Cover Story
Into the Wild
Balmorhea might not be one of Stephen F. Austin’s Old Three Hundred, but it scored the movement
Spare Some Change for The Totally Awesome AusChron Newscast?
Austin Restoration Ministries, City Council and more
The Lineup
Recommended music from the week of Sept. 25-Oct. 1
Fantastic Fest: ‘Krabat’
Lord of the Rings-lite
Fantastic Fest: ‘A Town Called Panic’
This French-language stop-motion film journeys all the way to the center of the earth and back.
This Week’s Waste of Time
Another free game that the future you recommends
Ladies and Gentlemen (and Deer) … The Highball!
Highball opens
Fantastic Fest: The Future of 3D
Nonbadgeholders can still get tickets to this techy panel
Fantastic Fest: Dr. Ronald Chevalier at BookPeople
Jemaine Clement to get all meta-nutty when he reads in character at BookPeople on Friday
Sharp Dressed Man
Senate hopeful shows he’s popular with the ladies, electorally speaking (video)
They Are Motorhead, They Came and Kicked Your Ass
Motorhead, live in Austin
The Indictment Tango
DeLay’s fancy footwork works on TV, but will it keep him out of court?
Evidence That Stinks
Innocence Project says Texas’ scent lineup evidence is stinky junk
Drug Czar Ditches Drug Conference in El Paso
Apparently rethinking drug policy ain’t on the czar’s “to do” list this week
Dr. Smith’s Patented Tort Reform
Putting the claim that limiting medical liability will save health care
Love Is All Around
Lucinda Williams gets married onstage in Minneapolis
Slow Clap of the Soul
Kings N Things has the night of their lives.
Off the Record – 33 RPM
Austin’s Monster of Folk strolls down Mermaid Avenue, beating the drum for HAAM Benefit Day, checking in with Charlie Sexton, and new music models for recording
The Lineup
Recommended music for the week of Sept. 18-24
Even Better Than the Real Thing?
Three new video games and three takes on realism
Tech Game a True Test for Longhorns
Revenge? Nah. Longhorns channel Travalena in prep for Tech.
Texas Platters
George Strait Twang (MCA) James Hand Shadow on the Ground (Rounder) Bound by genre but separated by style, George Strait and James Hand play and sing music that’s still better off danced to than analyzed. George Strait is the hit machine, once the pride of San Marcos’ Cheatham Street Warehouse and Austin’s Broken Spoke, a…
Wine of the Week
In the right hands, the pinot blanc can become a sexy wine with lightly perfumed aromas and just enough acid to keep it clean and interesting
Headlines
• City Council adopted the city’s 2010 budget, setting property taxes at the rollback rate while attempting to rein in other fee increases. But one council member has voiced his displeasure with the process. See “City Hall Hustle,” and “One Fiscal Year Down, Another on the Way.” • A debate-style town hall over the need…
Texas Platters
The Band of Heathens One Foot in the Ether (BOH) Following fast on last year’s eponymous studio debut, the Band of Heathens’ sophomore effort asserts the local quintet as coherently evolved, the distinct songwriting styles of Gordy Quist, Colin Brooks, and Ed Jurdi melding into a singular sound. “L.A. County Blues” rolls open with an…
AMODA’s Operandi
Just what, exactly, is the Austin Museum of Digital Art up to these days?
Res Publica
Citizens calendar, Sept. 17-24
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Rust never sleeps, and metal never dies in this doc about the band Anvil.
Texas Platters
Jack Ingram Big Dreams & High Hopes (Big Machine) Jack Ingram had a lot of help recording Big Dreams & High Hopes, his third for Nashville’s Big Machine. Patty Griffin, Radney Foster, Dierks Bentley, Todd Snider, and Little Big Town populate the credits. Four producers besides Ingram are listed. And still he’s come up with…
‘bobrauschenbergamerica’
Like the artist it salutes, this theatre piece is a wild mash-up of iconic Americana
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and beyond
Sorority Row
Things go badly when these sorority sisters try to cover up a prank gone wrong and a serial killer enters the fray.
Texas Platters
Lee Barber Thief and Rescue Co-produced with Brian Beattie of Glass Eye, Thief and Rescue takes an alternate route through singer-songwriterville. There are no sappy strums or stompy songs about booze and bar fights. Barber’s just a great storyteller, his voice one of vibrato and loss, and on his solo country-folk debut, that longing dominates.…
Austin Cabaret Theatre
For its ninth season, the cabaret company moves into a new home at the Long Center
City Hall Hustle: And So the Money Goes
Final City Budget Adoption Not Quite So Final
Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All by Myself
Tyler Perry’s Madea delivers a couple of young delinquents to their only living relative, a shady nightclub singer who must rise to the occasion.
Texas Platters
Delbert McClinton & Dick50 Acquired Taste (New West) Delbert McClinton is Texas’ roadhouse Renais-sance man with the King Midas voice, turning golden anything he sings. The three-time Grammy winner has been riding high on his third wind since 2001’s Nothing Personal reminded everyone what a badass he is (as did 2005’s Cost of Living). For…
‘The Jungle’
Connor Hopkins distills Upton Sinclair’s sprawling novel down to paper and strings
Point Austin: A Few Choice Words for Capital Metro
Wyatt firing just the latest in string of management fiascoes
Whiteout
Kate Beckinsale plays a U.S. marshal who must investigate a murder in Antarctica and wrap it up quickly because winter is starting in three days.
