Cover Story
Song for My Father
An epic and personal reminiscence of Don Walser and what he meant to Austin
OU Sucks – I’ll Drink to That
You already knew that, now Austin’s Independence Brewing Co. has put it in a bottle. Run over to Central Market before supplies run out and get a 12-pack of their limited-edition “Oklahoma Suks” brand of beer. It will taste especially sweet while UT runs up the score.
Vince Young Takes Unwatchable TV to the ‘Next Level’
The Next Level, Vince Young’s new reality show (airing Wednesdays at 8:30pm on BET), is the worst thing to happen to his career since he got drafted by the Titans. For someone so freakishly talented, Young sure is a dull, average guy off the field, or at least that’s how he seems on TV. Most…
‘Soccer Watch’: Lady Longhorns and Euro 2008 Preview
Tough weekend for the Lady Longhorns: First they completely outplayed a good Oklahoma State team, only to lose, 1-0, on the Cowgirls’ only shot on goal of the entire game; then they fumbled away a late two-goal lead and settled for a 3-3 draw with the 3-8 OU Sooners. The OSU game highlighted a persistent…
Tales From the Juice Box: Hickey Firing Sparks Astros’ Arms Race
The Astros sent an interesting message today, extending skipper Phil Garner’s contract through 2008 and cutting pitching coach Jim Hickey loose, despite the general excellence of the pitching staff since Hickey replaced former Longhorn Burt Hooton two years ago. But it does make a certain kind of sense. Hickey, who came up from Round Rock…
‘Off the Hook’: OU Game Hype Heats Up
No game can stain a Longhorn season deeper, and make those perpetually envious Okies more insufferable, than a Sooner scalping in the Red River Shootout. Mack Brown’s hide was in serious jeopardy because of those four straight losses before Vince Young bailed him out big-time last year. It’s also worth remembering that Texas’ last pre-Ohio…
Time 4 Sum Aksion
Watching Marcus Mann and the McCallum Knights run up a 41-0 halftime lead against the Reagan Raiders at Nelson Field last Thursday night, I thought it was going to be a typical weekend of high school football here in Austin. Then on Friday night at House Park, the impossible happened. The Austin High Maroons, after…
‘Nasty Nate’ Devours His Competition in Corn-Dog-Eating Contest
What would the State Fair of Texas be without people stuffing their faces with fried things? The Fourth Annual World Corny Dog Eating Contest commenced on Sunday afternoon during the opening weekend of the fair in Dallas. The sun beat down on 14 brave contestants, many of them competitive-eating-contest veterans. Supplied only with cups of…
‘Pig Skinny’: Oklahoma vs. Texas
The Red River Shootout is this weekend, and as the Longhorns and Sooners players prepare for a dogfight, fans continue the relatively pointless argument regarding who has the better program. Unfortunately for Texas, numbers don’t lie. The Horns lead the all-time series of 100 games 56-39-5 (though since the end of World War II, the…
Wranglers & Deion Announce New Dancers/Free-Agent Signing of Nate Coggins
Our very own Arena Football League franchise, the Austin Wranglers, have had a busy offseason in preparation for a hopeful return to the playoffs.
