Cover Story
Ribbon on the Highway
Here comes Jimmy LaFave
To Your Health
What are the benefits of taking the ‘fancy’ form of folic acid, 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate, and how would I know if it is better for me if I decide to try it?
Phases & Stages
Mando DiaoHurricane Bar (Mute) Now that the Libertines’ Honeymooners act has gone off the air, in slots Mando Diao’s gusting Hurricane Bar with readymade Britpop aplomb. Three bouncy bonus videos transform skanky Pete Doherty and Carl Barat’s “What a Waster” ways into the Kate Moss-worthy cheek bones and beauty marks of Mando Diao’s runway Swedes…
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Burnt Churches and Backstabbing
‘Metal Wars’ wracks the Alamo
The Common Law
Wrongful termination
Phases & Stages
AutoluxFuture Perfect (DMZ/Columbia) In the world of Autolux, signed to Joel and Ethan Coen’s Sony imprint DMZ, it’s still 1991. On the first half of debut Future Perfect, the trio’s alt-rock pedigree – guitarist Greg Edwards used to be in Failure, singer/drummer Carla Azar a veteran of Ednaswap – Autolux envelops the listener with both…
Naked City
Who’s picking whom in the City Council race
DVD Watch
With loyalty to such cinematic emperors as Fellini, Pasolini, and Antonioni, the Criterion Collection’s devotion to post-war Italian masterpieces is serious business. Seriously buffo, comico, spiritoso in the case of neo-realist Pietro Germi’s ‘Divorzio all’Italiana’ (1962).
Day Trips
The Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville puts the Texas criminal justice system into perspective
Phases & Stages
The Benevento/Russo DuoBest Reason to Buy the Sun (Ropeadope) The Best Reason to Buy the Sun is that sunspots cause your stereo to secrete dopamine. What Medeski Martin & Wood began with last year’s space-age End of the World Party (Just in Case), Brooklyn’s Marco Benevento (keys) and Joe Russo (beats) broil into their own…
Naked City
Low-cost spay / neuter clinic moves into new S.E. Austin digs
TV Eye
Eeek! A precious, affluent white woman is lost! Eeek! Evil looms around every corner, and the biggest victim of all? Plus, here comes Jenny Hart.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Neutral Switzerland, zircon crystal, shampoo, Turkmenistan, and Type-B Men
Phases & Stages
New Order Waiting for the Sirens’ Call (Warner Bros.) Cheeky as ever, New Order – aka the Joy Division Luck Club – have emblazoned the front of this new release with a big, orange “No.” This is the first sign Waiting for the Sirens’ Call isn’t going to be a retread of 2001’s punchy Get…
Naked City
McCracken leads charge for a prettier Austin
Soccer Watch
High drama in Holland
Phases & Stages
The PerishersLet There Be Morning (Nettwerk) Four decades’ worth of new waves haven’t extinguished America’s torrid romance with UK pop, but for at least half that time, only the Shocking Blue and ABBA planted the Scandinavian flag on chart mountain. Swedish foursome the Perishers blame the language barrier. A Nick Cave piano intro straight off…
Naked City
Most due to natural causes; African-American kids disproportionately affected
TCB
Field trips to Houston and San Antonio, to see people coming to our own field in September
Oops!
In “Did Knee and Futrell Leak APD Warrants?,” April 29, Jordan Smith wrote that City Manager Toby Futrell said that “she herself reported to police the original allegations regarding BTS’ handling of the city contract.” City Manager Futrell offers a clarification as follows (emphasis hers): “The correct statement is that the original complaint of pressuring…
Phases & Stages
Hot Hot HeatElevator (Sire) Vancouver’s indie darlings Hot Hot Heat were en fuego with the release of their debut, 2003’s Make Up the Breakdown (Sub Pop). They were snapped up by Sire Records and didn’t utter another peep until this spring, losing guitarist Dante DeCaro along the way. The burning question: Is Hot Hot Heat…
Naked City
Fifth and Sixth Amendments violated, Scott’s lawyers say
In Creative Hands
How artists shape the ancient medium of clay into works of stunning variety
The Empress
Austin restaurateur Suzi Yi shares her story
Phases & Stages
AC/DCFamily Jewels (Epic) Bon Scott was reportedly wearing a red satin jumpsuit the night he took command of AC/DC in Sydney, Australia, sliding over from van wheelman to the band’s driver seat with the help of a half bottle of whiskey. By 1975, live on ABC with “Baby Please Don’t Go,” he’s aced the Lolita…
Naked City
Requiring photo ID to vote disenfranchises poor, opponents say
Start Trekkin’
The Heroes of Comedy boldly go where no troupe has gone before
Suzi’s China Grill & Sushi Bar Reviewed
Suzi Yi took a brave step entering the fray of Asian restaurants in the West Lake-Rollingwood area. Has she been rewarded?
Phases & Stages
Ryan Adams & the CardinalsCold Roses (Lost Highway) Third time’s the double charm for Ryan Adams and his editors at Lost Highway. The fourth side of Adams’ debut for the Universal imprint, 2001’s still best Gold, wound up a now out-of-print bonus disc, while 2003’s Rock N Roll amputated a pair of (what else?) melancholy…
Naked City
DA says no evidence that city officials tipped off investigation subjects
Revenge of the Return of the Son of the Graphics Giveaway Begins!
