Arts and Entertainment: August 2009 Archives

'Nites blog reveals information on an upcoming Black & White Years EP, Nursery Myths, due September 15.

If there's one thing that will bring the boys (and girls) to the yard, it's a good dance party that follows a night of thought provoking art cinema. Of course, it's smart to throw in a drink special for good measure. Tonight, Homoscope, an international queer short cinema event, will do just that at Artseen Alliance, with all benefits going to support the arts programs at ALLGO, a statewide organization for queer people of color.

Don't miss the great art events taking place around town this weekend. Here are just a few of the highlights: On Sunday, the ever stylish East Side Show Room is celebrating the closing of their inaugural art show featuring work by Jennifer Chenoweth. An East Side artists, Chenoweth mixes paints and glazes to create colorful canvases that include both geometric and natural shapes. The show's closing reception will take place from 6-9pm.

As we mentioned on Monday, Austinist is pleased to present two nights of The Sword’s metal massacre at The Mohawk this weekend. We caught up with bassist (and producer) Bryan Richie recently -- check out the interview below. And enjoy “How Heavy This Axe” off Gods of the Earth via YouTube -- the video was directed by local media entity Super!Alright!.

Austinist's theater critic Dan Solomon tries his hand at directing a piece written by his wife. Bastion Carboni, who directed the Poison Apple Initiative's recent production of No Exit (which Solomon reviewed harshly backin June), sat down with the critic-turned-director to talk about critical credibility and what'll happen if his show sucks.

WOXY will celebrate their move to Austin Sept. 6 at Scoot Inn. Black Before Red, TV Torso, English Teeth and Martin Crane will perform.

Check out the Austinist Weekend Music Preview Slideshow above for details on a number of events in town this weekend. Follow the jump for information on more shows!

Times of turmoil are always expressed in the cultural output of troubled societies, and our current economic crisis is no exception. For better or worse, these uncertain times do provide inspiration for artists (many of whom have additional time to create thanks to layoffs and company cutbacks); as a result Austin's contemporary art magazine, Cantanker, has picked "Anxiety" as the conceptual theme for its most recent issue. On Saturday, Cantanker will celebrate the release of the latest issue as well as the opening of the accompanying group exhibit at Pump Project. The reception will also mark the release of the first Cantanker Artist Series T-shirt, designed by Austin designer and animator Eric Power.

It's nice to see great local acts move on up the food chain with vigor and virtue. When two pierce the threshold at once, it's even better. Monahans and Sad Accordions are two such acts. A few weeks ago they played together at the Independent for the 101X Homegrown Live series with The Harlequins (another truly amazing local act) and tonight they're playing at Stubb's as part of the Austin 360 Concert Series. Both bands are finally getting the media attention they deserve, meaning they've probably been busting their ass alongside a steady following of fans for years.

For anyone who’s followed Jay Reatard (aka Jay Lindsey) throughout even a portion of his ten-year music history beginning with his time spent in The Reatards, the musical shift between his debut solo record, Blood Visions, and his latest, Watch Me Fall, should come as little surprise. Throughout his half-dozen or so different bands or side projects he’s asserted himself as a somewhat versatile and quite talented musician capable of pulling forth from his brain great fetes of musical strength. Blood Visions was ferocious and fun, and it was the perfect release for introducing new fans to Reatard’s way of crafting choruses you’ll want to scream along to for the entire 2 minutes. On Watch Me Fall, he takes his foot off the gas a little, maybe just enough for some, too much for others. The record blends punk rock with power pop in a way that’s going to win over a new crowd from the previous record and hopefully not lose too many tried-and-true Jay Reatard fans in the process.

Fort Worth’s Telegraph Canyon cruise down IH-35 to Austin tonight to celebrate the release of their new record, The Tide and The Current, at Stubbs’ inside stage. If you’re wondering why a band from Fort Worth should be throwing a CD release party in Austin, the short answer is that the group recorded The Tide and The Current here in town with Will Johnson behind the board. The album, which is the band’s second, takes The Arcade Fire’s anthemic melodies and dramatic orchestral swells and filters them through the dusty Texas prism of Johnson’s Centro-Matic, resulting in a sound best described as baroque Americana.

With four directors—Vestige mainstay Susie Gidseg (Touch), Will Hollis Snider (Orestes), and first-timers Aaron Black and Jen Brown—eleven playwrights, and fifteen actors performing eleven short plays, Muses succeeds at assembling a sampler that delivers an above-average hit-to-miss ratio. Which, given the mixtape-like nature of the evening, is a pretty strong compliment.

