Lite + Brite: 41 Dreamy Austin Events 9/4
Hello, what’s up, and welcome to the Lite + Brite newsletter.
It’s a long weekend, which could mean you’re going somewhere out of town. If you were going somewhere you probably wouldn’t be reading this newsletter, though, would you? Unless you thrive on FOMO.
For the FOMO addicts and those of us remaining in Austin, we can staycation with Dolly Parton-themed drag, people dressed as cyberpunk elves, full immersion ghost hijinks, teen stories about Barbie kicking AI’s ass, vampire ravers covered in blood gushing from sprinklers (maybe?), piggies who love big melons, people celebrating the fine Filipino tradition of getting into Christmas way way way too early, shadow puppets who stand up for their rights, + people who love to debate so much they’ll happily do it about inconsequential crap.
What’s that, Muffie from Accounting? Your family is going to Hawaii over the long weekend? I mean, that sounds cool, but I bet they don’t have people arguing about stupid stuff in Hawaii, do they? …Ok maybe I didn’t pick the best example here, but scroll down and find something that will make Muffie turn green with envy at the cool things you did right here in little old Austin.
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
Last weekend, Leila took a pom fitness class at Ballet Austin’s Free Day of Dance and now she is essentially Maddy Brum from Cheer. We list Ballet Austin’s Free Day of Dance every year because it combines two of our favorite things (“free” + “dance”), but if you missed it this year, don’t sweat: you still have upcoming shots at Austin’s free day of yoga (on Monday) and a different free day of dance at the AISD Performing Arts Center (next Saturday).
Brian, meanwhile, sent all of his synthesizers through a dimensional portal into a fantasy world where instead of everything being soundtracked by medieval lutes and harps, all the music features heavy synth vibes. Dragon? We’ve got a synth for that. Beholder? Synth for that. Rogue necromancer? That guy’s probably got a Prophet-6 sitting next to his enchanting table and he’s ready to wail. Stream the episode over at KPISS for an hour of fantasy-themed library music, VGM, + dungeon synth.
EVENTS WE’RE EYEING
Friday 9/4
- Girls Just Wanna Have Fundamental Human Rights at Eberly
Raise money for bodily autonomy w/comedy, vendors, “wellness toys” - First Friday Art Trail at Hope Outdoor Gallery
Live music, vendors, + art exhibits at outdoor graffiti park - Blood Rave at Brushy Street Commons
Sprinklers full of blood? Maybe! DJs + dancefloor carnage? Def - Float Films at Austin Motel
Watch a film about dry-ass mummies while you float in the water - Shadowrun at Tiny Minotaur
Fantasy / cyberpunk / techno goth shenanigans-themed costume night - East Side Photo Walk at Cosmic Saltillo
Try out fancy camera gear while exploring East Austin w/models - Kung Fu Cowgirl at the Hillside Theater
Original musical combining Broadway, martial arts, + Texas - Creative Resistance at Crashbox
Modern dance explores creative resistance through movement - Barbie Dream Heist at Butterfly Bar
Teens put on a comedy about Barbie fighting the AI apocalypse - Present Perspective Project at the Dougherty Arts Center
Modern dance performance explores fusion + different moods
Saturday 9/5
- Sam Mayer: Fishbowl at DORF
“Transgressive playwright” writes + rehearses ad hoc new play live - Bat Fest at the Congress Ave. Bridge
Dress up battily for music, live bats, DJs, + the “Austin Bats Dance Team” - Cinema Touching Disability Film Festival at the Austin Central Library
“See short films by and about people w/disabilities from all over the world” - Sound and Vision at Antone’s
Watch live music + network with people in the music industry - Austin City Limit Break at the Pflugerville Courtyard Marriott
One-day con celebrates all things Final Fantasy, especially XIV - Karaoke Underground at Knomad
Sing karaoke to your favorite punk, indie + alt classics - Ghost Tour at Pioneer Farms
“Full immersion paranormal investigation” of historic rural farms - Creative Resistance at Crashbox
Modern dance explores creative resistance through movement - Barbie Dream Heist at Butterfly Bar
Teens put on a comedy about Barbie fighting the AI apocalypse - Present Perspective Project at the Dougherty Arts Center
Modern dance performance explores fusion + different moods
Sunday 9/6
- Watermelon Smash Bash at Central Texas Pig Rescue
Feed watermelons to awfully appreciative piggies - Lagers + Literature at Meanwhile Brewing
Local authors, booksellers, + printmakers, beer launch, zine making - Pasko Na! at Ani’s Day and Night
Filipino pot luck + holiday crafting to get ready for Christmas EARLY - Mini Debates at Oak Hill Social
“Debates about things that absolutely do not matter enough to argue about” - Print Rodeo at Central Machine Works
Browse + buy fine art prints from juried Texan artists - Leisure Suit Larry’s Retro Games at the Highball
Play vintage video games on lots of consoles from the 80s through 00s - Yeehawties at Austin Motel
Austin’s favorite queer 90s country DJs hit the pool w/drag performers - (weekly thru 9/20) Splash Dance at the Austin Motel
Poolside aerobics with Austin’s most creative aerobics instructor
Monday 9/7
- Free Day of Yoga at studios throughout Austin
Free yoga classes for every level of experience across town - Labor Gay Monday at Sagebrush
Dolly-themed drag, DJ, linedancing, raffles, + costume contest - Austin Flick Clique at Sekrit Theater
Watch a classic zombie film at a very special outdoor venue - Creative Resistance at Crashbox
Modern dance explores creative resistance through movement
Tuesday 9/8
- Puzzled Pint at Casa Chapala and Zilker Brewing Co.
