1995 B. Iden Payne Award Winners
On September 17, the Austin Circle of Theatres (ACOT) held the 21st annual B. Iden Payne Awards Ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel. The event honors achievements in local theatre during the preceding year and recognizes significant individual and corporate contributions to local theatre. ACOT’s Board of Directors voted the 1995 Individual Recognition Award to…
Who’s on First?
Priorities First! is a nonprofit organization representing a broad coalition of groups and individuals who are opposed to the issuance of $10 million in bonds toward building a Triple-A stadium; they say the money would be better spent improving city services or should not be spent at all if it means a tax increase. Among…
A Day in the Neighborhood
by Rebecca Levy Remember Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, and that song Fred sang as he prepared for a comfortable half hour of learning and fun? “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor…” I found myself humming the tune last week as I visited Austin’s best Art Neighborhood. It is not…
A Baker’s Dozen: More Critics’ Picks
Andromeda Strain: A favorite of local darlings/scapegoats Sixteen Deluxe, Andromeda Strain bring loud, trippy thrash-rock to the stages of Emo’s and other local venues where they’re not old enough to buy a drink yet. (Gray) The Chumps: Lester Bangs once remarked the true fan transcends his fanaticism to do the deed himself. The Chumps are…
A Few Cures for the Summertime Blues
by Patrick Taggart Two weeks in Europe deprived of American film and then, boom! – Living in Oblivion, The Usual Suspects, Clockers. Are perceptions of film forever changed? Is it safe to give up a habit of mainstream film for an extended period and then plunge back into the cinematic waters – not in the…
Book ’em Dan-o!
compiled by Raoul Hernandez More picks, only this time from the critics that really count: the club owners and booking agents who put local bands into their clubs each and every night. Here are the bands they already book, and look to book more in the future, and a few words on why they like…
Kids’ Books Grow up Teach Your Children Well
by Roseana Auten If you’re a parent of an elementary school child, then you can probably already spot books that you’d want your kid to read – ones that don’t reinforce negative sex roles and stereotypes, or ones that promote good values without preaching. I’m happy to report that a few of those recently landed…
Music Recommended
Bates Recital Hall (UT), Saturday 23 If Texas Folklife Resources had only brought in former Texas Playboy Johnny Gimble to play solo, this would be a don’t-miss show. But having him share the bill with fiddle masters Claude Williams (jazz) of Kansas City, Brian Marshall (Texas-Polish), Rufus Thibodeaux (Cajun), Jose Moreno (Mexican-American) and Norman Solomon…
American Buffets: In Defense of Gluttony Golden Hometown Family Stockade
by Greg Beets Golden Corral 9710 N. Lamar, 834-9911; 3607 S. Lamar, 442-3472 Ryan’s Family Steakhouse 1813 W. Parmer, 835-9663 Sirloin Stockade 5607 N. Lamar, 451-5357; 8828 Research, 453-1075; 1723 N. I-35, 218-8600 HomeTown Buffet 2500 W. Parmer, 388-0004 It all goes back to that first Thanksgiving dinner, the one the Pilgrims invited the Indians…
Is This UTopia?
by Mike Clark-Madison The war room for the University of Texas’ campus master-planners is on the top floor of the Peter T. Flawn Academic Center, also known as the Undergraduate Library, or UGL, to which at least two generations of students have added the inevitable “Y,” and not without cause. Frzom this aerie, the strategists…
Oriental Buffets
One sly, come-hither stare at the restaurant section of the yellow pages will key you into the fact that Chinese cuisine rules the buffet scene in Austin. In eight years of local buffeteering, I’ve only managed to scratch the stir-fried surface when it comes to Chinese buffets. With so much competition, some enterprising buffets have…
Which Way Will Austin Swing? Ninth Inning, 3 and 2
One thing that can be looked at – going back to the grey beginnings of the stadium proposal – is the selection process of the stadium site itself. After examining several possibilities, says Heitz, proponents selected Colorado River tract adjacent to the Pleasant Valley Sportsplex, near Riverside east of I-35, to be called the Colorado…
Chewy Soup
by Stephanie Beauchamp There is a bottom where you thought there was a top. An arm is where a leg is supposed to be. One body is really two. What you thought was black and white is really the color wheel of Pilobolus Dance Theatre. For almost 25 years, this uniquely physical and acrobatic company…
Council Watch
In a flash flood of dollar signs reminiscent of the tempest that assaulted the city only a few days earlier, the council ratified next year’s $1.2 billion budget in less than three hours on Monday, September 11. The plan, disapproved of by Max Nofziger and Brigid Shea, is effective October 1. It will cost the…
Post Scripts
