Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2008 > July
July 2008
2008 Fortunate 500: Arts
ARTS
Top Pick Arturo Palacios: If the East Austin art revolution recognized a guerrilla leader, it would be this quietly relentless — and sweet-natured — gallery owner with an eye for the next thing. The former gallery director for the City of Austin’s Dougherty Arts Center, Palacios helped jumpstart DYI arts through Art Palace, placing works by young artists with the Austin Museum of Art, Blanton Museum of Art and Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts. He throws a mean party, too.
James Armstrong and Larry Connelly. Austin Museum of Art, Austin Lyric Opera, Long Center for the Performing Arts
Amy Barbee. Texas Cultural Trust
Ron Berry. Refraction Arts, Fuse Box Festival
Mary Ellen and Roger Borgelt. Austin Lyric Opera, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Austin, Potts & Reilly, LLP
Robert Brown and Dennis Karbach. Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin Museum of Art, Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, State and Paramount Theatres
Sarah and Ernest Butler. Butler School of Music, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin Museum of Art, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Austin, Austin Lyric Opera
Lisa Byrd and Ana Ixchel Rosal. ProArts Collective, University of Texas
Annette Carlozzi and Dan Bullock. Blanton Museum of Art, Leadership Austin, Trail Ridge Communications
Jo Anne Christian. Austin Lyric Opera, Ransom Center, Long Center for the Performing Arts
Joyce Christian and Rudy Green. Austin Museum of Art, ProArts Collective
Barbara Chisholm and Robert Faires. Zach Theatre, Austin Chronicle
Ann Ciccolella and Tara Smith. Austin Shakespeare Festival, University of Texas
Katie Hernandez Cowles. Women & Their Work, Austin Museum of Art, Mexic-Arte Museum
Mela Dailey and Peter Bay. Austin Symphony Orchestra
Melissa Eddy. Classical Music Consortium of Austin, Long Center for the Performing Arts
Carrie Fountain and Kirk Lynn. Rude Mechanicals, University of Texas
Dana Friis-Hansen and Mark Holzbach. Austin Museum of Art, Zebra Imaging, Rude Mechanicals
Sue Graze. Arthouse
Deborah Green. Austin Film Society, Austin Museum of Art
Joan Plaster Haas and Stan Haas. Nelsen Architects, Long Center for the Performing Arts
Mary Ann and Andrew Heller. Heller Records, Austin Lyric Opera, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Long Center for the Performing Arts
Jessie Otto and Gerron Hite. Blanton Museum of Art (retired), Texas Historical Commission
Brent Hasty and Stephen Mills. Ballet Austin, University of Texas
Jeanne and Michael Klein. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin Museum of Art, Arthouse
Gail and Jeff Kodosky. National Instruments Corp., Ballet Austin, Austin Museum of Art, Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin Chamber Music Center
Rachel Koper. Gallery Lombardi, Austin Chronicle, Austin Museum of Art
Craig Hella Johnson and Philip Overbaugh. Conspirare, Philip Overbaugh, Architect
Charles Leslie. UT Performing Arts Center
Robin Lewis and Todd Dellinger. TexArts
Sherry Matthews and Dick Clark. Sherry Matthews Advocacy Marketing, Dick Clark Architecture
Chris Mattsson and John McHale. Austin Museum of Art, Arthouse
Stuart Moulton. Austin Cabaret Theatre
Bettye and Bill Nowlin. University of Texas, Austin Museum of Art, Austin Theatre Alliance, Austin Community Development Corp., Long Center for the Performing Arts
David Ohlerking. Austin Figurative Gallery
Sylvia Orozco. Mexic-Arte Museum
Paula and Damian Priour. Umlauf Sculpture Garden, Austin Museum of Art
Cliff Redd. Long Center for the Performing Arts
Rosa Rivera and Juan Miro. Miro Rivera Architects, Ballet Austin, Arthouse, Ransom Center, KLRU, Kindergarten Intervention Program, the Town Lake Trail Foundation
Cookie and Paul Ruiz. Ballet Austin, Junior League of Austin, Capital Area Food Bank of Texas
Michelle Schumann and Matt Orem. Austin Chamber Music Center, Mary Hardin-Baylor University.
Shannon Sedwick and Michael Shelton. Esther’s Follies, Patsy’s Cowgirl Cafe, People’s Community Clinic
Jane Sibley. Austin Symphony Orchestra, Long Center for the Performing Arts
Dave Steakley and Tony Johnson. Zach Theatre
Ken Stein and Ken Lambrecht. Austin Theatre Alliance, Planned Parenthood of Texas
Latifah Taormina. Austin Circle of Theaters
Julie and John Thornton. Austin Ventures, Ballet Austin, Blanton Museum of Art
Judy Willcott and Laurence Miller. Texas French Bread, Fluent~Collaborative, Arthouse, Blanton Museum of Art
David Wyatt. Wyatt Brand
While I’m hiking in Montana, we’ll reveal a different Fortunate 500 list each day at noon. For a complete updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link below this post.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment
2008 Fortunate 500: Business & High Tech
BUSINESS AND HIGH TECH
Top picks Amy and Kirk Rudy: Where weren’t this pair? If the event included the words Endeavor Real Estate Group, Ballet Austin, AIDS Services of Austin, Anti-Defamation League, Equality Texas or St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, they were there. Along with others in their social circle, they have devoted enormous energies to the Barack Obama campaign this year.
Molly Alexander. Downtown Austin Alliance
Taylor Andrews. 360 Condos, Ballet Austin, Austin Music Hall, Austin Museum of Art
Sandra and Joe Aragona. Austin Ventures, Lance Armstrong Foundation, Dell Children’s Medical Center, Entrepreneur’s Foundation
Charles Barnett. Seton Family of Hospitals
Suzanna Caballero. Wachovia Bank, Leadership Austin
Marjon King Christopher. King-Tears Mortuary
Susan and Michael Dell. Dell Inc., Dell Family Foundation, Dell Children’s Medical Center, Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin Children’s Shelter
Fidel Estrada. Estrada Cleaners, United Negro College Fund
Gay Gaddis. T3
Regan and Billy Gammon. William Gammon Insurance Agency Inc., Texas Book Festival
Richard Garriott. NCSoft Corp. Austin, Austin Shakespeare Festival, Space Adventures
Jeff Garvey. Austin Ventures, Lance Armstrong Foundation
Juan Garza.Pedernales Electric Cooperative
N. Rudy Garza. G-51 Capital LLC, Dell Children’s Medical Center
Rodney Gibbs. Amaze Entertainment, Digital Media Council, Big Brothers Big Sisters
Chris Greta. Ad Ranch Inc., Herobracelets.org, Austin Lyric Opera
Jeff Hahn. TateAustinHahn, Austin Marathon Foundation, United Way
Karen Fabbio and Rick Hawkins. LabNow
Mary Herr and Rusty Tally. Morgan Stanley, Long Center for the Performing Arts, Center For Child Protection
Joe and Sandra Holt. Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin Symphony Orchestra, JPMorgan Chase
Brett Hurt. Bazaarvoice, Shop.org, Web Analytics Association
Robena Jackson. RJW Operations Inc., Dispute Resolution Center, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
Cindy and Greg Kozmetsky. United Way, RGK Foundation, PeopleFund
Donaji Lira. El Rey Executive Club, Texas Food & Wine Foundation, Austin Museum of Art
Sheridan and Perry Lorenz. Constructive Ventures Inc.
Jimmy Mansour. Telephone Management, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, Bible Study Fellowship
Bertha Means. Austin Cab Co., Capital City African American Chamber of Commerce, St. James Episcopal Church, Democratic Party
Rosie Mendoza. R. Mendoza & Co., SafePlace, Travis County Hospital District, Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Terry Mitchell. Momark Development, Austin Works Housing, Real Estate Council of Austin
Mary Pat Mueller. Door Number 3 Inc., Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, New Milestones Foundation, People’s Community Clinic, Impact Austin
Deep Nasta. Deep in the Heart of Texas Realty, Young Men’s Business League, Symphony BATS
Alisha Ring. Austin Technology Council
Hector Ruiz. Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Eddie Safady. Prosperity Bank, Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Austin Film Society
Rossanna Salazar. Ross Communications Inc.
Laura and Jeff Sandefer. Acton MBA in Entrepreneurship, Paramount and State Theatres
Nav Sooch. Sooch Foundation, Silicon Laboratories Inc.
Bertrand Sosa. NetSpend Corp., MPower Venture, Relationship and Information Series for Entrepreneurs
Roy Sosa. NetSpend Corp., MPower Venture, Relationship and Information Series for Entrepreneurs
Carol Thompson. Thompson Group
Gary Valdez. Focus Strategies LLC, Leadership Austin, PeopleFund, Robert Mueller Development Foundation
Jim Walker. Central Texas Sustainability Indicators, Mueller Neighborhood Coalition, Austin Under 40
Diana Zuniga. Investors Alliance Inc.
While I’m hiking in Montana, we’ll reveal a different Fortunate 500 list each day at noon. For a complete updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link below this post.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
2008 Fortunate 500: Charity, Faith & Education
CHARITY, FAITH & EDUCATION
Top Pick Becky Beaver: This stylish lawyer knows how to choose causes. The top tier of her social involvements includes Austin Children’s Museum, Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region, Ballet Austin, People’s Community Clinic, Austin Museum of Art, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Molly National Journalism Prize, KUT, KLRU, University of Texas and the Austin Community Foundation. When you dip into the second tier, your eyes bulge with admiration.
Sandy Alcala. Junior League of Austin, UTLatinos, Texas Exes
Lew Aldridge. Octopus Club, Caritas of Austin, Equality Texas, Habitat for Humanity, Community Foundations
Ada Anderson. Leadership Enrichment for the Arts Program, Carver Museum
Donna and Philip Berber. A Glimmer of Hope Foundation
Penny and Thomas Cedel. Concordia University Texas
Roxann Thomas Chargois. The Links Inc., St. Edward’s University
Jennifer and Ashton Cumberbatch. Council for Community Reconciliation, Seton Healthcare Network, Agape Christian Ministries, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
Isabella and Bill Cunningham. University of Texas
Wilhelmina and Xavier Delco. North Austin Medical Center, Huston-Tillotson University, Greater Austin Crime Commission
Diana and Casey Dobson. Scott, Douglass & McConnico, Dell Children’s Medical Center, Hill Country Conservancy
Lisa Doggett. Austin Physicians for Social Responsibility
Franchelle Stewart Dorn and Edwin Dorn. University of Texas
Larry Earvin. Austin Area Urban League, Huston-Tillotson University, Leadership Austin
Susan and Bobby Epstein. Long Center for the Performing Arts, Jewish Community Association of Austin, Austin Film Society, Children’s Medical Center Foundation of Central Texas
Mark Erwin and Stephen Rice. Octopus Club, Lone Star Legal Copy & Imaging, The Boon Group
David Evans. Austin Travis County MHMR
Rob Faubion and JoeLane Schumann. Shout, AIDS Services of Austin, Wright House Wellness Center
Kaye and Pat Forgione. Austin Independent School District, Austin Community Foundation
Jesus Garza. Seton Family of Hospitals
Maria and Eric Groten. Austin Film Society, Zach Theatre, Austin Bar Association
Janet Harman. KDK-Harman Foundaiton, St. Stephen’s School, Southwest Council of Foundations
Greg Hartman. Seton Family of Hospitals
Kim Heilbrun and William Powers. University of Texas, Austin Triathlon, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School
Kate and Robert Hersch. Heritage Society of Austin, Austin Film Society, Ballet Austin
Nancy and Bobby Inman. University of Texas , Paramount and State Theatres , Texas Natural Science Center
Brenda Kennedy. Jack & Jill of America, 403rd Judicial Criminal District Court of Travis
Karen Landa. Hospice Austin, Austin Museum of Art, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Wachovia Securities
Sterling Lands II. Greater Calvary Bible Church, Eastside Social Action Coalition
Lowell Lebermann Jr. Centex Beverage, University of Texas, Lady Bird Johnson National Wildflower Center, the Seton Fund
Susan and Craig Lubin. Austin Gastroenterology, Ballet Austin, Jewish Community Association of Austin
George E. Martin. St. Edward’s University
Sandra Martin. Center for Child Protection
Myra and Ruben McDaniel. St. James Episcopal Church
Susan McDowell. LifeWorks
Earl Maxwell. St. David’s Community Health Foundation
Dick Moeller. St. David’s Community Health Foundation
Melanie Moore. Badgerdog Literary Publishing
Nona Niland. Annie’s List, People’s Community Clinic, Niland Foundation
Denise and Randy Phillips. Promiseland West
MariBen Ramsey and Karen Kahn. Association of Junior Leagues International, Austin Community Foundation, Seton Fund
Lily and Yigal Saad. Anti-Defamation League, Austin Lyric Opera, Jewish Community Center Associaton
Randa Safady. University of Texas System
Jane Woodman Schrum and Jake Schrum. Southwestern University
Tom Spencer and Victor Martinez. Austin Area Interreligious Ministries
Margot and Grant Thomas. People’s Community Clinic, Youth Launch Prize
Kelly and Richard Topfer. Topfer Family Foundation, Children’s Medical Center Foundation of Central
Denise M. Trauth and John Huffman. Texas State University-San Marcos
Doug Ulman. Lance Armstrong Foundation
Barbara Vackar. Austin Women’s Network, National Women’s History Museum, Leadership Austin
Louise and Steven Weinberg. University of Texas, the Nobelity Project
Isabel and Dave Welland. A Glimmer of Hope Foundation, Children’s Medical Center Foundation of Central Texas
Amy and Al Wong Mok. Asian American Cultural Center
Mary and Howard Yancy. University of Texas, People’s Community Clinic, Texas Book Festival
While I’m hiking in Montana, we’ll reveal one Fortunate 500 category each day at noon. For the full updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link below this post.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment
Mountain West No. 7: Horseback Socializing
Socializing on a horse trail through the Rocky Mountain woodlands assumes a linear form. The lead wrangler riding point or drag calls out advice, using an individual horse’s name, which then is transmitted to the equine companions by way of the rider’s tack and softer verbal cues. The junior wrangler, if there is one, tends to watch for potential problems, such as that inexperienced rider whose saddle is slipping precariously along the Lake McDonald Trail in Glacier National Park.
