Latest / Austin Signal / AISD under comptroller review, NPR Senior Podcast Challenge, Almost Heaven at ACL

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AISD under comptroller review, NPR Senior Podcast Challenge, Almost Heaven at ACL · Austin Signal

• 0:08
  The Austin School District is one of
• 0:10
  four in the state that's under
• 0:11
  review by the Texas Comptroller for
• 0:13
  how it spent taxpayer money last
• 0:15
  year.
• 0:16
  It's happening as many districts in
• 0:17
  the State, including Austin, are
• 0:18
  working to balance their budgets,
• 0:20
  what we know so far.
• 0:22
  And NPR has mined grade school and
• 0:24
  college students for the stories
• 0:25
  impacting their lives through
• 0:26
  podcast challenges, and now they're
• 0:28
  adding another group to that list,
• 0:30
  seniors.
• 0:31
  More about their stories coming up
• 0:32
  on today's show.
• 0:33
  The Austin Signal is a
• 0:35
  production of KUT News,
• 0:37
  hosted by Jerry Quijano.
• 0:39
  The second weekend of the ACL Music
• 0:41
  Fest is bringing lots of big names
• 0:42
  to town and highlighting the local
• 0:44
  ones making their names known.
• 0:46
  Today, we're gonna hear from the
• 0:47
  rock duo Almost Heaven ahead of
• 0:49
  their first ACL appearance on
• 0:51
  Friday. Plus, we've got more from
• 0:53
  weekend one festival goers about the
• 0:55
  big topics shaping their worlds.
• 0:57
  That's up next on Austin Signal.
• 1:08
  Howdy out there.
• 1:09
  You are listening to Austin Signal,
• 1:11
  and I'm your host Jerry Quijano.
• 1:13
  It is Wednesday, the seventh day
• 1:15
  of October.
• 1:16
  We're glad you're here with us.
• 1:19
  Texas Comptroller Don Huffinds this
• 1:20
  week announced four school districts
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  in the state would undergo a, quote,
• 1:24
  performance review, auditing how
• 1:26
  they are spending taxpayer funds.
• 1:28
  Among them, the Austin Independent
• 1:30
  School District.
• 1:31
  Here to tell us more is KUT's
• 1:33
  education reporter, Greta
• 1:34
  Diaz-Gonzalez-Vazquez.
• 1:35
  Greta, welcome back to the show.
• 1:37
  Hi, Jerry.
• 1:37
  Okay, so tell us a little bit about
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  this announcement from the Texas
• 1:40
  Comptroller, what exactly are they
• 1:42
  looking into?
• 1:43
  Yeah, so he said that his office
• 1:44
  will be doing a performance review
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  of four Texas
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  school districts to ensure
• 1:50
  transparency and responsible use
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  of public funds.
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  He picked four districts of
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  different sizes in terms of
• 1:57
  enrollment, AISD is the biggest one,
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  and also different locations in
• 2:01
  the state.
• 2:02
  So we have Austin ISD,
• 2:04
  El Paso ISD Barbers Hill
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  ISD which is east of Houston and
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  then Prosper ISD, which is
• 2:10
  north of Dallas.
• 2:12
  Okay, so now we know what is
• 2:14
  going to happen.
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  Do we know why, what is the impetus
• 2:16
  for this investigation?
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  Yes, back in August, Governor Greg
• 2:20
  Abbott asked the Comptroller to
• 2:21
  carry out this investigation saying
• 2:23
  that Texans deserve to know how
• 2:26
  education funds are used.
• 2:28
  And he also pointed out to an
• 2:30
  administrative bloat of districts
• 2:32
  and he said that money should be
• 2:34
  going to classrooms and teachers to
• 2:35
  instruction, not central office
• 2:37
  growth, consultants in quote,
• 2:39
  non-instructional bureaucracy.
• 2:41
  So that's why he asked the
• 2:42
  comptroller to out this
• 2:43
  investigation.
