Also there’s a special opportunity for you to attend the very first taping of 2013 with Vampire Weekend when you donate $200 during the KLRU March pledge drive.

Your support of KLRU ensures that Austin City Limits continues to showcase legendary artists and talented newcomers from the stage at ACL Live at the Moody Theater. Thank you!

KLRU is kicking off our March pledge drive a day early with some exciting ways to thank you for your support and help you enhance your experience with KLRU beyond TV:

• Vampire Weekend tapes Austin City Limits | Sunday, March 17 | Donate $200 and we’ll thank you with two balcony passes
• Il Divo at ACL Live | May 15 | Donate $400 and we’ll thank you with two incredible floor seats to the performance. Or donate $200 to receive two balcony level tickets
• Joe Bonamassa at ACL Live | November 30 | Donate $350 we’ll thank you with two tickets to his concert plus an invitation to a Meet-and-Greet before the show. Or donate $250 for two great seats without the Meet-and-Greet
• Fab Four: The Ultimate Beatles Tribute at the Paramount | May 18 | Donate $100 for two great seats at their concert. Or join them for a Meet-and-Greet before their concert when you donate $150
  

KLRU is proud to be the largest producer and presenter of high-quality arts in Central Texas. When you support KLRU, you become a key partner in keeping the arts alive today and for generations to come.

Whether you choose one of our special ticket opportunities or donate without a thank you gift, I hope you’ll decide to show your support for KLRU right now.

Thank you for your generosity.

Give a gift of $350 to KLRU during the August Fundraising Drive and you’ll receive as a thank you, two (2) balcony tickets to her October 18 taping, plus her limited edition ACL commemorative poster. This is an opportunity you don’t want to miss and we only have a few more of these spots available for donors like you so act fast!

Give online here or call 1-866-910-KLRU to give your gift over the phone.

A gift of any amount in support of Austin City Limits will also enter you into a drawing to win Radiohead’s ACL commemorative poster.

Thank you for your support of KLRU!

Robbie Fulks, alt-country singer-songwriter, chose Julia Child’s Pot Roast because “it never fails.”

Hope you join us tonight for Julia Child’s 100th Birthday Celebration at 7pm on KLRU – we’ll be airing some of the greatest French Chef episodes and have Austin chefs answering your phone calls – we’ll also have tons of giveaways so tune in and support KLRU tonight!

To kick off the KLRU March fundraising drive, we have organized an eBay auction of signed, limited edition band posters from ACL’s season 37 – the auction will be up until March 10, so bid now and bid often to get your favorite performer’s poster into your personal collection.

Posters currently available for bids
(click on band name below to visit auction site)

Arcade Fire

Coldplay

Florence & The Machine

Gillian Welch & The Decemberists

Jeff Bridges

Miranda Lambert

Randy Newman

Raphael Saadiq

Steve Miller Band

Wilco

All proceeds will go directly to KLRU to inspire creativity, exploration and understanding in Austin – and beyond.

If you’ve already given a gift or shared why you love KLRU this August, thank you for your support! In just one week, you have helped raised $90,000 towards our goal of $240,000! We’re not done yet – tonight and Saturday we’ll be live in the KLRU studios with really exciting programs and thank you gifts!

Tonight is our regular Friday public affairs line up starting at 6pm with PBS Newshour, Washington Week at 7pm and Need to Know at 7:30pm. If you call in to support any of our public affairs programs you’ll be entered in a drawing to win season tickets to our engaging speaker series, Spark at the Moody.

Following public affairs at 8:30pm is American Masters: Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides, an incredible portrait of the life, career, and creative journey of a very talented actor, artist and musician. Jeff Bridges just taped his Austin City Limits performance this week (airing in November), and we’ll be giving away his signed, limited edition posters and also tickets to the Big Lebowski quote-a-long at the Alamo Drafthouse this month – you’ll have to watch to win, so don’t forget to tune in!

PBS Preview: American Masters: Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides

The highlight of Saturday afternoon is 90 minutes of Central Texas Gardener starting at 4pm. We’ll be live in the studio with all the CTG folks who are eager to hear from the garden-lovers out there. We have a great fall preview show lined up (read more about it at the CTG blog!), a special gift package to give away from Eastside Cafe, Go Local Austin businesses answering the phones,  and  an exclusive behind-the-scenes experience for fans to see an actual taping of a CTG episode! It’ll be CTG-super-sized and not to be missed!

