One thing I learned last year is that May is a big month for cycling in and around Austin, this year won’t be any different.

Events start out on Friday with the Civic Bicycle Cruise/Political Pedal. Meet up at Meet at City Hall Plaza, 4.45pm. for the 5pm to 6pm ride, this isn’t just for just dedicated road bikers, anyone with two or even three wheels, fat tire, mountain bike, or a commuter bike should come along. It’s a chance to join your elected officials and community leaders in this convergence of politics and the joy of cycling!

Plan on staying downtown after the ride for the Bicyclists’ Happy Hour - from 6:00pm – 7:30pm at The Rio Grande Restaurant, 301 San Jacinto Blvd. (on the Lance Armstrong Bikeway no less). Snacks, drinks and meeting of minds! I’m told there will be valet bike parking available, something I for one have never seen before and live Austin music by Jim Keaveny and Shand Walton. The Happy hour is put together by the Austin Cycling Association, the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant and the Rio Grande cycling team along with sponsors Bicycle Sport Shop, the Austin Yellow Bike Project, the Texas Bicycle Coalition, the League of Bicycling Voters and REI.

For some of us, Friday is a warm-up for Saturdays Austin to Shiner GASP ride. The 2008 edition celebrates the Spoetzl Brewery’s 99th anniversary and for those volunteering or riding the 90-miles from Austin to Shiner, there will be a party with BQ dinner with brisket, sausage, vegetarian options, Live Texas Country Music as well as Miles From Nowhere, Eric Middleton, as well other bands. One of the big attractions is the FREE Shiner Beer. Makes cycling sound fun doesn’t it ;-)

I’ve no idea what effect Shiner beer is going to have on me after cycling 90-miles, but either way I guess I’ll end up “legless”. Fortunately @cruisergirl has agreed to give me and my trusty aluminum steed a ride back to Austin. If you are riding, do yourself a favor and do packet picket either Thursday or Friday at Jack and Adams on Barton Springs, then Saturday morning you’ll be ready to ride. If you want to ride and raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, registration is still open, you can even register on the morning of the ride. You’ll need to figure out how to get back though.

For other Bike Month activities, the Austin Cycling Association has an excellent online calendar. If you spot someone walking around like John Wayne, that will be me, not that I becoming localized, but 6-hours on a bike saddle… as John Wayne famously said “It’s such an adrenaline rush. It’s America’s most extreme sport.”

The AMAZING uber-geniuses behind the viral marketing campaign for the The Dark Knight, the second Chris Nolan-directed Batman movie out in July, have decided to include Austin in Wednesday’s Halloween scavenger hunt of sorts where we’re looking for letters to spell a message- here’s our clue:

I apologize for my crappy screenshot skillz but it reads “Start at the market at 6th & Lamar. Find the Amtrak sign by the tracks. Walk west along the tracks to the second light pole and peer through the trees until you see red.”

The market in question is obviously Whole Foods but the rest of it is still pretty cryptic….hrm….

There is also a clue for Austin that says “Near Riverside & Barton Springs is a car wash with a mural. Go there, then find a nearby manhole that says SEWAR, stand on it and scan the skyline. I’d like to buy a vowel.”

That would be the Chevron Station.

And another that says “At Congress & 6th is the Littlefield Building Clock. Go east on 6th, past a compass rose in the sidewalk. You’ll come to a street corner with a set of stairs, and there, above a stained glass door, you’ll find a gold gilt goodie.”

Austin’s the only city in Texas picked for this little adventure and it joins cities like LA, New York, Raleigh, Cleveland, Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago and others. Batman has always been my favorite and it will be SO fun to see the clues come together tomorrow (and see what reward comes our way- could it be a full length trailer?) and you should definitely go check out whatever they’ve got going on! If you see it, let me know!

Now that our last show of this crazy week at the PAC is over it’s time to begin thinking about the end. Bass is closing on the 21st and even though my office looks out over backstage I’ll miss its motions, its hustle and bustle. There’s going to be PAC events and shows still but nothing like what’s been in Bass even in the past week.

My coworker is a wonderful singer and she’s always wanted to sing in Bass. Some of us went downstairs to hear her and she just came out of nowhere with this gorgeous song, and I stood there watching her from stage left it all hit me that it’s ending and just beginning all at the same time. So many people are leaving but so many new people will become a part of our family down the line, and even though Bass will be dark for 18 months she’ll be better than ever when she reopens. I hope I’m still here to see that.

As Natalie’s voice cut through the stale air of an empty stage I thought about how that giant hall had seen so much; so many people have played here and so much beauty has come to Austin through the PAC, that its closing deserves to be this event that makes me sad and happy all at the same time. Bass is so much more than just a building now that I’ve seen all its sides; as a freshman in the second balcony with my student ticket and my opera buddy, as a seasoned student going to musicals with my friends, as an employee shepherding photographers at rock shows and as just me, off the clock, cutting through a silent, dark hall on my way to the bus, those lights above the seats shining through the black like tiny stars. I’ve mentioned them before but I still think it’s so beautiful.

We as a whole will be saying goodbye to Bass early Monday morning if you’d like to come- it’s called The Big Intermission and everyone’s invited! There will be a live broadcast from KGSR, free breakfast tacos and a free gift to the first 150 people there. I know what the gift is! I want one really bad. Email Mindy Graves to RSVP.

I hope to see you there to help me say goodbye to our Bass Concert Hall. You might have to give me a hug.

I love this picture! It’s of a star on the capitol fence. So pretty.

