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Art

Food

Change......................................... 6Cathedral of Junk....................... 7-8The Un-museumed Art............. 9-10 Chase Quarterman..................... 11-14

Best Dessert Shops in Austin......................... 22Top 5 Places to Listen to Music in Austin... 23-24Whole Foods Local or Corporate?................25-26To Be Organic or Not to Be.......................... 27-28Torchy’s Tacos.................................................. 29-30Austin’s Top Food Trailers............................. 31-32

Austin Guitar Town........................ 16Behind the Scenes: Of the most Unfamous, Famous Person in my life........................................... 17-18Has Austin Really Changed?......... 19-20

Table of Contents

Music

22223-243-24

80 u

b

2

Letter from the Editors

Dear readers, As you fl ip through this magazine we hope you are inspired to further learn about the beautiful city we live in. This magazine was originally intended for new-comers to Austin, and people who are not yet involved with their surroundings. Over time this magazine bloomed into the beautiful blue bonnet that it is, and it has evolved to be a magazine for the young, old, new and those already here. We hope that you enjoy reading this magazine and fi nd Austin to be a new love in your life, just like it is to us. Discover the areas you live in and that surround you, fi nd new things that you didn’t know were there before, and most important of all: continue to love and cherish this neo-hippy city you live in. Again, as we said before, we hope that you are as content with this magazine as much as we are.

BRB

~Stephanie ~Marley ~Cam ~Tempra

3

STEPHANIE

Mysterious Marley. She’s the cool soccer playah who loves to hang out with her friends *cough cough, us* and is an amazing person. She plays Sexyphone in the school band and is really into music. Like her long lost cousin, Bob, she grooves to the music and is an amaz-ing Sax player. In her spare time she loves to read... books? Marley has a twin, Grace, who’s her BFFL and another BFFL named Axel. Those are the top two but everyone else *cough, cough* is her BFFL.

Stephanie Park is a young, hip chic on the LASA school scene. She loves to play tennis and is an avid school newspaper writer. She loves to just chill with her cool peeps. She’s very fashion-able and loves to eat... Like the rest of us. She jams out to her own rules while playing guitar, even though her talent is “not good” according to her. But we all know how modest she is. (Just look at her! SHE’S SO CUTE)! She’s amazing at making layouts (as you will see) and will some-day grow up to be an amazing designer (if that’s what she wants to do...).

A message from all of us AKA BRB: We all hope you are even more interested in the Austin community and get more involved in the wonderful city that you live in.

MARLEY

4BIOS

Cam is the one who holds everybody together. She knows more about this stupid indesign pro-gram than any of us. She’s on the swim team. She has some mad guitair playing skizles. OCD about grammer and spelling she is the supreme editor of the group. She loves to chill with friends, and is now playing soccer. She is the sticky gluey stuff that holds this group together. She likes to take pic-tures with her olympus pen camera (Lucky ducky). (Tempra wrote this but now I’M TAKING OVAH) I don’t really know what else to say about myslef, I just love to chill with friends and bust a move on random things. I hope you enjoy reading this maga-zine as much as we all did while making it, although we did have our stressful moments.

“PURPLE TEN, HUT!” That’s our football gurlie! Tempra was on the school football team and loves any kind of sport. She’s the athletic one in the group (Although all of us play sports). She goes by the alias MAXZ, so if you ever see that around school you now know who this is. Tempra is very enthousiastic and somehow manages to get all her school work done, even though we’ve never seen her actually do any.... ? She’s always a person that anyone can lean on and like her position in soccer, she’s always the reliable one that blocks all the troubles life throws at you. Can you guess what position?

CAM

TEMPRA

5

ART

6ART Change

coveron the

only the ideafor the sake of

cultural renaissance

count the number of people who share

we’ve improved

spacetheir thoughts

we began life

the only reason to resist

we decided to make the change

preserve careful to

pagesthe newwe became more sucessful

opportunitythere will be

we

reduc edthe whole thing

a greatset of voices

the sould and missionremain the same

a vital time inhistory, and it is not

of sweet memorieswe make this change

Written by: Tempra W. C.

quality and investedto expand

was nostalgia.

discovered

7

Cathedral of

J U N KBy: Stephanie P.

CD’s hanging from the branches of the trees glisten, twisting and swirling in the wind. A gallant knight-in-shining-armor made from foil, tubes, and a motorcycle helmet is kneeling down with the sun perfectly crowning his head. A bicycle is obscured within the bright green leaves of a plant, with only its wheel suspend in midair. Stained glass is snugly nestled in a canopy of trees, il-luminated by daylight. The Cathedral of Junk is able to draw out childhood memories with its spring horse, and playground-like structure. Or so I’ve heard. I’ve never been to the Cathedral of Junk. At least not the unrestricted, complete, one in all its gran-deur. Since the month of March, the creator of the Cathedral of Junk, Vince Hanneman has been battling the city council in order to preserve his art. The Cathedral of Junk was not threatened to be dismantled because of safety issues, as the city council claimed, but for real estate issues. The city council claims that they issued deadlines for the Cathedral to meet city requirements because of their concerns about the safety of the structure. The city gave Hannemann only a few weeks to make major changes to the cathedral, or risk it be-ing bulldozed. However, the Cathedral of Junk has been standing for over twenty years, and in all those years, it has never caused

any physical harm towards the neighbors or visitors. The city even sent engineers, over the course of several years, to try to fi nd structural weaknesses, but they all failed to fi nd any. However, in order to make the structure even safer and comply with the city regulations, Vince Hanneman, removed about 30% to 40% of the original cathedral, and forbid visitors from climbing on top or going under the structure. Hanneman, at one point, decided to de-molish the entire thing, because he believed the cathedral has little of its original charm left. There is no doubt the cathedral is now a safe place. That is not the issue. But the city does not think the art piece is compatible with the neighborhood. So they are trying to break down any originality present, to make the neighborhood an ordinary, common, dull, neighborhood. They do not want to scare off potential buyers with the eccentricity that differentiates Austin from other cities. Luckily, Chuck Herring, a former sena-tor, persuaded Hannemann not to dismantle the piece any further. He claimed the city of Austin wanted him to keep the cathedral intact. Hannemann is now going through a series of paperwork to keep what’s left of the Cathedral up. However, now the visitors can not climb up or under the structure, which was the interactive part of the cathedral that truly pulled at the nostalgic memories of childhood.

