The Oath of the Sword
Thursday 5, Zilker Botanical Garden
People are still discovering lost silent films? Guess so – in 2016, while working at the George Eastman Museum in upstate New York, scholar Denise Khor located The Oath of the Sword, a 1914 film made by an independent Japanese film company in Los Angeles, before the city was known as Hollywood. Be one of the first in a hundred years to see what is considered the earliest known Asian American film. – Brant Bingamon
ArmadilloCon
Friday 6 – Sunday 8, Austin Southpark Hotel
For the many ArmadilloCon regulars, this will be the first year without the late, great Harold Waldrop, the leviathan of weird short stories and godfather to the community around the convention, Austin’s premier celebration of fantasy and science fiction literature. So of course, there will be a chance to remember his work and friendship with a Celebration of Harold Waldrop on Friday night. But the future of the genre and medium is also here to be celebrated, with Andrea Stewart (The Drowning Empire trilogy) appearing as guest of honor ahead of the September publication of her new book, The Gods Below, and special guest Delilah Dawson (Star Wars: Phasma), who has a new book of her own, Guillotine, coming this month. – Richard Whittaker
Carl Cheng: “Nature Never Loses”
Friday 6, the Contemporary Austin (Jones Center)
The California-based artist, known for combining visual art and industrial design, uses media including photography, sculpture, simple machines, and more to explore both the art world and corporate culture and other themes during this exhibition’s six-decade span. While tackling often serious subject matter, Cheng’s work retains a sense of playfulness on display at the Jones Center. Get a first look of the collection at the public opening reception Friday at 6pm. – James Renovitch
Paris, Texas 4K Restoration
Friday 6 – Thursday 12, AFS Cinema
Autumn is the time for settling into a comforting nostalgia, a pleasant low-grade melancholy that will carry you through the colder months – making the shift to spring all the sweeter. And what better film is there to provoke ambient melancholy than Paris, Texas, Wim Wenders’ heart-wrenching epic of lost love and desert-wandering? Starring the most disheveled man in the world (Harry Dean Stanton) and the most radiantly blond woman in the world (Nastassja Kinski), Ry Cooder’s windswept slide guitar score draws you in and never lets go. – Lina Fisher
VOLUMES by Ezra Masch
Friday 6 – Sunday 8, Distribution Hall
Audiovisual artist Masch brings his site-specific light installation controlled by a drum set and a little help from some fancy programming. Friday and Saturday evenings each feature a different trio of renowned drummers to showcase what the lights can do in the hands of a professional percussionist. Sunday is open to anyone with tickets from the previous days’ showcases and, from 1-8pm, Masch invites local drummers to grab some sticks and see what kind of light show they can produce. – James Renovitch
Joaquín Zihuatanejo’s Occupy Whiteness Book Launch
Friday 6, Alienated Majesty Books
Boasting the inaugural Dallas poet laureate title and The Dallas Morning News’ crown of the “People’s Poet,” Joaquín Zihuatanejo has a lot to recommend his work. His newest collection utilizes poetic erasure to remake long-form works by heterosexual white men into his own pieces – “the white space that remains becoming colonized Brown verse,” as the event copy says. Attend this event to hear those works read aloud as well as witness Zihuatanejo in conversation with local poet – and the person behind getting Austin its own poet laureate – KB Brookins. – James Scott
StripapALooza: A Weird Al Tribute Show
Friday 6, Kick Butt Coffee
If you’ve ever been listening to Running With Scissors or Poodle Hat and thought “man, this Weird Al guy is great, but I wish it was a little bit sexier?” First off, how dare you besmirch Yankovic’s hotness, and second off, great news! The incomparable Ginger Snaps has gathered a buxom bunch to bring the burlesque to everyone’s favorite parody artist. StripapALooza 2 is ready to fill your “Amish Paradise” with dance, aerial, and even some juggling. Get ready to rip off those tropical shirts and polka with pasties on. Never has there been a more interesting pairing. – Cat McCarrey
Laughter Is Medicine: DAWA 5th Anniversary Celebration
Friday 6, Long Center
Five years ago, Jonathan “Chaka” Mahone – music commissioner and one-half of the husband/wife hip-hop duo Riders Against the Storm – launched Diversity and Wellness in Action, an emergency financial assistance program for local creatives of color. Though it arrived like a pre-pandemic premonition, DAWA has done more than lend monetary support; a first-of-its-kind week of BIPOC-led SXSW programming, a free-to-use studio space, and the creation of a Black Live Music Fund are among the ways Chaka has become a game-changing community organizer. The org taps comedian Tommy Davidson for a performance at its anniversary celebration – a well-deserved break from all this hard work. – Carys Anderson
