Image from SOS Alliance SOS Holiday Party & Silent AuctionFriday, December 7Mercury Hall (615 Cardinal Lane)$10 Suggested Donation, 7pm - Midnight[info]Tonight, the Save Our Springs Alliance will be hosting their annual Holiday Party and Silent Auction at Mercury Hall. In addition to food, drinks and great people, the event will showcase music by two environmentally-conscience local bands, Bill Oliver's Otter Space Band and The Bouldin Creek Bobkats. The Silent Auction features items from over 300... more ›

Photo from ImageAfter Art Fashion photography is gaining more credibility in the art world as of late. Critics prophesy the dilution of fine art in the 21st century, while supporters of the trend assert that fashion is a formative aspect of our modern culture that deserves official recognition in the arts world. /// UT-Austin names the new dean of the College of Fine Arts, Douglas Dempster, to replace the former dean who retired in the... more ›

"Barista Babe" From Unrelated Source, Found on Seattle MetblogsA new coffee trailer in South Austin is hoping to capitalize on the recent "sexpresso" fad that's taken over Seattle. Latte Dolls offers a selection of coffees and espresso drinks served by scantily-clad female baristas with stripper fascinating names like Kyana, Alysha, and Reyna. Touting itself as a "highly-personalized, memorable and convenient coffee alternative to morning commuters and the mobile labor force of Austin," the stand plans... more ›

photo by Chrissy Piper Aesop Rock, Black Moth Super Rainbow at Emo’sSaturday, Nov. 17Emos (603 Red River St)$15 - doors at 9, show at 10[info] | [tickets]El-P may be the maverick visionary of preeminent indie hip-hop label Definitive Jux, but Aesop Rock is currently its superstar. Boasting a ridiculously fluid double-time flow and enough hallucinatory wordplay to confound Bill Burroughs, Aes Rock has built a rapid cult following since his Def Jux debut, Labor Days,... more ›

An early morning altercation led to a man stabbing three of his friends and running over two of them in a North Austin parking lot. Department of Labor awards $509,937 in a grant to Austin-based non-profit, American YouthWorks. The city won't be billing the 3 UT students for their rescue from the cave this weekend. 1983 KFC mass-murder case finally comes to trial in Bowie County. Panhandlers in Boerne may soon have to purchase... more ›

One of the big components of next month's Maker Faire Austin festival is the Swap-O-Rama-Rama, an enormous clothing swap and DIY workshop series. Through the recycling and repurposing of used clothing, Swap-O-Rama-Rama seeks to explore the benefits of community reuse and creativity. During the festival, you'll be able to bring your own bag of unwanted clothing to be added to the collective pile; in turn, you're invited to take away as much as you'd like.... more ›

For the sixth year in a row, though this time in a spankin' new space, Salvage Vanguard Theater is hosting their big ol' Labor Party, this Saturday at 7:07pm. They'll have tunes spun up by DJ Manateemann, a "Presentation Fantasmical" at 7:27pm, and a Silent Auction with all sorts of goodies to bid on. The purpose of the Labor Party is to raise funds for SVT's Resident Company Member program, which pays an annual stipend... more ›

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note It's often said that radio people don't really get a vacation. It's true, peeps. While I'm wrapping up as much as I can in the hopes of actually enjoying some the extended Labor Day weekend, the music doesn't stop on The Laurie Show on KUT. No sir, no ma'm. There are many... more ›

Researchers at the University of Texas have found that umpires are more likely to call strikes for pitchers of the same race or ethnicity, according to an article at LiveScience. The study analyzed every pitch from the 2004 through 2006 major league baseball seasons in an effort to determine whether racial discrimination figured into an umpire's decision to call a strike or a ball. “Umpires judge the performance of players every game, deciding whether... more ›

You can check iPhone availability at local Apple stores before heading out to buy one. Both the Domain and Barton Creek locations in Austin are stocked up--for now--so it's about time to get in line. Bring your sleeping bag--or, better yet, pay someone to wait for you. In case anyone still cares about the iPod, researchers broke down the parts and labor costs by country. Can't go more than 3 hours without checking your... more ›

[This post comes from William Coombes, who'll soon be joining the Austinist staff!] Looking for theatre, music and nudity? Arts on Real/Naughty Austin gives you the goods with their current production of The Full Monty. Truly a rags-to-not-for-profit-riches story, Arts on Real is a glorious diamond in the rough for the local theatre scene. This home-grown venue is well used by Naughty Austin, who continue to provide the city's best "alternative" entertainment. Along with the... more ›