8

Perhaps the most important aspect of the Cathedral is the value it holds for many Austinites. This single art piece con-nects Austinites. Having been in Austin since 1988, the cathedral isn’t something that Austinites can easily give up on. There were supporters who rallyed to “Save the Junk”, and volunteers who helped clean up the Cathedral to meet city regulations. There was even a concert held to raise awareness about the situation, which ended up raising $1,200 to help pay for the surveyors and engineers for the cathedral. This proves that the cathedral isn’t an object that can easily be forgotten after it is gone. It is obviously worth fi ghting for, or otherwise it would not have garnered so much support. It will forever impact Austin, in a negative way, if the Cathedral of Junk is dismantled. In addition, The Cathedral of Junk is an Austin landmark with national fame. Not only is this bizarrely interesting piece loved in Austin, but many people from around the nation come to view the art. It is especially a popular location for schools and senior citizen tour groups. The cathedral has gained popularity and numerous visits by hosting concerts, plays, and wedding parties. Over the years, the cathedral has been visited by approximately 10,000 people annually. The cathedral also represented Austin in the promotional materials for the People’s Gallery. The Cathedral

of Junk is a landmark of Austin that epitomizes Austin against the thousands of other cities in the United States. This may seem perhaps too dramatic, but how many sixty ton towers made of junk are in the nation? This cathedral is completely Austin; it unreasonable to destroy a part of Austin, and expect everything to continue on as normal. The Cathedral of Junk is standing now, but it is still in danger of being demolished. How long will it be until the city council changes their mind, and decides to issue another deadline for more modifi cations of the cathedral? Destroying the Cathedral of Junk would be like cutting off the arm of Austin. Austinites need to support this important Austin monument, and rally for its preservation. This rare piece of art, fi lled with the creativity that defi nes Austin is imperative to preserve. If I could go back in time and visit the Cathedral, I would like to be able to climb up the ladders to the second fl oor, or crawl under to see the lights. I want to see the Cathedral in its original glory, containing the free-spirited mind of the artist, instead of the restrictions of the city. Maybe someday, when the city council realizes the importance of the Cathedral of Junk, I will be able to experience the cathedral in its fullest state.

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9

The “UnMuseumed” ArtTempra W. C.

Twenty years ago there were barley any unexpected markings on buildings or signs, and if there were the perpetrators were quickly caught. Now-a-days sneaky little ninjas with spray cans rule the night. They are not caught unless by some twist of fate a person looks trough their window in the middle of the night. Even then they are fast enough to escape without the police getting involved. In the morn-ing you see the signs; they have left their mark. On the surface of the victim is their creativity for all to see, a new piece of modern “un-musemed” art. Looking around downtown the mark of taggers is unmistakable. Whether it is the walls painted white or the paint freshly sprayed it is all an expression of somebody. If art is an expression of ones self and ones feelings why isn’t graffi ti counted as art? As you are walking

downtown you see countless museums and art gal-leries in buildings but there are also art galleries on the sides of the buildings. The “un-museumed” art is recognized by some but by others it is a crime. To the anonymous creators of the graffi ti it is not only an art but a life style. They spend countless hours planning it and when it comes down to the work it take but a few minutes to put it up. Graffi ti is an art worth a felony now. It has now been put up into the ranks of drug use and pros-titution. It’s no longer vandalism or criminal mis-chief, but a form of urban terrorism. People think that this is a sign that the law enforcement have

Art by LASA art student

10ART failed to protect property rights and citizens. There are huge amounts of money associated with graffi ti: an estimated $12 billion a year is spent cleaning up graffi ti in the United States. Graffi ti contributes to lost the lost money associated with less people riding on transit systems, reduced retail sales and declines in property value. Also, graffi ti raises fear of gang activity. But, most of the opposition to graffi ti is because of its location and bold unexpected presentation. The presenta-tion and often illegal location does not necessarily disqualify it as art though. Although graffi ti is a felony and many people are op-posed to it another part of the population is for it. The peo-ple who do it are for it, of course, because they take pride in their work. But another portion of the people that are for it because they understand the art of it. Most people don’t know the difference between the art and the random sprays of paint from taggers. If the art world promoted a better un-derstanding of what graffi ti is and where it comes from not to elevate graffi ti, but to allow future knowledge to prevent the misrepresentation of the art form.The lack of knowl-edge and the people not taking the time to gain the knowl-edge are major restrictions to get graffi ti recognized as art. Even though people like to stick to the original spray-on graffi ti some are starting to switch to a kind of tempo-rary graffi ti.This temporary graffi ti is made with lights. The people who put on these light shows have a computer pro-gram that projects the lights on the sides of buildings but at the end of the show it doesn’t stay on.The laser artists have invented a new way to let people enjoy the modern appeal graffi ti has while still keeping it legal. They mix the element of street art with the lights and make it a show that is fun

for everybody to watch. The good thing about these light shows is that the artist don’t have to hide their work and they can take credit for what is theirs. Things have changed now, we have made advances in technology and found cures for diseases. We have in-vented new animals and gone back in time to discover new dinosaurs. The one thing we have not progressed in is open-mindedness. Sure we have opened our minds to some things like the democrats and republicans and to the possibility of other life. It’s the things that scare us and test our ability to consider other views we have not opened up to. Consider this, what if you were in the graffi ti artist’s shoes? Would you consider what you did art, or would you consider it a crime? Just think about it, you could be just like a sneaky little ninja with a spray can in hand if you had an idea that you wanted to express. Would you be able to express yourself and not have it be known as art? Would you like it if after all you hard work was put up for all to see, a city worker came down to paint over it because the people in the com-munity thought it was gang related or didn’t think of it as art? I dont know about you but Take time to consider another point of view and step into someone else’s shoes.

