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Profile: Mia Washington
Serving as emcee for the evening, Austin’s most social city council member, Mike Martinez, convincingly impersonated an early rapper.
Draped in vintage fashion, youngish guests paid tribute to Pat Benatar, Madonna and Cyndi Lauper, among other 1980s pop sensations, hoping to win prizes for best costume and best dancing.
Filling the Parish nightclub on East Sixth Street, they writhed well into the evening, almost as if designer drugs were fueling this nostalgic New Wave Ball. (They were not.)
In fact, Buffalo N.Y.-born Mia Washington, 44, works for one of Austin’s most serious charities. The Austin Children’s Shelter, beneficiary of the New Wave Ball, provides protection and care for children and young adults through emergency shelter care.
“We’re the place where the healing begins,” Washington likes to say. This director of special events knows, however, that a social affair to raise money for a critical nonprofit should not hit their guests over the head with the cause.
She recommends a well-crafted video, upbeat, to tell the charity’s story. A live speech is optional. Neither should exceed three minutes.
“People don’t want to hear talking,” she says. “If they came to your event, they want to support you. They also want to have a good time.”
The oldest of five — with four younger brothers — seems born to lighten the collective mood.
“I was fun, loud and playful,” she remembers of life with father Walter Louis Sims, who owned restaurants, and mother Sharon Ann Sims, a bookkeeper, both from Buffalo but now longtime residents of Portland, Ore. “How I am now is how I was as a kid.”
Washington changed schools several times, finishing her secondary education at suburban Pomona High School in Arvada, Colo. College was hit or miss, but she’s still determined to finish her communications degree from St. Edward’s University.
She studied music, dance, art and, being the eldest, learned to be responsible for others. Perhaps because her parents were self-made business people, she learned to shine while applying for her very first job in retail.
“I wanted to be at the mall. I wanted to buy clothes and see my friends,” she says. “My father coached me for job interviews. ‘Shake their hands and say ‘“When do I start?”’ When the interview was done, I yelled it ‘WHEN DO I START?’ By the time I got home, they hired me.”
Washington later did office work — always with plenty of people around — and eventually landed a job with the Urban League in Portland, Ore. during the early 1990s.
“That’s where I fell in love with nonprofits,” she says. “I loved what I did and that what I did directly affected somebody. Somebody ate because of what I did. Somebody got better because of what I did.”
She followed leader Herman Lessard to Austin when he became the CEO of the regional chapter.
“I knew nothing of Texas,” she confesses. “New Yorkers have a poor perception of Texas.”
By now she was a single mother. Azia Washington, 20, currently studies dance at Tyler Junior College.
“She’s most phenomenal thing I’ve ever produced,” she laughs. (Washington intersperses any conversation with generous laughter.)
A corporate gig in marketing and event planning ended in an untimely lay-off, but Washington landed on her feet with the United Way, the St. Ed’s. She’s been with the children’s shelter for six years.
Among her duties are planning the big annual events. Besides the New Wave Ball (Feb. 24 at Speakeasy nightclub), there’s Fashion for Compassion (March 23); a golf tournament (September) and the grown-up gala (Nov. 3).
Meanwhile, she’s the channel for third-party fundraisers — from lemonade stands to bike races — that benefit the shelter. She ensures that the gatherings are legitimate and ethical, fitting with the children’s shelter brand.
“It’s very valuable revenue stream,” Washington says of these grassroots affairs.
She dreamed up the New Wave Ball as a way to recruit new leaders.
“I started looking at events like the White Party (for LifeWorks) and others that were geared to a young demographic,” she says. “There’s a lot of young wealth here.”
Her formula for an effective fundraiser is deceptively simple, but as your social columnist an attest, not so easy to achieve.
“You’ve got to have good food, good drink and good people,” she says. “Having the right people there makes the difference. Then a good theme. A gala is a gala. A dinner is a dinner. Everybody does that. My job is to put the ACS flavor on our events.”
She works through volunteer committees, social media and other networking tools to get those people to the event. Even when things go reasonably well, there are no social guarantees.
