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Ryan Gellert, Kara Swisher, Valerie June & More Join SXSW 2023

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Ryan Gellert, Kara Swisher, Valerie June & More Join SXSW 2023


Saying the preliminary Keynote Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert and the second spherical of Featured Audio system for the thirty seventh version the SXSW Convention. From sustainable journeys throughout our planet and into the metaverse to breaking trade boundaries and constructing entrepreneurial goals, this various group of artistic thinkers and leaders is able to deal with what’s subsequent at SXSW 2023.

“At SXSW, we thrive on artistic concepts that result in daring motion on the subject of addressing society’s greatest challenges,” stated Hugh Forrest, Chief Programming Officer. “Our first introduced Keynote Speaker, Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert, is a real chief on this planet of enterprise who’s unafraid of pursuing the systemic reform wanted to guard our planet within the face of local weather change.”

Featured Audio system introduced as we speak embrace Andrew Callaghan, David Chang, Julia Ducournau, Scott Galloway, Valerie June, Miranda Kerr, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Cheech Marin, Hamilton Morris, Esther Perel, Ginni Rometty, Kara Swisher, Anne Wojcicki, and extra.

Reignite your curiosity this March 10-19 at SXSW 2023 in Austin, TX! Register early to expertise this stellar programming with extra bulletins on the way in which throughout the SXSW Convention & Festivals. Safe your spot now for badge financial savings and nice Austin resort choices.

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Discover newly-announced Featured Audio system and Featured Classes from the worlds of expertise, movie, tv, music, and extra throughout our 25 tracks of programming beneath. Register to the SXSW Schedule so as to add classes of curiosity to your individual personalised schedule as we speak and keep tuned for extra bulletins all season lengthy.

Keynote

Ryan Gellert is Chief Government Officer of Patagonia Works and Patagonia, Inc. Previous to his appointment to this international position, Gellert spent six years as Patagonia’s common supervisor of Europe, the Center East, and Africa. Earlier than becoming a member of Patagonia, he spent 15 years at Black Diamond Tools.

Featured Audio system

  • Chemistry professor on the College of Texas at Austin Dr. Kate Biberdorf aka “Kate the Chemist”
  • Founding father of Royal and DJ Justin Blau, aka 3LAU
  • Gonzo journalist and creator of Channel 5 Andrew Callaghan
  • Professor at New York College’s Stern College of Enterprise and writer Dolly Chugh
  • Director and screenwriter of the Palme d’Or successful movie Titane Julia Ducournau
  • Professor at New York College’s Stern College of Enterprise, New York Occasions bestselling writer, and co-host of the Pivot podcast Scott Galloway in dialog with Editor-at-Giant of New York Journal, host of On with Kara Swisher, and co-host of the Pivot podcast Kara Swisher
  • Emmy and Tony Award-winning producer, co-founder and Managing Associate of Get Lifted Movie Co., and Fellow and Skilled-in-Residence on the College of Texas’ Moody Faculty of Communication Mike Jackson
  • CEO of Luminate Rob Jonas
  • Grammy Award-nominated singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Valerie June
  • Founder and CEO of KORA Organics, entrepreneur, and supermodel Miranda Kerr
  • Actor, director, author, comic, and musician Cheech Marin
  • New York Occasions bestselling writer of The Sum of Us: What Racism Prices Everybody and How We Can Prosper Collectively Heather McGhee
  • Psychotherapist, New York Occasions bestselling writer, and host of the podcasts The place Ought to We Start? and How’s Work? Esther Perel
  • Creator and former Chairman, President, and CEO of IBM Ginni Rometty
  • Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup Boyan Slat
  • Mycologist, entrepreneur, writer, and inventor Paul Stamets
  • Affiliate Professor of Environmental Politics on the College of California, Santa Barbara Leah Stokes
  • Founder and CEO of Strangeworks whurley
  • Co-founder and CEO of 23andMe Anne Wojcicki

