Benefits
FRI 27 Beanie Babies Basket Raffle through Sun, Mar 29 (& Apr 3-5) to benefit Children’s Hospital of Austin, at Highland Mall. $5 per ticket. 454-9656. SAT 28 Annual Rosedale Ride to benefit Rose-dale School, at Celis Brewery. 414-2027. SUN 29 B.J. Thomas Concert to benefit the Westlake Hyline Dance Team, at Westlake High, 7pm.…
Naked City
Austin Women’s Political Caucus members couldn’t muster enough votes Tuesday to endorse either Ron Davis or Stacy Dukes-Rhone in the April 14 runoff for the County Commissioner Pct. 1 nomination. Davis got 20 votes to Dukes-Rhone’s 13, but he needed at least 22 votes to put him over the top. Caucus members overhwhelmingly endorsed 147th…
Mr. Nice Guy
Mr. Nice Guy 1997, PG-13, 106 min. Directed by Sammo Hung, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jackie Chan, Gabrielle Fitzpatrick, Miki Lee, Richard Norton, Karen Mclymont. By Jove, the old boy’s holding up pretty well. Sure, Jackie Chan at 44 has lost a bit of the startling arachnid agility he flashed 20 years…
Coach’s Corner
The barrage of dispatches flying between a hunting blind in West Texas, the affluent suburb of West Lake Hills, the UT Athletic Department, a local radio station, the basketball coach’s office, and the exotic Caribbean isle of St. Martin began over the past week to take on a comedic quality worthy of a new Pink…
Job Training: Boon or Bust?
“We’re the best-kept secret in town,” says marketing director Rosemary Healy-Gonzalez as she walks a visitor through the Capital of Texas Workforce Center, where job-seekers have free access to employment listings, computers for printing resum�s, and training courses such as Jobs Ahead and Construction Gateway. Gonzalez and Jobs Ahead manager Rip Rowan are among four…
Day Trips
photograph by Gerald E. Mcleod County courthouses in Texas are some of the most beautiful and god-awful ugly public buildings. It is no wonder that communities wrestle with whether to preserve or replace the buildings. “Texans have a real love-hate relationship with their courthouses,” says Jay Firsching, an architect working to document 55 of the…
Suburban Blight
Along Bowman Drive in Round Rock the fences get tagged, cleaned, re-tagged, and re-cleaned at a clip that wouldn’t be shocking except that this is so obviously a suburb. photograph by JOHN ANDERSON “[Suburbia] is going to waste its land, despoil the very qualities that attract so many families to it, and turn it into…
Page Two
The movies are over, the bands have left the stage, the computers have been moved out of the Convention Center. SXSW ’98 is over. The vans are driving home. Everything has changed. The horse is back to being a pumpkin. Nothing has changed. Movies are showing, bands are plugging in, computers humming, the conversation level…
The Oscar-glow
There we were on Oscar Night, the five of us designated as “TV Eye” Oscar watchers. Oh, I didn’t say we were watching together. Holly Chacona (HC) was in her lovely East Austin home, Robert Faires and Barbara Chisholm (Babs and Bob) were safely tucked in their South Austin abode, Stephen Moser (SM) was in…
Public Notice
Well, Austin’s annual industrial revolution (SXSW) came and went. It’s time for things to get back to normal. Here’s Part Two of our sexy and informative Volunteers Opportunities List. Part One ran two weeks ago (Vol. 17, No. 27, March 13). Get out there and help. Volunteering, Pt. 2 Habitat for Humanity Building affordable, quality…
Restart, Shutdown, Sleep
Margaret Moser: Aim your browsers to the sites below, all winners in the South by Southwest Interactive website competition. Because I first looked at each of these sites as winners and not with their competition, it was a free-for-all web-surfing for the average Net junkie/rube like me; so I decided to review these in chat-room…
Mister Smarty Pants Knows
A cow’s sweat glands are in its nose. According to the Vol. 22, #2 issue of The Skeptical Inquirer, each time you drink a glass of water, you are probably imbibing at least one atom that passed through the bladder of Aristotle. GTO (as in Pontiac) is short for the Italian “Gran Turismo Omologato.” Therics,…
Growing Up in Public
Richard Linklater on the set of The Newton Boys photograph by Clark Walker Racing up I-35, we’re at our exit in about 20 minutes. Right near the exit, we pull off the access road and onto a large field filled with cars, where we park. Soon we’re picked up by vans and taken down and…
Food-O-File
