Back to school: it’s not just kids returning to campus, but armed employees. We’ll take you behind the scenes of the effort to train and arm in-school defenders against future shootings. Also, talking machines: San Antonio researchers using machine learning to help Texans who stutter. And an historic road trip with the Green Book as a guide. Texas monthly’s barbecue editor on the search for cue in the Jim Crow south. Also the cub reporter in Houston who saved lives during a hurricane by changing how we see those storms on TV. Heard of him? All those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
Archives for August 2018
Rosie Flores: “Drive Drive Drive”
RAS Day. Sweet Spirit Day. When the City of Austin names a day in honor of specific musicians, you know they’re a treasured part of the local community. There’s no exception with San Antonio native and current Austin resident Rosie Flores, whose career has spanned over four decades. Flores has covered a ton of sonic ground over the years, getting knee deep in punk before shifting to alt-country, rockabilly and beyond. Suspiciously missing from that list is blues, the target of her upcoming and appropriately-titled album Simple Case of the Blues. Co-produced by Charlie Sexton and recorded in Nashville, Flores has never sounded quite like this on record.
Friday, August 31st AKA Rosie Flores Day is going to be extra special in its twelfth year; Flores continues her ongoing weekly residency (alongside her eight-piece band The Rosie Flores Revue) at C-Boy’s Heart & Soul with a release show for a new single. This show (like the remaining Rosie residency shows) kicks off at 6:30pm and now you can get a head start on the album AND the weekend with “Drive Drive Drive”.
Texas Standard: August 15, 2018
Nebraska uses opioids to execute a condemned killer. We’ll take a look at what this might mean in America’s most active death penalty state. Also, a deadly bridge collapse in Italy and a stark reminder about infrastructure warnings closer to home. What’s being done? What’s the state of overpasses in Texas? You might be surprised by the answer. And much of rural Texas may be a book desert, but relief may be coming soon. Plus no fiery hail or frogs from the sky but crickets landing in biblical proportions in East Texas? We’ll hear what’s happening and why. And where’s Kinky? The return of the Texas offender and sometime gubernatorial candidate. Those stories and a whole lot more on today’s Texas Standard:
Nakia: “Hoodoo Party”
Seven years in the making, local blues bruiser Nakia has rejoined his faithful band for an exploration of his favorite genre! It’s been awhile since Nakia was featured on The Voice and only a couple years since his Blues Grifters blew us away with their cover of The Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post”.
With his upcoming album, Nakia has doubled down on his backing band, paying tribute not only to the music that inspires him the most but indeed the band itself. The cover album Blues Grifter certainly takes what others have done well before him, but not without Nakia adding his distinct flair and making it his own. It’s been an exciting time for Nakia; he joined us for a My KUTX session last week, he’s putting on an in-store performance at Waterloo Records this Friday at 5PM and his official release show is 8PM this Saturday at Saxon Pub! Let’s get the party started right now with a bonus track covering Tabby Thomas – “Hoodoo Party”!
This Song: Tegan and Sara Rerun
Tegan and Sara give insight into twin sister dynamic, The Smashing Pumpkins‘ Siamese Dream, Phil Collins melodies, teenage bedrooms, finding self-identity, how to be the change and (for all of you songwriters) the secret to writing a hit pop song.
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Texas Standard: August 14, 2018
As members of the senate return to Washington, one issue in particular is set for the spotlight, again. The issue of the Border Wall never really went away. But now demands from the President, and a separate issue congress has kicked the can on, appear to be coming together, we’ll explain. And pilots in training report problems with their planes but the Air Force doesn’t want to talk about it. What’s really happening in the skies over Texas? Plus kids return to classes in San Antonio but who’s really playing the teachers salaries? At one community school, a controversy. And are you ready for a visit to the man camps? Those stories and a whole lot more on today’s Texas Standard:
Gina Chavez: “Lightbeam” [PREMIERE]
The name “Gina Chavez” is already familiar to many KUTX listeners. Chavez’s bilingual folk pop has enchanted audiences for years now, but she’s recently taken an affinity for modern-day R&B, (not unlike her fellow Texas troubadour Leon Bridges). In pursuit of the new sound, this auspicious Austin songwriter has just announced her new album Lightbeam – due for release Friday September 14th!
Lightbeam serves as an ode to Chavez’s wife and a love letter to folks who need to crawl out of the shadows and shine in life. Chavez celebrates the release of Lightbeam at Antone’s September 15th for the Seventh Annual Niñas Arriba Benefit. Okay, enough dilly-dallyin’. Let’s scope some new Gina Chavez with a premiere of the title track from her upcoming five-song EP, “Lightbeam”.
