Cover Story
Believing the Children
In 1992, Fran and Danny Keller were convicted of multiple counts of child sexual abuse at their Oak Hill day care center and sent to prison for 48 years. It’s likely they were innocent. Indeed, it’s very likely that no crime ever occurred – except an absurd and overzealous prosecution
Joyeux Anniversaire, Serge Gainsbourg!
Serge Gainsbourg’s birthday
Off the Record – 33 RPM
Roscoe Beck on the Tower of Song and wine tasting with Maynard James Keenan
Lightweight Lightning at the Drum
Big-name lightweights in town for fight Saturday night
Fudging Facts on the Titty Tax
Rep. Ellen Cohen repeats inaccurate statement in laying out revised sexually oriented business tax
Aztex-Islanders Friday; HS, WCQ
The Aztex’s last preseason game; local high schools make regionals; plus World Cup Qualifying results
Think It Can’t Happen Here?
Patrons at beloved Galveston bar, Robert’s Lafitte, senselessly bashed.
The Real Real World
MTV’s Pedro premieres tonight.
Shield Law ‘Riddled’ With Criticism
House passes journalism shield law without Tomball rep’s vote
This weekend: 80’s, Crawfish, & Extreme Sports… Oh My!
Watch out for snowboarding crawfish!
Maldonado’s Milestone
Round Rock rep to lay out her first bill on the floor Thursday
Greatest Greatest Hits
Nick Lowe, Filter, etc.
It’s Texas Relays Time
Track & Field fans and athletes take over Austin for the next four days
qHarmony: Like Playing Twister in a Leper Colony
Online dating giant eHarmony loooooves the gay. As of today.
Goodbye Watson, Hello Rabago
A climate-change changing of the guard
Comprehensive Planners: Secrets Revealed
You asked for it, now reserve your weekend to read it!
Five Peace Band
Chick Corea & John McLaughlin’s all-star Five Peace Band lands at Bass Concert Hall Thursday, April 2
Legends of Texas Letters Reflect on ‘The Gay Place’
ACC’s Carnival ah! hosts a Billy Lee Brammer retrospective
Trustees Talk Educational Philosophy
AISD board and staff clash over concept of privatizing education
Guns’N’Campuses
Introducing concealed firearms bill, Rep. Driver glosses over number of grad and mature students
Debate Over Police Roadblocks
Senate floor is hopping with debate on whether police should be allowed to set up roadblocks to find drunk drivers
Is Debbie Riddle ‘Color Blind’ or Just Blind?
Riddle doesn’t understand the point of HB 789 provisions
Sonidos del Barrio
Honoring Tejano legends
House Approves SBOE Video Webcasts
Howard’s bill now moves to Senate
Cohen’s Titty Tax Head to Hearing
Rival bills taking different paths, but Thompson’s 10% tax ahead in process
Voter ID in House Today?
Brown rumored to be sneaking it through on an amendment
That Was Selfish
Portia de Rossi’s VIP PSA.
Cho Dickinson is Showing
The GayVN awards will be Live Streaming. Well what did you expect?
Madness at the Lege
Your tax dollars hard at work
Mixed Day for Science at the State Board of Education
Evolution wins a victory, but creationists still a foot in the door
RAW Talent
The seasoning of Art Spiegelman’s graphic chops
You’ve Got a Friend in the Alternative Softball League
Making friends and havin’ babies
Addicted to Pot or to Staying Out of Jail?
That’s the question drug-law reformers have about pot “addiction” treatment numbers
Time to Fix Criminal Justice System
Sen. Jim Webb says broken system must be fixed
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Dog fetches meteorite, prank faxes in space, and more
Event Menu
Local food events, March 28-April 2
Live Shots
Devo Austin Music Hall, March 20 Given Devo’s emblematic role in shaping contemporary 1980s nostalgia, the question was whether the Akron, Ohio-bred quintet would scare up a 21st century version of Ricky Nelson’s “Garden Party.” A competent running of the hits would’ve sent the crowd home happy, but the group performed as if it were…
Live Shots
The Wooden Birds The Parish, March 21 Turning repeatedly to his band between songs, Andrew Kenny offered soft encouragement – “That was pretty good guys” – as if surprised at the tightness of the mellow sound rolling behind him. There was little surprising about the Wooden Birds, however, as the quintet couched comfortably familiar in…
Cap Metro
As if Cap Metro’s budget crisis and MetroRail delay weren’t bad enough
EK: The Power of One
This Hindi action film tells the story of a professional assassin who is accused of killing a politician.
