Cover Story
What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Ice Cream?
Matt Allen’s free ice cream melts the hearts of rockers everywhere
Weekly Digest, Sept. 20, 2006
The UT Lady Longhorns moved to 6-2 on the year with three good wins last week, 4-2 at LSU, then 5-0 over Nicholls State, and 3-2 over a very good Cal State Fullerton team, who had just knocked off sixth-ranked Texas A&M in College Station. The Horns open their conference schedule this week, on the…
For the Love of Dolly
For the Love of Dolly 2006, NR, 56 min. Directed by Tai Uhlmann, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . This could end up being the first documentary used as evidence in a restraining order case. There’s a fine line between Dolly Parton superfan and scary stalker. Director Uhlmann ventures deep into creepy territory…
Testimony
Testimony 1988, NR, 157 min. Directed by Tony Palmer, Starring Ben Kingsley, Sherry Baines, Terence Rigby. Ben Kingsley, the actor heralded for his film portrayal of Gandhi, here stars as the Russian composer Shostakovich in this biopic with music performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Rudolf Barshai.
Funniest Filmmaker in Austin Competition
Funniest Filmmaker in Austin Competition Directed by Various. The first year of this competition showcases short, funny films by local filmmakers. Some of Austin’s most talented comedians – including former “Funniest Person in Austin” winners – will perform live stand-up in between films.
Boy Band Hoot Night
Boy Band Hoot Night Featuring Siingle Frame, Golden Bear, Southpaw Jones, the Dirty Hearts, Car Stereo (Wars), and Austin’s newest boy band Cedar Fever, who’ll be releasing their new CD and projecting behind-the-scenes footage.
The Hot Shoe
The Hot Shoe 2004, NR, 95 min. Directed by David Layton, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . When faced with the overwhelming odds of the blackjack table, practitioners of the art of card counting use everything at their disposal to discover the key that will tip the odds in the little guy’s favor…
The Protector
Thai martial arts star Tony Jaa, who made a strong stateside impression in the recent Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior, stars in this follow-up action picture, that plays like an invigorating Free Willy with elephants.
Hairspray: ‘The Beat’ goes on
Austin gets its first blast of Hairspray via a new national tour, and director Matt Lenz explains what makes this musical such a crowd-pleaser
Oops!
Photographer Martha Grenon, who has a much better memory than us, pointed out the following errors in our anniversary issue (Vol. 26, No. 1, Sept. 8, 2006): 1) The Great Golfcart Rustling occurred in the fall of 1985, not ’84. 2) The photo of Bud Shrake was taken by Andrew Long. 3) The logo for…
ACL Music Fest Interviews
Paolo Nutini Friday, 12:30pm, AT&T stage Paolo Nutini left SXSW a marked man. “I came back with tattoos, the Texas stars, after drinking some of that Lone Star beer,” boasts the 19-year-old Scottish singer-songwriter. “I was having a drink even though it wasn’t legal.” To clarify, Nutini had more than just a drink. By the…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
Benevento/Russo DuoPlay Pause Stop (Butter Problems/Reincarnate) Duos are the new power trio. Marco Benevento and Joe Russo face each other across keyboards and drums like musical cosmonauts tag-teaming the capsule’s power grid. NYC’s right stuff light up their fourth galaxy, hot on the heels of 2005’s Best Reason to Buy the Sun, an appropriately searing…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
Randy Rogers BandJust a Matter of Time (Mercury) They’re the hottest thing going on the “Texas Music” scene since Pat Green. Yet listening to the Randy Rogers Band’s major-label debut, Just a Matter of Time, it’s difficult to understand what all the hollering’s about. A product of the scene Kent Finley has nurtured at the…
Naked City
Headlines and Happenings from Austin and Beyond
Tales of the Rat Fink
Ron Mann’s Tales of the Rat Fink is an ebullient survey of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s life that revs along with the zest a souped-up hot rod.
