michael favia

Focus Features

It's another fairly slow weekend for new releases in town. The most notable films of the week include The American, which opened on Wednesday, and the action packed Machete. Both of these titles are getting wide releases nationwide, but have plenty of independent spirit. As always, there are some very unique special events going on across town which are also detailed below.

The American (wide)
Famed music photographer & video director Anton Corbijn follows up his moody Ian Curtis biopic, Control, with a moody thriller starring George Clooney as an assassin who is out for one last job.

Machete (wide)
The roots for this one go back to Grindhouse, where it originally appeared as a fake trailer squeezed in between Planet Terror and Death Proof.. Robert Rodriguez shot this one around Austin last summer. Danny Trejo leads an eclectic cast that also include Robert DeNiro, Cheech Marin, Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, and even Lindsay Lohan.

Mao's Last Dancer (Regal Arbor)
Directed by Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy), this was the highest grossing Australian film of 2009. Based on the true story of Li Cunxin, a ballet dancer from China who performed for the Houston Ballet and was forced to defect to the United States after falling in love with a fellow dancer and getting married.

2nd Annual Big Lebowski Scavenger Hunt (Paramount Theatre)
We're pretty sure that the Paramount isn't hiding toes, bowling balls, or White Russians around town, but you can turn up at 2pm on Sunday afternoon to participate in a Scavenger Hunt prior to the 3pm screening. For the less adventurous, there is also a regular screening of the movie at 7pm.

Carl Gottlieb live with The Jerk & Caveman (Alamo Ritz)
Screenwriter Carl Gottlieb will guest along with a 7pm screening of Carl Reiner's 1979 classic The Jerk and also the 1981 comedy Caveman (starring Ringo Starr!) which he wrote and directed at 10pm.

Cinema East presents Trinidad
Local filmmakers PJ Raval & Jay Hodges created this fascinating documentary about a small town in Colorado that has become the "sex change capital of the world." This special screening happens at 8pm on Sunday night, as part of the Cinema East series which will be hosted by Rebecca Havemeyer and include a Q&A with the filmmakers.

Dogtooth (Alamo Ritz)
OK, we're cheating a little bit because you have to wait until this weekend is over for this critically acclaimed Greek film to play. It is being presented by SXSW for three screenings at the Alamo Ritz on Tuesday, Wednesday and next Sunday.

Fun Fun Fun FestDeerhunter can’t seem to sit still. When their third album, Microcastle, was leaked onto the internet a few months before its physical release, the Atlanta, Georgia quintet merely recorded a fourth album to accompany number three. They’ve amassed four full-lengths plus two EPs in five years, and album number five, Halcyon Digest, is due on September 28. And the band’s two principals—Bradford Cox and Lockett Pundt—maintain productive solo careers as Atlas Sound and Lotus Plaza, respectively. With all of this material, it’s obvious the band revels in approaching their music from as many angles as possible.

This is apparent in their disparate influences, which range from punk rock and krautrock to shoegaze and girl-group pop and all points in between. Deerhunter can turn on a dime, with each of their albums acting as massive sonic journeys that are as challenging as they are rewarding. Halcyon Digest’s first single, “Revival,” is a stunning slice of ear-worm pop that bodes well for LP number five. It takes that Phil Spector-inspired sound that’s all the rage these days and turns it on its head, searing the edges with psychedelia and Deerhunter’s characteristically crowded production touches. For a band built on a myriad number of nuances and textures, the single has a decidedly widescreen effect.

Given its September release date, Halcyon Digest’s songs should be well-digested (no pun intended) by the time Deerhunter takes the Orange Stage at Fun Fun Fun Fest. They’re sure to not only please their rabid fans but also earn more than a few converts along the way. Be sure to witness one of the most inventive indie bands around at the peak of their powers.

Deerhunter: [Official] [Myspace]

Out of Bounds Comedy Festival Kevin McDonald’s Hammy and the Kids
Sunday September 5
La Zona Rosa (612 W. 4th Street)
$25, 9:30 pm
[info] | [tickets]

Kevin McDonald headlines this year's Out of Bounds Comedy Festival with his one-man show, Hammy and The Kids. In the show, McDonald explores his relationship with his alcoholic father and with his influential sketch comedy comedy troupe/television show, The Kids in the Hall. After touring in 2000 and again in 2008, their new television show Death Comes to Town premiered earlier this year in Canada. Austinist caught up with McDonald to talk about his show, wherein he discusses the difficulties he faced with his father and with the Kids, especially during the process of making the troupe's feature film, Brain Candy. McDonald told Austinist about the origins of his show, checking out some music in Austin, and why he's funnier to rape than Bruce McCulloch.

How has the show changed over time?

I debuted the show in L.A. a few years ago, and at the time it was running over what most one-man shows run. For some reason, they're always an hour and fifteen, but mine was an hour forty-something at first. So, I said, "Well it just has to be that way. It's that long. That's the way it is." That's my Scott Thompson impression, by the way. That's not how Scott really talks, but that's how his soul talks. So I impersonate his soul. And then in Montreal, I was there for like 12 nights for "Just for Laughs" in the summer of 2007, and the first two shows, people were liking it, but they weren't laughing, they were crying.

Not the usual response to a comedy show.

The way I see it, it's a total comedy, but I do talk about my drunk dad. I see it as a total comedy, but because it was longer, I said, "Oh, they're taking it sadder than it really is." So that night, I woke up at three in the morning after the second show, thinking, "I want them to laugh, not cry." So at six in the morning I made cuts, and I got it down to the magic hour and fifteen. And then next night it was total laughs. It was like that way for the rest of the run. For the past three years it's been little changes, nips and tucks. Most of the changes were that night between 3:00 and 6:00 in the morning.

What made you decide to do a one man show about this?

Well, one night in 2006 -- I remember years -- Do you know Carl Arnheiter from UCB? He does this thing where he goes to different Upright Citizens Brigade theaters in New York and LA, and he interviews comedians like David Cross or Bob Odenkirk or Carrot Top. I'm making up Carrot Top. What he does is he brings you in front of a live audience, and he asks you questions for an hour. It's called The Inside Joke. Anyway, he got me there, and for an hour he asked me questions. He asked me a lot about my dad. He asked me a lot about Kids in the Hall, and for the whole hour I got a giant amount of laughs. And basically I was telling stories that I've been telling for 20 years. Then the next night, again, I think I woke up at three in the morning, though I probably woke up at eight in the morning, and I thought, "Wow, those stories always get laughs, and I'm tired of saying them. What if I did a one man show, organizing those stories together, getting sort of a story-behind-the-stories, and then I would never have to tell those stories again. My dad had just died, so I could tell them now. Thankfully, my dad had died. So I could tell those again. That day I started writing a one man show. It was sort of based on that Inside Joke interview I did with Carl.

Has writing and performing this particular show affected your processing or dealing with all that past history?

It's funny, because I had gone to a therapist before that, and you feel a little better. Then a few months later, you forget about it. Doing this all the time, it feels like I've totally dealt with it. I don't know if that's true, but it feels that way. I feel that he's laughing at it, and that we're both laughing at it. It feels like it doesn't matter anymore, and the pain can't affect me anymore, the pain of having an alcoholic dad. And I made a show out of it. I make a little tiny bit of money from it, more than I make a creative expression out of it. And I don't want it to affect me adversely anymore. I think the show has helped me get towards that path.

In 2008, the Kids in the Hall did a tour, and you guys opened that tour with a video sketch where the group is thinking of new ideas and they decide to rape you. Is that sketch related to your show?

