April 28, 2009 - ASH Bash, Fusebox Festival, and Art Night Austin
What a whirlwind
weekend it has been. As usual, we tried to cram too many
events into too little time. But we managed to hit
several keep functions this past weekend.
Thursday night, we started
at the grand opening of the new Royal Blue Grocery in the 360 Condos downtown. The new space
expands the capabilities of the original grocery (located on
3rd Street at Lavaca) with not only more shelf space, but also
an in-house kitchen. We sampled house-made canapes and
wines from the impressive selection. The prices are of
course higher than retail grocery stores, but the convenience
and quality are obvious.
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One smart idea the
ASH Bash folks offered was a "Buy It Now" option for
the silent auction bidding - I'm sure that helped bring in much
more donated revenue for the evening. We peered out the
picture windows from the 18th floor of 816 Congress Avenue,
looking over all the new construction and Lady Bird Lake, and
marveled at how downtown has changed during the past few years.
And discovered that there are a lot of rooftop gardens in
the city!
Leaving early, we rushed
over to Wooldridge Park, to catch Austin composer Graham Reynolds'
kick-off concert for the
Fusebox Festival. Billed as "a piece for 50
drums," the innovative concerto included percussion of
every flavor, performed by a mix of professional and amateur
musicians. Xylophone and steel drums carried the
melodies, while everything from trap sets to marching drums to
rainsticks added layer after layer of sound and rhythm.
It was one of the best new pieces I've heard in years,
made all the more wonderful by the
history of Wooldridge Park and its band stand.
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Saturday, we took in Art City Austin, the annual art downtown festival that is fast
becoming one of the best in the state. The added bonus of
the Fusebox Festival events taking place simultaneously made the
event even more interesting, especially the inventive "pink unplugged" interactive art piece that took over the
public square of City Hall and drew a steady crowd of
participants all day.
We returned that night for
the Art After Dark food and wine event. It seemed that less
people attended this year, but those who braved the steady wind
had a wonderful time. We chatted with friends Brady Dyer
from the Blanton Art Museum and Shilpa Bakre from the Austin
Museum of Art, and
sampled as much food and wine as we dared. We were
especially impressed by the folks from Streeat, who plan to be
opening in the Central Austin area soon - their food was
inventive and fresh, so we can’t wait for them to find a
home.