For the 20th year, potted pork products are a sure sign of spring in Austin, Texas. The world-famous annual SPAMARAMA™ takes place this weekend, Saturday, March 28, from noon-6pm, at Auditorium Shores. According to the Potentate of Potted Pork Parties, David Arnsberger, this year’s party will feature not only the usual SPAM™ cookoff, the grueling…
Scanlines
D: David Fincher (1997) with Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Deborah Kara Unger Two hours is about all of Fincher’s (Seven) brooding atmosphere you’ll be able to take before you want to strangle yourself. I don’t know how Michael Douglas did it, much less how he managed to keep himself alive and kicking through…
Thai Talk
Thais place an extraordinary emphasis on food, and a Thai meal is as much a celebration as a time of nourishment. Traditionally, all the dishes are placed in the middle of the table at the same time and shared by all. Rice, central to Thai culture, is always served, accompanied usually by a soup plus…
Short Cuts
The general monthly meeting of the Film Alliance of Austin is scheduled for Saturday, March 28, 10am-noon, at the Austin History Center (810 Guadalupe). The speaker will be Geneva Fowler, the writer/director/producer of Sanity, a dark, noir comedy that was world premiered at this month’s SXSW Film Festival… Claude Stanush, author of The Newton Boys,…
Photo Gallery
<< And the winners are… Back to the performances >> Backstage All backstage photos by Todd V. Wolfson 107.1 KGSR presented the Sims Foundation with a check for over $35,000, the proceeds from the sales of the station’s sampler CD. (l-r) KYLE ELLISON, PEYTON WIMMER, DON HARVEY. ABRA MOORE, looking every bit the Prom Queen,…
Mama Tried
illustration by Jason Stout My younger step-brother Luke no longer answered the family phone in Houston. I found it a little strange since he possesses the uncanny ability to answer the phone even before it rings. Luke is a teenager and shares some sort of extra-sensory bond with it. If he were female, he and…
Articulations
It’s been a little over a year since a gaggle of playwrights (A scribble of playwrights? A draft of playwrights? An exeunt of playwrights?), well, since several playwrights in town got together and formed a new company devoted to nurturing, developing, and assisting in the production of new dramatic scripts. And now, Austin Script Works,…
Photo Gallery
<< And the winners are… This way, please, for backstage fun >> Performances All performance photos by John Carrico MALACHI opened the evening with rousing, funky gospel (l-r) MICHAEL BRAY, CYNTHIA BRAY, WALTON STIKE. ABRA MOORE made an unnannounced appearance early in the evening, and walked away with an armful of awards including Song of…
Thai Me Up, Thai Me Down
Little Thailand photograph by John Anderson America just can’t seem to get enough of Thai food. Over the past decade, the addictive Asian cuisine – a scintillating interplay of exotic flavors, aromas, and textures – has gone mainstream in the U.S. While demand has filled bookstores across the country with publications on Thai cookery, Thai…
Burn, Aspen, Burn
“Chip” Pope “jamming” with new “bud,” “French” Stewart A few weeks ago, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if I could build a bridge between myself � a basic cable nobody � and some bona fide ‘A-List’ celebrities?” I mean, you rarely see Tom Cruise hanging out with Up All Night’s Rhonda Shear.…
Dancing About Architecture
Yep, it’s over, and just like every year there’s a million large and small observations to make as I recover from South by Southwest – or Jon by Jon Langford, as some have taken to calling it this year, since the man fronted a total of seven official and unofficial shows over the week. Actually,…
SXSW Film Conference and Festival ’98 Further Reflections
Included here are more reviews of films screened during the SXSW Film Festival 1998. Additional reviews can be found in last week’s issue. The symbols (RP) and (WP) indicate regional and world premieres. photograph by John Anderson ALL THE RAGE Dir/scr: Roland Tec; Prod: Catherine Burns & Roland Tec; DP: Gretchen Widmer; Ed: Jon Altschuler;…
Postscripts
The American Booksellers Association filed a lawsuit against Barnes & Noble and Borders last Wednesday in U.S. District Court for Northern California that “seeks relief from defendants’ pattern and practice of unlawful activity in violation of the Robinson-Patnam Act.” As the preliminary statement of the suit declares, “The Robinson-Patnam Act was enacted in 1936 `to…
The Winter Classic
Johnny Winter on the outdoor stage at Stubb’s Saturday, March 21 photograph by John Carrico HARVEY SID FISHER Waterloo Brewing Company, Wednesday, March 18 “There is a Holiday Inn in Hell, and I’ve just checked in.” That was my realization about halfway through Harvey Sid Fisher’s set in the spacious outdoor area of the Waterloo…
