Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2009 > November
November 2009
‘Me and Orson Welles’ Austin red carpet with Zac Efron
Masses of Austinites, old and young, pressed forward under the Paramount Theatre marquee Monday night at the premiere of Richard Linklater’s new film, “Me and Orson Welles.”
One glance revealed why: post-teen idol Zac Efron walked the red carpet.
Efron, sporting a black leather jacket and a fitted T-shirt, spent most of his time signing autographs and charming cameras and fans with his mega-watt smile.
Co-star Christian McKay was more glib, joking: “I’m the only actor in the world who had to lose weight to play Orson Welles.”
Perfectionist director Linklater said the creative process was comparatively painless. “It only took three years from optioning the book to finishing production,” he said. “‘Scanner Darkly’ took six years.”
Proceeds from the premiere, hosted by the Austin Film Society, will benefit the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund. “Orson Welles” opens nationwide on Dec. 11.
Photo by Larry Kolvoord. Reporting by St. Edward’s University entertainment journalism students. (I set them up, then headed to the Andy Roddick event
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Open Source Bar Guide: East Seventh Street
Austin’s nightlife changes from night to night. It’s tough keeping track of all those bars, clubs and restaurants where we all socialize. Help us update our annual bar guide through this series of open-sources lists by micro-district. Send updates to mbarnes@statesman.com. The guide will be published alongside interviews with bar regulars on Dec. 10. (Thanks to readers who have already helped!)
Beauty Bar. 617 E. Seventh St. 391-1943
Colors. 403 E. Seventh St. 482-9002
Creekside Lounge. 606 E. Seventh St. 480-5988
Driskill Bar & Grill. 604 Brazos St. 391-7162
Emerald City. 403 E. Seventh St. 482-9002
Firehouse Lounge. 605 Brazos St. 478-3473
Fuel. 607 Trinity St. 632-0568.
Lovejoy’s. 604 Neches St. 477-1268
Mike’s Pub. 108 E. Seventh St. 479-6424
MugShots. 407 E. Seventh St. 236-0008
Red 7. 611 E. Seventh St. 476-8100
Rusty Spurs. 405 E. Seventh St. 482-9002
Side Bar. 602 E. Seventh St. 322-0697
Stephen F’s Bar & Terrace. 701 Congress Ave. 457-8800
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Austin Celebrity Roundup: Robert Rodriguez, Sandra Bullock, Luke Wilson
Hungarian director Nimród Antal may prefer full sets and live action to CG animation, but he and Austin producer Robert Rodriguez (a CG fan) remain in sync on the Austin-shot “Predators.” “(Rodriguez) is involved in the screenplay and we’ve had a lot of conversations, and any big decisions I want to make, I always speak to him about,” Antal told Coming Soon. “But he’s been very gracious and he’s been letting me do my thing. He’s really let me perform and he’s let me dance, so again, I’m grateful to him for that.” While using Rodriguez’s local crew, Antal brought along director of photography Gyula Pados, who worked with him on “Kontroll.”
Now they are talking Oscar. That’s right, for Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side.” Say what you will, the Austin actress is proving box office gold this year. She landed “The Proposal” in part because she works cheaper that Julia Roberts, but it scored $164 million. Critically punished “All About Steve” only made $34 million, but “The Blind Side” has already grossed $100.3 million and is likely to top $200 million by the end of the year. That would mean Bullock’s films could reap almost $400 million for three fairly low-budget films.
Another Austin-linked name is enjoying a huge comeback. Frequent visitor and AT&T map pitchman Luke Wilson is involved in a “big-bucks marketing battle that’s already threatening to make the cola wars look like child’s play,” says industry follower Advertising Age. The combatants this war: Verizon Wireless and AT&T, the No. 1 and No. 2 U.S. wireless carriers. Wilson’s amiability has been drafted in the feud between the nation’s second-largest advertiser (Verizon’s marketing war chest is $3.7 billion) against the third largest (AT&T spent $3.1 billion last year).
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Austin Does ‘Tuna Does Vegas’
They applauded at entrances. They applauded at exits. They laughed before, during and after the jokes, which came at an approximate rate of one every 30 seconds …
Stephen Mills and Brent Hasty
The audience for “Tuna Does Vegas” was ready to deliver a standing ovation the moment they sat in their Paramount Theatre seats on Saturday …
Andrew Brooks and Elizabeth Childers
The fourth in the series of comedies about small-town Texas gives the true believers everything they want and more …
Drew and Lori Saldana
All their favorite characters head to Las Vegas, Nev. for what, at times, looks like it will develop into a farce, but is instead lovable collection of equally stressed sketches …
Rob and Sarah Coffman
Austin writers and stars Jaston Williams and Joe Sears — plus almost invisible writer and director Ed Howard — could play the Tuna cycle for another 25 years, slipping cultural and political timebombs into their sometimes pointed, sometimes soft-edged satires of small-town mentalities …
Vivian Alvarez and Michael Lehrter
My favorite of the cycle — and still the most satisfying for character and narrative — is “A Tuna Christmas.”
My Facebook date for the evening, Bhavna Sharma, and I agreed the best line in “Vegas” came when Vera is threatened with retaliation from organized crime, she says ” “I can beat that, I have friends who are Southern Baptists.”
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Random Austin: Newlyweds on the Bridge
Ran into this couple on the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge after 10 p.m. on Saturday.
Adrianne and Chris O’Donnell met on a blind date at the Austin airport.
He was attending West Point. She was an Austinite whose skills ultimately led her to MyEdu.com, which helps students plan their college careers.
Saturday, they had just wed at the Allan House, then a pedicabber friend — Chris cabs, too, now — dropped them off on the bridge so they could walk back to ongoing festivities at the Embassy Suites on Barton Springs Road.
Terribly sweet of the O’Donnells to stop and chat with me. Please tell me I got those names spelled right.
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Open Source Bar Guide: Red River Street
Austin’s nightlife changes from night to night. It’s tough keeping track of all those bars, clubs and restaurants where we all socialize. Help us update our annual bar guide through this series of open-sources lists by micro-district. Send updates to mbarnes@statesman.com. The guide will be published alongside interviews with bar regulars on Dec. 10. (Thanks to readers who have already helped!)
Beerland. 711 1/2 Red River St. 479-7625
Bull McCabe’s Irish Pub. 714 Red River St., 478-4022
Club De Ville. 900 Red River St. 457-0900
Elysium. 705 Red River St. 478-2979
Emo’s. 603 Red River St. 477-3667
Headhunters. 720 Red River St. 236-0188
Mohawk. 912 Red River St. 482-8404.
Plush. 617 Red River St. 478-0099
Red Eyed Fly. 715 Red River St. 474-1084
Stubb’s. 801 Red River St. 480-8341
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Open Source Bar Guide: West Sixth Street
Austin’s nightlife changes from night to night. It’s tough keeping track of all those bars, clubs and restaurants where we all socialize. Help us update our annual bar guide through this series of open-sources lists by micro-district. Send updates to mbarnes@statesman.com. The guide will be published alongside interviews with bar regulars on Dec. 10.
Amsterdam. 121 West Eighth St. 236-1606
Annie’s West. 706 W. Sixth St. 294-6493.
Athenian Bar & Grill. 600 Congress Ave. 474-7775
The Belmont. 305 W. Sixth St. 457-0300
Bess Bistro on Pecan. 500 W. Sixth St. 477-2377
Betsy’s Bar. 301 W. Sixth St. 480-9433
Brown Bar. 201 W. Eighth St. 480-8330
Dirty Bills (DB’s). 511 Rio Grande St. 477-3789
District 301. 301 W. Sixth St., 480-9433
Hut’s. 807 W. Sixth St. 472-0693
J. Black’s. 710 W. Sixth St. 433-6954
Joe’s Bar & Grill. 506 West Ave. 473-0885
Karma Lounge. 119 W. Eighth St. 469-0504
Katz’s Deli & Bar. 618 W. Sixth St. 472-2037
Key Bar. 617 W. Sixth St. 236-9389
Little Woodrow’s. 520 W. Sixth St. 477-2337
Maiko Sushi Lounge. 311 W Sixth St. 236-9888
Mother Egan’s Irish Pub. 715 W. Sixth St. 478-7747
Molotov. 719 W. Sixth St. 499-0600
Momo’s. 618 W. Sixth St. 479-8848
Opal Divine’s Freehouse. 700 W. Sixth St. 477-3308
The Ranch. 710 W. Sixth St. 465-2016
Ranch 616. 616 Nueces St. 479-7616
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. 107 W. Sixth St. 477-7884
Star Bar. 600 W. Sixth St. 477-8550
Thistle Cafe. 300 W. Sixth St. 275-9777
Tiniest Bar in Texas. 817 W. Fifth St. 391-6222
Union Park. 612 W. Sixth St. 478-7275
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Austin Celebrity Roundup: Michael Dell, John Paul DeJoria, Sandra Bullock
Another Austin billionaire made the news when it was announced that Patron Spirits International, which John Paul DeJoria controls, was planning to nail down more blockbuster billboards, like the 225-foot-tall one near Penn Station that is New York’s biggest. Patron spent more than all other U.S. Liquor brands last year as it tried to catch Jose Cuervo, its chief rival, according to Industry News.
Some newer Austin treasures made today’s edition of The New York Times series “36 Hours In …” Reporter Jamie Gross checked in with some Central Texas standards, such as the Salt Lick, Barton Springs Pool, the Broken Spoke, Continental Club and Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge bats. Also name-checked, however, were fresh entries Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, Long Center for the Performing Arts, Flip Happy Crepes, Torchy’s Tacos, the Might Cone, Justine’s and Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop, among others.
Is it possible that Austin’s Sandra Bullock could be up for two Golden Globe nominations? The entertainment news Web site HitFix thinks so. Her potential double dip for “The Proposal” and “The Blind Side” would put her in the mix with Meryl Streep (“Julie and Julia,” “It’s Complicated”), George Clooney (“The Men Who Stare At Goats,” “Up in the Air”) and Stanley Tucci (“Julie and Julia,” “The Lovely Bones”), HitFix avers.
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Open Source Bar Guide: Lower East Sixth Street
Austin’s nightlife changes from night to night. It’s tough keeping track of all those bars, clubs and restaurants where we all socialize. Help us update our annual bar guide through this series of open-sources lists by micro-district. Send updates to mbarnes@statesman.com. The guide will be published alongside interviews with bar regulars on Dec. 10.
Aquarium. 403 E. Sixth St. 499-8003
Agave. 415 E. Sixth St. 469-7892
Bayou Lounge. 500 E. Sixth St. 499-0863
Casino El Camino. 517 E. Sixth St. 469-9330
Cheers Shot Bar. 416 E. Sixth St. 499-0093
Coyote Ugly Saloon. 501 E. Sixth St. 236-8459
Dirty Dog Bar. 505 E.Sixth St. 236-9800
Esther’s Follies. 525 E. Sixth St. 320-0553
Flamingo Cantina. 515 E. Sixth St. 494-9336
Habana Calle 6. 709 E. Sixth St. 443-4252
Chupacabra Cantina. 400 E. Sixth St.
The Jackalope. 404 E. Sixth St. 472-3663
The Library. 407 E. Sixth St. 236-0662
The Lodge. 409 E. 6th St. 473-2553
Mooseknuckle Pub. 406 E. Sixth St. 473-2553
Nina’s. 422 E. Sixth St., 833-5133
Nuno’s. 422 E. Sixth St., 833-5133
Paradise. 401 E. Sixth St. 476-5667
Peckerheads on Sixth: 402 E. Sixth St.473-2553
Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar. 421 E. Sixth St. 472-7383
Pure Ultra Lounge. 419 E. Sixth St. 477-7873
El Sol y La Luna. 600 East 6th St. 444-7770
Touche. 417 E. Sixth St. 472-9841
Toulouse. 409 E. 6th St. 473-2553
Treasure Island. 413 E. Sixth St. 476-4466
Troubadour Saloon. 503 E. Sixth St. 499-0350
The Velveeta Room. 521 E Sixth St. 469-9116
The Wave. 408 E. Sixth St. 391-9125
Go here for our current listings for Upper East Sixth Street.
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Open Source Bar Guide: Upper East Sixth Street
Austin’s nightlife changes from night to night. It’s tough keeping track of all those bars, clubs and restaurants where we all socialize. Help us update our annual bar guide through this series of open-sources lists by micro-district. Send updates to mbarnes@statesman.com. The guide will be published alongside interviews with bar regulars on Dec. 10
Aces Lounge. 222 E. Sixth St. 391-0141
Barcelona. 209 E. Sixth St. 236-0900
B.D. Riley’s. 204 E. Sixth St. 494-1335
Bikinis. 214 E. Sixth St. 469-0001
Blind Pig. 317 E. Sixth St. 472-0809
Buffalo Billiards. 201 E. Sixth St. 479-7665
Chuggin’ Monkey. 219 E. Sixth St. 476-5015
Daddy’s Grill and Bar. 218 E. 6th St. 236-0778
Darwin’s Pub. 223 E. Sixth St. 474-7399
The Dizzy Rooster. 306 E. Sixth St. 236-1667
Friends Bar. 208 E. Sixth St. 320-8193
Iron Cactus. 606 Trinity St. 472-9240
Logan’s on Sixth. 200 E. Sixth St. 236-0300
Maggie Mae’s. 323 E. Sixth St. 478-8541
Malaia. 300 E. Sixth St. 482-8780
The Parish. 214 E. Sixth St. 479-0474
Parkside. 301 E. Sixth St. 474-9898
Shakespeare’s Pub. 314 E. Sixth St. 472-1666
Soho Lounge. 217 E. Sixth St. 236-1705
Spill. 212 E. Sixth St. 477-7455
311 Club. 311 E. Sixth St. 477-1630
The Thristy Nickel. 218 E. Sixth St. 236-0778
Vice. 302 E. Sixth St, 482-8053
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Your A-List: Best Place for Blind Date
Judging from the A-List readers poll, many Austinites take a coltish view of blind dates.
