Austin’s Greatest Hits and Misses of 2025

There have been lots of ups and downs in 2025, and we want to remember them all. So today on CityCast, Austin, we're reminiscing about our favorite hits and misses to bring you some holiday cheer. It's Wednesday, December 10th. I'm Nikki Devon, and this is what Austin's talking about. Hello, I'm here with Kelsey Bradshaw CityCast Austin's newsletter editor. What's up, Kelsey? Hello, hello. And I'm here with Alyssa Castles, our producer. What's up, Alyssa? Hello. So, okay, y'all, before we start, we're halfway through our membership campaign, and we need more of y'all to support our show. We are declaring 2026 the year of local. Woo! I know, I know, I need air horns. Like, blam, bleep, boom. If you listen to the show, you already know we're all about helping people feel more connected to life in our city. And becoming the city cast, Austin Neighbor is a great way to make that connection even further in the new year. And, you know, you're not just supporting the show. You're joining a community that's trying to understand this place better and make it better together. A neighbors get invited to member-only events and we explore the city. We meet each other in real life and we dig into issues and stories that shape our daily life here. So if you're looking for a way to get more involved in 2026, this is a perfect place to start. Go to membership.citycast.fm. It's like $10 a month or $100 a year. You get a cute ass beanie. I don't know if y'all have seen these beanies yet, but they're very, very cute. They're really cute. Perfect for this season. Yeah, and I don't wear beanies because my head is too big, but they are cute. And don't forget, we're giving away two pairs of tickets to some really amazing shows happening at the Paramount Theater, Rebecca Havemeyer and Stanley Roy, and also Bob Schneider's New Year's Eve party. Y'all, these are great tickets, but you got to become a member for a chance to win. So membership.tacast.fm. Go become our neighbor. So let's get into today's episode. Y'all ready? Let's do it. I'm so ready. I'm super excited about this. So we have our hits or misses broken down into three categories, civics, events, and a wild card. So we're going to start with civics. There's no shortage of government agencies in this town from city council to school districts and our every other year favorites, the Texas legislature. And they've been busy. Everybody's been super busy this year. So let's get into our hits and misses in local civics. Kelsey, let's start with you. Yes. Okay, mine are really good. I think I'll start with a hit first. Yeah. So I think the biggest hit that Austin had this year was that the yogurt shop murders were finally solved after 34 years. Absolutely. Yes. Yes. Yes. It was such a big day for the city of Austin, for these families. This happened back in September. They were able to link Robert Eugene Brasher's to the crime. And he's not alive anymore. So he couldn't be sent to jail or anything. But I imagine this was such a relief for the families and just for everyone who was around when the yogurt shop murder case first happened. So I thought that was really exciting. Seriously, I'm shook about it still. It's probably one of my favorite things about this year. I'm not going to lie. Yeah. Well, and I remember like getting the notification on my phone, like the news alert. And I was like, wait, what?

