Cover Story
Closing Open Records
Rick Perry and George W. Bush treat open records law as an obstacle to be gotten around, not a cornerstone of democracy.
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem 2003, NR, 68 min. Directed by Leiji Matsumoto. The movie is a continuation of the story told in Daft Punk music videos in which an alien rock band is kidnapped by an evil corporate mogul and transported across the cosmos to Earth. It’s retro Manga and…
Hoxsey: How Healing Becomes a Crime
Hoxsey: How Healing Becomes a Crime 1987, NR, 83 min. Directed by Kenny Ausubel, Narrated by Max Gail. Harry Hoxsey and his herbal cancer therapy have helped kick-start the national study of alternative medicine. The film includes the herbal formula’s long history and patient testimonials, along with an examination of the politics of the cancer…
Her Space Holiday Reviewed
Her Space Holiday The Young Machines (Mush) Listening to Marc Bianchi’s newest is like hearing the sound of a close friend’s heart imploding: quiet, insistent, sweetly swollen, and shot through with enough retroactive disappointment to make you want to hand the poor fellow a copy of Pet Sounds, and possibly a Xanax or two. As…
Naked City
A spotlight on hate crimes after the beating of a gay off-duty cop
2003 Texas Book Festival Preview
An interview with Don Graham, editor of Lone Star Literature.
Watchmen on the Walls of Freedom
UT composer Dan Welcher commemorates JFK: The Voice of Peace 40 years after the President’s scheduled visit to Austin.
Naked City
Ashton Cumberbatch takes the hot seat at a low point in police-community relations
The Matrix Revolutions
What now, Neo?
2003 Texas Book Festival Preview
A glance at the Texas Book Festival’s list of attending authors reveals that the Chronicle in the past year-plus has covered quite a few of them. By “cover,” we mean that we’ve interviewed the authors, reviewed their books, or both. In terms of this year’s TBF, that total comes to at least 25, and includes…
Live Shots
B-Boy CityAlamo Drafthouse North, Oct. 31/ Montopolis Recreation Center, Nov. 1/ Ruta Maya International Headquarters, Nov. 2 What better way to celebrate hip-hop culture than with a breakdancing competition? Thanks to the vision and effort of local dancing hero Romeo Navarro, Austin hosted its 10th edition of B-Boy City last weekend. Attracting dancers, DJs, and…
Naked City
The City Council turns down historic zoning for cottages on Washington Square
Elf
Will Ferrell’s Elf is a new way to spell fun.
2003 Texas Book Festival Preview
In his latest novel two-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey dares to retell the Frankenstein story by imagining the possibility that poetry can breathe life into a monster. Carey will be at the Texas Book Festival on Sunday, Nov. 9, 11:45am, in the House Chamber.
Live Shots
Girlz Garage TourStubb’s, Nov. 1 Here’s the good news, ladies: You don’t have to be a skinny, big-titted Britney clone to be part of the Girlz Garage Tour. The bad news is that it doesn’t really matter what you look like, because apparently, not many concertgoers are interested in attending gigs with “girlz” on the…
Naked City
Faster and friendlier, Part II: Revisions to the land development code
Love Actually
This merry skein of loves lost and found in holiday-season London is written and directed by the Four Weddings and a Funeral scribe.
2003 Texas Book Festival Preview
Texas Book Festival Schedule All events, which are free and open to the public, take place in or around the state Capitol, unless otherwise noted. For updates and more information, visit www.texasbookfestival.org. CER = Capitol Extension Room. Editor’s recommendations are denoted with a .Saturday, Nov. 89:45-10:30am House Chamber Bookend Award Ceremony Honoring Shelby Hearon &…
Live Shots
Meshell Ndegeocello, Soulive La Zona Rosa, Nov. 1 There are many words one could use to describe Meshell Ndegeocello’s latest incarnation. Unassuming is the one that first comes to mind. Her appearance onstage, suddenly and unannounced, came after her band had begun the show with a lengthy slice of trip-hop. She offered the audience love…
Naked City
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks sentences Dan Morales to prison — and counseling
Where’s the Party Yaar?