Landing in first place, seriously playful Hula Hut with 21 percent of the tally. In second, retro Shady Grove with 17 percent. In third, a Texas Rollergirls match with 14 percent, just ahead of Peter Pan Mini-Golf with just under 14 percent.
Socializing meets high art at the B Scene at the Blanton Museum of Art, which earned 8 percent. Dave and Busters and Dart Bowl virtually tied at 7 percent. Closing out the list were Adult Skate Night at Playland and two coffee shops, Halcyon and Austin Java.
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Your A-List: Best Sale
One of the city’s older and quirkier traditions, the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, won the A-List readers poll for Best Sale with 23 percent of the vote. This year, it returns to the Austin Convention Center, which doesn’t exactly match the sale’s funky character.
No. 2 was the City-Wide Garage Sale with 21 percent; No. 3 Four Hands Warehouse Sale at 15 percent; and No. 4 A Christmas Affair with 11 percent. Assembled in the middle of the pack were Blue Genie Christmas Bazaar, Settlement Home Garage Sale and Buffalo Exchange Sidewalk Sale.
Also in the running: Austin Record Convention, Service Menswear 50-Percent-Off Sale and Literacy Austin Bookfest.
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Your A-List: Best Radio Station
KLBJ-FM was once owned by a president’s family. It’s now run by Indianapolis, Ind.-based media conglomerate Emmis Communications. The classic rock broadcaster won the A-List readers poll for best radio station with 24 percent of the vote.
KGSR, which just lost its longtime leader, Jody Denberg, and moved its position on the dial, registered a strong second with 19 percent. Competing for third place were KUT, 101X and Newsradio 590.
The next step down belonged to KVET, BOB-FM, 96.7 KISS-FM and Mix 94.7. Filling out the bottom of the chart were KASE 101, KOOP and KTSW.
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Your A-List: Best Buffet
The restaurant easily won the A-List reader poll for Best Buffet with 44 percent of the tally.
Buffet Palace and Clay Pit came close to tying for second place at just under 11 percent. Double Dave’s, Mongolian BBQ and Mr. Gatti’s bunched together just behind those two. Rounding out the buffet masters list were Taj Palace, Thai Passion, China Star and Alborz.
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Austin Celebrity Roundup: Tommy Lee Jones, Matthew McConaughey, Chet Johnson, Marcia Gay Harden, Robert Rodriguez, Andy Roddick, Zac Efron
Out & About Austin Celebrity Roundup for Nov. 23, 2009 …
Sometime San Saban Tommy Lee Jones is bailing on “The Lincoln Lawyer,” Moviefone reports. He had been signed to direct and feature behind frequent Austin visitor Matthew McConaughey in an adaptation of Michael Connelly’s novel.
Spotted at Guero’s on South Congress: University of Texas graduate and Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden. … Headed to Canyon Lake: Robert Rodriguez’s team, including Adrien Brody and Danny Trejo, making the movie “Predators” where a gorge was cut by the 2001 flood of the Guadalupe River.
Just a reminder of the simultaneous Austin red carpets at 6:30 p.m. Monday. A change in punctuation marred a previous report of these events when it went to print. Sorry about that:
Zac Efron, Richard Linklater and Christian McKay — no Claire Danes at this time — will walk under the Paramount Theatre marquee for Austin Film Society’s premiere of “Me and Orson Welles.”
Elton John, John Legend, Lance Armstrong, Mack Brown, Brooklyn Decker, and, of course, Andy Roddick will do the same at the Hilton Austin for the tennis ace’s charity event.
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People, Parties, Places, Part 2
For Part 1 of “People, Parties, Places,” scroll down to the previous post, or go here.
Oh, right. Just like Out & About.
Babe Paley leads off the chapter titled “The Women.” Capote’s Black and White Ball is chronicled in “The Parties.” Charlotte Rampling poses nude atop a table in “The Actresses.” Mick Jagger and Texan Jerry Hall’s Japanese-inspired house on the Caribbean Island of Mustique lands in “The Places.” Kicky Shalom Harlow and Amber Valletta pop off the pages of “Muses and Models.”
OK, so, in Austin, I know some attractive, celebrated people. I’ve attended some swell parties. I’ve hung out in some pretty cool places.
But nothing on this Vogue scale, please believe me. Perhaps some readers imagine my life unfolds like the pages of “The World.” It does not.
I’m just as likely to inhabit a dive on Red River Street as a hipster joint on South Congress Avenue. I’m as satisfied eating tacos from a trailer on Riverside Drive as dining on duck at Hudson’s on the Bend out Lakeway way. Costumed revelries at spectacular Old Enfield homes only break up a succession of bungalow mixers, backyard barbecues, kitchen coffee klatches, condo cocktail parties, and beers on the patio or porch.
Out & About is about Austin and thus reflects that reality. Not Vogue’s. I calculate I’ve met some 20,000 people in the past two years. No dukes or earls. No New York super-models or Hollywood super-royalty. And that suits me just fine.
With luck, I’ll get around to the other 1,580,000 of you in the coming Out & About years.
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People, Parties, Places, Part 1
“I’ve been following your social column forever!”
I field that tender compliment more often than you’d think. Trouble is, Out & About is only two years old, at least in print. Maybe it just feels like forever.
During the 15 months that I’ve devoted to Out & About full-time, the blog and column have evolved, too, spinning off regular features: Austin celebrity roundups, weekend rewind galleries, live chats, club crawls, neighborhood walks, guest blogs and permutations on the Fortunate 500.
Settling into the beat, I decided that the three weekly print columns needed informal themes. Defining Austin by its social connections requires a certain organizational effort, after all.
So, Tuesdays, it’s usually about people. Thursdays, parties. Sundays, places. A nice rhythm there: People, parties, places.
Almost as soon as that idea lodged in my brain, a heavy package arrived from the Knopf publishing house: “The World in Vogue: People, Parties, Places.”
There really is nothing new under the sun, I suppose.
True to the titular fashion magazine, which Condé Nast acquired 100 years ago, “The World” is mostly pictures. Handsome, historical, evocative pictures of — don’t be too surprised! — people, parties and places.
More to come …
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One word on … Barbra Streisand, Ann Hampton Callaway, Steven Pasquale, Tony Desare & Judy Carmichael
I recommend these five recent albums of Standards and Neo-Cabaret … with one word each.
Barbra Streisand: “Love is the Answer” — luscious.
Ann Hampton Callaway: “At Last” — heartfelt.
Steven Pasquale: “Somethin’ Like Love” — smooth.
Judy Carmichael: “Come and Get It” — frisky.
Tony Desare: “Radio Show” — inventive.
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‘Bat Boy’ in San Marcos
This is not a formal review. The show has closed. Its student actors have returned to classwork.
A good deal of credit goes to director Kaitlin Hopkins, also a member of the original off-Broadway cast. Yet every single one of the actors — even the ultra-campy ones — could have joined that original cast.
The self-mocking show has always creeped me out a bit, in a good way, dealing with a half bat, half human dealing with small-town hysteria about his presence in the community. I’d liked the production a few years back in East Austin, but missed the Summerstock version.
I can’t imagine a better production than this one.
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Austin Symphony at the Long Center
“These are the listening seats,” said the patron next to me.
Mike and Emma Muniz
Indeed, the sound for the Austin Symphony Orchestra is rich, crisp and warm — altogether — in the Dell Hall mezzanine at the Long Center. You don’t benefit from onstage facial expressions, but I’ll take the music any day.
Caroline Crichlow-Ball and Marc Boyd
Judging from the behavior of my cohorts, the assembled drank up the translucent Mendelssohn and the transcendent Ratliff, the second accomplished with the impeccable Conspirare symphonic choir. (Which city is so lucky to have a Peter Bay, a Craig Hella Johnson and a Richard Buckley as conductors for its professional performing arts?) Read Jeanne Claire van Ryzin’s formal review of the concert.
Jennifer Smith and Betsy Knotts
The number of empty seats physically pained me. It always does. Upstairs, downstairs, everywhere, empty seats. The recession? Disinterest? Weak marketing? Guess we won’t be earning an extra Sunday matinee any time soon.
Joseph Diiorio and Coby Condrey
Hey, here’s a thought: What if everyone on ASO’s gargantuan board of directors, and those hundreds of donors listed in the program, all attended the classical concerts, and brought along a couple of friends? No more empty seats!
Kristen Nilsson and Steven Hoelscher
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Austin Celebrity Roundup 9/23/09
Out & About rounds up the news on Austin celebrities.
Taylor Kitsch will be filming the lead role in “John Carter of Mars” during the planned Austin shoots of “Friday Night Lights” in its fifth season. That means Tim Riggins will be benched for at least part of that season, executive producer Jason Katims confirmed to EW.com.
After Saturday’s squashing of Kansas and his record-breaking collegiate win, Colt McCoy’s stock went up for the Heisman Trophy. Still, someone needs to update national headline writers who let slip things like “Longhorns’ McCoy ends college career on a high note …” Hey, there’s some unfinished business in College Station, Arlington and, perhaps, Pasadena, Calif.
To avoid confusion, Austin swimming champion Aaron Peirsol believes records should not be removed from the books when high-tech (nonpermeable) suits are banned next year. He thinks that some aspects of the suits will return. “Going back to something like neoprene or polyurethane, it might not happen that way,” Peirsol said in a CCTV interview. “But there are other aspects of suits that will come back probably. And I think what people want to see at least, is at least just some guidelines as to what it was. I think the problem was that it was fairly loose. There was none. So anything goes, anything went.”
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Out & About Walks: Bouldin
Walking through the Bouldin neighborhood, one must squint hard to imagine that, just a few years ago, Austin pizza joints wouldn’t deliver here. During the day!
Attribute part of this diversity to its checkerboard history. Republic of Texas scout Erastus “Deaf” Smith and, later, General George Custer are said to have camped and foraged their horses in the meadows that now surround the Texas School for the Deaf. The Bouldin family plantation home rose where Becker School now stands. While that family is largely dispersed, descendants of their slaves still live in the western half of the Swisher Addition, the city’s oldest planned suburb, on the other side of East Bouldin Creek.
(When I asked one of the Satterwhites, who live behind us on Elizabeth Street, how long his family had been there, he replied: “Forever.”) Three African American churches persevere, as do the homes of Negro League hero Willie Wells and stonecutter Robert Stanley on Newton Street.
The Koock’s dairy farmhouse on Live Oak Street is cherished as Green Pastures, one of the city’s oldest restaurants, and rural pockets remain in the area. (Other neighbors of ours remember when South First Street was a dirt road.) Waves of working class whites and Latinos, hippies and yuppies have slowly filled the district, giving Bouldin an intensely heterogeneous mix.
The primary social divide now is between those who live near frisky SoCo to the east, and those in the quieter residential sections to the west. Meanwhile, between crooked East and West Bouldin creeks — most of the neighborhood rests on a rise between the two — you can find premium, green-built condominiums within sight of old public housing, a new library under construction, at least six coffee houses, including iconic Jo’s, but only one traditional dive, Trophy Bar.
Unraveling SoCo’s rise, fall and eventual rise will take another column. The transformation, though, almost didn’t happen. While our neighbors worked with police to chase away previous miscreants, they also opposed some of the improvements. (Businesses along South Congress are credited with killing light rail, for instance.) We Bouldinites can be a crabby lot. Many even fought the Long Center project before embracing it.
Some locals would reject, for instance, my inclusion of a strip of land between West Bouldin Creek and Lamar as part of our club. I tend to annex that zone, if only because Uchi is there. That means Bouldin is home to two of the city’s three Texas Monthly-starred restaurants, the other being our special-day stand-by, Vespaio.
Yeah, that’s right. In the same place where pizzas could not be delivered not that long ago.
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Winkelmans, Bohls, Byrne-Reed & Blade
Just re-read that subject line. Sounds like a law firm.
Meet the Winkelmans: Family infuses philanthropy, business savvy into endeavors
Everett Bohls, lover of the land, honored by family with wildflower donation
The Manor Reborn: Restoring the Byrne-Reed House
The shrinking gay media — and what that means
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Clive vs. Lustre Pearl
It was one of those nights. Dreary. Rainy. A bit cold. I had planned to walk to all four of my social events. But gave up after two …
What about Clive? The latest from Houston-based nightlife empire-builder Bridget Dunlap? It’s only a block to south from her Lustre Pearl. And who should greet me at the door but Adam Longley, former student and writer for the American-Statesman, and most recently, aide to gubernatorial candidate Tom Schieffer?
While Lustre Pearl could be anywhere — it reminds me of spots in the Montrose and Heights — Clive comes with a distinctive look. Horizontal slats wrap around the tiny structure and the west-facing terrace/patio. It’s slightly more put-together than Lustre Pearl and a welcome refuge on a nasty night.
Lustre Pearl has become so popular, as one guest put it, the place is like a frat party on weekend nights. Clive’s a little classier. I like both, but, after last night, I’m more likely end up at the latter.