Like, it was so exciting. I remember you texting us. Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. It was exciting. And I mean, like, I remember people from my high school being like, have you, did you see this shit? Have you? Can you believe it? Like, it was huge. Well, and especially because that yogurt drop murder documentary had come out this year. And so it was just like really top of mind. I feel like everyone was like really thinking about it. Yeah. This year. I don't know. Yeah. I agree. What's your miss? Oh, my miss is the city's new logo. That's a good one. And you know, that's a really good one. That's not even, this isn't even necessarily my opinion. Look to your neighbors in Austin. Ask them if they like the logo. The answer is probably no. I still don't understand why they felt that they needed to do this. Our old logo was fine. Nobody's looking at a city logo. I really don't think it's important. But they released a new city logo, and it costs roughly $1.1 million. And, you know, they've broken down what that million dollars went to, like to the graphic designers and the this and the that. But ultimately, the new logo is the letter A. in two different colors. And it's really frustrating. And I think the cost of it all really pissed everybody off like in a year where, you know, Prop Q was up at election. They were trying to ask us for more money. And it was like, okay, well, you could have used a million dollars from this logo instead of asking us for it kind of thing. So that's my miss. Fantastic miss, if I must say. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I mean. Every time I see it, I just kind of look at it and shake my head like a disappointing parent. I'm just like that. Yeah. It's like the ugly photo that your kid makes that you have to put on the fridge. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And it's just like, man, I just was anyone asking for a new logo other than them? You know, like where the people in the city like, hey, man, our old logo, it's, we need an update. I don't think anybody is asking for it. Well, it's like I understood the idea of wanting. there to be a centralized thing for all departments. I get that, but how did it have to cost that much money? Like, that's the part that I'm like, you lost me at the million dollars. You just, you did. Alyssa, what about you? Okay, so my hit is when the Texas State House of Representative Democrats broke quorum during the special session over the summer that Greg Abbott called. I thought it was awesome. I mean, they don't have a lot of power, but this was like their one way of protesting and preventing this vote that was scheduled to happen over a bill to redraw Texas congressional maps. So they broke quorum for two weeks, and they were each fined $500 a day. But yeah, the whole special session was called originally to figure out the Texas hemp. regulation laws. And then President Donald Trump very explicitly said, I want five extra Republican seats. So Governor Greg Abbott took it upon himself to make this special session about redistricting. And yeah, I think it was great with the little power that they have. They.

protested. They got a lot of national attention to focus on this issue. Some state Democrats like James Talarico got great national attention, who is now bidding for Senate. But I will say my miss is also that Texas Democrats broke quorum because it ultimately didn't do anything. The map still passed. So my hidden miss is the same thing. The breaking of quorum. Honestly, I'm with you because like it was nice to see like Texas Democrats specifically actually do something. Do something. They can't do a lot. Yeah. They can't do a lot. But like it was nice for them to actually, it felt like they were taking a stand and using what the, you know, using their voice and using what they could. But yeah, ultimately. And then they just like came back. Yeah. Yeah. I was kind of hoping they'd break quorum until now. Yeah. I appreciate the effort. I know. Damn. Those are good ones. What about you, Nikki? So for me, our civics hit this year was a flood relief. So we had huge floods July of this year. And it resulted in a devastating flood at Camp Mystic. And we lost all these babies and all these people died during the flood. And it was terrible. And our city. You know, I have to say that, like, I'm never a fan of it taking tragedy for people to get their shit together. But... What I will say is our city responded so quickly and with so much force and so much love and so much initiation, millions and millions of dollars raised. So many organizations stepping in to help. So many people having benefit concerts, benefit shows, trying to raise money, trying to do the thing. It was just a really... bright and shining moment, I think, in our community in the face of just tragedy. It was just one of those really big stories of resilience and like, this is why I live in this city. This is why I live here. Something. terrible happened, something awful happened. And of course there is going to be blame and of course there's going to be ringing of hands. But on the other side of that, our city just showed up and showed the fuck out and did what we do. And tried to, you know what I mean? Like just tried to make sure we helped from all sides, whether it was organizations showing up to separate. donations and facilitate donating or was people showing up to clean up the wreckage and clean up the aftermath, whatever it was, our city showed up. And so for me, that was a big hit. Well, and I remember when all of that was happening, I remember us talking about this on the podcast about how.

