The first season at Moody Theater continues, and ACL has announced a handful of really exciting tapings coming up in 2011. Joanna Newsom, The Decemberists, Gillian Welch, Jeff Bridges and Arcade Fire are all scheduled to appear (dates after the jump). As always, they suggest staying in touch for details: "Any announcements regarding ticket availability and giveaways for the public will be posted on the ACL blog approximately one week before each taping." Follow at Twitter for breaking news. more ›

While tuning in to the KLRU-produced Austin City Limits is always a good idea, this week's episode holds an especially big place in our hearts. Saturday's show features a co-bill of The National and Band Of Horses, bands that have each grown from playing SXSW sets in the volleyball pit at Pok-E-Jo's (Band Of Horses, circa 2006) and matinees at Ruta Maya (The National, 2005) to deserving, full-bore festival headliners over the last half-decade.

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PBS' article last year looked deeply into the way the arson investigation was carried out (using faulty, outdated techniques). [Frontline] more ›

Spoon have always been masterful artists in the recording studio. If there were ever a criticism of them, it usually hinged on the fact that their live show was very straightforward and businesslike - no gimmicks, no games, just the tunes. Somewhere during the extensive touring for 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon's current lineup moved their live show to a new plateau in the eyes of many longtime observers. Though they're only been touring for four months in support of new LP Transference, the set taped for PBS mainstay Austin City Limits in early July will likely prove to be a vital snapshot of a band at the height of their powers.

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Long before Mos Def referred to Somalian-born K’Naan as his brother, inviting him back onstage for an extended duet rendition of “My God,” it was clear how organically their sounds fit together. Even as their stellar hip-hop acts broke ground as a new sound for ACL, K’Naan and Mos Def kept true to cherished intimacy of an ACL taping while infusing the crowd with more energy than we’d ever seen there before. more ›

While the low-key Matthew Stephen Ward has been up to a lot lately, what with his Zooey Deschanel vehicle She & Him, and Monsters of Folk, his new enterprise with Conor Oberst and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Ward’s customary understated and modest showmanship still marks him as an artist. Charming the crowd with a career-spanning set heavy with Post-War and Hold Time tunes, it was the ease with which he tapped into America’s musical heritage that stood most impressive—his daunting creative schedule aside, one gets the feeling that Ward could compose an AM radio hit the moment he rolls out of bed in the morning. Despite this, don’t be deceived by his work’s apparent simplicity—only through refinement has he discovered the divining rod of old-school pop, and how to meld his impressive solo guitar chops into full band songs—this concoction ain’t no accident. more ›

There's something in the water affecting documentary filmmakers lately, because this week marks the third time this month a high-profile doc has been freely released to the public. Maybe it's the election, or maybe it's the recession, but it's starting to look like a sea-change in distribution patterns. Tonight KLRU screens The Choice 2008, a new film co-written and co-produced by Peabody-winning filmmaker and UT professor Paul Stekler, who'll be there tonight. more ›

KLRU-TV and Conspirare are bringing the latter's Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble to the small screen in a one-hour concert to air nationally on PBS next March. The contemporary-meets-classical performance will be taped at the Long Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, October 12, at 7 p.m. The taping is free — but you'll need a ticket if you'd like to attend. Free tickets will be distributed to the public at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 7, at KLRU's offices (2504-B Whitis Ave., at the corner of Dean Keeton and Guadalupe). Tickets will be distributed two-per-person on a first come, first served basis until they are gone. [More Info] more ›

Photo by Steve Hopson for Austinist.com
• For those who are watching from home but don't have access to CNN, local PBS affiliate KLRU will be airing the debate on tape-delay, starting at 9pm
• DailyKos has an informative rundown of each democratic candidate's proposed legislation and their record in the Senate (thanks, MikeB)
• Chelsea Clinton will speak at ACC’s South Austin Campus tomorrow morning at 9:45am. The event is free and open to the public

Local production company Action Figure might not be a household name yet, but we bet you know their work. The group, based in (where else) East Austin, has produced shows like "Rollergirls" for A&E, and the Lone Star Grammy nominated show "Downtown" for KLRU/PBS. They're also not too shabby when it comes to dabbling in the music video market: their work for Okkervil River's "Our Life Is Not a Movie (Or Maybe)" made the e-rounds late last year, and this year, a company video they produced found its way into the hearts of local DJ duo Ocelot Mthrfckrs. more ›

On April 4, 1968, America's greatest civil rights leader was shot dead in Memphis, Tennessee. The following evening, one man bridged the gap between societal injustice and misery, just by being one of the world's most inspiring performer. more ›

Logo from Austin Jewish Book Fair Keynote Lecture: "Iraq, Al Qaeda, and the Future of Israel" with Jeffrey Goldberg and Lawrence WrightSunday, November 11Jewish Community Association of Austin (7300 Hart Lane)7:30pm, $12 Gen Ad, $10 Students/Seniors/JCC Members[info] | [tickets] Austin Graphics and Comics Night with Paul Benjamin and Terry and Patty LaBanThursday, November 8Barnes and Noble Westlake (701 S. Capital of Texas)7:30pm, Free[info]Less than four days are left in the 2007 Austin Jewish Book Fair,... more ›

Several Austin TV stations were honored at last night's 5th annual Lone Star EMMY Awards. One of the evening's big winners was local PBS affiliate KLRU, which garnered 6 awards out of its initial 21 nominations, including three for Downtown (a co-production of KLRU, the Downtown Austin Alliance and Action Figure) and one for the Central Texas community-driven "collaborative collage," Docubloggers. CBS 42's investigative journalist Nanci Wilson scored two wins, for her special feature stories,... more ›