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  And he said the Comptroller could
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  pick the districts of different
• 2:47
  sizes and one
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  of the things that wasn't included
• 2:51
  was either charter or
• 2:53
  districts that are under a takeover
• 2:55
  like Houston or Fort Worth.
• 2:57
  When this news came into the KUT
• 2:58
  newsroom earlier this week, there
• 3:00
  was seemingly the same question over
• 3:02
  and over again.
• 3:03
  Has this happened before, now that
• 3:04
  you've had some time to look into
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  it, is this a normal course of
• 3:08
  action?
• 3:08
  So not to this extent financially,
• 3:11
  and what I've heard from advocates
• 3:12
  is the TA keeps an eye on how
• 3:14
  districts spend their money.
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  And regulations are pretty tight.
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  So they can actually, the TA can
• 3:20
  take over a district because of
• 3:21
  financial mismanagement.
• 3:23
  And so advocates, when I talked to
• 3:25
  them yesterday, they questioned why
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  these four districts are being
• 3:28
  looked at right now when there's
• 3:29
  already somebody who does that.
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  But I will say in the last year,
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  there's been plenty of
• 3:34
  investigations launched on Austin
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  ISD.
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  And in April,
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  the Texas Education Agency launched
• 3:41
  one looking into Pride Week.
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  Then we also saw a couple from
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  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in
• 3:47
  February was because of walkouts.
• 3:49
  We talked about it here.
• 3:51
  Students walked out because
• 3:52
  protesting ICE presence in Austin,
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  that was back in February, and
• 3:55
  Attorney General Kim Paxton filed an
• 3:57
  investigation.
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  Also there's another one about
• 4:00
  compliance and posting the Ten
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  Commandments in every classroom.
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  So,
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  There's plenty of investigations and
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  I will say we have not heard the
• 4:08
  results of those previous
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  investigations.
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  I asked Paxton's
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  office and also TA if they could
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  point to where I could find this
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  information and I did not hear
• 4:19
  back.
• 4:20
  What do we know about how this is
• 4:22
  going to affect the districts that
• 4:23
  are being audited?
• 4:24
  So we are not sure what it
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  will entail.
• 4:27
  The final report is expected to be
• 4:28
  completed by the end of this year,
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  December 31st.
• 4:32
  Avid said that he wanted
• 4:33
  legislatures to have information
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  before the next session to be
• 4:36
  able to make decisions.
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  And we know that starts next year,
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  2027.
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  But advocates told me when there's
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  an investigation, then that means
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  paperwork needs to be filed,
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  which means needing more admin
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  or somebody like reassigning
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  staff to look into that.
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  Somebody's gonna have to do that for us.
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  Right, which increases admin costs,
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  which is part of what they're
• 4:56
  looking into.
• 4:57
  Well, speaking of advocates,
• 4:59
  what have we heard so far from
• 5:00
  education advocates or even the
• 5:02
  Austin School District about this
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  audit, this investigation?
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  Yeah, so advocates told me that in
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  the last few years, districts have
• 5:08
  had to comply with more regulation
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  to access funding, which has
• 5:11
  led to more people in
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  central office.
• 5:15
  Let's hear Chandra Villanueva, who
• 5:16
  is with Every Texan.
• 5:19
  So everyone points to administrators
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  as a bloat within the school
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  system, but that's not always true
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  either.
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  If they're gonna make the system
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  more complex and put on
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  more regulations and
• 5:31
  rules on how schools operate and how
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  they can spend their dollars and
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  somebody needs to track and be
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  reporting that to the state.
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  And we also reached out to the
• 5:40
  district asking for an interview or
• 5:42
  for comment, but we haven't heard
• 5:43
  back.
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  But back in August, the TA flag that
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  Austin ISD hadn't lowered their
• 5:48
  student TAF ratio despite losing
• 5:50
  enrollment.