I know we can really only say this because we are Texans, but there's just such a specific Texan way. Like it really is the Texan way and the Austin way to show up for each other in these situations. And it always truly is so heartwarming and it's so nice to see. And if our government isn't going to do it right, like our neighbors will. And it's always very nice. The stories that stick out most for me is the community that could not get out to get supplies. So their neighbors walk across a bridge that is, you know, kind of collapsing or not collapsing, but you know what I mean? It's dangerous. There's debris. It's dangerous, yeah, to take their neighbors supplies. Like, that's the kind of shit. It's your point. It's like the Texas way. We, like, at the end of the day, it don't matter where you come from, what side of the aisle you're on, Texans have a way of showing up for each other. And so that was a huge win and hit for me. And on the other side of that, for me, a miss was prop cue. I just think that our city shut the bed on that. Like, I just like the whole thing. Wait, yeah, in which way? Yeah. I think that the city personally should have taken TC Broadnecks's budget off top. The first one. Instead of coming to the voters and asking them. if they want to pay another five percent or five cents on their taxes, which could have meant an extra $302 annually on taxes for some people. I just feel like the way it was handled and the hubris that they showed when they were. And I was like, I don't know. I think we kind of missed on that one. I think we could have maybe approached a different way. I'm not saying it didn't need to be broached. I'm not saying it didn't need to be talked about, but I think that it was a miss. Totally. Well, and I feel like, yeah, like the marketing for it, they're. I mean, maybe I'm just not looking in the right places, but it's like there was none. Like everything that I saw about Prop Q was news stories saying, you know, saying the news of Prop Q, which is it's going to raise your taxes and it's going to raise them by this much. And it's like very, very high. And yep, and that's it. And like I feel like at no point was the city like, okay, but let us show you the nice things. Or maybe I just, I don't know, maybe I missed it. I didn't see it either. Yeah. I saw a lot of just like, hey, we need this. So we're going to ask y'all to show up as the community and make this happen. I'm like, eh. Well, and the reaction from some council members after it failed was not good either. It was very arrogant. Yeah. The prep queue debate was fascinating to watch. Oh, yeah. Great miss, Nikki.

So we talk a lot about events around town, whether it's what we're doing this weekend in our Friday News Roundups or the newsletter events listings, which, as a reminder, our city cast, lots of neighbors get in their inbox each week. Mm-hmm. Yep. I mean, listen, our events lists, I will always, I will always, I will always, always. It's a good list. We have a great event list, y'all. We do. From massive music festivals to intimate theater shows, parades, cultural events, you know, there's always something going on in our city in Austin. So I'm so curious what your hits and misses are when it comes to our local events in 2025. Alyssa, you want to go first? Yeah, I'm going to start with a miss. Yeah, my miss for events was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Maha Make America Healthy Again conference. That happened right here in our city over a weekend in November. Oh, forgot about it. It was hosted by Children's Health Defense. It's a nonprofit that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. founded and led until his presidential bid in 2023. The conference was called, quote, moment of truth. And it was pretty much all about promoting his... anti-vax theories and gathering and discussing these scientifically unproven theories that, you know, vaccines ultimately lead to autism and things like that that have, again, not been scientifically proven correct. So I just think that was a mess. I think I prefer science-backed information and this felt like another opportunity to keep spreading some misinformation or disinformation, however you want to look at it. And very dangerous misinformation. Alyssa, I am a fan of the subtle shade you're giving right now. I prefer science back. I don't know. That's just me. That's just me. That's just me. That's just me. It's just me. It's just me. My personal opinion is I like science. But it is interesting to see that Austin is kind of becoming a hub for this type of thing. And we're going to have an episode about this later on this in the month. But. Yeah, it's crazy that this happened in our town. And I thought that was a miss, personally. Yeah. My hit were all the amazing concerts that happened in Austin. I found out about this amazing band from randomly going to Sagebrush, Rob Lines. He's incredible. It's like country rock. And then I also got to see. Wild Child for free at Central Machine Works next stage concert series. There are a band that I like discovered in college. So when I went and saw them, I was like having a full flashback to another time in my life where I was just like, I've been transported to like my 20s. And I was singing along to every word and I was with other people that knew all their songs. I love that feeling. So good. So, so good. Yeah.

