Cover Story
Electric Skaterland
Austin births a Roller Derby renaissance
This Week’s Waste of Time
Two more weeks to go before we’ve looked at all 304 entries in the Independent Games Festival. Join us, won’t you?
Back in the Saddle
Sen. Kirk Watson files for Senate, ending statewide speculation
McCoy Eyes the Prizes: National Title, Heisman Trophy
A lot at stake this Saturday
Protecting (Intellectual) Property
GOP attack ad on Bill White may face copyright questions
This Season’s Funniest New Show, ‘The League’
Starring ‘The Puffy Chair’s Mark Duplass
You’ll Never Tire of the Totally Awesome AusChron Newscast!
Fleet services scandal at City Hall, and more recycled content
USL-1 Continues to Shrink
Cleveland City Stars are reportedly folding
See You Friday, Bill
Houston mayor to make announcement on switching primaries Friday
Lincoln, NEone?
WFTDA announces locations for 2010 regionals, Texies plan for boot camp
Bryan Poyser to Do the ‘Dance
Local filmmaker will screen his dark comedy ‘Lovers of Hate’ in Sundance’s Narrative Feature Competition
AIA’s Open Architecture East: Studio Crawl for a Good Cause
AIA’s Open Architecture East features local architecture studios for Uplift Austin
Sound and Vision
Vic Chesnutt’s supergroup
Fluoride Throwdown!
The Environmental Board has water on tap tonight
Fixing Criminal Justice
Should the feds try to fix a broken system?
Judge Baird Not Seeking Re-Election
Baird is leaving bench next year to return to private practice and spend more time with his family
What TYC Security?
Perry appointee bounced from youth prisons job after two months
The Smith Smears
Euless Republican draws primary challenger for “Romeo and Juliet” bill
In Search of a Well-Set Table? Bring Back the Bling
Set formal holiday tables this year with thrift store finds
Complimentary Mustache Rides
It’s a great time to sport facial hair in the ATX.
L.A. D.A. Will Prosecute Pot Providers
Steve Cooley says selling pot illegal under state’s medi-pot law
That’s a Good Idea
House of Songs connects Austin and Denmark’s singer-songwriters
Did Patterson Violate Judicial Ethics?
Former state Rep. Glen Maxey says Patterson violated code of conduct
Ogden In, Gattis Out
Republicans bringing back the man that broke the 2009 budget to fix the 2011 budget
Legeland Update
White’s short long weekend, returning reps and a Capitol Christmas
Ronnie the RINO
Would Pres. Reagan would have failed the eponymous proposed GOP orthodoxy test?
Texas Platters
Shallows A.D. Alien Nation (Deep Waste) The bedroom project of one Matthew V, Shallows A.D. employs a 4-track and drum machine to masterful effect on this 13-song debut, recalling early Jesus & Mary Chain demos (“Thoughtcrime” and “Caress”) and Nirvana With the Lights Out (“Wander Away,” “Rat Rock”). Worth tracking down, especially for the mellower…
Event Menu
This week, foodies can run for Caritas and drink for Meals on Wheels
From Playland 2003 to Philly 2009
The growth of the Texas Rollergirls and the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association
MetroRail
Cap Metro announces progress on MetroRail
Ninja Assassin
No amount of fighting sticks and throwing stars can elevate this silly tale or its Korean pop-lite star Rain.
Texas Platters
KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 17 (107.1 KGSR Radio Austin) Jody Denberg’s labor of love over 17 years and 34 CDs, KGSR’s Broadcasts series sells itself on the bullet points alone: $2 million raised for SIMS since Vol. 5; all artists donate their tracks for one-time use; save for dregs of Vols. 14 and 15, all runs…
Texas Platters
The Deaf Ears Live Forever Former Tammany Hall Machine conductor Joel Mullins picks up right where he left off, opening his new quartet’s debut with an energetic, piano-pop punch that shares the title and charm of Tammany’s last disc, 2007’s Amateur Saw. Blueprint’s the same (Beatles, Raspberries), but Wurlitzer boogie (“You Tell Tara”) and 1960s…
Beer Flights
The Texas craft-brewing scene has finally reached a benchmark: It’s gotten big enough to have a book written about it
The Hightower Report
A Monopoly on Voting; and Ideas for Banking Reform
MetroRail Watch
Congrats, MetroRail – the arm goes up one notch
The Road
Cormac McCarthy’s bleak, end-of-days novel survives the transition to the screen with remarkable veracity.
