Cover Story
Grocery Bag Ticks Off Their Bucket List
andering the aisles of Fresh Plus, Grocery Bag ponders some produce and dry goods, gamely taking up my invitation to turn this on-the-nose photo shoot and interview location into something of a helpful errand. Drummer Jimmy Mercado stocks up on Yellowbird’s habanero hot sauce. “I put it on my eggs in the morning, whether it…
News
UT Workers and Students March Against Changes to Academic Programs
About 50 people gathered Friday afternoon, Sept. 25, outside University Baptist Church, just steps from UT-Austin’s campus, to protest what they described as attacks on academic freedom and programs focused on race, gender, sexuality, and culture. Organized by the Texas State Employees Union, students and employees of the university gave speeches before the group marched…
The Week’s Biggest News in Brief: Sept. 24-30
City Council Candidate Arrested: Misael Ramos, one of six candidates for Austin City Council District 1, was arrested on Saturday, Sept. 26, on misdemeanor riot charges in connection to his participation in a protest against the shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez in North Austin by ICE agents on Sunday, Sept. 20. Ramos was held…
ICE Accuses Wilber Rafael Garces Perez of Hitting Agent With Side Mirror, Files Assault Charge
Ten days after being shot in the back by a still-unidentified U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez still has not had surgery to remove the bullet from his body and is still suffering from “a lot of pain,” one of his attorneys, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said on social media Wednesday morning, Sept.…
Political Fault Lines on Display at TribFest
This year’s Texas Tribune Festival offered a snapshot of the uncertain state of American politics today: Republican strategist Karl Rove wants his political party back. Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. John Fetterman insists he’s still a Democrat while defending his votes with Republicans. Former Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene believes MAGA is dead. And while the…
Five African American Men in a Row Have Been Executed
Texas has put five African American men to death in a row, after last month’s killings of LeJames Norman and Ker’sean Olajuwa Ramey. The state will try to kill a sixth consecutive Black man on Oct. 7 – Jamaal Howard. Howard was 20 years of age when he murdered Vickie Swartout during a robbery in…
Talks Between Rosedale Residents and AISD Collapse
Residents of the Rosedale neighborhood met with representatives of the Austin Independent School District through the summer to discuss the district’s plan to put a six-story, 435-unit apartment complex on the site of the closed Rosedale Elementary School near 49th and Burnet. The residents hoped the district would agree to downsize the project, which they…
Music
The Animeros Stir a Timeless Trago
My DJ crate of Latin ATX vinyl deepens by the day. Thumb through any number of Adrian Quesada spins, three Money Chicha platters, and El Combo Oscuro’s dark horse cumbias. Debut long-player ¡Qué Bárbaro! now shoots the Animeros to the front of the stack. Discovered by Black Keys mogul Dan Auerbach one SXSW when their…
Progger Fills Austin’s Jazz Fusion Hole
It’s always been strange that jazz fusion never really caught fire in this music-loving town. Despite the One World Theatre hosting touring staples, Pat Metheny recently packing the Paramount Theatre, and members of local Seventies/Eighties act Passenger going on to play with Leonard Cohen, Joe Ely, and Eric Johnson, there’s been little traction. That’s a…
It’s All Bueno for Stalefish
A glockenspiel and saxophone aren’t necessarily indie rock prerequisites, but they’re signature elements for Nineties-inspired sixpiece Stalefish as their optimistic skate-grunge sound grows more unwieldy and adventurous. Out Oct. 9, third album Bueno opens louder and noisier, setting the scene for character sketches, mid-20s musings, and boundary fraying. “PA Toll Tag” introduces the record’s twin…
Music Notes
FreeBloo&theFreak Saturday 3, Hole in the Wall FreeBloo&theFreak made headlines last month when they were abruptly forced to end their set at Pecan Street Festival in Bee Cave. After performing together for nearly two years, the rap trio finally released their debut album, The Fathoming, last Friday. Outside of the album’s title track/opener, which features…
20 Essential Acts to See at ACL Fest 2026
It’s time for another weekend of sweat, dust, and live music shenanigans. Beyond pop girlies Charli xcx, Lorde, and Audrey Hobert, ACL Fest welcomes queercore-rooted Sixties garage nostalgia, mainstream-infiltrating punk rock, and a whole lot of electronic music to Zilker Park this weekend, Oct. 2-4, and next, Oct. 9-11. Here are the acts you can’t…
ACL Interview: Dámaris Bójor Spins Singular Folkpirana
Live original music holdout on Dirty Sixth, Flamingo Cantina hosted a veritable WOMEX festival of international singers the past couple of SXSWs. From Tijuana (Vanessa Zamora) to Jamaica (Minori), ladies nights owned the global micro-amphitheatre. Speaking softest yet brandishing a big idea, Sonoran cowgirl Dámaris Bójor lilted and loped a singular hybrid of Northern Mexico…
ACL Interview: World Famous Pets Are Out to Play
Songwriting is a near-mystical channeling of the imagination for Edie Brickell. “I just trust the first line that comes. I’ve learned to do that, even if I don’t understand it,” the Texas-born musician explains, remembering writing “Lost in the Moment” as a freshly transplanted New Yorker working on her first solo album, 1994’s Picture Perfect…
7 Texan Artists Performing at ACL Fest 2026
