In case you hadn't realized, music poster art and design is a a medium all its own. The creative effort that goes into each print and poster is a labor of love, artists finding new and inventive ways to combine elements from a band's own vision, their own voice, as well as actual information. ...

Psychedelic music came of age in Austin in the 60’s thanks in large to The 13th Floor Elevators and the emergence of The Vulcan Gas Company as a community and a venue to support the genre. (Check out this site for a history.) The Vulcan Gas Company (316 Congress Ave.) shut its doors in the 70’s but lately there has been a renewed interest in the era in part due to Scott Conn’s Dirt Road To Psychedelia documentary. The Black Angels must also be blamed thanked for this rejuvenation; the local outfit has paved the way for a new generation of psychedelic acts with their impressive 2006 release, Passover. A full-length follow-up is expected this May....

Spiderhouse (probably one of Austin's most representative coffee shop-bar-patios) is hosting a full evening of music and fashion this Saturday, dubbed Fashion Freakout. ...

Photos of some of the items to be shown at Fashion Freakout at The United States Art Authority (next to Spiderhouse) on Saturday, February 16th. Featuring fashion from Buffalo Exchange, New Bohemia Boutique, Prototype Vintage Design and Pink Hair Salon. DJ Scandalizer, Brian Tweedy, Jason McNeely, and Mike Wiebe start the night off. Toko-Ri Get High and Shapes Have Fangs will play the after the show. $5 cover/ 21+ Photos courtesy of Briana Purser.......

Her hand-sewn, saliva-marked, grass-stained outfits were reality show ratings gold, but after six episodes former Austinite and University of Texas graduate Elisa Jimenez took the dive on last night's episode of Bravo's Project Runway. ...

City Council Member Lee Leffingwell and the City of Austin seek resident and visitor input alike for a major City of Austin website redesign via the Austin Go survey. Up until January 4th, you can tell the gub'ment just how you'd like their new-fangled webhighwaytubes to assist you by filling out the online survey on such topics as how you use the City of Austin site, how you'd like to see it improved, and how you rate redesign areas such as navigation, timeliness and accuracy of the online information the city provides, and security of personal information....

Intelligence reports now reveal that Iran is *not* making a nuclear bomb. Remains to be seen whether this will make a difference to Bush, who just doesn't like the cut of their jib. Damn! What is it with the Senate and thirteen-year-old boys? Brad Pitt, perhaps in a contest with Angie to see who can adopt the most people, takes the entire Lower Ninth Ward under his wing. Two popular musicians were recently murdered......

The allegorical narrative of Moses bringing down the Ten Commandments represents a massive backwards step for humankind, culturally and intellectually...Modern monotheism’s overlooked Pandora’s Box....

Venezuelan voters didn't want Chavez as a ruler for life after all. Putin's party wins the Russian election, warns against Westerners who may say the election was unfair. Best feminist candidate: Obama? Later this week, Romney will publicly address his Mormon faith and how it may affect his possible presidency. Looks like it will be Texas v. Arizona State at the Holiday Bowl. Conan O'Brien will pay his "Late Night" crew from his own......

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,......

Comic from ToothPasteForDinner.com State science curriculum director Chris Comer says she was forced to resign today according to the Austin-American Statesman. She walked away from her nine-year career with the Texas Education Agency amid accusations of insubordination and misconduct, both of which appear to be connected with her apparent bias against the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to the theory of evolution. The senior adviser on statewide initiatives, Lizzette Reynolds, who previously served......

Some would rather vote for a yellow dog. Image from DemocraticStuff.com Lou Dubose presents Bill Of WrongsTuesday, November 27BookPeople (603 N. Lamar)Free, Starts at 7pm[info] Fiery Austin columnist Molly Ivins was once described to us as "equal parts sugar, spice, piss, and vinegar" by friend and fellow yellow-dog-democrat Bob Mann. To this day we still can't think of a better way to describe her. Her death last January left a deafening silence — gone was......

Photo of Emily Tindall and Leslie Chastain courtesy UT Dep’t Theatre & Dance Ashes, Ashes8pm Saturday, 2pm SundayWinship Drama Building (UT Campus)[info] | [tickets]Ashes, Ashes, closing this weekend at UT, is the most visually-impressive theatrical work we’ve seen anywhere in quite awhile. We’ve even been to lower-end Broadway productions that didn’t have half the visual whammy of this retro-futuristic extravaganza. We simply couldn’t tear our eyes away from the post-Victorian steampunk fantasia created by the......

Image from Zilker Park Residences. Sandwich king John Wooley is building a condo for himself and 73 of his closest market-selected friends near the shores of Barton Creek and Lady Bird Lake. Beloved Austin icon Wanfu Too will be displaced. Check this website later for details about the Save Wanfu Too Benefit Concert. In a surprising twist, Wooley appears to have support of the Zilker Neighborhood Association, partly because the project will require no variances......

Waller Creek Design Workshop. Image from City of Austin News Austin Music Commission's Town Hall Meeting Notes AMD Sued Over Birth Defects Plant a Tree for Freedom Waller Creek Design and Vision Workshop At This Rate, We're Having Our Next Happy Hour in Cancun Pangaea: It's For Real, Y'all UT Biologists Propose Biodiversity Institute Save BookWoman! Austin Music Commission Considering Plan to Stop the Rock They've Got the Lasers... Now All You Need is......

Image from Austin City Connection. Waller Creek Design Workshop9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007Austin City Hall (301 W. 2nd St.)[info] City Council Member Sheryl Cole and the Waller Creek Citizen Advisory Committee are asking the public for input regarding the Waller Creek corridor at a design workshop 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007, at Austin City Hall. Displays from the joint venture engineering team will be, uh, displayed. Silly ideas like......

