The Last Picture Show
The Last Picture Show 1971, R, 118 min. D: Peter Bogdanovich; with Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges. Larry McMurtry’s novel is the source for this indelible slice of small-town Texas life. An incredible cast of actors (many of them newcomers) ensure this film’s legacy as one of the all-time great coming-of-age movies.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 1989, PG-13, 125 min. D: Steven Spielberg; with Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott. The third entry in this adventure series is an improvement on the second (a prequel), although it can’t be said that The Last Crusade breaks any new ground. Sean Connery is introduced as the adventurer’s…
To Your Health
Can you tell me the benefits of taking potassium? Is there enough in my multivitamin/mineral? What foods are rich in potassium?
Naked City
House Bill 5, the on-again, off-again effort by Rep. Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington, to bribe school districts into supporting the abolition of the “Robin Hood” school-finance system, came and went in a flash on the House floor last Thursday. After a brief debate, HB 5 was momentarily derailed by one of its own authors, Rep. Ron…
Second Helpings: Catfish II
We’ve got catfish … lots and lots of catfish.
About AIDS
Conservatives Prowling Against Prevention “If you want grant money to study HIV and STD prevention, when you turn in a grant application, leave out terms like ‘gay,’ ‘anal sex,’ ‘sex workers,’ and ‘needle exchange.'” Federal health officials at the NIH and CDC are giving this advice to some researchers, because the topics are politically controversial…
Down to the Wire
With Katz You Get Egg Roll Max Nofziger mostly stayed out of harm’s way this week as the other three mayoral leaders — Will Wynn, Marc Katz, and Brad Meltzer — mixed it up. For the record: After a surprisingly incoherent performance in front of club owners last week, Wynn announced this week that he,…
Naked City
After the House’s aborted Robin Hood debate, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn indeed announced that she and the Legislative Budget Board had mutually concluded the draft House budgets were more than a few sandwiches short of a picnic: $2.9 billion worth, to be exact, including the deficits in both HB 7 (this year) and HB 1…
TCB
Austin mayoral candidates give new meaning to “Rock the Vote”
Day Trips
The New Braunfels Museum of Art & Music promises to be one of the most exciting additions to the arts and entertainment scene in Central Texas when it reopens May 10. Within walking distance of Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas, the new exhibition space builds on the historic district’s heritage and other…
Down to the Wire
Following the Money A final look at campaign-contribution filings for the Place 2 and 6 races reveals few quirks or surprises, but there are a few. Incumbents Raul Alvarez and Danny Thomas have both easily outraised their opponents, but Alvarez has raised almost six times as much money as Thomas and spent 10 times as…
Small Victory, Bitter Defeats
A small win for the good guys, followed by a huge loss.
Dream of a New Circus
In the two decades it has taken for Cirque du Soleil to reach Austin for the first time, this Montreal-based troupe has not only reinvented circus as performance art but grown into one of the most unexpected and unlikely of entertainment empires.
Letters at 3AM
We call them “retirees,” although in other cultures and eras they would be elders, but if they had anything real to do they wouldn’t be coming here to Jean, Nevada.
Down to the Wire
Attackin’ McCracken Brewster McCracken is wrapping up his campaign for City Council much the way he started it — breathlessly excited, wanting to win so bad he can taste it. The Austin lawyer kicked off his second council bid a few months ago as the odds-on favorite to succeed Wynn, and in the seven-way race…
Rep. Elliott Naishtat’s Closing Remarks on House Bill 2292
Rep. Elliott Naishtat speaks against passage of HB 2292.
Son of the Graphics Giveaway
Just as the success of the first X-Men film has spawned a sequel, so has Free Comic Book Day, and on May 3, 2003, this promotional event for graphic literature — or funny books, if you will — will give away more millions of comics about everything from guys in tights trying to save the…
Into Town
Will Austin shoppers support a Downtown farmers’ market?
On the Lege
The capitalist caucus targets “socialist” public schools.
Austin @ Large: Time Stands Still
The mayoral race seems a cross between 1954 and 1999 — anything but 2003.
‘Ears & Feet’
Utilizing technology to combine dance and computerized music has come a long way since the Eighties, as can be seen in the 2003 edition of EARS & Feet, the annual UT College of Fine Arts program that pairs student composers with student choreographers to collaborate on a piece.
On Organics
Rachel Feit lets you in on everything you need to know about the organic-food industry.
