Though A Place to Bury Strangers' albums receive much praise, the best way to experience them is live. Guitarist and vocalist Oliver Ackerman is a tremendous performer; urging an unbelievable range of tones from his instrument, sometimes using nothing but feedback and broken strings against pickups. The band might draw influence from Jesus & Mary Chain, Slowdive and Joy Division, but they're without a doubt deserving of their own accolades, adding modern touches (both musically and technologically) to a genre that seems to be a soft spot for listeners....

When local artist and entrepreneur Candace Carlisle recently traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, she was struck by the extent to which that society was still overcoming the hardships perpetuated by apartheid. Carlisle was able to visit several townships in and around Cape Town, and bore witness to the many challenges that face the underprivileged residents there — violent crime, HIV, unemployment, and continued racism still routinely threaten stability more than a dozen years after South Africa's first free general election. This weekend, Carlisle will be showing photos from her travels at IF+D, Austin's modern design store with a heart of gold. The artist hopes that her show will raise funds to help support small businesses in the townships. One such organization, Beauty's Sewing School, is run by an HIV positive woman who teaches others how to sew and sell their wares....

Photos courtesy Austinist contributing photographer Gregory Cooper. ...

While self explanatory, these images do show that the hurricane was not biased. Wind damage and flooding is very apparent and was rampant from South Padre Island to Harlingen to San Benito. ...

Photos courtesy Austinist.com contributing photographer Briana Purser ...

Harlem and Bridez opened for Gravytrain at the Mohawk Saturday night, and Austinist contributing photographer Nash Cook was there to capture it. ...

Boris played at the Mohawk over the weekend, and Austinist contributing photographer Nash Cook was there for all the action. So good, we bought a t-shirt. ...

Hungry to share your most provocative Austin food photos? Send them here. Make sure to include your name, where the photo was taken and a complete description of the food....

Hungry to share your most provocative Austin food photos? Send them here. Make sure to include your name, where the photo was taken and a complete description of the food....

Last Thursday at the Parish Room, Shearwater gifted their attentive audience a very special performance, showcasing their new record (Rook, out tomorrow) in its entirety. Supported by a small woodwind and string section as well as the album's studio harpist, Elaine Barber, the band soared through the record's highs and lows effortlessly. Jonathan Meiburg's voice brought the room to a hushed awe, ranging between vulnerable insistence ("I Was a Cloud") and emotional volatility ("Leviathan, Bound"). After a short break, a reduced ensemble rejoined for a second set full of archive material, pulling from 2006's Palo Santo for a grittier ending to the night's performance. ...

Hungry to share your most provocative Austin food photos? Send them here. Make sure to include your name, where the photo was taken and a complete description of the food....

Hungry to share your most provocative Austin food photos? Send them here. Make sure to include your name, where the photo was taken and a complete description of the food....

The Raconteurs (Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence,Patrick Keeler, and Jack White) played a two-night stand of sold out shows at Stubb's this weekend. Like a car at the very edge of control their messy, wobbly guitars delivered the kind of nervous energy you can't turn away fearing (or hoping) it might crash at any moment. ...

British Sea Power played a free show at Club DeVille this weekend. Photos courtesy Eric Uhlir. ...

Austinite John Langmore spent more than a year capturing on film the lives of those in East Austin. The result is a collection of intimate photographs that document the people, places and culture of the gentrified area where condos and new homes are replacing century-old houses and crumbling taquerias....

Colin Meloy stopped by La Zona Rosa on Monday night to play some intimate acoustic jams as part of his solo tour. Despite a head cold the Decemberist's lead singer/songwriter played a full set from both the band's catalog and his own, with a few covers (including Sam Cook) thrown in for good measure. Sipping on a glass of Cabernet (probably not the best thing for a cold) Meloy bantered cheerfully with the crowd, who supported him with sympathetic "awwwws" on cue and when he had to stop a couple of the songs due to fits of coughing or lyrical amnesia (its a good thing so many of his fans know the songs by heart, saving the final "Mariner's Revenge" with their sing-a-long). All in all the night proved that a supportive fan base can rescue a ship (or show) on the rocks and help a favorite artist deliver on the promise of the ticket price: a good time and a good show. ...

What Made Milwaukee Famous played at Emo's on Friday night to celebrate their CD release. Black Before Red, Loxsly and Lemurs opened the show. ...

Photos courtesy Nash Cook. If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.......

Photos courtesy Nash Cook...

