Because we love you so very much, we've gone ahead and put together a special mini-site dedicated to this year's SXSW Festival....

Although Hoot Nights and Tribute shows tend to occur frequently, Saturday’s extravaganza at Ruta Maya promises to trump all with an extensive lineup of local talent set to cover a variety of tunes recorded (or released) in 1967, known otherwise as the Summer Of Love. Get there early, even if the music does only start at the respectable time of 4:20 p.m. Full lineup below but we have to mention some of our favorites --......

Believe it or not, there's still a bunch of activities going on around town this week other than SXSW. This week's IST List won't include our usual bevy of music and film events; for those, we recommend that you check out our Interactive Guide to SXSW Parties and the Other Side Guide, respectively. Meanwhile, if you'd like to share your SXSW photos with the Austinist community, simply tag 'em "sxswaustinist" -- we'll be featuring......

Believe it or not, there's a bunch of activities going on around town this week other than SXSW. This week's IST List won't include our usual bevy of music and film events; for those, we recommend that you check out our Interactive Guide to SXSW Parties and the Other Side Guide, respectively. We'd also like to welcome LAist editor Tony Pierce and Gothamist arts editor Jen Carlson, both of whom will be joining us......

We've gotten our hands on a bunch of tickets, guestlist spots, and assorted swag for several excellent parties happening during SXSW, and over the course of today we'll be giving these away. Check back every hour for the newest giveaway contest -- each will only run until the next one is posted, so your chances at winning are pretty damn good. Congrats to the winner of our last contest, who'll be announced at the......

We've gotten our hands on a bunch of tickets, guestlist spots, and assorted swag for several excellent parties happening during SXSW, and over the course of today we'll be giving these away. Check back every hour for the newest giveaway contest -- each will only run until the next one is posted, so your chances at winning are pretty damn good. Congrats to the winner of our last contest, who'll be announced at the end......

We've gotten our hands on a bunch of tickets, guestlist spots, and assorted swag for several excellent parties happening during SXSW, and over the course of today we'll be giving these away. Check back every hour for the newest giveaway contest -- each will only run until the next one is posted, so your chances at winning are pretty damn good. Congrats to the winner of our last contest, who'll be announced at the end......

We've gotten our hands on a bunch of tickets, guestlist spots, and assorted swag for several excellent parties happening during SXSW, and over the course of today we'll be giving these away. Check back every hour for the newest giveaway contest -- each will only run until the next one is posted, so your chances at winning are pretty damn good. Congrats to the winner of our last contest, who'll be announced at the end......

We've gotten our hands on a bunch of tickets, guestlist spots, and assorted swag for several excellent parties happening during SXSW, and over the course of today we'll be giving these away. Check back every hour for the newest giveaway contest -- each will only run until the next one is posted, so your chances at winning are pretty damn good. Congrats to the winner of our last contest, who'll be announced at the end......

San Antonio trio Girl In A Coma is comprised of siblings Nina and Phanie Diaz, and complemented by childhood friend Jenn Alva on bass. The band’s energetic pop/rock has been seen on tour with the likes of Frank Black, The Epoxies, and The Eyeliners, with an upcoming gig opening for the Pogues announced this month. Also secured recently is a record deal with Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records, with their debut album expected sometime this......

For a band putting out records on Buddyhead, self-described "steampunks" The Cassettes spend a remarkable amount of time busking for quarters on the streets of DC, their hometown. Perhaps they just belong to an earlier, simpler time; singer/mandoliner Shelby Cinca throws around old-timey words like "bourgeois" and "Al Jolson" like it was 1928 all over again. Then again, he's apparently a huge Oasis fan. Oh, contradictions... Share a story about a visit to Austin or......

Hailing from Scotland, and pursuing melodious, riff friendly pop-rock, popup is coming to town for our beloved SXSW music festival. Their latest single, “Chinese Burn” has been blazing feverishly on our playlists lately but we would like to stop short in trying to sell them as the next big thing from across the pond, especially since NME (Issue dated 27.1.07) recently stated that Babyshambles would like popup to tour with them. And having Pete......

We've been fans of Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche ever since happening upon his spectacular 2004 release, Two Way Monologue. Lerche (that's “Lurk-uh”, not “Lurch,” or "Lur-chey") credits his heartfelt, folksy pop stylings to a veritable goulash of decades-spanning influences, from Brazilian psych-rockers Os Mutantes and Elvis Costello (whom he recently toured with) to XTC and Fleetwood Mac. His latest album, Phantom Punch, was released a few weeks ago, and brims with the same youthful......

Bellingham, WA's The Trucks carry on the loud-and-proud post-riot grrl tradition of acts like Peaches, Le Tigre, and The Gossip, playing guitarless, keyboard-driven pop-punk that'd be perfect for your little sister's sleepover if their hit single wasn't called "Titties." Maybe it is anyway. Depends on your sister. Anyhow we got to chat with singer/visual artist Marissa Moore, who also doesn't get why the SXSW schedule isn't up yet. Share a story about a visit......

Norman, Oklahoma sounds like a fairly sedate, even mundane blip on the vast plain of Middle America...so of course they churn out psycho rock bands with names like Flaming Lips, Chainsaw Kittens, and latest blog darlings Evangelicals with the consistency of pubescent rabbits. With a full-length out on Austin's own Misra label, Evangelicals are livin' the dream; we talked to bandleader Josh Jones about audience antagonism, fecal pranks, and his cool parents. Share a......