11

Chase Creativity Chase Creativity By Marley C. By Marley C.

Chase Quarterman glances at the empty canvas staring at him from a corner of his studio and for about the third time informs me of how long it’s been since he’s picked up a paint brush; too long. The beautiful

day outside illuminating the large window on one side of the room, the sun shining directly on to the acrylic paints all lined up perfectly straight and near at hand, and the amusing vintage objects scattered at random around the room cannot lessen the glum feeling I get when I enter Quarterman’s laid back but organized studio. The way Quarterman speaks of art, the melancholy tone of his voice as he speaks of his last painting which he complet-ed in August, reminds me of the way a mother would talk about the last time she saw her child before she went on vacation. As he looks thoughtfully at his most recent painting it begins to sound like he’s convincing himself, more than me, that he’ll get started again soon. “I think

I’m ready, I think Christmas break is going to be when I get back into it, but it’s been a nice break, I think I needed it.” Even though the artist hasn’t produced any new art-work lately, due to his teaching jobs at the Art Institute and UT, art has been part of his life ever since he was a young boy. He sold his fi rst painting in junior high for ten dollars-a small water color he had done for art class- and although he appreciated it to some extent in junior high and high school, his appreciation for art and paint-ing would not fully develop until he was twenty-one, and in a different country. Quaterman was primarily a theatre major, with a scholarship, at Old Miss for a month- only one month. Being a young man with nothing to lose, he left only be-cause of a bad vibe. After that, the young artist returned home to Jackson, Mississippi and went to somewhere he had originally refused to go-as it was only thirty minutes from his home- Mississippi College; he went, and loved

Chase Quarterman’s art studio.

12ART it. Even though he was a theatre major, a great deal on a trip to London is what led him to Mississippi College, and it was after this trip that he decided to become an art-ist. Quarterman took part in fi ve classes while he was in London; British theatre, art history, British history, British literature, psychology, “It was a fun semester of, constant-ly, when we had an art class we would go to the museums and see the…you know normally you open a text book and you have the pictures in front of you…but the paint-ing were in front of us; we would go to the British library, the national portrait gallery, and actually see these paintings in front of us and that was amaz-ing.” After the semester in London, Quarterman’s father fl ew over and the two continued to travel throughout Europe, going to almost all of the countries in about three weeks. Quarterman returned home, bought a cheap canvas board from Wal-Mart, cheap acrylics and began trying to paint from the photos he had taken in both London and England. At the time, he thought it was awe-some, but looking back now he seems to think differently. Art doesn’t just come to every artist as it may seem, according to Quarterman, it took a lot of work, “It started off me just painting tons, I would just paint,” Quarterman explained. “The spring break after that, I didn’t go anywhere- I just painted the whole time at my parent’s house. So, it was just practicing tons, paint-ing a lot. So eventually my style evolved in too completely different things and now I’m in a new place that I wasn’t in before-whether it’s good or bad I don’t know, but it’s just different.”As Quarterman gestured around the room to the paint-ings lining the walls, he talked about his earlier and later work, “My later work, which is up on the walls in here,

is more fi gurative, I’m more detail-oriented; before I would just paint architecture, I didn’t know how to paint people, I was afraid of painting people.” When I asked the artist if there was a painting he would never part with, he surprised me by pointing to a quiet portrait in a corner of the room, barely noticeable, being outdone by a grandiose painting which is Quaterman’s interpreta-tion of the oil spill. It quickly became clear, however, that there is more to a painting than its size or color and there is more to most paintings than meet the eye. “I painted

that in an apartment a few years ago, and I still need to varnish yet- I still haven’t varnished it yet… I really connected with it, I randomly-I use to be in advertising, and I would use a lot of time in advertising, when it was a slow day, to draw at my desk, hiding that from my boss- drew a doodle of a boxer, a 1920s-style boxer with the fi st-wraps and everything, and I took that drawing and brought it home and I thought ‘I want to paint this’; and this was kind of a land-mark painting because I’d never really painted people and I wanted to do it in this abstract, cartoony, style,” Quarter-

man said. “So I did that, and it started this whole slew of portraiture and characterture, fi gurative, painting. Yeah, I defi nitely don’t want to part with that one. I’ve tried- I’ve showed it before to sell, and no one bought it, luckily. At the time I was like ‘I’ll take whatever, if they’ll buy it I’ll sell it to em’’, but now I don’t think I’d do that, now that its lived with me for a few years it’s mine.” His art has grown and improved so much, in fact, that one of his painting’s was accepted into a permanent collection at the Mississippi Museum of Art- and ironi-cally enough, it was of what he was most scared to do, a person, “He’s a friend of the family and he’s an artist, he’s

Sullivan Temper ‘The Boxer’