Do not be fooled. These are dangerous tacos. My friend ate one nuclear taco and while he was fine afterwards, oh, he was not fine the next day. Poor guy.

The rest of SXSW has been a blur so far. I’m going to Cat Dancers at 1:45 and Helvetica later and out shopping with a dude at some point, but I really took it easy these past couple days- between school and SXSW I’ve been going nonstop for a week and a half, you know? I needed a minute. But once everything settles down I promise to list my favorite movies, etc.

If you’re not doing anything Friday you need to go see Jim Boggia at Cafe Caffeine at 6. He opened for Duncan Sheik at the Cactus Cafe and I really like him. Cafe Caffeine’s far enough away from the whole brouhaha that I think it should be very chill, so come on out!

In my household, you’d think SXSW Music is the only festival coming up in the next couple of weeks. But SXSW also includes an interactive and a film festival. There are lots of industry types coming into town for all three festivals, and Jette Kernion has conveniently put together a guide to the film venues. Even if you’re a long-time Austinite, you can find out some strategies for enjoying your SXSW film festival experience, including where to eat, where to park, and where to get your wireless fix near the 6 official theaters.

There are only a few restaurants in Austin where voluptuous dancers perform during meals, but most of them feature a gal named “Destiny” grinding her tribal tattoo into your surf & turf special. For those who prefer the spice in their food rather than their lap, the North Loop restaurant Ararat has been bringing belly dancing and mezzes to packed crowds for over a decade. Since Ararat is rumored to be closing at the end of the month, I can only hope the Yellow Rose starts serving baba ghanoush.

I ate at Ararat several times in the 90’s, mostly for the fun of buying beer across the street, sitting on my ass to eat, and always having a really good time. Whether that’s an indictment of their food or my priorities is beside the point: eating at Ararat is definitely an event.

In the ensuing years, Ararat has developed a reputation for sketchy service, occasionally punctuated by vindictive rudeness. Perhaps the gruff shtick that represents “authenticity” in places like Dry Creek Saloon or GM Steakhouse becomes less appealing when your patrons can’t find parking and wait for non-existent tables. Some purists may not care for Ararat’s mish-mash of Mid-Eastern cuisines, but my recent visit tasted every bit as good as what I remember eating in Istanbul, just a touch whiter.

If you haven’t yet sampled Ararat, try it before March 29th. Reservations are always a good idea, but the best way to beat the crowds or service showdowns is to get there at open. Early birds can pick their table, maybe even do their own belly dancing. It’ll be easy and fast, but then you’ll miss out on the cramped energy that is half the charm.

Ararat
111 E North Loop Blvd
419.1692

I don’t like Wal-Mart. I have lots of reasons for not liking Wal-Mart, but what it all comes down to is, I don’t like Wal-Mart. What I do like is Austin and my home and neighborhood in north-central Austin, carefully selected for its proximity to both work and cool Austin-y things. So imagine my dismay when I learned that the owners of Northcross Mall have made plans to build a 2-story Wal-Mart in a space now occupied by that mall. A space mere blocks from the home and neighborhood I love. I know, of course, that Northcross needs something new to be relevent and money-making again. But I really don’t want it to be a Wal-Mart, much less a 24-hour, 2-story beast with a 3-story parking garage facing my neighborhood. I’ve gone through lots of emotions after hearing the news, mostly anger, sadness, and resignation. But I’m starting to feel some hope and encouragement, because there are people in the neighborhoods surrounding Northcross Mall who are organizing to fight the development. Responsible Growth for Northcross is having a meeting this Thursday, November 30, at the Grace Church of the Nazarene at 7 p.m. One of the things I love about Austin is that Austinites really care about the city and its future, and they’re ready and willing to do what it takes to make their voices heard. So I’m glad there’s a group of my neighbors organizing to work for what they believe in. Join us.

My mother-in-law sent me this clipping (a bit out of date now but still a historical curiousity) about a Channel 4 (UK) documentary The Texas Season. The blurb reads, “Channel 4 provides a unique look at the strangest state on earth.” If someone from England steps back aghast when they learn you are from Texas, it could be they watched this show.

Christopher Hitchens “casts his incisive gaze on the Lone Star State to see what Texas stands for, what this says about America today and what it means for the rest of the world.” The show included episodes such as America’s Fattest City. No, not Austin. Houston. The Texas Solution in which Bush halved crime rates by upping incarceration and execution rates. Turning Muslim in Texas: When Christian fundamentalism just isn’t strict enough, Texans find solace in Islam. Texas Teenage Virgins: teenage birth rates and STDs soar in our state where it’s illegal to teach about birth control in our public schools and kids believe you can have oral or anal sex and still be a virgin–well enough to pass God’s law on a technicality.

I got picked to do the half-court shot at the Women’s Basketball game vs. Sam Houston State next Monday, Nov. 20. I think I registered for this at Texadelphia, and as to WHY a delicate flower like myself would ever sign up for something involving the suffix -ball…well… I remember the cashier being pretty cute.

Kidding, kidding. I signed up because I can win plane tickets, which is exciting. If the prize were money, I’d spend it on plane tickets, so it all comes out in the wash. And I played (sucked hard at) a little church-league ball back in the day (4th grade) so it’s not like I’ve never touched a basketball before or anything. And…I don’t think I’m going to win it but I sure will try, and I think my friends are going to come cheer for me, so that’s exciting, you know? Hopefully I won’t embarass myself too badly.

If you’re in the mood for a trainwreck, admission to the game is FREE that night if you bring a canned good! So come on out and support the Lady Longhorns and have a nice laugh on me :o)