Stephen W. McGuire [ausmcguire8@aol.com]
South Austin’s Penny University

One of the dubious gifts of Africa and Arabia given the fair hairs of Europe is coffee. Surely worse than syphilis and tobacco which later erupted from the New World, the coffee bean was first chewed in Ethiopia for its stimulating effect before it migrated to Arabia. Here folks roasted out the bitterness and brewed a palatable beverage. By the time it came to Europe, it was leaving a trail of fear and loathing every bit over the top as the one still left by marijuana: The Catholic Church once considered banning the stuff because of its connection to Islam.  But in 1600 Pope Clement VIII deigned to sip, and declared coffee “…so delicious it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it.” A more stunning and speedy display of moral relativism is hard to find. Read the rest of this entry »

WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY BUT WOW? I MUST SEE THIS AGAIN, NO, I NEED TO SEE THIS AGAIN. GOOD GAWD FOLKS, THIS IS THE ONE. NOTHING ELSE COMES CLOSE. AND ON IMAX SCREEN TO BOOT.
MY BRAIN IS MUSH. BRILLIANT ! A COMIC BOOK MOVIE AND A SEQUEL NO LESS. THE BAR HAS BEEN RAISED. EVERYTHING WORKS; THE MUSIC, THE ACTING, THE DIRECTING, THE WRITING,THE EDITING AND ALL ELSE. EVERYTHING IS FINE TUNED. EVERYONE IS ON TOP OF THEIR GAME.THIS FILM IS BREATHTAKING AND AT 8 STORIES TALL, I WAS BLOWN AWAY.
JACK HAS LOST HIS CROWN TO HEATH. I WAS UNSURE EVEN PESSIMISTIC ABOUT THIS NEW SPIN ON THE JOKER. NICHOLSON’S TURN AT THE ROLE HAS BEEN UPSTAGED. SEEMS HARD TO BELIEVE. BUT IT IS TRUE. IT WAS DONE WITH SUCH A DARK BREVITY OR URGENCY THAT THE ROLE NEEDED. GONE IS THE SILLY JOKER. THIS GUY IS SICK AND DERANGED AND IS SOMEONE TO FEAR.
VERY SORRY THAT THIS IS ONE OF THE LAST PERFORMANCES OF MR. LEDGER.
MUST SEE THIS AGAIN SOON ON A NORMAL SCREEN TO SEE IF I AM AS DUMBFOUNDED. THIS IS THE MOVIE OF THE SUMMER IF NOT YEAR.

Move over Breakfast Club…

There are new kids in town. They’re from Warsaw, Indiana and they could all use a hug. This beautiful, funny, moving documentary American Teen from Nanette Burstein. It follows the lives of 5 high school students trying to make it through their senior year. Their resemblance to the characters in the Breakfast Club are uncanny (so much so, they copied the movie poster poses for their own). Hanna Bailey, the film’s emotional artist, is a spitting image of Ali Sheedy, Meagan Krizmanich, is this high school’s answer to Molly Ringwald. The other three Mitch Reinholt, Colin Clemens, and Jake Tusing can all be found in one form or another in Pretty in Pink, Weird Science, Some Kind of Wonderful and just about every other film of that genre that I grew up with (except perhaps, Fast Times at Richmond High—but I suppose you can’t win them all).

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Trailer Vittles – Pt. 4 – Lulu B’s, A Tale of Requited Love

This is a simple story. This is a story of love requited, a love of a culture, and a willingness to share it with others. This requited love eventually begets a child. Lulu B’s is its name. Famished denizens of South Austin, who find themselves in a perpetual search for the unexpected, are once again, the beneficiaries of such a profound love, and Magnus is here to tell you the story…

Laura Bayer was born unto Thao, her Vietnamese mother. Raised in Southern California amidst a very prevalent Asian population, Laura was indoctrinated at an early age into the finer aspects of Vietnamese cooking. It didn’t hurt that, in Laura’s words, “Thao is a great cook, and when she wasn’t in the kitchen, she’d take me to all these great local mom and pop joints. All those incredible taste sensations over the years left a lasting impression.” Read the rest of this entry »

“Muppitized Motherfucker!”

