Rock the Boat
Rock the Boat NR, 103 min. Directed by Robert Houston, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . The Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) presents one of the favorites from the recent festival in this monthly series that screens on the first Tuesday of every month. Rock the Boat is a documentary…
Altered States
In this uneasy blend of the extreme visuals of director Ken Russell and the bloated dramaturgy of writer Paddy Chayefsky (who disowned this adaptation of his novel), Hurt plays an agnostic psychophysiologist who’s willing to try anything to find life’s answers: sensory deprivation tanks, mushrooms, you name it.
Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams
Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams R, 89 min. Directed by Thomas Chong, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Thomas Chong, Evelyn Guerrero, Paul Reubens, Stacy Keach, Timothy Leary, Sandra Bernhard. The boys drive an ice cream truck that fronts for another kind of drug delivery system. Read over this cast list, though.
The Profound Desire of the Gods: Tales From a Southern Island
The Profound Desire of the Gods: Tales From a Southern Island 1968, NR, 150 min. Directed by Shohei Imamura, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Rentaro Mikuni, Choichiro Kawarazaki. From the AFS calendar: “Imperative Imamura. Cinephile extraordinaire Betrand Tavernier lists The Profound Desire of the Gods as one of his three favorite Japanese films,…
Song is Love
Song is Love NR. Directed by Tobe Hooper, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Hard to picture Tobe Hooper, the guy who in a few more years would go on to direct The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, filming this late Sixties document of “Puff the Magic Dragon” folkie group Peter, Paul & Mary, but…
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is a profound existential adventure, twistedly comic and openly bitter, brought to life by those two maniacs: Peckinpah and Oates. An ugly, vicious film about not very glamorous people engaged in ugly, vicious activities, it’s more black comedy than anything. – Louis Black
Deliverance
Deliverance R, 109 min. Directed by John Boorman, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty, Billy Mckinney, Herbert Coward. In this film adaptation of James Dickey’s novel, four businessmen on a weekend canoe trip learn that only the strongest survive. To the tune of “Duelling Banjos” rather…
Austin Filmworks Student Films
Austin Filmworks Student Films NR. Directed by , Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . End-of-the-Semester Student Films presents 15 student-produced shorts from filmed during the current semester of Production One and Production Two classes at Steve Mims’ Austin FilmWorks.
Tiny Prophecies
Tiny Prophecies NR. Directed by , Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Tiny Prophecies is the Cinemaker Co-op’s latest conceptual film festival that celebrates the turn of the millennium. More than 15 visions of the apocalyptic, the fantastic, and the heavenly ñ all captured by local filmmakers on Super-8 and under four minutes…
Postscripts
The successes of two Texas authors from the Panhandle; upcoming events at the Harry Ransom Center at UT; and information on how to attend the Tennessee Williams / New Orleans Literary Festival.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Alexander Graham Bell hasn’t touched everyone yet; nuke and nibble; Sheryl Crow’s pedigree
Play Misty For Me
Legendary rock scribe Chet Flippo recounts getting to know Doug Sahm.
Naked City
Larry Speck resigns his dean’s post at the UTSchool of Architecture; Mandy Dealey weighs whether to run for Sherri Greenberg’s seat; rumors circulate that Eric Mitchell may jump into the race; the honeymoon between Chief Stan Knee and the Austin Police Association is fading fast, and Rep. Rick Green raises a ton of cash at…
Video Reviews
The WellD: Leo C. Popkin, Robert Rouse (1951); with Harry Morgan, Richard Rober, Maidie Norman, Barry Kelley. In The Well, a tiny African-American girl disappears down an abandoned well while on her way to school. Several witnesses report having seen her with a white man earlier in the day, and the police’s suspicions soon turn…
Book Reviews
When Angels Sing: A Christmas Story by Turk Pipkin Algonquin Books, 111 pp., $14.95 Michael Walker, the narrator of Turk Pipkin’s sweet and meaningful When Angels Sing: A Christmas Story, realizes that he has become “quite a faker” when it comes to all that stuff about Christmas joy; he does not like eggnog and his…
Day Trips
Discover Old World Christmas treasures at the Sophienburg Museum in New Braunfels.
Wasted Days, Wasted Nights
The night in 1974 when Doug Sahm brought Freddy Fender to Soap Creek to play
Naked City
Democrats host symposium to discuss Texas’ role in the new high-tech economy.
TV Eye
Now that there’s a resurgence in prime-time game shows: How about the return of live TV? Also, Suddenly Susan is put on the shelf, VH1 adds seven new shows, and millennium specials go on. And on.
