The Community Art Makers crew responsible for creating (then burning) the fabulous Resolution Clock at the 2009 First Night Austin are at it again. This time, they've been picked to build the temple for this year's Burning Man. During the festival, event participants will cover the wooden surfaces of the structure with writing, remembrances, wishes, and resolutions. Until now, the temple has always been made by California artists, so the Austin based Community Art Makers are going to have to bring it big - Texas style. The massive, modular structure is being constructed by hand and by ShopBot in Austin and will soon be trucked out to the desert where it will be assembled.
There will be to be a benefit show at the Parish tomorrow night to help fund this major community art effort. Gypsy cabaret rockers WinoVino will headline the show, with sideshow oddities That Damned Band supporting. Barebones Orchestra, with their rock and roll horn section, will open. Tickets will be sold at the door and cost $10 for general admission and $7 for those who come in costume - think your best Gadjo Disko gear.
Community Art Makers Benefit Concert at the Parish [Thursday]
Roll Out: The Road Warrior in the Alamo Parking Lot
If you’re still decompressing from Burning Man and want to get your money’s worth out of that leather vest and chaps outfit you’ve only worn once, perhaps you ought to head on down to the Alamo South Lamar -- this Friday they’re putting the “roll” in “Rolling Roadshow” with a screening of The Road Warrior. In the parking lot. 'Cause that’s the way Mad Max would have wanted it.
Burn, Black Rock, Burn: Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock at the Alamo Ritz
Every year the most adventurous (and some say most interesting) people pack their RVs and head out to Black Rock City, Nevada for a week of wild times. It’s called Burning Man—one week a year where 30,000 people come out to the middle of the desert and create their own art and their own community, and do...whatever they want. And at the end, they burn a several-stories-high statue of a man and Black Rock City disappears. This weekend, you have a chance to check it out, as your Good Friends at the Alamo Ritz are screening Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock, a documentary pulling back the curtain and showing you just what Burning Man is; and more importantly, what it’s all about.
I Am So Popular: If You Can't Shit In Public, Stay Home
In early 2001 I told my son we were going to Japan. His immediate excited response was this: Well mom, you’re going to have to learn how to shit on a plane.
I don’t recall that I actually emptied my bowels on that seventeen-hour flight, but Henry had a point. The idea of crapping away from a familiar toilet, particularly around a bunch of strangers, and in a situation that involves not-real-plumbing is usually enough to stop me up, sometimes for days on end.
Which was the case last weekend, at least until my intestines couldn’t stand it anymore. Warren, my hot young boyfriend, had invited me months prior to attend Flipside with him, the local version of Burning Man, that annual festival in the desert where thousands of people set up a tent city and experiment in… well, let’s just say all sorts of things.
Last Week in -IST
Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take...
Bay Area Maker Faire Takes Flight
A tribute to all things DIY and zany robotic wizardry, the second annual Maker Faire was held last weekend in San Mateo, California. Drawing a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands, the MAKE magazine-sponsored festival featured hundreds of awesome, if ridiculous, creations by engineers, artists, inventors, and other people possessed of an excess of free time and an over-abundance of imagination. Just some of the nifty stuff on display included a Lego Star...
Elsewhere in the Ist-averse
Let's take a look back at a week that raised this Zen koan: if Kevin Federline got into a wrestling ring with a wrestler, who would you root for? Austinist was in an entertainment state of mind as they covered the dickens out of the Austin Film Festival, depicted all the Big 12 football coaches as South Park characters, and interviewed Jose Gonzalez. Chicagoist talked about the passion as they bid adieu to Bell...
See You on the Flipside?
If you didn't purchase your tickets to Burning Flipside 2005 (Austin's Burning Man inspired regional art and music festival and experiment in temporary community building), you are a sad monkey. All 600 tickets sold out during the 3 day official sales window between February 28 and March 2.
Dub-licious BBQ
SFist editor Jackson West writes in: So of course everyone in the know is going to be at Austinist Ben's party tonight, but what are your plans for late-night shenanigans? Do they include beer, barbecue and funky live music by local musicians? All for just ten bucks? Well, they should. Local boy made good Topaz and friend Kevn Kinney are hosting a "Sunrise BBQ" party at the offices of the Austin Daze tonight, starting at...

