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Welcome to Issue
#56!
They keep telling us
it is going to get cold
and the weather
keeps lapsing back
to paradise. This
cover kinda fits.
Another one is
here to enjoy. What
to dive into first? It’s all good so just jump in.
You have time to read the issue more than
once, so start wherever you wish. We spoke
with some interesting people this issue. We
are incorporating some different interviews
here and in the future that will be of interest to
new and old readers of the Austin Daze. Tell
us what you think. Mr. Warner has pulled
through for us once again. Thanks John. This
issue contains a review of our all time favorite
Austin restaurant, Chez Nous. I finally convinced Mr. Opus to take the plunge.
The great thing about this town is that
there is always something going on.
Sometimes that is our crux. A nice crux to
have. Right?
We had a good time at The Austin Film
Festival and had an opportunity to sit and chat
with a few directors. Every year we see some
good ones and some bad ones. I am constantly going at these films hoping for that rush of
something great. It usually happens when I
step into a screening of something I have
WORDS WITH
RUTHIE FOSTER
never heard of. This year, I did not care for the
“big hollywood” flicks. I really found some
treasures in the lower budget films.
“TransAmerica” and “Dirt” were my favorites
this year. The first had so much to say about
the human condition through the most awkward of circumstances. Beautifully done. “Dirt”
was a documentary style look at stock car racing. It was real and for that reason it was captivating.
The Fantastic Film Festival breezed through at
the Alamo. We caught the extended version of
“Sin City.” More of one of my favorite films of
the year, nothing to complain about there.
The Texas Book Festival flipped through town
on the heel of the films. I wish I had gotten
involved with it more. Next year for sure. We
were able to meet and talk with Chris Elliot.
Between a few computer crises and an office
space transition, Halloween happened and
then it was Thanksgiving. Here I am, filling this
area in again.
We are moving folks. Our new office
will be located at 2210 South 1st, suite D. We
will be right next door to Silver Leaf Framing.
The new space will better suit our office
needs. We will have a storefront and there is
plenty of parking. We will be working on it
most of December and should have a grand
opening in January.
The best part is that our good friend
took the reigns of our old space (1300 east
4th). That is good because we will still be able
to have Austin Daze events there and still be
able to book events.
See you in issue #57! We are already
setting up some sweet interviews. You will dig
I can assure you. Until then. Enjoy our global
warming winter.
Happy Christmas, Chanukah, Festivus
and New Year!
Check out www.myspace.com/austindaze
Please drop in on our advertisers and mention
us. We need your help to remain the strong
glossy alternative.
NAMASTE, RUSS
in for anything to do with art. I was liv-
like an entire town--it's like a small area in
New York--so that's cool.
ing, well I was living in so many places, but I
was living in College Station for about 7 years
after coming back from New York and it just
wasn't as much as a nurturing town.
Everything grows here. There is such beautiful
music here. I had to come here.
I will tell you this though, I avoided Austin
when I first moved back to Texas because I
was living in New Jersey and working in the
village every night and I thought coming from
that atmosphere and coming back to Texas
that Austin can't be as cool as the village so I
avoided it for that reason. And I kind of wanted
a break from that. I really wanted a little bit of
a break from being in music completely
because my mother was sick and I needed to
devote some family time. But I let a few years
pass and decided to jump back in full time.
How do I put this? You need to go see her
play. I went last night and and am still humming the sweet sounds the next day. She is
that good. Here are some words we shared:
AUSTIN DAZE: How did you wind up in
Austin?
Who doesn't wind up
in Austin when you are in music or
art or any of that? This
is the place to be. This
is the environment to be
AD: Did you ever hear people talk about
Austin in the village?
RUTHIE FOSTER:
Page 2
**
Issue #56
**
RF: People will definitely compare and when
people found out I was from Texas, it got me
in the door of a lot of smaller clubs and a lot of
bigger clubs there. So there was a huge correlation between the two places. Austin is more
Austindaze.com
**
The Austin Daze is Copyrighted 1999 - 2006
The articles contained here-in may not be reprinted
without our consent and that of the individual
author’s or artist’s .
We do not necessarily agree with all the articles
here. Maybe we do. But not as a collective entity?
Does that make sense?
AUSTIN DAZE INTERVIEWS:
- Ruthie Foster- (R&W)-- page 2, 6, 7
- Don King- (R&W) -- page 3, 4, 5
- Chris Elliot- (R&W) -- page 14, 15
- Greencards- (R&W) -- page 16
- Austin Indie Alliance- (SB) -- page 17
- Richard Shepard-(R&W) -- page 17, 18
- Static X- (MW) -- page 18, 19
* PICTURE CONTEST -- page 23
AD: From a musician's point of view, is
Austin different than New York? Musically
speaking, what do you miss the most
about New York?
RF: I'll tell you what's different, I'm not as
exhausted here as I was there. There is just
so many things that link to each other in New
York. This film links to someone that's doing
something at this club who links to someone
that is doing something in the pit, on
Broadway--it's all linked. There is no separation and that kind of made it difficult for me to
want to be a songwriter and really needing to
focus on that and not wanting to spread myself
out too thin. Here in Austin, the focus is
on the music, the song writing is the
focus. The circle that I'm in anyway
and that's what is so cool for me. I
can focus on writing really good songs and
putting that in the clubs that appreciate it for
the crowds that appreciate it.
AD: We have heard that musicians often do
better financially on the road than they do
here at home. Is that true for you and why
feedback@austindaze.com
**
BRIDGING THE GAP SINCE 99’
to flyers and our email newsletter for info. Come join our community at the
Austin Daze (2210 S. 1st. suite D). Come over and check out Silver Leaf
Framing next door.
The Austin Daze
“Entertainment paper that supports the Austin Scene”
Cast List
The Austin Daze is free speech. We are a publication of and for the community. We put an issue together every other month in Austin, TX. We distribute
in over 200 locations around our town. We celebrate the uniqueness of our
town and we bridge the gap between well know national, international and
local musicians, artists, and events. Our interviews are more like great conversations that the reader is invited to partake in. The Austin Daze exhibits
some of the lesser known treasures and mixes them with more well known
names which helps expand our communities interest. The Austin Daze is
made up of a well-rounded mix of: local, national, international, art, music,
interviews, pictures, editorials, politics, comics and humor. We have a nice
website: www.austindaze.com. You can look at our issues of old on the
site. We are always looking for coverage suggestions AND FEEDBACK.
If you want to get involved with us, send us an email at
involved@austindaze.com or call us at 512-587-8358. If you wish to find
out about submissions, email subs@austindaze.com. Or call us.
Complaints as well as monkey questions should be sent to
MrJangles@austindaze.com. Love and good feedback can be sent to the
Editor@austindaze.com. Contact Wendy at wendy@austindaze.com
about advertisements.
We have a great new office space at 2210 South 1st. Suite D. We don’t have
office hours right now, but we will be opening in January. Check our website
for more information. We can also be there by appointment. Our # is 512587-8358.
We still throw a monthly party at Ruta Maya on 1st Thursdaze! Pay attention
Conversation With Austin’s
Don King
Russ Hartman - Editor/ Interviewer/ Layout and Lover
Wendy Wever- Co-publisher / interviewer /operations manager
Bree Perlman -Interview Transcriber and Editor
John Warner - Cover and poster artist
E. A. Francis Hruzek - Photo Journalist / Layout Picture pg.
Marisa Williams - Column “Skeleton’s From Marisa’s Closet”
Jblunt - Invisible Column
Dony Wynn- Review
Abe Froman - Column
Wdw2 - Column
Scott Brannock - Atown Comics & Comic Manager
Maria Mesa - CD Reviews
Magnus Opus - Food Reviews
Maslow - 1st Thursdaze MC and Poet
Big Dave - Inspiration and Motivation
Wendy - Advertising
Venus Jones - Love Advice
Alan Rogers -Out of Town Proofer
Daze-e - Office Cat now home cat
Snow- Sign Creator
Thom The World Poet - Guest Poet
C. Clark - Editorial
And Everyone Else We Forgot
More Articles On Site
the issue first and then go check it out.
Thanks Mike and DK..********
ferent space in time. One would be a
space capsule, a wigwam, a teepee, a log
cabin. All the bartenders and waitresses
were like Alice in Wonderland. I was
General Custard. I was Lawrence of
Arabia with a turban and tights. It was so
much fun--so many great people. It still is
in San Antonio. After that I was running a
place on 4th and Brazos. There's nothing
there now, they tore the whole block down.
I ran a place called Crazy Bobs and we
went out of business and I ended up at the
Dollhouse. Actually, I ended up at Little
Abners, a little titty biker bar on 45th and
Lamar, and then I ended up at the
Dollhouse and then the Dollhouse became
the Yellow Rose. I also worked at the
Rome Inn, The White Rabbit, and Beans
Restaurant
AUSTIN DAZE: How long have you
been in Austin?
DON KING: I've been in Austin for I'm
thinking, 28 or 29 years. I've been running
clubs for 28 of those years.
AD: Tell us how you got your first gig?
DK: I'll tell you what, I know everyDon King is a local legend around
town. Everyone seems to know him and
what’s more everyone seems to like him.
In the business he is in that is no small
feat. We met with DK and Mike at a hidden away bar in North Austin. We were a
bit nervous, but that faded immediately.
Our interview turned into a great conversation and we quickly became friends. The
thing I am learning with each passing day
and Daze is that Austin is a cool town for
the reason of its cool inhabitants. And DK
is one to meet. We hope the following conversation lets you know a little more about
the man that everyone seems to know.
* Oh yeah, there is a special pass to Visit
The Yellow Rose on the backpage. Read
**
body in town and if you ask any
manager at any topless club, they
will say that they got into this accidentally. I was a quarterback in high
school; national honor society. My hair was
never longer than this, ( hand gesture of
an inch ) you know. I got out of high
school and went to Southwest Sate
University and that's where my wild days
started. I was very conservative until that. I
never had a beer until I was 17 years old.
I've had a lot since then. Everybody wants
to be a bartender and I finally busted my
cherry at the Magic Time Machine. I was
working there about 28 years ago. Have
you been? It's where everybody dresses in
different costumes and every table is a dif-
**
Austindaze.com
I opened Yellow Rose and ran it for 8
years and got a really good offer to go run
Sugars and I was really disenchanted with
the owners of the Rose at the time. I had
been through three sets of owners at least,
Mike, (the current owner) wrestled me
away. He was a good customer at Sugars
and he got a chance to buy
the Rose and he did. He
bought the Yellow Rose and
dangled carrots in front of my
**
Issue #56
**
Page 3
Conversation with nose until I bit.
We became best
Don King
friends and partfrom page 3
ners.
It's always accidental. You ask anybody-Kenny, Ricky--anybody. You can go all
over town and ask them how they got in
this business and they will say, "you know
what, I'm not really sure". "I needed a job
and how cool would it be to work in a titty
bar". It sure is cool to work in a titty bar.
I've been happy doing anything I've ever
done. I've built houses all over the country,
I worked for a chemical company, I was an
oil worker in West Texas...I've done everything in the world and I've always been
happy with everything I did, but I can't
imagine doing any of those things anymore.
AD: What is your secret to being such a
successful manager?
DK: It's what I just said, if you're happy
with what you are doing, you can probably
do well with it, you know? And I absolutely
adore women and a lot of people in my
business don't treat women well, that's
where our industry somewhat gets a bad
name because there is a lot of predators
and lecherous managers with clubs like
this who take advantage of a girl being
their employee instead of doing anything
they can to enhance their lives.
And I get to meet new beautiful women
every day...
AD: Every day?
DK: Every single day. Yesterday, two gorgeous girls walked in and I just walked up
to them and I said, what are you applying
for? You can have my job. They were customers. They were just there to party. Its
amazing how many women go to topless
clubs now.
AD: You must have to reject some
dancers. Tell us how you handle rejecting them?
DK: It's a lot of bullshit. It's really hard to
tell somebody, you know?
You don't come out and tell
somebody. What you do is
you tell them, look, we just
Page 4
**
Issue #56
**
have too many girls right now. Do you
understand? We're running one too many
girls right now and nobody is making any
money. And I can show them. I get ten
applications a night and I can show them
and say, look this is how many I've got
before you got here so I don't need girls
right now. And then I send them over to
Sugars. And Sugars hires them.
ping and stuff like that. If you look like a
Playboy Playmate you can make $600$800 a night.
AD: What do you say to people that say
strip clubs are dehumanizing or objectifying women?
DK: Hypocrisy. I liken this exactly to
DK: A guy walks into a bar
with 400 bucks. A girl walks
out with 400 bucks. Who is
dehumanizing who?
Here's the other thing too: we create an
atmosphere that is a very good neighborly
bar even without the topless women. It's
even better with them there but people
that go downtown always stop at the Rose
first. Everybody meets at the Rose and
sometimes they don't leave. But as far as
dehumanizing, you could take that from
anywhere. From Sports Illustrated to
Playboy or whatever. If I was a good looking girl I sure would want to show off and if
they pay big bucks, so much the better.
