Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2008 > September > 08
Monday, September 8, 2008
Elaine Stritch & Matthew McConaughey, Part 3
See lower posts for first two parts…
Back on his old stomping grounds, Matthew McConaughey dived into Barton Springs, attended a lopsided Longhorn victory at the expanded Royal-Memorial Stadium, hung with Austin buddies and titillated admirers with his appearances at the Paramount premiere of “Surfer, Dude,” which he produced as well as starred in, and the after-party at the Belmont, where he kindly allowed his picture to be taken with fans, even though cameras were generally forbidden.
McConaughey has worked pretty steadily since Richard Linklater’s “Daze and Confused” broadcast his core persona to wider audiences in 1993. Many a brash young movie star has faded before the 15-year mark. Not McConaughey. His prolific mixture of light comedies and fairly substantive dramas begs comparison with another native Texan and sometime Austinite, Dennis Quaid, also compared to Marlon Brando in his youth, although for different reasons. (And to round out the coincidences, Elaine Stritch actually dated Brando, until the former convent girl fled that Lothario’s apartment when he emerged from a back room in pajamas.)
Here’s the point: McConaughey is no slacker. Yet is he milking his looks and charm while reaching no higher than the lowest rungs of his talent potential? Ask people which of his roles they remember most, and they’ll say David Wooderson from “Dazed and Confused,” way back at the beginning of his career. Since then, he’s confounded his critics in “Amistad,” “A Time to Kill,” “Lone Star” and other movies, plus he was memorable in “Reign of Fire” with Christian Bale.
Yet will anyone care about McConaughey when, like Stritch, he’s 83?
I hope so. He’s a genial guy. And like Quaid, he’s been generous to his partly adopted city of Austin. Perhaps he won’t have to suffer, as Stritch did, to discover that it’s really all about the work.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame, Movies
Elaine Stritch & Matthew McConaughey, Part 2
When she was not performing her soul out for Austin Cabaret Theatre with a six-piece orchestra, Broadway legend Stritch walked obsessively in the West Campus area, dropped by Starbucks and Eddie V’s, guarded against those diabetic episodes that threaten her everyday peace, and peppered fans with argus-eyed questions about Austin.
Note that date. She has delivered the act hundreds of times since its inception as a collaborative project with The New Yorker critic John Lahr and director George C. Wolfe. In the two-part show, Stritch tells her own rollercoaster story and sings numbers she has performed thousands of times — the first she introduced during the revue “Angel in the Wings” — in 1948! So why the need to rehearse?
“She’s a perfectionist,” Moulton said during a post-show cool-down at Rain on Sunday. “Everything must be just right.”
That, and, as an artist, Stritch has continued to search for meaning in “At Liberty.” Songs, such as “The Ladies Who Lunch,” which she once performed with ferocious acidity, or “I’m Still Here,” which in other hands sounds almost like an anthem, she now delivers with potent helpings of vulnerability and mortality.
Austin audiences embraced Stritch and her still-robust Broadway belt with respect and affection, which Stritch returned in kind. (Moulton reports that she reserved the highest praise for them: “They get it. They get it!”)
Yes, we got it. And, into her ninth decade, Stritch’s star has never hung higher.
More to come…Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame
Elaine Stritch & Matthew McConaughey, Part 1
Two major celebrities tarried in Austin last week.
One is 83, the other somewhat younger, 38, hauling around an even younger girlfriend, 24, and a newborn in tow.
One made her name on the stage, the other zoomed to stardom on the big screen.
One had never visited Austin before, the other once lived here, returned often after relocating to the West Coast, although his visits have been spaced fewer and farther between of late.
One performed a series of four 150-minute cabaret shows at the Mansion on Judge’s Hill while in town, the other made brief appearances before the press and public at the Paramount Theatre and the Belmont.
One was once known as a beauty, a wit and something of a lush, the other is known as a beauty, a charmer and something of a party dude.
One shrunk to mortal size once she left the stage, showing her age and disabilities, the other beamed with golden good health, clothed or half-clothed in public.
How Elaine Stritch and Matthew McConaughey responded to Austin and how Austin responded to these celebrities tells us something about all three.
More to come…
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame, Movies
Paddlefest at the Texas Rowing Center
Some fundraising events are still finding their way.
Paddlefest, which helps float the Texas River School’s efforts to bring outdoor living to kids without normal access to its wonders, is not one of the city’s biggest or most profitable affairs. But it’s got a lot of heart — and, now, a magical location. I’d never ventured out on the docks of the Texas Rowing Center, located across from Austin High School on upper Lady Bird Lake. At dusk, especially, it’s a bit of heaven, the sunset spiraling in reflections on the lake, a slight breeze passing across the waters and folks settling down for basic grub, local music and short ventures on the boats, including a non-boater-friendly raft.
Duncan McLaurin, Linda Overton, Matt Ritchie
Joe Kendall, one of the main men behind the school, told me that more than 4,000 children, normally terrified of the river because they don’t swim, have paddled up and down the lake, learning about its natural processes and, along the way, water safety. He’s planning campouts down below Longhorn dam, which should be even more challenging.
Linda Firestone, Erin Flynn
Anyway, the backers of Paddlefest, including board members Linda Firestone and Erin Flynn, expressed mild disappointment that the turnout was pretty thin on a September Saturday, but I assured them that their location was unmatched and that on a cooler Sunday later in the season, they’d likely draw more lake lovers.
Mickey Filpi, Cloe Justice
Then it was off to Antone’s to hear Jets Under Fire and, for starters, Beaux Loy, who has an amazing vocal instrument and made a bang-up starter for the Alpha Rev bill. Skipped the Rev this night to entertain brother Christopher and his wife Juliefrom Houston at Cru, where we shared a silky bottle of tempranillo and a very late supper. The Cru crew was extremely professional about staying open so late, too.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Charity, Faith & Education, Out, Sports