13

one of those constantly creative people that I admire, and I photographed him sculpting with wire and photographed all his nick-knacks around his house, so it was a lot of fun- I like painting clutter so it was fun painting all that stuff in that room, he was a good subject.”As Quarterman began to talk about creativity and inspiration, he pointed out that those two things don’t come easily and that as an artist anything creatively fulfi lling is very rewarding, “It’s hard, I’m not one of those people who is constantly creative, I have periods of time were there is nothing, the well is dry, and then all of a sudden I have a lot of ideas and I sketch a lot and within three pages I have ideas for ten paintings, and that rarely happens, but when it does it’s gold, and the planets align, and I have all these ideas, but it doesn’t happen all the time,” He said. There are so many people, who, constantly, have all these images in their minds, and it’s perfectly fi ne, they can throw them out there whenever, and I can’t do that.” However, all you have to do to see the range of Quarterman’s artistic ability is look around his clut-tered, but comfortable studio; and as he explains each piece further you wonder how someone who paints Picasso’s Minotaur can be so inspired by his wife’s ‘cherry pajama pants’. “That took me a month, that took me a couple of weeks ,that took me just a weekend; Bonnie, she went away for a weekend, I photographed her, and she has these cherry pants that I really like, cherry pajama pants, because I like pat-

terns,” Quarterman explained. “I like Picasso, and he did a lot of Minotaur’s, so I mimicked a Minotaur that he did, and I made it more realistic.”His most recent painting is his unique interpretation of the oil spoil, which include a black, demonic-like creature is holding some sort of clay urn; and when he discusses the emotions, the frustration, that went into this painting it strongly supports his previous statement that when you fi nd inspiration, its like gold. However, this painting is not recent enough for him, as it was fi nished in August, and, according to Quarterman, this is the longest break he’s taken since he started painting, its been three months since he’s picked up a paintbrush. Although that may not seem like such a long time, as he explains what it feels like to paint, I can only be reminded of someone explain-ing what it feels like to fi nally breath after holding your breath for an endless amount of time. However, it almost becomes clear that painting has many ‘downs’ as it does ‘ups’. “It is, it’s letting out everything, and its not always fun, it’s a lot of hard work; your back hurts from being in a certain position for a long time and you may mess something up that you really like… the worst is when you paint a part of a painting that looks really good but its wrong in proportion to other parts, like lets say a face; lets say I paint a mouth really well, like I love this mouth-this is awesome, I did a really good job on this mouth- and I stand back and it’s off to the side, or its positioned wrong on the face and you just have to suck it up and wipe it off and think

A painting of Quarterman’s wife, Bonnie, in her ‘cherry pajama pants’.

14ART that ‘if I did it once I can do it again’.” Even when he gets frustrated, Quarterman con-tinues with the piece- he does one and fi nishes it, one at a time; and clearly this method has worked as he has scarcely any paintings that he is unhappy with. “Sometimes I stop and sometimes I just push through because I’m determined to be happy with it,” Quarter-man said. “I don’t want to go to sleep being frustrated because there’s nothing worse than waking up in the

morning, and walking in here, and the fi rst thing you see is a messed up painting, you want to go to sleep fulfi lled.”Along with always fi nishing what he starts, he also always tries to fi nd something to improve on, and uses other artists to do so as well as for inspiration. “Yeah, all the time I try to constantly…when I get to get to painting again I want to always try to improve myself- I don’t ever feel like I’m at a perfect place,” Quarterman said. “When I do feel like I’m at a good place I pull out an art book and look at John, Singer, Sergeant, or one of those guys, and I’m like I don’t know anything” Quarterman said laughing, “I’m not as good as I think I am, so that’s a reality check.” He hopes to always paint, and believes he will defi -nitely will, he hopes to one day make art his pure pro-

fession but for now he just wants to paint more. “My goal would be to continue too show in different places other than Mississippi, but I guess long term just being able to paint more, just painting more would be a good start, because when you don’t have paints to show that kind of counter intuitive, so I need to just put the brush to canvas and get to it,” Quarterman explained thoughtfully. “ I miss it, I like when I’m sitting painting for hours and it doesn’t feel like hours, it just feels like

it’s a minute and all of a sudden the days gone, that’s the best feeling…there is nothing like it.”

Quarterman’s interpreta-tion of the oil spoil.

15

MUSIC

Music 16

AUSTIN GUITAR TOWN

By: Cam V.

1. art by John Rogers2, 3, 4. art by Glenda Sims

1

2

3

4

Austin is a great artistic city. It has many different

programs that allow Austinites to be creative in any and every

single way. When walking around Austin, there are many different things apparent.

There are colorful signs and lots of art displayed all around. In specifi c, there’s one

project that many people don’t really know about but everyone notices it: The Austin

Guitartown.

The Austin Guitartown project is a public arts project who’s goal is to display art

to the public and combine visual and musical arts. The project consists of 10ft tall

Gibson guitars displayed all around Austin, where everyone can see it. The whole

project benefi ts four specifi c Austin based charities.

Of the most unfamous, famous person in my life

17

Behind the scenes:

By: Tempra W.C.

All Photos by Tem

pra

for the Commodores. ”I’m happy for him. We are still friends and every-one wants to be a rock-star but only a rare few can make it.” he said. Reece admitted that just doing a gig every once in a while does leave a little to be desired. “It’s defi nitely not the same as being up on stage getting paid thousands or millions of dollars to play.”It is like working two jobs for him, both a day job as a defense contractor and night job as a musician. It’s tiring; sometimes he has a gig on a week day and has to take the next off to get some extra sleep. “Living life now is like being a rock-star is its own way. I have a wonderful daughter and a wonderful wife. Things are going great and I wouldn’t change it for anything.” Reece says. Even though he does have a job as a defense con-tractor and he didn’t get to live his rock-star dream he still has a life full of happiness. His fi fteen minutes of fame will come sooner or later.

