The World's Greatest is coming to the Toyota Center in Houston on June 5, and you can get pre-sale tickets beginning tomorrow at 10 a.m. Buy tickets online or by calling 1-866-4-HOU-TIX. It's the "Love Letter" tour, but we'd lock ourselves in a closet if he didn't bring out all the hits. more ›

Most of the time when a business closes in Austin, we all bitch and moan for a little while about how things-they-are-a-changin' and summarily place all of the blame on condos/gentrification/Californians, and then move through the Kübler-Ross stages of grief fairly quickly into acceptance. Our beloved music venue, coffee shop or restaurant is gone, with nothing but fond memories to mark its place in our personal histories. But in extremely rare cases, a business evolves and finds rebirth. Thus is the case with the late, great downtown green-curry-lovers mecca Thai Tara. more ›

I wonder: why wouldn’t the APD drug cop and the data miner want the world to know what they’re up to? They’re heroes, after all! Cleansing our streets of the dreaded indoor weed farmer. They should be proud. They're like The Punisher and Microchip. more ›

For all the avid recyclers out there who are suffering from multiple blue bin clutter, good news is on the way. The City of Austin's Solid Waste Services Department announces a new program that will replace the blue bins with 90-gallon carts that can be filled with all recyclables, including new items like cereal boxes. more ›

• Schwarzenegger continues to make us weirdly like him. (But we're still not moving to California.)
• Castro beginning to show signs of willingness to retire.
• Monkeys are better at estimating quantities than Duke undergrads.

Image from AmericanApparel.netAustin will move three steps closer to becoming Southern California a real city a place where you can try on those high-waisted hot shorts and shiny tights before buying them with the opening of three new American Apparel locations (two real stores in Austin and an outlet in Round Rock). The first location will be on the Drag at 2316 Guadalupe, which is good news, because there are few things as vital to... more ›

Image from SpyYard Texas Book FestivalSaturday November 3 - Sunday, November 4Downtown Austin [map]Free[info]We didn't think ten tips for the Texas Book Festival were enough, so here are ten more to help complicate things and confuse you you navigate the throngs of bibliophiles stalking the Austin streets this weekend. Keep in mind that seating and space is limited at most of these events. Arrive early and often! Saturday 10:00 - 10:45 Kristin Gore (Senate Chamber)... more ›

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked... more ›

Floratone Floratone (Blue Note) The band is called Floratone, but given the fact that Bill Frisell is the guitarist, it's sort of impossible to leave that out of the title of this week's NRT. Frisell's history in the guitar world is long and impressive, and this collaboration with drummer Matt Chamberlain (a notable musician in his own right, having performed with everyone from Pearl Jam to Neil Finn) is another beautiful addition to his... more ›

Newsweek ranks UT Austin as "Hottest for Saving America's Schools" A woman dies while tubing on the Blanco River Sunday night Keith Williams, 33, and Charkora Gentry, 31, attempt to steal brisket from an H-E-B, end up kicking a store employee in the back The good news: Karl Rove is resigning. The bad news: he's moving back to Texas. Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Central Texas are searching for a few good male mentors Former... more ›

Adorably swollen former U.S. Congressman and blogger Thomas Dale Delay received a bit of good news today. The Statesman is reporting that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Texas has decided to uphold a lower court's 2005 decision to dismiss felony charges against Delay and his politickin' and redistrictin' homies, Jim Ellis and John Colyandro. The 2005 dismissal held that the state's conspiracy statutes would cover election codes in September of 2003, well over... more ›

Texas state troopers at the Department of Public Safety (DPS) proudly announced yesterday that they managed to seize a record number of drugs in 2006. All told, an estimated $335.9 million worth of drugs were confiscated during routine traffic stops. Most of the loot, as you can see in the slideshow above, was as cleverly hidden as possible, often stashed in tar machines, wrapped around tires, or stored in the axles of pickup trucks.... more ›

Tig Notaro is hilarious. But you already knew that. Maybe you saw her in this season's most heralded breakout TV comedy, the Sarah Silverman Program. Or perhaps you watched her perform stand-up in Austin in October with the Crackpot Comedy Tour. You may have even caught a glimpse of her on Jimmy Kimmel Live, season 4 of Last Comic Standing, Dog Bites Man, or Comedy Central's Premium Blend. And it's possible that you simply... more ›

Don't worry. You haven't lost your mind, and Austinist's famously solid and predictable servers haven't gone on the blink. Things are just a little wonky in the Austin theatre scene right now. All these fests -- which are wonderful, mind you -- are wreaking havoc with show schedules. Some productions are playing first at one fest, then at another...first at one location, then somewhere else just down the block.... It's enough to make a... more ›

It's not a season renewal, but NBC has asked for six new scripts for the locally-filmed drama. This is the second item of good news for the show in recent days; last week the show was awarded a prestigious Peabody Award for being the only current television series "grounded in contemporary American reality". If Friday Night Lights is renewed, the location of the filming is still up in the air; it could move away... more ›

