Daily - The Austin Chronicle (2024)

What ho, faithful G.P.ers, or "Gay Placers," or "Gee-Pee'ers," whichever you prefer. 'Tis us … We. Kate & K8. Your faithful Gay Place servants here live. On the IntarTubes. One luv. For your plizzle. We are launching this thing (Das Gay Place Blog) for SXSW because the per-queer capital skyrockets in Austin this time of year, and we hear tell that our li'l column in the back of The Austin Chronicle actually gets used. We gots bank, baby. Huh.

What a week to launch. Whew. This week will be (ph)fatter than a big fat happy tick as we wallow in all sorts of scene (seen) reports, interviews with outta-towners, reviews of happenings, personality pokings, gossip, eye on design, etc. And please, feel free to send us your naughty gossipy bits. Ooh, yes.

So, hit that upload button, RSS us, or whatever gets us to ya faster and get ready to comment.

We are going for a ride.

The Daily Show's resident expert John "I'm a PC" Hodgman weighs in on sports doping with the Human Growth Hormone: "We wouldn't want to trivialize a man hitting a ball over a fence with a stick."

TODAY'S EVENTS

Diamond’s Dirty 30 Rodeo at Cheer Up Charlies

CelebrASIA Austin at Asian American Resource Center

MUSIC | MOVIES | ARTS | COMMUNITY

Bob Dylan loves Texas. He was good friends with Doug Sahm, has toured with Willie Nelson several times, and seems to have employed half the Austin music scene in his band at one time or another: Charlie Sexton, Denny Freeman, Augie Meyers, Elana James. TCB pal, dynamite gal, and Austin Music Awards backstage doyenne Darcie Fromholz worked as a PA on his minor-league ballpark tour last summer. Hi, Darcie!

So it was probably inevitable that Dylan's XM radio show Theme Time Radio Hour would get around to Texas, and it's no accident he did it in March, the season of Texas Independence Day, rodeos, wildflowers (soon enough, anyway), and SXSW. With his vast mysterious archives, Dylan could fill up three or four shows with songs about Texas, at least, but for this one, he chose nothing but the good stuff: Larry Davis' original "Texas Flood," an ancient clip of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family singing "T for Texas," Hawaiian steel guitar giant King Nawahi & the Hawaiians' "Under a Texas Moon."

Dylan seasons his show with all sorts of Texana: Los Lobos' David Hidalgo talking about conjunto pioneer Don Santiago Jimenez (father of Santiago Jr. and Flaco), a clip from Giant, fun facts about Lady Bird Johnson, Houston founders the Allen brothers, Peaco*ck Records founder Don Robey, and Texasisms like "a worm is the only animal that can't fall down." Thanks, Bob. Come back anytime.

Theme Time repeats 5pm tomorrow on XM channel 40, and Dylan's playlist is after the jump.

The Joint Select Committee on Operation and Management of the Texas Youth Commission will be holding its first meeting today at 1:30pm in Room E-1.036, in the underground extension of the Capitol. Invited testimony only, and there's no word yet on who will be speaking out today or how far they’ll get in sorting out the horrors of the TYC. With Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-Mission, (the man who first took TYC to task on the Lege record in early February) and Rep. Debbie "String 'Em Up" Riddle, R-Tomball, asking the questions, no one's expecting too much soft-pedaling.

Maybe, however, they'll listen to fellow committee member Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, who has made possibly the wisest suggestion so far. The problem isn’t staff; it’s the whole system of shipping mostly city-living kids to the furthest reaches of the state, where they are deprived of contact with family and, importantly, any real form of state oversight. He’s calling for an end to the underage Cool Hand Luke fantasy that TYC has inflicted on the state and a replacement of these desert penal colonies with smaller facilities, nearer to the cities and closer to where supportive family members can become involved in the rehabilitation of inmates. Better yet, he suggests, why not try crazy plans like, oh, trying to make sure that at-risk kids don't become offenders in the first place.

Want some scary stats? In 2006, the average young offender sent to a TYC facility was 16 years and 2 months old, had an IQ of 88, and had only completed eighth grade with sixth-grade-level reading skills and fifth-grade math skills.

Captain America is dead. In the latest issue of the Marvel comic, the hero in the red, white and blue was murdered.

It was not a shock to anyone. The Sentinel of Liberty, who stood for the best of America, had become disenchanted with what his nation had become. It began when he visited Guantanamo Bay and was asked to serve on a military commission. It culminated with the icon taking on the entire US government over a law that looks suspiciously like the Patriot Act – and losing. Arrested and gunned down on the steps of a court house, the man born of the hope of the greatest generation was shot three times in the belly.

Let's just let the symbolism speak for itself, shall we?

The mayor just gave a big, wet, slobbery smooch to South by Southwest. Let's report it, so I can, in the eloquent words of one commenter, wax that my "boss is so great, I'd eat the peanuts outta his sh*t!!!"

In a waiver of fees for SXSW events, Will Wynn also clarified that the city was becoming an official sponsor of the Festival. "We don't do this lightly. … We co-sponsor five or six big events that occur in town each year," he said, including the MLK Day parade, and Cinco de Mayo events. "It's the biggest event that occurs each year, a spectacular success now. … Frankly, it's become so successful it's become difficult for South by Southwest as an organization to maintain some logistical control; by having the city step up as a partner … we think we can aid in the coordination of a very big, very challenging series of logistics." So Louis Black was right – 1,700 bands just decided to show up one day!

Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerley chimed in that the popular series of morbid travel books 1,000 Things to Do Before You Die highlighted SXSW. "It should include coming to a City Council meeting in Austin, Texas," said the mayor.

Well, maybe not.

The Houston Dynamo beat Costa Rica’s Puntarenas, 2-0, last Thursday night in College Station, avenging a 1-0 first-leg loss and advancing to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. The goals came, one in each half, from Paul Dalglish and Kelly Gray, but the man of the match may once again have been keeper Zach Wells, the backup who had come on as an emergency replacement for injured starter Pat Onstad in Costa Rica and stopped a penalty kick on his first touch. This marks the first time an American team has ever beaten a Tico squad in Cup play.

Next up: Defending Mexican champs and South American Cup champs (the first Mexican team ever to win that title), Pachuca, come to Houston next Wednesday; the return leg is in Pachuca on April 5. All this, and the MLS season doesn’t even start for another month. Robertson Stadium, Wed., March 14, 7:30pm; www.houstondynamo.com for more info.

PHOTO GALLERIES