Cover Story
Supermask Instructions
We can’t think of a better occasion than Halloween to mark the 20th anniversary of the original “grandfather” law and, most importantly, the man behind it: Richard T. Suttle Jr. This hometown boy drafted the bill and lobbied legislators on behalf of builders looking to skirt city development rules designed to protect water quality and…
Low Crime at Halloween
APD reports low crime figures for the Sixth St. Halloween parade.
Peak Oil in the Energy State
2007 Houston World Oil Conference focused on eventual point at which world oil production outpaces global demand
Austin Design Guide
Our favorite design blog (ahem, second only to Chronique), Design Sponge, just published the Austin Design Guide, with help from local artist Alyson Fox. They’ve compiled a list of stylish shops and select places to eat, with the disclaimer that it’s not a guide to all good design-y things in town. They’re off to a…
MMAer Bennett Gets Back in the Cage
Garrett Bennett talks about evening up his record at King of Kombat
More More More Fun
The after-after-afterparties for Fun Fun Fun Fest.
Libertarians: Fighting Against the Fight Against Cancer
Travis County Libertarian chair takes state medical bodies to task over advertising for cancer funds
What the World Needs Now
David Lowery of Cracker reminisces.
Horns’ Season Finale, St. Ed’s Update, WC Futures
The UT Longhorns play their final regular season game this Friday, hosting Colorado, 7pm, Nov. 2, Mike Myers Stadium, Red River at Manor ($3 web coupon here). It’ll be the last home game for seniors Kelsey Carpenter, Caitlin Kennedy, Greta Carter, Leslie Imber, and Stephanie Connors. But it’s also an important game in positioning the…
Slow News Day
Slow goings at City Council today.
‘Austin Chronicle’/Fadó Adult Spelling Bee
Thursday’s bee was entertaining and slightly tinged with alcoholic determination and briefly marred by a gaffe or two.
Precinct 206 Polling Place Change
New voting locaion is Pfluger Hall
The Mercenary and the Law
U.S. courts face a new dilemma over Iraq.
Chipping Away at Crack Sentencing Disparity
The first step toward eliminating the much-reviled 100-to-one crack-to-powder-cocaine sentencing scheme will take effect tomorrow, Nov. 1.
Sammy Allred Fired From KVET
A grouchy tradition ends after 35 years.
Scary Times, Indeed
John Edwards sends out the Scary Times.
Kevin Durant Debuts Tonight on ESPN
Last year’s UT superstar is this year’s Seattle Supersonics rookie. Kevin Durant, one year removed from high school and second overall pick in the draft, makes his National Basketball Association debut tonight on national television. Cable TV that is. After becoming one of the most dominant players in UT basketball history, we’ll see how KD…
The Business of MMA in Austin
MMA promoter explains why Austin is ready for combat sports.
The Return of ‘Open Government Online’
Council takes steps towards greater online transparency.
Nightmare on Congress, Candy at City Hall?
Escuelita del Alma holds what may be its last downtown trick-or-treat.
Extended Play
Nothing says punk rock like a book party and puppet show. Thursday at MonkeyWrench Books, Abby Banks celebrates the release of Punk House: Interiors in Anarchy, her collection of photographs documenting the communal lifestyle, with an introduction by Thurston Moore. Western Front, the Valley Arena, Saw Wheel, Dirty Monkey, and the Anchor also perform. 6pm.…
Ghoulish Ghana Greetings
Still a lot cheaper than anything in central Austin.
Lighting That’s Class-y (This Is Not About Dreamgirls)
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Arco floor lamp, designed by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni in 1962, manufactured by Flos and currently appearing in Dreamgirls, the movie. That’s right, I said it. Dreamgirls. Set designers and dressers love the Arco floor lamp – especially when they’re designing bourgie pads. Why? Well, because…
Homoween, Day 5: The Coke Machine
Homoween Day 5! Things go better with…!
Am I Not Your Girl?
Sinéad O’Connor lays down at the Hogg.
King of Kombat II Comes to Town
King of Kombat cage fighting comes back to Crockett this weekend.
Red Line Fever: Cured?
Texas teens are trying to be safe drivers, but there’s still gaps in their road safety education
City Council Notebook
Agenda highlights for the Thursday, Nov. 1, council meeting.
