In/visible A: The Building of an Asian American Film Community

Thursday 25, Austin History Center

Austin History Center celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Austin Asian American Film Festival with a showcase revealing how the small film fest evolved into a major cultural arts org. Explore photographs, posters, and other records at the exhibit on view through July 2, and celebrate the opening at a reception this Thursday, which will include a panel discussion at 6:30pm featuring Hanna Huang, curator of the exhibit and executive director of AAAFF, along with UT prof Curran Nault and Austin Parks & Rec’s Sona Shah.  – Kat McNevins

Spend Time Zine Mart Launch Party

Thursday 25, Community Garden

Nestled on Cedar and 14th is a Zoomer oasis of wine, coffee, and acai bowls that’ll now also include zine mart Spend Time. These curators of independent and small-press zines started in 2019 and they’ll celebrate a new venture this Thursday as they launch a monthly rotation of themed zine capsule collections hosted at Community Garden. Festivities featured at this celebration: a DJ set by Kilgore Trout, nosh from Mama Kong Cambodian, micro poetry readings, and a special surprise zine release.  – James Scott

Council Mobility Committee Meeting

Thursday 25, City Hall

Have you ever wanted to learn more about what the city government does to maintain and improve transportation options available to you? Check out City Council’s upcoming Mobility Committee meeting, which will include a primer from city department heads on the work they do to improve the city’s transportation networks. Other topics on the agenda: an update on the city’s Living Streets program and a how-to guide on how Austin residents can report mobility-related concerns to city officials. The full meeting agenda can be viewed at tinyurl.com/councilmobilitycommittee.  – Austin Sanders

Black Eyes

Friday 26, Parish

Known for immersive post-hardcore punk ruckus fueled by ample percussion, Black Eyes broke up just before their second album arrived in 2004. Following last year’s first shows in two decades, the D.C. act shares an ATX-sourced art rock bill with Wet Dip’s thrashing No Wave and Water Damage’s instrumental droning. In a fascinating tie-in, Black Eyes drummer Mike Kanin has been based in Austin for some 15 years, where he plays in Water Damage and runs a sub-label of Astral Spirits Records. That’s not to mention his journalism career, including past roles as publisher of the Texas Observer and Austin Monitor (and Chronicle bylines). The punk publisher posted on Facebook: “That all makes this Austin show a kind of amazing confluence of two very significant parts of my life.”   – Rachel Rascoe

Nancy M. Morgan Celebration of Life

Friday 26 - Sunday 28, Giddy Ups

Down at the end of Menchaca Road, Giddy Ups celebrates the life of Nancy Morgan, the owner who passed away last October. Over the past three decades, Morgan transformed the small neighborhood bar into “the biggest little stage in South Austin,” and nearly 30 of her favorite artists gather to continue the old South Austin vibes. Son Mike Morgan kicks off a bluesy Friday night including Jeff & the Jumptones and Wild Healers, while Kathy & the Kilowatts launch an all-day Saturday capped by the Pearl Snaps and the Bentley/Casner Band. Sunday rounds out with Will Knaak joining the Waddell Brothers.   – Doug Freeman

Loverboy: Portraits on Vinyl by Rick Fleming

Through March 23, SAGE Studio

Back in 2020, Rick Fleming helped then-presidential hopeful Joe Biden campaign for the top spot by selling tote bags adorned with the politician’s portrait. Now, the local artist turns his attention to more musical inspirations, from Prince and David Bowie to Björk and Taylor Swift. United by his signature full eyes and round nostrils, Fleming’s homages take a more abstract approach to his subjects’ likeness – though accompanying lyrics, like to Queen’s namesake 1976 classic, give each piece away. Visit Springdale’s SAGE Studio Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to see Fleming’s paintings on vinyl discs – or buy one yourself for $200 a pop.  – Carys Anderson

