Archives for August 2020

Say Their Names (Rerun)

This week, The Breaks decided not to create a new show in light of the recent police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI. Instead, they are re-running their episode from June, 1 2020, where Fresh and Confucius talk about the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Mike Ramos in Austin and the resulting protests. They touch on their experiences as black men in America, their frustration with systemic racism and the need for sustained solidarity from society at large, not just during times of tragedy.

Listen to This Episode of The Breaks

Live From Bud’s

Welcome to the voice. That voice. It’s the Empress of Austin soul.

If you missed the livestream performance by Tameca Jones from Bud’s Recording Studio back in June, you’re able to check it out on YouTube. But to catch this magic live, your next opportunity is just around the corner. Bud’s is having Jones back as their special guest for another performance at 7:05 p.m. (Central) tonight, Monday August 31, on Facebook Live and Bud’s YouTube channel.

By the way, the track on today’s Austin Music Minute is your AMM host’s favorite: “Are You Awake?” But you also need to get your ears around “IDK.”  

-Photography by Dan Winters.

Texas Standard: August 31, 2020

Election day now almost 2 months away, and new battles forming over who in Texas gets to vote where and how. The Texas Secretary of State’s office threatens legal action over Harris county’s plan to send absentee ballot applications to every registered voter in the county, we’ll have the latest. Also a mass shooting in Odessa one year on, and the effort to hold the seller of the firearm legally accountable. And Daron Roberts on athlete activism and so much more today on the Texas Standard:

Leslie “Les” Payne (Ep. 39, 2020)

This week on In Black America, producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. remembers the late Leslie “Les” Payne, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and former Associate Managing Editor of Newsday. Payne, whose reporting, editing and leadership helped bring Newsday national and international prominence, died in March, 2018 at the age of 76.

The Belle Sounds: “Take The Dare”

Without the possibility of in-person workshops, coupled with the general cabin fever creatives have been experiencing, there’s been a slight surge in shared songwriting prompts. California-native-turned-Austinite Noëlle Hampton, knows this all too well, and has put some of them to good use propelling her already prolific quintet The Belle Sounds.

The Belle Sounds have kept their promise to release a new single each month, having squeezed in their eighth single just last Friday, one prefaced by the prompt, “Tag, you’re it!”, and inspired by a near death experience from Hampton’s own childhood. “Take The Dare” lyrically tackles peer pressure and bullying over an incandescent instrumental, one that’ll make you want to revisit this track again and again.


Photo: Eric Benitez

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Black August 2020

Black August 2020: A Celebration of Hip-Hop & Our Freedom Fighters is a virtual benefit concert organized by the combined efforts of grassroots organizations, including Malcom X Grassroots Movement and Movement for Black Lives, in support of political prisoners in the U.S. The inception of Black August itself, originating in 1979 through Black political prisoners in the California penal system, not only honored fallen freedom fighters but renewed the commitment to continue the fight for freedom.

This is no small event. The show bill features yasiin bey, Rapsody, M-1 of Dead Prez (“Hip Hop” was featured in today’s AMM), Big K.R.I.T., Sampa the Great, and Nasty C, to name just a few. Plus, this all-star line-up includes an ATX-based duo celebrating their official day in Austin this weekend, Riders Against the Storm.

Set your reminders to watch Black August 2020, starting at 6 p.m. Central tomorrow night, Sunday August 30, at the Black August 2020 website.

-Photo of M-1 of Dead Prez courtesy of the artist.

KUT Weekend – August 28, 2020

Thousands of Hurricane Laura evacuees take shelter in Austin. Plus, why is the Austin housing market booming during a pandemic? And Austin’s Latino community loses two giants but their legacy lives on. Those stories and more in this edition of KUT Weekend!

Subscribe at https://weekend.kut.org

Rodeo Fabulous

Following an awesomely evocative musical introduction through his debut LP Pony, the first time your Austin Music Minute maven had the pleasure of seeing Orville Peck perform live was last year in KUTX’s Studio 1A, full band in tow. Peck’s show scheduled at the Mohawk that night had just sold out before the interview started.

The topic at hand: The universality of the music – the connections felt by Peck’s LGBTQIA+ fanbase and non-queer-identifying fans alike. Though the heart-spun torch and twang may not be a new thing, it shines more brightly with every generation.

“I just set out to make kind of what I think is a classic country record, which is predominantly about storytelling,” Peck told your AMM host.”The country I grew up loving was very much about just that – bold storytelling with theatrics, and drama, and heartbreak, and all the things we kind of associate with country. But the thing that really stood out for me…country music has a sincerity that runs through it as well, that really appealed to me, especially as a marginalized weird kid who was kind of a loner.”

Peck reshapes the soundscape and mindset of country with heart-melting vocals and all the sparkling finesse of a nudie suit. It’s classic country, Roy Orbison croon-and-swoon, and Bobby Gentry storytelling mystique, all rolled into one.