The first New Wave Ball, with its campy ’80s theme, could have been the last one. Set in an awkward, bifurcated hotel space, it offered an over-abundance of food and cramped dance floor.
“The first one happened quickly,” Washington says. “I had to fight a bit to have the ball happen again. But the concept was good. Nobody else was doing that. The elements were there.”
In 2011, the ball moved to the Parish, a big, friendly, upstairs room best known for its superior acoustics. Media judges returned — I was one, not in costume, mind you — and many of the problems were fixed. Even so, emcee Martinez was forced to shout out raffle numbers to a distracted crowd and the wait for the prize announcements lasted way too long.
“You always need to get feedback,” Washington says. “Whether you like it or not. And you have to weigh it. We are still tweaking it.”
Like a stage director, Washington imagines what her guests will experience in advance. “People are sensory-oriented,” she says. “I try to be a guest and walk through it as a guest. What do they see? What do they hear? What do they smell? To me, that builds it all up.”
At Speakeasy, guests will be greeted with event lights, banners and several DeLorians on Congress Avenue.
“How they are received at the door sets the tone,” says Washington, who stations seasoned greeters near the reception table and directs refreshments to the guests before they even mingle. She also includes children at shelter events — not clients — to remind people subliminally of the charity’s mission.
“You tell your story when people don’t know you are telling it,” Washington says. “And if you tell the sad part, you also must tell the good. There’s got to be an upside.”
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Angelina Eberly Luncheon at Driskill Hotel
In three short years, it has become a tradition. The Angelina Eberly Luncheon benefits the small but growing Austin History Center Association, the nonprofit group that backs the city’s historical archives. It filled the upper lobby of the Driskill Hotel with tables of dignitaries, including all but one Austin City Council Member.
Marina and Gus Garcia
There were mayors aplenty though, including current Mayor Lee Leffingwell and three past mayors — Ron Mullen (1983-1985), Lee Cooke (1988-1991) and Kirk Watson (1997-2001) — who were saluted humorously at the end of the lunch. Three others — Frank Cooksey (1985-1988), Bruce Todd (1991-1997) and Gus Garcia (2001-2003) — were present.
Suzy Lindeman Snyder and Margaret Berry
Recently deceased association president Nancy Price Bowman was honored. And after way too many public thanks and recognitions, the three saluted ex-mayors took the stage, sitting on ornate throne-like chairs with Downtown Austin Alliance director Charlie Betts, who could have been mayor at some point if he had chosen to run.
Mary Arnold and Madge Vasquez
Betts — who must be tickled by all the talk about a medical school, teaching hospital, affordable housing and the Waller Creek project in downtown’s neglected northeast sector — stuck to questions that elicited funny mayoral memories. Odd political coalitions, failed and successful public projects and, especially, angry citizens made for anecdotes that, for me, could have lasted all afternoon.
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Tracing Upper Upper Waller Creek
Reader Sarah Franklin pointed us to the source of Waller Creek. Which is not, as we assumed, just north of 45th Street. Rather it lies in the unheralded Highland neighborhood north of Highland Mall.
Sunday, Sarah and her daughter, Mary Franklin (pictured), walked its uppermost reaches with me. The bookkeeper for MF Plumbing Co., the family business shared with her husband, Michael Franklin, lives on Kenniston Drive with four large and rather intimidating dogs, multiple ducks, chickens and other livestock attached what she calls the “Franklin Funny Farm.”
An old neighbor told Franklin that their tall-ceilinged wood house was constructed by German prisoners of war at Camp Swift and moved to its current location near Guadalupe Street, when it would have been a rural enclave. Otherwise, their area was associated with the large African American orphanage and farm called St. John’s. It later hosted modest, late-century ranch homes of varied styles and quality.
Running a fairly straight course through the district is a waterway, sometimes lined with limestone, sometimes overgrown with willows and other creek-loving flora. Near the intersection of St. John’s Avenue and Northcrest, this tame stream — just puddles at this point — stops at an open drain pipe. Sarah and I suspect nearby springs because of the cottonwoods and other indicative trees in the area.
