Cover Story
Sassy’s Brings Its Vegetarian Soul Food to East Austin
Andrea Dawson’s home cooking lands at 12th & Chicon
Austin’s Queer Gym Transform Fitness to Close
But Erica Nix & her queer workouts are ready to bring back the absurd
How to Be a Slut in a Good Way
Director and stars of teen comedy-drama take on a new kind of sex ed
Q&A: Michael Moorcock Plays Hawkwind
Sci-fi author joins two-day tribute to space rocker
Art Show Marks Farmworkers Awareness Week
CAMP at St. Ed’s celebrates farmworkers’ contributions via art
For the Time Being, Eastside Cafe Garden Has Some Suerte
Pastrami shop set to open in former Elaine’s Pork and Pie space
Party for a Good Cause at Out Youth’s Second Chance Prom
Annual dance supports local nonprofit’s LGBTQ youth services
Utopia Fest Adds a Sweet Party This Weekend
Intimate gathering evidences a returns to roots
Indoor Skydiving Lets You Train Your Dragon in Virtual Reality
Taking to the skies with iFly’s latest immersive VR
Austin Kite Fest Celebrates 90 Years
From 1929 to present, the festival is a constant in a changing city
Nardwuar Gifts Quin NFN a Copy of the Chronicle in New Video
“They had it everywhere. My momma was loving it.”
Broadly Unveils Trans, Nonbinary Stock Photos
The Gender Spectrum Collection aims to depict trans people living life
Music Lab Practice Space Notifies Tenants of Closure
Longtime rehearsal facility shutting down May 31
Sweeping Religious Freedom Bill Heads to Senate
The Senate State Affairs Committee approves a license to discriminate
Ann Howard Kicks Off Commissioner Campaign
ECHO director hosts first event in Precinct 3
The Wedding Guest
A simmering thriller of international abduction and pursuit
Giant Little Ones
Teen sexuality as a spectrum in this tender drama of growing up and coming out
Ash Is Purest White
The emotional cost of a life of crime across two decades in Northern China
The Highwaymen
Costner and Harrelson face death and mortality on the hunt for Bonnie & Clyde
Wonder Park
PG-theme park adventure we’re all tall enough to ride
Five Feet Apart
Meet cute on the teen ICU takes a turn for the corny
Captive State
Aliens vs. Chicago. Chicago loses.
Us
Jordan Peele has met the enemy, and they is Us
Gloria Bell
Julianne Moore excels (as always) in this funny, poignant character study
Ruben Brandt, Collector
Pop-art animated heist flick puts collection obsession on display
The Mustang
Two wild spirits, man and horse, find peace in the microepic
Level 16
Horror mystery used dread in a tale of the lies we tell young women
Dragged Across Concrete
Police brutality and corruption in a world of malice and greed
Texas Platters
Maybe it took a minute for Gurf Morlix to embrace his songwriting after a career long defined as a local guitar slinger and producer, but 10 albums in, he’s carved out his own distinctive voice as a composer. His remains a voice of graceless epiphanies, raw and rough-hewn, experienced. Yet there’s wisdom and softness in…
Texas Platters
Local DIY label Outer Limit’s most ambitious Instant Leftovers compilation boasts a staggering 19 tracks almost entirely from newer indie-rock Austin artists (aside from the dreamy closing track from Amherst’s Calico Blue). Electro-dance wiz kids TC Superstar take on ABBA’s “Mamma Mia” with a synth-heavy, off-kilter sneer. At the harder end of the spectrum, punk…
Mobility Plan’s Bad Date With ZAP
Began in 2016, Austin’s proposed transportation plan still manages to be contentious
Draylen Mason Is Still Being Remembered, and How Matters
A year after his death, we should do as Draylen did
Texas Platters
Singer/guitarist/American roots warrior Rosie Flores tackles the blues head-on on this Charlie Sexton-produced collection. Largely an album of covers, Simple Case of the Blues puts the veteran local’s uniquely Texan spin on rollicking pre-rock & roll gems, including Roy Brown’s “Love Don’t Love Nobody,” Ruth Brown’s “I Want to Do More,” and Wynona Carr’s “Till…
Texas Platters
You don’t so much listen to the first compilation from Manor imprint Desolate Sounds as get pummeled by it. The cassette’s eight tracks begin in angular, quivering post-punk with the Bay Area’s Ötzi, slowly unraveling until it hits Austin chaos with local duo Toxic Water. “Transit Mass” feels quietly apocalyptic and brutal, a sludgy overlay…
Austin Community College Expands Care to Younger Kids
ACC / YMCA partnership now accepting 12-month-olds and up to its drop-in center
Envisioning the Future of Austin State Hospital
What will it take to turn the former Texas State Lunatic Asylum into a world-class center of brain health?