I ran biker bars. Back then, if you were a
stripper you were a stripper. All the bad
shit you heard about titty bars was true. If
you worked in a titty bar you were either a
biker's old lady, a drug addict, or destitute
single mom. I've watched it evolve. Girls
who are students. Girls who are putting
themselves through school. If you can
make 500 bucks in one night why would
you shovel ice cream at Amy's 20 hours a
week to make 200 bucks?
I'll tell you right now, I've put thousands of
girls through college just by having the
facility and almost without exception they
are outstanding students because they
are paying for their own tuition--they are
doing it on their own. The girls that are
dancing, mommy and daddy aren't taking
care of them--I promise you that. And if
they are, those are the girls that have so
much on the ball because they want to
work so they can by the nice bling bling
things, the new Denali, clothes and shopAustindaze.com
**
AD: What do you say to people that
have a shady view of strips clubs and
strippers? Why do you think these people feel that they operate on a higher
moral ground?
the smoking ban. The people who
are on the forefront of the smoking
ban don't go out to bars. They aren't
going to start going to see live music
now that there isn't smoking there.
They never have and they never
will. They are only there to queer
everybody else's s**t. The first election, we won. The second election,
they won, and instead of going to a
nonsmoking restaurant or club, they
went to a hotel room to celebrate
and brought their own beer in.
Hypocrites!
Here's my deal: we aren't doing anything
wrong. We aren't doing anything immoral.
If you want to trade politics for theology,
the two biggest, most commercially successful evangelists in the history of the
United States are Jimmy Baker and Jimmy
Swaggart and the only way those two are
going to get into heaven is if they “ jimmy
the gates.”
AD: What do you think of the popularity
of strip clubs in Austin? Do you feel the
competition?
DK: I take my show on the road. You've
got to appreciate people. I've got friends at
all of the places of competition. They all
have their own niche. People are creatures of habit. Some people like different
things about different clubs. All the clubs
here in Austin are well run with good people for managers
Topless clubs are not like in other places.
You don't get hassled and you don't get
hustled. You can go have a nice drink at
Expose, Bellagio, Perfect 10, Sugars,
Joys, any of them, without getting the hell
beat out of you like they do in Houston, or
if you go to Chicago, or a bar in Miami, or
**
and jumps in the back seat
and he jumps in the back
seat with her. He's profusely
walk into a topless
apologizing, explaining to her
club in California. You can get a drink
comparable to the prices of the drinks they over and over and she's just
going off on him and the cab
serve at Oslo or Sullivan's.
driver turns around and looks
Therefore we get a very mix blend of peo- at him and says, "Looks like
ple-this man is construction, we get stuyou picked up a real bitch
dents. We get everything in there. We get
tonight, huh, Pete?"
all shapes and sizes and colors because
Conversation with
heaven forbid, if
Don King
you ever want to
from page 4
of it. We get lawyers, lobbyists and laborers.
You'll know the bartender on a first name
basis by the time you leave. Why would
you want to go somewhere that you don't
already know people? The door guy knows
you, the valet knows you.
You might want to take this one off the
record but I've got a really good anecdote
for you…
AD: Take this one off the record?
DK: Yeah. So it's this guys birthday
and his wife takes him out. She puts
him a cab and takes him to the best
strip club in town. The guy gets out
of the cab, valet guy looks at him
and says, "Hey Pete, what's up?"
And she looks at him like, "How do
you know this guy?" They walk in
and the door girl says, "Hey, Pete,
come on in. We've got your table
ready for you and all that. And the
wife says, “How do you know her?
And he says, "Oh her husband
bowls in my league and I met her".
So he gets seated and the waitress
comes over and says, "The same
thing Pete?” And one for you date?"
And she says, "How the hell do you
know that girl?" He says, "She's also
in the bowling league, too". Two
dancers come over and sit on his
lap and say, "Do you want your regular two for one, Pete?" She gets up
and storms out of the titty bar and
he's running after her trying to
explain everything to her and she
gets the closest cab, opens the door
**
Did you see where that was
going?
AD: What do you think makes
Austin special?
DK: I think Austin started being
special a long, long time ago. I've
been here 30 years and I used to go to
Soap Creek Saloon, Armadillo World
Headquarters and all that. My freshman
year of college I was standing on the table,
at Soap Creek Saloon, watching Michael
Martin Murphy sing, watching people
smoke pot and thinking, wow, what is this
s**t? I was brought up in a small town and
Austin kinda blew me away
and smoking bans.
But still. I've had a chance to work in many
different cities and I look around here and I
think, why would I want to be anywhere
else?
AD: Do you go out at night on your free
time?
DK: We go out a lot. If we get some time
off we plan to maximize it. We go wine
tasting all the time. We have a limo business and if it's slow down there we grab
three or four girls and grab a limo and
head downtown. If there is good music. If
there is something special, we are on that.
BB King came to Antones--anything special like that.
That's the way
Austin was
then. The hub
of liberalism.
It's changed a
whole lot. I've
seen it get
more and
Drinking wine and talking more to the
with DK and Mike
right. Just like
the
strippers...I'm a lot more conservative than
I was before 9-11
AD: Do you get mistaken for the other
Don K
ing a lot?
DK: We were both in Vegas once and I
was getting his phone calls. He was getting my dinner reservations. He's bigger
than me in Las Vegas but I'm bigger than
him in Austin . I've got better appreciation
here.
And I don't smoke cigarettes, but we had a
thousand t-shirts printed that said, "It's a
bar stupid". Can you imagine going into a
honkey tonk and not being able to smoke?
What do I tell my waitresses? If they want
to smoke I have to send them into a parking lot 15ft away and I have to send a
security guard out with them to make sure
they are ok...
AD: Anything else?
DK: I love your magazine. You've got my
card now.
*****
It's the same liberal democrats that were
smoking pot 30 years ago at Soap Creek
that are now calling for music ordinances
**
Austindaze.com
**
Issue #56
**
Page 5
RUTHIE FOSTER
FROM PAGE 2
is that the case?
ing. Little baby steps that I'm taking.
RF: Well, financially,
and it's true of any town, it helps to get out of
an area and spread the music around a bit.
People in other places, especially in Europe,
love Texas artists and I'm just starting to discover that myself. I run into a lot of Texas
artists in Holland and Germany.
AD: Why do you think that's the case
though? Why do think people do financially
better away from home?
RF: It's a really good question. For me, this
particular time of year I like to get off the road
and play Austin a little bit more so I can hone
my songs and gather my audience a little bit
more and a little bit more of my fan base
because I'm in one place and they can come
to me.
But I think that a lot of artists get caught in that
too. In fact, in Holland I was actually in an
interview and the interviewer referred to Austin
as the velvet coffin. The velvet coffin
because as a musician in Austin you
can get caught up in Austin and it's
hard to break out of it. You get this
crowd that comes in and they love you every
Thursday and Friday night or whenever you
play and then you go play somewhere else
and they don't know who the hell you are and
you get maybe fifteen people who show up
and they aren't impressed because they
haven't really had a chance to hear and see
your show. So in Austin, you're playing this
one place on a regular basis and it's hard to
break out of that. You get used to your crowd
loving you no matter what.
AD: That's interesting. I had never heard
that before.
AD: When you're on the road, what do you
miss most about being here?
RF: On Sunday, I miss being able to go out
the back door and get in y truck and go down
to Maria's Tacos and hang in the coolest part
of Austin. Eat tacos, drink margaritas and sing
gospel music. You just can't do that anywhere.
You just don't do that anywhere. And that's
what's beautiful about his town. That's what I
love the more time I get to spend here.
AD: Tell me what you thinking of the smoking ban. To me it seems to make as much
sense as the sound ordinance on sixth
street.
RF: Well, I spent a lot of years in smoking
venues and I have to say it definitely took its
toll on me. For awhile there it made it really
hard for me to sing. I've played Saxon, I actually didn't even request it, but David Cotton
managed to get me a non smoking show
which I thought was great.
AD: Did it hurt your crowd?
ward. My first time going to Kerrville was
there. You know to this day Rob thinks I was
actually part of the New Folk contest winners
and I've never entered that. I don't know
where he gets that. I think it's great that he
thinks that...I don't where he gets the years
and all of it. I never got picked for that. I sent
in a couple of entries when I was in college
but my end was through the back door. People
just hearing me at campfires.
AD: Do you find yourself playing mostly at
festivals as opposed to around town?
RF: Well, I've been playing a lot in festivals
because that's what's working in the summer.
It puts me out of town and I'm in Canada for a
lot of the summer. Canada festivals work and
they are just one weekend after another--you
can't go home. Kerrville started that and once
these guys find out about you--these directors-they want you and they figure out how to get
you from one place to another.
I love playing Austin.
AD: Loaded question: What do you most
want to accomplish with your music?
RF: No, it's didn't hurt my crowd. I think it's
RF: That's huge! But I can answer that.
cool if you want to do that. The way I feel,
have a show that is non smoking, but to ban
If you've seen my shows, my shows are about
the whole place from smoking? First of all, the involving everybody. I try not to look at myself
people that are having a hard time with the
as the artist. In my shows I try to get people, if
smoking don't go out to these places anyway.
they want to sing with, if they want get up and
And I have a problem with that. If the place
dance, because I never know what's going to
wants to smoke, fine. If I want to have a nonhappen with myself when I'm standing up
smoking show, I think I have the right to do
there. I may feel like crying , I may feel like
that. As far as banning the entire place, no.
changing my intro a little bit. I keep it open
Musicians should be able to choose. Folks
because what I want to achieve is a camathat are making these rules and bans aren't
raderie with everyone and I want everyone to
going out to these places. They have
New & Used Albums, CDs, 45s, 78s
nothing to do with it.
Cassettes Rock Blues Texas Jazz R&B
Country Zydeco Rockabilly Folk....
RF: I've never heard it either, I just paid serious attention to it! I was like, "Oh you're going
to have to explain yourself now!"
AD: What do you think was your
breakthrough moment? What was
the moment that your career took off.
Thousands of used
records and styles.
We buy used albums,
cassettes, & CDs
RF: Kerrville. Kerrville Folk Festival.
AD: It's like a vortex in some sense.
RF: In some sense, yeah. But that's also what
keeps this place cool. You know the village is
like that too. There are a lot of places like that.
In Amsterdam, they have their own little circle
of people that just don't leave Amsterdam.
AD: Do you find your following is as big
over in Europe as it is over here?
RF: Not as much. I haven't had
a chance to really tour as much
as I'd like to but that's changPage 6
**
Issue #56
**
AD: More music happens at those
campfires than anywhere else.
nyl
i
V
-
-
512-322-0660 FAX 322-0533
Open Mon-Sat 11-10, Sun 12 - 5
2928 Guadalupe Austin 78705
antonesrecordshop@hotmail.com
RF: Oh yes. People that don't play
together when they have been on the
main stage get a chance to hook up with
each other. Folks who are just testing
out their songs. And good songs
Kerrville helped me with the business
side of it because my first time going to
Kerrville was their music management
seminar. I went to that first and then
started singing at the campfires afterAustindaze.com
**
**
feel like they are not
there to just be entertained. They are there
to be part of the entertainment.
RUTHIE FOSTER
FROM PAGE 6
Somethin' weird is going on in Austin.
A big company wants to move
thousands of employees out of East Austin and North Austin. Where does this company,
Advanced Micro Devices, want to move them? Not downtown. Not an existing facility in
East Austin. Not on the new State Highway 130 corridor.
AD: Community....
RF:
...Part of the community.
Community is exactly why I moved
back to Texas. Community and family.
AD: What advice would you give to aspiring
artists?
RF: Don't' do this! No...
Be true. Be true to your music. Don't try to be
someone else. What I did was watch other
people playing and know that is a place I want
to play but I don't want to be this person. I want
to show up at the Cactus Cafe and play there
one day and have my own show and do my
own show and be true to my own music. And
my own story. You get to hear about everybody
in my family. My big mama and my papa. I talk
about being raised on the Brazos River, I talk
about how gospel influences my music. And it's
not about religion. It's about being inspired.
AMD wants to build a huge office complex in the heart of the most fragile watershed we've got:
the one that feeds beautiful Barton Springs and the Edwards Aquifer. That just isn't the right
location for AMD's new buildings and thousands of employees. Why should AMD spur more
growth and pollution in our most sensitive aquifer and watershed when there are plenty of locations in town that would welcome them?
Back in the late 1970s, Austin's leaders wrote the Austin Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan to
guide our city's growth. The Plan spelled out that big companies should not locate in our most
fragile watersheds since employment centers spur more development near them. Instead, we
should have employment centers downtown and where growth is appropriate. At the same time,
we should preserve watershed land, protect water quality, and save Barton Springs.
We've made progress over the years. Almost all major employers have avoided the Barton
Springs watershed. Austin voters continue to approve funding for parks and to protect natural
areas, most recently on November 8th when we voted to improve three east metro parks and
create a new park on the Pedernales River. We passed the Save Our Springs ordinance in
1992 by a 2-1 margin, in spite of the developers' campaign against it, run by Karl Rove. We
will likely get the chance next year to approve more bonds to buy watershed lands and get us
that much closer to saving Barton Springs forever.
