All stories about "Austin"

In warm spring weather, Austin feels like the best place in the world for Tex-Mex as well as food. South by Southwest won't be coming again until next March, so the city isn't completely overwhelmed by bands, but there's still no shortage of shows. When you're heading out, you probably don't want to spend dinner anxiously checking your watch against set times. Luckily there are lots of places you can eat cheaply and quickly (not just tacos) near popular Austin music venues. Think sushi before Alejandro Escovedo at the Continental Club, or brisket during Spoon at Stubb's. True, no Austin native ever seems to be in a hurry. But if you're a type-A visitor, or simply prefer lazing and listening rather to running from restaurant to club, these spots will be just the (not-sold-out) ticket. (photos: Matt Clark)

This morning the Today Show, took a look at the latest symptom in America's sick obsession with celebrity-- fake Paparazzi parties. The Today folks weren't the first to get to this story, but their segment was extra funny because they sent their camera crews to accompany a group of Texan "newlyweds" who took pretend paparazzi along for their big night out. The women led by Kendall, a "call center administrator," had a pack of fake stalker photographers chase them through the streets of Austin. The clip includes interviews with the suburban wannabe starlets shamelessly explaining their craving for attention and shots of the bewildered reactions the group of pseudo-celebrities receives from confused bystanders.

Popular Science has ranked America's 50 Greenest Cities, according to over 30 categories that include air quality, electricity use, and transportation habits. While the top two picks--Portland and San Francisco--are far from shockers, more surprising is the fact that Boston, Chicago and Austin all made the top ten. [via]

Yesterday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturneda Texas statute outlawing the sale of sex toys. The decision, which responds to Reliable Consultants Inc. (owner of eight Texan boutiques, including Dreamers and Le Rouge in Austin) having sued over the constitutionality of the law back in 2004, cited the 2003 overturning of a ban on same-sex intercourse as precedent. I spoke with Cloud Richards, the third generation of Richards to run Reliable Consultants, about the small step for man and marital aids.

Airports are always looking for new services to offer frustrated and delayed travelers. The latest perk: live music. Both Nashville and Austin's airports hire live bands to play for the waiting crowds. Since they have a captive audience (and they get paid), the performers love it -- even with the PA interruptions. Nashville even plans to open a live music restaurant and bar in the coming months to bolster its current lineup. [AP]

Austin
• Alamo Drafthouse: Fish tacos and Roadhouse under one roof! The city's only independently owned dinner-and-a-movie cinema opened at the old Ritz last week.

Berlin
• Adlon Spa: Celebrating its 100-year anniversary, the Hotel Adlon Kempinski has opened a 10,000-square-foot spa; whirlpools, saunas, personal training, and pool bar are available through membership or day pass.

Los Angeles
• Dolci Isola: Industry institution The Ivy opens a bakery and retail space for its fresh-baked breads and house-made gelati.
• Mode: Only in LA: a 24-hour fashion-themed French bistro opens this week, with a neon catwalk and old fashion shows airing on an LCD screen.

Austin -- city of slackers and rockers, home of Whole Foods and killer barbecue, destination for 20-somethings nationwide -- is also a great place for shopping. It's a very different vibe from the design scene we explored in Vancouver, but it has definite local flavor. A burgeoning DIY movement is taking hold, with little shops and collectives selling wares from local designers and artists. Downtown Austin has its share of single-name specialty shops and chic boutiques with aggressively curated collections of local and international designer-wear. After the jump, an introductory guide to just a few of the homegrown Austin designers and the shops that sell their goods.

In our continuing effort to help you see great cities on a tight budget, we present a list of Austin options for $5 and under. We've already covered New York, Los Angeles, and Barcelona, and we figured the southwest's hippest city deserved the same treatment. Where to find cheap cosmos, migas tacos, country music, indie rock, secondhand boots, and movies after the jump.

Beauty Bar -- the hipsteriffic lounge-rock bar with additional locations in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Diego -- celebrates the first birthday of its Austin branch tonight. The usual routine of live music, DJ sets, and personal cosmetology will be practiced this evening, along with a hosted bar from 9 to 10:30 p.m. Expect well-coiffed frivolity.

