The week's news on arts, books, film and music....

The Waller Creek Tunnel project here in Austin is gaining ground. Major scientific breakthrough shows that cloning embryos is much easier than anticipated... U.S. clean energy stocks are doing better than the U.S. economy as a whole. Is classical music on the comeback? Norman Mailer dies in Manhattan at the age of 84. Writers Guild of America strike in Hollywood goes into week two... We will all have less privacy in the future, says......

Luciano Pavarotti, widely regarded as the world's finest living tenor, passed away this morning at his home in Italy. Pavarotti had been battling pancreatic cancer since 2006, and was hospitalized in August of this year as a result of ongoing struggles with the disease. Known as the 'King of High Cs,' Pavarotti popularized opera and classical music more than any of his contemporaries, particularly in the U.S., bringing the genre to the forefront of American......

Lick Lick and The Invincible Czars head up an evening of eccentric rock n’ roll tonight at Room 710. Self classified as “prunk”, the former concentrates on post-punk assembled with catchy guitar riffs and per their MySpace page, “Lick Lick are sure to make prunk a household term in 2007.” The band is set to join the likes of Tia Carrera, Gorch Fock, and Attack Formation on the local Australian Cattle God Records for......

My how this city has grown. Austin used to be the kind of town where the summertime theatre offerings were slim pickings. Not so...not anymore. The joints are jumping, and this week is no exception. It's darn near impossible to offer a Pick of the Week, so this week we're suggesting not one but two productions we think you'll enjoy. First, however, we need to report on some awards show shenanigans that went down earlier......

When you spend nearly every weekend watching all forms of low-budget, pseudo-experimental performance in barely converted warehouses, you find yourself yearning for shows that are just a little more polished. So, when a new company sprouts up, featuring ballet allstars from around the country, and headed by both a nationally recognized choreographer and composer, your interest is piqued. Enter American Repertory Ensemble. The company’s first production, Dialogues, was part contemporary ballet, part classical music......

While it may only be two thirds as tittilating as the panty raid party at Beauty Bar happening shortly thereafter, the Austin Symphony opens its 96th season tomorrow night at Bass Concert Hall, with a program featuring Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell and works by William Schuman, Beethoven, and Brahms. Bell, who plays a 1713 Stradivarius Gibson ex Huberman valued somewhere in the millions, has garnered accolades and recognition far too numerous to list. From......

For quite a long time, Austinist was oblivious to our friends' references to British singer-songwriter Matt Hales, better known as Aqualung, as "that guy with the VW jingo." We tend to be repulsed by corporate sloganeering, particularly those of the rather catchy sort; we also never got around to buying a television. It was only by sheer coincidence that Aqualung happened to play the same SXSW show as our current Britrock obsession, Bloc Party;......