Big names. Big gifts. Big ideas.
Mack, Jack & McConaughey had it all. And there’s more tonight.
Nikki Burch and Andy Reese
The first collaborative benefit from Longhorns coach Mack Brown, country artist Jack Ingram and movie star Matthew McConaughey — and their wives — went off with a loud bang.
Everywhere you looked at ACL Live, familiar faces popped up. At least three — Vince Young, Colt McCoy and Peter Gardere — have filled quarterback jerseys. One, Ricky Williams, won a Heisman Trophy.
Some — Steve and Donna Hicks, Mary and Rusty Tally, Beau and Val Armstrong — live at the stylish and generous end of the charity circuit. All had fresh news.
I didn’t know, for instance, until I snapped their smiling faces that Blake Mycoskie and Heather Mycoskie of the incredibly inspiring Toms Shoes had moved to Austin from Los Angeles full-time to raise a family.
Others were surprises. Really didn’t expect Lance Armstrong to show up, but seemed relaxed and healthy, goshing with buddy McConaughey, the movie actor’s wife and model Camila Alves McConaughey and his charismatic mother, Kay McConaughey.
Amy and Jack Ingram
Several guests said the silent auction was the best they’d ever seen, especially if one is interested in rare sports memorabilia. Yet the live auction attracted the most energy — even screaming. Two guests bid fiercely on a “Mud” premiere package that included up-close interaction with the McConaugheys.
The highest bid — $180,000 — came in for an Aston Martin. A bit of a Twitter protest went up when an 8-day-old golden retriever pup was auctioned for $15,000. Such treatment of live animals is forbidden in some cities. Yet the money went to charity, not to the breeder, and the pup, when old enough, one assumes gets a good home.
We’ll report after tonight’s Part 2 about the total gross and net, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it hit $1 million. Some of the take came, not from the gala, held on the ACL Live floor, but from the hundreds of guests who arrived later to see the musical acts, including John Mellencamp.
Blake Mycoskie and Heather Mycoskie
Some readers think these affairs are all about the glamour and the bucks. “How is that Austin?” some complain.
There’s money and there’s what you do with money. And here the bucks went to five small charities, all with children in mind. An expert video and even more expert live testimonials filled in the guests who were strangers to these programs.
Best idea yet: Combining efforts for one gala. Generous Austin hosts hundreds of benefits a year. Some nights, there are as many as eight significant ones.
Mack, Jack and McConaughey proves that backers can combine forces and leverage more value through imaginative collaboration.