From there, Upper Upper Waller Creek meets a tiny tributary at the University Hills Optimist Club baseball field, which looks lifted from a small Texas town. It sneaks under Airport Boulevard near Huntland Drive and then zig-zags unnaturally over to a line parallel to Chesterfield Avenue, where I picked it up, running with clear water, at a pedestrian bridge attached to a tiny picnic area (pictured).
At West 55th Street, I spied a woman weeding the high banks of the creek. She recognized me. Jan Seward (pictured) is part of a volunteer group that is reclaiming little portions of the creek in her neighborhood. From there, the creek heads to state lands by Epoch Coffee and grows wilder alongside the University of Texas Intramural Fields.
By the time it reaches Rowena Street , it’s downright pretty. At 45th — where I assumed it began — it crosses the Shipe Playground and the grounds of the Elisabet Ney Museum. It becomes quite wooded as it approaches the Commodore Perry Estate and Hancock Golf Course, then eases through some graceful, upscale neighborhoods before becoming a public phenomenon on the University of Texas campus.
All this creek tracing was inspired by a short walk on Lower Waller Creek taken with philanthropists Tom and Lynn Meredith, as we discussed plans for the Waller Creek Conservancy downtown. All their work — and those of their collaborators — is deeply appreciated. But it’s also good to know the creek’s humble and authentically Austin origins.
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Very Smart Gals at Four Seasons Residences
“Very Smart Gals” is a very smart blog from SueAnn Wade-Crouse. It covers books, artists, charities and music, along with family reflections from Wade-Crouse’s intentional life. Like the best blogs, it blends its author’s personality with potentially useful information.
Lily Ta and Dean Lofton
It was an honor to be among the very few male guests at the Very Smart Gals party at the Four Seasons Residences on Sunday. Among the the dozens of women were influencers like Lulu Flores, Deborah Tucker, Sarah Bird, Susan Longley, Lynn Meredith and Dean Lofton. Others were drawn from the communities of law, charity, education, arts, media, business, movies and music.
Lynn Meredith, Christy Pipkin and SueAnn Wade-Crouse
The centerpiece of the evening was a presentation by Christy Pipkin, who, with husband Turk Pipkin, has turned out three breakthrough documentaries — “Nobelity,” “One Peace at a Time” and “Building Hope.” She explained crisply and pointedly the couple’s collaborative work in Kenya, now expanding beyond the Mahiga Hope High School to other secondary schools.
Betsy Gerdeman and Yolette Garces
Over sumptuous desserts, I made mental notes of five or six possible column subjects. Maybe smartness is catching.
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Dell Children’s Gala at Austin Convention Center
Fabulous. Just fabulous. The gala for the Children’s Medical Center Foundation of Central Texas defines force and class for large-scale Austin benefits.
Many of the winning elements in this year’s party built on last year’s successes. This time, light artist Bart Kresa created three enfolding walls of projections that dazzled the eyes and made the vast banquet hall more intimate. Magically, the three walls also served as six video screens — and in a large hall, there can’t be too many.
David and Fawn Bull
Dell Children’s produces some of the sharpest charity videos in town — bright, professional, compelling. The medical center also uses personal testimony in an efficient and effective manner. The story of Kathryn Scarborough Bechtol and Hub Bechtol’s scare over their son’s traumatic accident, for instance, won’t soon be forgotten.
Of course, florist David Kurio and event planner Victoria Hentrich’s decor and staging set the scene, suggesting luxury without going over the top. (You don’t want anything that seriously undermines a charity’s net take.) The silent auction was handled by University of Texas Cowboys and Lassoes armed with iPads.
Bobbi and Mort Topfer
The live auction — in some ways the heart of any such gala — produced many tens of thousands of dollars for Dell Children’s, but went on too long. No fault of the auctioneer, just too many packages and too vast a crowd for a quick “paddles up.”
A nice touch: One waiter was assigned to each table, which made for a fluid interaction between guests and the evening’s many amusements. Even co-chairs Eric and Kay Moreland did a superb job navigating this ship of charitable state.
