The Battalion • Page 3
Thursday • June 29, 1993
ean foods do a body good
o °
N atu ra I
bods store
offers
alternative
to health
conscious
dieters
By Libe Goad
The Battalion
B eef is not necessarily what’s for din
ner — especially for the growing
number of people discovering the
health craze.
Health consciousness has a home in
Bryan-College Station complete with a
health food haven.
Janis and Robert Atkins reopened Bra
zos Natural Foods in June, expanding the
store to give people an alternative to regu
lar grocery stores.
Janis Atkins said the community has
responded favorably to the store and that
it serves as a meeting place for the
health-conscious.
“People that come in the store get to be
friends because they’re interested in what
you’re interested in,” she said.
She said A&M graduate students, facul
ty and families, ranging in age from 20 - 50
are the store’s most loyal patrons.
Undergraduate students aren’t frequent
shoppers, she said.
“Most of the younger customers come
from somewhere else — like the West
Coast,” she said. “They come here looking
for the same foods they grew up around.”
The store has a small reading section
for customers to keep track of the latest
breakthroughs in diet research, alternative
medicines and disease prevention.
“Customers educate us more than
everyone else,” she said. “People come in
here with various allergies, and we learn
from them while meeting their needs.”
Robert Atkins said diet education and
body-consciousness have helped clear mis
conceptions about health food stores and
made people aware of the importance of
eating healthy.
“I think many realize that they will be
living longer because parents are living
longer and longer,” he said.
Brazos Natural Foods promotes a diet
with little or no meat, lower fat and less
salt to keep the body in optimal health.
The store carries items including vegetari
an hot dogs, organically-grown dried fruits
and tofu-based ice cream.
“We’re not fanatical in the sense that
we don’t carry coffee and chocolate,” Janice
Atkins said. “We let people choose what
they want to eat.”
The store owners say a healthy diet
should include mostly fruits, vegetables
and whole grains and that people should
cut back on protein and other harmful fat
sources.
A 1994 survey for Parade magazine said
most Americans think they eat a healthy
diet but don’t consume enough vegetables
and grains.
EAT II, a study conducted for the Na
tional Livestock and Meat Board in Chica
go, said most people don’t eat enough veg
etables, fruit, bread and milk but consume
too many fats, oils and sweets.
Robert Atkins said dairy and beef council
advertisements form misconceptions about
how much protein should be consumed to
maintain a healthy diet.
“We’ve been fed the idea that we need
a high protein diet,” he said.
Rechelle Christie Blair, a senior
English major, said that she has been
conditioned to incorporate meat into her
diet, but it’s healthier not to.
“I think it’s healthier for us not to eat
meat,” she said. “It’s like a heart attack on
a plate.”
Janis Atkins said people eat more meat
than they think because it’s difficult to de
termine a correct portion of meat.
“The serving size is three ounces [of
meat] but that’s not what’s served,” she
said. “It’s very deceptive.”
The Natural Way, a health magazine,
includes studies showing that cutting
meat from a diet can help prevent heart
disease by lowering fat consumption and
helping digestion.
Janis Atkins encourages people to be
come more aware of what’s going on inside
their body.
“We don’t pay attention to how we feel,”
she
said.
What
matters is
what makes us
feel better and
what makes us happier.”
Blair said that although she runs with a
health-conscious crowd, she eats what
makes her feel best about herself.
“I drink water and juice just to feel bet
ter about myself,” she said. “I don’t want to
go to the extreme.”
The health food industry can make peo
ple become obsessed with their bodies and
ignore the internal person.
“People are into body worshiping, and
they take eating healthy to extremes ,” she
said. “People need to feed the mind, body
and spirit.”
ELASTIC FIRECRACKER is no dud
Tripping Daisy follows up on Bill's success with explosive second album
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Stew Milne, The Battalion
Tr pping Daisy performs at the Stafford Opera House.
By Stew Milne
The Battalion
BANG!
With the oversaturated alterna
tive scene swallowing bands left and
right, Dallas-based Tripping Daisy
offers a refreshing ride of emotions
on its first album with Island
Records, i am an ELASTIC FIRE
CRACKER.
Tripping Daisy gathered a
strong, loyal following while playing
the north Texas area, and swept the
Dallas Observer’s 1993 Music
Awards.
Its first album. Bill, was released
on the independent Dragon Street
label in 1992, but was remastered
and rereleased after signing with
Island Records. Tripping Daisy
went back to the studio late last
year to record i am an ELASTIC
FIRECRACKER , its second
full-length album.
The album’s first single “I Got a
Girl” is a playfully romantic song
about Delaughter’s girlfriend. Possi
bly a bit repetitive but nonetheless
catchy, the song brings visions of a
swaying, sweaty mosh pit on the
verge of eruption.
The album is full of character and
rich with emotions. Tripping Daisy
takes the listener on a trip to many
places at the same time, much like it
does in its shows.
Although it is not as hard or dri
ving as Bill, the album is musically
and lyrically more mature.
Lead singer Tim Delaughter’s
eerie, distorted voice pierces through
the music, giving the album that dis
tinct Tripping Daisy sound.
Delaughter has learned to play the
guitar, adding to Wes Berggren’s al
ready solid chords and rhythms,
while Mark Pirro, bassist, and drum
mer Bryan Wakeland keep the ener
gy high.
Album Review
Tripping Daisy
I am an ELASTIC FIRECRACKER
Island Records
★★★★ (out of five)
One problem that persists through
out the album is that every song ap
pears to come from the same mold —
start with a mild guitar melody, add
soft vocals, build momentum, then
crash into a chorus, and finally re
lease back to the beginning.
