Book Review: Edendale by Michael Ventura

Former “Letters at 3am” columnist celebrates the early days of Hollywood in new novel

"...as a film critic for the LA Weekly, a publication he co-founded in 1978. Closer to home, many of..."

March 1, 2024 Arts Feature by Jay Trachtenberg

Fearless Texas Singer-Songwriter and Playwright Jo Carol Pierce Has Died

Known for honky-tonk manifesto Bad Girls Upset by the Truth

"...Firebrand singer-songwriter and playwright Jo Carol Pierce, a Lubbock native who launched her career in Austin, has died at..."

Dec. 5, 2022 Music Post by Doug Freeman

Godspeed Michael

"...Dear Editor, Such a pleasure to see Michael Ventura's “Letters At 3AM” make a return to the Chronicle ["Until..."

Nov. 28, 2021 Postmarks

First Thing to Turn to

"...Dear Editor, To Michael Ventura, whose “Letters at 3AM” were for years the first thing I..."

Nov. 27, 2021 Postmarks

Until the End of the World

Writing is not what I live for, it’s how I live

"...the poet Gail Wronsky asked me to contribute to What Falls Away Is Always: Writers Over Sixty on Writing..."

Nov. 26, 2021 Arts Feature by Michael Ventura

We Have an Issue: Artistic Creation Can Happen Anywhere

TikTok viral hitmakers, an old-school columnist who writes to live – this week it's all about making art no matter what

"...to lower your risk. Austin Public Health leadership recommends that if you're going to travel or gather with a..."

Nov. 26, 2021 Column by Kimberley Jones

We Have an Issue: Talking Health Care, and Taking Care of the Trans Community

Why are so many Texans uninsured?

"...In preparation of my weekly editor's intro to the issue, I..."

Nov. 19, 2021 Column by Kimberley Jones

This Job Will Change Your Life

Former staff reflect on the zigs and zags of life post-Chronicle

"...Chronicle referred to as "the island of misfit toys" (hat tip to Rankin/Bass). It certainly gets at some of..."

Sept. 3, 2021 Features Feature by Jesse Sublett

Faster Than Sound: Music Lab Explores Consolidation

Rehearsal space’s Oltorf location posted for sale; Hi, How Are You Day draws the Flaming Lips; and Esme Barrera tribute launches Girls Rock El Paso

"...Music Lab's Oltorf location, a default rehearsal space for Austin musicians, is up..."

Jan. 18, 2019 Music Column by Rachel Rascoe

Texas Book Festival’s Literary Libations Events Start This Week

Cocktails and books go together like poetry and pickle backs

"...Booze and literature are well-established as bedfellows powerful enough to form their..."

Aug. 6, 2018 Food Post by Emily Beyda

Here We Go Yet Again

Michael Ventura revisits his "Letters at 3am" Columbine column

"...– May 28, 1999 – the Chronicle published a "Letters at 3am" column concerning the Columbine High School massacre..."

Feb. 16, 2018 Chronolog Post by Michael Ventura

Holiday Viewing: The Gospel According to St. Matthew

“The most sublime Texts ever written”

"...Look no further than The Gospel According to St. Matthew, director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s straightforward retelling of that Gospel:..."

Dec. 20, 2017 Screens Post by Nick Barbaro

10 Minutes With Joe Ely

“It’s either being creative or I’m bored easily”

"...Joe Ely marks his 70th birthday Friday night at the Paramount Theatre. Often compared to both Bruce Springsteen..."

Feb. 9, 2017 Music Post by Jim Caligiuri

Page Two: Sitting on the Dock of the Bay Watching the Tide Roll Away

The Chronicle at 35

"..."Do not write down to readers, write straight at them, and if they have to reach some that..."

Sept. 2, 2016 Column by Louis Black

From the Vault: “The Guilt of Frank Sinatra”

As ASO toasts Sinatra in concert, we revisit a Michael Ventura classic

"...As the tributes to Frank Sinatra in his centennial year continue – including tonight and..."

Dec. 29, 2015 Arts Post by Michael Ventura

Gay Place: Back in Black

Gays, guerrillas lead the way to Halloween

"...Thu., Oct. 22, 6-9pm. Swan Dive, 615 Red River. www.fb.com/wherethegirlsgoatx...."

Oct. 23, 2015 Column by Kate X Messer

Letters at 3AM: As Time Goes By

"I'm not quitting. I'm turning," says Michael Ventura in his final column

"...1916. The New York Times cost one penny, and that day the paper headlined a White House meeting about..."

Nov. 14, 2014 Column by Michael Ventura

Page Two: It's 3:01AM

Michael Ventura puts his column to bed

"...column I hoped to never write. It's especially ironic that, as my first in a number of years, it..."

Nov. 14, 2014 Column by Louis Black

Ventura Will Be Missed

"...Dear Editor, It has been one of those superlative Austin days: swimming at Barton Springs on a warm..."

Nov. 4, 2014 Postmarks

Letters at 3am: The World That Calls Itself "the World"

We're capable of so much – and look what we've settled for

"...knew most of this planet never was white. His declaration was for the world that calls itself "the world"..."

Oct. 31, 2014 Column by Michael Ventura

Letters at 3am: The Future Dot-Dot-Dot

Ellipses express exactly my sense of the future

"...You get accustomed to the nonsense that passes for commentary. It functions as the political equivalent..."

Oct. 17, 2014 Column by Michael Ventura

Letters at 3AM: A Long Goodbye

In the first of four parting columns, Michael Ventura announces his decision to end his bieweekly column

"...Because, strange as it may seem, and no matter how personal it gets, the column hasn't been about..."

Oct. 3, 2014 Column by Michael Ventura

Letters at 3am: Joe Ely's Reverb: An Odyssey

The road goes on forever, and there's never a destination

"..."Great times up in West Texas. I have some great..."

Sept. 19, 2014 Column by Michael Ventura

Letters At 3AM: Karen Holden's This Music

This Music, Karen Holden's new poetry collection, expresses the connection between the self and the world

"...in the same modest apartment. Cavafy was a poet. That is, he was an indefinable being, even more indefinable..."

Sept. 5, 2014 Column by Michael Ventura

Letters at 3AM: Connectivity/Vulnerability: Part 2

The boundaries of everything are wavering and disappearing

"...That happened on June 28, 1914, in a country that..."

Aug. 22, 2014 Column by Michael Ventura

Letters at 3AM: Vulnerability/Connectivity, Part 1

As a species, we have a desire to connect electonically, but not ideologically

"...Dark Angel premiered October 3, 2000. Created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee, the Fox..."

Aug. 8, 2014 Column by Michael Ventura

Loved, Loathed, Lip-Synched Ventura

"...Dear Editor, I loved, loathed, and lip-synched your review of the all-time all-stars of..."

July 24, 2014 Postmarks

Letters at 3AM: So Big Deal, Hemingway

Will Huck Finn be a valuable and immortal American archetype in the future?

"...you write a lot, sometimes you publish a sentence that is so silly you just have to walk away..."

July 25, 2014 Column by Michael Ventura

'Slap Noir'

BigBoy Medlin's dark comic novel of West Texas: an excerpt

"...Slap Noir changed his life, inspiring him to launch LettersAt3amPress, an imprint for publishing that book and works of..."

July 18, 2014 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Oligarchy Is the Problem

"...Dear Editor, In "That Word 'Oligarchy,'" Michael Ventura nails it [Letters at 3AM,..."

July 12, 2014 Postmarks

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