Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles 1974, R, 93 min. D: Mel Brooks; with Mel Brooks, Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn. Brooks’ early reputation as a film director rests with the success of this raunchy Western spoof. A great cast is eclipsed by the hilarious performances of Korman and Kahn, who plays a Marlene Dietrich-like chanteuse.
Dust in the Wind
Dust in the Wind NR, 109 min. Directed by Hou Hsiou-Hsien, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Tianlu Li, Jingwen Wang, Shufen Xin. Small-town lovers try to find a place for themselves in the big city of Taipei. Their commonplace story is told with a mixture of rare compositional beauty and keenly observed realism.…
Nobody Knows My Name
Nobody Knows My Name NR, 57 min. Directed by Rachel Raimist, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . This documentary examines the story of women in hip-hop and how their self-expression has been marginalized in this male-dominated subculture. Some of the film’s interviewees include Asia One, Leschea, DJ Symphony, Lisa, T-Love, and Medusa. Rachel…
In Whose Honor
In Whose Honor NR, 47 min. Directed by Jay Rosenstein, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . This documentary examines the long-running practice of “honoring” American Indians as mascots and nicknames in sports. It follows the story of Native American mother Charlene Teters and her transformation into the leader some are calling the “Rosa…
Exhibitionism
In Second Youth’s 10th anniversary production of The Snow Queen, the ending can be sensed from the beginning, but it’s the journey that counts, and this journey is full of wonderful surprises and theatrical magic.
Day Trips
The Varner-Hoogg Plantation State Historical Park, near Houston, has gone from a settler’s cabin to a great sugar plantation to an oil wildcatter’s weekend home.
Live Shots
Nina SimoneBass Concert Hall, October 30 It was a remarkable show for a number of reasons. It was remarkable, first off, that the University of Texas’ Performing Arts Center had managed to lure the reclusive Nina Simone to Austin for its 2000-01 season, the legendary vocalist and civil rights activist having made her home in…
Election 2000
Click to Election Map Presidential Race Bush leads in 23 states, for a total of 205 electoral votes. Gore leads in 11 states plus D.C., for a total of 171 electoral votes. Some 16 states, with 162 electoral votes, are still in play with less than a week left before the election:Trending to Bush: Arkansas,…
Short Cuts
Turk Pipkin goes to The Sopranos and other upcoming events and workshops of interest to the Austin film community.
Review: Ballet Austin’s Hamlet
Long after everyone who was in Bass Concert Hall the night of October 29 has shuffled off this mortal coil, Stephen Mills’ ballet of Hamlet will live. Ballet Austin’s world premiere production looked and sounded sublime.
About AIDS
Expect no leadership on AIDS from either major-party presidential candidate.
Endorsements
Early voting continues through Friday, Nov. 3. Capital Metro Prop. 1: Yes Remember, you are not voting on a specific Capital Metro light rail plan. You’re voting to give Cap Met permission to build some kind of rail system. You the people get to decide the details later. If you vote no on Prop. 1,…
Election 2000
State of the Races: Contested Congressional Seats and Electoral College Trends
Video Reviews
(“Video Reviews” wishes to thank Blockbuster Video, Encore Movies & Music, I Video, Vulcan Video, and Waterloo Video for their help in providing videos, laser discs, and DVDs.)JOHNNY BELINDAD: Jean Negulesco (1948); with Jane Wyman, Agnes Moorehead, Lew Ayres, Charles Bickford, Stephen McNally, Jan Sterling.MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION D: Douglas Sirk (1954); with Jane Wyman, Agnes Moorehead,…
Exhibitionism
While writer-performer Wayne Alan Brenner has a quirky style and indisputable stage presence, his new show Full Mental Jacket is so self-referential that, like an overanalyzed relationship, it talks itself to some semblance of death.
The Art of Eating Well
Aquarelle brings to the Austin dining scene a studied elegance and a decidedly Old World taste for unrestrained luxury, Chronicle Cuisines writer Rachel Feit writes. But it is still a young restaurant.
Not Clucking Around
East Texas chicken magnate Bo Pilgrim wants a state permit to build a bigger chicken slaughterhouse and waste disposal facility — right across the creek from Sen. Bill Ratliff’s in-laws’ vacation home.
Election 2000
Election Night TV Coverage CNN: 4-8pm, election returns 8-9pm, Larry King Live 9-11pm, election returns 11pm-midnight, Larry King Live midnight-3:30am, election returns C-SPAN: 7pm-1am, election returns KXAN: 6:30-10pm, 11-11:30, election returns KEYE: 6:30-10pm, 11pm -1am, election returns KVUE: 7-10pm, 11pm-1:30am, election returns KTBC: 7-10pm, 11pm-1am, election returns KLRU: 10pm-midnight, election returns Telemundo: 8-11pm, election returns…
TV Eye
Belinda Acosta runs down programs to take our minds off the upcoming election, along with programs to make us confront it.
