Texas Culture Bash ’96
In I’ll Take Texas, Mary Lasswell wrote, “I am forced to conclude that God made Texas on his day off, for pure entertainment, just to prove what diversity could be crammed into one section of earth by a really top hand.” Nobody knows this better than the staff of Texas Folklife Resources (TFR). For 11…
Page Two
81/2 Souvenirs were still performing down in the amphitheatre when I heard music starting on the acoustic stage, situated next to the Austin Museum of Art at Laguna Gloria. It was the Chronicle’s 15th anniversary party, a benefit for the museum. I headed over to the acoustic stage, figuring someone had screwed the schedule up…
Music Stage
Noon Eva Ybarra y Su Conjunto 1pm Johnny Gimble 2pm Atonement 2:30pm Zongti Lin 3pm The Vrazels Polka Band 4pm Tish Hinojosa (children’s show) 5pm Light Crust Doughboys 6:15pm Carol Fran & Clarence Hollimon 7:30pm The Derailers 8:45pm Sam Brothers Zydeco Band
Public Notice
Big Fall Harvest at Wheatsville Beat all of your household needs into plowshares, y’all. Don’t give that money to the man, spend it where it’s needed most — right back into the community center that heals your soul and psyche and cares for all your other tangible human needs. Wheatsville Coop, our venerable community hub,…
A Small World After All
What happened to all you people on Friday and Saturday? Everyone was abuzz over the One World Music Festival during the weeks prior to it, and the weather was fine, despite early fears that George Clinton’s Mothership would end up being an Ark. Still, it seemed like a low turnout during the first two days.…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Attila the Hun died from getting a nosebleed on his wedding night. If the atoms in a human body were enlarged to the size of a golf ball, the distance between the nuclei would be 2,000 miles! Most people develop their accents between ages 3 and 7. According to one historian, Jenny Wade, age 19,…
Sing Me Back Home
There comes a time in all our lives when we face a challenge to our integrity. Sometimes the challenge is minor — a small temptation that’s easily resisted. For others, it may be some unbearable burden, a major event that will shape how others will view you, and how you will view yourself — for…
Food O’ File
On Monday, September 30, Fonda San Miguel welcomes nationally known pastry professor Nick Malgieri, author of the James Beard Award-winning book, How to Bake (Harper/Collins, $35, hard) for a class and booksigning. Malgieri devised the curriculum and supervises the baking and pastry department at Peter Kump’s Cooking School in New York City. He has also…
Also Playing
Friday: Tina Marsh, McCullough Theatre Saturday: Storyville, Stubb’s Sunday: Herman the German, Under the Sun Monday: Neurosis, Emo’s Tuesday: Eddie Kirkland, Antone’s Wednesday: Libbi Bosworth, Broken Spoke Thursday: Tom Paxton, Dave Van Ronk, Cactus Cafe; Vitamade, Emo’s
Libbi Bosworth
Outskirts of You (Freedom) Austin’s country music scene has been described in these pages as an embarrassment of riches. Well, things just became even more embarrassing; Libbi Bosworth has returned to town and, with this album, serves notice that her name must be included when you discuss Austin’s major country figures. Bosworth has said that…
Branch by Branch
1161 Angelina, at Rosewood; 472-8954 FACILITY: Fairly large branch and bona fide neighborhood landmark next to Kealing Middle School. The predecessor structure, the old Austin “Colored Branch,” now serves as the Carver Museum next door. The mural on the Rosewood side is fading, but the interior color scheme — deep purple carpet and bright red…
Six Days on the Road
For most people, songs about truck drivers begin and end with C.W. McCall’s 1976 hit “Convoy,” the novelty song that went to Number One on the charts during the C.B. radio craze and later became a film with Kris Kristofferson and Ali McGraw. But if you listen to Jeremy Tepper of Brooklyn, New York’s Diesel…
Music Reviews
TIN CUP (Warner Bros.) With a back-to-back Lone Star sucker-punch of the Texas Tornados’ “A Little Bit is Better than Nada” and Jimmie Vaughan’s “Cool Lookin’ Woman” followed immediately by Keb Mo’s “Crapped Out Again,” the soundtrack to Kevin Costner’s new trifle, er, film Tin Cup opens powerfully enough. Get ready then, for lame zydeco…
Untimely Ripp’d Off
Up through last Saturday, the folks in the Austin Shakespeare Festival (ASF) had been feeling real good about the opening weekend of their production of The Merchant of Venice at the Zilker Park Rock Island. They had made it through tech week without getting washed away by summer storms, and their first three performances had…
The Budget Is Hell
Ernest Hemingway once wrote that nothing is as bad as war. He never covered a council budget session. Two days… 12 grueling hours… $1.3 billion spent… Casualties: One councilmember and one downtown consultant. To the victors, the spoils. The two big winners last Wednesday were Beverly Griffith and Gus Garcia, who ran away with $1.4…
