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The Juilliard String Quartet with pianist Anna Petrova
With unparalleled artistry and enduring vigor, the Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ) continues to inspire audiences around the world. Founded in 1946 and hailed by The Boston Globe as “the most important American quartet in history,” the ensemble draws on a deep and vital engagement to the classics, while embracing the mission of championing new works, a vibrant combination of the familiar and the daring.Sat. May 17, 7:30pmRiverbend Centre -
Sponsored Listing
Affordable Art Fair Austin
After a hugely successful first edition, Affordable Art Fair Austin returns May 15-18, 2025 at the Palmer Events Center, showcasing thousands of original contemporary artworks ranging between $100 to $10,000. Welcoming 55 local, national and international exhibitors, the second edition will be unmissable.May 15-18, 2025Palmer Events Center
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Music
Mourning After, heel
On September’s debut double single “Honeycomb/Snatch,” College Station quartet Heel represents both ends of the shoegaze spectrum. Side A scratches sugary like its title as Adharsh Rajavel and Tayla Diza coo boy-girl vocals, more sounds than lyrics, à la MBV. “Snatch,” meanwhile, snarls, as Andres Gonzalez’s drums snap at the front of the mix underneath Rajavel’s buzzsaw guitar. More Seattle than UK, grunge headliners Mourning After – whose members actually split their time between Aggieland and Austin – prefer a rowdier energy: guitarists Zoey Frederick and Ethan Peschel sling sleazy rock & roll licks, prettified by Taytem Ligon’s sung, not screamed, vocals. – Carys AndersonFri., Nov. 29, 7:15pm. $10 cover (21+). -
Arts
Books
Black Metal Friday
Repeat after me this mantra for sanity during the biggest shopping day of the year: You are an enlightened consumer. You are not tricked by big-box stores chanting cheapo prices on flat-screens, golf clubs, and the newest GameBoy Color – or whatever video game handhelds are in right now. I sort of stopped looking after the age of 15, to be honest! Local cool lit spot Alienated Majesty helps keep your worst sale impulses at bay by offering not doorbuster deals but the cold dark comforts of heavy metal. That’s right: All Friday they’ll be blasting dirges while you shop neat niceties. Special for this year, they’ve got Honduran Creole food pop-up Five O Four slinging pastelitos from 2 to 5pm. – James ScottFri., Nov. 29 -
Qmmunity
Nightlife & Parties
Bless Your Heart
Erica Nix hosts a squeer-dancing session with tunes provided by country king DJ Boi Orbison. After you dance, make sure to shop the Austin Artisan Market popping up there, too!Fri., Nov. 29 -
Music
Dumpstaphunk, Zack Morgan & Friends
“Phunksgiving!” cried Antone’s principal Will Bridges at the third and final Austin City Limits 50th anniversary taping. Live music capitalist to his last drop, he lit up at the very mention of the New Orleans parishioners. Us too, this spring: “Crescent City scion Ivan Neville led Dumpstaphunk through throbbing NOLA beat voodoo,” we wrote in reviewing the Austin Blues Festival. Son of angelic falsetto Aaron Neville and cousin to Dumpstaphunk guitarist Ian Neville (son of Art), the bandleader’s keyboards and the sextet’s brass jam raise a Mardi Gras dander stretching from Professor Longhair to yes, the legendary Neville Brothers. Zack Morgan supports Friday and a very grateful Deadeye closes Saturday. – Raoul HernandezFri., Nov. 29, 8pm -
Music
Gumma, Born Twins, Day Friend
Founded by Amir Pirayandeh in 2015 “as a home-recording project,” calling Gumma an “indie-rock” band cuts short the unique possibilities present. Their incredibly promising 2024 full-length Sweetness of Nothing ranges from Seventies yacht rock to stock beats in an old Casio synthesizer to Black Sabbath, sometimes multiple things in the same song (“The Casino”). Indie rock duo Born Twins have a sunny, winning formula in the double harmonies within their strong 2023 release Novelas Cortas. Day Friend’s notable September debut, Penelope, features lyrics clearly drawn from a nightmarish sleep paralysis in a sound reminiscent of the early Aughts revival. – Kahron SpearmanFri., Nov. 29, 8pm -
Film
Special Screenings
Luther the Geek (1990)
Freddy has his glove. Jason has his machete. And Luther has his metal dentures. The titular killer of gruesome and deranged 1989 low-budget slasher Luther the Geek dispatches his victims by biting their heads off. Taking inspiration from the old carnival act where a man bit a head off a live chicken, writer/director Carlton J. Albright dived deep into the depths of his sleazy concept, while Edward Terry will have your jaw dropping as he chomps his way through the South. – Richard WhittakerFri., Nov. 29 -
Film
Special Screenings
