Summer 2013 by Austin Woman Magazine

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atx man summer | contents

On the Cover: Jack Ingram is living the dream, giving back to Austin and making music on his own terms. Photo by Matt Lankes.

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Feature: Great Golf, Austin Style

atxman.com 7

In the Know

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legal

atx man summer | contents

the buzz 18 The Buzz Roundup 20 By the Numbers 24 You Should Know: David Garza

the good life 32 Spirits: The Summer of Gin 36 Good Eats: The License to Grill 40 Trailer Treats: Street (Eat) Smarts 42 Brews: Perfecting the Craft 44 Travel: Green Getaways

style 58 Summer Style: Cole Moreland 64 Style: HELM boots

in the know

64 8 â&#x20AC;&#x201A; ATX MAN summer 2013

66 Health: Beat the Heat 68 Fitness: Shape Up on the Green

70 Family Man: Vacation Traditions 72 Legal: Foul Play 74 Home: Safe House 76 Pretty Woman: Emily Bell 78 Single Guy: Secret Society 80 Last Word from Roy and Shay Spence on the cover:

Photo by Matt Lankes Hair and Makeup by Johna Simon, Mirror Mirror Salon, 4410 Burnet Road, 512.420.8868, mirrormirroraustin.com Styling by Ashley Hargrove, dtkaustinstyling.com Style Assistant: Stephanie Gawlik Shot on location at ACL Live, acl-live.com Cover: Heathered long-sleeve shirt, $65, available at J.Crew, 11501 Century Oaks Terrace, 512.873.8659, jcrew.com Previous page: Theory black leather jacket, $995; Diesel gray jeans, $348; and John Varvatos heathered tee, $89.50, available at Neiman Marcus, 3400 Palm Way, 512.719.1200, neimanmarcus.com

Cocktail photo by JoJo Marion; food photo by Bonnie Berry Photography; HELM boots photo by Chris Bilheimer; Emily Bell photo by Gypsy Sun.

Broadway Bank may be new to Austin, but this isn’t our first rodeo. We’re a strong, family-owned Texas bank with roots that go back more than 72 years. While other banks do a lot of whoopin’ and hollerin’, we’ve quietly become the bank more and more Texans count on to meet their personal and business financial needs. Meet our Austin banking team:

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VOLume 3, issue 1

CoFounder and Publisher

Melinda Maine Garvey CoFounder and Publisher

Christopher Garvey associate Publisher

Cynthia Guajardo Editor-in-chief

Deborah Hamilton-Lynne associate editor

Jane Kellogg Art Director

Victoria Millner ad designer

Jennifer Day art assistant

Katie Holmstrom marketing and operations manager

Rhonda Rushing marketing and operations assistant

Lauren Lara Account Executives

Rebecca Dull, Kimberly Sanderson, Charmie Stryker, 512.328.2421 Contributors

Rudy Arocha, Bonnie Berry, Jill Case, Andy East, Steve Habel, Tiffany Harelik, Matt Lankes, Eric Leech, Adam Linehan, Matt McGinnis, JoJo Marion, Rachel Merriman, Ryan Nail, Carissa Stith, Chad Swiatecki Interns

Malia Bradshaw, Andy East, Adam Linehan, Jean Yoo ATX Man is a free quarterly publication of AW Media Inc. and is available at more than 850 locations throughout Austin and in Lakeway, Cedar Park, Round Rock and Pflugerville. All rights reserved. For submission requirements, visit awmediainc.com/ contribute. No part of the magazine may be reprinted or duplicated without permission. Visit us online at atxman.com. 512.328.2421 • 3921 Steck Ave., Suite A111, Austin, TX 78759

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From the Editor

For Parties, Dinners, Receptions and Other Important Occasions Morning and afternoon functions Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres Engagement parties • Bridal showers Rehearsal dinners • After-wedding brunches • Wine pairing dinners All-day meetings • Birthdays • Anniversaries • Audio/Video services, including Wi-Fi and Cisco TelePresence video conferencing For more information, please contact our Private Dining Director at 512-835-9463.

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deborah hamilton-lynne Editor-in-Chief

Photo by Destry Jaimes.

