Lite + Brite: 42 Rogue Austin Events 6/3
Hello, what’s up, and welcome to the Lite + Brite newsletter.
For many years, the Amy’s Ice Cream Trick Olympics has been one of Austin’s highlights. This year, Amy’s has replaced their iconic Trick Olympics with a new-fashioned “Scoopapalooza.” Is this an improvement or a downgrade? We don’t know (and we won’t find out, since we’re in NYC this weekend). Please go and report back.
This is apparently a big week for paloozas, as we also have Paddlepalooza on Lady Bird Lake. Paloozas for all! In non-palooza happenings, the coming days bring us the grand opening of the next section of Waterloo Greenway, the re-opening of Austin’s Mexican American cultural center, a “live clown cabaret + social experiment,” pop-up “rocks and smells” installations, “ambient musicians and images from space projected on a planetarium screen,” live music + art vendors at the newly relocated HOPE Outdoor Gallery, non-corporate Pride, very corporate bands, and seasonal flower crowns.
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Let’s do fun stuff!
—Leila + Brian
liteandbriteatx.com
EVENTS WE’RE EYEING
Friday 6/5
- Planetarium Mobilis at Factory on 5th
Live ambient music accompanies live remixed NASA imagery - iContact at the Long Center
“Emergent performance ritual” involving movement, puppetry, + soundscapes - First Friday Art Trail at HOPE Outdoor Gallery
Immersive art, vendors, + live music at newly reopened graffiti park - Queer Rogue Night at Tiny Minotaur
“Be gay do crime” dressed as a rogue/thief, gay or otherwise - Missing Troll at BRB Coffee
Watch + discuss a doc about Austin’s beloved departed troll sculpture - Connec(TX)ions Dance Festival at ESPA
Short performances by two dozen local dance companies - Joan Fukher Must Die at Coldtowne
“Comedic burlesque” takes 00s flick, sets it in ATX + makes it gay - Light at the Dougherty Arts Center
One woman Chinese shadow puppetry show about family - Armadillo Live at Central Machine Works
KUTX benefit w/live bands, costumes, + fun themes - Another Kind of Silence at the Vortex
Deaf, hard-of-hearing, + hearing actors perform play in English + ASL - Frutos de la Muerte at Ground Floor Theater
Multilingual puppetry play about Guatemala, politics, fungi, + spirits - Insomnia Cafe at Stage Austin
Play that is “part psychological hostage story, part pop-culture fever dream” - (weekly thru 6/26) Storytelling Through Dance Making at Festival Beach
Learn to tell your own personal stories using choreography
Saturday 6/6
- The RainWhorest Cafe at Sky Candy
Like the animatronic restaurant, only for adults and involving circus arts - The Confluence Grand Opening at Waterloo Greenway
Celebrate the Greenway’s transformation w/live music, art, + activities - Midsummer Festival at the Old Bakery + Emporium
Non-creepy celebration of Sweden w/trad music, food, + flower crowns - The Majestic Ball at the Paramount
Ballroom performances with rococo vibes - I Was a Museum at Kick Butt Coffee
Clown-themed performance art, burlesque, “speed friending,” general chaos - First Saturday at the Museum of Human Achievement
“Smells bingo,” clothing mending lab + swap, + member mingling - PaddlePalooza on Town Lake
A big floating party w/DJs, boats, boards, + bubbles - Grand Reopening at the ESB-MACC
Tours, vendors, workshops, + art at Mexican American cultural center - 40 Years of F****n’ Up at the Highball
Watch new NOFX doc w/live bands, vintage vendors, + punk trivia - Karaoke Underground at Knomad Bar
Sing karaoke to your favorite punk, indie + alt classics - Texas Rollergirls at the Travis County Expo Center
Austin’s flat track roller derby teams go at it in a double header - Purple Party at Empire Garage
DJs hold all-vinyl dance party tribute to purple virtuoso Prince - Flesh for Frankenstein at Eastside Cinema
Watch X-rated bloody Andy Warhol-directed horror flick - Connec(TX)ions Dance Festival at ESPA
Short performances by two dozen local dance companies - Joan Fukher Must Die at Coldtowne
“Comedic burlesque” takes 00s flick, sets it in ATX + makes it gay - Light at the Dougherty Arts Center
