Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2009 > March
March 2009
Social mediators at UT
Social media has changed everything. Almost.
I shared two observations with the University of Texas chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America before we engaged in an open and free-ranging conversation.
A) Instead of a linear relationship — client to publicist to journalist to reader — we now share a nonlinear community. Twitter, Facebook, etc. insure we all are hit with the same information at the same time. Then we process it in our separate ways. Journalists shape that information into narrative stories, for instance.
B) Social media humanizes all of us. We find out about each others’ interests, triumphs and failings. That means, even within the framework of professional relationships, we can be sensitive to the social context of our ongoing interchange.
Before all that, PRSSA member Kalia pitched a promising possible story: the local unveiling of Jill Griffin’s “Taming the Search-and-Switch Customer: Earning Customer Loyalty in a Compulsion-to-Compare World.” She’s sending me specifics soon.
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Alaska and all that
My particular responses to the history are now available, privately, to Mellen Press. Yet the book revived my keen interest in visiting Alaska — the map looks like somebody smoking a pipe, right? — which is a broader subject worth considering in this blog.
The place is almost a blank, despite all the nature documentaries and books I’ve consumed on the subject. I’m thinking about a road trip for the summer of 2010 — starting in Anchorage, following the coast a while, then heading up to Denali National Park, Fairbanks and the Arctic Circle.
Gotta do it. Looking for Alaska advice. And not a cruise.
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Texas Medal of Arts: Edith O’Donnell
It may at first seem odd to confer an arts medal on a patron. After all, aren’t arts prizes supposed to honor creativity and quality in artistic areas such as music, film, theater, dance and visual art?
Yes, but in the arts, the artist is only half the equation. With no audience, there is no art. And arts patrons are like super fans — they appreciate the product keenly, but they also give of their time and treasure to insure the art can thrive.
A graduate of the University of Texas, she and her husband Peter O’Donnell, Jr. were granted honorary degrees by SMU in 2008 for their roles in advancing the arts and education. They’ve also received the James K. Wilson Award for service to the arts in Dallas and the Linz Award, a Dallas civic honor.
In 1989, Edith O’Donnell helped create Young Audiences of Greater Dallas (now called Big Thought), which spreads the artistic fire to thousands of students each year. In 1994, O’Donnell founded Advanced Placement Art and Music Theory, which spread to 21 high schools and junior highs, and hosts the Young Master’s Competition each year.
O’Donnell has served on the Texas Commission on the Arts and the board of Friends of the Governor’s Mansion, as well as the advisory board of the University of Texas College of Fine Art. Her efforts have led to tens of millions of dollars funneled to artists and arts educators.
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Quick kitty break
Now we have the chance to underscore that hope by adopting a kitten who has passed through at least four households before landing in ours. Sascha (right) is probably 9 months old. She’s a traditional seal-point Siamese — bright, athletic, sweet and already fairly well adjusted to our two gregarious Labs, Nick and Nora, and our midnight Beta cat, Bagheera.
We are back at mammal maximum. That may change soon, since it turn out innocent-looking Sascha may be pregnant. Oh dear. Tiny, tiny ones on the way?
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Michael Huff on his NFL Celebrity Weekend
Michael Huff is back. The former Longhorn defensive stand-out, 2005 Jim Thorpe Award winner and current Oakland Raider is returning to Austin for his second annual NFL Celebrity Benefit this weekend. We talked with him by phone from California.
Growing up, I never had that kind of support around me. I had it from my family, but not from outside. Just to see NFL players and be around them would have brightened my day and focused me even more.
Your charities are Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas and Women Called Moses Coalition and Outreach Center in Dallas. Why?
I love kids. I don’t have any, but I love being around them. Visiting the hospital, seeing what some are going through, it tests my heart. As for the (Dallas center for abused women), I’m close to my mom, and I always wonder if what happened to them, happened to her.
You grew up in Irving, where you family still lives. Is Austin like a second hometown?
It’s my one-and-half hometown. (He laughs) I was there five years. Coach (Mack) Brown is like my dad. The other players were like my brothers. You go through all that blood, sweat and tears, you never forget it.
But you’re in California now.
I live in Texas; I work in Oakland. I’m a Texas boy at heart. It’s hard to get adjusted out here.
It’s not a coincidence that your event coincides with the Texas Relays, right?
The Texas Relays have always been big in my life. I’ve been running track since I was 5. And you know, the athletes are already in town, so it’s easier to get them involved. And for the people at the track meet, it’s hot outside, they can come into the air conditioning for a while, the go back to the meet.
It’s such a social weekend. A lot going on.
A lot going on. We have trouble getting rooms for all the players. We have to plan a year out. We’re thinking of maybe syncing more closely with the Relays down the line.
So NFL players on the basketball court. Quite a sight. Did you all play high school basketball?
Everybody except me. I was the one not blessed with any basketball talent at all. I may be the best worst basketball player. I look good in my shoes and everything. But not dribbling or making shots. There are guys out there dunking, making me look bad.
So you keep up with Michael Griffin, who owns a house here.
Griff, he’s the one I keep in touch with, yes. I lived with him at Texas. I’m gonna hang out at his house, drive all his cars. Always keep up with Griff.
Playing in the NFL must be quite a switch from college ball.
You don’t appreciate it until you leave. I tell (the new players), cherish every moment at Texas. It’s the best out there. The NFL is all business, not as much fun. There’s not that bond you have in college. That’s where it happens.
Events and stars: The second annual Michael Huff NFL Celebrity Benefit includes a visit to the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, a private Evening with the Stars casino night, and the NFL celebrity basketball game at the Austin Convention Center (12:30 p.m. Saturday). Among the participating celebrities: Tim Crowder, Denver Broncos; Michael Griffin, Tennessee Titans; Antoine Harris, Atlanta Falcons; Chris Houston, Atlanta Falcons; Chris Johnson, Oakland Raiders; Derrick Johnson, Kansas City Chiefs; Aaron Ross, New York Giants; Roy Williams, Dallas Cowboys; and more.
Tickets: $20 at participating H-E-B locations, both University Co-op locations and Mitchie’s Gallery. A limited number of $50 VIP tickets are also available. Children under 5 free.
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Texas Medal of Arts: James Dick
If you announced a pick-up concert by pianist James Dick, you’d be virtually assured a full house at any nearby recital hall. And many of those musical admirers will tell you they’ve seen Dick perform countless times over the decades.
Dick’s signal achievement is the International Festival-Institute at Round Top. Founded in 1971 in a green hamlet between Brenham and La Grange, this teaching and performing experience was named by The Economist as one of the finest summer music festivals in the country. It now offers programs year-round and is considered the matching gem to Shakespeare at Winedale just down the road.
A hard-working native of Kansas farm country, Dick graduated from the University of Texas, receiving Fulbright Fellowships for study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Early in his career, Dick won several international competitions, then he went on to play with top-flight ensembles, such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Symphony and National Symphony Orchestra. His international honors are numberless; closer to home he was named the Texas State Musician in 2003.
What of creating an institute and festival smack in the middle of rural Texas?
“This is a cultural arts center,” Dick told an interviewer in 1996. “It’s not just a place with one point of interest … what I like about this place is you can be as provincial as you want to be, which is very important, and at the same time see … very internationally and very world class … and that’s how we all see it.”
The Texas Medal of Arts will be presented by the Texas Cultural Trust April 7 at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.
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Were those the Lost Cranes of Bouldin?
Almost a decade ago, around this time of year, we heard a strange, repetitive sound. Running outside, we gazed at hundreds of magnificent sandhill cranes heading north.
They floated just below the low cloud cover. We thought them “lost” because Austin in not on a major flyway. And I had never seen so many of these prehistoric-looking birds in the air at once.
At approximately 10:30 a.m. this morning (March 30), I looked up from our backyard to see dozens — not hundreds — of birds with wide wingspans, long necks and short tails. They flew almost exactly like our “Lost Cranes of Bouldin” of yesteryear, but I couldn’t make out the long legs which would have nailed them as sandhill cranes.
The weather situation, by the way, was very similar to our previous experience — low cloud cover, just enough thermals to keep them floating northward in broken Vs. The coincidence of them flying over our backyard again was more than a little startling.
Did anyone else see them?
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Texas Medal of Arts: Betty Buckley
Like other Broadway divas, Betty Buckley made “Meadowlark,” from the failed show, “The Baker’s Wife,” her own. Her performance during a gala at the Paramount Theatre combined tenderness and brass, dreaminess and intensity, employing what critic Clive Barnes called her “vinegar and molasses” voice.
Buckley is best known to general audiences for two roles, the mother, Sandra Sue ‘Abby’ Abbott Bradford, on the 1970s TV drama series, “Eight Is Enough,” and the empathetic coach, Miss Collins, in the bloody 1976 classic, “Carrie.” Incredibly that was her first major movie role, and she shared the screen with fellow Texan Sissy Spacek.
Yet Buckley had already conquered Broadway. Her 1969 debut proved instantly memorable, Martha Jefferson in “1776,” singing the show-stopper, “He Plays the Violin.” The Casa Mañana graduate later replaced Jill Clayburgh as the female lead in the long-running hit “Pippin.”
Despite her other Broadway triumphs, such as the towering “Sunset Boulevard” — and stumbles, including very limitded performances in the disastrous musical version of “Carrie” — Buckley will be remembered for introducing one of a dozen or so indelible Broadway melodies. In the mega-hit “Cats,” she sang “Memory,” and, basically, nobody has topped her performance of that melancholy song since.
There’s always been the sense that Buckley could forge yet another blazing late-life career, perhaps in cabaret. But she needn’t try too hard to impress us. That’s already mission accomplished.
The Texas Medal of Arts will be presented by the Texas Cultural Trust April 7 at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.
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HRC gala inspires at the Hilton Austin
I really don’t expect to sob at galas.
em>Clifton Walker, Brian Cash
And, as a reporter for a traditional, mainstream publication, I’m not supposed to let the reader know I was shaken with emotion. Especially not when the subject is as much political as it is social — the ostensible subject of this column.
Dale Fiala, Ronnie Garza, Ian Levin
Yet my objectivity flew momentarily out the window during the Human Rights Campaign Awards Dinner at the Hilton Austin on Saturday.
Chrysta Hudson, Joselyn Hamilton
It wasn’t just the inspirational speeches, the adroit videos or the thundering applause. It was the sense of history’s rewards.
David Sorrells, Lindsey Misle
You live long enough, you witness history. In my youth, the words “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexual” or the 1960s equivalent of “transgendered” rarely made it into newspaper pages, except as part of stories about shame, crime or tragedy.
Eric Alva, Richard Irizarry, Scott Tyson
My nieces and nephews’ generation can’t even imagine that. They’ve known gay people all their lives because others were brave enough to come out and also to fight for basic human dignity.
Carina Gonzalez, Erica Sherrill
The HRC, criticized recently for its poor showing in the Proposition 8 gay-marriage battle in California, remains an effective promoter of human rights. And one reason the HRC Awards ceremony operates so effectively — raising more than $100,000 in one sitting, including $6,000 for a meet-up with Cher at Harrah’s in Las Vegas — there are only two official prizes.
Janet Waller, Bridget Wilson
Universal role model Bettie Naylor introduced Woodie Jones, who, before he returned to the bench as chief justice, Third Court of Appeals, worked tirelessly, pro bono, to establish equal legal rights in Texas for gay parents. (The evening’s first award went to Jones.)
Michelle Valles, Cliff Redd
Later, Cuc Vu, chief diversity officer for HRC nationally, made an edifying speech that touched on her family’s harrowing journey from Vietnam and the unique opportunities offered the GLBT community during the Obama era.
Cuc Vu, Leslie Jaffe, David Jaffe
Cliff Redd, head of the Long Center for the Performing Arts and practiced public speaker, made the speech of his life when accepting the Person of the Year Award. He made it clear that being out was as much a part of his success as an arts and business leader as any other quality he possesses.
Sissy Spiro, Traci Campbell, Gina Fant-Saez
Michelle Valles , however, proved the hit of the evening with her random, sweet quips that, as she says, will probably land her in the newsroom office explaining herself again. Example: The KEYE anchor formerly worked for KXAN, which, she says, was regularly called “GAYXAN” because so many gay people were employed there. Valles also kept apologizing to District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg for jokes that might suggest the anchor wasn’t altogether upstanding. Despite her sometime troubles, Valles remains an Austin superstar.
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Texas Medal of Arts: T.R. Fehrenbach
Just before the Bullock Texas History Museum opened, the distinguished historian T.R. Fehrenbach toured the permanent exhibits with a reporter. When he encountered a teepee with a recorded voice claiming that the Comanches were a peace-loving people, Fehrenbach rumbled: “Nonsense!”
Or perhaps a stronger word. It’s been a few years.
Yet “Lone Star” is just one of his many accomplishments. He’s published 18 books since 1961. Included among the listings is the definitive “Comanches,” hence his authority for the initiating anecdote.
Fehrenbach was born of pioneers in the Sam Robertson house in San Benito. He grew up in the Valley and in California. He served in the military during World War II and the Korean War, seeing combat and rising to the rank, during active duty, of lieutenant colonel, and later major in the reserves.
He has been appointed to every sort of commission and board related to Texas history and preservation, including the Bullock Museum’s board (which makes his criticisms of the exhibits all the more pointed). He has written a regular column for the San Antonio Express-News that reaches far beyond his native state for subjects, in fact, encompassing much of contemporary culture.
Naturally, Fehrenbach’s strengths as a historian rise from his family background and his military experience. Others have written about Texas, looking more closely social and economic trends, but Fehrenbach has not been transcended as the state’s essential historian.
The Texas Medal of Arts will be presented by the Texas Cultural Trust April 7 at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.
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Beyond the Lights swings at Hyatt Lost Pines
First it was stormy. Then balmy. Ultimately, it turned cold and windy.
Marvin Kanter, Irene Kanter
The Beyond the Lights Charity Golf Classic not only survived the March weather madness at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort, it thrived. Everything was incrementally delayed.
Bill Wendlandt, Kelly Rees
The impeccably landscaped resort suits the annual event, which raises money for paralysis causes, to a T. The hotel staff, however, did not appear sufficiently drilled about the presence of the parties, leading to several cases of forgivable confusion.
Manuel Oblitas, Debbie Oblitas
Right away, Statesman executive features editor Kathy Blackwell and I were taken under the wing of a charismatic couple, Marvin and Irene Kanter. Parents of celebrity wrangler Shelly Kanter, this pair have stored up two lifetimes of perfectly polished stories.
Andy Reese, Quan Cosby
Marvin was, for decades, a football referee for college and high school games. He knows sports cold. Irene served as a high school teacher and administrator. She once put together a triumphant quiz bowl team by astutely guessing the members’ intellectual strengths.
Brad Sham, Paul Sham
They’ve been married 60 years, and, one of their late-life pleasures has been appearing in movies and television shows as extras — “the sophisticated elderly couple” was their speciality — they once dance all night for their silent role. They’ve also traveled from Rome to Tasmania and their delightful anecdotes could fill a dozen blogs at least.
Ed Goble, Caroline Boudreaux
Here’s one that I can’t wait to share: They were taking an older friend — in his 90s — out to dinner at Austin Land and Cattle Company. When they requested the check, they discovered that the gentleman at the next table had already picked it up. Astonished, Irene was determined to track him down. She squeezed out of the waiter a name — Robert Diaz. But Irene couldn’t contact anyone by that name to thank. Ideas, anyone?
Glen Powell, Jr., Glen Powell, Cyndy Powell, Leslie Powell
I talked with Texas basketball great Bill Wendlandt, who filled me in on the coach Abe Lemons’s years of the late 1970s, early ’80s. (The things you learn while waiting to eat!)
Sean Teegarten, Aimee Teegarten (Sean is Amiee’s artist brother)
I met UT football star Quan Cosby and “Voice of the Dallas Cowboys” Brad Sham. After catching up with the always newsworthy Turk Pipkin, I met Caroline Boudreaux, whose Miracle Foundation applies an entrepreneurial approach to helping the world’s neediest people.
Jesse Plemons, Courtney Peterson
Turning a corner, I ran into that fabulously talented family, the Powells, including hard-working actor Glen Jr. and his sister, “Endurance” competitor Leslie.
Drew Waters, Tim Doty
Dinner, served cowboy style, was actually quite sophisticated and yummy. After the auction, I ran into, at various tables, “Friday Night Lights” actors Aimee Teegarten, Jesse Plemons, Kyle Chandler and Brad Leland, each with their own take on the weather and the event. (I congratulated them on the report that “FNL” has been extended for two more seasons.)
The shot I waited patiently for all evening: Kathy Blackwell, Kyle Chandler
We didn’t stick around for Stonehoney, as the wind whipped up the Colorado River valley, and guests huddled under blankets at the resort’s hillside amphitheater. Yet our evening was already memorable without the musical cherry on top.
