Food-O-File
Over the past several years, various incarnations of La Zona Rosa (612 W. Fourth, 472-9075) have come and gone. No matter what changes were made with each new regime, the funky downtown building seemed to maintain some integrity as a music venue even while its status as a reliable restaurant was perpetually in question. However,…
Naked City
The Gary Bradley saga continues…this time in the form of a malpractice lawsuit he’s brought against his long-time attorney, Terry Bray and Alan Haywood, both of Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody. Bradley alleges “The Firm” failed to follow his instructions when it drew up the papers in the Circle C land transaction. Bradley’s Phoenix Holdings…
Articulations
TFAA Moving Again Two months ago, the big drive by the Texas Fine Arts Association (TFAA) to join the burgeoning downtown museum scene with a flashy new space on Congress looked like it might be stalled indefinitely. That was when Sandra Gregor resigned her longtime post as executive director of the nonprofit that promotes contemporary…
Perfect Game Plan
Hudson’s on the Bend photograph by John Anderson Bluebonnets aside, autumn has to be the the most flavorful time in Central Texas. Our first cold fronts signal that we’ve weathered another long hot season and can start drinking red wine. Kitchen junkies can cook without fear of heatstroke, and we all look forward to the…
Triangle Park Halloween Mask Assembly and Operation
cover illustration by Jason Stout Warning: You will need a pair of scissors, some other dangerous stuff, and a moderate attention span to successfully complete this exercise. 1) Cut out the “Triangle Park” area of the Triangle Park Robot on the cover of this issue. Mash it to your face and see how it feels.…
Not Just Dance
Sydney Dance Company Cross-disciplinary is the focus this fall in dance presentations at UT’s Performing Arts Center. It doesn’t seem quite right to call them just “dance” — without the other artistic elements with which they’re fused, they wouldn’t, pardon the pun, have a leg to stand on. The shows — Free Radicals, presented last…
Getting in on the Game
So you’re craving wild boar, venison, or buffalo. Short of killing yourself, where in town can you feast on game? Your options are surprisingly vast, with an ample handful of restaurants promising game dishes as regular menu features and many others serving game specials, particularly in the cooler months. We’ve excluded duck, simply because we…
Reinventing theTriangle
As the outcome of theChronicle’s Triangle Design Contest makes clear, there’s not much consensus out there about the fate of this three-cornered parcel. Which is why, in real life, the Triangle keeps moving in circles. Since our last big story on the Triangle in July, tangible developments have been few. Cencor Realty, prospective developers of…
1997 Texas Book Festival Program
All events take place on Capitol grounds. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1 10:30am Opening Session Welcome by Laura Bush, First Lady of Texas Readings by Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana 10:30am Children’s Author Reading: Ana Sisnett 11am Children’s Author Reading Mary Brooke Casad 11:30am The Border in Fiction: Readings: Carol Dawson, George Rabasa 11:30am True Crime: Rape, Murder,…
Live Shots
Big Sandy & his Fly-Rite boys at Continental Club, October 24 photograph by John Carrico PAT MACDONALD North by Northwest, Portland, Oregon, October 16-18 It’s smugly satisfying when, as you review a weekend as full of great music as was this year’s North by Northwest conference in Portland, you realize the best stuff you saw…
And Then a Step to the Right
The Rocky Horror Picture Show on VH-1 all Hallowe’en night. Ken Lieck insists upon calling the holiday “Hallowe’en,” which I find ludicrous but have always honored. (I once openly rebelled against another editor here who insisted on using “rock ‘n’ roll” instead of “rock & roll.” That’s the USA Network of spellings.) So, for Ken’s…
Exhibitionism
State Theatre through November 16 Running time: 2 hrs, 20 min “Where do I live?” The question comes from Tobias, the aging master of the suburban household in which this Edward Albee drama of settled lives getting unsettled is set. He asks it of his wife Agnes, not to inquire after his address, a number…
Devotion + Doubt
He’s brutally frank: “It really is so motherfucking ridiculous it’s amazing. I can’t believe it exists. I can’t believe it exists. First of all, it’s like, `Here’s the deal. We’re going to give you money so that you can make your record. Then, when it sells, we’re going to give you 13% of the profits.…
Kustom Film Kommando
Kenneth Anger, who will be in Austin this Halloween weekend, is a premier figure of American avant-garde cinema. Legendary as an underground filmmaker, Anger prefers to regard himself as a maker of magick, albeit one who uses the camera as his medium to the occult. Born around 1930 (the year varies slightly by source), Anger…
Texans and Texts