* THU, SEPT 21: Noted Texas author Stephen Harrigan will speak at a meeting of the Austin Writers’ League at First Unitarian Church, 7pm. Harrigan is the author of Comanche Midnight and Aransas, and is currently at work on a novel about the Alamo… Award-winning photographer/essayist Laurence Parent will present a slide show and discussion…
Naked City
Edited by Audrey Duff, with contributions this week by Louisa C. Brinsmade, Nelson England, and Amy Smith. THE NEWTERING OF PUBLIC RADIO: Newt Gingrich’s big plan to cut off federal funding to public broadcasters continues to hit KUT 90.5 radio below the belt. The prospect of losing more money – both from its University of…
Scanlines
DREAMS OF FLIGHT Creative Multimedia The real power of the CD-ROM being its ability to hold large amounts of reference material, the key is to find material that people actually want to reference. Creative MultiMedia not only hit on a remarkably interesting topic in the history of flight, but they did a great job putting…
Day Trips
Four million bats emerge from the Eckert James River Bat Cave nightly in a swarm of sight, sound, and smell that is an exciting feat of nature. The Nature Conservancy-owned park outside of Mason has one of only a dozen maternity bat colonies in Texas – and among those, this is one of the few…
About AIDS
Phone Line Volunteers Needed AIDS Services of Austin welcomes new and potential volunteers for the access and information phone lines. One of the best tools we have in the form of prevention is education: getting the facts out to the public, letting people know what methods are effective for prevention. The phone lines offer an…
food-o-file
NEW AND NOSHWORTHY El Lobo Mexican Restaurant and Bakery 4327 S. First St., #102, 444-8861 Monday-Friday, 7am-9:30pm Saturday & Sunday, 7am-11pm There are so many new Mexican restaurants on S. First lately that it is going to take some time to try them all. This pleasant new spot in the St. Elmo Shopping Center serves…
Mister Smarty Pants Knows
Mickey Mouse is a teamster. Great Britain’s first cat show was held in 1871 at The Crystal Palace. Film director/producer Hershell Gordon Lewis sometimes used the pseudonym “Sheldon Seymour” in his films so it would appear as if more people were in the crew. Global warming records began being kept in 1951. In some countries,…
Hearth & Soul
by Suzy Banks Inspector for a Day It’s 7am. I’m burning my tongue on hot coffee at Ruta Maya. I haven’t been up and mobile this early since… well… since I used to stay up this late. But the early hours will be worth it, for today I ride shotgun with Robin Camp, Residential Building…
Caught ’em in Autumn
Earthpig is vacating his lair. Like some A.A. Milne fuzzy guy gone wrong, he’ll shuffle in and out of his queer little abode, gutting its cloistered innards piece by piece: TV’s with birthdates ranging from 1949 to 1965, his “ladies’ – the loveless mannequins of his spooky photographs – and, of course, his garage-sale score…
Film
SAFED: Todd Haynes; with Julianne Moore, Xander Berkeley, Peter Friedman, James LeGros, Mary Carver, Susan Norman, Kate McGregor Stewart. Carol’s life is killing her, or so it seems. But, maybe it’s just her new couch. That’s how the problem first became noticeable. As portrayed by Julianne Moore, Carol is an affluent Los Angeles housewife who…
7 and 7 is
I’ve heard this town’s single of the year, and it’s got to be Junior Brown’s “Highway Patrol” (MGC/Curb). This three-and-a-half minute turn captures all of Brown’s formidable attributes, from his guttural, low-end drawl to a guit-steel solo that blazes without denying the pop aspirations at the song’s base. DPS ought to make this catchy number…
Film: Showtimes
Showtimes listed below start Friday, September 22 and cover the week ending Thursday, Septemer 29. *An asterisk (*) before a title means that no passes or special admission discounts (apart from matinee discounts) will be accepted for any screening. *Parentheses indicate weekend showtimes for Saturdays and Sundays only, unless otherwise noted. *Changes may sometimes occur,…
Bonus Tracks
KERI LEIGH Arrival (Waldoxy) Recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoal studios in Alabama with leftovers from the studio’s old rhythm and horn sections, Leigh’s Arrival is a reminder about that old joke about gold-painted cowchips still being shit at the end of the day. Leigh’s mistake wasn’t the band itself, but believing the old-timers could…
on the cover p. 17
The Straight Dope 8 Media Clips 10 News of the Weird 12 Public Notice, Benefits 14 politics UT Master Plan 40 acres needs a ruleby Mike Clark-Madison 17Council Watch, Naked City 17 Swing Vote Baseball hits the ballot October 7by Dave Cook 26 food Seconds, Anyone? Going back for more at American Buffetsby Greg Beets…
Dancing About Architecture
Yes, this time it’s for real. Austin Outhouse owner Chuck Lamb doesn’t hide his emotion when discussing it, either: the Outhouse is out of business as of the last day of this month. Now do you want to compound that bad news? Try this: Laura at the Blue Flamingo says that day also marks the…
