Eating Fresh Texas - a blog by Jason Repko

Eating Fresh has MOVED!!!!

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:35:00 +0000

Eating Fresh Texas has MOVED to http://www.jasonrepko.org
Rather than forcing a redirect, we though you'd like to read what happened and visit the new site for yourself!
Please visit
http://www.jasonrepko.com

Austin City Limits Music Festival 2009: CanA'''t Miss This - Saturday 10/3

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:02:00 +0000

ALELA DIANE - Sun, 10/4, 11:45am (Dell) We know from experience that by the time Sunday morning rolls around, you've got a ringing in your ears that even the hair of the dog can't cure, and a wad of crusty peepers in your eyes. Many make the mistake of rolling into the last day of the festival at 2, 3, even 4pm, thereby essentially forefeiting many quality acts from your $185 pass investment. Now is that sound financial management? Of course not! Alela Diane's brand of Nevada City, California folk is both soothing to your ears and pleasant on the eyes. Diane is as young in looks as she is on her birth certificate, but years of wisdom have taught us that it doesn't take forever to gain perspective. She combines an observant and nature-filled lyrical pen with a voice soft with a fluttering firmness It accompanies her dexterous acoustic fingerpicking of a well worn Gibson. She'll be travelling with a very light rhythm section that adds a spring-like punch to her list of all original songs spanning three albums since 2006. With a 70% likelyhood you'll start your day three with clouds and rain, don't wait at home. Awake from your groggy state of mind with music that moves like a river awake with fall color. ~jason repko

Austin City Limits Music Festival 2009: CanA''

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:23:00 +0000

LEVON HELM - Sat. 10/3 6pm (LiveStrong)

It's hard to believe someone who's almost 70, has been perfoming for nearly 50 years, and who recently had a biopsy still has *it.* But you won't need us to tell you founding member of The Band and 2008 Grammy winner Levon Helm can still smack the skins. And play the guitar. And sing. And make magic happen.

More or less formulated through his Midnight Ramble sessions at his studios in Woodstock, NY, Helm's band is composed of a hoarde of great players including daugher and guitarist Amy Helm, fiddler Larry Cambell (B.Dylan, Emmylou Harris), trumpeter/composer Steven Bernstein (Lounge Lizards, Sexmob), harmonica player Little Sammy Davis, acordian/keys Brian Mitchell (B.B. King, Al Green, A. Touissant), and a handful of others.

Not nearly as active recently, health issues have forced Helm to take it easy on his delicate vocal chords and pass on some of the singing to other members of the group. He doesn't play but a few dozen times a year.

By dusk on Saturday you'll have witnessed history...

~jason repko

Austin City Limits Music Festival 2009: Can't Miss This - Saturday, 10/3

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:17:00 +0000

BON IVER - Sat. 10/3, 5pm (Dell)

A purposefully mis-transcribed play on the French term for *good winter,* Bon Iver is the heart frontman Justin Vernon wears prominently on his sleeve.

The 2007 debut album For Emma, Forever Ago, is a collection of rumintative songs that very loosely chronicle his bout with mono, a breakup and a geographical move. But they also speak in awe of nature. It's the sound of a man left alone with his emotional imagery and a guitar. Vernon's vocal phrasing is sweeping and poignant and he uses it like another musical instrument, fully aware of the power it posesses.

There is something seminal already developing with Vernon's music and for the folks at ACL to book Bon Iver and place them in a prominent time slot is brilliant (it's too bad it's not about an hour later nearer sunset). Just a few days ago, they performed at the Hollywood Forever Cemetary at 6 in the morning!

~jason repko

Austin City Limits Music Festival 2009: Can't Miss This - Saturday 10/3

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:11:00 +0000

!!! - Sat. 10/3 2pm (AMD)

Wild. That will be the scene, the vibe and the set that these New York-based, dancearound indie-pop-punk gents infatuated with exclamation points (pronounced Chk-Chk-Chk like the sound of a keyboard), bring to the West side of the park on Saturday. Lead singer Nik Offer tends to get the hipster dance junkies going these days, something !!! used to get a lot of shit for just a year or two ago.

