The Utter Reading Series is back tomorrow, with more pathos than Hillary, more transcendance than Barack, more grit than McCain, and more exposure (for local writers) than a bead-strewn balcony on Bourbon Street. As always, the reading is free and open to the public, and the audience is invited to join the readers afterwards for drinks and conversation at Opal Divine's on 6th....

Image from Myspace Matthew Zapruder and Jeff TietzFriday, November 9Follett's Intellectual Property (2402 Guadalupe)Free, 5:30pm[info]Matthew Zapruder’s new collection of poetry is called The Pajamaist. We’re still not sure if this one of those cosmic coincidences, or if Zapruder meant to sing the lyrical praises of all things “IST.” In any case, the collection is excellent, as is his previous work, and we will be out in our most stylish PJs to watch him read at......

Photo by johnkoetsier on flickr Utter Reading SeriesMonday, Nov 5BookPeople [map]7pm, Free[info]This month’s Utter Reading Series features two standouts from a couple hours south on I-35. Both teach at Trinity University in San Antonio, and both are long-overdue candidates for the Utter Series, which spotlights hot Texas-based writers. One has just won a national award for his short stories, and the other is an Austin-bred recent graduate of the Michener Center at UT. After the......

O, the mighty men and women of Austin's stages! They get so busy this time of year. There's more than enough to choose from this week, but here are the theater picks that top our list. ProArts Collective wraps up the Black Arts Movement Festival with Incognito on Thursday at 8pm, and Spoken Word Caravan on Friday at 8pm. The former is a one-man drama, performed by author Michael Fosberg, about a man who grew......

The UTTER Reading Series presents two young, local writers who are finding national success and recognition. Poet D. Antwan Stewart will present selections from his two books, The Terribly Beautiful (2006) and Sotto Voce (forthcoming) . Fiction writer Brian Hart, the winner of the first-ever Keene Prize for Literature, may read from his forthcoming and already-awarded novel, The Dog With the Broken Teeth, the One That Fetches Rocks. Stewart has an MFA from the Michener......

Danny Taylor and Simeon Coxe III created The Silver Apples in 1967 in New York City. With Simeon supplying the vocals and synth, and Taylor providing the percussion, the duo created psychedelic soundscapes accentuated by electronic beats. Their name was coined from a William Butler Yeats poem while musically, the duo employed all the tricks of the trade that might seem fairly standard now but were truly innovative at the time. Simeon utilized multiple audio......

Billy Joe Shaver is one of those Texas music legends with a life story that sounds like country and western fantasy. His father abandoned the family before he was born, he lost 2 fingers in a sawmill accident, he lost his mother and wife to cancer and his son to drug overdose within a single year, and he suffered a heart attack on stage. But, Shaver has long channeled his pain into his music. For......

ACL Previews Austinist Launches Dedicated ACL Page! Preview: Manchester Orchestra and Patterson Hood Preview: Ian Ball and the Little Ones Interview: Paolo Nutini ACL Band Clash, Round 2: The Killers Vs. Björk Weekly Features Tales Of Mere Existence Hots On #9: Sound Off New Release Tuesday: Frisell's Floratone The Argyle Academy New Movie Releases: The Invasion, Superbad, Death at a Funeral, and More Truesday: Friesday The Laurie Show News, Features, and More Travis County......

Only two days remain in this year's National Poetry Slam. This time on Sunday, new team and indy champs will have been crowned...until next year's slam in Madison, WI. The Parish and the 501 Studios Soundstage [map] join Antone's, Ruta Maya, and Dominican Joe as 25 teams face off in the Team Semi-Finals. All venues at 7pm. We won't know the semi-finalists at press time, but you can always check the official NPS site later......

As the days go by, things get more intense at Slam Central. Each night, votes for the team bouts are tallied, and teams and individuals learn where they stand. The scores as of the wee hours of Wednesday morning have been posted, and while it's way too early to start popping the bubbly, we're excited to see Team Ego's in second place! First is Team Killeen (please tell us there's at least one slamming soldier......

