After we ran the story this morning about the cyclist who was shot with a pellet gun by people in a light blue Prius, one of our readers recognized a hauntingly familiar connection to a similar incident that had happened to his friend around the same time. His friend, Austinite Jason Goodrich, wrote to us directly. more ›

Audacious and lovely, Santigold has stepped to the forefront of the electro-rap following amoung us. With somewhat of an identity crisis in media coverage, let the debate be settled. She was originally called Santgold—hence her debut album title—but has officially changed to Santigold. The "o" was dropped after she was sued by film maker by the name of Santo Gold. No biggie, the new moniker more closely resembles her birth name, Santi White, anyway. Formerly the singer of punk band Stiffed, she has waned far away from her ska roots, but holds on to the funkiness and originality. more ›

Austinist is proud to announce a new concert series showcasing local talent, appropriately titled the New Music Discovery Series, and is kicking off its inauguration at Stubb's inside with Ringo Deathstarr and True Widow. more ›

What’s the Deal: It almost doesn’t make sense. This guy should be a huge mainstream success. He’s played with John Mayer and David Gray, and he even shares the melodically raspy vocal style of the former. His recordings are near spotless, with gorgeous acoustics and catchy choruses. It’s got to be his total lack of interest in writing meaningless, rhyming lyrics for the club about a girl and how her body is a “wonderland” Instead, his songs, which stay true to the storytelling style of folk songwriting, involve subject matter that’s much more serious and at times pretty dark. He sings about the Iraq war, his brother’s drug addiction, cancer, vengeance and even the Holocaust. There’s a definite dichotomy of light and dark, heavy and weightless going on in his music. The words are weighty, the sounds are airy. He sings some about God and an afterlife, but with a certain amount of fear, honesty and vulnerability. The self-destructive and fragile nature of the human condition is a major theme. more ›

The Longhorn baseball team begins their quest for seventh national championship Sunday, taking on Southern Mississippi in the opening round of the College World Series. more ›

For those of you who've been wondering if you'll be able to see Robbie Knievel's jump in front of the State Capitol without shelling out for ROT passes, Austin360's Matthew Odam has the skinny following his excellent interview with the daredevil himself. more ›

The noise ordinance that rose from the grave to kill live music at Freddie's has claimed another south Austin victim. Sahara Smith was opening for Jimmy LaFave last night at Shady Grove as part of KGSR's Unplugged at the Grove series, when police responding to a noise complaint showed up with a decibel meter to shut it down. The Unplugged at the Grove series had been running for sixteen years. more ›

A cyclist enjoying a ride along Southwest Parkway in May became the victim of an errant drive-by pellet gun shooting, by some people in a light blue Prius. more ›

GadjoDisko, our favorite “Eastern Bloc Party” in town returns this Saturday to furnish Club Cockpit with a wide variety of music from quite a few different parts of the world. Expect to hear diverse genres including Immigrant Punk, Balkan Beats, Funk Carioca / Favela Funk, Slavic Hip-Hop, Ghettotech, Diskoteka, Ethnotechno, and Electrochalga at this veritable dance party. Whew! Yeah, we had to Wikipedia a couple of those! The list of entertainers is quite extensive -- the dancers known as the Brass Ovaries will be performing some amazing feats on the poles while live music will be provided by Beauty Queens of Chernobyl featuring Mistress Stephanie (of Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat) and Christeene Vale. And as intriguing and eclectic these performances might be, Angeliska Polacheck (one of GadjoDisko’s organizers) informs us that they will be short ‘n’ sweet since the main purpose of the night is to get everyone moving on the dance floor to DJ Chicken Kiev’s endless beats. GadjoDisko’s resident DJ will be spinning music from all over the globe throughout the evening and apparently has a hankering for Eurodisko at the moment. We sure hope to hear some Boney M. classics. more ›

Austin just got its own chapter of Beer and Blog, a weekly gathering where bloggers can exchange advice, share their work, and twitter about one another in real-time. The meetings take place in a bar (or other establishment where booze is served), and is open to anyone regardless of blogging software of choice or geek savvy. Check the website for the next meet-up time. [Beer and Blog Austin] [Twitter] more ›