Brett and Debra Hurt
Table No. 4 packed a punch: Mort and Bobbi Topfer, Tom and Lynn Meredith, Brett and Debra Hurt, as a well as a couple whose name I didn’t catch. I spent most of the evening talking parties, politics, projects and more with Lynn and Bobbi.
All hail Armando Zambrano, the mastermind behind this masterpiece.
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Indian Republic Day at Givens Recreation Center
I didn’t even know there was a Republic Day. The holiday recognizes the adoption of the Indian constitution 62 years ago. The Indian American Coalition of Texas saluted the birth of the world’s largest democracy on Saturday.
Veena Gangidi, Sumana Sen Mandala and Shahin Alvi
The Republic Day party was held at the Givens Recreation Center on far East 12th Street. Booths surrounded a seated area that faced the raised stage in this combination gym and performance area. For two hours during the five-hour affair, traditional music and dances alternated with speeches, proclamations and games.
Komal Bose and Koonal Bose
Needless to say, various elected and appointed officials spoke. I would, too, if I were running for anything. Austin’s Indian American population is growing rapidly. The community’s culture, history and variety are increasingly vital to everyone.
Sumina Bhatti, Sameer Shah and Sonia Kotecha
Sadly, I could not stay for dinner. I’m still making baby steps learning how to cook Indian cuisine. Pushpesh Pant’s massive cookbook is my current guide. Which brings to mind a pertinent question: What’s your favorite Indian restaurant in Austin? My fall-back is the Clay Pit.
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‘Wicked’ + Sam Harris + social scrapes
My little camera got me into two minor social scrapes this weekend. At the ‘Wicked’ cast party — tremendous troupe, plump production values from this touring show at Bass Concert Hall — karaoke wafted from Rusty’s gay bar on East Seventh Street. So I waited by the door to document the arriving cast, crew and guests for this column.
First in front of the lens was Don Amendolia, who looked suitably wizardly even after playing the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Then three pleasant but socially otherwise engaged young women posed for the column. Quick happy snaps.
After that, an energetic group of four approached the door. I separated them out. One actor wanted to check his look before I took his picture. Fine. Not in a hurry.
Don Amendolia and Shannon Boggus
So far, pretty normal for your social columnist. When I asked for the spelling of their names, however, one actor countered by demanding my credentials. How could he be sure that I wouldn’t misuse his image? After all, some of the cast had been stalked, he said.
Courtney Iventosch, Laran Snyder and Lindsay Wood
I was stumped. Out of business cards, I didn’t even think about the employee card in my wallet. The doorman, laughing at my social dilemma, intervened: “Yeah, that’s Michael Barnes with the newspaper.”
Zach Hensler and David Nathan Perlow
Just an actor being an actor. No hard feelings.
The next night, I headed to the YMCA on Ed Bluestein Boulevard for a kick-off event to Black History Month. When I arrived at the center, the place was swarming with young people playing and exercising. Normal. But where was the kick-off? Then I spied two men in suits, who kindly directed me to the reception.
It was not until later that I realized they were dressed almost identically, as were the other men in dark suits and smart ties outside the door of the gathering. I was asked to sign in, then overheard that I would be patted down for security reasons. What was going on?
The actual situation finally dawned on me when one of the suited men took me aside and said I could not use my camera or record anything at the event. My reporting would not be welcome at this Nation of Islam meeting.
Again, no hard feelings. Gotta read those digital invitations more closely. Everyone was exceedingly courteous, but what’s a reporter without reporting?
Headed from there to the Shoal Crossing Events Center, where Sterling Affairs Catering and Event Planning has teamed up with Austin Cabaret Theatre to present musical acts in the barn-like former dinner theater and clothing store.
In this case, when I use the term “barn-like,” it’s not a put-down, but rather a description of the building’s shape. Despite the high ceilings, it fits neatly the big cabaret talents that Stuart Moulton books.