This year, Peck released a follow-up EP, Show Pony, and you’ll get to hear the new music on Orville Peck’s 2nd Annual Rodeo livestream performance, starting at 8 p.m. (Central) tomorrow night, Saturday August 29. It’s made even more fabulous with performances by Evil, Dale Hallow and the Long Con, your AMM maven’s most fave vampiric beauty Louisiana Purchase, and universal mega-goddess Miss Toto.

I mean, WOW. Tickets are available at Veeps.

-Photography by Julia Reihs for KUTX.

Texas Standard: August 28, 2020

On the day after Hurricane Laura’s assault on the northern gulf cost of Texas, what’s the view from local hospitals already dealing with a pandemic? We’ll have more on the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. Also, it’s a wrap for the Republicans as they close their 4 day convention. We’ll explore whether the message moved the needle in what many consider to be a more politically competitive Texas. And concerns about a looming eviction crisis, we’ll have details. Also border smuggling and the demand for bologna, the week that was in Texas politics and much more today on the Texas Standard:

Love Thy Neighbor

The pandemic is isolating in many ways but it is also providing opportunity for a new kind of closeness. That was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.

Sam Pace & The Gilded Grit: “Daze After Days (The Covid Howl)”

Ever loyal to the crusty textures of his backing band, Sam Pace & The Gilded Grit is far from all sunshine and sparkles…in fact you’ll probably end up scraping your knee on the biting sense of sarcasm. Sam’s fresh off a stint as Artist in Residence and DJ for Triumph Motorcycles, and he’s settled nicely into the constrictions of quarantine with The Sam Pace Memoirs youtube series and the music-centered podcast Waiting For The Encore.

And on top of these extracurricular offerings, the Austin polymath just released a standalone single, and even though “Daze After Days (The Covid Howl)” is a little on the nose, it’s sure to knock you out of any discouraging monotony.


KUTX supports Austin music; your support makes KUTX possible. Donate today.

72 Hours In Newport – Kat Edmonson “Where I Am”

Episode 1 of the “72 Hours In Newport” mini-season features vintage pop singer-songwriter Kat Edmonson and her endearing track, “Where I Am.” Kat’s song was inspired by a confessor that shares her story of falling in love and managing her significant others’ mental health. This episode deals with intense topics related to mental health. If that might be triggering for you, we suggest not listening to this episode and checking back in next week.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255

Crisis Text Line – text TALK to 741741

Veterans Crisis Line – text 838255

AFPS.org American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

 

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Love and Lightstream

It’s heartbreaking. It’s frustrating. And somehow, the live music needs to keep going, whether it’s through livestreams or socially-distanced shows in huge outdoor spaces. It’s…not quite the same, and most of us look forward to going to shows again, but it’ll work for now. Here’s an event that features both.

Love and Lightstream Drive-In Concert presents three days of live music by ATX artists, drive-in style for safe social distancing, organized to benefit the Austin music community. You can catch the line-ups in your car at the Haute Spot in Cedar Park or via the Love and Lightstream website starting at 6 p.m. (Central) each night, Thursday August 27 through Saturday August 29. Proceeds from ticket sales to the drive-in shows and livestream access benefit the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM) and Black Fret.

Your nightly line-ups:

ThursdayDavid Ramirez 9 p.m., Jonathan Terrell 8 p.m., Jaimee Harris 7 p.m., Indian & The Jones 6 p.m.

FridaySir Woman 9 p.m., Jackie Venson 8 p.m., The Bishops 7 p.m., Heart of the City 6 p.m.

Saturday…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead 9 p.m.,  Quiet Company 8 p.m.,  Swimming With Bears 7 p.m., Think No Think (featured on today’s AMM) 6 p.m.

Love and Lightstream also provides a page with links to band merch. Use it. Support the bands. Thank you.

-Photo of Think No Think by Gabriel C. Pérez for KUTX.

Texas Standard: August 27, 2020

Hundreds of thousands of people in Texas and Louisiana without power as Hurricane Laura makes landfall overnight. Despite warnings of an unsurvivable storm surge and record setting sustained winds, many along the northern gulf coast of Texas breathing a sign of relief, despite power outages and reports of property damage. Our conversations with people managing emergency efforts in Orange and Jefferson counties. Also what’s next in the aftermath of the storm. All of that and more today on the Texas Standard:

Mo’Ju: “Put It On Hold”

It’s been a couple years since we’ve heard from Indigenous Australian Mojo Juju. But she’s not gone for good; instead she’s simply contracted her moniker and reemerged as Mo’Ju.

The abbreviated handle comes alongside her first single since her 2018 album Native Tongue, and though this new one is decidedly more mainstream than her pre-existing discography, it’s still got the candid introspection that makes Mo’Ju great. “Put It On Hold” also earns some major bonus points from its co-writer Clams Casino, who’s left his mark on the track’s funk-inspired electronic swing.


Armadillo Bonus: Springsteen, Zappa, & More

Join KUTX as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic Armadillo World Headquarters, the music venue that helped put Austin on the musical map. In this bonus episode, hear first-hand stories of some of the most memorable Armadillo shows: An unknown kid from Jersey named Bruce Springsteen plays for hours–and the show cost one dollar. Jerry Lee Lewis destroys the Armadillo’s piano. Joan Armatrading shows the power of musical discovery. And Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart bring the “weird” to Austin.