The Hightower Report
A Blue-Green Victory for America; and The Milkman Delivers
Food-o-File
Rachael Ray enjoys herself in Austin, and wholesale and online custom bakeries proliferate
Live Shots
The Decemberists Stubb�s, March 18 Despite a tentative beginning, the Decemberists pulled off the live premiere of their magnificent fifth album, The Hazards of Love, a rock opera of sorts based on archetypal characters from the folk music lexicon. Skeptics might argue that to re-create the album live robs a performance of its own natural,…
Live Shots
Jimmy Webb & the Webb Brothers Prague, Saturday 21 Jimmy Webb has been in the biz since the mid-1960s. During that time, the 62-year-old has penned a handful of platinum-selling hits. He also had six kids, three of whom put together the literally named Webb Brothers, yet Saturday night was the first time he had…
Yogurt Shop DNA Saga Continues, Part 2
Travis Co. D.A.’s office still considering new DNA evidence
Sunshine Cleaning
Two sisters try to remedy the financial and emotional paralysis of their lives by starting a company that specializes in crime-scene cleanups.
Retirement and the City
Retirement is tough. Living Downtown makes it all better.
Liquid Assets
Downtown, a nice drop of wine is never too far away
Live Shots
Érika Machado The Rio, March 18 Érika Machado traveled 5,000 miles to play a 40-minute set to 20 people in a Tex-Mex eatery. Such is the fate of a largely unknown international act performing at a music festival. Acoustic guitar in hand, the Brazilian singer loped through much of 2007’s No Cimento, including “Perna,” “Tédio,”…
Live Shots
The Cannabinoids featuring Erykah Badu Auditorium Shores Stage, March 21 To answer the question: No, the Cannabinoids featuring Erykah Badu weren’t worth seeing. As a matter of fact, the hour the packed crowd at Auditorium Shores spent waiting for Badu to show up was a complete waste of time. The Cannabinoids, Badu’s 11-man DJ collective,…
City Counseling: Back to the Dais
Home-business advertising and oversight of tax increment financing for Seaholm are among this week’s council items
Crossing Over
Various characters who are ensnared within the dogged machinery of the American immigration system become the subjects of this multistrand narrative.
Research and Development
Back in the performance laboratory of the David Mark Cohen New Works Festival
Live Shots
Kid Congo Powers & the Pink Monkey Birds Emo’s Jr., March 18 Batting last in Leafy Green Booking’s formidable showcase, guitarist Kid Congo Powers & the Pink Monkey Birds delivered a workmanlike set. As a founding member of the Gun Club, longtime member of the Cramps, and onetime sideman to Nick Cave, Powers proved himself…
Live Shots
The Knux/Dead Prez Vice/Austin Music Hall, March 21 Though it fades slightly on the back end, last year’s Remind Me in 3 Days … was one of the most promising albums of 2008, hard-copy proof that hip-hop can sound like 1996 even if artists can’t afford to use samples anymore. Knux brothers Krispy Kream and…
Point Austin: Legitimate Public Concern
The Keller prosecution is an enduring stain on Austin’s honor and sense of justice
SXSW Film Reviews
American Prince Documentary Feature, Special Screenings D: Tommy Pallotta In 1978, Martin Scorsese released a legendary but little-seen documentary about Steven Prince, an ex-heroin-addict, former road manager for Neil Diamond, and heavyweight raconteur. For 55 minutes Scorsese gave his friend the floor to tell stories of his hectic life (some of which would later make…
A Guide to the Works
This year’s New Works Festival runs for six days, with performances beginning at 10am each day and ending by 11pm. Works are being performed in a variety of spaces around the Winship Drama Building, 23rd and San Jacinto, some of them quite small and able to seat only 15 to 50 people, so it’s a…
Live Shots
Peter Murphy Elysium, March 19 The former goth godhead and current vamp-in-residence for Turkey may be sporting a bit of a paunch these days, but his multioctave pipes have maintained a darkly golden sheen, surpassing even those of his glam-pop hero, one David Bowie. Murphy’s Elysium gig managed barely half the black magic of his…
Live Shots
