Texas Overture

We explore the life of "Border Healing Woman" Jewel Babb. Babb lived for nearly 90 years in the West Texas desert as a mystical healer, mother, and goat herder. Source: "Border Healing Woman" by Pat Littledog

Fellow Texan Sam Cummins of Nymphet Alumni fame joins us for our Valentines's Day special. Together we explore the life of a notorious Texas jeweler of legend. James Avery is known for his tinkling silver charm bracelets, sleazy love life, and vigorous Episcopalianism. We discuss the TX archetype of The James Avery Girl, sleep away camps, talismanic charms throughout the ages, charm bracelets as autobiography/protection/handcuffs, Milagros, Queen Victoria The Influencer, Texas-Euro-kitsch, what it takes to be a true romantic, and more... Thanks for listening to Texas Overture :) Extra reading: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/gods-jeweler/ https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1040106/

2023... what a year! We catch each other up on our personal lives ( Faith journeyed to West Texas, Camille ritualistically burned effigies) then list the films, books and songs we had on heavy rotation in the past calendar year. Plus, as a special end of year treat, we answer select calls from TO listeners.

In honor of the Christmas season and the recent feast day, we pay respects to the Virgin Mary and her place in South Central Texas culture. We discuss Mary as a unifying maternal figures, Juan Diego and the Virgin de Guadalupe, Ingo Swann’s “The Great Apparitions of Mary,” and the implications of Marian apparitions around the world. Plus, we’re joined by our friend Abby to talk briefly about her experience as an apparition witness on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje...

Wrangling tumbleweeds, we explore the deception and promise of the West Texas desert, Baudrillard, the mythology of Marfa, Donald Judd's unique criticism and minimalism, the viability of artist enclaves, the precarity of small towns, 10,000 year old clocks, the rise of 'instagrammable spots', survival, surveillance, etc.