Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2010 > October
October 2010
Random Scenes from Blackmail 13
I dropped in on designer Gail Chovan’s boutique before and after her 13th anniversary show. Heard the actual walk was flocked with Austin’s style, nightlife and arts elites. Check style blogs for descriptions of the line revealed Friday evening.
Last-minute madness
Celebrity tailor
The crowning headdress of the evening
The exhausted paramour
The fashion divinity in repose with attendant demi-mortal
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St. Jude’s Gala at the Driskill Hotel
How do young people choose a charity? It’s a mystery to most leaders in the nonprofit field.
Jeremy Benson and Melissa Matherne
For whatever reasons — national prominence, clear goals, firm local network — St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital pulls in a remarkably youthful mass to its Austin affairs. This, despite the habit of booking opposite prominent traditional fundraisers.
Alexis Seidel and Devon McGoldrick
Thursday, that group moved indoors from the GSD&M courtyard — its home the past few years — to the Driskill Hotel upper lobby. That made the event chummier, louder, a bit more intense.
Ron Oliveira and Marilyn Aboussie
One of the novelties of St. Jude’s is the loyalty of Lebanese Americans to a cause founded and championed by famed comedian Danny Thomas, born Amos Alphonsus Muzyad Yakhoob in Deerfield, Mich. I met several organizers and guests of Lebanese descent who treasure their association with St. Jude’s.
Elisa and Joshua Farrow
Whatever the reasons, St. Jude’s flourishes in Austin.
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Eloise DeJoria backs the Palmer Drug Abuse Program
Hard to imagine now, as she relaxes in healthy repose at her spa-like house on Lake Austin, but Eloise DeJoria knows a little something about teenage rebellion.
At age 14, she hitchhiked with two girls to San Francisco, camping out in Janis Joplin’s former apartment. By age 15, the tomboy, who rode horses through the wilds of West Houston, was already pregnant and married.
One of her core charities is the small Palmer Drug Abuse Program, which provides a peer-oriented, 12-step recovery sequence for teens and their families.
Thursday, the program — known almost universally as “PDAP,” pronounced “pu-DAP” — will benefit from a private dinner, catered by the Four Seasons, and concert by Jimmie Vaughan at Antone’s. DeJoria, one of Austin’s warmest and most accessible socializers, plans to attend.
DeJoria, quietly mesmerizing and playful at age 53, looking more than a little like movie star Tuesday Weld in her prime, praises PDAP’s emphasis on spirituality and companionship.
“I know so many friends affected by alcohol or drugs,” she says. “In PDAP, you meet the most spiritual, wonderful human beings. You become lifelong friends. The answer to drugs is not doing them. But you have to replace (them) with something else. You join the sunshine and fresh air.”
DeJoria is profoundly loyal to friends of many years, including Kelly Sellers, wife to Gregg Sellers, executive director of the Austin PDAP program. (The duo goes by “Kelly and Elly” and have known each other since Eloise was 22 and Kelly was 17.)
Recovery is something of a family endeavor. One of DeJoria’s sons, Justin Harvey, has opened a Georgetown recovery center called the Arbor.
“Between Arbor and PDAP: Two ways to save the kids,” says John Paul DeJoria, 66, as he glides through the kitchen of the white-walled, Dick Clark-redesigned house, barefoot and in jeans.
How did this charismatic couple, who give so generously of their time and treasure to Austin charities, end up on the shores of Lake Austin?
Living in Los Angeles in the 1990s, Eloise DeJoria longed to be closer to her mother, Anne Broady, who, at age 92, now lives in Temple. She contemplated an apartment by the lake.
“My soul was missing Texas,” she says. “Then John Paul said: Just go ahead and get a home there.”
She fell in love with a property shown by Tosca Gruber at the end of a West Austin lane. Located on a rounded peninsula, the landscaped expanse is protected by a grotto of high canyon walls across the lake. Golden retrievers, children, grandchildren, a chef and laborers circulate around the hidden house and yard as DeJoria is interviewed.
“This whole property is so healing,” DeJoria says. “My sons live close to us here in Austin. I wish we had all six kids here. I’d really love that.”
The health-conscious couple also owns a home in Las Vegas, Nev., but they spend more time these days in Malibu, Calif. They own an apartment in New York City and plan to bring the whole family together for Christmas in Beaver Creek, Colo.
One son, John Anthony, 13, was raised almost entirely in Austin. At six feet tall, he’s a cross-country running star at his school and appears in creative Paul Mitchell advertisments.
His mother, who once supported her eldest sons with a modeling career, has appeared on TV shows such as “Dallas” and “Friday Night Lights,” and in movies like “Weekend at Bernie’s” and, most recently, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.”
Her husband, the formerly homeless marketing mastermind, built his business empire around Paul Mitchell products, the Patrón Spirits Company and, now, John Paul Pet, a line of pet grooming products.
“He’s the hard worker,” Eloise says. “I’m the artist type.”
They both stand behind the recovery program, however, which was started in 1971 at Palmer Episcopal Church in Houston and now thrives in several cities in Texas.
“It’s a program that can change a child’s life,” Eloise says. “A counselor is always there. Parents belong to groups who are exhausted from the disease.”
“The peer component so important,” says Gregg Sellers, who has increased the local program’s annual budget from $5,000 to $150,000, while working as a licensed real estate agent with Horizon Realty. “Other 12-step programs are for adults. This is directed to teens and their families. I wish we had free housing. One of our aspirations is to have a PDAP safe house. That’s the next step.”
The program’s staff of five currently serves 25 young people and 30 parents, having helped more than 1,000 during its time in Austin.
Eloise DeJoria adds another core principle, which could be applied to her life story, as well as to the recovery philosophy: “Stick with winners in order to grow.”
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Rostow Awards at the AT&T Center
I didn’t know Elspeth or Walt Rostow, though I’ve made the acquaintance of their talented daughter, Ann. The thoughtful national leaders shook up Austin when they arrived at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in 1969. And they left behind the Austin Project, which attempts to strengthen families, improve education and promote literacy, especially in East Austin.
Yvonne Van Dyke and Diana Resnik
Its comprehensive strategy reminds me a bit of the Harlem Children’s Zone project, soon to be introduced into the Austin area. For almost two decades, the Austin Project has quietly pushed lifelong health and learning, which is probably why such luminaries as Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, past and present Austin school superintendents Pat Forigione and Meria Carstarphan, Texas State University president Denise Trauth and numerous political leaders landed at the Rostow Awards on Thursday.
Texas State University Chancellor Brian McCall and Rep. Elliott Naishtat
Once again, the lobby at the AT&T Center proved too small and too loud for the early reception. Yet the banquet hall more than handled the diners, more manageable than the Habitat for Humanity and New Milestones Foundation events just days ago. By happenstance, I sat at the Wells Fargo table again, and learned much from my dinner companions, past, present and future Austin Project board members.
Dale Rogers and Sarah Lund
Two Rostow honors went out: Paul Carrozza from RunTex received the Leadership Award. Stephen Kinslow, outgoing head of Austin Community College accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award. Who could argue with these picks? No celebrities, who lined up to make video and live testimonials.
Mary Hensley and Stephen Kinslow
It sometimes strikes me at such events: How do social ills persist with such concentrated energy directed against them? Austin must count dozens of nonprofits aimed at improving education, yet, during the past decade, multiple schools collapsed under the scrutiny of statewide scrutinizers. I know, things have improved very recently. But how affective, overall, are these great groups?
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Austin Social Agenda, Nov. 1-7, 2010
So many social choices …
Nov. 1 consider joining the Austin Toros for the 2010 NBA D-League Draft Party at Hyatt Regency Austin; or attend the 36th Annual B. Iden Payne Theatre Industry Awards at the Long Center.
Nov. 2, find me at the Opera Dudes Season Kick-Off at the Long Center, part of Austin Lyric Opera’s creative Opera Stampede series of public events.
Late that Tuesday, I might drop by the Texas Tribune Election Night Anniversary Party at Arthouse at the Jones Center.
Nov. 3, the big deal is the Harvey Penick Awards for Caritas Austin saluting Teresa and Joe Long at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Also that Wednesday, an event I thoroughly enjoyed last season, Vive le Vin, devoted to the Ballet Austin Guild, moves to Mercury Hall.
Nov. 4, my entire evening is invested in the private concert with Jimmie Vaughn to benefit the Palmer Drug Abuse Program at Antone’s.
Others may be attending the Texas Hold ‘Em for Heroes, which helps Heroes for Children, at Westwood Country Club.
I’ll begin Oct. 5 with the Let There Be Hope Gala for the Glimmer of Hope Foundation at the AT&T Center.
Later, I’ll mosey over to the Casino Royale Party staged by LifeWorks Executives and Professionals at Seaholm Power Plant.
On the way, I might stop by the Austin Young Chamber Fave Awards at the Driskill Hotel.
Nov. 6 is an unholy mess, socially. The top event is Season of Song for Austin Children’s Shelter at the Four Seasons Hotel.
But several other notable invitations grace my mailbox, including the Gypsy Picnic Trailer Food Festival at Auditorium Shores; Fun Fun Fun Festival at Waterloo; the University of Texas School of Architecture Dinner; Barkitechture on Second Street for Animal Lovers of Austin; and S’more Soiree for the Girl Scouts at Camp Texlake in Spicewood.
Nov. 7 is easy: Dance the night away during the Octo Tea for the Octopus Club at the Long Center.
Perhaps earlier in the day: Somewhere in Time party for the Heritage Society of Austin at Boggy Creek Farm. ————————————————————————————————————- UPDATE: The L Style G Style party slated for the Arthouse rooftop on Nov. 6 has been canceled.
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Habitat for Humanity 25th Anniversary Gala at AT&T Center
For masters of planning and space, Habitat for Humanity misread the preliminary arrangements for its 25th Anniversary Gala. At least regarding the VIP reception slated for the first hour of the benefit party Wednesday night. Lines stretched down one AT&T Center hall. Hundreds of guests packed another, serving as a lobby for the later dinner.
Austin City Council Member Bill Spelman and Rep. Eddie Rodriguez
Seeing the crush, I almost backed away completely: “Oh, the Habitat for Humanity!”
Habitat board president Luke Ellis and board member Robbi Millest
Once inside, however, the mood brightened. A silver anniversary is a ready excuse for multiple videos, speeches, testimonials and an auction that included the ceremonial building of a stage-set house. Executive director Michael Willard and board member — and HomeAway honcho — Brian Sharples proved particularly ardent speakers. Sharples related the group’s failed efforts to draft former President Jimmy Carter for the night’s keynote: “We made the pitch right in Jimmy and Roselynn’s bedroom in Atlanta.”
