Cover Story
The Journey of a Gun
Gun traveled circuitous path to Kevin Brown’s hands
“On the Doll(s)”
On the Doll director Thomas Mignone with cast members at Cedar Street Courtyard, trying their best to hold still for the camera while On the Doll soundtrackers The Crystal Method redefine the idea of “sternum-rattling bass” mere feet behind them. (Deaf by temptation?)
“On the Doll” DJ set from the Crystal Method for AFF
Couldn’t get into The Walker? Us too, so we’re heading over to Cedar Street Courtyard ASAP to check out the party for director Thomas Mignone’s feature On the Doll, which, of course, we haven’t seen yet but the word is good. Oddly (or maybe not – like I said, we haven’t had a chance to…
Libertarians Against The Domain
The local retailers of Stop Domain Subsidies get some support from the Libertarians.
Board Out of Their Minds
Council hears proposals on shaking up the way advisory boards are selected.
Austin and the Historical Significance of Fox 7
The closest thing Austin will come to an official history: an electronic booth.
Synth Party!
The third Austin Analog Synth Party bleeps Saturday.
The Mystic’s Dream
Loreena McKennitt in Dallas.
City Council Notebook
Town Lake Animal Center threatens to swallow the evening, and Will Wynn hates morning congestion.
Cap Metro’s Little Black Box
Cap Met claims speed not to blame with wrecked train.
KEYE Shows Texans Some Love
Austin-area Texans fans rejoice. KEYE has decided to air the Texans game against Jacksonville instead of the Tennessee-Tampa Bay matchup. Even though the Titans/Falcons game received a higher rating than the Texans/Dolphins game last Sunday, KEYE has decided to show Texans fans some love by choosing them for this week’s broadcast. Texans fans need to…
Behind This Mask Another Mask …
More Cahun and Moore, please!
Local teens on TV
Local teens star in reality series, ENDURANCE: Fiji.
CWS Decision: This Far, No Further
Developers pushing toward Lady Bird Lake take a planning commission loss.
The Privatized Government
Sen. Hinojosa draws comparisons between private prisons and private wars – and why both are doomed to fail the state.
Someone’s Confused ‘Job Fair’ With ‘Casting Call’
“Bottle-club” Pangea hasn’t even opened, yet their douchebaggery already astounds.
We’re No. 8!
Drug prosecutions down this month — but that’s not the whole story
We’re No. 1! (and No. 7)
First in the nation; tied for third in the Big 12 – it’s looking like that kind of year for women’s soccer. With every major program in the country having at least two blemishes on their record, the UT Lady Longhorns have the first No. 1 ranking in the program’s history this week, as they…
Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed Is Afraid of Needles
Bexar D.A. scuttles life-saving needle-exchange program
Want to End the Drug War? Jack Cole Will Tell You How!
Anti-drug war lecturer coming to UT.
Stealing Elections Like Grandpa Used To
Raymond Villarreal. Bringing the personal touch back to electoral corruption.
The Balance of Power Rests on the Dais
Three ordinances before City Council look to shift power from city staff to the council.
Callous Keller Strikes Again
Judge lies in zeal to send convict to the death chamber.
The Passion of Bob Stoops
My pal got the big job against stiff competition. He wasn’t necessarily the best candidate, but he wanted it the most. A month or so ago I spoke about my new novel, Evacuation Plan, to the Writers League of Texas. One person attending later admitted on her blog that she came with no intention of…
The Battle of TLAC
Split council to face simple up-or-down decision on the proposed replacement for Town Lake Animal Center.
Dumb but Pretty
Rilo Kiley vs. Devendra Banhart
Starving and Art in Marfa, Texas
Sonic Youth plays Marfa, turns on the bright lights.
Dog Fight over Town Lake Animal Center
Council set for a divisive argument over the future of TLAC with rival agenda items this week.
One of Our Airplanes Is Missing!
Who steals a 175lb mail box?
Kick Out the McJams
A review of Umphrey’s McGee.
The 8th Fire: One Earth … One Whole Circle … Again
A documentary with a Native American message of inspiration.
Gay is Un-American (Idol)
Getty uses the term “butt sex” again.
Mystery Men Mysterious No More
2008 becomes the election year of “follow the money.”
Marion Jones Admits Steroid Use
New Austinite likely will be stripped of her five Olympic medals.
That’s Why We Have Metal Detectors
Man does himself in at Clarksville, Tennessee council meeting.