Featured Classes

An Imminent Shift In The Plant Primarily based Ecosystem
Shoppers are discovering themselves at a long-awaited intersection: diets are shifting to prioritize vitamin and environmental impression at a time when meals innovation is booming and new manufacturers hoping to handle client’s fluctuating priorities emerge each day on grocery cabinets. Nonetheless, when meals tradition drives shopping for choices in a sea of indistinguishable plant-based choices, how do rising merchandise bust the paradigm of what individuals can anticipate from alt-meat? The place will client habits go and the way will the trade sustain? On this session, be a part of founding father of Momofuku and Majordomo Media, James Beard Award-winning chef, host of The Dave Chang Present and Recipe Membership podcasts, and New York Occasions bestselling writer David Chang; co-founder and CEO of Meati Meals Tyler Huggins; co-founder, Chief Idea Officer of Sweetgreen Nicolas Jammet; and Head of Content material at SutherlandGold and lecturer on the Wharton College of the College of Pennsylvania Aditi Roy as they talk about this shift and what the implications are for consumers and the meals trade, ending with a hands-on activation the place attendees will expertise and style mushroom root.

Bijan Mustardson & the Way forward for NIL Partnerships
In 2022, artistic company CALLEN and Bijan Robinson launched the dijon mustard model Bijan Mustardson, a partnership made potential by latest adjustments with NIL guidelines for school athletes. On this session, be a part of founder and Chief Inventive Officer of CALLEN Craig Allen, Advertising Supervisor at Athletes First Bryan Burney, working again for the Texas Longhorns Bijan Robinson, and Director of the College of Promoting and Public Relations, Moody Faculty of Communication on the College of Texas at Austin Natalie Tindall, Ph.D., APR as they talk about how artistic businesses can put money into greater than a marketing campaign and construct a real enterprise partnership for long-term success, creating a product and rising a model with a celeb enterprise accomplice, and find out how to adapt to and anticipate the place the NIL market is headed.

Construct the Rattling Factor with Kathryn Finney
Founder and Managing Associate of Genius Guild and Wall Road Journal bestselling writer Kathryn Finney’s e-book, Construct the Rattling Factor: Methods to Begin a Profitable Enterprise if You are Not a Wealthy White Man, is a hard-won, battle-tested information for each entrepreneur who the institution has neglected. On this session, be a part of Finney for a dialog the place she’s going to share her storied profession as an entrepreneur, inclusion champion, and investor who funds Black founders and ladies entrepreneurs in pursuit of their entrepreneurial goals.

Constructing an Open Metaverse
Because it stands as we speak, a sole metaverse doesn’t exist. What does exist are hundreds of digital worlds, a lot of that are linked via Prepared Participant Me’s community; an avatar system utilized by over 3,000 app and recreation builders. It’s this interoperable community that has earned their repute as a default avatar platform for the metaverse. On this session, be a part of co-founder and CEO of Prepared Participant Me Timmu Tõke as he focuses on the significance of collaboration and constructing out partnerships as a way to create an open metaverse and what manufacturers must do as a way to make this occur.

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Constructing a Sustainable Financial system within the Metaverse
Because the metaverse is being created, it’s our accountability to construct a sustainable basis. However, how sustainable is the journey to this digital panorama? On this session, be a part of co-founder and CEO of VNTANA Ashley Crowder, founder and CEO of Emblematic Group and Director of Arizona State College’s Narrative and Rising Media program Nonny de la Peña, and founding father of Buddies With Holograms Cortney Harding, as they talk about what the metaverse is as we speak and discover find out how to construct an inclusive surroundings, drive a shared worth for companies and creators, empower customers, and allow methods to measure impression to create digital sustainability.

