While it's easy to concentrate on that five-seat margin in the Texas House, there's still all those nice offices on the Potomac up for grabs in next year's election.

So far, there's pushing and shoving from Texas Democrats and Republicans over U.S. House primaries. But little real word from either side about District 14 - Ron Paul's stomping ground. Staff for the self-proclaimed Taxpayer's Best Friend (has he trademarked that yet?) monosyllabically confirmed today that, "Yes," he will be running for both Congress and President (totally legal under Texas law), but "No," they don't know when he'll be filing. But he'll definitely be facing one opponent: Libertarian Eugene J. Flynn, who filed yesterday. Explaining his platform, Flynn said, “I agree with Ron Paul about 80% of the time. The problem is the other 20% is the most important to me, that is, immigration.”

So your 2003 College Player of the Year is banged up; on December 10 the Toronto Raptors’ T.J. Ford played with a busted thumb that led to a 1-9 effort from the floor against a Sacramento Kings squad that is nothing to write home to mom about. Which is good because if the Kings did write a letter home, Chris Paul would probably steal it before it made its way to the mailbox.

But we digress.

Ford’s worse now with the whole head-against-the-floor thing that … what, you don’t watch the NBA? Probably too busy that Monday watching Jerious Norwood lead the Falcons in rushing for a pitiful 21 yards against a sloppy New Orleans team whose front seven are as threatening as a bag of daisies.

Here’s what you missed:

San Marcos organ grinders Attic Ted perform their annual "Mary's Little Secret" holiday opera, a musical tale of a virgin who not so immaculately gives birth to a little baby Jesus, tomorrow night at the Triple Crown, and apparently some of the locals don't cotton to their degenerate ways.

As you'll see from the poster on the right, someone thought long and hard about this, but not about spellcheck.

Hoax? Joke? I don't know ... some of those dark corners of small town Texas sure harbor scary folk. Either way, go check it out because Attic Ted is one of the most underrated local bands. Starts at the demonic hour of midnight.

Then, feel free to burn in hell.

There's been a lot of discussion about the proposed demolition in New Orleans of four public housing blocks, especially after 15 protesters were arrested, nine injured, and four hospitalized after clashes at City Hall yesterday.

"You know why people were arrested, stunned with Tasers,, and pepper sprayed. You have it on videotape," New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley is reported to have said. Can Riley explain this footage, taken by staff at NoLa.com?


0:25 mins.: Armed city staff shoving a woman on a walking stick.
0:48 mins.: City employees throwing the same woman to the ground.
1:03 mins.: The civil sheriff waving a live, clicking Taser at members of the press standing on public property.
1:24 mins.: The NOPD officer who, after law enforcement had several protesters on the ground, uses a riot-control-sized canister of pepper spray on the crowd and his fellow officers.

Watching Angus Young go nuclear on the first disc of the new Plug Me In ranks up there with anything on the gold standard of music DVDs, Led Zeppelin. Ace Frehley resurrecting Their Satanic Majesties Request, “2,000 Man,” on this summer’s Kissology Vol. 2, yet another freshly minted DVDnd (Vol. 3’s imminent). The Beatles’ Help!, Ramones’ It’s Alive 1974-1996, Nirvana’s Unplugged, plus last year’s Live! Tonight!! Sold Out!!! – in evolutionary order – spell out c-o-u-c-h this holiday season. Burrow.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ Running Down a Dream commits four hours, same as more conventional cinematic marathons a la Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet. To see or not to see: Blind Faith, London Hyde Park 1969, and Ghost's Metamorphosis (Chronicles 1984-2004), both longtime coffee table queue items at my house still waiting for Godot. Dylan, McCartney, and even my neglected Can DVD versus current multiplex attractions I’m Not There, Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten, and Joy(kill) Division strangulation, Control. When did music become required viewing?

Duke Ellington Live in ’58, that’s when.

It’s one of my favorite weekends on the town, when the students are gone and the traffic is easy. Most of the folks you see in the clubs are the hardcore fans and that suits me just fine. I woke up this morning thinking about the Broken Spoke and just know that in ten years, no matter what the developers say, that place will be totally different, surrounded on three sides by Starbucks and apartments for people who can’t afford the overpriced condos but want that 04 zip code.

However, I didn’t start this blog to rail about that. The end of the year is my favorite time for sorting through past events and putting them in the place within my life. That basically means I am a sentimental fool, capable of tearing up at the sight of Salvation Army bell ringers. It also means I love to wrap myself in memories of years past because in almost 33 years of writing about music in Austin, I’ve had a few good times, my friend.

Many of my good times I had with the Skunks, gathering tonight at the Continental Club for their annual reunion. The trio of bassist Jesse Sublett, guitarist Eddie Munoz, and drummer Billy Blackmon was the first headlining punk act to play Raul’s right after the Sex Pistols, kicking off the scene that still throbs on Red River nightly. They played my reception at Soap Creek Saloon after my first wedding in 1978, when Munoz was still the guitarist. A year later, I went to New York for their first gig at CBGBs, back at a time when the Police were touring in a station wagon and it seemed like punk would save the world. It didn’t but it did serve notice to the then-overblown dinosaur rock that the jig was up.

Lots of Texans aren’t familiar with NRBQ simply because they never visit here. When I was in New York, 12 years ago now, they were easily my favorite band to see live. Their concerts were a droll mix of rock, pop, jazz, and wackiness that had no equal. The past few years for Q fans have been rough, as they’ve gone on hiatus save for a few special occasions.

Last week I discovered they reissued their Christmas Wish EP as a deluxe edition, expanded to 19 tracks. The title track is one of best Yuletide tunes you’ve never heard, a slice of pop whimsy with a toy piano and simple yet direct sentiments. Some of the songs are live and rather short so there is impromptu silliness on “Christmas Time Is Here” and “Jingle Bells.” As a whole this is one disc perfect for those tired of the same old Christmas songs performed in the same old way. It’s a bit of Christmas cheer for the rest of us. Happy holidays, y'all.

With cover star and No. 1 overall pick in this year's NBA draft Greg Oden losing his entire rookie season to knee surgery, one has to wonder if the video-game gods have decided to lay a Madden-like curse on this blockbuster franchise. Oden's misfortune is a small price to pay for gamers – who cares about the Trail Blazers anyway? – and it's easy to see why the College Hoops series is the highest-rated college basketball sim on the market.

The graphics are as stunning as the sunset, the gameplay is custard-smooth, and the basketball simulation is as near-accurate as an arrow shot from Ted Nugent's bow. College Hoops 2K8 re-creates all the sights and spectacle of watching a game live at the Erwin Center so effectively that attendance at UT games could suffer from the competition.

They came. They trained. They conquered. Every member of Club Chronicle crossed the Trail of Lights 5K finish line on Saturday, Dec. 8. “We all finished the race, including Ian [Forslund], in spirit, carried on Lizzie [Thompson]’s back in the form of a picture,” Katie Lopez, 32, said. Forslund, 42, was unable to train or run due to health issues.

This was the second year Zen Japanese Food Fast has organized the Trail of Lights 5K challenge but the first the Chronicle has sponsored a team. In September, 130 people registered for the challenge; 10 made the final cut – 10 who would soon run their first 5K.