James Maggio, Sylvia Maggio and Mike Friesch
They needn’t have bothered. Habitat packed the house to the rafters. Some numbers: Over the course of 25 years, the group has built 275 homes, repaired 50 more, employed 75,000 volunteers and raised $25 million. Sweet how the it all works out through multiples of 25. Further, that night’s auction raised more than $50,000, while the total take for evening will likely overtake $175,000.
Mike and Jennifer Orr
It was an evening of Michaels. Besides the Habitat ED, there was director of external relations and development Michael Kellerman. Sitting to the right of me at the Wells Fargo table was recent Milwaukee immigrant and banker Mike Friesch, to the left, Maryland ex pat and healthcare CFO Mike Orr. We engaged in circumambulating conversations well into the purple. night.
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Welcome to the Funhouse of Edward Povey and Donna Tolar
From the outside, the house bearing such a suggestive name looks unexceptional, executed in a style borrowed from Santa Fe or Mexico — rustic stucco, cool tiles, sequestered doors, shaded patios, a few bold decorative statements.
Inside, one’s expectations summersault. Each room dazzles the senses, unsettles the equilibrium, matching the warm, unpredictable personalities of the hosts: Distinguished Welsh surrealist painter and performer Edward Povey, and his American wife, Donna Tolar, also an accomplished artist.
The towering studios, bedrooms, living rooms and movie theater are crammed with items one would expect showcased in a Victorian or Edwardian museum of wonders. One tiny hallway doubles as a house of mirrors.
A bathroom replicates an old-fashioned theatrical dressing room. Thick with couches, pillows and throws, the upstairs theater mimes the grandeur of golden-age movie palaces.
Illusions skulk around every corner. As the sun sets and natural light dims, the mood alters. Shadows turn the playful pair’s collections of masks, rugs and other antique oddities into something slightly menacing. Surrealism drips into the subconscious like candle wax.
Will dinner guests witness a British murder mystery disguised as a party game? Will doors lock on the dollhouse dining room? One can never tell.
“It was not built to impress anyone,” Povey, 59, says of Sub Rosa. “Instead, it is, firstly, to delight ourselves, secondly to delight our friends.”
What inspired this bizarre theatrical set as home and work space?
“Many things,” says Povey, whose lacquered voice seems constructed for the stage. “Our travels, our time in New Orleans and Venice. Also surely our love of theater, carnival and illusion.”
“Edward and I have travelled to some very amazing places,” Tolar, 44, says. “Some were exotic, some were quite ordinary, but we gathered ideas and inspiration from them all.”
She mentions a few places in particular: Sarastro’s Restaurant, Drury Lane, London; a Victorian cottage in Seattle; the apartment of a gay theater director in New York, who has an amazing bathroom filled with Chinese toys; the Beatrix Potter museum in Cumbria, England; the Salvation Army in Palm Beach, which sells, Tolar relates, “fabulous luxury items and antiques, pennies on the dollar.”
“This is our first home we have owned together,” Tolar says (both artists were married previously to other spouses). “And I think we were a bit like children when we designed it. In previous lives, we both felt we must follow the ‘rules.’ But this time, there weren’t any adults to tell us ‘no’ — which gives it a rather playful atmosphere.”
Povey, whose first paintings were huge outdoor murals now carefully preserved in his native Wales, has spent a life in the spotlight. And he loves theaters. But the reasons for the incumbent theatricality at Sub Rosa go deeper.
“I somehow like the signs of drama and impermanence that you experience in theaters,” he says. “The mysteriousness, the magic.”
The duo’s thoroughly considered and researched paintings also influenced the details at Sub Rosa.
Dinners there start before sunset and extend well into the evening. Guest bedrooms are offered for those exhausted from conversations that range over the globe, as well as the party games and movie presentations. (A viewing of Steven Spielberg’s mind-blowing “Minority Report” completed one of our evenings there.)
“For me, I think that one half of the way that I enjoy Sub Rosa is vicariously, through our guests,” Povey says. “Frankly, I think I get self-conscious and bored in most environments.”
Tolar agrees that the glints in visitors’ eyes as they explore the wonders and illusions are worth the investment in planning and execution.
Povey and Tolar, who could live anywhere, carefully chose Central Texas as their home, not because of the landscape, or the potential of the artistic market, though their work has always sold well here.
“In my view, it is civilized,” Povey says. “People largely are kind, and isn’t that one of the most important things in life? To, if nothing else, be kind? Folks here seem aware of the preciousness of life. I cannot bear to live in places where people are unaware of the preciousness of life, and where they are not kind.”
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Give Back Jack at Headliners Club
So many suits in one setting! Give Back Jack, an effort to promote philanthropy among young businessmen, crystallized above the Austin skyline in the chummy chambers of the Headliners Club on Tuesday.
Ben De Leon and Todd Hanna
This project from the umbrella group, I Live Here I Give Here, put “table mentors” at the head of each subset of serious-faced, potential philanthropists. After scooping up servings from an enchilada buffet, the aspirants took their seats next to attorney Clarke Heidrick, St. David’s Foundation CEO Earl Maxwell, Entrepreneurs Foundation’s Eugene Sepulveda, Focus Strategies’ Gary Valdez, retired executive Gerry Newkirk, Public Strategies’ Jack Martin, National Instruments’ Jeff Kodosky, Acton Graduate School of Business’ Jeffrey R. Serra, attorney and higher-ed backer Larry Temple, Calendar Club’s Marc Winkelman, Rep. Mark Strama, Austin Ventures’ Philip Siegel, BroadBrush Ventures’ Steve Guengerich and Four Seasons’ Tom Segesta.
Russell Lemmer and Chris Steiner
That’s enough business and charity know-how to fill several Headliners Clubs. The keynote speaker was Tom Meredith, who spoke of his education (Catholic), family (wife, Lynn, and children deeply involved in philanthropy) and tips for future humanitarians, such as knowing how to ask for donations and lining up one’s passions with one’s charitable output of time, treasure and talent.
Stephen Bitter and Adam Blum
One small, wonderful distraction: The sun setting over Austin’s skyscrapers. Even towers that don’t always get critical credit looked stunning.
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Alice Feiring Reception at an Enfield home
What would bring out Austin’s hardcore oenophiles on a warm, breezy Sunday evening in October? Alice Feiring, the wine journalist and blogger, who has revolutionized contemporary writing about the grape.
Jeremy Parzen and Alice Feiring
First, about the house: This was my first visit to Patricia Winston and Bill Head’s museum to pleasure on Enfield Road. The 1920s Spanish Colonial, hidden behind vines and shrubbery above a Shoal Creek tributary, corkscrews around multiple stairwells into fanciful rooms stacked with antiques, books, magazines and maps. To while away a weekend there!
Stan and Lisa Duchman
Back to the other sybarites: Jeremy Parzen, the consultant and natural wine advocate, led the pack. Ed and Susan Auler of Fall Creek Vineyards, Trio sommelier Mark Sayre, Julio Hernandez of D’Amore Wine Selections, author Mary Gordon Spence and restaurant consultant Mike Dyer were among those present, thick in the humid kitchen.
Lesley Boucher and Mary Gordon Spence
Feiring? Not to fear this sometimes polarizing expert, who fights against the “Parkerization” of the field, and sniffs out the best of natural wine makers. Petite, sweet, ginger-headed and — news to me! — a dancer, she charmed the masses here and, according to reports, at a Vino Vino wine dinner.
Rich, heady reds from 1960 and 1962 were the highlights of the Enfield evening. You’ll have to ask the wine experts about them, though, since I was focused on the folks.
UPDATE: Patricia Winston’s last name was missing from an earlier post of this story.
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On the Austin fan ‘stalked’ by Taylor Swift
It started with a cross-country road trip organized by Schupp’s mother, Rocio Hendrix for her three children (Victoria was adopted from a Kazakhstan orphanage when she was four). When asked where in all the United States she wanted to travel, Schupp had said: Nashville “to see what Taylor Swift’s hometown was like.”
Shopping for snacks, the country singer spotted Schupp wearing a concert T-shirt and followed her, peering into several stores before surprising her in a game shop.
Swift asked Schupp if she was from Nashville, to which the girl responded: “No, we are from Austin and came here to go to the Blue Bird Cafe, where you were discovered, we were just there taking pictures.”
Fans and star talked for at least 10 minutes, says Hendrix.
“She basically just listened to us blabber about how we couldn’t believe how amazingly nice she was for following my daughter,” Hendrix says. “I was in tears so excited to see my daughter radiating happiness and hugging Taylor.”
The Austinites were in such shock, they forgot to ask for an autograph — Hendrick’s walls are adorned with 19 Swift posters — much less a back-stage pass.
“Taylor made that day the best day of my life,” Schupp says. “She is a wonderful, caring person and it’s cool that she gives back to her fans and treats us so nicely.”
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Signature Chefs for March of Dimes at the Four Seasons
So many great cooks contribute so mightily to the social and charitable scenes that a function called Signature Chefs of Austin might be overlooked some seasons. Take my advice: Don’t overlook it.
Lauren Patak and Nique Allen
Sunday at the Four Seasons Hotel, a dozen or so area celebrity chefs brought along fairly full kitchen teams to whip up wonders in a Moroccan-themed setting. Unlike most food sampling parties, here the bites were made on the spot in the same rush of choreographed competence one finds in top kitchens.
John and Shannon Dorsey
The annual event supports the March of Dimes — and has raised more than $3 million for that charitable group — but it also markets some of Austin’s finest dining establishments. Chefs compete pointedly to outdo one another, more so than at Food & Film, La Dolce Vita and even the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival, to name just a few similar events.
Katherine and Mason Reay
One of the hits of the night was a lightly sauteed fish on sprightly micro-greens from Eddie V’s. Other gourmands were drawn to undeniably original creations from Uchiko, which may have made statewide food history by jumping from zero to two stars in Texas Monthly’s restaurant listings just months after opening.
I caught up with Cameron Lockley from La Sombra, who agreed that it was tough choosing the best chef of the bunch.
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Fall Fusion at Dell Jewish Community Campus
For the 10th anniversary party, Fall Fusion felt especially classy.
Harriett Kirsh Pozen and Phil Spertus
The annual celebration at the Dell Jewish Community Campus has, in the past, leaned on costumes, themed decor and theatrical fun.
