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August 2007
ACL Fest: And the Saturday night aftershow at Stubb’s is…
With the ACL Fest only two weeks away, the lineup is pretty much set in stone (now that Cold War Kids have replaced the boozy Amy Winehouse), including official aftershows. However, there remains one glaring hole in the ACL Night Show schedule. Saturday night at Stubb’s is still sitting there, like the 800-pound gorilla.
Who will it be? Since Sunday at the Fest is still not sold out, C3 is withholding the information on who will play at the venerable club on Red River. It’s obviously not someone playing Saturday night at Zilker, so that most likely leaves someone playing Sunday night at the Fest.
Whoever it is will have to be a band that can sell out a venue in just a few days. My sources tell me Wilco, who is already doing an ACL taping Saturday afternoon, will not be the surprise guest. Local (and Attal) fave Ghostland Observatory is scheduled to be out of town Saturday night. Bob Dylan is probably too big (but that would sell out in a heartbeat), while the Decemberists and Bloc Party (while deserving) might not be big enough. That leaves us with My Morning Jacket. And since a slew of folks will probably miss their Sunday Fest set to see Wilco, this seems like a pretty solid guess. But if it really is Dylan, can you imagine the number of ACL bands asking for comps to that one?
Who knows. Attal has people buzzing, and I imagine that is just fine with him.
Who do you think will play Saturday night at Stubb’s? (How about the Blisters?! OK)
Your A-List: Best Vintage Clothing Store
Co-owner Jennifer Barker-Benfield returned to Austin after receiving a degree in American history from Scripps College in California, and it was, in part, her love of America’s past that led to the desire to open a vintage store with her mom. Located at 2100-B Guadalupe St., the store opened by Barker-Benfield and her mother Susie Lange in 1994 initially began in a 100-square-foot space above Atomic City on San Antonio Street. After getting up and running, the store moved to a location on Red River and 32nd streets in 1995, where it stayed until 2004, running concurrently with the shop on Guadalupe, which opened in 2000.
In the business’s early years, the ladies traveled in a van across the country, from New York to Florida to the rag warehouses of the Rio Grande Valley, searching for unique items they felt the citizens of Austin would appreciate. But over the years, escalating gas prices made such travels prohibitive, and driven by a desire to keep their costs low, the duo began incorporating consignment buys to help stock their inventory. Unlike some vintage stores around town, Blue Velvet does not accept trades and rarely buys clothing from people off the street looking to turn a buck.
Located in the heart of the Drag, the store is naturally popular with college students looking to keep up with the latest (old) trends, but the shop, which took its name from the seedy David Lynchian surroundings of its original location, has also proven to be a destination of sorts for tourists, high school students and young adults who have come to trust Velvet’s sense of style.
The store thrives on the creativity and discerning taste of its employees, many of whom now lend a hand in the creation of original screen prints that the store will apply to anything you can put ink on, be it T-shirt, dress or suitcase. Beyond their own silk-screening, Blue Velvet takes pride in buying crafty, hand-made vintage reworkings, and the DIY ethic is apparent in many of their products.
Asked why she though Blue Velvet was our readers’ favorite, Barker-Benfield responded that they have long taken pride in offering a stylish and eclectic selection of “wearable” pieces at good prices. (The semi-regular sales featuring delicious cupcakes might have something to do with it, too.)
It seems you concur.
Blue Velvet Vintage Clothing (site)
2100-B Guadalupe St. (map)
512.472.9399
Hours:
Monday-Saturday: 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Also receiving votes:
Flashback (25 percent), New Bohemia (21 percent), Big Bertha’s Basement (12 percent), Amelia’s Retro-Vogue & Relics (7 percent)
Write-ins:
Buffalo Exchange, Citywide Garage Sale, Feathers, Goodwill, My
Closet, Pallenberg, Room Service, Salvation Army, Savers, Thrifttown
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Your A-List
Your A-List: Best 24-Hour Restaurant
Residing in its trademark red-brick building since 1979, the ubiquitous Marc Katz has made a name for himself and his restaurant, appearing on television commercials, running for mayor and, of course, holding down the fort at the establishment that bears his family’s name.