Don't let AMD mess it up. Sign
the petition asking AMD to find
a site outside the Barton
Springs watershed at
www.MoveAMD.com. Join the
16,000 people who've already
signed. You can also email top
AMD executives from the website.
Be true to your music, be true to yourself first.
AD: What's next for Ruthie Foster?
RF: I don't know, tune in folks. It's definitely
changing, you know? It's definitely changing
because I'm not doing the duo thing as much.
Sid and I do still play together but it's not as
much because I want to stretch. Because the
folks that know my music only know me from
the work I've done the last five years or so and
that's with Sid or every now and then a group
put together that does mostly Americana stuff.
But I've been in big bands, I've sung jazz, I
would love to do something even blue grass
with a little blues soul in there you know like
what Tim O'Brien is doing now. I'd love to do a
little bit of everything. So as far as what's next,
I'm definitely working on a solo album that's
coming out next year. What happens after
that...
It takes an active community to protect a community spring. Get involved today!
_ C.CLARK
FREE SPEECH IS NEVER FREE
It is the voice of every slave accusing
via blues,Gospel or line of poem
spoken,sung,raised like issues
still in the mirror of our consciousness Slavery is
here -when children work in factories or
McDonald's when apartheid is economics driven
by a desire to exchange services for being serviced.Sex slavery in brothels or in
nightclubs.Corrupt as Management.
Who can close down sweatshops
when hunger for work drives impulses
to pick up children post-Tsunami
to sell across borders into free marketry?
Who will petition power to stop abuse
when profits are sustained by same?
When virtue is obedience?and media,silenced
are also sold for common coinage.
What brave journalist will risk subpoena to point
to Naked Presidents and Primed Ministers?
Slavery is as real today as Bangkok boys and
girls sold nightly to tourists.
To governmental complicities with private industries to allow no free speech-just profiteering
Who has time for a poem? Only slaves with their
spirituals and blues traditions older than any
oppression is free expression and our right -to
sing!
AD: Anything else?
RF: No! You guys ask some really good questions. You've got me thinking now. Thinking
about my life, what I'm doing with my music.
I've just been going, going, going and haven't
even thought about that.
*******
**
THOM NOVEMBER
13,2005
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Austindaze.com
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Issue #56
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Page 7
compositions. Secondary influences being Warren
Zevon, Dave Matthew's Band, Joe Jackson,
Counting Crows, and vocals that remind me of
Sting. In spite of all that, there remains a unique
element that Drew Smith can call his own.
Songwriting is of course the key thing, and Drew
delivers soulful, dramatic songs that ebb and flow
like the best of them. But what really sets this
recording apart are the backing horn and string
sections by the brilliant Matt Russell. Imagine the
“Chicago” horns from the seventies combined with
the strings from the Electric Light Orchestra. It
makes for a big fat dramatic sound that surrounds
you, and highs that are just that much higher. Even
after only hearing this CD one time, the horn
arrangements stuck in my head for nearly a week.
Added to that are well-placed piano, organ, vibraphones, drums, percussion and bass, with the
singer-songwriter-guitarist guy in the middle. This is
a group effort, with a room full of talented musicians using Drew every bit as much as he uses
them.
Howdy from Atown Records, it's your
faithful musical servant here- Maria Mesa. I've
been given the honor of writing music reviews,
which puts me in the position of bestowing a
wealth of great music upon anyone who will
read them. I want you to know that I don't take
this responsibility lightly. There's a war being
fought over music today, and the Corporate
Bastards are winning. So it's up to the little
people like us to dig out obscure hidden gems
in a sea of bile, so we can save the soul of
rock n roll and for that matter every other form
of music if you think about it. In addition to the
words of wisdom from a vast encyclopedia of
musical knowledge (Me) I also grade with a
ten point system.
Most of these reviews are printed in the Austin
Daze paper, and read by thousands of cool
people all over Central Texas. I hand picked
all of these by choice- not because I've been
paid. (If by chance your band is featured here,
and you want to say "thanks" for the free promotion, you can do that with a small donation
at the "Support Atown" page.)
That being said, thanks for sending me your
CD's and now it's time to read on!
==============
Drew Smith
“In The Rain, In The
Sand, In The Cold…We
Will Love”
2005 Independently
Released
Score = 8.5
This CD is a wonderful thing. A lot of singer-songwriter albums are sent my way, and most of them
are pretty good- but this one rises
above. The major influence here is
Van Morrison, with similar lyrical
phrasing and soulful jazz-rock
Page 8
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Issue #56
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Another thing that sets it apart is that you’d have
no idea this came out of Austin. Absent is the
bluesy-twangy sound and simple arrangements
Austin is known for, which is a refreshing thing in
this case. Drew assembles a bigger, more complex
and cosmopolitan sound that New York or Chicago
could easily claim, but we’ll go ahead and take him
and call him our own anyway. I guess its just
another reminder that Austin is still unpredictable
and anything can and will happen here.
==============
Scrappy Jud Newcomb
“Byzantine”
2005 Curium and
Freedom Records
Score= 8
Until now, all I knew about the lanky guitarist
known as “Scrappy Jud” was that he seemed to
play on just about every stage with every artist in
town. And that’s pretty good work if you can get it.
So I figured that Scrappy was more than just a
good guitar player, since good guitarists can be
found sacking groceries and flipping burgers all
over this town. So how does he get to play with
folks like Ian McLagan, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Colin
Gilmore, Beaver Nelson, Jon Dee Graham,
Stephen Bruton, Bruce Hughes, Toni Price and Bob
Schneider? The answer is on this CD.
Playing guitar is a craft that anyone with the desire
can learn, but to be a songwriter you have to have
something to say- it requires certain life experiences, a unique point of view and the ability to
communicate it through lyric and melody. A songwriter makes a song that not only sounds good, but
transports the listener to a different place or time.
One listen to tracks like “Damaged Goods” and
“Baby, Let’s Break The Rules” tells you right away
that Jud Newcomb is far more than just a good guitar player.
Lyrics like “You never know what you might find
Austindaze.com
**
when you avoid the narrow mind” speaks volumes
in this day and age. I liked this CD when I first
heard it, but it has the ability to grow and expand
every time I hear it. Each time a new line stands
out that I didn’t notice before, and the scope of
what’s here gets deeper and wider.
I like Scrappy’s voice, but understand that I also
like the voices of Tom Waits and Shane
MacGowan. Scrappy’s is easier on the ear than
either of those two, but it’s still cut from the same
cloth. It has that rugged, raspy quality that’s trying
a lot harder to be honest than it is to be pretty. And
if we all did that, wouldn’t it be a much better
world?
==============
The Small Stars
“The Small Stars”
2005 Independently
released
Score = 7
Oh how I love a band with a
sense of humor. I also like
people who aren’t really who they appear to be.
And if a band has its own theme song it must also
have an actual concept- which is a rare thing these
days. The Small Stars are all that and more, being
one of Reno, Nevada’s lesser-known Cabaret acts.
Stuck here in Austin for an indefinite period of time,
the Small Stars are more than just another cheesy
lounge act.
There are rumors going around that this is actually
a side project of Fastball, but it would be more
accurately said that Fastball is a side project of the
Small Stars. The Stars first reared their ugly heads
in a local lesbian coffee bar in 1989, and shortly
after that their alter egos known as Fastball took
off. It stayed that way until after a few platinum
albums and world tours petered out and suddenly
the Small Stars concept seemed like a much more
fun option. I couldn’t agree more.
The Fastball connection is really only Miles Zuniga
as “Guy Fantasy” and Jeff Groves as “Buddy
Llamas.” The backing band is John Bush (New
Bohemians/Edie Brickell) as “Brick Masterson,” Jeff
Johnston (Li’l Cap’n Travis) as “Godfrey
McCambridge,” Landis Armstrong (El Orbits) as
“Richard Steele,” Matt Hubbard (Willie Nelson) as
“Max Dolby,” and Nakia (Nakia) as “Vic Odin.”
As a lounge singer Miles Zuniga’s voice is adequate at best, although his campiness grows on
you and becomes endearing. The songs are clever,
theatrical, comical and entertaining as expected.
Listening to the album you get the impression it is
the soundtrack from an off-off Broadway musical.
And like a lot of theater soundtracks, it seems
sketchy without filling in the whole story needed to
truly appreciate the idea.
My favorite song is “Don’t Keep ‘Em Waiting” which
sounds very Ziggy Stardust. The rest is more of the
‘rock musical’ genre and vain attempts at character
development. But if the Small Stars can master
their characters and continue growing their con-
**
cept, I believe they will eclipse the Fastball thing
that distracted them in the first place. That’s my
hope anyway. I’m all about supporting the long
shot idea that seems more fun, over the tried and
true corporate rock thing- aren’t you? But something like this would be best appreciated live, so go
see them and tell ‘em Maria sent ya.
==============
Wear That Shoe
“Wear That Shoe”
2005 Independently
Released
Score = 7
I really don’t have a rule
against reviewing any particular genre of music. Quite honestly, the only reason that I’ve never reviewed a “Contemporary
Christian” album before is that the ones I’ve
received haven’t been very good. Most started out
as church bands with little or no outside music
experience, and eventually decided to release a
CD. As much as I respect their chutzpah, tenacity
and message, they often lack that real world edge
and “boot camp” experience that makes nonChristian music so raw, relevant, and well- GOOD.
It shouldn’t be that way, but it is. Most Christian
music seems to have been created in a protective
bubble by folks I can’t relate to, which makes writing about it pretty hard- until now.
The San Marcos band “Wear That Shoe” was
formed the other way- by experienced musicians
who have been living and working in the real world
for years, and after a post 9/11 epiphany- found the
need to make music for a higher purpose. With that
in mind, I think they have been able to create
music that should appeal to folks who ordinarily
might cringe at something like this - whether they
share their beliefs or not.
Lead guitar guru Barry Bynum was influenced by
Johnny Winter, the Beatles, Grand Funk,
The Byrds, Iron Butterfly, Crosby, Stills,
Nash and Young and Led Zeppelin. To
me he sounds more like Dire Straits’
Mark Knopfler and Thin Lizzy’s Gary
Moore.
Guitarist-singer-songwriter Seth Worley
was born in Morocco as an Air Force
brat and has fond memories of life in an
Arab village. Back in the USA, he
became addicted to folks like the
Grateful Dead, Zeppelin, Jethro Tull,
Yes, BB King, Chicago, Santana, Moody
Blues, Bob Dylan and Rare Earth. That’s
when he became a Texas musician.
Guitarist-singer-songwriter Amy Hall has
written songs with Ike Eichenberg for
Grammy winner Terri Hendrix, and
played solo with her acoustic guitar for
years around Central Texas. She has
also found a musical home in Belfast,
Ireland with Barry Bynum’s previous
band, “Liberation Suite.”
tions. ‘Cha-ching’ for them I guess. Feeling surprised that this was the 'other' CCR I’d heard so
much about, I went to their web site to learn more.
Ahhh, I get it now. Pretty boy lead singer for the
girls, Lynyrd Skynyrd type backing band for the
guys. Now I see the universal redneck appeal and
it all makes sense. All the guys and girls in
Oklahoma can now get drunk to the same band
together. (I know, I’m cynical. I’ve been around the
music biz way too long...)
This CD opens with a straight up funk song with a
busy tempo and rock solid bass line by Craig
Walton. My favorite track is the Amy Hall blues folk
song “Evangeline.” Her vocals are sultry and sassy
and the guitar work is just brilliant. The final track is
a salsafied blowout with plenty of percussion
soaked Latin rhythms and changes.
With all the singer-songwriters in the band, the
album comes off sounding more like a compilation
than something from a unified project. Perhaps
with more time the WTS sound will become better
defined. I can’t promise this CD is for you, but if
you’re open to this kind of thing, you will be surprised with their ability to nail many musical styles.
==============
Second song passes- more of the same. Third
song- wait- here’s a tribute to the beloved Dimebag
Darrell. That’s pretty cool, and they put a Kurt
Cobain reference in too. Sweet. A few more throw
away tracks later, there is a cool rocker called
“Late Last Night,” but it’s a Todd Snider cover.
Track 9 is a cool blues rocker called “Blues for
you,” and it is an original. Wait a minute, this CD is
beginning to get better. “Lighthouse Keeper” is
next- that’s pretty cool. “This time Around” is not
bad, but still a bit formulaic and cliché. Then comes
a Bo Diddley cover of “Who Do You Love.” It’s cool
but I can’t help but hear the version George
Thorogood butchered all to hell in the 80’s. Yeah,
CCR does it better, but all I hear is George.
Couldn't they have chosen a more obscure Bo
Diddley song? One that hasn't been covered a
gazillion times by every bar band on the planet?
