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....

Death and the King's Horseman is a complex drama based on a true story. When an African king dies, tribal tradition dictates that his horseman commit suicide in order to guide his leader to heaven. But a British colonial ruler stops the process, causing "disruption of the cosmic order of the universe and thus [putting] the wellbeing and future of the tribe in doubt" (Wikipedia). It's heady stuff, and we have no doubt this production will be thought-provoking and intense....

Way, way back in the day, I had a perfectly good Valentine. What had initially attracted me to him was his enormous, regal afro. Seriously, wow. I am not kidding when I tell you that my Valentine had the perfect afro, and I would stare at it in wonder for hours on end. Generally, I felt like a lucky man. But things went awry when, on Valentine’s Day of 1996 he showed up at my house with a bright blue stolen candle that was covered in hand-painted stars and shaped either like a mushroom or a very unfortunate penis. His other hand cradled a bottle of Night Train. ...

Photos courtesy Nash Cook If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.......

The 10th annual SXSW Interactive Web Awards were handed out last night at the Austin Hilton's Grand Ballroom, honoring 18 of the internet's top developers, designers, and websites. Comedian and video blogging phenom Ze Frank emceed the ceremony. "It's amazing how this event has grown in the seven years I've worked with the Interactive Festival," said Shawn O'Keefe, SXSW Web Awards Coordinator. "This year is our biggest year ever in terms of attendance and entries,......

It's the handsome downtown gallery owner with curly hair or the hot Astanga instructor at Yoga Yoga South. It's the girl in the cutoffs at El Chilito or your favorite Lone Star Rollergirl. It's your local secret crush. Just in time to scope him out while you're hopping among downtown venues for SXSW, Austinist brings you this edition's interview: Drew, The Cute Pedicab Driver With the Slightest Southern Accent. Drew continues the streak of awesome......

THURSDAY [15] benefit •St. Valentine's Day-After Massacre, A Spay/Neuter Fundraiser at Mother Egan's (5:30pm-7pm) art •Public Tour: Michener and Modernism at Blanton Museum (7:00 - 8:00 PM) art •Public Tour: By the River by Radcliffe Bailey at Blanton Museum (12:30 - 1:00 PM) ballet •Ballet Austin presents Director's Choice at The Paramount Theatre (8pm) film •Flicker Film Festival at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film •Love Bites: The 80s Power Ballad Singalong at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown......

Austin Pets Alive!, a local organization working to hinder pet overpopulation, is hosting a fundraiser tonight. Their Pet Friend of the Year, Tom Spencer from KLRU, will be feted, and State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez and City Councilmember Lee Leffingwell will make appearances. The money raised tonight will benefit a group that promotes spaying/neutering services to the Austin community. Austin resolved to become a "no kill" city in the 90s, but in 2005, over half......

Been putting off your Valentine's Day plans because you're just not sure what to do? How about a classy evening of theatre, courtesy of newcomers Mother of Invention Productions? The Mothers are serving up Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet for your viewing pleasure, and it's going down at the newish City Theatre. Congratulations to our winner Stephen! A little romance. A lot of tragedy. Reported to be "amazing" and "a joy to experience," what more......

WEDNESDAY [14] music • White Ghost Shivers Valetine's Day Party at Scoot Inn music • Bigwood, Street Light Suzie, Sedium, The Ivory Class at Emo's Lounge music • The Stags, Future Clouds and Radar, Radar Radar, The Strange Boys at Emo's music • Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Valentine's Day Party at Stubb's music • Anti-Valentines Day Second Halloween Party at Beerland music • Jimmie Dale Gilmore at Cactus Café (8:30pm) music • People Skills,......

The following is a column by staff writer Carly Kocurek, compiled with the help of Elizabeth S., Sam Armstrong, and Shannon Roberts -- Ed Note So, you've waited until the last minute to address the whole "Valentine's Day" situation. Trust me, I've been there. In fact, I'm there right now -- my grandmother will be getting a card from us sometime next week. (I'll put extra stickers on the envelope to make up for......

Couldn't score a table at Aquarelle? Arby's not going to cut it with your sweetie? Why not try a little Free Sex in Public this Valentine's Day? Whoa, whoa, you've got it all wrong tiger. Pull those pants up! Please refrain from actually fornicating in the streets this Valentine's Day. For the seventh year in a row Austin's literary wonder woman, Spike Gillespie, will assemble her unusual cadre of poets, musicians, amateur psychotherapists and friends......

