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Glossy 8 VIP Party at Stratford Drive Home
As a general rule, daily newspapers don’t throw memorable parties …
Winners of the 2009 Glossy 8 Stylemaker Awards: Elizabeth and Benjamin Serroto (who won as a couple), Maria Groten, Nancy Scanlan, Coi Burruss, Trent Thurman, Christine Perrault Moline, Sylvia Orozco and Andrea McWilliams.
The American-Statesman is no exception (unless you count the Capitol 10,000 or some XL promotional concerts from the distant past) …
Dean and Andrea McWilliams
Other media outlets specialize in staging social events, but even their professional skeptics would agree that the Statesman’s Glossy 8 VIP party on Thursday will linger in memory
Sylvia Orozco and Melissa Segrest
The location counted. The new Dick Clark-designed, hilltop home of Jodi and Fred Zipp (Statesman editor) is a modernist stunner, every detail pristine and exacting …
John Watson, Nancy Scanlan, Laura Scanlan Cho and Ken Cho
Helping out was a refined party plan, overseen by Kevin Smothers of Pulse and executed by Elite Events, along with assistance by the Statesman’s editorial and marketing departments. …
Eric and Maria Groten
The food—creative sushi provided by Kenzo and the crew from Piranha Killer Sushi—was a knock-out. Little stands offered Dripping Springs Vodka martinis or lighter drinks. …
Crystal Conti and Rep. Mark Strama
But the real stars were the Glossy 8 — really nine sharp dressers, since one slot went to a married couple — absolutely smashing as they descending the stairs during presentations …
Kelley Shaw and Renee Sobremonte
Winners of the 2009 Glossy 8 Stylemaker Awards: Elizabeth and Benjamin Serroto (who won as a couple), Maria Groten, Nancy Scanlan, Coi Burruss, Trent Thurman, Christine Perrault Moline, Sylvia Orozco and Andrea McWilliams
Lauren Madden and Armando Zambrano
They inspired an already stylish crowd that floated from the interior spaces to the pool-cooled deck …
Graham Daly, Melissa Nicewarner-Daly, Jeff McKnight and Amber Groce
The mood continued ebulliant for the entire evening …
David Garza, Joanne Linden, Rachel Saldana and Dr. John Hogg
All this previews Linda Asaf’s Runway to Heaven charity event tonight at the unfinished Austonian …
Cherie Mathews and Sloan Foster
Where the Glossy 8 will reappear on the stage …
George and Sylvia Gutierrez with Art and Tanya Acevedo
Read the story to see why these nine fashion leaders were nominated by readers and chosen by a Glossy panel …
Mary and Rusty Tally with Linda Asaaf
Photos by Robert Godwin
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L Style G Style 2nd Anniversary Party at Mercury Hall
In Houston during the 1970s, one could break down the gay social scene into the Powerful, the Fashionable, the Purposeful and the Individuals.
Oliver Everette and Alisa Weldon
In Austin during the 2000s, one could discern all those attributes in a gay crowd at Mercury Hall. Here, however, everyone shares them.
Mary Coronado and Donna Miller
The occasion was the 2nd anniversary of L Style, G Style, the upscale lifestyle magazine that chronicles the lesbian and gay community.
Hedda Layne and Troy Warden
The theme was “black and white” — thanks to a pre-party note from Brenda Thompson, I was appropriately attired — and the powerful, fashionable, purposeful individuals looked impeccable.
Will Lucas and Carlos Platero
I talked to newcomers, short-timers and veterans of the social scene, as the Tasty Texans served Boy George cocktails …
James and Miryam Arosemena
A veil of enchantment fell on the graceful Mercury Hall grounds.
Brandon Lewis, Dr. John Hogg and Chey Hollowell
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Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist, Part 5
For more of “Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist,” scroll down to previous posts, or link at Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
The Essential Stephen Sondheim
10 shows every Sondheim beginner should get to know.
‘Gypsy’ — (1959) The ultimate backstage musical, with music by Jule Styne and book/direction by Arthur Laurents, it has also burnished the careers of Ethel Merman, Rosalind Russell, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone. Sondhiem’s lyrics are fresh today as when it premiered.
‘Company’ — (1970) Modern, urban singledom, dating and marriage received this up-to-the-minute treatment, later stripped down and emotionally magnified in the John Doyle revival.
‘Follies’ — (1971) The twilight of memory, marriage and show-business excess intertwine in this fantastical musical, which also gave the gift of ‘Broadway Baby’ to every belting singer.
