagers hitch their skateboards to hyphy’s short, yellow bus and as their “Vans” drag along the asphalt, sparks flying with the accelerated friction. Riding Young L’s ostentatious production for all its worth, the Pack explores flash-in-the-pan, overtly promiscuous territory like it’s going out of style. As “Ride My…

by Robert Gabriel

SXSW Reviews

Krum BumsAs the Tide Turns (TKO) Sporting a T-shirt-ready cover reminiscent of MDC’s Multi-Death Corporations, the Krum Bums’ first domestic album is 33 minutes of ear-splitting, lightning-fast hardcore filtered through the British steel lens of Iron Maiden and Motörhead. In a genre of minute delineations, their intensity is truly remarkable. From screech one of their…

by Greg Beets

Day Party Crawl

Rhapsody Day PartyMohawk, Thursday, March 15 In the smackdown between Swedish darlings o’ the day Peter, Bjorn and John and old guys Robyn, Pete, and Sean, it wasn’t even a contest. On the other hand, Robyn Hitchcock, Pete Buck, and Sean Nelson (of Harvey Danger) were spectacular in a set leaning heavily on material from…

by Michael Bertin

SXSW Film

Looming Issues: Bennie Klain on ‘Weaving Worlds’ Native American Helen Bedonie has spent her life on an Arizona Indian reservation raising sheep, spinning and dyeing the wool by hand, and painstakingly weaving traditional Navajo rugs on a family loom. It’s her art and her livelihood. After selling the finished rugs to an Anglo reservation trader…

by Steve Uhler

SXSW Film

ZooD: Robinson Devor Bestiality. An act many people can scarcely comprehend how, never mind why, it’s done. But when a man died in 2003 after having sex with a horse, the quiet rural town of Enumclaw, Wash., was confronted with the trans-species taboo. In an elegiac and perturbing exploration of the events, documentary-maker Devor mixes…

by Richard Whittaker

Song of the Year

RUNNERS-UP: “Bumblebee,” Band of Heathens; “Break My Heart Tonight,” Reckless Kelly; “Brotherhood,” Del Castillo; “Spiracle,” the Octopus Project; “Black Grease,” the Black Angels; “Sad Sad City,” Ghostland Observatory; “What I Wouldn’t Give for Your Love,” Kevin Fowler; “Otra Vez,” Small Stars; “I Never Cared for You,” Del Castillo

by Chronicle Staff

Best Metal

RUNNERS-UP: Course of Ruin, Broken Teeth, The Sword, Pail, Lucid Dementia, Dirty Wormz, Bangladesh, Blackholicus, The Jolly Garogers

by Chronicle Staff

Best Songwriter

RUNNERS-UP: Patrice Pike, Willy Braun, Ian McLagan, James McMurty, Bob Schneider, John Pointer, Eliza Gilkyson, Patty Griffin, Guy Forsyth

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

Tom BrosseauGrand Forks (Loveless) Tom Brosseau has one of the most arresting voices in folk music, a high-pitched, angelic croon devoid of affectation and delivered with utter sincerity. He sings with such pastoral calm, in fact, that nuanced emotional details can become lost within the beautiful simplicity of his sparse acoustic tunes. Grand Forks, the…

by Doug Freeman

SXSW Reviews

Brother AliThe Undisputed Truth (Rhymesayers) So many years removed from the genesis of hip-hop culture in the Boogie Down Bronx, it’s a wonder that anyone still tries to rationalize its explosion as some sort of deliberate advancement of a stringently defined discipline. It’s not that a current MC like Minneapolis’ Brother Ali should be slighted…

by Robert Gabriel

SXSW Reviews

The JellydotsHey You Kids! When Austinite Doug Snyder’s young guitar students didn’t want to play the standards, he wrote songs with them instead. “Race Cars Go” and “Bicycle” are straight-ahead rock, the latter an ebullient power-pop anthem that’s as fun as playing hooky on a sunny day. The rest of Hey You Kids! tries on…

by Marrit Ingman

Day Party Crawl

Tag Team/Onion AV Club PartyEmo’s, Thursday, March 15 Almost as entertaining as Matt & Kim’s music was their between-song banter. As way of introduction, Matt (Johnson) declared, “The last time I played here was the drunkest I’ve ever been. I’m taking it easier these days, or maybe it’s just noon!” The drums/keys duo was all…

by Doug Freeman

SXSW Film

CampaignD: Kazuhiro Soda With the Dem primary seemingly starting already, the last thing we need is another reminder about the relentless stage management of politics. But Campaign is a window into an arcane world few of us will ever see: the electoral machine in Japan. Kazuhiko Yamauchi, a political novice, is running for an open…

by Wells Dunbar

TCB: Friday

“Whatever. I’m standing out in the sun right now, fucked up.” – overheard outside the Red Eyed Fly Thursday afternoon SXSW, Etc. Capital Sports & Entertainment will wait until next month to announce this year’s Lollapalooza lineup, President Charlie Jones told TCB backstage at Wednesday’s Austin Music Awards. “It’s booked, but there’s just too much…

by Christopher Gray

Best Bluegrass

RUNNERS-UP: Bob Schneider’s Bluegrass Massacre, Sarah Jarosz, The Gourds, The Weary Boys, White Ghost Shivers, The Hudsons, Reckless Kelly, The Greencards, Onion Creek Crawdaddies

by Chronicle Staff

Best None of the Above

RUNNERS-UP: White Ghost Shivers, Ghostland Observatory, Shuttle Debris, Omar Lopez, John Pointer, The Hudsons, Asylum Street Spankers, Jabarvy, Mingo Fishtrap

by Chronicle Staff

Best Strings

RUNNERS-UP: Marc Gunn, autoharp; Chris Whitten, fiddle; Mundi; Warren Hood, fiddle; Austin Symphony; Tosca String Quartet; Omar Lopez, violin; Jason Roberts, fiddle; Phoebe Hunt, fiddle

by Chronicle Staff

Thursday Picks

All Showcases Subject to Change Octopus Project Emo’s Main Room, 11pm What does Octopus Project’s impending new album sound like? “Weird sounds and guitars, balloons, and tiny animals,” proposes guitarist Josh Lambert. Propelled by the synthesizers and other-worldly theremin of Lambert’s wife Yvonne and Toto Miranda’s rapturous percussion, Austin’s slippery instrumentalists fashion a helium-induced, 21st…

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

Patrick WatsonClose to Paradise (Secret City) The second proper LP from the Montreal quartet bearing the name of its pianist lead singer is rife with beautifully slippery music. To describe it in industry shorthand: a jam session between Portishead and Devendra Banhart. Part of Paradise’s slipperiness is the interplay between the organic and the electronic.…

by Melanie Haupt

SXSW Reviews

The Good, the Bad & the Queen(Virgin) No one in their right mind could’ve predicted that some 12 years after the great war betwixt the anthemic Gallagher Chav Corps and the strategically squidgy Albarn/Coxon Alliance, that it’d be Blur’s bonnie, scrawny lead lad Damon A. that triumphed. All macaque-rocking monkeys aside, this is an utterly…

by Marc Savlov

SXSW Reviews

The Pinker TonesThe Million Colour Revolution (Nacional) Producers, soundtrack composers, and men of mystery, Mr. Furia (Salvador Rey) and Professor Manso (Alex Llovet) are as international as their native Barcelona. Slaphappy use of language (four on this CD alone) and recognizable source tunage make up their musical melting pot – as do contagious left hooks.…

by Kate X Messer

Day Party Crawl

Hyphy Hip-HopEast Fourth Street/Beauty Bar, Thursday, March 15 At the Compound on East Fourth Street, Austin’s Zeale 32 & Phranchyze 1 spit superscientifical raps for a Budweiser-drenched, sun-soaked crowd unsure whether singer Billy Cook would make his 4pm appointment. Given the extra time to showcase his true-school repertoire, Zeale proved himself worthy of last year’s…

by Robert Gabriel

SXSW Film

Does Your Soul Have a Cold?D: Mike Mills Many Americans’ fascinations with Japanese culture and Tokyo in particular stem from the categorical differences between our lives. Acclaimed music-video and Thumbsucker director Mike Mills accentuates those differences in his simple doc, Does Your Soul Have a Cold?, an exposition on the effects of depression in Tokyo…

by Darcie Stevens

Best Blues

RUNNERS-UP: Carolyn Wonderland, Miss Lavelle White, Seth Walker, Eric Johnson, Guy Forsyth, Double Trouble, Ray McCarty, Chili Cold Blood, Toni Price

by Chronicle Staff

Best Novelty Band

RUNNERS-UP: The Octopus Project, John Pointer, The Jolly Garogers, Asylum Street Spankers, Small Stars, I Need More Cowbell, The Midgetmen, Austin Lounge Lizards, Miss Jones & the Furballs

