Ballet Austin will be the venue of choice for a presentation of avant garde visuals, performance and music its organizers are calling Oko Jumu, “the name that the Andamanese call a person that has either come near death, spent time alone in the jungle to talk with spirits, or talked to spirits in a dream," according to a tome by the symbolism-obsessed Joseph Campbell. ...

Ballet Austin’s Artistic Director, Stephen Mills, and locally based (internationally loved) composer Graham Reynolds are two of the three collaborative masterminds behind Ballet Austin’s presentation of Cult of Color: Call to Color. Along with visual artist Trenton Doyle Hancock—who created the sets and designed the costumes, and upon whose painted characters the show is based—Mills and Reynolds have put together an astounding presentation. We spoke with Mills and Graham about creating the show....

There are not enough good words to say about Cult of Color: Call to Color. Attempts to capture the performance will only wind up sounding like some over-hyped ad in the Sunday Times Arts section. But Cult really is: Astonishing! Amazing! Fifty Thumbs Up! Visually Stunning! Musically Breathtaking! and The Dance of a Lifetime! In short, it very much deserves a Run-Don’t-Walk-to-See-It recommendation, this urgency compounded by the fact that the show is only slated for a very short run. ...

He’s a master of sampling and an early proponent of turntablism, but you won’t find Carl Stone working with Kanye any time soon. Instead, throughout his musical career, minimalist pioneer Stone has taken experimented with electronics and sound in a way that recalls his hero John Cage and other irrepressible avant-garde musicians of his ilk....

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. ...

The Vortex has remounted one of its first big hits, Alan Bowne's Beirut. The original production put Vortex on the map as the place to go for cutting-edge, indeed bleeding-edge, work. With a script that's a tad dated but still meaty, the show explores the political, social, and emotional fallout of the AIDS crisis. It includes full nudity and sexually explicit material, all done to serve a story that's weighty and intense. Thu-Sun, 8pm, through 1/26. [Reservations: 478-5282]...

We've heard rumors that a soon-to-open performance venue won't be such a swell place to work for the folks behind the scenes. Scant room backstage, an eensy fly space, and a tricky loading dock with an 8' door, aren't exactly the makings of a stagehand's dream job....

Flyer courtesy Downtown Austin Alliance Holiday Sing-Along, Tree Lighting and Congress Ave. StrollSaturday, December 1Texas State Capitol (1100 Congress Ave)6-9pm[info]The annual Holiday Sing-Along, Capitol Tree Lighting and Congress Avenue Stroll takes place tomorrow evening. Here's the schedule of events, courtesy the good people at the Downtown Austin Alliance: The evening starts at 6:00 p.m. when crowds gather on the south steps of the Capitol to sing the songs of the season during John Aielli's Holiday......

ACL Previews Interview: Patterson Hood Del McCoury Band, Preservation Hall Jazz Band Jon Dee Graham, Kevin Devine, and Ike Reilly Assassination Beau Soleil & Will Hoges Rail Road Earth It's Official: Bob Dylan & His Band Set to Play Stubb's Aftershow So You Wanna See An ACL Taping Trent Summar, Steve Earle, & DeVotchKa Interview: Crowded House It's Official: Bob Dylan & His Band Set to Play Stubb's Aftershow Weekly Features The Accidental Gentrifist:......

Photos from the cocktail hour of Ballet Austin's annual Fête Gala on Thursday, September 6, held at the new Butler Dance Education Center. Photo by Romain Nayalkar. If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.......

FRIDAY [16] music •Of Montreal, Elekibass, DJ Jester the Filipino Fist at Emo's (outside) music •Those Peabodys, Ume, Oh, Beast!, El Paso Hot Button at Emo's music •Spank Dance Company, Hello Lovers at Emo's Lounge music •Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Reckless Kelly at La Zona Rosa music •Long John Thomas & The Duff, Bellfuries, Eddie Clendening & The Blue Ribbon Boys, The Aquasonics at Continental Club music •Bruce Robison at Cactus Café (9pm,......

THURSDAY [15] benefit •St. Valentine's Day-After Massacre, A Spay/Neuter Fundraiser at Mother Egan's (5:30pm-7pm) art •Public Tour: Michener and Modernism at Blanton Museum (7:00 - 8:00 PM) art •Public Tour: By the River by Radcliffe Bailey at Blanton Museum (12:30 - 1:00 PM) ballet •Ballet Austin presents Director's Choice at The Paramount Theatre (8pm) film •Flicker Film Festival at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film •Love Bites: The 80s Power Ballad Singalong at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown......

The following is a column by staff writer Carly Kocurek, compiled with the help of Elizabeth S., Sam Armstrong, and Shannon Roberts -- Ed Note So, you've waited until the last minute to address the whole "Valentine's Day" situation. Trust me, I've been there. In fact, I'm there right now -- my grandmother will be getting a card from us sometime next week. (I'll put extra stickers on the envelope to make up for......

SATURDAY [23] music • Wintershow Benefit for SafePlace and Capital Area Food Bank with Bill Callahan (SMOG), Shearwater, Nick Hennies (Weird Weeds) and Brian Sookram at The Mohawk (Doors at 3pm, Music at 5pm) film • Sinus Show: Die Hard at Alamo Downtown (7 & 10pm, $12.50) music • Everyone Knows Everyone Winter Party, with music by Visitors, Rory + the Artificial Hearts, Pompeii, and Mars Wars; art by Carlos Rosales-Silva, Justin Cox, Jay......