American Fiesta: Doing the dishes one more time
Interest from New York producers is prompting a second encore run for Steven Tomlinson’s award-winning one-man show ‘American Fiesta’
Blue Star Cafeteria
How has instant success affected Eddie Bernal’s latest venture?
ACL Music Fest Interviews
Wolf Parade Friday, 3:30pm, AT&T Blue Room stage When you’re a rock band driving through Utah, talk inevitably turns to two things: booze and Jesus. On Sunday, liquor isn’t available after 10pm, but Jesus is available all day. Guitarist Dan Boeckner wastes no time voicing his disappointment with the situation: “I guess Jesus doesn’t like…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
GusterGanging Up on the Sun (Reprise) Though it runs a bit long on overdrawn atmospherics rather than song-wise substance, Guster’s fifth album still packs a respectable quantity of hum-worthy capture points into its 12 songs. The Massachusetts-bred trio recently became a quartet with the addition of Nashville instrumental e-man Joe Pisapia, and his presence goes…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
Los Amigos InvisiblesSuper Pop Venezuela (Gozadera) If their motto “El Disco es Cultura” doesn’t indicate that Los Amigos Invisibles take leisure time seriously, then their extended jaunts through lush rainforests of rhythm certainly do. The Venezuelan supergroup, with 15 years spent hashing out their sound, situates a ravenous flare for sexual stamina atop canopies of…
Immigration Update
Congress not making immigration legislation progress; and local immigrant rights organizers gather to call attention to those separated from their families via detention or deportation
The House of Sand
The House of Sand is a quintessentially moderate art film: panoramic and symbolic, epic in scope, technically accomplished, and miraculously acted by the mother-daughter team of Fernandas Montenegro and Torres in showy dual roles.
First Night Austin: Long day’s journey into First Night
Pulling together the second First Night Austin has been a struggle and with New Year’s less than four months away, Ann S. Graham has resigned as executive director
P. Terry’s Burger Stand
Fast food that’s actually food
ACL Music Fest Interviews
Cat Power & the Memphis Rhythm Band Friday, 5:30pm, AT&T Blue Room stage “Hola Papi!” That’s not exactly the expected greeting from Chan Marshall upon introducing oneself, but then the playful, almost-purring Cat Power on the phone wasn’t always thus. Eight months sober, the 34-year-old Miami-based pianist renown for her stark confessionalism breathes easier now.…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
Amy MillanHoney From the Tombs (Arts & Crafts) Amy Millan, the elfish voice behind Montreal sonic pop band Stars and a Broken Social Scene collaborator, worked three years on her debut solo album, but Honey From the Tombs doesn’t drip indie rock. Millan has leapt out of her comfort zone with a bluegrass folk album,…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
MuseBlack Holes and Revelations (Warner Bros.) Muse may want to consider changing its name back to Rocket Baby Dolls, as the moniker best describes the manufactured, galactic caricature the band has become of its former self. The urgency of the UK trio’s apocalyptic Absolution and the neurotic “Hyper Chondriac Music” of 2002’s Hullabaloo is all…
Weed Watch
More than 98% of all marijuana seized by law enforcement under Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program is actually feral hemp – aka ‘ditchweed’ – and not cultivated, smokeable pot, according to DEA stats; and explanation regarding decriminalization effort e-mail sent to Colorado politicos gets weirder
Gridiron Gang
The Rock’s moral football tale is a pleasant surprise: a swift, sure-footed, and gritty melodrama that plays to the strengths of its formula and elicits empathy for its kids.
