With October's Tour De Vin at Whole Foods and November's Big Reds and Bubblies at The Driskill, fall is already the favored season for swanky wine and food pairing events in Austin. A new entrant to the mix this year is the Austin Cellar Classic, a 2-day event hosted by Max's Wine Dive combining a pairing dinner on Friday with the main event of a grand wine tasting on Saturday. For this post, we're solely focused on the big wine tasting.

Alex Ebert was the singer of the LA-based outfit Ima Robot with a major label deal and all the stress that goes with it. So, after some very attitude-changing realizations about himself and his state of mind, he started a new band with new sound and a new outlook on life. Enter Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros with their spirited folk tunes touching down in Ennio Morricone and psychedelic territory from time to time and staying catchy enough to sing along to and dance with the band. We spoke with Ebert before their show in Austin at The Independent to hear about the secret ingredient to a happy band.

Lacking lyrics, Red Sparowes nonetheless have plenty to say. This instrumental rock band is erudite, expansive, and poised to release on their next album the culmination of their career evolution. On the eve of Fun Fun Fun Fest, our conversation with Dave Clifford (drums) and Greg Burns (bass/pedal steel) touched upon just about everything from Mao and the Sophists to the trouble with labels beginning with post-.

Street Dogs hail from Boston's Dorchester neigorborhood, and are damn proud of it. The band features original Dropkick Murphys vocalist Mike McColgan (who left the Murphys for several years work as a fireman before returning to music) and features a mixture of punk and folk stylings in their songs, many of which have a definite political bent. While the 2006 album Fading American Dream addressed the Bush administration's failings and working-class problems with hearts firmly on sleeve, the band's latest, 2008's State Of Grace, feels more positive in its tonality. With heroes like Billy Bragg and Joe Strummer, it would be difficult for anyone not to enjoy spending 45 minutes with Street Dogs this weekend - because they really mean what they're doing, and you'll know it.

Each Friday, we'll be offering up a sampling of Longhorn- and Big 12-related sports coverage making its way around the Web. This week: a slip of the tongue, some hardware, and this week's line.

Last Sunday during the Texas Book Festival, I sat down for lunch with Jonathan Foer, author of Eating Animals. I wanted to talk about his new book and at the same time introduce him to one of Austin’s treasures: the vegetarian food at Casa de Luz. As we walked into the less-than-full restaurant, he said, "Nice. Wow, if this were Brooklyn, the place would be packed. What's going on?" "New York City prices," I replied. Your book will be released next week. Have you had any reaction so far?

I love, love, love fake shit. And when I say, “fake shit,” I am not euphemistically referring to, say, “reality” TV shows, imitation boobs, or the way some of the ex-girlriends of my young, hot, domestic partner treat me at cocktail parties. No, no, when I say “fake shit,” what I mean is prosthetic poo-poo, crafted ca-ca, faux fecal matter. So when esteemed Austinist arts editor, Emily, asked me if I might like to profile Kourtney Lea Moon-- aka Angry Olive-- and when I found out that Kourtney sews embellished excrement as part of her emporium of uber-cool crafts, I jumped at the chance. I emailed Kourtney to tell her of my love of fake shit, and how thrilled I was when Warren gave me a box of plastic dog crap for my birthday. She enthusiastically responded: “You can never, I repeat, NEVER be given too much shit! Fake, real, plush, cute, fossilized... We deal with it everyday- literally. Best present ever...”

Each week, we'll look at some reasons to taunt, belittle, and bully the Longhorns' football opponent. This week: the Central Florida Knights.

So you missed last night's Bleet Up, the first event leading up to what will surely prove to be the best Fun Fun Fun Fest of all time. Well fear not, music-loving citizen: you have an excellent opportunity to redeem yourself tonight by attending, and definitely not, in any way, shape, or fashion missing, the greatest installment of Local Music is Sexy yet. Even better than the Bleet Up ('cause it's free!), Austinist will take over both stages of the Mohawk and the outside stage Club Deville tonight to present sets by some of our city’s finest practitioners of the rock and roll—not to mention disorderly marching music—to help you celebrate the imminence of the only fest that offers you fun in triplicate.

The music starts at 8pm following the early-ish After the Jump blogger panel (featuring Austinist's own music editor Paige Maguire), and runs until midnight. We’re keeping mum, but there may or may not be a few surprises in store for those who stick around the Mohawk’s inside stage after the clock strikes 12. Let’s run this down one more time: free, sexy, local, music. Those are the makings of a definite must-attend event in our book. Follow the jump for a complete list of bands and set times, and we'll see you tonight!

It might not be a total surprise that one of the underground debut records of the year is a volatile stew of insistent, young and charged vocals, driving guitar and churning, turn-on-a-dime rhythms. It's the stuff that garage, punk and hard-rock legends are made of. But it might be unprecedented that it's a recently-uncovered and nearly 35-year-old recording made by a band that disappeared from the radar screen almost as soon as it popped up.

• Troubling portrait emerges of Fort Hood shooting suspect.
• Blood donations needed after yesterday's attack at Fort Hood.
• Obama to sign homebuyer, jobless bill assistance.

The fourth edition of Fun Fun Fun Fest officially kicks off at noon tomorrow and naturally, one can be forgiven for looking ahead to day one already. The likes of The Jesus Lizard, Les Savy Fav, Chelsea Peretti, The Sword, Pharcyde, Neon Indian, and Shearwater are all on Saturday’s schedule but let’s hold our horses for we still need to indulge in a full night of revelry before we set up camp at Waterloo Park for the weekend. This evening, Austinist proudly presents the After The Jump blogger’s panel at 5:30 at The Mohawk, followed by the latest installment of our Local Music Is Sexy series, spread across the 'hawk and Club de Ville this year.

Marc Savlov interviews Danzig. "I do a record when I have something to say, and I want it to be better or bigger or stronger each time. Because otherwise, why do it? There's no money in music anymore, so I'm not doing it for the money."