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March 2008
Your A-List: Best Toy Store
With 44 percent of the vote, the winner of the Your A-List poll for Best Toy Store is Kid Genius. With locations on Bee Cave Road and South Congress Avenue, the stores have anything a kid or kid at heart would want to keep himself or herself occupied for hour after pleasurable hour.
Kid Genius, owned by Jill Scott, originally opened in 1996 at the Bee Cave location and expanded to the 1700 block of South Congress in 2004. The Congress store moved up the block in July of last year to its current location at 1400 S. Congress Ave., in between By George and Mars Restaurant. In addition to its two locations, KidGenius.com, which got up and running two years ago, functions as the online arm of the business and is the fastest growing area of the company’s business.
I asked Richard Scott, Jill’s husband and the official “Stock Boy” for the business, about what led them to the toy business.
“We have always been involved with retail and have owned over 13 retail stores over the last 20 years,” Scott said. “KidGenius is definitely the most enjoyable type of store we have owned. It’s just a very fun environment. Parents love to pick out toys for their kids and we encourage the kids to play while they are in the store. We also have 3 kids ages 14, 12 and 8 and they have been more than happy to test our new lines.”
Check out the video link below (or click here) to see shots of the South Congress store and some footage of me enjoying one of the store’s top-selling items.
Others receiving votes
- Toy Joy, 29 percent
- Terra Toys, 17 percent
- Great Hall Games, 3 percent
- Whole Earth Provision Company, 3 percent
- Monkey See Monkey Do, 2 percent
- Atomic City, 2 percent
- BookPeople, < 1 percent
- Anna’s Toy Depot, < 1 percent
- Kerbey Lane Doll Shoppe, < 1 percent
Write-ins: Over the Rainbow, Kaleidoscope Toys in Round Rock, Hog Wild, Wonko’s Toys and Games
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Your A-List: Best Guilty Pleasure
What happens if you throw a write-in contest for guiltiest pleasure and nobody responds? Does it mean nobody has a guilty pleasure? Or is it that people are equally ashamed as they are guilty and chose not to out themselves? Or maybe, nobody feels guilt about those things in which they take pleasure. The possibilities are endless.
Whatever the reasoning, such was the case with the Your A-List poll for Best Guilty Pleasure. Regardless of whether you want to admit it or not, just keep on doing what you’re doing, Austin. We won’t judge. We won’t even snicker.
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Quote of the day: Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones
From the ‘can’t teach an old dog new tricks, or at least new permanent tricks’ file, embattled NFL Pro-Bowl cornerback Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones on the possibility of his signing with the Dallas Cowboys and what he can guarantee vis-a-vis staying out of trouble, and by trouble, he is referring to the strip club variety.
According to the Dallas Cowboys Fan Zone blog, Pacman said the following in his recent interview with fellow model citizen and former Cowboy Michael Irvin:
“I cannot say ever, ever, but I can say they won’t see me in the next three, four years in one because this is what I have to do these next three, four years to change.”
Talk about commitment. You’re on the clock, Pacman.
Listen to the full interview here, if you dare.
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Fleetwood Mac may (or may not) tour with Crow
Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. Such a lesson would have behooved Sheryl Crow before she started talking to the press in recent weeks about joining Fleetwood Mac for a tour. According to Spinner.com, “We definitely have plans for collaborating in the future, and we’ll see what happens,” Crow said. As to when fans might hear those collaborations, she says, “I think that’s going to be next year.” And what songs would she ideally like to perform onstage with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham? “I’d love to do ‘The Chain’ and ‘Second Hand News,’” she says. “There’s so many great songs that I absolutely love, and just to get to sing harmonies on them is going to be a thrill.”
Looks like Crow may have gotten ahead of herself.
Fleetwood Mac co-founder Lindsey Buckingham finally addressed the possibility today to Billboard. And it seems Crow may not want to pack her bags for the tour just yet. And leave the announcements to the people doing the hiring.
From Billboard.com
“I think we were all a little surprised (Crow) was announcing that to the world with such certainty,” Buckingham says with a laugh. “We have talked about the possibility of bringing another woman into the scene to kind of give Stevie a sort of foil and shake it up a little bit. (Crow) was certainly a name that has come up. We’ll have to see.”
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If it’s on the Internet, it has to be true
About a year ago I was making a move and went on the search for boxes. Someone told me to look on Craigslist because people often put up posts advertising free boxes. After doing a quick search, I found several listings for boxes and a few that simply suggested people come by someone’s house and pick up the boxes from the side of the house or garage. I am not sure where I ended up getting my boxes, but I didn’t head over to the addresses I saw on Craigslist that offered free boxes for those who stop by. Maybe it is growing up with a lawyer for a dad and an altruist mother, but I have always been a little hesitant about doing anything that seemed in the least bit fishy or illegal. Or maybe I am just a neurotic, paranoid mess. Or both.