Deconstructing the Public Schools
The House has generated the most dubious bills targeting education this session. Here’s a brief selection of the worst still standing: HB 2465: “Freedom Scholarships” Grusendorf’s “scholarship” (i.e., voucher) bill would provide some of the poorer students in the 11 largest districts in Texas (including Austin ISD) with vouchers directly from the districts’ budgets and…
The Hightower Report
The comprehensive energy bill is comprehensive theft; and put on your burqua — the Taliban is back.
Articulations
The grand old troupe of the Austin improv comedy scene is closing its home of six years, and the Texas Commission on the Arts announces the appointments for state poet laureate, state musician, state two-dimensional artist, and state three-dimensional artist for 2003 and 2004.
Food-o-File
Virginia B. Wood simmers down quite a stew of news in this week’s “Food-o-File.”
Gambling? What Gambling?
Allergic to taxes, the Lege tries to balance the budget with the rolls of the dice.
Rethinking the Three R’s
Reagan High’s digital-media lab opens doors for young students into filmmaking.
Exhibitionism
Cirque du Soleil’s Alegría brings to athletic, spellbinding performances a genius of creativity unlike anything you’ve seen at the circus, turning a night under the big top into a magical exploration of a world of intrigue and mystery, grace and daring. And joy.
Big in Japan
Austinites forge a career half a world away.
Smart Growth Is Dead, Long Live Smart Growth
As Sixth + Lamar teeters, the Domain aims to pick up Austin’s new-school incentive package.
Putting a Name to a Face
Dallas’ USA Film Festival definitively answers the question, “Who is that guy?” with its tribute to Texan character actor Stephen Tobolowsky.
Exhibitionism
Gaslight Theater is only the second U.S. company to stage Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, as adapted by Richard Helweg and Michael Franco, and while their faithful tribute beguiles in places like the original, it runs a little too long and treats the source a little too reverentially.
Big in Yemen
Bob and Tucker Livingston conquer the Middle East through songs not arms.
Endorsements
The Chronicle endorsements
Wordsmith Smackdown
A new documentary about the funny, punny world of Austin’s annual O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships.
Exhibitionism
Seeing “Natural Selections,” Arthouse’s new two-artist show featuring collages by Julie Speed and sculpture by Bale Creek Allen, reveals these two to be excellent examples of Austin cultural affluence, creating work that is rich in artistry and inventiveness, with a touch of weirdness thrown into the mix. .
Record Review
Bob LivingstonMahatma Gandhi & Sitting Bull (Vireo) In the course of more than 30 years, Lost Gonzo Band founder/cosmic cowboy icon Bob Livingston has gone from playing country & western music to country & eastern music. Mahatma Gandhi & Sitting Bull is just as the title suggests: the crossroads where sitar meets guitar. It’s not…
Naked City
Quote of the Week: “The one population not represented on the floor of this body right now, the group that will never be heard from at this podium, is the mentally retarded.” — The exceedingly kind Rep. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, speaking on the House floor against plans to privatize state mental hospitals. It’s almost…
TV Eye
The “Portraits of Islam” film fest and, of course, Buffy.
Book Review
“As with any good crime thriller / mystery, the plot — as chilling as it is — serves as a subterfuge to explore the darker realms of the hero’s psyche,” writes Russell Cobb of Stephen Graham Jones’ All the Beautiful Sinners, “as well as themes of collective memory and identity.” Jones will be at BookPeople…
Phases and Stages
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage FestivalNew Orleans’ Fair Grounds, New Orleans, La., April 24-27 Perhaps when South by Southwest is plowing through its third decade, the weather gods will be as merciful as they were last Thursday. Whereas SXSW 03 sulked to a rainy start Wednesday night of the Austin Music Awards, Texas’ glorious Big…
Naked City
A bill to create a Travis Co. health care district passed easily out of a House committee last week while the Senate companion was expected to advance to a floor vote today (Thursday). Proponents in the House had hoped to see the bill move effortlessly to the Local and Consent Calendars Committee (where noncontroversial bills…
Short Cuts
Richard Linklater looks to television, and a promotion for SXSW film man Matt Dentler. Dobie manager Keith Garcia departs for greener pastures.
