The exhibition of the Petrobelli altarpiece by Veronese, just concluded at the Blanton, receives a good three print pages in The New Republic (”Venice in Texas,” byline Jed Perl, February 18). Here’s a representative quotation offering tribute to the curatorial knowledge at the Blanton: “In Austin, the exhibition was embraced by a loyal audience that has come to expect word-class scholarly work from the curators at the Blanton.” The accomplishments so far and the goals for the future are recognized. Perl dislikes the atrium and staircase as much as many of us do (”simultaneously overbearing and bland”). The Blanton is credited at its fiest with “exhibitions in which the best art historical scholarship, closely linked to the academic values of the university, flows seamlessly into the dazzling showmanship that any museum needs to attract the public.” The Veronese show is said to be “a powerful example of a modium-sized museum building on its strengths and coming up with something truly substantial.” The Suida-Manning, Leo Steinberg, and Latin American collections are recognized for their artistic and scholarly value. “Even after you have factored in Austin’s long tradition of intellectual sophistication, there is something rather extraordinary about the amount of money that has been raised to support a program of collections and exibitions,” Perl says. I’ve noticed that the Blanton seems to have cut back on its mailings and other forms of publicity. We should not overlook the gem in our midst; the rest of the world doesn’t.

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Terra Toys stocks commercial-free Valentine cards, free of licensed characters: no Disney, no TV shows, just old-fashioned sentiment. We were too late to send away for reissues of vintage cards and didn’t have our usual luck this year finding old-fashioned valentines in Spanish.

Terra Toys has been a magnet since it was one of the first new retail establishments in years to open its doors downtown on Congress, on the lower part of the Avenue that sported an array of bars catering to those who also rented mailboxes at the same places and would turn over their monthly VA or SS disability checks and then run a tab all month until credit ran out. Terra Toys survived there and seemed to thrive until one of the recurring real-estate booms demolished its premises. That’s when Terra Toys pioneered on South Congress, continuing to sell its little handmade wooden toys on wheels and expanding to offer one of the very best selections in town of books for children (still true) and then Dragonsnaps, selling clothing for children.

Again the real-estate juggernaut charged through, and now Terra Toys is located at 2438 West Anderson Lane (445-4489; open at 9 am every day of the week but Sunday, when it opens at noon). Terra Toys still offers Steiff, Madame Alexander, kites, toy robots, dress-up clothes and hats, board games, construction toys, art supplies, activities, and much, much more. Don’t forget those showy cocktail rings sporting giant facted “jewels,” just three dollars. Most of the creatures on wheels and other handmade wooden toys from the old days went as presents, but I’ll never, ever give away my chicken on wheels or my wonderful floating battleship.

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Saturday saw the streets blocked, not by parking for Polvos, or South Congress, but for the Austin Home tour. Ok, that wasn’t A change; but it at least it was at least different from the normal clogged streets, if you live in close proximity.

Change is in the air though. Turns out that iconic Bouldin Creek coffee shop will be moving sometime over the summer. According to the latest Bouldin bulletin, the newsletter of the neighborhood that proudly claims “weird starts here”, Bouldin Creek Coffee is moving to the long vacant Big G tire store location on the corner of S 1st and W Mary. Just up the street really, but it will be interesting to see how they handle the move.

Real change though is at Becker Elementary school on W Milton. Long a neighborhood corner stone, the small South Austin public elementary school is going dual language. What this means is that on top of the already excellent classes provided at the school, now the children will work together in English and Spanish. As someone who has long admired the ability of the Dutch to speak better English than many Brits and Americans, they do exactly this in their elementary schools. This is a massive opportunity for elementary age school kids.

Becker is having an open evening on Tuesday 2nd between 5-6:30pm, open to kids and parents. Come see what the school can offer your family. Becker is one of four AISD elementary schools chosen to pilot this program.

Next change for Bouldin Creek neighborhood, is that its’ neighborhood associations Annual General Meeting is moving to Austin City Hall on the 9th at 6:45pm. All residents from the West side of Congress to the East side of S Lamar, from Barton Springs to Oltorf are welcome and encouraged.