The crowd happily dances as the band plays. Then suddenly, both gui-tarist and bassist jump down form the stage. They stand out in the crowd armed with instruments and wireless controls. The people don’t mind and dance along with them. Towards the end of the song they rush back up to the stage to end the song. When the band fi nishes the gig the crowd still wants more. A quick decision to play an encore is made. They end the night with “All night long” by AC-DC. It was a good night for the band, because it made 60 dollars in tips. The band tears down the equipment and stumbles home. In the morning defense contractor, Gary Reece, sleeps in after rock-ing hard with the 80’s cover band, Red Alert, the night before. He is dad by day and rock-star by night. Reece started playing music when he was about 8 or 10 years old. He didn’t want to be an astronaut or a doctor like other kids his age; he wanted to be a rock-star and nothing else. Music was his life. His parents couldn’t afford a good music teacher so he taught himself to play different instru-ments by listening to Rush and Yes. Not learning any specifi c instrument he became good at a variety, like drums and guitar. “Being self-taught has taught me discipline but it has also taught me some bad habits. I don’t think I didn’t learn anything that an instructor could have taught me,” says Reece “Looking back on it now I’m glad I didn’t have an instructor. I got to learn things that they couldn’t have possibly taught me.” Picking up a red guitar from the stand he starts to play some exercises to work out his hands. Reece has played for many bands in his musical career. At the top of the list is the Newman Smith High School marching band. He was in the drum-line of an award winning band. “I liked playing for a school band,” he says. ”I still got to go see the sports, but it was for free. I didn’t really care about them though. I just liked playing music”. His next band was a cover band. They stayed confi ned to the garage and didn’t get any gigs but some of players had real talent. In this band they didn’t get paid. They were just having fun. Money wasn’t all they cared about it was just playing to play. While the members were having dreams of making it big his friend Scott Kay actually did. Scott Kay is now a drummer

Teacher’s Association Gig

18Music A

mer

ican

Hea

rt A

ssoc

iatio

n G

ig

Scot Johnson

Gary Reece

Karl Friedrich

19

hashas austinaustinreallyreallychanged?changed?

by: cam v.

The cool nighttime scene is spread across Austin while the lights en-chant the eyes of the public and

the slight feeling of freedom overcomes. The smooth, sad music dances on the sound waves like an old dune buggy on a newly-paved road. The individual notes, staccatos and legatos dance and create a mood of uncertainty, sadness, and antici-pation. They mix and blend together to form a song. This is Ted Hall’s life, 365 nights a year. A working musician, guitar school owner, and teacher, Ted Hall lives the life that most would envy. This man began his music career at the age of 8. Only a student then, he fell in love the day he picked up the guitar. Flash for-ward a few decades and you’ll fi nd him mostly on Sunday nights enchanting the ears and minds of local Austinites and

outsiders as well. When Hall fi rst arrived in Austin he was immediately enamoured with the city; with open arms Austin welcomed him as much as it welcomes new comers, fi lling Ted’s empty well of creativity. The atmosphere, community, and music drew him and others to Austin. Some reasons unknown, and some reasons obvious... Austin is the home of many musicians, artists, and creative citizens all alike. For Hall, Austin has treated him like a brother since then day in 1986, when he arrived here from Houston. After years of tour-ing world-wide, Ted landed in the Texas giant and soon began managing a local music store. Later on, the store owner decided to expand his business to Austin, and Ted followed. Hall was a new comer to the whole music scene in Austin, but in

1987 he knew just what he wanted to do there. Ted left the music store, which is still open today, and on August 1st, 1987, he opened the Austin Guitar School. The school fi rst started with only 15 students and a couple of teachers, now the Austin Guitar School has expanded to teaching about 300 students weekly and it employs more than 15 teachers. The growth of the guitar school has been an analogy of how the Austin music scene has grown. More and more people seem to be more interested in music, or the arts in general and this trend has had many different outcomes. All this growth in the music scene and the art scene have had both positive and negative effects on the Aus-tin community itself. Ted said that “there doesn’t seem to be as many quote on quote, name, clubs.

artwork by dave wilson

20Music

Clubs when I came in town had names and now so many have come and gone, so many of the main stays aren’t around anymore.” On the contrary, Austin has grown enormously with its technologi-cal advances and with the largely grow-ing population of local musicians. There are many different “cliques” in the Aus-tin music scene. Groups defi ned by mu-sic genre, like Country, Rock, Indie, and Techno distinguish cliques from one another. Although they are different in many ways, they’re all connected through the Austin Chronicle, downtown music venues, and the whole “Hippy Aura” of the area. “There’s a lot of places for bands to play and it’s pretty diversifi ed... but over all it’s a reasonably tight nit com-munity,” said Ted, he also described Aus-tin as,“a cushy couch and you can just get completely locked in with laziness,” oth-ers said that it was a city where, “you can plug in anywhere so to speak, so many

by the music his older brother listened to. “[The rock and roll scene was] pretty much where it unfolded,” He said,” From an older brother that was well, really into music, and just kinda diverse background so to speak... I ended buying an electric guitar with my allowance money and my brother took me to the music store... and here I am.” Aj, like many other art-ists who’ve heard much from the “grape vine,” have migrated like a fl ock of birds to Austin to fi gure out what the hype re-ally was all about. Perhaps because of Austin’s early start, when it began its musical talent in the 1930s; fi rst when the local Threadgill’s music venue fi rst opened its doors, and later on in the 1940s when many differ-ent venues began to become available all around the area as well. At fi rst the musi-cal community was only, “all about who

different little fast things that you can do...” Austin became home to Ted Hall in 1986 and later on it also became the host of AJ Inzana, a private lesson teacher for the last nine years and also a part of the crew in the Austin Guitar School. “those little things that I heard through the grape vine,” were the ones that drew him to Austin. He was enamoured with the city just like Ted was when he fi rst ar-rived. AJ became interested in playing the guitar when he was 10. Mostly infl uenced

you knew, and you always had to be at the right place at the right time. Timing was everything,” according to Ted. The music scene somewhat has changed over the years, it’s not so much about who you know as much as how talented you are. Any musician can easily fi nd a niche in this new era of musical talent, all in the vibrant light of Austin. Maybe that’s what really drives everyone that migrates to Austin to migrate. So... the music continues, the night time scene glows, and the stars on the skyline twinkle and shine to the beats of the song. The dune buggy drives on...

Art by G

lenda Sims

21

FOOD

22FOODSTART

FINISH

#5.

