The Utter Reading Series is back tomorrow, with more pathos than Hillary, more transcendance than Barack, more grit than McCain, and more exposure (for local writers) than a bead-strewn balcony on Bourbon Street. As always, the reading is free and open to the public, and the audience is invited to join the readers afterwards for drinks and conversation at Opal Divine's on 6th....

Montreal based outfit Stars has managed to capture our heart every time we take in their pop melodies and poignant lyricism. Amy Millan and Torquil Compbell are true stars, countering each other perfectly with crisp vocal delivery, while crystal clear production on the band’s recordings complemented by immaculate instrumentation make for a mighty fine final product. The band has two releases to be proud of this year -- Stars released In Our Bedroom After The......

Growing up in Indiana with his Jehovah's Witness mother, Dax Riggs got used to going door to door inviting people to hear about Armageddon. He believed that there was a God, and that God was good. One night Dax stayed up late, alone, and watched The Elephant Man on HBO, and nothing was the same after. His other band, Deadboy & The Elephant Men, grew from the ashes of a whirlwind romance that involved......

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a......

Soundcheck has grabbed our attention constantly over the last year with colorful covers presenting regional talent like Voxtrot and Midlake. However, the glossy magazine features national acts as well, while keeping a close eye on major festivals -- both home and away. Soundcheck also incorporates additional flair into its usual, stellar content every month. An “Artist Perspective” feature (from the likes of Ramesh Srivastava) and columns such as Hometown Heroes keep this local ‘zine hip......

Last weekend's Veggie Hot Dog Eating Contest, hosted by iLoveMikeLitt, was a huge success. Read Indiana Adam's firsthand account here. Photos by Lizzie Chen and Skipper Warson. If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.......

Friend of Austinist and the dude responsible for last fall's wicked Ghostface Killah-Ghostland Observatory mashup (download it here), Chris Rose is half of DJ duo Car Stereo (Wars), with whom we've partnered to throw many a get-down in the past months. CS(W) is making its SXSW debut as a proper showcasing artist this year -- check 'em out at the Beauty Bar on Wednesday, March 14th, at 11pm. [mp3] Car Stereo (Wars) - SXSW Mixtape......

The first-ever Fun Fun Fun Fest is this Friday, December 1st, at Waterloo Park. Over two dozen great acts are on the bill, including Spoon, Peaches, The Black Angels, Prefuse 73, and DJ Mel. Tickets are $20, and can be purchased online. Dead Meadow perform on the Indie stage at 4:30pm. -- The Editors Any new recordings that we can expect soon in the form of a new full length? Steve Kille: We are......

FRIDAY [13] music/art • Austin Museum of Digital Art (AMODA) presents their latest Digital Showcase with Drop The Lime, MVSCLZ, HAPPYSUCKY, Wonder Jam Twins, Yatsuzaki, DJ Who's Jealous and DJ Radicon, plus visual artists including Ben Aqua, Ben Hibon, Bleep Labs, Cari Palazzolo, David Salinas, DEFASTEN, Eli Welbourne, Friedrich Kirschner, Johnny Cisneros, Lanneau White aka Karl Sapien, Lonja, Mike Ruiz, and Yuki Kawamura at The Mohawk (9pm-2am, $7/$4 general/members, 18+) ® music • Faceless......

Seattle’s Damien Jurado has peddled his wares with different artists and on various record labels over the years. His latest, And Now That I’m In Your Shadow, released on Indiana-based Secretly Canadian, is his eighth solo full length. Jurado’s storied past includes collaborations with another WA favorite, David Bazan, and he brings his poignant lyrics and folk tinged pop to Austin for two shows, the latter with the afore-mentioned Bazan on the 15th at......

I’m just not sure that Austin is Keeping it Weird anymore. Seriously. For me, the real red flags are how our regular taco peddlers are totally under fire around these parts. Maria’s is being scooched to a Walgreen’s parking lot, Las Manitas is soon to become the lobby for traveling toilet salesmen from Indiana, and every mobile taco slinger on the East Side is about to get the business end of the City Councils’ Mag-Lite. Easy taco accessibility and general weirdness are inseparable. Mutually dependent. ...

