Cover Story
Sara Smile Still
Behind Sara Hickman’s sunny countenance lies real life. And still a smile.
Black Queer Studies Collection at UT
Groups partner to create new research resource
City Releases KeyPoint Report (Updated)
Unredacted report posted to city’s website
Act Fast
All the merch is on sale at the Hancock Center’s soon-to-shutter Hollywood Video
This Week’s Waste of Time
A few platform-based browser games in honor of LittleBigPlanet 2
OTR – 33 RPM
Cactusgate continues
The Lineup
Recommended music for the week of May 14-20
Renegade Craft Fair Comes to Austin
Plan your weekend around Renegade Craft Fair
Brandon Boyer Named New Chairman of Independent Games Festival
Austinite and king of indie gaming takes the reins at the growing fest.
Wild in the City
Make a more natural garden with the Neighborhood Habitat Challenge
The Daily Hustle: 5/13/10 (Updated)
Arizona travel ban, water conservation, and other subjects left unsaid
The Totally Awesome AusChron Newscast Gets Leaked
All about the Keypoint/Sanders report
Straus’ Budget Stretch
Committee member casts doubt on speaker’s deficit proposals
Here Is the House… Or Maybe It’s That One
Meghan Daum at BookPeople tonight with her memoir about misadventures in real estate
Mean Old Man
The Killer strikes back at the Revival Festival
Five Years
Back to the ‘bone
Herman Versus Hispanic Voters
Education Austin president calls Statesman column “wildly offensive”
The Daily Hustle: 5/12/10
New call for bag ban
Medi-Pot Finally Makes it to D.C.
After more than a decade of waiting, city officials give medi-pot the green light
On Cops and Pot
Botched raid in Missouri ends with death of dog
2010 Dobie Paisano Fellows Announced
Writers Philipp Meyer and John Pipkin to split time at 250-acre former ranch of J. Frank Dobie
Cap Met Names CEO Finalists
Interim CEO Doug Allen does not make the cut
Grascals’ Garten Party
The Grascals mark Scholz Garten’s free Wednesday summer series
The Daily Hustle: 5/11/10
City Council highlights this Thursday
The KeyPoint Report: Read the Redacted Sections Here
Transcript of unreleased investigation
Vodkas and Skulls: Talking to Dan Aykroyd
The comedy great talks bottle design and Newfoundland water
Rock & Roll Summer School
The Kids Are Alright Fest aims high
A Unified Cactus?
Friends of Cactus Cafe submits full business proposal for UT cafe
The Daily Hustle: 5/10/10
B&C meetings galore
Leffingwell ‘Troubled’ by Sanders Report
City officials respond to KeyPoint report revelations into APD shooting
Final ACC Numbers
Sosa wins, Villarreal and Reiter headed to runoff
Final AISD Results; ACC Almost Complete
Sosa, Schneider, Moya win; other races headed for runoffs
AISD and ACC Early Vote Totals
Sosa may avoid run-off in ACC race
Roller Derby Update, 5/8/10
Lonestar at home, Texecutioners for Denver double trouble
Suppressed KeyPoint Sanders Report
Quintana “recklessly … endangered” self and others
You Know, I’m Not Sick of This Story
Prominent anti-GLBTQ activist caught acting kinda queer
Billy Ray ‘Rojo’ Johnson Delights Dell Crowd
Looks suspiciously like Will Ferrell
Ain’t No Shame in the Heartbreak Game
The Shondes’ new album makes heartache sound good
Stars Host Game 5 Friday Night
Series with Chicago Wolves tied 2-2
Fair Trade Festival Update
New film fest drops Price of Sugar and invests in Black Gold
Saving Water in Big Stacy
City opens public first rain garden
The Daily Hustle: 5/7/10
Willie, Bonds, and Auditors
Take 10
The annual 10 Under 10 showcase spotlights collegians with cameras
TV Eye
PBS’ Independent Lens airs a locally made and deeply moving story of one family’s extraordinary journey to help their son with special needs
Letter to Juliet
Musician Ginger Doss remembers Sara Hickman, too, since she’s the other Juliet of Hickman’s “Juliet and Juliet,” the tale of two young female lovers. Over the years, Doss has been involved with numerous local bands, notably Dreamtrybe with Lynda Millard. Currently, she and partner Bekah Kelso perform in GBMojo. She graciously recalled her breakup with…
Iron Man 2
Despite a high tech sheen and an excellent but overstuffed cast, this sequel feels more like a setup for the upcoming Avengers movie than its own picture.
Arts Review
This story of people trying to do what’s right is both real and really funny
Texas Platters
Grupo Fantasma El Existential (Nat Geo Music) Over the past decade, Grupo Fantasma’s done for Latin music locally what George Clinton did for funk globally: established a standard of excellence with a relentless assembly line of grooves. Crowned with a Grammy nomination for 2008’s Sonidos Gold, the 10-piece enterprise’s highly anticipated follow-up and fourth LP…
Pressure Rising at the Water Utility
One manager forced out, another accused of harassment … who’s watching the valves?
