Cover Story
Niche Justice
Travis County specialty courts try to break the cycle of crime
This Week’s Waste of Time
Four free online video games, one Dirty Dancing reference
Leaves of Grass Spreading
Tyler Durden talks South By bump
The Lineup
Recommended music for the week of April 1-8
The Daily Hustle: 4/1/10
That’s what she said
Pot Possession a Passport to Deportation?
Supreme Court considers when a legal U.S. resident can face deportation
I Nominate the Totally Awesome AusChron Newscast!
Bonds, blunders and run-offs
Cactus Resolve
Student Government formally opposes closure of venue
Love Shines
Bill Baird kick starts his latest Sunset project
Stella Blue Is in the Pink
New salon to hold grand opening, Thursday, April 1
Make the Uncomfortable Comfortable
The Guthrie family rides again
SXSW Alum News, Plus the Search for a One-Armed Lady
Margaret Brown wins a Peabody, and other news from the Austin film community
Trip Out with LeSportsac’s 2010 Travel Collection
LeSportsac’s new travel options
Senator Reversal
Hutchison stays true to form by backtracking on resignation promise
The Daily Hustle: 3/31/10
A quick one, while he’s away
He Bangs…
Ricky Martin comes out…
Toros’ Gee Signs With Spurs
Plays for second NBA team this season
Bicycle Boulevard Plan Due April 6
Will go to boards and commissions, then council on May 13
The Daily Hustle: 3/30/10
Bats, Bueller, and B&C Bingo
ZONK!
Mayor Leffingwell proposes Austin Keep It Batty
Dewhurst Versus the First Amendment
ACLU legal director questions lite guv’s role in shutting down student play
Ticked Off Powers-That-Be With Spurious Opinions About Art
Twin Uproars: Texas Politicians Condemn the play, Corpus Christi, and GLAAD condemns Ticked Off Trannies With Knives.
An April First Shot of Egerton
A Texas Book Festival happy hour puts Owen Egerton and free tequila on the menu
Beam Me Up, Literati
Monofonus Press’ Teleportal Readings 3 teams up with McSweeney’s
Rolling Into 2010
Hotrod, Heartbreakers take first wins of the TXRG regular season
Statesman Purchases In Fact Daily
IFD editor Jo Clifton explains sale
You Read It Here First
Chron contributor Anne S. Lewis’ 2000 piece on Albert Maysles gets the book treatment
The Daily Hustle: 3/29/10
A Hustle a day keeps the haters away
Black Wedding Tonight!
Bride of Frankentstein at the Alamo Ritz
TXRG in ’10
Texas Rollergirls start the serious season Sunday
Dewhurst the Critic
Tarleton State cancels student plays after Lt. Gov. condemns production
MetroRail: Week One
Standing room only on the train
The Case for Trash Humpers
Harmony Korine’s new film is caustic and dangerous, but that’s how we like ’em.
Strippers to the Supremes
Texas Supreme Court gets into major First Amendment case
Who You Callin’ a Bear?
It’s a Bear Nation, we’re just living in it.
Soccer Watch
Aztex add another scorer, European action heats up
Live Shots
Suzanne Vega St. David’s Historic Sanctuary, Wednesday, March 17 The hour was late, but given a gorgeous venue and the ability to draw from a substantial songbook, Suzanne Vega was in high spirits. Appearing with a hat and lace veil combination that didn’t last long, one of New York’s most exalted singer-songwriters, acoustic guitar in…
The Hightower Report
DeLay Back in the Fray; and Boeing, Going, Gone
SXSW Film Festival 2010
Kristen Stewart Malin Akerman (l) and Carla Gugino Seth Meyers Robert Rodriguez (l) with Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer Jean-Pierre Jeunet Chloë Sevigny John C. Reilly Tiny Furniture filmmaker Lena Dunham
Tell Me True
Austin Music Hall, Saturday, March 20 Gov. Rick Perry set a dangerous precedent signing honors to Austin Music Awards doyenne Margaret Moser, who was presented with such to open the annual scene preserver Saturday night at the Austin Music Hall. The Chronicle’s senior Music writer and A&R inadvertently took it a step further in kicking…
Live Shots
Sixteen Deluxe Encore, Wednesday, March 17 The raw, warm rush of reverb that pulsed through the dark interior of Encore signaled the return of Sixteen Deluxe, giving way amid psychedelic projections to the warped afterburners of “Warmjets” igniting like an anthem for a Daydream Nation. A decade beyond the locals’ demise, the reunion of Sixteen…
Come Together
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the HitRECord.org Midnight Matinee
Off the Record
Checking out of South by Southwest 2010 and paying final respects to Big Star’s Alex Chilton
Repo Men
Jude Law and Forest Whitaker play repo men in this future world where body parts can be bought and sold but also repossessed.