Maquilapolis ("City of Factories") Regal Metropolitan, Theater 12, 7pm Carmen Durán lives in Tijuana, where, like most women in her neighborhood, she works in a maquiladora: one of over 800 factories owned by the countless multinational corporations that flocked to Mexico following 1994’s NAFTA treaty in search of cheap labor. The maquiladoras—where workers manufacture everything from TV components to pantyhose for about $6 a day—sit in hillside clusters towering over Carmen’s village, spewing toxic sludge... more ›

Qué tan lejos | How Much Further Regal Metropolitan #11, 7 PM Qué tan lejos narrates a journey of self-discovery, as two girls in their mid-twenties travel through the Ecuadorian mountains and coastline. Esperanza and Trizteza will not find postcard views or true love, but their journey will open them to a world beyond such illusions. Tania Hermida was born in Cuenca, Ecuador. From 1988 to 1991 she studied Film Direction at the San... more ›

Almost two years ago I joined a motley crew of a couple dozen folks looking to enhance the entertainment landscape of Austin and help explode Austinist onto the scene via the wonders of the internets. Since that time, many of the names and faces have changed, but the desire to provide fun, entertaining and informative content to Austinites (and former Austinites) has remained the same. Therefore, it is with a mixture of sadness and excitement... more ›

You may have seen the storefront on 2nd St. filled with workers in coveralls, their workshop littered with pink paper and bottles. The spartan headquarters of the Pink Love Factory stands in stark contrast to the modern shops that proliferate the shopping district. You have probably wondered what the hell is going on in this place filled with bicycles, jump suits, pink construction paper and smiling artisans. Well, after consuming our weight in gelato from Paciugo after dinner last night, our curiosity finally got the best of us, so we stopped in to see what the story was. more ›

THURSDAY [16] wine • Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! at Various music • Peter and the Wolf, The Interest Kills at The Mohawk music • The Elected (Members of Rilo Kiley), Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos, Whispertown 2000 at Emo's Lounge music • Jack Ingram & Reckless Kelly at Stubb's music • The Pretenders, Operation:Awesome at Austin Music Hall music • White Ghost Shivers, Dewayn Bros at Beerland music • St. Lawrence... more ›

Shinya Tsukamoto made his first film using grainy black-and-white 16mm filmstock, a few thousand dollars and a bunch of stuff he found in a junkyard. Now credited as the seminal “cyberpunk” movie, Tetsuo:The Iron Man sent a shock wave through the Japanese film industry and soon became a worldwide cult sensation. Since his debut, Tsukamoto has become one of the Japanese film industry’s few true independents, occasionally working as a director-for-hire in order to self-finance his personal films. more ›

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Did ya think that we were skipping your Missed Connections fix for the week? Not so fast; actually just very late, as is currently the case. Don't labor too hard hunting for your connection... To the women too lazy to ring my doorbell and profess their love to me Seriously, I didn't want to bring this up, but it seems that every perfect woman really seems to slacking of in the department of being... more ›

After counting your blessings for not being pierced through the heart by a stingray over the weekend, you might want to stop by your local record store and check out what's new. Grizzly Bear Yellow House (Warp) Ed Droste's Grizzly Bear are back with a full band and a shimmering landscape of an album reminiscent of Brian Wilson's hey-day, old fashioned American harmony and lush layers of sound that combine folk, post-rock and psychedelia... more ›

• Blame it on the guy unless he pulls-out. Semen may contribute to cervical cancer.
• We'll never look at Indian food the same again.
• Philanthropist Warren Buffet got married to his longtime sweetheart on his 76th birthday.
• Bush delivered practically the same speech, sometimes verbatim, to a crowd in Salt Lake City.
• We don't need no stinking helmets.
• Chew your food.
• Watch out for drunk drivers this weekend and shoppers out for the Labor Day sales.