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear a bloodstained Father Christmas costume. Well, maybe Christmas-wrecking Bill Chapman (Robert Brian Wilson) isn’t quite a hero. Yet there’s a certain catharsis for anyone who has photographic evidence of getting traumatized by a mall Santa every time the axe-wielding protagonist of this wintry chiller warns people about his naughty list. Pulled from cinemas on release in 1984 because finger-wagging prudes said Santa onscreen should be inviolate, they deserve coal in their stocking for denying audiences this screamingly funny seasonal slasher. – Richard WhittakerNov. 29 & Dec. 2 -
Music
Wagoneers w/ Monte Warden (9:00)
Native son Monte Warden cemented his music career at age 6 when he convinced his parents to buy tickets to what would prove Elvis Presley’s final tour, which stopped at Austin Municipal Auditorium (today Palmer Events Center) on March 28, 1977. After his Western teen sensation Whoa, Trigger, the firebrand frontman landed a major label deal with twangbusters Wagoneers and kick-started the ATX alt-country scene a decade earlier than the national trend of the Nineties. Selling out his Dangerous Few sets through the pandemic to now, Warden the crooner rips off his tuxedo to honky-tonk hard at historic dance hall the Broken Spoke. – Raoul HernandezFri., Nov. 29 -
Music
Wild Child & Friends
When Kelsey Wilson and Alexander Beggins regrouped Wild Child last year, they weren’t sure exactly what to expect. The response to 2023’s End of the World – and subsequent successful reunion tour – inspired a creative rebirth of the band though, with Wilson’s powerful vocals leading the pair’s effortless harmonies through their songs of fraught relationships and complicated loves. Their two-night hometown stand at Scoot Inn unwinds their entire catalog, with night one digging into early favorites and Saturday slinging cuts since 2018. Skylar Rose Wilson and Buffalo Hunt open Friday, and Motenko and Matthew Logan Vasquez set up Saturday. – Doug FreemanFri., Nov. 29, 8pm -
Film
Special Screenings
Zouzou (1934)
If you’ve never seen Josephine Baker onscreen, you’re missing out. To watch Baker is to watch the birth of “movie star” as a concept. She’s all bright eyes and an effervescent smile, hilarious and beautiful all at once. Seriously, it’s almost unfair for someone to be that gorgeous and that much of a natural clown. Zouzou was designed as a breakout starring role, and it showcases Baker’s immense talent beautifully. She sings, she dances, she pines over the man who was raised as her twin brother in the circus, you know. Standard film fare. Zouzou is not the dry homework of foreign film history. It’s a magnetic story, part romance, part tragedy, and part dance revue. – Cat McCarreyNov. 25, 27 & 29 -
Arts
Visual Arts
"Native America: In Translation"
One thing I’ve loved about newer theatre or museums is the space given for land acknowledgement – statements about the ancestral roots of the space being used. Space that was not always ours, but taken. The Blanton’s latest exhibit tackles that question, but pushes the boundaries. It’s not just about what Native America was, but what it can be. Curator and lauded artist Wendy Red Star has assembled nine other Native artists to create a rich exploration of what life in America is today. Shown through a variety of mediums, something is guaranteed to resonate with the audience. Whether it’s the photos, paintings, videos, or multimedia works is up to you. – Cat McCarreyAug. 4-Jan.5 -
Arts
Theatre
A Christmas Carol
It’s a timeless story, but revisiting A Christmas Carol now seems especially timely, what with billionaires running roughshod as income inequality rises with no sign of relief. Dickens wrote the story while under financial pressure, and the story was intended to touch the hearts of the rich and powerful. It was a nice idea, and the fact it’s been adapted countless times is testament to its broad appeal, but some of the real Scrooges may just be beyond its reach. We’ll keep trying though! Zach brings its production back for a 10th year, with fresh songs and special extras like commemorative tickets and experiences. – Kat McNevinsNov. 20-Jan. 1 -
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Arts
Visual Arts
Angel Hubris: “Shepherd Bells in Ballaban”
Catching a work mid-progress always excites me. New elements have been added to Albanian American artist Angel Hubris’ sonic art show since its premiere on Montez Press Radio, but still future manifestations tease: a photobook, a horror story, etc. What comes to us on Monday, Nov. 25, and sticks around through the new year is a multidisciplinary presentation where Hubris has collected audio samples from rural Albanian shepherds. Their bells ring out with myriad interpretations, according to Hubris, from divine to dangerous. “I tell my friends in New York that I’m going to Church when I travel to rural Albania,” the artist writes. “My intention for this sonic piece is to generate a gentle moment where the listener can daydream and ponder other possibilities.” – James ScottThrough Jan. 3 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Ashley Swarts: “Waiting for a Sign”
