Howdy out there.
Thank you for tuning in to Austin
Signal. I'm your host Jerry Cunnell.
We are kicking off South by
Southwest 2026 and coming
to you live today from Scholz
Garten. Make some noise out there!
Excellent. Well we have a jam-packed
show to share with you so we're
just gonna jump right in and get it
started by talking
to our first guest.
This is a first for us here on
Austin Signal, someone with their
own day.
February 9, 2012 was recognized by
the City of Austin as Shaky Graves
Day. And 14 years later, still
celebrated here in town most
recently, this February
at Hole in the Wall.
He's also one of the featured guests
at our upcoming and first ever KUT
Festival that is happening in May.
Please help me welcome to the show,
Shaky Graves.
Hello, hi, South by
Southwest. Yeah, South By Southwest.
Speaking of that, I wanted to ask
you if you remember your first South
by South West, whether as a
performer or just an attendee.
No, I don't.
That's a good sign.
That means you had fun.
This is like the frog in the boiling
water thing. I mean, I grew up here,
so it was like South by Southwest
would kind of happen around me and I
would be confused.
It was a lot smaller when I was
smaller.
And then the first one
that really, where I
was out like grinding in the streets
playing music at all sorts of weird,
in the backs of people's houses into
like made up venues and schools and
stuff, that was like 2013,
2012.
12, something like that.
And now here in 2026, you still
enjoy being a part of South by
Southwest?
Now I feel like an elderly man
where it's like, this is my one day
of South by Southwest and I'm out
wearing, you can't see on the radio,
like really shiny pants. Yeah, describe
them, yeah.
It's, this all I got.
This is my One Day.
I'm doing this and then I have a
show tonight at Sagebrush.
Okay, well thanks for doing it big
here with us on Austin Signal.
There was some news this month that
you're coming out with a new project
in a couple of months.
Tell us a little bit about it,
what's it called, and how long
you've been working on it.
Yeah, it's called Fondness, et
cetera.
It's a record that I built mostly
on tape, like at my house, and
I have a little studio.
And yeah, it was
really a record
that came out of this
strange time in my life where I
became a father two years ago,
thanks.
And now I feel like I'm on the other
side of some weird parallel universe
mirror thing where I'm like, oh, I
see, and people are like, one of us.
Um, and my time is
all messed up.
Like I, my, I've really traded
my late nights for like waking up at
six 45 and changing diapers
and doing weird stuff.
Yeah, how has that shaped the
production and sound of this new
album?
I, in every way possible.
So I built most of it in the weird
little windows kind of in between
taking her to like daycare in the
morning and being like, I
gotta do something with my life.
And I ended up
accidentally making this record that
I love that's, I'm gonna remember
forever cause it's about this weird
time in my life and
I feel like every record I make kind
of snapshots like the last
one was like very much in
looking back just came out of
COVID and Of course, all
of those songs are like, what is the
world gonna be?
You know, they're like big, big,
silly, confused anthems.
And this one's like a lot smaller,
you know, it's about how strange
it is to have
time just kind of blow
by, you now.
Yeah, are you looking to be sort of
reassuring now that you have a
daughter and she might hear this
work later and, you know, take a
little bit of solace in it?
Yeah, it's it's kind of dedicated to
her in the you know afterwards
when I looked at it all it was like
I look forward to her being able
to hear kind of the Since
I made it at the house You can like
hear our yard in it a lot and
just like Kind of ambient stuff
and she was in the back seat of the
car when I would listen to all the
mixes and stuff So i'm like maybe
somewhere this will seep into her
little brain.
Yeah, and she'll be like I don't
care Yeah, but you were
there is gonna be awesome
Well, we only have a couple minutes
left. We have a lot to share with
you today on Austin Signal, but I
wanted to ask you, it's sort of a
two-part, you can answer whichever
you prefer.
What's something that you've learned
about songwriting or about
fatherhood that was different
than what you initially anticipated
at the outset?
Well, you know,
I feel like
it's easy to
think that you have to kind of
generate bizarre experiences.
Like when I was younger, I used to
kind mine a lot of
suffering for songwriting.
I think that's an easy thing.
It's like a lot, the first songs
that I had were kind of heartbreak
oriented, you know?
And I think it's easier to kind get
into a rut where you manufacture
bizarre things to happen
in your life. And, uh,
and then write songs about them.
But I didn't really
factor in that that could work with
good things happening in your life
as well. So I think the kind of
fatherhood angle, it's been
the worst, best thing that has ever
happened to me kind of in tandem.
So it has the same effect where
I feel like I'm still getting my
brain messed up by a girl, but now
she's like a foot and a
half tall.
And really cute.
Yeah, she's nice.
She's pretty cool, but
Yeah, I think I think that
What I've learned is that you know,
it helps to write what you
know and and right now
what I know is kind of this
Small world I'm trapped in so
writing about that actually felt
better than than trying to
Tackle the like what is
existence in the war machine and
blah blah blah.
So
Okay, excellent.
Well, we have been talking with
Shaky Graves. His new album,
Funness, Etc., is coming out May
15th. Hopefully we can have you back
on the show to explore a little bit
more of that. That'd be great.
In a couple weeks before the release
of that album, he's going to be
joining us for the first ever KUT
Festival.
That is happening the first weekend
of May.
This is ShakyGraves.
Thank you for kicking off the show
with us. Make some noise.
Of course. Thanks for having me.