Fall Fusion 2010 chairwomen Lauren Halpern and Joan Swartz
This time, under a glorious sky, the Austin Jewish Community Association’s backers, dressed in dignified cocktail wear, met around the center’s pool for kosher snacks. Conversation among the Orthodox, Reformed and Conservative disciples zigged and zagged. I was pleased by the number of dedicated Out & About readers in the mix.
Keith Zimmerman and JCC CEO Jay Rubin
Inside, Luci Baines Johnson, looking extraordinarily healthy after her bout with a paralyzing disease, greeted guests before conferring the LBJ Humanitarian Award on Phil Spertus. I got to know Phil and his wife Sylvia Spertus years ago when he led the Austin Lyric Opera board. The former Chicagoans have supported numerous other causes and Phil helped establish the JCC on former Hart Ranch land.
Luci Baines Johnson and Sylvia Spertus
Other honorees included Harriett Kirsh Pozen, who directs Candlelight Ranch; Keith Zimmerman, president of the JCC when the campus was being organized; and Linda Millstone, who also helped lead the JCC to its current location. In fact, all four honorees were instrumental in the move 10 years ago.
Amy Mitchell and Sarah Mitchell
A walking tour and history of the Hart Ranch — winter home for Milton and Dorothy Hart beginning in 1940 — was included in the voluminous program guide to Fall Fusion. I didn’t stay for the latter part of the party, but I learned a good deal about the JCC and modern Austin history.
Plus, I caught up with some of my favorite Austinites, including Suzanne and Marc Winkelman, with whom I should start a car pool, since we attend so many of the same events.
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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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Arthouse at the Jones Center Reopening Parties
Director Sue Graze looked ecstatic. Key backers, such as Stephen Jones and Julie Thornton, glowed as giddily as new parents. Crowds oozed up and down the multiple levels of Arthouse at the Jones Center, emitting audible “Oos” and “Ahs” over the lofty rooms, punctured walls and dark wood slats.
Julie Thornton and John Spong
Thursday, artists had previewed the totally re-imagined contemporary arts center on Congress Avenue. Austin Film Festival attendees, tourists and ordinary nightclubbers paused to gape at the building’s transparent skin, or to gaze up at the revelers peeking over the rooftop parapet. (I watched this parade from the Stephen F. terrace.)
Michael and Nicholas Catanese (Yes! My notes were right!)
Friday, holders of $1,000 dinner tickets paused on the second floor, wondering if the installation of rough dinnerware and furniture — constructed from recycled materials from the former movie theater and department store — was the actual dining area. Nice moment.
Eddie Safady and David Whiteaker
Everywhere were the titans of latter day Austin’s arts evolution: Jeanne and Mickey Klein, Suzanne Booth, Stephen Mills, Cookie Ruiz, etc. Also socializers of the first rank, plus a sprinkling of media. The mood elevated as guests rose to the miraculous rooftop, where the actual dinner took place.
Alice and Eric Foultz with Suzanne Deal Booth
At our table: Banker and backer Eddie Safady, arts leader Anne Elizabeth Wynn, filmmaker Joaquin Avellan, foundation captain Eugene Sepulveda, architectural designer David Whiteaker, contractor Howard Yancy and psychologist Mary Yancy. Conversations loosened up more generously than is usual at gala events. The guests seemed liberated by the occasion to act as if were were all close friends around a domestic table.
Margo Sawyer and Alisa Weldon
As the night stretched on, the next wave of partiers ($125 tickets) mixed casually with the diners. Today and Sunday, admission is free, ushering hundreds more into the galleries. This kind of phased party makes so much sense. Everyone pays what they — or their hosts — can afford.
Stephen Mills, Cookie Ruiz and Brent Hasty
The charity wins. Everyone mixes. It’s so Austin.
UPDATE: An earlier version of this post had Stephen Jones’ first name wrong. The ticket prices are now correct.
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Plastic Pollution Coalition Reception at a West Austin Home
The image of an albatross feeding its chick household plastics helped change the mind of artist Dianna Cohen. She researched the oceanic gyres of plastic pollution and the additives to plastic bottles that affect human hormones. Now the artist who worked for years with plastics as base materials pushes the Plastic Pollution Coalition.
Jackson Browne and Dianna Cohen
Cohen and partner/musician Jackson Browne joined a powerhouse throng of Austinites and visitors at the house of Jack and Carla McDonald on Thursday. They mingled, listened to speeches and munched on goodies from Fête Accompli catering.
Former Mayor Will Wynn and Carla McDonald
We also heard from Coalition executive director Daniella Dimitrova Russo. The presentations were pretty darn convincing for a crowd that included Suzanne and Marc Winkelman, Kate and Robert Hersch, former Mayor Will Wynn, entrepreneur Clayton Christopher, Turk and Christy Pipkin, Eugene Sepulveda, Joe Ross, Olympian Aaron Peirsol, investor and wine expert John Gorman and Austin Ventures’ John Thornton.
Jack McDonald and Aaron Peirsol
Makes me glad we recycle plastics and avoid any containers laced with bisphenol A. Maybe we should do more.
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Film & Food for Austin Film Festival at Driskill Hotel
Film & Food may have perfected the Cross of Lorraine gala format.
Priya Shivangi, Brandy Joy Smith and Angela Oguntala
The party prequel to the Austin Film Festival employs the second floor of the Driskill Hotel, which includes a long north-south axis, stretching between a small banquet room and a large balcony over East Sixth Street.
Nevie Owens and Annie Stennes
This primary axis is crossed twice by parallel halls and side rooms, one leading to a large balcony over Brazos Street, where Whole Foods set up wondrous shop. (It was here I tasted a sticky toffee pudding to swoon over.)
Jason and Claudia Blanchette
The spatial arrangements for this annual meeting of movie artists and buffs are no small matter. Always jammed, the gala benefits from the social safety valves of the balconies and side rooms, especially since the banqueting zone is always overly popular.
Marife and Matt Dy
Wednesday, the guests, attired for the most part in shiny cocktail wear, circulated freely among the food booths. (I’d refer to them as the Stations of the Cross of Lorraine, but that might seem insensitive to some readers.) No doubt about it, this was a toothsome crowd — and one that didn’t mind posing for the dozen or so photographers present.
Weston Lipscomb and Shaadi Oreyzi
The event announces a full week of screenings, panels and parties. It seemed as if some celebrants were eager to set a fairly fast pace for the week’s social race. Friday, if the weather holds, the festival’s traditional barbecue at the French Legation should equal Film and Food for sheer compounded networking, if not gustatory complexity.
Alex Earle and Ashley Elgie
Chefs are the triumphant heroes at this event, though. Some of Austin’s superstars, such as Parkside’s Shawn Cirkiel and the Carillion’s Josh Watkins, manned the booths. The tastes remained fleeting, however, since guests rushed around to hoover up the best samples.
Victor Ratiu and Adam Schlegel
The only out-of-town celebrity spotted: Edward Burns (“Entourage,” “Saving Private Ryan”). He was mobbed by photo-seekers, so I backed away. He’s attending the fest to push “Nice Guy Johnny,” which he wrote and directed. (It is a festival devoted screenwriting, after all.)
Jeremy and Maihan Leigh
My only complaint: The volume of the music. One couldn’t carry on a conversation. A gala is not a nightclub. One does yearn, after all, to chat with the scintillating guests abounding.
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Democratic Reception at Hotel St. Cecilia
It all boiled down to the surprise guest.
David Mendoza and Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza
Democrats assembled at Liz Lambert and Amy Cook’s blissful Hotel St. Cecilia for an election-season reception.
Ginny Woodruff and Tom Vole
Numerous candidates, party faithful and at least one “Lone Star” cast member mingled, chatting not much about the nitty gritty of politics as neighborhood history, Austin social trends and the tartness of the margaritas. A few area legislative seats seem to be in serious play come November, and since Democrats are the incumbents, brows furrowed at the mention.
Divit Tripathi and Becca Cody
The main draw to the oak-shrouded courtyard at dusk was the unannounced celebrity. Surely it would not be the same as the names that decorated a recent, less public $10,000-a-couple reception at a Four Seasons Residence condo.
Beth Broderick and Andy Brown
As the honored guest crossed my line of vision, Travis County Democratic Party chairman Andy Brown whispered: “There goes our future president.”
Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro
The man was San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, indeed charismatic and gracious as he could be. A crucial mid-term election looms, but chatter gravitates toward matters presidential. Politics never takes a breather in Austin.
UPDATE: A previous version of this post published the wrong first name for David Mendoza.
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New Milestones Champions at AT&T Center
The other champion-themed event on Tuesday was the New Milestones Champions gala at the AT&T Center. Up until the very end, this was an ideal introduction to a group about which I knew little. The New Milestones Foundation raises money for those in our community with mental illness, plain and simple.
Diana Resnik and Scout Carr
Gala organizers adroitly used the lobby and ancillary spaces around the upstairs AT&T banquet room for the early reception. The tables inside were thoughtfully arranged — I sat at a stellar table with some guests I knew, like Judith Sims and Chris Mattsson, but also temporary strangers to me, such as Jackie Gaer, whose stories about adopting the late Molly Ivins’ house and gardens in Travis Heights kept me transfixed. Originally, I was to sit with gala chairs My Cherie and Anthony Haley, but she delivered their son, Tosh, on Saturday!
Kappie Bliss, Kathy Cronkite and Kesha Dirkson
In what is now familiar fashion — Helping Hand Home did almost exactly the same thing earlier in the day for its Champions for Children Luncheon — the heroes were introduced through videos and honorifics. They included John Rosato from Southwest Strategies Group; Diana Resnik from Seton and Dr. Celia Neavel from People’s Community Clinic.
Kathryn Hillhouse, Judith Sims and Chris Mattsson
But the high point of the evening — maybe of the week — was the intensely moving keynote address from Kathy Cronkite. The author, radio personality and daughter of the late Walter Cronkite recalled her battles with depression in a such plain, concrete English, nobody listening could possibly have misunderstood her experiences. Despite counting close relatives among those living with bipolar conditions, I honestly didn’t understand depression as thoroughly until Austinite Cronkite spoke. (Her story is recounted in her book, “On the Edge of Darkness: Conversations about Conquering Depression.”)
One needed no more potent reason to support New Milestones, especially after one gala leader threw out her follow-up speech to talk frankly about surviving her mother’s depression. Her sense of urgency carried over into an attempt to raise more money.