Exiled Tibetan Buddhist monk Khen Rinpoche Geshe Kachen Lopzang Tsetan, abbot of the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, is making a tour throughout the United States and will be stopping by Austin this weekend. He'll be at Barton Springs to perform a special blessing of our city's most cherished natural resource, much like the Wudang Taoist priests did back in 2006. The group will gather at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday at the landing below the stairs leading to the front gate. A brief silent meditation will precede the ceremony. All are welcome to join. more ›

The cast of Annie, which played last weekend at Bass Concert Hall had the proverbial big shoes to fill. For the most part they succeeded admirably and the overall performance experience was one not to forget. more ›

Despite the bluntly, perhaps cynically attention-grabbing name, Holy Fuck have earned their position by figuring out what hasn't been done before and doing it very well. more ›

Focusing specifically on Austin’s fashion community this year, local bear designers include Estilo, Peyton’s Place, Valentine’s Too, By George, Underwear, Blue Elephant, Hem, Strut, Wish, Mercury Design Studio, Luxe Apothetique, Kendra Scott, Lance Avery Morgan, C. Jane, Kick Pleat, Lindsey White for Cream Vintage, Bill Peck for Patricia Wolfe, Baby Coco and Austin Baby. Local emcee Mandy Lauderdale will serve as auctioneer, and Beaux Loy will provide the tunes. Complimentary food and cocktails will also be served - so be sure to drink up and spend, spend, spend! more ›

Gender lines will be blurred, sexual references both obvious and indirect will be tossed, and bold electronic pop will pump and throb from the speakers of Emo’s outside Thursday as Peaches (aka Merrill Nisker) and her backing band Sweet Machine make blood pressures rise throughout the eager, dancing crowd. Expect high energy sometimes compelling Peaches to ride a giant phallus into the crowd while rocking wild and sexy, tight outfits of leather and spandex. Her songs will leave you with a feeling of sexual liberation that no conservative, family values organization can shake. more ›

• Pandemic! Run!
• The Holocaust Museum shooting yesterday has us wondering, what is wrong with people!?
• Seriously. "The responsible white separatist community condemns this"?

I was recently musing aloud to my young, hot, domestic partner Warren, what it must sound like anymore whenever I call him at work. My guess was that it sounds like this: I hate my job, I hate everything, I’m going to lose the house, I have no idea how I’m going to make it, OH MY GOD YOU SHOULD SEE THE DOGS THEY HAVE YOGURT ON THEIR NOSES!! THEY ARE SO CUTE!! And that, really, is about all I have to say anymore. I’m trying to keep my chin up about this whole economy thing, and lord only knows I’ve been through hard—nay, harder times in the past. But the difference this time is that back in those days, I always had a good feeling that sooner or later another paid writing gig would come along. That’s no longer the case. I posted a blog entry a week ago about how paid writing gigs are shriveling up quicker than a stud’s nuts upon a swift jump into Barton Springs. And boy did I hit a chord—it is not my imagination what’s happening to writers, not at all. more ›

Les Claypool photos by Arnold Wells; Matisyahu and Austin Music Hall photos by Steve Hopson. more ›

Four construction workers from the 21 Rio project were on scaffolding which partially collapsed this afternoon. Two of the men fell about eleven stories to their deaths, with a third dying later in the hospital. The fourth man sustained only minor injuries. So far the cause of the scaffolding collapse is unknown. [Statesman] more ›

But compared to Arcade Fire’s thunderous aspirations, Clues seems happily intent on a tempest-in-teapot sound that is refreshing in an era chock full of bands bent on sounding bigger than they really are by at least two members. It’s clear that the eccentric charm of the Montreal rock scene and its gifted musicians are going to just keep giving. more ›

In the video of the incident, which took place on May 11, Deputy Chris Bieze can be seen and heard calling headquarters as Winkfein stands near her truck, trying at times to get closer to Bieze, who repeatedly yells at her to step back. Later, when Bieze makes a motion to handcuff Winkfein, the grandmother resists, insisting that she's going to get in her truck. more ›

The kids in the above photo broke into a French Place home yesterday morning while both owners were at work—and one of them got to see the whole thing happen online! more ›

Extreme emo experimentalism on the left, post-punk prom ballads on the right. more ›

On the heels of arguably the most successful Austin Pride yet, the festival's organizing body has found itself entangled in an ugly conflict between its now-former president and the board of directors. more ›

• Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on board the crashed Air France flight
• Palau agrees to take up to 17 Chinese Muslim Guantanamo detainees
• If you drive an old gas-guzzler, there's a bill in the works to pay you to buy a new car