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Happy birthday, Long Center. Blow out your candles.
Nobody thought the Long Center for the Performing Arts was going to top last’s year’s party. The revelry to inaugurate the complex was a gala to end all galas. We won’t see the likes of that extravaganza for years to come.
Austin Symphony Orchestra music director Peter Bay, opera singer Mela Dailey, and new ASO executive director Galen Wixson.
Yet a birthday party is no small thing, especially when there is much to celebrate — paying off the center, trimming the operational budget enough to sail through rough economic waters, identifying new fundraising instruments and naming opportunities.
Dr. Bill Jones, philanthropist Maria Groten, pianist Anton Nel
And that doesn’t even address the grand success of the halls themselves. The three primary arts groups — symphony, opera and ballet — never looked or sounded so good. And, as arts writer Jeanne Claire van Ryzin recently reported on Page 1, there’s evidence of improved revenues for those constituents as well.
Event planner extraordinaire Autumn Rich, public relations pro Karen Frost
As for the birthday party, it began with good weather news. The storm clouds parted for a glorious sunset on the plaza, as guests mingled between expertly placed stages and refreshment stands.
Performers Yasmin Youssef, Christian Moore
The dinner took place in a tent on the west side of the center — an ambitious 5-course affair eaten over many thanks from Long Center head Cliff Redd and a short auction conducted by writer/performer Pat Hazell.
Longtime partners Doug Jacobs, Jeff Mikeska
Note to gala organizers everywhere: Please don’t put the press all at one table. We already know each other. We’re there to report fresh stories, and we can’t do that in a press scrum, pleasant thought that may be. I did spend some useful time prepping for the upcoming Texas Medal of Arts gala with Texas Cultural Trust leader Amy Barbee. But still…
Courtney Sculley, Joe Navarro
Marvin Hamlisch led off the entertainment in the Dell Hall. The composer, conductor and pianist has had 30 years to polish his career-spanning stand-up act — when, as a young pianist, he was told he might play at a party for Hollywood producer Sam Spiegel, he rushed to the opportunity, “I’m not Jewish for a hobby,” he quipped.
Loyal Long Center backers Rusty Tally, Mary Herr Tally
Sweet, grounded singer Linda Eder followed. I had forgotten she’d won “Star Search” in 1988. She has that perfect competition voice — technically proficient in the Barbra Streisand belting mode, with fewer of Streisand’s phrasings than in past concerts. There’s something missing in the emotional anchors for the songs, but it’s hard to argue with the purity of her Broadway-inspired instrument.
Jennifer Failla, Daniele Palumbo
There’s no point in listing all the local notables who attended. I knew just about everybody at every table. Even guests to whom I introduced myself, turns out I already had met. So it was no social adventure, but rather a love-in for the arts.
Sunny Hui, Sammi Hui, whom I’d met at a July 4 function
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Finally, our Marketplace?
Picking a store for wine and spirits is, oddly enough, as crucial as choosing a place to shop for groceries. A broad selection is a must. Competitive pricing helps. Knowledgeable and helpful staff members make everything easier.
We lucked into Antoinette, our “liquor goddess,” one of the Jabour family who own the local chain. She shared minute knowledge about champagne, scotch and tequila, especially, but could converse convincingly on just about anything in the store.
When we moved to the Bouldin neighborhood, we split our alliegence among various small, family stores and Central Market South. Until Spec’s Warehouse came to town. I’d grown up with Spec’s in Houston and trusted their expertise and pricing. I got to know some of the staff at the vast south store and didn’t look back.
Well, on Wednesday, the city’s social columnists met at the Twin Liquors Marketplace at Hancock Center. Wow. Selection and discounting are not unlike Spec’s, but in a classier environment. (Say goodbye to the unflattering fluorescent lighting!) Owner David Jabour welcomed us with his usual understated charm and magnaminity.
I was especially pleased with a northern Sonoma winery, Rodney Strong, named after the dancer who once owned the place. (The current winemaker was in residence that evening.) The chardonnays were light, naturally, delightful, but the label’s Chalk Hill chardonnay proved among the most subtle I’d ever tasted, European and American at the same time. I ended up purchasing the sauvignon blanc, however, in bulk because it was priced in the range of our house vin ordinaire. The Chalk Hill I’ll save for a special occasion.
Considering where we live, Hancock is not the closest Twin of the 58, but it may become our new market.
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Out & About Social Schedule March 26-29
After SXSW, the galas return.
MARCH 26
6 p.m. Long Center for the Performing Arts 1st Anniversary Party
5 p.m. Beyond the Lights Charity Golf Classic at Hyatt Lost Pines Resort
MARCH 28
Noon Tasting of Danny DeVito’s limoncello at Twin Liquor Marketplace
6 p.m. Austin Equality Gala 2009 for the Human Rights Campaign at Hilton Austin
10 p.m. ’80s Party on the Patio at Rusty Spurs
MARCH 29
2 p.m. Party for retiring American-Statesman friends at a private residence
4 p.m. Recital: Anton Nel in concert at the Long Center
6 p.m. “Cine, Musica y Alma” for Cine Las Americas at the Gibson Guitar Center
8 p.m. Austin.com Gay and Lesbian Online Community Launch Party at Rain
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Surprise: RuPaul returns to Kiss & Fly tonight
After a performance marred by out-of-control fans and an unforgiving sound system, RuPaul has agreed to play the Kiss & Fly again tonight. I can’t imagine what it took, but admirers of our generation’s top drag artist will surely appreciate the second chance.
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RuPaul pops at packed Kiss & Fly
After all the online banter from anticipatory detractors, the Kiss & Fly gay club opened to a riot of attention on Wednesday. At 10 p.m., the line outside filed all the way from its glass-bricked Colorado Street entrance to West Fifth Street.
Trey Downey, Brhandi Chanel
(I should note that some readers have already registered complaints about the club’s opening night. See the commentary box.)
Adam Hodges, Jason Jahnke
Inside, the dance floor, patio and two floors of bar space were already jammed (the club’s basement was set aside as a green room for performer RuPaul).
Chia Guillory, Thomas Johnson
At first, the crowed seemed no different from the hordes who inhabit Rain and Oilcan Harry’s — and don’t think for one minute they will abandon the other two clubs — the three will form an informal circuit sooner than you can say “happy hour!”
Peter Dasso, Kris Garcia
Because it is Austin, an overwhelming percentage of the guests possessed better than average looks. The rest of us relied on conversation and stored-up wisdom about the sequential flow of such evenings.
Sara Jones, Drea King, Taylor Seyer
A grand opening with entertainment requires patience. We worked the banks of local personalities and spent some time with colleague Stephen Moser, who has bounced back quickly from his arson arrest.
Nicole Taylor, Erin Hawley
As the witching hour approached, the masses pressed toward the dance floor, where drag apotheosis was expected at any moment. The wait continued. Unruly patrons were scooted from the stage.
Matt Cherry, Phillip Maldonado
Then she arrived from the street entrance, taller by a foot or so than anyone surrounding her. An enormous, wavy blonde wig led the way.
(For more pictures, including good ones of RuPaul, check out the A-List gallery).
Jennifer, David
Yet RuPaul was forced to deal with a rogue drag queen on the dance floor, a rogue fog machine and then a rogue sound system.
Troy, Brit, Basil
Her fans didn’t care. It was a moment of coming together, of celebration, of community.
Outside, an ejected drag queen was arguing with EMS and police officials about her injuries from a Susan Hayward pose on the sidewalk. A dramatic end to a dramatic chapter in Austin gay history.
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Your A-List, Guiltiest Pleasure
This may be a first for Your A-List.
We received exactly one endorsement for this category: In Touch Med Spa.
OK, we’ll go with that.
According to its My Space page, this spa offers: “Facials, Endermologie, Medical Aesthetics, Chiropractic, Eyelash Extentions, Medical Weight Loss”
We called the listed number 328-0333 and confirmed that the establishment thrives at 3425 Bee Caves Road. It’s for real.
We wondered why it was hard to dig up information on In Touch. “Our Web site is still under construction,” apologized helpful office director Ajay Bryan.
Ah.
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Your A-List, Best Toy Store
Austin likes to play. And it likes to do so in singular ways. So it insists singular toy stores.
Romping into the No. 1 slot was Kid Genius, with stores in South Austin and West Lake Hills. It scooped up 37 percent of the vote. (Pictured: Story time at Kid Genius.)
Whole Earth Provision Company — more of an outdoor gear shop — came in second with 30 percent.
Two longtime faves — Toy Joy and Terra Toys — virtually tied at 13 percent of the tally. The rest drew 1 percent or less: Over the Rainbow, Anna’s Toy Depot, Monkey See Monkey Do, Kaleidoscope Toys, Hog Wild, Great Hall Games, Atomic City, BookPeople, Wonko’s Toys and Games and Kerbey Lane Doll Shop.
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Dennis Quaid, Danny DeVito, Matthew McConaughy & Adrianne Palicki chatter
SXSW produced all sorts of reports and rumors about another Austin sometimer, Matthew McConaughy. The most repeated anecdote — some other stories shouldn’t be repeated — had him requesting sunglasses for his dog, BJ, at the Carrera Lounge in Moonshine Cafe.
On Saturday, Danny DeVito , rarely in Austin, will pass around samples of his limoncello at Twin Liquors Marketplace in the Hancock Center, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. DeVito’s amazing comedic career has been extended by the unexpected hit, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
Austin’s “Friday Night Lights” youngsters continue to branch out: Adrianne Palicki (Tyra) will play a contestant on a “Bachelor”-like show when she guests on “CSI-Miami” in late April.
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Heisman, Olympic winners among additional stars for Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Classic
On Friday at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort, “Friday Night Lights” stars Kyle Chandler and Brad Leland will top the bill (we also singled out Kyle’s wife, screenwriter Katherine, and “FNL” regular Dana Wheeler-Nicholson.
Well, that’s not all. Also in the tournament will be Heisman Trophy winners Ty Detmer and Chris Weinke (above), Greenbay Packer placekicker Mason Crosby and Austin musician Bob Schneider.
KVUE sports director Mike Barnes, sports doctor Andy Cappucino, radio host Ed Clements, actor Blue Deckert (Mac McGill on “FNL”), college football great Koy Detmer, actor Richard Dillard (Frank Pickford in “Dazed and Confused”), former NFL-er Gale Gilbert and actor Burton Gilliam (“Blazing Saddles”) will play along.
All-around personality Turk Pipkin actor Jesse Plemons (Landry on “FNL”), actor Glen Powell Jr. (“The Great Debators”), actor Steve Prince (“FNL”), baseball pro Bruce Ruffin, KXAN sports director Roger Wallace, actor and model Drew Waters, former UT golfer Susan Watkins, and football/baseball player Chris Weinke are also slated to play golf.
Others, including “FNL” actors Aimee Teegarden and Liz Mikel, won’t be out on the course, but will be part of the evening activities.
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Thoughts on ‘Battlestar Galactica’ finale
SPOILER ALERT
It took a few days for the ‘Battlestar Galactica’ finale to hit me. TV’s finest science fiction series ended with a 2-hour drama that tied together the peculiar spiritual themes, the personal flashbacks to Caprica, the final battle with the recalcitrant cylons, the rescue of the mixed-blood Hera and, of course, the journey’s end to an Earth.
On the spiritual front, I found the opera-house visions still evocative, but the vignette of the “Final Five” anti-climactic. The flashbacks helped sort out the motives of various characters and settled the “angel” status of several candidates.
The dynamic battle sequence was as compelling as one can produce on the small screen. I look forward to watching it — and the whole series — on a larger, more modern screen in the near future. The Hera rescue worked out well enough, but I have to admit I wasn’t sure she was the “mitochondrial Eve” of the final scenes. (I welcome non-snarky comment.)
The Earth sequences presented the most delicate balancing act. How to integrate a few thousand cylons and humans on a planet with upright humanoids of indeterminate development? Despite some bumblings about the future of mankind (cylon-bred), I felt the conclusions were handled with grace and humility
Watch for the spin-off series, “Caprica,” in April and the movie, “Battlestar Galactica: The Plan,” this summer. This is a franchise that will not — and should not — perish.
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Link to the latest on Stephen Moser
This American-Statesman report is the most comprehensive on the arrest of Austin Chronicle fashion and social writer Stephen Moser for arson.
We wait for police, lawyers and judges to sort out the facts. Stephen, as readers of this column know, is a respected colleague who has become a valued friend during the past year or so. His personal and medical troubles have upset all his admirers.
We had heard nothing of the alleged incident before it was already breaking on the Statesman Web site. And that’s about all we can say.
Update: I spoke to Stephen by phone late last night. He was out of jail, had engaged a lawyer and sounded optimistic about his defense. Stephen says he’ll tell his version of the story in his Austin Chronicle column Thursday. All I can share from our off-the-record conversation is that, in true Moser fashion, it’s a doozy.
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Above the chutes at Rodeo Austin 2
For Part 1, see post below…
I heard about the event’s origins in the Depression-era Baby Beef Expo and its later incarnation at the Quanset-hut shaped City Colosseum. I squirreled away data (300,000 attended last week’s cook-off; $6 million raised to build the Luedecke arena, $1 lease for the “dirt” from the City of Austin, then Travis County).
Michele Golden, Gilbert Turrieta
I noted that Rodeo Austin — the country’s sixth largest indoor pro event — was among the first to Webcast live (board secretary-treasurer and Dell Inc. executive Travis Asklund watched the first week of activities from Singapore, China and elsewhere in Asia).
I didn’t know the background on the 1983 referendum that made the move to Decker Lane possible, or the tremendous amount of sweat equity and donated materials that went into constructing the arena and surrounding structures; how then-U.S. Rep. Jake Pickle spurred the Internal Revenue Service to grant the enterprise nonprofit status, how Willie Nelson agreed to perform as the first headlining entertainer for no fee.
Hap Feuerbacher, Bill Knolle, Fred Weber
As the evening progressed, I heard more about the DIY adventures of the rodeo backers, personally rotating the arena’s stage from below; racing out to grab four heaters so that thin, cold Tammy Wynette would not freeze in 22-degree weather; partying in Mickey Gilley’s “disco bus.” There was the time they hog-tied Verlin’s bigger, louder brother, Jimmy, and drug him into the arena.
Yet I was most impressed — not by the obvious bravery and athleticism of the rodeo riders — but by the dedication of the backers to cause. I kept hearing how all the past presidents from the early 1960s onward were still committed to the rodeo 1,000 percent.
Yet young leaders are needed. I’ll go out on a limb and say the time has also come for the first female president in this deeply traditional field.
Verlin summed up the feeling of the older guard: “I still bust my butt,” he said. “But I’m beginning to wane.”
Rodeo Austin continues through March 28; www.rodeoaustin.org
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Above the chutes at Rodeo Austin 1
When traveling to unexplored lands, it helps to be escorted by royalty.
Monday, I stuck my nose behind the scenes at Rodeo Austin, lingering at the stock pens, dining with organizational founders, thrilling at the bronco and bull chutes above the president’s box.
All this, because I know former rodeo queen and Rodeo Austin board member Michele Golden, who kindly offered to lift the veil on the annual event.
Hungrily, I listened to tales from living legend Verlin Callahan, lawyer and unofficial rodeo historian Bill Knolle, board president and natural statesman Gilbert Turrieta, as well as helpful anecdotalists Hap Feuerbacher and Fred Weber.
The rodeo loyalists praised the event — which includes carnival, parties, barbecue cook-off, stock exhibitions and auctions as well as pig races and cow milks — for preserving Western heritage, but most emphatically for raising $1.5 million annually in scholarships, and not just for agricultural students.
Michele Golden, Verlin Callahan
I’m under the perhaps false impression that this prodigious charity work is widely known, so I spent time collecting other newspaper story ideas — 55 of them all told — that might appear in our publication with time.
More to come…
Rodeo Austin continues through March 28, www.rodeoaustin.com.
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O&A SXSW 46: Lineology 8
More Lineology from Statesman intern Geoff West.
Cameron Savage, 20, and Austin Savage, 17, from Austin, at Emo’s Main Room
Forty-five minutes.
Who are you here to see?
Trail of Dead.
Have you missed any shows because of long lines?
Cameron: No Age [at the Radio Room on Thursday]. But I don’t think anyone saw them. They just like opened the doors at eight and they started playing eight. And all the lines were trying to file through.
Did you think you’ll make it into this show?
Cameron: We’re hoping to. They’ll probably have started if we do.
Austin: Yeah, hopefully there’s some people who’ll be about to leave. I don’t know why they would though.
How long do you plan to stay in line?
Cameron: Till the show’s over probably.
Austin: There’s some other people we could see — I don’t know about now.
How many shows have you seen so far?
Cameron: five or six [since Wednesday].
If you get in, will it be worth it?
Cameron: I’ll be highly upset I missed the beginning but I’d still enjoy the show if I got in.
