Fun Fest 2008 tickets are on sale now, going for $59.99 for two day passes. The festival will be at Waterloo Park on Nov. 8 & 9. Not sure if it's worth it? Go back over the line-up, then head over to Frontgate Tickets.......

Austin's Bat Festival may be no more if two local business don't agree to sign a petition that supports the partial closing of Congress Avenue and the Ann Richards Bridge. The festival, now in its fourth year, is scheduled to be held Labor Day weekend and is expected to draw a crowd of 40,000 bat lovers. In order for festival organizers to obtain the necessary permits required to close down portions of Congress Avenue, the city requires that the promoter get a petition signed by 90% of the businesses that will be affected....

Former Longhorn football star Will Matthews started the EXIT Music Group earlier this year, and this weekend, the entity brings us the “Born on the 5th of July” EXIT Music Fest. Waterloo Park hosts this 12 hour extravaganza that aims to blend music, art, and the spirit of Austin while also benefiting various charities in town. White Ghost Shivers, Patrice Pike, South Austin Jug Band, and The Unbearables are just a few of the bands that are a part of this extensive, eclectic line-up. Two other notable local acts playing the fest, The Black and White Years and The Boxing Lesson, were recently interviewed by a couple of Austinist staffers for Switchburn.com -- The Black and White Years interview and The Boxing Lesson interview....

If you’re looking to celebrate all things “weird” this Saturday afternoon, head over to Auditorium Shores for the Keep Austin Weird 5k. Hosted by RunTex and sponsored by H.E.B. and AT&T, the 6th annual event includes excellent people watching, a 5k fun run, a kiddie play area and great music courtesy of What Made Milwaukee Famous, Black Joe Lewis, Alejandro Escodevo and more. This family friendly event kicks off at 3pm with the race starting at 6pm. ...

The Austin City Limits festival will take place September 26-28 this year, and there are 130 bands lined up, with a release of names scheduled for April 15. ...

Photo by chaseshumwaydotcom on FlickrDogfish Head, the Delaware-based independent brewery whose name you might recognize from those tasty craft beers lining the shelves of finer booze purveyors, will be bringing their third-annual Off-Centered Film Festival to the Alamo Drafthouse this April. The marriage of a movie-loving brewery and a beer-loving theater is plenty serendipitous in its own right, BUT! It's also a grand opportunity for you, Aspiring Filmmaker: Dogfish Head will be giving away a......

Think a giant, disembodied penis coming out of the sky to crush a frantic little animated cinnamon bun is funny? If you said "no", quit trying to act all genteel and get over to the Alamo Downtown for this year's edition of Spike and Mike's Sick & Twisted animation fest....

The 3rd annualSee.Hear.Speak comedy festival begins tonight at the Coldtowne Theater. See.Hear.Speak began as a celebration of alternative comedy formats; each night represents a different comedic medium. Tonight’s show features local video sketch troupe the P! Company, who are currently gearing up for their next show, Hanging with Mr. The P! Company. We recently spoke with P!'s Andy Petruzzo and Kyle Sweeney about video sketch and their participation in See.Hear.Speak 3....

Are you familiar with micro-blogging? We weren't, until we took the time to Google "Twitter," the word that seems to be on everyone's busy lips. Twitter is a social networking site that enables users to quickly (and briefly) update their blog and subscribers via SMS, IM or third party application. Updates are 140 characters or less, and while many Twitterers utilize the service for relaying meaningless information regarding their day to day life, a few of them have found that passing along information in the form of short link-based posts, event notifications or emergency situation news items. The Los Angeles Fire Dept. uses Twitter as a means of communication - a lesson they learned after the 2007 wildfires. Democratic presidential candidates John Edwards and Barack Obama both use Twitter, too. ...

SXSW has announced via official mailing that there are a few bands confirmed for the festival aside from those we've mentioned already: R.E.M., My Morning Jacket, Daniel Lanois, The Black Keys, The Kills, My Brightest Diamond, Pato Banton, Vampire Weekend, Joe Lean + The Jing Jang Jong, Jens Lekman, Sia, $olal, Tech N9ne, and Mala Rodriguez have received the official nod. A couple of those names will look familiar to those of you following our ongoing coverage, but the big names are news to us as well. ...