That was all of the concerts. Fantastic lineup, Austin. Keep it going. Listen, our concert game is next level. It's really, really good. Yeah, I have to agree with you on that one. I'm going to go next just because. You go next, sweetie. Because I really, listen, I want to go next because I'm really excited to hear Kelsey's hits. So I'm just going to get my little shit out of the way real quick. Okay, okay. So I'm not trying to make nobody mad, but my miss this year was ACL. For me, with the exception of Dochi, there was just nobody really on the list that I was like, I have to go. I have to go. I'm not saying there weren't good people. That's what I'm saying. But I'm saying like, it was. It wasn't that strong of a lineup. It wasn't that strong of a lineup for me this year. Listen, T-Pain, I heard his set was incredible. Sabrina Carpenter, I cannot hate on Sabrina Carpenter. She's cute and she's funny and she's talented. She brought out the chicks. And Shania Twain. And Shania Twain. I was there for the chicks. Listen, and all of that stuff is great if that is your thing. That is not my thing. So just like for me personally, I was like, nah. I can't do it. And it's difficult, in my opinion. Like, the lineups have been getting better and better and better over the last couple of years. And so this year when I saw like, hosier, I was like, what in the fuck is this? Why? What are we doing? Yeah. Well, and coupled with how expensive ACL is and how big it's gotten. It's just a different, it's a different thing out there. Yeah. So that was my miss this year. But what was a hit for me are all of the local markets. Austin's markets game this year was on. There was one almost every single weekend. It's everything from like vintage markets, farmers markets, makers markets, like all of the bases were covered and and like I don't know. It really, really, really seemed to me to be a thriving environment for small businesses and people, entrepreneurs wanting to get their stuff out there. And I love that. I love that, like, we have a city that makes room for people to, for lack of a better way to say it, like sell the shit and do their thing that they want to do. Standouts for me is always Blackmakers market and kind of tropical has this market. And I'm a fan of like, you never know what you're going to get. I'm one of those people. I like a hodgepodge. And kind of tropical is like that. They have like some vendors that I'm like, oh yeah, I saw you there last time. But it feels like every time I go, somebody different. And the same can be said for Futurefront, just so good. You know what I mean? And then all of the markets have.

you know, distribution hall. So that's my hits for events. Just like, The dozens and dozens of markets, but probably hundreds of markets that we've had in the city this year because that's just my personal, you know, I like to shop. I like to get out there. I know, right? And buy local, you're buying local. Yeah. Yeah. And the local markets, they have like actual, I don't know. Sometimes when I go to like big city markets, it's like full of like Amazon crap. Yes. And like all of our stuff is like handcrafted, locally made. all that kind of stuff. And it's really nice. Yes. Kelsey, what about you? Okay. I'm going to start with a miss so we can end this section on the hit. And this one, I put it in the event section because it would have led to lots of events and really fun ones. So. Austin was kind of sort of maybe up for getting a WNBA team. And we got snubbed. They didn't give us a WNBA team. Back in February, we got snubbed. I believe they gave teams, like new teams to, I think like Cleveland. I don't know. No other cities to write home about. And I just, you know, especially here at CityCast Austin, I feel like we talked about possibly getting a WNBA team like every other second of the podcast and in the newsletter. Like I was just constantly writing about it and we were talking about it. And it was just really frustrating. I don't know. I feel like. Austin needs a WMBA team. The 1972 Sports Bar, the women's sports bar, opened up this year, and it just would have been such a nice... I don't know, a little way to celebrate that. Getting a whole ass WNBA team. I'm with you on this one, Kelsey. Yeah. Like I feel kind of like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum. Like, I didn't get my WNBA team. But like, come on. That would have been so fun. We'd like to discuss with the WNBA. Please give us one next year. Listen, can you imagine all of the beautiful, like, Amazonian lesbians that I could just like fawn over? I just. They took that from me. And you know that, like, the merch would be so good. Oh, my God. The merch. You know that it would be, like, purple. You know that we would be bad for something. And it would be awesome. Anyway, so that was really sad. The hit for events this year is that the musical The Outsiders.