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Margaret Wright & Joyce DiBona at Eponymous Garden
I first heard Margaret Wright sing at an Austin hotel lounge in 1984 …
Sister and brother Colleen Ryan and David Ryan
Back then, I requested “Tenderly.” Twenty-five years later, at the Eponymous Garden, I requested “Tenderly” again …
Joyce DiBona and Diane Perella
Wright’s voice remains eloquently supple, radiating jazzy warmth, just like her hug-happy personality …
Sterling Price-McKinney and Margaret Wright
Wright sang at the baby grand with Sterling Price-McKinney during a party at Price-McKinney and Lorne Loganbill’s Eponymous Garden …
Cathy Wallace and Carol McClendon
It was an EAST tour event in honor of painter Joyce DiBona, whose exuberant canvases lined the walls and sparked many a conversation …
Olivia Walker and Martha Koock Ward
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Q Avenue Party at Sister’s Edge 2
Q Avenue is not “Avenue Q.”
I figured that out on my own. (Not bad, huh?)
This also gave us a third chance to check out Our Town’s newest — and only — lesbian bar. Although this time, early on a Friday evening, it was 90-percent populated with men.
Dominic Miller and Alan McLaughlin (pictured) are the men behind Austin’s Q Avenue Productions. It’s a Web site development and design company. The business also deals in marketing, logos, images, event planning and everything domain related.
“We’re not Muppets,” McLaughlin says. “We predate the musical. But when it became a hit, our hits went through the roof. We don’t mind.”
“And they don’t mind us,” Miller says. “They even gave us free tickets to raffle. We didn’t win. We’ve never seen the show!”
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Larissa Ness Video Release Party at the Phoenix
Larissa Ness is made for pop …
Larissa Ness and Neil Diaz
She’s extravagantly pretty. Her middle range hooks words and tunes together ably. And she’s attracted a platoon of producers, managers and other collaborators …
Sara Deeds and Ryan Tietz
Thursday at the Phoenix, a suitably various crowd, assembled by Neil Diaz, greeted her live set with alacrity …
Marion Kellough and Coi Burress
Truth be told, Ness’ studio-friendly sound was not well served by the mix …
Joy Scott, Angel Diaz and Monica Piñon
She sounded profoundly better on the video of “Thoughts of You” from “Hello,” shot at a mansion in Austin with formally dressed party people and projected for the convocation …
Brandon Wang and Tyson Macomber
I’d like Ness to expand her range, but for a city with so little pop — whatever that ultimately means — it’s refreshing to hear somebody dig into it.
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Big Reds and Bubbles at the Driskill Hotel
Of the larger food-and-wine samplings in Austin, Big Reds and Bubbles demands higher standards of quality …
Roy and Karen Spezia
The local following for the Wine and Food Foundation of Texas consists, after all, of the hardcore foodies …
Sharon Boggus (BRB chairwoman) and Tracy Schell
Yes, smaller tastings narrow the field even further, but if a newcomer wanted to taste the best that Austin chefs have to offer, matched with robust red wine or dizzy sparklings, this the Driskill Hotel affair is the one to choose …
Bethlyn and Tom Thornton (Austinist)
This year, I generally stuck to the food (ongoing trends: scallops, cookies, crab and things on sticks) …
Devi Krause, Bethany Andree and Shannon Finch
BRB was sold out again this year. Because of that, the Foundation might be tempted to expand. I wouldn’t …
Paul Ritter and Kelly Boatright Ritter
The event would lose its impact if stretched beyond current scale …
Geoff Boyd, Bobbie Ragsdale (in a Linda Asaf dress) and John McGee
I especially liked the silent auction zone that separated the main dining areas, giving everyone breathing room on a humid night …
Danielle McGrath and Lance Piechura
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Austin Celebrity Roundup 11/20/09
Out & About roundup of Austin celebrity news.
Sightings: On the Hike & Bike Trail: Ben Stiller. Why is he in town? … During EAST tour: John Krasinski. Obviously, taking time out from the premiere of “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.” Wonder if he purchased any art. … Keep an eye out in the next week or so: Zac Efron, Elton John and John Legend, in town for the premiere of Richard Linklater’s “Me and Orson Welles” or, on the same night, the Andy Roddick fundraiser Nov. 30, which will also feature Brooklyn Decker and Mack Brown, having just conquered the Aggies, one hopes. … Also scan the horizon for Adrien Brody, starring in Robert Rodriguez’s “Predator” remake. They are filming in Southeast Austin.
Aren’t you fascinated every time resurgent former Longhorn Vince Young returns to Houston to play against the Texans with the Tennessee Titans? Talk about conflicted emotions. Young is still a huge role model on the streets in Houston, but wasn’t drafted by the Texans. And, of course, the Titans are the former Houston Oilers, thanks to owner Bud Adams. Fraught with off-the-field drama. At least for TV sportscasters.
Sometime Austinite Dennis Quaid is a bargain. Forbes magazine lists him among its “Best Actors for the Buck,” meaning box office return on salary. Shia LaBeouf, starring in the “Transformers” and “Indiana Jones” series, topped the list with $160 returned to the studio for every dollar he made. Also included on that list were Robert Downey Jr. were and Christian Bale. Poor Will Farrell led the “Most Overpaid Actors” list, his films earning just $3.29 for every dollar he was paid. Ewan McGregor, Billy Bob Thornton, Drew Barrymore, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jim Carrey also made the overpaid list.
AP photo of Sandra Bullock in NOLA.
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The Manor Reborn: Restoring the Byrne-Reed House, Part 3
For more of this story, scroll down to previous posts, or go here for Part 1 and Part 2.
Humanities Texas began examining the building five years ago.
“As a statewide organization, we needed a visible presence near the Capitol,” says executive director Michael Gillette. “Our office condominium, which was located five miles south of downtown, had the visibility of a post office box and lacked suitable program space for events.
What tipped them off about the building they had just purchased? Touring Byrne-Reed with distinguished architect Larry Speck, Downtown Austin Alliance executive director Charles Betts and philanthropist Jo Anne Christian, Gillette was able to assess its full potential. Speck was concerned with finding the correct tiles to replicate the original roof, bricks to match those that were cut out to make room for the 1970s windows and how to deal with botched air-conditioning and wiring.
“Charlie Betts was unrelenting in his disgust at the ’70s redo,” Gillette wrote in his notes at the time. “He and Larry agreed that the architect, if there had even been one, should have been shot. The photograph of the original house brought into focus the property’s potential for Larry. As we stood on the sidewalk, he declared with great emphasis that if we can take the building back to its original mansion, we would be real heroes. He added that doing so would be a huge accomplishment for Austin, one that would put Humanities Texas on the map.”
The organization will use the living room, dining room and other downstairs areas for public spaces; upstairs for private offices. A third floor, built within the attic, also will be used for offices, and the basement will become space for exhibition preparation and storage. The project, now under way, will restore the enormous porches and terraces — perfect for parties.
“As a statewide nonprofit that advances culture, heritage and education, Humanities Texas is an appropriate steward to restore and occupy this grand historic building,” Gillette says. “In contrast to the restoration of a private residence or place of business, this endeavor is historic preservation with a public purpose. Local residents and Texans generally will be able to use, appreciate, and enjoy this landmark.
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The Manor Reborn: Restoring the Byrne-Reed House, Part 2
For Part 1, scroll down to previous post, or go here.
The Reeds remodeled the house, adding, for instance, ornate gold ornamentation to what is now the “dining room.” This clashes somewhat with the original dark stained wood, simple clean lines and squared details, as shown in historical photographs of the living room, says respected architect Emily Little of ClaytonLevyLittle.
Page built other Austin homes, including the Gilfillan House at 603 W. Eighth St., which Little and her team studied to learn more about the architect’s thoughts.
Virtually no one remembers how the Byrne-Reed House actually looked when the Reed children grew up there because ownership changed hands and the neighborhood’s character changed.
After World War II, 15th Street was widened and eventually bridged Lamar Boulevard and Shoal Creek, creating a commercial throughway where residences once ruled (and cutting off the neighborhood from Judge’s Hill to the north). The Byrne-Reed House was converted into offices. Then in 1970, the building’s origin as a family home was muffled under white, stucco arcades. For almost 40 years, commuters sped by on 15th Street without guessing that a historical treasure lay beneath an exterior more appropriate for an insurance office, which is what it was for a while.
“For 30-plus years, I had been averting my eyes,” Little says. “It has not been exactly a beautiful architectural feature of Austin since its 1970s remodel, although very indicative of the style of that time. Once I saw the historic photos, I began to look more closely and saw the hipped roof peeking over the east stucco façade, and hints of the ornate cornice still visible at the north entry. It is a remarkable structure in its own right. The fact that most of it still exists beneath this stucco shroud makes it even more remarkable.” In recent weeks, the stucco exterior has been shorn and more original elements have been uncovered.
“We have been fortunate to find existing elements intact of the most significant feature, particularly the plaster cornice on the exterior of the building,” Little says. “Original windows and wood screens have been found intact, but covered up. We have yet to find an original door, so we will use historical photographs of the home for reference.”
More to come …
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The Manor Reborn: Restoring the Byrne-Reed House, Part 1
They slipped a page from “The Great Gatsby.”
As preserved in a Reed family photograph, the five young friends, in ruddy health, lounge on the spacious terrace of a home on Rio Grande Street. They dress in summer whites that dip down to swallow necks and backs. Their imperturbable leisure bespeaks the status of privilege in small-town Austin of the early 20th century. (Austin population in 1900: 22,258 — about the size of Seguin today.)
We might never know. Their world is gone. And, for a long time, their house was gone, too. Or, rather, chopped up, twisted to face West 15th Street, hidden under a nondescript sheath of modern stucco and used for offices.
Now the Byrne-Reed House, built circa 1905, will be restored to its original glory, thanks to its current occupant, Humanities Texas, which fosters the study of history, literature, philosophy, ethics, language, art and related disciplines across the state. Aided by a $1 million challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Texas group undertook the $4.6 million project, $2 million of which paid for the property. Humanities Texas expects to complete the renovation by July 2010 and to occupy the building the following month.
With its art nouveau frieze, mission-style roof tiles, Romanesque arches and Prairie-style porches, the Byrne-Reed House — named for its most prominent residents — fits no particular style. Yet the materials used by architect C.H. Page Jr. are all local: Elgin brick, Hill Country limestone, Austin-fashioned iron and Texas pine.
So besides the leading families who lived there, the house deserves special attention as an example of Texas eclecticism executed in native materials.
According to Humanities Texas, the first occupants were Edmund and Ellen Sneed Byrne. He was a cotton broker, she the daughter of an influential family. They lived on Rio Grande until Ellen died in 1915.
For 33 years, it belonged to David Cleveland Reed and Laura Moses Reed. Ruth Reed, pictured above with her bob-haired friends, was one of their children. David, a civic leader and philanthropist, ran an export business, invested in cattle ranches and oil and served as a partner in the Driskill Hotel.
More to come …
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A Christmas Affair Gala at the Palmer Events Center
The Junior League of Austin is no newcomer to good works …
Cindy Hayes and Faith Roberts
And its Christmas Affair is Austin to the core (goes back 34 years) …
John Guerra and Bill Wendlandt,
Its very popularity is a major reason the Palmer Events Center was built …
Elizabeth Serrato, Currie Bucher and Courtenay Puckett
You see, creating the Long Center out of the old dual-use Palmer Auditorium would have left the powerful Junior League in the lurch …
Michael Kellerman and Thessaly Startz
For the few of you who haven’t attended, it’s a market fair laid out in a enormous, strict grid …
Lindsey Hess, Tracy O’Hargan and Denise Horvileur
Its funkier and equally seasoned cousin, the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, displays similar apparel, crafts, decorations and gifts. The Christmas Affair leans a little more upscale …
Nick Fuhrman with Ben and Inez Joyce
I was delighted to see two fantastic purveyors of jewelry and accessories — Kendra Scott and Eliza Page — well-represented and busy in more open, modern stalls …
Lauren Shallcross and Jenny Longwell
The annual Christmas Affair Gala, staged Thursday, kicks off the market …
Diane and Howard Falkenberg
It’s “black-tie-optional,” so you see everything from extravagant gowns to jeans and Ts …
Garrett Heifrin and Camille Jobe
This year, some of the refreshments were moved into the north and west hallways, decorated in a Serengeti Desert theme …
Darrell and Heather May
This relieved the crowding in the market’s center, but it also diluted some of the energy …
I ran into lots of friends and lingered longer than I expected. Still, it’s mostly a woman’s world. I found virtually no menswear or accessories …
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Legacy of Giving at Chez Zee
Not all charity fundraisers rise to grand gala status …
Courtney Harker and Halley Grogan
And thank goodness! …
Gerry Tucker and Sharrion Jenkins
The Legacy of Giving holiday shopping event at Chez Zee is an ideal example …
Milton Dolittle, Libby Malone and Terry Quinn
Perhaps 100 people mingled and munched on focaccia while keeping a sharp eye on the displayed sparklers from Benold’s Jewelers. Milton Dolittle of Benold’s contributed thousands of dollars in stones and bucks to the benefit …
Linda Brucker and Bonnie Mills
Legacy of Giving incorporates the lessons of philanthropy into area school programs …
Kendal and Ken Gladish
A young program, incubated by the Austin Community Foundation, Legacy shows much promise in the 20 schools it now serves …
Lauren Peters and Cathy Casey
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Your A-List: Best Bookstore
In a city that worships local businesses, you could pretty much bet your life that BookPeople would win the A-List reader poll for Best Bookstore. The Austin institution shelved a full 47 percent of the vote.
Mega-chains Barnes & Noble and Borders landed respectably at 10 and 6 percent. All the rest — 12th Street Books, Moneywrench, Austin Books and Comics, Brave New Books, Resistencia and Domy — achieved 2 percent or less.
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Your A-List: Best Beauty Salon
Earlier this year, Beauty Store Salon and Spa won the A-List readers poll for Best Place to Get Your Hair Done with 39 percent of the vote.