Texas Platters
“America,” Lesly Reynaga accents with a playful, Latin-tinged cadence, “You were foreign, now you’re mine.” So goes the singer’s proclamation of her Mexican-American identity on opener “All American Girl.” This cultural and lingual fusion powers her sophomore effort Dual Passport, which marks Reynaga’s ascension as one of Austin’s most formidable pop songwriters. She struts with…
Faster Than Sound: What Sparked Joy at SXSW Music
Marie Kondo-ing my Festival experience, with scooters and shooters in the giveaway pile
Lege Lines: Sen. José Menéndez Stands Up for Military Bases, and Against Trump
San Antonio Democrat introduces resolution to protect funds for Texas military being diverted to border wall construction
Lege Lines: Taking Aim at Planned Parenthood … Again
Senate committee advances bill targeting Downtown clinic
Texas Platters
Choose the genre tag not indebted to the immigrant experience: samba, funk, soul, dub. Trilingual, Brazilian-raised by way of Mexico, and Austin-rooted, Frederico Geib makes use of each tradition on Exótico Americano, his memorable solo debut. A founder member of Latin fusionists Ghandaia, Os Alquimistas, world funk psychedelic band Suns of Orpheus, and Brazilian Seventies…
Luv Doc: He Doesn’t Listen
The Luv Doc keeps a list to help him remember the things he will soon forget
Bills Filed to Limit Authority of Texas Medical Board
Van Boven case inspires lawmakers to push for more oversight
Austin’s Best Food and Drink Events This Week
Dinner parties, farmers’ markets, beer, wine, and more for the week of March 21, 2019
Texas Platters
Austin rap collective Magna Carda pens a short letter on last month’s new EP Ladee, its first release since Dec. 2017 project Coffee Table Talk Vol. 1. Megz Kelli, boasting a confident flow reminiscent of Lauryn Hill, exhibits buttery lyricism over Dougie Do’s production, opting for a more reflective, exploratory tone than before. A harmonic…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Mama Cass Elliot and Keith Moon died in the same apartment (in different years, of course). The apartment was a loaner from Harry Nilsson. In ideal conditions, a termite queen can live for decades. Gummy bears are shaped like bears because the man who invented them, Hans Riegel (founder of Haribo in Germany), was inspired…
Texas House Advances Ambitious School Finance Bill
Teachers’ union celebrates shedding of merit pay provision
Texas Platters
Jenny Carson and Evan Joyce harmonize as if wrapped in one another, but that pairing takes the full length of the duo’s debut to fully embrace. The eponymous debut’s front half plays as a dance between the two locals, feeling out how the one moves against the other. Carson’s polished trill finds its openings within…
Oops!
In last week’s feature on the response to sexual assault in Travis County (“Painful Splits Along the Way to Stopping Sexual Assault in and Around Austin,” March 15), we incorrectly reported that former Sexual Assault Response and Resource Team (SARRT) co-chairs Emily LeBlanc and Dana Nelson had stepped down from those roles in 2017, amid…
Gun-Filled Weekend Prompts APD Action
Spring fest unrest
Qmmunity: An Ode to Erica Nix & Transform
Plus queerish comedy and drag deities to tide you over
Texas Platters
Harlem last left us in the Year of Our Lord 2010, evangelizing the tail end of garage-pop’s comeback wave. Back for their third LP nearly 10 years later, Michael Coomers and Curtis O’Mara still lay in reverb-laden bubblegum influences, this time taking a more subdued route by opting for keys over busted guitar amps. Amidst…
Dance Repertory Theatre’s Fortitude
In this spring concert, a profound and moving tribute to a missing member of the Theatre & Dance Department community
Death Watch: “Texas Seven” Member Contests “Law of Parties”
A robbery ended in a police officer death while Patrick Murphy waited outside. Current Texas law holds him responsible.
What If the Marx Brothers Got Around to Making That Movie With Salvador Dalí?
Josh Frank brings the legendary unproduced movie to printed life
Texas Platters
When Löwin released standalone song “Sloop” in 2017, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Sara Houser told the Chronicle she expected its “pop aesthetic” to lead the new album’s direction. The Austin quartet’s full-length debut, Heavy as the Sun, indeed leans heavily into sophisticated dream-pop, eschewing rowdy rock & roll from 2015 EP Royal Jelly. Opener “Sake” begins with a…
“Stella Alesi: Journeying” at Prizer Arts & Letters
The artist extends her protean skills toward the bold and minimal
What If The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Was Really About the Horrors of Modern American Society?