Every Labor Day, Austin Yoga centers join hands to offer a Free Day of Yoga. It's a perfect day to try out Yoga if you've never done it before or to explore new styles of Yoga. While you likely won't be expected to wrap your feet around your neck, there are countless benefits to the practice and we highly recommend it for exercise and stress relief. The free class begin at dawn at various... more ›

What with Memorial Day or Labor Day coming up this weekend, we've teamed up with the lovely folks over at BlogBurst to host an Austin Blogger Happy Hour on Thursday, over at Club de Ville. The product of local tech company Pluck, BlogBurst syndicates some of the internet's top blogggers onto major media sites (think The Washington Post, SF Gate) and other "top-tier online destinations." For bloggers, it represents a tremendous opportunity to have their... more ›

What with Memorial Day or Labor Day coming up this weekend, we've teamed up with the lovely folks over at BlogBurst to host an Austin Blogger Happy Hour on Thursday, over at Club de Ville. The product of local tech company Pluck, BlogBurst syndicates some of the internet's top blogggers onto major media sites (think The Washington Post, SF Gate) and other "top-tier online destinations." For bloggers, it represents a tremendous opportunity to have their... more ›

Do you ogle bronze patinas? Can you hear the siren song of handblown glass? If so, you're an esthete who needs to be pampered (bless your heart!), and the AArC's freshly minted newsletter can help. more ›

*The views expressed in Bun in the Oven are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -The Editors As my belly grows and grows, I've learned that there's not one, not two, but about a jillion incredibly sensitive, pregnancy-related subjects that most mamas will hold forth on, ad infinitum. Lifelong friendships and familial relations have been severed in grudge-matches about these powderkeg issues. It's like nothing I've ever encountered.... more ›

• Median household yearly income in Austin: $48,267 [link]
• Equivalent purchasing power, adjusted for cost of living here: $53,275 [link]
• Money Magazine's average: $43,961 [link]
• National average yearly salary of an "Associate Store Team Leader" at Austin-based Whole Foods: $73,061 [link]
• Amount Texas collected in sales tax revenue in June of 2006: $1.49 billion [link]
• Percentage increase from last year: 15.6 [link]
• Cost of new Lakeline Station project -- including up to 3,000 homes and 150,000 square feet of retail space -- in northwest Austin, near 183 and 620: $400 million [link]
• Estimated number of years to complete: 8 [link]
• Size of Austin's labor force, as of May 2006: 826,197 [link]
• Total weight of air cargo shipped through Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in May, in pounds: 93 million [link]
• Rank of ABIA among 19 small airports in J.D. Power and Associates' 2006 North America Airport Satisfaction Study, form the bottom: 3 [link]
• Maximum grant to be given to a local arts organization by the City’s Cultural Arts Funding Program: $25,000 [link]
• Number of works of art in the Blanton Museum collection: 17,000 [link]
• Number of state parks that may have to say "Adios, Mofo" if recent budget cuts ordered by Governor Perry are implemented: 18 [link]
• Total distance, in miles, to be swum by Austinites David Broyles and Rush Vann across the shark-infested Straits of Gibraltar, from the coast of Spain to Morocco, to raise money for US veterans: 13 [link]
• Total distance, in miles, covered by Pure Austin fitness trainer Shawn Bostad during last week's 12-hour treadmill marathon: 70.4 [link]
• Estimated capacity of renovated Austin Music Hall, after expansion work: 7,000 [link]
• Top capacity of The Backyard, for general admission shows: 4,500 [link]
• Minimum number of Austin "bands" on Myspace: 10,000 [link]
• Number of fans claimed by Shaven Ass-Hair Mustache, a "Psychobilly/Death Metal/Afro-beat" band: 1 [link]

Pervasive Software has become the first local high tech company to finally come to its senses. After just a few years of experimenting with offshoring software development, QA, IT, and more, they're throwing in the towel and moving jobs from India to Austin. (Yes, we're aware that several local companies have either hastily backed out of or withdrawn plans for offshored customer support work, but this is a first for dev, IT, and the like.) more ›

A proposal to extend summer break by one week has survived tentative approval in the legislature. The bill also proposes a $2,000 raise for Texas teachers. As of now school can not legally begin before August 21st, and the new bill proposes a start on the fourth Monday of August. We still remember the days when school started after Labor Day (we think). At least the kids will now get a three-day weekend after... more ›

MONDAY [1] [music] Islands, Why?, Cadence Weapon, Wilderneess, Year Future, Parts & Labor at Emo's (info) [art] Opening reception for hovel jumbles, with works by Paul Gigliotti at End of an Ear (Free, 6pm) (info) [music] Richard Buckner with Doug Gillard (Guided by Voices) at Cactus Café ($12, 8pm) (info) [film] The Boys of Baraka at Alamo Downtown (7pm) (info) [film] The Wild Angels at Alamo Downtown (9:45pm , $1) (info) [film] Anime Movie Monday... more ›