And Now Veterans: ‘We Owe Them’
New veterans’ court set to open later this spring
Live Shots
Big Star Tribute Antone’s, Saturday, March 20 Alex Chilton declared his musical aspirations with the band name “Big Star,” yet he lived a life on the margins that earned him a reputation as rock & roll’s J.D. Salinger. Following his death last week – just days before he was scheduled to perform at South by…
Live Shots
I Never Travel Far Without a Little Big Star Austin Convention Center, Saturday, March 20 Alex Chilton led an extraordinary life, and for 90 minutes this SXSW panel of friends and bandmembers told his story as best they could. Conceived as a celebration of Big Star in the wake of last year’s box set Keep…
SXSW 2010 Film Audience Awards
SXSW Film announces the last of its awards; no surprise, Fest fave Thunder Soul nabs a win
Travis County’s Specialty Courts
Adult drug court Juvenile drug court Family drug court (in civil court, for adults with active cases with Child Protective Services) Drug support court (for probationers undergoing residential treatment at the Del Valle jail) Family violence court DWI court Project Recovery court (for chronic alcoholics) Mental health court (felony and misdemeanor cases) Support court (intensive…
The Bounty Hunter
In this romantic comedy, Gerard Butler is a bounty hunter charged with capturing his ex-wife, played by Jennifer Aniston.
Recovery Projects
Help for defendants who are homeless, alcoholic, or mentally ill
Live Shots
New Wine Dirty Dog Bar, Saturday, March 20 Moby Grape lives. Peter Lewis ripping through Moby Grape’s “Sitting by the Window” and “Fall on You” at the Austin Music Awards burst the floodgates, and less than three hours later, two of his bandmates and the son of a third brought in a leviathan set. Seven…
Live Shots
Bill Hicks: An American Icon Remembered Austin Convention Center, Saturday, March 20 After someone’s been dead the better part of 15 years, there are only so many revelations left about his life. And the Bill Hicks: An American Icon Remembered SXSW panelists – Hicks’ brother Steve, former Houston comics John Farneti and James Ladmirault, and…
Keep Your Ear to the Ground
Overheard at SXSW 2010
You’ve Got Rail!
Commuter rail springs to life
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
A wisecracking preteen keeps a diary about the torments of middle school in this true-to-life story.
Family Violence Court: ‘Homicide Prevention’
Enhanced communication among agencies has helped make the county’s special family violence court a success, says Mack Martinez, the assistant county attorney in charge of the office’s family violence division. The family violence court was created on the heels of the murder of Sylvia Hernandez, who had been assaulted previously by her estranged boyfriend, Leonard…
Live Shots
Anita Tijoux Maggie Mae’s, Saturday, March 20 They call Chile the land of poets, and Anita Tijoux proved herself a worthy ambassador of that title Saturday night with wicked wordplay and effortless flow. She was flanked onstage by Chilean-born revolutionary rapper RodStarz of Chicago trio Rebel Diaz, who introduced Tijoux as the “number one female…
Live Shots
SXSW Interview: Death Austin Convention Center, Saturday, March 20 Props to Sarah Palin. Just as the health care debate reached a boiling point on Capitol Hill, a real live Death panel took place in Austin. Bobby and Dannis Hackney, founding members of the pioneering proto-punk trio Death along with their late baby brother David, shared…
SXSW Film Reviews
Capsule reviews
SXSW Bus Riders Left in the Cold
Why doesn’t Cap Metro prepare for rider rushes?