Turn2Live.com, along with local marketing entity Knuckle Rumbler, has initiated a series of events in town (entitled Mood2Music) to promote its website which “enables users to discover shows using intuitive search terms.” (You can learn more about the concept on their site.) They had a successful (and highly enjoyable) first outing last month at Club Deville, complete with Annie Ray’s photobooth and live sets by VEGA (performing at this year’s Fun Fest) and Neiliyo (who barely missed making the final cut for a spot at Lollapalooza this year but ended up assisting Car Stereo (Wars) at the festival). Heck, the de Ville shindig had the Austinist ping pong team partying into the wee hours.

If there's a musical genre that Elvis Costello has missed over the past 30 years, hold on a year or two and he'll probably record an album to cover the omission. The eclectic nature of Costello's prolific catalog began all the way back in 1981 with Almost Blue, a collection of country covers that featured Hank Williams and Gram Parsons tunes. Since then, he's often veered away from his main job as a rock singer-songwriter to tackle chamber pop (1982's Imperial Bedroom), roots rock (1986's amazing King Of America), classical (1993's The Juliet Letters), easy listening (1998's Burt Bacharach collaboration Painted From Memory), torch songs (2003's North), and even opera (2004's Il Sogno). In recent years, he's done collaboration albums with both New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint and indie-pop darlings Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice. Confused yet?

Momo’s, nestled above Katz’s Deli & Bar on West Sixth St., has certainly earned its reputation as a bastion of local music through the years. The beautiful, emerging downtown Austin skyline can be enjoyed from the venue’s outdoor patio while the stage inside offers live music every night of the week in a cozy, intimate setting and features some of the finest talent our city has to offer.

The Scottish Rite production of As You Like It succeeds on pretty much every level it attempts to reach. It's stacked with competent actors, attractive costumes, and well-painted sets. The gags are still effective, and the music never strikes an ill note. In short, it's an entirely serviceable take on a Shakespeare comedy, with nothing much to say against it. If that sounds like a series of backhanded compliments, there's a reason...

Tickets go on sale today at the brand new Fun Fun Fun Fest Web site. For two weeks, early birds can get a weekend pass for $67.50 or a PIP (Pretty Important Person) pass for $135.

Oscillating joyfully between the skeletal and meaty in the vein of Blonde Redhead, Golden Beds is a charming setpiece from a band who continually delights with their mastery of musical mis-en-scene. It’s fantastical but also familiar, as if they were climbing into your head and nonchalantly performing feng-shui on your ears.

You can also head out to buy Bob Dylan's The Best of Bob Dylan Limited Edition Collector's Crate edition which comes packaged with a t-shirt, or go economy and nab the The Essential Bob Dylan which is a mere 3-disc set. Also out this week are a handful of Radiohead gems, including Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief, and Kid A all in 2-CD/1 DVD packaging today. Finally, don't miss the Wilco Being There and Summerteeth 2xLP vinyl reissues.

Hard rock and metal fans in Central Texas have been blessed with some amazing concerts in the last year and a half. Iron Maiden brought their nostalgic “Somewhere Back In Time” tour to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Selma last year, Metallica sought and destroyed at Stubb’s this past SXSW, and just last month, Tool’s obvious genius was showcased at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Now we can take a step back from those mammoth gigs and look to Austin’s very own metal icons to put the heavy back in metal -- Austinist is proud to present two nights of The Sword this weekend at The Mohawk -- enter the form below for a chance to win two tickets to Saturday’s show.

Photos from the annual Batfest! -- an Arts, Crafts, and Music festival at the location of the world's largest urban bat colony, Austin's Congress Avenue bridge. Photos courtesy Steve Hopson.

The Rude Mechs are known for two things: bold, progressive theater and throwing one hell of a party at their annual themed "Eye Ball" fundraiser. (Who can forget the free mustache rides - on a giant vibrating mustache - at the Magnum P.EyeBall?)

Don't miss the great art events taking place around town this weekend. Here are just a few of the highlights: On Sunday, wrap up the weekend right with yet another whimsical show at the BiRDHOUSE Gallery. In What Is Not But Could Be If Corinne Loperfido and Kevin C. Foote, Ausitnites by way of New York and Chicago, have collaborated to present an eclectic series of portraits. Loperfido's vibrant color photographs are portraits of people wearing beards of unlikely materials - think Rasin Bran, rose petals, and aluminum foil. Foote's complimentary back and white portrait series features pictures of people with cookies in their mouths. This tasty reception takes place on Sunday from 6-9pm.

