We Have an Issue: What’s the Deal With the Cover?

Look, anybody can put a Waterloo Records sticker on their bumper, their guitar case, their laptop. Plenty of people have and still do; after all, the record store is celebrating 40 years of business, which is why current and former Music Editors Kevin Curtin and Raoul Hernandez put together this week's tribute to Waterloo, with reminiscences from musicians, politicians, and former employees.

But for a time in Austin history, Waterloo's iconic blue-and-white sticker (along with garage rockers Titty Bingo's neon-lettered one) were obsessively cut up and rearranged to make new words and phrases. (For some examples, check out the 2010 Stickerloo Blogspot, wherein the author recalls his own palindromic masterwork: "sit on a potato pan, otis".) I wish I could pinpoint the era more exactly than just, I dunno, the Aughties? Let's just say, it was a thing, until it wasn't. And it really was a beautiful thing: a starburst of self-expression – sometimes punny, frequently puerile – and a kind of citywide in-joke. A real cutup.

Speaking of self-expression! If you ever wanted to see your name in print, here's one way (three steps) into these pages.

1) Vote in the Austin Chronicle "Best of Austin" Readers Poll.

2) Leave a comment for who you're voting for, a pithy testimony as to why this particular [insert: plumber, art gallery, improv troupe, podcast, playground ...] is the best in Austin.

3) Make sure your comment is so devastatingly witty, charming, and/or heartfelt I can't help but select it for publication in the May 20 "Best of Austin" issue. (Yup, I'm the one who reads all the comments.)

Head over to vote.austinchronicle.com to get started. Voting ends Monday, April 18, midnight.

Online This Week

Indoor Creature's Cash Grab: The new video for the local sixpiece's "American Dream" follows a $100 bill on its strange trajectory.

Day Trips & Beyond Travel: columnist Gerald E. McLeod rounds up the best things to do around the state this April, including a trip to historic Presidio La Bahia and four scenic drives that may or may not involve bluebonnets.

Not Just for Kids: Richard Linklater pushes back on preconceptions about cartoons, and tells us what he cut out of Apollo 10½.

What Exactly Happened With GameStop? Texas native and MSNBC Vice President of Longform Acquisitions Amanda Spain deals us in on new documentary Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets.

Ode to Joy: Jasmine Lane reports from Austin Symphony Orchestra's tribute to Peter Bay, celebrating 25 years running as conductor.

The "S" in STEM Stands for "Sport": Richard Whittaker speaks with Gillian Jacobs about her new robotics competition documentary More Than Robots.