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  But AISD officials over the years
• 5:53
  have said that they have decreased
• 5:54
  administrative costs and
• 5:56
  during board meetings, we see very
• 5:58
  often a
• 6:00
  chart that shows their admin cost
• 6:02
  that has been going down.
• 6:04
  Okay, that is Greta Diaz Gonzalez
• 6:05
  Vazquez. She is KUT's education
• 6:07
  reporter. We're gonna have a link to
• 6:09
  her story in today's show notes.
• 6:11
  Greta, thank you.
• 6:11
  Thank you, Jerry.
• 6:21
  Alright, as you know, here in Public
• 6:22
  Radio we love our stories,
• 6:25
  and as KUT kicks off its new
• 6:26
  project, The Long View, Aging in
• 6:28
  Austin, we got to thinking about the
• 6:30
  stories we've all gathered
• 6:31
  throughout our lives.
• 6:33
  Well, NPR is providing a new
• 6:34
  opportunity for folks to share their
• 6:36
  story and their podcast ideas
• 6:38
  nationwide.
• 6:40
  NPR podcast fans are probably
• 6:41
  familiar with their student podcast
• 6:43
  challenge and their college podcast
• 6:45
  challenge, now they're adding a new
• 6:47
  one, a senior podcast challenge.
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  They're encouraging people aged 65
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  and up to produce stories of old
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  memories or new beginnings,
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  really just stories about almost
• 6:57
  anything.
• 6:58
  KUT's senior editor Saida Carrillo
• 7:00
  talked with NPR's Janet Oujang
• 7:02
  Li and Steve Drummond from the
• 7:04
  Society and Culture Desk about the
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  project.
• 7:07
  What's diff- about this latest
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  contest.
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  We're excited about this.
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  We've been working with students
• 7:13
  from grades 4 through 12 and in
• 7:15
  college for several years, but we've
• 7:18
  had the idea for some years that
• 7:19
  there's a different generation that
• 7:21
  might have something to say as well,
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  and that's people over 65.
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  There's 60 million Americans who
• 7:26
  are in that age group.
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  They're the fastest growing part of
• 7:28
  the population, and basically we
• 7:30
  think they're a group of people who
• 7:32
  have a lot of stories to tell,
• 7:33
  stories that don't often make it
• 7:35
  into the news media and stories
• 7:36
  about All kinds of
• 7:38
  things, so we're really excited to
• 7:40
  see what these folks have to say.
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  And how did the idea come about to
• 7:44
  work with seniors after so many
• 7:46
  years of working with younger
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  talent?
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  Year after year, some of our best
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  entries that came from young people
• 7:52
  often included voices
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  of seniors.
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  These were grandparents,
• 7:58
  older family friends,
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  sharing everything from personal
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  stories to retellings of
• 8:04
  historical events, which some
• 8:06
  of them lived through.
• 8:07
  And one year in our college podcast
• 8:09
  challenge, we heard from a student
• 8:10
  who went back to college in her 60s,
• 8:12
  talking about how that experience
• 8:15
  was like revisiting.
• 8:16
  School after all her other life
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  experiences, like having kids,
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  grandkids.
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  We just kind of pieced all that
• 8:22
  together and felt like this
• 8:24
  is a big part of our listenership
• 8:26
  and also people with
• 8:28
  so much life experience and such
• 8:30
  great stories that we don't often
• 8:31
  get to hear on the radio.
• 8:33
  So we are really excited to hear all
• 8:35
  about it of stories of entering
• 8:36
  retirement or whether it be new
• 8:38
  adventures, like travel,
• 8:40
  love, kids, grandchildren.
• 8:42
  Just anything you are passionate
• 8:44
  about.
• 8:45
  This is also just really exciting
• 8:47
  for our team to tap into stories
• 8:49
  that we haven't gotten to hear as
• 8:51
  much.
• 8:51
  We were really excited to learn
• 8:53
  about this project at NPR because
• 8:55
  at KUT, we're actually
• 8:57
  kicking off a new reporting project
• 8:59
  called The Long View, which is
• 9:01
  focused on aging in Austin.
