Lite + Brite: 35 Exploded Austin Events 1/31
Hello, what’s up, and welcome to the Lite + Brite newsletter.
The Lunar New Year is upon us, and this weekend you can celebrate it with a variety of dragon + lion dances, pop-up markets, Chinese calligraphy, tea services, and plenty more. Or, kick off Black History Month with a huge block party and a rowing-themed film and panel at the Carver Museum, and—now that the weather is warmer—belatedly honor MLK Jr. with a bike ride and festival. If you haven’t yet made it out to this year’s Fortlandia, this weekend if your last chance. Our periodic award for best event copywriting this week goes to Daddy Issues for the line “Who needs custody of the kids when you have custody of the STAGE?” And, if all these positive and creative community events aren’t enough to distract you from *gestures broadly* the horrors, then emotionally confront them head-on with an evening of scream-crying.
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Let’s do fun stuff!
—Leila + Brian
liteandbriteatx.com
OUR STUFF
It’s not Valentine’s Day quite yet but last week No Humans Allowed started tackling synthesizer-laden songs of love all the same. We might get even more boogie, house, + electro love songs next week, but in the meantime last week’s show, Plastic Love, is up in the archives to stream. Check it out live or archived on Kpiss.fm.
No Lights No Lycra of returns to Third Eye 2nd + 4th Wednesdays in February, starting February 12th. You can get tickets here, and if you’d like to listen to the last NLNL just keep on scrolling.
EVENTS WE’RE EYEING
Friday 1/31
- Midsommer Scream Cry Fest at Distribution Hall
Feeling frustrated w/the world? Scream it out w/Erica Nix - Within These Walls at 2324 Studios
“Diverse works of painting, photography, + fiber arts” w/lots of artists - Daddy Issues at Cheer Up Charlie’s
“Divorced dad rock drag tribute” w/DJs + drag kings - Exploded Drawing at dadaLab
Scratch DJs + turntablists, live electronic music, + live visuals - Nowhere at 13th Floor
Drag performances to “indie divas” + more unexpected tunes - m(other) figures at the Dougherty Arts Center
Modern dance performers consider lineage + motherhood - Star of Texas Tattoo Art Revival at the Palmer Events Center
Tattoo convention w/live music, afterparties, burlesque, + sideshow acts - (weekly thru 2/21) Hell Is These Four People at the Hideout
Existential improvisers tackle Sartre and the afterlife
Saturday 2/1
- Austin Anarchist Book Fair at Double Trouble and Monkeywrench
Anarchists of the world, unite + take over w/books, workshops, organizing - West China Lunar New Year Tea Party at Flow Yoga Westgate
Celebrate LNY w/trad Chinese tea + dancers, live music, vendors - Solar Saturday Block Party at the Carver Museum
Start Black History Month w/workshops, vinyl, vendors, + arts n crafts - MLK Day Bike Ride at Parque Zargosa
Belated bike ride to celebrate the life of MLK - MLK Festival at Huston Tillotson
Belated celebration to honor MLK w/vendors + live music - Playground Opening Reception at Wally Workman Gallery
Immersive performance art in a gallery space - Vape Nation at Sterling Stage
Video DJ spinning J-Pop, City pop, Vaporwave, + Future Funk - Karaoke Underground at Knomad
Sing karaoke to your favorite punk, indie + alt classics - Opening Hours at Sherwood Forest Zine Library
Read from Sherwood Forest’s extensive library of zines - Open Studios at Canopy
Artists at Canopy open up their studios to the public - Fantasy Karaoke at Tiny Minotaur
Bard-hosted fantasy costumes-only karaoke - m(other) figures at the Dougherty Arts Center
Modern dance performers consider lineage + motherhood - Star of Texas Tattoo Art Revival at the Palmer Events Center
