Crosstalk: Spoon Awarded by UT Comm School, DJ Shani Debuts KUTX Show, and White Denim’s Radio Milk Closes

Spoon provided an unexpected addition to an awards ceremony held by UT-Austin’s Moody College of Communication last Thursday, conferring recognition on outstanding alumni. After an advertising grad with her own line of cricket powder flour received accolades, the Austin rock standards were presented with a DeWitt Carter Reddick Award, which “recognizes overall excellence and impact in communication and media.” Previously gone to the likes of Walter Cronkite, advertising execs, and professors, Spoon’s win marked the first time musicians have been tapped. The full band rose to take photos onstage at the nice banquet dinner, for which they qualified based on Britt Daniel having attended the university, where he lived at the Castilian apartments, worked at college station KVRX 91.7FM, and graduated from the Department of Radio-Television-Film in 1993. Daniel, seemingly ever-ready to receive honors in his typical blazer, and bandmate Alex Fischel took up acoustic guitars for “Do You” before the latter shifted to keys for closer “Inside Out.” Longhorn Daniel said the award meant a lot to him and the band: “When I graduated, I didn’t walk, and my parents were not thrilled, but they’re here tonight.”  – Christina Garcia

DJ Shani debuted a new weekly show on KUTX 98.9FM showcasing “the Black side of electronic music – with danceable tempos inspired by funk, soul and jazz.” Every Friday at 11pm, prolific local turntable presence Shani Hebert presents as The Groove Temple – her longtime radio show launched in the late Nineties on Chicago’s WLUW 88.7FM. Since moving to Austin in 2010, Shani’s curation has annually created deep house connections through events like “Black History Month Boogie” United and the Juneteenth celebration Together, also residing monthly on Austin’s Shared Frequencies Radio. Planning to showcase forms including garage house, broken beat, tech house, and Afro house on KUTX, she says on the station website: “‘The Groove Temple’ is an every day, every moment sound. It’s not all fist bumps and big drops. It’s music that hits you at your core and makes you feel sexy.” – R.R.

White Denim notably called a hop onto a September gig at Chess Club their “last local show ever” on Instagram – before amending to play an East Sixth Fender pop-up last Friday among a number of satellite ACL Fest-time events. (Unrelated, at one such Soho House party Yungblud debuted necklaces made from his own chewed-up 5 Gum.) White Denim also announced the closing of Eastside recording space and venue Radio Milk, which bandleader James Petralli and bassist Steve Terebecki built out in 2017. Remembering sessions like Go Fever, Being Dead, Monks Jazz, and more, the post read, “We Failed!!!” with heart emojis. – R.R.

ACL Fest – after two weekends of excitement, including Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke delivering a beer to Kacey Musgraves onstage Sunday night – closes out with an announcement of next year’s dates. Mark your calendars for October 6-8 and 13-15, 2023. – R.R.

Crosstalk: Spoon Awarded by UT Comm School, DJ Shani Debuts KUTX Show, and White Denim’s Radio Milk Closes

This article appears in October 21 • 2022.