Look out, here come Stephen Spielberg's lawyers! Just kidding; actually, the filmmaking legend was nice enough to give a legal pass to the trio of intrepid youngsters from Mississippi who, from 1982-1988, remade Spielberg and George Lucas' seminal screen adventure Raiders Of The Lost Ark. We're not kidding: then-preadolescents Eric Zala, Jayson Lamb and Chris Strompolis spent six years recreating a globe-spanning action movie in their backyard, shot-for-shot, probably with stolen lunch money. The filmmakers,......

News Corp, mother company of MySpace.com, yesterday announced that it would be spending "millions of dollars" to launch TV and online ad campaigns promoting internet safety for kids. No doubt motivated in large part by lawsuits, such as the one recently filed by a Travis County mother-daughter duo, that accuse MySpace of making it too easy for online predators to pick up underaged teens, and emotionally troubled youths like the 13-year-old girl who ran......

The historic State Theatre on Congress Avenue, which flooded two weeks ago when a water main ruptured overnight and left the backstage and front rows of seating underwater, has considerably more damage than what was initially anticipated, according to KXAN: "The stage is gone right now," said Ken Stein, Executive Director with the Paramount and State Theatres. "We found water under the stage. They had to take it apart. Twenty-five percent of the seats......

One of the greatest statesmen in Texas political history died today. Former Senator Lloyd Bentsen served the state of Texas for six years in the U.S. House and 22 years in the U.S. Senate. He also served for two years as Secretary of the Treasury after being part of the losing Democratic presidential ticket with Michael Dukakis in 1988. The Atticus Finch-like figure, who never seemed to ruffle feathers or disrespect his peers with grandstanding,......

Meet Suzan-Lori Parks, winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in Theatre for the fantastic Topdog/Underdog. She’s the author of numerous other plays that are invariably full of dazzling dialogue and original music, and obsessed with history. Parks spent part of her childhood in West Texas, where she set her debut novel, Getting Mother’s Body (2003) and where, she swears, she really enjoys visiting in summer. She’ll be at the Paramount tonight at 7:30 pm, to......

Marshall Escamilla and Emily Summerfield are the dynamic duo behind Stem and Leaf Records, Austin's latest indie record label that launched during SXSW Interactive earlier this year. This weekend, they're throwing a CD release show for The Interest Kills at the historic Victory Grill, with Happy Families, The Total Foxes, and Red Leaves ... and a spelling bee! We had a chat with Emily and Marshall this week, in advance of the show. Read......

Yesterday morning Indiana finally joined the rest of us in our switch to Daylight Savings Time. We still haven't fully switched over and are walking around in a haze today. Jill Carroll came home to the States yesterday. She has spoken out some about her captors in Iraq, saying that they forced her words during captivity. Some Travis County officials think that we should put the toll roads up for a vote. Austin's only......

We feel like we constantly make this statement, but once again we couldn't be happier to be in Austin, the capital of live music bliss. From hometown heroes to our favorite new bands, we're preparing for some bad ass shows this week. Don't let their name scare you away. The string-infused indie pop of Margot & the Nuclear So-and-So's is the best thing to come out of Indiana in the past year (maybe ever,......

Yesterday morning, stepping out onto our balcony, the first thought that came into our head was: what a perfect day for a swim! And the second thought? But wait, it's only the day after Christmas! Forget about snowmen and fireside eggnog - it's predicted to be a fairly warm winter. Temperatures at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport reached a relatively scorching 81 degrees on Monday, beating a record set back in 1988. And, of course, Austinites......

We here at the Austinist dropped the ball and would like to offer a formal apology. It is our duty to keep you up-to-date on the coolest things going on in our fair city, and we have been terribly negligent. One of Austin's favorite sons Matthew McConaughey was in town last night at a special sneak peak of his new film Indiana Jones Knockoff at the Paramount Theater. Luckily one of our staff was......