Some of the city’s underexposed and underappreciated artists have come together for a special show opening Saturday at Gallery Lombardi. The offbeat Surprise Me includes a mixed bag of contemporary drawings, photos, sounds, videos, mixed media paintings and fiber art. Local artist Josh Rios helped organize the show and called on a few of friends to join him — Ryan Lauderdale, Rachel Cook and Corkey Sinks. Rios recently answered a few questions for Austinist about......

An art extravaganza along the vein of E.A.S.T., the Texas Biennial returns to Austin tomorrow, kicking off a month and a half's worth of nifty art-related events at the Dougherty Arts Center, Bolm Studios, Okay Mountain and Site 1808. This time around, they're showcasing just about every medium of visual art imaginable, including paintings, drawings, photography, mixed media, video, sculpture and site-specific installations. Founded back in 2005 by Bolm Studios, Camp Fig, the Dougherty......

:: FRIDAY :: [in-store] The Sidekick @ End of an Ear, 6pm [art] Hot Dick @ Red Door [music] Dance Disaster, Kill Me Tomorrow, and Glass Candy @ The Parish, 10pm [music] Holly Golightly @ Emo's, 10pm [music] The Arm and Young Heart Attack @ Antone's, 8pm :: SATURDAY :: [fun] Karaoke Apocalypse @ Club Deville, 10pm [music/charity] At All Cost Benefit Show @ Emo's, 8pm [art] "Our Friends Are Friends of Friends" Opening......

FRIDAY [Music] Rilo Kiley 7pm @ Stubb's - $14 [Film] TriPartIte Film Festival (benefitting SafePlace) 8:30pm @ Jo's - Donations encouraged SATURDAY [Art] The Portrait Show: You Don't Know Us 7pm-11pm @ Camp Fig [Dance!] KVRX Prom Night w/ Clap!Clap! 8pm @ Iron Gate Studios - $5 [Music] Spring Fling for SafePlace 8pm @ Velvet Spade - $30 at the door [Art] The Works of Peter Beste 7pm-Midnight @ The Space (Beste will be in......

The lovely boys and girls of Camp Fig (305b E 5th) are celebrating the start of the their latest exhibit, The Portrait Show: You Dont Know Us, with an opening reception this Saturday, May 7th from 7pm-11pm. The show is curated by Katie Friedman and Lee Brooks, who were the folks responsible for putting together Camp Fig's ever-so-impressive Hot for Teacher chalkboard-art exhibit last September. The Portrait Show features art from: Melanie Standage (London)......

We've been a really good Austinist this week and kept you updated on all the events of this weekend. But we thought we'd be really, really good and remind you about all of them: Austinist Happy Hour, tonight @ The Longbranch Inn Austin Marley Festival Saturday and Sunday @ Auditorium Shores John Kerry Kids First @ UT's Rec Sports Center...RSVP needed! Walk To End Violence, Saturday 10AM-2PM @ Waterloo Park Art Car Parade, Saturday 11:30AM-1:30PM......

As if we haven't already bombarded you with enough crap to do this weekend, we have more. We always have more! On Saturday night from 7pm-11pm, Austinist-friendly Camp Fig (305b E 5th) will be showcasing new work by Brant Watson and Eric Zimmerman. Last July, Brant impressed us at the Creative Research Lab's Threads opening, so we're confident his work will be worth viewing again. Rumor has it that this Saturday he's showing some nifty......