I was born and raised in El Paso, TX (El Chuco), learning early how to navigate the beauty of the sounds spilling across the frontera and fusing them with my father’s music collection (Hank Williams, Herb Albert, Fats Domino, and Jose Alfredo Jimenez), and my own ’80s metal upbringing — Van Halen, AC/DC, and a dalliance into hair metal. I fell in love with drumming at age 11 and began to play shows with local party bands at 14, performing at quinceaneras, weddings, and even at the Sun Bowl for cardinals from the Vatican!

I’m Addie Broyles, the longtime Statesman food writer who now spends her days helping people connect with their ancestors via tarot cards (who could have predicted that?!) and writing freelance stories, including a weekly column The Feminist Kitchen, now published as a Substack newsletter. Later this month, we are welcoming the inimitable Nigella Lawson, Britain’s best-known food writer.

A little background on how the one and only Nigella landed on my radar. My life as a foodie began back in the 1990s, when I was one of those Food Network-obsessed teens who watched every show that aired on this newfangled cable channel. By the time I was in college, I was hooked, watching Rachael Ray and Sara Moulton in between journalism classes at Mizzou, never dreaming that I would one day make a living as a food columnist.

Nigella became a food star in England in 1998 with her debut cookbook, “How to Eat,” which became a bestseller almost overnight, followed by a series of book and TV shows that made her a household name in both the UK and the U.S. I first saw her on one of those early Food Network shows, putting together one of her famous feasts with an ease that I still haven’t yet mastered. I knew she was on her way to becoming a food powerhouse.

When I was five years old, I took my place as an audience member for the very first time and the proverbial bug took its bite. Amongst the heritage stone buildings in my Canadian hometown, the local high school was best known for its annual Christmas musical, and always invited the surrounding county’s elementary students to attend. We filed in to our seats on giddy legs stuffed into snow pants, and all at once were transported to a world of magic, music, and merry.

The show ended all too soon and took my toddling heart with it. When we’d made it back onto our bus and began to pull out onto the street, a few of the actors, still donned in their costumes, popped their heads out of the building’s back door and waved their goodbyes, sending us off with not a single fourth wall broken.

Thrilled to be leading Austin’s PBS station, KLRU, and the family of brands that make up the media portfolio. Some of you readers might know me from having led Univision, the Spanish language media group in Texas, and others might remember me from my days serving on the Long Center Board of Trustees during the early years. I truly look forward to integrating back into the Austin community. My associations with iconic institutions like the Long Center will be a big part of this.

LAST LIGHT  //  Son Lux

Son Lux are masters of transforming familiar sounds into something otherworldly. Every layer of this track has something compelling about it, something that makes you want to listen deeper. Their music has been a huge inspiration as we continue to explore new sounds to write with, and this track perfectly encapsulates why.

PATIENCE  //  Porches

Porches is a constant source of inspiration for us. His music has evolved hugely over the years, but every one of his songs has the same recognizable heart at its center. The way Patience moves freely between worlds of electric piano, synth, and acoustic guitar, all while being undeniably singable completely haunts us. 

I’m a DJ, producer, radio host, event curator, and record store manager here in Austin. My music journey started around 1999. I was in high school in San Antonio and I got a job so I could save up for my first pair of turntables, a sampler, and start my record collection. I was determined to start making beats and electronic music like some of my heroes. After making tons of music and bouncing around the SA music scene for a few years, I moved to Austin at the age of 20 to expand on what I was doing.

I’m sure some are wondering how two Black guys hailing from East of I-35 ended up being two prominent voices in Austin music in the last five years. When you’re coming from a heavily marginalized area, sometimes it’s hard to see your full potential, that is, until you decide to throw all the marginalization to the wayside and just go for yours.

That’s what we did. Whether it be through music management, blogging, podcasting, radio, etc., we bet on ourselves despite whomever may have something to say. To give you a little more about ourselves and our journey…

We ran a small music label here in Austin, 1987 Music Group. Well, Confucius ran it, and Fresh helped. Fresh also was running his own music blog at the time, Fresh Prince of the ATX (hence the name “Fresh”). From there, we took a break from music and jumped into the world of podcasting with Those Damn Comic Book Guys. That became a success, with us touring across Texas to various comic book conventions, speaking on panels — one time including speaking at Wizard World Comic Con — and the podcast even landing on two top podcast lists, one in Austin Monthly and the other on TimeOut.

From the podcast we thought the natural progression was to be on radio, so we set out to do just that — be on radio. With us coming from being immersed in Austin Rap/HipHop beforehand from DJing, blogging, and running a label, we thought, why not have a show that represents that? We reached out to literally every radio station in town and only heard from two. Initially, we went to KAZI 88.7 out of a sense of obligation, being two young Black men from Austin, but things didn’t work out. And then… you guessed it… KUTX came knocking, so we rightfully answered.

We met with KUTX for about a month or a little less, pitching the show, talking with them about the Austin Rap scene, doing the My KUTX guest DJ spot, etc., hoping it would lead to a spot on-air, even after being told by KUTX Program Director, Matt Reilly, that there was no room in the budget for a new show. But low and behold, someone quit, and we were in there, baby! On January 7, 2017, we began what is now “The Breaks.”