Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > Fame category
Fame
July 1, 2009
Austin Celebrity Roundup 7/1/09
Really didn’t intend this to be an all-sports Round-Up, but Austin’s other celebrities are pretty quiet today.
Among basketball star Kevin Durant’s summer assignments is a 20-page book report. The former Longhorns stand-out — now with the Oklahoma City Thunder — is back in school at UT this summer. Like Vince Young, he’s determined to complete his degree after leaving school early for the draft. He’s also getting in a little street ball with his former Longhorn teammates.
Lance Armstrong is not the only one in the family raising money for good causes. His mother, Linda Armstrong Kelly, is staging a charity golf tournament at the Gleneagles Country Club in his first hometown, Plano. She’s teaming with Steve and Lee Nagel and her husband, Ed Kelly, for the Aug. 31 event. The charity? The Lance Armstrong Foundation, naturally.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
June 29, 2009
Austin Celebrity Roundup 6/29/09
What happened to Dennis Quaid’s “The Horsemen”? It opened limited in this country back in March and has slowly spread around the world. Don’t know of anyone in Austin who has seen it. His “G.I. Joe” opens Aug. 7. Update: “Horsemen” comes out on DVD July 14.
As Lance Armstrong prepares for the Tour de France, rumors have gone rampant that Matt Damon will play him in the biopic. Wouldn’t an Austin shoot be a coup?
Andy Roddick has advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals by beating Tomas Berdych. I may start watching, Pimm’s Cup or no Pimm’s Cup.
Nicholas Rodriguez, once with Zach Theatre and University of Texas, later on Broadway, has landed a regular role on “One Life to Live.”
Sandra Bullock’s “The Proposal” — which scored her best first weekend — fell to “Transformers” at the box office over the weekend.
The “Friday Night Lights” gang is back in town. Watch up and down South Congress and West Second for sightings of the beloved cast.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
June 25, 2009
Farrah Fawcett, 1947-2009
After an extended and unusually public medical struggle, Farrah Fawcett, Texas model, actress and global celebrity, died from cancer early today.
Fawcett, 62, grew up in Corpus Christi and, during the 1960s, trained as an artist while a popular student at the University of Texas. In the 1970s, she conquered Hollywood with shampoo commercials, pin-up posters, a hit television action series and eventually serious movies, primarily about abused, battered or lonely women.
After a decade of white-hot celebrity, Fawcett’s star gradually faded. During the past two decades, her reputation was smudged by Playboy photo spreads, rambling interviews and various health issues. She also was plagued by the tabloid press for the legal and drug problems of companion Ryan O’Neal and their son Redmond O’Neal.
She wrote one final chapter in that story before her death. For the past two years, Fawcett allowed friends to film her cancer battle for a controversial documentary, “Farrah’s Story.” Although some observers were revolted by the spectacle of her illness and questioned her medical choices, the burst of publicity proved she still commanded legions of fans, including an active coterie in Austin.
“She was extremely bright,” said Karen Spellings, a lifelong Fawcett friend, at the tribute in May. “Lots of fun. A wonderful person.”
Ryan O’Neal, and her close friend, Alana Stewart, were at Fawcett’s side when she died.
“Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world,” O’Neal said.
Born Feb. 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, she was named Mary Farrah Leni Fawcett by her mother, who said she added the Farrah because it sounded good with Fawcett.
“So much of Fawcett’s connection to Austin over the years has been centered around art,” museum curator Nelie Plourde said. Arrangements for a local exhibition of Fawcett’s sculptural work, organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, are moving forward at the Umlauf. “We are so sorry that our plans to exhibit her art here at the Umlauf did not happen during her lifetime,” Plourde said.
While at UT, movie publicist David Mirisch tempted Fawcett to Hollywood after she was named one of the university’s 10 most beautiful students and her photograph appeared in the newspaper. She played bit parts on TV shows and appeared in commercials before dating Lee Majors, who starred in the hit TV series, “The Six Million Dollar Man.” They married in 1973. She dropped his last name from hers after they divorced in 1982.
In 1976, Fawcett reached the pinnacle of celebrity as part of the blow-dried crime-fighting team on “Charlie’s Angels.” A poster of her in a dampened red swimsuit sold millions of copies and became a ubiquitous wall decoration in teenagers’ rooms. Former series cast members mourned her death with the rest of the country. “Farrah had courage, she had strength, and she had faith. And now she has peace as she rests with the real angels,” Jaclyn Smith said.
Fawcett quit “Charlie’s Angels” after one season — to be replaced by Cheryl Ladd — to pursue feature films, at first with little luck. Fawcett fared better with television movies such as “Murder in Texas,” “Poor Little Rich Girl” and especially as an abused wife in 1984’s “The Burning Bed.” The last earned her an Emmy nomination and the long-denied admission from critics that she really could act.
Fawcett’s most unfortunate career moment may have been a 1997 appearance on David Letterman’s show, when her disjointed, rambling answers led many to speculate that she was on drugs. She denied that, blaming her strange behavior on questionable advice from her mother to be playful and have a good time.
In September 2006, Fawcett, who at 59 still maintained a strict regimen of tennis and paddleball, began to feel strangely exhausted. She underwent two weeks of tests and was told the devastating news: She had anal cancer.
Earlier this week, O’Neal revealed that he and Fawcett intended to marry “as soon as she can say yes,” he said. No ceremony has been reported.
In the early days of women’s liberation, Fawcett used her femininity, but also her brains, to mount a multi-stage career. Young Texas women were watching; the cultural and social residue remains.
“I really admired what she did in her life,” said Mary Pat Mueller, president of Austin’s Door Number 3 advertising agency. “When you’d see how she turned men’s heads, you’d say ‘Oooo … How’d she do that.’ Rightly or wrongly, she made a great impression on girls growing up in that era.”
Material from wire services were used in this story.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
Farrah Fawcett dies at age 62
We’ll publish a localized obit later this afternoon. Please send your thoughts to mbarnes@statesman.com.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
Farrah Fawcett last rites rumors
When rumors swamp the Internet, that becomes the news. Everyone from the ladies on “The View” to every blogger this side of Tehran are reporting that Farrah Fawcett has received last rites and is on the way out. We’ll keep up with the real — and rumored — news.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
June 24, 2009
Farrah Fawcett still in hospital
Doesn’t look upbeat for Farrah Fawcett. People magazine reports the former Austinite — stricken with anal cancer — is still in the hospital. Send her your prayers and wishes. Send us your thoughts about her life and career.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
June 23, 2009
Austin Celebrity Roundup
Again, we think this is the best way to handle Austin celebrity items you might have missed — short, brisk, to the point and massed together.
Statesman sports writer Cedric Golden confirms that — in an exceedingly rare move — the University of Texas is sending out a top athlete on the social rounds. The Heisman race is underway for Colt McCoy.
Sandra Bullock is back to stamping out box-office gold: Her comedy, “The Proposal,” score the No. 1 position with $34.1 million in its opening weekend.
Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves are expecting a second child. Those Austin men are fertile, fertile, fertile.
Charlie Robison — divorced from Dixie Chick Emily Robison — released his loss-tinged CD “Beautiful Day.” It’s receiving respectful reviews around the country.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
June 22, 2009
Ryan O'Neal to marry Farrah Fawcett
Reactions, Austin fans? We know you have opinions.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
June 19, 2009
Austin Celebrity Update: Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Andy Roddick, Gaius Charles, Taylor Kitsch, Zach Gilford
We’re going to do this kind of thing more regularly.
Speaking of the Shirtless One, the Kansas City Star opens its 2-star review of “The Proposal” with: “Is Sandra Bullock the female Matthew McConaughey? Or is Matthew McConaughey the male Sandra Bullock? Pondering this pop-culture conundrum kept my mind occupied while watching ‘The Proposal,’ the latest romantic comedy starring and produced by Bullock.” Never really made the connection between the Austin actors, but …
We weren’t invited to Andy Roddick’s Austin wedding to swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker. But his cab driver was. London cabbie Stephen Little has helped out Roddick during his Wimbledon visits and has visited the tennis pro in the U.S. several times. They’re buds now.
Variety magazine has named 13 actors as “possibles” for an Emmy nomination for Guest Actor in a Drama Series. One was Gaius Charles, returning to play the humiliated Smash on “Friday Night Lights.” Meanwhile, Taylor Kitsch’s bad-boy Tim Riggins and Zach Gilford’s well-behaved Matt Saracen came in second and third place in a contest for Television Boyfriends, Better than the Real Thing at the teen-themed Web site “Nonpretentious.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
June 17, 2009
Austin celebrity news, including three Austinites on 'The Bachelorette'
If you’re single, they might look familiar. Three of the bachelors on ABC’s “The Bachelorette” are from Austin, one way or another. Wes, originally from Huntsville, is an Austin musician. Robby, a bartender, works at the Lustre Pearl on Rainey Street. Kyle, an Austin graphic designer now living in Brooklyn, didn’t receive a rose from Jillian Harris in the first episode, so has already left the mix. Is there a reality-show breeding center here?
Starpulse.com reports Austin resident Sandra Bullock saying: “I am a (B-expletive)” in real life, much like her mean character in “The Proposal.” The Web site repeats America’s sweetheart as saying: “I’m a good actress. That’s why you know me as likable.” Aha.
While I was in Colorado, in the same state, but to the northeast, Austin superstar Lance Armstrong’s girlfriend, Anna Hansen, gave birth to his latest offspring, Max. As you probably know, the only confirmation for the blessed event came from his Twitter account. Meanwhile, Matt Damon has been mentioned again as playing Armstrong in a revived bio pic.
Gov. Rick Perry is making so many appearances, it’s hard to keep up. Pictured here is the Guv with guy-meets-God novelist, the Shack, and Promiseland West’s Randy Phillips. The west Austin church is a star magnet.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
May 29, 2009
Farrah Fawcett friend Karen Spellings
For report on the Farrah Fawcett tribute party at Nina Seely’s, see post below…
Her dark hair is cropped short, no hint of wings. Where Fawcett’s eyes are soft, vulnerable, hers are sharp, knowing. Her deep, easy laugh hints of a life spent embracing what fate sent in her direction.
Karen Spellings even remarks on the irony that, while she smoked and drank — and Fawcett abstained — she hasn’t personally encountered her best friend’s cancer challenges.
Spellings, nee Cox, with photo album in the picture, has lived in Austin for 42 years, ever since she transferred from Texas Christian University to the University of Texas. There, she joined forces with her childhood chum, Fawcett, living in the Granada Apartments where the LBJ Library and Museum now rises.
Unlike the other Austinites who feel a distant, empathic connection with the Hollywood star, Spellings’ ties are firm, long-lasting.
They met in third grade at St. Patrick’s School on South Alameda Street in Corpus Christi, and then both transferred to public school in eighth grade.
“She once put her hand over the phone, laughing, and said ‘It’s that little rich girl,” Spellings recalls. “Now she has so, so much more than I do.”
Later, the twosome attended W.B. Ray High School in central Corpus, graduating in 1965.
“She was extremely bright,” Spellings said, choking back tears. “Lots of fun. A wonderful person. Still is.”
Spellings and Fawcett teamed up again at UT in 1967, where her friend was already famously popular.
“The pledges would line up around the block to date her,” Spellings said of the Tri Delt sorority member.
While she enjoyed the male attention, Fawcett’s first love was art. She studied sculpture with Charles Umlauf, who later gave his name to the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum.
Fawcett, named one of “UT’s 10 Most Beautiful,” was discovered when her picture appeared in a newspaper. She was drawn into a modeling and acting career in Hollywood.
“‘I’ll go if you go with me,’” Spellings recalls Fawcett saying. Spellings stayed the summer. Fawcett stayed a lifetime, including an “art shack” behind her Malibu, Calif. residence.
They stayed in touch. Fawcett is godmother to Spellings’ son, Robert Spellings Jr., also known as “Dude,” attending his christening and wedding. (Robert’s father is the lawyer and political power by the same name, later married to former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.)
Fawcett returned also to make movies and to Reno, Nev. to help Spellings’ father reopen his Old Reno nightclub.
“It’s a lot of years,” she said. “And she’s doing better now. Much better.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
Farrah Fawcett Tribute at Seely Residence
They crowded around the memorabilia. They paged through the photograph album. They brushed their manicured fingertips over “Charlie’s Angels” Barbie dolls and reproductions of a 1966 newspaper story about “UT’s 10 Most Beautiful.”
Floating from age 20 through age 70, the fastidiously appointed women — mostly women — who gathered at the Barton Creek house of Nina and Frank Seely were honoring their idol: Farrah Fawcett.
Nina Seely, Kristin Kahn
“Who doesn’t love a Farrah fest?” announced host Nina Seely. “We’re here to send Farrah our heartfelt wishes.”
Fawcett had been on their minds lately. The star who had inspired their fashions and aspirations, and had graced America with a definitive hairstyle, had endured several years of public struggle with anal cancer, culminating in a controversial 2-hour documentary, “Farrah’s Story,” which first aired on NBC May 15.
Karen Spellings, Susan Lubin, Nina Seely
The cancer battle hit particularly close to home in Texas, where Fawcett was born, grew up and attended the University of Texas. During her years as a model on shampoo commercials, a pinup queen selling 9 million posters, a serious actress with a limited but lucrative post-“Angels” career, her Texas family and friends had stuck with her.
Melissa Mandry
They rooted for her through tabloid tribulations with actor Ryan O’Neal and son Redmond. They wept during episodic bouts with cancer, excruciatingly displayed during the much-watched documentary, which has drawn howls of protest, especially from a former producer who felt the final product didn’t fulfill Fawcett’s wishes.
Marques Harper, Gail Chovan, Evan Voyles
So Nina Seely, manager of the Ralph Lauren store at the Domain, Mary Pat Mueller, owner of Door Number 3 advertising agency, and Gail Chovan, the Austin fashion designer undergoing her own struggle with cancer, decided to do something for Fawcett’s Austin friends and admirers. They organized a party, catered by Z Tejas, to toast Fawcett and raise money for cancer causes.
Seely’s connection to Fawcett was tenuous but concrete in her mind — they shared the same nanny. Mueller attended the same schools as Fawcett in Corpus Christi, albeit decades later. Chovan, recently profiled in the American-Statesman, linked the trio to cancer charities, such as Locks of Love, which provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children suffering from long-term medical conditions.
Scarlett Lewis, Monika Matthews, Lisa Bradford
Yet one unexpected guest made an instant sensation. Karen Spellings has known Fawcett since the third grade, attended high school with her and later roomed with the University of Texas art student at the since-vanished Granada Apartments. Fawcett and Spellings remained close friends after the blonde moved to Los Angeles (Spellings tagged along for a summer).
More on Spellings’ memories in a later posting…
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Out
Lance Armstrong, Neil Barclay
Catching up on Austin celebrity news …
Neil Barclay, once dubbed the “high priest of Austin arts,” has been named the director of the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta. The former assistant director of the University of Texas Performing Arts Center subsequently led Pittsburgh’s August Wilson Center for African American Culture for several years. Barclay was known, among other things, as a major backer of Austin dance and brought top-notch dance artists to town for performances and residencies.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
May 26, 2009
Farrah Fawcett at the Umlauf 2
Back to researching Farrah Fawcett’s Austin connections. This came to the newsroom from Nelie Plourde, director of the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum. Some of this is well-known material, but it’s worth repeating. For Part 1, see post below.
Later, in late 1987 and early 1988, Fawcett commissioned Umlauf to do several stoneware studies of her infant son Redmond. Over the years she put together a nice, small collection of Umlauf sculptures, drawings and prints.
Her last visit with Umlauf was shortly before he died in November 1994. Fawcett was in Austin working on a film and came by the museum just before it closed. She had been up most of the night with the filming and dealing with the aftermath of a quake which had done some damage to her California house.
Both Charles and Angie Umlauf were here to welcome her and we started walking through the garden. Quite quickly the entire conversation became all about the original clay or plaster sculpture (for whatever bronze we were looking at), what tool had Umlauf used, why did he go with that patina, what about those ears, etc etc.
After about 45 minutes of this Angie and I retreated to the terrace and left them to their teacher/student conversation. Fawcett continues to stop by the Umlauf whenever she is in the area.
Over the last year, we have been in talks with Fawcett re: exhibiting her work here at the Umlauf Sculpture Garden & Museum, as part of our series of annual exhibits of work by former Umlauf students.
How many times did Umlauf used Fawcett as a model for one of his sculptures? Not that many actually. But many, many folks “of a certain age” believe every single sculpture of a woman down here is based on her.
Fawcett had that same deep groove between her nose and upper lip that Angie Umlauf had, and that Umlauf used for the majority of his female sculptures — maybe that’s what makes her seem the model for all of them.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame
Farrah Fawcett at the Umlauf 1
Back to researching Farrah Fawcett’s Austin connections. This note came to the newsroom from Nelie Plourde, director of the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum. Some of this is well-known material, but it’s worth repeating.
For the rest of her life, Farrah had an “art shack” somewhere on her property where she continued to draw and sculpt. For years, when Umlauf went to Italy for his annual trips to oversee the casting of his bronze sculptures, Fawcett would send over the plaster models of her own sculptures so that Umlauf could oversee their bronze casting as well.
Fawcett and her family in Houston remained friends with Charles and Angie Umlauf. In 1985, when Umlauf was honored by the Houston Art Guild as Texas Artist of the Year, Fawcett came down to Houston to present him with this award.
Later, when (philanthropist) Roberta Crenshaw and her committee of Friends of the Umlauf Sculpture Garden were fundraising to build the new museum with private funds on City of Austinproperty adjoining the Umlaufs’ original sculpture garden, Fawcett contributed $10,000 towards the construction of the new museum.
In 2002, Fawcett’s work as a sculptor was recognized with a two-person exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which paired her work with that of another sculptor ,Keith Edmier, an exhibit that went on to the the Andy Warhhol Museum in Pittsburgh the following year.
More to come ….
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame
April 20, 2009
Deep Nasta elected president on 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'
Austin realtor Deep Nasta may have been the object of a late-night talk-show joke on Friday, but he liked it. And friends are organizing a Facebook campaign to return him to NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”
Right after a video mocking the affect of cult fave Susan Boyle singing “I Dreamed a Dream,” and before guests Matthew Perry, Adam Goldberg and Plain White T’s appeared, Nasta was elected “President of the Audience” by the “Wheel of Democracy.” (The previous president was impeached for missing too many shows.)
“Next thing you know, I’m being called on stage,” he says. “They gave me a Portuguese Water Dog puppy to hold during the entire show.”
As of 4:17 p.m. Monday, “Bring Deep Nasta, Audience President, Back to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” had attracted 108 voters on Facebook.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media & Books
April 16, 2009
Roddick-Decker wedding details unveiled
I had been begging Andy Roddick’s people for any details about his weekend wedding to Brooklyn Decker, to no avail.
Then intrepid American-Statesman fashion reporter Marques Harper mines all these details in one quick conversation at a media event I stupidly skipped.
I hate him.
Wait, no, he lent me the scoop! Hurray for Marques!
Andy had offers from several designers including Austin-born Tom Ford for his wedding outfit. However, he is keeping the look a secret until the wedding day.
There will be 30 people, mostly family and a few friends, at the Friday wedding.
The Saturday reception will be at Stubb’s.
They have selected an the Spazmatics to play the reception.
Andy doesn’t want to provide photos to the media. He did get offers from (probably) People and US Weekly and those types of mags. However, he said he wants to keep the event private even though the money paid for a photo could go to his charity. Andy just wants to have a special moment.
Andy and Brooklyn have really never been to a wedding or reception so they planned something very simple.
Elton John will play at the wedding, which will likely be outside.
There isn’t a backup plan if there’s bad weather on Saturday.
Widely published photo by Bauer Griffin.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
April 15, 2009
Roddick-Decker Austin wedding confirmed
It will be “very small. Just friends and family. Not a big Hollywood crowd as they’re not like that,” the publication says.
The New York Post previously reported that Decker and her bridesmaids “had a big bachelorette weekend in Chapel Hill, N.C.” last weekend. “They just bounced around and had a great time,” according to the Post.
No confirmation yet regarding singer and Roddick pal Elton John’s rumored appearance at the ceremony.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Sports
April 13, 2009
Andy Roddick wedding this week in Austin?
Yet we can discover virtually nil about Andy Roddick and Brooklyn Decker’s wedding, which most sources say will take place at his Austin home this week.
Roddick is definitely skipping the Monte Carlo tournament, so this would be the ideal time. If they are planning an outdoor ceremony, one hopes the weather remains clement. Rain threatens over the weekend, but hey, that could be any spring weekend. The couple has shown tremendous resources in avoiding the paparazzi so far, so that may explain why this local reporter has not been given any details.
We can guess from past connections that Elton John will appear.
I know some of you must be invited, so do a guy a favor …
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
April 9, 2009
Farrah Fawcett Watch
Fawcett, of course, forged an iconic presence during the 1970s through a peek-a-boo pin-up poster and a shimmering presence on “Charlie’s Angels.” She later established a career as a serious actress, but was trashed in the tabloids for a string of family troubles.
What newcomers to Austin might not know is that Fawcett maintained a periodic relationship with Austin.
The Corpus Christi native attended the University of Texas, where she was the subject of intense attention, aesthetic and otherwise. She returned to town where she maintained various friendships and was the subject of an eye-opening Texas Monthly cover story.
We’re interested in Fawcett’s Austin years and are gathering anecdotes for a respectful article (I emphasize that adjective for obvious reasons).
If you care to share, please e-mail me at mbarnes@statesman.com.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
March 25, 2009
Dennis Quaid, Danny DeVito, Matthew McConaughy & Adrianne Palicki chatter
SXSW produced all sorts of reports and rumors about another Austin sometimer, Matthew McConaughy. The most repeated anecdote — some other stories shouldn’t be repeated — had him requesting sunglasses for his dog, BJ, at the Carrera Lounge in Moonshine Cafe.
On Saturday, Danny DeVito , rarely in Austin, will pass around samples of his limoncello at Twin Liquors Marketplace in the Hancock Center, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. DeVito’s amazing comedic career has been extended by the unexpected hit, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
Austin’s “Friday Night Lights” youngsters continue to branch out: Adrianne Palicki (Tyra) will play a contestant on a “Bachelor”-like show when she guests on “CSI-Miami” in late April.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
March 24, 2009
Link to the latest on Stephen Moser
This American-Statesman report is the most comprehensive on the arrest of Austin Chronicle fashion and social writer Stephen Moser for arson.
We wait for police, lawyers and judges to sort out the facts. Stephen, as readers of this column know, is a respected colleague who has become a valued friend during the past year or so. His personal and medical troubles have upset all his admirers.
We had heard nothing of the alleged incident before it was already breaking on the Statesman Web site. And that’s about all we can say.
Update: I spoke to Stephen by phone late last night. He was out of jail, had engaged a lawyer and sounded optimistic about his defense. Stephen says he’ll tell his version of the story in his Austin Chronicle column Thursday. All I can share from our off-the-record conversation is that, in true Moser fashion, it’s a doozy.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
March 23, 2009
Chatting up the immortal RuPaul
The drag artist of her generation, RuPaul, fresh from the reality TV show, “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” performs for the grand opening of the Kiss & Fly gay club on Wednesday. We chatted by phone.
Glamour is a sense of freedom, a sense of understanding that you are a spiritual being, having a human experience. In knowing that, you are able to give yourself the freedom to take it beyond the limits of what our society or culture dictates.
Besides yourself, who has glamour?
All the girls on (“Drag Race”) understand what glamour is. Victoria Beckham is definitely very glamorous. Michelle Obama has a great sense of glamour, in a classic way that doesn’t make people feel uncomfortable. (Her bare arms make people uncomfortable, but that’s another story.) Sharon Stone is always very glamorous, even in jeans and a T-shirt
You don’t seem to age. Why?
Because I have a great lighting director and a genius little item called Photoshop. (Booms with laughter.) Due to those two things, I’ve stayed as young as I always was. Hey, I’m 48 and I look 48, but thankfully I get to put on lot of makeup and get dolled up.
Best drag artists of the past?
I loved Sylvester (1947-1988). When I was a kid, my sister showed me a picture of Sylvester and I was transfixed. I thought: “Wow. That’s possible.” Then there was Divine (1945-1988). I spent a lot of my youth recapturing what she and John Waters had done on film with a VHS camera back in Atlanta. I love the irreverence of their attitude. It was freeing for me. I learned there was more than one way to skin a cat. As time went on, I really understood that everything you put on after you get out of the shower was drag. So my drag icons became David Bowie, James Brown and Elvis, people who turned up the volume on the images they created. As you’ve heard me say: “You are born naked and all the rest is drag.” I truly believe that.
Best drag artists of the future?
All my girls on the show. (Recording artist) Ari Gold told me that during “The Night of 1,000 Gowns” (the New York fundraiser), the whole event was abuzz because my three finalists were in the buildings. That’s all they talked about. It was fun for me to hear that. It confirmed that all nine of my contestants will be stars from here to eternity.
I hadn’t thought of this before, but could “Drag Race” do for drag what “Project Runway” did for high fashion?
For many years, drag had gone underground because of our culture’s obsession with fear, hysteria and fundamentalism. When things get sketchy like that, men who use femininity as a palette have to go underground. Straight men took the roles: Tyler Perry, Martin Lawrence, Eddy Murphy. But now the black cloud has lifted. The nation is hopeful. A new generation of drag queens will be inspired.
What will you perform at Kiss & Fly on Wednesday?
I will be performing songs from “Champion,” which is my finest album and I’ve been making them since 1983. Inspired by the show, it’s about not playing small and owning your power. For many years, people wouldn’t speak out for fear of being Dixie Chicked. Now there will be no more belittling yourself so someone else can feel good about themselves. One song, “Never Go Home Again,” was inspired by contestant Akashia. She was kicked out of her house as teenager because her mother’s boyfriend felt uncomfortable about Akashia being gay. Of course I’ll be doing songs from my earlier albums, too, “Supermodel” and “Red Hot.” … I haven’t been to Austin in like 15 years, but I think I played this club before, when it was called Area.
RuPaul: Wednesday; Kiss & Fly, 404 Colorado St. www.kissandflyaustin.com. rsvp@kissandflyaustin.com
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs on Logo Monday nights and on VH1 on Tuesday nights. Shows can also be watched on rupaulsdragrace.com.
Music from the CD “Champion” is featured on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Here’s the video link for her single “Cover Girl”:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfmfuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=52480206
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Out
March 22, 2009
O&A SXSW 39: Tip Jar 2
The Tip Jar didn’t produce scads o’ scoops this SXSW. But it’s always worth it to open the reporting to readers. Here’s some late tips…
Rachael Ray, who competed again with Perez Hilton for celebrity power party of the festival, stopped by Cissi’s Market & Wine Bar on South Congress Avenue (below). The spot was happening all week, especially at the Kohana Coffee Luau on Saturday.
Ray also dropped into the Carrera Lounge at Moonshine. She wasn’t the only one. Also hanging around before picking up their Ben Sherman goodies, Toms Shoes and Carrera shades were Matthew McCoughney, the Decemberists, Silversun Pickups, Margaret Cho and more.
Playboy party headliners Jane’s Addiction dipped in the Guero’s on South Congress Avenue. … Brendan Puthoffreports Drew Barrymore at the front bar right in front of the stage at Aces Lounge for the Airborne Toxic Event.
And our favorite Internet movie critic duo, Cole and Bobby, got themselves photographed with star after star. (Above see them with Seth Rogan — the image ran on Variety’s Web site). C&B really should create an online gallery with all the finicky celebs they’ve posed with (most recently, the Jonas brothers).
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, SXSW
March 19, 2009
O&A SXSW 33: Exclusive Perez Hilton Interview 2
For Part 1 of the Perez Hilton interview, see earlier post…
How do you know when an act is going to break?
It’s definitely something I’ve thought about. If the right opportunity presents itself, hopefully it will happen. Things don’t always go at the pace you’d like. I’m used to working on the Internet where everything is “now, now, now.”
Your party was the talk of last year’s SXSW. What drives this intense interest in your presence?
It’s not about me. it’s about the music. If I picked really bad people, nobody would show up. Because I’m passionate, because I have supported these artists in the past, they want to be involved. They hear, “So and so is going to do it, I’ve got to do Perez’s show. That’s a priority.” That’s great to hear as well.
But you will be there. That’s a draw.
I’m going to show up and be very Perez. I’ve chosen the most over-the-top outfit. The music industry people will cover the event, but I want the mainstream publications to talk about it as well. I want to get on some worst-dressed lists.
So many breakthroughs — technically, legally, tonally — have made you the gossip columnist of our time. To what do you credit this ascent?
Just hard work. I work harder than anyone. I don’t sleep much and I don’t have much of a life.
Are you still having fun?
Absolutely. Tons.
How long can you keep up this pace?
Another four years. Till I’m 35. I’ve given myself a limit. Not that I will retire. I’ll just work 8 hours a day, rather than 16. If I cut my work hours in half, I’ve gotta hire people. I don’t think it’s healthy to work like this for a more than a decade.
Hilton will sign “Red Carpet Suicide” at Bookpeople 2 p.m. Saturday.
“One Night in Austin” party is 7 p.m. Saturday at the Dell Lounge. Very limited access.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Music, SXSW
O&A SXSW 32: Exclusive Perez Hilton Interview 1
Lining up a phone interview with Perez Hilton, Queen of All Media, is only slightly less complicated than scheduling an audience with the pope. But once offered — through several filters of publicists and handlers — one can’t resist the temptation.
Our first telephonic attempts on Wednesday were frustrated by the late arrival of his Austin flight and the SXSW curse on iPhone connections. But eventually, we spoke with the ultra-hardworking columnist on Thursday.
Went to a couple of shows, and to a bar for one drink. Because my flight was late, I missed a lot of earlier shows. I did catch The Temper Trap and Aqualung. And I went to Oilcan’s. For a little bit. I can’t rage because I have to get up at 6:45 Austin time for East Coast radio shows. Good thing I don’t need booze to have a good time.
Your “One Night in Austin” event during SXSW on Saturday complements your informal role as musical tastemaker. What’s the guiding principle of your musical tastes?
What connects all them is they make good music. That’s it, really. Their genres vary, but the songs connect with me. A good song instantly catches your interest. There shouldn’t be much thought involved. You like the first time you heart it.
Looking at your lineup on Saturday, what connects Kraak & Smaak, Solange, Lady Sovereign, Margaret Cho, Ladyhawke, Little Boots, Ida Maria, Thunderheist, Rye Rye and Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head?
Well, it’s all female performers and all guy DJs. It just sort of ended up that way. I definitely have a preference for female vocalists and I’m thrilled they will get a chance to rock out on Saturday. I think it’s the hottest lineup at SXSW ,if I can toot my own horn. I mean, there are acts (at the fest) like Tori Amos, but not this much talent at one place at one time. And they are from all over the world.
