At yesterday's "Texas-sized Town Hall" at the Austin Convention Center, Senator Hillary Clinton's media entourage was forced to work out of a men's bathroom in a nearby community center. "It was immediately interpreted as something of a metaphor for the Clinton campaign's attitude to the press: With Sen. Hillary Clinton at Austin's convention center for 'a Texas-sized townhall,' her media entourage was taken to its work space — in a men's room of a separate community center." A campaign representative was quick to apologize, saying, "These accommodations should in no way be taken as a commentary on the quality of our media coverage.” Still, too late for the ensuing shit storm. more ›

The coalition is a community of Florida farmworkers from various immigrant backgrounds who strive for fair wages and fair treatment and work to end modern-day slavery. One of the activists from this Coalition, Lucas Benitez, will be delivering the opening address at UT's 28th Annual Student Conference on Latin America tonight. more ›

The Ultimate Christmas Musical: The Musical!Through 12/22, Th/Fr/Sa at 8pmSalvage Vanguard Theater (map)[info] | [tickets]Christmas will be here sooner than you think! What nicer gift than an evening out at the theater? Here're just a few shows we think worthy of being early stocking-stuffers. You've probably already seen the XL cover or read the AusChron piece (damn, Jonathon Morgan gets around!)—Yellow Tape Construction Company's Ultimate Christmas Musical: The Musical! opened last weekend. We loved... more ›

Rock y Roll Dia’s second annual Dia de los Muertos concert takes place at 7 p.m. this Friday at La Zona Rosa. Hosted by VJ Paul Saucido (Sonido Boombox on ME Television), last year’s bash was marked by an appropriately eerie atmosphere, a sharp dressed Paul, and international and local musical talent. This year the event is a two day extravaganza, with music from Austin acts such as Boombox and Kanko, and out of state... more ›

Back in 1996, Junot Diaz published a collection of short stories, Drown, which became one of the most celebrated literary debuts of the Nineties. Drown drew on Diaz’s experiences growing up, first in the Dominican Republic, and later, from the age of six, in a northern New Jersey immigrant neighborhood. Now, after eleven years, he has just published his long-awaited first novel, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Wao, the protagonist, is a... more ›

The Mexican holiday of Diez y Seis is this weekend (September 16), and the City of Austin, along with the Consul General of Mexico and the Fiesta de Independencia Foundation, is holding the annual celebration at Waterloo Park. The holiday is a celebration of Mexico's independence from Spain. At this local celebration, Consul General Rosalba Ojeda will perform "El Grito", the yell that in some ways led to the War for Independence. Performances at this... more ›

Donald Trump and The Apprentice have nothing on screenwriter Mateo Gil (Vanilla Sky, The Sea Inside). Gil zeroes in on the paranoia of office politics and brutal selection processes that force contestants to adhere to strict, snazzy dress codes in El Metodo, a critically acclaimed film that was released in Spain two years ago. The New York Times apparently labeled the movie as a comedy-laced suspense drama. For those of us that were not in Spain in 2005 and didn’t see this genre-bending movie appear anywhere else, Cine Las Americas will be hosting a screening tomorrow night at Regal Metropolitan 14. more ›

Settle down, gore hounds, for this weekend’s movie releases are clearly not for you (put your blood-soaked dreams of a modernized Michael Myers on hold for one more week). The real question is – are this week’s new releases for anyone? If fans of Scarlett Johansson’s panty lines and Rowan Atkinson’s crotch shots really do exist, then there must be at least a few audience members out there reveling in the fact that their time... more ›

[This post comes from Anna Hanks, who'll soon be joining the Austinist staff!] Oh how we love our brooding bad-boys, full of emotional conflicts and divided loyalties. From James Dean to Marlon Brando, we just adore our theatrical time-bombs ticking down to an eventual emotional explosion. Black outfits only accentuate their outlaw charms. Biblical bad-boy Judas Iscariot — beautifully and brilliantly portrayed by John Pointer in Zachary Scott Theatre Center’s new bilingual production of Jesus... more ›

New Visions/Works in Progress: Bringing Texas to the Latino Film Map. Hideout Upstairs Cabaret, 11 AM A new program section at the festival, New Visions/ Works in Progress showcases films that are looking for production or completion funds, as well as case studies that represent examples of Latino or indigenous filmmaking in Texas. These projects are brought to the consideration of investors, producers, distributors, and artists with the goal of fomenting industry participation and... more ›

If you need an excuse to visit San Antonio this weekend, you might check out the grand opening festivities for the Museo Alameda del Smithsonian. The museum is the largest in the nation dedicated to Latino arts and culture and is the official state Latino museum. Their mission statement is to "tell the story of the Latino experience in America through art, history and culture." more ›

Looking for something outside the bounds of SXSW? This weekend, Austin's Latino Comedy Project returns to Esther's Follies for three nights of fast-paced comedy from a distinctly Latino point of view, before heading to Los Angeles to perform for the suits at Comedy Central. more ›

Those who grew up with NPR as auxiliary parent will doubtless recognize the names Maria Hinojosa and Ray Suarez, the honored guests at Spark: KLRU's Engaging Speaker Series this Wednesday. (So, do their pictures match your mental conception of how they'd look? 'Cuz the first time we saw a pic of Terry Gross, we flipped out.) Hinojosa, the anchor of NPR's Latino USA, is also most recently the author of a memoir of Mexican-American... more ›