#4.

#3.

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#1.

5. art by Sheeshoo

4. art by John Rogers

3. art by Tammy Green

2. art by Dr. Craig, and Sean Dreilinger

1. art by Niklas Pivic

Hey Cupcake!

Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop

Amy’s Ice creams

The Yogurt Spot

Magnolia Cafe

5. Sugar Ma-ma’s Bakeshop is a great place to go. They have amazing desserts and an awesome environment.

4. Hey Cup-cake is delicious! Just like their name, their food consists mostly of cupcakes and is a great way to go!

3. Amy’s Ice Creams are also totes delish! Their pumpkin ice cream is THE BEST!

2. The Yogurt Spot, is great for a healthy snack and a sweet one as well. All of their yogurts are all natural and super mega packet with nu-trients

1. Magnolia’s Cafe. Hands DOWN the best place in the whole wide world. their whole menu is full of surprises that will leave your palate wanting more and more...

BEST DESSERTERTSHOPS IN AUSTINN

By: Cam V.

23

Enfi eld Rd

Windsor Rd.

Win

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on B

lvd

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Lake A

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Zilker BotanicalGarden

Top 5 Places to Listen to Live Music in Austin

Mozart’s Coffee Roasters & Bakery Live music is offered each week from Thursday to Sunday. Performances are outdoors where you can enjoy the fresh air and tranquil scene of Lake Austin. The scrumptious desserts are just an added bonus. Antone’s Nightclub Opened since 1975, Antone’s has hosted legendary musicians such as B.B King, Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, and The Fabulous Thun-derbirds, only to name a few. The venue is open to all ages. Jax Neighborhood Cafe Jax is a terrifi c family cafe where the Austin Guitar School regularly plays showcases. There is a laid-back environment and a great atmosphere just to hang out. It also doesn’t hurt that they offer great coffee and pastries. Stubb’s Bar-B-Que Not only does Stubb’s present their customers with mouthwatering food served in bottomless plates, but they also have great live music. The atmosphere is lively during the performances, and they have an outdoor stage where they hold regular events. Emo’s There are two stages in Emo’s, one placed outside and the other inside. The outdoor stage is rather spacious but it can get pretty crowded during shows. But there is a beer garden for those who don’t like packed places. The performanc-es are for all ages.

Top 5 PlacesPlaces to Listen toto Live MusicMusic in

AustinAustin

W 1st St.

Atla

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By: Stephanie Park

24FOOD

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ar Blvd

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North University

University Teaching Center

West Austin Park

Duncan Park

House Park

Downtown

Austin

Bob Bullock Texas State

History Museum

Texas State CapitolW 5th St.

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W 6th St.

W 6th St.

25

I remember the fi rst time I walked in to Whole Foods; eight years old, fi lled with curiosity and easily wowed; my eyes bugged at the grandness of it all, the quintessence of it all. The words

‘Thailand’, ‘France’, and ‘Spain’ shout-ing out at me from the shiny products lining the shelves, things from all over the world, right in my local store. Now, six years later, when I walk into Whole Foods, I can’t help consider the articles read, radio-stations and news broadcasts listened too; all telling me that under the surface Whole Foods business goals are no better than Wal-Marts. Although Whole Foods started local, there are clear signs it has grown corporate.

In 1980, the fi rst Whole Foods was opened in Austin TX by John Mackey and Rene Lawson Hardy who wanted to make organic, natural, foods available for reasonable prices, and educate their customers on the importance of such

foods. They also wanted to avoid the corporate image, and have a unique staff system that was laid back and casual. The workforce is relatively young, the dress code very liberal and all-in-all most of the corporation is decentralized down from workers, departments, managers, awards, and, even when a customer gets fi red, it’s broken down and purifi ed. These things are instead referred to as team members, teams, team leaders, “high fi ves” (awards), and when someone gets let go the “separation” is announced.

It all seems to be the quintessence of what a corporation should be, but, like most stores living in reality, these things of course forward the corpora-tion in one way or another. Somehow, John Mackey has managed to gain a multimillionaire status while his employ-ees have stayed in the $8- $13 range for as long as can be remembered. This is made possible by young employees not staying long due to school and other long-term plans, as well as having no managers which mean no raises or pro-motions. This image, the unique culture,

of this staff, makes it hard for workers to unionize or complain, who wants to fi ght what appears to be the good guy?

As Whole Foods local persona de-creased so did their honesty about their products, and as they expanded, so did their prices, and their ‘local customers’ became higher-income clientele who were willing to pay more for partially higher quality products. Last year, when Wal-Mart started promoting their own organic products, Whole Foods south-west regional president made it quite clear that the idea of Wal-Mart posing as competition very amusing. He, Michael Besancon, even told Rocky Mountain news that “There’s no way in the world that we’d win a price battle with Wal-Mart, I’m relatively smarter than that.”

America, that is, Americans, are stuck on this idea, illustrated by Whole Foods, that organic, healthy, food couldn’t pos-sibly be cheap; if something is expensive it must be a great product, right? Wrong. Whole Foods products have proven very questionable; especially when they refused to reveal their use of GMO’s and toxic chemicals in products, the cas-

Whole Foods, local Austin

or gone corporate?

By: Marley C.

FOOD 26

The main offi ce of Whole Foods located in Austin, Texas

Art by: Flikr Creative Commons

es of mercury in their fi sh began more present along with the refusal to adver-tise that until forced, and, when people started noticing the amount of products in their store labeled ‘made in China’.

