A Little Vicious (1991) & Lizzie Borden Hash & Rehash
A Little Vicious (1991) & Lizzie Borden Hash & Rehash 1996, NR. Directed by Immy Humes, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . The Vicious of the title “A Little Vicious” is a pit bull who is under court order to mend the error of his ways. Humes films the controversy, and the documentary…
Valley of the Robots
Valley of the Robots NR. Directed by Ross Wilsey, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . This homegrown epic adventure from PuppeTose Theatre features a cast of animated puppets, and lots of explosions, blood, and sex. For more info see www.puppetose.titaniumnet.ws. additionally showing will be the new music video by Scorpio Rising (www.scorpio.titaniumnet.ws).
Dusk Til Dawn Horrorthon
Dusk Til Dawn Horrorthon NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Horror, blood, monsters, and gore – from dusk ’til dawn. One after another, the horror movies will roll out, all night long. The program is a surprise. The only title released is Three … Extremes, a brutal horror anthology…
Shalom Y’all
Shalom Y’all 2002, NR, 60 min. Directed by Brian Bain, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . A young man drives through the American South searching for his Southern Jewish roots. “A Bridge of Books” (2001, 13 min.) by Sam Ball will also screen.
Time of Favor
Time of Favor 2000, NR, 102 min. Directed by Josef Cedar, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Aki Avni, Tinkerbell, Idan Alterman. Winner of six Israeli film awards, Time of Favor is a political thriller in Hebrew with English subtitles.
Shchors
Shchors 1939, NR, 140 min. Directed by Alexander Dovzhenko, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Yevgeni Samojlov, Ivan Skuratov. The final film in this Dovzhenko retrospective is a socialist realist biopic commissioned by Stalin. Nikolai Shchors was a Bolshevik icon of Ukrainian origin, even though most of his old comrades had been purged by…
Everest
Everest 1998, NR, 44 min. Directed by Stephen Judson, David Breashears, Greg MacGillivray, Narrated by Liam Neeson, Voices by , Starring . Top of the world, Ma. Surely, if ever there were a location made to be filmed by an IMAX camera it’s this: Mt. Everest, the tallest peak in the world. Adding to the…
Dragon vs. Needles of Death
Dragon vs. Needles of Death 1982, NR, 86 min. Directed by Unknown, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Using an old Hong Kong chopsocky flick (which screened during a past Tarantino Fest), Buzz Moran completely removes the soundtrack and dubs in new music, sound effects, and alternative dialogue – and performs it live…
Night Creature
Night Creature 1977, PG, 83 min. Directed by Lee Madden, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Donald Pleasence, Nancy Kwan. A big-game hunter brings a leapard to his private island so he can hunt it down. For more on the Something Weird Wednesdays series see austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2001-02-16/screens_feature.html or www.drafthouse.com.
Eric Patrick Optical Printing Salon
Eric Patrick Optical Printing Salon NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Professional animator and Austin resident Eric Patrick presents a collection of his favorite optically printed films in advance of his optical printing workshop on Oct. 27 (for info see www.cinemaker.org). Included are the fantasy epic “L’Ange” by Patrick…
Articulations
A weekly rundown of the latest news in Austin’s visual and performing arts scene
2002: A New Spaceage
“I don’t think there’s a more well-respected, or better, band on the scene today,” offers Justin Bankston of Winslow, emerging masters of slow-building, noisy dream rock who are starting to get the same sort of praise he’s heaping upon his musical mentors, ST 37. “Anytime I refer to them when posting to psyche rock e-mail…
Phases and Stages
ShearwaterEverybody Makes Mistakes (Misra) With their second release, Everybody Makes Mistakes, Austin’s Shearwater has developed from a moonlighting gig/too-sad-song-outlet for Will Robinson Sheff of Okkervil River (a frequent Chronicle contributor) and Jonathan Meiburg of Walking Spanish into a four-piece band producing songs as disturbingly gorgeous and fully fleshed as anything coming from their considerable primary…
Naked City
The police monitor citizen review panel met Oct. 7 for its first “critical incident” case review, listening to public input and deliberating over the fatal shooting this summer of Sophia King. While the meeting may lead to some answers about the King case, it has done little to quell skepticism regarding the monitoring process. Public…
Kickin’ Out the Jams
It’s that time of year again — the week when the Chronicle’s Music staff undertakes its responsibility to music by choosing nominees for entry into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This year’s options were ABBA, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Chic, the Clash, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, the Dells, Kraftwerk, Lynyrd Skynyrd, MC5, the…
Brown Sugar
Brown Sugar 2002, PG-13, 109 min. Directed by Rick Famuyiwa, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Taye Diggs, Sanaa Lathan, Nicole Ari Parker, Ralph E. Tresvant, Mos Def, Boris Kodjoe, Queen Latifah. Brown Sugar’s opening credits play out to the Roots’ “Act Too (Love of My Life),” with its thrumming, soulful chorus of “Hip-hop,…
Exhibitionism
In David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Proof, mathematicians are shown to be unsure about many things — the work they do, the methods they use, their lives, even their sanity — and the State Theater Company’s production beautifully captures the uncertainty of this world.