THURSDAY [21] fashion • Dirty Librarian Chains Trunk Show with DJ Chicken George and Daetron Vargas at FactoryPeople (5-8pm) film • The Christmas Pop! Sing-Along at Alamo Downtown (7pm, $10) film • La Femme Nikita at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) film • old Joy at Alamo Downtown (9:45pm) film • Terror Thursday: Blood Beach at Alamo Downtown (11:55pm, Free) music • Ugly Beats, Bellfuries, The Deadly Companions at Emo's music • "A Parish Christmas," featuring......

WEDNESDAY [20] film • Super Happy Fun Monkey Bash 5 at Alamo Downtown (9:45pm, $5) film • Danielson: A Family Movie at Alamo Downtown (7pm) film • Unknown Passage: The Dead Moon Story at Beerland (7pm, Free) film • Delicatessen at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) film • Weird Wednesday: The Magic Christmas Tree at Alamo Downtown (11:55pm, Free) food • Austin Farmers Market at Whole Food Parking Lot, 525 N Lamar (4-7pm) music •......

Welcome to the Halloween edition of This Week in Theatre, and the first time since we’ve been in Austin that some company hasn’t produced a play about mystical and spooky stuff to commemorate this festive occasion. So, in lieu of seeing a “horror” play this weekend—an event where busty blondes disappear for no reason, only to return later after a highly unfortunate series of events has stripped them down to their underwear; or, you......

FRIDAY [12] [art] The Furman Collective presents "Taking Back the West" at Bolm Studios (Opening 7-11pm, Through Sunday) (link) [music] Paul Green School of Rock - Austin Presents Funk and Reggae at RedRum ($10, 7pm) (link) [music] Blood on the Wall, Psychic Ills, My Education, Ume at Emo's (link) [music] Zykos, Quien Es Boom!, The Lemurs at The Parish Room (link) [music] Alejandro Escovedo at Waterloo (Free, 5pm) (link) [music] Steve Arceri CD release at......

UT PAC's Bass Conert Hall is already the largest performance space in Austin, boasting 3,000 seats and playing host to everyone from Ballet Austin to the touring company of Movin' Out (and, really, every other large scale performance that comes from, or to Austin). In case they're not already impressive enough, Bass has just been approved by the UT Board of Regents to spend $14.7 million dollars renovating and upgrading the theatre. The goal......

MONDAY [8] [music] Art Brut, Birdmonster, The Robocop Kraus at Emo's (link) [music] She Wants Revenge and OKGO at Stubb's (link) [music] The Lashes at Waterloo (Free, 5pm) (link) [film] Amelie (with FREE crème brulee) at Alamo Downtown (7pm) (link) [film] L.A. Confidential at Austin Java (8pm, FREE) (link) [film] Anime Monday at Ventana del Sol (7:30pm, FREE) (link) [film] Wet Hot American Summer at Rounders Pizzeria (6pm, FREE) (link) [film] School of Rock at......

MONDAY 24[music] TV On the Radio, Celebration, The Cocker Spaniels at Emo's (info) [film] Save Our Springs Alliance presents "Driving Sprawl," A 20-minute documentary about Advanced Micro Devices planned move to the Barton Springs watershed. at Ruta Maya (8pm) (info) [music] Josh Rouse at Cactus Café ($22, Through Tuesday) (info) [film/drinking] FuseBox Happy Hour/Nerve.com Screening at Blue Theater (6pm, $5, FREE beer and wine) (info) [books] Anthony Horowitz presents Ark Angel : An Alex Rider......

FRIDAY [21] [music] Sons of Hercules and The Bad Rackets at Woody's South (link) [music] Those Peabodys, Grand Champeen, Birds of Avalon (ex-Cherry Valence), Man Eaters of Tsavo at Emo's (link) [music] The Radiators at The Parish (link) [music] Blue October w/ People In Planes and Bril at Stubb's (link) [music] The Shells CD Release at End of an Ear (Free, 6pm) (link) [lecture] The Texas Observer presents David Sirota, author of Hostile Takeover: How......

There is a lot going on this weekend. And throughout the summer, for that matter. You will be exhausted and needing that loveliest of leisure activities to help you unwind. And soon enough it will be 1,000 degrees outside and you will need something to keep you occupied while you float around at the springs or rest in your pecan tree-shaded hammock. We don't know about you, but our favorite thing to do when......

What a possible travesty! Might the Texas Commission on the Arts -- provider of grants, information, and technical assistance to artists and arts organizations in visual arts, theatre, dance, music, media and literature -- be destroyed? The organization, which has been the primary source of governmental funding of the arts in Texas for over forty years, was under the Sunset review this year, a process all state agencies undergo every 12 years to determine whether......

They may not be as famous, and they’re certainly harder to have sex with, but at least Austin’s theatre-makers don’t have to try and fuck anyone with a pulse who appeared on Leno just to feel good about themselves. That’s right, dear theatre enthusiast, here in the A-burg we raise our self-esteem the old fashioned way: by putting on plays. By that measure, this week we’ll be riding that self-worth train steady on into......

* The IST List will be updated this afternoon to reflect additional events -- The Editors F R I D A Y [3] » [music] Quien es, Boom!, Brothers and Sisters CD release, Lomita, and David Longoria (of the Black) at Beerland » [music] The Early Tapes, Peel and The Happy Familes at Stubb's » [music] Driver Friendly and The Arm at Red Eyed Fly » [music] Rockland Eagles, Yuppie Pricks, Pink Swords, and The......

M O N D A Y [ 1 4 ] music · Dios (Malos), Pilotdrift and Steeltrain at Stubb's music · The Lemurs and Tarantula A.D. at the Parish Room film · Spiderhouse Cafe screens "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price" (RSVP, Free, 10pm) (Thanks, Kate!) shopping · Austin Museum of Art's Tax-Free Day music · Piebald, Hot Rod Circuit, Hit the Light and Valient Thorr at Emo's music · Nic Armstrong and the......