Cover Story
South by Southwest Interactive 06
March 10-14, Austin Convention Center
Austin Media Arts Committee Screenings
Austin Media Arts Committee Screenings Directed by Various. The Austin Media Arts Committe is recently formed umbrella organization of Austin media groups, which will be hosting ancillary screenings during SXSW that showcase their members’ best short films. For the complete schedule see sxsw.com/film. The East Austin Stories project is an ongoing collaboration between University of…
SXSW Records
Jamie CullumCatching Tales (Verve) Even with such an elfin physical presence, the buzz enveloping pianist/composer Jamie Cullum at SXSW 04 was enormous and eventually helped make his Verve debut, Twentysomething, a smash jazz/pop crossover. Now, the Grammy-nominated, multimillion-selling, relentlessly touring, London sparkplug returns with an engaging follow-up that rightfully leans more toward the pop. There’s…
Homeless Sting Smarts
Some wonder if APD’s Operation Out of the Box was less about clearing the streets of criminals than about cleansing them of the homeless.
Arts Review
At Conspirare’s concert Wondrous Journey, the sheer pleasure that this choral ensemble’s members take in singing shone through even more resplendently than usual
Home Slice Pizza
22) Home Slice Pizza1415 S. Congress, 444-PIES Monday, Wednesday-Thursday, 11:30am-11pm; Friday-Saturday, 11:30am-midnight; Sunday, noon-10pm www.homeslicepizza.com From the moment Home Slice opened its doors, it has been packed. As you walk in (assuming you aren’t just grabbing a slice from the convenient sidewalk “slice window”), you are hit by a wall of warm, pizza-redolent air and…
Court Reporter
At the Supreme Court Wednesday, it was all about Texas and the future
SXSW Records
Rhett MillerThe Believer (Verve) It’s no secret that the Old 97’s have always been better live. Even now, the Dallas-based band’s radio-ready power chords still sound better with a little cowboy-boot stomp. That said, longtime fans will hardly be surprised at the near total lack of stomp on The Believer, the second full-fledged solo effort…
Point Austin: Clean Is as Clean Does
When you signed that petition, did you get to read the fine print?
Culture Flash!
Big honors for a local portraitist, a pianist, and two high school seniors, plus Austin Books raises $2K for First Amendment protection
Doc’s Motor Works
28) Doc’s Motor Works1123 S. Congress, 448-9181 Sunday-Thursday, 11am-10pm; Friday-Saturday, 11am-11pm www.docsaustin.com If there is one thing that Austinites like to do, it’s sitting on a nice patio and drinking. Throw some decent food into the mix, and you’ve got yourself a successful restaurant. Doc’s Motor Works has taken this recipe for success and fulfilled…
Senate Approves More Benefits for Hurricane Evacuees
Thirteen-week unemployment aid extension for both Katrina and Rita evacuees just in time
SXSW Records
Robert Pollard From a Compound Eye (Merge) Remember the First Citywide Change Bank of SNL commercial spoof fame? When asked how the bank makes money-making change, the service representative says, “Volume,” as if doing enough zero-sum activity will somehow make it profitable. Robert Pollard’s post-Guided by Voices solo debut is a bit like First Citywide’s…
Beside the Point
Is big-home sprawl just the facts of life?
Giant-Sized Annual
Staple!: The Independent Media Expo returns for its second year
Freebirds World Burrito
29) Freebirds World Burrito515 S. Congress, 462-3512 Sunday-Thursday, 11am-10:30pm; Friday-Saturday, 11am-11pm www.freebirds.com Clearly drawing its inspiration from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Freebirds World Burrito is all about making a big, rockin’ eating experience. Stratocaster-sized burritos in a rock & roll environment are the stock-in-trade at this California-based chain that has found its success in Texas. Rather than…
Madea’s Family Reunion
In this sequel to last year’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Tyler Perry ups the ante and includes Cicely Tyson and Maya Angelou in his coffee klatch.
SXSW Records
Jade DayChimera (Redeye) Rightfully so, Chimera liner notes define its title: “an organism composed of genetically different tissues.” Translation: The promising Austin quartet has stitched together a Frankenstein’s monster of sensitive prog-rock. The result is a technically proficient collection of songs so evocative of its obvious and well-known antecedents as to be fatally distracting. Singer…
The Hightower Report
Too many leaks or too much secrecy?; and old friends
Page Two: Altered States
The new right’s ever-loosening grip on reality
Food-o-File
Small farmers, ranchers, horse owners, and backyard livestock hobbyists have a problem with the National Animal Identification System.
