The Austin City Limits Festival gang are smart enough to know that a) all the people lining up with their plastic cups full of merlot waiting patiently to see Los Lonely Boys and proudly displaying their It's Been a Crazy Weekend henna tattoos aren't just tying their kids up to trees when they leave, and b) there is an ever-growing market for music aimed at kids and families. Combining these two concepts (we assume)......

FRIDAY [18] festival • Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebrations at Palmer Events Center (11:30am-1pm) party • Nightster Launch Party with Riverboat Gamblers at Scoot Inn (Free Bud 8-9pm, Show at 10pm, 21+) art • Closing Reception: The Puppet Show - Puppets and portraits of Mexican artists by fourth-grade students at Sanchez Elementary at Las Manitas Avenue Cafe, 211 Congress (4:30-6pm) books • Milton Burton presents The Sweet and the Dead at BookPeople (7:00pm)......

There will be a ticket drop for tomorrow night's Los Lonely Boys' ACL Taping today at 5:45pm at KLRU studios. KLRU is located on the University of Texas campus at the corner of Dean Keeton and Guadalupe. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. There is a limit of two tickets per person. Important Note: These tickets are “space available” and do not guarantee admission to the taping.......

I can't believe that one week from today, it will all be over - and I'll be waking up and getting ready to fly home to Nashville. But I guess I should just focus on getting through the next four days... and it's going to be hard, because something tells me I'm going to distracted to the point of being completely useless this week at work. Anyway, here's your Monday morning dose of ACL......

One of the Texas bands scheduled to play ACL this year is Houston psych/prog-rock outfit Bojones. The trio, consisting of Nick Greer (piano, vocals), Chris Messina (guitar) and Louis Messina (drums), showcased at SXSW 2006, played at the Bonnaroo festival, and have shared the stage with bands like Jet, The Vines, Sammy Hagar, and Los Lonely Boys -- and all three aren't even of drinking age. Though an injury forced their upcoming tour dates with......

Every day we live history. Part of what makes life in Austin unique is the living of music history. Every night of the week we can hit one of the local venues and hear a band we’ve never heard before. That band that hauled itself into town in a rusted out van from the far reaches of Texas—or elsewhere—for the opportunity to play at the Saxon Pub, Antone’s or Stubb’s on a Tuesday night......

Much like their mentor Willie Nelson, the former Saxon Pub regulars Los Lonely Boys can't seem to avoid getting caught with the weed. On Saturday, Austin police responded to complaints at The Omni and arrested Boys' bassist JoJo Garza for marijuana possession... and for allegedly assaulting his fiancee Carina Lyn. While a publicist for the band has called the whole matter "a misunderstanding" and chalked the incident up to noisy partying, the Austin Police......

Miss Universe couldn't take the heat of her tight and oh-so-heavy beaded dress; she fainted a few minutes after her coronation. A little sopón de garbanzos con patas de cerdo might have done her well. Major spas promoting relaxation are soon to be catering to pre-pubescent kids. A growing number of 9 to 13 year olds are stressed out with way too much on their plates. Looks like Chicken Shit Bingo is catching on......

FRIDAY [21] [food] Summer Social at the Whole Foods Culinary Center at Whole Foods Market, 525 N Lamar ($15, 5:30-7pm) (link) [music] Appleseed Cast, Criteria, Russian Circles, the Lovely Sparows at Emo's (link) [music] Los Lonely Boys, Shawn Sahm & the Tex Mex Experience at Stubb's (link) [music] Rainer Maria, the Format, Anathallo, Street to Nowhere at the Parish Room (link) (interview) [music] DJ Jester and Lederhosen Lucil at Waterloo Records (link) [music] The Gourds......

Festivals: ACL 3-day passes are all gone. Oh, snap! Don't despair, though - day passes go on sale tomorrow for $50 plus $8 in service charges through Frontgate Tickets. For those with tickets already in hand, note that the official ACL Fest schedule grid will also be released any minute now. Get out your highlighters. Venues: After a couple of years of limited bookings, the Austin Music Hall is getting a facelift this fall.......

We just read a leaked report of the ACL Fest Lineup, to be officially announced on Thursday. The report comes from Dallas Observer entertainment guru Robert Wilonsky. As we said, this is just a leaked report and therefore considered a rumor, but this source is about as good as they get. Of course, we hope there are a few more of our favorites coming but won't hold our breath. Have a look for yourself......

Like most attendees, our biggest frustration with last year's Austin City Limits Festival was the wretched dust cloud blanketing Zilker Park after the first day. With tens of thousands of people milling about and the daytime highs between 98-107 degrees, everything was worsened by the fact that the park was already suffering from drought-like conditions. But not anymore, if Capital Sports and Entertainment (CSE) and its massive coffers have anything to say about it. Perhaps......

So word on the street's that John Mayer is coming to Austin City Limits this Fall, at least according to gig repository Pollstar, who, as far as we can tell. are paid to traffic around such information. Make of it what you wish. Meanwhile, Tier I ($90) and Tier 2 ($100) passes are sold out, and they're now going for about $140 a pop, after service fees and shipping's included. Already confirmed, according to aclfest2006rumors.blogspot.com:......

Last week, we posted a major concert update for May and June. If you missed it, just click the Expand-O-Tron for the recap. You're welcome. This week has already brought a flurry of updates including two new shows at The Backyard. Here they are (Austinist looks out): 5/28 - Eagles Of Death Metal @ The Parish Room 6/03 - Film School + Margot & The Nuclear So-And-Sos @ Emo's 6/10 - Radio 4 +......

Update: THE SHINS are playing ACL! South by Southwest ended a mere month ago, but there's already an online frenzy building up for this fall's ACLFest -- which, dudes, is still five months away! Early-bird tickets came and went (in less than an hour, much to the chagrin of most people who received their notification emails later that evening), and the regular lot of full-price passes are selling at a healthy clip. So you've......

Every now and then a local band gets some big-time national publicity: Fastball, Los Lonely Boys, Bob Schneider, to name a few from the past decade. You can now add Spoon to that list. The minimalist rock band from the River City has its latest release, "Gimme Fiction," covered in next week's issue of Time Magazine (5/16). The magazine admits that while the songwriting and sound are not wholly unique, the band does what......