Do you feel a part of SXSW?
Cameron: It’s very elitist. Very about being kinda pretentious. I don’t know. There’s a hierarchy, you have to pay for.
Have you met new friends or seen old ones in line?
Austin: Not really. We talked to some people but not any new relationships.
Cameron: A couple of my friends go to different schools, we meet up here and some friends from school came down here to check it out. They live in the area.
Have you seen anything strange or funny happen in line?
Cameron: It’s Austin man.
Austin: Yeah, not really in line.
Cameron: Just like the crazy Japanese hair things and Leslie. All different fashions in the street. The guys with the spike collars — there’s always people making statements. I love it.
Was buying the wristband worth the price?
Cameron: It’s been useful but I don’t know if I’d spend the money again. It’s more convienant than the cash line but it all depends on how many shows you go to.
Austin: Yeah, it’s questionable.
Cameron: I might go and try to pay cash or just not go at all. I don’t know if it was worth it money-wise, but experience-wise it was worth it.
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Chatting up the immortal RuPaul
The drag artist of her generation, RuPaul, fresh from the reality TV show, “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” performs for the grand opening of the Kiss & Fly gay club on Wednesday. We chatted by phone.
Glamour is a sense of freedom, a sense of understanding that you are a spiritual being, having a human experience. In knowing that, you are able to give yourself the freedom to take it beyond the limits of what our society or culture dictates.
Besides yourself, who has glamour?
All the girls on (“Drag Race”) understand what glamour is. Victoria Beckham is definitely very glamorous. Michelle Obama has a great sense of glamour, in a classic way that doesn’t make people feel uncomfortable. (Her bare arms make people uncomfortable, but that’s another story.) Sharon Stone is always very glamorous, even in jeans and a T-shirt
You don’t seem to age. Why?
Because I have a great lighting director and a genius little item called Photoshop. (Booms with laughter.) Due to those two things, I’ve stayed as young as I always was. Hey, I’m 48 and I look 48, but thankfully I get to put on lot of makeup and get dolled up.
Best drag artists of the past?
I loved Sylvester (1947-1988). When I was a kid, my sister showed me a picture of Sylvester and I was transfixed. I thought: “Wow. That’s possible.” Then there was Divine (1945-1988). I spent a lot of my youth recapturing what she and John Waters had done on film with a VHS camera back in Atlanta. I love the irreverence of their attitude. It was freeing for me. I learned there was more than one way to skin a cat. As time went on, I really understood that everything you put on after you get out of the shower was drag. So my drag icons became David Bowie, James Brown and Elvis, people who turned up the volume on the images they created. As you’ve heard me say: “You are born naked and all the rest is drag.” I truly believe that.
Best drag artists of the future?
All my girls on the show. (Recording artist) Ari Gold told me that during “The Night of 1,000 Gowns” (the New York fundraiser), the whole event was abuzz because my three finalists were in the buildings. That’s all they talked about. It was fun for me to hear that. It confirmed that all nine of my contestants will be stars from here to eternity.
I hadn’t thought of this before, but could “Drag Race” do for drag what “Project Runway” did for high fashion?
For many years, drag had gone underground because of our culture’s obsession with fear, hysteria and fundamentalism. When things get sketchy like that, men who use femininity as a palette have to go underground. Straight men took the roles: Tyler Perry, Martin Lawrence, Eddy Murphy. But now the black cloud has lifted. The nation is hopeful. A new generation of drag queens will be inspired.
What will you perform at Kiss & Fly on Wednesday?
I will be performing songs from “Champion,” which is my finest album and I’ve been making them since 1983. Inspired by the show, it’s about not playing small and owning your power. For many years, people wouldn’t speak out for fear of being Dixie Chicked. Now there will be no more belittling yourself so someone else can feel good about themselves. One song, “Never Go Home Again,” was inspired by contestant Akashia. She was kicked out of her house as teenager because her mother’s boyfriend felt uncomfortable about Akashia being gay. Of course I’ll be doing songs from my earlier albums, too, “Supermodel” and “Red Hot.” … I haven’t been to Austin in like 15 years, but I think I played this club before, when it was called Area.
RuPaul: Wednesday; Kiss & Fly, 404 Colorado St. www.kissandflyaustin.com. rsvp@kissandflyaustin.com
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs on Logo Monday nights and on VH1 on Tuesday nights. Shows can also be watched on rupaulsdragrace.com.
Music from the CD “Champion” is featured on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Here’s the video link for her single “Cover Girl”:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfmfuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=52480206
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O&A SXSW 45: Lineology 7
More SXSW Lineology from Statesman intern Geoff West.
Tyson Simmons, 29, from Austin, at Mohawk Patio (with Laura Rifkin,
29)
Who are you here to see?
Monotonix
How long have you been in line?
About 20 minutes.
Do you think you’ll get in?
We should.
Have you missed any bands or had problems with long lines?
No, I haven’t missed anything. I’ve seen everything. This is my first year with a wristband and Thursday, I mean, I walked right up and right in to the three different shows I wanted to see. It’s been good. Oh and the Big Boi show — that was amazing. I walked right into that one. Had a great spot. It was wonderful.
How many shows have you been to?
Eight to 10 (since Wednesday).
Have you gotten your money’s worth?
Yes, definitely. I’m a little tired now so I just wanted to go to one place and stay there, but Wednesday and Thursday — got my money’s worth.
Have you met any new friends or seen old ones in line?
Yeah, actually. I was standing in line — not at a show — but at J Kelly’s Barbecue, and I [was having] a conversation with these two older guys. They’re like “Oh, are you here for music? Are you in a band?” “No. Are you guys in a band? (We had been talking for like 15 minutes). And they’re like “Yeah. We’re in band called Devo.” I’m like “Oh…” [laughs].
The conversation just got awkward all of sudden. So yeah, that was pretty awesome. After that, I said “Oh man, can I please take a picture with you?” (We were sitting next to them — they were so cool). They were like “Yeah!” I even got called out. The guy goes “Hey, weren’t you in line with Devo?” [Laura laughs]. I said “Yeah, that’s me!” So yeah, that was my highlight standing in line.
Do you feel a part of the festival?
Yes, definitely.
Do you think you’ll buy a wristband again?
I think I will. [Even if not], I’ll definitely be here every year. If I can — as long as I live in Austin.
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O&A SXSW 44: Lineology 6
More SXSW Lineology from Statesman intern Goeff West.
João Nogueira, 27, from Austin (originally Portugal), at The Parish
How long have you been in line?
Twenty minutes.
Who are you here to see?
The Wooden Birds
Do you think you’ll get in ?
Hopefully. It’s the first time this has happened to me. All the other times, I just walked right in — actually, it happened with Tori Amos too.
The last two years you came to SXSW without a wristband, why did you
decide to buy one this year?
Well, several reasons. The price, the time and at least once I wanted to buy one. It’s a great festival. One of the best. There was no name that attracted me — I just wanted to be a part of the festival. It’s great because you get to learn about new music.
Do you feel closer to SXSW with a wristband?
Yes, much more. You can walk around without any problems. You can just walk right in [to shows]. Even though it’s more for the music industry, it’s still good for people not in the business.
Is SXSW what you expected?
Oh yes. This festival is amazing. It’s a lot more organized than these big festivals with big names. And then there’s the possibility of getting to know new music and seeing, in one or two days, the bands we’ve just discovered. It’s really, really nice.
How many shows have you seen?
Probably 14 [since Wednesday].
Will you buy a wristband next year?
Well, if I was here probably but I’m not sure I will be here. I might be back in my country [of Portugal]. But yes, if I had the opportunity to buy a wristband at the same price, I probably would.
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O&A SXSW 41: South Congress Avenue 2
For Part 1, see post below …
The post-hippie tent markets unfurls better than average jewelry and apparel, which explained their steady foot traffic. The trade mart behind Home Slice Pizza buzzed with particular activity this year, complementing the ferocious march of Airstream eateries.
DJ Aasha Adore, Ayana, Maurice (Baltimore)
(It could be counted as whimsy, or a sign of the recession, that Austin’s highest-end restaurant, Hudson’s on the Bend, has joined the parade.)
Florencia Vicanco, Pamela Soto (Chile)
A new cafe (Snack Bar) semi-opened, at least in the parking lot of the former El Sol y La Luna, while fresh fashion could be found in retail slots empty just days before the festival. Standbys, like Farm to Market Grocery and Big Top Candy Shop, remained packed with tourists, while youthful impressarios sold lemonade and ices from the sidewalks.
Huey Hopkins (Louisiana), Jen Robinson (Austin)
I used to think that the SoCo SXSW activity as fueled by idle companions of musicians, but I spotted plenty of rockers, even early mornings at Jo’s Hot Coffee, or rifling through the skinny-wear at Blackmail, Creatures or Service.
Susan Kruse, Emma Whaley
I met artists from Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. But I also chatted with surburbanites who brought along their young families and spring breakers who opted for people watching and retail therapy over the traditional beach and mountain attractions.
Jennifer Perez, Andrea Perez (San Angelo)
I don’t know if economists attempt to quantify the impact of the 10-day festival beyond the downtown clubs, restaurants and hotels, but from the look of it, SXSW is every First Thursday and Christmas rolled into one for the temporary Enterprise Expressway.
Red McNamara (Melbourne, Australia), Christine Kang (Austin)
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O&A SXSW 40: South Congress Avenue 1
South Congress Avenue should be renamed “Enterprise Expressway” during the South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival.
Jr Crosby, Nancy Rogers of Austin
Every square inch of the SoCo district is converted to serve the pleasure and profit motives.
Amber Smith, Hayden Scott of Houston
Residents charge for front-yard parking. Empty lots become marketplaces and concert venues. Even alleys are clogged with entrepreneureal activity.
Amy Gallegos, Elvis Gallegos (of Forth Worth), Karen Ramirez (Austin)
Dark-clad film and interactive types braved the chill of the first SXSW weekend. As soon as the sun emerged, however, Enterprise Expressway might as well have been in Mumbai or Shanghai for its aggregate pedestrian life.
Christy K. Trisha R., Holly H. (Toronto)
The major amplified concert nodes lay astride Guero’s Taco Bar, Hotel San Jose, Doc’s Motorworks and Hey Cupcake, as well as Randy Franklin’s hallowed alley party behind Yard Dog Folk Art Gallery.
Mark Devore, Jen Rische (Austin)
Quieter acts played indoors at Cissi’s Wine Bar — which held a luau for its Kohana Coffee on Saturday — and elsewhere.
Miss Izzy Cox, Bily Pittman (Los Angeles)
That’s not all, one afternoon during SXSW, I counted four acoustic street musicians performing in the space of one short block.
More to come …
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O&A SXSW 43: Sixth Street 2
For Part 1, see post below …
I talked to several dozen people along the main SXSW stems, late at night, and, curiously, few were there for the official showcase performances.
Anna Worstell, Nate Shelton (The Worsties, Nashville)
They came for music, but made do with free concerts at non-SXSW clubs, parties or patios. Or they snuck on top of a parking garage to glimpse Metallica, playing a not-so-surprise set at Stubb’, or edging into the Levi’s/Fader Fort for a dash of Kanye West.
Hiroki Tachinbana, Midori Yamada (Tokyo)
Others just came for the change of pace. They watched the people dressed in colorful tribal wear.
David Delgado, Mrs. Jack Blood, Joann Thrax
They collapsed, exhausted, on curbsides to devour food of all kinds — pizza when nothing else would do.
Melinda Wolbert, Crystal Jones
So, despite the generally high level of talent demanded by SXSW, its 2,000 acts, more than 500 from beyond our nation’s borders, the festival has become, for many, just another urban street fair.
Sono Mischell, Vasili Gavre
It’s long been observed that the real action at SXSW happens, for the music industry, at the day parties and the late-night celebrity gigs.
Nathan Medina, Lauren McKinney, Colin Campbell
This year — in part because of medical issues — I skipped almost all these insider social magnets, and spent more time quietly strolling the streets.
James Fuller (Phoenix), Ashley Rolie (San Diego)
That experience taught me the real action for a lot of tourists — from places like Port Lavaca, Lubbock and Plano — is the urban-street-fair aspect of the grand spring ritual.
Jessica Saye, Jason Laxson
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O&A SXSW 42: Sixth Street 1
Urban street fairs follow a peculiar logic.
Peter Perrett, Ollie Thompson (London, UK)
The public space is strictly confined, often by blunt building facades, but also by side-street closures, guarded by uniformed officers. The pedestrian movement quickly establishes a standard pattern, counterclockwise in my Austin experience, obstructed at regular intervals by raised platforms.
Rochelle Behan, Billy Carlson (Port Lavaca)
While entertainment may be the advertised draw, refreshments remain the main transactions. Street food and drink proliferate.
Charity Williams, Emilye Brown (Houston)
Standing shops compete to extract customers from the massive flow of mankind, with louder music, more vocal barkers and visual inducements absent during regular business hours.
Katrina McLarty, David Walker
Due to the extreme concentration of clubs around East Sixth Street and, to a lesser extent, Red River Street, SXSW Music Festival creates its own pedestrian tides.
Cristina Beasley. Jake Feala (Columbus, Ohio)
What’s fascinating is how much of that traffic is not generated by customers — cash, wristband or badge species — of the festival itself.
Basilio Romo, Candace Heart (San Antonio)
More to come…
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O&A SXSW 39: Tip Jar 2
The Tip Jar didn’t produce scads o’ scoops this SXSW. But it’s always worth it to open the reporting to readers. Here’s some late tips…
Rachael Ray, who competed again with Perez Hilton for celebrity power party of the festival, stopped by Cissi’s Market & Wine Bar on South Congress Avenue (below). The spot was happening all week, especially at the Kohana Coffee Luau on Saturday.
Ray also dropped into the Carrera Lounge at Moonshine. She wasn’t the only one. Also hanging around before picking up their Ben Sherman goodies, Toms Shoes and Carrera shades were Matthew McCoughney, the Decemberists, Silversun Pickups, Margaret Cho and more.
Playboy party headliners Jane’s Addiction dipped in the Guero’s on South Congress Avenue. … Brendan Puthoffreports Drew Barrymore at the front bar right in front of the stage at Aces Lounge for the Airborne Toxic Event.
And our favorite Internet movie critic duo, Cole and Bobby, got themselves photographed with star after star. (Above see them with Seth Rogan — the image ran on Variety’s Web site). C&B really should create an online gallery with all the finicky celebs they’ve posed with (most recently, the Jonas brothers).
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O&A SXSW 38: Lineology 5
A SXSW “Lineology” series by Statesman intern Geoff West.
Laura and Shane Carbonneau, both 38, at The Parish
(The Parish had three long lines at this point (cash, wrist, badge). Shane and Laura were at the front of the line for wristbands — even though the staff told the two they wouldn’t get in. (The badge line was 15-20 deep and not moving). They decided to wait anyway.)
Okkervil River.
Have you seen the shows you’ve wanted to see?
Laura: Most of the time, we actually end up getting in even with a wristband.” (She points to the badge line.) We have some friends that are in the badge line. So, we’re going to wait and see if anything happens. Otherwise, we might go and see if we can get in to Dinosaur Jr.
Have you missed any shows at SXSW because of lines?
Shane: It’s only happened one time that I’ve missed a band that I wanted to see (since he started coming 11 years ago), but I was able to borrow my friend’s badge to get in to see that band. This was 10 years ago. Tom Waits played at the Paramount. That was the only show I wasn’t able to see with a wristband. So, I had to borrow my friend’s badge and lie and say my name was Alex.
Laura: Sometimes you don’t get to see the whole sets. Like you get there kinda late, right? Sometimes you have to wait until they’ve started and they’ve played a little while. You have to get there early.
Shane: We got here an hour early …
Laura: We should have gotten here earlier.
Will it be worth the wait if you get in?
Laura: I’m sure the show will be great. We’re here more because our friends really want to get in and no one else is playing that we like as much right now.
Shane: And if I don’t get into this, I’ll get into something else. I had an awesome time this afternoon.”
Have you met friends over the years in line or run into old ones?
Shane: “I don’t know. I think of a friendship as someone you talk to again. I don’t know. Like people you meet in line — you might have something in common with them, but I’ve never (continued a relationship afterwards).
Have you ever seen anything strange or funny while in line?
Laura: Oh yeah. Well, that’s the thing. It’s all entertainment. There’s a lot more of a concentration of interesting looking people than usual. (She laughs.)
Do you feel included in the festival as a wristband holder?
Shane: Well, there’s clearly stuff that I can’t get into, but that’s not really where my tastes are at. I heard the Decemberists is hard to get into — who else is hard to get into?
Laura: Well, the thing is: South by Southwest is all about discovering new bands.