The J Dilla Impact: Breaking Boundaries By means of Beats
James Yancey, aka “J Dilla,” is without doubt one of the biggest all-time hip-hop producers, a musical genius and visionary that impressed artists like A Tribe Known as Quest, Pharrell Williams, Erykah Badu, and lots of others. Dilla made final sacrifices to construct alternatives for younger, various creators to proceed breaking down societal and cultural boundaries. Curated by Save The Music, this session will function founder and Chairman of the James Dewitt Yancey Basis and J Dilla’s mom Ma Dukes and Grammy Award-winning DJ and music producer DJ Jazzy Jeff as they share private tales of Dilla’s life and the way his work modified hip-hop tradition, whereas exploring find out how to stick with it his legacy by investing in culturally wealthy communities to offer equitable sources for younger creators to realize financial stability and success via music and expertise.

Personal Your Knowledge: Empowering Our Digital Future
On this session, co-founder of the Personal Your Knowledge Basis and writer Brittany Kaiser will clarify how she determined to turn out to be a whistleblower to guard our human rights within the digital house and talk about the problems that Large Tech has introduced us with (lack of transparency, uninformed consent, no monitoring or traceability, monetization of our knowledge with none worth going to us, and so forth), in addition to the options she believes are important to creating expertise extra moral and congruent with rights safety.

Reigniting Fan Engagement at Stay Occasions
The significance of group and human connection was extra prevalent than ever when World Wrestling Leisure (WWE) returned with its greatest occasion of the 12 months, WrestleMania, in April 2021. This historic occasion featured the primary Black feminine Superstars to fundamental occasion WrestleMania, movie star appearances, stay music performances, and the disclosing of WWE’s new signature, “Then, Now, Collectively, Eternally.” to acknowledge and rejoice WWE followers, their group and the message of inclusivity. As WWE prepares to host WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles this coming April, Chief Content material Officer of WWE Paul “Triple H” Levesque will talk about on this session the street to WrestleMania, the significance of the WWE Universe and the way this group has developed.

To Journey or To not Journey
The psychedelic science torch is getting handed to the following technology, with recent views on each historical and future medicines. On this session, be a part of Author and Director of Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia, chemist, and science journalist Hamilton Morris, professor of Pharmacology at Louisiana State College Well being Sciences Heart Charles Nichols, adjunct professor on the College of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Professor Emeritus on the Purdue College Faculty of Pharmacy David E. Nichols, co-founder and Associate at Palo Santo Tim Schlidt, and endowed professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Trauma and Director of the Heart for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Analysis on the Icahn College of Medication at Mount Sinai and Director of Psychological Well being on the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Heart Rachel Yehuda as they discover the way forward for psychedelic science and reply questions akin to, can we take the “journey” out of psychedelics, can we need to, and can “subsequent gen” psychedelic compounds have a bonus over as we speak’s medicines?

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Be part of Us for SXSW 2023

Register as we speak for SXSW 2023 to rejoice the convergence of the tech, movie, tv, and music industries throughout quite a lot of programming codecs and particular occasions from March 10-19 in Austin, TX.

Save with our Group Registration charges for groups of 10 or extra. Plus, presently enrolled college students could apply for a reduced fee.

Seize your SXSW Badge earlier than charges enhance to save lots of! Ebook your resort via SXSW Housing & Journey for one of the best accessible charges and places.

Discover our Schedule Overview and take the Badge Quiz to find which badge and arrival date most closely fits your wants.

Register Now

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2023 Audio system (l-r) Ryan Gellert – Picture by Liz Seabrook; Kara Swisher, Valerie June, and Esther Perel





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Austin, TX

NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL: Cook has proven recipe in Texas and keeps locals in the mix

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NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL: Cook has proven recipe in Texas and keeps locals in the mix


AUSTIN, TEXAS — Despite being nearly 2,000 miles away, Andre Cook remains plugged into the ‘518’s’ basketball scene.

For good reason, as it’s where the coach, 52, got his start. While he lives in Austin, Texas, spending his evenings walking the hilly streets of his residential neighborhood, Cook still resides inside the top 10 for career points at both Watervliet High School and Skidmore College.

Cook also keeps the ‘518’ area code attached to his phone number, 15 years since taking the job in the Lone Star State and building a new, winning legacy.