• 9:03
  I'd love to know what you hope the
• 9:05
  broader audience takes away from
• 9:07
  hearing from seniors across the
• 9:09
  country.
• 9:09
  One of the things we've noticed over
• 9:11
  the years with our students is that
• 9:12
  young people talking in their
• 9:14
  own voice or to their peers
• 9:16
  is a very different voice and a very
• 9:18
  different sound
• 9:21
  than they do when they're talking to
• 9:23
  grownups. And we think with this
• 9:24
  older generation, we hope for a
• 9:26
  similar thing. These are people who
• 9:28
  often don't hear their voices in
• 9:31
  the national discussion and
• 9:33
  that They have all kinds of
• 9:34
  experiences and viewpoints and
• 9:37
  life.
• 9:38
  Challenges that we'd like to hear
• 9:40
  about and hear them talking in their
• 9:41
  own voice, in their own way.
• 9:43
  I imagine that for folks who are
• 9:45
  not familiar with podcasting or
• 9:47
  picking up recording equipment,
• 9:49
  it might be a little intimidating to
• 9:51
  jump into something like this.
• 9:53
  What message or advice would
• 9:55
  you have for seniors that might be
• 9:57
  nervous?
• 9:59
  Not take fancy equipment to
• 10:00
  make a podcast. And I really mean
• 10:02
  this because we've had winners and
• 10:04
  finalists in the past.
• 10:06
  Their podcasts would sound so good
• 10:07
  that I even asked like, what did you
• 10:08
  do to record?
• 10:09
  And they would say their iPhone mic.
• 10:12
  You just need a phone to
• 10:13
  record and a laptop to edit in.
• 10:15
  And if you are a
• 10:17
  little worried about the editing
• 10:18
  part, we have a ton of resources
• 10:21
  on our website that you can find by
• 10:23
  looking up NPR sound advice.
• 10:25
  That'll walk you through everything
• 10:26
  from best recording
• 10:28
  tips, best
• 10:30
  home studio setup,
• 10:32
  ways to use free software
• 10:34
  and different training materials for
• 10:36
  some of the ones we recommend that
• 10:37
  you can all download for free.
• 10:39
  Even within our judging criteria, we
• 10:41
  put so, so much more emphasis on
• 10:43
  story and structure.
• 10:44
  So if you are excited and
• 10:46
  know that you have a great story to
• 10:48
  tell, please just
• 10:49
  spend a little time thinking about
• 10:50
  that story more and just get that to
• 10:52
  us because we're just excited to
• 10:53
  listen to it.
• 10:54
  And as far as the subject matter of
• 10:56
  the podcasts go, it sounds like it's
• 10:58
  pretty wide open in terms of what
• 11:00
  people might want to explore, is
• 11:01
  that right?
• 11:02
  Yes, we've tried over the years to
• 11:03
  not to restrict it with students
• 11:05
  to social studies or government
• 11:07
  or some specific topic,
• 11:09
  but open it up widely and it's
• 11:11
  worked really well.
• 11:12
  We've had all kinds of stories and
• 11:13
  we're hoping with our senior
• 11:14
  listeners we'll get the same thing.
• 11:16
  Again, as Janet says, maybe it's
• 11:18
  adapting to retirement or maybe it's
• 11:20
  concerns about health or health care
• 11:22
  or the loneliness and isolation
• 11:24
  of the loss of a
• 11:26
  spouse or divorce or Again,
• 11:28
  on the positive side, new
• 11:29
  adventures, travel, romance,
• 11:31
  all kinds of things.
• 11:32
  Basically, it's wide open.
• 11:35
  I'd love to know more about your
• 11:36
  work.
• 11:36
  About the process.
• 11:37
  Tell me where people can get started
• 11:39
  and find more information if they
• 11:41
  want to participate.