Putting the Austin-made seminal slasher back into context
Texas Platters
Let’s not be flippant about the state of the nation, but In the Valley makes a case for grooving through the breakdown. New project from Stephanie Mueller and Nate Buckley, Hi, Gene! finds the two trading off vocals as well as guitar and bass, with Rachel Badger on drums. The trio’s tight, 10-track debut skitters…
Day Trips: Louisiana Swamp Tours
Louisiana swamp tours dive deep into Cajun country
What If Mickey Mouse Had a Life Outside the Movies?
Why we’re drawn to illustrated icons
Texas Platters
A falsetto pierces the opening seconds of “Rooms,” the first track on Taft Mashburn’s ethereal third album, which his band of five recorded live during a studio performance. The six-song collection glides just over the half-hour mark, with each number languorously hanging and drifting into the next like Texas’ summer air. Delivery doused in feeling,…
Soccer Watch
Kléber scored the first goal in Austin Bold FC history last week, but host Reno came back with two to keep the Bold winless after two games in the USL Championship; next up is the home opener against rival San Antonio FC, inaugurating COTA’s Bold Stadium Sat., March 30, 7:30pm. Ticket packages and single-game tickets…
Uncle Ray’s Offers Peanut Brittle and Southern Charm
Local woman working for peanuts
Texas Platters
Long-awaited successor to 2008 debut Bury the Cynics, the Lovely Sparrows’ Shake the Shadow seems preoccupied with authenticity – and a fear of succumbing to numbness and normalcy. The locals’ return builds on multi-instrumentalist Shawn Jones’ playful instrumental intricacies and cerebral lyrics, quiet croon longing above acoustic guitar and synths in a melding of indie-rock…
VR Arena Adds Cardio to Your Virtual Experience
Virtuix’s new attraction at Pinballz has players running and gunning without moving
Texas Platters
Mamahawk sets aim for cosmic pop with hints of Tame Impala or Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s future soul on Brain Invaderz. The six-track sophomore release rises from the earth-tone folk of the Austinites’ self-titled debut, but only hits its target in bursts. Nothing stands out more than the title track opener, where woozy synths aerate guitars…
Austin at Large: City Hall’s Game of Threes
Spencer Cronk quizzes the Council to win a new land use code!
Texas Platters
“I’ve got eyes and I don’t like what I see,” strains Hunt Sales, staring point-blank at the inevitability of creeping death and lamenting in solemn surrender, “There’s been lonely nights,” on opener “Here I Go Again.” After nearly four decades of shooting dope and smoking rock, the Lust for Life and Tin Machine percussionist has…
Quote of the Week
“Who speaks out if we don’t? Our silence is our greatest threat.” – Mayor Steve Adler, speaking at a March 23 vigil for the victims of the New Zealand mass murder
Texas Platters
Hayes Carll pulled a magic trick with 2016’s Lovers and Leavers, an unexpected turn of sincere meditations on fatherhood and divorce. That album broke from the clever-cloaked, smirking anthems the local songwriter had ridden to national notoriety, proving he could pull beyond sly puns and parodies. It was personal, real. Sixth LP What It Is…
Headlines
Another Sad Night: Nearly 400 people, including Mayor Steve Adler and City Manager Spencer Cronk, gathered Saturday evening at St. James’ Episcopal Church for a vigil to show solidarity with the Muslim community and honor the lives of those killed and wounded in the mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Austin plans…
Texas Platters
Origin stories don’t get much more convoluted: Big Five Chord saxophonist Bryan Murray reconstructed beats sampled from old BFC records for bandleader Jon Lundbom to compose new music over. Then the Austin-based guitarist re-recorded the songs live in studio with his 15-year-old free-bop quintet, making new music out of the new music made from the…
Public Notice: Slouching Toward CodeCRONK
City manager gives Council a multiple-choice quiz for the land development code redo
Texas Platters
“Nigga run, nigga run/ Go back where you come from/ Fuck you, I’m America’s son/ This is where I come from.” Getting over the initial shock of hearing the explosive chorus on “This Land” requires some time. Considering the single leads off Gary Clark Jr.’s third major-label studio offering, the track’s bull’s-eye aim at MAGA’s…
Texas Platters
Lonestar is an ode to softness. The first compilation from DFW’s fledgling Peach Bloom Records culls from a spectrum of spaciousness honed in Denton, DFW, and Austin. The glitching beats of China Club and William Austin Clay puncture the peace, but Austin’s offerings stay consistent. The elusive Fuvk’s “Madeline” traverses the intensity of a crush,…
Casar Defends His Opposition to East Riverside Rezoning Request
Council member argues the density gains aren’t worth displacing current residents
