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This week I am featuring a high-energy Austin band named the Hereticks on the Austinot Music Podcast. Straight out of West Campus, the Hereticks started making music in Spring of 2011. Three of the four members met while living in Pearl Street Co-op, which is somewhat of a haven for musicians and artists west of UT.
The Hereticks are: Ofer Shouval (guitar, vocals), Wesley Maffly-Kipp (bass, vocals), Will Johnson (guitar, vocals), and Peter Farago (Drums). [Read more…]
My sons Darius and Javen are obsessed with freerunning, or parkour as it is known. So when they came to visit me during Spring Break, I searched on the web for parkour in Austin and ran into Matthew Lee Willis through my surfing.
More on Matthew in a second, but what is parkour? And why are my sons and so many others obsessed with this rapidly growing movement?
If you aren’t familiar, it may be tough to explain. Parkour is like gymnastics without a gym, skateboarding without a skateboard, and rock climbing without gear, all rolled into one.
Visually, it is reminiscent of those fantastical moves that Jackie Chan does in the movies – where he bounces off walls and slides standing up down a rail [Read more…]
The fire around Bastrop State Park in September 2011 left many families and individuals homeless and confused. In the wake of so much desolation and grief, good news becomes twice as nice to hear.
Bastrop State Park will reopen most of its acreage on Friday the 13th. This is great news for nature lovers like myself. Though large sections of the park remain charred and desolate, officials are planning to open the majority of the park for you to enjoy. Hurry before the summer camping rush hits! The newly-opened areas include:
There are few Texans who don’t enjoy rubbing in the fact that Texas was once its own country. It’s one of the things that the rest of the country hates about us.
But many people, especially in my generation, don’t consider or even know about the decisive battles in the Texas War for Independence that led to victory over Mexico.
Growing up, I was lucky to have two younger brothers who were Boy Scouts. Because of them, I got to tag along on many camping trips and educational adventures. One such adventure was to Goliad, TX for the annual reenactment of the 1836 Goliad Massacre and the battles of Goliad leading up to the Massacre. Goliad was an important location during the Texas War for Independence. Though the events there were tragic for Texas and its allies, they compounded with the fall of the Alamo to galvanize Texas forces to continue the fight for freedom. [Read more…]
Austinots Eric and Brittany are newlyweds, so who better to trust when you’re looking for the best Austin date ideas?
Planning dates can be a sticky business. You want to get it right every time, and we want to help!
In Episode #5 of the Austinot Podcast, your friends at the Austinot present their top five Austin date ideas:
Black Star Co-op is a revolutionary new Austin brewpub. So when I was told to review their food and beer, I solemnly bowed my head to the orders of Austinot Eric.
What can I say, we all must sacrifice occasionally. Neither stout nor IPA nor pilsner nor gloom of porters will stay this blogger from the swift completion of his appointed rounds.
Since its opening in 2010, Black Star Co-op has built its reputation around mixing the novel and traditional.
First, the business is a co-operative. All of its members, from top to bottom, own part of the business. All decisions are made through a democratically-controlled voting system. The first community-owned brewpub in America, one of Black Star’s tenets is to pay each employees a living wage, so they will respectfully decline if you try to tip them.
And you can become a shareholding member of Black Star as well! A hundred and fifty bucks gets you a membership. That means voting power, patronage ref [Read more…]
Have you ever run across a merchant artisan or vendor that you wish you could share with the world?
No, this is not a paid advertisement; we’ve not been compensated in any way for this post. We’ve just found a gem, and are so impressed that we want to share it with you.
Every artisan has a story and at the Austinot we love to hear these stories. Recently, we met up with Arik Helman at the Sherwood Forest Faire and asked him to share his story with us.
Arik is one of the driving forces behind Son of Sandlar, perhaps the finest provider of Renaissance boots for Renaissance faires and Live Action Role Play (LARP) events in the country, and quite possibly the world.
How can we make such a bold claim? The Helman family has been perfecting the craft of cobbling since long before anyone reading this post was around. They’ve been in the cobbler business for six generations.
How do craftsmen keep a legacy like this alive? Three words: [Read more…]
In the words of Douglas Adams: “Don’t panic.” Kick Butt Coffee is not closed for good. It just left The Triangle and went back to its roots.
Kick Butt Coffee’s empty space in The Triangle stands out like a missing tooth. The coffee shop’s here-today-gone-tomorrow departure has left a lot of people scratching their heads: “Is the business gone forever?”
Thankfully, the answer is no. Kick Butt Coffee’s Triangle location is gone, due to unfortunate financial circumstances. However, their Airport Blvd. location remains all the more kickin’.
I first wandered into the doors of Kick Butt Coffee on Airport almost three years ago. I was in the throes of a hard night’s [Read more…]
It’s literally impossible to run out of things to do in Austin, but every once in a while it’s nice to get a change of scenery.
Lucky for Austin locals, Texas Hill Country and beyond is full of natural treasures, unique shopping options, and entertaining locations and events.
Rather than making you do all the research on your own, the Austinot Podcast presents 3 Top Daytrip Picks.
Listen as Eric and Brittany give you the skinny on…
I don’t know about you, but I really love traditional fair food: roasted corn, scones, turkey legs and funnel cakes. Just thinking of these things makes my mouth water, and I immediately want to pack the car and head to the nearest fair.
But what if I told you that perhaps the most popular dish at the Sherwood Forest Faire, named one of the country’s best Renaissance fairs and located just 35 miles east of Austin on Hwy 290, was not any of these traditional favorites…but – instead – an Ogre’s Toe.
Would you dare eat an Ogre’s Toe?
What if I told you that for 3 weeks, by far, it was the most widely talked about food item that I heard of while walking around the 25 acres of the Sherwood Forest Faire? Would you give it a try then?
Never in a million years would I have thought of an Ogre’s Toe as fair food, let alone something that I’d consider putting in my mouth. But read on my friend…if you want to try some of the best Renaissance fair fare ever invented, [Read more…]