In Print
It takes a village: This inquiry into the late-period Romantics debunks the idea of the individual artist as isolated, sui generis, and in torment
The Secret of Kells
This animated Irish stunner is visually complex and colorful and was a contender this year for the best animated film Oscar.
Arts Review
This staging of the classic play reveals it is still the microcosm of American life
Texas Platters
Cruiserweight The Smith Tower Having outlasted contemporaries Dynamite Boy, Recover, and Riddlin’ Kids, it’s only fitting that Cruiserweight goes out swinging with The Smith Tower. Bouncing back from 2008’s disappointing Big Bold Letters, the hometown heroes’ final album is also its most emotionally charged, tackling the departure of drummer Yogi Maxwell in the taunting kiss-off…
Teaching Intimacy
The Miró Quartet reveals the key to developing a great chamber music ensemble
Southwest Key Breaks Ground
Video no longer available.
Badmaash Company
In this Bollywood film, four friends start a business and succeed by doing all the wrong things.
Arts Review
The art for Lance Letscher’s first children’s book streams shards of color and type
Texas Platters
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth Peaced (Monofonus Press) Since 2008’s Not Noiice, local animal collective WDRTE – now scaled back to a fivepiece – seems to have taken a free-form turn toward noise, à la Houston skuzz forefathers Rusted Shut. Most of Peaced, the group’s third LP, features long stretches of staticky guitar, reverbed vocals,…
Passport to Argentina
Celebrate the food and wine of Argentina on its bicentennial
Headlines
� It’s election time again: voters in Austin ISD, Austin Community College district, and Del Valle, Eanes, Leander, Lake Travis, and Round Rock school districts go to the polls Saturday, May 8, to pick their newest trustees, while several municipal utility districts and emergency service districts vote for directors. See “‘Chronicle’ Endorsements” for voting information…
Babies
Although these documentary images of human babies from around the world are beguiling, the film’s lack of conclusions is frustrating.
Gay Place
Public servitude is not your private networking playground
Texas Platters
Southern Front Join or Die Southern Front discharges a deceptively streamlined metal groundswell rife with deep veins of rhythmic yield. The local quintet’s debut thrashing integrates a compositional complexity perfectly imbedded in its no-frills gutting. Kickoff whiplash pit “Opposition” (“patience of a glacier, the comfort of a shriek”) crosses mid-1980s dual axing via guitarists Jon…
What’s a Hungry Brit to Eat in Austin?
It may not be Mum’s bubble and squeak, but it’s close
Naked City
New briefs from Austin, the region, and beyond
Killing Kasztner
This documentary is about the little-remembered figure Rudolf Israel Kasztner, who negotiated with Adolf Eichmann for the release of 1,700 Jews from Hungary, only to later be castigated for Nazi collaboration.
Day Trips
The Koffee Kup Family Restaurant built its reputation the old-fashioned way – by serving good, basic comfort food
Texas Platters
Rice Moorehead You Make Me Feel … “Honky soul” is a good name for what Rice Moorehead does. The South Filthy/Hickoids bassist’s solo LP siphons a bit of those bands’ fried country frazzle, but “Honky Soul,” the third track, blows open doors with sax solos and Moorehead’s smooth guitar work. Elsewhere, opener “Where I Stay”…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Cat acne, Jessica Simpson’s addiction, and more
Point Austin: Feet on the Ground
If May Day has a meaning, it’s one we build together
The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
Coprophiliacs looking for a movie that really rings their chimes will be positively tintinnabulating from this arthouse horror number.
Clouds Part Over AISD Budget Forecast
AISD looks to be less squeezed for money than previously predicted
Texas Platters
Ben Livingston Trust Your Equipment Known internationally as a neon-light sculptor, Ben Livingston won a fellowship with the National Endowment for the Arts for his discovery/invention of the infinite phosphorescent color palette. Trust Your Equipment is almost equally inventive. “Golfers Are Fat” and “Smart Fools From Art School” are Zappa-esque social commentary, but some of…
Food-o-File
Scholarships, WineCasts, noteworthy locals, and more
City Hall Hustle: Razing Arizona
City Hall sends regrets to the Grand Canyon
ACC Hikes Tuition
Board raises tuition as other revenue sources decline
Texas Platters
Kevin Higgins is best known as a member of the Dust Devils. His solo debut, Find Your Shine (Little Train), rolls by like a phantom, filled with West Texas landscapes and dusty poetry that combine for a listening experience similar to Jesse Winchester or Terry Allen. While he calls his band Los Bluegrass Vatos, Danny…
Event Menu
Dan Aykroyd! By golly! Also, supper clubs and delicious benefits galore coming up in the week ahead.