Happy birthday, Austinist photographer and notable Austinite Aasim Syed! No longer content with a round of birthday drinks or a nice dinner at Bagpipes, Mr. Syed is instead having his own mini-festival at the Mohawk this Saturday.

You'd be forgiven for interpreting Brooklyn, New York's Talibam! as another art project gone wrong from a look at the photos adorning their latest full-length disc, Boogie in the Breeze Blocks (ESP-Disk). Striking poses in a fuchsia t-shirt and white Eurotrash glasses, keyboardist Matt Mottel and drummer Kevin Shea appear to be pulled from Last Night's Party.

Unassuming, unnerving and unsigned, Haunting Oboe Music is ready to, as they say, take your face by storm. The Austin indie experimental rock outfit is so obsessed with music making that they released 12 EPs in 2008, one for each month of the year. The band said the experiment sent them in many directions and provided many ups and downs, but turned out to be the best thing Haunting Oboe Music could have possibly done. The project gave them a deep catalog of songs to choose from for live shows. A live listening is the best way to experience the mystic madness, since the recordings don't quite do the Oboes justice.

Lucy The Poodle Productions brings us a bonanza of all things Pink Floyd this Friday at Club de Ville. A plethora of local talent -- Belaire, 'Til We’re Blue Or Destroy, My Education, The Hi Tones, The Raven Tree, The Clouds Are Ghosts, The Alice Rose, and The Noise Revival Orchestra -- will perform a couple of songs each by the legendary English band. The evening kicks off with a string quartet at 8 p.m. and there are plenty of activities planned to keep us busy all night long. Body painting, a Pink Floyd themed scavenger hunt, live visuals (of course), and naturally, a screening of the Dark Side Of Oz are all on the schedule.

The Warlocks truck in from LA tonight to bring their hypnotic, neo-psychedelic shoegaze to the Parish Room in support of their recent and arguably best album, The Mirror Explodes. Led by Bobby Hecksher, singer/guitarist and, for all intents and purposes, the only constant member of the band, The Warlocks are compatriots in life and sound of The Black Angels, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Spacemen 3. For the decade they’ve been in existence, The Warlocks have mostly followed in the grand tradition of the heavy pop psychedelia and deep, droning grooves purveyed by The Velvet Underground and Jesus and Mary Chain; however, The Mirror Explodes is noticeably more menacing than their previous efforts, and finds the band branching out to include the influence of My Bloody Valentine and shoegaze in general.

The Blondie and Pat Benatar tour at the Austin Music Hall in Austin Texas, August 20, 2009, photographed by Steve Hopson.

We can’t speak for every indie movie lover regarding Paper Heart. There will be some people who love the docu-comedy starring comedienne Charlyne Yi. You just couldn’t count us in that crowd. Not that we hated this movie, but it just didn’t do it for us.

Photos courtesy Chad Wadsworth. If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.

What’s the Deal: Starting out with an introduction to the band through the video for “Aluminum Baseball Bat” is a great idea. It’s a longer, old school, fifties pop love song with soulful vocals, sock hop guitar numbers and spoken word about heartbreak over background doo wops. The video follows the lovesick singer down Lucy Street in Atlanta (Howlies’ hometown) as he grooves along, meets various characters, uses the occasional prop to further the lyrics. There’s even a street party breakdown complete with roller girl, robot and everyone else from the random people committee. It gets a tad obnoxious by the end, but they get major points for creativity.

Photos courtesy Pooneh Ghana. If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.

Something about walking down to the basement bar at Stubb's feels like you're walking back in time. You almost expect Teddy Roosevelt to charge you a nickel at the entrance for the price of admission and a brown paper cone of hot mustard peanuts. Now, we're well aware that Stubb's is not that old, and maybe it's just the smoky tang in the air from all that cooking meat, but we're just sayin'. It's pleasant. It's even better when you're coming out to catch four (count 'em) bands all worth their salt and a bag of chips.

Hey gang. For today’s capsule reviews, we’re keeping things Texan. We have the fourth full-length release from San Antonio’s pop mavens Buttercup, a new release from Alan Paloma’s psych-dance experiment Neon Indian, and an LP from the similarly homegrown aesthetics of the Houston-based Hearts of Animals. Without further ado…

The demise of Sound Team (following the release of Movie Monster) was, for the most part, considered to be a sad turn of events for the talented crew in the band. However, most of them reorganized fairly promptly and successfully -- Bill Baird’s various projects (sometimes boasting former Sound Team band mates) are already a staple of the Austin music scene. TV Torso contains Sound Team alums Matthew Oliver and Jordan Johns, along with A. Leonard Jones, and the trio has been performing intermittently around town over the last few months (initially as The Minotaurs). Now, with two 7" vinyls available for purchase on their website and a recently completed East Coast jaunt, not to mention a Le Diamant Brut feature, TV Torso is primed for take off. This Thursday, check them out at The Mohawk when they headline a quite sumptuous local bill also featuring Pink Nasty and The Authors.

