Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2011 > April
April 2011
Zilker Spring Fling at the Ranch
This Spring Fling flew high. The Zilker Elementary School benefit brought out parents, teachers and neighbors to the Ranch, the West Sixth Street club that continues to diversify its social offerings.
Mardi Wareham and Joelle Boehle
No, of course there were no school-age kids at the rooftop venue. There was an enormous silent auction, food, drink and musicians. I spoke with former political spy and Out & About profile subject Ross Smith, a Zilker resident and composer who recently ran a song by Willie Nelson’s people. He hopes to make it past the mailroom.
Kate Lowery, Akua Woolbright and John Fleming
Then there was Mardi Wareham, who delivers singing telegrams. Do people really like singing telegrams? “If they have a sense of fun,” Wareham says. Makes sense. Nearby were Ted Smouse and Susan Slattery, who run a booking, management, events and media company names called Smouse Productions. They helped organize this event. Nicely done.
Susan Slattery and Ted Smouse
Kate Lowery was the third person in three days to tell me about a new Hispanic group backing the performing arts, which I’d love to know even more about. John Fleming tipped me on an upcoming expo for creative types. And Akua Woolbright confirmed the best news of all: Zilker is no longer in any danger of closing, despite the yard signs still up all over the neighborhood campaigning to keep it open.
“I think they leave them up to show support,” Woolbright said. “Now we are going to concentrate on making Zilker’s programs even better.”
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Profile: Lobbyist A.J. Bingham
Encountering a state legislator, Republican or Democrat, at a social function this month, do not ask the conventional question: “How’s your session going?”
“Horrible!”
“Worst ever!”
“I’d rather eat nails!”
Ask a lobbyist the same question and the answer will likely be more nuanced. After all, lobbyists often serve many clients with different interests in the legislative outcome.
Bingham, 27, sometimes raises eyebrows at a West Sixth Street lounge or an East Austin party announcing he’s a registered lobbyist.
“The first thing friends ask: ‘What do you do when it’s something you don’t believe in?’” says the Tucson, Ariz., native who grew up in Austin and Germany. “I say we offer a service, our job is to communicate and advocate, ethically, but as strongly as possible, the goals of our clients.”
When the legislature is not in session, the nattily dressed Bingham, who has considered a sideline in modeling, can be found at selective receptions, parties and happy hours.
But nowadays, his schedule is not so forgiving. Bingham rises at 5 a.m. and often doesn’t return home from work until after 10 p.m. After a workout and breakfast, he reads newspapers and reports in the McWilliams offices at 13th and Colorado streets. At 8 a.m. he heads to hearings, where he watches, takes notes and writes up summaries of the proceedings for clients.
His duties also include an avalanche of quick conversations, e-mails and phone calls. He helps write or amend bills, files support or opposition on “witness affirmation forms.”
“Everyday is something new,” he says. “I’m kept on my toes and the iPhone is always with me. This job is also very writing-intensive. Brevity is key.”
Some of Bingham’s social and professional fluidity comes from a youth spent on or near military bases. His father, Al Bingham, is a retired Air Force captain who now serves as human resources director for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
His mother, Toni Bingham, owns and runs a home child development center in the Circle C neighborhood. Both parents grew up in Greensboro, N.C., where most of the family’s relatives remain.
“Being on a base around all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds, I can now enter any situation and any group and be at ease,” he says of the military connection. “That was reinforced going away to college and law school in different states.”
Bingham grew up in the Whispering Oaks neighborhood off Manchaca Road, taking the bus to the LBJ Science Academy in northeast Austin, where he met teens from all over the city.
“Everyone there was a nerd, more or less,” he laughs. “But I was pretty active, socially and organizationally. I ran a little track, wrestled, participated in student government, amongst other clubs.”
Launching a social life in an assiduously social city, Bingham hung out at house parties, the University of Texas Student Union and the campus-area Spider House Cafe. When time came for college, he looked at the University of North Carolina and Duke University, but chose instead Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.
“It’s a ‘brochure campus,’” Binghams says of the suburban school with fewer than 7,000 students. “I’ve been told it was like going to West Lake High School, but college.”
Bingham, always interested in current events and politics, majored in political science. He stayed active in the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.
“It forced me to be more social in situations where you had to be ‘on,’ engage with personalities you might not even like,” he says. “I learned brotherhood and loyalty.”
His only brother, Austin Bingham, 19, is also a Sig Ep at the University of Texas San Antonio.
In 2008, the future lobbyist graduated from the Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kan., then he returned home to Austin. He happened to meet a few lobbyist attorneys through friends and friends of friends, then sought employment in this unusual field at the intersection of his interests.
And he started networking. His first job came with the Senate Research Center, where he covered hearings, wrote summaries and hundreds of bill analyses.
“I was in the process,” Bingham says. “And around the dome.”
After a stint on the House State Affairs Committee staff, he moved over to McWilliams, “a full service government affairs shop” run by power couple Andrea and Dean McWilliams, themselves masters of Austin networking and socializing.
Since he grew up primarily in Austin, Bingham has seen the social scene develop, become more international, more polished, open to dressing up.
He makes acute fashion distinctions among “Congress West” and “Congress East,” as well as the music clubs on Red River Street and mixed vibe in East Austin, where he lives.
He wears conservative but snappy suits to work, adding a touch of flash through ties, tie-clips and cuff links. He takes off the coat and tie for West Sixth Street or Warehouse District, changes into jeans and sneakers for East Sixth or Red River. East of Interstate 35: “You don’t have to dress up at all,” he says.
So how does Bingham, single, navigate his way around Austin’s nightlife?
“I do what interests me,” he ways. “I don’t want to be a scenester-type person. And I try to switch it up. Sometimes it’s the people I’m with. At other times, it’s just based on what I think is interesting and novel.”
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Austin Symphony Orchestra Centennial Gala at the Long Center
A centennial celebration should be grand. After all, how many times does one turn 100?
Austin Symphony Orchestra comprehended this ritual obligation. Its birthday party on Thursday saluted the ensemble’s first century and welcomed its second.
Sherri and Gary Davis
And it was so Austin. Downstairs in the Rollins Theatre, upright patrons in black ties and gowns dined. Upstairs, more casual catering awaited folks in cocktail dresses and business suits. In the lobbies, every permutation of denim, linen, shorts or slacks adorned guests cozying up to various bars or relaxing on cushy benches.
Then everyone trooped into Dell Hall. Trim, smart, likable conductor Peter Bay led the orchestra in two unusual selections, Mozart’s silky Symphony No. 28 and Luigini’s frothy “Ballet Égyptien.” Turns out they were on the original program, April 25, 1911.
George Elliman and Sharlene Strawbridge
“I don’t know if they have been performed since then,” quipped symphony president Joe Long as he introduced program’s superstar, violinist Itzhak Perlman. Long and his wife, Teresa Lozano Long, are not only the namesakes for the center, they are the chief backers of the orchestra and they sponsored Perlman’s performance. (His fees are usually triple or quadruple what other fiddlers ask, according to our sibling newspaper in Atlanta.)
Perlman approached the stage slowly and with great dignity, then played Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with tremendous focus and feeling. For the duration of the short concerto, time was suspended. Everyone in the house poured their attention entirely into Perlman’s singular manner of propelling each magnificent note.
For a formal review, go to Seeing Things.
Hallie Martin and Ashley Beall
The concert proper closed with Respighi’s “Pines of Rome” — a Bay favorite — which lilted from birdsong, then thundered with the full sound of the orchestra, finally at home in a house that fits its sound.
Outside on the plaza, folks gathered around cupcakes and champagne to watch a light show that, while diverting, was clearly meant to take a backseat to fireworks, canceled because of dry conditions. People picked up beautifully bound memorials to the symphony’s first 100 years, courtesy of Tribeza, as they left.
Joe Long and Vicki Rado
Was there talk of the controversy, reported in the same day’s newspaper, over the Women’s Symphony League’s original plans to theme its upcoming Jewel Ball around the “Old South,” a concept since withdrawn on support group’s website?
Yes, in whispers and nods. Some agreed with the objectors and couldn’t believe the idea was floated in the first place. Others denied any racist intentions, though they allowed the idea might have been insensitive.
We may never know what the party organizers were thinking, since they have not responded to requests for interviews. Some community members who had complained about the concept in the first place now seem content that their objections were aired.
Though symphony executive director Anthony Corroa reported a stream of hate calls and e-mails — from both sides of the issue — directed at his organization rather than the League, the wrangle didn’t distract from the grand centennial celebration at all.
Happy birthday.
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ACC Center for Public Policy and Political Studies dinner at AT&T Center
Politicians show many faces. What they say and do on TV — or in speeches to their followers — might differ radically from their demeanor in a personal conversation or speaking to a nonpartisan gathering.
ACC President and CEO Stephen Kinslow and Sophia Downing
This was brought home last week during a benefit dinner at the AT&T Center for the Austin Community College Center for Public Policy and Political Studies (quite a mouthful). By all accounts, it’s still the only center of its kind based at a community college in this country. But we do things differently here in Austin, don’t we?
U.S. Senator John Cornyn and John Shackles
The keynote speaker at the AT&T Center was U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Also addressing several hundred folks were former Gov. Mark White and former Austin Mayor Bruce Todd (both sit on the center’s board of directors). Closing out the evening was Peck Young, veteran Austin political consultant and the center’s director.
Peck Young and Carla Jackson
Now, I had formed impressions of these men from their public personae, impressions confounded at times by their interactions and remarks at the dinner. (Todd, I’ve known for years, but the others had remained social mysteries.) Anyway, it was an occasion for discovery, not only about the politicians, but also the college’s center, which reaches some 10,000 students a year through various programs.