Central Texas Gardener Saturday Special Promo

Stick around KLRU into the evening for the next live pledge event: Austin City Limits, Season 37 Preview. See next season’s performances and backstage interviews before anyone else does! And if you’re a fan of Arcade Fire, you will have an opportunity to receive tickets to their ACL taping in September – tickets will go fast, so don’t miss your chance! Give now and watch the preview tomorrow for more ACL goodies!

Austin City Limits Special: Season 37 Preview

The first screening of the Reel Rarities: Handpicked Gems from the ACL Vault series will be the Austin City Limits pilot episode featuring Willie Nelson, followed by highlights from the ACL archives. The performance that started it all was taped in 1974 and includes hits such as “Whiskey River” and more. Monday, July 25th at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz and Monday, August 1st at the Alamo Drafthouse Village.

The Alamo Drafthouse wrote: Is there anyone on earth who doesn’t love Willie Nelson? He is one of those Texans we can all look at and say, “Yep, that’s our guy.” And he was the only fitting choice to kick off a little TV show that originated here to showcase the best of Texas and other roots music to the whole world through long-form live concerts. Alamo Drafhouse will screen the full pilot episode of ACL as well as selected clips of other great performances from the show.

Tickets to attend Reel Rarities: Handpicked Gems from the ACL Vault screenings are $5 each and all proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. Learn more about HAAM here: myhaam.org Tickets can be purchased at: drafthouse.com.

KLRU-TV, producing station of the famed PBS series Austin City Limits, and the Alamo Drafthouse announced today a new series of screenings of classic ACL episodes. Reel Rarities: Handpicked Gems from the ACL Vault begins on Monday, July 25th. In addition to presenting a vintage episode, highlights from the show’s 37 years of legendary performances will be featured. Tickets to attend Reel Rarities: Handpicked Gems From The ACL Vault screenings are $5 each and all proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. Tickets can be purchased at drafthouse.com.

“I always knew that Austin City Limits would make it to the big screen some day, and the Alamo Drafthouse is the perfect partner to make it happen,” said ACL Producer Terry Lickona. “The Alamo has always offered the best quality, not to mention most fun, movie-going experience possible, and now they’ll do the same with some of the best shows from the ACL archives. Their amazing digital projection system and state of the art sound should make these classic shows ‘larger than life’ in more ways than one, and we look forward to digging even deeper into the archives in the months to come.”

“We were thrilled when Guerilla Suit’s James Moody brought the idea of a partnership between the Alamo Drafthouse and Austin City Limits,” said Alamo Drafthouse Chief Creative Officer Henri Mazza. “Partnering up with an institutional icon like ACL makes perfect sense to us. And personally, I’m just excited to get a chance to watch these incredible shows in a theatrical setting with fans of the series and the artists. We’re gonna crank up the volume and do everything we can to take the audience on a time traveling trip back to these legendary performances.”

For more than three decades Austin City Limits has presented audiences with the most diverse, original, cutting-edge talent music has to offer with over 800 performances taped.

The first screenings in the series will be:

July 25: Willie Nelson Pilot followed by highlights from the ACL archives at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz
August 1: Willie Nelson Pilot followed by highlights from the ACL archives at the Alamo Drafthouse Village
Willie Nelson recorded the pilot episode of Austin City Limits in 1974. The performance that started it all features “Whiskey River” and more.

August 29: Tom Waits followed by highlights from the ACL archives at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz
September 5: Tom Waits followed by highlights from the ACL archives at the Alamo Drafthouse Village
A classic Tom Waits performance from 1978 is one of Austin City Limits most requested episodes. This intimate performances features songs “Burma Shave,” “Annie’s Back in Town,” “On the Nickel,” “Romeo Is Bleeding,” “Small Change,” and more.

This screening series is one the many ways you can Experience Austin City Limits, an initiative to spread awareness of the acclaimed PBS television series. Now the longest-running music series in American television history, ACL showcases popular music legends and innovators from every genre. In addition to being honored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum as a rock and roll landmark, ACL is the only television program to ever receive the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest award for artistic excellence.

These showings are only in select theaters and have limited seating.

