Daily - The Austin Chronicle (2024)

Hill vs. Bill. Or rather, Hill vs. Bill's bill. During the former Arkansas governor's reign as commander in chief, lots of things went down. (Gap stock and overseas beret sales, perhaps?) Among them, Hillary's hubby's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which at that time and context, seemed better than a gay-bash in every barrack. Leave well enough alone; live, let live, just do yer push-ups, get up at sun-up, but never, ever, tell anyone you have a crush on yer sergeant. Sir, yes sir.

These days, DADT. is about as combat-worthy as an armorless tank. And Hillary is calling it out, stealing Goldwater's golden line: “I think the question should be not whether you are straight, but whether you shoot straight.”

It's Friday afternoon, so it's the perfect time to sneak out bombshell press releases. Guess what? Speaker Tom Craddick has just launched a doozy.

At 3:17pm, Craddick finally announced his new parliamentarian. His selection? Former Austin Rep. Terry Keel. The same Terry Keel that became the temporary parliamentarian when the last one quit over Craddick's management style. The same Terry Keel who provided Craddick with the questionable constitutional advice that he was basically immune to removal by a rebellious House. The same Terry Keel whose advice is now being examined by the attorney general. The same Terry Keel that rapidly became one of the most hated figures in Texas politics.

However, there are probably sighs of relief among the reps that the man that served as his deputy, Ron Wilson, won't be back. The former Houston Craddick Dem, who didn't look like he was having much fun by the end of the session, is being replaced by Craddick's policy analyst, Kate Huddleston. That will give him time to work on his burgeoning rap career.

Back in January, most Texas electricity consumers woke up to a bright shiny future of energy deregulation, where competition meant prices magically dropping and big electric firms like TXU producing power by stroking kittens. Low-emission kittens, at that.

Austin Energy, like every other municipal utility in the state, decided not to get involved in what many market-watchers feared would be a race to price increases. Even so, the new deregulated retail policy has affected all the municipalities through changes to the wholesale electric market. So it looks like AE is bringing in some outside help.

According to a press release issued today, they're teaming up with the Alliance for Cooperative Energy Services Power Marketing (or ACES Power Marketing, or APM for acronym buffs), who are experts in reducing risk on the energy markets. Anyone who tried to keep track of the labyrinthine complexities of the Enron scandal will know how mind-bogglingly complex and perilous longterm contracts and on-the-margin power buying can be.

And before there's concerns about city cash going on predatory consultants, it's worth noting that APM is actually owned by other power co-ops and municipalities around the nation.

TODAY'S EVENTS

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MUSIC | MOVIES | ARTS | COMMUNITY

It’s no big secret, though some haven’t figured it out, that I’m a Deadhead. No, not one of those. I went to about 20 or 30 shows from 1972 to 1994, and I still listen to a lot of their music, but I was never fanatical to the point of going on tour, collecting tapes, or digging too deep into the mythology. I was just into the music.

It’s a jones that’s been continually fed with a remarkable stream of live releases and box sets since Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995. The latest, Three From the Vault (Rhino), was released this week and while it’s an interesting set, the real story, at least to me, is the changes apparent since Rhino has taken over the release of the Dead’s archival material.

1991 saw the release of the original One From the Vault, quickly followed by Two. An extraordinary 53 live albums followed, which ranged from complete individual concerts to compilations from specific tours to career-spanning box sets. Most of those, especially the Dick’s Picks series, which is now up to #36, were woefully lacking in any historical context or liner notes.

In a WORLD EXCLUSIVE!, Revolver, “The World’s Loudest Rock Magazine,” announced earlier this year that the planets aligned for the creation of the “ultimate metal supergroup!” Its members? Paid staff columnist and Dallas-native Vinnie Paul (who fields hard hitting journalistic inquiries like, “If you were gay, who’s the first dude you would bone?”), Mudvayne’s Chad Gray and guitarist Greg Tribbet, previously known as Kud and Gurrg, respectively, during their masked nu-metal heyday, and some dudes from Nothingface.

The problem is that nothing about HELLYEAH (caps intentional), is, in fact, super. Gray is an even more
one-dimensional vocalist than Damageplan’s Pat Lachman, while his attempts at Texas thrash are simply laughable. It takes more than whiskey and weed to sound like a true cowboy from hell. That’s one of the reasons that Rebel Meets Rebel, the collaboration between David Allen Coe and Pantera’s rhythm section, which included the late, great Dimebag Darrell, as well as bassist Rex Brown, sounded so raw and real. Those were true musical outlaws forging an alliance at a unique crossroads. In contrast, HELLYEAH is nothing more than another forgettable Mudvayne album. After all, Matt McDonough (sPaG) is actually a pretty decent drummer.