Res Publica
Citizens’ calendar, May 6-13
More Cactus Thorns
More questions than answers on the fate of the Cactus
Texas Platters
Screen Door Porch The amalgam of geographic roots represented by Seadar Rose and Aaron Davis sonically manifest throughout Screen Door Porch’s Ramble Creek-recorded eponymous debut. The local duo’s former haunt of Jackson Hole, Wyo., lends an easy Western flair to their more prominent native influences of North Carolina and Kentucky, a combination that goes down…
After a Fashion
Stephen’s true confessions
The Common Law
Electric Transmission Lines & Eminent Domain
TRMPAC Forever
Justice DeLayed is justice forgotten
Texas Platters
Trevor Boehm & the Cultivators When the Ground Gives Way Trevor Boehm’s debut begins with a raw fiddle and passionate gospel blues of “Obey the Rain,” a torrent of promise that unfortunately doesn’t follow through on the rest of the LP. The immediate shift to the acoustic pop lilt of “Heart of the Broken” undercuts…
Wine of the Week
Dow’s Vale do Bomfim is a great match for dinner
‘Chronicle’ Endorsements
Our recommendations for the May 8 elections
The Tire Keeps on Turning
City suspends Fleet Services employee as scrap tire investigation continues
Texas Platters
Trumpeter Swan Listen for the Clues Having transplanted to Brooklyn while What Made Milwaukee Famous attempts to decipher what will make them so, Drew Patrizi’s solo debut as Trumpeter Swan licks at the easier edges of WMMF’s pop but with touches of his new city’s sound. The jangled chords and horn flourish of opener “Loose…
In Print
Despite the often cruel behavior of their male counterparts, these famous women writers yearned above all for a creative mirror, an intellectual equal
Round Rock Express
Lance Berkman, Will Ferrell, and more
Building a Place to Build Community
Northeast center built on progressive foundation
Texas Platters
Susanne Abbott No History of Prevention Susanne Abbott is best known for her work at Zach Theatre, where she’s a five-time Austin Critics’ Table Award winner for her roles in, among others, Jelly’s Last Jam, Cabaret, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Daniel Johnston-based rock opera Speeding Motorcycle. So, while No History of Prevention is…
‘Coppélia’
Stephen Mills programs this comic work to help develop Austin’s ballet palate
Soccer Watch
The Austin Aztex won their second straight road game Saturday, a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the Minnesota Stars, as Eddie Johnson and Jamie Watson each got their second goal of the season (in the 75th and 84th minute respectively) and the Aztex continued their strong play late in games. They’re now at 3-1 on the…
Southwest Key Breaking Social Ground
Center aims to tackle unemployment issues in East Austin
Texas Platters
Adam Carroll Live at Flipnotics Adam Carroll & Michael O’Connor Hard Times Among singer-songwriters, Adam Carroll is probably Austin’s best-kept secret. His tunes are marvels of economy; the John Prine comparisons are probably overdone at this point but remain completely relevant. Carroll’s views of life in today’s Texas, specifically the eastern part of the state…
UIL State One-Act Play Contest
Austin High’s championship thespians get a repeat shot at the state title
Oops!
We mistakenly reported in last week’s listings that MetroRail rides would be free during a special day of service on Saturday; in fact, the regular weekday rates applied to the weekend event.
Three Steps Forward, One Step Back
Various projects slated for I-35, Airport Boulevard, and Congress Avenue
Texas Platters
Suzi Stern & George Oldziey Leap of Heart (Aardvark) It’s not her warm voice, per se, that’s earned Suzi Stern the accolades of Austin’s jazz community for years. Rather, it’s her uncanny interpretive powers to take a well-worn standard or pop tune and, with subtlety and grace, mold it into something unique. Stern’s joined here…
Culture Flash
Honors for Conspirare, two artists who teach at UT, and a student playwright
Page Two: Getting Our Bearings
The world is far bigger than it might seem
Do Not Try This at Home
Tom Six on the surgical horrors of The Human Centipede
The Hightower Report
Banking Reform Gone Bad; and Abacus Among Us
Letters at 3AM: Of Tiers and Tears
The isolation of the Professional Tier is the single most destructive element in American society today
Classing Up the Joint
The Domain’s new Gold Class Cinema ups the ante on upscale movie-watching
Off the Record
In search of the light at the end of the Waller Creek Tunnel Project
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger is back to disturb everyone’s sleep.
Luv Doc Recommends: Studio 54klift: A Fundraiser for Forklift Danceworks
Dance will never die. As long as there are dudes willing to showcase their mooseknuckles in sheer spandex tights, as long as the tutu remains a staple of little girls’ dress-up boxes, as long as Gene Kelly and Fred & Ginger movies run on AMC, as long as Michael Jackson songs are played, as long…