Paul Beutel and Willa Kaye Warren
Sam Harris, veteran of “Star Search” on TV, “The Life” on Broadway and much more in a long career, appeared with Austin Cabaret Theatre years ago. His act has grown immensely. Still in ideal condition are his high, tensile voice and bright stage presence. What has matured is his patter, which reflects his full life on and off the stage, including an enduring friendship with Liza Minnelli.
I was there to check out the new space. I stayed because Harris is a cabaret sensation. And Austin audiences loves him.
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Epic Reception at Delta Millworks
The Hill Country Conservancy just might have the coolest group for its young leaders. Epic organizes regular hikes, bikes, camp outs, fly fishing, hikes and other healthy outings. All this to support the nonprofit that helps preserve the Hill County, in part by purchasing conservation rights from ranchers, which allows families to continue as stewards of the land, but nixes future heavy development. (Why wasn’t this around 30 or 40 years ago?)
Grace Hsieh and Casey Martinez
Even a little Austin happy hour for Epic turns magical. A couple hundred people showed up at Delta Millworks, a huge, old woodworking facility on East Fifth Street and Springdale Road. This space matched the outdoorsy attire of the Epic group on a chilly evening. (Thank goodness nobody smokes at such events. The place could become a tinderbox.)
Lindsay Hoffman and Andy Smith
Popping up unexpectedly were surreal wooden sculptures by Aldo Valdés Böhm, who keeps a workshop in the building. One was a odd duck the artist said had been hiding in his garage for years.
Maria Alonso, Angela James and Lorie Solis
Credit: Flashbax Twenty Three Photography
The crowd clearly didn’t want to leave, and so mingled, sipped and nibbled well past the usual happy hour. One of the cleverest scheduling tools for the leaders: A business card with the monthly Epic events listed on the back in a clear, compact format. To top the evening off, salt-of-the-earth Conservancy director George Cofer invited me to go camping or hiking with the group.
Hiking at one of the conserved ranches at least!
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Ronald Reagan Dinner for Travis County Republican Party at AT&T Center
Social columnists love politicians. Especially shy social columnists, like me. Politicians can turn a conversation on a dime. And they like questions. Even from the press. They can’t help it.
John and Ruby Alaniz
The Ronald Reagan Dinner for the Travis County Republican Party took place at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center. Smaller than the Johnson-Bentsen-Richards Dinner for the Travis County Democratic Party at the Four Seasons Hotel the previous week, it blended a range of ages, dress and customs.
Andy Barclay, Megan Hamilton and Will Hamilton
The honoree was Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, but, as with the Democratic event, I didn’t stick around for the speeches. My part is the people. And the lobby of center’s banquet hall was full of fascinating folks who talked about travel, art, jobs, policy and legal mediation, but mostly politics.
Greg Ackerman and Mike Dominguez
Several candidates for office approached me, not just with open handshakes and big smiles, but ready to talk on just about any subject. A few were shaken by the uncertainty about redistricting — back in the hands of a San Antonio panel of judges — but none were shaken enough to express anything but confidence in their eventual electoral triumphs. That’s another thing to like about politicians: They breathe optimism.
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Rattle Inn Preview Party
Live music is back — big time — on West Sixth Street. Monday, the Rattle Inn opened with a grand party that included a set by Asleep at the Wheel, co-owner Ray Benson’s act and pretty much the house band. Media and local celebrities rubbed elbows, as all three of the club’s spaces filled to the delight of Benson and his partners, Kevin Williamson and Matt Luckie.
Kevin Williamson and Ava Late
Luckie and Williamson are old nightlife hands, having opened their share of bars, clubs and restaurants in multiple entertainment districts. They were still putting finishing touches on the Texas-themed joint — comic murals, stuffed game, rattlesnake-skin-like banquettes, envisioned by designer Joel Mozersky — when the first guests arrived.
Michelle Valles and Jennifer Ransom Rice
Three distinct spaces allow customers a range of experiences. The heart of the place is a high-ceilinged ballroom with stage and enough floor space for a bit of dancing. The side bar feels more like a club house, filtered through an ironic sensibility about the Old West. Then there’s the immense rooftop deck, giving out to expansive views of the downtown skyline.
