*The views expressed in Truesday are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole. Thank heavens.* -The Editors You can’t deny- The other side- Don’t want to die- Any more than we do. What I’m trying to say, Is don’t they pray- To the same God that we do? Tell me how does God choose? Whose prayers does he refuse? Who turns the wheel- Who throws the dice- On the......

What's more appealing than a beautiful girl singing Tom Waits songs? For some, nothing. Though much has been said (and speculated about) regarding Miss Johansson's decision to record an album of Tom Waits covers (well, there is one original tune on there, but you wouldn't be able to pick it out if you weren't at all familiar with Waits), the actual reviews are pretty much split down the middle. ...

Promotional still from Alamo website Music Mondays: My Name Is Albert AylerMonday, November 19Alamo Drafthouse Downtown (320 E 6th Street)(9:45pm, $2)[info] | [tickets]Though not as well known as Ornette Coleman or John Coltrane, Albert Ayler is seen by many as one of the most important figures of the free jazz movement. Over the course of 16 studio albums and countless live releases, Ayler's passionate, aggressive saxophone playing pushed jazz back toward its improvisational heyday--an idea......

Waller Creek Design Workshop. Image from City of Austin News Austin Music Commission's Town Hall Meeting Notes AMD Sued Over Birth Defects Plant a Tree for Freedom Waller Creek Design and Vision Workshop At This Rate, We're Having Our Next Happy Hour in Cancun Pangaea: It's For Real, Y'all UT Biologists Propose Biodiversity Institute Save BookWoman! Austin Music Commission Considering Plan to Stop the Rock They've Got the Lasers... Now All You Need is......

Image from Ringo Deathstarr’s MySpace It’s no secret that Austin is home to one of the most prolific artistic scenes in the country, Live Music Capital of the World or not. Any weekend in the city promises a number of day time occurences and a plethora of evening events. A quick browse through this weekend’s notifications leads one to fun activities for the kids at The Flying Theater Machine’s Wang Dang Doodle Hour or a......

Austin-based singer and guitarist Jon Dee Graham has a gravel-filled voice that calls to mind Tom Waits. Graham's songwriting is full of salt-of-the-earth wisdom, and his style is comfortingly familiar without being overdone or unoriginal. That said, Graham's style is too high-energy to get him lumped into the singer-songwriter category. Jon Dee Graham Austin, TX Latest Release: Full, 2006 Saturday the 15th, 4 p.m., Austin Ventures Stage Ike Reilly Assassination is the project of one......

We don’t envy the Stubb’s sound engineer who has to rig up a barricade of vocal mics for the 23-person deep choruses Sunday night. The Polyphonic Spree are making a stop here on the tour for their brand new album, The Fragile Army, to fill the Texas night air with their swelling symphony of harmony. They’ll be spreading their well-wishing and thoughtful choral movement from coast to coast by way of triumphant voices and......

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note Greetings from your San Francisco-bound host of The Laurie Show. I'm going on a trip with my Broken Clock Cabaret peeps to the Bay Area for a short tour of Inside A Broken Clock: A Tom Waits Peepshow next week. However, you can bet I'm on the air tonight, 90.5 on the......

FRIDAY [15] juneteenth/parade • Alvin Patterson Battle of the Bands and Drumline Competition at Congress Avenue (2pm) books • Lama Surya Das presents Buddha is as Buddha Does at BookPeople (7:00pm) comedy • Billy D Washington with Doug Mellard at Cap City Comedy Club comedy • Punchline, open mic stand up comedy at ColdTowne Theater (10pm) dance • Constellation, a site-specific dance work from Sally Jacques at Pickle & Thornberry Federal Courthouses (9pm) dance......

THURSDAY [14] dance • Constellation, a site-specific dance work from Sally Jacques at Pickle & Thornberry Federal Courthouses (9pm) art • Guest Tour with Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa at Blanton Museum of Art, MLK at Congress (Thursdays are always free at the Blanton,12:30-1:30pm) art • Opening reception for "Just Been Fired," the mostly at Gallery Lombardi (7-10pm) art and books • Blanton Book Club at Blanton Museum of Art, MLK at Congress 6-7:30pm) books • Reginald......

Last year the funky little show Inside a Broken Clock: A Tom Waits Peepshow played to packed houses and garnered critical raves. If you were unfortunate enough to miss it, you're in luck because it's back! Two nights only, two shows per night, tonight & Friday at 8pm & 10:30pm at the Parish. The folks of Broken Clock Cabaret are doing this as a kickoff for their upcoming tour to beautiful San Francisco. What is......

The Electric Soft Parade No Need To Be Downhearted Like an indie pop amnesiac, we find The Electric Soft Parade wandering somewhere in the woods on No Need To Be Downhearted. The group is unable to choose between three possible identities; one of Smiths-inspired Brit pop, another caught in experimental, lo-fi doldrums and a third all about the dance-able angular guitars that made so many fall in love with the first Bloc Party record. However,......

Trans Am - Sex Change Trans Am practice a style of Krautrock, infused with Vietnam-era mood-rock fetishism, that at first glance seems to place them uncomfortably close to the Norwegian retro outfit 120 Days. On closer inspection, however, Trans Am's mostly-instrumental style is far more musically versatile than 120 Days' self-serious posing. Sex Change, while conspicuously lacking the hooks that have made their European counterparts international stars, is light as a feather in comparison to......

If you're a fan of dreamy indie-pop and you haven't spent time with a Sparklehorse album, watch out. The North Carolina-based Mark Linkous and his band play hazy, epic music that is worth getting to know. All of the proper credits are here: production from Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev mainstay Dave Fridmann, a guest spot from Danger Mouse, and even some added credibility via a collaboration with Tom Waits. Add this to prior work......

