Lite + Brite: 65 Swappable Austin Events 9/25

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

We’ve made a lot of Halloween headway this week, and we’ll be releasing the massive, fancy, badass 2026 edition of our annual Halloween spreadsheet to our Patreon patrons TONIGHT (or possibly tomorrow). Non-patrons will get access it in the October Monthly, coming out around the first of the month.

If you want early access to this famed Halloween spreadsheet, you can get it by supporting Lite+Brite at $5/month. Honestly you could just support us for now and then dip back to not supporting us; we’re not keeping score. Thank you to the folks who do throw or have thrown us money of any denomination or duration on Patreon; your collective efforts help keep the good ship Lite+Brite afloat.

We’re not the only people itching for spooky season. This week there’s Halloween decoration crafting, a costume swap/repair party, drag+burlesque performers inspired by Hollywood monsters, an OSHA-violating skeleton soiree, + drag reimagining of Sweeney Todd. The spreadsheet will have plenty more in this vein.

That doesn’t even scratch the surface of what’s happening in Austin this coming week. There’s stein hoisting, collective rituals with large puppets, conceptual burlesque vs the patriarchy, Dolly Parton-themed wig snatching, a hybrid My Little Pony rave + petting zoo, solar car racing, site-specific dance in office spaces, judging which bears are plumpest, meeting bats from a bat rescue, + people dressing up as fun guys. Honestly that barely begins to describe all that you can do, so keep scrolling.

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

On Saturday, we went to the Black Marble show at 29th St. Ballroom. Leila is probably the only person in this city who attended both that show and the Sugar Ray show earlier that same day. (If you were also equally committed to both modern cold wave and early ‘00s radio pop, feel free to prove us wrong.) 

We also went to BookPeople’s launch event for Leigh Bardugo’s newest novel (she continues to be a genius), and to the inaugural meeting of TOMO Mags’ News Reading Club. (If you missed it, don’t worry, we will list future meetings!) On Tuesday we attended the Austin Salon, which was held for the first time at the historic Flower Hill Center—appropriate, as the topic this month was the psychology of spaces. And last night we went to see the new Pulp documentary, which was showing for one night only at the Alamo Drafthouse. As a documentary film, I’d say it was fine; but as a reminder of what an incredible live band Pulp is, it really nailed it.

EVENTS WE’RE EYEING

Friday 9/25

  • Stargazing Party at St. Elmo Springdale
    See the stars through big fancy telescopes, plus food trucks
  • Full Moon Party at OMG Squee
    Celebrate mooncake season w/mahjong, vendors, giveaways, + seasonal sweets
  • Wild Shape Night: Fun Guys at Tiny Minotaur
    “Is fungus a animals?” asks Tiny Mino. Fungal puns + mushroom costumes abound
  • Latino Moonlight Serenades at Lady Bird Lake
    Paddle out for a floating moonlit live musical performance
  • Dolly Parton Tribute Show at C-Boys
    Benefit w/tons of live musicians covering music from across Dolly’s career
  • Stampede: Dolly Disco Night at the Highball
    Get to linedancing to music from departed Dolly’s fertile disco phase
  • Dolly Day at Stoney’s Good Time Ranch
    DJ + drag performers inspired by the many works of Queen Dolly
  • Deep in the Heart 2 at AFS
    Learn about Texas’ waterways in new doc full of otters + alligator turtles
  • The Dumbest Show on Earth at Hole in the Wall
    Live music celebrating all things britpop + comedy, theatre, + “drum battles”
  • Cosmic Kiki Ball at Cheer Up Charlies
    “Sapphic interstellar ballroom takeover” w/women-centered runway performers
  • Halloween Handmade at Crafternoon ATX
    Craft up your own homemade Halloween decorations in a relaxed setting
  • dadageek Student Exhibition at dadaLab
    See new work in interactive video, projection + VJing
  • WaterWork at Seaholm Intake Facility
    Projection mapping transforms a building into a work of light art
  • Austin Boulderfest at Austin Bouldering Project
    Win prizes for climbing, watch pro climbers, + check out vendors
  • New Media Art + Sound Summit at the Cherrywood Center
    Festival of experimental music + new media art and sound
  • Texas Woodworking Festival at the Palmer Events Center
    “Keep woodworking weird” w/furniture makers, antique dealers, + live music
  • Hyde Park Storytelling x Austin Unconducted at KMFA Studios
    Orchestral musical performances paired w/storytellers
  • Texas Tribune Festival throughout downtown Austin
    Big names in national + state politics descend upon Austin for talks
  • TUBU Fest at Ground Floor Theater
    Theatrical short works featuring creatives with disabilities
  • The Big Queer Weekend at various Austin venues
    Films, music, drag, + art by Austin’s Queer creative community
  • Textures of Opacity at Crashbox
    Modern dance performance examines immeasurability + assimilation
  • Blipswitch: An Orchestra of Supergiants at 1106 Clayton Ln.
    “Site-specific dance performance” in an anonymous office space
  • Blue Lapis Light at One Texas Center
    “Site-specific aerial dance work” about the fragile beauty of existence

