Month: January 2019

Austin Cat Fanciers Spring Carnival Cat Show

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APR 19. 2002

Back when people weren’t as smart as they are today, certain among us used to drive through Hyde Park with a 12-pack of Black Label playing a drinking game that involved taking a swig of beer every time a cat came into the field of vision. Although only a complete imbecile would recommend such a lethal combination, it should be pointed out that the twelve pack rarely lasted more than a few blocks and the car never exceeded 5mph. Why?

So many freaking cats. This town is crazy with cats. You figuratively can’t swing a cat without hitting a cat – and not a metaphorical cat, a real one. That’s why it’s a safe bet that this weekend at the Austin Cat Fanciers Spring Carnival Cat Show at the Travis County Heritage Center you’re going to see a lot of cats. Not the scruffy, semi-feral midnight howlers that seem to lurk just beneath your open window but rather cats that are brushed, combed, coiffed, clipped and on their best behavior. You got your long hair, your shorthair, curly hair and no hair (no messy furballs!) all meticulously judged by officials from TICA (The International Cat Association). Can a cat lover be a cat lover lover? Only one way to find out…

Lone Star Hot Rod and Kustom Roundup

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SAT. APR. 15, 2002

You should feel comfortable with your inclination to run screaming from anything whose name involves replacing a perfectly serviceable C with the purposefully illiterate K. It’s a natural reaction for most folcs who have been burned on previous encounters with names like Kountry Kitchen, Korn, Krab, and Kosher Deli. OK, skratch that last one, but you get the pikture. While the kasual kountry K is certainly an ace in the hole for those not wanting to sound too intellektual, let us not assume that there’s no mental meat on this chikken leg. On the kontrary, its very insidiousness implies a certain amount of intellekt. For instance, this weekend’s Lone Star Rod and Kustom Roundup is a smart bet. Saturday at House Park Stadium from 11am-6pm, you can check out a bunch of very kool, pre-1963 Hot Rod and Kustom Kars as well as a Klutch of kool rockin’ “The” bands: The Sir Finks, The Hollisters, The Leroi Brothers, The Derailers, The Blazers and The Paladins. There will also be artists, vintage dealers and hairkutz by Rob’s Chop Shop, and a multitude of krome and metallik flake paint. Wear some sunglasses – for the glare and just because…well…they’re kool.

The Flaming Idiots

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APR. 5, 2002

Long before Wiley Wiggins, Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock (no kin to Bob) lit up the screen with their sparkling incandescence, Austin’s Hollywood hometown hero was Zachary Scott. If you don’t sleep with your teeth in a glass on your nightstand, it’s unlikely that you’ve seen much, if any of Scott’s work, but for those whippersnappers whose cinematic knowledge borders on the psychotic, films like “Mildred Pierce” and “The Southerner” are well traveled territory. Zachary Scott died young in 1965, and in 1972 his sister Mary Lewis Kleberg made a donation to the Austin Civic Theatre with the stipulation that it be renamed in honor of Scott. Fortunately, Zach Scott has been an active and vital participant in Austin’s theatre community and continues to be so under the capable leadership of Dave Steakly, the theatre’s Zachary Scott expert and Artistic Director. This week you can celebrate a belated April Fool’s at Zach Scott with the Flaming Idiots, a trio of juggling, flame-throwing, audience climbing slapstickers who recently spent two months on Broadway and have appeared on The Late Show with Jay Leno as well the Rosie O’Donnell Show. Word has it that their leaf blower routine is to die for, so treat yourself or maybe that co-worker you’ve had a crush on.

