Thirteen years after founding Salvage Vanguard Theater, Artistic Director Jason Neulander is stepping down. Neulander has grown SVT from a crazy little fringe collective to a powerhouse producer of cutting-edge works. No doubt it'll be very exciting to see what he gets into next....

Image from Fix290.org. Despite TXDOT's incessant bleating about lack of funds, they apparently still have plenty of cash to build the controversial Phase II toll roads, including the particularly controversial twelve-lane highway in the sky at the Y (71 and 290 in Oak Hill). In an era of concerns about budget cuts, pollution of Barton Springs and CO2 emissions, it seems like an egregious waste of resources to build this monstrosity that helps Hummer-drivers hurtle......

Photo by Northern Transplant on flickr The Trail of Lights will open this Sunday evening. Suspicious black powder sent to office at Ninth and Congress today. Looks like vice chancellor and dean of agriculture Elsa Murano will soon be A&M's first female president. The former TEA science director forced out for forwarding an email on evolution thinks she is now unemployable. Will the upcoming strip club "tax" affect the Alamo Drafthouse? The Texas Comptroller's office......

The Ultimate Christmas Musical: The Musical!Through 12/22, Th/Fr/Sa at 8pmSalvage Vanguard Theater (map)[info] | [tickets]Christmas will be here sooner than you think! What nicer gift than an evening out at the theater? Here're just a few shows we think worthy of being early stocking-stuffers. You've probably already seen the XL cover or read the AusChron piece (damn, Jonathon Morgan gets around!)—Yellow Tape Construction Company's Ultimate Christmas Musical: The Musical! opened last weekend. We loved......

Photo by Wylie Maercklein, courtesy YTCC The Ultimate Christmas Musical: The Musical!Through 12/22, Th/Fr/Sa at 8pmSalvage Vanguard Theater (map)[info] | [tickets]The North Pole is a pretty raunchy place. That’s what the Yellow Tape Construction Company would lead you to believe, anyway. And while we don’t remember Frosty the Snowman dealing smack in any of the Christmas fables we used to read in kindergarten, it’s not implausible. He may be a sentient amalgamation of button, coal,......

Photo from AIArchitect.com We recently came across this fascinating master's architecture project by UT Arlington alumnus Jason Mellard. Drawing from Star Wars and "biomimicking" the clam shell, this archipelago of futuristic donuts would function as a self-sustaining aquatic research platform, designed to allow scientists to study marine animals and fish in their natural habitat for extended periods of time. From AIArchitect: The research spheres consist of laboratories, classrooms, computer labs, viewing platforms, holding tanks, offices,......

Photo by Wylie Maercklein The good folks at Yellow Tape Construction Co. are giving away two tickets to Thursday's opening of The Ultimate Christmas Musical: The Musical! According to their website, "When one little boy loses the Spirit of Christmas, his disbelief sends the North Pole into chaos — Rudolph is a diva, the elves are disenfranchised, and Santa has suddenly started growing old! Can Frosty the Snowman and his sidekick, Soniyeve — the pluckiest......

Image from Austin City Connection.According to the Statesman, our beloved mayor nearly pulled a Chuck Norris when a Monarch construction truck blocked traffic on West Fifth Street. Story is he got out of his car, walked to the construction site and ripped into the project superintendent. He later indicated that he was sorry if his vulgarity offended any construction workers. Many Statesman commenters noted that if the mayor thinks it is bad to get stuck......

Photo from Soundcheck Magazine Austin's 2nd Annual Green Holiday Festival, "The Sustainable Shopper's Ball!", returns to the Sunset Valley Farmers Market with over 60 local vendors and educators offering everything from bamboo homewares to luxury organic linens SXSW Film Festival Producer Matt Dentler shares some insider tips on what the film programming team is looking for - "Should you spend money on a fancy press kit? Should you check your DVD screener 4 different times......

Image from Killercorn on flickr.ZOM Inc. has again changed its mind about whether units in the currently-under-construction Monarch should be rented or sold. You may recall that The Monarch was initially announced as rental apartments, but switched to for-sale condos two months ago. The timing on that decision wasn't great - Austin's housing inventory has been piling up in the last few months. About twenty percent of The Monarch's units were sold between then and......

BookWoman has relocated and been in dire financial straits in the past, but soon when they take their sign down, it might stay down. Photo by tpacific on stock.xchngBookWoman, Texas's only femenist bookstore, is in trouble and in it fifty-large deep. If the store is unable to raise $50,000 by mid-December, they will likely close their doors for good. Austin will lose another independent business to that nebulous mantra of "progress and growth." The road......

Chinese petroleum company PetroGas set to become world's largest company by market value, surpassing ExxonMobil. Interesting gender-bender story from the Middle East... Mac users now entering the cross-hairs of the computer virus world...at least, the naughty Mac users (for shame!). Canadian study: P2P-file sharing actually INCREASES music purchasing? But how can this be?? Most Earthlings are ready to make sacrifices for the planet's environment, BBC study says. Is the next American economic recession on......

Now that the summer rains are finally over, progress on the new Mueller Redevelopment is proceeding at a swift pace. With the credit crunch from the sub-prime market slowing new home construction in many parts of the country and foreclosures rising rapidly, it remains to be seen whether Austin really is as immune as some analysts predict, or is merely a bubble looking for a pin. If you can't view the Flash slideshow above,......

House Speaker Pelosi was in town this morning to talk about energy issues. Have you voted early already? Did you even know election time was upon us? A construction worker was trapped underground for an hour yesterday as he worked on a tunnel for a downtown condo project. Travis County-area man died when the bus he was unloading from his tow truck crushed him. Local car thieves are seemingly in accord over their preferred......