Shane: Yeah. Like I’ve literally been coming to this since high school. There’s always something good to see. There’s like 30 bands that are trying to get people to come see them. Like, I’m happy to go see them. I mean, I’ve seen Okkervil. I swear I’ve seen them like 20 times. If I don’t get in to see them it’s OK; I’ll go see something else. You know, a lot of people like to go see things that are proven, but I like to go see something that I haven’t seen before.
Did you have back-up plans?
Shane: I usually have three or four things I’d like to see every hour. (He pulls out a printout of his schedule from sched.org). “At any given day, there’s like six bands that I could see … I mean, there’s never this concentration of awesome music — of new exposure — of bands trying their best.
Have you ever bought a badge?
Shane: One time.
Was it worth it?
Shane: Well … I mean … $100 for a wristband versus $400 for a badge? I don’t know.
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O&A SXSW 37: Lineology 4
A SXSW “Lineology” series by Statesman intern Geoff West.
Peter Marshall, 22, from Chicago, at Beauty Bar
How long have you been in line?
Five to 10 minutes.
Who are you here to see?
Klever, DJ Craze.
Will it be worth the wait?
“Well, for $10 I’d say ‘yeah.’ These are notorious DJ’s. So they came highly recommended. We came down from Chicago for SXSW … so, I don’t know. Probably ‘yeah, in my estimation.’
Have you met any new friends or run into old ones in line?
Not in line, but I ran into someone in the street earlier.
Why didn’t you buy a wristband?
Wristbands are for tourists … I mean, I’m from San Antonio originally, but all my Chicago buddies wanted to go and I said ‘don’t even worry about a wristband, I’ll take care of you’ — because it depends not who you know, but who knows you to let you into shows.
… as in the door guy?
Not necessarily the door guy, but most parties you don’t have to pay for. At least the best ones. I’ve seen New York Dolls, Bloc Party all for free at past SXSWs.
Have the lines changed since you first came to SXSW four years ago?
There’s a lot more douche bags — just kidding. Ummm … as the time changes and the music changes, it attracts different kind of people but generally it’s the same Austin music spirit.
Are you getting in to see who you’d like to see?
This is the first show I’ve paid for, so I’d say ‘yeah.’
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O&A SXSW 36: Lineology 3
A SXSW “Lineology” series by Statesman intern Geoff West.
Juan Moran, 26, from Austin, at Aces Lounge
Maybe 10, 15 minutes. (He was leaving the line.)
Who were you here to see?
It was my friends: They wanted to see the Airborne Toxic Event.
Was it moving at all?
No. They were just letting in one or two people in. That was it.
Have you been in a lot of lines since yesterday?
No, actually. Because we were kinda late. So you know it was dying. There was no more lines and stuff. Or very little ones. Everybody was where they wanted to go I guess.
Have you met any new friends or run into old ones in line?
No, not really. Only at the shows, but not really in line.
Have you seen anything strange or funny while in line?
No.
Do you like how the wristband system is set up?
Not for wristband holders. Like you’d expect a little more, you know? At least like some secondary kinda treament.
Do you think you will buy one next year?
I probably wouldn’t, because like I don’t think go to enough shows to make up (or equal) the price I’d pay for covers. And sometimes it’ll be like this (he points to the line), or it’ll be at capacity and you just don’t get in.
Are the lines what you expected?
I don’t know if I misunderstood its purpose but I thought it would help out (getting into shows) a little bit. But with covers it’s not really helpful.
Where are you headed now?
The Apple Bar (for a non-SXSW event with live music).
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O&A SXSW 35: Lineology 2
A SXSW “Lineology” series by Statesman intern Geoff West.
Chris Molina, 23, of El Paso at Rusty Spur
How long have you been in line?
10 minutes or so.
Who are you here to see?
The Twelves
Is that the only band you want to see here?
Well, the thing is I couldn’t find the schedule online, so I don’t really know who else is playing tonight. But I saw the lineup and it looks pretty impressive. So, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.
Is this the first place you’ve been tonight?
We went to Sidebar and had a couple drinks, but that’s it.
How do you feel about the lines so far?
Well, everywhere has a line, but that’s part of the whole process. The only thing that’s weird is you have to (confirm attendance) at parties, so it shouldn’t be at capacity. They should have the body counts already. Our only wait to get into shows is for things we really want to see. So, I mean, I’ll wait for that. But if there’s a line for a party or something, I’ll just go somewhere else.
Do you think you’ll make it in time for the show?
I hope so, it’s another hour before they go on.
Have you seen anything weird or funny in line?
No, not yet. Hopefully though.
Have you met any new friends or seen old ones?
Only that guy over there (points to a man in his twenties). He gave us a CD from his band.
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O&A SXSW 34: Lineology 1
A SXSW “Lineology” series by Statesman intern Geoff West.
Cynthia Garcia of Austin, 22, at Beauty Bar
Five minutes.
Who are you here to see?
Kill the Noise, Klever, DJ Craze.
Met any new friends in line? Seen old ones?
Both. Old and new friends. My thing is meeting new people (she’s a public relations representative for BucklUp Entertainment), and it’s a great way to meet people: ‘Hey, how are you?’ ‘How are you?’ ‘Who are you here to see?’ ‘Who are you here to see?’”
Are you getting to see what you came to see at SXSW?
Yeah! I just saw this guy (points to a man a few feet away with tattoos and a backwards black hat. It’s DJ Craze. He’s on the patio walking around, talking).
Any strange or funny things happened while you waited in line?
I saw a girl pull out a beer once and do a shotgun, and I was like ‘Wow, I need one of those’. Either that or some random guy peeing.
Do you feel a part of SXSW? Are you getting a fair return?
Oh yeah. It’s more than enough. I think the artists are getting ripped-off. We’re getting free shows, cheap shows. I think it’s totally worth it, so far.
So, you’re happy you made the purchase?
Definitely, every winter I usually go to Miami for the Winter Music Conference, but this is pretty awesome.
How do you feel about the line lengths so far?
I think the only lines that annoyed me was food lines but that’s it
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Beyond the Lights with Kyle Chandler+ 3
For Parts 1 & 2, see posts below…
It might surprise some that Kyle Chandler arrived in Austin with few preconceptions about his new, temporary home.
“I didn’t have a fixed impression before I got here,” Chandler says. “I traveled a lot between Los Angeles and Atlanta, where my mother lived, but never stopped here. When I flew in for the show the first time, I saw the ‘Keep Austin Weird’ bumper stickers. I’m from DeKalb County in Georgia, and that just grew too fast, and I realized that could happen here. I think I understood the bumper sticker before I understood the town.”
“It doesn’t feel like a big city,” he says, praising the pace of life here. “It’s like an old friend. It felt that way when we started shooting here, and it’s felt that way ever since.” How did the family decide to move here permanently?
“It just happened real quick,” says Katherine Chandler, originally from Los Angeles. “We drove out here — we hadn’t been in the car together for so long in a while — and by the time we got here, we said ‘We’re moving to Texas.’”
The Chandlers realized the Hill Country might be a good place to raise children.
“They are going to become little cowgirls,” she says of her girls, 7 and 13. “We going to do the goats and horses and dogs. They’ve never had that. You’ve got to do it before they get too old and they think it’s boring.”
Both are looking forward to spending more time diving into Austin’s social scene.
“I love this stretch of road,” Katherine Chandler says of South Congress Avenue.
She hasn’t sampled much of the music community so far, because she usually has the children with her, but she’s looking forward to more of that. “It’s great. It makes you feel young again.”“This town has everything,” Kyle Chandler says. “Sports. The arts. It’s an amazing town. It’s full of life.”
Perhaps that’s why the Chandlers decided to live here — and give here.
Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Tournament Friday, Hyatt Lost Pines Resort www.beyondthelights.org
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Beyond the Lights with Kyle Chandler+ 2
For Part 1, see post below …
“I gotta tell you that the show has changed me in a lot of different ways because of the people I’ve been introduced to (including people who deal with paralysis),” Kyle Chandler says, taking a break from a magazine photo shoot at Hotel St. Cecilia off South Congress Avenue. “I’ve got a chance now, with this show, to do some good in the world. I’m not trying to make a big statement.”
Getting involved in the paralysis movement has taken Chandler around the country, including a recent fundraiser in Miami, where he was starstruck by the football hall of famers in attendance. Yet he saved his ongoing admiration for the people trying to help the paralyzed youngsters.
“They are changing people’s lives,” he says. “There’s no doubt about it. Little deeds can change the world. It’s true”
The idea of a local charity golf tournament did not play into his natural strengths. “I’m not a great player,” he says. “If I break a hundred, I’m happy. if I’m breaking 90, I’m having a really good day. If I’m down near 80, I’m getting really nervous. Eighty was my best ever.”
More to come …
Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Tournament Friday, Hyatt Lost Pines Resort www.beyondthelights.org
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Beyond the Lights with Kyle Chandler+ 1
Three years into a possible five-year Austin residency, and the cast of “Friday Night Lights,” once just celebrated — if well-behaved — visitors, are evolving into Central Texas citizens.
Brad Leland, who plays the key role of Dillon team backer Buddy Garrity, is finding more ways to spend time away from his North Texas base (he attends so many local events, one could be forgiven for thinking Leland’s already moved here).
Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, a standout in the comparatively small role of Angela Collette, already lives here full-time, not just during the shooting season.
And as NBC and DirectTV negotiate a two-year pick-up deal — an announcement is expected within days — the “Lights” cast has deepened its social investment here with the second annual Beyond the Lights Charity Golf Tournament, scheduled for Friday.
The event, which benefits organizations for paralyzed high-school football players, includes an evening of musical entertainment with country rock stand-outs Stonehoney, “Lights” cast member Liz Mikel (Smash’s imposing mom) and former cast member Chis Mulkey and his band (he also played a coach).
More to come…
Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Tournament Friday, Hyatt Lost Pines Resort www.beyondthelights.org
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Not every Facebook discovery is embarrassing
This image of me at age 25 hung in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston Annex in 1979. The photographer, my sweet friend Linda Leavell, who now teaches English at Oklahoma State University, was taking a class at MFA and this was chosen for a student prize exhibition.
She shot it in the Times Square subway station in New York City during Thanksgiving break. See what Facebook can unearth? Not always embarrassing images.
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O&A SXSW 33: Exclusive Perez Hilton Interview 2
For Part 1 of the Perez Hilton interview, see earlier post…
How do you know when an act is going to break?
It’s definitely something I’ve thought about. If the right opportunity presents itself, hopefully it will happen. Things don’t always go at the pace you’d like. I’m used to working on the Internet where everything is “now, now, now.”
Your party was the talk of last year’s SXSW. What drives this intense interest in your presence?
It’s not about me. it’s about the music. If I picked really bad people, nobody would show up. Because I’m passionate, because I have supported these artists in the past, they want to be involved. They hear, “So and so is going to do it, I’ve got to do Perez’s show. That’s a priority.” That’s great to hear as well.
But you will be there. That’s a draw.
I’m going to show up and be very Perez. I’ve chosen the most over-the-top outfit. The music industry people will cover the event, but I want the mainstream publications to talk about it as well. I want to get on some worst-dressed lists.
So many breakthroughs — technically, legally, tonally — have made you the gossip columnist of our time. To what do you credit this ascent?
Just hard work. I work harder than anyone. I don’t sleep much and I don’t have much of a life.
Are you still having fun?
Absolutely. Tons.
How long can you keep up this pace?
Another four years. Till I’m 35. I’ve given myself a limit. Not that I will retire. I’ll just work 8 hours a day, rather than 16. If I cut my work hours in half, I’ve gotta hire people. I don’t think it’s healthy to work like this for a more than a decade.
Hilton will sign “Red Carpet Suicide” at Bookpeople 2 p.m. Saturday.
“One Night in Austin” party is 7 p.m. Saturday at the Dell Lounge. Very limited access.
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O&A SXSW 32: Exclusive Perez Hilton Interview 1
Lining up a phone interview with Perez Hilton, Queen of All Media, is only slightly less complicated than scheduling an audience with the pope. But once offered — through several filters of publicists and handlers — one can’t resist the temptation.
Our first telephonic attempts on Wednesday were frustrated by the late arrival of his Austin flight and the SXSW curse on iPhone connections. But eventually, we spoke with the ultra-hardworking columnist on Thursday.
Went to a couple of shows, and to a bar for one drink. Because my flight was late, I missed a lot of earlier shows. I did catch The Temper Trap and Aqualung. And I went to Oilcan’s. For a little bit. I can’t rage because I have to get up at 6:45 Austin time for East Coast radio shows. Good thing I don’t need booze to have a good time.
Your “One Night in Austin” event during SXSW on Saturday complements your informal role as musical tastemaker. What’s the guiding principle of your musical tastes?
What connects all them is they make good music. That’s it, really. Their genres vary, but the songs connect with me. A good song instantly catches your interest. There shouldn’t be much thought involved. You like the first time you heart it.
Looking at your lineup on Saturday, what connects Kraak & Smaak, Solange, Lady Sovereign, Margaret Cho, Ladyhawke, Little Boots, Ida Maria, Thunderheist, Rye Rye and Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head?
Well, it’s all female performers and all guy DJs. It just sort of ended up that way. I definitely have a preference for female vocalists and I’m thrilled they will get a chance to rock out on Saturday. I think it’s the hottest lineup at SXSW ,if I can toot my own horn. I mean, there are acts (at the fest) like Tori Amos, but not this much talent at one place at one time. And they are from all over the world.
Why female vocalists? Is it because they express emotions more easily?
I tend to prefer solo artists over groups. When guys become musicians, they tend to be in bands. There are solo male singers, but they prefer groups.
More to come…
Hilton will sign “Red Carpet Suicide” at Bookpeople 2 p.m. Saturday.
“One Night in Austin” party is 7 p.m. Saturday at the Dell Lounge. Very limited access.
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O&A SXSW 31: Austin Music Awards
If anyone needed a full-immersion preview of the chthonic SXSW nights ahead, the 2008-2009 Austin Music Awards would have done the trick.
Jacquelin Innes, Ray Boyd
The mussy ceremony really does belong in the equally raw Austin Music Hall. Guests — some showing their years of hard living, others who have hardly lived — poured onto the main floor, spilled over into the balcony, crushed onto the terraces and slipped into semi-private VIP enclosures.
Julie Choffel, Jason Chang, Lizzie Choffel
In many ways, the ceremony, with its themed musical performances and endless acceptance speeches, reflects its origins in the Austin Chronicle — jumbled even as it is rigidly programmatic, endearingly opinionated if not always rhetorically effective, always in need of one last edit.
Kivett Bednar, Jennie White, Hudson Mueller
The Doug Sahm tribute attracted the most attention from close observers of the music scene.
John Sanchez, Lauren Gaines
The Awards, like the Chronicle, have always done an admirable job honoring certain slices of Austin’s cultural inheritance.
Tracey Ramsey, Karen Peterman
In many ways, the Hall of Fame is its finest contribution — all the inductees deserved permanent honors this year — but the Awards also recognize what’s happening on the street and with the critical community, thus the multiple nods for the Black and White Years and Alejandro Escovedo.
Emily Hoover, JD Cronise
Like many guests, I grew restless in the auditorium, and spent much time scanning the lobbies for familiar faces.
Noël Conley, Christine Ann, Raven
Most precious moment: Recognizing but not believing I had just photographed Ruthie Foster. Halfway through the spelling-of-her-name ritual, I yolwed: “I know who you are! I adore you! I’ve just never seen you so close up!”
Ruthie Foster, Katie Hostettler
Like many performers, Foster’s persona expands for the stage.
Zach Stetson, Ashley Schiltz
Then it was off to Mulberry, the wine bar across the street, which has doubled its capacity with outdoor seating. Out & About experience: At least one person from every group that entered knew me — or met me.
Mark Groutas, Stephanie Groutas
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O&A SXSW 30: Mayor’s Welcome
The sun shone like a Mediterranean god.
Veronica Dee, Ashley Bustamante
The terraces outside the Mayor of Austin’s offices surveyed the green-and-silver glory of the lakeside, as well as the SXSW visitors down below, navigating a stretch of downtown sidewalks nowhere near any of the music venues.
Nathan Dyer, Eli Gross, Chris Pinkston
It was the mayor’s annual SXSW welcome. The calm before the crash. Promising Austin acts played. Sweet Leaf Tea and Tito’s Handmade Vodka flowed.
Kyrie Wynn, Larkin Wynn
Guests, some from distant lands, but most, by my count, local, freely exchanged greetings and best wishes for another record-breaking festival.
Danny Witte, Happy Mercado
Among the few foreign tributaries I met were Tony Moore, Emma Tucker and Karl Harrison from the London venue, The Bedford, who sought two-way traffic in musical talent between their metropolis and ours.
Laura Trotter, Brad Trotter
Mayor Will Wynn appeared strangely relieved to be overseeing his last SXSW, though his daughters, Kyrie and Larkin, dressed to the rock nines and posing with a Gibson guitar, embodied the promise of SXSWs to come.
