The Austin Chronicle
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Alt-weekly serving the Austin community. Find us on stands around town (it's free!) or at austinchronicle.com.
ALBUM REVIEW: Onda Esotérica upgrades Money Chicha’s live-wire fusebox. www.austinchronicle.com/music/record...
Money Chicha Locks In • The Austin Chronicle
Echo en Mexico, Money Chicha’s 2016 debut long-player, jolts immediately – as if someone plugged in a hotplate at some interior pueblito, where any electrical socket can spark or shock. Live-wire guit...
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December 16, 2025 at 1:40 AM
ALBUM REVIEW: Onda Esotérica upgrades Money Chicha’s live-wire fusebox. www.austinchronicle.com/music/record...
ALBUM REVIEW: Melissa Carper’s holiday originals are hearty future classics.
It’s A Very Carper Christmas Indeed • The Austin Chronicle
Melissa Carper’s tender, time-warping voice is well-suited to Christmas material. Turns out, so is her storytelling. A Very Carper Christmas presents 13 original tunes lovingly plucked from the songwr...
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December 16, 2025 at 1:38 AM
ALBUM REVIEW: Melissa Carper’s holiday originals are hearty future classics.
As part of our annual Gift Guide, Squash Princess puts her heart into crafting photo albums and more.
Emma Hollingsworth’s Labor of Love (Emphasis on Love) • The Austin Chronicle
Much ink has been spilled about the difference between art and craft. In the 1970s, feminist artists reclaimed what had been thought of as women’s work – and thus devalued – elevating it to the level ...
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December 16, 2025 at 1:36 AM
As part of our annual Gift Guide, Squash Princess puts her heart into crafting photo albums and more.
As part of our annual Gift Guide, an Austin tattoo artist and silversmith points to Rilke’s advice: always be a beginner.
For Julia Lenoir, Starting Over Is the Trick • The Austin Chronicle
Julia Lenoir has lived many lives. In 2022, she was working in hospice and tattooing herself casually, learning to draw botanical designs by tracing: “I started doing everything in dots, because I cou...
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December 16, 2025 at 1:33 AM
As part of our annual Gift Guide, an Austin tattoo artist and silversmith points to Rilke’s advice: always be a beginner.
OPINION: Green space should be universal. Instead, it mirrors economic inequality.
Op-Ed: It Shouldn’t Take a Car to Touch a Tree • The Austin Chronicle
Austin markets itself as green, active, outdoorsy. But this image hides deep racial and income-based disparities. As a social worker in Austin, I see every day how class determines access to health, s...
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December 15, 2025 at 4:27 PM
OPINION: Green space should be universal. Instead, it mirrors economic inequality.
San Marcos lets its license plate reader contract expire after deadlocked Council vote.
San Marcos Lets License Plate Reader Contract Expire After Deadlocked Vote • The Austin Chronicle
For months, San Marcos has been circling the question that’s reshaped policing debates across Central Texas: What do we really get from a citywide network of license plate scanners? On Tuesday, Dec. 2...
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December 15, 2025 at 4:27 PM
San Marcos lets its license plate reader contract expire after deadlocked Council vote.
Austin reacts to greater wildfire risk as the city puts a plan together.
Austin Reacts to Greater Wildfire Risk • The Austin Chronicle
The city of Austin is surrounded by miles and miles of rolling Hill Country, dotted with Ashe juniper trees and blanketed with long native grasses. Most Austinites are probably not aware of it, but th...
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December 15, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Austin reacts to greater wildfire risk as the city puts a plan together.
From the files of Mr. Smarty Pants: Female guppies think the more orange a male, the more virile it is.
December 13, 2025 at 8:28 PM
From the files of Mr. Smarty Pants: Female guppies think the more orange a male, the more virile it is.
DAY TRIPS: Take a road trip to get these purely Texas gifts.
Day Trips: Gifts From All Over Texas • The Austin Chronicle
Holiday gift giving means it’s time for a road trip. Maceo’s Spice & Import Company (maceospice.com) in Galveston is the perfect destination for the chefs and eaters on your list. Not only is the isla...