Another day, another schedule of packed-to-the-gills programming for the National Poetry Slam. It's extremely tough to pick just one or two things to highlight, but here're the events that most piqued our curiosity. Daytime Programming All daytime programs are FREE, so if you live or work downtown, consider popping in for one of these events. NPS won't be in Austin again for a very long time, so this is something of a one-time chance. It......

The poets have arrived! For the second year in a row, the National Poetry Slam will be held in our highly literate, most-educated city. This five-day competition showcases slam poets from around the U.S. and comes to a head in a fierce battle for team and individual top nods, held at the Paramount Theatre on August 10 and 11. Last year's finals sold out, so consider getting your tickets early! Opening ceremonies are this afternoon......

National Poetry Slam returns with a full schedule of stuff happening all over town this week, culminating in Friday and Saturday's final matches at the Paramount HBMG Foundation presents the 2007 ArtSpark Festival Visual Art Showcase at the Off Center Mayor Will Wynn and director Turk Pipkin screen "Nobelity" and "An Inconvenient Truth" at the Paramount Willie Nelson headlines the Austin Freedom Fest 2007, joined by the likes of Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling......

Forklift Danceworks marks the upcoming anniversary of Elvis’ death with an homage to the King that includes singing, dancing, and guest Elvis cameos from Jim Swift, Sara Hickman, John Kelso, and Mayor Will Wynn Austinist sponsors a big bash at Beauty Bar with the Turbonego cover band Apocalypse Dudes, DJ Jester the Filipino Fist, and Ernest Gonzales 1906 hosts the opening reception for "SeeSaw," their first-ever photography show, featuring landscapes, portraiture, digitally-manipulated images, and......

Some 300 competitors in 75 teams are set to converge upon Austin next week for the 2007 National Poetry Slam, a five-day competition that will feature some of the country's most talented slam artistry. NPS officially runs from August 7 through August 11th, but event organizers are hosting a series of preview events starting today to showcase some of what you can expect to see at the performances. "We're fortunate to be able to again......

Trust your instincts, faithful readers. That is a disturbance you've sensed in the force. For the second year in a row, the nation's finest and funniest poets plan to pummel Austin with their poesy, prose, puns...and all sorts of other p-words we can't mention here. Starting August 7, National Poetry Slam 2007 will transform Austin into the epicenter of all things slammarific, with five days of knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred competition to find out who can......

The video for Spoon's "The Ghost of You Lingers" is floating around (even if it's probably unofficial) now, have a look: It's a blue, bleeding piano, y'all. Incidentally, we found it amusing to watch this guy read his poetry in one tab while the Spoon song plays in another ... be sure to start them at the same time, it's a sort of Wizard of Oz / The Wall accident that worked out smashingly well.......

WEDNESDAY [30] booze • "Sir Chris" and "Lord Gates" from Car Stereo Wars and Learning Secrets guest bartend at The Mohawk (5-8pm) music • Locals @ La Zona Showcase Two wih AM Syndicate, The Drawing Board, Jets Under Fire at La Zona Rosa music • Hawnay Troof, Best Fwends, The Carrots at Emo's music • Pompeii, Ryan Lindsey, Gazelles, The Heirs at Emo's music • Tribute to Sublime with Badfish, Indofin, Under the Gun at......

Long held as a classic of independent cinema, and one of the most difficult to actually watch, Charles Burnett's Killer Of Sheep chronicles a day in the life of a hopelessly frustrated slaughterhouse laborer, Stan (Henry G. Sanders), and his family. Stan spends his working day feeling as helpless and resigned as the animals he processes. He buys a car engine to resell, but it falls out of a friend’s pickup and is smashed.......

If you spend your Sundays reading French surrealist poetry, or if you’re just a fan of beautifully-breathy, sometimes-sanguine pop songs; then, tickets to The Clientele show are probably already being used as a bookmark in your copy of Fantomas (the book, not the band). Touring off their latest album, God Save The Clientele, this UK art-pop foursome will be will be playing a host of new tracks much sunnier than their last three releases.......