Book Reviews
A Necessary Evil: A History of American Distrust of Government by Garry Wills Simon & Schuster, 352 pp., $25 God knows the feds have committed their share of felonies over the years. And nowhere in the Constitution is there any specific authority for, say, FBI snipers to kill Randy Weaver’s wife, for President Nixon to…
Coach’s Corner
Coach’s time at the Boulders proves far from Carefree.
The Last Real Texas Blues Man
Doug Sahm drinks from the jazz wellspring
Naked City
Mercury emissions from power plants continue to rise in Texas, according to a new report.
The Lovers on the Bridge
Carax’s stridently anti-romantic romance is curiously full of extravagant visual panache.
Book Reviews
Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation by William H. Gass Knopf, 256 pp., $25 Anyone who really knows poetry knows that nobody reads Rilke. That is, nobody picks him up on a park bench, skims a few lines, and strolls away unaffected into the rest of his day. People encounter Rilke, meet him…
About AIDS
HIV-positive men who use Viagra should be aware of a possible adverse drug interaction.
It’s a Hippie Thing
Local Deejay Jody Denberg recalls his friend Doug Sahm
Naked City
After failing to meet income projections, the Austin Music Network will receive another $350,000 in city funding for 1999.
American Movie
American Movie 1999, R, 104 min. Directed by Chris Smith, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . For every big-dreaming nebbish whose pursuit of filmmaking glory lands him at the Oscars with Sarah Polley at his side, there are hundreds whose experience is more like that of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin’s Mark Borchardt. Hunched behind…
Book Reviews
Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears by Tom Lutz Norton, 356 pp., $25.95 Tom Lutz has managed to stuff hundreds of factoids about crying into Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears — everything from a hilarious explanation, circa 1579, of the brain being the source of tears (“when the brain is…
Life A.D.
Former Austin Sun writer Bill Bentley says a prayer for Doug Sahm
Naked City
Gus Garcia, representing Bill Bradley, debated Garry Mauro, representing Al Gore, in a fundraising debate last week.
End of Days
End of Days 1999, R, 118 min. Directed by Peter Hyams, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollak, CCH Pounder, Robin Tunney, Rod Steiger, Derrick O’Connor, Miriam Margoyles. To paraphrase the old soldier’s saw, I know I’ll go to heaven when I die, ’cause I’ve already been to End…
Book Reviews
Out of the Girls’ Room and Into the Night by Thisbe Nissen University of Iowa Press, 250 pp., $19.95 (paper) The expression of love is the center of Out of the Girls’ Room and Into the Night, an awe-inspiring collection of short stories by Thisbe Nissen, winner of the John Simmons Short Fiction Award. Nissen’s…
Simply Sensational Desserts / Room for Dessert
Simply Sensational Desserts: 140 Classic Desserts for the Home Baker From New York’s Famous Patisserie and Bistro by Francois Payard Broadway Books, 236 pp., $35 Room for Dessert: 110 Recipes for Cakes, Custards, Souffles, Tarts, Pies, Cobblers, Sorbets, Sherbets, Ice Creams, Cookies, Candies, and Cordials by David Lebovitz, Alice Waters, and Michael Lamotte HarperCollins, 221…
We Wanted the Whole World to Know
People would freak on us, because we’d hug and kiss on each other in public,” says Shawn Sahm of the tight bond he and his brother Shandon shared with their father. “But it was like, “Fuck everybody, we don’t care what anyone thinks.’ We always wanted the whole world to know.” What the “Sons of…
Council Watch
City and developer Gary Bradley reach agreeement on development
Princess Mononoke
Japanese animated feature is packed with an environmentally aware storyline, breathtaking animation, and clever dialogue penned for this American release by Brit fantasist Neil Gaiman and delivered in English by a slew of American actors.
