Weekend Roundup

Gangsta rappers, Scottish cowboys and steampunks: Just another weekend in Austin

Y'all don't need me to tell you that Austin is a smorgasbord of eclectic personalities. Weirdies of every persuasion are welcome here and tend to find like-minded folks that share their particular over-specific obsessions.

It might be digital electro-punk music you geek out over. We've got that. Or maybe it's post-apocalyptic foreign horror films from the 80s. Yeah, we can find that. Or it could, as in the case of this weekend, be retro-futurist Steampunk live action role playing that floats your boat. Nobody's judging here.

Point is: There's little that Austin loves more than some good ol' fashioned genre celebration. The more specific, the better.

If you don't believe us, check out the First Street bridge on Saturday morning when hundreds of animal lovers will be dressed up in gorilla costumes for the 2012 Austin Gorilla Run. Registration for the event includes a full-body gorilla suit (that, thank goodness, you get to keep), and all of the proceeds go toward The Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fun to help save the big, beautiful creatures in Africa. Specific enough for you?

If it's costumes you want, the Austin Crowne Plaza Hotel is hosting the annual Clockwork Con 2012. This weekend-long convention for Steampunk enthusiasts will feature all the mind-bending elements that make this aesthetically conflicted sub-genre such a draw to sci-fi enthusiasts. Panel presentations will be held on Steampunk costuming, gaming, live action role playing, literature, music and performance. Amazing costumes, mimes, magicians and burlesque dancers will make this weekend unforgettable, no matter with which era you identify.

Also this weekend, the Alamo Drafthouse is showing a film that has risen above all the others at their genre-specific horror/sci-fi/action festival, Fantastic Fest. The foreign film, Bullhead, tells the story of a steroid-infused cattle farmer running from his past. Drafthouse CEO Tim League loved it so much, he bought the distributing rights to it, and now the film has been announced on the short list for the 2012 Best Foreign Film Academy Awards. To celebrate, the Alamo is giving Austin audiences two chances to see the breakthrough film this weekend at their South Lamar location.

For a mixed-up brand of genre obsession, check out the National Theatre of Scotland's production of Long Gone Lonesome at Bass Concert Hall. This is a musical tale of Thomas Fraser, a Scotsman who fell in love with country music and followed his dreams to Nashville and beyond. Playwright Duncan McLean tells the story of Fraser while The Lone Star Swing Band plays the melody. These are the same folks who brought us the utterly unbelievable show Black Watch last year, so you know they're going to treat their subject with respect and dignity.

Friday night at the 29th Street Ballroom, HONK!TX is holding a joyous and LOUD fundraiser in preparation for the HONK!TX Festival held later this year. The Minor Mishap Marching Band and the Dead Music Capital Band fill the night air with their big band sounds, and you seriously will not be able to resist the urge to smile or dance. Others have tried to resist the temptation, but they always succumb to the power of the picolos.

Then on Saturday night, the 29th Street Ballroom invites classical music virtuosos Graham Reynolds and Peter Stopschinski, better known as the Golden Hornet Project, to present their first major collaboration, a collection of classical arrangements of the Russian Masters. If you don't already know the names of these two hard-core enthusiasts of 20th Century Russian composers, you will quickly learn why everyone in town hails them as geniuses. On a stage normally reserved for hard rock, an ensemble of trained musicians will show you that classical pieces, like Prokofiev's Visions Fugitives, can rock out even harder.

Finally, comedian Lashonda Lester is putting on a show at Salvage Vanguard on Sunday evening unlike anything you've seen in Austin. Weird True Hollywood Tales is a biographical comedy show dedicated to the celebrities that left us too young and often in strange circumstances. This month, WTHT focuses in on the lives and deaths of rappers like Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. "Thug Heaven" will expound on the immensity of the East Coast-West Coast rap battle and the conspiracy theories behind these rapper's deaths. Lester is a hilarious Funniest Person in Austin finalist, so you know her take on these stories will incredible.

So what do we have there: mountain gorillas, steampunks, thriller films, Scottish cowboys, marching bands, Russian composers and gangsta rappers? Yep, sounds like another great weekend in Austin. Hopefully there's something that fits in with your own particular brand of weird.

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Red Light

San Antonio leads Texas on ending horse-drawn carriage rides by 2030

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Horses will no longer pull carriages on the streets of downtown San Antonio.

San Antonio has pulled off something that the rest of Texas has yet to do, but it didn't come without some contentious conversations. City Council has unanimously voted (with one abstention) to phase out the use of horse-drawn carriages over the next five years. That means by January 1, 2030, there will be none on the streets at all; instead, there will be electric carriages.

These plans have been in the making since 2022 — if not always at the same level of intensity — when District 2 Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 3 Councilmember Phyllis Viagran wrote up some concerns about the horses' wellbeing. A special session at the end of October 2024 hinted to San Antonians that the end for this practice was neigh — sorry, nigh — and the final vote was made on December 12. In addition to accepting the plan, it extended its timeframe by two years.

The initial proposal included worries about the horses' exposure to traffic and pollution, as well how their presence might exacerbate those issues for the environment at large by slowing traffic. It also raised concerns about the effects of standing or walking on hard surfaces for too long, or spending time in extreme weather.

At the December 12 meeting, San Antonians gave impassioned speeches about animal welfare — both to call attention to the need for better conditions and to defend the reputations and jobs of current horse drivers — but it wasn't the first time the council heard from the public about the issue.

In a prior city survey, 50,476 respondents weighed in. Of those respondents, 51.98 percent said they liked the idea to "Transition horse-drawn carriages to electric carriages and pedicabs and ban horse drawn carriages completely." There were alternative solutions listed, but respondents were less drawn to them.

A cultural divide emerged in the data and continued in the December meeting: some people avoided the carriages because they worried about the treatment of the horses, while others enjoyed them because of their historical echoes and living legacy. Many speakers in favor of the plan used this to form their argument, raising questions about history versus progress.

More tangible objections to the plan hinged on the businesses — specifically five companies — and jobs that would be lost, which was the main factor behind extending the adjustment period.

Discussions about the particulars of the electric vehicles are still to come, as confirmed in the discussion near the end of the meeting. Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez addressed concerns about what would happen to the horses, mentioning the Brady Hunter Foundation as a future partner in finding them rescue homes.

Some council members also brought up rhetorical questions about animal exploitation by groups like Sea World, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, military and police forces, and even various groups in the Fiesta parade, although these did not come with a formal motion to pick the issues up.

This decision could have a ripple effect on other Texas cities. Dallas has recently considered a similar ban, but it appears to have stalled; Austin's attempts at a ban have been unsuccessful, but according to the Austin-American Statesman, only one operator is permitted to bring horses downtown. She declines to do so because the long hours are unfair to her and the horses. Houston does have horse-drawn carriages, and there seems to be little conversation about banning them.

Cities like Chicago and Salt Lake City have led the charge in the United States with some of the most prominent successful bans. Other cities around the world with bans include Brussels and Guadalajara, which both switched to electric models. Bans that have been around for years, like Guadalajara's and Prague's, still aren't out of the woods — people are still pushing back on the decision, so it sounds like San Antonio still has much work cut out for it.

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