Much of the evening was devoted to tributes — some funny, some not — to retiring ACC President Stephen Kinslow, who attracts intense loyalty from all the staff, faculty, students and backers that I’ve encountered. Kinslow has indeed molded the college into a regional powerhouse, especially in workforce education.
He can gather a lot of people around the same table. Which might explain why elected officials associated with such divergent opinions laid down their differences to honor him — and the center — with almost no mention of divisive political issues.
Correction: In an earlier version of this post, Sophia Downing was misidentified by a school official.
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Tony Bennett at ACL Live
Photos: Tony Bennett at ACL Live
All great artists should age like Tony Bennett.
Here he is at age 84, looking bronze, chipper and handsome as ever on the ACL Live Stage.
Bennett dances a little, gestures a lot, giving quick salutes for the cheers, applause and multiple standing ovations that erupted before, during and after his 90-minute Wednesday concert to a packed house.
He still sings like a god. It seems impossible, but he may sound better now that at any time in his 62-year career.
Never maudlin, never sentimental, his supple tenor still carries a potent emotional charge.
“I guess you can tell by now that I just sing old songs,” he beamed.
Wouldn’t have it any other way. Although he sang post-1950 pop hits, romantic ballads and show tunes, he returned repeatedly to the standards of the 1920s-1940s, what he calls the “classical music of the world.”
But first, the audience was warmed up by his daughter Antonia Bennett, who put contemporary spins on the family’s familiar jazz phrasing. Her finest moment was an ultra-slow arrangement of Noël Coward’s “Sail Away.”
Her red hair blazing in the stage lights, she returned later in the concert to add her unforced voice to Stephen Sondheim’s “Old Friends,” given a father-daughter duet twist.
The elder Bennett, dressed in a buttery yellow blazer, frequently acknowledged his extraordinary sidemen: drummer Harold Jones, pianist Lee Musiker, guitarist Gray Sargent and bassist Marshall Wood. They played long, inventive introductions and bridges and received almost as much adulation from the music-savvy audience as the legendary singer.
The instrumental sections may have given Bennett a few breaks, but he didn’t seem to need them. He purred the quiet notes and rocketed the big ones to the moon.
His patter included polished, but not gimmicky stories about his discovery (by Pearl Bailey, in tandem with fellow talent show contestant Rosemary Clooney — in 1949!); the acquisition of his stage name (given him by Bob Hope); and his interactions with composers like Hank Williams (not so good) and Charlie Chaplin (good).
But this consummate concert returned again and again to the immortal songs: “Smile,” “Just in Time,” “Cold, Cold Heart,” “For Once in My Life,” “The Good Life,” “Once Upon a Time,” and, of course, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” He deferred to the singers who had introduced certain songs to a wider public, nodding to Liza Minnelli, for instance, before he pulled out all the stops singing “Maybe This Time.”
Now, touring artists generally compliment the cities they play. It’s an easy way to pump up a crowd. But Bennett seemed genuinely moved that the “sweet town” of Austin that he visited decades ago, now has become “the most beautiful, bright city in the country.”
If only Bennett could do for Austin what he did for San Francisco. And for American music.
Correction: In an earlier version of this post, guitarist Gray Sargent’s name was misspelled.
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Austin’s transformative social scene
As a teen, I was shy, awkward and odd.
As an adult, I am less shy and less awkward, but, by most accounts, even odder.
I credit Austin and its cool, kind, fun and smart social climate with this transformation. Consider the Austin social luck encountered just this past week.
In-Young Kim, My-Linh Bui and Gilbert Lopez
During the People’s Community Clinic luncheon at the Renaissance Austin Hotel, writer and consultant Steven Tomlinson presented a stirring short play based on his observations at the clinic. Tomlinson wove into it many of Austin’s alert, creative and compassionate sensibilities.
Rosanne Easton and Heather Naples
At the same event, Bill and Bettye Nowlin were honored for their contributions to the region’s community health. I was surrounded by beguiling folks at a table headed by event chairwoman Becky Beaver, who helped raise more than $350,000 that day.
Bill and Bettye Nowlin
Earlier, the Seaholm Power Plant served as the charismatic site for a thumping joint birthday party for Tomlinson and partner Eugene Sepulveda.
Robert Nash and Niyanta Spelman
Complementing the memorable food and drink were thoughtful conversations with the likes of Austin City Council Member Bill Spelman and his wife Niyanta, Amy and Kirk Rudy, Jamie and Albert Cantara, and Mike and Michelle Rovner.
The old power plant reverberated with the industrial implications of composer Graham Reynolds and company, as it did earlier in the week when 100 strings accompanied the socially blended band Mother Falcon.
Richard and Lisa Frank
Both events dovetailed into the Fusebox Festival, which had also presented the kinetic mediation on social ecstasy, including its dark side, “There Is So Much Mad in Me” by choreographer Faye Driscoll. Now that show attracted a quintessential Austin crowd!
Rochelle Poulson and Samantha Higdon
I met a host of filmmakers at the Iron Dragon Productions reception for Cine las Americas, organized by the indefatigable Janell Smith. She introduced me to almost everyone in the room. (Always appreciated, if done diplomatically.)
Wes and Tanya Cates
At Graphic V, a benefit for Breast Cancer Resource Centers, I got to know delightful New Orleans transplants Lisa and Richard Frank. They own a spot in the 360 Condos tower “blinged out” by designer Sharon Radovich. Bling is so not Austin (they know it), but the Franks are. Now.
Marianne and Martin Rochelle
At the Hope Awards for Interfaith Action of Central Texas, I chatted with calm leader Tom Spencer as well as event co-chair Marianne Rochelle and her husband Martin. Bishop John McCarthy was lionized alongside singer and humanitarian Sara Hickman and Rev. Joseph C. Parker, Jr.
Neyssan Moshref and Peter Blackwell
During the Music4Life benefit at ACL Live, I spent time with multi-talented Chris Saad and Lake Travis High School booster June Dively. The crowd was small, but the mood was joyful.
Gary and Nichelle Cobb
Finally, I heard a rousing version of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, with Stefan Sanders conducting one of University of Texas’ orchestras.
June Dively and Chris Saad
The performance was energized by the loud name-checking of musicians by audience members. I did not shout out “Jenny Klingshirn” for my niece, the self-taught second violinist.
Kathleen and Jenny Klingshirn
So maybe I am still shy.
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Iron Dragon Reception for Cine las Americas at El Sol y La Luna
The surge of spring Austin events sometimes drowns out the socializing around Cine las Americas. The movies are carefully chronicled (start here at the Austin Movie Blog). But unlike some other local cultural fests, Cine pre-parties, after-parties and receptions rarely filter out into the larger consciousness.
Carlos Corral and Lisa Marie Mejia
Late Friday, I took advantage of a personal invitation from Janell Smith to attend an Iron Dragon Productions reception and public interview at El Sol y La Luna. (As if I needed an excuse to drop by this East Sixth Street culinary and social anchor.) Super-fit martial artist Smith, who tends several irons in the film and television fires, introduced me to eight or 10 movie artists while we waited for the interviews to start.
Carmen Marron and Araceli Santana Lancón
I heard from energetic Carmen Marron about her Latino dance film, “Go For It,”, which was picked up by Lionsgate. The studio is spearheading a fundraiser that will drive money back to the educational dance project.
Carlos Corral told me more about Mind Warp Entertainment and his movie, “Hands of God,” featured at the festival.
Alberto Ferreras and Trina Bardusco
I met the three-person creative team behind “Habla Texas,” filmed here and co-produced by HBO Latino, as well as Aracela Santana Lancón, whose documentary “Blattangelus” is making the festival circuit.
Cine las Americas: Yet another force making Austin more interesting, one social or cultural connection at a time.
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Audience for “There Is So Much Mad in Me” at Austin Ventures Studio
Saturday morning, I spotted two somewhat familiar figures walking along our street near South Congress Avenue. As soon as they passed and their faces blurred in my memory, I was convinced they were performers in “There Is So Much Mad in Me,” presented by testperformancetest and Fusebox Festival at Austin Ventures Studio the previous night.
I wanted to stop, race back to confront them and ask: How did this actually happen? How does choreographer Faye Driscoll get there? What sparks these combinations of dance, theater and performance art?
Audience members who gathered outside the downtown Studio following the performance were asking the same questions.
One patron said: “Did I enjoy it? I wouldn’t say ‘enjoy.’”
Others said they did, observing that, despite the familiar subject matter, so much of the actual performance was intensely compelling. The movement, sounds, words, songs and enactments of sex, violence and pop culture parody seemed to emanate from strong emotions, not so much “madness” as “ecstasy” in all its forms, including bullying, intimidation and extreme force. It appeared, some said, to be informed by gender and sexuality studies, but not held captive by them, acknowledging complexity and ambiguity.
Cool discussion.
In a way, the evenly charismatic ensemble and the collaborative nature of “Mad” reminded one of Austin’s Rude Mechs, which presents its off-beat musical “I’ve Never Been So Happy” as part of the Fusebox Festival. (I plan to see that too. I bet some of the same audience will be there.)
By the way, among the several conversations engaged at the Studio, the funniest was with choreographer Allison Orr, who said she was out for the first time solo and “post-baby.” Welcome back, Allison. Her Forklift Danceworks performs “The Trash Project” again Aug. 27-28.
Photo by Yi Chun-Wu.
