Queer as Folk
Queer as Folk NR, 135 min. Directed by Sarah Harding, Charles Mcdougall, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Aidan Gillen, Craig Kelly, Charlie Hunnam. The Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF) presents one of the favorites from the recent festival: this gay British TV soap opera, Queer as Folk. Produced by Channel…
Exhibitionism
In this week’s section of Austin Chronicle arts reviews, Robert Faires reviews Austin Musical Theatre’s The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Rude Mechanicals’ Lipstick Traces, Sarah Hepola reviews the Zachary Scott Theatre Center’s Shakespeare’s R & J and Marshall Ryan Maresca’s Slow Night at McLaughlin’s, and Robi Polgar reviews Austin Shakespeare Festival’s Othello and…
Book Reviews
Holy Smoke: A Novel by Anna Campion and Jane Campion Miramax Books/Hyperion, $22.95 hard Call her Ruth. “Ruthless,” she quips. But don’t be fooled by the spiritually conflicted anti-heroine at the center of Holy Smoke. She carries much more baggage than her self-given misnomer entails. As deceptive as she is vulnerable, Ruth Baron serves as…
Food-o-File
In this week’s edition of Food-o-file, Austin Chronicle Food editor Virginia B. Wood congratulates Grape Vine Market’s selection as Food and Wine’s Retailer of the Year and mentions several upcoming food events and changes in the local restaurant scene.
Record Reviews
SuperegoOh Yes My Friend (Nickel & Dime) Paul Minor is the James Brown of Austin. The Mack. Nobody works it like the Hole in the Wall’s Free For All man, the hardest working guy in the local showbiz industry. Pick up the Superego’s third full-length, Oh Yes My Friend, and you can feel Minor’s sweat;…
Condo Clash
When you hear the word Gotham, do you think of bats? You might be tempted to, but don’t. It was mere coincidence that the name Gotham, the 12-story condominium developer Randall Davis has proposed for 200 South Congress, brings to mind Austin’s rodent mascots. Quite the contrary. On a reconnaissance trip to the property, Davis…
Malcolm, Movement, Memory
With subjects that range from Malcolm X to choreographer Alvin Ailey, Orlando Bagwell’s documentaries depict the African-American — as well as American — experience.
Exhibitionism
Reviews of recent and ongoing exhibitions and performances around Austin
Book Reviews
The Desperate Season by Michael Blaine Rob Weisbach Books, $24 hard Someone will buy movie rights to The Desperate Season. This book has “big screen thriller” written all over it, especially since teenage violence is now dinner-table conversation. The plot: A severely schizophrenic teenager is accidentally released from a mental hospital, buys a machine gun…
Mini Reviews
Chronicle Food writer Rachel Feit finds a few of her favorite things at Marimont Cafeteria.
Record Reviews
Lil’ TroySittin Fat Down South (Short Stop/Universal) Hip-hop heads tend to write off Southside rap as bangin’ beats backing tired tales of ballin’ and booty. There’s a kernel of truth to that, but if hip-hop’s mission is still to “move the crowd,” nothing gets those heads nodding and asses shaking quite like that rolling thunder…
When in Rome
Houston developer Randall Davis says the initial reaction to Page Southerland Page’s rendering of the Gotham was unwarranted. “It is not an accurate depiction of the building,” Davis says. “The artist’s rendering was just a rendering.” The rendering in question, complete with a bio of Davis lauding him as the visionary creator of “elegant living…
Video Reviews
QUEEN BEE D: Ranald MacDougall (1955); with Joan Crawford, Barry Sullivan, Betsy Palmer, John Ireland, Fay Wray, Tim Hovey. “Darling, parties are to women what battlefields are to men. But then — you weren’t in the war, were you? Something about drinking …” Joan, Joan, Joan — completely over-the-top in this movie, yet, completely under-the-table…
Exhibitionism
Reviews of recent and ongoing exhibitions and performances around Austin
Postscripts
Books can heal your soul and there are several ways to do so in the upcoming weeks in Austin. Also, this year’s Violet Crown Award winners.