An indie comedy about ethnic identity.
Page Two
If you think we’re asinine, don’t blame it on our advertisers.
Live Shots
Virginia RodriguesOne World Theatre, Nov. 2 How appropriate that the sublime Brazilian vocalist Virginia Rodrigues should make her Austin debut at the One World Theatre. Perched in the craggy hill country landscape, the theatre sits like a holy place reaching to the heavens in hopes of drawing creative spirits into its acoustically pleasing modest space.…
Naked City
Even GOP reps don’t like the burgeoning Northeast Travis waste belt.
Km. 0
Mistaken identities provide twist in this Spanish romantic comedy.
After a Fashion
What kind of peddler is Stephen going off on this week? Hint: This year’s Halloween may not haunt our Style Avatar’s future, but running over a bicyclist would.
Naked City
The wing nut Texas Citizens Action Network tries — and fails miserably — to spawn GOP outrage at Strayhorn
Pieces of April
A Thanksgiving from hell with the family and all the neighbors upstairs.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
The Chinese recently took homosexuality off their list of official psychological disorders.A mosquito has 47 teeth.Yvonne Craig, TV’s Batgirl, has had a Coca-Cola for breakfast every morning since she was 16.When Leo Fender asked Dick Dale to demonstrate his newly created Fender Stratocaster, he laughed uncontrollably when Dale played it upside down and backwards.The word…
Stonewalling the Public: A How-To Guide
Government officials looking to limit access to public information now have a corporate ally eager to assist: Chris Ryan, a self-styled “internationally recognized media consultant and trainer,” and head of Ryan & Associates Public Relations, based in Phoenix, Ariz. Ryan’s company offers a host of public information-related courses — many specifically geared toward law enforcement…
Austin @ Large: Austin at Large
What can Austin do to combat the powercenter plague? More than you might think.
Party Monster
The rise and fall of superstar club promoter Michael Alig.
Day Trips
Lajitas seems to reinvent itself every 30 years or so. Of course, the village on the western tip of Big Bend National Park is pretty much an invention anyway. The official population figure remains at 48 even though construction projects have built secluded haciendas, additional hotel rooms, improved dining, a new landing strip for airplanes,…
The Texas Public Information Act
“It is the policy of this state that each person is entitled, unless otherwise expressly provided by law, at all times, to complete information about the affairs of government and the official acts of public officials and employees. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is…
Capitol Chronicle
Bill Bennett sells his virtue for lucre from “virtual charters”
Second Helpings: Japanese, Part II
“Second Helpings” offers tasty, bite-sized restaurant listings compiled from new and previous reviews, guides, and poll results. This week’s entries were updated by Erin Mosow. For quick, reliable info about Austin eateries, check here. Kobe Japanese Steakhouse 13492 Hwy. 183 N. #380, 288-7333 Monday-Friday, 11am-2pm; Monday-Thursday, 5-10pm; Friday-Saturday, 5-11pm Sneaking in quietly among the construction…
The Common Law
I’m a first-time dog owner. My friend recently told me that I would have to pay for all damages my dog causes if he ever bites someone. Is this right?
Execution Memos: Cornyn Slams the Door
During his three-year tenure as Texas attorney general, Sen. John Cornyn was generally considered a strong advocate of open public records. But in November of 2002, just before leaving office, Cornyn issued an opinion that not only reversed a long-standing state policy of public access to certain information, but also potentially created a rationalization for…
The Hightower Lowdown
Hey, rich people steal, too! And, in Bolivia, the U.S. takes the wrong side … again.
TCB
Metal up yer ass and other delights: The Back Room turns 30.
To Your Health
Now that I am ready to begin a family, I wonder how the risk of premature birth can be minimized?
