Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2010 > March > 12
Friday, March 12, 2010
SXSW 4: Tocquigny Party in the Frost Tower + Parkside
This party comes with a following. The full-service advertising agency Tocquigny matches well with SXSW Interactive. Several folks who attended last year recommended it. But I didn’t commit until I’d been contacted directly by Craig Saper, and, later Mary Anne Connolly. (Good to have friends who know their parties. And human interaction counts.)
Craig Saper and Yvonne Tocquigny
Just about everybody who attended — and it looked like 500 to me — snapped shots of the sunset behind the Austin skyline for the offices on the Frost Tower’s 17th floor. The Austonian, Ashton, Monarch, Spring, 360 and W significantly alter that view. I think in a generally good way.
I met several interesting folks, including Mickey Ristroph and John Arrow, the minds behind MutualMobile, Inc. They create apps for the iPhone and shared funny stories about apps good and bad. But I spent the most time with Saper, a born storyteller. He’s in charge of entertainment branding for Tocquigny. I could see him as a movie or TV producer some day. But that’s just me.
John Arrow and Mickey Ristroph
I ingested merely a few corn chips at Tocquigny, so I headed down Congress, then Sixth Street, thick with tourists from basketball and SXSW, to try the rabbit terrine and marscapone ravioli at Parkside. Parkside is an oasis on Sixth and, partly because of its WiFi, but also for its superior food, it will be a regular posting stop for me during the fests.
I met a little group of California filmmakers there, crowding up to the bar. I recommended Parkside’s viognier, though making it clear that Texans can make the varietal almost as well as the French.
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SXSW 3: Convention Center Fun
By now, you’ve heard about the Great SXSW False Alarm of 2010. A few hours ago, when I sat down on the fourth floor of the Austin Convention Center to post this entry, sirens blared and lights flashed. The center was evacuated. (Follow the tweets; follow the tweets: @outandabout.)
Thousands of conventioneers exited calmly down the wide sets of stairs and poured onto Trinity Street. Nobody panicked. I talked to some volunteers, Austinites, and they couldn’t tell what to do right away, because of the horn sounds and their assignments. Eventually people figured it out. It appears that not the whole convention center was emptied. Hard to tell on the ground, but everybody on their electronic devices checking with the rest of the building.
I ran into several Austinites — including marketer Jason Stoddard and Austin Woman magazine executive editor Mary Anne Connolly — plus a playwright, Gavin Dahl, I somehow dissed back in the 1990s. He’s in community radio now. Doesn’t hold a grudge. Also met Cynthia McGrail, community outreach manager for Emmis Marketing, a friend of Connolly and a good sport, given our little fire-alarm trauma.
Cynthia McGrail and Mary Anne Connolly
The scene at the center is totally transformed this year. More like a carnival. Cafes and shops everywhere. Background rhythms and splashes of color. Registration is in a exhibition room, so more convenient, if still a bit confusing.
Now that the Hilton is being used for SXSW events, crowds amble back and forth from the center. Guests are soaking up the glorious weather, too, at outside seating areas. Then they head out, mostly west toward Congress, but some north to Sixth. I headed to the Tocquigny party in the Frost Tower.
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SXSW 2: Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony
If you followed my tweets last night (@outandabout), you know that the 10th anniversary Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards ceremony has lost none of its mojo. While the Pre-Party on Thursday was more muted than usual — the better to savor deep conversations, Shannon Moody — the big party at Austin Studios was as glamorous as ever, even without A-List Hollywood star power.
The outer tent and the inner studios looked classier, the outside decked in black and white, the inside shades of Technicolor. (Did anyone else perceive the color progression?) I counted more than 35 photographers and videographers on the red carpet (that’s where the Statesman’s Larry Kolvoord and Jenny Jones captured the accompanying images). I hung back, catching up with Austin celebs before they entered the dining area.
My table, titled “Marfa,” was cool, near the back where I could scan the human circus and tweet on my laptop without disturbing anyone. City of Austin maven Jim Butler — looking hale and hardy — and I caught up while we exchanged greetings to friends, old and new.
Surfer-phase Thomas Haden Church made a hilarious host, unless you are inflexibly Republican and objected to his calling Gov. Rick Perry a “gay robot.” (It’s a joke.) He was pretty bawdy all evening, saying to event co-founder Evan Smith, “Bring me those French vanilla buttocks!” Earlier, he called Smith and event co-founder Louis Black “tiny mole men.”
As always, the Austin Film Society videos amazed, including a long one about the event’s 10th anniversary. Appropriately, Smith and Black offered their memories. Mostly, Black congratulated his friends and colleagues, thereby congratulating himself. (No mention of the Statesman’s award-winning film writers, for instance.) Smith saluted a wider range of contributors, thereby congratulating the community.
The presenters and honorees entertained: Tim Matheson told of a brawl shared with Bruce McGill when they were researching frat parties. Watching McGill’s clips proved he really deserves the honor. McGill: “The hardest thing I had to do to become a professional actor is leave Austin.”
The live auction, on the other hand, was chaos. Grammy Award party package went for $12,500; walk-on role for “Entourage” for $11,500. Lyle Lovett gave the most dignified, touching presentation of the evening for Lukas Haas. During his acceptance speech, we learned Haas’ grandfather was an editor at the Statesman.
Looking and sounding spookily like LBJ, Michael Nesmith spoke philosophically, movingly, almost as if he was accepting the Nobel Prize. Richard Linklater introduced Quentin Tarantino as Honorary Texan after awesome clips. QT proved more than eloquent and gracious himself, thanking the “hometown away from my hometown.” I’m always on the fence about the eccentric filmmaker — I thought “Inglourious Basterds” was three good films searching for a great one — but he won my heart here.
Over all, a blast. On with SXSW!
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