Mini Reviews
Chronicle Food writer Barbara Chisholm reviews local Tex-mex establishment La Reyna.
Record Reviews
Dr. Zog Swampadelic (Zog) In 1997, Port Arthur native and multi-instrumentalist (banjo, guitar, jaw harp) Dr. Zog put out Growin’ Up Wild in East Texas, a collection of swampy, roadhouse blues-rock. The 13 tracks on his most recent release, Swampadelic, pick up where Growin’ Up left off; that is, songs by Elvis Presley if the…
Sand Beach Battle
Sand Beach Reserve on the north shore of Town Lake is the subject of a land-use and legal dispute.
Video Reviews
MOMMIE DEAREST D: Frank Perry (1981); with Faye Dunaway, Diana Scarwid, Steve Forrest, Howard da Silva, Mara Hobel. A fright-night horror movie if there ever was one, Mommie Dearest stars Faye Dunaway in the role she was born to play: Joan Crawford. No other actress alive could have portrayed Joan with the fire and intensity…
Exhibitionism
Reviews of recent and ongoing exhibitions and performances around Austin
Off the Bookshelf
Finding out that Jeff Chandler was a cross-dresser has been a devastating experience for Chronicle writer Stephen MacMillan Moser. Esther Williams’ new autobiography, The Million Dollar Mermaid, reveals why.
Deadly Globs
Brenner recalls the time Carl Orff took his breath away. Really.
Record Reviews
Albert King with Stevie Ray VaughanIn Session (Stax) One of the more revered moments in Austin musical lore is the night in 1975-76 when a skinny young kid known back then as “Little Stevie” got onstage at Antone’s, then newly opened on Sixth Street, to jam with blues master Albert King. Consequently, the two blues…
Moving on Up
River Woods residents forced out of affordable apartments which are being demolished for a new luxury complex
Video Reviews
THE EYES OF LAURA MARS D: Irvin Kershner (1978); with Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Dourif, Raul Julia, Rene Auberjonois, and assorted disco-era models and fashionistas. Jon Peters’ first production as he transformed himself (with girlfriend Barbra Streisand’s help) from hairdresser to movie producer, this movie is a gem of Seventies style at its…
Exhibitionism
Reviews of recent and ongoing exhibitions and performances around Austin
Off the Bookshelf
Stacy Bush reviews Martin Cruz Smith’s Havana Bay.
Going Up
A profile of Austin�s pre-eminent honky-tonkers, the Derailers
Record Reviews
Todd RuschSignpost of Destiny (Nomadic) As a member of marginally renowned band Ecotour, Todd Rusch has been around for a while. This explains a mature songwriting style that suggests a career beyond this, his solo debut. Not only is Rusch an accomplished songwriter, he’s assembled a nice collection of local talent (including Billy Harvey, Ernie…
Corner to Corner
In his final “Corner to Corner” column, Mike Clark-Madison declares victory and gets out, noting that neighborhood issues are now taken seriously in mainstream city politics.
Short Cuts
The Alamo Drafthouse’s Cannibal Film Festival: It’s People!
Exhibitionism
Reviews of recent and ongoing exhibitions and performances around Austin
Off the Bookshelf
Jessica Berthold reviews Ian Buruma’s Anglomania.
Full Western Dress reviewed
The Derailers Full Western Dress (Sire) What goes around comes around. Back in the Sixties, the Beatles lionized Buck Owens, and George Harrison’s early guitar lines smacked of Carl Perkins’ licks. Owens and other country artists, in turn, adopted ideas and themes from Sixties pop. Sixties pop, after all, was all about the hook, and…
Record Reviews
LarryA Family Album (Luck) Larry, a local seven-piece, is capable of conjuring up the spirits of three heavyweight jam bands: the Grateful Dead, Phish, and Blues Traveler. While not quite as accomplished as these bigwigs, five-year-old Larry is poised to join their ranks having learned at least one valuable lesson: It’s virtually impossible to capture…
Media Clips
The Daily Texan student newspaper celebrates 100 years in publication as two former editors publish a book on the Texan’s history.
