One of the Great Ones
The tall pine bookcases take up the entire west wall of our living room. Roughly half the titles are crime fiction novels, the rest are split between Texana, military history, and miscellaneous subjects. The crime section bulges with a mixture of first editions and reprints of all my favorite authors, the vast majority being of…
Bittersweet Ending
8pm: The big banner screaming “Republicans: The Future of Texas” is easy to shrug off with only 1% of the votes counted and voices still echoing in the relatively empty Austin Convention Center. Except for Bush’s landslide victory broadcast an hour ago (or in January, depending on how you look at things), the numbers could…
About Aids
One-half of U.S. high school students are sexually active, and of those, one-third have had four or more partners. These are among the findings released August 14 by the Centers for Disease Control in its new Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance report for 1997. The implication for HIV infection and AIDS, as well as for pregnancy…
Election Results
* indicates incumbent Statewide Races As we all know by now, the GOP swept every seat contested statewide — 14 in all. Combine that with the 10-0 sweep in 1996, and the GOP is riding a 24-race win streak. Travis County State Total Governor George W. Bush* (R) 60% 69% Garry Mauro (D) 38% 31%…
Coach’s Corner
Perhaps right now, when the Emperor is so clearly ascendant, when his legions are triumphant over a powerful foe, when the notoriously fickle and demanding populace are – for now anyway – unanimous in their praise, generous and unabashed in their adoration, maybe now is an appropriate moment to gaze backward into an already foggy…
Naked City
Local officials have waited years to publicly tell departing County Judge Bill Aleshire what they think of him. On Nov. 17, they’ll get their chance when the League of Women Voters hosts a roast in Aleshire’s honor at the Omni South Park Hotel. Mayor Kirk Watson, Travis County Attorney Ken Oden, and Aleshire’s successor Sam…
Day Trips
Pam Murray displays one of her Pam Made Pies. photograph by Gerald E. McLeod Pam Made Pies of Pflugerville weigh a ton and taste twice as good. These pies are not for the diet-conscious, but rather are targeted for the cuisine connoisseur who loves to cap a good meal with a tasty dessert that accentuates…
North on Evers
“From there I went to Austin. I stayed with three friends and found an old Life magazine at their home. It was from 1966. The cover story was about Charles Whitman. A map marked the spots where he had picked off his victims from the University tower. I followed it down Guadalupe Street …” –…
Page Two
Our coverage of the elections is snapshot style, reporting on the actual election night. Headed by editor Amy Smith and assistant editor Lisa Tozzi, the politics staff spread out, hitting victory parties and stunned wakes all over Austin. Their job was to catch the news, listen to the talk, and report the scene. There were…
Life and Nothing But
Liz Garbus, co-directorwith Jonathan Stack of The Farm, says their film is not a “prison” documentary, but rather a story tied to its unique setting, Angola, the former slave plantation now a maximum-security Louisiana “lifer” penitentiary — the largest in the country — which houses 5,000 mostly black inmates. The Farm is not, however, about…
Public Notice
Did you Vote? You did? Thank you. You didn’t? We can’t even muster a sliver of sarcasm for ya, sorry. No terse rejoinders, no witty retorts, no snappy comebacks. Just know that each and every citizen, whether in the voter or non-voter camp, had a devastating impact on this weeks’ election. Ve Vant Blooooood Halloween…
Junior High Spy
photograph by Jana Birchum It’s not the sort of place you’d expect to find an indie film studio: Deep in the piney woods of Bastrop County, an unprepossessing dirt road — marked only by a weather-beaten numerical signpost — leads to the offices of Dominion Pictures. It’s also the home of Austin filmmaker Marcus van…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
The original title of Annie Hall was Anhedonia, meaning “inability to experience pleasure.” Teutonic fishermen used to make fishhooks by using bent pieces of tough cartilage. Sometimes, one found a piece of metal to twist into a hook, which came to be called an angul, from their verb meaning “to bend,” and survives today in…
The Abreasted Development of Russ Meyer
The X-rated king of softcore sex films, Russ Meyer, looking very much the part, sat talking at the table at Casita Jorge’s with Francesca “Kitten” Natividad at his side sometime during 1979. He was holding forth to a group of Austin film critics, including Ed Lowry, John Bustin, Patrick Taggart, Marjorie Baumgarten, and myself, about…
Surfing Indra’s Net
photograph by Todd V. Wolfson John Aielli won’t get out of bed. He’s trying to recall a piece of music. In fact, he’s been trying to recall it since yesterday, when a song he played on the air at KUT, Rufus Wainwright’s “Barcelona,” tickled his memory, reminding him of some other piece of music. Now,…
Scanlines
(“Scanlines” wishes to thank Encore Movies & Music, I LuvVideo, Vulcan Video, and Waterloo Video for their help in providing videos, laser discs, and DVDs.) The Spanish Prisoner D: David Mamet (1998) with Campbell Scott, Rebecca Pidgeon, Steve Martin, Ricky Jay, Ben Gazzara, Felicity Huffman, Ed O’Neill I’ve never thought of myself as gullible, but…
Dancing About Architecture
In the wake of Hallowe’en comes a number of truly odd revelations. Remember our cover last week of George W. Bush as a member of the Oompa Loompas of slick Willie Wonka fame? We certainly think Bush is an ugly American, but it turns out that a more appropriate choice might have been Ugly Americans/…
Short Cuts