Early on our ride, lead wrangler, Della, from Lubbock, Tex., boomed out explanations of the geology, botany and zoology of the highlands above the lake. My mount, Comanche, a tall pinto, had earned a reputation for stubbornness and balking, but responded alertly to physical and verbal cues within a few minutes. Other horses were not so companionable, testing their riders as they wandered off for bark rubs or lowered their heads of quick snacks.
For much of the ride, Keenan rode drag behind me. Recently of Portland, Ore., twentysomething Keenan (pictured) had engaged as a first-year wrangler for a summer job and a break from welding. He operates by the philosophy: “Let riders talk about what they want to talk about.” Naturally, being a reporter, that meant I discovered more about him and the social world of the trail ride than he did about newspapering.
Keenan, who hopes to land a work visa as welder in Australia soon, recalled in a calm, reedy voice the girl from Kentucky who warbled during the entire ride and tried to whisk him back home, a trophy cowboy. Then there were the fancy folks who tried to bribe him with dinner or extra tips if he would lead them on private, less restrained rides along the trails. (Nothing doing on these steep trails through heavy woods.) A couple from Beverly Hills complained the entire time about the odor (who doesn’t like the smell of horses?), the discomfort and possible hygiene infractions
Keenan had learned a lot more about human nature than he realized during this summer job, which kept him out of doors, exactly where he wanted to be. And he worked Glacier before the namesake ice rivers melted (predicted for 2020). He reminded me of Newt from “Lonesome Dove,” still a tender sprout in his own mind, but already wiser than many of his Portland mates who chose college first over a life of unpredictable adventures.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Travel
2008 Fortunate 500: Food
FOOD
Top Pick Sharon Watkins: The twinkle-eyed owner of Chez Zee has been bringing people together over food for quite a while now. Among the beneficiaries of her social largesse are the University of Texas Performing Arts Center, Austin Public Library Foundation, KLRU, Leadership Austin, Women Vote Friendship Lunch and Zach Theatre. We chatted with her at so many parties over the years it’s like we’re family.
Alma Alcocer-Thomas. Jeffrey’s
Susan and Ed Auler. Fall Creek Vineyards
Eddie Bernal. 34th Street Cafe, Santa Rita Cantina, Blue Star Cafeteria
Paula Biehler. Biehler & Associates, Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival
Jeff Blank. Hudson’s on the Bend
Kevin Blessing. Central Market, Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival
Tyson Cole. ‘Iron Chef America,’ Uchi
Lisa and Emmett Fox. Asti, Fino
Chuck Huffaker. Grape Vine Market
David Jabour. Twin Liquors
Howard Kells. Doña Emilia’s South American Bar & Grill, One Management Inc.
Jane King. Central Market
Liz Lambert. Hotel San Jose, Jo’s Hot Coffee, El Cosmico, Bunkhouse
Lou Lambert. Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, Jo’s
Trina and Damian Mandola. Mandola’s Italian Market, Mandola’s Estate Winery, Austin Children’s Shelter, Marywood Foundation, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School
Charles Mayes. Cafe Josie
Aimee Olson. Texas Culinary Academy, Les Dames D’Escoffier
Mark Paul. Wink, Zoot
Elmar Prambs. Trio, Caritas
Robert Rhoades. Hudson’s on the Bend
Rebecca Robinson. Wine & Food Foundation of Texas
John Roenigk. Austin Wine Merchant
Bud Royer. Royer’s Round Top Cafe, Meals on Wheels, American Youthworks
Suzanne Santos. Austin Farmers’ Market
Carol Ann Sayle and Larry Butler. Boggy Creek Farms, Green Corn Project
Amy Simmons. Amy’s Ice Cream, Phil’s Ice House
Scott Simons. Whole Foods
Chuck SmithMoonshine
Karen Odom Spezia and Roy Spezia. Tribeza, Clark, Thomas, Winters
Lisa and Mark Spedale. Primizie
Foo Swasdee. Satay, Texas Asian Chamber of Commerce
Michael Terrazas. Starlite, the Woodland
Michael Vilim. Mirabelle, Wine & Food Foundation of Texas
Peggy and Ron Weiss. Shoreline Grill, Jeffrey’s
Kevin Williamson. Ranch 616
While I’m hiking in Montana, we’ll reveal a different Fortunate 500 list each day at noon. For a complete updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link below this post.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Mountain West No. 6: Canada
If it’s Saturday, it must be Canada. We hopped over the border to Alberta yesterday to sample the Canadian side of the International Peace Park, there known a Waterton Lakes.
The name, and that of its center, Waterton Township, should give you a clue about the comparative tidiness, geniality, quaintness and, well, Canadian-ness of this national park. Impressive lodges, manifold ice cream parlors, three-wheel bicycles and immaculately kept lawns, as well as the usual spectacular scenery we’ve come to know over at Glacier National Park.
The big excitement came as we left, when two yearling grizzlies, long-legged, black-bottomed and probably adolescent males, first nosed around brush, then dived into a nearby pond right next to the road, attracting quite a crowd. Edith also thinks she saw a wolf not long after that in the high grass pointed to the American border. Earlier in the day, it was more mountain goats and bighorn sheep, once exotic, now commonplace in our new found nature experience.
The border guards on each side of the international ine could have been — and may be — brothers cheerful, bright-eyed, despite having to ask the same two dozen questions of everyone. We laughed helplessly when the Canadian guard queried if we were carrying currency in excess of $10,000. Tired, I guess, of dodging Angus in the Blackfeet Reservation that one crosses to reach the high-mountain border.
The older American guard, coming back, poked fun at our short stay in Canada. “Yeah, they went over to purchase some dirt,” he deadpanned, looking at the mud caking our transport. The younger guard made a mild druggie joke when Rob said the only tobacco we carried was a pack of “smokes.” Homeland Security is not so tense high in the Rockies.
Then it was back to the log cabin for more up-close nature, like the hummingbirds who were our constant companions.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Travel
2008 Fortunate 500: Heritage
HERITAGE
Top Pick Quality Quinn: A teacher who won top awards in Michigan and California, she went on to found Quality Quinn Inc., which provides educational consulting services from its Austin base. Quinn, when she is not soaking up the quiet among Austin ex-pats in Marfa, is shaking the bushes for the Austin Public Library Foundation and the Austin Project, among other causes. While not Old Austin by birth, she burnishes the scene by her mere presence. (Shown here with Brent Hasty and Amy Barbee)
M. Ann and George Attal. Austin Galleries, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School
Judy and John Avery. Ronald McDonald House, Austin Community College, Texas State University
Jannis and Robert Baldwin. The Longhorn Foundation, SafePlace
Debby and John Burns. Austin Preservation Club, Settlement Home
Ann and Roy Butler. Capitol Beverage Co., Austin Community Foundation, Austin Police Department
Nicole Nugent Covert. University of Texas, Children’s Medical Center Foundation of Central Texas, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Joanne and Jack Crosby. The Rust Group, University of Texas
Carol and Tim Crowley. Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, Ronald McDonald House, Junior League
Charmaine and Frank Denius. University of Texas, the Seton Fund
Beth and Tom Granger. The Seton Fund, Austin Community Foundation, Hospice Austin
Luci Baines Johnson and Ian Turpin. LBJ Holding Co., Friends of the LBJ Library, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Melissa Jones. Houston Endowment, Annie’s List, Molly National Journalism Prize
Sue McBee. Austin History Center Association, Austin Community Foundation
Charmaine and Gordon McGill. Sydcor, University of Texas
Libby and Bruce Malone. Professional Management Group, Austin Parks Foundation
Julie and Pat Oles. Barshop & Oles Co., Clayton Dabney Foundation, Bullock Texas State History Museum
Catherine Robb. Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP, LBJ Library Future Forum, Austin Music Foundation
Robin and Bud Shivers. Shivers Group Home, Shivers Cancer Center, Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, Headliners Foundation
Joan and Greg Talley. The Seton Fund, Junior League of Austin
Daphne and Ben Vaughn. St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, the Seton Fund
Pam and Boots Willeford. U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein (former)
While I’m hiking in Montana, we’ll reveal one Fortunate 500 list each day at noon. For a complete, updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link below this post.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
2008 Fortunate 500: Media & Books
MEDIA & BOOKS
Olga Campos and Kevin Benz: Local media has produced few power couples like this pair, who represent KVUE and News 8 Austin professionally. Down-to-earth and likable, they also can be seen emceeing events and supporting multiple causes — including CASA, Con Mi Madre, Hope Alliance Emergency Shelter for Women, Lutheran Social Services, Make a Difference Banquet, Greenlights for Nonprofit Success and the Carole Kneeland Project for Excellence in Journalism — plus appearing at first nights and openings.
John Aielli. KUT
Sarah Bird. Texas Monthly, ‘How Perfect Is That’
Bobby Bones. KISS-FM
Jeff and Lyn Brady. Austin Monthly
Fred Cantu. KEYE
Don E. Carleton. UT Center for American History
Gary Cartwright. Texas Monthly
Elizabeth Christian and Bruce Todd. Elizabeth Christian Associates, Bruce Todd Public Affairs
Mary Anne Connolly. Austin Woman, Reel Women, Conspirare
Kevin and Melissa Connor. Music & Entertainment Television
Monica Davis. The Davis Group, Austin Chamber of Commerce, Travis County Sheriff’s Office Victim Services
Jody Denberg. KGSR
Dale Dudley. KLBJ
Betty Sue Flowers. LBJ Library and Museum
Bob Fonseca. KLBJ
Elaine Garza. Giant Noise
Bucky Godbolt. KVET
Robert Hadlock. KXAN, CASA, Easter Seals
Donna Stockton Hicks and Steve Hicks. Stockton Hicks Laffey, Capstar Partners
Jim Hightower. Texas Observer, Austin Chronicle
Mike Levy. Texas Monthly, Austin Travis County EMS, Children’s Defense Fund of Texas
Judy Maggio and Thad Rosenfeld. KEYE-TV, Blue Santa, Dell Children’s Medical Center
Jill McGuckin. McGuckin Entertainment PR
Robert Nash and Paul Simmons. Backstage Marketing Consultants
Patricia Paredes. First Night Austin, Texas Campus Compact
Jeff Salzgeber and Stuart Hysom. Radiant Media Group
Josh ShepherdMusic + Entertainment Television
Clay Smith. Texas Book Festival
Heidi Marquez Smith. Texas Book Festival
Kevin Smothers and Michael PungelloElizabeth Christian Associates, DMX
Jim Spencer. KXAN, Jerry Lewis Telethon (MDA)
Muffy and Tom Staley. Ransom Center
Bart Stephens. West Austin News
Bill Stotesbery. KLRU, Hart InterCivic
Maury Sullivan. KLRU
Kerry Tate and Susan Rieff. TateAustinHahn, Civic Interest, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Brenda Thompson. Brenda Thompson Communications, Paramount and State Theatres, Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, Zach Theatre
Sally and Bill Wittliff. Southwestern Writers Collection and Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography at Texas State University
Lawrence Wright. The New Yorker, ‘The Looming Tower,’ Capital Area Statues
While I’m hiking in Montana, we’ll reveal one Fortunate 500 list each day at noon. For a complete updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link below this post.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Mountain West No. 5: Hiking Glacier
Two days. Two long hikes. Lots of national parks adventure.
Wednesday we scuttled up gravel roads on Glacier National Park’s northwest boundaries to the Logging Lake trail. Nine miles round trip through dense, moist forest undergrowth. Heard elk. Saw reddish deer. Warnings, as always, of bear country, but also recent posts on mountain lions. I was concerned about the lack of visual warning among the chest-high undergrowth that clogged the trail, but nothing came of it. Rob swam in narrow, almond-shaped Logging Lake.
No humans until the end of the hike, more than five hours later, when we heard a “hallooo” over the coming rise. There appeared a roundish couple, older than I, who looked like characters out of Trollope, perhaps a Methodist deacon and his wife, who said: “Just out on a short walk.” Short walk? They have more stamina than I do. “Any bears?” they asked. “Not yet.” we replied.
Bears came the next day in the form of a grizzly family — a cinnamon sow and two darker cubs, watched from across a road, a swampy area and a rise. They frolicked not 150 yards away, but we felt no danger. That makes two big “gets” for wildlife on this trip — grizzlies and mountain goats. (Joe saw another mountain goat that day, scampering from precipice to precipice.)
Later Thursday, we hiked eight miles along Two Medicine Lake not far from East Glacier. Higher, drier and infinitely more scenic than the day before, with glaciers mantling the crown of peaks around us. I’m still having problems with ascents. My heart pounds in my throat. I’m convincing it’s my medication, or a nonpathalogical arrythmia. I have no problems with distances, just ascents. Lots of ground squirrels and marmots at higher elevations.
Charismatic birds identified so far: Bald eagle, osprey, violet and green swallow, rufous hummingbird, dark-eyed junko, sharp-tailed grouse (and chick), red-naped sapsucker, loons (heard, not seen), pine siskin, lots of ravens and a grey falcon that soars over the wetlands adjacent to our cabin. These wetlands out of a jungle movie extend down to the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, which we explored today, Friday.
Later, a helpful wrangler identified a bird’s song we could not: Two or three long whistle-like pitches, held out until they diminished. It’s a varied thrush. Sounds like a soft referee’s whistle.