Cross Canadian
Ragweed
“Garage”
2005 Universal South
Score = 5
These guys from Yukon,
Oklahoma (Yeah, I’ve been there) have kicked
up a lot of red dust lately. Tons of people I know
have been talking about them (both north and
south of the Red River) yet somehow I’ve managed to avoid hearing any of their CD’s or seeing them live. I heard them on the Dudley and
Bob Show one morning, but that’s about it. So
when they sent me their new CD I was pretty
excited. I couldn’t wait to hear what all the fuss
was about. So I admit, perhaps my expectations
were a little high.
Okay- this isn’t a bad CD, but it’s not special either.
It certainly doesn't live up to the hype. It’s like they
think if they play country music and simply add distortion to the guitar- bingo. It’s that simple. There
are plenty of Austin bands blurring the line between
country and rock better than this. I mean how long
have Joe Ely or Robert Earl Keen or Steve Earle
been doing it? (Or for that matter- Buddy Holly.) My
friend Mel from Oklahoma swears I should have
heard CCR's live albums first to know what these
guys are about, and maybe he’s
right. But if you want my advice
and you’re not already a fan, don’t
start here.
I pop the CD in and the first song comes on.
“Fightin’ For” is a slick radio friendly alt-country
song with way cliché lyrics backed with way
cliché guitar licks- having never heard it before it
already sounded overplayed. It was made with
Nashville’s approval in mind and will probably be
a big hit on CMT and THOSE kinds of radio staBRIDGING THE GAP SINCE 99’
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Austindaze.com
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Issue #56
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Page 9
QESTION #1
U
I do not understand the double standard that a guy
cannot say no to sex without being deemed as having
problems. In my last three relationships the women
have left me because I have wanted to take the relationship slowly. Each time it has centered around the
fact that I have said no to intercourse.
In the last two relationships I explained before it went
anywhere that I would not engage in intercourse until I
felt our relationship was solid and committed. Each of
the women said they thought this was wonderful and
understood. I made it clear up front because the first
woman I said no to was hurt and rejected. We talked
about it and she said she was ready and that she had
never had anyone say no to her. This is why I
explained to the next two, up front, front how I felt. I
do not want to hurt anyone.
When the foreplay began and it went no further than
oral sex they become upset and angry with me. In the
second and third relationship this has happened after
only two months. I do not want to have intercourse
until I am sure that we know each other well enough
and that the possibility of a future exists, one that
might lead to marriage. I am at that point in my life
where I would like to settle down and have a wife and
family. It seems as though they do not believe I am
serious because they attempt to take it further each
time we are together. I have to keep saying no. They
have asked me if I was gay, impotent, or just didn't
like sex. Each time I am made to feel as though I
have a problem or something is wrong with me. None
of these things are true. After this happens a wall
builds between us until no communication takes place
and then the relationship ends.
I have am an avid reader of your work. The advice
you give is wonderful. Please help me understand
why it is wrong for me wanting to wait just because I
am a guy.
There is nothing wrong with waiting to have sex until
you feel comfortable. Each of us has our own sexual
path, and no one else can tell you what’s right and
what’s wrong. To be honest, you are in step with most
of the country (or at least the folks who control the
school boards), and the current emphasis on abstinence until marriage as the only acceptable path for
sexuality. The news is full of teenagers who are
flaunting their virginity and wearing rings pledging their
intention to keep it in their pants until they get to the
altar. You should not feel ashamed or bad about knowing
your boundaries. The standard you are adhering to is not
a double one: women get pressured to have sex all the
time. Welcome to our world!
That being said, it’s pretty obvious to me why you are
pissing off women. You don’t state your age, but I’d
guess you are in your late 20s or early 30s. Chances are
there have been other times in your
life when your body wanted sex and
you encountered women who wouldn’t
put out. This is commonly known as
being a cock tease. You, buddy, are
being a clit tease. You tell women you
Page 10
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Issue #56
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don’t want to have sex with them, then you end up in
bed, clothes off, licking their pussies. For most women, it
doesn’t get a whole lot more intimate than that.
Personally, I’d be furious if I met a guy who told me he
didn’t want to have sex, and then started having sex with
me, only to stop before he finished. Our culture tells
women that their worth is determined by their sexual
desirability, and we definitely buy into it. I’d probably
wonder what was wrong with me, and what was wrong
with him. Your actions and your words are not lining up.
Get to know the women you are dating with your clothes
on. If you don’t like saying no, then stop putting yourself
in a position where you will be required to do so.
Also, I’m not quite sure what you mean by “solid and
committed.” Does it mean that you’ve dated for six
months, met each other’s parents, exchanged a full list of
past lovers, had every STD test under the sun, and
learned the names of your childhood pets? It feels like
you are putting an unnatural timeline on your relationships, as opposed to letting things develop organically, at
their own pace. What about what your partner wants?
Does she get a say in what “solid and committed”
means? You say you want to get married, but stating that
intention on a first date puts an awful lot of pressure on
the relationship. You can’t look for love by having people
fill out an application. Keep in mind the 3-date rule (not
having sex until the third date) is a pretty common timeline for most ordinary single Americans, and waiting
longer than that will feel strange to many. Also, if a relationship is not going to progress to something more serious, you will know after about 3 months. That might be a
realistic deadline for moving on to sex. As for the marriage thing…well, you probably won’t know about that for
a year or more. I could never see myself dating for a
year before having sex; I’m guessing most other women
feel the same way.
I get the feeling that what you really want is a guarantee
of permanence. Unfortunately, love doesn’t
come with guarantees.
Sometimes relationships
end after just a few months. Sometimes they end a couple of weeks before the wedding. And sometimes they
end a year after the first kid comes along. You can never
tell whether or not it’s going to work out. It sounds to me
more like you got burned really badly at some point, and
are scared of getting hurt again. Love demands risk-taking, though, and it’s highly unlikely you’ll find it without
taking some chances.
If I were in your shoes, I would try to find a population of
potential relationship candidates who had similar values
when it comes to commitment and marriage. There are
tons of women out there who are looking to get married,
and will choose to say I do in order to get babies quickly.
Or perhaps you want to get involved with your local
Christian church. Just remember that choosing to get
married – especially if you make that decision in a short
period of time – will not guarantee the success of your
relationship.
QUESTION #2
My question is short and simple. My wife and I were
introduced by mutual friends. I worked with the husband,
she worked with the wife. Two years later we were married. While dating, she mentioned that she was interested in having sex with another woman. She said it
was sort of a fantasy, but would have to either know
the person real well or not at all. Last weekend we
had the mutual friends over for dinner, after a few
drinks she tells me she would like to pick our friend's
wife as a partner. Later that night she tells me she
and the friend’s wife are going to have sex next
weekend. She wants me to participate, but not the
friend's husband. I have a feeling that she would do
this with or without me. This bothers me a little, I want
to be there to share this moment, but I also do not
want to interfere with these friendships. How is this
done? Is it okay for them to do this without me or the
Austindaze.com
**
friend’s husband? Please respond.
In Austin right now, there are hundreds of
men reading your words and feeling jealous, wondering how they could convince
their wives or girlfriends to make the
choice your wife has made. Even though the etiquette is confusing, you must think you’ve hit the jackpot.
I know very few men who haven’t fantasized about having sex with two women.
But wait a minute. Read your question again. Your wife’s
original fantasy is about having sex with another woman,
not about having a threesome with you. Those are two
very different things. If she is willing to do it with or without you, then it’s about pleasing herself, and she’s not
doing it to turn you on. This, of course, gets into scary
territory for you: what if she prefers sex with women?
What if they start seeing each other on a regular basis?
What if they decide they are madly in love and leave you
guys in the dust?
Relax. I’m guessing that if she were a lesbian, she would
have figured it out a long time ago. A bi-curious woman
having sex with another woman is not much of a threat
to a breeder relationship. It’s definitely not the same as if
she had wanted to have sex with another man. If you
have enough confidence to let her explore those desires
on her own, you should give her your blessing to play
around with your friend’s wife.I think you are correct in
assuming it’s not going to be okay if you are there and
the other woman’s husband isn’t. It should be both of
you, or neither of you. She may have an arrangement
with her husband that it’s okay to play with other women,
but I would guess that he wants to be there for the same
reasons you do. And then there is always the possibility
that she is sneaking around behind his back. If that’s the
case, you don’t want to get sexually involved with her,
and you probably don’t want your wife sleeping with her
either.
The only way you’re going to figure this out is to sit down
and talk with the other couple. Don’t be surprised if the
girls were carried away by the moment and the booze,
and the prospect of following through is not so attractive
in the light of day. What seemed like a good idea at the
time might be a total embarrassment now.
Regardless, there are no hard and fast rules when it
comes to swinging or open relationships (these are
not the same things). The two of you are going to
have to decide what boundaries you have, and go
from there. It’s perfectly fine for you to want to be
present when she has experience with other women,
but you have to make sure that is what she wants as
well. Also, keep in mind that it will be much harder for
her to fulfill her fantasy if you insist on tagging along:
look at the number of “couples seeking women”
personals if you don’t believe me! I think if you are
honest with each other, play it safe and do your best
to be tender with your hearts, you can do anything
that is legal between two consenting adults (and a few
illegal things as well).
Integrative Bodywork
Massage Therapy
Rhonda Sparre, RM
T
(512
)569
-8
15
9
rhondasparre@earthlink.net
By Appointment Only
**
Food for the
head
....made
with LOVE!”
A HOLIDAYM
ESSAGE FROM
OUR CARTOONIST, SCOTT
RANNOCK
B
I hope that being a cartoonist gives me
almost the same freedom to be offensive
that comedians enjoy. I hope I can say
anything I want, and when they take me to court
I can just say “Sure I told him to kill his mother. But
I was just kidding. I am a cartoonist, after all.” And
the jury will most likely let me go. I mean how
dumb do you have to be to follow the advice of a
comedian or a cartoonist? But let me assure you
that I am not joking now.
I’m not a terrorist, but if YOU are, I have a request.
Sometime today- like right now- go blow yourself
up in a shopping mall. I’m not picky, any one of
**
them will do. Use high explosives and fill your
pockets with rusty nails for maximum casualties.
Today is the day after Thanksgiving, it’s one of the
three busiest shopping days of the year. Can you
imagine how many Lincoln Navigators and Cadillac
Escalades there are with those “Tyler- Soccer” and
“Courtney- Dance” stickers there are at the mall
right now? Well, after 9,000 pounds of flaming
shrapnel goes ripping through there, you’d be hard
pressed to see one of those on the road in front of
you come Monday morning. I know, you think I’m
being funny. But there’s nothing funny about these
massive gas guzzlers with braggadocio brat stickers clogging the streets on their way to their prestigious gated Westlake communities.
reason is that most of those spoilt ungrateful brats
are there exchanging their gifts for cash or something else. See, their Grandma did something nice
for them, and they can’t wait ‘til the mall opens so
they can secretly go and un-do it. They don’t feel
the least bit of shame standing there in that huge
line with all the other snot nosed brats doing exactly the same thing. That’s a clear reason to die if
you ask me.
Not only will the massive luxury SUV’s disappear,
but you just wait until the next election. I don’t have
to tell you what political demographic clogged the
malls bright and early, gold MasterCard in hand.
You know it, I know it, the terrorists know it. Seems
like a simple fix if you ask me, one that might make
us all happy. Now enjoy the traffic
every weekend until January, and
know that it doesn’t have to be
that way. Happy Holidays!
There are three days that this needs to happen:
Today, Christmas Eve, and the day after
Christmas. Actually, if you have to pick one, please
blow the mall up the day AFTER Christmas. The
**
Austindaze.com
available
around
town
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Issue #56
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Page 11
the book I had most of chapter one which is what I
sold it on and then I kind of told them the areas
that I was going to go into. That I was going to
take the people out to Coney Island and do a
sequence there and do this, that and the other
thing. Other than that, I really didn't know what
twists and turns it was going to take and I thought
I could write it in three months. That's why it took
six because I had to go back. Once things went
off in a weird tangent I had to go back and set that
up in earlier chapters so it made a little more
sense, though it still basically doesn't really make
any sense. It kinds of ties up or at least sort of
feels like it does to me.
Interview with CHRIS ELLIOT
AD: What do you want folks to take away with
them from the novel?
AUSTIN DAZE: What is the difference
between writing a screenplay and writing a
book?
CE: It's a historical crime thriller that takes place in
1882 but i've done absolutely no research on the
time period whatsoever so everything is either
made up or completely inaccurate. It's also kind of
like a parody of the Alienist and a little Jack
Finney stuffed Time and Again and then Patricia
Cornwell is in there too with her last book, Jack
The Ripper. I got to work all those in.
AD: What's a thwacker?
CE: That's how he gets rid of his victims. Ripper
was already taken, so he went with thwacker the
murderer and he thwacks them upside the head
with a bag of Macintosh apples. That's how he
gets rid of his people. It was challenging to make
a serial killer funny, but...
AD: When you started it, did you have an ending in mind?
