Watching the presidential primary unfold these last few weeks, the thought has often occurred to us: "When will Obama and Clinton shut up about saving the people of Darfur from displacement and genocide, and start talking about the important stuff, like plaigarized speeches and superdelegates?" Haven't had the same reaction? Tonight, a very different kind of politics will be on display at the B. Iden Payne Theatre at the University of Texas. Our city will play host to one of the great voices for democracy and social justice in post-colonial Africa. ...

The Black and White Years are not merely a group of affable gents - as Austinist discovered in a recent interview - they're also way into creating compelling pop morsels that eschew immediate categorization and confound otherwise severely judgmental blog-journalists....

Mayor Will Wynn issued the following address to the estimated 400 press and party-affiliated people coming into town for tonight's festivities: "Tonight we're honored to witness a great contest of ideas -- truly, the democratic process at its best. When the debate is done, each of us will take time to reflect on the solemn decision that lies before us... Will it be Tex-Mex or BBQ?!!! As the Mayor of this great city, it is......

Maria Bamford, along with Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, and Brian Posehn, was one of the original Comedians of Comedy. We spoke with Maria recently about her upcoming performance tonight (sold out) and tomorrow night at Cap City Comedy Club. The Comedians of Comedy premiered at SXSW in 2004, right? Right. Were you there for that? I think I was. Hold on a second. Yes, I was. I was there. What did you think about SXSW? It was awesome. You get to watch movies. I like the place where you watch movies and can have a beer and eat something. The Drafthouse. Yeah. That was really great. I like that. ...

Here’s the scene: It’s late in the evening on a Saturday night, and there’s a line full of 16-to-30-year-olds wrapped around the block extending away from the large black door of the New Brookland Tavern in Columbia, South Carolina. Tonight, local, epic, electronic rock band Baumer is playing, and it’s going to be a packed house. A sizable portion of those dance party hungry hipsters clad in t-shirts both black and neon waiting in queue will not even make the capacity cut-off point. But, many of them will stand outside for a good portion of the set, listening from the street. Inside, as Baumer heats up, the cramped crowd bounces and sweats to New Order-inspired electronics, indie rock guitars and a bold voice not unlike that of Muse singer Matthew Bellamy. This isn’t a rarety for the band; it’s every time they play a show in their hometown. ...

In the tradition of house/venues like the departed Jesse’s Bed and Breakfast and Natrix Natrix (a label as well as a venue, who are also co-presenting this show), the up-and-coming Rancho Relaxo is poised to take its part to promote music in residential spaces in Austin, at least until the neighbors call the cops. The venue has already played host to Sir Richard Bishop and Yellow Fever, and will hopefully continue to sponsor creative performances for some time to come....

Tonight's massive Super Tuesday election returns should make for some top notch TV watching, but there's no reason why you should spend the evening yelling at political pundits by yourself. Whether you're a hardcore democrat or republican, plenty of your like-minded brethren are getting together around town to watch the returns and collectively celebrate (or commiserate). Besides the formal meetup spots, you'll probably stand a decent chance of catching some prime time coverage at Brown Bar and the Cloak Room....

Tonight’s art party marks the opening of the new exhibit, The Virgin, Saints, and Angels, which is probably not your regular crowd to hang out with on a Friday evening. ...

Gay people and good theatre go hand-in-hand, see: ancient Greece and Tennessee Williams. Conversely, good gay-themed theatre can be hard to come by. How many tired ensemble pieces populated with predictable muscle marys, self-important disco queens, wilting PLWA s, stoic bears and bubbly twink ingenues (each grappling with their place in the world) can one art form support?...

ArtSpark 2008 applications are available through 3/31, and this year HBMG is awarding $15,000 in prizes to two winning creative teams. For the uninitiated, ArtSpark throws a "spark"—a piece of visual art or music—to a group of creative teams and tasks them with creating a new play or video game. If you're active in almost any creative field, check it out....