‘Sweeney Todd’ — (1980) Almost every staging of this electrifying melodrama — Brechtian, operatic, microscopic, even Tim Burton’s eccentric movie — about a 19th-century serial killer has triumphed.
‘Merrily We Roll Along’ — (1981) The show Sondheim believes will find a wider audience. Melodic, personal, endearing, it asks what happens to youthful idealism. It must overcome a tale told backward.
‘Into the Woods’ — (1987) One of Sondheim’s biggest hits reworks fairy tales with Bruno Bettelheim’s insights into personal development. (One of three collaborations with James Lapine.)
‘Assassins’ — (2004) Some Sondheim fans might think that the romping ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,’ pensive ‘Passion,’ skittery ‘Anyone Can Whistle,’ or translucent ‘Pacific Overtures’ belong in this last place. Yet John Weidman and Sondheim’s rip on presidential assassins looks deep into the American soul. Nobody ever forgets what they found.
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Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist, Part 4
For more of “Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist,” scroll down to previous posts, or link to Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
“We are satisfied with it now,” Sondheim says. “The problem, and this was true in the source Kaufman and Hart play, the lead is a character you get to like. James dug into it a little more, without softening it. Just helping audiences out. It may never satisfy them. People are turned off by unsympathetic characters. I like them, when something interesting happens to them.”
Although he was pleased with the movie version of “Sweeney Todd” — and he’s in negotiations for films of “Follies” and “Into the Woods” — he’s not ready to make any generalizations about the return of the movie musical, or the success of youth-oriented shows like “Glee” and the “High School Musical” movies.
Sondheim is also uncomfortable talking about his legacy, though he would include the composing teams of John Kander and Fred Ebb (“Cabaret,” “Chicago”), as well as Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (“Fiddler on the Roof,” “She Loves Me”), as ones that will tend to endure beyond our time.
A notorious perfectionist, Sondheim, at 79, can look back with some pleasure on his work.
“Every now and then I see something of mine and say ‘that was good,’” he says. “It takes a long time not to be neurotic about it. Usually, I see only what’s wrong. Now I accept what’s good.”
More to come …
A Conversation with Stephen Sondheim
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 12
Where: Long Center for the Performing Arts
Information: thelongcenter.org; 474-5664
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Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist, Part 3
For more of “Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist,” scroll down to previous posts, or link to Part 1 and Part 2.
“My first exposure to the fully formed Sondheim was when I bought the original cast album of ‘Follies’ in the 1970s,” says Long Center managing director Paul Beutel. “The raw yet soaring emotion of songs like ‘Too Many Mornings’ and ‘Losing My Mind’ — so perfectly captured in music and lyrics — just wiped me out.”
Although musical devotees call these “Sondheim shows,” the artist always emphasizes his collaborations with writers and directors (Harold Prince, James Lapine, etc.) and, especially, his prized orchestrator, Jonathan Tunick, whose full-orchestra sound undergirds Tim Burton’s movie adaptation of “Sweeney Todd.”
“He is a most generous man, a mentor who is always ready to lend his support — creative, emotional and intellectual — to the work of others,” critic and editor Rick Pender says.
“George was an actor,” Sondheim says. “Music meant nothing to him. So writing with him was interesting. That’s one reason the songs don’t always fit into the script. They are commentary; raisins in the cake. But George’s dialogue is extremely brilliant. It’s dialogic.”
Gelbart, his collaborator in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” adapting the Roman comedies of Plautus, understood music, he says.
“In ‘Forum,’ the songs are respites from the farce,” Sondheim says. “And ‘Forum’ is a very tight farce. The songs are breathing places. Otherwise the comedy would be relentless.”
One reason Sondheim’s shows — almost never big profit machines — are regularly revived is they provide peerless opportunities for performers.
“Sondheim’s work demands that a performer be equally gifted as an actor and as a singer,” says director Dave Steakley. “Sondheim’s melodies and harmonies, as well as the speed of his complicated lyrics in passages of songs, are rigorous for a singer to master. Equal to this is the emotional investment and honesty required to convey his character’s multi-layered states of being.”
“The tone is Chekhovian,” Sondheim says. “That’s implicit in the piece anyway. It’s about shadow. But it’s still a comedy, done with chamber music in a chamber style.”