CE: That's the only thing I had in mind. I knew the
ending. I knew I wanted this certain thing to happen in the end and I knew that I was going to go
back in time and be accused of
the crimes. I wasn't sure if I was
going to have a trial or if I was
going to do what I did in the book,
but that was really it. When I sold
Issue #56
CE: I guess, but that's the point. It's a parody of a
novel, and there has been no Alienist movie, the
Alienist movie has not come out, so it's not a parody of that, it's a parody of a novel. So you would
want people to be familiar with those that went to
the movie. I guess you could do it as a documentary on the history channel sort of as a reenactment type thing, maybe, but either way it would
cost a lot to do it to and i'm not the most viable at
the box office right now. I'm not the same eye
candy I was back when I did Cabin Boy.
I want them to read it, enjoy it,
and then ask themselves why they
bought it. It's such a silly book there is nothing
CE:
AD: Please describe your novel
**
AD: Well, your audience would be the people
who read the book.
AD: How did you sell "Get a life" to Fox?
CHRIS ELLIOT: The thing I like about writing this
is that I had free reign. I could go down to my
office and just let whatever was in my head come
out. I realized half way through writing it that that
was why it was so much fun because usually on
scripts you plan everything out and you basically
just connect the dots between one scene and the
next and even if it's not working you still have to
get to that next scene to finish the script. But I
talked to people that wrote novels who told me not
to plan anything out, to just let it go where it's
going to go and so it sounds corny, but it was a
wonderful journey, to put it to you that way. It was
a freeing sort of liberating experience to not have
somebody saying that's too stupid, you can't do
that, which I hear a lot.
Page 14
movies.
**
I want them to take away from it at all. They
should enjoy reading it and then throw it away. Or
pass it on..they can give it to the library.
AD: Why did you decide to write a book?
CE: I would like to say it was for the money but I
was writing for Miramax and there wasn't a lot of
that there. I had the idea before I went to Miramax
to sell it to them because I like those books. I do
like that genre, that sort of dark gothic novel type
thing and period novels and murder mysteries. I
also had an idea to write a history of New York
City without doing any research and then I had the
idea of writing a silly book about parodying Jack
the Ripper and I thought ok, I'll combine both
ideas without doing any research.
AD: Do you think you'll write a screenplay
about it?
CE: I was just talking to somebody about that.
Is that a loaded question? Have you heard my
answer to that before?
AD: No.
CE: I couldn't, there was no way. I mean I sold
them a show about a warm hearted adult with the
mind of a child. It was going to be like Big in their
minds and what they got was a nut who lives at
home with his parents who are nuts in a town full
of nuts.
We never knew it had a following when it was on.
In fact, I remember we were renting a house out
there when we were shooting that show and I
remember getting out of the car on Santa Monica
Boulevard with my wife and daughter who is two
and somebody was starting to recognize me and I
thought, oh this is going to be cool, and they
"Oh there is that guy
from that show we hate". My daughter
walked by and said,
was like, "What did they say?,” and it's like nothing dear, keep walking. So we didn't know. Now it
has a following and you know, it's great, but at the
time we thought nobody was watching. And the
I don't know how you would do it,
because it would have to look really cool.
I just watched the Elephant Man again, it
was on HBO a couple of weeks ago. If it
looked like that, if it looked that cool, like
a David Lynch type movie where you go
back there, then maybe, but if it looks
like a comedy...
There's this movie a long time ago called
Johnny Dangerously with Michael Keaton
and it was set in the 30s but it was color
and it was a comedy and didn't look like
the kind of movie it was supposed to be
parodying. So I don't know. And then the
other question is, who is it for? Who is
the audience? I just came back from
doing scary movie 4 and I asked them if
they were going to work in any Davinci
Code stuff when that movie comes out
and they said no, because that's not their
audience. Their audience is 13 years old.
Those are the majority of people seeing
Austindaze.com
**
**
people
that were
watching were like that woman that hated us.
CHRIS ELLIOT CONTINUED
AD: It was meant to be cutting edge.
CE: Yeah, and they wanted it to be cutting edge
and at the same time they wanted a Cosby like
show at that point. They had Married With
Children and they had In Living Color, you know
they wanted to be more respectable. They were
looking to try to develop these more family oriented type shows and they came to me for some reason. I think they felt the burn of the big switch with
what I gave them eventually.
it was early on with that whole trend with that kind
of humor too, which wasn't anything that I started.
it was happening, you know, Dumb and Dumber
happened fairly soon after that. You know that sort
of idiot man child stuff came to the forefront after I
was canceled.
work. But well, I guess there were a
couple of times when he sort of pulled
the reigns in on me and probably
should have more often than not but he
really let me do anything I wanted on
that show which was so much fun.
AD: Which is better, being an author
or an actor?
CE: Well, I really liked writing this, I
had a really fun time writing it but I
think ultimately I'm better at being
goofy in front of the camera than I am
at writing novels. I'm fine at writing
jokes and some people might complain
that this book is a little too joke heavy
and it is, and just as a side note the
reason why it's joke heavy is I just
assumed Miramax would edit out the
bad ones. And they didn't. They left
everything in. But I probably like performing better, ultimately.
AD: Who are your influences?
AD: What's next for you?
CE: My dad was one for sure, who was part of a
comedy team called Bob and Ray years ago
before you guys were born. And David Letterman
and Andy Kaufman and Harry Shearer, that's
probably about it. And Bill Murray, I would probably put in there too.
AD: So when and how did you discover that
you had a knack for making other people
laugh?
CE: I guess it was probably in high school. But it
was really Dave Letterman, I mean with my dad
we shared a sense of humor and all that, but I
think Dave Letterman was the one and it was
always like that whenever I was on that show. it
was always about making him laugh and I think
that’s what gave me the confidence to
try and do it on my own because other
than that I think I would have stayed as
the goofy guy in the office whose funny.
He was the one who put me on the air and hear
an audience laugh. And I'm the youngest in my
family so I was always considered the goofy one
you know and you're always sort of at
Thanksgivings and stuff getting a laugh but it's
your family.
I was not going to be an actor and it was really
Dave that put me on television. I've never been
asked that question, but I think it was when I first
heard an audience laugh and him laughing along
with them that I realized oh, I can do this.
AD: If you can make Dave Letterman laugh,
you can make anyone laugh.
CE: I'm supposed to be writing a another book.
Actually, it's more of an adventure novel. It's about
climbing Mount Everest--which I've never done.
AD: And have you started it?
CE: I've started it. but this book tour kicked in and
so I suddenly had to get into the mind of what the
thwacker was about again, I have to talk about
that. You know I wrote The Thwacker in six
months straight just getting it down with very few
weeks off to go do a movie or something, or a television show, and it was intense work, just 5 in
the morning work, because I loved writing it so
much and I think that's probably my process. So
even though I started this other book I don't feel
like I really have until I get a couple of months
behind me of just straight work
AD: Here's a real cheesey question that you
must get alot...
CE: There are no cheesey questions.
AD: What advice would you give to up and
coming comedians and writers?
CE: It's not a cheesey question it's a really good
question and it's a really hard question for me to
answer because it is so f**king different now than
it was when I started. There's so much product out
there. Cable and HBO and everything that they're
doing, well that is cable, but you know Comedy
Central wasn't around when I started.
ing out. I got into it because that show was so different. I was hired as a runner there and there
was just a small group of people there and Dave
noticed me right away. That show now is like the
White House. I don't know if you were hired there
as an intern that you would ever meet Dave, you
know, at this point. So, I think even though there
is more opportunity out there I think it's not as cut
and dry as it was when i got into it which was only
25 years ago.
I'll tell you who I like though, I like Stella, I like
those guys a lot. I think those guys are really
funny. Have you seen them at all on comedy central? They're just these three guys who are just
hilarious and they started on the internet doing
stuff and then moved to comedy central and will
probably do a movie. But the internet is a whole
other place where you can start showing your
stuff, I guess, you know. Which i'm totally illiterate
with, so...
AD: Is there anything else you want to add?
CE: Just to thank my fans for years of devotion.
Honestly, it's a humbling experience to write a
book because you go into one of these bookstores and you see the amount of product out
there and you can't find your book anywhere even
though you've been doing a month of press for it.
But you know I've been doing these signings and
I'm basically a hermit--we live in Connecticut and
we live a pretty suburban life style. It is so amazing for me to meet fans and it's hard for me
to tell them that when they are there
because half my persona is based
on insincerity. So I tell them you know that I
I guess the advice for somebody who wants to
perform comedy, if they're not doing stand up
an sincerely grateful that they are there and they
comedy, would be to try and get into an improv
don't believe me so if there was anything else that
CE: And that's all that mattered to me. I would go
troupe and into Second City or whatever and then I would want to add it would be a
out there sometimes and the audience would just
try and get on a show as a writer's assistant and
grateful sincere thank you to my
stare. But he would be laughing and I so I knew
then as a writer. That's generally the way you go.
fans.***
ok, I'll be back next week. There was never any
But it's hard. It's really a hard business. I don't
time where he was like no, no, that's not going to
know that I could get into it now if I was just startBRIDGING THE GAP SINCE 99’
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Issue #56
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Page 15
just a very energetic and healthy scene. Nashville
doesn't have that and I miss that.
THE GREENCARDS:
AUSTIN DAZE:
o
Yu guys have
reached success
with The
Greencards so
uickly and have
q
virtually exploded onto the
scene. What was
the defining event that changed the Greencards
from being an opener and a Sunday brunch
band to being a headliner?
EAMON MCLOUGHLIN: That's a good question. I
think the thing that was a big deal for us was the
sensation of our first record, Moving On. We
released that in November in 2003. You know it
was original, it started to get some airplay on
KGSR and that was a big deal, to here our music
on the radio. That really changed things for us. The
amount of exposure really helped.
AD: It seems odd that a band would move away
from Austin with their musical career, doesn't it
usually happen the other way around?
EM: Well I think that's true and of course we all met
in Austin and put the band together there and we
had three great years of the band there. The reason for the moving was it felt like we wanted to be
more of a national band--tour nationally--and that
was one of the reasons we moved to Nashville, for
simple touring reasons. That, and we found a
record label that was in Nashville, and we were
looking at management that was in Nashville, and
booking. It was all in Nashville and we sort of made
the decision to put the business first. To make that
paramount in our lives. And of course Austin is an
amazing place to play and to live but we just felt
the fact that our music was leading us away from
Austin.
AD: Did the move improve your musical
career? And if so, how?
EM: Yeah, it really did. It really did a lot of things.
Obviously, we moved to Nashville and we made a
record and our favorite engineer chose us. We live
there and can concentrate which I think helped with
the making of the record. Not being away from
home. Not having to travel to do a record but being
able to do it right there. Living in Nashville, we got
the Bob Dylan tour in the summer and I'm not sure
we would have gotten that with any other booking
agent and that really turned things around for us.
AD: What do you miss most about Austin?
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Issue #56
EM: Not to use a cliché,
but it's pretty much like
comparing apples and
oranges. Austin is all great
live music and there is a
culture of experimentation
and original music and
that's something we all loved and still do. Nashville
is an industry town. The recording industry is there
and all the business side, the promotion side and
booking--it's mostly all concentrated in Nashville. I
think the difference there is people get home from
work and they don't want to really go out to a
venue because obviously, they are working in
music all day. So this isn't that live music scene
you get in Austin. There are little pockets but you
have to look harder to find it, but it is there.
AD: What was it like to play with B
ob Dylan and
Willie Nelson?
EM: It was an amazing experience and a once in a
lifetime deal. They treated us really well and they
had the most amazing catering. We could eat
three meals a day and more often than not we did.
They always gave us sound check and never pressured us to do anything we didn't want to do. At
first, it was slightly overwhelming because it's just a
huge operation. They arrive at the stadium two
days before the show and they build stages.
Trucks, semi trucks, production crews, lighting. It's
a humongous organization and we were just one
small cog in that machine and it was amazing just
to go there and look around and see everyone
doing their job really well and working really hard. It
was sort of an eye opening experience for everyone.
AD: The most standout memory of seeing you
play was with the Two High String band. How
does this ensemble compare?
EM: Well, that's a good question. I would say the
similarities are with the mandolin, bass and guitar.
Those are pretty serious similarities you've got
there already. The THSB had a more traditional
feel and was a bit more rootsy, more down home, I
guess you'd call it. Music wise, the Greencards is a
different deal. Well, it has electric bass, and we
draw on many different influences . You know, we
are driving in the car and listening to the more contemporary stuff like Arts and Crafts and Nickle
Creek, pop music like Shawn Colvin, and that kind
of stuff. We try to bring that into our music. That's
part of who we are so it's naturally in our music.
The other thing you know is that there are far less
Americans in this band.
AD: What advice would you give to other musicians starting out?
EM: God, there is so much advice to give. I think
preparation and rehearsal were two serious pieces.
I don't think you can go anywhere without those
two. Being prepared and you sort of have to be
somewhat serious about it and think about it and
know what you are meant to be doing and being
prepared to correct yourself and others. You need
to expect that things won't go according to plan
and having the humility to do that is useful in the
music business.
AD: Anything else?
EM: Well, I've read your magazine countless times
and the only thing, sometimes my bad grammar
will show up so if I've made any huge grammatical
errors I'll leave it up to your discretion to correct
them. ***
AD: Tell us about your new album.