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Panels

A conversation with Elizabeth AvellánAustin Convention Center, Monday, March 12 Anyone expecting an hour of tough talking, name-dropping, “let me tell you how it’s done” swagger would have been disappointed. Troublemaker Studios’ producer Elizabeth Avellán, the “quiet person” working behind the scenes (director Robert Rodriguez is the public of Troublemaker), came out of the shadows,…

by Richard Whittaker and Belinda Acosta

Soccer Watch

It’s a corking week in soccer around the world, really – Chelsea’s splendid comeback to tie Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup (earning a replay with their North London rivals this coming Monday) … the Houston Dynamo’s Champions Cup showdown with Mexican giants Pachuca this Thursday … the last week of the regular season for…

by Nick Barbaro

Thursday Showcase Picks

Astralwerks 9:30pm, Antone’s This is the showcase to beat if you’re a fan of the artsier side of pop. Astralwerks’ A&R folks have a sharp ear for pop acts with smarts and class, and tonight’s offerings are the cream of the crop. The Small Sins are a Toronto quintet that those of us below the…

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

Richard SwiftDressed Up for the Letdown (Secretly Canadian) Before Richard Swift was unleashed on a world of generic rock and electro dabbledry, there was no such thing as timeless vaudevillian angst. There were no contemporary piano balladeers. Swift’s Dressed Up for the Letdown might be this generation’s escape hatch. Unlike the lo-fi undulations of impressive…

by Darcie Stevens

SXSW Reviews

Badly Drawn BoyBorn in the U.K. (EMI) Damon Gough’s fifth album is an interesting, if problematic, companion to Bruce Springsteen’s working-man’s anthem “Born in the U.S.A.” Put bluntly, Born in the U.K. is a grower, not a shower. A cursory listen is stultifyingly dull and alarmingly same-y, a pale follow-up to 2004’s One Plus One…

by Melanie Haupt

SXSW Reviews

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul (Barsuk) Like, Love, Lust, her third album, finds Jesse Sykes recalling everyone from Natalie Maines to Grace Slick. There’s electric-guitar-driven alt.country, wispy psychedelic folk, and singer-songwriter navel-gazing in Sykes’ sound, but it’s put across with an uncompromising frankness that’s…

by Jim Caligiuri

Live Shots

Stax RevueAntone’s, Thursday, March 15 “50 years,” intoned Isaac Hayes, resplendent in crimson as he stood center stage at Antone’s before the hotly anticipated Stax Revue. “We’re gonna give you a taste of Stax soul. Can you dig it?” Behind him was heaven’s own house band, the venerable Booker T & the MGs. Booker T…

by Margaret Moser

SXSW Film

Fish Kill FleaD: Brian Cassidy, Aaron Hillis, and Jennifer Loeber In the hills of upstate New York sits an increasingly common sight: an empty mall awaiting its fate (future Home Depot or future Wal-Mart?). The directors of Fish Kill Flea gently sing the mall to sleep with a caring depiction of its final tenant: a…

by James Renovitch

Day Party Crawl

Meat PuppetsThe Parish, Thursday, March 15 When Curt Kirkwood announced he was reassembling the “original” Meat Puppets last year, he hadn’t actually seen his brother Cris in over eight years. With Cris Kirkwood now heroin-free and Ted Marcus filling in for founding drummer Derrick Bostrom, the Kirkwood brothers regrouped, ready or not. Marking their 26th…

by Doug Freeman

Best Country

RUNNERS-UP: Reckless Kelly, Kevin Fowler, Dale Watson, The Mother Truckers, The Texas Sapphires, Heybale!, James Hand, Willie Nelson, Alvin Crow & the Pleasant Valley Boys

by Chronicle Staff

Best Punk

RUNNERS-UP: Cruiserweight, The Applicators, Ghostland Observatory, Lucid Dementia, The Midgetmen, Lower Class Brats, Born to Lose, Krum Bums, The Addictions

by Chronicle Staff

Best All Ages Venue

RUNNERS-UP: Stubb’s, Ruta Maya, Antone’s, Redrum, Red 7, Jovita’s, Hill’s Cafe, Threadgill’s World Headquarters, Central Market

by Chronicle Staff

Thursday Sleepers

All Showcases Subject to Change Sunwrae 8pm, Elephant Room That’s Melbourne, Australia’s Rae Howell as the falling rain of this chamber ensemble, putting mallet to vibraphone and grace to the ivories. Last year’s Eavesdropping, Live at St. Stephens glistens like morning dew puddling up in some outback enclave. – Raoul Hernandez Say Hi to Your…

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

Pop LeviThe Return to Form Black Magick Party (Counter) From the first pounding slap-backs and compressed vocals – tight as nut-hugging 514s on a glam fag – it’s easy to forgive critics exalting 21st century boy and ex-Ladytroner Levi as Marc Bolan reincarnate. His hindsight fishnet drags up as much Norman Greenbaum and David Essex…

by Kate X Messer

SXSW Reviews

Gruff RhysCandylion (Team Love) Fitting that this new solo outing from Super Furry Animals frontman Rhys has landed on Conor Oberst’s label’s lap. Although you’d never confuse Rhys’ everything-and-Bob-Dylan-Thomas muso-pop with Oberst’s plaintively American sob, both are enamored of snaring love in what often seem willfully obscurantist songs. Candylion wisely sidesteps – for the most…

by Marc Savlov

SXSW Reviews

Paolo NutiniThese Streets (Atlantic) Atlantic Records has a lot riding on Paolo Nutini, an estimated five albums and seven figures. If the Scottish lad’s largely acoustic Live Sessions EP represented a casual introduction, then These Streets is the first date meant to sweep listeners off their feet. Produced by Ken Nelson (Coldplay, Gomez), Streets features…

by Austin Powell

Live Shots

ShearwaterCentral Presbyterian Church, Thursday, March 15 Consider Shearwater’s otherworldly showcase a testament to the Austin act’s decision to re-record and release a deluxe edition of last year’s Palo Santo. Where that album failed to capture the frailty of songsmith Jonathan Meiburg’s restrained falsetto and magnitude of his cataclysmic outbursts, at the altar of Central Presbyterian…

by Austin Powell

SXSW Film

Rebel Girl: Jamie Babbit on ‘Itty Bitty Titty Committee’ Jamie Babbit makes films about issues. 1999’s But I’m a Cheerleader set up restraightening camp for homosexual teenagers in a pastel-colored satirical world; 2005’s The Quiet portrayed the dark, quiet backwaters of incest and deception; and this year’s Itty Bitty Titty Committee is Babbit’s return to…

by Sofia Resnick

Day Party Crawl

Texas Homebrew Day PartySpider House, Thursday, March 15 In what could have doubled as a panel discussion on alternative media in the digital age, Indierect Records, KVRX 91.7FM, and AustinSound.net stirred a fresh batch of local talent at Spider House. The Lovely Sparrows took flight early, juggling an array of oddball instrumentation while navigating their…