Even though the songs may come
from the same cookie cutter, each has
its own distinct flavor.
Particular bright spots on the al
bum include “Piran
ha,” a criticism of the
media; “Trip Along,”
an old brainstorm of
Delaughter’s and a
improvisation on
“High.”
Tripping Daisy
sticks to the style that
got it this far, but the
band has improved >
and developed since its first release.
i am an ELASTIC FIRECRACKER
is not as energetic, but the album is
technically superior.
The fuse has been lit.
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■ By Libe Goad
■The Battalion
( Since Wayne Sutton was 13, he
knew that if he could be in a band,
■he’d be happy for the rest of his life.
The guitarist now tours through-
lout the country with Austin-based
■band. Little Sister.
The band began in April 1991
■when Sutton and lead singer/gui-
■tarist Patrice Pike released an album
I titled Freedom Child.
Drummer and vocalist Sean
■ Phillips soon joined the duo, and with
■the addition of bass guitarist Darrell
■ Phillips in 1992, the foursome known
las Little Sister was born.
Now that the band has completed
la tour through the Midwest, the di-
I versified funky sounds of Little Sister
J will return to Bryan for a show at the
Dixie Theatre tomorrow night.
The band recently disentangled it
self from its SBK recording contract,
on which it released a live album
called Free Love & Nickel Beer. The
album was an attempt to capture the
jam-session intensity of the band’s
performances.
While playing at Club DaDa in
Dallas in 1993, Little Sister caught
the eye of SBK/ERG Records with its
unique style, and the band signed
onto the label in June that year.
The tour drew large crowds, sell
ing out in Chicago and Detroit. Now,
Sutton says the band is anxious to
get back into the recording studio.
“At first they told us the recording
would begin in six months, then eight
months and then a year and a half,”
he said.
To complicate matters more, SBK
and the EMI Records Group under
went a massive turnover, delaying
| recording and costing the band thou
sands of dollars.
Sutton said the band members felt
I like they rushed into the contract and
didn’t consider the effects it would
have on its artistic freedoms.
“They wanted us to play more like
our older songs, and we were excited
about our new songs,” he said.
Little Sister plans to begin record
ing their new album Monday for Is
land Records. Sutton said the band
plans to tune down its
’70s funk sound and in
corporate the Led Zeppe-
linesque style of soloist
Jeff Buckley and the
hip-hop band. Spear
head.
“Our music is getting
darker as everyone gets
more serious,” he said.
Individual influences
on the band’s music are
starting to mix together
as the band learns how
to collectively write
songs, he said.
“Our music is coming
into its own,” Sutton
said. “Now it’s harder in
some places and floatier
in others.”
Sutton said that once
the new album comes
out, the band members
hope to gain popularity
the way grass-roots band
Blues Traveler did —
through extensive tour
ing and selling albums
at its shows.
Little Sister seems to
be doing just that.
After four years, the
band has produced two albums and
toured with the blues-rock
H.O.R.D.E. festival that featured
Top-40 names like Big Head Todd,
the Almann Bros, and Sheryl Crow.
MTV’s “Week in Rock” also cap
tured the downtown grooves of Little
Sister in a special on Austin nightlife.
And fame can have its advantages.
Little Sister has used its musical
influence to get out of sticky situa
tions with the police.
On the Midwestern tour, Sutton
said lead singer Patrice Pike sang an
officer out of giving them a speeding
ticket.
“He told us if we sang him a song.
Little Sister
he would let us go,” Sutton said.
Although he enjoys using music to
get out of trouble, Sutton said he
loves performances and touring the
most, a feeling that defines his pre
scription for happiness.
“It’s hard to describe how it feels
to : be on stage,” he said. “It’s like go
ing on a trip without a road map.”
Thursday
Head West, a local alternative
band, is playing at The Dixie
Theatre. Brad Thompson is
opening.
Passing Strangers, a cover band,
is playing at The Tap.
Ty and the SemiAutomatics, a
local alternative band, is playing
at Northgate Cafe. Local blues
musician Bobby Hall and
Podunk, a rock band from Port
Arthur, will also be playing.
The Thursday Wind Down with
KHRN radio is at 3rd Floor
Cantina.
Bo Andrews, a folk performer
from Austin, is performing at
Sweet Eugene's House of Java.
The Bounty Hunters, a country
band, is playing at The Texas Hall
of Fame.
Glorium, an alternative band
from Austin, is promoting its new
release. Breech. The band is
playing at Northgate Cafe.
Little Sister, an alternative band
from Austin, is playing at The
Dixie Theatre. See related story.
Peeping Tom, a local cover band
with a few original songs, is
playing at The Tap.
Tab Benoit, a rhythm and blues
performer, is playing at 3rd Floor
Cantina. Gravy, a local band, is
opening.
Saturday
Big Otis, a motown soul
performer, is playing at 3rd Floor
Cantina.
Ruthie Foster, a local blues artist,
is playing at The Dixie Theatre.
House of Dreams, a cover band,
is playing at The Tap.
The Jim Talbot Blues Band, a
blues band from Austin, is
performing at Sweet Eugene's
House of Java.
TERRYLYNN, a country artist from
Belton, is performing and signing
autographs at Super Walmart.
TERRYLYNN is releasing her
debut album in August under
Texas-based Record label,
Tradewind Records.
Veil of Veronica, a local gothic
rock band, is playing at Northgate
Cafe.