Today's the day! This is it! Ya es el dia! Voila! Israel has now said that they might go into Gaza and reoccupy it. The Monkeywrench Gang is alive and well. Two moms in Boston got into a litigation-worthy fight at a Chuck E. Cheese. Study says, blocking TV/video game time helps kids slim down. Did you read that fishy-seeming article in the New York Times this weekend about the ex-gang-member living in Oregon?......

This Thursday through Sunday, improvised music is going to grab a foothold in both Austin and San Antonio. Featuring thirteen artists from all over the world – from the close confines of Houston and Austin to the far-off reaches of Tokyo and Boston – the No Idea Festival is poised to showcase a diverse array of acts you likely won’t see anywhere else, anytime soon....

On April 4, 1968, America's greatest civil rights leader was shot dead in Memphis, Tennessee. The following evening, one man bridged the gap between societal injustice and misery, just by being one of the world's most inspiring performer. ...

• Londonist pondered who might be the next sponsors of the London Eye and whether or not readers would be willing to donate £1,000 each for a Londonist Eye.
• Shanghaiist was shocked to find a cameltoe in the city's only English-language paper.
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Continue Reading "Week Around the -Ists"

What’s the Deal: Frank Smith isn’t the name of a man, but the name of an alt. country/Indie band of six with some of the most compelling songwriting in Austin. Their recent move from Boston has brought the group to an ideal state for their layered Americana full of gruff and gravely vocals, pluck and twang. They were even nominated for “Outstanding Americana Act” for the 2007 Boston Music Awards. Most of the time their music is a slow-moving, meandering drive in the country or on the winding roads of Appalachia letting the banjo and steel guitar radiate outward in waves to bounce back and forth between the birch trees and pines. ...

Unlike the faux-rockers American Hi-Fi from Boston, Massachusetts, American Mid-Fi are a similarly named musical collective from right here in Austin. A consortium of some eight bands, the American Mid-Fi label, or “movement,” as they’d like to be known, rep North Austin (why not?) and count the garage rock Dr. Zoom and lap-pop computer jams of Prices This Low Won’t Last amongst their associates. ...

From our sister site in Boston: A man has taken people at the headquarters for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign hostage in Rochester, New Hampshire, and he wants to speak to Hillary Clinton. Check Bostonist for the latest updates.......

Photo from AsiaTravelTips.comAccording to today's Statesman, an Austin man has filed suit against his former employer, JetBlue Airways, alleging that he was fired over his religion. Over dinner last October, 41-year-old Jerry A. Ojedis told his fellow flight attendants that he was Muslim. A little over a week later, he was terminated. The series of events that unfolded after Ojedis' declaration have led him to suspect that illegal discrimination was behind the firing. It began,......

Photo courtesy austinsantaspeedorun.com Santa Speedo Run at Trail of Lights 5kSaturday, December 8Zilker Park6pm[info]During next weekend's Trail of Lights 5k Run, Zilker Park's festive arrangement of lighted scenes won't be the only eye candy on display. Some steely individuals will get together to participate in Austin's first annual Santa Speedo Run, wearing, as you might have guessed, nothing but the trademark Lycra swim briefs. It's all in the name of good fun, while (informally) fundraising......

Photo by brookenovak on flickrThe Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) scientifically analyzed 100 metro areas for ranking in their "Most Challenging Places to Live with Fall Allergies" list. We're number 1! Before we pass out the foam fingers, let's discuss what went into this #1 ranking: pollen scores (airborne grass/tree/weed pollen and mold spores), the number of allergy medications used per patient, and the number of allergy specialists per patient all went into......

Image from MySpace Trans Am, My Education @ MohawkThursday, Nov. 15The Mohawk (912 Red River)9 PM, All ages, $8[info] | [tickets]It's unfriggingbelievable that these guys are on tour with Tool right now. Seriously, it doesn't seem like it was that long ago, standing in crowded bar somewhere, listening to a song called "Ballbados", feeling like there must not be that many people in the world that want to hear instrumental, testosterone-driven synth-rock performed by some......

Hark! U.S. health care reform cometh, and that right soon! Boston Red Sox win World Series. Homus Neanderthalensis may have been the Earth's first natural redhead. Study suggests that sexual orientation is coded in genetic material. Wired Magazine's review of the new Mac operating system. French president evidently working overtime to reinforce common stereotypes held about the French people. Sacre bleu! New Jersey school proves the true importance of accessories in a Halloween costume.......

One big, serious film; one adventure doc; a couple soft life-changers; a Steve Carell comedy. All in all, a fine mix for the first real weekend of fall. Reservation Road: Mark Ruffalo and Joaquin Phoenix star as a man who hits a boy with his car, and the father of that boy. Ruffalo's character feels the guilt grow as Phoenix slowly freaks out. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox are winning the World Series and the......

