Cover Story
Beto O’Rourke’s Long, Hot Road to the Texas Primary
We report from the 2020 Democratic campaign trail on whether all the blue, sweat, and beers are worth it
Day Trips & Beyond: October Events Roundup
Find fall foliage in Texas and stop and smell the roses
Fantastic Fest Interview: Taking a Night Drive With AJ Bowen
Moons, Lyfts, and bathroom breaks: War stories from the indie trenches
Dan Welcher Leaves Butler School Over Sexual Misconduct Charges
Article cites multiple instances of inappropriate behavior
County Adds Two Names for Open Judicial Seat
Four finalists will interview for the vacant County Court of Law No. 4
Fortlandia Brings the Art of the Fort to the Fore
Outdoor exhibit returns to the Wildflower Center
Fantastic Fest Interview: Riding The Wave With Justin Long
The actor talks psychedelics, jobs, and … rabbits?
Architecture and Baking Competition at Fluff Meringues & More
Put your sugary construction skills to the test and win prizes
Chef Yoshi Okai Chats About His One-Week-Only Otoko Pop-Up
No months-in-advance rez needed for this special sushi & cocktail menu
Obituary & Abbath Lead Clockwork Decimation
Wall to wall extremity puts over the Sabbath
Pompidou Centre to Honor Richard Linklater
Paris gallery hosting celebration of the Austin director and AFS
A Portrait of Privilege in Fastball’s New Song “White Collar”
Listen to the “Grand Wizard of the Weenie Roast”
Fantastic Fest Review: 4X4
Sometimes the neighborhood watch is the least of a crook’s problems
Fantastic Fest Review: Parasite
Upstairs, downstairs gets a darker meaning in Korean masterpiece
Colombia’s Child Soldiers Captured in Monos
Alejandro Landes on breaking the feelgood narrative of youth
Nancy Pelosi Brings Down the House at TribFest
Speaker talks impeachment, turning Texas blue in 2020
Cage the Elephant Gores Austin City Limits
Kentucky crew’s debut taping Friday proves their universality
Fantastic Fest Review: In the Tall Grass
Stephen King/Joe Hill story finds terror in the tiniest blades
Fantastic Fest Review: In The Shadow of The Moon
Time travel detective drama exceeds its made-for-streaming limits
Texas Dems Fired Up, Ready to Go in Congressional Races
Four top prospects bring Big Blue Energy to TribFest
Horror Director Larry Fessenden Gets Depraved
Indie cinema’s king of fear on creating a very modern Prometheus
This Week on The Austin Chronicle Show: On the Campaign Trail With Beto O’Rourke
Plus: More TribFest picks, and our favorite movies made by women
Lockhart Western Swing & BBQ Festival Kicks Off the Weekend
Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame centers event’s second year
TribFest Panels Debate if the Texas House Is in Play
Looking at suburban battlegrounds and urban firestorms
Ms. Purple
Love, death, and family bonds in Koreatown
One Cut of the Dead
Horror becomes filmmaking comedy becomes a touching family triumph
Rambo: Last Blood
Last blood? We can only hope, as Rambo goes full MAGA
Monos
Colombian child-soldier drama is a bleak look into the cruelty of innocents
Judy
Renée Zellweger is a star reborn in this Judy Garland biopic
Abominable
A lot of fuzz and cuteness, but not much else to this yeti jaunt
Depraved
A modern Frankenstein finds the sins of the fathers in war and commerce
The Death of Dick Long
A redneck comedy takes a tragic, compassionate turn
The Day Shall Come
British satirist Chris Morris puts a human face on security theater
Sister Aimee
A slightly true story of America’s first megapastor on the run
The Golden Glove
Serial killer biopic is too gruelingly accurate for its own good
Point Austin: From Earth Day to Climate Strike
In a dark time, it’s worth recalling decades of progress
Faster Than Sound: Historic Approval of City Tax Fund for Local Music
With $3 million in HOT monies, music advocates gear up for vote on Prop B, the Far Out finds its footing in South Austin, and more music news
Public Notice: The Mystery of Type 3 STRs
Where is all our housing stock going?
Austin’s Best Food and Drink Events This Week
Dinner parties, farmers’ markets, beer, wine, and more for the week of September 25, 2019
Photographer Sandy Carson Shoots Up the Weird, Weird West
Austin-based Scotsman’s new book I’ve Always Been a Cowboy in My Heart is rooted in place
Despite Concern, Commissioners Proceed With Two Finalists for County Judge
Advocates hope the next CC4 judge understands the intersections of sexual assault and family violence
Luv Doc: Deal Killer
As the Homeland Security poster says, “If you see something, say something.”
