Manor's art for September: Loteria posters by Chepo Pena

I can't wait for this. Sunday, September 5, will be the official opening of Chepo Pena's loteria poster art at Thunderbird on Manor. The opening will features $2 Mexican beers (Tecate, Dos XX, Pacifico), and that most amazing band Karaoke Apocolypse ("They play it, you sing it!"). Be there!

This month's $250 gift certificate winner!

This month's winner is Amanda Thomas. She's a Sagittarius, which according to the Internet means that she is optimistic and intelligent. She's a graphic design Master's student at Texas State University, and has left the big city life of Austin for the sanguine life of San Marcos--for now. Check out her design work here. Her favorite food is corn, her favorite animal is the zebra, and she loves big band music. Even though I made that last sentence up, I hope we'll be seeing a lot of her with her winnings. Photo by the talented and prolific Alison Narro.

Beer spotlight: Sierra Nevada Tumbler

We're a big fan of Sierra Nevada Pale (who isn't?), so when we found out about the SN brown ale, the Tumbler, we had to check it out.

Appearance: Pours thick tan/khaki head. Dark brown color with some red highlights.

Flavor: Smooth and malty! Chocolate and fruit notes. Medium to medium-low bitterness. Not real hoppy.

Overall this is a great beer! Balanced and easy to drink more than one.

I was driving to Houston a couple months ago and turned on Weezer's Pinkerton. I hadn't listened to the full album in a while. This is one of those albums that takes me back to the age I was when I first absorbed it--in this case it was 1996, and I was 15 years old. I listened to this album every day for roughly two years. It only took me a few songs to come up with the idea of a Pinkerton hoot night; 15-year-old me was peeing my pants.

Giant Steps got a hold of some of the best bands in Austin to play the entire album (plus a few other songs, b-sides and such) on September 9th, and I hope you'll come and bring your friends.

Oh--this is kinda funny: We tried to come up with a drink special fitting of the band and the album. It turns out that a friend of Giant Steps is a guitar tech for Weezer right now, and we asked him what they drink. "Coors Light," he told us. Well, we don't serve Coors Light, but we will have $1 Tecates on hand. See you there.

Our very own Ryan Hall, in a preview of Alison Narro's photography of our staff.