One could hardly hold something called the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival without devoting an event to the glory of BBQ. So the folks behind the THCWFF have put together a Saturday afternoon feast of gluttony, with a bevy of ribs, brisket, sausage, and pulled pork that's bad for the heart but good for the soul. Particpating BBQ purveyors include both The Salt Lick and New York's popular upstart Hill Country Barbecue Market, which has been packing them in in Chelsea by serving up Lockhart-style BBQ and beers. Other restaurants will be announced soon. ...

Liam Finn has seen a lot of the world lately, albeit from the stages of pubs, clubs, and arenas. The 24-year-old New Zealander has 126,000 frequent flyer miles at the moment, thanks to a year spent touring both as a guitarist for Crowded House and promoting his new Yep Roc album I'll Be Lightning. The self-produced and performed record finds Finn in a reflective mood, and alternates between indie chamber-pop and much more rocking material. Currently on tour with Pela, Finn will drop in for a handful of SXSW gigs before heading back on the road to open on Eddie Vedder's solo tour. We spoke to Liam Finn this week about Neil Young, loop pedals, and London. We encourage you to attend the Austinist-Gothamist day show on March 12th to see him!...

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!...

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......

Because we're all hoping they'll finally find their audience (aside from our moms) and land a record deal, The Black Crowes have announced their 2008 tour, which includes a stop at SXSW 2008. They will headline at Stubb's, no less. Keep your fingers crossed for them, folks. In other news, we've received word on a handful of local bands that have been accepted by SXSW, including (but not limited to) The Lemurs, Peel, Weird Weeds, Car Stereo (Wars) and almost local rapper Bun B of UGK (Houston). We'll be updating with local additions as often as we can, so stay tuned!...

Image courtesy of Nacional RecordsThe first annual Ground Zero Texas fest kicks off their weekend schedule of events on Thursday, with the opening ceremony at Sound On Sound Records at 6 p.m. (featuring a performance by the official GZT mascot NOBUNNY), followed by opening night action at Beerland with music from The Spits, The Wax Museums, and The Hibachi Stranglers. Denton’s The Reds will also re-unite and rock this special evening. The plethora of local......

Photo by Patrick Dentler Barack Obama "Texas Countdown to Change"Saturday, November 17The Backyard (13101 W Highway 71)$25 General, $15 Students, 3pm[info] | [tickets]Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama dazzled over 20,000 Austinites last February at his Auditorium Shores rally, and this weekend he aims to do the same. Tickets to this Saturday's "Texas Countdown to Change" rally at the Backyard are still available for $25, and even cheaper ($15) if you're a student. Still, if you......

Blazing Saddles Quote-Along & Bar-B-Que RunQuote-Along: Thursday, Nov. 8th @ 7:00pm, Saturday, Nov. 10th and Thursday, Nov. 15th @ 7:15pm / BBQ Run: Saturday, Nov. 10th @ NoonAlamo Drafthouse Downtown (320 E 6th Street)Quote-Along: $10 / Quote-Along & BBQ Run: $75[info] | [tickets]Hey you! Yeah, YOU! Quit yer lollygaggin'! Don't you know that we're rounding up cutthroats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican......

We know you're coming to ACL Fest for the amazing live music, not the culinary delights. That said, you're going to need to keep your blood sugar up to withstand three days of dirty heat and canned beer. The Austin Chronicle has helpfully detailed the food vendors and their offerings at the park grounds as well as the restaurants near Zilker within walking distance should you decide to venture out. Gourmet foodies may want to......

Mars Restaurant & Bar (Asian Fusion) Location: 1400 South Congress Avenue (map) Phone: (512) 472-3901 Cost: Brunch plates $4-6 dollars Atmosphere: Sleek, modern décor; airy and sunlit; nice people-watching from the spacious deck; attentive waitstaff Food: This just in: if you wake up on the weekend with a craving for a la carte Chinese hors d’ouevres, you no longer have to travel north of the river to get them! Mars, South Congress’ newest culinary addition,......

Shots from Friday's Rocco DeLuca and the Burden show at Stubb's BBQ . Photos courtesy of Keith Gaddis. If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.......

There's always been something undeniable about a quality West Coast power-pop record. From the mainstream success of Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever to the more obscure gems of The Posies and Jellyfish, the records in this oeuvre feel instantly memorable, lighter than air, and modestly perfect. Such sounds are likely what inspires The Broken West, a Los Angeles-based band that channels these sounds and those of Big Star and early Wilco on their debut......

Are you a Guitar Hero champion? Find out tonight at Stubb's as 101X and C3 present the first of a three night competition, followed by a performance by Austin's Alice Rose. Here's what you need to know: rounds one and two are strictly for qualifying. Show off your skills this evening and make the cut, then you'll be placed into a bracketing system. The opportunity to qualify is based on a first come, first serve......

Same thing, another week. As you move on to the next line 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......

Cedar Park, Pflugerville and Round Rock placed among Forbes magazine's fifty fastest growing suburbs in the United States from 2000-2006. Among the many Texas cities on the list, Round Rock was 12th, Pflugerville was 7th and Cedar Park was 3rd. Forbes discussed some of the tradeoffs of unregulated suburban sprawl: low housing costs, but high transportation costs - providing the example that in Houston, transportation costs are the No. 1 household expense, according to......

Highlights from this week's IST List: Folk-pop crooner Page France brings the sparkling jingle-jangle of Page France and the Family Telephone to Emo's, alongside Bishop Allen, The Teeth, and Frank Smith Sidebar's turning three, and they're buying you a drink on the house to celebrate. Join them for Ruby's BBQ, DJ Supafly, and giveaways Alas, one of our favorite social butterflies is flying away to--where else?--New York City. Before he leaves, join Dave "KidIndie"......