Phases and Stages
GovindaEchoes of Eden DJ this and DJ that. Shane O’Madden is all the spinner you need. Laying down a swirling, silken web of late-night beats and siren cries, the local techno wunderkind swaths his Ibiza townhouse with splashes of mid-Nineties electro exotica — Loop Guru, Perfume Tree, Hooverphonic. Chysta Bell, Naga Valli, and Jennifer Falker…
Phases and Stages
Susanna Van TasselMy Little Star (The Music Room) There’s something almost eerie, or otherworldly, about Susanna Van Tassel’s voice. Human voices crack, croak, sputter, and fail, but hers doesn’t. It’s as pure as a stream that might flow through the “golden rolling hills” of her idyllic “On the Hill.” In any case, Van Tassel’s honey-coated…
Naked City
On Oct. 7, the city resolved a dispute with the Austin American-Statesman, deciding that still photographers will be allowed inside the arbitration hearing of former APD officer Tim Enlow. The Statesman had filed a petition for a temporary restraining order Sept. 23, after five days of testimony in the Enlow arbitration, and nearly three weeks…
Phases and Stages
SlobberboneSlippage (New West) At their peak, the band that spawned the whole “alt.country” tag, Uncle Tupelo, spewed forth blazing punk rock from an honest, countrified perspective. Unfortunately, the rock side got mostly buried in the later waves of bands lumped under that tenuous flag. Well, the rock & roll soul is back, courtesy of Slobberbone,…
White Oleander
White Oleander 2002, PG-13, 110 min. Directed by Peter Kosminsky, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Noah Wyle, Patrick Fugit, Robin Wright Penn, Renée Zellweger, Michelle Pfeiffer, Alison Lohman. The metaphoric title about the danger in beautiful things sounds like something from Byron or Keats, but this compressed film adaptation of an Oprah-endorsed bestseller…
Exhibitionism
For its first concert of the 2002-03 season, Conspirare offered a striking premiere of Hymn to the Earth, by local composer Donald Grantham, then conductor Craig Hella Johnson led a gregarious and eager mob in a sing-along version of Carl Orff’s popular Carmina Burana.
Phases and Stages
1001 Nights OrchestraMusic From the Middle East & Beyond (Kamooli) As the title implies, Music From the Middle East & Beyond travels a broad cultural tack. The Austin-based international all-star collective, led by Iranian singer/multi-instrumentalist Kamran Hooshmand, features such stalwart musicians as accordionist Don Weeda (Slavadillo), Lauren Dealbert (Divahn), Armenian clarinetist Ken Maranian, Lisa Schneider,…
Can Lazarus Rise Again?
Gary Bradley faces bankruptcy, and Austin wonders if he’ll survive and thrive one more time.