We ate huckeberry pie last night!
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Travel
2008 Fortunate 500: Movies
MOVIES
Top Pick Jacqueline Rush Rivera: A native of Puerto Rico, she trained in visual arts and discovered Austin while working at the immigrant center Casa Marianella. With Eugenio del Bosque, Rush Rivera has helped internationalize Cine las Americas, fast growing into an essential Austin social event. She’s also out supporting causes such as the Austin Asian Film Festival, Austin Film Society and the city’s other movie fandangos.
Paul Alvarado-Dykstra. Fantastic Fest, Villa Muse Studios
Elizabeth Avellan. ‘Shorts,’ Troublemaker Studios
Angela Bettis and Kevin Ford. ‘Inheridance,’ ‘When Is Tomorrow,’ ‘Scar’
Louis Black. Austin Chronicle, South by Southwest
Gary Bond. Austin Film Office, Austin Film Commission
Rebecca Campbell. Austin Film Society, Austin Studios
Kat Candler. Storie Productions, Austin Film School
Heather Courtney. ‘Critical Condition,’ ‘Trinidad’
Cole Dabney. Austin Film Critics, Coleandbobby.com
Eugenio del Bosque. Cine las Americas
Laura Dunn. ‘The Unforeseen’
Marc English. Austin Film Society, Marc English Design
Hector Galan. ‘The War,’ ‘Bronx Burning ’
Katy Hackerman and Robert Walker. Austin Film Society, Matinee Media, Marfa Public Radio
Tamara and Bob Hudgins. Texas Film Commission, Chisholm Trail Community Foundation
Lisa Kaselak. Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival.
Harry Knowles. Ain’t It Cool News, Fantastic Fest, Butt-numb-a-thon
Tim and Karrie League. Alamo Drafthouse, Fantastic Fest, Rolling Roadshow
Richard Linklater. Austin Film Society, ‘Inning by Inning,’ ‘Me and Orson Welles,’ ‘Boyhood’
Suzanne and Tim McCanlies. ‘The Two Bobs’
David Modigliani. ‘Crawford’
Barbara Morgan. Austin Film Festival
Chale Nafus. Austin Film Society
Masashi Niwano. Austin Asian American Film Festival
Spencer Parsons. ‘I’ll Come Running,’ University of Texas, Austin Chronicle
Janet and John Pierson. University of Texas, Austin Film Society, South by Southwest Film Festival
PJ Raval. ‘Trouble the Water,’ ‘Trinidad,’ ‘The Two Bobs’
Bob Ray. ‘Hell on Wheels’
Robert Rodriguez. ‘Shorts,’ Austin Film Society, Troublemaker Studios
Ame Shillington. Austin Star Map
Tom Schatz. UT Film Institute
Alex Smith. UT Film Institute, ‘The Slaughter Rule’
Paul Stekler. Austin Film Society, University of Texas
Anne Walker-McBay. ‘The Two Bobs,’ ‘Boyhood’
Alisa Weldon and Lynn Yeldell. L Style G Style, Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival
While I’m in hiking in Montana, we’ll reveal one Fortunate 500 list each day at noon. For a complete updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link below this post.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
2008 Fortunate 500: Music
MUSIC
Top Pick Paul Oveisi: The owner of Momo’s is doing everything he can to balance the west end of Sixth Street with the finest local music. He’s served on the Austin Music Commission and Live Music Task Force, formerly managed the breakthrough Band of Heathens and now concentrates on pushing the career of soul singer Dan Dyer. Busy man with a family and among the first to move into the groundbreaking Monarch Tower. (Shown here with Jessie Corrine.)
Susan Antone. Antone’s, Help Clifford Help Kids, American Youthworks
Ed Bailey. KLRU, ‘Austin City Limits,’ Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival
Marcia Ball. ‘Live! Down the Road,’ Charity Partners of Austin
Bavu Blakes. Music Entertainment Television, World Trade
John Bernadoni. The John Bernadoni Production Group
Jim Butler. City of Austin
Amy Corbin and Charles Attal. C3, Stubb’s BBQ
David Cotton... Saxon Pub
Max Dropout. Beerland, Ground Zero Texas
Cash Edwards. National American Folk Alliance, Cash Edwards Music Services
Angela Gillen. Flamingo Cantina
Timmy Hefner. Chaos in Tejas
Theresa Jenkins. Recording Academy
Charlie Jones. C3
Marty and Mark Kamburis. Flipnotics Coffeespace, Satellite Cafe
John Kunz. Waterloo Records
Terry Lickona.‘Austin City Limits’
Harold McMillan.. DiverseArts
Casey Monahan. Texas Music Office
James Moody. Transmission Entertainment, Fun Fun Fun Fest, Mohawk, Club DeVille, Red 7, Lambert’s
Tim Neece. UT Performing Arts Center
Tim O’Connor. Direct Events, Austin Music Hall, the Backyard, La Zona Roza
Don Pitts. Gibson Guitars, Guitar Town
Dan Plunkett and Blake Carlisle. End of an Ear Records
Rapid Ric. The Mixtape Mechanic, Whut It Dew Family
Shawn Sides and Graham Reynolds. Golden Arm Trio, Rude Mechanicals
Iluminada and Hartt Stearns. One World Theatre
Craig Stewart. South by Southwest, Emperor Jones Records
Donya and Randall Stockton.. Beerland, Rio Rita
Roland Swenson. South by Southwest
Bernard Vasek. Musicmania
Phil Waldorf. Dead Oceans Records
Steve Wertheimer. Continental Club
Annetta and James White. Broken Spoke
Graham Williams. Transmission Entertainment, Fun Fun Fun Fest, Mohawk, Club DeVille, Red 7, Lambert’s
Eddie Wilson. Threadgill’s
Wendy WWAD. Black 13 Booking
While I’m away in Montana, we’ll release a different Fortunate 500 list every day at noon. For a complete updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link below this post.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Your A-List: Best Comedy Theater
With over 100 students in their comedy conservatory and improv and stand-up comedy shows three nights a week, ColdTowne Theater has created quite a stir in its 18 months on the scene. What started as a dream of five friends from New Orleans has turned into a breeding ground for young talent in Austin and a great place for audiences to get their comedy fill. With 45 percent of the vote, the (relatively) new kids on the block beat out Austin comedy stalwart The Velveeta Room to take home top honors in the Your A-List poll for Best Comedy Club.
The theater, which is run by the five-person ColdTowne troupe, is located adjacent to I Love Video on Airport Boulevard. To read more about the journey and mission of its members, check out the XL cover story on them from earlier this month.
Others receiving votes
- Velveeta Room, 38 percent
- Esther’s Follies, 6 percent
- Capitol City Comedy Club, 5 percent
- Kick Butt Coffee (write-in), 4 percent
- Hideout Theatre, < 1 percent
- Salvage Vanguard Theater, < 1 percent
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Your A-List
2008 Fortunate 500: Nightlife
NIGHTLIFE
Top picks Jen Shoemaker and Sid ‘DJ Kurupt’ Sharda: West Fifth Street is the primary drag for nightlifers who’ve outgrown East Sixth Street, fled the music of Red River Street and perhaps aren’t quite ready for the price points of Warehouse District ultra-lounges. Running the nightly events at the well-dubbed Gruv is firecracker Jen Shoemaker. Her boyfriend, Sid ‘DJ Kurupt’ Sharda, keeps things spinning at nearby clubs, including a regular Sunday gig at Red Fez that attracts an A-List crowd.
Paula Angerstein. Texacello Distillery, Paula’s Texas Orange and Lemon liquors
Chad Auler. Savvy Vodka
Daniel Barnes. Treaty Oak Rum
Conrad Bejarano. Spiderhouse, United States Art Authority, Ecoclean, I Luv Videos
Tito Beveridge. Fifth Generation Inc., Tito’s Handmade Vodka
C.K. Chin. Imperia
Margie Coyle. Cap City Comedy Club
DJ Chicken George. djchickengeorge.com, Move Something
Manuel ‘DJ Manny’ Muniz. DJ Dojo, RockIt
DJ Mel. Swoll, Rock the Casbah
Tre Dotson. Tre Dotson Productions & Talent
Michael Girard. Speakeasy, Cuba Libre, Imperia
Thomas Gohring. Kick Butt Coffee
Gary Kelleher. Dripping Springs Vodka, San Luis Spirits
Gary Manley. Iron Cactus
Jette Momant. Manna Lifestyle Marketing, De’cor Jette’ Event Design
Brad Womack. Thirsty Nickel, The Marq, Chuggin’ Monkey, Dizzy Rooster
Chad Womack. Thirsty Nickel, The Marq, Chuggin’ Monkey, Dizzy Rooster
Matt Luckie. The Belmont, Lucky Lounge, Lavaca Street Bar, Betsy’s Bar
Jette Momant. Manna Lifestyle Marketing, Soigne Siren Boutique
David Pantano. Rain, AIDS Services of Austin
Steven Seymour. Pangaea
Denise Silverman. Soiree
DJ Mike Swing. Six, Union Park
Mike Yassine. Vicci, Qua, Treasure Island, Pure
While I’m away in Montana, we’ll reveal a different Fortunate 500 list every day at noon. To see the complete updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link below this post.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment
Mountain West No. 4: Glacier National Park
Best national park day ever: Glaciers slipping like shrouds off spiny mountains, cerulean lakes cleft into shale cliffs, silent hikes to hidden waterfalls, ponds and lookouts.
A bighorn sheep came right up to the car on the Going to the Sun Road, the most spectacularly scenic stretch of roadway I’ve ever encountered. Then, the greatest get of all for a former card-carrying junior member of the National Wildlife Federation: Two families of mountain goats gathered at a salt lick. Thought I’d never see mountain goats in the wild — they stay at the highest elevations usually — so we lingered over the experience.
Rob and Joe organized most of our Glacier National Park outing. Upcoming: A longer hike to the north, rafting on the Flathead River, horseback riding with Edith (when she returns from Chicago), a sidetrip up into the Canadian part of the international park, Alberta way.
Now here’s the deal. Don’t imagine we’re backpacking into the back country, braving alpine ascents on spiked boots. Remember, I’ve undergone two heart procedures and am still calibrating three cardiovascular medications, so it’s the easy to moderate difficulty trails for me. Still, we hiked for almost four hours today and plan on eight hours tomorrow.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Travel
2008 Fortunate 500: Politics & Law
POLITICS & LAW
Top Picks Crystal Cotti and Mark Strama: It comes as no surprise that a Fox News reporter and a legislator representing the Austin area in the Texas House of Representatives would make a few public appearances. Yet Cotti and Strama, trading off child duties, show up at countless social gatherings for good causes, too. Meanwhile, they continue to Rock the Vote (a Strama project going back to 1995).
Tanya and Art Acevedo. City of Austin Police Department
Kathy and Gaylord Armstrong. McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore, University of Texas, SafePlace
Sam Biscoe. Travis County Commissioners Court, Capitol Metro
Valinda Bolton and Anthony Hathcock. Texas House of Representatives, Woman, Inc., Texas Council on Family Violence
Cathy Bonner. The Women’s Museum, Leadership America
Bree Buchanan. Annie’s List
Bill Bunch. Save Our Springs Alliance
Julie Byers and Lee Leffingwell. Austin City Council, Water Conservation Task Force
Sheryl and Kevin Cole. Austin City Council, Cole & Powell, Leadership Austin, Austin Area Urban League, Communities in SchoolsGeoff Connor. Texas Global, former Texas Secretary of State
Libby and Lloyd Doggett. U.S. Congress, Pre-K Now
Betty Dunkerley. Former Mayor Pro Tem
Dawnna Dukes. Texas House of Representatives, DM Dukes and Associates, Inc., Links, Inc.-Austin Chapter
Gigi Edwards and Sam Bryant. United Way Capital Area, American Association of University Women, Leadership Austin
Sarah Eckhardt and Kurt Sauer. Travis County Commissioners Court, Texas Folklife ResourcesCid Galindo. City of Austin Planning Commission, Caritas of Austin, Envision Central Texas
Margaret Gomez. Travis County Commissioners Court, Capitol Metro
Shana and Dan Gattis. Texas House of Representatives, First Baptist Church of Georgetown, National Conference of State Legislatures
Clark Heidrick. Travis County Hospital District, Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody
Dealey and David Herndon. Herndon, Stauch & Associates, Texas State History Museum Foundation
Donna Howard. Texas House of Representatives, Expanding Horizons Foundation
Brian Jammer. Austin Black Lawyers Association, University of Texas System, National Bar Association
Rosemary Lehmberg. Travis County District Attorney (elect), Center for Child Protection, CASA
Nelson Linder. Austin NAACP, African American Quality of Life Implementation Plan
Patsy and Jack Martin. Public Strategies, Blue Texas, Long Center for the Performing Arts
Mike Martinez. Austin City Council, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas, National Coalition Building Institute.
Margaret Menicucci and Michael Whellan. Women’s Advocacy Project, Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody Linda and Michael McCaul. U.S. Congress, March of Dimes, St. David’s Hospital, Communities in Schools, CureSearchBrewster McCracken. Austin City Council, Austin Public Library Foundation, United Way
Mark McKinnon. Public Strategies, Lance Armstrong Foundation, University of Texas Laura and Phil Morrison. Austin City Council, University of Texas, Austin Neighborboods CouncilHarriet Murphy. International Hospitality Council of Austin, Municipal Court (retired)
Elliott Naishtat. Texas House of Representatives, St. Edward’s University, Bag the Bags Coalition
Pam and Pike Powers. The Seton Fund, Fulbright & Jaworski
Robin Rather. Liveable City, Hill Country Conservancy, Envision Central Texas
Eddie Rodriguez. Texas House of Representatives, Hispanic Institute for Technology Advancement, Sierra Club
Geronimo Rodriguez Jr. Seton Family of HospitalsPatrick Rose. Texas House of Representatives, Ratliff Law Firm, Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Randi Shade and Kayla Shell. Austin City Council, Dell Inc., Days of Service
Alison and Richard Suttle. Armbrust & Brown L.L.P
Evelyn and Wyeth Wiedeman. Ben Barnes Group, Democratic Party, EntreCorp
Tomi and Pete Winstead. Winstead, Long Center for the Performing Arts, Economic Development Corp., Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council
While I’m away in Montana, we’ll reveal one category each day at noon. For a fully updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link at the base of this post.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Mountain West No. 3: Missoula & West Glacier
We’re in a log cabin deep in the northern Montana woods outside Glacier National Park, and yet we still get WiFi because a tech savvy person in a nearby lodge set it up. Will wonders never cease?
