March 29, 2024

Lifestyle

A kick-off party for the Best Friends Brunch

aniMeals

I had a lovely evening a few nights back; I attended a kick-off party for the Best Friends Brunch. The Best Friends Brunch benefits aniMeals on Wheels, a division of Interfaith Ministries Meals on Wheels program. I found out about this worthy charity through my friends, sisters Kristy Phillips and Wendy Phillips who are serving as brunch chairs. Apparently administrators for the Meals on Wheels program learned of a need for pet food when questioning drivers about what they were learning on their routes. Seems program recipients were not finishing their meals in order to save a portion for their four-legged companions. …continue reading

How long can lights stay up after Christmas?

Christmas Lights by Anthony92931 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

No, I did not erect Santa’s Village in the parking court, a manger on the patio, nor a heard of reindeer pulling a sleigh across the rooftop. This Christmas season I very tastefully hung a row of white lights along the edge of the awning over my front door. And with sunset before I get home from the office I have especially loved coming home to their soft white glow, and I can see to open the gate and to get my key in the lock. It seems colder and darker than ever at this point of the year and …continue reading

A few thoughts about Lisa Benitez

Mark Moss, Troy Broussard, Lisa Benitez, Amy Evans, & Stacey Abbott, summer 2014, Koelsch Gallery, Houston, by Smilebooth.com

On Wednesday, December 31st, we will say goodbye to our dear friend Lisa Benitez, a day that should have been reserved to celebrate her birthday.  Some would say that a funeral should be a day to celebrate her life, but how can one celebrate when a life is cut so short? I’ve known Lisa for 20 years, give or take a few–I met her through a mutual friend Johnny Hooks.  And it seems to me that everyone in Houston knew her also as she trancended every group and socio-economic class in the city.  She was able to touch lives professionally as well as philathropically.  But most of all she touched lives as a …continue reading

Bah Humbug to Christmas Commercialism

Bah Humbug

Is it just me or did Christmas seem to begin earlier than ever this year? Sure, stores started putting decorations out the week before Halloween which I find disturbing, but not unusual. Perhaps the number of retailers opening on Thanksgiving for Black Friday acted to set the Christmas clock forward. I guess this is my own bah humbug to Christmas commercialism… I found a Forbes Magazine study from 2011 that over $450 billion is spent in the USA in the month of December, much of that spurred by “holiday” shopping. And Wikipedia states, “The exchanging of gifts is one of …continue reading

Where is artist David Baum?

Art by David Baum, courtesy of Malcolm Allred.

Twenty-two years ago I found myself spellbound in front of St. Louis Cathedral as I gazed upon the most expressive, colorful, powerful, and emotional artwork I’ve ever experienced. It was something I’d never seen before.  Atypical of work found in Jackson Square, I thought that this body of work was as raw and guttural as Vincent van Gogh’s must have looked in its day. I stood there for a while but the artist was nowhere in sight. I camped there. After twenty minutes an energetic guy, my age, in paint covered clothes came sprinting up. His name was David Baum. I spent an hour with him; …continue reading

White Bucks after Labor Day?

White Bucks after Labor Day?

I recently posed a simple question to my friends on social media: “White Bucks after Labor Day?” And I got a assortment of responses. Etiquette maven Rachel Thomas Hale from Evangeline, Louisiana, simply replied, “Nope!” But Oscar nominated globe-trotter Pud Cusack responded, “Always!” Interior Designer and man-about-town Kirk Longmire of Houston quipped, “Yes, we live in the tropics. All bets are off!” Head of men’s talent for Kim Dawson Agency and professional stylist Gerald Frankowski of Dallas advised, “In the South it can be done until mid to late September.” While a friend from Jennings, Louisiana, Kelley Durham Carambat wondered, …continue reading

Flip Flops Are Disgusting

My Flip Flops, 2014, by Troy Broussard

Mother never allowed us to wear shoes that could be bought at a convenience store; and dad thought that open toe shoes on boys were effeminate. But while walking down the beach at Fire Island in leather soled shoes a decade back I came to accept the purpose for such footwear—and I bought a pair of expensive flip flops. Flip flops are fabulous for the beach or poolside, or as a shower shoe. But when did flip flops become acceptable everyday apparel? Sisterwoman and I determined that there are three techniques of walking in thongs: First there are the “Toe …continue reading

Second Life & Jake Wikifoo

Second Life artist Jake Wikifoo

Jake Wikifoo, whose most distinctive physical attribute is a prominent proboscis, is an artist and art gallery owner (Galerie Wikifoo & Wikifoo Art Museum “WAM”) who lives in the city of New Toulouse—in a spectacular mansion across the lane from the Governor’s mansion. Behind Wikifoo Manor’s sprawling oaks, ornamental iron gates, fluted columns, and pink brick sheath is housed a world class collection of original art. Aside from art collecting, Jake’s interests include drunken carousing, boating, travel, architectural design, and hunting zombies. Mr. Wikifoo is an avatar who lives in the world of Second Life. Second Life is an online …continue reading

Ghost Bikes

Ghost Bike at Dunlavy & Westheimer, Houston

The other day while driving around Montrose, discussing “LOVE” signs, a friend suggested that I write a post on Ghost Bikes. My reaction was initially a bit tempered, not sure if the topic of Ghost Bikes relates to art but also concerned it might be a bit somber. “But everyone in Houston is talking about Ghost Bikes,” she countered. Ghost Bikes are memorials for bicyclists who are killed on the street. We have probably all seen them—the installation is assembled with a bike painted all white, chained to a street sign at the site of the accident, and is accompanied …continue reading

A Vegetarian in Cajun Country

"Squirrel with Apple" © Gavin Spencer, RGBStock.com

During my great “swamp artist” adventure (aka midlife crisis) in Louisiana a few years back, one of my close friends planned a visit from Texas. I met Willem Overwijk several years back when he was new in Houston by way of Amsterdam. Recruited to the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Overwijk’s specific area of proficiency, in layman’s terms, is cancer immunotherapy and vaccines research, tumor immunology, with specific emphasis how immune cells can be manipulated to destroy cancer. It’s wildly complex, technical, intellectual, and important. At any rate, he is tall and handsome, gregarious, exceedingly meticulous, a bit eccentric, …continue reading