Cover Story
Facing the Media
Who is Young-Min Kang? That’s what he wants to know.
The Golden Blaze
The Golden Blaze 2005, G, 87 min. Directed by Bryon E. Carson, Voices by Blair Underwood, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sanaa Lathan, Neil Patrick Harris. A schoolyard rivalry escalates when a freak accident turns the boys’ fathers into superheroes.
The Love Thrill Murders
The Love Thrill Murders 1971, 92 min. Directed by Robert L. Roberts, Starring Troy Donahue, Renay Granville, Francine Middleton. A cult leader takes his flock to New York CIty where they do drugs and kill people.
Dead Poets Society
Dead Poets Society 1989, PG, 128 min. Directed by Peter Weir, Starring Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles. A charismatic teacher’s effect on his impressionable students leads to trouble and an Oscar for the film’s screenplay by Tom Shulman.
Soccer Watch
Is Sir Alex ‘sackable’?
When Is a Tax Not a Tax? Ask the GOP.
The House tax bill passes, but will it actually help Texas schools?
The Hightower Report
Bush’s bureaucracy stiffs wounded vets; and senators receive Gooberhead Award for denying working stiffs a minimum wage raise
Guess Who
Bernie Mac gets punk’d by Ashton Kutcher.
Let’s Get Lost
Arts on Real replaces its scheduled production of ‘Adult Entertainment’ with the Lost Film Fest
Market Study
When the new Whole Foods Market opened its doors a few weeks ago, it did so with plenty of anticipation, an attendant media buzz, and a party. The opening shindig – a benefit for KUT – was attended by Whole Foods staff, invited guests, volunteers for KUT, the media, and roughly 3,000 Austinites who had…
Planet Rock
Kings of ConvenienceAntone’s, Saturday, March 19 The Nordic duo of Eirik Glambek Bøe and Erland Øye took the stage about 10 minutes late with only their guitars, reinforcing some folks’ suspicions that this would be Simon & Garfunkel with accents. Rather than launch into their set, however, Øye presented a laundry list of requests for…
The Rich Get Richer
Most Texans won’t see a cent of the more than $5,630 million in property tax relief promised in the pending tax reform initiative House Bill 3. Under the bill’s current version, people making more than $100,000 a year are the only ones who will end up owing the state less than they already do. According…
Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbh Mela
A fascinating, confounding documentary portrait of the “longest running religious festival in history” – the Kumbh Mela in Prayag, India, a 70 million-strong, once-every-12-years event.
Presto Christo!
Christo and Jeanne-Claude are coming to Austin for the Austin Museum of Art, which has just gotten a splashy new look
It Takes a Village
Meat Departments at the new Whole Foods are called “villages,” and this meat village is more metropolis than small burg. The array of butchered cuts and meats in all formats is impressive. Starting from the south end of the case are 35 different made-in-house sausages of medium grind and varying flavors, with many more available…
Planet Rock
SXSW Interview: Erykah BaduAustin Convention Center, Saturday, March 19 “I was deemed the headwrap high-priestess of neo-soul and I don’t even know what that is.” Yes, Erykah Badu wants to set the record straight. “My first job is not being a singer. My first job is being a mother, a person, a philanthropist within my…
Senators Debate Life-Without-Parole Option
Death penalty proponents trot out predictable arguments against it
Out Takes
CHILDSTARD: Don McKellar; with McKellar, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mark Rendall, Dave Foley, Kristin Adams, Eric Stoltz, Brendan Fehr, Michael Murphy Narrative Feature Competition Childstar, Canadian filmmaker Don McKellar’s satire on Hollywood’s exploitation of young actors, has all the elements to be an indie feature hit. Superb cinematography by André Turpin, a cast of recognizable, capable…
Millions
A sweet, emotionally complex film about faith, charity, and growing up is not what most people would have expected from Trainspotting‘s Danny Boyle, but this new movie is unmistakably his.
