With her story "The Girls of Summer Redux" on the cover of last week's Austin Chronicle, music writer Audra Schroeder bids farewell to five years of work for our city's premiere alt-weekly. It's a fine cap to a career that has taken Schroeder into the wilds of Austin's underground, where she frequently explored the freaky, the avant-garde, and the feminine subcategories of sound. Part of a triptych of new blood in the Chronicle's music staff rounded out by Austin Powell and Doug Freeman, Schroeder lent a fresh viewpoint to a scene that alternately cleaves to the past as it itches to move forward. more ›

The Austin Chronicle's annual best-of poll is now open! You can share your pick for the city's best Farmer's Market, Film Critic, Local Blog, Local Entertainment Website (*cough cough*), Swimming Hole, Austin Icon and more. Online voting is open through Monday, July 18th. [Austin Chronicle: Best of Austin 2011 poll] more ›

Released this month, the Austin Chronicle Music Anthology holds a treasure trove of articles reflecting the evolution of Austin's music scene and musicians over the past several decades. For more background information, you'll want to read the Austinist review. In order to celebrate the book's release, Antone's will host a party on Wednesday, March 9, with all proceeds going to Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM). The impressive eclectic lineup includes Standing Waves, Kathy McCarty, the Skunks, the Gourds, Poi Twang (billed as a one-time-only collaboration between David Garza, Abra Moore, and members of Poi Dog Pondering), and the Crack Pipes, along with special guest Daniel Johnston. Austinist spoke with co-editors Austin Powell and Doug Freeman to find out more about what all it took to put this amazing collection together. more ›

SXSW Music begins on the 15th and ends on the 20th. That is all we are really thinking about right now. Later this week we'll be previewing some of the more noteworthy day parties, and we'll also be putting together a post detailing our recommendations for the official events. more ›

In 1981 The Austin Chronicle invented itself, becoming one of the foremost voices in Travis County while simultaneously offering a counter-cultural rejoinder to the reportage of the Austin-American Statesman. Smart and hungry, the writers of the young Chronicle busied themselves beyond expectation in those early years to cover an emergent culture that was quickly making Austin one of the most livable cities in the country. more ›

Greenling, which has won the Austin Chronicle's "Best Local Food Company in Austin" for four years now, is throwing a "Best of Austin" Bash this Thursday at the Hummingbird House (another Chronicle "Best of" winner) from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Admission is free. The evening includes a buffet-style potluck with appetizers, sides, entrees, desserts and drinks from local restaurants, vendors and chefs. more ›

What better way is there to beat this record heat than to sweat your ass off eating some of the best hot sauces in town at the 20th annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival? Join the throngs of chile-heads looking for the spiciest homemade, restaurant and bottled hot sauces this Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m at Waterloo Park. more ›

It's time again for the Chronicle's Sound Wars competition. Starting January 28 through February 15, local bands are able to enter the now annual songwriting challenge to compete for cash, prizes and bragging rights. more ›

Ballots are tucked inside new issues of the paper, but you can also vote online. more ›

The number nerds at Miller-McCune recently took a stab at crunching all the aggregated film data on Metacritic.com. The result is a series of charts illustrating how movie stars tend to rate with the critics, and, in turn, which of the nation's top 25 most prolific reviewers tend to be more or less favorable when it comes to doling out scores. more ›

On behalf of this staff of writers, photographers and section editors, we'd like to offer our heartfelt thanks to you guys for voting us Best of Austin for the fourth year in a row! Like in 2008, our incredible readers voted us 'Best Local Blog' and 'Best Local Entertainment Website' for 2009; we're truly honored, and vow to keep up our daily coverage of what's going on around town. more ›

There's a Greezy Wheels-sponsored meeting to discuss returning KUT vets Paul Ray and Larry Monroe to full-time status. Meanwhile, Joe Gross gets to know their replacement, Matt Reilly. more ›

We checked in with Stephen Moser, Austin Chronicle's resident social columnist, yesterday afternoon after news of his arrest over alleged arson charges broke. "I send big kisses from the Big House, and love from the Lock-Up," he says to our readers. Moser is currently out of jail and resting in seclusion until the facts of this "nightmare," as he calls it, get sorted out. more ›

That story we posted last week about the Toyota Supra that mysteriously caught on fire in the City Hall parking garage took a turn for the even more bizarre today, when it was reported that local officials had arrested Austin Chronicle fashion guru and beloved social columnist Stephen Moser on arson charges. According to Austin Fire Department officials, the car in question belonged to Moser's roommate. more ›