Naked City
According to the League of Women Voters of Texas, the Lone Star State needs to upgrade its election-day performance to avoid a Florida-like debacle. After conducting a survey of local elections officials and LWV chapters, the League identified a number of problems with Texas’ 2000 elections: Voter access: In more than half the surveyed jurisdictions,…
Phases and Stages
Lowery 66Holiday With Genie (India) A motley crew if there ever was one, Lowery 66 is fronted by two young history professors and a neurobiologist. Add on an ex-member of Silver Scooter on bass, a classically trained violinist who goes by the name of Miss Darlene, and a ukulele player manning a Lowery organ that…
The Rules of Attraction
Roger Avary does Bret Easton Ellis.
Both Sides Now
As any aficionado knows, real comic books aren’t for kids. Just ask Jack Jackson. From Sixties kitsch to historical comics, he has accrued an astonishing array of awards and credentials over four decades, including induction into the Texas Institute of Letters. Not bad for a guy who majored in accounting at Texas A&I and is…
Phases and Stages
Mingo Saldivar y sus Tremendos Cuatro EspadasA Taste of Texas (Rounder) Flaco Jimenez often gets tabbed as conjunto’s ambassador to the English-speaking (and non-Texan) world, but really, his buddy Mingo Saldivar is much more qualified for the role. Saldivar, just like Jimenez, uses gimmicks to pull the unlearned into his world, but unlike the more…
Gibraltar v. Bradley
The Gibraltar case could be a road map for the FDIC vs. Bradley.
Capitol Chronicle
Hopwood lawyer Steven Wayne Smith aspires to the Texas Supreme Court.
Phases and Stages
Alex CokeNew Texas Swing (CreOp Muse) Texas music comes in all shapes and sizes, but rarely does it take the elusive form served up here by local saxophonist/flautist Alex Coke. New Texas Swing swings all right — hard — but certainly not in the traditional sense. The album’s title is perhaps borrowed from NPR commentator…
Tuck Everlasting
Tuck Everlasting 2002, PG, 90 min. Directed by Jay Russell, Narrated by Elisabeth Shue, Voices by , Starring Victor Garber, Amy Irving, Ben Kingsley, Scott Bairstow, Jonathan Jackson, Sissy Spacek, William Hurt, Alexis Bledel. Winnie Foster (Bledel) longs for life beyond her garden gate. The year is 1914, and the teenager wants to escape the…
News/Print
Tom Doyal, one of my very favorite people and one of the funniest writers around, has had “a little stroke” and is “resting uncomfortably” here in town. Doyal was preparing for a visit to New York City when the stroke occurred. “I’ve never had this happen to me,” Doyal explained from his hospital room last…
Phases and Stages
Steve Earle Jerusalem (Artemis) To many of his fans, Steve Earle is the “hillbilly Bruce Springsteen.” Whereas with Boss’ The Rising set out to console the victims of 9/11 (and by extension the nation), on Jerusalem, Earle keeps his distance from the big tent. Earle has already tangled with the mainstream American establishment over a…
Bradley’s Creditors
Gary Bradley is in debt to a motley crew.
Austin @ Large: Austin at Large
City Hall’s M.O. and the sins of Vision Village
Phases and Stages
RajamaniPakiam Between India’s plaintive, melismatic chants, and the spirited rhythmic torch of Spain’s flamenco, there’s a lot of terrain to cover, and it turns out to be an easy trip for seasoned multi-instrumentalist Oliver Rajamani. The Indian-born Austinite has played with Grammy-winning fame drummer Glen Velez, local creative iconoclast Tina Marsh, and rumba superstars the…
Pokémon 4ever
Pokémon 4ever 2002, G, 79 min. Directed by Michael Haigney, Kunihiko Yuyama, Jim Malone, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ikue Ootani, Veronica Taylor. Thank goodness there’s a Miyazaki film opening simultaneously. It offsets the shrill siren song of kid-lite marketing that heralds the arrival of — gasp! choke! — the fourth feature-length Pokémon…
Page Two
The impending misadventure in Iraq is almost too heartbreaking to write about.