This morning, dallied at the Fort Missoula historical site, along with its museums and preserved buildings, including a forest fire lookout post. Better than average, old-fashioned history center is the centerpiece. Didn’t know the fort served as a detainment camp for Italian merchant marines and workers at the World’s Fair, even before the U.S. entered the World War II. Also used to detain Japanese Americans and earlier as the headquarters for an experimental all-black bicycle brigade.
The afternoon was spent at the National Bison Wildlife Reserve, a grassy, multi-pronged mountain with dramatic views of the Missoula valley and a herd of almost 500 free-ranging bison, also elk, pronghorns, etc. Didn’t know that wild bisons had dwindled to a mere hundred from more than 30 million before Theodore Roosevelt and others stepped in to save the iconic species.
Lake Flathead, one of those vast, crystalline mountain lakes, extends almost to the Glacier area. Some parts of the western shore are pristine, but most of it has been despoiled by unfettered commercialism. We ate at The Backroom in Columbia Falls, another excellent purveyor of meat, but also not-too-sweet fry bread.
Our hosts here outside West Glacier are from North Dakota and Colorado (“got to be too many people there”). Despite their stated longing for isolation, they seem to know the neighbors for miles around and regularly house guests in their home as well. Their star is a 140-pound, coal-black Newfie named Smoky, just as we imagined Seaman from the Lewis and Clark expedition looked.
The only other strangers we’ve met during the long journey up here were working in motels and eateries. Lots of Upper Midwest accents. A few cowboys and Mormons. All friendly, open-faced, if slightly wary.
More on the wildlife and the books we are reading later, but first, page down to the Fortunate 500, which we are unspooling one category at a time. Sorry to flog the blog in the blog, but someone’s got to do it.
Travel photos later.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Travel
2008 Fortunate 500: Part-Timers
PART-TIMERS
Top Pick Kyle Chandler: All the ‘Friday Night Lights’ cast made themselves at home in Austin during the past two years, but Chandler, who purchased a house in Southwest Austin and plays Coach Eric Taylor on the series, is perhaps the most visible. He’s blessed various events with his starry presence, and he helped organize the Beyond the Lights Charity Golf Tournament at Lost Pines, benefiting high school athletes injured on the field. (Pictured with another Fortunate, Connie Britton.)
Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala and Tony Garza. U.S. ambassador to Mexico
Connie Britton. ‘Friday Night Lights’
Charles Butt. H-E-B, Central Market
Kimberly Buffington and Dennis Quaid. ‘Smart People,’ ‘GI Joe’
Sandra Bullock and Jesse James. Bess Bistro, ‘All About Steve’
Zach Gilford. ‘Friday Night Lights,’ ‘The Post Grad Survival Guide’
Michael Griffin. Tennessee Titans, University of Texas football (former)
Brad Leland. ‘Friday Night Lights,’ Beyond the Lights Charity Golf Tournament
Jesse Plemons. ‘Friday Night Lights,’ Greater Austin Walk for Autism, Beyond the Lights Charity Golf Tournament
Scott Porter. ‘Friday Night Lights,’ ‘Speed Racer,’ Beyond the Lights Charity Golf Tournament
Sabrina Randall and Michael Ault, Pangaea
Jean and Dan Rather. ‘Dan Rather Reports’
Vince Young. Tennessee Titans, University of Texas football (former), Vince Young Foundation, Wonders and Worries, Rise School of Austin
While I’m away in Montana, we’ll reveal one category each day at noon. For a fully updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link at the base of this post.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Mountain West No. 2: Wyoming & Montana
Began the day with a short walk in the cottontail-flecked hills above Casper. Joe flushed a pronghorn just steps from our motel.
Stopped by the National Trails Interpretive Center in a over-designed building overlooking the city. Learned a lot about the Oregon, California and Mormon trails, all of which threaded through this ford on the North Platte River. The traffic over the trails in the mid-19th Century reached almost 500,000 migrants, called by the center the biggest unforced migration in history, but that’s hard to justify when you consider transatlantic immigration or even recent Mexican migration north.
Just on the Montana side of the border, we fanned out over the Little Big Horn Battlefield (pictured). Located on the Crow Reservation, the monument includes dignified, well-designed tributes to the native fallen. One can see why this spot on elevated mounds attracted such reverence, despite the rather inglorious details of the battle.
Bozeman feels like a typical college town. Butte, on the other hand, is an industrial ghost town, one third the size of its 1917 population at the peak of the copper boom. It reminds me of small cities in the Rust Belt, where the pawn shops and taverns dominate the midtown streets. Despite the tales of spectacular environmental damage in the vicinity, the valley, like so many in Montana, is a cool, dry respite, complemented by the homey fare at Fred’s Diner in the Uptown district.
We’re in Missoula now, staying at a motel, new to me, called C’mon In. Fashioned as a upland lodge with a huge atrium of stripped timber, larger than usual indoor pool, giant stone fireplace, mutliple hot tubs and patio furniture outside each room, it offers an ersatz luxury — everything looks apres ski, but don’t scratch the surface. Not that we don’t appreciate the comfort after yesterday’s safari.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Travel
2008 Fortunate 500: Sports
SPORTS AND FITNESS
Top Pick Andy Roddick: He picked some pretty awesome role models in Lance Armstrong and Arthur Ashe, but Austin’s tennis pro wants to make an impact in life beyond the courts. So while the biggest chunk of his time is spent on the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour and leading America’s Davis Cup team, he also devotes his energy, fame and looks to the Andy Roddick Foundation, which supports, among other things, children’s health causes. He’s on every host’s wish list for local galas.
Katy and Robert Agnor. Hornfans.com, Bar & Grill Singers
Candy and Rick Barnes. University of Texas basketball, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Kim and Mike Barnes. KVUE
Laura and Roy Bechtol. Bechtol Golf Design, Planned Environments Inc.
Charles Breithaupt. University Interscholastic League.
Earl Campbell. Earl Campbell Meat Products, University of Texas football (former)
Sheila and Paul Carrozza. RunTex, President’s Council on Physical Fitness
Ed Clements. KLBJ-AM, Alzheimer’s Association of the Capital, ARC of the Capital Area Dave Cody. Fox 7, FedEx Kinko’s Golf ClassicJohn Conley. Austin Sports Commission, Conley Sports Inc.
Jody Conradt. University of Texas Women’s basketball (former), Giant Steps Award
Brenda and Tommy Cox. Austin Independent School District, Coaches Outreach
Julie and Ben Crenshaw. PGA, Coore & Crenshaw
Mary Ann and DeLoss Dodds. University of Texas athletics
Claire and Doug English. Lone Star Paralysis Foundation, Caritas of Austin
Bill and Rhonda Farney. University Interscholastic League, Georgetown High School, Georgetown Rotary Club, Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau
Ron Franklin. ESPN
Gail Goestenkors. University of Texas Women’s basketball
Augie Garrido and Jeannie Grass. University of Texas baseball, Hospice Austin, “Inning by Inning”
Christy and Tom Kite. FedEx Kinko’s Classic, Kids Classic, Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas
Bart Knaggs. C3, Mellow Johnny’s
Donnie Little. University of Texas football (former), Longhorn Foundation, Urban Life Group, Longhorn Legacy
Keith Moreland. University of Texas baseball and football (former), Longhorn Sports Network
Kay Morris. Marathon Kids
Aaron Peirsol. Race for the Oceans, U.S. Olympic Team
Christine Plonsky. University of Texas Athletics
Edith and Darrell Royal. University of Texas football (former), Caritas of Austin
Reid Ryan. Round Rock Express
Bill Stapleton. Capitol Sports and Entertainment
Gilbert Tuhabonye. Gilbert’s Gazelles, the Gazelle Foundation, Run for the Water
Kirsten and Nick Voinis. University of Texas athletics
Jeff Ward. KLBJ-AM
Craig Way. KVET-AM
While I’m away in Montana, we’ll reveal one category each day at noon. For a fully updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link at the base of this post.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON BELL/ CAMERA PRESS LONDON.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Mountain West No. 1: Colorado Springs and Casper
We’re in Casper Wy. A real Jack Twist is just down the way at the Motel 6. No kidding. Hanging out on the balcony, tipping back a longneck, curling a smile every time one of our party passes.
Yesterday, we ate at Saigon Springs again in Colorado Springs. Located next to a mini-golf course in the north ‘burbs, it’s a place for robust flavors and an unexpectedly vibrant crowd. Glad to return on this trip after provisioning our journey west at nearby Costco, etc.
Early this morning, joined by Joe Starr, Rob Kendrick and Edith Sorenson, we headed north in our rented black Chevy Trailblazer. Once we evaded the Empire of Denver, we lunched in Fort Collins at the Charco Broil, clearly the best restaurant in town back in the 1970s and still happening. Hints of hippie, pioneer, road house, all kinds of decorative themes executed in heavy materials. The steak sandwiches are fantabulous, as is the sasparilla.
Most of the day, we sailed through Colorado and Wyoming grasslands — which Georgia O’Keefe could have painted — via two-lane highways, stopping in Virginia Dale, Medicine Bow and other dry specks on the map. Wanted to explore the the Fossil Cabin Museum on 487, but it was not only closed, it was for sale.
Pronghorns abound. Waterfowl in the rain-filled hollers. Hawks patrol the endless hills. We continue north in the morning.
Casper itself is a green cleft folded inside soft, brown bluffs along the North Platte River. Only 50,000 souls make their homes here, but it’s the closest thing to a city for hundreds of miles and thus serves as a giant social magnet. Downtown, mostly one drag, has maintained four cinemas, which I can’t recall seeing in any other place this size, all of them flocked with activity-starved kids.
We dined at an acceptable Italian spot called Botticelli, then explored the central city a bit. This morning, Joe and I took a short walk and spied cottontail after cottontail.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Travel
2008 Fortunate 500: Style
STYLE
(first of 13 categories)
Top Pick Nina Seely: Her pixie smile lights up at every event. And so it should. The Ralph Lauren retailer helps out, with husband Frank, People’s Community Clinic and the Austin Jazz Workshop, but she’s a sparkler at parties, and she organized signature events such as the ‘Sex and the City’ cocktail preview for Breast Cancer Resource Center. Plus, she’s just fun.
Nak Armstrong. Anthony Nak
Linda Asaf. Linda Asaf Design, Downtown Austin Alliance
Maria Bergh. Giant Media
Christy Butler. Jewell
Scott Butler. By George
Anthony Camargo. Anthony Nak
Deborah Carter. Pink Salon
Gail Chovan and Evan Voyles. Blackmail, Vivid, Neon Jungle
Stephanie Coultress and Todd O’Neill. Estilo
Katy and Matthew Culmo. By George
Melissa D’Attilio. Fly Productions
Zarghun and Eddaicsa ‘Eddy’ Dean. Tribeza
Riley and Tomas Estebes de Silva. St. Thomas Boutique, Austin Children’s Shelter
Lauren Smith Ford and Bennett Ford. Tribeza
Kirk Haines. Service Menswear, Crown Clothing
My-Cherie Haley. Sue Webber Productions
Patty Hoffpauir. Garden Room, Ballet Austin
Jenny Howe. Devushka
Michael Hsu. Michael Hsu Design Office, 04, Mellow Johnny’s
Kim Jacques. Devushka
Koshla Johansson. Girl Next Door
Ron King. Bo Salon
Wendi Koletar. Kick Pleat
Russell Korman. Russell Korman Fine Jewelry, Texas Wine & Food Festival
Jane Vanisko McCan. Shiki
Lisa Matulis. Delish Cupcakes
Laura Maxwell and Corey White. Hovercraft, Creatures, Millipede
Cile Montgomery. Giant Media
Lance Avery Morgan. Brilliant
Joel Mozersky. One Eleven Design, BettySport, the Drake
James Newman. Service Menswear, Crown Clothing
Nancy Nichols. Neiman Marcus
Currie Person. Spartan
Julia Plume. Texas’ Next Top Designer, Austin Fashion School of Design
Sharon Radovich. Panache Interiors, Symphony Showcase
Talena Rasmussen and Lizelle Villapando. Parts & Labour, New Bohemia, New Brohemia
Vickie Roan. The Menagerie, Pink Car at Your Service
Allen Ruiz. Jackson Ruiz Salon, Best Latino Hairdressers in America
Fern Santini. AbodeKendra Scott. Kendra Scott Design, LifeWorks, Dell Children’s Medical Center
Shaesby Scott. Shaesby Jewelry
Elizabeth and Benjamin Serrato. Eliza Page, Zócalo Design & Advertising
Toni and Eric Simone. Girl Next Door, Erebelle, ClearBlade
Tracey Overbeck Stead. Tracey Overbeck Stead Interior Design
While I’m away in Montana, we’ll reveal one category each day at noon. For a fully updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link at the base of this post.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
2008 Fortunate 500 coming soon
The Fortunate 500 list of Austin’s most social people comes out in Glossy on Aug. 1.