• 11:44
  On November 30th and if you're kind
• 11:46
  of like where do I get started I've
• 11:47
  never made a podcast before look up
• 11:49
  NPR sound advice and from
• 11:51
  the top of the page you can
• 11:52
  literally go through everything from
• 11:53
  how to choose a good story to
• 11:55
  how to write a script to the very
• 11:57
  end with adding music and finalizing
• 11:59
  your podcast and making it shine
• 12:01
  Where is the work that seniors
• 12:03
  submit to the podcast challenge
• 12:05
  going to live?
• 12:06
  Our judges are gonna hopefully
• 12:08
  narrow it down to 8 or 10
• 12:10
  finalists and many of those over the
• 12:12
  years and this time too end up on
• 12:14
  NPR shows all over the place and
• 12:15
  then we're trying something new this
• 12:17
  year, our grand prize winner, we're
• 12:18
  gonna bring them to Washington
• 12:21
  on a Sunday and they'll
• 12:23
  be in the studio while they get
• 12:24
  to watch and listen as their story
• 12:26
  airs on weekend edition Sunday.
• 12:30
  That's NPR Steve Drummond and
• 12:32
  Janet Ujong Lee talking with
• 12:34
  KUT senior editor Saida
• 12:36
  Carrillo about NPR senior
• 12:38
  podcast challenge.
• 12:40
  Entries are due November 30th.
• 12:42
  We're going to have more about the
• 12:43
  project and how folks here in town
• 12:45
  can enter in today's
• 12:47
  podcast show notes.
• 12:49
  We have got more Austin Signal
• 12:51
  for you that's coming up after
• 12:53
  this break.
• 13:00
  Welcome back to the show.
• 13:02
  As you've heard throughout this
• 13:03
  week, the Austin signal team spent
• 13:05
  time at ACL Fest last
• 13:07
  weekend, speaking with attendees
• 13:08
  about current issues on
• 13:10
  their mind.
• 13:11
  We asked about AI and data
• 13:13
  centers, the upcoming election.
• 13:15
  And today here's what they had to
• 13:17
  share about immigration enforcement.
• 13:22
  David Zavala, T-A-V-I-T,
• 13:24
  Z-A V-A L-A.
• 13:26
  I mean, I have families that are
• 13:27
  DACA, I have family that are
• 13:28
  undocumented.
• 13:29
  They all came here
• 13:31
  to find work, they came here to
• 13:33
  live out their dreams and to find
• 13:34
  success and there's nothing wrong
• 13:36
  with that.
• 13:37
  We come to this land of
• 13:39
  opportunity and you
• 13:41
  can't just do that for some and not
• 13:42
  all, especially those that are
• 13:45
  seeking refuge from violence,
• 13:47
  domestic violence, sexual abuse,
• 13:48
  terrorism.
• 13:49
  To send them back home where
• 13:51
  they're unsafe, it's un-American.
• 13:55
  Guillermo don't go my mom is
• 13:57
  terrified to leave her house to even
• 13:59
  like go get food or like basic
• 14:00
  groceries So like that's really
• 14:02
  tough. She's worked her whole
• 14:03
  life to like build herself up from
• 14:05
  the ground. She has her own business
• 14:06
  She's finally successful I'm so
• 14:08
  proud of her like the fact that
• 14:09
  she's so terrified to live her own
• 14:11
  home when she's literally living out
• 14:13
  the American Dream, you know like
• 14:14
  everything that we speak for here in
• 14:16
  America
• 14:18
  You know, I want her
• 14:20
  to feel comfortable in the place
• 14:21
  where she lives
• 14:22
  Maria Rodriguez?
• 14:24
  Yeah, of course.
• 14:25
  It's really scary.
• 14:26
  Myself, like, you know, Latina.
• 14:29
  So, you it really is scary
• 14:31
  to get targeted by that,
• 14:33
  for sure. Like, you never know.
• 14:34
  Like, even going out, it almost
• 14:36
  feels scary.