Smoltz Tomahawk-Chops the Astros’ Playoff Hopes
Turn out the lights at the home that Enron built. The Astros slammed their own door shut with a 3-1 loss to John Smoltz and the Atlanta Braves on Sunday, stranding 11 runners and committing two costly errors. Oh, by the way, the Cardinals lost that day as well. While the Cardinals certainly don’t deserve…
A Whole Lotta Tejada
While most normal baseball fans follow the successes and failures of their favorite teams, I’ve always been one to pull for my favorite individual players. This gets chalked up to there being no team based out of my hometown of New Orleans. While later stints in Houston, Los Angeles, and Oakland have at times gotten…
subUrbia
subUrbia 1997, R, 121 min. Directed by Richard Linklater, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Giovanni Ribisi, Steve Zahn, Amie Carey, Nicky Katt, Dina Spybey, Jayce Bartok, Parker Posey, Ajay Naidu. Adapted by Eric Bogosian from his stage play, subUrbia follows the alienated, angst-ridden, and collapsing world of five friends over the course of…
Who Dat Indeed
The New Orleans Saints couldn’t have looked any better beating the Atlanta Falcons in the first game to be played in the Superdome since Hurricane Katrina. New Head Coach Sean Payton must be some sort of genius, leading a traditionally underachieving team to three straight wins and for the time being, the pole position in…
Remember the Titans … Suck (aw, Snap)
I have to admit the Cowboys had me worried for a while there. For a few quarters, the Titans were looking like an actual threat. Not only was Vince Young getting his first NFL start, the game was in Nashville, and LenDale White was even guaranteed some playing time. That was all Dallas needed going…
Williams Savors First NFL Win
Mario Williams had his coming-out party this Sunday at Reliant Stadium as the Texans narrowly defeated the Dolphins 17-15. Williams tallied his first career sack and then was credited with another half-sack on the following play as the crowd in Reliant Stadium went nuts. It was as if the Texans had secured a playoff spot…
Jet Li’s Fearless
Jet Li’s final martial-arts epic is fittingly peripatetic, finding the Hong Kong superstar ricocheting across the screen from action set-piece to emotional overload and back again.
We Deem Keem Supreme
Custom candy at Farm to Market and beyond
Mueller Details
Lake Park Entryway The ornamental entry to the Mueller neighborhood, on Aldrich Street off Airport Boulevard, is now planted with crepe myrtles and two massive twin oaks, moved from elsewhere on the property. Just south will be the Welcome Center and Lake Park (under construction). Recreational Greenway The greenway running from the fire station on…
Out, In, and Onscreen
Nobody’s Perfect: Maria Maggenti on ‘Puccini for Beginners’ Screwball comedy comes naturally to filmmaker Maria Maggenti. It was the dominant tone of her first feature film, The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love, a movie about two high school girls and the community uproar that occurs once they fall in love. Then came…
Out of Commission
The curious saga of 20 portraits of British literary greats that UT paid Feliks Topolski to paint, then didn’t show for decades
The U.S. vs. John Lennon
Documentary about Lennon’s political activism and time spent in New York basks in the legend’s presence but offers little new on the subject.
New and Noteworthy
Casina Rossa Truffle & Salt
Media Watch
‘Dallas Morning News’ editorial staff members leap for buyouts; and ‘Austin Student’ publisher says ‘vendetta’ by former UT boss partially drove her to sell her weekly paper
Out, In, and Onscreen
On a Role (or Two): Darryl Stephens in ‘Boy Culture’ and ‘Another Gay Movie’ Still acclimating himself to the success of the Logo sitcom Noah’s Arc, in which he stars, Darryl Stephens now finds himself in the enviable position of trying to keep up with the opportunities his adventurous résumé now affords his film future.…
Payne Pleasures 2006: The nominees
Your play didn’t have to tackle a political theme to earn a nomination for ACoT’s 2005-2006 B. Iden Payne Awards, but the top nominees reveal that it sure didn’t hurt
Open Season
The animated Open Season is long on manic energy and bathroom humor but short on real storytelling, emotion, and characters.
Food-o-File
In spite of the sad circumstances, Bill Clinton at El Chile made Carlos Rivero’s week
Celebrating Barrientos
Gonzalo Barrientos is stepping down at the end of his current legislative term in January, after 21 years in the Senate and 10 years in the House.
