The Ultimate Christmas Musical: The Musical!Through 12/22, Th/Fr/Sa at 8pmSalvage Vanguard Theater (map)[info] | [tickets]Christmas will be here sooner than you think! What nicer gift than an evening out at the theater? Here're just a few shows we think worthy of being early stocking-stuffers. You've probably already seen the XL cover or read the AusChron piece (damn, Jonathon Morgan gets around!)—Yellow Tape Construction Company's Ultimate Christmas Musical: The Musical! opened last weekend. We loved... more ›

Feeling awash in connections? Underwater with a number of dates? Social life raining good karma? Then perhaps we're not the place for you. Although, if you're having a dry spell this might be the oasis you've been seeking. We've rounded up the best of last week's Missed Connections, so put on your rain suit and take a look... late night couch peeing and amazing sex - w4m i peed on the couch, then you... more ›

The new wave takes it old school with an evening that's part movie, part Austin, and all fun and games. Let's hope nobody gets hurt. Hip Mexican joint Nueva Onda will host a free show featuring Hunky Dory and an episode of Austin Stories this Thursday (that's tomorrow) at 8pm to keep your brain entertained as your mouth snarfs San Antonio tamales and sips Shiner beer. Propose a toast to slackerdom and misfithood as you... more ›

Lady Bird joins LBJ, but her legacy lives on. Take a lap around Town Lake for her, and be sure to stop and smell the flowers. Pray for rain--in Alabama. Lord knows we've had enough of it here, and we may even get more. While you're at it, pray for grocery stores--Detroit doesn't have any. Maybe Whole Foods could move in if Mackey weren't so busy online. Feeling broke? Head to Japan, where they... more ›

Yellow Tape Construction Company, the masters of self-promotion that they are, have so much weird, entertaining content on their website...it's a more than a little addicting. Our recent favorite, by far, is a funky video of Yellow Taper Doug Rutherford doing some, er, Yellowtape-ish things with a balloon and a scarf and his face. Just...yeah. Check it out. We imagine the highly anticipated YTCC production, But, I Could Do That, opening tonight and running this... more ›

*The views expressed in Foodie Friday are those of the author and do not represent Austinist (and quite often our readership) as a whole. Ahh, the subjective nature of tastebuds.* -The Editors (Playing the part of Foodie Column-IST this week is one of our newest food writers, Veronica Meewes, freshly returned from the greater Tri-state Metropolitan whatsit.) When I return to the Tri-state Area I called home for so many years, there are several... more ›

This Memorial Day holiday, we dusted off the Austinist company van for our annual trip down to the Kerrville Folk Festival for a beer-drenched, music-filled, puddle-hopping four-day weekend just two hours outside of Austin. Situated within the meadows and hills of the Quiet Valley Ranch, the folk festival—which started in 1972 as a gathering of a few friends/musicians who decided to camp out and play music for a few days—is now well into its... more ›

*The views expressed in Truesday are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole. Thank heavens.* -The Editors As you read these lines, dearest reader of the internets, I am completely far away from all forms of civilization which typically provide access to web-related entertainment such as: donkey porn, fark, and the constantly intriguing-yet-face-f*cking issue of “who owns Anna Nicole Smith’s baby this week?” So I’m somewhere stupid remote, because... more ›

If Texas State University gets their way, in a few months, the river and beer won't be the only thing you smell while driving through San Marcos. Plans are currently in the works by TSU to create a 17-acre "body farm", a forensic field laboratory used to examine and study decomposing corpses. The field will be placed along Highway 21, at the university's horticultural center. The Statesman reported that University Provost Perry Moore told local... more ›

Earlier today, an anonymous Austinist reader posted this tip in our Contribute section: Has anyone else noticed that Austin water is tasting horrible and fishy lately? Just noticed it last night and it's still gross today. wtf?! According to Austin Water Utility, this fetid stench is caused by recent algae growth in Lake Austin and Town Lake, probably owing to last week's warm weather and the general low water level at our various lakes. The... more ›

Carnival seems to have caused no lack of missed connections. Most of them seem to have involved anonymous groping, although they still seem to have been missed, we suppose it's the sign of a good party. And now, for your viewing pleasure, we've compiled the best of last week's Missed Connections... There you were on the shitter- at 7-11 - m4w We shared a long pause, faces surprised, then oh that smell, anyhow you... more ›

We don't know about you, but it's friggin cold out there. Well, not for some of you. It seems as though places that are supposed to be cold are warm and places that are supposed to be warm are cold. Or maybe that's just us. Either way, we're freezing. Austinist said goodbye to their co-editor (sell-out) and played rumor monger on the SXSW lineup. And when dozens of dead birds littered downtown Austin, it's... more ›

Concerned as it is with the decidedly non-visual sensation of smell, Patrick Suskind’s novel Das Parfum would appear an unlikely candidate for a movie. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the film rights to Das Parfum were offered to everyone from Stanley Kubrick (who declared the book unfilmable) to Tim Burton before they fell into the hands of Tom Tykwer, the German auteur behind Run Lola Run. The result, which opens today, is... more ›

The first-ever Fun Fun Fun Fest is this Friday, December 1st, at Waterloo Park. Over two dozen great acts are on the bill, including Spoon, Peaches, The Black Angels, Prefuse 73, and DJ Mel. Tickets are $20, and can be purchased online. Gamblers perform on the punk stage at 6:55. --The Editors How's Volcom treating you? Any Riverboat Gamblers skate decks in your future? Volcom has been great! They give us lots of socks,... more ›