Futomomo Satisfaction Opal Divine’s, March 21 The Tokyo 10-piece that paraded down Sixth Street earlier in the day with homemade signs to promote its stateside debut wowed a bewildered crowd with big-band covers and “the power of the bikini.” As the band launched into the driving spy-funk of the “Peter Gunn Theme,” a trio of…
City Hall Hustle: Circling the Wagons
Local pols start sorting candidates
SXSW Film Reviews
The Last Beekeeper Documentary Feature, Spotlight Premieres D: Jeremy Simmons Almond milk, almond butter, almond cookies, Almond Joy, almond lotion … almonds are ubiquitous. However, their existence is threatened by the extinction of one very hardworking creature: the bee. Almond trees depend on bees for pollination, and bees are rapidly dying thanks to Colony Collapse…
Festival Schedule
All room numbers are for the Winship Drama Building. Monday, March 30 11am Keynote address by Rubén Polendo, Payne Theatre 11:30 Opening reception, Payne lobby 1pm Autopilot, 1.134 1:30 Problem Box, 2.180 2:30 Chest Scale reception, Upper Atrium Panel: The Business of Show Business, 2.112 4pm Writing a Letter to Fidel, 1.134 4:30 The Edge…
Live Shots
Beach House Volume, March 19 Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, decked out in black leather vest and ironic mustache, respectively, echoed dream pop in direct counterpoint to the family-style orchestrations so prevalent over their past half-decade. Opening the cavernous Volume with a squall of unintentional feedback, the Baltimore trio (now including drums!) launched into a…
Live Shots
Doug Sahm’s ‘Mendocino’ Austin Convention Center, March 21 Although this lively panel was ostensibly about the Sir Douglas Quintet’s landmark 1969 single, “Mendocino,” anyone who knows anything about the late Doug Sahm could guess tangential asides would overwhelm the assigned subject matter. Moderator Bill Bentley chose the 1966 Corpus Christi dope bust that compelled Sahm’s…
Headlines
• Cap Metro’s plans to launch the Capital MetroRail Red Line have been put on indefinite hold after allegations of violations of state and federal safety rules by rail contractor Veolia Transportation. See “Cap Metro.” • By unanimous vote on March 23, the Austin Independent School District board of trustees confirmed Meria Carstarphen (pictured), the…
Under the Stars and Maybe Some Space Aliens
The LBJ Library screens sci-fi classics
After a Fashion
Stephen saunters, sashays, and gets sassy at SXSW
Live Shots
Rosalie Sorrels Victorian Room at the Driskill, March 19 At 75, Rosalie Sorrels was among the more veteran performers at South by Southwest, yet as she reminded her audience, “Little old ladies are sometimes surprising.” Sorrels performed only eight songs over 50 minutes but charmed the audience with tales of the artists she’s met and…
Live Shots
Neil Young Archives Austin Convention Center, March 21 Ten minutes into his panel, Elliot Roberts’ phone started ringing. It was his most famous client, Neil Young. Roberts declined to answer the call as he was busy with something more important. He was unveiling Young’s oft-delayed Archives box set. Volume 1 (of perhaps up to five)…
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and elsewhere
SXSW Film Reviews
Women in Trouble Narrative Feature, Spotlight Premieres D: Sebastian Gutierrez; with Carla Gugino, Adrianne Palicki, Connie Britton, Josh Brolin, Simon Baker, Marley Shelton, Emmanuelle Chirqui, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sarah Clarke, Cameron Richardson Before reaching the verge of a nervous breakdown, the subjects are generally women in trouble … and that’s more or less how it goes…
Off the Record
Nothing’s shocking: reveling in the aftermath and glow of South by Southwest 09
Live Shots
Big Boi Austin Music Hall, March 19 Even without Andre 3000, OutKast rapper Big Boi still brought the bangers. After assuring the modest crowd that his heavily leaked solo album Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty would be out soon, the man born Antwan Andre Patton offered a lesson in flow drawing heavily…
Live Shots