Saturday 9/26

  • Appleteeth Pickin’ Season Jamboree at Tiny Minotaur
    Fantasy apple harvest games like “halfling apple bobbing” + “apple clanging”
  • Year Three Block Party at First Light
    Author readings, live music, food vendors, face painting, + airbrushing
  • Trash Makeover Challenge at the TDS Event Pavilion
    Fashion show w/“original designs made from 90% or more recycled” materials
  • Austin Bat Refuge Day at Jester King
    Fundraiser w/goats in bat costume, bat box demos, rescue bats, live music, + talks
  • Austin Comedy Film Festival at Southwest Theaters Lake Creek 7
    A fest full of award-winning comedic short films
  • 44th Annual Moonlight Cruise at the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge
    Bike through Austin illuminated by the fullest of moons
  • Community Day at the Austin Opera
    Free performances by opera musicians + ballet performers at new space
  • All Boats Bloom at Auditorium Shores
    Experimental live music performed “in conversation w/the natural landscape”
  • Night at the Barn at the Loading Dock
    Just your average everyday “My Little Pony rave + petting zoo”
  • Costume Swap at the Windsor Park Branch Library
    Swap or repair old costumes, or get new gently used ones
  • Lotería: Rostros de Austin at The Museum of Human Achievement
    Interactive Lotería-themed portraits of local Latine Austin creatives
  • Austin Chinese Culture Festival at AISD Performing Arts Center
    Celebrate trad Chinese culture w/dances, music, games, food, + activities
  • Hear Me Roar at dadaLab
    Video + photo exhibition showcasing slices of modern Austin life
  • Oktoberfest at St. Elmo
    Stein hoisting by kids + adults, live tubas, + lots of beer
  • Oktoberfest at Easy Tiger
    Live polka, plus German-themed, food games, + contests for kids + adults
  • Frisky Business: BOOty Bash at Capt. Quack’s Soundspace
    Drag+burlesque performers inspired by silver screen monsters + gore
  • Art City Austin’s Fiesta at ESB MACC
    Art vendors, traditional dance, + live music all weekend long
  • WaterWork at Seaholm Intake Facility
    Projection mapping transforms a building into a work of light art
  • Austin Boulderfest at Austin Bouldering Project
    Win prizes for climbing, watch pro climbers, + check out vendors
  • New Media Art + Sound Summit at the Cherrywood Center
    Festival of experimental music + new media art and sound
  • Texas Woodworking Festival at the Palmer Events Center
    “Keep woodworking weird” w/furniture makers, antique dealers, + live music
  • Hyde Park Storytelling x Austin Unconducted at Batch
    Orchestral musical performances paired w/storytellers
  • Texas Tribune Festival throughout downtown Austin
    Big names in national + state politics descend upon Austin for talks
  • TUBU Fest at Ground Floor Theater
    Theatrical short works featuring creatives with disabilities
  • The Big Queer Weekend at various Austin venues
    Films, music, drag, + art by Austin’s Queer creative community
  • Textures of Opacity at Crashbox
    Modern dance performance examines immeasurability + assimilation
  • Blipswitch: An Orchestra of Supergiants at 1106 Clayton Ln.
    “Site-specific dance performance” in an anonymous office space
  • Blue Lapis Light at One Texas Center
    “Site-specific aerial dance work” about the fragile beauty of existence

Sunday 9/27

Monday 9/28

  • Art + Music Jam at Hive Mind
    Art show, open live street art, + open musical performances

Tuesday 9/29

  • Fat Bear Week at Monkeywrench Books
    Assess + judge the plumpness of bears in a national park
  • Doppelwelt at AFS
    Watch experimental video piece about dopplegangers w/director Q+A

Wednesday 9/30

Thursday 10/1

Friday 10/2

  • The Sweeney Todd Drag Shadow Cast at the Vortex
    “Drag King & Gender Diverse Troupe” re-envision the bloody musical
  • Spooky Scary Skeletons Night at Tiny Minotaur
    Dress up as a skelly but “do not remove all of the flesh from your body + play your ribs like a xylophone”
  • Art in Motion Showcase at the The Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex
    “Animated shorts, GIFs, + motion pieces from local BIPOC artists” on a big screen
  • To Be Seen at We Luv Video
    Watch a doc cataloguing Austin restaurants’ struggle during the pandemic
  • Do You Need to Read “The Confidence Man”? at the Neill-Cochran House Museum
    One-woman show where Herman Melville descendant reads + responds to his final book
  • Young Greg Abbott: A FuQuisical at Trinity Street Playhouse
    Satirically reimagining Abbott’s early days in a musical theater format
  • Spice Up Your Life at Hyperreal Film Club
    See the Spice Girls film + “come early for photo ops, friendship bracelets”

NHA002
Sexy Mamas & Something About Computer Screens

This week, we brought back the second episode of No Humans Allowed, recorded during the pandemic lockdown in 2020, to help us “explore the Venn diagram intersection between sexy mamas, computer screens, bionic boars, helping your son with his computer programming homework, and looking for the juicy blend.”

Stream Sexy Mamas & Something About Computer Screens

Tracklist
Bodyline – Miniskirt Twirl
Zapp & Roger – Computer Love
Sylvester – Rock the Box (Akin’s Slow Dance Version)
Airbird & Napolian – In the Zone (ft. Erika Spring)
the Knife – Heartbeats (OneMusic Session Version)
Graham Gouldman – Bionic Boar
Frédéric Mercier – Spirit
M. Like Moon – Sunlight (Daniel T. Edit)
Digital Waves – Midnight Drive
Junior Byron – Dance to the Music
Mount Liberation Unlimited – Climb Me Up
Goldfrapp – You Never Know
Pretty Poison – In the Heart of the Night (Nighttime dub)
B Beat Girls – For the Same Man (Nasty Version)
Doctor’s Cat – Feel the Drive (Pontchartrain Edit)
Bell Towers – Juicy Blend (Groove)
Justus Köhncke – Timecode
Alan Braxe & Fred Falke – Chrystal City

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 Andrew Creswell, Kelsey C., 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.

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK, CHAMPIONS

Subscribe