Cover Story
The Greatest Gift
An oral history unearthing one of post-punk’s most seminal acts: Austin’s Scratch Acid
European ChampionshipsQualifying for 2008
Top two teams in each group qualify for the final. Results from Sept. 2 & 6 Most notably in this week’s action, in Group B, Scotland started off with two wins, while world champ Italy managed only a home draw with Lithuania, and a 3-1 loss at France in a rematch of the WC final.…
Weekly Digest, Sept. 8, 2006
The UT Lady Longhorns had a big weekend, beating third-ranked Penn State, 2-1, and then 13th-ranked Illinois, 1-0 in double overtime. Kelsey Carpenter scored both game-winning goals, to earn national player-of-the-week honors, while the Horns jumped as high as eighth in the national polls; they’re on the road this week, at New Mexico Thursday, Rice…
Phantom of the Paradise Sing-Along
Phantom of the Paradise Sing-Along 1974, PG, 92 min. Directed by Brian De Palma, Starring Paul Williams, William Finley, Gerrit Graham, Jessica Harper. DePalma’s glam-rock musical about a disfigured musician who sells his soul for his love wouldn’t be a cult favorite without Paul Williams. The songwriter and actor will be at this screening signing…
Weekly Digest, Sept. 1, 2006
The Lady Longhorns’ first home game of the season could be the best one all year. The Penn State Nittany Lions, fresh off a 3-1 pasting of No. 1 UCLA (see below), are probably the best team UT will face. As for the Horns, they opened with a 1-0 loss at Auburn (on an own…
Surviving the Blacklist: Joseph Losey in Europe
Sept. 5-Oct. 10
After a Fashion
Stephen is deeply touched by a pack of racers headed north to Alaska – and no, it’s not the Iditarod
Phases & Stages
Radio BirdmanZeno Beach (Yep Roc) Sydney, Australia, 1974: two med students, one an Ann Arbor native christened on the Stooges and MC5, hook up with a surfer, an experienced rhythm section, and a second guitarist. “Aloha Steve & Danno” then shot the curl of punk rock history. 2001 essential, Sub Pop’s Radio Birdman, The Essential…
All Work, No Play
Gaming industry types converge on the Austin Convention Center
To Your Health
Is there an effective way to treat nosebleeds through nutrition?
Phases & Stages
The Sleepy JacksonPersonality – One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird (Astralwerks) With their second LP, the Sleepy Jackson cultivate a lovely mélange of (Robyn) Hitchcockian art-pop and meticulously engineered soft rock hits of the Seventies. It’s as though this Perth, Australia, collective led by Luke Steele is crafting the soundtrack of some transistor…
All ‘Round Republic Square
A new context of major civic buildings may yet make a people place of our historic downtown park
DVD Watch
Three new Criterion titles demonstrate how far fascism’s castor-oil cocktail will travel down the throat of its native filmmakers before it comes back up twice as Azzurri.
The Common Law
Can I sublet my apartment?
Phases & Stages
PharrellIn My Mind (Star Trak/Interscope) Before we put the finishing touches on Andre 3000’s trophy for most self-indulgent figure in hip-hop, consider this dud of a solo debut by the Neptunes’ Pharrell. Why this most capable producer insists on flossing his remedial rapping and singing abilities every chance he gets reaches beyond reasonable comprehension. It’s…
Congressional District 31: What’s Up With John Carter?
Democratic challenger can’t get incumbent to talk with her; neither can we
TV Eye
Emmy post
Day Trips
When discussing the finest cuisine in Central Texas, barbecue has to top the list
Round Rock Growth Explosion
SH 130 likely to shift epicenter of growth in Round Rock from land around Dell to one-time farmland on northeast end of town
Tag – You’re It!
Celebrating urban scrawl with Gallery Lombardi’s exhibition ‘Austin Graffiti Art: From Birth to Present’
Soccer Watch
A handy clip-and-save UT home schedule, and more
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Daniel Bozhkov: The singers at the Springs
A dozen Austin choirs gathered at Barton Springs as part of the upcoming Arthouse exhibition “Daniel Bozhkov: Recent Works”
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
John Wayne dies and dies again, and regression on the gas-mileage front
Weed Watch
North Dakota ag commissioner signs off on final version of proposed state rule that would allow farmers to obtain state approval to grow industrial hemp
Austin Symphony Orchestra: Roll over, Beethoven
The Austin Symphony is set on playing all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies before it makes its first appearance in the Long Center in 2008
Oops!
Our latest batch
Salvaging Our Parks
Texas State Parks Advisory Committee releases list of recommendations for saving long-neglected state park system
Salvage Vanguard Theater: Countdown to blastoff for ‘Intergalactic’ tour
Salvage Vanguard Theater launches ‘The Intergalactic Nemesis,’ its homegrown spoof of sci-fi serials, on a mission to seek out new life and new civilizations – or at least new fans – in seven cities across the country
Afterburn
The 16th ‘Austin Chronicle’ Hot Sauce Festival: contest results
Cyclists Run Over Helmet Law Idea
Former Mayor Bruce Todd’s proposed mandatory bicycle helmet ordinance coasts to a stop for now
Arts Review
It is a rare piece of theatre that can be uplifting, enlightening, and disturbing all at once, and ‘Keepin’ It Weird’ is such a piece
Drink It on the Rooftops
Why Houlihan’s actually rules
TCB
Patrice Pike comes home, lalaland breaks out, Trophy’s cleans up, and TCB comes clean.