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Earth Day for Hill Country Conservancy at ACL Live
The Hill Country Conservancy showed a fresh face Friday night. Sure, the group that fights for open space and water protection in Texas had staged benefits before, including its felicitous Earth Day concerts at Stubb’s.
Beth and Dave Gereau
This Earth Day, however, tickets to a sit-down dinner at ACL Live cost $500 apiece, full tables $5,000. Developers, politicians and environmentalists sat down together around square tables on the Moody Theatre’s first level. Meanwhile, various media and others mingled over barbecue sliders on the mezzanine level.
Marcus Whitfield and Megan Settoon
Dave and Beth Gereau said they had read about the event in the newspaper and were looking forward to the speech by Robert Kennedy Jr. They didn’t know name of the band — Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers — that would follow the formalities. I’m sure they remembered after the set.
Activist Robin Rather chatted with me about the singular nature of the event. It was laid-back Austin, for sure, but far from the sometimes scruffy gatherings that marked Earth Days over the past 41 years ago. (I’m not declaring a preference, just remarking, as always, on the changes in our culture.)
John Arrow and Courtney Jeffries
I met MutualMobile CEO John Arrow and his companion Courtney Jeffries. Arrow talked about his company’s rapid growth, but he and Jeffries also bruited the young leaders club for the Conservancy.
In a sign of the times, our conversation actually started when Jeffries said she followed me on Gowalla. Later that evening, during my third party, my iPhone informed me that Arrow had invited me to follow him via this Austin location-based social network.
Media, food, music, nature, business, socializing — they all go together in Austin.
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Profile: Camille Styles
Entertaining, at home or abroad, to thine own self be true.
So suggests Camille Styles, Austin event planner and blogger, whose CamilleStyles.com attracts a global readership, judging by the questions and comments posted there.
“In a way, the trend now is not feeling compelled to follow trends,” Styles, 26, says, “but rather making events a reflection of one’s own personality. I encourage people to loosen up, not focus on every little detail. Focus on the things that matter to them. Things that will make lasting memories with friends and family.”
Styles then forged ahead with an intended career in fashion public relations as an assistant at the established Harrison & Schriftman firm in New York City. She quickly discovered three things about herself.
“A) I didn’t want to live in New York City; B) I didn’t want to work in fashion; and C) I wanted to produce events,” Styles says.
She moved to Austin in 2006 and quickly nabbed a job with Word of Mouth Catering as an event planner. Two years later, she switched over to Springbox, an interactive marketing firm, where she planned corporate events — and met future husband Adam Moore, who had co-founded Springbox and now runs Spacecraft, a startup software company.
These days, a big chunk of her time is devoted to her own Camille Styles Events, run out of their “3-bedroom, 3-office” house in the Mount Bonnell neighborhood. So auspicious is the three-person firm, she no longer accepts new clients, unless they are exceptionally interesting.
Her other other labor of love is the blog, which shares advice on all kinds of entertaining, but especially at home.
“There’s a small percentage of the population who can afford to hire a planner for their personal events,” says Styles, “I’m passionate about inspiring everyone to entertain in a way that reflects their personal style and is fun for everyone.”
Joining a community of related lifestyle bloggers, such as Oh Happy Day, 100 Layer Cake, Oh Joy, Design Sponge, Sunday Suppers, she monetizes the digital project through branded sponsorships. For instance, she makes videos in her custom kitchen, outfitted with appliances provided by the Electrolux company.
“I want to create a lifestyle brand that goes beyond planning people’s parties,” she says, “and actually inspires them to entertain in a way that is personal and fun.”
At the heart of Styles’s party advice is something that should appeal to Austin sensibilities: Chill.
“The goal is to relieve stress and make a party that is seamless, that looks effortless,” says Styles, who uses the word “amazing” a lot. “Easy entertaining doesn’t mean slopping dinner on paper plates, though.”
A peek at the “inspiration boards” — trim collages of thematic pictures — that Styles posts on her blog gives the reader a sense of her casual chic style. And her organizational impulse.
“Planning in advance and then flexibility are keys,” she says. “Making lists of everything that needs to be accomplished. Then tackling everything as far in advance as is humanly possible.”
The most frequent question from readers? How to make an event special, out of the ordinary. She advocates uncomplicated creativity.
“Entertaining well doesn’t mean expensive or over the top,” she says. “It could be a flower tucked in a napkin. Or a jar of pink Himalayan salt by each place setting.”
For example, Styles is planning a baby shower for twins. So she purchased English pea seed packets at the grocery store, which she’ll use for invitation envelopes. Thus, the otherwise ordinary event is branded “Two Peas in a Pod.”
Styles does almost all her grocery shopping at Central Market, but sometimes browses at Whole Foods Market or one of the city’s farmers’ markets. For party supplies, she relies on online sites such as Etsy.com, which offers handmade goods from 800,000 different sources.
“You can use crafters from all over the world and find any party supply there that you could ever imagine,” she says.
She’s also availed herself of the creative vendors — photographers, calligraphers, vintage rental suppliers — who are moving into Austin. Has the flat economy affected organized socializing?
“I haven’t noticed a decline in entertaining,” she says. “Though (events are) not as flashy or showy as they were before. Nobody is just throwing money at a party.”
Planning private parties and corporate events, she’s takes advantage of new area restaurants with distinct personalities. Styles starts with her inspiration boards as a maps for choosing the colors, feels, flowers and food. Then she looks for a restaurant that fits that map.
For instance, she put together a board with images of cool or modern takes on Tex-Mex, then discovered exactly the right spot at Malverde, the Mexico City-inspired club above La Condesa restaurant at Second and Guadalupe streets.
“The interior was already fitted out for the look of the party,” she says “When I can take photos of the party and put them up against inspiration board and they look like there’s a consistent thread, then that’s a successful party.”
Creative entertaining spills over into domestic life as well.
“The way I set the table might be reminiscent of our honeymoon in Italy,” she says. “Anyone can turn everyday meal times into special fun moments.”
CLARIFICATION: In a previous version of this post, we used Camille Styles’ legal name, Camille Styles Moore.
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Fusebox Festival Launch Party at Seaholm Power Plant
The party simmered. By multiple measures.
The temperature and humidity inside Seaholm Power Plant could have steamed a trawler full of clams. Search as one might, there was no cool spot. Still, folks moved like the tides around the decommissioned plant — up the stairs, down the stairs, into niches — exploring this vast, industrial shipwreck.
Miki Schack, Brook Yates and William Jerome
Many were artists, attending the launch party for Fusebox Festival 2011. I imagined they were imagining their own work positioned in this space, which has inspired so many singular projects since it opened to the public for events like this more than a year ago.
Others had thronged to hear Mother Falcon, the band of the moment, playing with 100 stringed instruments. At times, their streams of sound washed gorgeously over the listeners. At other moments, the space overwhelmed the amplification.
Justin Agnew and Yamanda Wright
That didn’t deter the sweaty, admiring masses, which included an international contingent.
I apologized to couch-surfing visitor Mike Schack that my Danish was non-existant, while his English was pristine.
“Nobody speaks Danish,” he smiled.
“All these young people!” architect and Austin observer Emily Little gasped. “You don’t have to worry about them. They have it figured out.”
Haven’t they just?
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Petcasso for Animal Trustees of Austin at AT&T Center
Auction fever struck Animal Trustees of Austin this week. The group’s signature benefit, Petcasso, moved to the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center on Sunday. The event, chaired by scampy Dr. John Hogg and Alisa Weldon in fabric dog and cat ears, looked as if it doubled in size from the previous year.
Dr. John Hogg and Alisa Weldon
Like other galas, this one includes videos (turn down the house lights, these stories and images are quite effective), thank-you speeches and testimonials. Petcasso benefits, however, from the charismatic presence of pets. Hundreds of guests let out a collective “aw!” every time a pet pranced out on stage.
Ruby Medina and Charles Fuller
The gimmick of pairing human and pet artists to create works to auction sounds goofy, I know, but added to videos and live appearances, the concept works magic. Paintings and multi-media canvases were going for thousands of dollars, all of which lands back at Animal Trustees. Every year, the charity provides veterinary services for tens of thousands of pets whose human friends can’t afford the outlay.
Mike and Michelle Rovner
Much praise was handed Animal Trustees executive director Missy McCullough. Yet the auction, which included a few vacation and spa packages in addition to the art, would not have entertained without auctioneer Walt Roberts, cowboy, fiddle player and stand-up comedian. Even drawn-out bidding kept us laughing with Roberts at the helm.
Stephanie Touchet and Michael De Leon
During the finale, Weldon announced that the live and silent auctions — including cash call — combined to raise more than $200,000 for emergency services.
Again, entertainment — unforced — is the key to a grand auction. Even for those, like myself, not bidding.
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Red, Hot & Soul for Zach Theatre at Hilton Austin
During the first five decades of my life, I witnessed perhaps five live auctions. They generally involved livestock in small, fragrant arenas.
My other impressions of the auction business were derived from film and television. Folks in tuxedos, gowns and monocles bidding outrageous amounts on fine art, antiques or jewelry.
During the past five years, while reporting on the Austin social scene, I’ve seen maybe 1,000 charity auctions. Sometimes one a night for a week. After a while, they all run together.
What makes for a memorable one?
Zach Theatre provided the answer on Saturday. At its raucous Red, Hot & Soul gala, the group softened up potential bidders with dazzling costumes, lights and music. A 1960s aesthetic ruled as scenes from the theater’s upcoming “Hairspray” raised spirits.
Christine Tucker and Johann Robert Wood
Liquid spirits likely contributed to the delirious mood. Short, upbeat videos supported short, lively speeches from a centralized stage. Dinner conversations at the scores of tables sounded brisk, casual, convivial.