• 14:39
  Anusha Razdan, um, honestly,
• 14:41
  yeah, I think that like seeing how
• 14:43
  like Maria is being affected by all
• 14:45
  this has really like been
• 14:47
  impacting me a lot.
• 14:48
  It's like hard to see people I'm
• 14:49
  close to be so
• 14:52
  impacted by that's
• 14:55
  so stupid.
• 14:57
  And we even actually like
• 14:59
  last year we planned a trip to San
• 15:01
  Francisco and there was like
• 15:03
  rumors of a big ice raid in San
• 15:05
  Francisco.
• 15:06
  The airport that weekend and so we
• 15:08
  decided to cancel our trip literally
• 15:09
  like the day before just because
• 15:10
  like it's crazy like it
• 15:12
  is so scary and unsafe and
• 15:15
  yeah like it just really
• 15:17
  sad to see all of this happening.
• 15:36
  Quite a few homegrown acts have
• 15:38
  and will be taking the stage over
• 15:40
  the course of both weekends at the
• 15:41
  Austin City Limits Music Festival.
• 15:43
  One of them, Almost Heaven,
• 15:45
  also happened to perform in KUTX's
• 15:47
  Studio 1A recently, and
• 15:49
  Austin Signal got a chance to catch
• 15:50
  up with members Stefan Barraza and
• 15:52
  Jalen Valero ahead of their ACL
• 15:55
  Fest debut.
• 16:00
  So tell us a little bit about
• 16:01
  yourselves. I understand that y'all
• 16:03
  were introduced through mutual
• 16:04
  friends.
• 16:05
  How did that come about?
• 16:07
  I'll do it. I'll take it.
• 16:09
  Um, the Jalen and I, yeah, we, we
• 16:11
  will, I don't know.
• 16:12
  Technically the story is.
• 16:14
  We were born in a lab.
• 16:15
  Yeah, we were made.
• 16:16
  The real story then.
• 16:17
  We were made in
• 16:18
  a lab.
• 16:20
  My lab was based in El Paso.
• 16:22
  Her lab was base in Austin,
• 16:23
  actually. Okay.
• 16:25
  But we were part of the same
• 16:26
  experiment.
• 16:27
  And essentially we came from the
• 16:28
  same DNA.
• 16:30
  And the whole point of the
• 16:31
  experiment was they separated us.
• 16:33
  And they wanted to see if we would
• 16:35
  find our way back to each other.
• 16:36
  Okay, so how did you recognize
• 16:38
  that she was your sister?
• 16:39
  It was like we heard our each
• 16:41
  other's voices and
• 16:43
  yes, my smell is the thing.
• 16:45
  Really horrifying.
• 16:46
  Yeah.
• 16:47
  I don't talk about it a lot.
• 16:48
  I understandably so, as I'm hearing
• 16:50
  about it right now. It's not the
• 16:51
  most appealing thing, but it is
• 16:54
  part of the human body and the human
• 16:55
  experience.
• 16:57
  What do you admire about your
• 16:58
  brother, your long lost brother?
• 17:01
  Um, his, how
• 17:03
  organic all of
• 17:05
  the amazing and
• 17:08
  slash insane ideas that
• 17:11
  come, come out of that brain.
• 17:13
  It's just, it's so authentic
• 17:16
  and anything he wants to do, he can
• 17:18
  do it.
• 17:20
  I think when you hear about his
• 17:22
  music origin story,
• 17:24
  you would be shocked to find out
• 17:26
  how long he's been doing any of
• 17:28
  this. And it's just so
• 17:30
  mind-blowing how talented
• 17:32
  he is.
• 17:33
  Do you find similarities in your own
• 17:36
  style, or do you find that y'all are
• 17:37
  kind of complete opposites and that
• 17:38
  makes, it helps to make things work?
• 17:40
  I think the coolest thing about
• 17:42
  our pairing is that we
• 17:44
  have such an aligned vision,
• 17:46
  but we pool from so many different
• 17:49
  influences that
• 17:51
  complement each other so well.