Good job.
What's up, Gary?
Hi, this is Jimmy Mass, Program
Director with KUT, and you are
listening to The Austin Signal.
Today is the first day of South by
Southwest 2026, and here's
everything you need to know
so that you can pretend you were
here the whole time.
The festival turns 40 this year, and
for the first time ever, the Tech
Conference Film Festival and Music
Festival are all running at the
same time.
Seven days of organized chaos
across downtown Austin,
and it all started earlier today.
As you might realize, if you've
driven by downtown, there is a giant
construction pit where the
convention center used to be.
So this year, South by Southwest
will have clubhouses scattered at
different hotels and venues around
downtown to serve as hubs for each
track versus one single
hub.
On the conference side, the opening
keynote is happening right now with
author Jennifer B.
Wallace. She's my age and she's
written two New York Times
bestsellers, Mattering and
Never Enough.
It all has me wondering if I
matter and if I will ever measure
up.
Meanwhile, the red carpet is rolling
out in front of the Paramount for
the world premiere of I Love
Boosters this evening that stars
Kiki Palmer, Will Poulter,
and Demi Moore.
That's directed by Boots Riley,
who's a South by Southwest veteran,
appearing here a few times over the
years with his rap group, The Coup.
And as the sun goes down, Austin's
live music venues fill up with acts
that most people haven't heard of
yet.
Statistically speaking, at least one
of the artists playing a 200-person
room right now will be headlining a
major festival within a few years.
Free stuff.
Or at least free-ish stuff.
I don't have to show you any
stinking watches!
You can explore the street
activations on Congress Avenue,
including the KUTX Day Party
at Rivian, and a handful of
brand experiences that could be fun
ducking into.
You can always purchase tickets day
of for general admission to
screenings.
Your chances of getting into one of
the big premieres is unlikely, but
as the week goes on there will be
secondary and tertiary screenings
and films, and oftentimes the
stars show up to those as well.
Streets are closed on Congress
Avenue. There are probably free
whiskey tastings, and perhaps
someone just ran into their favorite
director at a taco truck.
I once stood in line behind John
Legend for 15 minutes at the JW
Marriott Starbucks.
It happens at South By.
And I'll be navigating it all week
long so that you don't have to.
I'm Jimmy Maas.
You're listening to The Austin
Signal.
And today we're coming to you live
from Scholz Garten.
Thank you for joining us here
in person and out there on the
radio.
The tragic murder of Mariah Wilson
almost four years ago here in Austin
and the subsequent investigation by
local law enforcement is the focus
of the new documentary, The Truth
and Tragedy of Mariel Wilson.
The world premiere of the film is
happening at 6.15 tonight at the
Long Center.
Marina Zenovich is the director of
the documentary.
Evan Hayes produced the project and
they're joining us on Austin Signal.
Welcome to the show.
Thanks for having us.
Thanks for havin' us.
So I would like for y'all
to take a little bit of time and
talk about who Mariah Wilson
was. She's obviously become the
victim in this very tragic story,
but tell us a little about her.
Marina, you wanna start?
Oh, Evan can start.
Evan, okay, let's start with Evan.
Marino was this, Mariah was
this incredibly ascendant
professional cyclist.
She was on this
kind of stratospheric trajectory
as an athlete.
She had what I felt like
was kind of superpower in terms
of her work ethic,
but she also was raised
by this kind fiercely
loving family in this
very small town in Vermont.
And so...
You know, part of the emotional
impact of working on this film
was meeting
the Wilson family,
Karen and Eric and her brother Matt,
and through their eyes, really
being able to see a full picture
of this human.
And that's why we
decided to make this film, to bring
some humanity to
an incredibly tragic story.
Yeah, and the credits to your film
say it was inspired by an article
with the same name.
How did this story come across your
desk and what stood out about it
that you wanted to make a
documentary about it?
Well, I think first for me,
you know, there was a lot of press
about the event at the time
that primarily focused
on the darkness of
what happened.
But I think when some of
the longer form pieces came out,
especially an article in Bicycling
Magazine written by Rowan Garrity
that the family
participated in, that was
an article that I read sitting in
bed next to my wife and started
to cry.
I have a 16-year-old daughter,
it hit very close to home,
and I immediately called Marina,
who I knew of and
was a huge admirer of,
and that's how it started.
Well, Mariah's parents and her
brother feature heavily in the
documentary.
How did y'all get connected with the
family and how willing were they to
share their story with you?
They were very willing, I mean,
surprisingly so.
It was, it was,
there's such an open,
direct family
who really, I think,
trusted Evan and me,
but it was I
think all her friends and
everyone we interviewed was so
invested in the story.
It's really a story about
her and...
What happened to her.
And it's a very deep.
Yeah, it is. It's really deep.
I watched it last night, and the
film features a lot of archival
recordings from the family, some
audio, and lots of video.
How did that trove of recordings
shape the project, the end
project that y'all made?
Well, we were looking to,
we wanted to hear her voice as much
as possible, so it
definitely shaped the film.
I mean, we want to make this a
film about grief and how a family
deals with grief, and
I think we succeeded.
I agree. No, I think at the end
of the day, having participants
who are willing to
share that much with you as a
filmmaker, being able to
include these home movies of
Mariah as a baby,
to see her get
on skis for the first time,
to understand the adversity that
she faced in her journey as
an athlete.
And little moments at home
that we all experience that are
completely innocuous.
