First, some advice for party planners: Finger food. Have some. Party people need sustenance.
If you make everyone wait for the buffet or the sit-down meal, they get irritable. Humans are social animals. They like to mingle, nosh, mingle, nosh.
I attended three galas on Sunday night. The closest I came to calories on the run was a cup of (fairly good) decaffeinated coffee.
Christine Bentsen and Hilary Hunt
With that unsolicited advice out of the way, let me say that the Petcasso party for Animal Trustees of Austin keeps growing and growing like a rescued puppy.
For whatever reasons, women outnumbered the men at the AT&T Center for this unlikely marriage of animal welfare and art. I caught up with some delightful folks. Topic No. 1: Our pets. Naturally.
Tayler Milburn and Alexiz Archie
Next up: Night of the Tarantula for FuseBox Festival. This smaller gathering consumed a full meal conceptually linked to the music of composer Graham Reynolds. Or rather, they did so after I left.
Modest impresario John Riedie showed me more of the Scottish Rite Theater than I’d discovered before. Gratified to the see the old German social hall turned masonic lodge turned theater and revived social hall so well utilized.
Any number of gracious and alert FuseBox hosts offered me a novelty cocktail. Not when I’m driving, thank you. And my next gala required travel by car.
Colby Swain and Kathryn Hamilton
Say what you will about the ecological drawbacks of golf courses, resorts and subdivisions placed in rugged wilderness valleys, but the Barton Creek complex is gorgeously landscaped.
I alway park some distance away from my party in order to soak up the scenery.
The party this night was Bogey Down for the Andy Roddick Foundation’s new spring benefit. (Golf followed today.)
The mood was unmitigated fun. Vintage party costumes. The Spazmatics. Radio personality Bobby Bones at his most endearing as he pushed a dinner with Vince Young and other auction items.
I know the organizers wanted to play down any comparisons with the massive Mack, Jack and McConaughey fandango, the other big new benefit in town this week. They needn’t have been concerned.
This charming benefit is a treat unto itself. I’m hoping next year to spend more time with these inveterate fun-lovers doing good.