John Mackey’s actions are not help-ing Whole Foods newly gained corpo-rate image return to normal; his politi-cal stances, which are also considered Whole Foods political stances, seem to be at odds with what the company claims to want for it’s people.. He re-cently took a very open stance against the government being involved in health care which, even after he claimed it was his personal opinion and not that of Whole Foods, resulted in their boycott, Mackey has faced much public humilia-tion over this and other statements and actions committed. If the store claims to know it’s customers then Mackey

should know that all ‘organic-loving hippies’ would strongly oppose his health care belief, and would then ques-tion the stores goals and beliefs them-selves. If Whole Foods wants to help the people, it’s customers, by making lo-cal organic food available and affordable why would they want affordable health care to not be available to the customers that it claims to care so much about? So, customers begin to wonder, does Whole Foods really care at all?

Now, when I walk into Whole Foods, I no longer stare in awe at the marvelous products, but look closer, and wonder, why does the jar of jelly imported from one of Austins local farms sit next to a jar imported from China, and cost the exact same amount? Does the fact that as the corporation expanded their policies changed-their honesty had to

decrease in order to further their busi-ness, and their prices had to increase to support this newly expanded business- mean that Whole Foods is no longer a local business? I think it does.

27

By: Cam V. It’s November; the grocery store is full, and sweet smells of bread, and fresh fruit slowly dance around your nose, all daring you to taste their delicious fl avors. To your right you see tomatoes, beautiful ripe and gorgeously red tomatoes. What’s wrong with this picture? IT’S NOVEMBER. Tomatoes aren’t in season, so why are they in your local grocery store? Truth is, they’re imported from different parts of the world and end up costing a lot more than what the price tag says. Why? Be-cause the costs of harvesting, packaging, and shipping those tomatoes from halfway around the world ends up being costly, for the environment. Makes those “going green” efforts go to shame, huh? But what can you do to really save the environ-ment? Buy organic, yes you do have to dig a little deeper in you pocket when at the checkout, but I would rather pay those extra few bucks than spend hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars on medical bills down the road. All those doctors will tell you is what you’ve known all along, the food you’re eating is killing you and the environment. Cold, hard, facts; those year-round tomatoes are treated with harsh chemicals and pesticides, and may be Genetically Engineered (GM). Just because we don’t know what exactly could happen to you down the road after years of eating, and eating conventional food, doesn’t mean that it will never affect you; or the environment.

Although the long term effects of chemicals added to plants and other foods that the world produces are no known yet, it still is a risk factor that down the line will affect millions even billions of people. Pesticides that are used on many plants are harmful, they can cause severe damage to people who are ex-posed to them. Children in elementary schools have gone into “spasms” due to the spraying of nearby orange trees with pesti-cides. Also in Earlimart, California many people got ill because of pesticides that blew in from nearby potato fi elds. A woman’s case shows that pesticides are very harmful; when spraying of pesticides started in 1984 at her workplace; she developed swol-len eyes, very itchy skin, and sleeplessness. These pesticide was used to get rid of bugs in the building, it is still used freely on plants to kill weeds and other pests all around the United States. These pesticides could be used in a farm that supplies food to your local grocery store, the risk of suffering the same reactions or even worse are very big. These pesticides that were use in 1984 are still used today even though they are know to be harm-ful to humans and other animals. Genetically Engineered foods help produce food in the masses and helps reduce world hunger all around the world but it also has many risks that follow it; risks that could in the end harm the world population instead of helping it. Genetically Engineered food fi elds are so much harder to control than or-

oror

NOT?NOT?

organic

28FOOD ganic food fi elds, the complexity and composition varies from plant to plant so there has to be a different test conducted for each food. These tests help determine whether the food is safe for the public and a profi table crop. When these foods are ge-netically modifi ed, a set of genes are changed, implanted, or taken out of the genome of the plant. This causes mutations to the plant, these mutations could involve different factors that the engineers want. Many genetically modifi ed foods could cause a spread of antibiotic resistance due to the changes of DNA in the plant. When the plant is consumed these DNA mutations could cause mutations in the body that can harm the person. Many of these factors play a role in the whole picture that Genetically Engineered foods paint. This could set a ped-estal for an epidemic to break out. One that could be resistant to antibiotics and drugs that could help cure it. Either these foods harm humans by helping viruses and diseases become stronger and gain on humans, or they can directly harm humans by making people all around the world sick. To those really into the “going green”revolution you should know... conventional food might be cheap but it’s not green.Research shows that fertilizers as well as pesticides are “the

single largest global source of greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, and the largest source of agricultural CO2 emissions.” Many people in Europe, especially England, are going green by plant-ing their own organic gardens. This reduces CO2 pollution and also saves money. The machinery that is used in normal farms emits CO2 and doesn’t help the cause; on the other hand, plant-ing home gardens save the planet and wallets. Tough machinery isn’t needed in home grown gardens, and home made fertilizers like manure or compost end up helping the environment. In the end, growing organic gardens or even buying organic from local farmer’s markets ends up helping the planet by reducing CO2 emissions around the world, and stimulates the local econ-omy of the community. So now that you know the shady side of those gorgeous to-matoes, are yous till going to reach for them? I hope not, I hope you go for organic, but if you still don’t care about your future health and just want to save that extra buck now, go for them. Reach for those tomatoes, put your solar panels to shame, and don’t help your local Austin economy. But if this article has changed your opinion, then buy organic or local. Chances are, organic food in your grocery store is locally grown from central

Texas, which ends up helping your local economy; also farmers markets are a great place to buy fresh produce. You know most of them grow organic and you’re defi nitely helping your local economy that way. Even if after reading this article you’re still left with doubts and speculations, I want you to leave this with one question in mind: Does your wallet matter more to you than your health?

Some seasonal food being sold at the Hope Farmers Market

Art by Cam Valenzuela

29

OOutside, it is an ordinary sunny summer day. The trees rustle in the wind, and the birds chirp hap-pily. People are amicably talking with each other as they wait. But amidst all this idealistic tranquil-

ity lies a small white trailer where total chaos is ensuing. The employees are running around in circles, hurriedly pre-paring the ingredients they need to provide for the line of people patiently waiting out-side. But there is a co-lossal problem. Someone has forgotten to bring perhaps the most important ingredient of all. They looked everywhere,

searched through every box, opened every pantry. Panic be-gins to rise as the employees realize they have misplaced a vital ingredient in the recipe. The cheese is gone. According to Torchy’s Tacos owner Michael Rypka, inci-dents like this occasionally happen since the employees have to get food back from the commissary kitchen to the trailer.