The Diviners

Friday 26 - Sunday 28, St. Michael’s Catholic Academy

Directed by Milton Zoth, the Austin Repertory Theater’s production of The Diviners features the unique experience of professional actors cast alongside high schoolers, thus allowing for students to learn from theatre industry practitioners. The play, written by Jim Leonard Jr. and first performed in 1980, takes place in the fictional town of Zion, Indiana, during the Great Depression, and as ART puts it, tells “a story of redemption between an anguished young man and a disenchanted southern preacher.”   – Lina Fisher

Queer Field Day

Saturday 27, Festival Beach

Stretch those gay little legs out with all yer LGBTQ pals and allies. Queer groups Local Queer ATX, Austin Queer Connection, and Queer Friends ATX host a field day for all: No need to be a total sporto, either, as they promise only “silly field day games” to keep the winter worries at bay without needing a Ph.D. in athleticism. Early arrival is recommended to make splitting into teams easier and – a little rec from me to you – bring a biiiiig water bottle. You can rarely be too hydrated.  – James Scott

MLK Community Festival

Saturday 27, Huston-Tillotson University

Lovers of freedom and inclusion will gather to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this Saturday after last Monday’s cold weather forced the event to reschedule. This annual celebration of Dr. King’s work will feature a variety of vendors, performances by local musicians, and a children’s play area. The organizers are asking attendees to bring unexpired foodstuffs in non-breakable packaging, like canned meats (pop tops preferred), pasta and pasta sauce, beans, and peanut butter. Bins for the donations will be available at Huston-Tillotson.  – Brant Bingamon

Alejandro Escovedo

Saturday 27, ACL Live at the Moody Theater

Prior to the pandemic, Alejandro Escovedo followed in the deep, boot-heeled steps of Terry Allen and began initiating each year with a troubadour mosh at the Paramount Theatre, delving deeper and deeper into a now 30-year catalog of restless, raging Latin soul divination. During COVID, mankind then prophesied an eventual post-lockdown body of existentialism for all the arts. Austin’s avant-bard restarted his annual bacchanal last January and here upsizes to the Moody Theater with Allen, John Doe, Shakey Graves, Ruthie Foster, Flatlanders Gilmore and Hancock, Will Johnson, David Ramirez, etc., hopefully previewing March’s Echo Dancing, a Suicide-like odyssey through time, space, and Escovedo’s discography.  – Raoul Hernandez

Le Garage Sale

Saturday 27 - Sunday 28, Palmer Events Center

The city’s most bodacious shopping experience returns, showcasing more than 130 buzzed-about boutiques, brands, and designers under the PEC’s big ol’ roof: the whole place decked out for two solid days of vigorous retail therapy. Everything’s on sale, and you can enjoy fine tipples and tunes spun by live DJs while you bop, browse, and discover bargains from the likes of Adelante, Silk Ranch, Baga Designs, Gameday Boots, Stash Classic Couture, Lux Rox Boutique, Prisma Vintage, NVMBR DCMBR, Chasing Indigo, House of Eberstein, and many more.  – Wayne Alan Brenner

Cool Day

Through February 10, Martha’s Contemporary

A two-person exhibition centered on early Aughts-style internet collage opened Jan. 13 and can be seen Fridays and Saturdays through early February. Mia Scarpa’s mixed-media paintings conjure the edge of 2000s chatrooms and 3D-rendered JPEGs, while Grace Horan’s playful sculptures reference childhood friendships and I Spy books. The gallery press release teases, “Their images and objects evoke an ethos of collecting that animates everything from official archives to family photo albums to online image boards. The result of such an experience is a schizophrenic reading of images that hardly make sense together – except in the fact that they do.”  – Lina Fisher

Queer Flea Market

Sunday 28, the Little Gay Shop

Here’s hoping your wallet has healed up after the holidays, because the Little Gay Shop – you know, the all LGBTQ-makers shop on 12th – has got another top-tier market full of queer wares to wow over. With 25 local artists, makers, and vendors, this shopping spree will take over the parking lot across the street from their brick-and-mortar featuring vintage and reuse items. Why not top it all off and bring a reusable bag to put your purchases in? Just a thought...   – James Scott

