Cover Story
Environmental Cage Match
After a history of pulling its punches, is EPA finally forcing TCEQ to clean up the Texas air?
Split Pride, Unified Chronicle
Much love to Chronicle staffers for having the Gay Place’s back.
A Total Bummer of a Totally Awesome AusChron Newscast
Mental health, Marc Ott & more
More Milestones
More opportunities to see films from boutique outfit Milestone Films
Mind Your Ts & Qs!
Crashing an AGLCC meeting isn’t nearly as awesome as it sounds
The Cost of Pride
How much does a non-profit pay to attend?
A Queer Renaissance in Austin?
AGLIFF’s new mission and upstart QueerBomb
Time to Find a New Monitor
Who will be the city’s next police monitor?
The Daily Hustle: 6/3/10
TDH gets ethnographic with Joshua Long
Cookin’ The Facts
Activist takes swipe at Statesman’s Politifact service
Cena Nation
WWE brings arena-scale theatre to the Frank Erwin Center
Dark Was the Night
Blind Willie Johnson gets his place in history
Vote Early in AISD and ACC Run-Offs
Early balloting runs through June 8 for June 12 election
The Daily Hustle: 6/2/10
It’s a press release-o-rama!
The Glitterati Are Here… And They’re Queer
Tuezgayz gets even gayer with Gaydie Hawkinz dance.
UT to Host NCAA Baseball Regional Tourney
Garrido named to CWS All Legends Team
Armendariz: Don’t Make Me Federalize
EPA regional chief warns TCEQ
One Brand to Rule Them All
Tim League reclaims the Alamo Drafthouse mothership
2010 Spelling Bee Video
A video recap from the 2010 Austin Chronicle Adult Spelling Bee
‘I’m Not Going Anywhere’
Veteran Casey Porter talks about benefit woes
WWE Versus Kutcher
Pro-wrestling brings top Tweeter to Austin
The Sunday Survey, 5/30/10
City manager survives, state budget doesn’t
The Oath
The Oath 2010, NR, 90 min. Directed by Laura Poitras. This compelling documentary by the director of My Country, My Country shows us the human face of jihad through revealing interviews with Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, who is now a taxi driver in Yemen. See “Two Brothers, Two Paths,” June 4, for an interview…
Poverty Knocks
Texas’ financial black hole widens
Chief Sustainability Officer Finalists Announced
Meet them June 3
Don’t Breath Today or Tomorrow
Ozone Watch Level Orange Alerts
Complete Summer Reading
Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life by Kim Severson Riverhead Books, 242 pp., $25.95 I’ve been a fan of Kim Severson’s food writing at the San Francisco Chronicle, and more recently The New York Times, every time I run across one of her fascinating pieces. I didn’t know anything about her personally, but…
Arts Review
This revival of the 2008 hit is utterly original and transcendently human
In Play
Rockstar Games’ most ambitious and polished title to date is a visual feast but somewhat of a gaming disappointment
EPA to TCEQ: Too Much ‘Flexibility’
How flexible permits weaken the Clean Air Act
George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead
Romero revivifies even more zombies with this new picture, but now the filmmaker depicts humankind as hardly worth saving.
Complete Summer Reading
Ad Hoc at Home: Family-Style Recipes by Thomas Keller Artisan, 368 pp., $50 Home cooks with ambition and time on their hands searching for an inspiring cookbook should look no further. This book draws together recipes from Thomas Keller’s Napa Valley restaurant, aptly named Ad Hoc for its informal, family-style meals that change daily. Ad…
Arts Review
Paladin Theatre Company’s revival reveals the feelings behind the laughs
Texas Platters
Overdue 7-inch spins at 45rpm should be blamed on Record Store Day – acquisition singles from the Drive-By Truckers, Moby Grape, and the Rolling Stones, plus a Beach House 12-inch – but they’re mostly a bust in relation to a cache of local vinyl building since before South by Southwest. Low Red Center “Momentary Switch”…
TCEQ Under Sunset Review
A push for change could come to a shove
Singam
This Tamil action film focuses on cops and smugglers.