Death Watch: As Execution Pace Quickens, a 30-Day Stay for Barbee
Meanwhile, Randy Halprin loses 5CA appeal and Rodney Reed supporters fight for justice
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
There are 126 gallons in a butt: That’s an English wine cask unit. What kind of butt did you think I meant? In Shakespeare’s day, a chamber pot was called “a jordan,” referring to the vials of holy water brought back from that sacred river. Pomatumed refers to hair that is powdered, combed up and…
Young Community Organizers Unite Over Equitable Land Use in Austin
Planning Our Communities offers perspective on the city’s new land development code
Wrapping Up Another Year of Fantastic Fest
The Chronicle Screens staff looks at the Good, the Mad, and the Weird
Austin ISD Begins School Changes 2019 Listening Tour
Austin ISD leaders began their School Changes 2019 listening tour this week, visiting campuses that would be impacted by the plan’s proposed closures and consolidations. As the Chronicle went to press on Wednesday, Sept. 25, the district had completed four meetings; more are scheduled through Oct. 10, and are mostly localized to each affected campus…
Texas Platters
Lost in a fog of synths, Kevin Abstract’s falsetto cries, “I don’t know where I’m goin’/ If I gotta take the high road, I’m rollin,” rippling adrift and unmoored on opener “No Halo.” Neither pessimistic nor impassioned, the rest of Ginger mirrors this wary sentiment. Scarred by the burdens of trauma, anxiety, heartbreak, the onetime…
Day Trips: Poco Bueno’s Grave, Vernon
Champion horse remembered in Vernon park
City Council Picks Team to Audit APD Rape Cases
The 18-month project will be led by D.C.-based Police Executive Research Forum
Texas Platters
Entering a musical partnership with your spouse sometimes goes over like a lead balloon. Boisterous roots maniac and veteran Austinite Guy Forsyth off-roads into new territory – sweet, gentle, mellow territory – with his new spouse Jeska Bailey Forsyth, at times deepening his voice to the point of Louis Armstrong. If you’re into artery-hardening Texas…
Soccer Watch
An emphatic 4-1 win over the Las Vegas Lights in the home finale on Fan Appreciation Night was a nice send-off for the 2019 Austin Bold FC; the announced attendance of 3,004 was the highest since the home opener, a sellout at 5,803. Now the team has four road trips to end the season –…
Paper Chairs’ Plano
Paper Chairs’ production gets inside the heads of three sisters over a decade that races by in a breakneck 90 minutes
Texas Platters
Rolling into decade three, Hot Club of Cowtown hasn’t released a batch of original material in 10 years. Instead, the local trio revitalized standards with their blend of modernized hot jazz and Western swing. Now, 11th LP Wild Kingdom resets the marker. Elana James cuts coy out of the gate on the frolicsome “My Candy,”…
Ethos’ :Humpty
Melissa Vogt and Chad Salvata’s musical takes the childhood rhyme into adult territory, balancing lighthearted elements with macabre darkness
Texas Platters
Star-studded duet albums piecemeal jukebox affairs ripe for fun, but seldom serious literature of the Lone Star troubadour ilk. Texas thus wafts by lighter than Rodney Crowell’s grittier work this past decade, which produced only gold (Close Ties, Tarpaper Sky) and silver (both duo LPs with Emmylou Harris). Typical for the Houston country and folk…
Blue Lapis Light’s In Light
In this aerial dance production, the performers move through the sky with such grace, joy, and harmony, they might as well be angels
Texas Platters
Mood can intimidate and inspire in the same breath. Whereas 2017’s Hatteras Night, A Good Luck Charm roiled in a highway expanse, Wire Mountain finds Austin’s Will Johnson hunkered down in reflection – primal, visceral, searching. Credit the opening tone set to the dark rumble of guitar and Thor Harris’ pounding percussion on “Necessitarianism (Fred…
Council Backs Away From New Camping Ban
Is consensus forming on how to move past this summer’s controversy?
Texas Platters
When metal bassist Bryan Richie put down the Sword and picked up a MIDI, assuming the role of a lo-bit Galactic Protector, he dropped big clean melodies from Seventies/Eighties soundtracks into an Atari valley of bottom-rich binary fantasy while avoiding the contemporary retro pitfalls and trick floors of contemporary vaporwave and dungeon synth. To make…
Headlines
Impeachment in the Air: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally gave her assent to a formal impeachment inquiry Tuesday, just in time for Trump’s latest scandal (or are they all really one scandal?) to explode Wednesday with the release of a smoking-gun summary of his conniving with the Ukranian president. Reed Appeal: Lawyers for condemned…
Qmmunity: “The category is love, y’all, love”
Plus trailblazing trans choreographer Sean Dorsey returns to Austin and Lez B In Touch says so long summer
Education Austin Calls Out AISD Police
Austin Justice Coalition, the NAACP, the Transgender Education Network of Texas, and more insist on “roundtable discussion” to address policing in schools
The First Rule of Dinner Club Is … Well, Let’s Talk About It
Austin’s array of subscription-based nomfests will please your palate, expand your experience, and maybe even comfort your budget
Celebrating Woman Director Awareness Month With Recommendations From Local Filmmakers
From artistic inspirations to personal connections, the legacies of women directors
2019 Tribfest Takes Politics to the Streets
All eyes on Texas
Noise Trio Think No Think Takes Its Shot
Band’s latest LP comes with a little help from Butthole Surfers and Judge Judy
Boycott the Pumpkin Spice Latte With Alternative Spices
Five types of non-pumpkin autumnal beverages around town
Mike Denton Jumps Into County Attorney Race
As expected, just-retired judge announces campaign for Dem nomination
Think No Think Album Review
Nothing Really Matters (Spaceflight Records)
Quote of the Week
“I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.” Donald J. Trump, soon-to-be-ex-president of the United States, just trying to extort a foreign leader for his own personal ends, as one does.
