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Goat

Alpha-male fraternity bullying sparks revenge in this true story

by Josh Kupecki

Texas Platters

“Roll, and I’ll just feel something” begins the Vaughan Brothers’ 1990 landmark Family Style, codifying the blues backward and forward as readily as the tonic, dominant, and subdominant chord progression stamping the genre since the beginning like a serial number. Johnny Nicholas’ 2011 breakthrough Future Blues rode a Fifties Cadillac glide every bit as smooth…

by Raoul Hernandez

Headlines

City Council returns today, Thu., Sept. 22, after passing the FY 2017 budget last week. A host of controversial items, including the Cactus Rose Mobile Home Park and the Grove at Shoal Creek zoning cases, are expected to make the night a long one. See ” Grove at Shoal Creek Inches Forward” and “After Numerous…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Guitarist James Arthur kicked axe for the Golden Boys, Fireworks, Necessary Evils, and more, but his own Manhunt stokes hottest. Wisely burying his gravelly wail amidst the six-string blasts and amplifier abuse, Arthur vomits out a version of space rock that snuffs out the stars instead of celebrating them. Like a low-budget Helios Creed after…

by Michael Toland

Norwood Murder Trial Nears Conclusion

Mark Norwood’s trial for the 1988 North Austin murder of Debra Baker continues this week. 390th District Judge Julie Kocurek called a Wednesday afternoon recess to account for getting ahead of schedule and suggested Wednesday morning that final arguments should be made on Thursday, with a decision potentially reached on Thursday evening. The second week…

by Chase Hoffberger

Texas Platters

The Sword’s previous High Country spent a lot of time and effort on excursions into Southern folk, blues, and synth rock, hoping to lead the neo-metal local quartet out of its stylistic corner. Low Country, an acoustic take on the same LP, revitalizes the songs by tying them together with stronger artistic thread. Without having…

by Michael Toland

Texas Platters

Not being prolific can mean different things. For San Saba County, it results in the best songs available. It also translates into only the most devout followers keeping up with the homegrown quartet since it’s been four years between Broken Record and Fifth, meaning it’s almost like starting over. And yet the sound that frontman…

by Jim Caligiuri

Texas Platters

Originally from Birmingham, England, where she was the driving force behind her family’s folk/bluegrass act the Toy Hearts, guitarist Sophia Johnson moved to Austin just One Year ago. That she fit into the roots-country music scene here so effortlessly is a testament not only to her instrumental prowess, but her willingness and ability to play…

by Jim Caligiuri

Texas Platters

At its worst, outlaw country had a kissin’ cousins relationship to Southern rock. Hence the uncomfortable resemblance between the Marshall Tucker Band and Hank Williams Jr.’s less-countrified moments. Which is the problem with Whiskey Myers and Mud: This Tyler fivepiece clearly thinks stomping down onto the Lynyrd Skynyrd side of the divide is a good…

by Tim Stegall

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

Ringolevio is a kid’s game from New York City dating back to the early 20th century. Players divide into two teams. Team 1 hides, while Team 2 covers their eyes and counts off like in hide-and-seek. The seekers try to find an opponent, grab them, and shout, “Ringolevio 1-2-3.” During the chant, the Team 1…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

Gay Place

The Gender Unbound Art Fest will spotlight the work of trans, intersex, and gender nonconforming artists and musicians

by Sarah Marloff

Texas Platters

Like 2014’s For Sale, East Cameron Folkcore’s fourth LP Better Off opens with a quote, this time from theorist Buckminster Fuller intoning a technological potential to move us toward a utopia. Lest they be mistaken for a brighter outlook on the future, the Austin septet quickly clarifies in a barrage of horns and hard rhythms…

by Doug Freeman

Soccer Watch

The UT Longhorns won the last two games in the nonconference part of their schedule, without getting a goal from Alexa Adams: 1-0 over North Texas and 2-1 over previously unbeaten UC-Santa Barbara. Freshman forward Tecora Turner was named the Big 12 Fresh­man of the Week for scoring the winning goal against UCSB. The Horns…

by Nick Barbaro

Texas Platters

Like the other 11 originals on Kris Kristofferson’s surnamed 1970 bow, “Me and Bobby McGee” departs from the Dylan-isms of the day with zero pretension. Had Janis Joplin herself not plucked its harpoon from the Brownsville-born author’s dirty red bandanna, the freedom-fighter folk anthem might have had to settle for a country music standard instead…

by Raoul Hernandez

Quote of the Week

“You don’t have to be smarter than a fifth grader to know if the sun were to instantly turn off, this entire planet would turn into an ice ball and everybody would be dead.” – Ray of sunshine (and D6 City Council Member) Don Zimmerman on climate change, during a League of Women Voters candidate…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

“My soul is getting lost in these neon lights,” laments Aaron Behrens on “Don’t Feel Like Dancing” from Heartbreak Bugaloo, assessment of his last dozen years as the manic frontman of electro outfit Ghostland Observatory. In 2013, Behrens stepped away from the Austin duo’s strobe-light electronics for discordant guitar riffs and piano ballads in solo…

by Alejandra Ramirez

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