It's official: Foo Fighters, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss and John Fogerty take top billing along with Beck, Manu Chao, David Byrne, The Raconteurs, The Mars Volta, Gnarls Barkley, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, N.E.R.D., Erykah Badu, Robert Earl Keen, and Parry Griffin rounding out tier one. ...

The first time I ate dinner with REM’s Michael Stipe—okay so it was also the last time I ate dinner with him—was September 28, 1984. The boys were in Tampa to play at the University of South Florida (my alma mater, a place of such prestige that the dorms had pools behind them and no one took classes during prime tanning hours). Stipe didn’t invite me, I invited myself. I’d lucked into a phone interview with Pete Buck and Mike Mills a few days prior and I was still high from this unbelievable score—me a twenty year-old fledgling music writer getting to talk to them, some of my biggest musical heroes. They weren’t superstars yet, but they were heading in that direction. It was an outdoor gig and when they pulled up, I watched from a little ways away as Pete and Mike scrutinized my words in The Oracle, our college daily. Stipe was a vegetarian—probably still is—and vegetarian wasn’t something the caterer had provided, so it fell to my friend Ed, to ferry the singer to a place where he could find something that suited his palate. I like to think Ed invited me along. Or maybe I just shoved my way into his sports car. Either way, there we sat, gathered around healthy food before healthy food was a trend, at the NK Café. ...

More Wristbands Available Wednesday: At least a few of the coveted SXSW wristbands will be sold via the conventional route this year. The Austin Chronicle reports that 400+ wristbands priced at $165 will be on sale from 9:30am on Wednesday 3/12 at Waterloo Records. These wristbands do not require an local ID, so out-of-towners can finally get their show at wristbands not obtained through nefarious means. They also report that a second batch may be made available next week, so stay tuned for more information....

Austinist is pleased to bring you the chance to win a pair of tickets to Saturday evening’s sold out Rodrigo y Gabriela show at La Zona Rosa. Astute guitarists both, Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero spent some time plying their trade in a metal band (Tierra Acida) in Mexico before striking the right chords under their current moniker. The duo’s discography consists of Foc (2001), re-Foc (2003), Live: Manchester and Dublin (2004), and 2006’s self-titled effort; their instrumental takes on Metallica’s “Orion” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” are already semi-cult classics....

Looks like ACL Fest organizers have chosen Groundhog Day to release their mildly discounted multi-passes. 3-day passes priced at $150 including service charges are on sale now at ACLFest.com. ...

Local outfit Color & Light returns to saturate Stubb’s on Saturday with a ready supply of the soaring melodies and sizzling guitars that pace their inspirational crescendos....

Editor's note: My Ex-Boyfriend's Band is a reoccurring column that features the opinions and insight of the author, not necessarily reflective of the Ist network as a whole. Thank you for reading! For the times they are a-changin'. And the music festivals are a-changin' with them. Even Dylan, who declined to take the stage at Woodstock in 1969, evolved into the 2007 Austin City Limits headliner. With SXSW, Fun Fun Fun and the C3......

Photo courtesy My Guerrilla on Flickr[another wristband for the collection] Austin’s C3 Presents now has three major festivals to go along with their trio of Charlies. The producers of Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits Festival will put on the Vineland Music Festival in rural New Jersey Aug. 8 to 10, 2008. Vineland is a joint venture with Melvin Benn’s Festival Republic. The U.K. event producer’s portfolio includes the Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury festivals. Set......

Image from Tom Brosseau’s MySpace Nickel Creek & Tom BrosseauSaturday, November 17Stubbs (801 Red River)$25 Advance; Doors 7 p.m.[info] | [tickets] Singer-songwriter Tom Brosseau brings heartfelt lyricism and mellow melodies to Stubb’s on Saturday. Hailing from Grand Forks, North Dakota, Brosseau’s high pitched voice and gentle guitar complement his sincere storytelling perfectly, and has found him at least one fan in a certain Natalie Portman. Portman picked Brosseau’s “Plaid Lined Jacket” (along with tracks by......

