From ImageAfterArt The Teresa Long Center for the Performing Arts (formerly the Palmer Auditorium) will be opening with a bang in early March 2008. Enter: "The Earth Harp," a gargantuan outdoor stringed instrument created by these guys. /// Art thieves strike in Brazil! They robbed the Sao Paolo Museum of Art (MASP), making off with two paintings worth a total of approximately $100 million dollars. The paintings: Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (Picasso) and The Coffee......

Jenna Bush, one of Austin's native daughters and progeny of our current president, wrote a book. We'll pause here for the knee-jerk snickering, eye-rolling, jokes, and so on. Ok. Now let's move on with an open mind and not judge her by the sins of the father, but instead by her own merits. Jenna's book, Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope, is based on her experiences interning for UNICEF. It's the true story of a......

A dealership in Georgetown has found itself in the middle of a public relations debacle after it was caught making racist comments in an effort to sell more cars. Attempting to show off the fancy air-conditioned seating in its Lincoln vehicles, Mac Haik dealership ran the headline "Tired of the Wet Backs????" at the top of an email ad that was distributed to over 1,000 customers last week. Among these customers were members of the......

Big Brother really will be watching soon enough. In one of the more disgusting turn of Pentagon-related paranoia events, the Department of Defense (under the auspice of the US command in Baghdad) announced yesterday that it will be putting out a contract on the media. Well, to be more precise, it will be spending $20 million to hire a public relations firm to monitor the media's coverage on the quagmire in Iraq. The AP reports......

One of Austin's best homegrown success stories, Public Strategies Inc., has been purchased by the second-largest media and advertising company in the world. WPP Group, PLC of London purchased the consulting firm for a reported $90 million. WPP had apparently been eyeing Public Strategies for years. "I've been trying to buy Public Strategies for years," said Howard Paster, WPP executive vice president for public relations and public affairs. "It is a different public affairs firm.......

The Austin Police Department has not been having the best year (or few). They have been under increased public scrutiny for not being effective at self-policing and for their alleged use of excessive force, most recently against Ramon Hernandez. The officer, caught on videotape beating the handcuffed suspect, was acquitted and suspended for 70 days. Well, the APD's public relations took another turn for the worse over the weekend. Maybe you have seen the new......

In a recent letter released under the Freedom of Information Act, the National Security Agency (NSA) revealed that it is paying two news agencies - Reuters and the Associated Press - for information. Other government agencies purchase news wire services, but no other agency presents the NSA's level of secrecy and defensiveness with such purchases. Is it possible that the NSA is influencing the media and free speech? The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EEF) has......

You may remember last year was a bit sticky for the Horns vis-à-vis getting an invite to the BCS. There were issues surrounding who voted for whom and, of course, the very public politicking by Coach Mack Brown. His pleadings, and probably the fact that the Horns were a better team and a better draw, got the Horns into the Rose Bowl. The funny thing about winning is it changes everything. Now, instead of......

Ty Chandler is a man with a mission, and this mission is to get his favorite bands (many of them Austin bands) listened to and appreciated. Because it seems like every other person in Austin is in a band (or writing a screenplay, but that's another story) and because the booking in town is so competitive (largely due to the questionable amibtion of one powerful booking agent), his mission has been a difficult one.......

We know Austin is cool, but apparently we’re pretty damn hot as well. In a public relations/advertising gimmick as blatant as any we have seen in weeks minutes, Old Spice antiperspirant today announced that Austin is the 18th sweatiest city in America. The ‘experts’ compiled their Top 100 List by using the average U.S. male/female height/weight along with average high temperature and relative humidity. In a move that surely skews the numbers disproportionately for......

We mean that literally. According to this article by KXAN 36 Austin, the section of town between 34th and 45th street is adopting the moniker of "Midtown" as part of a public relations campaign to draw attention to the area, give them an identity, and allow them to compete with the more established hot spots. "We need to heighten the awareness of Central Austin, and we're calling it Midtown," Eddie Bernal, owner of Santa Rita......