This summer, Austin resident Scott Blackwood received the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Award for his forthcoming novel, We Agreed to Meet Just Here. His collection of short stories, In The Shadow of Our House (2002), received great reviews. In The Shadow of Our House interweaves nine tales of Austin — marriages falling apart, youthful anger erupting into inexplicable violence, sudden tragedy testing family bonds, and adulterers caught between incomplete worlds. Blackwood’s keen sense......

The complete schedule for the 14th annual Austin Film Festival has been announced, and it looks pretty amazing. 79 feature films and 98 shorts will screen over the course of eight days at various locations in Austin, beginning on October 11th with Brett Morgen’s much hyped docudrama Chicago 10, starring Hank Azaria, Dylan Baker, Nick Nolte, Mark Ruffalo, Roy Scheider, Liev Schreiber and Jeffrey Wright. Jason Reitman's brilliant new comedy Juno (starring Ellen Page, Michael......

If there is one thing that we love, it’s a good party. There are stipulations of course: there needs to be great people, great food, great drinks, great entertainment and of course, the crowning factor, we must have had absolutely nothing to do with organizing it. Thankfully, we can always count on the Austin Film Festival to do the heavy lifting for us and on Wednesday, October 10th, they are serving up just what we......

As most of us know, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) is making it harder and harder for Internet radio producers to finance their stations. Retroactive royalty fees and increased future fees are forcing webcasters into a corner: the fees increase both per-listener and per-song rates, and are based on audience size, increasing as listeners do. This proposed scheme would put public radio stations that stream their broadcasts and web-based radio programming at a great disadvantage......

Perhaps there is a reason Spain doesn't allow bullfighting under age 16. We have our own ideas for Barton Springs, including a water-slide and pool-bar with seats in the water. You know like at the resorts in Cancun? A lesser known symptom of Irritable Bowl Syndrome: shoplifting. Intel is making some announcements and just running the competition into the ground. Come on guys, having a gay affair isn't so bad. The Girl Scouts are......

Tomorrow marks the start of the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival. If you had any doubt that our town is becoming more foodie and cosmopolitan, you need only look at the myriad "SOLD OUT" announcements on the THCWFF's site to quickly lose that notion. But while many tastings are already full, we still see two events on the wine calendar well worth recommending as last minute bookings: A Wine Dinner w/ Simi......

Here's a situation that's all too common: it's mid-March and SXSW has taken over Austin, but you've been so busy with work and managed to ignore most of the party announcements buzzing around the internet for the past month. So you're stuck at the last minute, painfully hungover, digging through your inbox and a handful of websites to figure out just what parties to go to. "Why can't someone just tell us what the......

Last week, the Chronicle announced details for wristband acquisition, and though the .pdf is a little hard to digest, SXSW Baby! broke it down for us: In short, wristband information will only be sent out to 512 area code numbers via the official SXSW SMS list right before wristbands go on sale. Looks like if you live in Austin, you must be willing and ready to drop everything to go purchase them! SXSW will......

In the midst of the usual band rumors, keynote speaker announcements, and day party secrecy comes the SXSW 2007 Volunteer Call at the Hilton. Vital components in the smooth functioning of the festival, ordinary lay-people have long done the tasks that make SXSW an annual success. And for those of us too broke to afford the platinum badge, and perhaps too clever in realizing how useless the wristband is, the Volunteer Badge is a......

No band announcements today, but we'll share a few administrative details: Today is the cutoff date to register for SXSW badges at their current rates. After this, prices jump up as much as $80 (Platinum Badges), through February 9th. [link] Paste Magazine and DiscRevolt are throwing a contest for up-and-coming bands to win a spot in their SXSW party lineup. The grand prize winners also score housing, a mention in the magazine, and other......

As SX07 approaches, we'll be keeping you informed on all of the official confirmations, rumors, and non-SX events that we feel are worth your attention. With January's arrival, a lot of news has surfaced in the past few days. Here's a quick recap: Confirmed Performers (via SXSW): Pete Townshend, Rachel Fuller, Emmylou Harris, The Stooges, Interpol, Lily Allen, Bloc Party, Devin The Dude, Hoodoo Gurus, Matt & Kim, Ghostland Observatory, The Watson Twins, Stax......

We'll get the bad news out of the way first: Junior Boys, Hot Chip, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have all slighted Austin on their fall tour schedules. So if you were hoping for one of these shows, start saving for a JetBlue flight. Thankfully, almost every other indie-Pitchfork-college rock band known to man will touch down in our town between now and Thanksgiving. There were a flurry of new show announcements over......

There's something for everyone this week in the Austinist concert update. Hip-hop and DJ culture from Cut Chemist and Jurassic 5, 80's college rock from The English Beat and The Church, and, well, 90's college rock from Rollins Band and Eels. There's also a healthy dose of sleaze with the Peaches and Eagles of Death Metal Bill, and some classic punk from X. On with the shows: Newly announced: 7/08 Cut Chemist @ Waterloo......

Last-minute logistical considerations have forced us to move our private afterparty to a different space. Things are going as planned, but unfortunately we're not able to accomodate nearly as many people as we initially anticipated -- as such, we'll be sending out final announcements today and tomorrow to those who RSVPed. But don't lose hope if you're not on the final list! We'll have a very small set of extra spots saved for the first......

Even though the summer concert season is rapidly coming to an end, there were several major concert announcements this past week. The bad news is that Austin isn’t getting a lot of love these days, as most of these shows are an hour away. If you won’t be roasting yourself at ACL, My Chemical Romance will be playing in San Antonio on September 24th at Sunset Station. This great bill also includes the Alkaline......

Before we begin the new music, we have two concert announcements. Apparently the Frank Erwin Center does still hold concerts, as they will host the Austin date for the Foo Fighters/Weezer show. Tickets range in price from $30 to $50 and go on sale this Saturday. The show will be Wednesday, September 14th. If you prefer space rock over geek rock then write this down on your Star Wars calendar: Coheed and Cambria are......