Cover Story
Re-Re-Re-Re-Reopening Night
The Ritz: Talkie theatre, cowboy hangout, playhouse, comedy and punk club, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
Crocs Are the New Jellies Are the New Crocs
Theeeeeey’re baaaaaaaaack! Jelly shoes meet the 21st century.
Horns, Hilltoppers Head Into Postseason
The UT Longhorns ended their regular season on a high note Friday, dominating Colorado, 4-1, to nab the second seed in the Big 12 Tournament. They’re playing the seventh-seeded Buffaloes again as we go to press Wednesday; the tournament continues with semifinals 7:30pm Friday and the championship game 1pm Sunday, all at Blossom Soccer Stadium,…
Seriously, Don’t Stop Believin’
Scoot Inn’s Confidence Rock Hoot Night makes you raise your hand if you’re sure.
Arrest in Cycling-Fatality Case
Richard Allan Lee, charged with second-degree felony intoxication manslaughter in the July death of Austin cyclist Vilhelm Hesness, was arrested after several unsuccessful attempts outside his Austin home Tuesday by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Lee hit Hesness from behind as he was riding lawfully along Manchaca Road in far South Austin. Lee was…
Rudy, Bernie and Pat
Will primary voters judge Rudy Giuliani by the company he keeps?
Who Needs a City Charter?
“Why do we need an agenda item to cure something doesn’t need curing?”
T & S
A coming-out soundtrack, a full-circle show.
‘Za Gotcha
Austin’s Pizza doesn’t suck, though their old logo lead Brenner to think otherwise.
No New Nameplate for District 97
Fort Worth seat left vacant by Rep. Anna Mowery heads to run-off.
El Style! Gee, Style.
New gay rag hits Austin.
Stopping Debate Before It Starts
McCracken, Cole want to preclude chance of debate on changes to City Attorney’s office.
Twist of Cain
Danzig comes alive
City Council Notebook
Agenda highlights (?) for the Thurs., Nov. 8 City Council meeting.
Where Were the Other 91.36%?
Texas passes all 16 propositions on big margins but poor turn-out.
A Detour With Taj Mahal
OK, some of this was my fault. I’d been talking to Taj Mahal’s publicist about doing an interview before his Austin show for more than a week. We went back and forth a few times and after a while I didn’t think it was really going to happen. It’s not inside baseball to reveal sometimes…
Cute Band Alert!
When I got the Redwalls’ new self-titled CD a few weeks back, it hit the CD player immediately and has lingered nearby ever since. I even pulled out their 2005 release, De Nova, and played them back-to-back for an afternoon of butt-rockin’ Britpop with a dollop of Chicago rock chutzpah. When I play the Redwalls,…
Second Pot Initiative Passes in Denver
Voters in Denver have passed Question 100, making adult possession of less than one ounce of marijuana the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority. By early this morning, with a majority of ballots counted, Q100 had earned at least 56% of the vote. In addition to making adult pot possession last in line for enforcement, the measure…
Two-Thirds There
Prop. 15 surprisingly unpopular in Travis County.
Election Night Results
Numbers on the Nov. 6 state constitutional amendment election.
Polls Close in One Hour
Sixteen state constitutional amendments are on the ballot.
Mack Brown: Mr. Nice Guy or a Winner Lusting for Blood?
The turning point was when Mack Brown got red-faced raving mad. His cheeks puffed up as Mr. Nice Guy let loose with a spew of bile that had his players’ eyes wide and their cleats trembling. It was about time. His Longhorns were pathetic. Oklahoma State bitch-slapped them up and down the field and crazy…
Christmas May Still Come to National Park Service
School land board makes surprise turn-around on sale of Far West Texas wilderness.
Downtown North, Here We Come
Council adopts the North Burnet/Gateway Area Masterplan, with concessions to UT.
Patterson Plays Grinch With the Press
Land Commissioner Patterson slips a poison pill in his offer over the Christmas Mountains.
Congressional District 10 Candidates Forum Wednesday
Travis County Dems Chair candidates are on the bill, too
Today Is Election Day
So get out there and vote!
