Staff - Austinist

Allen Y Chen Editor-in-Chief It was at the tail end of a cross-continental road trip from Berkeley to Baltimore when Allen finally realized that New England wasn't an actual state. twitter allen(@)austinist.com

Paige Maguire Music Editor Paige Maguire is the music editor. She also works at WOXY.com. She grew up in Austin and currently lives with her man, her son, a dog and three cats. She is aware of the fact that there's too many cats. flux-rad.com music(@)austinist.com

Steph Beasley Film Editor Steph is one of the five people in Austin who was actually born here (Seton Hospital, respect!) However, she technically grew up in Round Rock, but that makes her totally OG. Her first concert was the Oak Ridge Boys at the Erwin Center. Obviously, she has great taste in music. During said concert, she sat on her daddy‘s knee, with a gigantic ten gallon hat blocking her view of the entire show. Obviously, she dislikes large hats. She loves the Alamo Drafthouse, Live Oak HefeWeizen, and cheese. Oh, cheese. Twitter film(@)austinist.com

Emily Weerts Art Editor Emily is one of "those people" who migrated to Austin from Northern California. She first moved into a three story, seven bedroom, 120 year old Victorian in Central Austin with six roommates and one hairless cat. When she's not exploring all that Austin has to offer, Emily is finding other ways to put off making her own art. When she's really motivated, Emily loves to garden, cook, and create all manner of crafts and messes. She now lives on the East side of town with far too many art supplies and one understanding boyfriend. art(@)austinist.com

Elizabeth S. News Editor Elizabeth S. comes from a long line of native Texans and has lived in Austin most of her life. She spent a year of the early aughts in the Twin Cities area (Americorps FTW!), but during that short time she said "y'all" as often as she could. A few of her favorite things: Twitter (@elizs), classic film, Horizontes on KUT, and the Austin Public Library. She still refers to the Mueller redevelopment as "the old airport," and perhaps always will. friendfeed news(@)austinist.com

Jeff Beckham Tech and Sports Editor Jeff grew up in Dallas but is quick to point out that he attended UT and has spent the last 10 years in Austin. He enjoys watching the Longhorns both from the far confines of Section 102 or from the comfort of his couch. website tech(@)austinist.com

dan solomon Theater Editor dan solomon is but a simple boy from texas. blog theater(@)austinist.com

Truecraig Columns Editor Truecraig writes amongst the ranks of the 78704, practices regular bearding, drinks in a sporting sort of way (like a two-day game of cricket), and believes that the production of sincere panda pornography might be the key to the survival of that particularly lazy bear species. Truecraig thinks that everyone takes themselves far too serious. Even you. But Truecraig likes you anyway, and wishes you would call him more often to talk about cuddly puppies, open sewage, and where all that killer-bad graffiti be at. idiot blog of truecraig truecraig(@)austinist.com

Shawn Shillington Urban Development Editor Shawn is an urban acolyte in the tradition of Jane Jacobs. He was born in Oklahoma, raised in Texas and educated in New York City. Shawn likes cool breezes, integration, longs walks in the city, street front retail, shotguns, trees, right angles, choice architecture, bikes, black and white. Shawn doesn't like hot air, isolation, direct light, highways through cities, parking, suburbia, hippies, boomers, colors or cancer. Shawn's website urban(@)austinist.com

Aaron Hierholzer Aaron Hierholzer is from the Texas Hill Country and is thus very well acquainted with peaches and antiquing. His primary interest is books, which he sometimes reviews for Austinist.

Adam Schragin Born and raised in San Antonio, schooled in Denton and Austin, arts writer and editor. The Apiary News

Adi Anand Adi grew up in New Delhi (south side represent), India. His family moved to Tejas in the 90‘s and he ended up in Austin at the University of Texas. Adi loves music, sports, kitties, and much much more, not necessarily in that order. He enjoys attending concerts and shows, sports events, and general fun occasions. He likes to play fútbol, tennis, ping pong, basketball, cricket, etc. In 2007, Adi fulfilled a life-long dream by sitting at the KOP end at Anfield. He watched the match too. From The Mind Of Adi