In fact, if you’ve ever been to a Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Plan Contact Team (BCNPCT) meeting before, at least one, then you are strongly encouraged to come to their meeting on Wednesday 3rd from 6-7pm at Morning Star on South 1st. BCNPT will be discussing and voting on two key ordinances, front and side parking, and Mobile Food vending. Arguably, the neighborhood has more mobile food vending than any other neighborhood in Austin.

They will also be electing officers, in order to vote on either of the ordinances or the elections, you need to have attended at least one prior meeting on the BCNAPT according to its’ rules. Even if you’ve not previously attended, this could be your first, and you’ll be able to vote at a future meeting.

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This Chabrier operetta is seldom performed, for reasons difficult to understand. The weather was on the chilly side last night, but not a single seat was vacant after the intermission, quite unusual. I heard a man say, “I didn’t want to come to this, but it’s really, really funny!” and it is.

The laughter began as soon as the curtain rose following the spritely overture. This production is absurdist and witty. It employs a small orchestra, a large chorus, a starring cast of fine singers and actors (I’d single out the king, plus his astrologer), costumes to which photos do no justice, and a wonderful set and lighting design. The choreography is truly outstanding. Everyone participates in these clever movements and dances, and performs very well. The choreographic elements are a true enhancement and are integral to the success of the show.

We in Austin are fortunate indeed to have an opportunity to see and hear The Star and in this first-rate production. The Austin Lyric Opera production has three performances remaining: on February 3, 5 (Wednesday and Friday at 7:30 pm), and 7 (Sunday at 3:30 pm).

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Farewell to the Cactus Cafe, scene of countless wonderful musical experience for countless Austinites, whether affiliated officially with the campus or not. Farewell to Union Informal Classes, where people from every part of our community could be introduced to or continue learning about subjects that they might not otherwise encounter, meeting their neighbors and paying a modest fee. It makes me too sad to think about all the music over all the years, for which so many of us are so grateful. I’ll never forget the instructors or the fellow students in various wine-tasting classes, dance classes, and Spanish classes. It was via UT that so many of us here in Austin heard our first operas, being lectured on the bus by Dr. Walter Ducloux of sainted memory or Dr. William Reber. We’d travel to Houston or to Dallas by bus, and dine before the matinee performance, returning to Austin very late and stepping out into the real world again at the Villa Capri parking lot. Support for the formation of Austin Lyric Opera arose directly from those entertaining and educational jaunts. And I’ll never forget the sight of Placido Domingo being borne across the stage (precariously, it seemed) standing on a shield carried on the shoulders of a bunch of hefty guys during the Aida triumphal procession. Long gone are the fascinating movie series at the Union and elsewhere, which showed many, many movies each week and which introduced the best of Hong Kong productions to us. The obliteration of the Cactus and informal claases will result in paltry monetary savings and a great loss to our community. The fine folks at the local daily (Michael Corcoran and Tony Plohetsky) write about these latest planned curtailments at length.

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Thanks to @darenkrause over on twitter comes this report from the Housing Predictor that puts Austin number-2 on it’s places to buy list, with Huntsville, AL #1.

The reasons cited for this are a strong local economies(I guess they didn’t check with city hall on tax revenues) and good prospects for job growth; also that we are a college town. Described as a “smaller market” it says we tend to thrive during recessions as more people enroll at universities.

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I’m in my 4th year in Austin, one of the things that continues to surprise me, is how I’m continually discovering new places and things. I find myself today at the Spider House at Fruth st. Never heard of it, but another really cool Austin coffee shop and location.

I’m up here for Ops Camp Austin. What? One of the other new cool things thats happening in the tech industry, and in which Austin is also a major driver, an “un-conference”.

Unlike the big commercial conferences that spend a fortune on big locations, put on endless sessions in parallel, all indiscernible from each other and attendees suffer through death by powerpoint multiple times a day. They also tend to be expensive to attend, the hotels are expensive etc.