How to Train Your Dragon
Soaring animation should make this story about a Viking boy who befriends his enemy a perennial favorite.
Restaurant Reviews
With a view of the greenbelt, a relaxing atmosphere, fashionable bar offerings, and above-average food, this new South Lamar restaurant has all the makings for success
Live Shots
P.K. 14/Carsick Cars Speakeasy, Saturday, March 20 The back wall of the stage at Speakeasy is splashed with a mural of the building going up in flames, an appropriate backdrop for the vanguard of Beijing rock revolutionaries closing out SXSW. The highlights came early behind P.K. 14 and Carsick Cars, the former act rupturing with…
Developing Stories: Future Mobility: Shaping the Transportation Bonds
Urban rail is what you won’t see this November – so what will you see?
SXSW Film Reviews
The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights Documentary Feature, Spotlight Premieres D: Emmett Malloy; with Jack White, Meg White In 2007, upon the release of their sixth album, Icky Thump, the White Stripes set out to chart unexplored (for them) territory: Canada. Malloy’s documentation of this tour is part rock concert, part portrait of…
One Man’s Junk …
South Austin icon could face city’s bulldozer
Formosa Betrayed
In this political thriller, an FBI agent investigates the murder of a Taiwanese-American.
Restaurant Reviews
There are so many luscious dishes on offer here, it may be difficult to decide on just one or two
Live Shots
Surfer Blood Mohawk Patio, Saturday, March 20 “We live in a city where old people come to die,” bespoke Surfer Blood’s bassist, referring to the septuagenarian ghetto of West Palm Beach, Fla. The first thing about Surfer Blood: They are young. Like first-year-of-college young, meaning a debut like January’s Astro Coast is all the more…
Wal-Mart, RG4N
The longtime foes learn to kid-glove thy neighbor
SXSW Film Reviews
Four Lions Narrative Feature, Headliners D: Chris Morris; with Kayvan Novak, Riz Ahmed, Nigel Lindsay, Adeel Akhtar Ever since the 2005 al Qaeda attacks on London, there has been a siege mentality in the UK. That makes first-time director Morris’ broad comedy about homegrown jihadists in the post-industrial English city of Sheffield so timely and…
AWPC: Women’s Caucus = Women’s Endorsement
AWPC returns to its feminist roots, but not everyone’s happy
Chloe
Atom Egoyan’s new film is an erotic thriller that stars Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and the mismatched Amanda Seyfried.
Arts Review
Horton Foote’s drama blows in like a breeze from the gulf, warm and whispery
Live Shots
The XX Central Presbyterian Church, Friday, March 19 Initially, London-based trio the XX garnered some of the worst word of mouth at SXSW. Die-hard fans eager for a first taste of the synth-poppers’ romantic gloom were treated to a 90-minute sound check at Mohawk earlier, which ended in god-awful sound and drums (machine) that rolled…
Gowalla Battles Foursquare, Interactive Wins
Social media systems square off at SXSWi
SXSW Film Reviews
Mr. Nice Narrative Feature, Headliners D: Bernard Rose; with Rhys Ifans, Chloë Sevigny, David Thewlis, Luis Tosar, Crispin Glover, Omid Djalili We have seen the tale of the charismatic drug kingpin played out a time or two, but rarely with the wit and style Mr. Nice lines up. Rose’s biopic hews to the real-life story…
Point Austin: Yes, They Did
You’ve got health care – even in Texas
Red Riding: 1980
This second installment in a three-part dramatization of dirty dealings in Yorkshire is concerned with the notorious corruption mill that powers the region’s law enforcement.