TV Eye
Will a brown-out really change the way Latinos are portrayed on television? Also, only a few quibbles about the surprisingly promising premiere of Angel, starring Buffy‘s David Boreanaz.
Book Reviews
Men on the Moon: Collected Short Stories by Simon J. Ortiz University of Arizona Press; $35 hard, $17.95 paper In the most powerful of Simon J. Ortiz’s stories from Men on the Moon, there’s always an experience that’s just beyond his characters’ grasp: a vaguely remembered song, an inscrutable gesture, a half-understood compulsion to make…
Local Bestsellers
This week’s top ten bestselling titles come from Desert Books.
Elephants and Pygmies
A profile of rising Austin honky-tonker Roger Wallace.
Record Reviews
Transona 5Going Away EP (Drawing Room) Leaving is perhaps the most profound thing a person can do. On their brand new Going Away EP, Denton’s Transona 5 capture all the anxiety, pain, and optimism inherent in leaving a place and its people behind. The slow, cyclical bass line of the opening tune, “The Great Escape,”…
Coronation Coverage
The amazing thing about the gun-control debate is that nobody really seems to get the point not the Republicans, not the Democrats, and certainly not the press. All three certainly missed it in the Sept. 22 Austin American-Statesman’s front-page article titled “Bush targets illegal gun use.” Gov. Bush and state Attorney General John Cornyn…
Book Reviews
Michener and Me: A Memoir by Herman Silverman Running Press, $17.95 hard Herman Silverman was one of James Michener’s best friends, yet he didn’t learn of Michener’s first marriage until decades after it happened, and found out about his third marriage through an article in Life magazine. “I never asked him anything of a personal…
Page Two
Memoir of a former Daily Texan.
Dancing About Architecture
The Chronicle music staff’s picks for the 2000 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees; Austin bands point NXNW; and is this airport hip-hop rave really happening? Yes. For sure. Definitely. Maybe.
Record Reviews
Repository of Fun! … Six Austin Bands (Animatronic) Between the death of vinyl singles and the proliferation of self-released CDs lies the compilation album. Boasting a long local history of good grassroot sampilations, Austin’s KVRX set has produced some memorable ones of late, including L’Austin Space, Rotating Parts, and going back to ’95, Peek-a-Boo’s Bicycle…
Naked City
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife rethinks its pact with the Lower Colorado River Authority; prospective candidates are lining up to run for two open on district court, and Brigid Shea leaves the SOS Alliance.
Simon Sez
Simon Sez 1999, PG-13, 83 min. Directed by Kevin Elders, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Natalia Cigliuti, Jerome Pradon, John Pinette, Ricky Harris, Dane Cook, Emma Sjoberg, Dennis Rodman. Ain’t capitalism great? Armed with only marginal (at best) résumés and the fading notoriety of a cross-dressing NBA power forward, the makers of this…
Book Reviews
My Father, Dancing by Bliss Broyard Knopf, $22 hard Anyone who knows the legacy of Bliss Broyard’s late father, Anatole Broyard, author and longtime critic for The New York Times Book Review, will be hard pressed not to read this debut collection of short stories as a memoir. Bliss Broyard packs this first book (which…
Public Notice
Volunteer opportunites part two: from the Green Corn Project to the YWCA.