by Austin Powell

Best Cover Band

RUNNERS-UP: The Eggmen, I Need More Cowbell, Odyssey, Spazmatics, Big Balls, Mysterious Ways, Hell’s Belles, SSIK, The Allen Oldies Band

by Chronicle Staff

Best Rock

RUNNERS-UP: The Octopus Project, Reckless Kelly, Broken Teeth, Damesviolet, The Black Angels, Small Stars, Band of Heathens, Vallejo, Tammany Hall Machine

by Chronicle Staff

Best Concert Poster

RUNNERS-UP: Band of Heathens by Jon Pattillo, Oct. 11, Momo’s; The Midgetmen by Justin Petro, March 31, Flamingo Cantina; Reckless Kelly (Robert Earl Keen), Billy Perkins, Dec. 31, Austin Music Hall; Atash by Andrea Burden, Jan. 19, Helm Auditorium; The Black Angels, various; White Ghost Shivers by Billy Bishop, April 28, the Parish; Los Lonely…

by Chronicle Staff

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

Although Saint Patrick is known for driving the snakes from Ireland, a theory says no snakes ever lived there. Honey never spoils. Ever. Except for one document, the phrase “global warming” is nowhere to be found by the search engine on www.whitehouse.gov. In Pulp Fiction, the quote by Samuel L. Jackson’s character Jules of Ezekiel…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

Friday Picks

All Showcases Subject to Change Money Waters Visions, 9:30pm Strong characters telling their most engaging stories are missing in hip-hop right now, claims Dallas rapper Money Waters. “We’ve been doing catchy songs to the point that no one is saying a damned thing anymore,” he says. “I used to trip off of the food [for…

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

Rodrigo y Gabriela(ATO) Not flamenco and certainly not jazz, the Dublin-based guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela deliver a hypnotic, muscular blend of music that owes as much to rock and heavy metal as to the music of their native Mexico. Their self-titled sophomore album is simply stunning. At turns audacious, then tenderly subdued – as…

by Belinda Acosta

SXSW Reviews

Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3Olé! Tarantula (Yep Roc) Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3Sex, Food, Death … and Tarantulas (Yep Roc) There’s something about working with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Young Fresh Fellow Scott McCaughey – two-thirds of the Venus 3 – that brings out the Robynest aspects of Robyn Hitchcock. Going back to…

by Michael Bertin

SXSW Reviews

PalomarAll Things, Forests (Misra) There’s a strangely subdued vibe to Palomar’s fourth album, which also serves as the Brooklyn quartet’s Misra debut. Make no mistake: This is a very strong LP, with Palomar rivaling the Essex Green for the title of Most Underrated Indie Rock Band Ever. There’s just something unsettling about music with pop…

by Melanie Haupt

Capitol Briefs

• Texans like to think they speak their own language, but an Arlington House member wants to mess with our culture and have English – not Texan, not Spanish, not Azerbaijani – declared the official language of Texas. Republican Rep. Bill Zedler last week filed House Joint Resolution 83, which would ask voters to approve…

by Chronicle Staff

Live Shots

Alejandro Escovedo & FriendsAustin Convention Center, Thursday, March 15 With the variety of his material and comrades, Alejandro Escovedo could hold a mini-SXSW himself, which in effect this evening was. Like a good meal, the early portion of the showcase was well-paced, beginning airy and ending heavy, with Escovedo’s String Quintet (guitars, cellos, violin) breaking…

by David Lynch

SXSW Film

ForfeitD: Andrew Shea; with Billy Burke, Sherry Stringfield, John Aylward, Gregory Itzin If nothing else, I’m glad I saw this movie, because it’s helped me to perfect my formula of crime-thriller relativity: Reservoir Dogs minus Quentin Tarantino plus a bunch of crazy plot twists equals Wild Things minus Denise Richard’s boobies plus Jesus equals Forfeit.…

by Jeremy Martin

Best DJ

RUNNERS-UP: Rapid Ric, Scott Kinnebrew, DJ Toddy B, DJ Manny, DJ Chicken George, DJ Casanova, Scorpio Rising, Car Stereo (Wars), Raleigh

by Chronicle Staff

Best Roots Rock

RUNNERS-UP: Reckless Kelly, Band of Heathens, The Gourds, Brothers & Sisters, Patty Griffin, Honeybrowne, San Saba County, Shelley King, Larry Lange & His Lonely Knights

by Chronicle Staff

Friday Showcase Picks

Chicken Ranch & Friends 8pm, Habana Calle 6 The original Hill Country Chicken Ranch (also known as the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) is long gone, but its disuse may explain why the mastermind behind this scrappy Austin label remains amiably stuck in reverse. The robotic retro-sounds of hometown heroes Automusik – check out their…

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

Hydra Head Records Hydra Head Records owner and Isis frontman Aaron Turner said his label’s showcase is “like giving the finger to the rest of the industry.” That’s obvious given his label’s latest batch of releases. The latest from Jesu, Conqueror, is another sliver off 2006’s Silver EP: shimmering shoegaze metal, where cascading waterfalls of…

by Austin Powell

SXSW Reviews

Rickie Lee JonesThe Sermon on Exposition Boulevard (New West) On her New West debut, Rickie Lee Jones hasn’t only recorded a collection of songs unlike anything she’s done before, it’s quite possible that The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard is unlike anything anyone has recorded, ever. Jones and her collaborators, wordsmith Lee Cantelon and guitarist Peter…

by Jim Caligiuri

SXSW Reviews

The Summer Wardrobe(Rainbow Quartz) The ghostly girl in the flower dress floating through the desert on the cover of the Summer Wardrobe’s debut speaks volumes about what lurks within. Led by tone-centric Austin guitarist/vocalist Jon Sanchez and pedal steel ace John Leon, the twang-laden psych-pop quartet distinguishes itself with spacey yet meticulous arrangements and a…

by Greg Beets

Live Shots

Rachel Fuller & ‘Special Guests’La Zona Rosa, Thursday, March 15 If you didn’t know that Rachel Fuller was Pete Townshend’s main squeeze, you should’ve gone to South Padre for your spring break. And “Special Guest” he was. In fact, when the showcase’s scheduled opener was running late, Townshend stepped onstage and proclaimed, “I’ll close it.…

by Michael Bertin

SXSW Film

Grimm LoveD: Martin Weisz; with Keri Russell, Thomas Huber, Thomas Kretschmann When Armin Meiwes, a German computer technician, was found guilty of cannibalism, the world was shocked. Yet what was most shocking was not that he ate someone but that someone willingly volunteered to be eaten. Shooting this semifictionalized account of the crime in the…

by Richard Whittaker

The Ultimate Gift

In this inspirational film, a deceased tycoon’s will decrees that his grandson perform a series of tasks to determine if the young man is worthy of inheriting the fortune.

by Toddy Burton

Best Experimental

RUNNERS-UP: John Pointer, Ghostland Observatory, Invincible Czars, Shuttle Debris, Ohn, Lomita, Death Is Not a Joyride, Chant, White Ghost Shivers

by Chronicle Staff

Friday Sleepers

All Showcases Subject to Change Ray Sharpe 7pm, Opal Divine’s Freehouse Ray Sharpe’s appearance at SXSW is the very definition of a “sleeper” act. The Dallas-area veteran blues-rocker hit in 1959 with the righteous regional rocker “Linda Lu” (recorded by the Rolling Stones in 1978 but never released). With soulful vocals sounding as good as…

