Empire Control Room & Garage
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Volume 40, Number 16
ON THE COVER:
WE HAVE AN ISSUE:
BY Kimberley Jones
news
2020 Top 10s
Austin’s Noisy 2020 Top 40
Stories within stories shaped a year of sitting still
BY THE NEWS STAFF
Ten Key Moments in Austin's Year With the Coronavirus
The Plague Year
BY BETH SULLIVAN
Ten Defining Moments of Austin's Intense Year of Police-Community Conflict
We Fought the Law
BY AUSTIN SANDERS
Ten Key Moments in a Year of Endless Texas Election Drama
Vote Early and Often
BY MIKE CLARK-MADISON
Ten Local Stories That Got Overshadowed
Most of these could top the charts in a normal year ...
BY LINA FISHER AND CLARA ENCE MORSE
Chronicle Photographers Share the Stories Behind Their Most Arresting Images of 2020
John Anderson, Jana Birchum, and David Brendan Hall documenting Austin history
Top 10 Local Quotes of the Year
We cull our quotes of the week to only the best (and worst) words
Headlines
Civics 101
Alter Holds Onto Her Council Seat, While Flannigan Is Narrowly Defeated
A tale of two incumbents in the run-off election
BY AUSTIN SANDERS
Boswell, Lugo Claim Open Seats on AISD Board
Run-off election results
BY BETH SULLIVAN
Council Recap: Clearing the Decks for 2021 in a City That Never Stops Growing
Zoning, housing, and COVID relief dominate year’s final meeting
BY AUSTIN SANDERS
Street Fee Coming for Developers in 2022 to Help Offset Growth Costs
New fee will be charged to developers
BY AUSTIN SANDERS
UT Health Austin Among First in Texas to Receive Pfizer Vaccine
But health officials issue dire warning about current transmission rates
BY BETH SULLIVAN
Austin Chronicle Nonprofit Wish List
Your guide to charitable giving
food
2020 Top 10s
Our Favorite Austin Restaurants for To-Go-Style Meals and Treats
New world takeout order-date night (or day)
BY JESSI CAPE AND WAYNE ALAN BRENNER
Top 10 Local Fried Chicken Meals of 2020
Wear your masks and support Austin’s restaurants
BY JESSI CAPE AND WAYNE ALAN BRENNER
2020's Standout Family Friendly Restaurants
New world takeout order
BY JESSI CAPE AND WAYNE ALAN BRENNER
Some Austin Tips & Treats That Kept Us Fed in 2020
New world takeout order
BY JESSI CAPE AND WAYNE ALAN BRENNER
Holiday Dinners, Holiday Treats
And this list will grow as the year grows toward its end …
BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER
Armadillo Den Opens on Manchaca, Jester King Celebrates a Tenner, Smithville Gets Meaty, and but There’s Some Sad News, Too
All the news that’s fit to make your taste buds quiver
BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER
Austin's Best Food and Drink Events This Week
Dinner parties, farmer's markets, beer, wine, and more for the week of December 17, 2020
BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER
music
2020 Top 10s
Kevin Curtin's Top 100 Austin Albums of 2020
Why stop at 10 when 10 times that still only scratches the surface of year-topping ATX releases?
BY KEVIN CURTIN
Faster Than Sound's Musical Top 10s of 2020
Eleven lists of Austin's best releases, theme songs, livestreams, creative pivots and more.
BY RACHEL RASCOE
New Austin Music Worth Your Bandwidth This Week
What we’re listening to
BY TIM STEGALL, JAY TRACHTENBERG, MICHAEL TOLAND, RAOUL HERNANDEZ, DEREK UDENSI, DOUG FREEMAN AND KEVIN CURTIN
Live Music / Livestream Listings
BY GREG STITT
screens
2020 Top 10s
Richard Whittaker's Top 10 in 2020 Cinema
"Who knew?"
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
Marjorie Baumgarten's Top 10 of 2020
"An eye toward 2020 hindsight"
BY MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN
Josh Kupecki's Top 10 Films of 2020
"The outrage, the tragedy, the surprise"
BY JOSH KUPECKI
Steve Davis Top 10 Films of 2020
"The continued development of my film education"
BY STEVE DAVIS
Jenny Nulf's Top 10 Films in 2020
"2020 didn't take away my love for cinema"
BY JENNY NULF
Marc Savlov's Top 10 of 2020 in Film
"No cinematography necessary"
BY MARC SAVLOV
Matthew Monagle's Top 10 in Cinema in 2020
"A signal amongst the noise"
BY MATTHEW MONAGLE
Friends to the End (of the World)
Ric Roman Waugh and Gerard Butler reunite in Greenland
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
Film Reviews
The Bloodhound
Poe adaptation relishes tone over text
Greenland
Gerard Butler brings back the classic disaster movie
Monster Hunter
The beast-slaying game gets the Paul W.S. Anderson treatment
Sister of the Groom
Stilted rom-com is clueless about what to do with its star
Skylines
Bonkers SF franchise finally goes into space
To the Ends of the Earth
Japanese travel story captures the isolation of culture shock, with fear and levity
arts & culture
2020 Top 10s
Robert Faires' Top 10 Works That Spoke to Me About 2020
Throughout 2020, performances and books seemed to contain messages about the year – its trials, its traumas, and its echoes in history
BY ROBERT FAIRES
Top Nine in Visual Art of 2020, Plus One Exceptional Other
Wayne Alan Brenner chooses outstanding visual artistry that made this year a feast, save for one performative and culinary experience that was the cherry on top
BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER
Top 10 Arty Ways 2020 Was the Best Year Ever
Barbara Purcell shares art highlights from a year that tested our sanity and humanity
BY BARBARA PURCELL
Top Fiction of 2020 for the Angry Girls
Rosalind Faires chooses several tales of righteous indignation
BY ROSALIND FAIRES
Top Books to Read in 2020 As Everything Falls Apart
In a COVID-strained year, tales of families repairing their lives and the caste system's effect of Black Americans made an impact
BY JOE O'CONNELL
Top Books of 2020 That Struck a Literary or Musical Chord
A writer's fictional joyride, a rock & roll memoir, and jazz fairy tales are books that sang this year
BY JAY TRACHTENBERG
The Dimension Sculpture Park Is Newly Illuminated
... and the darkness cannot overcome it
BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER
Arts Listings
Virtual galleries, streaming improv, and more
BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER
Community Listings
Donation and volunteer opportunities, job openings, online fitness classes, and more
BY KATHERINE MCNEVINS
columns
We Have an Issue: Looking for Bright Spots in a Historically Bad Year
The Top 10s Issue
BY KIMBERLEY JONES
Opinion: Breaking Up With 2020
BY FALLON FRANKLIN
2020 Top 10s
Qmmunity: 2020's Biggest Queer and Trans Stories
Looking back on a rollercoaster of a year
BY BETH SULLIVAN AND JAMES SCOTT
Day Trips: Ten Ways the Pandemic Affected Daytrippers
BY GERALD E. MCLEOD
The Luv Doc: A Formal Issue
The premise of average sexual frequency is somewhat ridiculous
BY THE LUV DOC
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
BY MR. SMARTY PANTS
Free Will Astrology
Your weekly horoscope, December 18-24
BY ROB BREZSNY
Feedback
Letters to the editor, published daily
sports
2020 Top 10s
Soccer Watch: 10 Steps Toward Major League Soccer for Austin FC
BY NICK BARBARO
Austin FC Brings First Squad Into Focus Through Expansion Draft, Trades
Inaugural club roster swells to 11
BY ERIC GOODMAN
comics