Asian Eats ATX After Dark
Saturday 7, Assembly Hall
You may have missed the window to bid on tables for Asian Eats ATX’s daylight festivities – intimate dining experiences at Asian restaurants around town, all to benefit Austin Asian Community Health Initiative (AACHI) – but you can still take part in After Dark, a pop-up nightclub experience at East Seventh’s Assembly Hall. Expect “boozy boba” custom cocktails, midnight karaoke, beats by DJ Steady B, a performance by aerialist Swoona Faye, and snacks from Ng Cafe, Rollie Rolls, Bake Your Feels, and more. Advance tickets are $35; $45 at the door. – Kimberley Jones
Plant Culture Night Market
Saturday 7, Vegan Nom Food Park
Vegans catch a lot of flak for crowing about it, but one of the best things an individual can do for the planet is choose a plant-rich diet. Vegan diets tend to have a far lower carbon, water, and ecological footprint, and there can certainly be health benefits as well. Learn more and celebrate the mighty plant at this veggie fiesta put on by Latin City offering live music and entertainment, an eco-friendly market with sustainable goods and vegan products, and tastings of diverse plant-based cuisine from savory Indian curries to hearty Italian pastas. – Kat McNevins
Resonant Landscapes: Sci-Fi Narratives and Historical Echoes by Aryel René Jackson
Through October 12, Ivester Contemporary
The best science fiction takes on current fears and hopes and imagines them differently. There’s always some recognizable thread that ties it to our own experience. Aryel René Jackson has mastered that with their art, tackling current social and racial narratives to create a visual future that might just happen. Using videos, and work created for past films, the Ivester presents Jackson’s world – a world ripe with colors and textures, forms that could be humans, situations that could occur in a more evolved society. Slightly spacey, slightly familiar, this exhibit is a feast for the eyes and the soul. It’s impossible to leave without reflecting on where we could be better. – Cat McCarrey
Julia Lucey: “Trying to Fit In”
Through September 29, Wally Workman Gallery
A fox peers through purple foliage. Coyotes wear bright flowers as camouflage. A bear wanders among California tiger lilies spotted by vibrant green dots. These are a few of the creatures who inhabit Julia Lucey’s painted worlds – all of them wildlife in increasingly unfamiliar spaces. Lucey utilizes traditional aquatint etchings to communicate the man-made strangeness being visited upon our natural world, with the effect mirroring “a visual tableau much like the European tapestries of the 17th Century,” as the event copy states. But these works are more than beautiful: They ask the viewer to contemplate their own place in the paving over of other animals’ habitats. – James Scott
Bat Fest
Saturday 7, Congress Bridge
James Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, once surmised that Diamonds Are Forever. English great Shirley Bassey would surely agree, but let’s not forget Paul Wall. The Houston word-bender cuts a sharp picture these days, lean and grinning ear-to-ear with a grill that looks like 1,000 rodeo champion belt buckles or a row of Super Bowl rings. Rave rectors Ghostland Observatory headline, while Austin legacy metal crew Agony Column – 40 next year – stack up on the Congress Avenue Bridge like the city also does on the Fourth of July, and this summer spectacularly so. DJ Smackola and a dozen other acts pile on. 3pm, $30 advance. – Raoul Hernandez
Paper Cuts: Querelle
Saturday 7 & Wednesday 11, AFS Cinema
The only film that I know of that argues tops are gayer than bottoms – and you know what? I understand where the titular Querelle is coming from. Is topping the new praxis for all those attempting to queer the world? Hmmm. While I doubt this will be the topic of discussion at Saturday’s screening, enjoyers of cinema queerte will find much to chew on with Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s final film. Gay sailors, big penis statues, and games of cat and another, extremely horny cat, all supplemented by an in-person conversation with author/filmmaker Navid Sinaki (Medusa of the Roses). Since the screening’s part of AFS’s new collab series with Alienated Majesty, you can also peruse the small-press bookshop’s pop-up pre- and post-film. – James Scott
Teddy Bear Tea
Saturday 7, Neill-Cochran House Museum
In what sounds like a simply adorable family day, grandparents and friends are invited for a high tea in one of Austin’s oldest residences, the very classy 1850s Greek Revival-style Neill-Cochran House. Austin English Tea Co. brings the bevs to go with jams, scones, lemonade, and sandwiches that will please kids and grownups alike. This Grandparents Day weekend, spend some quality time with the grandkids enjoying crafting, cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, teddy bear cookies, and more. – Kat McNevins
Zucchini Kill Seventh Anniversary
Saturday 7, Zucchini Kill Bakery