State and church. State and city. State and literature — of all entities either conjoined or opposed to the “state,” literature rarely merits mention. Our cultural image bank readily stores events like totalitarian burning of books and suppression of dissident voices, but few images of the state’s involvement with literature seem nurturing; fewer seem as…
Road Shows
OCTOBER FRI 31 Matchbox 20, LiLi Hayden, Austin Music Hall FRI 31 Iguanas, Continental Club FRI 31 Green Day, Liberty Lunch FRI 31 Grifters, Electric Lounge FRI 31 Lolita 18, Criminals, L.E.S. Stiches, Calvin Krime, Emo’s FRI 31 Kirk Franklin & the Family, God’s Property, Trin-I-Tee 5:7, Frank Erwin Center NOVEMBER SAT 1 Evil Mothers,…
Scanlines
(“Scanlines” wishes to thank Encore Movies & Music, I [heart] Video, and Vulcan Video for their help in providing videos and laser discs.) In Swamp Women (D: Roger Corman (1956); with Mike “Touch” Connors, Susan Cummings, Jil Jarmyn, Marie Windsor, Beverly Garland, Carole Mathews),Lee (Mathews) is an undercover policewoman posing as a gun dame to…
Postscripts
Zapatista Youth is organizing a benefit to help pay for Raul Salinas’ medical bills. Salinas has had a bladder tumor and is in need of some financial help to cover costs. Attending the event is a way to give back to a politically active author who has given much to this town. Ta M�re, East…
Recommended
Friday: Jon Dee Graham, Flipnotics; Butch Hancock CD release, Cactus Caf� Saturday:The Fixx, Bob Popular; Cher UK, Hole in the Wall; Merchants of Venus, The Ritz Sunday: Pat Boyack & the Prowlers, Antone’s Monday: The Hehmshoth Project, Sullivan’s Ringside Tuesday: The Scabs’ Karote Jam, Antone’s Wednesday: Blue Recluse, Speakeasy Thursday: Dance Hall Crashers, Liberty Lunch
Shortcuts
Kenneth Anger, the groundbreaking pioneer of the American avant-garde cinema and the scandal-rich author of the Hollywood Babylon book series, is making his first return visit to Austin in nearly 20 years, courtesy of local film group in*situ. The appropriately timed Halloween weekend visit includes a Friday, Oct. 31 screening in Burdine Auditorium on the…
James Michener (1907-1997)
I was first touched by James Michener some 15 years ago when my painting class at Southwest Texas came to Austin to view his collection of American art on the UT campus. I sat cross-legged on the carpet, admiring Pearlstein’s cool nudes and Gottlieb’s bold red and black brush strokes. Later, after I got my…
Oumou Sangare UT Hogg Auditorium Thursday, November 6
“Music is taken very seriously in Mali and Africa because it has a message, because singing is a way of telling stories,” says Oumou Sangare, probably the most well-known singer from the musically rich West African country of Mali. “Mali has such a strong musical tradition because it produces many different rhythms, and the rhythm…
Marie Windsor
Sterling Hayden and Marie Windsor in The Killing The eyes… pale blue, in vivid contrast to her dark hair, hooded, lazy, smoldering sexuality mixed with pure danger, the kind of eyes that could gaze lovingly or cut you in half. The voice… world-weary and cynical, but soft and sensual at the same time. Whether playing…
About AIDS
For several years, we have seen a seriously rising incidence of AIDS among women in the U.S. Latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) show that this trend continues: The number of women diagnosed with full AIDS (not just HIV infection) increased 63% from June, 1991, through June, 1995. These 67,400…
Flip the Switch
“Yeah, when you call my name I salivate like a Pavlov dog Yeah, when you lay me out My heart is beating louder than a big bass drum.” — “Bitch” The phone is already ringing. Who? “Somebody with the Rolling Stones,” yells an office mate. Yikes. Hello? Yes — wait, let me sit down. Okay,…
Dancing About Architecture
Craig Ross got the first good review for his second album Everland in the pages of this month’s Request magazine. The only problem is that the MCA album, which was to be released last week, won’t be appearing until at least next year and most likely will not even be on MCA. “I don’t know…
Hearth & Soul
Hard Answers to Easy Questions Dear Suzy, I live in a teensy weensy rental house. The living room and two bedrooms have some really nasty old carpet in them. I’ve tried my best to get my landlord to do something, but he’s made it pretty clear I’ll have to do it myself. So I’ve gone…
The Set List
(10/17/97) Satisfaction It’s Only Rock & Roll Flip the Switch Let’s Spend the Night Together Gimme Shelter Love In Vain Anybody Seen My Baby 19th Nervous Breakdown Out of Control Star Star Miss You All About You Wanna Hold Little Queenie Crazy Mama You Got Me Rocking Sympathy for the Devil Tumblin’ Dice Honky Tonk…
Red Corner
Red Corner 1997, R, 122 min. Directed by Jon Avnet, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Richard Gere, Bai Ling, Bradley Whitford, Ron Mann, James Hong, Peter Donat, Tsai Chin, Tzi Ma, Richard Venture. From the producer of all three Mighty Ducks films comes this bloated courtroom harangue against Red China, big business, and…
Benefits