More to come …
A Conversation with Stephen Sondheim
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 12
Where: Long Center for the Performing Arts
Information: thelongcenter.org; 474-5664
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Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist, Part 2
For Part 1 of “Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist,” scroll down to the post below or go here.
Although he studied music seriously, it was Sondheim’s lyrics that first drew the attention of Broadway professionals. And, in the postwar period, words made an emphatic point. Hammerstein had already linked the songs closely to the action, so that audiences actually paid attention to them.
“The next big change came with the rock revolution,” Sondheim says.
Sondheim’s lyrics were so adept, so clever, so crucial to each show’s emotional progress, he was recognized as a singular wordsmith.
“I am continually in awe of the multiple-emotional layers and thoughtfulness of Sondheim’s work,” says Zach Theatre director Dave Steakley. “The recent spate of stripped-down productions, fewer orchestrations and chorus members, have revealed new truths for his fans and have become new, meaningful works on their own, instead of feeling lesser.”
More than 60 years after penning his first lyrics, Sondheim has collected them in a two-volume book that will include recollections and commentary.
“Honestly no,” he says. “Every now and then, I would glow with pride and delight, or wince with shame and embarrassment. But I’m a slow writer. I worked on these things meticulously, so there are not a lot of surprises left. I really know every word.”
More to come …
A Conversation with Stephen Sondheim
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 12
Where: Long Center for the Performing Arts
Information: thelongcenter.org; 474-5664
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Stephen Sondheim: Broadway’s Greatest Artist, Part 1
Stephen Sondheim, the creative force behind 18 major musicals, might be the greatest artist Broadway has ever produced.
Critics believe his work will survive for centuries, perhaps for millennia.
“Sondheim — more than any other composer or lyricist — has given us music and theater that is memorable, challenging, intelligent and inventive, yet emotionally and intellectually satisfying,” says Rick Pender, editor of the Sondheim Quarterly, a national magazine devoted to its namesake. “I do not see this kind of multifaceted genius in any other Broadway artist.”
Sondheim is not so sure about his legacy.
“I wouldn’t make any pronouncements,” he says recently in a rare telephone interview. “Who knows if musicals will be done? Who does the musicals from 100 years ago? They are ridiculous. The songs are good. Not the musicals. You want to listen to an Irving Berlin tune, but not see an Irving Berlin show.”
(“Annie Get Your Gun” might be an exception.)
Thursday, the nine-time Tony Award winner — who also earned an Academy Award and a Pulitzer Prize — will make his first Austin appearance. He will extend a cycle of public conversations started two years ago with The New York Times opinion writer and former theater critic Frank Rich. At the Long Center, his colloquy partner will be Austin Chronicle arts editor Robert Faires.
Local musical aficionados can hardly wait for the verbal exchange.
“Sondheim represents everything that is good about American musical theater,” says Austin director Michael McKelvey, who recently staged an award-winning “Sweeney Todd.” “He is always original and thought-provoking, a composer with a grasp of all that Western music can deliver.”
More to come …
A Conversation with Stephen Sondheim
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 12
Where: Long Center for the Performing Arts
Information: thelongcenter.org; 474-5664
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Your A-List: Best Video Store
The A-List reader’s poll produces very few exact ties. Numerically, the more votes, the less chance for a tie. Yet we are faced with one in first place this week.
Austin’s other traditional video spot, I Luv Video, came in a respectable third with 14 percent. Blockbuster and the Austin Public Library tied at 6 percent. Hastings, an older Texas chain, managed 4 percent.
Three percent or less of the voters chose Tapelenders, Encore and the Movie Store.
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Your A-List: Best Shopping Center
I’m serious. Twelve years ago, when we moved two blocks off South Congress Avenue, we had no idea it would become one of Austin’s top tourist attractions. The parking overflow annoys at times, but who would argue with the snappy shops, cool restaurants and sidewalks full of fellow pedestrians? (We’ll leave out any discussion of property values and tax rates.)
The somewhat similar but boxier Hill Country Galleria bagged 9 percent, while the Arboretum rang up 5 percent, tying with the Second Street District. The rest — Shops at the Galleria, Lakeline Mall, Highland Mall, Prime Outlets, Tanger Outlets, La Frontera, Wolf Ranch and Capital Plaza — earned 3 percent or less.
Sweet that ol’ Capital Plaza was remembered.