If Scrooge McDuck, Bruce Wayne, and Veronica Lodge are giving away millions, it can only be Free Comic Book Day, Part IV
Parallel Reviewed
Forget what you know about fast-food and takeout joints
Phases & Stages
John PrineFair & Square (Oh Boy) Bruce SpringsteenDevils & Dust (Columbia) Surely it’s just a coincidence that John Prine and Bruce Springsteen released new albums on the same day. After all, 30 years ago they were both described as new Dylans, and the former’s Fair & Square and latter’s Devils & Dust offer inviting contrasts…
Naked City
Also, floating ‘drug-free zones’ proposed
‘Norwegian Black Metal – Photographs’
This week offers a rare chance to objectify pure evil here in Austin as Peter Beste’s photographic portraits of Norwegian Black Metal satanists go on display
Food-o-File
Will ‘Cooking Under Fire’ get an audience anywhere near that of ‘The French Chef’? Plus: Mother’s Day musts.
The Range War at Commissioners Court
Officials choose up sides over law firm’s proposal to privatize tax collections
No Stinkin’ Ethics
The usual Lege suspects exterminate the latest attempt at campaign finance reform
Arts Review
The Rude Mechanicals’ ‘Get Your War On’ bulldozes through the buried media and lost horrors of the post-9 / 11 years with a sarcasm that strikes sparks
Linebarger’s Fan Letters
In the weeks preceding the Travis Co. Commissioners Court’s consideration of the delinquent tax collection system, commissioners received letters from prominent “concerned citizens” about the issue. The letters had a couple of common themes: criticizing the current system for “excessive lawsuits,” and suggesting that the current system somehow works to the particular disadvantage of poor…
Lege Notes
Odds and ends (mostly odds) from the 79th
Arts Review
Austin Lyric Opera offered something to delight everyone with its funny and excellent ‘Marriage of Figaro’
Phases & Stages
British Sea PowerOpen Season (Rough Trade) Winston Churchill famously said (or maybe didn’t) that the traditions of the British Navy were “rum, buggery, and the lash.” Who’s to say which of these most contributed to the success of 2003’s The Decline of British Sea Power; all that can be said definitively is that British Sea…
Collecting the Delinquents
Most Travis Co. residents pay their property taxes on time; those who can’t make other payment arrangements – and those who won’t are subject to legal action from the county attorney’s office. Last year, the county’s enforcement work generated about $3 million in court costs and attorneys’ fees, and that money was deposited into the…
Point Austin: Prevailing Winds
AISD says it can’t afford bond-project benefits, but local workers beg to differ
Arts Review
Adde Russell’s artwork made me think she had stolen my childhood cigar boxes of treasures and painted replicas of each precious object onto canvas
Phases & Stages
… And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, the Octopus Project, the Sword, the BlackEmo’s, April 30 Everyone always wants to know about a band’s influences. Well, Trail of Dead already admitted they’ve watched The Last Waltz on loop for the last year. As the final stop of the first leg of…
Full Campaign Disclosure: Here Comes Late Money
Charges, countercharges, and lawsuits in City Council campaigns
The Hightower Report
Sale: One new identity for $35, two for $50; and What legislators, cigars, Fleetwood Mac tickets, Starbucks, and limo rides have in common
Page Two
Our ‘rights’ can be lost in many ways, one of which is to chip away at them because of health, community, decency, moral, and/or ethical standards
Phases & Stages
The RaveonettesPretty in Black (Columbia) As Phil Spector sits on trial, accused of murder, hordes of new acts are psychically tapping his tuneful ear for a new old sound. Some have found it, others aren’t so lucky. On sophomore LP Pretty in Black, Copenhagen’s Raveonettes – Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo – have taken…
Some Bars Cross the Smoking Line
A few local proprietors have publicly broken rank and thrown their support in favor of the proposed full smoking ban
Shorts on a Shoestring
The Texas Documentary Tour presents 10 Under 10
About AIDS
The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial service will be held Sunday, May 15, 8pm at Republic Square Park on Guadalupe
Phases & Stages
FeistLet It Die (Cherrytree/Interscope) Draw the curtains and close the blinds. Feist was meant for candlelight. The Toronto chanteuse’s solo debut, Let It Die, mines timeless, simmering night songs to be filed among the ranks of Edith Piaf, Billie Holiday, and PJ Harvey. Nodding to Seventies radio, Leslie Feist – a founding member of Canadian…
Pepsi Brings Union Fight to City Council
Labor representatives attend council vending machine discussion, urge members to use city clout to pressure Pepsi to bargain in good faith
Walking on Sunshine
Tood Solondz’s feel-bad movie of the year
After a Fashion
Making the fashion scene with Your Style Avatar, Mr. Stephen McMillan Moser, it’s hard to imagine when he has time to worship at the altar of Trinity Broadcasting Network… but he does. Hallelujah!
Phases & Stages
The PonysCelebration Castle (In the Red) Like Austin’s Black Lipstick or much-missed Houstonians Japanic, Chicago’s Ponys sound like they’re having a nice enough time, albeit with a lip-biting determination not to let things boil over. As such, the first songs on Celebration Castle, the continuation-cum-refinement of last year’s debut Laced With Romance, are built to…
Senate Bill Threatens Local Water Quality Standards
Armbrister attacks Austin’s control over the aquifer … again
Shorts for SafePlace
The second annual TriParTite Film Festival
Luv Doc Recommends: The Vagina Monologues
Be honest with yourself: Mother’s Day weekend is a pretty abysmal time to be trying to get your mack on, gay or straight – even if you’re working some sort of weird lactation fetish. Mother’s Day isn’t about sex, it’s about giving props to those who have paid the consequences thereof. There’s no way around…
