This week on In Black America, producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. presents the conclusion of a conversation with Dr. Aldon D. Morris, the Leon Forrest professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Northwestern University, author of The Scholar Denied: W.E.B. Dubois: The Birth of Modern Sociology, and president-elect of the American Sociological Association.
Archives for November 2019
UTOPIA Fest Saturday
UTOPIA Fest wraps up it’s eleventh year with a bang, naturally, featuring artists that will knock it all out of the park.
Gracing the stages tonight: Shakey Graves, Son Volt, Jackie Venson and Mikaela Davis. The Jon Stickley Trio kicks off the late night party at 1 a.m. , with Shane Cooley and TMG bringing it on home by 4 a.m.
It’s all tonight out at Reveille Peak Ranch, 105 CR 114, in Burnet, TX. Erika Wennerstrom performs at 5 p.m. today, followed by Israel Nash at 5:45 p.m. Do it.
-Image courtesy of UTOPIA Fest.
UTOPIA Fest Friday
Sure, it was a bit dreary and grey yesterday, but today, the weather gods have chosen to smile upon UTOPIA Fest in Burnet, TX. Attendees can revel in the camping, activities and all manner of live music beneath fantastic skies and ideal temps. All good, baby.
Tonight’s performances include The Nth Power, recent Studio 1A guests Toubab Krewe, and Fruition, plus a late night set by The Deer. Tomorrow afternoon, catch sets by Good Field (featured on today’s AMM), Night Glitter, Erika Wennerstrom and Israel Nash.
The place to be is Reveille Peak Ranch, 105 CR 114, (78611). Check it out and live it up.
-Image courtesy of UTOPIA Fest.
KUT Weekend – November 15, 2019
The Austin City Council votes to spend $8 million to buy and revamp a motel to house the homeless. Plus, Austin’s first Latina city council member says she will not seek re-election. And activists knock on doors to rally voters around fixing the state’s high uninsured rate. Those stories and more in this edition of KUT Weekend!
Subscribe at https://weekend.kut.org
Yacht Rock Revue: “Step” (Jamie Lidell Remix)
A dozen years back Atlanta indie rockers Y-O-U played a less-than-serious set of ’70s-’80s lite rock. Well, regardless of whether it’s resurgent or undying, turns out that folks have a sincere love of the soft stuff, and Yacht Rock Revue was born.
Flash forward to 2019, where the seven-piece’s reputation has earned them performances alongside yacht legends, like key members of Player, Toto, Wings, Chicago, and more. But as we enter a new decade, YRR themselves enter another phase. Yacht Rock Revue’s just announced their first LP of original compositions, HOT DADS in TIGHT JEANS, out February 21st, and among it’s ten new tracks, HOT DADS will dock comfortably in retro rock harbor before YRR joins us in May at Emo’s. And to break out the tanning lotion early, enjoy a just-released Jamie Lidell remix of one of the album’s lead singles, “Step”!
Texas Standard: November 15, 2019
A show of resilience in El Paso: for the first time doors re open at the site of the August mass shooting at a WalMart, we’ll have the latest. Also, the Supreme Court hands a rare victory to plaintiffs trying to hold gunmakers liable in mass shooting cases. And how to make democracy better? Smarter ballots. We’ll hear one professor’s big idea. Plus the week that was in Texas politics from the Texas Tribune and a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard:
The New Vocabulary
The impeachment inquiry hearings going on this week have been a reminder that many of us are using different words — including some Latin ones — than we have in the past. That was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.
UTOPIA Fest 2019
That eternal question lingers in the air. Where does the time go? And here is UTOPIA Fest eleven years later, as strong and solid as ever, built by individuals madly in love with the music and, very importantly, the people that bring it to life.
UTOPIA founder Travis Sutherland, along with a mad-talented creative crew consisting of Wayne Dalchau, and Onion Creek Productions badasses Aaron Brown and Jamie Brown, have been to hell and back carefully shaping this family-friendly experience, named in honor of its original location in Utopia, TX. This year’s event is another music festival standout: Attendance is capped at 2,000 to keep things as uncrowded as possible (sounds like heaven to your AMM host, frankly); camping is free of charge; and one is able to see every performing artist without another performance overlapping. The Arrowhead and Cypress stages on site have all been scheduled accordingly, so attendees can see all of the bands.
All of them, without having to choose one over the other, thank you very much.
All the magic happens at Reveille Peak Ranch, 105 CR 114, in Burnet, TX. After kicking things off this afternoon, UTOPIA Fest continues tonight with sets by Sir Woman, Whiskey Shivers and Mamafesta, plus a grand display with a guaranteed sick line-up brought to you by the UTOPIA Players at 10:30 p.m., and late night sets by Matthew Logan Vasquez, Whiskey Shivers and Jenny Parrot, into the wee hours of the morn. Tomorrow afternoon, you can catch Garrett T. Capps (featured on today’s AMM), and The Deer.
Check UTOPIA Fest’s website for more details, and be listening for more UTOPIA Fest 2019 picks from the Austin Music Minute.
-Image courtesy of UTOPIA Fest.