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Your A-List: Best Festival That’s Not ACL or SXSW
The A-List reader poll for Best Festival That’s Not ACL or SXSW turned into a showdown between the Old Settlers Music Festival and Kerrville Folk Festival. Both are full-saturation events, out of doors and packed with music, so related thematically to the biggest fests. Old Settler’s took 50 percent of the ballots; Kerrville 41 percent.
Pretty much everything else fell to 3 percent or less: Fun Fun Fun Fest, Texas Book Festival, Austin Kite Festival, Austin Raggae Festival, Austin Film Festival, Batfest, Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival, Keep Austin Weird Festival, Urban Music Festival, Art City Austin, Fantastic Fest, Cine Las Americas, Out of Bounds Improv Festival and Fuse Box.
I think I’ve covered all but one of these. Wanna guess which?
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Your A-List: Best Happy Hour
When you ask: What’s your favorite Austin happy hour, are you asking about the drinks? Or the food? Or the scene? Or the whole package?
The winner is an old friend: multi-sited Trudy’s, which earned just over 20 percent of the votes, while funky South Congress music venue Continental Club came close with just under 20 percent.
Downtown restaurant McCormick & Schmick’s came in third with 13 percent. Saxon Pub and Baby Acapulco tied at 10 percent. Close behind were Doc’s, Roaring Fork, Cedar Door and Kyoto, with Brown Bar bringing up the rear.
All good happy hours. Where were Trio or Maria Maria in all this? Maybe they are still too new.
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Kanye West buys into Austonian?
Kanye West had purchased the top floor of the Austonian.
A building source says: “I hadn’t heard that.”
Can anyone confirm?
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Texas Tribune Launch at the Belmont
Now that was a mob …
John Thornton and Evan Smith
Delegates from Law, Media and Business thronged to the Belmont on Tuesday to smash a figurative champagne bottle over the Texas Tribune’s bow …
Dean and Andrea McWilliams
A nonprofit, online newspaper that covers public policy has been a years-long daydream for Austin Ventures partner John Thornton …
Kate Hersch and Richard Saja
With corporate and private donations — prompted by Thornton’s own $1 million+ ante — the Tribune is off and running …
Cynthia Baker and Whurley
As usual for major meet-ups at the Belmont, the front courtyard was shoulder-to-shoulder, but the upper decks and inside spaces promised room to breathe, nibble and sip …
Matt Waite (Hot Type Consulting), Kerri Taylor and Brandon Taylor (Tribune developer)
I talked to journalists, some formerly of the Statesman, others cherry-picked by Tribune captain Evan Smith for the new project …
Priya Nihalani and Ken Miller
Also present were publicists, lobbyists, politicians and, especially, a lot of techies …
Mark Oberholzer and Leigh Hopper
As a digital-only newspaper, the Tribune has attracted the attention and help of open-source, design and development wizards (like Mr. Whurley, already moving into alternate reality field) …
Thom Singer, Susanna Hamner and Lance Avery Morgan
News and social junkies like your columnist will keep an eye on the Tribune as it sails out into the wide, wide world of journalistic discovery.
Laura Scanlan Cho and Kenneth Cho
Ben Hine and Ximena Estrada
Steve Moakley and Natalie Bell
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Notable Women at the Long Center
The Notable Women movement had quietly exited the stage …
Toya Haley and Dr. Joni Wallace
As imagined by Vickie Roan, owner of the Menagerie, the group raised $1.3 million for the Long Center project, simply by setting aside the price of a latte a day for a year …
Jane Driscoll, Diane Lupsitz and Christina Hester
After the center opened, the Notables, as a group, slipped from view. Many of them reassembled, however, in the Kodosky Donor Lounge on Tuesday to catch up — and to learn details about the center’s upcoming 2nd anniversary party …
Tony Jelik, Bobbi Topfer and Beau Nutt
Slated for March 27, the party is built around the indestructible ’80s act Hall and Oates, with Asleep at the Wheel out in the tent, entertaining for the remaining festivities …
Patty Huffines and Vickie Roan
The color is purple for the party, which is a fresh twist for this gala-goer.
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Why Women Have Sex, Part 3
For more of “Why Women Have Sex,” scroll down to previous posts, or link to Part 1 and Part 2.