Record Reviews
BramhallJellycream (RCA) First impressions aren’t everything. In the past six years, Doyle Bramhall II has effectively shed the blues prodigy tag that his teenage association with Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Fabulous Thunderbirds hung around his neck. In the process,the guitarist has also mastered the “creeper effect,”albums that sound infinitely better with time. Whereas 1993’s…
Record Reviews
Teye Viva el Flamenco (Voy Sólito) It’s well known that Joe Ely has a keen ability to choose sidemen, and flamenco guitarist Teye is no exception. The eight tracks of originals and interpreted standards on Teye’s debut are a powerful tribute to the spirit of flamenco and a commanding calling card. Flamenco, the fiery fusion…
Naked City
Capital Metro faces criticism for unsafe rail crossings after derailment
Dog Park
Dog Park 1998, R, 93 min. Directed by Bruce McCulloch, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Natasha Henstridge, Luke Wilson, Kathleen Robertson, Bruce McCulloch, Janeane Garofalo, Kristin Lehman, Mark McKinney, Amie Carey. Kids-in-the-Hall alum McCulloch’s directorial debut barrels out of the gate with a promising pedigree only to collapse just shy of funny and…
Book Reviews
Duck Alley by Jim DeFilippi Permanent Press, $24 hard Jim DeFilippi’s second novel, Duck Alley, is a curious mixture of the overfamiliar and the unexpected. The friendship of childhood buddies Jay Tasti and Albert Niklozak is put to the test when, as adults, one is charged for murder and the other must testify against him.…
Letters at 3AM
A week of truth.
Record Reviews
Terminal 46Very Still Life Even if the tracks on this third outing from Austin’s post-industrial juggernaut weren’t up to snuff (pun possibly intended), they’d still be due a big fat goat carcass bonus point for the album’s wonderfully creepy packaging. Ten freestanding lyric cards, each bearing their own chilly, horizontal strip of artwork, and a…
Record Reviews
Aztex Short Stories (Hightone) One of highlights of seeing Mexican-American supergroup Los Super Seven perform live was the surprising exuberance and musicality of accordion player Joel Guzman. Along with his wife/vocalist Sarah Fox, Guzman fronts the Central Texas-based Aztex, the couple’s attempt at a bilingual fusion of rock, jazz, blues, traditional Mexican conjunto, and tropical…
Naked City
This Week in Council: The council’s morning session (9am Thursday, Sept. 30) will include briefings and discussion on the LCRA water supply deal with the city, and the extension of sewer service to Westlake Village. Slated for a zoning vote is the controversial Champion Tract, at Loop 360 and RM 2222, although this item may…
Plunkett & Macleane
Plunkett & Macleane 1999, R, 102 min. Directed by Jake Scott, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ken Stott, Michael Gambon, Liv Tyler, Alan Cumming, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle. I always worry when a film’s press kit trumpets the director’s grand work in the world of television commercials; it seems to me that’s…
Book Reviews
A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle Viking, $24.95 hard The newest novel from the author of the loudly praised Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is a dark and beautiful narrative that administers the Irish oral tradition to a startling and wonderful new cast of characters, many of whom you already know from history and…
Mr. Smarty Pants
The last socialist sequoia?
Record Reviews
Broken Teeth (Perris) In December, 1995, Dangerous Toys mastermind Jason McMaster reported he was finished singing about his dick. Broken Teeth, McMaster’s raunchy new side project, proves no promise is forever. Right off the bat, three of the album’s tracks, “She’s Gonna Blow,” “Trippin’ Over a Bone,” and “Stick it In,” leave little question that…
Record Reviews
Don WalserHere’s to Country Music (Watermelon/Sire) Since his label debut for Watermelon Records in 1994, Rolling Stone From Texas, country crooner Don Walser has released albums at the pace befitting a one-of-kind performer who started recording late in life: about one a year. Austin’s divine yodeler knows he won’t be around to sing old, forgotten…
Naked City
One Hell of a Deal Hundreds of Austin Community College students received a fine how-do-you-do on their first day of fall classes: Some discovered that their names had been dropped from class rolls, others that the GPAs on their grade reports had changed. The errors came courtesy of a new, bug-ridden $2.5 million automated record-keeping…
The Acid House
The Acid House 1999, NR, 112 min. Directed by Paul Mcguigan, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Gary Mccormack, Arlene Cockburn, Michelle Gomez, Stephen Mccole, Jemma Redgrave, Marin Clunes, Maurice Roeves, Kevin McKidd, Ewen Bremner. Call it Trainspotting 2, if you must, just don’t confuse this trio of short films adapted from Scottish novelist…
Book Reviews
‘Tis: A Memoir by Frank McCourt Scribner, $26 hard Ye gods, what’s a memoirist to do? How do you follow up a phenomenon like Angela’s Ashes? Frank McCourt sat at the top of the bestseller list for the better part of two years. The reviews were universally sterling. He won the Pulitzer Prize. The paperback…
After a Fashion
Wherefore art thou, Pinky?; and where to go for wigs.
