It’s late in the afternoon Wednesday and rummaging through the papers on my desk � the blizzard of press releases and phone messages and hastily scribbled notes taken down while chatting with this publicist and that director and my best source for information, my wife Barbara � I find myself without that news nugget that screams to be the lead item in this week’s column. There is the ongoing brouhaha over the future of Town Lake Park and the Great Green Turtle that calls it home… (If you’ve missed the latest installments, South Austin neighborhood groups have let Mayor Kirk Watson know in no uncertain terms that they don’t care for the idea of a Palmer Performing Arts Center and a new BatCave for ice hockey on that patch of dedicated parkland, and Hizzoner has hastily pedaled backward from his proposal turning City Coliseum over to the Ice Bats. However, in the same move, he floated a new plan for the coliseum that would transform it into a multimillion-dollar events center to house the assorted trade shows and conventions and community events that would be displaced from Palmer by an arts takeover, said transformation to be funded by a boost in the rental car tax. But he’s still intent on putting the matter to the voters on the November 3 ballot, and those neighbors of the park are equally adamant that that’s too soon for a city-wide vote on such a far-reaching proposal affecting land that could be a true jewel in the Violet Crown.) Unfortunately, the event that I’d most like to report on � the first public hearing on the future of Town Lake Park, which may feature the largest, most vocal congregation of culture vultures ever to grace a civic meeting, versus who-knows-how-many fans of Palmer-as-is, plus the area’s neighbors, who seem of many minds about the ideal use for the parkland � is being held just as we go to press. Sigh. Still, that gives me an opportunity to run some arts bulletins from weeks past that just missed inclusion in the column.
Even Pop Superstars Know Good Art When They See It. That much was evident when Elton John and his entourage popped into Austin Galleries a couple of weeks ago. Sir Elton was in the market for bronzes and, wouldn’t you know it, he found one he liked that was by a Texas artist, Doug Scott. The gallery’s George Attal reports that the musician was gracious, so gracious in fact that he provided the sales staff with tickets to his August 7 concert at the Erwin Center.
Craft Isn’t Just a Thing They Sell. Yet again, Clarksville Pottery & Galleries has been named among the Top 100 Retailers of American Crafts by NICHE magazine, a publication for craft retailers. It’s the fourth time the Austin gallery has made the list, a sure sign that owners Syd and Arnie Popinsky have mastered the craft of retailing.
Where the Hell Are the Singin’ Cyborgs? It ain’t just frisky felines that are making musical news of late. The cybernetic creatures of The X & Y Trilogy by ethos are also generating headlines. They showed up at this year’s conference for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, held in San Antonio this month. Members of the VORTEX Repertory Company performed scenes from The Black Blood, Panoptikon, and Triskelion for a crowd of academics in the Mariott Rivercenter Hotel. As if that weren’t enough, director Bonnie Cullum reports that the cyborgs may be seen on the Paramount Theatre stage soon. The trilogy will be mounted in its entirety January 7-10, 1999.
This article appears in August 28 • 1998 and August 28 • 1998 (Cover).