Affordable Housing in NOLA
New report on housing conditions in post-Katrina New Orleans offers immediate and long-term recommendations for fixing the city’s decimated fair and affordable housing market
Arts Review
In his ‘Confessions of a Mormon Boy,’ Steven Fales reveals intimate details about his life as a Mormon and a male escort and proves himself as brave and courageous as a performer can be
The Hill Country Fall Fest & Texas Wine Auction
Sept. 15-17
Campaign Notes
The special election gets weird; the governor’s race stays so.
Feds Nab ‘Prophet’
Warren Jeffs – leader of breakaway Mormon sect the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – caught during a traffic stop just north of Vegas
Arts Review
Art or anthropology? Volitant Gallery’s ‘The Long Drive South,’ featuring work by New York artists who motored down to Austin, may be a revealing discussion on both
Wine of the Week
An old reliable
The Quiet
The first Burnt Orange Productions joint mixes The Piano with Poison Ivy. Perhaps future generations of film scholars will embrace The Quiet as a B-movie that problematizes the oppressive gaze, but for now, it’s a misfire.
Morning-After Pill Approved
After years of wrangling and delays, FDA accepts a bid to make Plan B emergency contraceptives available for over-the-counter sales t o women 18 and older
Culture Flash!
The Art Palace glows in the ‘Times,’ and Dan Dietz gets a hearing at the Kennedy Center
Food-o-File
No appetizers – we’re going straight to the entrées
Lage Raho Munnabhai
Not reviewed at press time. This Indian comedy is a sequel to 2004’s Munnabhai M.B.B.S. This time Munna “Bhai” falls in love with the voice of a radio deejay.
Beside the Point: All Grown Up
How Water Treatment Plant No.4 got where it is today
Readings
There are no murder mysteries to be solved, no inheritance-related catfights; there is just life, which we all know can be a bitch
Trust the Man
With distinct echoes of Woody Allen, Trust the Man follows fashionably neurotic New Yorkers in oversized apartments as they search for happiness, love, and sex.
City Budget Breakdown
The final presentation of the city’s $525.3 million proposed budget for fiscal year 2007 is Friday, Aug. 31; the focus: Major Utilities and Infrastructure and Growth Management – yea haw!
Readings
Dun, dun, dunnn!
Phases & Stages
Bob DylanModern Times (Columbia) Delta, he art, and unto the delta he shall return. Down in the Mississippi River Delta is where we find Bob Dylan on his 31st studio effort, and it shouldn’t blow anybody’s mind. There’s where we found him in 1965, with his sixth LP, astride a Triumph en route to speeds…
The Hightower Report
Professor Bush’s Economic Nostrum; and Fran’s Travels
Page Two: Ten Ways of Looking at an ‘Austin Chronicle’
In celebration of our 25th anniversary
Phases & Stages
SlayerChrist Illusion (American) Timing is everything. Slayer’s 11th studio release arrives in devastating sync with current events. Had the band packaged the 10-track, 38-minute disc in a human remains pouch tucked inside one of those ill-euphimized aluminum “transport tubes,” they couldn’t have increased the horror one iota. Not since the maniac thrash of 1986’s genre-eclipsing…
The Chosen One
Director Jamie Babbit sounds off on ‘The Quiet’ – Burnt Orange’s first national release – and its discomfiting implications
Letters @ 3AM
Every contributor to a newspaper – not least, the letter-writers and ad designers – creates an artifact precious to history
Phases & Stages
New York Dolls One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This (Roadrunner) The New York Dolls influenced an amazingly disparate lot of bands over the decades, too many of whom nihilistically partook of transgression while forgetting the fun. Fortunately, there’s plenty of that to be had on the Dolls’ first studio LP since…
16th Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival Contest Winners
Individual Category Red Sauce 1st Place: Kim Johnson 2nd Place: Shawn Muncy 3rd Place: Steve Huskey Green Sauce 1st Place: Mark & Margaret Harsh 2nd Place: Gene Golembiewski 3rd Place: Marti Cardenas Special Variety 1st Place: Chuk Hell 2nd Place: Paul Peterson 3rd Place: Burt Friedman Pico de Gallo 1st Place: Valery Caselli-Dubov 2nd Place:…
Luv Doc Recommends: 2nd Annual Batfest
If you’re one of those people who wake up in the morning and piss burnt orange, this is your weekend. If you’re a Texas football fan, you already know that Saturday the Texas Longhorn football team starts another run for the national championship. If you’re not a Texas football fan and you’re still pissing burnt…