• 17:53
  And I think that's just why it
• 17:54
  works.
• 17:55
  What are some of the influences that
• 17:57
  y'all pull from?
• 17:58
  Um, first off, that's the nicest
• 18:00
  thing she's ever said to me.
• 18:01
  I mean, we need to do more radio
• 18:02
  shows.
• 18:03
  Um, no, I'm just kidding. You have
• 18:04
  to be ready because I'm going to ask
• 18:05
  you the same question.
• 18:06
  I mean if you've seen us
• 18:08
  live and the microphone doesn't give
• 18:10
  it away already.
• 18:11
  Um, LCD sound system is my favorite
• 18:12
  band of all time and they have been
• 18:14
  for a very long time.
• 18:16
  Ten Star Resort
• 18:22
  Really, a lot of the DFA world
• 18:24
  is a big influence on us.
• 18:25
  The Rapture is probably my second
• 18:27
  favorite band.
• 18:40
  And then we, I mean, Jalen
• 18:42
  brought in a lot.
• 18:43
  I think Jalen is very
• 18:46
  much still a
• 18:49
  music finder and
• 18:50
  like she has her ear to the
• 18:53
  pulse, you know?
• 18:56
  And yeah, I feel like I,
• 18:58
  once I started making music for some
• 19:00
  reason, I felt like I stopped
• 19:01
  looking for new music and I
• 19:03
  kind of just started trying to make
• 19:05
  new music, I guess.
• 19:07
  And Jalen's always still finding new
• 19:09
  music in. You know, she runs
• 19:11
  Locket magazine, which is an
• 19:13
  amazing Austin entity here as
• 19:15
  well. And they're putting on the
• 19:16
  craziest shows here.
• 19:18
  Like, you know, I don't know.
• 19:19
  It was almost like finding, she
• 19:20
  showed me like our other long lost
• 19:22
  cousins.
• 19:23
  Like, do you know what I mean? That
• 19:24
  are all around the world that are
• 19:25
  kind of doing something similar that
• 19:26
  I was not even aware of, you now?
• 19:28
  And it's like the Stitch show when
• 19:30
  he has like all those cousins
• 19:31
  scattered all over. Scattered all over.
• 19:32
  It all comes back to Lilo and
• 19:34
  Stitch.
• 19:35
  Oratories
• 19:35
  Yeah, sometimes I feel like I'm Lilo
• 19:37
  and Stefana Stitch.
• 19:38
  Okay, okay, you get it.
• 19:39
  Okay, okay. That's a great description
• 19:40
  for our radio audience.
• 19:42
  So tell us how is it that this
• 19:44
  music comes together?
• 19:45
  Um, I mean the process is
• 19:48
  intuitive very much so um
• 19:50
  But really what it feels like is
• 19:52
  Jalen and I are just finger painting
• 19:54
  with sounds We're
• 19:56
  just in the room finger painting
• 19:58
  loud sounds
• 19:59
  I want the sweat right off
• 20:00
  your...
• 20:04
  And pressing buttons on April 10th.
• 20:07
  Button spamming on April 12th.
• 20:09
  And then you get Fever Trying to
• 20:10
  Blow.
• 20:21
  All right, well, yeah, y'all are
• 20:23
  gonna be playing ACL Fest this
• 20:24
  year that is coming up very soon
• 20:27
  What does that feel like?
• 20:28
  I mean for you as a native
• 20:29
  austinite. How exciting is that?
• 20:30
  It's amazing, it's the best
• 20:32
  thing ever.
• 20:34
  I mean, all of my like, most of my
• 20:36
  earliest experiences like falling in
• 20:37
  love with music is at
• 20:39
  ACL in Austin.
• 20:42
  And like going to school the next
• 20:43
  day with my band still on and being
• 20:45
  like, sorry, I'm late today guys,
• 20:47
  I was at ACL yesterday.
• 20:49
  But yeah, it just couldn't
• 20:51
  be more of a full circle moment.
