Golden Walnut Showcase
Golden Walnut Showcase NR. Directed by Various. Eight original DV shorts created by and for the students in Gary Chason’s acting classes will screen.
Little Annie Rooney
Little Annie Rooney 1925, NR, 95 min. Directed by William Beaudine, Starring Mary Pickford, William Haines. Pickford plays a 12-year-old girl here in the type of child-woman roles she made famous. This silent film is one of the best examples.
Poltergeist
Poltergeist 1982, PG, 114 min. D: Tobe Hooper; with Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Zelda Rubenstein. The original is a spectacularly spooky film about a host of ghosts that get hold of a 5-year-old girl.
The Haunting
The Haunting 1963, NR, 112 min. Directed by Robert Wise, Starring Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Russ Tamblyn. This Sixties film adapation of Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House is one of the best haunted-house movies ever. Very spooky.
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane 1941, NR, 119 min. D: Orson Welles; with Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten. Who knows if Citizen Kane is really the best movie ever made, as its reputation would have us believe? But this film sure ranks up there, and this Welles wunderkind classic deserves to be experienced on the big screen. Deep focus…
Junior Bonner
Junior Bonner 1972, PG, 103 min. Directed by Sam Peckinpah, Starring Steve McQueen, Robert Preston, Ida Lupino, Ben Johnson, Joe Don Baker. McQueen plays an aging bull rider who returns to his hometown rodeo for a shot at glory. This untypically gentle Peckinpah film also features fine performance by Ida Lupino and Robert Preston as…
Hidden in Plain Sight
Hidden in Plain Sight 2003, NR, 71 min. Directed by John H. Smihula, Narrated by Martin Sheen. Narrated by Martin Sheen, this documentary sheds light on U.S. policy in Latin America through an examination of the School of the Americas, the controversial military school that trains Latin soldiers in the U.S. Also included are interviews…
Lance Loud: A Death in an American Family
Lance Loud: A Death in an American Family 2003, NR, 60 min. Directed by Alan Raymond, Susan Raymond. Thirty years ago, Lance Loud was perhaps the first gay person outed on national TV, albeit PBS. He was a member of the Loud family who were the subjects of one of the first reality shows, An…
Human Desire
Human Desire 1954, NR, 91 min. Directed by Fritz Lang, Starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford. Fritz Lang helmed this very American adaptation of Émile Zola’s La Bête Humaine in which a railway brakeman, recently returned from the Korean War, becomes involved with his boss’ wife. Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame, the sizzling stars…
Arts Stalwarts
Twelve of Austin’s cultural heroes will be inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame at the 2003 Austin Critics Table Awards ceremony, and here is an introduction to them and some of their significant contributions to the local arts scene.
Food-o-File
Virginia B. Wood serves up some serious restaurant news in this week’s “Food-o-File.”
Margot and Brewster Get Their (Red) Ink On
During his tenure(s) on the City Council, Mayor Gus Garcia got to vote on nine good budgets (that is, years where city revenue was growing) and just one bad one. Daryl Slusher and Jackie Goodman likewise had many years of boom before confronting the bust. Even Will Wynn, Raul Alvarez, and Danny Thomas got to…
Austin @ Large: The Not-So-Great Divide
Are Brewster McCracken and Margot Clarke as far apart as Austin voters want them to be?
Articulations
More trouble at Austin Lyric Opera as it fires seven staff members and eliminates its Young Artist Program.
Vaguely Purposed Zombies
Maybe astral projection is the best way to survive one of those nutty First Thursday thingies after all …
Seton Asks City to Move Fast on Children’s Proposal
The wheels appear greased for the Seton Healthcare Network to take ownership of the city’s treasured Children’s Hospital, but — surprise, surprise — not everyone is as jubilant about the deal as the people who helped broker it. A mood of near giddy enthusiasm prevailed at last week’s City Council briefing on Seton’s proposal to…
The Hightower Report
The Bushites lie about WMDs and media conglomeration.