These are the words of the great Guillermo del Toro last night after he filled an innocent volunteer’s unsuspecting mouth with a concoction that included Tequila, soda water, Tequila and more Tequila, shook his head from side to side and then launched him forward off his chair back out into the dark theater. These are also the words that might best describe Hellboy II, a collaborative creative explosion that is sure to bring animators and puppeteers to their knees. If you are a Pan’s Labyrinth fan (find me someone who isn’t and I’ll try and find you a sentence for which Mr. del Toro doesn’t use the word “fuck”) you will love this film. If you are a Hellboy fan, well, he’s in it too but that’s almost entirely beside the point.

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The new adaptation of the classic Jules Verne novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth, is the first film to be shot entirely in digital 3D. Director Eric Brevig, visual effects supervisor on Total Recall, Men in Black, as well as many others, takes a seat behind the camera for a thrilling 3D ride. The plot is loosely based on Jules Verne’s novel, using it as a literal guide book for the films accidental heroes through a dynamic subterranean world. Brendan Fraser leads the adventure as the reluctant hero with his humorous wit and boyish charm much like his character in the Mummy. The movie is as predictable as many blockbuster adventure movies of recent release, but the redeeming quality is the digital 3D which brings the action alive front and center. The movie was crowded with kids and adults doning their 3D glasses. Each gasped and screamed in unison. Not one escaped the intensity that the the 3D provided. Objects flew in your face, rain fell, antennae poked towards the eyes. Many could be seen reaching out to try to “touch” the movie. Where this movie fails as a compelling drama, it excells on a grand scale in its combustible visual fury. A fantasy adventure for the whole family. I give it 70% for the story, 110% for the 3D. It opens this Friday the 11th. Rated PG.

Ricardo “r/ace” Acevedo – Graphic Art & Photography, Austin, TX

/ www.myspace.com/raworx1 or www.intherastudios.com

…or www.myspace.com/whoisblank

Better late than never has never rung so true. Welcome back to the Austin Daze. We would have been here sooner but we ran out of gas and had to work an extra job just to fill her back up. We hope that we have not lost fans in our absence. We plan on hitting it hard so the timeline of release will continue on constant.

I know you can sympathize, at least I hope so. If not, can I interest you in an ad? The almighty advertisement strain. And yes it is a strain. We are feeling the shrinkage of our economy. We did not receive the Stimulus check. That must be the reason. That check is supposed to make it all better, right? If you did receive it and are wondering how to spend your new fortune, once again, can I interest you in an ad?

OK, that’s enough of that.

How have you been? Us? Just fine. Minus several 800 pound obstacles standing in our way en route to the next issue. While we were busy confronting, dodging, and trying not to get crushed by them, I had some time to think about the very nature of the funny looking word that threatened to take us down.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Waybacks are Hungry.

AUSTIN DAZE: What do you guys think about being at Old Settlers?

Warren Hood: We’ve been here many times before and we like it because we like having the Waybacks in Austin and letting all our friends and family here see what we’re off doing all the time. We’ve got a lot of friends that think the Waybacks don’t exist-that we made them up.

James Nash: We like to come to Austin because obviously it’s a beautiful festival and a lot of great people here but we mostly come to Austin for the food. 8 days of queso.

Joe : There is good Mexican food in California but it is totally different. Read the rest of this entry »

Austin’s Cinematic Superhero, Tim League, keeping film fans safe one film print at a time. With one of his partners in crime, Harry Knowles he has brought a unique form of movie viewing to the city and continues to find new and innovative ways to enjoy all things celluloid. Check out this year’s Fantastic Fest, you won’t be disappointed. We talk to the man behind the screen (also known to sport cape and mask) to find out how he does it.

AUSTIN DAZE: Everything you do is so much fun.

TIM LEAGUE: I think I’m really immature for my age so a lot of that shows in the programming and the decisions we make about events.