Why female vocalists? Is it because they express emotions more easily?
I tend to prefer solo artists over groups. When guys become musicians, they tend to be in bands. There are solo male singers, but they prefer groups.
More to come…
Hilton will sign “Red Carpet Suicide” at Bookpeople 2 p.m. Saturday.
“One Night in Austin” party is 7 p.m. Saturday at the Dell Lounge. Very limited access.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media & Books, Music, SXSW
March 18, 2009
O&A SXSW 28: Tip Jar 1
We did ask for SXSW tips. And readers responded. Some gossip was impossible to confirm (like David Bowie shopping at Prototype on South Congress Avenue). Other lemon drops were simply self-serving without entertainment value.
Culled from the tips so far:
Michael Penn had the ladies — and some men — fainting with appreciation before, during and after his SXSW talk on music and film.
BMI’s Kay Clary, Michael Penn, BMI’s Anne Cercere, Austin publicist Jill McGuckin. Photo credit: Erica Goldring
Privacy-concerned Sandra Bullock was seen dining with man Jesse James at Bess. Recently, Bullock has been trying to prove her Austin credentials, but you’re not likely to see her granting your columnist an interview.
Caught shopping at Eliza Page during SXSW: Carla Gugino (“Watchman”); Connie Britton (“Friday Night Lights”) and Marley Shelton (“Never Been Kissed”).
Janell Vela-Smith from Iron Dragon Productions sent in this not-so-candid SXSW shot of herself with Henry Selick of “Nightmare before Christmas” fame (above).
Fred Miller reported this tidbit that I hadn’t heard so far: On Saturday at 12:45 Gene Kranz from NASA control center who made famous the saying “Failure is Not an Option!” during Apollo 13 will arrive at the Parmount Theater in Alan Bean’s restored 1968 Corvette. HD version of “For All Mankind” will show for the first time at 1:30. The filmmaker Al Reinert will host Kranz for Q&A after the show and then it is off to Sholtz Garten at 4:30 or 5:00.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, SXSW
March 12, 2009
FNL's Kyle Chandler building Austin home
The couple confirmed the plans during an interview for the Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Classic at the St. Cecilia Hotel. (More on that March 27 event later.)
Katherine said their two children, 7 and 13, were looking forward to living with goats and dogs out in the country.
The move seems like a safe bet since “FNL” producers are reportedly close to a two-year extension with NBC and DirectTV.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media & Books
March 1, 2009
Jonas Brothers thrill Austin fans with surprise visit
When metal meets metal at a high speed, the collision produces a screech that could pierce a concrete bunker.
“I just touched Nick Jonas’ hand!” shrieked Ashley Volk, 15, into her cell phone.
Well, it wasn’t completely unexpected.
Early Sunday, reporters were bussed out to Austin Bergstrom Airport to meet the “Surprise Theater Invasion” entourage as they reclaimed earth from their Marquis Jet. The expertly managed press conference inside an airline hangar lasted only five minutes, then it was back to the theater as part of a police-escorted motorcade.
During those five minutes, though, the assiduously wholesome New Jersey siblings revealed a few details about the foibles of fame as Disney-fueled pop stars.
“In Spain, one crowd was so enthusiastic, we had to run through a mall to escape,” said Kevin, the eldest, side-burned brother. “And I read once that I was married to a Pakistani woman.”
“I read we were breaking up,” said Joe, the quieter, middle brother. “That didn’t happen. We did receive, as a gift, a dead shark in a glass tank.”
The Jonas clan has made several sneak attacks on fans during their movie’s opening week, including Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and Dallas.
“We also are doing some smaller towns like Austin and Charlotte (N.C.),” said Nick, the youngest, most theatrical member of the band. Nice to be included.
They called their Grammy Awards ceremony appearance with legend Stevie Wonder “inspiring,” then spun off some musical influences — Elvis Costello, Prince, Kings of Leon.
Later, at the theater, social temperatures rose in anticipation of the Visitation.
“I love it!” said Meredith Warren, 11. “I love Joe!”
“I love Kevin!” countered Avery La Rue, 11. “I love them all! When I get to school tomorrow, I’ll rub their noses in it.”
Addie Bueide, 8, burst out with a series of responses: “Excited. Nervous. Shaky. I’m going to scream. Loud.”
Sabrina Arispe, 8, likes the team’s music, movies and inherent cuteness, but her brother takes a different tack: “They’re funny,” says Ricky Arispe, 12.
Oh, kind of like the Monkees? Reference lost.
When the act entered finally entered the room, three hours after the first fans lined up outside in 40-degree weather, they spoke for less than a minute, then waded into crowd, buffeted by heavy security.
“It’s for the love of fans,” Nick said. “We wanted to make sure they were a part of this.”
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Movies, Music
February 16, 2009
Updates on Edward Povey, Lauren Worsham, Greg Gondek
Smattering of new about Austin-centric celebrities …
Austin-raised Lauren Worsham, who played Dorothy in Broadway Texas’ “The Wizard of Oz,” will take on Sophie in the upcoming Paper Mill Playhouse’s upcoming production of Texas-bred playwright Terrence McNally’s “Master Class.” Barbara Walsh — recently on Broadway in “Company” — Kate Mulgrew as opera diva Maria Callas in the Paper Mill production, according to Playbill.
We were browsing through the digital brochure for Theatre East, the New York company established by spectacularly talented Austin artists Judson Jones and Christa Kimlicko Jones. There among the production shots and press blurbs was a prominent photo of performer Greg Gondek, whom I first noticed in a site-specific dance piece outside Hyde Park Theatre ages ago. Good memories…
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
February 4, 2009
Kevin Costner, Jeff Bridges in Austin
Self-effacing to the end, Kevin Costner answered questions, poised and awkward, from aspiring actors at the University of Texas’ Brockett Theatre earlier this afternoon. He showed clips from his movies, including the required “Dances with Wolves,” and politely responded to queries such as “how do you handle stage fright?”
Costner is in town to play Antone’s with his band Modern West on Thursday. At UT, he didn’t address the legal problems faced by his close friend, Longhorns baseball coach Augie Garrido. (Costner played for Cal State Fullerton; Garrido coached there, and Costner appeared in Richard Linklater’s documentary about Garrido “Inning by Inning.”)
Earlier in the week, actor Jeff Bridges was spotted around town, including Eddie V’s Edgewater Grill downtown. As the weather warms and South by Southwest festival approaches, expect more notables dropping by our town.
Photo of Costner with UT department of theater and dance chairman Bob Schmidt by Ben Aqua
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
February 2, 2009
Austin's Altered Celebrity Status 2
For Part 1, see previous post.
The decamping of top-tier celebrities coincides with Austin’s increased reputation as a glamour spot. Tourists flock to Austin to partake in the confluence its nightlife, fine dining, fashion, music, arts, movies and design scenes.
Some Austinites find this hard to believe. Not to be crass, but you don’t build a sleek W Hotel in Waco. (Although, I find there’s a W Hoboken, if somebody could explain that.)
It would not take a Nobel Prize winner to figure out that, as Austin is discovered by the masses, it might be forsaken by its pioneering international celebrities.
Remember when fresh, young movie stars like Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey would describe Austin on talk shows as if it were some unexplored Eden. That was kinda flattering, wasn’t it?
Maybe for celebrities, like other young people, Austin is a phase. They went to college here. Or fell in love here. Or caught a first break in the city’s music or movie scenes before moving on to world domination.
Some would argue that, as Austin has become more celebrity-conscious, we’ve broken the seal on the unspoken agreement to treat the famous discreetly. We no longer avert our eyes in respect, but rather pierce their public privacy — is there such a thing? — with our stares and whispers.
I don’t buy it. Celebrities know how to handle public attention. That’s why they choose to lunch at the Ivy in West Hollywood, where a dozen paparazzi camp every day.
And I still haven’t heard a single anecdote about an Austinite ruining a celebrity’s stay by forcing unwanted attention on them.
No, that’s a false fear. Celebrities still love Austin. They visit all the time. They want to work here. They partake in our festivals and our parties.
What’s changed then? As idyllic as it may seem to settle in the place where you’d partied so merrily, Austin is just too far away from the machines of celebrity — Los Angeles, New York, etc. — to serve as a bedroom community for famous long-distance commuters.
In other words, if you are really making a name for yourself in the wider world, Austin is still a stepping-stone. It’s on the last rung of America’s few destination cities. Almost every speaks well of it, but they know that the really big business is being done elsewhere.
That’s no reason to weep. Hey, it’s a sweet spot. In with the “in crowd,” but not defined by them. Despite my beat, I’ll be happy if it stays that way.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
Austin's Altered Celebrity Status 1
Is Austin losing its luster as a home for international celebrities?
Lance Armstrong still lives here. His family remains here. As does his charitable foundation. True, he’s selling the Dripping Springs Ranch while looking at an Aspen home, closer to Anna Hansen, the mother of his next child. Yet he seems firmly rooted here.
Thus ends our short list of Austin-domiciled superstars.
What about Michael Dell, you say?
Well, yes, his name, company and wealth are widely recognized, but he’s not a public figure outside the business world. And even his comparatively outgoing wife , Susan, seems more withdrawn from public view these days.
The Austin international celebrity meter really drops off after that.
Andy Roddick calls Austin home, but he returns from the tennis tour perhaps a month out of the year. (We hear an April wedding is in store for Roddick and fiance Brooklyn Decker, but heck if we can find out where.)
Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger — along with various Wilson brothers — have referred to Austin as one of their hometowns, but really, how often are they seen here?
When queried, Dennis Quaid says he’s moving to Austin, actual hometown to his wife, Kimberly Buffington. We’ll believe it when we see it.
Our former Longhorn stars? Despite hero status at home, Austin school-timer Vince Young and company — including Austin-house-owning Michael Griffin — don’t really qualify for international status. That’s why they call it “American football.”
Various Dixie Chicks split their time between Central Texas and other spots, but to be brutally honest — how many other Austin artists are renowned, outside their specialized fan circles?
The same would go for the university’s Nobel Prize winners, captains of Austin’s high tech industry or the state’s political operatives.
(Take a moment to mourn the losses of Lady Bird Johnson, Ann Richards and Molly Ivins, who, no matter one’s politics, awakened the world as Austin personalities.)
Wouldn’t it be ironic if Karl Rove, who last year renewed his Austin credentials by securing membership in the Headliners Club, became our most famous resident political notable?
More to come…
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
January 28, 2009
Your A-List, Best Place to Spot a Celeb
This is an A-List category we know something about. Not that we spot celebs every day. But we know where they cluster, because readers let us know.
Next in the vote was the University of Texas sports games with 20 percent. That’s logical, too, since UT games represent the greatest concentrations of Austinites in one place anyway. The Four Seasons Hotel and South by Southwest, the first a celeb watering hole, the second our biggest festival, tied with just over 13 percent of the vote.
Guero’s, the venerable South Congress Tex-Mex spot, gobbled up fifth place with 7 percent. The Austin City Limits Music Festival — our town’s No. 2 fest — earned 6 percent, while Whole Foods cashed in 5 percent. Taking 3 percent or less were Hotel San Jose, Continental Club, Chuy’s, Uchi and Jo’s Hot Coffee.
As a professional social columnist, I have to say this is a pretty darn good list.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Your A-List
January 15, 2009
Pebbles Wadsworth still working!
That’s just not going to happen. At one point, she identified the historical Central School in Smithville as potential community and arts center. It wasn’t long before the Smithville City Council named her to the Friends of the Central School Committee, tasked with the repurposing of the building. Now she’s got a project.
“(It) could further enhance cultural awareness in Smithville and the surrounding area,” Wadsworth told the Smithville Times, “and help preserve the town’s unique heritage for generations to come.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame
January 9, 2009
Catching up with Glen Powell Jr.
Any time we profile an Austinite, their news is forever our news. We conversed with Glen Powell Jr. of the multi-gifted Powell family in 2007, when he played an entitled Harvard arguer in Denzel Washington’s “The Great Debaters.”
Glen also appeared in a recent “Without a Trace” (“True False”) as a spoiled rich kid who, like everyone else on the show, is a suspect in a disappearance.
He’s set to perform in Joel Schumacher’s “Twelve,” a film adaptation of Nick Donell’s novel about drug use among New York teens. He plays a self-righteous trust-fund kid.
Notice any type-casting? Hey, it’s a smooth way to break into the biz and Powell is doing it big time. We promise to interview him again next time he returns to his hometown.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, TV
January 7, 2009
Dale Dudley's close encounter
We relish the randomness of Austin. KLBJ’s Dale Dudley sent in this report:
I watch and nothing happens for a minute or two. I go and wake up the wife and it has disappeared and darkness is back. We live off City Park Road so I mean darkness.
I get to work and talk about it on the air and the phones light up with several credible callers saying they also saw it too off of 360 and also Interstate 35. Phones lit for a couple of hours. Got a short video clip of something glowing orange (when the sun was up) … weirdness.”
Anyone got a guess?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
Will Austin lose Lance Armstrong to Aspen?
Then, Lance Armstrong puts up his Dripping Springs ranch for sale. Now, Lance Armstrong appears to be securing a $9 million home in Aspen. (Hansen is from Colorado.)
At least the Lance Armstrong LiveStrong Foundation is still in Austin. And his Mount Bonnell-area house — dinged for excessive irrigating last year — still stands. Along with Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop and his other Texas connections. Still…
Pictured: The Statesman photo that pumped up my blog numbers in 2008.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Sports
January 6, 2009
Lance Armstrong, we're just curious: Who is Anna Hansen?
For some reason, we’ve steered clear of this story so far: Austin superstar Lance Armstrong is expecting child with Anna Hansen. The offspring, his fourth, is due in June. In various reports — not ours — Armstrong confirmed it was naturally conceived.
Yet the nagging questions remains: Who is Anna Hansen? She’s identified in most reports as Lance’s girlfriend. Unlike Kate Hudson, who was all over Austin when dating Lance in 2008, Hansen is an unknown factor, at least to this social columnist.
She works for First Descents, which “provides whitewater kayaking and other outdoor adventure experiences to promote emotional, psychological and physical healing for young adults with cancer,” according to its Web site. If so, the couple would have plenty in common, including outdoor fitness and the fight against cancer.
The Dallas Examiner gleans that “Armstrong and Hansen met through charity work and have been dating since July 2008.” Really? I seem to remember it was all Hudson all the time last summer. And Armstrong seemed pretty serious.
All I’ve seen is a fuzzy photo of Hansen, 28, riding a bike. She looks a bit like Hudson and other previous Armstrong gals. We wish them well and hope to see them in Austin.
(Look for a report soon on Lance selling his Dripping Springs spread.)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
January 2, 2009
Farewell Lex Dale Owens
Read Mark Lisheron’s obituary of Charlie’s Austin founder Lex Dale Owens. Lex was a character. And a valuable source. One of the first persons I met in Austin. He will be missed.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
December 16, 2008
Out & About trivia at Mother Egan's tonight
Well, it all comes around. Tonight, the various teams competing at the Irish pub will use a set of questions provided by Out & About concerning local celebrities. Homework: high schools and home towns. It’s part of a promotion by Ame Shillington, she of the Austin Star Map, and we are dying to see how the trivia masters do with our 10 contributions.
At 7:30 p.m., we may find out.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Out
Ashley Taylor Jones' debut on a big stage
Thanks to Celeste Jones of Palm Beach, we snatched the chance to make a coming out announcement: Dec. 29, Ashely Taylor Jones, whose father, Harry Jones III , lives in Austin, will be presented at the International Debutante Ball at the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. The event will benefit the U.S. Marines.
Jones comes to the big party with international polish. She attended Surval Mont-fleuri in Montreux and the American School, both in Switzerland. She had also graduated from the Palm Beach Day School and St. Andrew’s School. She’s currently enrolled in Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla.
How often do I report this kind of lineage: Jones is a Descendant of The Mayflower and a Daughter of the American Revolution. Her mother, bless her, is a protocol consultant and author of children’s manner books. She founded Elementary Etiquette Society of Palm Beach. (I could use a few lessons.) Jones pere’s family pioneered oil refinery technology in Texas.
Jones is pictured here in a Very Wang gown made of ivory silk satin with fitted bodice and full flowing skirt.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
Jesse Plemons, Taylor Kitsch buy into Austin
This makes a good time to correct an earlier misconception: “Friday Night Lights” coach Kyle Chandler has not purchased a home here. He was amused by reports earlier this year that he had settled on a house in Southwest Austin. Chandler remains invested in the community, however, and stays in contact with the media about the Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Classic, slated for March 27 at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort and Spa. (Director Peter Berg has joined as honorary chairman of the event.)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media & Books
December 12, 2008
Ally Davidson, 5:30 a.m. Dallas
Then I discovered her family’s sometimes tragic, sometimes inspiring story. And her near-paralyzing ski accident. Her romance with Jeff, mildly scandalous to start, then welded over long distances as he pursued his financial consultant career, she top-level sports in college. No small part: His reluctant but memorable appearance on “American Gladiator” as part of the Davidson team.
Now the Camp Gladiator fitness classes in Dallas. The couple dreams of an urban day camp or perhaps a Christian sleepover camp like the one Ally loved growing up in Austin. I drove up to Dallas last night to learn more, witnessed the adult boot camp in the predawn cold at a megachurch parking lot, then interviewed the resilient couple at a deli. They grew more interesting with each answer and anecdote.
Clearly, Ally is part of a generation of competitive, independent women athletes, the likes of which I cheer on Longhorns teams, but have never really known personally. Gently skeptical Jeff is her ideal complement, an adoring, supportive — and equally telegenic — husband who nevertheless tethers her infinite optimism and ambitions. I plan to spend more time with them in Austin over the holidays. This is going to be a gold-medal profile.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media & Books, Sports
December 1, 2008
Fortunates: Talk to each other! Not just Will Wynn
So that’s how he makes all those social events.
Our civic leader — or one of his clones? — arrives early and stays late for each ribbon-cutting, nameday-proclaiming, smart-growth-toasting party. And despite his municipal duties, Wynn always appears tan and trim on the arm of an equally trim and tan female companion.
Granted, Wynn is a politician. Socializing tops the job description. His breed’s only true competitors are the social all-stars who storm cultural lines to champion causes and weave personal connections into the fabric of Austin.
So what about the other social categories on our annual Fortunate 500 list, which includes everyone from billionaire Michael Dell to Red River Street rocker Wendy WWAD? Let’s rank the tribes from the least to the most interconnected.
Much, much more about the Fortunates more on the jump…
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Out
November 26, 2008
Coffee-table books: 'Wisdom'
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media & Books
Coffee-table books: The Vanity Fair Portraits
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media & Books
November 21, 2008
Bobby Flay, Claire Danes, Chris Martin dally in Austin
The Food Network’s combative Flay, waiting for flight, dropped by Cuba Libre in the Warehouse District, then dallied at Lamberts. The barbecue restaurant was closed for the afternoon siesta, but Flay socialized at the bar. When a new state legislator showed up with his cowboy-hatted crew, they mobbed the celebrity chef, then waited outside for autographs. We understand Flay is opening a restaurant near the Mean-Eyed Cat.
Willowy Danes, in town to shoot the HBO film “Temple Grandin,” has settled on several favorite places to shop. One such destination is a block away from Lamberts on Second Street — Eliza Page, the boutique that sells the select jewelry and accessories, including the latest from Austin’s Anthony Nak line.
Multiple sightings of Coldplay’s charismatic Martin in and around the Four Seasons Hotel elicited this tidbit: The band always uses Austin as its Texas base camp. The group played Houston and Dallas before heading to Denver and Salt Lake City, but as far as we know, not even casually in Austin.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
November 18, 2008
Coldplay's Chris Martin in town?
Makes some sense. The band plays Houston tonight and Dallas on Wednesday.
Why didn’t the tour organizers add the Erwin Center on Monday or Thursday, making for a Texas triad? Women’s basketball is booked on both nights, for one.
Or has Coldplay grown too big for Austin? The smallest market on this leg of the arena tour is Salt Lake City with 2.7 million. (Central Texas: 1.5 million.)
I’d scour the city streets for reports of Coldplay artists sitting in with some local band last night, but it was Monday, after all, darkest night of the week. Tips?
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Music
November 2, 2008
Huston Street with Lacey Larson in Austin?
This from a solid-gold source:
Huh, we missed the banns and nuptials. Seems heartthrob Huston married Lacey Larson, a wine lover like himself, Jan. 5 of this year. They had been dating since 2004. He proposed to her standing in a bed of roses. Not sure if this is the same Lacey who was a cheerleader from Arlington, but the timing is right, since Huston was a key member of the 2005 national championship team.
Now, at one point the Austin native, like a growing number of former Longhorns, owned a condo here. Do he and Lacey still share one in town? To find out more, we’ll have to track down our sources in the Bay Area, which, believe it or not, is easier to penetrate than the Longhorn Empire. Maybe somebody with Richard Linklater’s camp will know — he did appear in Rick’s splendid documentary about coach Augie Garrido, “Inning by Inning.”
And you thought I wasn’t paying attention…
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Sports
October 31, 2008
Michael is home
Woozy, tired and sore, but healing. I lay under an anesthetic cloud for 7 of the past 30 hours. But after only one night in the hospital, I’m home with a stack of magazines and books, DVDs and CDs. Kip is acting like a prince-turned-nurse, but doesn’t he always?
Two posts ago, I tried to explain the heart procedure I endured in layman’s terms. Dr. Andrea Natale journeyed up three separate catheters — two in the groin, one in the neck — to reach my heart, where my particular form of arrhythmia was stimulated and the offending nerves and tissues were “ablated” or burned, thus the soreness in my chest.
I met more than two dozen doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, technicians, dietary specialists, housekeepers and administrators during my 30-hour stay. Tried to learn their names, but nothing doing.
Dr. Natale is something of a celebrity and most St. David’s workers were surprised we were from Austin, not some exotic locale. I’d drop some names of notables who’ve passed through his good care, but medical privacy laws prevent it.
My posts for the next few days will rarely touch on social issues, but rather on what can be safely viewed from our sage green and very comfortable couch. I’m not supposed to move — Kip is here to enforce that.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
October 30, 2008
A little hole in my heart
At 11 a.m. today, Dr. Andrea Natale, performs a third procedure on my heart, an ablation to correct an atrial flutter. (Dr. Rodney Horton performed the previous two for other varieties of arrhythmia.)
I’ll be completely out of commission for several hours. This is my third ablation — which is kinda like burning a little hole in one’s heart — so it feels a bit routine. The reason? My heart is otherwise perfectly healthy. Just too much electrical charge. (Too much love, some have teased.)
Kip will update my status on this site, also on Twitter and Facebook. Don’t worry. I’m in the best of hands. I’ll stay in the hospital for a while, then onto the couch, so no more social reporting for a week at least. Still, I’ll post regularly, once I’m home. Stay tuned…
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
October 28, 2008
Beyond the Lights set for March 27
Can’t get enough of those “Friday Night Lights” gridiron heroes?
That’s when the Beyond the Lights Golf Classic returns to the magnificent grounds and comfy resort and spa interiors off Texas 71 near Bastrop. Performances at the Colorado River Amphitheatre are promised (no artists announced yet) and the proceeds will again go to football-related spinal-chord injury charities.
Let’s hope some big Longhorn names step up to the plate this year. And let’s thank the BTL folks for avoiding either SXSW weekend (March 13-22) this time around.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media & Books, Sports
October 27, 2008
Olympian Brendan Hansen at Jo's, Part 4
Continued from previous posts …
Hansen is ready to contribute socially, already working with children’s hospitals and other charities. He’s kept up with his teammates, including Eric Shanteau, who competed in Beijing despite a diagnosis of testicular cancer (he’s cancer-free now).
The $2 million portable meet facility used for the U.S. Olympic trails in Omaha, with its speedy pool, showy lighting, jumbotrons and individual stadium-style seating, could be one answer.
Also, Hansen hopes to promote the sport incrementally, proposing, for instance, a open-water 5K swim from the Pennybaker Bridge on Loop 360 to Hula Hut.
“You’d have people in boats all along the way,” he predicts. “When a big race comes to town, people are excited to see it. Up until now, there’s been a lack of marketing in swimming. Nobody’s really getting the word out there. But you are also seeing a different breed of professional swimmer who understands sponsorships.”
He jokes - reminded of beach volleyball’s success - that Nike should come up with swimwear that shows more than the currently popular armor-like body suits. For the record, Hansen’s not single and has been dating the same woman, a teacher from the Rollingwood area whom he declines to name, for six years.
“We’re in no hurry,” he says. “We were best friends before we started dating. It’s a slow ride and we’re enjoying it. We both love Austin.”
He’s content with his Southwest Austin home, but longs to live closer to the action downtown. He hangs out with buds at central spots like Fogo de Chao, Uchi and El Arroyo.
“You can go out to eat every night and not hit the same thing in Austin,” he says. His El Arroyo reference gives away his salesmanlike - or just conversational - cunning.
“It’s got such an Austin crowd,” he says. “It’s mixed. You get twentysomething students, but also 55-year-old young professionals.”
Pause.
Fifty-five qualifies as young? Then I remember I’d betrayed my 54th birthday earlier that day.
Brendan, you’re good. Real good. Sold again.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Sports
Olympian Brendan Hansen at Jo's, Part 3
Continued from previous posts …
And he’s a gifted salesman.
Didn’t expect that one, did you? The man with a degree in corporate communications (along with kinesiology) could sell a subprime mortgage to a laid-off investment banker. After all, as a middle child in a large Irish-Italian family, he learned to make his case around a crowded dinner table.
He circles (“Oh yeah, PureSport must have set this interview up”). He shares anecdotes about the drink’s origin (“I’d come to class totally beat from training and told my professor, John Ivy, that I was eating everything I could see, but still totally beat up…). He lays out the scientific data about the electrolyte-rich, protein-carb balance (“What sets it apart is the lack of sugar, so even a diabetic can drink it…).
Sold!
For his part, Hansen plans to continue training. After all, the upper age limit for swimmers has climbed into the thirties (Jason Lezak swam his best Olympics at age 31, while Dara Torres was an off the charts 41). He may change training groups, and, if sponsorship is pulled for his pro team, he might opt out of competition altogether.
“I’m not afraid of hanging up the suit,” he says. “I never swam to be in the limelight. Luckily in Austin, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. You just enjoy what Austin has to bring.”
To be continued …
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Sports
Olympian Brendan Hansen at Jo's, Part 2
Continued from previous post…
In the flesh, Hansen is anything but a bumbling, introverted pool rat with his head permanently underwater. He’s tall and broad-shouldered, yes, like most competitive swimmers, but he’s relaxed in his regular-guy gear and boots. He talks freely about his family in Pennsylvania, his non-breaststroke interests and, especially, his love affair with his adopted hometown of Austin.
He’s an avid outdoorsman. Loves to camp (recently witnessed elks bugling in Rocky Mountain National Park) and fish (bass and fly fishing - “It’s an art”). He climbs rocks and bow-hunts (not a crossbow, naturally, since he’s a breaststroker).
“When I’m in nature, I completely forget about everything else,” he says.
He glories in local music and soaked up the acts during the Austin City Limits Festival (John Fogarty was his personal fave). Not a runner, he felt a huge sense of accomplishment just crossing the finish line during the Human Race after only two weeks of training.
And he’s a gifted salesman.
To be continued…
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Sports
Olympian Brendan Hansen at Jo's, Part 1
Brendan Hansen is not what he seems.
At least, he’s not the Brendan Hansen we glimpsed on television during the 2008 Olympics.
In part because of NBC’s Olympic coverage, Hansen, a longtime Austin resident and University of Texas alumnus, class of 2004, remained something of a mystery. When the network wasn’t thumping “Michael Phelps, Michael Phelps, Michael Phelps,” the swimming commentators focused instead on fellow Longhorns Aaron Piersol’s surfer persona or Ian Crocker’s cars and guitars.
Hansen’s only claims to notoriety were his hyped rivalry with breaststroker Kosuke Kitajima - covered mostly by the Japanese press — and his disappointing fourth place in his specialty event.
One could be forgiven for thinking that the ultimate gold-medal winner - earned handily in the 4x100 medley relay — was terminally shy and maybe a bit dopey. Absent-minded, to boot, given that he lost his medal on a plane - until it was returned by a thoughtful Austinite who hunted Hansen down to return it. (He stays in contact with her.)
“It’s funny that now that’s more important to people than the actual Olympics,” he laughs before pulling the medal out of his pocket for a nervous reporter to manhandle. “I keep running into to people: ‘I can’t believe you lost medal.’ They don’t remember we won. Of course, what are you going to do with an Olympic gold medal if you find one? You can show your buddies, but they’re going to go: ‘You didn’t win this.’”
To be continued…
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Sports
October 22, 2008
Carla McDonald in Town & Country
Is Carla McDonald flawless or what? The astonishingly busy wife, mother and businesswoman is everywhere. She’s a regular on the Fortunate 500 All-Stars list. She just made the first-ever Glossy 8 list of Austin’s best dressed — after appearing in Brilliant, Tribeza and just about every other local publication.
Now she’s featured in Town & Country’s pages posing for Becca and John Thrash’s American Friends of the Louvre gala. (That’s her bottom right.) Note that she’s wearing an Oscar de la Renta from the Fall 2008 collection. The woman I sometimes call “Marla” is “It.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Style
Karen Kuykendall: Has it been a year?
An angel woke me this morning: The voice of the late Karen Kuykendall.
It was during one of those floating anxiety dreams. A large, slightly formal, over-lighted dinner party. Conversation bubbled.
Apparently she was calling me to attention. I was to give a speech or an award.
And she wanted me to get on with it. Just like Karen. (A variation on the “actor’s nightmare,” subset: the “speaker’s nightmare.”)
The most glorious diva this city has ever produced — Karen — left this world a year or so ago. I learned more about socializing, theater and Austin from her than from the next 100 natives. I miss her fiercely.
Perhaps it’s because I’m having my third heart procedure next week, and mortality tugs at my sleeve.
Perhaps it’s because huge construction equipment has rumbled outside our window for weeks, like squawking, tussling dinosaurs at 7 a.m.
Whatever the reason, I definitely heard Karen. Smiled. And wept.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
October 20, 2008
Bill Murray all over Austin
Bonnie Blue, “The Rock Lady,” painted his picture on a rock. “I couldn’t believe it, it was really Bill Murray,” Blue said. “I was so nervous but tried to be calm. But the coolest thing was that he took my David Letterman rock to give to David in person.”
Murray tried on funny hats with wooly animal ears. Also, Maker Faire team member Ginny Robinson twisted her body into a yoga pose for this amused, obvious Austin lover.