Austin Cares Concert: The Doobie Brothers

Sunday 28, Moody Center

Oh, just another legacy rock act touring somewhat-life-affirming Seventies anthems through Austin’s newest arena? Wrong. This flyout, marking the Doobie Brothers’ only 2024 date until June, specially fundraises for essential health care-providing, musician-beloved Austin nonprofit HAAM, as well as Superhero Kids and Step Onward Foundation. Concerts 4 Austin Charities’ annual effort steps up from past ACL Live excursions to even further extend the San Jose, California harmonizers’ 50th anniversary tour, which brought the band back together in 2019.  – Rachel Rascoe

Pop-Up Candlemaking Workshop

Sunday 28, Austin Eastciders Collaboratory

Audette’s Legacy’s Kat Pinson, Round Rock-based maven of soy-based candles and aesthetic self-expression, presents this hands-on workshop where you’ll learn how to create your own little light against the darkness, choosing from a variety of scents and colors to conjure up a candle that’s truly your own. And, while you’re gaining this new knowledge and skill, you and your classmates can enjoy a complimentary beverage from your hosts, the apple-forward professionals of Austin’s own Eastciders.  – Wayne Alan Brenner

Grackle Games

Monday 29, Oilcan Harry’s

Got a sweet tooth for drag? Craving a little competition? Where better to satisfy both indulgences than at Lady Grackle’s competition drag show, the Grackle Games. Started in 2022, this is the fifth cycle of contestants to come through the fab factory: eager and talented drag performers who’ll go head to head in creative challenges before head judges Ritzy Bitz and Evah Destruction. This year’s contestants include Y’Vonne D’Amour, Owen Alimony, Yolanti Pussy, Stella Thrush, Sinful Purchase, Munster Mash, Prada Hill-Dlux, Munekita, Ms. Foxxy, MK Ultra, Miss Malibu Imported, Meonya Pussy, Lilith Azazel, Isis Crysis, and Gator Gorr.  – James Scott

UT-Austin Men’s Basketball vs. Houston

Monday 29, Moody Center

The unranked Longhorns currently find themselves outside of projections for this year’s men’s March Madness field. Playing in college basketball’s toughest conference will thankfully present Rodney Terry’s team with ample opportunities to make up ground. Big 12 newcomer Houston comes to town with a high AP Poll ranking and one of the nation’s most elite defenses. This encounter will mark the fourth game in a pivotal six-game stretch for the Burnt Orange against teams with a top 50 NET ranking. UT’s last home game was a Quadrant 1 victory against Baylor capped by an exhilarating Tyrese Hunter buzzer beater.  – Derek Udensi

Babies and Tea

Monday 29, West China Tea

Make teatime a family affair at this center of tea culture within Texas. West China Tea began as an importer of specialty Chinese tea, but since 2012 they’ve grown into a community space that teaches traditional tea methods as well as offering both self-serve and hosted tea services. This particular event includes an open play area for kiddos, a “swap basket” where fellow parents can exchange like-new baby items, and a tea service for $15. Just keep the lovely teaware out of tiny hands: These flavors are for a grownup palate only.  – James Scott

Paranoid Humanoid

Tuesday 30, Rain on 4th

Late-night icons of the laptop screen like Jeff the Killer, Suicide Squidward, and BEN Drowned have haunted the dreams of many a young’un for years. As opposed to slipping into a rot-inducing YouTube sinkhole, your e-ddicted self may find more thrills at this drag show centering creepypastas. Hosts include self-proclaimed “Clown Prince of Grime” Solovino and MK Ultra, who acts as a “human tip jar” by withstanding $20 bills stapled to their ass, with featured performances from Munster Mash, Jenna Talia, Basura, Gothess Jasmine, and Stellar Manx. DJ Montex provides tunes to cover this midweek internet deep dive.  – James Scott