One woman Chinese shadow puppetry show about family - Armadillo Live at Central Machine Works
KUTX benefit w/live bands, costumes, + fun themes - Another Kind of Silence at the Vortex
Deaf, hard-of-hearing, + hearing actors perform play in English + ASL - Big Ole Queer Market at the Palmer Events Center
Big vendor market for queer artists + businesses - Frutos de la Muerte at Ground Floor Theater
Multilingual puppetry play about Guatemala, politics, fungi, + spirits - Insomnia Cafe at Stage Austin
Play that is “part psychological hostage story, part pop-culture fever dream”
Sunday 6/7
- Queerbomb at Inn Cahoots
Speakers, drag performers, + musicians rally for Pride w/parade - Scoopapalooza at Bouldin Acres
Ice cream trick olympics plus live music, vendors, + kids corner - Fantasy Book Faire at the Vortex
Costume contest, free books, student art, dancers, + more - Yeehawties at Austin Motel
Austin’s favorite queer 90s country DJs hit the pool w/drag performers - Legacy at the State Theatre
African diaspora-inspired ballet + modern dance ritual - Annual Meeting at the Austin History Center
Learn about the AHC’s work + receive cool history swag - Free Bakery North Loop at Bruning Green
A regular popup where you can receive free baked goods - Big Ole Queer Market at the Palmer Events Center
Big vendor market for queer artists + businesses - Armadillo Live at Central Machine Works
KUTX benefit w/live bands, costumes, + fun themes - Frutos de la Muerte at Ground Floor Theater
Multilingual puppetry play about Guatemala, politics, fungi, + spirits - Insomnia Cafe at Stage Austin
Play that is “part psychological hostage story, part pop-culture fever dream” - (weekly thru 7/26) Splash Dance at the Austin Motel
Poolside aerobics with Austin’s most creative aerobics instructor
Monday 6/8
- ATX Short Film Showcase at 29th St. Ballroom
The films are short, the filmmakers are Texan + of varying heights
Tuesday 6/9
- Austin Demo Day at the Pershing
Science fair-style demos of maker + engineering projects - Blues on the Green at Zilker Park
Big free summer concerts w/many different genres represented
Wednesday 6/10
- Corporate Battle of the Bands at ACL Live
Local Austin businesses assemble bands to rock out for a cause - From Studio to Stage at Capital Factory
Talks + discussions with some folks who make local music shows happen - Blues on the Green at Zilker Park
Big free summer concerts w/many different genres represented - Insomnia Cafe at Stage Austin
Play that is “part psychological hostage story, part pop-culture fever dream”
Thursday 6/11
- UnFOUseen Circumstances at the Vortex
Variety acts + audience games, performed interdimensionally - Fiasco at Chess Club
DJs + drag performers dance to disco, house, + post-punk - Insomnia Cafe at Stage Austin
Play that is “part psychological hostage story, part pop-culture fever dream” - Frutos de la Muerte at Ground Floor Theater
Multilingual puppetry play about Guatemala, politics, fungi, + spirits
NHA282
New York Get Together
For this week’s show we broadcasted from a friend’s apartment in Chelsea, so in honor of the occasion this seemed like a good week to play an hour of New York City-themed tunes.
Tracklist
Break Machine – Street Dance
Man Parrish – Boogie Down Bronx
Daniel Wang – NYTK
Nina Hagen – New York, New York
The Dramatics – Blame It on New York City (Space Duke Edit)
Prince – All the Critics Love U in New York
Raudive – Edit Service 16
33Hz – Paris, Texas (In Flagranti Mix)
Deee-Lite – Deee-Lite Theme
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 Liz, Melissa Dunn, 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, and Kristen Backor. We’re deeply grateful for your support, which allows us to do things like “pay our Beehiiv 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 and Side by Sideshows 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 Superfantastica for weird Austin places + things. 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 2026). 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.