Cover Story
Panhandlers for God
Local radio talk-show host Charlie Hodge was driving to work one morning in late 2007 when he first encountered the Austin Restoration Ministries. Hodge is one-third of the three-man, four-hour KLBJ-FM Dudley & Bob Morning Show and returns to the station for an hourlong midday chat with listeners on The Charlie Hodge Half-Time Show. Just…
Out of the Ring, Into the Pen
James Kirkland sentenced to two years in federal prison
Big 12 Power Rankings: Week 4 … or Is It 5?
Sports blogger livin’ on ‘kickoff time’
UT Players Learn Quickly They’re All Replaceable
Just ask Beyoncé, she’ll tell ya
The Lineup
Recommended music for ACL weekend
Fantastic Fest: ‘Fireball’
Basketball, Muay Thai style
The Weapon Is Really a Silent One
The politics of K’Naan
Shouting Across the Void
Jeff Tweedy in mono
Fantastic Fest: ‘Fish Story’
J-horror director Nakimura goes punk
Fantastic Fest: ‘Kaifeck Murder’
Bavaria: Come for the beer, stay for the rituals
Happy Gay History Month!
Check the Gay Place Blog each day in October for a new Gay History Month bio, courtesy the fine folks at Equality Forum.
Fantastic Fest: House
This is your brain. This is your brain on House
Cap Met CEO Gilliam Retires
Transit chief says decision financial, not political
Green Tourism
More “Learning from Copenhagen”
Beyond Austin City Limits
There’s plenty to hear and see this weekend
Fantastic Fest: ‘House of the Devil’
1983 is back from the grave
City, Bike Shops Team Up to Help Bike Commuters
COA staffers and shop employees set up “commute stations” Thursday
Texas Stars Host the NHL’s Dallas Stars
The Stars will shine brightly in Cedar Park tonight
Learning from Copenhagen
Upcoming blogs on climate action in Denmark
Finding The Common Thread: Austin’s New Fabric Heaven
Austin’s newest fabric emporium is more fun than going for ice cream.
Fantastic Fest: ‘Mandrill’
Assassination adventure proves exploitation cinema is still cool in Chile
Cap Met: The Drama Continues
A balanced budget, no train, and union leader locked out
Too Much Guitar
Teenage kicks at Gonerfest 6
Fantastic Fest: ‘Cropsey’
FF’s documentary interloper has something terrifying to say about urban myth
Fantastic Fest: Macabre
Indonesian horror hits a deep vein of social commentary
AFF Announces Lineup
Serious Moonlight, scripted by the late Adrienne Shelly, will open the fest
Judy Shepard Reads at BookPeople
The gay rights activist will read from her new book, The Meaning of Matthew
Book Ban Bonanza
Number of books challenged in Texas is on the decline
Fantastic Fest: ‘Private Eye’
A terrific detective story set in 1910’s South Korea
Teens4Autism a Success!
First teen-powered benefit is a hit
Fantastic Fest: Paramount Premieres
George Romero and John C. Reilly takes the stage as part of FF’s four premieres in three nights
Fantastic Fest: ‘George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead’
More tales of the undead
Fantastic Fest: ‘Trick’r Treat’
Anthology delight gets a big screen adventure before DVD release
Fantastic Fest: ‘Smash Cut’
Saying “Mwah, mwah, mwah” to Herschell Gordon Lewis
Fantastic Fest: ‘Kenny Begins’
A heroically silly space comedy
Big 12 Power Rankings: Week 3
Ladies love the grillmaster
Longhorns Next Two Opponents: UTEP and Inertia
When will UT play up to their potential?
Frontiers
I was a tweenage Journey fan
Arts Review
This theatrical tribute to the artist is a glorious jumble, an exuberant hodgepodge
Cap Metro Not Budging on Budget
Board hears earful on inaccessible bus stops
Amreeka
In this delightfully human and sweetly comic ode to the contemporary immigrant experience in a post-9/11 “Amreeka,” a Palestinian mother and son create a world of possibilities.
