New word: paraprosdokian! Wikipedia says it "is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part." Wikipedia also says it is a part of Demetri Martin's comedy and if we had anything witty to add to that, it would most certainly be a surprise. So, we'll leave the comedy to Demetri and his new book This Is A Book which he'll be signing tonight at BookPeople. more ›

Pooneh Ghana caught up with comedian Demetri Martin last night at UT. In between shots, he undoubtedly talked about some very important things. more ›

Eugene Mirman is much funnier than you. A mainstay of New York's alternative comedy scene, Mirman's profile has been even higher of late. In February, his Comedy Central Presents special debuted, and earlier this year, he was asked to cover the New Hampshire primaries for 236.com. He can also be seen as Jemaine and Bret's strange landlord in HBO's Flight Of The Conchords. A multi-year veteran of SXSW, Mirman is hosting this year's Web Awards at SXSW Interactive and is also performing at multiple SX venues during the music festival. more ›

Coldplay's Chris Martin recently described Travis as "the band that invented my band and lots of others." That should give most people a solid idea of what to expect when Glasgow's indie-pop quartet stop into Stubb's Thursday night. After debuting with the raucous pub rock album Good Feeling in 1997, the band did an about-face with 1999's The Man Who, a moody, ballad-filled acoustic record produced by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck) that produced several... more ›

Manic Street Preachers - Send Away The Tigers: Over a decade removed from their masterpiece Everything Must Go, the Manics seem to finally return to the stadium-rock sounds of that album on Send Away The Tigers. While not as strong as Everything, the new album has several bright spots, most notably the so-cheesy-it's-awesome duet "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" with The Cardigans' Nina Persson. While there are some awfully clunky lyrics ("I'm just a patsy for your love..."), and an occasional guitar line that sounds way too much like "Sweet Child O' Mine", this is a return to what the Manics do best: talking personal politics and rocking some Welsh angst. It's what Muse might hope to sound like if they weren't writing about spaceships and the apocalypse and such. more ›

This past November, some of you folks may have been lucky enough to catch dorky (yet dreamy) comedian Demetri Martin at the Paramount Theatre on his These Are Jokes tour. The good news for those of us who couldn't be there (because we were busy getting shut out of the My Morning Jacket show and wandering around downtown in a sad, drunken stupor) is that Comedy Central was taping the show for a one-hour comedy... more ›

Ever since he dropped out of NYU Law School — to the initial chagrin of his family — Demetri Martin’s star has been on the rise. His success as a stand-up comedian in New York City led to a writing gig on "Late Night with Conan O’Brien." After honing his skills on O’Brien’s show, Martin moved over to Comedy Central, where he has worked as a contributor on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."... more ›

Heading to End of an Ear or Waterloo? Here's what you can look for this week on the new release wall. Adem: Love & Other Planets (Domino) Adem's work with Fridge doesn't give any indication of his capabilities as a folk / pop singer-songwriter, but the distinction between the styles is indicative of his talent. The album's subtle yet sonic layers combined with Adem's fragile, persistant voice create a soundscape to match the themes... more ›

Perhaps you've heard that the comedy scenes in both LA and New York are excellent these days. You might have gotten a taste of this when Eugene Mirman and Aziz Ansari rolled through town in March for SXSW. If you've been wishing for an NYC weekend to catch a show or two, don't book that ticket just yet. Several of the best acts are heading right here for Austinites to watch this fall... Michael... more ›