Arts Review
Live music by the White Ghost Shivers made this puppet adaptation complete
Live Shots
Hole Dirty Dog Bar, Friday, March 19 Who knows what the hell is going on in the mind of Courtney Love? Moreover, who cares? For the better part of an hour, Kurt Cobain’s ever-confessional widow, the last remaining original member of the seminal 1990s grunge outfit Hole, transfixed a capacity crowd of steady fans and…
The Final Three
If fast, physical action in a national face-off is what you want, try Ballet Austin
SXSW Film Review: A Serbian Film
There is a good reason why this is called A Serbian Film: Only the Balkan nation of Serbia could produce this landmark of transgressive cinema. With the nation’s terrible decadelong civil war a constant and unspoken subtext, former porn star Milosh (Todorovi´c) is lured back into the industry by enigmatic producer Vukmir (Trifunovi´c). Short of…
City Hall Hustle: The Hangover
Recycling, homeless housing, and spandex – cure for a migraine?
Red Riding: 1983
This final film in the three-part series affords a great deal of satisfaction in resolving the plot’s many mysteries.
Arts Review
These pleasing paintings can make you reconsider what may or may not be monstrous
Live Shots
Everybody Was in the French Resistance … Now Mohawk, Friday, March 19 “Does everyone know the song ‘Billie Jean’? That’s a fucked-up song.” To those who never thought about it, Eddie Argos of Everybody Was in the French Resistance … Now explained that it’s about a guy who picks up a girl in a club,…
Humana Festival of New American Plays
Local theatre artists play a major role in this year’s festival of new drama
SXSW Film Reviews
Wake Narrative Feature, Lone Star States D: Chad Feehan; with Josh Stewart, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Chris Browning, Angela Featherstone Writer/director Feehan, a producer on the Bastrop-area-filmed horror movie All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, sets his debut film Wake in one of the scariest of all movie locations: a roadside motel. Weary from a drive across…
Gag Order Denied
Quintana trial to be public
Mother
Bong Joon-ho, the South Korean director of The Host, is back with an exquisitely rendered murder mystery fraught with psychological suspense.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Wal-Mart, Cookie Monster, and more
Live Shots
Oh No Ono Lamberts, Friday, March 19 The Fest began with Alex Chilton’s death, but nods to Big Star, spoken and unspoken, were already inherent in myriad showcasers. Danish fivepiece Oh No Ono most definitely uses some of the Memphis act’s exquisite harmonies in its finely calibrated art-pop. On latest LP Eggs (Friendly Fire), the…
Armstrong Community Music School
Austin Lyric Opera can’t help but sing about 10 years of music instruction
SXSW Film Reviews
American Grindhouse Documentary Feature, Spotlight Premieres D: Elijah Drenner; narrated by Robert Forster Even though devotees of this kind of cinema ought to know most of this material anyway, there’s no denying that Drenner’s documentary provides a solid survey of the history of exploitation filmmaking and grindhouse theatres. His film offers an overview of the…
Perry Looks Justice in the Eye
Perry hand-delivers posthumous pardon
Greenberg
Ben Stiller and (one-time Chronicle cover girl) Greta Gerwig star in this new film by the director of The Squid and the Whale.