“It can be tough,” Rypka says. “You do a big order and then they forget cheese or some-thing simple like that.” Despite these mi-nor problems that it encounters, Torchy’s is now an extremely successful and well-known business. Just

four years ago, Torchy’s was an inconspicuous food trailer, having endured the hardships of being overlooked in the

“Damn Good” Takes Austin“Damn Good” Takes AustinBy: Stephanie Park

At this point, for Austinites, writing a review for Torchy’s is like writing a review for Mc-Donald’s—everyone knows what McDonald’s has to offer.”

,,s now an ex now an exuccessful andccessful an

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TacosTacos

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orchy’sTorchy’s

Art by: Stephanie Park

30FOOD“Damn Good” Takes Austin Austin community. In fact, Rypka can still recall the bumps

in the road when fi rst opening the trailer. “It was mostly just me and a cook to start off with,” Rypka says. “In the beginning, I used to go around and take tacos around on my Vespa... I would deliver those to all the businesses and stuff downtown. But we stopped doing that. We just kind of out grew it.” Soon after, Rypka and Bill Roberts, his former business partner, were able to obtain a trailer. In 2006, food trailers did not have the following it does today, so getting custom-ers to visit was not an effortless task. In attempt to attract customers, Rypka and Roberts had to do some marketing in the beginning. For an example, Rykpa would hand out free chips and salsa. That way, customers would visit the trailer and begin calling in orders. This hard work eventu-ally paid off, for today, Torchy’s is known by nearly every

Austinite; in fact, it has turned into a sort of icon for Aus-tin food trailers, gaining a large amount of loyal customers. “I think it really came from the customers,” Rypka says. “[We were] just doing our best, serving the best food we could serve. [But] the customers really spread the word for us.” It’s true. In fact, a recent review on Yelp claimed, “At this point, for Austinites, writing a review for Torchy’s is like writing a review for McDonald’s—everyone knows what McDonald’s has to offer.”

According to Torchy’s customers, the rising popular-ity of the trailer is undoubtedly linked to the appetizing food served. The mouth-watering food and unique variety in the menu differentiates the taco place from any other restaurant. “I would have to say my favorite [food] is the fried avocado taco or… the Grande burrito. It’s a really tough choice; all their food’s absolutely delicious,” Marley, a fre-quent Torchy’s customer, says. Cochran goes to Torchy’s nearly every other day. Rypka actually comes up with the popular menu him-self; he previously worked as a chef, so he has a plentiful bank of knowledge and experience with food. “[I] start putting ingredients together until I come up with something that I get excited about,” Rypka says. “[Then] I let other people try it, and my cooks and cashiers try it. If everybody likes it we run it as a special.” In addition to the food, high school and college stu-dents enjoy the comfortable setting that makes Torchy’s a favorable location. “I think it’s the environment that makes Torchy’s dif-ferent,” Cochran says. “Usually when people go there, they come back, and everybody really gets to know each other. It’s not just a formal business, but a place where you can get together with friends, socialize, and have a great meal all at the same time.” Due to the immense success of the trailers, Rypka claims that there are plans to open more restaurants in the future. The expansion of this popular food location in Austin will hopefully help spread the Austin experience with everyone. “Other than [opening more trailers], that’s about as far as we can see at this point,” Rypka says. “We’re just taking it as it comes, and just kind of seeing what comes about.”

Art by: Boz Bros

31

Austin

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Fo

od

Tra

ilers

Torchy’s Tacos opened in 2006 when Michael Rypka left his excutive chef job and parterned with four other taco optimists. Their ‘taco dream’ has proven worth while with multiple Torch’s Tacos around Austin, and even a trailer park. Torchy’s is open everyday of the week, with times vary-ing based on the day. They offer thirteen different tacos, as well as vegetarian items, their all-famous salsa, and the taco of the month.

Hey Cupcake was opened by Wes Hurt as a way for him to exspress his exspres-sion and creativity. However, it has grown into much more than that since then and is one of the most popular food trailers on South Congress Avenue. This trailer offers twelve different cupcakes, and is most famous for the ‘Mi-chael Jackson’ cupcake whith its cream cheese top and chocolate cake. Also offered is coffee and milk to go along with your sweet treat and very stylish Hey Cupcake t-shirts.

By: M

arley

C.

32FOOD

lulu b’s Lulu B’s Sand-wiche’s was opened January 4, 2008 and is the only Vietnamese food trailer in Aus-tin, TX today. They are open every day except Sunday and Monday and offer multiple Vietnamese sandwiche’s, vermi-celli bowels, summer rolls, and even offers smoothies, Vietnam-ese coffee, and their traditonal bubble tea.

Mighty Cone was opened when the owner of Hudson’s on the Bend, Hud-son Blank, wanted to make the iconic cones that had he had es-tablished at the ACL festival available year round. And so, The Mighty Cone was born March 2009 on South Congress Av-enue of downtown Austin. They are open every day of the week except Monday, from 11am to 9pm and offer hot n’ crunchy cones, deluxe cones, their all famous chili dusted fries, sliders, desserts, and shakes.

Yes, even Sushi has come to trailers, with Sushi A-Go-Go. This unique trailer opened in July 2009 and has spread to several other locationans around Austin since then. The trailer specializes in made to order, fresh sushi rolls every day of the week. They have over fi fty menu items, mainly sushi rolls, as well as other traditional Japanses style dishes.

Doodle

Space

“muhahahahahaha *cough, cough*”

?BRB