Here’s a round-up of new(-ish) things to see and do in downtown Austin…
Continue readingNew in 2020
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Author Archives: janis
Feel the Bern
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders stopped in Austin as part of a swing through Texas prior to Super Tuesday’s primary elections here. A rally was announced for Sunday evening at Auditorium Shores.
Continue readingVoices for Justice
This month Bill and I attended the Voices for Justice concert at the ACL Moody Theater. The concert was part of a fundraising event for Proclaim Justice, a non-profit organization that focuses on freeing wrongly convicted inmates, especially those facing life in prison or the death penalty. This organization is based in Austin, but considers cases throughout the US.
Continue readingTuba Christmas: 2019
On Monday, about 215 low brass players participated in the annual Tuba Christmas Austin concert. It was a pleasant, sunny day, so a larger-than-usual crowd gathered in front of the Texas State Capitol to listen to the (low) sounds of the season.
Continue readingO Christmas Tree: 2019
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,Continue reading
Your leaves are so unchanging.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your leaves are so unchanging.
Not only green when summer's here,
But also when it's cold and drear.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your leaves are so unchanging.
Gingerbread Villlage at the Four Seasons: 2019
“Friendship” was the theme of this year’s Gingerbread Village at the Four Seasons Austin. It was actually six separate villages: Austin, plus our five sister cities: Saltillo, Mexico; Koblenz, Germany; Angers, France; Adelaide, Australia; and Oita, Japan. Each city/village was covered by a plastic snow globe. In this post, I’ve included the Four Seasons’ description for each city, plus one or two interesting Fun Facts from their Wikipedia entry. The village(s) remain on display through Christmas Day.
Continue readingEAST: 2019
Over two weekends in mid-November, the public was invited to visit art studios and galleries during the annual East Austin Studio Tour. EAST covers a huge geographic area east of I-35 and west of I-183. According to the organizer, non-profit Big Medium, over 60,000 people visited a record 807 artists this year.
Continue readingCreek Show: 2019
Warm temperatures and free street parking prompted Bill and me to visit Creek Show on Sunday evening. This 6th annual light-based display is sponsored by Waterloo Greenway, a non-profit working with the City of Austin to plan and build a park along Waller Creek on downtown’s east side. Creek Show runs 6:00-10:00 PM nightly through November 17. Admission is free.
Continue readingCommunity Altars: 2019
Community Altars is an annual exhibit at Austin’s Mexic-Arte Museum on Congress Avenue. Ofrendas (altars) are created to honor deceased members of the Latino/a and Mexican communities, in conjunction with the Catholic Holy Days of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day (November 1 and 2). The colorful ofrendas will remain on display at the museum through November 24.
Continue readingTexas Book Festival: 2019
The annual Texas Book Festival was held in and around the Texas State Capitol this past weekend. Sessions took place inside the Capitol building and under huge, white tents on 11th Street, Colorado Street, and Congress Avenue. Nearby church sanctuaries were also used for the most popular authors. Since the Paramount and State theaters were being used for the Austin Film Festival, the most popular authors spoke in nearby churches.
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