Arts & Entertainment

Your hometown Round Rock Express are in the news tonight and tomorrow! Why, you ask? Because they are hosting the Sacramento River Cats, who themselves are hosting one Mr. Manuel Aristides (Onelcida) Ramirez - a.k.a. Manny Ramirez - on his comeback-from-retirement-and-drug-suspension tour. Manny is eligible for major-league play on May 30th, so he's currently warming up in the minors. If you hurry you can get tickets to tonight's game or tomorrow's at roundrockexpress.com! more ›

We're proud to announce a weekly plot to, from here on out until whenever, host the illustrated hilarity of the strip "Whale." Like former feature "Bill and Eric" by Mac Blake, "Whale" originally appeared in the Daily Texan. Joseph Devens, the author of "Whale," is a cartoonist from Austin who has continued to illustrate the adventures of Whale, Montanaface, Little Girl and all of their friends/enemies after leaving the University. We're thrilled to present these new strips for you. more ›

After selling out three-day passes in under an hour yesterday, PR reps from the Austin City Limits Festival announced this morning that both Friday and Saturday one-day passes are now sold out as well. Tickets for Sunday, which features Red Hot Chili Peppers, Iggy and the Stooges, The Weeknd, and The Avett Brothers go on sale this morning for $90 at aclfestival.com. The 2012 edition of the festival takes place October 12-14 (mild weather!) in Zilker Park. more ›

What's less embarrassing than karaoke, more accessible than time travel to mid-60's London, and sounds kind of like a Wes Anderson film? A Hoot Night celebrating the music of The Kinks, obviously! more ›

In a surprising twist (that is perhaps in part due to the data collection/analyzing methods), Austin ranks a mere 14th in a new list of the top musical cities of the US. more ›

Writing about Flipside is peculiar. If you're already tied into the Flipside/Burning Man culture, you don't need to hear about it - how it's held on the 24th-28 of this month at the Apache Pass River Theatre and all present are participants and there's no trash cans anywhere - and if you haven't heard about it yet or are curious, you won't get to go anyway because the ticketing this year was handled by a lottery system and has already concluded. Tickets, in other words, are not just sold to this thing. more ›

After the usual couple of months of rumormongering, C3 announced the 2012 edition of the Austin City Limits Music Festival this morning to their email list prior to this morning's three-day pass presale. One suspects the overall reaction was quite positive, as the three-day passes are already sold out, with only (more expensive) day passes remaining at present. more ›

American Short Fiction presents Tennessee writer Kevin Wilson tonight at BookPeople, reading from his first novel The Family Fang. The book has been generating both commercial and critical hype and was selected to be a part of Barnes and Noble's "Discover Great New Writers" series, in addition to being named a New York Times Bestseller. more ›

It's time for Austinist Music Trivia again! Try your hand at the third round of questions on topics ranging from Grammy winners to Fun Fun Fun Fest to movie music to punk, country, and much more. more ›

It seems oddly appropriate that Dandy Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor was born in 1967; the same year The Velvet Underground released their landmark self-titled debut. From the band name, to the obvious homage on the cover art for their 2003 record Welcome to the Monkey House, to the lazy, Lou Reed-y drawl Taylor-Taylor takes on at times, The Dandy Warhols owe a large debt to the Velvets. more ›

The Real World is now twenty years old, making the MTV reality program about the same age as the Gen X-ers it originally set out to document in the early nineties. Maybe the show itself needs to move into a house with similarly of-age television programs, and all of the programs can blare at once with no one listening, just like the real Real World? more ›

Abramoff did everything he could to minimize, rationalize and side-wind his way around anything that could be generously described as an ethical accounting. He portrayed himself as merely a more successful cog in a corrupt system, absolving the specifics of his crimes by invoking the free-floating rage we all have against the Washington machine. “The system is 100% wrong. I should be as honest about that as I am about myself.” Of course, it’s something less than honest to constantly deflect the conversation into the moral wasteland in which you were King Con. more ›

Says our newest photographer Amy Price: "I stood in the bathtub to take these shots, trying to get around the various trees and bushtops in the foreground. The whole thing was over and the sun was set in a matter of a very few minutes." more ›

"Just before they demolished Palmer Auditorium to make way for the Long Center, the architects invited a group of photographers to document the old building and I somehow managed to tag along. This is the view from roof of the stage house looking down on the multi-colored tile and downtown Austin. Nowadays I like to point up to the white ring that circles the plaza and tell my friends that I once walked on it. No one ever believes me, but it was a lot easier when there was a building there that you could hold on to." - Steve Hopson more ›