Eddie Safady and Olga Campos
Roof decks are in — I can think of at least 11 downtown — and this is among the most impressive, though it might get hot up there facing south and west during summer afternoons. Roof decks are for nights.
We ran into dozens of social regulars, but spent most of the time catching up with our dear friend Sean Massey, whose stepmother, collector and artist, Pat Brown, passed away from cancer early Monday. Her memorial will be delayed until the spring, so friends can converge on Austin from around the world.
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Profile: Gigi Edwards Bryant
Austin businesswoman Gigi Edwards Bryant visited her brother, Charles Henry Rector, every day the week before he was executed in 1999.
“He told me more and more about his life,” Bryant remembers. “He believed society had no place for him, and he encouraged me to never give up.”
Austin native Bryant never did.
“I hope and pray that ‘our’ children — and they are our children — have a system built around them that measures their possibilities of success, rather than being defined by their failures,” says Bryant, who serves as chairwoman of the Texas Department of Family Protective Services Advisory Council, appointed successively to such positions by Govs. George W. Bush and Rick Perry. “It could be the difference in giving up, like my brother, or digging in and not letting go, like I had to do.”
On Feb. 11, Bryant, 54, will be honored at the Hyatt Regency Austin during CASAblanca, the annual gala for Court Appointed Special Advocates, which provides advocacy services for thousands of vulnerable children.
Bryant, head of GMSA Management Services, a consulting firm, and her husband, Sam Bryant, who founded Bryant Wealth Investment Group, are known for sharing their time and treasure generously, but selectively.
“I narrowed it down to education, foster youth and drug and alcohol rehabilitation,” Bryant says. “Those are things that affected my life and affect our society from birth to the ends of life.”
Bryant’s mother, the late Lola Mae Fowler, was locked up in the Austin State Hospital after she killed an intruder. There, she underwent shock treatments and suffered from mental illness for the rest of her life. Bryant and her three siblings were shuttled directly into “the system.”
“People treat kids differently when they find out you don’t have your parents,” she says. “It is as if you did something to make this happen, no matter your age. First they are sad, then they ask: ‘What did you do?’ I spent time explaining why I had no parents, until I decided it did not need explanation.”
After growing up, her older sister and younger sister wrote second life chapters in California and West Texas. Despite attempts by Bryant to keep in touch, they chose to part completely with their pasts. Given the inherent disjuncture of foster-care system, it’s no wonder.
“I’d find my stuff at the door and I knew we were going somewhere else,” Bryant says. “Once, I was on the track team and we had a track meet that weekend, and I remember begging and pleading with the lady to take me back so that I could run. I remember crying all night telling the new house that they needed me. I never knew what happened at the meet, but I can guess. All I could think about is how much they must have hated me that Saturday. I know no one explained that it was not my choice.”
Her brother ran away from the Waco State Home — subject of Sherry Matthews’ compelling book, “We Were Not Orphans” — into a life of petty crime. He was first accused of murder at age 17, imprisoned, then released. In 1982, he was convicted of capital murder and was executed in 1999. Bryant visited Rector in prison every Christmas and sometimes in the summer.
So how did Bryant escape her brother’s fate?
“My faith from my Big Mama, my grandmother’s mother,” she says. “And I knew love from my mother before entering the system. When we were younger, we used to go stay with Big Mama, mostly after school. She would hug us. She would kiss us. She would cook, pray with us, sing to us. She was the one who told me: ‘God loves you. Don’t ever be afraid to tell him what’s wrong.’
She also avoided one potential trap faced by so many foster children: No doctor ever prescribed Bryant behavorial medications.
“I just believe that God protected me,” she says. “He still does.”
Despite the teen pregnancy, Bryant studied computer science and then business at Austin Community College and St. Edward’s University. While in college, she worked full-time at the offices at the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the Texas Legislative Council. Meanwhile, she raised a family and volunteered at schools and in the community.