Complete Summer Reading
Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire that Civilized the Wild West by Stephen Fried Random House, 544 pp., $27 Who was Fred Harvey, and why should we care? If this were any time from the mid-19th century through World War II, there’d be no need to ask –…
Arts Review
The artist crafts densely layered cut-paper works of inspirational beauty
Texas Platters
She, Sir Yens Local onetime trio has bulked up to five pieces live, tripping rock’s lights fantastic – shoegaze. Topsiders “Ginger” and “Lemongrass” chime boy/girl tom-toms, while the undercard, “Golden Ways” and “Boystown,” strips back layers on the latter especially, an a cappella harmonic exercise with a blush of organ, perhaps the most arresting cut.
Soccer Watch
USA announces WC squad; Aztex on the road
The real winner in this weekend’s box-office derby?
Would you believe Morocco?
Complete Summer Reading
Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way by Francis Mallmann, with Peter Kaminsky Artisan, 278 pp., $35 Chef, restaurateur, author, and culinary visionary Francis Mallmann was the keynote celebrity chef of Central Market’s Passport Argentina, which featured the foods and wines of that South American cornucopia. The Patagonian native abandoned the glitzy food of fine dining…
Event Menu
Tastings, potlucks, multicourse dinners, and benefits – it may be hard to choose just one
Texas Platters
Luxuriator “Green Tennis Visor” b/w “Sheila” Local fourpiece, which shares members with the Distant Seconds, summons the Drag-bound New Wave-isms of Raul’s on green vinyl: Eurythmics with clouds in their coffee on the A-side, and a Breeders-esque hook and drive on the flip.
‘The Austin Chronicle’ Adult Spelling Bee
May 20, Threadgill’s World Headquarters
Complete Summer Reading
Grow Great Grub: Organic Food From Small Spaces by Gayla Trail Clarkson Potter, 208 pp., $19.99 With the growing trend to “go local,” more and more people are choosing to grow their own herbs, fruits, and vegetables at home: It’s a great way to control the exact varieties that you eat and add some interesting…
Food-o-File
Half-price appetizers at American spots old and new this week
Texas Platters
Coyote Slingshot First Word of Evil Omens – Vitium (Super Secret) Four-song, red vinyl 7-inch on local singles flagship Super Secret Records introduces Iowa’s Dominic Rabalais, one of three non-ATX acts released by the locally loyal label, who explodes like a Matador Records compilation that’s corralled lo-fi Elephant Six euphoria (“So Long Silly Rabbit”), MBV…
Breaking News: EPA Takes Control of Clean Air Permit
On Tuesday, for the first time in any state, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seized control of Texas’ jurisdiction over granting a clean air permit. The takeover affects one key operating permit governing Flint Hills Resources’ crude oil refinery in the Corpus Christi area (to which the EPA formally objected in December), but it sends…
The Hightower Report
Watch Out for Superweeds; and Let’s Try Good Government
Complete Summer Reading
Why Italians Love to Talk About Food by Elena Kostioukovitch Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 480 pp., $35 How true it is that the best and fastest way to understand a culture is through its food! I’ve spent the last 15 years or so studying the relationship between foodways and people and feel that through this…
Review
Pints for the peckish will put you in the Pour House
Texas Platters
Simple Circuit “Teenage Ghost” b/w “Rathead Submarine” Straight-ahead rockers, the local quartet twangs a hand-clapper straight out of the garage (“Teenage Ghost”), then blows said car-park straight to hell in the 1950s gasoline fire of “Rathead Submarine.”
Res Publica
Citizens’ calendar: May 27-June 3
After a Fashion
Your Style Avatar experiences sincere shame and fear for a person’s life all at one event
Complete Summer Reading
In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart by Alice Waters Clarkson Potter, 160 pp., $28 Alice Waters is arguably the biggest name in all of foodie land. Often credited with originating the entire farm-to-table movement, her influential Chez Panisse cookbooks, her involvement with the slow food movement, and her tireless work to improve…
Review
Franklin Barbecue serves up tender smoked meats … or at least before the meat sells out
Texas Platters
Walter Daniels & the Gospel Clodhoppers “Harmonica” b/w “Take Your Foot Out of the Mud & Put It in the Sand” (Ghost Highway) All-star local gathering led by harp cat Daniels as backed by Trey Robles, Jeff Pinkus, John Schooley, Ralph White, and Texacala Jones, with executive production by Ted Roddy and art by Davy…
Eco-Currents: Reading the Bones
Gluing frogs onto storm drains and other civic duties
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Richard Belzer, exotic produce, etc.