It's about to get really hot out there folks - so it's just about your last chance to go see some shows without getting heat stroke! It's a great night to see Dale Watson perform his alt-country at Continental Club, or check out local rock with The Dalles and Megafauna at the White Horse. more ›

Spiritualized's setup for Wednesday's show at Emo's East was fittingly immoderate. Pierce stood stage left, facing stage right, and did not remove his sunglasses the entire show. Behind him, two backup lady singers. (Side note: is there a better move for a band than to employ backup lady singers?) To their left, the drummer, and to his left, a keyboardist. In front of him were the other guitarist, longtime member John Coxon, and the bass player. They were all backdropped by swirling projections of clouds, the Milky Way, falling flakes of light, and other abstract forms that teemed and glowed like the closely-shot chemical reactions in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life or Stan Brakhage's more ephemeral creations more ›

M83 stopped by Austin for their 100th show and completely blew away the sold out crowd with their other-worldly music. more ›

Shivery Shakes seem tailor made to become our latest emissaries to the national scene. They stack Beach Boy harmonies with an endless supply of sweet-tooth hooks and fuzz-frayed riffs, and an anthemic sweep to every song, especially on the going-steady mash note that is “Stay Young”. more ›

Jealousy and survival have a cage match co-hosted by 24-hour cable news and post-modern art. more ›

The 35th annual O. Henry Pun-Off will be held tomorrow in the backyard of the O. Henry and Susanna Dickinson Museums downtown. This is where the punniest punsters of Austin unite to hone their homonyms and dish out double entendres in order to compete for prizes. more ›

Onstage, you get the impression that Todd Barry is at best put out, his insipid wit never delivered above the clip of “exasperated.” This is the best method of delivery for the veteran comic, his genre of social commentary augmented by subtlety. Oh, he’s also the most delightful sort of jerk on Twitter. In his more than two decades as a stand-up comic, Barry has earned a reputation not as just a “comic’s comic” but as comedy fan favorite. His television performances include appearances on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and two “Comedy Central Presents” specials. Additionally, he'll have his own hour-long special called Todd Barry: Super Crazy airing on Comedy Central on July 21st. His television and film credits include a recurring role as himself on “Louie,” Sherm in the film “Wanderlust,” and most notably, Mickey Rourke’s masturbating boss in “The Wrestler.” Leading up to a tour that includes several dates in Texas, we were able to catch up with Barry by phone to talk about podcast culture, overzealous fans and the challenges of performing while a band sound-checks next to you. more ›

It's not exactly a big weekend for specialty releases here in Austin. While the arthouse circuit doesn't experience the same kind of blockbusters that Hollywood releases, it should be an active summer with high profile new films from Wes Anderson, Woody Allen and Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris launching over the next few months. more ›

Fresh off of appearances at Jazz Fest and a win for the Best Cajun in 2012 from Big Easy, the Lost Bayou Ramblers are storming Javelina this Sunday for a Swamp Soiree. It's billed as a Cajun dance Party, including Greg Izor playing blues on harmonica. more ›

The sister tour to the long-running East Austin Studio Tour (EAST), WEST features a similar self-guided tour through artist’s studios and galleries, celebrating the talent in Austin’s creative community. more ›

Most of us know the name Yann Tiersen from the exquisite score the Frenchman provided for the 2001 film Amelie. Yet the seeds of that soundtrack stretch back six years previous, and Tiersen’s musical life itself started a decade before that recognition. His career might have been slow in sprouting, but much like his music, that patience is rewarded. Tiersen headlines a highly-anticipated show Friday night at Emo’s East, bringing his skewed pop sense to bigger crowds around the world. more ›

A boatload of bands join forces Friday night to help celebrate a decade of punk rock delights from the Midgetmen. Shivery Shakes, The Sour Notes, The Pons, and several more groups will perform on both the indoor and outdoor stages at Mohawk. The highlight of the evening is sure to be the Wierd Al homage by the Midgetmen though, attempting to play through the entire Dare to Be Stupid album after a regular set of their own songs. more ›

Based here in Austin, Open Labs employees are musicians and producers themselves, which means all the products are designed with the end-user's wants and needs clearly in mind. While the company has been in business for over eight years, the new CEO Cliff Mountain has taken Open Labs to new heights in just eight busy months. more ›