Yet loyal readers of Out & About will see the lists first. While I’m away in Montana, we’ll reveal one category each day at noon, starting Saturday. For a fully updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link at the base of this post.
This is the first Fortunate 500 of the Out & About era.
During the past year, as the American-Statesman’s social columnist, I’ve attended more than 1,000 events, from backyard barbecues to glittering galas. During that time, I chatted with almost everyone on the following list of Austin’s most social citizens, which we originally launched May 12, 2005 in XL.
Every year since then, we’ve showcased select Fortunates, who run the gamut of cultural and economic backgrounds, but share a desire to spread Austin good will beyond their intimate social circles.
Besides moving the list to Glossy, we’ve added a Nightlife category, recognizing the city’s burgeoning club and lounge scene.
Remember, nobody closely associated with the American-Statesman is eligible. And, following tradition, those on the Part-Time and In Memoriam lists are not counted among the 500 social units (couples are counted as one unit).
You, the reader, can nominate social citizens at any time during the year (just send me an e-mail at mbarnes@statesman.com).
Some respected socializers dropped off the 2008 list; others were moved to alternative categories. And a good 20 percent of the 500 turned Fortunate for the first time, as should be the case in ever-altering, ever-evolving Austin.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Max Horne at Ms. B’s
Classy, ingratiating Max Horne is a cabaret singer in the mold of Bobby Short and Mabel Mercer. He doesn’t overwhelm his audience, but rather leans his rounded features back to let out a million-megawatt smile and a light tenor voice best suited to jazzy standards and show tunes. During a divine four-hour meal at Ms. B’s on Wednesday, we witnessed the recording of Horne’s next DVD with the Soul Jazz Ensemble, which actually played beautifully without the singer for the first few hours, as we lingered over blackened chicken, herbed salmon, shrimp cocktails, bread pudding and sweet-potato pecan pie. The entire time, the service was unparalleled. We hope the Ms. B’s Brenda MacGowan can work out her differences with the Austin Revitalization Authority, because the East 11th eatery is a state treasure.
On a less pleasant note, one patron, clearly a warm friend of the singer, could not stop talking and laughing during the recording, in a voice that turned heads all over the restaurant and even caused waiters and cooks to crane their necks to identify the culprit. Proves again that extroverts are not always the most socially sensitive.
Teri Conrad, Jerelyn Thomas
Harriet Buxkemper, Kay Hill
Emna Johnson, Rebekah Strachn, Frederick Bentley, Elmo Johnson
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Food, Music
Austin’s Ally and Jeff Davidson in ‘Gladiator’ semis
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment
Longhorns, Texas the bad guys in ‘The Express’
Orangebloods might want to avert their eyes: Trailers for “The Express,” an inspirational sports movie about Ernie Davis, the first African American to win the Hiesman Trophy, show the halfback facing down racism in upstate New York and the Deep South. Sneers on campus. Cold shoulders from merchants. Stars and bars in the South.
Uh oh. It’s not just Texas. It’s the University of Texas.
Indeed Davis, played in “The Express” by Rob Brown, and his Orangemen beat Texas in the 1959 Cotton Bowl to take the national championship. Davis was told he’d allowed to accept his MVP award at the post-game banquet, but would be required to leave the hotel immediately afterward. His whole team boycotted the banquet.
Not Texas’ finest hour, especially since UT fielded all-white teams in those days, not raising the ban against black players until 1963. Extra cringe points: part-time Austinite Dennis Quaid looms large Davis’ Syracuse coach, who insists on playing his controversial halfback. The movie, which premieres in Syracuse on Sept. 12, is slated for an October release nationally.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Movies, Sports
A few words for dinner party guests
Readers contributed these suggestions for dinner party guests.
Confirm your attendance in a timely fashion and don’t bring extra guests unless you notify your host.
Arrive on time. Not early. Not late. Dinner preparations are delicate.
The rules of “C” — Champagne (bring bottle). Cell phone (disconnect).
Don’t bring cut flowers unless they are arranged and in a vase — your host is most likely busy with last minute preparations.
Bring something, but don’t insist that it be consumed or used at the party. (And, for goodness sake, don’t take it with you.)
All unauthorized persons out of the kitchen.
Convincingly and theatrically act as if the food I am serving is the finest that you have ever — or will ever — eat.
Don’t eat all the shrimp. We’re watching, you know.
Always watch your host and follow suit.
Bring your best stories to dinner because we like to tell them and we love to hear them.
If you’re shy, ask questions: It’s the least amount of talking you can do and still contribute to the party.
It’s not about you … don’t dominate the conversation.
If the host yawns, it’s time to go.
Always stay sober enough to drive home, and don’t expect the host(s) to do it for you.
Write a thank you note right after the dinner. Princess Di had her note addressed and laid out so it was written and delivered the next morning. I always thought that was a great idea.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
Notes for dinner party hosts
We asked Out & About readers to set a few rules for memorable dinner parties.
Make sure you ask for guests’ special dietary needs — vegetarian, lactose intolerant, allergies — before planning your menu.
Never underestimate the importance of music and lighting.
Understand that some guests will inevitably arrive late. Plan accordingly.
Go ahead and eat a snack before the guests show up, so your system will be settled.
Offer something to drink as soon as the guests arrive. Appetizers will suffice for about an hour.
The best way to relax your guests is to immediately introduce them to people they don’t know and help them find common ground. It’s not formal — it’s welcoming.
Few people really want to spend an evening sitting by their spouse’s ex-spouse.
Make more than you think you need. If you need it, you have it. If not, leftovers!
Also, be sure the food is mostly prepared so you can spend time with your guests, not running in and out of the kitchen all night.
To put guests at ease, I leave one last thing to be working on as they arrive. I find that the guests then congregate in the kitchen, where I can get them a beverage and they can start to chat while I finish.
Don’t starve your guests; if it’s dinner, serve it at a reasonable time. This is Texas, not Europe.
Always serve the good stuff, regardless, period. Don’t scrimp.
Always serve bottled or sparkling water as an alternative to alcohol.
Relax and talk to your guests.
Make sure at least half the time at the table is spent in one conversation that includes everyone.
Make it seem effortless.
Have a solid plan for the dishes. Stick to it.
Savor the moment. Kids grow up fast and quality time with friends is precious. Every dinner is a little piece of magic.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
Your A-List: Best Bowling Alley
Winning the A-List vote for Best Bowling Alley claims all those things, Dart Bowl beat its competitors with a convincing 42 percent of the tally. The centrally located alley on Grover Avenue — formerly way out in the ‘burbs, but now practically downtown — is home to 32 renovated lanes, video arcade, party room, steak house and full bar.
Westgate Lanes came in a respectable second with 15 percent, followed closely by 300 Austin with 14 percent. Highland Lands and Texas Union Underground tied at 11 percent. Taking 4 percent or less were Main Event, Saengerrunde Bowling Alley and Millenium Youth Center.
Write-in: Interstate Lanes in Round Rock
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Your A-List
Your A-List: Best Media Newcomer
Formerly of San Antonio, Ballou replaced former sports anchor Skip Baldwin. From what we hear, Ballou is pretty civic-minded, which might have helped attract the heavy voting patterns. For its part, Artstrada just held its launch party at the Mohawk. Sorry we missed it.
Everybody else took a disappointing 1 percent or less: “Bucky & Bob: The Talk of Austin” on 98.1 KVET and 1300 The Zone; KVUE meteorologist Meghan Danahey; “Big Boy’s Neighborhood’ on Beat 104.9”; Austin Chronicle’s Off the Record with Austin Powell; “Your Time with Kim Iverson” on Mix 94.7; Paul Saucido’s “Rock y Roll Radio”; L Style G Style magazine; La Que Buena 104.3 F; and Odic Force magazine.
Write-ins: Dan Cofer of “Punk Melody” on KOOP radio, David Herrera of KAKW Univision 62, Charlie Hodge’s halftime show on KLBJ-FM, Leslie Montoya of KAKW Univision 62.Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Media, Your A-List
‘Mamma Mia!’ review preview Part 3
Addendum to “Mamma Mia!” review below
HOLLYWOOD TALENT SHOW
Vanessa Redgrave (“Camelot”)
Nicole Kidman (“Moulin Rouge”)
Renee Zellweger (“Chicago,” pictured with Catherine Zeta-Jones, who had already proved herself on Broadway)
Richard Gere (“Chicago”)
Meryl Streep (“Mamma Mia!”)
Johnny Depp (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”)
Peter O’Toole (“Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” “Man of La Mancha”)
Lee Marvin (“Paint Your Wagon,” even though his recording of “Wanderin’ Star” went gold)
Helena Bonham Carter (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” — OK, barely)
Pierce Brosnan (“Mamma Mia!”)
Deborah Kerr (“The King and I”)
Natalie Wood (“West Side Story”)
Audrey Hepburn (“My Fair Lady”)
Ava Gardner (“Show Boat”)
Franco Nero (“Camelot”)
Send in your own suggestions.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Movies
‘Mamma Mia!’ review preview Part 2
Continued from below….
If Streep’s energy ever lags, in rushes Julie Walters and Christine Baransky, as old friends with their own twists on late-life libido. Accomplished, stylized musical performers, they need no prompting to steal the frame. The possible daddies — Stellan Skarsgard, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth — remain modestly in the background for the most part, singing when required. (By now, Brosnan’s undignified howl has been sufficiently ridiculed, so let’s not elaborate. He’s still emits more heat than all the studs who line Baransky’s beach number.)
A few words on the unity of time: Much has been made of a 59-year-old Streep, playing a member of a disco-era all-girl band, giving away a 20-year-old daughter whose boyfriend is Web-savvy, placing the fictional present fairly close to the chronological present. Actually, the math almost works, if you think of the late 1970s as the Age of ABBA, and the late 1990s as the Age of the Internet.
OK, that pushes it. But director Phyllida Lloyd, who knows something about operatic mythos, tries to keep time markers to a minimum, thus allowing us to breaststroke along with the contagious tide.
“Mamma Mia!” and its all-age, full-contact ecstasy — best embodied in “The Dancing Queen” — may do more for women (and men) of a certain age than the comparatively attenuated and over-dramatized “Sex and the City.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Movies
‘Mamma Mia!’ review preview Part 1
“Mamma Mia!” is a skinny dip in the fountain of youth.
Just watching flaxen-tressed, 59-year-old Meryl Streep skittering across the turquoise-tinted Maxfield Parish fantasyscape of a Greek island, singing (gloriously) and dancing (enthusiastically) to thumping ABBA songs is enough to give anyone permission, under the right circumstances, to believe the admittedly clunky lyrics: “You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life.”
While transitions from dialogue to lyrics can be painful, Johnson clearly understands the ancient rites of comedy: Young lovers overcoming obstacles, plotters withholding secrets, old fools acting foolishly, women embracing Dionysian frenzies, chastising their men for shortcomings, balancing sexual power on Aphrodite’s sacred island. She even slips in an updated Greek chorus.
It’s all there. And we play along because we want to believe that all these nice, flawed people can still shake every bit of joy out of life. And because the harmonically ingenious ABBA songs, even when oddly placed, are ineradicable.
Streep doesn’t exactly carry the movie, but she lends it just enough depth and credibility, if not exactly intelligence, applying her usual complicated, misdirected emotional range to motherly instincts, feminist self-sufficiency and, ultimately, romantic rage and redemption. (Her diva turn in “The Winner Takes It All” puts her in the Barbra Streisand, Patti LuPone, Liza Minnelli league, even if the script doesn’t build up the necessary context.)
to be continued …
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Movies
Thoughtful advice for house hosts
Last week, we shared readers’ advice for house guests. Now it’s the hosts’ turn.
Create a restful haven for your guests.
Make your guest room feel like a hotel/spa. Lots of white towels, travel size toiletries, books and magazines about local attractions and activities.
Have a plunger in the bathroom!
Explicitly invite your guests to have free rein with the kitchen, bathrooms and remote control. Don’t assume they know they’re welcome to autonomy in your home.
Give a tour when your guests arrive, so they know which room is theirs, which is yours, and which rooms they’re not supposed to enter.
Open bar is an open invitation for overnight guests. If you don’t find some creative way to limit the libations, be prepared to wake up to people sacked out on your couch, floor, bathroom tile, etc.
Always be prepared for the unexpected. Back up for everything including bar, bathroom, and medical emergencies.
Sleep in your guest room and use the guest bath.
Watching TV doesn’t count as a way of entertaining out-of-towners. Hide the remote from yourself.
Give yourself a few non-negotiable minutes each day to go outside and take deep breaths.
Don’t run your guests ragged. They should catch their plane with a sigh of nostalgic pleasure, not relief.
Let your guests discover Austin on their own and make their own memories about our fair city.
Never invite anyone to stay for longer than you can resist resurrecting unresolved issues or smoldering resentments.
Be clear with your invitation’s start and end dates, and how it will impact your schedule. My friends in Charleston have this disclaimer framed in their beach house: “If we get drunk on Sunday and invite you to stay until Tuesday, we don’t mean it.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Travel
Seal to sing at Seton Fund gala
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Music
Weekend Surprises 9: Crystal Flavola
What surprised me about … The CD release party for Crystal Flavola at Jovita’s on Sunday was how fluently the show people, who make up the core constituency for the country-inflected folk rock group, transform into music fans. Also, that playwright Monika Bustamante had married Chris Simpson from Zookeeper. How did I not know that?
Andrea Skola, Benjamin Summers
Kathy Catmull, Ken Webster
Chris Simpson, Monika Bustamante, David Jones
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Weekend Surprises 8: Uncle Billy’s
What surprised me about … The 1st Anniversary Bash at Uncle Billy’s on Barton Springs Boulevard was how closely it resembled any other summer Sunday at the barbecue and beer joint — jovial tables of people in shorts and sleeveless tops, extending their lake, park or springs buzzes into the dusk. Reminded me a lot of the locale’s previous good-times incarnation, the aptly named Good Eats.
