Dave Attell's bringing his signature hilarious jerkitude to the Paramount Theatre. Miss it only if you hate laughing....

Next week, Merle Haggard, undoubtedly one of country music's great legends will take the stage at the Paramount Theater downtown. Haggard's backstory is the kind that inspires, well, good country songs. Raised in a no-frills Great Depression-era household in Bakersfield, he found himself in and out of trouble as a young man, eventually landing in prison. At San Quinton. It was there that he watched Johnny Cash perform (three times), and decided to focus on his songwriting pipe dream. He earned his diploma and performed with the prison band for years before his release in 1960, which he has described as being "One of the loneliest feelings I've ever had." Luckily for him, his incredible voice and visionary approach to country music, which incorporated electric telecasters and revolutionized the country rebel image, earned him 38 #1 hits, several Grammys and Country Music Awards, Hall of Fame honors and an official pardon for past crimes from Ronald Reagan. ...

"I was initially drawn to Crawford, because I'd been effectively duped. I didn't know that Bush wasn't from Crawford."...

This week's news on art, books, music, and film....

The Paramount presents White ChristmasDecember 9th, 11th and 12thParamount Theater (713 Congress Avenue)$7 / $5 Children, Students and Seniors, 7pm-ish, Tickets available at the box office day of show[info]Being that we live in a heat belt where it is not uncommon to see kids raking leaves in tank tops and jorts on Christmas Day (seriously, we've done it...well, not the jorts part), dreaming of a white Christmas is something that we are intimately familiar......

Image from the Paramount websiteBlade Runner: The Final CutNovember 18-23Paramount Theater (713 Congress Avenue)$8/$6 children, students, and seniors. Sunday, 2, 4:30 & 7 pm; Monday-Wednesday, 7:30 pm; Thursday, 7 pm; Friday, 4:30, 7 & 9:30 pm [info]Before Minority Report, before A Scanner Darkly, came by far the awesomest flick ever to be made out of a Philip K. Dick novel (sorry, Linklater). It's noir, it's scifi, it's scary, it's mind-bending: Blade Runner, which was released......

There will always be chatter about Austin's changing landscape, much as there will always be supporters for both developers and the environment. We want the privilege of taking a dip in a glistening spring-fed pool, but we also want to have a robust economy that allows us to continue working and living in this city. Some would argue that the two desires aren't mutually exclusive, but we all know that it's a sticky subject.......

From his beginnings in youth flicks like Explorers and Dead Poets Society to his modern-day gigs with Rick Linklater and Sidney Lumet, Austin native Ethan Hawke has done his fair share of acting. Now he's jumped behind the camera to direct an adaptation of his novel The Hottest State, a story most believe is based on Hawke's 90's fling with singer Lisa Loeb. Regardless of the truth of that rumor, the story centers around......

If you've seen You're Gonna Miss Me, Kevin MacAlester's unflinchingly intimate documentary about the bewildering life and times of Austin's own psychedelic-rock icon Roky Erikson, you were probably left wondering, with good reason, what direction Roky's life took when the cameras stopped rolling. Years of untreated schizophrenia, shock therapy and acid trips had taken such a toll on the erstwhile rock star that he seemed unable--or unwilling--to contemplate life beyond a spacey Grey Gardens-like......

Trust your instincts, faithful readers. That is a disturbance you've sensed in the force. For the second year in a row, the nation's finest and funniest poets plan to pummel Austin with their poesy, prose, puns...and all sorts of other p-words we can't mention here. Starting August 7, National Poetry Slam 2007 will transform Austin into the epicenter of all things slammarific, with five days of knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred competition to find out who can......

Actor Gerardo Taracena (right) and Festival Director Eugenio del Bosque during the Q&A session for El Violin at last night's Opening Night screening at the Paramount Theater. Photo by Paco Link......

EL VIOLÍN | THE VIOLIN (Mexico) Paramount Theater, 7 PM "Pure and emotive cinema that shakes you with its honesty" – Guillermo del Toro Cine Las Americas is honored to present Francisco Vargas Quevedo’s award winning drama El Violin at the historic Paramount Theater in downtown Austin. El Violin won the Knight Grand Jury Prize for Ibero-American Cinema at the Miami International Film Festival in 2007, where it was called “a perfect film, perfectly......

Tonight, Austin’s Paramount Theater will celebrate, er, itself by hosting a free screening of ME Television’s Paramount Documentary, a one-hour exploration of the historic theater’s nearly one hundred year history. The documentary covers all eras of the theatre's existence, from its earliest days as a vaudeville house to its current status as one of Austin's favorite places to see movies, concerts and lectures. The documentary is part of ME's Texas Legends series - a......

Perhaps you've heard that the comedy scenes in both LA and New York are excellent these days. You might have gotten a taste of this when Eugene Mirman and Aziz Ansari rolled through town in March for SXSW. If you've been wishing for an NYC weekend to catch a show or two, don't book that ticket just yet. Several of the best acts are heading right here for Austinites to watch this fall... Michael......