Anya Kamenetz, Michael Bartnett
Wynn has never received sufficient credit for his promotion of Austin nightlife and downtown living. Nobody has done more to demonstrate — personally — how cool and fun it is to live, work and play within a few-blocks radius.
Melanie Jones, Charlie Jones
Music industry types and documentary-makers attended the late afternoon reception, but, to tell the truth, the related tribes of journalists and publicists ruled the roost.
Tony Moore, Emma Tucker, Karl Harrison
We looked into each others’ eyes, searching out that slight, inevitable panic about the chaos that would soon burst on all of us.
Claudia Blanchette, JJ Johnson
After a full week of pre-SXSW and early-SXSW — film and interactive — socializing, this bit of sunny paradise was but a break before the music fest blitz.
Emily Brandt, Richard Panter, Christee Albino
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Your A-List, Best Latin Group or Singer
Ages ago, the musical category “Latin Group or Singer” would have naturally attracted a long list of Tejano artists. No longer. Austin’s Latino music scene has diversified in a dizzying manner, leaving A-List voters with a hemisphere of candidates.
No. 3 on these particular charts was an old Austin hand who still retains a boyish charm — David Garza with 11 percent. No. 4 is one of the city’s ecstatically embraced bands — Grupo Fantasma with 9 percent. Critically lauded Alejandro Escovedo took 7 percent, while large-sound Del Castillo snapped up 4 percent.
Salvaging 1 percent or less were Brownout, The Brew, Manejo Beto, Patricia Vonne, Lila Downes, Los Bad Apples, Ocote Soul Sounds, Charanga Cakewalk, Kanko and Latin at Heart.
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Your A-List, Best Blog
Austin’s first role — other than that buffalo camp thing — was as capital of an independent republic. Every since, politics has overshadowed most other activities in the city. And despite the rise of higher education, sports, high tech and entertainment as competing pastimes, politics still makes for popular reading.
The only entertainment blog in the Top 5? Out & About with 5 percent of the tally. (Thank you, thank you.) Dear friend Eugene Sepulveda and his aptly named Community Matters — also pretty political — followed closely with 4 percent (my husband, Kip, vote for CM over O&A).
Attracting 3 percent or less were Kat Candler’s noodlings, Austinist’s Allen Y. Chen, Harry Knowles’ Ain’t It Cool News (surely the most read blog of all these on a global scale), Austin Tidbits, Scott Henson’s Grits for Breakfast, Austinist’s TrueCraig, Austin Chronicle’s Earache, (newsroom colleague) Matthew Odam’s The M.O., Bryan Poyser’s Austin Film Society entry and Random Neural Misfirings.
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O&A SXSW 28: Tip Jar 1
We did ask for SXSW tips. And readers responded. Some gossip was impossible to confirm (like David Bowie shopping at Prototype on South Congress Avenue). Other lemon drops were simply self-serving without entertainment value.
Culled from the tips so far:
Michael Penn had the ladies — and some men — fainting with appreciation before, during and after his SXSW talk on music and film.
BMI’s Kay Clary, Michael Penn, BMI’s Anne Cercere, Austin publicist Jill McGuckin. Photo credit: Erica Goldring
Privacy-concerned Sandra Bullock was seen dining with man Jesse James at Bess. Recently, Bullock has been trying to prove her Austin credentials, but you’re not likely to see her granting your columnist an interview.
Caught shopping at Eliza Page during SXSW: Carla Gugino (“Watchman”); Connie Britton (“Friday Night Lights”) and Marley Shelton (“Never Been Kissed”).
Janell Vela-Smith from Iron Dragon Productions sent in this not-so-candid SXSW shot of herself with Henry Selick of “Nightmare before Christmas” fame (above).
Fred Miller reported this tidbit that I hadn’t heard so far: On Saturday at 12:45 Gene Kranz from NASA control center who made famous the saying “Failure is Not an Option!” during Apollo 13 will arrive at the Parmount Theater in Alan Bean’s restored 1968 Corvette. HD version of “For All Mankind” will show for the first time at 1:30. The filmmaker Al Reinert will host Kranz for Q&A after the show and then it is off to Sholtz Garten at 4:30 or 5:00.
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O&A SXSW 26: Social Schedule for March 17
Trying to keep up the SXSW pace without stressing the injured legs. So probably won’t make all these.
6 p.m. St. Patty’s Day and SXSW Kickoff at J. Black’s Lounge
7 p.m. SXSW Film Awards Reception at Brush Square Park
9 p.m. “Sissy Boy” at Alamo Ritz
10:30 p.m. SXSW Film Closing/Music Opening Party at Maggie Mae’s
11:30 p.m. International Night from Dart Music International at Friends on Sixth Street
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Not SXSW: Guerrilla Gay Bar Goes Wrong in Houston
The Guerrilla Gay Bar movement has survived 10 years in Austin without incident. Each month, a gay contingent shows up at a designated straight establishment for the benefit of both communities. It really works — ask the staff at the downtown Hooters.
Well, things went very wrong in Houston when organizers tried to infiltrate the Union Bar on Bagby. The gay contingent was left out in the rain, while straight couples were seated in the crowded bar. Both sides are meeting to iron out differences.
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O&A SXSW 25: ‘500 Days’ & ‘Best Worst Movie’
Because the social whirl is my beat, I usually miss the movies, music and other delicacies that make SXSW so alluring to visitors and locals. So Monday, I skipped the parties and, instead, saw two movies back to back.
This deft romantic comedy — disguised as a chronological sleight of hand — had already conquered Sundance and several other festivals. And I can see why. The whole movie inhabits a Los Angeles that almost no outsider would recognize — the older, graceful sections of downtown, for instance. And the two stars bring such charm to the screen, it’s easy to endure their characters’ irritating qualities. A minefield as a date movie, “500 Days” at times matches Woody Allen at his darkest/sweetest.
“Best Worst Movie” is the funniest thing I’ve experienced in some time. This documentary reconstructs the making of “Troll 2,” a hilariously bad horror movie from 20 years ago, its evolution into cult status and the toll that process has taken on its creators. Lovingly made by Michael Stephenson, who played the boy lead in the original, “Best Worst” follows “Troll 2” on the cult circuit (including Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse and Rolling Roadshow), reenacts the atrocious dialogue, tracks down the clueless Italian writer/director team, and gently updates viewers on the lives of the cast members — some clearly in need of clinical aid.
Oh, did I laugh, as did everyone else at the Paramount. A must see. Now for “Troll 2,” which I’ve never seen.
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O&A SXSW 24: Florida Film Fish Fry at Wave
I return to this low-key event each year because the networking is easy. Today, I’ll just share images from the Florida Film Fish Fry at Wave.
Kentucker Audley, David Lowery
Amy Selmetz (“Alexander the Last”), Gates Bradley (“Xmen Origins: Wolverine”)
Mike Foulkes, Oriya Jassel, Nazi Parvaze
Zeke Hawkins, Simon Hawkins
Sarah Ralph, Jennifer Cochis
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O&A SXSW 23: Facebook Party at Pangaea
I’ve already reported on the Facebook party in an earlier post, but here are some social images from that event.
Krisstina Wise, Heidi Adams (Look Who’s Out on a School Night)
Amy Baer, Joshua Baer
“@cubanlinks,” “@carrie_k”
Nick Orenstein, Gabriella Draney
Cullen Wilson, Dane Hurtubise, Jake Ysasi, Will Roman
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O&A SXSW 22: Nerd to Hip Transformation 2
For Part 1, see post below
People’s Evidence No. 2: Interactive Parties
Of the 12 parties I attended last week, three - one small, one medium, one large - were directed specifically at the interactive crowd.
StandardAnswer.com staged a launch party at Red-Eyed Fly on Red River Street. The Austin-based firm builds social communities on common interests elicited through playful questions and answers online. Founder Mark Erwin reported more than 1,000 confirmations to his RSVP request, but this was a comparatively small party, given the tripartite intimacy of the Fly.
White Denim and Black Joe Lewis, two of Austin’s buzziest acts, served as the entertainment. At one moment, when I was talking to a woman from New York about her recently published book, I gazed into the concert crowd as White Denim spun their punky/funky magic. I realized that this mob, energized by social media alone, looked, acted and reacted just as any cool White Denim fan base would. One personal prejudice erased.
Across downtown, one night later, I stopped by the Facebook party at Pangaea. As early as 9:30 p.m., the line of partigoers wrapped around Colorado Street beyond Kenichi. (SWXS is one of the few times when I’ll cash in my press credentials for VIP status in order to avoid such lines.)
Inside, this medium-sized party crackled. And you could not have acertaine the social-media followers from Pangaea’s usual array of runway models, well-threaded professionals and nightlife habitués. A pop band - reputedly one of the first to use Facebook Connect on their site - connected freely with the digitally-alert crew, who lapped up Red Bull and vodkas like mother’s milk.
Which brings us to the biggest SXSW Interactive party of them all. (This report includes material previously published on this blog.)
The Frog Design folks, known for the liveliest gatherings at the conference, bested last year’s three-ring circus with latter-day side-shows and exotic parades in 2009.
Word was out. The Mexican American Cultural Center plaza was jam-packed, with some celebrants drawn to the quieter, warmer tents and others huddled around radiating space heaters.
On stage, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, expanded on its cabaret-style burlesque with a touch of the grotesque. The Minor Mishap Marching Band — counting members of the ecstatic jazz troupe White Ghost Shivers — created a musical spectacle unmatched this side of New Orleans or a Mummer’s Parade.
Meanwhile, a swarm of cycle-fueled insect puppets gyrated among the guests. These large, sculpted beings, luminous in the night, would have freaked out anyone of psychotropic drugs — which I’m reasonably sure was not the specific case on Friday. I curled around guest pods, meeting and greeting, before my legs yelped and I hobbled off to find a ride.
How did these social events compare to the SXSW Film parties? Well, you couldn’t beat the glamour and star power of the Austin Film Society’s Texas Film Hall of Fame shindigs that serve as a precursor to SXSW each year. Yet as I think back on the first several premiere parties, industry food-flings and movie mash-ups, they paled in comparison to their Interactive counterparts.
From nerd to hip in one giant social-media bound.
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O&A SXSW 21: Nerd to Hip Transformation 1
Has the social media revolution turned digital nerds into existential hipsters? Incomplete evidence from the South by Southwest Interactive Conference would suggest so.
People’s Evidence No. 1: Social Cross-Pollination
During the first days of the 2009 SXSW, a chill, damp wind gashed through downtown Austin. The winter remnants denied visitors an essential luxury - the Texas spring sun. So interactive and film conference and festival participants - their events overlap during the first week of SXSW — huddled in the Austin Convention Center, dipping into the trade show, sampling the game room, relaxing in the lounges and nibbling on the various topical discussion sections. They set up virtual campsites in the halls, warmed by laptop campfires.
You could tell the movie-makers from the online mavens by … wait! Wrapped in their winter drabs, you couldn’t tell them apart.
In the past, the film types might cross the lobby with a more confident stride, dressed in Tribeca-ready resale fashion, alert to the social tides around them. The digital types - and we are dealing in stereotype here, so don’t get bent out of shape - shambled to the margins of the crowds, their mismatched apparel endearingly personalized, their awareness of social signals muted to the point of pathological amaurosis.
Not this year. You couldn’t distinguish the budding Omar Gallagas from the nascent Chris Garcias.
Perhaps that’s because they long ago joined the same game. Film and interactive industries deal in digital entertainment forms. They use the Internet as an exhibition platform and as a marketing tool. And as we have learned over and over in Austin, the division of labor among, say gamers and film-makers is increasingly porous.
No need to split the conferences next year?
More to come…
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O&A SXSW 20: Frog Design Party at the MACC
Well, they topped the 2008 party. The Frog Design folks, known for the liveliest gatherings at SXSW Interactive, bested last year’s three-ring circus with latter-day side-shows and exotic parades in 2009.
Jason Stoddard, Cynthia Fedor
Word was out. The Mexican American Cultural Center plaza was packed, with some celebrants drawn to the quieter, warmer tents and others huddled around radiating space heaters.
Allen Mendelsohn, Sarah Bagnall, Daniel Morrison
On on stage, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, expanded on its cabaret-style burlesque with a touch of the grotesque. The Minor Mishap Marching Band — counting members of the ecstatic jazz troupe White Ghost Shivers — created a musical spectacle unmatched this side of New Orleans or a Mummer’s Parade.
Maria Alonso, Brian Baugh
Meanwhile, a swarm of cycle-fueled insects gyrating among the guests. These large, sculpted beings, luminous in the night, would have freaked out anyone of psychotropic drugs — which I’m reasonably sure was not the case on Friday.
Sachi Ariel, Sarah Stubbs
My first contact was with marketer Jason Stoddard and his new gal, Cynthia Fedor (yes, Jason, I will text you when I arrive at the Facebook party tonight). Almost immediately, my new Minneapolis contact, Chris Baumgartner, walked up — and, wouldn’t you know it? — Jason and Chris had scads in common. Networking task completed.
I curled around guest pods, meeting and greeting, before my legs yelped and I hobbled off to find a ride.
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O&A SXSW 19: Standard Answer Party & More
This is a brief SXSW story in three brisk chapters.
Stephen Rice, Mark Erwin
1) I joined the line at Mohawk. Ran into a Statesman colleague and his two, new SXSW friends. I explained that this was the launch party for Standard Answer, a social networking site. They nodded as we breezed past the man with the list. Two bands played. I ran into music rep Stephen Tatton. He introduced me to the front man for one of his acts. Neat. But the bands onstage didn’t match my expectations for the Standard Answer party, so I fired up the iPhone. Wrong club.
Clara Shih, Dan Chao
2) Swept into the Red-Eyed Fly. Right musical acts — White Denim and Black Joe Lewis. And back on the patio, the party. Mark Erwin, impresario of Standard Answer, greeted his guests. I networked with author Clara Shih, publicist Kevin Smothers, e-mail contact Leora Rockowitz and ASA communicator Micah King. White Denim sounded funky-punky, holding the guests in its buzzy magnetism.
Leora Rockowitz, Jeremy Simon
3) But it was time for the Frog Design party at the Mexican American Cultural Center. Chilled, damp, my legs cramping, I headed in that direction. Just past Sixth Street, I sought succor from a pedicab driver. I approached a strapping guy who seemed capable of transporting my weight, but he thoughtfully said “oh, he was first,” pointing to a slender, wild-haired man almost my age. Appearances deceive. He sped down Red River, cut through the Shores driveway and up to the MACC entrance in mere seconds. Bumpy thought the ride, I handed him all my cash.
Rachel Glaser, Micah King
More on the Frog Design party soon.
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O&A SXSW 18: Retreat to Stubb’s
This is what I love about SXSW. It’s also what I love about Austin. And my job.
So, I go to Stubb’s for a party. A conglomeration of Internet TV and other hosts had attracted a frenzied house to the outdoor stage. The mostly male, wool-capped crowd bellowed with delight at the announced entertainment — strange to me.
Rapidly, the place filled. A tall, young man, looking a bit lost in his Fargo N.D. hat, and chastened by a concerned look on his brow, searched for a nonexistent place at the bar, so I offered him my other chair.
We could have grunted our way through the mounds of meat, but Chris Baumgartner proved much more interesting than that. He hailed originally from Northern Virginia — now all one mall and suburb, he says — and now lives in Minneapolis. His firm, MusicMatters, matches environmental projects with music programs — so 2009.
We talked music, interactivity, SXSW — what made it special, the networking, was as plain as the person across the table — Austin and its evolving glam culture and “open city” concept, as well as his generation, the Obama Generation, which ignores color lines, can’t even guess what segregation meant and thinks that opposition to gay marriage is just plain goofy.
Of course, I choked up. Social contact made. I could have gone home at that moment, my job done.
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O&A SXSW 17: ‘The 2 Bobs’ Premiere Party at Aces Lounge
Inarguably, Austin lawyer and movie producer Mark Mueller knows how to have a good time. Everyone predicted his premiere party for “The 2 Bobs” at Aces Lounge would be packed and happening, combining forces from the SXSW Film and Interactive mobs (the movie depicts the adventures of two gamers).
Mueller hired a bevvy of friendly, costume-clad beauties who insured a positive first visual impression when one entered the Sixth Street club, but also that later conversations — set against a loud club soundtrack — would include alert social give-and-take. (Modern geishas?)
Anna Kozminski, Ashish Patel, Lars Lindstrom, Charles Dahan
The Tim McCanlies-directed “Bobs” doesn’t come with a huge marketing budget, so Mueller put up some of the cast in his house and ferried them around in donated limos. It’s the kind of story you hear time and again at indie-fueled SXSW.
Vanessa Montes, Paul Feneht
I ran into multimedia journalist Rachel Youens, whose husband worked on the trailer. “I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve seen the trailer about a million times,” she quipped.