Beauty Bar Celebrates First Year Of Drinkin' Pretty [Austinist]

[Photo: harry sprout]

-- Chris Mohney

Since right now Austin probably has more bloggers per block than anywhere else in the atmosphere (let alone blogosphere) we figured all of you music bloggers, groupies, lackies, aspiring musicians, and anyone else who needs to check their MySpace pages and the latest on Idolator would need to know where to find some good wifi connections. Luckily for you, Austin has an overwhelming number of hotspots. We sifted through all of them and found the top ones to visit this week.

SXSW isn't just some good-natured gathering of indie outfits, though it is that too. Now, SXSW is the Sundance of music, an aural feeding frenzy for the N.B.T. In addition to the music festival, SXSW this year also includes an interactive festival and a film festival. Because the events are as numerous as raindrops and as gnomic as grains of sand, we've decided to roundup some coverage for you so you won't be lost among the long-haired hipsters, the zitty web geeks (except our tech guys down there who are uniformly handsome), and the tumbleweed.

After the jump, where to find what to do and what to do where you find it.

Austinist is in the epicenter of independent music festival known to anyone with ears, SXSW. As befitting a blog of their stature, they've constructed a little interactive guide for your convenience. There's a Google map, a Google calendar, interviews, and flyer images. You know what? Fuck it. You don't even need to go to the Festival. Just browse the guide.

Austinist SXSW Interactive Guide
SXSW [Official site]
SXSW Coverage [Idolator]
Gridskipper's SXSW Guide

Previously: Gridskipper's SXSW Guide, Museum of Natural and Artificial Ephemerata, The Mohawk: Bar Not Hair, Indian How Not Indian Dot

Each year Austin, a wall of sound called SXSW descends onto Austin, wreaking rock in its wake. This year the festival runs from March 9-18 and includes 1,300 bands. Safe to say, the discerning indie music fan must needs be an astute scheduler. Prep work should have begun by now, researching the 5Q's of the massive musical lineup. TO assist, here's Gridskipper's Guide to SXSW 2007, complete with where to find the best shows, the best bars and the best restaurants and what palettes on which you might want to lay your weary head.

Austin's MNAE, as it is called, is part museum and part fabulism. More of a house than a museum, nevertheless the collection of curiousities is worth a visit or two. The remnants of the original 1921 incarnation--a wunderkammen brought to Tuscon by Madame Mercury Curie and Rolls Joyce Jr ne Rasputin Zaplatynska, the museum was dismantled mid century and only recently reassembled by the grandson of Rolls. This could all be true or completely false. What is a known known is that the museum is currently located in Austin, on Singleton Avenue and exhibits such items as a jackelope, a crucifix fish and Proust's Pillow. All of which might be real, fake or somewhere in between.

Museum of Ephemerata [Official site]

Previously: The Mohawk: The Grizzly Bear and Drinks. Good Idea, Texas Lonesome Art Star, Shine On, 120 Hours in Austin, Sandra Bullock's New Bistro

Despite a grossly depressing Werner Herzog flick, hanging out at the Grizzly Bar isn't such a bad idea. Austin's Grizzly Bar is part of the nighttime industrial complex, the Mohawk. The Grizzly Bar, as reported by ever-on-it Austinist, claims to bring back daytime drinking, to which my Shlitz replies, "Don't call it a comeback cos we've been here for years. " Named after the tribe and not the haircut, the laid-back Mohawk is by far one of Austin's coolest music venues/bars. And in Austin, a city bursting with music venues like Emo's and the 9:30 Club and with extra sachets of cachet, that's no small feat. Happy hours start at 5 and end at 8.