Did anyone see any disgruntled legislators fleeing the scene? Hours after announcing to reporters that he intended to call a special legislative session later this summer, Gov. Rick Perry crashed his mountain bike and broke his collarbone. The governor was treated and released from the hospital last night, but has cancelled all of his appointments today. [KVUE] more ›

Today Gov. Perry announced to an unsurprised Capitol Press Corps that there will indeed be a legislative special session, but the schedule for it is still being decided. The special session is likely to deal with the issues the Senate left unresolved at sine die. Whether the session will also include the contentious topic of Voter ID is up in the air. [KVUE: Political Junkie] more ›

Travel + Leisure magazine's annual “America’s Favorite Cities” survey is out and accepting submissions now. Last year, Austin tied with New Orleans for "Live Music/Bands," and took the number two spots for the “Athletic/Active” and “Friendly” categories. This year, the magazine's added five new contenders to the list: Cleveland, Houston, Kansas City, Providence, and St. Louis — the latter, if you recall, having already been compared to Austin earlier this year. Now's your chance to chime in on how Austin stands when it comes to such qualities as "Singles/Bar Scene," "Environmental Awareness," "Intelligent People" and much more. The survey closes July 31. [America's Favorite Cities 2009] more ›

Whether you’re a longtime Austinite with many years of “it was much cooler back in the day” to speak of, or you’ve just moved here to join the beardeoisie, you probably have some film school friends who love the Coen brothers. From the whip-smart pacing and whacked-out dialog of Raising Arizona to the intense emotion and sheer badass-ness of No Country for Old Men, these guys have become film legends. more ›

Photos courtesy Pooneh Ghana. more ›

Photos courtesy Pooneh Ghana. more ›

• Guantanamo suspect transported to NY under cover of darkness; will face trial.
• This is an interesting kind of opaque transparency.
• Palin vs. Gingrich - the battle heats up.

Legendary NYC band Sonic Youth dropped The Eternal (their 16th studio album) on Matador Records today. We’re guessing that you’re not going to make it to the band’s official release event in California but fear not because Matador, Waterloo Records, and yours truly are proud to present The Eternal - Austin: A Sonic Youth Release Party here in town at The Mohawk. Join us from 5 to 8 p.m. this evening to listen to the new record while taking advantage of some recession-friendly drink specials at the bar. We’ll be giving away a couple of copies of The Eternal; a DJ set by Gerard Cosloy (Air Traffic Controllers) is also on the schedule. And since you’re going to love the album oh so much, Waterloo Records will be on hand to allow you to purchase the CD and LP instantly. more ›

Photos of this year's Pride festival, which took place last weekend. more ›

• It’s been a year since the major fire at the Governor’s Mansion. Reconstruction at the historic house is now getting closer to reality.
• Cindy Sheehan will lead an anti-war protest in Dallas this afternoon.
• Volunteers put the smack-down on trash at Lady Bird Lake this weekend.

Much to our delight, L.A.’s Little Joy, a band who are casually referred to as a Strokes side project but are truly so much more, return to Austin tonight to help brighten up your Monday evening. They’ll be on hand to help break in our fair city's newest venue, the Independent at 501 studios (here’s what we had to say about the new club back in May). The L.A. trio, which features Los Hermanos’ Rodrigo Amarante - Little Joy’s principal songwriter and lead singer - multi-instrumentalist Binki Shapiro, and Strokes’ drummer Fabrizio Moretti, played an exuberant and absolutely charming set of their breezy, MPB-inflected, Strokes-esque tunes at the Parish Room in November. Expect more of the same tonight, as it should be a perfect early summer show augmented by the Independent’s intimate space. more ›

Obama: full speed ahead on health care overhaul. Taxing health care benefits "on the table" after all? Progressives still fighting to get single-payer in same room as table Obama's overseas charm offensive... could it work? Accused killer Roeder: Expect more anti-abortion violence Stephen Colbert dons cammies, takes his act to Baghdad Where the rich eat their cake: over $1000 apple crates When Republicans tweet... more ›

After splitting a pair of games over the weekend, Texas and TCU meet again tonight to determine who goes to the College World Series. more ›

Highlights from the week of June 1: TxDOT unveils the new license plate design, a Bostonian talks trash about Austin's food truck scene, and Austinist reviews the newest production at Salvage Vanguard Theatre. more ›