Back in November, we caught the brief, free run of A Mystical Quest To Slay Normalcy at Southwestern University in Georgetown. We enjoyed this remarkable, site-specific work so much that we have to talk about it, and share rehearsal / promotion video. Described as “exploring disability,” the performance by Southwestern's Department of Theatre and the Theatre For Social Justice started off at the Jones Theater on campus. The show then mocked the fact that wheelchair......

The Melvins have been around for over two decades and have influenced plenty of hard-rock acts in that period, either directly, or indirectly. Comprised of (permanent members) Buzz Osbourne and Dale Crover, the band recently added Coady Willis and Jared Warren to the line-up. The newer members will be on double duty tonight as they both make up 100% of the opening act Big Business. The Melvins’ brand of metal -- a droning sludge-fest......

Admit it: sometimes you have those random Tuesday nights when you might be perfectly happy knocking back a few rounds with Mister 6'3" 18-to-89-year-old White/Asian/Hispanic Full-Figured Agnostic Non-Smoker. With a high school diploma.One of the internet's biggest dating sites is taking its free matchmaking services somewhere you wouldn't expect: offline. The creators of OkCupid, which published those surprising survey results about Austin singles back in August, today unveiled a new website called CrazyBlindDate.com. The idea's......

Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner's Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest's crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods. Bostonist got a crash course in what not......

#7 Texas (1-0) vs. #19 Texas Christian (1-0) Time: 6 pm, Saturday, Sept. 8 Location: Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium TV: Fox Sports Southwest Radio: KVET (98.1 FM, 1300 AM) For the past week, all signs have been pointing to "upset" in this game. Texas looked unsteady at times in its 21-13 win over Arkansas State, while TCU shut out Baylor, 27-0. While the Longhorns' performance in the opener was shaky, at least it was......

In a random survey of 438 Austin singles, online dating site OkCupid recently discovered the following facts: When it comes to attire, Austinites care little for fancy designer threads, preferring their dates to wear flattering, stylish, or simply clean clothes. Most don't expect to score on the first date: less than a quarter bring protection along Much to our surprise—and in a somewhat disgusting turn of events—when asked whether they'd prefer that their date a)......

Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey now faces an informal inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission, after a widely-distributed article in last week's Wall Street Journal revealed that he'd been making anonymous postings on internet message boards about his company. Writing as "rahodeb"—an anagram for "Deborah," his wife's name—Mackey left a string of messages and comments dating from 1999 to 2006. Many of the remarks focused on Mackey, Whole Foods, and, more recently, on......

Our Hot Real Estate Listings column is pretty much dead, but we still cruise the MLS on occasion and this beauty popped up as the most expensive listing in central Austin right now (beating out 3 Niles Road, which has been for sale for a while). It is the Allen-Von Boeckmann Building, a historical structure dating from around 1874 (the listing says 1869, but 1874 is pretty clearly carved into the cornice), at 811 Congress......

The following films played Saturday, March 10th as part of the SXSW Film Festival: Campaign - This Japanese doc follows the travails of a "parachute" candidate for the Kawasaki city council. He's called that because he moved to the city specifically to run for office through his allegiance to the powerful LDP party. Japan is as big a character as the candidate, as the candid shots of life there offer revealing snippets of the......

We hope that you've recovered from that "holiday" last week. We're so relieved that the flower and card companies can afford to stay in business for another year. We're not sure who would be crazy enough to brave dinner out on such an evening. As far as we're concerned, nothing says love and romance like Best Wurst. Just in case you need some help preparing for next year, we have compiled the best of......

The second album curse has felled bands both big (The Killers) and small (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) in recent months. The short attention span and indie band hype created by the music blogger community only add to the pressure of the big follow-up. It is a relief, then, to report that Bloc Party emerge relatively unscathed on A Weekend In The City, their follow-up to 2005's wonderful Silent Alarm. A wider (and louder)......

That's right: it's time to heat up your winter nights again, with the 14th season of FronteraFest. The Short Fringe, the Long Fringe, or Mi Casa es su Teatro -- FronteraFest is five weeks of alternative, offbeat, new, and just plain off-the-wall fringe theatre presented by Hyde Park Theatre and Austin Script Works. For complete FronteraFest 2007 information, including times and locations for the Short Fringe, the Long Fringe and Mi Casa es su......

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. In Austin, bands are beginning to confirm for SXSW and the rumor mill is up and running. Good thing, too, because we all know how much Austinites love live performances. Austin also found itself in the national spotlight, with Longhorn Legend......

WEDNESDAY [25] music • Joseph Arthur with Annie Stela at The Parish Room music • Joseph Arthur at Waterloo Records (Free, 5pm) music • Gorch Fock, Green Milk From Another Planet Orange, The Mall, Skullening at Emo's Lounge music • Dean Station at End of an Ear (Free, 6pm) music • Capoeira Benefit at Flamingo Cantina music • Savion Glover at Hogg Auditorium dj • Cut Club with guest DJ Terry Diabolik (NYC) at......

Tired from a long weekend of listening to music, dancing, drinking and sweating? What better way to unwind than feeding your mind than a nice evening in a cool theatre with a film? Sounds good, right? Well, you're in luck. The Austin Film Society is hosting a FREE advance screening of Boynton Beach Club, a sweet comedy about a group of senior citizens living in an "Active Adult" community in Boynton Beach, Florida. The group......