Photo by Michelle Glenn
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
Midlife Gals take on Liz Smith
La Liz, who graduated from the University of Texas and drops into Austin from time to time, traded the Gals for an item about the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. They told me this juicy tidbit while bobbing around the Austin Film Festival’s Food & Film event at the Driskill Hotel. The Gals juice up any event as they take breaks from caring for the “Ancient One,” their mother, whose needs brought them back from careers on the East and West coasts.
Smith, who admits to Internet bafflement, will do just fine. I’ve never known her to be intimidated. And the Gals know how to make anyone comfortable with their homey “Smothers Brothers with Bosoms” patter.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media & Books
October 16, 2008
Derek Jeter, Minka Kelly, Connie Britton, Claire Danes, Brendan Hansen,
Yes, that was Claire Danes in Driftwood earlier this week, making HBO film “Temple Grandin” about Dr. Temple Grandin, the autistic expert on livestock behavior.
Yes, that was Connie Britton, also hitting her mark on “Friday Night Lights” this season on DirectTV, at Jo’s on South Congress on Thursday.
And, the same day at Jo’s, yes that was Olympian Brendan Hansen, who met me for coffee. I touched his gold medal. Full interview to follow soon with this remarkable communicator.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
October 13, 2008
Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman among stars at Iron Works wedding reception
Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman, their romance on the mend according to Los Angeles entertainment media, were spotted together at an Iron Works Barbecue wedding reception in Austin late last week. Also attending the low-key affair that joined Kimmel’s ABC producer Daniel Kellison (“The Man Show,” “Crank Yankers”) with Houston native Dyan Conner (“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “Miss Congeniality”) were “Friday Night Lights” leading light Peter Berg and NBC talk show host Carson Daly.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media
September 25, 2008
Austinites at the Clinton Global Initiative
“It’s been great to catch up with Wangari Maathai, with whom we worked with on Nobelity Project, and to talk with her about the school we sponsor in Kenya,” Turk Pipkin said. “We’ve committed to building an adjacent high school so that 800 kids in the area won’t have to quit school after eighth grade. We’re also launching a tree-planting initiative in early 2009 and are talking to Wangari and the greenbelt movement about being one of our key partners to plant large numbers of trees and remove millions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Charity, Faith & Education, Fame
September 23, 2008
Ben McKenzie, Rowan Joseph at Jo's, Part 3
For his part, Joseph had never seen the “O.C.” One thing that clinched McKenzie for the “Johnny Got His Gun” role was a candid Web image.
“I saw a picture of Ben walking down the street of LA — whistling. Nobody whistles. Not in LA,” Joseph says. “I said ‘That’s the one.’ He has to look like he stepped off the battlefield in World War I. He has to be an Everyman. He has to be a boy at the beginning and a man at the end.”
After just a few screenings, he’s been delighted by the reaction of McKenzie fans to the material, composed almost entirely of words and very little cinematic visualization.
“It’s been a long time since people listened in movies,” Joseph said. “Audiences, younger audiences, are having that experience for the first time. It’s a bench, a chair and Ben.”
Joseph received two calls after the first screening in Washington D.C., one from Mark Cuban’s group, asking what cities they’d like to play, the other from the Pentagon asking if he wanted a tour.
“Ninety-eight percent of films don’t get distribution,” Joseph says. “How did we get here? This is surreal. Thank god for Dalton Trumbo and Ben.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame, Media & Books, Movies
Ben McKenzie, Rowan Joseph at Jo's, Part 2
Continued from post below …
Poised beyond his years, McKenzie, 30, is a veteran of saturated media promotion, having survived 92 episodes of an evening soap opera with generational impact. Joseph, 51, runs Garry Marshall’s Falcon Theatre and has won awards as a director and producer in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Yet theater doesn’t produce the kind of 24-hour attention that a hit TV show generates.
“It lasted only four seasons,” he says of “The O.C.,” contrasting it with other pop watersheds like “90210.” Instead, he wants to follow in the footsteps of actors who outgrew their youthful vehicles. “There’s a guy you may have heard of — Johnny Depp — likeable guy, pretty good actor. He was on a show called ‘21 Jump Street.’”
McKenzie, who has been stumping for Barak Obama in his spare time, hadn’t read the Trumbo book, but was immediately entranced by it when the “scary” project was proposed.
“The writing is very rich; the character is incredible,” McKenzie says. “You get very few chances to play something like this on stage or in film in your life. And it’s so timely. The story is almost 100 years old, if you consider it takes place in World War I, but we’re still talking about generals sending 18-year-old boys — and now girls, too — off to war that they don’t understand while they were there.”
To be continued…
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame, Media & Books, Movies
Ben McKenzie, Rowan Joseph at Jo's, Part 1
Benjamin McKenzie, like his primary medium, is cool.
Rowan Joseph, like his, is warm. Very warm.
Seated side by side at Jo’s Hot Coffee promoting their movie, “Johnny Got His Gun,” the television actor and the theater director present a study in extreme contrasts.
His forehead tilts forward, not as a weapon in a charm offensive, but almost to hood his responses. McKenzie keeps something in reserve, an essential on the screen. (A budding Robert Redford then?)
He speaks in short, declarative sentences, factual without elaboration, while avoiding the impression of obfuscation. (“I live a quiet life in the hills above L.A. Way up. Above the perpetual chaos of Hollywood and West Hollywood. A little yard. A dog. I hang out at my house.”)
Pennsylvania-born Joseph is a rumpled eruption of emotions. Always in movement, always in thought, he’s making intellectual connections — theater, books, movies, actors, lighting — faster than anyone could absorb them.
If McKenzie recedes into reflection, Joseph can’t wait to rhapsodize about his first movie project, how he envisioned McKenzie as Dalton Trumbo’s injured World War I soldier after seeing his “Junebug” and a picture on the Internet; how the movie was made on an $83,000 budget with just a bench and a chair, how he relied on his theatrical background to simulate water with $53 worth of dry ice.
Most miraculous of all: How the 77-minute movie with a single actor was picked up for distribution on the first inquiry to Mark Cuban’s Truly Indie company.
More to come …
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame, Media, Movies
September 19, 2008
Brad Pitt slings bucks for marriage equality
Brad Pitt is prominent among the stars campaigning to defeat Proposition 8, personally donating $100,000. Polls show a close contest for the initiative that almost certainly would reverse the state’s gay marriage status, established earlier this year by its Supreme Court.
“Because no one has the right to deny another their life even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn’t harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8,” Pitt said in a statement.
In the entertainment industry, David Geffen has donated $50,000 to fight Prop 8; CAA’s Bryan Lourd contributed $5,000. Philanthropist David Bohnett gave $600,000. The Human Rights Campaign has pumped $2 million into the campaign. Major out celebrities, such as Ellen DeGeneres, Elton John and Rosie O’Donnell had not contributed, according to Variety magazine.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Politics & Law
September 15, 2008
Matthew McConaughey's paternal instinct kicks in
Well, the Bronze One’s paternal instincts definitely kicked in after the Malibu triathlon he raced with new mother Jennifer Lopez on Sunday. Jabbing his finger, he threatened a paparazzo who approached Levi and Camila on the sidelines. A TMZ.com video shows him commanding a blue-capped photographer to “back off” several times.
Of course, in the TMZ Moral Universe, this makes McConaughey a jerk, but we applaud his protective response.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
Watch out for 'Whip It,' Ellen Page on Austin streets
That state lures movie producers with a 42 percent tax incentive; Texas offers up to 5 percent. Now Barrymore will shoot exteriors here, days before the Austin City Limits Festival launches. During last year’s fest, the director scouted locations while dallying with ex-boyfriend Justin Long.
The interior/exterior split is now familiar to Texas’ decimated film industry. Establishing shots for Oscar winner “No Country for Old Men” were made in West Texas, for instance; the rest went to New Mexico, another incentive haven.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Movies
September 12, 2008
Networking prodigy Greg Vendetti
Anyway, Greg is a friend of Chris Chafic of DrumJam, whom I first met when speaking to a public relations class at UT a year or so ago. I heard the theatrically rhythmic band at First Night and, later, at Stubb’s. The BBQ joint is also where I first heard Vendetti sing. The Connecticut native graduated from the music business program at Loyola University in New Orleans, and he’s already helping improve the infrastructure for the Austin music community.
Greg and I met at Jo’s on Second and discussed entrepreneureal schemes for compensating musicians and preserving the city’s cultural treasures. People he should know include UT dean Doug Dempster and Entrepreneurs Foundation director Eugene Sepulveda, just to start. He later introduced me, electronically, to John Worthington, one of his former Loyola profs, who worked for Disney Animation, Photoshop, and is the inventor and principle developer of Quicktime player.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Music
September 11, 2008
Sighting Celebrities, Ike & ACL, Part 3
SoCo — There’s a reason hotelier Bill Gurasich and architect Dick Clark are building another chic hangout on South Congress Avenue. Everybody — including celebrities — want to hang out there. Jo’s Hot Coffee is the epicenter and offers the best sidewalk people-watching in the city.
The Hotel San Jose and, to a different degree, the Austin Motel, lure stars of music, movies, television and otherwise. Mars, Vespaio, Enoteca, Woodland, South Congress Cafe and Güero’s all pull in notables, while the Continental Club is a required stop on the Austin music tour.
Just walk up and down South Congress from Riverside Drive to no farther south than Live Oak Street, and you’ll join a rushing stream of locals, visitors and those inescapable subjects of the tabloids.
Barton Springs Road — This area is less easily defined and is thoroughly scrambled by the tens of thousands funneling in and out of the ACL Fest proper in Zilker Park. Of course, celebrities will drop by for the music (last year, Drew Barrymore and Justin Long smooched their way through the weekend). A few will also take a dip in nearby Barton Springs, as did Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson two weeks ago.
Austin’s Restaurant Row is not known for haute cuisine, but rather burgers, brew, ‘ritas and ‘cue. Celebrities who feel comfortable being seen in flip-flops will dally at Uncle Billy’s, Austin Java, Flipnotics, Chuy’s, Romeo’s, Green Mesquite and, especially, Shady Grove. Of course, the fitness freaks among the stars will take a whirl around Lady Bird Lake on the hike-and-bike trail, probably the best all-round people-watching area in the city.
We really shouldn’t have to point this out, but don’t feed or poke the celebrities, during ACL or otherwise. Look, smile, leave them alone.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
September 10, 2008
Sighting Celebrities, Ike & ACL, Part 2
Part 2 of Sighting Celebrities in Austin for ACL, Ike, etc.
Warehouse District — For purposes of this story, we’re including other downtown mini-districts that share grown-up sensibilities with the nightspots clumped around Fourth and Colorado streets. So that would translate into far West Sixth Street, East and West Second streets, middle Fifth Street, parts of Congress Avenue and the newest cluster of hot spots under the 360 Tower.
Detached from the other downtown mini-districts is Moonshine, which regularly attracts sports figures such as Andy Roddick, Mack Brown and Colt McCoy. This will probably change now that he’s back in training, but Lance Armstrong often dropped by his downtown bike shop, Mellow Johnny’s, and his bar, Six.
The “Friday Night Lights” crew likes Jo’s on Second and Austin Java. And the downtown wine bars — Mulberry, Taste, Cork & Co., Cru, etc. — are safe bets for sightings if one is patient. Lambert’s Downtown Barbecue is a required stop for marquee rockers, and that whole area around Austin City Hall will explode with cool once Austin City Limits opens its studio with Uchi in the W Hotel and Residences next year. And let’s not forget the signature downtown nightclubs with music, such as Emo’s, Antone’s, Beerland, Club de Ville and the Mohawk. Gay celebrities will bop back and forth between Oil Can Harry’s and Rain.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
Sighting Celebrities, Ike & ACL, Part 1
Are you in a public place? In Austin? Are other people soaking up the Austin vibe, too? Then, chances are, during the Austin City Limits Festival — or South by Southwest or any weekend, including Hurricane Ike’s promised (and hopefully mild) drop-by — a celebrity is nearby.
That’s because, like other residents and tourists, they like what you like — authentic Austin, Old and New.
Some would say that tourists have already ruined East Sixth Street entertainment district, but, truthfully, it’s been thick with kids of all ages since I moved here in 1984. Not ruined, but rather reserved for nights when you are in the mood for a raucous night of partying and people-watching. And that experience includes celebrities with those particular tastes.
And by now everyone knows that the live music that once made Sixth Street famous has mostly moved to other entertainment strips, such as Red River Street.
Otherwise, the golden ones flock to three Central Austin zones. (And oh, that’s Carmen Electra on Sixth Street, pictured.)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
September 9, 2008
Losing Lance Armstrong
Selfishly, my first thought was: “I’m losing him.” When freshly minted Statesman entertainment editor Charles Ealy — often on the edge of information gathering — shot me an e-mail around this time yesterday with the tip that Lance Armstrong was thinking about a Tour de France comeback, I cringed: “Now the sportswriters will want him full-time.”
The second that VeloNews Interactive and ESPN.com released their preliminary reports — rumors really — sports writer Suzanne Halliburton and fitness writer Pamela LeBlanc had pounced on the item. As well they should. Halliburton, particularly, has been the premier Armstrong expert for a decade or so. And, by the end of the day, she’d also discovered that her guy was not yet confirming his return to the field, a daily double for her. (Today, Vanity Fair confirmed the rumor.)
My favorite news residue came from another editor, who read only a partial version of the breaking-news e-mail: “Lance Armstrong coming out …” before seeing “of retirement.” Now that would have been a headline for Out & About
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Sports
September 8, 2008
Elaine Stritch & Matthew McConaughey, Part 3
See lower posts for first two parts…
Back on his old stomping grounds, Matthew McConaughey dived into Barton Springs, attended a lopsided Longhorn victory at the expanded Royal-Memorial Stadium, hung with Austin buddies and titillated admirers with his appearances at the Paramount premiere of “Surfer, Dude,” which he produced as well as starred in, and the after-party at the Belmont, where he kindly allowed his picture to be taken with fans, even though cameras were generally forbidden.
McConaughey has worked pretty steadily since Richard Linklater’s “Daze and Confused” broadcast his core persona to wider audiences in 1993. Many a brash young movie star has faded before the 15-year mark. Not McConaughey. His prolific mixture of light comedies and fairly substantive dramas begs comparison with another native Texan and sometime Austinite, Dennis Quaid, also compared to Marlon Brando in his youth, although for different reasons. (And to round out the coincidences, Elaine Stritch actually dated Brando, until the former convent girl fled that Lothario’s apartment when he emerged from a back room in pajamas.)
Here’s the point: McConaughey is no slacker. Yet is he milking his looks and charm while reaching no higher than the lowest rungs of his talent potential? Ask people which of his roles they remember most, and they’ll say David Wooderson from “Dazed and Confused,” way back at the beginning of his career. Since then, he’s confounded his critics in “Amistad,” “A Time to Kill,” “Lone Star” and other movies, plus he was memorable in “Reign of Fire” with Christian Bale.
Yet will anyone care about McConaughey when, like Stritch, he’s 83?
I hope so. He’s a genial guy. And like Quaid, he’s been generous to his partly adopted city of Austin. Perhaps he won’t have to suffer, as Stritch did, to discover that it’s really all about the work.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame, Movies
Elaine Stritch & Matthew McConaughey, Part 2
When she was not performing her soul out for Austin Cabaret Theatre with a six-piece orchestra, Broadway legend Stritch walked obsessively in the West Campus area, dropped by Starbucks and Eddie V’s, guarded against those diabetic episodes that threaten her everyday peace, and peppered fans with argus-eyed questions about Austin.
Note that date. She has delivered the act hundreds of times since its inception as a collaborative project with The New Yorker critic John Lahr and director George C. Wolfe. In the two-part show, Stritch tells her own rollercoaster story and sings numbers she has performed thousands of times — the first she introduced during the revue “Angel in the Wings” — in 1948! So why the need to rehearse?
“She’s a perfectionist,” Moulton said during a post-show cool-down at Rain on Sunday. “Everything must be just right.”
That, and, as an artist, Stritch has continued to search for meaning in “At Liberty.” Songs, such as “The Ladies Who Lunch,” which she once performed with ferocious acidity, or “I’m Still Here,” which in other hands sounds almost like an anthem, she now delivers with potent helpings of vulnerability and mortality.
Austin audiences embraced Stritch and her still-robust Broadway belt with respect and affection, which Stritch returned in kind. (Moulton reports that she reserved the highest praise for them: “They get it. They get it!”)
Yes, we got it. And, into her ninth decade, Stritch’s star has never hung higher.
More to come…Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame
Elaine Stritch & Matthew McConaughey, Part 1
Two major celebrities tarried in Austin last week.
One is 83, the other somewhat younger, 38, hauling around an even younger girlfriend, 24, and a newborn in tow.
One made her name on the stage, the other zoomed to stardom on the big screen.
One had never visited Austin before, the other once lived here, returned often after relocating to the West Coast, although his visits have been spaced fewer and farther between of late.
One performed a series of four 150-minute cabaret shows at the Mansion on Judge’s Hill while in town, the other made brief appearances before the press and public at the Paramount Theatre and the Belmont.
One was once known as a beauty, a wit and something of a lush, the other is known as a beauty, a charmer and something of a party dude.
One shrunk to mortal size once she left the stage, showing her age and disabilities, the other beamed with golden good health, clothed or half-clothed in public.
How Elaine Stritch and Matthew McConaughey responded to Austin and how Austin responded to these celebrities tells us something about all three.
More to come…
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame, Movies
September 6, 2008
Catching up with Nina Seely at Botticelli's
I didn’t really know Nina Seely. She didn’t really know me. Yet Nina illuminated so many social events last season — from small parties to big galas — we chose her, along with husband Frank, to represent the Style category in the 2008 Fortunate 500. The Ralph Lauren retailer — formerly in charge of the personal shopping service at Sak’s — never looked anything less than dazzling, and always stopped by for a short, substantive chat, no matter how busy she must have been. Never snooty. Always fun. Very Austin.
Turns out, Nina and I spent chunks of our youths within bicycling distance of each other, me in Bellaire and West University, she in Ashton Oaks, just across the freeway from the Houston Galleria. She’s considerably younger, but she dated a Jebbie (from my alma mater, Strake Jesuit) while she attended Lee High School, where one of my closest friends, the late Mark Whistler, probably shared classes with her. We talked about the vast numbers of Houstonians and DFWers who have made Austin home because of an affinity to the native culture.
We gossiped a little — mais oui! — but we also talked about some of the causes that she champions. (Today, for instance, she’s backing the the Domain PlayBingo Shopping Extravaganza for Abused Children, which I’m afraid I won’t make.) Nina swears she’s cutting back on events this year, but don’t believe her. She and Frank are fixtures — in the best sense of the term — in the fashion, business and charity scenes. We’ll see them out.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Food, Fortunate 500, Style
September 4, 2008
Review: 'Surfer, Dude'
Matthew! Matt! Ma-te-o! Bro!
Or, as you’d slur it in “Surfer, Dude” with a sweet-potato-pie East Texas drawl, “braaaw!”
O mighty Bronze Idol of our New Bronze Age! We, your expanded posse, worship at your sandy, unshod feet. We adore your kouros-boy curls, Praxitelean torso and the “Discobolus” curve of your back.
Mr. Matthew McConaughey, you are not just the Sexiest Man Alive, but the Sexiest Man Alive Who Wants to Die During Sex.
Your blissed-out grin and Marlon Brando peepers blink out from the giant screen, from every “TMZ” episode and from every celebrity ’zine. (Congrats on your personal-best time in the Nike + Human Race! And on the mini-dude-in-waiting!)
Man, what a pal. You lent your stratospheric appeal to a formulaic beach movie directed by your Longview bud, S.R. Bindler, who previously made a mind-bending documentary — “Hands on a Hard Body.”
Now, Bindler’s cinematic clay is another hard body — the hard body of the post-“People” Era. And Bindler clearly knows what he’s doing: You are framed — in all your “California Dreamin’” glory — in virtually every shot, inviting the audience to drool over your bodacious six pack, your naked “bongo nights” backside and your surfing-suited crouch.
You may not have been a beach bum before making this movie, but it will be impossible to shake that image now. Think how long it took Sean Penn to escape Jeff Spicoli. Expect 21 more years of red carpets before winning that Oscar.
For “Surfer, Dude” you even brought along two of your Austin braaaws — Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson — studiously blowing on the movie’s ubiquitous weed. (If they handed out Academy Awards for convincing consumption of cannabis …)
Perhaps unwittingly, “Surfer, Dude” is a big, wet kiss blown — with a sexy wink — in the general direction of the good, clean 1960s beach movies, those that sported such improbable plot devices as, oh, say, a reality-show mogul trying to force a pure-hearted surfer into a commercial enterprise he despises.
There’s not much actual surfing here, though we see some virtual-reality surfing sessions. Nobody embarrasses themselves, least of all you, who may now reclaim your shirt.
Yet there’s a reason this review runs to almost 400 words and is addressed to you, you, only you. The movie’s a monument to your transcendent humpiness — despite the smattering of topless women, a la “Girls Gone Wild,” in party scenes — and the unblemished, unfiltered, unaltered pleasure you take in life.
Awesome, Dude!
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Movies
September 3, 2008
Green Carpet: 'Surfer, Dude'
Enough Obamamania. On Wednesday, Austinites witnessed McConaugheysteria.
The Dude
Fans and press melted underneath the Paramount Theatre marquee for two hours before Matthew McConaughey finally waved goodbye to the crowd assembled for the Austin Film Society premiere of “Surfer, Dude.” When he did abandon the “green carpet” — a play on the movie’s frequent references to varieties of grass — screeches erupted in the lobby and uniformed officers were called in to part the sweaty masses.
Camila Alves
Dude No. 1 was gracious with his idolaters, as were his colleagues from the beach movie about a surfer who won’t bend his gifts to rank commercialism. Some, like Austin-era bud Woody Harrelson, spent the past week in town, hitting old haunts like Barton Springs (where McConaughey was whistled for diving in the wrong zone).
K.D. Aubert
His director and pal from Longview days, S.R. Bindler (“Hands on a Hard Body”), shared a suite with McConaughey for the Longhorns game on Saturday, as well as a trip to the field during halftime.
S.R. Bindler and wife, whose name I missed (help!)
“I’ve been to many games,” Bindler said. “But I had no idea the full spectacle.”
Zachary Knighton
Cast members such as K.D. Aubert (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Jeffrey Nording (“Dirt”), Todd Stashwick (“The Riches”) and Zachary Knighton (“The Hitcher”) shared their favorite Austin barbecue stops (Stubb’s, Iron Works) and small Texas towns (Marfa was mentioned more than once).
Todd Stashwick
“I haven’t been here in 12 years,” said Nording, who plays another bemused villain in “Surfer, Dude.” “It’s tripled in height. I still recognize some things, but what happened?”
Jeffrey Nording
Hey, I skipped the after-party at the Belmont, which I’m sure floated above the Earth, but what with the movie — see my review in this space Thursday morning — and the green carpet, all I could visualize was Mangia pizza and the last bits of the RNC convention.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Movies, Out
September 2, 2008
Lance Armstrong to salute Olympian on Oprah?
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
August 28, 2008
Weekend Out: Labor Day & Longhorns
There’s no way we are going to make all these competitive events, but it’s crucial to acknowledge the options as the traditional social seasons kicks off.
Friday: Vince Young Foundation Event; Young Texans Against Cancer with Young Love, the Southern Sirens, Vinyl Darma at Austin Music Hall; Dale Rice Retirement Party at private residence
Saturday: University of Texas Longhorns vs. Florida Atlantic at Royal Memorial Stadium; Cantanker Issue Launch at Big Medium Gallery; Bob Schneider’s Labour of Love Festival at the Nutty Brown Cafe; The Not-So-Secret Society of Bruce Christman Admirers at a private residence
Sunday: Nike + Human Race at the State Capitol, Momo’s Eighth Annivesary with Jeremy Nail, Dave Madden, Dertybird, T-bird & the Breaks
Tuesday: AGLIFF Launch Party at Club DeVille
Wednesday: “Surfer, Dude” — with Matthew McConaughey — Red Carpet and Premiere at the Paramount Theatre; AGLIFF Opening Night Reception at Oilcan Harry’s; HAAM Corporate Battle of the Bands at Antone’s
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Out, Weekend Out
August 26, 2008
Fortunates at Dem Convention
Got any tips from Austinites at either convention to send our way? We’re ready to report.
Addendum: In the way of all Out & About, the couple that I pictured, John and Julie, ended up not being able to make it.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Fortunate 500, Politics & Law
August 24, 2008
Catching up with Kevin Smothers at Thai Fresh
That’s why, this week, he’s started a new public relations firm called Pulse. (Well, for graphic reasons, he insists on “pulse,” but even on the blog, we defer to AP style on capitalization.) Smothers has worked for bigger, more established firms on more than one coast, but Pulse is starting small with clients such as Mulberry and J. Black’s, which, by coincidence, were already among my preferred hangouts.
I caught up with Kevin at Thai Fresh, the new spot on West Mary near South Fifth, in the same center as Cafe Caffeine. Started as a home delivery service, it’s now a counter cafe with onsite seating and take-away as well as a wall of Asian groceries. My tad pai with tofu was fluffy, filling and tasty, especially with jolts of hot sauce provided at the tables.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Food, Media & Books
August 21, 2008
Watch out for ... Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and more in Austin
We’ll be watching (very closely) to see if any of the Longhorn-related Olympians make more of a social splash locally. Examples: Aaron Peirsol and Brendan Hansen will appear alongside Lance Armstrong at the Nike+ Human Race event in Austin Aug. 31. On a more serious note, we’re hoping Eric Shanteau will return to Austin after conquering cancer.
Jo Ann Christian and Stephen Skaggs have risen to chairwoman and president of Austin Lyric Opera. Good idea to refresh the top leadership periodically, while encouraging the next generation.
We wonder if presidential nephew and onetime juvenile idol George P. Bush will spend more time in Austin, now that Pennybacker Capital private equity firm is settling in here. After all, Karl Rove is out there somewhere — he recently joined the Headliners Club, we hear.
And oh yes, all of these are on our Fortunate 500 watch. Speaking of which, why aren’t Bettie and Robert Girling on the Heritage list? The philanthropists’ names popped up in a less flattering light recently via the report on Austin Top 10 residential water users.
NBC photo
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Fortunate 500
August 18, 2008
Michael Phelps as celebrity and sex symbol
Yet will that magic endure, even as his records trump all others?
Mark Spitz, to whom Phelps is most frequently compared, was, for a while, a genuine sex symbol. Deeply tanned, sharply cut, roguishly coiffed and mustached, he competed with Farah Fawcett for most widely distributed pinup figure of the 1970s. (Guess which poster I owned?)
Phelps, on the other hand, despite his ideally formed swimming machine, can appear kinda gangling and dorky. And he’s certainly not as berry brown and dance-floor ready as his Time magazine cover shot would suggest. (I’m not going to link directly to all the discussion groups on the topic. You can find them.)
Phelps doesn’t benefit from Lance Armstrong’s survival story or Tiger Woods’ multiracial pioneer status. And he’s not nearly as worldly as either older sportsman. None of which was important in the pool.
Now Phelps is an undeniably nice guy. Close to his mother. Grateful for his teammates. Better spoken than many swimmers. He’s also an incredible athlete. Nothing will diminish his status as a sports deity.
But ongoing star power without a second career? Perhaps it’s best that he won’t melt — as so many have; think of Mary Lou Retton or Nadia Comeneci — under the ongoing and unflattering celebrity spotlight and he’ll remain in our memories just way he won eight golds in Beijing.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Sports
August 15, 2008
Van Cliburn, Bill Hobby: History-Making Texans
The pair will be feted at the Texas Independence Day Dinner at the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum on March 2. Julie Jones Oles and Jan Bullock will chair the gala, while other prominent Austinites on the board of trustees, which raises money for the museum’s activities, include Hughes Abell, Victor Alcorta III, Jeff Bonham, John Fainter, James Huffines, Richard King IV, Mike McKinney, Molly Hasie Sherman and Margaret Temple.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
Lance Armstrong: Spinmeister
Earlier this year, he tangled verbally with an employee at La Zona Rosa during a Band of Horses show, then immediately and gracefully telegraphed his humble apologies. “Listen, I was totally out of line,” he told The M.O. blogger Matthew Odam.
Later, when dating Kate Hudson, Armstrong was hounded by suggestions that he’d shoplifted his date from “chum” Owen Wilson. The champion nipped that negative spin in the bud by calmly demonstrating — by way of Google Images — that he was but a passing acquaintance of Wilson’s. (Nevertheless, the flighty Hudson was history within months.)
Today, Armstrong was stung with the revelation that he uses more water — 222,900 gallons in June — than any other City of Austin resident, a no-no in our conservation culture. A suitably horrified Armstrong was quoted in the American-Statesman as saying: “I’m a little shocked. There’s no justification for using that much water.”
In the same situation, other notables might become flustered, defensive or even hostile. Nevertheless, Amstrong still attracts the haters, a fact of nature I’m sure will be confirmed in the commentary box when this bland entry is posted.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
August 12, 2008
Catching up with Alisa Weldon at Cissi's Market
Over mellow coffee at Cissi’s Market, we discussed the long-planned renovation of the shop, which will soon include a wine bar — much needed on South Congress Avenue — new edible offerings and rebranding of the market’s successful Kohana Coffee. (Weldon teamed up with Cissi’s Victoria Lynden after her magazine ran a profile of the entrepreneur.) We also talked about other intriguing personalities who have appeared on the L Style G Style cover — such as self-effacing philanthropist Lew Aldridge — and about the possibility of licensing the magazine’s concept to other cities, similar to the Santa Fe-based group whose nationwide cooperative eventually included Edible Austin.
To that end, Weldon has formed another strategic partnership, this time with Oliver Everette, recently of Portland, Maine. According to their plans, Everette will help take the magazine into its second year and develop the licensing concept. We hear Everette is another discreetly effective social connector, having helped with the upcoming Octo Tea 13 organized by the Octupus Club to benefit AIDS Services of Austin (the event at the Long Center features DJ Roland Belmares and DJ Seth Cooper.)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Charity, Faith & Education, Fame, Food, Media & Books
August 8, 2008
Matthew McConaughey, Amber Heard, Ally Davidson, Jackson Hurst
Local actor Jackson Hurst (pictured) has signed on for the pilot of “Drop Dead Diva,” a Sony Television project co-starring Margaret Cho. The proposed series is slated for the Lifetime channel. Hurst, cast as the boyfriend of the dead model of the title, appeared alongside Brad Pitt and Sean Penn in Terrence Malick’s Smithville-filmed “Tree of Life.”