The Newton Boys
The Newton Boys 1998, PG-13, 122 min. Directed by Richard Linklater, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Skeet Ulrich, Vincent D’Onofrio, Dwight Yoakam, Julianna Margulies, Chloe Webb, Charles Gunning, Bo Hopkins, Luke Askew. As pictured here, the real-life clan of bank robbers who were active during the post WWI-period and…
Exhibitionism
The Public Domain, through March 28 Running Time: 1 hr, 20 min You open your eyes and it’s like you’ve been pulled from another life. You’ve been dreaming. Much of the dream was strange — set in a place you recognized yet was no place you have ever been, populated with an odd mix of…
Also Playing
Friday: Zeke, Mondo Generator, Slick, Spunk, Emo’s; Stabbing Westward, Electric Lounge; 50 Mission Crush, Aunt Flossie, Back Room Saturday: Jerry Jeff Walker, Paramount Theatre, Spamarama, Auditorium Shores Sunday: Yummy, Geno Delafose, Continental Club Monday: Shoestring, Big Foot Chester, Hole in the Wall; Hobble, Super Corpse, Emo’s Tuesday: W.C. Clark, Top of the Marc; Alvin Crow,…
Love and Death on Long Island
Love and Death on Long Island 1997, PG-13, 93 min. Directed by Richard Kwietniowski, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring John Hurt, Jason Priestley, Fiona Loewi, Sheila Hancock, Maury Chaykin, Gawn Grainger. Every one of us is a fool for love, even stuffy English writer Giles De’Ath (pronounced as Day-ahth, the character hastens to…
In Person
Natasha Waxman at Barnes & Noble Arboretum “My writing will get better,” said Natasha Waxman, “I swear!” It may have been intended as self-effacement, but coming from a woman of her literary accomplishments that’s a statement of great ambition. During the five years she’s lived in Austin, Ms. Waxman’s short stories have earned her places…
Road Shows
MARCH FRI 27 The Blazers, Continental Club FRI 27 Stabbing Westward, Electric Lounge FRI 27 Zeke, Mondo Generator, Slick, Spunk, Emo’s FRI 27 Slobberbone, Hole in the Wall FRI 27 CJ Chenier, Antone’s FRI 27-SAT 28 Kellye Gray, Ringside @ Sullivan’s SAT 28 The Paladins, Continental Club SAT 28 Little Jack Melody & His Young…
Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway 1998, PG-13, 97 min. Directed by Marleen Gorris, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Rupert Graves, Michael Kitchen, Natascha Mcelhone, John Standing, Alan Cox, Lena Headey, Sarah Badel. Cinematic soporific for the cynically reclined. Unalliteratively, it’s a snooze. Adapted with an eye toward ennui by Eileen Atkins (from Virginia Woolf’s…
The Originator, Not the Imitator
illustration by Jason Stout I first encountered Anna Quindlen in The New York Times. I read her “Life in the 30’s” and “Public and Private” columns as only a wannabe can – critically, jealously, and religiously. As if it weren’t enough that she had a column in the Times, a real gift for thinking and…
Endorsements
County Commissioner Pct. 1: Ron Davis Davis and run-off opponent Stacy Dukes-Rhone both have strong community and family ties to the East Austin area. But Davis is unmatched in his longtime commitment to his community through years of volunteer work to bring equity and an overall improvement of living standards to the people of East…
Primary Colors
Primary Colors 1998, R, 143 min. Directed by Mike Nichols, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester, Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Maura Tierney, Larry Hagman, Paul Guilfoyle. It’s uncanny: the pasty, puffy physique; the graying blow-dried hair; the throaty drawl; the direct eye contact; the instincts of a…
Better Living Through Chemistry: The Squirt-On Condom About AIDS
If necessity is the mother of invention, condom-use resistance is giving us the mother of all condom ingenuity: a squirt-it-on condom that “applies” itself as you slide in. No, really! Dr. Michel Bergeron of the Laval Institute in Quebec has invented a polymer gel that squirts out of a tube onto the vaginal or anal…
Home-Grown Workers
Rip Rowan at Texas Workforce Center photograph by John Anderson Austin’s reputation as a high-tech hot spot invokes glamorous images of hip, pioneering young engineers, groundbreaking research, and handsome salaries. That perception creates an alluring shimmer that draws aspiring professionals here and is undoubtedly priceless to city public relations officials. But for the majority of…
Wild Things
The film is a fun, sexy never-ending game of double-cross.
