Raising money for a good cause can be tough. While television dramadies offer up solutions like d.i.y. methamphetamine production and/or asking for charity via sad web design (what, no floating volumetric flask gifs?), a few Austin events are helping you party - legally! happily! - while you pay it forward. more ›

The fourth-annual Pachanga! Latino Music Festival takes place May 21st at Fiesta Gardens, and the organizers have just announced a sub-festival for kids called Niños Rock Pachanga. Free to kids under twelve with their paying parents, the tyke-centric area will feature activities including clay tamale crafting, mask making, and a cupcake walk. Photobooth queen Annie Ray will do her thing inside, and you'll also find workshops and hear performances by Conjunto Romo and Ozokidz, "the children's themed project of three-time Grammy winning artist Ozomatli." more ›

We’ve been fans of Learning Secrets for quite a while now. Besides constantly hosting bumping residencies around town (currently every Friday at Red Fez), LS regularly brings in revered DJs and the like. This Thursday, at Republic Live, LS presents Erol Alkan, disc jockey, producer, musician, and all-around bad-ass purveyor of pulsating beats galore. Somewhat of a legend, at least in the U.K., Alkan was an integral part of the fabled Trash events in London, and has worked with acts such as The Long Blondes and Boyz Noize. He has also remixed material by a whole slew of luminaries including Franz Ferdinand, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Hot Chip, Justice, and Klaxons. A rather impressive resume, if you ask us. Don’t miss out on this inevitable dance party -- get your tickets here. And check out this hilarious promo video by the LS team. more ›

This is one of those weekends when Austinites are truly spoiled with choices in terms of picking that perfect show to attend -- keep checking the site for our previews of choice concerts in town -- there are a few additional events that the Austinist Weekend Music Preview just cannot ignore. more ›

We were lucky enough to pin Ms. Ray down for most of the weekend in the backstage media area at Waterloo Park, and here's what she spent her afternoons looking at. more ›

We kicked off Fun Fun Fun Fest weekend with our annual Local Music Is Sexy party at the Mohawk. Thank you so much to Brothers & Sisters, Foot Patrol, the Lovely Sparrows, Leatherbag and the Eastern Sea for providing the local lineup, and to Dengue Fever for ending the night with a bang. more ›

We're proud of this community, and we can't think of a better time to celebrate it than on the eve of Fun Fun Fun Festival. Join on us November 7 promptly at 8 p.m. for Local Music Is Sexy VI at the Mohawk Bar on Red River. more ›

*Editor's Note: Every Wednesday, we will be bringing you a set of photographs taken by our photo essay staff. Any opinions conveyed via the photographs or commentary are those of the essayist and are not representative of Austinist as a whole.* more ›

The lawns of Austin's portable homes, as seen by Annie Ray. more ›

When we caught up with Ian Orth in April, we discovered that he had big plans going forward for his Learning Secrets entity. True to his word, Orth and Learning Secrets deliver a blockbuster party this Saturday in conjunction with Transmission Entertainment at The Mohawk. Besides having a stint at the DJ booth himself this evening, Orth also welcomes fellow local DJ Abominatron to take a stab at the beats. But the ace up the sleeve is British DJ and producer Riton (pronounced Ree-ton) who has wrought dance parties all across the globe and collaborated with artists such as Erol Alkan and Soulwax. more ›

Japanese outfit Boris derives its name from the opening track on the 1991 Melvins record Bullhead and much of its down-tempo drone-rock shares a musical border with the legendary Washington area act. Boris has released a number of stellar records since forming in the 90’s; their full-length studio album count per our math currently stands at 14. Their debut, Absolutego, originally consisted of one 60 minute title-track, but the U. S. release by Southern Lord Records a few years later featured an even longer version of Absolutego and included a bonus song. Highly experimental, extremely sludgy, sometimes psychedelic, and full of scorching riffs, the band has walked the fine line between different genres over the course of its career and employed an array of noise generating devices over time, resulting in a sometimes deranged, often convoluted sound that could be the soundtrack to many a scary movie or just your everyday angst. We are licking are chops already in anticipation of a belligerent performance this Saturday at The Mohawk. Torche and Clouds open with their respective brands of raucous rock. (Buy your tickets here.) more ›

