The best reason to see Robbie Taylor at any or all of his three shows this week is that in 1982, he serenaded me with Buddy Holly songs while standing in the middle of a deserted Hill Country road at 5am outside Junction.

OK, that story isn’t so compelling but I left out a LOT of damning details and Taylor really is something to watch. The Louisiana native is based in Lafayette (where, between him and C.C. Adcock, they must drive the law and women crazy), but in the Eighties he did his time around Austin. Often, he worked as a waiter at places like Xalapeno Charlie’s and was known for his whip-smart sense of humor and a wicked ability to mimic accents. Somewhere along the way, he migrated back to Louisiana and turned into a world-class singer-songwriter.

His is a folksy kind of set, ripe with the kind of humor that makes you wonder if Mark Twain is in his gene pool. Taylor’s forte is roots twang, incorporating big, influential doses of Johnny Cash country, Elvis rockabilly, and, naturally, Buddy Holly rock. If you didn’t recognize the covers as they came along, you’d think them part of his classic-sounding originals, which you can hear here.

This year Taylor is celebrating his 50th birthday with a one-city tour. That means he’s taking time from his regularly appointed duties leading guided fishing tours from his pirate camp off the southern tip of Bayou Lafourche, not far from the notorious Redneck Rivera of Grand Isle, for this little jaunt that includes a solo happy hour show at Patsy’s Thursday and the industrial strength version with his monster band the Roebucks Friday. Robbie & the Roebucks greet the midnight hour at Ego’s Saturday.

If we’re lucky, someone will hand him an apron and some cornmeal because he does fry up the best dang catfish around. Then you can ask him about that moonlit night in the Hill Country.

Da-nah-nuh-nah-nuh-nah-nuh-nah-nuh!
Da-nah-nuh-nah-nuh-nah-nuh-nah-nuh!
BATPAC!

The somewhat dubiously dubbed BATPAC, or Better Austin Today political action committee makes their inaugural appearance today at City Hall. Says their press release, the BATPAC is "a broad coalition comprised of city leaders from neighborhood, environment, social equity, small/local business, social services, civil liberties, and various others." It's truly a who's who of progressive, riled up Austin: love 'ems or hate 'ems from Responsible Growth for Northcross, the Austin Neighborhoods Council, the ACLU, SOS, the Gray Panthers, Stop Domain Subsidies, and parts elsewhere. Not to mix our nerd metaphors here, but essentially, the BATPAC fancies themselves one ring to rule them all, all being Liberal Austin.

Yours truly is entirely receptive to their message that City Council needs to listen more to the people of Austin and less to lobbyists, developers and corporate interests. But I'm also mildly unnerved by the will to power here, to what end this progressive sphere (including the Domain zealots) will be used, to further whose interests. I'll leave it to the commenters – I'm looking at you, Seriously, and A CONCERNED CITIZEN – to further hash that out.

The press conference is noon today, in City Hall's media room.

As part of the ongoing Utter Reading Series, local acting dynamo Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (you'll recognize her as Tyra's mom from Friday Night Lights) will be directing her Austin School of Film Advanced Acting students Tuesday night as they perform from local scripts once in development that had to hit the brakes when that pesky writers' strike hit. It's a swell lineup, one this Michener Center alum knows well – UT professors Alex Smith (The Slaughter Rule) and Stephen Harrigan (King of Texas) and recent Michener Center grads (and personal drinking buddies), writing team Lee Shipman and Diego McGreevy. The show – called Film Writers Strike Again! – starts at 7pm, Jan. 8, at BookPeople. Get out and support the cause of good writing.

Bad things come in threes: After a pair of fires at its former Downtown location – the second razing its entire building – a third fire strikes KOOP Radio at its new location on Airport Boulevard.

Our best wishes to the embattled station.