“When the revolution comes; guns and rifles will be taking the place of poems and essays,” sang The Last Poets on “When the Revolution Comes” from their landmark eponymous 1970 record. From The Last Poets to Gil Scott-Heron to Public Enemy, there’s been a revolutionary streak in hip-hop, even well before there was a thing called hip-hop. For over a decade now, the group known as Dead Prez has kept the revolutionary fire alive in hip-hop. Unabashedly political, and intellectual as they are street-wise, Dead Prez claims their motto as “Revolutionary But Gangsta.” more ›

Here at Austinist, we're all about bringing people together. But occasionally there are those who really need to be kept apart, for their safety and that of others. We present below the following tiny novel, courtesy of Austin Craigslist. more ›

Attendance Records' first project kicked off in October at Anderson High School, with the help of Mother Falcon and the Sour Notes, and the final result is ready for the world. To celebrate, Attendance is throwing a release party tonight at the Mohawk, where the record will be available on CD and, in limited quantity, on vinyl. They've rounded up a stout lineup for both stages more ›

The very fact that Moontower chose to hold its first, and hopefully annual comedy fest in Austin speaks well to the fact that Austin has a burgeoning scene of its own with comics like Matt Bearden and John Ramsey rippling into recognition far outside our growing little burg. Not only have the past couple of years seen the addition of new venues like the New Movement Theater, but also new regularly scheduled comedy genius like Cap City’s always on point, Punch. more ›

Prepare to see "Best City To Break a World Record" in those noxious lists that Austin tops every week. more ›

If not for legendary heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio, the "metal horns" (\m/) may have never been created. Appreciated and admired for his numerous contributions to the classic metal scene (Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Heaven & Hell--the list continues), Dio's legacy lives on in the hearts of metal-heads throughout the world. more ›

"All I want in life's a little bit of love to take the pain away" - that's the first line on the first song of Spiritualized's most-acclaimed release, 1997's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. It's been fifteen years, and frontman Jason Pierce is still trying to find some absolution for the pain he's caused others, and a bit of purity from the pain dosed out to him by living. more ›

Everybody's talking about Josh Hamilton...and they should be. He is putting up Triple Crown-type numbers so far this season. But I wanted to talk about Mike Napoli a bit. I had sky-high hopes for Naps (I just made that up) this season given his monstrous 2011 (average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage of .320/.414/.631 with 30 home runs). But so far in 2012 he is hitting .259/.346/.500 with seven home runs. Those are great numbers for a catcher/1B/DH hybrid, but they're out of line with 2011 season more ›

Pachanga Fest shook things up on the East side this past weekend. The festival expanded to two days this year, and featured Latino bands from Chile, Brazil, Puerto Rico, New York, L.A., and Texas. more ›

The Paramount Theater just announced the full lineup of their 37th Annual Summer Film Classics series, and it does not disappoint. From May 24 through September 9, more than 80 classic films from around the world will hit the Paramount as well as at the neighboring Stateside Theatre. more ›

All summer long the Alamo Drafthouse will be revisiting the kick ass movie summer of 1982 by showing classics like Rocky III, Poltergeist, E.T. and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. A Rolling Roadshow is also part of the agenda, and this Friday will be an outdoor screening of the Mel Gibson post-apocalyptic action extravaganza The Road Warrior that will open with a "Live Thermonuclear Death Race" and music from punk band Rockatansky. more ›

Erotic fiction is hot right now, with recent novel Fifty Shades of Grey crossing over to the mainstream via Twitter and the New York Times. Characterized as Romance with explicit sex scenes meant to titillate a mostly female audience, fiction erotica has eased its way into public places like Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, and the park. more ›

"I feel a little dumb in admitting this, but I'd been a swimmer and a photographer for many years before I thought of combining the two, and, when I did, it was winter. I ended up, upsidedown, in Deep Eddy Pool trying to photograph this stately Cottonwood. The tree got cut down a few months later, but its photo was included in an exhibit at Arthouse Texas." - Steve Hopson more ›

Are you constantly unfriended on Facebook? Ana Fernandez has a cure for that. In addition to Fernandez's oil paintings in Real Estates and Other Fictions, Women & Their Work will host the artist's Botanica Stop 'N Go during the West Austin Studio Tour (W.E.S.T.). more ›

