The Austin Chronicle

Qmmunity: Magic 8 Ball Moment • The Austin Chronicle Reader, I’m shaking my snot-filled head around like a Magic 8 Ball trying to figure out a good opening line. Wouldn’t you know it, but nothing’s coming up! So please take my sincerest wish that you ar...

Updates on local open applications of queer interest and a request for unofficial LGBTQ South By events.

Don’t Get Too Deep With Urinetown • The Austin Chronicle A challenge for you: While reading this article, don’t think about peeing. No crossing your legs at the thought of running bathwater or gushing waterfalls.  After all, that’s what the citizens in Tony...

THEATRE REVIEW: Don’t get too deep with Urinetown.

How to Make a Killing Review: Greedy for Revenge • The Austin Chronicle When Glen Powell donned a murderers’ row of faces for Hit Man, the first point of comparison was the beautifully twisted classic British black comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets. In it, Alec Guinness pl...

MOVIE REVIEW: Glen Powell takes on the soul-curdling influence of money in How to Make a Killing.

Fish Shop Finds Its Anchor  • The Austin Chronicle One of my least favorite phrases is “I’ll course it all out for you.” I have been burned by this promise more times than I can count, usually resulting in hot and cold dishes colliding or a salad land...

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Fish Shop on East Sixth wins with quality hospitality and fresh seafood.

The 44th Annual Austin Music Awards Sunday, March 1, at Antone’s Nightclub (305 E 5th St.)

The Austin Music Awards returns March 1. Join us as we shine a light on the talent and creativity of the city with awards, live performances by this year’s winners and nominees, and more. Get tickets now!

March 2026 Primary Election Endorsements for the Austin Area • The Austin Chronicle The Chronicle Editorial Board provides the following endorsements to Democrats in advance of early voting (Feb. 17 through Feb. 27) and election day, Tuesday, March 3. We urge readers to be thorough w...

The Chronicle Editorial Board provides the following endorsements to Democrats in the primary election. Early voting continues through Feb. 27.

Steven Spielberg to Speak at SXSW • The Austin Chronicle E.T: The Extraterrestrial. Jaws. Saving Private Ryan. Schindler’s List. The Color Purple. A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Minority Report. Munich. The Fabelmans. 1941. West Side Story. Raiders of the Lo...

Legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg added as a speaker at SXSW ahead of the release of Disclosure Day.

Acclaimed Author Bret Anthony Johnston Flips the Page • The Austin Chronicle On the hard, flat cement of Corpus Christi, Bret Anthony Johnston got his first unconventional lessons in what it takes to be a writer. “As a skateboarder, you spend a lot of time on the ground. You a...

Acclaimed author Bret Anthony Johnston flips the page with his collection of Texan tales, Encounters With Unexpected Animals.

Saddle Up for Lunar New Year 2026 • The Austin Chronicle Last Tuesday, Feb. 17, was the start of Lunar New Year 2026. This Chinese zodiac cycle restart means we’re now riding the Year of the Fire Horse into rapid change, intensity, and general big-energy bu...

Saddle up for Lunar New Year 2026. Don’t hold your horses for these hot happenings around Austin.

The Week's Biggest News in Brief • The Austin Chronicle Over 100,000 Voucher Applications: Since applications for Texas’ new private school voucher program, Texas Education Freedom Accounts, opened on Feb. 4, over 100,000 students have submitted applicatio...

Over 100,000 private school voucher applications submitted, TEA releases AISD from state oversight, and more of the week’s headlines.

UT Head of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Speaks Out • The Austin Chronicle On Monday, the Chronicle spoke with Lisa Moore, who has served since 2023 as the chair of UT-Austin’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department – a department that is now being collapsed with ...

UT head of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies speaks out.

The Right-Wingification of UT Continues • The Austin Chronicle Texas Republicans’ efforts to control what is taught at the University of Texas passed another milestone last week, as UT administrators announced that the school will consolidate its highly regarded ...

The right-wingification of UT continues as the school's leaders take “a giant leap backwards.”

Lukas Nelson, St. Vincent, Booker T. Jones, and More Headed to Luck Reunion 2026 • The Austin Chronicle A countrified parallel to South by Southwest’s city-based festivities, Willie Nelson’s roots music festival returns to the Red Headed Stranger’s Luck, Texas, ranch for its 14th year with performances ...

Lukas Nelson, St. Vincent, Booker T. Jones, and more headed to Luck Reunion 2026.

BRUCE, Team Trust, Égaux Sells, and Free Hamze to Play the Chronicle’s Hair of the 3-Legged Dog Party • The Austin Chronicle Scattered across different venues Downtown and snugly packed into just one week, it’s no secret South by Southwest will look different this year. There’s one place, though, where the party’s staying t...

BRUCE, Team Trust, Égaux Sells, and Free Hamze to play our annual Hair of the 3-Legged Dog Party.

City Considers Future of Riverside • The Austin Chronicle With Project Connect and city rezoning to accommodate it on the horizon, the city of Austin has $300 million in the project’s voter-approved “anti-displacement” funds to spend on land acquisition and ...