[laughs] That's a good question. It actually isn't. It was just an idea that Bruce [McCulloch] had. He called me one day a couple years before that, and he told me about it. And I laughed my head off. That's when, for a couple of years, we were meeting every 4 or 5 months in Los Angeles to work on new material, because we wanted the tour to be new material. So he told me that and then for a while it looked like we weren't going to get together to do the tour. So he formed his own troupe, a Bruce McCulloch troupe. He had so many sketches he wanted to get out of his system. So he did a thing but he made it rape Bruce because it was him and 4 or 5 other people. And it was kind of funny, but I always thought in the back of my mind, Bruce isn't that funny to rape. I'm funny to rape. And then we did get back together to work on the tour. We would write new stuff Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and perform Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Then at the end of two or three years we'd pick the best stuff. One particular week we were a little light on sketches. So I said to Bruce, "Remember that rape Bruce thing? Why don't we do that?" I didn't say rape Kevin. I didn't want to be an ego maniac. "Rape me, I'm the star!" So we start rehearsing it and then, during rehearsal, Dave [Foley], not even knowing the history the sketch, says, "You know what? it gets funnier if we rape Kevin." I'm just a funny guy to rape, I guess. So Bruce says, "Oh, that's funny, it was originally rape Kevin." And Dave says, "Oh yeah, Kevin's the guy we have to rape." I don't want to use that word so much.

Fair enough. What are some of the differences between when you guys are writing the original series and writing for that tour and Death Comes To Town?

I was going to say the writing process has evolved over the years, but it hasn't really evolved. It's just changed due to different circumstances. For example, in the mid 80's, when we were just a stage troupe, what we would do is come to the theater on rehearsal days. Each of us would have an idea, we'd tell the idea and if people didn't hate it, we'd rehearse it over and over until it was written. We never wrote anything down, we just basically wrote it through improv. And then when we got the TV show we couldn't do that. We had to have scripts and props and wardrobe, hair and make-up, and know what to do. So they introduced us to this new thing called computers and we had to actually write down the scripts. And then we started writing in groups of one or two or three. Dave and I wrote together a lot. Bruce would write with Mark [McKinney] sometimes, Scott wrote by himself. And then we started hiring more friends to write with us. I would write with Norm Hiscock. Sometimes Norm, Dave and I would write. Brian Hartt would write with Bruce, but very rarely was it more than three people. Then when we did Brain Candy, we were, all five of us, plus Norm Hishcock, in the same room. It was horrible. We could hardly turn the page unless we all agreed on the previous page, and we never ever, ever, agreed on the previous page. As I say in my one man show... So it took forever. It took fifteen months, and when we started filming, we still didn't have the last act, which was really hard and slow.

But now, Bruce has experience. He had an ABC show that he created, Carpoolers, a few years ago. He's been in charge of TV shows, so Bruce was in charge of Death Comes to Town, and basically he and I, between the charts, sort of wrote it. Scott was in there for a little bit, Dave and Mark were busy, but at the end, they put their two cents in. But basically Bruce and I -- with Bruce still being in charge -- sort of wrote it with every one's input, and that was the easiest and the quickest way to write it. I think it's really good, and I know in my heart of hearts, the best way to get Kids in the Hall stuff is to get all five of us together in units to groups. We're old men now, and we're still trying to figure out the correct process to write movies and sketches. We've got sketches down. We know how to do that. But the story process -- I think it's some meeting in different groups of two and three.

Is there anything in particular you're looking to do while you're in Austin this time around?

Uh, what's the famous street where all the cops are?

Sixth Street.

I'm bringing my girlfriend and my guitars. We're gonna go up and down Sixth Street and listen to some bands. I know what happens I'm in the back. I'm enjoying a Tex-Mex band, I go, "This is really good." Then some person from Austin recognizes me and says, "Oh man, this isn't a really good Tex-Mex band, they were good twenty years ago when they weren't trying to be a Tex-Mex band." And I say, "Well, basically I'm from Toronto. It's Tex-Mex to me."

www.austinfilmfestival.com Austin Film Festival
Oct. 21-28
Various Venues (Austin)
Passes Start at $42, Badges Start at $95
[info] | [tickets]The Austin Film Festival is now less than two months away, and the information about who will be doing what where has been steadily trickling in. Several details have yet to be revealed, but we like what we see so far.

The Awards. Each year this screenwriting-focused festival hands out awards to three impressive artists in the field. Previous honorees have included Ron Howard, Mitchell Hurwitz, Lawrence Kasdan and Mike Judge; this year David Simon (The Wire, Treme) and David Peoples (Blade Runner, 12 Monkeys) will be recognized as Outstanding Television Writer and Distinguished Screenwriter, respectively.

The Lineup. Only ten films have officially been announced, but they look enticing, indeed. Fair Game stars Naomi Watts and tells the story of screwed-over CIA agent Valerie Plame. I Didn’t Come Here to Die illustrates that volunteer work can be a dangerous business. Make Believe, coming from the creators of The King of Kong, follows the lives of six young magicians trying to make it big, and The Space Between explores the unusual partnership that arises between a child and a flight attendant in the days following 9/11. See descriptions of all ten films here.

The Panelists. As usual, an impressive group of screenwriters and movie industry experts is slated to attend the conference portion of the festival. To name just a few, artists looking to break into the biz will have the chance to interact with people like Michael Arndt (writer for Toy Story 3), Alvaro Rodriguez (writer for Machete), Alison Macor (author of Chainsaws, Slackers and Spy Kids) and Graham Reynolds (composer of A Scanner Darkly and beloved Austinite).

The Parties. Tickets are on sale now for The 8th annual Food and Film Festival, a famously indulgent affair that will feature cuisine from Austin’s finest restaurants, silent and live auctions, music and an open bar. Held at the Driskill Hotel, this will be the best place to catch sight of John Lee Hancock (writer/director of The Blind Side) and any film celebrities who feel like stopping by. This event will be held Oct. 20th and tickets are $70 for AFF members, $80 for non-members.

We’ll keep you updated as more information is released. And one last thing: You have until Sept. 30 to buy your discounted badges, so get on it, film fans!

Samantha PitchelGot a not-so-secret crush on “Dashing” Cody Rhodes but hate tuning into two hours of droning commentary and Nickelback-inspired theme music? There’s a solution: McMahon. The New Movement Theater, a group of comedians with a serious passion for the WWE empire, has introduced a show that combines the mesmerizing imagery of a high-octane wrestling match with the wit of a brilliant comedy routine.

Pro wrestling is often mocked for the same characteristics that make it a visually compelling show: flamboyant costumes, improbable storylines, headache-inducing pyrotechnics. But sometimes the silliest things are the most satisfying, and WWE’s weekly RAW brawl attracts viewers who follow the action like it’s a well-scripted soap opera (which, of course, it is).

So how could live wresting possibly get any funnier? With The New Movement’s Chris Trew, Tami Nelson and Mikey Felton teaming up to provide blow-by-blow commentary and fascinating “stats” while local improv troupes Spirit Desire, Ghost Prom and The Control Group take over to narrate commercials. The result? Instant insanity.

With a live stream of RAW broadcast on the big screen at The ND (at 501 Studios), Trew, Nelson and Felton provided their own account of the action, starting things off by setting up an elaborate backstory for the Kane / Bret “The Hitman” Hart rivalry dominating this week’s show. Did you know that Hart’s bitter hatred of Kane stems from a cruel prank involving stolen shampoo? Or that dry bagels can drive a leggings-clad man to madness? Neither did we, but we’re glad The New Movement was there to clear things up. From the Diva match to the closing 5 on 5 Elimination Tag Team bout (re-dubbed “White Trash vs. Nerds”), the commentary took wild turns, in perfect sync with the on-screen action. Commercial breaks, usually the low point of any show, became storylines and devices for games in the hands of expert improv crews. The audience completely lost it when Milo Smith, as CM Punk, gave an impassioned speech about his pent-up sexual frustration, culminating in a flashback shot of a shirtless Santino getting blased by a beer hose.