Want a New Drug?
Despite his clean cut, all-American image, you have to imagine Huey Lewis definitely indulged in the truckloads of drugs the Eighties had to offer. I mean, c’mon, “Hip to Be Square”? With that in mind, members of Oh, Beast! and Awesome Cool Dudes have joined forces as the New Drugs, a Huey Lewis & the…
Pelosi Plugs Local Energy Plan
Nancy Pelosi does Austin.
Austin Brings The Hawt
Attractive. Attractive attractiveness. Very attractive.
Sharp: I’m Not Running For Senate
Former state comptroller has no plans for any electoral run
An Open Letter to Jamaal Charles
Dear Jamaal Charles, I suppose this should be where I apologize. I was wrong about you, Jamaal, or should I say Mr. Charles? You certainly earned my respect. You can run the ball up the middle. You proved it when you sliced for three touchdowns through the Nebraska defense like it was rancid cream cheese.…
Citizens Communications Unbound
A student’s look at City Council citizens communications.
Early Voting Still at a Trickle
What? There’s an election happening?
NFL Midseason Report
Leading to the game of the year, maybe the game of the past five years, between the undefeated Patriots and the Super Bowl defending Colts in Indianapolis, there is very little I can write that hasn’t already been uttered. The Colts win by 24, even when they look sad, and the Patriots have yet to…
Pump Up the Volume
Pump Up the Volume 1990, R, 105 min. Directed by Allan Moyle, Starring Christian Slater, Samantha Morton. A teenager creates his own pirate radio station and rouses the support of other teens and the ire of the community.
Did Someone Say Wide Stance?
Bear bares all about Lar Bear.
Homoween, Day 4 : Yoko Ono
HomoYokoWeen: Day 4!
Researchers Find Drug Testing Doesn’t Deter Student Use
Random drug testing of high school athletes does not reduce their level of self-reported drug use.
Tandy Quits Drugs
After four years at the helm, Drug Enforcement Administration head Karen Tandy announced Oct. 22 that she is leaving the agency
Homoween, Day 3 : Gay Icons
Homoween: Day 3!
Valerie Plame on THE DAILY SHOW
Valerie Plame on THE DAILY SHOW.
Homoween, Day 2: The Ex-Gay
Homoween costume #2!
Learning About Cuba, Having Some Vodka
Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: Last night I found myself at Design Within Reach, learning about the four tenets of hip-hop (MCs, DJs, graffiti, and b-boy … ishness?). I was at DWR’s second Pecha Kucha (“chit-chat”) night, a sort of design salon, and perhaps in a little over my head. The sparkling…
Eurobad or Eurogood?
A friend sent me this recently… and I wanted to share. It’s a little slideshow of European interiors circa 1974. Be on the lookout for: Formica, a crafty plush mouse, a kitchen that connects to (what else?) a stable, bidets galore, green wood, an overexcited child, a Marilyn Monroe mirror, a circular stovetop island, and…
Open House Sunday for Dyslexic Children’s Preschool
The “world’s first preschool for dyslexic children” is hosting an open house for interested parents and their kids this Sunday from noon to 4pm at 13317 Fitzhugh Road, between Oak Hill and Dripping Springs, according to a press release from Prelexia, the new, tiny school. For more info about Prelexia, call 653-9653, e-mail beckylewis7@gmail.com, and/or…
Austin Rugby Club Hosts the Women’s Club National Playoffs
The Austin Rugby Club will join forces with USA Rugby – the national governing body for rugby in the U.S. – to host the 16 best women’s rugby clubs in the nation this weekend, Oct. 27-28, at Burr Field right here in the ATX. For directions to the pitch, click here. The Division I Women’s…
Border Wall Opposition Mounts
Immigration and environmental groups alligne4d against wall.
Can Height and Homes Coexist?
The next big high-rise tower passing through city commissions – 800 West Ave. – has offered plenty of fodder for discussion.
The Devil Is in the Denim
Your taste in jeans is distressing to me.
World Music Days
The Daniel Pearl World Music Days is a universal network of events held each year to help build tolerance and bridge cultural divides through music. The event’s namesake was a journalist and musician who was executed in Pakistan in 2002 while reporting on a story. The Belleville Outfit, an eclectic and exciting new bluegrass group…
Halloween All the Time
Just how many Americans believe in ghosts?