Matthew McConaughey burbles and burbles on about the birth of his child and the awesome strength of girlfriend Camila Alves during an interview to be aired on “House Call with Dr. Ajay Gupta.” The CNN segment runs in two parts this weekend and next, but the news channel is already promoting it heavily.
Who’s that playing Seth Rogen’s girlfriend in “Pineapple Express,” the stoner comedy that opened last week? Why, it’s Austin’s own looker Amber Heard, who appeared in Austin-shot films such as “Friday Night Lights,” “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane” and the just-completed “Ex-Terminators.”
Did we mention that Austin’s Ally Davidson, who triumphed during the “American Gladiator” finale last week, won $100,000 and a big vehicle, as well as the opportunity to appear as an official gladiator next season? What’s she going to do with the money? “Jeff and I have always wanted to open a Christian sports camp,” she said of her still-new husband, also a gladiatorial contestant on the show.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
August 6, 2008
Your A-List, Most Iconic Austinite: Willie Nelson
Old Austin. New Austin. Same Austin. Willie earned 46 percent of the vote, while Lance took 22.
Others were plucked from media (Ron Oliveira, Judy Maggio, Fred Cantu), politics (Lloyd Doggett), music (Ray Benson, Pinetop Perkins, Alejandro Escovedo) or sports (Andy Roddick). And Leslie Chochran, who took 3 percent of the vote, is known for just being Leslie.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Your A-List
August 1, 2008
2008 Fortunate 500: The Complete List
Remember, this is our annual list of Austin’s most social citizens. It honors those Central Texans who go Out & About for the good of the greater social fabric.
Almost all our picks were originally nominated by readers, then followed by our social spies during the subsequent year. (I chatted with most of them, too, at the 1,000 or so social events I attended in the past 12 months.) So now is a prime time to alert us to people who contribute above and beyond to the social scene, so they can be eligible for the 2009 list.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Biz & High Tech, Charity, Faith & Education, Fame, Food, Fortunate 500, Media & Books, Movies, Music, Out, Politics & Law, Sports, Style
July 21, 2008
2008 Fortunate 500: Part-Timers
PART-TIMERS
Top Pick Kyle Chandler: All the ‘Friday Night Lights’ cast made themselves at home in Austin during the past two years, but Chandler, who purchased a house in Southwest Austin and plays Coach Eric Taylor on the series, is perhaps the most visible. He’s blessed various events with his starry presence, and he helped organize the Beyond the Lights Charity Golf Tournament at Lost Pines, benefiting high school athletes injured on the field. (Pictured with another Fortunate, Connie Britton.)
Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala and Tony Garza. U.S. ambassador to Mexico
Connie Britton. ‘Friday Night Lights’
Charles Butt. H-E-B, Central Market
Kimberly Buffington and Dennis Quaid. ‘Smart People,’ ‘GI Joe’
Sandra Bullock and Jesse James. Bess Bistro, ‘All About Steve’
Zach Gilford. ‘Friday Night Lights,’ ‘The Post Grad Survival Guide’
Michael Griffin. Tennessee Titans, University of Texas football (former)
Brad Leland. ‘Friday Night Lights,’ Beyond the Lights Charity Golf Tournament
Jesse Plemons. ‘Friday Night Lights,’ Greater Austin Walk for Autism, Beyond the Lights Charity Golf Tournament
Scott Porter. ‘Friday Night Lights,’ ‘Speed Racer,’ Beyond the Lights Charity Golf Tournament
Sabrina Randall and Michael Ault, Pangaea
Jean and Dan Rather. ‘Dan Rather Reports’
Vince Young. Tennessee Titans, University of Texas football (former), Vince Young Foundation, Wonders and Worries, Rise School of Austin
While I’m away in Montana, we’ll reveal one category each day at noon. For a fully updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link at the base of this post.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Fortunate 500
July 8, 2008
It's a boy for Matthew McConaughey
Looks like Austin’s perennial surfer dude is now a surfer daddy. Matthew McConaughey’s girlfriend Camila Alves gave birth to a 7-pound, 4-once boy Monday evening.
“Camila and I were side by side the entire time,” McConaughey, 38, told OK magazine. “We are both tired and elated, and are so happy to have created the greatest miracle in the world — having a child and making a family. Now comes the greatest adventure — raising one, together.”
McConaughey was last seen hanging with his man pal Lance Armstrong in Southern California, where Austin’s best cyclist is summering with girlfriend Kate Hudson (also chumming with Hudson’s mom, Goldie Hawn). We’ll see if the fun-loving McConaughey can settle down with his 24-year-old Brazilian model and newborn.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Movies
July 2, 2008
Lauren Graham, rodeo queen
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
Robert Rodriguez and Rose McGowan parting?
AP Photo/Jeff Christensen
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Movies
June 25, 2008
The Air Force Academy Cadet Dance recalled
Watching the straight guys dance, often alone, often frenetically, on the floor of Sky to DJs Jesse Brede and Chris Fortier last week reminded me of perhaps my favorite YouTube post of all times.
Virtually all of you have seen it, but it’s worth watching again: The Air Force Acadamy Cadet Dance. I know, there are a lot of other YouTube dance clips, but this really speaks to the absolute joy of dancing, even far away from a dance floor. Enjoy.
In the category of What I Couldn’t Believe the Most, after watching it dozens of times: 1) The subject doesn’t remove his uniform jacket. 2) He glances furtively to see if his roommate has returned. 3) He can’t help moving to the house, even when he’s done. 4) He’s such a good sport when he discovers the secret taping.
I understand the two cadets were honored for raising morale in the Air Force Academy, which needs it right now.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media
June 24, 2008
New York Times tuts at Lance Armstrong
I tend to agree, however, with his former coach, Chris Carmichael, who was quoted as saying: “His foundation, the fight against cancer and his kids: I see those as the most important three things in his life. I mean he has girlfriends and things like that — why not?”
After all, when you are single, you date, right? Discuss.
Photo: INFphoto.com/Newscom
Footnote on the photo: Despite countless paparazzi surrounding the couple during their NYC stay, mainstream media stayed away. Which meant there was no AP photo, no wire photo, no publishable photo of the duo, despite being among the top celebrity topics of the week.
So what’s Out & About to do? We certainly don’t want to encourage the paparazzi phenomenon, but there were those readers who doubted Armstrong-Hudson connection without photographic evidence.
Well, we weren’t going to pop the video of them kissing on the austin360.com screen, but we needed something classy to go with the Tuesday print column and this follow-up. So we shopped around the weird world of celebrity photo dealers and found one that was not too usurious or sleazy, and so purchased it from INFphoto.com/Newscom. It makes them look a little harried, but still glowing. Aw.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media
June 20, 2008
Holland Taylor on Ann Richards, Part 2
(Part 2 of interview with Holland Taylor, who plans a one-woman show about Ann Richards.)
At first, Taylor thought someone should make a biographical movie. Even then, she toyed with the idea of playing Richards in her prime. (The governor was born in 1933; the actor in 1943.)
After settling on the idea of a solo show, Taylor determined it should not attempt full biography, but rather showcase Richards’ rhetoric and personality, with 90 percent of the words derived from recorded speeches and interviews.
“One doesn’t need permission to write about a public figure, but she’s such a loved person,” she says. “Reading about her and thinking about her, I feel I’m almost trespassing on their land. So I should let them know I was there.”
She secured introductions to family and staff, who, she says, have been welcoming. The bigger problem: Trimming hours and hours of Richardania into a 90-minute play. “There are so many wonderful one-liners and jokes, making a simmering pot, you just dump in the grain of something worthy from her great, passionate themes and cook it up,” she says. “I have enough for 10 plays over.”
Taylor returns to Austin in September for more research and won’t meet with directors over a draft script until the winter. The play would likely be developed at regional theaters over the course of months before any possible New York run, but not in Austin right away. “The last thing you need is some damn Yankee coming in to be Ann Richards,” she joked, insisting that her performance will not be a heavy-handed impersonation. “She spoke in a number of different styles, and sometimes the twang was used to extra effect. I’m not ‘replicating’ her … I hope to echo her.”
Taylor makes clear that the last thing she envisions for this one-woman show is a crass career move.
“I had this extremely heartfelt, soulful response,” she says about Richards’ passing. “I took it into acting, because I’m an actress.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame, TV
Holland Taylor on Ann Richards, Part 1
“I threw the car into park and sat there wide eyed,” Taylor said by phone from her Los Angeles home. “The idea came to me full blown: This is a person who lived on the podium, and whose impact was through her extraordinary gifts of public speaking — and what she said. She was not anonymous in any of her great deeds, including being in recovery. If ever there was a stage persona, a live, talking stage persona, she was it.”
So the veteran actor, who visited Austin earlier this month to discuss the project with Richards’ family, friends and colleagues, obsessively watched tapes of public appearances, seeking the advice of her own close friends, such as Liz Smith, who introduced Taylor to Richards years ago.
“At the time, I was just a garden variety fan,” she remembers of Richards’ post-gubernatorial days as a New York-based marketing consultant and on-air commentator. “She was the bomb, a rock star.”
One day, Smith invited Taylor to come along to a formal luncheon.
“Well, I didn’t want to dress up and go uptown to Le Cirque, but I did, and when I arrived, there was this empty seat next to me. When she told me it was for Gov. Richards, I said ‘Don’t put her next to me! I won’t have anything smart to say!’ When she entered, my eyes went out on stalks. She could have been Mick Jagger. I don’t remember anything about the luncheon.”
Even after meeting Richards, her relationship with the wisecracking speaker of the 1988 Democratic National Convention keynote address was distant, awe-struck. “I wasn’t a groupie or anything,” Taylor says. “Yet she was always there — a mighty figure in my universe. It was only when she died I realized what an important figure she was. I was unreasonably sorrowful, even though I didn’t really know her.”
After re-watching that keynote address, she got it: “Oh, I see. I’m not just sad for me, I was sad for America. We cannot afford to lose this voice and heroic personality, for whom we had such affection and expected to have with us for a decade or more at least.”
(Part 2 later today.)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame, TV
Lance Armstrong and Kate Hudson, from a distance
From a distance, both look glowing, but act grounded. (No couch hopping here.) Armstrong charmed on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” while Hudson cooed on “The View.” Our own Speed Racer is pushing a for-profit wellness Web site, Livestrong.com, but soon we expect the pair to repair to Austin and California for the rest of the summer.
Meanwhile, one of those Austin Hollywood Boys, Matthew McConaughey has been goofing around Central America while his girlfriend, Camila Alves, waits patiently for their gorgeous love child to be born. Surely she knows what she’s getting into.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
June 16, 2008
Austin connection: Holland Taylor, Ann Richards, Madison Davenport and Deanna Dunagan
Madison Davenport, who spent part of her youth in Austin, plays Ruthie Smithens, best friend to the title character in “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl,” which opens Friday nationwide. The 11-year-old launched her prodigious movie career in 2005 with Helena Bonham Carter in “Conversations with Other Women.”
Deanna Dunagan, who gave a touching speech after winning Best Actress in a Play on Sunday’s Tony Awards broadcast, graduated from the University of Texas, having studied music there. Her win for her role as the addicted mother in Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer and Tony-winning “August: Osage County” rewarded her long-delayed Broadway debut.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame, Movies, TV
June 15, 2008
Dennis Quaid moving to Austin
“The train is going down the tracks. We have a lot of family there and we have a really nice plot of land,” he told Extra television magazine at the Maui Film Festival. “We have 30 or 40 friends and family members within two miles of us. It’s kind of a no-brainer.” Quaid purchased the land on Lake Austin after meeting and marrying Buffington, a real estate agent, three years.
“I’ve always loved Austin,” Quaid told us in 2005. “It has a sense of community you can’t get anywhere else.”
A sidebar on media ignorance of Texas geography: Many online news sources report the family is moving to Quaid’s native Houston, assuming that’s what he meant when he said he was going back to Texas.
Photo by Sung Park at Hoover’s
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
June 6, 2008
Brad Womack at Teva Mountain Games
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Sports
June 5, 2008
Where do the famous eat in Austin?
Lambert’s is becoming another regular stopover. Jack White and his Raconteurs, Jeff Tweedy and Wilco, the gang from Foxboro Hot Tubs (Green Day), William H. Macy, James Spader and Luke Wilson all passed through Lou Lambert’s celebration of carnivorous pleasure in the past few weeks.
We’re never going gaga about celebrity sightings, but social observations can be made about the kinds of places the famous congregate. All these places are Austin authentics. All combine unusual food with (comparatively) casual surroundings. They certainly don’t got there to be seen, so remember to keep your distance, smile in their direction and, if you are so inclined, enjoy the little moment.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
June 4, 2008
Andy Roddick makes cover of Outside
The same month his hero, Lance Armstrong, makes the cover of two local magazines simultaneously — Austin Monthly and Tribeza — Andy Roddick relaxes on the front of the nationally distributed Outside magazine. The cover story chronicles the tennis ace’s return to form and includes one reason why he retreats to his Austin home: “I have to have windows every couple of months where I can put my body back together.” Roddick explained his sometimes volatile behavior on the court: “”I don’t ever think I am going to be one of those guys who can just mute it.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media, Sports
June 2, 2008
Lance Armstrong and Kate Hudson settle into Austin
Looks like we’re going to see a lot of Kate Hudson in Austin. She and romantic magnet Lance Armstrong are back from the Mediterranean, dining at Uchi over the weekend. We hear that their kids get along well and Hudson loves our town. And while we’re at it, let’s settle a score: Armstrong and Hudson-ex Owen Wilson were never buddies. Not even close. All you gossip bloggers who think you’ve smelled a girlfriend-stealing rat: Try to find a candid picture of Wilson and Armstrong together on the Internet. Not easy is it? A good exercise fact-checking.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Out
May 26, 2008
Austin stars: Lance Armstrong, Kate Hudson, Andy Roddick, Vince Young, Drew Barrymore, Dennis Quaid
While I was soaking up the cool in New England, Austin-linked celebrities went crazy.
Lance Armstrong: After cruising around Austin, our town’s superstar cuddled with new flame Kate Hudson at the Cannes Film Festival. You gotta admire his moxie, even as he insists he and Kate’s ex, Owen Wilson, were never close friends, and thus he’s not picking his pocket.
Drew Barrymore: The frequent Austin visitor, said to be engaged to Apple cutie Justin Long, was seen in Michigan. Maybe she’s decided to take advantage of those 40 percent film production incentives for “Whip It,” the roller derby movie once headed for Austin.
Dennis Quaid: A stranger to Austin lately, despite the presence of his wife Kimberly Buffington’s family — unless we’ve missed a recent visit, and that’s entirely possible — Quaid will be honored June 12 at the Maui Film Fest. Tough gig.
Andy Roddick: The recently engaged tennis star dropped out of the French Open because of an elbow injury. One of his fans has started a “Book Fairy Project” to recycle old children’s books. Last time we chatted with Andy he was reading the “Harry Potter” series. The 25-year-old also placed on OK’s Top 50 Man Candy of the Year list.
Photo: Courtesy of Blogxilla.com
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Movies, Sports
May 19, 2008
Elvis Costello, Katie Lee Joel, Jennifer Coolidge sightings
Elvis Costello at the wedding of Tom Green and Laura Gilbreath, where Costello’s wife Diana Krall played — and maybe on South Congress Avenue. Costello and Krall also dined at Eddie V’s Edgewater Grille, where the pair sang four songs together.
Katie Lee Joel, overhead talking with hubby Billy about Howard Stern’s wedding date.
Jennifer Coolidge of “Legally Blonde” and “Best in Show” fame sharing cocktails at Betsy’s Bar.
Photo by Sung Park
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
May 18, 2008
Lance Armstrong and Kate Hudson, together in Austin
This is not Hudson’s first Austin connection. Owen Wilson and Hudson were back together for awhile, but split up again just a few weeks ago. Interesting to note that Armstrong started dating Sheryl Crow after she broke up with Wilson.
We’ve finally confirmed, after being stiffed by Eddie V’s Edgewater Grille’s hostess, that the pair dined there together last week — without the kiddies.
Photos by Jay Janner (AAS) Chris Pizzello (AP Photo)
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
May 13, 2008
Stephen Moser Live
We are waiting for the arrival of the Grand Style Avatar. Excitement in the newsroom fairly bubbles. (OK, at my desk anyway, for this first live interview, with your participation.)
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
May 10, 2008
Save the date: Stephen Moser live interview
Did the article in last Sunday’s American-Statesman about Stephen Moser make you hungry to know more about Austin’s Style Avatar? You’re in luck: Moser has agreed to participate in the first Out & About live blog interview, which will operate something like a chat room at noon Tuesday, May 13. So return to this space at that time, and ask him any question about his full-lived life, as well as the fashion industry, media and social circuit. Don’t forget the benefit for Moser’s medical trust at Antone’s on Wednesday, May 14.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame
May 8, 2008
Don Howell, Austin Arts Hall of Fame inductee
For most readers, the least familiar name on the class list for the 2008 Austin Arts Hall of Fame, to be inducted at Cap City Comedy Club on June 2, will be Don Howell. Yet an Austin theatergoer could not pick up a printed program during the 1990s without spotting Howell’s name among the patrons gratefully acknowledged. That’s because the retired high school drama teacher from Alice made it his mission to encourage the youthful theater companies that had sprung up like wildflowers in Austin during that period.
A producer and dramaturg as well, Howell volunteered regularly for Austin Circle of Theaters, transformed during the early 1990s under Ann Ciccolella into an essential arts advocacy organization. In association with Dance Umbrella and Zach Theatre, he presented Dallas-based performer/magi Fred Churchak’s Shakespeare-inspired solo work.
Before teaching in Alice, he worked for the pioneering director Margo Jones at her Dallas theater. He studied with Sanford Meisner at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse and later worked alongside Nina Vance at Houston’s Alley Theatre. At the Dallas Theater Center, he studied, toured and directed three years with founder Paul Baker.
As such, Howell was an active witness to three profound transformations of Texas and American theater: The regional theater movement of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s; the near-universal postwar proliferation of high school drama through the University Interscholastic League; and the rise of the warehouse theater movement in Austin during the 1990s and early 21st century.
Photo by Ann Ciccolella.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame
Madonna chooses Houston
Now that the hubbub about a possible Madonna drive-by has settled down, we’ve got the official word: The Indefatigable One is finally returning to Texas after a 15-year absence. She’s set to play Houston’s Minute Maid Park Nov. 16. Tix for Sticky & Sweet go on sale May 31. She’ll also play Mexico, although cities have not been named, and that might be even more interesting.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Music
May 5, 2008
Austin Star Map party in Great Hills
The Austin Star Map is a harmless bit of fan fun. Created by self-confessed gawker Ame Shillington, the snappy guide identifies more than 50 locations for famous movie scenes (“Slacker,” “Spy Kids,” etc.) as well as the homes, former homes, businesses and favorite night spots of the famous, mostly from the movie industry (Sandra Bullock, Dennis Quaid, etc.). A walking tour takes one through downtown sites, while another list points out prime stake-outs for celebrity spotting (Alamo Drafthouse, Uchi, etc.)
Meriah Garrett, Nick Wellinghoff
Some may find the whole idea invasive, but so far, almost nobody has complained, says Shillington. And Saturday, backers of the tourist map threw a launch party at the Great Hills Apartments Clubhouse (a clear indication of the map’s charmingly unpretentious origins).
Hannah Kimbro, Ian Mouton
Self-proclaimed D-Listers mixed with, well, whoever didn’t even make that low cut. We talked with musicians, models, technicians, early-career film actors, bloggers, radio personalities, all sorts of folks with whom we felt supremely comfortable.
At the party, Stephen Felix slipped me some MP3s of his orchestral band, Noise Revival, which is best described as soundtrack music, textured, imaginative, indicative of more creativity to come.
Stephen Felix, James Sommers, Nathan Felix
Which brings us around to artists sticking to their strengths. In three recent CDs, beloved belter Shirley Bassey smacked the wall with an ill-considered dance album (her voice is too round, dramatic, delineated for the collection entitled “Get the Party Started”); Maureen McGovern, whose cursive voice I also adore, unwisely strayed into wispy, melancholy Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel and Judy Collins territory with “A Long and Winding Road”; but Natalie Dessay proved she’s the next soprano to beat with “Italian Opera Arias.” She knew exactly where to stick and where to stray.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media, Out
May 2, 2008
No Madonna for Austin -- right?
Austin Madonna sightings for May 1, 2008: O
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Out
April 25, 2008
Carmen Electra vs. "Carmen" the opera
Carmen could only be topped by Carmen. Austin Lyric Opera’s first run at the Long Center continued with Bizet’s perennially popular “Carmen.” Meanwhile, across downtown, a promotional parade and party for Dos Equis beer were led by fantastically photogenic former VJ Carmen Electra.
I must humbly admit I never got the Carmen Electra thing. The rocker arm candy, now engaged to musician Rob Patterson, reminded me too much of Pamela Anderson, another Playboy-ready beauty who has also sustained a long career by just showing up and blinking her headlights.
But Thursday, I was converted. She led a parade of hired drummers, acrobats and character actors in a fake cortege for the fictional assistant to the World’s Most Interesting Man, a marketing tool for Dos Equis. (Now the company can search for an assistant from the community of brew.)
The “Intriguing Recruitment Girls” — Luciana Ugaz, Abby Forrest, Sarah Conner, Cecily Conner, Monika Pham
Cloyd Dowling, Miss Conduct
The “Saloon Girls”
Our brief interview produced virtually nothing: She’s spending her time in Austin chilling. At her hotel? (Four Seasons, where Sean Penn is stationed.) At a restaurant? (She wouldn’t say.) Out in the hills? (Never mind.) She wore her new engagement ring and touted her upcoming movies. (Including “Mardi Gras.”)
But when the fake funeral procession took a turn onto East Sixth Street from Red River, and crowds began to form in front of the clubs, Electra cranked up the star wattage. From a block away, you could tell she out-radiated everyone else in the parade. This is a basic black dress and a sweet, sexy glance. I quite frankly have never seen anybody transform so radically before cameras and crowds. Star power.
We skipped the post-party at the Barr Mansion. Earlier, we hit the Umlauf Garden Party (must wait for a later post) and ALO’s “Carmen,” or at least the first two acts. Didn’t leave because I was disappointed in the production or the hall. First, Richard Buckley has tightened his grip on the musicians, producing the least indulgent “Carmen” I’ve ever heard.
Beth Clayton teased and toyed in the title role, and seemed to have upped her own game since opening night. (See JCVR’s review.)
Erin Salcher, Peter Shipman
As much as we enjoyed the opera, we were even more drawn to the social scene in the plaza, with its bedazzling views of downtown. We met two opera virgins. (My first opera was “Carmen.”) I also met Carmen Ortiz, who’d waited all her life to hear this particular opera, for obvious reasons.
Carmen Ortiz, Matt Guiger
Linda Nguyn, Tabrez Syed
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame, Out
April 23, 2008
Madonna at Oilcan Harry's May 1 -- not at all likely
What happens when the Material Girl makes an uncharacteristic career misstep? She goes back to her roots: Clubs, dance music and the gay community. And, in this case, an Austin gay bar, where Madonna is rumored to make an appearance May 1.
“That’s where she started: In small clubs,” said Kevin Smothers, a publicist with Austin-based Elizabeth Christian & Associates Public Relations. “I’d be absolutely surprised if she actually showed up, since she hasn’t even played Texas since the Blonde Ambition tour in 1990. She pretty much avoids the South.”
Oilcan Harry’s owners could not be reached for comment, but a source close to the club say Madonna herself will make an appearance at a private function during the release party. Stars of similar magnitudes — Prince, Elton John — have played for private events in Austin during the past few years.
Why club in Texas when she can still fill arenas worldwide? The star, whose staying power is legendary, stumbled after an appearance at the Live Earth concert last July when she sang a heartfelt call to end global warming. Fox News revealed that her foundation was invested in Earth-unfriendly companies, and the BBC further bloodied her reputation by pointing out that, with multiple cars, homes and a touring retinue of almost 100 people, her carbon footprint was far from delicate. Bloggers descended, ripping into her reputation in a manner reminiscent of the media frenzy following Madonna’s infamous foul-mouthed, cigar-chomping interview on “The David Letterman Show” in 1994.
“I think because it’s so unusual and unexpected, she’ll get a lot of media buzz,” said Elaine Garza, owner of Giant Noise PR, which maintains offices in Austin and New York. “Everyone here will go crazy. If you go to a smaller market, the media is going blow it out even bigger. The LA media and New York media will go ‘oh my god, she performed in a small club in Austin.’ But after all, it is a music town.”
Photo: AP
Update 7 a.m. 4/24/08: Although the rumor had been circulating — fanned by Oilcan insiders — for days, nobody at the club would deny that Madonna would make an appearance there. Until now. Rob Faubion, editor of the trusted Shout magazine and recognized philanthropist, sent me this message after midnight: “Madonna is NOT coming to Oilcan Harry’s: I’m hosting the CD release party on May 1st - with copies of her new CD, but NOT Madonna herself. Yes - Elton John, Pet Shop Boys, Prince, etc. - have ‘dropped in’ to Oilcan’s during the past year. But Madonna will not be at the bar on on May 1st.”
OK, so we can all breathe. Except for a couple of nagging things: I still haven’t heard back from the owners of Oilcan’s, and my main source for the rumor — also very trusted, having tipped me about other celebrity appearances — said “we’ll find out tonight.” I would not be at all surprised if she was there then! Well, it’s been fun, right?
Update 3 p.m. 4/24/08: OCH co-owner Larry Davis called us from outside Victoria to say of the Madonna rumor — “I’d love nothing more, but I know nothing about her coming to Austin,” he said. “I find it pretty much impossible to believe.”
Despite this, we were still hearing a dull roar from Austin cogniscenti about Madonna’s people gathering in town tonight, or designers meeting with Madonna while she’s in town. Can’t stop a good rumor.
Permalink | Comments (24) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media, Music, Out
April 11, 2008
Deep in the wilds of Tarrytown
The long, gentle goodbye to American-Statesman editor Rich Oppel, retiring in June, has begun. Thursday, a small, tony crowd gathered at the Japanese-informed Tarrytown home of Catherine and Bill Miller for a reception, co-hosted by Roberta and Larry Wright. Guests migrated from the ideally proportioned, art-enlivened public rooms to the turquoise pool lined with Japanese maples and large (non-invasive) bamboo.
Cindy Hayes, Terri Balderach, Carol Oppel, Rich Oppel, LaVada Steed, Lynne Tredennick, Janna Paulson
The house formerly belonged to Wick Fowler, the Dallas Morning News war correspondent and inventor of 2-and-3-Alarm Chili. He also fathered former wild man and painter Gordon Fowler, now married to songstress Marcia Ball.
Richard Oppel Jr., Larry Wright
Many of the gathered were nearby Tarrytown residents, or neighbors of Oppel and his wife, Carol. In attendance: their quiet, thoughtful son, Richard Jr., The New York Times correspondent on break from reporting in Iraq; tall, gracious and loquacious Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst; tightly wound Speaker of the Texas House Tom Craddick and his wife, Nadine; towering, almost regal Texas Comptroller Susan Combs and her husband, Joe.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Catherine Miller, Bill Miller
I spoke at length with the Millers’ next-door neighbors, Betty Osborne, a close friend of Nancy Scanlan, and of the arts as well (greeted Betty and husband Duncan the next night at Jessie Otto Hite’s celebration at the Blanton Museum of Art), and with Larry Wright, one of the brainiest guys around and Pulitzer Prize winner for “The Looming Tower.” I’d love to see his library someday.
Steve Paulson, Comptroller Susan Combs
Also turns out that Catherine Miller grew up down the street from me in Houston. Well, she spent her youth on the high end of Kirby Drive, in River Oaks, while I sprouted from the shabbier West University sector (before it gentrified beyond recognition).
Duncan Osborne, Betty Osborne
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Media, Out
April 10, 2008
Stephen Moser benefits set
April 15: “Valley of the Dolls” screening (screaming?) at Alamo Ritz. This is one of Stephen’s favorite films (and mine). Interior designer Joel Mozersky emcees. $10. Also, a $10 additional donation snags a “Climb the Highest Mountain” thank-you bag. Pre-show at 9:15 p.m., after-party at Oilcan Harry’s Sidebar with performer Gretchen Phillips.
May 3-4: Pie Social, serving “flights of pies,’ with Austin Chronicle food critic Virginia Wood, then a special showing of Joan Crawford’s “Mildred Pierce” (another camp classic Stephen and I adore). Alamo South.
May 14: The “Stephen is One in a Million” benefit at Antone’s, with music and more. Again, details to come.
For other donations, use the address moserfund@gmail.com at PayPal or the Stephen Moser Fund at Falcon Bank.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Out
April 8, 2008
Sissy Spacek in Smithville with other Oscar winners, nominees
Fisk is working on Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” after previously contributing to Malick’s “Days of Heaven” and “The New World,” as well as Spacek’s “Carrie.” She also appeared in Malick’s “Badlands.” (The sometime Austinite was twice nominated for Oscars.)
Spacek, of course, is cousin to Taylor-raised, University of Texas-trained Rip Torn (nominated for an Oscar for “Cross Creek”), who was married to Oscar winner Geraldine Page (“The Trip to Bountiful”), herself nominated seven times before winning. Torn and Page helped Spacek in her early career after she left Quitman.
“Tree of Life” stars, as everyone in Central Texas knows by now, Oscar-nominated Brad Pitt (“Twelve Monkeys”), domestically allied to Oscar winner Angelina Jolie (“Girl Interrupted”), now a regular at the Bastrop Wal-Mart (she’s also daughter of four-time Oscar nominee Jon Voight, winner for “Coming Home”). Pitt acts with Oscar winner Sean Penn (“Mystic River”), although local sightings of Madonna’s ex are rarer. He was twice nominated before winning. No Oscars for Madonna, I fear.
But that’s closer than six degrees of separation from more than 25 Oscar bids in our little Smithville band.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Movies
April 7, 2008
Francis Hodge: 1915-2008
“If you followed his instructions, I think anyone could do a reasonably good production,” said retired UT theater professor Oscar Brockett, author of “History of the Theatre,” who asked Hodge to write “Play Directing” in 1971. While other books emphasized a philosophy or autobiography of directing, Hodge’s was a clear-cut practical guide to scripts, blocking and coaching of actors.
Hodge arrived in Austin as an assistant professor of drama in 1949. He directed more than 55 plays and was particularly know for his interpretations of Bertolt Brecht, Eugene Ionesco and George Bernard Shaw. Later, he oversaw the productions of more than 150 UT graduate student directors.
“We always had a good time; always fought,” said theater designer David Nancarrow and former UT professor with a laugh. “Fran always knew what the show should look like, though the rest of us had ideas, too.”