EM: We released on June 28th, Weather
and Water. That was a big deal for us
and we really kind of reached high and
figured out who we wanted to work with.
Our dream engineer was always Gary
Paczosa who does The Arts and Crafts
and Nickel Creek records and has an
amazing sound. We just started trying to
get Gary to work with us which fortunately he did. We also pulled in a guitar player called Bryan Sutton and he's played
on countless records. He was just a really great help to us with formulating ideas
and putting everything together.
We are really, really happy with it and
really, really proud of it and we've had
some luck with it so far. It's been on the
charts for our single "Time" that's been
on KGSR and doing well for us. And we
have a new single coming out called,
EM:You know, I miss Town Lake. I used to go running around Town Lake and it was
great to see everyone running and
biking and walking and taking their
kids out there around the lake. It's
Page 16
AD: What are the differences between Nashville
and Austin musically?
Are they better or
worse?
"Don't Walk Forever". It's going very well. We're
happy with how people have received it.
**
Austindaze.com
**
**
WORDS WITH THE AUSTIN INDIE ALLIANCE
- by SB
4. How can a musician or band benefit by becoming a member?
1. What is the Austin
Indie Alliance?
The Austin Indie Alliance is a non-profit organization consisting of local and
regional musical acts and music enthusiasts with the collective goal of advancing the state of the musical arts of Austin, Texas by supporting independent
musicians.
2. How long have you been around?
3. Who are some of the artists involved?
The AIA currently has over 500 registered members and more than 30 official
member bands actively participating, including 2 from Houston and
1 from Ft. Worth. To view a complete list of members from a variety of genres,
including links to their websites, visit:
http://www.austinindiealliance.com/members.php. In addition to musicians,
there are quite a few vital, non-band members contributing personal skills,
time and energy to support the Alliance.
We were fortunate
to share words
and even a beer
at Lovejoys with
this up and coming director.
AUSTIN DAZE: What was your experience in
going from making low budget films to your
first big feature?
RICHARD SHEPARD: I live in New York and had
done a series of these million dollar or less thrillers.
**
5. Could you share with us one of your recent success stories?
The most substantial accomplishments to date would be the AIA showcases
held on 6th Street for the past 2 years during SXSW. Last year the Dizzy
Rooster retained capacity for the entire week, the Real World crew was present 4 out of the 5 nights and according to the owner, the club had it's best
week ever. Consequently, the AIA will be returning to the Dizzy Rooster during
SXSW 2006.
The first official AIA showcase was held at the Vibe on April 26th, 2003.
We talk with RICHARD SHEPARD
Director of -- El MATADOR:
Members of this community not only gain camaraderie, but also the combined
experience of over 30 bands. Through networking and group efforts, opportunities multiply, ideas flourish, and fan bases intermingle, while inspiration and
motivation ensues. The primary tool used for most business and communication is the message board, where members also gain access to a compilation
of online resources.
6. Anything else folks should know about the AIA?
The AIA is comprised of individuals as diverse as the acts they represent.
All it takes is a genuine introduction to receive a warm welcome.
Ultimately, participation is the fundamental element for the continued success
and evolution of the Austin Indie Alliance.
I raised money for these little million dollar movies
from dentists and the air freshener king of Long
Island--he was one of the investors in my movies. I
was able to have this very odd career not living in
Hollywood and not doing those things and actually
making movies and it was pretty cool.
lot of really great people and they were so wanting
me to do the best that I could and so they were
kicking my butt all the time and they were saying,
"Hey do better", and when you hear that from
someone who has done really well it's a good motivator.
And when I wrote this movie. I actually thought no
sane actor would want to play the part that Pierce
ended up playing so I actually thought of making it
as a digital movie like I had been making other
movies for under a million dollars. Pierce got hold
of the script and suddenly wanted to do it and it
became a much bigger movie. I mean it is the most
amazing thing in the world when a big star suddenly wants to be in your movie. You get a lot more
money--I mean it just happens.
I also didn't want to screw up. You know, this was a
huge opportunity for me and I didn't want to you
know, f**k it up. So there was a lot of pressure but
you know it was a great experience I mean I feel
incredibly lucky.
AD: Where did the premise of the film come
from?
RS: Well if I would have said no if he
was wrong for the part I mean he was
so right for the part. He saw in the script
how it would be perfect for him to do it
and he came to me and said, "Hey, can
I star in this movie?" And I was like, oh
my god this is great and so suddenly we
did have more money and that gave the
opportunity to be able to get Greg
Kinear and Hope Davis and be able to
do the movie...correctly is the wrong
word because we would have done it
correctly for a million dollars, but to do it
in a bigger, maybe better way, where
clearly more people will see it and all
that other stuff.
RS: There was this British film a few years ago
called Sexy Beast that Ben Kingsley was in-- do
you guys know it? I thought it reinvented the heist
movie genre which seemed a little tired. You
always see Robert Dinero in one last heist. it's
always these same stupid movies and that sort of
reinvigorated it and it felt fresh and I thought about
it and was like, wow, it's fresh because they went
at it from a character point of view. So I said, I
wonder if I couldn't try to reinvigorate the hit man
genre because that's sort of a little tired too. You
here hit man and for me, I think like Steven Segal
and the USA Network or something that sounds
like sh**, and so I was like how do I rethink this?
So I said, well, instead of looking at some sort of
cool hit man lets look at the guy who is a mess.
The guy whose birthday it is and the only people
he knows in his phone book are hookers and lock
pickers. Maybe there is a way to look at differently.
So that sort of was the motivation for it.
And for me as a director, I've been making these movies where I was always
the most experienced person on the set
and on this movie I was the least experienced person on the set and that was
kind of cool because I got to work and I
learned a s**tload. I mean there were a
I also liked hotel bars. Because of what I do, I
travel a lot--like I'm here for two nights. I mean in
Austin you don't stay at the hotel
bar, you go out, but there are a lot
of cities that aren't as cool as
Austin and you're like freak, I'm
here for 24 hours, and you go
AD: You're not going to say no.
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Issue #56
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Page 17
RICH
ARD SH
PARD
E
FRO
M
PAG
E1
7
down to the
hotel bar and
get a beer or whatever and you talk to strangers
and one of the great things about that is that you
can have a real conversation
with someone knowing you'll never see them
again. Ever. But I thought what happens if two people have a conversation and do see each other
again? I thought that would reveal something intimate. So the two of them combined, that's how I
got this story.
AD: And how about the name, "M
atador"?
There seems to obviously be a more complex
meaning.
RS: Well "matador" means killer, and Pierce obviously plays a killer in the movie. Bull fighting, which
plays a part in the movie, is a sort of a dying spectacle--it's sort of something from another time and
another way and Pierce's character is not dying
physically but he's sort of dying emotionally and
he's sort of from another time too. So there is a lot
of meaning to the word, to the term matador.
AD:I saw Pierce's character as maybe the bullfighter--a killer who doesn't show any emotion
for his kill. And G
reg's character as more of the
bull. And they form this unlikely relationship.
RS: Yes, assassins don't have emotion. If you have
emotion, how can you kill someone? He meets
Greg at a time when he's realizing, God I have no
one, I'm totally alone,and then he suddenly finds
someone and he couldn't have picked a better person because Greg's character is so decent and
nice. He's such a good guy that he would actually
talk to this bastard, you know? Most people would
just say get the hell away from me, man.
AD:That was a nice twist at the end.
RS: I mean how many movies have you seen at
the end where you just know what the hell is going
to happen. You know 20 minutes in where's it's
going to go.
AD:I loved how you used surrealism to convey
what was happening in Pierce's character's
mind. That lobby scene was sweet.
RS: And that scene was not in the script. We were
shooting in the hotel that they were staying at and
there is this great lobby and we're not using it, and
I was like, hey Pierce, do you have any interest in
walking through the lobby in your underwear ? And
he says, "well, can I wear my boots?" and I was
like, sure. It was one take and four extras and
everyone else in the background are real hotel
guests checking in for real . It was a one take
thing. And then he walks in and jumps in the pool.
jumping in the pool and it wasn't quite working. We
got a big laugh when he walked through the lobby
but it was sort of like, huh. So in the editing room
we were trying to think well, maybe he sees something in the water and then we were talking about
what could you see in the water, and someone
said, "well what if he saw a shark?" and I said
"Rent Jaws! " So someone rented Jaws and we cut
in just a shot of a shark (from another source). And
it does throw people off you know, is it a pool with
sharks in it ? Did he see the shark? But to me it's
the same thing--either the pool has a shark or he
imagined a shark , but either way,he's f****d. He's
screwed. That's where he is emotionally at that
moment. There are other little touches of surrealality all over the movie. I mean he's in a cheerleader outfit all of a sudden and he sees himself as
a kid or he sees himself through the light bulb. So
these are just little things to try and get into pierces
coming undone.
AD:U
ltimately, what do you want people to take
from this movie?
RS: Well, I hope people have a good time. I hope it
feels to them like something fresh. There is a lot of
stuff that seems the same out there. It's a movie
that's not going to be what you'd expect. Hopefully
you'll laugh. People seem to find a little bit of an
emotional connection to these characters and they
enjoy these guys.
I want people to see the movie. You know, I'm a
filmmaker. I do an art form and any
SK
LE
E
TN
OS FRO
M
ARISA’S
M
CLO
SE
T
Everyone has a few skeletons in their closet, but my closet happens to be getting
pretty full. It's hard to try to contain the
skeletons, to hold back the things I've done
in the past, especially when there's still
interest today. If a skeleton wants to see
the light of day, why not let it come out of
the closet?
As the latest addition to Austin Daze, I am
willing to let my skeletons find the light.
No longer suppressing the past, I'll give
you, the readers, a little glimpse into some
of the people I've interviewed and the
things I've done, places I've seen. From
touring the country on Ozzfest ! as a
Harley Girl to interviewing people such as
The Doobie Brothers and Pat Sajak (from
the Wheel of Fortune), my skeletons are
scratching at the door of my closet, waiting
to wreck havoc once again. Like one of the
many bones in my body, each hold a tiny
part of my existence.
This issue, we shall start with an interview
artist wants people to see their art
whether you're a writer,
2004 SOUTH
painter, or whatever. I saw
this documentary about this performance artist who dances in the
desert and he dances by himself.
He goes there and he spends like
four or five hours dancing just for
himself . Well that's fine, he's the
only artist maybe in the world that
only does art for no one. But I think
people that do art, they are doing it
for themselves, but they want people to see it. They want to show and
share what they think and believe
me this movie is very much me. I
've got this same weird sense of
humor, I've got the same weird outlook on life.
I'm lucky that people seem to be
responding and that it's going to get
released and all this other stuff .
You never know if anyone was ever
going to see the freaking movie but
you hope, so...
** ==========================
1ST
441-5446
ICAN STY
X
E
M
LEBRE
AK
FAST
&
DAILYBRE
AK
FAST AND LU
NCH
SPE
CIALS
PE
O
N 7AM
-0
1PM
R
U
O
N-FRI
O
M
-7 PM
4
APPY H
H
Dylan Quote
Later, when we were cutting the
movie and it's a very funny visual,
obviously, but it also emotionally
makes sense with where he is in
in that part of the movie. But he's
Page 1
8
**
Issue #56
**
Oh, but if I had the stars from the darkest
night
And the diamonds from the deepest
ocean,
I'd forsake them all for your sweet kiss,
For that's all I'm wishin' to be ownin'.
Austindaze.com
**
BU
YANYO
NEBRE
AK
FAST PLATEAND
2 DRINK
S, G
T1
E
/2 O
FF 2ND PLATE
(WITH THIS COUPON)
**
Static-X
from Static-X that I did
way back in 2001. These
questions and information are timeless. The
fact that they just released a new album
only strengthens the fact that this skeleton
wants to be released from my closet, for a
skeleton does not necessarily imply death...
-MARISA WILLIAMS
WS: Yeah. The early Goth stuff from the 80s,
Robert Smith from The Cure, Sisters Of Mercy,
stuff like that, and that’s when I started doing my
hair like this. It was in early mid 80s. I grew it out
for a while, then shaved my head in ‘94 for change
a pace. As it grew out, I started sticking it up.
a weapon to use in negotiating.
MW: Was there a moment when you knew that
you had “made it”?
WS: Yeah. There’s been times where ...uh… it’s
usually on stage, whether it be one of the Ozzfest
MW: How long does it usually take to do your
hair?
If it takes me more than 15 minutes, then it’s time for a haircut. That’s
WS:
MW: Who would you say has the coolest tattoo
or piercing in the band, and what is it?
WS: I think only two of us have tattoos, Tony and
Ken. I like Tony’s cross ! on his arm, because
when he holds his arm up, it looks like an upsidedown cross. I think only Ken and I have piercings.
I have my nose double pierced, which is more than
most people I guess. We’re not like a big body
mutilation kind of band
.
MW: How was Tripp chosen as a replacement
for Fukuda?