This is a show we’ve been anxiously anticipating since it was announced last month. San Juan, Puerto Rico isn’t exactly renowned for its punk scene, but over the past two years Davila 666 has been making a serious effort to change that. The band’s 2008 self-titled debut on garage punk’s torch-bearing label In The Red is a dynamic, near-perfect slab of garage rock, laced with singer Carlitos Davila’s irresistible pop sensibilities. Their current US tour has been knocking calcetines off all over the country, and you can bet Emo’s inside will degenerate into a raucous, and very loud, dance party when Davila 666 hits the stage tonight.

Bat For Lashes is the craftsmanship of British singer/songwriter Natasha Khan, who stretches far away from musicians who just pick up an instrument and decide to roll with it. Khan is devoted to her work, completely emerging herself into a visual wonderland when its time to write songs. For her latest album, For Suns, she went so far as to adopt the role of her desert-born (and very blonde) alter ego, Pearl, in order to gain a better understanding of the character. The experiment served as a great excuse to wear garish feminine makeup, and the result was a more complete album full of lush tribal sounds.

The newly reopened Trailer Space Records on Rosewood is continuing to offer music both on record and in your face. This evening, two wired Austin punk bands and one Florida power pop group will hit up Trailer Space for an instore.

This Wednesday through Sunday only at the McCallum Fine Arts Theatre, Blue Phoenix Theatre will host five evenings and one matinee of music and theatre to raise funds for OperationOF. Every night at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., a local musician will play a short set, followed by a performance of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, featuring the lauded and lovely actresses Andreá Smith, Jennifer Underwood, and Julie Wright. 100% of the proceeds benefit OperationOF, a local organization founded by Seth Cochran to raise awareness and provide aid to women worldwide who suffer from obstetric fistula, "the most devastating problem you've never heard of." We sat down with the actresses and director Karen Jambon to talk a bit more about this production.

Austin 360 is breaking the after show lineup this morning. Fans who aren't completely beat down by scorching heat at ACL Fest in Zilker Park can take in more music when the sun goes down at Stubb's, La Zona Rosa, the Parish, Emo's, Antone's, and the Paramount. Folks who skip the fest and head straight downtown during the weekend will be treated to a wide variety of late night options (provided they get their tickets early, they go on sale Aug. 20 at 10 a.m.).

Suspend your disbelief in the healing powers of irony and neon for just one moment, and open your heart a bit to the visiting charms of Baltimore's EAR PWR and TORO Y MOI from Columbia, South Carolina.

The first thing you need to know about Wicked is that you should go see it. It’s fabulous. Before we drill down into the fabulousness, the second thing you need to know is that seats are very hard to come by, as shows are either sold out or only have scattered single seats available. The third thing to know—and this is important—is that each night, 2 hours before curtain, there is a lottery held to sell a limited number of tickets for the totally excellent price of $25. To qualify, show up 2.5 hours beforehand, get your name on the list, wait thirty minutes, and if they call you, have i.d. ready and you can get two tickets. This is a very worthwhile effort, trust us. Now, about the show. In 1900, L. Frank Baum’s book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published, introducing Dorothy and the Land of Oz and all that. Two years later, the book was produced as a play. Thirty-seven years after that the movie version, The Wizard of Oz, came out and remains one of the best loved films of all time.

Austin Music Foundation has boot camps year 'round for musicians, managers and more, but tonight's (free) event at Antone's is their biggest yet.

Los Campesinos! and Girls rocked Emo's last Friday, and staff photographer Pooneh Ghana was there to capture it all for us.

This weekend's inaugural Texas Testosterone Festival at Parmer Events Center was a bro-down if there ever was one, featuring martial arts demos, lots of sports talk, and a bikini contest.

On Friday, we've got an awesome variety of music blaring out across Austin. Perhaps the most notable road show will be at Emo's on Friday: Los Campesinos!, Girls, and the Smith Westerns.

You don’t have to run around thinking “the 60s are back!” or believe advertising is an art form to realize that Don Draper is awesome. Sunday at 9:30 you can watch the season premiere on the big screen with several hundred rabid fans. Let the friendly and stealthy wait staff serve you delicious food and genre-appropriate beverage, like a martini or a manhattan.