“I love the capital region. People always laugh, but I still call it, ‘I’m going home,’” Cook said in an over-the-phone interview with the Troy Record. “It’s home and it’s always gonna be home. I loved every second about growing up in Watervliet, New York, playing on 23rd Street. I loved going to college at Skidmore College, going to grad school, I loved my time as a high school coach and my time as the head coach at Hudson Valley. I wouldn’t trade any of it.”

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“The 518 – I just have nothing but love for it. That’s all I can say, and you can see I still have my (phone) number.”

  • The Siena College Saints men’s basketball team lost to Quinnipiac University, 82-70, on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024, at MVP Arena, in Albany, N.Y. (DREW WEMPLE – MEDIANEWS GROUP).

  • College of Saint Rose's men's basketball freshman guard Latiek Briscoe...

    College of Saint Rose’s men’s basketball freshman guard Latiek Briscoe dribbles the basketball in a game versus Southern Connecticut State on Feb. 7, 2023, at Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium, in Albany, N.Y. (PHOTO PROVIDED VIA ROLAND BOURGEOIS JR – SAINT ROSE ATHLETICS).

  • Siena Saints sophomore and former Shen graduate Mason Courtney participates...

    Siena Saints sophomore and former Shen graduate Mason Courtney participates in a men’s basketball summer workout on Monday, July, 17, at Marcelle Athletic Complex, on the Siena campus, in Loudonville. (PHOTO BY DREW WEMPLE)

  • (PHOTO PROVIDED VIA SAINT ROSE ATHLETICS)

    (PHOTO PROVIDED VIA SAINT ROSE ATHLETICS)

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  • Andre Cook

    Andre Cook

  • The Siena College men’s basketball team lost to Marist, 67-51,...

    The Siena College men’s basketball team lost to Marist, 67-51, at MVP Arena on Thursday, February 8, 2024. (PHOTO BY DREW WEMPLE)

  • Hudson Valley Community College mens basketball coach Andre Cook works...

    Hudson Valley Community College mens basketball coach Andre Cook works the officials during a game from the 2007-08 season. (Jeff Couch — The Record)

  • Retired Watervliet basketball coach Gaeorge Mardigan with two of his...

    Retired Watervliet basketball coach Gaeorge Mardigan with two of his former players who coach, Andre Cook at Hudson Valley Community College and Orlando DiBacco named Bishop Maginn coach Tuesday. (photo by Tom Killips) 6/30/2009

Cook took the job at St. Edward’s University, a private catholic university in Austin, Texas, with an enrollment of slightly fewer than 3,000 according to the U.S. Department of Education (2021-22), 15 years ago. He wrapped up back-to-back seasons at Hudson Valley Community College, with a 16-0 record in conference play and a combined, five total losses overall.

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In his final season with the Vikings, in 2008-09, Cook led the team to the NJCAA Division III National Tournament, advancing to the semifinals. It was his first head coaching job at the collegiate level. It taught him lessons applicable to today’s age of college basketball and provided an outlook not many other coaches share.

At the junior college level, while not having to love it, Cook grew to accept and learned to navigate the transfer portal’s ins and outs.

“It helped me understand this era a little bit more. Obviously, we still recruit freshmen. We want and you hope that this is a four or five-year relationship, but you can’t be pollyannaish about it and think, ‘Oh, the good old days.’ Adapt or die, adapt or die, and that’s what we have to do,” Cook said.

For Cook, it’s still about keeping the ‘main thing,’ the ‘main thing,’ when it comes to the overall transfer portal and recruitment. Earning a bachelor’s degree from Skidmore in ‘94, completing a master’s degree in social studies teaching at Union College two years later, and with a wife who graduated from the College of Saint Rose, Cook believes that ‘main thing,’ is found in classrooms and campuses, not the hardwood and the bank accounts.

“If my athletic director walked in right now and said, ‘Hey, we’re shutting down men’s basketball.’ Well, okay, that’s terrible, I still have degrees from Skidmore and Union College; somebody might hire me. I might have a spot somewhere to go do something because of my education and you can tell me about the money and about professional opportunities, I get it, but still, for the overwhelming majority of them, education is still what carries today,” said Cook.