A native of upstate New York and graduate of Cornell University, Hodge also wrote “Yankee Theatre: The Image of America on the Stage, 1825-1850,” and served as editor of American Theatre Journal. He received the 2006 Doty Award, conferred on those who have contributed outstanding service to the UT College of Fine Arts.
He and his wife, Beulah, lived in a close-knit community on Bluebonnet Lane for 50 years before moving to Westminster Manor in 2003. Hodge was not active in the Austin theater community after his retirement from UT, but continued to write about the field.
He is survived his wife of 65 years, as well as two sisters, Muriel Hodge, 98, and Helen Hodge Hofer, 94, and daughter Betsy Hodge Flack, her husband Jim Flack and their two sons.
Contributions may be made to a scholarship fund in Hodge’s name through the UT’s department of theater and dance. Friends and family plan to honor Hodge’s life at Westminster Manor’s chapel 3:30 p.m. April 14.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Books, Fame
April 6, 2008
Michael Huff Charity Event at Austin Convention Center
What National Football League player, especially if single, would want to miss a sweet April weekend in Austin, especially with the Texas Relays in town? Not the ones invited by Michael Huff to participate in his charity weekend, which included a visit to the Dell Children’s Medical Center — one of the beneficiaries of the event — parties and a basketball game at the Austin Convention Center.
Our host, the gracious Michael Huff and man of good will
Yes, basketball. As Kansas prepared to mash North Carolina and Memphis set the record straight against UCLA — setting up an ideal final NCAA game on Monday — football players, yes, big, sometimes ungainly NFL football players faced off on the court usually reserved for the minor league Austin Toros.
Michael Griffin, serious after goofing around with his fellow players. Michael owns a house out on Lake Austin and has joined Vince Young at a return UT student
Before the game, fans, mostly Longhorn fans, lined up around the center’s lobby — all the way to the New Urbanism conference — to get hats, balls, anything signed by former Horns heroes such as Huff, Roy Williams, Michael Griffin and such. We admit to being starstruck in the company of such football talent, who chatted with sportswriters before the autographing onslaught, but their practice shots were about what you might expect — powerful but not exactly accurate.
Receiver Roy Williams actually could pass for a basketball player
Organizers found no problems drafting volunteers for this star-studded Michael Huff event: Casondra Brown, Toni Martin, Jalesa Bacon, Apryl Martin, Jordan Phillips, Taylor Bowser, Brittney Maxwell
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Out, Sports
April 5, 2008
Fashion for Compassion at Neiman Marcus
The Austin Children’s Shelter, like other charities that provide essential benefits for young people, has attracted a certain golden set we like to call Friends of Susan Dell. Assiduously slim and leggy, impeccably coiffed and coutered, this tribe of West Austinites, mostly in their 30s and 40s, are selective about the causes they support. But when they choose one, they do it up in style.
Victoria Reed-Fenimore, Hannah Douglas, Tosca Gruber, the best storyteller I’ve met in weeks.
Fashion for Compassion, the first of what promises to be an annual event for the shelter, is likely to net six figures (in fact, Julia Burch reports it netted $160,000). Nothing about Neiman Marcus, the Domain location for the party, is cheap, but the golden glow of the rooms appears worth the expense.
Anil Venkatrao, Hena Venkatrao, Anand Venkatrao, Gitanjali Venkatrao, Rishma Venkatrao.,
We skipped the fashion show itself, talking instead to guests of various backgrounds, and staff, such as shelter Executive Director Gena VanOsselaer, who said the group’s new $13 million facility at the Rathgeber Village in the Meuller redevelopment will be able to serve 78 rather than 30 children at risk of domestic abuse or violence. “We turned away 964 last year,” she said.
Jordan Metteauer, Tara Metteauer (his dealership provided the cute Smart Car up for auction)
Mary Tipps, Pauline Lewis
Honorary chairs John Byram, Susanne Dawley, with Rita Senter, Sandy Senter.
Sterling Boon, Rita Boon
Had to get in the snappy shoes of Grey Goose Vodka representative Claire Winslow, plus her friend Cameron Maxwell.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Out, Style
April 4, 2008
'A Viva Voz' at Benson Latin American Collection
For the Luis Avalos speech and reception at the Benson Latin American Collection on Thursday, you could divide the audience among fans of his “The Electric Company” days on PBS, those who have followed his stage, film and TV career as a performer and writer since then, and those who helped Avalos research his “Ollantay: Warrior of the Sun” at the University of Texas’ encyclopedic Latin American library.
Luis Avalos, Kelly Kerbow Hudson
I was too old to have watched “The Electric Company,” the more urban “Seseme Street,” as a child, and having no intervening children, could not have picked Avalos from a lineup, though later that evening, others accurately described him from those performances decades ago. I have been fascinated by his career and his Americas Theatre Arts Foundation and the script for “Ollantay” that he produced, lavishly, in Los Angeles from a Spanish version of a Incan tale. (Others have called it as the oldest play of the Americas, but since the Incas had no theatrical tradition as we define it, but rather a ritual one, unlike the Spanish, it’s a fuzzy claim.)
Teresa Rabago, Martha Cotera
Avalos told a hilarious story about how he got around his lack of singing voice to shout his way into a shared Grammy for an “The Electric Company” album. His thanks to the Benson staff for their help and recognition was touching. After the speech, Martha Cotera, longtime leader and member of the Mexican American Cultural Center board of directors, was very excited about the possibility of brining “Ollantay” to Texas, though touring shows are outrageously expensive to package. It would be neat.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Books, Fame, Out, TV
April 3, 2008
Austin Super Celebs: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
Yet Austin also regularly attracts super celebrities, some temporary, some resident, whose comings and goings are minutely tracked by thousands of media outlets worldwide. For instance, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have graced our city and environs for almost a month. A few paps have snapped them shopping for their growing family, but locals have gratefully left them pretty much alone. (That could change if Jolie gives birth here, bringing down the world celebrity press.)
As I write this, Pitt’s “Tree of Life” appears to be shooting at various South Austin locations. Despite this hard work, the tabloids, instead, are all over Pitt’s reported split with publicist Cindy Guagenti, the couple’s backing of a school charity in Missouri and George Clooney’s faked wedding in Italy for the couple. (Clever, clever Clooney.) And those are just the most repeated stories today. Our publication hasn’t even photographed them, which is why we’re using this AP photo from the Independent Spirit Awards, rather than something a rogue pap took locally.
All this to introduce a possible semi-regular feature for Out & About — Update: Austin Super Celebs. Here’s what’s happening according to the latest media reports, in no particular order.
Owen Wilson: I never know whom to trust on this guy. Some have him re-kindling romance with Kate Hudson; others say Jennifer Aniston is healing his emotional wounds. His mid-level movie comedy “Drillbit Taylor” has grossed more than $20 million to date.
Matthew McConaughey: The latest buzz is that he’s been offered the title role in the movie of “Magnum P.I.” I loathed the original, but would see it for MM. Still no plans to wed his baby mama, Camila Alves, and he can be counted on for a big, goofy quote almost every day.
Dennis Quaid: Almost everything lately has been about the medical accident that threatened his and Kimberly Buffington’s twins — legal action, charity foundation, etc. He’s also quit smoking for the kids and can be seen soon in “Smart People” and, later, “G.I. Joe.”
Vince Young: I was proven wrong: Austin’s favorite quarterback has not been tearing up Sixth Street during his return engagement at UT, for classwork this time. He bopped back to Nashville to study up with the Titans during spring break and caught a few Longhorn basketball games. That’s all we know.
Lance Armstrong: No startling romantic news lately. Mostly, he’s done a great job on the health and charity circuit, and he’s quoted often as an inspirational figure. Good place to be.
Dixie Chicks: More anti-war and pro-environment appearances. Hardly buzz magnets since their Grammy coronations.
Andy Roddick We were more than 24 hours late reporting the tennis star’s engagement to SI model Brooklyn Decker. Tonight he faces off with nemesis Roger Federer in Miami. Our question: Will they wed in Austin? Update: Roddock wins!
If you think any others Super Celebs belong in this category, drop me a line.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Movies, Sports
April 2, 2008
Andy Roddick engaged to marry SI model
Photo courtesy of andyroddick.com.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Sports
April 1, 2008
MC Hammer daughter, UT's A'Keiba Burrell, on MTV series
So is Burrell, who sings in an R&B mode “with a neo-Soul vibe” and participates in UT choirs, playing with a band like every other young Austinite? “No! Crazy right?” she says. “One of my friends at school recently approached me, then I heard that MTV was going to fly me out for the show, so OK, no band.”
During preparations for the debut, Burrell has bonded with her competitors. “We have this weird connection,” she says. “You don’t have to offer any disclaimers. They look at yours as a normal childhood.” Burrell expects to be back in school, which she loves, when the series ends but “if the wave hits, you ride it,” something she learned from her father’s streaky career, which took off just as she was born in 1987. “Rock the Cradle” premieres 9 p.m. Thursday.
Photo by Denise Truscello.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Music, TV
March 30, 2008
Long Center gala to top all galas
We live in a city. That’s been clear for a while, if still resisted in some social quarters. For the arts crowd, the first concrete sign was the opening of the Blanton Museum of Art two years ago, allowing urbane presentation of sometimes first-rate art and stimulating conversation about creativity across an already creative capital.
Jane Sibley, Charles Butt
All doubts about urbanity — or social collaboration — were swept aside this weekend with the gala opening of the Long Center for the Performing Arts, which finally gives indigenous artists a first-class stage, ending an ancient dependence on the University of Texas for cultural amenities. Independent, participatory, economically and environmentally conscious, the Long Center is a social gem as well as a cultural one.
Teresa Long, Joe Long, Bobbi Topfer
Not everybody was impressed. A couple from Dallas was overheard saying: “The place we’re building (for Dallas Opera) is far more luxurious.” Yeah, well, Dallas, you didn’t recycle 97 percent of an ugly, virtually useless original structure, mount fundraising during a citywide financial bust, ensure space for more than 200 indigenous arts groups or keep the per-square-foot cost at less than a third of most modern performing arts centers. As the Long Center’s backers are fond of repeating, once construction began, it came in on time, on budget and paid for. Take that, Dallas.
Pamela Ott, Marc Ott
Friday’s festivities started with a majestic procession past circus-style artists and continued in the deliberately narrow lobbies and reception halls of the center itself. (Most performing arts centers spend half their floor space on lobbies; in this one, the performances took first priority in a tight budget.)
Gail Kodosky, Jeff Kodosky
Before the sun had set, Austin’s notables turned out in their fanciest evening wear, sipping cocktails and expressing disbelief that the building was actually finished.
Jenna Salwen, Jill Salwen, Jan Slagter
Jim Smith, Jare Smith
Michelle Valles, Ray Benson
Performances from Austin arts groups came next, and I’ll leave the evaluation of their work, as usual, to arts writer Jeanne Claire van Ryzin.
Dr. Bill Jones, Anton Nel
But several patrons raved about the short piano piece by Anton Nel, proving the center’s resident grand piano is grand indeed, every note pristine, clear; and the thematic choral finale, especially Craig Hella Johnson leading a combined chorus of several hundred with the Austin Symphony Orchestra in Leonard Bernstein’s “Make Our Garden Grow.” Chilling.
Robert Faires, Barbara Chisholm
Dinner in the special events tent with views of the Austin skyline was ecstasy. Every table was surrounded by familiar faces of the famous and not-so. One celebrant whispered into my ear: “This must be like birdwatching to you.”
Dale Dewey, Karen Landa, Michael Smothers, Sergio Durante
Flo MacNary, Ren MacNary (he’s wearing his ancestor’s beaverskin top hat)
Kristen Habich, Robert Weylandt
I joined the table of John and Julie Thornton (who just purchased a pied-a-terre in the Upper East Side on Central Park), and our group included Mayor Will Wynn and his consort, Wendy Poston, (and yes, mayor, everything said at the table was off the record), reserved City Manager Marc Ott and his dazzling wife, Pamela, Wynn’s chief of staff Rich Bailey, Brilliant magazine’s Lance Avery Morgan and City of Austin cultural czar Vince Kitch, who’s done a crackerjack job ending Austin’s arts wars.
Julie Thornton, Vincent Kitch
Nancy Scanlan, Congressman Lloyd Doggett
The biggest stars of the night, though, were mega-donors Teresa and Joe Long, Susan and Michael Dell, Bobbi and Mort Topfer (she put together most of the evening’s festivities), along with Sarah and Ernest Butler (who just pledged $55 million to UT’s School of Music), Lynn and Tom Meredith, Gail and Jeff Kodosky, James Armstrong and Larry Connelly, and the list goes on… We congratulated Long Center staff, including the miraculous Cliff Redd, always alert Robert Brown and his partner, Dennis Karbach, and longtime LC backers Jane Sibley, Jare Smith (we didn’t see the third “J,” Jo Anne Christian), Ben Bentzin, Steve Davis, Joan Plaster and Stan Haas, and the quiet man of influence on the structure’s outcome, Michael Guarino.
Joan Plaster, Stan Haas
Alan Green, Connie Green, Michael Guarino
Tom Meredith, Lorrie Moritz
Among the media and artists, we greeted were dignified emcee Tommy Tune, peacocking columnist Stephen MacMillan Moser, power pair Michelle Valles and Ray Benson (aren’t they the most likeable couple?), naturally glamorous Barbara Chisholm and Robert Faires, Austin Lyric Opera’s Kevin Patterson and Richard Buckley, Peter Bay’s beautifully expectant wife Sarah Jane.
Sarah Jane Bay, Tommy Tune
Gay Youngblood, Daniel Becker, Samantha Adams
We also chatted with former UT President Larry Faulkner, Congressman Lloyd Doggett, Rep. Mark Strama, classy Nancy Scanlan, vivacious Karen Landa, brilliantly outfitted Anne Elizabeth Wynn, H-E-B top man Charles Butt (again, after the Westlake Market gala), UT Dean Doug Dempster, UT developer Sondra Lomax, Chez Zee’s Sharon Watkins and former Paramount don Paul Beutel, Zach Theatre’s Elisbeth Challener and husband Brett Bachman, Sergio Durante and Michael Smothers, and New Orleans maven Matilda Stream (owner of the Evergreen Plantation and somebody who knows about multigenerational wealth, virtually absent in Austin).
Matilda Stream, Bob Emerson
Stephen Moser and friend
Anne Elizabeth Wynn
These and thousands of others beamed with pride at a city which, only 10 years ago, could barely raise $1 million for an arts project, much less the $160 million-plus it took to build the city’s first real art museum and municipal performing arts center.
For complete coverage of the Long Center go to our special Long Center home page.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment Categories: Arts, Fame, Out
March 28, 2008
Robert Redford pumps 'Unforeseen' in Austin
You could hardly ask for two more articulate speakers on behalf of a movie, this one a poetic documentary about Barton Springs and urban development that has swept the world’s film festivals and won the hearts of critics.
“My hope is to inspire and reinvigorate those who have battled (for the Springs) while informing the newcomers,” Dunn said about her hope to capture “The essence of what’s going on in Austin.”
Then she invited Robert Redford up to the stage. Grounded, magnetic, a better expository speaker than most politicians, Redford talked about what attracted him to the project: Terrence Malick’s invitation to join the team as executive producer, his own childhood learning to swim at the springs, his activism in the 1980s and ’90s in favor of the aquifer’s preservation, his long support of documentaries as films, not just megaphones, as well as Dunn’s unusually fair-minded and aesthetically persuasive technique.
At one point, activist Brigid Shea pointed out, as she has at screenings, that “Unforeseen” does not document the SOS struggle minutely enough and Dunn didn’t show enough of Bradley’s dark side. Dunn and Redford need only have said that the rhetoric of changing minds not already converted to the environmental cause requires something other than the movie that Shea could make, but their respectful comments expanded on that.
“The environmental movement needs to accept there’s a new way to do things,” Redford said, emphasizing the broad coalitions now possible for protecting the environment.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Movies, Nature
March 20, 2008
Austin Nichols' 'Lenexa' DVD out
Austin Nichols, the Austin actor best known as the enigmatic surfer dude on “John from Cincinnati,” stars this 2006 movie just out on DVD. The story of five young men coming off age, “Lenexa, One Mile” was shot in and around Kansas City. It was based on the life of the director, Jason Wiles, and his friends.
“I always felt that it was one of my best performances and I hope that a large number of people can get their hands on this DVD. It is a beautiful little movie that people will love.”
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Fame, Movies, TV
March 18, 2008
Cameron Diaz on for Austin's 'Whip It'?
Permalink | | Categories: Fame, Movies
Patrick Swayze's Austin aunt speaks out
Austin psychotherapist Diana Latham has been thinking a lot about her nephew, Patrick Swayze. The Texas-bred star of “Ghost” and “Dirty Dancing” is battling pancreatic cancer and putting up a brave front for the media.
Swayze is descended from Col. Henry Karnes, who rode with Sam Houston, and Victor Karnes, the University of Texas wrestling and football star who fathered Latham and Patsy Swayze, Patrick’s mother, who taught dance in Houston and choreographed “Urban Cowboy” with John Travolta and Debra Winger.
Latham speaks with her sister, who moved to California when Swayze became a star and who conducted workshops for Ballet Austin after “Dirty Dancing” came out, frequently.
“All this stuff you’ve heard about Patrick being a good guy: He is,” says Latham, who believes her nephew, a high school football player himself, inherited the Karnes stamina. “If anyone can make it, he can.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Fame
March 9, 2008
Kal Penn, John Cho, Neil Patrick Harris at the Stephen F.
Cultural heroes? Battlers of bigotry? Or just plain actors? Kal Penn, John Cho, Neil Patrick Harris, interviewed at the Stephen F. Austin Hotel, chose the third door, not because they would distance themselves from the prejudice extirpation in the “Harold & Kumar” movies, but because they want to give proper credit to Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who created the characters.
We’ll publish a much more in depth version of our interview when the movie — sure to be a humongous hit — comes out on April 25. For now, we’ll share a few observations from this threesome of thoughtful artists. For instance, in the first movie, “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” the titular adventurers made Asian jokes about each other, but never thought of themselves as anything other than Americans. In “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” which premiered at SXSW on Saturday, their sometime outsider status is raked over the coals for hilarious insights.
Yes, the humor is juvenile, even potty — and potted — in places. Yet the pair’s road trip as fugitives across the South subverts expectations at every step. Still, the threesome shied away from owning their status as pop culture role models, in a sense, on and off the screen. Maybe when the cult original catapults them into big box office with the sequel — and you can bet money on it — they will understand the impact they are making and embrace it. (Again, much more later.)
Permalink | | Categories: Fame, Movies, Out
March 8, 2008
Hall of Fame after-party at Pangaea
No matter the revelry earlier in the night, it’s often wise to top off the madness at Pansexia, I mean Pangaea, where everyone feels free to undulate with whomever they please. The Texas Film Hall of Fame, the Austin Film Society event not officially connected to SXSW, staged its pre-party at Lance Armstrong’s classy palace on Thursday. They dolled up Stage 5 at Austin Studios on Friday for the main event, then danced the night away at the downtown club with the faunish name.
And, oh, did they dance, on couches, on ledges, on each other. We just missed Ethan Hawke, but ran into ex-Dell philanthropist Tom Green and others who had dined at the Studios. We heard there was a slight altercation earlier in the evening at the club, but no details. It’s amazing that so much pandemonium goes on there without some serious bumps, but Michael Ault’s crew is alert to trouble, sweeping the space with their pinlights for signs of trouble (mostly broken glass, I’d imagine).
Mahealani, Sweety Bird, Creamy Original: stage names for three dancers of the Supersonic Soul Squad.
Nearing 2 a.m., a group pegged as competitive swimmers — yet another event in Austin this weekend — got particularly rambunctious with their gals. A 7-footer actually tossed his petite girlfriend up and down. Don’t know what it is about this club that releases such (controlled) libido.
My favorite dancer of the evening, whose name I could not catch in the din
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Fame, Movies, Out, SXSW
Mariska Hargitay, Morgan Fairchild, etc. at Film Hall of Fame
We insist paparazzi could not make a living in Austin, but the turnout at the Austin Film Hall of Fame ceremony last night could make made me a liar. The red carpet was banked with dozens of photographers and reporters, including those in town to cover South by Southwest and two major movies — “Will” and “Tree of Life” — shooting here.
Glowing star of the runway, Morgan Fairchild
The biggest flurries on the carpet were made by Morgan Fairchild, pale and glamorous in pale green satin, and Mariska Hargitay, stunning in revealing decolelage and escorted by her ruggedly handsome husband, Peter Hermann, who has appeared in several “Law & Order SVU” episodes, and, more recently, “The Velvet Mafia.”
Here’s Hargitay and Hermann with event co-chair Katie Hersch, a huge “Law & Order” fan.
The Hall of Fame is one of those events that brings out all sides of Austin. Some insist on dressing “Texan,” while others take the opportunity to be creative, or wear that gown that’s not seen the light of digital flashes. Although rain threatened, the conditions in the tent were ideal this year, at least early in the evening, before I had to race off to the next event.
I chatted with aspiring writer and accomplished bon vivant Kimberly Thompson and her Danish husband Lance Sallis.
Artist and incorrigible character Bob Wade kindly introduced me to actor Barry Tubb (from a million things, including “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada” and “Lonesome Dove,” also owner of land out by Marfa).
I’ve really grown fond of Eloise Dejoria, and I’ve just barely met instantly recognizable John Paul briefly. Of course they are well atop the Fortunate 500 for sociability and good works in Austin.
Accidental introductions are among the joys of this beat. I approached Zachary Walker (above) because of his bright red shirt, then found out he was Second Lt. Zachary Walker of the Texas National Guard, and he was attending as part of the Inman Foundation group that included Col. David Hill of the U.S. Army. So the always welcome Nancy Scanlan walks up and says “Of course I know Bobby Ray…” meaning Admiral Bobby Ra Inman, founder of the foundation, former CIA director and current LBJ School educator.
Before leaving, I caught up with several filmmakers and tasted the piquant salad, but then sailed off into the sunset before the likes of Mike Judge and Dan Rather made their appearances.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame, Movies, Out, SXSW
Scott Porter, Jesse Plemons, Zach Gilford at Lost Pines
Are these guys for real? Every time we encounter the “Friday Night Light” actors, male or female, older or younger, they are friendly, down to earth, composed, completely winning. Whatever happened to the myth of the high-maintenance star? Scott Porter, Jesse Plemons and Zach Gilford were supremely down to earth, friendly, modest, informative and kind during the Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Classic at the lodge-like Hyatt Lost Pines on Friday afternoon.
They posed and exchanged stories with Chris Canales, who, as a student at San Marcos Academy, had been paralyzed in a football accident. Seeking to help other athletes in his condition, Chris and his father, Eddie, formed Gridiron Heroes, a chief beneficiary of the golf tournament. While the Canales family is doing admirable work for injured student athletes, the “FNL” cast was jazzed to learn that the series may be close to a deal with Direct TV, which could cement Season No. 3.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
Jim Sturgess + '21' at Four Seasons
Count on one hand the number of movie stars who are more charismatic in person than they are on screen. One claim would go to Jim Sturgess, the English actor who is shockingly convincing as the shy American MIT student who conquers Las Vegas by card counting in “21.” Meeting at the Four Seasons, Sturgess lights up his huge, limpid eyes with genuine connection — something he has done on screen in “Across the Universe” and “The Other Boleyn Girl” — and relates the challenges of playing someone quite different from himself.
Mesmerizing Jim Sturgess
Before the actual shoot in Vegas, Sturgess, an indie rock fan who you might have spotted on Red River Street last night, spent considerable time with the real life math natural, Jeff Ma, who had shared his story with writer Ben Mezrich. The subsequent article had sparked interest from Kevin Spacey, who optioned it for the screen and plays Sturgess’ teacher with unusual restraint and only a little menace, as well as director Robert Luketic, best known for the hit “Legally Blonde,” and an artist stuck with romantic comedies after his early successes in that genre.
Director Robert Luketic, who bet his career on Sturgess
Natty Australian turned Los Angelino Luketic told exacting stories about the process of transforming the original anecdotes into an entertaining Hollywood picture, especially through the use of sound and film editing during the blackjack sequences. Ma seemed to be having the time of his life, as his personal adventure is now a major motion pictured, premiered Friday at SXSW. We’ll publish a more substantial treatment of the interviews when “21” opens in theaters, but suffice it to say, we went through the rest of the day gushing, especially about Sturgess’ high-wattage charm.
Psyched movie subject Jeff Ma
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Fame, Movies, SXSW
March 7, 2008
Hall of Fame pre-party at Lance Armstrong's
This we can finally say: Lance Armstrong has good taste. His Mount Bonnell mansion at first impresses with its size, room spilling into room, indoor flowing into outdoor. Dark, heavy accents help define the spaces, never grand but always congenial for conversation and mixing. Armstrong’s admirable art collection, including large abstracts, are lovingly placed around the palace and fires roared in several fireplaces.
For the Austin Film Society’s pre-party for the Texas Film Hall of Fame, the chilled masses flocked to the largest of several living rooms. There was Morgan Fairchild, looking not a day over 30, in a vortex of fans, while Debra Winger held court in an alcove/landing on the stairs. In Armstrong’s trophy room, which includes all seven framed Tour de France winning jerseys and a curious conversation nook, there was Style Avatar Stephen Moser in all his splendor. Lots of folks from the film community, but also many from the Austin Ventures set.
Carol Adams, Debra Winger, Chris Adams (perfect Austin couple to guide Winger through the evening)
Robin Rather, Jean Rather, Dan Rather (anxious about following the late Ann Richards as emcee of the Hall of Fame ceremony)
Janet Pierson, Blaine Wesner, Alexa Wesner
Katy Walker, Robert Walker, heroes of Marfa Public Radio, among other causes (she’s also the daughter of recently deceased UT and Rice President Norman Hackerman)
Dede Church, Todd Church. He is helping Armstrong build his new store; she knows my sister Valerie Koehler and her Blue Willow Books in Houston
Permalink | | Categories: Fame, Movies, Out, SXSW
March 4, 2008
Wadsworth protects Pitt, Jolie
Rumors swirl about the temporary residence of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but those sweet folks in Smithville are keeping it quiet. (Good for them!)
Wadsworth — pictured with Mayor Will Wynn in a photo by Mark S. Rutkowski — has purchased a horse ranch with a rodeo arena outside Smithville and a new quarter horse named Danny Boy. “He’s what they call a looker,” says Wadsworth proudly. The East Coaster turned West Coaster turned Third Coaster grew up riding English saddle, but is “adapting to the more comfortable Western saddle.”
Escaping the urge to work, Wadsworth will soon take a schooner from Thailand to Greece, then spend two months in a rented house on Malibu. Eventually, she plans to nurture the arts in her adopted hometown. “There will be music in Smithville.”
Other moviemakers spotted in the burg during the just-launched “The Tree of Life” shoot — Jessica Chastain (“Jolene”) and Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki (“Children of Men”).
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Fame
February 28, 2008
No David Bowie for Austin
Michael Buble, matchmaker? During the crooner’s concert at the Erwin Center last night, Buble offered to make Mayor Will Wynn’s night. Wynn sat on the front row with a striking blonde, which Buble noted, guessing that she probably dragged the mayor to the concert, but — wink, wink, nudge, nudge — Wynn would thank him later when predicted romance ensued.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
February 18, 2008
Austin's prime starwatching season is upon us
The teenager from Corpus Christi could hardly contain himself. Would Out & About confirm the exact location of Vanessa Hudgens, the sweetheart of Disney’s supernova, “High School Musical,” while she was filming “Will” in Austin?
This columnist could add only one word: R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
From the beginning, Out & About has advocated a light touch with celebrities: Don’t invade their zones of privacy, even in public, except when they clearly invite the attention. That’s advice to remember as Austin’s prime stargazing season — before, during and after South by Southwest — commences.
That’s just the overture. Rodeo Austin already lured hall of famer Nolan Ryan to its gala two weeks ago at the Palmer Events Center, and the Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo expects to parade Willie Nelson (never enough Willie, is there? For proof check out our “75 Days of Willie” birthday countdown at austin360.com/willie) and country legend George Jones, plus a crew of up-and-comers and nostalgia acts, around the Travis County Exposition Center beginning March 1. (Couldn’t tell you where the actual rodeo athletes party. Maybe a reader can help.)
The South by Southwest Film Festival, which unspools March 7, always magnetizes hundreds of filmmakers. The headliners include Helen Hunt, Kal Penn, David Schwimmer, Kristen Bell, Jim Sturgess and Neil Patrick Harris, plus others not yet officially announced. (Hey, just realized: Two “Friends” in town at once, right where Jennifer Aniston first hooked up with Brad Pitt.) Movie mogul Michael Eisner is among the more unusual SXSW guests, slated for the March 11 Vuguru studio launch of its second original series “The All-For-Nots,” starring Austin native Kathleen Grace.
The Long Center for the Performing Arts holds its Sneak Peak Weekend March 6-9, with performances by Mass Ensemble, the Brewery Troupe’s Crowtations and the Tami Wolfe Duo, building suspense for the grand opening of the long-awaited center later in March. UT alum Tommy Tune returns as master of ceremonies at the March 28 Long Center gala, then an all-Texas concert follows March 29 with Ray Benson with Asleep at the Wheel, Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Rick Trevino and Flaco Jimenez — acts Austinites can see any day, but not in such acoustically generous surroundings. Among classical artists, Metropolitan Opera-banned Kathleen Battle is the biggest name slated for the Long Center’s early weeks, appearing in recital April 8.
Two more premium social events — Austin Under 40 Awards (March 7) and Huston-Tillotson University’s President’s Masked Ball (March 8) — are that weekend. Crazy stuff, because they, too, tend to pull in leaders from the business, charity, education and political communities. (Let’s go over that again: Texas Film Hall of Fame, SXSW Film Fest, Beyond the Lights, Austin Under 40 Awards, Long Center Sneak Peak and Masked Ball, all in the space of two days. Somebody is not doing their math.)
Rounding out the March stargazing, “The Tree of Life” imports Sean Penn — now in San Francisco shooting the Harvey Milk biopic directed by Gus van Zant — and Pitt for a Smithville shoot.
At that point, we can only pray that Angelina Jolie doesn’t show. The city will be celebrity-sated.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Fame
February 7, 2008
Heath Ledger in your medicine cabinet
The prescription medications that killed Heath Ledger — anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication, pain killers — by accident are found in tens of millions of American homes.
This is not a screed about our over-medicated society. I’ll leave that to others. It’s a gentle reminder that, taken in tandem, especially with alcohol, they can be extremely dangerous.
