Austin Vivid Photography was out in full force again as the official photographer for the second annual Texas VegFest.  Just like last year this event did not disappoint.  There were entertaining speakers and bands, amazing vendors, delicious food, kids activities and even yoga!  It’s always such a joy to see these local businesses out  doing something positive for the Austin community.

If you feel like you didn’t get your fill of photos from the event here, pop on over to the Texas VegFest Facebook page to see more.

I look forward to seeing you all out there next year.

While seeming incredibly unrealistic to me, today, I celebrate a whopping 39 years on this amazing carnival ride we call life.

Considering I still feel like a kid at heart, continue to live life to the fullest (as best I can) and, honestly, have no immediate plans of “growing up” anytime soon,  I felt it appropriate to compile a list of my “39 favorite things” about this incredible city of Austin that, since moving here nearly five years ago, maintains its ability to bring me feelings of youth and out-of-the-ordinary experiences that make living here such a thrill.

So, without further adieu, extensive and lengthy, I realize, but here ya have’em, nonetheless…all 39…in no particular order, but each and every one well worth checking out for yourself…

1) Running along the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail – a 10-mile recreation area meandering its way around our beautiful Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake in the heart of downtown Austin.

2) Eeyore’s Birthday Party – Since 1963, an annual festival held at Austin’s Pease Park, typically on the last Saturday of April, celebrating Eeyore’s birthday, the downtrodden donkey from Winnie the Pooh, filled with the outrageous and hysterical, as well as live music, drum circles and so much more.

3) Ridiculous abundance of amazing Texas BBQ – Franklin Barbecue (the best on Planet Earth), J. Mueller BBQ, Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew, Salt Lick BBQ, Live Oak BBQ & Beer…the list goes on and on….

4) Water, water, everywhere – Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake, Lake Austin, Lake Travis, Barton Springs Pool, Deep Eddy Pool, Hamilton Pool…no shortage of excellent locales to take a dip and cool off in this town.

5) “Keep Austin Weird” – Overwhelming support for local, independently-owned businesses, aka “the little guy,” and tendency to shun “big box” stores, especially in downtown Austin.

6) Sunday Hippie Church at Maria’s Taco X-Press - A weekly celebration of the weird, the liberal, the free at a South Austin landmark. Live music included, naturally.

7) Waterloo Records – The best record store in the United States…and, hopefully, will always be. Owner, John Kunz, and his staff are spot-on and the selection can’t be beat!

8) Birds Barbershop – Honestly, no other place in Austin where I would consider getting my hairs cut…defines cool and the music is always rockin’…not to mention, in nearly five years as a resident, I’ve yet to go anywhere else…and the free Shiner Beer doesn’t suck.

9) Mount Bonnell – One of the highest points in all of Austin providing panoramic vistas in every direction – Lake Austin and the surrounding  Texas Hill Country, downtown Austin skyline, University of Texas and more.

10) South By Southwest (SXSW) Music, Film & Interactive Conference – Among the best 10 days, annually, in Austin. Every March, this town becomes the epicenter of media, technology, cinema and tunes for the entire world. More or less, an adult playground and my best comparison to living in Atlanta during the Summer Olympics of 1996…every year. Need I say more?

11) Rainey Street District – among Austin’s newest and most popular hubs of nightlife, in the heart of downtown…one neighborhood street chock full of unique bars and watering holes, all built into historic homes and priceless, previous residential properties. Options abound: Lustre Pearl, Bar 96, Bungalow, Clive Bar, Icenhauer’s, The Blackheart, Banger’s Sausage House and Beer Garden, Javelina, etc.

12) Willie Nelson – The Red Headed Stranger. Austin legend. American hero. A true classic. The namesake of 2nd Street running through downtown ATX, now affectionately called “Willie Nelson Boulevard,” and, above all else, one of my favorite people on the planet.

13) Our blossoming local Austin craft brewing scene – Name it and, chances are, I’ve got a fave beer of theirs. More and more to choose from seemingly like every week. However, I do have those companies who top the list – Thirsty Planet Brewing Company, (512) Brewing Company, Austin Beerworks, Independence Brewing Company. Great, great stuff. Each excellent in their own right.