Out, In, and Onscreen
Another Gay MovieD: Todd Stephens; with Michael Carbonaro, Jonah Blechman, Jonathan Chase, Mitch Morris Consider it payback for all those Brokeback Mountain parodies. The teen sex comedy gets a Queer Eye makeover when four gay high school boys set out to lose the “big A” before the end of summer. Look for cameos by Richard…
365 National Festival: A Suzan-Lori play a day …
Starting Nov. 13, Austin will join nine other cities across the country in a national festival that will produce 365 plays by Suzan-Lori Parks in 365 days
School for Scoundrels
Although it stars Billy Bob Thornton and Napoleon Dynamite‘s Jon Heder and is jam-packed with multitalented comedians and stars, School for Scoundrels is just not funny.
Event Menu
Sept. 29-Oct. 5
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Out, In, and Onscreen
Eating Out 2: Sloppy SecondsD: Phillip J. Bartell; with Jim Verraros, Marco Dapper, Brett Chukerman, Emily Brooke Hands, Rebekah Kochan With its oh-so-clever title and credit as the first American gay sequel, Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds, is a fun commentary on reverse psychology and hormonal rivalry. Following the original, Eating Out, wherein Kyle (Verraros)…
Arts Archives: UT makes play for Shepard, snaps up Newman, wins Woody
That treasure trove of cultural archives at UT has recently been expanded to include photographic portrait maker, playwright and actor Sam Shepard, and filmmaker Woody Allen
Edmond
William H. Macy stars in this film penned by David Mamet about one man’s long night’s journey of the soul.
Mangieri’s Pizza Cafe
His grandfather was serving up pizza in 1920s New Jersey; now, Anthony Mangieri’s doing so in Southwest Austin
Out, In, and Onscreen
For the Love of DollyD: Tai Uhlmann This could end up being the first documentary used as evidence in a restraining order case. There’s a fine line between Dolly Parton superfan and scary stalker. Director Uhlmann ventures deep into creepy territory and sets up cameras. From the gay couple that considers moving into the garage…
Arts Review
Watching ‘Bars, Bedrooms, Bukowski,’ a theatrical version of four Charles Bukowski stories, it’s obvious that adaptor/director James Cotton loves his subject matter
Arts Review
With the exhibition ‘Rembrandt’s Etchings,’ the Blanton Museum of Art has created a rare and intimate opportunity for you to see, study, and absorb the impact of Rembrandt’s mastery for yourself
Ms B’s Authentic Creole Restaurant
Whatever you do, order the sweet potato fries
Street Racing a Deadly Game
Slaughter Lane, where the big Sept. 11 double-fatality wreck took place, is one of the city’s most raced-down streets, according to APD
Out, In, and Onscreen
Loving AnnabelleD: Katherine Brooks; with Diane Gaidry, Erin Kelly, Ilene Graff, Kevin McCarthy, Gustine Fudickar, Michelle Horn, Laura Breckenridge There is nothing so complicated as human relationships. Forbidden love is the prime focus of Brooks’ Loving Annabelle, inspired by the 1931 German film Maedchen in Uniform. Brought into the tedious drone of an all-girl Catholic…
Arts Review
The humor in Psycho Beach Party might seem as mindless as the targets, but with Naughty Austin’s production the fun of guys in wigs, dancing hunks, and screaming chicks yanks you in
Love in the Time of ‘Green Darkness’
Don’t judge Anya Seton’s reissued biographical novels by their romance and bad covers
The Good Fight
Former Mayor Gus Garcia suits up for Las Manitas
Out, In, and Onscreen
MomD: Erin Greenwell; with Julia Goldman, Emily Burton, Emma Bowers, Mary C. Matthews A conservative blonde and a spiky-haired lesbian on a road trip together seems like a good way to make a car implode with emotion. Greenwell, however, perceived it as means to conduct a nonabrasive story on the similarities between polar-opposite personalities. Kelly…
Page Two: Return of the Independents
‘SXSW Presents,’ season three
Country Chorus
The Grand Ole Opry was obviously a huge deal for Don Walser. I don’t know if it was because I was a journalist, but I got to sit onstage at the Ryman Auditorium the night Austin’s king of country music made his debut there on Oct. 30, 1999 (see Live Shots, Music, November 5, 1999).…
Sustainable Living
Renewable Energy Roundup and Green Living Fair is the place to learn about cutting-edge clean-energy technologies, as well as a one-stop shop for people wanting greener homes and natural backyard gardens
Out, In, and Onscreen
Saint of 9/11D: Glenn Holsten Father Mychal Judge, the protagonist of Holsten’s moving Saint of 9/11, wore many a hat. He was a chaplain of the Fire Department in New York City, a Franciscan monk, a recovering alcoholic, a dedicated advocate of the homeless and HIV-stricken, and … a homosexual. His story is unique, and…
Letters at 3AM
According to a ‘USA Today’ survey, 30% of all American youth hope to have careers in the arts. Who’s been lying to these children?
