Cover Story
The Whole Bow
Alvin Crow fiddled it his way
A Tribute to Bill Hicks
A Tribute to Bill Hicks NR, 90 min. This event celebrates the release of the new Hicks book, Love All People, which gathers together the comic’s fearless observations culled from his stand-up routines and various writings. Rare footage of Hicks from his early years (15 years old!) and several other television appearances will be shown…
The Little Prince
The Little Prince 1974, G, 88 min. Directed by Stanley Donen, Starring Richard Kiley, Steven Warner, Bob Fosse, Gene Wilder, Joss Ackland. This musical is based on the story by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Macario
Macario 1960, NR, 91 min. Directed by Roberto Gavaldón, Starring Ignacio López Tarso, Pina Pellicer, Enrique Lucero. Mexican movie about what happens after a man eats a turkey on the Day of the Dead.
Culture Flash!
A great way to brush up your Shakespeare, the epidemic of extended runs continues, and the Fall Soiree falls through
Soccer Watch
Last home stand for the ladies; young men in Jamaica
Disappearing Patients
Mental health, like mental illness, can be a complex proposition.
Naked City
Art program and sale provides needed support for the homeless
Undertow
Cross-pollinate the arthouse film with B-movie backwoods gothic, and you get something like Undertow’s peculiar fusion of high and low culture.
Arts Review
The Zachary Scott Theatre Center production of Crowns sings a joyous hosanna to the African- American tradition of the church hat
Staying Power
Despite (or because of) its hotel bearings, Finn & Porter is a haute spot on the Austin dining scene
Managing Disease � or Money?
The ironies of the Jackson Ngai story – that only homicide brought him adequate mental health care – aren’t lost on Joe Lovelace, executive director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. “There are so many tragedies, I don’t think you can even call them tragedies any more,” he says. Lovelace has been one…
Naked City
School textbooks remain virginal (and hetero), thanks to the SBOE
Lightning in a Bottle
Ostensibly a record of one mighty blues show, this film goes beyond the tag of concert film and achieves something more: a living history lesson, tracing the evolving sound of the blues.
Arts Review
UT’s Cabaret is a risky departmental production sufficiently primed as postelection catharsis
Athenian Grill
Things have changed at the space formerly occupied by Jean Luc’s Bistro
Frequent Fliers
Once they enter the mental health care system, people tend to return
Naked City
New effort to make gay marriage really, really, really illegal in Texas
Muhammad: The Last Prophet
Animated film. Not reviewed at press time.
Arts Review
A. Mozart Fest’s Veritably Vienna concert showed that violinist Uli Speth and pianist Mary Robbins know the benefits of collaboration in Mozart’s violin sonatas
Santa Rita Cantina
I have a confession to make: I have never been an enthusiast of Tex-Mex cuisine
The Smoke Clears In Lege Races
White contemplates recount as Strama’s victory is secured
Picking Up the Pieces
Amidst the electoral rubble shine the gems of political opportunity – and human comedy
Arts Review
Margarita Cabrera’s show at Women & Their Work is filled with soft, stuffed sculptures of everyday household objects rendered in bright, cheerful colors
Food-o-File
Austin is a TV town, after all; plus, Andrea Timmer is a no-show (again), and the Filling Station is out of gas
Better Training: An RX for APD
Police think-tank offers advice on use of force, community outreach
Austin @ Large: Every Day Is Halloween
But will only the good corporate kids get the candy?
Arts Review
Jon Langford, longtime member of the British band the Mekons, has developed a great nostalgic painting style for rendering his own version of American heroes
Be Afraid, Coyotes � Be Very Afraid
Travis County tackles coyotes in northwest Austin
The Hightower Report
Public schools sell their soul, and Lockheed sells us flying lemons
Readings
Culled mostly from interviews with plaintiffs, witnesses, and lawyers, this book breathes life into the names and numbers likely to become familiar to us as ‘Betty Dukes v. Wal-Mart’ plays out
Broken Spoke Legends
James White counts down the Broken Spoke’s greatest hits
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Vision and Focus
In the ‘Undertow’ with director David Gordon Green and first-time screenwriter Joe Conway
Readings
In his half dozen previous books, the French writer Toussaint has created a bevy of common heroes who painstakingly and humorously navigate the treacherous straits of everyday existence
Equality
Ornette Coleman, speaking softly and carrying a huge legacy
Naked City
Newcomer officially unseats Houston’s Heflin – by 21 votes
Quick, Good, and Good for You
Reel Women brings Lunafest to Austin
Page Two
Forget the middle ground: Why don’t the progressives take over the Democratic Party and make a real fight of this thing?