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

Bloc PartyA Weekend in the City (Vice) Anthemic impulses collide with heady electronic effects on Bloc Party’s second album. The good news is that the band remains committed to broader themes rather than mere tales of lost love. BP is the product of 21st century London, after all, and that means its attempt to rise…

by Dan Oko

SXSW Reviews

Elana James(Snarf) Few people get to rebound from their band imploding by touring with Bob Dylan. That’s exactly what happened to Austin’s Elana James. When fiddler James and Whit Smith of the Hot Club of Cowtown decided to go in different directions, her joining the music legend’s band eased some of the pain. It also…

by Jim Caligiuri

SXSW Reviews

Field MusicTones of Town (Memphis Industries) Ever wonder what would happen if the Futureheads’ post-punk infectiousness was abducted by the carnivalesque mindfuck of Yes? The answer is Field Music, Sunderland, England’s premier(e) dance-prog trio. While prog-rockers lean toward extended noodling, Field Music, with the exception of opening Roundabout “Give It Lose It Take It,” sticks…

by Darcie Stevens

Live Shots

Sahara Smith18th Floor @ Hilton Garden Inn, Thursday, March 15 The very definition of precociousness, Sahara Smith is not your typical high school senior. With the sun and Downtown Austin fading behind her through the 18th Floor’s picture windows, the 18-year-old local held an intrigued audience rapt with songs that journeyed though musical territory that…

by Jim Caligiuri

SXSW Film

Hard Road Home D: Mackey Alston If only our broken parole system would take a couple of pointers from this movie, shot over eight months in East Harlem. Alston follows 21-year-old Griffik, out of jail just a week, to the offices of Exodus Transitional Community, where his case manager secures him job interviews and follows…

by Diana Welch

Best Folk

RUNNERS-UP: Brobdingnagian Bards, Band of Heathens, Eliza Gilkyson, The Tea Merchants, The Lovely Sparrows, Brothers & Sisters, Ruthie Foster, Slaid Cleaves, Bob Livingston

by Chronicle Staff

Best Acoustic Guitar

RUNNERS-UP: Monte Montgomery; Eric Johnson; John Pointer; Slim Richey; Rick del Castillo; Mark del Castillo; Willy Braun, Reckless Kelly; Gordy Quist, Band of Heathens; Fred Andrews, Honeybrowne

by Chronicle Staff

Saturday Picks

All Showcases Subject to Change Jandek 7pm, Central Presbyterian Church Anyone who was there that night remembers the sight: Jandek walking – no, floating – onstage, dressed in black and dark blue, light as a feather while we all sat stiff as boards. He managed to completely silence the crowd at the Scottish Rite Theatre…

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

The CinematicsA Strange Education (TVT) This debut by four Glasgow lads who perhaps should have pursued their own educations a bit further answers the dubious (and heretofore unasked) question, “What would a band ripping off the Bravery sound like?” Never mind why anyone would even care, but the last thing a disc morphing at will…

by Christopher Gray

SXSW Reviews

Apostle of HustleNational Anthem of Nowhere (Arts & Crafts) Like a puppy competing in the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge, Toronto’s Andrew Whiteman careens over hurdles and weaves through obstacle courses. He races up the seesaw, and suddenly the ground becomes unsteady. Fido freezes. Always that damn seesaw. Whiteman’s Apostle of Hustle loses focus halfway through…

by Darcie Stevens

Live Shots

Tosca String Quartet & LambchopHabana Calle 6 Annex, Thursday, March 15 Forlorn bards and string quartets aren’t necessarily meant to be heard in tents sandwiched between freeways and police-station parking lots, but at SXSW, you play ball with the venue you’re dealt. Lambchop mainstay Kurt Wagner joined Austin’s Tosca String Quartet for stripped-down versions of…

by Greg Beets

SXSW Film

Lost in WoonsocketD: John Chester If you can make it past this documentary’s two main problems – its manipulative, weepy, folk soundtrack and the fact that one of the protagonists, Andre Miller, acts exactly like the goofy-ass youth minister who used to hang out at your junior high – you’re rewarded with a pretty decent…

by Jeremy Martin

Best Hip Hop

RUNNERS-UP: Dirty Wormz, Boombox, Zeale 32, Bavu Blakes, Tee Double, The Arab League, Basswood Lane, Phranchyze, Dubb Sicks

by Chronicle Staff

Best Bass Guitar

RUNNERS-UP: David Miller, Drew Walters, Bruce Hughes, Mick Southerland, Seth Whitney, Jimmy McFeeley, Gary Herman, Albert Besteiro, Jake Blackwell

by Chronicle Staff

Best New Club

RUNNERS-UP: Emo’s Lounge, Red 7, Pure, The Belmont, The Oaks, Beauty Bar, Union Park, Woody’s, The Continental Club Gallery

by Chronicle Staff

Saturday Showcase Picks

Bella Union 8pm, Buffalo Billiards Scotland’s Simon Raymonde knows the music business. His iconic Cocteau Twins went through the ringer in the Nineties, finally founding Bella Union Records. When the Twins dissolved in 1997, Raymonde dove into the label. Glaswegian experimental indie-pop quintet My Latest Novel is among the most recent signees with its 2006…

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

ErrorsHow Clean Is Your Acid House? (Rock Action) It’s no mistake; Glasgow’s Errors ended up on Mogwai’s label: Both groups manage and master the sorts of interstitial sonic soundscapes usually reserved for colliding protons or the occasional interplanetary dustup. Where Mogwai constructs towering harmonic cathedrals from the heady debris of feedback loops and forever chords,…

by Marc Savlov

SXSW Reviews

The Apples in StereoNew Magnetic Wonder (Yep Roc) With apologies to Spoon’s Britt Daniel, Apples in Stereo frontman Robert Schneider might have opted for the title My Mathematical Mind instead of New Magnetic Wonder in geeking out and creating his own “Non-Pythagorean” music scale to recording the band’s first album in five years. See, the…

by Michael Bertin

Excerpt

From the July 23, 2006, section of the “Leave or Die” series, Elliot Jaspin reports on the Atlanta media reaction to a 1987 civil rights march in Forsyth County, Ga., organized in part to recall the 1912 racial expulsion.

by Chronicle Staff

Live Shots

Under ByenEmo’s Main Room, Thursday, March 15 Under Byen was proclaimed “probably the best band in the world” by Rolling Stone’s David Fricke in 2003, and while that declaration might be a bit grand, their live set proved they’re at least the loudest band at Emo’s on Thursday night. Their fifth album, Samme Stof Som…

by Audra Schroeder

Ballroom Dancing

SXSW Interview: Emmylou HarrisAustin Convention Center, Thursday, March 15 Emmylou Harris and filmmaker Jonathan Demme must be kindred spirits. Playing the parts of interviewer and interviewee, the duo joked and jabbered about age and love; Harris’ “gift from God,” Buddy Miller; her relationship with the legendary Gram Parsons; and the experience of making Demme’s doc…

by Darcie Stevens

SXSW Film

Quiet CityD: Aaron Katz; with Erin Fisher, Cris Lankenau, Sarah Hellman, Joe Swanberg, Tucker Stone, Michael Tully, Karrie Crouse If you were wondering what it’s like to be in your 20s living in Brooklyn with nothing to do, look no further than Quiet City. Katz’s second feature is short on action but long on ambience,…

by Josh Rosenblatt

Best Indie

RUNNERS-UP: Voxtrot, Ghostland Observatory, Lomita, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Patrice Pike, The Black Angels, Shuttle Debris, Tammany Hall Machine, The Midgetmen

by Chronicle Staff

Best Radio Music Program

RUNNERS-UP: Chillville, Ray Seggern, 101X; Next Big Thing, Andy Langer, 101X; Twine Time, Paul Ray, KUT; Texas Music Matters, David Brown, KUT; Local Licks, Loris Lowe, KLBJ; Folkways, Ed Miller, Larry Monroe, Dave Oberman, Tom Pittman, Teresa Ferguson, KUT; No Control, Chuck Loesch, 101X; Blue Monday, Larry Monroe, KUT; Lone Star State of Mind, Bobby…

by Chronicle Staff

Saturday Sleepers

All Showcases Subject to Change The Sippy Cups 12:30pm, Town Lake Stage @ Auditorium Shores For some truly trippin’ family time, check this San Francisco sextet, which relies on giant puppets, bright colors, and juggling unicyclists to hold the rugrats in thrall. Their self-released debut, Electric Storyland, earned raves from all the kid-rock critics; this…