Texas Platters
A former member of Austin’s pioneering CBS B-boy crew, Global drops Scientific Nigerian with the megaton payload of hip-hop’s storied golden age. Imagine Rakim’s decree of “let’s travel magnificent speeds around the universe” taken as a daily rule. Global borrows beats from all accessible sectors, including an Organized Noize leftover here and a Jimi Hendrix…
Hurricane Housing Update
Federal housing assistance ‘recertification’ deadline for hurricane evacuees looms for both landlords and their tenants
Out, In, and Onscreen
aGLIFF | Friday, Sept. 29-Sunday, Oct. 8 Regal Arbor Cinema (9828 Great Hills Trail) Admission: Opening night films and party is $25 for members and $35 general; $8/$9 (member/general) for screenings after 6pm; $6/$7 for matinees. Tickets may be purchased on the Web at www.agliff.org and agliff.frontgatetickets.com or at the box office prior to screening.…
After a Fashion
What is keeping Stephen inside six nights a week, glued to the boob tube? And why would anyone want to go waaaaaaaay down south? Answers within.
Texas Platters
The Mars VoltaAmputechture (Universal/Gold Standard Labs) There’s a delicate balance between beauty and insanity. Especially in prog. El Paso’s Mars Volta has dived head first into the abyss of self-indulgent, brain-fried wankery, but this you already knew. Like 2003 debut De-Loused in the Comatorium and last year’s Frances the Mute, third studio LP Amputechture takes…
Housing Authority in Trouble With HUD
Federal audit says Housing Authority of the City of Austin could have to repay $588,130 to Department of Housing and Urban Development for overpayment of Section 8 vouchers
Getting Through Something Hard
Kat Candler’s ‘jumping off bridges’ screens in conjunction with the Travis County Suicide Prevention Coalition
Day Trips
The San Jacinto Monument has reopened its observation deck to the public, offering a beautiful view of the Houston skyline and the battlefield where Texas won its independence
Texas Platters
DynahWake On the local quartet’s self-titled debut, Dynah proved better chameleons than the Chameleons, channeling the Cure and the Smiths for a slick shoegaze simulacrum that was at times charming and chic. Consider Wake the awkward morning after, when the zeal for Radiohead and Coldplay reveals itself in the forms of Muse and Keane. The…
Weed Watch
Even Willie is getting busted these days
‘SXSW Presents’ Launches Season Three on KLRU
Tuesday, Oct. 3, 9pm
To Your Health
Lead exposure is an ancient problem and lead poisoning remains unnecessarily common among children
Texas Platters
CavedwellerThe Best Version of “Gloria’ Ever There Was (Business Deal) Cavedweller is Dirk Michener, who doesn’t hail from a cave but rather the Denton area, where he was instrumental in co-founding the now-Austin-based Business Deal Records. In the tradition of the label’s lo-fi bedroom recording aesthetic, Michener’s new LP fuses psych with pop, much like…
Point Austin: Tough Tacos
As tempers rise, the Las Manitas debate symbolizes the future of Austin
In Play: Saints Row
Saints RowXbox 360 See Grand Theft Auto. Saints Row offers more of the same with better graphics and online play. The hardcore-sex mod from San Andreas is absent, but what Saints Row offers instead is hardcore plagiarism, with the boldness usually reserved for college freshmen and Bob Dylan. But immature video games imitate, and mature…
The Common Law
Changing My Name – Do I Need a Lawyer?