Arts Review
In ‘St. Nicholas,’ Conor McPherson wrote one hell of a one-man show, and Ken Webster executes it beautifully, making this tale of vampires seem as it might really be real
New and Noteworthy
Flavors from Spiceburst
ACL Music Fest Interviews
Phoenix Saurday, 1:30pm, AT&T Blue Room stage Playful, rhythmic, and addictive, Versailles fivepiece Phoenix went into a Berlin studio last year to record their third LP, It’s Never Been Like That (Astralwerks), a brilliant concoction of American rock and European soul. “On the second album [Alphabetical], we started in our basement,” explains guitarist Christian Mazzalai.…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
Gnarls BarkleySt. Elsewhere (Downtown) Gnarls Barkley’s paranoid, inescapable, brooding single “Crazy” conquered the airwaves straightaway and set a record for topping eight (count ’em) different Billboard charts. Not simultaneously, maybe, but The Godfather’s wedding scene is too long, too. Gifted journeymen Cee-Lo Green and Danger Mouse couldn’t have meant to tap the zeitgeist so deeply,…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
G. Love Lemonade (Brushfire) The last time anyone saw G. Love, he was atop a high-rise in Philadelphia, attempting to teach the world to chill through copious amounts of Coke Zero. When viewed several times within the span of a single sitcom, the corporate jingle was enough to swear off the special sauce forever. G.…
Lotto Madness?
Former Texas Lottery Commission employee sues commission, alleging he lost his job because he alerted the Texas Legislature to security and ethics breaches, as well as to a cover-up in which employees ‘are bullied into silence’
Lunacy
Jan Svankmajer’s creepy-crawl slowly becomes one of the most mordantly beautiful of the director’s films, an asylum-set anti-love story with mobile body parts and splashy theatrics.
Arts Review
Certainly theatre has been offered in homes before, but rarely have so many pieces (13) been offered in a single home as in ‘The Muses: Memories of a House,’ presented by the Vestige Group
Restaurants Near Zilker
1) CHINESE: Wanfu Too The Fifties diner setting is as comforting as the usual Chinese menu choices such as eggdrop soup, eggrolls, and lots of choices for main dishes. 1806 Barton Springs Rd., 478-3535 $$ 2) TEX-MEX: Chuy’s Hubcaps, colored lights, and a velvet Elvis; this is Austin-style Tex-Mex at its tacky, funky best. Almost…
ACL Music Fest Interviews
Ben Kweller Saturday, 2:30pm, AT&T stage Ben Kweller’s latest album borrows a page from the Stevie Wonder playbook; the credits boil down to just six words: “Written and performed by Ben Kweller.” At the urging of über-producer Gil Norton (Pixies, Foo Fighters), the Dallas expatriate’s third album is a solo set in the truest sense.…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
GomezHow We Operate (ATO) Gomez’s last release, 2004’s Split the Difference, made it clear how the British fivepiece operated, or at least how it would in the future. Their stunning debut, Bring It On, which won the coveted Mercury prize in 1998, was engrossed with eclectic experimentalism, from dub and dancehall grooves to nine-minute explosive…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
Tom PettyHighway Companion (American) For 30 years, Tom Petty has quietly glued himself to the American landscape, his fingers strumming a beat-up Dove acoustic, his voice wavering just enough. His effortless sound wafts over decades of blacktop and arenas, a mirage of laughter and tears married with a sense of undying hope. Petty’s third solo…
Point Austin: Politics, As Usual
When it comes to governing, one-liners aren’t much help
The Ground Truth
Far from being just one more documentary wishing to expose alternative truths about the war in Iraq, Foulkrod’s film instead airs some of the hard-won truths learned by American soldiers.
Arts Review
The Austin Museum of Art’s exhibition ‘Mary Lee Bendolph, Gee’s Bend Quilts, and Beyond’ prompts one viewer to piece together a story about postmodernism from patches of art and ethnology
Food-o-File
Mangia best served ‘Cold’; plus, cake talk
ACL Music Fest Interviews
The Blue Van Saturday, 2:50pm, Austin Ventures stage The Blue Van’s entourage of garage rock sounds like it was cryogenically frozen in the Sixties and revived in the present. “It has mojo,” contends Soren Christensen, the comptroller of keys for the group. The band’s shagadelic debut, The Art of Rolling (TVT), answers the question, Who’s…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
Ray LamontagneTill the Sun Turns Black (RCA) Ray LaMontagne sings like a man who believes a song is worth more than 99 cents. His deep, instantly recognizable rasp carries the conviction and intensity of a man out of time. Yet while the sparse production of his 2004 debut, Trouble, so eloquently made its stand on…
Barton Springs Pool Info
After a triple-digit summer, 90 degrees actually does feel like autumn. For a minute or so, anyway. And then your sunglasses start sliding down your nose, and the sweat in your eyes obstructs your view of the stage, and it’s time for another temperature drop, at which point you should really head on over to…
Beside the Point: City Budget
Council goes for the rollback rate, gives early Christmas presents
The Last Kiss
You could say Paul Haggis’ The Last Kiss is something of a Garden State redux, but Zach Braff’s character here is less fanciful, less melodramatic, and far more prone to doing the thoughtless things men tend to do.