The Queen of Truth
With two beautifully crafted memoirs under her belt, a third book of poetry out, tenure at Syracuse University, a teenage son, and a blissful romance, Mary Karr is definitely hardworking and real. And if her soul isn’t entirely pure, well, readers of Cherry will be grateful it isn’t.
Encyclopedia of Fire
Is Dave DeWitt the world’s expert hothead?
The Pilgrim’s Portfolio
While Internet and technology stocks have soared in value in recent years, food companies like Pilgrim’s Pride have been ground into chicken feed. For an example, look at a company like Yahoo!, the Internet portal. Last year, the company had sales of $588 million. Pilgrim’s Pride had sales of $1.3 billion. Yet, by the middle…
Election 2000
Election Web Sites The Austin Chronicle www.auschron.com/election C-Span www.c-span.org/campaign2000/ MSNBC Political News www.msnbc.com/news/politics_front.asp CNN Election News www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/ Washington Post Politics News www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics/ New York Times Politics News www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/index.html Roll Call www.rollcall.com Congressional Quarterly www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics/elections/2000/cqriskratings/
Mercy Streets
Mercy Streets 2000, PG-13, 110 min. Directed by Jon Gunn, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Lawrence Taylor, Stacy Keach, Koji Kataoka, Lisa Furst, Kevin Downes, Cynthia Watros, David White, Eric Roberts. Like Reservoir Dogs by way of Ned Flanders, Mercy Streets is as earnest as Vacation Bible School and somewhat more cinematic. Christian…
Mary Karr Reviewed
Cherry by Mary Karr Viking, 276 pp., $24.95 Home, in the twentieth century, is less where your heart is, than where you understand the sons-of-bitches. Especially in Texas, where it is the vitality of the sons-of-bitches which makes everything possible. — Dave Hickey Before the Me Decades of the 1980s and Nineties, autobiographies were mostly…
Food-o-File
What’s cooking in the Central Texas food scene.
The Chickens or the Regs?
In late 1995, Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation agreed to pay a $500,000 fine ($100,000 of it deferred) to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission for a host of violations, including unpermitted releases of wastewater and sludge. As part of the penalty, the company agreed to conduct an environmental audit within 90 days and turn over its…
Election 2000
Four to Follow U.S. House, District 14 Weird as he is, Libertarian-cum-GOP Rep. Ron Paul has the upper hand in his rematch with former Matagorda County Judge Loy Sneary. Roll Call marks this race as “Likely Republican,” while Congressional Quarterly ranks Dr. No as “favored.” Both are one step below “safe,” though, meaning an upset…
Santitos_tmp
Santitos_tmp NR. Directed by Alejandro Springall, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . “Thank God I didn’t use Easy Off,” exclaims Esperanza (Heredia) during her confession to the parish priest about her vision of St. Jude appearing and speaking to her from the window of her grimy oven door. Comic moments such as this…
Postscripts
The state of gay writing was discussed at the third annual Behind Our Masks Literary Festival in Philadelphia last weekend.
Tit for a Tat
There is an answering machine tape hidden in a box somewhere in my closet. I can erase the message but I cannot erase the memory of my mother’s voice breaking when she said three words. “I have cancer.” Oh, no … not my mother. Not my mother. Six months before, my maternal grandmother had died.…
Down Came the Rainey
With downtown redevelopment encroaching and property values the highest they’ve ever been, Rainey Street residents are getting ready to cash in their chips and leave.
Election 2000
End of the ROAD: The Battle Over Light Rail If money is the mother’s milk of politics, then Austin’s light rail proponents will be calling local high tech leaders “Mommy” for a long time to come. The latest contribution and expenditure reports for the light rail campaign, filed with Capital Metro on Monday, show that…
One
One 1998, NR, 90 min. Directed by Tony Barbieri, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Paul Herman, Autumn Macintosh, Jason Cairns, Kane Picoy. There’s plenty here to appreciate if you’re a fan of the school of filmmaking in which emotions are held to a slow, controlled simmer, their latent power suggested mainly through visual…
Off the Bookshelf
Le Mariage by Diane Johnson Dutton, 322 pp., $23.95 Johnson writes like a 20th-century Jane Austen, all rapt observation and wry comment. Close in tone and spirit to her bestselling Le Divorce (1998), Le Mariage is a fascinating, farcical intellectual froth involving Franco-American interpersonal relationships and the many ways they can go wrong. On the…
Breast Cancer Awareness Events
Survivor Luncheon On Friday, Nov. 3, breast cancer survivors, their families, and friends will celebrate at the third annual Survivor Luncheon. Lillie Shockney from the Johns Hopkins Breast Cancer Center will be the speaker, and the event will feature an appearance by noted Beverly Hills stylist Jose Eber. Tickets are $40 and benefit both the…
The Deal of a Lifetime
TDHCA Board member Florita Bell Griffin is standing trial in a Houston federal courtroom on allegations that she, along with two co-defendants, conspired to profit from deals she helped approve.