An Evening With Moshe Kasher

Tuesday 30, BookPeople

Comedian/actor/writer Moshe Kasher has a life story so wild that frankly, it sounds made up: a teenager in Alcoholics Anonymous who becomes a sober ecstasy dealer for raves, a child of deaf parents who helps interpret for deaf clients hiring sex workers, a psychedelic security guard for Burning Man. New memoir Subculture Vulture takes readers on a tour through the subcultures Kasher found himself a part of, and the book’s release is celebrated at this ticketed event with a sure-to-be-hilarious conversation with fellow comic/actor/podcaster Duncan Trussell.  – Kat McNevins

Skeleton Factory’s Horror & Cult Film Trivia Night

Tuesday 30, Tweedy’s Bar

Why waste your time by doing crimes like getting sushi and not paying (cf. Repo Man, 1984) when you can have a lively and lore-loaded good time with Adam Hester of the Skeleton Factory podcast and his lineup of stump-your-electric-bacon deep dives into cinema’s more psychotronic waters? Answer: Don’t! Put down that nigiri, grab you a brew, and battle for prizes and braggin’ rights against your perhaps equally obsessed friends and neighbors. Hockey masks optional, and the calls are always coming from inside the house.  – Wayne Alan Brenner

Century of Sembène

Through February 24, AFS Cinema

Ousmane Sembène was 40 before he picked up a camera, and maybe that explains why his films were filled with a lifetime of wisdom, storytelling genius, and political anger. The son of a Senegalese fisherman who became a bestselling novelist in France, his films and books critiqued the colonial powers that had devastated Central Africa. Now AFS Cinema is showing four features by the father of African film: his 1965 debut Black Girl (La noire de...) Jan 30.- Feb. 3, Emitai (1971) Feb. 6-10, Xala (1975) Feb. 13-17, and his internationally acclaimed feature Ceddo (1977) Feb. 20-24.  – Richard Whittaker

Get Weird Book Club

Wednesday 31, Virtual

New year, new literary ventures: Open up your mind at this virtual book club held by our very own Austin Public Library – focused on, in their words, “all things strange, surreal, unconventional and unexpected.” This month’s selection, Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente, combines speculative sci-fi with international song showdown Eurovision to create the universal Galactivision. Described as “part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part, a very large, but very subtle part, continuation of the wars of the past,” the competition gets rocked when humans finally step onstage.  – JameS scott

Buck Meek

Wednesday 31, Sagebrush

Before Big Thief’s reigning folk rock status, risen to the point where fans could barely wait five months for “Vampire Empire” after last year’s impactful Colbert performance, there was Buck and Anne. The band’s Buck Meek and Adrianne Lenker toured and recorded for years as a duo, during which Wimberley-born singer-guitarist Meek connected lead singer Lenker to the Kerrville Folk Festival scene. Rooted locally via past solo releases on Keeled Scales, Meek signs to 4AD for new singles “Cuero Dudes” and “Beauty Opens Doors” – the second of which was written during a songwriting workshop taught by fellow Texas storyteller Lomelda.  – Rachel Rascoe

lluvii, Other Vessels

Wednesday 31, Hotel Vegas

Booking wizard Trish Connelly aims to squash the question oft asked by stumblers-in from East Sixth with latest Hotel Vegas series “What’s Your Name?” Lineups spotlight the slew of fresh acts that pop on the Austin radar daily. Luscious art-rock alchemists lluvii take a spin at the new talent showcase alongside Other Vessels, a full-band indie rock effort from soloist Miss Miranda (Haney), promising a Valentine’s Day debut EP. Latest single “Tangerine” lilts into alt.country territory with warm steel twang and frolicking percussion, as Haney’s soft voice wiggles through poetic pleas to a lover: “Jesse, don’t ya let me be alone/ The cracking of your knuckles is my metronome.”  – Laiken Neumann