Art-pop, folk-rock, dance-punk: Texas has it all and more, and these acts are bringing them to the ACL Fest stage across two weekends. From onetime Austinite singer-songwriter Jess Williamson to Abilene-launched rockers Dexter & the Moonrocks and plenty of present-day locals in between, be sure to add these Lone Star musicians to your festival itinerary.…
ACL Interview: Calder Allen Writes His Own Story
Scroll through Calder Allen’s Instagram, and two distinct styles of photos dominate. One is the tall, 23-year-old songwriter slinging his guitar on increasingly bigger stages across the country, and the other is the Austin native on the water holding impressively large fish he’s caught. “For me, they do the same thing in my head,” Allen…
Arts + Culture
The Chair That Wants a Laugh
The strangest thing about the objects in “Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley” is how familiar they almost are. Almost a vase. Almost furniture. Almost an animal. Almost a body. Almost functional. Almost alive. Throughout the Blanton Museum of Art’s retrospective of Austin-raised twins Nikolai and Simon Haas, familiar things keep appearing, only to misbehave. That misbehavior…
Screens
Beware Boiúna Review: Snake With No Bite and No Brain
Mike P. Nelson hasn’t only directed soft reboots of established horror franchises, but it’s definitely become his stock-in-trade. First there was his abysmal relaunch of the redneck cannibal Wrong Turn franchise as some kind of half-witted conspiracy flick. He followed this up with his re-envisioning of Silent Night, Deadly Night, which welded together the Christmas…
The History of Concrete Review: Who Is John Wilson?
Bless John Wilson, who will puncture his ego faster than anybody else could possibly get to it. Creator and star of How to With John Wilson, the COVID-era HBO docuseries, Wilson knows he’s not exactly a household name. So, early in his debut feature documentary, The History of Concrete, he helpfully summarizes his backstory via…
How We Grieve Goes Inside Our Least Favorite Emotion
Gelotti Ice Cream in Paterson, New Jersey, sits about as close to a cemetery as an ice cream shop can get. Meghan and Justin Ross know. They grew up visiting both. “If you’re paying your respects and burying a loved one, you might as well top it off with a cold treat,” Justin figures. The…
Digger Review: Best Buried Deep and Forgotten
Ever heard that old saying, this meeting could have been an email? Similarly, rather than being a film, Digger could have been a burning bag of dog poop delivered to Adam McKay’s doorstep. A seeming broadside at heavy-handed Hollywood advocacy flops like Don’t Look Up, it’s a scathing pastiche of everything that makes such movies…
Columns
Fan’s “Abolish ICE” T-Shirt Ejection Is a Bad Look for Austin FC
Last Saturday evening, Daniela Silva stepped off the CapMetro Red Line train at McKalla Station, excited to enjoy an evening of soccer and community inside Q2 Stadium for Austin FC’s latest match. Silva had been invited by friends from her church, and the match seemed like a way to decompress somewhat after a distressing week…
Qmmunity: Soothslaying This Fall
In the past few days, I’ve found myself a little taken with internet soothsayers. I’m not talking about the dark Polymarket warlocks or Kalshi demons but rather those front-facing video fortune tellers who always know which phase the moon’s in. Last weekend was a big one: a full harvest moon! According to some woman whose…
The Luv Doc: Nice, Welcoming People
Dear Luv Doc, I have been dating a divorced man for a little over a year and a half. I met him through a dating site (I am divorced myself) and found him to be sweet, patient, and responsible. He’s also attractive and does well financially, which doesn’t hurt. We are both in our 50s…
Day Trips: Bistro20, Stanton
Bistro20 in Stanton isn’t a normal hospital cafeteria. Situated on Interstate 20 between Midland and Big Spring, it’s an affordable fine-dining oasis among truck stops and fast-food joints. When Chef Maxwell Warner arrived as the head of the cafeteria, the kitchen was an industrial dispensary serving staff and patients reheated frozen foods. “In many cases…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
George Washington was born Feb. 11, 1731, in the Julian calendar. In 1752, Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar and his birthday moved to Feb. 22, 1732. If you moldered, you’d disintegrate. ESPN’s Pat McAfee is very popular these days. According to New York magazine, he’s overcaffeinated, recently released a country music album, co-owns a brand…
Feedback: October 2, 2026
Unforgettable Heat Dear Editor, I spent a few summers inside Bartlett State Jail, from 2003 to 2004. When I hear people talk about the heat inside Texas prisons today, I don’t have to imagine what it feels like. I remember it. I remember lying in my bunk at night trying to sleep while the heat stayed trapped…
In Defense of the Side Quest
On September 22 at 7:05pm, we officially said goodbye to summer. Unofficially, however, Texas summer is like a toxic ex who insists on lingering far past their welcome until everyone involved is exhausted. Here in Austin, the turn of the season is not marked by crisp weather or changing leaves (that time will come), but…
Fun + Games
Free Will Astrology
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Let’s make Libran writer Ursula K. Le Guin your patron saint. She believed that any human arrangement, however permanent it seems, was made by people and can therefore be unmade and remade by people. The divine right of kings once seemed eternal and inevitable, she liked to remind us. Be like…
