After Van Halen, Bruce Springsteen, Radiohead, and Jay-Z all elected to skip Austin on their spring US tours, it's not unreasonable to feel that our music-loving town seems to be off the radar of the arena pop and rock circuit. This despite a perfectly functional (if rather dated) basketball arena smack in the center in town. Thankfully, the Louis Vuitton Don Kanye West agrees with you, and has elected to show Austin some big-production love with a date here at The Frank Erwin Center in late April....

At least it has a cool roofUPDATE: The Statesman has just released information from Hector Nieto of the Texas Democratic Party that attendance to the Feb. 21 Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton debate will be by invitation only. Well, while we were all was guessing The LBJ Library, Hogg Auditorium or The Frank Erwin Center, UT has announced that the February 21 Democratic Debate will officially be held at The Recreation Sports Center. Yes, this no name......

Hillary Clinton says we really matter! Texan self-esteem at an all-time high (and that's saying something). GM wants to buy out every single one of its United States hourly workers. Texas beats No. 3 Kansas in basketball, 72-69, in front of a sold-out Erwin Center. By 2050, one in five Americans will be foreign-born, survey saith. ...

Dame Edna had to cancel her entire North American tour due to complications from appendix surgery. Said the Dame in a letter to her loyal Austin fans, "Texas is no country for sick Megastars, so I will see you in November 7-9, 2008 [at the Paramount], possums."...

Photo by @n@bou on flickrThe Longhorn volleyball team carries a 20-match win streak into the opening round of NCAA tournament play tonight against Texas State at 6:30 pm at Gregory Gym. Texas (24-3) is ranked third in the country and is the top seed in their region of the tournament. The Longhorns are led by five first-team all-conference players -- Juliann Faucette, Ashley Engle, Destinee Hooker, Michelle Moriarty and Lauren Paolini -- as well as......

Photo of Divali celebration courtesy of Kokeshi President Bush visits wounded soldiers at Brooke Army Medical Center, demonstrates how to "shoot the bad guys" in Iraq--on a computer game, that is A 160-pound chimp attempts a daring escape from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, prompting a sweep of the entire 381-acre campus. He was later found; authorities were careful to point out that "Jake" wasn't carrying any diseases, and was merely there for "behavioral science"......

ACL Previews Interview: Patterson Hood Del McCoury Band, Preservation Hall Jazz Band Jon Dee Graham, Kevin Devine, and Ike Reilly Assassination Beau Soleil & Will Hoges Rail Road Earth It's Official: Bob Dylan & His Band Set to Play Stubb's Aftershow So You Wanna See An ACL Taping Trent Summar, Steve Earle, & DeVotchKa Interview: Crowded House It's Official: Bob Dylan & His Band Set to Play Stubb's Aftershow Weekly Features The Accidental Gentrifist:......

Tickets for Former Vice President Al Gore's in-person performance presentation of An Inconvenient Truth will go on sale this Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Prices for normal seats range from $29.50 to $99.50, with half-price discounts available for college students and university faculty/staff. Those wishing to get intimate with the fire and brimstone may opt for super-deluxe $250 VIP tickets, which guarantee you seats within the first two rows at the Theatre at Frank......

Former Vice President Al Gore is packing up his Powerpoint slides and taking 'em on the road—and he's coming to Austin on October 1st. Much like he did in the 2006 Academy Award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, Gore will be here to discuss today's pressing environmental issues and their impact on our world. Tickets go on sale next Saturday, September 8th at 10 a.m. Former Vice President Al Gore October 1st The Theatre at......

Every fall, Austin looks forward to ACL Fest, and each year, there's always a point where two of your favorite bands are playing on different sides of the park at the exact same time. ACL Band Clash is a weekly series in which Austinist scribes Paige Maguire and Tom Thornton examine the worst ACL scheduling clashes, and try to provide good advice on finding a resolution. Well, good advice might be a stretch, but......

Comedian George Lopez performs at the Erwin Center in Austin, TX on June 2, 2007. Photo courtesy of Romain Nayalkar.......