While wrestling events tend to bring out certain audiences, McMahon succeeded in making RAW accessible to haters and hardcore fans alike, presenting the action in a way that made it easy for first-time viewers to get in on the action without worrying about catching up. Stay tuned to The New Movement for info on the next McMahon RAW event, and check them out at Fun Fun Fun Fest this November.

image from Stereogum Joanna Newsom with Special Guest TBA
Thursday, November 11
Paramount Theater (713 Congress Avenue)
$31.50/34.50
[info] | [tickets]

By now, you're probably either with Joanna Newsom or you're against her, but one thing can be said for sure: there's no one else quite like her. The super-skilled fashion aficionada, music video star, world-class pop harpist, and crush for boys and girls around the world is touring in support of her maniacally ambitious triple-LP Have One On Me, which is such a complex work people are still trying to entangle its many threads nearly seven months after its release. Good news is that she'll be putting on a display of its sounds, and surely some of her earlier (and still delightful) work, in Austin, and in the not-too-distant future. For those who caught her intimate and astonishing performance a couple years back at The Riverbend Center, this'll be another chance to see a show unlike any other, and with a certainly intriguing "Special Guest TBA" tag attached to the bill. Hmm, who it could be?

But all that's not even the good part. The good part is that we're giving a way a pair of tickets. Put your name in the boxes after the jump and clear that November 11 date on the calendar!

Joanna Newsom [Drag City]

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Vicki\’s Nature /flickrWe had so much fun last year looking for reasons to taunt, belittle, and bully the Longhorns' football opponents that we thought we'd try it again. And yes, we know that some weeks this will be unseemly as big, bad UT picks on smaller schools. This is one of those weeks. Step right up, Rice Owls.

You Were Their Second Choice, After "Pass": Rice's roster is dotted with transfers from other schools, and some of their best players came to the Owls only after throwing in the towel at other schools. Quarterback Nick Fanuzzi started out at Alabama, but left after finding himself stuck as a backup. Same with Taylor Cook and Miami. Running back Sam McGuffie, whose highlight reel of hurdling opposing tacklers lit up YouTube, settled for Rice after one season at Michigan.

The Numbers Are In Our Favor: In the last four meetings since 2005, Texas has scored 50 or more points each time and Rice hasn't scored more than 14. That's 213-41 over that stretch. The average margin of victory is 43 points and the closest game was a 41-point win in 2005. Last year, Rice gave up an average of 43 points per game. Nate Silver is ready to call this one.

Obligations: Houston is a recruiting hotbed, and the Longhorns have a huge alumni base there, so Texas is obligated to play one game a year in the area to satisfy those two groups. We're not interested in playing Houston's high-flying offense, and we dropped the Cougars from the schedule in 2002 after they put up some rickety bleachers at Robertson Stadium to house our fans. So pushover Rice at cushy Reliant Stadium it is.

The MOB - Nerds!: Everyone says they love the Marching Owl Band (MOB), the ragtag bunch of jokers whose satirical halftime shows poke fun at opponents. But after some initial cuteness, the MOB's antics wear thin. Brainiacs in suits and fedoras giggling at their Dr. Who puns can only last so long.

New Jersey's Titus Andronicus brought their literary, historically-minded, energetic live show to a raucous Wednesday night crowd at Emo's. Photographer Trent Lesikar was there to capture the action. While the venue wasn't jam-packed, the majority of the audience was either singing along with lines like "You will always be a loser" and "I need a whiskey", or dancing in the pit during the majority of the band's performance. Their most recent release, The Monitor, has garnered its fair share of positive reviews but the set was split between the band's most recent material and songs from their 2008 debut LP The Airing of Grievances. The sing-alongs came on songs from both albums and it's interesting to experience that level of fandom from a band that has flown under the radar until just recently.

Singer and guitarist Patrick Stickles was drenched in sweat from head to toe by the middle of the band's set and showed no signs of slowing down even in the waning songs of the performance, which stretched into the 1 a.m. hour. The band as a unit was tight and ever-consistent, never missing a beat and still finding space to interact with the crowd. Some bands produce carbon copies of their studio material when they take the stage but not Titus Andronicus. They give their material a fresh once-over and add a bit more raw power to the songs and Wednesday night's crowd at Emo's rewarded them for it.

                    

TuskeegeeXperiment
Friday, September 3
Salvage Vanguard Theatre (2803 Manor Road)
$12, 8 pm
[info] | [tickets]

One of the touring acts from last year's Out of Bounds Comedy Festival returning to perform again this year is TuskegeeXperiment, an all African-American improv comedy troupe out of LA. TuskegeeXperiment is comprised of Stephen C. James, Marshall Givens, Jason Kelley, Tammie Smalls, Dwana White and Edana Walker. Austinist chatted with Marshall Givens about forming the group, their provocative name, and why Snap, Crackle, and Pop are the best breakfast cereal rappers.

TuskeegeXperiment Can you describe for us how you came to performing improv and how TuskegeeXperiment was formed?

I grew up watching shows like SNL and SCTV, so when I decided to be an actor in college, I immediately applied for an internship at The Second City Training Center in Chicago and started taking classes. I learned stage managing/technical directing through my internship, and when I moved to Los Angeles, I took a job as the Technical Director at The Second City there. That's where I met the other members of TuskegeeXperiment, each performing in separate groups. I was talking about improv with Jason Kelley and we thought it would be cool to create an all African American improv group. We knew who the other players should be because they all performed at Second City L.A. I reached out to the other members and everyone immediately jumped on board.

Can you describe some of the reasons you wanted to form an all African American improv troupe?

Honestly, improv has been a mostly white-male driven world and being the "token" in a group sometimes holds us back. We wanted to take control of our comedy so that the focus IS the comedy.

By being an all African American improv troupe with a name like TuskeegeXperiment you've put your racial identity up front. How much does the fact that you are an all African American improv troupe play into your shows? Do you believe it plays a part at all in the kinds of stories you tell?

We were completely aware of it when we chose the name. It of course plays a big part, but only because that is a part of who we are. We can't change our skin color or the experiences we have lived through, but we also have had very different experiences from each other, so our comedy is universal. You don't have to be Black to get what we are doing.

In your bio you explain that the Tuskegee Experiment was decidedly not funny. How did you settle on the name and has it caused any controversy?

The name was originally going to be "Token" but another friend who was there when Jason and I were formulating the plan for the group, jokingly said we should call ourselves "The Tuskegee Experiment." It was funny at first, then we really thought it was a great name for us. We are the scientists and we are experimenting with the traditional notions of not just "Black" comedy, but all comedy. It was definitely risky, but it spoke to us, so we ran with it. We want people to hear the name and think and ask questions. It hasn't caused any controversy yet but if anyone is offended, we are more than willing to talk about it.

You guys hail from LA. Where and how often do you perform there?

We began with a run at The Second City and perform there, i.O. West, Bang Theatre, UCB L.A. and festivals all over the country.

The description of the format for your improvised shows sounds like there's a great deal of room for both comedy and real moments. To those unfamiliar with your approach, can you give us a bit of an explanation of your show's format?

To honor the real Tuskegee Experiment, we ask the audience for a suggestion of a social injustice. It can be as serious as apartheid or as mundane as really bad traffic. We use that as a jumping off point to create scenes that are directly or indirectly related to that suggestion. With six improvisers who have six very different points of view, the comedy comes from the real moments.

You guys performed at last year's Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. What are you looking forward to doing and seeing in Austin this year?

Last year was incredibly fun and we really enjoyed the vibe in Austin and the festival. I think we're looking forward to seeing great shows, meeting fellow improvisers from all over, the music clubs downtown.. .and the food, definitely the food.

TuskeegeXperiment

Is the TuskegeeXperiment the primary project for your members? Do any of your have other projects?

In a way, TuskegeeXperiment is the baby of every member of the group, even though we have other projects. Jason Kelley is co-writing/producing a webseries called Make It Happen and is currently in several commercials and TV shows. Tammie Smalls is in the cast of Top Story Weekly, the award winning weekly news comedy show at i.O. West, and a producer for several projects at B.E.T. Stephen C. James is an accomplished writer, grade-school drama teacher, and one-half of the award-winning comedy duo, Nerdvana. I am in several other improv groups including Orpheus Roy, the current i.O. West Thursday night Improv Cagematch champs and I recently recorded a comedy rap album based on the characters Snap, Crackle, and Pop. We are currently in pre-production for the first music video.

Matthew Rutledge/Flickr It took less than an hour for a Travis County jury to find brothers LaBaaron "Lil Hutch" Hutchison and Brandon "Big Hutch" Hutchison guilty for shooting into a crowd outside of Spiro's on E. 6th St. last May.