Tattoo convention w/live music, afterparties, burlesque, + sideshow acts - (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 2/2
- 18th Annual Chili Cook-off at Jo’s Coffee
Judge + eat chili + debate the existence of chili w/beans - Fortlandia Closing Day at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Annual interactive installation art exhibition w/a play fort theme - Lunar New Year Celebration at Suds Monkey
Traditional Chinese tea, calligraphy, dances, + red envelopes - Lunar New Year Festival at the Paper + Craft Pantry
LNY trad dances, bilingual storytime, face painting, + vendors - Jane Austin Improv at Fallout
Improv comedians dress up and skewer 19th century literature - Landmarks Monthly Tour at UT Austin
Tour minimalist works of UT’s outdoor sculpture collection - Star of Texas Tattoo Art Revival at the Palmer Events Center
Tattoo convention w/live music, afterparties, burlesque, + sideshow acts
Monday 2/3
- Monday Night Jammie Jam: Goth Brooks at Kick Butt Coffee
Burlesque + variety performers inspired by gothic cowpokes - ATX Short Film Showcase at Spiderhouse Ballroom
The films are short, the filmmakers are Texan + of varying heights - Silent Book Club at St. Elmo Springdale
Silently read books together + optional sharing
Tuesday 2/4
- Umlauf After Dark at Umlauf
LNY dances, glowing dragon, gong meditation + art showcase - One Page Salon at Radio Coffee + Beer
Hear local writers read their works in progress + published works
Thursday 2/6
- Ballet Folklórico de México at the Long Center
Ballet performances inspired by pre-Colombian Mexican folklore - That’s My Face at the Carver Museum
Watch a documentary about young folks coming together + rowing - Testify at Barrel O’ Fun
Storytellers tell true stories about friends (aww!)
No Humans Allowed 221
Plastic Love
Love isn’t only relevant on February 14th! We got a little overexcited and put a whole lotta love into this show that’s a couple weeks too early (but who’s counting). We tackled plastic love, fake love, criminal love, functional love, unlimited love, stronger love, light love, and love that burns like cyanide. And you know what? There’s still plenty of love left to go round for February.
Tracklist
The Mac Band – Love U 2 the Limit
Mariya Takeuchi – Plastic Love (Swifft Edit)
Aurra – You & Me Tonight (Holmes Price Edit)
Cath Carroll – Moves Like You
Deee-Lite – What Is Love?
Swayzak – Stronger Love
Jimmy Edgar – Function of Your Love
Oattes Van Schaik – Crimes of Passion
Donna Summer – Love Is in Control (Plastique de Reve Remix)
Conway & Temple – Love Lights (Young Pulse Rework)
Carol Shinnette – Cyanide Love
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 178
w/Brian Blackout
Recorded live in the dark at 3rd Eye Meditation Lounge on January 22nd, 2025
Listen to NLNL ATX 178 on Mixcloud
Tracklist
Andrew Gordon – Walking the Lonely Streets
Queen – Cool Cat (V4YS Edit)
Fern Kinney – Baby Let Me Kiss You
Shabba Ranks – Mr Loverman
Sade – When Am I Going to Make a Living (Poolside Edit)
Ace of Base – All That She Wants
Missy Elliott – Work It
Ten Fé – Twist Your Arm (Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas Remix)
Bonnie Tyler – Married Man (Lauren Murada Edit)
Justin TImberlake – My Love (DFA Remix)
Psymon Spine – Wizard Acid
James Brown – Get up offa That Thing / Release the Pressure
Les Sins – Why
Cassie – Me & U (Eli Escobar Remix)
O. Wake – Riper than Ripe
Black Light Smoke – Girls Dance with Computer
La Roux – Bulletproof
The Presets – This Boy’s in Love (Lifelike Remix)
Pnau – Embrace ft. Ladyhawke
Technotronic – Pump up the Jam
The Movement – Jump (Mutha Mix)
Nelly Furtado – Maneater
Blur – Song 2
Pixies – Debaser
The La’s – There She Goes
Home – All at Once
Joël Fajerman – Plage de Lune
Baron Zen – Burn Rubber (Dâm Funk Remix)
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.