Proposition 12 on the November 6 ballot would authorize the Texas Transportation Commission to issue up to $5 billion in general obligation bonds for highway improvement projects. That means TTC could borrow $5 billion dollars, spend it building new highways and require that the $5 billion be repaid by general revenue (taxes). This is being widely touted as a "stopgap" measure allowing the state to put off making a decision on how it will pay......

Travis County has requested an injunction against the developers of the Ranches at Hamilton Pool to force them to stop construction unless they start doing more to keep runoff from their site out of Hamilton Pool. Although they presumably have an interest in keeping their namesake pool clean enough for residents to enjoy, an independent consultant hired by Travis County has determined that the development is responsible for a majority, if not all, of the......

Pflugerville band students participate in contest with loaned instruments after bus carrying students and instruments was hit by drunk driver over the weekend. Construction slowing down at some downtown condo projects? We admit to driving a little fast on Chestnut; neighborhood residents ask drivers to take it slow. City leaders are hoping that local retailers will phase out plastic bags in a year. Will this lead to an official city ban on plastic bags?......

Three UT students make national news for getting stuck in local cave. "Well, that's the last time I throw my son a birthday party," said Father. "I'm getting too old for this crap." Radiohead stands to make approximately $9.6 million from sales of their latest record, "In Rainbows." Ex-General who served in Iraq speaks out on the war: "There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight." Study:......

This press release from Yellow Tape Construction Company crossed our desk today, and it not only sounds like too much fun, it also helps the environment! Good...and good for you. Who hates that? Have a box of gaudy Christmas decorations your spouse won't let you display? Stop letting it gather dust in the attic, and give it to Yellow Tape! We'll take your singing Santa dolls, blinking, animatronic reindeer—even that dollar-store garland from your first......

An industrial crane toppled this morning in the 900 block of Red River Street. No one was hurt when the crane fell, police said. Red River Street between 9th and 10th was shut for about two hours but reopened shortly after 11 a.m. The site under construction is near the Sheraton Hotel and is a four-story apartment building. Update: (10:40am) The Austin American Statesman has reported that the crane is not one of the giant......

The construction worker who fell 30 feet yesterday at a downtown condo construction site died today. The City of Austin is being sued by various groups over the plans to move the animal shelter. Federal officials arrested 22 immigrants in Austin today. Texas Youth Commission failed to adequately oversee lockup run by private contractor; teen criminals were suffering unhealthy conditions at the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, closed only yesterday. Louisiana company will build......

Construction worker fell over 25 feet (and may have landed on some upended rebar) from condo construction at 17th and Lavaca this morning. New background check requirements lead some volunteer dogwalkers to quit their work at Town Lake Animal Shelter. Al Gore is in town tonight; we'll keep an eye out for the YCT protesters. Numerous people named in Dallas corruption investigation, including city officials and a State Rep. A&M is having difficulties attracting......

Spank Dance Company and Refraction Arts are hosting a festival this month celebrating modern dance. Because most of you were probably out at that little music festival last weekend, you might have missed some seriously rockin’ dance performances during opening weekend. Don’t be sad, though, because there are two more weekends in September for you to get your contemporary dance on. Hot September Flurries is a massive collaborative event with involvement from Salvage Vanguard Theatre,......

Austin’s rising population and stagnant housing supply have resulted in increased housing prices. Even though there are a lot of condos under construction, few have hit the market. Our pal Wells Dunbar over at the Chronicle has a nice article discussing the complicated answers to the problem of affordable housing. One undiscussed simple answer would be to get people to stop moving to Austin. Despite our commenters efforts, that plan isn't working [ed: isn't......

The City of Austin wants your input in naming the new 21-acre, $7.3-mililon park just south of Lady Bird Lake. The recently opened area, which houses the Palmer Events Center and the Long Center, is currently dubbed "Town Lake Park," but a "facilities naming ordinance" calls for the park to be rechristened in honor of "an individual(s) (living or dead) or something other than an individual such as a place or natural feature." Submit your......

Several state reps, including Joe Farias and David Leibowitz, and Congressman Ciro Rodriguez have recently begun to ask questions about the Texas Department of Transportation's ad campaign promoting toll roads and the use of budgetary funds to lobby Congress. Specifically, they are asking the Attorney General whether TxDOT's actions are legal. Legal or not, ad campaigns and lobbying seem like a poor use of taxpayer money for any state agency, especially one that is......

As you may recall, CWS Capital Partners is trying to build a new residential development in the place of some aging condos on the shore of Lady Bird Lake between the Statesman's offices and East Bouldin Creek (where the hike and bike trail currently dead-ends). The Parks Board has voted to recommend that the Planning Commission deny CWS Capital Partners’ request for a variance that would allow it to build 150 feet from the......

Warning to UT season ticketholders with seats on the north end zone: Porta-potties will be used at the stadium because of unfinished construction. 27-year-old man dies when his canoe tips over in a Hutto pond. The Chronicle live-blogged the city council budget talks today. Mommymixers help Austin mothers meet up with college students willing to babysit to pay for books. Texas lawmakers may lengthen the tax-free time to two weekends. Received a jury summons......

Next week, the City of Austin will officially unveil Town Lake Park, the latest chunk of land to join the already expansive family of city parks. Austin Parks and Recreation are responsible for some 206 parks, 26 greenbelts and 12 nature preserves, totaling a whopping 16,682 acres. Add 20 acres to that total on August 29, when the city officially celebrates the opening of Town Lake Park. Where is this all coming from, you ask?......

We read a couple months ago about copper thieves breaking into local Habitat houses to steal copper: homes built by volunteers and new homebuyers damaged and defaced by people in for a quick buck. Austin Habitat for Humanity's houses are far from the only ones being targeted by copper thieves, but the non-profit being hit is a sign of how desperate the copper theft situation is getting. Today it was reported that the number of......