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December 13, 2025 at 8:26 PM
DAY TRIPS: Take a road trip to get these purely Texas gifts.
In this week's comics, Trump rounds up his administration for an ass-kissing session.
Read all the funnies: austinchronicle.com/comics
Read all the funnies: austinchronicle.com/comics
December 13, 2025 at 8:21 PM
In this week's comics, Trump rounds up his administration for an ass-kissing session.
Read all the funnies: austinchronicle.com/comics
Read all the funnies: austinchronicle.com/comics
ALBUM REVIEW: Jazz-trained keyboardist JaRon Marshall stretches his sound on The Return of Slick.
JaRon Marshall’s Psych-Soul Smorgasbord • The Austin Chronicle
Raised on church music, trained in jazz, and blooded by the psychedelic soul of the Black Pumas, of which he’s been a member since they started touring, keyboardist JaRon Marshall has a deep creative ...
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December 12, 2025 at 11:48 PM
ALBUM REVIEW: Jazz-trained keyboardist JaRon Marshall stretches his sound on The Return of Slick.
MOVIE REVIEW: Regifting of exploitation classic Silent Night, Deadly Night gets weird in unexpected ways.
Silent Night, Deadly Night Review: Santa’s New Slayride • The Austin Chronicle
Remakes of certain films border on heresy. You’re not going to make Casablanca more heartbreakingly heroic, you won’t make Alien scarier, and, as 2012’s inessential Silent Night seemed to prove, no on...
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December 12, 2025 at 11:46 PM
MOVIE REVIEW: Regifting of exploitation classic Silent Night, Deadly Night gets weird in unexpected ways.
As part of our Gift Guide we visit with designer and chainstitcher Austin Beamon on thrifting, apprenticing, and what makes the perfect pair of jeans.
AV Beamon’s Mind-Mend Connection • The Austin Chronicle
Austin Beamon’s journey to becoming an in-demand tailor before the age of 30 began like any other Austin teenager’s: “I guess I was, yeah, a little unsure, a little lost, up in the air. I liked music,...
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December 12, 2025 at 11:42 PM
As part of our Gift Guide we visit with designer and chainstitcher Austin Beamon on thrifting, apprenticing, and what makes the perfect pair of jeans.
THEATRE REVIEW: Sob through the holidays with Parade.
Sob Through the Holidays With Parade • The Austin Chronicle
Ground Floor Theatre’s annual Christmas counter-programming kicks off December with an impeccable downer. The show may be called Parade, but the only thing marching before you is a cavalcade of horror...
austinchronicle.com
December 12, 2025 at 11:38 PM
THEATRE REVIEW: Sob through the holidays with Parade.
As part of annual Gift Guide we spotlight five young creators whose unique wares you won’t find on Amazon.
Meet Your Makers • The Austin Chronicle
At this point, most of the Chronicle readership is probably on board with understanding the evils of mass consumerism – the myriad environmental and social ills that come with corporatized convenience...
www.austinchronicle.com
December 12, 2025 at 11:38 PM
As part of annual Gift Guide we spotlight five young creators whose unique wares you won’t find on Amazon.
Former UT police chief says she was discriminated against. The new lawsuit alleges a “coordinated purge of female employees.”
Former UT Police Chief Says She Was Discriminated Against • The Austin Chronicle
UT-Austin has experienced unprecedented turnover in top leadership positions over the last two years, much of it the result of Texas Republicans’ ongoing ideological war with the university. Several p...
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December 12, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Former UT police chief says she was discriminated against. The new lawsuit alleges a “coordinated purge of female employees.”
Friday Night Lights and Homicide: Life on the Street get major retrospectives at ATX TV Festival 2026.
Friday Night Lights and Homicide: Life on the Street Get Major Retrospectives at ATX TV Festival 2026 • The Austin Chronicle
Friday Night Lights and the ATX TV Festival have gone hand-in-hand since season one of the local celebration of the small screen, when the fest held a special cast and crew screening. Then in 2016 ATX...