Where’s Karl?
Since the return of the Bush papers to Austin, there have been quite a few media requests to review the documents, but there have been other searches, as well, some a bit bizarre. A special agent from an unidentified federal law enforcement agency in California asked for a list of every individual with whom George…
The People Person
Peter Hedges’ Pieces of April brings the novelist-screenwriter out of the quiet and into the filmmaking fray.
A World Slowly Liquefying
Rocky Schenck comes home for celebrations of his dreamlike art photography.
About AIDS
At its next HIV education program, ASA is offering another free Dinner with the Doctor on Monday, Nov. 10. Enrique Perez M.D., will be here from San Antonio to talk about the fundamentals of HIV/AIDS and its treatment. It will be an excellent opportunity to learn or review the basics, especially for poz people who…
A Big Box Full of Big Boxes
The latest on the Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, and Eckerd’s controversies
Going Deep at the Drive-In
Joe Bob Briggs gives good commentary.
Piece of Work
Annie Leibovitz’s photo of Lance Armstrong nude, on display at Oswald Gallery, portrays the champion cyclist as a breathing emblem of toughness — an avatar of endurance.
The Asian Enigma
Pinning down Peony
The Next Redistricting Target: Ronnie Earle?
Tom Craddick hatches a plan to redraw the lines for Texas’ elected prosecutors
The Things We Keep: Musing on the EZ-D
Musings on the EZ-D
Articulations
Renowned composer and educator Kent Kennan has died, longtime Paramount Theatre manager Paul Beutel calls it quits, and Vincent Kitch signs on as the city of Austin’s cultural arts program manager.
Food-o-File
Virginia B. Wood hopes that you have an appetite for authors and new restaurants.
Redistricting Lands in the Feds’ Hands
Texas Democrats make their case in court and at the Dept. of Justice
Short Cuts
If L.A. fell into the ocean, Hollywood would move to Austin. If it doesn’t anyway.
Exhibitionism
The Cry Pitch Carrolls uses three crotchety old widows, a homeless mother and child, and a poodle to address the darker shadows of religion and memory, and Salvage Vanguard Theater’s revival of Ruth Margraff’s opera is a plush, cloudlike dream.
Mini-Review
Robb Walsh is indeed an explorer — a hungry mind and curious gullet searching out food experiences that, when put to paper, provide vicarious adventures for less peripatetic readers.
Owens’ Family Calls for the Feds
Allegations of grand jury tampering against the DA and police chief
TV Eye
Jack Kerouac is turning over in his grave while middle-class kids “following their bliss” in The Open Road mangle his vision.
Exhibitionism
The 20th-century Latin artists featured in the Blanton’s exhibition “Lo feo de este mundo: Images of the Grotesque” recognize beauty’s tyranny with a special fervor, creating works that directly reject it with humor, boldness, and great intensity.
Rise of the Machines
Marc Bianchi takes his Space Holiday here in Austin.
Naked City
Headlines Quote of the Week: “It rings a little hollow, and even silly, to me when I hear citizens and media proclaim Sunset Valley as a longtime model of environmental stewardship.” — Council Member Daryl Slusher, waxing gratuitous in his otherwise well-tempered press statement Wednesday opposing a settlement with Lowe’s Home Centers Inc. As of…
Soccer Watch
Halloween Night: UT 2, Texas A&M 1. It’s hard to imagine how a game could get any more dramatic than this, the Horns’ second straight double-overtime win to close out the regular season. Consider just some of the major storylines: The Finish: Not one, but two last-minute goals: Kati McBain’s stunner with just 37 seconds…
Luv Doc Recommends: Texas Book Festival
Writers by circumstance are a quiet and reclusive lot, given to long stretches of solitude and introspection and therefore prey to a variety of antisocial quirks and ills that can either make them seem eclectic and charming or boorish and overbearing. After long stretches holed up creating the next great masterwork, a self-imposed cabin fever…