Archie Fields, David Collier, Jessie Maguire
Cultural note: For the third time during this SXSW, I’ve run into Canadians who thought the name of my column derived from their co-nationals’ dialect. No. But you’re cute anyway.
Chris Doubek, Alex Karpovsky
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O&A SXSW 16: Trade Show Follies
Last year, I visited the SXSW Film and Interactive Trade Show on the last day. Everyone was exhausted. Yet I made some contacts that lasted through the coming months.
David Olsen (Uncleweed), Elvis, Col. Parker
This year, I stumbled on the vast exhibition hall early. It hummed. An Elvis impersonator pumped up the conviviality.
Jess Kaluey, Marieke Vaughan Browne
I learned more about online marketing, stock photos, films from Australia, Japan and Hawaii, touch-screen technology, film schools, Microsoft Silverlight (everywhere) and a firm that grew out of the University of Texas (orgsync.com) to provide better communications for educational institutions.
Tonia Gerlad, Yoshiko Goto
Because it was still early in the trade week, representatives were perky, plucky, sometimes even sassy.
Roger Gilliam, Laura Albright
And, as in the past, they demonstrated a knee-jerk reluctance to be photographed, knowing how images can be distorted in the Internet. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t know how.
Jon Feinstein, Regina Colindrez, both of Shutterstock
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Not SXSW: The Kiss & Fly Fight
With fewer than 10 gay bars in a metropolitan market of almost 2 million people, you’d think that the gay community would welcome a new club. After all, given the 300 or so straight Austin clubs out there, and the city’s general reputation for openness, you’d guess there would be room for one more flying the gay flag.
Yet gay-club politics can be just as vicious as straight-club politics.
Commentators appear to have two serious problems with the announced Kiss & Fly: 1) It will set up competition for the well-established, community-alert Oilcan Harry’s and Rain clubs down the block; 2) Its owners have been associated with anti-gay attitudes in the past, especially demonstrated at Qua, the ultra-lounge squeezed between Oilcan’s and Rain.
Consider first the issue of competition. My experience has been that closely-connected gay bars feed each other, as a circuit develops among the venues, and guests roam from one to the other. Remember that Rain was considered a dagger at the heart of Oilcan’s? Didn’t turn out that way, did it? Both have been packed every time I’ve visited recently.
As for the alleged homophobia of Kiss & Fly’s owners, I can’t attest one way or another. I’ve always been treated with respect at Qua. But, then again, I’m not down on Fourth Street often enough to witness what sound like clear incidents of insensitivity.
The reputation of one Kiss & Fly partner seems to be especially at issue. Yet no one has produced the kind of evidence against him that a journalist can use in publication.
In the role of a reporter, I plan to attend the opening of Kiss & Fly next week, keep my eyes and ears peeled, and will continue to consider the accounts of readers who have strong feelings about the place and its owners.
Keep up the discussion, but keep it legal!
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O&A SXSW 16: Facebookers at SXSW
Since social media remains the buzz at SXSW Interactive, I thought I’d periodically review the SXSW post trends among my friends, Facebook first. I picked out a few from today that seemed representative, moving backward in time.
Omar L. Gallaga Met @guykawasai — he was giving out Alltop T-shirts in the press room. They were All Tops. Didn’t ask about his checkbook.
Siva Vaidhyanathan Austin convention Center so poorly marked I just walked into Women’s room. Can’t find 3rd floor. Etc.
Chuck Mead Has been drinking for days in preparation for South X Southwest
Omar L. Gallaga 1st FB Connect apps: Who has the Biggest Brain, Movies, iBowl, Agency Wars, Urbanspoon, Tap Tap Revenge 2, Whrrl, Live Poker, Binary Game.
Addie Broyles Into #SXSW, but not meat? @ripetomato shares this vegan and vegetarian guide: http://tinyurl.com/an4lk4
David le Smith Attention Austin Krew: Free SXSW show at Ms. Beas (no connection to Ms B’s Creole) on the East End on Tuesday. This band is getting big in Brooklyn…
Emily Torgerson Shaw RT @austinist: SXSW Film Preview: Best Worst Movie http://tinyurl.com/c3hozw Premieres tonight at Alamo Lamar!
Chris Trew About to head back to #SXSW, have a really good idea for a Twitter Tournament (soon). I’m doing comedy and Terp 2 it tonight @ Bar Camp!
Omar L. Gallaga Interesting panel discussion of text vs. speech in MMOs/virtual worlds. Speech is more intimate, but is it TOO intimate for some? #sxsw
Brandi Clark just picked up my SXSW platinum badge to be a part of the green evaluation team for the festival
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O&A SXSW 15: Social Schedule for March 15
We’re hoping for better weather on Sunday.
4 p.m. SX Global Shorts at The Hideout
6 p.m. Web Awards Pre-Party at Hilton Austin
7 p.m. SXSW Filmmaker BBQ at Maggie Mae’s
9:30 p.m. Facebook friends.get at Pangaea
10:30 p.m. Florida Fish Fry 2009 at The Wave
11:30 p.m. Four Boxes Premiere Party at the Tap Room
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O&A SXSW 14: Social Schedule for March 14
I’m playing SXSW by ear, of course, especially with these bum legs. But this is what I sketched out for March 14.
4:30 p.m. “True Adolescents” at the Alamo Ritz
6 p.m. “The 2 Bobs” Party at Aces Lounge
7 p.m. Razorfish Happy Hour at The Madison or Bigg Digg Shindigg at Stubb’s
8 p.m. Standard Answer Launch Party at Mohawk
9 p.m. SXSW Interactive Opening Party at the Mexican American Cultural Center
Honestly, I think that’s all I can handle. But send me your sightings, tips and pics. Please.
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O&A SXSW 13: Mostly locals at the Registrants Lounge
The Registrants Lounge is an early refuge. Right across the street from the convention center in Brush Square, it’s a quick sprint across the unused commuter rail tracks to sample a tropical drink marketed at the SXSW festival or something a bit stronger.
Romon Smith, Joshua Thompson
And to meet people. The cold and damp kept most registrants inside the tent. They mingled, more or less blissfully. A constant theme: How easy it was to meet people at SXSW as compared to other conferences and festivals.
Well, that’s Austin, our Open City.
Nora Ankrum, James Renovitch
I talked to a massage therapist with a growing range of non-Western techniques; a couple of Austin Chronicle reps who struck just the right attitude about digital games they hadn’t mastered; a pair of sisters, one living in Paris, who were, at first, shy about having their faces on the Internet (too late); a screenwriter who repeated the advice “read what you have already written,” and many more.
Elisabeth Flohr, Amanda Flohr-Egile
But then, all too soon, my legs began to give out…
This is where I need help from reader-reporters.
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O&A SXSW 12: The crowd moves indoors
Poor Southies. Chief among the SXSW bait is the outdoors. Wandering around. Taking in the city. Texas in spring.
Not today. The few who brave the chill are wrapped like impromptu gifts. No lingering on street corners for these Southies.
Which makes the scene at the Austin Convention Center all the more of a mob than usual. Still long lines to reach more long lines. Halls like campsites, with laptops like personal campfires.
In their winter drabs, the Interactive and Film folks appear more than usually nerdy (endearingly so).
Wait! There’s somebody with a snappy bag, smartly cut slacks and a runway-ready stride one expects in Paris, not Austin … oh, it’s just Clay Smith from the Texas Book Festival.
True to her native talent, Statesman food writer Addie Broyles has already landed two good stories, one about vegan smoothies, I believe. She makes digital journalism look so easy.
As soon as I was badged and my camera tagged, I sat down. And up came Bobby Fishkin, founder and CEO of reframeit.com, which allows one to somehow write in the margins of Web pages. We had kept in touch since last SXSW Interactive. Still don’t understand how it works. Sounds like magic.
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O&A SXSW 11: Fleeing the Line Before the Line at the Austin Convention Center
Slithering into a street parking space, dashing through the needling rain, then heading directly to the giant escalator, I felt accomplished, a veteran of SXSW’s complications and the twists thrown in by Mother Nature this year.
I was met at the base of the escalator by a perky volunteer.
“Are you a presenting speaker or panelist?”
“No, just the press.”
She inclined her head to a long line along the wall, in other words a line to get into the lines upstairs at the registration booths.
I uttered a commonplace expletive — not directed at the volunteer personally, mind you — considered my still-throbbing legs, and flew out of the Austin Convention Center for an appointment.
Tweeting in the rain about the ridiculous wait, I received an immediate reply, inviting me to the SXSW Tech Lounge back at the center.
I had availed myself of this low-key amenity last year, but there was that leg massage waiting for me on the other side of downtown.
Now, refreshed, I will face the Line Before the Line. And will dip into the Tech Lounge as well.
Tip Jar: Out & About had planned to cover 100 parties during the 10 days of SXSW. Not gonna happen. Not with these roasted gams. Yet your social columnist promises to post 100 juicy SXSW reports with your help. Send news tips, street anecdotes, celebrity sightings and party pics (only the best) to mbarnes@statesman.com and check my Facebook, Twitter and austin360.com blog accounts for updates on your own good reporting. It’s my party and I’ll post if I want to …
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O&A SXSW 10: Texas Film Hall of Fame 5
Dennis Quaid gave out the last honor of the evening, the Tom Mix Honorary Texan Award, to Billy Bob Thornton who was born in “extreme Northeast Texas — Hot Springs, Ark.” Quaid listed Thornton’s blue-collar past and his breakthrough as a screenwriter at director Billy Wilder’s suggestion.
“Billy Bob is the definitive Davy Crockett,” rugged-looking Quaid said while quantifying and qualifying Thornton’s work in Texas. Apparently they really bonded during the “Alamo” shoot outside Austin.
“I’m going to be bitter and angry for a second,” he said about the press line, being asked what it felt like to be conferred honorary Texan status. “I lived Tomball outside Houston, my family’s from Richardson and Garland and lived in Texas a third of my life. This is where my heart it is It is an artistic place, creative place. If you want to get technical about where I’ve lived the longest, I’m a (expletive) Californian.”
Good way to end the evening. As we were leaving, Kyle Chandler asked why I didn’t stick around for more quotes. I told him about my leg condition. He listened and responded with such sympathy, I flashed to him as my coach.
Photos by Larry Kolvoord.
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O&A SXSW 9: Texas Film Hall of Fame 4
“Rushmore” won the Tiffany & Co. Star of Texas Award. Luke Wilson accepted. He praised Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton and other present actors for their essential quirkiness.
He sounded surprised he ever broke into the industry. “The studio hated it. It came and went in the theaters in a week,” he said of “Bottle Rocket,” Wes Anderson’s first film. “Then we had a chance to do ‘Rushmore.’ And we got to work with all these great Texans again.”
Ray Benson introduced himself “world’s tallest living Jew” and supported a “recession auction” for Texas film incentives, the Austin Film Society and its programs, especially the summer kids filmmaking and intern projects.
Here comes Brendan Fraser — first Church goes off the rails with a story about a shared passion for miniature donkeys — to honor production designer and director Catherine Hardwicke with the Ann Richards award.
She recalled receiving a mound of dirt for Christmas from her farmer father in McAllen and making a creative project out of it. Then she told stories about clawing her way to the top and being locked in Tom Cruise’s “Scientology stare” when she took over design for “Vanilla Sky.” She then told a story contrasting the expectation that she’d been in Rupert Murdoch’s residence and a horse that now lived in her childhood home. Good stuff.
Richard Linklater memorialized the late Horton Foote.”The films are with us forever and the plays will be performed into the future.” A deeply moving tribute film followed.
Photos: Larry Kolvoord.
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O&A SXSW 8: Texas Film Hall of Fame 3
Thomas Haden Church reminded everyone it was Linda Gray’s legs on the poster for “The Graduate,” while elaborating on his longtime interest in her looks. (Church’s dicey choice of words provoked much laughter during the evening.)
Gray talked about the origins of “Dallas” and her 30-year relationship with Larry Hagman, to whom she presented the Texas Film Hall of Fame honor. “Larry kept us all together, made us all laugh, as the only Texan in the group,” of the “Dallas” actors.
Hagman pointed out that while everyone in the world watched “Dallas” 30 years ago, teens today don’t even know who he is. He also joked about Ronald Reagan, Alcoholics Anonymous, Texas film incentives and passed out Larry Hagman $10,000 bills. “If you give some, you’re going to get some,” he said about the proposed incentives, threading his way through a Comanche chief Quanah Parker story in support.
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O&A SXSW 7: Texas Film Hall of Fame 2
Hilariously off-color Thomas Haden Church goofed on the Texas Film Hall of Fame honorees and presenters during his emcee duties at Austin Studios. But then he made a serious plea for production incentives in order to battle allurements from New Mexico and other states. That elicited a standing ovation from an industry-friendly crowd.
Introducing each presenter, Church made specific, personal connections with the artists, including the first, Keith Carradine, who appeared in mobster outfit, calling Powers Boothe as a “great actor of extraordinary powers.” Carradine recalled the “testoterone-fueled male bonding” in “Southern Comfort.”
“I want to thank you having me in my home,” the Snyder-raised Boothe said, ” which is Texas.”
He spoke about hard work and his education at Texas State University-San Marcos and SMU.
“I didn’t know Thomas Haden Church was funny,” Boothe deadpanned, praising the other honorees movingly. “I hope we bring more movies to Texas. There’s a hell of a lot of talent here.”
Photos: Larry Kolvoord.
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O&A SXSW 6: Texas Film Hall of Fame 1
Austin social nobility mingled with Hollywood film royalty at the Austin Studios on Thursday for the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards.
The city’s longest and most elaborate red carpet welcomed luminaries such as Larry Hagman, Dennis Quaid, Linda Gray, Brendan Fraser, Thomas Haden Church, Billy Bob Thornton, Catherine Hardwicke, Keith Carradine and Powers Boothe.
They joined with filmic Austinites Kyle Chandler, Kinky Friedman, Connie Britton, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Brad Leland and Richard Linklater.
They rubbed chill-protected shoulders with locals like Kate Hersch, Mort and Bobbi Topfer, Evan Smith, Charles Duggan and Brewster McCracken as well billionaire couple Jean-Paul and Eloise DeJoria.
Right now, they are auctioning off an evening with Zac Efron for the premiere of “Orson Welles and Me” with Claire Danes, an Aspen, Co. vacation and a “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Steaks have just arrived. Crowd is happy. Credit the large margaritas. Chandler is wearing skiwear onstage.
Photos: Larry Kolvoord.
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Grand Opening Hyatt Austin
The Hyatt Austin renovation is complete.
Sue Bernheim, Janae Ryder, Mary-Kate Ennis, Denise Gouge
Austin’s first modern downtown hotel, noted for its Portman-style atrium and proximity to Lady Bird Lake, the Hyatt has never been out of the hotel/destination picture.
Haydn Vitera, Sandra Dahdah
Yet styles and times change. And the Hyatt responded with a look that is at once warmer and more contemporary.
Nicholas Mirialakis, Amy McCall
Wandering through the spaces — centered on the Marker 10 lounge — for the grand opening ceremonies felt like a visit to an established urban center, self-confidently assertive and yet ultimately relaxing.
Sarah Miller (from the event planning firm Kaplan Miller), Amanda Barone
Several guests commented how the Hyatt allows one to be part of downtown Austin, but not actually in it. And the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge is always abuzz with Hyatt guests taking advantage of the socializing and entertainment across the river.
Debbie Lloyd, Ali Lloyd
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O&A SXSW 5: Social Schedule for March 12
One event is so big that it blocks out all others. It traditionally kicks off the SXSW Film Conference and Festival. And it brings more Hollywood celebrities to Austin than the next 10 events.
6 p.m. Texas Film Hall of Fame at Austin Studios
Check here this blog later for live reports.
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FNL’s Kyle Chandler building Austin home
The couple confirmed the plans during an interview for the Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Classic at the St. Cecilia Hotel. (More on that March 27 event later.)
Katherine said their two children, 7 and 13, were looking forward to living with goats and dogs out in the country.
The move seems like a safe bet since “FNL” producers are reportedly close to a two-year extension with NBC and DirectTV.
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Magic Johnson, Jennifer Holliday at HT Masked Ball
Last year, I attended the President’s Masked Ball for Huston-Tillotson University.
It was one of those multi-event evenings, so I didn’t stay too long. Yet I got the distinct impression, however, I had met some of the event’s leading lights, gathered the news and looked forward to the possibility of a 2009 edition with more generous time to report.
Well, a combination of missed invitations and medical issues on my part forced me to skip the ball this year. Not a year to miss: Jennifer Holliday and Earvin “Magic” Johnson were two of the surprise guests.
Parade of Masks winner Machere Gibson, with judge Jennifer Holliday
Let me repeat: Jennifer and Magic. Two of the biggest stars in the firmament. Drat!
Johnson made a $25,000 donation. Holliday judged the Parade of Masks competition and offered an encore performance of “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going.” (Looks like I’m the last person to sing it in public. Just give me time.) The event raised $200,000.
