Lite + Brite: 30 Theoretical Austin Events 7/10
Hello, what’s up, and welcome to the Lite + Brite newsletter.
Here it is again, another week of incredible stuff going on, and neither L nor B are able to go to any of it. This week we’ll both be gallivanting around in another timezone visiting ancestral family castles and going to viking museums, which means that as we stare down all this great stuff we are struck with so much FOMO. My whole D+D party is planning to go paint figurines and watch a documentary about D+D art. Who will paint a figurine of my poor orphan cleric, Lysander? No one. No one is the answer. His gods have forsaken him.
Whether or not your gods forsake you, you’ve got a whole city of stuff to do and see. Line dance on a boat, get a Russian prison tat, celebrate the 50th anniversary of a comedy night that started in 2025 (it involves time travel), or the 100th anniversary of campus burgers, appreciate the wonderful Shelley Duval, see a fantasy aerialist competition, watch movies about 90s ravers, watch blockbusters in a lake or in a pool with goths or without goths, tell a bunch of paladins to fuck off, go to Hot Summer Nights…
Wait, did I read that right? Ah, dangit, I’m missing Hot Summer Nights! That’s the Summer version of Free Week where you can go see a bunch of great local bands + support our incredible local venues for zero dollars and everyone gets paid. Please go see some stuff so I can live vicariously through you. This Instagram post has a great graphic of the full lineup. I have recommendations but I can’t link everything because I should be packing, but it’s all on the graphic, I promise. Check out Hex Partner + Dream 2 Dream @ Elysium, Jet Cemetary, Lauren Lakis, + Pedal Steel Noah @ the 13th Floor, Team Trust @ Chess Club, Almost Heaven @ Kingdom, Club Coma @ Mohawk, Sexpop + Bruce @ Chess Club, Temptrix @ Elysium, or just bounce around and show up places until you like what you’re hearing, you’re sure to find something great.
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
EVENTS WE’RE EYEING
Friday 7/10
- After Dark at the Austin Public Library
20s-themed party w/live jazz, murder mystery, crafts, + workshops - Float Films at Austin Motel
Watch classic blockbusters while floating a pool w/themed cocktails - Leather, Lace, + Bass at Kick Butt Coffee
Raucous rawk-themed drag, burlesque, costume contest, trivia - Futch Fetish at Elysium
Sports-themed vendors, drag, lesbians, + push-up contest
Saturday 7/11
- Shelley Duval Appreciation Night at We Luv Video
Remembering the actress w/clips, films, + interviews - Legend of the Realms at Sky Candy
Competitive fantasy-themed aerialists, burlesque, storytelling + more - 100 Years of Dirty’s at Dirty Martin’s
Live music, vendors, carnival games, classic car show, + karaoke - A.P.A.B. Night at Tiny Minotaur
Dress up as an overzealous sanctimonious knight (aka paladin) - Easy Compadre! at Almost Real Things
Not only can you touch all the art, but also get live music + DJ - Goth Pool Party at Cabana Club
Go be a Goth in Hot Weather poolside w/vendors, film, photobooth - Rare Forms at dadaLab
“Austin-based artists whose work spans music, visual art, fashion, literature, film, + experimental media” - PietschHouse Summer Showcase at 1131 Saucedo St.
House party with live visual artists + live music - You Seem Pretty Sad for Someone So In Drag at Cheer Up Charlies
Drag performances inspired by Olivia Rodrigo’s brand new LP - 333 at Tiny Minotaur
“Gothic fantasy drag experience” w/trans femme drag + vendors - Texas Roller Derby at Travis County Expo Center
Roller derbyists murderously smash their way through banked track
Sunday 7/12
- Woodland Faerie Trail Closing Day at Zilker Botanical Garden
Explore artist-crafted faerie homes throughout the park - Boatsetter Rodeo at Cypress Creek Cove
“Live music, wake surfing, line dancing on boats, mechanical bulls” - Body Mechanics Movie Night at Hyperreal Film Club
DJ crew curates a double feature of 90s rave-centric films - Magical Mind Mysteries at the Vortex
Alliterative magic show for adults w/Magical Mystical Michael - (weekly thru 7/26) Splash Dance at the Austin Motel
Poolside aerobics with Austin’s most creative aerobics instructor
Monday 7/13
- ATX Short Film Showcase at the 29th St. Ballroom
The films are short, the filmmakers are Texan + of varying heights - A City in the Making at Stargazer
Lecture + Q+A about Austin’s history going back to its earliest days
Wednesday 7/15
- The Art of Dungeons + Dragons at the Dougherty Arts Center
Watch a DnD doc + paint figurines for free
Thursday 7/16
- Jeanette Fest at Hotel Vegas
Local musicians cover female-fronted 90s indie, + indie karaoke - Queer Film Theory at the Highball
“Basically, we ruin films for straight people + yell about the characters that made us feel gay” - Synth Soundbath Communal Drone Session at Tiny Minotaur
BYO synths to “harmonize with the infinite” or just take it in - Hot Summer Nights on Red River
Three free nights of local bands + DJs performing in Red River venues - (weekly thru 8/27) Movies on the Lake at Mozart’s
Watch a big summer movie floating on a boat on the lake
Friday 7/17
- Soviet Propaganda Pop-up Market at the Antique Mule
Buy some kitschy propaganda + get a Russian prison tat - Guts 50th at Fallout
Improv comedy troupe travels to a post-apoc future to celebrate a future bday - Hot Summer Nights on Red River
Three free nights of local bands + DJs performing in Red River venues
NHA287
Minimal Enthusiasm
This week we explore the connections between lots of minimalist moments across several genres. There’s does-what-it-says-on-the-tin minimal wave, its modern darkwave and minimal wave descendents, early electro and electroclash experimentalism, and the minimalist roots in no wave.
Tracklist
Shit Robot – Simple Things
The Soft Pink Truth – Out of Step
Dopplereffekt – Scientist
Frank (Just Frank) – Mr. Itagaki
Dark Day – No, Nothing, Never
Police des Moeurs – Tu As Honte Parfois
Slash Need – Worm
Suicide – Ghost Rider
Richenel – I Won’t Bite
The Normal – Warm Leatherette
Oppenheimer Analysis – Men in White Coats
Soft Metals – Psychic Driving
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.