You know, this archive allowed
us to explore those and
really, again, juxtapose this
kind of tragic
story with something that
we feel at the end of the film
gives you a sense of positivity
in terms of what Mariah
felt, what she believed
in, the values the family have, And
also.
How much she loved being on the
bike, which I
think is not a small aspect
of what this movie explores.
And true crime stories can be,
a lot of times, maybe end on
a sadder note.
You mentioned that you wanted to
make a true crime story that wasn't
like all the others.
Why was that a gold of yours?
Number one, Marina and I
both have long careers.
We've made a really diverse
set of films over the course of
our time in
entertainment.
Neither of us make true crime films.
And so for us, this is
really an important,
I think, look at
a story through a
lens that has a lot more
humanity to it.
And therefore much
more impactful.
And I think for this community, in
Austin in particular,
who experienced this tragedy
firsthand,
our hope is that this film
kind of celebrates that other side
and people can look
at it not just through the lens of
the darkness, right?
We only have about a minute left, so
can you tell our listeners who might
be looking to catch the film, how
they can catch it this week in town?
Yeah, it's playing tonight at the
Long Center, 6.05,
615. 615 Get
there at 6.5, though, just to make
sure, yeah.
Maybe earlier.
Yeah, maybe a little earlier.
No, then it's flying Friday night
also at
another theater.
You said the Wilson family will be
in town.
The Wilson's family's here now.
This is their first time back in
Austin since the trial wrapped
up. So it's a kind of
emotional moment
to come back to Texas.
But at the same time, they're here
to celebrate the film and they're
gonna be doing a Q and A with us
afterwards tonight.
Okay, The Truth and Tragedy of
Mariah Wilson has its world premiere
at 6.15 tonight at the Long Center.
We have been speaking with Marina
Zinovich, director of the
documentary, and Evan Hayes, who
produced the project.
Thank you for making the time.
Have a great South by Southwest.
Thank you. Thank you too, thanks.
This is Korey Pereira,
Audio Area Head here at UTRTF,
and you are listening to Austin
Signal.
So specifically Foley involves
watching a picture on the
screen and having a Foley artist
perform those actions you see.
So I'd say the biggest misconception
is that when you watch a film,
all the sounds you're hearing were
captured on set.
But the reality is
a set is a really noisy place.
It's then in post-production that
the world begins
to sound like what
you hear Or when you go down to
a movie theater or turn on Netflix.
All right, we are now standing on
the brand new-ish Foley
stage here at Texas
Moody.
So a Foley Stage is a space where
our students can come in, look up
at the screen, and
then be able to perform
all the actions that characters are
doing on screen.
So I'd say the coolest part of this
is we do actually have multiple
Foley pits.
So if a student wants to walk in the
dirt, we have a
box where they can
walk on dirt.
And if they need to walk on
leaves...
They can do that too.
The back of the room, we have
multiple baker's racks full
of hundreds and hundreds of props.
The idea here is we kind of gave the
students a starting point so
that they can.
Find a number of sounds they need
for their given project.
So whether you need a motorcycle
helmet.
Or a purse?
Or an old school telephone,
our students can do that right here
in this space.
When someone has a specific project
where they have a straw hat in it,
they're gonna go to Goodwill or
their closet and find a straw Hat.
And we encourage them to leave that
here for the next students
that come into the space.
This is Korey Pereira,
sound artist and audio area head
here at the University of Texas at
Austin.
And this is Austin's signal.
This is Austin Signal.
Welcome back to our South by
Southwest special.
We are live at Scholz Garten.
Let me hear you out there.
Probably a few thousand people, but
the microphone's only picking up a
few of them.
South by Southwest has plenty of
official ways to spend your time
here in Austin.
You've got music, TV, and film,
but an officially unofficial pastime
is, of course, eating all the foods
when you're here. I mean, everybody
has to eat somewhere.
And with the Michelin Guide's recent
recognition of Texas-based eateries,
we wanted to highlight some of the
folks who have earned the
recognition of Bib Gourmand,
highlighting both quality and
affordability.
So we're going to host a little
roundtable here on the radio.
Joining us on stage now is Janie
Ramirez, executive chef of Dai
Dua. Janie, thanks for being here.
Thank you for having me.
We are joined by Chris Krinsky.
He is the chef and owner of Ramen
Del Barrio. Hi, Chris.
How's it going?
It's going well.
And we also have Daniela de
Lima Hernandez and Rosa de Lima
Hernández. They are the chefs and
owners at La Santa Barbacha.
Thanks for joining us.
Thank you so much for inviting us.
So I'll start with you all over
here.
Just in case our listeners aren't
that familiar, tell us a little bit
about your restaurant and how long
you've been here in Austin.
Well, we moved here in different
years.
I did it in 2017.
Mm-hmm.
2020. Okay, a couple years.
And then we are a family that moved
from Mexico.
My dad moved first,
and then he's the one that bring us
over here.
And with the business, we've been
doing this for five years, and
we started because we wanted
to keep our family together.
Moving to a new country is not
always easy. Having
different jobs and different hours.
We sometimes struggle to
see our mom or dad.
That was the, that's why
we started it because I
rarely see my mom or my dad and it's
like, let's have a business
together. We did it in Mexico and
then we can be all together
on a Sunday or cooking or.
Do you guys like each other?
Do you guys like each other enough to spend all
the time with each other?
