When Joseph Campbell said, "Follow your bliss," what artist Jason Hackenwerth heard was, "If you love blowing balloons, git up on it." And so he did. Today, Hackenwerth's latex balloon sculptures are highly sought after; they exude an organic, 20,000 Leagues kind of invertebrate charm. Several colorful, oxygen-plumped specimens will be on display at The Blanton Museum, "...until [the pieces] run out of air." That will likely be around mid-November, unless an evil-doing darts player... more ›

Highlights for this week: The Royal Family bids adieu to the east side with a giant Halloween bash, featuring DJ sets by Stay Gold, a costume contest, and a whopping 75% off the entire store inventory The Blanton Museum of Art opens up afterhours on Friday for its monthly B scene, with art from the American West and music by the Unfortunate Heads and DJ Spooky Texas Fun Fun Fun Fest takes over Waterloo Park... more ›

The spur collection once belonging to a W.F. "Bill" Reynolds, late of Wichita Falls, TX, is to be auctioned off this weekend in Waco, in what's being billed as one of the biggest such auctions ever held. more ›

Over the past 40 years, the voice of Willie Nelson has come to represent everything Texan and Western. And now he is using that significant voice to speak out against the abuse of another symbol of the American West, wild horses. The Abbott, Texas native has joined in the fight to help protect wild horses from being slaughtered and used as Happy Meals overseas. On September 7th, Congress will convene to argue over HR... more ›

As a uniquely American genre, westerns have traveled a long and dusty trail since John Ford’s My Darling Clementine. In John Hillcoat’s The Proposition, the trail winds its way to the Australian Outback. Brutal yet brilliant, beautiful though bloody, the screenplay by Aussie rocker Nick Cave (The Bad Seeds) holds true to the elements of the genre: Symbolic of all things good is the woman from the east, a fight for survival and power against... more ›

MONDAY [27] [ music ] Jay Moeller's Birthday Blues Bash, with Ephraim Owens, Mike Barfield, Scott Nelson, Damien Llanes, James Bullard, and loads more at The Continental Club (9:30pm) (link) [ music ] KOOP Radio Monday Benefit with Guy Forsyth, Wammo and Sick, and Southpaw Jones. Hosted by Owen Egerton (of Sinus) at Ruta Maya ($5, 8:30pm) (link) [ art ] "Art is Imagination": Paintings of the American West at Blanton Museum of Art (Free,... more ›