Woodstock: Untold Stories Austin Convention Center, March 21 Woodstock occurred 40 years ago this August, but just talking about it can still draw quite a crowd. Author Holly George-Warren led a group of Woodstock veterans through a panel so enjoyable that it went 30 minutes over and no one seemed to care. It started with…
Res Publica
Good times for good citizens, March 26-April 3
Film News
New projects from Robert Rodriguez and Tim McCanlies; plus Danny DeVito plus Limoncello, together forever
Live Shots
Lady Sovereign Club de Ville, March 20 Beginning 20 minutes late, Lady Sovereign’s set initially reigned chaos. The showcase MC tried to keep the crowd energized while Sov’s DJ Annalyze spun and scratched, and seven or eight entouragers wandered onstage sipping beers and impatiently signed orders to the sound booth. Suddenly the trademark “S-o-veee” motif…
Playing Through
Rhonda Robinson gave it her all at the Austin Turfcats cheerleader tryouts
Police Report
The 1992 Austin Police Department investigative report on the Keller case
Red Carpet Rodeo
500 Days of Summer’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel I Love You, Man’s Rashida Jones and Paul Rudd Women in Trouble’s Connie Britton (l) and Carla Gugino Observe and Report’s Anna Faris and Seth Rogen Moon director Duncan Jones (r) and star Sam Rockwell Directors (l-r) Rick Linklater, Spike Lee, and Todd Haynes
SXSW Film Reviews
Strongman Documentary Feature, Special Screenings D: Zachary Levy There seems to be an unspoken rule among documentarians that anything or anyone is worthy of a documentary if you can just get the right footage and edit it entertainingly. Hoop Dreams comes to mind, as it followed two inner-city teens and ended up being a transcendent…
Children and Testimony
Inexperienced interviewers can lead children to make up stories
Live Shots
Wovenhand Spiros, March 20 “Weave together anger and grief, bow down, bow down, and sing,” growled David Eugene Edwards during a rare South by Southwest Music Fest encore of his former band 16 Horsepower’s “Horse Head Fiddle,” his blues moan scouring atop droning guitar. Few phrases better capture the preceding 40 minutes of Wovenhand’s set,…
Pity the Family-Planning Clinic
Budget rider targets specific family-planning operations
Page Two: SXSW 09: An Intelligence-Impaired Introduction
In which six wise men give up on the elephant and go down themselves
2008-09 Austin Music Awards Encore
Austin Music Hall, Wednesday, March 18
In Print
The chief aim, it seems, of Molly Haskell’s terrific new book is to make it okay to admit to liking Gone With the Wind
The Satanic Abuse Scare
By the early Nineties, satanic abuse allegations at day care centers had become a national trend
Live Shots
The Bar-Kays Dirty Dog Bar, March 19 Call it the Beale Street Invasion. Memphis Music Foundation’s Thursday night showcase was a reminder that the resilient Tennessee town is forever a haven for American music. After hip-hoppers Free Sol filled in for 8Ball & MJG, who missed their flight, and rockers Lucero drenched the crowd in…
Cyclists Hope for Safe Passage
The Safe Passing Bill would make roads safer for cyclists and other vulnerable road users
Paul Taylor Dance Company
Call them contemporary or modern, but Paul Taylor’s dances are always masterful
SXSW Film Reviews
Burma VJ Documentary Feature, Special Screenings D: Anders Ostergaard This film is the backstory to the media footage we watched on TV in the summer of 2007, when 100,000 Myanmar citizens – joined by the country’s usually apolitical Buddhist monks – marched against a 40-year-long repressive military regime. (The iconic image of the all-too brief…
Arts Reviews
John Steinbeck’s tale of the Great Depression is delivered with beauty and power
Live Shots
PJ Harvey & John Parish Stubb’s, March 21 Predictably, Saturday’s mellow 45-minute set only featured songs PJ Harvey and longtime creative partner John Parish have written together for 1996’s Dance Hall at Louse Point and their new collaboration, A Woman a Man Walked By. Still, it was a thrill to see Harvey come alive in…
When to Stop Punishing Schools
Accountability bill slowed by important questions
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
The fascinating documentary explores the overlooked career of this influential yet enigmatic music legend.