Readings
No one has ever accused Cormac McCarthy of portraying the black-hearted underbelly of human nature through rose-colored glasses
Event Menu
Take it plate by plate, one plate at a time
ACL Music Fest Interviews
The Raconteurs Saturday, 6:30pm, AT&T stage Make no mistake about it: Jack White and the Raconteurs are in it for the long haul. “We’re very serious about trying to forge an identity as a band separate from the Greenhornes and that sort of thing,” power-pop troubadour Brendan Benson says in between rehearsals for the 2006…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
SparklehorseDreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (Astralwerks) Mark Linkous is lucky to be alive. The bellwether of respected alt-rock outfit Sparklehorse has battled addiction and crippling depression that left him barely able to get out of bed. With that backstory, Sparklehorse’s powerful fourth album, Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly…
Restaurants Near Zilker
1) CHINESE: Wanfu Too The Fifties diner setting is as comforting as the usual Chinese menu choices such as eggdrop soup, eggrolls, and lots of choices for main dishes. 1806 Barton Springs Rd., 478-3535 $$ 2) TEX-MEX: Chuy’s Hubcaps, colored lights, and a velvet Elvis; this is Austin-style Tex-Mex at its tacky, funky best. Almost…
The Hightower Report
Bush’s Homeland Hokum; and Ralph and Mary’s Park
Haven
Lacking purpose or thoughtful complexity, Frank E. Flowers’ film, starring Orlando Bloom and Bill Paxton, is an overly ambitious mess.
Readings
It also takes a certain kind of person to live on in the memories of the former townspeople, and since much of Michelle Slatalla’s research was conducted in interviews, only the most extraordinary stories survive
ACL Music Fest Interviews
Brazilian Girls Saturday, 7:15pm, Washington Mutual stage Last year, the Brazilian Girls came on like the 21st-century answer to the Brothers Gibb – an otherworldly dance band that had been chopped, blended, and distilled by the New York underground. The belle of the ball, an Italian-German super-beauty named Sabina Sciubba, earned comparisons to Deborah Harry…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
Van MorrisonPay the Devil (Lost Highway) No secret Van Morrison has a wonderfully expressive voice – earthy, soulful, poignant, and well-suited to numerous styles of music from garage rock to jazz and his native Irish. Yet in his tackling country music, the results on Pay the Devil are mixed at best. Some of the material…
Texas Platters
Shawn ColvinThese Four Walls (Nonesuch) Five years between albums is not unusual for Shawn Colvin. Yet while These Four Walls finds her on a new, good-match label, nothing much else has changed. Austin’s premier pop diva teams up once again with longtime collaborator John Leventhal (Mr. Rosanne Cash), and besides producing, he’s a virtual one-man…
When There’s Motion, but No Pictures
Guest Artistic Director Ed Halter adjusts Cinematexas’ experimental aim
Half Nelson
Ryan Gosling’s bleakly hopeful turn as crack-addicted teacher Dan in Half Nelson is matched only by the smoldering realism of newcomer Shareeka Epps.