Grizzly Bar
Mohawk Austin

Previously: 120 Hours in Austin, Austin Adds to Already Long List of Superlatives, Austin Weirdness Mapped, Too Many Bars? That's Unpossible!, Awesome Austin

The stereotype of Texas as a land of wide-open spaces, red necks and cultural blackspots has long been outdated--our current President notwithstanding. Austin is one of the coolest and choke*hippest*choke smaller cities in the states; Marfa is an American art mecca and SXSW attracts the best and brightest of the world's indie scene to the state. When we last visited Blanton Art Museum in Austin, the museum was barely out of its swaddling clothes. These days, Blanton is in full-on socializing art-is-cool adolescence. On top of stellar exhibitions like the current Geometry of Hope which explores Latin American modernism, the museum hosts many events like the pithily titled monthly party B Scene where the art fag UT students who eschew hook 'em horn machismo gather for drinks, art and music.

Blanton Museum [Official site]
Blanton Museum of Art [Gridskipper]

[Photo: Jerry Bywaters's "Oil Field Girls"]

Previously: 120 Hours in Austin, Austin Adds to Already Long List of Superlatives, Austin Weirdness Mapped, Too Many Bars? That's Unpossible!, Awesome Austin

Finally, thumbing through page after page of tits and vagina have paid off! Playboy recently featured a top ten list of rock clubs in the the States and though we're on principal opposed to agreeing with a magazine that exploits women, the list is pretty impressive. Instead of just singling out the hipster hangouts or what have you, Playboy took into account not only the clientele but the forward thinkingness of the bookings. There's even some toplessness in the list, albeit of the scrawny indie rock drummer variety.

Atlanta
Bad Earl: East Atlanta's The Earl serves fried bar snacks, beer in plastic cups and stellar ATL indie rock. Catch the Mountain Goats there or up-and-comers the Black Lips, who I think I saw once in Brooklyn's Trash. If memory serves, the guitarist tried to pee on the bassist but ended up just falling down with his pants around his ankles. Definitely worth seeing.

Austin
Emo's: We've previously chronicled Austin's >top rock venues and Emo's led the list. Even better, through January 8th, the Austin standby is hosting free week where all shows are...free.

Chicago
The Empty Bottle: When Gridskipper Sean Moriva visited the Empty Bottle he called it a "pearl in the otherwise oyster of the immediate environs," Playboy agrees with his assessment noting, "the Bottle not only hosts the annual Adventures in Modern Music Festival, a boundary-busting showcase curated by the eclectic British music bible The Wire, but also throws annual free jazz and psychedelic rock festivals."

Los Angeles
The Echo: Echo Park's the Echo is part club/part music venue but as the bunny notes, it is the acts onstage that are the greatest draw. Before he stabbed himself in the heart, Elliot Smith was often seen on stage now, emerging outfits like Lavender Diamond and Grey Kid can be seen.

Minneapolis
First Avenue: As noted Minneapolis is a hipster art epicenter and also a hipster music epicenter. First Avenue, a converted Greyhound bus depot, is the launching spot for many a Minneapolis band including Prince.

New York
Cake Shop: A sweet-shop, wifi cafe and record store in the LES we've covered here before. Bands play in the tiny basement. Bands like Cause Co-Motion and Bill Cosby and the Pudding Pops.
Mercury Lounge: Right around the corner from Cake Shop, Mercury Lounge is a more established straight-ahead bar/venue. The bar has given voice (and amps) to the Strokes, the Editors and Beirut.

Portland, OR
Doug Fir Lounge: Kyle Forester, Gridskipper's resident rockstar recently played the Doug Fir Lounge and had this to say: The venue is gorgeous. The backstage has a great couch, on which I took a nap. The sound was unbelievably good. The Clientele said it was their best show of the tour. The club, linked to the Jupiter Hotel similarly seduces Playboy.

San Francisco
12 Galaxies: Despite the sci-fi name, 12 Galaxies is a down-to-earth venue hosts local indie bands and often the ramblings of acid heads.

Washington DC
Black Cat: This multi-room venue in DC hosts, you guessed it, indie rock but also has less-loud lounging options including a veggie-friendly cafe, a beer-on-tap room, and a smaller stage for nascent bands.

