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ACL @ the Alamo News

ACL @ the Alamo: Lyle Lovett

ACL @ the Alamo returns this Monday, September 24, with a special program featuring the one and only Lyle Lovett. We’ll be presenting the 60-minute Season 15 episode featuring the iconoclastic Texan troubadour in support of his now-classic LP Lyle Lovett & His Large Band, including Lovett staples like “Here I Am,” “Good Intentions,” “If I Had a Boat” and “The Wedding Song.” Following the episode will be a collection of performances from Lovett’s many appearances on ACL, including what is likely the first public broadcast of “That’s Right, You’re Not From Texas.”

You can find more details and ticket information here. As always, proceeds go to benefit the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. If you’re in Austin this Monday, come join us!

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ACL @ the Alamo News

Movies in the Park features Austin City Limits

We are so excited about our upcoming broadcast season on PBS that we want to preview it for our Austin fans first! Join us on September 6 at 8:30 pm at Republic Square Park when we join forces with the Alamo Drafthouse and Austin Parks Foundation and go behind the scenes of some of our most exciting tapings to date – Bon Iver, Bonnie Raitt, the Shins and more. Plus we will screen the season premiere featuring Radiohead.  And if this sneak peek isn’t enough – it’s free! Grab your friends and a blanket and join us at Republic Square Park to experience ACL on the grass and under the stars!

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ACL @ the Alamo News

ACL @ the Alamo: Stevie Ray Vaughan

ACL @ the Alamo returns on August 27 with a special evening featuring Stevie Ray Vaughan. First up is Stevie Ray Vaughan: A Retrospective, our season 20 episode that combines the Texas guitar slinger’s 1984 and 1990 appearances with his band Double Trouble. All your favorites are here: “Love Struck Baby,” “Texas Flood,” “Pride and Joy,” “Cold Shot,” “Crossfire” and an absolutely incandescent version of “Riviera Paradise.” While these performances have been released on DVD before, they’ve never been seen before on a big screen, and we’re excited to make that happen.

Following the Retrospective will be A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, a PBS pledge special filmed in the ACL studio that presents Stevie’s music as performed by his friends and fans, including B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Dr. John and, of course, Stevie’s brother Jimmie, who also leads the band. Far from a somber occasion, this show is a true celebration of Stevie’s musical legacy, with joyful performances. As with the Retrospective, this has been available on DVD but never shown in a theater.

As always, this screening benefits the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, a most worthy organization. You can find the skinny on tickets here. If you’re in Austin, please join us!

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ACL @ the Alamo News

ACL @ the Alamo returns with Johnny Cash

As part of the year-long celebration of Johnny Cash’s 80th birthday, Austin City Limits returns to the Alamo Drafthouse on Monday, May 14, with the classic episode featuring the Man in Black.  Joined by his wife June Carter and the Carter Family, Cash gave ACL a magnificent performance of some of his greatest hits (“Ring of Fire,” “Big River,” “Folsom Prison Blues”) and tunes from his then-new LP Johnny Cash is Coming to Town (“Let ‘em Roll,” “The Ballad of Barbara,” “The Big Light”).  Come to the Alamo Ritz to see the episode as it aired in 1987 and raise a glass to an American icon.

Afterwards we’ll be showing a great songwriters special from 1996 featuring Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Billie Joe Shaver and Kimmie Rhodes. Nelson, Jennings and Kris Kristofferson were Cash’s partners in the country supergroup the Highwaymen, and they continue to embody the Man in Black’s outlaw spirit.

ACL @ the Alamo (formerly Reel Rarities) features new and classic episodes of Austin City Limits on the big screen. Proceeds from ACL @ the Alamo benefit the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, and we’ve raised nearly $5000 for that worthy cause so far. You can find more information at the Alamo Drafthouse website. And, of course, you can find more information about Austin City Limits doings on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

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ACL @ the Alamo News

Reel Rarities: The Flaming Lips and The Shins

If you’ve ever visited the original Austin City Limits studio and wondered why you can still find pieces of confetti in the rafters, there’s a good explanation. On September 21, 2004, the Flaming Lips brought their infamously colorful stage show to the ACL stage, and we’re bringing this excellent episode to the big screen on February 20 at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz.

Taped during the tour for Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, the show features all the balloons, animal costumes, white suits, fake blood and little bits of colored paper you can imagine. And music, of course, including Lips classics “Race For the Prize” and “She Don’t Use Jelly,” a special version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” with Lips multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd’s father Vernon on sax and Wayne Coyne’s infamous duet with Cat Power on “War Pigs.”

The Lips were paired with the Shins, who were in top form while on the tour in support of their acclaimed Chutes Too Narrow LP.

We’re proud to present this night of indie rock heaven at the Alamo Ritz on February 20 as the latest installment of Reel Rarities. We’ll have trivia and prizes to give away, as well as a preview of the new Shins album. You can find details on the screening here. Tickets will go on sale a week prior to the date.

Reel Rarities: Handpicked Gems from the ACL Vault is an ongoing series at the Alamo Drafthouse. Tickets are $5 and the sales benefit our friends at the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.

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ACL @ the Alamo

Reel Rarities: Leonard Cohen

Music legend Leonard Cohen has a new record, Old Ideas, coming out on January 31. To celebrate, we’re bringing back Cohen’s classic 1989 episode of Austin City Limits as the latest installment of Reel Rarities, our monthly series of screenings at the venerable Alamo Drafthouse. Recorded during the tour for his acclaimed comeback I’m Your Man, this hour-length show features Cohen and his skilled band performing a range of tunes from that brilliant record, as well as dipping into his back catalog. Given the scarcity of Cohen tours and TV appearances at the time, this episode was a boon to Cohen fans and is easily the most requested episode of ACL outside of Tom Waits.

But that’s not all. Cohen did another episode with us in 1993 during the tour for The Future, and we’re happy to present that half-hour alongside his original appearance. Plus our friends at Sony will be on-hand with some advance music from the new album and some special prizes. So if you’re an Austin-based Leonard Cohen fan, come check it out at the Alamo Ritz at 7 p.m. on January 23 – you can find more details here.

Reel Rarities: Handpicked Gems from the ACL Vault is an ongoing series at the Alamo Drafthouse. Tickets are $5 and the sales benefit our friends at the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.