Frenetically paced and shouted more than it's spoken, Will Hollis Snider's adaptation of Orestes seems focused on dusting off the myth, sleeking it down, and putting it directly in an audience's face. The thing just fucking starts, no time wasted, with Orestes dragging Helen into Apollo's temple, and the intensity doesn't really drop off for the next hour and a half. It's a little bit strange—Snider, who clearly spent a great deal of time ripping pages out of his copy of Euripedes' script, employed sound designer Adam Hilton to add contemporary flourishes to the production; even the publicity shot on the cover of the program looks like it could well be the poster for a Fantastic Fest thriller. So the fact that the go-go-go-go-GO nature of the performances—cranked up to 11 for nearly the entire run-time—is so reminiscent of what we've come to think of as the boilerplate rendering of Greek myth is a little bit disappointing.

The fifth annual "Premios Texas" Latin music awards are tonight, August 13th, right here in Austin. Univision TV and its Austin affiliate, Channel 62, present the best of such varied genres as Pop, Tropical, Tejano, Urban, Rock, and even best Austin band. Winners will be awarded according to popular vote during a red carpet gala at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

The most surprising thing about the Lonely H isn’t their baby faces, nor the surrounding manes and moustaches; it’s impressive when any act manages a patently throwback sound that seems both authentic and fresh. We suspect The Lonely H owes a debt to their hometown, Port Angeles, Washington, for this gift- the Pacific Northwest itself exudes the timelessness and sincerity that make their sound buzz-worthy.

North Carolina's Bowerbirds couldn't be more understated in their approach. When we last saw them at South By Southwest, they hardly looked big enough to be a band, and they didn't have much equipment. Yet when they started playing, the crowd fell silent, and some beautiful and unexpectedly huge sounds emerged. The combination of he/she vocal harmonies, basic acoustic guitar, and simple percussion somehow emerges as something greater than the individual parts.

Darling New Neighbors won NPR's contest to create a jingle for Carrie Brownstein's Monitor Mix. Listen to it here.

What’s the Deal: It’s common practice for members of bands, especially punk bands, to spread themselves out and play in many different projects at once. It’s a great way to exercise musical muscles that don’t get enough attention in your current project, and it keeps you busy, prolific and growing. But, with the amount of talent, energy and irresistible punk rock pouring out of this foursome from Denton, it’s almost a crime they don’t concentrate solely on the project. It didn’t take them long at all to become an appreciated addition to Texas punk and rock and roll scenes, especially in Austin. But, maybe we’ve horded them for too long. The Marked Men released their fourth record, Ghosts, this year in their usual DIY, record, produce and mix themselves fashion. The 15, two-minute or so, speedy and somewhat poppy punk tracks on the record earned them high marks with critics as usual.

Tonight at the Drafthouse downtown, catch a documentary about the legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser, who was responsible for, among other things, the famous Dylan poster here, the old DC Comics "bullet" logo, the Brooklyn Brewery logo, and the entire concept of "I HEART NY." Glaser also co-founded New York Magazine in 1968.

Over at the Fantastic Fest website, they've made their second big announcement about what to expect at the Fest this fall, and it looks like zombies and the apocalypse are ruling. Nothing wrong with that.

Tom Brosseau has been peddling his austere, upper-Midwestern folk for the better part of this decade, and listening through his catalog up to his latest and best effort Posthumous Success, it feels as though he’s been searching for a voice. Figuratively, of course: his actual voice is his most unique trait. A high, thin, occasionally plaintive tenor, it’s immediately recognizable and can be divisive: listeners seem to fall into either the love or hate camps when considering his timbre. In his continuing effort to find that figurative voice, Brosseau’s new LP was apparently conceived as an edgy, modern reaction to critics that have pegged him and his music as anachronistic, and while “edgy” may be going a bit far in describing Posthumous Success, the record is a welcome departure from his past work.

So if you aren’t sold on District 9 yet, we’re not sure what we can say to convince you. The deal is, Peter Jackson didn’t get to make Halo so instead he ran out and produced this little-indie-that-could paralleling apartheid with from-a-whole-other-PLANET-not-just-another-country-illegal-aliens. Do we even have to say it? We’re in—all the way in.

