Lite + Brite: 43 Surreal Austin Events 11/7

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

If you like the arts (and let’s assume you do, because you subscribe to this newsletter), this weekend is as good as it gets: It’s both the Texas Book Festival AND the first weekend of the Austin Studio Tour. There’s more than you could ever hope to do, but we did write up a guide to Austin Studio Tour to help you prioritize your time. Some of the many tour stops that caught our eye include tooth gems and a kissing booth at a waxing salon, custom solutions for an optimized life, a Parisian brunch and flea market, a kid-made cardboard arcade, artists’ backyards full of cute animals, free music + booze, bonfires + goat petting, + so much more. And remember, both the Texas Book Fest and the Austin Studio Tour are FREE!

Outside of those two heavy-hitters, this weekend brings a slew of other worthy events, including storytellers paired with live orchestral music, an immersive, site-specific, one-night-only music, video, and lights installation, a secret concert organized by a vegan coffeeshop, a river-inspired movement performance by Austin Water employees, a historic homes tour, an imaginary Desi wedding, a “bizarre milk rave,” a 55th birthday celebration for Texas’s largest independent bookstore, neon art installations, and a Celtic festival (yes, there will be bird of prey). It’s November in Austin—you can’t go wrong.

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

WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO

So much! Halloween night Brian attended Goblin‘s show at the Paramount, where they performed along with the excellent giallo film Deep Red, then played classic tracks of theirs from Suspiria, Tenebre, + Dawn of the Dead. We also attended a lovely Halloween soiree at Dunvegan Keep where Jonathan from Urban Heat + other folks were DJing, and we took in many excellent costumes. We attended a friend’s backyard bazaar with a well-MCed loaf-off, PS2 game station, pole dancing lessons, + acroyoga. Leila got to hit up ATX TV’s discussion with author Amanda Eyre Ward, whose novel is being adapted for TV.

All that PLUS two more listenable things: Leila appeared on City Cast Austin’s podcast to talk about Austin Studio Tour + other November events; and Brian did a radio show of political post-punk + other goodies on election night, with a special call from a NYC correspondent on the state of the mayoral race. Coming up on Monday, Leila will be speaking about young adult books and publishing at Laura’s Library. The event is free, both IRL and online.

EVENTS WE’RE EYEING

Friday 11/7

  • Power of a Planet at Central Presbyterian Church
    Live ambient music performance set to projected planetarium show
  • Secret Show at Davis/White Northeast Neighborhood Park
    Walk to a performance in a secret location w/music playing throughout
  • Save Fairy Alley Rally at 1507 Treadwell St.
    See a charming community street art project, rally to renew + protect it
  • Unconducted x Hyde Park Storytelling at KMFA
    Orchestral musical performances paired w/storytellers
  • Holiday Expo at Precision Camera
    Free photography classes + talks, equipment demos, + free prints
  • Confluence at Hornsby Bend
    Storytelling, live music, poetry, + site-specific performances
  • Love You, Moon at 3615 Oak Springs Drive
    Site-specific modern dance performance inspired by the moon
  • Out of Bounds Comedy Festival at various theaters
    A fest of improv + sketch comedians from Austin + beyond

