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So I'm not exactly sure what type of people I was expecting to find at Segway headquarters, but when I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. The guy behind the counter, my fellow tourists, and even Our Tour Guide all looked... normal. No duct-taped glasses, no headgear, no 'Segway Or The Highway' t-shirts. But then, as if to intentionally shatter my delusion, the guy behind the counter announced, "You can go ahead and pick out your helmets." Oh yeah. Helmets. While we were choosing our badges of dorkdom, Our Tour Guide poked her head in from outside. "I almost forgot to ask," she said, smiling. "Does anyone want to ride the 'hot pink' Segway or the one with 'flames' painted on it?" We shook our well-protected heads: 'No thanks.'

Photos courtesy Steve Hopson. Monsters of Folk consists of Jim James from My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes and M. Ward.

Dear Jody Denberg, WTF? WTF? WTF? AT-WHAY E-THAY UCK-FAY?!! Okay, so I was in the car the other day when I hear the news that you are leaving KGSR. There was irony, for Kevin Connor was the one who was doing the announcing. Now, I know Kevin has long been on KUT, but I will forever associate him with KGSR. Plus, since he was talking about you, and you’re not on KUT, I got confused and thought I’d entered some weird place of crossed signals. When he said the words, Those last songs are for my friend Jody Denberg, I actually looked to see which station I was listening to. Then, I had that dreadful thought that sometimes visits when, say, I hear four songs in one day by an artist not typically played so much-- Oh shit, is he dead? But no. You’re not dead. And yet, I realize I’ve been writing this letter to you in my head, an epistle with the distinct feel of a eulogy to it. Not such a terrible thing. See, I went to a fancy reading recently, the star of which was my great friend Sarah Bird. Sarah just won a big fellowship, and UT threw a gala in her honor. Before she read, there was this speech about her, and a slideshow.

Like the South by Southwest of visual art, East Austin Studio Tour can be daunting to navigate. For the first time the tour has expanded this year to include two weekends of open studios with events and programs taking place mid-week. This weekend and next, 154 artist studios will throw open their doors to the public from 10am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday to show off their workspace, projects, and process. The sheer number of participating artists means that there is truly something for everyone - from seasoned art aficionados to fledgling appreciators. With four days of maximum studio viewing potential, Austinist has put together a list of tips for enjoying the event and a (by no means comprehensive) list of some of our favorite studios from years past.

Former Austin High School student Hollan Dyer, 18, was riding shotgun in a blue Toyota Prius in Oak Hill when the car came upon the cyclist, Austinite Brad (last name withheld). According to detectives, Dyer allegedly remarked to his fellow passengers something along the lines of, "I hate cyclists on the road!," then, evidently steamed, rolled down his window and fired at the victim.

Black Star Co-Op unveiled the new location of the world’s first cooperatively-owned brewpub at a party for members and press this past weekend. The new site is at Midtown Commons, the transit-oriented development at the Crestview station along Cap Metro's Red Line.

Austin Bat Cave, a non-profit writing and tutoring center for kids, recently hosted a Writing About Music workshop led by Austinist music writers. Students wrote reviews of several songs and performed interviews, with some students posing as musicians. We're so proud of the budding rock journalists that we decided to share some of the work from these little geniuses. Enjoy!

The Paramount Theatre may be nearly 100 years old, but that hasn't stopped the historic venue from incorporating some new technology: an iPhone application is now available to get show updates and buy tickets.

Photos courtesy of Chad Wadsworth.

Join us tomorrow night at Jo's Downtown as we class sass up hump day with Drag Queen Bingo, a new biweekly game night. Tomorrow's festivities are emceed by the very lovely Saffire T. Stone , 2007's Best of Austin Best Drag Queen and the diva credited with putting on the "first drag show in Williamson County history"—which, believe us, speaks volumes.

Listening to Sunset’s Gold Dissolves To Gray, the fourth full-length album from Austin’s Bill Baird, invites to mind that brilliant line from Noah Baumbach’s Kicking and Screaming: “I’m nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday.” The best thing this effort has to offer is its terrifically timely and magnetic aesthetic of nostalgia for the new. At its high points, Baird seamlessly cobbles together a fresh sound that is both reminiscent (of 60s glam and 70s psychedelia) and of-the-moment, nodding to albums like Department of Eagles’ In Ear Park, dating all the way back to last year. (But yes, we were missing it already.)