Austin singer/songwriter Amy Cook has a lot of friends, a few of which will be joining her for a show at the Mohawk Wednesday. She’ll be headlining with a full band at her back and the addition of the orchestral grace of Austin’s Tosca String Quartet. Local folk rock musician and songwriter Ben Kweller will open the show and possibly trade a song or two with Cook. Both Kweller and the Tosca String Quartet contributed to the production of Cook’s upcoming album, let the Light In, which is scheduled for release in early 2010. The album also includes contributions from Patty Griffin and Alejandro Escovedo, who is also the record’s producer.

We started day two of Lollapalooza 2009 at the coveted Rock Star Brunch hosted by Playboy at The Hilton Chicago. There was an ample supply of delicious treats, a generous bar, and of course beautiful women parading around The Imperial Suites, chatting up barely awake media personnel. Rock Band, Playboy Twister, and a "Make Out Room" were just a few of the 11 a.m. activities available as we dodged flashing cameras and a plethora of video crews doing their best to capture all the action at this event that reached full capacity by noon or so. On to the festival itself, adorable Welsh outfit Los Campesinos! offered the early afternoon dose of adrenalin today with a herky-jerky, spastic multi-instrumental assault on a very respectably sized crowd. An insistent Sun and 90 plus degree temperature had replaced the previous day's relentless rain and a red-faced Gareth Campesino was in inspired form, delivering his share of the vocals with much vigor, and also finding time to pay tribute to Elliott Smith ("..would have been 40 this month..") and reminisce ("Our first ever U.S. show was at Lollapalooza..we have great memories.")

Mustering up our last reserves of stamina, we headed to day three at Lollapalooza around 1 p.m. Now based in Brooklyn, Car Stereo (Wars) had quite a posse in tow and assisted by MC (and Austinite) Neiliyo, he ushered in an afternoon dance party with the intro to Def Leppard's "Rocket." Neiliyo was at his charismatic best, jumping on the speakers and jumping down to the photo pit, eventually inviting many in the crowd to join the dancers already on stage. The unyielding Sun might have deflated a few but the majority of the audience sweated heartily to remixes, samples, and mash-ups of everything from MGMT to Joy Division to Daft Punk and bits 'n' pieces of the themes from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Ghostbusters. And Michael Jackson. Plenty of Michael Jackson.

Registration is now open for the City of Austin's Cultural Arts Division's workshop "Discovery and Dialogue: Public Art on its Head". The full day symposium is scheduled for September 12th and will feature keynote speaker Ned Kahn who will join the group for lunch. Participants of the "Discovery and Dialogue" workshop will learn about Austin's public art program, how to create successful proposals for public art projects, and insider tips on getting projects selected.

The costumes! The cleavage! The shoes! All at House of Several Stories and that was just the audience. Okay, so maybe a review-of-crowd is not pertinent to review-of-show except, hello, this is Austin where dressing up usually means wearing your newest Crocs and maybe a t-shirt with sleeves. So it must be noted that the crowd that showed up to take in John Boulanger’s House of Several Stories at the Austin Playhouse last week was dressed to the nines (times ten). As was—at least for most of the evening, Lauren Lane, who, in the roll of Fuller Family Matriarch, Sue, sports some pretty fucking stunning duds courtesy of costumer Jillan Hanel. And let’s get a bit more about Lane on the table at the front end here. In a recent A.O. Scott review of Julie & Julia in NYT, Mr. Scott notes that Meryl Streep is so beyond outstanding in any role she takes that it’s almost a shame for those who must be in the same film—no matter how memorable they are in their own right, in Streep’s shadow, well, it’s impossible not to pale. Similarly, Lane is so enchanting, such an astonishing comic actress, such a gift to this city (nay—the stage that is the world!) that not only is she a hard act to follow, she’s a hard act to stand beside.

It still feels very much like summer, but for area artists interested in participating in fall's bounty of art and craft events, it's time to throw production into high gear. Here's a rundown of upcoming deadlines and events that are now asking for applications: East Austin Studio Tour, or E.A.S.T., is going to take place over two weekends this year, from November 14th through November 22nd. Of course, this is great news for art voyeurs interested in a glimpse into the creative process, but it also means that participating studios must be willing to stay open to the public on both weekends. Applications are also being accepted for E.A.S.T. exhibition spaces (theaters, galleries, etc.), happenings (temporary art projects, performance pieces, etc.), and programs (workshops or lectures). Applications are due on Tuesday, September 1st by 6pm and need to be mailed to Big Medium. All the information, including forms, can be found online.