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“Some of the best of the best are gonna go make hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars because of their basketball. But what’s that? 1%? 2%? The rest of us need our college degree,” he continued. “At some point that ball is gonna stop bouncing, you’re gonna be 25, 28, or 30, and you’re going to need to fall back on that St. Edward’s degree.”

So, when Cook hit the transfer portal this past offseason for his NCAA Divison II basketball program, he returned to his roots and guys he thinks will identify with them. He’d recruited locals from the Capital Region to Austin, Texas, bringing in Niskayuna 2021 graduate Nick Benton as a freshman before transferring to Saint Anselm in ‘22.

Two more are slated to join the Hilltoppers from Cook’s old neck of the woods—former Siena College guard Mason Courtney and Saint Rose guard Latiek Briscoe.

“It’s hard, when you’re 18, 19, or 20, to come 1,800 miles away from the Capital Region. So, when we bring kids down here, we say, ‘Hey, there’s that part of- you can come into my office, and you can talk about home and I know what you’re talking about,’” Cook said. “They can come in my office, we can close the door and it’s like we can almost reminisce and talk about the ‘518’ and it feels like we’re home for a minute. Part of that, I think, brings a comfortability with some of the players that we get.”

Cook’s Hilltoppers are coming off tying their best season since 2019-20, going 21-11 across the 2023-24 campaign, with a 14-7 record in Lone Star Conference play. Courtney and Briscoe saw quite the opposite years on their respective teams, as the Golden Knights (D II) and Saints (D I) went a combined 15-46 this past season.

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“Latiek and Mason, besides going to school five miles apart, things didn’t go perfectly right. This is a second chance, a breath of fresh air and I’m all for it. I look forward to getting it more,” Cook said.

“‘18-19, ‘19-20, we won 57 games. We just, since COVID, haven’t gotten that back,” he continued. “21 wins last year, 21 wins the year before, 17-12 the year before; I don’t know how many games we played in COVID (20) but we got to the championship that year. In the last few (years), we are good, just not good enough. A lot of teams would be happy with 59 wins in the last three years. We’re not going to give them back, but we need to get back into the NCAA Tournament and I’m hoping that these two guys that we’re talking about can help us do that.”

Courtney is set to be a junior at St. Edward’s along his second collegiate stop since graduating from Shenendehowa High School in 2021, where he played under friends of Cook’s – Paul Yattaw and Tony Dzikas.

In his freshman year at Siena, Courtney appeared in five games, logging 14 total minutes and zero points. As a sophomore, this past season, Courtney was thrust into a much larger role for a younger Saints team, which on top of some inexperience was also marred by nagging injuries throughout the season.

The local guard however made good use of his opportunity, finishing as only one of three Siena players to play in all 32 games, finishing fifth on the team in points-per-game (6.1), and second in total assists (63). However, the production came during a program-worst year for Siena, finishing 4-28 overall after another, conference tournament first-round elimination.

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Siena head coach and fellow Shenendehowa alum Carmen Maciairiello, who recruited Courtney from his alma mater, was fired at the end of the 2023 season.

“When I’m home from our games, I’d have the (Siena) games on sometimes in the background while I’m getting organized, or I’d sit down and watch some of it. They had a tough year. Obviously, a lot going on with injuries, not winning, a coaching change,” Cook said. “Mason Courtney, every time I watched them play on those Sundays, I noticed the kid was playing hard, he clearly had to play out of position and he was clearly trying to do everything he could, in a tough situation.

“I’m watching him get guys together in the huddle, dive on the floor, try to bring the ball up against pressure, and I just had an appreciation. He, to me, stood out in a tough situation,” Cook added.

After learning the junior’s ‘main thing’ was becoming an orthopedic surgeon, stemming from some in-person meetings and over-the-phone conversations with Courtney and his former coaches. Cook was sold.