WEDNESDAY [2] DJ • The Black (DJ Set), Gerald Cosloy at Scoot Inn (10pm, Free) books • Poetry on the Plaza: The Book of Poetry at The Harry Ransom Center (12noon) books • Jeffrey Greene presents Water From Stone at BookPeople (7:00pm) dance • Stomp at The Paramount Theatre exhibition • UT Department of Theatre & Dance's Annual Design and Technology Exhibition at Oscar G. Brockett Theatre, Winship Drama Building (9am) film • "Plagues and......

Austin’s got a new agent all up in the local scene’s Artist Management: Bueno Music Bureau. And Bueno’s got some local talent that they think you should be bragging to your friends about listening to. Something like that. So they’re having a little thingy-thang at Deville this Friday (tonight, for most readers) to showcase that talent. There will be some doin’s-a-transpirin’. Specifically: four bands with their own instruments and haircuts for the pleasure of......

WEDNESDAY [18] lecture • KLRU's SPARK Series Welcomes Douglas Rushkoff at The Paramount (7:30pm, Tickets are HALF OFF from Noon-7:30pm!) benefit/film • Friends of the Festival Anniversary Celebration (Cine Las Americas) at 2308 Fortune Drive ($100, 6-9pm) books • Poetry on the Plaza: Living Poets at The Harry Ransom Center (12 Noon) books • The Intimacies Group with Karen Kreps at BookPeople (7:00pm) books • Stephanie Elizondo Griest presents 100 Places Every Woman Should......

HBMG Foundation is still inviting folks to apply for the 2007 ArtSpark Festival, a twelve-week-long creative festival and competition that pits teams of theatre junkies, video game developers, and visual artists against one another to create awesome new works. At orientation, each team is given a "spark," an object which serves as the catalyst and inspiration to jumpstart the team's creative process. If you'd like to apply but can't find a team to join,......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......

FRIDAY [13] fashion • RARE Magazine Spring Fling Fashion Show at The Belmont Hi-Lo (Moved due to rain) art/music • Take That!, a show of new images by Lance McMahan, plus music by Amanda Jones, Connie Ball, & Teddy and Marge at The Opera House (7-10pm) art • Hot and Cold: The Best of Canadian Contemporary Art at Art on 5th, 1501 W 5th (10am-6pm) art • Opening Reception for abstract paintings and encaustics......

Shearwater Palo Santo Remastered, Expanded (Matador) The release of Palo Santo in 2006 marked Jonathan Meiburg's emergence from the shadow of the 'O' into full light. The songs are dense, revealing themselves slowly and carefully amidst moments of reflective sincerity and emotional cacophony with equal precision. Shearwater's sound is difficult to pin down, but the songs are always centered around Meiburg's unfaltering voice, a dark but lilting instrument that narrows the gap between fragility......

What happens when you throw music, dance, poetry, photography, visual art, theatre, film, and -- why not? -- opera into a great big blue box and shake? You get an explosion of proportions that only the creative geniuses at Refraction Arts can contain. This year's Fuse Box Festival, featuring artists from Brooklyn to Portland and places in between, showcases works you've never seen before and aren't likely to see hence. Things start gearing up this......

Tonight, Alamo Music Mondays presents Times Square, Allan Moyle's two-against-the-world teen drama set in the grimy, x-rated heart of late 1970s Manhattan. Featuring music by Gary Numan, XTC, Roxy Music, The Ruts, Patti Smith, the Ramones, and the Talking Heads, the film follows two teenage girls who escape from a psychiatric hospital, take up residence in an abandoned warehouse and form an underground punk band called "The Sleez Sisters". With the help of a hip......

The University of Texas Creative Writing Program has a reputation for scoring amazing, talented writers and poets as visiting professors. The good news for the average Austinite is that these "visitors" will usually give a public reading at some point during their semester-long stay. Tonight poet and UT visiting professor Jill Alexander Essbaum will be busting rhymes -for free!- in the Harry Ransom Center's Tom Lea Rooms. A former Austin resident currently sporting a Swiss......