WS: There was no choice. It was really easy. As
soon as Fukuda quit, Tripp came to mind. It just so
happened that he was leaving Dope at the same
time, so we didn’t need to hold any audition or anything. It worked out nice.
MW: What do you feel is the most important
thing that Tripp adds to Static-X?
WS: Let’s see. The most important thing, I think,
is that he spends more time on his hair than me.
So, I don’t look that bad anymore. The guys in the
band make fun of him as much as they do me.
MW: If you could play one show with any musician or band, dead or alive, who would it be
with and in what location?
WS: We’ve played with almost everyone we’ve set
out to play with. The one band would be Kiss and
the location would be The Gorge in the state of
Washington. It is the most beautiful venue in the
world.
MW: How did you “get discovered”?
WS: Well, it’s one of those things that didn’t happen over night. We were playing clubs in LA, and
an intern from our now management company saw
us. She brought a tape to current manager, and
that was the beginning of it actually. They brought
labels to us, we decided on Warner Brothers and
it’s just been a slow, steady, build from there.
MW: What was your reaction when you found
out that WiSconsin Death Trip went platinum?
the new rule. It got way out of hand last year and
was taking me way too long.
MW: A fan out in England wanted me to ask
you, how do you come up with the ideas for
your videos?
shows that's going particularly well, or maybe an
Extreme Steel’s Tour. Because we do this every
night, we’re accustomed to it, used to it. Then
every couple months, you’ll get up there, and it’ll hit
you. “Wow. This is what I dreamed about.” You
just have to take a step back and think about it.
WS: It usually comes out of the song. Every video
is a different case, ya know? The first video for
“Push It” was a collaboration between the director,
Ken Jay the drummer and myself. The band is
always very involved in every creative or artistic
aspect, but generally we collaborate with a director.
MW: Looking back, did you see yourself as
being where you are today? If not, where was
it that you thought you would be?
MW: Do you have any hobbies or secret fetishes?
When I was very young, I saw
myself being a huge rock star like
Kiss. That was my inspiration to get started.
WS:
WS: Um, I have two hobbies; they both involve
trucks. One is real trucks in the real world, specifically old American made four-by-fours from the 60s
and 70s, which I own three of and like to work on.
And also remote control, for when I’m on the road
and I can’t bring my real trucks. I don’t have any
fetishes that we can talk about in public.
After spending so many years in bands, I got more
realistic about it. “Maybe some day we’ll get
signed to a small label.” That was my realistic goal
about three years ago. We’ve far surpassed any
realistic goals I’ve ever had.
MW: Under components of Static-X, it lists you
as doing vocals, guitars and programming.
Which do you feel is the most challenging?
MW: Have any cartoons influenced you
through the years?
WS: Vocals by far. Programming would definitely
be the easiest. It just seems very easy to me.
Vocally, I am never happy with any of my vocal performances in studio, ever. It’s hard to put something down and give it a rest.
WS: Beavis and Butthead has become a way of
life for myself and many other young Americans.
When we watch Beavis and Butthead, the whole
band gets into it. We see some of ourselves in
there, but at the same time; we’re influenced by it.
So, it’s kinda sad in a way.
MW: How did you get started in music?
MW: What is the funniest inspiration you’ve
had for a song?
WS: I just bought a cheap guitar when I was
young, 7 years old, and just started playing. I took
guitar lessons for a while, started getting into rock
bands like Kiss and Rush. I’ve always played
music, for as long as I can remember.
WS: Um, I think you know, probably the funniest
song is the infamous “Love Dump” from our first
record. It’s based on a past relationship with a
totally wacked out chick who wanted to see my
poop and was very interested in my poop.
MW: Do you have any goals that you would
like to see Static-X accomplish in the future?
MW: What is your biggest influence in writing
music?
WS: Um, we really don’t have any long-term goals
for this band; we never have. I think you set yourself up for disappointment if you do that. We set !
short term, realistic goals that we are able to
accomplish and do the best job we can for the task
at hand before moving onto the next thing.
WS: Mmmmm...Probably just like different beats
and grooves and things like that, things that create
a mood. I’ll hear a song on radio or a CD, and I’ll
get something not out of lyrics or the guitars, but
the groove, and I’ll want a song with that type! of
feel. That’s where everything starts
WS: Mmmm, I thought “wow, look, now I get
another plaque to hang on my wall.” It takes so
long to get there that by the time you’re there, it’s
like nothing. We’ve been really close to platinum
for six months. We knew it was going to happen.
MW: Did anything influence your hairstyle?
It wasn’t like a big shock. It’s not like a huge deal.
All it really does is assure us a better slot on a tour,
**
**
Austindaze.com
Marisa Williams is a freelance
writer, photographer and author;
www.lulu.com/thorisaz
**
Issue #56
**
Page 19
How to Move a Mountain? One Rock at
a Time
- Dony Wynn
First off, let me state for the record, Chris
Johnson is my new hero. It takes a lot of
courage and out and out guts to have done
what he has. What has he done, you ask? By
founding MedSavers Pharmacy, Chris has
openly challenged and defied the AMA,
pharmaceutical giants, and insurance
companies, and even more pointedly, the
virtual hellbroth they've force fed the people of this once great country of ours for
far too long. For his courage alone he's
deserving of a standing "o", but there's much
more to this story, and I'd be remiss…
Rather than piss and moan and gripe about
the ruthless injustices that these corporate
entities subject us to -as many have and continue to do, as he could've done as he got
more and more wealthy and jaded- Chris has
actively gone and done something about it. In
the very face of rationale and capitalist good
sense, Chris has found a way to offer you, the
customer, a radically more affordable alternative than what is currently offered by the drug
companies, retailers, and insurance companies. His sole mission is for you to keep a
bigger portion of your income and sustain
a quality of life.
In truth, a quality of life is the antithesis of
what these corporate giants stand for. They
aren't concerned about your financial welfare,
nor your health, either (though their PR arm
would greatly argue this fact), cause if you
can't pay their outrageous prices… well, tough
luck, way they see it. And for the longest time
it seemed we, the consumer, were powerless
to do anything about this woeful state of affairs
as a reasonable alternative simply didn't exist.
But Chris isn't one to join the nutless, goosestepping line of upwardly mobile status quos.
And by questioning the wrongs he's witnessed
on a daily basis -over the course of 8 years
working for over 80 pharmacists after graduating from UT- he continued to dig and sift for
the key that could unlock the help for ones
who truly need it. Once he discovered said
key, Chris began actively doing something
about it, quite literally putting his money where
his mouth is.
When all was said and done and the dust
finally cleared, MedSavers Pharmacy was the
answer, a business at the right place at the
right time, a business formulated to be able to
lend a hand to those who currently are left to fend for themselves against the current system which either rejects or
Page 20
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Issue #56
**
extorts them of everything -not the least of
which, their dignity. His customers, once
without help or sympathy, now know there
are such things as angels on earth, and this
one's name is Chris Johnson.
Finally! Someone doing the right thing for all
the right reasons! Gives us hope in this day
and age of darkness and skullduggery, it
does!
The timing of this assignment couldn't have
been any better, as when Wendy asked that
I write about Chris and his business I'd just
come out on the other side of a near death
experience where -since I'd taken a vow of
poverty to find out just what's important in this
life- I was left crumpled on realities doorstep
only to rudely discover for the first time just
how corrupt the current medical system is, as
until this near death experience I'd not been
sick for one day of my life since I was 16
years old. Unconcerned and oblivious for all
those health filled years, it didn't take long to
realize not only just how important is one's
health, but just how callous the medical community has become; a hammering, unreasoning, downright belligerent, bully of a system
which continually rendered me irate, bewildered, and plumb flabbergasted! More to the
point, screwed and tattooed, good-bye, so
long, and thanks for all the fish…
A fear based business -legal extortion by any
other name- the insurance companies and
their partners in crime, the pharmaceutical
companies -as well as many doctors- have
rigged a game that is impossible to engage
unless you're very well off or your employer
carries insurance for you, and even then the
prices for their products and services are
still ungodly, unreasonable, patently unfair,
plain wrong, criminal even!
one of the three major suppliers for
the entire retail drug business in North
America, said he could see a way for Chris to
make it work. And not only could he see it, but
was willing to work with Chris to make this
altruistic dream a reality.
MedSavers was born.
Basically, Chris has struck a deal with
Mckesson where he can buy drugs -all USA
made and FDA approved- at a reduced rate to
be able to offer the consumer unbelievable
savings.
Now, Chris doesn't bring home as much as he
would as a big drug retailer, but,
as he explains it, "I have a thousand less
headaches too." He doesn't have to hire a
team of people to deal with the paper mountain of insurance claims, for instance, having
to ultimately pass these charges onto an
Chris explained, "The situation
worsened when all the participating bodies signed contracts that
pushed the small pharmacy out of
business and left the consumer
without recourse over the long
term, especially ones without
health insurance."
And trust me, that's a very long
line, folks, a line that gets longer
and more somber by the day.
MedSavers wouldn't have ever come
into being had Chris not found someone in
power who was willing to offer a helping
hand. Most all he approached during this
discovery phase fare you well called him a
fool, laughed in his face, said his idea
wouldn't ever fly. But, to Chris' credit, he
never gave up.
Finally, one person at Mckesson Suppliers,
Austindaze.com
**
**
already beleaguered customer. As a matter of
fact, Chris doesn't accept insurance at all! He
has found a way to have peace of mind,
spend more quality time with his family, exercising proper stewardship for them, as well as
his customers, by making less, but providing
more. One thing's for certain, I'm sure Chris
sleeps well at night; the sleep of redemption
from a job worth doing, providing a service so
needed by many.
One thing made itself apparent as
Chris and I spoke; he truly cares
about each individual customer very
much. He truly does. Chris relayed a
story which provided a major catalyst for fueling his dream. As he told it a woman -now his
customer- contracted a most debilitating disease a while back. Even though she'd dutifully
paid her insurance premium every month for
years, her insurance provider dropped her
once diagnosed. No excuse given. None
needed, way they saw it. Now she couldn't
begin to afford the drugs she needed to simply
live! And to make matters worse, the next
week her husband was fired from his job as
his employer feared a load of insurance claims
from this man's spouse, who was then covered under his employee plan after she was
dropped.
I can hear the executives now, "Tough luck!
Next!" while casually stirring their martini and
depositing their bonus checks for a job well
done.. …Nauseating doesn't even begin to
sum it up.
Well, now Chris can offer the woman much
needed prescriptions for a fraction of what she
would've had to pay otherwise. And to sweeten this pot, a number of doctors in Chris' area
have also decided to forego dealing with the
insurance companies. Now the woman sees
these doctors, gets her prescriptions, and has
APRIL
20 -23
2006
discovered that the monthly total was hundreds of dollars less than her monthly insurance premium! …Now there's you some
poetic justice.
And guess what? This plan, this way of life
through medical sensibility and responsibility
is available to all of you who need it. Right
now! Take heed…
Open for several years now, Chris and
MedSavers Pharmacy have proven this
alternative approach works. So much so this
convergent idea has taken root and more
have seized the torch as a few pharmacies
across this nation have also drawn a line in
the sand and refuse to deal with insurance
companies on any level. There are now two in
Atlanta, one in Philadelphia, and one in St.
Louis, and of course, the Austin location. And
more and more doctors are heeding the call of
reason and sanity and are jumping on the
bandwagon, too! God willing, more will follow
in these courageous footsteps.
To help Chris in his new venture, both KVUE
and KEYE have done features on him, as has
Fox. Also -and I feel it bears mention- Laura
Stromberg, Kinky Friedman's PR person, took
time from her busy schedule and was instrumental in getting Chris's story to the masses
via various media outlets. God bless her.
Power to the people!!
The word is getting out. The myth has been
exposed. Just like when the curtain
GET DOWN WITH THE GET DOWN!
(FOOD REVIEW)
BY MAGNUS OPUS
Ooo Lah Lah
My first introduction to French cuisine was a
most unusual one, but as authentic as it gets.
I was working a lot in Nassau Bahamas at the
time and had befriended a French couple who
owned a seaside villa there.
During my first tour of Europe -where I eventually performed in Paris- I found out my
French/Bahamian friends were in town and
eager to introduce me to their culture.
Our first stop was a quaint little cottage on the
banks of the Seine. We were seated at a great
wooden table in a darkened room that appeared
to be hundreds of years old and the smells coming from the kitchen were downright mesmerizing. I was geezed! I was in Paris!
When questioned what I’d like to order I naturally assumed the “when in Rome” rule to be in
effect -when in doubt, you know- and asked our
hosts to order something the restaurant was
noted for.
Without hesitation my friend ordered, what
sounded like, “Pot of Feur!” I inquired just what
this “Pot of Feur” was and my host answered my
question with a dismissive wave of his hand and
a sneer that intoned, ‘trust me you fool!’ He then
added, “You’ll love it”.