KLRU's Austin City Limits television program, long a cornerstone of Austin music culture, can now count itself as a national institution: the 34-year-old show has been designated as a "historic rock and roll site" by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

For our first 36 hours in town, Chicago sure did feel like Austin. Sunny and warm for a day, then dull and drizzly the next, and with nearly triple digit temperatures forecast for the weekend, we might have still been in the Lone Star State. On Thursday evening, we took in an Austin-centric show at The Hideout, a brilliantly named secluded venue not too far from Wicker Park. Car Stereo (Wars) (who recently relocated to Brooklyn) and Neiliyo, along with Chicago's The Hood Internet had the audience bumping and dancing through the wee hours. Neiliyo was playing his second show in two nights in Chicago and seemed to have amassed quite a following, a female fan club even it seemed. After an abbreviated night's sleep, we dodged the rain and swung by The Music Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel early on Friday only to find more fellow Austinites, this time Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears lapping up the attention of the cameras at the busy Dickies gifting room. Less than an hour later, the band's soulful blues 'n' funk was casting a bright light on the first legitimate crowd of Lollapalooza 2009 on a dreary day one. The rain might have kept many away during the festival's first afternoon but nothing could dampen the spirits of this audience as Black Joe and crew delivered much adrenalin via a scintillating set. Still feeling a tad homesick, we decided to check in on DJ Mel at Perry's, essentially a dance club amidst all the live stages. It was coming down relentlessly now but that was no hindrance to the fans as they bounced around, especially when the Austin DJ busted out the early Depeche Mode classic "Just Can't Get Enough." A sign of things to come perhaps?

After some hullabaloo last summer regarding permits, noise, and all sort of innuendo, the U.S. Art Authority at 29th and Fruth closed its doors—only to later reopen and continue showcasing art and live music. Huh. Who'da thunk it?

Method Man and Redman, who remain arguably the most charismatic duo in hip-hop despite releasing only two albums together over the course of a decade, return to Emo’s on Sunday night with Wu-associate Ghostface Killah in tow. While all three of these east coast legends are pushing 40, they’ve still managed to produce some of the best albums of their respective careers within the past couple of years. The sequel-fixated Method Man and Redman dropped Blackout! 2 back in May to extremely favorable critical and popular reception; every bit the equal of their debut, the record proves that the lifelong friends have lost none of the chemistry that made the original Blackout! so compelling ten years ago.

Where would ATX's musician community be without Austin Music Foundation? Most likely: much poorer. AMF is dedicated to expanding the minds and putting money in the pockets of Austin's world-renowned community of musicians through programs that elucidate the various aspects of the industry. To bring these badly-needed services to a sometimes endearingly clueless cadre, they need to raise money.

Don't miss the great art events taking place around town this weekend. Here are just a few of the highlights: For those who prefer art that is generated on an 8-bit processor, make sure to be at Club DeVille on Saturday night. The Austin Museum of Digital Art is putting together yet another Digital Showcase with music and visual art in the key of geek. Canadian indie dance party rapper, Cadence Weapon, will headline the show. Participating visual artists include Varelsen, a Swedish motion graphic designer, CandyStations, a multidisciplinary artist who has provided visual projections for Wilco, Sufjan Stevens, Calexico, and M. Ward, and Mark Charles Brown from Baltimore's Wham City Art Collective. The show starts at 9pm and costs $10 for general admission and $5 for AMODA members.

Our city might be heralded as the “Live Music Capital of the World” but we’ve also been enjoying a reasonable amount of comedy in Austin thanks to Fun Fun Fun Fest, ColdTowne Theater, and choice shows here and there. This Friday, we get much, much more as The Onion presents the second annual Altercation Punk Comedy Festival at Red 7. The line-up features a plethora of local underground comedians and some out of town talent as well. We caught up with festival organizer JT Habersaat earlier this week to learn more about him as well as the event.

While the low-key Matthew Stephen Ward has been up to a lot lately, what with his Zooey Deschanel vehicle She & Him, and Monsters of Folk, his new enterprise with Conor Oberst and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Ward’s customary understated and modest showmanship still marks him as an artist. Charming the crowd with a career-spanning set heavy with Post-War and Hold Time tunes, it was the ease with which he tapped into America’s musical heritage that stood most impressive—his daunting creative schedule aside, one gets the feeling that Ward could compose an AM radio hit the moment he rolls out of bed in the morning. Despite this, don’t be deceived by his work’s apparent simplicity—only through refinement has he discovered the divining rod of old-school pop, and how to meld his impressive solo guitar chops into full band songs—this concoction ain’t no accident.