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......

TUESDAY [29] music • The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players at Cactus Café (8:30pm, $10) music • Plastic Constellations, Fatal Flying Guilloteens, The Boxing Lesson, We'll Go Machete at Emo's music/DJ • The new weekly Tuesday Roots-Fi Soundsystem: A Sunny Summer Night of Jamaican Sounds at The Peacock (9pm, Free) ® music • Grupo Fantasma at Waterloo Records (5pm) ® music • Chalk Outlines, Dragline Bros. (Athens, OH), Mumpsie (NOLA) at Beerland workshop • Betty......

MONDAY [28] books • Jeff Abbott presents Fear at Barnes & Noble Westlake (7pm) ® film • The Ultimate Garlic Experience at Alamo Downtown (7pm, $25) ® film • This is Spinal Tap at Austin Java (8pm, Free) ® film • Bunny Lake is Missing at Alamo Downtown (9:45pm, $2) fashion • Huge 75% off sale at FactoryPeople TUESDAY [29] music • Plastic Constellations, Fatal Flying Guilloteens, The Boxing Lesson, We'll Go Machete at......

Don't you owe Jon-Benet's parents an apology? Apparently this guy did it. Yesterday was the hottest day of the year. Ah, victory. With all the Harleys in the factory to choose from, GWB picks a blue and white one to ride. Apple moves decisively to protect poor defenseless iPods from copyright infringement. H.E.B. begins to peddle ethanol on I-35. Apparently eth's not actually ecologically superior, but it sure is sexy. Kate Hudson might, maybe,......

aGLIFF, or the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, tonight hosts the latest in its 2006 Filmmaker Series, which presents works by up-and-coming queer filmmakers and donates any proceeds from ticket sales to support their future projects. Austin-based auteur Alpha's first effort, a documentary short piece entitled What Can 2 Girls Do Together?, debunked common misconceptions that straight males hold about lesbians and earned her a reputation as a guerrilla filmmaker. Since then, she's......

Screen Door Film started off in 2004 by showcasing a bunch of wonderful short films they'd found from all over the country, with a particular emphasis on works by Austin directors. Many of their selections have appeared at Sundance, SXSW, and other festivals around the world. Most recently, they began hosting a series of combination screenings and presentations, focused on the business aspect of indie filmmaking; programs in the last two months included the Duplass......

The Rocket's 2006 debut with the Astros yesterday ended in a 4-2 loss against the Minnesota Twins with Francisco Liriano stealing Clemens' Thunder. Nudist resorts are seeing an increase in popularity. We imagine that laser-hair-removal is really popular at some of these places. And naked karaoke? Need we say more? Saddam Hussein went on a hunger strike. The martyr ended it after missing one meal. A man in Idaho was offended that his local......

In America, we rock summertime barbeque. Hamburgers, ribs and the sacrosanct tofu pup all roast under our fair dominion. But soups are not quite within the purview. Austin's very own authority on the subject is trying to change that. His name is David Ansel, known to many as The Soup Peddler. He rose to fame locally in 2002 by delivering homemade soup to residents of Bouldin Creek (atop a yellow bicycle, of course, with......

Former Austinist editor Ben Brown's been busy with his current project, Consumating, formerly the hipster/geek equivalent of match.com. It looks like they've transformed the dating site into more of a social network ("a new way to find people who don't suck"), where one might find someone in their neighborhood -- or anywhere in the world, for that matter -- who's interested in, say, coffee and cigarettes. Check it out here.......

[The following is an editorial column by contributor Carly Kocurek and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Austinist staff. --The Editors] The first time I saw The Graduate, I just cracked up when Benjamin took Elaine to the strip club. Because it was a joke, right? But, then, I watched Taxi Driver, and while I realize that Travis Bickle is batshit crazy, the fact that he leads Betsy into a grindhouse bothers......

...the 2006 ArtSpark Festival Let's hop in our magical Austinist Time Machine and go back 12 weeks. (Cue flashback music.) You're sitting in an "apricot flower colored" conference room. (Does that mean apricot colored...or something else?) You've just had a fun evening of "food and games." Someone hands you an envelope that contains the following "sparks": Mars, Nu Wave music, and internet dating, with topical support materials including cartoons, guitar tabs, articles, lyrics, and......

[The following is an editorial column by contributor Carly Kocurek (who is currently out in the sticks using an internet connection made of tin cans and string, which leaves her incapable of posting this herself) and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Austinist staff. --The Editors] I refuse to believe in karma. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a lovely idea. I would love it if the guy who ditched me......

My dog bought you a Lone Star tall boy. My dog bought you a Lone Star tall boy...er I did...er, we did. She saw your table of friends looking at her and told me about it. I looked over and saw just how very cute you are. So, we bought you a Lone Star tall boy. You smiled and nodded upon reception of said Lone Star tall boy. Then a pretty boy sat down......

Londonist prepares a Happy Birthday bath for Buddah this week and then things get all cliched. A madman goes on a rampage while axe-wiedling and London's mayor warns an American diplomat to avoid the kitchen if the heat bothers him so much. LAist has finally come around to purchasing tickets for Clipper Train. Hyper local dating sites are spamming L.A. neighborhoods and the fascinating Dame Darcy talks with LAist about art, the city and earthquakes.......