Rich Archer, Jessica Archer
Rebecca Mallory, Jackie Campbell, Wendy Goffe
Scott Veggeberg, Lauren Dyer
Bennett Pifer, Tala Kassm (Megan Dyer leaned just outside the frame)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Weekend Surprises 7: Identity Complex
What surprised me about … Identity Complex, the art and architecture exhibit on West North Loop, was the fierceness of both major aspects of the events. Metrohouse’s residences, joined by a tree-topped courtyard, look like they emerged from some hyper-inventive designer’s dreams, with open, angled spaces executed in contemporary materials and obsessively pristine details. The art, assembled in the live-work lofts by Marcy Hoen of Austin Art Start, was similarly forward-thinking in electronic and sculptural medias, as well as a few more modest paintings. The art-mad crowd walked around mouths agape. A fair point was made by several partiers: “What Austin artist could afford to purchase such lofts?” Well, it might attract creative types from more costly real estate markets, looking for a lot of good light and the inspiration of edgy digs. The city is a pretty strong magnet as well.
Renee Gravois of the LBJ School and Nicole Blair, who you may remember from our McMansion Ordinance series, both lit up by Sean Gaulager’s projection and video gambit
Jody Kaylor, Skip Swanson
Nathan Michael, Nichole Rogerson
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Weekend Surprises 6: Bastille Day
What surprised me about … The Bastille Day celebration at the French Legation was how quickly it cooled down on that East Austin hilltop after the sun went down. Also how the Parisian jazz band tickled the assembled crowd and how the tiny tots went crazy for the mini-hedge labyrinths and the jugglers on the east lawn.
Elizabeth Eisenhart, Stewart Eisenhart
Carl Orend, Claire Orend
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Weekend Surprises 5: The White Party
What surprised me about … The White Party for LifeWorks was how stunning everyone looked in theme color, gliding around the Green Pastures grounds like so many characters from “The Great Gatsby.” Since this was staged by the charity’s young professionals’ wing, the ages skewed young for a gala, but it could hardly have been improved upon, as flowers, tents, decorative globes and free-flowing libations eased the party into higher gear as the night wore on. (Or so I heard, since I insanely left early for other gigs.)
Second row: Kelly Jackson, Sally Jackson (the Internet’s Midlife Gals in the flesh). First row: Stylist Amy Gamber, Rhiannon “Miss Adventure “Gammill
Jenny Arias, Lyndon Caine
Stephanie Coultress, Anar Shah, Malavika Vinta
Austin.com’s Fred Meyers,Lauren Meyers
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Weekend Surprises 4: Video Games Live
What surprised me about … Video Games Live at the Long Center on Saturday is how quickly the crowd adapted to the relatively formal, but, let’s face it, early space age atmosphere of the newly opened performing arts center. Also, the number of return fans from last season’s combination of symphonic music, lasers and projected games. Kinda like the condensed but essentially alien experience of hearing one’s favorite movie scores played by an orchestra live.
Ryan Kane, Debbie Kane
Mary K. Brown, Samuel Deats
Jason Bavarian, Ryan Mullowney, Anietie Akpan
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Weekend Surprises 3: Buzios Room
What surprised me about …. The Grand Opening of the Buzios Room on Friday is that the dark, chill lounge on Congress Avenue has maintained its above-the-fray vibe ever since its soft opening weeks ago. Also that the crowd, mostly above 25 to 40 years old, is so decidedly female. One guest quipped “This is what Pangaea should have been.” Well, no, they serve completely different purposes. Pangaea is a New York-style special-event spot where the energy goes from subdued to frenetic over the course of an evening. Buzios is the ideal after-theater lounge, a cool-down spot with just enough international flavor to feel vaguely cosmopolitan.
Ian Garrett, Elisa Thomas
Ben Casey, Crystal Rios, Suzann Elizondo
Sharmae Riemar, Donaji Lira
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
Weekend Surprises 2: Blanton B-Scene
What surprised me about … The Blanton B-Scene for “Exquisite Visions of Japan” on Friday: How effortlessly patrons of all ages, shapes and backgrounds floated in and out of the galleries, dallying in the museum’s formal-yet-welcoming atrium for music from a Buzios Room DJ and refreshing drink — plus dabs of food. Also the number of women, young and old, in traditional Japanese dress. “It’s a summer hit,” says Interim Director Ann Wilson of the crowd of 500 or so for the pristine prints from the Michener Collection.
Naoka Inman, Mariko Fujimoto
Mark Cathcart, Sounthaly Outhavong
Helene Engler, Dan Rozycki
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Weekend Surprises 1: Guerrilla Queer Bar
What surprised me about … The Guerrilla Queer Bar 100th happy hour at Green Pastures on Friday: The lack of status tension one notes in most gay bars. Richard MacKinnon and friends initiated the Austin version of this national phenomenon — sort of like an early flash mob — in which gay men descend at the last minute on a straight establishment for the evening, instantly diversifying the crowd and delighting the owners, who benefit from dozens, sometimes hundreds of fresh customers. “Guys tell me they’ve been to so many more places than they would have otherwise,” says MacKinnon. “Most of them just end up at Oilcan Harry’s.”
Adam Toguchi, Bruce Weatherford
Scott Quinn, Steve Olivares, Frank Genco
Richard MacKinnon, David Byers
Jay Velgos, Chris Vojczuk, Sean McGrath (Mace Welch, outside the frame, alas, closed his eyes)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
‘American Teen’ cast socializes in Austin
A movie forced them together. The same movie has reunited them periodically over the past two years.
“We’re all best friends now,” say about the subjects of the documentary “American Teen,” which was filmed over the course of 10 months at an Indiana high school.
The five former classmates whose stories emerge as the spine of Nanette Burstein’s doc, due out in movie theaters soon, are touring America to promote it. Thursday and Friday, they stopped in Austin and our conversation wandered far off topic (for which they repeatedly apologized, forgetting that the interview fed into a social column, not a movie feature, so all was well).
Now graduating into adulthood, they resemble only remotely the posed and doctored images on the yellow version of the movie poster — which they disdain, preferring the “Breakfast Club” concept for an earlier marketing device. Instead of stock characters in a teen comedy, in life they embody a range of confidence, reticence and curiosity common to many Americans of college sophomore age.
Between Krizmanich and Hannah Bailey, the hip, witty yet clearly skeptical one in the urban cap, was Colin Clemens, pegged as “the jock,” good-natured but more guarded, perhaps less worldly than Reinholt, his head into basketball practice. He appeared to gain subtle strength by his association with Krizmanich and Bailey, but his body language most matched Tusing’s.
Responding to questions about their past, current and future friendships — they didn’t really know each other until the documentary settled their immediate fates — Krizmanich, Reinholt and, tardily, Baily, chimed in as a cheerful chorus, while Tusing and Clemons glanced into the middle distance. Did they suspect that, after this rush of celebrity-induced intimacy, they might drift apart? After all, what do they share in common other than the accident of appealing to Burstein’s documentary eye? (Granted, also, some personal history, since the movie reached full form.)
Only one has “escaped Indiana,” in their words. After a hiatus in San Francisco, Bailey now attends arts-oriented State University of New York-Purchase. The others scattered closer to home, to university towns instate.
Tusing, exhausted from travel, went back to his room instead to contact his friend Molly. “With IM you can take the time to think,” he said. This observation was followed by a discussion on the crucial value of “BRB” — “be right back” — in texting slang, which allows for composition time. (Apparently, texting plays a major role in the romantic storylines of the movie, too.)
Has the experience changed their lives? The group talked earnestly if glibly about helping other teens or serving as mentors, but Tusing provided the most personal response.
“It has given me a good confidence boost in real life,” he says. “I feel better. I didn’t think I was special, that I was important. Seeing reactions to the results, (audiences) like who I am. At least the part they can see. If strangers like who I am, I don’t need to be concerned.”
A lesson every performer — come to think of it, every human — learns, at least momentarily.
“We were more alike than we gave ourselves credit for,” Clemens says. “I’m glad we could put stereotypes aside.
As the interview disintegrated, in a natural way, they continued to tease and sweetly torment each other, testing boundaries. A good sign for future friendship.
You can visit them at their Facebook page.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Movies
Sweet 16 Rules for House Guests
“Call before you arrive — don’t just show up.”
“Arrive with a gift. Wine is a good bet.”
“Offer to help, but don’t insist if the host and hostess would rather do it themselves.”
“Make as small a footprint as possible. For example, if you are sleeping on the couch, restore the couch every day before you leave.”
“Always be mindful of your host’s schedule. You shouldn’t make his/her life revolve around what you want to do.”
“Adapt.”
“Don’t ‘make ranch!’ Meaning, don’t make yourself so comfortable like it’s your own house. Be respectful.”
“Please do not snoop in bathroom drawers.”
“We expect self sufficiency (ask for what you need), energy efficiency (turn off the lights and air when you leave) and smoking only on the porch.”
“Don’t lose my spare house keys and don’t bring any strangers home with you for an impromptu party at 1 a.m. on a Sunday night”
“Guests, you are welcome here, be at your ease / Get up when you’re ready, go to bed when you please / You don’t have to thank us or laugh at our jokes / Sit deep and come often, you’re one of the folks” — taken from a sampler embroidered by the reader’s mother.
“The only reason for going into my bedroom is if you are planning on spending the night in it.”
“Fish and visitors smell after three days.”
“Always take a present to leave for your host to find after your departure. It can be a small book, some scented soaps or their favorite tea.”
“There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes effort that goes into hosting someone in your home overnight (clean linens and guestroom, meal planning and preparation, entertainment, being a gracious host — even when you’re not a morning person). Send a handwritten note after your stay thanking your host for their hospitality (sending flowers is divine).”
If you haven’t seen already, Eric Shanteau, the Austin-trained Olympic swimmer who has appeared in this column a few times, has been diagnosed with testicular cancer. He plans to compete in Beijing anyway. It’s ironic that the mainstream media has paid little attention to Shanteau up to this point. Now his name will not be mentioned on air without reference to his medical condition.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment
Final Weekend Out before Montana
Can you tell I’m ready for a real vacation? July 18, three buddies will join me on a hiking trip to Glacier National Park in Montana (with sidetrips, including my first time in western Canada). Plenty of socializing — and summer movies — before then.
Thursday: Press preview of “American Teen” at Alamo South
Saturday: LifeWorks LEAP White Party at Green Pastures; Video Games Live at the Long Center; Bastille Day Celebration is the French Legation Museum; “Identity Complex” at 814 W. North Loop
Sunday: Uncle Billy’s First Anniversary Bash; Cheatham Street Warehouse’s BigFest in San Marcos; Crystal Flavola CD release party at Jovita’s
Monday: Press preview of “Dark Knight” at Bullock Texas History Museum; “Hancock” at theater to be named
Tuesday: Press preview of “Mamma Mia!” at Galaxy Highland
Wednesday: Max Horne in Concert at Ms. B’s Authentic Creole Restaurant; Jacinta at Oil Can Harry’s
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Save on gas while socializing, Part 2
Variations abound. Stephen Tatton: “Pick a central parking lot in downtown Austin. Park there and use pedicabs to get around downtown - this saves gas and the environment while you socialize.” Amy Bauer: “Try Zingo Transportation — the new designated driver moped service.”
Debbie Johnson integrates socializing with wellness routines: “Exercise together. Take a walk, bike ride, etc. from home. It’s a great way to get to know someone (either personally or professionally).”
Still others advised relying instead on social networking over the Internet (a pale substitute, but we’ve joined the online party. Look for me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and de.li.cious). Kent White: “Two letters: IM”
Readers also contributed creative and humorous suggestions (we’ll spare you the references to beans and other legumes). Many sent in variations on this terse tactic: “Stay home, invite others to your place.”
Pianist Mary Robbins’ idea is a bit more complex: “Choose activities that involve at least part of the time outdoors. Then, if you’re going to ride in the car, you’re already a bit sweaty so there is little point to using the car’s AC anymore … just roll the windows down and breeze along.
Rep. Mark Strama jokingly suggests reproduction: “I can tell you we’ve saved a lot of money on gas while trying to socialize by having a baby. We just stopped socializing.”
False. He and poised wife, Fox 7 News reporter Crystal Cotti, make the social rounds while trading off babysitting duties. They just make it work.
(Read Part 1 of the report below.)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Save on gas while socializing, Part 1
Your social columnist has. Which doesn’t mean I’ve rejected juicy story ideas that required driving, such as the Norwegian-Alaskan wedding in Dime Box or the Asian American Fourth of July in the Barton Creek neighborhood (July 8 and July 10 entries respectively). I’ve just been more selective about borderline social occasions that might not produce entertaining or edifying columns.
Readers share our pain. And they’ve made some suggestions about how to save on gas while socializing in a teetering economy.
Many recommended carpooling. Historian Carl McQuery put his own spin on the strategy: “Create an ‘Adventure in Socializing’ tour. Load your favorite social animals in the Buick and car-pool them on your very own personal social melee. Word of caution — choose those you take wisely.”
Familiar radio, TV and stage voice David Jarrott amplifies this carpooling advice: “Meet at locations equi-distant for all in the group. Don’t select a restaurant in South Austin if 50 percent or more of the group lives in Round Rock.” Fashion writer Jenny Miller thinks like a gracious host: “If you throw a party, help guests arrange the carpools — they may even meet interesting new people that way.” Hal Hall is even more generous: “Arrange for a shuttle bus to pick people up at home and bring them to the party.”
Lawyer Linda Ball, who just moved into the 360 Tower hits a familiar urbanist note: “Move downtown and meet your buddies on foot.” Steven Tomlinson, playwright and professor, who lives off Guadalupe Street: “Organize a block party.” Artist Andrew Long: “Organize a moveable feast in your neighborhood, a walking potluck at multiple houses, i.e. drinks at House 1, appetizers at House 2, salad at House 3 …” (Former East Coaster Long is supremely outgoing. I can seem him doing this.)
