Page Two
Some thoughts on the recent election… Ronney Reynolds carefully assessed the situation and then, nobly, withdrew. In a town where the petulant replaces the thoughtful, this was an impressively mature act. Most analysts didn’t give Reynolds much of a chance in the runoff. The conventional wisdom on all sides was that the big-money, incredibly well-connected…
The Smell of Palmer on E-Day
Fiddling While Austin Burns: Nofziger’s campaign manager Linda Curtis illustrates the role of big money in the mayoral election. photograph by Alan Pogue The most relaxed person at Palmer Saturday night may have been Bruce Todd, who arrived at the auditorium early to do a TV interview. Austin’s lame duck mayor and his wife Elizabeth…
Stay Tuned
Donald Trump stars in not one but two shows during the May sweeps to earn extra cash. Guess that’s gonna be one really expensive divorce… Spoilers: The great, bumbling beast that was the 1996-97 television season lurches to a close over the next couple of weeks, taking with it some of our favorite (and least…
Public Notice
Mother’s Day gift alert: Time alone with you is so much more appreciated and valuable than some damn doily or batch of scented hangers. What a more perfect opportunity than this weekend’s Spring Garden Tour, Sat, May 10, 10am-3pm & Sun, May 11, 1-5pm, hosted as a fundraiser for Austin Community Gardens. Take mom out…
Austin City Council Election Endorsements
Early voting for the Saturday, May 31 run-off elections is May 12-27. There’s a list of polling places and lots of other election information on the city’s Web page, http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/election/ — for yet more, check out the Chronicle’s Web Elections Board at /election. Place 5: Bill Spelman. Spelman is recognized as a strong environmentalist, but…
Better Than MTV
Much Music in action; don’t dare call it a “studio.” A cursory glance from the street at the Much Music headquarters in Toronto tells you everything you need to know about the network. On a gothic office block in Toronto’s most happening district, Canada’s answer to MTV all but bursts from its masonry confines and…
Mister Smarty Pants Knows
At one time, every tire in the world was manufactured in Akron, Ohio. Michigan State University researchers have found that the granules produced by grinding up discarded tires can be used as a patch for grassy areas that suffer heavy wear. Once they work their way into the soil, they can help prevent it from…
Palmer Pandemonium
Candidates’ volunteers enter the gate in procession, cheering like mad, pumping their candidate’s signs, and circle the auditorium in a festive pomp reminiscent of the Olympic opening ceremonies. But the party is a lonely one for some of the mayoral candidates, the five also-rans who had no staff and together, won only about 1,300 votes,…
Scanlines
D: Frank Marino with Dyanna Lauren, Celeste, Brad Armstrong, Woody Long Cult Movies magazine first called my attention to this porno “tribute” to Ed Wood’s classic bad film Plan Nine From Outer Space. That fine publication pointed out that Plan 69 actually had ties to the original, issuing from (as I recall) the “next generation”…
Tunnel Vision
While Andy’s out there picking himself, I’m going to fill it up with some random, scattered thoughts about my favorite and not-so-favorite sporting clubs, endeavors, and memories. Factoid: The Dallas Cowboys were my favorite team until I was eight, but I switched to the smarmy, yet seaworthy, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The reasons for my about-face…
Fort Knox on Poydras
illustration by Doug Potter What we are doing is making little rocks out of big rocks.” That was Jim Bob Moffett’s explanation to shareholders during the April 29 Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FMCG) shareholder meeting at the company’s headquarters in New Orleans. Looking tan and thin, Moffett gave a 20-minute lecture to the 70 or…
Short Cuts
Yikes. So many special screenings and too little time — and space — to do more in this column than merely whet your curiosity. Short Films from Latin America is the title of a unique six-part series that takes place Thursday through Saturday nights, May 8-10 and May 15-17. Presented by Mexic-Arte Museum and the…
Pointed Remembrances, Pointless Arguments
illustration by A.J. Garces Kevin is only four- and-a-half years younger than I — he just turned 47. Sal’s about two years younger than that. Yet we’re part of a generation to whom so much happened, so quickly, in such a compressed span of time, that even our comparatively small differences in age make for…
Mayor: What, Me Negative?