So an un-conference is the opposite. It costs nothing to attend, it’s informal, there is no pre-set agenda, talks get posted to an informal grid, they are limited in time and thus powerpoint charts, and theres both an air of excitement and anticipation, we don’t know what we are going to do but it’s a big turnout from a lot of new and established Austin Tech companies.

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So says Bon Appetit magazine in its February issue, giving us a two-page spread complete with map and atmospheric pix (byline Jon Paul Buchmeyer) and offering a downloadable guide in Adobe PDF form. We know that we’re a delicious destination, but sometimes it’s good to be reminded, complete with a couple of places we haven’t yet tried. We’re described as “a mecca for the eco-minded.” Food, of course, is the focus, and beyond Whole Foods, attention is devoted to establishments that “use local organic produce and all-natural Texas meats.” The list includes Wink, the Mighty Cone, Olivia, Thai Fresh, Somnio’s, House Pizzeria, and the Eastside Cafe. Bookmark this to have handy when all your SxSW visitors begin descending upon you.

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• The idea of the Mayor’s Book Club is a little bit hokey. Some years I read the book selected and some years I don’t. I’d been passing this year’s by each time I saw it displayed at a library branch, but eventually my resistance broke bown and I borrowed it. You should, too. The various summaries I’ve seen don’t do Amigoland justice. It’s a fast read and an entertaining and good-humored one. I look forward to reading more by Oscar Casares, who teaches at UT.
• John Mackey, nearly synonymous with Whole Foods, is the subject of a long article in the New Yorker of January 4, with extended quotations from JM himself (”Food Fighter: Does Whole Foods’ C.E.O. know what’s best for you?” by Nick Paumgarten). We read about the WH origin story, with passing reference to Central Market. Although the writer draws out JM very well, he doesn’t have much, if any, success in coaxing others to talk about JM and WF on the record. I enjoyed reading the description of the fountain of chocolate and the brief passing reviews of prepared foods from those counters.
• Taking his place on a very short list, our own James McMurtry is named Most Valuable Rocker in The Nation of January 11. That is one category among the many in “MVPs of 2009” (byline John Nichols).

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So, a mock battle blew into town today with the latest war of words between 21st century robber barons Time Warner Cable and Fox TV. TWC have an almost total lock on Cable TV here in Austin, as well as commensurate hold on wired broadband. Fox, who are part of the Murdoch News Corporation media empire, whose influence, especially in a waining market for traditional news and entertainment, continues to grow. They both have ads in todays Statesman, whose Brian Gaar has been covering the squabble since back before Thanksgiving.

It’s a virtuous circle, Statesman cover the “faux fight”, TWC and News Corp aka Fox buy space in the Statesman; TWC charges us for cable, Fox charges TWC for their coverage; Fox sells advertising space during and between it’s coverage, and when they can, they charge directly for the product; the advertisers put up their price to cover their additional cost. The common theme here… we get charged more for what is little more than a fake fight. In the end we know the corporations will settle, it’s in all their best interests. They just want to obfuscate the issues so much that in the end we will just accept what ever we are told. The “opposing” sides have already launched web sites with their own version of the truth.

TWC would have it that FOX are demanding a 300% rate hike in order to carry their programming. According to the Statesman, Time Warner’s current deal with FOX in Austin, and several other markets (like Dallas, LA, Detroit, Orlando, and Tampa) expires at midnight Dec. 31st. We’ve seen this before with TWC, and the same “play” is also running between Comcast and Directv over teh Versus network. At the heart of the issue is the same seen in previous other disputes between cable network providers and the cable company: Money.

Given the channel bundles that are forced on us on all the TV providers, not just TWC, a 300% rise isn’t really such a big deal, TWC carry hundreds of channels, and charge a bundle for anything over the legal minimum channel bundle. Fox on the other hand have dozens of channels. which I for one never watch. Ok, I do record games off the Fox Soccer Channel, check the result and if it looks like a good game, put it on one evening. Fox would have it that TWC has a license to print money, and what it is asking compared to what it provides, the additional charge is easily justified. TWC on the other hand is raking money in from both charging for basic programming, and cable bundles, as well as from video/movies on demand and profits and revenue is up…. Fox looks on admiringly and wonders, “how can we get a piece of that action?”