14) Alamo Drafthouse – Quite simply, no other place to catch a movie in Austin (multiple locations). Stellar beer, wine and liquor selections. Brilliant food offerings. Crazy fun, unique events and promotions. The entire concept is, in a word, genius. They’ve got a great thing goin’.

15) The University of Texas Tower – I’ve been fixated by this iconic Austin building since I was a child and to this day, I still am. When illuminated burnt orange after a big Longhorns athletic victory, there’s hardly a better sight after dark in the entire town.

16) Stand-up Paddleboarding on Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake – If you have yet to experience “SUP,” move’er to the top of your list. Really cool experience, a heck of a good workout and great views of our downtown skyline throughout. Well worth every second. Austin Paddle Sports is where it’s at!

17) Dive bars aplenty – A huge fan of the “lesser-than-glamorous, more unique and character-filled” watering holes, most of which have outstanding jukes to boot. Lord knows Austin’s got a wealth of priceless options. The Horseshoe Lounge, Deep Eddy Cabaret, The Poodle Dog Lounge, Barfly’s, Lala’s Little Nugget. I’ll stop there. So much greatness to be had.

18) The Driskill Hotel – No finer lodging option in all of Austin, Texas. My favorite. And oh so historic. Built in 1886, y’all. The Driskill Bar, alone, right off the lobby and up the grand staircase, is such an excellent scene in itself. Love is not a strong enough word here.

19) Zilker Park – Considered “Austin’s most-loved park.” What Zilker is to Austin, Central Park is to NYC and Piedmont Park is to Atlanta.  351-acres of fun and home to a wealth of recreation opportunities and special events throughout the year, including, but not limited to, Austin City Limits Music Festival, KGSR’s “Blues on the Green,” Zilker Park Kite Festival, Zilker Holiday Tree and The Trail of Lights.

20) Shiner Dog’s paradise – Austin is an extremely dog-friendly and pet-loving city, so Shiner Dog and I couldn’t be happier! Dog parks, “Yappy Hours,” dog-welcoming watering holes and restaurants, countless canine-minded events, including the Mighty Texas Dog Walk and Dogapalooza, not to mention, excellent outdoor leash-free areas like Red Bud Isle, Auditorium Shores and Turkey Creek.

21) The Mean Eyed Cat – Absolute favorite bar in Austin, entirely dedicated to “The Man in Black,” Mr. Johnny Cash. This one’s a must for anyone who would “Walk The Line.” A true gem.

22) Sunsets from The Oasis on Lake Travis – Aptly dubbed the “Sunset Capital of Texas,” The Oasis is a massive, terraced restaurant and entertainment venue situated roughly 450 feet above the shores of Lake Travis, offering views of the westward Texas Hill Country and beyond. Truly a sight to behold, especially at dusk.

23) The Stevie Ray Vaughan Statue – Dedicated, sculpted brilliance to Austin’s favorite local son and a true guitar legend. Located along the Hike and Bike Trail, near Auditorium Shores in downtown, the SRV Statue remains an inspirational site every time I’m near.

24) Chicken Sh*t Bingo at Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon – Yes, you read that right. Sunday afternoons. Live music. Free chili dogs. Cheap brews. And, yep, a chicken pecking it’s way around a makeshift bingo board on top of a pool table with a crowded bar of Austin’s beer-swilling finest screaming for said walking “poultry” to do’er business on just the right spot on the board in exchange for a wad of cash winnings. Epic.

25) Austin City Limits Music Festival - Best weekend of the year in Austin (and now TWO weekends for 2013!). Annually, a tremendous lineup of music artists performing within the friendly, spacious and beautiful grounds of Zilker Park to the cheering thousands in attendance.

26) The “religion” of Breakfast Tacos and Migas – If you’ve spent any time in Austin, you know this fact is true. We love our breakfast tacos and migas here. No better in ATX than at Cisco’s Restaurant & Bakery, Maria’s Taco X-Press and Tacodeli.

27) Texas State Capitol – Set on one of Austin’s highest points, the Texas State Capitol has captivated me since I first set my eyes on’er as a little guy. An absolutely extraordinary example of late 19th century public architecture and widely recognized as one of the nation’s most distinguished state capitols.

28) Patio and Rooftop Bars – We’re fortunate to have an abundance of’em all around town. Nothin’ better to me than sittin’ outside, sun on the face, drink in the hand and tunes in the ears. Rattle Inn, Abel’s on the Lake, Hangar Lounge and Red’s Porch among my very best.