Ashley Swarts’ “Waiting for a Sign” debuted at Do Right Hall during Chinati Weekend in Marfa and will now have a more permanent showing at McLennon Pen Co.’s space next to Nixta Taqueria. It’s a fitting journey, seeing as Swarts lived in Marfa for seven years before moving to Austin to open Slowpoke, a hand-poke tattoo studio that she owns and works out of in East Austin. Swarts grew up in Las Vegas, and all three locales figure heavily in her show, which focuses on commercial signage in each city. Southwestern street art found in vintage light box and neon signs to painstakingly hand-painted typography is an aesthetic that fascinates Swarts, whose process involved collecting magazines and fitting cutouts into sign stencils layered into clear resin and suspended “like rare bugs under glass,” she writes. The opening reception is Thursday, November 21, from 6-9pm. – Lina FisherThrough Dec. 7 -
Community
Events
Austin International Folk Dancers
Join AIFD for an evening of dances from around the world with no experience or partner required.Fridays, 7-9:45pm. $5 (under 18, free). -
Music
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Arts
Visual Arts
“And the valley froze over”
When describing his six-film saga, director George Lucas described the multi-generational history of the Star Wars world as being “like poetry. They rhyme.” Much mocked, I actually find this a nice way to explain the repetition history tends to have – exemplified even better, TBH, in artist Enrique Figueredo’s woodcut pieces on view at Flatbed. These pieces utilize images of historical Spanish missions to convey timeless themes: economic struggles, religious turmoil, war. Figueredo also unveils three new altarpieces from his Federación Venezolana de Bobsleigh. series that takes inspiration from, as the show copy states, “the artist’s childhood fantasy of piloting a make-believe bobsleigh team at the Winter Olympics.” – James ScottThrough Nov. 30 -
Arts
Visual Arts
“Ethica Naturalis”
A more thematically dedicated writer might have written this whole listing in wingdings or emojis as a way of conveying the connection between illustration-forward storytelling via this show’s subject – emblem books, aka a collection of allegorical images – but alas. Y’all got me instead. Local garage-based gallery GLHF hosts a collective art show featuring artists Eli Decker, Ario Elami, Christopher Miller, and Teppla taking inspiration from one particular emblem book: Ethica Naturalis, whose illustrations personify natural elements. Attend opening night this Friday, Nov. 8, and see these artists express the eternal power dynamic between man and nature. – James ScottThrough Dec. 14 -
Arts
Visual Arts
“First Impressions”
Flatbed Press has championed local printmakers for 35 years. Not to be outdone, Women & Their Work has been putting the work of Texas women on their walls for 45 years. For the next couple of months the two organizations will collaborate by gathering 30 artists (who not-coincidentally are women and printmakers) and showcasing the variety of the medium and the skills of the creators. Who doesn’t love a creative collab? – James RenovitchFridays-Sundays. Through Jan. 9 -
Arts
Visual Arts
“Soft Opening”
Out of the garage and into much fancier digs, community-minded art gallery DORF celebrates its new home at South Lamar’s Zilker Point with the cheekily named group show “Soft Opening.” Amble in before January 11 to see what insights participating artists Eepi Chaad, Michael Anthony Garciá, Nitashia Johnson, Bárbara Miñarro, Natalia Nakazawa, Rebeca Proctor, Libby Rosen, James Viscardi bring to the concept of softness, or get in on the ground floor at Friday’s opening reception, featuring a performance by Garciá and music by DJ Apanda. – Kimberley JonesThrough Jan. 11 -
Arts
Comedy
BIPOC Improv Celebration
Yeah, okay, there’s the big ol’ comedy compost pile Downtown that keeps certain not-so-funny guys on retainer, but there’s better places to get your laughs. Consider, instead, homegrown venue the Hideout – which also has pretty good coffee! November marks a full month of shows highlighting Austin’s bench of all-star BIPOC improvisers at the coffeehouse/comedy stage, along with a sprinkling of out-of-town talent. From long-running & awarded showcases like Y’all We Asian to Hispanic Heritage Month horror hit My Killer Quinceañera, there’s plenty to fill up your comedy schedule. But wait! There’s more: special guests John Gebretatose and Stephanie Rae, BIPOC jams seshs, photo booths, and karaoke. – James ScottThroughout November -
Community
Events
Blue Genie Art Bazaar
This annual holiday market has been doing the unique, artisanal gift thing for long enough to have pretty much perfected it. Get in, grab the items to help check folks off your giftee list, and check out. You might want to take a business card from the booths you buy from so when the person opening your gift inevitably wants to know where you got it, you’ll be one step ahead. Online shopping and shipping is also available for folks unable to visit in person. – James RenovitchNov. 15-Dec. 24 -
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