Book Reviews
Deepwater by Matthew F. Jones BloomsburyUSA, 304 pp., $23.95 Rounding a corner on a rural mountain road, Nat Banyon comes upon Homer Finch, whose Cadillac has just hit a fox and skidded off the road. Nat gives him a ride to the small, dowdy Deepwater Motel, which Finch owns and runs with his wife Iris.…
Hors d’Oeuvres: Simple, Stylish, Seasonal
Hors d’Oeuvres: Simple, Stylish, Seasonal by Gillian Duffy William Morrow, 144 pp., $23 Gillian Duffy’s book Hors d’Oeuvres is aimed primarily at the cook with plans of entertaining, although the majority of the recipes could be portioned larger to serve as entrees, or combined and served together to form a dinner of little meals. The…
To Sir, With Love
The people whose lives were touched by Doug Sahm
Terms Sheet Terminology
The proposed agreement between Gary Bradley and the city of Austin
The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough 1999, PG-13, 125 min. Directed by Michael Apted, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring John Cleese, Samantha Bond, Desmond Llewelyn, Robbie Coltrane, Judi Dench, Denise Richards, Robert Carlyle, Sophie Marceau, Pierce Brosnan. The World Is Not Enough … but two hours is plenty sufficient. It’s not as though there’s…
Off the Bookshelf
Perv: A Love Story by Jerry Stahl William Morrow, 352 pp., $24 Remember those golden years of puberty, when afternoons consisted of drug-induced orgies with Hare Krishnas and sadistic gangbangs with the town whore? Well, neither do I, but Bobby Stark certainly does. The title character of Jerry Stahl’s first foray into fiction (after his…
Desserts
Desserts by Pierre Hermé Little, Brown & Co., 224 pp., $35 There is complacency about sweets in our country. It is fueled by the likes of folks who acquiesce to lackluster desserts following marvelous meals and who maintain a reverence for sweets that shields desserts from a fair and through critique. Their Pavlovian palates seek…
Timeline/Discography
A timeline / discography of Doug Sahm
Media Clips
The Statesman doesn’t let facts get in the way of telling the truth about the Tim Jones tapes.
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2 1999, G, 92 min. D: Ash Brannon, Lee Unkrich and John Lasseter; with Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack. The title says it all: If you (or your kids) loved Toy Story, you’ll like Toy Story 2 as well. Just don’t expect any big surprises. Pixar and Disney’s historic collaboration three years…
Off the Bookshelf
A Post-Modem Novel by Eric Idle Pantheon, 384 pp., $24 British comedy is distinctly different from its American cousin. The Road to Mars is decidedly British; Idle uses the conventions of science fiction as bit players to carry along his acerbic attacks on show business, and the result is more sputtering farce than speculative fiction.…
Recipes and Remembrances From an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen: A Culinary Journey through Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan
Recipes and Remembrances From an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen: A Culinary Journey through Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan by Sonia Uvezian University of Texas Press, 448 pp., $29.95 Sonia Uvezian is one of the world’s leading experts on Middle Eastern and Caucasian cuisines and the author of several cookbooks on those regions, including works on the cookery…
Dancing About Architecture
A Fond Farewell to the Texas Tornado himself, Doug Sahm.
All Wrapped Up
From biopics to end-of-day thrillers, a look at the films you’ll be standing in line for this Christmas.
Second Helpings: Home Away From Home
Tasty, bite-sized restaurant listings compiled from new and previous reviews, guides, and poll results. This week’s entries, compiled by Virginia B. Wood, feature local hotel restaurants.
Off the Bookshelf
Homesickness by Murray Bail Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 432 pp., $14 (paper) This book’s credentials are impeccable: several awards, including the National Book Council Award for Australian Literature in 1980. So why did it take 19 years for a book that won Australia’s top prize to make it to the States? Maybe the folks at…
Cooking Time Is Family Time: Cooking Together, Eating Together, and Spending Time Together
Cooking Time Is Family Time: Cooking Together, Eating Together, and Spending Time Together by Lynn Fredericks William Morrow & Co., 288 pp., $25 There was a study somewhere that sought to determine the factors that went into “successful” students. While monetary and familial stability certainly played a part, the study concluded that the most significant…
Stop, Thief!
Austin Among 10 worst cities for bike thefts
Strange Days, Indeed
How many visions of our impending doom does it take before Hollywood finally gets sick of the millennium and moves on to lesser numerics? Three, apparently. In the absence of any major Y2K-glitch scenarios, filmmakers have fallen back on that most tried-and-true bugaboo to come around the pike since A.D. 1000: the apocalypse. Peter Hyams…
Superstar Search
Three decades after its debut, Jesus Christ Superstar may not seem a radical piece of musical theatre, but Austin Musical Theatre’s new production just may return the rock opera to its revolutionary roots.
Off the Bookshelf
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling Arthur A. Levine Books, 341 pp., $19.95 The Harry Potter backlash is inevitable. With an impending movie deal and author J.K. Rowling’s recent monopoly of the top three spots on The New York Times bestseller list (as well as the No. 1 paperback slot), Harry…
Food-o-File
What two local farmers have done to make the best of the dismal growing season in Central Texas this year, and local restaurant changes in the works, as well as an update on the sale of Pam Made Pies.
Top 10 U.S. Cities for Bicycle Theft
Top 10 U.S. Cities for Bicycle Theft Lock manufacturer Kryptonite bases its Top 10 report on police reports and claims from customers wanting to cash in on lock guarantees. 1. New York 2. Phoenix 3. San Francisco 4. Chicago 5. Philadelphia 6. Washington, D.C. 7. Boston 8. Austin 9. Portland 10. Miami
Limelight
When you think of struggling American filmmakers duking it out against all odds to bring to the screen their one big shot at cinematic fame, chances are you’re not thinking of anyone like Mark Borchardt, the subject of director Chris Smith’s hilarious and affecting documentary American Movie but then you’ve probably never thought of…
Articulations
The resignation of the UT School of Architecture’s dean over the Blanton Museum of Art furor.