Annies: Day & NIght
Two very different sides of a popular Downtown eatery
Northern Exposures
Reflections on the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
Arts Review
A fine cast moves briskly and precisely through this wise and touching tale of loss
MetroRail Watch
Capital Metro�s monthly MetroRail progress report lists several accomplishments, such as �relocation of train detection equipment� and �initiated compilation of system integration documentation.� It also mentioned the �vital logic� setback reported a few weeks ago. None of it sounds like major progress. The arm doesn�t move. Off-track: Insistent street buzz says CEO Fred Gilliam is…
Bright Star
Jane Campion’s achingly immediate yet eternal story about the love between tubercular poet John Keats and the literal girl-next-door, Fanny Brawne. It affords the filmmaker another rich opportunity to scratch beneath the surface of female sexuality.
New in Print
Ballard’s influence on modern culture remains readily apparent
In Print
The Edwards gestalt is a sublime combination of the “low art” of physical comedy and the “high art” of intellectual wit
Arts Review
These new artists render visuals so distinctively, they seem like old hands at painting
A Virgin Walks Into a Civil Rights Debate …
The State Board of Ed circus is back in town
New in Print
Perhaps some of the pizzazz got lost in the translation?
Sex, Thugs, and Thanatos
The mad, bad bounty of Fantastic Fest 2009
The 24 Hour Roman Reconstruction Project
Arthouse creates a cardboard scale model of ancient Rome twixt one midnight and another
Smith Prescribes a Spoonful of Tort Reform
Lamar Smith calls for tort reform in the health care bill
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Moonshine, pipes, Frank Zappa, and more
After a Fashion
It’s always a fiesta in Texas, but what is it when your Style Avatar goes to Fiesta Texas?
Geppetto Dreams Puppet Company
It’s hard out there for a puppet
Chamber Raises a Glass to WTP4
WTP4 supporters are a who’s who collection of business interests
Food-o-File
Food news about town
Letters at 3AM: The Script Needs a Rewrite
Cinema history as it’s been commonly taught is just plain wrong
Actual Lives
David Dauber on how he came to direct the company defined as ‘crip theatre with attitude’
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Police dropped charges against AISD senior Mamadee Kamara – but that didn’t stop the district from acting as judge and jury
Event Menu
Foodie events around town, Sept. 25-Oct. 2
TV Eye
What did Tweets tell us about this year’s Emmy Awards?
How to Have a SUCCESSFUL Career in Art
D.L. Tolar and Edward Povey lay the foundation for going pro and getting your art seen
Permission to Approach the Bedroom … er, Bench?
Death row inmate denied retrial, despite evidence of affair between judge and prosecutor
In Print
Bullock-Prado’s new book is an acerbic and poignant memoir that also includes some of her favorite recipes
Day Trips
Possum Kingdom State Park is one of the most popular boating and fishing spots in North Texas
Soccer Watch
Aztex dispense player awards, UT and St. Ed�s start conference play on the road, and more
Will Border Crackdown Cause Ranger Drain?
Perry dispatches Texas Rangers to the border
Restaurant Review
After sampling one of Casa Maria’s fat, homemade flour tortillas, I began to perceive that looks can be deceiving
Gay Place
Around the world in a gay!
Point Austin: More Water Under the Bridge
Reading the political currents flowing through WTP4
Media Watch: Animal Stories and Snacking Trends
If you think TV news is quite dumb enough – you have no idea
The Hightower Report
Stimulus Naysayers Cash In; and Arms Wide Open
Off the Record
Gimme shelter: Red Eyed Fly’s 10-year anniversary, the Happen-Ins’ Southern harmony, and HAAM Benefit Day.
City Hall Hustle: Sounds like a Plan … of the Plan … for the Plan, or …
A budget’s work is never done
The Common Law
New Traffic Laws – Turn Off Cell Phones and Buckle Seat Belts
Phases & Stages
Monsters of Folk (Shangri-La) Jim James, M. Ward, and Conor Oberst have expanded modern Americana through their distinct progressions over the past decade: James from Southern-swaddled reverb to falsetto soul; Ward from intimate lo-fi rasp to Buddy Holly-ripping pop renaissance; Oberst from cathartic, solipsistic angst to rootsy wanderlust. Add Saddle Creek überproducer/multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis, and…
Headlines
• The City Council returns for its first post-budget meeting with some tweaks to the fiscal year 2010 package, plus action on items like the Comprehensive Plan and Downtown density incentives. See “City Hall Hustle.” • The first day of fall actually felt like it: Alongside a blanket of rain Tuesday, highs dropped into the…
Love Happens
You can probably guess what happens when Aaron Eckhart’s widower meets Jennifer Aniston’s lovelorn florist.