brought its tour to Bass Concert Hall on UT's campus. And the show's based on the 1967 novel by the same name. And I'm not kidding. It was truly one of the best things I've ever seen. And I was so skeptical going in because, like, I... I don't know. I don't like trying new things when it comes to musicals. I'm like, no, I'll stick with my classics and whatever. But then every time I see something new to me, I'm like, this is the best thing I've ever seen, obviously. That's so surprising. That is surprising. It's very weird. But it was actually the craziest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. If you, our dear listeners, can get out to see the outsiders somewhere. If it comes back through Austin. If it's in other Texas cities, you absolutely need to go and see it. Like, the choreography was so good that I'm not kidding, if there was no music and no speaking, and it was just the choreography, it would be just as enthralling. It, like, scratched, like, a West Side Story itch kind of thing because it did feel very, you know, it's like about gangs, and they're doing gang violence via pirouettes. You know, another dance move. Okay, put that on the build. Yeah, yeah. Gang violence via pirouettes is the best thing I've heard all week. Yeah, you got to have that. And it was just so wonderful, and it made me feel just lucky to live here. Like, it's, you know, not every city in the world gets big musicals like this to come through. And this truly felt... I don't know. It just felt like a one-of-a-kind thing. I don't know. It was just a really cool thing that happened this year. And if anyone listening got to go, I bet they would agree with me. Well, shit. Listen. That category was pretty good, too. Our events, again, I keep saying this. I feel like I'm repeating myself over and over again, but we are also very good at events. We really are. Okay, so y'all, some of our ups and downs just don't fit neatly into a category, but they still left an impression on us this year. So let's get into some of our wild card hits and misses. I'll go first because I haven't gone first yet. For me, I think our local community programming was a big hit. And when I say that, I just mean like, there are all kinds of new things that popped up this year. Like you mentioned the 1972 bar opening. That was just a big deal. Also, like... The Scream Club. Like, you know, that started happening recently where people all meet up because the world is crazy. And you meet up and scream off the side of one of the bridges downtown. I love that. The boardwalks. We had her aunt to talk about the boardwalks that's like meeting up at 8 o'clock in the morning and going on walks together. Auntie's house or where y'all at, though, it's like all these great events for people of color that are tailored towards people of color. Like our city really, really.

has hit a stride with like local community programming this year. And I, I've loved seeing it. I've loved watching it. It kind of goes along with, to me, like the small businesses. Everybody's just kind of finding their thing and their passion and making it happen. And I love that. So that was a big hit for me this year. And then for misses, tearing down the convention center is a huge miss for me. Like I, I'm having feelings about it. I went like some, like some crazy person, I went and kept revisiting it to watch the slow tear down of it because I was just like, what in the. What are we like, what is happening? Why are we tearing down a perfectly good convention center? And they started off and they were only supposed to tear down parts of it. And now the entire thing is gone. And it just looked like a. So much traffic on that street too because of it. So much traffic. So much like. I mean, they say that they tore it down in the most responsible way possible, but I don't know if I believe that shit. It was just a miss for me. It's like, and now South by has got to be fractured off in all these tiny little places. And it kind of feels like everybody's like, no, no, no, no. It's fine. It's going to be great. No, no, no, no. We haven't figured out. No, no, no. We know what we're doing. And it don't seem like they know what the fuck they're doing. So that's just a big miss for me. It seems wasteful. And like maybe. People didn't know what they were doing. I would love if we had somehow do an episode about... how Austin, I guess like City Hall, feels that Austin needs to be all of these things. Like we need to be a place with a brand spanking new convention center so that it can be like a destination place. We need a new logo. We need cap and stitches over 35. And like all of that's nice, right? Like sure, a new convention center. The renderings look beautiful. Like having a park over the highway. Sure, it looks nice. But I do wonder why. like we're feeling the need to do all of that when we have all these actual problems. Exactly. Like we don't need to be doing all of this. Like the convention center's fine. 35 doesn't need anything over. You know, like it's all fine. I feel like it falls in line with us always continuing to struggle with our identity as a city. It's like we woke up one day as a city and we're like, oh, oh, shit. Like, it's, oh, we're a big city. Okay, all right, what are all the things that big cities need? Yes. Yes. We need that. It's like, yeah. That's exactly what it is. Yeah. But yeah. Kelsey, what about you? Okay. So my hit is Lubies. I maybe have included this because I just wrote about it in the newsletter. But I finally went. Austin got a mini Lubies.