29) More festivals than you can possibly comprehend…and I love’em all…well, most of’em, anyway. Aside from those I’ve already mentioned, big fan of the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, Texas Monthly BBQ Festival, Old Pecan Street Festival, Austin Food & Wine Festival…name it, we got it!

30) The Broken Spoke – One of the last true great Texas dance halls and a helluva tremendous honky tonk located in the heart of Austin on South Lamar. Two-steppin’ at its finest, along with a damn good chicken fried steak.

31) Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM) – An organization after my own heart…solely focused on providing access to affordable health care for Austin’s low-income, uninsured working musicians, with a focus on prevention and wellness. HAAM and its partners improve and save musicians’ health and lives and enhance Austin’s economy and quality of life. Austin is the “Live Music Capital of the World,” and they aim to keep it that way.

32) Texas Longhorns Football & Baseball – Don’t really think this needs much explanation. I love college football. I love college baseball. I can never get enough tailgating. And, yes, I am ecstatic to be living in a college town, once again. HOOK’EM!

33) Austin’s Food Trailer/Food Truck Culture – The number is now well over 1,000…close to 1,800, actually, last I heard, and now, apparently, only second to Portland, Oregon for quantity of food trailers and trucks in one metro area. Quite proud, actually. I love’em! The entire concept is brilliant to me. Not only that, a good friend of mine, Tiffany Harelik, is the “queen” of the Austin trailer food scene. Check’er out – www.trailerfooddiaries.com.

34) Green space…and plenty of it! Barton Creek Greenbelt might typically be enough for one city (simply awesome in its own right), but, no, we’re blessed with a wealth of excellent natural spaces in and around Austin, in addition to the aforementioned Greenbelt, Hike & Bike Trail, Zilker Park, etc., we’ve also got Bull Creek Preserve, Emma Long Metropolitan Park, Mayfield Preserve and so much more. Still, amazing to me. Need to get outdoors even more than I do!

35) Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) – Honestly, name another airport – anywhere – that offers live music from local artists throughout each day, top independently-owned restaurants, bars and retailers from elsewhere in Austin (Salt Lick BBQ, Saxon Pub, Waterloo Records), on-site, and our trademark artistic guitars surrounding baggage claim to welcome visitors to Austin and residents back home. Tremendous!

36) Amazing and growing local Austin spirits brands – Over the past few years, the spirits scene here in Central Texas has exploded and while certainly not limited to’em, these are my absolute favorites…Dulce Vida Organic Tequila, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Garrison Brothers Texas Bourbon Whiskey and Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka.

37) Downtown Austin Skyline – While I admit it’s constantly changing and growing faster than many of us wish, I am still enamored with the beauty of the views of Downtown Austin on a daily basis.

38) Congress Avenue – Our city’s most notable thoroughfare – not to mention, one of the most picturesque, funky, unique and, well, awesome streets in Austin. I love every inch of it, north to south, State Capitol all the way down beyond Ben White.

Photo by Visualist Images, John Rogers

39) “Live Music Capital of the World” – Was it any surprise that the last reason I listed as to “why I love Austin, Texas” is due to the overwhelming support we have for the local music community? In going on five years of living here, I cannot say enough for my love of the music scene in this town…on so many levels. While I realize the scene has changed a great deal from years past (from what I know and have been told), it’s still such a huge part of my life, big reason why I moved here in the first place and I am extremely thankful to live in such a musically blessed town!

Don’t worry we will still have Segway tours daily during this time to fill in the spots between all the rocking bands. Call 512-495-9250 to book your spots. When you come to do your Segway tour come a little early or stay a little late and grab a bit to eat at Austin Food Park! The first trailers will be open during this weekend with many more to come so remember to keep an eye on http://www.austinfoodpark.com/ for updates.

See Sinister First!

Summit Entertainment is working with Tugg.com, a collective action platform that allows people to choose the films they want to see at the theater, to offer up special sneak preview screenings of SINISTER across the country.  Get tickets now at http://seesinisterfirst.com

Fantastic Fest

SINISTER is playing at Fantastic Fest on Friday, 9/21 at the Alamo Drafthouse S. Lamar.  Director Scott Derrickson and writer C. Robert Cargill will be attending the festival.

http://fantasticfest.com/ 

SINISTER is a frightening new thriller from the producer of the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY films and the writer-director of THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE.  Ethan Hawke plays a true crime novelist who discovers a box of mysterious, disturbing home movies that plunge his family into a nightmarish experience of supernatural horror.