Competitors didn’t even clip close. Jackson Ruiz buzzed up 10 percent. Avant curled up 9 percent. Birds Barbershop shaved off 6 percent.
The rest — Urban Betty, Wet Salon, Salon 505, Vain, Salon Sirrah and Zig Zag — rinsed out four percent or less.
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Your A-List: Best Basketball Courts
A little thing called “hand-eye coordination” has, for the most part, kept me off area basketball courts. I show up often enough as a spectator to actual basketball games. But no, despite my height, there’s really no excuse for my handling a ball in public.
Two spots — Barton Hills Playground and Wooten Park — tied for third place with 7 percent. Three — Ramsey Park, Givens District Park and Brentwood Park — tied for fourth with 5 percent. The back of the pack: Walnut Creek Park, Alamo Park and Shipe Park.
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Your A-List: Best Breakfast
That’s the case with the top winners in the Best Breakfast readers poll for Your A-List. Kerbey Lane served up a full 30 percent. Magnolia Cafe dished out 22 percent. And Juan in a Million fired up third place with 16 percent.
Some of the remaining breakfast spots have not been around so long, others are even older: Galaxy Cafe (8 percent); Omelettry (7 percent); The Frisco (5 percent); Counter Cafe (5 percent); Curra’s (3 percent); Austin Java (3 percent) and El Sol y La Luna (2 percent).
I adore each and everyone.
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The Parlour for Salvage Vanguard at the Eponymous Garden
The Eponymous Garden — located, naturally, on Garden Street — is a superb location for a small-scale fundraiser …
Andree Bober and Cheline Jaidar
Especially on a dreamy night like Tuesday night, when the gardens, designed by Daniel Gregory of Silver Sage Landscape Environments, form a fairy land of delights …
Sarah Bird and Doug Dorst
The gardens connect five houses, four of them owned by designer/legal eagle Lorne Loganbill and composer/performer Sterling Price-McKinney, who have returned from New York City to grace Our Town full-time …
Jenny Larson and Dustin Wills
Full disclosure: Kip and I rented one of the bungalows on their property in the Holly Street neighborhood for six years in the 1990s. The houses, including the Victorian main house, and gardens are MUCH improved, thanks in part to Gregory and renovation architect Emily Little of ClaytonLevyLittle …
James Dean Jay Byrd and Kyle Henry
Tuesday’s event, called the Parlour, was a creative fundraiser for Salvage Vanguard Theater, one of the city’s top warehouse theater groups, so there were performances, inventive raffles and signature drinks …
Daniel Gregory and Chris Meier
A splendid melding of arts, architecture and Austinites …
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Cine Las Americas Happy Hour at Malverde
Two developments of note during the Cine Las Americas Happy Hour at Malverde …
Giovanna Colson-Basurto and Angel Quesada
An obvious one: The cosmopolitan crowd that follows this Austin film festival has found a home away from home at Malverde, which, as more than one guest remarked, looks like it was lifted from Mexico City’s Condesa district …
Roberto Hernandez and Tania Lara
Not so obvious to the curious outsider: Cine is becoming a year-round institution …
Monica Malenco and Omar Flores
Instead of gathering for just eight days during a feast of Latin American films, it now spreads its wings throughout the year with screenings and social events like this one …
Angela Hall, Leslie Sainz, Dan Dau and Dillan Bryant
This organization is growing up quickly. I like that …
Hector Perez, Yvette Montalvo and Philip Hernandez
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The shrinking gay media — and what that means
Newspapers convey a concrete sense of time and place.
So the American gay community lost some of its orientation this week when its oldest and most comprehensive newspaper, the Washington Blade, closed its doors.
The Houston Voice had already closed. The Dallas Voice appears healthy.
Now, Austin lost its serious-minded Texas Triangle years ago. Yet the national failures — Washington Blade employees plan a replacement newspaper — affect the GLBT community here as well.
Respected Austin syndicated gay-press writer Ann Rostow wrote an impassioned piece on the shrinking opportunities for gay reporters and editors, while over at KOOP Radio, OutCast hosts Heath Riddles, Kate Messer and Stephen Rice discussed the wider implications on the air Tuesday. (I was a guest.)
It would be easy enough to blame the shrinking print industry, or the decline of advertising in general. Sharp questions should be asked about Window Media’s business model and the viability of niche publications, especially when the mainstream media shoulders more and more of the reporting on GLBT issues.
One issue won’t go away: The inevitable evolution of gay culture as the community becomes more assimilated. Austin could be a test case for this phenomenon. Because of the city’s open nature, the gay community here never developed a ghetto mentality, with strictly separate neighborhoods, businesses and organizations.
Austin’s gay culture is so deeply entwined with Austin culture, it’s hard to unravel the strands.
Here’s what I hear gay people say they want: Equal protection under the law, first, but also the freedom to associate with their straight counterparts in the city they love, while preserving some semblance of a distinct gay culture.
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Where have all the mayors gone?
Austin is learning a lot about its past from the passing of its mayors.
Jeffrey Friedman, 1975-77, died in 2007
Roy Butler, 1971-75, died last week
Travis LaRue, 1969-71, died this week
Two almost-mayors died fairly recently, too.
Lowell Lebermann, lost a run-off to Ron Mullen in 1983, died earlier this year
Robert Barnstone, lost a run-off to Bruce Todd in 1991, died last year
Each of their obituaries taught me something about Austin I didn’t know. Future generations will appreciate that all of this history is available through simple Internet searches. Try it.
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Out & About Austin Celebrity Roundup 11/16/09
Austin’s Sandra Bullock is receiving generally positive early reviews for her role as a Southern woman who takes in a homeless black teenager in the football movie “The Blind Side.” Reuters calls her “an irrepressible hoot.” It opens in New York on Tuesday. Along with “The Proposal” and “All About Steve,” that makes three major movies released in the past six months for Bullock, after a two-year hiatus.
At least one Sports Illustrated staff writer picked Austin’s Andy Roddick as his “Sportsman of the Year” due to his performance in the Wimbledon finals: “There had never been a loser that more deserved to win than Roddick at Wimbledon … He held his serve on 37 straight games until, at 14-15 in the fifth set’s 95th minute, with the shadows creeping in, he could hold no more.” The magazine will name its Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 1.
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Wren Cottage Feast: A Tribute to Marcella Hazan
Menu: November 15, 2009
WREN COTTAGE FEAST
Guests who graced our South Austin home, Wren Cottage: Mary and Rusty Tally, Bettie Naylor and Libby Sykora, Kevin Smothers and Michael Pungello
A tribute to “The Classic Italian Cookbook” by Marcella Hazan
Campari, limoncello, prosecco, Negronis
Gli Antipasti
Ostriche alla moda di Taranto (Baked oysters with oil and parsley)
Gamberetti all’olio e limone (Shrimp with oil and lemon)
Funghi ripieni (Stuffed mushrooms with Béchamel sauce)
Bresaola (Salt-cured air-dried beef filet)
I PrimiRisotto con gli asparagi (Risotto with asparagus)
Polenta pasticciata (Baked polenta with meat sauce)
2007 Elias Chardonnay (Hanna Winery, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County)Lemon sorbet
Il Secondo con le verdure
Fettine di manzo alla sorrentina (Thin pan-broiled steaks with tomatoes and olives)
Fagliolini verdi al burro e formaggio (Sautéed green beans with butter and cheese)
Carote al burro e formaggio (Carrots with Parmesan cheese)
2006 Trésor (Ferrari-Carano, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County)
I Formaggi
Caciotta capra pepe e olio
Pecorino crema di Roma
Trugole
Alta langa rocchetta
2006 Navarro Zinfandel (Anderson Valley, Mendocino County)
Il Dolce
Il Diplomatico (Rum-and-coffee flavored chocolate layer cake)
Dessert wines, digestivi, coffee
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Sister’s Edge 2 Grand Opening
Cue the Etta James. Now all together, a chorus of “At Last” …
Diosa Marquina, Lisa Staton, Thelma Sanchez
Austin finally boasts a lesbian bar again. How many years has it been? At least dating to the previous incarnation of the now-gone Rainbow Cattle Company. (Which itself switched from gay to straight in less than a week.) There was a great coffee shop, Gaby and Mo’s, on Manor Road that more recently offered music scene at night …
Lisa Collins, Sara Stapleton, Tammy Carter, Alex Zawieracz and Cheryl Mustschler
So now the former CP on San Jacinto Street — in that seemingly mothballed block north of the Four Seasons — comes alive as Sister’s Edge 2 …
Margie Carrisalez and Winnie Mack
OK, not the catchiest name, but better than the suggestive word that was, by custom, abbreviated into “CP.” (The numeral recognizes a previous, short-lived lesbian bar at the same location.) And what a relief to see the Edge — my own abbreviation — fill to the rafters with mostly women and their male allies …
Catherine Tiner and Terrie Tucker
Manager Margie Carrisalez is a treat. One of my favorite bartenders, Brenda Leahy, is stationed there. I talked to folks inside and out, and the only discouraging word was a wish for speakers on the patio …
Bean Tilton and Boggle Sabat
Boy, a big chunk of the gay nightclub scene has changed almost overnight. Larry Davis returned to Oilcan Harry’s, perhaps to breathe some life back into the storied institution. RCC closed completely. Rusty Spurs/Emerald City branded its patio as Colors. We learn that the 21C hotel/residence/museum project is still on for Waller Creek, meaning, yes, Chain Drive will eventually have to move or close. And the Edge now targets the largely ignored lesbian community.
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Spencers’ Farewell at Lustre Pearl
Lustre Pearl, the funky and fantastically popular bar on Rainey Street, is so large, encompassing a stripped-down house and surrounding, beaten-earth yards, it can handle three parties simultaneously, along with regulars and drop-ins …
I was there to bid farewell Melanie and Mark Spencer , who are moving to midtown Houston so Melanie can edit a Catholic magazine there …
Mark and Melanie Spencer
Mark, a movie technician, can work anywhere, and he has, in fact, started on the “Predator” project here in Austin …
Eddy Harris and Dean Adams
I suspect we’ll continue to see this socially restless couple in Our Town quite often …
Carrie and Jason Burr
Oh, those other two parties? Both for birthdays. So we sang that birthday song twice, and I hummed “Happy Trails” for our friends …
Heather Havins and Allen Velasquez
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A Season of Celebration at the Four Seasons
My shoulders hang looser when I head to the Four Seasons Hotel, as I do once a week during the traditional social season …
Sherri West and Kathryn Scarborough Bechtol
Certainly not because of the construction-muddled parking situation — I walk or park in secret spots down the street — but because I know that every decorative appointment, every poised assistance, every ready refreshment will come off effortlessly …
Sara and Dick Rathgeber
Such was the case with the Season of Celebration for the Austin Children’s Shelter on Saturday. Besides saluting the charity’s 25th anniversary, the gala was the group’s the first since they moved into a handsome new home at the Rathgeber Village …
Brian D’Ambrosio and Katherine Cesinger
Dick and Sara Rathgeber looked pleased as punch at Saturday’s event. As always, Dick slipped me some off-the-record news that will inform my beat and others’ …
David Ackel and Sylvia Griego with Coal
Bedazzling co-chairwomen Kathryn Scarborough Bechtol and Sherri West banked on a winter theme, and guests arrived in full formal wear, including some discreet furs. The exceedingly clement weather on the Four Seasons terrace told a different story. (I’m sure no one complained!) …
Ron and Jo Ann Becerra
I’m positive Texas Tribune’s Evan Smith made a fine emcee; he always does. I was pulled away by conflicting social commitments.
Bryan Bourgeois and Anastasia Olenbush
Hopefully I’ll get to stick around for the 26th anniversary …
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Richard Schechner at the University of Texas
One American theater legend spoke in Austin on Thursday. Another on Friday …
Richard Schechner bussing his prof, Oscar Brockett
Stephen Sondheim’s remarks at the Long Center were dense, clear, anecdotal and on point. Richard Schechner’s were dense, clear, anecdotal and, by design, not always on point at the University of Texas …
Polly Strong and Linda Brucker
Schechner’s work may be less familiar to the average theatergoer than Sondheim’s. Yet to students of theater and of the 1960s, the New York University professor’s indelible contributions include co-founding the field of performance studies and the journal TDR: The Drama Review, as well as the Performance Group, which evolved into the Wooster Group …
Nicole Doorish and Jodi Jinks
Schechner is in town because the Rude Mechs are reviving his breakthrough piece, “Dionysus in 69,” which combines intercultural myths, environmental staging and rampant nudity with a re-reading of Euripedes’ “The Bacchae.” It opens in Austin Dec. 4 …
Shawn Sides and Buck Van Winkle
For the relaxed reception and circuitous lecture at UT, presented by the Humanities Institute, I brought along Oscar Brockett, another theater legend and co-founder of the field of modern theater history. He was my mentor in the PhD program at UT. Turns out he also taught Schechner at the University of Iowa back in 1958! …
Everlasting scamps Matt Hislope and Josh Meyer
Leave aside the Oedipal issues of performance studies elbowing out theater history in some drama departments (like UT’s), Schechner’s talk made the 1960s come alive. We are lucky to have a man who has taken so many notes and thought so thoroughly on the subjects of experimental art and social behavior as performance …
Elizabeth Doss and Evan Carton
No way I’m going to miss “Dionysus in 69”
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Roy Butler remembered
It seems like only last year that we lost Lester Palmer, Austin mayor in the 1960s and namesake for the Palmer Events Center.
It seems like only last month that I chatted with Roy Butler, Austin mayor during the 1970s (though not the namesake for nearby Butler Park as many assume).
He died yesterday at age 83.
