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Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Oyster Club and Alton Brown: Guess who’s the crabby one?
I don’t mean to pick on Alton Brown.
He’s a nice guy. A fantastic host of “Good Eats” and commentator on “Iron Chef,” and one of the few celebrity (non)chefs I’d get excited about. The commercial-maker turned mad scientist turned head food geek was in Austin on Sunday for a big book signing at Whole Foods. There was a small meet and greet for area journalists and bloggers beforehand. We all queued up, book in hand, to get a photo and have a few words with Mr. Brown.
It’s like I can’t help myself; I knew the man hated all forms of social media, but I asked anyway: “So what do you think of all this Twitter and Facebook stuff?”
Whoops.
He didn’t blow up, as would many celebrities who suffer through a real-life Groundhog Day, answering the same questions over and over at every stop with every star-crazed fan or curious member of the media.
But he did set me straight: No Twitter, no Facebook, no involvement online whatsoever. He and his team spend $20,000 a year to kick impersonators off, he says, and he’s so fed up that he’s ready to take down his entire Web site.
(Cue jaw drop. Thanks for the photo, Sean!)
He’s a nice guy, though, so he went ahead and signed my book and posed for a photo with me, apparently not worried that he’d catch the dreaded social media virus I so clearly am afflicted with.
Later in the day on Sunday, we headed south to the Plant at Kyle for the kick-off party for the Oyster Club, a group that meets monthly (September through April) to explore arts and food in Austin. (Membership to the club benefits the Rude Mechanicals performance group, and Edible Austin always has a strong hand in planning and executing the event.)
This year’s party was as lovely as last year’s, plenty of seafood and locally sourced grub to go around.
Plus, people love an excuse to eat with their hands, so they got to work shucking oysters and ripping open shrimp brought up from the Gulf by Roberto San Miguel.
I really do feel for celebrities like Alton Brown. They make millions of dollars off being their funny, witty selves, but they become so well-known that they don’t really get to do anything but that.
It’s too bad, because I bet Brown would have had a real laid back time enjoying guests and great food at the Oyster Club.
But when you’re Alton Brown, you are the party.
What’s that they say about eating your own cake?
Alton Brown photo by Sean Woods.
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