Rig Rock Deluxe: a Musical Salute to the American Truck Driver
(Diesel Only/Upstart) I’ve always strongly suspected Jeremy Tepper was a mad genius; now, I have firm proof. Tepper, leader of the World Famous Blue Jays, keeps spitting out these wonderful alt-country compilations on his Diesel Only label that are chock full of meaty chunks of inspired country music, usually with a lean toward trucker culture.…
Dance:
DALLAS BLACK DANCE THEATRE presents The Noh Project: Koe, a work combining Noh drama and modern dance, choreographed by June Watanabe. October 9-12, Wed-Sat. $7-$50. Majestic Theatre, 1925 Elm, Dallas. 214/871-2390. Music: THE METROPLEX SUZUKI FESTIVAL features performances by 10 students of educator Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. Saturday, September 28. $7.50-$10. Ed Landreth Hall, Texas Christian…
Austin’s Active Shelf Life
As American urbanites, we expect a public library at our disposal, just as we expect streetlights and ambulance service. In return, we ignore it until we need it, shrug when its funding gets deferred to the cops and tax breaks, and then castigate it when it can’t provide a 1946 Statesman or a current bestseller.…
Stonewall
Stonewall 1995, R, 98 min. Directed by Nigel Finch, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Frederick Weller, Guillermo Diaz, Brendan Corbalis, Duane Boutte, Bruce Macvittie. Who knew that a riot led by drag queens outside a nondescript Greenwich Village bar called the Stonewall over 25 years ago would be mythologized as the birth of…
Played Out
Get ready to say goodbye to another of Austin’s cultural landmarks. It may not have defined an era like the Armadillo World Headquarters or made cultural history like Raul’s, but it survived for longer than either of those noteworthy venues and it certainly left its mark on the cultural life of this city. Capitol City…
Off the Desk:
Freeport-McMoRan has cancelled an insurance policy it had with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), according to TAPOL, the London-based human rights organization which monitors Indonesia. MIGA, an arm of the World Bank, has had a $50 million political risk insurance policy on Freeport’s controversial gold mine in Irian Jaya since 1990. “Reasons for the…
Manny & Lo
Manny & Lo 1996, R, 89 min. Directed by Lisa Krueger, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Mary Kay Place, Scarlett Johansson, Aleksa Palladino, Paul Guilfoyle. Families, as we all know, are not always planned. Sometimes they’re forged from the darnedest circumstances, neither random or plotted, and definitely not genetic. For the two teenage…
When the Dance Stops
by Lars Eighner The Beauty of Men By Andrew Holleran Morrow, $24 hard Midlife Queer: Autobiography of a Decade: 1971-1981 By Martin Duberman Scribner, $23 hard One of these books is the antidote of the other, and in keeping with the usual order of things I’ll take the dote first. Holleran’s latest novel is a…
Women Dive into WATERTechnology Gainer
An elemental force, water has an immutable and transformational property that makes it a necessary part of life. Given the ambitious aims of Women’s Access to Electronic Resources (WATER), it serves also as a fitting acronym. WATER, a project of the progressive feminist Foundation for a Compassionate Society, seeks to educate and empower women artists…
The First Wives Club
The First Wives Club 1996, PG, 104 min. Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Hollywood hath no peer in depicting such women on screen. Where else could one see three talented, attractive actors like Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton reduced to plotting, scheming stereotypes?…
Wham… Bam… Thank You, Slam!
National Poetry Slam August 21-24, Portland, Oregon They’re baaaack! The Austin Poetry Slam Team — Wammo, Phil West, Hilary Thomas, and Danny Solis — finished in fourth place at the National Poetry Slam in Portland, Oregon at the end of August. Out of 27 participating teams, the APST was ranked in first place after the…
Have WINGS, Will Fly
In a small bungalow in South Austin, Frieda Werden slides on a pair of headphones and revels in the rhythm of the voice. She loves the power of words, the energy that comes from a story told by a woman in South Africa one minute, a woman in South Korea the next. Using state-of-the-art audio…
The Rich Man’s Wife
The Rich Man’s Wife 1996, R, 96 min. Directed by Amy Holden Jones, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Halle Berry, Peter Greene, Clive Owen, Christopher McDonald, Clea Lewis. There has already been at least one remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s deliciously witty, maliciously thrilling Strangers on a Train, and it openly aspired to comedy.…
“I’m HIV-positive — Doing Okay — What Now?”
