Saturday Saturday Saturday! It's a bounty of goodness unlike anything most people of privilege (or non-privilege) have seen, seeming that it is filled not only with SXSW's usual wealth of day-funs and joys and diversities, but that it is also privy to the wonderment that is Mess With Texas 2, a noon-to-ten cornucopia of music and comedy at Waterloo Park. It's sort of like a day of Fun Fun Fun Fest plus comedy minus the price plus the knowledge that there's great stuff going on everywhere else as well. So let's get to it, and all the other great stuff going on EVERYWHERE, shall we? Mess With Texas 2 @ Waterloo Park At this event, it's almost ridiculous what a wide range of musics you'll be able to see, from electro-folk to softcore-punk to anti-pop to alterna-world to whatever-other-hyphenated-genre-you-could-possibly-fabricate. Headlining are the Kim Deal-led Breeders and late-nineties punk-stars NOFX, but they are just icing on the cake of a day that features acts as intriguing as the inimitable Islands and the ever-so-subtle Atlas Sound. And, take a deep breath, because also lining up on one of the three stages is rise-from-the-ashes-via-Juno story Kimya Dawson, the mysteriously-spelled Wooden Shjips, hype-machine Simian Mobile Disco, quick risers Yeasayer, Monotonix, and No Age. And in case you haven't already caught them, this may be a convenient time to check out local respectables Shearwater and White Denim. Seriously, though, that's a ridiculous list already, and it's really just the beginning. And it's free, for God's sake! And there was some comedy at this Mess With Texas thing, too, right? Yeah, you can expect some laughs from the likes of Janeane Garofalo, Brian Posehn, Todd Barry, and Eugene Mirman, among a veritable slew of others. Make sure to get there before the sun goes down if you want to check that out, though, because we all know humor goes best with some sunshine....

We understood that Cleveland, Ohio was known for rock music, but for subtly bouncy electronic art pop? We we dubious until we discovered that the midwestern mecca is the origin of Joe Williams, whose project White Williams will be stopping through our fair city tonight at Emo's for a show opened by Rings (New York) and Cry Blood Apache (Austin)....

The death toll from the cyclone that hit Bangladesh is over 3,000 now; the UN says a million people have been left homeless. We're (*cough*) so surprised: Austin named the fall allergy capital of the nation. Alberto Gonzales didn't have an easy time speaking at the University of Florida last night. After child workers were found at one of their factories in India, Gap is determined to improve working conditions there. US Military calls......

Editors’ note: The opinions and ideas expressed in My Ex-Boyfriend's Band are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the outlook and belief of anyone else in the Ist network. It's been a big year for Graham Williams. Last December, he joined forces with Alamo Drafthouse to put on the inaugural Fun Fun Fun Fest, one day of indie, punk and electronic music on three stages in Waterloo Park. It was......

Waller Creek Design Workshop. Image from City of Austin News Austin Music Commission's Town Hall Meeting Notes AMD Sued Over Birth Defects Plant a Tree for Freedom Waller Creek Design and Vision Workshop At This Rate, We're Having Our Next Happy Hour in Cancun Pangaea: It's For Real, Y'all UT Biologists Propose Biodiversity Institute Save BookWoman! Austin Music Commission Considering Plan to Stop the Rock They've Got the Lasers... Now All You Need is......

Ed Note: Austinist and Prototype Vintage hosted the media tent at this year's Fun Fun Fun Fest. Throughout the weekend, we invited festival artists and audience members alike to come and have their portraits taken—what you see above is the result of two days' worth of impromptu photo shoots, featuring everyone from Of Montreal and Final Fantasy to the good people of APD and the friendly backstage security guard, Dylan. Photos courtesy of Austinist......

Photo of Madball courtesy Keith GaddisFun Fun Fun Fest lived up to its name in spades last weekend, showcasing local and not-so local bands of all genres on three stages in two short days. Day one included local acts Okkervil River, Explosions in the Sky, and Brothers and Sisters, as well as touring acts like the New Pornographers, of Montreal and Youth Brigade. To read what else we had to say about day one, click......