I won’t forget this impressive event for a long time. —————————————————————————————————————- UPDATE: The updated title of Kathy Conkite’s book is: “On the Edge of Darkness: Conversations about Conquering Depression.”
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Austin Social Agenda, Oct. 25-31
Given the blank spots on the social calendar, this may be a good week to sneak into a Longhorns soccer, volleyball or football game.
Oct. 26, one may attend Give Back Jack for I Live Here I Give Here at the Headliners Club.
Oct. 27, the big story is the Austin Habitat for Humanity Gala at AT&T Center.
Also that Wednesday, find Cupcakes and Champagne at the ModPaper Party at 1201 W. 24th St.; “Boo! The Sing-A-Long” cabaret at M Two; Heroes Dinner for Texas Regional Office of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at Westin Austin at the Domain; or a Austin Classical Guitar Society function at the Bauer House.
Oct. 28, the Rostow Awards honor Stephen Kinslow and Paul Carrozza at the AT&T Center
Also that Thursday, consider Lone Stars & Angels fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at the Driskill Hotel; or the Butler School of Music’s “Elixer of Love” at McCullough Theatre. And one of Austin’s most electric party bands, Ghostland Observatory, plays the Cedar Park Center.
Oct. 29, the most anticipated social event is the Byrne-Reed House Re-Opening for Humanities Texas.
Also that Friday, I hope to drop by Four Seasons Residences Austin Grand Opening, 13 Years at Blackmail; or the Ghoulwill Ball at Drisklll Hotel, themed to “The ’80s Resurrected.”
Oct. 30 is actually kind of clear, except for some Halloween-related parties, such as the Funk Freak Halloween Ball at Beauty Bar; Hotel San Jose’s SoCo Spooktacular; and Do512 and Sustainable Waves’ Zombie Ball at the Seaholm Power Plant.
Oct. 31, we’ll host our first Wren Cottage Feast of the cool season. Kip promises cassoulet as the centerpiece for our six guests, all friends of decades in standing.
—————————————————————————————————————- UPDATE: A previous version of this post listed the Ghostland Observatory performance on the wrong date.
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Champions for Children Luncheon at Hilton Austin
Two sets of champions were named Tuesday. The first, honored by the Helping Hand Home for Children at Hilton Austin, was a group called Champions for Children. Some 800 people attended the smoothly choreographed awards luncheon, and, although assigned to a press table, I nevertheless learned a good deal.
Erin Whitehead and Jim Spencer
ESPN sports reporter Ron Franklin made a masterly master of ceremonies. And several Longhorn dignitaries — beaming from Saturday’s victory over the Huskers — appeared. (Stern DeLoss Dodds beamed as much as he does.) My table included savvy media members such as Jim Spencer, Robert Hadlock, Leslie Rhode, Erin Whitehead and Kimberly Chassay.
Ron Franklin and DeLoss Dodds
Among the champions named during this event: The Honorable Harriet O’Neill for her work on and off the bench; Meredith Cooper of Wonders and Worries; Carolyn Nicewarner of CASA of Travis County; the Texas Wranglers student group that volunteers for Easter Seals Central Texas; foster parent Demetria Hernandez and philanthropists Pam and Neel White.
Mary Wilson and Jane Greig
I could not stay for “Good Morning America” contributing editor Lee Woodruff’s keynote address. Yet I have to say, the more I learn about Helping Hand — very old by Austin institutional standards — the more I admire its work with abused and neglected children. Wish its supporters were more integrated into the Austin social scene, but there’s no requirement as such.
More on another set of champions later in the day.
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Lady Bird’s Legacy meets Austin Community Foundation Giving Card
A comparatively mild, wet summer has left Central Texas with a sprinkling of hardy wildflowers, usually fried to smithereens by June. Some were planted courtesy of Lady Bird’s Legacy, a multi-year project initiated by the American-Statesman to honor the late Lady Bird Johnson by raising bucks for seeds.
The Kuhls and friends donated $3,000 to dedicate a bit more than a mile of roadside wildflowers along RM 12 at Elder Hill Road.
“We chose that location since our folks drove together back and forth from Wimberley to Austin through that stretch quite a bit, and my father still does,” wrote their son, John Kuhl, to TxDOT. Officials “helped get us set up to throw a bit of seed ourselves.”
The department’s part of the program — other Legacy money goes to seeds for schoolkids and parks — forges ahead with $20,000 worth of promised flowers this season. This time, TxDOT concentrated on hills along Austin roadways. As you read this, 47 acres of bluebonnets, Indian blankets, greenthreads and more are sinking into rights of way along MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1), Interstate 35, U.S. 183 and Texas 71.
“We wanted to make sure they had good visibility,” says Dennis Markwardt, TxDOT director of vegetation management. “A lot of people drive through these areas, especially tourists along Interstate 35, U.S. 183 and Texas 71 (not so much MoPac). These are probably some of the best wildflower locations in the state.”
Markwardt’s crew avoids thick grass and flat surfaces, focusing instead on well-drained slopes. The selection of four proven species, rather than a vast array, allows him to get more bang for his limited bucks.
“I’d love to have unlimited funds, but that’s not going to happen,” he says. “Instead, we are tying to be good stewards of the land with species that come back year after year.”
What would an additional $15,000 in gifts add, if donated soon? It would seed 38 more acres identified as prime spots along Austin freeways. For information, go to statesman.com/wildflowers.
A sweet message was attached to a birthday card last week: “You are the very first recipient of an Austin Community Foundation GivingCard. It’s the newest effort to further enable charitable giving in Austin.”
My first impulse, after 21 years in journalism, was to return anything that resembled a valuable gift. Then I turned over the card: $25. Instructions direct the recipient to www.austincf.org, where I entered the card number and promptly forwarded the $25 credit to Lady Bird’s Legacy.
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Charity Auctioneer Victoria Gutierrez
The lights dim. The chatter subsides. The microphone squeals.
Time for that part of the evening many formal socializers dread — the live auction — when a fast-talking agent rattles off bids on items sold to benefit a charity. The prospect can be unappealing.
It might help that the El Paso native is a soaring, striking woman in a traditionally male role. Or that she coaxes bidders with a playful alto voice, employing humor nimbly, judiciously, effectively. Add to that, Gutierrez, 31, never “drives” the bids, meaning, if nobody is interested, nobody is interested. She moves on.
“She is one of the most delightful people I’ve ever met,” says Callie Langford, events and communications manager for CASA of Central Texas, which advocates for neglected or abused children. “So stylish, so vibrant and such a powerful presence in any room she walks into.”
Last year, Gutierrez, who lives in an apartment near the Arboretum, banged the imaginary gavel down on 64 charity auctions in 12 states. She’s overseen almost 300 events, with a total take of nearly $17 million.
“I had been to so many auctions as a child,” says the daughter of the late Carlos Gutierrez, a dairy farmer, and Vicky Gutierrez, a housewife. “They were boring and long. My attitude: Get them in and out fast, keep it fun, upbeat.”
Gutierrez grew up with two sisters and a brother in El Paso’s Eastridge neighborhood, attending Catholic schools before switching to Faith Christian Academy as a senior. “I had spent 11 years in all-girl schools,” says the “happily single” Gutierrez with a knowing smile. The “kind of nerdy” scholar excelled at student council and yearbook, but not so much at athletics.
“I was horrible at basketball,” she laughs. “I ran the wrong way with the ball. I was just tall.”
She spent her freshman college year at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., but when her father fell ill, Gutierrez returned home to attend the University of Texas at El Paso. She eventually graduated from St. Edward’s University in Austin with a degree in international and corporate relations, then followed that with a master’s degree in English, cultural studies and public affairs.
Almost as soon as she left the classroom, Gutierrez started giving back, modestly at first, to the school’s scholarship programs. “I was raised by people who believed that we were blessed,” she says, “so we gave to others.”
She now sits on the university’s board of trustees and funds a scholarship for female students from El Paso, “because I think girls are sometimes overlooked,” she says.
Gutierrez’s first career was in commercial real estate. Seeing the market about to tank, her older sister urged her to take up auctioneering. Gutierrez headed to one of the oldest and best such schools in the world, Reppert’s School of Auctioneering in Auburn, Ind. She specialized in real estate auctions.
“I hated it because it seemed everyone was always mad at me,” she says of the field littered with divorce, death and estate disputes. “If I wanted to be a lawyer, I would have gone to law school.”
She tried her hand at one charity auction, the Ice Ball for Helping Austin to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters, August 2005 at Shoreline Grill.
“I thought it was weird,” she says. “People were actually looking at me. When I got home, I thought: ‘I’m never going to do that again.’ By Sunday morning, I had 18 e-mails from my Web site asking about my charity calendar, my contracts, etc.”
Essentially, she built a business overnight out of nothing. She retains a special fondness for the Ice Ball, which raised $6,000 that first year; $100,000 five years later.
“We sold a pool,” she says of the party that moved to bigger quarters at the Hilton Austin. “Who sells a pool at a live auction?”
Well, what do gala guests seek?
“People like to bid on experiences,” she says, rather than goods. “High-end restaurant packages or trips — but they don’t want people to know how much they spent on those trips.” In other cities, heavy hitters want to be seen. Austinites, she says, don’t want to appear flashy.
“That’s why we bring the lights down, work with more bid spotters,” she says. “People don’t feel like ‘Hi, I’m Michael; I’m bidding because everyone is looking at me.’ ”
Her biggest sale: a party trip with a celebrity (who must remain unnamed) for $480,000.
Gutierrez says an open bar helps lubricate the bidding.
“A few organizations don’t serve alcohol,” she says “Now, that’s a hard group to sell.” What really helps, she says, is to inform guests what will be auctioned ahead of time on social media.
“They know what’s coming, so they can make a plan,” she says.
Gutierrez’s experience over the past five years has won her a spot as the youngest member of the Women’s Fund, a giving circle part of the giant Austin Community Foundation.
“It’s my love,” she says, gently pushing the Power of the Purse Luncheon on Feb. 9 at the Four Seasons Hotel, at which she will be master of ceremonies. “We just try to help, especially women and children. It makes me so happy.”
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Austin October High
Everybody in Austin wants a piece of October. And a bit of November.
Who can blame them? Warm, sunny days. Cool, crisp nights. The tyranny of summer heat broken. The city blithesome.
Ken Lambrecht and Sarah Wheat
Austin’s most ancient scenes, politics and education, pick up in autumn. The third oldest, sports, or at least football, takes full advantage of the promised fine weather.