TV Eye
Mark Cuban and Avner Ronen have a heated debate about the future of TV
Live Shots
Freelance Whales Galaxy Room Backyard, Friday, March 19 One of this year’s SXSW buzz bands, Freelance Whales turned in a half-hour set covering most of their debut, Weathervanes, which will be re-released by Frenchkiss Records and Mom + Pop on April 13. Digitally, the songs boast more bleeps and bloops while also drawing comparisons to…
Zach Theatre
The theatre is giving away a free wedding to some homegrown George and Emily
SXSW Film Reviews
LEMMY Documentary Feature, Spotlight Premieres D: Greg Oliver, Wes Orshoski “You know I’m born to lose, and gambling’s for fools, but that’s the way I like it, baby; I don’t want to live forever.” So go the lyrics from Motörhead’s signature rocker, but for band founder, icon, and heavy metal veteran Lemmy Kilmister, nothing could…
From One Compound to Another
FLDS member Merril Leroy Jessop gets 75-year sentence
American Grindhouse
American Grindhouse 2010, NR, 80 min. Directed by Elijah Drenner, Narrated by Robert Forster. Even though devotees of this kind of cinema ought to know most of this material anyway, there’s no denying that Drenner’s documentary provides a solid survey of the history of exploitation filmmaking and grindhouse theatres. His film offers an overview of…
Day Trips
History Ahead: Stories Beyond the Texas Roadside Markers is part travel guide and part history book
Live Shots
Roky Erickson with Okkervil River La Zona Rosa, Thursday, March 18 Four songs into Roky Erickson and Okkervil River’s official SXSW showcase set, the frontman shed his guitar and stood before the mic with an uncomfortable but determined look in his perpetually distracted eyes. Erickson’s rough voice rose naked, vulnerable, as he crossed and uncrossed…
World Theatre Day
On March 27, you may encounter theatre where you least expect it
Event Menu
Foodie events for March 26-31
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and beyond
Gay Place
This year was all about queering conventions …
Live Shots
Court Yard Hounds Antone’s, Thursday, March 18 With Natalie Maines on hiatus, Dixie Chicks Emily Robison and Martie Maguire strike out on their own as Court Yard Hounds. Their debut performance was a professional affair augmented by a backing quintet, but by concentrating on new material from their album due in May, some in the…
New In Print
Shields hereby kicks the dead horse of literary fiction in its rigor-mortis’d ass
Food-o-File
Truck Farm Farmers’ Market, the Taco Taxi, and a South by Southwest food Fest round-up
Headlines
� City Council shakes off spring break cobwebs for a meeting today, Thursday, March 25, to consider extending the city’s current recycling contract, among other things. See “City Hall Hustle.” � Smart grid innovators Pecan Street Project released a report Wednesday envisioning the energy-distribution system of the future and recommending how best to get there.…
After a Fashion
Your Style Avatar is mistaken for a well-paid gossip columnist, and Sunny wraps SX with a ‘Nutrub’
Live Shots
You Say Party! We Say Die! Speakeasy, Thursday, March 18 After a brief hiatus, Vancouver dance-punk quintet YSP!WSD! released its third LP, XXXX, in February, the bulk of which was represented during this Thursday night set. Newly emerged from a five-year ban from the United States, thanks to bassist Stephen O’Shea’s liberties with the truth…
New In Print
Raffles immerses himself in the worlds of his subjects and reports on what he finds and what he experiences in lucid and often beautifully constructed prose
A Portrait of the Cheesemonger as a Young Couple
Antonelli’s Cheese Shop is an intimate neighborhood shop where curious patrons can taste everything, ask a million questions, and have their selections cut to order
Res Publica
Citizens’ calendar, March 25-April 1
Austin Toros Homestretch
The Toros and Curtis Jerrells return home to complete the 2009-10 regular season
Live Shots
Nas & Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley Emo’s Main Room, Wednesday, March 17 With a line outside seemingly spanning the distance from Queensbridge to Jamrock, Nas and Damian Marley bridged the gap between hip-hop and reggae in offering a sneak peek of upcoming collaboration Distant Relatives. The musical styles aren’t so distant. After all, Kool Herc…
Letters at 3AM: ‘Roadie’: 30 Years Later
The screenwriter of Roadie visits his younger, more serious self
Book Reviews
Two authors wax poetic about the visceral joys of carefully crafted cheeses
Page Two: Praying for an Early Death
Louis Black sucks, and he makes SXSW suck
Luv Doc Recommends: Peer Pressure: Indie Presses Unite!
After last weekend’s molasses-lubed traffic clusterfuck, it’s a good bet that any Austinite within a three-mile radius of Downtown was sufficiently motivated to grab a shovel and help dig an entire subway system. Smart growth accomplished. There is, however, one little hitch in our get-along: traffic. Regardless of how it probably looked on the scale…