SINISTER opens in theaters October 5th.

and Interactive Events

South by Southwest (SXSW) Conferences and Festivals are now accepting programming proposals for the 2013 event with the launch of the popular PanelPicker. The PanelPicker interface is an innovative online tool that allows the SXSW community to have a significant voice in programming Music, Film, and Interactive conference activities through an open proposal and voting process. SXSW 2013 takes place March 8 – 17, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

PanelPicker is a two-step online system.

Step One encourages the community to submit proposals for programming at SXSW at http://panelpicker.sxsw.com through Friday, July 20, 2012.

Step Two allows the community to browse all of these ideas and rate which of these proposals they think are the best fit for the March events.

Community voting begins Monday, August 13, 2012 and will continue through Friday, August 31, 2012. Votes from the community, along with feedback from SXSW Advisory Boards and the SXSW staff, will help determine programming for the 2013 event.

New for 2013, the PanelPicker has been redesigned with a new look and improved functionality including a video field so that the voters in Step Two can get a better idea of participants’ presentation style. Additional information including categories, presentation formats, and the user-generated tags feature built in to PanelPicker can be found at http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/faq. The first round of confirmed programming for all three conferences will be released on Monday, October 15, 2012.

“The core of SXSW’s programming is to involve and engage the community with diverse and compelling content,” says Roland Swenson, SXSW’s Managing Director. “PanelPicker allows our community to not only have a voice in what we program, but share their innovative ideas. Every year we are impressed by the creative and forward-thinking submissions.”

• SXSW Interactive is seeking advanced-level ideas which focus on creativity and innovation and more solo presentations.
• SXSW Music is interested in panel ideas based on speakers’ direct experience, including those about growing the market for performance and recordings on an individual and collective level.
• SXSW Film is interested in developments in storytelling, creativity, distribution and audience building for films in the digital age. Hands-on workshop ideas as well as ideas that shed light on the less well-known, yet highly creative corners of the film industry are also welcome. Entries for the Digital Domain program which addresses new directions in narrative and non-fiction storytelling in web-based environments are also encouraged.

SXSW offers a unique convergence of original music, independent films and emerging technologies. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW is a launching pad for new creative content. For more information, visit http://www.sxsw.com.

SXSW 2013 is sponsored by Miller Lite, Monster Energy, and The Austin Chronicle.

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The numerous festivals held in and around Austin do not typically entail television. However, June 1 and 2 will be dedicated to the medium, recognizing hit shows, never-picked-up pilots and cancelled favorites. Taking place at a number of hip spots around downtown Austin, the ATX Television Festival invites locals and out-of-towners to celebrate T.V. in all its glory.

Teaming up with the USA Network, the ATX Television Festival will screen original series such as Suits and Royal Pains at the State Theatre on June 1, the opening night of the festival. The red carpet event will include guest appearances from USA Network’s cast and crew and an after-party will be hosted at the Stephen F. Continental Intercontinental Hotel that will include live music, food and drinks.

Panels, special events and screenings fill the weekend’s activities. Big names in television production will discuss topics such as Women on Television, Book to Series TV, and One Tree Hill Says Goodbye. Two Alamo Drafthouse locations, the Stephen F. Austin Intercontinental Hotel and the State Theatre will host screenings and events.

The festival’s co-founders, Caitlin MacFarland and Emily Gipson, are veteran television industry professionals who wanted to create an event that would celebrate the unsung “small screen.” Support for the festival came from across the country, mainly through Kickstarter, an online fundraising platform for creative endeavors. “There was obviously a want in the world for a way to celebrate TV in the same way music and film fans do. We’re just glad we weren’t the only ones that feel that way,” noted festival co-founder, Emily Gipson.

For more information, including badge pricing and scheduling, please visit the ATX Television Festival site.

(Photo credit: The Austin Chronicle)

This weekend, head up to Austin to welcome the warm weather at the Zilker Park Kite Festival, where thousands of colorful kites will grace the skies above the Great Lawn from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. March 4. The annual event, always held on the first Sunday of March, is the kick-off to the hundreds of springtime activities in Austin.

