Page Two

Amazingly enough, this is our last issue of 1998. Next week's issue will be dated January 1, 1999. Before you know it, SXSW '99 will be here and then it'll be summer, as we go tumbling into the next century.

Just finished writing a piece for this issue on Robert Rodriguez after seeing The Faculty. What a great premiere and party, all to benefit the Austin Film Society's Texas Filmmakers Production Fund. Lots of friends, everyone in a good mood, watching a terrific and fun movie.

A couple of days later we had 300 or so of our closest friends at Saengerrunde Hall to eat Ruby's barbeque and turkey, Threadgill's side dishes, an array of Mexican food from Curra's, appetizers by Austin Java Company, Steve Chaney's Cajun food, shrimp from Red Lobster, and desserts by Virginia Wood. (There was also karaoke, but that is a story best kept within these walls. Contrary to what you may hear, Nick Barbaro and I did not duet to "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss).") A good time was had by all, I think.

The next few weeks are among my favorite of the year in Austin. Often a gloomy time, winter doesn't sit well in this city, and even after almost two and a half decades here, it still feels strange to find the New Year taking place without a full-scale winter. The good news is the place does empty out. A morning drive can find the city almost deserted. This used to be possible any Sunday morning, but no longer. Everywhere you go now there is traffic. I anticipate the emptiness, when the city is slower, more like it once was, still Austin, still stretched too thickly across the Hill Country, still growing too fast and already too crowded. The city is quiet, swaying in the season.

Our offices will be closed by the time you read this for the rest of the week. We will only be open Monday of next week. We reopen on January 4, 1999 for business as usual.