I joke regularly about “Valley of the Dolls” — and even performed part of the Neely O’Hara alley scene at a party recently — but these comforting little pills, though legal and prescribed liberally by doctors, kill far more people than those few celebrities reported in 60-point type. Be safe.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Fame
February 4, 2008
Lisa Kudrow added to 'Will' cast (and more Austin celebrity news)
“Will,” the movie about a high-school battle of the bands prepping for production in Austin, has tacked on Lisa Kudrow to a cast whose most prominent names so far have been Vanessa Hudgens (“High School Musical”) and Scott Porter (“Friday Night Lights”).
After local auditions, the Daze, a youthful Austin band, has signed for the on-screen competition. Wanna join along? Third Coast Extras holds an open casting call 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Austin Film Society facilities at 1901 E. 51st St. For more information, call 472-5385, Ext. 1 or visit the casting company’s Web site.
In other Austin celebrity news, Dennis Quaid was drafted for the upcoming pic, “G.I.Joe.” … By now, you know that frequent Austin visitors Ethan Hawke and Matthew McConaughey are expecting. No, not together, silly. Hawke with his kids’ former nanny, Ryan Shawhughes, and the McConaughey one with Camila Alves, the twenty-ish Brazilian model. (All that talk about the shirtless one flirting with co-star Kate Hudson was leaked to promote “Fool’s Gold,” which opens Friday in Austin.) Funny, although Hawke and McConaughey are charter Austin Hollywood Boys (AHBs), nobody has reported spotting their amours around town …
Now that Vince Young and Michael Griffin are back in town to finish their University of Texas studies, some fans expect to salute the NFL pros at their old party haunts. Young, at least, once ruled this city and now can’t go out unheralded. It’s just as likely that the Titans will hit the books hard. The teacher inside me wishes that.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
January 22, 2008
The real Joanne Herring at the Headliners Club
The power suits turned out in droves for Joanne Herring, the Houston socialite and inspiration for the Julia Roberts role in “Charlie Wilson’s War.” Dapper Geoffrey Connors, former Texas secretary of state and now with CACH Capital Management, hosted a reception for Herring at the Headliners Club on Monday. Among the Austin leaders in attendance: Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett, former mayor Lee Cooke, economic prognosticator Angelos Angelou and former Dell exec and philanthropist Ben Bentzin.
Lee Parsley (of the Lubbock Parsleys, he jokes, not the monied Houston tribe), Ambassador Joanne Herring and former Texas Secretary of State Geoffrey Connor.
The throng grew (mostly) hushed when Herring, who knows how to work a crowd, approached the podium. The former ambassador to Pakistan combines a Southern sweetness with enviable command of the facts. She talked at length about how Americans should deal with the regimes in Southwest Asia — especially traditional friends like Saudi Arabia — and how her friend Congressman Wilson managed to help oust the Soviets from Afghanistan.
Economic consultant Angelos Angelou and former Austin Mayor Lee Cooke. Cooke chatted at length about early downtown redevelopment, which he backed, despite skepticism from the business community.
She then turned to her limited involvement with the making of Mike Nichols’ movie. She was not allowed to meet Julia Roberts, on the assumption that the liberal Roberts would not appreciate the real Herring’s charms. (It’s also possible she didn’t want to be influenced into an impersonation, which is common in acting.)
Handsome set: Janet, Todd and Jared Staples (Todd is Texas agriculture commissioner) with Don and Tiffany Willett (Don is a Texas Supreme Court justice)
She was appalled to find out that her character would be using “the F-word,” sleeping with all sorts of men, and that the movie would imply she, a conservative evangelical, caused 9/11. Herring was told she could do nothing about the script, but she recalled a lawyer who “got off a man who killed his neighbor and chopped him into pieces.” She paused for effect: “That’s my lawyer.” Dick DeGuerin reportedly sent a fiery letter to the studio and the script was altered.
Artie and Sandra Spalding (Artie is Connor’s assistant; Sandra does corporate giving for the incredibly generous Twin Liquors)
Herring now loves the movie and how well it is doing in comparison to the weaker anti-administration flicks out there now (such as “Lions for Lambs”). One of her remaining criticisms is that “War” doesn’t credit the Republicans, such as George H.W. Bush, who helped her anti-Soviet crusade. But she makes nice with liberals and said it took everyone contributing to the cause, which, as the movie acknowledges, left the Afghans without a Marshall Plan, opening the door for the Taliban and the subsequent regional problems.
In Pakistan or Washington, Austin or Houston, Herring charms.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
Chicago House's Glynda Cox, 1943-2008
Glynda Cox, longtime co-owner of Chicago House, the fabled downtown coffee house and performance venue, died unexpectedly Sunday.
“We suspect a cardiac event,” said her partner Peg Miller. “It was peaceful … for her.”
The venue promoted the careers of poets, playwrights and singer-songwriters. Steven Tomlinson, who went on to solo-play glory, got his Austin start at an open-mike night there in 1989. Recently deceased Karen Kuykendall and surviving stage partner Sterling Price-McKinney played their “Cafe Manhattan” act there for long runs. Other talents nurtured there include Jimmy LaFave, Jo Carol Pierce and Sharon Bridgforth. After attempts to relocate failed, the venue closed in 1996.
“They were such a huge part of the Austin arts scene in the ’80s,” said playwright Cyndi Williams, whose career received an early boost from the venue owners. “I remember Chicago House with great fondness, as I know many do.”
“Glynda will be remembered for creating something rare — a space where people at all levels of performing had the conditions and opportunity to do their best, and where the songwriting was front and center,” musician Robin Myrick said. “They simply respected the working (and striving) musician but without falling into the smug self-congratulation thing that has at times been so toxic to the music scene.”
Cox was a student of legendary Texas drama teacher Ruth Denney and a classmate of Paula Prentiss and other future stars at Lamar High School in the 1950s. She held various positions at Austin’s Center Stage when it was among the most innovative companies in the city.
A celebration of Cox’s life is planned for 3 p.m. Feb. 10 at Jovita’s.
Permalink | Comments (27) | Categories: Fame
January 8, 2008
Austin updates: Arianna Huffington, Matthew McConaughey, Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Meridianwest
Periodically, we catch up with Austin celebrity micro-items that some readers probably have already digested but are worth fleeting mention or reminder.
No matter what one thinks of her shifting politics, Arianna Huffington is a fascinating figure. Huffington and her sister Agapi will speak at the renowned Lake Austin Spa Resort on Jan. 19 and 21 and will do separate talks for overnight resort guests.
Matthew McConaughey was among the stars making cameos in Bill Gates’ hit presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The shirtless one played Gates’ personal trainer in the antics that included George Clooney, Jon Stewart, Bono, Jay-Z, Brian Williams and Steven Spielberg. For more, see Digital Savant.
Owen Wilson seems to be having effortless fun again, this time in Maui with Texas buddy Woody Harrelson. We hear Wilson will return to Austin again by the end of the month for a fundraiser. More on that later.
Meridianwest, the Oklahoma to Austin band favored by the Roddick family, has been chosen to be an official part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival as the headliner for Music On the Main and will be part of the NCAA’s Final Four event in San Antonio this year.
Our Kilgore friend Ray Caldwell reports that the Texas Shakespeare Festival, still likely the best in Texas, will be taking four shows to the Olympics in Beijing this summer. Quite a feat for the little company from East Texas that once considered a strategic move to Central Texas.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
January 7, 2008
Drew Barrymore, Justin Long and Scott Speedman at Qua
A storm over the Rockies forced three stars to land in Austin, and during their Thursday layover, Drew Barrymore, Justin Long and Scott Speedman dallied at Qua, the Fourth Street ultra-lounge. “They had a blast,” said VIP manager Jackson Hurst. “They danced, lovin’ the shark tank.” Long and Barrymore, without Speedman (“Felicity”), tarried in Austin during the Austin City Limits Festival in September, using the assembled throngs as an opportunity for prolific PDA.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
December 5, 2007
Dame Edna mocks my tattoo
Just rung off with Dame Edna Everage. Yes, that Dame Edna, aka Barry Humphries. She’s in Switzerland, “visiting my money in a vault in Zurich,” she said. “I left it blinking like a possum or a mole.”
The first lady of Australian comedy is prepping for another American tour, this time with a Jan. 18-20 stop at the Paramount Theatre, a vaudeville house not unlike the ones where she’s performed on Broadway. “Some people say I’m a vaudeville person,” she said. “I see myself more as a therapist, a healer of the pain and hurt in America today.”
Frankly, she had me giggling and gasping for air during the entire conversation, which was more of a sustained monologue on her part. The Dame teased me about my recent tattoo: “What does Kip think about it?” I assured her that Kip had a matching one, which tickled her. (The performer’s team researches interviewers in advance.)
I reminded her that she once heckled me in a Broadway theater: “Left your same-sex partner behind, did we?” Now how did Edna know that? No amount of research…
She insists that, after 50 years on stage, she doesn’t need the profits from another tour: “I am not coming to Austin to rape the pocketbooks of the Austinians.” When not at the Paramount or her hotel, she says: “I’ll be in the malls and the shops and on campus and on that bridge watching the bats.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge Mexican free-tailed bat colony will be vacationing in Mexico when she arrives.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
November 30, 2007
David Letterman in Austin
Where was David Letterman while the Cowboys were beating the Packers? Chowing down on USDA prime beef in the Captain’s Room at III Forks. He and his crew, in town to help on a Habitat for Humanity build, took in the game and lingered for three hours at the downtown Austin restaurant. “He couldn’t be nicer,” said owner Curtis Osmond. So was there something brewing for his show, on hiatus because of the writers’ strike, or was this trip all about Habitat? “I can’t confirm or deny that,” said the group’s executive director Michael Willard.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
Perfect 10 for Perfect 10
At first, it was a pretty party. Austin Lyric Opera’s second annual Perfect 10 event, which honors outstanding arts patrons, took place in the creamy, terribly tasteful surroundings of Saks Fifth Avenue. Guests in cocktail wear drifted from racks to counters to food stations (terrific chow from Chinatown) to impromptu bars (Perfect 10 wine from Twin Liquors, thanks to David Jabour). (Photo 1: Dr. Thomas and Karen Vaughn)
Then it threatened to become a lively party. White Ghost Shivers, playing a “clean” set, light on the sex and drugs, tickled the guests, some old enough to remember the first time that hot jazz raised eyebrows — and skirts. Conversations sizzled. Andrew Heller spoke forcefully about how the media flubbed coverage of the California fires. Martha Cotera remembered the bean soup with poblano flakes she made for the first Noche de Opera party. (Send me that recipe!)
Unexpectedly, the party turned weighty. Just hearing the credits for the 10 couples or singles recognized for their citywide — sometimes nationwide — work made the crowd swell with collective pride. I’m going to break a rule and list (just) some of their credits here, as refined by Austin Lyric Opera captain Kevin Patterson. (Photo No. 2: Julie Nguyen, Jane Sibley and Dottie Rutishauser)
Fred and Marilyn Addy: Michigan State University, U.S. Air Force, Austin Symphony, Austin Lyric Opera, KLRU, the Long Center.
Sandy Ball Austin Lyric Opera, IBM Corp., Triangle on Stage, University of Texas Longhorns.
Sarah Biedenharn: Wellesley College, Yale University, Austin Symphony, Caritas, SafePlace, Long Center, University of Texas, Sage, Meals on Wheels, West Austin Caregivers, Episcopal Seminary and Good Shepherd Episcopal Church.
Martha and Juan Cotera Cotera and Reed Architects, University of Texas, Austin Design Commission, Robert E. Johnson State Office Building, Austin Hilton downtown, Austin City Hall, Austin Symphony, Blanton Museum of Art, Mexican American Cultural Center, Austin Heritage Society, Texas Women’s Political Caucus, National Women’s Political Caucus; Mexican American Business and Professional Women of Austin, Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas, Latina Political PAC in Texas, Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; IMAGE of Austin Board; Hispanic Women’s Network, Reforma, LULAC, Mexican Consulate Advisory Committee for Immigrants; KLRU Latino USA; Austin Heritage Society and the Shaw-Cotera UT Consortium on Teen Violence. (Photo No. 3 Susan Lubin and Saks general manager Scott Siegel)
Mary Ann and Andrew Heller: IBM, Heller Associates, Seton Health Care Network, Austin Symphony, Austin Lyric Opera, UT Performing Arts Center, Dell Children’s Medical Center Foundation.
Joe and Teresa Lozano Long: Teachers Retirement System, State Securities Board, Office of the Attorney General, First State Bank, Texas Education Agency, HeadStart, National Museum of Women in the Arts, UT Chancellor’s Council; UT Education Foundation Advisory Council, UT Press Advisory Council, University Interscholastic League Foundation, Ballet Austin, Pan-American Round Table, Long Center, Austin Symphony; Seton Fund , UT Chancellor’s Council, UT Development Board, Travis County and Texas Bar Associations, Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas.
Lynn and Tom Meredith: Motorola Inc., Dell Inc., Meritage Capital, MFI Capital, MFI Foundation, Austin Children’s Museum, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin chapter of the National Charity League, Dell Children’s Hospital, Blanton Museum of Art, Association of Junior Leagues International, Association of Professional Fundraisers, Leadership Austin, Ballet Austin, Girl Scouts, Austin chapter of Women in Business International.
Cliff Redd: Long Center for the Performing Arts, University of North Texas, Southwestern University, University of Texas, Texas Commission on the Arts, City of Dallas, Office of Cultural Affairs, Texas Non-Profit Theatres, Stonewall Professional and Business Association
Peter Schram and Harry Ullmann U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, University of Texas, Longhorn Band, H.T. Cox Accounting, State of Texas Department of Water, Austin Lyric Opera, Ballet Austin, the Austin Symphony, Paramount Theatre, Zachary Scott Theatre Center, New Mexico State University, DeWal Corp., State of Texas Securities Board. (Photo No. 4: Jill Addison and Shawn Morgan)
Karen Kuykendall: Cafe Manhattan, Ballet Austin, Conspirare, Austin Musical Theater, Austin Arts Hall of Fame, Girl Scouts of America, Austin Circle of Theaters, Zachary Scott Theatre Center.
In the evening’s most touching moment, Karen’s daughter, Sarita, accepted the honor for her mother, holding her head steady and high, looking more like Karen than ever.
Robert Godwin photos.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
November 8, 2007
Describing Karen Kuykendall's memorials
Thanks to Dave Steakley, we can publish the following descriptions of the Karen Kuykendall memorial events this week:
“At the Paramount Theatre, I think we had around 800 people come through during the 3-hour visitation. It was to begin at 4 p.m. and people were already there by 3:30 p.m. and the flow of people never let up; at about 5:30 p.m. as people got off from work the entire place was packed until the end which extended to 7:30-ish.
“The ‘altar’ we created used Michael Tracy’s painting and candelabras from Karen’s house. We also took the bags of rose petals from Karen’s floor that she has been collecting all year from the many gifts she received and scattered those across the stage. The pall on the coffin was made from fabric that Karen brought back from India on her last trip with Ann Richards. One of Karen’s caretaker nurses made the fabric into a bedspread for her to have on her bed these past three months and then we altered it this week in our costume shop for the coffin. It is a beautiful, bright magenta raw silk, and on the backside is a light iridescent green with flower embroidery. David Kurio matched the magenta with a spray of the most breathtaking orchids, from deep purple to light magenta — they were spectacular. David also provided rose petals from 800 roses which attenders were invited to spread across the coffin — there was quite an accumulation by the end on the floor and on the spray itself.
“The upstairs lounge/bar was open and friends gathered upstairs to socialize and look through the gallery of 25 photos from Karen’s family life and showbiz career that we had blown up on easels throughout. After 5:30 p.m. the social aspect had also permeated the theater itself as people brought their drinks downstairs into the theater — it felt like one of Karen’s house parties, and since we brought the art from Karen’s house I think those people who had been to her home responded as such.
“I even saw two people dip their rose petals in their gin and tonics — Karen’s signature drink of choice — before tossing them on Karen’s casket! The Paramount donated the space and employees to make the event happen — Ken Stein made sure we had everything we needed, and the tech staff was spectacular.
“The sanctuary at St. Ignatius was standing room only … I think it seats around 800 and there were a lot of people standing at the back. The music was very diverse and there was lots of it — soloists included Janis Stinson, Tim Curry, Craig Hella Johnson, Sterling Price-McKinney, Donna Hightower and the St. James Baptist Church Choir. Jodi Roberts played a Tibetan sacred bowl at three points in the ceremony.
“Highlights included: Janis and Tim sang ‘Amazing Grace’ for the processional and it had everyone in the sanctuary weeping — they were in magnificent voice — it was really powerful; Craig sang with such absolute purity and feeling on ‘Every Time We Say Goodbye’ and ‘It Singeth Low In Every Heart.’ Hightower sang Sterling’s arrangement of ‘Poor Wayfaring Stranger’ in a sorrowful, powerful Nina Simone-like voice.
“There was a big buzz from the audience when Father Kirby Garner announced that Karen was the first baby baptized at St. Ignatius after it was built. The big moment was when Karen’s speaking voice came over the loudspeaker and you heard a huge gasp in the auditorium as the spoken intro to Sterling’s ‘The Ballerina Song’ began. It is an 8-minute song, many tears flowed, and it was met by the audience leaping spontaneously to their feet for a standing ovation at the end that must have lasted for two minutes.
“Karen’s casket then was escorted out of the church by the gospel choir following and singing jubilantly ‘Going Up Yonder’ with the entire congregation clapping in rhythm. As everyone departed the choir kept singing a cappella, like an old-time revival where the spirit kicks it all up a notch, and there was another big hand for Karen outside. Not your typical mass!
“Dramatic, over the top beginning to end, eclectic, heart-breaking, joyous and irreverent. Definitely Karen.”
Photos by Nancy Scanlan
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Fame
November 6, 2007
Losing 6 ladies; missing Kuykendall memorials
Six leading ladies. Six Austin role models. Six who passed from our company in a little more than a year. It’s tough to absorb the loss.
Lady Bird Johnson graced everything she touched. The first lady championed the environment and the well-being of those who inhabited it.
Ann Richards out-smarted, out-joked and out-maneuvered almost every politician in the land, with the exception of the current president in 1994, and even he gave her props.
Molly Ivins never let a public blunder go unpunished. She angered some with her withering wit, but she could make readers of all political stripes catapult their morning cereal with shock and delight.
Kay Longcope was another kind of journalist: a pioneer from the lesbian and gay community who took the newspaper business seriously and created the state’s first gay publication of substance.
Ruth Denney schooled several generations of theater folk, including Broadway and Hollywood stars, but she never lost that firm, warm honesty of everybody’s favorite high school or college teacher.
Karen Kuykendall lit up personal and social lives just as she illuminated the stage. She died minutes before midnight on Halloween, demonstrating perfect timing right to the end.
Note on Kuykendall memorials: I was never able to confirm times and places, so I’ve failed those readers who depended on Out & About to update them. Believe me, I tried. I understand the visitation was well-visited and the funeral Mass is underway.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
November 5, 2007
Dating tips for Austinites and Frequent Austin Visitors
If you are serious about staying out of the tabloids:
Lance Armstrong: Stay away from twins, especially gossip bait like the Olsens.
Owen Wilson: Keep clear of celebutantes (hands off, Jessica Simpson).
Matthew McConaughey: Do not, under any circumstance, get engaged to a 24-year-old Brazilian model, no matter how tantalizing.
Do us a favor, boys.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
October 31, 2007
Karen Kuykendall (1937-2007)
Karen Kuykendall — distinguished actor, prominent hostess, arts leader, cabaret diva, revered wit, longtime real estate agent and mother of three — died at home late Wednesday from complications from cancer of the lungs and spine. She was 69.
Growing up in Green Pastures, when it was a dairy farm on the outskirts of town, Kuykendall saw her South Austin family home become a restaurant in 1946. She counted among her relatives blacklisted humorist and First Amendment advocate John Henry Faulk (her uncle), Green Pastures Restaurant founder and cookbook writer Mary Faulk Koock (her mother) and Travis County District Attorney Henry Faulk (her grandfather).
Kuykendall acted in scores of plays, many at Zachary Scott Theatre, including “Angels in America,” “Full Gallop” and “The Rocky Horror Show.” She helped introduce Austin to theatrical cabaret through her Cafe Manhattan shows with stage partner Sterling Price-McKinney, and she served on the boards of many arts groups, including Ballet Austin, Austin Musical Theatre and Conspirare. She sold real estate for many of her close friends, including the late Gov. Ann Richards, and threw soirees in her art-packed Clarksville-area home that attracted admirers from all walks of life.
She was among the first inductees into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame. Upon receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Austin Circle of Theaters on Oct. 21 before undergoing hospice care, Kuykendall said, “There is no place I feel more at home or more alive than on stage.”
“Fortunately for us, Karen lived by the adage ‘all the world’s a stage,’ and she made an unforgettable impact in every arena of Austin life,” said Dave Steakley, artistic director of Zachary Scott Theatre Center, which has named the stage of its planned new theater after Kuykendall. “Karen embraced theater as a full-contact sport. She was bigger than life because she saw that as her job, and with extravagant physical and vocal flourishes she would tickle our funny bone, drain the last drop of irony from Cole Porter, and move us to the furthest reaches of our heart.”
Born Karen Koock on Nov. 19, 1937 — one of seven children of Mary Faulk Koock and Chester Koock — she was a fifth-generation Austinite. Her father’s family was well to do and owned the Koock & Voss hardware store on Congress Avenue. Both of her parents sang prodigiously, but Kuykendall may have inherited her distinctive social graces from her mother, Mary, who opened Green Pastures on Live Oak Street while the family lived in upstairs quarters.
“Mary was a natural-born party-giver,” said Kuykendall’s sister, Martha Koock Ward. “She threw parties even as a little girl.”
The family, which forged a long history working with the deaf, ex-convicts and others in need, was proud that its restaurant was open to all races long before federal law required it.
Although descended from staunch Methodists, Kuykendall grew up a Catholic because her mother had converted after attending St. Mary’s Academy. Kuykendall attended St. Ignatius School and St. Mary’s, and later attended Dunbarton College in Washington, D.C.
In 1958, she married Marshall Kuykendall of the famed Texas ranching family, who later became a well-known land broker and advocate of property owners’ rights. They divorced in the mid-1970s.
Even as a young girl, theater romanced Kuykendall, who performed in children’s productions before taking leads in what was then Austin Civic Theatre — now Zachary Scott — in the late 1950s. Her younger brother, Guich, also caught the acting bug and has pursued a Hollywood career since appearing in Steven Spielberg’s “The Sugarland Express” in 1974.
For decades, Kuykendall devoted her sultry voice and witty style to singing what is known as the American Songbook in intimate cabaret settings.
“Karen is probably the first person people think about in Austin when they hear the word ‘cabaret,’ ” said Stuart Moulton, director of Austin Cabaret Theatre, “an intimate, glamorous and seductive celebration of theater and song.”
“On the stage as in real life, Karen totally defied convention,” said frequent singing partner Price-McKinney. “While other performers might feel pressure to emulate the popular idols of the day, she eschewed what she considered an insecure approach. No matter what the role or occasion called for, she always looked inside, personifying herself. And rarely, when she had to stoop to look for inspiration elsewhere, she only stole from the best, taking only the details that suited her particular agenda. Her choice of material, her grasp of it, and the manner in which she conveyed it were nonpareil.” Kuykendall marshaled her social and civic skills for selling real estate as well.
“She was intuitive about people and intelligent about situations, which made her a great entertainer and Realtor,” said Carrie Bills, owner of Green Mango Real Estate, which employed Kuykendall when she was not working for Wilson & Goldrick. “Clients wanted to work with her, not only because she was a very hard worker and brilliant, but so they could be with her. I never met anyone who was not taken by her. I was in love with her from the moment I met her 20-plus years ago and created an office for her just so I could be with her.”
Kuykendall was also known for her zingers and even heckled the artists and fans who saluted her during a fundraiser for Zachary Scott’s planned Kuykendall Stage just weeks ago.
She is survived by siblings Ken Koock, Gretchen O’Boyle, Bill (Guich) Koock, Tim Koock, Judy Koock Strassman and Martha Koock Ward, as well as her children Marshall Kuykendall Jr., Mary Alice Naiser and Sarita Kuykendall, and grandchildren Wylie and Jennie Kuykendall and Haley and Catherine Naiser.
Memorial services are pending. Memorial contributions can be made to the Karen Kuykendall Stage Fund, care of Zach Scott Theater, 1510 Toomey Road, Austin, 78704, or online at www.zachscott.com.
Permalink | Comments (46) | Categories: Fame
October 20, 2007
Willie Nelson gets his reward
The Hollywood posse that included the Wilson Brothers, Woody Harrelson and Jessica Simpson — in town to shoot Willie Nelson’s music video of “You Don’t Think I’m Funny Anymore” — did not make an appearance at the Erwin Center dinner honoring the musician for his peace efforts Friday. But Austin musicians, academics, sports leaders and media figures saluted Nelson as he accepted the first Bridging Divides award for conflict resolution.
“He’s the antenna of the age in terms of socially engaged artists,” said Gavin Garcia, executive director of Humanitarians Engaged in Respectful Dialogue, the nonprofit group that sponsored the event in conjunction with the University of Texas. “He’s made a huge footprint in the peace and conflict area.”
Also lionized in the center’s Lone Star Room was Madeline Maxwell, the School of Communications professor who helped start the UT Project on Conflict Resolution.
The highlight of the evening was a surprise performance of the Nelson-penned “A Peaceful Solution” by five of his six children.
“It all came from a dream I had,” said Amy Nelson, among the most musical of the siblings. “Or at least the title did.”
The song has already been recorded by more than 60 artists. (That’s Paula bussed by her daddy, with Jimmie Dale Gilmore sharing the stage.)
Gilmore and his son Colin — now a regular team on the benefit circuit — performed, as did Ray Wylie Hubbard and the Lucky Tomblin Band. Coaching legends Darrell Royal and Jody Conradt were also in attendance, as was documentary maker Andrew Shapner, director of “Before the Music Dies,” who was filming his comic take on spiritual philosophy, “Happiness Is …”
A video tribute to Nelson included praise for his independence and humanitarian efforts from Dennis Hopper, Bob Dylan and regular fans, including farmers who have benefited from Farm Aid.
Evan Smith, perhaps the town’s most recognizable emcee and editor of Texas Monthly, announced that Nelson would, for his upcoming 75th birthday, appear on the magazine’s cover for a record seventh time, just beating out his sometime political target, President George Bush.
Photos by Jay Janner
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
October 15, 2007
Owen Wilson, Shirley MacLaine, Ben McKenzie, Peter Bay and more
Notorious: Looks like Owen Wilson — never more likeable — is back on the mend. He spent part of the weekend in Austin, staying at the Four Seasons Hotel with brother Luke. Another Texan, Woody Harrelson, tagged along with the siblings to the Big State Festival in College Station. …
What you may not have heard about the Shirley MacLaine Paramount visit last week: She wants to conduct a three-day workshop on spirituality here early next year. We’ll keep you posted. …
Former “O.C.” star Ben McKenzie was spotted at Gruv club, the former Fabric, on Fifth Street on Friday. And for all the stir about the velvet rope at Pangaea, I’ve noticed perhaps a half dozen clubs, including Gruv, with social dividers at the door recently.
Austin Symphony Orchestra conductor Peter Bay and his wife, Sarajane, are expecting a little prodigy in the spring, right after the opening of the Long Center. Sincere congratulations.
People magazine confirms that Robert Rodriguez and Rose McGowan are engaged. Still no comment from the couple.
All this, on top of Elton John, Andy Roddick, Mia Hamm, Lance Armstrong, Brad Buckman, John Milius, Oliver Stone, Terry George and so much more this week in Austin. Yes, Leslie, the city is changing.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Fame
September 27, 2007
Notorious: Christina Murphy, Larry Wright, Willie Nelson, Eva Longoria and more
Austin-bred actor Christina Murphy nabbed a guest slot on ABC’s “Big Shots,” appearing with Michael Vartan (“Alias”) in the 9 p.m. Oct. 4 airing. The UT grad, whose career is blossoming, made her break in the ABC movie “Campus Confidential.” …
Pulitzer Prize-winning Austin author Larry Wright was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Anti-Terrorism Caucus this morning by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin. He spoke about Al Qaeda and, more generally, terrorism, for about an hour. Wright, a reporter for The New Yorker and proud owner of one of the city’s best designed private libraries, wrote the best-seller “The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.” …
You may have already heard, but Austin’s own Willie Nelson will receive the first Bridging Divides Award from the University of Texas at Austin Project on Conflict Resolution during an Oct. 19 ceremony at the Frank Erwin Center. …
Followers of Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria can bop down to San Antonio to witness her Heroes Celebrity Golf Tournament, which benefits a group dedicated to enhancing the lives of developmentally challenged children and young adults. Among the expected stars: Comedian George Lopez, actor Ricardo Antonio Chavira, Mario Lopez from “Dancing with the Stars,” the SA Spurs’ Tony Parker and former Spur Sean Elliott. It all goes down Oct. 13 at La Cantera Resort. …
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
September 25, 2007
TV columnist Diane Holloway nearly kills Lance Armstrong
We recognized the torso two blocks away. As we pulled into the driveway shared by the American-Statesman and the Texas Department of Transportation, we spotted 7-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, sporting sleek shades, but, naturally, no shirt, jogging with a friend.
In front of us was TV maven Diane Holloway, who later good-naturedly reported that Armstrong waved her car off for driving too closely to his priceless frame. Hey, we almost swerved, too. Time for that proposed boardwalk extension of the Lady Bird Lake trail, don’t you think? …
Word is out that former Dell legal eagle and current arts leader Tom Green is engaged to Laura Gilbreath. She works in wealth management at Wells Fargo and they met in a yoga class. They plan to marry in May. Green graciously lent his peaceful hilltop home, designed by starchitect Richard Gluckman, to the Austin Shakespeare Festival for a fundraiser Sunday. …
Multiple sources have placed alt-cutie John Mayer in Austin accompanying “Friday Night Lights” star Minka Kelly on South Congress and in the Second Street district. …
Auto jockey and white knight Jesse James surprised sometime Austinite and music fan Sandra Bullock with a trip to a Prince concert in Minneapolis earlier this week. …
Owen Wilson, replaced by Austin buddy Matthew McConaughey in “Tropical Thunder,” has been snapped looking healthy and reasonably happy at the beach and motorbiking in California.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Fame
September 21, 2007
Drew and Justin PDA + Morgan Fairchild + Tony Sirico
We normally wouldn’t publish an image of such an intimate nature, except that Drew Barrymore and Justin Long were all over each other everywhere in town during the Austin City Limits Festival.
Public displays are, by nature, not private. When you think of it, it’s kinda sweet. (Thanks to Andy Smith for the photo.)