“Casual, social puzzle solving event” held across the country
Wednesday 9/9
- Barbie Dream Heist at Butterfly Bar
Teens put on a comedy about Barbie fighting the AI apocalypse
Thursday 9/10
- The 23rd St. Mural Project at AFS
Watch new docs about Austin’s history of wild times, plus Q+A - Stories in Seven at BookPeople
Back-to-school storytellers compete for audience-decided prizes - Stories on the Lawn at Neill-Cochran
Moth-style storytelling on the porch of an architectural landmark - Flower Shop at ESPA
Ballet about flowers w/live original classical piano score - Creative Resistance at Crashbox
Modern dance explores creative resistance through movement - (weekly thru 10/29) Kicking the Bucket Listening Club at Yarborough Library
Basket weaving, group audiobook listening, + end-of-life discussion
Friday 9/11
- Playing in the Shadows at DORF
Shadow puppets tell the story of how humans resist + find community - Mortified at the Highball
Folks share their teenaged diaries in a new comedic light - Comedy Bang! Bang! at Riverbend Center
Live taping of popular improv comedy podcast - Swift Night Out at JJ Pickle Research Campus
Check out a massive flock of migratory birds, for one night only - Flower Shop at ESPA
Ballet about flowers w/live original classical piano score - Karaoke Underground at Stoney’s Good Time Ranch
Sing karaoke to your favorite punk, indie + alt classics - ArmadilloCon at Holiday Inn Austin Midtown
Scifi, fantasy, + horror authors, tabletop games, panels, workshops, + more - Creative Resistance at Crashbox
Modern dance explores creative resistance through movement - Barbie Dream Heist at Butterfly Bar
Teens put on a comedy about Barbie fighting the AI apocalypse
NHA293
Synthlandia
In this episode of No Humans Allowed, a fantastic land of magical adventures awaits. We’ve populated this land with medieval-sounding synth music. We hear you saying things like “Elves and dwarves didn’t have synthesizers, they had to make do with pan flutes and harps right?” To which we say this: synthesizers can do anything. Just listen to this batch of library VGM, + dungeon synth reagents we have cobbled together and tell us you can’t make fantasy-themed music with synthesizers.
Tracklist
Jim Kirkwood – Wild Wargs
Todd Porter – Can’t Remove the Pain
Little Dragon – Shuffle a Dream
T. Rex – Futuristic Dragon
Frank Duval – Ogon
Heart – Magic Man (Andrew Allsgood Edit)
Louise Huebner – The Demon Spell for Energy
Rüdiger Lorenz – New Morning (Sandwich Islands)
Assorted Potions – Come to My Cauldron, Fair Maiden
Alessandro Alessandroni – Reflections
Étienne Perruchon – Tout Proche et Complice
Hiroyuki Masuno – Earth Area (Night)
Tony Primo & Nixxie – The Hardest Thing to Do
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, Robert B., Roman Gonzalez, Nick Ivons, Molly Fonseca, Lilly Ettinger, Michael Sales, Zach, Erica Speegle, Thomas Refferson, Bones Malones, Katie Green, 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.