Photos from this weekend's "Evolution" fashion show at the Frank Erwin Center, featuring designs by graduating seniors in the UT Department of Human Ecology, Division of Textiles and Apparel. Read more about it in this excellent Statesman article. All photos by Romain Nayalkar If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.......

The graduating seniors of UT's Department of Human Ecology in the Division of Textiles and Apparel (why don't they just call it Fashion Design?) are having a fashion show tommorow night at the Frank Erwin Center. Mark your calendars for the Handmade Austin Women Spring Show May 5th and 6th. There's also this tonight:......

FRIDAY [13] fashion • RARE Magazine Spring Fling Fashion Show at The Belmont Hi-Lo (Moved due to rain) art/music • Take That!, a show of new images by Lance McMahan, plus music by Amanda Jones, Connie Ball, & Teddy and Marge at The Opera House (7-10pm) art • Hot and Cold: The Best of Canadian Contemporary Art at Art on 5th, 1501 W 5th (10am-6pm) art • Opening Reception for abstract paintings and encaustics......

It’s only fair in today’s fast paced world that a share of high profile stadium rockers counters the growing success of indie bands. The Killers play the Frank Erwin Center these days while fellow “take over the world” hopefuls, My Chemical Romance have their sights set on similar success with the last year’s The Black Parade. A grand concept album with a dark storyline (largely about a dying cancer patient’s retrospective of his life),......

In case you haven't gotten enough New Urbanism lately, Congress for the New Urbanism will be holding next year's CNU XVI right here in Austin. If you can't wait that long to hear about New Urbanism's applicability to Central Texas, Envision Central Texas is hosting the SmartCode Workshop from March 29- 31, 2007. Is $565 a little too much scratch to hear about urban planning? Don't want to go all out on the whole......

THURSDAY [8] film • Austin Film Festival screens an archival 35mm print of Trading Places, with screenwriter Herschel Weingrod (Trading Places, Twins, Kindergarten Cop, Brewster's Millions, Space Jam) introducing the film, at Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek (7:30pm, $4 General, Free for AFF Members, "Prince and Pauper"-style menu) books • Dalton Gang Poetry Showdown with Ric Williams, Lyman Grant, W. Joe Hoppe and Rob Lewis at Intellectual Property (6:00pm) film • Love Bites, the 80s......

MONDAY [29] opera • Philip Glass' Waiting for the Barbarians at Bass Concert Hall music • Unwed Sailor, Bayta Darell, The Twilight Lieutenants at Emo's Lounge music • Hidden Hand, Kylesa, The Roller, Ironclad at Emo's music • The Fray, Mute Math at Frank Erwin Center music • Hill Country Outdoors' New Member Meeting at Opal Divine's Penn Field film • Darkon: The Movie at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film • Melody at Alamo Drafthouse......

MONDAY [4] film •The Royal Tenenbaums at Austin Java (9pm, Free) film •Fuck: A Documentary at Alamo Downtown (7pm) film •The Conformist at Texas Union (7:30pm) film •Blue at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) film •The Da Vinci Code at Café Mundi (8pm, Free) film •Sound Unbound 2: Modern American Composers at Alamo Downtown (9:45pm, $2) music •Bound Stems, Rahim, The Shells, Quiet Company, Bello Ragazzo at Emo's music •Moonlight Towers, The Alice Rose at......

WEDNESDAY [8] film • Breathless at Spider House (10pm, Free) music • Daniel Francis Doyle, Health, Oh,Beast!, Nouns Group, Blonde Girls at Emo's music • Matt Nathanson w. Danny Malone, Brett Dennen at The Parish Room music • Guitar Shorty at Waterloo Records music • The Heirs, Rachel Goldstar, The Easies, Emily Sparks, serious daters at Beerland music • Juan Gabriel at Frank Erwin Center food • Angel Valley Organic Farm Farmstand at Asian......