Complete Summer Reading
World Cheese Book Edited by Juliet Harbutt DK Publishing, 352 pp., $25 There have been quite a few attempts by cheese experts to codify their knowledge for consumers, but none of the previous books have managed to be as useful and well-put-together as this compendium – recently nominated as the 2010 Le Cordon Bleu World…
KeyPoint Questions Linger After City Admits Goof
City attorney’s resignation doesn’t solve mystery of who did what when
Texas Platters
The Dead Space “Journalism” b/w “Peter Hates Us” (Thread Pull) Debut on purple marble vinyl as produced by the Sword’s Bryan Richie produces A-side psych drone, with mascara harmonies presumably from the quintet’s rhythm pair, Jenny Arthur (drums) and Jasmine Mayberry (bass). Side two contrasts space-conscious post-punk, from the UK (Joy Division) to the U.S.…
Headlines
� You need a scorecard to keep up with the continuing fallout from the city’s handling of the KeyPoint report on the Nathaniel Sanders II shooting. On Tuesday, the city’s legal department coughed up another copy of the report, this one containing the handwritten comments of Paul Golonski, a lieutenant with the California Highway Patrol…
UT Department of Theatre & Dance
The University of Illinois’ Brant Pope is hired to lead UT’s theatre/dance school
Complete Summer Reading
La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy Edited by the Italian Academy of Cuisine Rizzoli, 928 pp., $45 Fifty years ago, a group of culinary scholars convened in Milan to try to solve a problem: the preservation of authentic, traditional Italian cooking. They formed the Italian Academy of Cuisine and over the years have cataloged…
Council Preview: City Manager Review, Cab Vote, and More
Controversial items hit the dais this week
Texas Platters
Dikes of Holland/The Mean Spirits Wet Paint: Vol. 1 (Sundae) Dikes of Holland “Into the Ditches” b/w “Church on Fire” (Sundae) Newly back in stock at Waterloo Records, Wet Paint: Vol. 1 offers a four-song split between Matador-kissed locals Dikes of Holland and Norman, Okla., trio the Mean Spirits. “Fast Hands Move Slow” proves a…
City Hall Hustle: Fault Lines
KeyPoint blunders point to weakness in council-manager government
Take It to the Next Level
The Cultural Arts Division revives its series of summer workshops for pro creatives
Complete Summer Reading
I Know How to Cook by Ginette Mathiot, translated by Clotilde Dusoulier Phaidon, 976 pp., $45 Ginette Mathiot’s Je Sais Cuisiner has justly been compared to Joy of Cooking. It is big, comprehensive, and classic. First published in the 1930s, it was an essential tome for every French housewife. A new English translation, by Clotilde…
Green Light for CAMPO 2035 Plan
Long-range plan includes SH 45 Southwest project
Texas Platters
International Waters “Flashes” b/w “Salt and Sea” Led by Voxtrot guitarist Mitch Calvert, this local quartet syncs up to a taut but less strident Ted Leo (“Flashes”), replete with Strokesian riffage, particularly the waterfall of riff opening “Salt and Sea,” which combines luminous six-string pools and rousing drum-march clusters.
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and beyond
Calling All Artists!