AD: You just got back from Cannes. How was that?

Read the rest of this entry »

Remember Phil Donahue? This is the guy that started it all in talk show land. During our conversation he turned the tables on Russ and started interviewing him. I guess it’s something you never stop doing. This interview was a reminder of why we do this thing issue after issue. The subject matter was his documentary about a young man wounded in Iraq. We are much in debt to Mr. Donahue for the wisdom he imparted. Enjoy.

AUSTIN DAZE: First time in Austin?

PHIL DONAHUE: No. Ellen Spiro is our cinematographer and she teaches at UT. I came here three years ago when we started this—this film has been in the making for three years. Ellen knows me more than she ever wanted to. It’s been a very, very emotional experience if you must know. People see you in a wheelchair and think, “Oh poor baby, he can’t walk.” It’s a lot more complicated than that. I’m embarrassed to think about how uniformed I was. Read the rest of this entry »

A little over 5 years ago Laura Dunn began working on this film. She saw the struggle over Barton Springs between locals and developers as a microcosm for what is going on all over the globe. She wanted to explore the question: as we grow how do we protect our most precious natural resources? Enter Robert Redford and Terry Malick. Malick had signed on to executive produce the film and asked Mr. Redford if he would be interested in joining him. He said, “Absolutely.” He had grown up spending a lot of time in Austin and had learned to swim at Barton Springs. The impact it had on him was very important. As far as documentary filmmaking, that too was important. He had gotten involved with them in the 70s and 80s and put a lot of energy into them because he believed in them they would move out of the academic and talking head realm and wanted to be part of that growth and development. Read the rest of this entry »

AUSTIN DAZE: How did Old Settler’s compare to SXSW?

MARTY STUART: SXSW is such a cool event but you have to know going into it that you can only pick your spots because it’s kind of like trying to sweep up the ocean into a bucket. It’s gotten so huge so that anywhere that we played during SXSW that we connected with the crowd I felt like was a real achievement. Here it is more concentrated and down home. After 20-something years you guys have definitely got a spell setting out there. We just walked into something that was really great. Thank you for having us.

AD: It is run by all volunteers which we find pretty amazing because everybody loves the music so much they are willing to just get together. Read the rest of this entry »

We met with musician Bela Fleck and Director Sascha Paladino to talk about their project Throw Down Your Heart. Bela’s objective in the project was to return the banjo, which has had such an influence in his life, to its African roots, playing along the way with traditional musicians. Sascha was to chronical the journey in film and Bela was to be a musical ambassador. The film was beautifully done and the music amazing. Throw Down Your Heart won the 24 Beats Per Second Audience Award at this years SXSW Film Festival.

AUSTIN DAZE: You made a solo appearance at Maggie Mays, did you play any of the music from your experience in Africa?

BELA FLECK: Yeah, a little bit. I did some Tanzanian music and some things that I wrote both before and after I went to Africa. I just played. It’s funny, most of the music I played in Africa, I played along with them I didn’t always learn the melodies. I would jam along and they would play the melodies. In a lot of cases I would have to learn them that day, write them down, play them looking at the paper or from memory and then the next day I was on to something else. A lot of the music didn’t stay in my head. Now that the movie is out people want to hear me play all the stuff, so I have to pull it together. I worked on a couple of the tunes to play at the show, but I would like to develop a significant live repertoire from the movie.

AD: Sascha, how did the experience of making this film compare to the shorts you have made? Read the rest of this entry »

Ellen Stader isn’t going to let a little person named Tom Waits keep her down. The co-creator of the Tom Waits Peep Show got put on hold after his “people” informed her he doesn’t want anyone using his name anymore. Perhaps a blessing in disguise, Ellen is off and running with a brand new funk/soul revival project-THE FUNK PEEPSHOW. Here she tells us all about it.

AUSTIN DAZE: What happened with the Tom Waits Peepshow?