WED 5 Concert featuring Ta M�re, East Babylon Symphony, and the Blimpe to benefit poet Raul Salinas (for medical bills), at Electric Lounge, 302 Bowie, 8pm. 454-8097. SUN 9 Aquathon ’97 to benefit Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA), at Hills Fitness Center, 4615 Bee Caves Rd., 1-4pm. Cost is $10. 263-3425. The Chronicle benefits database…
I Shot Mick Jagger
photograph by Margaret Moser “I can’t get no…” Mick Jagger is directly over me, mike in one hand, the other flailing in time. I point my camera at his face, maybe seven or eight feet away. That famous elastic mouth focused in my sightline, as my itchy finger eases downward. “…satisfaction.” Click. I got photo…
Sunday
Sunday 1997, NR, 93 min. Directed by Jonathan Nossiter, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring David Suchet, Lisa Harrow, Larry Pine, Jared Harris, Joe Grifasi. Late morning hush. Sweet waking dreams. Traffic lights presiding silently over empty streets, and a day’s respite from the oppressive gravity of purpose. For most of us, Sunday is…
Coach’s Corner
Let’s get something straight right away: The Colorado Buffaloes who rolled over the UT Longhorns last Saturday are not a good football team. Well, let me qualify that. In a rare moment of humility, I’ll admit to a lack of expertise in judging football talent. I write a column, what do I know? So, let…
PAC by Popular Demand
illustration by Doug Potter Many voters, asked to identify the source of the special-interest money that stinks up American politics, would likely point first to corporate-sponsored political action committees (PACs) — whose unabashed uses of cash for political access are well-known. Not so long ago, PAC lobbyists could be found in the offices of Austin…
Flamenco
Flamenco R, 112 min. Directed by Carlos Saura, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Paco De Lucia, Manolo Sanlucar, Lole Y Manuel, Joaquin Cortes, Farruco, Farruqito, Mario Maya. Not reviewed at press time. Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura (Carmen, Blood Wedding) takes stock of the art of flamenco dance and song by showcasing hundreds of…
Day Trips
The tale of the headless horseman circulated the plains of Texas in the days when the shadows were young. Storytellers repeat reports of a big mustang stallion carrying a man shrouded in a serape with his head dangling from his saddle horn by a strap. After the Civil War, between the Nueces River and the…
How the ALLC amendment would limit PACs:
PACs would be allowed to contribute only $100 to any individual candidate, and accept contributions of no more than $100 each. To participate in Austin elections, statewide PACs would have to form local committees which adhere to the limitations imposed by the amendment (this provision would likely be challenged in the courts). PACs which advertise…
Boogie Nights
Boogie Nights gets under the skin of the porn film industry’s exuberant burst of public semirespectability in the late Seventies, prior to the home-video revolution that changed the rules of the game forever. The movie is no socio-cultural abstract though; it is at heart the story about a group of characters and the de facto…
Page Two
It’s hard to love a new road. It either carves up neighborhoods or plows through relatively undeveloped country, encouraging all kinds of growth. A road is a scar that changes the land around it. I can’t remember any new road bond the Chronicle has ever been in favor of, except maybe one or two very…
Poison Little Pills
The city manager usually projects a mild-mannered demeanor while sitting on the dais, but annexation anger infected even Jesus Garza at last week’s meeting. Garza caused a stir when he ripped into citizen speaker Judy Jennings, who had come to vent about the annexation of her district, Northwest Travis County Municipal Utility District #1 (MUD…
Public Notice
Those well-dressed lads at N-8 are tossing together a lovely way to tithe in style for the holidays. For the months of November and December, customers of N-8 Menswear & Gifts, 1014-B N. Lamar, may Donate a non-perishable food item or personal hygiene product to receive a 15% discount off everything purchased. At the end…
Endorsements
There’s an election coming up on November 4. Voters will be asked to consider 14 propositions to amend the Texas Constitution and eight propositions to spend nearly $100 million of bond money on such things as roads, criminal justice, and parks. On a separate ballot reserved for city voters will be a single proposition to…
Mister Smarty Pants Knows
Halloween has been celebrated in the U.S. since the 1840s. According to one theory, the custom of trick or treating comes from a ninth-century European custom called “souling.” On October 31, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for “soul cakes,” made out of square pieces of bread with currants.…
Mulling Over Mueller
What could you do with 711 acres? Consider this — Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, small and poky as it is, is 6.5 times larger than Vatican City. So the occupants of the New Mueller have enough room to dominate the temporal world, define the shape of art and architecture, and commune directly with God, and…