Tomorrow marks the 30th year of the American Cancer Society’s day-long Smoking Cessation program, The Great American Smoke Out. The premise of the day is to get smokers to quit smoking for just one day. The hope is that with each passing hour, smokers will want to "Stay Quit," and resist the urge to light up until smoking addiction is no longer an issue. It doesn’t take a Rocket Scientist to tell you what you... more ›

Ever sniff the inside of Weezer's Pinkerton? Wait, hear us out. Its monochromatic liner notes were printed on a kind of matte, somewhat grainy paper, and happened to possess a pungent, fantastic smell. Don't look at us like you've never sniffed a record before. It's the music fan's equivalent of picking out a wedgie: inevitable, personal, and done when others aren't looking. Upon cracking open the Ace Fu Annuals debut offering, Be He Me,... more ›

Ah, the sweet smell of college freshmen. School's back in session, summer is almost over (in theory), and it's a few weeks before the holiday movie rush begins (Exhibit A: this week's slim pickin's). *Trust the Man We’ve got one word for the entire cast of this movie: yum. The Wicker Man God bless Nic Cage. He tries, ya know? What a trooper. The Quiet This film is receiving fairly poor reviews, which is... more ›

As Elvis Costello might say, we just don't know where to begin. Even if you are skipping ACL, the fall is turning into a music wonderland. Acts of every genre and size are booking Austin's clubs up like there's no tomorrow, leaving music lovers with many questions on how to spend both time and cash this fall. Trust us, you can't see it all, so pick your favorites and buy tickets in advance to... more ›

Okay, we must take a quick moment here to talk about Pirates of the Caribbean Part Deux, which we should have talked about sooner but didn’t because, well, quite frankly, we kinda forgot we’d seen it until two hours ago, when yet another preview came on TV and we said to ourselves, “Hey, didn’t that scene come after that other scene and hey, how do we know that? Oh right, we saw that movie... more ›

Last night’s Tapes ‘n Tapes show was pretty boss, even though Bruce Springsteen never showed, which wasn’t a surprise, really, since he was never even rumored to show up, anyway. Is it wrong to secretly wish that The Boss might drop by for a song or two at some random venue? No, it’s not. [Ed. Note -- where are we going with this?] Regardless, the show was great. All three bands -- Cold War... more ›

Another Sunday afternoon searching for Missed Connections, to no avail. Although it was no surprise that Austinist found plenty of posts to share with our readers. Wanted: Green Tree Frog During a recent visit to my parents in Austin, I made the mistake of using the toilet in the guest bathroom. I was somewhat asleep when a green tree frog decided to jump on my manberries from his hiding place under the rim of... more ›

Ever notice how dogs tend to look like their owners? Or is it the owners who look like their dogs? Decide for yourself this Saturday at the 8th Annual Mighty Texas Dog Walk . Leash up your pooch and head out to the Tony Burger Center to help this Austin event retain its Guinness Book of World Records status as the world’s largest dog walk (or something like that). This gigantic 3-mile canine constitutional... more ›

A week or so ago we were coming out of a meeting in preparation for our fabulous slew of parties that will occur during a certain week in March. We were hungry, so having about 90 minutes to kill before going to a concert, we figured we'd be brave and eat on 6th Street - not the part of Sixth where Thai Tara and Maiko reside, the other part. In between Congress and Red... more ›

Ahhh, it’s that time of year again – can you smell the celebrity sweat in the air? Oscar time, baby! The 78th annual Academy Awards will air March 5 on ABC. Plan your party now: gather your friends together, don your Oscar de la Renta (that was kind of a pun, see?), break out the Dom Perignon Andre and the brie, place your bets and watch the magic unfold. The absolute best part about... more ›

A local developer is planning on building a new "Gentlemen's Club" (that phrase always kills us) around I-35 & Grand Avenue Parkway. But local residents are concerned that the new club would only bring "unsavory clientele" into the neighborhood, putting children at risk of drunk perverts. Come on, don't you folks already have high-speed internet? The die has been cast, we think. The intersection near the proposed topless club already has two titty-bars and... more ›

Hey, Starseeds! How’s it going man? Wow, been a long time since we hung out, huh? Years, actually. Like, three. Yea, I was thinking about that the other day. What happened was: I was wrestling this big-ass garbage bag of warm and rancid, week-old chicken from the grips of this homeless guy behind the Church’s on Oltorf, and the odor of the situation reeked *exactly* like your old bathrooms did. They say that the... more ›

Although we know you like to boogey and we know you like to booze, sometimes a nice night at the movies is the perfect cure for what ails you. With that said, there are five new movies being released in Austin theatres this weekend and a host of first-runs worth checking out if you have not already taken our advice. But if you see one movie all weekend, go see Broken Flowers. *Broken Flowers... more ›

For quite some time now, both our city and state have been carefully courting Samsung, the international behemoth producer of just about everything requiring electricity, who is now researching cities in which to build its latest chip factory. The proposed manufacturing plant would cost over $3.5 billion - that's like $3500000000000000 or basically a number so egregiously ginormous it means nothing to us - and add over one thousand new jobs. Not surprisingly, both... more ›

Nevermind that it’s 105 degrees on a daily basis now, we both know that no matter how hot it gets, wearing something else other than a black concert tee is NEVER an option. That smell of unwashed denim and stank only means that the summer concert season is almost upon us. From last week … Clutch - Robot Hive/Exodus (DRT Entertainment) These Maryland road-warriors made a name for themselves by combining Sabbath’s grooves with... more ›

Apparently, the doors are closing on downtown booze-and-dance stalwart, The Copper Tank Brewery. Rumor has it that the owners of Ringers Sports Bar will be opening a new sports bar mecca at the 504 Trinity Location. In order to cut some of their losses, The Copper Tank will be holding a public auction at the bar this Saturday. The auction begins at 10am and goes until they get rid of everything or get tired... more ›