Zach Scott is getting national attention for its run of Porgy and Bess at the newly remodeled Austin Music Hall. The show runs two weekends only, and wraps up this Sunday. // Jaston Williams had great success with his autobiographical, one-man show, I'm Not Lying—and now he's back with more. This weekend only, Cowboy Noises further explores Williams' fascinating life with humor and, we expect, unflinching honesty. // We're mighty fond of local playwright Max Langert, and his current play, You're Happier Than You Think: Recalibrating Your Emotional Scale, at Frontera Short Fringe sounds like a charmer. Saturday @6:15pm, and Sunday @noon....

Tonight’s portion of the see.hear.speak 3 festival is a collection of monologues and one-person performances. Gentleman Brock—or, as he’s formally known, Sir Gentleman Brock LaBorde, Esquire—recently authored a book called The Semi-Complete Guide to Sort of Being a Gentleman, and he’s rather opinionated on the subject of chivalry. ...

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....

Sometimes there is a rare opportunity to see a band just before they hit it big, at that moment when you can still get into their shows without having the sanctity of your personal space thrown into question, just that itty bitty second before you're paying "real money" to see them from afar, rather than a pittance to see them up close. Tonight at Emo's presents one of those rare opportunities, and in spectacular fashion. See, playing tonight is not only one about-to-get-rich band of ruffians, but two. And if you haven't yet heard of MGMT and Yeasayer, consider this your formal introduction: they won't be this unknown for long....

With all due respect, It's easy to get lost in the scuffed gloss of Austin's rather self-aware indie-rock scene. Take it from us, and we honestly love the damned thing, in all of its shabby hipster glory. We just sometimes need a change of pace to keep a healthy perspective on all the different pockets of music in this crazy burg. This evening, we encourage you, if you're so inclined, to join us for an evening of solid, unconventional artistry in a scene that is thriving and gaining Austin national recognition for something other than our hallowed go-to bands. ...

Free Week is still kicking -- hard. There's a veritable horde of bands to catch tonight and tomorrow. ...

Tonight at the Alamo Downtown, $2 Music Monday will feature a documentary by local filmmaker Samuel Wainwright Douglas: Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose. ...

Emo’s Free Week bites back tonight with a smorgasbord of sounds from a variety of acts. Lions draw blood on the outside arena with chant-along chorus’ and scorching guitars. Their 2007 release No Generation allowed the band to voice their political views as well as display their rock n’ roll chops, and their live shows aptly roar with energy and fervor. Lions’ “Heavy Metal Lady” currently encourages the masses in homes everywhere to “unleash your inner rock legend” via Guitar Hero III and you can do the same at Emo's tonight!...

Tonight's your perfect chance to help out one of our own: local uninsured musician Chris Neale faces staggering medical bills after undergoing an emergency operation to remove a ten-pound tumor from his stomach back in October. To help offset some of this financial burden, friend of Austinist Marisa Wall has organized a stellar fundraiser taking place at Moxie and the Compound this evening, with support from a bevy of local businesses....

Tonight at the Salvage Vanguard Theater, music and film will be united in odd, unexpected ways. Italian musician Giuseppe Ielasi and Austrian filmmaker Michaela Grill are the guests of honor at this event sponsored by the Church of the Friendly Ghost. Ielasi has a long history with improvised music and uses “guitars as primary sound sources by integrating microphones and multichannel speaker systems in order to create complex networks for sound diffusion in relation to space” according to this event's press release. Sounds confusing, but obviously far from typical. ...

The 6th annual Indie Music Video Festival rolls into town tonight at the downtown Alamo Drafthouse....

AFS Essentials: J’Entends Plus la GuitareTuesday, December 11thAlamo Drafthouse Downtown (320 E 6th Street)$4 / Free for AFS Members, 7pm[info]When we think of a muse, we don't typically imagine the corporeal, but rather a winged sprite, strumming a lyre, an apparition that is not of this earth and cannot be held in its confines. We also imagine that once you have found your muse, or that which turns on the flowing faucet of your......

