Lite + Brite: 35 Unboxed Austin Events 12/5
Hello, what’s up, and welcome to the Lite + Brite newsletter.
It’s nice and chilly outside and we’re in the eye of the storm of the holiday season. Speaking of, two things from our monthly newsletter to remind you of: our 2025 guide to holiday markets (which has had numerous updates this week), and our playlist of 2025 tunes that we loved. It’s basically L+B Wrapped.
This week, some highlights include an 26-foot flying serpent, an anti-soiree, Xmas plays about smalltown Texas, retro gift exchanges, evil Santas, dangerous worlds for people who fail to bring pastries, a doggie sweater contest, a retro media swap meet, wizards with impeccable vibes, + a caroling party.
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Let’s do fun stuff!
—Leila + Brian
liteandbriteatx.com
EVENTS WE’RE EYEING
Friday 12/5
- Barter Friday at Breakaway Records
Swap your vintage video + audio media for new-to-you stuff - Krampusnacht at Tiny Minotaur
Pastry potluck, quests, danger to folks who don’t bring treats - Futch Fetish at Elysium
“D*ke the halls” w/“all-lesbian drag show” - Body Mechanics at 4211 Todd Ln.
Vinyl DJs blurring the lines between a dance party + a fetish party - A Tuna Christmas at Genesis Creative Collective
A theatrical sendup of Christmas in small town Texas
Saturday 12/6
- Wizard Rodeo at the Long Time
Live music + vendor market w/incredible vibes + website - Holiday Stroll at Congress Ave.
Live music, singalongs, vendors, Santa pics, + tree lighting - Mortified at the Highball
Folks share their teenaged diaries in a new comedic light - Cowboy Xmas at Co-Lab Projects
“Anti-soiree” w/live music, art show, bull rides, + Xmas karaoke - The Lawn Party at Shady Springs Party Barn
“Sketch comedy series featuring live comedy, standup, + games” - Holiday Book Fair at the Byrne-Reed House
Texan authors raise money for libraries w/their latest books - A Serpent Flies at Pease Park
Everything is bigger in Texas, even the flying serpents - Club Bushwig at 29th St. Ballroom
Famed NYC drag event visits Austin w/ locals + touring performers - Bookwyrms Book Faire at Tiny Minotaur
Free + all-ages book faire w/local vendors w/optional costumes - Righteous Retro Market at the Highball
Contests, retro gift exchange, vendors, + curated videos - Videoheaven at We Luv Video
Watch a new doc about video stores IN a video store w/Q+A, free pizza - Goth Wave at Coconut Club
DJs spinning 80s post-punk + modern darkwave - High Society at Purple Bee Studio
“Non-stop mix of burlesque, modern dance, live music, comedy + performance art” - Darkwave Disco at Elysium
DJs spinning darkwave, goth, + italo disco - Reindeer Run at Jackalope South Shore
Corgi racing, dog sweater contest, vendors, “tiny legs at full speed” - Christmas Tree Lighting Party at Seven Grand
Get festive w/cookie decorating, s’mores, vendors, + tree lighting - Horror for the Holidays at the Palmer Events Center
Evil Santa, Krampus parade, elf races, photo ops + signings - A Tuna Christmas at Genesis Creative Collective
A theatrical sendup of Christmas in small town Texas
Sunday 12/7
- A Christmas Memory at Austin Central Library
Staged reading of a Truman Capote Xmas story - Holiday Card Printing Party at the Press Room
Print your own holiday cards at an immersive workshop - Light It Up at Central Machine Works
Join in caroling w/choral concert + classical music trivia - Big Queer Wedding Party at the Cathedral
“Music, Texas drag, weddings, vow renewals, joy, + LOVE” - Escape the Box at Austin City Hall
Escape the box only there’s no box, there is Austin fun + time travel - Unboxing the Archives at the Austin History Center
Check out the Austin History Center’s new digs w/the mayor - Landmarks at Night at UT Austin
Nocturnal tour of sculptural landmarks around UT’s campus - Horror for the Holidays at the Palmer Events Center
Evil Santa, Krampus parade, elf races, photo ops + signings - A Tuna Christmas at Genesis Creative Collective
A theatrical sendup of Christmas in small town Texas
Monday 12/8
- ATX Short Film Showcase at 29th St. Ballroom
The films are short, the filmmakers are Texan + of varying heights
Tuesday 12/9
- Vimeo Staff Picks Screening at AFS
Watch short videos curated by folks at Vimeo
Wednesday 12/10
- The Moth at the Paramount
“Daring” touring show from storytelling trailblazers - Reel Science at the Long Center
Science-themed doc screening w/related talk
Thursday 12/11
- ART Bus Karaoke Tour at Almost Real Things
Cruise around town checking out art + singing karaoke in a bus - The E(Xmas)ist at Crashbox
“A campy queer Christmas parody of The Exorcist” - A Tuna Christmas at Genesis Creative Collective
A theatrical sendup of Christmas in small town Texas
NHA261
Upgrade 3.0.5
No Humans Allowed is back with another musical upgrade to version 3.0.5. All tunes new to us this week spanning all decades (including some tunes from 2025).
Tracklist
Stereolab – Mystical Plosives
Jeremy Dower – Windy Ponies: When You Try to Laugh, But All You Can Do Is Cry
Lynks – I Didn’t Come Here for Art
Fcukers – I Like It Like That
Stealing Sheep – U F33l M3
Desire – Darkside (slowed+reverb)
Gelli Haha – Normalize
Total Fucking Darkness – Good Times
Getdown Services – Eat Quiche, Sleep, Repeat
Data Bass – A Trip in the Night
Jet Cemetary – Melt Away
Arkavoid – Vaporkiss
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, marching in 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, ATX Theatre for plays, 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.