I <3 our local NPR affiliate, KUT 90.5 FM.  It is so much more than NPR, which is great in and of itself. The diversity of music on KUT spans the spectrum from jazz to blues to alt-country to indy rock to – if you listen to John Aielli in the morning – opera.  And, usually, they do it amazingly well.  The thing that makes listening to KUT such a wonderful experience is the richness and depth that the DJs provide.  They all have an amazing amount of information that they share with listeners, often bringing in the musicians themselves to play live or talk about their craft.

In fact, even though I really shouldn’t be giving any money away right now, I’m srsly tempted to donate to their current fund drive at the $120 level to get the KUT Live Vol. 4 CD, which features in-studio performances of some of my favorites, including Okkervil River and Spoon.  When I heard some of the cuts from this CD today, it made me realize that some of the KUT DJs are also amazing musicians – such as sub Jeff Johnson, formerly of the Orange Mothers and now with Li’l Cap’n Travis.

Speaking of Spoon, Brit Daniel was a DJ when I was a DJ at KTSB Student Radio, which is now known as KVRX 91.7, sharing that frequency with KOOP Radio.  Those of you who are new to the Austin area (or who just weren’t paying attention) may not know that the KVRX and KOOP camps were once mortal enemies.  As I remember it, in the late 80s/early 90s, there was only one FM frequency available, but two different groups that wanted it – KOOP, a community group led by Jim Ellinger, and KTSB, student-run radio on the University of Texas campus broadcasting on cable.  I remember the two sides truly hating each other and being completely unable to talk to each other in any rational way.  Fortunately, by the mid-90s a judge had resolved the dispute and told the two groups they would have to share the frequency.  Sounds goofy, but it worked.  And we now have even more great radio in Austin, from shows focused on local environmental issues to the always fun Elk Mating Ritual Show, hosted by Master Pancake Theater leader and UT doctoral student John Erler (hey another artist who is a DJ!).

Ausinites, consider yourself lucky to have great radio.  Truly. Oh, and be sure to donate to KUT, KVRX, or KOOP!

Farmer’s Market

Originally uploaded by klikr~

Today is Good People Day on the intertubes, as announced by Wine Library’s Gary Vaynerchuk. This movement happens to coincide with my desire to start profiling people who are doing great things here in Austin. I’d like to mostly focus on people doing work “under the radar” – the unsung heroes.

Yesterday, at a volunteer training for the Sustainable Food Center, which operates the Austin Farmer’s Market downtown and also now at the Triangle on Wednesday afternoons, I met lots of good people. One person I learned about, but didn’t actually meet, is Martha Cason, who teaches at Garza High School here in Austin. Here’s an article about her from Edible Austin. She’s doing important work to help the younger generation learn about where their food comes from, by involving kids in cultivating Garza Gardens. This is so crucial for so many reasons – an obesity epidemic, which is related to the quality and types of food that we eat; climate change, which isn’t helped by the fact that most of our food is shipped thousands of miles; and a growing isolation that results from a lack of fun, outdoor activities for kids.

Three cheers for the Sustainable Food Center and Garza Gardens’ Martha Cason!

After seeing the article about the Shady Grove RV park closing in yesterday’s Statesman, I desperately had to know if Pecan Grove RV Park was also slated for replacement by condos. Even though Barenakedfamily.com declared that this is “not your Grandma’s RV park,” my grandmother actually lived at Pecan Grove back in the ’90s. So I spent a fair amount of time getting to know her neighbors, who became some of her last true friends. Nana, as I call her, was definitely young at heart and didn’t like hanging out with most people her own age. And the RV park, right on Barton Springs Road, was perfect for her.

So today I went by to check and see if Pecan Grove was also in danger. According to the one resident I spoke with, the owners have no intention of selling anytime soon, but that is what then-Council Member Daryl Slusher told me about ten years ago about the owner of Shady Grove. So we’ll see.

Status Quo vs. Change
Having lived in and around Austin most of my life, I definitely have mixed feelings about the pace and face of change, like the conversion of a cool, beautiful RV park full of lovely pecan trees to very expensive condos. I’d rather people not buy into the new developments that have only increased the need for more and bigger highways. I know that real estate has gotten more and more expensive in the central city because more people want to live there. It’s unfortunate that people of limited means, including the artists and musicians that make Austin wonderful, have fewer and fewer places they can afford to live. What’s to be done? I don’t know.

In this blog, I’m going to explore Austin’s change, which doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Stay tuned.