The What The Hell Effect
There is an observation in psychology that looks at how people behave when they have not lived up to the expectations they set for themselves; the “What The Hell Effect.” In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, and Dr. Bob Duke talk about, not only what it is, but why it is.
5-D: “Burger Cheese”
When you’ve got an intense craving for creative writing, sometimes you have to take your lyrics to another dimension. Portland’s Russell Dizer Jr. (RuDi Devino) and Austin’s own Halston Brown (HBZ) have done just that in recent years with their boldest but far from first-ever collaboration, 5-D. Now both entering their second decade in the rap game, HBZ and RuDi initially crossed paths in 2010 shortly before co-founding five-piece hip-hop outfit SubKulture Patriots. In addition, RuDi’s lent his vocals to Retr0Grade and CAPYAC, while HBZ’s been heard alongside Sometimes A Legend and Sip Sip. And in light of some major maturation milestones (with HBZ entering fatherhood and RuDi quitting his day job to focus full-time on music) their uncouth camaraderie and aggressor-meets-slacker chemistry as 5-D continues to make for some infectious free-association tag-team rhyming schemes, heard once again on their third studio single.
5-D’s debut EP will be popping up on your radar in 2020 but you can stack up a combo of vigor, ferocity, seduction and humor right now with “Burger Cheese”!
Texas Standard: November 14, 2019
A fact finding process in an era of fake news: do the facts still matter? We’ll look at some Texas takeaways from the impeachment hearing so far. Also, new guidelines for how the state tabulates ballots. Are we getting early warning signals about problems for 2020? We’ll take a look. Plus, what can dogs tell humans about aging? And our tech expert Omar gallaga on winners and losers in the early volleys of the new streaming wars. All of that and a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard:
This Song: King Princess
In this episode, Mikaela Mullaney Straus aka King Princess describes how listening to “Cosmic Dancer” by T. Rex as a kid made her feel seen. And she explores how anthemic rock bands, along with artists like Prince and Tina Turner helped her understand her gender and showed her how music could transport the listener to another place and time.
“It’s about throwing people into a world. It’s about putting people into something that’s like completely separate from reality.”
📸 Greg Noire
Listen to This Episode of This Song
Check out King Princess’s Tour Dates
Listen to the New King Princess album Cheap Queen
Listen to Songs from this episode of This Song
Texas Standard: November 13, 2019
Two Texans, a republican and a democrat both facing unexpected challenges. What do these candidacies tell us about Texas politics? We’ll take a look. Plus, how a Texas child custody case appears to set the stage for the next chapter in the culture wars. Also, the rise in subprime lending for wheels. When it comes to auto loans in Texas is a bubble beginning to form? We’ll take a closer look. And what are the most essential Texas books? Got any suggestions? So does commentator W.F. Strong. That and a Politifact check and more today on the Texas Standard:
101 Essential Texas Books
By W. F. Strong
If I have an addiction, it’s definitely books. I read about two books a week and order two more I’m unlikely to ever get to. But I like them on the shelf as backup the way survivalists hoard food supplies. Admittedly, I’m often short of shelves. When you have more books than shelves, you know you’re overdoing it.
I’m the book equivalent of the cat lady. I take in more books than I should. I recently took a pickup load of recyclable metals to a solid waste depot. As I paid the man I noticed he had 20 books on a little shelf outside his office. I said, “Well, you have plenty to read there when things are slow.” He said, “No, I’m not much of a reader but I can’t stand seeing good books go to the dump so I save ’em. These are rescue books for anyone who wants them.” I rescued 5 of the rescue books. To show the extent of my addiction, I also have a massive stash in the cloud, just in case I need a book when traveling or when stuck at the dentist’s office.
Doing some math I figured that if I live to my allotted average age, I figure I have only 2,000 books left to read in my life. And probably only 1500 because I’ll re-read 500 of my favorites, leaving 1500 new books over the next 20 years – out of billions in the world. A sad fraction. So, I must choose well. To borrow from the old dicho, “Life is too short to read bad books.”
So how does one choose well? First, you have recommendations from friends whose taste you trust. As I am into Texana books, I rely also on sites like Texas Booklover on Facebook for suggestions worth my time. But my favorite of all are books about books. Larry McMurtry has an exquisite book called simply Books. It’s truly spellbinding. A similar sort of work that I want to recommend to you today is 101 Essential Texas Books by Glenn Dromgoole and Carlton Stowers, both authors and experts on Texas literature.
Each book in the 101 is tightly summarized. You’ll find your favorites here for sure: All the Pretty Horses, The Time it Never Rained, Lone Star by Fehrenbach, Michener’s Texas, Friday Night Lights, and Lonesome Dove. But you will also find numerous gems you’ve perhaps never come across.
I like that the collection is in genres. You have first-rate works in history, literature – in this case books about books and writing – fiction, people, place, law and order, sports, food and drink, and books for young readers.
Here’s a few I think are lesser known standouts:
Texas Post Office Murals by Philip Parisi is a full color book of 115 photographs of depression era murals painted in Texas Post Offices across the state. They were painted by famous artists like Tom Lea, Xavier Gonzalez, and Jerry Bywaters and were meant to lift the spirits of people going through hard times.