With each other? Well, at the
beginning it was hard to
run businesses in the family, but we
really enjoyed to be together
creating things.
And you started with your food truck
on Manor right?
That was your first location?
Oh, no, it wasn't South Congress.
South Congress.
Okay. And now you have two
locations. Where are those locations
at?
We have one on West 6th Street
and then the first
one on Main Road.
And how is that going?
How long has that second location
been open?
You can, like, a month.
Oh, OK.
So that's a little bit less than a
year. Less than a a year, yeah.
And how has that been?
It's been good.
Yeah, it's different people, but
it's so cool.
Very cool. Well, thanks for being on
the show. We'll get back to you here
in a little bit.
I'm going to turn it over to Janie
Ramirez from Die Due.
Janie, tell us a little bit about
your restaurant.
I'm Dai Due.
It's also a manor road.
We're kind of neighbors.
Very cool.
We do a lot of wild game
we cook a lot invasive species,
it's all about working with our
community and
It's very seasonal lots
of grilling of meats and
seasonal produce
It sounds like very Texas, you know,
grilling of meats.
In Perry, Texas.
You're sort of the statesman of the
groups up here.
I believe Raman and DiBlario maybe
like five or six years, roughly
three as sea time flies with the
pandemic and everything.
How long has Dai Dui been around?
The brick and mortar is
11 and a half years now, and
as a business concept they started
at the farmers market I think
15 years ago,
doing like supper clubs and farmers
market like small plates and
they're like ferments and sausages
and butcher classes and that kind of
thing.
And how long have you been with the
restaurant? 11 and a half years.
OK, OK.
And I understand you've done a lot
of jobs while you've been there.
I have. OK, yeah.
All of them? Yeah.
What does that include?
I started as a part-time prep cook
and like a month after they opened
and then I became the
PM Sue and then the CDC and
then the executive chef for a
while now.
Okay, what is CDC?
The Chef de Cuisine.
Okay, and what was the one before
that? PMC?
Oh, sous-chef.
Sushi. OK, OK.
Sorry, I'm learning. No, no, no.
No. Just see, it's helpful for our
listeners out there as well, because
I definitely knew what that mean.
But I just wanted to explain it to
the listeners. OK, well, thank you
for coming out for a little bit,
Janie. And Chris, I wanted to wrap
up with you because, you know,
these other two locations have sort
of brick and mortars have an
established location.
But tell us what's going on with
your restaurant right now.
Yeah, so Raman del Barrio
is in a bit of a transitional
period. We were inside of the Hano
World Market up on Palmer Lane.
That unfortunately closed at the end
of 2025.
And we've been building our brick
and mortar over on Metric
and Kramer now.
Hopefully, we'll be open in the next
few months here.
Yeah, I saw on a recent social
media post that you're having maybe
a little trouble with the permitting
process. How close are
you to maybe opening up the doors
and what has that been like?
Yeah, it's been a really, it
has been a big journey to
find out all the different pieces of
running a restaurant that aren't
just being a cook, which is what I'm
actually good at, you know?
I'd say we had a few different
issues with the construction permits
come through, and mostly are
minute details, but really
the issue is, you now, when you
submit something with the city, it
is not like you hear back from them
in a few days, it like a 28-day
cycle, so even if they just want me
to change out, say like a two-inch
pipe to a three inch pipe.
I won't hear about it for another
three weeks.
Then that sounds pretty simple,
right? It would be like one for the
other. If only.
So what has been the most difficult
part about learning the
parts that aren't being a chef,
essentially?
Well, you know, I had a really
incredible opportunity to open RDB
when I was only 24 years old, and
I was a line cook at the time.
And I think it was really the
process of learning how to be both a
business owner and a leader
overnight, right?
Having people older than me work
in my kitchen and
to garner their respect, I had to
show them that I was serious, right.
I had show them I cared about the
food that we were there trying to
do something meaningful.
And to curate a team of people that
really care about the product has
been one of the most rewarding
experiences, but challenging as
well.
Okay, we are speaking with Chris
Krinsky, Janie Ramirez,
as well as Rosa and Daniela de
Lima Hernandez.
You're listening to Austin Signal.
We're doing a special one-hour live
episode out at Scholz Garten.
So if you happen to be in the
downtown area and you're hearing us
on your radio, get down here.
It's a great time, and you obviously
maybe are tuning in on the app
or online at kut.org.
We appreciate you all.
And so now I wanna make it a kind of
a round table. We've talked to
everybody a little bit individually.
The reason that we wanted to kind
of get this roundtable together was
that you've all been recognized for
a Bib Gourmand Award, which
highlights quality and
affordability.
And affordability is always a big
topic of concern here in Austin,
specifically normally around
housing, right? Housing is the big
deal, but obviously food
as well, because there are lots of
ways to spend your money.
And we know that our listeners are
looking for ways to maximize their
dollars. So, I want to, this is
a question for anybody here.
And if you have, if you want to
speak, just raise your hand or start
talking.
But I want to talk about how
important, or how much
you all are stressing
keeping your product affordable so
that you can continue to make it
accessible to more people here
in Austin.
Does anybody want to start?
What about, let's start with you,
Chris.
Sure.
So, you know, at least with ramen
del barrio, ramen is a
fast, casual food in a traditional
sense.
And as a relatively young
person, I
strive to still keep kind
of a broke college kid mindset for
my own pricing.