• 20:53
  It really is like the highlight of
• 20:54
  my life, get it to a place.
• 20:57
  Yeah, we're ready
• 20:59
  to rock and roll
• 21:03
  I am unwinding, the
• 21:05
  timing is perfect, it
• 21:07
  all makes sense now
• 21:09
  Stefan, do you have anything special
• 21:10
  planned for ACLFest?
• 21:11
  You're gonna be out in the crowd?
• 21:12
  Crowd surfing?
• 21:13
  What are you thinking?
• 21:15
  It's a secret come on
• 21:17
  we can
• 21:18
  2 Friday, Tito's
• 21:20
  stage. Alright.
• 21:22
  Okay, well before we let y'all get
• 21:23
  out of here, there are quite
• 21:25
  a few Austin artists featured on the
• 21:27
  ACL lineup, but not as many as
• 21:29
  some people would always like to
• 21:31
  see, so I wanted to ask y' all,
• 21:33
  do you have a favorite Austin artist
• 21:34
  right now that is always on your
• 21:36
  playlist, or tell us a little bit
• 21:37
  about someone local.
• 21:38
  There's so many.
• 21:39
  There's a lot. You should know.
• 21:40
  You should know, though, with the
• 21:41
  locket, I feel like you had, you
• 21:43
  should find that.
• 21:45
  Trying to pick a favorite.
• 21:46
  I don't know. I mean, we're big font
• 21:48
  font. Yeah, I was gonna be like,
• 21:50
  let's say one, two, three I knew
• 21:50
  we're both gonna say
• 21:51
  I had that literal same thought
• 21:53
  I was about to go scene on three
• 21:55
  one two three font.
• 21:57
  Yeah
• 21:58
  They're doing amazing things,
• 22:00
  there's so many big things coming
• 22:02
  up.
• 22:03
  Another group where it's just like,
• 22:05
  wow, I can't believe we get to be
• 22:06
  here to watch this unfold.
• 22:08
  We're very lucky.
• 22:11
  Same with Dice Fits, some of
• 22:13
  my favorite people in the whole
• 22:14
  world.
• 22:16
  86 Truth.
• 22:18
  That's my solo project.
• 22:20
  That's right.
• 22:21
  Okay, that's why I was not familiar.
• 22:22
  Okay. Um.
• 22:23
  Well, get familiar, everybody.
• 22:26
  This is what the purpose of the
• 22:27
  interview.
• 22:27
  DiceBits, Witches Exist,
• 22:29
  Team Trust, Daystar,
• 22:32
  there's so many!
• 22:34
  Fantastic! That's a good list to
• 22:35
  start out with and there's a
• 22:37
  few former KU-TX Artists of the
• 22:39
  Months and I have a feeling that
• 22:40
  pretty soon, almost heaven, will be
• 22:42
  a KUTX Artist of the month.
• 22:44
  We've been chatting with Stephán
• 22:45
  Barraza and Jalen Valero.
• 22:47
  Thank you all for your time!
• 22:48
  Thank you!
• 22:55
  Rock, push, push!
• 22:57
  All right, that is it for us today
• 22:59
  here on Austin Signal.
• 23:01
  I believe Almost Heaven's Set starts
• 23:02
  at 12.45 on Friday.
• 23:04
  Don't forget, Austin Signal is
• 23:06
  coming to you live from ACL Fest
• 23:08
  at Zilker Park.
• 23:09
  We'll be on the air from one to two,
• 23:11
  and it looks like the weather's
• 23:12
  gonna cooperate, so tune in, we got
• 23:14
  a lot of special things for ya.
• 23:16
  The Austin Signal team is Reina
• 23:18
  Sevilla, Alexandra Hart,
• 23:20
  Kristen Cabrera, and I'm your host,
• 23:22
  Jerry Kehannel.
• 23:23
  We'll back at the same time
• 23:24
  tomorrow.
• 23:25
  Talk to you then.