In their own words
‘I was told that if a man could dance he could perform in bed. I did not believe this and wanted to see if it was true. … We ended up having sex and yes he was as good in bed as he was on the dance floor. … He literally danced while having sex. It was wonderful.’ — heterosexual woman, age 29
‘I had sex with someone who had a great sense of humor because every time I was with him, I had a great time. I have never had so much fun with anyone else as I had with him.’ — heterosexual woman, age 27
‘The reason I had sex with my ex-husband? I was young, I was 16 years old, and I wanted him to stay with me. I thought by having sex it would ensure a committed relationship. It didn’t, but at the time you could not have made me see that. I equated sex (with) love. And the more we made love, I thought, the more he must love me. I was a fool.’ — heterosexual woman, age 41
‘My husband cheated with my best friend, so I had an affair with her husband for three months. I did not feel guilty at all.’ — heterosexual woman, age 44
‘Sometimes, it was easier to just give in and do it when he wanted rather than put up with listening to him whine and complain about how horny he was.’ — heterosexual woman, age 29
‘After I broke up with the first person that I had sex with, I wondered if sex with different people was dramatically different, so I had sex with another boy I knew and … yeah, it was definitely different.’ — predominately heterosexual woman, age 18
‘I have had sex with my boyfriend to make my sexual skills better for the both of us. I see it as each time I have sex I’m also choosing to do it to heighten my skills so we can both have an even better experience than the last.’ — heterosexual woman, age 20
‘You know the situation with your spouse where you really want to please them sexually because you want to have your own way on something. Little things like choosing (where to eat) dinner.’ — heterosexual woman, age 25
‘(Sex) is a stress reliever, and let’s face it, most of the time men don’t care why, they’re just happy to help along.’ — predominately heterosexual woman, age 22
‘I can’t really describe this experience … but pure joy and connection with another person I feel is becoming closer to the cycles of life and the underlying, palpable energy of the world … in essence, God.’ heterosexual woman, age 21
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Why Women Have Sex, Part 2
For Part 1 of “Why Women Have Sex,” scroll down to the previous post, or go here.
“(It’s) the most fascinating and illuminating look at female sexuality since Alfred Kinsey’s ‘Sexual Behavior in the Human Female,’ ” says Mary Roach, author of “Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.”
The Meston-Buss book is informed by evolutionary psychology (Buss’ expertise) about mate selection and psychophysiology (Meston’s specialty) on the female body’s response to sex.
“In the past, most people believed that whatever worked for men worked for women,” Meston says of her research. When male sexual enhancement drugs came on the market, for instance, pharmaceutical companies poured money into her research, hoping to find the first “pink Viagra.” With new measurement techniques, they discovered women’s bodies didn’t operate in the same way. (Mere genital blood flow did not trigger a sexual response in women’s brains.)
“What we’ve learned about the basic physiology of women’s sex in the past 10 years has exceeded what was learned in the previous 30, ever since Masters and Johnson,” she says.
What makes this book a potential best-seller are the words of the women themselves. The study respondents are remarkably candid.
“They could be entertaining, funny and heart-wrenching” says Meston, who spent months and months sorting through the colloquial responses. “Some say it succinctly, eloquently.”
Meston hopes the female readers who might not have reflected on why they have sex will be open to the variety of experiences recorded in the book.
“Some turn out well, some badly,” Meston says of sexual choices. “For these reasons, I feel good. For these reasons, I feel bad. Maybe we can make fewer negative choices.”
More to come …
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Why Women Have Sex, Part 1
“It’s complicated.”
No, that’s not how Cindy Meston lists her relationship status on her Facebook page.
“We both knew it was a question that had not been asked in the research literature,” Meston said. “People wondered, ‘What do you mean? Of course, it’s because we want to feel good.’ But we found it’s much more complicated than that.”
In fact, in two related surveys, women reported a full range of human responses, citing spirituality, conquest, sympathy, revenge, boredom, loneliness, curiosity, practice, attraction, esteem, reproduction, variety, evaluation, friendship, attention, submission, power, romance, pleasure, punishment, stress, adventure, barter, commitment, duty, infatuation, competition, guilt, coercion, jealousy and stimulation, among other motivations.
“We categorized them into 237 reasons,” said Meston, co-author with Buss of the book “Why Women Have Sex,” which has landed the psychology professors on “Dr. Phil” and “The Rachael Ray Show.”
“Most of what was known before was how to turn on a woman — physical cues, emotional cues, romantic cues, holding hands and so forth. Also the confidence and status of the man. This study told us so much more,” she says.
More to come …
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Austin Celebrity Roundup
It’s been a while. Sorry. We’ll catch up on Austin celebrities in installments.
