Haven't had enough of Valentine's Day yet? Ever secretly wanted to take a date to the Harry Ransom Center, but went for $2 Tecates at some hipster dive instead? This Friday, for one night only, the HRC is heading to the Eastside, celebrating love, the birth of hip, and the "starving, hysterical, naked" visions of the Beat Generation. Sounds hot....

Image from MySpace Ready Steady GoFriday, December 7Rio Rita Cafe y Cantina (1308 E 6th St)Free, 9pm-2am[info] This Friday, get ready to get retro. Ready Steady Go is coming to Rio Rita, and East Sixth Street is about to get walloped with the sort of danceable goodness that only five, yes five DJs can produce. Moving from their residency at Beerland, Ready Steady Go collaborators Mike Hooker and Shorty Stump will be spinning their vinyl......

Photo of the Walls Unit gurney from Britannica Student Encyclopedia 25 Years of Lethal Injection: What Have We Learned?Friday, December 7Texas Prison Museum (map) This Friday marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first execution by lethal injection in the United States. Naturally, Texas, along with the city of Huntsville -- sometimes referred to as the "execution capital of the world"-- took this honor. With executions effectively on hold in Texas while the U.S. Supreme Court......

Ben Reed & Bill Cope Read Christmas Fiction, Live!Friday, November 30thCafe Mundi (1704 East 5th St.)Free, 8pm - onwardAustinist’s own Benjamin Reed’s doing a Christmas Story reading with Bill Cope! Using real words! This Friday evening! Remember back when words actually meant something? Back when they meant “on paper, in printed form, to be read aloud to people who like hearing stories told by the authors who write them”? Back when books were things......

Cue are a self proclaimed "chamber-rock" band whose brilliant combination of orchestral arrangements and hard hitting post rock have earned them praise from both critics and audiences alike. They are among the handful of exceptionally gifted instrumental bands such as Explosions In the Sky, Octopus Project, My Education, and Skiesfalling here in Austin. Their amazing instrumental acrobatics go from the soft and spellbinding to eruptions of passionate musical violence. This Friday, June 29th marks the......

Soundcheck has grabbed our attention constantly over the last year with colorful covers presenting regional talent like Voxtrot and Midlake. However, the glossy magazine features national acts as well, while keeping a close eye on major festivals -- both home and away. Soundcheck also incorporates additional flair into its usual, stellar content every month. An “Artist Perspective” feature (from the likes of Ramesh Srivastava) and columns such as Hometown Heroes keep this local ‘zine hip......

Ah, the nineties. Cross Colours*. Plaid flannels. Yellow nugget gold rings. Sega Genesis. It was like, well, a time that was just before the current time, but after a particular decade which really, really marketed itself much better. Which is just too bad, really. Because in and amongst all that weed, war, and Tetris of the 90s, there was Yo MTV Raps (well, in the late 80s too, but whatever). And within that haven of......

This Friday the 13th may finally be known for something more than a retired 80's horror movie franchise. Peek-a-Boo Records and the Beauty Bar have teamed up for a grandiose CD release party of Peel's debut album. The self-titled work has been heralded as a truly magnificent work as their songs roar with a joyful noise of youth's enthusiasm and colorful complex orchestrations. Along with Peel are a couple of the best bands Austin......

Ratatat must really love Austin. This Friday night marks their third show in town in less than 12 months-- actually less than seven months if our math is correct, and no, they didn’t play SXSW. Regardless, we love them and could not be more thrilled at yet another chance to see this New York act do their thing live. Formerly Cherry, the instrumental duo consists of Evan Mast on keys and Mike Stroud on......

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 now $25, and can be purchased at the gate. Learning Secrets perform in the Dance Party Tent at 4:30pm. -- The Editors Bonus: Download Ian's new winter mix, featuring Sebastian, The Rapture, Jurgen Paape, James Figurine and more. [mp3]......

It was the winter of 1997. Toronto. Some big and atrocious-looking gallery on the edge of pig-windowed Chinatown. That’s where we first got to see the brilliance of Keith Haring up close. Well, “up close” isn’t all that necessary when the piece is thirty goddamn feet tall, but it was really there. In all it’s simplistic glory. Thoughtful. Angry. People with dog-heads and politics. You could almost touch it with your tongue it was......

This Friday at the Vortex, Sinsations Adult Boutique is hosting an Erotic Carnival benefiting AIDS Services of Austin. People are encouraged to dress up and enjoy burlesque performances by Red Light Burlesque, Vixen Nixon, Cardinal Cyn, Bonbon Vivant, Sindee Lux, The Oriah, Wesleann, Nicole Labry, Ruby Lamb, Lacy Graves and Cherry Freeze of Satan’s Cheerleaders, plus "suspension performances" by Diablo Rojo and rope bondage by Mark Yu and guests. As if that weren't enough lovely......