Texas Standard: August 13, 2018
Reformers used to talk about boosting the three r’s. This week the letters that could matter more for schools statewide: the letters A thru F. With 1100 Texas schools getting their first A thru F style report cards, who’s doing the grading, and is anyone getting extra credit? We’ll take a look. Also a pilot shortage and how the lone star state might help plug it. And breathing deeply: Texas-sized effort to battle asthma. Plus the return of the empress of gulf coast soul: Beaumont’s Barbara Lynn back in the spotlight. All that and a whole lot more on today’s Texas Standard:
in/PLANES: “Say You Want Me Too”
Marrying bass and guitar, American roots and vintage pop, and most notably husband and wife, in/PLANES is a beacon of musical matrimony. This Pueblo, Colorado duo create sparse but infectious compositions and evoke iconic songwriters of previous decades for an aural experience that sounds just as old as it does new.
in/PLANES continues their End of Summer Tour this Thursday at the Cactus Cafe with Longriver. No need to feel like a third wheel when listening to this married couple; check out something from in/PLANES’ latest record Radio Wave – “Say You Want Me Too”.
Best Of “Higher Ed:” Who’s Really In Control Of Learning
This episode was originally posted on Feb 4, 2018.
A lot of people have input when it comes to formal education: teachers, students, administrators, staff and parents for starters. In this episode of KUT’s podcast Higher Ed, KUT’s Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger discuss who out of all those groups, though, is actually in control of the quality of the education provided.
Ed and Jennifer examine who does – and who actually should – take responsibility for education when there are so many cooks in the kitchen. They also discuss the critical role students play in owning their own educational experiences and the value of giving them autonomy (at least at a certain point in their formal education) to make choices for better or for worse.
It’s also time for the solution to the “random walk” puzzler. It turns out that it’s anything but random.
This episode was recorded Nov. 7, 2017.
Dr. Leonard N. Moore, PhD. (Ep. 36, 2018)
In Black America producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. discusses the importance of diversifying education with Dr. Leonard N. Moore, PhD., Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement and professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin.
Life On Mars
Recent discoveries — and ongoing drought — inspired this Typewriter Rodeo poem.
Texas Standard: August 10, 2018
Is it possible to prevent another Sutherland Springs? The military sure hopes so, that’s one reason it’s changing the way it reports domestic violence, we’ll have the story. Plus, there’s more political races to keep an eye on than the O’Rourke / Cruz one. But don’t fret, we’ll tell you which. And has the Rio Grande Valley perfected the formula that leads to academic success? Results from the last few years are hinting yes. And all the reasons why Texas is soon to be home to America’s largest cricket stadium, of course it’s a story about changing demographics. Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard:
Rejoicer: “Purple T-Shirts” featuring MNDSGN
When you chop up breakbeats, jazz rhythms, funk and hip hop all together into one sound, you know heads will bob. Enter Tel Aviv producer Yuvi Havkin, AKA Rejoicer. As a key figure in Israel’s modern beat movement, Rejoicer puts equal stock into electronic instrumentation and jazz improvisation, and finds a narrative middle ground between visual and sonic storytelling.
At the end of the month, Rejoicer puts out his new album Energy Dreams, a record that explores the connection between asleep and awake mental states and just how malleable time really is. Yesterday Rejoicer shared a new animated music video (one of many for Energy Dreams) for a single featuring fellow Stones Thrower MNDSGN – “Purple T-Shirts”.
KUT Weekend – August 10, 2018
Travis County to get an electronic voting system with a paper trail. Plus, the diversity training the mayor wants all of Austin to attend. And how Beto O’Rouke might help Texas Democrats even if he loses his bid to oust Sen. Ted Cruz. Those stories and more in this edition of KUT Weekend!
Subscribe at https://weekend.kut.org
Belief Revision
Say a store you love changes hands and you aren’t too fond of the new place. So why do you continue to go back to the store when you know it’s not the same?
Turns out a lot of psychology goes into the decision-making process around this dilemma.
On this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about belief revision, exploitation vs. exploration, and switching costs.
Texas Standard: August 9, 2018
Two very different rulings on two very similar cases. What it means when the 5th and the 9th circuit court’s disagree? We’ll explore. Plus Mexico’s president elect receives his certificate of ratification: The electoral commission says yes, you are the winner. We’ll explore the implications. And fever ticks can kill cattle but regulations on treating fever ticks? Those cause headaches and other complications. We’ll tell you more. And are you dreaming about space and looking for ways to get there? We’ll take a look at a summer camp helping kids get closer to their dreams. And another one of those too good to be true stories, are we talking about Movie Pass? Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard.