Texas Platters
Proving that soulful Texas hip-hop still has a pulse despite the departure of Bavu Blakes, locals Neckbone turn ATX on the Southern-playalistic tip with Filthy Raggs Ridin Muzik (Urbanian Entertainment), a 19-track mother ship connection that’s all “Bounce Slide Bounce.” Fueled by the dirty stank of Ter’ell Shahid’s Promethazine-injected funk, rappers Cooley Fly and James…
Texas Platters
Candi & the Strangers This local quintet hits a sweet spot between the retro-futurism of School of Seven Bells and Octopus Project’s luminous landscapes, especially in the sci-fi instrumental “Isabella Blue’s Crash Landing.” Strangers hinges on the candy-coated delivery of vocalist/keyboardist Samantha Constant, who excels in “She Walks in Beauty,” a Lord Byron interpretation set…
Brew News
Brewery openings and Texas winners and losers
Just Can’t Get Enough
DVD box sets
Judges Seek Alternatives to Incarceration
A review of federal sentencing guidelines reveals room for improvement
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wes Anderson’s delightful animated film has room for both existentialist dread and a grinning joie de vivre.
Texas Platters
Brazos Phosphorescent Blues (Autobus) With a sophistication only hinted at on previous EPs, Brazos ripples through the past brightly on its full-length debut, Phosphorescent Blues. Opener “My Buddy” slowly builds with the evocative grandeur of Grizzly Bear, while the sparse, icy chill of “Avignon” suggests In Rainbows-era Radiohead. “Day Glo” and the unfolding piano arpeggios…
Texas Platters
Distance Runner A Lesson in Gravity With more promise than substance, this homegrown quintet takes a few lessons from like-minded indie outfits Cold War Kids and Tokyo Police Club. The winning ingredients are accounted for – strong vocalist/guitarist Arin Robinson (opener “Feel Anything”), post-rock dynamics (“House Call”), and even radio-ready single “Salt in the Wound”…
Something to Keep the Coffee Table Company
The season’s best oversized books
Just Can’t Get Enough
Before HBO’s The Wire came along and blew everyone’s minds, the television-consuming public was pretty much dependent on one show to foster its intimacy with Body-More Murdaland
Carstarphen’s Vision
AISD superintendent envisions a brighter, smarter district
Old Dogs
Mork and Vinny Barbarino star in this witless comedy about middle-aged men caring for a couple of 7-year-olds.
Texas Platters
Lymbyc Systym Shutter Release (Mush) Taking cues from the Postal Service, brothers Mike and Jared Bell took a piecemeal approach to Lymbyc Systym’s latest, Shutter Release, exchanging ideas and recordings from their home bases in Austin and Brooklyn, respectively. That collaborative process adds some serious weight and density to the duo’s third LP, which expands…
Texas Platters
Baby Robots Probably Portions & Portions (Catland Rekids) The latest from Rubble guitarist Bobby Baker’s band of cronies opens with rain-soaked soundscrape “Eva Mendez Rehab Stint” and continues through a lysergic cycle of recovery: denial (the droning “Judgement Judy”), anger (proto-punkish “She Lied”), and finally acceptance (the acoustic “Understanders”). There are a few slo-mo jams…
Something to Keep the Coffee Table Company
The heft and gravity of this 320-pager may far exceed the typical mission of the coffeetable genre
Just Can’t Get Enough
Criterion puts out an impressive collection dedicated to what Carl Reiner called the “hairy, scary, wonderful days” of live television
Some Guy Named Schieffer Drops Out of Guv’s Race
Withdrawal announcement opens a whole new ball game for Dems
De Dana Dan
In this Bollywood comedy, two men come up with a dognapping plan in order to raise money quickly to satisfy their rich girlfriends.
Texas Platters
Nelo Two Years Ago (Justice) “It was two years ago that I sang my first note,” opens the title track of Nelo’s Two Years Ago EP, Reid Umstattd’s most earnest croon delivered against the backdrop of piano and acoustic guitar. In those two years since the local quintet returned from incubation in Athens, Ga., and…
After a Fashion
Stephen weighs his priorities: Purple cashmere or other people?