It looks like the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum is branching out into a new era of art. This Friday, it will be opening its first contemporary exhibit, an overview of the work of Austin sculptor Hank Waddell. What's next, a Keith Haring retrospective in the Elizabeth Ney museum? A rave at the French Legation? These all sound like pretty good ideas, as a matter of fact. Supposedly Waddell is a colorful Austin character......

As MSTRKRFT, Canadian duo Jesse F. Keeler and Al-P first gained prominence back in late 2004 for their remix of The Panthers' “Thank Me With Your Hands," included in a Vice sampler disc. Since then, they've gone on to remix everyone from Bloc Party ("Two More Years") and Metric ("Monster Hospital") to Buck 65 ("Kennedy Killed The Hat") and The Gossip ("Listen Up"). “We like to make the songs we remix our own,” says......

Whilst attending any gallery reception, you might start to feel wings of social fabulousness budding just beneath your shoulder blades. Don't panic -- they look so cute. Besides, can you help it if art lifts you up where you belong? This Friday, aim to get a rise out of a number of art openings around town. Those who like lacquer (and who among ye doesn't?) should visit the Fielding Lecht Gallery. A new exhibit,......

This Friday, fledgling nonprofit arts organization The Furman Collective presents Taking Back the West," an art extravaganza-cum-gallery exhibition behind held at Bolm Studios. The show brings together the latest works by several talented local artists (Jonathan McFadden, Dustin Pevey, Heather Pomykal, and Jeremy White) for only three days (through Sunday). [Bolm Studios Upcoming Shows] The Furman Collective presents "Taking Back the West" Bolm Studios (5305 Bolm Road) [map] Opening May 12th, 7-11pm Installation through......

This Friday and Saturday, Women & Their Work presents Natasha Tsakos' "UpWake Part III" at the Carver Museum. This multi-media dance performance combines clowning, dance, and dreams with a backdrop consisting of projected digital animations and an original soundtrack. "Up Wake Part III," after the successes of Parts I and II that were commissioned by the Miami Light Project, is the last installment of the Zero Trilogy. The play follows Zero, a toon character, throughout......

This Friday at the Velvet Spade, quite possibly the greatest literary rock star on the planet returns for a one-off reunion show with his Neal Pollack Invasion. Pollack, author of the seminal piece of satirical literary journalism, the Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature (an Austinist favorite), left our fare shores last year to move to the moral abyss that is Hollywood. But he is back this week to help celebrate the launch of......

This Friday, September 30th, Yellow Tape Construction Company - who combine dance, theatre, music and performance art - will be celebrating the opening of their newest endeavor, Come Home. Written by Amanda Butterfield and Jonathon Morgan, Yellow Tape describes Come Home as "...an indie-folk, road-trip musical beneath the overwhelming expanse of an American sky." We're not sure what that means, but after the recent success of Hobbled (which starred a few Lonestar Rollergirls), we're......

This Friday, Fractious and Squares Are Best, two alt-rock bands, go head to head in the second round of the Zippo Hot Tour. It's a battle of the bands, and Austinist is asking you to come out and support Fractious because their drummer is our little brother. Yeah, that's right, we get to do that. The bands who made it to round 2 have already battled their way through a rigorous people's choice process......

Do you find yourself complaining that your weekends don’t get bumpin' until the sun sets. Then why don’t you plan on going to a couple of shows this weekend that start at 6pm(!). This Friday there will be an early show over at Obsolete Industries featuring the rock assault of Canoe, The Press (members of Voxtrot), local indie-folk-rock supergroup Shadows and Reflections (members of Diamond Caverns, Rhythm of Black Lines, Those Peabodys, Knife in......

Krispy Kreme is one of the most beloved doughnut shoppes in town. (Although we are partial to Mrs. Johnsons.) However, we just can't pass up a free doughnut! This Friday has been declared Doghnut Day at Krispy Kreme. All participating locations will be doling out a donut of your choice. (Although, the nice fellas at Mrs. Johnsons give us a free donut anytime we go there....we're just sayin'...) So bon appetit y'all!......

This Friday marks the opening of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room at the Dobie and South Lamar Alamo theaters. The film was in Austin about a month ago when it showed at SXSW, so some of you lucky ones may have already seen it. (Also? It's based on the book of the same name.) None of that really matters though. Austinist just wants you to go see this film. We know. It's......