Film Threat 2008 SXSW Guide

Maggie's Austin went through the trouble for you (and us) and compiled a handy list of restaurants that are open this Thanksgiving. Just to be safe, we recommend calling ahead. [Austin Restaurants Open on Thanksgiving Day 2009]

If you're considering options on the more upscale end, OpenTable currently shows at least 16 local restaurants with availability for parties of 2 at 7 p.m. [OpenTable Search]

Lastly, there's also FoodHawk, who are maintaining a list of nearly thirty open restaurants that you can browse by neighborhood, cuisine, or price. [FoodHawk.com Thanksgiving List]

Update: We'd also be remiss if we didn't mention Statesman restaurant critic Mike Sutter's godzilla list of restaurants, which he's personally vetted. (thx, S.C.) [Forklore]

Standouts among the list include The Carillon at the AT&T Conference Center (which the Statesman loved), Hudson's On The Bend, and TRIO at the Four Seasons.

If you're going the traditional route and still haven't gotten around to finishing your Thanksgiving grocery shopping, here's a few links to local weekly ads (searched for 78704 neighborhood--your results may vary):

• Whole Foods (pdf) - Free breakfast goods (dozen eggs, bacon, orange juice, English muffins) with purchase of select turkeys
• Central Market (pdf) - Mary’s Free-Range Turkey, $1.99/lb
• Sprouts - Free Range Turkey, $1.47/lb
• H.E.B. - 'Fresh Turkey', $0.90/lb
• Wheatsville - Organic Prairie Turkeys, $2.99/lb
• Sun Harvest - Free Range Turkey, $1.29/lb
• Randalls - Honeysuckle Turkey, $0.69/lb
• Newflower Farmers Market - Fresh All-Natural Turkey, $1.77/lb
• Fiesta Mart - no weekly ad
• Austin Farmer's Market - we're not sure if they'll have turkeys, but they're open Wednesday 3 - 7 p.m. at the Triangle

On her widely lauded most recent album, Middle Cyclone, Neko Case toys with the phrase "force of nature," a favorite of critics describing her voice, much like a musician version of Thor whiling away a particularly good afternoon with thunderbolts and reverb. Middle Cyclone opens with "This Tornado Loves You," sung from the point of view of a tornado as it rips through the landscape. It was a novel move to turn description literal, and with much stylistic inventiveness to match on the part of the album itself.

Case is fond of mythology. She weaves it throughout her work, whose imagery expands beyond the borders of any particular album to form connective tissue between them. Middle Cyclone expands and refracts the ideas introduced on 2006's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. This sort of continuity from one release to the next creates the kind of body of work that makes lifelong fans of many listeners.

In many ways, Austin is a natural setting for Case's soulful, skewed-off-the-beaten-country-path vocal work. Her penetrating voice cuts a swath straight through the twangy guitars that any natural disaster would be proud of. Motley indie Austin four-piece Oh No Oh My kicks off the aural downpour at Antone's tonight.

Neko Case [Myspace][Official]
Oh No Oh My [Myspace]

The Pecan Street Project has been awarded $10.4 million in federal grant money to build a "smart-grid" community at the Mueller development in Northeast Austin. The grant money was part of $184.5 million in federal clean-energy stimulus programs announced today by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Pecan Street is a partnership between the city and high-tech companies to develop clean-energy solutions, such as advanced electric meters on homes and business and electric-car recharging stations. More details to come at a press conference this afternoon. [Statesman Business Blog]