Look-see: In town to film “The Sno Cone Stand Inc.,” Morgan Fairchild and Tony Sirico (Paulie from “The Sopranos) have been spotted in various stages of day or night make-up at Guero’s, Vespaio, ACL Fest and on downtown streets. I’ve always been fond of Dallas-born Fairchild, who maintains a sense of healthy humor about her slippery celebrity.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
September 20, 2007
What a day! From Ethan Hawke to Casey Affleck
Made six events on Wednesday:
An hour with author/director/actor Ethan Hawke at the Omni Hotel. He’s a shockingly articulate and grounded guy. Expect an edited transcript of our interview next week in this space.
An hour with independent word-spreader Brenda Thompson, who advises Zachary Scott Theatre and the Paramount Theatre. We met at the Phoenicia Bakery on South Lamar. I think we both learned a bit.
A short time at the director’s circle party at the Blanton Museum of Art, invigorated particularly by chats with dean’s specialist Sondra Lomax and museum director Jessie Otto Hite. (photos below)
The red carpet at the Paramount Theatre for Austin Film Society premiere of “The Hottest State,” standing behind the ultra-tall film journalists Cole Dabney and Robert McCurdy, dressed in fluorescent polo shirts. They burst with energy. Chatted briefly with celebrities and their fans. (photos below)
The red carpet at the Alamo South for “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” Casual with the media were star Casey Affleck and director Andrew Dominik. (photo below)
The “Hottest State” after-party at Speakeasy. Relaxed with Karen Frost, Turk Pipkin and friends, then caught Norah Jones in her only performance (as far as I could tell) of the evening. We hear the songbird with the gorgeously colored voice is close to Bright Eyes musician Jesse Harris, who scored the movie.
Ethan at ease
Bright-eyed Daryl Howard and museum director Jessie Otto Hite
David and Catherine Jaffe examining the Blanton art
Art fans Mark Do and Joe Struble
Assistant curator Cheryl Snay and husband Patrick Weber
Ursula Davila and John Yancy
At the Paramount, Amy Sethi and Joe Coulston
Missy Moscoe, minor league baseball player Aaron Garza, Katie Moscoe and Trasie Mason
Casey Affleck at the Alamo South
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
September 17, 2007
Wilson Brothers, Austin Nichols, Drew Barrymore, Lance Armstrong, Casey Affleck, Ethan Hawke
Update: Owen, Luke and Andrew Wilson were spotted in an upbeat mood in the general area of the Belvedere Music Lounge at the Hotel San Jose, along with scads of other celebrities during ACL.
Drew Barrymore: All those sightings during ACL, but only one photographer snapped her so far — at the Factory People party — Mitchell Reintz (thanks!) at Outwithme.com. He also caught Austin actor Austin Nichols of HBO and other less flattering fame. Reintz is the best at this game. Kinda wish he worked for us.
Lance Armstrong served as cover boy for Outside magazine, along with eight other fitness leaders. Talking about Austin-based Team Discovery and the scandals on the cycling tour: “I get so frustrated. Nobody stands up and says, ‘Wait a minute, these guys are killing themselves to right the ship.’” Of course, after the interview, the team folded.
How did we get so lucky? Not one, but two red-carpet premieres — on the same day. Wednesday, Casey Affleck and gang will be at the Alamo South at 8 p.m. for the opening of “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”; Ethan Hawke and posse will be at the Paramount Theatre for the debut of “The Hottest State.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Fame
September 14, 2007
ACL fire; No Bono
My report on the first night of ACL parties will be delayed because I’m in the newsroom editing our story on the afternoon fire on the festival grounds.
But here’s a tidbit: Everyone was talkin’ about a certain rocker at the Bill Clinton fund-raiser last night, but Bono was a no show.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
September 10, 2007
Bono, McConaughey, Armstrong, Roddick, etc.
The biggest rumble today is that Bono’s in town. No definite sightings yet, although one source places him in the Bouldin Creek neighborhood. Some say he’s here for a political event — President Bill Clinton will be in town Thursday and Friday for a fund-raiser and book-signing — others insist there will be some U2 presence at ACL. We are working the phones. …
Mathew McConaughey and Lance Armstrong staked out the Cork Room at J. Black’s as base camp for their club outings on Thursday. The next day, the Long Center fundraising group Catalyst 8 settled down in the same room with a crew that included Catalyst 8 chairman Judson Sutherland, real estate agent Wendy Wheeler, local economist Amy Holloway, Catalyst 8 founder Tony Capasso and social swells Dave and Sarah Stasney-Chun. …
Meanwhile, Andy Roddick was spotted at Lucky Lounge on Saturday. “He was certainly having a good time,” says reader Jennifer Lunoff. “He was gracious though. He allowed people to buy him drinks and go up to him and shake his hand.”
On the movies front, we hear Rose McGowan will play the Jane Fonda role in Robert Rodriguez’s remake of Roger Vadim’s camp classic “Barbarella.”
In non-Austin news of interest (to me), Sean Penn has signed to play gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk in an upcoming flick, while goddess Kathy Griffin finally won an Emmy for best reality show. Much deserved.
And in case you think we are ungrateful, we appreciate all these tips.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Fame
September 9, 2007
Fond farewell, Joe York
Sniffle we did during the Joe York memorial Saturday night at the Sheffield Hillside Theater. We also laughed out loud and hugged a few friends, all under a late summer sky that twinkled with a few stars, as if he were one of them.
After a short choral performance, Austin Chronicle arts editor — and probably the most suave emcee in town — Robert Faires told York’s story as if a Broadway fable about a future star born in 1957 to fill the romantic leads in every musical that needed one. Next came a film tribute, put together by Scott Schroeder, that sampled generously from York’s more than 100 roles in Austin theater. (The poor video quality in some of the snips did not diminish from the actor’s everlasting charisma.)
I first choked up during his baritone dramatics as Lancelot in “If Ever I Would Leave You” and I first guffawed when he showed up, out-dragging the best professional drag as Sylvia St. Croix in “Ruthless!” Those were crucial roles in the collective memory of his fans, but they could not compare to the punch of his Dr. Frank N. Furter in “The Rocky Horror Show,” which he interpreted by uploading every influence from a lifetime of the stage and screen.
His dear friend Barbara Chisholm followed with a reminder that he was as much loved for his offstage kindness as his onstage celebrity — and that’s not just show biz sentimentality. It’s real. Brothers Tim and Michael added fitting tributes before another choral round — blending the voices of his many co-stars from the past — and final video snippet. I don’t think anyone could have added another more appropriate syllable.
On a completely different note, Joe and I never discussed sports, to my knowledge, but even if he hated football, he would have relished the drama in the Texas A&M-Fresno State and UT-TCU games on Saturday, which I watched on TiVo after the wrenching memorial. I’d say we have a couple of Texas teams with guts enough to play anybody, even re-emergent monster Oklahoma. Joe would have appreciated that, too.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Fame
September 4, 2007
Eugene Sepulveda, community builder
Eugene Sepulveda is a dear friend.
For reasons that should be obvious, mainstream journalists usually don’t write about dear friends. Yet this is a column about personalities and socializing, so friends and acquaintances will pop up from time to time, especially if, as in this case, they embody a felicitous notion.
Sepulveda, pictured here with partner Steven Tomlinson, is, in the term coined by The New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell, a “social connector.”
These are the people who alter our world through social contagion — Gladwell describes their ideas spreading like “epidemics” — by serving as “hubs” of overlapping social circles.
Gladwell’s prime example is Chicago socialite Lois Weisberg, who, without conventional political or economic clout in a relatively minor office as the city’s commissioner of Cultural Affairs, wields inordinate social power, not only because she knows so many people, but so many different kinds of people.
(I once met Weisberg — outrageous dress, costume jewelry and all — at a Chicago function. At the time, I had no idea who she was, but she struck me as the most observant person in a large hotel ballroom. Her scrutiny darted over every face, even while she chatted in a tone that was partly enthralled, partly dismissive.)
When I first met Sepulveda, whose deep-set eyes also catch every nuance in a room, he made me nervous. In the words of his future partner, playwright, performer and Acton School of Business professor Tomlinson, Sepulveda was so obviously a “player” — someone who knows how to work the system.
Player or not, I grew to appreciate — then prize — his limitless hunger for community-building.
Someone who can pull strings deep inside Austin’s power network, Sepulveda honed his skills as an attentive listener, lively conversationalist and gracious host, cooking for dinner and cocktail parties peopled with representatives from all walks of life. At Sepulveda and Tomlinson’s successive houses north of the University of Texas campus, I’d meet politicians, entrepreneurs, artists, chefs, activists, educators, writers, ministers — you name it.
How did Sepulveda become such a social hub?
“Growing up in a family where my dad’s 12 brothers and sisters and their spouses and all their children had dinner every Sunday at my grandmother’s is probably the genesis for my addiction to community,” Sepulveda says of his childhood in Houston. “Not to mention parents who entertain in numbers of one or two zeros. And, an aunt who carried me around the Fifth Ward as she organized and checked on her elderly neighbors.”
After graduating from Texas A&M — a social education in itself — Sepulveda took a job with Texas Commerce Bank, working closely with the chairman and many of his personal customers. Those groomed for business leadership often serve on charitable boards, so the bank’s Marilla Woods matched him with the Austin Children’s Cancer Center, the first in what would become more than 50 stints on boards and organizing committees.
As a gay man with an evolving conscience, Sepulveda joined the Austin/Travis County HIV Commission, where Christine Aubrey and Roseanna Szilak served as mentors. A stint with the Texas Human Rights Foundation, thanks to organizer Tom Henderson, expanded his contacts in political activism, and he eventually served on the national board of the Human Rights Campaign.
Still later, as chief financial officer at Minco Technology Labs, he connected with people of disparate backgrounds, while a stint as the Leadership Austin board chair-man paired him with the training program’s many alumni. He delved deeper into Austin’s entrepreneurial high-tech community, working as a consultant at PwC, then got to know other business bigwigs during two years as vice chairman of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce board of directors.
Late in the game, he dipped into the arts, first on the Austin Museum of Art board, working closely with Tana Christie. Then he powered into the educational community as an instructor at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business, overseeing courses on consulting and communications, assigning students to work with nonprofits and multinational corporations.
He never lost interest in close-to-the-ground community issues, particularly PeopleFund, which gathered together East Austin entrepreneurs and new bankers, and as a member of St. James Episcopal Church, perhaps East Austin’s most diverse congregation, much of this in collaboration with Tomlinson. Most recently, he’s connected to the Old Austin establishment through the Austin Community Foundation and the New Austin up-and-comers through the Entrepreneurs Foundation.
“Steven has to write and read just as badly as he has to eat and sleep,” Sepulveda says. “Similarly, I have to meet new people and understand what makes them tick.”
Do his trusted contacts in business, politics, charity, arts, faith, technology, education and other fields make Sepulveda a valued source for this column? Sure. But, as often is the case with people who know how to forge lasting relationships, he is more treasured as a friend than as inside source. If push came to shove, I’d choose the former.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
August 29, 2007
'I'm not gay' and other temporary insanity
We can’t make this stuff up. While we’d rather be covering the way that Austin socializes in a constructive manner, the crime, scandals, gaffes, scuffles and heartbreaking tragedies dominate the news this week. We offer a wrap-up, just from the last few hours.
Larry Craig: The Idaho Republican Senator may not be gay, but his toe-tapping incident at the Minneapolis airport restroom and his guilty plea to misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges have once again placed the “not gay” population in an unflattering light. (The mainstream media doesn’t help when it refuses to recognize the semi-out status of someone like the late Merv Griffin, even after death.)
Craig’s bad-listing comes on top of other black eyes for the Republican Party, including former Rep. Mark Foley (page boys), Jack Abramoff (prison), Sen. David Vitter (D.C. Madam), Sen. Ted Stevens (FBI target), Rep. Rick Renzik (ditto). One might add the Bush administration insiders who have left recently under a cloud, including Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales and Harriet Miers.
Owen Wilson has dropped out of the new Ben Stiller movie, “Tropic Thunder,” according to People. While rumors swirl of drugs, depression and so forth, we’ll stick with what we can verify about his suicide attempt and hoped-for recovery.
Andy Roddick, Austin’s best-known and most fetching tennis pro, was not only trashed in several publications for his subpar playing, but Page Six dinged him for lack of wit at a reception in the Hamptons: “My mom always told me to have a joke ready, but I didn’t take her advice,” Roddick said.
Quentin Tarantino, who almost lives in Austin, also made Page Six for a snit fit on a flight back from the Philippines.
Laura Hall, charged with helping Colton Pitonyak’s grisly post-murder behavior in West Campus, endured a surprise witness who said she encouraged the killer to use a saw.
Paul Devoe, accused in Central Texas’ most unsettling murder case in years, turns out to have a record as long as many, many arms. Some parole board is gonna be twisting on the hot seat.
Lisa Nowak, the so-called diaper astronaut whom we’d love to see drop out of the news altogether, is set to plead temporary insanity.
So are we.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
August 28, 2007
When stars are out, gaze respectfully
By any contemporary standard, Julia Roberts is a celebrity.
Although her movies’ grosses have slipped a bit (averaging a mere $68 million), if you spied her shooting in your town, you’d say: “Gladys, grab the kids, that ‘Pretty Woman’ actress is saying ‘hi’ to folks just ’round the corner.”
Which is what happened a few months ago when Roberts filmed “Fireflies in the Garden” in Bastrop and surrounding areas. And because readers reported such happy encounters, we slipped a quick, last-minute notice into the Movies & Life section encouraging them to send us their digital snaps of Roberts, Willem Dafoe and gang.
That rubbed some readers the wrong way. Stephen L. Clark, the former owner of Waterloo Icehouse and purveyor of museum-quality photographs, wrote to the editors: “One of the reasons celebs have long enjoyed Austin is that they could avoid such behavior here. A long-standing rule at my restaurants and gallery has been to let them be and they will come back. No photos, no autograph requests, no fawning. Treat them with respect. Let’s not lose another special thing about Austin.”
Well put.
Actually, we’d never endorse invading a celebrity’s privacy with unwanted attention. There are times, however, by accident or intention, when the famous invite interaction with their public. So we sketched out the following guide to mingling with the luminaries.
Who: Politicians almost never turn down an opportunity to schmooze with potential voters. Movie, television and sports stars, however, are often surprisingly introverted and might not welcome sudden, intense attention. Give them room. Local musicians, writers, artists, do-gooders and other lesser-knowns are usually flattered by the admiration, but respect their personal spaces as well.
What: We can identify four degrees of contact with celebrities: 1) The distant wave and first-name shout out: “Gun it, Vince!” 2) The handshake and introduction: “My mother even liked ‘Premonition,’ Sandra.” 3) The fan autograph/photograph: “Just write, ‘Drusilla, you are my hero, Lance’”. 4) The Holy Grail for fans: The extended conversation, with perhaps an invitation to follow up (this bleeds all too quickly into stalking, and that’s what court orders are for).
When: Pay attention to body language. If the big wigs block their shoulders, lean into their interlocutors or in any way disguise themselves, keep away. We recently sat across from “Friday Night Lights” leading lights Connie Britton and Adrianne Palicki at the South Congress Cafe, and, although they appeared sweeter than Blue Bell, they were engaged in an intimate conversation. We smiled in their general direction and went back to our stuffed pork loin.
Where: Red carpets, open receptions and post-game autograph sessions are fair game. And if you see Luke Wilson and his posse getting their groove on at Vicci, they’re probably not incognito. But if he’s hunched over a fat steak at the Belmont, please allow him to chew alone.
Why: Who needs a reason? Express admiration. Reward excellence. Share the glow.
Let one word guide your actions: respect.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
August 27, 2007
Owen Wilson hospitalized after reported suicide attempt
Fame: Frequent Austin visitor Owen Wilson was hospitalized Sunday in Santa Monica, Calif., then moved to Beverly Hills’ Cedars-Sinai Hospital, where a spokesman said he was in good condition.
Media reports calls the episode an attempted suicide. The Star reported that the Dallas native and University of Texas alum “sliced his left wrist and took an indeterminate amount of pills.”
“Wow,” said Tim League, co-owner of the original Alamo Drafthouses. “That’s so completely off the radar that a guy of his stature and success would be depressed. It’s bizarre, totally out of the blue.”
Authorities have not confirmed the reports of attempted suicide.
“‘I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time,” Wilson said Monday in a statement.
Rebecca Campbell, director of the Austin Film Society, also expressed shock at the news.
“He was just here for our premiere of ‘The Wendell Baker Story,’” she said about the May opening of the Austin-shot movie at the Alamo South. “He and his brothers were glowing and happy.”
Rumor mills are speculating that Wilson was despondant over his recent breakup with Kate Hudson. While in Austin, Wilson escorted Hudson, his co-star in “You, Me and Dupree” to local venues, including Club de Ville. The actress has since been linked to “Punked” star Dax Shepard.
Henri Mazza, creative director Alamo South, Village and Downtown, was surprised about the reports of a suicide attempt.
“That doesn’t make any sense to me.” he said. “Every time they see him at Whole Foods, all of my girlfriends have to call and tell me. From the outside it looks like he’s having a great time. He does good movies, silly movies and even artistically meaningful ones.”
“Owen Wilson is a top Texas talent, and we’ve been big fans as well as supporters over the years,” said Matt Dentler, director of South by Southwest Film Festival. “We look forward to seeing him back in Austin sometime soon, healthy and happy, so he can soak up the local film culture of which he’s a major part.”
(Chris Garcia contributed to this report.)
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Fame
August 25, 2007
Austin Nichols DUI report veers into tabloid journalism
Fame: Several readers understandably expressed dismay that we reported on Austin actor Austin Nichols’ Michigan DUI arrest yestersday in this space. Some thoughts:
Although we were among the first, almost every electronic news outlet in the U.S. reported the incident. A Google search for “Austin Nichols” and DUI delivers more than 25,000 citations, and the first few pages are clotted with the names of journalism’s finest, including The Washington Post. As the hometown newspaper, we could hardly ignore the arrest. Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith used the story as an opportunity to comment on Nichol’s “acting” and his canceled show “John from Cincinnati.”
An editorial decision was made early in the day that Out & About, a column about personalities and socializing would be the appropriate venue for the report.
For those who believe I broke the contract with readers elaborated in my first column, remember I wrote “a dash of gossip.” I don’t intend to focus on celebrity mishaps.
Nichols made a mistake. We all make mistakes. He’s a nice kid, we hear, and he’ll bounce back.
Yes, we’d react the same way if a prominent Statesman reporter or editor made a similar mistake. We have in the past.
Bottom line: You read it. The previous day, I wrote at length about post-modern dance legend Deborah Hay’s pre-European tour performances. A few dozen of you kindly checked that page. Many, many thousands of you, on the other hand, clicked on the quickie Nichols piece.
You may not be a regular consumer of tabloid journalism, but, in this case, you are, Blanche, you are.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
August 23, 2007
Philanthropist Tana Christie struck by car
Fame: She’s fit as a fiddle, which might explain why inventive cook, philanthropist and conversationalist Tana Christie is OK after being struck by a car Tuesday as she crossed Barton Springs Road on foot to attend an Austin Lyric Opera board meeting.
“I didn’t break a bone,” she laughed, “which is unbelievable to me, and to the people at Brackenridge (Hospital). I’m getting a lot more attention than I deserve, but I’m enjoying it.”
If you’ve spotted Christie lately, you probably were unaware of her age, which she never tries to hide.
“It’s amazing that I’m 71 years old and still walking around,” said the ageless beauty, who still hikes the world with husband and former Texas Sen. Joe Christie (also pictured). “I’ve been very lucky.”
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Fame
August 19, 2007
Joe York memorial set
Fame: A memorial for recently deceased actor Joe York has been slated for 8 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Sheffield Zilker Hillside Theater (across the parking lot from Barton Springs in Zilker Park), where so many of his ineradicable performances took place. A video montage of York’s work will be presented. The names of speakers and performers will be identified later. Keep checking this site.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
August 16, 2007
Yes, Jenna Bush engaged, but is Matthew McConaughey?
Fame: Internet gossip sites Celebrity Cowboy, Bitten and Bound, The Paparazzis and others have former Austinite, Longhorn fan and serial eligible bachelor Matthew McConaughey already engaged — or ready to pop the question — to 24-year-old Brazilian model Camilla Alves.
I’m willing to play along with this sweet story, but I need some more credible sources — even Star magazine. Now this city is thick with old buddies of 37-year-old McConaughey. Tell me somebody out there can confirm or deny this persistent report. Meanwhile, we’ll keep making calls.
We can say that Jenna Bush is confirmed to be engaged to longtime boyfriend, Henry Hager. Bush, 25, and Hager, 29, made the pledge in Maine on Wednesday, said Sally McDonough, press secretary to first lady Laura Bush. Hager is finishing up a degree in business administration at the University of Virgina.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Fame
Joe York memorial must wait
Fame: It looks like the Austin memorial for Joe York will wait until September. “Joe didn’t want a formal, somber affair, and if we do it now I’m afraid there would be too much sadness,” said Scotty Roberts, who is among Joe’s close friends planning an event.
Although he moved to New York seven years ago, the memory of Joe’s presence in Austin is indelible. Almost 10,000 readers viewed the notice of his death in this blog, still posted below, and thousands have visited his Guest Book. Just read all the heartfelt reactions in the Guest Book and in the commentary box below. He may have been Austin’s most beloved actor, on-stage and off.
Movies: I had to go out last night and leave behind some of the sadness. So why would I choose “Arctic Tale,” a documentary about a polar bear and a walrus featuring amazing photography, wince-inducing cuteness and a heavy-handed commentary about global warming?
Because Cole Dabney, of the Cole and Bobby at the Movies site. Robert McCurdy (“Bobby”) was also in attendance, and he told me more about the site’s origin from the friends’ days at Bowie High School. These University of Texas sophomores are decades ahead of most young critics in organizational thoroughness and media savvy.
Just to give you a glimpse, here’s a copy of Cole’s viewing schedule for this week (and, oh, he had been away at a summer job):
Monday: No Reservations - 12:50-2:35; I Know Who Killed Me - 2:35-4:20; Underdog - 4:40-6:05; Death at a Funeral - 7:30-9:00; Who’s Your Caddy - 9:50
Tuesday: Chuck and Larry - 11:40-1:30; The Simpsons Movie - 1:35-3:05; Hot Rod - 3:05-4:35; Daddy Day Camp - 4:55-6:30; Superbad - 7:30-9:30; Rush Hour 3/Bourne - 9:30
Wednesday: Sunshine - 12:20-2:10; Becoming Jane - 2:30-4:30; Talk to Men - 4:30-6:30
Friday: Bratz - 10:05-11:35; Rush Hour 3 - 12:00-1:30; El Cantante - 1:35-3:20; Rescue Dawn - 4:10-6:15; Skinwalkers - 6:05-7:55
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
August 14, 2007
Losing Joe York
Fame: For almost two decades, he was among the only Austin stage actors who could sell a show based on his name above the title. Early Tuesday, Joe York, who recently returned from New York City to star in a Zachary Scott Theatre revival of “The Rocky Horror Show,” died of complications from liver cancer in his Brooklyn home.
“I can hardly believe that great spirit is not walking the earth,” said former Zachary Scott managing director Ann Ciccolella. “Anyone who ever met Joe York or experienced his enormous talent on stage will never forget him. For those of us who love musical theater, his special quality is simply irreplaceable.”
Born July 4, 1957 in Japan into an Air Force family, York grew up in Italy, California, Alabama, Virginia and elsewhere. In 1975, he moved from Alabama to attend St. Edward’s University; later his parents purchased a home in Rollingwood. He leaves behind his mother and three brothers, Pat, Mike and Tim, along with partner Graham Murray.
Blessed with a rich baritone and dashing looks, which he sometimes spiked with a dash of campiness, York played leads in Austin productions of “Carousel,” “Camelot,” “Nine,” “The Pirates of Penzance,” “Falsettos,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “The Rocky Horror Show,” “The Mystery of Irma Vep,” “Sweeney Todd,” “The Fantasticks,” “Final Touches,” “Oklahoma,” “Forever Plaid,” and “Annie,” among many others. He worked often for Zachary Scott, Live Oak Theatre, Austin Musical Theatre and the Zilker Summer Musical.
He moved to New York City in 2000 to pursue non-theatrical dreams and ran a Web page design company. He also directed and designed stage productions.
“Joe possessed the best sense of timing on stage I have ever experienced,” said Zachary Scott artistic director Dave Steakley. “He could have you rolling in the aisle with hysterical laughter, command the stage with extraordinary power and bravado, and break your heart with the tenderness of his warm baritone. He had such a huge impact on Austin audiences because he was as funny, loving and dear offstage as he was onstage. Perhaps he understood best how to leave them wanting more. ”
Memorial services are pending. If you knew Joe, or just admired him onstage, please please leave memories in this Guest Book.
Permalink | Comments (45) | Categories: Fame
August 7, 2007
Connecting the social dots
Fame: The term “Fortunates” has been retired, but we are still obsessed with connectors who get things done by transcending social boundaries. Here are a few, some familiar to over-familiar, others not, some lively, some deceased, who made crunchy Central Texas news during the weeks I was in France. (We’ll exempt the entire Johnson clan and attendant politicos, who remained in the spotlight a week after Lady Bird Johnson’s death.) Keep an eye on them.
Music: Lucinda Williams, Rachel Loy, John Pointer, Aaron Behrens, Thomas Turner
Tech: Richard Garriott, Scott Harmon, Omid Sojoodi, Aljosa Vrancic
Biz: John Mackey, John Howard, Kenneth Jastrow, Doyle Simons, Kenneth Debuque, James DeCosmo, Richard Kooris, Beau Armstrong, Freddy Fletcher, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Wally Scott III, Mac Pike, Kevin Rollins, Joe E. Harlan
Sports: John Ferguson, Adam Johnson, Colt McCoy, Henry Melton, Sergio Kindle, Mack Brown, Darrell Royal, Jamaal Charles
Food: Manny and Maria Farahani, Jeff Blank, Robert Rhoades, Kelly Casey, Melanie and Mark McAfee
TV: Gina McCauley, Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, Robert Hadlock, Michelle Valles, Tonya Keer, Chris Willis, Eric Lassberg, Skip Baldwin, Bob Ballou, and the whole “Friday Night Lights” crowd
Heritage: Myrtle Hornsby Callan, Katherine Berkley Cannon, Virginia Woodward Houghton
Part-timers: Alberto Contador
Out: Darren Wydermyer
Politics: Toby Futrell, Jason Stanford, Dan Gattis, Mike Martinez, Eric Bearse, Glen Maxey, Nelda Wells Spears, Kirk and Liz Watson, Michael Williams, Jeff Jack
Faith: Karen Thompson, Sara Hickman
Arts: Allison Orr, Zell Miller III
Crime: Charles Maynard Wyatt, Richard Hernandez, Michael Austin Presley, Art Acevedo, Andre Jones, Justin Allen Crabbe, Laura Ashley Hall
Health: Scott Cary, Paul Carrozza, Pat Crocker, Benjamin Sasse
Style: Allen Ruiz, Blake Mycoskie, Ross Baldwin
Fun: Charlie Gandy
Movies: Amber Heard
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
July 6, 2007
Meet Cole Dabney ... if you haven't already
Fame: Under the spreading pecan at the Hot Mama espresso bar patio on East Sixth Street, I met, for the first time, Cole Dabney, movie reviewer, co-founder, with Robert McCurdy, of coleandbobby.com, the brightest spark behind the Austin Film Critics Association, former TCU basketball player and current UT student, who is one of those “social connectors” I keep writing about. His range of contacts, after only two decades on this Earth, include key leaders in movies, education and sports, and, like many of his generation, he’s effortlessly tech-savvy. He’s also a fearless extrovert and an almost exhausting conversationalist who listens closely and responds with apt personal observations. I’m delighted to help him develop the critics group, although I see only 100 or so movies a year (as readers of this blog know) and Cole is far more rigorous in his pursuit of film pleasure.
Mr. Chatterbox: This periodic — and experimental — feature replaces the Fortunates News Digest, for those who have missed recent Austin celebrity news: Poor Andy Roddick is out of the Wimbledon mix, having lost his quarterfinal match. … UT psychology prof James Pennybaker is once again in the news, having co-authored a study showing men speak as many words a day as women. … KLRU’s speaker series has been shelved due to fees up to $50,000 and lack of sponsorship. The public TV station brought to town such luminaries as Salman Rushdie, Pat Buchanan, Isabel Allende (pictured) and John Irving. … No one is predicting another Lance Armstrong, but the great American hope at the Tour de France this summer might be Levi Leipheimer, leaders of the Austin-based Team Discovery. Can’t say I’d recognize him, since all cyclists look alike speeding by in their gear. (By the way, we’ll be in Paris for the final leg of the Tour this year.) … Tried Travis Ballard’s Roaring Fork Steak Salad recipe reprinted in Wednesday’s Food section, and, amazingly, picked up all the ingredients at the increasingly well-stocked Cissi’s Market.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
July 3, 2007
From football to opera
Fame: We’ve taken reader Josh’s suggestion to heart, giving the term “Fortunates” a deserved rest. After all, it sounds a bit elitist for Austin, even though we really mean that these Central Texans make good social citizens, connecting across cultural lines to turn this into a better place to live, while having a little unadulterated fun along the way.
Celebrity News Digest: The thickest celebrity cluster in Austin this week was the Heisman Trophy Winners Association golf tournament, which roped together stellar players from John Lattner (1953) to Ty Detmer (1990). Naturally, Austinite legend Earl Campbell (the man who single-handedly made me a Longhorn football fan), was honored during the tourney. …
City of Austin Manager Toby Futrell, featured in this space last week, was later honored by Texas city administrators. Also, her blond tresses showed up in Monday’s Life & Arts story on how leaders age (very well in her case). … Did you notice that Fredericksburg estate up for sale, showcased in StatesmanHomes, with several restored historic houses on 35 acres (asking price $4 million). Kip and I stayed in the simple, unadorned bungalow (divine) and the 18th-century Pennsylvania farmhouse (awkward) at Settler’s Crossing several times with the late playwright/critic/teacher David Mark Cohen and his then partner playwright, storyteller and business teacher Steven Tomlinson. …
Not surprisingly, funny people Shannon Sedwick, Kerry Awn, Cynthia Wood and Ray Anderson were highlighted in Sunday’s giant story on the 30th anniversary of Esther’s Follies. … The books section offered a cross section of Austin literati and big brains, including Spike Gillespie, Sanford Levinson, James K. Galbraith, Kirk Lynn and Lewis Gould (the historian who sat on my doctoral dissertation committee), plus a familiar batch of Texas Monthly regulars, in a fitting read about Fourth of July reads. … Austin multimillionaire Steve Smith filed for bankruptcy for his Lajtas resort near Big Bend. We always wondered how many high rollers would fly out to such a remote location, gorgeous though it is. … J. Bruckner Hightower was just named president of the Texas Wine and Food Foundation. These are the folks behind the region’s most prominent foodie fest, and they raise money for cookery education. … The brawniest star in town this week was Robosauras, here to fire up the premiere of “Transformers,” which, to no little surprise, won a 4-star review from our publication.