With the continuing rains and the already saturated soil meaning water levels continue to rise, the Lower Colorado River Authority is saying local river and lake levels could stay high for weeks. This means they'll have to keep opening floodgates across the Colorado dam system well into July.

The river is still below flood levels, although it has reached "bank full" status at several points, and the LCRA is balancing river and lake levels around the clock to keep it that way (even their press officers are working 'round the clock to keep people up to speed). To manage this, they're using Lake Travis as storage and managing the levels upstream by controlled floodgate usage at the Buchanan, Mansfield, Tom Miller, Wirtz and Starcke dams. The water dumping over the Inks Dam spillway, just for context, is now four to five feet high.

Recreational boating bans remain in effect on Inks Lake; lakes Travis, Marble Falls, LBJ, and Austin; Town Lake; and the Colorado River downstream of Longhorn Dam. However, check the LCRA site, since they'll be updating the bans daily. (And just before this was posted, the city of Austin further extended its watercraft ban. See press release under "continue reading.")

To be followed by the prestigious "Don't Let the Door Hit Your Ass" honors. But in all seriousness, this certainly reads like a golden handshake, doesn't it?

State association honors Futrell as Administrator of the Year

The Texas City Management Association (TCMA) has recognized Austin City Manager Toby Hammett Futrell as “Administrator of the Year.” The state award honors one city management professional who has made significant contributions to the field of local government management in the previous 18 months.

Futrell received the award for her long and distinguished career in public service that has made a positive impact on the greater Austin area.

“I love Austin, and I’m proud of the vital role City Government plays in fostering and preserving Austin’s quality of life, carefully tending economic growth and urban change, while nurturing Austin’s unique culture and green environment,” Futrell said.

As in the past, last year was filled with national honors for Austin and its municipal workforce.

“Her achievements have been the result of strong leadership and an unwavering vision to help make Austin the most livable community in the country,” said Mark McDaniel, Deputy City Manager of Tyler, Texas, and TCMA President. “As the largest local government association of public managers in the United States, TCMA is very proud of her efforts.”

As Austin City Manager, Futrell oversees a 12,000-person workforce larger than some Texas towns, more than 30 directors and a budget of more than $2 billion. Austin is a fast growing city in Texas with a population of more than 700,000.

TCMA announced and presented the honor at its annual conference June 22 in San Antonio. TCMA is an organization of local government professionals dedicated to promoting the highest standards of governance, service, leadership, ethics, and education while embracing individual and regional diversity for the benefit of our membership and the cities of Texas.

Congratulations. Next up: the Platinum 2X4 award to commemorate the construction boom Downtown she presided over – and to pry her outta her office.

Taking a cue from John and Yoko's ubiquitous Vietnam-era slogan, Attack Formation now has a shirt to express your views, perhaps of our current war, as seen on the right here.

"There isn't going to be any [Attack Formation] logo or our name," says frontman Ben Webster. "All the money we make off the shirts goes to make more shirts. To me, besides talking trash or joining in the apathy, not too many people in music are making an effort. I just wanted to do something that would reflect our viewpoint."

Just in time for summer! The shirts will be available at Attack Formation shows (like tomorrow's at Emo's), and if you want to reach out and touch someone, hit up [emailprotected].

The AFL playoffs start tomorrow, of course, but the season's over for the 4-12 Wranglers after an out-of-town loss to Tampa Bay last weekend. Two Wranglers got some good news this week, though.

Austin kicker Mark Lewis was named First Team All-Arena and defensive lineman Rob Schroeder was named to the All-Rookie team.

I'm not sure if this proves my theory that the Wranglers have way more talent than a 4-12 team has any right to have, but if the Wranglers really do become a minor-league team, I guess Schroeder and Lewis have some pretty sweet résumé padding now.

The AFL playoffs don't make it to Texas until Saturday, July 7, when the 15-1 Dallas Desperados will most likely come down from their fences and kick a TBA team's collective ass.

This year's Arena Bowl (best bet: Dallas vs. San Jose) is scheduled for July 29 in New Orleans. That weekend, the AFL owners will meet and possibly discuss whether the Wranglers will drop to the AF2.

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