Echt gut food
Release Date: 2002-10-24 There is little in this world that reminds me of Germany more acutely than the smell of cooked red cabbage. It is a singular sensory stimulus, rife with vinegary gemütlichkeit — and more often than not, I tear up with the olfactory introspection it inspires in both my memory and my abdomen.…
EXPECT AN ELECTION REFORM BILL NEXT SESSION
Texas law requires candidates to file only their donors’ full name and address, the contribution amount, and the date of the donation. (Many candidates can’t even swing this minimal information: District 5 City Councilman David Garcia, a lawyer, omitted 21 donors’ names from a campaign finance report, and when he filed his correction, recorded only…
ONE FROM THE HEART
Those who cringed at the idea of collaboration between Adam Sandler and arthouse darling Paul Thomas Anderson have not paid enough attention to either man’s work. Sandler, despite some awful movies, has a deep reserve of anguish inside him that has always made him a better candidate for the de rigueur “comedian goes legit” role…
NEW REVIEWS
Abandon “Thriller at McGill wilts” Dir. Stephen Gaghan; writ. Gaghan, based on a novel by Sean Desmond; feat. Katie Holmes, Benjamin Bratt, Charlie Hunnam, Zooey Deschanel, Melanie Lynskey (PG-13) “I would rather be dead than mediocre,” proclaimed Embry Langan (Hunnam), a brilliant, charismatic student. Two years after disappearing, Embry, heir to a vast family fortune,…
Armchair Cinephile
THE PICKLED PRIVATE EYES This week’s Truth About Charlie, based on 1963’s Charade, harks back to a movie mode that mixed murder with flirtation, using well-scripted zingers as lubricant. Warner Bros. has just reissued the prototype for this genre, The Thin Man. Based on the Dashiell Hammett novel and starring one of Hollywood’s most perfect…
THE SOUND SCULPTOR
He visited the school two years ago at the behest of music teacher Virgil Franklin, a theremin and synthesizer aficionado, who thought his students should meet the man who created the Moog synthesizer, an instrument that not only revolutionized new sounds, but also reshaped the way popular culture thinks of music. Without Bob Moog, it’s…
WHO ARE THESE GUYS, ANYWAY?
Even if you don’t own a P-Funk album (and looking through my music collection in preparation for this article I was amazed to find that I don’t), their musical legacy is never far from the collective consciousness. P-Funk samples have become ubiquitous with the advent of hip-hop and DJ culture, and producers the world round…
LET’S HAVE A PARTY
John DeFore: Where did that fire in your voice come from? Wanda Jackson: I guess from my voice box! I’ve always been a belter. Even when I sing a ballad, I belt it out. Back when this music was new to me, I wasn’t sure how to handle it. But my Dad, who was very…
AT LAST, A CONTEST
A Democrat who received the Bexar County Green Party’s endorsement, Courage stands opposed to Smith on education, health care, the war on Iraq — well, you name the issue, and the two candidates disagree. Redistricting, an outspoken opponent, a shaky economy, and the controversial war are setting the stage for a competitive District 21 race.…
ALL EARS
The first track on the set is low-key, as if the four old-timers were still feeling out the new recruit. But it doesn’t take long for the spirit to descend: Track two, “Peace in the Valley,” starts just as gently, with Cooke (he was still using his original name, “Cook,” at the time) singing a…
Top contributors to the District 21 race
Lamar Smith (Republican) 1. National Auto Dealers Assn.: $10,000 2. United Services Automobile Assn. Group: $10,000 3. Schering-Plough Corp.: $7,500 (pharmaceuticals) 4. TXU Corp.: $7,500 (Texas utilities) 5. Lockheed Martin: $7,000 (defense contractor) 6. HB Zachry Co.: $6,200 (builder) 7. Verizon Communications: $5,750 (telecommunications) 8. Loeffler, Jonas & Tuggey: $5,000 (lobbyist for business, real estate,…
MORE OF THE SAME, AND THEN SOME
But there is more at stake than simple land mass. District 23 is one of the most hotly-contested races in the nation, and by all accounts forms one of the key districts in the Democratic party’s plan to retake Congress in January. From both sides, enormous political forces have been dispatched to Texas to flex…
Top contributors to the District 23 race
Henry Bonilla (Republican) 1. SBC Communications: $22,000 2. United Services Automobile Assn. Group: $16,450 3. National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn.: $14,000 4. Pulse Tech Products: $13,500 (A battery company that also supplies products to the military) 5. Valero Energy: $12,250 6. Textron Inc: $12,000 (Industrial components, including the Bell helicopter) 7. TXU Corp: $12,000 (utilities) 8.…
GET THE DIRT OUT!
Campaign finance is not just a Bexar County or Texas problem — although the outrageously expensive gubernatorial race ($70 million with 10 days to go) is an embarrassing reflection of the Lone Star state’s excess. Congress is laboriously pushing through incremental campaign finance reforms to rein in special interests that fund federal races. But more…