Mike Farris’ resume includes a stint as the singer for Double Trouble and that honor alone should perk up blues fans’ ears as he brings his energetic live show to Antone’s tonight. Prior to the aforementioned shift, Harris made his name as the vocalist for Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies -- the band released three albums during the 90’s, including a self-titled debut full-length on Atlantic Records. Lately, Harris has been showcasing his versatility with The Roseland Rhythm Revue, churning out a stirring brand of Americana that touches upon decades of soul, gospel, and blues.

Zombies get a bad rap. It’s not like they DECIDED they wanted to be undead. Well tomorrow night all that changes…for a little while, anyway.Tonight these poor undead bastards are getting some solid screen time as Spider House Café teams up the film geniuses to show a double feature with Zombie and Return of the Living Dead. Catch them on the big screen on the back patio as part of their Midnight Movies Series.

In a surprise move few saw coming, Lindsay Lohan landed a job—a real, honest-to-goodness paid acting gig. Confirmed via Lohan’s Twitter and a plethora of gossip sites, it looks like the crazy bus is about to make a stop. Destination: Austin.

Without a doubt, when it comes to longevity and raw talent, there are few more accomplished examples of indie-hop than Atmosphere. Representing the bootstrapping rapper element for well over a decade, "Slug" (the MC) and "Ant" (the DJ) hammer out deep beats and reflective numbers from a road-honed fusion of anything live, sampled, or spun.

Kicking off this Wednesday with Bikes Rock at the Parish La Zona Rosa, the 9th Annual BFF will skid into Austin for five days of bike-centric love, including art shows, after-parties, bike polo and, of course, films about bikes and the people that love to ride them. Luckily, we got the chance to exchange emails with Brendt Barbur, the founding director of the Bicycle Film Festival, about why this festival is important, the culture of cycling and, oddly enough, fashion.

On Wednesday evening, Deborah Main and Milli Starr will show some of their fabulous Texas inspired designs at Beyond Tradition, a boutique in the 2nd Street District. Deborah Main makes decorative pillows, often incorporating vintage textiles and accessories. For tomorrow's show, Main has created a line of pillows made from retro souvenir scarves. Laura Del Villaggio, the milliner at Milli Starr, is a Austinite who quite literally wears many hats. Milli Starr's designs range from ornate fascinators to sophisticated felt blocked cloches and flowing straw sunhats. In keeping with the Cowboy Chic theme of Wednesday's show, Del Villaggio has made couture western hats based on the classic Stetson form.

SXSW's new site is live, and registration is the cheapest it will ever be (through September 25).

Don't be surprised if downtown smells like feet this Saturday—the American Cheese Society is bringing attendees the finest of fromage, from fragrant to creamy, to the Hilton, in what can only be described as the most outrageous display of cheese in the country.

With nearly 150 million records sold between them, we'd wager that you already know plenty about Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, and Bob Dylan. For some, this might be a dream bill of classic American entertainers, while others might view it as a cash run by a bunch of aging legends past their prime. With Mellencamp and Dylan in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and Nelson in the Country Music Hall, what one can't argue is that this is a rare opportunity to view three hugely popular (and populist) musicians in a relaxed setting. So if this is your thing, put on your sunscreen, leave work early, and start packing the car for Round Rock. To help inform and prepare you for tonight's show, here's some information you may not be aware of:

The Premios Texas awards winners from the five most popular Latin music genres: Pop, Tropical, Regional Mexican, Rock and Urban. A Lifetime Achievement Award will also be bestowed upon a performer who has made lasting artistic impact and significant contribution to Latin music.

Wild Beasts are a quartet hailing from Leeds, UK, featuring above all else an enormous, show-stopping falsetto from vocalist Hayden Thorpe. There's lush, dynamic pop tunes -- all bearing fruit -- on Two Dancers, but there's no denying the centerpiece. Moaning, yelping and cooing about girls, the night's dirty underbelly and the pretty things that destroy our innocence, Thorpe offers a sort of answer to The The's desperate Dusk; he trills and woos the dangerous side of attraction and temptation with boyish charms.

It isn’t necessary to watch The Thick of It before seeing In The Loop, but it isn’t necessary to stay home and watch Dating In The Dark, either. Expand your TV horizons in a British sort of way, y’all. You’ll be well prepared for the arrival of a supposedly great movie, and you don’t have to drop a dime for admission. Episodes of The Thick of It will play tonight, next Monday and next Thursday at 10 p.m. at the Alamo Village.

In the early 70s, brothers David, Bobby and Dannis Hackney started a band in their Detroit garage. Fed by a healthy rotation of Alice Cooper, the Stooges and Black Sabbath, the trio recorded a demo under the moniker of DEATH. The demo saw a bit of radio play, and eventually caught the attention of Clive Davis of Columbia records.