Listen, the point of karaoke is to get up there and belt that shit out. If you’re the type who really, really, really wants to stay true to the original version, then that’s great. But you don’t have to. Feel free to kick a leg out. Bend down and pump a fist. Throw some scat in there. Or scatology. Whatever one might choose to call “improv noise crap between actual word-based vocals”. That stuff. Do that stuff. No one really cares, including you, and that’s the beauty of the whole thing. ...

Album Cover, Go With What You Know Zappa Plays ZappaTuesday, November 13Hogg Memorial Auditorium (24th at Whitis)8pm[info] | [tickets]Post by Mark H. Being the spawn of an international superstar can be a tough weight to carry. Some try to sluff off comparisons, others try to appropriate their parents' legacy while striving to maintain their own sense of artistic creativity, and others still go unseen or heard until ending up in rehab. Dweezil Zappa seems to......

Tomorrow night at 7pm, Austin firefighters will be training (and using theatrical smoke!) at 4th and Guadalupe. Gov. Perry trying to get disaster declaration for counties seriously affected by Humberto. Buffalo Bills player whose spine was seriously injured in a game earlier this month is now in Houston for rehab. LBJ football player hits off-duty cop after a game last month; is charged with assault on a public servant. Today the State Board of......

Given that Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" has become resolutely unfunny over the past month (even before she canceled), the title of "band with that one hit song that everyone loves" at ACL has fallen squarely on the shoulders of Sweden's Peter, Bjorn, and John. The group have been plugging away at their charming blend of pop, rock, and indie since 1999, and are anything but an overnight sensation. Their breakthrough hit "Young Folks" is actually......

Aside from being an accomplished documentary filmmaker (and Guggenheim, Rockefeller, NEA and AFI Fellowship award recipient), Third Ward TX director Andrew Garrison is also an associate professor at the University of Texas, and the founder of East Austin Stories, an ongoing student documentary program that focuses on East Austin neighborhoods. We recently had a chance to talk to Andrew about Third Ward, East Austin Stories and South by Southwest. Tell us a little bit about......

Dallas’ The Hourly Radio has garnered some top-notch buzz lately. Rolling Stone and Filter magazines both named History Will Never Hold Me in recent “Top 5” listings, while their guitar-centric, post new-wave musical stylings are a hit in NYC, among other cities. We, too, have enjoyed their Texas shows, be it last year’s non-SXSW the rich girls are weeping bash during, well, SXSW, or their opening gig for Stellastarr* at the Parish a few......

Valentine's Day is only a few days away, and we here across the Gothamist network wanted to express would like to tell you, in the spirit of the holiday, just how much we love you, our readers. Don't let it get to your heads, though. There are plenty of things we love, you included. Just be glad you're not amongst the things we hate. SFist saw their beloved mayor enter rehab, and they loved the......

The Bush Admin. will need a warrant with that wiretap now. Finally. Colbert on "The O'Reilly Factor" tonight, and us with no TV. We'll be over at 7, 'mkay? For maybe the first time, more American women are living without a man than with one. The NYT celebrates the occasion by photographing a woman with her cat. Why not put her in front of her spinning wheel and be done with it? Next up:......

Nas Hip Hop Is Dead (Def Jam) Nas' 8th studio album (and first with Def Jam) marks the end of the Jay-Z feud and the beginning of post-hip hop recording, should we believe his figurative burial scene. As one of rap's more prominent figures, the imagery begs the question: What exactly is Nas doing with this album if hip hop is dead? Are we listening to the birth of something new, or the funeral......

1973 International Showcase Screening Info: 1pm October 22nd at Dobie Regional Premiere. With an eye for cinema and ear for personal stories, Antonino Isordia lays bare the disappointments and tragedies felt by a generation of young Mexicans in his explosively kinetic 1973. By focusing on three case histories, each about someone born in 1973 who eventually spent time behind bars, Isordia delivers a startling tapestry of contempo Mexico City life. Pic superbly reps a......

Much like their mentor Willie Nelson, the former Saxon Pub regulars Los Lonely Boys can't seem to avoid getting caught with the weed. On Saturday, Austin police responded to complaints at The Omni and arrested Boys' bassist JoJo Garza for marijuana possession... and for allegedly assaulting his fiancee Carina Lyn. While a publicist for the band has called the whole matter "a misunderstanding" and chalked the incident up to noisy partying, the Austin Police......

After all of the hogs have cranked their way out of town on Sunday, you will finally be able to come out of your house and enjoy the town. We suggest you re-acclimate yourself with the outdoors by enjoying live music and a movie in Republic Square Park. For Free. Sunday night will be the first event on the MySpace Presents the Bside Roadshow. The tour will travel the country bringing independent film and......

If you're a Houston Astros fan, you're probably wallowing in depression right now over the team's miserable season thus far. But up to the north, just beyond the reaches of I-35, there waits a small glimmer of hope. Well, he's actually a rather large glimmer of hope when you get down to it. That's right, Houston's All-Star outfielder Lance Berkman , who has been sidelined all season with a knee injury, will make a rehab......

The rain has come to wash away all the sins of SXSW, and believe us, there was a lot of sin. Amazingly, it also appears to have washed away most of the live music -- looking at the music listings for this week, we see almost nothing but DJs and karaoke. Where have all the rockers gone? Answer: Rehab. But all is not lost. There are a few choice shows to go see, some art......