It’s that familiar time of year again. It’s too hot to think, traffic is crawling, Wal-Mart storerooms are running low and Milledge Avenue is holding its annual sundress fashion show. After another sleepy summer, Athens is once again ready to be invaded.

If you’re new in town, welcome. If you’re returning, welcome back to a changed town, with new hangouts and face-lifted favorites.

Our hope is to fill these pages with everything you need to guide you through the weekend. The same features that have made Out & About a hit are returning – our listings page will guide you through the weekend, and our features will spotlight both local and national standouts active around town and campus. The newly designed “Critic’s Corner” is now the home for our weekly CD and movie reviews, as well as new columns such as “Your New Favorite Band” and our picks for the weekend’s “can’t miss” events.

In a small span of city blocks, Athens boasts a score of bars, a couple dozen music venues, theaters and galleries and more restaurants than most will try in a lifetime. Go outside of those blocks and the numbers fly through the roof. If you can’t find something for you in this town, you’re just not looking hard enough.

That said, someone has to fill these spaces up. Whether you want to be in the spotlight or just be part of the crowd, let us help you find the right place.

This city never sleeps, so get out of your seat and go explore. In short, get out and about.

-Alec Wooden is the Out & About editor at The Red & Black. He can be reached at awooden@randb.com.