I think that no matter what meal
you get, if you're spending under
$20 and you leave full, then that's
still a good value, no matter
whether it was tacos,
sopa, you know, ramen, whatever
the case may be, across any...
Cuisine because I think a lot of
different cultures foods get
kind of a stigma of what should
be cheap versus what should be
expensive and I don't think that's
necessarily fair to the foods and
the cultures themselves.
I kind of give myself a price point.
If you leave a restaurant and
you're full under 20 bucks, that's
a good deal.
I think there's a lot incredible
food in this town and Austin gets
a lot criticism for the
overall affordability of it.
I think so much of the food
that deserves all the praise in the
world. It's just locked behind a
price point that just isn't
accessible.
And although it's, you know, it's
easy for me to say because ramen
is a numbers game, right?
It's a cheap product, you sell it at
volume and that's how you turn a
profit.
That may be the formula that I'm
already in, but regardless, I would
much rather get rich serving the
many than serving the few.
Excellent.
Do you all want to follow up on
that? I know that maybe,
I think there is sometimes a stigma
associated when a business runs out
of a food truck. There's like, oh, I
should only pay a certain amount of
money because I'm going to a food
track.
You all have a specialty in
barbacoa, right?
So as we
know about grilling meats, like meat
is becoming more expensive and more
expensive. How do you stay
cognizant or try to focus
on keeping your prices
affordable for your customers?
I mean the main goal to do
this in Cerro Barabacoa
is make affordable
and for everybody, so we cook
for everybody and we wish
we can keep as much as
we can, I wish we came
the same prices and accessible
for anybody that
comes and visit our trucks.
That's why one of the reason we
still have the trucks as
business owners starting from
nothing.
Not even having the money to invest
when we first started.
It's really, really hard to build
what we have.
And of course, prices
went up and prices are always
changing. And we're trying to
keep always the same quality,
fresh products, everything
we make on hand, which is
the most important thing that we
make with our time and with
our team, taking care of them.
Trying to do all of those things
and still Of
course, focusing on our clientele
and our community and make it
for everybody is a
big, big challenge.
Everybody is talking about it and
they don't sometimes believe
that we work so hard in the
back and the kitchen
and then the pricing to make
this dish or this taco
to look so beautiful and
also make that memory
for you.
And of course, everything really
expensive And then we're still.
I am very grateful that people can
go and spend their money and
change that game a little bit
of not having just
the tacos.
They have more than the tacos
in our plate and we really
trust what we do and we
are so grateful that the people can
still visit us and we
will continue working hard
to keep accessible
and affordable prices because
we love our community so much.
Yeah, keeping those prices
accessible while also taking
care of what needs to be taken care
of. It is still a business at the
end. What about you, Jane?
Do you have anything to add to this
general conversation?
Um, we are like maybe
a little less fast casual.
It's a little bit more upscale.
And so, and also we source
only locally.
And so everything is very expensive
and we're constantly having
conversations, um,
within the management about,
is this a realistic thing that we
can put on a menu if it's going to
cost this much money because it
feels sometimes offensive to have to
charge a price because we have to
everything at daydewy requires so
many hands to make it because we're
making everything from scratch and
we have to pay all of these people
and we've to pay rents.
And for instance, we ended up making
the decision to take chicken off of
our menu because the price of
chicken had gone up so much.
It was like, I can't sell half of a
chicken for $40.
And I'm not saying that people can't
do it. I'm saying for us, it just
didn't feel okay to
do that anymore.
And so we're just constantly making
those kinds of decisions.
But what I will say, at least at
Daijiri, we're,
even if things seem more expensive,
you're definitely getting a deal
because your food is like,
ethically sourced.
It's made by all the
people in our community and
it's made someone who lives down the
road and it grown by, you know,
it's, I'm sorry.
No, no.
No, no, I think you're just making
this is an Austin product
and you know.
Yeah.
In this day and age where you have
to choose very wisely
how to spend your money, it's always
encouraged to support the community.
And obviously your restaurant is
doing that, and so the people who
patronize your restaurant are in
turn supporting those businesses as
well. You mentioned the number of
hands that are going into
creating these things.
How many people work at your
restaurants? Let's start with you,
Janie. How many, how many people are
employed at Dai Duet?
Roughly.
Uh, including front of the house,
probably.
Okay, and you, Chris?
So we left the market with
about nine total employees.
That'll probably jump to like 15
by the time we're in the new.
Okay, excellent, and y'all?
I will have like 12, plus all
my family around,
so probably like 16, 18.
Okay, yeah, so night of varying
sizes.
And we also have a lot of
people from the city that we have
connect with that they help us to
run events or if
you have something else going on
they jump and help.
Excellent. Well, that was kind of my
next question.
You were saying earlier that the
Austin food scene maybe gets a
little criticism, but
I wanted to hear about, I see
there are some social media
influencers who are very active in
sharing what's going on in here.
So what has the reception been like
from the community here in
Austin and the kind of
collaboration? I'll start over here
with you all.
I'm so happy to
talk about it because one of
the most important person that has
been helping us is right
in front of me.
Oh really, who is it?
I want to thank Patrick Diaz.
He's been such a good
friend and a voice for the community
as well.
So an example is his
job.
There has been a lot of good
opportunities.
We have been helped
through the platform where
we can talk, show
what's behind our projects
or we can like literally
move our voice or
our food and our idea
of this project faster.
So we are very grateful to how we've
been connecting with more people.