Part 2 later today.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Your A-List: Best Club DJ
The time has come to salute those magicians of the discs who keep us moving at clubs and lounges: The DJs. They don’t get the respect they deserve from the mainstream music press in this city, but believe me, those of us covering the social beat, heading Out & About every night, bless them with our most fervent benedictions.
DJ Kurupt, who attracts some of the most classy crowds to Red Fez and elsewhere, came in a strong second at 20 percent. Toddy B was the only other big vote draw, with 10 percent.
Everyone else — including some big names, such as DJ Mel, DJ Chicken George, DJ Dallas, Car Stereo Wars, DJ Manny, Rapid Ric, Prince Klassen, Boba Fett, DJ Hobo D, DJ Orion, Waxploitation DJs, DJ Hella Yella, Big Face, Stay Gold and DJ Aquaman Chill — failed to break single digits.
Write-ins, other than DJ Dallas: DJ Bang, Holland Hart, Seth Cooper, Syko
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Music, Your A-List
Your A-List: Best Place to Take Kids
One of the most pleasant things about Austin is the lack of artificial tourist destinations. Visitors aren’t lured by corporate attractions, like giant theme parks, but instead they want to enjoy for a short time what we enjoy every day. Our streets. Our parks. Our lakes and springs.
Kids like big, honkin’ amusements, and in Central Texas, that translates into Schlitterbahn, the ever-expanding New Braunfels water park that won the A-List vote for Best Place to Take Kids with 33 percent of the vote.
Zilker Park, a Depression-era urban retreat that includes playing fields, botanical gardens and a nifty mini-train, came in second with 15 percent. The Rock Rock Express, the area’s most successful minor league sports franchise, came in third with 11 percent. Barton Springs Pool, technically part of Zilker Park, took fourth with just under 11 percent.
Deep Eddy Pool, another of the city’s spring-fed municipal swimming spots, earned 6 percent, while Lake Travis and its many watery arms got 4 percent, tying with the Southpark Meadows Shopping Center (more kid-friendly than others?).
Town Lake and Volente Beach also tied at just over 3 percent, and BookPeople was not far behind. Coming in under 3 percent were Austin’s Park, Little Stacy Park, Dinosaur Park in Bastrop, Butler District Park and Shipe Park.
Write-ins: Austin Children’s Museum and Brushy Creek Splash Park.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Your A-List
Wall-E and other Macs
As our family movie critic, Dale Roe, quickly pointed out, the title character in Pixar’s “Wall-E” is an Apple product. One can tell by the chord harmonizing when the robotic trash-compactor powers on. (Roe’s review was the subject of its own media hum on Mac fan sites.)
I agree with 99 percent of Roe’s five-star review. Stray thoughts on my first viewing (there will be others):
It’s still somewhat startling that Disney and Pixar would bet the ranch on a movie with virtually no dialog and two lead characters who are non-android robots. But even more shocking is its unambiguous shots at fast-food-driven obesity, WalMart-style quantity consumerism, television-and-leisure-addicted lassitude and a general lack of civic engagement from the American public. All this is done with animation, which may soften the sting, but I know its passive targets were sitting next to me at the Gateway Theater.
I still haven’t read any commentary on the miraculous use of an old-fashioned musical, “Hello, Dolly!” as Wall-E’s on-screen inspiration for ecstatic activity and romantic contact. The movie is full of cinematic allusions to “E.T.,” “Star Wars,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” etc., but to so completely embrace the 1969 film that, to some historians, nailed the coffin shut on the big-budget movie musical era, is clever unto genius.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Movies
Coin dropped: UT 2 for 2 for Tony Best Actress
The Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play 2007: Julie White for “The Little Dog Laughed.” Best Actress in a Play 2008: Deanna Dunagan for “August: Osage County.”
Both are University of Texas alums (drama for White, music for Dunagan). Somebody over at the College of Fine Arts ought to be blaring “The Eyes of Texas” from the under-construction Bass Concert Hall. Or light it up burnt orange. The number of UT Tony winners is pretty small, dropping off precipitously after Tommy Tune’s armful.
Gosh, they even look a little alike. Of course, neither actress maintained particularly close ties to Austin, but some smart producer will figure out that pairing two UT Tony winners would explode a local marquee.
(My neice, Mary, studying documentary-making at NYU this summer, and her parents, Julie and Chris, loved “August” and Tommy O’Malley’s top recommendation, “Passing Strange.” To tell the truth, I ached during the Tony ceremony to spend a long weekend on Broadway, but that would cost as much as all our other 2008 travel put together.)
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Arts
It’s a boy for Matthew McConaughey
Looks like Austin’s perennial surfer dude is now a surfer daddy. Matthew McConaughey’s girlfriend Camila Alves gave birth to a 7-pound, 4-once boy Monday evening.
“Camila and I were side by side the entire time,” McConaughey, 38, told OK magazine. “We are both tired and elated, and are so happy to have created the greatest miracle in the world — having a child and making a family. Now comes the greatest adventure — raising one, together.”
McConaughey was last seen hanging with his man pal Lance Armstrong in Southern California, where Austin’s best cyclist is summering with girlfriend Kate Hudson (also chumming with Hudson’s mom, Goldie Hawn). We’ll see if the fun-loving McConaughey can settle down with his 24-year-old Brazilian model and newborn.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment
Barbara Walters’ revealing ‘Audition’
But I read the book mostly for Walters’ insider tips on landing “gets” with the celebrated and powerful, and her extraordinarily effective interview techniques. Basically, she softens up subjects with credible flattery, even flirting, then offers them an opportunity to “set the record straight” about whatever they feel is misunderstood about them. But she also researches the heck out of these subjects and possesses an uncanny knack for getting the high and mighty to spill the beans.
I won’t go into detail here. For a fuller account read Caitlin Flanagan’s review in The Atlantic, which led me to the book.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Scratching the vast surface of Houston
Houston, like Asia, is incomprehensible.
The thing about Houston, however, is that hidden behind the zillion miles of strip centers are little slices of Nirvana. Took my parents to Bistro Provence on Memorial Boulevard, an unassuming place that served, during a monsoon-drenched lunch, exquisite poached fish, beef stew and salad Nicoise topped by ruby-rare tuna medallions.
Part of the human scenery at this bistro was a couple in their late 50s, I’d guess, dressed in suburban Texan golf gear, but speaking with clipped English accents (BP or Shell transplants?). They certainly knew how to experience a Southern European meal, taking their time over several courses, each diner savoring a separate bottle of wine. If you can’t summer in Provence, this seems a more than acceptable way to substitute for a few hours.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Food, Travel
Norwegian-Alaskan alliance in Dime Box
“What’s your name?” the reporter asks.
“Nobody,” says Dewitt Lindsey, quoting Homer.
An appropriate opener for Saturday’s mini-odyssey that detoured for a time in Dime Box. We met at the Waits Farm, a collection of former agricultural structures converted into a bunkhouse, overnight cottage, art barn (studio is too fancy a word), drum room made from a metal water storage container, improvised library, fully functional mess hall, musical stage, game platforms and observation decks surrounded by pastures, berry gardens and wild roses.
Alaskans mixed with Norwegians and Texans at this table in the Waits Farm mess hall
“It was just goat bones, grasshoppers, pecans and dirt,” says tornadic Marsha Waits, a Bastrop schoolteacher and owner, with more taciturn husband Clayton, a retired, award-winning school superintendent, of the complex. Over the past few years they’ve turned the once-derelict farm on Texas 21 just this side of FM 141 into a rustic place for weddings and family reunions, decorated in “Lonesome Dove” style with help from their quiet-loving contractor son, Brantley, who does custom carpentry for Austin’s Bliss Construction.
“If someone needs a breath of fresh air,” says Lindsey, “this is the place.”
Six words in Marsha’s e-mail invitation drew me to the farm — up the road from sister hamlet Old Dime Box for those who don’t make a regular trip down treacherous 21 to Aggieland: “Norwegian-Alaskan wedding in Dime Box.”
What reporter could resist?
The bride, Hilde Dankel, and her family hail from the west coast of Norway, an isolated speck between Bergen and Trondheim, an easy Hurtigbat (fast catamaran ferry) ride to the Arctic Circle. The groom, Jacob Harrison, was born in Austin, but grew up in southern Alaska. He and his friends share Texas roots, and an “outlaw state” mentality. The newlyweds now live in North Austin he works for pet supplier Dog Stuff; she studies at St. Edward’s University.
Hilde Dankel, Jacob Harrison
Besides Alaska and Norway, groups attended from Indiana — where English-mad Hilde, who looks like a Vermeer subject, first encountered America — and from Texas, including Lindsey from Huntsville, or more precisely, Riverside, whose book “The Lady’s Intent” is due out soon, and Charlotte and Larry Arnold from Castroville, dressed in cowduds while pouring iced tea. (“They said ‘y’all come,’ but we knew it was really to work,” says accomplished hostess Charlotte about her persuasive sister-in-law, Marsha.)
Larry and Charlotte Arnold
You could tell the Norwegians, as their heads almost hit the rafters of the former barn. The Alaskans were harder to pick out, though they shaded almost as pale as their northern brethren by newly toasted marriage.
“I’ve always emulated him,” says best man Andrew Harrison of his brother. “I’ve never found anyone else better to emulate.”
“You have to be an amazing man to catch this independent, ambitious, passionate woman,” says maid of honor Astri Gridseth Floof the bride, also from Volda, Norway, who, like the Dankels, speaks unblemished English.
Ana Pavasovic, Cecille Vartdal, Sunniva L. Wahl, Dorothy “Dolly” Dankel
Even hardened journalists choke up.
Spotted at a Giddings gas station: A gruff-looking, bearded man in a car mechanic’s jumpsuit. Looked down to spot flip-flops and toenails painted a pearly pink.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment
An Asian American Fourth of July
“Welcome, welcome, welcome,” laughs CD Tam as each new guest arrives at his formal yet casual, indooor/outdoor Barton Creek house for a Fourth of July bash partly organized by Amy Mok of the Asian American Cultural Center. “Amy gave me one rule: Don’t serve monkey brains.”
Not to worry. Barbecued pork and sausage sizzle on the grill, as egg rolls swim in roiling oil. Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and English lilt across Tam’s terraced patio, while American flags fashioned like Chinese lanterns flutter overhead.
Al Mok, Amy Mok, CD Tam, Sandy Tam
Kids dash into the pool. Young adults clump near the balustrade overlooking a golf course. The older generation rises to greet the next wave of guests, introduced by the effusive Tam, and they come dressed in everything from swimming trunks to smart, lacy cocktail outfits.
Some are celebrating their first Independence Day in the States. Others have lived in Texas all their lives.
Certain stories — of coming to America for an education or economic opportunity — are familiar. Others unroll like novels. They share in common a look west to Asia instead of east to Europe or Africa or south to Latin America and the Caribbean for cultural inspiration.
The host’s hard-won store of worldly wisdom, measured out in jovial bursts, can be reduced to one phrase: “Education is everything,” he says. “It’s the one thing they can’t take away from you.”
Sunny Hui, Sammi Tan with son Anthony
At least part of Tam’s background is well-known among followers of Austin’s technical class. His grandfather was a Cantonese banker who left, in his will, 90 percent of his inheritance to the son who achieved the most academic excellence. Tam’s father studied Chinese literature, then took graduate degrees from Stanford and Berkeley, before teaching psychology at Chinese universities.
His mother, sensing danger, fled to Hong Kong with three children when the communists took over in the 1950s, and that’s where Tam grew up, going from privilege to privation, the scratching his way back to business success. He rose from the position of microchip designer, through sales, marketing and other departments, to head Motorola’s Asian branch, which, in 2001, grossed $10 billion.
After building a model science park in Hong Kong, Tam retired to Austin. He had become permanent resident, while his wife Sandy is a citizen. He’s active in the philanthropic community — the cultural center is holding a benefit for the survivors of the Chinese earthquake, Burmese and Philippine typhoons and Midwest U.S. flooding at the Long Center July 19 — but not all his guests stories are so unequivocably ascendent.
Emma and Justin Yang — they preferred to give their American names only — shared a bit of romance deferred. They were attracted to each other in their Chinese high school, but argued just before splitting off to different universities. He ended up in Austin, co-founding a small tech firm that was swallowed by Cisco, working harder on American holidays like the Fourth of July; she inched her way up to producer status at a Beijing television station.
Both had married and divorced, but they kept in touch across the globe by e-mail. When Justin returned to visit his hometown in the Anjui province, he took a 10-hour train to Beijing to visit Emma — and old embers were fanned. Yet is wasn’t easy for Emma to leave her position at the TV station.
Emma Yang, Justin Yang, Soo Young, Jin Suh
“Only he could make me move here,” she smiles. “But it’s a beautiful city and the people enjoy life here.” She’d like to make independent documentaries on American life for Chinese consumption. “They know America only through Hollywood. They don’t know Americans work hard, too, and love their families.”
Some families started out intercontinental. Fai Lee grew up in Hong Kong, but met Joe Steinberg in Colorado. They are raising daughters Shauna and Rachel, who spent six years at an international school outside Beijing. Rachel’s not interested in returning to live there and remembers mostly the food — and the friends she made.
Helen Zhang
“The Cantonese, like my wife, will say Cantonese is the best Chinese food in the world,” Steinberg says. “There’s always lots of food at a Chinese party.”
Joe Steinberg, Rachel Steinberg, Fai Lee
Jin Suh and Soo Young arrived in Austin via Soeul, Korea. He studies computer science at UT, she English as a Second Language. They had never celebrated American independence but described the more somber Korean Independence Day on Aug. 15, commemorating the end of Japanese colonization.
