Open mics have a deserved reputation of primarily hosting guitar-plucking, folkster singer-songwriters — a classic pairing which I expect to continue even as the folkies and/or guitars become half-robot. But a few months ago a friend invited me to an open mic at Captain Quack’s, and we witnessed one
As of today, the government has been shut down for twenty-two days. Who shut down the government? We are told, twice on the same page, that “democrats have shut down the government.” Who are the democrats? Nothing but a flickering fluorescent lamp equivalent of a political party — out of power
"Don’t bother — it’s not worth it." A grinning but clearly agitated British man softly stormed out of the Equipment Room, "an intimate space that houses one of Austin’s most special record collections played on custom vintage hi-fi equipment" below Hotel Magdalena on the
The human desire to explore the unseen tends to swell when reality itself grows more dismal. Case in point: The American Spiritualist movement of the Victorian Era, which posited that spirits exist and are distinct from matter, was fueled by the country’s grief over a rising Civil War death
On March 8th, Lady Gaga will play the Moody Center. Tickets start as “low” as almost 300 dollars, and go up exponentially from there — row 5 tickets are almost 9,600 dollars. While the experience of seeing Gaga is surely an arresting visual and auditory spectacle, one imagines even her
On Bluesky earlier this month, cartoonist and illustrator Mattie Lubchansky wrote: a thing i simply cannot get over, as The Media collapses for i think the 5th time in my adult life, is what the fuck business the people who own these publications think they are in. shouldn’t the
Do you have a niche interest that you won’t shut up about, and occasionally manage to shoehorn mentions of — whether it’s the history of water-slide disasters, or worm taxonomy — into unrelated conversations or short periods of silence? If the answer is yes, I suggest you commit to your
As my 19th summer in Texas approached, I started dreading the inevitable heat earlier than usual. Each year, I considered options such as visiting my family in New York City during peak tourist season, getting a movie theater pass to watch every new release, or picking up a new hobby
With every big, booming song gifted to us from The Beach Boys — from “California Girls” to “Sail On, Sailor” — you’ll find a leafy cousin, a condensed, sleepier mini-symphony like the hula ballad “Little Pad,” or, earlier, “The Warmth of the Sun.” One constant, however muted, is the presence of
Complaining about the New York Times is an unvanquishable media pastime, but ultimately as useful as slingshotting rocks at a zeppelin. The volley might annoy the crew and result in a few light directional changes, but if the whole overstuffed galoot finally takes a nosedive it will be due to
[note: this piece was originally published on my now-deleted substack, and then on the End of Austin in January of 2024] In February of last year the New Yorker published an article by Lawrence Wright entitled “The Astonishing Transformation of Austin.” Wright is the author of several books about al-Qaeda,
Visiting an estate sale is one of the most indirect but intimate ways of trying to understand a person you have never met. Instead of through their work, their personality, or their physical features, a person shopping at or working at an estate sale experiences a person (sometimes dead, but
It begins with a quest. A marauder, simple traveler or possibly a knave takes to the road or a barely visible forest path in search of some knowledge, treasure. In this case, the trail winds east on Cesar Chavez street and ends just a block east of JuiceLand and Poke-Poke.
I don’t know how I first heard about Flaming Hydra, a website that posts (usually) two pieces by authors or illustrators each weekday — usually nonfiction writing, but not exclusively — but it probably had something to do with the fact that a lot of my favorite writers were involved from
Three cheers for the not-so-distant past of tactile media, when newspapers explained the everyday, books contextualized the past, and DVDs and VHS cassettes made these discoveries audible and extra-visual. The constant flow of commentary describing the present itself becomes history, ready for excavation, especially online. And as for accessing that
At the opening keynote of SXSW Interactive in Ballroom D at the Austin Convention Center, Hugh Forrest, the easygoing President & Chief Programming Officer of SXSW, walked us through the usual round of thanks to volunteers and staff before addressing “the elephant in the room.” On screens flanking his sides,