Record Reviews
The Reclusives (Mortville) Once every moon or so, most of us need to be emptied of the false gestures and phrasings that clog our everyday lives and keep us from realizing who we really are. If you grew up on all-ages warehouse shows and Milwaukee’s Best, you’ll find the Reclusives go to work on such…
Record Reviews
The Cornell Hurd BandAt Large (Behemoth) When it came time for Cornell Hurd to record hisself a live album, he eschewed the grand and glamorous for the down-home waffle-fry funk of the Texicalli Grille. Recorded live in one long night at the South Austin eatery, At Large is a fine helping indeed, a healthy how-do…
Naked City
SH 130 toll road secures funding
Mystery, Alaska
Mystery, Alaska 1999, R, 118 min. Directed by Jay Roach, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Adam Beach, Michael Buie, Maury Chaykin, Colm Meaney, Lolita Davidovich, Mary Mccormack, Hank Azaria, Burt Reynolds, Russell Crowe. After taking home a raft of Emmys for his work on The Practice and Ally McBeal the other day, writer…
Book Reviews
The Slow Way Back by Judy Goldman William Morrow & Co., $24 hard Thea is a radio therapist. She specializes in the quick suss, the simplification, the broad generality. She puts a smooth grade over pebbly particulars; she is practiced at the quick, neat wrap-up. Useful skills for a radio therapist: For a novelist, though,…
Day Trips
Meet the Muellers, one of the most enduring barbecue dynasties in Texas.
Record Reviews
Missile Command Sexy, Sexy Confidence (Bankshot) Is there anything that Jerm “Wonderboy” Pollett can’t do? From his mid-Eighties arrival in Austin with Bronx hip-hoppers Brother’s Cup to his work with longtime buddy Timothy “Speed” Levitch (of The Cruise fame), Pollett has covered most of the musical bases and still found time for acoustic one-offs at…
Record Reviews
Owen Temple Passing Through (El Paisano) Owen Temple General Store (El Paisano) Small towns have a kind of stark, quiet beauty to them. Even after Wal-Marts move in and decimate Main Street, there’s still a solemn dignity in those boarded up storefronts and dusty, ramshackle feed stores. Kerrville native Owen Temple writes about these places,…
Naked City
UT kicks off The Daily Texan’s 100th birthday celebration tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 1, with a conference titled “Journalism and Democracy: Will the Marriage Last?” at 9:30am in the auditorium at the LBJ School of Public Affairs on the UT campus. Call 471-5083 for more info. Also, see this week’s Community Listings and “Media Clips.” Capital…
Three Kings
This modern classic is a war movie with a conscience, an action movie with a funny bone, a caper movie with a shifting agenda.
