Austin-Bergstrom International Airport

Kid Band Week at Austin Airport

Airports, Entertainment, Music, ,

In Austin, the self-proclaimed live music capital of the world, you can’t spit without hitting a Grammy winner.

So it makes sense that even the kids in town make music you’d like to hear.

That’s the idea behind Kid Band Week, underway now at Austin Bergstrom International Airport.

On Wednesday, July 20th, check out blues rock guitarist Carson Brock, who’s been playing since he was four.

On Thursday, July 21st, The Aviators make a return visit to the airport. The rock group, which had its first gig at the airport during Kid Bank Week 2008, is made up of six students, ages 11 to 16 from the Natural Ear Music School.

And on Friday, July 22 the Rian C band takes the stage. Fifteen year old Rian Castillo plays guitar, piano, and lead vocals with his twin Riley on drums, and 13 year old Brandon Vizcarra on bass guitar. The group plays a variety of country, rock, Spanish and alternative music.

All shows take place from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the post-security performance stage located near Gate 10 in Ray Benson’s Roadhouse.

Free wifi -finally- at Austin Bergstrom International Airport

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Back in 2000, Austin was a very high-tech place and the Austin Bergstrom International Airport was perhaps the first airport to have Wi-Fi available in the terminal.

The service wasn’t free, but least it was there.

Free Wi-FI at airport

Now, of course, pretty much every airport is wired and, increasingly, the service is offered for free.

For some reason, Austin’s airport has been a free Wi-Fi holdout.

Not anymore: the Austin airport has worked out a deal with Boingo Wireless to offer complimentary Wi-Fi service. But it’s a hybrid system:

Travelers will only get one complimentary Wi-Fi session each 24 hours, so if you’re doing more than just sending a quick email, you’ll have to pony up and pay for additional, more robust, service.

There are however, some free internet access kiosks at Gates 5, 8, 11, 15, 21 and in baggage claim.

Paid options include: $4.95 for one hour, $7.95 for a day pass, or $9.95 for a month of unlimited access at all of Boingo’s North and South America hotspot locations. If you’re working on an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, you can buy one-hour Boingo credits for $1.99 at the iTunes Store.

And if you do find yourself stuck at Austin-Bergstrom Airport, there are plenty of reasons not to spend all your time on the computer.

Austin’s airport has a great deal of art and an ambitious Music in the Air concert series that includes close to a dozen live in-terminal concerts a week.

 

SXSW at Austin-Bergstrom Int’l Airport

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The SXSW music and film extravaganza is taking place all over Austin right now – and that includes out at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

The airport’s regular live music series takes place on a center stage (Ray Benson’s Roadhouse) and four other venues inside the terminal: The Saxon, Lefty’s, Earl Campbell’s Sports Bar and Austin City Limits/Waterloo Records & Video. Usually there are 13 shows a week, but through March 21, in honor of SXSW, the schedule expands to a total of 23 performances.

All free. All great. And all post-security.

Here’s a link to the full schedule of SXSW performances at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, including the final SXSW-related event, which will take place Monday, March 21 with Austin Jazz original Elias Haslanger (1-3 p.m) and Ty Mayfield (3:30-5:30 p.m).

Enjoy!

Airports – and an airline – celebrate Valentine’s Day

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If you find yourself at an airport on Valentine’s Day, buy yourself and your sweetie some chocolate. And some flowers.

On Monday, these airports are among those that will be offering a little extra love:

The Food & Shops in the Central Terminal Building at New York’s LaGuardia Airport will be handing out free chocolate kisses.

Volunteers at Florida’s Jacksonville International Airport will be handing out carnations;

At Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Amy’s Ice-Cream has a pop-up kiosk in the baggage claim area selling chocolate-covered strawberries (2/12 -2/14);

And passengers on Southwest Airlines can celebrate the day with a complimentary adult beverage on all flights.

Chinese New Year at Austin-Bergstrom and Changi airports

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Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is celebrating the Chinese New Year with live performances ranging from ancient to Pop Chinese music styles. Local Asian musicians will perform on the airport’s main stage between 11 a.m. and noon on Thursday, February 3, 2011.

Singapore’s Changi airport is also celebrating the Chinese New Year with free samples of ting tang and dragon beard candy, opera mask paining, Chinese paper cutting, New Year fortune-telling and New Year decorations that include pussy willows, pots of tangerines, cherry blossoms, gold bunny sculptures and giant bunny topiaries.

Changi Airport golden bunnies