Theatre Thievery, Part 4
The Santa Cruz Center for Culture is the fourth Eastside theatre to be hit by thieves in the last five months
It Takes a Village
Seafood From the entrance, I could hear the loud chorus of enthusiastic voices shouting in unison: “Fresh fiiiiiiish!,” followed by the echoing sound of a conch shell trumpet. As I approached, I could see their “leader,” wearing bright orange rubber overalls, getting ready to toss a huge salmon toward the men behind the counter. “One,…
Planet Rock
Jesse DaytonOpal Divine’s Freehouse, Friday, March 18 One of the best ambassadors of Texas music, Jesse Dayton’s high-powered country soul was most likely a surprise to out-of-towners. For locals, it’s not unexpected for Dayton to be a commanding stage presence with a voice smooth and strong and guitar abilities to match. The remarkable part was…
Anti-Smoking Ordinance Wins Federal Round
Judge tells bar owners they filed in the wrong court
Out Takes
CULTURE CLASH IN AMERICCAD: Emilio Estevez; with Ric Salinas, Herbert Siguenza, Richard Montoya Documentary Feature Spotlight For those familiar with Culture Clash when they first appeared in 1984 but who’ve since lost track of them, this new film by Emilio Estevez provides a refreshing glimpse at how far these guys have come and what they’ve…
Crew Stories
Prop Master Andina Aste-Nieto
Schultze Gets the Blues
The life of a retired German miner and accordion player is spurred toward change by the sound of zydeco music.
Arts Review
The Vortex Repertory Company’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ shows the company in a playful mood, delivering a musical adaptation that is fanciful, lighthearted, and disarmingly sweet
Food-o-file
Everything you need to know about Easter Sunday in Austin
Planet Rock
The Go! TeamBuffalo Billiards, Friday, March 18 The Go! Team’s dance-rock mash made for one of SXSW 05’s hottest tickets. The UK collective’s 2004 LP, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, is a carnival of hip-hop, techno, indie rock, and Northern soul. Sadly, this intricate wall of groove was a bit underwhelming live, though it wasn’t for lack…
City Searches for a Feral Cat Fix
Volunteers fight market forces and nature to control stray population
Out Takes
FOUR EYED MONSTERS D: Arin Crumley, Susan Buice; with Buice, Crumley, Marc Scrivo, Brad Calcaterra, Margret Echeverria Narrative Feature Emerging Visions Four Eyed Monsters attempts an original slant on something we all know and, well, love: the gritty, beautiful, gut-wrenching beast that is a relationship. Directors/stars Crumley and Buice combine their filmmaking styles into a…
TV Eye
A reader’s letter got me to thinking …
Callas Forever
While Callas Forever seems sincere in its attempt to pay tribute to the world’s most famous opera singer, it unwittingly disserves her in its bizarre wish-fantasy about resurrecting her voice onscreen.
Arts Review
The Arthouse exhibition ‘Between You and Me’ uses video to explore intimate space in the artistic context
Planet Rock
Live Shots
Planet Rock
BlowflyEmo’s Main, Friday, March 18 Standing deep in the mouth of SXSW madness late Friday night, with Blowfly about to go on, this bleary reporter was ready to be entertained with some straight-up foul shit. Not music to interpret, analyze, or conceptualize: just enough bump and thump to stimulate the frontal lobe back into reality.…
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Out Takes
GIVING IT ALL AWAYD: Paul Davidson Documentary Feature Discoveries From Down Under Sir Roy McKenzie is one of New Zealand’s wealthiest retail heirs and most generous philanthropists. Any kiwi will tell you how great Roy is, and they do, repeatedly, throughout Giving It All Away, a documentary portrait of the man and his work. Surely…
DVD Watch
Getting to the gist of screwball’s golden age
Arts Review
The second exhibition for the Open Doors art group takes advantage of the cavernous AMLI space to present six new large installation works
Planet Rock
New York DollsStubb’s, Friday, March 18 The New York Dolls’ set at Stubb’s annual Spin party Friday afternoon had its incongruities – the dust, the scent of barbecue, the sunshine (of all things) – not to mention a lot of diehard fans who never expected to live long enough to see the band reunited 20…
Planet Rock
Daara JCaribbean Lights, Saturday, March 19 “We love you but you don’t jump enough,” joked Faada Freddy to a Caribbean Lights crowd so hopped up on Daara J’s rhythms that its collective verticality reverberated hearts and walls alike. The Senegalese trio’s energetic repertoire staked a legitimate claim on the true origins of rap by pointing…
Naked City
State GOP can’t keep members on the farm … or out of casinos
Out Takes
THE LIFE AND HARD TIMES OF GUY TERRIFICOD: MIchael Mabbott; with Kris Kristofferson, Matt Murphy, Natalie Radford, Phil Kaufman, Rob Bowman, Donnie Fritts, Jane Sowerby, Merle Haggard Narrative Feature Spotlight Jim Jiblowski was a small-time country-singing fall-down drunk whom people wanted to hang out with because he scored $8 million in the lotto. Guy Terrifico…
Culture Flash!