Representatives from the American Film Institute will be in town this weekto provide information about the AFI’s maverick Education and Training Programs. Details will be available about their Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies, the Directing Workshop for Women, the Television Writers Workshop, and the California Digital Arts Workshop. Do some advance homework on…
Articulations
Well, the voters have spoken, and what they’ve said is, “Okay, Arts*Center Stage, you want the Great Turtle of Auditorium Shores for an arts center, you can have the Great Turtle of Auditorium Shores for an arts center.” Judging from the almost two-to-one approval of Propositions 11 and 12 in Tuesday’s city elections, Austinites are…
You Won’t Hear That on Commercial Radio
Teresa Ferguson on Morning Edition photograph by Todd V. Wolfson “You’ve introduced me to the Derailers, Tosca, Steve James, Shirley Dominguez, and Goddess knows how many other talents from all over the world. Who else could celebrate Oprah’s court victory with a morning full of cow songs? Or follow up an hour of Greek tunes…
Meet the SYMPLES
Austin’s recent population explosion very well may have been the result of a shipping error at J. Crew. Think about it. How else could so many young, well-groomed professionals have washed up here on the shores of Slacker Heights? It truly boggles the mind. illustration by Jason Stout Tragically, despite their high profile, members of…
Exhibitionism
Planet Theatre, through November 21 Running Time: 2 hrs, 30 min Watching Aaron Brown’s latest play Norm L., it’s near impossible to ignore flashes of a certain Wyoming lynching less than a month ago. The story is of Norman Lathum (Matthew Patterson), an articulate gay man who moves to a small city of friendly, church-going…
Live Shots
Tosca at Cedar Street November 2. photograph by John Carrico THE WHIRLING DERVISHES OF TURKEY Hogg Auditorium, October 25 The universe’s supreme form is the circle; electrons orbit their atom’s nucleus, Yin and Yang intertwine to form a ring, and galaxies rotate on their axes. So, too, did the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey spin holy…
Turn On, Toon In
“TV Eye” loves a challenge, especially one involving trivia but most especially one involving cartoon trivia. Recently, a reader wrote posing that most indulgent of searches: the attempt to identify a cartoon seen in childhood. Sometime in the late Fifties or early Sixties there was a cartoon that was tied in with a cereal. (It…
115 Comics Walk Into a Bar …
Dallas comic Chris Cannon Nothing brings comics crawling out of the woodwork faster than the appearance of HBO network executives looking for new talent. Hell, most of us that reach the professional level are used to playing backwoods barrooms and karaoke clubs in hot spots like Yazoo City, Mississippi, or Waco; a gig on HBO…
Phil Music
photograph by Todd V. Wolfson Perhaps the most accurate description of Larry Monroe lurks in what Monroe doesn’t know about the moniker for his Phil Music program. Phil Music, one of Monroe’s four regular shows on KUT, takes its name from the fictional host for the weekly Thursday program. The running gag is that Phil…
It’s a Family Affair
“From the time he was a little boy, Jason always wanted to do the housework and the cooking. He was so helpful around the house, I wanted to pay him.” – Ms. Terry Lehmberg, mother of Jason Lehmberg Indeed, the nurturing quality of the festival – the formation of a family from the numerous small…
Blues for Life
photograph by Todd V. Wolfson “He’s drunk now!” Paul Ray hangs up the phone. He’s been talking to one of his loyal Twine Time listeners, a man named Charlie T. Earlier in the evening, Charlie called and offered to share his Crown Royal with Ray. Alas, he seems to have started without him. But no…
Momfest: the Schedule
These performances are subject to their own pricing, but will accept all MOMFEST Badges. For more info, call 454-TIXS.– J.W. Friday 11/6 THE RITZ LOUNGE (upstairs), 320 E. Sixth 7:30pm, Frontera: House (A fast, funny, wicked one-man show starring Ken Webster that just wrapped a successful run at Hyde Park Theatre.) 8:30pm, The Cody &…
Highway 61 Revisited
photograph by Todd V. Wolfson Jay Trachtenberg is a true child of the Sixties. Not because of his love for the Grateful Dead or his devout worship of the estimated prophet Jerry Garcia. Not because up until recently he folded his tall, lanky frame in and out of a little faded-red VW bug. And not…
In Person
Robert Pinsky and Pat Alger at UT Everbody who breathes has his favorite poems, and Robert Pinsky has made it his goal to collect them. For some, these poems may be the whispered words of a prayer or the first sentences between lovers. For many others, though, the best stirrings of verse are played on…
Dissenting Opinion
The irony is that, although the battles AROC is undertaking are more pitched and confrontational than ever before, their content has devolved from fiery moral clashes to dry legal disputes. AROC’s press kit, which runs several pages long, reads like a legal brief, liberally peppered with phrases like “en banc review” and “separate evaluative tracks.”…
Postscripts
Nuvo Book The argument, and it’s not an unfounded one, goes like this: The reason electronic books will never take off is because they don’t re-create the tactile experience of reading a bound book. You can’t curl up with them or make notes in the margins or form an emotional attachment to them. After all,…
The Show Must Go On
llustration by Doug Potter At 9:15am Friday, Oct. 30, 1998, the Austin Music Network met its newest fate — and its most promising yet — when Rich Melchior’s Austin Music Management Group signed on the dotted line with the city of Austin. For a few tense hours last week, however, it looked like the deal…