The first 2009 issue of the will include a ballot for their 28th Annual Austin Music Poll. But if you don't want to have to use snail mail to send the paper ballot in, you can vote for your pick for Best New Austin Band, Album of the Year, Best Live Music Venue and more on their site. Entries must be received by Friday, January 30th. The winners will be announced at the Austin Music Awards which kick off SxSW in March. [Austin Chronicle] more ›

"Like a box of candy at our sides," writes the good folks at the Chronicle, "Austinist is easy to reach into and pick out a piece or two ... or three or four. Through part of a chain of 'ists,' Austinist knows Austin, and Austinites love it for its bite-sized news of local events, food, art, and entertainment." more ›

Photos from The Austin Chronicle's 18th Annual Hot Sauce Festival. Congrats to all the winners. more ›

RSO [Registered Sex Offender], follows the unenviable life of one ex-convict, played by newbie Gabriel McIver, who must reintegrate into a world that has indefinitely deemed him a social leper. He must deal with all of the minutiae that all of these other sad, pitiful, white males that we love to capture on film must deal with, but with the dark cloud of criminal damnation hovering somewhere just above his brow, to humorous effect. We don't know what he did (just yet) but we are guessing that, in his case, the punishment and repulsion may not fit the crime. more ›

I wonder: why wouldn’t the APD drug cop and the data miner want the world to know what they’re up to? They’re heroes, after all! Cleansing our streets of the dreaded indoor weed farmer. They should be proud. They're like The Punisher and Microchip. more ›

Two months ago, we let you know about the Austin Chronicle's annual Short Story contest, open to aspiring writers from Texas and the world. This Wednesday, the winners will be unveiled at a BookPeople gala, catered by Austin Java. more ›

Playwright and filmmaker David Mamet will appear at UT's Hogg Auditorium on Monday, February 4th for a discussion of his work with the Austin Chronicle's Robert Faires. The event is the first of several appearances by Mamet at UT in conjunction with the acquisition of his archives by the Harry Ransom Center. more ›

Brownout! kick off their tour this week but not before supplying the Beauty Bar with diverse concoctions comprised of Latin funk, Afro-beats, soul and R&B. Following their Tuesday night gig in Austin, the eight-piece plays one more show in the Lone Star State, at Zeppelin’s Pub in El Paso before leaving for California. more ›

Presidential Primaries: Hillary and Mitt Romney take Nevada, McCain takes South Carolina. more ›

The week's news on arts, books, film and music. more ›

Andy Langer is Austin's nearly ubiquitous multimedia music journalist. In the past, he's worked for both The Austin Chronicle and KUT. He now hosts music news segments on News 8 Austin, writes a column for Esquire magazine, and appears on both KSGR and KROX radio on Thursday mornings. Now, after twelve years of (also) hosting 101X's Sunday new music program The Next Big Thing, Langer is migrating to a prime weekday evening spot at KGSR. His show will air Monday-Friday from 6 to 10pm, immediately following Jody Denberg's drive-time broadcast. Though KSGR's format is pretty flexible for AAA, it's a big change for the guy who's been playing lots of loud indie, Britrock, electronica, and lo-fi material at KROX. We spoke with Langer yesterday about the changes to his radio job, and he had a lot to tell us more ›

If you’re an aspiring writer, you might want to find some time between holiday parties this weekend to brush up your best short story. The Austin Chronicle’s sixteenth annual Short Story Contest closes on Monday. Winners split $1,500 and get published. more ›

Photo by lilapants ln flickrPatrol car video footage that documents the final, pleading calls of police shooting victim Kevin Alexander Brown was made public by the city of Austin yesterday according to The Austin American-Statesman. "Please turn me over," Brown asks repeatedly from the distant background of the grainy video. His last request falls on deaf ears. "I'm gonna die," he says to the officer who shot him. The cop in question, Sgt. Michael Olsen,... more ›

Image from Scion's websiteSo you’re all set for an afternoon with the family and/or friends, tons of food on the horizon, be it Turkey or Tofurkey. Still, you need to scratch that live music itch before heading home. Well, fear not oh lovely residents of Austin, the city has a solid night of gigs on the 21st in store for the common layperson. If you’re not already planning on hitting up the Benko and The... more ›

Image courtesy Kill From The Heart fanpageAnyone who read the Meat Puppets cover story in the Austin Chronicle this summer knows that the brothers Kirkwood have had some serious ups and down in their 20-odd years together. From their belated arrival as grunge superstars in the mid-90s and appearing for a four-song stretch on Nirvana's Unplugged album to a heroin-fueled spiral into depression and bankruptcy, the Puppets have lived the kind of life most people... more ›