Diners have been flocking to the New York-themed deli for decades to satisfy their cravings for big-as-your-head pastrami sandwiches, tuna melts and burgers. True to the times, Katz acknowledges that as the city and nation have become more health- conscious, so has his restaurant. Unlike in the 1970s, about which Katz says there were only two food groups — sodium and cholesterol — the restaurant has made moves to satisfy people’s health needs as well as their taste buds, offering a multitude of salads and low-sodium alternatives to the greasy greatness for which the deli has become an Austin legend.
But more than just good food served in ample portions, Katz thinks his restaurant has maintained its popularity because eating out is a form of entertainment, and Katz makes sure the late-night party continues at his home away from home.
We gotta tell ya, Katz’s Deli is near and dear to many of your hearts, and they’ve got the votes to prove it.
Katz’s Deli (site)
618 W. Sixth St. (map)
512.472.2037
Hours:
Katz’s Never Kloses!
Also receiving votes:
Kerbey Lane (27 percent), Magnolia Cafe (24 percent), IHOP (6 percent), Star Seeds (3 percent)
(Image from Kelly West/AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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Digging in: Whole Foods green chile burger
They grill a juicy 6-ounce burger to perfection and top it with green chiles and melted Jack cheese. As a perfect added touch, they grill the bread, so you have a nice crisp palate on which to spread the green chile mayonnaise. The burgers come with the fresh vegetable garnish you would expect from the local grocery giant — crisp greens, crunchy red onion and vine-ripe tomatoes. The chiles provide a wonderful flavor with a moderate spicy kick, but do not overwhelm with their heat. Of course, seeing as it is in the mid-90s outside, those of you who aren’t huge fans of the heat might desire to take your burger inside.
Whole Foods grills their burgers outdoors on weekends and will continue to do so through ACL Fest weekend (Sept. 16). If you love a good burger, I highly recommend carving out an hour of one of your upcoming weekends and indulging in the $9 burger that comes served with a side of potato salad.
And before anyone freaks out, yes, I’ve had the green chile burger at Shady Grove. It does not compare, in my humble opinion.
Note: The downtown location is the only Whole Foods store in Austin grilling said delicious concoction.
Amber Novak FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Food
Best of Public Radio: Pierson talks with Spike Lee
From KUT’s Web site:
Throughout his twenty films in twenty years career, Spike Lee has entertained us, challenged us, angered us and, above all, made us think. With a body of work that unflinchingly explores race, class, sexuality and culture, Lee has been a bold and prolific presence in modern American filmmaking.Starting out as an outspoken young man hawking tube socks to market his debut ‘She’s Gotta Have It,’ Spike had his biggest commercial success with last year’s ‘Inside Man.’ At the same time, he continued his occasional foray into non-fiction with the epic and heartbreaking ‘When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.’
The Spike Lee Master Class coincided with his acceptance of UT’s William Randolph Hearst Award for journalistic excellence for this documentary on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and its devastating effect on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. It has been nominated for six Emmy Awards. Here on the second anniversary of Katrina, John Pierson sits down for the full hour to talk with Spike Lee about his remarkable career, Don Imus, 50 Cent and spoken-word poetry.
Speaking of ‘When the Levees Broke,’ if you have not seen it, I highly recommend it. Here is my response after viewing it.
Image of Pierson (c) Kelly West/AA-S. Image of Spike Lee (c) AP.
Permalink | | Categories: Movies
At the movies: ‘The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters’
Fortunately, the film was released over the weekend at a few cities around the country, and, naturally, Austin was one of said cities, thanks to our love of indie film, the strong film community here, Matt Dentler and Co. and the Alamo Drafthouse.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the documentary about obsessive video gamers is the best movie I have seen all year. Regardless of whether you enjoy classic video games, which I do not particularly, you will be amazed at the compelling human drama staged by two competitors, Steve Wiebe and Billy Miller, as they compete for the world record in Donkey Kong.
Early in the movie I feared that the filmmakers would take the easy way out and take yet cheap shots at it subjects, adding to the list of myriad documentaries that work only to make us laugh at its subjects. I was relieved to realize that this certainly was not the case in the hilarious and touching movie from director Seth Gordon (cinematographer of the award-winning doc about the Dixie Chicks, ‘Shut Up and Sing’).