FRIDAY [9] [music] Shellac, The New Year at Emo's (link) [music] Twilight Singers w. Mark Lanegan, Afterhours, Jeff Klein at The Parish Room (link) [music] The Late Fees at End of an Ear (6pm) (link) [music] Sons of Hercules, Jesus Christ Superfly (15th Anniversary!) at Beerland (link) [music/danceparty] Waxploitation! at Red's Scoot Inn (9:30pm) (link) [music] The Beer Garden Series presents South Austin Jug Band at Threadgill's World HQ (link) [dance] A Place to Land......

MONDAY [5] [film] Anime Monday at Ventana del Sol (7:30pm, Free) (link) [film] Be Here to Love Me at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) (link) [film] Memento at Austin Java (8pm, Free) (link) [film] Strangers on a Train at Paramount Theater (7pm) (link) [film] North by Northwest at Paramount Theater (9:10pm) (link) [film] The Puffy Chair at Alamo Downtown (Though 8th, 7pm, except Tuesday, 9:45pm) (link) [film] The Fall: The World of Mark E. Smith at......

TUESDAY [30] [music] "German with a laptop" Jan Jelinek does a solo show at Flamingo Cantina -- check out what Tiny Mix Tapes has to say! (Thanks, Margaret!) (link) [music] Scion returns to Austin with Tony Touch, DJ Hier, DJ Kwestion and DJ Mel at The Parish Room (Free, RSVP required) (link) [music] Youngmond Grand and Solace Bros at Club DeVille (link) [books] Mark Falkin presents Days of Grace at BookPeople (7pm) (link) [film] Out......

We are big supporters of our local Public Broadcasting Station KLRU. From Charlie Rose to Austin City Limits, we constantly find engaging, informative and entertaining programming to satisfy our television fix. But KLRU is more than just a television station; it is a part of the community. Exhibit A: Spark: KLRU's Engaging Speakers Series, formerly known as the Distinguished Speaker Series. We have been fortunate enough to attend a couple of these speaker events......

We love our Sunday morning ritual of waking up slowly, putting on our big fluffy bathrobe, grabbing a cup of strong black java, and settling into our favorite chair to listen to the KUT (90.5) lineup beginning at 9:00 with "This American Life", followed by "Selected Shorts" at 10:00 and then - if our dogs aren't absolutely insisting that we get our lazy asses up and take them out to do their "business" -......

: : FRIDAY : : [music] Nic Armstrong and the Thieves & Ian Moore @ The Parish, 9:30pm [in-store] Happy Families @ End of an Ear, 6pm [comedy] The Sinus Show's "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park" @ Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, 7pm & 9:45 also Saturday [theatre] The Vortex Repertory presents "La Femme: The BareBones New Works Festival," 8pm [comedy] The Austin Improv Co-op presents "The Womb of the Pagan" and "Hoover's Blanket"......

Oh those beautiful and melancholy French people. They have to go and make a bittersweet love story where everyone sings all the time and yet not one song is hummable. Jacque Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a film opera with no great musical numbers to try and recreate in your living room when no one else is home. In other words, there's no I Feel Pretty or How Do You Solve a Problem......

Someday soon conservative boneheads may make National Public Radio a thing of the past, but for now we have our NPR and our Terry Gross, the journalist/whiz interviewer behind Fresh Air. The culturally elite among you will be happy to know you can have a smart and sassy night out on the town seeing Ms. Gross live at the Paramount Theater. She'll be here on September 8th. Tickets are on sale now.......

:: FRIDAY :: [art] Art Party, 7pm @ 708 Congress Avenue :: SATURDAY :: [politics] DemocracyFest 2005 with Howard Dean and Neal Pollack, 7:30pm @ Stubb's - $20 [sports] Longhorns play the College World Series, 6pm on ESPN [art] Summer Fashion Party, 8pm @ Art Studio Studios [music] The Teenage Pajamas From Outer Space Tour featuring The Aquabats and The Epoxies @ The Backroom - $12 [culture] Pop Nation! @ The Austin Convention Center......

FRIDAY [food] The Oasis? Burned down. But now re-opened! (Partially!) [culture] Ballet Under the Stars, 8:30pm @ Zilker Hillside Theater - Free [food] Doughnut Day, all day @ Krispy Kreme (go get a free doughnut) [music] The Deathray Davies, 8pm @ Emo's SATURDAY [film] "Freaks and Geeks" Marathon, 12pm @ Alamo Drafthouse Downtown - $30 [parade] Austin Pride Parade, 8pm on Congress Avenue [culture] Ballet Under the Stars, 8:30pm @ Zilker Hillside Theater -......

FRIDAY [movie] "Metropolis" with a live soundtrack by DJ Nicknack, 7pm & 9:45 pm @ The Alamo Drafthouse Downtown [shop] The Real World Garage Sale, 1-6pm @ the alley behind the Real World house. [music] Prefuse 73, 9pm @ The Parish. SATURDAY [shop] The Real World Garage Sale, 10am-6pm @ the Real World house. [dancing] Rock the Casbah w/DJ Mel, 9:30pm @ The Parish. [musicshop] Opening Party for End of an Ear @ 2209......

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......