One would think that this would be the week to make connections, with people trying to find quick a hookup, even if just for that one evening. But there aren't many Valentine's Day desperate connections to be had--just a lot of normal desperate connections. So get out there and take a peek, as we bring you the best of last week's Missed Connections... Stupid Cad Girl Seeks Missing Purse. Lost During Debauchery Although Jim......

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 matchless Jane Nickles ("Miss Jane" if you're one of her students) teaches wine classes for both the armchair wine lovers, as well as budding professional culinarians at Texas Culinary Academy, and has published a neat little volume, Winespeak 101. With Valentine's Day precariously close, we asked her to throw her two cents in regarding everyone's favorite come-hither combo - chocolate and wine. Read on, you animals... Many people, myself included, just love, love,......

Our favorite local blog posts of the week: Brotha Buck got an interesting gift for Valentines Day. Kristin went to Roy's for V-day. Don't Mess With Taxes reflects on why she thinks Texas is better than #45. Beth discusses how to sexually harass others. It's worth it for the images. Dan is having an allergy attack. Random favorite blog of the week: Note This! Martin lives in Austin and writes about his life. The blog......

Austinist's mission is to provide you, our lovely readers, with a little bit of [egregiously biased] news and [often fabricated] local information, wide-ranging commentary on various "Austin-things" that affect many of us, and, perhaps most importantly, as many outlets as we can manage whereby you might find entertainment in this city. Be it movies, music, theatre, art, books, or the occasional romp through the Hill Country, it all ties into the same idea: we all......

Back in the late 80's a friend slipped Willie Nelson a copy of a song written by Texas songwriter Ned Sublette in the earl 80s. The song contained lyrics like "What did you think that all them saddles and boots was about?" and "Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out." Not quite, "Whiskey River," is it? Sublette said he always imagined Willie singing it, and this Valentine's Day he got......

Our comprehensive theatre guide can be found here M O N D A Y [13][film] Ralph Nelson's "Tick…Tick…Tick" at Drafthouse Downtown (7pm) (link) [film] Alamo Music Mondays presents "Fela Kuti: Music is the Weapon" at Drafthouse Downtown (9:45pm) (link) [comedy] "Richard Pryor Live in Concert" at Drafthouse South Lamar (10:15pm) (link) [film] "Coachella" at Drafthouse Village (9:45pm) (link) T U E S D A Y [14] [party/music] The White Ghost Shivers Valentine's Day Ball at......

We went to Carnaval. And loved it. SXSW full list of bands and movies updated. Cat Power backs out of SXSW and cancels tour. Ausitn art goes green. Tired of run-of-the-mill valentine's day activities? We got you covered. We reviewed the new documentary The Outdoorsmen: Blood, Sweat and Beers. And laughed our asses off. For about $600 in fees, your band can play a showcase at Waterloo Records during SXSW. The week in interviews:......

Just in time for Valentine's Day next week, local design boutique Sparkle Craft opens its studios for the very first time! Impresaria Tina Sparkles (the fashionista behind the fabulous) has rallied together a fantastic coterie of independent Austin labels - Amet & Sasha, *AnneMarie*, All Dressed Up & Shy, Lawless Revolution Wear, Naughty Secretary Club, OtterOtto by Donna Soo, Will Heron, Tokyo Valentine, and Sublime Stitching - to offer up an assortment of one-of-a-kind goods.......

*image borrowed from www.trilug.org If you're seeing plenty of those Ben Bentzin and Donna Howard signs littering your neighbors' lawns, quit stealing them. The election will be over soon enough. Yesterday began the early voting period for the run-off election for State Representative of District 48. Back in January, Donna Howard came close to winning the majority by a .5% margin. Ben Bentzin came in a close second with 38% of the votes. Early......

There are things to do on Valentine's Day besides go out to dinner, eat chocolate, and put on new lingerie. For example, you could take your date to the 80's Power Ballad Sing-A-Long at the Alamo Drafthouse, a sure-to-be-hilarious night presented by Mr. Sinus' Owen Egerton and Henri Mazza (the program director at the Alamo). From the Alamo site: This February Owen and Henri will present the definitive sing-along for the Valentine’s season, featuring......

Before we begin, we'd like to point out the interesting comments left by reader Sgt. Anonymous, who gave us some insight into Rachel's actual experiences in the military with quotes from a magazine called Air Force Times, which clearly isn't getting enough real news from the military about the wars we are fighting, and has to fill its pages with nonsense about The Real World. Oh, we are so political! How about that Supreme......