Lite + Brite Monthly: November
Hello, what’s up, and welcome to the monthly edition of the Lite + Brite newsletter.
Welp, team, we are finally here. Election Day. You know it, we know it, anyone with access to a phone knows it. We’ve put together a playlist of music to help you relax and focus in the face of full electoral hysteria. And now there’s not much left for us to do other than remind you one last time to go vote today (if you haven’t already). The polls close at 7pm. LFG.
Looking ahead to the rest of the month (assuming time continues to exist after this election), we’ve got a bunch of Austin’s best free annual events coming up, including the Texas Book Festival, Creek Show, and Austin Studio Tour. Scroll down for a list of upcoming events as well as our guide to how to get the most out of Austin Studio Tour.
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Let’s do fun stuff!
—Leila + Brian
liteandbriteatx.com
L+B 06 – Shadows from Nowhere
Given that the news cycle has us all amped up and the holidays are fast approaching us, it seemed like a good time to hunker down and focus. This month’s playlist is a diverse mix of songs to relax + focus to.
Listen on
Spotify / Apple / YouTube
Tracklist
Men I Trust – Show Me How
Little Beaver – Party Down pt 1
Ned Doheny – A Love of Your Own
Kool & the Gang – Heaven at Once
The Free Design – Dorian Benediction
The Lovin’ Spoonful – Coconut Grove
Sopwith Camel – Fazon
Mercury Rev – Downs Are Feminine Balloons
Blue Gas – Shadows from Nowhere
Lonnie Liston Smith – Summer Nights
Alan Palomo – The Island Years
John Carroll Kirby – P64 by My Side
Jan Hammer Group – Don’t You Know
Olefonken – Ubuntu Tutu
Chrome Sparks – Marijuana
Nuback – When the Party Is Over
Jack J – Clues (part II)
Daft Punk – Nightvision
Goldfrapp – Black Cherry
Brian Eno – Taking Tiger Mountain
Looking Ahead to Upcoming Events
Our weekly newsletters will include many more listings, but here are a handful of events that we know are planned for the next month. We’re giving you the heads up now in case you want to pre-buy tickets or block off the time.
- Nov. 6-9: Dance Carousel at the Ground Floor Theater
“40 dances in 40 minutes” by contemporary dance artists - Nov. 7-8: Mother/Land at Draylen Mason Music Studio
String orchestra explores themes of place, change + resistance - Nov. 7-10: Nostalgia at Bat City Circus
Circus artists + a fiddle player explore nostalgia - Nov. 8: Fragile Rock at the Highball
Watch puppets perform emo live, make your own puppets, or sadness - Nov. 8: A Formal Fiasco at Elysium
Watch pole, aerial, drag, burlesque, + comedy performers while dressed to the nines - Nov. 8-16: Creek Show at Waterloo Greenway
Locals create spectacular site-specific neon art along Austin’s creeks - Nov. 9: Slam Portal at Central Machine Works
Just your average emo-themed interdimensional pro wrestling event - Nov. 9: Books, Brews, and Goats at Jester King
Readings by children’s + adult authors, book trading, + goats - Nov. 9: Armadillo Races at Desert Door
Take in some charity dillo races while you sip fancy cocktails - Nov. 9: Tour das Hugel at every hill in Austin
Join the toughest cyclists in town as they tackle Austin’s roughest hills - Nov. 9: Bang! It’s David Starbuckle: The Movie at Violet Crown Cinema
Live performance of a “visual album” w/music, variety, + fish - Nov. 9-10: Kinda Good Tattoo Convention at Kinda Tropical
Wide array of tattooers + tat vendors hold court - Nov. 9-10 + 16-17: Austin Studio Tour at venues throughout Austin
Artists across Austin open up their studios + hold wacky activities - Nov. 9-10 + 16-17: ART Bus Tour at Almost Real Things HQ
Ride in a bus w/beverages + art fans to see art across town - Nov. 13: No Lights No Lycra at 3rd Eye Meditation Lounge
Our own dance party in the dark returns to 3rd Eye - Nov. 13: Opening Day at Mesmerize
Dream-themed interactive art installation w/works by Austin artists - Nov. 13: Bob Ross Paint-Along at Lloyd the Warehouse
Watch Bob Ross happily paint + instruct + follow along in a group - Nov. 14-16: The 43rd Annual Madrigal Dinner at Shirley Bird Perry Ballroom
“Renaissance-style comedy play” w/orchestra, + dinner served - Nov. 16: High-Class Modern Amusements at 607 Pedernales
“An outdoor immersive art exhibit” complete w/carnival barker - Nov. 16: No Body Passes at Salvage Vanguard Theater
Big art show w/Trans + NB artists from across many media - Nov. 16: Let’s Get Weirder at dadaLab
- “Immersive celestial happening” w/“aliens, astronauts, + a piñata”
- Nov. 16: Austin Opera Festival at KMFA
Showcasing opera singers + composers w/new performances + panels - Nov. 16-17: Texas Book Festival in downtown Austin
Authors + book fans descend upon downtown for talks, shops, + more - Nov. 17: Songs in the Skyspace at the Color Inside
Watch the sun set in the Skyspace with live soundtrack - Nov. 21: Koyaanisqatsi at Laguna Gloria
Watch a radical hard-to-describe doc w/live soundtrack by musicians - Nov. 22: No Lights No Lycra at Sky Candy
We’re bringing our own lights-out dance party to Sky Candy
Austin Studio Tour Update
The Austin Studio Tour is a series of hundreds of FREE events and art shows that take place over two weekends of November (Nov. 9-10 and 16-17) at venues throughout the city. These venues include traditional art studios and galleries, but also ordinary people’s houses and yards, theaters, office buildings, parks, condemned buildings, and anyplace else you can think of. Here’s a map of all the official spaces. Artwork is for sale everywhere at a huge range of price points, or it doesn’t cost anything just to explore and admire.
