The relevance of a 7" originally pressed in 1987 (two years after the band broke) being reissued now, in 2008, speaks volumes about a band with impact beyond its lifespan, beyond its then-insular and divided scene, and beyond our own expectations. In 1985, the punk scene in D.C. revolved around a sort of Machiavellian machismo which turned many punks into disgruntled outsiders at their own shows. Rites of Spring retaliated (even before Fugazi did), with unapologetically emotional lyrics about friendship, love and (oh my god hardcore scene) personal issues and groundbreaking song structures that took the hardcore scene by storm. ...

Robert Harrison’s forte has always been melodious pop music and his current outfit Future Clouds and Radar is no anomaly. The act’s stellar self-titled album (out now on Star Apple Kingdom) contains boundless hooks and plenty of Beatles-esque psychedelia, and has garnered rave reviews from a plethora of publications such as HARP, Paste, Pop Culture Press, and No Depression. Check out the video for “Dr. No.” here....

Steaming on through the weekend, Free Week at Emo's continues Monday night with a mostly local smattering of acts at the lounge and inside stages....

Stay away from the Denver International Airport. Major anti-abortion group endorses that Law & Order guy. Ship spills more than 1.3 million gallons of oil into the Black Sea. As if Russia's environment wasn't effed up enough... New studies show that children who are identified as troubled in kindergarten might end up doing fine in elementary school. So give the kids a chance, okay? Having good friends at work makes you less stressed out.......

Austin received an A grade on our traffic signals. The City Council couldn't really satisfy either side in the TLAC debate. The White Rose Society at UT wants the school to divest from companies that work in Sudan. Two area (Hutto and Liberty Hill) school district superintendents picked up some of their credentials from "diploma mills". Fishy! Man drops his blood-covered child off at Ft. Worth church this afternoon; he's now involved in a......

Huge Arctic icemelt convinces even some global warming skeptics. Texas oilman pleads guilty to paying Saddam Hussein money in order to gain access to his raw materials. Profits make you do strange things... They found a (very old) former Nazi dog trainer in Georgia. Saber-toothed tiger was more like a bear than a cat. Next time you dress your man down for leaving his clothes on the floor, remind him it's all for your......

A former lawyer at the Texas Secretary of State's Office sues after being fired in 2005 for making "embarrassing" statements about Karl Rove's Texas residency status In yet another sign of Austin's ongoing transformation, the Statesman debuts its own gossip/society column, helmed by entertainment editor Michael Barnes Things in Crawford, Texas quiet down now that no one cares to visit (or protest) TxDOT is rolling out a fancy new $9 million ad campaign to......

With Austin City Limits a month away, we wanted to offer folks an easier way to keep track of the festival buzz and special coverage that we'll be posting on Austinist. Check out our dedicated ACL page to read band interviews and previews, catch up on festival gossip, and find out where the killer afterparties are gonna be. During the next few weeks, we'll be updating this page quite a bit. If you think......

Kris Racer's album, Has a Banner Year has quietly garnered a noticeable amount of praise recently, and we're pleased that he's stopping by this evening to play some songs for us. Sweet, shaky vocals and delicate acoustics define Racer's release, which will appeal to fans of early Built to Spill, Halo Benders, and, incidentally, dozens of other bands that play this type of purposefully off-kilter indie pop. Racer is perfect mixtape material for beginning......

Reported just days ago on the their own blog, The Alamo Drafthouse revealed two bits of interest concerning their future transition down the street to take over the famous, and schizophrenic, Ritz on 6th. It's looking like the final day at The Original Alamo on 4th & Colorado will be Wednesday, June 27th, 2007. From the blog, "We'll have three shows, something special for 3 different crowds that we serve at the Alamo. We will......

Somebody over at The Coda Project has a mighty refined sense of decorum. We've gotten an email or two from them during the last few days about their upcoming production of "a play by Alan Bennett." Even if you know who Alan Bennett is (2006 Tony winner for The History Boys, 1994 Oscar nominee for The Madness of King George), this is still an odd way to go about things. Ahhh, but it turns out......

San Antonio trio Girl In A Coma is comprised of siblings Nina and Phanie Diaz, and complemented by childhood friend Jenn Alva on bass. The band’s energetic pop/rock has been seen on tour with the likes of Frank Black, The Epoxies, and The Eyeliners, with an upcoming gig opening for the Pogues announced this month. Also secured recently is a record deal with Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records, with their debut album expected sometime this......

Valentine's Day is only a few days away, and we here across the Gothamist network wanted to express would like to tell you, in the spirit of the holiday, just how much we love you, our readers. Don't let it get to your heads, though. There are plenty of things we love, you included. Just be glad you're not amongst the things we hate. SFist saw their beloved mayor enter rehab, and they loved the......

Bellingham, WA's The Trucks carry on the loud-and-proud post-riot grrl tradition of acts like Peaches, Le Tigre, and The Gossip, playing guitarless, keyboard-driven pop-punk that'd be perfect for your little sister's sleepover if their hit single wasn't called "Titties." Maybe it is anyway. Depends on your sister. Anyhow we got to chat with singer/visual artist Marissa Moore, who also doesn't get why the SXSW schedule isn't up yet. Share a story about a visit......

Architecture in Helsinki is an enterprising collective of musicians adept at relaying diverse and distinct sounds in unison, and they bring their eclectic catalogue (and promise of a new record) to Austin this March for the annual SXSW music festival. The band’s multi-instrumentation utilizes the usual goodness (guitars, drums, bass), along with synthesizers, horns, a variety of percussion, assorted audio samples; the list is long but it all adds to the band’s flair and......