In Person
“Cvetkovich opened by blasting Le Tigre’s punk jam ‘Keep on Livin” from the overhead speakers, then led the audience in yogic chanting,” writes Abe Louise Young of the UT professor and literary / social critic’s April 25 Book Woman appearance. “‘Partly this is about survival, and breath is critical to survival,’ she said, bringing the…
Phases and Stages
YanniFrank Erwin Center, April 27 Going to a Yanni concert is a lot like being an agnostic in church. Surrounded by a faithful throng vocal in its adoration, you want to “get it,” to hear the joyous noise they hear, but you don’t. That feeling is exacerbated by the fact that Yanni’s “One World, One…
Naked City
Freelance cop Tom Coleman, the officer responsible for the infamous Tulia drug busts, was indicted April 24 by a Swisher Co. grand jury on three counts of aggravated perjury. The charges stem from Coleman’s own testimony during court-ordered hearings in March that revisited the 1999 sting; the judge concluded Coleman was not a credible witness…
DVD Watch
Miyazaki conjures a pubescent fable out of whole cloth that both kids and adults will enjoy immensely. Castle in the Sky, from 1986, isn�t Miyazaki�s finest, but that�s like saying Jackson Pollack�s Panel With Four Designs isn�t as good as his Lavender Mist.
News/Print
The spring is dead. Long live the spring!
Phases and Stages
Mark GardEner of RideMercury, April 27 Dressed in black with close-cropped blond hair, Mark Gardener’s stripped-down acoustic set at the Mercury was a far cry from his days in Ride, when he was surrounded by swirling cocoons of guitar effects. Gardener, returning after the SXSW kickoff to his American tour, brought out of hiding a…
Naked City
After you vote Saturday, load up that old polluting gas lawnmower and trade it in for a discount on a spiffy new electric model. The Round Rock Home Depot at 2550 S. I-35 (8:30am-1:30pm) and the Georgetown P&K True Value Hardware on Courthouse Square (9am-5pm) will be offering both corded and cordless Black and Decker…
X2: X-Men United
X2: X-Men United 2003, PG-13, 135 min. D: Bryan Singer; with Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. At the rate they’re going, Bryan Singer’s X-Men films – adapted from Marvel Comics’ popular and long-running series about mutant superhumans living, loving, and kicking some righteous bad-guy booty when…
Page Two
Local Elections: Welcome to Ironyville
Fostering Family Values
The Legislature engages in its biennial exercises in gay-bashing — families be damned.
Naked City
You may want to sit down for this: By week’s end, the long-running construction nightmare on Barton Springs Road will have faded into a newly paved, landscaped roadway with (gasp!) all four lanes open to traffic. The only damper on that glorious prospect is the chance of rain in the forecast, says Leon Barba, assistant…
Russian Ark
This tour de force of modern cinema is a technical feat filmed in one, uninterrupted, Steadicam take that leads us through a vivified tour of Russian history that wends through the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Texas Western (now known as UTEP) is the only Texas men’s basketball team to win a National Championship.There’s a plant in Carthage, Missouri, that processes turkey guts into high grade oil, natural gas, minerals, and water. The system, developed by Changing World Technologies, uses thermal depolymerization and apparently works on almost any and every kind…
The Wisdom of Deacon Talton
Rep. Robert Talton’s testimony on gay foster parents before the State Affairs committee.
Naked City
The Texas Association of Business suffered a setback last week when U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks threw out its lawsuit against more than a dozen unsuccessful legislative candidates in the November 2002 election. The powerful business lobby group sued the candidates to forestall the possibility that they themselves might sue T.A.B., as four other candidates…
Spider
Spider 2002, R, 98 min. Directed by David Cronenberg, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ralph Fiennes, Lynn Redgrave, Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, John Neville, Gary Reineke. If you’ve never read any of British novelist Patrick McGrath’s work, I urge you to do so. Spider is based on his work of the same name…
After a Fashion
SHOWTIME The annual UT Fashion Show continues to evolve. Newcomer Mary Margaret Quadlander has taken over the major organization of the show, and some of the changes, such as using professional models, were a big improvement. Brenden Mills received the award for Most Innovative Collection for his black-and-white organza group with wonderful references to Fifties…
The Biennial Bash
Gay-bashing bills are a biennial tradition.
Naked City
Things got down and dirty in Kyle last week when parents lashed out at certain former Hays Consolidated ISD trustees and officials over seemingly extravagant travel expenses. Not to be outdone, the objects of the parents’ ire — one of whom is the front-runner for a board seat May 3 — fired back with charges…