And it's very, it's so
genuine, like the people we
have met, it's also about
who are you as a person,
who are you as business owner,
and what are your intentions?
And I believe that whenever you do
good things, good things happen to
you. And then that is
one of the things I always keep and
remind myself.
And then, yeah, I'm very happy that
we have meet a lot of people through
our journey.
I'd love to hear that because, yeah,
it appears, at least on social
media, that there's a very
collaborative environment here in
Austin, people are always doing, you
know, things with one another.
And speaking of which, Chris, you've
been without a brick and mortar, but
you have been pulling off some
residencies that have sure helped
you, you to continue to
have hope as you move towards the
opening of your place.
Yeah, I think what
I love the most about the
food industry here in town
and the way I've been able to
interact with it is the sheer number
of opportunities I've had to step
into someone else's kitchen and
learn from them or vice
versa. They come into my kitchen and
so many different flavors and
techniques.
In every other universe, I'd still
be a line cook working and learning
for somebody else, and the
fact that I have my own business
here kind of...
Sets me up to enforce my own
learning curve, right?
Like if I wanna learn how to break
down fish, I gotta put fish on the
menu.
And having the opportunity to meet
so many different chefs and learn
from their technique and there's
so many ways to do things.
And the collaborative effort that
I've had, and especially now
when I don't have a brick and
mortar, I don't have a place of
operations, the amount of people
that have reached out to me that.
Have given me the opportunity to
keep continuity going
for Raman del Barrio has been
incredible. My friends at Yellow
Ranger hosted us for a full
month, running lunch service over
there.
And then Maria La Plancha over here
on MLK.
And then maybe the Barbacha Girls
will let me do something, you know.
People right here yeah absolutely
but you know these
these kind of of collaborative
efforts have been what have allowed
me to bankroll you
know those nine employees i've been
taking care of them financially
without any income of my own
it's just kind of been part of the
upstart costs but people
reaching out and giving me these
opportunities have taken a huge
stress off my shoulders and it just
reminds me and
of just how strong of a community we
have amongst chefs and industry
people here in town.
Very good.
Well, we only have about a minute
left. Is that correct over there?
About a minute left.
Okay. Well then I'm just going to do
a rapid fire.
If you could do like a
recommendation of a place where
somebody should eat in town that's
not your restaurant.
Chris, you're shaking your head.
So what's your recommendation?
Yeah, so this place is actually a
block from where I live, so I'm
spoiled.
But Old Alley Hot Pot up
on Metric Boulevard.
It is the most authentic, high
quality Chinese hot pot experience
possible. It's not an all you can
eat, but for being in Alacarte, it's
an extraordinarily affordable
experience. You'll spend like
30 to 40 bucks per head and you will
leave incredibly stuffed.
And it is a focused environment.
Okay. It's the closest thing to
going to China.
Hey, Janie.
My current obsession right now is
pea ties on airport.
Okay, it's so good.
I've eaten there like three times in
a week. It's fantastic
That's the best recommendation, real
quick, recommendation.
Well, I love barbecue and
especially Mediterranean
food, so probably KG BBQ
is so good, yeah
I love it.
All right, well, we have been
speaking with Daniela de Lima
Hernandez and Rosa de Lima Hernandez
of La Santa Barbacha, Chris
Krinsky of Ramen del Barrio and
Janie Ramirez of Die Due.
Thanks so much for spending this
time with us. We appreciate y'all.
Thank you so much for having me.
Hi, I'm Kristen Cabrera, managing
producer for Austin Signal.
East Austin coffee shop, Mercado Sin
Nombre, was also a winner of
a Michelin Bib Gros Monde, an award
that highlights quality and
affordability.
Here's Julian Maltby and Melissa
Alvear from Mercado sin Nombre
on this award and their commitment
to the neighborhood.
Are two main products that
we focus on are Mexican coffee
and Mexican corn, heirloom
corn.
We work with a company called Tamoa.
They are based out of Mexico City.
Francisco and I believe his wife
started this company and
they do really great work with
farmers across Mexico.
They get their surplus corn that
they grow that they don't need for
themselves and then they sell it
wholesale to restaurants in the U.S.
We've been working with them since
2021 and they're fantastic
work.
It comes to the coffee, we have a
lot of direct relationships with
farmers across the country.
Veracruz, Chiapas, Oaxaca,
Guerrero, everywhere.
And that one we get to be a little
bit closer to them, work with
them, get some profiles and
varieties that we're interested in
that show like the whole breadth
of what Mexican coffee can be
from your daily drinker,
you know, chocolatey nutty delicious
cup to something fruity or a geisha
or something.
And Everything that
happens in between is what's
exciting to us and keeping it
at a price point that everybody can
manage.
We're really interested in making
corn and coffee from Mexico
accessible to everybody, having
interesting masa products be
accessible to everyone, and
we don't want to have
somebody unable to enjoy what we
offer. Even in our neighborhood, in
the Hawley neighborhood, we want
everybody to be able to enjoy what
we're trying to do.
We want to make sure that y'all are
coming in, celebrating with us
because this neighborhood is our
neighborhood, this neighborhood
predominantly, once upon a time
Latino, a little bit gentrified now,
but in relation to prices, how
somebody from that neighborhood
again, that has been living there
50, 60 years can come back and have
something that they can afford.
And even then, so some of these
vendors who I grew up just right
down the street coming back to
celebrating, knowing that Mercado
Sin Nombre is something that, they
can call their own as well.