Pam ditches Kidd for being jealous of her appearance with Borat! The battle over Town Lake looms ever closer. There are carjackers posing as police officers on interstate 35. Iran tells Talabani that U.S. troops must leave Iraq. Bush says U.S. will stay in Iraq until the mission is complete. Is it a civil war?......

We learn this afternoon from trustworthy sources that NBC has ordered a full season's worth of episodes of Friday Night Lights. This means more shooting in our area, more jobs for local actors, and it's a great vote of confidence by the network for a show filmed outside of Hollywood. Tomorrow night it's Homecoming in Dillon, and all hell breaks loose. Street now knows that his girlfriend is gettin' it on with his best......

The internets is some crazy shit. Bloggers across the country were all atwitter yesterday over the latest low-res camera phone pictures coming out of the Old 97's show last Friday at Stubb's. There is no way, in the midst of his page turning (...too soon?), that disgraced Representative Mark Foley would take the time (or have the nerve) to travel 1,500 miles to catch the Dallas alt-country band...no matter how much Rhett Miller shakes his......

BackstageDrama, Dir. Emmanuelle Bercot, 2005 Screens: Monday, October 2nd at 7pm "In a world relentlessly tuned in to “American Idol” and the daily lives of the TomKats and Bennifers, the universal obsession with celebrity can cross the line into fanaticism. In keeping with the times, Emmanuelle Bercot’s stunning feature directorial debut explores the psyches of both the star and her adoring fan to reveal a troubling view on the world of celebrity worship and......

FRIDAY [22] music • Rogue Wave, Jason Collett at The Parish Room ® music • The Gossip, Mika Miko, Swan Island at Emo's ® music • Rockland Eagles, The Colour, The Shys, The Fall Collection at Emo's music • Kissinger, Driver F, Seaflea at Stubb's music • Brent Fariss / Bill Thompson CD release at End of an Ear (6pm) music • Sybil, As the Phoenix Rises, Smokin' Gun, Wax Dart and Andice at......

As MSTRKRFT, Canadian duo Jesse F. Keeler and Al-P first gained prominence back in late 2004 for their remix of The Panthers' “Thank Me With Your Hands," included in a Vice sampler disc. Since then, they've gone on to remix everyone from Bloc Party ("Two More Years") and Metric ("Monster Hospital") to Buck 65 ("Kennedy Killed The Hat") and The Gossip ("Listen Up"). “We like to make the songs we remix our own,” says......

One stand out on the album is “Two Guys (for Every Girl),” which features Gossip lead singer Beth Ditto on backing vocals. The title may consciously pun on the Beach Boys classic, “Two Girls for Every Guy,” but the resemblance to that oldies station stops there. “Two Guys” is sharply-written and beat-heavy. The lyrics detailing the singer’s guy-on-guy fantasy: “Just one thing I can’t compromise/I want to see you work it/guy on guy.”...

Bartering a red paper clip got Kyle MacDonald a new house. Direct your sights to bigger and better because bigger is better. Yeah; thank God we're in Texas. Lily Allen was rising to stardom somewhere until she admitted she'd celebrate her first Number 1 single with coke. Smart girl. In Quebec, a 7-year-old boy's legs had to be amputated after a water park accident. Anyone want our coupons for Schlitterbahn? We won't be needing......

Word is bouncing around New York City that Cuban leader and noted baseball fanatic Fidel Castro has bought the big tobacco farm. On the day of the MLB All-Star game, no less. Net gossip Wonkette reports that the net rumor started with Jonah Goldberg from the National Review Online. She seems skeptical, as are we. But, hey, it's on the internets, so it could be true. Alex Jones scoffs at the report, saying Castro died......

Dude. Seriously. As if you didn't have enough fun this weekend. Drink up. Cyclists want respect. They need respect. Some riders in Mexico City demanded it with their clothes off. The Alamo Drafthouse Downtown is going to be a non-profit organization in an effort to keep their doors open (rent is on the rise). Last week was Headache Awareness Week and we know some people are going to be alot more aware of their......

People have been telling me for my entire adolescent and adult life that dating a good friend is somewhere up there near “triple orgasm” on the list of good things out there to experience. But, every time I even skitter near dating any of my friends, the whole thing gets weird, or, alternately, blows up in my face. The problem with a good friend is that they tend to be inextricably linked to your......

Time to link to our favorite local reads this week: Eileen from In the Pink Texas goes after Congressman Henry Bonilla and his bizarre statements on immigration. lize's Tivo situation is out of control at prematurely grey. The Austin Outsider has an update on the AMD/SOS situation. "WHAT'S THE DEALIO, ROMEO?" The Apartment Food Hobos aren't pleased with Romeo's. Cinematical is a nationwide film blog, but Jette usually does a Friday post on upcoming......

"I saw Kenny Rogers outside Time Square Studios this morning at 9ish. He was sitting in his black SUV and telling his fans that he would take care of them 'next time.' He looked exactly like he's had a ridiculous amount of work done." Who gives a damn?! Don't you people have jobs? Or hobbies? Or something? Gawker.com one of the leaders in celebrity gossip on the internet for the past two years has......

Breaking News on the SXSW circuit: We just got word that Perry Farrell just dropped in to Uncut's party at Mean Eyed Cat. The front man for Jane's Additction played ONE SONG, jumped back in an SUV and was whisked away. One song? That's Rock Star. We didn't get confirmation on the song played, so if you feel like being a little SXSW gossip, let us know. *There has been some grumblings that Jane's......

The New York Post's Page 6 is reporting that not only has cable network Showtime picked up the recently cancelled Arrested Development, but the purveyor of late night skin flicks has ordered another 26 episodes of the beloved sitcom, the best on television in our humble opinion. So it looks like Mitchell Hurwitz knew what he was doing when he left the series finale open to myriad possibilities. We are thrilled at the potential:......