Running Scared
Wayne Kramer’s follow-up to his crime drama The Cooler has no moral compass, and swings wildly out of control while blanketed in hyper-violent digital gore effects and a thick, black nausea of the soul.
SXSW Records
MarahIf You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry (Yep Roc) Predictability is usually bad, right? Only half the time. Marah’s fifth LP is another unsurprising pastiche of notes cribbed from working class and classic rock heroes: Springsteen, Dylan, Mick, and Keith. And so what? Not everyone has to be an avant guardian. While Laugh falls short of…
Letters at 3AM
When we say, “This is Nature, and this is not,” we’re just picking and choosing according to our ideologies, desires, and needs – in other words, a power play to make life behave as we wish. That it never does is life’s answer to our machinations.
Picks 2 Click
Seven local bands you shouldn’t miss
Doogal
A clunker if there ever was one, Doogal is so mind-numbingly incoherent that parents and children alike will stare dazedly at the movie screen wondering what the heck is going on.
SXSW Records
Two High String Band Moonshine Boogie (Blue Corn) When stand-up bassist Bryn Bright moved to Nashville early last year, Austin’s Two High String Band didn’t miss a beat. They soldiered on as a trio and continued to amaze people with just a mandolin and two acoustic guitars. Moonshine Boogie, their first release with this lineup…
Reciprocal Demand
Ladies, what has the gaming business done for you, lately?
After a Fashion
Stephen acknowledges how recherch� it would be for him to review his own show and then proceeds to do so
Voxtrot
Voxtrot’s utopian pop, ready for the Elysian Fields
16 Blocks
Richard Donner still has it. 16 Blocks may be a formulaic good-cops/bad-cops actioner, but it’s rarely stereotypical.
SXSW Records
Great Lake SwimmersBodies and Minds (Misra) Desolation is beautiful. It’s the fuel of songwriters, a simple truth. Tony Dekker’s Great Lake Swimmers likewise spin tales of dry breeze and whispering trees. The Toronto quartet displaces sounds of the American Plains to the True North with Bodies and Minds. Released just months after last year’s eponymous…
City of Games
ScreenBurn reinvents itself for launch
Day Trips
Blessed Mary’s in Groom: home to the righteous cheeseburger
The Glass Family
The Glass Family, transparent talent
Dave Chappelle’s Block Party
Although the film hasn’t the distinctive fingerprints of Eternal Sunshine director Michel Gondry, Chappelle’s party is nevertheless a fun blast of impromptu musicmaking, filmmaking, and comedy.
SXSW Records
Rogue WaveDescended Like Vultures (Sub Pop) Perhaps it’s not very rock & roll or indie to describe Rogue Wave’s sophomore album thusly, but Descended Like Vultures flies like it’s swathed in cotton candy and chenille. It’s layer after plush layer of lovely originals that reveal the Bay area group’s singer/bellwether Zach Rogue and his love…
The Consequences of Getting Personal
BlogHer founders Elisa Camahort, Jory Des Jardins, and Lisa Stone
To Your Health
The cause and treatment of Restless Leg Syndrome
The Black Angels
The Black Angels get their war on
Aquamarine
Based on a young adult novel by Alice Hoffman, the film is about two best girlfriends who meet up with … a mermaid!
Don’t Bank on It
The folks at Dragon’s Lair learn an expensive lesson from Bank of America
Don’t Fear the Interface
Web designers are wielding the coolest new tools for the greater good
The Common Law
Law can be cool – Attend ‘Explore UT’ at the Law School
LZ Love
LZ brings the Love, soulfully
Night Watch
Russia’s highest box-office grosser (until the release of its sequel) is a stylish sci-fi thriller that’s filled with adrenaline-fueled pacing, an abundance of gory effects, a death metal soundtrack, and a convoluted narrative that puts The Matrix to shame.
The Rise of McMansions
Those large-scale “starter castles” on postage-stamp plots of land bring two of the Austin City Council’s most cherished ideals into direct conflict.
The New Reliable
With Dooce.com, pro blogger and crazy Utah housewife Heather Armstrong stands by her brand
Soccer Watch
Romanian second-division club bemoans loss of star player, meat
D-Madness
D-Madness’ one-man innervisions
Three Days of Rain
A drama by debut filmmaker Michael Meredith is a Chekhov-inspired collection of semi-intertwined vignettes about a half-dozen or so depressed people living in Cleveland, and features an impressive cast.