America's 10 Best Rock Clubs [Playboy.com]

Previously: Estrela Da Lapa: Cool Calm Collected, Sex Ed at Samba School, Gridskipper CitySong Contest, Rock in Beantown, Woody Allen Blows, Squeaks

Austin is supposedly the hippest city in America. Chock full of good Tex-Mex joints, unemployed musicians, and cacti, it's a little oasis in the hot and conservative state of Texas. Austin also boasts the flagship Whole Foods. The grocery store is more food Mecca than actual store as it has about a thousand food stations. But we digress. The nightlife and the music scene is where it's at. So screw 24 hours or even 36 hours, here's our guide to where to stay and what to do for 120 hours in Austin.

Night One
Hotel: Hotel San Jose. This used to be a historic drive-up motel. Now after a facelift, this is a legitimately cool hotel with Spanish bungalow-style rooms (a couple have porches overlooking the courtyard for $315), posters of classic blues and rock musicians on the walls, and walkways filled with crushed granite. It's a favorite of the many musicians that come through Austin for shows and the big summer festivals. Rooms from $90. Free wifi.
Music Venue: Emo's. This club/music venue features some of the best local acts in Austin and is a favorite hangout for locals. The music is mostly punk, grunge, and alternative and it is a great place for hitting on hipsters.

Night Two
Hotel: Austin Motel. Most motels we've stayed in have stains on the sheets and dubious noises coming from room next store. But the Austin Motel is not only clean and safe, it's colorful, decorated with antiques, and it has a huge swimming pool. The 67 year old motel is an Austin classic, here long before all the hip artists deemed it the coolest city on earth. Rooms from $85. Free wifi in the adjacent restaurant.
Restaurant: El Arroyo. This Austin institution (and now chain with three other locations) is a great place for real Tex Mex. That means delicious chili con queso, mole, and guac. It's perfect for the hangover you are still nursing from your night out at Emo's.

Celebrity restaurants run hot and cold. Sometimes they're quite good. Other times they charge $15 for a basket of mediocre fries *cough* Hard Rock *cough*. It's a cause for worry when the Bess Bistro, the Austin restaurant that Sandra Bullock's opened a couple weeks ago, claims "the menu's common thread is the passion of the chef". Potentially more disturbing:

Executive chef Brenton Childs, who helped open Vespaio, the Salt Lick in Las Vegas and a Whole Foods in Chicago, says Bullock has been involved in "everything: the decor, the menu. It's been an organic family affair."

Bess Bistro
Bullock's new restaurant is open for dining [Austin 360]
Recommended Food & Drink: Bess [Austin 360]
First look: Bess Bistro [Metroblogging Austin]

[Text: Omri Ceren]

Previously: Katz's Texas Deli, Austin Adds To Already Long List of Superlatives, Too Many Bars? That's Unpossible!, Awesome Austin, Just Dumped? Head to Austin, The Frisco Shop

Austin is, among other ests, (friendliest to singles, weirdest, awesomest), the best. National Geographic Explorer recently voted Austin Best Little City in America. Why? Well in the hyperbolic prose of Carl Hoffman, "[I]n Austin, Texas, I am struck with a joyous revelation: America is alive and well. A fiddle case lies open on the bar. My waitress is covered with garish tattoos, her hair a server black bob that calls to mind Cleopatra." Umm, I guess that makes it the best. Though only a photo essay is available online, for a full realization of the awesome awesomeness of Austin, you'll have to shell out 5 bucks or so. But, like shock and awe, can you really put a price on knowing America is alive and well?

National Geographic Explorer

[Photo: NatGeo Explorer]

Previously: Austin Weirdness Mapped, Too Many Bars? That's Unpossible!, Vice City Guides on YouTube, Awesome Austin, Just Dumped: Head to Austin

Of little use perhaps but right in line with Austin's avowed credo (Keep Austin Weird), the city is sponsoring a GIS (Geographic Information System) day on Wednesday November 8th. Contestants will compete to create the most innovative map. Previous winner John Cook mapped Austin's weirdness by mashing up zip code data, independent businesses and the Best of Austin. The findings? 78704 is officially the weirdest zip code in the self-proclaimed weirdest city. Congratulations, I guess.