When my order arrived -a large, white porcelain bowl filled with a clear broth- there sat a
large bone cut in half in the middle of this
tureen. The waiter placed both a spoon and a
small fork like device next to me. I stared for a
few moments, slightly embarrassed in that not
only didn’t I have a clue what this dish was, I
certainly didn’t know how to exactly go about
eating it, either. In time, what seemed like a hundred years, my host guessed my quandary,
more than likely by my stupefied, blank, thousand mile stare, and told me that what sat in
front of me was essentially bone marrow soup,
the specialty of the house.
As unsavory as that dish might
sound, admittedly, after some lessons on just how to properly consume the critter, it was danger-
was pulled back at Oz, this giant
behemoth of power and greed has
finally been exposed to be the sad,
pathetic little men they are for perpetrating this heinous, costly farce
on the American people. These executives, lobbyists, and their minions have been
having a mighty big party at our expense,
folks. The time has come. This paradigm of
power must shift.
MedSavers Pharmacy, Chris' brainchild
and our Godsend is located at 3810
Medical Parkway, Suite #115. The
phone number is (512) 465-9292. Fax is
(512) 465-9287. Their web address is
medsaversrx.com. Their hours are
Monday thru Friday, 10AM - 6PM, and
Saturday from 9AM- 2PM.
Finally, someone dared make a
difference, for you, for me, for the
betterment of mankind.
As I said, Chris Johnson is my hero, truly
an angel on Earth.
Spread the word.***
Tickets On Sale Now!
**
**
Austindaze.com
**
Issue #56
**
Page 21
CHEZ NOUS
REVIEW FROM
PAGE 21
ously and deceptively
good. Away with my
French virginity! Begone!
That night was my inaugural introduction to real
French cuisine and I never looked back.
That was lesson one in discovering that the
French, most noted for their artistic tendencies,
utilize their talents to all new levels of originality
by cultivating most unusual dishes that over time
have become one of the world’s most delicious
and sought after. For instance, what most other
cultures might dismiss after taking what they
need for their preparations, the French find a
way to make it a scrumptious dish! The likes of
which: escargot, pate’, foie gras, all very exotic
and delectable, are made from a daring curiosity
the French engender. But, in truth, French cooking at its finest is very organic, very earthy,
almost simple, utilizing the natural juices from
what’s being prepared while creating heavenly
sauces which go the extra mile for taste sensation and texture. Throw in a dash of very basic,
but very specific herbs, an already marvelous,
heady preparation transforms into something
near magical. Ooo lah lah! Sitting here drooling
just thinking about it!
Over the years I spent much time in France
and kept discovering what a spectacular pantheon is the French culinary genius. You can literally stop into any little shop on the streets of
any town and get the most incredibly, inexpensive bottles of wine,the most exquisite of
cheeses and a plethora of just baked breads.
YUM! One of my most favorite meals ever, on
my 27th birthday, was at LaCoupole, one of the
most famous Parisian eateries where
Hemingway and Miller and all their cronies hung
during their heyday. I vividly remember the
incredible Baked Alaska desert I had that night
which they’d especially prepared for this, my
birthday. Helluva birthday, as I remember dancing with my Greek/Israeli girlfriend into the wee
hours at The Embassy Club while Roman
Polanski and some young girl were twisting the
night away at an adjoining table. He was a lot
shorter than I expected, but a decent dancer, yet
my girlfriend -and rightfully so- garnered most of
my attention that night. When she and I returned
to our room, around daylight, the hotel staff hadtaken the care and the time to spread rose
petals all over the bed...
The French got style!
And to this day, anytime anyone travels to
Paris I have them stop at Foucher, catty corner
to L’Opera d’Paris, to pick up a few of the finest
chocolate truffles the world has ever seen or
tasted. Again, ooo lah lah! Color me still drooling...
Rare is the discovery of a truly authentic
French restaurant between these shores. I’ve
tried a few and most have been Americanized.
Unfortunately, for those seeking
authenticity, this is far from
acceptable. But I’d been hearing
rumblings about this French
restaurant here in Austin. Folks
Page 22
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Issue #56
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were swearing that this place, Chez Nous, was a
righteous, get down joint. The real deal neal! So
in keeping with my being your global gastronomic tour guide, dear reader, I continue to find
restaurants here in town whose food is authentic, foods that inspired me during my global trek.
Chez Nous, huh? Well, I’ll see about that! So,
one night last week I set out to see just what all
this fuss was about. So I headed over to....
and many others in his extended family were,
too. So, this business naturally ran in his blood.
The die was cast and both he and Sybile felt
they could make an authentic French restaurant
work here. Even though his father made him
swear, Pascal took the plunge with Sybile by his
side.
While scouting a location off 6th St., a couple
of Sybile’s regular customers at Threadgills had
taken an interest in the dream the young couple
Chez Nous
harbored. So much so, they eventually put up
the money to help make it so.
As is my usual, I never trust an ethnic restauChez Nous was born in 1982, and still
rant that is lorded over by someone not a native. resides at the original location that Pascal found
So imagine my jump for joy when I learned that
at 510 Neches St. (between 5th and 6th).
Chez Nous was founded by a French couple.
The couple were quick to import Michele
That sniglet of information was all I needed to
Lesnof, a chef from the mother country. Good
hear and was the beginning of what turned out
move! Then Robert Paprota came aboard,
to be a most, soothing, wonderful evening. And
another French compadre’, as a partner. The
by the way, the meal was knockout. Pleasantly
three musketeers were born! They also invited
surprised doesn’t really do the experience jusother compatriots to these shores to help them
tice. Allow me...
paint murals on the walls and lend a hand with
Chez Nous was founded by Pascal and
the interior design to make it feel like you’re on
Sybile Regimbeau, she from Normandy, and he
the other side of the big pond, certainly not in
from Paris. Sybile met Pascal when she’d
Texas.
moved to Paris to work in the fashion industry
And that was one of the most disarming
and they, too, never looked back.
effects of the night. Even though only half a
They’d been dating a while when Sybile lost
block from 6th St., I felt like I was in France on
her job and suddenly opportunity for change was The Left Bank. They’ve really done a marvelous
standing at their door and knocking. Having
job at making the restaurant’s interiors very
toyed with the idea of taking a road trip across
authentic. And on this particular night there was
America -as the French do have a love affair
also a small combo playing. A clarinetist and an
with this wild, untamed country of ours- this job
acoustic guitarist conjured up soundscapes of
loss suddenly made that trip become quite the
the Le Hot Club of Paris in the 30’s when
possibility for them both.
Stephan Grapelli and Django Reinhardt held
So they grabbed life by the horns and made it court. It was hard for me to believe that I was
happen.
this close to 6th St. In my reality, I simply wasn’t.
Landing in New York City, they rented a car
One thing that caught my eye was the staff all
and headed to all points due west, ready to soak looked and acted very European. Sybile
in all the diversity this country has to offer.
informed me they have been lucky enough to
After several months, finally reaching the
find just the right types of personalities to help
West Coast, buying a car along the way, they
make the experience that much more symbiotic
headed back east, returning to a town that had
with the overall mood the restaurant projects.
caught their fancy, a place they couldn’t get out
Most everyone there is a long time employee,
of their minds, not to mention, they’d made
too, and that wasn’t difficult to tell. They all
friends there as well who were all too quick to
retained a very natural ebb and flow. You aren’t
welcome them back. Where did they head?
assigned any particular waitperson, either.
Austin, of course.
Everyone on the floor keeps an eye on you and
Instead of planning the rest of the trip home,
your meal’s progress. I never wanted for anysuddenly they found themselves finding jobs and thing this night and always had a cheerful face
putting down roots. They got married! Here in
and a most engaging personality to make sure
Austin, too! Sybile went to work as a waitress at
my dining experience was the very best it possiThreadgills and even though Pascal’s father had bly could be.
made him swear to never get into the restaurant
I also had inadvertently picked a very special
business, both Sybile and Pascal realized that
night to dine as this night was the French equivAustin needed a real French restaurant, and
alent of New Years, which is the Beaujolais
they began to plot and plan.
Nouvo, the first day the new Beaujolais’ are
This was the late 70’s folks, when Austin was
available to the public. Color me lucky. The glass
blooming. Willie was getting famous, people
I had sat on the tongue ever so well.
were swimming naked at Hippie Hollow,
I kept it simple and ordered the Menu du Jour,
Armadillo World Headquarters was one of the
for $23.50, which is available every day, entrees
coolest music venues in America, fajitas were far changing daily.
and few between. Time was ripe.
This night I ordered the mushroom soup (the
Even though Pascal’s father had forbade him
very finest that’s ever passed between these two
to be a restauranteur, admittedly it ran throughlips!), followed by a pork pate’ and a steak grilled
out his families tree. Pascal’s forefathers, dating
to perfection and smothered in a tomato béarseveral generations back, were all restaurateurs
naise sauce, accompanied by pommes
Austindaze.com
**
**
Armadillo
Christmas Bazaar
December 10-24
11am-11pm
Austin Music Hall
3rd & Nueces, Downtown
5 Blocks West of Congress
Fine Art • Extraordinary Gifts
Live Music Nightly
EVENING ENTERTAINMENT
Nightly from 8 pm
Saturday 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Eliza Gilkyson
Sunday 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .South Austin Jug Band
Monday 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Eggmen
Tuesday 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Greencards
Wednesday 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Slaid Cleaves
Thursday 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Toni Price
Friday 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jimmy LaFave
Saturday 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Van Wilks
Sunday 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .W.C. Clark
Monday 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Austin Lounge Lizards
Tuesday 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rick Trevino
Wednesday 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ray Wylie Hubbard & Friends
Thursday 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Albert & Gage
Friday 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ponty Bone
Saturday 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Texana Dames
CH
ZN
E
US
O
RE
IE
V
WF
RO
M
PAGE22
dauphines and a cooked herb tomato with a buttery
vegetable medley. For desert, part of the special, I
had some of the most light and fluffy chocolate
mousse I’ve ever had. Every bite of this meal was a
lifetime. As good as it gets, folks. As good as it gets...
I checked the wine list and even though very short (which is good-helps
you to choose) they had included some of my personal favorites, as many of
our French tours were through the wine making regions and some were
incredibly standout to me then, and most of these comprised their wine
selection. Whomever’s in charge? Good palette! Excellent choices!
Chez Nous has an assortment of hors d’oeuvres, from soups to pate’s,
cheeses and escargot, which are available in orders of 6, 9, and 12; a great
selection of salads abide that feature a specific eye for detail, my favorite
being the Salade Michele: mixed greens and Belgian endive with roasted
shallots and pears, crumbled Roquefort cheese and dressed with a black
currant, walnut oil vinaigrette.
The luncheon menu is mostly lighter fare, featuring inventive crepes and
traditional sandwiches (I could live on the croque monsieur -grilled ham and
cheese- alone!), as well as fish and steak dishes for the more hearty daytime eater.
Lunch is served Tuesday thru Friday, from 11:45AM-2:00PM. Prices vary
between $5.50-$15.50.
The dinner menu has a great and varied selection of entrees. Seafood is
featured: scallops, sea bass, lobster and shrimp; while there is no lack of
dishes for the meat eater, too: veal, sweetbreads, duck, lamb, and of course,
their inimitable take on a great steak. I will say this, the French have perfected the art of grilling a steak!
Dinner is served Tuesday thru Sunday, from 6:00-10PM. Prices vary
between $5.50-$26.50.
Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club, Discover, and American Express credit
cards are all accepted.
All in all, if you’ve never been to France and would like to try original
French cooking at its finest? Be sure and visit Pascal and Sybile at their
most cozy and inviting creation. You can make reservations by calling (512)
473-2413
No finer way to spend time, and no more romantic place to bring that special person, than to take in a most sumptuous, entertaining meal at Chez
Nous. You have my guarantee.
Bon appetite!
R.I.P. Robert Paprota. The other two musketeers continue to carry the
torch!
RANDOM PICTURES TAKEN IN THE AUSTIN DAZE WORLD
DAYTIME PERFORMANCES
Afternoons 12:30 pm to 2:45 pm
Saturday 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Resentments
Sunday 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ruthie Foster
Saturday 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sara Hickman
Sunday 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cyril Neville & Tribe 13
Saturday 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Django’s Mustache
Afternoons 3:30 pm to 6 pm
Saturday 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez
Sunday 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Redd Volkaert & Friends
Saturday 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Terri Hendrix
Sunday 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marcia Ball & Sarah Elizabeth Campbell
Friday 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Shelley King
Saturday 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Carolyn Wonderland
**AUSTIND
AZ
EPH
O
T
Take a picture of anything, anyone or nothing and
no-o ne &a copy of the Austin D
a ze. Send them in
to us and you could win some cool prizes and they
will be featured in our nex
t issue &
o r online. 1
st
place wins a years entry free to our 1
s t Thursdaze
events.
E
AD
L
IN
EIS J
AN
U AR
Y1
5 TH
, 2006*
events. *D
www.armadillobazaar.com • 512-447-1605
Live Music & Ar t Keep Austin Cool
**
OCO
N
TE
S T**
**
Austindaze.com
**
Issue #56
**
Page 23
A FEW ITEMS FROM OUR MENU
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480-9501
1625 Barton Springs Rd.
~
www.dailyjuice.org

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