by Alex de Marban and Audrey Duff Ronney Reynolds was itching to fight on election night, but changed his mind two days later and dropped out. photograph by Alan Pogue It was shortly after 10am last Monday at the Chambers when Councilmember Ronney Reynolds shocked the city and officially withdrew from the mayoral run-off, raising…
The Termination is Proximity-based
“Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.” — George Orwell’s paraphrase This just in… about half the people who use the term “paradigm shift”…
Articulations
It’s getting so’s you can’t make a move in the Big Apple without running afield of some Austin artist. Week before last, it was playwright/performer/director Amparo Garcia — author of A Roomful of Men, played Luz in Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre’s Unmerciful Good Fortune last summer — enjoying the Off-Broadway premiere of her play Under a…
Food-O-File
The final count is in and the great news is that Austin’s Share Our Strength Taste of the Nation dinner and silent auction raised $50,000 to fight hunger. Beneficiaries of this year’s funds are Caritas and the Sustainable Food Center. Kudos to organizer David Garrido and the host committee, participating chefs, servers, restaurants and purveyors,…
What Elections?
Fox-7’s (KTBC) election night team (l-r): Former mayor Jeff Friedman, anchors Stephanie Rochon and Dick Ellis, and KVET commentator John Doggett photograph by Alan Pogue On Saturday night at 10pm, Austin’s television news shows came alive with excitement. It was an election, the night of nights for reporters, who scrambled to get interviews with the…
Heart of The Beast
It won’t be long before we get a national touring production of the O. J. Saga, complete with a white Blazer and cursing Christopher Darden. There will be buckets of fake blood and a stern moral about the dangers of spousal abuse. Soon Koresh! The Musical will open as well, with tap-dancing ATF agents and…
Martha Knows Best?
Buttermilk wedding cake with strawberry filling and whipped icing from Shirley’s Cakes. photograph by John Anderson The pre-delivery nightmare had three variations. In one, I’m driving my Mazda pick-up as cautiously as I can, the glistening wedding cake precariously balanced on the seat by my side. Then some thoughtless idiot carelessly turns in front of…
Naked City
LULAC and NAACP’s Austin chapters have laid out a wish list of characteristics the city’s new police chief should possess. First things first — the new chief should be inclusive of minority input, and not just in times of conflict and crisis as is usually the case, the groups’ leaders say. The top dog should…
Exhibitionism
Mexic-Arte Museum through May 17 How should you approach an exhibition of toys? Playfully. Both audience and presenter should suspend at least some of the grown-up, good-for-you attitude that burdens most visits to the museum and aim for a good time. Mexic-Arte Museum’s “Mexican Traditional Toys and Miniatures” delivers a good time with style. Living…
Do It Yourself
Miss Janette’s Cake, Cookie & Candy Supplies 900 Rutland, 836-4826 A member of the International Cake Exploration Society (ICES), Janette Pfertner teaches all levels of classes in cake decorating. She recently attended an instructional seminar with famed New York cake designer Colette Peters and will incorporate what she learned into her own classes. She sells…
Place 5: Man O’ Manny
Bill Spelman and Karen Hadden bask in their respective second and third place showings at the polls. photograph by Alan Pogue Within minutes after Ronney Reynolds ceded the mayor’s race to Kirk Watson on Monday, campaign leaders for council candidate Bill Spelman hustled to put a favorable spin on how the latest news will affect…
Theatre Critics Table Nominations 1997
The Austin Theatre Critics Table have announced nominations for their fifth annual awards for achievement in theatre. The participating critics — Michael Barnes, Jamie Smith, and Anna Hanks, Austin American-Statesman; John Bustin, West Austin News; David Mark Cohen, Texas Triangle; Jerry Conn, Westlake Picayune; and Robert Faires and Adrienne Martini, Austin Chronicle — honored work…