Election 2000
State House & Senate If you’re looking for an election bet to place at next Tuesday afternoon’s happy hour, consider Texas Senate candidate Bob Deuell, running against Dallas incumbent David Cain. A lot of big Republican money already is. The Associated Republicans of Texas PAC, for example, has dropped $110,000 on Deuell’s race since Sept.…
Charlie’s Angels
Charlie’s Angels 2000, PG-13, 92 min. Directed by McG, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, Bill Murray, Kelly Lynch, Crispin Glover, Tim Curry, Sam Rockwell, Luke Wilson, Tom Green, Matt LeBlanc. Remember John Forsythe informing us that “Once upon a time there were three beautiful girls …”? Does…
Off the Bookshelf
Schoolgirls Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap by Peggy Orenstein Anchor Books, 368 pp., $14.95 (paper) One can’t help but speculate that the reissue of Schoolgirls is a reaction to the backlash we’ve seen in the past year of a rash of books concerning adolescent boys which has been prompted, in part, by the…
Rock en Tijuana
The border city of Tijuana gives birth to the bastard genre of Norteño and Electronica, Nortec.
Election 2000
Nov. 7 General Election Ballot President/ Vice PresidentR: George W. Bush/Dick Cheney D: Al Gore/Joe Lieberman L: Harry Browne/Art Olivier G: Ralph Nader/Winona LaDuke I: Pat Buchanan/Ezola Foster (Designated Write-In Candidates: Howard Phillips./J. Curtis Frazier; James “Jim” Wright/Leonard L. Foster; David McReynolds/Mary Cal Hollis)U.S. SenatorR: Kay Bailey Hutchison D: Gene Kelly L: Mary J. Ruwart…
Billy Elliot
Billy Elliot 2000, R, 110 min. Directed by Stephen Daldry, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Jean Heywood, Gary Lewis, Jamie Draven, Stuart Wells, Mike Elliot. Set against the gray, doomed miner’s strikes in Durham County, England nearly two decades ago, the titular Billy Elliot is a young working class…
Off the Bookshelf
Graveyard of the Atlantic by Alyson Hagy Graywolf Press, 190 pp., $14 (paper) All but one of the stories in Alyson Hagy’s collection are set in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, also known as the graveyard of the Atlantic, not only because of the hard living forced upon its inhabitants, but because the islands…
Favorite Sonero
Buena Vista Social Club Cowboy Eliades Ochoa
Election 2000
Click to Election Map Handicapping Congress The razor’s-edge race for the White House has been made all the more interesting by the equally close contest for Capitol Hill. Imagine the scene: A president who lost the popular vote, but who won in the Electoral College by two votes, delivers his State of the Union message…
Naked City
Anti light rail faction makes final push. Austin politicians travel to Round Rock to promote a charter school.
Off the Bookshelf
I Know Some Things Stories About Childhood by Contemporary Writers edited by Lorrie Moore Faber & Faber, 256 pp., $13 (paper) I Know Some Things is edited by Lorrie Moore, who is as astute and sensitive an editor as anyone could ask for. Still, capturing a child’s point of view is often an act of…
Time to Bounce
Rapping with Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, the funkiest Connecticut Yankees in King Arthur’s Court
Election 2000
Click to Election Map House of Representatives The current breakdown in the House is GOP 222, Dems 211, Independents 2. All 435 seats are up for election, but in only 27 races is there a serious chance of a seat changing parties. Among the rest, the GOP figures to hold onto 204, Democrats 202, and…
Naked City
“New” evidence may exonerate Lacresha Murray.
Local Bestsellers
Local bestsellers are based on recent sales at Austin bookstores selected to reflect varied reading interests.
Dancing About Architecture
The Austin Music Network changes administrations once again.
Election 2000
Click to Election Map Senate The current breakdown in the Senate is GOP 54, Dems 46. Only 34 seats are up for election this year; of those which aren’t, GOP holds 35 seats, Democrats hold 31. Dem incumbents lead in 10 states: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Dakota, New Mexico, Wisconsin, West Virginia.…
Naked City
Early warning signs suggested that recently resigned health commissioner Reyn Archer was a few bricks shy of a full load.
Page Two
Light rail: “It’s the future, stupid.”
Live Shots
LambchopCMJ Music Conference, Irving Plaza, New York, October 21 Music conference, what music conference? There was only one thing happening in New York City on this balmy Saturday night: the Subway Series. “You gotta badge?” asked the Mets booster at the door, craning his neck back inside toward the TV on the bar. Game 1,…
Naked City
Council approves the relocation of the city’s Central Booking Facility; the divisive East Cesar Chavez Neighborhood Plan goes through first reading; and Lumbermen’s Investment Corp. presents a tentative agreement on its property near the Seaholm Power Plant with the city.
