Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2006 > January > 24 > Entry
Food and wine on the hill
Food: It’s become one of our favorite annual parties — the Host Appreciation Dinner for Project Transitions’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner fundraiser. Every time, we meet new foodies and sample unexpected delectables. The stars this year were the wines, introduced by Ike Johnson of Grapevine Market, who almost overpraised a thick, affordable ($11.49) Argentinian Malbec from the Gascon label. Dinner — breaded chicken, creamed spinach, potatoes au gratin — was provided by Marion Gillcrist of La Traviata. All this spread out over the hilltop home of Karen and Rick Hawkins; this was my second visit to their Japanese inspired complex designed by Dick Clark Architecture. We ran into two of the sweetest, funniest people around — Carol Ann Sayle and Larry Butler of Boggy Creek Farm, as well as Quincy Adams Erickson and Stevel Nagle, both brimming with entertainments. Then there was Paul and Paula of Paula’s Texas Orange Liqueur, who introduced their soon-to-be-distributed limoncello. Oh, the list goes on, but we are not exaggerating when we say this is always a rewarding event. Thanks to the Hawkins for hosting the hosts this year.
DVDs: The feminine, slightly deranged voice of Timothy Treadwell will be hard to erase from my memory. The bear enthusiast, who, along with his girlfriend, was killed and eaten by his “friends” in the wilderness, is the subject of Werner Herzog’s “Grizzly Man.” About half of the footage was taken by Treadwell in the last few of his 13 summers in an Alaskan nature preserve. Here’s Treadwell petting a family of foxes he has befriended, there he’s swimming in the lake with a enormous bear. Was he deluded, or was Treadwell really accepted into the bear world? Herzog, no stranger to obsessions, takes Treadwell pretty much as he comes, but digs deeper into his past and his associates. His movie is about extremes of human emotion, and he could hardly have found a better subject. Werzog narrates the film with some sensitivity, but his cold precision, delivered in German-accented English, is almost as creepy as Treadwell’s goofy puppet-theater voice.
Music: Veteran manager Mark Proct has taken on more responsibility at Antone’s, a venue he has contributed to — in various ways — since the 1970s. At Jo’s Hot Coffee on South Congress Avenue, he related some renovation dreams for the club, including attractions that would be open to tourists when the music venue is usually be closed. Boy, if I could lock Proct, Eddie Wilson, Tim O’Connor and a couple of other longtime managers into a room for just a few hours, what an education on the Austin music industry that would be.
Permalink | | Categories: By Michael Barnes