That was Julian Maltby and Melissa
Avellar of Mercado Sin Nombre.
I'm Kristen Gavrera and this is
Austin Signals.
This is Austin Signal.
Welcome back to our South by
Southwest Special live at
Scholz Garten in downtown Austin.
Make some noise out there.
Whoa, the crowd is doing the
wave. So many people out here.
We are wrapping up in style.
And obviously music is an essential
part of the scene here in town and
a big part of South by.
And for more, we are joined
by the Breaks host, Fresh
Night and Confucius Jones.
They are having their South by South
Breaks official showcase tomorrow
night. Gentlemen, thanks for joining
us.
Thanks for having us once again.
It's great to talk with you all
again.
So I want to hear first off who's
going to be performing at your
showcase tomorrow night.
Tomorrow night, we will have
the illustrious Kydd Jones,
Anastasia Hera, who's been a former
KUTX Artist of the Month, J.
Soulja, Project Baby JV,
Los Kemet, who,
comedian Carlos Miller, said
was top five Mississippi artist
of all time.
Okay. Come out and see him.
Come out to see him, Ferris,
jeez, you asked me to do this off
the top of my head. No, no, no.
You've done a lot setting up for
that.
How many years have y'all done this
showcase now, this would be the
eighth one
Oh, dang!
Lose count.
Yeah, no seriously with eight.
Well you guys are both longtime
Austinites.
What is it like hosting your own
official showcase as part of this
big South by this worldwide event?
So there's two different answers,
I'll tell you mine.
I'll start with you.
Easy peasy you know it's not
stressful you know, it's just we
do the work we show up and I'm glad
that people embrace it.
Okay, let's hear the flip
side.
We do the work was his key word in
there. Yeah, it's work.
Yeah, yeah. But I will say it is
rewarding seeing these artists,
seeing people come out and learning
about these artists.
People who are descending upon the
city who are not from here, from all
over the world and
coming into the venue and
seeing these artist and discovering
them and becoming fans
of these artists is always
rewarding.
Seeing artists say like I got this
uptick in streams or people
was reaching out and asking and
following me because they were at
the show and seeing them perform.
Okay, so you're obviously doing your
own showcase, but you're both
DJs on KUTX.
Who are you excited to see in town
this week?
Oh wow, okay.
Did you really focus your energies
on setting up the best
south-by-south breaks that you
could?
Christina Aguilera.
Thank you, here.
Really? Yeah, it's Skateland.
My cousin's performing.
Oh, she's doing, they're doing
Sounds on Sounds.
Yeah. Yeah, she doing Sounds On
Sounds. That's right.
That is right. Sips on Sips.
I'm sorry. Sips and Sounds, I
believe. Sips And Sounds.
They're not paying us. That's OK.
It's live radio.
We're just trying to make our best.
Who am I looking forward to seeing
this year? Will Ferrell is here.
OK. Will Ferrel is in town.
And I want to see Will Ferrol,
because I want see just how funny
Will Ferrell is.
I haven't seen Will Ferro outside
of a movie. What do you mean?
What do you mean you want to see how
funny he is because he's like a
sketch comedy artist I
want to say Will Ferrell.
Are you gonna try to make him crack
jokes?
Tell me a joke right now will
I'm not sure if wolf is too
I always ask a rapper to rap on 16,
why not ask him to crack a joke on
Spotify? What you mean?
Okay, let's let's go back to the
South by South breaks One of the
artists that you're gonna be
featuring is here with us at Scholz
Garten today Let's welcome
Kydd Jones to the stage.
Come on up kid
Austin's cultural ambassador.
Yeah, kid's going to be joining us
here. He's walking up the stage
right now. We only got about 10
minutes left in the show.
So we're going to talk a little bit
with him.
Your event starts tomorrow at 7 30,
right?
7Pm,
left East Brick Bar, East 6th
Street, come on out.
Excellent. Okay.
Well now we're switching over to a
Kydd Jones kid.
We talked with shaky graves earlier
I mentioned he was our first guest
with a City of Austin
day in recognition of him.
You also had the same recognition
When was that and and how did that
feel as a born and raised Austinite?
It was dope.
My day is September 1st,
and it was actually an amazing day
because I got like a, I got
a cat that day, and
I never had a cat before.
Okay. What's your catch name?
Well, my cat was named Issi Miyake,
like after the Japanese designer,
but Issi ran away, but I got another
cat though.
Okay, does that one still with you?
Yeah. Okay.
Okay, what's that cat's name?
Goku.
Okay Excellent.
So tell us a little bit about
the obviously or not
obviously here in a second you're
going to perform here to help us
close out our show.
What other you're an official artist
for this year's South by what other
performances are you doing this for
this week.
Just this and tomorrow night I left
these bar.
Okay, sounds right, okay.
Excellent. Well, I wanted to ask you
about some of the work that you're
really excited about to produce this
year. What's going on in your world?
Lately I've been working on a lot of
music, been working on my brand, I
have a clothing line called Onyx
Dior, pretty much everything that
I'm in today.
How long have you been doing that?
I've been doing it since.
Yeah, I started doing it in COVID,
yeah.
Is that a fun, creative release?
Is it just something you always wanted
to do or just decided to pick up?
Yeah, it's release therapy to me,
you know? So I feel like I'm just an
artist in all ways, so
whether I'm painting,
drawing, producing music,
recording music, it just something
that I have to do as an artist.