Anton Nel
The concert pianist shows off the Hamburg Steinway he chose for Dell Hall
TV Eye
Lessons learned at SXSW Interactive
Arts Reviews
Rob Nash plays 29 characters over four years of high school and makes it look so easy
Live Shots
The Strange Boys Beauty Bar Backyard, March 21 You know it’s a great show when a South by Southwest showcase by an Austin band is chock-full of locals. The garage rock of Austin pride the Strange Boys isn’t some derivation of the past. It’s original and genuine. Ever-youthful Ryan Sambol led his Boys – brother…
Creationists Get Creative at the Capitol
Two new creationist-backed bills take aim at science education
Knowing
It’s up to Nicolas Cage to save the world in this movie about a man who deciphers a cryptic artifact that predicts major disasters, past and future.
Candidates Forum on the Arts
Candidates for mayor and City Council will outline their positions on cultural matters
SXSW Film Reviews
The Big Squeeze Documentary Short D: Hector Galán What starts as a trailer for the Austin-based Texas Folklife Resources and its annual Accordion Kings & Queens competition veers into a narrow examination of traditional accordion music. Galán has made a career celebrating Tejano and conjunto music with todo corazón. However, this documentary, prepared for PBS…
The Power of Suggestion
Video interviews of Frances Keller and psychology professor James Wood
Live Shots
Silversun Pickups Antone’s, March 21 This wasn’t Silversun Pickups’ night. The capacity crowd at Antone’s grew increasingly impatient as a couple of the group’s earnest roadies sound-checked endlessly. Then we waited. And waited. Finally, the L.A. quartet emerged onstage, beatific grins on the members’ faces, before ripping into “Well Thought Out Twinkles” from their 2006…
Adding Teeth to Hazing Laws
Student hazing has a body count
Monsters vs. Aliens
In this animated film, a misfit band of monsters unleashed from quarantine defend Earth from an alien invader.
Letters at 3AM
We may come to regret there are so few intelligent conservative voices making themselves heard
SXSW Film Reviews
Jonathan Demme talks Trunk
Day Trips
Mason isn’t your normal small Texas town
Live Shots
Primal Scream Cedar Street Courtyard, March 19 By now it’s obvious: Scottish rockers Primal Scream are the true inheritors of the Stones’ battered, jagged, yet ultimately glorious Brit-rock & roll crown. Both Keith Richards and Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie have pried a few jewels off that tarnished old topper, the better to barter for illicit…
LegeLines
Odds and ends from the Capitol
The Haunting in Connecticut
Essentially a substandard rip-off of The Amityville Horror, this spook house drama should be condemned.
The Common Law
Tax Break for Selling Your Home?
SXSW Film Reviews
Final Audience Awards Announced SXSW announced two more audience awards near the end of the Festival: Iron Maiden: Flight 666 (D: Scot McFadyen, Sam Dunn) took Best in Show for the 24 Beats per Second sidebar, and Over the Hills and Far Away (D: Michel Orion Scott), about one Austin family’s struggle with living with…
Gay Place
Gay Place is giving away tickets and looking for Pride interns.
Live Shots
Justin Townes Earle Red Eyed Fly, March 21 Justin Townes Earle tried to start his set with “They Killed John Henry” but forgot the words and gave up. It was the last misstep of the evening. Earle’s a natural performer, and accompanied only by banjo and mandolin from Cory Younts, he offered effortlessly perfect renditions…
AISD: Carstarphen Seals the Deal
Folks, we’ve got ourselves a new school superintendent
Gomorrah
The viral progression of organized crime in Naples, Italy, is starkly portrayed in this violent and deglamorizing gangster movie.
Luv Doc Recommends: Holy Cross Sucks!
Loud music and shitty beer: Over it. You probably also feel the same about lukewarm catered barbecue, nutrition bars, and sickly sweet energy drinks – at least until your plane goes down in the Andes. Then again, offered the choice, you might actually opt for frozen human flesh. Morality aside, it would surely be the…
