In late 2009, while doing an interview for a still-in-progress book on Austin's live music scene, I was able to sit down with Brent Grulke, the late creative director and co-founder of the uber-influential South by Southwest Festival. The interview included story after story about what life was like in...

I've caught the holiday spirit, and I'm guessing by now you have as well. That's a good thing because the holiday spirit often means a spirit of giving. Giving gifts is a nice thing whether large or small, costly or inexpensive, of the heart or of the mind. One of...

December is here, which means it's about time for everything from Hanukkah to college football's Heisman Trophy winner to be honored. It also means it's time to remember the year past before we take on the next one, especially if we plan to leave those outdated styles and trends behind.

"Austin has the Texas influence, the food, the culture, but it also beats to its own drum in a great way," said CFDA-award-winning designer Billy Reid. "Austin is a very happy place with a lot of happy people who want to live there and love it. There are...

New York Fashion Week wrapped just weeks ago, and the fashion industry's top 1 percent have already turned their attention to some of the most expensive and luxurious cities in Europe. Meanwhile, most Americans have a different focus with a presidential election just weeks away and school now in session...

My experience at Wanderlust, the yoga and music festival, which took place in late July near Lake Tahoe, was unlike any other I've had in my travels over the past few years. Let me put that into some context.

In the past year, I've visited seven countries and nearly 45...

In case you missed this year's Summer X Games in Los Angeles, here's the short rundown: snowboard-skate star Shaun White didn't compete, moto-turned-rallycar favorite Travis Pastrana didn't win, Jamie Bestwick six-peated with gold in BMX vert, Paul Rodriguez won his fourth gold medal in skate street and Ronnie Renner set...

If you missed Part I, make sure to read it here first. To read the post below first, would be like experiencing Labor Day weekend before you've done the Fourth of July.

Now that the NBA season is complete, we can move onto bigger and better things. Like travel shopping.

I've never added it all up, but I'm 100 percent certain that the number one thing I've spent my time and money on in the last five years is traveling and shopping....

At the start of the year, I offered up a men's style guide on my personal blog. After dozens if not hundreds of conversations giving pointers to friends and co-workers (many of whom are highly-paid lawyers, engineers, CEOs, etc.) about not only what to wear but how to...

Last month in Austin, Texas, music and style collided like never before to make this year's South by Southwest Music Festival the epicenter of cool. The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, and his rolled up sleeves graced two stages -- one as SXSW's keynote speaker another as its marquee performer.

I've read biographies about great American leaders since my early childhood. I can still fondly recall things I learned about Ben Franklin, Teddy Roosevelt, MLK and other icons of leadership. The quality that stands out the most is that they all led by doing, and doing first more often than...

I spent the last week of 2011 and first week of 2012 in Japan traveling between Nagano, Kyoto and Tokyo employing roughly one-fifth of my college education, a minor in Japanese, as best I could.

In between snowboarding in Nagano, seeing temples and shrines in Kyoto and riding trains...

It's not just Santa coming to town, but an epic transformation in commerce. The holiday season gives us a glimpse into the future of shopping behavior, and we're not too far from online shopping becoming the modus operandi of American consumers. Strip malls may never be the same.

According to...

After back-to-back years attending Coachella, it was plain for me to see that festival fashion was at a premium in the California desert every April. But where can a style-savvy festival fan go to get their fix the rest of the year? Here's a hint: book a flight to Austin...

Americans and Aussies alike should make room in their closets for some European style. Allsaints, ASOS.com, Topshop and Zara are sending shipments across the Atlantic and down under with a great sense of urgency sure to impact your wallet.

"European brands invented high street fashion," said Ari Goldberg, CEO of...

When GQ recently published its list of the "40 Worst Dressed Cities in America" naming cities from Manhattan (#5) to Portland (#36), I wasn't sure what I should be upset by the most. Austin, the city I live in, was 18th, just ahead of (or was it just behind?) Jersey...

They all say no... until they say yes.

This line has resonated for years with former high school nerds -- I'd count myself as one -- who were once passed over for the jocks, until those jocks failed to make the NFL and we, their nerdy counterparts, graduated from college...

There's a sentiment on the fringes of the fashion industry that is picking up steam and now fully seeping into the industry's most coveted position: the inside.

The sentiment I speak of is that big city fashion weeks and major trade shows are not what they once were. It's...

It's Memorial Day Weekend, which means two things: it's the beginning of summer travel season, and it's time to get some travel shopping in, too.

Summer vacations usually involve going to warm places with beaches; Miami and L.A. are two of the cities I'm likely headed this summer. Others...