Page Two: Lest We Forget
Lest We Forget: Reveling in the communal greatness that is Austin, without getting too specific
Ice Cream Handicapping: ACL ’06
Iron & Wine (Sam Beam) “He’s got a couple kids, and if the family is around they’ll usually stop by for some goodies.” Matisyahu “Even though we carry kosher and have camped next to him, I still don’t think he’s taken us up on the free ice cream yet. His drummer Jonah David likes most…
ACL Music Fest Interviews
Kings of Leon Saturday, 7:30pm, AT&T Blue Room stage Since their beginnings in 2000, it’s been quite a wild ride for Nashville’s Kings of Leon. In that time, the young quartet – three brothers and a cousin all surnamed Followill – released two well-received albums, toured with U2, and shook audiences on both sides of…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
Murder By DeathIn Bocca Al Lupo (East West) On Murder by Death’s 2003 debut album, Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them?, cello sliced through urgent guitars and tribal drumming, resulting in a mixture of hardcore and classical. Third LP, In Bocca Al Lupo, is a little more sea shanty. With former…
Texas Platters
Sarah Dashew, ex-Austinite and once half of Vera Takes the Cake, returns with Jealous Girl. That’s just the title, not Dashew’s sentiments, though she’s produced an enviable dozen songs produced by Chuck Plotkin. Dashew’s new digs in Los Angeles have given her music a sharper, sometimes poignant (“Empty”) but no less playful depth (“Brad Pitt,”…
Cinematexas 11
Schedule: Wednesday, Sept. 20-Sunday, Sept. 24
Letters @ 3AM
The greatest sins of newspapers are sins of omission and emphasis. Historical context is usually ignored, and though facts are reported truly, a lack of context can make the facts lie.
Ice Cream Man on the Web
www.icecreamman.com The premier site for thousands of concert photos, reviews, and updates. www.drknife.com/icecreammanmovie A minimovie capturing a day in the life of Allen as a neighborhood ice cream man in Ashland, Ore. www.rideforcancer.com Documentation of Allen’s cross-country bike ride in 2001, which raised more than $15,000 for charity. www.bessita.com; www.yarisworks.com Ice Cream Man’s custom Toyota…
ACL Music Fest Interviews
Explosions in the Sky Saturday, 7:45pm, Austin Ventures stage At the top of EITS’ lightning bolt sits drummer Chris Hrasky, charging Austin’s instrumental phenomenon with enough ionization to make the quartet a global weather pattern. Given such risks, e-mail seemed the safest way to conduct an interview on the eve of the band’s departure for…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
TV on the RadioReturn to Cookie Mountain (Interscope/4AD) “I was a lover before this war.” It’s with this that TV on the Radio’s sophomore LP drops to its knees. The Brooklyn quintet’s obviously matured since 2004’s Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes because Return to Cookie Mountain is essentially a protest album. Opener “I Was a Lover”…
Texas Platters
Edie Brickell & New BohemiansStranger Things (Fantasy) Edie Brickell is what she is: a rich, rock-star wife reunited with her breakthrough band after almost a decade. The crunchy faithful among us will be thrilled to bust out the old peasant skirts and resume twirling about, but the appeal pretty much stops there. Brickell’s older and…
Left Behind
The Omnibeast – and a sect of video-art zealots at UT – is hungry
After a Fashion
Stephen learned of the Beauty of Life – and what’s hot for autumn – at this fashion forward event.