Taking the Cake
I interviewed several bakers, caterers, wedding consultants, and party facilities to get the current scoop on the wedding cake business here in Austin. While I couldn’t taste every cake in town, this listing should provide a good representative sample of what is available locally. According to my unscientific survey, the overwhelming local choice for wedding…
Place 6 Gets Ugly
Willie Lewis supporter Ron Davis, and consultant Todd Main celebrate Lewis’ success in forcing a runoff with Place 6 incumbent Eric Mitchell photograph by Alan Pogue At 10pm on election night, the giant sheet cake reading “Eric Mitchell Bad To The Bone” around an icing rendition of Mitchell’s 1995 Chronicle cover (Vol. 15 No.5), remained…
Left of Staid
Hey, Denis! Do the one about the emergency room!” shouted an audience member. “Yeah! `Emergency’!” someone loudly agreed. “How bout `Dirty Wedding’?” suggested another. “`Happy Hour’! `Happy Hour’!” a few groupies chanted. The bearded, bespectacled performer on the stage acknowledged the requests with a grin. “Yeah,” he said. “I’ll do `Emergency’. And he turned to…
Dancing About Architecture
I’m currently three weeks into a month’s vacation from the bottle, and considering the events of recent days, I’m not so sure I want to get started back up again. In what former Dicks’ member Buxf Parrot succinctly calls “a bad week for rock & roll,” he lost former bandmate Glen Taylor to the ravages…
Wild, Wild Wildlife
photograph by Alan Pogue Andy Sansom must long for some peace and quiet. Since 1990, when he became the executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), Sansom has overseen a turbulent period. The Texas Legislature targeted Sansom’s agency in 1995 in an effort to restrict the access his biologists have to private…
Meanwhile, back at the TCW…
When you read this partial list of writers who have appeared in the TCW reading series in the past few years, you are bound to experience the sinking feeling that you have missed several of your favorites. Stay tuned for next season, when potential readers include Rita Dove, Edmund White, Richard Ford, and many others.…
Con Safos
Keith Ferguson died with a monkey on his back. I’m not speaking figuratively; the man literally died with a picture of a monkey on his back. It was tattooed there, the head of a fang-toothed baboon permanently inked into his shoulder. That was Keith Ferguson’s statement to the world. So, when a friend called last…
The Numbers Crunch
“Only expect what happens. Then you’re never surprised.” Typically gnomic election-night advice from Mark Yznaga, but nonetheless wise; an examination of the numbers around town, precinct by precinct, helps shed light on Saturday’s “surprising” results. Race Results by Box Size Votes per Box <200 votes 201-399 votes 400-599 votes 600-799 votes 800+ votes Total #…
Postscripts
Hanoch McCarty will be at Borders on Thursday, May 8, at 7pm to promote the fourth volume of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, this one appropriately titled A Fourth Course of Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 More Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit. McCarty helped compile the volume. The…
Beautiful Loser
This story originally appeared in the Dallas Observer dated March 28, 1996. cover photograph courtesy Margaret Moser “I have to admit, there’s a guaranteed future in dirty dishes, which there ain’t in blues,” concedes Keith Ferguson. “I seem to be the only one who regards himself as a professional musician. Our lead singer’s a dishwasher…
The Mayor’s Race: All the Returns
Precinct regions: [ Central | East | North | South | Southwest | West ] Totals for all regions Central Region Pct # Voters Total Turnout Blanchette Kircher Becker Gale Nofziger Watson Johnson Reynolds Margin 131 2,407 542 22.52% 3 1 9 8 89 351 0 77 274 136 2,150 425 19.77% 3 0 4…
The Natural Center of Gravity