A second life for ‘Death of a Cat,’ a new arts commissioner from the tourism bureau, and a West Coast trip for Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance
Planet Rock
Jason MoranCedar Street Courtyard, Wednesday, March 16 On a particularly chilly night in this open-air courtyard, Jason Moran came prepared. Nattily attired in a cream-colored overcoat with matching fedora and red scarf, the Houston-born, NYC-based pianist was the attraction for jazz fans at a music festival that’s historically paid only passing attention to the genre.…
Planet Rock
The FramesRed Eyed Fly, Saturday, March 19 A band’s SXSW raison d’être is their showcase, but ofttimes day parties and in-stores pop up. Such was the case for the Frames, who closed out the Misra/Overcoat day party at this Red River rock venue. One might think torrential afternoon showers would keep fans away, but the…
Naked City
Injunction puts brakes on anti-choice rider
Out Takes
Pucker UpD: Kate Davis, David Heilbroner; with Geert Chatrou, Chris Alman Documentary Feature Competition In Davis and Heilbroner’s delightful documentary, the finest whistlers in the world make the trek to Louisburg, N.C. – the world capital of whistling, for those not in the know – to compete for the much-desired honor of International Grand Champion…
Readings
There is contemporary fiction about addiction, and then there is Paradise, the fifth novel from A. L. Kennedy, which stands out for its bitter wit, its painful truth-telling, and the narcotic quality of its author’s limber, serpentine prose
Planet Rock
Devin the DudeBack Room, Wednesday, March 16/Austin Music Hall, Saturday, March 19 “Steady getting blowed,” Devin the Dude exhaled a breath of rap nuance so flavored with “sticky green, frosted leaves” that the Back Room saturated itself in a dank haze. Sandwiched between sets by Paul Wall’s Swishahouse and Bun B’s Mddl Fingz, the Rap-a-Lot…
Planet Rock
Sek Loso The Drink, Saturday, March 19 Imagine an American rock guitarist selling more than 56 million albums and you’ll understand how popular Sek LoSo is in his native Thailand. LoSo stands for “low society,” and with his band’s native superstar status achieved, Sek has set his sights on conquering the world, recently moving to…
Naked City
Did you know an educated Chinaman knows 2,000 symbols and can draw them?
Out Takes
SARAH SILVERMAN: JESUS IS MAGICD: Liam Lynch Documentary Feature Spotlight Maintaining a straight face is everything for a comic, something professional provocateur Sarah Silverman blows by breaking into song-and-dance in the performance doc Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic. The film works best when it simply trains the camera on Silverman as she performs the one-woman…
It Takes a Village
Produce At the dawn of the fancy-pants health-food-store industry, the stores were defined by their bins of bulk items (bulgar! oats! spelt!) and produce organically (or on their way) grown and free from pesticides. The days of barrels of barley and bins of spotted apples are long gone, but the emphasis on natural foods hasn’t…
Readings
Aparain has unsurprisingly already been compared to Marquez. But this rich parable shares as much with Steinbeck’s The Pearl as it does with Marquez’s work. Both read like a folk legend, both portray music as the yearning soul’s most intimate expression, and both describe the struggle of an unsophisticated peasant- type against powerful societal forces
Planet Rock
Doyle Lawson & QuicksilverOpal Divine’s Freehouse, Wednesday, March 16 Not even Doyle Lawson could say when he played in Austin last, but after this showcase, he’ll likely be back sooner rather than later. Lawson is a superstar on today’s bluegrass scene, considered one of the top mandolin players in the genre. Along with his band…
Planet Rock
ZombiRoom 710, Saturday, March 19 Memo to the Alamo Drafthouse’s Tim League: Get this band down here for Halloween. There’s nobody more fitting to score a John Carpenter or Dario Argento horror classic than Zombi, a pair of Pittsburgh natives with a funereal fixation on the old Italian prog outfit Goblin, whose sole purpose was…
Naked City
Violates Eighth Amendment, Judge Says
Out Takes
SEOUL TRAIND: Jim Butterworth, Aaron Lubarsky Documentary Feature Spotlight While broad in scope and slightly unfocused, this human rights documentary sheds light on an atrocity that has otherwise been ignored by the world community: the slow, societal suffering of the people in North Korea. Seoul Train diagrams a number of tragic refugee stories of those…