This month, Capital Metro discontinued their free bus schedules, instead offering their Destinations schedule book "for a nominal fee" of $1. Here's some fun facts about the new format:

- Cap Metro accountants originally proposed doubling the former schedule price; took them weeks to understand why it didn't generate additional revenue

- Cover story a profile of young bus rider loudly rapping along to Lil Wayne on his CD player, including all the f-words and n-bombs

- Bus times reconfigured to transparently appeal to suburban voters and neglect inner-city riders

- Centerfold nothing but curses and epithets directed at Ben Wear

- Contains special edition scratch-and-sniff page replicating the distinct aromas of the #1M, #15, and #339 buses

- Cap Metro chair Lee Walker's editorial explaining the necessity of this cost-cutting decision written in gold-flake on ancient papyrus, while vacationing at his historic Italian villa

- Just like the chintzy squeeze they tried putting on their workforce, surely this will help solve the budget crunch at Cap Metro

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who is stepping down from his position after 30 years on the job, is holding a joint press conference with First Assistant DA Rosemary Lehmberg this morning on the plaza of the Blackman/Thurman Criminal Justice Center. Hmmm, why would they do that? Well, it's not much of a head-scratcher: Earle is probably announcing his endorsement of Lehmberg in the March Democratic primary, where his successor will be determined (no Republican filed for the job).

That could be bad news for other contenders for the job: Other Earle employees – assistant district attorneys Rick Reed and Mindy Montford and former assistant DA Gary Cobbhave also filed for the election.

Earle and Lehmberg aren't completely in sync, however – Lehmberg's campaign has announced a 10:00am start time for the press conference; Earle's office announced 10:30am.

Check back with Newsdesk later today for updates.

Quick little UT flashback: You surely remember the great white hype, one Mr. Chris Mihm. Known more for swatting the ball out of the Erwin Center (psst … he leads UT in every blocked-shot category there is: game, season, career, average, Big 12. What have you done lately?), but don’t forget he is 13th all time on the Longhorn scorers list with 1,404 total points. Well if you love Longhorn hard-court action, then check out your alum here with the Lakers:

Bad news for green voters: the executive committee of the Green Party of Texas has decided not to petition for ballot access in the primaries or the general election. This means that candidates who thought they would be part of a party slate, including presidential hopefuls at the top of the ballot, now have to face a tough decision: give up, or go on as an independent.

Apparently, the party had failed to reach its targets for signatures and fund-raising this time around, so it's deferring and will try again in 2010 instead. However, Travis County Green Party Chairperson Bill Holloway said that party members who had intended to run under the party banner – and are now independents – can call themselves Greens.

UPDATE: Whoops, our bad – that's just the Travis County Green Party, not the statewide party. This just affects party candidates in county-level races: the Green Party of Texas made its filing for state-wide ballot access on Dec. 7. Our apologies for the mistake and any confusion.

FURTHER UPDATE: Hmm, less whoops, less our bad. Even some candidates seem confused, but according to Green Party of Texas chair Doug Reber, the state party has filed for ballot access, but won't find out until later in the year whether they're getting it or not: they may not know until their convention in June, because they may still be waiting on the secretary of state to verify their petition signatures. To avoid a situation like 2006, he said, when candidates were left off because they didn't get access, the latest crop of Greens were given the option: go independent (and guarantee a slot), or stay on the party list, in the hopes there's a party slate to be on. The list of those that remain can be found here.

Get your "Joe Is Gonna Kill You!" chants ready, because TNA Wrestling is coming to Texas next week. The No. 2 U.S. wrestling promotion will be doing house shows at the Bell County Center in Belton (January 9), Travis County Expo Center in Austin (January 10), and the House Of Blues in Dallas (January 11).

Many pro wrestling fans bait TNA for their bad habit of hiring former WWE and WCW burnouts (Kurt Angle), has-beens (Scott Hall), and no-selling hosses (Kevin Nash). But they cost pay-per-view money, so the touring roster is lean and brutal. However, it's not free of main-event talent, as Houston's own Booker T goes toe-to-toe with "the Instant Classic" Christian Cage.