The shooting occurred after a fight broke out when the brothers weren't allowed to perform. Following the fight, the club was emptied; the brothers left, only to return armed minutes later. At that point they began shooting into the crowd, targeting some people from the earlier altercation.

According to the Statesman, Austin Police reported eight people being injured in the shootings. However, the trial was for only for two counts of aggravated assault against victims Dennis "Mr. Fitness" Williams and his girlfriend, Jordan Sheehy. Each charge respectively carried the maximum sentence of 20 years.

Following the verdict, LaBaaron Hutchison stated to the victims and family in the courtroom, "I pray everybody can make it through this, man. . . For real. God Bless."

Rodrigo y Gabriela by Tom Ebenreiter Rodrigo y Gabriela
Friday, September 3
Stubbs (801 Red River)
7 p.m. | Outside | $40
[info] | [tickets]

• Truly two of the most enterprising guitarists around at the moment, Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero a.k.a. Rodrigo y Gabriela bring flamenco flair to Austin this Friday. The duo’s past exploits include a rendezvous with metal in Mexico as members of the short-lived Tierra Ácida and an ensuing stint in Europe, where they honed their current sound and fulfilled their inherent potential. Rodrigo y Gabriela’s versatile six-string wizardry will be preceded by Bobby Long’s poignant folk songs at Stubb’s this evening. Get your tickets via FrontGate.

• The recently rebranded ND (formerly The Independent) hosts a benefit for the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians on Sunday. The second installment of Heart Beats features live music from the likes of Pataphysics, SLEEP ∞ OVER, and Darling New Neighbors, a raffle that boasts prizes from Austin staples such as Progress Coffee, Birds Barbershop, and Room Service Vintage, plus an assortment of art and visual entertainment. Doors open at 3 p.m.

  
  Sixteen Deluxe, STEREO IS A LIE, English Teeth, and White Rhino rock your socks off at the same venue on Friday.

• Local three-piece Murdocks celebrates the release of its second full-length at The Parish on Saturday. Chock-full of infectious melodies and anthemic sing-alongs, Distortionist is a collection of irresistible powerpop ditties that’ll keep your head bobbing in unison throughout. Murdocks’ live show bleeds unbridled enthusiasm and never fails to deliver that injection of energy you need come the late evening hours. Plus there’s always a chance you’ll get to hear the band’s scorching rendition of the Pixies song (“Rock Music”) that ends the vinyl release.

• The dance-party purveyors known as Learning Secrets present Jimmy Edgar at Beauty Bar on Saturday. A prodigious talent, Edgar was already spinning at raves in his hometown of Detroit at age 15. A few years later, he signed with Warp Records, dropping four records during his time with the legendary label. Edgar’s latest album XXX arrived this past June on !K7 Records. After giving the single “Hot, Raw, Sex” a quick listen, we reckon he knows how to get you moving. RSVP here to get in for $7 ($10 without).

PROJECTproject PROJECTproject at Out of Bounds Comedy Festival
Friday, September 3
Salvage Vanguard Theatre (2803 Manor Road)
$12
[info] | [tickets]

PROJECTproject is an improv, well, project out of Toronto Canada playing at this years Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. They're known for innovating unique and experimental formats for improvised shows. PROJECTproject consists of Julie Dumais, Sean Tabares, Sarah Hillier and Alex Tindal. Austinist got a chance to talk with Julie about PROJECTproject's origins, some of the formats they've created, and what they aim to do with their time in Austin.

Can you talk a little bit about how you came to perform improv and how PROJECTproject was formed?

We've all been at this for a little while now. I started improvising almost 18 years ago (yikes!) with the Canadian Improv Games -- a national high school improv tournament. After I'd gone off to theater school, I stayed on as a volunteer with the CIG and eventually ran the Toronto tournament... which is where I met Alex when he was still a player. I met Sean quite a few years later when we were both performing with the Second City's Touring Company here in Toronto. Alex and Sarah met when they went to Humber Comedy School and all four of us wound up the same Harold team some time after that. PROJECTproject was formed about 3 1/2 years ago and initially had far more members (I think we peaked out at 12 in 2008). Our goal was to work with improvisers from different backgrounds who shared a similar unabashed nerdiness and enthusiasm for play within the form. We embraced a project-driven model, setting out to tackle an artistic theme or creative question, however ambitious or ridiculous, every time we designed a show or an improv format. The mindset has always been: "Okay... we know we're reasonably competent improvisers... now what do we want to try?"

It sounds like anything can happen at a PROJECTproject show--and not just because it's improv, but because of your format. What does a typical PROJECTproject show look like? How has your format changed over time?

What we do is always changing. We don't have one set format that we perform all the time (though we do have some favorites we come back to on a regular basis... and some that lend themselves to touring better than others). PROJECTproject ran a weekly show for two and a half years -- that was equal parts performance and house party -- and those nights usually kicked off with one or two short guest/collaborative sets, a featured solo set (one improviser all by their lonesome) and a “main event” type project to close the show.

Often we’ll take a theme or an image: ghosts, baseball, sweaters, a vault, board games, a post-apocalyptic world… and run with that. We also love collaborating with non-improvisers… musicians, film-makers, slam poets, illustrators, sketch comedians…

Some project highlights include:

The Album Project -- a live, improvised hybrid of acoustic covers and original scenes inspired by an entire album, chosen in advance -- we’ve done Michael Jackson’s Thriller (with a bluegrass duo) and Paul Simon’s Graceland (with indie folk-rock darlings, The Wilderness of Manitoba).

Project Sleep -- participating improvisers set their alarms to wake them in the middle of the night -- at their deepest point of sleep -- at which point, with no preparation or time to shake out of their slumber, they open an envelope they’ve been given with a suggestion in it and videotape themselves doing a short monologue. Improvisers do not watch their monologues -- they just go back to sleep. These monologues are played onstage for the first time as inspiration for improvised scenes.

PROJECTproject

Dice of Destiny -- a raucous, ridiculously fast-paced “competitive” format where six scenes live or die by the roll of a giant red die thrown at the stage from the audience.

Blind-date Semi-formals -- 20+ improvisers are invited to doll up and join us for a night of surprise pairings, wherein improvisers only meet their scene partners when they are called onstage (by randomly-assigned numbers) to perform together.

That Project Sleep format sounds hilarious. Was there any monologue in particular that you recall that came out of that format?

One of our guest improvisers for that project looked shockingly well-coiffed for just having woken up... he's just that kind of stylish dude. I wasn't nearly as telegenic in the middle of the night. I remember being distracted by the sound of a train whistle, rubbing my nose for a long time and rambling about loneliness. Night time reveals some ugly stuff. Unless you're the kind of guy who wakes up with perfect hair.

Without giving too much away, can you give us any sort of sneak peek into what kind of format you might do for your show at Out of Bounds?

Hmmmm... that's a tough one. We're still back and forth between a few choices. It will be low-tech, though... that sort of stuff travels best for us.

What's the improv and comedy scene like in Toronto and how does PROJECTproject fit in? Where do you guys typically perform -- do you have your own space?

Toronto’s the biggest city in Canada -- our largest entertainment industry hub -- and a lot of people find their way here from other points across the country… looking for work and stage time. The improv scene is really starting to boom here (tons of improvisers, lots of companies, a variety of shows on any given night), though we still have a ways to go in terms of growing an audience that isn’t also so performer-heavy. In terms of comedy venues (not aimed at stand-up), there’s only one performance space in the city dedicated exclusively to improv: the Bad Dog Theatre (though another is opening in the fall), then there’s Comedy Bar (where the stage is shared with sketch & standup) and the Second City. A lot of the improv here happens in bars and cabaret spaces.

We don’t have our own space, though we have had several residencies over the past few years… at Comedy Bar, a venue called Bread & Circus and most of all at a not-entirely-legal lo-fi loft space called Unit 102, where we were members of an artists’ collective for a long time.