After Dark Horrorfest 2007: 8 Films to Die For
After Dark Horrorfest 2007: 8 Films to Die For A rotating program of eight new horror features will screen during this second edition of the weeklong festival. The titles include the Texas-based story Borderland by Zev Berman, which screened during the last SXSW Film Festival; Crazy Eights by James Koya Jones, starring Traci Lords and…
Kids ‘Crave’ Accurate Drug Info
High school and middle school kids are “craving accurate information on drug abuse and addiction,” say scientists from the National Institute on Drug Abuse who last month conducted an online “chat” with students from across the country. NIDA reports receiving more than 36,000 student questions regarding drugs and addiction during the chat on Oct. 12…
Prez Hopefuls Support Prison for Casual Pot Smokers?!
Democratic Prez hopefuls Sen. Hillary Clinton (New York), Sen. Barack Obama (Illinois), former Sen. John Edwards (North Carolina), and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson each said last week that they oppose downgrading pot penalties that would eliminate the prosecution and imprisonment of casual tokers, reports NORML. In response to a question crafted by the Philadelphia,…
Brown Wrong on U.K. Pot Use
According to the British Home Office’s annual crime survey, self-reported pot use among young Britons (ages 16 to 24) has decreased 20% since 2004, the year the government decriminalized pot possession, making it a non-arrestable offense. Indeed, it appears that since the government’s downgrading pot possession, allowing officers to seize-and-warn individuals, pot confiscations have actually…
Swirly Girl
Check out Marian Bantjes’s creative swirly typography.
Music Monday Returns!
Along with the much-anticipated opening of the Alamo Drafthouse @ the Ritz comes the return of the $2 Music Monday. Tonight and next Monday, catch Susan Dynner’s doc Punk’s Not Dead, a meditation on the Hot Topicality of modern punk rock. 11/19: My Name Is Albert Ayler 11/26: Sound of Rio 12/3: Ziggy Stardust &…
Welcome to November
November is the greatest month of the year, where we bask in glowing post-World Series parades, the Austin Zoo has a chili cook-off, the Rockets have yet to lose a playoff series, and it’s all punctuated with a holiday concerning gluttony and pigskin. It was a magical weekend for football. The LSU win over Alabama…
For Whom The Decibel Tolls
More on proposed changes to the sound ordinance.
Howard: Don’t Make a Present Out of Christmas
Legislators and ecogroups line up to oppose the sale of Christmas Mountains.
Barack and Donnie, K-i-s-s-i-n (His Queer Vote Goodbye)
Obama lost Getty’s vote.
Sound Off
Pipe up about the noise ordinance.
The Hillary Factor
If people knew Hillary, they might like her, but they don’t know her, argues Carl Bernstein.
King of Kombat II: Full Results
Upsets and quick, decisive victories defined the MMA promotion’s second Austin event.
Jerry’s Big Announcement
GLO to make surprise announcement about the Christmas Mountains.
Kitten With a Hip
Ann-Margret tells what to wear.
Never Too Early for Christma-Hannu-Kwanzaakah
Never too early to holiday shop and save a local icon…
Political Books, Part 1
Political writers and writing politicians head to the Capitol this weekend to talk up their tomes at the Texas Book Festival.
Gonzalez Mixes Head Games and Hard Strikes
King of Kombat main eventer Chilo Gonzalez talks about improving as a fighter by helping other fighters improve.
First Night at the Alamo Ritz
Notes from the first night at Austin’s newest oldest cinema.
Paper Tigers
Print Magazine’s “September Vogue” (the Regional Design Annual, in other words) was delivered to the office last week, and I was able to wrest it away from the art department long enough to see how Austin fared in the competition. No surpise that our city made a strong showing, with 16 awards and two standout…
The Best of the Rest of the Fests, Etc.
November gets such a bad rap, represented by all those turkeys and pumpkins and pilgrims with muskets. The weather might dump freezing rain here but more likely we’ll see balmy days like the ones of late. That’s good news for the Texas Book Festival, which may soon need to change its name to the Texas…
Another One From the ‘No, Really, I’m Not Gay, I Just Paid Him for Sex!’ File
More Grand Old Partyfavors…
Bring the Music Back
Grounded in Music, a new Austin-based non-profit organization dedicated to turning underprivileged youth from the Boys & Girls Club on to music, holds its first benefit at Antone’s Monday with appearances from Adam Hood, Sonny Burgess, and Doug Moreland, among others. Former Sound Team bassist and current solo artist Bill Baird recently demonstrated some nifty…
It’s All In the Scales
Local MMAers James “Duece” King Jr and Sherif Ghaly at the far extremes of welterweight this weekend.