He Who Must Not Be Named Returns to TV News
Ron (mumble mumble) is back at the anchor desk
Come in From the Old
Warming up to folksonomies, recommendation systems, and glocalized environments
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
The MGM Grand is indeed grand, and cancer-sniffing dogs
Elana James
Ex-Hot Club of Cowtowner fiddles as her Continental Two burn
Endorsements
Early Voting: Through March 3 The following are the Chronicle’s endorsements in selected contested races for the March 7 primaries in Travis County; we make no endorsements in uncontested races. This year the primary election question is more difficult than usual because both current Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and writer-performer Richard “Kinky” Friedman will be…
Idea Man for the Future
Ian Cion is out to build a better world, through public art
Oops!
In last week’s story “APD’s Michael Clark Videos,” we incorrectly reported that the mental health officer that responded to the scene was Officer Douglas Drake. In fact, the MHO who evaluated Clark at the scene was Officer James Morgan. We regret the error.
Whit Smith’s Hot Jazz Caravan
The soundtrack of Django Reinhardt lounging in the back of Bob Wills’ Airstream
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Not Clown
Physical Plant Theater becomes the latest Austin company to get a run in New York City when it takes its darkly comic political play ‘Not Clown’ to Soho Rep
SoCo Dining Spots
Just across the river from downtown, the broad expanse of South Congress Avenue is the main artery of a dynamic city neighborhood and a microcosm of what we like best about Austin
Redemption Song
Dick Rude on ‘Let’s Rock Again!’ and the legacy of Joe Strummer
TCB
A brief guide to SXSW panels and interviews. Plus Sigur Rós, Single Frame, or Van Morrison: Who’s weirder?
Reproductive Rights Fight
South Dakota lawmakers set stage for most targeted attack on abortion rights since 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling; and Bush’s proposed FY 2007 budget features cuts to women’s and family planning programs
Ballet Austin
Before revving up the jackhammers to renovate its downtown dance center, Ballet Austin is inviting the public to go Dancin’ in the District
SoCo Dining Spots
Download our online Chronicle guides to your iPod: austinchronicle.com/ipod. PLUS: There’s more to SoCo life than food: Find it all in our updated guide: austinchronicle.com/soco. 1) El Borrego de Oro Real Mexican food, real corn tortillas, and real Mexican Coca-Colas at a reasonable price. Try the birria lamb and the perfect picadillo. 3900 S. Congress,…
Felipe Cazals
Presented by the Austin Film Society and Cine Las Americas
Primary Election Notes
Scuttlebutt from the election trail
Texas Parks in Harm’s Way
New report sounds alarm that Texas parks are being financially starved, warns that many of the state’s open spaces and parks are under immediate threat
Arts Review
What the State Theatre Company’s handsome but curiously reserved production of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ lacks is that liberating light-headedness of intoxication
Opal Divine’s Penn Field
4) Opal Divine’s Penn Field3601 S. Congress K100, 707-0237 Daily, 11am-2am www.opaldivines.com Count me as one of the biggest fans of Opal Divine’s Freehouse, the original snug and funky location on West Sixth. The first thing you notice in its new location is the openness and modernity, the high ceilings, concrete floors, and tailored seating.…
DVD Watch
The Best of Youth Miramax, $29.99 “Are you looking for mystery?” asks Matteo (Alessio Boni) of an attractive young woman (Maya Sansa) taking photographs at a Sicilian dockside cafe. “You have to find the soul,” he advises her, and evidently she does, because moments later, she snaps a quick picture of him that some 20…
The Summit
We asked some of the loudest, clearest, and leading voices in Cyberspace why they’re coming to SXSW Interactive, what they bring to the proceedings, and who they want to encounter. Here are their responses.
Varying Visions
AISD’s vision for prekindergarten education and that of Austin’s community of early childhood nonprofits differ significantly.
Arts Review
Neil LaBute’s ‘The Shape of Things,’ staged by a chick and a dude productions, destroys the kind of cutesy relationships usually reserved for melodramatic chick flicks
Garden District Coffee House
6) Garden District Coffee House2810 S. Congress, 462-2473 Monday-Friday, 7am-10pm; Saturday, 8am-10pm; Sunday, 9am-10pm Perched atop the bucolic Great Outdoors Garden Center, the Garden District Coffee House takes its cue from the South Congress gardening mecca, as well as the nearby Habana Restaurant. The décor is foliage-based, with lots of live plants plus complementary murals…
TV Eye
News blast
Luv Doc Recommends: Ain’t Misbehavin’ Reunion Show
“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” It’s impossible to know for sure, but when Langston Hughes penned the preceding lines, he probably wasn’t talking about aging musicians. Surely he had heavier shit to deal with. Nonetheless, regardless of his intentions, Hughes pretty much nailed it.…