Something to Keep the Coffee Table Company
Two new retrospectives represent what’s best and funniest and most poignant about comic art
Just Can’t Get Enough
What once was old – very old – is new again
Buying Local
Local businesses form a united front – just in time for the holidays
Kurbaan
A married Indian couple, who are both university professors living in the U.S., get caught up in some urban terrorist actions.
Texas Platters
Sons of Hercules A Different Kind of Ugly (Saustex Media) If the Sons of Hercules had originated in late-1970s New York, they’d be venerated like the Dead Boys or Richard Hell in punk annals. A Different Kind of Ugly unleashes the same kind of muscular one-two blasted in that period, a neat trick for street-walkin’…
Kelly Fearing
At 91, this Austin artist keeps making and showing art, including a new exhibit at UT
Something to Keep the Coffee Table Company
This collection is a lively, loving document of Fort Worth
Just Can’t Get Enough
Just because it’s a cash grab doesn’t mean it’s a rip-off
Politics Gift Guide
Giving and goading this holiday season
Texas Platters
Uncle Bruno Uncle Bruno owes a heavy debt to New Orleans funk and jammers Galactic, but the local quintet’s roots extend deeper, to the bands of jazz fusion pioneers like Billy Cobham and Herbie Hancock. Locally that brand of jazz has seen a renaissance of sorts thanks to Topaz & Mudphonic and the Greyhounds, and…
Okay Mountain/Rude Mechs
The two local art groups are off to make mischief at a pair of international festivals
Something to Keep the Coffee Table Company
This collection gives fantasy artists the large format and glossy presentation that they truly deserve
Just Can’t Get Enough
Transsexual sea creatures and men with heads made of cheese sound intriguing? Welcome to the Boosh.
Point Austin: Angels Wanna Wear Our Red Shoes
If GOP dominoes refuse to fall, maybe the Dems can take advantage
Texas Platters
Shelley King Welcome Home (Lemonade Records) A new Shelley King album is always occasion to celebrate and guaranteed to spin at least a couple of songs into the stratosphere. Welcome Home isn’t just a pleasant sounding homily; it’s back-to-back killer tracks start to finish, with songsmith King’s full-custom gospel voice matched with fellow co-producers and…
Bill Narum
Remembering the artist who helped fuse the worlds of art and music in Austin
Something to Keep the Coffee Table Company
This almost 5-pound tome is a must for any serious NFL fan
Just Can’t Get Enough
Support Your Local Filmmaker: An Impartial List of 2009 DVD Titles From Austin filmmakers Funny Books (Twitchy Dolphin Flix, $15.99) Gretchen (Watchmaker Films, $24.98) Hell on Wheels (Indiepix, $24.95) Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach (Virgil Films and Entertainment, $19.95) Mississippi Chicken (Watchmaker Films, $17.98) The Order of Myths (Cinema Guild, $29.95) Shorts…
City Hall Hustle: Water on the Brain
Council wades into the conservation wetlands
Texas Platters
Norah Jones The Fall (Blue Note) Breakups have long brought out the best in singer-songwriters. With longtime collaborator Lee Alexander no longer in the picture, Norah Jones relies on a host of co-writers, including Ryan Adams and especially producer Jacquire King (Tom Waits, Modest Mouse) to change direction, and the result is her most sonically…
The Common Law
Do-It-Yourself Divorce in Texas
Something to Keep the Coffee Table Company
Time travel, history lesson, and visual feast
Off the Record
Casting the annual ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and paying tribute to poster artist extraordinaire Bill Narum
Headlines
• The Pecan Street Project is receiving $10.4 million in federal stimulus funding for its efforts to build a smart energy grid prototype at the Mueller development. “This effort will build on Austin Energy’s existing Smart Grid programs by creating a microgrid that will initially link 1,000 residential smart meters, 75 commercial meters, and plug-in…
Texas Platters
Jeff Lofton Quartet Jazz to the People Trumpeter Jeff Lofton hits the bull’s-eye on this sterling local debut that digs a deep groove regardless of tempo. Since coming to Austin from South Carolina several years ago, Lofton has been omnipresent on the scene. Never bashful of his admiration for Miles Davis, he’s crafted a sound…
Crackdown
If local eggs are outlawed, will only outlaws have eggs?
Steel Bluebonnet Determination
Robin Shivers, founder of HAAM, worked behind the scenes, and yet was one of the Austin music scene’s most important faces
Gay Place
Gay Place is thankful for you … and free dinner at Charlie’s
‘Bacchae’ to the Future
How in (a Greek) god’s name can the Rude Mechs re-create Dionysus in 69 in ’09?