Sherry Jameson of Annies Cafe and Bar on Congress Avenue hung out with Woody Harrelson at the Austin Film Festival wrap party at the Belmont. Jameson’s family got to know Texan Harrelson while he worked on movies in Smithville. Pictured: Janice Hurst (Sherry’s sister); Brenda Mitchell (Sherry’s sister), Woody Harrelson, Joanne Flynn and Sherry Jameson.
Multiple Hollywood sources say that Austin director Robert Rodriguez has walked away from a proposed movie of the futuristic TV cartoon, “The Jetsons.” Apparently, so did actor Jim Carrey, who was jawed as George Jetson.
What need reporters, when celebrities like Lance Armstrong tweet it all, including the take from his recent Sotheby’s charity bike auction: “1.3 mil raised for @livestrong!!! So incredibly humbling. From (artist) Damien Hirst’s masterpiece Tour de France ‘finale’ Trek Madone covered in real butterflies, to the KAWS ‘Chompers’ cycle that I broke my collarbone on in the Vuelta Castilla y Leon, every ride is a treasured piece of personal history that I’m proud to offer up to benefit LIVESTRONG.”
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Riverside: Highland and Lowland
I’ll take the high road and, what the heck, I’ll take the low road, too.
While the Colorado River floodplains and flanking hills define the terrain North-South, socially, Riverside is divided along a jagged, line between large apartment complexes to the East and small single-family zones to the West. The latter is crisscrossed by Parker Lane and Woodland Avenue, leading to narrow strips of cliff-side developments.
Among the steep, highland mounds — nobody driving Riverside or Interstate 35 can imagine how steep — the autumn flowers had dulled, but groundwater had risen to replenish the trees. Few birds lingered late in the morning, but two hawks flashed overhead. One encounters not so many dog-walkers as in nearby, gentler Travis Heights, but plenty of yard-dabblers, and a few water-toting trekkers like ourselves.
Only scattered evidence of pre-World War II activity here, mostly down along Old Riverside and up on Taylor-Gaines Street. (Were these names of settlers of that hilltop? Non-snarky readers please reply).
Otherwise, the highland homes fall into two categories: Mid-century moderns, built after work began on the interstate, some of them fastidiously placed on hillsides; and less thoughtful 1970s versions of Colorado chalets and Arizona desert ranchers, with skirts of milky limestone for local flavor. No longer hidden, this neighborhood remains a gem.
The sweet find this trip was a hilltop homestead plot on Parker. Ancient oaks guard the hill’s crest and a meadow drops down to a pond, probably feeding the almost completely erased Harpers Branch. The lot is for sale. That probably excites developers, but it would also make a superb, vest-pocket park in an area lacking them, especially if playgrounds were added to the vast lawns of two churches across the street.
These upper neighborhoods remain pretty much intact. No so the giant apartment complexes in the lowlands, almost all demolished (easily, given their temporary nature). A walk along Lakeside Drive and its LCRA-planted oak alleys explains why the area was targeted for new mix-use development. In any city, this would be a coveted location, so near downtown, the lake and Lakeside Park.
University of Texas students once dominated this area, as well as the apartments on the hillsides across Riverside Drive. No longer. Immigrants gather on the landings and cook in the courtyards. Some have fleshed out balconies with plants and decoration, which seems a little sad, since many of the remaining buildings will go, too.
Immigrants infuse Pleasant Valley Road, East Riverside and East Oltorf with enormous, international energy. Taquerias, carnerias, panderias, along with Vietnamese, Chinese, Indonesian and Mediterranean cafes, battle against American fast-food chain (guess which nutritionists and foodies would probably back).
No wonder H-E-B is expanding its keystone store at Pleasant Valley and Riverside. Would be a good time to partner with the city to finish the sidewalks along that side of Pleasant Valley, since a steady stream of families trod the mud between the grocery store and the authentic Gran Mercado complex down the street.
Developers, neighborhood activists and city planners are taking the next steps carefully. Overwhelming logic supports the boardwalk extension of the hike-and-bike trail. Also the balance between new amenities and affordable housing in the lowlands. Well-maintained landscaping and pedestrian crossings would help Oltorf and Riverside.
Eventually, one assumes, the soul-chilling acres of concrete parking lots will disappear as the area population diversifies. I predict an internationally-flavored organic grocery store will eventually replace American Bingo, one of the area’s most painful eyesores. I’d bet on it.
