Spelling bees aren't just for precocious 4th-graders anymore. Next month, the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas aims to keep Austin weird with the Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee, a quirky evening benefitting the organization's efforts to promote literacy.

For nearly a decade, the event has supported the network of nearly 50 community-based literacy programs that the Coalition maintains, from education organizations like Austin Community College to local nonprofits such as Any Baby Can. Held in the newly-remodeled Topfer Theatre of ZACH Theatre, the spelling bee hosts costumed teams of 3 that duke it out for title of "Best Spellers in Austin".

Image Courtesy of A Butterfly In My Hair

Evoking a bygone era when railroads were revolutionary and most items were handmade, the upcoming exhibit Texas Furniture from Ima Hogg's Winedale Collection will showcase over 40 pieces of 19th-century, individually-crafted furniture from the Lone Star State. On February 7, the remarkable collection celebrated its induction into the Bullock State History Museum with "An Evening with Lonn Taylor," a vibrant event honoring the exhibit's curator and former director of the Winedale Historical Center in Round Top, Texas.

Let’s get one thing straight: Tako Lako is not a food truck. They’re a Danish psychedelic gypsy band with beats tastier than any street grub you’ll find this SXSW. Labeled one of “Denmark’s greatest upcoming acts” by MTV with past appearances at numerous European music festivals including an electrifying show at Glastonbury UK, it’s no surprise that Tako Lako will be playing official and unofficial shows during this year’s SXSW.

Dance the night away in your fanciest cowboy boots next month at Ronald McDonald House Charities’ 24th Annual Bandana Ball, a vibrant event that raises awareness and funds for critically-ill children and their families.

Photo courtesy of Kristy Battani

Photo courtesy of Lifetime. 

Local designer and Austinite Daniel Esquivel is a contestant on this season’s Project Runway…and he’s kind of “in.” With two challenge wins under his belt, one of which is a gown that Heidi Klum herself chose to wear at a PR event for her new fragrance “Surprise,” Esquivel has already made a huge impression, both on and off the runway.

This Friday, the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History invites you to the exclusive opening of the exhibition “News to History: Photojournalism and the Presidency Selections from the Briscoe Center.” Held at the LBJ Presidential Library, the exhibition is an unforgettable retrospective of over a hundred photographs, chronicling the 13 presidential administrations between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Barack Obama.

For most of us, design isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks about beer. Then again, Helms Workshop is anything but a conventional design firm, and its most recent collaborator, Modern Times Beer, walks a similarly distinctive path. Named after an 1850s Long Island utopian colony, Modern Times Beer is a San Diego-based brewery intent on leaving its mark as a “colorful, ambitious little pocket of history that develops in the folds of progress.”

This Tuesday, February 12, join KLRU for Inspiring Women Leaders, a dynamic evening of conversation about women and leadership.