Sally Wittliff and Deborah Green
This year, three of the historically younger scenes — music, media and movies — are staging back-to-back mega-festivals during this period.
Rani Clasquin and Scott O’Hare
Performing and visual artists opened major shows and new or refurbished spaces. Almost every purveyor of food — from elite eateries to trendy trailers — found a way to seat their guests outdoors.
Robbie and Tom Ausley
Last week, La Dolce Vita adroitly combined food, wine, art and social communion on the heavenly grounds of Laguna Gloria. For the fourth year in a row, the voluptuous Austin Museum of Art party hit the weather jackpot.
Ken Gladish and Sen. Kirk Watson
Fashion scenesters, perhaps exhausted from Austin Fashion Week in August and Tribeza Style Week in September, have remained comparatively quiet. Yet downtown bustles with fashion’s closest analog, a booming nightlife. (Try finding a handy parking spot on a Saturday in October. I dare you.)
Bryan Rubio and America Alva
It’s also a time when charity brightens everyone’s prospects. One need only check a social calendar to determine just how popular are the dates associated with Libra and Scorpio. Inveterate socializers choose from competing galas with care and empathy.
Sunday, I attended events for Planned Parenthood and the Seton Development Board. Folks — some pictured here — whom I had tagged at numerous parties in the past few weeks looked cheery, undaunted, talking in upbeat tones about their flourishing groups.
Socially, they will make it to Thanksgiving. Or at least early November.
Angela Filardi and Tracey Bury (co-chairwomen for the Seton event)
Last week, I had the distinct pleasure of sharing a meal at Satay restaurant with a regular gathering of locals called Wisdom Wednesdays. A dozen of us conversed well into the night about the evolution of Austin’s dozen or so scenes.
High on Southeast Asian food, I left thinking: What an ideal time of year for a heady discourse about what makes Austin so Austin.
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‘Fantasticks’ Weekend at the University of Texas
We witnessed history.
Friday, on the first night of the University Texas’ celebration of the 50th Anniversary of “The Fantasticks,” a perky set of undergraduates performed a sharply contoured revue of songs by Texas exes Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. The themed portfolio included less than two dozen from the composing team’s 1,000+ songs, written over the course of 60 years. Yet it polished up rare gems, like alternative versions of the “I Do! I Do!” title song and the duo’s work as UT students and cabaret composers in New York City during the 1950s.
Tom Jones
At the end of the show, Schmidt and Jones, now in their 80s, met at the piano (the quieter Schmidt in a wheelchair). They sang four short songs, but — oh! — it was well worth witnessing the composers of America’s longest running play jazzing it up for the crowd. Two instant pleasers were “Mr. Off-Broadway,” their self-descriptive salute to the movement they helped popularize; and “Freshman Song,” the first they ever wrote together, 60 years ago for a wildly popular UT student review. How many audiences can say they have witnessed the crowning of such a career at one’s alma mater?
Harvey Schmidt
The song’s shy, hopeful lyrics set loose the waterworks for the assembled guests, mostly alumni who packed the weekend of performances, panels and parties. The subsequent reception in the lobby outside the Brockett Theatre was like old home week for seven decades theater and dance students. The eldest member of the Curtain Club — which predated the drama department — spoke of joining in the early 1940s. She was the picture of health, grace and eloquence. (Only star Eli Wallach is an older living alumnus of the club, established in 1908 by critic Stark Young.)
Camille Abbott and Barbara Chisholm
The next morning, UT playwright Steven Dietz delivered a philosophical keynote speech about theater preparing us “to be.” Texas Performing Arts director Kathy Panoff, with help from music director Lyn Koenning, interviewed Schmidt and Jones for a delightful hour of anecdotes and reminiscences. Both Texans retain a ready wit and literate array of references.
Heads of art, theater, dance and music: John Yancey, Brant Pope and Glenn Chandler
Playwright Kirk Lynn and arts editor Robert Faires then led a discussion of how new work impacts theater, dance and training. The verbally gifted panel included choreographer Kitty McNamee, playwrights Robert Schenkkan, Kim Peter Kovac and Carson Kreitzer. They made a convincing case for the act of making something from nothing, rather than just interpreting from the establish canon.
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan and prominent architect Michael Guardino
Costume designer Susan Mickey helped me corral a raucous crew of talents: Bruce McGill (“Animal House,” “The Legend of Bagger Vance”); Todd Lowe (“Gilmore Girls,” “True Blood”) and Brian Danner (leading Los Angeles fight director). We discussed whether a university arts education was worth nothing — or everything. (We leaned toward the latter, but each speaker noted what they missed during their practical education.) Other panels and student demonstrations honeycombed the Winship Building on campus.
Texas Performing Arts director Kathy Panoff, flanked by benefactors Mary Ann and Andrew Heller
More socializing centered around an early-evening performance of “The Fantasticks” at the B. Iden Payne Theatre. (One imagines the ghost of the old Shakespearean actor hovered over this show, which includes a character clearly based on him.) Those around me agreed the material holds up, for something that seemed an enchanting sliver of a musical 50 years ago. The allegorical cycles of youth and age are near-universal, and the writers have updated some of the inevitable anachronisms over the years.
It’s been a long time since I attended a conference of any kind. This was the one to choose. I was transfixed the entire time, though it meant missing some major social events, like the Texas Literary Gala, Symphony Jewel Ball and the Audubon Society’s new awards ceremony.
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La Dolce Vita at Laguna Gloria
La Dolce Vita 2010.
Rudy Green and Joyce Christian
The grounds of Laguna Gloria.
Michael and Kelly Swartz
Titian night.
Michelle Prado and Mauricio Faogoaga
Chardin delicacies.
Tracy LaQuey Parker and Patrick Parker
Caravaggio wine.
Grace and Kevin Kim
Rosetti women.
Dave and Kristi Moriarty
Donatello men.
Brian and Mya Rogers
Magritte performers.
Lisa Farris Tom Thomas
Tohaku moods.
Joseph Faz and Christopher Alfaro
Renoir romances.
Lea and Jeremy Pruyne
Degas discussions.
Esperanza & Michelle McLaughlin
Newman balance.
Afie Humphrey and Barrett Donner
Friedrich feelings.
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Austin Social Agenda, Oct. 18-24
Next week’s highlights at the height of the fall social season:
Monday, the Bastrop 1832 Farmers Market serves a 5-course Farm to Table dinner to benefit various charities at McKinney Roughs.
Also Monday, the annual Public Affairs Dinner for Planned Parenthood signs in at Renaissance Austin.
Tuesday, the New Milestones Champions Dinner is keyed to Triumph over Depression at the AT&T Center.
Also Tuesday, attend a preview of the documentary “40 Nights of Rock and Roll” at the Gibson Guitar Showroom, or drop by the American Red Cross Young Professionals tote-themed happy hour at the Dogwood.
The big show Wednesday is Film & Food, the popular prequel to the Austin Film Festival, at the Driskill Hotel.
Also Wednesday, the Dress by Candlelight fashion show for Candlelight Ranch illuminates Saks Fifth Avenue; Liz Lambert toasts the Democratic Party at the Hotel St. Cecilia; the Hamilton Book Awards are at the Four Seasons Hotel; and Girls on the Run hosts an affair at the Belmont.
Thursday, the Austin Film Festival opens with movies and parties, including a reception at Speakeasy.
Also Thursday, the Plastic Pollution Coalition welcomes musician Jackson Browne to a West Austin home.
The party of the week should be the grand re-opening of the ultra-chic Arthouse at the Jones Center. Everybody wants a golden ticket to this one.
Also Friday, the Hill Country Conservancy parties at the Salt Lick Pavilion; Charity Bash helps Hope Farmer’s Market celebrate its first birthday at Pine Street Station; Austin Film Festival throws its fabulous annual barbecue at the French Legation Museum; and Huston-Tillotson University marks its 135th anniversary with a concert at First United Methodist Church.
Saturday, the arty action is at Viva La Vida Fest at Mexic-Arte.
Also Saturday, the Mimi Foundation checks into the Driskill Hotel with a Black Tie Event.
Sunday, Signature Chefs of Austin backs March of Dimes at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Among the other Sunday invitations: Famed wine writer Alice Feiring appears at a private home; the Mallots and Merlot Polo Match benefiting Ride On Center for Kids trots out at the Vineyard of Florence; the always festive Fall Fusion ripens at the Dell Jewish Community Center; and the Above and Beyond dinner and concert helps the Beyond Batten Disease Foundation at the Salt Lick.
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A Night Under One Sky at the Umlauf Sculpture Gardens
I spoke to a Sikh. I spoke to a Baha’i. I spoke to Christians and Muslims and agnostics. Where was I?
Christ-Singh Khalsa and Ann Walters
No place other than the Austin Area Interfaith Ministries’ “A Night under One Sky” dinner at the Umlauf Sculpture Garden. Dazzling night. Tangy Thai food from Madame Mam’s. Melodious tunes from the Tosca String Quartet.
Sonia Laflamme, Jane Froelich and Naseem Randhawa.
Tom Spencer’s group makes it easy to socialize in a religious setting. Conversations, not sermons, are the key. And here, a guest is invited to ask ignorant questions about one another’s beliefs.
Maliktaj and Syed Akhtar
Soon, AAIM will become IACT, or Interfaith Action of Central Texas. More deeds, fewer abstractions for the future, I assume.
UPDATE: A previous version of this post did not include the full name of the event “A Night under One Sky.” Also, Sonia Laflamme and Naseem Randhawa’s names were misspelled
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‘The Fantasticks’ and Austin
At 7:30 p.m. May 3, 1960, “The Fantasticks” opened at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village, N.Y.
The allegorical musical’s director, Word Baker, studied at the University of Texas. The composing team of Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones also hailed from UT, as did three of the stars, Bill Larsen, Jay Hampton and Jones, under the stage name Thomas Bruce.
The original production ran for 42 years and 17,162 performances, making it the longest-running show in American history. The backers have enjoyed returns of 240 times their original investments and the show has been staged in more than 60 countries.
And it all started with relationships nurtured at UT, where the creators worked alongside future celebrities Fess Parker, Liz Smith, Barbara Barrie, Rip Torn, Jayne Mansfield and Kathryn Crosby in the 1940s and ‘50s.
This week, the UT department of theater and dance toasts the landmark show’s 50th anniversary with performances, panels and parties. Schmidt and Jones — who went on to write durable musicals such as “I Do! I Do!” “110 in the Shade,” and “Celebration” — will return to the 40 Acres for the jamboree.