Bring your own kite to fly, or simply come to enjoy the warm weather and some great people watching. There will be a Kite Making Workshop, as well as numerous kite vendors on hand in case you didn’t come prepared and you get the itch to fly during the event itself. (Don’t kid yourself, you know you will!) Other offerings at the Kite Festival include moon walks, rock climbing, face painting, bungee jumping and other fun kid-friendly activities.

Bring your dog, a picnic and the whole family for a great day outdoors, welcoming spring back to Central Texas.

For more information about the event, visit: http://www.zilkerkitefestival.com/

Immediately after we heard that many Central Texas families had lost their homes due to the wild fires in Bastrop and around Austin, vacation rental owners with available homes opened their houses to these unfortunate people, most at no charge.  I gave my house to a American Airlines employee who left for work one night and was told during his shift he could not go home because of the fire near his house.  He stayed at GeneviEve’s Garden for two nights, getting up the last afternoon to go to work and not even knowing where he would sleep the following morning.  Unfortunately, I had a paid-in-advance rental arriving, or he could have stayed longer.  Before he had gotten off work, however, I was able to call him and give him the phone number of another VR owner who put him up for the rest of the week.

I have not even met this gentleman yet.  He was very appreciative and wanted to get together, but I told him that I was not going anywhere and that he should see to his own house and his needs first.  Insurance companies are taking care of most of those folks now and Bastrop is cleaning up and rebuilding.  I’m sure we will eventually have that get-together we discussed.

Electric Vehicle Rentals Reflect Green Austin Attitude

Electric car rental Self  Guided Tours

Some history on the Gliding Revolution founder

Segway Tours downtown 

Electric Bike Rentals 

On the Gliding Revolution page, I found a link for Things to Do in Austin and an Austin Events Calendar.  It is by no means complete, and the author apparently lives just south of Austin in Buda (that’s Beu’-dah in these parts) and lists several events there when you can find more things closer in.

Fantastic Fest Film Festival, Sept 22-29

Fantastic Fest film festival was last weekend at the Alamo Draft house.  Maybe you and I will both get to it before it is over next year!  It is very easy to get to from GeneviEve’s Garden.  Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world.  The Alamo is a unique venue started in Austin where you can sit down in a theater, order a beer and pizza and watch a first-run or indie movie for a reasonable price.

I’ve been meaning to ask the owner/organizer, Tim League, to check out The Garden if he ever needs a place for his guest speakers to stay for Fantastic Fest because we are so convenient to the fest location.  Sept and Oct, however, are almost as busy around here as March and April and so I never seem to get to it.  Maybe next year.

Old Pecan Street Festival, Sept 24-25

The 2011 Fall Pecan Street Festival was Sept 24-25 on E 6th St in downtown Austin.  They celebrated the festival’s 30th year this year!  Sixth St was originally named Pecan St in Austin’s early days.  Blocks and blocks of vendors in tents fill the street from side to side with fine art and hand-crafted wares, food vendors, and several stages with live music all afternoon and evening.

Pecan Street happens twice a year, so look for it again in the Spring.  No date has been posted yet.  Their website will keep you up to date and even provides bus route information and a map of the festival booths and stages.

Austin City Limits Festival

ACL!   September’s big event was Austin City Limits Music Festival and BOY were we busy getting ready for it and then recovering from it.  Sorry to have been “off the air” for a bit, but we went straight from that into Halloween preparation.  (More about that later.)

Next year, the festival is moving to October and will be held Oct 12-14.

By the way, a very smart gentleman came by during the festival and rented The Victorian for ACL 2012!  I thought he was really getting ahead of himself, but I have had two other inquiries for those dates since then.  Same for South by Southwest (SXSW).  A fantastic guy, Ben West, toured The Victorian and The Bungalow also during ACL and rented the Bungalow for ALL of March and the Victorian for March 1-18 for his parents, who love historic architecture.  I will plan some sightseeing for them with that in mind while Ben works.