Second Helpings: Catfish Hunter
Catfish Hunter Mr. Catfish 1075 Springdale, 927-6666 Mon-Thu, 11am-9pm; Fri, 11am-11pm; Sat, 11am-10pm The mouthwatering lunch specials attract a crowd to this casual three-year-old restaurant from 11am-2pm every weekday and we know the reason why. Everything here is made from scratch, and nothing hits the spot like good home cooking. Catfish and seafood combo dinners…
Book Reviews
Shadow-Box by Antonia Logue Grove Press, $24 hard Shadow-Box is the ambitious but pretentious first novel by Antonia Logue, an Irish journalist who, at 23 years old, received a substantial advance after submitting a chapter and story outline. Logue forms her novel in the mawkish guise of letters written between two aged historical iconoclasts, Jack…
Coach’s Corner
Trust me on this: You don’t want the woman you share a life with to quit smoking and get a new job in the same week. That said, it is also true that sometimes, good things start out a little rocky. The American Ryder Cup team would understand the wisdom of that. To relieve some…
Record Reviews
Freerange Bastards Cut down in their sweaty, dilated-pupil prime last year by principal songwriter Jesse Brooks’ abrupt move to Chicago, the Freerange Bastards belong to the ages now, but not before leaving this CD in their wake. A 10-song, 26-minute ode to being young and getting wasted, Freerange Bastards packs the swagger of an extended…
Record Reviews
Adam CarrollSouth of Town (Down Hole) From the opening strums of “Red Bandana Blues,” singer-songwriter Adam Carroll plants himself firmly in an immediately recognizable continuum of singer-songwriters that started shortly after Robert Zimmerman became Bob Dylan and ran a rapid southwesterly course to West Texas, where it was made poignant and humorous by Terry Allen…
Drinking and Shrieking
This local Web site is dragging Austin clubs online and into the spotlight.
To Sitcom Hell and Back
Getting her own sitcom nearly killed Margaret Cho, and she talks about the experience in her new show I’m the One That I Want.
Book Reviews
The Last Tortilla & Other Stories by Sergio Troncoso The University of Arizona Press, $40 hard, $17.95 paper Don’t judge The Last Tortilla & Other Stories by its title. Otherwise, it would be easy to dismiss this new collection of short stories as a batch of work which treats cultural artifacts or institutions — tortillas…
About AIDS
AID for AIDS redistributes leftover meds that would otherwise go to waste.
Record Reviews
The Cruel & Unusual (Mortville) Between the end of innocence and acceptance of the profane lies a seething bed of gut-rage that informs all provocative gestures. The Cruel & Unusual harness this anger and make use of better-than-average chops and production to avoid tripping all over their punk-issue depravity. The local trio’s efforts result in…
Record Reviews
Hidden SpeakerThe Brittle Stars (Seventy-Seven) Sometimes an album comes out of nowhere and seems like it’s been there your whole life. Meet Hidden Speaker. Arising from the remnants of Austin’s Springhill Mine Disaster, who put on one of 1997’s best rock shows one beer-sodden Friday night at the 21st St. Co-op, this trio — guitarist/singer…
ClubCastLive.com Roster
ClubCastLive (http://www.clubcastlive.com) uses MP3 technology to broadcast live music nightly from the following local venues: Babe’s Back Room Carousel Lounge Caucus Club Cedar Street Copper Tank Donn’s Depot Ego’s Emo’s Fat Tuesday’s Flamingo Cantina Hole in the Wall Miguel’s la Bodega Speakeasy Twist
Articulations
A spin on the Austin art gallery carousel.
Book Reviews
Colony Girl by Thomas Rayfiel Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $23 hard Early in Thomas Rayfiel’s evocative and engaging novel Colony Girl, an adult character says to a group of teenage girls: “You’re not kids anymore. You’re some grotesque hybrid.” Not yet members of the experienced and hardened world of adulthood, and no longer innocent and…
Fourth Street Paradise
Chronicle Food editor Virginia B. Wood ventures into uncharted territory at Saba Blue Water Cafe on Fourth Street, and likes what she finds.
Record Reviews
Lance KeltnerEmpty V (Phoenix) More than 15 years ago, the attempt to make some sort of joke out of linking the names Ty Gavin, Gavin Lance, and Lance Keltner was a running gag in the local music community. No one ever really succeeded, but that should give you an idea of how long Keltner has…
7 & 7 Is
John Waters fans will undoubtedly remember Mortville as the hidden berg populated by derelicts, felons, and assorted social deviants in his 1977 movie Desperate Living. The two-year-old local record label known as Mortville displays similar under-the-radar characteristics with its prolific output of one-minute musical loogies created behind the bushes right in your own backyard. While…
Austin Heart of Film
Screenwriters Conference and Festival Schedule