Austinist & Gothamist are proud to announce our SXSW day party, taking place on Wednesday, March 12 at the Mohawk. The party kicks off around 11 a.m., and the day ends at 6, but not before Shout Out Louds, Shearwater, Liam Finn and Phosphorescent perform. As usual, the party is free, open to all. See you then! more ›

Image from Birds Barbershop Man FestSaturday, December 1Birds Barbershop (2110 S. Lamar)Free, 2pm-7pm[info]Need a dose of machismo this weekend? Get your arm wrestling biceps and triceps warmed up for some very manly fun at Man Fest — a free testosterone-filled afternoon hosted by PartyEnds.com at Birds Barbershop. This is the kick off event for the salon's Man Month, where men's hair products are half off with a purchase of a cut. There’s going to be... more ›

Waller Creek Design Workshop. Image from City of Austin News Austin Music Commission's Town Hall Meeting Notes AMD Sued Over Birth Defects Plant a Tree for Freedom Waller Creek Design and Vision Workshop At This Rate, We're Having Our Next Happy Hour in Cancun Pangaea: It's For Real, Y'all UT Biologists Propose Biodiversity Institute Save BookWoman! Austin Music Commission Considering Plan to Stop the Rock They've Got the Lasers... Now All You Need is... more ›

Photo of Diplo courtesy Annie RayFun Fun Fun Fest lived up to its name in spades last weekend, showcasing local and not-so local bands of all genres on three stages in two short days. Day two was a waiting game of sorts for a lot of festival-goers, and judging by the crowd at Mohawk the night before, many people had only had a taste of Murder City Devils, and were craving more. Stage three was... more ›

Ed Note: Austinist and Prototype Vintage hosted the media tent at this year's Fun Fun Fun Fest. Throughout the weekend, we invited festival artists and audience members alike to come and have their portraits taken—what you see above is the result of two days' worth of impromptu photo shoots, featuring everyone from Of Montreal and Final Fantasy to the good people of APD and the friendly backstage security guard, Dylan. Photos courtesy of Austinist... more ›

Photos from last Thursday's MisShapes event at Beauty Bar. Photos courtesy of Annie Ray. If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.... more ›

If there was a memo about sporting black-tie attire to the Runway to Heaven fashion show, we didn't get it. We dressed way down (think just-got-out-of-the-pool-and-threw-on-some-jeans) compared to the high-heeled and coiffed attendees—so we jokingly told the charming and stylish gawkers sitting next to us in the "media" seats that we were with Vice Magazine. Friday's event at the UT Alumni Center showcased creations from emerging local designers and raised money for charity at... more ›

Today we're rolling out a new weekly feature: Fashion Flash, where we profile one standout guy and girl. We may not be the style police, but we have a style-crush on these two people this week. What do you think? Tell us in the comments!TAS2-ONEAlison Benton Musician, spotted outside of Spiro's Where did you buy your clothes? Buffalo Exchange, Urban Outfitters and Cream Vintage. (The limited edition Sailor Jerry Chuck Taylor All Stars he's wearing... more ›

Service Menswear moved, but not far: they're now behind By George in the Cissis Market shopping center (1400 South Congress), right next to Mars restaurant. We featured Service Menswear in our Spring Picks feature (see our model on the right), and we're excited to see how they're filling their larger space. And speaking of boutiques, the other By George (the one across from Whole Foods on Lamar) is getting choice runway looks from Chloe... more ›

Back during SXSW, we booked an opening DJ for Local Music is Sexy III on a total whim, encouraged by the recommendation of our fashion editor. We were so impressed with DJ Markus ("with a K") that we asked him back to spin at our day party, which he managed with aplomb. We dug it. Former Denton/DFW residents might recognize Markus from his gigs with popular DJ trio The Flashlight Party, which enjoyed residencies at... more ›