Rudy Giuliani & Leslie Cochran: Together at Last
Leslie to welcome the GOP contender; get out the crossdressing vote.
UT Gets Shrill With Paul Krugman
Pundit promoting book in November.
Phases & Stages
The Fiery Furnaces Widow City (Thrill Jockey) The Fiery Furnaces 2003 debut, Gallowsbird’s Bark, filtered blues-tinged Seventies pop through Eleanor Friedberger’s insouciant storytelling and her brother Matthew’s musical experimentation. The next year’s Blueberry Boat was jovial and eclectic. It’s been all downhill ever since. Release No. 5, Widow City, opens with the schizophrenic wank of…
Something Out of Nothing
Joe Swanberg, anti-director, on Hannah Takes the Stairs
Developing Stories: Wynn Calls for 2008 Rail Vote
Will Austin get a streetcar at last?
Page Two: Immigration by the Numbers
As our focus shifts from Iraq failures, an untenable and disheartening argument arises
The Comebacks
A comedy spoof of inspirational sports films.
Phases & Stages
Josh Ritter The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (Sony/BMG) Idaho native Josh Ritter’s fifth LP illustrates how well an artist can incorporate his influences while developing his own voice and sound, which in this incarnation is part Dylan, part sensitive swinger with a soft spot for Calamity Jane and Joan of Arc (“To the Dogs…
The Scene
Jones’ town
Another TYC Prison in Trouble
What happened to Coke County Juvenile Justice Center?
The Ten Commandments
This family-oriented adaptation of the Book of Exodus is the inaugural film in a planned franchise of crudely animated Bible stories.
Phases & Stages
Jens Lekman Night Falls Over Kortedala (Secretly Canadian) If 2005’s Oh You’re So Silent Jens sounded confused, Jens Lekman would like you to know he’s grown as a person. Cue orchestral, late-Sixties Scott Walker opener “And I Remember Every Kiss,” and listen to him croon, the Swede’s rich verse about becoming a soldier (“You get…
Family Style
Fatherhood gives Bella director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde new insight
Bewitched
Nightmare Factory’s doors remain padlocked after argument about safety codes, Fire Department jurisdictions, and water systems
Austin GuitarTown Project: Going, going, gone!
The auction of all those guitar sculptures raised a half-million dollars for four local charities
Bella
This two-person character study features lovely performances that are models of restraint in what otherwise might have been a soppy melodrama.
Phases & Stages
Beirut The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing) In a little over one year, 21-year-old Zach Condon has gone from College of Santa Fe dropout to purveyor of Old World charm. Where last year’s incredible debut, Gulag Orkestar, added Balkan touches to Condon’s ukulele and flügelhorn, The Flying Club Cup entices with French street festivals,…
DVD Watch
Moving pictures rarely lives up to that phrase the way this one does
Media Watch
Goodbye Air America, and Media Management Pettiness
Letters @ 3AM
The United States failed because its people overvalued their ideals and undervalued their resources
Dan in Real Life
What passes for real life in this Steve Carell film is as genially inoffensive and predictable as the average TV sitcom.
Phases & Stages
John Fogerty Revival (Fantasy) For nearly 20 years, John Fogerty refused to play Creedence Clearwater Revival songs while a bitter court battle raged with his former label, Fantasy. With the label now under new ownership, Fogerty’s embraced it as his own. “You can’t go wrong if you play a little bit of that Creedence song,”…
Soccer Watch
College soccer season flying by, and more
Reefer Madness
The odd logic behind federal sentencing guidelines
The Common Law
Visa to travel – when & why?
Deep Water
The documentary Deep Water tells the white-knuckled true story of the first single-handed around-the-world yacht competition.
Phases & Stages
Neil Young Chrome Dreams II (Reprise) Around the time of Harvest Moon, 1992, a long-lost Neil Young acetate surfaced, 1977’s Chrome Dreams, shiny with linchpins from Comes a Time (“Look Out for My Love”), Rust Never Sleeps (“Pocahontas”), American Stars ‘n’ Bars (“Like a Hurricane”), and Freedom (“Too Far Gone”). Seven new songs polish Chrome…
Day Trips
David Hendley’s unique clay creations have been attracting buyers to the Piney Woods since 1991
Energy News: New Ethanol, Electric Power Reports
One warns of unintended consequences of rapidly rolling out domestic biofuels; other focuses on energy efficiency, renewables
The Grape Beyond
From Burgundy to Tuscany, the basics on wines one might soon find in Austin
Lars and the Real Girl
This movie’s high-concept premise would be easy to dismiss were it not so flawlessly executed.
