If you can drive by, check it out: the “Sam Allred and RCA dog mural” is getting spiffed up. You may recognize the artist, Corn, who is doing the restoration painting.

This is from Wikipedia:

In 1953, RCA’s all electronic color-TV technology was adopted as the standard for American color TV…

To read more about RCA on Wikipedia, click here.

But returning visitors to the Magnolia South (1920 South Congress Ave.) will hopefully notice the spiffing up we’ve done for the event. Though you won’t be back in the kitchen to see the completely refreshed floors and fixtures, you will most certainly notice that the dining room is now a beautiful aqua blue, and that the patio has a computer and beverage station to speed up service for you.

Just as we wiped the dust off our jeans and put the cafe back together again, we were introduced to two young men from Minneapolis, John Grider and Mike Fitzsimmons. Their business is called Broken Crow (http://www.brokencrow.com/about), and they came to Austin searching for large bare walls to paint murals on. Our niche of the neighborhood now has stalking lions, roosters, a giraffe, and birds coming out of an old Victrola.

Last, let me mention that the Magnolia Cafes have been included in the SXSW Eat Well Guide (http://maps.eatwellguide.org/maps/homepage/view/113). Between us and the other fine restaurants in Austin, there’s no need to go home hungry.

Have a great visit to SXSW 2010. Let us know if we can do anything to make it better.

crayon drawing of Sponge Bob

(Click the picture to be taken to the slideshow.)

Again, it’s www.TodayinAustin.com.  We like it.

ACL Music Festival — happens in Sept. every year. www.aclfestival.com