Plan, Be
The citizens who spent years dreaming up CreateAustin are now working to make it real
Phases & Stages
Big Star Keep an Eye on the Sky (Ardent/Rhino) Beginning in the mid-1960s, bands began fusing Beatles melodies, Who guitars, and the Byrds’ harmonies. Power-pop was born. Although never rising above cult status due to internal tensions, label distribution problems, and lack of radio play, Big Star remains preeminent among these acts. Authoritatively illustrating why,…
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and beyond
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
This collegiate coming-of-age comedy is about as exciting as near-beer.
Phases & Stages
Monotonix Where Were You When It Happened? (Drag City) In pro wrestling, a Monotonix live show would be deemed a hardcore, falls-count-anywhere match. The Israeli trio gropes its way through the crowd, onto the streets, and everywhere else it deems fit, while singer Ami Shalev’s Tasmanian devil, trash-can heroics make Angus Young’s strip tease routine…
Res Publica
Citizens calendar, Sept. 24-Oct. 1
The Baader Meinhof Complex
This gripping lesson in the recent history of terrorism is an electrifying, morally complex story of the evil that true believers do in the name of the greater good.
Of a Lifetime
Gregg Rolie, the voice of classic rock, and originally, Journey
Phases & Stages
The Cave Singers Welcome Joy (Matador) On this Seattle trio’s 2007 debut, Invitation Songs, there were no hints of its Northwestern punk history, just damp, pleasing, porch-folk songs that grow as naturally as medicinal marijuana. On its second LP, the group doesn’t really try to get up from that porch. Guitarist Derek Fudesco, formerly of…
Oops!
In last week’s (Sept. 18) “Developing Stories” column, “Goodie Basket Development,” Cathy Echols was incorrectly identified as a planning commissioner. Also last week, in a story on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality decision to allow expansion of the Sunset Farms Landfill (“Landfill Will Top Mount Bonnell in Height”), we inadvertently mixed heights of various…
What’s Your Raashee?
From the Indian director of Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India comes this confection in which a a young man’s romantic ideals meet up with reality.
Journey to the Center of the Discographies
SANTANARAMA Santana The Woodstock Experience (Columbia/Legacy) 2009 Restoring the single track edited out from 2004’s otherwise superior Santana reissue, Woodstock pairs the group’s name-making festival set with the 1969 debut that followed (“Evil Ways,” “Jingo”). Both discs cruise Rolie’s low-rider vocals, him sounding like a 50-year-old blues stevedore rather than a twenty-ish college dropout. “Fried…
Phases & Stages
Lightning Dust Infinite Light (Jagjaguwar) Tremulous opener “Antonia Jane” glints enough Mazzy Star to prompt moon shades, but Amber Webber’s reedier voxcraft reverbs tougher stuff. Paired with Black Mountain bandmate Josh Wells, the singer brings a subtle undercurrent of the duo’s Canadian psych-roots quintet, even though as Lightning Dust, she and him recall a Mazzier…
Page Three: Clear as Water
Simple as 1, 2, 3?
Wanted
In this Bollywood remake of the 2006 Telugu movie, a mob hit man loses his sangfroid when he falls in love.
Faithfully
I was in a Journey cover band!
Phases & Stages
The Feelies Crazy Rhythms (Bar/None) The Feelies The Good Earth (Bar/None) High on a string of reunion shows this year, New Jersey’s Feelies are back – in print as well. Keeping it in the family, hometown label Bar/None has reissued the band’s first two LPs, 1980’s Crazy Rhythms and 1986’s The Good Earth. Though the…
Developing Stories: The Norwood Posse Wants You!
Travis Heights neighbors have revived the Norwood House restoration effort – are they too late?
Big Fan
In this dark new film from the screenwriter of The Wrestler, a New York Giants fan and regular caller to a sports radio talk show snatches rededication from the jaws of disillusionment.
Fantastic Fest: ‘Dirty Mind’
Love and pain and explosive devices
Luv Doc Recommends: Fantastic Fest Michael Jackson Dance Party
Michael Jackson was one seriously messed up … uh … let’s just say “dude” until the full autopsy gets published … but he produced some badass dance jams. If someone cranks up “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” in your immediate vicinity and you don’t start full on moonwalking – or at least a reflexive…