Exhibitionism
“Embracing the Present: The UBS Art Collection” contains a broad sampling of contemporary sculpture, painting, and photography from the past 40 years, and among the jubilant range of concerns and expressions, the riot of form, scale, color, and style, it reveals again and again the tension that exists between the technological world and the human…
Phases and Stages
EisleyLaughing City (Record Collection) Although they only recently signed to Warner Bros., Eisley is already the biggest pop act to emerge from Tyler, Texas, since the Sixties salad days of Robin Hood Brians studios. The story of this tight-knit family band’s journey from playing their parents’ coffee shop to opening arenas for Coldplay is the…
Farmers Deal OK — For Now
On May 22, state District Judge Scott Jenkins gave preliminary approval to the state’s negotiated settlement with Farmers Insurance, setting the stage for a possible $117.5 million disbursement to policyholders — and for an appeal by several Farmers customers who say the settlement just isn’t fair. While state Attorney General Greg Abbott and Insurance Commissioner…
Most Likely to Endure
With the exception of the era-specific music, what the kids like in Dazed and Confused is pretty much the same thing kids like now, which goes a long way in explaining why, 10 years later, the video’s a staple in college dorms, owned by kids who weren’t conceived yet in the Seventies and couldn’t buy…
Exhibitionism
To accompany the screening of Alexander Nevsky, Eisenstein’s 1938 epic film about the 13th-century Russian hero and the army he led to defeat a German invasion, maestro Peter Bay led his own army — some 200 musicians from the Austin Symphony and Conspirare choir — that performed Prokofiev’s epic score with grandeur and a stirring…
Phases and Stages
Jud Newcomb Turbinado (Freedom) The dictionary defines “turbinado” as raw sugar that’s been cleaned by steam to make it edible. The coarse turbinado crystals are light brown in color, with the flavor of molasses. A more appropriate title for the music of Jud Newcomb would be hard to find. Coarse yet sweet. Surprisingly, Turbinado is…
Does MACC put Town Lake Residents at Risk?
The proposed Mexican-American Cultural Center may block fire access to the adjacent Villas on Town Lake.
Beer Bust!
The lowdown on the Dazed and Confused 10-year reunion party.
Book Review
When it comes to coming of age novels, “Manuel Luis Martinez’s protagonist, Robert Lomos, is a bit different, and Martinez’s first novel, Drift, is, too. Robert moves, all right — from San Antonio to Los Angeles and back — but his erratic path in the footprints of Martinez’s expert narrative one is anything but linear.”…
Phases and Stages
Charlie RobisonLive (Sony) It’s about time Bandera native Charlie Robison put out a live album, seeing as how he’s become a seasoned road warrior since signing to Sony several years ago. Recorded just last September at Gruene Hall, you can easily imagine the flurry of sweat and Lone Star that went into Live. “Poor Man’s…
The Domain of Wal-Mart
While attending the recent International Council of Shopping Centers spring convention in Las Vegas two weeks ago, it appears that developers Endeavor Real Estate Group weren’t just marketing the Domain, their proposed North Austin urban retail village project. Last week, says Council Member Daryl Slusher, a local developer who also attended the ICSC convention gave…
The Film That Launched a Thousand Faces
We exaggerate, but not by much. Scads of young actors made their first impression in Dazed and Confused — Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, Cole Hauser, Milla Jovovich. Squint hard and you’ll even see Renée Zellweger briefly as one of the senior tormentors. Here are some of our favorites from the Class…
News/Print
The Texas Writers’ Project’s Cary Roberts says that he’s satisfied with 2003’s Texas Writers Month, which took place during the month of May, but that an essentially year-to-year “ebb and flow” in terms of volunteer hours and effort led to a breakdown in publicity and inter-bookstore communication in Austin. Texas Writers Month, as Roberts says,…
Phases and Stages
Kimmie Rhodes & Willie NelsonPicture in a Frame (SBD) Ever have a picture that didn’t quite fit in its frame? Picture in a Frame is caught between a caulk and an empty space. That the leadoff track — the title song, no less — falls flat is the first sign of a bad fit. Kimmie…
Getting Sheared by Sager: It’s On the (legal) Record
Travis Co. GOP boss Alan Sager gypped his Supercuts workers out of thousands of dollars — no matter what he says now.
‘Lost Ark,’ Resurrected
Three boys, seven years TK, and one heck of an homage — a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark that earned the blessing of their hero.
Page Two
The anti-smoking ordinance is an unconscionable social experiment in an already sketchy economic environment; the Place 5 run-off boasts two good candidates, so no need to get ugly; and we report the news, not slurs.
