REVIEW | ROLLING STONE’S SXSW 2019: 30 BEST ARTISTS WE SAW IN AUSTIN
Well, SXSW has come and gone again, and as much as we love it and what it does for the city, it doesn’t hurt to have our streets and favorite hangouts back to normal. Speaking of favorites, Rolling Stone picked their Top 30 Best Artists they saw this year, and maybe they left a few out, and maybe we don’t know who they all are, but who in the heck could see all the acts playing all over the city for days in a row anyway? Give this list a view, and maybe you’ll find a few new top picks of your own! Some of our front-runners are E.B. the Younger, The Black Pumas, and Robert Ellis.
EAT | PATIKA COFFEE
The naturally well lit space, the inviting ambiance, the stellar coffee and wonderful service all make Patika one of our most treasured coffee shops in Austin. But wait, we have a secret. The real deal here is the food. There’s a small kitchen where they create baked goods that are creative, consistent and super tasty, but the true gold comes out of a trailer hidden in the back patio area. Everything we’ve ever had on the menu is out of this world. We can’t get enough of the Sweet Potato/Poblano/Goat Cheese Biscuits with Chorizo Gravy, and the No Dough Zucchini, Sun-Dried Tomato, Pesto Parmesan...it’s for real! What we’re trying to say here is that if there’s brunch served in heaven, then it’s gonna be from Patika.
VISIT | THE MENIL
Houston, Texas. The Menil Collection. If you haven’t been, we strongly suggest you go. The collection boasts approximately 17,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs and rare books.The museum's holdings are diverse, including early to mid-twentieth century works of Yves Tanguy, René Magritte, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and more.The museum also maintains an extensive collection of pop and contemporary art from Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, Robert Rauschenberg, Vija Celmins and Cy Twombly, Jr., among others. Also included in the museum's permanent collection are antiquities and works of Byzantine, Medieval and tribal art. It is all awesome and awe-inspiring. To have access to what was once a private collection that is now viewable for the public via a non-profit is amazing. Oh, and we almost forgot to mention that admission is free, always. Get there.
READ | THE LIBRARY BOOK
Attention all book lovers. If you haven’t read “The Library Book,” then it’s waiting for you. It’s one of those books that’s filed under fiction but reads as something that rings as totally possible (see Ray Bradbury, “Fahrenheit 451”). It’s 1986, and a fire alarm sounds in the Los Angeles Public Library. It was not a drill. As one fireman recounted, “Once that first stack got going, it was ‘Goodbye, Charlie.’” By the time the fire was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who? Considering that books and so much more information have all gone digital, if the technological grid collapsed then all we’d have left is what’s on paper. Just a thought.
ATTEND | AUSTIN RUGBY CLUB
If you didn’t already know, we have American football thanks to the sport of rugby. Legend claims that rugby football was started circa 1845 in Rugby School, Rugby, Warwickshire, England, although forms of football in which the ball was carried and tossed date to medieval times. Now get this - there’s a rugby club in Austin - yep! You can literally join a team, train and go play OR go watch a game and cheer (which we’d suggest over playing). Check out the schedule here, and go see a match. It’s a jolly time to figure out the rules of the game and the rough and tumble guys who play.
SHOP | DOG + BONE
Dog owners out there know all to well that quality gear to survive an active pup is a must-have. That's where Dog + Bone come in. Started in Austin and relocated to Lake City, CO, Anne and Ivan Cook put a heck of a lot of thought and care into every handcrafted collar and leash, and you can tell. With military-grade clips, nylon from the outdoor rec and safety industry, and solid cast brass hardware, definitely pick a color you love because their stuff is built to last. A lifetime warranty that says "in short, if we screwed up, we'll make it right," and a repair program for the pups that get a little chew crazy, Dog + Bone isn't just a company that sells dog accessories - it understands dogs. Oh, and one of our favorite things about D+B? If you follow them on Instagram, you'll see them promoting rescue programs while donating not just proceeds to them, but their own top-notch gear as well. Now that's something we can get behind!