Then came the auction. Three onstage performers — Warren Freeman, in character as Corny Collins from “Hairspray,” Zach artistic director Dave Steakley and Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo — prompted the bidding.
Dana Friis-Hansen and Mark Holzbach
They did not “push” the bidding, however, and closed out each auction item in a timely way. Competitive action was encouraged. The final bidding on prime tickets for the first performance at the new Topfer Theatre, now under construction at Lamar Boulevard and Riverside Drive, was split three ways.
(Which may have caused some confusion. Items like these are often split to give the last bidders the same benefits and the charity maximum donations.)
Krista Gardiner and Terry O’Daniel
Just as the crowd began to signal restlessness, the auction was over. Boom! On to the dancing. And this group needed no encouragement. Up they raced to the dance floor.
Zach special events manager Eric Scott reports: “We raised $81,000 on our live auction and $27,000 on our cash call. Including some on-the-spot commitments to the Topfer Theatre Campaign, the event overall raised just over $360,000.”
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Rare and Fine Wines Auction at the Four Seasons Hotel
Our customary price point for a bottle of table wine: $12. The price for three bottles of Screaming Eagle at the Wine and Food Foundation of Texas auction dinner on Saturday: $12,000.
Glenn and Christy Stallop
One could argue that is too much. But, what the hey? All the money goes to charity, in this case an organization that provides educational programs, projects and events related to — what else? — wine and food.
Jessica Webster and Currie Bucher
We dropped by the champagne reception portion of the evening mainly because we adore Donaji Lira, who runs the auction. She later told me the take for the evening was $303,250.
Alex Andrawes and Dawn McDaniel
Dressy, happy oenophiles mingled in the lobby of the Four Season Hotel banquet room — trying not to spill over into the two weddings nearby. Spring in Austin on the banks of the Colorado River: Who needs an excuse for either ancient exercise?
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Amanda McBroom at Chez Zee
Cabaret fans are a hardy lot. They have followed Austin Cabaret Theatre from venue to venue, sometimes in hotels or restaurants, at other times in lounges or theaters.
And no wonder, since Stuart Moulton’s hardy company has presented indelible stage legends (Eartha Kitt, Elaine Stritch, Carol Channing), talent with legend potential (Donna McKechnie, Faith Prince), and among the finest cabaret specialists (Billy Stritch, Ann Hampton Calloway, Klea Blackhurst, etc.)
In fact, McBroom has returned to Austin fairly regularly, having developed a musical at UT, for instance. Failing some act of fate, however, her biography will always begin with her composition of “The Rose” for Bette Midler’s movie of the same name.
After three previous parties, and some signature Chez Zee dessert in the breezeway, we dropped in for McBroom’s act, delighted to find she would devote the entire set to Jacques Brel. She told an absolutely charming story about seeing “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris” in San Francisco, where she was trying to make it as a folk singer. She ended up joining the cast of the long-running show and marrying the handsome leading man, still her husband 40 years later.
McBroom puts her own spiky spin on Brel, never shying away from his acerbic or melancholy moods. This can be funny (“Early Morning Hangers On”) or hypnotic (“Carousel’”). And she delivered the most devastating version of “Ne Me Quitte Pas” I’ve ever witnessed. (Let’s just forget the Rod McKuen translation, “If You Go Away,” which McBroom nicely dismisses.)
As they do, the Austin Cabaret Theatre audience listened as if their lives depended on it.
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Made in the Shade: Lady Bird’s Legacy & The First Roadside Park
Ten trees gang up by the road. Six benches attend three concrete picnic tables. Three brick fire pits and three garbage barrels await more serious picnickers.
Across the road, along the yellow-green median, the first gauzy winecups of spring bloom.
In some ways, the roadside park on Texas 71 in Fayette County between Smithville and La Grange has not changed since 1933. The tables and benches have been replaced, and newer limestone shelters have been built in a park extension to the east.
Yet the old trees, nine of them oaks and one requiring a branch-support system, remain by the dry creek. Since this little oasis — the first in Texas — was built by William Pape Sr., a highway foreman from 1924 to 1940, more than 1,000 such roadside parks have been erected in Texas.
Some younger Texans have never stopped at roadside parks. They don’t know that these patches of green were originally preserved to provide cool shade alongside tortuous highways navigated by Depression-era cars without air-conditioning.
Even adult natives might not realize that the majority were built in a three-year frenzy from 1935 to 1938 by the National Youth Administration, whose New Deal leader was future President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Thirty years later, it was his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, who put roadsides and parks in the forefront of public attention through her campaign for the Highway Beautification Act of 1965.
So why not seed the three or four acres of this historic first roadside park with wildflowers courtesy of Lady Bird’s Legacy, the American-Statesman’s drive to honor the memory and environmental work of the late Lady Bird Johnson?
“It’s a lovely idea,” says Barrie Cogburn, director of the Landscape Design and Enhancements Section for the Texas Department of Transportation. “(We are) very proud of the legacy that Mrs. Johnson left us.”
For years, Lady Bird Johnson also awarded annual cash prizes for Texas highway designers who devised the most creative means to soften the inevitable brutality of asphalt or concrete on land scraped of its original shape and vegetation.
The story of Texas roadside parks, however, goes all the way back to the 1920s. As highways were pushed across the heavily wooded eastern half of the state, trees were treated as obstructions and potential accident magnets.
By 1930, however, Texas state highway engineer Gibb Gilchrist sent out a memo, preserved in a Texas Highways magazine issue from 1967: “The Department wishes to preserve on the right of way of state highways as many trees as possible. … No trees should be cut which would beautify the highway, or which could be preserved.”
In 1934, Gilchrist added in another memo: “Promiscuous mowing of the right of way should be delayed until the flower season is over.”
The next year, a hugely energetic and ambitious young man from Johnson City took over the Texas branch of the National Youth Administration, which put volunteer males, ages 16 to 25, to work on public projects.
Similar to the Civilian Conservation Corps, which built many of the nation’s large parks, the NYA housed the men in military conditions and concentrated on spreading a rustic style of recreational structures.
Johnson built the first 200 roadside parks for $230,000. Hundreds more followed. Yet, according to a 1999 TxDOT publication, only 41 roadside parks from the Depression remained in close to their original conditions; and only four of those in Central Texas. (The one Pape built east of Smithville was too thoroughly renovated to be included on this list.)
While other states built such pocket parks, the vast Texas highway system — and the barbaric summers — meant the parks instantly became part of a push for motor tourism.
The September 1936 issue of Texas Parade magazine puffed: “As the wanderer in the desert welcomes the oasis, so the Texas motorist hails with joy these little off-the-road nooks which offer rest and relaxation after a ride in the boiling sun.”
In West Texas, shade trees gave way to constructed shelters, often placed at scenic look-outs that might afford a dry breeze.
One could explore the little patch of nature inside the park, then sometimes step across a fence’s stile into the fields nearby.
Yet current state budgets don’t allow for much landscaping. And roadside parks are being closed near urban areas. “It just doesn’t make sense any more,” says TxDOT librarian Anne Cook, “because there are alternatives.”
The state’s first roadside park, located some 50 miles southeast of downtown Austin, is in no danger. And it could soon beckon drivers with banks of wildflowers in a safer setting for family photos than next to speeding drivers.
To find out more about the Lady Bird’s Legacy campaign, go here.
People who make a donation online can indicate their preference to seed that historic first roadside park in the comments box.
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Fashion for Compassion at Sak’s Fifth Avenue
Fine cause. Swank setting. Imaginative food. Upbeat speakers. Top society models.
Celebrity models: The women
Everything about Fashion for Compassion to benefit the Austin Children’s Shelter on Friday was headed on the right course. Except one thing: It lasted too long.
Celebrity models: The men
Way too long. Same thing happened at the Shelter’s ’80s dance party at the Parish earlier this season. Back then, it was Austin Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez stuck on the stage rather than Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo and Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton. (All three are crackerjack speakers, connectors and motivators. I don’t know how we got so lucky in this town.)
Sherri West and Olga Campos
You could see the reactions on the faces of the folks who had patiently gathered at Sak’s Fifth Avenue. They grew restless. Then excused themselves. Backstage, the celebrity models on both sides of the cruciform runway fidgeted.
Shannon Yarbrough and Allen Tuller
Parties float on a rhythm. If you dampen that rhythm, the party droops. None of this should discourage any potential guest from attending a future Shelter event. I’m sure the hosts have already heard from the compassionately restless and will correct their course.
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Texas Biennial Party on Rosewood Avenue
Like the East Austin Studio Tour, the Texas Biennial is a treasure hunt. Art is here, there and everywhere. The trick, for the social columnist, is to find the most compelling combination of people, places and scenes.
Abby Ronaldes and TJ Hunt
On Friday, we dropped by a party in a bungalow on Rosewood Avenue. The place looked empty at first, but out popped a young woman who participated in a series about the so-called Austin McMansion Ordinance for our newspaper. She had been seeking an urban spot to care for her brother, who lives with Down Syndrome. This very bungalow was what she ultimately purchased for the project.
Tony Gonzalez and Johnny Villarreal
But for now, it’s a site for a specific art project. A portion of the backyard is dug into letters. Walls inside display photographs. A pile of dirt takes center stage in the front room.
Nicholas Hay and Yuko Fukuzumi
Party-goers passed by the art quickly, assembling outside in the cool shade of the bungalow’s east side. Bottled water and keg beer attracted some. I spent most of the time talking to Tony Gonzalez, an artist from Corpus Christi. Our subject: The social and cultural divides between his Gulf coast hometown and Austin.