As promised, here's the schedule of set times for this weekend's Fun Fun Fun Fest, sponsored in part by Austinist.com. Fun Fun Fun Fest: [official] [myspace] [tickets] Update: Download this as a pdf Saturday, November 3rd Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 12:30 PM 12:45 PM The Lemurs(12:50-1:20) Down To Nothing(12:40-1:10) 1:00 PM Djs Manny and Bigface(1-2) 1:15 PM Iron Age(1:10-1:40) 1:30 PM Zykos(1:25-1:55) 1:45 PM Viva Hate(1:45-2:15) 2:00 PM Brothers and Sisters(2-2:30) 2:15 PM......

It’s finally here! Fun Fun Fun Fest kicks off this Saturday at Waterloo Park at noon. You best have bought tickets by now, or won ‘em off our various giveaways. If you haven’t, here’s another chance! Check out the following videos sent to us by Rae Davis and Prince Klassen to hype you up, and then naturally, enter to win tickets. Rae Davis spins a variety of genres nice n’ early on Sunday at 1......

As Austinist's music staff were preparing for Fun Fun Fun Fest coverage, we realized that many of the festival's headliners had kindly spoken to us for interviews over the last year or two. For any of you who may have missed the original pieces, or for those who have recently discovered these fine acts, a recap and links are presented below. Explosions In The Sky - Saturday, 8:40pm, Stage One: Austin's Explosions In The Sky......

Somewhere in between catchy melodies on Stage 1 and pulsating beats on Stage 3 lies a catalog of punk rock bands waiting to rock your nuts off at this year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest. Among them, a punk act from fertile California will occupy Stage 2 at 2:40 p.m. on November 4th. CH3 (that’s Channel Three, not the hydrocarbon unit) formed in 1980 in Los Angeles and their politically charged tracks like “Manzanar” soon became......

We’ll admit it. We love Girl Talk. The sight of some normal looking person leaning over the laptop on a stage generating all kinds of musical mayhem is pretty standard nowadays. And there is no one we’d rather prefer at the helm than this Pittsburgh lad named Gregg Gillis. Gillis shared his past Austin experiences while also commenting on his “trial and error” approach to assembling beats when we last spoke with him leading up......

Fun Fun Fun Fest is just around the corner and today we feature Kevin Barnes and his merry gang of electro-pop connoisseurs that comprise Of Montreal. Barnes has garnered infamy this year thanks to his shenanigans, but synth-powered melodies and instantly catchy chorus’ remain his focal outlet. The wonderful folk at Polyvinyl Record Co. have provided us with the band’s brand new video, “Gronlandic Edit” off this year’s Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?......

Fun Fun Fun Fest captured more than a few hearts last December on a cold winter evening with a three-stage-pronged attack that provided ample genres for everyone in attendance. Some of the stand-out acts included Spoon, The Black Angels, The Octopus Project, Peaches, and Prefuse 73. This year, the fest is back, bigger than before, and a month earlier to boot. November 3rd and 4th will see Waterloo Park transformed into a musical carnival featuring......

Fun Fun Fun Fest captured more than a few hearts last December on a cold winter evening with a three-stage-pronged attack that provided ample genres for everyone in attendance. Some of the stand-out acts included Spoon, The Black Angels, The Octopus Project, Peaches, and Prefuse 73. This year, the fest is back, bigger than before, and a month earlier to boot. November 3rd and 4th will see Waterloo Park transformed into a musical carnival featuring......

What a difference a year makes—certainly in the case of this fledgling music festival. Last December's inaugural Fun Fun Fun Fest featured over two dozen bands and DJs, and showcased a good variety of indie rock, punk, and electronic music. This year, they've grown even bigger, better, and bolder: the second annual installment will span two days and has been pushed ahead by a month, to November 3rd and 4th. Staying true to their......

If you learn nothing else about Brooklyn-based indie rock group Ladybug Transistor and the secrets behind their bittersweet pop, know this: their mothers are really proud. Of the three classic pearls of wisdom from mom - ‘Wait at least an hour to swim after eating,’ ‘Too much TV will rot your brain,’ and ‘Always remember to share.’ - Ladybug Transistor has at least one of those down to a mutually beneficial science. Lending their......

Everyone knows that Thursday night is the beginning of the weekend, a night to be spent with a hearty dose of fresh energy stored up from a week of working just hard enough to not get fired. This fresh energy should, as always, be spent dancing. Tonight is just your Thursday night for dancing, in fact, since The Black and White Years and DJs KidIndie and Eric will be at Beauty Bar. KidIndie, as......