Do you guys travel much with PROJECTproject? Is this your first time to Austin?

We’ve traveled a fair bit within Canada over the past two years, performing (literally from coast to coast!) at the Vancouver, Montreal and Victoria International Improv Festivals, the Guelph Comedy Festival and at the Canadian Comedy Awards & Festival in Saint John, New Brunswick.

This will be our first time ever visiting Texas! Although all four of us have performed in the US a number of times before, I guess technically this is PROJECTproject’s American premiere.

Any reason or reasons that you chose Out of Bounds as your first PROJECTproject appearance in the US?

Parallelogramophonograph. We met them in Montreal last October and fell pretty hard. We share a similar enthusiasm for coming at improvisation from interesting angles. They came out to our festival (the PROJECTproject COMBUSTIONfestival) back in May and that just sealed the deal. Those guys aren't just great ambassadors for Austin, but also for the art form. Basically: BFFs!! We can't wait to share a stage with them in their hometown.

What are you looking forward to doing and seeing in Austin?

If the OoB schedule weren’t already so jam-packed with incredible programming we want to take in, I’m sure we’d be into checking out Austin’s famed music scene… but we’ll have to make do with living up to the city’s other motto: “Keep Austin Weird.” Seriously? I’m most excited about the potential for BBQ. Any recommendations?

The Intergalactic Nemesis Live-Action Graphic Novel
Friday, September 3 - Saturday, September 4
Long Center for Performing Arts (701 W. Riverside Drive)
$14-$49, 8pm
[info] | [tickets]The Intergalactic Nemesis was a radio serial from the 1930's that started being recreated live on stage here in Austin back in 1996. Several years ago, Nemesis returned to the radio when recordings of these performances airing on KUT.

The evolution of this project now makes a leap to the big screen with a "live-action graphic novel" from the creative team led by Jason Neulander and Tim Doyle. The story itself plays out on screen in the form of comic book panels, while three actors and a foley artist perform all of the voices and sound effects live.

After some sneak preview screenings last weekend with the Alamo Drafthouse, the official World Premiere event is happening this weekend on a two-story-high screen at the Long Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are available now for these performances at the Long Center website.

Jake H. Gonzales

Channeling intense volunteer passion, subtly opening conservative minds, and standing up to the occasional pesky picketing threat — all in a day's work for Jake H. Gonzales, Programs Director of the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF). While the act of wading through a preposterous amount of films and contacts would be enough to make us feel that we had the right to walk around slapping...anyone, Jake exudes a most understanding and calm energy that—to us—seems like an incredible feat when you're one week away from launching a film festival.

Although we would have liked to have spent the interview trying to find a way to bottle that energy for ourselves (muah ha ha), asking a few questions involving the diverse lineup of films and events aGLIFF 23 is bringing our way September 7th-12th seemed like the more pertinent thing to do. We convened at Cherrywood Coffeehouse to discuss unforgettable yodelers, angry transwomen, and why it's so damn hard to get people to heart the documentaries like we do. We then forced Jake to play a LGBTQI Pop Culture Thought Game with us. Like we said, really understanding energy.

So, 23 years of aGLIFF. From hip, year-round Drafthouse screenings to youth programs and a handful of amazing parties, it's clear the festival has grown. You've been with aGLIFF a few of those 23 years, so what's been the key to the positive growth?

A lot of it is a staff that is willing to go above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis. You know, in any non-profit organization—and I've worked with enough of them to know—it's when you have that kind of 'perfect storm' of a staff who takes it above and beyond, and adds in their own personal expertise. Then you've got this nice mix of not only skilled talent, but also almost this perfectionism that won't go away.

As aGLIFF gets ever closer to reaching the "Big Gay Fest" status of Frameline in San Fran and OutFest in LA, do you ever forget you're doing such great LGBTQI work in Texas of all places?

aGLIFF's long-term goal is to become one of the top three international LGBT film festivals, but there's not a day that goes by that I don't forget that I do work in Texas. It's funny how it pops up. We do all this work in Texas, and it becomes most evident when somebody approaches us and says, "Hey, Frameline's showing this great film," or, "NewFest is showing this great film." I just have to go, "My audience will never come and see that movie." It's an east coast film; it's a west coast film — I need third coast films.

It really is funny what I know will play well to our audience, and then inform all of that with my background in entertainment education and international development communication. Since I got to aGLIFF, we program films not based on necessarily what's popular or thematic. So, if I have a film about gay boys falling in love, I don't necessarily pair it with another short film about gay boys falling in love. I'll pair it with a short documentary about a biracial lesbian trying to make it in the big world of New York, and have relationships and adopt a kid. Gay boys can come and watch their films — you're going to sit and learn something first, though. So yeah, we try to do it both externally and internally with aGLIFF and the community.

Have you had any experiences where you did program a 'west coast' or 'east coast movie' on accident?

Yeah, maybe the east coast/west coast label isn't exactly fair, but there's been a couple films since I've gotten there. In my second year, there was definitely one that did not fly at all. It was a documentary. A 118 seat theatre probably had 6 people in it in a prime-time slot on a Saturday. And the director was there! So that's just never a good feeling all around. We finally figured out what it was after the fact by talking to people. The story happened on the west coast and the problems that were facing that person—though kind of universal—were nothing that really interested anybody because that wasn't their life. And for a feature, that's really hard to convince somebody to come and watch. So we try not to do that.

We have to say you put off some amazing, confident, calm energy every time we see you.

Aw, shucks.

So what are your methods of staying strong and keeping your head above the slew of questionable films you have to go through to program a festival?

Coffee. [Laughs] I guess I have to take some responsibility for the programming, but I'll often say that it's really not me. My beginnings with aGLIFF were in March of 2008 as a volunteer and it just so happened that, after the festival that year, the program director left and I was asked to step in. David Sweeney was the executive director at the time, who had a very community-based non-profit experience himself. I had six or seven years at that point of community-based political activism experience, and involving as many people as possible. So we changed the program model from being a core group of maybe 8 to 10 people who watched all of the films and then sat around and kind of decided with each other. We opened it wide up and said we're going to do as many as want to do it.

The first year I was there we had 26 programmers who watched 350 films. And then this year we had 54 programmers watching 450 films. That's a lot of numbers there, but what has happened is the volunteer base has doubled, at least on programming. And in a year that is following the bulk of a recession, most film festivals saw a 25% decrease in the number of submissions they received, and I know that's the case for some of our partner festivals here in Austin. We increased by 100.

Wow.

So something's happening. And I think this year it was that we had the volunteer power base there, and these people are unafraid to do anything. They're really a help. Together they watch the films, they rate them, and then they're the ones that decide the program. I am merely there as a facilitator. And it's obviously worked. We get tons of compliments on how the programming has changed and improved, and how it's a lot more relatable and enjoyable to watch. It's because I have the people who would be going to the festival anyway watching the films and then telling me what they want to see. The formula that wrote itself.

What film can you not wait to unleash on Austin at this year's festival?

Ticked Off Trannies with Knives.

That was one we were going to ask you about. Most Interesting Title Award.

Ticked Off Trannies with Knives

Ticked Off Trannies with Knives came to us really late in the game. It was a film that had been playing the circuit. It played at Tribeca and was picketed. Both Frameline and New Fest banned it from their festivals. And, in all fairness, there's a huge backstory behind it. Essentially, the director, Israel Luna, posted a trailer on the Internet that utilized crime scene footage and pulled on the notes of two very infamous transwomen hate crimes where they were killed. Huge backlash from the trans community, which was completely understandable and justified. But to Israel's credit, he was very responsive and immediately pulled the trailer. He's been doing a lot of work with trans groups across the United States, trying to figure out how to talk about this film in a way that is positive.