Two art exhibits and a new contest for young composers are accepting submissions
Complete Summer Reading
Daring Pairings: A Master Sommelier Matches Distinctive Wines With Recipes From His Favorite Chefs by Evan Goldstein University of California Press, 364 pp., $34.95 Wine’s highest calling is to be paired with food, and few people alive know as much about the art as Evan Goldstein. As a master sommelier, he has a knowledge of…
SBOE: Reading, Writing, and Fighting Socialism
SBOE passes new education standards along party lines
Texas Platters
Wild America The Sea (Freedom School) Another graduate of Matador comp Casual Victim Pile, the East Austin quartet revs its four-song debut EP on Brooklyn imprint Freedom School, cutting late-period Naked Raygun with Naked Soul (opener “Please”), plus an early Westerberg/Stinson conviction hammered into riff and hot vox on “Work Work Work.” Major label Green…
‘Chronicle’ Endorsements
Our picks for the June 12 run-off elections
TV Eye
At the networks’ preview of their fall shows, it seemed a lot like same-old, same-old
Complete Summer Reading
The Beer Trials by Seamus Campbell and Robin Goldstein Fearless Critic Media, 320 pp., $14.95 (paper) Do you think Chimay Blue (Grande Réserve) is one of the world’s best, while the Leffe Blonde sitting next to it at the local store is only just drinkable? That Deschutes Obsidian Stout is the category killer and that…
Austin Hits the Fast Lane
Fasten your seatbelts: Formula One is coming to town
Texas Platters
Why hasn’t the record industry sued Girl Talk? No one at the South by Southwest 2010 panel had a definitive answer, and Freshmillions couldn’t care less anyway. The local trio distorts its vintage jazz-funk samples beyond recognition, mashing them with squiggling classic rock riffs, cascading synths, and throbbing beats into a thoroughly addictive electronic art.…
Early Voting
June 1-8 – Election Day June 12
They Went West
Back in the saddle with a faded genre’s favorite stars
Complete Summer Reading
Cakewalk: A Memoir by Kate Moses Dial Press, 368 pp., $26 Though award-winning novelist Kate Moses and I have almost nothing in common, I recognized her as a kindred spirit when she described how the practice of baking helped her make sense of an otherwise difficult world. Moses’ artfully told stories about a painful childhood,…
Parks and Rec: If You Build It …
Is Austin’s appetite for fountains bigger than its wallet?
Texas Platters
Woven Bones In and Out and Back Again (HoZac) Well, they get an “E” for efficiency: In less than 30 minutes, Woven Bones does what the title of its debut LP advertises. The local trio’s scuzzy surf fuzz does have a certain charm; an EP and handful of 7-inches in the last year demonstrated obvious…
The State of Utopia
Karen Valby�s dispatches from a small Texas town
Complete Summer Reading
The Icing on the Cupcake: A Novel by Jennifer Ross Ballantine Books, 336 pp., $15 (paper) I may be the last (wo)man standing against the national love affair with cupcakes. But I admit, after reading and baking from Austinite Jennifer Ross’ The Icing on the Cupcake, I could be close to conversion. The author, along…
Media Watch: ‘I Want My KGSR!’
Format and signal changes alienate longtime fans – and boost ratings
Off the Record
Mixed signals: KUT takes over the Cactus Cafe, Pachanga owns Fiesta Gardens
Sex and the City 2
Two years after the end of the last film, Carrie Bradshaw now frets that the “sparkle” has gone out of her marriage. It’s gone from this movie, too.
Shake Appeal
James Williamson’s Raw Power is all in the mix
Gay Place
Pride? It’s just one of seven.
Buy Local, Get ‘Happy’
Help Austin film The Happy Poet see the world
Page Two: Abandoned Ship
As distrust grows, cooperation becomes impossible
MacGruber
Here’s an idea that hasn’t been tried in a few years: Turn a Saturday Night Live skit into a feature film.
Complete Summer Reading
Cookbooks, memoirs, and cultural studies to get you through the summer
Day Trips
The San Antonio Zoo gets better with each visit
Eye on an Icon
A new exhibit explores Walter Cronkite’s life and legacy
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this nearly bloodless, family-friendly throwback to a cinematic age when Persian palace intrigue, winsome princesses, and ambitious princes ruled the back lots.
Luv Doc Recommends: Austin Wine & Music Festival
What better place in Texas to hold a wine festival than Austin … at the Domain no less? Classy. You can spend Saturday morning saving money at high-end retail outlets and then blow it all that afternoon buying samples of vino. Double devil fingers up, yo! No better way to strap on your woozy helmet…
