Jaunted

Tags: Killer New Music Venues / Best-Music-Venues-in-the-US / Live Music Travel / Live Music / Austin Travel / Texas Travel / Austin / → All Tags

Kicking Back With BBQ And Music In The Austin Air At Tim's Porch

Last night, we kicked up our feet and drank a cold brew, nestled among aged oak trees at Austin, Texas’s newly renovated music venue, Tim’s Porch. We enjoyed the rockin’ bluesy sounds of John Gaar and Malford Milligan at the recently modified site, formerly known as the “Backyard” amphitheatre. The audience, an undoubtedly Austin-esque conglomeration of colorful characters, ranged from to crazy college kids to hippies in their sixties.

The Show:
John Gaar, originally from Louisiana, unleashed his soulful flair for strumming the guitar during the concert, a spicy compliment to Austinite, Malford Milligan’s Al Green-like sound and style. The collaboration was both entertaining and soothing. Everyone rocked out, including a 4-year old girl who burned up the dance floor all night. With multiple decks of comfortable, intimate seating and ample parking, Jaunted gives Tim’s Porch a thumbs up.

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Tags: Film Festival Travel / Houston Travel / Culture Travel / Movie Travel / Film Festivals / → All Tags

Come Artists And All To Cinema Arts Festival Houston

Austin gets all the credit for being the arty city in Texas, and Houston residents probably like it that way: When no one's depending on you to bolster your state's reputation, you get a lot more work done! But the city where "Reality Bites" and "Rushmore" were filmed is stepping into the limelight with next month's Cinema Arts Festival Houston.

Held November 11 to 15, the fest says it focuses on "films by and about artists," offering events like a conversation with screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga ("Babel") Nov. 13 and a screening of the new documentary "Yes Men Fix The World" with one of the Yes Men, who have been wreaking havoc in Washington D.C. this week with fake press conferences and silly costumes—that's on November 14 and 15.

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Tags: Reality TV Travel / Amazing Race / Chasing Racer / Survivor / Events / Houston Travel / Kelly Crabb / → All Tags

How Past Amazing Racers 'Survive': A Reality Show Challenge In Houston

Kelly Crabb competed in Season 13 of The Amazing Race, taking 6th place with her best friend, Christy. Coined as "America's Divorcee," this freelance writer and travel enthusiast lives life to its fullest in Houston, Texas and remains "bitchy with a heart of gold." Here she recaps the latest Amazing Race/Survivor alumni event in Texas:

Stars of reality shows don’t always return to normal, everyday life. After such an eye-opening experience, most go on to alter their lives by making special appearances, continuing to travel the world, posing for pictures like a regular celebrity, working towards good causes, and some even hold political offices. Of course it's even more drastic if you win a reality show, as they usually drop work altogether.

Houston’s Jolanda Jones of Survivor: Palau, and now Houston City Council Member, has put on The Houston Survivor Challenge now for the second year in a row. Many reality stars from different shows were in attendance this year, including the event’s Emcee, Uchenna Agu, Winner of Season 7 of The Amazing Race.

Who else was there, after the jump>

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Tags: Celeb Travel / Music Festivals / Festivals / Austin Travel / → All Tags

Austin City Limits Brings Jaunted Into Contact With Andy Roddick

Enjoying a little Texas time, Andy Roddick and girlfriend Brooklyn Decker make their way through the crowd during John Legend’s performance at the Austin City Limits music festival this last weekend, along with ourselves. Let’s hope that when they passed by us, that were moseying up to the front row and not just elbowing their way around.

During the festival, Austin was apparently crawling with such celebs, including Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan (before she jetted to Paris for her debut as a designer for the Ungaro fashion house) and Matthew McConaughey, who usually always attends. It’s no surprise with a phenomenal festival lineup including Pearl Jam, Kings of Leon, The Toadies, Citizen Cope, Dave Matthews and Ghostland Observatory, that we would bump into at least one bold-faced name.

Related Stories:
· Celeb Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Music Festivals / Events / Music Travel / Fall Travel / Austin Travel / → All Tags

Austin Boasts Another Big Festival Besides SXSW: Austin City Limits

In case you missed the memo, somehow the summer season is officially over. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t continue to listen to live music well into the fall. Austin City Limits Music Festival is just around the corner, and it’s time to make plans to take in this year’s events in person from Zilker Park. This year you can even bring in your little rock stars; children 10 and under get in free with their mom or dad, and they’ll love the special programs at Austin Kiddie Limits—cute.

Things run from October 2 through 4, and there’s plenty of bands to keep your interest. The big ones this year are Kings of Leon, Dave Matthews Band, and Pearl Jam. If these acts are a little too mainstream, don’t worry, as there are plenty of up and coming stars that plan to hit the stage each day. At this time, the votes are still being tallied for The Sound And The Journey contest, where a lucky band will get to take the stage to wow fans, and hopefully, record producers.

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Tags: Best Tubing Spots / Water Sports / Active Travel / Texas Travel / Tubing / → All Tags

Texas Tubing Sounds Totally Tempting For Labor Day

Check your calendar, because the end of summer is near! However, there’s no need to panic if you find yourself near Austin for the Labor Day weekend. Not only is Schlitterbahn, one of the country’s best water parks, just around the corner, but there’s also a pretty good tubing spot. We’ve spent a lot of time on the water this season, so we thought one more nugget would hold us over until next Memorial Day.