First Position is a dance documentary that follows the lives of six kids competing in the Youth America Grand Prix and explores all the pressure, pain, and hopefulness that go along with being very young and very talented. more ›

This is a hell of a way to start my tenure as the Austinist’s jazz columnist. more ›

Last night, I went to see R. Kelly at the Mansion, a strip club in North Austin, and it was one of the biggest scams I’ve ever experienced. Like most modern frauds, this story begins online with an Eventbrite page selling tickets for “An Intimate Night w/ R. Kelly (Mothers Day Weekend).” more ›

Experiment tonight with some Harsh Noise acts at Club 1808, featuring Pedestrian Deposit from LA, T.E.F. from Texas, and many more for free. more ›

Just like Kirk on the Island of Mudd or the Lawsons in the charge of their V.I.C.I., The Experiment depicts a baffled human slowly warming to the charms of a more-human-than-human counterpart. more ›

Art of the Pot, "a collective of Austin-based potters committed to expanding the reach and understanding of contemporary studio pottery" is celebrating their 9th birthday this weekend! Their annual studio tour, hosted at four local pottery studios, will feature the work of 15 talented potters from Austin and across the country. more ›

Publish or perish. And these days, apparently, being twelve is no excuse. Thanks to local non-profit Badgerdog Literary Publishing, some of Central Texas' youngest writers are about to see their name in print. Come out to St. David's Episcopal Church this Saturday to hear readings by the 3rd through 12th graders featured in the latest Badgerdog-published anthologies, Rise and Emerge. more ›

They made long forgotten rapper N.O.R.E relevant again and are always the life of the party: none other than electronic dance funk duo MSTRKRFT, who will be performing at Emo's East, this Saturday more ›

Don’t miss notable Texas native and former CBS anchorman Dan Rather at BookPeople tonight, signing copies of his latest memoir Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News. more ›

Though known for being bold and experimental (last March's Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project was truly stellar), Ballet Austin also handles more traditional pieces with both precision and wit. This weekend they'll stage Romeo & Juliet, which combines classic aesthetics, Stephen Mills' solid choreography, and Sergei Prokofiev's powerful (and surprisingly recognizable) score. more ›

As expected, Tuesday night's sold out Tennis show delivered a winning showcase of the sweet retro-pop we've all come to associate with the up-and-coming act. Their two year existence (on our radar) and consequent discography provide for a sort of low-key, yet stunning performance laced with nostalgia -1950s soda-pop jams and wall of sound with chanting vocals - which recreated a sampling of recordings featuring Patrick Riley's surf-rock riffs and Alaina Moore's presence on keys and vocals. more ›

One of the best titles we screened at Fantastic Fest last fall, Frederic Jardin's thriller was picked up for U.S. distribution by the fine folks at Tribeca Film after it also played at their festival. more ›

On any given night, Austin plays host to many exciting shows... tonight is no exception. Stop by these spots to check the work on display. more ›

For the third post in our Home Galleries series, we caught up with Tiny Park Gallery's Thao Votang and Brian Willey to learn more about their West Austin Studio Tour exhibition and their new East Austin gallery space. more ›

With a population of just 88 people, Round Top, TX (nestled almost exactly halfway between Austin and Houston) may not be high on your list of weekend getaways. This Friday through Sunday might change that though, as the town plays host to the FutureMusic Summit, a three day long gathering to explore what might happen next for all kinds of audio. More specifically, the Summit will occur at the Round Top Festival Institute, a 200 acre campus complete with a gorgeous concert hall and smaller 19th-century renovated structures for meetings. more ›

You can relive your glory years in reality tonight at Emo’s East when Thrice headlines a show with Washington D.C. prog-metal band Animals As Leaders and Atlanta’s O’Brother. more ›

In its 5th year, the Pachanga festival has become a magnet for some of the most talented musicians in the Latin-American community covering rock, alternative, tejano, mariachi, cumbia, salsa, electronic, funk, hip-hop and indie rock. A portion of the proceeds going to the Futurofund, a philanthropic grant-making association that works with local Hispanic organizations. more ›

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers closed out the US leg of their tour at the Erwin Center on Saturday. Petty's set began with his song, "Listen to Her Heart"; and he promised the Austin crowd that the show would "dig deep" into the band's catalog of hits more ›

