Empire Control Room & Garage
Volume 20, Number 4
features
Down & Out in Atlanta
The Official Crock of the '96 Summer Olympics
BY JONATHAN HENNESSEY
news
Justice Delayed?
A federal judge's decision on Medicaid angers GOP legislators
BY LOUIS DUBOSE
Managing the Media
As the Bush presidential campaign unravels after Labor Day, a press offices tries to keep the candidate on message and out of trouble.
BY ROBERT BRYCE
Naked City
Greens set up Austin headquarters, Kay Bailey Hutchison supports Bush campaign | Harry Middleton retires as director of LBJ library.
BY LOUIS DUBOSE
The Hightower Report
Bill's Booming Economy; Spinning Michael Milken
BY JIM HIGHTOWER
food
Nouvelle Cafe
Chronicle Cuisines writer Rebecca Chastenet de Géry finds something unexpected in Granite Cafe's latest incarnation.
Food-o-File
By now, everyone in Central Texas must know about last week's devastating fire at Lone Star Bakery, but Cuisines editor Virginia B. Wood recently found some surprising news.
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
Second Helpings: Sandwiches, Wraps, Burritos
Feeling too greased out for burgers and fries? This week's "Second Helpings" steers you in the right direction.
Food Reviews
music
THE GOURDS
Songs of Innocence and Experience
From poetry scrawled on walls to poetry inscribed on CD: the saga of the Gourds.
BY CHRISTOPHER HESS
The Lizards of Aus
'Never an Adult Moment' With Austin's Veteran Bluegrass Pranksters
BY KEN LIECK
Live Shots
BY MICHAEL CHAMY
Dancing About Architecture
NXNW news; speak of the devil and Chris Gates shall appear.
BY KEN LIECK
THE GOURDS
GRAND CHAMPEEN
The Gourds Reviewed
The Gourds
Bolsa de Agua
Grand Champeen, Hole in the Wall, September 13
Candye Kane Continental Club, September 14
A Perfect Circle, Sunna Austin Music Hall, September 15
Oliver Mtukudzi & Black SpiritsOne World Theatre, September 16
screens
Animation Station
Through ADVision, Austin has become a hotspot for producing English-dubbed anime. Who knew?
BY SARAH HEPOLA
A Whole New Game
A strange trip through the online world of the most popular role-playing games of last summer : Diablo II, Deus Ex, and Vampire: The Masquerade Redemption
BY MARCEL MEYER
Short Cuts
Upcoming events and workshops of interest to the Austin film community.
BY MARC SAVLOV
TV Eye
Emmy Awards wrap-up, plus the skinny on Buffy the Vampire Slayer's season premiere and Live Free or Die, part of PBS' POV documentary series.
BY BELINDA ACOSTA
Screens Reviews
Film Reviews
Almost Famous
This sweet, amiable, and knowing coming-of-age tale is Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical boyz-to-men story about how he grew into the role of a rock & roll journalist in 1973.
Bait
Bittersweet Motel
arts & culture
Tru Artistry
With Jay Presson Allen's Tru, performer Jaston Williams takes a vacation from the little town of Tuna, Texas, with which he is so closely identified, to portray celebrated writer Truman Capote, and in the process reminds us what an actor of range and skill he is.
BY ROBERT FAIRES
On the Bus
In the process of writing her new play con flama, Austin poet / writer Sharon Bridgforth discovered that the piece was not complete without her own voice in it. In the process of observing con flama's development, writer Belinda Acosta discovered something about her own voice, too.
BY BELINDA ACOSTA
Articulations
The winners of the 26th annual B. Iden Payne awards for local theatre..
BY ROBERT FAIRES
Arts Reviews
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Holy conceptual contortions, Batman!
In his Austin Shakespeare Festival staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream, director Robert Tolaro creates a fantasy world of superheroes with a strong hint of modern Chicago 'burb, that pulls up a bit short conceptually, but is still a fun, rambunctious evening.
Evita: Over the (Big) Top
Director Dave Steakley, in daring to formulate an answer to the question "What if Fellini had directed Evita?" has pulled off a brazen, vast-scaled circus of a production, a completely over-the-(big)-top sensation of a theatre experience.
Cabaret: Blinding Furnace
The revamped revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb's Cabaret, in its national tour, may not reproduce the intimacy of the original production's environmental design, but its strong performances and overt theatricality still grip the audience.
columns
Page Two
I find myself watching the goings-on Down Under with an almost complete lack of cynicism.
BY NICK BARBARO
Postmarks
The Starbucks Showdown continues; and readers voice their opinions on last week's Best of Austin issue.
Public Notice
Public Notice asks not what it can do for its community but what *you* can. This week features the third of a three-part list of Austin area Volunteer Opportunities.
BY KATE X MESSER
After a Fashion
An open letter to Sandra Bullock, and a Bad Customer Service (BCS) Report redux.
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
Mr. Smarty Pants
You know what the whirling means, but what about the Dervish?
BY MR. SMARTY PANTS
Coach's Corner
Coach takes on sports talk radio.
BY ANDY "COACH" COTTON
Day Trips
Latana Ridge Lodge, an hour's drive north of DFW, sits at the collision point of northern grasslands, eastern forests, and western prairies.
BY GERALD E. MCLEOD
About AIDS
AIDS research yields side effects that benefit HIV-negative people, too.
BY SANDY BARTLETT
Feedback
Letters to the editor, published daily
