Tmmp is a live music staple in Austin and I have always had a good experience personallyread more

Tammy is a great person to work with, we've done business together for many years, she cares about…read moreher clients and always goes the extra mile.

A beautiful shop with a nice selection of jewelry and fine art... right in downtown Pflugerville ...read more

Very nice selection of local artisans hand made jewelry, pottery, gifts and much much more…read more Original paintings in Oil, Pastel and Watercolor for your enjoyment. New items all of the time.

There are so many great reasons to live in Austin. Our lakes, our music, our quirkiness and our…read moreartisans. The East Austin Studio Tour is a vast celebration of all things created locally. Covering 13 days, a wide variety of folks open their studios and reveal their mysteries to anyone interested. We saw sculptors, painters, jewelers, and glass blowers. And there are ssooo many to see! The map of studios would befuddle Lewis and Clarke! But pretty much, you can throw a dart on the east side and see some really cool things. As a bonus, most bigger display areas also provide snack-ems and complimentary drinks, esp locally made Tito's and Dripping Springs vodkas. At our little corner of exploration, we were thrilled to watch a glass sculptor make colorful flowers and they were offering lessons in this for $25. A young teen boy made a beautiful flower but it was even cooler just watching his horizons being broadened at such an early age, with mom proudly taking pix every step of the way. With the growing "Shop Local" craze, this is a great and direct way to put your money where you're ideals are! And it's conveniently scheduled close to Christmas time! Next year, lets flood the East Austin streets with curiousity, enthusiasm, and money for these creative children of Austin!

EAST is obviously aiming to be the South by Southwest of local art, and they're off to a reasonable…read morestart. This self-guided tour takes place annually over two consecutive weekend afternoons in November, and features the work of local artists and artisans; e.g., paintings, sculpture, photography, jewelry, and other crafts. They open their studios, galleries, and in some cases various benevolent sponsor homes to display their crafts, and occasionally give talks and demonstrations. Occasionally, food trucks and music are part of the scene, which is a great idea in Austin. Increasing the accompanying food, music and alcohol would probably be a good move for EAST, actually. Virtually everything at EAST is for sale at a wide range of prices, but you can look for free, and be inspired by another angle of the artistic creativity for which Austin is famous. The latter was my agenda for the afternoon. The bulk of the exhibitions are in--you guessed it--residential East Austin, where rents *may* still be semi-affordable for artist studios. There's also a section of the tour called West, which is really more Central Austin. The website offers a map to find each location, which is clearly marked with an official numbered placard so you don't have to worry about wandering into the wrong house or workspace. You can drive, walk, or bike around to each location, but be prepared to be flexible finding parking, and bring a lock if you bike. This was my second year exploring EAST, and I barely made a dent in the offerings in the time I had available. I visited Shoal Creek Gallery, where I saw paintings by abstract expressionists Shawn Camp, Sydney Yeager and others, as well as a printmaking demonstration by artist Alfonso Huerta, a likely candidate for The Most Interesting Man in the World, who had drawn a small crowd in his studio. Just around the corner, I dropped in on Imagine Art studios, where a lively musical church service was also taking place. Imagine Art serves and displays art of local aspiring artists with disabilities, but they were renting space to local professional artists as well for EAST. I browsed a silver jewelry exhibition and painting displays by local artists including Lawrence Jolly (surrealism), Jan Pomeroy (mixed media/fiber), and Lucian Richards (abstract impressionism). More information and a map is available on the EAST website. If you enjoy visual art and you didn't make it this year, plan to check it out next November. And if you don't want to wait that long, you can browse some of the galleries on the tour anytime. http://east.bigmedium.org/index.html

This is one of my favorite film festivals, and not just in Austin, but having been to festivals in…read moreLA, NYC, Park City, etc. They have really nice programming and things are more organized than a lot of bigger and more well known fests. The only area that I've noticed could be improved is that there doesn't seem to be much, if any, oversight of ticketing. Anyone can just walk into any theater, and they do! We even tried showing our tickets to some of the volunteers standing at the doorways and were told they had no way of checking the tickets even if they wanted to. It serves the best interests of the festival and their attempts to sell passes/tickets that they not allow anyone to waltz into any showing they please.