This show has been canceled due to the on-going ice storm. -ed. Emo's Lounge, in its relative infancy, has already come into its own as a indie-rock venue unafraid of breaking the mold to host more diverse acts. We've seen some great shows, drank our share of reasonably priced drinks, and used the rather odd restrooms, thus far being more than satisfied with the place. Tonight will be no different, with a great lineup......

Whoa there, Emo's Lounge! You've had some big shoes to fill with your big, hip brother right next door, but you've done well for yourself. We remember when you were knee-high to a shot bar, and now here you are all growed up, hosting great bands and getting people soused like its your job. Which it is. Tonight, especially, is a red letter date for you. You'll be hosting four superb pop-rock bands all......

If you've never heard Jolie Holland, here are some things you should know. Tom Waits thinks she's fantastic, and nominated her first album for the Shortlist prize. AllMusic puts her sound somewhere between Nina Nastasia and Andrew Bird. And along with Waits, she's recording on the Anti- label along with Neko Case and Daniel Lanois. Now that we have your attention, perhaps you'll download some free MP3's from her site and see why it......

If it’s true that every music writer wishes they were a musician – and we can say from personal experience that it probably is – then it is apparently also true that “every musician wishes they were in a cover band.” Such are the words of Aaron Miller, guitarist for Friday After Dark and the brains behind the quirky gala being held at Club DeVille on Sunday night. What started as an oddball idea for......

KUT's Laurie Gallardo dishes about Texas bands...

Experience tells us to be skeptical of any band presuming to follow in the footsteps of Tom Waits, but we may have to make an exception for the Houston trio The Scattered Pages. Though not quite as eclectic as our favorite musical chameleon, they do get points for style, recalling both the folky quirkiness and literary lyrical style of the Decemberists and the smooth melodies of Belle & Sebastian. The Scattered Pages are touring......

We’ve already brought to your attention most of this week’s theatre and dance openings, but here’s a quick refresher, just in case you haven’t been paying attention: We Are Normal, Cha Cha Chaaa: a new dance epic from the Yellow Tape Construction Co featuring Cari P from Fancy Feast and Belaire. Read our preview, or check out our photos. At Home With Dick 2: the Dick Price musical. All singing, all dancing, Alzheimer’s. Check......

FRIDAY [6] agliff/party • here! presents the aGLIFF member mingle at Rain (9pm) theatre • "Psycho Beach Party" at Arts on Real (8pm, $30) theatre • "At Home With Dick 2" at Dick's Apartment (3309 Grooms) (8pm, $10-$25) ® theatre • "Stillborn" at Hyde Park Theatre (8pm, $15) theatre • Zell Miller III: "Mix Tape, Theatre Style" at Off Center (8pm, $10) theatre • "Bitten: A Zombie Rock Odyssey" at Dougherty Arts Center (8pm,......

Last year, many of you coveted admission to Ruby Rico's wildly, manically, spookily popular production of Inside A Broken Clock: A Tom Waits Peepshow. The group turned away "hundreds of people" with "sad, puppy-dog eyes" -- and thus, have decided to launch a remount. Bitchin'. Promises of dancing bears, German prostitutes and Tom Waits music, played live by "some of Austin's finest junkyard musicians" ringing in our ears, we give you, dear reader, the......

THURSDAY [5] music • Ghostland Observatory, Mellowdrone, Pompeii at Emo's ® music • Bobby Bare Jr, Grand Champeen, Chalk Outlines at Emo's music • Ozomatli, Ghandaia at Stubb's music • Voodoo Organist, The Devil Drums, Ralph White at Beerland music • She, Sir, Bello Ragazzo, Cartright at The Mohawk music • Bonnie Raitt, Keb Mo at The Backyard music • Proteus, Starcastic Pheromone, TBA at Trophy's benefit/music • Rock 'n Roll Garage Sale for......

WEDNESDAY [4] film • "Lost" Season 3 Premiere at Alamo South (7:30pm, $10 -food and bvg. voucher) ® film • The War Symphonies: Shastakovich Against Stalin at Alamo Drafthouse (7pm) ® film • Kill Bill Vol. I at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) ® film • Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers at Jovita's (8:30pm) film • Tom Waits: Big Time at Alamo Drafthouse (9:45pm) ® film • Weird Wednesday: Shark! at Alamo Drafthouse (11:30pm,......

Emo's is the place to be tonight as California experimental post-punkers Xiu Xiu bring their darkly gorgeous new album The Air Force to life. If you caught Xiu Xiu at Emo's Annex during South By Southwest this year, you know that Jamie Stewart's noise-and-melody symphonies are even better live than they are on wax. Stewart and live partner Caralee McElroy make the absolute most out of their collection of drums, guitars, shakers, keys and......

The following is a weekly column by guest contributor Laurie Gallardo. Hear her on KUT 90.5FM, Friday nights from 11pm-3am! -- The Editors Far too much going on in the weeks ahead, but technically, staying busy keeps me out of trouble. Right?  Well…it’s a good theory.  Hello again, music peeps! I’m compelled to begin this column with self-promotional frivolousness, but what the heck. Keep in mind that next Friday, I won’t be on the air......

Well, I can't quite believe I'm finished. Last night I posted the few remaining previews, which means that for the second year in a row, I have previewed each and every act performing at the Austin City Limits Festival. I couldn't have done it without help though, so once again, I would like to thank John, JD, Jeff, Chris and Becky, who each contributed guest previews to help me finish my project. I would......

Okay, so the headline isn't entirely true, but forget about World War III for a second and listen to some really good news: yesterday Rollingstone.com broke the story, and today pitchfork reported to people under 35 that legendary Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr has been added to Modest Mouse's permanent lineup. Our minds are reeling with the possibiities: imagine the man who wrote the riffs to The Headmaster Ritual and This Charming Man working for......