Emo's is more than a venue. It's an institution. Here in Austin, it's the club with cojones, the one that will open its doors to damn near anybody that can haul an amp out of their van. From screaming teenage scuzz-punkers out of Des Moines to be-pastied burlesque beauties to big name national acts; on most any given evening, there is something compelling going on at Emo's. And, oh the memories! We've been rocked......

Great Lake Swimmers Ongiara (Nettwerk) Ongiara sees Great Lake Swimmers move a little further into country with prominent banjo strums and unforgiving Nashville-esque male/female harmonies. The themes are still dark, open and intimidating, never belying the band's daunting name. Production-wise, the songs are gorgeous: layers of acoustic guitars over a banjo and reverberating snare never sounded better. Tony Dekker's voice is straight out of the old dance hall and as slide guitars subtly make......

Of Montreal played to a sold-out crowd at Emo's on Friday night.......

Of Montreal, unlike what seems to be the case with most great bands recently, is not a group from Montreal. They're from Athens, Georgia, home of the now legendary Elephant Six collective. Along with that distinction comes the obligatory psychedelic noodling and Beatles-in-the-wood-chopper homages, yet they have remained a singular and most impressive voice in the realm of Indie-dom. On their most recent release, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? lead singer Kevin Barnes......

FRIDAY [16] music •Of Montreal, Elekibass, DJ Jester the Filipino Fist at Emo's (outside) music •Those Peabodys, Ume, Oh, Beast!, El Paso Hot Button at Emo's music •Spank Dance Company, Hello Lovers at Emo's Lounge music •Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Reckless Kelly at La Zona Rosa music •Long John Thomas & The Duff, Bellfuries, Eddie Clendening & The Blue Ribbon Boys, The Aquasonics at Continental Club music •Bruce Robison at Cactus Café (9pm,......

THURSDAY [15] benefit •St. Valentine's Day-After Massacre, A Spay/Neuter Fundraiser at Mother Egan's (5:30pm-7pm) art •Public Tour: Michener and Modernism at Blanton Museum (7:00 - 8:00 PM) art •Public Tour: By the River by Radcliffe Bailey at Blanton Museum (12:30 - 1:00 PM) ballet •Ballet Austin presents Director's Choice at The Paramount Theatre (8pm) film •Flicker Film Festival at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film •Love Bites: The 80s Power Ballad Singalong at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown......

MONDAY [12] benefit • Everychild House Party 2007 at Stubb's ($25/$10 Adults/Children) books • Quincy Troupe presents The Architecture of Language at BookPeople (7:00pm) film • Texas Music Museum presents "JAZZ," a six-part film/discussion series with Dr James Polk at Austin Public Library, Carver Branch (7pm) film • Darkon: The Movie at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film • Half-Cocked at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown food • Central Market Cooking Class with Chef Vance Ely: Gentlemen Entertain:......

Welcome back kiddos, the year is kicking off with a shotgun bang. Head over to Waterloo or End of an Ear and ask for these albums: as far as we can tell, it's hard to go wrong this week. The Shins Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop) Well, they're definitely stretching, and they're definitely getting more and more familiar with the studio, as "Phantom Limb" demonstrates: James Mercer is still having trouble falling asleep,......

Now that we're in mid-January, club bookings for winter and spring shows are beginning to emerge. While much internet browsing has already been done looking for the SXSW 2007 lineup, there are also plenty of great touring shows dropping in outside of those dates (thankfully). New shows from The Roots, Explosions In The Sky, Midlake, and a Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard double bill top the new additions, but there is plenty here for all musical......

Well, it certainly feels like winter. This marks a usually slow time on the roadshow scene, as bands head home for the holidays and clubs close up shop. Not so fast, though: December is still unusually active this year on the Austin music calendar, so have a look below and see which acts you should bundle up and head out to. December: 12/01 FunFunFun: Spoon, Peaches, Prefuse 73 + more (Waterloo Park) 12/01 Dressy......

FRIDAY [25] food • Hatch Chile Festival at Central Market North Lamar (8am-9pm) shopping • Flipnotics Clothespad celebrates its 14th anniversary by hosting a big sidewalk sale, with $10 "Stuff a Bag" vintage threads for the ladies and 20% everything else (8am-9pm) books • Robin Meyers presents Why the Christian Right is Wrong: A Minister's Manifesto for Taking Back Your Faith, Your Flag, Your Future at BookPeople (7pm) music • Gorilla Biscuits, Terror, Comeback......