It Takes a Village
Sweets The world of sweets and pastries at the new Whole Foods Market is fraught with danger on several levels. The most steely-eyed, determined dieter will have his or her willpower tested against inhumane levels of temptation. Sensitive souls will suffer a sugar contact buzz of unprecedented proportions. Frugal shoppers’ budgets are likely to see…
Page Two
Finding peace in the wonderful chaos of SXSW
Planet Rock
Sleater-KinneyEmo’s Main, Wednesday, March 16 Sleater-Kinney’s May release, The Woods, signals a change. Sub Pop’s newest girl group has gone hardcore. Not that they weren’t tough before, but now Corin Tucker’s Grace Slick has a stronger bite, and Carrie Brownstein’s bounce sneers. The packed house wasn’t quite sure how to react to this new tonic,…
Planet Rock
The Shape of Things to Come PanelAustin Convention Center, Saturday, March 19 The music business can be a cruel mistress. Saturday afternoon’s panel attempted to chart out exactly what its future may hold, most notably in terms of downloadable music. The panel was helmed by Brad King, Web editor for Technology Review, and featured Sandy…
Naked City
House committee approves bill helping “cocktail napkin” applications skirt regulation
Out Takes
STRANGE FRUITD: Regis Trigano Documentary Feature Competition Race relations – or rather the complete absence of them – are at the heart of Trigano’s absorbing but overlong documentary, which examines, elliptically at times, the state of affairs in the small Floridian backwater of Belle Glade. There’s nothing remotely belle about this rural morass of crushing…
It Takes a Village
World Foods The world food village selections were aided by input from local restaurateurs, and it seems that Whole Foods management wasn’t listening. Most of the major cuisines are represented (Asian, Mediterranean, German, Indian, etc.), but in a manner meant for those just scratching the surface. If you need anything beyond the most rudimentary ingredients,…
After a Fashion
Stephen in overalls?? Can you see it? Billy Jack can …
Planet Rock
LCD SoundsystemElysium, Thursday, March 17 The throng at LCD Soundsystem’s SXSW showcase was drunk, sweaty, and rude, explained in part by its being St. Patrick’s Day; the frat boys were riled-up by all the “sexy leprechaun” ladies. James Murphy was the perfect antidote. The very inebriated LCD Soundsystem frontman took on the crowd, slurring one-liners…
Planet Rock
Health Care for Musicians PanelAustin Convention Center, Saturday, March 19 Musicians aren’t the only demographic that has difficulty finding affordable quality health care in America. “We need to figure out how to get services to musicians on a pathway toward getting services for everybody,” explained writer Dave Marsh, who’s hosted this SXSW panel for the…
Naked City
Attempts at decriminalizing, or at least lessening punishment, in Texas and elsewhere
It Takes a Village
Wine and Cheese By now, most everyone has had the chance to see Whole Foods’ new wine department, a vast expansion from the former store’s. In the past, you had to suffice with a mere 400 wine choices. Today, the store boasts more than 1,800 different wines with the aim of being the most impressive…
About AIDS
Are you an adult (18 or older) who has been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS? Have you found yourself feeling alone and/or isolated as you try to deal with the many ways that HIV affects your daily life? Are you searching for a place where you can share and explore this struggle in a way…
Planet Rock
Sound TeamBuffalo Billiards, Thursday, March 17 When a deserving local act like Sound Team gets signed by a major label, Capitol, it’s cause for celebration. When the upbeats began bouncing Sam Sanford’s amp and Matt Oliver started crooning “Black Ice,” the jubilation kicked in, egged on by the local sixpiece’s zealous mixtures of love and…
Planet Rock
BEST SXSW SHOWCASE GREG BEETS: The Chinese Stars, Emo’s Jr., Thursday, March 17 JIM CALIGIURI: Ian Hunter, Town Lake Stage @ Auditorium Shores, Friday, March 18 ROBERT GABRIEL: Daara J, Caribbean Lights, Saturday, March 19 CHRISTOPHER GRAY: Graham Coxon, Stubb’s, Thursday, March 17 MELANIE HAUPT: Of Montreal, Friends, Friday, March 18 RAOUL HERNANDEZ: Ian Hunter,…
Vampire Vouchers Rise Again!
‘Virtual’ or ‘Pilot’ – Lege begins the biennial campaign to siphon money from public schools
To Your Health
What usually happens with chronic hepatitis C infection, and can anything be done nutritionally to improve the outcome?