It's the type of thing indie film dreams are made of: four girls, all crafters, long to open their own craft studio. Girls pool their money for an Airstream trailer. Girls move in with crafts. Girls take "craft trailer" on the road, teaching children and adults alike the joys of coil baskets, stampmaking and bookbinding. (Shhh - did you hear that sound? That's the sound of Drew Barrymore purchasing film rights!) The WonderCraft is the real-life lovechild of Austin crafty ladies Beth Hempton, Albrecht, Jen Bryan and Kim Sae-Eua, whose mobile craft trailer "Stella" makes her debut this year at East Austin Studio Tour. Stella will be parked at 628 Allen St. as guests of Courtney Gray/Creative Side Jewelry Academy (stop 45 on the E.A.S.T. map).

The fastest computer in the world - the Cray XT5 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory -- contains more than 37 thousand processors from Advanced Micro Devices. UT's Ranger supercomputer is ranked No. 9.

If a book, a record, and a wall painting were to have a ménage à trois together, it is Monofonus Press who would provide the bedroom. In real life, these are called threesomes; in the art world, these are called "collaborations." Just over a year old, Monofonus Press has been facilitating innovative cross-media works with stunning proliferation, reaching out to artists as diverse as Noel Waggener, icon-heavy poster designer; grrl rockers Follow That Bird!; and Michener Center-minted Brian Hart. Recently voted “Best Multiple Media Idea” by the Austin Chronicle,Monofonus Studios, located at 610 Vermont Road, encourages art voyeurs of all stripes to stop by during that East Austin Studio Tour. We spoke with co-founder Morgan Coy, who, suspiciously enough, created Monofonus with two other partners.

Emmis Austin is bringing back the "Todd and Don Show" to KLBJ in December, changing the format of the morning talk program to focus on "community history, expectations and cultural sensitivity." The show was canceled in July after co-host Don Pryor used a derogatory racial slur on air nearly three dozen times over the course of a single hour's program. The resulting backlash by the community, as well as threats of a boycott of all station advertisers, turned nasty.

ElfGirl and JenRea (a.k.a. Team Fabrication) present Fabrication 7, an annual rendezvous of fashion, music, and everything in between, this Saturday at The Mohawk. Besides admiring plenty of exciting new designs, you can also participate in the beloved Karaoke Underground, and enjoy live music by the likes of 'Til We’re Blue Or Destroy, Ovenbirds, The Laughing, and The Happen-Ins.

Each Friday, we'll be offering up a sampling of Longhorn- and Big 12-related sports coverage making its way around the Web. This week: Texas' weak schedule, Mack Brown's salary, and security on the home front.

It takes some serious effort (and pocket change) to sift through all the handmade CD-Rs, cassettes and seven-inches that fill up the annals of scum-rock and "New Weird American" music. Certainly a fair amount of these groups veer towards noise and semi-ambient clatter and drift, but the line from No Neck Blues Band and Talibam! to an outfit like Blues Control ends up quite squiggly.

On the seventh floor of the mammoth white Alkek Library at Texas State University in San Marcos are the Wittliff Collections, which includes the Southwestern Writers Collection. Somewhere nested in what is described as "an attractive suite of research, gallery, and office space" are the personal artifacts of Grover Lewis, as donated by his widow, Rae Lewis.

South Austin Trailer Park lost Shuggie's earlier this year, but the outdoor food court has bounced back with two fresh additions: Holy Cacao, a cake ball and hot chocolate dessert stand, and Man Bites Dog, a new hot dog venture a la Frank.