Anna Hanks Once upon a time, Anna fell in love with Austin. She\'s still crazy in love with this city. She also loves: Barton Springs, The Paramount Theatre, cheese, vintage sunglasses, Twitter, irony, single-stream recycling and that curvy green stretch of Lamar that runs next to Pease Park. She has a degree in philosophy and a taste for vampire pulp fiction. She enjoys taking blurry photographs at shows, then pretending they are "artistic." She\'s waiting for a competent palm-reader to explain what her freaky life-line means. shameless self promotion

Brady Dyer Currently on staff at the Blanton Museum of Art, Brady moved to Austin five years ago from Virginia. She earned a BA in English from VCU, and then spent an eternity finishing her MA in Humanities from Old Dominion University, also in VA. When she is not working at the Blanton, which is rare, she likes to go to the movies and to art openings, see music, hang out at happy hour...travels when she can, exercises when she doesn't want to, and is a soon-to-be volunteer at the Austin Humane Society.

Bryan Carroll Bryan is a product of the Upper Midwest. He lived in several of our nation\'s larger cities prior to settling in Austin with his wife and dog, where he currently hustles words, wrangles books, and contributes music-related content to the mighty Austinist. He's almost always on the lookout for superlative food and beverage. Vital stats: seasonally bearded, Arsenal supporter and Twins fan, sandwich connoisseur, lover of all things pumpkin. Occasional radio disc jockey, sucker for Christmas music, perpetual goofball. Twit it up

Caitlin Moore Caitlin was born in a state known for its gently swaying fields of wheat and excellent basketball (Rock Chalk Jayhawk) but Austin's winsome personality and robust events calendar persuaded her to leave it all behind. These days she spends her time writing, trying to keep up with her Google reader, going to shows, living a healthy yet beer-enhanced life and convincing herself that being a grad student is nothing to be ashamed of.

Candace Birkelbach When not walking her giant wolf dogs around Tarrytown, Candace is shoving her way to the front of a rock show or free drink party. Her incessant list-making obsession allows her to keep things running smoothly at Austin Bat Cave, a creative writing center for kiddos. The Leo raging within has led her to the microphone, where she hopes to someday replicate the tenacity of Alison Mosshart. Reading Tom Robbins and writing songs make her realize what's wrong with the world, while Kombucha and traveling show her what's right. Oh, she once climbed a glacier in Iceland at 4am.

Carly Kocurek Carly Kocurek researches, writes, and edits in Austin, where she's lived since 2004. She likes barrettes, cultural theory, rhinestones, and elaborately decorated desserts. She dislikes cold weather, microfilm, and the sound Velcro makes. blog

Chad Wadsworth Before arriving in Austin, self-taught photographer Chad Wadsworth's visual history of jobs worked and cities resided in could best be described as a spirograph. There was that stint in a cake factory and maybe something related to a bingo parlor, but he is here now, snapping bands doing their thing since way back in 2005. We hear he has flirted with nationals like Spin and Blender (RIP) but he finally got smart and decided to go all the way with the Austinst. old timey website here...

Clifford Allen I have been a student of music since my early college days and have written about it since 2002. In addition to The Austinist, my writing can be found in Signal To Noise, Paris Transatlantic, Bagatellen, All About Jazz, and One Final Note. I have also penned liner notes for releases on ESP-Disk', Clean Feed Records, 612 Sides (trumpeter Kelly Rossum) and Speetones (saxophonist/flutist James Spaulding). In addition to writing about music, I am an archivist. Ni Kantu

Darcie Duttweiler Darcie grew up in a town, attended some college, and has a day job, but none of those are as important as the loves of her life: hamburgers, vodka, and David Bowie. She lives on the East side with her soulmates: Mr. Big, a fat cat who's faster than he looks, and Pip, a no-tailed cat afraid of his own shadow. With their powers combined, they are capable of incredible feats, such as eating, sleeping, and watching disgusting amounts of television. What? They aren't superheroes. Twitter

Eric Uhlir Eric Uhlir is a professional photographer and designer living in Austin, TX. He specializes in editorial and portraiture and is an avid music fan and sometimes journalist. He contributes regularly to Austinist, and American Songwriter and has been published by Spin, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Venus Zine, Blender and Intersection. He loves live music. He also loves lamp. Portfolio