Phases & Stages
Band of Horses Cease to Begin (Sub Pop) “Wheeling through an endless fog, we are the ever-living ghost of what once was,” chimes Ben Bridwell on “No One’s Gonna Love You,” encapsulating the liminal tension between memory and reality that pulls continually within Band of Horses follow-up to last year’s sublime Everything All the Time.…
After a Fashion
Half a century of Stephen: a veritable feast of brooch and sunglasses
Unnecessary Roughness?
Austin criminal defense attorney who witnessed police officers ‘beating down’ two homeless people outside APD headquarters says yes
Selections From Burgundy
Les Chablisiennes 2005 Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume $35 (white) 2005 La Feif de Grenoilles Grand Cru $50 (white) 2005 Les Preuses Grand Cru $70 (white) Domaine Davenne/Domaine les Temps Perdus 2005 Sauvignon de Saint-Bris $20 (white) DChateau de Chamirey 2005 Premier Cru “Clos du Roi” $50 (red) 2005 Premier Cru “Les Rulles” $50 (red) Jadot…
Reservation Road
Crime and Punishment comes to New England in this story about the aftermath of a child’s death.
Phases and Stages
9th Wonder The Dream Merchant, Vol. 2 (6 Hole) Proving that beats matter as much as what rappers spit, 9th Wonder’s solo debut plays out like the work of his teachers. Cutting away from Little Brother in January, the North Carolina native channels past masters Pete Rock and DJ Premier, sampling Motown, settling into feel-good…
Off the Record
Japanese guitarist Michio Kurihara drops Sunset Notes at Mohawk, Trail of Dead severe ties with Interscope, and Lamberts cooks up new residencies
Officer-Involved Shooting in Southeast Austin
Police were attempting to execute drug-related search warrant
Selections From Italy
Tenuta dei Fiori in Coloso (not yet available in the U.S.) 2004 Gamba di Pernice (red) 2003 Barbera Rusitcardi 1933 (red) Romana Carlo 2003 Barbera Riserva $18 2003 Dolcetto $18 Castello Banfi Principessa Perlante Gavi $15 (white) 2006 Florus $20 for 375 milliliters (white) 2006 Colvecchio $35 (red) 2006 Tavernelle $35 (red) 2006 Summus $75…
Hannah Takes the Stairs
The naturalistic indie talker unhurriedly follows a young woman through her days and nights – Nerf-ball games at work, waiting for the bus, and a series of relationships fueled by “chronic dissatisfaction.”
Phases & Stages
Johnny Cash The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show (Legacy) Television’s variety show died an unceremonious death in the Eighties. During the previous two decades, they passed for reality TV, with everyone from Dean Martin to Donny and Marie Osmond hosting programs that featured music, comedy, magic, animals, etc. The appearance of this magnificent…
Starting Over
For Tuna creators Jaston Williams and Joe Sears, the fourth time is the charm
Watts Ends Exploratory U.S. Senate Campaign
San Antonio millionaire says he wants to spend more time with family, motive speculation abounds
Food-o-File
Beaucoup pastry doughings; plus, sad news from the Brentwood Tavern and P&K Grocery
The Hightower Report
What Torture Is; and the Coalition Goes Home
Arts Review
Breakin’ String Theatre’s take on Chekhov goes down like a shot of fine vodka
@ Chronic
Mikal Watts’s withdrawal from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate leaves real election fight next November looking like incumbent John Cornyn vs. State Rep. Rick Noriega
Event Menu
Oct. 26-Nov. 1: Halloween & Día de los Muertos edition
TV Eye
Ellen DeGeneres makes me cry
Arts Review
In the space of an hour, this ACC Drama Department production shows the world coming apart
Prehistoric Pregnancy Planning
Bush taps real live dinosaur as administrator of federal family-planning funds
In Print
The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook: Seasonal Foods, Simple Recipes, and Stories from the Market and Farm by Amelia Saltsman Blenheim Press, 224 pp., $22.95 (paper) From Georgetown to San Marcos, Austin-area residents are blessed by numerous farmers’ markets and farmstands that provide a bounty of fresh, seasonal, and organic produce. For those who take…
Readings
Isolation, family dysfunction, dogs, brutal weather, and regret
Arts Review
This Blanton exhibition shows us how art occurs in the transfer of ideas, information, and nonmaterial goods
TYC Ombudsman Meets With House Corrections Committee
What happened to Coke County Juvenile Justice Center?