Rod Caspers directs not only performances of “The Fantasticks,” but also a revue of Schmidt and Jones songs. (The weekend event is sold out, but “The Fantasticks” continues through Oct. 24.)
So just how did “The Fantasticks” get its start in Austin? The composing pair carefully studied Edmund Rostand’s “Les Romanesques” with Payne and witnessed multiple student versions of the story about parents who bring their children together by pretending to keep them apart.
They would go on to collaborate on deliriously popular student revues at UT and creative projects in New York before “The Fantasticks” took off, boosting the careers of Jerry Orbach, Robert Goulet, Glenn Close, Rita Gardner, Richard Chamberlain, George Chakiris, John Davidson and others.
(The book to read is “The Amazing Story of The Fantasticks: America’s Longest Running Play” by Donald C. Farber and Robert Viagas.)
Few Austinites know about the city’s ties to this historic musical. More will learn about that role this weekend.
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Entertainment Journalism Class 6: Plagiarism and Transparency
This week’s educational post was originally dedicated to the short-form review. Many students in the Entertainment Journalism class at St. Edward’s University have learned to master observation, description, analysis, interpretation and evaluation in a review format of less than 500 words. One can sample work here.
Next week, we’ll go into the short-form review more detail. The issues of plagiarism and transparency, however, have reared their ugly heads in the interim.
Plagiarism is claiming the intellectual product of others as your original work. Transparency makes it easy for readers to identify sources, and thereby evaluate reporting on their own.
Perhaps because a month of micro-blogging has focused on links, updates and rehashes of previously reported entertainment news, the practice leaked into the more traditional world of blogging.
This week, more than one student cut text from the Web and pasted it into their blogs without the use of quotation marks or clear, up-front sourcing.
I’m aware of the excuse that this may happen at times because of sloppy or hurried reporting and writing. The class requires daily posts and commentary, as well as Twitter and Facebook updates. But with several students, the practice of cutting and pasting cropped up fairly consistently.
This is wrong. This is stealing.
What if the students were cutting and pasting from their own previous work on the Web? If so, they are plagiarizing themselves, presenting as original work that which has already been edited and published. And they are not identifying the sources of the prose.
But wait, you say, what about the sequence of reporting the same news or opinions through tweets, Facebook posts, blogs and then in print? That’s something I and other reporters do all the time.
We record the immediate impressions on Gowalla or Twitter, add a twist, usually personal, later on Facebook, then turn those snippets into acceptable prose on our blogs, before or expanding those sketches into articles or columns for a print edition.
That is an acceptable sequence for reporters today and we regularly share that process with readers for the sake of transparency.
We have only two hard and fast rules in Entertainment Journalism class: Write every day. Talk every week.
Cutting and pasting is not writing. It is not original work. Several students just learned that. Or so I hope.
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Austin City Limits Music Festival, Day 3
This would be a good time to stop. There is no way to beat the warm days and cool nights of 2010. The soft grass and the softer shade. The free water and savory, reasonably priced snacks.
And, oh yes, the music. The music. Isn’t that what the Austin City Limits Music Festival really conveys? Or is it the people? The shared festival experience, all the sights and sounds and tastes and smells and sensory overload.
The music is not an afterthought. For a festival — or any outdoor venue — the sound is superior. But in most cases, one watches the artists on giant screens (except the truculent M.I.A., then not at all). Maybe we are spoiled by all the top acts we can see in intimate Austin venues. I actually expect to see the action.
Which brings us back to the setting. Except for the sweatier afternoons Saturday and Sunday, one could hardly ask for more blissful weather. Karma finally blessed C3. And once the crowds settled in a bit, one could get around fairly easily, especially skirting the margins.
Over the course of three days, I talked to some 50 people about how they related, socially, to the musical acts on stage. Most of those responses were tweeted, but in case you missed them, here’s a sampling from the third day.
On the Henry Clay People, before they played: Jeremy Day, Houston, 35: “Actually heard them on a podcast. Searched Internet. This was 1 of 2 band I had to see.” Terri Lee, Ausitn: “Watched clips of them on the ACL website. They play a raw kind of angry rockabilly.” Cori McDonald, Woodland Park, Co.: “I started planning 2 months ago, mapping everything out with the ACL schedule tool.” Alex Price, Dallas: “Our son is in the band. (!) He lives in Los Angeles. But we’ve seen him several times” Rhonda Price: “We follow Jonathan on Facebook & Twitter. They pick up fans every place they play.”
On Midlake, before they played: Kerry Allen, Phoenix, banker: “Read about them in Paste magazine. Bought CDs. Look at the gray in my hair.” Kate Wittengel, Austin, 31: “Started at ACL site, then Googled. They are our style, more mellow indie rock.” Brownwyn Wingo, San Antonio, 29: “Friends suggest acts. We don’t know what we are in for, which is so cool.” David Murphy, San Antonio: “It’s a blend of really-want-to-see shows we can’t because of crowds and ones we stumble one who are great. Case in point, we had never heard of Dead Mouse, but they just rocked the (expletive).”
Maybe I will stop. No ACL next year. Or maybe I’ll go, but without the media pass. Instead I’ll hike in with friends and drink beer and lie in the sun and bask in the shade and it will be all about the music. Just once.
Photos: American-Statesman staff (not me)
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Austin City Limits Music Festival, Day 2
It hit me late Saturday at the Austin City Limits Music Festival: If all went as well as it had so far, there would be, for the first time in nine years, no ACL survivor bonding; no social merit badge for having made it through the mud, dust, heat or rain; no grim sense of ultimate endurance; the gorgeous weather instead ushering Austin back into the laps of the Lotus Eaters.
More reporting on how fans bond with their bands these days: Radio came up more often on Saturday. Previously, most of the media mentioned veered toward iPhone applications, ACL’s website, YouTube, iTunes, Facebook and, for a distinct minority, old-school MySpace. The first mentions of KGSR and 101X came as something of a shock on Saturday, as if we were back-peddling through time.
Sue McArdle and Jean Gilbert
On Dan Black, before he performed: Evan Lykes, 22, Austin: “Not really huge fan. Don’t need any social media. In Austin, it’s more convenient for us.” Lydia Zambrano, Charlotte Roehm from Buffalo, NY: “To be honest, we don’t know him. We’re with (Jorge).” Jorge Plaza, 33, Austin: “I use ACL app on iPhone. I’ve been listening every day for a month. Heard Black, just added. Christopher Hamilton, Austin: “We went to YouTube to hear everything before ACL, especially ones I didn’t know.” Casey Bush, Austin bartender/student: “Heard on radio first. Then downloaded via iPhone. Watched vids on YouTube.”
Selina Rose and George Caseres
On Temper Trap, before they performed: Jean Gilbert, Columbus, OH: “I read up on most groups. Not a lot of music in Columbus. Came for Eagles. Love the mix.” Sue McArdle: “Follow on local radio, KGSR. Everything is planned out. Write-ups don’t always match what we see.” George Casares, Austin, Selina Rose, San Marcos: We use Hype ‘Em and MySpace. So much music available here every day, though.
Shanley Paine, Patrick McCormack, Lauren Sander and Jason Mills (my nephew)
on Gogol Bordello, before they performed: Katherine Garcia, 29, Houston: “We’ve done good so far. I heard of GB from a buddy of mine. Downloaded iTunes.” Stephanie Cacace, 24, Houston: “When you are from out of town, you have to have a plan.” Kim Brown, UT student, 21: “If we walk by something and like what we hear, we’ll stop.” Mark Richards, 23, Austin: “Heard them on 101X. Read about them, how they recruit people from different nationalities.”
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Austin City Limits Music Festival, Day 1
My column follows people, not music, per se. So my assignment for the three days of Austin City Limits Music Festival this year is to find out why people bond with their bands.
The afternoon began with a stop at the Austin Music Lounge at the American Legion House across the lake from the fest. The mood among the VIPs was profoundly relaxing as musicians, actors and promoters strolled from the lawn games to the product booths, some ascending the stairs for a last-minute massage or comb through. I ran into entertainment promoters Kevin Williamson and Clif Loftin, also Daniella Alonso from the sadly canceled Austin TV show, “My Generation.” “Just taking the week off to soak up Austin,” she says. We shared rumors who might pick up the show, if anyone.
Daniella Alonso and Sally Breer
Because of the cooler, clearer weather this year, the drumbeats to and from Zilker Park felt more lively. Yet entering from the Lady Bird Lake gate dismayed. The fans for the AMD and Honda stages had merged, creating a people wall, blocking all who entered.
Jake Stokes, 24, bailiff, Austin: “Fall into groove between two stages. Then you can pull out. More people are camping this year.” Mark Alexander, Fort Worth: “You can really feel the extra 10,000. Especially between the stages. You’re stuck. Then a corridor suddenly opens up.”
The field is not a place for low body esteem. The number of cut torsos overwhelms personal morale. G3 Never really worked at Zilker. WiFi best at TV tent behind Rock Island, but even that petered out. Texting best for anything essential.
Kevin Williamson and Clif Loftin
On bonding socially with bands: Black Keys fan Blair Renner, 36, Austin: “I follow them on Facebook. Not so much to learn, but to keep up with friends who are fans.” Alan Boyd, 38, Dallas: “Black Keys are part of indie scene, and you just find out about like-minded bands from those in the scene.”
Nancy, Arlington, on Band of Heathens: “They opened for the Black Crowes in Dallas. I follow them on Facebook & MySpace to see what they are doing,” she says. “You have to hit our area, too. The Heathens have. So they’ve gained status in DFW.”
Alvaro Cantu, 30, Dallas, on Band of Heathens: “Never seen them, but if good enough to open for Black Crowes. Found out more about them on ACL website.” Emily Williamson, Corpus Christi: Band of Heathens opened for bands in CC. So we checked website, follow on Facebook.” Matt McCauley, 31, Corpus: “I go to Amazon to get their music. We have very selective venues in Corpus. Meaning two.”
Clearly we in Austin have it good. We can see the bands live rather than just follow them digitally.
Austin hospital techs Jill Reyes & Stephanie Ayala on Spoon: “Someone says: You gotta hear Spoon. Who’s Spoon? You check YouTube, iTunes and the ACL site” Randy and Barbara, OK City: “I know people who are into music and I ask questions. Don’t like Facebook. Review the music online though.” Julia Ranger, Marble Falls: “I used to follow Spoon. Didn’t like the last album. I go to Amazon.com for the music. Or to their website” Richard Patterson, Dallas, 28, banker: “I use HypeMachine. I used to be obsessive. As you grown older, you just consume the music.”
