Daily - The Austin Chronicle (2024)

Peter Ferry at BookPeople Tonight

The Chicago Tribune calls Peter Ferry's debut novel, Travel Writing, "an absolute pleasure to read ... ensnaring, funny, suspenseful, smart and poignant." Anyone in the mood for ensnaring, funny, suspenseful, smart, and poignant would do well to hit BookPeople tonight –that's where Ferry will be, at least, as part of the monthly Utter Reading Series. Ferry goes on at 7pm.

Mann Alive

Although he certainly has a handful of cult devotees, Steve Mann has long been little more than an obscure footnote of the 1960s West Coast music scene. The guitarist did session work for Dr. John and Sonny and Cher here, a jam session with Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane there, but he never earned a national or even much of a regional audience. Not for a lack of chops - fans champion Mann as an acoustic guitar virtuoso and rightfully so. His quirky take on blues and folk on Live at the Ash Grove explains why whispers of the legend of Steve Mann still blow in the Bay Area breeze.The album captures an intimate live performance recorded at the storied Los Angeles folk club in 1967, reminiscent of similar vintage sets from Texas troubadour Townes Van Zandt. Aside from 2006’s Alive and Pickin’ – a collection of old recordings, including three Southern Comfort-fueled rough cuts from Joplin’s San Francisco apartment – there simply aren’t many of Mann’s recordings available for those not willing to drop big bucks on vinyl rarities. That alone makes Live at the Ash Grove worth copping, not to mention it was among the last times Mann stepped on stage before falling off the musical map due in part to mental illness and drug use. In fact, rumors of his death (greatly exaggerated, of course) swirled at the end of 1960s and he’s hardly been heard from since.As one might expect from a long lost live session, the audio is decidedly lo-fi, complete with constant background hiss. That doesn’t detract from Mann’s take on Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “99 Year Blues” or Robert Johnson’s “Walking Blues.” There’s not a self-penned tune in the bunch but Mann puts his stamp on all of them, including the devastating “Drown in My Own Tears,” classic “She Caught the Katy,” and rough and tumble “Buddy Brown’s Blues”.

Oh, Flat Track, How We Have Missed Thee

Once again, Roller Derby fans have a reason to get out of bed on the first Sunday of the month.Yes, the Texas Rollergirls started the 2009 season Sunday night at Playland Skate Center. A lot has changed since last year: The league has never had a real off-season break before, so everyone looked more refreshed than normal.

Wristband Update

SXSW wristbands will stop being sold tonight at 7pm and will go back on sale the week of fest. More details to come as to when.

How Much, How Soon, And Who Spends It?

If anyone thought that the terms of the federal stimulus cash are clear cut and "shovel ready," think again. Having cleared up which committees will deal with the money (basically, all of them) the House is stuck in a rolling debate about when they may find out how much they really have to play with.Appropriations Chair Jim Pitts just said on the floor that he instructed his sub-committees to work on the state budget as per normal, with the normal funding sources, while the stimulus money will be ring-fenced as a "wish list."This, he said, is supposed to provide transparency, but the on-going debate has now become about how the two funding sources will interplay, whether projects can be swapped between the two, and whether dealing with the federal cash as part of the 2010-11 biennial budget means that it won't actually be available until 2010, delaying any stimulative effects.

Dunnam Tries to Put Brakes on TxDOT

Gov. Rick Perry may not want to spend all of the Obama stimulus money, but the Texas Department of Transportation apparently does – and a little too quickly for the liking of Waco state Rep. Jim Dunnam.It’s not that Dunnam doesn’t want Texas to use the stimulus cash – in fact, he aired his grievances this morning at a press conference held by several Democrats begging the governor to take all of the Washington cash it can. But Dunnam is none too pleased – in fact, wicked pissed would be more apt – that TxDOT has apparently spent some of the money with no legislative input and possibly in violation of the federal stimulus act.

Mayoral Candidate Forum Now Online

The mayoral candidate forum carried live on ChannelAustin last week (cable public access channel 10) is now available to view online.Public access hosts and producers Pam Thompson of Austin News Real and Peggy Vasquez of Hispanic Today LIVE co-hosted the forum, presenting questions to the candidates culled from Austin area organizations.Mayoral candidates Lee Leffingwell and Brewster McCracken participated in the live broadcast. Carole Keeton Strayhorn was invited but did not participate.

Last Queen Standing

This week on the couch we have the always gorge Claudette Murphree, the not-so-secret-L-Word watcher Felice Trirogoff, and artist/provocatuer Ben Aqua. Let's get to our read of this week's RuPaul's Drag Race.

Travis Co. Bills Head to Committees

Catching up with Rep. Donna Howard on Friday, and the Austin Dem was excited. One of her bills is finally making it to committee this session, which puts her ahead of much of the Lege.House Bill 772, which she co-authored with Eddie Rodriguez and which would put State Board of Education meetings on the internet, comes up for public hearing before the House Public Education committee on Tuesday. That's handy for Rodriguez because HB 552, the bill he co-authored to stop at-risk students with discipline problems from dropping out, is on the same agenda.They're not the first local reps to have their bills heard this session (Mark Strama's HB 271, relating to enterprise projects, was heard in his Technology, Economic Development & Workforce committee this morning.) That said, it's a big week for the Travis County delegation. On Wednesday, Elliott Naishtat gets HB 821, the e-waste recycling bill he co-authored with David Leibowitz, D-San Antonio, heard before Environmental Regulation. On the same day, Dawnna Dukes has HB 873, her film incentive reform bill, up in Culture, Recreation & Tourism.