Late in life, businessman Roy and his wife Ann followed personal paths of charitable and civic leadership. His most touching contributions dealt with the Austin Police Department, with which he never lost touch.
I didn’t know Roy well, but he and the Butler clan always treated me with kindness.
Some prominent Austinites, including Ben Bentzin, Don Carlton and Jackie Goodman, along with current and former police commanders, have already signed the Legacy.com guest book in his honor.
You are invited to follow their example.
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Help Clifford Help Kids at the Austin Music Hall
Arriving late to my fourth Help Clifford Help Kids event, which raises bucks in the name of the late Clifford Antone for Austin Youthworks at the Austin Music Hall, I realized that these full-package parties attract three distinct crowds …
Melissa Miller and Lance Luckenbach
The Early Group often arrives directly after work, hungry for the casual conversation, cocktails, appetizers and silent auction …
David Elliott and Alison Davis
The Middle Group, perhaps dressed a tad more formally, is ready to sit down for dinner, listen to speeches and engage in deeper conversations (the chief luxury of these occasions) …
Charles Mercer and Kate Schirmy
The Late Group comes to party. Oftentimes, they’ve got energy to spare, unlike the Early Group, which has already left to relieve the babysitters …
Gaila Kenneally, Peka Holmes and Mimi Lopez
This group lapped up the horn-tastic stylings of Grupo Fantasmo. How could you not dance to that wall of Latinate sound? I met the Fantasmo Girls and other revelers who looked like they could last all night …
Rebekah Townsend and Kenneth Bobo
Not I …
Molly Johnson and Sarah Hunter
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Charity Bash SafeDate auction at the Ranch
Man, I wish I could have stayed for the entire Charity Bash SafeDate auction for SafePlace …
Alex Winkelman, Jen Shoemaker and Jenny Hunt
Not that I would have bid on the dates with the bachelors and bachelorettes (happily married that I am) …
Chris Perri and Shannon Schaefer
But the concept is intriguing enough and I hope it made a lot of money for SafePlace …
Amy Morehouse and Marisol Saenz
Meanwhile the crowd — which included date magnets Meredith Davis, Todd Phelps, Larissa Taylor, former Mayor Will Wynn, Adrienne Oujezdsky, Greg Boyd, Katie Stolp, Chad Sakonchick, Jen Shoemaker, Melaney Dobbs, C.K. Chin, Benjamin Lasseter, Roger Huerta, Zion Francis, Hugo Rodriguez, Allison Waddell, Joe Ross and Michelle Valles — lit up the Ranch early in the evening …
Beverly Gonzalez and Oscar Davila
Once again, Charity Bash is proving that philanthropy can be fun, through and through …
George Howard Heretakis and Maggie McCloud
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A Conversation with Stephen Sondheim at the Long Center
You might not think that a 90-minute talk with a Broadway composer on the Long Center stage would generate rapt attention, gales of laughter and two standing ovations …
Sandra and Bill Didlake
But if the conversationalists are Stephen Sondheim, Broadway’s greatest artist, and Robert Faires, quick-witted Austin Chronicle arts editor, an audience of more than 1,000 pay attention …
Paul Beutel and Laura Powell
Seated on two cushioned chairs downstage from Austin Lyric Opera’s rented “La Boheme” set, Sondheim immediately settled into rich feast of description, analysis and narrative, while Faires appeared a bit hesitant until he landed his first joke, based on a song title from “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” (Hey, I would have been frozen with intimidation by the great man, despite Sondheim’s warmth) …
Allison Raven and Samantha Williams
They dug into the process of “setting” lyrics to music and vice versa. Sondheim explained how each of his songs is a one-act play, how the music forces the stresses in an actor’s verbal interpretation and how his music explicitly follows the patterns of conversational English …
Michael Mitchell and Martin Zimmerman
He also talked at length about his collaborations with James Lapine, John Weidman, George Furth, Larry Gelbart, Jonathan Tunick, Leornard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins, Hal Prince and other creative and interpretive giants, along with stars such as Ethel Merman, Patti LuPone, Angela Lansbury and Elaine Stritch …
M Scott Tatum and Craig Saper
The revelations just poured out. I’m sure the audience would have stayed for another 90 minutes, but life goes on. The unsung hero in all this is Long Center managing director Paul Beutel, who insisted on this opportunity for Austin, even if it was not a guaranteed money-maker.
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Out & About Austin Celebrity Roundup 11/12/09
I’m not even going to pretend that I’m current on all the Austin-linked celebrity news. Soon, though. For now, direct quotes from various publications will suffice.
Santa Maria Times (also reported in the Statesman): “An arrest warrant has been dropped for actor Randy Quaid and his wife, Evi, who are accused of stiffing a Santa Barbara County hotel on a $10,000 bill. Prosecutor Lee Carter says the warrant was recalled after the Quaids posted bail of $20,000 each last week. The Quaids’ attorney, Robert Sanger, says the bill has been paid and he hopes to talk with prosecutors about resolving the case.”
People magazine: “Bang a drum: Matthew McConaughey is 40 years old. ‘The 30’s were good to me and I’m really looking forward to my 40’s, ‘cause I’m a late bloomer,” the actor writes on his Celebrity MySpace page. “Got everything I need for a perfect 40th … a happy and healthy lady, son, and another baby on the way.’ McConaughey celebrated the milestone Tuesday night at a big birthday party featuring country musician Jamey Johnson. The bash went on until 4:30 a.m. ‘There were some epic stories told, lot of laughs and definitely some roasting,’ he writes. ‘Somehow, no blood or glass broken.’ As for the first day of his fourth decade, McConaughey says he plans to ‘spend some more time with my family and friends today, grillin’ steaks and sippin’ beers, celebratin’ more to live for.’”
Associated Press: “Actress Sandra Bullock plans to walk the red carpet in New Orleans next week for a special premiere of her latest film, ‘The Blind Side.’ Bullock, who recently bought a home in New Orleans, is hosting the event with Warner Bros. to raise money for one of the city’s high schools flooded by Hurricane Katrina. Bullock has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Warren Easton High School for scholarships, new band uniforms, auditorium renovations and a new health clinic. The movie is based on a true story of a poor teenager taken in by a family and recruited by a major college to play football. It also stars country star Tim McGraw, a Delhi, La., native.”
The Daily Texan: “’Don’t be afraid to make a lot of mistakes,’ said Michael Dell in the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center ballroom Wednesday afternoon. ‘Just don’t make the same one over and over again.’ At an interview with Tom Gilligan, the dean of McCombs School of Business, and a Q&A session with participants, Dell spoke to an overflowing audience that included UT students and Dell representatives.”
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Hispanic Scholarship Consortium at West Lake Home
Sometimes a commendable cause just walks up and shakes your hand …
Marisa Limón and Laura Duran (HSC’s entire staff)
That’s what happened to me with the Hispanic Scholarship Consortium, whose host committee met at the home of board members David Garza and Dr. John Hogg on Wednesday …
Keith Fern and Rich Villa
This group, started by David Garcia, founder and CEO of the Cedra Corp., has, in just five years, helped 100 Central Texas students afford college through $500,000 in scholarships …
Texas Rep. Diana Maldonado and Sylvia Acevedo (CommuniCard)
Just as importantly, the consortium provides mentors, counseling and peer networking to make sure these students — often first-generation collegians — stick with the program …
Leticia Villarreal and Wendy Morales
Its big fundraiser is Feb. 25 at the Garza/Hogg manse and, at that event, you can meet the students who have received the scholarship in rooms designated by their fields of study. Super idea.
Madge Vasquez (St. David’s Community Health Foundation), Lonnie Limón (LatinWorks) and David Garza (Garza Design & Construction)
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Your A-List: Best Fruits and Vegetables
So no eyebrows will be raised when we announce that virtually all the winners in the A-List readers’ poll for Best Fruits and Vegetables are home grown.
No. 1 is industry pioneer Greenling.com, which delivered 38 percent of the vote. Austin Farmers’ Market didn’t wilt at 34 percent, while Manor Farmers’ Market reflected its agricultural past with 7 percent.
Central Market, Sunset Valley Farmers’ Market and Whole Foods Market harvested 4 percent each, while all the rest — Boggy Creek Farm, Sprouts, Wheatsville Co-op, South Austin Farmers’ Market, Newflower and Sun Harvest — finished off the list.
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Your A-List: Best Jeans
At least that’s what your votes implied. Twenty-six percent of the readers voted for Blue Elephant in the A-List poll for Best Jeans.
Hem and Buffalo Exchange tied exactly for second place at 17 percent. So nice that all three are close to campuses — and to each otheer.
Lucky lucked out with 10 percent, while Urban Outfitters slipped into 8 percent. Service Menswear in 04 tailored 6 percent of the vote.
Taking 4 percent or less were Diesel, Physical Fit, Luxe Apothetique, By George and Therapy.
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Your A-List: Best Addition to Austin’s Dining Scene
No-frills Counter Culture, which I confused with Counter Cafe yesterday, did itself proud with 24 percent of the vote.
I have to tell you, the numbers dropped off pretty fast after Nos. 1 and 2, despite the high quality of Carillon, Perla’s, Garrido’s, East Side Show Room, La Condesa and Justine’s, which grouped between 3 and 5 percent of the vote. Rounding out the list were House Pizzeria, Good Seed Organic, Frank and Shuck Shack.
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Your A-List: Best Burgers
Readers had their chance to register an opinion through the A-List vote for Best Burgers (in Central Texas, at least). Winner: P. Terry’s, the expanding local chain with the attention to detail and history. It won just over 15 percent of the vote, ahead of Casino El Camino on East Sixth Street, which earned just under 15 percent.
Mighty Fine did mighty fine with 12 percent, ahead of Hut’s at a tad under 12 percent.
Another local institution, Dan’s, cooked up 8 percent, while Dirty Martin’s eased into 6 percent. Phil’s (5 percent) and Top Notch (4 percent) placed on the next rung down while Roaring Fork, Hillbert’s, Waterloo Ice House, Shady Grove, Crown and Anchor, Sandy’s, Hill’s, Fran’s, Frisco Shop, Freddie’s Place, Chez Zee and Aussie’s all received 3 percent or less.
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Preservation Awards at the Driskill Hotel
Who hyperventilates at preservation awards? Me. Historic preservation is so closely linked to everything crucial about Austin’s environment, economy and community, it was hard not to shriek approval during a genteel Heritage Society of Austin event at the palatial Driskill Hotel …
Mandy Dealey and Wayne Bell
The first half of the luncheon program on Tuesday was given over to video and live presentations of the Preservation Awards winners. Architect Wayne Bell, dean of the Texas preservation movement and coordinator to the state’s Main Street Program, presided …
There’s no way to squeeze in all the names and the astonishing histories of the projects, so a few highlights must suffice. In the case of the Schenken-Oatman House, neighbors banded together to prevent the demolition and underwrite the restoration of a 1909 Hyde Park cottage that once belonged to Austin Statesman printer Adelbert Schenken and, later, Pearl Oatman, widow of a drayman, and her daughter Pearl Oatman Welch. The restorers found all kinds of surprising original features in the house …
John Donisi and Andrew Martin
Most people can point out the “castle” on West 11th Street above Lamar Boulevard, but the history of the Texas Military Institute is a mystery to most of us. It served, for instance, as offices for controversial developer Gary Bradley and was almost lost to Austin through bankruptcy court. Attorney Vic Ayad and architect Dick Clark saved the castle and restored much of it …
The Phillips House on E. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is a stunning modernist masterpiece from architect John Chase Jr., the first African American to enroll in and graduate from the UT School of Architecture. You’ve probably wondered about its Frank Llloyd Wright influences, but the video shows that the interiors are just as fascinating …
Janice Burckhardt and Jordan Gunter
The Chester and Caroline Drake House is one of those fine homes downtown near the Austin Community College campus. Built in 1884, it’s gone through a lot of changes and lawyer Thomas Fagerberg has rehabilitated it for mixed residence and offices. (I always mourn when one of those houses doesn’t include a resident occupant.) …
Two downtown buildings across the street from each other on Congress Avenue also won awards, the handsome homes of Annies and Patagonia. I urge you to check them out personally. Also honored was the humble Hoffbrau on West Sixth Street, whose history during the Depression, World War II and since I never knew. Time for a steak! …
Peter Kennedy and Maria Cigarroa
Personal awards went to Fred L. McGhee, a scholar who documented the pioneer status of East Austin public housing projects such as Santa Rita Courts, Rosewood Courts and Chalmers Courts, and their relationship to President (then Congressman) Lyndon Johnson; also to the indestructible Jane Sibley, whose preservation efforts have included the Old Fort Parade Ground in Fort Stockton, the Rock Art Foundation, Davis-Sibley House, Symphony Square and the Long Center …
The second half of the program was devoted to a highly practiced speech by the Urban Land Institute’s Edward McMahon. Preaching to the choir — plus city and state officials — McMahon talked about sustainability, smart growth, green building and a sense of place as they related to historic preservation …
Maria Ballas and Glen Colman
Perhaps McMahon’s most effective argument deals with the enduring economic value of aesthetics. And of course, my mind always wanders to Austin examples. The value of trees and landscaping? I think of how East Riverside Drive and other gateways into the city could be transformed. The affect of locality and beauty on tourism, the world’s largest industry? Almost every Austin visitor tramps some part of Congress Avenue from the Capitol to Live Oak Street, then Sixth Street east and west, also Lady Bird Lake from every angle. And yet how little we spend on them (A former mayor once told me aesthetic arguments never win in this city.) …
The only time McMahon faced silence was when he discounted the value of golf courses. Yes, they raise the value of residential properties around them, but at what cost? Why not open land or parks instead? So few people actually use the golf courses. I’m sure city leaders in the room were mulling over the relative value of MUNY, a political hot potato …
The call for legitimate preservation has been around Austin for at least 50 years. It has won hundreds of battles, lost only a few. The Heritage Society of Austin deserves a few of its own awards.