Local Bestsellers
Local bestsellers are based on recent sales at Austin bookstores selected to reflect varied reading interests.
Greetings From the Great White North
Canadian Lorne Opler measures his country against the great state of Texas. Oh, Canada!
Bike Sites
Bike Sites Here are some two-wheeling Web sites:Bicycling in Austinhttp://www.michaelbluejay.com/bicycle/index.htmlLock it Uphttp://www.kryptonitelock.comDefense Drivinghttp://www.utexas.edu/student/health/uhs1/diversion.html City of Austin Bicycle Programhttp://www.ci.austin.tx.us/bicycle
They Could Be a Contender
The sad fact is that Academy Award nominations are less about anyone’s performance per se and more about the performance of a delicate dance a little industry tango which involves critical raves, characters written with pathos, splashy full-page ads, award-night politics, and, apparently, how close you are to kicking the bucket. That doesn’t sour…
Exhibitionism
Robi Polgar examines the Austin Lyric Opera production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
Page Two
Saying goodbye to a friend and a hero.
Postcard From PA
Austin Marion Winik writes from her new home in the wilds of Pennsylvania
How to Keep Your Bike / 10 Ways to Lose Your Bike
How to Keep Your Bike The fanatic won’t ever let go or lose sight of his or her bike, and keeps it inside at all times. If they must lock it up, they choose a high-end u-lock, plus a durable cable lock for added protection and to help lock the front wheel and seat. A…
Where the Toys Are
If your kids manage to wade in from the Internet ocean or pry away from their Sega game systems for more than two hours during the upcoming holidays, it most likely indicates one thing: They’ve traded one form of entertainment for another and landed their size-eight Levi’s in a seat at your local cineplex. And…
Exhibitionism
Ada Calhoun covers Frontera Hyde Park Theatre’s world premiere of Erik Ehn’s Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling.
Public Notice
This week, PN gears up for some serious turkey stuffage, reminds you to “Buy Nothing” on the day after Thanksgiving, tells all about the City’s official holiday closings, vindicates 101X morning DJ Jenn Garrison, and wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving!
State Musician of Texas
Tracing Doug Sahm’s roots from San Antonio to potential State Musician of Texas
The Profit Motive
Activists oppose World Trade Organization
Short Cuts
SXSW Film registration deadlines are looming. For filmmakers who intend to submit work, that means entries must be postmarked no later than Dec. 10. Applications can be done online at http://www.sxsw.com. For those of you without films to submit and who’d just like to wallow in nine days of utter filmic overload, early (and cheap)…
Exhibitionism
Ada Calhoun covers The Public Domain production of Harold Pinter’s Ashes to Ashes.
Letters at 3AM
Where will you be on New Year’s Eve and why?
A Song About My Hometown
One man’s discovery of Doug Sahm’s “(Is Anybody Going to) San Antone,” and his own roots
Welcome to the WTO
http://www.wto.org/ “The WTO is the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, the legal ground-rules for international commerce and for trade policy.”Alternethttp://www.alternet.org/wto.html This news service has a page on the WTO, with stories from alternative newsweeklies and other enviromental and progressive publications, plus links…
Video Reviews
Finger ManD: Harold D. Schuster (1955); with Frank Lovejoy, Forrest Tucker, Peggie Castle, Timothy Agoglia Carey. In Finger Man, Lovejoy plays Casey Martin, a small-time hood who gets nailed for a truck hijacking. With a record behind him, Martin faces serious prison time unless he plays ball with the authorities and puts the finger on…
Tomorrow Is Better
Walter Meyer is more than just a survivor of Nazi Germany; Katherine Catmull reveals why.
After a Fashion
Gucci buys Saint Laurent, International Male sells trendy trash at reasonable prices, Calvin Klein crams raggedy jeans down our throats.
Groover’s Paradise
Former Rolling Stone scribe Ed Ward describes trying to track Doug Sahm.
City Says No to WTO
On Nov. 4, the Austin City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing those provisions of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) that would undermine the city’s authority. “It sets in place the statement that city laws should not be preempted by these global powers,” said Margaret Weston, a member…
Video Reviews
Pitfall D: André De Toth (1948); with Dick Powell, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr, Lizabeth Scott. John Forbes (Powell) has it all. He’s got a house in the suburbs, a wife, a kid, a good job as an insurance adjuster, and a two-car garage. He should be happy, but instead he feels bored and stifled by…
