I Love You So Much: The Austin360 Podcast

Ham sandwiches, Ding Dongs, flautas and the softest scoop of mashed potatoes. No matter if you brought your own lunch or ate from school cafeteria, the back to school season brings waves of food memories, at least for staffers at the Austin American-Statesman and supporters of the Lone Star Paralysis Foundation. Over the past few weeks, Statesman food writer Addie Broyles asked more than a dozen Austinites what they remembered about school food, and we learned that it’s so more than square pizza. Here are their stories.

This week’s episode is all about the babes. We check in with Jane Claire Hervey, Xochi Solis and Natalia Rocafuerte from the powerhouse collective, Boss Babes ATX, as they gear up for the fourth annual Babes Fest. Designed to amplify the voices of female and nonbinary creatives, the festival is set to go down Sept. 6-8.

In this week’s episode we pay tribute to an Austin icon. El Patio Tex-Mex restaurant is closing on August 9 after more than 65 years in business. Paul Joseph opened the restaurant in 1954, and his family has run it ever since. Home to UT royalty and students and Austinites famous and anonymous, El Patio left an indelible mark on Austin culture.

In this week’s episode, we’re letting our fan flags fly with Suzanne Scott. Suzanne is a media studies assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where she specializes in researching all things fandom. We chatted about the evolution of fan culture, her new book titled “Fake Geek Girls: Fandom, Gender, and the Convergence Culture Industry,” and her own personal relationship with pop culture, including the Spider-Man character she cosplayed this July at San Diego Comic-Con.

In this week’s episode, we’re celebrating Austin’s culture of being hot and its intersection with the city’s fitness obsession. Gabrielle Munoz and Mark Wilson are both staff members at the Statesman who live active lives: Gabby’s a runner and Mark often goes out for bike rides and hikes on trails around town. We talked to them about how they adjust their workouts when Austin’s summer temperatures reach triple digits without sacrificing their active lifestyles.

Daniel Curtis’ life changed in 2011 when he dove into his backyard pool and slipped, became paralyzed instantly and woke up underwater and unable to swim to the surface for air. He was a chef at the time, and the food industry decided to hold a benefit for him that has turned into an annual event that has now raised nearly half a million dollars to help people with spinal cord injuries. Last year, Daniel joined me and former ILYSM co-host Tolly Moseley to talk about what people misunderstand about paralysis and how such a catastrophic injury has transformed his own life, in some ways for the better. The annual Pay it Forward with Daniel Curtis fundraiser returns on Aug 1 at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center, so we are re-airing our interview with Daniel, who is now married and a dad to an 8-month-old. You can buy tickets and find out more about the event at pifdaniel.com.

The Zilker Summer Musical has been one of Austin's most beloved traditions for more than 60 years. Held across the street from Barton Springs, many an Austinite can share stories packing a cooler, laying out a blanket and enjoying a Broadway-level production under the stars, for free. Costume designer Jennifer Rose shares what it takes to pull off this year's musical, "The Little Mermaid."

Virginia Willis is one of the most celebrated Southern cookbook authors working today. She’s based in Georgia, but every year, she comes to Austin on a culinary tour with Central Market. Statesman food writer Addie Broyles chats with Willis about how Central Market’s cooking school compares to others around the country, what to do with all those tomatoes and peaches, and why summer is her favorite time of year to cook.

Spamarama was an Austin fixture for decades before the cook-off and celebration of all things Austin weird disappeared 12 years ago. This weekend, the event returns to the Moontower Saloon, and founder David Arnsberger joined me in the studio to talk about why Spam sparks such strong opinions, how he’s seen Austin change since starting the festival in the 1970s and why Spamarama was never really about Spam in the first place.

The latest release from Austin’s world class cumbia ensemble, Grupo Fantasma is an ambitious platter that covers everything from everything from Turkish psychedelia to Tex-Mex. We caught up with Greg Gonzalez and Beto Martinez from the band to talk about growing up on the border, the band’s recent trip to Colombia and why they named the new collection“American Music Vol. VII.”

In the Live Music Capital of the World, it’s not uncommon for fathers who regularly play gigs in the clubs at night to be on dad-duty during the morning and afternoon if their spouse has a full-time day job. We talked to two such Daytime Dads as Father’s Day approaches: Corey Baum, who plays urban country music as the leader of Croy & the Boys, and Andrew Nolte, a pianist and pop music composer who was our December 2018 Austin360 Artist of the Month.

Everything is changing, from Austin to how we watch movies. For over 30 years, Vulcan Video has seen both up close. The store announced that it's fundraising to stay open & rent movies to the Austinites who still love renting physical copies of films.  In this episode, we hear from Vulcan Video customers about why video stores are still relevant and revisit a podcast episode with general manager Jacob Knight.

Austin360 music writer Deborah Sengupta-Stith explores the current slime trend terrorizing moms across the country (the world?). Toy Joy brand manager Robby Petinatoto and 15-year-old Round rock-based slime entrepreneur Jay Kang break down the history and craze behind homemade slime.

Austin' James Beard Award winning chef Aaron Franklin sits down with Statesman food critic Matthew Odam and some cold beers to talk about his new steak cookbook, the Master Class series he's starring in, the third annual Hot Luck festival and more.

John and Kendall Antonelli came to the studio to talk about how they came to running Austin’s first standalone cheese shop and how being business owners and parents changed their relationship with the city. We talk about the many layers of what it means to “be an Austinite,” being a boss who isn’t afraid to be vulnerable and why their partnership grew stronger after they started working together.

Gracey Jarosek, 44, lives with her son Thres in Bastrop, Texas. Jarosek's husband died in a car wreck when her son was four years old. They’ve forged a special bond on the ranch.

Aubrey Marcus, founder and CEO of Onnit, talks about fear, self-judgment and the keys to total optimization. The Westlake High School graduate and former star basketball player started his quest toward self-improvement as a teenager and later founded his company on the mission to help people become the best versions of themselves. 

Statesman culture writer Joe Gross talks to city hall reporter Phil Jankowski about Phil’s quest to rewatch every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, one a night, before the premiere of “Avengers: Endgame.” He’s been live-tweeting them, too.

Pat Byrne recently moved to Austin from his native Ireland, where he won the Irish version of the TV show “The Voice” in 2012. Last year he released a new album, “Rituals,” that was recorded partly in Austin with producer Rich Brotherton, a longtime guitarist with Robert Earl Keen’s band. Now since the album’s release, Byrne has been playing songs from “Rituals” at Austin venues such as the Saxon Pub and the Continental Club as well as Gruene Hall in New Braunfels. The Austin360 Artist of the Month for April 2019 shares what it's like to create music influenced by both Austin and his hometown.

Austin-based rapper Abhi the Nomad chats with Austin360 music writer Deborah Sengupta-Stith about how his Indian heritage and living all over the world has shaped his music.