South by Southwest is underway in Austin, with the much vaunted music portion of the festival kicking off tomorrow. For four days, everyone who’s anyone in the music business (or hopes to be) will be playing or attending showcases at every bar, venue, church, patio and rooftop in town. If you’re already on the ground, Austinist’s interactive guide to each day’s parties and showcases can help you navigate the mayhem. Also, check back for their local take on each night’s concerts and film screenings. If you’re going to make a last-ditch effort to attend, cost be damned, you might be able to find a ride or room share at SXSW Baby!, and Craigslist Austin has plenty of questionable listings offering festival wristbands and badges for sale. If this year’s SXSW isn’t in the cards, though, you can start planning now for the Austin City Limits festival from September 14 – 16, when a smaller, but still sprawling, number of artists will play on eight different stages in Zilker Park.

– South by Southwest (official site)
– Austinist
– SXSW Baby!
– Austin City Limits Festival

On Travelistic:
– Tagged: Music
– Tagged: Festivals
– Video: Austin City Limits

The stereotype of Texas as a land of wide-open spaces, red necks and cultural blackspots has long been outdated--our current President notwithstanding.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

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.

Night Three
Hotel: For an upscale night, stay at the Driskill, Austin's old time luxury hotel. All leather, marble, fireplaces, and taxidermy this is for the real high rollin' classy Austin visitor. Which isn't you, but splurge on it anyway. Rooms from $209. Free wifi in lobby and ethernet cords in the rooms.
Cocktails: 219 West. This restaurant/lounge has great martinis, mojitos, and mixed drinks. Voted best cocktails by the Austin Chronicle, they have about six different martinis and six different mint juleps. They taste so delicious you won't even feel like a fag for ordering a drink called "The Cabo Sunrise." Or maybe you will, but that's your own issue. 219 also has great food to go with the drinks and all their veggies are home grown.

Night Four
Hotel: The Mansion at Judge Hill. This is another swanked-out hotel but with a spa. Housed in an old Austin mansion, this is elegant, posh, and still way cheaper than any Hampton Inn in NYC. Many rooms come with fireplaces and four poster beds, so you should definitely bring back that hipster chick you picked up at Emo's the other night. Rooms from $139. Free wifi.
Late Night Stop: For a late night go to the Elephant Room for some great jazz until 2 AM. It's free on all weeknights, there's a full bar, and a lot of different local jazz acts stop by. If you are drunk and hungry when the Elephant Room closes head to Kerby Lane Café for a late night binge. This place is all over Austin, but you aren't a sell out for going there. Sometimes you just need a huge order of migas at 3 in the morning. If you are craving sweets, head to La Mexicana Bakery, where you can get churros or tres leches cakes 24 hours a day.

Night Five
Hotel: The Hawthorn Suites. This is a budget hotel, because you've spent all of your money at this point. It's no frills, but it's clean and it comes with breakfast. On Monday through Thursday they serve a light dinner with soda, beer, and wine. Rooms from $85. No wifi but ethernet cords offered in the rooms.
Dinner and a Movie: Original Alamo Drafthouse. For the last night chill out with dinner and a movie. Alamo Draft House, Austin's only independent movie house serves dinner and drinks along with the screenings. All seats are behind a long bar for eating and are equipped with pencils and paper for ordering. The chefs often design the daily menu to correspond with the classic film being screened. It's really like one of those old time drive-ins except better food and less sex.

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

Aqaba
– “In Aqaba, Jordan, Sun and Sand in the Red Sea” (NYT)

Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay: The Jesuit Province of Paraquaria
– “In South America, Missions of a Lost Utopia” (NYT)

Austin, TX
– “City insider: Austin, Texas” (Globe and Mail)

Caribbean Roundup
– “Caribbean, From A To V” (SF Chronicle)

Chicago’s Meatpacking District West
– “In Chicago, Slaughterhouses to Art Houses” (NYT)

Galapagos Islands
– “Vive the evolution” (Sydney Morning Herald)

LA Times Vintage Vegas Special
– “Ultimate low roller’s guide”
– “Hotel deals you can dig, baby”
– “It takes a whole lot of green”
– “Lucky you: Rates from $39”
– “The best things in town are free (or almost)“

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 theBess 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."

And yet - and yet - by most accounts, Bess is well beyond "above average" and actually flirts with "legitimately good". The interior borders on opulent, with antique mirrors and artwork, thick drapes, and gaslights. Austin 360 was quite impressed by both the high and low ends of the menu, while Metroblogging Austin recommended repeat visits. It's sanctuary from the freewheeling Austin nightlife, and a great place for an intimate dinner.

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, weirest, awesomest), the best. National Geographic Explorer recently voted Autin 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

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