Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2008 > June > 22
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Social transgression during Conspirare transcendence
Critics will provide the detailed description, analysis, interpretation and evaluation. Yet as a 24-year witness to the Austin scene, I cannot recall a more transcendent large-scale performing arts event than Conspirare’s staging of Verdi’s Requiem on Saturday. The 200-voice choir, along with orchestra and four soloists, looked majestic against the undulating woods of the Long Center’s sound shell. And they sounded, well, angelic. By an order of magnitude, the acoustical quality was far better anything I ever heard at Bass Concert Hall, every voice and instrument vibrating as if I were inches away instead of in the lower mezzanine, now my absolute favorite spot in the house.
Which brings us to the social commentary part of this column. The magnificent concert was almost soured by two clowns on Row D of the mezzanine who fidgeted, whispered, giggled and chacked gum all the way through the show. These were guys in their 30s or 40s, at least, and they behaved more childishly than the 6-year-old who sat in front of them. Did nobody warn them that they were in for almost two uninterrupted hours of funereal music instead of a “Gossip Girls” marathon?
What people may not realize — and I’ll give these miscreants the benefit of the doubt — is that the Long Center was designed with seating arranged in socially sensitive arcs across the width of the hall, meaning that you can be seen and heard by those around you. This increases the sense of community in the audience, but it also demands more appropriate deportment. In fact, every time I tried to concentrate on conductor Craig Hella Johnson or his host of musicians, these bozos erupted in my line of sight.
Out & About has been reporting on the Austin social scene for the print edition of the American-Statesman for almost a year (much longer online). It’s sad to say that the worst social behavior observed during those 11 months took place within the recently hallowed halls of the Long Center and during such a glorious performance.
Virginia Rangel, Luis Rangel
Jerry Kelly, Nancy Kelly
Stephen Fernandez, Christina Fernadez
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Tilted Kilt imports Irish sociability to Round Rock
A community is just as likely to develop in a nearly anonymous corner of a Round Rock retail cluster as in a North Austin coffeehouse or a Central Austin lounge. The Tilted Kilt, a franchise pub, opened in La Frontera three years ago and almost immediately fulfilled a suburban longing for intense brews, localized versions of Irish food and hearty company.
This, the third installment of Out & About’s Cafe Society series, took us beyond our usual comfort zone to the commercial core of Round Rock. There, behind a bland exterior, we found a warm, welcoming environment and customers from toddlers to oldsters basking in an airy, scrubbed-up version of an Irish pub, with soccer on the big screens, 27 beer taps lining the walls, a wide scotch selection and a menu that includes shepherd’s pie, but also Texanized pasta diablo, a specially mixed ranch dressing and locally made Ana’s Salsa.
Stephanie Seamon, Samantha Meyer, Danielle Wilson
Almost immediately, though, we were distracted by the abbreviated kilts worn by the female servers in the main room (men work the bar during evening). The swallow-tail decolletage, bare midriffs and mini-tartans suggested a PG-13 version of Hooters, which might explain the 80 percent male to 20 percent female breakdown among clientele. “We try to keep it tactful,” says General Manager Susan Mais. “It’s never raunchy or sleazy. Our staff stays kinda cute and friendly.”
Mais would like to push the gender balance closer to 70/30, which is why she has instituted a ladies’ night and encouraged the hiring of males in visible positions. (Mais reminded me of Jane Lynch in “40-Year Old Virgin,” the manager of the fictional electronics store who appeared to be the only grown-up in sight, although Tilted Kilt night manager Carlos Romayor also earns a strapping version of respect from the young pub staff.) Mais spent 8 years with Applebee’s and 10 years with the Olive Garden/Red Lobster firm, so she knows her corporate franchises, but she also realized the Tilted Kilt comes with more character than her previous charges.
Carlos Romayor, Susan Mais
Her customers agree. “It’s not one of those homogenous places like Chili’s or TGIF Friday,” says Lester Saucier, an Austinite who works in Round Rock. He and friend John Russell were waiting out the commute, hoping to replays of a Euro Game over frosty pints.
Lester Saucier, John Russell
Whatever Mais is doing, it works. She reports a steady flow of regulars, mostly in their 20s to 50s, who live or work in the area and return two or three times a week. She also introduced me to a University of Texas doctoral student hunched over research at the food bar. (“The food is good, but the service is great,” the nursing student said, refusing to share his name — something that happened an unusual number of times at the Kilt, as recorded in my Tuesday column.)
Small ones are welcome at lunch, but Mais says that, after happy hour, the Tilted Kilt is not so kid-friendly. (In fact, it gets pretty loud in that throaty Man Way fairly early.)
Raul Guerra, Chelsea Engle
A more recent addition are the patio beer tastings with experts from Grapevine Market, and, like many pubs, the Kilt throws regular trivia contests and gets into the spirit of standard European festivals.
The pub seems to have broken past the barriers that sometimes keep suburban dining and drinking confined to discrete social units, even in the same establishment. “It’s easy to take people here,” says Chelsea Engle, who first discovered the Tilted Kilt in December. “Whereas at a lot a places, people are not very sociable.”
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