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Lots of new info on SXSW.  Beijing Taxi film premiere this Sunday.  Apparently, there is a "Beijing Invasion" and there are four Chinese bands invading Austin as well.  We've partially updated the calendar through the 18th, however dates and shows will be added as we get final details.  Austin is the place to be for the next couple of weeks, so keep us posted should you run into anything phenomenal which is inevitable there.

Blogs have been few and far between because of the massive number of submissions we've received for showcasing artists for SXSW.  Bear with us as we get our reviews up.  There's now a special page for SXSW and our artists page will be the homeplace for all of our current and previous reviews.  So, if you missed your 15 minutes of fame on our site, don't worry, we're archiving and will be re-adding them to the site with our favorite picks and artists you must check out.

SuperVin is coming up, so if you haven't purchased your $10 ticket to try 150 different wine varieties at Vintropolis, jump on the bandwagon!  Details for the event is on our Events page, so buy your tix online or at the venue. 

Free Energy's Stuck on Nothing came out just in time for this week's SXSW showcase.  Physical copies are available May 4, however you can purchase digital copies online NOW.  March 17th you can catch the band on Letterman, so set up your DVRs folks!

If you haven't heard The Mynabirds, you need to Google them now.  They will be performing at SXSW.  Event listings will be posted later today.

TGIF!  So much going on, so little time to ping everyone with every single update I've gotten this month.  It seems that musicians are just popping out of the woodwork and bringing us superb sounds to listen to over and over for 2010.  My excitement cannot be contained with some of the announcements regarding SXSW.  Many of the bands ICON is looking forward to seeing this year will be stopping in Houston too.

While it's been confirmed that the Raveonettes will not be playing SXSW this year, there's still hope they may travel to the U.S., but nothing has been announced yet, so we're here to keep you posted.

EVELYN EVELYN LEAVE THE CIRCUS FOR AMBITIOUS WORLD TOUR

Congratulations are in order for newlyweds Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer.  The pair are introducing the amazing Evelyn Evelyn, the world’s only conjoined twin duo who left Dillard and Fullerton’s Traveling Circus at the age of 19 to pursue their love of music as solo performers.  Their self-titled debut album contains twelve tracks showcasing the girls’ exceptional talents including a ukulele interpretation of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”   After three years in the studio, the Evelyn sisters, Lyn and Eva Neville are delighted to announce their first tour! The duo was born Parapagus Tripus Dibrachius twins and shares a liver, three legs, two arms, two hearts and three lungs.  They were left orphaned at birth in 1985 in a small western Kansas town and found work in the traveling circus where they discovered their love of performance.  A graphic novel published by Dark Horse Press and a European and U.S. tour with Jason Webley, Sxip Shirey and Amanda Palmer takes place later this year in support of the March 30^th debut album on Eleven Records.  Think a little bit cabaret, a throwback to simpler times and good music you hardly catch on the radio.    

M Records releases Groove Armada’s Black Light on March 2^nd, following their latest single “Paper Romance” due out February 23^rd.  The legendary Hugh Cornwell (Stranglers) announced his latest album, Hooverdam in support of this Spring tour.  The album is available for free download from his website.  Cornwell is performing at San Francisco’s Red Devil Lounge to support the victims of Haiti on March 31^st.  Proceeds from this event and the concert series led by Jay Siegen will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

Looking for new music?  Our music page is being updated in conjunction with our SXSW recommendations.  All 2010 music freebies will be available on one page, hopefully up and ready for your aural pleasure this Sunday.  We cannot wait to share with you some of the coolest new tracks around!  You will not be disappointed.  

Speaking of SXSW, Felix Cartal, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour and Robert Francis are just a few of the many artists we’ve added to our SXSW page for you to make your lists of places to stop in Austin while your are indulging in one of the biggest and coolest annual music events on the planet Earth!  Our next update will be this weekend, so check back to hear some new great music and whet your palates for some exciting new artists.  

More tonight…check back. 