Northcross/Wal-Mart Case Left Hanging
Judge only says she’ll decide soon.
Galactic’s Halloween Freak-out
New Orleans funksters Galactic’s Halloween show has become an Austin tradition. Sort of like Leslie hanging out in his bikini on the corner of Sixth and Congress. If Wednesday’s performance was any indication, they may soon outgrow the amphitheater. Things kicked off slowly with a short set of hip-hop from Portland Ore.’s Lifesavas; the two…
Today Is Last Day of Early Voting
Otherwise, you have to vote on Nov. 6.
Event Menu
Nov. 1-8
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
Battles’ harddrive blows a circuit
Temples and Playgrounds
Flower Children by Maxine Swann Penguin, 211 pp., $21.95 In the beginning, they live according to their needs. They need a house; they build one, with a dirt-floor kitchen and a single toilet in the hallway. Rules are inessential, so they have none. Nothing is secret – not the pot in the garden, not the…
Judge Denies Laura Hall New Trial
Prosecutors failed to disclose crucial evidence during trial, appeal attorney argues
Bee Movie
Jerry Seinfeld delivers an agreeable though tame animated picture that more than does the trick but is unlikely to become a superbuzz movie.
Off the Record
Graham Williams of Transmission Entertainment breaks down this weekend’s Fun Fun Fun Fest, while Ian McLagan and the Chronicle music staff sound off on the 2008 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
Murder City Devils raise hell once more
Temples and Playgrounds
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin Doubleday, 340 pp., $27.95 In his new book, Jeffrey Toobin, former assistant U.S. attorney and current legal analyst for CNN and staff writer at The New Yorker, pulls back the red velvet curtain of the U.S. Supreme Court to reveal that the…
Second Street Retailers Take Stand Against Landlord
Second Street retailers hire lawyers to fight wacky billing system
Martian Child
Only in Hollywood can a movie about alien children be boring, although the terrific performances of John Cusack and Bobby Coleman help redeem this predictable mush.
The Life and Times of the Alamo and the Ritz
Oct. 13, 1929: L.L. Hegman opens the Ritz “talking pictures” theatre, at 320 E. Sixth, with balcony seating for black audience members. (It remained the only theatre in town to allow African-Americans in until desegregation.) The theatre is not air-conditioned. Oct. 24, 1929: “Black Tuesday” stock market crash. Ritz unaffected, prospers, gets warmer. 1937: Elmo…
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
The blurbing of Fun Fun Fun Fest
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
Invitation Songs
Temples and Playgrounds
Custer’s Brother’s Horse by Edwin Shrake John M. Hardy Publishing, 320 pp., $24.95 That Edwin “Bud” Shrake knows his way around a screenplay is evident in his latest novel. The action in this Western from the guy who wrote overlooked gems of the screen like Kid Blue is set in the waning days of the…
WilCo’s Latest Snafu
Illegal workers and sexual assault – just another WilCo contract
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Despite the film’s good-natured sense of absurdity about the afterlife, it’s not enough to make up for its lack of real humor or meaning.
TV Eye
Fantasy world
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
The Modern Tribe
Temples and Playgrounds
Mo Willems “Authors are like rock stars,” says my son’s kindergarten teacher. When I tell her I’ll be talking to Mo Willems – book-list-topping and Caldecott-winning author of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale – she claps excitedly, like a little girl. I have seen her do this…
Reefer Madness
War on Prohibition is the new War on Drugs
My Kid Could Paint That
This truly perplexing documentary begins as a fascinating cultural investigation of a child prodigy, but gradually devolves into an unintentionally creepy and exploitative document.