Everything revolves in circles, and Austin, full of 80's gear-wearing hipsters that were too young to remember the Clash's disco-dance phase or Mick Jones going to the pop-culture darkside with Big Audio Dynamite, will eat this up. We mean it. This will be THE gig the hip crowd will be talking about long after the dust, er...the grass clippings settle. Take the attitude of Dave Chapelle's Rick James funk, slap it with the Clash and roll it out with a serious bass line and a drum beat that won't quit and folks, this side of the park is going to be seriously rocking.

There is a dance-revolution going on in indie rock (or is that Evil Otto from 80's arcade game Berserk?) !!! are punctuating the movement.

These guys are ready. Question is, are you?

~jason repko

Austin City Limits Music Festival 2009: Can't Miss This - Friday, Oct 2

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:45:00 +0000

The PARLOR MOB - Sat. 10/2, 2:20pm (Austin Ventures)

People, you’ve got to be ready for ACL right out of the gate– and we know you are. With the impossibility of scheduling every band in its ideal time slot, gems like The Parlor Mob risk getting lost in the shuffle.
Hailing from Asbury Park, New Jersey, Parlor Mob is a now-and-then collision of the sounds of Jack White, the Black Crowes and Led Zeppelin. Guitarists Paul Ritchie and Dave Rosen transcend their age and shred up riffs that would make Michael Schenker or Rik Emmett blush. Vocalist Mark Melicia is high-hitting and explosive.

These cats can really put on a show as evidenced here. For an audio sample of what you’ll experience, head here and then click on the song “Everything Your Breathing.” Follow it up with “Carnival of Crows.”

Signed to Roadrunner Records – a label who knows their talent – And You Were a Crow, is the band’s debut album and it’s a smoker.

Parlor Mob plays early in the day on the Austin Ventures Stage – and with the newly planted grass, turns the greenish venue into the closest thing ACL has to Chateau de Versailles. You’ll be able to get up real close for this one and get the Parlor Mob get your blood pressure going to start your ALC 2009.

~jason repko

Austin City Limits Festival 2009: Can't Miss This - Raphael Saadiq

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:17:00 +0000

Raphael Saadiq - 5:30pm, Friday 10/2/09 (XBox 360)

By the time Raphael Saadiq - former bassist of 80’s and 90’s swing and R&B outfit Tony! Toni! Tone! and known then as Charlie Ray Wiggins – hits the stage at the ACLFestival, he should be a household name once again. Staying relevant with last year’s Grammy-nominated solo album The Way I See It, Saadiq recently performed everywhere from Bonnaroo to the Stockholm Jazz Festival. Leading the way to the revamped R&B throwback album era are Joss Stone, Corrine Bailey Rae, Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones. It’s about time one of the guys returns to Hitsville with one of their own. Saadiq hits the Grand Salami.

Saadiq’s bass playing roots are prevalent in the heavy stepping vibe and he pairs it with a soulful vocal delivery. Here’s a little nugget from his website www.raphaelsaadiq.com and a recent video performance from Sept. 28, 2009, on NPR’s Tiny Desk. Along with guitarist and right hand man, Rob Bacon, Saadiq performs “Love That Girl,” “100 Yard Dash,” and “Sure Hope You Meant It.” After your mind is blown by these acoustic numbers, try to imagine it with a nine piece band on stage Friday evening…

Now stop imagining things and go catch a Mowtown hit for real.

~jason repko

2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival: Happy as a dog!

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:23:00 +0000

Keep tabs on my music-related blogerish at http://www.austinme.com

Profile: T-Bird and the Breaks

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:22:00 +0000

click here for full-size article

Austin Music Magazine

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:39:00 +0000

New issue out now. Click to download pdf version.

Austin Music+Entertainment

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:13:00 +0000

New issue out now. Click to download pdf version.

CDDocumetary: The Clash (1977)

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:31:00 +0000

That the Clash proved both commercially viable and significant in popular culture is a testament to their fortitude and uncompromising style. With so much self-induced adversity, the Clash were destined to fall apart, but not before recording seven original albums- all of which are worth owning for different reasons. Here's the first. You can also download the CDDocumentary here.