The Wildhearts have had a fluctuating career marked by numerous peaks and valleys. The English band formed towards the end of the “hair metal” era, released their debut full-length (Earth Vs The Wildhearts) in 1993, and re-formed last year with plans for a new album, due in April of this year. However, their mainstay has always been straight up rock n’ roll, highlighted by the talent, and antics of lead singer, Ginger. Formerly of......

Montreal's Besnard Lakes are not your typical Canadian outfit. When you think of an outfit fronted by a husband and wife duo, you probably think of sugary slop soaked with trite lyrics and knowing glances, but don't make that mistake when it comes to The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse, the band's latest effort. Roy Orbison and Brian Wilson spring to mind as masters of falsetto harmony, and that comparison is legit, but......

Architecture in Helsinki is an enterprising collective of musicians adept at relaying diverse and distinct sounds in unison, and they bring their eclectic catalogue (and promise of a new record) to Austin this March for the annual SXSW music festival. The band’s multi-instrumentation utilizes the usual goodness (guitars, drums, bass), along with synthesizers, horns, a variety of percussion, assorted audio samples; the list is long but it all adds to the band’s flair and......

Jagshemash! Borat is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour. In Shanghai, Borat would be observing Inane Learnings of Penis Photos for Make Benefit Glorious Flat World of......

Avoid the Noid. Or if you're Oxford Collapse, jump off of the side of a swimming pool and tackle the shit out of the (inflatable toy) Noid. A presumably tanked gentleman is depicted as doing such on the cover of the band’s most recent release, Remember the Night Parties (Sub Pop). In it, OxC reminds us that hard-hitting bands who know how to bring it 80s-style without simply ripping off Joy Division do, in......

Holy Cylons, Batman, The Alamo Village is hosting TV Parties for all our favorite shows! If you are a fan of "Gilmore Girls," "Veronica Mars," "Smallville," "The Office," "My Name is Earl" and/or "Battlestar Galactica" then you've got a lot of awesomeness ahead of you. The Alamo Village is screening your favorite shows weekly as part of their new series of TV Parties. Here's the schedule: Every Tuesday, 7:30pm - "The Gilmore Girls" followed by......

Hey, did you hear that Google bought YouTube? No? Well, then go buy some records. Damien Jurado And Now That I'm In Your Shadow (Secretly Canadian) October's releases seem to be in touch with the temperature drop (however small) and shift of mood. Damien Jurado's latest offering is the perfect example: dark, sparing treatments on the decline of romance in the Midwest, a disagreement between friends in the back of a pickup truck, and......

The Austin Police Department and the party-throwers living in the campus area have always seemed to get along. If you find yourself at a party around campus and a police cruiser stops out front, no one runs--even when that sweet bubbler on the table still has smoke billowing from it--everyone just walks away calmly. APD knows they can't stop every party, arrest every weed smoker and hand out tickets to every minor, so they......

AHHHHHHHHHH YEAH! Rollerboogie returns! The Young Adorable, Daetron Vargas, and New Berlin (Teleport Door) will be slappin’ wax while you’re criss-crossin’ and reversin’ like: straight out of Xanadu or some shit. We’ve posted about this before, and we cannot stress it enough: Parties Like This In Austin Need To Be Celebrated. Really, there’s nothing more that needs to be stressed here. But we’ll stress it a bit more, just for shits n’ giggles. That,......

M O N D A Y [12] [music] UT Ethnomusicology Dept Ensembles at Momo's (8pm) [music] David Newbould at Flipnotics (8pm) [music] Singer-Songwriter Night at Longbranch Inn [music] Elizabeth McQueen at Theadgill's (8pm) [music] Listening party for Ludacris' new album, Disturbing Tha Peace at Nasty's (8pm) [music/shopping] Armadillo Christmas Bazaar with the Eggmen at Austin Music Hall (Check website for dates/hours) [party] Friends of the Spade Christmas Party at Velvet Spade (11pm) [film/food] "Narnia"......

Waterloo Records, one of our finest independently-owned, nationally-renowned music stores, has been nominated for a prestigious PLUG Independent Music Award, along with Austin festivals SXSW and ACL. Sponsored by URB, Spin, Insound and Evolvs Media, the annual nominees are selected by a group of "writers, DJs, webmasters, bloggers, artists, filmmakers, managers, indie retailers, and most importantly, fans." Now that the lists have been narrowed down to a lucky few in categories such as the......

The Austin Asian Film Festival kicks off tomorrow at the Drafthouse Downtown. The annual showcase runs through Sunday, and features over thirty full-length films, documentaries, and shorts. Countries represented in their schedule include Bhutan, China, North and South Korea, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, and more. A full-access pass to the festival costs $25 for AFS members, and $35 for the general public - those of you on a budget can still enjoy many of their......

Austinist loves Halloween. If there is one holiday that we hold holy, it is this one. Who can argue with costumes, candy, trickery and sexy versions of a wide variety of otherwise staid professions? You cannot. Do not even try. There will be a lot of parties this weekend, and even on Monday, on the actual H-day. We don't know where all of them are, but we'll list as many as we hear about......