Guess which city, as an artist, he preferred. And yet, he is headed back to Texas A&M Corpus Christi to finish his film degree, because it’s more affordable and the classes are smaller. So there.
Correction: Abby Ronaldes’ and TJ Hunt’s names were switched in an earlier version of this post.
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AIA-Austin Design and Honor Awards at the Blanton Museum of Art
Once lured out of their studios, architects and their ilk can always be drawn into substantive conversations. Their interests are broad. Their impact on the world around us ubiquitous.
Tatsuya and Courtney Kiguchi
So design, sports, books, movies, hotels, art, film, food, travel, cities, nature, business all came up while we made the circuit above the atrium at the Blanton Museum of Art’s secondary Smith Building. Brains and beauty — located somewhere between the looks of studio artists and business folks — combined as the assembly waited for the American Institute of Architects Austin Honor and Design Awards on Friday.
Chris Krager and Amy Grappell
I was particularly interested in catching up with filmmaker Amy Grappell, whom I first met in New York some 25 years ago and has blossomed into a serious talent, and landscape designer Fritz Steiner, the dean of University of Texas School of Architecture who has a new book coming out from UT Press.
Sapna and Nicki Patel
AIA, by the way, is the professional organization for architects and the Austin chapter has matured nicely since it first came to my attention some 20 years ago. This awards ceremony is just an outward sign.
Sam and Jessica Vonderau
I made multiple social commitments Friday night, so I could not stay for announcements from Zarghun Dean, who promoted good design in his publication Tribeza, since sold to other investors (check out the new fashion issue).
Yet, thanks to AIA’s Sally Fly, I can share the winners:
Nyfeler Community Service Award: Sinclair Black
Young Architectural Professional: Brandon Townsend
Waller Award for Public Architecture: Jim Walker
Community Vision Award: Foundation Communities
Goldsmith Award: John V. Nyfeler
Firm Achievement Award: Paul Lamb architects
DESIGN AWARDS
Citations of Honor: Byrne-Reed House (Humanities Texas)” Clayton & Little Architcts; Austin Office: Gensler; Sol Austin: Garage Apartment: LZT Architects; KRDB; McGarrah Jessee: McKinney York Architects; 1917 Bungalow: Miró Rivera Architects
Honor Awards: Scout Island Residence: Alterstudio Architects; Kenya Rainwater Court: Dick Clark Architecture; Ranch Operations: Miró Rivera Architects
Studio Award: Blanco Public Library: Brett Wolfe, Assoc. AIA
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Heroes Celebration for American Red Cross at Truluck’s
Sometimes, taking a break works out best. It allows for reflection. And planning. Also anticipation for the next step.
For the past few years, the American Red Cross of Central Texas has abstained from large-scale benefits. The costs are high, the takes variable, and, anyway, smaller social gatherings can promote giving just as easily as large ones, sometimes more quickly.
Mack and Sally Brown
The trade-offs: A lower public profile and fewer chances at a big donation haul. But are those possible outcomes really a problem for this nonprofit?
As a whole, the Red Cross is almost universally recognized, relatively scandal-free and their ratings for efficiency and capacity are pretty high. People trust them in the case of disasters large and small. Their safety training programs are priceless.
Barbara and Stacy Allen
But sometimes a party helps. And, oh boy, did the Red Cross throw one Thursday at Truluck’s. First the location: A trusted upscale casual restaurant that’s part of a well-tended pack, its main dining area is just right for a 200-guest gala. The bar area serves as a pre-gala VIP lounge and the basement is nearby for the silent auction.
Andy Graham and K.D. Hausenfluck
And the food! I don’t think I’ve eaten so well at a gala in ages. And that’s saying a lot, because local hotels, especially, are upping their gala games. Appetizers took the form of giant breaded shrimp and savory tufts of tofu. The dinner consisted of a chunky crab cake, a peppery steak and a gorgeous slab of cake. (The Red Cross-named specialty drinks were really just dirty martinis and cosmos.)
Chandler Allen and Destin Bennett
Other than some small stage management issues, the Heroes Celebration ceremony was as tight, funny and moving as one could imagine. Gala committee chairwoman Barbara Allen provided a gracious welcome, as did her husband, Stacy Allen, the board chairman, and Marty McKellips, the group’s CEO. KEYE’s classy Judy Maggio kept things humming along as emcee. Austin Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr and Red Cross volunteer extraordinaire Betty Hendrix — she joined during World War II — mingled with the merry crowd.
Jose Dominguez, Betty Hendrix and Amir Roohi
Only three heroes (wise choice) were saluted: the late appellate lawyer Greg Coleman, who appears to have accomplished two life’s worth of good works before dying fairly young in a plane crash; University of Texas coach Mack Brown, who graciously accepted the Lady Bird Johnson Humanitarian of the Year honor; and Andy Graham, an Apple Computer, Inc. employee whose co-worker suffered a seizure,not long after Graham underwent Red Cross training. Graham paused several times during his speech, shaken with emotion. I agree with Maggio, who said she tells stories for a living and this guy, who was nervous about public speaking, told his with such simplicity and meaning, we were all kept spellbound.
Jamie Oliver, Kathryn Goodnite and Rhoda Mae Kerr
The live auction got off to a slow start. Then I did something entirely uncharacteristic: I jumped up to encourage bidding on a vacation package to Vancouver, B.C., which we recently visited. Grabbing the mike, I testified to the city’s charms, perhaps pushing up the bidding. I just got caught up in the frenzy.
On the way out, Coach Mack remembered my name. Sort of. Called me “Mike.” Which I don’t mind. I guess making a spectacle of oneself can pay off. Because in so many ways, he and wife Sally Brown are solid-gold heroes in our community.
All I can say is that Allen and her professional planning team (I couldn’t find a credit in the published program) made a resounding argument for galas of this size and character.
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Austin’s other celebrity endomorphs: Lance Armstrong, Sandra Bullock and more
Other than Willie Nelson, who are Austin’s other celebrity endomorphs? (See previous post for explanation.)
Lance Armstrong finishes second only to Nelson in this metaphorical race. His fame is global. Yet his chief impact is local. He may spend a chunk of the year in Aspen, Colo., where he owns another home, but his family and foundation are firmly anchored here. And Armstrong generously participates in local events of all stripes, recently accepting the Austinite of the Year award from the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce with an eloquent speech.
Sandra Bullock belongs in this category. She, too, owns multiple homes, but has been spending more time in her primary residence here. (She’s filming in New York City right now.) Her fame has only increased this past year or so, with an Oscar in tow, and Louis Bullock, her adopted son, right behind. Healing from a very public divorce from Jesse James, Bullock is in the celebrity sweet spot. Other than shepherding her businesses, she remains extremely private in Austin, which we have always respected.
Those are the Top 3 Austin celebrities.
Michael Dell would seem to fit the celebrity endomorph type, although he and other Austin candidates are probably better classed with the middle-weight mesomorphs. He’s our best-known entrepreneur and billionaire. And his computers, if not his face, are recognized everywhere. Partnered with wife Susan Dell, his philanthropy has grown to epic proportions. Although a bit formal and reserved, Dell certainly makes appearances all over town. But if you’re not in the business or nonprofit world, you might not identify him right away.
Similarly, John Paul DeJoria is known primarily to the style and charity communities. His face is more recognizable than Dell’s, perhaps, because he has been marketing Paul Mitchell hair products and Patron Tequila for so long. He and wife Eloise DeJoria are among the warmest, most genuine folks on Austin’s social circuit.
Outside of Texas, you wouldn’t ID Mack Brown, unless you followed collegiate football. Most of our musicians and other artists are the same way, known to fans, but not nearly famous beyond their fields. Politicians like Gov. Rick Perry are gaining notice beyond state borders, but they aren’t celebrity endomorphs on the scale of Nelson, Armstrong or Bullock.
One last candidate: Dennis Quaid. The Houston-born Quaid and his Austin-bred bride, Kimberly Buffington, finally purchased a house on Lake Austin, after years of promises and speculations. His three-score-and-more movies guarantee he is noticed by everyone when he golfs, dines, shops or plays with his band around town. Like Bullock and Armstrong, he has been stung by tabloid poison as well, which will never completely heal.
Oh, do I know where he lives? Yes. But discreet social columnists don’t tell.
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Celebrities attend Nobelity Dinner at Four Seasons Hotel
My metaphor is drawn from human morphology.
Some celebrities are lean ectomorphs. Their fame is supple, light, restricted to devout acolytes. They are the long-distance runners of celebrity. Fans will follow them anywhere, but in relatively small numbers.
At the other end of the spectrum are the famous endomorphs. These are the heavyweights, who can build up thousands if not millions of fans in a single week. Their celebrity is so overpowering, they must retreat behind cordons of privacy or security to maintain sanity.
Emily Robison and Kevin Womack
In between are the mesomorphs. Their fame is muscular, poised, well-balanced. They win over fans at home and abroad, but will almost never appear in the tabloids. They are not famous for being famous, but rather for bringing talent, skill and beauty to the celebrity table.
The metaphor lept to mind after gazing at the celebrities — and talking to some of them — at the Nobelity Dinner on Sunday at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Anita Jung-Rajamani and Oliver Rajamani
Turk and Christy Pipkin handle celebrities of all types like nobody’s business, perhaps because they treat them like any other friend, with respect, but also with humor and a minimum of pretension.
At the dinner, old Pipkin buddy Harry Anderson (a celebrity mesomorph, in the long run) performed a twist on the Harry Houdini straightjacket stunt, but as a middle-aged man who can’t pop his shoulder to escape. (“If I’m middle aged, then the average life expectancy would be 120,” he joked.)