‘Patterns of Peru and Texas’: Peruse Peruvian power
Showing the art connection between sister cities Lima and Austin
Phases & Stages
Thurston Moore Trees Outside the Academy (Ecstatic Peace!) Psychic Hearts, Thurston Moore’s 1995 solo debut, was the epitome of what “indie rock” sounded like right then, and it didn’t stray far from what Sonic Youth was doing at the time, either. SY’s Rather Ripped flexed some much-needed muscle last year, but the Massachusetts axeman’s second…
Off the Record
Barreling down the Big State Festival and going to 11 with the Paul Green School of Rock Music
Half-Brother Against Half-Brother
Jeff Nichols on ‘Shotgun Stories’
Deep Inside: Extreme Erotic Fantasies
While Polly Frost certainly borders on science fiction as much as the supernatural, she keeps slash out, paranormal in, and takes the one-handed read to another level altogether
Phases & Stages
Dave Brubeck Live in ’64 & ’66 (Naxos) John Coltrane Live in ’60, ’61 & ’65 (Naxos) Duke Ellington Live in ’58 (Naxos) Dexter Gordon Live in ’63 & ’64 (Naxos) Charles Mingus Live in ’64 (Naxos) Wes Montgomery Live in ’65 (Naxos) Sarah Vaughan Live in ’58 & ’64 (Naxos) In a culture that…
Beside the Point
The politics of panhandling
When Little Blue Men Fight the War at Home
Scott Prendergast on ‘Kabluey’
The Electric Church
In his debut novel, Jeff Somers attempts to create a 21st century cyberpunk novel
Developing Stories
City just says no to $1 million. Go figure.
Labor Intensive
John Fiege on ‘Mississippi Chicken’ and Anne Lewis on ‘Morristown’
The Common Law
Need Legal Advice? – Call LegalLine – Austin’s Free Legal Hotline
They All Start Out the Same
Guns and the law
Bike Mobility Task Force Wheels Out Initial Recommendations
Final recommendations due by end of November, go to council in December.
A Sense of Wonder
T’chaka Sikelianos on ‘A Yeti in the City’
After a Fashion
Stephen goes alley-cattin’ for real
The Hightower Report
Verichip Implants, Tumors, and Cash; and USDA: A Brothel for Agribusiness
CAMPO Poised to Pass Toll Plan – Despite Uneasiness
CAMPO driving toward vote on humongous toll plan
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
A more politically correct Barbie, lethal TV remotes, and more
Austin Film Society Documentary Tour: ‘Nanking’
… and DocuWeek at the Arbor
Who Knew a Tax Collector’s Race Could Be This Much Fun?
Spears and Maxey spar over role of tax assessor-collector
Feast of Love
Robert Benton directs this Oregon-set meditation on the permutations of love among a constellation of characters.
Event Menu
Oct. 4-18
Film News
Chalk and jumping off bridges finally see DVD, while Fantastic Fest becomes a beast
Seven Straight Nights to Shine Light on Gay Rights
Straight folk go to bat for queer folk
The Heartbreak Kid
Ben Stiller stars in this smart and winning remake of a 1972 Neil Simon-penned comedy about a man who falls in love with another woman on his honeymoon.
Food-o-File
Bistro 3158 takes its dining series trans-Atlantic; plus, Amy’s Ice Creams celebrates Oliver Stone
Saving ‘Friday Night Lights’
You knew NBC renewed it, but did you know someone was gonna see God?
Naked City
Quote of the Week I treat my subjects – servants, children, wife – with a firm but gentle hand. Noblesse oblige! – Attorney Bill Aleshire, quoting Mr. Banks of Mary Poppins (“The Life I Lead”) on City Manager Toby Futrell’s noblesse oblige: “This attitude that those in power should direct people’s lives and should protect…
The Jane Austen Book Club
Though it’s as estrogenic as dong quai, this amiable film about six friends and their book club is thoughtfully rendered with a certain universality of spirit.
Religious Attendance
Seventy-fifth annual St. Elias Mediterranean Festival is sure to draw record crowds
TV Eye
Casting About
@Chronic
Statesman lauds Gore for bringing climate-change ‘message to masses of people unlikely to pick up a scientific journal.’ A masses that, seemingly, includes the paper’s editorial board.
The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising
This fantasy film, adapted from Susan Cooper’s series of novels, is utterly devoid of anything but bombastically simplistic notions.