Saturday 11/8

  • The Dark Unseelie Gala at Tiny Minotaur
    Dark faeries gather in immaculate grounds w/live bards + themed food
  • Lit Crawl at Speakeasy + Cheer Up Charlie’s
    Themed readings, collaborative storytelling, trivia, + Literary Death Match
  • Scootenanny at Scooter 911
    Show off your moped or motorcycle in “back alley slow race” + games, free food n drinks
  • Violet Crown Oktoberfest at Episcopal Church of the Resurrection
    Sample German beer w/live music (including brass bands)
  • The Cardboard Arcade at Spilled Milk Social Club
    Play cardboard-based games designed + made by children
  • Mehregan Fall Festival at the Asian American Resource Center
    Celebrate Persian holiday w/trad food, live music, dancing raffles, + vendors
  • The Fabric of Austin at 506 Congress
    Fashion expo shows Austin’s fashion history w/talks + live music
  • Body Mechanics at 4211 Todd Ln.
    “Come get milked” say fetish-loving rave DJs + “dairy queens”
  • St. Martin Umzug at the German Texan Heritage Society
    Traditional German parade of lantern-bearing children
  • BRAVE Fest at Central Machine Works
    Inclusive dance performances, drag, live music, + vendors
  • Honky Tonk Fest at Jester King
    Live country, two stepping lessons, chicken shit bingo, + burgers
  • Mosswood Renaissance Faire at Ani’s Day + Night
    Costumed stage shows, vendors, “music, dance, + immersive storytelling”
  • The Crossover Episode at Elysium
    Burlesque + drag performers combine for duets + collaborations
  • Texas Book Festival on Congress Ave.
    Authors + book fans descend upon downtown for talks + signings
  • Austin Studio Tour at venues throughout Austin
    Artists across Austin open up their studios + hold wacky activities
  • Art Bus Tour at the Carver Museum
    Ride in a bus w/beverages + art fans to see art across town
  • Austin Celtic Festival at Pioneer Farms
    Celtic music, animals, history, + Highland games
  • Surreal Luck at Luck Ranch
    “Dimension-bending neon art experience” w/art installs + live music
  • Kinda Good Tattoo Convention at Kinda Tropical
    Kinda modest tattoo artists, vendors, drag, DJs, + glizzies
  • Unconducted x Hyde Park Storytelling at Batch
    Orchestral musical performances paired w/storytellers
  • Holiday Expo at Precision Camera
    Free photography classes, equipment demos, + free prints
  • Confluence at Hornsby Bend
    Storytelling, live music, poetry, + site specific performances
  • Love You, Moon at 3615 Oak Springs Drive
    Site-specific modern dance performance inspired by the moon
  • Austin Jewish Film Festival at the Dell JCC
    Jewish films from around the world, plus kosher food + live music
  • Out of Bounds Comedy Festival at various theaters
    A fest of improv + sketch comedians from Austin + beyond
  • (weekly thru 11/29) Goat Yoga at Jester King
    “We call out to the beasts of the land to come forth and JOIN US!”

Sunday 11/9

Monday 11/10

  • ATX Short Film Showcase at the 29th St. Ballroom
    The films are short, the filmmakers are Texan + of varying heights

Tuesday 11/11

  • 55th Birthday Party at BookPeople
    Celebrate venerable local book store w/free stuff + photobooth
  • Ha! Ha! Storytime! at Radio Coffee + Beer
    Comedic storytellers “compete for Sonic the Hedgehog’s heart”

Wednesday 11/12

  • Records to Read To at Carpenter Hotel
    Quiet reading set to author-curated records + drinks

Thursday 11/13

No Humans Allowed 257
Voting Machine Appreciation Day

It was election night, and everyone in America, voting machines were hard at work tabulating your votes. We decided to dedicate a show to them, and got our NYC correspondent to give us a report on the ground of NYC’s heated mayoral election.

Stream Voting Machine Appreciation Day

Tracklist
Gang of Four – To Hell with Poverty
McCarthy – I’m on the Side of Mankind as Much as the Next Man
Heaven 17 – (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
The Soft Pink Truth – Do They Owe Us a Living
John Carpenter – The President Is Gone (Combo Re-edit)
Depeche Mode – Everything Counts
Konsumprodukt – Italo Disco Politic Bureau
The Faxx – Corruption
Nine Inch Nails – The Hand That Feeds (DFA Remix)
Boys from Brazil – We Don’t Need No World War III (Der Remix)
Use No Hooks – In the Clear

No Humans Allowed is Brian Blackout’s award-winning, 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.

PATREON THANKS

A huge thank-you to our Patreon subscribers James Gray, Emily Heddleson, Andrew Creswell, Robert B., Roman Gonzalez, Nick Ivons, Molly Fonseca, Lilly Ettinger, Michael Sales, Zach, Gino Scaramuzza, Erica Speegle, Jarrett Holtz, Thomas Refferson, Bones Malones, Katie Green, Christina Jue, Colleen MB, Alexander Freed, Kristen Backor, and Timon A. 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 attending a dance party in a storage unit, a Greek mythology-themed Halloween parade thrown by a bat crew and a rat crew, and watching a troupe of gigantic leftist puppets from New England. Follow Lite + Brite on Instagram to keep up with our adventures. We’re now on Bluesky too. Yay federation! And come chat with us and the rest of the L+B community on our Discord server (where we sometimes post stuff early too).

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 2025). 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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