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

Danava(Kemado) Just as Shakespeare invented every good plot, so too did the “Spiral Architect” Tony Iommi lay down every almighty riff. Portland, Ore.’s Danava was first rolled out by Kemado Records with last year’s Invaders compilation and “By the Mark,” alongside hipster metal counterparts Witch, Witchcraft, Dungen, and ATX’s the Sword. Where others pick up…

by Austin Powell

SXSW Reviews

The WogglesRock and Roll Backlash (Wicked Cool) For two decades, the Woggles have marched forth from Georgia like Sherman in reverse, leveling nightclubs with their hip-shaking, windshield-steaming garage rock fusillade. Now signed to Little Steven’s Wicked Cool label, the quartet’s latest moves the scorched-earth party up to the gates of Best Buy. While Rock and…

by Greg Beets

Elliot Jaspin’s ‘Euphemism Generator’

When his editors objected to his use of the phrase “racial cleansing” to describe the expulsion of African-Americans from their communities, reporter Elliot Jaspin sardonically created a “euphemism generator,” allowing editors to pick words from different categories to develop a palatable replacement, such as “involuntary African-American relocation.”Euphemism GeneratorDirections: Just pick one word or phrase from…

by Chronicle Staff

Live Shots

The Besnard LakesMohawk, Thursday, March 15 “These songs are for the people out there,” frontman Jace Lacek joked to the lined-up throngs (three lines, people, c’mon!). “We’re gonna smoke this place out.” With that, the fog machine let loose a barrage of mood-inducing thickness as Lacek and wife/bassist Olga Goreas sighed “For Agent 13,” from…

by Darcie Stevens

Ballroom Dancing

SXSW Interview: Tom AndersonAustin Convention Center, Thursday, March 15 Was MySpace designed for band promotion? “Music tends to dominate what people think about [MySpace],” declared the Web site’s co-founder/President Tom Anderson. “But music was added six months after it started.” In a conversation with Steve Jones – Sex Pistol guitarist and deejay on L.A.’s Indie…

by David Lynch

SXSW Film

Reel Shorts 3D: Various “For a Swim With the Fish,” directed by Tara Autovino, stars the director’s daughter, Tali, who is charming as a girl who believes her deceased mother is a mermaid living in the Gulf of Mexico… Karl Raudsepp-Hearne’s “Monday Night” is a five-minute laugher in which a man loses his temper on…

by John Razook

The Italian

An Italian couple’s decision to adopt a Russian boy creates a troubling situation for young Vanya, who doesn’t want to leave the country without meeting his birth mother.

by Steve Davis

Best Electric Guitar

RUNNERS-UP: Ray Benson; Eric Johnson; Scrappy Jud Newcomb; Slim Richey; David Abeyta, Reckless Kelly; Gary Clark Jr.; Henry Garza, Los Lonely Boys; Eric Tessmer; Josh Zee

by Chronicle Staff

Best Radio Personality

RUNNERS-UP: Dale Dudley, KLBJ; John Aielli, KUT; Bryan Beck, KGSR; Raydog, 101X; Charlie Hodge, KLBJ; Larry Monroe, KUT; Jody Denberg, KGSR; Trina Quinn, 101X; Anne Hudson, KVET

by Chronicle Staff

Arts Review

The cast of this touring production of Disney’s The Lion King performs with such skill and fullness of spirit that the show soars on an uplifting freshness

by Robert Faires

The Stooges Reviewed

The StoogesThe Weirdness (Virgin) Last year’s outstanding New York Dolls album proved that improbable comebacks don’t necessarily have to reek of warm mothballs. That lesson was apparently lost on the Stooges. While Ann Arbor, Mich.’s finest never actually embarrass themselves with their first studio album in 33 years, much of The Weirdness exudes the same…

by Greg Beets

SXSW Reviews

Whiskey River (Take My Mind): The True Story of Texas Honky-Tonkby Johnny Bush with Rick Mitchell University of Texas Press, 272 pp., $24.95 Johnny Bush has a glorious story to tell. A pillar of Texas country music and close associate to Willie Nelson via his “Whiskey River,” Bush’s place in history is cemented. What’s most…

by Jim Caligiuri

SXSW Reviews

Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration(Stax/Concord) Almost 31 years after Stax Records declared bankruptcy, Concord Music Group is reactivating the legendary Memphis label with new signings (Isaac Hayes, Angie Stone) and a long slate of reissues. This new two-disc set provides a succinct, 50-song aural history of the evolution of Southern soul, from the early Sixties through…

by Greg Beets

SXSW Reviews

Bon SavantsPost Rock Defends the Nation (E to the I Pi) Rock groups that sell albums in an age when hardly anyone buys them are also selling something else, whether an image or a familiar sound. Preferably both, leaving bands like Boston’s Bon Savants predestined for the crossfire. Brazenly derivative but interesting nonetheless, the quartet’s…

by Christopher Gray

TDCJ Negligence Alleged

Texas Civil Rights Project says failure to follow policy and provide adequate medical attention in timely manner are to blame in prisoner deaths.

by Jordan Smith

Live Shots

O’Death/Dragons of ZynthParish II, Thursday, March 15 Highlighting some of Brooklyn’s best experimental talents, the bands on Gigantic’s showcase fit the bill by refusing to fit anywhere else. Case in point, newcomers O’Death and Dragons of Zynth. O’Death kicked things off quite literally with drummer David Rogers-Berry breaking his foot pedal amidst the fury while…

by Doug Freeman

Ballroom Dancing

China’s Emerging Music MarketAustin Convention Center, Thursday, March 15 With 1.4 billion potential customers, China is in the music industry’s sights. Thursday’s panel addressed the pros and cons of product distribution and live performance there, starting with astronomically high levels of piracy and little in the way of intellectual-property rights. Kaiser Kuo from Chinese metal…

by Greg Beets

SXSW Film

Robyn Hitchcock: Sex, Food, Death, and InsectsD: John Edginton In 2006, songwriter and former Soft Boy Robyn Hitchcock gathered some of his closest musical friends about him and recorded an album of new material at a West London townhouse. For one week, his wonderfully cryptic songs bloomed against the backdrop of ivy-strewn alleys and sun-filled…

by Josh Rosenblatt

Best Instrumental

RUNNERS-UP: Austin Symphony, McLemore Avenue, The Tea Merchants, Explosions in the Sky, The Golden Arm Trio, 3 Balls of Fire, The Monster Big Band, Mundi, Tia Carrera

by Chronicle Staff

Best Female Vocals

RUNNERS-UP: Elizabeth McQueen, Carolyn Wonderland, Eliza Gilkyson, Ruthie Foster, Kelly Willis, Cella Blue, Patty Griffin, Sara Hickman, Teal Collins

by Chronicle Staff

Best Radio Program

RUNNERS-UP: The Bobby Bones Show, KISS; Chillville, 101X; Eklektikos, KUT; Sam and Bob in the Morning, KVET; KGSR in the Morning, KGSR; JB and Sandy in the Morning, Mix; No Control, 101X; Local Licks, KLBJ; Folkways, KUT

by Chronicle Staff

Arts Review

Gallery Lombardi is in its new space on Seventh Street with another group show hanging salon-style, but there’s something a little different about “Draw”

by Salvador Castillo

SXSW Reviews

Golden BearTo the Farthest Star (C-Side) When the Royal Forest Horns raise their trumpets and release their fanfare, Golden Bear’s second album in less than a year explodes in jubilation. The Austin quintet doesn’t force elation; it comes with the territory: a bright, clear beam from the fragile vox of lead Bear Chris Gregory and…

by Darcie Stevens

SXSW Reviews

The Besnard LakesThe Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar) Montrealer Jace Lacek’s falsetto is what Sixties beach bunnies dreamt of: “Baby, I’ve got some words for you.” Except Lacek’s Frankie Avalon would be the chain-smoker in leather. Along with wife and bandmate Olga Goreas, Lacek guzzles a cocktail of hallucinogenic daydreams and spills it…