Jill Reyes and Stephanie Ayala
Waiting for Ryan Bingham: Deb Crowell, San Antonio loves ACL Web site. Sampled every song. Mocked up her schedule with digital tool. Her ote to bands: “No songs, no clicks” Robert Gardere, Texas State student (related to form UT QB Peter): He’s new to Ryan Bingham. Friend recommended. Relies on iTunes to sample. Sally Allin, Austin: Saw the movie “Crazy Heart.” Fell in love with Bingham’s tunes. Wanted to see him in New Braunfels. Finally a chance … Al and Sandy Sawicki, Austin, also saw “Crazy Heart.” Downloaded Bingham’s songs on iTunes. “He’s awesome.” Also liked ACL site as an overall guide.
Why not MySpace? Momo’s owner Paul Oveisi: “MySpace is not a functioning community. Good for a quick glimpse of music. So cumbersome. I’ve abandoned it altogether.”
Livestrong’s Doug Ulman: “I’m a novice. Lance (Armstrong) sent me a link through Twitter to Charlie Mars. Said ‘You’ve got to hear them.’”
On my way out, I waved to the vast masses for Phish. From the hill, the undulating crowd resembles one of those post-Soviet soft revolutions. Flags, swaying, smiles.
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Art Divas Second Anniversary Party in West Lake Hills
Roll down the window. Head up the hills. Keep your GPS handy. It’s time for a West Lake party.
Quincy Erickson and Sarah Bird
The Art Divas’ second anniversary gathering at the low-key home of marketer Sherry Smith was like something out of an Iris Murdoch novel. Celestial evening on the lip of an interior canyon. Unpretentious snacks from Quincy Erickson (including devious little stuffed tomatoes). A reading. Traditional tour of house art. A mass of slightly eccentric intellectuals. (Murdoch was the rare writer who could handle such crowd scenes.)
Rashmi Khosa and Mary Schneider
On the subject of novelists, I spent some of the last of my birthday hours with Sarah Bird, my habitual nomination for any literary honor. She recommended some local additions to my reading list, including some I already love, like Owen Egerton and John Pipkin, but also some I had encountered in person, but never read, such as Doug Dorst.
Kari Quick and Louise Menlo
The rest of the company kept me equally enthralled. I count myself blessed to obtain repeated invitations to this monthly event, which shares personal collections of art with art collectors, despite my gender. Always some of the most agile conversations in town.
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Marathon Kids Gala at the Four Seasons Hotel
A year ago, Marathon Kids saluted Sen. Kirk Watson as its Hero for Health. The party levitated on the terrace of the Whole Foods Market mother ship. Jeans and jackets. A sweet, casual mood. A healthy crowd, but certainly not overflowing the open-air terrace.
Michael and Susan Dell (with friends)
This year, the Hero was Susan Dell. The major, three-part party spread over two floors of the Four Seasons Hotel. Serious suits and cocktail dresses. A dash of glitter. Big, big names in advocacy and philanthropy circles, parading down the hotel’s staircase for a Class-A charity event.
Gilbert and Triphine Tuhabonye
Quite a step up, wouldn’t you say? Still, the Marathon Kids gang remain sweet, unaffected. Perhaps because the group started so small, so Austin, and has risen rapidly to become a national role model for effective, low-cost, fun anti-obesity campaign. (Students log each quarter mile they run, shortening the short-term goals.)
Shannon Moody and Jessica McMillan
On a busy evening, I could not stay for the entire, extended affair. But I was impressed by the parade of notables and conversations with folks I don’t see all that often. Sprinted into the night …
Roberto Sanchez, Jen Ohlsen and Amy Skudlarczyk
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‘Cowboy Noises’ for OutYouth at the Long Center
Austin theatrical superstar Jaston Williams is happy. In life, happy. On stage, happy. And audiences notice.
Jaston Williams and Jeff McCrary
Parts of “Cowboy Noises,” revived in a more intimate staging by director Scott Kanoff, are so mellow and poetic, one could be excused from forgetting he co-wrote and starred in four installments of the broadly satirical “Greater Tuna” series. Still, his fans responded generously whenever Williams’ autobiographical solo show turned a bit acidic about his upbringing in arid West Texas. They appreciate the grit in the good humor.
Heather McClellan and Tim Sapp
During an OutYouth benefit reception following the show, guests commented consistently on Williams’ transformation. He’s still wickedly funny, but Williams is now also centered, modulated, reflective and fit as a fiddle, fans say, and he lingered with them in the Long Center’s AT&T Room.
Micah King and Ryan Obermeyer
Ran into endlessly amiable journalist and law school grad Jeff McCrary, who just took the Texas bar exam (all good luck!); AIDS Services of Austin’s image orchestrator Micah King, and Paul Beutel, interim leader at the center, who explained the choices ahead for Austin’s performing arts hub.
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Littlefield and Scarbrough Building 100th Anniversaries
Anyone who arrived in Austin two days ago thinks of her neighbor, who arrived yesterday, as a rank newcomer by comparison. Though I am sometimes accused of being a carpetbagger — having moved here permanently from Houston as recently as 1984 — I admit to thinking of myself sometimes as a lifelong Austinite.
Bansi Brandi and Susie Hutcheson
Any such feelings are banished by attending events such as the 100th Anniversaries of the Littlefield and Scarbrough buildings on Wednesday in the lobby of the later structure. Speeches by civic leaders were required. Historical tidbits and extravagant claims from 1910 newspaper copy (tallest! first! best!) were also expected, as guests, some in period costume, fondly commemorated the city’s first skyscrapers.
Danny Camacho and Sabino Renteria
Frankly, I didn’t foresee so many descendants of the Littlefield and Scarbrough families in attendance. They spoke in the low, slow, careful manner of people honoring sacred ancestors. That these families remain active in Austin public life five or more generations later is quite impressive.
Susan Wroe Perry and H.W. Irby
In fact, both families would be prime candidates for Out & About’s Ancestral Austin series. (No, you haven’t missed the first edition. Still working on Limon-Estrada for the newspaper.) Since their ancestors engaged in friendly competition on opposite corners of Sixth Street and Congress Avenue, perhaps they should be profiled in tandem?
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Austin Social Agenda, Oct. 11-17
Once another Austin City Limits Music Festival has passed into memory …
Oct. 12, time to head back outdoors for the Night Under One Sky party benefiting Austin Area Interreligious Ministries at the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum.
Oct. 13, I’m answering questions about “Austin glamour” for a Wisdom Wednesday gathering at Satay restaurant on West Anderson Lane.
I’ll miss altogether the Human Rights Campaign river cruise for Federal Club members.
Oct. 14, if the weather is fine, I’ll linger at La Dolce Vita, the epicurean fair that supports Austin Museum of Art on the grounds of Laguna Gloria.
The same evening, Sprecht Harpman hosts a small party benefiting the Hope Market at its 512 Rio Grande offices. Also, there’s a lake-side cocktail reception for the Blanton Museum of Art’s upcoming Gala Lumière.
Oct. 15-16, I’ll spend as much time as possible at the sold-out convocation for the 50th anniversary of “The Fantasticks” at the University of Texas department of theater and dance. The alumni weekend’s events includes a revue of songs by UT exes Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, as well as a performance of the longest-running musical of all time, which they wrote.
This means I’ll miss at least two significant social events on Oct. 15: The First Edition Literary Gala for the Texas Book Festival at the AT&T Executive Conference and Education Center, and the Black and White Ball for Texas Advocacy Project at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Oct. 16, however, I’ll duck out of “The Fantasticks” weekend early enough to make the Women’s Symphony League Jewel Ball at the Hilton Austin.
It hurts to miss, that night, Travis Audubon Society’s first Victor Emanuel Conservation Award cerermony at the Four Seasons; and Cake Rattle and Roll for Open Door Preschools at the 360 Condominiums.
Oct. 17, we’ll return to a certain popular Mayfield Park house for a Planned Parenthood reception, then bop over to Seton Development Board Gala at the Four Seasons.
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Ann Richards School Birthday Bash at Mayfield Park home
The birthday bash for the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders occupies a bright particular spot on the social calendar. In 2008, it bloomed at the home of late business and political leader Lowell Lebermann. The next year, it jagged around the Enfield corner to the modern spread of Chris Mattsson, formerly home to Deborah Green.
Chula Reynolds and Alfre Woodard
Tuesday, the bash landed at Green’s new art shrine across the muddy slough from Mayfield Park. Green shares the contemplative outpost with Clayton Aynesworth and they first opened it for a fairly wild Women & Their Work party last season. This school party was more genteel than W&TW fandango, as chef Quincy Erickson put together a bounty of treats that included a heaping table of cupcakes.
Coach Jody Conradt with Laura Herrera, Monica Herrera and Candice Janecka
The bonus for this annual bash is the evolving assembly of Austin’s best and brightest women, plus some men. Among the celebs on hand: Former Longhorns Coach Jody Conradt (looking cool and rested), Dr. Nona Niland, political trailblazer Cathy Bonner, always classy Nancy Scanlan, humanitarian Mary Margaret Farabee, word-smith Brenda Thompson, foundation head and Bouldin neighbor Michelle Krejci, Austin school superintendents Meria Carstarphen (present) and Pat Forgione (past), UT Dean of Natural Sciences Mary Ann Rankin, enterprising Katy Hackerman, Judge Elisabeth Earle, Justice Bea Ann Smith (who told me an amusing story about late Gov. Ann Richards’ appointment vetting team), Johnson family rep Catherine Robb, arts leaders Joyce Christian and Rudy Green, Glossy 8 fashion plate Nina Seely, Rep. Elliott Naishtat (who told me a funny story about former Speaker of the House Gibb Lewis), and Habitat for Humanity’s Michael Willard.
Deborah Green, Dean Mary Ann Rankin and Bev Vandegrift
Oscar nominee Alfre Woodard made an inspirational keynote speaker and raised bucks with an improvised live auction that included a walk-on role on her current USA channel show, “Memphis Beat.” (I believe Deborah Green snapped it up.) Woodward (“Cross Creek,” “Homicide,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Hill Street Blues,” etc.) is the kind of practiced spellbinder who had all the students — and guests — hanging on her every word.
Justice Bea Ann Smith and Michael Willard
I also finally met one of Austin’s movers and shakers who likes to stay in the background: Chula Reynolds from the King Ranch family. Perhaps because she is not often in Austin, or maybe because she really does avoid the limelight, but I’ve missed getting to know this friend of Richards who has been identified frequently as the crucial ingredient in certain Austin social transformations. Aptly, she received the first annual Chula Reynolds Award from the school (and she looked surprised!).