In Cook’s eyes, the ending at Siena showed him more about Courtney’s character than the play style.

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“He’s hardened. You’re a local kid, whose parents are Siena alums, and you heard a lot of venom all last year. In year one, I don’t know if he made a shot. In year two – and we’re all on some sort of social media and the things that people said about this kid were not nice – and he just played. He just kept trying to figure out if he could just help his team get a win,” Cook said. “I think Mason would tell you himself that two years ago, he wouldn’t be ready to leave his family to come to Texas. I think that experience at Siena was real life and eye-opening.

“Firings, new team, losing, being booed, people on you on social media that hide behind a fake name and say mean stuff, that toughens you up and allows you to say- ‘I’m gonna come 1,800 miles and blaze a new path,’” he said.

Briscoe is no stranger to playing through and around adversity either, as coming into the 2023-24 campaign, he and the rest of the student-athletes at Saint Rose were informed that the school was closing at the end of that academic year.

On top of the initial uncertainty about his future, Briscoe going down to injury seven games into his sophomore season couldn’t have helped alleviate the pressure.

“His situation was tough and he is mature beyond his years,” Cook said, “and he’s a good player that I hope is a guy that can go get us a bucket. I want good guys that can play in a system, score, and shoot, and my hope with Latiek is that he can go get a bucket for us and add all sorts of value to the locker room.”

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Briscoe played in 32 total games across his two years at Saint Rose, starting in 26 and averaging 10.3 points per game, on 42% shooting.

Again, Cook put feelers to the ‘518’ for research and recommendations of his new, potential guard, this time, going to Golden Knights’ coach Brian Beaury, who he called an ‘Albany institution,’ in basketball. However, the glowing impression that led Briscoe to St. Edward’s didn’t merely come from his old coach. Briscoe had to do some of the leg work himself.

“(Beaury) described a few of his players that he felt would be good for us. The one I kept coming back to, in terms of toughness, leadership, work ethic, and a wantingness to win, was Latiek,” Cook recalled. “Then I started talking to Latiek. This kid is from New York City, he had to earn everything, got told his school was closing, and he was the real deal of toughness. I talked to him and I looked down at the phone and said, ‘Man, we’ve just been talking for 45 minutes, just about life, his Mom, New York City and Saint Rose, and his injury.’

“His generation is not one to talk on the phone a lot. They don’t have long conversations. It’s just the way it is…Latiek is just kind of old school. His conversing and ringing you up not just to talk about basketball, but about life, family, goals, and what he wants to get out of this, just really struck me as, ‘Wow, I want to be around this kid,’” Cook continued. “Brian’s eyes say he can play. My eyes say he can play. Now, he was coming like this over phone conversations? I think Latiek and I are going to have a long relationship.”

But, as Cook’s coaching career nears the three-decade mark since starting at Hudson Falls High School in ’96, his future isn’t easily forgotten. With more than 400 wins across all levels of coaching and a winning percentage of .641, it’s hard to imagine the Watervliet native not being a hot commodity in major, Divison I programs.

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Cook has seen it firsthand, both for himself and other, mid-major and Divison II coaches making the step up. Still, the local wants to keep the ‘main thing’ the ‘main thing.’

“Guys are getting opportunities and that can only help others and with someone A.D. (athletic director) maybe taking a shot. But, as you get older, and you look at your family, everybody is happy,” Cook said. “My wife has a great job, my daughter loves her college, my son is at the high school he wants to be at and everybody’s happy. Do I, at this point in our lives, try to do something and try to take a chance and disrupt everyone else’s happiness? I’m not sure.”

“If we keep winning, hopefully winning at a high level, maybe some things open up. If not, I’m living where it’s 90 degrees outside, I can hear the birds chirping and life is good. I’m on my time,” Cook added.