downtown near the courthouse, like within walking distance to the Capitol as well. And news of this was spreading back in August. And it's mini, it's paired down. There's probably, you could probably see maybe like two dozen people inside. And you can just get. a Luan Graham Platner. Like, that's, I think that was the only thing I saw that they were offering. But it was delicious, and it's, like, fun and a little weird. Like, why is it small? I don't know. Like, why did they do that? I'm not sure. But there are two other Lubies that still exist in Austin, and they're in... you know, North Austin and in South Austin. And this one is centrally located. And it was like making me wish that I had some sort of downtown office that I needed to work in so that I could pop into the baby Louvies. And I just think it's really fun. And I'm glad we got it. I feel like they should have called it Loubet. Like, Loubet is what? That's so cute. It's so cute. Especially since there, it's like an entire community of older black people. They're like, what you mean? We've been going to Lubis. We still have Lubet is wonderful. Loubet is great. I'll let them have it. Especially saying like mini Lubies, I'm not sure that that immediately registers that it's like smaller space, paired down menu. Lubet, though. That would get it across. I like that. Call Alyssa. My miss this year. Oh, Lord. I was trying to think of things that I've been whining about, and I will say this fits the bill. Everything cheerups did this year. Every single thing that they did. So much drama. Oh, so much drama. Every single thing. I like cheerups the bar. It is a fun bar. I hope it stays around. But the way that they did, you know, back in the summer, they were like, we're about to close if we don't pay. $50,000 or $60,000 in back rent, like, please send us money. And everyone was like, okay, here's the money. And then they were like, okay, we're going to stay open. And then they were like, okay, we've sold cheerups to this company, but we're going to stay on, like, at the company. And then everyone was like, this company seems like it doesn't like gay people and this seems like it's a bad idea. And so then they were like, okay, we are no longer selling to this company. And it was just like at every moment. Their messaging on social media.

What? Yeah. And so they're also thinking there probably are more that Tesla just hasn't reported yet. Y'all, these in my mind are just super, super dangerous. And of course, Austin has to be the city where they roll out. It's just this is wrong and this is bad and I hate it. Well, y'all, these have been some pretty good hits and misses. I will say I'm proud of our lists. It was pretty diverse. And listeners, I am so curious to know what your hits or misses are this year. I'm really curious. Same. Yeah, you guys got to let us know. So before we go, you know, on Wednesdays, we usually bring you a midweek mood boost. And since we're having a membership drive, our mood boost this week is us. We're amazing. Blam, blam, brim. We wanted to say a huge hit for us was putting CityCast Austin together each and every day. Through the podcast, the newsletter, just keeping you updated on what's happening in our city. And we could not do that without our neighbors. Hi, neighbors. What up neighbors? So listen, if you want to do a neighborhood, shout out to your favorite place, or you want a cute-ass beanie, or you want to go to some cute-ass events with us. Become a citycast-awson neighbor today. Go to membership.citycast.fm and come kick it with us. Be our neighbor. Kelsey, Alyssa, thank you so much for being on with me today. I always love our chats. I always love it when we can just talk shit and have fun. Yeah, this chat was definitely a hit for me. Absolutely. Yes. You guys are great. Till next time, bye. Bye. Bye.

That's all for today here on CityCast Austin. If you enjoyed our show, tell your friends, write our show, leave us a review. Tell us about your hits and misses. And of course, subscribe to our Hey Austin Newsletter. We'll be back tomorrow morning with more news from around the city. Bye y'all.