Canyon Lake is home of River Sports Tubes, and they are all about having fun on the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers. Just remember not to have too much fun since boozing while cruising is totally fine on this tube trip. However, if you’re going on Sunday, just wait to crack open a cool one until after noon. It’s illegal to drink in public before that—way to go Texas.

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Tags: Movie Set Travel / Austin Travel Guide / Bandslam / Music Travel / → All Tags

Skip 'Bandslam' in Theaters, But Not The Real Austin Music Scene

Bandslam, starring High School Musical's Vanessa Hudgens, has very little to offer anyone over fifteen. The movie is about an the oddball teenager (Hudgens) who develops a crush on the new kid in town (played by Gaelen Connell) when he is recruited to help a popular cheerleader create a band for a local "battle of the bands" competition. It's not exactly this generation's Breakfast Club, but it does have two redeeming qualities, a cameo by David Bowie and a kick ass location, Austin, TX. Here's how to explore the musical side of Austian, Bandslam-inspired or not:

What to Do:
Austin considers itself the music capital of the world for its over 200 live music venues and more than 1,900 musicians who call the city home. Two of the best places to see live music in Austin are Emo’s Alternative Lounge and Antone's.

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Scream For Ice Cream At Austin's Scoop Fest

If you weren’t paying attention earlier this year and missed out on the party in Beantown, you’ve got a second chance to totally pig out on the sweet treat that is ice cream. This Saturday, Austin hosts its third annual Austin Ice Cream Festival. Of course there’ll be loads of ice cream to eat, but as the festival celebrates its third scoop, there’s much more than just gluttony to keep everyone entertained.

Yes, there will be an ice cream eating contest, but it’s only available to the first 30 people that sign up on the day of the festival—so get there early. We’re wimps and can’t stand the thought of a solid hour of brain freeze, so we’ll probably bust out our elementary school arts and crafts skills at the Popsicle Stick Sculpture Contest. It’s free to enter and there are pretty much no rules, just no pre-notched sticks, so make whatever you want to impress the judges.

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Texas To Welcome The State's First Ever Guy Stuff Festival

Folks in the Lonestar State are hoping that their latest idea is the start of something big. Organizers are set to open the doors to the first ever Texas Testosterone Festival in just over a week and their mantra is "grow a pair," which sounds like success (we kid).

Located within the Palmer Events Center in Austin, it’s a exhibition of all things manly. There’ll be talk of sports, hunting, fighting, and of course one or two pretty ladies wandering around.

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United Having Rough SM Year: First a Broken Guitar, Then a Stranded DJ

Ok, we're using the word "celebrity" loosely here when talking about Samantha Ronson but the DJ is often in the headlines thanks to her famous-for-being-a-wreck girlfriend, Lindsay Lohan. Still, despite what some folks think, Samantha is a rather in-demand DJ, always jetting off here and there to spin at some party, club or private event.

Last week, her work took her to Dallas where she played a party at the W Dallas. It should have been a quickie in and out but thanks to airport delays, her United flight got grounded. And apparently, even dating Lindsay Lohan will not get you special treatment when rescheduling your flight. Samantha tweeted:

yeah it really sucks- they told me they could get me there tomorrow- hmmm- f*ck you very much UNITED.

She then went on to tweet that she prefers American over United and that she learned her lesson a long time ago about checking musical instruments as an Italian airline once lost her guitar. Oh, if only she made a clever YouTube video about it she could have been reimbursed!

Join the travel twitter conversation, follow us here.

Related Stories:
· Twitter stories [Jaunted]

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Houston Aquarium's 'Shark Trains' Collide; Sharks Unharmed

In some sad news that's all too similar to last week's Disney Monorail accident, a typical small amusement park train rear-ended another, injuring 31 visitors, 27 of whom who went to the hospital. The accident happened Saturday night aboard the Shark Voyage mini-train, which runs on a 10-minute-long loop through Houston's downtown Aquairum.

According to the Chronicle, the trains "never travel faster than 7 mph, and neither train left the track. Passengers were not thrown from the trains — just jolted in their seats." That hardly sounds like the type of accident which would send so many people to the hospital.

There is good news however for anyone anticipating a visit to the Houston Aquarium this summer: the trains were back up and running yesterday, and making their famous loop through an acrylic tunnel under a 200,000-gallon shark tank. Good thing the crash didn't take place in there, we say.

Related Stories:
· Accident at downtown attractions injures 31 [KTRK-TV Houston]
· Several injured after 2 trains collide at downtown Aquarium [Houston Chronicle]
· Accidents Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: waymarking]

Tags: Literary Travel / President Bush / Presidential Libraries / → All Tags

W's Presidential Library To Feature Gun Once Owned by Saddam Hussein

Former President George W. Bush was never known as a man of letters. Even Karl Rove was hard pressed to lie about his reading competitions with W, who was memorably captured reading the picture book The Pet Goat on the morning of 9/11. As the George W. Bush Presidential Library takes shape at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, it shouldn't be a surprise that artifacts, not books, will take center stage.

The prize of the $200 million library, according to the Guardian, is a 9mm Glock once owned by Saddam Hussein, who had it in his possession when he was captured by U.S. forces in Tikrit. (Clearly, he was planning to attack the US with this gun.) The library will contain 25 special exhibits related to the Bush presidency within a design by Robert A. M. Stern, responsible for designing 15 Central Park West, Madonna's building, in New York.

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