The Beths: “Happy Unhappy”
What happens when you combine four jazz school graduates, ’60s pop vocal harmonies and ’90s alternative rock? You get Auckland-based quartet The Beths. Featuring chief songwriter Elizabeth Stokes at the helm, this Kiwi crew delivers with snappy hooks while flipping the script on gender norms with regards to vocal arrangements (lead vs. harmony).
Lyrically sincere but sonically light, The Beths sound like a midway point between Joan Jett, Courtney Barnett and Pavement, and tomorrow you can treat yourself to their first-ever full-length! The ten-track album Future Me Hates Me comes out Friday and right now we challenge you not to smile through one of the record’s singles “Happy Unhappy“!
Texas As A Unit Of Measure
By W. F. Strong
Tom Hanks in the movie “Cast Away” was stranded all alone on a deserted pacific island. He was the lone survivor of a plane crash. The seriousness of his situation sunk in as he did the math in his head. He explained radial geometry to Wilson (his Volleyball friend) as he illustrated their predicament on a stone wall. He concluded, impressively, that since they went 400 miles out of their way to circumvent the storm the search area would be (400 miles squared x pi) 500,000 square miles. And he thought a moment and added, dejectedly, “it’s twice the size of Texas!”
Texas is often used as a unit of measure like that – in movies and in the real world. Exactly 30 years ago this week, Texas Congressman Mickey Leland’s plane disappeared over Ethiopia. It took a week for a massive search to find the crash site. During that week people around the world couldn’t believe that they couldn’t find the plane, despite dozens of aircraft looking for it. A frustrated Search Commander explained to the media, “We are looking for a needle in a haystack. The haystack is half the size of Texas.”
More recently many a news report warned about the growing environmental disaster of a floating island of plastic trash out in the Pacific, which is twice the size of Texas. And this is not just for U.S. consumption. Worldwide it seems to be a comparison that provides clarity for people because most people around the world know at least one thing about Texas – it’s BIG.
Even Alaska uses Texas to explain its size. “We’re more than twice the size of Texas,” they say. Of course one of those Texases is mostly snow and ice. Just kidding Alaska. As far as states go, we’re brothers. BFFs.
People have a good deal of fun on the Internet laying Texas over other countries and regions of the world. It’s bigger than Spain, bigger than France, bigger than Germany, twice the size of England and bigger than Japan.
Texas was even used as a unit of measure in relation to Pluto. When Pluto was kicked out of the Solar System (as a planet anyway) and demoted to a dwarf planet, there were people who said, as justification, “It’s smaller than Texas!” That was truly an exaggeration. As the Austin American-Statesman pointed out in 2015, Pluto is has almost twice the diameter of Texas, if you use the state’s widest point, which is north to south, and Pluto is 24 times larger than Texas by land area. Still, interesting that was used as a unit of measure even way there in space, or 4.6 billion Texases away.
Even we Texans like to use Texas distances to illustrate things and amuse ourselves. We enjoy noting that El Paso is closer to the Pacific Ocean beaches of San Diego than it is to Beaumont. Brownsville is closer to Mexico City than it is to Dallas. Reminds me that a friend from Chicago once had a conference in El Paso to attend. He decided to take that chance to get a good look at Texas. He flew into Dallas, rented a car and enthusiastically started driving to El Paso. He said I knew it would be long drive,” but after driving about 3 hours I got to Abilene and was immediately depressed by the sign I saw there: El Paso 444 miles.”
We Texans know that the first day of a driving vacation to anyplace outside of Texas will be devoted to getting out of Texas. Maybe our version of the Chinese saying should be, “A journey of a 1000 miles begins with a long drive to the border.”
We do have fun finding all the ways that border cities are closer to Chicago or Denver or Nashville than they are to other parts of the state, which is why we measure distance in hours more often than miles. And most Texans think we are closer to heaven than most anywhere else – we’re God’s Country, they say. This time of year, though, it often feels like we are closer to – Well I’m out of time. Gotta run. I’m W.F. Strong and these are stories from Texas. Some of them are true.
CodeNEXT
Join host Rebecca McInroy along with Syeda Hasan of KUT News, Architect David Carroll, Jennifer Todd, Principal Planner with The City of Austin, and Dr. Dean Almy to de-code this controversial plan, talk more about what it means to build a city and find out what CodeNEXT could mean for you.