Simply put, we're all still dealing with last Friday's news of Adam Yauch's death from cancer. MCA of the Beastie Boys was a man of creative action and never sat around idle for long, and not only was he influential in the music world, he also proved himself a leader in the film industry and worked hard to support the causes he believed in. more ›

In Tuesday's game - ugh, as an O's fan it pains me to say it - Josh Hamilton was the standout, clubbing four home runs and notching a double. No one has hit four home runs in a game since Carlos Delgado, now retired, did it in 2003. It was only the 16th such game in major league history. more ›

Health is the new drug, according to the Boxing Lesson. Lest you think this title to their new-ish single means acoustic noodling and kumbayas, the Austin band is determined to offer a different kind of “cleanse,” one of the psych-rock variety. Thursday night they’re topping a bill at the ND that offers three widely different takes on the classic ‘60s/’70s subgenre. more ›

In a rousing musical love-fest, the culmination of Friday night's raucous show at The Parish found Sarah Jaffe, Zhora, and John Dlfilho (of John Singer Sergeant) on stage singing and playing together enthusiastically with the entire audience. As the first stop on the tour for Jaffe's latest release, The Body Wins, there were a few minor kinks to work out, but as the group eased into the show, they loosened up while tightening up the performance. more ›

Austin-based band Explosions In The Sky have released a dreamy new short film/music video inspired by found family snapshots from the 50s and co-directed by local filmmakers Peter Simonite and Annie Gunn. more ›

Basically, Rizz seems like a fun dude who really believes in karaoke. "People need a stage to show their talents or just be counted as somebody," he writes on his website. Here he is talking about his karaoke project on another Kenosha public access show called "Views of the News." more ›

Photos from Sunday night's performance by Social Distortion, The Riverboat Gamblers, and Lindi Ortega. more ›

If an anthropology undergrad from UT were assigned to collect specimens from the Austin music scene this semester, he would have hit the jackpot at Red 7 Friday night. First off, there were the crust punks, camped outside with knapsacks, dogs, and denim vests, all marinated in dirt. Just inside past the door guy, were the creased and clean-shaven Oi! kids having a smoke. And over at the bar, apart from two or three mohawks, it looked like someone had turned over an Apple store and dumped out all the human contents, employees and customers both. The question, then: Which faction was there for which band? more ›

Someone in town is putting their money where their anonymous mouth is. A very generous mystery person has pledged one million bucks to benefit Austin arts programs, which comes in the form of an initiative called the "Austin Creative Classroom Fund." more ›

Waters’ 2012 interpretation of The Wall is dressed in stark political imagery, no doubt inspired by the perceived economic inequality that’s been on the tip of everyone’s tongue lately. At one point fighter jets are dropping bombs shaped like Mercedes-Benz logos. Effective, but sort of hollow when given more thought. more ›

"Chris Levack has created several great pieces of sculpture around town, including the Iron Wave at the Skate Park and the trellis in the flagship Whole Foods plaza. But my favorite is the giant Pollen Grain in the Mueller neighborhood, and I think about it every spring when my allergies get nasty." - Steve Hopson more ›

Two years ago Tennis emerged out of the blue and into the throws of internet buzz band status. The husband and wife duo from Denver of Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore quickly won us over with the nostalgic dream-pop of Cape Dory well before the debut album's official release, as it leaked and streamed into popularity. To prove it wasn't a fluke, they brought on drummer James Barone and dropped Young & Old less than a year later, an album produced by Patrick Carney of The Black Keys. After two years of mostly touring and appearances at SXSW, Tennis will be graduating to their first proper show in Austin with Tuesday night's appearance at The Parish. Last week Austinist caught up with Tennis on their day off, somewhere between Portland and San Francisco. We spoke with Alaina while Patrick drove. more ›

It's a great time to check out local music at some of the smaller venues/bars around town, or fuel your nostalgia with the likes of Salt'n'Pepa, Foreigner, or many other oldies but goodies coming to town this week. more ›

In the hands of this Dutch performance collective, Earth’s least inhabitable continent becomes a musical quilt, a hyper-real documentary in ten vignettes. more ›

Five-time Grammy winner, humanitarian, and eldest son of reggae legend Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley brought his impressive reggae band into Austin on Thursday night. Ziggy's upbeat set included his hits, such as "True To Myself" and "Tomorrow People," as well as a couple of his dad's songs such as "Get Up, Stand Up" and "Is This Love?" Austin reggae band Don Chani opened. more ›