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Remembering Everett Bohls, a man of the land
“Land was in his blood.”
That’s how Mary Bohls, 82, summed up her late husband, Everett Bohls, consummate Austin businessman, developer and outdoorsman, who died Aug. 12 at age 91.
So it follows naturally that his son, Rex Bohls, his wife, Laura, and their children, Catherine and Will, donated $2,400 to seed the Tarrytown flank of Mopac in memory of this man of nature.
Their gift benefited the American-Statesman’s ongoing Lady Bird’s Legacy project, which has raised more than $100,000 for such Texas Department of Transportation wildflower plantings, along with signature packets of seeds from Wildseed Farms for schoolchildren. Recent rains bolster hopes for a bountiful wildflower spring at various Central Texas locations.
That the Bohls family would care about the enduring beauty of Central Texas is hardly news.
“We’re the Bee Cave Bohls, not the Pflugerville Bohls,” explains Rex Bohls, a distant relative of American-Statesman sports columnist Kirk Bohls and proud of both branches.
Theirs were among the area’s ancestral families, the Bee Cave branch having moved to there in 1851 “because Govalle got too crowded,” Mary Bohls says. A developer restored the Bohls pioneers’ rough cabins and perched them on upper Barton Creek near Texas 71.
“My father got up at 5 a.m. every morning to run the trot line down on the river in the dark,” Rex Bohls says. “He’d gather eggs and complete the other chores before walking two miles to school. Later, he boarded in Austin to attend Austin High School.”
Everett Bohls hunted and fished his entire life, making a supreme ritual of deer season, according to his family.
Mary Bohls’ family goes pretty far back, too. She once lived in the Neill-Cochran House on San Gabriel Street, now a museum house owned by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of Texas.
Everett Bohls graduated from the University of Texas in 1941 with a degree in business administration. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, then earned a license as a certified public accountant. His entrepreneurial imagination and diplomatic negotiating skills led to the building of a life insurance company, concrete block manufacturing company, cafeteria, grocery stores, restaurants (including the iconic Tavern), public record search company, title company, lawn service, waste disposal company and retail boat company. He also developed homes, apartments and commercial property.
With such a busy life in business and the out of doors, along with raising a family, Everett Bohls still found time to paint and garden.
“My father began painting in the 1970s,” Rex Bohls says. “On a trip to London with my mother, Dad was inspired by the paintings he saw by Winston Churchill and said ‘I can do that.’ For Father’s Day of that year, my mother gave Dad an easel and painter’s beret and he began to paint. He had no training or background in art but for the next 40-plus years he became a prolific amateur artist.”
The tricky soils and terrains of the Hill Country didn’t daunt the gardener in him.
“He always had a small garden in the backyard of his home, growing tomatoes and okra every summer,” Laura Bohls says. “A few years ago my husband bought a ranch near Marble Falls. Rex took his father to see the ranch and Mr. Bohls — we called him “Pappy” — saw a large overgrown garden. This garden became “Pappy’s Garden” and Mr. Bohls took great interest and pride in reclaiming it, planting and caring for a variety of vegetables. When he harvested, he’d bring the vegetables back to Austin, sack them up and leave them on the doorsteps of his neighbors to their delight.”
The Bohls have expressed interest in enhanced plantings along Mopac. They’ll have a chance, since the Lady Bird’s Legacy project continues through 2012.
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Marcella Hazan 6: Soup
Part of a planned multi-year series on the basic recipes of cookbooking founders Marcella Hazan, Claudia Roden, Diana Kennedy and Julia Child, who introduced four major cuisines to American home kitchens
With soups, Hazan allows some leeway regarding ingredients, such as canned beans, albeit with appropriate warnings. I tried six soups this round of cooking and each proved flexible enough for substitutions, additions and subtractions.
Her Lentil Soup complements the al dente texture of the legumes with sweet pancetta, while her Rice and Lentil Soup multiplies those sensations. Pancetta can be cloying alone, but here it’s a welcome alternative to smoked, salty bacon.
Hazan’s Bean Soup with Parsley and Garlic invites the inclusion of any variety of beans, but I’d triple the chopped garlic to at least 3 teaspoons. As with her other soup recipes, it can’t hurt to double or even triple the amounts in a large stockpot. After all soup only improves with time. And, as with the previous lentil dishes, the textural satisfaction is amplified through the more complex Beans and Pasta Soup.
Her refined Spinach Soup surprises with milk and nutmeg (a favorite Hazan ingredient, which I hadn’t noted years ago). I’m discovering that celery, too, can catch one unawares, as it does in Hazan’s Rice and Celery Soup, which is not at all stringy.
More soups later, but I probably should move on to fresh pasta.
Note: This Sunday, for our next Wren Cottage Feast, we’ll prepare seven dishes from Hazan’s “The Classic Italian Cookbook,” our first such themed dinner since this re-learning project began.
For previous Hazan posts, head to the Food category link below.
Photo courtesy of the Italian Food network, which is another source for handy recipes.
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Kyle Chandler & Brad Leland talk golf, charity, TV
“Friday Night Lights” stars Kyle Chandler and Brad Leland settled the whole thing over one hole of golf.
Three years ago, playing at the Wolfdancer Golf Club near Bastrop, they wondered aloud how they could give back to the community that had so thoroughly endorsed their high-school football drama.
“What would it benefit?” Chandler remembers asking.
“We’re doing a show about Jason Street (a fictional injured player) in a wheelchair,” Leland said. “How about spinal cord injuries?”
Thus was born the Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Classic, which lit up the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa the past two years, while raising money for Gridiron Heroes and the Buoniconti Fund.
During the event, which includes dinner and a concert, Chandler and Leland played with each 5-person team by sticking to one hole, as 150 golfers swept through the course.
“We talk about what we do for a living,” Chandler says. “We’re often more interested in what they do. It’s better than having them yell at you for making lousy shots. If you stay at the same hole, you don’t have to ride with people who are mad at you.”
“And that way we get to meet everyone at the tournament,” Leland says. “We reach out to them for the charities, asking how much they would donate if we made a certain shot.”
Over coffee at Jo’s on South Congress Avenue — after Chandler signed, red “East” caps from his fictional coach’s new team — the pair talked about enhancements for the next charity weekend, organized by Shelly Kanter and Heather Page, and slated for May 14-15.
“We’ll play golf on Friday,” Leland says. “Saturday is for the families. There’s a water park, a spa deal, canoes on the Colorado River and horseback riding.”
“Also a frisbee golf tournament,” Chandler says. “We want it to be as family-friendly as possible.”
The show’s partnership with Direct TV — which splits the broadcasts with NBC — supplies the event with more actors and professional athletes as celebrity players. Meanwhile, the stars continue to appreciate Austin’s easy way with the famous.
“They are always respectful,” Leland says of fans here. “People come up, not to say, ‘Hey, you’re Buddy Garrity,’ but instead, “Hey, I love your show. The whole family watches it.”
“I received the best compliment early on,” says Chandler, now more relaxed, since he’s moved his family to Central Texas. “A man said, ‘Thanks for representing this place the way you do, for respecting it and representing it.’”
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Camp Lite and ‘Spelling Bee’
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” closed Sunday at Zach Theatre.
Just a little note on the concept of “Camp Lite.” That was a term applied back in the 1990s to “Beehive,” “Nunsense,” “Forever Plaid” and other off-Broadway shows that combined gentle irony, frisky songs and an obsession with pop culture.
Campy, yes, but without the dark, cross-dressing edge of Charles Ludlam, Charles Busch or their ilk.
Zach Theatre, thanks mainly to director Dave Steakley and designer Michael Raiford — as well as Austin’s deep pool of onstage talent — has mastered this form brilliantly. Zach always included as much audience participation as possible. No theater company in the country does it better.
“Spelling Bee” certainly fits the Camp Lite definition nicely. Yet its score by William Finn (“Falsettos”) marks a full integration of that genre with more serious musical-making. “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Hairspray” and a few other narrative musicals could also be grouped with “Spelling Bee” under another rubric: “Camp Plus.”
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Opera Goes to Paris at the Long Center
Austin Lyric Opera canceled the Opera Ball last season …
Sari Gruber and Sebastien Gueze
Instead, they staged a smattering of small-scale fundraising parties that responded to a chastened economy …
Craig Verm and Richard Buckley
This season, opera leaders split the difference by swirling various parties around the opening production, “La Boheme,” at the Long Center …
Gail and Jeff Kodosky
The whole place was outfitted like Paris, with dramatically lighted, sculptural representations of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe …
Karen Landa and Dale Dewey
After a near-miss earlier in the evening, I stumbled on several of the social junctures, including a splendid late supper in the Kodosky Lounge …
Stanislav Pronina and Ksenia Zhuleva
Where, happily, I ran into namesakes Jeff and Gail Kodosky, whom I need to spend more time with …
Peter Bay and Mela Dailey
Looked festive, but it had been a long day and long night, so I checked out early.
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Runway to Heaven at the Austonian
Erin Weitzel, Mallory Farr and Kelly Hansard
When the time came, the Runway to Heaven charity fashion show at the Austonian turned out just fine for the average viewer …
Cassandra Graza and Nadia Bening
Instead of landing on one of those upper floors with out-of-body views, Runway was held in the unfinished ground-floor space, where the Ballet Fete after-party frolicked …
Francie and Trent Thurman
That worked out well, because any space upstairs would have involved obstructed views, and this vast, open hall fit the look and scale of the show …
James and Ronit Mele
The seating area was subdivided into so many VIP and VVIP districts, it was easy to get confused, and, for the first time, I witnessed some squabbling about relative proximity to the long, segmented stage …
Robert Turluck and Jamie Stewart
But the seating came after the lengthy entry line and the somewhat disorganized shepherding of guests to their appropriate districts (I encountered no problems because I like to stand in the back) …
Ronda Gray and Kimberly Thomsen
A large subset of the guests were there to cheer the winners of the Glossy 8 Stylemaker Awards, who were presented for a second time this week — four of them also served as celebrity models …
Jim Duran (mystyle-austin) and Anne Elizabeth Wynn
As with the earlier Glossy 8 VIP Party on Stratford Drive, this event was brightened by Dripping Springs Vodka drinkies and outstanding sushi from Piranha, the Arlington-based restaurant group which has planted a colony over by the Austin Convention Center …
Renee Sobremonte and Anju Garg
Austin Children’s Shelter and Children’s Medical Center Foundation of Central Texas were the chosen charities this year, probably receiving more attention than hard cash, but we’ll quiz leaders for net takes …
Nikki Fowler and Ryan Tumey
Superwoman Sue Webber volunteered to whip the runway show into shape at the last minute, and her firm hand was readily evident once the models began to strut …
Huey Nguyen and Mai Lu
Regular readers of this blog know better than to expect a fashion review from this social columnist, but my eyes weren’t glued shut …
Laura Villagran and Kevin Smothers
UT student Alexandra King’s loose, fun creations looked promising, while Linda Asaf’s more mature work, crowned by a timely wedding gown, were suitably flattering …
Brian McKinely and Anita Benner
Of course, I was most interested in the menswear, and Versace’s unstructured jackets snapped me to attention a few times. Yet the standouts were the sophisticated, plastic inventions of Poleci, whose urban wear triumphed at the end of the show …
My-Cherie Haley, Rochelle Rae and Laura Labay
And truly, if you didn’t know in advance all the beforehand and behind-the-scenes angst and misdirection, you could never tell that anything was wrong …
One last note: This runway show thing is getting a little out of hand. Austinites still flock to them, but can we really sustain reasonable standards when they are staged at least once a week here? Just a thought.
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Design Excellence Awards at the Westwood Country Club
The Austin Design Community could not have composed a more serene midday for the 2009 Design Excellence Awards ceremony at niche-retreat Westwood Country Club …
Lisa Anderson and Brian Ledet
We could only stay for salad and ice tea at the luncheon served by the Design Community and the American Society of Interior Design. Speeches praised Texas and Austin in particular for growing the organization while it shrinks elsewhere …
Jeanne Whittington and Jennifer Burggraaf
And now on to the Winners (take a deep breath): Commercial Large > 5000 sqf: The Bommarito Group … Commercial Retail / Hospitality: Laurie Smith Design Associates …Commercial Singular Space:The Bommarito Group … Residential Bathroom: Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Residential Kitchen: Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Residential Model / Parade / Showhouse: Panache Interiors; Residential - Residence Contemporary Large > 3,500 sqf: Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Residential Singular Space: Linda McCalla Interiors …
Greg Lee and Marla Bommarito
More Winners: Residential Sustainable Residence: Count and Castle Designs … Residential Remodel Large > 3500sqf: Linda McCalla Interiors …Residential Remodel Small < 3500 sqf: Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Product Design / Special Detail / Custom Original Piece: he Bommarito Group … Visual Merchandizing Display: Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Rising Star Remodel: Michelle Thomas Design … Rising Star Sustainable Residence: Chelsea Remy Design … Rising Star Singular Space: Michelle Thomas Design … Best of Show: The Bommarito Group …
Laurie Britt and Taverner Bushman
Merit Award Winners: Commercial Large > 5000sqf : Laurie Smith Design Associates … Commercial Retail Hospitality: Tracy Overbeck Stead Interior Design / Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Residential Bathroom: Susie Johnson Interior Design Inc./ Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Residential Kitchen: Richens Designs Inc. / Count and Castle Designs … Residential Residence Traditional Large > 3,500 sqf: Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Residential Residence Contemporary Large > 3500 sqf : Susie Johnson Interior Designs Inc. … Residential Singular Space: Linda McCalla Interior Design … Residential Remodel Small < 3500 sqf: Susie Johnson Interior Designs Inc. … Historic Preservation / Adaptive Reuse: JEIDesign Inc.; Product Design / Special Detail / Custom Original Piece: Linda McCalla Interior Design …
Katherine Weems and Stephanie Martenson
Whew! That’s a lot of awards!
