For years, the Austinist staff has fielded queries from friends and acquaintances about SXSW goings-on. "Can I walk to The Salt Lick?" "Does it really take 90 minutes for a Casino El Camino burger?" But most of all: "What showcase do you recommend to see some good new bands I don't know about?" This year, we've made the answer official. Austinist is presenting an official nighttime showcase featuring six different American acts at Spiro's on Thursday, March 13. We've done a lot of listening to different bands and entire showcases, and believe that this one has great potential to impress you. The roster:...

Photo credit: sniderscion Torontoist spent its week uncovering who was behind mysterious ads for a drug called "Obay" that popped up across the country (Scientology? Frank Shepard Fairey?), first tracing them to an advocacy group called Colleges Ontario and then confirming their suspicions a few days later.Phillyist learned how to put on a puppet show – it's not as easy as you might think!Shanghaiist discovers that the average starting monthly pay for fresh graduates......

Unlike the faux-rockers American Hi-Fi from Boston, Massachusetts, American Mid-Fi are a similarly named musical collective from right here in Austin. A consortium of some eight bands, the American Mid-Fi label, or “movement,” as they’d like to be known, rep North Austin (why not?) and count the garage rock Dr. Zoom and lap-pop computer jams of Prices This Low Won’t Last amongst their associates. ...

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,......

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” ...(but) F. Scott never met our president....

It’s down to the final five! No, not The Sound And The Jury Contest, but the Public Radio Talent Quest. Presented by PRX and cpb, the quest started in April with thousands of applicants, all with high hopes of hosting their own show on public radio (along with some cash booty). Now it’s down to the last five and voting ends on September 23rd at 11:59 p.m. (Eastern). Why should you care? There’s an Austinite......

Pseudosix Pseudosix (Sonic Boom) Pseudosix began as Tim Perry's solo project, but quickly became a group effort with Emil Amos (Grails, Dolorean), Joe Kelly, and a handful of other local, talented friends. The band has written and recorded with pals from Joggers, Decemberists and The Standard in their relatively short existence, but the impetus has been barreling towards this release since back in the day when Perry wrestled with the nerve to perform live,......

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness - we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did a little research and found that Massachusetts......

Bad news John Kerry fans: if you'd planned to spend today with the Massachusetts Senator and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, you're just going to have to wait. We've received word that his event scheduled to take place today -April 6th- at BookPeople has been canceled. The preliminary word is that the event has been rescheduled for Sunday, April 22nd -a.k.a. Earth Day- at a yet to be determined time. As originally planned, BookPeople......

Massachusetts Senator and former Presidential candidate John Kerry is coming to town in two weeks to speak at Austin High School about his new book, This Moment on Earth. Co-written by Teresa Heinz Kerry, the book celebrates so-called environmental pioneers -- "people and communities deploying ingenuity, technology, and sheer willpower to save the world they live in." The event is co-sponsored by the Save Our Springs Alliance and BookPeople, and the latter is now......

The war in Iraq is an unqualified mess, confidence in elected officials seems to be at a low and Republican leaders are scrambling trying to get some cover. Enter John Kerry. The former presidential candidate made a “botched joke” (his words, not ours) involving college students, the Iraqi quagmire and George Bush, and Republicans are taking the opportunity to turn the tables on the Democrats in hopes of generating some traction before next week’s mid-term......

The kids returning to UT Austin have something extra special to brag about this year: the university was just named the country's number one party school in a survey of 115,000 college students conducted by the Princeton Review, beating the likes of Penn State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and (snicker) Brigham Young University. In addition to dominating the overall list, Longhorn students were ranked: 2nd in the "use of hard liquor" 3rd in beer......

If you've ever signed a lease on an apartment or purchased older property here in Austin, you're probably all too familiar with our raging mold problem. We always assumed it was the relative humidity coupled with the heat, but a recent study published by the Greenguard Environmental Institute (GEI) seems to indicate otherwise. GEI's Top 10 States at Risk for Mold calls Texas, not surprisingly, the moldiest state in the country. Computed by analyzing "mold......

Procrastinate much? We sure do. But it's getting down to the wire now -- you've approximately thirteen hours left to file your taxes! Unless you happen to be reading this from Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont or the District of Columbia; slackers in these states are off enjoying Patriots Day today and thus have until tomorrow to get their act together. But back in Texas where we've all-but forgotten about the shot......

President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox continue talks today over the immigration issue. Bush is urging a program that allows more immigrants to take on jobs in the US. The heated debate over immigration is causing many to publicly protest, including local area students. Former San Antonio Spurs player Alvin Robertson is getting in to trouble with the law again. Ryan Seacrest and Teri Hatcher apparently 'idolize' eachother. (I know. I know...boo, hiss.)......

Austin is Taradise! And Lance and Sheryl split Congrats to Adlai McMahon, winner of our giveaway contest for Bloc Party's documentary/concert DVD, God Bless Bloc Party! The SXSW Music Festival roster expanded to over 1,100 this week, including such esteemed acts as Morrissey and The Flaming Lips Austinist photographer Matt Wright captures yet another amazing night shot in Austin, as well as some sexy shots of last week's Box Magazine issue release party. The......

In their survey on the "state of emergency medicine" among the states, the American College of Emergency Physicians this week rated Texas as decently mediocre. Coming in at a paltry #21, we were nevertheless praised for our "the paragon for medical liability reform," which the Austin Business Journal attributes to our quarter-million dollar cap on noneconomic damages in liability awards and settlements for individual physicians, approved via last year's successful Prop 12. But while......

Before their show at the Parish Room last week, Austinist sat down for a brief chat with the boys of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - one of the hottest bands out of the East Coast this year. Over drinks at the Jazz Kitchen downstairs, the guys - Alec Ounsworth, Lee Sargent, Robbie Guertin, Tyler Sargent, and Sean Greenhalgh - were more than happy to answer the questions that you, our readers, suggested beforehand.......