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Austin, TX

Dayglow plans three back-to-back hometown shows in Austin on new tour

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Dayglow plans three back-to-back hometown shows in Austin on new tour


Austin’s Moody Center has positioned itself as the next big thing in arena entertainment — not just in Austin, but in the country. In 2022, it was the highest-grossing arena of its size, according to Billboard; In 2023, the Academy of Country Music named it the Arena of the Year; In 2024, it is Pollstar Arena of the Year. It’s adding another feather to its cap with the arrival of one of the world’s biggest esports event next summer.

Moody Center is hosting Blast.tv Counter-Strike Major 2025 next June. The event is predicted to bring in $40 million, with 50,000 fans expected to attend. Players on teams and participating individually will competing for a $125 million prize pool. This event is the first Counter-Strike Major in seven years, since it was held in Boston.

Although esports — competitive video game-playing, with in-person and streaming audiences depending on the event — are still a relatively niche event category, they are on the rise and represent huge opportunities for catching audience attention. Fans are expected to tune into Counter-Strike 2025 from more than 150 territories, watching in 28 languages.

Even if players are not “athletes” in the traditional sense, they work with complex strategy, quick reaction times, and even physical discipline — how long can the average person sit and focus completely? Austin, famously an F1 city, seems to be getting deeper into fringe kinds of athleticism.

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The relatively new Moody Center, opened in April 2022, is still light on popular traditional sports. The calendar does have some interesting departures from the football-basketball-soccer-hockey norm, like bull riding and WWE wrestling.

“We are incredibly excited to bring the BLAST.tv Major to Austin, Texas,” said Blast CEO Robbie Douek in a press release. “The city’s dynamic atmosphere, the cutting-edge Moody Center, and track record of hosting world-leading events provide the perfect setting for what promises to be an unforgettable event. We look forward to showcasing the best of esports to a global audience and making a positive impact on the local community.”

Austin’s prevalence as a growing tech city also makes it an ideal place to show off the event’s tech capabilities, or even just appeal to tech-informed people who are likely to be interested in gaming.

“Austin is the perfect place to showcase the esports industry and the technology at the heart of the competition,” said Mayor Kirk Watson in the release. “We look forward to welcoming teams and fans from all across the globe to Austin.”

The release also shared a quote from Drew Hays, executive director at the Austin Sports Commission, although it did not name the commission’s involvement in bringing the event to fruition: “We’re excited to host Blast.tv Austin Major, Austin’s first arena-based esports competition, which we estimate will bring 10,000+ fans to Moody Center each day. For our city to have such a thriving technology sector and avid esports fanbase, an event like this is long overdue and we’re looking forward to an exciting competition next June.”

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More information about the Blast.tv Austin Major, including tickets and dates updates, will be available over time at blast.tv.



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Austin, TX

Austin man wins U.S. Supreme Court case on bump stocks

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Austin man wins U.S. Supreme Court case on bump stocks


The U.S. Supreme Court lifted the ban on bump stocks following a case filed by an Austin man.

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“It’s amazing to have a case that actually makes it all the way up to the highest court of the land with your name on it, and to come out on top and actually win,” said Michael Cargill, owner of Central Texas Gun Works.

MORE: Austin gun store owner fights Supreme Court over bump stocks

Cargill filed this case after a ban on bump stocks was put in place. A bump stock is a gun accessory that was banned as a result of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. The shooter used the attachment, firing more than 1,000 rounds into the crowd in 11 minutes, killing 60 people.

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Cargill made it clear he was sympathetic. However, he says he filed the case after feeling the ban did not follow federal law.

MORE: Supreme Court strikes down Trump-era ban on bump stocks

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“My hearts and prayers go out to all the people that lost their lives in Las Vegas, but this is not about that. This is about the fact that, you know, an agency within the federal government, if you want to ban something, didn’t do it the right way,” he said.

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Five years of fighting later, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the ban by a vote of 6 to 3. 

“We know how a bill becomes law. Someone writes a bill; it goes to both houses of Congress, they pass it, the president, you know, signs it and it becomes law. If you want something to become law, you want to change the wording of something, then do it the right way,” he said.

Cargill says he hopes this prevents or deters anything similar from happening again.

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