Well, we’re not going to be caught flat-footed again. A big name is coming to the HT graduation ceremonies at the end of the semester. We’ll drop just about anything to be there.
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O&A SXSW 4: Texas Film Hall of Fame Pre-Party
A year later, and people are still gabbling about the 2008 Texas Film Hall of Fame Pre-Party at Lance Armstrong’s mini-Minoan palace underneath Mount Bonnell. (Yes, you’re right, it was cold. People did huddle under the tent and the poolside fire attracted a crowd. Eternally handsome Morgan Fairchild dominated the main living room, while a rather vulnerable-looking Debra Winger hovered on the stairs. No telling what went on in Armstrong’s trophy room when we weren’t there. Hmmm.)
Deborah Green, Julie Thornton, Brendan Fraser
If anything, this year’s Pre-Party will produce even more gabble. (Did you see the glittering dome hanging above John and Julie Thornton’s Enfield-area manse, the dungeon-like dining room, the bathroom wallpaper, the winking, Koonsian art and the outdoor fireplace made of baroque shells? And was there a separate patron celebrity for each room? The food? Out of this world!)
Billy Bob Thornton, Richard Linklater
Still boyish Brendan Fraser was there, his hair festooned like one of chef Quincy Adams Erickson’s spoonful creations. So was “Dallas” immortal Larry Hagman, disappearing under a cowboy hat, with a daub-faced Linda Gray and Swedish-born wife Maj Axelsson running photo interference. (I lost out twice.)
Stephen Rice, Powers Boothe
Unassuming power couple John and Janet Pieson (University of Texas and South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival) held court in one room, a beaming Richard Linklater — director and Austin Film Society founder — in another.
The Misshapes
Billy Bob Thornton looked sly but acted gracious. (Charmer!) And posing DJs the Misshapes looked very much the part — having flown in at the last minute from Paris Fashion Week.
Andy Sarwal, Katy Hackerman
Of course Julie Thornton, wrapped in a smart, ribbony black outfit, played part of the effervescent hostess, and many of her exquisitely set off friends — Carla McDonald, Deborah Green, etc. — competed to look more glamorous than any of the Hollywood contingent.
Sharon Miller, Andy Dollerson
We talked to Linda Ball and Forrest Preece about walking the city, to Agnes Varnum and Rebecca Campbell about the outlook for Thursday’s Hall of Fame festivities (cold, rainy), to Stephen Moser, Stephen Fish, Richard Hartgrove and gang about the grounds (“Only Donna Stockton Hicks can match this!), to Powers Boothe about the the newspaper and entertainment industries, as well as his lingering imaginative association with messianic preacher Jim Jones, to writer Julia Smith about staying at Quality Quinn’s rustic perfection of a house in Marfa, with Katy Hackerman about her new life at the UT College of Natural Sciences.
Now here’s a stray question for you: People can’t believe I go to so many events each week, but how does Julia’s husband, Texas Monthly’s Evan, do it — while editing and publishing a major magazine and hosting a TV show? Watchman?
Lawyer and film producer Mark Mueller with Rep. Elliott Naishtat
My favorite conversation of the evening, though, was reserved for sassy Brits Sharon Miller and Andy Dollerson, who jabbed and counter-jabbed about art, surfing, coastal Britain vs. coastal Texas and a host of other subjects.
This party is going to be hard to beat.
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Your A-List, Best Place to Score a Last-Minute Gift
A-List voters have done your work for you. They’ve voted on the best shops to score a last-minute gift. And Numero Uno was the local hardware store with the high-end accessories, Breed & Co., which attracted 20 percent of the vote. You can purchase flowers, plants, food, cookware and decorative accents as well as hammers, paint and ladders.
BookPeople — selling much more than just books — took second with 13 percent of the vote. Waterloo Records, which carries all your favorite local musicians, came in third with 12 percent. And look: Another hardware store, Zinger, scored fourth with 10 percent.
Several traditional Austin businesses did well in this category — Toy Joy (9 percent); Emeralds (8 percent); Sue Patrick (6 percent); Tesoros Trading Co. (6 percent); Terra Toys (4 percent). Following the parade with 3 percent or less are Aviary, Blanton Museum of Art gift shop, Sparks, Austin Museum of Art store, Mercury Design Studio and Big Red Sun.
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Your A-List, Locally Owned Business
Maybe that’s why Amy’s topped the A-List vote for Best Locally Owned Business with 22 percent of the vote. Waterloo, the classic local record store on North Lamar Boulevard, came in second with 12 percent. Top Notch burger stand piled up 10 percent, and Schlotzsky’s, the once and future sandwich chain, 9 percent, followed closely by 24-hour munchie oasis Magnolia Cafe.
Soul Food haven Hoover’s won 8 percent, while Homeslice, the New York-style pizza on South Congress grabbed 7 percent. Guero’s, the Tex-Mex fiesta across the street from Homeslice, carved out 6 percent. Taking 3 percent or less where Vulcan Video, Hotel San Jose, Spiderhouse, I Love Video, Birds Barbershop, Daily Juice, Ruta Maya, Service Menswear, Flipnotics and Aviary.
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O&A Social Schedule for March 11
Almost SXSW …
6:30 p.m. “Who Needs a Drink … Locals Only Pre-SXSW Party” at Malverde
7:30 p.m. Hyatt Austin Grand Reopening
8:30 p.m. Pre-Texas Film Hall of Fame Party at a private residence
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O&A SXSW 3: Alternatives to walking
March 8 Facebook query: Michael wonders: “How to SXSW without walking? Others do it.”
Note the answers on my wall say a little something — usually sweet — about my FB friends.
Aaron Haley: Rascal?!Stephen Tatton: Segway?
Kate Hersch: Car and driver
Linda Ball: Taxis? Pedicabs? The kindness of friends?
Stewart Guss: Limo and driver!Adam Ayres: Sedan Chair. Totally sedan chair.
Deanna Deolloz: Bike.
Kathy Kennemer Genet: Hoveround … seems to be fun in the commercials Tim Vasquez: I’ll actually be flying over the city doing traffic for the Emmis Radio group during SXSW. That WOULD be the way to get around.Chad Swiatecki: You want my spare? [Aren’t you the gentleman? I’d say yes, Chad, if sitting down didn’t hurt more than walking.]
Roz Andrews: Sneaker skates?
Erin Geisler: You could tune in to a certain public radio station, which will be broadcasting the Decemberists showcase, and many others, live.
Tim Vasquez: Or, use a pedicab service for barter and say you will in exchange for thier service, you will have them on your popular blog! (My salesperson in me.)
Tip Jar: Out & About had planned to cover 100 parties during the 10 days of SXSW. Not gonna happen. Not with these roasted gams. Yet your social columnist promises to post 100 juicy SXSW reports with your help. Send news tips, street anecdotes, celebrity sightings and party pics (only the best) to mbarnes@statesman.com and check my Facebook, Twitter and austin360.com blog accounts for updates on your own good reporting. It’s my party and I’ll post if I want to …
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O&A SXSW 2: Selling Mishka through Matthew McConaughey
A very professional firm has been pitching to anyone who will listen an interview with Mishka, a reggae singer signed as the first act on Matthew McConaughey’s Just Keep Livin’ recording label.
Well, the artist is virtually unknown in this part of the world. And his patron is Austin royalty. Why not a short interview with McConaughey to pump up interest?
Nothing doing, says the firm. A phoner with the nebulous singer or nothing. Predigested compliments from MM will be available.
Well, both parties will be in Austin for SXSW (official showcase, Stubb’s indoors March 19), so we’ll see who actually lands a credible interview with McConaughey about his fondness for Mishka. Meanwhile, we’ll borrow this quote from TwentyFour Bit Music News, which we assume graciously took the publicist’s bait.
“He’s intense,” Mishka said of the Hollywood star turned hit record producer. “Like I say, he’s a very grounded person, but he can be very meticulous. Going over everything with a fine-toothed comb. He wouldn’t overlook a single millisecond of recorded sound.”
Tip Jar: Out & About had planned to cover 100 parties during the 10 days of SXSW. Not gonna happen. Not with these roasted gams. Yet your social columnist promises to post 100 juicy SXSW reports with your help. Send news tips, street anecdotes, celebrity sightings and party pics (only the best) to mbarnes@statesman.com and check my Facebook, Twitter and austin360.com blog accounts for updates on your own good reporting. It’s my party and I’ll post if I want to …
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Helen Thompson Reception at Kirk Gallery
The Austin style community reveres writer and editor Helen Thompson. A certified veteran of local, regional and national publications, Thompson nevertheless maintains a rigorously contemporary tone and diction.
Elaine Garza, Helen Thompson
A little VIP party at Kirk Gallery downtown celebrated her editorship of Austin Monthly Homes, the domestic design, decor and lifestyle variation on the city slick, Austin Monthly.
Jeff Sartor, Tiffany Taylor, Leon Chen, all of Tiffs Treats Cookie Company
A certain cross-section of the guest list was foreseen: AM writers (J.B. Hager); AM reps (Ashley Nelson); AM publicists (Elaine Garza and gal pal Sam Davidson); AM or party vendors (we met a charming young man, Jeffrey Sartor, pushing his company’s delivered cookies — Tiffs Treats).
Stephen Moser, Jeff Kirk
Also present were the dear, inveterate socializers (Stephen Moser, Stephen Rice, Heath Riddles); the consummate host (Jeff Kirk) and Kirk Gallery neighbors (jewel-festooned Kappie Bliss and Charles Erwin from Beyond Tradition).
Ashley Nelson, Henry Burk
We also finally met Tad Speegle, whom we promised to introduce to Austin’s social scene, oh, a year ago, but we kept missing each other at parties. He wore some enormous, distinctive accessories which we are dying to ask about — along with that promised post-Vicodin martini.
Kathy Kelley, Bobby Bacon
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Vicci Goes Gay as Kiss and Fly
Anybody else remember the ecstatic mid-1980s in Austin? The gay club scene started — and sometimes ended — with 10-cent drink nights at the Boathouse (now Starlite). Then, when the elbowing at that deep, cool club grew tiresome, one tripped across the street to chilly Halls, an even larger disco with basement and patio, done up in the high-tech style of the moment (tubular metal, exposed mechanics, glass brick).
Now it’s reopening as a gay club called Kiss and Fly. Soft opening March 20, grand opening March 21, right in the middle of SXSW.
This changes things. Rain and Oilcan Harry’s continue to burn up West Fourth Street with high foot traffic. With a third large gay club — a fourth, Rainbow Cattle Company pulls a slightly different following and sits a bit west — Fourth and Colorado could become Austin’s gay mecca again. That could significantly affect gay visibility and culture. We look forward to reporting.
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Toast of the Town Fashion Show at Neiman Marcus
Small is all this season. Organizers have scaled back galas. Social events that formerly would have filled banquet rooms are now making do with domestic arrangements.
Debbie Novelli Farrell, Tobie Funte
For some causes, this is nothing new. Toast of the Town, which benefits the Neal Kocurek Scholarships, has subdivided its fundraisers for 25 years. This season, between April and May, 25 mini-parties are planned for private homes.
Cara Abazari, Lindsey McDonald
Nobody makes all of them (or do they?). Especially since each event comes with a different dress code. That would mean 25 new outfits for some fashionistas. So Toast of the Town threw a fashion show at Neiman Marcus on Tuesday to help match those sometimes fanciful codes (Texas Glamour, Golf Formal, etc.).
Nora Myint, Vivian Lee
The celestial Karen Landa, remembering that I had written a Glossy column about such codes, invited me to the event, and Robert Nash came along to multiply the male factor at the event significantly.
Stacey Parker, Christina Hester
Like so many NM events, it was pitched just right. Only sad note: the store’s accessories specialist Jamie Broadhurst is leaving to help open a new Orange County store. Jamie has some serious fans out there in fashion land. We wish him luck.
Karen Landa Jamie Broadhurst, Cindy Busby (Toast co-chair)
What of the fashions on display? Everybody knows that’s not my specialty. Although I will applaud the return of rich colors and “investment shopping,” the only kind I’ve done.
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O&A SXSW 1: Tip Jar
Tip Jar: Out & About had planned to cover 100 parties during the 10 days of SXSW. Not gonna happen. Not with these roasted gams. Yet your social columnist promises to post 100 juicy SXSW reports with your help. Send news tips, street anecdotes, celebrity sightings and party pics (only the best) to mbarnes@statesman.com and check my Facebook, Twitter and austin360.com blog accounts for updates on your own good reporting. It’s my party and I’ll post if I want to …
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Out & About Social Schedule for March 10
Dipping my (injured) toe back into the social waters today.
11 a.m. Toast of the Town Fashion Show at Neiman-Marcus
6 p.m. VIP Reception for editor Helen Thompson of Austin Monthly Homes at Kirk Gallery
Yes, that’s it.
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Reconsidering Horton Foote 4
For Parts 1, 2 & 3, see posts below ..
A trio of playwrights who did hang their star on the oversized Texas personality are Joe Sears, Jaston Williams and Ed Howard. Their phenomenally successful “Tuna” series presents, in expanded sketch format, characters and diction quintessentially small-town Texan. Yet while their range expanded — “A Tuna Christmas” being the most thoroughly conceived narrative — the quartet of comedies remains a pastiche of great pleasure, but not lasting dramatic literature. (Nor would they claim it as such.)
That leaves Foote. He is not Texan in the way that Tennessee Williams is Southern — standing in for a whole region of the imagination. Rather, he is a writer of graceful specifics, and those happen to be incontrovertibly Texan.
I’m convinced he will be read and produced 100 years from now, a fate not guaranteed any other Texas playwright.
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Reconsidering Horton Foote 3
For Parts 1 & 2, see posts below…
So while readers and audiences agree Horton Foote owned an uncanny ability to compose Texas stories, characters and language, they are not so sure he’s the state’s greatest playwright.
Thirty years ago, Dallasite Preston Jones made a brave leap forward with his “Texas Trilogy,” which sprung from the Dallas Theater Center to the Kennedy Center before sinking in New York. His characters and dialogue remain flavorful, but Jones has never recovered from the hype of his first big foray onto the national scene.
Terrence McNally, of course, is likely the most successful Broadway playwright to have left Texas, but he left early and didn’t return to his state for material, even when he used his native city as the title of “Corpus Christi,” which is rather about a band of homophilic followers of a Christ figure.
Ramsey Yelvington, Eugene Lee, Carlos Morton, Mary Rohde, Oliver Hailey, Jack Heifner and James McClure long ago proved their regional sensibilities and skill at local color, but not much more. More recently, much hope weighed down the shoulders of a younger El Pasoan Octavio Solis, but his star has not shone steadily.
(Pictured: Hallie Foote outside theater for “Dividing the Estate.”)
More to come…
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Reconsidering Horton Foote 2
For Part 1, see post below…
I once spent a long, warm afternoon with Horton Foote.
My introduction was made through Austin philanthropist, writer and director Mari Marchbanks. The playwright’s daughter, Hallie Foote, an actress who embodies the emotional reticence and riptides in her father’s characters, met us on the wide, east-facing front porch of his Wharton home.
It was, of course, one of the family residences portrayed in his plays. The study was the only room clearly his — papers and memorabilia everywhere — and two large windows looking out on a semi-tropical lawn and another house haunted by family ghosts.
Foote himself smiled kindly, regularly twinkled his eyes, resembling character actor Henry Travers, who played the angel Clarence in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Originally an aspiring actor, Foote had become a character — meticulous, wise, ready for a under-the-table witticism that maintained his general geniality, not unlike Austin humorist John Henry Faulk.
Marchbanks was wooing Foote. She wanted to name the studio space at the recently re-opened State Theatre after her favorite playwright. He was wary. “What is this theater company like?” he asked when was out of earshot.
With Hallie, I recited dialogue from Foote’s “1918” and “On Valentine’s Day.” I knew these better, because they had been made into immaculate, low-budget films back in the 1980s when Dallas tried to launch itself as a movie production center.
I certainly didn’t know the stage versions, but Texas companies did not produce Foote, except “The Trip to Bountiful,” and later, “The Young Man from Atlanta,” after it won the Pulitzer Prize. (Set in suburban Houston, “Young Man” is a family sexual mystery drama that can’t help but feel a bit dated.)
I bring up the lack of statewide production history because of that original contention: Foote, despite all the respect and the awards, has not been broadly embraced by his home state. I suspect it’s because he doesn’t trade in that larger-than-life stereotype of Texans that even very good playwrights and screenwriters succomb to eventually.
He’s not the West. He’s the South. And that bothers people, even admirers, inside and outside Texas.
More to come…
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Reconsidering Horton Foote 1
He was Texas’ greatest playwright. Period.