by Darcie Stevens

SXSW Reviews

Six Parts SevenCasually Smashed to Pieces (Suicide Squeeze) Coming together like continental drifts, Six Parts Seven’s epic instrumentals coalesced into compositional soundscapes over the Kent, Ohio, group’s first several studio releases. This culminated with 2004’s stunningly subdued Everywhere and Right Here. The title of the band’s latest suggests an upping of this intensity, but that’s…

by Michael Bertin

Ballroom Dancing

Idiots Unite!Austin Convention Center, Thursday, March 15 Ostensibly about “how to survive, thrive, and be happy working with the universally loved art form called music,” this was a wide-ranging discussion about the state of music business. Led by David Katznelson, president of the Birdman Recording Group, the dominant voice of the afternoon was that of…

by Jim Caligiuri

SXSW Film

Skills Like This D: Monty Miranda; with Spencer Berger, Gabriel Tigerman and Brian Phelan This Bottle Rocket-esque story of a horrid writer who discovers he’s a pretty decent robber stars Berger as cotton-candy-haired Max and Phelan as Tommy, Dignan for the 00s. As the latter blusters about doing big things, Max walks across the street,…

by Joe O'Connell

Band of the Year

RUNNERS-UP: Band of Heathens, Reckless Kelly, The Octopus Project, Grupo Fantasma, Del Castillo, Kevin Fowler, The Mother Truckers, Ghostland Observatory, The Black Angels

by Chronicle Staff

Best Jazz

RUNNERS-UP: David Chenu, Ray McCarty, Omar Lopez, Gnappy, Drop Trio, White Ghost Shivers, The Monster Big Band, Ephraim Owens, Jazz Pharaohs

by Chronicle Staff

Best Horns

RUNNERS-UP: Ephraim Owens, Mingo Fishtrap horns, David Chenu, Brad Houser, Nick Warrenchuck, Grupo Fantasma, John Doyle, M-Squad, Carolyn Wonderland

by Chronicle Staff

Arts Review

Christa Palazzolo was an astounding painter before she left Austin for New York, but her solo show at 1906 Gallery shows that her artistic skill has only deepened

by W. A. Brenner

SXSW Reviews

AqueductOr Give Me Death (Barsuk) Aqueduct’s Seventies AOR influences are unmistakable. The Boston-esque harmonized guitar fill on opener “Lying in the Bed I’ve Made” is followed by an Emerson, Lake & Palmer synth picking up the melody, then the back half employs some Brian Wilson vocal harmonies. While dissecting each piece is a fun Where’s…

by Michael Bertin

SXSW Reviews

The PonysTurn the Lights Out (Matador) Our little Ponys are all grown up. Following two albums of brash, bare garage rock, the Chicago quartet’s Matador bow packs on a hefty layer of instrumental embellishment reminiscent of age-proof indie warhorses Yo La Tengo. Occasionally they go too far the other way, gazing at their shoes too…

by Christopher Gray

SXSW Reviews

This Will Destroy YouYoung Mountain (Magic Bullet) San Marcos instrumental quartet This Will Destroy You might, but it won’t surprise you. Their self-pressed debut is immediately familiar, emotional, steady. Re-released last summer, Young Mountain is, simply put, post-rock done tight. You know when to take a deep breath – and when to stop breathing. Few…

by Darcie Stevens

Naked City

Quote of the Week “[It] was more like a suggestion.” – Sen. Jane Nelson’s new characterization of Gov. Perry’s HPV-vaccination order after a conversation with Attorney General Greg Abbott convinced her that the order does not carry the force of law Headlines• Add Texas to the list of states that have pulled their contracts with…

by Chronicle Staff

Ballroom Dancing

Artists Speak UpAustin Convention Center, Thursday, March 15 In the odd grouping of Brits (The Stranglers’ Hugh Cornwell, actor-glam rocker Michael des Barres, Marco Pirroni of Siouxsie & the Banshees, and moderator B.P. Fallon), Yanks (the Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine, grown-up Zach and Taylor Hanson), and an underattended audience of about 30, the artists spoke, joked,…

by Margaret Moser

SXSW Film

Climate Control: ‘Call of the Hummingbird’ and ‘Everything’s Cool’ It’s hard to imagine why you’d need to see another global-warming documentary when An Inconvenient Truth has delivered the message so definitively. But Everything’s Cool and Call of the Hummingbird tell entirely different sides of the story. There are no CO2 graphs in Everything’s Cool, nor…

by Nora Ankrum

Best New Band

RUNNERS-UP: The Mother Truckers, Idgy Vaughn, Brothers & Sisters, The Lovely Sparrows, The Alice Rose, Shuttle Debris, The Justin Brown Translation, Adrenaline Factor, New Disaster

by Chronicle Staff

Best Kid

RUNNERS-UP: Palm School Choir, Austin Youth Pipes & Drums, The Paul Green School of Rock Music, Max & Henry, Rubber Monster, The Frets, The Steps, Guess?, Ending Silence

by Chronicle Staff

Best Keyboards

RUNNERS-UP: John Whitby, Brian Keane, Floyd Domino, Earl Poole Ball, Pinetop Perkins, Yvonne Lambert, Shuttle Debris, Patrick Benfield, Stefano Intelisano

by Chronicle Staff

Best Record Producer

RUNNERS-UP: Mark Addison for Live From Momo’s, Band of Heathens; Rick Del Castillo for Brotherhood, Del Castillo; Erik Wofford for Passover, the Black Angels; Lloyd Maines for Valley So Steep, the Texas Sapphires; Paul Pearcy for Origin Story, Idgy Vaughn; Mark Hallman for Love and Fear, Tom Russell; Gurf Morlix for Snake Farm, Ray Wylie…

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

Sondre Lerche & the Faces DownPhantom Punch (Astralworks) Following the jazz-pop indulgence of last year’s Duper Sessions, LP No. 3, Sondre Lerche comes out swinging on Phantom Punch. Just don’t expect a knockout. While the prolific Norwegian singer-songwriter bobs and weaves with the best of Scandinavian pop, taking jabs at Bacharach and early Costello, Punch…

by Doug Freeman

SXSW Reviews

White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s by Joe Boyd Serpent’s Tail/Consortium, 274 pp., $18 Producer Joe Boyd had an uncanny knack for being present “when the mode of music changes [and] the walls of the city shake.” He worked for impresario George Wein at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when Bob Dylan plugged in…

by Jay Trachtenberg

SXSW Reviews

KylesaTime Will Fuse Its Worth (Prosthetic) Dirt under the fingers, caking and cracking until it becomes blood. That’s the gist of “What Becomes an End,” the tempo-changing behemoth opening Kylesa’s second Prosthetic LP. And when it sloooows down, the feeling’s so palpable that you’re afraid to look over your shoulder. The Savannah, Ga., quintet excels…

by Audra Schroeder

My SXSW

The kid in the Irish bar changing strings on his Fender Strat sees me, and I see him. Soon he’ll be serenading the Austin skyline from a hot ‘n’ bouncy bar or a wild ‘n’ windy outdoor stage. Scores of young pop ‘n’ folk angels cruise the city, breaking hearts and playing parts. Oh, how…

by Donovan

SXSW Film

Steal a Pencil for MeD: Michèle Ohayon Israeli director Ohayon puts a unique spin on stories of the Holocaust with Steal a Pencil for Me, adapted from the nonfiction book of the same name. In it, survivors Jack (Jaap) Polak and his wife, Ina Soep Polak, tell the story of how they met in Amsterdam…

by Melanie Haupt

Musician of the Year

RUNNERS-UP: Ray Benson; Bob Schneider; Ian McLagan; James McMurtry; Eric Johnson; Ed Jurdi, Band of Heathens; John Pointer; Guy Forsyth; Kevin Fowler

by Chronicle Staff

Best Male Vocals

RUNNERS-UP: John Pointer; Willy Braun, Reckless Kelly; Bob Schneider; Guy Forsyth; Alex Ruiz, Del Castillo; Malford Milligan; Ed Jurdi, Band of Heathens; Dale Watson; Kevin Fowler