Keep Austin Weird Map [Aprendizdetodo]

Previously: Too Many Bars? That's Unpossible!, Vice City Guides on YouTube, Awesome Austin, Just Dumped: Head to Austin

The Downtown Austin Alliance begs to differ. Sixth Street, Austin's gauntlet of watering holes, dive bars, public houses and vomitus-stained sidewalks in has possessed a magnetic power over those who'd like to be perpetually sloshed. But, according to the Downtown Austin Alliance, 6th Street's 57 bars versus 14 retail shops equals too much boozin' and not enough choosin' of goods to purchase. Correct though they may be, especially in noting that hoteliers and a cabal in the media are steering customers to the hipper less-divey Warehouse District, Gridskipper's got to side with the bars, or rather with the drinkers, on this one. I mean, what could beat passing a place called Friends, Spilz, Chuggin' Monkey, the Parish and the Hard Rock Cafe all on one block? Not only that, but all the drunken frat boys are thusly confined to a five block strip, leaving the Warehouse District to the slightly more evolved, educated and better tourist.

6th Street Has Too Many Bars, Must Diversify [Bizjournals]
Friends
Chuggin' Monkey
The Parish
Hard Rock Cafe

[Photo: Lloydi/Flickr]

Previously: Awesome Austin, Austin: Most Impatient City, Austin Gets A Good Going To, The Masters of the Margarita, Mojo Kickball in Austin, Austin Attack of the Podcasts

Vice City Guides, the text versions which have already appeared for 8 American cities, will soon be joined by Vice Travel DVDs. Though the idea of watching drunken hipsters cavort in war-torn regions like the Congo and third-world cities is a sobering one, I think that's David Cross saying, "I just ate a fucking dog" which bodes well for the series. Austinist is hosting a free screening of the movie on November 2nd but you can always order the DVD directly from Vice for US$22.

Vice Travel Guide Screening
Vice Guide to Travel DVD
Vice Travel Guide Shorts [YouTube]

Previously: Vice City Guides, More Vice City Guides, Your LA Hipster Bar Guide, Travel Like a Drunken Hipster

The Austin Chronicle just dropped their voluminous list of all things good in Austin, the Best of Austin 2006. Making appearances are Chez Zee and Austin Java Co., tied for best brunch; Emo's and Antone's best place to watch hiptsers; Austinist (congrats) as the best local website; Donn's Depot for best place to watch grandpa cut a rug. It's better than watching him munch one, we hope. Of Donn's, the Chronicle writes:

Going to Donn's makes us look forward to growing older. The amazing septuagenarian dancers totally school the young whippersnappers who won't dance until they've have four beers. Several of the veteran ladies have better legs than the twentysomethings who watch the two-stepping, dazed by the graceful chemistry the older women have with their partners. Couples get up to dance hour after hour, finally making us understand what retirement is really for: partying.

Best of Austin 2006
Chez Zee
Austin Java Co.
Emo's
Antone's
Donn's Depot

Previously: Austin: Most Impatient City, Austin Gets A Good Going To, The Masters of the Margarita, Mojo Kickball in Austin, Austin Attack of the Podcasts

According to a recent study, Austin is the ideal city for relocating singles. So say you just walked in on your husband shtupping his tennis instructor in Reno, don't despair. Head south. Austin beat out other top contenders including Nashville, Atlanta, New York and Houston. The study looked at a slew of "criteria most relevant to singles" and evaluates "glamorous factors, like nightlife and sports, and pit them directly against everyday concerns, like rent." Ooh, Austin Ice Bats, the glamour! Coincidentally, Austin is also the nation's most impatient city, based on a study that relied, among other things, on the number of speed dating services, so if you move to Austin as a single, you're guaranteed a girlfriend for at least two minutes.