Due to unexpected travel last week our Sunday update has been moved to Thursday. There's a lot going on this month, so bear with us as we catch up. NEW MUSIC This week we will be adding new stuff from Ash, SPEAK, April Smith and the Great Picture Show, new info on SXSW, more on our podcast stream, Casper Bang's new single "Kiss Me Goodnight which premiered at The Music Slut website last week, Free Energy's latest track "Hope Child" from their latest Stuck on Nothing, ART The McWhorter Gallery on Canal Street just announced a new show entitled "Black and White" featuring works from Matt Messinger, Kevin Peterson, Roberto Del Rio, Allan Rodewald, Janet Wayte and Jayne Dipaolo. The exhibit will take place on March 27th and run through April 24th. For more info on the McWhorter Gallery, visit our Art page. Pics forthcoming on Thursday's update! FILM Steve Balderson's Stuck, our nominated pick of 2009, recently premiered in LA with great success. There have been some great film nominations this year, including The Single Man, starring Colin Firth. Details regarding new films will also be included in Thursday's update, so check back. Updates on upcoming film festivals and opportunities at SXSW forthcoming, as well. We've also discovered some great opportunities for you radio djs, voiceover talent and actors. Check back for work opportunities as we will be adding much more to the film page for your reference. SOCIAL AWARENESS If you haven't been checking out the Electronic Frontier Foundation site on a regular basis, we recommend you take a peek. This is a great organization that is really working diligently to keep up with patent, copyright and blogger's rights. You can support them by simply copying a banner and spreading the word, as you very well know, word of mouth is the best publicity out there. FESTIVALS Festival season is about to peak this spring and we wanted to keep you up to speed on some of the great events coming up. The Texas Dragon Boat Association will be holding their annual festival in May in support of promoting Asian-American culture and awareness. SXSW is near! Starting March 11 and running through the 21st, you can indulge in a variety of media entertainment sources from interactive to film and music. There's a ton of block parties, opening parties, industry workshop and events, award ceremonies and trade show events that bring in nearly 150,000 people a year from film producers, agents, journalists, critics, bloggers and more. If you haven't seen the lineup, you won't be disappointed. There are hundreds of fantastic bands this year worth checking out and many of them will be rolling around Dallas, San Antonio and Houston for some reasonably priced shows. Bands of interest include Deer Tick, Fanfarlo, Robyn Hitchcock, Japandroids, The Kissaway Trail, Voivoc, Julie Peel, Riverboat Gamblers, We Are Scientists, among others. For the full list, visit www.sxsw.com. COACHELLA is bringing together Faith No More this year, which we are stoked to hear! The Indio, California annual music and arts festival takes place April 16-18 this year and includes Pavement, the Dead Weather, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, Benny Benassi, Yeasayer, Dillinger Escape Plan, Baroness, LCD Soundsystem, Porcupine Tree, Hot Chip, Dirty Projectors, Kaskade, MGMT, Portugal the Man, Old Crow Medicine Show, Beach House, Orbital, Gary Numan, MUTEMATH, Sunny Day Real Estate, Florence and the Machine, Infected Mushroom and more!

Well, it's almost February and we have a new look. Yeah, we know the logo is big, but we're working on a new one and this one works for now. As you can see we have changed the site a little bit. There's lots to come this year and many of the sections aren't even up yet.

Sunday we'll be adding more music. Check back for info on Jessie Murphy in the Woods, Versant, Jeff and Vida Band, Wanda Jackson, The Black Belles and April Smith and the Great Picture Show and Groove Armada to name a few. There will be some updates on SXSW as we hear from bands and folks about upcoming shows and special events in Austin during the festival. If you are performing, speaking or hosting SXSW events, please let us know and we'll pass the word.

Our movie and art sections are growing as we have the capacity. We'd like to hear from local art folks about openings and festivals! Next month, we'll be reviewing our favorite venues in Houston. This includes small to mid-size venues that host local and national acts. If your venue would like to be considered in a feature, please submit your contact info, link to your site, pictures and upcoming events and we will get back to you.

Social networks seem to be a phenomenon nowadays and while we have Facebook, MySpace and Twitter pages, we're still trying to catch up with the times. Soon we'll post links, or you can search for them, however our updates have been few and far between.

It's official. Our updates should remain consistent on Sundays and Thursdays. Should that change, we'll post otherwise.