Nilda de la Llata and …
I sat with Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks and Court Yard Hounds (another mesomorph, to my mind). Or rather, I sat across the table from her and exchanged a few words. Closer to me were pure ectomorphs like radio star Andy Langer — respected, liked, friendly, but you might not recognize him shopping at the Piggly Wiggly.
(Langer and I shared confidence about identifying Austin celebrities. If he can’t name someone recognizable, he assumes they are in film. When presented with the same challenge I assume music.)
After a while, a couple more mesos joined us: Austin artists and parents Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison (Emily’s former brother-in-law). Meanwhile, around the room, I spotted no true endomorphs, since Willie Nelson, a Nobelity regular, was in Hawaii raising money for Japanese disaster relief.
Eddie Safady and Deena Turner
At other tables were Austin-adjascent mesos and ectos like Ricardo Chavira (San Antonio), Brad Leland (Dallas) and Jimmy Buffett (back in the original Margaritaville). A short list of the others include Kyle Chandler, Ray Benson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Kinky Friedman, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, along with Sarah Bird, Steve Harrigan, Joe Ely, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Martie Maguire.
The list goes on … They raised $150,000 for the Nobelity Project’s U.S. education and film initiatives and another $50,000 for Kenyan schools, equipment and clean-water projects. Turk Pipkin, once again, proved one of the most deft live auctioneers in town — swift, funny and pretty sure where hands will raise in the room.
Correction: Andy Langer’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this post.
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LoveExotic for Family by Choice at the Clay Pit
LoveExotic is a cool name for a party. It suggests warmth and friendliness. But also something global, adventurous.
That certainly was the case upstairs at the Clay Pit late on Saturday. (Yes, still catching up on the weekend posts. A lot of socializing to report. Several more to go.) Light were dimmed. Booths offered wine and spirits from around the world. Servers toted around savory snacks.
Abi and David De Leon
Generous Daniel Northcutt, co-owner of Frank, had a lot to do with that. I don’t know if they were volunteers, but the servers really “sold” their wares.
John Pointer sang, after telling me about an online music idea he plans to unveil later this spring. (You’d be astonished how many news tips can be harvested at such events.) I spent considerable time with social marathoners Devin Ellis and Marques Harper.
Melanie René and Eryn Culotta
Oh, the cause? Family by Choice, a nonprofit that helps nontraditional families. According to its website, it “assists families in locating and connecting to appropriate licensed adoption and foster care placing agencies, as well as other needed services, and to secure second parent adoptions when applicable.”
Clarita Sanchez and Oscar Ramirez
Its support groups, overseen by director Jose Cardenas and by program director Susan J. Griffith, include “Mommy-O’s” and “Daddy-O’s.” Now you gotta admit, that’s cute.
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Toast of the Town at the Four Seasons Residences
Who would not covet an invitation to the handsome new home of Tom and Lynn Meredith? Located in the penthouse of the Four Seasons Residences, this airy eyrie offers vast views of Central Texas. Those sights alone could occupy a guest for hours without any other entertainment.
Lynn and Tom Meredith
These philanthropists and civic leaders, however, opened a portion of the penthouse — trimmed in stone and strung along the north side of the building — for Toast of the Town, the annual pilgrimage of small parties staged by the St. David’s Community Health Foundation.
Karim Sayani and Gloria Evans
Now if you don’t know this gigantic charity, it takes the profits from the St. David’s hospitals to fund community health efforts all over the city. Toast of the Town, on the other hand, directly benefits the Neal Kocurek scholarships in the health sciences. (I met, for instance, Karim Sayani, a student just starting studies at the University of Texas College of Natural Sciences.)
Kathy Taylor and Nina Seely
During the reception part of the evening — I skipped the sit-down dinner on Saturday because of multiple obligations — wines were sampled from the Merediths’ impressive vertical “cellar.” I spoke with the active and generous Ann Butler, with proud-to-turn-50-and-never-looked-better retailer Nina Seely, as well as other bright, engaging guests.
Amy and John Chronis
I plan to tarry longer at other Toasts during the last weeks of the social season. This time, it was an honor to spend time with the Merediths, who tell me their fellow Four Seasons residents are open and kinds, as well as their lucky sojourners.
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Opening Night Dinner for ‘Flight’ at Austin City Hall
I never expected to attend three Austin Lyric Opera social events in the space of one week. But backers like Wendi Kushner, Richard Hartgrove and Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza are pretty persuasive when they want to be.
Larry Steinmann and Sue Shearer
Friday was La Noche de Opera at the Cat Mountain home of Joe and Lilliana Garcia. Saturday was the Opening Night Dinner at Austin City Hall. This coming Wednesday, I’ll see Jonathan Dove’s opera “Flight” during the Long Center run that ends Sunday.
Anita Ashton and Graydon Parrish
How does one give a dinner at City Hall? Funny you should ask: Put a buffet in a conference room; position a bar in the main lobby and another on the mayor’s balcony; then offer desserts near the exit, where the shuttle bus takes the patrons across the Drake Bridge to the performing arts center.
Jo Anne Cristian, Cis Meyers and Peter Martino
The experience is fragmented, but hardly fruitless. Several women were wearing jewelry from Peter Martino, the jet-setter introduced to Austin society by painter Graydon Parrish. Among the more spectacular pieces was worn by leading patron Jo Anne Christian.
Julie Byers and Mayor Lee Leffingwell
I caught up a bit with Austin Symphony Orchestra conductor Peter Bay, agile connector Anita Ashton, energetic philanthropists Andrew and Mary Ann Heller, stylish storytellers Larry Steinmann and Sue Shearer, and several others before pushing on to the next two parties.
As usual, our hard-working Mayor Lee Leffingwell escaped my clutches as soon as I took his happy snap. Someday, we’ll have a real conversation.
If he wants. I never push when the situation is purely social. Well, almost never.
Correction: The headline misspelled the title of the opera in a previous version of this post.
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La Noche de Opera at a Cat Mountain home
No ignoring the view. Guests for La Noche de Opera headed straight for the terrace at the home of Joe and Lilliana Garcia. From their Cat Mountain perch, Lake Austin snaked toward the sunset, while the distant gray-green hills and bluffs looked ripe for shooting an epic movie Western.
Erica Lopez, Karina Lucio and Veronica Treviño
But this night was about opera. This Hispanic arts group meets before each Austin Lyric Opera production, this time for Jonathan Dove’s “Flight,” which sounds like it will be funny, sexy and fresh. It plays through the week at the Long Center. County Clerk Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza, the force behind La Noche, introduced the composer, who gave a lyrical, thoughtful presentation about his opera, which has been performed more than 100 times — exceedingly rare for a new opera.
Andrew and Barbara Grant
About 50 guests listened intently, then disbanded for the food, wine and conversation. I chatted briefly with Joe and Tana Christie, who introduced me to Dove himself. With impeccably polished manners, the British composer exchanged observations about contemporary opera and Austin with me. Then I ran into extraordinary Mexican operatic composer Daniel Catán, who is in residence at the University of Texas.
Joe and Lilliana Garcia
Catán generously shared his frank views about the relative strengths of his operas in various productions. He’s very excited by the University about the current Houston production of “Il Postino,” his latest and, he says, his best. Imagine: Substantive conversations with two successful opera composers in one evening!
Samantha and Oliver Murray
Social icing on the cake came in the form of a poolside visit with former state Rep. Diana Maldonado. She admitted not envying her former colleagues in the Texas legislature as they wrestle with the sisyphean task of forging a workable budget. We also talked about her other public projects, past and future. Don’t worry about this rising political star. There will a future.
Sad note: Later during the weekend, Catán passed away in his Austin apartment. For his obituary, please go here.
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Profile: Sonia Kotecha
Sonia Kotecha can’t help it. She gets wonky. Even when the topic is socializing in Austin.
“Yeah, I get on my soapbox a little,” Kotecha says.
“My time gets consumed in organizational stuff,” Kotecha (pronounced Ko-TEY-cha) admits.
Her family, which moved to the U.S. in 1972, encompasses the analytical and the social. Her father, Harish Kotecha, is a retired engineer who worked for IBM; her mother, Shanta Kotecha, also retired, has returned to work at the Austin offices of the Internal Revenue Service.
But her brother, Savan Kotecha, is a bestselling pop music songwriter who has written hits for Britney Spears, Usher and Enrique Iglesias and stars as a vocal coach on the United Kingdom editon of “The X Factor.”
Ethnically, the Kotechas are Gujaratis from Northwestern India; religiously, they are observant Hindus. The elder Kotechas fled Uganda, where their ancestors were merchants, when Idi Amin murderously persecuted people of Indian descent.
Although she visits her brother at his Los Angeles home — he maintains houses in Stockholm and London as well — and she meets some of his celebrity friends, Kotecha’s life by comparison is mundane, bookish. She attended schools in Virginia and Central Texas, studied sociology and ethnic studies at the University of Texas, then earned her masters in social work at the University of Houston.
Her eyes were opened to the real world of social and political power interning for state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, in 2001. She discovered that people who are affected by government services often had far less input with legislative staffers and officials than do lobbyists.
“If individuals in the community were more familiar with the process, and how approachable our legislative offices can be, they could influence change,” she says. “Our state leaders, although in power, are human beings and will prioritize those issues that move them on a personal level.”
Nevertheless, she was not tempted to abandon social work for politics.
“I came from a cooperative, nurturing culture,” Kotecha says. “At the Capitol, it’s cutthroat and competitive.”