Phases and Stages
Heybale!Continental Live The Cornell Hurd BandLive at Jovita’s (Behemoth) A pair like this is as good as two aces from a clean deck. You know the game’s good when Heybale! opens with Bill Doggett’s “Honky Tonk Revisited,” the all-star Austin quintet featuring pianist Earl Poole Ball, standup bassist Kevin Smith, red-hot pickers Gary Claxton and…
Naked City
Quote of the Week: “We cannot see where there may be any consumer confusion, as these Anglo males, although extremely popular, are not offering themselves for sale.” — state Reps. Rick Hardcastle, R-Vernon, Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, and Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, responding to the WD-40 Co.’s cease-and-desist letter over the use of the product…
May I Have This Laugh?
What are you laughing at? Cable network Trio — will release “Uncensored Comedy,” three meditations on the state of our sense of humor, in June, to help us figure it out.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
The first American kazoo was created in the 1840s in Macon, Ga., by Alabama Vest, an American black, and Thaddeus Von Clegg, a German clock maker.St. Joseph of Copertino, a Franciscan friar, was said to amaze congregations by levitating and flying through the air.New Mexico has the highest rate for chances of being killed as…
Phases and Stages
Onion Creek CrawdaddiesBarn Burners & Bathtub Bourbon (Beergrass) Is Central Texas just now feeling the effects of O Brother, Where Art Thou? How else would you explain the seemingly sudden emergence of young bluegrass bands all over Austin? The Onion Creek Crawdaddies are just one of the many new faces on the scene. As evidenced…
Naked City
In a surprising setback, Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, on Tuesday failed to get HB 1204 to the Senate floor for a vote. The bill would require cities and counties to establish uniform development regulations in municipal extraterritorial jurisdictions and likely would have passed with little opposition — but Wentworth added a number of changes…
Short Cuts
Online resources for Austin’s indie film community.
After a Fashion
Is In in or is Out in? Is Out in In? Or is In in Out? Is In out? Out isn’t even in Austin. In is. Why did we think of Out? This is about In. In is out. It is. Isn’t it? Ouch.
Phases and Stages
Brave ComboBox of Ghosts (Rounder) For 24 years, Denton’s Brave Combo has proven you can successfully engage in musical anthropology without checking your sense of humor at the door. Appropriately, the group’s latest has its origins in a late-night TV infomercial for an album of familiar classical themes. Modern reinterpretations of classical themes are nothing…
Naked City
Curiouser and curiouser: Congressional Democrats continued to call for an investigation of the Dept. of Public Safety pursuit of the Killer D’s and especially the involvement of the federal Dept. of Homeland Security (apparently at the request of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay). Attention has been focused on the quick move by the DPS…
DVD Watch
Ionesco’s Rhinoceros is dark political humor at its least subtle, and these days it’s wonderfully therapeutic.
Day Trips
National Wildlife Refuges around the country are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. There are 14 of these wilderness areas in Texas, each preserving a unique slice of ecology, and most open to the public to enjoy and appreciate. Administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior, there are…
Phases and Stages
Steve JamesFast Texas (Burnside) The latest by Austin blues man Steve James would put a Cheshire Cat grin on the face of Robert Crumb since the eccentric cartoonist loves visceral acoustic blues from between the World Wars. James picked up the guitar at age 12, learning the idiom from masters like Bo Diddley, Sam McGee,…
Naked City
Last November, environmentalism and religion merged with the Evangelical Environmental Network’s “What Would Jesus Drive?” anti-gas-guzzler campaign. On Wednesday, the campaign hit Austin to kick off a road tour promoting cleaner transportation. The Rev. Jim Ball of Washington, D.C., will proselytize throughout the Bible Belt as he drives a fuel-efficient Toyota Prius from here to…
Finding Nemo
We’re happy sweet, funny Nemo is back onscreen – 3-D or no.
To Your Health
I’m hearing about carnosine as an “anti-aging” supplement. What else is it good for and can we get enough of it in our diet?
