Austin dweller Margaret Brown brings her new documentary, The Order of Myths, to SXSW after a successful showing at Sundance. Brown was born in Mobile, Alabama, where Myths takes place. The film follows Mobilians through one cycle of their Mardi Gras celebrations—a festival which the city is proud to have begun celebrating before New Orleans. Unlike the Big Easy’s do, however, the Mobile Mardi Gras is, effectively, segregated. ...

Tonight is the “Hear” portion of see.hear.speak, the comedy festival that has been taking place at the Coldtowne Theater since last night. One of the performers in Hear—indeed, a headliner of the festival—is Jill Bernard, a Minnesotan (resident of Minnesota) who has toured the continent performing and teaching improv. She even acted as the coach of an aspiring improviser in an episode of MTV’s Made....

Also this weekend, the Zachary Scott Theatre Center kicks off its 75th Anniversary Season with George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. This special production is inspired by the city of New Orleans as well as the music of Ray Charles, Nina Simone, and Louis Armstrong, among others. The show runs for two weeks at the Austin Music Hall and you can purchase tickets here....

The Blanton Museum's B Scene events happen once a month and celebrate the arts by combining music, drinks and socializing to rejuvenate the sometimes stuffy fine art scene. Their unique approach to reaching out to the public this way includes showcasing local musicians and DJs, and each B Scene event offers a different genre representation from Austin's diverse musical culture. ...

An asteroid could hit Mars next month prompting Mars' threat level to move to Orange. Riots erupt in New Orleans over the demolition of public housing buildings. Why can't New Orleans get a chance to relax? Hearings have been set regarding the destruction of the CIA torture tapes. Bush claims to be totally ignorant about everything, especially this and especially you!...

Venezuelan voters didn't want Chavez as a ruler for life after all. Putin's party wins the Russian election, warns against Westerners who may say the election was unfair. Best feminist candidate: Obama? Later this week, Romney will publicly address his Mormon faith and how it may affect his possible presidency. Looks like it will be Texas v. Arizona State at the Holiday Bowl. Conan O'Brien will pay his "Late Night" crew from his own......

Galactic brings its annual Halloween bash back to Stubb’s this Wednesday for a grand ole time powered by the band’s funk, jazz and hip hop medleys. Since vocalist Theryl “Houseman” DeClouet left the New Orleans outfit a few years ago, Galactic have largely returned to their days of extensive instrumental jam sessions while also continuing to receive vocal support from the likes of Lyrics Born and Gift Of Gab from Blackalicious. This year’s Galactic......

Usually, street closures around the Capitol hail the arrival of one of Austin's many street festivals, where you can listen to a wishy-washy blues-rocker do his best to channel Stevie Ray Vaughn while you eat a turkey leg amongst a sea of fanny-packed families and homemade jewelry vendors. But once a year it means it's Texas Book Festival time. As literary events go in this town, it is the big one. For two days......

The Austin Music Foundation presents the third installment of its ever popular She Rocks Calendar Series this month. Created by Ricardo Acevedo and In The RA Studios, the calendar first debuted in 2006, and has since seen notable local female rockers such as Amber Dickerson of Full Stride, Margaret Myrick of Blackholicus, Cella Blue of White Ghost Shivers, and Stella Maxwell of Cruiserweight grace its pages. The first edition’s proceeds were collected for New Orleans......

The start of the fall season on network television used to be a bigger deal before cable's summer original fare became so juicy and good. We admit we still get a little excited when we read about original ideas heading our way on the big networks. The crop of new shows starting this fall seems like more of the same (sadly), but there are some that don't follow type and deserve recommendation. Pushing Daisies, ABC,......

The complete schedule for the 14th annual Austin Film Festival has been announced, and it looks pretty amazing. 79 feature films and 98 shorts will screen over the course of eight days at various locations in Austin, beginning on October 11th with Brett Morgen’s much hyped docudrama Chicago 10, starring Hank Azaria, Dylan Baker, Nick Nolte, Mark Ruffalo, Roy Scheider, Liev Schreiber and Jeffrey Wright. Jason Reitman's brilliant new comedy Juno (starring Ellen Page, Michael......

Austin is full of small, out of the way places that we have grown to love. These aren't the big name restaurants that everyone already knows about or the restaurants in the warehouse district or downtown locations. In fact, two of them are in nondescript strip malls, and one is surrounded by giant safety cones. These places offer up good (and in the case of Tomo, great) food in locations away from the city center.......

Since 1975, Grammy Award winners BeauSoleil have charmed audiences as being one of the most heralded and esteemed Cajun groups in American music history. Band leader Michael Doucet artfully takes the rich traditions of Louisiana culture and blends other southern folk elements such as Zydeco, Jazz, Tejano, Country, Blues to astonishing effect. Beau Soleil have played The Grand Ole Opry, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the Newport Folk Festival in the past.......

The Out of Bounds Improv Festival and Miniature Golf Tournament ended on Monday after six days of blithe musings from some of the finest improv and sketch-comedy troupes in the country. In its sixth year, Out of Bounds reached new heights of comedic exuberance over the past week—and, more importantly, surely introduced a new universe of humor to an unimaginable quantity of newcomers. But for some, Out of Bounds was more than a once-a-year......

Del McCoury has been playing bluegrass music since 1950, which basically means that he's been playing guitars and banjos since before your parents were born. If that doesn't translate into transcendent musical abilities, we have no idea what your standards are. McCoury's band features his two sons, Rob and Ronnie McCoury, who have only been playing bluegrass since the early 1980s--banjo and mandolin, respectively--so, whatever. Ha ha j/k! Del McCoury Band Bakersville, NC Latest Release:......