Proving once again that Austin is a town crawling with talent, creativity, and a most twisted sense of humor, DA! Theatre Collective’s Leave it to Beverly is a totally superb way to while away an evening. Presented as three TV episodes delivered over two acts, the show, written and directed by Kirk German, offers a send up of any number of classic old TV shows, with plenty extra pop culture references to boot. Leave it to Bev is the polar opposite of subtle, entirely intentional as German’s goal appears to be to push even further over the top the material that inspired him which, of course, was already over the top to begin with. Sitcoms are to real life what a Smiley Face is to the Mona Lisa—no room for nuance. Except…

An Austin man has been charged with fraud as part of a scheme to steal millions from the FCC's Video Relay Service, a government program that is intended to help deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans communicate with hearing persons.

One can only imagine the reactions that someone like Bob Ragan gets when he tells people what he does for a living. Stone carver? Really? ...Wow! This reaction would be accompanied by a perplexed look as people realize what that entails. Followed by the natural conclusion that it's pretty damn cool. But, part of the puzzlement for those few seconds has to be figuring out what it actually does entail? Well, for anyone who ever wanted a peek into how stone is carved, now is your chance. Ragan, along with fellow professional stone carvers Matthew Johnson and Stuart Simpson — also known as Flying Fingers Stone Co-op — will bring the wow factor to East Austin Studio Tour with on-site carving demonstrations this weekend and next.

If you plan on attending a 70-minute symphony about an unpopulated continent, you're probably going to want some kind of explanation first. That and maybe a drink. We can help you out with the first one.

Check it out: Temper Trap, Japandroids and a few others are already confirmed for SXSW 2010. We can't believe it's already begun (guess it's time to start planning our day party!) but look forward to more rounds of reveals.

Headlights is not a band out to blow your mind; they probably just want you to make out to their music. Their sound recalls breathy, late-night phone conversations between teenagers. And hey, it’s always past your parents’ phone cut-off time somewhere. As long as prom-night indiepop culture and its Michael Cera-laced accoutrements persist in this endless loop of recreating and reconstructing age 17 (what, if we revisit it enough, we’ll finally get it right?) we may as well sit back and bask in its flushed cheeks and hearts all a flutter. And there’s absolutely nothing not to like about Headlights, including their new album, Wildlife.

Little introduction is needed for that maven of cult followership, that original espouser of the effed narrative, that yelper of the adventures of the disturbed you know all too well, The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle. Fashioning tales ranging from the intensely Biblical to the intensely meth-addled, Darnielle has been passionately plying his trade since he burst onto the underground scene with a scad of early-aughts cassette recordings that made his unique voice and narrative gift a must-know for any aspiring music tastemaker. Getting the Antone's crowd ready for Darnielle is an act just as worthy of attention, Canada's everywhere-you-look go-to man on the strings, Owen Pallett, whose one man tour de force, Final Fantasy, is sure to please.

• World economies grow, but surprisingly, China's economy poised to kick everyone's ass.
• FAA says our state-of-the-art air traffic control system is running smoothly (after a large blip earlier this morning).
• South African runner whose gender was questioned will keep medal.

Friendly Fires are one of the most fun dance-rock bands we've heard in recent years, despite there being a myriad of purveyors of that genre. The band throw copious percussion, pretty synths, and choruses full of harmony into a sound equal parts Cut Copy and Franz Ferdinand, which implies that they're on the more interesting side of the indie dance-pop fence. In recent months, the group have been nominated for a Mercury Music Prize, toured with Interpol, and (perhaps most importantly) have had their single "Jump In The Pool" chosen as the theme for BBC's football highlight show! After a trip to SXSW 2009 was canceled due to the chance to play some big European dates, Friendly Fires finally arrive on Red River tonight, and we suspect there will be a lot of dancing.

Jaime Jo Fisher can be considered a small-scale contemporary metal sculptor. Although she works with traditional silversmithing techniques to mostly create jewelry, her end product often resembles a fine piece of wearable contemporary art. The jeweler extraordinaire fittingly thinks of her pieces as wearable collages - much of Fisher's work includes found objects and re-purposed materials. Along with traditional stones, vintage beads, and polymer clay, Fisher has been known to incorporate broken bits of a reflector, pieces of shells found on the beach, and even dryer lint into her ornate and modern jewelry. Jaime Jo Fisher is participating in this weekend's East Austin Studio Tour, stop by her space at 5609 Steven Creek Way to see her collection of found materials and how she turns them into wearable art.