The real issue here is the lack of transparency and obfuscation. TWC should be subject to two rules in any market where they provide cable. ONE. They should allow customers to select their own cable channels and channel bundles. Trust me, I wouldn’t want any of the News Corp. aka Fox channels, and given the quality of most of the non-HD channels on TWC, I’d even pass up on the Fox Soccer Channel, as you really can’t tell who has the ball during a long shot. That would allow TWC to defray the charge demanded by Fox, since the Fox signal actually isn’t being broadcast to however-many-million viewers. TWO. On their web site, TWC should be be REQUIRED to list the constituent rebroadcast costs for each channel and for the services that TWC provide.

Of course, neither TWC or News Corp. would want that. It allows customers to have a real choice, which they don’t have now. It also effectively eliminates these faux battles that get drummed up as negotiating tactics by marketing departments every time a deal is up for renewal. 10% of something is better than 100% of nothing at all.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not on TWC’s side. They provide a service which is barely out of the 1990’s, and their DVR/Cable box and remote, barely out of the 1980’s. I’m certainly not on FOX’s side, since I really don’t watch any of their coverage and mostly the only time I see any of their “news” its when it is being lampooned by Jon Stewart, which interestingly, I watch on the Internet for free…

[TIA: I updated a number of minor typos in this post, my apologies]

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Domy Books is a real feast for anyone who has eyes. Finish your holiday shopping for yourself and for those on your lists in one delightful stop. We concentrated on books and limited-edition works on paper, with a little side stop at the Poketo artist billfolds. Domy stocks the Charley Harper alphabet board books, not just for little kids. There’s an extensive selection of kidrobot and other art toys. It was easy to resist the oevre of Stan Brakhage, not a personal favorite (one viewing of Dog Star Man in a lifetime is quite enough for some), but his work is among the DVDs available. R. Crumb’s illustrated Genesis is also in stock. Russell, most affable and apparently the presiding genius of the place, was there to answer all questions. There are many surprises to be found on Domy’s shelves, a perfect example of serendipity at work. At Domy, all is available for inspection, not locked away, no matter how precious, it appears. Fiction is not overlooked (Dumas, Roberto Bolaño); nor is the instructional (how to make it at home; how to play dozens of card games). Do you need books that are photo souvenirs of ever-changing Austin, post cards, pocket calendars, unique greeting cards, journals to write in that distinguish you from the rest? Find them at Domy. Don’t go before noon, which is when Domy opens its doors seven days a week, but do go.

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• Newcomers to Austin relocating from Virginia bought their new house without ever having seen it. They used Google Street View and other on-line real-estate tools. This is reported in the January issue of Smart Money (”What’s Your House Really Worth”?). Their names are given and their house is pictured. I recognize it as being in Hyde Park. What do Trulia and Zillow have to say about your habitation? How do their approaches compare with TCAD’s valuation?
• The NYT covers Etsy as a way to make a living beyond its hobby aspects (”That Hobby Looks Like a Lot of Work,” byline Alex Williams). The focus is in part on Austinite Caroline Colom Vasquez and her business, Paloma’s Nest. This piece has been blogged by the Huffington Post.
• The NYT also reports that Austin’s own Four Hands, importer and manufacturer of furniture and other items for the home, will be rolling out a line of furniture called Bina, which will mix North American black walnut and white oak with reclaimed exotic hardwoods (”Exotic Woods Out of the Urban Wild,” byline Tim McKeough). Bina already encompasses over 80 pieces and will be available in January.
• The WSJ has managed to elicit quite a bit from UT athletic director DeLoss Dodds in what’s nearly a full page devoted to how the Longhorns raise more support from more people than any other team in the US (”Texas Football Boosters Think Big,” byline Hannah Karp). More living alums and a high percentage who still reside in the Lone Star State, plus an economy that’s better off than most, are thought to be the answer. I think it’s just competitive showing off, but others no doubt think otherwise. Did I need to say “football”?