Phases and Stages
Roots of Tex-Mex Music: Chulas Fronteras & Del Mero Corazon(Brazos) When Arhoolie Records pioneer Chris Strachwitz and filmmaker Les Blank teamed up in the mid-Seventies to document traditional conjunto music, there was no fanfare. Few knew the music outside the Spanish speaking lower Rio Grande Valley, the cradle of the music’s existence. Nevertheless, the two…
Naked City
City Council candidate Brewster McCracken started the week trying to distance himself as far as possible from a letter penned by Texas Monthly publisher Mike Levy that attacks McCracken’s Place 5 run-off opponent Margot Clarke. Any hopes that McCracken had of appealing to Central Austin progressive voters in the June 7 run-off may have been…
Shanghai Ghetto
Shanghai Ghetto 2002, NR, 95 min. Directed by Dana Janklowicz-Mann, Amir Mann, Narrated by Martin Landau, Voices by , Starring . Shanghai Ghetto is one of those feature documentaries that’s intrinsically interesting because of its subject matter but is nevertheless marred by the technical limitations of its talking-head narrative technique. Far too many films for…
About AIDS
Treatment Seminar for Lipodystrophy on June 11 What to do about the body changes resulting from being HIV-positive? That was one of the main topics for research presentations this spring at the Anti-Retroviral Conference in Boston and will be the subject of a free community forum on Wednesday, June 11. One of the most challenging…
Phases and Stages
Anyone who thinks blues appreciation means reverence and solemnity needs a dose of Blues 101 — it’s the heart of rock & roll and the soul of country. Ask veteran Augie Meyers, whose first solo release in years, Blame It on Love (Texas World), is a potent reminder that Meyers helped define the Texas roots…
Naked City
After two full days of heart-wrenching testimony from the parents of 15-year-old Ortralla Mosley, stabbed to death at Reagan High School March 28, and painful videos of the crime scene and of alleged killer Marcus McTear’s statement to Austin police, it still seemed unclear how District Judge Jeanne Meurer would rule on prosecutors’ petition to…
The Italian Job
The Italian Job 2003, PG-13, 102 min. Directed by F. Gary Gray, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton, Charlize Theron, Donald Sutherland, Mos Def, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Franky G. That whooshing sound you hear is the sales figures of the Cooper Mini puncturing the stratosphere. BMW’s pip-squeak sexbomb of…
Letters at 3AM
There is no act more communal than speech, a shared language. We depend upon each other to keep the integrity of that language. So there is no worse corruption than speech meant to mean nothing. American public speech has become a verbal nothingness in which anything can mean anything, and it corrupts our very air.…
The Red Ink Hits the Fan
City Manager Toby Futrell says the budget won’t balance without years of tax hikes and service cuts
Naked City
On May 28 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals heard oral arguments in the appeal of Robert Springsteen, the first of two defendants convicted for the 1991 yogurt-shop murders. Springsteen was sentenced to death in 2001 for his role in the Dec. 6, 1991, quadruple homicide at the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! shop off…
Second Helpings: A Little Italy, Part I
“Second Helpings” takes you on an Italian tour of Austin.
Change Is Good (and Saves Money) — Right?
City Hall’s Innovation Initiative could bridge the budget gap and improve public services — unless the council intervenes.
Naked City
The U.S. Supreme Court is the only option remaining for the Texas Association of Business as the lobby group steadfastly defies a grand-jury probe into T.A.B.’s possible violations of state election laws. The Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected T.A.B.’s request to halt the investigation and refused to quash a subpoena of T.A.B. Executive Director…
Music String
Houston, where the blues is almost as thick as the humidity
From Freedom Fries to Fess Parker
Rebecca Chastenet de Géry reflects on french fries, Grey Poupon®, and good old American apple pie.
Balance the Budget (In Three Years) in Five (Not-so-Easy) Steps
It will take both unpleasant tax hikes and spending cuts to balance the city budget — and not until 2006
Naked City
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Surfside, has joined a bipartisan group that has reintroduced legislation to end federal prosecution of medical-marijuana patients in states that have legalized that practice. The States Rights to Medical Marijuana Act would reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act and allow states who’ve enacted medical-marijuana laws to experiment with various means…
TCB
Takin’ it to the streets with the Dixie Chicks, Real Heroes, Ash, and Onion Creek Crawdaddies
From Freedom Fries to Fess Parker
Wes Marshall drinks wine with Davy Crockett.
Where Has All The Money Gone?
Most of the city’s General Fund is spent on things City Hall doesn’t want to cut.
The Sound of Falling Dominoes
The state budget crisis is only one piece of a much larger, distressing government puzzle.