While some of us prefer to repress memories of our teenage years, 30+ local artists choose to re-experience the angst and horrors of those formative years in Saturday’s Teenage Wasteland exhibition at Co-Lab. This installation, curated by Julia Hungerford and Lee Webster, will showcase paintings, drawings, zines, videos, and voodoo dolls created during the artists’ teen years. All unwanted works will be burnt in a bonfire during the closing reception on May 12th. We caught up with some of the participating artists to see what they were really like in high school. more ›

As recently as 2007, Vanity Fair’s resident man of letters (presently dead), Christopher Hitchens, attempted to put a philosophical spin on a theme that recurs with suspect regularity in the comedy world. “Why Women Aren’t Funny” reads like the world’s most long-winded back hand of a compliment, including such Victorian condescension as: “Whereas women, bless their tender hearts, would prefer that life be fair, and even sweet, rather than the sordid mess it actually is. Jokes about calamitous visits to the doctor or the shrink or the bathroom, or the venting of sexual frustration on furry domestic animals, are a male province.” Right, because shit and fart jokes are really just thinly disguised death metaphors and women, unable to bear basic facts of reality, don’t understand the toilet foundation of comedy’s great temple. In this framing, South Park is Dostoyevsky. I’m also fairly certain that torturing animals out of sexual frustration is a psychiatric diagnosis, not a finely tuned gender sensibility. It’s not just Hitchens; Jerry Lewis infamously said much the same without all the literary pomp and even further down the sexism food chain, Two and A Half Men co-creator, Lee Aronsohn, twittered his way into this great debate by dismissively summarizing the role of women in comedy: “Enough, ladies. I get it. You have periods.” more ›

The summer blockbuster season seems to start a little earlier every year, and there's no question it's officially in full swing this weekend with The Avengers filling over 4,000 screens nationwide. If superheroes aren't your thing (or if you like us and up for catching more than one film this weekend), we'd like to steer you towards the indie drama Sound Of My Voice, which has our highest recommendation! more ›

Sarah Jaffe is all grown up. While fans may still think of her as a talented young singer-songwriter where her gorgeously plaintive voice is accompanied solely by elegant guitar strums, Jaffe has garnered some serious accolades and impressive comparisons after releasing her third full length album in April. The Body Wins displays a matured Jaffe, exploring new musical corners and wider ideas. more ›

The last time Screaming Females were in town, they packed Beauty Bar so full it left a handful of fans to rally out back next to a rancid dumpster, happily bouncing along. more ›

Iannis Xenakis is certainly not a common name among Austin musical performance, though that could change. Line Upon Line, the premier new music percussion ensemble in Texas and the South, is presenting Perspective: Xenakis over two nights and one afternoon in three unique Austin settings. more ›

By the time Orlando Higginbottom took the stage, the packed mass momentarily remembered why they subjected themselves to such tight quarters, and those who stayed for the entire show were treated to an excellent set from an artist whose demeanor completely contradicted the crowd's initial restlessness and aggression. more ›

Is it a stretch to say that Psych Fest, the annual three-day onslaught of all variety of bands within the very broad parameters of "psychedelic music," is the most insular festival in Austin? A friend of mine jokingly referred to last year's festival as "hipster camp." This year's festival was split between Emo's East and Beauty Ballroom, two hopeful monuments to Austin's musical future built on opposite edges of a generic, beleaguered east Riverside strip mall. The developmental/socioeconomic dissonance was strong: within each venue, trippy projections, dim lighting and brain-bursting volume levels made for a concert experience of nearly oppressive totality, yet just outside, folks were parking their cars - in a parking lot! - to go to Pepe's Fruit Cup Shop or their weekly zumba classes. more ›

UT history professor H.W. Brands’ latest book The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr offers a softer perspective of one of American history’s most controversial figures. It’s true Burr gets a bad rap. Killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel and getting accused of treason didn’t sit well with either the Federalists or the Republicans. Neither did incurring a bunch of debt. However, in spite of political power plays and poorly planned financial dealings, Burr seemed to be ahead of his time, at least on some important issues. more ›

From singer Ryan Sambol’s boozy howl to the group’s mix of blues, country and old-time ramshackle rock ‘n’ roll, Austin’s own Strange Boys exude a scruffy charm that’s hard to find. more ›