Austin Rates Well For Relocating Singles [Bizjournal]

Previously: Austin: Most Impatient City, Austin Gets A Good Going To, The Masters of the Margarita, Mojo Kickball in Austin, Austin Attack of the Podcasts

Congratulations are in order, I guess, to Austin which was recently voted Most Impatient City in America. The study, commissioned for purely PR purposes, by eBay Express (since when has eBay become a research institution) ranked a city's impatience based on the "the prevalence of convenience stores, "in and out" gyms, availability of city government services online, quick copy shops, one-hour cleaners and photo developers, quick-change oil shops, overnight delivery service centers, speed dating services and Wi-Fi hot spots, among others." Based on this reductivist data (assuming as it does a 1:1 ration between supply and demand), Austin comes in 1st, Indianapolis 2nd and Houston 3rd. New York barely makes the top 20 (#19) and Los Angeles came in 17. Why the same data couldn't lead to the designation Most Efficient City is anybody's guess. When I called eBay Express to find out, I was put on hold and, after a couple of minutes, was too impatient and hung up. Interestingly, the city that ranked number one for speed dating services is Baltimore, where even desperate singles can't spend more than 5 minutes with a potential lay before crying out, "Next please."

Austin, Houston, Dallas Most Impatient Cities [BusinessNews]

{Photo: lll/Flickr]

Previously: Austin Gets A Good Going To, The Masters of the Margarita, Mojo Kickball in Austin, Austin: Attack of the Podcasts, Frisco Shop, Trudy's Restaurant

Austin gets a pretty decent going to at the hands of the NYT's Seth Sherwood. It's got art; it's got sushi; it's got a MTV Real World there so you know it's gotta be hip. Whilst negotiating the Austin's nightlife, , a "Dantean vision of Jell-O shots and wobbly high-fives," Sherwood stumbles upon the perfectly named Beerland where hook'em horny coeds "drink Pabst Blue Ribbon while taking in local rock, punk and indie bands." Sherwood further describes the scene at another hotspot called Six (co-owned by Lance Armstrong) as having "plenty of spaghetti straps, low necklines and suspicious tans." This is as close as the Times ever gets to Gawker scorn and snark. The somewhat jaded attitude makes sense when one discovers Sherwood graduated UT (MA, English '96) before hightailing it to Paris to escape the meatheads. Even if you're not a beer-pong and date-rape jock, Austin does have a range of laid-back entertainment. We humbly suggest a visit to our friends at Austinist and/or a perusal of our own archive. You've also got your Viceland guide which provides guidance for morally-compromised hipsters with a trustfund. For a exhaustive and, quite honestly, amazingly well-written restaurant guide (I think, every single restaurant in Austin was reviewed) check out the Fearless Critic guide to Austin restaurants.

[Photo: Been-Jammin'/Flickr]

Going to Austin [NYT]
Beerland
Austinist
Austin Archive [Gridskipper!]
Viceland
Fearless Critic
Funny Photo of Seth Sherwood [Flickr]
The 79 Photos You Get When You Search for Austin and hipster on Flickr

Previously: The Masters of the Margarita, Mojo Kickball in Austin, The Frisco Shop, Katz's Texas Deli, Trudy's Restaurant, Blanton Museum of Art

There's nothing like tequila, triple sec and lime juice to staunch the hot Texan sun. Austin has been "enjoying" the nation's heatwave recently with temperatures in the high 90s. Thankfully, Austin's Fearless Critics have been sampling and judging margaritas like Hemingway did grappa: exhaustively and critically. They've been tracking their progress at the blog called Las Margaritas De Austin. The team has drunk from the well five times already. The current fave is the avocado margarita at Curra's Grill though the queso-that TexMex concoction of cheese,meat, and grease-is below par. Other notable margaritas include the harmonious house margarita at Polvo's and the frozen mango margarita, topped with a splash of Grand Marnier, at the lakeside Hula Hut.

Las Margaritas De Austin
Curra's Grill
Polvo's
Hula Hut

[Photo: Deb5376]

Previously: Mojo Kickball in Austin, The Frisco Shop, Katz's Texas Deli, Trudy's Restaurant, Blanton Museum of Art