Rock ‘N’ Restock 2020

Here’s something special for folks missing live music, which also gives you the opportunity to support a couple of great local organizations.

Rock ‘N’ Restock 2020 presents an at-home music performance auction event this year, with proceeds benefitting the Central Texas Food Bank and Black Fret. In a nutshell, here’s how it works: Participants make a bid for a live set by their favorite artist from an RNR-curated list of Austin musicians. Auction winners get a performance at their home – lawn, driveway, backyard – socially distanced, by their favorite artist.

The auction ends tomorrow, Thursday August 27, but it’s not too late to put your bids in now. The roster includes The Peterson Brothers (featured on today’s AMM), Sir Woman, Kalu James, Taylor Muse (Quiet Company), Ray Prim, The Watters, Suzanna Choffel, Graham Wilkinson, Drew Davis and Reid Umstattd. Auction instructions can be found on the Rock ‘N’ Restock Facebook page. Winners will be announced tomorrow. Bring the show home, music lover.

-Photo of The Peterson Brothers by Gabriel C. Pérez for KUTX.

Texas Standard: August 26, 2020

Residents of the northern part of the Texas gulf coast prepare for the worst as Hurricane Laura approaches, gathering speed. Overnight, hurricane Laura intensified 70 percent, approaching category 4 as it neared the coastal border of Louisiana and Texas. Many cities have been evacuated, we’ll be checking in with the mayor pro-tem of Galveston, who says residents there are bracing from a storm similar to Hurricane Ike. Also a major beef between Harvard and Texas A&M as the two institutions engage in a public food fight over the safety of eating meat. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

El Llano Estacado

By W. F. Strong

The Llano Estacado is an enormous mesa. It covers more than 37-thousand square miles of Texas and New Mexico. On this side of the state border it starts north of Amarillo and ends south of Odessa. But how did it get its name and what exactly does it mean? Turns out, there are about five different theories about that.

Today, the Llano Estacado has been immortalized in art. Just think of this song from Gary P. Nunn: “It’s the Llano Estacado, It’s the Brazos and the Colorado; Spirit of the people down here who share this land!”

One thing all the theories about its origin story agree on is that there’s a reason the name is Spanish. It’s credited at least in part to conquistador Francisco Coronado who called the area “Los Llanos” — the plains. And that’s where the stories begin to diverge.

The most common one is that Llano Estacado means “staked plains” because “estacado” is the past participle of “estacar,” a verb meaning “to stake” or “to stake out.” The belief was that the vast spaces of the mesa were so disorienting that early explorers and settlers needed to leave stakes in the ground to navigate in a straight line, and to have a direct line of retreat should they need it. Even Coronado’s Native American guides would shoot an arrow straight ahead and then walk to the arrow, and repeat the process over and over to keep from going in a circle. 

But others say that in the time of Coronado, the term “estacar” had a different meaning. It meant “palisaded plains,” or “stockaded plains,” looking like a fort. If you approach the caprock as Coronado did, and as I have done myself, west of Amarillo along the Canadian breaks, from a distance of 20 miles, the rise onto the caprock does indeed look like a fortress stretching as far as one can see. 

But here’s another bit of the puzzle — the great geographer and historian John Miller Morris tells us that Coronado never wrote the words “Llano Estacado.” But Coronado did leave us a detailed description of Lo Llano in a letter to the King of Spain: “…there is not a stone, nor bit of rising ground, nor a tree, nor a shrub, nor anything to go by.” This brings us to Morris’s most compelling theory about the name. With no trees and shrubs available, explorers and hunters needed to “stake out” or hobble their horses at night or they’d be gone in the morning. 

All of the theories have their appeals.  But I doubt the origin of the name will ever be settled. Just like its name, the infinite flat land, the ocean of grass that once supported millions of buffalo, remains a romanticized landscape of mystery to this day.   

There’s a sublime book by Shelley Armitage called Walking the Llano. Ms. Armitage has lived on the Llano off and on most of her life and her book reminds me of magical works like Desert Solitaire and Goodbye to a River. She writes, “There’s been no poet of these plains . . . but there is a poetry of the plains. This part of the Llano exists . . . as a shape of time, requiring the rhythm of a habit of landscape, of the repetition of experiencing.” She quotes Mary Austin, “It’s the land that wants to be said.”

Ms. Armitage also ran on the Llano. She writes, “The running taught me something. I began to learn that the land is lyric. I could feel the rhythm of the land come into my legs, up into my chest and heart, and out my mouth as breath. Later it came out as writing.” Perhaps Shelley Armitage is the very poet of the plains she claims does not exist.  

Armitage also tells of the advice of an elder of the White Mountain Apaches, who said, 

“Wisdom sits in places. It’s like water that never dries up. . .  You must remember everything about [places]. You must learn their names. You must remember what happened at them long ago. You must think about it and keep on thinking about it. 

Then your mind will become smoother and smoother. You will walk a long way and live a long time. You will be wise.”

We must do this for the Llano Estacado, in poetry and prose and song.