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Maria Groten’s Surprise Party at Kiss & Fly
One does not need a reason to glorify Maria Groten …
Claudia and Maria Groten
She’s a leader in the Style and Charity fields, while her husband, Eric, bolsters those endeavors through the worlds of Law and Arts …
Jeff and Allison Swope (recently of New York City
Yet a 40th birthday does not go unheralded, even if Groten can look half that age, at least when spiraling across a dance floor …
Clinton Peña and Douglas Kennedy
Early in the evening, Eric took Maria to dinner, where they happened to “meet” Zach Theatre director Dave Steakley and his partner, real estate agent Tony Johnson …
Dave Steakley, Julia McCurley, Dave McCurley and Tony Johnson
After dinner, the three men escorted Maria into the vast and empty (at that comparatively early hour) Kiss & Fly club, then down the stairs to the dim basement bar, where scads of friends from all fields wished her well among hugs, backstories and more dancing ….
David Garza and Rachel Saldaña
Why a gay bar for the Grotens? Well, let’s see … Style, Charity, Arts, Law. Let’s just say they have a few gay friends …
Tim Crowley (in from Marfa) and Emily Keeton (Santa Monica)
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First Edition Literary Gala at the Four Seasons
Each Austin scene ripens in its own time …
Heidie Marquez Smith and Clay Smith
Law and Education in the Ancestral Era. … Business and Sports in the Modern Era. … Music, Movies, Arts and Food early in the Contemporary Era. … Style, Charity, Nightlife and Media in the late Contemporary Era …
Jordan Sinclair and Brian Ferguson (who knew whom to know at the gala)
Almost simultaneously, the digital and literary subsets of the Media scene have emerged from their dormant state during the last 10 years, as chronicled by outgoing American-Statesman books reporter/editor Jeff Salamon …
Leslie Callahan and Deborah Treece (Representing Ancestral Austin!)
Salamon absolutely defined the phenomenon in today’s newspaper. He tied the fresh literary scene — building on mounds of tradition — to the Texas Book Festival, Michener Center for Writers, Ransom Center, Southwestern Writers Collection, Texas Monthly and Texas Writers League …
Janie McGarr and Nancy Halbreich (daughters of former Dallas Mayor Annette Strauss)
All this coalesces as we embark on another book festival over a glorious Halloween weekend …
Dave Hamrick (UT Press) and Tim Staley (Austin Public Library Foundation)
The First Edition Literary Gala at the Four Seasons Hotel brought many local and national celebrities of the word together …
Natalie, Greg and Mari Marchbanks (who took me to my first Texas Book Festival gala ages ago)
Mort Meyerson introduced Bob Schieffer who introduced Richard Russo (“That Old Cape Magic”), Bryan Burroughs (“The Big Rich”) and Jon Scieszka (“The Stinky Cheese Man”), each funnier and more timely than the last …
Lois Chiles (Houston actress and former Bond Girl) and Vance Muse (public face of the Menil Collection)
I sat next to the scion of the Ancestral Austin Callahan clan …
Lois Qualben and Mary Louise McCarty (best glittering hat of the gala)
As well as to Mark Seal (“Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa”), whom, to my chagrin, I didn’t identify right away as a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, or a former contributor to Texas Monthly, among many other publications, who now lives in Aspen, Colo. …
U.S. Rep. Lloyd and Libby Doggett
After we exchanged cards, Seal said he’d read my column. I begged him not to …
Pamela Weiss and Mort Meyerson (big names from other cities)
Mine is not the literary mode. I’m a crook-fingered blogger and columnist whose micro-insights into Austin are best left unexamined beyond the moment of their recording.
Jeanne Klein and Jon Scieszka (leading art collector, profiled in Sunday’s newspaper, and outrageous children’s book writer)
But I do love a literary festival. Especially this one …
Bart and Barbara Knaggs (Capitol Sports and Entertainment, Lance Armstrong’s managers)
Jayne Barrett and Sarah Bird (my neighbor and my role model)
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ANNIE'S CAFE & BAR at 319 Congress (next to the Elephant Rm) has a great Happy Hour. Very classy, outdoor seating when the weather is right, fun bar area. Drinks and food - supurb!
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thank you for posting our photo! did you photoshop me?! see you soon, how did you escape going to March of Dimes LOL
-Julia
... read the full comment by Julia McCurley | Comment on Maria Groten's Surprise Party at Kiss & Fly Read Maria Groten's Surprise Party at Kiss & Fly
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