“There are no fireworks,” Suh says. “Korea suffered from Japan for 50 years. People fly flags and attend ceremonies. A few parties. Not many.”
As everywhere in the world, kids dart in and out among the adults. A clacking game of mahjong begins while “Independence Day” booms in the Tams’ home theater.
“Whose birthday are we celebrating today?” catechizes Mok.
“America’s freedom!” shouts fifth-into-sixth-grader Dylan Luo.
“No, the declaration from the Continental Congress,” says slightly older Helen Gong.
Kevin Luo, Dylan Luo, Rouyun Xu. Helen Gong
The youngest generation at the party titters at the Cantonese dialect spoken by Mok and Tam.
“We speak Mandarin,” says Ruoyun Xu. “And a little Japanese. Education keeps us from being ridiculed and from bad consequences like losing your job.”
Mary Ho, born in Beijing, but raised in Taiwan and 40 years in this country, taught Mandarin in the UT Asian Studies program.
“Although the Chinese dialects sound like completely different languages, there is only one written language,” she says. “And everyone in China understands Mandarin, except the very old. Some are very attached to their dialects.”
Each generation makes its own claims.
“I’m not from China! I’m from Houston!” announces Luo without provocation. “Someday I want to be governor of Texas. Or maybe I’ll join the legislative branch.”
Big ideas from someone entering the sixth grade. He credits his Cedar Valley teachers with his advanced notions of American government.
“We make laws to keep peace and protect freedom,” Luo says. “It would be really cool if I could do that.”
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment
Olympic Trials, ‘House’ and ‘So You Think You Can Dance’
Despite its resolution months ago, the writers strike has only now affected our well-banked TiVo cache. I’m down to no more than two unseen episodes of my favorite shows. I squirreled away the two-part season finale of “House” until this week, and for those who missed the bus accident and its aftermath, I won’t spoil the drama. Suffice it to say that it remains among the best written, directed and performed series — ever. Loveable TV misanthropes abound these days, but Hugh Laurie’s Dr. House is almost literary in his substance.
I’ve resisted “So You Think You Can Dance.” Do we really need another bloated “American Idol”? Especially given the tiny minority of Americans who can actually dance well. But I’ve grown fond of some of this summer’s contestants and I’m learning a lot about styles I’d never really studied closely. The show actually may contribute to an increase in the general dance IQ, which can only help the major fine art with the smallest built-in audience.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Out & About holiday weekend
Thursday: Zax Restaurant Fifth Anniversary, Grand Opening of Sushi Bar at Imperia; Stockholm Syndrome at Elysium
Friday: Chinese American Fourth of July at a private home; Fireworks Watch at a private home
Saturday: Alaskan/Norwegian Wedding at Waits Farm in Dime Box
Sunday: Zilker Summer Musical 50th Anniversary at the Long Center
Photo: Sung Park
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Your A-List: Best Place to Celebrate an Anniversary
The actual winner of the A-List vote was Hudson’s on the Bend, the game specialists out on Lake Travis who have been wowing lovers and gourmands for quite a while. They took 27 percent of the vote. Jeffrey’s, the Clarksville eatery favored by the president and his wife, came in No. 2 with 18 percent. The Driskill Grill, which has survived the departure of its celebrity chef, David Bull, with flying colors, got 16 percent.
Uchi, run by Austin’s other Iron Chef participant, Tyson Cole, took 15 percent, while Wink, with its tiny, exquisite servings and astute wine steward, earned 8 percent. Aquarelle, the French charmer just off West Sixth Street, made 5 percent, and Cafe Josie, farther west off Sixth Street, got 3 percent. Coming in under 3 percent were Starlite, Jasper’s and Zoot.
Write-ins: Austin Land and Cattle, Fonda San Miguel, Jezebel, Roaring Fork, Tree House Italian Grill
Photo: Kelly West
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Your A-List
Your A-List: Best Local Song from the Past Year
We knew this would be a battle royale when we asked the A-List readers to vote the Best Local Song from the Past Year. Several write-ins did extremely well and total voting swelled beyond A-List averages.
Coming in second with 25 percent was “How Will You Shine” from longtimers The Gourds. Ascendant Bettysoo’s “How Will You Shine” took the third spot with 15 percent. Clustered in the 3 to 5 percent range were “Nosebleed” recorded by Spin Alley, “Blue to Me” by Woode Wood, “You’ve Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” by Spoon (arguably not an Austin band), “Heavy Heart” by Ghostland Observatory and “Always a Friend” by Alejandro Escovedo.
One percent or less: Iron and Wine’s “Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car,” Carolyn Wonderland’s “Misunderstood,” Grupo Fantasma’s “Gimme Some,” Mother Truckers’ “Dynamite,” James McMurty’s “Cheney’s Toys,” Big Frank Gomez Band’s “Hey Sarita,” South Austin Jug Band’s “Come to Me,” White Denim’s “Let Talk About It,” Nelo’s “All Gone to Nothing,” Jimmy LaFave’s “Car Outside,” Hayes Carll’s “It’s a Shame,” Pataphysics’ “Jesus Grow Me a Handlebar Mustache,” Shearwater’s “Rooks,” Zookeeper’s “Snow in Berlin,” K.J. Hines’ “The Beach Bunny Hop” and Bavu Blakes’ “Extra Plair.”
Write-in votes: Brownout’s “Homenaje,” South Austin Jug Band’s “Jackass”
Photo: Xavier Mascarenas
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Music, Your A-List
Saturday Social 6, Part 6: Lounge 34
I wrapped Saturday at Lounge 34, Eddie Bernal’s newly inaugurated series of late-night events at 34th Street Cafe.
Kathy Do, Joanne Tau
A frisky crowd nibbled on gourmet pizza wedges and other smart food while quaffing red-striped Mumm’s.
Tyler Cochran, Greg Mays, Casey Threatt
Few people throw a bash like Bernal, so I’m sure the festivities extended well beyond my personal witching hour.
Cody Thompson, Catherine Gordon
Once again, I was struck by the vivid assortment of ages, races, sexes and sexualities at the stylish 34th Street affair. Old Austin may have self-segregated by types, but not New Austin, which harbors no living memory of the past’s social barriers.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Update: Austin poet Shannon Leigh Lewis has died
Update: A spokesman for the Shands Hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla. confirms that Shannon Leigh Lewis, the Austin spoken-word poet, died at 9:40 p.m. Monday. The coma she had entered after a June 14 cave diving accident near Ginnie Springs, Fla. turned irreversible earlier that day, which led to conflicting reports about her death. Information about the official time of death was not released by the hospital until Wednesday and an Alachua County, Fla. medical examiner’s report is pending.
Best known under her stage name, Shannon Leigh, she joined Austin’s hyperactive poetry scene at age 14.
Lewis later won the Austin-wide Under 21 poetry slams in 2003 and 2004. Last year, during a sold-out National Poetry Slam show at the Paramount Theatre, Lewis took third place. She was featured on the HBO series, “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry,” and represented Austin in the Under 21 Slam Team at the national Brave New Voices Youth Festival. She also had finished writing two novels and produced a hip-hop album titled “Sanctuary.”
“Her writing and performance style were an exact mirror of her as a person,” Henry said. “Absolutely fierce, fearless. Her work was incredibly lyrical, hip-hop infused and intensely personal. It was a shining example of what performance poetry can be.”
Lewis said one of her inspirations was the 1998 movie “Slam” about a rapper living in a gang-infested housing project. Her politically informed poetry was performed with unusual intensity. “It hits people much harder because it’s coming from me,” she told the American-Statesman in 2005, calling herself a “sheltered white girl.”
Lewis, 20, was born in Leeds, U.K. and attended St. Andrew’s High School in Austin before moving to Atlanta last year to attend Georgia State University.
Both her Austin-based parents are globe-spanning performers: Sheila Siobhan is an operatic soprano who co-founded the Austrian American Mozart Academy in Salzburg, Austria. She now teaches at Texas A&M-Kingsville. Her father, tenor William Lewis, also performs operatic roles worldwide, including at top opera houses, such as La Scala in Milan, Italy. He teaches at the University of Texas.
According to multiple reports, Lewis, an experienced diver, was swimming with two other divers, returning alone to the entrance of the cave because of an equilibrium problem. A diving instructor from another group discovered her unconscious. She was brought her to the surface with the help of another diver.
“Recreation diving and cave diving are apples and oranges,” said Dan Misiaszek, retired dive recovery commander with San Marcos Area Recovery Team. “Cave diving requires specialized training and equipment. Even with the proper training and equipment, things can still go wrong.”
Lewis had lingered in a coma for days. Monday morning, in Gainesville, Fla. doctors said Lewis showed no brain activity. Wednesday morning, she was taken off the respirator.
After the medical news Monday, dozens of poets had posted memories and tributes on her MySpace page and other poetry sites.
“She was phenomenal person inside and out,” said slam teammate Gator, who works with the performance group Public Offenders. “When we performed together, she blew the crowd away. She had this spirit on her. It had to do with her style of poetry and at the same time as a person.”
Austin Poetry Slam, the city’s primary spoken-word group, had planned several fundraisers over the course of the next month to help defray Lewis’s medical expenses. Henry says those events will continue as planned, with the money going to the family. For updates on those events — check austinslam.com.
A memorial service will be held 6 p.m. July 9 at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. Please leave your memories of Lewis in the commentary box and in the guest book. Below find a performance clip from “Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry.”
Permalink | Comments (27) | Post your comment Categories: Arts
Lauren Graham, rodeo queen
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Robert Rodriguez and Rose McGowan parting?
AP Photo/Jeff Christensen
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Movies
Saturday Social 6, Part 5: Bo Salon
I missed the Austin Public Library event at the Mexican American Cultural Center — the next planned stop — but zipped over to the Bo Salon party on South Congress Avenue on Saturday (continuation of our trot).
Ron King with The Fierce One
Stylist Ron King was celebrating the completion of the salon’s body bar — “not a day spa,” he says — next to his established hair spot.
Amber Seals, Jeffrey Seals
Model-pretty people sipped vanilla and blackberry martinis and made new friends among the tools of the beauty trade. I must return.
Charm Carlin, Jim Hymes, Sarah LaBorde
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Saturday Social 6, Part 4: Uncorked
Social Saturday went on:
Earlier in the evening, Bill Head and Patricia Wilson had alerted me to the opening of a new wine bar, Uncorked, on East Seventh Street, at the old Angie’s location.
Chris Gosnell, Yvonne Lambert
The Mexican restaurant has moved to new digs only blocks away, leaving the skyline views for the fine-wine set.
Chris Gosnell, Jamie Frederick
As evidenced by the teeming masses on the patio and those crammed into the interior cool, there was a vacuum for an accessible, no-nonsense place to sample the latest varietals.
Ian Clarke, Andrew Hunter, Crystal Hunter
(By my count, that makes 10 Austin wine bars.)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Saturday Social 6, Part 3: Okay Mountain
More Saturday socializing:
Another gallery — this one a hip East Cesar Chavez Street collective — held a low-key fundraiser the same dusk.
Katie Alfredo, Mo Oaxaca
Young folks with tats and even younger folks in summer gear endured the heat for art’s sake, then cooled off in the patio, playing carnival-style games and waiting for the sun to drop lower behind the big East Austin trees. (Everything grows bigger out east. I sometimes miss our Garden Street garden.)
We ran into everywhere-pair Annette Carlozzi and Dan Bullock, who sportingly represented Austin’s more established arts and business communities.
Amanda Bowman, Laurel Crawford, Julia Aguilar, Kumaran Mudaliar (This group wanted to show Dallasite Mudaliar a true Austin time. Did it.)
Update: A photo of Ines Min and Eli Edmundson was removed.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Saturday Social 6, Part 2: Jan Heaton at Wally Workman Gallery
Saturday’s social swirl continued:
Jan Heaton, Ahmad Modoni
Wally Workman’s gallery on West Sixth Street has grown steadily over the years as she has nurtured the careers of many artists, including Will Klemm, Margie Crisp and Julie Speed.
Wesley, Alan and Fitzhugh Mullins (Kentuckians Wesley and Fitzhugh are training in Austin’s excellent swimming facilitites.)
It was Jan Heaton’s turn for the star treatment on Saturday, and her sensitively bled watercolors in organic shapes have evolved into jewels of sophistication.
Sandra and Greg DeKock, with little, sentient Julian
Tall, stylish Heaton was escorted to the event by Ahmad Modoni, the polished part-owner of the Mañuel’s restaurants.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Saturday Social 6, Part 1: Linda Dumont Studio Gallery
Veterans of the social scene warned me that formal activity would decline precipitously in June. The ritualized social season, following centuries-old tradition, took a breather during the hot months.
For Old Austin with money, that meant fleeing the muggy city for the chilly retreats like Santa Fe, N.M., Aspen, Colo., or Cape Cod, Mass. The rest of us dipped in local swimming holes, sipped iced drinks under ceiling fans or hibernated in the coolest, darkest recesses of our homes to ward off the punishing sun.
Linda Dumont
That urge to retreat, like so much else about Austin, is changing. Saturday, for instance, I migrated to six of seven planned social events, all brimming with cheer more appropriate for the advance of autumn than the torture of 100-degree afternoons.
Jill Collins, Janet Dean
I missed Linda Dumont’s opening night bash at her recently completed studio gallery on East 52nd Street but caught the tail end of the Saturday after-party. Dumont is best known for her cityscapes spilled into saturated colors, but she’s also quite adept at abstracts, cryptic landscapes and abbreviated torsos.
Laura Britt, Sarah Binion
We chatted among the paintings with various visitors, including Janet Dean and Jill Collins. Formerly with the National Gallery of Art, Collins offered her enthusiasm and expertise to Dumont, who buzzed with bliss about her light-swished digs.