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Glossy 8 VIP Party at Stratford Drive Home
As a general rule, daily newspapers don’t throw memorable parties …
Winners of the 2009 Glossy 8 Stylemaker Awards: Elizabeth and Benjamin Serrato (who won as a couple), Maria Groten, Nancy Scanlan, Coi Burruss, Trent Thurman, Christine Perrault Moline, Sylvia Orozco and Andrea McWilliams.
The American-Statesman is no exception (unless you count the Capitol 10,000 or some XL promotional concerts from the distant past) …
Dean and Andrea McWilliams
Other media outlets specialize in staging social events, but even their professional skeptics would agree that the Statesman’s Glossy 8 VIP party on Thursday will linger in memory
Sylvia Orozco and Melissa Segrest
The location counted. The new Dick Clark-designed, hilltop home of Jodi and Fred Zipp (Statesman editor) is a modernist stunner, every detail pristine and exacting …
John Watson, Nancy Scanlan, Laura Scanlan Cho and Ken Cho
Helping out was a refined party plan, overseen by Kevin Smothers of Pulse and executed by Elite Events, along with assistance by the Statesman’s editorial and marketing departments. …
Eric and Maria Groten
The food—creative sushi provided by Kenzo and the crew from Piranha Killer Sushi—was a knock-out. Little stands offered Dripping Springs Vodka martinis or lighter drinks. …
Crystal Conti and Rep. Mark Strama
But the real stars were the Glossy 8 — really nine sharp dressers, since one slot went to a married couple — absolutely smashing as they descended the stairs during presentations …
Kelley Shaw and Renee Sobremonte
Winners of the 2009 Glossy 8 Stylemaker Awards: Elizabeth and Benjamin Serrato (who won as a couple), Maria Groten, Nancy Scanlan, Coi Burruss, Trent Thurman, Christine Perrault Moline, Sylvia Orozco and Andrea McWilliams
Lauren Madden and Armando Zambrano
They inspired an already stylish crowd that floated from the interior spaces to the pool-cooled deck …
Graham Daly, Melissa Nicewarner-Daly, Jeff McKnight and Amber Groce
The mood continued ebullient for the entire evening …
David Garza, Joanne Linden, Rachel Saldana and Dr. John Hogg
All this previews Linda Asaf’s Runway to Heaven charity event tonight at the unfinished Austonian …
Cherie Mathews and Sloan Foster
Where the Glossy 8 will reappear on the stage …
George and Sylvia Gutierrez with Art and Tanya Acevedo
Read the story to see why these nine fashion leaders were nominated by readers and chosen by a Glossy panel …
Mary and Rusty Tally with Linda Asaaf
Photos by Robert Godwin
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L Style G Style 2nd Anniversary Party at Mercury Hall
In Houston during the 1970s, one could break down the gay social scene into the Powerful, the Fashionable, the Purposeful and the Individuals.
Oliver Everette and Alisa Weldon
In Austin during the 2000s, one could discern all those attributes in a gay crowd at Mercury Hall. Here, however, everyone shares them.
Mary Coronado and Donna Miller
The occasion was the 2nd anniversary of L Style, G Style, the upscale lifestyle magazine that chronicles the lesbian and gay community.
Hedda Layne and Troy Warden
The theme was “black and white” — thanks to a pre-party note from Brenda Thompson, I was appropriately attired — and the powerful, fashionable, purposeful individuals looked impeccable.
Will Lucas and Carlos Platero
I talked to newcomers, short-timers and veterans of the social scene, as the Tipsy Texans served Boy George cocktails …
James and Miryam Arosemena
A veil of enchantment fell on the graceful Mercury Hall grounds.
Brandon Lewis, Dr. John Hogg and Chey Hollowell
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Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist, Part 5
For more of “Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist,” scroll down to previous posts, or link at Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
The Essential Stephen Sondheim
10 shows every Sondheim beginner should get to know.
‘Gypsy’ — (1959) The ultimate backstage musical, with music by Jule Styne and book/direction by Arthur Laurents, it has also burnished the careers of Ethel Merman, Rosalind Russell, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone. Sondhiem’s lyrics are fresh today as when it premiered.
‘Company’ — (1970) Modern, urban singledom, dating and marriage received this up-to-the-minute treatment, later stripped down and emotionally magnified in the John Doyle revival.
‘Follies’ — (1971) The twilight of memory, marriage and show-business excess intertwine in this fantastical musical, which also gave the gift of ‘Broadway Baby’ to every belting singer.
‘Sweeney Todd’ — (1980) Almost every staging of this electrifying melodrama — Brechtian, operatic, microscopic, even Tim Burton’s eccentric movie — about a 19th-century serial killer has triumphed.
‘Merrily We Roll Along’ — (1981) The show Sondheim believes will find a wider audience. Melodic, personal, endearing, it asks what happens to youthful idealism. It must overcome a tale told backward.
‘Into the Woods’ — (1987) One of Sondheim’s biggest hits reworks fairy tales with Bruno Bettelheim’s insights into personal development. (One of three collaborations with James Lapine.)
‘Assassins’ — (2004) Some Sondheim fans might think that the romping ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,’ pensive ‘Passion,’ skittery ‘Anyone Can Whistle,’ or translucent ‘Pacific Overtures’ belong in this last place. Yet John Weidman and Sondheim’s rip on presidential assassins looks deep into the American soul. Nobody ever forgets what they found.
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Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist, Part 4
For more of “Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist,” scroll down to previous posts, or link to Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
“We are satisfied with it now,” Sondheim says. “The problem, and this was true in the source Kaufman and Hart play, the lead is a character you get to like. James dug into it a little more, without softening it. Just helping audiences out. It may never satisfy them. People are turned off by unsympathetic characters. I like them, when something interesting happens to them.”
Although he was pleased with the movie version of “Sweeney Todd” — and he’s in negotiations for films of “Follies” and “Into the Woods” — he’s not ready to make any generalizations about the return of the movie musical, or the success of youth-oriented shows like “Glee” and the “High School Musical” movies.
Sondheim is also uncomfortable talking about his legacy, though he would include the composing teams of John Kander and Fred Ebb (“Cabaret,” “Chicago”), as well as Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (“Fiddler on the Roof,” “She Loves Me”), as ones that will tend to endure beyond our time.
A notorious perfectionist, Sondheim, at 79, can look back with some pleasure on his work.
“Every now and then I see something of mine and say ‘that was good,’” he says. “It takes a long time not to be neurotic about it. Usually, I see only what’s wrong. Now I accept what’s good.”
More to come …
A Conversation with Stephen Sondheim
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 12
Where: Long Center for the Performing Arts
Information: thelongcenter.org; 474-5664
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Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist, Part 3
For more of “Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist,” scroll down to previous posts, or link to Part 1 and Part 2.
“My first exposure to the fully formed Sondheim was when I bought the original cast album of ‘Follies’ in the 1970s,” says Long Center managing director Paul Beutel. “The raw yet soaring emotion of songs like ‘Too Many Mornings’ and ‘Losing My Mind’ — so perfectly captured in music and lyrics — just wiped me out.”
Although musical devotees call these “Sondheim shows,” the artist always emphasizes his collaborations with writers and directors (Harold Prince, James Lapine, etc.) and, especially, his prized orchestrator, Jonathan Tunick, whose full-orchestra sound undergirds Tim Burton’s movie adaptation of “Sweeney Todd.”
“He is a most generous man, a mentor who is always ready to lend his support — creative, emotional and intellectual — to the work of others,” critic and editor Rick Pender says.
“George was an actor,” Sondheim says. “Music meant nothing to him. So writing with him was interesting. That’s one reason the songs don’t always fit into the script. They are commentary; raisins in the cake. But George’s dialogue is extremely brilliant. It’s dialogic.”
Gelbart, his collaborator in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” adapting the Roman comedies of Plautus, understood music, he says.
“In ‘Forum,’ the songs are respites from the farce,” Sondheim says. “And ‘Forum’ is a very tight farce. The songs are breathing places. Otherwise the comedy would be relentless.”
One reason Sondheim’s shows — almost never big profit machines — are regularly revived is they provide peerless opportunities for performers.
“Sondheim’s work demands that a performer be equally gifted as an actor and as a singer,” says director Dave Steakley. “Sondheim’s melodies and harmonies, as well as the speed of his complicated lyrics in passages of songs, are rigorous for a singer to master. Equal to this is the emotional investment and honesty required to convey his character’s multi-layered states of being.”
“The tone is Chekhovian,” Sondheim says. “That’s implicit in the piece anyway. It’s about shadow. But it’s still a comedy, done with chamber music in a chamber style.”
More to come …
A Conversation with Stephen Sondheim
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 12
Where: Long Center for the Performing Arts
Information: thelongcenter.org; 474-5664
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Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist, Part 2
For Part 1 of “Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist,” scroll down to the post below or go here.
Although he studied music seriously, it was Sondheim’s lyrics that first drew the attention of Broadway professionals. And, in the postwar period, words made an emphatic point. Hammerstein had already linked the songs closely to the action, so that audiences actually paid attention to them.
“The next big change came with the rock revolution,” Sondheim says.
Sondheim’s lyrics were so adept, so clever, so crucial to each show’s emotional progress, he was recognized as a singular wordsmith.
“I am continually in awe of the multiple-emotional layers and thoughtfulness of Sondheim’s work,” says Zach Theatre director Dave Steakley. “The recent spate of stripped-down productions, fewer orchestrations and chorus members, have revealed new truths for his fans and have become new, meaningful works on their own, instead of feeling lesser.”
More than 60 years after penning his first lyrics, Sondheim has collected them in a two-volume book that will include recollections and commentary.
“Honestly no,” he says. “Every now and then, I would glow with pride and delight, or wince with shame and embarrassment. But I’m a slow writer. I worked on these things meticulously, so there are not a lot of surprises left. I really know every word.”
More to come …
A Conversation with Stephen Sondheim
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 12
Where: Long Center for the Performing Arts
Information: thelongcenter.org; 474-5664
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Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist, Part 1
Stephen Sondheim, the creative force behind 18 major musicals, might be the greatest artist Broadway has ever produced.
Critics believe his work will survive for centuries, perhaps for millennia.
“Sondheim — more than any other composer or lyricist — has given us music and theater that is memorable, challenging, intelligent and inventive, yet emotionally and intellectually satisfying,” says Rick Pender, editor of the Sondheim Review, a national magazine devoted to its namesake. “I do not see this kind of multifaceted genius in any other Broadway artist.”
Sondheim is not so sure about his legacy.
“I wouldn’t make any pronouncements,” he says recently in a rare telephone interview. “Who knows if musicals will be done? Who does the musicals from 100 years ago? They are ridiculous. The songs are good. Not the musicals. You want to listen to an Irving Berlin tune, but not see an Irving Berlin show.”
(“Annie Get Your Gun” might be an exception.)
Thursday, the nine-time Tony Award winner — who also earned an Academy Award and a Pulitzer Prize — will make his first Austin appearance. He will extend a cycle of public conversations started two years ago with The New York Times opinion writer and former theater critic Frank Rich. At the Long Center, his colloquy partner will be Austin Chronicle arts editor Robert Faires.
Local musical aficionados can hardly wait for the verbal exchange.
“Sondheim represents everything that is good about American musical theater,” says Austin director Michael McKelvey, who recently staged an award-winning “Sweeney Todd.” “He is always original and thought-provoking, a composer with a grasp of all that Western music can deliver.”
More to come …
A Conversation with Stephen Sondheim
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 12
Where: Long Center for the Performing Arts
Information: thelongcenter.org; 474-5664
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Your A-List: Best Video Store
The A-List reader’s poll produces very few exact ties. Numerically, the more votes, the less chance for a tie. Yet we are faced with one in first place this week.
Austin’s other traditional video spot, I Luv Video, came in a respectable third with 14 percent. Blockbuster and the Austin Public Library tied at 6 percent. Hastings, an older Texas chain, managed 4 percent.
Three percent or less of the voters chose Tapelenders, Encore and the Movie Store.
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Your A-List: Best Shopping Center
I’m serious. Twelve years ago, when we moved two blocks off South Congress Avenue, we had no idea it would become one of Austin’s top tourist attractions. The parking overflow annoys at times, but who would argue with the snappy shops, cool restaurants and sidewalks full of fellow pedestrians? (We’ll leave out any discussion of property values and tax rates.)
The somewhat similar but boxier Hill Country Galleria bagged 9 percent, while the Arboretum rang up 5 percent, tying with the Second Street District. The rest — Shops at the Galleria, Lakeline Mall, Highland Mall, Prime Outlets, Tanger Outlets, La Frontera, Wolf Ranch and Capital Plaza — earned 3 percent or less.
Sweet that ol’ Capital Plaza was remembered.
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Your A-List: Best Festival That’s Not ACL or SXSW
The A-List reader poll for Best Festival That’s Not ACL or SXSW turned into a showdown between the Old Settlers Music Festival and Kerrville Folk Festival. Both are full-saturation events, out of doors and packed with music, so related thematically to the biggest fests. Old Settler’s took 50 percent of the ballots; Kerrville 41 percent.