Ben’s business is Xomo Digital, which produces mobile apps for events and they will be  doing some work right at GeneviEve’s Garden.  Smartphone users can download a Xomo Mobile Event Guide and find out what is happening near their current location. They can browse event listings, read a description or watch a video to help them decide which activity to do next. They can even look at a stylized venue map or Google map to help them get there. Attendees can also plan their event experience by selecting ‘favorites’ and building a personalized schedule, and share event details with their friends on Facebook.  Xomo creates the Official South by Southwest Mobile Guide which, this year, covered 5,000+ interactive, music and film events.  They do one for ACL, too.  If you come to one of these big Austin events, be sure and download the app.

Vacation Rental controversy reaches Austin

September has also been a month for fighting for the right to keep our vacation homes operating as “short term rentals” (STRs) in Austin, as a group of folks have begun to make it their personal campaign to try to ban short term rentals in non-owner-occupied houses.   We know you like a cozy, quiet place to stay when you visit Austin and we love providing that and introducing you to the neighborhood we love.  But some folks seem to feel that STRs are a bad thing.  They are very vocal and are taking their one-sided message of “ban STRs” to everyone who will give them a listen.  Similar battles are happening all over the country as vacation rentals become more widely known through advertising.

Thank goodness our neighbors in Bouldin Creek are friendly and understanding.  Some don’t even know that our house is not permanently occupied and we try to always be good neighbors.  I have not had a visitor in my STR house who would not also be welcome in my own home.  They have all been wonderful people – over half of them visiting family or friends who live in the neighborhood and want them nearby. We want you to shop and eat at some of the many very close businesses on S 1st St and S Congress and we are happy to help you find them.  We’ll guide you to cool neighborhood sights that you might otherwise miss, and we’ll tell you all about how our family settled in this neighborhood in 1910.

If you see our neighbors while you are taking in the local sights, we hope you will introduce yourselves and tell them how you feel about the neighborhood.  You will find them warm and welcoming and very proud of the ‘hood.  I cannot say enough about the lovely and friendly people in the Bouldin neighborhood where my house is located.  It counts a lot, I think, that we owners try very hard to be good neighbors and that our renters are such nice people.  Thank you all.

I think the result of this process will be registration by the city of all short term rentals – both whole houses and secondary dwellings and rooms on owner-occupied properties – and more accountability to the neighborhoods and the city by owners on safety, required hotel tax collection, parking, and other matters.  GeneviEve’s Garden is ready for this and we’ve been operating on that level all along.  Our visitors will not see any difference.

On 6th Street May 7th & 8th the Old Pecan Street Spring Arts Festival will in full swing.

You can find out more about the festival on their page.

Or check out their facebook and twitter page.

Pecan Fest!

A list of the bands performing can be found here.

So the bossman goes “Quit stressing out, your sponsorship is in the morning, you can wait until after noon to get your bake on” and walks out of the room. O_O Well I guess that’s settled then.

I love that my boss knows whats up with the world. Win.

CONTEST*:  First, I’m going to give away 2 FREE TICKETS to the festival to the first person who emails me the correct answer to the following trivia question.  You get 3 full days to do your research and get me the right answer.  The question is:

What Grammy-Nominated Artists performed at ¡Pachanga! Latino Music Festival last year? (Editor’s Note:  Looking for 2 bands here.)

Email the answer with your full name and a phone number to popolio[dot]com[at]gmail[dot]com by 8PM THIS FRIDAY, May 29, 2009.

PROMOTION:  Next, the kind folks at ¡Pachanga!  have set up a code for popolio visitors to purchase 2 tickets for the price of 1  online at Front Gate Tickets here. 

Click on ‘Purchase’ and enter GNO in the ENTER PRESALE CODE box at the bottom of the page.   24 hours only.  The code will expire tomorrow, May 26, 2009, at 8PM.

pop quizzes:  popolio will feature 3 ¡Pachanga! Artist popolio pop quizzes tomorrow through Friday as a mini-countdown to the festival on Saturday.  Check back to see who they will be, to listen to their singles, and to watch their favorite old school videos.  And, to read their answers, too, of course!

*GIVEAWAY DISCLAIMER:  Further details regarding pick-up and/or delivery of prize(s), claim deadlines, etc. will be provided to winners.  NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.  Purchase will not improve chances of winning.  Open to residents of Austin and nearby municipalities.  Employees of ¡Pachanga! Latino Music Festival and popolio.com and their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising, promotion and internet agencies and their immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of each are not eligible.