Anyhoo … I figured that the post was probably real, but I did not want to be dodging bullets or dogs if I had in fact been misled. That’s the trouble with the Internet; you just never know what you’re reading is real or a hoax, and that extends from ‘news’ covergage in blogs to personal ads of all stripes. Which brings us to the story of Oregon man Robert Salisbury, who apparently was out of town working on business when someone posted a hoax of an ad in his name declaring that he had been suddenly forced to leave his home, leaving all of his belongings, including a horse, up for grabs to first-comers.
The problem was that Salisbury had not put the post up on the free Web site. Out of town on business, the unsuspecting Salisbury got a call from a woman who said she was at his place to pick up his horse. I can only imagine Salisbury’s fear, outrage and indignation. He rushed home to see what the hell was going on only to pass some guys driving off with his work ladders. When he told the men that the ladders were his property. they showed him the Craigslist print-out and said they were in the right. You know, because it was on the Internet and all.
Read the full story, as reported by The Associated Press and posted on KGW.com’s Web site here.
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NCAA Round 1: Texas Longhorns vs. Austin Peay Governors
Hello friends and readers, I am experimenting with some live blogging today and will be here to guide you through the Longhorns’ first game in the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament. If you’re stuck at work or just watching along with the game, feel free to comment. The Horns are expected to blow out the Governors, but after #2 Duke’s close call last night against Belmont and the scare my very own American University Eagles gave Tennessee today, you never know what can happen. That’s why it’s March Madness, baby.
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Your A-List: Best Local Blogger
A note of full disclosure: I used to be the co-editor of Austinist, and Craig is a freind of mine, so my opinions may be slightly biased. A note of even more disclosure: I never really edited Craig. Neither did my co-editor, Austinist head honcho Allen Y. Chen. One, it took a lot of commitment to carve out time from our regular jobs to read and edit 6,000 words about a night of debauchery or TC’s unruly neighbors. Furthermore, why would you ever want to edit or limit the brilliance that is Craig McCullough? Furtherfurthermore, Craig has a tendency to make up words (deliciously brilliant words), so the fact of the matter is, vis-a-vis editing, I may not even have known where to start.
Craig’s columns, posted under the title ‘Truesday’ (some of which may not be safe for work, depending on your office), have become one of the most read, recommended and discussed features in the three years of Austinist’s existence, and his love (and disdain for) the local music and arts scene, city government, self-destruction, and general cultural anthropological ramblings have left the interdigitubes, as Craig likes to call them, in these here parts a better place. Regardless of the title of Craig’s wonderful book of essays, ‘I Am an Idiot (But there is Nothing Wrong with You),’ the dude is no fool. Five it out, bro-ham.
Update: I had not checked the backlog of write-in votes, but have since added them. I apologize for the error. A nod of the cap to Rachel Farris of MeanRachel.com, who received enough write-in votes to finish 4th in the voting. Congrats.
Others receiving votes
- Austin Tidbits, 29 percent
- Michael Barnes’ Out & About, 11 percent
- Rachel Farris of MeanRachel.com (Write-in), 4 percent
- Harry Knowles’ Ain’t It Cool News, 3 percent
- Austinist’s Allen Y. Chen, 3 percent
- Matthew Odam’s The M.O., 3 percent
- Diane Holloway’s TV blog, 2 percent
- Austin Chronicle’s Earache, 2 percent
- Showlist Austin, 2 percent
- Kirk Bohls’ Bohl Games, < 1 percent
- Matt Dentler’s indieWIRE blog, < 1 percent
- Done Waiting, < 1 percent
- Kat Candler’s blog, < 1 percent
- Bryan Poyser’s Austin Film Society blog, < 1 percent
Write-Ins: Dancin’ Down Congress Avenue, Eugene Sepulveda’s Community Matters, Scott Henson of Grits for Breakfast, John Gross of Party Ends, Translucence, Random Neural Misfirings, Catchy Name, Eileen of In the Pink Texas, Pink Dome, Burnt Orange Report
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SXSW coverage
For complete SXSW coverage from our entire team, please check out the Austin Movie Blog and Austin Music Source on Austin360.com. Enjoy the fest.
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Your A-List: Best Locally Owned Business
Austin prides itself on keeping it local. Maybe you’ve heard of that whole Keep Austin Weird movement? Well seemingly at the forefront of that movement for years has been the eclectic home of 14 percent butter fat ice cream, Amy’s, with 28 percent of the vote, winner of the Your A-List poll for Best Locally Owned Business.
Amy’s started out as a partnership between Amy Miller (now Simmons) and her partner Scott Shaw, who launched the original shop on Guadalupe Street on the backs of some creative vision and a hot check. More than 20 years later, with Shaw having moved on to pursue other interests, Amy’s is dominating the Austin ice cream scene with 10 stores, and a few more in Houston and San Antonio.