Texas Platters
Johnny Edson More Than Friends (Ragweed) Technology now allows anyone to record his or her musical vision and make it available on a wide scale. Problem is that’s erased the line between what should be made public and what should be kept private. More Than Friends, Johnny Edson’s fifth album, is the latter. Based on…
Beside the Point
Council returns after a three-week hiatus to a lengthy and twisty agenda
DVD Watch
These vintage interviews could not take place today; the guests had no movies to plug and 90 minutes in which not to plug them
TCB
Bidding farewell to dandy Don Walser, remembering Jerry Lightfoot, helping Chris Tominaga, and shopping for HAAM
Soccer Watch
Two big home games for the Lady Longhorns, and more
Texas Platters
Idgy VaughnOrigin Story Some debut albums set up careers with the promise of good things to come. Idgy Vaughn delivered Origin Story without warning, a recording so potent it can’t be ignored. “Look into my eyes; now do I look like the dangerous type?” she beckons on “Dragging the River,” while smacking a honky-tonk punch…
The Hightower Report
Poppies Up, Bush Down; and Biotech Mutation of Creeping Bentgrass
TV Eye
The ‘Friday Night Lights’ depth chart
Election 2006
The latest from the campaign trail
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
The president pushes the button … the Fresca button
Texas Platters
Debo AdejobiAfrican Folk Tales & Music for Children, Vol. 1 (Batakoto) Can kids still be moved by a simple, well-told story? Based on the work of Debo Adejobi, an Austinite from Nigeria who collects folk tales in West Africa, the answer is appropriately elementary: Yes. “Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky”…
Out, In, and Onscreen
The 19th Austin Gay & Lesbian International FIlm Festival
In Play: ‘NHL 2K7’ 2K Sports
NHL 2K72K Sports (Xbox 360), $59.99 While the NHL continues its rebound from the 2004-05 lockout, the world of video-game hockey is thriving in 2K Sports’ NHL 2K7. Every aspect of 2K7 is next-gen-style impressive (the sound and the graphics certainly), but it’s the game play that sticks out — and it’s the game play…
Flyboys
This story of the Lafayette Escadrille squadron, who become the first U.S. fighter pilots, is surprisingly inert.
Oops!
Our latest batch
Building Utopia
After years of pipe dreams, politics, and planning, the new Mueller Neighborhood is rising at last
Out, In, and Onscreen
The Natural: Jan Dunn on ‘Gypo’ You still come across inspiring first-time filmmaking stories, but thrilling tales of blowing out your credit rating or mortgaging the family manse to make your no-budget, Quixotian dreams come true isn’t quite as remarkable as it was back when Robert Rodriguez went under the needle to secure a pittance…
Mas Noticias Las Manitas: Council Members Take Stand
Three city council members have taken a public stand asserting the value of Las Manitas Avenue Cafe, Escuelita del Alma, and Tesoros Trading Co. to the city and the 200 block of Congress Avenue. In a Sept. 28 letter to J. Willard Marriott Jr., chariman and CEO of Marriott International — the hotel chain whose…
Cardinals Down the Drain: To Night the Impossible Mare?
After the fold below are some text-message exchanges between a family member – one of the many St. Louis Cardinals fans I happen to be friendly with, as I was born and raised in that city and live and die with its team’s fortunes – and me during the past few days of baseball. To…
Luv Doc Recommends: Texas Freedom Network’s 11th Anniversary Celebration
For several years now the current administration has been engaged in a pitched battle against fundamentalist extremists. Billions of dollars and thousands of lives have been spent in the war on terror, the result of which, it seems, is that the U.S. has buried its head in someone else’s sand rather than its own. This…
