Lite + Brite: 29 Heated Austin Events 12/26 (including 18 NYE options)

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

The year is drawing to a close, but we’ve got the chance to end things with a bang. For those who will be in Austin for New Year’s, we’re listing some NYE options here and in a frequently updated list on our website, and early next week we’ll send a special edition email for those of us slavishly devoted to our inboxes. We’ve got a big edition of our January monthly newsletter coming too, keep an eye out for that a few days into the month. Basically it’s bedlam here at L+B HQ and we love it.

If you’re champing at the bit for something to do NOW (or if you think NYE is amateur night), we’ve got some morsels to throw your way. Dress up like a wizard, get raunchy + zany with Nutcracker mutts, check out a solid fake limb dismemberment or two, sing sad songs, party like a sexy gay hockey star, or say goodbye to Krampus. For those of you willing to party amateurishly and ring in the ol’ lang syne, we’ve got psychedelic mermaids, queer masquerades, sad brisket, booze free disco downs, drone shows, 00s indie sleaze covers, heavens + hells, volcanic eruptions, + lotsa local bands.

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

Last weekend we attended the Museum of Human Achievement’s annual holiday show, this year a mashup of LoTR and Wicked by way of LiveJournal. It was, as always, utterly and delightfully bonkers. Truly a highlight. Narrator Roxy Castillo is, if not an American treasure, then at the very least an East Austin treasure, and seeing Gandalf sporting a big honking rack with his beard is an image we will not soon forget. We also paid our annual visit to the 37th Street Lights (which are staying up for the next week!), where we participated in the democratic process by voting for pet mayor of the block at the North Poll (get it?). Living on 37th St. must be such a huge responsibility, and we salute every resident who brings their A-game year after year. We also went to Blue Genie and stocked up on earrings and ceramics from local artists, spent Christmas Day recharging in some thermal mineral springs, and now we’re readying ourselves for 2026.

Brian recorded a synthy Christmas episode of No Humans Allowed from his parents’ dining room table which is now up in the Kpiss archives if you need even more holiday tunes.

EVENTS WE’RE EYEING

Friday 12/26

  • CommuniTea at West China Tea
    Enjoy traditional Chinese tea + chat w/fellow tea enjoyers
  • Wizard Night at Tiny Minotaur
    Dress in your finest wizard robes + enjoy bardic entertainment
  • The Muttcracker (Sweet!) at the Vortex
    An all-dog not-at-all-ballet production of the holiday favorite

Saturday 12/27

Sunday 12/28

Monday 12/29

Wednesday 12/31

  • Austin’s New Year at Auditorium Shores (free)
    Ring in the new year w/live music, drone show, + fireworks
  • Mi Casa Es Su Casa at Hotel San Jose (free)
    Outdoor dance party w/DJ
  • Tacos + Tires at Martin Pool (free)
    Social bike ride, tacos, + live music by a pool
  • Disco into the New Year at Pease Park (free)
    Booze-free party w/DJ spinning disco + mocktails
  • Party Like It’s 2099 at Cheer Up Charlie’s ($15)
    “Intergalactic, cyberpunk party” w/performers, Q+As, DJs
  • New Queers Eve Masquerade at Chess Club ($20)
    Masked party w/queer burlesque performers + themed photobooth
  • New Years Eve at Tiny Minotaur ($20)
    “Fantasy shenanigans w/music, ritual fires, + glizzy topping buffet”
  • NYE Ball at Elysium ($24)
    DJs spinning 80s, 90s, + goth tunes w/burlesque + drag
  • NYE Block Party at 29th St. Ballroom ($24)
    Multiple rooms w/live local bands + diverse DJs
  • NYE Party at the 13th Floor ($33)
    Ring in the new year w/local bands
  • Brisket Eve at the Far Out Lounge ($33)
    BBQ trucks, emo cover bands, + DJs spinning millennium tunes
  • Gay Phantom of the Opera at Highland Lounge ($34)
    Phantom-themed costumes, live music, drag, photo ops, + DJ
  • New Years Eve Gala at Saengerrunde Halle
    Traditional German live music, dancing, + breakfast
  • One More Time at Hotel Vegas ($42)
    Local bands dress up + cover 00s indie sleaze faves
  • Drab Majesty at Mohawk ($47)
    Stellar live music lineup w/DJs playing darkwave + goodie bags
  • A Pompeii Drama at Roma ($55)
    Roman debauchery-themed party w/DJs + volcanic eruptions
  • Saints + Sinners at Eberly ($93)
    Experience heaven + hell w/DJs, live cover band, + burlesque
  • L’Atlantis at Justine’s ($175)
    Surrealist undersea party w/“lobster telephones” + mermaids

Thursday 1/1

  • Closing Night at 37th St. Lights
    Finale of neighborhood show w/music, stuffed animal zoo, pet elections 
  • Creative Social Mixer at Haus of Talents
    “Music, poetry, fashion, + flowing drinks” connecting creative community

NHA265
Silicon Santa

Silicon Santa’s here with festive diskettes for the good robot girls and boys. Join us for some merry synthmas tunes.

Stream Silicon Santa

Tracklist
Tatsuro Yamashita – Acappella Variation on a Theme by Gluck
Cocteau Twins – Winter Wonderland
Jens Lekman – Postcard #50
Holy Ghost & Classixx – Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Under the Mirrored Mistletoe Mix)
Eurosport – Tell No One about Tonight
The Golden Filter – White Nights
Kate Bush – December Will Be Magic Again
Steve Moore – Carol of the Bells
Book of Love – We Three Kings
Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas
Tatsuro Yamashita – Christmas Eve
Kristin Kontrol – Last Christmas
The Weather Girls – Dear Santa (Bring Me a Man This Christmas)

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 Kat, James Gray, Emily Heddleson, Andrew Creswell, Robert B., Roman Gonzalez, Nick Ivons, Molly Fonseca, Lilly Ettinger, Michael Sales, Zach, Gino Scaramuzza, Erica Speegle, 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.

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK, CHAMPIONS

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