So flash forward: I'd returned from Frameline. We already had the movie; I had not screened it yet. I was actually approached by somebody who was at Tribeca, who essentially told me that if we showed it at Austin she would bring all of her friends and picket Austin too, because it was a film that "just did not need to be shown." So I got back and watched it and—I don't keep it a secret—I was in active transition from male to female for 9 months and I'm very close with the trans community...still trying to figure out my own gender identity and all of that, so I got to watch it with that kind of unique eye. There are issues with the film, yes. There are parts of it that we wish would have been done differently. But at its core, it's a story about three transwomen—two of which are killed in a hate crime. One survives. The one that survives gathers all of her friends together, they go out in the forest and learn Kung Fu in true revenge thriller fashion, and then they go kick some ass. You know, that's a film that I can get behind all day long. So we're very excited to unleash that on Austin.

Thankfully, because aGLIFF is not one to shy away. Last year we had House of Numbers, which was an AIDS denialist documentary, which we got tons of flack for. And then again this year with Ticked-Off Trannies. We're not pulling the punches, and aGLIFF is not in the business of censorship. So if something comes along that others aren't showing, we tend to look at it and go, "Why not?" and show it anyway. And thankfully this year we are having the assistance of the Transgender Education Network of Texas, who are going to facilitate a talk-back after the film about their issues, and the wider issues of the trans community. But it all boils down to a couple of loud voices in the trans community who saw the trailer, reacted badly, and now refuse to see the film outright. And our attitude is, if you're not at least willing to watch the film, then... you know, we've seen it. And we aren't giving it a seal of approval, but it is something that is empowering to watch.

So, yodeling lesbian twins? Guessing it's a little different than Tegan and Sara?

You know, that's my number two. And I've never been one to shy away from controversy. Back in college I technically went head to head with a Texas State Senator and won. So not one to shy away from the controversy and that's why we have Ticked-Off Trannies. But Topp Twins, and I'm going to steal this program guide because my programmer, Laura Luthy, has two gems. Oh, that's another thing, all of the programmers at aGLIFF write the program descriptions. These aren't coming from the directors, these are true Austinites. Laura Luthy says that Topp Twins "is the utterly unlikely, entirely true, must-see story of how Jools and Lynda Topp became national superstars and LGBTQI activists through sheer force of their engaging personalities, incredible talent, and penchant for fun." There are some people who aren't happy with us because we're showing a documentary on opening night. I learned my lesson a long time ago: you do not show a documentary on opening night. This isn't a documentary; it is something else entirely. It's one of those films that you sit down, you watch it, and go, "How did I never hear of these two?" Like, their personalities are so big that it's kind of like the shot heard 'round the world kind of thing. How did these people exist and us not know about it?

By the end of the film, they are two people that I will remember for the rest of my life. Haven't met them in person, probably will never meet them in person, but there is no way I will ever forget them. I think what it was is that when they knew who they were—when they knew that they were both lesbian—instead of hiding it, instead of apologizing for it, they went to their parents and said, 'This is what's happening — moving on!' And it's kind of been there life ever since. They are a true delight. Actually, we love their music so much that we've downloaded their CDs from iTunes and we listen to them at the office all the time.

Oh. Hmm, do you jam out to yodeling?

Yeah, we do. Well, it's not all yodeling. They are very multifaceted. And I will say, though the Topp Twins cannot join us in person, they may be joining us by some miracle of technology. We do not want to over-promise, but as of today, we're set to host them at least virtually.

We're kind of upset about your statement about programming documentaries, even though we know it's true. Because with Call Me Troy a couple of years ago — we went to that and Reverend Troy Perry was there, and there was an afterparty with very good energy. Plus, one of the other films we're very excited about this year is The Adults in the Room. Great documentary...

Have you seen it?

Yes, screened it. We kind of go a little doc-crazy when it comes to festivals, and we guess we want other people to as well. We don't know how you get people excited about documentaries, but . . .

A lot of it is purely subject matter. There is a general rule that I maintain, especially in programming now, that if we're going to show a documentary it has to be about something that either hasn't been talked about before or has been done in a way that hasn't been done yet. Which is true across all of these. I mean, yodeling lesbian twins speaks for itself.

Yes.

She's a Boy I Knew is about a transwoman who, instead of turning the camera on herself and documenting her process transitioning, she turned the camera on six of her friends and family and captured it from their perspective. It's never been done before as far as I can tell. Freeing Bernie Baran...about Bernie Baran, who was locked up 21 years ago and just was released on false charges of child molestation and abuse. So there's a way to get people to see them...kind of limits our programming in some respects.

With The Adults in the Room, it seems really relevant to Austin as a college town. Experiencing—being a part of the gay culture—and hearing about people not wanting to get older or being afraid to get older. How [Filmmaker Andy Blubaugh] deals with that on his own. Plus, that question about when is the appropriate age to date and all of that kind of stuff. Very relevant.

Very true. And in the case of Adults in the Room, we actively selected that one for its unique storytelling method, because it's not just documentary and it's not just narrative. It's this cool melding of the two, that as far as I can tell—having done documentary and narrative film personally in the past—this is some kind of artist to be able to tell that story in both modes at the same time.

And with good actors, too.

And with good actors. That always helps.

Howl with James Franco

You were saying your centerpiece is Howl, which stars dreamy James Franco, dreamy Mary-Louise Parker, and dreamy Jon Hamm (Mad Men). That's a pretty good catch.

It's very dreamy.

How did you guys go about getting that?

Gosh, how did we go about getting that one? You know, aGLIFF often receives e-mails from random people or friends of the festival, it doesn't really matter, saying, "Hey, I saw something about this film. We'd really like to see it at aGLIFF 23." And this was one of those. We had two of them this year that we kind of had a big push for me to get them. Howl was the first one, the second was Faith of the Abomination.

Actually, the question I get asked most often is, "How do you know what is opening, centerpiece and what is closing?" And it's something that once you've watched a lot of the films, plus given the length of time I've been with aGLIFF, you kind of get this instinctual feeling just kind of going through of what needs to be opening, what needs to be centerpiece, and what needs to be closing. Because you think of it like a movie. You want to start off strong and have a great climax—Howl—and then give a nice happy ending, which is BearCity. So it just all kind of falls in place every year naturally, but there is a bit of intuition. Howl has the big names. This is going to be its Texas premiere, if not Southwest premiere. It took a lot of work to get this film three weeks before it gets released nationwide. They did not feel comfortable releasing it to a film festival that close. And through lots of badgering and phone calls and e-mails, I let them know I wasn't going to give up...

So you're good at badgering too?

I have to be.

It is at this point that we found ourselves inspired to play a little game to close out the interview. We thought it would be fun to spout off random terms from LGBTQI pop culture and have Jake respond with the first thought that popped up. A little less stressful than the one word version. Jake's response? "I'm good at judging." Awesome.

First one: Willow Rosenberg [Buffy the Vampire Slayer character].

Oh my God, when she came out on national TV...I still sing along to the Buffy musical CD, especially their parts where they're singing back and forth because she's cast a spell on her girlfriend, and the girlfriend finds out. Oh, what a mess!

Ooo, and moving that soda machine with the powerful hand grasp...

Yeah, powerful.

Okay, Anderson Cooper.

That silver-haired fox just needs to come out the damn closet already.

Exactly what we were going for. Rebecca Havemeyer vs. Christeene.

Oh gosh. You know, love Christeene to death, but my loyalties always lie with older Louisiana born and bred debutantes who drink too much, because I'd like to think that's what I will be in 50 years, minus the Louisiana born and bred, but...

Transgeneration [Sundance Documentary TV Series].

You know, I saw that for the first time when I was still at UT and I think it was, again, had that been something that was sent to aGLIFF, we would have shown it hands down. Because it took the trans narrative piece, but applied it to much younger people that have ever been seen on screen before. Groundbreaking.

Mommie Dearest.

Let's just say of Mommie Dearest that I no longer use wire hangers. Just in case.

Thoughts on guyliner.

Oh, I think anybody that wants to wear eyeliner should be more than welcome. Just put it on correctly. Nobody likes a stray stroke.

Elton John.

How old is he now?

Cher.

Is that farewell tour finally...over...yet? Maybe?

Have you seen a preview of that movie with Christina Aguilera that's coming out?

No...

It's kind of got a Showgirls vibe, but it's Cher and Christina Aguilera? I thought it was fake. I'm going to link to that. Okay, um...Lady Gaga.