Two days full of sweat, fist-pumping and ear-shattering "Drop the bass" booms--Nocturnal Wonderland you did it again. The annual EDM festival brought together fans from throughout Texas on Friday and Saturday, offering them an impressive lineup that will be the topic of discussion until another EDM festival strolls around. more ›

So, Neutral Milk Hotel/Jeff Mangum: we've all had our little emo hearts squeezed by him at some point, right? (If not, you can probably just stop reading here). Maybe it was back in high school, before that gross existential-paranoia-induced cynicism of getting a little older began accruing to our tender selves, eventually manifesting in some as a carefully, defensively curated musical fandom, taste-indicators selected like pre-ripened fruit from a jaunt to the Blogger's Market to ward off the disease of Seemingly-Not-"With-It". more ›

Chris Thile is a human being. He is not an alien nor is he a mutant—he’s just really, really great at playing the mandolin…and singing…and composing…and performing…and…ok, we’re not entirely convinced either but he makes up 1/5th of the band people who know about music love:Punch Brothers. Now located in New York City, each member of the band is well-regarded in his own right for being unnervingly brilliant with their respective musical instruments (see banjo-player Noam Pikelny school Steve Martin here for proof) and they’re everywhere these days. They’ve appeared on Letterman twice in the last six months, toured with Paul Simon, they have a song on The Hunger Games soundtrack (OMG!), they just released a new album, Who’s Feeling Young Now?, to glowing reviews, and they’re here in town to play at Antone’s tonight (anyone get to see their ACL Live taping last night? As we said: they’re everywhere). We were able to get Chris on the phone to chat a bit about music, the glories of obsessive researching, and a fist fight everyone would love to see. more ›

Yesterday Drafthouse Films CEO and movie theater visionary Tim League appeared on Anderson Cooper's afternoon talk show to discuss the Alamo's notorious "we'll kick your ass out if you text or talk" rule and the future of film-going etiquette. more ›

You won’t want to miss this fierce series of linked dance pieces, all loosely wrapped around the concept of notoriety and our intrinsic desire to be near it. more ›

Kickstarter's "all or nothing" funding policy turns supporting the arts into a sexy gambit/race against time, and at three years in, the revolution in funding is going strong. Here are a few local projects that may pique your interest. more ›

The Astros had a better week than the Rangers. What?! Yes, it's true. more ›

One of the most promising producers to emerge from the UK over the last year, Oxford's Orlando Higginbottom has been making dance floor ready jams as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs since 2009. The son of an Oxford University music professor, his music combines exceedingly tight dance arrangements (complete with crystalline bass lines and shimmering synths), pop smarts, melancholy lyrics and his understated yet effective voice to masterful effect. more ›

This Great Country “re-imagines” Death of a Salesman with a cast of 17 local actors, many of them young children. They opt out of any realistic set or props, instead staging Miller’s play in the fusty Lucky Lady bingo hall. Miller’s script has been cut to make a 100-minute one-act with a handful of company dance breaks thrown in. more ›

Bluegrass can be a rather persnickety genre, adverse to change and content to stick with the same ol’ sounds that have been passed down generations. But traditionalists and progressives both got behind Nickel Creek in a big way in the early aughts. The trio earned a Grammy and notable fans in Alison Krauss and Lyle Lovett before suddenly splitting up in 2007 so that the individual members could focus on their own projects. Sara and Sean Watkins went solo (the former has a stellar album out next week), while mandolinist Chris Thile took up a new group called Punch Brothers, which swings by Antone’s tonight tomorrow night on a wave of acclaim. more ›

Never before seen episodes, the unveiling of a new Mondo poster, and a dinner worthy of cartoon royalty were the highlights of last Saturday's Adventure Time Marathon Screening and Feast at the Alamo South Lamar. Adventure Time is the Emmy-nominated Cartoon Network series that features Finn the human, Jake the dog, and an off-kilter world where princesses, vampires, and a constantly-scheming Ice King keep life adorably interesting. more ›

Sundays are sacred--the last hope for rest, relaxation, or recovery before the workweek--and if you're lucky, every so often an opportunity presents itself that goes beyond your expectation of the usual variety of brunch, poolside lounging, hungover hibernation, sports indulgence, or festival du jour. This past weekend, Austin certainly offered up a choice selection of music, but the golden ticket may have been for the nontraditional mid-day showcase at Do512 Lounge Session featuring Deer Tick, Turbo Fruits, and Wild Child. more ›