Horton Foote died last week at age 92. Sitting still with the news for a few days produced two conclusions. Foote, the playwright and screenwriter, was not more broadly embraced in Texas — along the lines of, say, Larry McMurtry — because he did not exemplify state’s Western mythos. And yet he dramatized Texan speech, character and sense of place better than any of his stage or screen contemporaries.
Foote grew up in Wharton, a cotton port on the Colorado River that later served as a rice-growing center. It was settled primarily by immigrants from Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia who fanned out over the Gulf Coastal Plain during the late 19th century. This is a lowland Southern Texas most outsiders don’t know about and most Texans don’t acknowledge.
But it served as the setting for many of his 30 or so plays, mostly famously “The Trip to Bountiful,” his only material that matched as well the stage as the the screen. Here, the inland Gulf Coast sinks into the bones of the characters, the urban striving of the Houstonians, the ghostliness of the former cotton centers and, most of all, the played-out land of the title, once bountiful, then abandoned, now overgrown with semi-tropical brush.
Most people remember Geraldine Page’s mannered, explosive performance, but anyone who had spent time in that part of Texas recognized “The Trip to Bountiful” as refining it more closely than any other dramatic work.
More to come…
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Karen Frost’s Shabbat Eve Dinner Party
Dinner parties are the best parties. I’m not talking about those white-tie, long-table affairs out of Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The Remains of the the Day. There’s something alluringly ritualistic, however, about those Old World banquets as well.
No, I mean eight people around a table, sharing comestibles and conversation — usually one dialogue at a time, although the meal might be festooned with delicious sidebars along the way.
More than a year ago, Karen Frost, who moves freely among several professions, gave an ideal Christmas dinner party, with, among other guests, entertainer and philanthropist Turk Pipkin with wife/creative partner Christy, Texas film leader Bob Hudgins and his wife, foundation specialist Tamara, and National Public Radio reporter John Burnett.
After much rearranging of the invitational furniture, Frost brought me back Friday, with my partner Kip, her still-new partner, Waco lawyer Charles Levy, shining Austin social fixtures Carol and Chris Adams, along with Mike O’Kent, who is working on Steven Spielberg’s Shoah project, and his “Project Runway”-loving wife Linda. (That “Runway” secret is always out early in the evening.)
Although “only two of the tribe” were present, this was a Shabbat Eve meal, with challah, candles and prayers. The meal consisted of a Frost fave — a Americanized curry buffet and salad, topped off with dynamite Central Market chocolate cake, delivered by the O’Kents.
The talk roamed from travels in Argentina, Israel and Poland; observant/nonobservant Jews, O’Kent’s interviews with Holocaust survivors, including a subtle Hungarian savior who lives in Fayettesville; much-used recipes, like those from “On a Texas Plate”; the civic life in Waco, reality shows, readings; artists like Sally Jacques and Tina Marsh; the maturation of the local philanthropy scene; the sale of the newspaper (what else?); grocery shopping in South Florida; Ross Perot; splitting up sibling tasks during a parent’s dotage; and, well, you know…
It was a dinner party. And so a bit of epicurean heaven.
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Faceted Jewel: Hogg/Garza House, 2
For Part 1, see post below …
The doctor is related to, but not directly descended from, Jim Hogg, the state’s first native governor, and his daughter, the Houston arts-and-parks patron Ima Hogg. He grew up mostly in Gilmer, along with other East Texas relatives in the Hogg family. A natural host, Hogg speaks with a Deep South lilt rarely heard in Austin.
Garza and Hogg met here — they were driving identical white Ford trucks, which started their first conversation — and while the doctor came with a family history of art collection, Garza also shares a love of Latino art, including Mexican painter Ruben Herrera, a distant relation, whose work will be exhibited at Mexic-Arte Museum soon.
The Mexic-Arte connection is not coincidental. In fact, for Garza and Hogg, it’s the main point for opening their home in April. The up-from-grassroots museum will hold its annual gala — a 25th anniversary celebration — at the home, instead in one of the usual downtown institutional suspects.
“By saving some money that might go to a hotel, we’re giving more money to the community,” says Mexic-Arte board president-elect Carlos Martinez, who promises a big announcement at the gala. “We’re going to put that $20,000 or $40,000 back into museum operations.”
“It’s especially exciting for us when you consider that architecture is also an art” says museum director Silvia Orozco.
Timely belt-tightening is a fair reason to hold a more domestic gala this season (other groups, including Austin Lyric Opera, are going that route). Yet I can guarantee that most of the expected 150 couples will come away with infinitely more descriptive storiesfrom the Garza/Hogg jewel than they would from a hotel ballroom.
The People’s Community Clinic gathering there Thursday buzzed like few other parties in months. Guests peeked into every cranny, relaxed on every terrace, scrutinized every view. The couple, who’ve been together six years, also plan a fundraiser for the Hispanic Scholarship Consortium.
“I was raised to leave the world a better place,” Garza says of his multi-generational Austin family.
Time will tell, but this faceted beacon could one day be considered a major player — perhaps a major masterpiece? — among all those mid-centuries.
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Faceted Jewel: Hogg/Garza House, 1
Swing around old West Lake Hills often enough, and through the oak-shrouded heights, one can spy dozens of modest-sized, mid-century, minor masterpieces.
Each geometric house sits on a solid base, at peace with a selected plane along the hillside. Split levels often cantilever over a view of downtown Austin, or another tree-mantled mount across the canyon.
Don’t worry. There’s always a view, as reliably as there’s always a big shade tree smack in front of every bungalow in Central Austin.
Curve long enough along the ridges above Westlake Boulevard and Red Bud Trail and you will encounter a newer home informed by its mid-century predecessor — it sits on the same raw footprint as a house owned by the former mayor of West Lake Hills — yet this contemporary wonder has been finely tooled into an exquisite jewel of a showplace.
Glass embraces every facet and interior spaces are built around a dual art collection — including a pale Dale Chihuly chandelier.
“I wanted an entertaining space and I wanted an art space,” says tall, willowy Dr. John Hogg, who shares the stunner with more earth-bound partner David Garza, who owns a construction company. “But most of all, I wanted a view from every room.”
Working with several designers, but settling on award-hoarder Kevin Alter, Hogg got what he wanted. The architect and the client climbed trees — “I’m a true tree-hugger,” Hogg says — for days to discover the most expansive views of downtown that would also provide privacy from prying eyes below their perch.
“We have no curtains,” Hogg says. “Someday, we’ll put up some sheers. But we rise with the sun and live by what’s outside our windows.”
A good deal of credit for the project goes to Janell Chesnut, Hogg’s mother, who helped find and secure the property when the then-Atlanta-based Hogg decided, after 9/11, “I didn’t want to die in Georgia.”
More to come …
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First foray: People Community Clinic party at Hogg/Garza house
I left my home for less than an hour. First time in many days.
Laramie Gorbett, Chris Swanson
The party’s location lured me from the sickbed. The West Lake Hills home of Dr. John Hogg, radiologist, and David Garza, construction company owner, is simply that dazzling. (More on the Kevin Alter-altered home in a later post.)
David Alan, Lisa O’Neill, Joe Eifler
The cause was pure. People’s Community Clinic has been providing front-line health care for the uninsured for decades — it was my medical refuge of first resort between graduate school and full-time employment.
Norma Nuñez, Adds Canales
The guests circulated among the several wide-eyed rooms, terraces and decks on the steep, tree-secreted property. Despite their numbers, they never seemed cramped in the 7,000 square feet of art and entertainment.
Janell Chesnut, Tom Chesnut
I’m grateful to friend — we’ll call him KS — who not only sprung me from my home and drove me to the party, but also took these snappy pictures of guests during our short time there. To me, it was all a pleasant blur, except the channeled time spent with John and David, the subject of my next posting.
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Job Age: 24. Real Age: 54. Part 4.
For Parts 1, 2 & 3, see posts below …
By last week, my legs were covered with long crests of purple hematomas, my feet had swollen several sizes larger than my shoes and three levels of painkillers didn’t soften the blows. (The atrial flutters were easier to staunch.)
It was time to reconsider. I shut the laptop. I didn’t tweet or update my Facebook status. I didn’t blog, which some dear friends thought so extraordinary, they called in a panic. Was I really OK? How could I go for days without even a rudimentary report?
This is what I concluded after four days in virtual seclusion: I love the job. I just have to adjust to it biologically. Pace. Choose subjects more judiciously.
You see, I can’t get enough of Austinites. Every day brings the potential of a 90-year-old singer who played only hotel lounges during the 1950s, though she made an exception when the Continental Club opened, or a 25-year-old reality-show gladiator who had overcome so many obstacles, she could become the subject of multiple books.
I love going out. Yes, I could spend the rest of my life on Monroe Street, watching nature filter through the pecan trees, reading those 3,500 meticulously-clad books, sinking into the couch and reflecting on the riches of the mind. But I really devour the brisk pace of the streets, the open-page possibilities of a new restaurant, the chance of a conversational encounter at an intimate dinner party.
And, if anything, reporting and writing Out & About has made me embrace Austin even more closely. I’m capable of ripping into its self-satisfaction, insecurities and inattention to inequities, but Austin is the subject of my life’s work, nothing less.
End of argument.
Earlier, when I realized that something had gone terribly wrong, consulting four doctors, five nurses, two pharmacists and two physical therapists, I couldn’t help realizing that if I keeled over, my last article for the American-Statesman would be about the Jonas brothers.
Now, I was proud to take the assignment about the pop idols of the moment, one I knew my fellow reporters would sniff at, but after three hours on a cold Sunday morning produced a total of six minutes of Jonas exposure, and little of that terribly revealing, what if that had been my farewell to journalism?
That’s when I decided: Make it count. Every tweet. Every status update. Every blog. Every column.
Report and write each entry as if it was your last. Ask the former staff members of the Rocky Mountain News, who blogged the newspaper’s final hours. It could be my last.
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Job Age: 24. Real Age: 54. Part 3.
For Parts 1 & 2, see posts below …
HTML-ready blogging software changed all that.
By July 2002, I was logging a Lewis and Clark travel journal from log cabins and motel rooms across the American West (imagine four adults today sharing dial-up service in a cabin).
When that ended, I didn’t move around enough to produce a travel blog, so I shared arts beat blogs with a colleague in 2003. But that simply repeated what we would eventually print in the newspaper, and I left the arts in her capable hands as I started a new — temporary, I thought — adventure as entertainment editor.
What I needed was a personal, angular blog topic that added to the civic conversation, and so, in 2004, I chose a gay theme, which mutated into a generalized entertainment theme as I spent more time at movie theaters, music clubs, restaurants and recreational outlets.
Out & About settled into its current role as a social blog about three years ago. It moved into print in 2007 and became my full-time job in September 2008.
Yet what was its natural subject? Gossip? Celebrities? Cafe Society? Social Trends?
Pursuing those questions demanded a dauntless curiosity, but it also took the body of a 24-year-old.
So, enjoying the economic resources of a 54-year-old, I engaged a personal trainer, retained a massage therapist and tried to remember all the things that made me an alert, club-hopping, party-crashing twentysomething 30 years ago.
Still, people asked seven nights a week: “How do you do it?”
“Naps?” I’d quip. “Technology,” I’d dismiss.
Well, my body was saying something different.
More to come…
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Job Age: 24. Real Age: 54. Part 2.
For Part 1, see post below …
It wasn’t, as some readers suspected, due to carousing. I’m usually home well before midnight, full of stories, but not much else. That part of being 24 was definitely 30 years behind me.
Look, I’ve been married for 18 years, and you only see that hurt/worried look in your husband’s eyes at 2:30 a.m. a few times before bending the marriage bond to the breaking point.
No, it was that old story of self-imposed expectation — I was supposed to be everywhere, all the time. At a candlelit dinner for a former ambassador one night, a backyard cabrito roast the next afternoon. At a friend’s arts opening at 8 p.m., hearing the new DJ at a downtown club at 11 p.m.
But wasn’t this how our world was changing inexorably? Everything sped up, generalized, then made specific? Adjust to this kind of global curiosity or go the way of the Rocky Mountain News, many journalists think.
I had foreseen the ink stains on the newsroom walls 10 years ago. The digital age would transform newspapers as we knew them. I certainly didn’t forecast the sudden collapse of the biggest brand names in the industry. A glass-half-full guy, I predicted opportunity. I jumped clamorously on board, realizing that the Internet lent us that timely edge lost to broadcast news 50 years earlier.
I posted my first live review of Austin Lyric Opera’s audacious production, “Carmen,” just after midnight May 19, 2001. It took longer for a copy editor to encode the 500-word article into HTML than it did for me to race over from the former City Coliseum, write it and check it for errors. Yet, as a novelty, the review drew a reported 10,000 unique viewers - big numbers in 2001.
Then the novelty wore off. Arts followers could read reviews in print any time. And, for a while, the technical obstructions continued unabated. It was clear that “live reviewing” — published a couple of hours after the curtain closed — would not return arts reporting to the glory of Broadway’s heyday, except in cases of extreme reader interest, say, when the Rolling Stones were involved.
More to come …
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Job Age: 24. Real Age: 54. Part 1.
I crested the hill at a brisk clip.
The rest of the midnight walk would consist of a short tack farther up South First Street, then a mellow dip and rise on Monroe Street. My mind meandered to the imminent delights of home.
Suddenly, my quadriceps froze. Cauterizing pain seared my knees. I lurched toward the mesh boundary of the Texas School for the Deaf, feeling a familiar burble inside my head.
Not a welcome sound. Heart rate above 150: Arrhythmia.
Out of old habit, I checked off a list of possible ignition points. Three galas that night. (Two other social events cut.) Half a cup of coffee at one party. A mixed drink at another. Some sweets sneaked during the fashion show. All in the course of four or five hours afoot on the Out & About social beat.
Still, I was in ruddy health. For me, at least. Working out every morning. Walking to most of my assignments at night.
Work-related stress? As a recently re-invented social columnist, I was eagerly adjusting to the demands of a rapidly evolving newspaper industry: Rattling off four or five blog posts a day, refining those entries into three print columns a week.
A print gallery of social snapshots elicited daily responses from readers (mostly friends of subjects, but any reader these days…), and a new digital version was climbing the charts. Bigger assignments claimed time as energy allowed.
Come to think of it, though, was I in such good health?
What about that nagging stiffness in the thighs? Those rings of excess weight cloaked in black to survive the stylish rigors of clubs, parties and cafes? That sometimes pale, fatigued visage that gaped back at me from tagged photos on Facebook?
Was I overdoing it? Again?
Then it clicked.
I was trying to do a 24-year-old’s job in a 54-year-old’s body.
More to come …
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Out & About is quiet
Because Michael is quiet. I shall return. Promise.
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Jonas Brothers thrill Austin fans with surprise visit
When metal meets metal at a high speed, the collision produces a screech that could pierce a concrete bunker.
“I just touched Nick Jonas’ hand!” shrieked Ashley Volk, 15, into her cell phone.
Well, it wasn’t completely unexpected.
Early Sunday, reporters were bussed out to Austin Bergstrom Airport to meet the “Surprise Theater Invasion” entourage as they reclaimed earth from their Marquis Jet. The expertly managed press conference inside an airline hangar lasted only five minutes, then it was back to the theater as part of a police-escorted motorcade.
During those five minutes, though, the assiduously wholesome New Jersey siblings revealed a few details about the foibles of fame as Disney-fueled pop stars.
“In Spain, one crowd was so enthusiastic, we had to run through a mall to escape,” said Kevin, the eldest, side-burned brother. “And I read once that I was married to a Pakistani woman.”
“I read we were breaking up,” said Joe, the quieter, middle brother. “That didn’t happen. We did receive, as a gift, a dead shark in a glass tank.”
The Jonas clan has made several sneak attacks on fans during their movie’s opening week, including Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and Dallas.
“We also are doing some smaller towns like Austin and Charlotte (N.C.),” said Nick, the youngest, most theatrical member of the band. Nice to be included.
They called their Grammy Awards ceremony appearance with legend Stevie Wonder “inspiring,” then spun off some musical influences — Elvis Costello, Prince, Kings of Leon.
Later, at the theater, social temperatures rose in anticipation of the Visitation.
“I love it!” said Meredith Warren, 11. “I love Joe!”
“I love Kevin!” countered Avery La Rue, 11. “I love them all! When I get to school tomorrow, I’ll rub their noses in it.”
Addie Bueide, 8, burst out with a series of responses: “Excited. Nervous. Shaky. I’m going to scream. Loud.”
Sabrina Arispe, 8, likes the team’s music, movies and inherent cuteness, but her brother takes a different tack: “They’re funny,” says Ricky Arispe, 12.
Oh, kind of like the Monkees? Reference lost.
When the act entered finally entered the room, three hours after the first fans lined up outside in 40-degree weather, they spoke for less than a minute, then waded into crowd, buffeted by heavy security.
“It’s for the love of fans,” Nick said. “We wanted to make sure they were a part of this.”
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