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The light displays are always brilliant (Credit: John Reese via Flickr CC)
The Trail of Lights Foundation announced on Friday that they’ll be charging an entrance fee in 2014. Before you have a conniption, take a breath and consider the important facts: [Read more…]
Hoba Hoba Spirit and their “wild partying music” (Credit: Wobeonfest.com)
Guest article by Megan Renart
We are a city teeming with festivals. Just about every other weekend, they are spilling off the pages of Austin’s event calendars. Mostly they are centered around two of the human population’s greatest loves: music and food.
We may get into a fight over this, but I’d like to go out on a limb here and say that the world music genre doesn’t get a whole lot of attention. Sure, it’s visible. It’s out there. There are many diverse bands playing all over this fair city. But we have not really had a festival devoted solely to the sounds of the world until recently, when longtime Austin resident and musician/music aficionado Jakes Srinivasan decided to do something about it by founding WobeonFest, a one day festival happening September 20, 2014, featuring world music. [Read more…]
Improv group Ball and Chain puts a twist on being married (Credit: Out of Bounds Comedy Festival)
Austin may be known as the Live Music Capitol of the World. But Out of Bounds Comedy Festival is helping it become the Comedy Capitol of the World.
If you think Moontower and SXSW Comedy are the only big comedy events in Austin, think again. Out of Bounds Comedy Festival runs twice as long, involves the trifecta of comedy, and isn’t concentrated downtown.
The festival, now in its 13th year, begins on August 26, 2014 and wraps up on Labor Day. Originally an improv festival, Out of Bounds has grown to incorporate stand-up and sketch comedy acts. Since its founding in 2002 by Jeremy Lamb, the festival has grown to almost 200 acts and 9 venues stretching the length of the city. [Read more…]
White Linen Night on August 2, 2014
This guest article is by Lisa Taylor.
As a longtime Austinite, it’s always fun for me to introduce people to the city I love so much. When presented with that opportunity recently, I knew I had to find a unique venue to start the Austin journey with my friend in question. Never one to pass up the chance to get dressed up, sample wine and listen to live music, I dove into my day planner and came up with the perfect local event.
On an unusually cool, breezy Saturday evening in downtown Austin, the 2nd Street District put on White Linen Night, benefiting the Austin Food and Wine Alliance.
Situated between 2nd and 3rd streets right off Lavaca, the white tents were set up, vendors were present and the band, The Waller Creek Vipers, piped music toward the crowd. Attendees looked crisp and polished in their all white ensembles. Because of the cooler temperatures, everyone was in good spirits. [Read more…]
Austin Poetry Slam takes place every Tuesday at Spider House Ballroom
This guest blog article is by Jenny Forgey.
Slam poetry is all about community, or so I was told when I met my long time friend, Peter Nevland, at the slam tailgating he and his wife set up on the grassy triangle across the street from Spider House Ballroom & Cafe on the first Tuesday of every month.
Peter has been a part of the slam scene since the year 2000. He slams locally, but also tours around the country slinging words for eager audiences.
“I’ve travelled all over doing slam stuff,” he told me, “and I’ve never seen a scene like the one in Austin.” His wife, Vicki, added, “It’s not just the size of the crowd [that makes Austin unique], but the quality of the poets.”
It didn’t take long for me to see what they meant. [Read more…]
Bring a blanket, grab your favorite trailer food, and have yourself a picnic.
Summers in Austin are divine. That is, if you’re brave enough to put up with the sweltering heat, or are simply accustomed to it by now.
Those of us who have lived here long enough have found ways to deal with it, usually through a combination of live music, refreshing drinks, and food trucks.
For the third year in a row, Austin’s backyard, aka The Long Center, will be hosting several free and family friendly events that allow us to embrace the heat together, against one of Austin’s most picturesque backgrounds. [Read more…]
Outdoor movie night in Austin (Credit: Ben Sklar)
Living in Austin sometimes feels like living in an eternal, year long film festival. In addition to Austin Film Society and all the film festivals that happen in this town, we also get the Cinema East summer series.
Every summer Sunday at 9 PM, Cinema East hosts creative, independent films on the lawn of the French Legation in East Austin. This is an excellent way to end the weekend: watching a film, Austin style. [Read more…]
Audiences listen to Body Rock ATX at MapJam 2014 (Credit: Gabriel Cristóver Pérez for KUTX)
On January 2, 2013, KUTX, now owned by The University of Texas, began to pump out 29,000 watts of what they dub “The Austin Music Experience.”
98.9 FM had gone through numerous musical reformats before finally settling on a winning formula for a musically diverse city like Austin. That’s no small task for a public radio station in the Live Music Capital of the World, with competing stations offering the usual mix of pop, Spanish, and country programming.
But a diverse musical playlist isn’t enough to stand out in Austin, so KUTX stepped up their game and started offering unique and free concert events that highlight our musical culture. [Read more…]
The Red Rocker, Sammy Hagar, is booked as the Saturday night headliner at Travis County Expo Center (Photo Credit: rotrally.com)
With bikes, beer and a new element of family friendliness, the Republic of Texas Biker Rally (ROT Rally) is back for 2014 and bigger than ever.
The nation’s largest ticketed motorcycle rally returns to the Travis County Expo Center June 12-15th.
This year, event organizers have stepped up their game by booking top notch music acts for the main stage.
Thursday night features Black Star Riders: The New Thin Lizzy. Friday’s headliner will be Reverend Horton Heat, whose frantic fusion of punk rock and rockabilly will get people’s blood flowing. Saturday night’s headliner is the Red Rocker himself, Sammy Hagar. The former Van Halen front man will kick off the annual Saturday night adults-only [Read more…]
My Vespa, Valentina, at the Gelato World Tour
When I heard that the Gelato World Tour was coming to Austin, I immediately penciled in time in my jam-packed schedule to attend.
In true stereotypical Italian fashion, I hopped on my Vespa (Valentina) and scooted down to Republic Square to check it out. There, I found sixteen gelato artisans from around North America battling for one of three spots to participate in the World Champion Finals in Rimini, Italy this fall.
The only Austin-based participant was Matthew Lee of Teo Espresso, Gelato & Bella Vita (Matthew told us he was the only American competing), so obviously I was a bit biased. I wasn’t able to actually sample his gelato submission because I’m allergic to nuts. But the lines that formed tempted me to pull out my Epipen just for a taste. [Read more…]