photograph by Kenny Braun For writers aiming for literary magazine publication, rather than a row of 10s at a poetry slam or even the approving applause of peers at an open mike, the process of showing off work doesn’t feature that aspect of immediate gratification. A poem or short story or essay is perfected over…
Picture of the Blues
Some people don’t like having their pictures taken because of the superstition that the camera steals the soul. Keith Ferguson was the opposite. Not that he liked the limelight; far from it. But when that camera was pointed at him, he’d fix it with his heavy-lidded stare, boring past glass, plastic, and metal to forever…
Councilmember, Place 2: All the Returns
Precinct regions: [ Central | East | North | South | Southwest | West ] Totals for all regions Central Region Pct # Voters Total Turnout Motal Garcia Gonzales Currie Margin 131 2,407 542 22.52% 73 419 8 17 346 136 2,150 425 19.77% 82 294 11 21 212 137 2,875 522 18.16% 75 389…
Hearth & Soul
What Rot Dear Suzy, Do products like “Cure Rot” really work? We have several “soft spots” in boards in our upstairs hallway. We are thinking of putting a new “floating” wood floor right over the old floor, but thought we’d better do something about those soft spots first. Can we use one of the wood…
Music Recommended
Friday: Jerry Jeff Walker, Backyard; Chris Wall, Broken Spoke; Tish Hinojosa, La Zona Rosa Saturday: Banana Blender Surprise, Liberty Lunch; Charlie Burton, Flipnotics Sunday: Silver Apples, Frontier, Emo’s Monday: Junior Medlow Memorial/Benefit, Continental Club; Jimmy LaFave, Threadgill’s AWHQ Tuesday: N.I.L.8., M.I.R.V., Emo’s Wednesday: The Insinuators, Saxon Pub Thursday: ZZ Top, Frank Erwin Center
Councilmember, Place 5: All the Returns
Precinct regions: [ Central | East | North | South | Southwest | West ] Totals for all regions Central Region Pct # Voters Total Turnout Pena Hadden Spelman Zuniga Enriquez Margin 131 2,407 542 22.52% 25 124 177 104 78 -73 136 2,150 425 19.77% 19 64 191 90 37 -101 137 2,875 522…
Benefits
March of Dimes WalkAmerica to benefit the Campaign for Healthier Babies, at Auditorium Shores, 8am. 477-3221. Spring Garden Tour will be held through May 11 to benefit East Austin Gardening Programs,10am-3pm, call for location. Cost is $5. 458-2009. Open House for Health to benefit HIV Wellness Center, Breast Cancer Research Center of Austin, and Planned…
Record Reviews
NANCI GRIFFITH Blue Roses From the Moon (Elektra) Blue Roses From the Moon is predominantly the golden-throated Nanci Griffith that we’ve all come to love. It’s full-figured folk, warmed with Griffith’s angelic voice. But it’s time to talk about appropriateness. Griffith can cover Kate Wolf and John Prine exquisitely (as on Other Voices Other Rooms);…
Councilmember, Place 6: All the Returns
Precinct regions: [ Central | East | North | South | Southwest | West ] Totals for all regions Central Region Pct # Voters Total Turnout Mitchell Lewis Samson Margin 131 2,407 542 22.52% 141 322 37 -181 136 2,150 425 19.77% 105 256 23 -151 137 2,875 522 18.16% 92 333 36 -241 143…
Day Trips
Pace Bend Park on Lake Travis is a park in danger of being loved to death. The popular swimming, camping, and picnic spot about 30 miles from Austin in western Travis County hosts an estimated 105,000 visitors a year with their pets and toys. That can cause a lot of damage to the fragile shoreline…
Road Shows
FRI 9 Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Elephant Room FRI 9 Switchblade Symphony, Sunshine Blind, Seraphim Gothique, Back Room FRI 9 Larry Carlton, Ron Brown, Liberty Lunch FRI 9 Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets featuring Sam Myers, Antone’s FRI 9 Billygoat, Flamingo Cantina FRI 9 Big Drag, Hole in the Wall FRI 9 6240, Blue Flamingo…
Alternative Signals
(l-r): Cindy Tomlinson, Whitney Angstadt, Jason Wade, Becky Flores, and Charlie Barns of KVR-TV photograph by John Anderson After hauling and assembling their heavy camera gear to the Erwin Center, a student crew is primed to broadcast the Lady Longhorns game to Austin Community Access Center (ACAC, formerly ACTV) channel 16. As the game begins,…