Without giving away too much of the film, I will say that the film tells the story of two men who have taken very different routes to their place in arcade lore. Wiebe’s is a touching story of a gifted young athlete and musician who seemed to always come up short in his attempts to reach the pinnacle of his chosen fields of endeavor. A committed family man, Wiebe decided to make one last stab at glory after losing his job. Combining a desire to be the best with an understanding of strategy and mathematics, Wiebe attempted to take down one of the most untouchable records in all of arcade history.
The man holding that record, Miller, is a feather-haired wing sauce impresario who has made a name for himself in the gaming world for over 25 years as being one of the most respected and feared competitors of all time. He is the Bobby Fischer of arcade games, minus the social awkwardness, hermetic lifestyle and anti-Semitism. Miller goes so far as to compare himself to the Red Baron, but stops short of making the correlation between his omnipotence and God’s.
Using archived footage of the two men, as well as interviews with Wiebe’s family and friends, and Miller’s allies and idolaters, Gordon truly paints a story of good vs. evil, as one man deviously and maniacally attempts to maintain a veneer of greatness while another humbly searches for his life’s crowning achievement, a moment of redemption for all of the times in his life where he came up just short. In a great thematic nod to the ’80s, Gordon even utilizes classic songs from ‘Rocky’ and ‘The Karate Kid’ in the score to heighten the drama without seeming flip.
It is a story that has to be seen to be believed. Here’s hoping that Ben Stiller does not buy the movie and cast himself in the role of Miller. As the old saying goes: Sometimes fact is stranger (and funnier and more heartbreaking) than fiction.
[Official site for ‘The King of Kong’]
[Showtimes]
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‘Superbad’: Is there an editor in the house?
Now, on to the task at hand. I could not be more pleased about the success of Judd Apatow and his motley (and merry) crew of filmmaking buddies. Ever since the success of ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin,’ Apatow seems to have carte blanche in making hilarious adult comedies (read: Rated R) without much impeding by the studio. His films do not rely on expensive special effects nor are they burdened with exorbitant salaries from stars, so it seems as if the studios just let him run wild, have fun and make the movie he wants to make.
The minor problem I have with his films, ‘Superbad’ included, is that because he does not seem beholden to studios, he feels no need to curtail the length of his films, leading to stories that lack precision. To confuse the situation, despite his original storytelling, he still conforms to Hollywood by often concluding his films with endings that you can get in any romantic comedy. After an amazingly funny and strong start, ‘Superbad’ spirals out of control with unnecessary sequences, only to eventually be wrapped up in a nice little saccharine bow.
At the helm of this particular project is director Greg Mottola, a collaborator of Apatow’s dating back to ‘Freaks and Geeks.’ But the film is as much Apatow’s (his penchant for the sweet and charming, despite a veil of filth, permeates the film), as it is the neophyte director’s (this is Mottola’s second feature-length film). ‘Superbad’ features realistic dialogue with naturalistic performances, most notably those of the disarming Michael Cera and manic Jonah Hill. Raunchy, raw and fearless, the young characters in the film, thrilled and mortified by the maturation process, talk the way every kid wishes he was smart enough and gutsy enough to get away with.
Much as in ‘Knocked Up,’ after a rapid-fire open in a land of language and characters in which any kid (or kid at heart) would love to find himself lost, the story takes the hackneyed turn of movies that could only hope to aspire to Apatow and Co.’s intelligence, movies such as ‘Super Troopers’ or ‘Harold & Kumar Go to White Kastle.’ There is even a specific scene in the film where you find yourself thinking, ‘Oh boy, here we go.’ Two story lines diverge, and you know they are going to find their way back to one another. The only question is how long will they take. Unfortunately, the answer is ‘terribly longer than they should.’
You can tell from the writing and the performances that Apatow’s posse loves making movies together. And that is fabulous. But his joy of cooperative filmmaking also seems to be his biggest challenge. How do you take all of the great scenes and performances and whittle them down to a more digestible story and, eventually, movie? At almost two hours, ‘Superbad,’ just like the 129-minute ‘Knocked Up’ and 116-minute ‘40 Year Old Virgin,’ is just a few sequences longer than it needs to be.
No film, regardless of the brilliant writing (here by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who started the script together as teens) or bravura performances, can maintain the frantic hilarity for two hours while still trying to fit in a serpentine (yet still contrived) plot. My advice: Lose the meandering and divergent story lines and stick with the jokes. They’re amazing.
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