Phases & Stages
Radiohead In Rainbows A decade after technological touchstone OK Computer, Radiohead embraces the digital reality it predicted. Version 7.0, In Rainbows, scales back the preprogrammed paranoia that defined the seminal UK fivepiece’s last three outings, relying instead on ethereal backdrops and swelling strings to accentuate Thom Yorke’s crystal croon. The electronic beat-scape that opens “15…
Readings
Homeless drug- and gambling addicts, design flaws, crawfish, black widows, graffiti of inspiration and despair
‘Austin Chronicle’ Endorsements
General Election, Nov. 6 – Proposed Constitutional Amendments
Happenings
Oct. 25-31
Phases & Stages
P.J. Harvey White Chalk (Island) She peers from the cover, eyes blank, dressed in white, her face slightly out of focus. Polly Jean Harvey’s never played it safe, and it’s apparent from the artwork that her eighth album is the furthest she’s drifted from her lipstick-smeared past. The English songstress has shaken off 2004’s iffy…
Artists’ Honor Roll: Austin takes the prize
A rundown of recent honors bestowed on local artists and arts educators
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Harpo Marx loved black jelly beans, Roman Emperor Claudius believed in the healthful quality of farting, and more
Finding the Sweet Spot
For Austin’s ‘density bonus’ development program – what’s on our wish list?
Naked City
Quote of the Week “I’m hell bent on having an election in one year.” – Mayor Will Wynn, announcing his goal of getting a local rail proposal on the 2008 November ballot. See “Developing Stories: Wynn Calls for 2008 Rail Vote.” Headlines • Late Tuesday, Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and House Speaker…
Phases & Stages
Annie Lennox Songs of Mass Destruction (Arista) With her explosively satisfying fourth solo album, Annie Lennox delivers her best recording since her Eurythmics’ heyday, eclipsing even 2003’s marvelous Bare. With all the punch of Eighties hits “Would I Lie to You?” “Missionary Man,” and “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” comes the equally wonderful “Womankind,”…
Austin Symphony Orchestra: Commission fever
ASO has commissioned a new orchestral work from composer Christopher Theofanidis
General Lee and Me
My life and dirty times as a Jam & Jelly Girl with Dino Lee & the White Trash Revue
Density Bonuses
Three concepts
Beside the Point
Panhandling debate abates while Mangiasaurus Rex finds new home
Phases & Stages
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Raising Sand (Rounder) Robert Plant’s pilgrimages to the Deep South led him to Nashville for Raising Sand, an imaginative, seductive collaboration with bluegrass goddess Alison Krauss that explores the desolate valleys between his Delta blues and her Appalachian folk. Opener “Rich Woman” sways in the swamps, revealing the balance and…
Rubber Repertory: Cashing in
Rubber Repertory applies for its first-ever grant and scores $15,000
Dino Lee Reviewed
Dino Lee Anthology Vol. 1 (Poly Fab) Dino Lee was white trash when white trash wasn’t cool. While it’s certainly possible to celebrate this reissue of his mid-Eighties waxings as a defiant dildo in the face of the New Sincerity nonmovement, a city that birthed the Uranium Savages was already well-lubricated for a White Trash…
Density Bonus
Key issues
Point Austin: Public Accuracy
Norman Solomon on a life of activism and writing
Luv Doc Recommends: Extravagasm VI ‘Return to Eden’
As much as we hate to admit it, there is a certain truth in the phrase, “Turn ’em over and they all look alike.” While there are countless variations in the size, shape, color, and coiffure of the human anatomy, the basic plumbing is pretty much all the same – has been for several thousand…