Shawn Morris and Judge Elisabeth Earle
Perhaps because there were so many sharpies at the bash, I lingered longer than intended. Glad I did.
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Susan Dell named a Hero for Health
Austin’s first lady of fitness philanthropy vigorously applauds the nation’s first lady.
“I think she’s doing great work,” Susan Dell says of Michelle Obama. “The Let’s Move (program) is fantastic.”
Dell, a formidable athlete, especially on a bike, believes her work for children’s health converges with Obama’s.
“It’s about getting people aware and hopefully getting people moving,” she says.
“Childhood obesity is one of the most important problems facing our country.”
“These are fun, interactive, easy choices for kids to make,” Dell says. “It lights a fire under them to get fit.”
Thursday, the apparel designer, five-star charity donor, mother of four and wife of the Forbes 15th-richest person in America will receive Marathon Kids’ Heroes for Health Award at the Four Seasons.
“There’s something magical about getting kids excited about exercise,” Dell says of Kay Morris’ Marathon Kids, which has gone countrywide. Dell, who never appears in public in anything less than pristine shape, physically and stylishly, is no newcomer to conditioning.
“My dad was athletic. He’s 82 and still works out every day,” she says. “Even in high school, I was trying to get kids more active, and later as a fourth-grade school teacher. In college I did bike races and then did triathlons and marathons.”
Originally from Dallas, Dell has watched Austin’s culture of generosity go from meager to meritorious in the past 20 years.
“I think Austin is a city that has been growing up very quickly, as more people and more jobs come in,” she says. “Projects like the Long Center, the children’s museum and the children’s hospital have added to the local economy and benefit the community in many ways. It’s all very exciting.”
In fact, the Dells gave one of the first million-dollar donations ever to a local cultural group, a cool $1 million to the Austin Children’s Museum in 1997, back when a $50,000 gift was front-page news.
In 1999, the Dells created their family foundation with a simple, clear mission: “Transforming the lives of children living in urban poverty through better health and education.”
To date, the foundation has committed more than $650 million to those ends; upwards of $160 million of that has gone to 143 Central Texas nonprofits.
“Michael and I take a thoughtful approach to philanthropy,” says Dell, who employs a crisp, businesslike diction. “We look at best practices. We measure the impact of the programs we fund so we know what works, and what doesn’t. We started here in the U.S., and we have branched out to other countries.”
Years ago, the foundation began working for clean water and family economic stability with micro-loans in India. More recently, it has invested in education programs in South Africa. Even when you’re giving out millions, however, a recession can distort the charity picture.
“It’s been a tough couple of years,” Dell says. “Overall, Austin is pretty good about philanthropy and giving back. The way I look at it, we must share to grow and prosper. But I also believe that nothing is inevitable and everything has room for improvement.”
Dell is a bedrock Austinite.
“What I love is how much there is to do,” she says, “especially things outdoors that are fun for families. We’ve got the lakes, hike-and-bike trails — there is so much to do along the greenbelt.”
Even during summer’s semi-tropical torture?
“I love the heat,” she says. “The only time it’s too much is in July and August, when I want to be on a bike, but the sun is really strong.”
She savors the core Austin personality as well.
“Everyone is so friendly, and that gives it a warm, comfortable feeling,” she says. “It’s just enough hustle and bustle.”
Like the buff leader in the White House, Dell plans ongoing campaigns for fitness, including educational efforts such as the book “Be Well: Messages from Moms on Living Healthier Lives,” which she narrates.
“Being healthy and making improvements just takes a little creativity and a little thought,” Dell says. “Like finding ways to cut down on screen time and get out and be active — or finding a new way to include vegetables in your diet rather than eating more fast foods or fried foods.”
The “Be Well” book project linked Dell’s foundation with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, itself a joint initiative of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation.
“My personal healthy living philosophy and one my family lives by is: ‘Fuel for Performance and Train for Life.’ What I mean by that is that none of us can perform as well when we eat the wrong foods or too much food. Training for life means to get moving, at least 60 minutes a day for us and our kids.”
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Entertainment Journalism Class No. 5: Blogging
After a month of micro-blogging, the Entertainment Journalism class at St. Edward’s University edged into full-scale blogging. With post frequency established — students must keep up the multiple entries daily on Twitter and Facebook, as well as commenting on other blogs — this next step heightened the complexity and polish of their work.
I am impressed, however, with the design of several blogs. Tumblr seems to be the easiest application for this group. WordPress appeals to the more serious types interested in interactivity and metrics. Blogger remains in contention.
All students are attempting short-form entertainment reviews this week. From the evidence I’ve seen so far, about a third of the class carries around the formula for traditional reviews in their heads; another third lean almost entirely on personal evaluation; and a third really don’t get review format at all.
As discouraging as this is, I am more than pleased with the vigorous discussions engaged every Monday night. So there is hope …
Rainbows, Lollipops and Sunshine
The Right Place, The Right Time
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PeopleFund East Night Gala at East Austin Center for Economic Opportunity
The PeopleFund’s annual gala, known at East Night, commemorated three miracles on Friday.
The most obvious marvel to anyone turning south off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, past the MetroRail station, was its new East Austin Center for Economic Opportunity. Green in at least two senses — ecologically and chromatically — this handsome, unstuffy building will help PeopleFund provide loans and other support for small businesses and housing, focusing on fresh chances for women, Latinos and African Americans.
The second miracle: The center’s physical launch. How’s this for cutting it close? The building did not receive a certificate of occupancy until mere hours before East Night. Still, most of the action took place outside — another Austin party planner wins the weather lottery! — as eateries offered delicacies, the Austin Bike Zoo and musical bands provided entertainment, and guests gravitated to a tent where speeches and commendations were made over birthday cake.
Former Austin City Council Members Raul Alvarez and Brigid Shea
A good deal of that ceremony was devoted to the miraculous Margo Weisz, who, after leading PeopleFund for many years, had just retired. Speakers acted out a mock board meeting, recalled her idiosyncratic leadership style, and detailed her relentless pursuit of economic justice through entrepreneurship.
The group’s new president and CEO, Gary Lindner, imported from San Antonio, joined the mighty chorus of praise for Weisz, as did incoming board president Jack McDonald.
Alison Lyons and Jaime Noyola
Some metrics: Value of total PeopleFund loans to date: $22,965,264. Total number of jobs created to date: 2,023. Total number of businesses served to date: 369 loans to 210 businesses.
Sarah Cole, Margo Weisz and Ayleen Perez
Key to the new center, by the way, was a gift worth $1 million from the Meredith family, which includes the land, part of the slowly-fledged Featherlite Tract.
This sliver of East Austin redevelopment looks tremendous, by the way, and slips easily into the surrounding neighborhood. Guests obliged by allowing valets to park their cars, rather than blocking any of the residents.
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Texas Folklife Gala at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Texas Folklife was yet another Austin group that benefited from beatific weather this week. Their gala site, the plaza of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, is always blissful at night. Especially so this time of year, when one feels ushered into the middle of the Hill Country.
Mary Ermel and Moira Foreman Porter
The backers of Texas Folklife — now 25 years in the preservation and celebration biz — comprise a distinct subset of Austin social life. They value authenticity. They hunt for culture some Texans might find exotic, yet they embrace as essential as it is indigenous.
Amy Mitchell and Mitch Baranowski
Case in point: The musical act that played while I patrolled the margins of the gala. African American musicians. Louisiana sound. Houston roots. Austin favorites. (I’d tell you their name if the Texas Folklife’s website was available for visits.) May Texas Folklife always elevate such unbridled cultural exuberance.
Alexa Wesner, Terri Bailey and Erlin Ibrecht
Winners of Texas Folklife Awards: Santiago Jimenez, Jr. (Tejano accordionist from San Antonio), Johnny Gimble (Western swing fiddle player from East Texas), and Barbara Lynn (R&B guitarist, “The Empress of Gulf Coast Soul”).
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Children in Nature Gala at the Four Seasons
Galas come with speeches. It is customary. Not always welcome. But expected. Every once in a long while, however, a speech rallies a gala audience to the point of euphoria.
Stacey Abel and Kirsten Ingram
Credit Texas Parks and Wildlife director Carter Smith with one of those eloquent exceptions Thursday night. His topic, the importance of the out of doors to youth, suited the Children in Nature Collaborative gala at the Four Seasons Hotel like a worn work glove. His accented delivery sent the believers into orbit. I have no inkling of Smith’s political leanings, but based purely on his oratorical skills, he could make a run at any Texas office.
Laura Esparza, Kelly Snook and Margaret Russell
Other high points from the pre-dinner ceremony included nods to leaders who have taken young people out of cities and into the country. Evidently, the Westcave Preserve, which led the collaborative event, has turned some kind of institutional corner. The voluble assembly included plenty of generous heavy hitters from all walks of Austin life.
Steven Hubbell and Forest Croft
After the ceremony, the guests poured out of the banquet room to tables set on the manicured lawns of the Four Seasons — that’s nature, too! The Preserve was just one of several groups that bet on beautiful conditions outside this week — and won the weather lottery.
Phrase of the evening: “One foot in the country, one foot in the city”
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Garden Conservancy Open Days Host Party on Tillery Street
In East Austin, one can stumble upon a working farm among the homes, condos, warehouses, schools, stores and eateries. On Tillery Street, David Cater hides an eccentric garden and nursery on a once forgotten strip of land. He also owns a farm in Brazoria County near Jones Creek, where he grows numerous variations on bamboo.
Charlotte Warren and Laura Bohls
Cater’s sweet spot served as the site for the Garden Conservancy’s host party on Thursday. It was meant to introduce the owners of six gardens on the Conservancy’s Open Days tour Oct 16. Each came with a half-buried personal story, often the case with gardeners.
Leah and Philip Leveridge
The tour leaders this year are familiar figures. Laura Bohls was my primary contact for a Lady Bird’s Legacy story about a wildflower memorial to her father-in-law, longtime Austin businessman and outdoorsman Everett Bohls. Charlotte Warren is a Facebook friend who recently volunteered to guide me through Mount Bonnell area with her 92-year-old neighbor, who walks three miles there every day.
David Cater, Deborah Hornickel and Gary Peese
The refreshments shared at an golden East Austin dusk made this feel like a serious party. Everyone soaked up the glorious weather and talked plants, plantings and such into the night.
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