Sip 'N' Stroll: As a warm-up for next spring's Hill Country Wine and Food Festival, the organization is sponsoring a very enjoyable-sounding Sip 'N' Stroll event at three of The Domain's new restaurants. The concept is simple: you wander from restaurant to restaurant in groups, and each of them serves you a flight of wines and some paired appetizers. NoRTH features Italian eats, so naturally they'll be focusing on Italy's wine varietals. Regan Jasper, the... more ›

Austin's PBS affiliate KLRU-TV received a record 21 Emmy nominations from the Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The awards dinner will take place in Dallas on Saturday, October 27th. The complete list of KLRU honors includes: KLRU producer Elena Ramirez (Public/Current/Community Affairs Feature Segment category), for her story "Getting By in Austin." This documentary, which aired on Austin Now, focused on the difficulty of families making minimum wage... more ›

Some of the biggest artists playing at next week's Austin City Limits Music Festival will also be taping episodes of KLRU's Austin City Limits, the wide-acclaimed PBS show that begat it all. Unfortunately, the demand for space-available tickets is so intense that they're only announcing them via the radio. Fortunately, we've got the scoop on when and where you should be listening: below are the stations and times that you'll need to tune into... more ›

Since their inception in 2001, Portland's The Decemberists have channeled a unique and wide-ranging set of influences (be it R.E.M., Irish folkfore, or Russian literature) into classic indie-pop that has found a large and fervent fanbase. The group's 2006 major label debut The Crane Wife both amazed and shocked music critics, who loved the material but could hardly believe the band's audacity, as two 11-plus minute epics were featured on the disc. The bold... more ›

A scandal two years in the making over at Austin City Hall may finally be reaching critical mass. On July 20, one Bill Moriarty, the former head of the Austin Clean Water Program, filed a lawsuit against a virtual who's-who list of local urban developers: Development firms PBS&J, Malcolm Pirnie, Owen Consulting, CH2M Hill Inc., Parsons Engineering Science, K Friese & Associ­ates and Hey Cister! Consulting. Also named is attorney David Armbrust, Moriarty's former legal... more ›

Lady Bird (Claudia Alta Taylor) Johnson was the oldest living former First Lady before her death this afternoon in Austin. The widow of LBJ will be fondly remembered for her love and work for the environment (promoting the highway beautification bill, raising money for Town Lake Park, and co-founding a national wildflower center). She had not been in top health since her first stroke in the early '90s, but still made rare public appearances around... more ›

Local children's show stars The Biscuit Brothers are celebrating the Fourth of July with a special concert at the Paramount Theatre. The performance is their biggest ever, and will be filmed for a DVD. All profits go towards funding the duo's third season of family-friendly, music-centric (not to mention Emmy Award-winning) programming on KLRU/PBS. If you'd like to win a free family pack to the show, fill out the form below! more ›

After maintaining a low profile since their "Night At The Opera" at Hogg Auditorium in January and SXSW showcase, hometown dance-noise champs Ghostland Observatory are unleashing a triple kung-fu combo punch on Austin this summer. On Wednesday, they'll play a "secret" show at Emo's as part of the club's anniversary celebrations. Then in mid-July, the band will tape an episode of the PBS series Austin City Limits - call the ACL hotline on 475-9077... more ›

It's an odd proposition, but according to Michael Kimmelman, New York Times' chief art critic, there are striking parallels between museums and department stores as "institutions of social change." He's in Austin this afternoon to present his argument, which will also examine the role of commerce in today's museums. A finalist for the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in criticism, Kimmelman has authored several books on art and art history. Notable works include “Portraits: Talking with Artists... more ›

Despite being removed from office, Tom DeLay is up to his old tricks: comparing Democrats to Nazis; comparing himself to the Duke students falsely accused of rape; proclaiming that if the liberals can take down Don Imus, the conservatives can get Rosie O’Donnell off the air; and now this, the most egregious of his statements. In what is one of the most disturbing things we have heard in the wake of the shootings at Virginia... more ›

Michael Tully came of age at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he made friends with such latter-day indie stars as director David Gordon Green and songwriter Dave Berman. His documentary, Silver Jew, about Berman's band The Silver Jews and their recent tour in Israel, is set to screen during SXSW. We caught up with him via email to ask the tough questions: So the documentary is only 51 minutes long. Does... more ›

Those who grew up with NPR as auxiliary parent will doubtless recognize the names Maria Hinojosa and Ray Suarez, the honored guests at Spark: KLRU's Engaging Speaker Series this Wednesday. (So, do their pictures match your mental conception of how they'd look? 'Cuz the first time we saw a pic of Terry Gross, we flipped out.) Hinojosa, the anchor of NPR's Latino USA, is also most recently the author of a memoir of Mexican-American... more ›

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Spark, KLRU's annual Engaging Speaker Series, brings to Austin some of our nation's foremost authorities in politics, science, literature, and more for lively discussions at the Paramount Theatre. All events, running from January to May, feature a 45-minute presentation given by the visiting speakers followed by a 30-minute Q&A session with the audience. For 2007, Spark turns its eye to issues with a "global impact, social significance and community relevance." Hence, they're kicking off... more ›

Cine Las Americas is hosting a special screening of the critically acclaimed Letters from the Other Side. The documentary on Mexican immigration was directed by Austinite Heather Courtney. The free screening at the George Washington Carver Museum is open to the public and will feature a Q&A with women featured in the film, with a reception to follow. Beyond just a screening, the evening is a celebration of sorts, as the women from the... more ›