Joshua Huck Josh lives, writes, studies, and plays music in the soft, tanned, patchouli-scented bosom of Austin. Having had just about enough of cities like Dallas and Washington D.C., he migrated here in the Summer of 2003, quickly acclimating to the unpredictable weather and gregarious citizenry. A breakfast taco connoisseur of the highest order, he also makes a fairly wicked michelada. JoshuaHuck.com

Kelsey Kling Kelsey recently managed to cobble together her Masters in Theatre all the while yelling "no" and "stop that" to her 2-year-old twin hooligans and has decided that the key to it all is (drum roll) ...no sleep. She is a world-traveler, sometime-actor, would-be scholar, and a wishful chef. She is married to a wonderful soldier-man, but occasionally likes to escape her testosterone-laden lair to go to the theatre or drink beer, or both if she can swing it.

Luke Quinton Born on an island in Canada's North Atlantic, raised in a city that's never known a stranger, Luke drove a few thousand miles to Austin and hasn't left yet. Beliefs: The San Marcos is the most beautiful river in Texas, Rushmore is the greatest thing to ever come out of Houston, and two hours at a beer garden is the best use of a summer's afternoon. austin poetry project

Mac Blake If you catch cartoonist and comedian Mac Blake and say his secret name, he is required by forest law to grant you one wish. He is also part of the Mascot Wedding creative team, performs alongside Master Pancake Theater from time to time, does stand-up here and there, and co-hosts the Mascot Wedding show, a weekly radio program on 91.7 KOOP. His secret name is "tigerface." Bill and Erik

Matthew Frederick Matthew has been known to speak out of turn more than once and has been warned about it repeatedly so let us know if he does it again. He loves Austin as it's one of the few places he can walk five dogs and not get (too many) funny looks. Hiking and biking are things he likes to do though he doesn\'t do then as much as you‘d think, if he likes them so much. He always wanted to start a band but doesn\'t play anything and only sings well when alone in the shower...alone. (Oft-neglected) blog

Matthew Van DeWitt Matthew DeWitt is committed to finding new and better ways to describe the sounds that come out of guitar amplifiers, and equally committed to finding ways to make new and better sounds come out of guitar amplifiers. He also runs a blog at deepwaste.blogspot.com, where he posts mixtapes and writes lame essays about the cultural detritus of the nineties. He's moved to Houston for some peace and quiet, but will most likely be back before he turns 30. deep waste blog

Mike Agresta Mike has lived in Austin since 2004 and got an MFA in Fiction from UT in 2008. He writes mostly stories and novels, and sometimes also promotional materials, web content, articles, grants, and such, for money or for love. He has worked on Wall Street and in a chocolate factory, and his coolest boss ever (aside from Allen) was a retired founding member of GWAR. Mike's interests include the extraordinary and the everyday. freelance

Nash Cook The only thing Nash Cook fears is an army of rats riding on a wave of snakes headed to the moon. flickr

Nick Courtright Nick Courtright is a phenomenon/is not a phenomenon. There is a good chance he is from Ohio, where he may be the oldest of six kids. Word is he teaches a variety of absurdities at St. Edward's and Southwestern Universities, and has a <1 year old son (not pictured) who is so freaking cute it's ridiculous. Apparently, he publishes lots of poetry in national literary journals of which <1 billion people have heard. He is, so it is said, a fan of mangling a sentence just to avoid ending it with a preposition. Perhaps you should buy him dinner. Google Profile

Patrick Dentler A proud graduate of Austin High and The University of Texas, when Patrick is not working for Austinist you can find him running the trail, on his bike or with a camera around his neck. He enjoys his work at C3 Presents and loves nothing more than surrounding himself with his friends, who wake up early for the springs and stay up late for Mag Mud. To this day, they continue on an ambitious mission to sit on every dimly-lit front porch in Austin. photography website

Pooneh Ghana Pooneh is a student and freelance photographer currently living in Austin. She enjoys spending what money's she's got on polaroids, new camera gear, impulsively traveling around the world to go to shows, and endless Mountain Dew to keep her up at night so she can edit photos (chronic insomnia at it's finest). My Website

Rachael Sawyer Rachael was born into the turbulent cultural hotbed that is Utah at that very zenith of culture, the 80s. A brunette, she was awarded a minority scholarship to study in Salt Lake City, a magical place where you can drink beer all day long and never get drunk. So beloved was she by the god-fearing locals, they demanded her opinions be recorded in the daily papers, thus fulfilling her mother\'s repeated suggestion that maybe she\'d just grow up to be a professional critic, since she knows so much. A student of traditional Chinese medicine, Rachael vows never to cause a patient to listen to Enya.

