Lite + Brite: 42 Leathery Austin Events 6/19

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

This weekend is a confluence of many holidays! You can celebrate Juneteenth with a parade, a bike ride, a block party, activations + vendors, Cuban drummers + African dancers, short films by Black Texans, free BBQ, live art at Austin’s only Black-owned bookshop, and lots more. It’s ALSO Pride, which you can celebrate with unpopular opinions + hot takes, a discotheque, “western drag,” and a vendor market featuring 100 queer artists. It’s ALSO ALSO the summer solstice, which you can celebrate with burlesque, reiki, tarot, and live music and art. It’s ALSO ALSO ALSO Father’s Day, which you can celebrate with a Dad Joke competition and Leather Daddy cocktails. And it’s ALSO ALSO ALSO ALSO (I’m losing count) really dang hot, which you can celebrate with a free night in the pool with KOOP vinyl DJs, calisthenics in the water, and bloodthirsty sharks. Finally, I think we all know it’s the week before the next Jackass movie comes out, which you can celebrate by watching all the other Jackass movies.

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

Brian went to see one of our favorite local bands, Holy Wire, as part of the Opera’s Tuesday night residency at Cheer Up Charlies. Holy Wire featured a new (at least new to us) five-piece lineup and new songs, which sounded great. Leila went to First Light (listed, obviously, in our recent roundup of Austin independent bookstores) for the launch of local author Lauren Hough’s new book, A Monster of a Land. Lauren is many things: a brilliant writer, a committed dog owner, a John Steinbeck aficionado, a person who cannot get through more than half a sentence without dropping at least one f-bomb. All such characteristics were on display at this book launch. Last week we also went to the Creek and the Cave to see Kate Berlant, a very funny comedian who is known for many things, but to me mostly for the hilariously weird way she walks down the hallway in this 10-second clip from The Other Two. 

Also, Brian produced his first radio show from Austin in weeks, devoting a show to the musical history of Manchester England, including post-punk, madchester, + acid house. You can listen here.

EVENTS WE’RE EYEING

Friday 6/19

  • Central Texas Juneteenth at Rosewood Park
    Juneteenth parade w/marching bands, party, + fireworks
  • Time at Bolm Arts
    Photography exhibition explores theme of time w/film + digital works
  • Soul 2 Sole Tap Festival at the Long Center
    Improvised tap performances chosen by a panel w/live jazz combo
  • Dear Dickies at Hyde Park Theater
    “Love/business letter to Dickies workwear” in theatrical form
  • (weekly thru 6/26) Storytelling Through Dance Making at Festival Beach
    Learn to tell your own personal stories using choreography

Saturday 6/20

  • The Carver Kickback at the Carver Museum
    Juneteenth celebration w/bbq, activations, + vendors
  • Juneteenth at the Carver Library
    Family-friendly party w/dance, DJs, live music, puppets, speakers
  • Black Auteur Film Festival at AFS
    A night of films by Black Texan filmmakers w/Q+A, raffle, + mixer
  • Jaws on the Water at Volente Beach
    Watch Jaws while floating on a lake + try not to get bitten
  • Spelling Bee at First Light Books
    Watch some adults spell real good while you enjoy food vendors
  • I Know You Are, But What Am I? at Preacher Gallery
    Check out art by 40 artists inspired by Pee-wee Herman
  • Pirate Night at Tiny Minotaur
    “No blaggards or bilge-rats allowed” at this pirate costume party
  • Fête de la Musique at St. Edwards
    Celebrate our sister city w/French food, wine, live music + DJs
  • Fishbowl School at DORF
    Live art rock performance w/surprise performance-based accompaniment
  • Ride 4 Pride at New Guild Co-op
    Country-themed Pride party w/live music, drag, mechanical bull, + more
  • Summer Equinox Art Salon at Curia Arcanum’s
    Live music, live drawing, art exhibit, + fortune telling
  • White Elephant Book Swap at Capt. Quack’s
    Bring a wrapped mystery book + receive one in return
  • Summer Solstice Celebration at Fortuneteller
    Sound bath, yoga, reiki, tarot, vendors, + burlesque
  • Black Pearl Books Day at Black Pearl
    Live illustration, readings, + book signings at bookshop’s closing day
  • PowerPints at the Highball
    “Drink + learn things” at comedic talks on a variety of esoteric topics
  • Pride Party at Distribution Hall
    Big queer vendor market organized by the Little Gay Shop
  • Dinner w/Austin Tea Party at East Side Performing Arts
    Dress to the nines for an immersive fashion + food event
  • Soul 2 Sole Tap Festival at the Long Center
    Improvised tap performances chosen by a panel w/live jazz combo
  • Dear Dickies at Hyde Park Theater
    “Love/business letter to Dickies workwear” in theatrical form

Sunday 6/21

  • BHBR Juneteenth Social Ride at Haskell House
    See landmarks in Austin’s Black history by bike for Juneteenth
  • BHRB Block Party at Boggy Creek Farm
    Party marks Juneteenth w/food, DJ, live music, + free drinks
  • 100th Birthday Party at Barton Springs Bridge
    Learn the history of the bridge w/swimming, tacos, + live music
  • Birthday Cake Pop-up at Lynny’s
    A social club where you can bring + sample many cakes
  • Juneteenth at the Neill-Cochran House Museum
    Celebrate the history of Juneteenth w/live music + free BBQ
  • Leather Daddy at the Vortex
    Celebrate dads n daddies w/leather-themed cocktail class
  • Who’s Your Daddy at Secret Disco Society
    Celebrate fathers w/dad costume contest, dad jokes, + open decks 
  • Pride Party at Distribution Hall
    Big queer vendor market organized by the Little Gay Shop
  • Dinner w/Austin Tea Party at East Side Performing Arts
    Dress to the nines for an immersive fashion + food event
  • (weekly thru 7/26) Splash Dance at the Austin Motel
    Poolside aerobics with Austin’s most creative aerobics instructor

Monday 6/22

  • Atom + Eve at Kick Butt Coffee
    Burlesque performers inspired by the Atomic Age + Vegas
  • Jackass Week at Hyperreal Film Club
    Celebrate the new Jackass film by watching all the old ones

Tuesday 6/23

  • Jackass Week at Hyperreal Film Club
    Celebrate the new Jackass film by watching all the old ones

Wednesday 6/24

Thursday 6/25

NHA284
Mancunian Dreams

A collection of music from + connected to Manchester, UK. We begin with the early waves of post-punk coalescing around Factory Records + its associated labels, then trace that thread through into Madchester, then the Factory’s famed Haçienda nightclub which led to the first glimmerings of acid house in the UK. All the artists below are from Manchester with one exception from Blackpool, but they were on Factory and the record presented here was produced by New Order/Joy Division’s Bernard Sumner, so we’re counting ‘em.

Stream Mancunian Dreams

Tracklist
The Mothmen – Temptation
The Railway Children – Brighter
The Stockholm Monsters – Fairy Tales
Quando Quango – Love Tempo
Happy Mondays – Hallelujah (Cap’ Edit)
Section 25 – Reflection
Joy Division – Isolation
The Durutti Column – Neon
A Guy Called Gerald – Voodoo Ray
D C B – House Fantaz-ee
808 State – Pacific 202

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.

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK, CHAMPIONS

Subscribe