by Chronicle Staff

Best Record Store

RUNNERS-UP: Cheapo Discs, End of an Ear, Antone’s Record Shop, Piranha Records, Snake Eyes Vinyl, Things Celtic, Encore Records, BackSpin Records, Turntable Records

by Chronicle Staff

SXSW Reviews

Albert Hammond Jr.Yours to Keep (New Line) The solo debut from Albert Hammond Jr. doesn’t have the stylish and sexy six-string swagger one would expect from the ‘froed Strokes guitarist, but it does yield enough Top 40 radio gems to spark a small feud with Liam Gallagher. Opener “Cartoon Music for Superheroes” finds the Beach…

by Austin Powell

SXSW Reviews

AntibalasSecurity (Anti-) It’s possible this dozen-member, Brooklyn-born collective dropped the latter two-thirds of its name – Afrobeat Orchestra – because it wanted to move out from beneath Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat umbrella. Assuming so, asking John McEntire (Tom Ze, Stereolab, Tortoise) to produce their fourth was thoughtful. The sonic alchemist captures the band’s unrelenting live energy…

by David Lynch

SXSW Reviews

Lower Class BratsLoud and Out of Tune (TKO) This live CD/DVD combo from Austin’s Lower Class Brats is about as close as you can get to an all-ages hardcore show circa 1987 without leaving your living room. While there’s no substitute for seeing the Brats’ keep it alive in person, the 17-song CD does a…

by Greg Beets

Capital Metro Labor Update

Council Member Lee Leffingwell to present resolution that could ultimately result in meet-and-confer negotiations for bus company’s employees and end outsourcing of Cap Met jobs

by Wells Dunbar

SXSW Film Reviews

Silver JewD: Michael Tully In the early Nineties, David Berman began releasing records (with then-co-worker Stephen Malkmus of Pavement fame) under the moniker Silver Jews and has done very well for himself in the underground indie-rock scene despite the decision to not tour or play live. In 1999, Berman released a book of poetry titled…

by Mark Fagan

Ice Cream Man Presents!

Today we’re down at the Levi’s Fader Fort slinging cream to passersby and folks waiting to get in. When I looked at the lineup for the day, I noticed it was being kicked off by Brighton, UK’s Pipettes and I instantly thought they’d make a great flavor of the day. Somehow I got lucky and…

by Matt Allen

SXSW Film

Audience of OneD: Michael Jacobs By the time Pentecostal pastor Richard Gazowsky says, “It’s either God, or I’m crazy,” you’re pretty sure it’s the latter. Beginning as one man’s singular vision of directing a top-of-the-line feature film, Audience of One gracefully descends into a study of a man deluded by extreme, blind faith. The rookie…

by James Renovitch

SXSW Film

¡Ya Basta!D: Ricardo Ainslie It’s been said that everyone in Mexico knows someone who’s been kidnapped, and as the current world No. 1 in forced abductions (clocking a solid 10 per day), it stands to reason. ÁYa Basta! (“Enough!”) serves up this tenuous situation family style, as numerous firsthand accounts from terrorized victims and their…

by Taylor Holland

SXSW Film

ArrangedD: Stefan Schaefer and Diane Crespo; with Zoe Lister-Jones, Francis Benhamou, John Rothman, Mimi Lieber, Laith Nakli, Doris Belack Needless to say, we here in Central Texas don’t get much opportunity for insight into the complexities of the Jewish Orthodox culture in South Brooklyn. As a result, the simple sweetness of this heartfelt effort arrives…

by Toddy Burton

SXSW Film

BlindsightD: Lucy Walker The challenge of climbing Mount Everest is a daunting task for even the most experienced climber. Now imagine the challenge it holds for six blind teenagers from Tibet who have been told nothing from the time they were born except that they are “blind idiots” and “blind fools.” That is until the…

by Mark Fagan

SXSW Film

BorderlandD: Zev Berman; with Brian Presley, Jake Muxworthy, Rider Strong, Sean Astin, Beto Cuevas, Damián Alcázar, Martha Higareda “This is freaky,” director Berman warned, “so if you are at all sensitive, please: This is not for you.” While the story of three college-bound teens crossing the Texas border into Mexico for a weekend of debauchery…

by Darcie Stevens

SXSW Film

The Fertility Gamble: Shannon O’Rourke on ‘Maybe Baby’ Determined to “take life by the balls,” Betsy decides to have a baby at age 37. Wall Street financier Joanne can’t wait any longer for Mr. Right at age 43, so, she muses, “I had to frickin’ pay for the sperm.” Martina, a vivacious teacher, longs for…

by Marrit Ingman

My SXSW

The 12 years I spent away from the music business coincided almost exactly with the rise of SXSW. It’s a phenomenon I’ve observed from a distance, and I’m excited to see it firsthand. In 1992 I quit music to become a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur. It took a while for my company to become successful…

by Thomas Dolby

SXSW Film

Cat DancersD: Harris Fishman “I knew Siegfried before Roy,” declares Ron Holiday in the process of telling his life story here. He and his wife Joy were entertainers who performed live in the Sixties with exotic cats before the more famous Vegas duo achieved their fame. The Holidays preceded Siegfried & Roy in other ways,…

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Day Party Crawl

Little Radio Day PartyRed Eyed Fly, Wednesday, March 14 It was spitting rain Seattle style when the Little Radio crew brought out free Bloody Marys for the bleary-eyed. “What time is it?” asked Bloodcat Love vocalist Myles Hendrik. “We’ve been driving for 24 hours.” The New Zealander led the groggy L.A.-based quintet on a ride…

by Greg Beets

SXSW Film

Confessions of a SuperheroD: Matt Ogens “A doctor may save your life, but will you remember him?” Maynard, Tenn., native Jennifer Gehrt addresses the camera wearing a cleavage-friendly gold-and-red halter top and thick gold bands encircling her wrists. Among the myriad costumed panhandlers – er, performers – who pose for tourist photos on Hollywood Boulevard,…

by Sofia Resnick

Day Party Crawl

KEXP Broadcast: Day One’Austin City Limits’ soundstage, Wednesday, March 14 On the first of three daily live broadcasts courtesy of Seattle’s KEXP FM, London’s Early Years tested the limits of broadband frequency with searing sonic soundscapes that found guitarists David Malkinson and Roger Mackin becoming one with their various pedals. The duo ended their scorching…

by Austin Powell

TCB: Thursday

“I ain’t drinkin’ anymore, but I ain’t drinking any less.” – Kevin Fowler So It Begins The Stooges have been very selective in adding SXSW appearances besides Saturday night’s Stubb’s show, but they will play around 1pm Friday at the Austin City Limits studio on the UT campus, SXSW home away from home for Seattle’s…

by Christopher Gray

SXSW Film

Election Day D: Katy Chevigny After the 2000 elections, a swathe of political documentaries painted a grim portrait of the democratic process. For anyone embittered about the whole poll thing, Election Day takes a bittersweet snapshot of voting, American style. From the polls’ open to the final counts on Nov. 2, 2004, it shows the…

by Richard Whittaker

Day Party Crawl

South by Soup Fest/South by San JoséGüeró’s/Jo’s Coffee, Wednesday, March 14 The misty gray skies matched the attitude on South Congress Wednesday afternoon. It may have been the kickoff to the biggest music week in town, but most folks spoke in subdued tones hoping the double espresso would work its magic. At Güeró’s fine Mexican…

by Jim Caligiuri

SXSW Film

The GitsD: Kerri O’Kane Back in the early Nineties, when the Seattle scene was exploding, a little-known but much-loved punk outfit was poised to assume the national spotlight alongside fellow Emerald City bands like Nirvana. But on the night of July 7, 1993, the Gits’ trajectory was halted midascendancy with the brutal rape and murder…