ELLEN STADER: It’s just in limbo—we don’t know anything right now. We’ve been working with his publishers all along and sending them their royalty checks at every run and it was all well and good until we did the tour in San Francisco. There was a lot of press about it and I guess he got phone calls and stuff and I’m sure that’s the thing he hates the most—people calling and saying, “Oh my god are you playing? You never play in town.” When we got home we got an email from his Publisher that we had been working with and she said that there have been a lot of groups using his name or his likeness or his music without his permission and he was just going to put a stop to all of it. So we were like, “Ok, yeah but we were always trying to do the right thing.”

AD: It’s strange that they were Ok with it and then all of a sudden not. Read the rest of this entry »

Paul Green’s School of Rock is cool. The kids are cool. The music is cool. Their slogan, “Saving rock and roll one kid at a time”, is very cool. Rick Carney, in charge of Austin’s school, explains what it is all about.

AUSTIN DAZE: Tell us about School of Rock—what it is and how it came to be Read the rest of this entry »

The latest album from collaborative musicians, Martín Perna (Antibalas, frequent collaborator with TV on the Radio) and Adrian Quesada of Grupo Fantasma is a latin-fused psychedelic experience. In addition to being exceptionally talented they seem to live off of a limitless supply of energy. These guys live, breathe, eat and sleep music. We sat down with them to find out how they keep it all going.

AUSTIN DAZE: you guys have so many projects that are doing so well. We have to ask, did you sell your soul to the devil to make everything work out so well?

ADRIAN QUESADA: I was just talking to someone the other day about that. There were times when the band has days off and I go and play with other bands. It’s stressful but it pays off. Nothing has happened over night and I still don’t feel like everything is like super successful but it’s getting there. It’s something that has happened over the past 10 years. With Ocote, before we ever got picked up by a label our CD had been out for a year.

MARTIN PERNA: I have not sold my soul…yet! Fortunately the music has been the result of many good friendships forged over long hard times. I wish I were as successful financially as I was as far as making good stuff. Read the rest of this entry »

Our environmental expert in residence, Colin Clark, writes these words and has contributed many more on environmental subject to the Daze for several years now. His column has always been incredibly informative. We had more questions, though. So we decided to ask. And will continue to from now on. As Ambassadors of the Less Informed-and-slightly-cynical, we hope that we might get you thinking. Hell, maybe even doing.

It’s quite remarkable, when you stop to think about it, that almost all food and cuisine in the United States of America is available in every season. There are exceptions, but does the produce section at the grocery store really look much different in January than it does in August? Do most restaurants change their menus based on what’s in season? Maybe a handful, but the vast majority have menus that are completely oblivious to seasons. Whatever you want you can have. Think about your favorite restaurant in Austin Read the rest of this entry »

Austin Daze met with Belleville Outfit on a warm, clear day at Threadgill’s to talk about what they have been up to and to find out what makes them tick. The band had just come off the road and was happy to be back home in Austin. The band clearly has a lot of fun together playing, joking, and fooling around.

• Jon Konya: Drums
• Marshall Hood: guitar
• Phoebe Hunt: Fiddle
• Rob Teter: Guitar
• Jeff Brown: Bass
• Connor “Corn dog” Forsyth: Piano

AD: So where did you get the name “Corn dog”

CF: Thats a question for the ages.

RT: It was given to him by Jon and I one sunny day in New Orleans, Louisiana.

JB: He was wasted, and walking down the street with big old brown shoes. . . Read the rest of this entry »

We give you harp playing legend, Charlie Musselwhite.

AUSTIN DAZE: I was asking some Austin musicians if they had any questions and they asked: How do you get that sound? What key do you play that in?

CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE: I’m always happy to answer them whenever I can.

AD: Were you self-taught?

CM: Pretty much. The thing about the harmonica is that it is the only instrument that you cannot see what is going on. You have to create a mental image and everybody creates their own mental image of it and it’s not something you can show anybody. I forget who said this but somebody said, “Talking about how to play harmonica is like whistling about chickens.” You can make these sounds but you can’t really describe a lot of it. Read the rest of this entry »