Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2007 > October > 11
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Food and Film shindig at the Driskill Hotel
Some annual Austin shindigs have built reputations that elaborate with each incarnation, and the Food and Film party that kicks off the Austin Film Festival is a guaranteed guest magnet. Spreading out through the ballrooms and upper lobbies of the palatial Driskill Hotel, it offers samples of chefly artistry as well as drinkes from distributors eager to push the next Tito’s Handmade Vodka.
This year, the hands-down favorite was 360 Vodka — no relation to this Web site — a corn-based beverage from Atchison, Kan. with a green reputation, amplified by its promo coaster, made of biodegradable material and flower seeds, so you could toss them in your garden, and, lo, color!
I ran into scads of people, mostly members of the esteemed media, not filmmakers, but I expect to encounter more of the movie types the rest of the festival weekend.
Olga Campos and Grace Sharington
Alex Earle, Elissa Underwood and Blake Taylor
Carla Spears, Gigi Bryant (who I met at a wild Dave Steakley party), her husband Sam Bryant and Magik 95.5’s Mo Browne
Katy Gunn and Ben Colvard
Tammie Ward and (glad to be out of politics and looking great for it) Joanie Bentzin
Jennifer Wijangco (last seen with Scott Porter from “Friday Night Lights” at another party) and Max Redd (scion of the Long Center’s Cliff!)
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Qua launch parties — with sharks
Every club seems to need a water element these days, and Qua, the $2.5 million venue on Fourth Street, invites the passerby with a bountiful flow of liquid tumbling over stones. Right away you realize the patio has been cut out of the building’s facade, creating an almost tropical grotto with its own small, curved bar and nestling areas.
The eye is drawn, however, inextricably downward to the bluish glow of water deeper in the club. Past massive, jeweled columns — plus more bars and niches — one finally glimpses Qua’s aquatic marquee act: The sharks and rays making cursive figures beneath the transparent dance floor in a 7-foot-deep tank.
It’s at once retro — remember tanks tucked underneath dance floors in the ’70s? — and up to the moment, since Austin clubs now compete fiercely for thematic dominance. (Imperia and Pangaea are only the latest entries, along with Qua.) The underwater theme is a tad campy, but also alluring, especially when the crowd is as attractive and multivaried as it was Wednesday night for the second of three opening night parties. (The public is welcome Friday, but you must be 25 or up. No kiddies allowed.)
We chatted with club designer Benny Siegert, who also contributed the distinctive looks for Vicci, Treasure Island and Pure, owner Mike Yassine, who has quietly put together a club empire to rival Matt Luckie’s or Michael Girard’s. My gracious guide for the evening was photographer Bill Noll, who understands what a social columnist is looking for.
I will not be ordering the $4,000 bottle of Cognac, imprisoned behind glass at the rear of the club, which offers a limited bottle service. But I will return to the relaxing vibe, which, we hear, lured Willie Nelson into its underwater lair last night.
Owner Mike Yassine and photographer Bill Noll (to clarify, these are not his amateurish snaps, but rather your columnists’)
Qua’s shark tank, before dancers
The first, brave ones
One of several bars at Qua
One of many niches at Qua
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Nobelist Doris Lessing’s Ransom connection
More breaking books news from Pat Beach:
Upon awarding Doris Lessing the 2007 Nobel Prize for literature Thursday, the committee called her “that epicist of the human experience.” A portion of that epicist’s archive resides at the Ransom Center at the University of Texas.
The prize is sure to enhance interest in — and the value of — Lessing’s archive, which includes a heavily revised manuscript of her 1985 novel, “The Good Terrorist,” master galleys of “Canopus in Argus” and rare typescripts. The Ransom Center acquired Lessing’s papers in 1999, bolstering its collection of 20th Century women writers’ archives, including Anne Sexton and Carson McCullers.
To browse a preliminary inventory of Lessing’s papers, go to www.hrc.utexas.edu.
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