We love this steel drums band. Their style is perfect for any summer events. Our wedding guests…read moreloved the idea of a steel drums band during the cocktail hour. The band satisfied a song we had specially requested. We have known and followed them for a long time. We always enjoy their performances and really wanted them on our wedding. Their 4 people ensemble of professionals have been mastering the steel drums for years and it really shows.

ATX TV Festival is incredible. 4 days of panels, screenings, celebrity stalking. Did I mention…read morecelebrity Stalking? Held in June, you buy a badge, then pick your top events to see. What I like most about this festival is the variety of programming. You have world premiere screenings, panels, parties, writers, directors, producers, actors. The festival also has categories such as 'canceled too soon' (honoring great fallen shows of the past) and reunions (bringing back members of the cast and crew and writers from a show). Panels have such a variety of programming as they cover social/political/emotional/mental/philosophical/nostalgic topics and offer career advice deep from experts in the field. Also, this festival rocks because you can go back and watch the panels from previous years online, so if you read your favorite show ever was featured in the past, you can still watch the panel even though you missed it. Also, this festival is an excellent place to network if you are in the biz or trying to get in the biz. But for me I just LOVE TV and the highlights of this Season 8 are hearing Phylicia Rashad speak and watching the screening/table read for the Tremors tv pilot. Even though the pilot did not get picked up, it was amazing to hear the cast and crew talk about what could have been and showcase how brilliant the path the tv pilot was heading down. Kevin Bacon walked on stage with his signature walk & swaggar and I started screaming. Hearing him talk about his character Val, he said, 'Val's character, I just got. Not a genius, kind of simple guy with big dreams. An ordinary man thrown into extraordinary situation. Then he went back to ordinary & lost the dream. I think any person can relate. I certainly had my day in the sun.' Bacon was so likable you just can't help but root for him. Every year they give out an achievement award and I was crying, blown away by the sophistication, beauty, and talent of Phylicia Rashad. Here are some of the highlights of the speech: After an audition, Phylicia Rashad remembers she prayed to be still, put hand over her heart and thought: here lies the treasure, here lies the riches. No one gave it to you. No one can take it away. Phylicia Rashad on the importance of meditation, "Be still. Life is happening all the time. You cannot control things. You cannot always see what is coming or why. Be still, breathe slowly" What did Phylicia Rashad keep from the set of The Cosby Show? She has the painting yes, but most importantly kept the cookie jar. Because it was home and everybody had touched the jar. Poetic advice from Phylicia Rashad's mother: "Best thing a human being can do is to know your own worlds of being and stay within your own element." "The universe bears no ill to me, I bear no ill to it." Also it was awesome to see screenings of shows I've never even heard of then hear from the star studded panels. This year I blindly went into these screenings and loved all of them !! Good Trouble, LetterKenny, Yellowstone, City on a Hil, The League, The Terror, Aytpical, Everyone in Doing Great, Men in Trees. I can't recommend this festival enough if you love tv. All the people are friendly, warm, sweet inspiring working behind the scenes and the 2 chicks that started the fest are brilliant. And the events and parties were so creative. Lots of good opportunites for drinks and food too !!! It's what SXSW should be.

The Owl Gallery is currently setting up to be a music venue, art gallery and studio. Right now, the…read moreschedule is undisclosed, but I've attended yoga classes and music shows here. Look for a formal opening in the new year.

I attended the very first Pachanga Fest in Austin years ago and have looked forward to it every…read moreyear since. This festival consistently brings great Latino talent to Austin year after year. And every time I walk away a fan of an artist I hadn't been exposed to yet! That's probably my favorite part. What I especially appreciate about Pachanga is their special Niños Rock events. It's a free kids festival held as part of the Pachanga Fest that offers stuff for the kiddies like free face-painting, music camps with artists and if memory serves, a cake walk! There's the usual festival fare as well: food vendors, beer and spirits, and other vendors (jewelery, hats, clothes, sandals, instruments). What's nice is that this particular festival hasn't gotten too unruly as far as numbers go so you can get in and out of the drink and food lines in a relatively short amount of time. This year they went from selling VIP to VIT (Very Important Taco) passes, my kinda passes! And while I don't want this festival to become over-sold like other local fests **cough**ACL Fest**cough**, I would like to see people continue to support it because I want it sticking around for a while.