Quenching the Flaming Lips
Wayne Coyne and Matt Allen are spiritual brethren whose colorful outlooks on life and off-kilter ideas manifest themselves into larger-than-life productions that affect everyone around them. The two first met at All Tomorrow’s Parties, November 2004, in Matt’s hometown of Long Beach, Calif. “I got there pretty early because it was the first festival with…
ACL Music Fest Interviews
Massive Attack Saturday, 8:30pm, AT&T stage Death. Destruction. War without end. And, as ever, Massive Attack. The hits – and wars – just keep coming, including the UK collective’s newest, career-spanning Collected, which ranges from 1991’s woozy Blue Lines to the narco-love of iconic “Karmacoma.” Hardly warlike beats, but with Bush and Blair’s coalition of…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
Charlie Sexton & Shannon McNallySouthside Sessions (Back Porch) For a recording that falls on the alt.country side of roots-rock, Southside Sessions cuts close to the bone without bleeding. Inspired by the successful 2005 tour by Charlie Sexton and Shannon McNally, who traded appearances on each other’s acclaimed albums last year (Sexton produced hers), the two…
Texas Platters
Reckless KellyReckless Kelly Was Here (Sugar Hill) Reckless Kelly inflames cowboy boots and Texas dance halls with its fired-up versatility, and this ambitious double live album and DVD is testament to just that. Highlights include the 12-bar shotgun salute paid to Alejandro Escovedo’s rave-up “Castanets,” the southern twang of “Wild Western Windblown Band” (first recorded…
Get Ready for the Abstronics of Mary Ellen Bute
A centennial celebration for the conductor of light
Day Trips
The Texas Seaport Museum in Galveston hosts Texas’ official tall ship, the ‘Elissa’
Trying Somehow to Catch Up
Take two for What Made Milwaukee Famous’ debut, Trying Never to Catch Up
ACL Music Fest Interviews
Sam Roberts Sunday, 1:45pm, Heineken stage Sam Roberts’ reality check stretches 4,000 unforgiving miles. “It’s called the U.S.-Canada border,” says the Montreal-based bandleader. “Every time we pass over to the American side, we’re at square one again.” If Roberts finds the border humbling, it’s because in Canada he’s a bona fide, chart-topping, award-winning, record-setting superstar.…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
Los LobosThe Town and the City (Hollywood) Few, if any, American bands can match Los Lobos in terms of longevity and creativity. The Town and the City, their 13th studio effort, is more than just another album from East L.A.’s most famous quintet. Essentially, it’s a suite of songs dealing with migration and the pains…
Texas Platters
Andrew Duplantis & the UnfaithfulsColorblind (OJI) Andrew Duplantis should know from intelligent roots rock; he plays bass in Son Volt. Colorblind, his second LP with the Unfaithfuls – so named, one imagines, because all six members are in too many other bands to list – works in similar tones, somber but never dour, adding deep…
An Extraordinary Life
Odell Grant
To Your Health
Do creases in the earlobe signify potential heart problems?
What Made Milwaukee Famous
What Made Milwaukee FamousTrying to Never Catch Up (Barsuk) Every time people in Austin turn around, What Made Milwaukee Famous’ 2004 debut has cleared another obstacle that’s frustrated other local bands for years. Self-released? Check. Deafening buzz? Roger. Austin City Limits? Gotcha. Major indie? Indeed. Worse, it sounds as fresh and original as when the…
ACL Music Fest Interviews
José González Sunday, 3:30pm, AT&T Blue Room stage “Quiet has always been loud for me,” says Swedish singer-songwriter José González, reappropriating the classic Kings of Convenience album title Quiet Is the New Loud. “I think it’s fair to say I make low-key music.” González’s debut, Veneer (Mute), is definitely, and almost defiantly, delicate. It pairs…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
The Long WintersPutting the Days to Bed (Barsuk) John Roderick, frontman for the Long Winters, may be putting his days of indie anonymity behind him as the Seattle foursome has released its strongest LP to date. On Putting the Days to Bed, the band’s third album, Roderick completes his evolution as an imaginative and troubled…
Texas Platters
The ChannelTales From the Two Hill Heart/Sibylline Machine (C-Side) Usually, a double LP is an extraneous affair. The Channel’s third release is not; two separate halves combine to form a whole picture of the local eightpiece, two plenary albums coming from different visions. Original Channeler Colby Pennington birthed the idea of Tales From the Two…
Kars: The Movie
Ron Mann on ‘Tales of the Rat Fink’
TCB
The ACL Festival turns five, and the weather gods (might) give Austin a break. Trae tears up Red 7, and the obituary roll call grows.
The Common Law
Bad Idea to Break My Lease?