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December 11, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Friday Night Lights and Homicide: Life on the Street get major retrospectives at ATX TV Festival 2026.
These five local stars create great gifts for anyone in your life with a taste for bespoke denim, handmade silver rings, functional knives, customizable photo albums, and more. And they’ll all be one of a kind.
Gift Guide • The Austin Chronicle
www.austinchronicle.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:32 PM
These five local stars create great gifts for anyone in your life with a taste for bespoke denim, handmade silver rings, functional knives, customizable photo albums, and more. And they’ll all be one of a kind.
In this week's Qmmunity column, where to find the most fabo queer gifts this season from places to spaces to markets and more.
Shop Small and Gay • The Austin Chronicle
Have you shopped for all your LGBTQ crew yet? Well, whether you’re like me and have a box you fill up over the year with gifts or you just woke and remembered presents are a thing right now, there’s p...
www.austinchronicle.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:10 PM
In this week's Qmmunity column, where to find the most fabo queer gifts this season from places to spaces to markets and more.
Austin theatre gets possessed by queer Christmas cheer with holiday-horror mash-up The E(Xmas)ist.
Austin Theatre Gets Possessed by Queer Christmas Cheer With The E(Xmas)ist • The Austin Chronicle
Bringing good tidings of gay joy, The E(Xmas)ist makes its regional debut at Austin’s CRASHBOX theatre this weekend and next (Dec. 11-13 & 18-20). This campy Christmas parody from playwright Vince Kel...
austinchronicle.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Austin theatre gets possessed by queer Christmas cheer with holiday-horror mash-up The E(Xmas)ist.
Three-time Best of Austin winner Vanessa Gonzalez talks getting political and de-douchifying the local stand-up comedy scene.
Vanessa Gonzalez’s New Hour Is Real Austin Comedy • The Austin Chronicle
Austin’s comedy scene is different from when a then-17-year-old Vanessa Gonzalez did her first tight five at Fallout Theater. At the time, Gonzalez had been sticking to sketch and improv because, as s...
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December 11, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Three-time Best of Austin winner Vanessa Gonzalez talks getting political and de-douchifying the local stand-up comedy scene.
The Bathroom Bill is now in effect. What does that mean for Texans?
The Bathroom Bill Is Now in Effect. What Does That Mean for Texans? • The Austin Chronicle
On Saturday, Dec. 6, at 2 o’clock, about 15 people went to pee at the Capitol using the restroom aligned with their gender identity. Nothing happened that first trip. But after rallying at the rotunda...
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December 11, 2025 at 5:09 PM
The Bathroom Bill is now in effect. What does that mean for Texans?
Races see new candidates after Supreme Court ruling, AUS upgrades baggage system, and more of the week’s headlines.
The Week's Biggest News in Brief • The Austin Chronicle
GOP Map Is Back for 2026 Midterms: The battle over the state’s congressional districts continues, as the Supreme Court ruled to allow the GOP’s redistricted map to be used for the upcoming 2026 midter...
www.austinchronicle.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Races see new candidates after Supreme Court ruling, AUS upgrades baggage system, and more of the week’s headlines.
One Battle After Another and Sinners lead Austin Film Critics Association Awards nominations.
One Battle After Another, Sinners Lead Austin Film Critics Association Awards Nominations • The Austin Chronicle
One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson’s action-packed political allegory, leads the nominations in the Austin Film Critics Association’s annual awards for 2025 with 12 nominations. However, i...
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December 10, 2025 at 8:10 PM
One Battle After Another and Sinners lead Austin Film Critics Association Awards nominations.
RESTAURANT REVIEW: Caribbean spot Twin Isle brings bright island flavors and serious spice to Rosewood.
Bright Island Flavors and Serious Spice at Twin Isle • The Austin Chronicle
After the pandemic shutdowns, a fast-casual boom hit the American restaurant landscape hard and fast, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Places like Sweetgreen and CAVA popped up all over major ci...
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December 9, 2025 at 10:31 PM
RESTAURANT REVIEW: Caribbean spot Twin Isle brings bright island flavors and serious spice to Rosewood.