Lite + Brite: 35 Unseen Austin Events 8/7

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

If tasked with summarizing this week in events, I would present the following list: Greek mythology, the occult, Millennial nostalgia, cats, rocks, + dad holes. 

Cat lovers have it good with cat vids, cat conventions, + humans pretending to be cats. Occult stans get a night of art + alchemic symbols, as well as burlesque artists inspired by pagan harvest holidays. Millennial fans get Daria drag, late 90s Matt Damon flicks, + emo brisket lovers. Folks who love ancient Greeks on a journey across the sea can dress up like a Greek hero to eat hot dogs, check out art inspired by gay ancient Greek icon Sappho, worry about being eaten by sharks on a lake, or do aerobics poolside. For lovers of general laughter unrelated to gods or cats, we’ve got the imminent start of Austin Sketch Fest.

This weekend is also a Vietnamese American cultural festival organized by Austin pop rap musical artist promqueen, featuring a fashion show, live music, zines, + AANHPI vendors. Scroll down for details on all this and more.

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

With so much love for heroic journeys in the air, Brian took No Humans Allowed on a journey into the imagination, soundtracked by dungeon synth, downtmepo, + cosmic disco. You can stream On a Journey in the Kpiss archives.

Know who else is on a journey this week? A bazillion Purple Martins! We went to see their nightly roosting up in Round Rock this past week (and posted a brief video to our Instagram). The Travis Audubon will be back out there hosting their annual Purple Martin parties tonight and tomorrow. After that, the birds will continue on their way down to South America. There’s something so beautiful, even moving, about sitting in a shopping center parking lot with a couple hundred people of all ages, watching these birds take over the sky as the sun sets. 

(I’d always wondered why the Purple Martins roost in a parking lot in Round Rock as opposed to someplace prettier; i.e. literally anyplace else. One of the Audubon volunteers explained that Purple Martins don’t feel threatened by humans, but they do feel threatened by hawks, owls, and snakes—and they’ve learned that those predators tend to stay away from brightly-lit cement full of cars. So a Round Rock parking lot is a safe bet for roosting. Birds are smart!)

EVENTS WE’RE EYEING

Friday 8/7

Saturday 8/8

  • International Cat Day Party at the Book Burrow
    “Contest for humans *pretending* to be cats” + cosplay, cat drawing
  • Brisketfest at the Far Out Lounge
    BBQ trucks accompanied by brisket-loving emo, indie, + punk bands
  • Jaws on the Water at Volente Beach
    Experience the masterful creature feature from an inflatable on the lake
  • Legend of the Realms at Sky Candy
    Competitive fantasy-themed aerialists, burlesque, storytelling + more
  • Greekend at Tiny Minotaur
    Dress up like your favorite Greek hero, heroine, or god + eat glizzies
  • Texas Roller Girls at Travis County Expo Center
    Austin’s flat track roller derby teams go at it in a double header
  • Rock Fest at Nature’s Treasures
    Rocks rock! Mineral + fossil fans host kid-friendly activities + vendors
  • Modern at Asian American Resource Center
    Vietnamese American fest w/live music, DJ, vendors, red carpet
  • CatVideoFest at Alamo Drafthouse
    Cute cat videos make the jump from your phone to the silver screen
  • Pop Cats Austin at the Palmer Events Center
    Cat-themed fest w/adoption, cosplay, vendors, crafts, + photo ops
  • Dad Hole at dadaLab
    Whimsical musical ponders the nature of masculinity + ridiculous quests
  • Malum Malus at the Vortex
    Pagan holiday-themed “occult-based burlesque performance art”
  • Sound Unseen at AFS
    Fest designed to “spotlight music stories through the power of film”
  • Purple Martin Party at Greenlawn Crossing
    Half a million migratory birds flying in big ol clouds. Nature is cool
  • (weekly thru 8/23) Speak No More: Lovecraft at the Tavern
    “Immersive, site-specific, improvised event” inspired by eldritch horror
  • (weekly thru 8/23) Escape the Box at the Texas State Capitol
    Solve time-traveling puzzles w/friends while exploring the statehouse

Sunday 8/9

  • Inherently Gay at Dawa Studios
    Podcast taping, DJ, drag, photobooth, + vendors
  • The Art Eclective at Merfolk’s Coffee
    Fans of art + witchcraft gather for discussions, games, + experiments
  • Rock Fest at Nature’s Treasures
    Rocks rock! Mineral + fossil fans host kid-friendly activities + vendors
  • Pop Cats Austin at the Palmer Events Center
    Cat-themed fest w/adoption, cosplay, vendors, crafts, + photo ops
  • Dad Hole at dadaLab
    Whimsical musical ponders the nature of masculinity + ridiculous quests
  • Malum Malus at the Vortex
    Pagan holiday-themed “occult-based burlesque performance art”
  • Sound Unseen at AFS
    Fest designed to “spotlight music stories through the power of film”
  • (weekly thru 8/23) Speak No More: Lovecraft at the Tavern
    “Immersive, site-specific, improvised event” inspired by eldritch horror
  • (weekly thru 8/23) Splash Dance at the Austin Motel
    Poolside aerobics with Austin’s most creative aerobics instructor
  • (weekly thru 8/23) Escape the Box at the Texas State Capitol
    Solve time-traveling puzzles w/friends while exploring the statehouse

Monday 8/10

  • Austin Flick Clique at Sekrit Theater
    Watch a 1940s classic film in a garden w/curated notes + conversation
  • ATX Short Film Showcase at 29th St. Ballroom
    The films are short, the filmmakers are Texan + of varying heights
  • CatVideoFest at Alamo Drafthouse
    Cute cat videos make the jump from your phone to the silver screen

Tuesday 8/11

  • (weekly thru 8/25) Tricky Tuesdays at Hole in the Wall
    Drag, live music, comedy, + magic from “Peter the Adequete”

Thursday 8/13

Friday 8/14

  • Float Films at the Austin Motel
    Feed your need for Matt Damon while floating + watching millennial flick
  • My Chemical Bromance at Swan Dive
    “Emo drag kings” riff on My Chemical Romance
  • Austin Sketch Fest at ColdTowne
    Fest celebrating some of the best local + out-of-town sketch comedy
  • Stargaze Theater Festival at the Dougherty Arts Center
    “Five original short plays by local playwrights”
  • (weekly thru 8/23) Speak No More: Lovecraft at the Tavern
    “Immersive, site-specific, improvised event” inspired by eldritch horror

NHA289
On a Journey

It’s a good time for taking a journey right now. Media, games, and the summer travel season all whisper in your ears to get away, sail some unknown waters, check out a strange island or two, and maybe don’t eat the tripe, but otherwise dive headlong in. We’ve got the perfect soundtrack for your metaphysical travels, with dungeon synth, downtempo, + cosmic disco songs about trips to unknown lands.

Stream On a Journey

Tracklist
Bob James – Nautilus
Benjamin Orr – Stay the Night
Umberto – Night Fantasy
Jim Kirkwood – Enchanted Streams
Alexandros – Return to the Unknown
Air – Le Voyage de Penelope
LA Priest – Lady’s in Trouble with the Law
Electrik Funk – On a Journey
2 Lost Diver – Canción para las Sirenas
COEO – Voyager (Apollo Mix)
Ksky – Ghostly Girl
Robert Vanderwiel – Nine Thousand Eyes

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 classic video game fest, admiring a flock of Purple Martins, and checking out some of the unique activities we could find in the UK. 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

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