Cine Las Americas is hosting a special screening of the critically acclaimed Letters from the Other Side. The documentary on Mexican immigration was directed by Austinite Heather Courtney. The free screening at the George Washington Carver Museum is open to the public and will feature a Q&A with women featured in the film, with a reception to follow. Beyond just a screening, the evening is a celebration of sorts, as the women from the... more ›

Come celebrate indigenous and mestizo contributions in the 3rd Annual Dia de la Raza celebration tonight from 7-10:30 at the Pavilion at Fiesta Gardens, featuring East L.A. band Quetzal and Austin-native Maneja Beto. Poetry readings, a Latino community group fair and refreshments are included. The latest hot-button issue: Christian Deitering, president of the Longhorn Hellraisers, used his Capitol connections to destroy the Texas A&M University pep rally traditionally held on the South side of... more ›

We’ve already brought to your attention most of this week’s theatre and dance openings, but here’s a quick refresher, just in case you haven’t been paying attention: We Are Normal, Cha Cha Chaaa: a new dance epic from the Yellow Tape Construction Co featuring Cari P from Fancy Feast and Belaire. Read our preview, or check out our photos. At Home With Dick 2: the Dick Price musical. All singing, all dancing, Alzheimer’s. Check... more ›

FRIDAY [15] music • Ghostland Observatory and Thee Emergency at The Mohawk (912 Red River) ® party • Earthdance at NiaSpace (7:30pm-10pm, $15) party • Eastside City Limits party with Pink Nasty, Tnlons Fort, I Kill Cars, Missing Tapes, Brothesr and Sisters, Til We're Blue or Destroy, The Black at Red Scoot Inn and Old Austin Daze Compound (9pm-4am, FREE) ® party • Teleport Door presents the Pop Yo Colla' party with DJs Daniel... more ›

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell is calling for an increase in the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7 an hour. Governor Rick Perry's re-election campaign has set its guns on Kinky, calling him a "flip-flopping politician." Kinky's camp responded by stating that he was offended by being called a politician. A representative of Chris Bell has called Kinky a "cokehead" and the Kinky camp responded by calling Bell "irrelevant." Sen. Arlen Spector's bill authorizing... more ›

FRIDAY [8] theatre • Salvage Vanguard Theater's The Intergalactic Nemesis at UT PAC's Hogg Memorial Auditorium music • Ghostland Observatory, Lions, and Crash Gallery at Trophys ($8, 10pm) ® film • Sinus Show: Xanadu at Alamo Downtown (7pm & 10pm, $12.50) film • Raiders of the Lost Ark at Paramount Theatre (9pm) books • Mark Wangrin presents Hook Em Horns: The Story of Texas Longhorn Football at BookPeople (7pm) ® music • Cruiserweight, Rory... more ›

Whilst attending any gallery reception, you might start to feel wings of social fabulousness budding just beneath your shoulder blades. Don't panic -- they look so cute. Besides, can you help it if art lifts you up where you belong? This Friday, aim to get a rise out of a number of art openings around town. Those who like lacquer (and who among ye doesn't?) should visit the Fielding Lecht Gallery. A new exhibit,... more ›

A couple of shows with big phatty hype open this week. So ph-ph-phatty, that we’re bringing back the word phat (with a p.h. homeslice!) just to emphasize how phatty it really is. PHAT. PH. AT. Ok. Our Austinist Pick of the Week is a toss-up. Red Cans is the show the press just can’t get enough of. Josh Meyer and Matt Hislope, the delightful duo behind Rubber Repertory – the company producing the project... more ›

Continuing our weekly series on sketch and improvisation happening within Austin (in the lead up to the 5th year of the annual Out of Bounds Festival), Austinist continues to profile some of the sketch comedy and improvisation groups around town. more ›

Another fine weekend of theatre and dance lay before ye. Ya’ll. Yous guys. Admit it, even though you might talk big about “shacking up with the sweet-ass honeeeeeyz”, what you’d really like to do is see someone perform – for once – without whippin’ out their nipples. Well now, captain sensitive, we’ve got the ticket for you. You can live it up with the legendary Eartha Kitt or kick it downtown style with your... more ›

We mentioned before that we absolutely love Beck, but even setting our fan status aside, last Tuesday night's show at the Backyard was a quality performance and one of the best we’ve seen in a long time. more ›

The Latino Playwrights Initiative, Austin Scriptworks, Teatro Vivo and the State Theatre want to identify and inspire Latino playwriting talent in Central Texas. Whether you're an established writer, or someone that's been looking for the right excuse to put pen to paper, here are the basics: Writers must be Latino/a Plays must be under 25 minutes No musicals, or plays for young audiences But just when you thought you were getting off easy, these... more ›

M O N D A Y [ 2 1 ] music · Elizabeth McQueen and Jason Robards at Threadgill's music · MC Chris (Adult Swim), Snmnmn, The Ergs, America is Waiting, Bring Back the Guns and Karaoke Underground at Emo's music · Redrum and Music Lab put on Battle of the Bands 3! holidays · Marble Falls' Walkway of Lights kicked off last weekend, but you can see it through December 2nd - "meander through... more ›

Are you wondering where you will get your sketch comedy funny now that the Chappelle show is on “hold”? How about by supporting your local Latino Comedy Project ensemble. The LCP is performing two shows a night Thursday – Saturday at 8PM and 10:30PM over at The Hideout Theatre downtown. We caught the early show of "Citizen Quién?" last night and we laughed and cried laughed the whole night. more ›