She adapted some lessons from the Capitol, however, later when accepting a job as a social worker in Washington, D.C.
“Just calling someone back within 24 hours can go a long way, even if you don’t have the answer or the one that they want,” she says. “I took the skills I learned from Rep. Coleman’s office to develop a rapport with the children and families I worked with at Child Protective Services. It amazed me how easy it was for me to gain trust simply by responding to phone calls within 24 hours. They were not used to this from a government worker. As a result, walls would come down and I was able to really keep the focus on the children.”
At multiple points in her career, Kotecha has returned to the front lines of child advocacy, despite her inclination to see things from a policy perspective.
“It’s hard to be a strong advocate if you have not had real-life connections with what is happening in the community,” she says. “You’re going into people’s homes, in their communities, hearing their stories. I wanted to understand where the barriers toward progress for families living in poverty are.”
She discovered that action to protect children could be delayed for months if not years.
“It would get frustrating because I never felt I could do enough. Each child deserved more than I could realistically give,” she says. “I had to be satisfied with just moving the case from A to B regardless if any sort of permanency was achieved for the child, which is the ultimate goal. The problems were too overwhelming.”
Experiencing a “quarter-life crisis” at 30, she moved back to Austin and visited India with her mother, a land she had only seen previously at age 3.
“From my first visit, I remember the poverty and the kids on the streets begging. Cows roaming. Everyone was careful about getting bug bites,” she says. “When I went back as an adult, I didn’t see a difference: Lots of people, congestion, poverty. But also the smiles in people’s eyes you don’t see here. It had me reflecting on quality of life.”
It was in the Houston offices of Teach for America, where she served as special assistant to the executive director, that Kotecha observed a social service system that works on the micro and macro level. The program, which puts recent college graduates in classrooms in distressed areas, tends to spark lifetime advocacy for education even in those who don’t continue as teachers.
She has observed a similar transformation at Travis County’s affiliate of Seattle-based CASA, where volunteers mirror the work of government social workers.
“It attracts volunteers from all walks of life from age to educational level to occupation,” she says. “Many of our volunteers come from more privileged backgrounds than the children and families we serve, who have limited resources. The volunteers get to see how the system responds to these families through the eyes of the children they are appointed. They leave the experience changed and more aware.”
The 500 or so CASA volunteers go through 33 hours of training and are appointed by judges to develop relationships with thousands of children and to report back to judges.
In another part of her ultra-busy life, Kotecha has helped recruit 800 followers to the revitalized local chapter of the Network of Indian Professionals. The group, formerly best known for its singles mixer and now including married couples and families, blends first- and second-generation Americans who trace their ancestry to South Asia. Along with the social contacts, it provides professional development and leadership training.
“I identify strongly with my cultural background,” Kotecha says. “We did not grow up with extended family in the U.S., so my parents developed a network of South Asian immigrant families who served as surrogate kin. I related best with other South Asian American peers who experienced the struggles of growing up with immigrant parents who held onto a lot of Eastern values, which at times conflicted with Western ones. We were often caught between two worlds — an American one and an Indian one.
“We had our American birthday parties with our school friends and then our Indian birthday parties with our Indian friends,” she continues. “As professionals, we continue to hold onto these networks because we are a very young immigrant group and are trying to find our voice and space in American society.”
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Austin Restaurant Week Launch Party at Garrido’s
The shade itself was refreshing. As was the breeze puzzling up Shoal Creek. And the light, cool drinks served at Garrido’s for the Austin Restaurant Week party on Thursday.
Chris Chavez and Tiffany Tso (Austin is Burning)
Since the affair was staged at David Garrido’s downtown spot, the snacks were exceptional. I usually permit myself a few appetizers at such events, but every time a platter passed by with another tempting oyster, beef, pork or chicken delicacy, I pounced. Happily, like all true finger food, these nibbles were meant to be consumed in a single bite.
Taylor Perkins, Alyssa Bradley and Justin Brown
I talked with Restaurant Week founder Taylor Perkins about his future plans (the young man births more ideas than the next 10 social entrepreneurs). I caught up with Justin Brown of Wilhelmina Brown Agency, who says he’s introducing more local talent to national and international producers, which was the point of teaming with veteran Wilhelmina anyway.
Margarita Jimenez and Sandra F. (food-dilettante.blogspot.com)
I met some folks from Mexico City, New Orleans, Miami and Los Angeles. Also put heads together with City of Austin’s Devin Ellis, always headed on another admirable life quest. It was a pleasure to run into social connector Jetté Momant after missing her on the scene for far too long. May I say that she looks fantastic?
Alessandro Martini and Alan Villanueva
Of course I can, it’s my column.
Anyway, Austin Restaurant Week, continues through April 13, returning April 17-20, offering three-course pre-fixe menus all over town. Enjoy!
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Memories of Eva Pickerel
“Who is this Michael Barnes? I have never heard of this Michael Barnes.”
The Tuetonic voice cut through lobby of Zach Theatre in late spring 1989. The demand came from Eva Pickerel, one of Austin’s most spirited arts patrons during the 1980s and ’90s.
You see, I was an unknown factor. Still in graduate school, I had reviewed exactly two shows for the American-Statesman: Neil Simon’s “Last of the Red Hot Lovers” at Mary Moody Northen Theatre and Sam Shepard’s “True West” at Capitol City Playhouse. Now I was about to consider Zach’s staging of Horton Foote’s “A Trip to Bountiful.”
Little did I know that a job in the newspaper business automatically meant anyone could buttonhole a reporter anywhere in the city. Pickerel, slim, stylish, commanding in her mature years, cornered me near the men’s room.
“You are smart, but maybe too smart to do this?” she judged, in one of her riddle-like statements. “You have no money. Writers have no money. You will come to my house and enjoy yourself. Everyone does.”
I was a bit frightened and dazzled, as I recall 22 years later, upon the sad news of her death.
Pickerel was an eccentric arts patron. She helped keep groups like Capitol City Playhouse and Hyde Park Theatre from collapsing. At the same time, she reserved a humorously frank way of watching out for her donations.
“I won’t give you one cent more if this goes up your nose,” she admonished one wayward producer, since deceased.
Over time, our arts acquaintance grew into a social alliance.
Here’s what I wrote about her a few years ago after I had toured a champagne winery in Reims, France:
“Eva Pickerel survived several husbands and the bombing and occupation of Berlin.
Each year, the fearless German immigrant threw her own birthday party with two main refreshments: chocolate and Veuve Clicquot Champagne.
During World War I, her father, a soldier in the German army, and his retinue unearthed a stash of this bubbly in a French farmhouse near Reims. They passed out and missed the decisive Battle of the Marne that raged around them.
‘If it wasn’t for this champagne,’ Pickerel would say as she raised a stem, ‘I wouldn’t be here.’”
To Eva, a toast.
AMPLIFICATION: The word “one” and the phrase “since deceased” was add to the sentence: “I won’t give you one cent more if this goes up your nose,” she admonished one wayward producer, since deceased.”
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Making Magic from Ballet Austin Guild at Hyatt Regency Austin
When socializing, the stories that stay with you are sometimes the ones told in the margins.
Charisse Kovas and Aurelia Kearns
For instance, during Ballet Austin Guild’s Making Magic luncheon at Hyatt Regency Austin on Thursday, we heard about 11 outstanding volunteers from across the community. Two, Maria Groton and Mary Herr Tally, are dear friends: They have co-hosted big galas for Zach Theatre and Center for Child Protection. (Reminder: Red, Hot and Soul, always a barnburner, is coming up next week.)
Aaron and Marina Flournoy
Other esteemed volunteers included Sandra Batlouni (Austism Socity of Austin); Carolyn E. Dyer (Marathon Kids); JoAnn H. Jetz (Assistance League of Austin); Diane Kearns-Osterwell (Sammy’s House); Dee Kurtzer (Heart House of Austin); Judith Lindfors (Meals on Wheels and More); Lauren Paver (Impact Austin); Eileen Van Den Berg (Helping Hand Home for Children) and Nancy S. Young (Women’s Symphony League of Austin). Most of these groups have been around Austin forever and need little amplification here.
Arnold and Eileen Van Den Berg
But before the luncheon began, I spoke for some time with Aurelia Kearns and Charisse Kovas, mother and sister, respectively, of honoree Diane Kearns-Osterwell. They told me about Sammy’s House, which provides a refuge for medically fragile children, and the Miracle League, which pairs differently abled kids on the softball diamond. Equally interesting to me, however, was how the Filipino-Irish clan made dim sum at home for family gatherings, using, in some cases, very old Chinese cookbooks. That’s a story I’ll follow for my column.
Emily Moreland and Jare Smith
Also, Arnold Ven Den Berg, husband of honoree Eileen, at whose table I sat for salad and dessert, talked about the effects of earthquakes on financial investments. Turns out his family fled Northridge, Cal. just months before the last big quake there. And, by his calculations, the American Pacific coast faces something along the scale of the recent Japanese disaster in the next 15 years. Yikes!
Also, longtime Ballet Austin supporter Jare Smith told me about a colony of summer Austinites in Ruidoso, N.M. Add that hot-weather retreat to Aspen, Colo., Santa Fe, N.M., Marfa, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Salt Spring Island, B.C., and the coasts of Maine, Michigan and Massachusetts where locals can be found from June through August.
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Central Texas wildflowers will be later, thinner this year
Right away, the stink of rotting chinaberries rises from the hilltop.
“Nobody eats these,” says Damon Waitt about the small, crinkled, yellow-brown fruit of the Asian native trees. “Sometimes a bird will, if really hungry. Then they get drunk because the chinaberries have fermented on the ground.”
