Passages – CasadosCasados hail from Illinois and feature two permanent members, Nic and Heather Dillon. Nic’s songwriting shines through on their EP, Passages, while Heather’s vocal assistance along with assorted instrumentation provide the structure for Nic’s lyricism to take center stage. Passages was recorded after Casados played close to 50 shows and the EP’s precise musicianship bears the fruit of the many performances. Opener “Panama” could well be the first song on any mix for......

Jona Bechtolt is no more a normal human being than a toaster is a Ferrari. His eye and ear-boggling work with his pet project YACHT testifies to the hamster on acid that is constantly running in the wheel full speed in his head. As part of the duo that is The Blow, he is at least partly responsible for last year's awesome Paper Television. We e-cornered him to share a bit about himself and......

A visit to The Belmont, the new bar and restaurant project by Sucky Lucky Lounge owner Matt Luckie, proved to be simultaneously unsatisfying and promising. It seems like no one can shut up about their Belmont excitement level. Admittedly, the staff was friendly and the retro interiors by ubiquitous downtown designer Joel Mozersky were, as usual, spot on. We were especially excited to try Executive Chef Ben Nathan's creations. Unfortunately, an amazing Sidecar on......

The Austin Music Foundation, a local nonprofit dedicated to uniting and serving our local music community, puts together a big seminar every couple of months called Music Industry Boot Camp (MIBC). Since 2002, MIBCs have been familiarizing our local musicians -- a group to which half of you reading this probably belong -- into the various and sundry business aspects of the tumultuous, sleazy, and overstimulated world of the music industry. Whether it's the 1-2-3s......

Austin Music Foundation is currently conducting a survey in an effort to better understand how we're all going about discovering new tunes these days, as well as what MySpace and similar social networking sites are all about. There are separate surveys for music fans and artists, and both look pretty quick and easy to fill out. In return for your five or ten minutes, they'll enter you in a contest for $15/$25 (music fans)......

MONDAY 24[music] TV On the Radio, Celebration, The Cocker Spaniels at Emo's (info) [film] Save Our Springs Alliance presents "Driving Sprawl," A 20-minute documentary about Advanced Micro Devices planned move to the Barton Springs watershed. at Ruta Maya (8pm) (info) [music] Josh Rouse at Cactus Café ($22, Through Tuesday) (info) [film/drinking] FuseBox Happy Hour/Nerve.com Screening at Blue Theater (6pm, $5, FREE beer and wine) (info) [books] Anthony Horowitz presents Ark Angel : An Alex Rider......

M O N D A Y [19] [music] Spoon, stellastarr*, Morningwood and Alpha Rev at The Parish Room [holidays] Armadillo Christmas Bazaar with Austin Lounge Lizards at Austin Music Hall [link] [music] Trans-Siberian Orchestra at Frank Erwin Center [DJ] DJ Mel, Jahmight at Nasty's [music] Elizabeth McQueen and Jason Roberts at Threadgill's [film] Monday Britcoms Night, featuring Nathan Barley at the Drafthouse Downtown (7pm) [link] T U E S D A Y [20] [fundraiser] Kinky......

M O N D A Y [ 1 4 ] music · Dios (Malos), Pilotdrift and Steeltrain at Stubb's music · The Lemurs and Tarantula A.D. at the Parish Room film · Spiderhouse Cafe screens "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price" (RSVP, Free, 10pm) (Thanks, Kate!) shopping · Austin Museum of Art's Tax-Free Day music · Piebald, Hot Rod Circuit, Hit the Light and Valient Thorr at Emo's music · Nic Armstrong and the......

M O N D A Y [3] film · "Bamako Chic"'s creator Maureen Gosling, a former Austin resident, is back in town hosting a special fundraising screening of "Blossoms of Fire" - her 16mm documentary film about the people of Juchitán, Oaxaca, Mexico - at Austin Studios. (7pm, map) music · 54 Seconds play Lucky Lounge (10pm) in-store · Billy Joe Shaver at Waterloo Records (5pm) film · aGLIFF runs through Saturday - check their......

Seriously, is it time for First Thursday again? Highlights of this busy week include Neva Dinova at Emo's on Tuesday, Need New Body at The Parish on Wednesday, the Milago Moonlight Margarita Run on Thursday, and Dance Disaster Movement at The Parish on Friday. Did we forget anything? Let us know. M O N D A Y art · The "Texas Monkey Project" is currently on exhibit at Progress Coffee [pictured: Michael Sieben's "Pink Monkey"]......

We might as well dub this the Week of the Dance Party - Emo's on Monday, Beerland on Tuesday, Flamingo Cantina on Wednesday, The Parish on Thursday, and - best of all - Gallery Lombardi on Friday. Check it out, and pace yourselves. As always, feel free to contact us with any hot tips! MONDAY [music] Church of the Friendly Ghost may have postponed shows at their awesome Eastside house, but they're still bringing great......

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. Here's to your livers and wallets making it through this week. MONDAY [books] Will Clarke talks crazy with his latest novel, Lord Vishnu's Love Handles @ Bookpeople, 7pm [film] Starchaser in 3-D! @ Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, 7pm, $1 + $1 Glasses Rental [music] 54 Seconds @ Lucky Lounge [music] Paris 49 @ Continental Club TUESDAY [music] Cafe Tacvba with Grupo Fantasmo @ Stubb's BBQ, Doors at 7 pm [music] Alkaline Trio with......

Just in case you are totally dependent upon us for all of your scheduling needs, here's what Austinist will be doing on this fine Saturday afternoon. 11 - KICK with Anil, where out of shape web geeks will kick balls. 2 - Jeffrey "Meatwad" Zeldman's opening remarks 5 - Sam Brown of Exploding Dog will be saying something interesting about doodling. Or something. 6-8 - We'll be getting our drizunk on at the HandShake Happy......

We're hearing rumors that the first party worth paying attention to (besides the VIP-only party tonight at Austinist HQ) for this year's SXSW is the HandShake Happy Hour tomorrow night at Lucky Lounge. 6-8, Milkshake Media and Handwire will be paying for you to get drunk with your friends. Don't forget your Bluetooth-enabled cellphone or PDA so you can beam your contact details and RSS feed to the cutie with the pocket protecter at the......