Editor: It's official

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:04:00 +0000

Stupid how long it took me to post this link to the latest issue, now termed the "last" issue with a new one out any day. Anyway, here it is...click on the picture again once you get to the site.

CD Reviews: Rodney Crowell, Murry Hammond

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:45:00 +0000

That David Todd guy is of no relation. Really.

CDDocumentary: Radiohead- OK Computer (1997)

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:06:00 +0000

Not much was expected from Oxford quintet Radiohead when they came on the scene in the early 90's with a bad habit of trying to sound like an English version of U2. After they blew just about everyone away with their 1997 release OK Computer, fans now expect an equal level of greatness from every Radiohead album...

CDDocumentary: The Kinks- The Village Green Preservation Society

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:00:00 +0000

The singles "You Really Got Me," and "All Day and All of the Night," might have propelled the Kinks into UK stardom but in 1968 the Kinks concept album "Village Green Preservation Society," their lowest-selling album ever, would cement itself as one of the best of all time.

Profile: Martin Perna & Adrian Quesada are Ocote Soul Sounds

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:54:00 +0000

Right click and choose "open image in new tab"
to view article full-size.

You can download a copy of the entri issue here:

CD Review: Aimee Mann

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:08:00 +0000

AIMEE MANN
@#%&*! Smilers
Super Ego

Songwriter Aimee Mann has run the gamut: from movie soundtrack composer (Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia), multi-instrumentalist, contractual standoff (CBS), record label creator (Super Ego) and the smash 1985 MTV video hit for “Voices Carry” by her group ‘Til Tuesday.

More than 20 years later one thing is for certain: Mann is securing her foothold as one of the best.

On her 2005 release The Forgotten Arm, Mann leaned on a more gritty and straightforward instrumentation, reflecting her strengths as a live performer and the energy of the album’s concept.

Her sixth and latest solo album, @#%&*! Smilers, is created with a completely different palate which includes Wurlitzers, Clavinets, analog synthesizers, and selective horn and string sections. The result a master chef serving up her delicious creation: full of flavor but sparse in texture; exotic in presentation yet delightfully simple.

Smilers continues her mastery of whittling human nature into a four minute pop tune. Mann has developed a keen musical and lyrical rhythm from each album release to the next, building on themes and not simply repeating them. Lyrically, she combines a seemingly innate ability to conjure up a vivid image, and to portray it in a way that is universal, not exclusive.

In stores June 3, 2008

CDDocumentary :: Prince- Sign O the Times (1987)

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:39:00 +0000

After the Revolution broke apart, this epic double album featured Prince playing every instrument and culminating in a synthesis of his forms, style and production techniques in creating one of his most dynamic albums of all time...

Austin Music+Entertainment: REVIEW- South Austin Jug Band

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:02:00 +0000

Austin Music+Entertainment: Marcia Ball Profile

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:29:00 +0000

Austin Music+Entertainment SXSW preview

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 13:29:00 +0000

Click on photo or click here to see magazine article.

CDDocumentary: Linda Ronstadt- Heart Like a Wheel (1974)

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:39:00 +0000

A milestone in Ronstadt's impressive career, Heart Like a Wheel saw her reach highs on country and pop charts. Never again would she be as convincingly tough and fragile as she was here, her 5th album at the time.

CDDocumentary: Liz Phair- Exile in Guyville (1993)

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:21:00 +0000

Love it or hate it, Liz Phair's 1993 Exile in Guyville broke the conventions of bubbly pop female singers of the time and the countless boy bands fearful of veering off course from the successful and formulaic blueprint. In her wake, Phair left one of the more notable efforts of the last 15 years of music. Download an iTunes and iPod playable version HERE. Also plays in Windows Media Player and Winamp.

CDDocumentary: Roxy Music- Country Life (1974)

jasonrepko@excite.com (Jason Repko) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:26:00 +0000

Roxy Music was arguably the most influential rock group of the 70's and their impact has grown in the years since. Their recorded work stands as an important groundswell of nonconformity and successful art-pop experimentation. Download an iTunes & iPod & Quicktime-ready version HERE. Also plays on Windows Media Player and WinAmp.