Really. Like. Her. Music. A. Lot. Each of those needs to be punctuated by a period and a capital letter.

Done. 8: The Mormon Proposition [Documentary].

You know, that's one of those movies I can only watch once because it makes me so mad that...actually now it's making me mad. Next question.

Glee.

Really? You put Glee and Mormon Proposition next to each other?

Sort of? We're jumping around.

You know, any television show that can combine high school drama/angst/outcast kids and musicals?!? Brilliant. I'm there every time.

I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It.

When you say I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It, the only thing I can think of is that church that put up the sign that said, 'You may have kissed a girl and liked it, but now you're going to hell.'

Oh, that's horrible.

Kind of ruined that song for me. As does organized religion of most things in my life.

Amanda Lepore.

Give me more.

New York, socialite...lot of work done.

Oh, yes. Now I've caught on, thank you. You know, if somebody can say your name and then to explain who you are say "had a lot of work done," that means you've had lot of work done and you may want to have dialed that back a few weeks ago.

We hope no one says that about us. Alan Cumming.

You know, he's one of those people who I can't really decide what he is. Because he's done everything, it seems like. Dance, theatre, stage, singing, movies . . . television, probably.

Cologne.

What's that, like a quintuple threat?

Much more than Zac Efron the Triple Threat.

Oh yeah, much more so.

A Single Man.

Fondest memories of Isherwood was last year's documentary Chris and Don: A Love Story about Chris Isherwood and Don, his much younger partner. It's just like classic Super 8 footage from the '50s of them on the beach. Isherwood's like mid to late 30s, maybe early 40s and he's got Don there who's barely 18. And them just all over each other...on Super 8...in the '50s...on the beach...a public beach. I could watch that shit all day long.

Whoa. We need to check that out. All right. We'll stop grilling you with random queerness. Are there any other events coming up for aGLIFF that you're excited about as far as this year's fest?

Yeah! We've gotten together with Jenn Garrison, former aGLIFF board president and Austin film legend. Actually have one of her films in the festival again this year, Three Minutes. We are actually hosting the 10th anniversary screening of her very first documentary PrizeWhores two days after the festival is over. On September 14th at 7:00 at the Alamo Drafthouse South. The tickets are going to benefit aGLIFF and all of its programs. So, very happy to have Jen back for the festival and for a little bit of a retrospective. Hard to believe it's been 10 years.

[Full aGLIFF 23 Schedule]

Heather Leigh Kennedy/TakobaThe pub crawl has evolved. Drunken stumbles are fine and all, but man cannot survive on beer alone. That's why the food trailer crawl is the new "taco the town."

This Saturday, September 4, the taco aficionados behind Taco Journalism have organized "Revenge of the Taco Tour," an exploration of the taco hotspots on the east side of town. From the more upscale Takoba restaurant to the humble-yet-delicious Bomb Tacos truck at Lustre Pearl, there's sure to be something for everyone. Refreshment has not been overlooked -- Takoba is offering $2 Tecates especially for crawlers, and there's a mid-crawl pit stop at Rio Rita for beers or, if the tacos weren't spicy enough for you, try their garlic and jalapeño-infused vodka.

All locations are walking/biking/stumbling distance from one another (map). The complete schedule is as follows, and people are free to meet up with the group at any point:

5:00pm - Takoba Restaurant (1411 E. 7th)
6:00pm - Taqueria Selene Trailer (1700 E. 6th)
7:00pm - Rio Rita (Beer Pit Stop - 1308 E. 6th)
8:00pm - El Naranjo (85 Rainey St)
9:00pm - Bomb Tacos at Lustre Pearl (97 Rainey St.)

To commemorate the event and keep your drinks frosty, Taco Journalism beer koozies will be available for $5 each.

Now, these guys know how to put down a truckload of tacos (have you downloaded their iTacos app yet?), but for the taco crawl novice they have some words of advice: "Pace yourself. Maybe start off with one small taco and go from there." This is a strictly BYOP (bring your own Pepto) event.

The Wine Place Great Names, Great Values Wine Tasting
Friday, September 3
Mirabelle (8127 Mesa Drive Suite 100)
6:30pm, $25 (includes tax/tip and apps), RSVP required: 512-346-7900
[info] Yeah, yeah, so the economy is still kinda crappy. We’ve heard enough about that, haven’t we? Isn’t there something good coming out of all this misery? You bet there is: cheap(er) wine! Kick off the Labor Day weekend with a fantastic - and fantastically priced - wine tasting at Mirabelle, one of our favorite Austin gems. Owner Michael Vilim has cultivated relationships with great wines and wineries, like Seghesio, Treana, Guigal, Quilceda Creek, d’Arenberg and many, many more. The wine gods have commanded him to share the love this Friday with a bounty of high-end wines paired with tasty appetizers, all for just $25. This is surprisingly affordable considering that the Far Niente and Leeuwin Chardonnays sell at retail for $55 and $70 per bottle, as do many of the others. As always, it’s good to be a wine lover!

Reservations are available on 512-346-7900.

Wines to be tasted:
(NV) Champagne, Taitiinger Cuvee Prestige, Brut (90 points Wine Spectator)
2006 Leeuwin "Art Series" Riesling Margaret River Western Australia (90 Tanzer)
2007 Far Niente Chardonnay Napa (89 Wine Spectator)
2007 Willakenzie Pierre Leon Vineyard Pinot Noir Oregon (90 Wine Spectator)
2005 Chianti Classico, Marchese Antinori, Riserva (91 Wine Spectator)
2006 Keenan Merlot Napa (90 Parker)
2006 Girard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa (91 Wine Spectator)
2007 Gigondas Pierre Amadieau (90 Cellartracker)
2007 Can Blau Monstant Spain (90 Parker)
2007 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel (92 Parker)

Editor’s note: The views expressed in I Am So Popular are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the outlook or beliefs of anyone else in the IST network.

Wednesday morning, after sixteen hours of flying, three hours of layovers, and another couple of hours in security, customs, and passport control lines, I arrived back in Austin after two weeks in Israel. My son picked me up and we ran errands for a while, including a stop so he could sign his very first lease. And then, annihilated by jet lag, I headed home to sleep. Which is when I noticed my back door had been kicked in; my house intruded upon.

And then the cops came.

As one who cannot resist making connections, it didn’t take me long to relate my trip to the Middle East, my son’s foray into first time tenant-hood, and the violation of my personal space by a stranger who, had I had the misfortune of coming upon him, could well have beat the shit out of me or killed me.

I travel an awful lot, and the past twelve months have been especially incredible, with trips to both Portlands (Oregon and Maine), France, California, Buenos Aires, West Texas, interior Mexico, and Israel. So many trips would be a big deal for anyone but for me, well, even though I have the old boarding passes and passport stamps to prove I went, I almost can’t believe I did.

I grew up in a tiny town, forever warned by my parents that to travel beyond that place was an activity fraught with danger. Pitfalls lurked around every corner, they insisted. And to back these claims all they had to do was point to some article or TV news report of a natural disaster or human crime somewhere OUT THERE. To this day I call my mother before I leave and as soon as I land to let her know I’m okay because I know she worries while I’m gone. And while I’ve tried to not pass along such anxiety to my son, I’m sure his perspective belies this belief. I’m delighted that he takes off on trips but at the same time I have to fight off imagined scenarios in which something bad happens and he is too far away for me to lend an assist. I can never let him go without heaping upon him unsolicited advice and warnings.

common sightA few days ago, I was having lunch in Galilee, very close to the border of Lebanon. The place was packed. As I was sitting there, I had an epiphany. All those stories I’ve read (and my mother has read) about how suicide bombers hurl themselves into public places and blow people up? I was sitting in precisely the setting where such things happen, in a country fraught with unease, where nearly every public place features an armed guard and young soldiers—many of them my son’s age-- stroll the streets, uzis flung casually over their shoulders like messenger bags. It dawned on me then: You don’t get an email in the morning with advance warning, something that says, “Please be advised your lunch place will be bombed at 2 pm today, so time your meal accordingly.” I beat back the thought and dug in for some more hummus.

enjoy every momentHard to believe that a few days from now marks the nine-year anniversary of 9/11. I remember my own personal fallout, my interrupted sleep pattern, my constant fear in the months that followed. And I remember hearing an interview on NPR with an Israeli explaining that in life you have to just carry on. Maybe you live through a day, maybe you die in a bombing. But you keep moving, you can’t let fear paralyze you. This message has served me well. Like the times I’ve driven across the Mexican border—where just last week 72 illegal immigrants were gunned down on a ranch near Brownsville—and times I have been a stranger in a strange land, no sense of direction or second language skills to guide me.