Strings Attached with Slaid Cleaves and Eliza Gilkyson

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SAT. MAR. 30, 2002

I know you’ve been asking yourself the same question: Who put Easter in March? How did this happen? It seems a little early to be dusting off the pastels, boiling up eggs, and digging through your closet in search of that polyethylene bag full of green tinsel Easter grass. I suspect it has something to with April Fool’s Day. Maybe Easter really is in April but the man wants you to believe it’s in March. Maybe God is punishing the Canadians for beating us in hockey and whining about only getting the silver. Imagine all the little Canadian kids tunneling through the snow looking for frozen eggs… Down here in Austin, the grass is as green and the weather is as pretty as it ever gets, so the only down side is the chronological confusion. Might as well jump in with both feet. If you’re itching to go to church, you might want to try the Strings Attached concert this Saturday night at Hyde Park Methodist. The show features two of Austin’s finest songwriters, Slaid Cleaves and Eliza Gilkyson, backed up by a highly skilled ensemble of instrumentalists consisting of Will Taylor, Steve Zirkel, Glen Rexach, Shawn Sanders, and Brad Evilsizer. If you’re not too crazy about going to church, you can think of it as a smoke-free, listening-oriented environment with on-site child care.

Rolling Thunder Down Home Democracy Tour

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SAT. MAR. 23, 2008

Being progressive used to be fun: Taking drugs, wearing strange/no clothes, giving weird names to your pets and kids like Dharma or Echo, stuffing flowers in rifle barrels, voting for Pat Paulsen, generally having a sense of humor. Somewhere, very likely in the overachieving Eighties, progressives became oppressives with a mind-numbing array of politically correct strictures. Now we all feel a little tinge of guilt when we eat grapes, drink hormone heavy milk, gorge ourselves on beefy barbecue, corporate manufactured pork and chickens that never see the light of day. The progressives are right of course – we should feel guilty, but when it comes to throwing a party it’s like…bummer dude. Here’s some good news: Big Jim Hightower and the Rolling Thunder Down Home Democracy Tour are coming to “put the party back into politics.” This Saturday, the Travis County Expo Center will be packed with partying progressives like Molly Ivins, Jesse Jackson Junior, Michael Moore, Granny D getting their brew on, and listening to tunes by a slew of local musicians including but not limited to: Michelle Shocked, David Garza, Marcia Ball, MC Overlord, the Therapy Sisters and Leeann Atherton. Parents will be both delighted and horrified that there are kids’ activities as well as clowns and puppets, but the main thing to remember is that this is about grassroots democracy, so the dating pool should be deep and long.

SXSW Free Concert at Auditorium Shores

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SAT. MAR. 16, 2002

SXSW showcases around 1,000 bands over the course of 5 nights. Recommending any one of them is more of an exercise in subjectivity and taste rather than an assessment of skills and relevance. This is not to say that any given night won’t run the qualitative gamut from marginal to transcendent, but by and large every act has something worth watching. $105 worth watching? Check the schedule and decide for yourself. Even if you decide not to pony up however, you can still catch a really great night of music courtesy SXSW. Saturday night’s free concert at Auditorium Shores features 5 of the best bands you’re likely to see anywhere. First up are Wichita natives Split Lip Rayfield, who play energetic junkabilly on a freakish assortment of instruments, then comes Alejandro Escovedo, one of Austin’s music royalty, followed by Louisiana’s Geno Delfose, who is nearly a native himself. Rounding out the bill are the ever popular Austin folkountry outfit The Gourds followed by the irascible, irrepressible country sensation Charlie Robison. All of that and you’re out by 10:00. You could still catch 3 more bands!

SXSW Film Festival

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MAR. 8, 2002

Believe it or not, there was a time back in the late eighties when the Arboretum was the new kid on the block, a swanker, woodsier, more environmentally sensitive response to the Highland and Barton Creek megamalls. The Arboretum took a while to figure out. Even casual outdoor window shopping in the sweltering Austin heat demands a trip to Amy’s Ice Cream and a duck into the Arbor Cinema for an air-conditioned matinee in the comfy high-backed seats. Who cares if the loo is located up two flights of bladder busting stairs or that the once whimsical fluffy white cotton clouds on the ceiling are now blackened like thunderheads? Come March 17, it won’t matter because the Arbor, which has been holding its own as Austin’s other art cinema, will be closing its doors to make way for a Cheesecake Factory – perhaps in response to Austin’s voracious demand for even more comfortably generic, bland yet fattening food? So, if you have even a wisp of sentimentality for the place, here’s your last chance to say goodbye to the old place: This Friday you can catch a trio of films on the opening night of the SXSW Film Festival. “The Slaughter Rule” is a gritty flick about a barnstorming 6-man football team in Montana written and directed by brothers Alex and Andrew Smith and starring David Morse, a.k.a “Boomer” from “St. Elsewhere. Then you have “The Search for John Grissing” which stars Janeane Garafalo and Alan Rickman as well as writer/director Mike Binder of HBO’s “The Mind of the Married Man.” Finishing out the night is “Me Without You,” the coming of age story of two suburban London women written and directed by Sandra Goldbacher (The Governess) and starring Anna Friel, Michelle Williams, Kyle McLaughlin and Sting’s wife Trudie Styler. You can get in each for $6 or go to Waterloo and pop for the $50 SXSW film pass which will get you into a mess of other fine films but alas, won’t bring the Arbor back.

