Lite + Brite: 41 Dynamite Austin Events 9/6
Hello, what’s up, and welcome to the Lite + Brite newsletter.
Lots of interesting folks are going to be in Austin this weekend. The creator of the word “meme” is speaking here tomorrow, as are a number of other prominent thinkers, journalists, educators, and policy makers—for free! Weird Al will not be here personally, but a burlesque and drag tribute to him will be. If polka parodies aren’t your preferred musical genre, you can also experience brass band music, classical music, ambient music, Broadway music, drum music, music based on immigrants’ experiences, music based on your own anonymously submitted stories, and music performed by people in fantasy costumes.
If you missed the September Monthly edition of this newsletter, then you missed our exclusive interview with Democrasexy, our playlist of highly danceable music, and our announcement that No Lights No Lycra will be making its grand Austin return on Wednesday, September 25!
If you’re not already a subscriber to this newsletter and you want to be, click here. We do one newsletter a week, usually on Fridays, plus a bonus edition around the start of each month. If you enjoy this newsletter, please support us by contributing to our Patreon and by forwarding this email to your friends who enjoy things like listening to music and leaving the house sometimes.
Let’s do fun stuff!
—Leila + Brian
liteandbriteatx.com
OUR STUFF
As we touched on in the intro (and mentioned in our September newsletter), No Lights No Lycra will return on September 25th. We’ll be hosting the event at 3rd Eye Meditation Lounge which is located at Casa de Luz where we’ve listed many events in the past, but this will be our first time hosting one there. We’ll be dancing in the dark from 8 – 930 and the cover is $15. We hope you’ll join us in bringing NLNL back to Austin.
Over at, No Humans Allowed, (Brian’s radio show) we spent the week doing some home computing with a soundtrack of italo, electro, and dream house. Listen to Home Computing in the Kpiss archives + scroll down for the tracklist.
EVENTS WE’RE EYEING
Friday 9/6
- Stripapalooza at Kick Butt Coffee
Burlesque + drag performers pay tribute to parody superstar Weird Al - Broadway Rave at Empire Control Room
For ravers into Broadway or theater kids who wanna go to the club - MASS Ambient at MASS Gallery
Ambient music performed live + spun by DJs. “BYO blankets, pillows…” - Armadillo Con at Austin Southpark Hotel
A convention for “SF, Fantasy and Horror Readers + Writers” - Volumes at Distribution Hall
Art installation w/lights + visuals triggered by live musicians - The Texas Tribune Festival at various downtown venues
Big names in national + state politics descend into Austin for talks - Sunny Days at the Vortex
Play using puppets on heavy topics like climate change + human rights - Big Austin Fair at the Travis County Expo Center
If you wanna go to a big state fair without driving to Dallas, we’ve got one
Saturday 9/7
- Open Congress at the Texas Tribune Festival on Congress Ave.
South Congress closes down for politics street fest w/panels + book signings - Moonlit Glamour at the Vortex
A one-of-a-kind drag show w/lineup of all deaf drag queens - Texas Wellness Day at Fiesta Gardens
Wellness + fitness vendors + classes for adults + kids - Used Book Market at Community Garden
Buy used books from local booksellers while a DJ spins records - Bat Fest on Congress Ave. Bridge
Celebrate bats (the winged kind) w/costume contest, live music, + kid activities - Community Day at the Long Center
Long Center’s block party w/food trucks, live music, kids’ activities - Austin Gay Men’s Chorus at KMFA Studios
Live choral + vocal performances, auction, cocktails + mocktails - An Evening with Richard Dawkins at ACL Live
Listen to a talk by influential evolutionary biologist + science communicator - Sandlot Baseball at the Long Time
Community baseball w/live music, unconfirmed biscuit cannon - Fantasy Karaoke at the Tiny Minotaur
Fantasy costumes-only karaoke + night vendor market - Austin Is a Poem at the Austin Central Library
Live poetry readings + signings, DJ, + community info - Soundwaves at the Austin Motel
Queer Vinyl Collective spinning records while you hang poolside w/full bar - Honk!TX Fall Community Showcase at Batch Craft Beer
A passle of brass bands performing live outside - Open Studios at Canopy
Artists at Canopy open up their studios to the public - Karaoke Underground at Knomad
Sing karaoke to your favorite punk, indie + alt classics - Hysteria at ColdTowne
Irreverent comedy show about abortion + benefit for repro rights - Texas Roller Derby Playoffs at the Travis County Expo Center
Roller derbyists murderously crash their way through a banked track - Armadillo Con at Austin Southpark Hotel
A convention for “SF, Fantasy and Horror Readers + Writers” - Volumes at Distribution Hall
Art installation w/lights + visuals triggered by live musicians - Sunny Days at the Vortex
Play using puppets on heavy topics like climate change + human rights - Big Austin Fair at the Travis County Expo Center
If you wanna go to a big state fair without driving to Dallas, we’ve got one - (weekly thru 10/26) Honey Bee Hive Tour at Two Hives Honey
Suit up in protective gear and learn about beekeeping
Sunday 9/8
- The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival at the Far Out Lounge
