Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2010 > October > 24 > Entry
Just Wandering Around Austin on a Saturday Night
The evening began at Chuy’s on Barton Springs Road. Clangy, peppy vibe. Tourists shoehorned into every crack and cranny.
Discussed old theaters, universities, nightlife and such with dear friend and stage director Scott Shattuck, now chairman of the theater department at Stephen F. Austin University, and his colleague, Alan “Butch” Nielsen, who teaches history of the cinema, playwriting and other courses there in Nacogdoches.
Next stop: Mexic-Arte Museum at Congress Avenue and Fifth Street. The Viva la Vida Fest, which is the arts center’s reconfigured Day of the Dead party. A block of East Fifth Street was cordoned off for booths, sculptures and a stage, where a band played cross-cultural music.
Ashley Vasquez, Carolyne Aguilar and Cassandra Cazares
Almost without warning, the Day of the Dead parade arrived, swooping around Congress Avenue from its start at Plaza Saltillo. It was a sight. Seriously researched, head-to-toe costumes, make-up and banners. in typical Austin fashion, all races embraced a Mexican tradition, cultivated here for decades by Mexic-Arte. Director Sylvia Orozco grinned: “Our biggest ever.”
Alana Macias and Blue Osiris
Just up the street, the weekend-long revels continued inside Arthouse at the Jones Center. Saturday’s guests did not face the same donation barrier as some did on Friday for the re-opening dinner. The place is now truly launched, though as director Sue Graze says, the test will come Tuesday, when Arthouse opens its doors again, but without the parties.
Emily Kaye and Erika Schultz
Poked my head into the Driskill Hotel, thick with folks wearing Austin Film Festival badges. They huddled near the bar, ducked into conference rooms, set up shop in the lobby. I was looking for the Mimi Foundation’s Black Tie event. Either I had the wrong date or the wrong place in my iPhone, but it was nowhere to be found.
David Drummond and Marimo Berk
So off to the Austin Convention Center. There, in one of those airplane-hangar rooms, hundreds awaited the Livestrong Challenge Fundraising Appreciation Dinner. A trim, fit crowd, as one would surmise beforehand, running, walking or biking for the cure this weekend.
Nick Reistad and Ben Raby
The cancer-fighting foundation’s staff jumped to my assistance, but I preferred to wander around the diners, making small talk. Everyone awaited Lance Armstrong, who was scheduled to answer guests’ questions, plus “Grey’s Anatomy” headliner Patrick Dempsey, the additional star power for the evening.
Tesha and Tana Karn
Said one cyclist: “People who run frown. People who bike smile.” I’ll have to pay more attention to that. I might add: “People who walk dream.”
I was not there to dine, though. And, when conversation petered out, before the stars arrived on stage, I pointed my feet south toward home, a little bummed that I had let a celebrity report slip away.
Chris Brewer and Mona Patel
Then what before my eyes should appear at South Congress Avenue and Academy but ol’ “J.K. Livin’,” — Matthew McConaughey and equally tanned, sleek partner Camila Alves, ambling around a corner with tots in tow.
Nice touch, Austin fates.
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By Anne Rodgers
October 24, 2010 3:05 PM | Link to this
Wonderful report, Michael. No one else has your sure touch for detail.