74th Annual Zilker Kite Festival

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March 1, 2002

Despite the recent cold snap, Spring is dangerously close. The trees are sprouting that first hesitant vernal fringe of light green. Giant, odd weeds are growing rapaciously in unmown lawns and the Grackles are slowly being crowded out by birds of a lighter color and disposition. Soon enough you’ll be going sockless in your Birkenstocks and slathering on coconut scented sunblock like you’re headed for a Roman orgy. So, even if right now the thermometer is hovering just shy of tepid, you might want to wander back outside and get acclimated. Here’s something to do: Tie the bandana on the Labrador and head over to Zilker Park this Sunday for the 74th Annual Zilker Kite Festival. Yes, 74th. Since 1928 Austinites have plying the blustery March ether with all manner of tethered creations. This year’s festival will include over 200 homebuilt kites with prizes awarded for biggest, smallest, highest flying and most creative. There will also be a kite workshop for the kids, stunt kite demonstrations and a “Mass Ascent” in which all kites will be flown at once (If it’s exceptionally windy, you may want to throw on a helmet for this one. That nosedive on the noggin can really smart.) Lastly, chicks dig kites, dudes dig kites and if numbers mean anything, dogs dig kites. You should be able to hook up with at least one of the three, even if it’s only by a leash.

Gynomite-Goes-West-Benefit Eroticathon 2002

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TUES. FEB. 26, 2002

Some things are just too freaky to pass up: Spamarama, Eeyore’s Birthday, the office Christmas party, Westlake football games, and so on… Fortunately, Austin is blessed with a healthy number of happenings that trip the release valve on the pressure cooker of daily monotony. In fact, Austinites revel in freakiness more than most, thereby earning descriptions like “laid back” and “open minded,” and “liberal.” So, when an event comes along with a name like, “Gynomite-Goes-West-Benefit Eroticathon 2002!” our interest is bound to be piqued. If nothing else, any group bold enough to fuse (pun intended) the Greek root with the invention of either J.J. Walker or Alfred Nobel demands a closer look. Eroticathon 2002 is a pornucopia of poetry, spoken word, performance art and film of a decidedly feminist and yes, pornographic bent. Readings will be given by local writers and poets like David Jewell, Liz Belile, Genevieve Van Cleve, Samantha Peterson, Mike Henry and Spike Gillespie. If the porn doesn’t flip your freak switch, KOOP DJs “the Jennifers,” will be on hand with dance tunes and Kate “Triple X” Messer will be hosting “Sexy Karaoke.” Talk about blowin’ it up….

Bruce Robison

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FEB. 14, 2002

Back in the days before St. Valentine you might have had the luxury of a fun, freaky partner-swapping penis totem fertility festival bent on mixing up the mating pool, but then Valentine and his ilk came along and saddled us with the whole chaste, romantic love thing – labial color scheme notwithstanding. Bummer. OK, so modern times demand a bit more subtlety. Relax. You can swing it. Just find the person you’ve been obsessing about for the last year, hour, or minute and tell him/her/both (hey, this is the Chronicle remember) that you are prepared to take him/her/both to the Bruce Robison show this Saturday. Bruce is all about subtlety. His latest CD, recorded in velve-tone, is about as smooth as you can get. Give it a shot. Nobody’s going to turn you down for being a Bruce Robison fan – nobody worth dating that is…