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This week’s city council meeting should be interesting. There are two ordinances and related matters up for consideration that tend to light up comment threads.

The first is the texting ban that was passed earlier this year and is going for another reading before being put into effect next month (item 90 under Items from Council). Chip Rosenthal is one of those leading the opposition to the ban’s current wording. I tend to agree with Chip on all of his points. You can also follow Chip and this issue via the Facebook Fan Page if you’re into that sort of thing.

The second (item 92 under Items from Council) is something that the Statesman has called out via Twitter and on its City Beat blog. The city is considering reimbursing Reagan for moving a billboard that will be out of compliance with a city ordinance if it changes that ordinance (141 PH on the agenda) to require billboards to be 500 feet from residences. The actual resolution can be found here. After reading the comment thread on the Statesman, I’m not surprised that most of the commenters have neglected to even read the resolution.

As the Statesman post sort of indicates, City Council is proposing changing the ordinance that dictates how close the billboard can be to residences. If the ordinance changes, then the billboard will be out of compliance. If it was in compliance when it was erected, where does that leave Reagan? The rationale in the resolution is that we’re trying to promote growth downtown, so we need to make changes like this to promote that growth. That being said, it sounds like poor planning on someone’s part with respect to the zoning and the ordinances for signage. And, as others have already asked, if we have to pay to move this one, how many others are there? Will we pay for all of them too? Or is this one really getting special treatment? Don’t changes like this usually have grandfather clauses to avoid this sort of problem?

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The sign for Washburn’s is still there, but a rise in rent forced our cleaner and shirt laundry out just after a new sign had been put up. Now, Home Slice Pizza is using part of the building as an annex, an outfit called Stag has recently opened in the remainder, and we’ve followed one of the Washburns over to Capitol Cleaners on South First. We came out today to grab some brisket from The Pit (no taste of ketchup!) and pick up a Mexican calendar from Tesoros. Our mistake. Somehow, I managed to depict a street that appears to be nearly empty. It wasn’t. Vehicles were bumper to bumper in the street, and pedestrians, many accompanied by dogs or strollers, filled the sidewalks. I hope all those people were spending some money. I’ll be spending some in various establishments and very soon, but it won’t be on a Sunday afternoon; I’ve learned my lesson.

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Or make that plungers, snakes, and the telephone. Older isn’t necessarily better, and this is especially true with older houses and some aspects of older neighborhoods. Our house, although it’s among the newest I’ve ever inhabited, dates from the late 1920s. Even though it was designed by Roy Leonidas Thomas, it was constructed as a spec model house and not particularly well. It has never been updated. Apart from the knob-and-tube original wiring, it also is served by cheap galvanized plumbing indoors and Orangeburg pipe outdoors. The minerals in Austin water eventually lead to constrictions in the water lines. I’ve spent a lot of time lately clearing clogs. This is not conducive to a happy disposition.

We also spent nearly a week, including the Thanksgiving holiday, without a dial-tone. The older relatives did not understand this, and we learned that payphones are not so easy to find as they once were. When the genial and competent repair person finally appeared, we learned that the Hickory Exchange is one of the two oldest in Austin. He knew exactly what was wrong, and located the problem two streets away and in quite a short time. The last time we had trouble, the technicians sent out were not so experienced and familiar with the neighborhood, so it took more than one attempt before the difficulty was located, several streets away. We were happy to find that this time, in contrast to earlier occasions, we were actually issued a credit on our monthly bill for the days that we were without service. And without asking!

And in connection with another recent household inconvenience, this one involving a water cut-off, we were happy to learn that the City now has a page of information about water outages up on line.

Most of my habitations have been from the nineteenth century, without electricity or complete with old gas fixtures or old push-button electric switches. The best and most modern and efficient dwelling was a “teacherage” that was amateur-built from mail-order plans, with concrete-block walls and metal casement windows. It wasn’t in the least bit picturesque, but that can be vastly over-rated. Ask the person who knows.

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