Pretty much everything else fell to 3 percent or less: Fun Fun Fun Fest, Texas Book Festival, Austin Kite Festival, Austin Raggae Festival, Austin Film Festival, Batfest, Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival, Keep Austin Weird Festival, Urban Music Festival, Art City Austin, Fantastic Fest, Cine Las Americas, Out of Bounds Improv Festival and Fuse Box.
I think I’ve covered all but one of these. Wanna guess which?
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Your A-List: Best Happy Hour
When you ask: What’s your favorite Austin happy hour, are you asking about the drinks? Or the food? Or the scene? Or the whole package?
The winner is an old friend: multi-sited Trudy’s, which earned just over 20 percent of the votes, while funky South Congress music venue Continental Club came close with just under 20 percent.
Downtown restaurant McCormick & Schmick’s came in third with 13 percent. Saxon Pub and Baby Acapulco tied at 10 percent. Close behind were Doc’s, Roaring Fork, Cedar Door and Kyoto, with Brown Bar bringing up the rear.
All good happy hours. Where were Trio or Maria Maria in all this? Maybe they are still too new.
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Kanye West buys into Austonian?
Kanye West had purchased the top floor of the Austonian.
A building source says: “I hadn’t heard that.”
Can anyone confirm?
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Texas Tribune Launch at the Belmont
Now that was a mob …
John Thornton and Evan Smith
Delegates from Law, Media and Business thronged to the Belmont on Tuesday to smash a figurative champagne bottle over the Texas Tribune’s bow …
Dean and Andrea McWilliams
A nonprofit, online newspaper that covers public policy has been a years-long daydream for Austin Ventures partner John Thornton …
Kate Hersch and Richard Saja
With corporate and private donations — prompted by Thornton’s own $1 million+ ante — the Tribune is off and running …
Cynthia Baker and Whurley
As usual for major meet-ups at the Belmont, the front courtyard was shoulder-to-shoulder, but the upper decks and inside spaces promised room to breathe, nibble and sip …
Matt Waite (Hot Type Consulting), Kerri Taylor and Brandon Taylor (Tribune developer)
I talked to journalists, some formerly of the Statesman, others cherry-picked by Tribune captain Evan Smith for the new project …
Priya Nihalani and Ken Miller
Also present were publicists, lobbyists, politicians and, especially, a lot of techies …
Mark Oberholzer and Leigh Hopper
As a digital-only newspaper, the Tribune has attracted the attention and help of open-source, design and development wizards (like Mr. Whurley, already moving into alternate reality field) …
Thom Singer, Susanna Hamner and Lance Avery Morgan
News and social junkies like your columnist will keep an eye on the Tribune as it sails out into the wide, wide world of journalistic discovery.
Laura Scanlan Cho and Kenneth Cho
Ben Hine and Ximena Estrada
Steve Moakley and Natalie Bell
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Notable Women at the Long Center
The Notable Women movement had quietly exited the stage …
Toya Haley and Dr. Joni Wallace
As imagined by Vickie Roan, owner of the Menagerie, the group raised $1.3 million for the Long Center project, simply by setting aside the price of a latte a day for a year …
Jane Driscoll, Diane Lupsitz and Christina Hester
After the center opened, the Notables, as a group, slipped from view. Many of them reassembled, however, in the Kodosky Donor Lounge on Tuesday to catch up — and to learn details about the center’s upcoming 2nd anniversary party …
Tony Jelik, Bobbi Topfer and Beau Nutt
Slated for March 27, the party is built around the indestructible ’80s act Hall and Oates, with Asleep at the Wheel out in the tent, entertaining for the remaining festivities …
Patty Huffines and Vickie Roan
The color is purple for the party, which is a fresh twist for this gala-goer.
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Why Women Have Sex, Part 3
For more of “Why Women Have Sex,” scroll down to previous posts, or link to Part 1 and Part 2.
In their own words
‘I was told that if a man could dance he could perform in bed. I did not believe this and wanted to see if it was true. … We ended up having sex and yes he was as good in bed as he was on the dance floor. … He literally danced while having sex. It was wonderful.’ — heterosexual woman, age 29
‘I had sex with someone who had a great sense of humor because every time I was with him, I had a great time. I have never had so much fun with anyone else as I had with him.’ — heterosexual woman, age 27
‘The reason I had sex with my ex-husband? I was young, I was 16 years old, and I wanted him to stay with me. I thought by having sex it would ensure a committed relationship. It didn’t, but at the time you could not have made me see that. I equated sex (with) love. And the more we made love, I thought, the more he must love me. I was a fool.’ — heterosexual woman, age 41
‘My husband cheated with my best friend, so I had an affair with her husband for three months. I did not feel guilty at all.’ — heterosexual woman, age 44
‘Sometimes, it was easier to just give in and do it when he wanted rather than put up with listening to him whine and complain about how horny he was.’ — heterosexual woman, age 29
‘After I broke up with the first person that I had sex with, I wondered if sex with different people was dramatically different, so I had sex with another boy I knew and … yeah, it was definitely different.’ — predominately heterosexual woman, age 18
‘I have had sex with my boyfriend to make my sexual skills better for the both of us. I see it as each time I have sex I’m also choosing to do it to heighten my skills so we can both have an even better experience than the last.’ — heterosexual woman, age 20
‘You know the situation with your spouse where you really want to please them sexually because you want to have your own way on something. Little things like choosing (where to eat) dinner.’ — heterosexual woman, age 25
‘(Sex) is a stress reliever, and let’s face it, most of the time men don’t care why, they’re just happy to help along.’ — predominately heterosexual woman, age 22
‘I can’t really describe this experience … but pure joy and connection with another person I feel is becoming closer to the cycles of life and the underlying, palpable energy of the world … in essence, God.’ heterosexual woman, age 21
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Why Women Have Sex, Part 2
For Part 1 of “Why Women Have Sex,” scroll down to the previous post, or go here.
“(It’s) the most fascinating and illuminating look at female sexuality since Alfred Kinsey’s ‘Sexual Behavior in the Human Female,’ ” says Mary Roach, author of “Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.”
The Meston-Buss book is informed by evolutionary psychology (Buss’ expertise) about mate selection and psychophysiology (Meston’s specialty) on the female body’s response to sex.
“In the past, most people believed that whatever worked for men worked for women,” Meston says of her research. When male sexual enhancement drugs came on the market, for instance, pharmaceutical companies poured money into her research, hoping to find the first “pink Viagra.” With new measurement techniques, they discovered women’s bodies didn’t operate in the same way. (Mere genital blood flow did not trigger a sexual response in women’s brains.)
“What we’ve learned about the basic physiology of women’s sex in the past 10 years has exceeded what was learned in the previous 30, ever since Masters and Johnson,” she says.
What makes this book a potential best-seller are the words of the women themselves. The study respondents are remarkably candid.
“They could be entertaining, funny and heart-wrenching” says Meston, who spent months and months sorting through the colloquial responses. “Some say it succinctly, eloquently.”
Meston hopes the female readers who might not have reflected on why they have sex will be open to the variety of experiences recorded in the book.
“Some turn out well, some badly,” Meston says of sexual choices. “For these reasons, I feel good. For these reasons, I feel bad. Maybe we can make fewer negative choices.”
More to come …
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Why Women Have Sex, Part 1
“It’s complicated.”
No, that’s not how Cindy Meston lists her relationship status on her Facebook page.
“We both knew it was a question that had not been asked in the research literature,” Meston said. “People wondered, ‘What do you mean? Of course, it’s because we want to feel good.’ But we found it’s much more complicated than that.”
In fact, in two related surveys, women reported a full range of human responses, citing spirituality, conquest, sympathy, revenge, boredom, loneliness, curiosity, practice, attraction, esteem, reproduction, variety, evaluation, friendship, attention, submission, power, romance, pleasure, punishment, stress, adventure, barter, commitment, duty, infatuation, competition, guilt, coercion, jealousy and stimulation, among other motivations.
“We categorized them into 237 reasons,” said Meston, co-author with Buss of the book “Why Women Have Sex,” which has landed the psychology professors on “Dr. Phil” and “The Rachael Ray Show.”
“Most of what was known before was how to turn on a woman — physical cues, emotional cues, romantic cues, holding hands and so forth. Also the confidence and status of the man. This study told us so much more,” she says.
More to come …
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Austin Celebrity Roundup
It’s been a while. Sorry. We’ll catch up on Austin celebrities in installments.
Sherry Jameson of Annies Cafe and Bar on Congress Avenue hung out with Woody Harrelson at the Austin Film Festival wrap party at the Belmont. Jameson’s family got to know Texan Harrelson while he worked on movies in Smithville. Pictured: Janice Hurst (Sherry’s sister); Brenda Mitchell (Sherry’s sister), Woody Harrelson, Joanne Flynn and Sherry Jameson.
Multiple Hollywood sources say that Austin director Robert Rodriguez has walked away from a proposed movie of the futuristic TV cartoon, “The Jetsons.” Apparently, so did actor Jim Carrey, who was jawed as George Jetson.
What need reporters, when celebrities like Lance Armstrong tweet it all, including the take from his recent Sotheby’s charity bike auction: “1.3 mil raised for @livestrong!!! So incredibly humbling. From (artist) Damien Hirst’s masterpiece Tour de France ‘finale’ Trek Madone covered in real butterflies, to the KAWS ‘Chompers’ cycle that I broke my collarbone on in the Vuelta Castilla y Leon, every ride is a treasured piece of personal history that I’m proud to offer up to benefit LIVESTRONG.”
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Riverside: Highland and Lowland
I’ll take the high road and, what the heck, I’ll take the low road, too.
While the Colorado River floodplains and flanking hills define the terrain North-South, socially, Riverside is divided along a jagged, line between large apartment complexes to the East and small single-family zones to the West. The latter is crisscrossed by Parker Lane and Woodland Avenue, leading to narrow strips of cliff-side developments.
Among the steep, highland mounds — nobody driving Riverside or Interstate 35 can imagine how steep — the autumn flowers had dulled, but groundwater had risen to replenish the trees. Few birds lingered late in the morning, but two hawks flashed overhead. One encounters not so many dog-walkers as in nearby, gentler Travis Heights, but plenty of yard-dabblers, and a few water-toting trekkers like ourselves.
Only scattered evidence of pre-World War II activity here, mostly down along Old Riverside and up on Taylor-Gaines Street. (Were these names of settlers of that hilltop? Non-snarky readers please reply).
Otherwise, the highland homes fall into two categories: Mid-century moderns, built after work began on the interstate, some of them fastidiously placed on hillsides; and less thoughtful 1970s versions of Colorado chalets and Arizona desert ranchers, with skirts of milky limestone for local flavor. No longer hidden, this neighborhood remains a gem.
The sweet find this trip was a hilltop homestead plot on Parker. Ancient oaks guard the hill’s crest and a meadow drops down to a pond, probably feeding the almost completely erased Harpers Branch. The lot is for sale. That probably excites developers, but it would also make a superb, vest-pocket park in an area lacking them, especially if playgrounds were added to the vast lawns of two churches across the street.
These upper neighborhoods remain pretty much intact. No so the giant apartment complexes in the lowlands, almost all demolished (easily, given their temporary nature). A walk along Lakeside Drive and its LCRA-planted oak alleys explains why the area was targeted for new mix-use development. In any city, this would be a coveted location, so near downtown, the lake and Lakeside Park.
University of Texas students once dominated this area, as well as the apartments on the hillsides across Riverside Drive. No longer. Immigrants gather on the landings and cook in the courtyards. Some have fleshed out balconies with plants and decoration, which seems a little sad, since many of the remaining buildings will go, too.
Immigrants infuse Pleasant Valley Road, East Riverside and East Oltorf with enormous, international energy. Taquerias, carnerias, panderias, along with Vietnamese, Chinese, Indonesian and Mediterranean cafes, battle against American fast-food chain (guess which nutritionists and foodies would probably back).
No wonder H-E-B is expanding its keystone store at Pleasant Valley and Riverside. Would be a good time to partner with the city to finish the sidewalks along that side of Pleasant Valley, since a steady stream of families trod the mud between the grocery store and the authentic Gran Mercado complex down the street.
Developers, neighborhood activists and city planners are taking the next steps carefully. Overwhelming logic supports the boardwalk extension of the hike-and-bike trail. Also the balance between new amenities and affordable housing in the lowlands. Well-maintained landscaping and pedestrian crossings would help Oltorf and Riverside.
Eventually, one assumes, the soul-chilling acres of concrete parking lots will disappear as the area population diversifies. I predict an internationally-flavored organic grocery store will eventually replace American Bingo, one of the area’s most painful eyesores. I’d bet on it.
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Maria Groten’s Surprise Party at Kiss & Fly
One does not need a reason to glorify Maria Groten …
Claudia and Maria Groten
She’s a leader in the Style and Charity fields, while her husband, Eric, bolsters those endeavors through the worlds of Law and Arts …
Jeff and Allison Swope (recently of New York City
Yet a 40th birthday does not go unheralded, even if Groten can look half that age, at least when spiraling across a dance floor …
Clinton Peña and Douglas Kennedy
Early in the evening, Eric took Maria to dinner, where they happened to “meet” Zach Theatre director Dave Steakley and his partner, real estate agent Tony Johnson …
Dave Steakley, Julia McCurley, Dave McCurley and Tony Johnson
After dinner, the three men escorted Maria into the vast and empty (at that comparatively early hour) Kiss & Fly club, then down the stairs to the dim basement bar, where scads of friends from all fields wished her well among hugs, backstories and more dancing ….
David Garza and Rachel Saldaña
Why a gay bar for the Grotens? Well, let’s see … Style, Charity, Arts, Law. Let’s just say they have a few gay friends …
Tim Crowley (in from Marfa) and Emily Keeton (Santa Monica)
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