Phases & Stages
Elliott SmithFrom a Basement on the Hill (Anti-) “I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. Better stop now before I start crying.” The line between Everyman and Elliott Smith has thickened with the passing of time. Now, two days short of the anniversary of his untimely death, From a Basement on a Hill…
Naked City
Being a write-in reduces Dems’ chances from slim to none
Film News
Robert Rodriguez and the come-hither look of ‘Rambo 4’
TCB
Troublesome pirates, returning Superflies, and British minstrels help ease the sting of last week’s election
After a Fashion
Somehow, Stephen has managed to milk attention to his birthday out of another week’s column. You’d think they happen more frequently than once a year … perhaps at his age, they do? Plus, some Vivid cowboy news for those who may read this column for different reasons …
Phases & Stages
World music’s painfully broad parameters still manage to open minds and hungry ears at every turn. One of the recent best is State of Bengal vs. Paban Das Baul Tani Tani (Real World). State of Bengal has worked with Massive Attack and Björk but here lends programming skills to the lustrous voice of Paban Das…
Naked City
Progressives look at the bright side in postelection meet-up
TV Eye
My e-mail has fallen silent post-election
Politics String
The precinct-by-precinct breakdown holds little sign of “change.”
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Patton fifth in the five; and other great veterans
Phases & Stages
Brian WilsonSmile (Nonesuch) He did it. After 37 years, Brian Wilson completed one of the most significant unfinished albums in rock history. Given the slack fans have afforded the oft-troubled Beach Boys visionary in his re-emergence, forgiving his uncomfortable stage manner and his no longer being able to sing like a 24-year-old, loyalist hosannas were…
Naked City
House Ds tear into Craddick – and then back him for speaker?
DVD Watch
This officially marks a decade since the term ‘snowballing’ was popularized in our ever-expanding sexual vernacular
Dvorák’s New World Inquiry
How a Czech composer helped America find its authentic voice
About AIDS
A gaunt face – sunken cheeks, deep creases, loose skin, protruding cheekbones – is a fairly common side-effect of long-term HIV treatment, particularly among men. It’s “facial wasting,” a type of fat loss called lipoatrophy that is part of the broader syndrome called lipodystrophy. Now, a more effective treatment called Sculptra is available, which may…
Phases & Stages
Robyn HitchcockSpooked (Yep Roc) After a few years of what most would take as aimless floundering, Robin Hitchcock has returned with Spooked, one of the best albums of his long career. The fact that it was made in collaboration with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings will probably surprise only those who aren’t aware of the…
Naked City
City Council evenly split on redevelopment proposals
New Worlds
Schedule of events
To Your Health
Is it a good idea to take aspirin every day?
Phases & Stages
PinbackSummer in Abaddon (Touch & Go) San Diego-based Pinback is among a select group of indie rock bands who excel at making incredibly nuanced pop music full of graceful layers the intrepid listener can delight in sorting out. Yet while the music is lovely, lyrically, Summer in Abaddon is as bleak as spending August on…
Naked City
Toll road segments poised to drop like flies
The Polar Express
Chris Van Allsburg’s magical tale of the Christmas Eve re-education of a Santa-doubting adolescent gets the motion-capture treatment.
The Bad American
Bill Maher comes out on drink, drugs, and God
The Common Law
Election ballots
Phases & Stages
Talib KweliThe Beautiful Struggle (Rawkus)Mos Def The New Danger (Geffen) Former partners in rhyme, Talib Kweli and Mos Def stand worlds apart from 1998’s cohesive Black Star collaboration. With The Beautiful Struggle, Kweli’s generic sounds belie the so-called revolutionary front of his lyrics. Kanye West-produced single “I Try,” with its busy kicks and piano loop,…
Naked City
The river authority prepares to move forward with water-pipeline plans
After the Sunset
Possibly the ideal film to more or less ignore while lounging poolside and sipping Jamaican rum, After the Sunset is 100-proof pap.
Break-In at the Blue
Thieves broke into the Blue Theater last week and made off with more than $6,000 worth of technical equipment
Letters at 3AM
Cry over the election if you must, but don’t let the bastards sap your vitality. American progressives started seriously mass-scale organizing only about a year ago, and in just one year we came within reach of victory.
Phases & Stages
Last week’s Por Vida All-Star Tribute to Alejandro Escovedo turns into ‘The Last Waltz.’ Not literally, of course.
Naked City
Human-rights message too strong for the outdoor advertising biz
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Cast is excellent; movie is OK; men and women are soooo different.
Art From the Streets
This year’s Art From the Streets sale, showing artwork by some of our city’s gifted but homeless creators, boasts 2,300 works of art
Day Trips
The Villa Del Rio captures the international influences of the Mexican border
Two Lives Lost
Danielle Martin and Jackson Ngai shared a close friendship, a passionate love for music, and mental illness. They cared for each other as best they could. And then he killed her.
Naked City
Inmate populations unfairly boost rural political clout, report claims
Being Julia
There are so few really great film roles written for middle-aged women that when one comes along and it stars the near-perfect Annette Bening, it’s disappointing that the rest of the movie does not equal her performance.
Luv Doc Recommends: Texas State Footbag Championships
OK, so you’ve tried it all. You’ve cruised the supermarket vegetable aisle and patiently, lovingly fondled the more moderately sized zucchinis, or maybe the saran-wrapped O’Keefe style cantaloupe halves. You’ve performed a modestly seductive pole dance on the bus for that cute but scruffy-looking slacker who was too cool to notice. You washed your roommate’s…