Rebecca Onion Rebecca Onion is a doctoral student in American Studies at UT/Austin. In a past life, she was an active freelance writer (www.rebeccaonion.com), but now most of her workaday efforts are devoted to her dissertation, garden, kitchen, and husband. Oh, and Austinist, of course. rebeccaonion.com

Robert Stiller Robert is currently studying electrical engineering at UT, but he is an NBA point guard at heart. His vices include Irish whiskey, Camel Turkish Silvers and fast women. Rob has been rocking the 512 area code, the 78705 postal code, and the 99-cent Wendy's extra-value menu since the summer of 2006.

Sarah Marie Sarah Marie loves fairytales, and isn\'t afraid to appease her teenage selves. Nothing satisfies those passions like higher learning, so she\'s pursuing her Masters degree in Young Adult and Children\'s Literature. When she\'s not at Hollins University, she\'s here in Austin, pillaging the Mythology sections of used bookstores and writing in every medium. She loves bad techno, good techno, people who do adventurous things with pianos, insights in languages she doesn\'t understand, and anything that reminds her of the folk music she grew up on. She adores food, especially root vegetables, and movies, especially documentaries about strange and inspiring people.

Steve Hopson Steve came to Austin for UT and never left, thinking the best part of his home-town of Houston is seeing it in his rear-view mirror. Policy wonk by day, nights find Steve leaping tall buildings in single bounds and photographing world-class musicians in poorly lighted bars. Steve believes that photos really do capture souls, that Austin is a better place for all the newcomers, and that espresso should be illegal. Steve loves reading the Sunday New York Times, bands whose names begin with 'The,' and Italy. Steve doesn't think that there will ever be another photographer as great as Henri Cartier-Bresson, but that doesn't stop him from giving it his best shot. My home page

Thinman Thinman grew up on the Gulf Coast of Florida, survived too many long Nashville winters, then drove his sunshine-yellow VW Beetle to Texas, where he discovered that even in Dallas, spring is a beautiful thing. He covers books, the Austin literary scene and, from time to time, assorted singularities.

Tom Thornton By day, Tom helps the residents of Central, East, and South Austin find homes and condos to call their own. He moonlights as a music, food and wine writer for Austinist. In his leisure time, Tom loves the Spurs, craft brews, new world wine, Chelsea, Britpop, nachos, SXSW, Scrabble, Caffe Medici, Perla's, Jackalope burgers, and (especially) time with his wife and two daughters. Tom has been to 28 countries, but sure loves living in Southwest Austin. If he had a theme song, it would be by Hot Chip or Cut Copy. day job

Travis Sandoval Travis Sandoval fled the Mexikennedy Estate in South Texas in 2003 to pursue his love of film at the University of Texas. Somehow he got sidetracked into a graphic/web design career along the way. He also loves a good drink special and talking lesbians out of flannel. website

Tyler Nutter A West Texan who moved to Austin in early 2007, Tyler loves good BBQ, tacos, and pizza. He has two dogs and enjoys spending lazy days on the sofa watching tv with them. Tyler is a photographer, a mac geek, prefers 2 wheels over 4, and lives in South Austin with his lady friend. website

William Mills He finished school in the southeast as quick as he could (7 years), packed up his beatup '89 Mustang with everything he could (futon mattress, TV, lamp) and sped off toward Austin, where he knew two people. He's a documentary addict, a recovering vegetarian, was once an astronomy major, finds the lives of transients romantic, loves calamari and Christmas, thinks revolutions are almost always a good idea, doesn't believe in the whole 2012 thing, and has been writing a musical for the past few years now that he swears will revive the genre.

Zachary Douglas A working class musician hailing from the great state of confusion, Zachary has delusions of grandeur and a sick obsession with the minutiae of recording music. Please do not call him Josh. You can usually find posts from him under News and/or Politics. Zachary is your friend. Zachary is not Joshua. Zachary's Band