And yet… as I drove with my son past the house he is moving into this week, I couldn’t help myself. I became my mother again. I tried to come across as cool and pragmatic, not alarmist, as I suggested this wasn’t the best neighborhood. I told him I’d get him rental insurance and maybe he’d like to keep his valuables at my place. We both knew, despite my faux-calm, that I was succumbing to the worst-case scenario mindset into which I had been indoctrinated before I could walk.

When I entered my house and saw the back French doors flung open, I was at first just mildly confused. The jet lag had my brain in super slurry mode and my initial thought was—“Wow, is it that windy out that the doors would blow open?” Then something prompted me to look around the house and I noticed two bedroom doors were open, doors I always keep shut. Still, I did not panic. The dogs were fine. I returned to the back door, which appeared to be damaged.

I started to call 911 but stopped, deciding that, perhaps not realizing I was back, the dog sitter had been by, and that she left the doors open for the dogs. Highly implausible, yes, but something beyond my exhaustion drove me to this idea. You do not wish to think you have been violated. You want to come up with every other possible theory first. Noting a voicemail from the sitter, I listened and when I heard her say, “I see you left the doors open,” it began to click. Then I spotted a text message from my next-door neighbor saying someone just tried to break in to her place.

Then I called 911. The operator asked if I was sure I was alone in the house. At first I said yes but suddenly the hair on my arms stood straight up, my flesh rising with goose pimples. How did I know I was alone? Well, I didn’t. Get out of the house the operator said. Get out of the house now.

It only took seconds for god knows how many cops to show up. They stormed the place, guns drawn, barking over and over, “Come out! Austin Police! Come out now!”

But he was gone. Best we can piece together is that he was scared off by the dogs. I know the cops thought it looked like he’d done a thorough job of wrecking the place, but I had to admit that the suitcase which appeared to have exploded across the living room, the mess in the other rooms—all this was my doing, evidence of vacation hastily departed for, unpacking upon return not yet performed.

Nothing was missing. Not one thing. Not the random prescription bottles (though that would’ve been a good headline—Burglar Tries to Sell Dog Anxiety Pills to Unsuspecting Students). Not the purse I’d left out. Not the ancient TV or beach cruiser. Not the laptop, which, thankfully, I always have the good sense to hide carefully whenever I leave.

my heroesYou might think I slept like hell last night, crippled with the fear that the creep would return. Curiously, though, I fell deep into a rather relaxed slumber. While I would prefer that the intrusion had not occurred, the fact that it did provided an occasion for reflection and gratitude. The morals of my story are ancient, nothing we haven’t heard a million times before, but to receive up close and personal examples of them is a pretty amazing thing.

Most of all, far more than anything else, I have gratitude heaped upon gratitude that my house sitter did not run into the dude. She missed him by mere minutes. I have further gratitude that my next-door neighbor and her young children, who did have the misfortune of running into him, were unharmed. And yes, I’m grateful, too, that I didn’t encounter the guy. My dogs, whom I missed so terribly while I was gone, slept in a heap on my bed, and as I came to this morning, and looked at them, and contemplated their dedication, and understood they’d driven the guy away—what can I say about dogs that I haven’t said so many times before? Their loyalty, unconditional love, and commitment to defending the house astounds me.

And then there is the matter of possessions. As the cops took me on a couple of tours of the house it became laughingly apparent that the things I so value—the art made for me by friends, my electric teapot, my collection of yarn, my beloved rag rugs, my pitcher full of chopsticks—are utterly worthless in the eyes of someone looking for a quick pawnshop score.

And finally, there is that lesson— sad but true— that IT can happen literally in your own backyard. Never mind the uzi-toting soldiers I saw on vacation, the international headlines of violence around the world, and decades of warnings from my parents about the scary things that lurk OUT THERE. Never mind my suggestions to my own son that somehow my place might be more secure than his. Lessons learned—yet again. Shit happens. It happens everywhere, even at home. It sucks. You think about what might have been. You give thanks for what was not. You carry on.

Spike Gillespie is so glad to be back in Austin and she loves her dogs more than she can say. She’s got some openings for her upcoming Tuesday writing workshops—details here. You can read about her trip to the Holy Land here.

Pharoahe Monch/Shine Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010
November 5-7
Waterloo Park (403 E. 15th)
$75 for Saturday and Sunday
[info] | [tickets]Mixing soul rhythms with complex (and often political) rhymes, Pharoahe Monch brings a certain dirty freshness to hip hop, even though he’s been in the game since 1989. You may recall his biggest hit, “Simon Says” from the 2000 movie releases of Charlie’s Angels and Boiler Room. The song’s heavy hitting sample from Godzilla, along with the refrain of “Get the f*ck up!” will instantly rocket you back to those good old Y2K days.

However, much of the rest of Monch’s catalog exudes more depth, including the latest single “Shine” produced by Diamond D. It's the first off his upcoming album W.A.R. (We Are Renegades), set to drop in October. Sample lyrics from “Shine” that are guaranteed to get stuck in your head: “My Mama cannot afford Whole Foods/ she break fast with a prayer/ call it soul food.” W.A.R. will feature collaborations with Talib Kweli, Cee-Lo Green, Jill Scott and several other big-name artists.

Pharoahe Monch will kick it at the Blue Stage during Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010.

Pharoahe Monch [myspace] [twitter]

Austin Restaurant Week

Coupon cutters and cheap dates, now is your moment in the sun. Austin's Fall 2010 Restaurant Week is just around the corner. Restaurant Week (really, two half weeks; September 19th - 22nd and 26th - 29th) provides frugal Austinites the opportunity to sample the extraordinary culinary scene blossoming throughout town at prices much closer to ordinary. Lunches run $10 - $15, while dinners go for $25 - $35. These aren't Tamale House prices, but you’re getting a three course meal, and there are definitely deals to be found.

For more casual fare, start the week off at Austin’s favorite hot dog hang Frank, where it’s hard to go wrong on an appetizer (they all include the word “waffle”) before ordering the popular Jackalope (antelope and rabbit sausage) or spicy Slaw Dog and a dessert ($25 for two). Max’s Wine Dive caters to the sophisticated redneck in you with its Max ‘N Cheese, Southern Fried Chicken, and New Orleans Style Bread Pudding ($25 per person). Wine is not included, unfortunately. And if you’re still not painfully stuffed, sit in the picturesque courtyard of newcomer El Arbol and order grilled beef heart in chili oil, seven ounces of ribeye, and flourless chocolate cake with dulce de leche for only $35.

Moving upscale (without having to move to the Domain,) you can sample the favorite fare of Chef Deegan McClung at the revitalized Jeffery’s on West Lynn. $35 a person will get you sesame-fried oysters on bacon royale (similar to a Royale with cheese?), grilled Texas quail, and beignets for dessert, while $35 at the new uptown favorite Uchiko (Fearless Critic just ranked it best “feel” in the city) can get you an entrée of take nabe (mushrooms over rice with a soft fried egg - delicious!) or karaage (half of a fried chicken), both of which are winners.

But that’s not all! Check back over the next couple of weeks at RestaurantWeekAustin.com as menus are posted for Aquarelle, Botticelli’s, Cipollina, Driskill Grill, Jasper’s, Lamberts, Olivia, Perla’s, TRIO, and dozens more, all three courses for $35 or less (we highly recommend reservations). Tamale House will still be waiting for you when the week is over.