All ticket proceeds will go to benefit the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. Learn more about HAAM here: myhaam.org

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About ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE:
The Alamo Drafthouse is a lifestyle entertainment brand with an acclaimed cinema-eatery, the largest genre film festival in the United Sates and an online collectible art store. Named “the best theater in America” by Entertainment Weekly, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has built a reputation as a movie lover’s oasis not only by combining food and drink service with the movie-going experience, but also introducing unique programming and high-profile, star studded special events. Alamo Drafthouse Founder & CEO, Tim League, created Fantastic Fest, a world renowned film festival dubbed “The Geek Telluride” by Variety. Fantastic Fest showcases eight days of offbeat cinema from independents, international filmmakers and major Hollywood Studios. The Alamo Drafthouse’s collectible art boutique, Mondo, offers breathtaking, original products featuring designs from world-famous artists based on licenses for popular TV and Movie properties including Star Wars, Star Trek & Universal Monsters. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is expanding its brand in new and exciting ways, including the launch of Drafthouse Films, a new film distribution label and plans to extend its theaters and unique programming philosophy to additional markets across the United States. More information about Alamo Drafthouse franchise opportunities are available on the NEW official website.

About AUSTIN CITY LIMITS:
Accomplishing what no other show has done in the history of American television, the series has, for more than three decades, presented audiences with the most diverse, original, cutting-edge talent music has to offer. ACL airs nationally on 97% of the country’s PBS stations. In addition to being broadcast on PBS, select AUSTIN CITY LIMITS episodes are available to view online and on DVDs. More information can be found at austincitylimits.org. After 36 years taping shows in the historic KLRU Studio 6A, in 2011, AUSTIN CITY LIMITS moved to the new ACL Live at the Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Produced by KLRU-TV, funding for AUSTIN CITY LIMITS is provided in part by AMD, Budweiser, the Austin Convention Center Department and its newest supporter, Dell. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about the Austin City Limits timeline and history at www.austincitylimits.com.

About KLRU-TV:
KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, reflects, celebrates and inspires Central Texas through creative excellence, community engagement and lifelong learning. In addition to providing locally produced and quality national television programming, KLRU is also a non-profit organization helping to build a stronger community through educational workshops, community engagement projects and public events. Known as the producing station of the longest-running live music television show AUSTIN CITY LIMITS, KLRU has also worked on several other national productions including the documentaries CITIZEN ARCHITECT and LAST BEST HOPE. Get more information about KLRU at klru.org.

A Note from Gary Menotti, Director of Austin City Limits

These are new and exciting times for Austin City Limits and the production crew of ACL. Not only do we have a brand new venue to work in, we also have new, state-of-the-art equipment for recording. As much as I miss 6A, the “original ACL studio,” the new ACL Live at the Moody Theater is a welcome challenge to try and keep that same, “intimate feeling” the tapings have always had.

There has been a quick, fast, acclimation to the new space by all of the crew members, including growing accustom to the Downtown “vibe.” Overall, I feel the first five artists we’ve taped have been seamless. With the new skyline, a slightly taller stage, new audio equipment, bigger audience configuration and the addition of a 7th camera, ACL is well on its way to becoming “a better than ever” TV show.

Speaking of cameras, you might have noticed a strange looking camera on a track, moving in an arc around the mezzanine floor wall. This is the new Sony Trac-Cam controlled by a single operator from a station located in the corner of the mezzanine. It takes great skill to operate this camera as it’s operated by remote control. The Trac-Cam is replacing the giant crane camera in the original studio that took a five-person crew to operate. The previous crane, and now Trac-camera is key for the ACL production as it captures our famous “signature tree shot,” which, along with the skyline, gives the viewer the perspective that the show is taped outdoors. We have had countless letters and emails asking if there is a KOA campground nearby, to camp and listen to the music. Oh well, at least we fooled some people.

Lastly, I want to tell you about our new way of recording the show. In years past, we would record with cameras using tape. Now, with new technological innovations, we are shooting digitally and are able to send a fiber optic signal of all the audio and video, directly from the Moody Theater back to KLRU’s editing suite and Avid servers located on the UT campus. Buck Rogers would be proud!

Anyway, I am very excited on this transition from ACL 1.0 to the new ACL 2.0. Thank all of you for your support. Don’t forget, when you’re in the audience, please smile and applaud loudly, I will be watching you from the control room.

Gary has been Director of ACL for the past 29 years