Poster by Jagmo Roky Erickson ACL TapingMonday, November 12Austin City Limits Studios (26th and Guadalupe St)8pm, General Admission and Space-Available Tickets Only[info]Austin psych-rock legend Roky Erickson will be featured on the next taping of KLRU's Austin City Limits show. Enter below for your chance to win a pair of guaranteed admission tickets—first 20 entrants get 'em! Update: thanks, folks! If you'd like space-available tickets, tune in to to KGSR on Friday evening for the giveaway......

Photo from myspace Roky Erickson ACL TapingMonday, November 12Austin City Limits Studios (26th and Guadalupe St)8pm, General Admission and Space-Available Tickets Only[info]Austin psych-rock legend Roky Erickson will be featured on the next taping of KLRU's Austin City Limits show. If you'd like space-available tickets, tune in to to KGSR on Friday for the giveaway announcement—we're not sure exactly what time they'll announce the details. On the other hand, if you'd like a chance to score......

Image courtesy of Tegan and Sara’s MySpace Tegan and SaraWednesday, November 7Stubbs (801 Red River)$18 (Advance) / $20 (Day Of Show), 7 p.m.[info] | [tickets]It’s not the middle of SxSW, it’s not the weekend of Austin City Limits Music Festival, heck it’s not even Fun Fun Fun Fest anymore, but November 7th might just be one of those evenings where the stars align to bring our city a number of ridiculously appealing concerts. Symphonic rock......

unattributed press photo Regina Spektor at Stubb’sTuesday, November 6thStubbs [map]$22.50 SOLD OUT, doors at 7[venue info][Regina Spektor Website][MySpace]Tonight, Russian import and all-around cutie Regina Spektor will deliver her charming sense of humor and attitudinous tunes to Stubb’s. And if it feels like she was just here, it’s because she pretty much was, with an evening position at the Austin City Limits Festival followed up by an intimate performance for her ACL show taping—both of these......

In 1997, Carl Newman started a side project called The New Pornographers in Vancouver for fun. The cast of characters included the ridiculous gifts of both Neko Case and Destroyer's Dan Bejar, and an indie-pop collective for the ages was born. Now touring behind their fourth album Challengers, Newman and the other New Pornographers have somehow managed to continue the project in addition to each pursuing their solo aims. The band seems to grow in......

As we promised earlier this week, here's your chance to score those coveted space-available tickets* to the John Mayer Austin City Limits taping at KLRU-TV studios. Instead of the previously-announced 25, we're actually giving away 50 pairs of tickets to the first folks who enter. KLRU-TV will be taping an episode of Austin City Limits this Thursday with singer-songwriter (and guitarist extraordinaire) John Mayer. These days, the Grammy Award-winning artist routinely plays to packed amphitheaters......

KLRU-TV will be taping an episode of Austin City Limits this Thursday with singer-songwriter (and guitarist extraordinaire) John Mayer. These days, the Grammy Award-winning artist routinely plays to packed amphitheaters and festival audiences. For die-hard Mayer fans, seeing him at the intimate ACL studios with its capacity of a few hundred and incredible acoustics is an opportunity not to be missed. That being said, your only chance to win a pair of space-available tickets* is......

As our friend The M.O. reported, Ghostland Observatory are set to perform on Late Night with Conan O'Brien tomorrow evening. It will be their first nationally televised performance, and they're expected to play a tune from delete.delete.i.eat.meat.... GLO recently recorded a set for Austin City Limits, and we can expect that episode to air on KLRU sometime in December. Known for their energy-packed live sets, GLO are wrapping up a very exciting year that saw......

If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump. Less than a week after the Austin City Limits Music Festival packed up its gear for another year, La Grave Field in Fort Worth hosted the 2007 Wall Of Sound Festival. Presented by Spune and co-sponsored by Coors Light, the Fort Worth Weekly, and yours truly (among others), the event kicked off bright n' early on the 22nd of......

So the 2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival has come and gone but you still haven’t had enough music. Thankfully, the 2007 Wall Of Sound Festival is just around the corner. Besides catching headliners such as Explosions In The Sky, Midlake, and Ghostland Observatory, be sure to check out Spectrum. The brainchild of Spacemen 3’s Sonic Boom (a.k.a. Peter Kember), the act will be performing new songs while Spacemen 3 era tracks are also promised.......

