When it rains, it pours. Beer lovers now have yet another new watering hole on North Loop to get their brew fix. Two college friends have turned the former North Loop Parlor into Workhorse - a bar and restaurant that has over 50 beers on tap, many of which are Texas-made. They also have a selection of tallboys...as perhaps an ode to the owners' days at UT, and a full bar for those thirsty for a different beverage. more ›

Who hasn't dreamed of quitting their day job and opening a kick-a bar? (Usually after a couple of pints.) Lucky ducks Michael and Jessica Sanders are living the dream. A couple of years ago, they up and left their day jobs at Forbes Magazine and the AMC Network in NYC and moved to Austin with plans to open a neighborhood pub. more ›

Austin loves creature comforts, and one is fresh out of the oven: over the weekend, Foreign & Domestic, the popular North Loop restaurant, started serving Sunday brunch. F&D's new brunch menu will, first off, satisfy bold and brave meat lovers. It should also please the pancake-and-waffle set. After all, owners Ned and Jodi Elliott, who opened Foreign & Domestic last year, like to toy with classics. more ›

After a bumpy beginning this summer, North Loop's tiny but daring Foreign & Domestic seems to be firing on all cylinders this fall. The Statesman's Mike Sutter named the restaurant Fine Dining "Newcomer Of The Year" in November. Fearless Critic awarded the spot an 8.5 - which is more than good enough to make the Top 100 list in next year's edition. And the buzz on the restaurant from people who know food just seems to get more and more positive as time goes by, as though owners Jodi and Ned Elliott are finding their rhythm and doing something pretty special in North Central Austin.

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Foreign and Domestic, a new restaurant concept by chefs/owners Ned and Jodi Elliott, opens on May 20 in the North Loop area, just a few blocks west of local favorites Room Service Vintage and The Parlor. The location was an old skate shop, but now boasts an inviting-yet-industrial vibe that perfectly fits the high-quality, quirky dishes. more ›

Austin 360 is reporting that E. North Loop's Sound on Sound records will close for good on Oct. 12. There's a clearance sale in progress now, and their unrivaled punk and hardcore selection is most definitely worth a browse if that's your bag. Don't forget to check the used vinyl section, there's gems in there. Austinist wants to know: who becomes the leading punk rock record store now that Sound on Sound is closing? Tell us where you'll be shopping in the comments. more ›

Emo’s, as always, powers our evenings with a good amount of solid shows this weekend. Zookeeper and Zykos bring heartfelt indie-rock to the outside stage on Friday while Ume and Haunting Oboe Music take on the inside crowd with belligerent, experimental rock n’ roll. more ›

Like Cornell, locals Libby Macalister and Jason Delaney have labored for years on these windows onto imagination; dozens of their own shadow boxes are up at Epoch coffee house until the 27th of January. They are lovely and intriguing, and we hope you get to see them. We also hope that you read this dynamic duo's wonderful musings on giant condoms and old dental x-rays. Drumroll, please... more ›

Brunch: the perfect weekend meal. You sleep in, roll out, and eat the best kinds of foods at a different and superior hour than the rest of the week. Anything that involves the illicit acts of consuming loads of carbohydrates and drinking firewater before noon while not at a sporting event has our votes. There are a number of places that one can find such a wondrous meal, ranging from holy-fuck-that's-expensive to the hey-sure-bring-your-dog. We've... more ›

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note Photos of Mice & Rifles, and Ringo Deathstarr. With the exception of unmerciful allergy issues (sniff), I've been having a great time rounding up ideas to inspire this evening's escapades on The Laurie Show on KUT 90.5. Just give me several boxes of tissue - with aloe, please - and I'll be... more ›

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note Greetings from Froggy McGee, writing to you while recovering in sick bay. I'm happy to report that the Bay Area tour I went on with the brilliant and talented crew of the Broken Clock Cabaret, featuring the rowdy and ravenous No Salvation Army Band, was an absolute success! Unfortunately, the crazy schedule and... more ›