A History of Texas Music by Gary Hartman. Not limited to Country-Western, Hartman covers “German, Czech, Tejano, Cajun, rock and roll, and rhythm and blues.”
100,000 Hearts: A Surgeon’s Memoir by Denton Cooley. It’s an autobiography by one of the world’s best heart surgeons of all time. And I’m not just saying that because one of those 100,000 hearts still beating is mine.
Under the category of “place” you have Goodbye to a River by John Graves, and A.C. Greene’s A Personal Country, as one would expect. The lesser known standout for me is Great Lonely Places of the Texas Plains by the Texas Poet Walt McDonald and Texas’ genius photographer Wyman Meinzer. It is a stunning book wherein poems illuminate photographs and photographs animate poems.
Rainwater by Sandra Brown. Sandra Brown is best known for her bestsellers in romance and suspense so this work is a departure for her. Set in a small Texas town during the depression, it has been compared to The Grapes of Wrath because it is the story of a tough woman barely surviving while running a boarding house in the dust bowl.
That’s a quick preview. Check out the 101 Essential Texas Books and you’ll be sure to find many you’ll cherish having on your shelves, or if you’re like me, stacked on your desk or on top of the dining room table, piano, refrigerator, night table, etc.
Luna Shadows: “practice”
For years her keyboard talents helped make The Naked and Famous a staple of New Zealand’s synth-pop scene, but with an insatiable appetite to reflect on the modern world through song, Luna Shadows has found her footing in the solo spotlight. Beginning in 2016, a steady stream of indie-electro-inspired singles has illuminated Shadows’ highly emotive lyrics and ability to talk about life’s darker elements, all without getting too bleak for comfort.
This last year Luna Shadows has been teasing her upcoming debut album and signature subdued style with a handful of new tracks, including this one just released today, “practice”!
Photo: Larsen Sotelo
Nobalae
Sounds from the twilight, music haunting one’s dreams. It’s how the day breaks, how the night shines. Wisps of smoke, fragrant wafts within a breeze, or distant howls from wide, open spaces. All of this and more would be most fitting in attempting to describe the magic of Little Mazarn. They’re everywhere…perfect moments caught in time captured in one’s mind forever.
Little Mazarn shares an outstanding bill tonight at the Hole In the Wall, 2538 Guadalupe, that features legendary avant-folk artist Ralph White, and ATX Cajun music outfit The Ditch Crickets. The music begins at 9 p.m. Very recommended.
-Photography by Julia Reihs for KUTX.
Texas Standard: November 12, 2019
The Texas connection in the impeachment inquiry. How two figures from the Lone Star State factor into tomorrow’s hearings on Capitol Hill. We’ll have the latest. Also, is the doctor shortage a phony crisis? A new Texas medical survey points to some big cracks in the conventional wisdom. Also, Bock wars break out in Shiner, Texas. We’ll hear about the three billboards fermenting anger among some locals. And what Ted Cruz and Kim Kardashian have in common, and what that could mean for the fate of a death row inmate. Those stories and a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard:
The Lagoons: “Give It Up For Love” [PREMIERE]
What first began as a fraternal bond evolved over time into a jazz band camaraderie, and in 2019 multi-instrumentalist brothers Ryan and Joey Selan are aligned once again as The Lagoons. This L.A.-bred Austin-based duo takes the best bits from classic rock, pop, & funk and interjects those tones into the modern landscape not only as musicians, but waist-deep as producers and recording engineers as well.
Today The Lagoons break another barrier of time and genre with an inlet of ’70s-inspired sounds, heard here for the first time ever: “Give It Up For Love”!
Retransmitted
You know those bass chords. Peter Hook played that bass as though it was a guitar. The riffs are instantly recognizable if you’re a longtime Joy Division fan – or even a New Order fan.
The songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer is best known as bassist and co-founder of both, though these days you’ll find him on tour with his own band, The Light. Don’t miss them tonight at Emo’s, 2015 E. Riverside Dr. The show includes performances of the albums Technique and Republic by New Order, in their entirety, with an opening set featuring the music of Joy Division.
Doors at 7 p.m. Very recommended.
-Photo courtesy of the artist.
Nipsey Hussle & Success
This week on The Breaks:
- Confucius and Fresh talk about whether Nipsey Hussle’s profile was elevated after his death and discuss what “success” really means today.
- They explore the history of Outkast’s Stankonia Studios and reflect on the stories that might be told about Austin hip-hop someday.
- Both hosts make a call more Black tastemakers in Austin.
- Fresh talks about Summer Walker’s desire to just make art and discourages musicians from avoiding the business side of the music industry as part of his Unpopular Opinion.
- Confucius lets people know they can support the local scene in Austin every Thursday from 9pm-1am when he DJ’s at Troublemaker. He’ll play a mix of classical and local music.
- Listen to this episode of The Breaks
Listen on The Apple Podcasts App, Spotify or Stitcher
 |
 |
 |
|---|
Hear the music from The Breaks played on their Saturday Night Hip-hop show