Son of Rambow - Free Screening!Monday, December 10thAlamo Drafthouse South Lamar (1120 S. Lamar)Free, 7pm[info]Amidst the blood, guts and graphic violence of Fantastic Fest 2007, which we lovingly embraced in all its gory glory, was nestled a small, quiet film about the wonders and struggles of growing up and growing out. Son of Rambow was like a tall glass of Iced Tea on a 110 degree day: refreshing, calming and cool. We went into......

Photo by Nash Cook Care Stereo (Wars) and Strut Boutique present The Strut Christmas PartyFriday, December 7The Mohawk (912 Red River)$8, doors at 9 pm[info] What do you get when you mix together Austin’s next big band, next sizzling DJ and next hot boutique? Tonight’s wicked Christmas party unwittingly plucked from Andy Langer’s dreams. Join Strut Boutique and Car Stereo (Wars) for Mohawk merriment with White Denim, the Corto Maltese and the Carrots. Headliner White......

Image from SOS Alliance SOS Holiday Party & Silent AuctionFriday, December 7Mercury Hall (615 Cardinal Lane)$10 Suggested Donation, 7pm - Midnight[info]Tonight, the Save Our Springs Alliance will be hosting their annual Holiday Party and Silent Auction at Mercury Hall. In addition to food, drinks and great people, the event will showcase music by two environmentally-conscience local bands, Bill Oliver's Otter Space Band and The Bouldin Creek Bobkats. The Silent Auction features items from over 300......

Production still courtesy of Troma Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead w/ Lloyd Kaufman Live! Friday, December 7thAlamo Drafthouse Lake Creek (17329 Research Blvd)(7:30pm, $10)[info] | [tickets]Over the course of the last thirty-three years, Lloyd Kaufman's Troma Entertainment has produced hundreds of films, attracted legions of devoted fans, and influenced the likes of Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Trey Parker, Eli Roth and Takashi Miike. In fact, by Kaufman's estimation, the studio now owns more than......

Image by LuiSFher Gallo via Cafe Tacvba’s MySpace Cafe TacvbaThursday, December 6La Zona Rosa (612 W. 4th Street)$40, Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm[info] | [tickets]Pop quiz: name a band that has won multiple Grammys, performed on MTV Unplugged, been compared favorably to Radiohead, played three encores at a recent Lollapalooza, and headlined to 170,000 people at Mexico City's Palacio de los Deportes. If you're thinking U2 or Coldplay, we couldn't blame you. But the......

Promo still from Jaman.com AFS Essentials: Le Vent de la NuitTuesday, December 4thAlamo Drafthouse Downtown (320 E 6th Street)FREE for AFS members, $4 non-members; 7pm[info] | [tickets]Tonight, AFS continues their amazing Phillipe Garrel retrospective with 1999's La Vent de La Nuit (The Wind of the Night), starring the timeless Catherine Deneuve as Hélene, a hot (duh) rich lady driven to distraction by her much younger art-student lover, Paul. Does he really love her for who......

Image from www.ajataharimarsh.com In addition to being a photographer and designer, Chef Aja Tahari Marsh (pronounced "Asia") is a trained chef with a focus on sustainable and organic foods. She studied at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City and has brought her skills home to Texas where she now works as a personal chef and cooking instructor. Tonight, she'll be teaching a knife skills class, and upcoming classes......

AFS Essentials: Les Amants Réguliers Tuesday, November 27thAlamo Drafthouse Downtown (320 E 6th Street)6:15pm, $4 / Free for AFS members[info]Poor Philippe Garrel. He has made dozens of films over the last four decades, but has been mostly overlooked stateside because he didn't fit into the tidy (or not so tidy) box of French New Wave, thereby not enjoying the peripheral fame brought about by heavy hitters such as Godard, Truffaut, or Melville. In truth,......