Texas Platters
Los Lonely Boys’ new 1969 EP on Playing in Traffic/Lonelytone Records christens the San Angelo trio’s post-Sony transition to its management’s new imprint, which also reps the Steps and Sahara Smith. Five well-trod covers, “Evil Ways,” Buddy Holly’s “Well All Right” (also covered by Santana once), “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,” “Polk Salad…
TV Eye
TV Eye may not love Ray Romano, but she’s liking him an awful lot in his new show, Men of a Certain Age
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
James Brown, pants in Paris, and more
Day Trips
If plans proceed, the Mineral Wells Fossil Site may become only the fourth public park in the U.S. where visitors can keep the fossils they find
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and beyond
Texas Platters
Two Tons of Steel Not That Lucky (Smith Entertainment) Lloyd Maines’ production kicks Lucky above the usual shuffle-cross-the-honky-tonk tunes. That’s not to overlook 2T’s amiable harmonies and bouncy country rock. Some bands ya pay to sit and listen to and others you pay to two-step to, and seldom do the twain meet.
Page Two: Tales of the Pioneers
Hanging with Roller Derby queens and pulp fiction masters
Arts Review
A quick-tempoed, caricaturish style serves Thornton Wilder’s play well most of the time
Unstable Element
Are Austin’s water fluoridation policies dangerous? It depends who you ask.
Res Publica
Citizens’ calendar, Nov. 26-Dec. 3
Texas Platters
Reid Wilson & His So-Called Friends Country Music Revolution (Dead Bird Records) Here’s pure old-school outlaw country for the 4:20 crowd with a touch of Cornell Hurd whimsy thrown in. “Rowdy,” “The Hairijuana Song” and “Girls With Tattoos” pretty much say it all. This ain’t thinking music; it’s drinking music, so swing yer partner and…
Born Digital, But Then What?
UT professor Craig Watkins on the migratory patterns of the Internet’s first flock
Arts Review
Ambe’s precise blade, cutting the flesh of books, makes them less and more than they were
Fun With Fluoride
A timeline
Soccer Watch
There’s turmoil in the United Soccer Leagues, but the Aztex remain unaffected, and more
Texas Platters
Clay Nightingale This disarming recording comes out of nowhere, courtesy of the San Marcos-based sextet. There’s no titular Clay Nightingale, but brothers Daniel and Drew Schaetz render atmospheric story-songs (“How We Outdrink the Silver Pines”) with compelling vocals that assure this band a future.
The Balancing Act of Being in Two Places at Once
I’ll Come Running director Spencer Parsons on his states of mind
Change on Tap? Council on Fluoride.
The City Council only needs a simple majority vote of four to alter or abolish the water fluoridation policies. But with three of the council members the Chronicle spoke with opposed to a change in fluoridation policy, the chances of a revision seem slim. Mayor Lee Leffingwell: “Right now, the science we’re looking at says…
Texas Platters
Brandon Jenkins Brothers of the Dirt (Red Dirt Music Co.) Brandon Jenkins looks like he’d be more comfortable outside the Red Eyed Fly than Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon, but his roots music within is as solidly muscled as his tattooed forearms. Flag-wavers (“Blood for Oil”) and country blues (“Marching Toward the Guns”) aplenty for Jenkins,…
Food-o-File
Holiday baking contest winners, Empty Bowls filled for Capital Area Food Bank, and helping hands for the holidays
How to Play Women’s Roller Derby, Texas Rollergirls-Style (a Very Simple Guide)
1) Find a flat space to mark out the oval track, 88 feet by 55 feet. 2) Assemble two teams of up to 14 skaters. Make sure they all have pads, helmets, and mouth guards. 3) Each team puts four players on the start line. That’s the pack: three blockers and one pivot, who controls…
Developing Stories: Driving in Two Directions
CAMPO’s trends vs. centers debate is shaping our future
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Edward and Bella are back for more thwarted young vampiric love.
Luv Doc Recommends: ThunderCloud Subs 19th Annual Turkey Trot
Thanksgiving is like communism: great in theory but often ugly in execution. Of course, the same could be said of Christianity, but that holiday is still a month away, so we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves, should we? As far as Turkey Day, though, there’s plenty of room for improvement. For starters, the iconography could…