Gather under the blazing sun to guzzle hot sauce. What could go wrong? - Song Confessional Live at the Highball
Give a confession for a chance to turn it into impromptu live music - Our Rhythms, Our Voices at the Long Center
Latin-American immigrant stories turned into orchestral live music - Campfire Queer Storytime at the Vortex
Queer storytelling + live readings for those aged 18-110 - Armadillo Con at Austin Southpark Hotel
A convention for “SF, Fantasy and Horror Readers + Writers” - Volumes at Distribution Hall
Art installation w/lights + visuals triggered by live musicians - Sunny Days at the Vortex
Play using puppets on heavy topics like climate change + human rights - Big Austin Fair at the Travis County Expo Center
If you wanna go to a big state fair without driving to Dallas, we’ve got one - (weekly thru 9/22) Splashdance at the Austin Motel
Poolside aerobics with Austin’s most creative aerobics instructor
Monday 9/9
- ATX Short Film Showcase at the Ballroom @ Spiderhouse
The films are short, the filmmakers are Texan + of varying heights - Silent Book Club at Radio East
Silently read books together + optional sharing - Classical Jam at Batch Craft Beer
Like open mic night but for classical musicians + fans
Tuesday 9/10
- Astronomy on Tap at Celis Brewing
Gather and talk astronomy w/UT profs while imbibing beverages - Bike Story Night at Radio Coffee + Beer
A storytelling night that is bicycle-themed + nonprofit fundraising - Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Drag Queen Game Show at the Highball
Celebrate the upcoming sequel w/Beetlejuice-themed drag, trivia, bingo
Wednesday 9/11
- Dungeons and Drag at Vigilante Gaming Bar
DnD-themed drag performers role playing fantasy characters - Sunny Days at the Vortex
Play using puppets on heavy topics like climate change + human rights
Thursday 9/12
- A3 Launch Event at Canopy
“Music, dance, food + drink” plus info on new arts initiative - WaterWork at Seaholm
Artists make “colossal projection” onto riverside building - Napoleon Dynamite Live at the Paramount
Screening of the classic film + games and Q+A w/the stars - Sunny Days at the Vortex
Play using puppets on heavy topics like climate change + human rights
No Humans Allowed 206
Home Computing
Plug in all your gear and get ready for another double density, hi-res No Humans Allowed as we elevate personal computing to a higher audio ground. CHK your DSK and compute to electro, italo, + more.
Tracklist
Ground Level – Dreams of Heaven (Candlelight Mix)
The Lab – Mary Stomp Your Feet
Iz & Diz – Mouth (Brad Peep’s Remix for Friends)
Claes Rosen – If I Could Be You
Jeff Phelps – Excerpts from Autumn
Tim Carleton – Opus No. 1
Nicholas Kasko – LesVirgule
Cyber People – Polaris
Jullien Love – The Power
Max ’n Sandy – Keep the Joint
Transparent Sound – Windows to Your Sole
Baby Ford – Crashing
No Humans Allowed is Brian Blackout’s award-winning, dodgy European news coverage receiving, weekly robots-themed radio show on internet station KPISS.fm. Machine vibes 4 machines. Songs for robots, androids, mandroids, cyborgs, AIs, cylons, skinjobs, roombas, wifi routers, smart devices, anything colored Bondi blue, and virtual assistants. Humans not required. Broadcasts live every Wednesday at 6pm CT on kpiss.fm, with nearly 200 episodes now streamable in the archives on topics like and Beach Simulations, Roomba dance parties, undersea adventures + Cyber Texas.
PATREON THANKS
A huge thank-you to our Patreon subscribers Bones Malones, Amy Hayes, Katie Green, Christina Jue, Colleen MB, Lilly Ettinger, Lena Long, Amalia Litsa, Alexander Freed, Spencer, Kristen Backor, Timon A., Kate Murray, and Amy Wilde. We’re deeply grateful for your support, which allows us to do things like “pay our Mailchimp fee” and “spend hours researching Austin events when technically we should be working.”
If you’d like to support us on Patreon and get access to exclusive member-only benefits, you may do so here.
SOCIALS
Recent weeks found us watching brass bands at HONK!TX, watching the eclipse at Bobo’s Snack Bar, and watching dancing forklifts at The Way of Water at Onion Creek. Follow Lite + Brite on Instagram to keep up with our adventures. And come chat with us and the rest of the L+B community on our Discord server!
ABOUT US
How do we choose which events to feature?
Honestly, it’s pretty random. We might include anything in Austin that we, personally, would conceivably want to go to, generally excluding normal concerts, comedy shows, and movie showtimes because there are many other good resources for finding those. (We especially recommend Showlist for live music, The Darker Side of Austin for goth and metal stuff, and the 60+ Weirdest Things in Austin for exactly what it sounds like). This list is by no means exhaustive; it’s just stuff that caught our eye this week. If you have an event that you want us to consider including, send it over.
Who are we?
We are Leila + Brian. We make this newsletter. We do our own events, most often No Lights No Lycra (which is on hiatus but will resume), + also BYOT, a party where we share very good YouTubes (here’s a playlist from the last one). We go very hard seeing bands at SxSW (here are playlists of our favorites from 2024). We once got called “local Austin couple” by KXAN. We do some other stuff here and there. We love going out to creative events in Austin, and we want you to join us. Visit us at liteandbriteatx.com, and support us on Patreon if you like what we do.