What makes Amy’s so awesome? Well, beyond the 14 percent butterfat, it’s probably the creative spirit and joy of ice cream that is so pervasive in each of the Amy’s location. The stores have a unique history of asking applicants to express their creativity on paper bags when applying for jobs.
Simmons wants her employees to be as creative as the business itself, which has made a name for itself thanks in part to its community involvement, kitschy decor and, not the least, the trademark photo booths. The old-timey black-and-white photo booths in the stores allow friends, couples and families to save their memories on celluloid, ice creamy smiles and all.
Others receiving votes
- Waterloo, 14 percent
- Daily Juice, 11 percent
- Therapy, 9 percent
- Homeslice, 9 percent
- Hoover’s, 7 percent
- Aviary, 5 percent
- Birds Barbershop, 3 percent
- Spiderhouse, 3 percent
- Service Menswear, 3 percent
- Ruta Maya, 2 percent
- I Love Video, 2 percent
- Flipnotics, 2 percent
- Gene’s Po-boys, 1 percent
- Creatures, < 1 percent
Write-in votes: Avant, Bombs Away, Chez Nous, Chez Zee, Craigo’s, Freytag’s Florist, Guero’s, Hotel San Jose, Hudson’s on the Bend, Jovita’s, Las Manitas, Magnolia Cafe, Maudie’s, Moonshine, Polvo’s, Schlotzsky’s, Taco Xpress, Top Notch, Vulcan Video
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Your A-List: Best Statesman Columnist
The editor-writer-man about town is a ubiquitous fixture on the social scene and knows pretty much everybody in our big little city. When he’s not tracking down national celebrities, he’s clinking glasses with the Fortunate 500. Or maybe he’s at a Longhorn game, or a dive bar. You never know where you will see our tireless reporter as he inspects every nook and cranny of the rapidly developing social scene of Austin. Where, oh where, do you find the energy, Michael?
Others receiving votes:
- John Kelso, 31 percent
- Melanie Spencer, 8 percent
- Kirk Bohls, 6 percent
- Kitty Crider, 4 percent
- Dale Rice, 4 percent
- Cedric Golden, 2 percent
- Diane Holloway, 2 percent
- Ben Wear, 2 percent
- Andrea Ball, 1 percent
- Eileen Flynn, 1 percent
- Chris Garcia, 1 percent
- Marques Harper, 1 percent
- Rich Oppel, 1 percent
- W. Gardner Selby, < 1 percent
Write-in vote: Mike Leggett
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Your A-List: Favorite Neighborhood Grocery
The community-focused full-service grocery, located on Guadalupe Street, has the rare distinction of being a store owned by its member-partners, who receive discounted shopping at the natural foods haven. All owners pay a one-time, nonrefundable fee with an option to become an investing owner.
The co-op began almost 32 years ago in March 1976, and what started in the basement of a house on 29th Street and Lamar Boulevard lo those many years ago has become the most successful food co-op in Texas, with more than 8,000 members and close to $7 million in annual revenue, according to the co-op’s Web site. Beyond the spirit of cooperation and community involvement, which includes support of organizations such as Save Our Springs Alliance, Sunshine Community Gardens and The Inside Books Project, Wheatsville offers a cornucopia of vegetarian delights (hello, popcorn tofu po’boy and tempeh chili frito pie), a comprehensive bulk section, hormone-free meat for us meat-eaters and a tasty assortment of vegan baked goods. And judging by the slew of the shoppers who come on foot and by bike, it is obvious that many of those who are enjoying the grocery’s bounty come from the neighborhood.
Others receiving votes
- Fresh Plus, 21 percent
- Mandola’s, 11 percent
- Farm to Market, 8 percent
- Avenue B Grocery, 6 percent
- Cissi’s, 4 percent
- Asia Market, 3 percent
- Royal Blue, 3 percent
- Monarch Mart, 2 percent
- Sarah’s Mediterranean, 2 percent
- Bluebonnet Food Mart, 2 percent
- RBM Food Mart, 2 percent
- David’s, 1 percent
- Speedway Grocery, < 1 percent
Write-in votes: Crestview IGA, Phonecia, Sun Harvest, Thom’s Market
Image of Wheatsville by Tania Savayan/AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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Your A-List: Best Place to Buy Comics
Whether you’re looking for Marvel, DC, Image, they’ve got it all. And not just the new stuff. Capstone, located on Parmer Lane, has a nice collection of Silver Age comics, in addition to more recent stuff such as bobbleheads, posters and apparel.
So when you’re ready to get in touch with your inner Comic Book Guy or Captain America, head on over to Capstone Comics, or check them out online.
Capstone Comics
2121 W. Parmer Lane, Suite 107
339-4251
Others receiving votes
Write-in vote: First Federal
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