After a Fashion
The Swish Alps has added a gap-toothed fairy to its social olympics.
By Stephen MacMillan Moser, Fri., March 5, 2010
THE WORKING WOMAN Well, once again I braved the wilds of society with my dental problem – on Friday night, bringing my gap-toothed smile to the Women & Their Work's Art Divas get-together at Becky Beaver's historic home. Not being art divas and hardly being working women, Michael Barnes and my date, Stephen Rice, were the only males there. The art and collections of objets d'art from all over the world were stunning (I don't think there's anywhere that Becky hasn't been). The house is misleading – a small cottage that was formerly a dairy about 100 years ago, with the original creamery out back. But of course, being Austin, so many of our old homes have found new life with additions and renovations. Becky's house is one of those. You walk in through a modest entryway, but the back of the house opens up before your eyes like a theatre. A beautiful new deck out the back door overlooks the backyard that is wonderfully landscaped (I daresay it was Gardens who did it), and you could tell that the land behind them had once rolled all the way to Shoal Creek. Absolutely beautiful and with immense charm, it was not what I expected from Becky – but then again, she's always full of surprises. At one point she directed me toward a piece of art to look at, and I said, "Becky, I didn't come here to see your art; I came to see your closet full of gowns." "Not on this tour," she laughed. "The closet is a nightmare." I love knowing that people like her are real people just like us. Of note was the fabulous spread of hors d'oeuvres by Quincy Erickson of Fête Accompli. Truly divine.
ZACH-ING IT UP Of course I wasn't going to miss Zach Theatre's annual Red, Hot & Soul fundraiser, regardless of a missing tooth. As noted in an earlier column, Zach provided the materials for a number of artists and local celebrities to donate centerpieces. I donated a snow globe that I cobbled together from found objects and was so proud of it that I hardly wanted to let it go when it was time. But by the time the auction closed, the Zach fans were in a dither of excitement, and so was I, so it didn't matter. Red, Hot & Soul is perhaps the most successful of fundraisers of its kind in Austin; for 10 years I've attended and for 10 years I've watched it grow and grow. Over the last decade, as I've slalomed through the Swish Alps, it has been interesting to see who attended the big fundraising events. It seemed like whatever the nonprofit was (ballet, opera, symphony, theatre, health care, etc.), each group had its own supporters. Occasionally, there would be overlap between them, but not a lot. At this Red, Hot & Soul? It looked like a police lineup of Austin's philanthropic heavy-hitters: Eva Womack, Venus and Bill Strawn, Carla (in Alexander McQueen) and Jack McDonald, Michael and Candace Partridge, Bobbi and Mort Topfer, Mark Strama and his family, Karen and Rick Hawkins, and so many more. All under one roof. Wow. Leave it to Zach.
DON'T FORGET It will be a wild riot at Austin Children's Shelter's New Wave Ball on Friday. I'll be there wearing ... something. TBD. Info is available at www.austinchildrensshelter.org. aGLIFF's Oscar Party is this Sunday at the Driskill – leave it to Skot Tulk to raise the bar on this affair. Go to www.agliff.org. And of course, so dear to my heart, the Texas Film Hall of Fame is coming up on March 11. Be there. Go to www.austinfilm.org for more details.