Public Notice
Our weekly calendar of activist and volunteer events and fundraisers.
Live Shots
The Sea and CakeThe Mercury, October 21 & 22 “Hey!” blurted someone in the middle of the Sea and Cake’s Saturday night set. “You know what’s the secret of this band? It’s the drummer!” The guy was obviously a big John McEntire fan, and on the heels of the skinsmaster’s physics-defying performance, he was preaching…
Light Rail Debate
Light Rail: Now — or Houston Tomorrow In almost a decade writing for the Chronicle, my priorities were always protecting Austin’s environment and working for everyone to have a chance at economic prosperity. Rail is an essential tool in both, and it is troubling that some allies on environmental and social equity efforts are opposed…
Naked City
After environmentalists object, the council postpones a hearing to decide whether to trade land at Mueller Airport with Stratus Properties.
The Legend of Bagger Vance
The Legend of Bagger Vance 2000, PG-13, 113 min. Directed by Robert Redford, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Will Smith, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, Bruce Mcgill, Joel Gretsch, J. Michael Moncrief, Peter Gerety, Lane Smith, Jack Lemmon. Not since Shoeless Joe Jackson walked out from behind the tall cornstalks and onto that movie’s…
Second Helpings: Más Tacos
Greg Beets profiles some of Austin’s taquerias.
After a Fashion
Rants and raves about the state of the Austin fashion scene.
Live Shots
Word of Mouth TourStubb’s, October 25 These are strange times when a tour showcasing the finest L.A. underground hip-hop talent (read: Gang Starr, not gangsta) concludes with a massive sing-along to the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way.” It’s certainly odd on paper, but in reality, it was no weirder than Jurassic 5 buzzing…
Light Rail Debate
Max Nofziger argues that light rail is too costly and will destroy the Austin we love.
The Hightower Lowdown
Shutting Out The Majority; ‘Quality’ Junk
Arts Board Love Stories
That special thing that happens between artists and boards of directors can be a lot like a love relationship: Intimate. Fulfilling. Long-term. Working as one body. However, it can be and often is complicated.
Coach’s Corner
The Oklahoma Sooners have inspired Coach’s first “all-college-football” column ever. Boomer Sooner! Boo Virginia Tech! Hail to Lou Holtz!
Live Shots
Tina TurnerFrank Erwin Center, October 27 Online searches for Tina Turner tend to yield critics and fans using the same cliché over and over; “What’s age gotta do with it?” Sometimes clichés fit, though, and it’s impossible not to marvel at how little 61 birthdays have affected Tina Turner. At the Erwin Center, the “career…
Light Rail Debate
More Light Rail Info Ballot Language “The operation of a fixed rail system by Capital Metro” — For or Against More Light Rail Info Capital Metro: www.capitalmetro.com Austin Chronicle: www.auschron.com/election Supporters Get Around Austin: www.austinatrain.com Light Rail Now!: www.lightrailnow.org Campus Campaign for Light Rail (ROAD): www.golightrail.com Opponents Texas Public Policy Foundation: www.tppf.com Railroading America: www.railroadingamerica.com…
Texas Treasures
It’s high noon, midweek, not long ago. I’m tooling westbound on Highway 2244, 20 or so miles out of town — I’ve been sworn not to give a clue to the exact location of my destination. Too fast, I spot the downward slope off to the side of the road that marks the entrance to…
Articulations
The project that director Vicky Boone and playwright David Hancock took to the Sundance Theatre Laboratory in 1999 — or at least a form of it — shows up onstage this week.
Mr. Smarty Pants
Farewell, moon.
Live Shots
FastballStubb’s, October 28 First things first. Miles Zuniga has always been a pop star waiting for his stage, and tonight he’s on it. Looking the part — posh haircut, smart boots, tight trousers — he’s no longer crowded in a corner at the Hole in the Wall, and instead towers above us on Stubb’s outdoor…
Election 2000
Governors Only 11 gubernatorial races are being held around the country. Dems are favored in Delaware, Indiana, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington; the GOP figures to hold Utah. Five more races are still tossups, with three of those currently held by Republicans: Missouri (D) , North Carolina (D), Montana (R), North Dakota (R), West Virginia…
The Grove: Anderson’s Largest Acquisition
Moody Anderson’s passion for collecting doesn’t stop at the gates of his warehouse, either. Roughly two hours northwest of Austin lies Anderson’s largest acquisition to date, The Grove. Dating from the 1870s, The Grove is an entire village, including a U.S. Post Office, a bank, a saloon, a doctor’s office, and a smithy. The Grove’s…