Phases and Stages
Guy ClarkThe Dark (Sugar Hill) Even though some say he’s lost the ability to keep his music fresh and engaging, for most fans of Texas singer-songwriters, a new album from Guy Clark is an event. With the passing of his close friend Townes Van Zandt, Clark is rightly considered the dean of that special breed…
Gary Bradley’s Bitter Wisdom
Gary Bradley contemplates life.
The Hightower Lowdown
Terror strikes Georgetown … not quite; and Bush warms up to polluters.
After a Fashion
A DESIGN DEBUT A couple of weeks ago, I said I was looking forward to the debut fashion presentation from Tomer Gendler. I knew nothing about the clothes Gendler (working under the name of Tomer) designed, only that virtually every element of the production sounded like a fabulous presentation. And in that respect, it did…
Phases and Stages
Johnny DowdThe Pawnbroker’s Wife (Catamount) When Fort Worth-born Johnny Dowd landed on the Wrong Side of Memphis in 1998, the marrow-sucking directness of his debut cut like a knife through your run-of-the-mill singer-songwriter’s fat slab of stupid lyrics and uninspired sounds. In his follow-ups, Dowd hasn’t strayed much from this direction, sometimes evoking Dylan’s lyrical…
Room at the Top?
Part I of the Chronicle’s preview of the Nov. 5 general election
Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie
Animated Old Testament.
Day Trips
Fossil Rim Wildlife Center became a leader in the worldwide efforts to save the cheetah when it opened new facilities dedicated to the big cats. Since 1985, the drive-through animal park has been working to rescue the spotted cat from the brink of extinction. The new Haas Family Cheetah Conservancy, which opened last month, gives…
Phases and Stages
Rhett MillerThe Instigator (Elektra) One has to wonder how Rhett Miller’s The Instigator would be received if we didn’t already know his work with the Old 97’s. Unfortunately for both him and us, we don’t have that luxury. One can’t help but compare his previous work with his solo debut, the reality being that The…
Shoal Creek Showdown
Neighbors and cyclists compromise on Shoal Creek Blvd. project — but city staff has other ideas.
Pauline & Paulettes
Slight when regarded as a contribution to the critical dialogue, Afterglow is more like a little jewel box that plays another chorus of Pauline Kael’s passionate song.
Second Helpings: Bagels to Beignets to Doughnuts
Starch: “Second Helpings” thinks it just makes sense.
Mr. Smarty Pants
In times of stress, elephants can preserve energy by hibernating.Vat fermentation of Aspergillus niger produces citric acid in cola drinks.Charles Rolls of Rolls-Royce was the first person to buy an airplane from the Wright Brothers for his own private use. He was also the first British aviator to die in a plane crash.The late composer…
Phases and Stages
The Coffee SergeantsConsolation Has No Phone… (Monkey’s Paw) There’s few surprises on this disc, but one doesn’t turn to the Coffee Sergeants for surprises. After more than a dozen years on the Austin scene, Carey Bowman’s outfit has outlived many of their peers, and they’ve used the time to finally hone their distinctive sound. They…
Oppel’s Memory Hole
Statesman editor Rich Oppel blasts Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, but may not have checked his facts.
Pauline & Paulettes
Anthony Lane’s new collection of writings from his tenure at The New Yorker makes for an engaging, easy read. The question still stands as to whether film criticism should be easy.
Eight Days a Week
Saturday, Oct. 12LAVAW/D: Joe Tucker; with Tucker, James Holmes, Nicola Stapleton, Grahame Fox. Advance Screening This Brit-pic is right up there with the best of them in terms of random acts of senseless violence. The first casualty comes two minutes into the film, when a homeless man is offed for sudsing the windshield of the…
To Your Health
I am very concerned about my 12-year-old son. He mopes around the house, doesn’t seem to have hobbies or friends, and the friends he does have are rather unsavory characters. I was like that when I was a teenager, but I don’t want him to suffer like I did, even to the point of having…
Phases and Stages
Craig MarshallPopular Crimes (Big Ticket) So where’s the crime in being popular? Craig Marshall seems to be out to prove there isn’t one. Though the longtime local singer describes this album as “alt-pop,” there’s very little alt and plenty of pop here, starting with the first track, “Desperately.” Even without the prominent harmony vocals of…
Clergy: Bush Shalt Not Kill
More than 70 clergy and religious leaders from several different faiths and religious institutions came together last Thursday to denounce President George W. Bush’s drive for war with Iraq. Meeting at University Baptist Church, the religious leaders crowded the stage to overflowing and told attendees that they had signed a letter to the president urging…
Pauline & Paulettes
A triumph of reductionist thinking, the Four Word Film Review expounds (very briefly) on thumbs up, thumbs down.