“I guess I never got enough,” jokes Bryant, who earned an MBA in global leadership at University of Texas-Dallas. She met Sam Bryant in 1993 while he was working for Applied Materials and she was organizing charity events and fundraisers.
“He was known as ‘Mr. Applied’ and was very nice,” she says. Their blended family includes her three adult children and his two adult offspring. All are thriving in college or careers.
Her most famous son is Marcus Wilkins, recruited for the Longhorns by Mack Brown and a veteran of the NFL. Gigi Bryant is blessed with five grandchildren.
Yet she constantly asks the question: Why not me? How did I get through the system and come out with this life? Bryant passes on this conclusion to anyone touched by foster care: “How you define yourself — through actions — has to be more important to you, so you can move past what should have been.”
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Hitting the high spots on an Austin Saturday
What an evening. It started at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza next to Highland Mall. I arrived expecting the Firefighters Ball. No sign of it. The desk clerk informed me that male strippers were performing in one ballroom. Not the right event. Turned out that the actual Firefighters Ball, which raises money for scholarships, returns to the same hotel on Feb. 8.
Sandy Abel and Steve Redman
So I slowly headed down to West Sixth Street to cover the opening of an exhibition at Lytle Pressley Contemporary. Lytle Pressley surged ahead of the curve a few years ago, selling high-end, high-design furniture. His new shop — next to his old shop — includes less expensive pieces, say $1,200 for a sleek desk, although one can purchase another desk for three times that price.
Gina Brezini Michele Golden
Pressley has segregated the fine art — always a part of his mix — to a large, long, separate gallery. Folks pressed into this space to view the luscious — almost voluptuous — mixed-media wall art of Bulgarian ex-pat Gina Brezini. I spent some time with Brezini, now based in New York City. She gathers photos, leaves and other objects and drenches them with a shiny resin for a highly polished finish. First-nighters I talked to also really liked her deep, radiant colors.
William Grieder and Hana Bakkar
It was time for another function and Facebook Events came to the rescue. It pointed me to a benefit for Colin’s Hope, the group that promotes water safety in memory of the late Colin Holst. The Best Day Ever Bash combined many of the elements of any Austin benefit, including live music, silent auction and a slew of people just enjoying themselves.
Will Reedy and Rachel Villanueva
It took place at Empire Automotive Warehouse, the open-air venue next to Sidebar on East Seventh Street. It’s not quite La Zona Rosa, but you get the idea. Love the adaptive reuse of any urban general utility space.
Michelle Marshall and Minh Tran
Talked with some of the supporters, several of whom were young parents whose concerns were clear: That everyone learn to swim and inculcate the lessons of water safety. Jan. 28, Olympians Brendan Hansen, Kathleen Hersey and Garrett Weber-Gale are hosting Colin’s Hope Got2Swim Clinic is for kids ages 7 and up at Nitro Swimming (Bee Cave).
Mark and Amy Brady
Time for another event. Earlier in the day, former State Rep. Diana Maldonado invited me to her birthday salute at Maria Maria. Several other legislators planned to attend. I arrived at the Carlos Santana-themed restaurant and bar just before 9 p.m.
The place was overrun. It felt like a California crowd, with a lively mix of patrons, many in their twenties and thirties. As I explored, it turns out Maria Maria is much larger than I had remembered, including three distinct rooms and two crush bars. Glad to see that business is booming.
But no Maldonado. I waited a while. Then realized I could wish her the best later. We see each other periodically. And so I headed home.
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Latest comments
I have been to several events that were managed by Mrs. Mia Washington, she is a first class event planner because she gives 100% to everything she does. Mrs. Washington lives her life for serving others and I am blessed to know her and learn from her giving
... read the full comment by Kathy Winfrey | Comment on Profile: Mia Washington Read Profile: Mia Washington
Jimmi, Thanks for your comment. From smaller stories come larger stories. I write plenty of larger stories, too. But one must find a point of entry and social events allow me to meet the people who populate those larger stories. Best, Michael
... read the full comment by Michael Barnes | Comment on Indian Republic Day at Givens Recreation Center Read Indian Republic Day at Givens Recreation Center
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