Mess With Texas during SXSW last year was a huge hit in the cozy confines of Red 7 and MWT2 promises to be an even bigger bash with a wide variety of musical acts and comedians on tap. Waterloo Park is the host this year and this year’s free, all ages show kicks off at noon on Saturday the 15th. But of course there are so many other day shows, parties, and what not going on in the town that the sponsors (including Forcefield PR, Record Store Day, JetBlue Entertainment, Fuel TV, SuperDeluxe.com, and Garnier Fructis) want to give you V.I.P. treatment if you can write a witty piece of prose. As has been the case with other stellar Waterloo Park shows, local entity Transmission Entertainment has helped organize this brouhaha....

"I was initially drawn to Crawford, because I'd been effectively duped. I didn't know that Bush wasn't from Crawford."...

Loaded Gun Theory is running their original new work The Automat at the Dougherty Arts Center. One word: Robots! 3/6-8, 12-15 @8pm & 3/9 @ 5pm. [tickets] // Austin darling Joe Hartman brings his Overwhelming Underdogs to Arts on Real. Thru 3/16, Th-Sa @8pm / Sun @5:30. [tickets]...

Primary results from national/state/local races: So even though it seems that Hillary won the Texas primary (it's interesting that Obama led in statewide early voting), Obama may beat her in delegate numbers. In the GOP race, McCain is now the GOP candidate as Huckabee gives up the ghost. In Travis County, Ron Paul won 17% of the vote . . . ...

There's a Joke in Here Somewhere: Clinton Campaign Stations Media Next to Toilets At yesterday's "Texas-sized Town Hall" at the Austin Convention Center, Senator Hillary Clinton's media entourage was forced to work out of a men's bathroom in a nearby community center. "It was immediately interpreted as something of a metaphor for the Clinton campaign's attitude to the press: With Sen. Hillary Clinton at Austin's convention center for 'a Texas-sized townhall,' her media entourage......

Unlike past primaries where the Presidential nominees were already decided by the time we voted, Texas' votes are quite significant this year. After the polls close this evening, the party's not over; it's precinct convention time! This whole caucus thing is new to us, so we thought it was worth posting a refresher....

At a time when so many indie dramas focus on directionless white twenty-somethings, it's refreshing (if not downright invigorating) to see a film about two black twenty-somethings who have no ostensible interest in dancefighting, and who have plenty to say about relationships, identity, and cultural displacement. Director Barry Jenkins' debut feature, Medicine For Melancholy, follows urbanites Micah and Jo as they shake off the haze of a drunken one-night-stand. As they bicycle around the streets......

If you're not familiar with the industrious Balmorhea-ns, you're doing yourself a grave disservice, and, frankly, need to get in touch with the scene. The music is vast, yet meticulously restrained: melancholy, determined pianos slowly upended by cellos, soft-spoken conversations between two acoustic guitars, and distant, inscrutable audio samples that elaborate on what each piece seems to urgently chronicle. ...

In Intimidad, documentarians Ashley Sabin and David Redmon follow the lives of Cecy and Camilo, a young couple living in Reynosa, Mexico. Cecy and Camilo both work for minimum wage in maquiladoras, trying to save money to buy land, build themselves a house, and bring their daughter Loida back to live with them....

Watching the presidential primary unfold these last few weeks, the thought has often occurred to us: "When will Obama and Clinton shut up about saving the people of Darfur from displacement and genocide, and start talking about the important stuff, like plaigarized speeches and superdelegates?" Haven't had the same reaction? Tonight, a very different kind of politics will be on display at the B. Iden Payne Theatre at the University of Texas. Our city will play host to one of the great voices for democracy and social justice in post-colonial Africa. ...

Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch speaks on evil record companies, Phil Collins, the ugly faces of politicians, shitty guitar solos, future collaboration with Modest Mouse, and old reggae guys getting high. Alright, so Built to Spill is one of the greatest, most influential, and most acclaimed bands of the past fifteen years. There's really no way around it. And for those of you who are a little late to the love-in, here's a very small sample of some of the things that have been said about them:         "A band whose talent and proficiency at times seem[s] boundless." --Pitchfork Media         "Flawless." --Trigger Magazine         "In short, he's a talent more people ought to know about." --Rolling Stone, on Doug Martsch         "Better than getting laid, finding God and winning the lotto combined." --San Francisco Weekly, just last week when discussing their live performance...

I understand the motive. We have perverts and pedophiles walking the halls of our schools. Perverts and pedophiles entrusted with the care-taking of our young, impressionable chil’ins. I have to wonder though. Hasn't this always been the case or have we just degenerated into some sort of depraved fetishists that the world has never been exposed to before?...

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!...

SXSW Film Fest Producer Matt DentlerLast year we chatted with SXSW Film Festival producer and all-around cool guy Matt Dentler about film programming, Austin audiences and Texas filmmakers. This year, he's answered even more of our questions--and this time around, we talked Mumblecore, Global Doc Days, and SXSW success stories. Has the media attention around "Mumblecore" ultimately been a positive or negative thing for the Festival and the filmmakers? As much as it's a term......

After Van Halen, Bruce Springsteen, Radiohead, and Jay-Z all elected to skip Austin on their spring US tours, it's not unreasonable to feel that our music-loving town seems to be off the radar of the arena pop and rock circuit. This despite a perfectly functional (if rather dated) basketball arena smack in the center in town. Thankfully, the Louis Vuitton Don Kanye West agrees with you, and has elected to show Austin some big-production love with a date here at The Frank Erwin Center in late April....

Sonic Boom (a.k.a. Peter Kember) makes his 2nd appearance in Austin within the last six months at The Mohawk on Saturday. Since our city regularly hosts acts numerous times in a year, this might not seem too extraordinary. But this is no ordinary act -- Sonic Boom was once part of the legendary British outfit Spacemen 3 whose psychedelic innovations influenced many of the bands you might listen to today....