First things first, people: enough of this “stop shilling Emo’s all the time” nonsense! You can shout “scene/lifestyle” all you want, but the fact remains that there just aren’t many clubs downtown that attract big-time touring bands and assemble kickass local bills for under $20. Case in point: tonight’s performance by Toronto avant-punks F*cked Up. The notoriously obscurist five-piece, who write 8-minute progressive hardcore anthems about things like anarchist computer hackers and the Chinese... more ›

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note Greetings from your San Francisco-bound host of The Laurie Show. I'm going on a trip with my Broken Clock Cabaret peeps to the Bay Area for a short tour of Inside A Broken Clock: A Tom Waits Peepshow next week. However, you can bet I'm on the air tonight, 90.5 on the... more ›

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note I have a favor to ask, if I may be so bold: Will someone PLEASE give me an extra dose of caffeine? Yours truly, hostess of The Laurie Show, has been working double time at KUT 90.5. Today is an extra challenge. I'll be sitting in during the afternoon drive for the... more ›

FRIDAY [27] music • While You Were Out, presented by Bueno Music Bureau, with The Unbearables, She Sir, The Scripts, Friday After Dark at Club de Ville ($5) books • Anita Gonzalez, Ph.D., presents Dancing Between Myth and Reality at CAAAS (UT - Jester A232) (3:00pm) comedy • Tig Notaro and Steve Burr at Cap City Comedy Club comedy • Punchline, open mic stand up comedy at ColdTowne Theater (10pm) dance • Fetish and Other... more ›

MONDAY [23] books • David Sedaris at The Paramount Theatre books • Bill Bradley presents The New American Story at BookPeople (7:30pm) art • Artistic License: WorkSpace Artist Jedediah Caesar at the Blanton Museum of Art at The Blanton Museum of Art, MLK at Congress (Included with Museum Admission, 6-7pm) comedy • "Funniest Person in Austin" Contest, Hosted By Mario DiGiorgio (Winner 1999)" at Cap City Comedy Club dance • The Whirling Dervishes at... more ›

East Austin's Saltillo Lofts will host its first annual "Sidewalk Celebration" this Sunday, kicking things off with the official opening of the New East Arts Gallery. New East is the latest venture by DiverseArts, a local nonprofit producer of multidisciplinary art and culture projects such as East End Fourth Fridays and the former Downtown Arts Magazine. Their inaugural exhibit, entitled "Fresh Black Paint," features works by New Orleans artist/musician Terrence Moline, who relocated, post-Katrina,... more ›

Are you ready to get naughty this weekend? There are some sexy carnies begging you to play their games at this year's Extravagasm 2006: Carnival of the Senses. Free your Saturday night plans and take your sexiest costume out of the closet. This celebration of sensuality, eroticism, and creative naughtiness offers a fun, frivolous, and safe environment to explore the risqué. Performers include fetish model and performer Angela Ryan, burlesque group Kitty Kitty Bang... more ›

FRIDAY [13] music/art • Austin Museum of Digital Art (AMODA) presents their latest Digital Showcase with Drop The Lime, MVSCLZ, HAPPYSUCKY, Wonder Jam Twins, Yatsuzaki, DJ Who's Jealous and DJ Radicon, plus visual artists including Ben Aqua, Ben Hibon, Bleep Labs, Cari Palazzolo, David Salinas, DEFASTEN, Eli Welbourne, Friedrich Kirschner, Johnny Cisneros, Lanneau White aka Karl Sapien, Lonja, Mike Ruiz, and Yuki Kawamura at The Mohawk (9pm-2am, $7/$4 general/members, 18+) ® music • Faceless... more ›

Whether it's because it's Friday the 13th or because folks are getting antsy over this cold front, everyone's throwing a block party this weekend. We know of at least four fun (and free) things happening around town. If you hear tell of another, let us know. Friday The indie shops on South Lamar are throwing a massive collective get-down with DJs, bands, beer, and food, stretching from Bluebonnet to Heather. Participating stores include Strut, Irie... more ›