These are some of the stops we’re going to try to prioritize, though there are certainly many, many more that are worthwhile:
If you want to go on an organized journey from one studio space to the next, Ride Bikes Austin is leading a cycling tour to three studios. Almost Real Things is running their annual ART bus tour to three different studios every day of AST. Or you could just go straight to Almost Real Things HQ and check out their art market.
Grackle House has mastered the art of a good Studio Tour stop. Live music, free drinks, backyard animals, bird-related videos, poetry, tons of artists, and good vibes, all at a cool Austin family’s home.
Bolm Arts is a great one-stop shop. One year we saw some artist do a “virtual hot dog speedrun” here. This year they’ll have 25+ artists and “the crow’s nest: a micro gallery incubator for experimental art and media installation.”
You know we love to see spaces being used in unexpected ways, which is why we are big fans of Good Dad Studios, a boring old office building that’s been turned into vibrant studio space for 130+ artists.
Co-Lab Projects always has cool site-specific art, and this year is no exception, as 10 artists are displaying work in and around their culvert.
Speaking of unique spaces, Sweatt House Art Gallery is in this gorgeous 1880s home in East Austin, and the Studio Tour gives you the opportunity to see about a dozen artists’s work in there, plus you get to see inside a historic home, which I love.
Alternatively: who needs real space?! The Displacement Collective is a VR experience connecting “a freestanding doorway at a physical location with its mirror image in a virtual environment.”
Highland Collective is a big warehouse which was home to our favorite installation during 2022’s AST (you can still visit its website, though sadly the installation itself is long gone). This year they promise wall-to-wall balloon sculptures.
It is extremely unclear what will be happening at Factory on 5th. According to their AST page: “Factory on 5th will feature the a means of communicating dada-punk philosophy utilizing postmodern-multimedia in a style of existential-expressionism. That’s one way to say it, all the other ways to say the damn thing are not expressed with words.”
Thee Gay Agenda is producing “an immersive art experience that celebrates the creative vision of trans artists – showcasing a diverse range of mediums through performance, visual art, and installations.”
Those are just some spaces that we’ve liked in the past or that have caught our eye this year, but know that there are countless others that could be every bit as good. Go click around the Studio Tour map—or just start walking—and see what you find. And if you come across anything great, tell us about it, and we’ll be sure to spread the word (or at least to check it out for ourselves).
All-the-Time Austin Artsy Fun
Our weekly newsletter features upcoming events, but sometimes the activity you’re looking for isn’t an event at all—it’s a place that’s always there. Next time you find yourself on an afternoon when nothing special seems to be going on, you could consider checking out one of these evergreen options.
- Tiny Minotaur
Drinking and costumed LARPing, Dungeonsynths performing in the dungeon w/lots of lore - The Eureka Room
Uniquely goofy, silly, + fun immersive games you play with a group. No spoilers! - Escape the Box on South Congress
So you think you can escape boxes. Sure, but what about time traveling boxes? - We Luv Video
The Alexandria Library of video rental. It’s community-run, you can rent movies or watch them in a cinema while literally surrounded by VHS tapes and DVDs. - The Goats at Jester King Brewery
More a theme park geared towards folks who like refermented cherries in their beer (me) than a brewery. I have not experienced the Goat Experience, but I have seen their goats, and I approve. - Cathedral of Junk
A towering achievement to collecting weird old stuff that will spark nostalgia and cause you to wonder at your last tetanus shot timing - West China Tea House
In addition to their events, West China is a wonderful place just to chat with interesting and welcoming people and drink some delicious tea - Mayfield Park and Nature Preserve
A lovely park + nature walk that is protected by a crack corps of dedicated peacocks and peahens. Good luck escaping without some flashy, feathery displays. - Laguna Gloria
The Contemporary Austin’s outdoor sculpture garden. Culture + Nature = Profit. - Austin Creative Reuse Center
A nonprofit shop where you can get any art, craft, or office supplies you can imagine for literal pennies. Eat your heart out, Office Despot. - Museum of the Weird
It’s right there on Dirty 6th but worth a visit. From famous fake paleontology to recreations of horror film sets, there’s lots to see. - James Turrell’s Skyspace
Like Turrell’s best works, this is an art experience which unfolds slowly over time. Watch as the changing colors of sunset remake the space.
Thanks to our Patreon subscribers
A huge thank-you to our Patreon subscribers Erica Speegle, Mitch Rudea, Jarrett Holtz, Thomas Refferson, Dale Markowitz, Jason & Luciana, Bones Malones, Amy Hayes, Katie Green, Christina Jue, Colleen MB, Lena Long, Amalia Litsa, Alexander Freed, 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 (every second and fourth Wednesday of the month), + 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.