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September 28 • 2012

Sep 28 - Oct 4, 2012 / Vol. 32 / No. 5
Digital Edition

Cover Story

Texas Platters

Balmorhea Stranger (Western Vinyl) Strange how distance can bring people together in new and profound ways. Recorded over two years primarily at Tortoise’s Soma Electronic Music Studios in Chicago, Balmorhea’s Stranger came into focus over great distances and lengths of time, with multi-instrumentalist Michael Muller in Brooklyn and guitarist/pianist Rob Lowe secluded in Alpine. The…

by Austin Powell

Beat Box

Verses about moving, maturation, and “Wifey” fill local hero Bavu Blakes’ Sanct EP, which comes from the hip-hop mainstay’s new home in Long Beach, even if the sound is purely Texan. Much of that can be attributed to Blakes’ devotion to that soulful sound he helped develop, but peep Sanct’s roster: D-Madness, Mojoe’s Easy Lee…

by Chase Hoffberger

Headlines

� City Council meets today (Thursday) with a plentiful agenda, including a resolution in support of “marriage equality in the State of Tex­as” and consideration of another proposed economic incentives deal. For more, see “City Coun­cil: All Free Men … Have Equal Rights.” › The Cap Metro board this week adopted a $274.5 million budget…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Tomás Ramírez Tres (INIO Music) In a most subtle way, Tomás Ramírez creates a tribute to his own lengthy career on Tres. If the album itself wasn’t an impressive whole, final track “Rosa le da Lucha al Diablo” (loosely “Rosa’s Fight With the Devil”) could well serve as a one-tune overview of the Texan tenor…

by Margaret Moser

Hornucopia

Starry, starry night Portraits hung in empty halls Frameless heads on nameless walls With eyes that watch the world and can’t forget – “Vincent” by Don McLean They’re calling him a bust, a naive nitwit who blew $50 million during his six years in the NFL on strip clubs and child support and taking his…

by Michael Corcoran

The Luv Doc: The Iron Fist of Fashion

Luvdoc, A few day ago, I wore some white sandals on a dinner date with my boyfriend and, when he came to pick me up, he immediately commented that I was breaking a very basic fashion rule – no white after Labor Day. At first I thought he was joking, but then I realized he…

by The Luv Doc

Texas Platters

Vallejo Brothers Brew (VMG) Formulaic: bad word in music. Hit upon a formula – similar, but without the bad connotation. Match either with “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and you’ve got a bona fide success story. So remains the Vallejo brothers’ seamless discography. While the locals’ sixth studio release isn’t as powerhouse as…

by Raoul Hernandez

Texas Platters

Pong Live at the Continental Club (The Rock Garage) If there’s any band in what was once called Austin’s “alternative” scene that deserves live preservation, it’s Pong. On vinyl. As sonically representative as the locals’ studio albums are, it’s in concert where this quintet’s satire-soaked dance rock comes alive. When the guitar attack of Gary…

by Michael Toland

Soccer Watch

The UT Longhorns opened Big 12 play with a pair of shutout road wins last weekend, 4-0 over Iowa State, and 1-0 at Oklahoma. Sounds like the young team has really stabilized over the last four games (3-0-1, coming off a four-game losing streak); they’ve had the same starting lineup for all four games, and…

by Nick Barbaro

Texas Platters

Lymbyc Systym Symbolyst (Western Vinyl) Symbolist painters in the early 20th century communicated with dream imagery, steeped in the Romantic tradition but with more personal and enigmatic allusions. That’s an apt reference point for Lymbyc Systym, an instrumental duo whose warm soundscapes are left open to interpretation. The Bell brothers – former Balmorhea drummer Michael…

by Austin Powell

Hotel Transylvania

There’s no need to put a stake in the heart of this animated film full of familiar monsters; it’s already deadly dull.

by Marc Savlov

Looper

Crackerjack thrills, time travel, violence, humor, and action: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis are characters who share the same morally conflicted core.

by Kimberley Jones

Scenes From a Marriage

As Ira Sachs’ movie Keep the Lights On begins, we observe a character named Erik trolling the gay telephone chat lines for sex. It’s 1998, and Erik is a fledgling documentary filmmaker who’s about 30 years old. He hooks up for a satisfying encounter with Paul, a lawyer who works at a major publishing house.…

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Pitch Perfect

Despite the cookie-cutter dysfunction seen in this college girls’ a cappella group, this film film can be a lot of fun.

by Kimberley Jones

Wrapped in Plastic

Minutes into the first episode of Austin award-winning web series Once You Leave, lead character Kayla Marshall (Kayla Olson) stumbles into a darkly comic set-piece. Her mother (played with Mae West brio by Rae Peterson) has taken in a new lover, and her bedroom has been rented out. Discomfort morphs to confrontation, and Kayla palms…

by Brandon Watson

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

The HMS Romney was used by the British in the American Revolution. In ancient Egypt, false metal beards were worn by kings – and occasionally by cows. We don’t know why. The 1989 Exxon Valdez (of oil spill fame) went through several transformations over the years. In 2011, she was last renamed Oriental Nicety and…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

Also Recommended

Call Me Kuchu Documentary Feature D: Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall In Uganda, progressive attitudes are slower to develop than the economy. Filmmakers Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall document the underground LGBT community in the African country, where homosexuality is not only deemed ungodly, but unlawful. The local tabloid publishes photos of local…

by Chronicle Staff

Kelly Willis on Evan Johns

Some of my first gigs ever were opening for Evan in D.C., and in Austin our first gig was at the Hole in the Wall opening for him. The guys in my band worshipped the ground he walked on. A couple of them took guitar lessons (and bass lessons) from him when he would come…

by Chronicle Staff

Liberal Arts

When a Manhattanite returns for a visit to his old liberal arts college, he falls hard for a student 15 years his junior.

by Kimberley Jones

Oops!

The review of Lace Curtains’ debut album, The Garden of Joy and the Well of Loneliness (“Texas Platters,” Sept. 21), should have come punctuated with four stars instead of 3.5. “What the fuck do I have to do to get out of three and a half star purgatory?” wondered the man behind Curtains the next…

by Chronicle Staff

Civics 101

Thursday 27 NATIONAL DAY OF SERVICE Get inspired by Gandhi’s famous words – “You must be the change you wish to see in the world” – in honor of his birthday. Kickoff tonight; service projects through Saturday. 6:30-8:30pm. South steps of the Capitol. www.beth echangeaustin.org. WDP 10TH ANNIVERSARY Celebrate a decade with the Workers Defense…

by Chronicle Staff

Quote of the Week

“This separation of church and state is just false on its face.” – Gov. Rick Perry, who blames Satan for getting in the way of his “Biblical responsibility” to “proclaim God’s truth” in the public arena. See “Point Austin,” left.

by Chronicle Staff

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