Fantastic Voyage
For ‘The Odyssey,’ composer Graham Reynolds goes on a journey with Austin Children’s Choir
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
Okkervil River’s Will Sheff on the writing of The Stage Names
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
The Greatest Cowboy Movie Never Made
Temples and Playgrounds
The Braindead Megaphone: Essays by George Saunders Riverhead, 257 pp., $14 (paper) “Art, at its best, is a kind of uncontrolled yet disciplined Yelp, made by one of us who, because of the brain he was born with and the experiences he has had and the training he has received, is able to emit a…
Naked City
Quote of the Week “That greenfield site has been kind of elusive, just like the butterfly. You can’t grab hold to it as it flies away from you.” – Commissioner Ron Davis on BFI’s inability to find a site to replace its northeast Travis County landfill Headlines • Tuesday, Nov. 6, is Election Day –…
The Bubble
This gay-tinged Romeo and Juliet story set largely in Tel Aviv shows the complexities of love in a land where the conflicts are as old as Western religion and as new as suicide bombers.
Luke Savisky: Hands across the water
Images of hands projected across Wooldridge Park illuminate our assault on and communion with the environment
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
Carl Newman details why the New Pronographers aren’t a collective
The Unnecessary Death of Vilhelm Hesness
Bicycle groups question official response to driver recklessness
Temples and Playgrounds
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs Simon & Schuster, 388 pp., $25 To follow up the bestselling book The Know-It-All, for which he read the Encyclopaedia Brittanica from “A” to “Z” and lived to talk about it, A.J. Jacobs takes on…
The Light at the Beginning of the Waller Tunnel
Long-awaited Waller Creek Tunnel Project shows a glimmer of light
Confessions of a Superhero
What does Superman do when he’s not posing for snapshots with tourists in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre? This documentary about Hollywood’s ultimate poseurs tells all. SXSW Film Presents
Women & Their Work: Why W&TW?
Arts professionals talk feminism and women’s art over the past 30 years and W&TW’s role in both then and now
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
Steve Von Till taps into the spirit of Neurosis
Bicycle Safety Tips
1) Never ride against traffic. Motorists aren’t looking for bicyclists riding on the wrong side of the road. It’s also against state law. 2) Always use lights at night. State law requires a white headlight visible from at least 500 feet and a rear reflector or tail light visible from 300 feet. (A bright-red rear…
Jewish Book Fair
Nov. 3-11
@ Chronic
Agenda highlights for Nov. 1 meeting
2007 B. Iden Payne Awards: Prize night
Running down the winners at this year’s awards from the Austin Circle of Theaters
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
Watch the Fireworks
Watershed Redo
How redevelopment can save the springs … or not
Page Two: Down the Drain
Even if it were possible, what would getting rid of all illegal immigration cost us?
Courthouse Move
City still waiting for formal response from Home Depot to offer for company’s property at I-35 and St. Johns, located relatively close to city’s current population center
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Darwin’s death, gorging on glutamates, and more
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
Cavern of Mind
Strengthening the Ordinance
City Code: Section 25-8, Article 12 (Save Our Springs Initiative) While both the Environmental Board and the Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the proposed ordinance, the Environmental Board did so on Oct. 3 with eight substantial conditions. At Planning Commission, the motion passed Oct. 23 with six amendments, including one that would limit the…
Oops!
The following errors appeared in our 2007 “Best of Austin” issue, Vol. 27, No. 6, Oct. 12: The contact information for Best Environmentalist Brandi Clark (Politics & Personalities, Readers Poll) was incorrect. The correct contact info is: PO Box 684641, Austin, 78768, 939-9776, brandi@austineconetwork.org, www.austineconetwork.org. The description for Most Multiple Media Idea Monofonus (Arts &…
Happenings
Nov. 1-7
The Common Law
Visa to Travel – When and Why (Part 2)?
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
The Alchemist
The Hightower Report
The Wonderland of Rudy, Mitt, and Fred; and Subsidizing Disaster
Soccer Watch
Longhorns to play their final regular season game, and more
War Drums: On to Iran?
Author Norman Solomon offered little comfort when visiting Austin
After a Fashion
Watch it, Charlize; Elvis on fire; and is Stephen saying what we think he is saying?