ACL Music Fest Preview
FRIDAYBeto & the Fairlanes Noon, Austin Ventures stage With the recent release of their first album in more than a decade, Conga Dog, Robert “Beto” Skiles and his entourage step back into the limelight. For more than 30 years, they’ve been one of Austin’s favorite party bands with their infectious, horn-driven blend of salsa, Latin…
ACL Music Fest Interviews
Patrice Pike Sunday, 4pm, Austin Ventures stage No mere solar flare, Austin’s Patrice Pike has enjoyed a comfortable tenure as a local musical heroine, first as the frontwoman of the jammy Little Sister (later Sister 7), then as the leader of the more contemporary-sounding Patrice Pike & the Black Box Rebellion. She’s always been on…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
Guy ClarkWorkbench Songs (Dualtone) Guy Clark dominates the discussion with his opinion on Townes Van Zandt whenever it comes to talking about who is the ne plus ultra Texas songwriter. He has a point, of course, but if Townes is No. 1, Clark is No. 1A. Workbench Songs goes a mighty long way to proving…
Texas Platters
Grupo FantasmaComes Alive (Aire Sol) It’s been nothing but ascension for Grupo Fantasma since their self-released, eponymous 2001 debut. That turned ears, but 2004’s Movimiento Popular rightfully earned this Latin big band Top 10 accolades and Austin Music Awards. On stage, the local groove collective hits like a ton of bricks, so earlier this March,…
DVD Watch
Now that ‘Deadwood’ lies murdered in the mud, Shakespeare is the only solace.
Election 2006
Chris Bell goes on a snipe hunt, and other campaign news
Soccer Watch
The Lady Longhorns split a pair on the road, play a pair at home this weekend, and more
ACL Aftershows
Thursday 14 Thievery Corporation, Federico Aubele, Stubb’s outside Ben Kweller, Sam Roberts Band, La Zona Rosa Friday 15 The Shins, the Black Angels, Stubb’s outside Benevento/Russo Duo, Apollo Sunshine, Stubb’s inside Guster, Gomez, La Zona Rosa Kings of Leon, the Stills, Emo’s [sold out] Particle, Ohn, the Parish Oliver Mtukudzi & Black Spirits, Threadgill’s World…
ACL Music Fest Interviews
Son Volt Sunday, 5:30pm, Heineken stage Today, Andrew Duplantis (left) is splitting time between playing bass for Son Volt and his own solo career – literally. This weekend he’s with Jay Farrar and friends at ACL, but he’s also releasing his own album, Colorblind (GFY), with his own band, the Unfaithfuls, at Momos on Friday…
ACL Music Fest Reviews
The StillsWithout Feathers (Vice) Sophomore efforts, you can smell the fear – the trepidation, intimidation, desperation. Without Feathers reeks of triumph, beginning with the motor blade riffs and tambourine kicking off “In the Beginning,” a parade of sleek defiance. “This story ends in bloodshed,” hums David Hamelin but later admits “it’s nice to see you’re…
What’s Best for Frankie?
Williamson County wastewater deal yields the familiar odor of Commissioner Limmer
TV Eye
Aaron Sorkin, Mad as Hell
The Covenant
The Covenant is a sleek yet empty picture about four handsome high school seniors who possess supernatural powers and impossibly chiseled stomachs.
Talented If Not Young
The artists in Mexic-Arte’s ‘YLA No. 11’ may be beyond youth, but they’re still definitely deserving of attention
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
What exactly does that “J” stand for in Michael J. Fox?
ACL Music Fest Reviews
KT TunstallEye to the Telescope (Virgin) KT Tunstall is in trouble from the outset on her 2004 debut, Eye to the Telescope, released Stateside just this year. The Scottish singer-songwriter, who put both Norah Jones and Dido on notice across the pond, opens with “Other Side of the World,” which is appropriately wistful but riddled…
IAF: The Promised Land Visits the Hilton
Preachers quiz the gubernatorial candidates – and ban them from preaching
Big, Bright Eyes of Texas
Celebrating the life of the bigger-than-life Ann Richards
Luv Doc Recommends: Keepin’ It Weird
This weekend thousands of middle-class white people will descend on Austin to eat our food, drink our liquor, and dance with our dates. Hopefully we will be as accommodating as we were last weekend with the Buckeyes, both on and off the field. The field this weekend, however, is down at Zilker Park. Normally it’s…