MONDAY [9] books • Ted Bishop presents Riding With Rilke: Reflections on Motorcycles and Books at BookPeople (7:30pm) film • The Agronomist at Texas Union (7:30pm) ® film • Imagine - The John Lennon Sing-along at Alamo Drafthouse (7pm, $10) ® film • Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown at Arbor (2:45pm, 7:30pm) ® film • Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers at Café Mundi (8pm, Free) film • Run Lola Run... more ›

The Austin Police Department has not been having the best year (or few). They have been under increased public scrutiny for not being effective at self-policing and for their alleged use of excessive force, most recently against Ramon Hernandez. The officer, caught on videotape beating the handcuffed suspect, was acquitted and suspended for 70 days. Well, the APD's public relations took another turn for the worse over the weekend. Maybe you have seen the new... more ›

From North Loop to South Lamar, Room Service reigns in Austin as an old favorite with a new address. The original location is an experience to which you have to allot atleast an hour per visit. Its new little sister is located at 1701 S.Lamar and is celebrating its opening on Sunday, April 30th. What a way to spend a Sunday! Door prizes, popcorn, hotdogs, and music from the Telephone Company, The Carrots, and... more ›

Starting tonight, and running this week only, sexy, socially-conscious performance artist Annie Sprinkle and her partner, experimental artist / professor (is that a great combo or what?) Elizabeth Stephens, are staging the US premiere of their current work, Exposed: Experiments in Love, Sex, Death, Art, at the Vortex. We're bringing it to your attention yet again because this show will sell out fast, and it's a unique opportunity to see a new work by... more ›

Owing to the fire last week that destroyed most of the building housing KOOP's studios, the member-owned community radio station is being forced to relocate. At the modest downtown offices on Fifth and San Jacinto, built back in the 1930s, KOOP paid a mere $750 a month for rent. Now, strapped for cash and unable to cover relocation costs, they'll be having a slew of benefit events through the end of February. Meanwhile, the... more ›

Dr. John Hartigan, Jr. of the University of Texas anthropology department is having a a book release party this Thursday, Dec. 8 at MonkeyWrench Books. We're really digging the title of his book, Odd Tribes: Towards a Cultural Analysis of White People -- it even has the requisite colon that is the hallmark of all academic book titles. The book looks at the intersections of race, class and gender with an eye, of course,... more ›

: : FRIDAY : : [art] Coy Poage and William K. Stidham Art Exhibit benefiting the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition of Austin, 7pm-10pm @ Barocca Studios - $15 donation [music] Mae Shi @ Elysium [film] New Films! @ Your Local Theaters [music] Andy Rourke of The Smiths @ The Parish [music] Loxsly, 8pm @ Red Fez [music] AM Syndicate with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Cue and Dear Nora, 8pm @ Beerland [books] Douglas... more ›

For a while after all of our friends moved to the North Loop area, we cursed them. Their relocation meant more money spent on gas, longer commutes for reality t.v.-watching, and packing on the pounds from all those Parlor pizzas and Ararat hummus. We changed our tune when we drove down 53rd St. one day and spotted our new favorite store, Slinky Whistle Bait. The boutique (whose name apparently comes from a World War... more ›

A few month's ago we sold our tiny house in North Loop and leaped across Lamar to rent an even tinier house in Brentwood. The official parameters of Brentwood are North Lamar and Burnet to the East and West, and Justin Lane and 45th Street to the North and South, but much like Hyde Park and other neighborhoods the lines tend to get stretched and muddled. We were fond of the North Loop area.... more ›

New development has sprouted up around East Austin and does not look to abate soon. Austin is not the first city, and will not be the last, to deal with this phenomenon. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to learn from the experiences of other cities who have fought this problem in recent years. Development is transforming East Austin, and residents are given little to no control over how this transformation will affect their communities.... more ›