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Arts Reviews
Monika Bustamante’s updated Greek myth comes in a top-notch production that rages about like a rough sea
Day Trips
The Terrill Antique Car Museum in De Leon makes up for its small size with some of the most unique specimens of automotive history
Community Colleges to Regain Health Benefits Funding
Perry cuts deal to restore $154 million
Le Grand Fromage
Whole Foods global cheese buyer Cathy Strange
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
RoadKillOvercoat
Arts Reviews
Taking the Tuna crew to Sin City was a huge gamble, but we end up bigger winners than losers
On Watching Cine las Americas’ La Hora Fria and John Huston’s ‘Under the Volcano’
While getting ready to go
ACC Report Card
Chamber of Commerce releases first-ever Progress Report; outlines challenges ACC faces and how business community can help
A Texas Book Festival Trio
Sweet Myrtle & Bitter Honey: The Mediterranean Flavors of Sardinia by Efisio Farris Rizzoli, 272 pp., $39.95 Chef Efisio Farris of Houston’s famed Arcodoro and Pomodoro in Dallas is a native-born Sardinian and the island’s most ardent culinary ambassador. Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean; it’s the namesake of sardines, worshipped for its…
Cathy Strange’s Seasonal Cheese Picks
Parmigiano Reggiano Following centuries-old practices, cow’s-milk cheese made in the caseifici (cheese houses) only in Reggio Emilia, Parma, Modena, Bologna, and Mantua in Northern Italy. Aged two years. Cave-Aged Gruyère and Emmentaler Two hard cow’s-milk cheeses that are aged around 300 days in the sandstone Kaltbach caves near Lucerne, Switzerland. Hervé Mons Persillé du Beaujolais…
Arts Reviews
Smith uses the analog TV production standard to probe what’s uniform and what’s excluded in society as well as TV
Film News
Little children and Little Children; plus, the Texas Bigfoot
‘Austin Chronicle’ Endorsements
General Election, Nov. 6 – Proposed Constitutional Amendments
Cathy Strange’s Recommended Books About Cheese
The All American Cheese and Wine Book, Laura Werlin, 2003 Cheese: A Comprehensive Guide to Cheeses of the World, Juliet Harbutt, 2002 The Cheese Course, Janet Fletcher, 2000 The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese, Jeffrey P. Roberts, 2007 The Murray’s Cheese Handbook, Rob Kaufelt and Liz Thorpe, 2006 Cheese: A Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Best,…
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
Ocote Soul Sounds and The Alchemist Manifesto
Temples and Playgrounds
Previewing the 2007 Texas Book Festival, Nov. 3-4
Slicing the Map
Charting single-member possibilities
Guide to American Cheese Organizations and Competitions
Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association/ World Championship Cheese Contest The 115-year-old trade organization has hosted the biannual World Championship Cheese Contest since 1957. The 2006 competition broke records with 1,795 entries from 18 countries. The 2008 version will add 28 new judging categories to the current 51 to recognize the proliferation of specialty and artisan cheeses.…
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
Nerdcore phenom MC Chris keeps it real
Temples and Playgrounds
Sarah Cortez Poet and writer Sarah Cortez (How to Undress a Cop) has been teaching writing in a variety of contexts for the past 10 years. A course she taught at the University of Houston is what inspired a collection of work by young Latino writers that’s at once fresh and familiar. She discussed how…
Beside the Point
Disneyland has its civic virtues
Saw IV
Jigsaw died in Saw III but here we get to witness his autopsy, stem to stern, thus giving him not only the last laugh, but Being and Nothingness, as well.
Food-o-File
Mother’s is back!
Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview
Against Me! rides the crest of New Wave
Temples and Playgrounds
The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop? by Francisco Goldman Grove/Atlantic, 396 pp., $25 When Bishop Juan Gerardi was found with a smashed skull in a puddle of his own blood following his publication of a report on the Guatemalan government and military’s terror campaign against its own people, the casualness of the…
Point Austin: Full Court Press
The Moriarity lawsuit arrives in court – trailing a herd of lawyers
American Gangster
A sizzling cast and their director do a crackerjack job of nailing the look and feel of New York City’s bad old days of internal corruption and outer rot.
Luv Doc Recommends: Master Pancake Theatre
Admit it. Sixth Street is one of the reasons you came to Austin. Sure, you can blow a bunch of smoke about getting a degree or taking advantage of that exciting high tech job opportunity, but in your heart of hearts you know you fantasized about spending your nights on Sixth Street sucking down Jell-O…