Silver Lining
The Octopus Project’s Avalanche instrumentalism
They Might Be Angels
For Blue Lapis Light, dance artists Laura Cannon and Nicole Whiteside become heavenly creatures
Animal Shelter Lawsuit
Citizen groups sue city, allege ‘conspiratorial strategy’ to keep animal shelter relocation decision away from public scrutiny
Weirdsville
Weirdsville accomplishes something that is rare for Canadian-made comedies: It’s actually funny.
The Octopus Project Reviewed
The Octopus Project Hello, Avalanche (Peek-a-Boo) Austin instrumental quartet the Octopus Project has evolutionized electronic textures and made them human. This is so much more than post-post-rock dabbledry; it’s warm and inviting, driven and emotional. Opening with the slow chill of xylophone and Yvonne Lambert’s multitracked theremin on “Snow Tip Cap Mountain,” Avalanche blasts familiar…
Feeling the Audience
In addition to learning new ways of relating to their own bodies in space, Whiteside and Cannon have been learning new ways of relating to the bodies watching their bodies in space. “Whenever I get into a space,” says Whiteside, “I think, ‘Oh, the people are so far away, they can’t see this. This gesture…
Opposition to Immigrant Detention Centers Mounts
Georgia detention center, Texas’ usual suspects in spotlight
Hank, Harry, and Jesse James
Sitting in with Jimmy Grabowske, steel guitarist to the stars
Arts Review
Pointedly political, yes, but Charles Mee’s update of Brecht is also wildly entertaining
Cornyn Takes Wimpy Stance on Border
Senator addresses Border Trade Alliance via video at annual International Conference
Phases & Stages
Devendra Banhart Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon (XL Recordings) The last time Devendra Banhart tuned in, he was the toast of “freak-folk,” his Hairy Fairy Band tagged as a bizarro version of the Band. Credit the Bay Area singer-songwriter’s 2005 breakthrough, Cripple Crow, recorded in upstate New York and channeling Sixties folk and psych with…
Arts Review
Listening to Conspirare sing Tarik O’Regan’s music, we held infinity in our ears
Point Austin: How Will We Manage?
Council looks for a new manager, and new kind
Eastside News
Exploring a quartet of recently opened restaurants
Sylvia Orozco: The right path
Mexic-Arte’s director has been honored by Mexico for showing its cultural treasures in Texas
Phases & Stages
Kevin Drew Spirit If … (Arts & Crafts) Stars In Our Bedroom After the War (Arts & Crafts) The Most Serene Republic Population (Arts & Crafts) Metric Grow Up and Blow Away (Last Gang) Anointing Broken Social Scene the monarch of indie rock in 2003 began a domino effect. Now releasing albums through BSS imprint…
Page Two: Cat and Mouse
Slipping in and out of dreams, films, and comics, in which nothing is revealed
Supremes to Weigh In on Lethal Injection
Does current lethal injection method of 37 states subject prisoners to cruel and unusual punishment?
Dreams, Journeys, Disasters, and Joy
Previewing the 14th annual Austin Film Festival
Free Night of Theater 2007: See a bit of drama, on the house
Time again for your annual chance to sample what area thespians do, at no cost
Phases & Stages
Bruce Springsteen Magic (Columbia) Touted as the first E Street Band album in five years, Magic casts off the solemnity of 2002’s The Rising for the top-down rush of “Radio Nowhere.” Kick-off and canonical bull’s-eye, its “I just want to hear some rhythm” chant strips Magic free of pretense. Hop on, strap in. Producer Brendan…
Day Trips
San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas coast near Brazoria is a very peaceful place
Polygamous Prophet Update: Jeffs Found Guilty of Being Rape Accomplice
Warren Jeffs nailed for role in arranging and carrying out marriage of 14-year-old to her cousin
Austin Children’s Museum: No go on Block 21
The Austin Children’s Museum has decided not to be a part of the sexy Block 21 development after all
Phases & Stages
Kanye West Graduation (Def Jam) 50 Cent Curtis (G Unit/Interscope) The great ones rise to the occasion. Kanye West gets more credit than he deserves, but his production is top of the line, and his awareness of his place in hip-hop history is on point. That’s what separates his Graduation from 50 Cent’s Curtis: West…
Soccer Watch
Longhorns and Hilltoppers maintain their winning ways, and more
Happenings
Oct. 5–11
Luv Doc Recommends: TFN’s 12th Anniversary Celebration
Texas is a really big state, especially in the minds of its citizens, whose heads, for the most part, are large enough to comfortably accommodate its immense geography. Nowhere else in America will you find a citizenry so convinced of their home state’s superiority, even and especially in the absence of any substantiation. Outside of…