And you thought Mr. Holland’s Opus made you cry…listen to Richard Dreyfuss talk Middle Eastern politics at the Texas Union Ballroom on Nov. 2nd, 7 p.m. Get tickets at Student Events Center Tickets Office (Room 4.300 of The Union). Smoking is BAD. You should quit. Attend the four-session Quitters Stop Smoking Class held every Friday starting Oct. 27 at noon. Sign up at SSB 1.106. Or, if you're not into group work pick up......

Theatre fans aren’t hurtin’ for stuff to do this week. So let the good times roll, people. Let ‘em roll theatre-style. Put your hands together for our Austinist Pick of the Week, Free Night of Theatre! Not just one, but like a bazillion completely free shows in Austin, and across the nation. (That’s right, jetsetter – even if you’re out of town, it’s no worries, because the metro area you’re closest to is probably......

Mayor Will Wynn took a break from his hard work of trying to cram as many people as possible into a small area Wednesday to hold a ceremony on the steps of City Hall featuring karate legend and unfortunate pop-culture icon, Chuck Norris. If you are reading this, odds are you are live in Austin, so we thought you should know that this your city council presented Chuck Norris withThe Honorary Austin Citizen Award.......

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros and syndicated columnist Liz Smith will speak at Monday's services for former Texas Governor Ann Richards, who passed away late Wednesday evening. Former President Bill Clinton will join the Richards family as the casket of Governor Richards is brought to the Texas Capitol Rotunda tomorrow morning, where she will lie in state through Sunday evening. The Rotunda will be open......

Services for former Texas Governor Ann Richards, who passed away last evening, will be Monday (September 18) at 12 Noon at the University of Frank Erwin Center. She will lie in state in the Texas Capitol Rotunda Saturday (September 16) from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday (September 17) from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Both the services and events at the Texas Capitol are open to the public. A private burial is planned.......

The Austin Wranglers, Austin's Arena Football League team, is looking into building a 14,000-seat arena. According to the Austin Business Journal, the team recently hired CSL Consulting Inc. of Dallas to do a study on whether the arena would make economic sense. Apparently the results showed that there is a demand for a venue of at least 10,000 seats to be built in the Austin suburbs. The Wranglers averaged just over 10,000 fans a......

FRIDAY [24][music] Stereolab at La Zona Rosa (9pm) (link) [music] Car Stereo (Wars) Dance Party! at PLUSH, with album giveaways from The Cloud Room, DJ sets by Chris Rose and Adreon Henry. Check out their SXSW photo recap on their website. (Free, 10pm - 2am) (link) [opera/music] Austin Lyric Opera presents "Lights, Camera, Opera" -- opera-inspired film clips with live commentary, music by the White Ghost Shivers, the TX Rollergirls and more -- at Austin......

Do you miss football already? Have you actually gotten excited about Terrell Owens signing with the Cowboys despite his pending destruction of the team...just because you know it means there will be games on again someday? If so, Austinist suggests a fix in the form of an Austin Wranglers Arena Football game this Saturday at the Erwin Center. Austin's AFL squad recently returned from a lengthy road trip (caused by a UT basketball homestand),......

M O N D A Y [19] [music] Spoon, stellastarr*, Morningwood and Alpha Rev at The Parish Room [holidays] Armadillo Christmas Bazaar with Austin Lounge Lizards at Austin Music Hall [link] [music] Trans-Siberian Orchestra at Frank Erwin Center [DJ] DJ Mel, Jahmight at Nasty's [music] Elizabeth McQueen and Jason Roberts at Threadgill's [film] Monday Britcoms Night, featuring Nathan Barley at the Drafthouse Downtown (7pm) [link] T U E S D A Y [20] [fundraiser] Kinky......

After their dismal performance last week versus Duke, sixth-ranked UT will try to shake it off when they battle the Volunteers of Tennessee at the Frank Erwin Center today at 1 p.m. Instead of blaming the horrible black Nike jerseys or J.J. Redick's career-high 41 points, fans have to accept that UT was outplayed and out-hustled by top-ranked Duke. Coach Barnes and his team have had a whole week off to think about their......