...Obama delineates his popularity, and receives the longest applause yet. Hillary shifts, the glow in her eyes flickers. Something has changed, and she can taste it. Maybe the phrase that crosses her mind is 'tipping point'....

The other night, Warren—my hot, cocky, young boyfriend—came over after work to pick me up. As soon as he arrived, I popped a Vicodin. I love Vicodin. I love it for many reasons. First of all, I am in my ninth year of not drinking, if you don’t count the three times I accidentally ingested booze hidden in food (hint to teetotalers: watch out for that sake laced mussel broth at Uchi, people) and the sip of Kahlua I had mixed in a coffee one night at Jeffrey’s. (Aside: For the record, Spike is not one to frequent places like Uchi and Jeffrey’s. Really. Those were special occasions.) I also haven’t had any pot, if you don’t count two hits in Mexico, December ’06 (and no, I did not inhale), since the late nineties, when I needed hourly bong hits in order to maintain my “relationship” with the bikini-underpants-clad cheater I mentioned last week. So, like, nearly a decade ago....

Mayor Will Wynn issued the following address to the estimated 400 press and party-affiliated people coming into town for tonight's festivities: "Tonight we're honored to witness a great contest of ideas -- truly, the democratic process at its best. When the debate is done, each of us will take time to reflect on the solemn decision that lies before us... Will it be Tex-Mex or BBQ?!!! As the Mayor of this great city, it is......

As the growth of downtown continues to explode, so does the need for commuter friendly alternatives - enter the bike. Granted nothing new, but with Lance Armstrong's recent unveiling of plans for a commuter biker shop, he really is bringing biking back. According to Armstrong: "This city is exploding downtown. Are all these people in high rises going to drive everywhere? We have to promote (bike) commuting."...

The Mohawk presents a solid double bill of local pop this evening. The Lemurs have been writing new material over the last few months and a handful of those songs will be included in their set tonight. The band enjoyed a stellar 2007 -- highlights included licensing their music to NBC show Las Vegas (as well as an Australian indie flick called Newcastle) and touring with Canadian act Stars. This past Sunday, ME Television telecast a 2nd ME Live! featuring The Lemurs' shimmering melodies in concert at a recent La Zona Rosa gig....

Austin's Balmorhea released River's Arms last week, and kicked off their tour here in town. Their tour to support the record will follow the east coast, and land them back here in time for some SXSW gigs. Sample some of the instrumental band's lulling, hypnotic tunes c/o Western Vinyl, and check back here for a full-length review very soon....

As Austin grows, our unofficial motto should probably be modified from ‘Keep Austin Weird’ to simply, ‘Keep Austin.’ Maybe it's a small defeat. Or maybe it's simply falling back to more secure positions....

As you may well know, Rad is the most awfully awesome BMX movie this side of BMX Bandits. Starring Bill Allen, Lori Loughlin (better known as "Aunt Becky" on Full House) and Bart Conner (a gold medal-winning Olympic gymnast and husband of Nadia Comaneci), Rad follows the adventures of BMX riding paperboy Cru Jones as ditches his SATs to qualify for Helltrack, a big-time bike race with serious professional competition....

Bust out your day planner, or your spreadsheet, or your Google Calendar, or whatever the hell you use to organize your life--the full schedule for the SXSW Film Festival has been released, including all features, docs, shorts and panels....

The iconic Grant Hart, of well-earned Hüsker Dü fame, headlines for Grand Champeen and The Service Industry tonight inside the Mohawk. Hüsker Dü, for those of you who don't remember, or are merely too young to have been a part of their revolution, were one of the most influential hardcore punk bands in history. Not only were they one of the first underground successes to sign to a major label, but they were the first group to truly weave melody into the greater punkrock mentality. Basically, without their influence, we wouldn't have had bands like the Pixies, Green Day, and some little garage outfit called Nirvana. And Grant Hart, my friends, was Hüsker Dü's drummer and part-time songwriter....

As the trendiness of "going green" evolves more into an issue of long term sustainability, Austin continues to thrive when it comes to merging civic leadership, local business, and tactical implementation for more sustainable living. Popular Science recently released a list of the top 50 greenest cities and Austin rounded out the top 10. Other Texas cities making the top 50 include Fort Worth, Amarillo, and Laredo. ...

Though wholly deserved, it was a little surprising to find our favorite bedroom nerd-rockers Hot Chip on the cusp of huge fame last year. Their album The Warning went gold in the UK, a Mercury Music Prize nomination followed, and sold-out shows across the US and Europe became the norm. This from fellows who record in a London bedsit and look like they walked out of the Dell engineer's cafeteria. As a sold-out crowd at Antone's last May attested to, the group's unique mix of electronics, blue-eyed soul, club bangers, and indie-rock captivated many worldwide searching for a new voice. Hot Chip have always claimed that they loved lots of music, but that nobody made the exact music that they wanted to listen to. And their pastiche of their influences backed the statement up - critics weren't sure what to compare them to. But they sure loved them....

Abel Morin, Jr. was convicted of raping a woman and her daughter (his neighbors) in 2006. A week ago today, he was in the midst of being transferred from Duval County to Jim Hogg County Jail when he came upon the unlocked door. He went on to hot-wire a U-Haul truck and used it to flee to San Diego (Texas) where his family lives; investigators found the truck near a creek in the town this weekend....

As we move to the next square on the calendar you're still out there trying to make a connection. Sadly you let most of them slip by without saying a word. We understand, no one wants to be overzealous and get shot down. If only you had some place to find a second chance. Oh yes, Missed Connections. If only you had someone to sort through and find the best of the above. Oh, right, read below....