The University of Texas Creative Writing Program has a reputation for scoring amazing, talented writers and poets as visiting professors. The good news for the average Austinite is that these "visitors" will usually give a public reading at some point during their semester-long stay. Tonight poet and UT visiting professor Jill Alexander Essbaum will be busting rhymes -for free!- in the Harry Ransom Center's Tom Lea Rooms. A former Austin resident currently sporting a Swiss... more ›

A British accent could get you everywhere. Rally your sweet Peeps for Easter. If you don't have a sifter or a whisk, forget about it. Happy Birthday to bubble wrap - relieving stress for over 50 years. Good news: slobs are more productive. Obama is winning the Presidential race on YouTube. Looks like the ugly ones might want to aim for a plea bargain. The TSA says no to nail clippers, but lets a... more ›

Tony from LAist letting you know that you have a hell of a town here. Not only did we get to see Slash last night in an amazingly intimate setting, but we also ran into some Oxfam kids who were spreading the good news while everyone was getting plastered. Now that's sacrifice. Below are some LA bands that we think you might like if you wanna check out what the West Coast has to... more ›

Arcade Fire Neon Bible (Merge) Unless you live under a rock, you're well aware that Neon Bible's official release date is today. As expected, the web is ablaze with commentary and reflection on the band's sophomore effort, and for the most part, it's been a lot of good news. A relief, considering the album's reference to the John Kennedy Toole novel of the same name. The book is a sort of exercise in temporal... more ›

What's the deal with "wartime" and comfort food? Clearly that's a rhetorical question, but look around and you'll see a preponderance of eateries offering retro cuisine - fresh, cold wedge salads, big honkin' messes of macaroni and cheese, peppery thick-cut onion rings and piles of thin pork chops with apple sauce - that hearken back to a mythical time of air-raid drills, movies about large menacing nuke-yu-lar bugs and innuendos about milkmen. And what's... 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 ›

Good news: Texan lawmakers propose package of sweeping reforms, important enough to hit the national section of the New York Times! Bad news: Said reforms are all aimed toward stripping illegal immigrants of their rights and humanity. Oh, well. We might soon be able to recharge our wireless devices wirelessly (that means no more fighting over outlets at Starbucks). Is there anything Nikola Tesla can't do? iPhone. Surprised? Queen Elizabeth has promised to visit... more ›

There are plenty of fish in the sea...or not. Some kinds of seafood are soon going to be extinct from restaurant menus. We're worried about the status of sushi. How will we go on? Talk about a Military Crisis. This isn't Short Circuit (1,2 or 3). When Samsung gets going here in Austin, we want to make sure they leave their robots at home, and these, too. Good news: premature ejaculation is a common... more ›

Good news everybody: there’s still time to stop by the barbershop and get yourself a shaggy haircut before tonight’s Art Brut / We Are Scientists show! Just kidding – we fucking love these guys. And if you caught either of them at their wildly successful South By Southwest appearances earlier this year, you know that they’re both dynamite live acts. Both bands play catchy, angular art-rock that’s impossible not to dance to, and tonight’s... more ›

The ACL Fest site put up an announcement at some point today that 3-day passes are once again available for $130 at the ACL Box Office on Barton Springs Road. While this is good news for those who feared being shut out of Saturday's acts, we suggest trolling ACL Fest's message board and Craigslist for tickets first: the 3-day passes are selling there for $95-$110. Finally, don't forget that you can pick up your... more ›

*This post comes from new Austinist film contributor Christopher Sharpe.* Update: Additional screening to be held tonight at University of Texas, Burdine #216, one block south of Dean Keeton between University and Wichita @ 7:30pm. Five years after the September 11th attacks, video stores could probably devote an entire section to 9/11 conspiracy documentaries. Unfortunately, most of them suck. With a few notable exceptions, 9/11 docs range from amateurish depictions of interesting ideas to completely... more ›

Here's another batch of bands from my ACL Artist Previews Page; remember you can check out the whole site at any time. David Ford - "State of the Union" is quite possibly the most amazing song I have stumbled upon while writing these previews, proving that David Ford is not just another singer/songwriter. (full preview) Ghandaia - Austin's Ghandaia is a nine-piece "Latin groove ensemble" that blends as many influences as there are members... more ›

Besides the 80 degree August weather, you probably noticed something was a little off this Wednesday. More traffic on the roads, fewer sunbathers at Barton Springs? For those of you who forgot and for those of you who just don't care, The University of Texas began its first day of classes today. A couple of weeks ago, we let you know what’s been happening around campus; now we want to let you know what’s... more ›

First things first. Alamo Drafthouse EAT DRINK WATCH MOVIES events pretty much always kick ass, but the bar just may have been raised with the upcoming showing of Stephen Chow’s God of Cookery, loosely based on Japanese wundershow Iron Chef. Alamo South Lamar Exec Chef John Bullington and Alamo Village Exec Chef Trish Eichelberger face off Wednesday, August 30 at 7pm at The Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. The stakes? The title of Alamo Iron... more ›

Imagine you’re on a bus traveling halfway across the country to your destination. A destination that, in your mind will mark you a “winner” or a “loser” in life. It’s your life’s ambition waiting there, so you go. On the bus are the people your mother warned you about, types you normally wouldn’t associate with in life: An aged heroin sniffer with a porn collection; a self-imposed mute teenager who worships Nietzsche and communicates... more ›