With the 2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival set to take over the town shortly, it’s worthwhile to note that the music will naturally not be restricted to the fenced confines of Zilker Park. "Official" ACL-Fest after shows and sexy time aside, downtown should be bumping with a plethora of quality events. The wonderful folk from FactoryPeople and DFA Records present one such extravaganza on Friday at Red 7. The Outdoor Stage will feature quality......

Dallas native Ben Kweller is an interesting tangle of contradictions. He's 26, but his first major label album was released a decade ago. Kweller is an indie rock star, but lives in a Brooklyn brownstone with his longtime wife and young son. And his music is accessible and catchy, yet it hasn't quite found the large audience it deserves. Kweller returns to the Austin City Limits Festival for two shows this weekend to bounce......

It’s only fair that talented acts get an additional chance to be added to the killer line-up for this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival. The Dell Lounge has presented one such contest that has captured the imagination of local artists and fans alike. Whittling down to 20 acts from hundreds of original submissions was the first step; The Sound And The Jury Contest has now arrived at its final five competitors, all thanks to......

Every fall, Austin looks forward to ACL Fest, and each year, there's always a point where two of your favorite bands are playing on different sides of the park at the exact same time. ACL Band Clash is a weekly series in which Austinist scribes Paige Maguire and Tom Thornton examine the worst ACL scheduling clashes, and try to provide good advice on finding a resolution. Well, good advice might be a stretch, but......

Some of the biggest artists playing at next week's Austin City Limits Music Festival will also be taping episodes of KLRU's Austin City Limits, the wide-acclaimed PBS show that begat it all. Unfortunately, the demand for space-available tickets is so intense that they're only announcing them via the radio. Fortunately, we've got the scoop on when and where you should be listening: below are the stations and times that you'll need to tune into......

Trent Summar’s story-telling capabilities and straight-up country sound drive his latest album, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades. His music has been covered by artists such as Jack Ingram (who scored a hit with his adaptation of Summar’s “Love You”) while Summar has also collaborated with country stars like Pat Green. (They co-wrote “Somewhere Between Texas And Mexico” off Green’s Lucky Ones record.) Summar fronted the band Hank Flamingo prior to working with The New Row Mob.......

Since 1975, Grammy Award winners BeauSoleil have charmed audiences as being one of the most heralded and esteemed Cajun groups in American music history. Band leader Michael Doucet artfully takes the rich traditions of Louisiana culture and blends other southern folk elements such as Zydeco, Jazz, Tejano, Country, Blues to astonishing effect. Beau Soleil have played The Grand Ole Opry, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the Newport Folk Festival in the past.......

The 2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival is only a week away, and sure you’ve got your 3-day pass worth who knows what, your personal schedule, and the promise of a wide variety of music. Well, do not let your passion for music or your stamina for festivals run out during ACL fest -- We are proudly co-sponsoring this year’s Wall Of Sound Festival in Fort Worth on the 22nd of September. That’s right, the......

Formed from the ashes of Split Enz, Crowded House may well have been the best pure pop-rock group of their era. Twenty-two years after their beginnings in Melbourne, Australia, Neil Finn and Nick Seymour have brought back Crowded House's classic songwriting and effortless melodies via a new album and tour. The group disbanded in 1996 and has weathered the shocking suicide of founding member Paul Hester, the disconnect of distance (Finn lives in Auckland,......

Sylvia St. James leads the masses at the House Of Blues’ Gospel Brunch in California. The Sunday menu there features cornbread muffins, hickory smoked bacon and sausage links, and an omelet station, along with inspirational hymns, motivational music, and Miss Sylvia’s vocal prowess (and official title of “Chief Mistress of Ceremonies for House of Blues Entertainment.”) Us lucky Austinites get our chance to witness her magic on Saturday afternoon during the 2007 Austin City Limits......

Now that Spoon have a Top 10 album on the Billboard charts, if there's a new king of the Austin indie-rock scene, it's Ghostland Observatory. If you've not heard them yet, we'll classify them as a dance and electronic rock duo who utilize synths, drum machines, and guitars to create a fairly unique sonic space for themselves which never fails to get a crowd moving. The duo of Thomas Turner and Aaron Behrens have......