Planet Rock
The EarliesMaggie Mae’s, Thursday, March 17 Slated for a 12:15am showcase, the Earlies had the dubious honor of pissing off lots of buzz mongers who came to see them. Granted, the entire docket at Maggie Mae’s was running behind, so when the group finally started playing an hour later, the question was an obvious one:…
Planet Rock
BEST LOCAL SET GREG BEETS: Tuxedo Killers, Velvet Spade Patio, Thursday, March 17 JIM CALIGIURI: The Grassy Knoll Boys, Mother Egan’s, Saturday, March 19 ROBERT GABRIEL: NickNack with Enfoe, Bavu Blakes, and Ephraim Owens, Zero Degrees, Thursday, March 17 CHRISTOPHER GRAY: Spoon, Austin City Limits, Thursday, March 17 MELANIE HAUPT: The Octopus Project, Emo’s, Wednesday,…
Who’s Funding the Voucher Campaign?
A partial list of pro-voucher contributors to lawmakers who have filed school voucher legislation or taken a leadership position in favor of vouchers Contributor / Candidate / Year / Amount All Children Matter / (U.S.) Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving / 2004 / $15,000 All Children Matter / (U.S.) Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney / 2004 /…
Ice Princess
This refreshingly femme-centric tale advocates on behalf of physics, feminism, and athleticism.
2004-05 Austin Music Awards
Chronicle cover boy Roky Erickson flanked by his brother Sumner (l) and Waterloo Records owner John Kunz Velvet men Alejandro Escovedo and John Cale Earl Poole Ball and sweetheart of the rodeo Margaret Moser Cowpokes Neil Kaiser and Patricia Vonne Hip-hop superheroes Dirty Wormz The men of Grady Dudley, Daniel, & Bob Dayna Blackwell snizzles…
The Common Law
Identity theft – protect yourself
Planet Rock
RezillosElysium, Friday, March 18 Having played exactly one U.S. show during their initial 1976-78 tenure, the Rezillos’ SXSW showcase didn’t disappoint in the least. Opening with their debut single, “I Can’t Stand My Baby,” the Scottish pop-punk quintet connected with the head-bobbing crowd as though they’d never missed a step. Vocalist/guitarist Eugene Reynolds sported sideburns…
Talk Radio Turns Blue
Leading with Al Franken, Air America lands in Austin
Lege Notes
• Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has had her spats with other state officials, but this week it went beyond a mere potshot at Gov. Rick Perry’s leadership. Instead, Strayhorn dropped a bombshell Tuesday by announcing that the revenue driver for HB 3 fell $2.3 billion short of the money needed to provide promised tax relief.…
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
No medals will be awarded for this Sandra Bullock follow-up, although the actress proves herself an ever-game comic actress.
TCB
SXSW 2005 plows a furrow of beer cans, cocaine, and music through downtown Austin
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Lindsey Wagner, Atlantic tsunamis, Mount St. Helens, and Condoleezza Rice
Planet Rock
Isis/PelicanEmo’s Annex, Friday, March 18 Friday night’s Hydrahead showcase started out as headbanging heaven, but ended in sheer musical transcendence. After the agro spectacle of These Arms Are Snakes, Chicago fourpiece Pelican shook with their precise instrumental drone-metal. The distortion was dense and saturated to perfection, as is everything on Aaron Turner’s stellar label. Leaping…
Air America – Who is That?
Just what – and who – is Air America? Now almost a year old, Air America is the first full-scale, and apparently fairly well-funded, attempt to establish a liberal presence on commercial talk radio – a format that over at least the past couple of decades has ranged between the political far right and the…
Point Austin: The Fire This Time
In their rush to reach out to the Eastside, city officials get burned
The Ring Two
Narrative listlessness and a lack of scares makes this mother-and-son reunion a shabby affair.
Day Trips
Dan Blocker of O’Donnell, Texas, was Hoss Cartwright on the television show ‘Bonanza’ and lives on through reruns and in a museum and small park in his hometown in the Panhandle
Luv Doc Recommends: ‘American Beer’ Screening
After the dogfucking debauchery of SXSW, it’s probably best that you take a cool-down lap, right? Maybe do a little detox? Banana for breakfast, bean sprouts on your salad, grilled instead of fried? You don’t need a doctor to tell you that all of that promotional beer and the lingering remains of 99 cent tacos…