And you said that, you told me a
little bit earlier that you made
some music with Gary Clark Jr.
And Paul Wall, tell us more about
that.
Yes, me and my brother,
Korey Kendricks, we got a song with
Paul Wall that'll be dropping later
on this year.
It's just a cool, fun record, Texas,
you know, survived.
Yeah, yeah.
How you're I said a born and raised
Austinite.
How long have you been coming to
South by or performing at South by?
Since forever,
like, like Shaky was saying.
You know, when I first started going
to South By, I was confused.
I was just going downtown, just
seeing everybody everywhere and just
like, you know, what's going on.
And in my first group
that I was in when I was 15, that's
when we first performed at
South By Southwest.
Okay, cool.
Well, I'm not going to tarry any
longer. We're speaking with
Kydd Jones. He's going to be at the
South by South breaks official
showcase. That's tomorrow at lefties
brick bar starting at seven o'clock.
Uh, you can, it's open to everyone.
Come on out. We would love to see
you. We have more information at KU
T X dot org.
All right now, kid, you're going to
perform a little song for us.
Can you tell us, uh, what you're
gonna perform?
It's a song called King.
It's nowhere online.
The thing I like to do with my shows
is there's some songs that
I, you know, only perform at shows,
so you gotta come see me.
Okay.
So we're getting a special treat
here on Austin Signal.
OK, excellent. Well, we are ready
for you whenever you're ready to go.
Kydd Jones is going to perform.
Let's make some noise for him out
there, please.
Check check check check
What's up, y'all?
I go by the name of Kydd Jones,
representing Austin, Texas.
Lord knows, do we really?
I must have been a king in my past
life.
I must've done some things to come
in last, right?
Took me out the woods, got me
addicted to the fast life.
That was fast, right.
400 years of a youngin' getting some
act right.
Now act light.
I ain't in a position to better my
condition.
Sell my soul to them folks, but had
no condition.
Never needed, could've been a
penitentiary tenant.
Riding tenant, made it home, still
living.
Who knew can catch a death sentence,
feel trippin'.
I'm a dark little youngin' in the
field with it Modern day Emmett
Tillwis will give you chills I
just popped another, I don't wanna
feel They wonder why we lootin'
steel, tryin' to heal Breonna
Taylor tears, I ain't cried in years
Oh, yeah
Breonna Taylor tears, I
ain't cry in years, y'all
Rihanna Taylor tears, I ain't cried
in years, y'all,
yuh
I must've been a king in my past
life, dawg No reparations, being
black could be a tax write-off I
worked the great ship like Kanye,
could remember my last night off
Used to keep me an eye, now I keep a
mask like song Heard it deep in the
vine, I'm deep in-
The sign scene was a child, young
and chain gang.
Thought I was doing fine before the
pain came.
Thought I doing fine, before the
paint came. Pull it over, hands up.
Black man, bang, bang.
Do it over hands up, black man,
nah.
Rihanna Taylor tears, I ain't
cried in years, y'all
Breonna Taylor tears, I ain't cried
in years, y'all
I go by the name of Kydd Jones,
shout out KZ.
Shout out to producer of this beat,
Adrian Casada.
The breaks, my boys
Jerry Quijano My
boy
Finally got to meet the goat
Make some noise out there, Scholz
Garten.
Thank God, thank God, Thank God.
That was Kydd Jones right here on
Austin Signal on KUT News,
90.5 on the KUT app
and online at kut.org.
Again, Kid is going to be performing
at the South by South Breaks
showcase. It's happening at Lefty's
Brick Bar tomorrow night at seven
o'clock. We'll have more information
in the show notes for our podcast.
Kid, thank you.
Fresh Confucius.
Thank you for joining us.
Thank you, man.
And thank you out there for tuning
in. KUTX started the morning
out at Scholz Garten today, bright
and early at 8 o'clock, I believe.
They're going to be back tomorrow at
7.30, doors open tomorrow
and Saturday as well.
They're gonna be out at the Rivian.
They have a lot more going on this
week as a part of South
by Southwest.
And I want to say thank you to
Scholz Garten and everyone who's
been tuning in today.
It's been a great crowd and a
great time here bringing the
Austin signal to the community.
I want to thank all of our guests.
We talked to Shakey Graves, to
Marina and Evan, the director
and producer of the documentary,
The Truth and Tragedy of Mariah
Wilson that is premiering tonight at
615 out at the Long Center.
We also talked to chefs
from Die Due, Ramen Del
Barrio, and La Santa Barbacha,
and of course, Kydd Jones and the
Breaks as well.
We want to think you for tuning in
and spending part of your Thursday
with us.
Austin Signal. Is gonna be back
tomorrow at one o'clock and we're
gonna have even more South by
Southwest coverage.
Keep bringing that to you
all week long.
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
director, Kristen Cabrera is our
managing producer, and Jimmy Maas
is our showrunner.
Special thanks to Rene Chavez
and Jake Perlman and everyone who
made this show possible.
We're coming to you live from the
Scholz Garten.
Always a tricky wicked, but
we made a good run of it
today.
Thank you to Scholz Garten, thank
you to our live audience, and thank
you for tuning in, spending part of
your Thursday afternoon here with
us. We hope you have a fantastic
South by Southwest 2026.
We'll see you out on the town.
I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
We will talk to you tomorrow.