Photo not to scaleNow that we're finally settled into the new year, we're on the prowl for a few fine individuals to join our motley crew of writers and photographers. Specifically, we're recruiting contributors in the following areas: Arts & Entertainment Film, Art, Theater, Comedy/Improv News Local/State Politics, GLBT News, Items of an Offbeat/"WTF" Nature, Breaking News, Campus Shenanigans Other Cartoonists, Community and Volunteer Opportunities, Sports (UT) Photography Photo Essays, Special Events If you're interested,......

New Year's Eve at Mohawk, photographed by Nash Cook: Brazos, Pink Nasty, White Denim and Black Joe Lewis. ...

Moth!Fight! are a band who have had a much longer gestation period than most of their peers, a time in which one can assume songwriter and “conductor” Kevin Adickes painstakingly perfecting both the rumpled antique aesthetics that dominate his band’s look, performances and sound – the latter of which calls to mind both the inspired trippy noise-pop of The Olivia Tremor Control, but which also speaks in the lexicon of the band’s clear, more current......

Strawberries and chocolate. California and Schwarzenegger. Spiderman 3 and Xanax. All classic pairings that destiny and the Austin Museum of Art have been working to outstrip this week, with the presentation of two new exhibits: The Target Collection of American Photography: A Century in Pictures and 24 Summers at Barton Springs Pool: Photographs by Will van Overbeek. Both shows open this Saturday. A Century in Pictures presents nearly ninety photographs taken by men and women......

WEDNESDAY [2] DJ • The Black (DJ Set), Gerald Cosloy at Scoot Inn (10pm, Free) books • Poetry on the Plaza: The Book of Poetry at The Harry Ransom Center (12noon) books • Jeffrey Greene presents Water From Stone at BookPeople (7:00pm) dance • Stomp at The Paramount Theatre exhibition • UT Department of Theatre & Dance's Annual Design and Technology Exhibition at Oscar G. Brockett Theatre, Winship Drama Building (9am) film • "Plagues and......

The 10th annual SXSW Interactive Web Awards were handed out last night at the Austin Hilton's Grand Ballroom, honoring 18 of the internet's top developers, designers, and websites. Comedian and video blogging phenom Ze Frank emceed the ceremony. "It's amazing how this event has grown in the seven years I've worked with the Interactive Festival," said Shawn O'Keefe, SXSW Web Awards Coordinator. "This year is our biggest year ever in terms of attendance and entries,......

"Checkers," by William Hundley. Part of "Retroreflection," a group show at Else Madsen Gallery also featuring works by Stacey Farrar, Eric Weller, and Paul Moncus. Opening reception is tonight, from 5-8pm. Synopsis, from the gallery website: Photography as an artistic expression has grown upon itself throughout the last century. The work in Retroreflection shows a juxtaposition of styles and techniques from traditional to contemporary, and some with a mix of both. However this is......

Notable posts for the week: Beth is proud to live in Travis Heights. i'll drown the urge for permanence and certainty has friends who don't think she should wait for the bus in her neighborhood. She thinks they're wrong. Nesting is the topic of discussion at Skipping~Down~the~Stairs. Kimberly at A Little Pollyanna compares Austin's growth to that of Houston. Speaking of growth, M1EK doesn't think we need a new downtown library right now. We......

Ed Note: Corrections below. Whether to make way for the latest loft development or for personal reasons, two of Austin's more interesting art galleries will bid adieu this weekend. Gallery Lombardi, after being voted Best Art Gallery (alongside Women & Their Work) in this year's AusChron Readers Poll, is being forced to vacate their premises as construction begins on the $70 million Spring condominium project. They're hosting an "End of the World" Party that......

(photo by Asa Potter) In the interest of full disclosure, we would like to make it known that Wylie Maercklein, one of the actors interviewed in this piece, is one of Austinist's amazing staff photographers. The Land of Shadowed Sand is quite the visual marvel. With less then 350K and a fair amount of filmmaking ingenuity, Austin-based Lettered Union Pictures have created a stunningly shot, intelligently constructed 1950s gangster flick – complete with hot......

The 2006 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced today, with UT's David M. Oshinsky, George Littlefield Professor of American History, garnering the prestigious History prize for "a distinguished book upon the history of the United States." Said book was Polio: An American Story, what Publishers Weekly hailed as "an edifying description of one of the most significant public health successes" in our country's time. Congrats, Professor! Other winners included Geraldine Brooks for March (Fiction), the Staff......