All-Ages Lego Lab

Wednesday 31, Windsor Park Branch Library

What better combo than the library and Legos? Get inspiration from the branch’s wide selection of stories, then gather ’round to take advantage of their toy brick provisions, which, being different from the Legos you have at home, are infinitely better Legos. All ages are welcome to come play, and it’s a great afterschool activity, running 3-5pm. Can’t make it to this one? Check out the Austin Public Library’s other Lego Lab offerings, happening at various branches on different days of the week.  – Kat McNevins

CineNoche Presents: Mujeres en la Lucha

Wednesday 31, Violet Crown Austin

Violet Crown’s latest signature series is a collaboration with Cine Las Americas, bringing the best of films from around the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world to Austin audiences. Taking place the last Wednesday of every month, for the next four months the selection will be gathered under the banner of Mujeres en la Lucha (Women in the Fight), focusing on women in South and Central America leading the struggle for environmental and reproductive justice. It begins Jan. 31 with Máxima, in which documentarian Claudia Sparrow follows Peruvian indigenous farmer Máxima Acuña as she fights back against U.S. mining companies ravaging the land and the people who live on it.  – Richard Whittaker

Scribble After Dark

Thursday 1, Paramount Theatre

You’re familiar with Scribble Showdown, where five of YouTube’s hottest animators compete against each other for their glory and your entertainment in an all-ages show? Well, leave the kids at home tonight, because Scribble After Dark is the more raucous, adult version of that – with Arin Hanson (Egoraptor) and the audience putting animators Odds1Out, JaidenAnimations, RubberRoss, and Domics through brand-new creative challenges where they’ll come up with shit as down and dirty as necessary to win. F-bombs dropping everywhere, OMG! Note: Ages 18+ only.  – Wayne Alan Brenner

Create & Heal: African Americans and the Arts

Thursday 1, George Washington Carver Museum

The Carver Museum’s guest facilitators Imani F. Aanu and Brandon Madyun will share their experiences around visual and performance arts unique to African American culture, leading an interactive workshop in visual arts practices and a one-hour African movement and dance class, for this full night of vibrant enrichment. Note: Comfortable clothing and footwear (and a refillable water bottle) are encouraged; refreshments will be served throughout the event.   – Wayne Alan Brenner

Indie Orchestra Benefiting HAAM

Thursday 1, ACC Highland

A kind of centrifuge, Brent Baldwin’s Indie Orchestra (I/O) has transformed the songs of Austin artists across genres with a glorious whirlwind of orchestral and choral arrangements since 2014. This year’s installment, benefiting HAAM, brings Sabrina Ellis back to the stage, now taking a Bite with A Giant Dog. Caleb De Casper’s dramatic dance floor electro-glam demands orchestral backing, as does promqueen’s provocative mix of breathless rap and beat-heavy pop. Daniel Fears’ subtly smooth R&B readies for reinvention, while Thor & Friends offer up their experimental percussion to the cause.  – Doug Freeman

City Council Regular Meeting

Thursday 1, City Hall

On the relatively light 52-item agenda is approval of a controversial pay and benefits package for Austin police officers that is intended to help retain and recruit cops, as well as entice them into negotiating a long-term labor contract. Speaker registration for the meeting opens Jan. 29 and can be completed online. The full meeting agenda can be viewed at tinyurl.com/austincitycouncilmeeting.   – Austin Sanders

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Music Notes

by Derek Udensi

Skaiwater

Friday 26, Mohawk

British rapper (“#miles”) headlines the latest Frothing Fest put together by Austinite Baxter Wright. Frothing favorite West 22nd (“Sunburns”) opens.

Oscar D’León

Friday 26, the Coliseum

Venezuelan singer/bassist nicknamed “the Pharaoh of Salsa” is best known for the Seventies jam “Llorarás,” a song he created while part of the band Dimensión Latina.

Snõõper

Saturday 27, Radio/East

Fast-paced Nashville punk band returns to Austin after performing at last year’s ACL Fest. Expect lots of meticulously crafted papier-mâché. Locals Font and Tear Dungeon support.