Live Shot
The Creative Opportunity Orchestra St. James’ Episcopal Church, Sept. 11 “Bring the heat,” Tina Marsh used to tell the press. On Friday, Sept. 11, rain brought relief. Inside St. James’ Episcopal Church, where Marsh’s memorial concert had relocated from Laguna Gloria Amphitheatre, candles flickered atop a makeshift altar celebrating the local jazz singer, who died…
Day Trips
The Cele Store in northeastern Travis County continues a barbecue tradition that goes back to dirt roads and farmers’ tans
Developing Stories: Goodie Basket Development
The Grayco South Shore PUD proposal adds public benefits for height
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
A zippy, lippy animated adaptation of the popular children’s book.
Book Review
Doctorow fiddles with the facts of the real-life recluses, the Collyer brothers, to produce a rattling work of beauty
Gay Place
Waiter! There’s a drag king in my show tune!
DNC Does the Texas Waltz
National Dems have high hopes for Texas … one of these days
Cold Souls
Paul Giamatti plays Paul Giamatti, sans soul.
Book Review
Ellroy’s oh-the-humanity neo-noir crimespeak bubbles up not from the heart nor from the head but from the gut
Off the Record
Austin’s Monster of Folk strolls down Mermaid Avenue, inside Woxy’s DJ booth, and beating the drum for HAAM Benefit Day
Point, Counterpoint
The debate over WTP4 goes to a public forum
The Horse Boy
This locally produced film is an intimate and endlessly inspiring look at one family’s struggle to cope with autism.
TV Eye
TV Eye picks its favorite Emmy nominees
Sanders Shooting Fallout
Defense raises profiling questions about officer’s actions
Jennifer’s Body
There are few laughs and even fewer scares in Diablo Cody’s followup to her smash hit Juno.
The Common Law
Can the Landlord Change the Tenant’s Door Lock?
More Beautiful Noise
Western Vinyl owner Brian Sampson: Dr. Label & Mr. Ambient
Arts Review
In the true spirit of Pinter, Hyde Park Theatre’s production is delightfully maddening
Nay to Ney Landscape Plans
Hyde Park residents fear PARD landscaping plan could harm Elisabet Ney Museum
The Informant!
Soderbergh’s corporate whistleblower comedy is tuned in the key of Richard Lester.
After a Fashion
Your Style Avatar calla-lilies about
Sacred and Profane
J. Tillman’s brush with death
Arts Review
Setting Shakespeare’s play in 1920s Savannah makes for a more resonant and timely drama
Separation of Church and Taser
Did APD get rid of a cop because of his religious beliefs?
Dil Bole Hadippa
Bollywood bombast meets Just One of the Guys.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Doodling, idiots, and more
Drawing Focus
Ola Podrida principal David Wingo soundtracks Belly of the Lion
Arts Review
In turning sanitation workers into dancers and machines into giant birds, this work thrilled
Forensics Under Fire
Apparently forensic science isn’t so scientific after all – senators gathered recently to figure out what to do about it
The Creek
Super-low-budget horror film about a not-so-friendly ghost.
The Hightower Report
Hide the Sponsor; and Online Voter Registration
Restaurant Review
Authentic, tasty, and fairly priced, the Cypress Grill is highly recommended for folks who love Louisiana cooking
Riding to the End of the Line
Can Cap Metro weather the recession, balance its books … and run the buses and trains on time?
Landfill Will Top Mount Bonnell in Height
TCEQ OKs landfill’s march toward Austin’s highest point
The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry
The Love Boat‘s MacLeod captains a very different kind of ship in this Christian-themed period film.
Temperatures Rising
Dumped and disowned, Cabin Fever 2 gets a one-off screening to benefit the Austin School of Film
Restaurant Review
The latest from former Jeffrey’s Executive Chef David Garrido is this Mexican restaurant across from Austin Music Hall, and its budget-conscious menu touts tiny but pleasant selections
Cap Metro’s Operating Budget
Revenue 2009 Forecast 2010 Budget Sales tax $140,394,858 $134,106,477 Grant revenue $18,387,344 $21,490,521 Rail freight $14,097,109 $11,777,351 Passenger fares $7,804,853 $9,005,393 Third-party fares $7,311,965 $6,763,680 MetroRail – $495,575 Investment income $1,017,831 $280,000 Other $1,439,589 $1,496,000 Total revenue $190,453,549 $185,414,997 Expenses 2009 Forecast 2010 Budget Salaries & benefits $89,813,904 $84,450,377 Purchased transportation $22,146,670 $23,361,365 Fuel $10,537,896…
One Fiscal Year Down, Another on the Way
Council gives thumbs up to 2010 budget
Players’ Guide
What’s what in Austin gaming
Food-o-File
A capacity crowd stands up for small, sustainable family farms at Pamela Walker’s book signing
Let’s Fire the Union President!
As if Capital Metro didn’t have enough public relations problems, on Friday, Sept. 11, agency management fired Jay Wyatt, the president of the drivers and mechanics’ union (Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1091), on unspecified charges of “sexual harassment.” More precisely, Wyatt was dismissed (effective Sept. 14) by Cap Metro subcontractor StarTran after failing to meet…
Eco Hotel vs. Historic Preservation
A new hotel poses challenge to Warehouse District
In Print
The filming of Werner Herzog’s 1982 epic, Fitzcarraldo, in the Amazonian depths of Peru seemed mythically doomed from its inception
Event Menu
Chocolate and kielbasa in the Hill Country
Soccer Watch
College season races by as the Aztex’s season comes to a close
Page Two: Drowning in Triviality
Instead of addressing our real problems, partisans fight over manufactured nonsense
Luv Doc Recommends: Mother Truckers
Health care. We got it. Then there are those unlucky wretches who happen to have pre-existing conditions: obesity, arthritis, diabetes, depression, pregnancy – really anything short of acute head trauma is grounds for disqualification from most American health insurance programs. The remaining few crazy enough to actually provide insurance coverage for people with pre-existing conditions…