Photo courtesy 31 Corn Lane StitchSaturday, November 10Austin Convention Center (500 E Cesar Chavez Street)Doors at 4pm, Fashion show 9:30pm, Tickets $10[info] | [tickets]31 Corn Lane is all about girls wanting to have fun. It's the brainchild of three sisters—Teeter (the youngest), Amy and Heather Sperber (the latter two are identical twins who rock out with The Boxes). We've loved their pony necklaces, novelty totes and bright floral print belts ever since we saw them......

All state constitutional amendments passed in the election yesterday. Famed architect Frank Gehry is being sued by MIT for the design for the Stata Center. "Product of a judicial system dominated by men": According to the Board of immigration appeals, genital cutting isn't enough to grant asylum, but forced sterilization is. Anti-Musharraf protesters angry about emergency rule were beaten by police in Pakistan today. Surgery to remove 4 extra limbs from an Indian girl......

Soon, you too could be like these dudesDabblers in diabolical death-ray design and general gadget geeks will soon have another outlet—as though Maker Faire and Dorkbot weren't enough—to satiate their craving for homemade mechanical wizardry. Hailed as a "paradise for tech tinkerers" and created by one of the brains behind MythBusters, TechShop launched in the Silicon Valley a little over a year ago, and now has plans to open a franchise in Austin. The open-access......

Image from RCIS.org Solar Austin Happy HourTuesday, November 6Artz Rib House [map]6:30-8:30pm[info]Solar Austin gathers for their monthly happy hour Tuesday at Artz Rib House. Renowned science fiction author and founder of Viridian Design Movement, Bruce Sterling, will be the featured and the topic will be Future Trends in Solar. Best known for his eight science fiction novels, Mr. Sterling is also a contributing editor of WIRED magazine and a columnist for MAKE magazine. He has......

Album cover of McLemore Avenue, Booker T. & The MG’s The hilarious kids of ColdTowne bring their audience-driven film/music/improv spectacle, 3, 2, 1 Kill!, to the new downtown Drafthouse digs Austin Music Commission hosts a very important town hall meeting tonight at Momo's on the resurrected sound ordinance proposal, which could dramatically transform our city's live music landscape -- and not in a good way Stitch, Austin's ultimate gathering of D-I-Y fashion and design, takes......

Photo courtesy Jessica Plymate StitchSaturday, November 10Austin Convention Center [map]Doors at 4pm, Fashion show 9:30pm, Tickets $10[info] | [tickets]Jessica Plymate revives the art of appliqué in super rockin' way with Aorta Designs. Gone are the days of mom's innocent poodles sewn on skirts. Jessica's animals are hardcore; drinking wine and smoking cigarettes. What is your design/art background? This is where I have to confess I have no formal training in design, art or anything. I've......

The Austin Contrarian did a nice post yesterday on the Design Commission's Density Bonus Recommendations. A "density bonus" isn't quite what it sounds like - developers don't get a bonus for building more density. Instead, developers pay the city (generally to provide money for parks, affordable housing or mass transit) in exchange for the right to build more density. Parks, affordable housing and mass transit are all good things, but density is also a good......

I Like Applejuice is the playful and witty work of Travis Nichols. Travis wears many hats as an artist, writer and a rocker. He's also been profiled in VegNews Magazine as one of the "25 Most Fascinating Vegetarians!" Where else do you sell your work? I sell stuff at Parts & Labour here in town, and also on my website. I also have an Etsy store that has current art for sale, as well. What......

Freshie and Zero is made with love and a hammer. Beth Porter is bringing her jewelry line down from Nashville again for the second year in a row. Although she only started her business a year and a half ago, she won last year's $1000 Stitch Grant. Beth says her jewelry is "light and modern, delicate and feminine." Her irregular, one-of-a-kind earrings and necklaces are made from sterling silver or gold filled wire formed into......

We haven't made it to Project Runway at Moxie and the Compound, yet, but we've heard it's fun. Last week's winner Malissa Long sent us a picture of her creation (see right); the challenge was to design a piece only using a white knit fabric. This week the challenge is to design a dress for the Shiki customer. The Moxie version of Project Runway is similar to the Bravo show, although there's a local twist......

17-year-old Hannah Hawley (photo at right) has been missing since Monday afternoon and has a heart condition requiring medication. She was last seen at South 1st and W. Stassney Lane. Police ask anyone with knowledge of her whereabouts to call 911. Texans for Public Justice says that our city is losing money on incentive deals. Citizens of Northeast Travis County are opposed to the possible expansion of the landfill in their area. The odor......

OMG, Barkitecture! Done laughing? Okay, if you love your dog bring your furry friend to 2nd Street District area tomorrow for Barkitecture Austin 2007 – a silent auction for dog-houses built by 20 of Austin’s architects, builders and designers. All proceeds go directly to Animal Trustees of Austin, Lucky Mutts, Austin Dog Rescue and Blue Dog Rescue, which find homes for stray dogs. Bidding starts at noon at Lofty Dog, there’s a live photo......

D’Ette Cole incorporates found objects items in every aspect of her work. You could say this is her signature, but D’Ette’s style is not easily summed up. “It’s Texas flavor without being hokey,” she says. “No cowboy boots hanging on the wall.” What does pop up in her art and décor are elements of surprise. One of D’Ette’s newest projects transforms empty plastic water bottles into hanging light displays, which almost looks like a......

Moxie and the Compound wants to wet your fashion whistle with its own Project Runway-inspired competition. Both Marques Harper and Stephen Moser mentioned they're judging the event. But who do you think promoted it better? Remember Factory People, the hip store on South Congress that closed this summer? Of course you do! They're still around, promoting parties and selling their shamelessly cool clothing online. But if you want to see Factory People's latest looks......