The grassy bank, dotted with oaks, cedar elms, mesquite and chinaberries, was seeded by the Texas Department of Transportation in 2009 as part of the Austin American-Statesman’s Lady Bird’s Legacy wildflower campaign, a project which raises money to plant seeds throughout Central Texas.
This particular spot was financed by the family of the late businessman and outdoorsman Everett Bohls.
“Here are some tiny bluebonnets,” says Waitt, stooping down to touch the tender flowers, just 3 inches high. “Look how wilted and drought-stressed they are. They are trying to set seed, but don’t have enough resources.”
Last spring, Central Texas wildflowers bloomed late, but eventually burst into brilliant color, thanks to generous winter rains. This year, the drought might delay some wildflower patches until late spring or early summer.
Nearby, above the shushing traffic, bald, yellow-green Mexican Hats promise later glory. Indian blankets show shreds of reddish orange. Green threads, which actually produce yellow flowers, have made the most progress in their pitched battle against the thick mats of invasive King Ranch bluestem grass.
“At least the drought is helping us to fight the bastard cabbage,” Waitt says, harking back to the invasive species that choked Central Texas rights of way last year.
The angle of the slope here is good, providing necessary drainage.
“As long as the wildflower seeds don’t drain away, too,” Waitt says. “Ideally, you want some more dirt to put the seed into. As Lady Bird said: ‘Each seed needs to find a home.’ ”
The former first lady anthropomorphized plants — made them human — talking about them as if they were friends or family, Waitt says. When speaking about an invasive species, she once told him: “That’s a plant that has no socially redeeming value.”
Each year, in his official capacity, Waitt puts out a “wildflower forecast.” Cold snaps, he reports, have combined with recent dry conditions to deter some floral displays until late spring or early summer.
Yet good news glimmers on the horizon: Last year’s bumper crop of wildflowers produced a lot of seeds for future springs, dependent, again, on fall rain.
“I’m cautiously optimistic at this point and think it’s going to be a decent year, just not a banner year,” Waitt predicted on the center’s website. “The expected early spring mix of wildflowers will likely be there, but in smaller numbers than last year.”
For more information, go to Lady Bird’s Legacy campaign website.
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Austin Social Agenda, April 13-17, 2011 + Leadership News
April 13, I plan to catch Austin Lyric Opera’s ongoing production of “Flight.”
April 14, the American Red Cross of Central Texas confers the Lady Bird Johnson Humanitarian of the Year Award to University of Texas football coach Mack Brown at Truluck’s Seafood and Steakhouse.
April 15, the American Institute of Architects-Austin bestows its annual design awards at the Blanton Museum of Art.
Also that Friday, Chez Zee hosts a concert with Amanda McBroom and Lee Lessack for Austin Cabaret Theatre; and Fashion for Compassion lends a hand to the Austin Children’s Shelter at Sak’s Fifth Avenue.
April 16, the big event will be the always fiery Red Hot and Soul gala for Zach Theatre at Hilton Austin. Firecrackers Maria Groten and Mary Herr Tally chair the party. Wear 1960s attire if you dare.
Also that Saturday, Casino Rio for the Athena Montessori Academy at the American Legion Hall; the Writers League of Texas holds its 30th Anniversary Party at the Hyatt Regency Austin and the Texas Wine and Food Foundation serves its Rare and Fine Wines Auction and Dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel
April 17, consider this small social gem: Petcasso for Animal Trustees of Austin at the AT&T Center. Pet art sounds goofy, but the stories make you smile. And sniffle.
Alert: Impact Austin founder, Rebecca Powers, pictured, has been named as Concordia University’s 2011 “Excellence in Leadership” gala honoree. Powers, you may remember, raised more than $3 million for needy Austinites with her giving club. The up and coming gala returns to the Four Seasons Hotel on Aug. 26.
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Seton Breast Cancer Center Reception at Russell Collection
Longtime Austinites can remember when mega-projects like the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas and the Long Center for the Performing Arts were but gleams in the eyes of a few dreamers. Nobody believed that scores of millions of dollars could be raised from scratch, no matter the demonstrable need for such undertakings.
Binh Pham, Vi Hoang and Bruce Levy
Mere months ago, social connectors Susan Lubin and Marcia Levy imagined a place where Austinites dealing with breast cancer could receive comprehensive services in one setting. No more trudging around town to undergo examinations, consult specialists or receive treatments. Why not just create a breast cancer center?
Susan Lubin and Marcia Levy
The leaders of the Seton Family of Hospitals said “yes.” The idea fit into a proposal already conceived by the likes of surgical oncologist Dr. Rob Fuller, who envision a cluster of such cancer centers for Austin. In short order, Lubin, Levy and friends raised $1.7 million for the starter Breast Cancer Center, says Lubin. The goal: $6.5 million.
Jan Barfield and Lisa Russell
A reception for the center at the Russell Collection Fine Art Gallery on Tuesday brought out some potent donors like Teresa Long, Lynn Meredith and Allan “Bud” Shivers Jr. The occasion was a preview of works from nine artists created especially to raise money for the center.
This was a lively group that dallied over white wine and prickly pear margaritas. They listened to short, impassioned speeches and mingled in the galleries, where more works by the Texas artists were displayed.
I spoke a some length with former Austinite Brad Ellis — now of Dallas — whose blue and white dotted canvas served as a backdrop for speeches. I think Ellis has a future as designer for performance. He likes to work on a monumental scale. Another beginning?
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The Vancouver Way
Walk. Look. Eat. Nap. Walk. Look. Eat. Nap.
The rhythms of a Vancouver, B.C. vacation are easy to replicate. This splendid city, folded between mountains and the sea and dedicated to the cult of the view, is so compact, one can reach almost any point on foot within 90 minutes; if downtown, 30 minutes.
Half the satisfaction is getting there, since Vancouver’s slim towers and undulating streetscapes vary from zone to zone. We didn’t indulge in the recommended day trips to Whistler or Victoria. Vancouver was plenty for us to handle the first time out.
The city is set on a bifurcated peninsula — snowcapped Coastal Range across the harbor to the north; ship-flecked Strait of Georgia to the west; low, green neighborhoods and, ultimately, the Cascade Mountains to the south; and culturally distinct districts to the east.
Vancouver’s history coils around its protected harbor on the deep Inner Passage. The port remains a central economic engine.
Yet long ago, local leaders — as in Austin — opted for a primarily residential rather than industrial city. One reason, besides the spectacular scenery, is the mild climate. It rarely freezing or blazes; remains sunny during much of the summer, although it can rain any time. Any time.
As early as the 1920s, Vancouver chose verticality for residential development. Parts of Beach Avenue look like old Miami or a Mediterranean seaside resort. By the 1950s, residential towers rose to heights only recently reached in Central Austin. Now, an estimated 500,000 live downtown in hundreds of spires.
Compare that to Austin, which houses fewer than 15,000 in our central business district. Wait, you say: Doesn’t Vancouver’s density exacerbate traffic and parking problems?
Nope. During a week’s stay, we never witnessed a traffic jam. From our rooms, we could see two of the biggest bridges into downtown day and night. Never the least congestion. In fact, vehicular trips downtown have decreased, according to city studies, in part because central Vancouver has no freeways and includes advanced mass transit.
Now, I wouldn’t want to park in downtown Vancouver, but one usually doesn’t require that option.
We walked everywhere: Vast Stanley Park, genteel South Granville, evolving Chinatown, the muscular harbor area. We visited the first-rate Vancouver Aquarium and the four-story Vancouver Art Gallery — what Austin Museum of Art could have become — dedicated to the best kind of regional, modern and contemporary art.
Like Austinites, Vancouver residents are fit (constant walking helps) and creative (vibrant movie, arts and music scenes). A bit more formal, they aren’t as open as in Austin. Yet when engaged, they are every bit as kind. (I saw eight people race to help an elderly woman who had fallen on the sidewalk. No bystander syndrome here.)
Much of Vancouver has been shaped by huge projects like the Winter Olympics in 2010 and a world’s fair in 1986. These gargantuan efforts left behind sports arenas and other amenities, along with waterfront greens for parks and residential towers behind them.
When not walking, looking or napping, we ate like kings: New Indian (Vij’s), Cantonese (Hon’s); seafood (Rodney’s Oyster House), Italian (Il Giordino); British Colombian (Raincity Grill), dim sum (New Town Bakery). We took the baby vaparettos to and from Granville Island across False Creek for the tip-top public market (plus some inevitable, touristy browsing).
Has Vancouver taken vertical living too far? Perhaps. Some of the residential towers from the 1960s and ‘70s are showing their ages.
The more recent ones — many built for the influx of immigration from Hong Kong in the 1990s — are sleek and thoughtfully arranged, but can look cold when massed together, especially on a commonly cloudy day. Luckily, Vancouver uses all sorts of strategies for breaking up the clusters: Wide mews, mid-block low-rises, vestpocket parks and squares.
Sharp observers have pointed out that Austin could not follow Vancouver’s path because we don’t possess the natural limits like mountains and sea. That’s true. A prairie town on the edge of the Hill Country, Austin could sprawl all the way to San Antonio, Dallas and Houston if we let it. Do we want that, though?
Vancouver has made mistakes. Older architecture — and poorer residents — have been crowded out. It is not a cheap place to live. But imagine how much you’d save without all the expenses related to automobiles.
I’ll keep our single Texas car — a beat-up Chevy Malibu — anyway, because you need at least one where I want to live forever.
That would be Austin.
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