If my burger column wasn’t enough of an indication, let me start this recommendation with a disclaimer: I am not a vegan. In fact, I’m one of those annoying meat eaters that usually turns their nose up at vegan food. [Editor James’ note: This is true. Carys did once visibly cringe at my soy chorizo breakfast burrito.] It just doesn’t taste good! Zucchini Kill is different, though. The bakery slings vegan, gluten-and-soy-free cupcakes, cookies, and other treats that actually maintain their sugary flavor, all while referencing feminist punk pioneers Bikini Kill. That’s a revolution I can get behind. For its seventh anniversary, the shop offers complimentary drinks, plus merch, games, and dessert specials, at its 701 E. 53rd St. location. – Carys Anderson
Texas Wellness Day
Saturday 7, Fiesta Gardens
Meditate on this: Swift Fit Events is hosting this family-friendly and totally free day celebrating health and wellness. Scheduled activities include group breath work and meditation, family yoga, dance cardio with Erica Nix, and trivia with Sober and Funky, plus a vendor market, where you can talk to makers one-on-one, and a kids’ soft play zone. Life’s hard: Why not get young ones thinking about mindfulness and wellness now? RSVP online. – Kimberley Jones
OBJET: Story of Fetish
Saturday 7, the Tiger Den
Are you down for a night of visual storytelling, erotic dance, and gettin’ sexx-ay? Come check out OBJET: Story of Fetish, the second installment of the Perversion trilogy, the Tiger Den’s Le Peep Show, created in collaboration with THE GIRLIE REVUE. If you think that’s a lot of nouns and clauses, you’re fucking right, but there’s adjectives too: dark, moody, dreamy, and plush. “Whomever you are, come forth,” the copywriters declare. “This is a night that must happen to you!” 21 and up, y’all. – Brant Bingamon
“Texas Artists/Texas Music”
Through October 26, Dougherty Arts Center
Art and music? Name a more iconic duo. For this exhibit, a dozen local artists created pieces inspired by a song, musician, or style of music associated with the Lone Star State. Influences could range from Selena to Willie to Beyoncé, from Houston rap to Tejano to blues. Come see what inspired participating artists Amitai Plasse, Billy Ray Mangham, Carl Block, Denise Elliott Jones, Greg Barton, Jess Wade, Jamie Lea Wade, Karen Woodward, Liz Potter, B Shawn Cox, Sylvia Troconis, and TVHeadATX. – Kat McNevins
PokéMania
Sunday 8, Central Library
POKÉMON! It’s you and me, hanging out at the library, POKÉMON! Oh you’re my best friend, so let’s party at the library until the end, POKÉMON! I sincerely hope you read that to the tune of the Pokémon theme song. If you did, then you’ve got to check out PokéMania this Sunday. After all, Pokémon is one of those things that reaches across generations, across mediums, across the world. It’s for everyone, and so is this event. Wear that deep-cut Umbreon shirt and prepare to card swap, play games, or literally catch them all with a librarywide scavenger hunt. – Cat McCarrey
Austin Vendor Market
Sunday 8, Meanwhile Brewing
Meanwhile’s sick slate of beers is just one reason to make the trek to Promontory Point; the brewery also offers consistent free concerts, trivia nights, and various delicious food trucks to choose from on any given visit. Austin Vendor Market pops up there noon-5pm this Sunday, offering a slew of small, local businesses to sample while you sip. Some great vintage sellers tend to gather there, so grab a sweater and a pumpkin beer to ring in the fall. – Lina Fisher
Vinyl Brunch: Vibes on Vinyl Through the Years
Sunday 8, Carver Branch Library
Throw a platter on and enjoy the vibes as Carver Library reimagines their Vinyl Night series with four Austin-based DJs. Explore the Seventies, Eighties, Nineties, and the new millennium with vinyl masters like jLA Cold, Queer Vinyl Co., and Foxy Brown. Each artist must use only their personal collection – and the Carver’s generous wax supply as well. Kick off the series with DJ Boozwa, aka Emmanuel Lopez, whose specialty lies in deep cut hip-hop, cumbia, and house. Bring your friends, family, and any other music lovers you know. – James Scott
The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival
Sunday 8, Far Out Lounge
A plethora of commercial, restaurant, and individually produced hot sauces – not to mention, the Lone Star sun – ensure the Chronicle’s 34th annual, Central Texas Food Bank-benefiting salsa celebration brings the heat. Yet what really makes this shindig the hottest event of the week is the music. Hazy psychedelic quartet Redbud, glam rock sextet the Past Lives, and indie pop quintet Flight by Nothing all take to the Far Out Lounge stage, while DJ Island Time provides additional grooves. And yes, we tried to book the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but they won’t return our calls. – Carys Anderson
Want to see all of our listings broken down by day? Go to austinchronicle.com/calendar and see what’s happening now or in the coming week.
This article appears in The 34th Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival.