by Melanie Haupt

Live Shots

Idgy VaughnAle House, Wednesday, March 14 Idgy Vaughn, a small town girl who does it better. The local singer-songwriter’s music has been called “twisted Americana,” and that might sum up a good deal of her songs, though “jaded” or “scorned” might work better. The redhead mounted the stage in a long, paisley dress and she…

by Audra Schroeder

Ballroom Dancing

SXSW Interview: Gilberto GilAustin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 14 Interviewer Christopher Dunn’s problem was palpable. What do you ask Gilberto Gil, the Minister of Culture of the world’s fifth most populous nation, an international music star, and someone who’s lived several lifetimes? About bossa nova’s advent, or Gil’s fiftysomethingth new album Gil Luminoso (DRG)? Creating…

by David Lynch

SXSW Film

Kurt Cobain About a SonD: A.J. Schnack This is not a documentary. Schnack’s moving film is fine art on celluloid. Images of the Northwest awaken beneath the vibrant, angry voice of Kurt Cobain as he tells his story to music journalist Michael Azerrad. From his childhood in Aberdeen, Wash., to his last days in Seattle,…

by Darcie Stevens

Live Shots

The Soul of John BlackContinental Club, Wednesday, March 14 Picking up where the Band of Gypsys left off, the Soul of John Black proved unequivocally that to this day there’s still absolutely nothing wrong with idolizing the fuck out of Jimi Hendrix. L.A.-based southpaw guitarist John Bigham led a traditional power trio through jangling forays…

by Robert Gabriel

Ballroom Dancing

Working the Web: Resources for MusiciansAustin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 14 Even with the myriad resources available for bands to share their music on today’s Interweb, the bottom line remains the same – if you want to take your band somewhere, you have to promote it like hell. Wednesday’s panel on Web resources, hosted by…

by Doug Freeman

SXSW Film

A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar D: Eric Chaikin Some might argue that a society in which mattress manufacturers pay out millions to customers who fall off their beds and makers of carriages have to print warning labels telling people not to fold up their product while their baby is still availing himself of its…

by Josh Rosenblatt

Live Shots

Charlie LouvinThe Parish, Wednesday, March 14 Introduced as a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1955, Charlie Louvin is a bona fide country music legend well deserving of an anxious music throng. Closing in on 80, Louvin didn’t disappoint those looking for a down-home experience. It’s difficult to say bad things about your aging…

by Jim Caligiuri

Ballroom Dancing

A Field Guide to Indie LabelsAustin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 14 “Try to hold your resources as much as possible,” Yep Roc founder Glenn Dicker pled. “Try to grow slowly and organically. Be patient.” For this panel of indie-label big wigs, “organic” is the key word. Every label initially came out of a passion for…

by Darcie Stevens

SXSW Film

Reel Shorts ID: various In “LOOPS: a Portrait of Caddie Life,” directors M.R. Dahr and Stephen McFarland present a poignant documentary short portraying the hopes and dreams (or lack thereof) of caddies at the Winged Foot Golf Club in New York. Caddyshack this isn’t. The booze and drugs taken by real-life caddy Brenden O’Toole don’t…

by John Razook

Live Shots

DonovanCentral Presbyterian Church, Wednesday, March 14 Given the preponderance of canes and crutches, one could have misconstrued that folks entering Central Presbyterian Church did so for a healing ceremony. If so, nostalgia was the salve. Like Brazilian soccer stars and Indonesian commoners, the Glasgow, Scotland-born Donovan Phillips Leitch is known by his first name. Admiring…

by David Lynch

SXSW Film Minute: Honeydripper

The eve of the world’s biggest rock & roll conference might just be the perfect place for inevitable indie film legend John Sayles, the writer/director behind Lone Star, The Secret of Roan Inish, and Men With Guns, to talk about his most recently wrapped project. The underlying theme of Honeydripper, set in 1950s Alabama, might…

by Michael Bertin

SXSW Film

Reel Shorts IID: various “Death to the Tinman,” directed by Ray Tintori, leads off this collection of short films. The film is an adaptation of the L. Frank Baum classic The Tin Woodman of Oz as remembered (somewhat wrongly) by the director’s father. Shot in black and white, this is a very creative offering from…

by John Razook

Live Shots

Tammany Hall MachineMaggie Mae’s Rooftop, Wednesday, March 14 It’s the Mooney Suzuki meets Ben Folds. Or maybe it’s Pulp hybridized with Billy Preston. Austin’s Tammany Hall Machine sounds strikingly similar to so many things, but its main virtue is that it doesn’t sound precisely like any of them. After plowing through a muddy mix for…

by Michael Bertin

SXSW Film

Love and MaryD: Elizabeth Harrison; with Gabriel Mann, Lauren German, Whitney Able, Ben Gourley, Mary Bonner Baker Houstonian Harrison knows the romantic-comedy formula: uptight heroine (German) bickering with a cute guy (Mann) who’s actually right for her, food metaphors and pastry porn, loopy Francophone sidekick (Baker), somewhat labored references to Annie Hall, bridal shopping and…

by Marrit Ingman

Live Shots

Ola PodridaMohawk Patio, Wednesday, March 14 Although David Wingo left Austin last October for the fertile pastures of Brooklyn, he still plays the hometown card in that Ola Padrida has legitimate local claims based on the presence of Austinites Robert Patton and former American Analog Set frontman Andrew Kenny. Working through songs from their self-titled…

by Doug Freeman

SXSW Film

Animated ShortsD: various Forget 300 – the best action movie this year doesn’t have oiled-up pecs and Caesar cuts, but a rat. “One Rat Short” (D: Alex Weil), in fact. This bravura computer-animated piece, one of very few solely CG entries, ends the program on a high note, with its whiplash set-pieces and studio-quality character…

by Wells Dunbar

SXSW Film

Pretty in the FaceD: Nate Meyer; with Meagan Moses, David Reynolds, Theresa Dyer, Nathan Amadon We live in a world based so much on vanity that it’s hard to remove ourselves from the want to be beautiful/thin/athletic/cool. Meyer’s first feature is a snapshot of the lives of Maggie (Moses), who constantly struggles with her commonality,…

by Darcie Stevens

Live Shots

BeirutEmo’s Main, Wednesday, March 14 “I haven’t been onstage for a while,” a slight and grinning Zach Condon admitted. Standing there under the spotlight with only a ukulele shielding him from the packed house, the 21-year-old crooned as if he were alone in an empty bedroom. When the other members of Beirut joined him for…

by Darcie Stevens

SXSW Film

Across the Great Divide: Will Geiger on ‘Elvis and Anabelle’ As sweeping backdrop, as metaphor, and even as a character, Texas has served filmmakers for generations. Writer and director Will Geiger adds another film to the omnibus with his new film, Elvis and Anabelle, the newest Burnt Orange production. In less able hands, an iconic…

by Belinda Acosta

SXSW Film

Scott Walker: 30 Century ManD: Stephen Kijak A solo career spanning 40 years and spawning fans like Eno and Bowie (the film’s executive producer) isn’t a bad place for Scott Walker. The elusive musician is in the spotlight, even if he’s not that fond of it, and Kijak manages to keep him at a reverent…

by Audra Schroeder

Live Shots

Lily AllenStubb’s, Wednesday, March 14 In true diva fashion, Lily Allen, the UK’s latest pint-sized export, graced the stage 15 minutes behind schedule, but considering her longs-tanding bitterness toward the evening’s sponsor, NME, it’s a miracle she showed at all. While more ladylike than her sovereign counterpart, the oft-dubbed queen of MySpace called the magazine…

by Austin Powell

SXSW Film

When a Man Falls in the Forest D: Ryan Eslinger; with Dylan Baker, Timothy Hutton, and Sharon Stone. Twentysomething angst is raging through the SXSW Film Festival this year, so it’s (sometimes) interesting to see the forty-something version. Eslinger explores people stumbling through their lives post-dream and trying their best to avoid emotional contact. Baker…

by Joe O'Connell

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