Lite + Brite: 14 Unwrapped Austin Events 1/2
Hello, what’s up, and welcome to the Lite + Brite newsletter.
Happy 2026 y’all! We’re glad to be here and glad that you’re here with us. We’re a bit overdue on our monthly edition which will be out early next week, and we’ve got some fun surprises in store for it, so be sure to check it out.
In the meantime, a bit of a quiet week after the hubbub of holidays + New Year’s Eve. Some of us are still out of town, others are tired from ringing in the end of 2025. You’d be forgiven if you’re not ready to explore the world this week, but if you’re one of those brave few we’ve got some great options for you nonetheless, whether you’d like to harmonize with the infinite, hear live dungeon synth while selecting a can of Liquid Death from a convenience store cooler, or celebrate the birthday of everyone’s favorite spider, David Bowie.
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
Like a lot of you no doubt, much of our December was spent with family, or catching up from the time we spent with family. We did make it out of the house on “amateur night” aka New Year’s. We hit up a friend’s birthday before heading down to a not terribly insane Red River. Elysium’s New Year’s party reminded us of everything we love about Austin. A pretty wide-ranging group of folks surrounded us on the dancefloor and in the audience of the burlesque performers there (including a stellar take on Raf’s italo version of “Self Control” by Jack Rabid of Boyz of Austin). We chatted with drag performers + bartenders, dads, leather daddies, + masons. Probably everyone there would be some kind of misfit in mainstream America, and though various tribes were represented, we all shared that in common. In 2026 we hope we can continue to empower you to find both your fun and your community in Austin, whatever that community looks like. The ability to feel like on some level you belong is something many of us take for granted, and for some like us, nightlife is where we belong.
EVENTS WE’RE EYEING
Friday 1/2
- Body Mechanics at 4211 Todd Ln.
Vinyl DJs blurring the lines between a dance party + a fetish party - Assorted Potions, City Blue, + Hagzzz at Friendly Rio Mart
Enjoy rock bands + dungeon synths next to the Slim Jims - The Muttcracker (Sweet!) at the Vortex
An all-dog not-at-all-ballet production of the holiday favorite
Saturday 1/3
- Art Explosion at 4211 Todd Ln.
Circus arts performers, live music, live painters, + art installations - ErotiQueer Burlesque Unwrapped at Austin Playhouse
“Queering the meaning of Christmas” w/burlesque performers - Karaoke Underground at Knomad
Sing karaoke to your favorite punk, indie + alt classics - Electrowhip at Elysium
DJs spinning techno, dark synthy genres, + “power electronic” - Ghost Tour at Pioneer Farms
A haunted hike through 19th century farm buildings - Opening Hours at Sherwood Forest Zine Library
An extensive library of zines in someone’s house, friendly cat included - The Muttcracker (Sweet!) at the Vortex
An all-dog not-at-all-ballet production of the holiday favorite
Sunday 1/4
- New Year, New You Clothing Swap at Captain Quack’s
Say goodbye to your old duds + gain new-to-you treasures
Wednesday 1/7
- Synth Soundbath at Tiny Minotaur
BYO synths to “harmonize with the infinite” or take it in - Word Perv at Smelt House
Storytelling + variety show about gender + sexuality
Thursday 1/8
- David Bowie Birthday Bonanza at Hotel Vegas
Celebrate Bowie’s bday w/Labyrinth screening + cover bands - PowerPints at Radio East
“Drink + learn things” at comedic talks on a variety of esoteric topics
NHA160
Out of Office Autoreply
NHA took the week off to travel back to Austin, so here’s an older episode that was a tribute to the out of office autoreply, something which we’ve had to rely on a lot this week. We said this back in ’23 “This week, it’s time to fire up the ol’ out of office auto reply. We’ll have a mix of synthpop, italo, + electro that will transport you to another dimension far from the bustle hustle of the work world.”
Stream Out of Office Autoreply
Tracklist
George Semper – Universe
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Everybody Loves the Sunshine
Ivan – Sueños de Papel (Sunday Afternoon)
Thoty – Love Is (DJ Lloyd Rework)
Michael Franks – When Sly Calls (Don’t Touch That Phone)
Donald Fagen – The Goodbye Look
Genius of Time – Sunswell
Willie Colón – Set Fire to Me
Hysteric – Portable Dishwasher
Alan Palomo – La Madrileña
Jan Hammer Group – Don’t You Know
Donny Benét – Konichiwa
Joan Bibiloni – Sobrevivir
Lauer & Dena – Friends
Waffles – 007A
Gary Low – You Dream a Lot (Hysteric Edit)
San Serac – Night Work
Righeira – Vamos a la Playa
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.