Austin native Rebecca Rosenberg has been living in South Korea teaching English, and she wants to share her experiences abroad with all of Austin. Austinist believes that we could all use some Korean culture. Before coming, and even when you first arrive here, it’s easy to worry that South Korea is nothing more than an abyss of karaoke (here called norae bong), and watered down imitations of Western culture…and many times it is exactly......

As Independence Day approaches, it's tough not to think of patios, grilling, and fireworks. This weekend will find half the city decamping to visit family and friends elsewhere and the other half of us running around buying meats, beers, wines, and chips for our mid-week July 4th celebration. In the spirit of the holiday, we've selected six American wines from California and Oregon that are each classic examples of both their grape and the......

The June 2007 issue of Beer Advocate Magazine lists Austin as one of "Nine Great Beer Towns You Didn't Know Were Great Beer Towns" (pp. 22-29). The article lists Austin among other underappreciated beer towns such as Eugene, Oregon and Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. We're personally honored and flattered to have been grouped in with these other great beer places, but we're not sure Austin is so deserving. Their list of establishments that justify......

While the Austinist staff remains split on the subject, some of us are pretty partial to meat. No offense to our vegetarian friends, but some of us just have too many positive associations with delicious animal parts. So when we had the chance to interview Ray Lampe, national barbecue champion and author of three books on the subject, including his latest, Dr. BBQ's Big-Time Barbecue Road Trip!, we were more than a little excited.......

This Memorial Day holiday, we dusted off the Austinist company van for our annual trip down to the Kerrville Folk Festival for a beer-drenched, music-filled, puddle-hopping four-day weekend just two hours outside of Austin. Situated within the meadows and hills of the Quiet Valley Ranch, the folk festival—which started in 1972 as a gathering of a few friends/musicians who decided to camp out and play music for a few days—is now well into its......

If you haven’t noticed, the Austin American-Statesman has a new fashion and style reporter, Marques G. Harper, replacing Jean Scheidnes. You can read his Style & Substance columns here. Get ready, aspiring fashion designers. Applications for those wanting to participate in Stitch 2007 will be posted on the event’s website in June. If you want to sponsor Stitch now, go here. Also, the deadline for the Runway to Heaven fashion show is May 30.......

THURSDAY [10] music • Learning Secrets with Ramesh (Voxtrot), Ben Craven + Co at Whisky Bar music • Rock of Ages Cover Show with Preserve the Sound (50s), Consider the Source (60s), Seaflea (70s), Promisebreakers (80s), Say Hello to the Angels (90s) at Emo's music • The Postmarks, Shuttle Debris, Raleign at Stubb's music • Future Clouds & Radar at Waterloo Records (5pm, Free) music • Moonhangers, Love Gone Cold, Salvia Family Band, Shot Gun......

Tennessee's Kings Of Leon are HUGE in Europe. Their modern Southern rock owes as much to The Strokes as it does to The Allmans, meaning that the group appeals to classic rock hounds as well as some of the indie kids. KoL hit Stubb's tonight in a sold-out show supporting their third album Because Of The Times, which has gotten raves from The Onion, Entertainment Weekly, and Filter. There's no shortage of loud guitars,......

Guster are probably the most popular band you've never heard of. Birthed from the frigid loins of Boston's vibrant college rock scene, Guster match glistening pops hooks to intelligent, quirky lyrics in kind of a Violent Femmes-meets-Barenaked Ladies-but-not-really-meant-for-for-your-parents way. And boy, don't they look good in red! Their self-released debut sold 40,000 copies, which means it earned more than the cost of your parents' house, and they manage to sell out theaters despite the......

You know that abandoned building on 29th and Guadalupe, just across the street from Taco Shack, in between Ruby's BBQ and Spider House? You know, the one whose east wall has been a graffitti artist's dream for over a year? C'mon! The one where Steaming Wolf Penis played an informal performance during Snake By Snakepit? Alright, well, over the past couple weeks you may have noticed local artist Justin Prince painting a mural of......

Last night, after spending part of last week at SxSW promoting his new movie, Adam Sandler was asked to take the reins of The Late Show when Letterman came down with the stomach flu. He seemed pretty comfortable in the monologue, but admittedly awkward in the interview with co-star Don Cheadle (Sandler confessed that he'd never interviewed anyone before). Cheadle and Sandler chatted about Reign Over Me, Sandler's dog Matzoball, and eating BBQ at Stubbs.......

With great weather, a social atmosphere, and big crowds, there were many good times to be had at last year's Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival Sunday Fair in Georgetown. Having braved the long drive, we found a huge, beautiful park filled with white tents full of salsa, BBQ, chocolate, tamales, and copious amounts of booze. This is probably one's best chance to experience the gluttony of the THCWFF at a moderate cost,......

Austinist and Gothamist's second annual SXSW day party (co-hosted this year with Gorilla Vs Bear) was a resounding success, drawing a capacity crowd by the early afternoon. Austin Mayor Will Wynn made a surprise visit during Earl Greyhound's set, articulating the importance of cornerstone venues like The Mohawk on our city's live music scene and suggesting that Austin musicians need better access to healthcare. His speech garnered tremendous applause from the audience, which consisted......

The Rosebuds may be your best hour of SXSW 2007. The North Carolina-based duo has been on the Merge (Spoon, The Arcade Fire) roster for several years, and new album Night Of The Furies may just be the record that breaks them to the larger audience they deserve. The album is a notable departure from both the New Pornographers power pop of debut The Rosebuds Make Out and the more somber, Pitchfork-lauded Birds Make......