The city considers the future of Riverside with light rail, better bus system, affordable housing, and litter cleanup all part of the discussion.

Jason Narducy on R.E.M.’s Legacy and the Surprise Success of His Impromptu Cover Band • The Austin Chronicle It started as a pop-up performance or two, then a Tonight Show appearance. Before they knew it, Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy were on tour playing R.E.M. albums front to back.  “This was not plann...

Jason Narducy on R.E.M.’s legacy and the surprise success of his impromptu cover band.

March 2026 Primary Election Endorsements for the Austin Area • The Austin Chronicle The Chronicle Editorial Board provides the following endorsements to Democrats in advance of early voting (Feb. 17 through Feb. 27) and election day, Tuesday, March 3. We urge readers to be thorough w...

The Chronicle Editorial Board provides the following endorsements to Democrats in the primary election. Early voting starts today!

March 2026 Primary Election Endorsements for the Austin Area • The Austin Chronicle The Chronicle Editorial Board provides the following endorsements to Democrats in advance of early voting (Feb. 17 through Feb. 27) and election day, Tuesday, March 3. We urge readers to be thorough w...

Our choices for local, state, and federal races that you'll see on your ballot for this primary election. Early voting starts tomorrow!

Op-Ed: What Is Texas Without DREAMers? • The Austin Chronicle Last year, I received an email from my company’s CEO announcing that I had been selected as one of just 14 employees globally to travel to Iceland. This would have been an important sustainability tri...

OPINION: A DACA recipient explains what’s at stake.

The New Voucher Era • The Austin Chronicle In the months before the Austin ISD board of trustees’ Nov. 20 vote to close 11 total schools next fall, several parents took the public comment mic to say that, for the first time, they were consider...

As the state's new school voucher program begins, parents face difficult decisions.

Abbott's Freeze on H-1B Visas Raises Concerns for Public Universities • The Austin Chronicle Gov. Greg Abbott has put higher education and specialized health care, including cancer treatment, at critical risk, according to advocates.  On Jan. 27, Abbott launched an investigation into the H-1B visa program – a temporary work visa for nonimmigrants – and ordered public institutions and state agencies to freeze new H-1B petitions, citing alleged abuse […]

Abbott’s freeze on H-1B visas raises concerns for public universities.

From the files of Mr. Smarty Pants: Dwight Elliott Stone, a plumber’s apprentice from Sacramento, was the last man drafted into the U.S. military. He was inducted June 30, 1973.

Day Trips: The Institute of Texan Cultures, San Antonio • The Austin Chronicle The Institute of Texan Cultures opened in 1968 as the Texas Pavilion for the HemisFair World’s Fair in San Antonio showcasing the state’s diverse ethnic, cultural, and historic heritage.  The museum m...

DAY TRIPS: Greatly reduced Institute of Texan Cultures opens in San Antonio.

In this week's comics, Tom Tomorrow shares some Valentine's Day cards for 2026.
Read all the Sunday funnies: austinchronicle.com/comics

An Untraditional Austin Opera Opening • The Austin Chronicle You’ve got to appreciate a work that explains the central metaphor right off the bat. Fiddler on the Roof starts with protagonist Tevye (Steven Skybell) describing how we are all such fiddlers, “tryin...

THEATRE REVIEW: A musical theatre classic courtesy of Austin Opera combines old and new in Austin voices.

Shrewd Moves Have Austin FC Looking More Formidable in 2026 • The Austin Chronicle When Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell named Nico Estévez as the club’s second-ever head coach before the 2025 season, he also laid in front of the Verde and Black a singular goal for the se...

Shrewd moves have Austin FC looking more formidable in 2026 with a roster that appears deeper, younger, and more talented – at least on paper.

Austin Typewriter Poets Lead With Love • The Austin Chronicle Poet Alexander Muñoz Jones found himself sitting outside a wake, booked to write on-the-spot poems for attendees about their experiences in grief, appreciation, or really anything at all. On his antiq...

Austin typewriter poets lead with love and help you find the words for authentic, passionate, and often messy kinds of affection.

A Trek Through Time and “Towards Détournement” • The Austin Chronicle Questioning the reality laid forth by mass media outlets and capitalist ventures is top of the mind in our AI-careening, algorithmic advertising-fed contemporary visual landscape, but, as this exhibit...

Multimedia exhibit at the University of Texas Visual Arts Center explores image through political philosophy.

Masc4Match Offers an Invitation to Queer Masculine Love • The Austin Chronicle This year’s finest Valentine’s Day value is a Vortex Theatre ticket to the queerest dating game show around: Masc4Match. Hosted by Bobby Pudrido, a cast of celebrity-impersonating bachelors played by ...

Butch Prom puts a drag-king dating game show for their three-night Valentine’s event.

The Pinky Rings Take a Final Bow, De Nada Cantina Expands, Host Publications Awarded • The Austin Chronicle Host Publications won the $10,000 2026 Constellation Award from the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses. The award, underwritten by publisher Penguin Random House, honors independent literary ...

The Pinky Rings take a final bow, De Nada Cantina expands, and more arts and culture news.