Laura Hall, Laura Hall, Laura Hall. How we wish we were covering that court drama. … We mourn the passing of Bubbles, known to opera outsiders as Beverly Sills, who made the ancient art form safe for so many intimidated Americans. We recall her “Der Fledermaus” performance — or was it “Daughter of the Regiment”? Somebody help me. — in Houston, when she clomped out onstage to announce the score in the Super Bowl. Only Bubbles.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
July 2, 2007
Missing the criticism
Fame: Thanks to reader Steven Skaggs for his concern about the light tone of my blog, but I haven’t been the Statesman arts critic for more than three years.
I know, after 15 years of service in that position, and writing more than 5,000 articles on the subject, readers expect me to return to that form more often than not. But assignments change, and these days, I’m just as interested in how people connect to get things done. (Still a fan of the arts, though, and return to criticism when a good idea comes along, like the recent package on translating Austin culture to the rest of the country via the stage.)
Lyric Opera sources told us repeatedly that former artistic director Richard Buckley, who improved the opera’s sound 1,000 percent, was faulted for not connecting with the community, given his frequent guest appearances elsewhere. That’s why I mention that Kevin Patterson will be judged, partially, on his ability to connect with other Austinites, not just aesthetic, personnel and financial management. Whether I personally see him on the social circuit matters not at all.
As for Andy Roddick’s charity , it doesn’t take an investigative reporter to determine the efficacy of the Andrew S. Roddick Foundation Inc. Check out his 990 form online.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
June 29, 2007
Why a Fortunates news digest?
Fame: One reader of Out & About wondered about the point of our periodic news digests of Fortunate 500 candidates. Well, one reason is to collect in single place a record of Austin’s social connectors. Another is to open discussion as to who belongs on the list.
For instance, this week, Kevin Durant, picked No. 2 in the NBA, made more news than any other single Central Texan. But he lived here, what, less than a year and, concievably, could return from Seattle almost never. Fortunate? Not unless he socializes here at least as often as Vince Young does. (And we hear about local appearances by the football hero every so often. Never encountered him myself.) …
There’s no question in the universe that Lady Bird Johnson belongs on any Austin list of notables, even though she goes out rarely at age 94. We are glad to report that she has left the hospital and is resting at her Westlake Hills home. … Whole Foods John Mackey is one of those very public Austin businessmen, and his ongoing blogging about the FTC is among the most entertaining stories of the month. He’s not leaving the Fortunates list any time soon. …
The fact that balladeer Jerry Jeff and wife Susan Walker helped endow a popular music program at the UT School of Music certainly qualifies as connecting socially and responsibly. … Of course we are not going to report every time Austin heartbreaker Andy Roddick beats a player at Wimbeldon, but he does socialize widely here and helps worthy causes through his nascent foundaiton. …
We don’t know if new Austin Lyric Opera general director Kevin Patterson will go Out & About, but the position does call for intense community involvement and I expect he’ll quickly move beyond the tight circles around the opera. … VP Dick Cheney shooting vic Harry Whittington is too low-key to make the list, but the Republican lawyer has won another round with the City of Austin over his downtown block, siezed to make way for a convention center garage and cooling unit. Whittington’s a cipher, but one that peaks interest. … Paula Angerstein is at every food and drink event imaginable, so it was nice to see her liquours splashed all over the Life & Food section. We’ll see if Dripping Springs Vodka makers Kevin and Gary Kelleher are as generous and outgoing as Paula and Tito’s Handmade Vodka maker Tito Beveridge. …
There you go, a digested rationale for social connections.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Fame
June 27, 2007
Ann Ciccolella love fest photo blog
Fame: It wasn’t a funeral, but tears flowed freely on Tuesday. It wasn’t a roast, although the rude laugher shook the walls. We’re talking about Zachary Scott Theatre’s send-off for Ann Ciccolella, its longtime managing director, also known as a playwright, stage director, fundraiser and arts advocate. Headed by artistic director Dave Steakley, artists, politicians, media, friends and others threw back tequila shots (now that’s a party!), shared their Ciccolella stories and listened to performers Jill Blackwood, Meredith McCall, Helen Merino and Martin Burke.
Ann Ciccolella soaking up the love
AISD honcho Pat Forgione meeting and greeting
Actors Amani and Fran Dorn (who is taking a leave from leading the UT acting program to help open the new Shakespeare Theatre in DC)
Super-Fortunate Mary Margaret Farabee with PAC associate director Charles Leslie, reports the Bass Concert Hall renovations are going briskly, despite the rain — because it’s all indoor work
Meredith McCall’s jazzy stylings
Martin Burke delivering the valedictory speech from “Angels in America”
Austin City Manager Toby Futrell recalling her time in “The Vagina Monologues”
Jill Blackwood adds a dash of Sondheim (and yes, my report on “Carousel” was not a formal review, but I’m serious about her performance being Tony-worthy)
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Fame
June 26, 2007
How Austin parties
Fame: A collection of Austin archetypes gathered at the rough-hewn Bouldin neighborhood home of screenwriter Rick Chafey and partner Bob Biard last night. It was the kind of party I’ve treasured since moving to town 23 years ago. Every guest came with a crunchy story, representing the professions of law, art, graphics, poetry, philosophy, real estate, music and education. A better writer could illuminate the evening in a short story.
Fortunates News Digest: Some catching up to do, for sure. Country legend Merle Haggard plays Kyle on Sunday in a show for his friend Freddy Powers. … Former first lady Lady Bird Johnson remains in the hospital. Keep checking Statesman.com for updates. … Austin tennis biggie Andy Roddick is off and running at Wimbeldon, beating Justin Gimbstob. Maybe this year, he’ll break out. …
This item was buried: Lee Thomson, 13 years the dynamic head of Leadership Austin, announced she will retire in early 2008. Lee is what Malcom Gladwell would call a “connector.” … StatesmanHomes reports that Fired Up Inc. CEO Norman Abdallah is selling three of his Austin houses. Abdallah used local starchitects Robert Jackson and Arthur Andersson for a home in Spicewood and late sculptor Charles Umlauf’s home above Zilker Park. …
Read Michael Corcoran’s rare interview with Kelly Willis in today’s Statesman, pegged to her “Translated from Love” album. … Michael also reported that Austin balladeer Alejandro Escovedo will be the subject of a Jonathan Demme concert movie, filmed at the Las Manitas back room. … Austin author Cynthia Leitich Smith was among only 70 writers chosen to appear as part of the National Book Festival. … Capitol reporter W. Gardner Selby always gets the best micro-scoops, including that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush tipping off Texas Gov. Rick Perry on “Bella,” a Mexican-made movie romance he’s now seen several times. (Why? We want to know.) It was made by UT grad Alejandro Monteverde. …
Austin golfer and UT student Ashley Rollins is headed to the U.S. Open in North Carolina. … UT sprinter Tyson Gay swept several honors at the U.S. Track and Field Championships over the weekend. (Another mystery: Why didn’t the Horns do better at the earlier NCAA team meet?) … UT architecture dean Fritz Steiner won the 2007 community service award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. We like Fritz, who often shares advice on how to improve Austin. … Brad Buchholz employed an interesting structure to profile UT professor Loriene Roy, who’ll soon rise to the presidency of the American Library Association. … John Mackey’s blog just won’t drop out of the news. The Whole Foods CEO keeps up his feud with the FTC.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
June 22, 2007
Lady Bird Johnson and other Fortunates
Fame: The former first lady and the city’s original Fortunate, Lady Bird Johnson, is undergoing tests at Seton Medical Center. Keep an eye on Statesman.com for updates. … “It’s like Jimmy Smits visited the newsroom,” said one of our colleagues when freshly approved police chief Art Acevedo dropped by for some handshakes and photos. Indeed, some folks were discreetly swooning for the rugged, charismatic former California Highway Patrolman. … Joe Gross reported that Emo’s outgoing booker Graham Williams will be forming a promotion company with Club DeVille owner Michael Terrazas, Mohawk owner James Moody and SuperAirtight principal Chris Butler. They appear to aim making Red River Street one big, progressive club. We approve. …
Fortunates News Digest: Where are the Horns? The football overachievers, including aptly named quarterback Colt McCoy (right), are spending the hot, humid summer working out at UT, sans coaches. … Check out the Sports section for a first-ever ranking of Centeral Texas athletes, with Hutto’s Jeremy Kerley profiled in the Top 10. … National Lampoon has taken on distribution of Adam Rifkin’s Austin-filmed caveman comedy, “Homo Erectus,” produced by Burnt Orange Productions in association with the University of Texas Film Institute. … Say goodbye to Shirley Neeley, who’s out as State Education Commissioner. Can’t imagine how she offended Gov. Rick Perry. … Right after her husband swung through town to raise money, Elizabeth Edwards is here today for a lunch at the house of State Sen. Kirk Watson and his wife Liz. … We’ll be watching the Horns, including Sanya Richards, Xavier Carter, Walter Dix, Wallace Spearman Jr. and Tyson Gay, as they compete in the U.S. Track and Field Championships this weekend, thanks to TiVo. … Tonight’s the night for Bettie Naylor’s big 80th birthday party at Fiesta Gardens. Pray it doesn’t rain.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
June 20, 2007
Gary Busey busting it at the Driskill
Troubles in paradise: If crime-drama TV producers have not yet discovered the weird, contradictory stories of Laura Ashley Hall (shown scarved), who is accused of helping Colton Pitonyak dispose of Jennifer Cave’s body, well, it’s only because they haven’t read the American-Statesman lately. … The memory of Austin bluesman Stevie Ray Vaughan was tarnished when thieves stole more than $100,000 worth of memorabilia from his brother’s storage unit.
Fortunates News Digest: After 30 years of service, Blanton Museum of Art director Jessie Otto Hite announced her retirement. … If you haven’t already done so, read Diane Holloway’s well-researched story into what would happen to “Law & Order” re-runs if Fred Thompson runs for president, and, just as fascinating, Lilly Rockwell’s story on Whole Foods CEO John Mackey and his public feud with the Federal Trade Commission. … Australian Vicky-Louise Bartier is the new vintner for award-winning Flat Creek Estate, one of our favored Hill Country wineries.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
June 18, 2007
Was that Josh Stewart on the big bike?
Fortunates News Digest: Sunday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas named Salam Fayyad as prime minister of the Fatah-led West Bank government. A onetime Austinite, Fayyad earned degrees from St. Edward’s University and the University of Texas. … Mark Thompson, CEO of Austin’s Supercircuits, developed the world’s smallest color camera, which he sells to retail chains and the U.S. military. …
Fallen Fortunates: Norman Hackerman, former president of both UT and Rice University, died Saturday at age 95. This is inspiring: He was still teaching freshman seminars until shortly before his death. … Last week, William Carrington Finch, former president of Southwestern University, died in Nashville Tenn. He was 98.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
June 15, 2007
Watson pokes fun at his fame
Fame: Would that all celebrities were as self-aware as state Sen. Kirk Watson, who published the following self-deprecating story in his newsletter. (That’s Watson, upstaged by presidential candidate John Edwards at Scholz Garten on Tuesday.)
“So this past week, Liz and I went to a fancy celebrity hoo-haw. The actor Dennis Quaid (perhaps you remember The Alamo) puts on a golf tournament and gala in Austin every year to raise money for charities that help kids. It’s a really great deal, and it’s just crawling with big-time actors and athletes. Just Hollywood in Austin, is all. Lots of stargazing going on by everyone.
“Anyway, we walked into the deal like we belonged. A couple of people recognized me. A few called out, ‘Hello, Senator,’ or ‘Hey, Mayor’ (some people can’t move on). I was feeling pretty good.
“Then, it happened. A couple was looking at me with some excitement and that look like, ‘Yeah, we know him. He’s some big-time guy.’ I graciously nodded in their direction (not-so-humbly acting like I am a big-time guy). Then, this woman suddenly registered utter disappointment, turned to the man she was with, and said, ‘Oh, that’s just Kirk Watson.’”
All those Texas connections: You already know that Austin native Julie White won Best Actress in a Play during last Sunday’s Tony Awards ceremony. Then Jeanne Claire van Ryzin dug out that Kevin Adams, who won for lighting design, was a University of Texas graduate. Director Lucien Douglas also wanted to remind us that John Behlman, who was the Best Revival winner, is from Houston and that — this is a stretch — Best Play author Tom Stoppard’s archives live in Austin. … “The Pillowman” is tearing up the box office for Hyde Park Theatre, selling out its first six peformances. … Local lawyer Charlie Moster has written a radio play gleaned from interviews with Austin senior citizens. It airs on the Albuquerque public radio station this week and next.
Fortunates New Digest: The biggest local news of the week — reported, of course, by Tony Plohetski — was the selection of Art Acevedo, a California Highway Patrol officer, as the next Austin police chief. Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Acevedo “had the best social skills” of all the candidates, while frequent department critic, Jim Harrington, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said: “Today, the sun has shined on the City of Austin.” …
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
June 13, 2007
Filmmaker wants to honor Foote
Fortunates News Digest: Front and center was UT coach Mack Brown this week promoting the Texas Council of Family Violence, which pushes fathers to condemn such violence. Worthy cause, and good to see a high-profile sports figure making the case. … No. 1 Fortunate Lance Armstrong is making nice with his neighbors over construction on his Hays County property which has been muddying Dead Man’s Hole. Somebody in that bright a spotlight cannot afford to appear callous. … Presidential hopeful John Edwards dressed down in jeans and shirtsleeves for his fundraiser at Scholz Garten. Marcia Ball sang, State Sen. Kirk Watson and fomer Texas agricultural commissioner Jim Hightower spoke in Edwards’ favor. Guess they think he’s the best bet for a Texas win among Democrats. … Former governors Mark White and Dolph Briscoe have teamed up to back Gov. Rick Perry’s plan to invest billions in cancer research. White has been fighting kidney cancer.
More Fortunates in the News: Chef-owner Parind Vora is not lying down for anti-foie-gras forces, who planned to picket his restaurant Jezebel. In Dale’s Dish, foodie writer Dale Rice delved into the controversy, sparked by Central Texas Animal Defense … If you didn’t see Austin artistan Matt Poitras’ “Patriot Armor,” made for talk show host Stephen Colbert and worn on his show June 7, check it out. … St. David’s HealthCare CEO Jon Foster announced a $100 million investment in a women’s hospital in North Austin. … In Horns news, UT safety Robert Joseph will transfer after running afoul of the law, while squeeky clean Kevin Durant is the subject of intense interest for the June 28 NBA draft.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
June 11, 2007
Janeane Garofalo meets Fortunates
Fame: Chris Garcia, who can draw the most unexpected responses from interview subjects, lent us this startling photo from his “Coffee With…” interlocuter Janeane Garofalo, a fairly frequent Austin visitor. Expect the interview in the Style section soon. … If you missed Sunday’s Life & Arts section, you didn’t read stories about Austin artists Sally Jacques, Steven Tomlinson, Kirk Lynn, Dan Dietz, Tom White, Zell Miller III, Amparo Garcia, Sharon Bridgforth and many, many more.
Fortunates News Digest: Misdemeanor charges were dropped against Los Lonely Boys bassist Joey ‘JoJo’ Garza, but he must keep up his domestic violence therapy. Los Boys gotta keep on the clean side of the law. … UT football coach Mack Brown sidelined reserve safety Robert Joseph after he was arrested on charges of burglarizing a car downtown. …
State Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, crashed his bike on Burnet Road, leaving him with bruises but not a bruised ego. He knows it goes with the territory. … Game-maker supreme Austin’s Richard Garriott is giving invitation-only peeks to his new “Tabula Rasa” product. How does one get on that list? … Meanwhile, Austin-born Amber Heard slinks into the CW series “Hidden Palms.” She’s got a lot of fans, according to our Web site’s hit counters after Diane Holloway’s interview and pics in Monday’s paper. …
Saturday, look for Diane Holloway’s profile of Austin-bred Austin Nichols, who plays the title character in HBO’s new series about a strange family of surfers, “John from Cincinnati.” Nichols was better known here as a competitive water skiier than a surfer. … Ransom Center Director Tom Staley is featured prominently in a June 11 New Yorker article about the literary archives. Some readers may recall our encyclopedic series on the center a few years back. … Tuesday, check out Michael Corcoran’s story on the Rolling Stones DVD that prominently features the mega-concert in Zilker Park last year. … Steve Jackobs of Capital IDEA nabbed the 2007 Ernst & Young Social Entrepeneur of the Year award, after being nominated by Alan Topfer of the local and very active Topfer Family Foundation. … Wired Magazine’s Chris Anderson will speak at the National Instruments Inc. conference here in August.
Fallen Fortunates: What’s happening to the city’s former council members, mayors, city managers and political reporters? The death of Jeff Friedman makes the count four (or five) leaders lost in just the past few weeks. … Uncharacteristically quiet lately, former Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and ex-Attorney General Jim Mattox spoke up at the funeral of political journalist Daryl Janes last week.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
June 7, 2007
Fortunates all over
Fame: It’s been a week for theater parties! First, Shrewd Productions teamed up with members of Dirigo Group, Refraction Arts and Salvage Vanguard to salute departing playwright Dan Dietz, all at the abode of Anne Elizabeth Wynn. Not to be outdone, Mayor Will Wynn hosted a fundraiser for the Rude Mechanicals on his City Hall balcony. Board member Mark Holzbach sent us the following snaps, before we headed out for the party launching Salvage Vanguard’s new warehouse theater.
Artists Shawn Sides, Graham Reynolds, Lana Lesley
Actor Jason Liebrecht and balcony crowd
Austin Museum of Art director Dana Friis-Hansen and balcony crowd
Gallery owner David Berman and Holzbach
Names in the News: And now for a lot of catching up on how Fortunates — and potential Fortunates — made news this week. I lost track of some news threads because the spreadsheet file I was using crashed. Here are some highlights.
Go-getter Steve Sisson, “supercoach” of the UT women’s track & field/cross-country programs, was honored by Runner’s World magazine. … Austin entrepreneur Kent Savage is behind FameCast, the talent site that hit the Internet running and earned startup capital from Austin Ventures. … Harlan Beverly is also stepping up with his Bigfoot program to streamline online gaming. … Gustavo Monsante has anchored his KAKW newscasts into second place, a big win for the local Univision channel.
Fallen Fortunate: Former City Manager Dan Davidson died Wednesday. Services will be held 10 a.m. Friday at Northwest Hills United Methodist Church.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
May 31, 2007
Forunates: De la Teja +
Fortunate 500: Fair warning: I’m going to pester that new official Texas state historian with questions. Texas State University San Marcos professor Jesus “Frank” de la Teja was named to the job this week, and I’m never satisfied with what passes for official Texas history. Let’s hope he’s accessible.
Honored Fortunates: Luci Baines Johnson accepted a framed, signed bill naming the U.S. Department of Education Building after her father, President Lyndon Johnson, of course. Among the dignitaries at the LBJ Library ceremony: Library director Betty Sue Flowers, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul and UT President William Powers Jr.
Fallen Fortunates: Former Austin City Council member Sally Shipman died Monday. Funeral services will be Friday at University Presbyterian Church. … Architect Charles Langdon Tilley passed away Friday. He was involved in several modernist monuments in Austin. Services will be 2 p.m. Thursday at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Hondo. … Writer Daryl Janes, who, with former City Council member Daryl Slusher published the muckracking Daryl Herald back in the ’80s died Wednesday.
The “Real World Austin” assault case won’t go away. Travis County prosecutors are appealing a judge’s ruling barring them from going after Ryan Getman, who, you may remember, got into an altercation with one of the cast members in the very first episode. The figurative black eye went to Austin that night. … Kerrville’s Ruby Young pleaded guilty to trying to extort $2 million from Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr. Can’t imagine how she threatened him in letters.
State Senator Kirk Watson was lauded for passing an unusual number of bills as a freshman, even though some of his projects never made it to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk. … Poor, poor Andy Roddick. The French Open just ain’t his event, and he dropped out Tuesday. At least he made the cover of Austin Monthly magazine! … Several Austin companies — Freescale, GSD&M, Whole Foods, Dell — all made significant news this week, but you’ll have to read the business section for that.
The Bracewell family — Ernest, Billy, Bryan, Ardrene — were subjects of a valentine from food writer Kitty Crider for their famed links at Elgin’s Southside Market. Made me so, so hungry. …
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
May 28, 2007
Fortunates: Dan Dietz +
Fame: The tributes flowed like champagne for Austin playwright Dan Dietz at the house of Anne Elizabeth Wynn on Saturday. The relaxed event doubled as a benefit for Shrewd Productions.
The Austin Chronicle’s Robert Faires made an ideal master of ceremonies in Wynn’s verdant, contemplative garden. Director Christina J. Moore, artistic directors Ron Berry, Lowell Bartholomee and Jason Neulander spoke eloquently about the writer who is headed to Florida to teach.
Some photogs sent in by party-goer Paul Wright:
Honoree Dietz
Honorer Berry
Hostess Wynn
Andrea Skola
Shannon Grounds
Guests, guests, guests
Among the honored guests were playwrights Cyndi Williams and Monikia Bustamante, Austin Circle of Theaters director Latifah Taormina, actors Shannon Grounds and Doug Taylor, and UT playwriting prof Steven Dietz.
Harry Whittingon, the Austin laywer best known as a buckshot traget for VP Dick Cheney, won a $10.5 million settlement against the City of Austin for appropriating his land for a Convention Center parking lot. … Speaking of the CC, former director Bob Hodge continues to make headlines for his questionable management. … Love this lead in the Statesman: “Yellow Rose stripper-turned-NASCAR team owner Fatemeh Angela Harkness is going to federal prison.” Can’t make this up.
Vespaio chef Ryan Sampson was one of three chefs featured in Tommy O’Malley’s story for the StatesmanHomes section about how the city’s cooks live. Mark Chapman of the Driskill Hotel and El Chile’s Kristine Kitrell were the others.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Fame
May 24, 2007
Fortunates: Ruth Denney +
Fame: Forgive the unconscionably long posting, but I’ve been delayed in Fortunate 500 updates this week by a short trip to New York (see previous posting), then a knock-out fever. Much to report, although many items will not be news to anyone who read the newspaper carefully this week.
Controversial banker, Democratic fundraiser and philanthropist Ruben Johnson died Tuesday. A funeral Mass is planned for 1 p.m. Saturday at St. Louis Catholic Church. Friends included Lady Bird Johnson, Walter Cronkite, Roy Butler and Liz Carpenter. Admired as a generous gentleman, he was also convicted of fraud, then pardoned by President Bill Clinton. American-Statesman phones continue to ring with tributes and brickbats.
Fortunates on the Run: Ran into Texas Music Office leader Casey Monahan on our nonstop flight to JFK. He was headed to Kazakhstan, not on state business but vacationing with Kazakh friends. … On the way back, we encountered architect and urbanist Sinclair Black, who shared a round number for giving each downtown block the “Great Streets” treatment: $1 million per block. Worth every penny in my book. …
Fortunates in Sports: Longhorn roundball star Kevin Durant has been tapped for USA Basketball, the national team. Soon we’ll know which professional slate he’ll join. … And UT softball ace Cat Osterman is contributing color commentary to ESPN. … Our favorite women’s basketball coach — to date — Jodi Conradt was honored by Texas lawmakers. … More, more, more on Lance Armstrong at the Capitol, including a little kiss for New York fashion designer Tory Burch.
Fortunates Here and Abroad: Full-timer Robert Rodriguez and part-timer Quentin Tarantino goofed it up at the Cannes Film Festival premiere of “Death Proof.” … The guest list at this year’s Dennis Quaid Charity Weekend looks a little pale. Musician Branford Marsalis may be the biggest name on the list for the golf tournament, concert and fashion show, which benefit Any Baby Can, Austin Children’s Shelter and Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. … Looks like developer Tom Stacy is a few steps closer to his proposed 47-story skyscraper. Wish he were doing the Austin Museum of Art project. … Luci Baines Johnson deserves a medal for what she’s done with the exquisite gothic revival Norwood Tower, which was rightfully honored this week with state landmark status.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Fame
May 17, 2007
Fortunates: Elizabeth Christian +
Fame: Coffee-ed with Elizabeth Christian, perhaps the city’s most credible publicist. I pressed her with skeptical questions about the Villa Muse project, a billion-dollar development near the newly renamed Jake Pickle Tollway that will imbed a mammoth movie studio and concert facility inside a residential community. She assured me that the project has lined up its backers, and reserved special respect for one of Villa’s organizers, Jody Podolnick, who I must get to know better. (Still don’t like the development’s name.)
Fortunate 500 cover boy Lance Armstrong was in Washington D.C. to lobby for cancer research dollars on Livestrong Day. … UT men’s tennis coach Michael Center is the subject of an inspiring profile in today’s sports section. Nice to hear he turned down A&M because he likes music and culture.
Walked across the Congress Avenue bridge with artist Michael Schliefke, who worked on an Austin-filmed VH1 reality show that will air in the fall. That’s all we can reveal until the show airs, but it sounds like a doozy. In his other life, Schliefke is working on projects for Bolm Studios, Radical Nautical and the Austin Discovery School.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
May 16, 2007
Fortunates: Amparo Garcia +
Ever changing 500: Our sources confirm that Pat Hayes (Seton Family of Hospitals) has taken a home in Maine, meaning that, if she stays active in Austin this year, she’d move to the Part-Timers list.
More Part-Timers: Since “Friday Night Lights” is headed back to town for shooting in July (unless the rumored writer’s strike pushes it into June), keep an eye peeled for Kyle Chandler, Connie Britten, Taylor Kitsch, Zach Gilford, Scott Porter, etc., especially on South Congress Avenue.
Visiting celebs: Several readers complained when we trolled for candid snaps of Julia Roberts and Willem Dafoe, in town recently to shoot “Fireflies in the Garden.” We didn’t mean to harrass them at dinner or while shopping. Never get into a celebrity’s face. But if you see them waving to a crowd, well, you know what to do …
More names: Emmy winner Kris Liem speaks at Georgetown Public Library tonight. She’s responsible for PBS productions such as “Novel Reflections on the American Dream.” Austin mom Hilda Morales will help lead the Consumer Healthcare Products Association campaign to inform folks about the dangers of cough syrup abuse. Whole Foods’ Scott Simons is taking his cooking class “Secret Ingredient” online.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
May 15, 2007
The Fortunates: Marchbanks +
Fame: How do we track Austin’s most social citizens? Every day, we scan the news; personally check the receptions, parties and lobbies; ask our readers and reporters whom they’ve seen contributing to the social fabric (not serving as quietly influential; that’s another admirable list).
For instance, Sunday we table-hopped with filmmaker Mari Marchbanks and her husband, investor Greg, who is working on some SoCo projects, at Lambert’s. Saturday, the Paramount Theatre’s Ballet Austin performance was graced with an appearance by Jane Sibley (Austin Symphony Orchestra) and Dana Friis-Hansen (Austin Museum of Art). Under the marquee, we chatted with the ballet’s Cookie Ruiz and Stephen Mills’ partner, Brent Hasty, who just completed his doctorate. (Ran into the master choreographer himself at a coffee house Monday. I congratulated him on the amazing improvements in the company.)
Toasted by Rice University as a distinguished alumnus this week was Bill Arhos (‘Austin City Limits’); receiving the Pennick Award from Caritas is everywhere-all-the-time State Senator Kirk Watson.
Also Out & About of late: Zita Raymond (Zita Design); Allen Y Chen (Austinist); Susan and John Gould (Helping Hands Home); Debbie and Trey Gainer (Helping Hands Home).
Folks who fell from the 2006 list, but whom we’ve noticed at parties recently: Twila Hugley Earle and Ronnie Earle (Distict Attorney); Joanie and Ben Bentzin (who dropped out of the House race, but still contributes to many causes and has fun to boot).
An anonymous (and nasty) reader nominates some theater folk in the commentary block, hoping to replace Jonathon Morgan (Yellow Tape), who, in truth, should not have made the list since he has written for us (once), and is, therefore, disqualified. Among the mentioned, I’d agree on Ron Berry (Refraction Arts), who is not only influential, but also pleasingly gregarious.
Other informants tell us Barbara Vacker (Austin Women’s Network, National Women’s History Museum, Leadership Austin) and Pat Hayes (Seton Healthcare Network) have moved from Austin recently. If you know for sure …
And your suggestions make the Fortunate 500 buzz, so keep sending them in and check back daily for updates.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Fame
May 9, 2007
Why this '500'?
Fame: Last summer, a party planner for West Austin’s matronly set revealed what her clients think about the annual XL Fortunate 500, which was unveiled today:
“They laugh,” she said. “And ask, ‘Who are these people?’”
Thus, while our top profile this year goes to the globally famous Lance Armstrong, we also include Wendy WWAD, the punk goddess of Red River Street, and Fritz Blaw, who glides from community event to community event on rollerblades.
They are Out & About.
Of course we underlisted the old West Austin set — although our Heritage, Arts and Charity lists are packed with them — because many of this tribe dine only with each other.
Boring.
Hey, if I haven’t seen you out, nor has any of our 200 or so informants, where have you been? We’re interested in those Central Texans who extend the social and civic network, while, for the most part, doing good along the way.
Enjoy the 12 profiles and the 14 lists. Argue among yourselves. And e-mail me with any proposed additions, subtractions or just plain old complaints. 2008 is another year.
Who contributes nominations?
Readers like you.
Beat reporters and editors who attend just about every event in town.
To refine the final list, we sift through those names, noting who made the news and who went out of their way to help people. On the record, by the way. Anonymous donations are great, but they don’t encourage broad imitation.
Keep the names rolling in.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Fame
May 3, 2007
Fortunate 500: More updates
Fame: Two more XL Fortunate 500 entries this morning. Click on the names to access the profiles. Remember, all will be revealed May 10 in XL and on Austin360.com. Pass the word.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
May 2, 2007
More Fortunate 500s
Fame: Every morning, we’ll reveal two more Fortunate 500 profiles. The full list comes out May 10. Look for 20 to 25 percent churn on the city’s most social citizens.
Permalink | | Categories: Fame
May 1, 2007
Early look at Fortunate 500
Fame: The XL Fortunate 500 list of Austin’s most social citizens comes out May 10. For readers of Out & About, we’ll preview the top profiles, two a day, until then. Link to the stories through the names.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Fame