While the West Coast leads the pack, it's no surprise that Austin has ranked 7th in a national survey ranking organic food consumption. In fact, the study looked at local organic juggernaut Whole Foods Market, finding "Organics consumers are 272% more likely than the average consumer to have shopped Whole Foods during the past week." According to the survey, the top local markets for organics consumers are: 1. San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, CA 2. Seattle/Tacoma, WA......

Governor Rick Perry today announced his official support of Republican presidential candidate and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose pro-abortion stance has enraged many conservatives. Perry, in today's declaration, admitted that reconciling the hot-button issue was the biggest obstacle in his endorsement. Giuliani, in turn, pledged to nominate hard-line "strict constructionist" judges to the Supreme Court. Perry replied that he was "comfortable" with this answer. "For the last six months, I have cogitated,"......

The Houston Astros showed their appreciation for Round Rock Express manager Jackie Moore, calling the 50-year veteran up to the major leagues to serve as bench coach for the rest of the 2007 season. The 68-year-old Moore has been in professional baseball for half a century, starting as a catcher and outfielder in the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox organizations. He played one season in the majors, spending the majority of the 1965......

Augustana. Even if you don’t know the name, chances are you’ve heard their single “Boston” over the past year. You know the one. They played it in on Laguna Beach, Scrubs and The Today Show. It hovered around the thirties on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a while. You know, it’s a melodic, piano-driven pop rock song with super sweet, almost cherubic vocals played by some baby-faced hipsters with shaggy hair and tight jeans.......

Pseudosix Pseudosix (Sonic Boom) Pseudosix began as Tim Perry's solo project, but quickly became a group effort with Emil Amos (Grails, Dolorean), Joe Kelly, and a handful of other local, talented friends. The band has written and recorded with pals from Joggers, Decemberists and The Standard in their relatively short existence, but the impetus has been barreling towards this release since back in the day when Perry wrestled with the nerve to perform live,......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

Could there be a better emblem of corporate "zaniness" than the Segway? You know, the two-wheeled "personal transporter" device that, while marketed as a solution to traffic congestion, is in fact a really annoying adult toy that gets in everyone's way? To filmmakers Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell, however, the Segway scooter embodies the American Dream. Or something like that, because they decided, after purchasing a Segway "on impulse" (note: the things cost 5 grand......

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take......

Austin ticket broker TicketCity.com has published a list of the top 25 hottest college football games of 2007, based on the average price per ticket, and two University of Texas games are on the list. The Longhorns' game with Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on October 6 is currently #8 (average ticket price $555), while the November 23 game with Texas A&M in College Station is #18 ($402). The face value of......

Floratone Floratone (Blue Note) The band is called Floratone, but given the fact that Bill Frisell is the guitarist, it's sort of impossible to leave that out of the title of this week's NRT. Frisell's history in the guitar world is long and impressive, and this collaboration with drummer Matt Chamberlain (a notable musician in his own right, having performed with everyone from Pearl Jam to Neil Finn) is another beautiful addition to his......

Banner week for SFist as the site's new editor introduced himself -- hooray for Brock! While the NY Times weighed in on SF's mayoral race, only SFist had the (insert tongue firmly into cheek) hard-hitting latest on candidate/activist Josh Wolf. Coverage of a protest vs. gentrification spawned a fantastic debate amongst SFist's readers. Finally, from the sublime to the ridiculous: video of a man that confused a Board of Supes meeting with "open mic......

It's here it's the end it's almost over. These are the final days of Emo's 15th Anniversary Weekend, an eight-day extravaganza (of sorts) celebrating the 6th and Red River venue that is so near and dear to our hearts. We tantalizingly talked it up, and you responded. In fact, rumors circulated that even those on the guest list for the sold-out Ghostland Observatory show couldn't get in. Whatevs, man -- there is still a......

[This post comes from Anna Hanks, who'll soon be joining the Austinist staff!] Oh how we love our brooding bad-boys, full of emotional conflicts and divided loyalties. From James Dean to Marlon Brando, we just adore our theatrical time-bombs ticking down to an eventual emotional explosion. Black outfits only accentuate their outlaw charms. Biblical bad-boy Judas Iscariot — beautifully and brilliantly portrayed by John Pointer in Zachary Scott Theatre Center’s new bilingual production of Jesus......

Emo's is more than a venue. It's an institution. Here in Austin, it's the club with cojones, the one that will open its doors to damn near anybody that can haul an amp out of their van. From screaming teenage scuzz-punkers out of Des Moines to be-pastied burlesque beauties to big name national acts; on most any given evening, there is something compelling going on at Emo's. And, oh the memories! We've been rocked......

If you recently purchased ground beef from Wal-Mart, you may have walked away with more than a killer deal: that slab of mashed-up Texas cattle bits could include a healthy serving of E. coli. A massive "voluntary" recall was issued by Tyson Fresh Meats last week, after the bacteria was found in a meat sample from the company's Sherman, Texas plant. Some 40,000 pounds of ground beef might be contaminated; affected Wal-Mart stores include those......

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......