About AIDS
October 19th Rally to Protest Prevention Debacle In September, the Texas Department of Health issued its funding decisions for HIV/AIDS prevention for the next five years. In short, the situation is a disaster. Texas has always been stingy with HIV prevention money, so TDH didn’t have the resources available that are actually needed. However, many…
Phases and Stages
Asylum Street SpankersMy Favorite Record (Bloodshot) For their seventh full-length recording, Austin’s Asylum Street Spankers turn down the novelty nob and amp up the contemporary appeal. My Favorite Record follows the wonderfully conceived Spanker Madness, forgoing the kitsch with 11 new songs and a well-chosen cover (Willie Dixon’s “Insane Asylum”). The problem with ditching the…
KAOS at KOOP
Austin’s “community-owned” radio station is once again fractured into factions.
Short Cuts
More festival fever.
A Shared Vision
MM Pack reports on the combination of generosity and hard work that built the Institute of Hospitality & Culinary Arts at Travis High School.
Phases and Stages
Broken TeethGuilty Pleasures (Killingbird)Broken Teeth/Streetwalkin’ CheetahsIn Rock We Trust (ChangesOne) For all those who look to AC/DC as the Holy Grail of hard rock, Broken Teeth keeps heads banging and fires burning. Dangerous Toy/GMC frontman Jason McMaster hangs up his bass to take on Bon Scott’s constipated screech, and on Guilty Pleasures, the band’s second…
Trouble Tackling Tulia
The attorney general’s office has already run into trouble in its investigation of the notorious 1999 Tulia drug bust, already the subject of two federal probes. The AG’s office wouldn’t comment, but ACLU of Texas Executive Director Will Harrell says Swisher/Hale Co. District Attorney Terry McEachern — who prosecuted 46 people on drug charges on…
TV Eye
Assuming for a moment that I rely on popular culture for all my information, what I want to know is, where do we learn to grow old?
Olivia Balderrama Comes Full Circle
For someone who isn’t yet 25 years old, Travis High School’s chef-instructor Olivia Balderrama has packed a great deal of experience into her life. As a Bowie High School junior, she enrolled in the school’s culinary program and realized immediately what she wanted to do with her life. “I always loved to cook, my grandmother…
Phases and Stages
The Cruel & UnusualKilltime (Mortville) Since so much of a punk album’s appeal lies in how well a band harnesses its live energy, it will come as good news to Austin true believers that the Cruel & Unusual’s latest is greasier than a slice of the Parlor’s finest. Never less than balls-out, the local trio…
Naked City
Breaking news from Austin, Texas, and the World
Video Reviews
Though this bittersweet story languished foolishly on the shelf after a Sundance premiere, and limited theatrical release two years ago, it is finally available on video.
A Better Tomorrow
For years, the city of Austin’s arts funding process has been mired in perpetual gloom, but with the city reviewing its Cultural Contracts Program, artists and arts companies talking with each other about collaborations and a shared vision of what the arts mean to Austin, there are glimmers of light on the city’s arts funding…
Food-o-File
“Talk about your big party weekends,” writes Virginia B. Wood in this week’s “Food-o-File.” “If you don’t find some great food and wine to enjoy with this lineup available, you’re just not trying hard enough!”
