Lite + Brite: 30 Swampy Austin Events 1/17

Hello, what’s up, and welcome to the Lite + Brite newsletter.

Sometimes in our calendar year there are cultural moments so noteworthy that they inspire multiple events. This week brings two such occasions: Dolly Parton’s birthday (observed via both drag + burlesque as well as cover bands + lookalike contests) and the release of the third book in Rebecca Yarros’s Empyrean series (observed by multiple midnight release parties). We’ve also got events for fans of Tim Burton, Edgar Allan Poe, Shrek, and witch doctors. That’s culture, baby! In response to the (deep sigh) presidential inauguration, Democrasexy (whom we profiled in September) is leading a cemetery walking tour celebrating powerful Texas women, as well as a therapeutic meetup. On Monday we’ve got a rally, march, festival, and food drive honoring the legacy of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. And our very own dance party in the dark is on Wednesday!

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

We return into the dark this Wednesday for another No Lights No Lycra with Brian Blackout. You can get tickets here, you can listen to a recording of Brian’s DJ mix here, or scroll down for more info.

No Humans Allowed went down a time tunnel into the UK in the year 1992. Druggy Madchester guitarists rub shoulders with acid house-loving ravers in the Second Summer of Love. Listen to Time Machine 1992 in the Kpiss archives.

EVENTS WE’RE EYEING

Friday 1/17

  • Tim Burton Ball at Richesart
    Art gallery becomes Halloweentown w/art, cosplay, + live music
  • Dolly’s Birthday Draglesque Show at Cheer Up Charlie’s
    Drag + burlesque performers pay tribute to the queen of country
  • Ak’chamel at Tiny Minotaur
    Night of “otherworldly physical theater” w/bones, witch doctors, chanting
  • Moments in Motion at 506 Congress
    Art exhibition of works from recent program grads
  • Body Mechanics at 4211 Todd Lane
    DJs happily blurring the lines between a dance party + a fetish party
  • Broadway Rave at Empire Control Room
    For ravers into Broadway or theater kids who wanna go to the club
  • (weekly thru 2/21) Hell Is These Four People at the Hideout
    Existential improvisers tackle Sartre and the afterlife

Saturday 1/18

  • Edgar Allan Poe Ball at Elysium
    Poe ball w/themed drinks, costumes, DJs, + “Edgar Allan Hoes”
  • Swamp Ass: A Shrek Party at Tiny Minotaur
    “Raunchy (+ non-licensed) celebration of the life and times of Shrek”
  • Lumber Society 10th Anniversary Party at Buzz Mill Coffee
    Watch local lumber soc members compete in a variety of contests
  • Texas Foremothers Tour at the Texas State Cemetery
    Learn about the women of Texas political history (in a cemetery!)
  • Texas Roller Derby at the Travis County Expo Center
    Roller derbyists murderously crash their way through a banked track
  • Sleaze Freaks at Parish
    Indie sleaze + sleaze-inspired dance party
  • Frisky Business Burlesque at Captain Quack’s
    An evening of burlesque acts w/names like “The Great Flying Cervix”
  • Lucky Ladies at Cheer Up Charlie’s
    “Two-woman live music + drag variety show” w/many costume changes
  • PowerPints at the Highball
    Quick comedic talks on a variety of esoteric topics
  • CelloFest at the Cathedral
    Cellists perform many genres + eras of music in intimate setting
  • (weekly thru 2/8) Frontera Fest Best of the Week at Hyde Park Theatre
    “Alternative, offbeat, new, and just plain off-the-wall fringe theatre”
  • (weekly thru 3/1) The Rose at Coldtowne
    Annual improv show parodying reality romance TV

Sunday 1/19

Monday 1/20

Tuesday 1/21

Wednesday 1/22

  • No Lights No Lycra at 3rd Eye Meditation Lounge
    Our own dance party in the dark returns to 3rd Eye
  • Silent Book Club at Vintage Books + Wine
    Silently read books together + optional sharing

Thursday 1/23

No Humans Allowed 219
Time Machine 1992

This week we hopped into a time machine and journeyed back to the UK in 1992 where baggy Madchester lads rubbed shoulders with the acid house revolution. Love, drugs, flowers, samplers, + the occasional guitar. All tracks are from the UK, 1988 – 1992.

Stream Time Machine 1992

Tracklist
Primal Scream – Loaded
Soho – Hippychick
Happy Mondays – Step on
Electroset – How Does It Feel?
The Shamen – L.S.I. – Love Sex Intelligence
Rio Rhythm Band – Cuba Jakkin’
My Bloody Valentine – Soon (Andrew Weatherall Mix)
D-Mob – That’s the Way of the World
McCarthy – Get a Knife Between Your Teeth
Mental Cube – Q
The Beloved – Up, Up and Away
Renegade Soundwave – Probably a Robbery (Turntable Scratch Mix)

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 over 200 episodes now streamable in the archives on topics like and Beach Simulations, Roomba dance parties, undersea adventures + Cyber Texas.

No Lights No Lycra ATX 177
w/Brian Blackout

Recorded live in the dark at 3rd Eye Meditation Lounge on January 8, 2025

Listen to NLNL ATX 177 on Mixcloud

Tracklist
Airbird + Napolian – In the Zone
Ruf Dug + Private Joy – Don’t Give in
The Knife – Heartbeats
Fontaines D.C. – Starburster
Stereo MC’s – Connected
The Jackson Sisters – I Believe in MIracles (Choci Glickmix)
Greg Wilson – Two Sides of Sympathy
Heavy D & the Boys – Sister SIster
Flamingosis – Feel Yourself ft. Marc Rebillet
Ariana Grande – Yes, and?
Sally C – All Love
Confidence Man – Real Move Touch w/Sweetie Irie
Deee-Lite – Groove Is in the Heart
Sophie Ellis Bextor – Murder on the Dancefloor
Justice + Tame Impala – Neverender
Boney M – NIghtflight to Venus (the Flying Squad Re-edit)
Olivia Newton-John – Physical
Yard Act – Dream Job
The Dare – Perfume
Charli xcx + Billie Eilish – Guess
Nuovo Testamento – It’s My Dreams (Powerhouse Mix)
Luxxury – Strangely Familiar
Whitney Houston – So Emotional
David Bowie – Modern Love
Home – All at Once
Discovery Zone – Ur Eyes

What is No Lights No Lycra?
Austin’s twice-monthly, judgment-free, substance-free, high-impact dance thing in the dark. It’s a DJ night that’s not at the club, a workout that’s not at the gym, a personal meditation that’s anything but silent. It’s produced by us, your kindly L+B overlords, and usually one or the other of us is on the hook for DJ duties. Read more about it in the Austin Chronicle. You can listen to the kind of music we play over on Brian’s Mixcloud.

PATREON THANKS

A huge thank-you to our Patreon subscribers Michael Sales, Zach, Gino Scaramuzza, Erica Speegle, Jarrett Holtz, Thomas Refferson, Dale Markowitz, Jason & Luciana, Bones Malones, Amy Hayes, Katie Green, Christina Jue, Colleen MB, Lilly Ettinger, 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 enjoying 1-800-CLOWN-TOWN at Kick Butt Coffee, exploring Mesmerize, and experiencing the 37th Street Lights. 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, Concept Animals’ ATX Art for You for gallery openings + artist talks, 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, + 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.

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK, CHAMPIONS

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