Presidential candidates make campaign stops in New Orleans this week. The Taliban is saying they will free the remaining South Korean hostages. Turkey elects new President with Islamist past. Greek forest fires lead to conspiracy theories and anger at politicians. Part-time Austinite Owen Wilson is in hospital recovering from a reported suicide attempt. Texas prison officials scared of the power books may have over inmates? Professionals use social networking sites, too.......

The Broken West play the sort of power pop you'll want as background for a trip to the beach, especially if you're into the Kinks and enjoy wearing vintage Adidas short shorts. The L.A.-based band released their first album earlier this year, and the sound is bright and dense, filled up with guitar and piano draped with harmonized vocals that seem to be looking toward George Harrison's work. The Broken West Los Angeles, CA......

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness - we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did a little research and found that Massachusetts......

Today, Governor Rick Perry officially recognized that when it comes to filmmaking, cash does indeed rule everything around us. After months of determined effort from the Texas Motion Picture Alliance, the Texas Film Commission, Rep. Dawnna Dukes and Sen. Bob Duell, Perry signed the dotted line on House Bill 1634, freeing up some $20 million in incentives to lure production crews--and the myriad jobs they generate--to the Lone Star State. The gaming industry also scores......

Dems debate in New Hampshire; nothing much ensues. Louisiana congressman to be indicted for bribery; his district includes New Orleans. Why can't the Crescent City catch a damn break? The Weather Channel gets climate change-y. Riddle: Why did the German ostrich lose his mojo? Answer: Whatever it was, it wasn't firecrackers. P-Hilton reports to the slammer, set to pioneer new technologies in eyebrow threading.......

This Thursday, May 17th at 7pm, Austin fixture Owen Egerton will be celebrating the release of How Best to Avoid Dying, his brand new collection of short stories, at BookPeople. The book is also the latest release for local publisher Dalton Publishing. They're offering a free peep of the book's first story, "Spelling," here. While the book itself is worthy of celebration, so too is its author. Egerton is one of Austin's renaissance men.......

East Austin's Saltillo Lofts will host its first annual "Sidewalk Celebration" this Sunday, kicking things off with the official opening of the New East Arts Gallery. New East is the latest venture by DiverseArts, a local nonprofit producer of multidisciplinary art and culture projects such as East End Fourth Fridays and the former Downtown Arts Magazine. Their inaugural exhibit, entitled "Fresh Black Paint," features works by New Orleans artist/musician Terrence Moline, who relocated, post-Katrina,......

Valentine’s Day may be over, but that doesn’t mean the love has to end. If you’re looking for a special way to celebrate with a partner/friend/whoever – and benefit Amnesty International while you’re at it – may we suggest attending the next Burlesque for Peace event this Saturday, February 17th? This year’s theme is “Black Tie Burlesque,” and prizes will be awarded for the best James Bond, Bond girl, and Bond villain costumes. The......

In the Enchanted Forest this Saturday, sins will be turned into creative energy with The Opening of Pandora's Box, an evening of performances based on the seven deadly sins. The dizzying lineup includes live music from Ratty Scurvics Singularity from New Orleans, AtticTed (described as "perfect for an insane asylum filled with country, gothic, carnival music,"), fire performers, shadow puppetry, hula hooping and acrobatics, DJ Placebo, 50-ft. fireballs, the Carousel Cabaret Burlesque, That Damned Band,......

SXSW Film Festival recently released their lineup of feature films to be screened this year. Check out the full roster after the jump. LONE STAR STATES Forfeit Directed by Andrew Shea, written by John Rafter Lee. Featuring: Billy Burke, Sherry Stringfield, Gregory Itzin, Wayne Knight. An ex-con tries to manage his way back into society, reunite with his high school sweetheart, and commit one more crime. (World Premiere) Inside the Circle Directed by Marcy......

After taking last week off because we were sure SXSW would release their master plan, we now return as there seems to be no end in sight to the band list embargo. Many indie labels and some marquee acts have simply announced their appearances, as bands attempt to book routing shows in Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, or elsewhere to make their long drives worthwhile. The lack of info has started to get the press......

This Sunday, February 4th at 5:25pm central time, the world supremacy of American football for the 2006 season will be decided when the Colts of Indianapolis face the Bears of Chicago on the hallowed turf of Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Florida. Captained by the tenacious Brian Urlacher (a man who was known to bed a wench named Paris some fortnights ago), will the formidable Bears defense overcome late season gaffes and rise to this the......

That's right: it's time to heat up your winter nights again, with the 14th season of FronteraFest. The Short Fringe, the Long Fringe, or Mi Casa es su Teatro -- FronteraFest is five weeks of alternative, offbeat, new, and just plain off-the-wall fringe theatre presented by Hyde Park Theatre and Austin Script Works. For complete FronteraFest 2007 information, including times and locations for the Short Fringe, the Long Fringe and Mi Casa es su......

Coldtowne Conservatory's Tami Nelson and Chris Trew are Hurricane Katrina transplants who also happen to be pretty damn funny improv artists with a sold out FronteraFest 2007 show - one a.m. Austinist got up close and personal with these two cut-ups, and this is what we found out: Tell me about the background and history of Coldtowne Conservatory. Tami Nelson: So, Tami Nelson and Chris Trew are in Coldtowne and one a.m. is the......

Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young was named the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year today. After sitting on the bench and watching for the first month of the season, the Longhorn Legend finally got his chance. Once VY was given the opportunity to prove himself, he did what we all expected him to do – he danced, pranced, cajoled and lead his team to amazing victory after amazing victory, carrying the 0-5 Titans to......