Phases and Stages
SniffyNo Secrets in Sweatpants (Austin Music Community) This power trio teaming of local guitar anti-hero Jimmy Bradshaw, bass vixen Rebekah Whitehurst, and all-meat drummer Gene Paul Loncon earns its odoriferous moniker with a rank, seeds-‘n’-stems-strewn carpet mash of gutter punk and flash-pot metal. Like most of the growing Bradshaw canon (Unicorn Magic, Squat Thrust, Voltage,…
Naked City
Move over, Rover: The City Council passed new rules last week specifying how dogs can be tethered in Austin yards. The ordinance, strongly supported by animal advocates, prescribes the length, weight, and operation of leads; requires that dogs be able to reach water and shelter; and empowers animal control officers to actually write tickets for…
The Ballad of El Molino
Unearthing one of the great “lost” albums of Texas rock & roll history
The Audit
As part of the internal effort to review and revise its system of allocating funding to artists, the city of Austin undertook an audit of the Cultural Contracts Program this year. Staff from the city auditor’s office observed the FY 2003 process and produced a draft report, which was presented to council on Oct. 1.…
Psychedelic Warlords
The kings of Texas psyche rock, ST 37
Phases and Stages
HugLickable (Big Block) To put it charitably, Hug is an acquired taste; namely, a taste acquired after several hits off the crack pipe. Obsessed with cunnilingus, drugs, and the KGB (don’t ask), the local Casio-worshipping threesome is just the ticket for anyone who finds Tenacious D too refined or Ween just not creepy enough. The…
Naked City
Old senators never die, they just get richer. When U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm leaves office at the end of the year, he’ll advance his fortunes by advising others how to advance theirs. No slouch at opportunism, the former chair of the Senate Banking Committee has found work as an investment banker with multinational conglomerate UBS…
Carrasco Reviewed
Joe “King” Carrasco & El Molino(Tornado) El Molino was the late-Seventies precursor to the Eighties nuevo wavo sound of Joe “King” Carrasco’s Crowns, a most unlikely Tex-meets-Mex aggregation that paired a brash musician from Dumas with San Antonio’s wickedest horn players. Engineered by S.A.’s Marius “Bubba” Perron and recorded at Zaz Studios, El Molino’s brilliance…
Spirited Away
Spirited Away, about a young girl who is trapped between the real and the ghost-worlds, melds bits of Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz with Eastern-angled spookiness and an outré sensibility that borders on the indescribable.
Calling in the Experts
Dabney and Associates, the consulting firm hired by the city to review Austin’s arts funding policies, consists of Lucille E. Dabney and Marion McCollam, both former executive directors of the Cultural Arts Council of Houston; and Eduardo Diaz, former director of cultural affairs for the city of San Antonio. Their charge from the city of…
ST 37 Reviewed
ST 37Down On Us (Emperor Jones) After 15 years, several lineup changes, and umpteen CDs, cassettes, and compilations, ST 37 has honed its mixture of psychedelicized space punk into a potent essence that just might raise blisters on the brain if you let it soak long enough. Down On Us doesn’t reinvent ST 37 as…
Phases and Stages
RecoverCeci N’est Pas Recover (Fiddler) This five-song EP’s title translates from French as “This is Not Recover,” which could mean a couple of things. Is this merely a stopgap measure by the local, emo-leaning punk quartet not meant to fit in the continuum between 2001’s Rodeo & Picasso and their eagerly awaited full-length follow-up? Or…
Naked City
Two gubernatorial candidates will be debating in Austin Friday night, but their names aren’t Perry and Sanchez. Green Party nominee Rahul Mahajan and Libertarian Jeff Daiell will duel on Oct. 11, 7pm, on the UT campus at Welch Hall, Room 2.246 (24th and Speedway). Call 389-0215 for more info. After that, the Greens invite you…
Dancing About Architecture
Everything from 20+ years ago is coming back, starting with Elvis Costello.
The Transporter
The Transporter 2002, PG-13, 92 min. Directed by Corey Yuen, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jason Statham, Qi Shu, François Berlé, Matt Schulze, Ric Young. Like the longest BMW featurette Guy Ritchie never made, this action yarn is a slick, sexy little package with fast cars, big explosions, dazzling locations in the south…