If you know that you are HIV-positive, that means that at some time you answered “Yes” to the question, “Should I take the HIV-antibody test?” It’s likely you’ve been grappling with questions ever since. Perhaps you’ve asked yourself, your friends, your doctor whether AZT, ddI, Zerit, 3TC, the protease inhibitors or combination therapy is right…
The Idolmaker
D: Taylor Hackford; with Ray Sharkey, Tovah Feldshuh, Peter Gallagher, Joe Pantolino, Maureen McCormick. VHS Home Video Encore Movies & Music, 8820 Burnet For all the dopey rock & roll clich�s to which The Idolmaker falls victim, this 1980 movie remains late actor Ray Sharkey’s best screen performance — an ambitious, Svengali-like songwriter who sees…
Feeling Minnesota
Feeling Minnesota 1996, R, 95 min. Directed by Steven Baigelman, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Keanu Reeves, Vincent D’Onofrio, Cameron Diaz, Delroy Lindo, Courtney Love, Tuesday Weld, Dan Aykroyd, Levon Helm. A project developed at Robert Redford’s acclaimed Sundance Institute, Feeling Minnesota (the title is taken from a Soundgarden lyric) may have the…
The Asbestos Among Us
Dear Suzy, Should I paint over asbestos shingles (which seems like the best idea) or should I remove them? Two or three people have suggested that I remove the shingles in order to restore the wood siding on my 1946 nouveau-bungalow starter home to its original look. This suggestion was not from anyone I can…
A Half-Life at the Movies
It began in earnest around age 10 or so, when my parents dropped me off at the local YMCA so that I could swim, play Ping-Pong, and generally hang with my peers. We were just average, middle-class boys who wanted to grow up to be solid citizens and enjoy the right and privilege of voting…
Maximum Risk
Maximum Risk 1996, R, 101 min. Directed by Ringo Lam, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Natasha Henstridge, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Zach Grenier, Stéphane Audran. When he’s firing on all cylinders, Hong Kong’s Ringo Lam is one of contemporary cinema’s most accomplished (and diversified) action filmmakers, having directed everything from the exhilarating…
Fri 20
Benefit for Chiapas Concert to benefit Comite de Solidaridad con Chiapas, Mexico, at Thai Passion Restaurant, Seventh & Congress, 8pm-2am. Cost is $10 general, $5 kids. 454-8097. Ruta Maya Grass Roots II to benefit Kari Igomari Niwara, assocation of Raramuri Indian Craftswomen from Sierra Madres of Northern Mexico, at Ruta Maya Coffehouse, Fourth & Lavaca,…
Festival Snapshots
On this continent, the most formidable showcase for new films from around the world is the Toronto International Film Festival. I’m headed up to Canada to attend two-thirds of the 10-day-long Festival that ran from September 5-14. Arriving later than expected due to some lousy airline complications and that curious way in which I always…
Ma Saison Préférée
Ma Saison Préférée 1993, NR, 124 min. Directed by André Téchiné, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Catherine Deneuve, Daniel Auteuil, Marthe Villalonga, Jean-Pierre Bouvier, Chiara Mastroianni, Carmen Chaplin, Anthony Prada. The 1993 French film Ma Saison Préférée is a small, subtle film about family relationships. Essentially, the story investigates the manner in which…
King of the Hill
Castle Hill Cafe 1101 W. Fifth, 476-0728 Lunch: Mon-Fri, 11am–2:30pm Dinner: Mon-Sat, 6pm–10pm; closed Sun. I’m always fearful when I walk into Castle Hill Cafe that time, popularity, or some behind-the-scenes alteration has finally spoiled my favorite Austin dining spot. After all, it’s difficult to stay on top in the restaurant business, where so many…
Coach’s Corner
Six Flags Over Texas: The line at El Vibora, a rickety, yellow-and-red toboggan-like roller coaster, snaked on forever. In front of us stand two couples and a mixed medley of children. One couple wears precisely matching green and yellow shorts and polo shirts. The other adults are sporting T-shirts quoting fundamentalist slogans. “Jesus saves,” “Open…
Atilano’s Tex-Mex Burrito Station and Restaurant
5300 N. Lamar, Ste. 103, 452-5955 Breakfast daily 6:30-10:30am; Lunch daily 11am-2pm; Dinner Mon and Tue, 5-9pm; Thu-Sat, 5-10pm. Burritos at Atilano’s Tex-Mex Burrito Station are torpedoes bursting at the seams with meat and vegetables. Inside the mom n’ pop establishment, pi�atas, Mexican music, brightly colored blankets, and a beachfront mural add color to the…
Day Trips
At Moody Gardens you don’t have to handle the millipedes and tarantulas to have a good time. The insects are a part of the behind-the-scenes research identifying beneficial insects and plants in rainforests. Moody Gardens is no ordinary amusement park. Science is at work behind the playground of beaches and exotic plants and animals in…
