Tonight is the “Hear” portion of see.hear.speak, the comedy festival that has been taking place at the Coldtowne Theater since last night. One of the performers in Hear—indeed, a headliner of the festival—is Jill Bernard, a Minnesotan (resident of Minnesota) who has toured the continent performing and teaching improv. She even acted as the coach of an aspiring improviser in an episode of MTV’s Made....

More talk of the coming recession: "The question is not whether we will have a recession, but how deep and prolonged it will be." Meanwhile, Austin's economy may be uniquely positioned among the nation's cities to withstand a potential recession....

While you were sleeping, 2,000 South Africans were trapped in a gold mine. So Sooner isn't just a clever name? Prepare yourself. Minnesota Public Radio comes up with a nifty set of questions to see which candidate you'd likely vote for. Blind advocacy groups are protesting hybrids, arguing that they are too quiet. Last pictures of the life of Princess Diana were posted online yesterday. Clean, but disturbing. Beaten, but not broken. UT fans......

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......

The Hold Steady have been holding, er, steady in the limelight since 2004, picking up a Village Voice cover here and a best album of the year there (2006: The Onion’s A.V. Club), and just generally best-ing all over the place: they were Blender’s 2006 Band of the Year and made it to Rolling Stone’s annual album ranker at number 8. Critical acclaim blah blah blah. The big hit from the big album Boys......

In celebration of its 150th birthday,the American Institute of Architects (AIA) surveyed over 1,800 randomly selected Americans in late February to compile a list of the 150 Favorite Works of Architecture in the United States. The AIA created a panel that narrowed down the options to 248 structures, which included the Empire State Building, the White House and the Washington National Cathedral. The University of Texas' own Battle Hall rounded out the list at......

Austin's Explosions In The Sky play powerful instrumental indie-rock that has been compared to Mogwai and Sigur Ros and are widely lauded by critics. Their live shows have become so popular that their Emo's show in March has been sold out for weeks, and multiple-night runs are now needed in cities like New York and Toronto. After a three-plus year wait, EITS's new album All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone arrives on Tuesday.......

Like everyone in the world but the U.S. has recognized for a while, global warming causes the new Katrina-caliber hurricanes. Today, disconsolate producers at Dateline find that their war on predators has missed the Taliban of pedophiles. Not saving any money? Don't worry, nobody else is either. Al Franken is maybe/probably running for Senate in Minnesota. Not to be gross, but: Harry Potter. Naked.......

U.S. researchers are currently working on a vaccine that could wipeout childhood ear and sinus infections. Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman has begun a three-day college tour with former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura. The British are opening their archives and sharing their sexy side. Have you ever heard of cooking a meal in your dishwasher? Keep drinking - liver disease may be reversible!!......

Local boys 1986 are today's Spin.com Artist of the Day. The 70s-inspired rock trio, consisting of Giorgio Angelini (vocals/guitar), Drew Pennebaker (bass), and Cully Symington (drums), released their first full-length, Nihilism is Nothing To Worry About, just last month. Rock and Roll Report Review calls it a "great rockin record that maintains its indie cred without getting in the way of being classic rock and roll," while UK mag Losing Today -- despite knowing......

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......

The Rocket's 2006 debut with the Astros yesterday ended in a 4-2 loss against the Minnesota Twins with Francisco Liriano stealing Clemens' Thunder. Nudist resorts are seeing an increase in popularity. We imagine that laser-hair-removal is really popular at some of these places. And naked karaoke? Need we say more? Saddam Hussein went on a hunger strike. The martyr ended it after missing one meal. A man in Idaho was offended that his local......

Out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Tapes ‘n Tapes furnish listeners with the freshest of fresh in the contemporary American soundscape. Their full-length debut, The Loon, is a wonder of self-production that they marketed and distributed themselves. Freshly inked with XL records and ready to embark on a summer tour, this crew is trill, no doubt. There are few bands that are worthy of the major media attention and hype that’s been directed at these guys;......

We interviewed these guys a while back, and now they're back for SXSW: From band member Rodney: We've got a band called King Straggler (www.kingstraggler.com). We like to call what we do; 'Y'allternative'. It's three front-men, all writers, (backed by a smokin rhythm section). Whoever writes the song sings the lead vocal with the other two singing the three part harmonies. So our record, and shows are like a continually morphing collection of individuals......

Almost a year and a half after bruising his spinal cord, former Longhorn great T.J. Ford has received clearance from doctors to get back on the court and play at full speed. Ford, arguably the greatest player to ever wear the burnt orange, injured his spinal cord when he crashed to the floor in a game against Minnesota last February. The lightning-quick point guard underwent surgery last May and according to doctors has now......

It has been a long and difficult week for some. As you may have heard Terry Schiavo passed away as well as Johnnie "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit" Cochrane, while Jerry "Gays caused 9/11" Falwell was hospitalized and Pope "I'm the friggin' Pope" John Paul II struggled on his deathbed. In the midst of all this, you may have missed another great loss. Minnesota-born comedian Mitch Hedberg died early Wednesday morning at......

How could the Austinist almost forget SPAMARAMA? The 30th birthday of this truly Austinish event will be celebrated this Saturday April 2nd at Waterloo Park, and everyone who is somebody in our fair city will be there. SPAMARAMA began back in 1976 when David Arnsberger and Dick Terry decided, possibly under the influence, to have a cook-off betwixt the two of them, but this was no ordinary cook-off. The Challenge: Make Spam tasty. Thirty......

In case you missed Al Franken’s speech at SXSW, Austinist would like to remind you that Air America is now on the air in Austin. You can find it at 1600 on your AM dial. Austinist can vouch that it’s pretty clear in most of South Austin, at least. Among other things, you can listen to Janeane Garofalo on The Majority Report. We caught a bit of it this weekend in which Janeane posed the......

Al Franken, speaking at SXSW, just announced that Air America has gone live on KOKE 1600 AM here in Austin. He also talked about the very good chance that he'd be running for a senate seat in Minnesota in 2008. The word is unofficial, obviously, but Mr. Franken said that his wife may have just bought a condo in Minnesota so that they can establish residency. Exciting news for liberals everywhere, though especially those......