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Austin, Texas (USA)

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If you haven't heard a thing or two about Austin in recent years, crawl out from under your rock. In the early 1990s, Austin usurped Seattle's reign as Hip Town, USA. It has fewer developed tourist attractions than you'd expect from such a vibrant city, and that's its real charm. As the 'Live Music Capital of the World,' Austin has hog-tied its competition by hosting the annual South by Southwest music industry love-in - as well as umpteen lesser known music fests - and has become the de facto cultural centre of Texas, if not of the entire Southwest.

Austin's official slogan is The Live Music Capital of the World. Austin has a vibrant live music scene boasting more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city. Austin's music revolves around the many nightclubs on 6th Street and an annual film/music/multimedia festival known as South by Southwest. The longest-running concert music program on American television, Austin City Limits, is videotaped on the University of Texas at Austin campus. Austin City Limits and Waterloo Records run the Austin City Limits Music Festival, an annual music and art festival held at Zilker Park in Austin. Other annual events include Eeyore's Birthday Party in April and Carnival in February.

Austinites take great pride in being eccentric and celebrate the differences between themselves and other U.S. cities. "Keep Austin Weird" has become a local motto in recent years, featured on innumerable bumper stickers and t-shirts. This motto has not only been used in promoting Austin's eccentricity and diversity, but is also meant to bolster support of local and independent businesses. Another example of Austin "weirdness" is Leslie Cochran, a vagrant transvestite and frequent mayoral candidate whose best showing was 7.77% of the vote in 2000.

 		  
     
  At night, parts of Austin are lit with "artificial moonlight." Several moonlight towers, built in the late 19th century and recognized as historic landmarks, illuminate the central part of the city. The towers were prominently featured in the film Dazed and Confused. The "Zilker Tree" is a Christmas "tree" made of large lights strung from the top of the Moonlight Tower that stands in Zilker Park. The Zilker Tree is lit in early December along with the "Trail of Lights," an Austin Christmas tradition.

Austin hosts the annual Austin Film Festival, as well as South by Southwest, which draw films of many different types from all over the world. In 2004 the city was first in Moviemaker Magazine's annual top ten cities to live and make movies. Austin also hosts the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival, which attracts musical artists from around the world. The 2005 festival included Oasis, Coldplay, and Franz Ferdinand.

Austin, Texas (USA) is a popular gay destination and it features a prominent gay infrastructure often gay-owned and/or managed. A list of other popular gay and lesbian destinations world round has been included here