FLEMING’S PRIVATE DINING

efying the odds, the morning of April 29th dawned partly cloudy with the sun appearing briefly and no rain just as ATX Man’s publisher, Christopher Garvey, had boldly predicted in his earlier interview on the local Fox News station. Participants rolled in to River Place Country Club for the first annual ATX Man Golf Classic, registered, grabbed a breakfast taco and coffee, and off they went. I never like to say anything is perfect, but it truly was a picture-perfect spring day with sprinkles coming only at the tail end of the tournament. The golfers seemed relaxed and happy, and the staff flitted from hole to hole all day delivering water, beer and food. Representatives from the 18 beneficiary organizations greeted golfers on their designated holes with treats and info. Afterward, everyone returned to the clubhouse for a silent auction featuring sports memorabilia and an unforgettable meal from Fleming’s. Although I won’t say it went off without a hitch, I will say that for the first go it was close to perfect. Next year will be even better. As I write this letter we celebrate our second anniversary and begin our third year of ATX Man…defying the odds. Who could have predicted that launching a magazine during one of the most challenging economic times in history would be a success? Creating the first and only general-interest men’s magazine in Austin—with a female editor to boot—was taking a risk. Looking back, I can honestly say that none of us ever considered that it might not succeed, and succeed it has. The publishers, Melinda and Christopher Garvey, only have one speed: full speed ahead. We have succeeded with the support of our advertisers and sponsors. We have succeeded with the support of an intrepid and dedicated staff. We have succeeded with great contributors and regular columnists—Roy Spence, Tiffany Harelik, Ryan Nail, Brian Jones, Clay Nichols, Jill Case, James W. Hamilton III and Eric Leech. My gratitude goes out to everyone who has been so encouraging and supportive throughout our incarnation. I have had great fun getting to know the interesting men we have featured these past two years, and we have only touched the tip of the iceberg. Next year will be even better. Speaking of defying the odds, look no further than our cover man, Jack Ingram, who along with his friends Mack Brown and Matthew McConaughey envisioned and pulled off one of the most successful fundraising events ever seen in ATX. Staying true to himself, Ingram bucked the system to make his own music and live a life of his own design. Summer brings warm weather, and what better time to hit the links, cook up some barbeque or enjoy a cold beer or refreshing gin concoction? We have included all of that in this issue along with two golf getaways guaranteed to satisfy the most demanding foursome. Warm weather also brings outdoor activities that include free-flowing libations, so we have included tips on how to stay out of jail, just in case the need arises. Keeping the high temperatures in mind, we look at sun-related health concerns and ways to beat the heat. Take one look at Emily Bell, our subject for “A Pretty Woman Speaks Her Mind,” and your temperature is sure to rise. Where were you in the summer of ’63, ’83 or 2003? Can you believe that this year the Corvette turns 60 and iTunes has been a staple in our lives for the past 10 years? We take a look at 2013’s significant anniversaries in a special feature, “By the Numbers.” 2013—a year to celebrate the longevity of the classics and give us something to aspire to. We look forward to bringing you the most entertaining and informative magazine we can produce for years to come. Next year will be even better.

contributors

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS! THE 11TH ANNUAL CARING FOR KIDS BANQUET & NFL ALUMNI GOLF CLASSIC WAS A HUGE SUCCESS!

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Matt Lankes, a seventhgeneration Texan, grew up in Austin watching his father take pictures for the Austin American-Statesman. “I grew up around the camera,” says Lankes, who has made his living through photography since attending St. Edward’s University, specializing in portraits of people in their environment. “I try to make a portrait that shows who a person really is.” In his spare time, Lankes loves to play soccer and travel the world. His clients include HBO, Texas Monthly, The New York Times and GSD&M. This month, Lankes photographed Jack Ingram for the cover story. Veteran freelance journalist Steve Habel resides in Austin and makes his living playing and writing about golf courses around the world as well as University of Texas sports, both in good times and bad on the 40 Acres. When those assignments allow, he writes about just about anything else, from business and the legislature to hockey and soccer and prep sports. He’s realistic about journalism in today’s world, and he has mouths to feed and two kids in college, so make him an offer and he’ll likely say yes.

Annie Ray was born in Lewisville. She grew up in an Italian-Jewish family and moved to Austin three years ago after graduating from the University of North Texas with a bachelor of fine arts in photography. Annie has always loved telling people’s stories in a visual way. One of her gifts as a photographer is her ability to capture a moment in someone’s life in the images she produces. Some of her favorite things besides her camera are Christmas, gummy bears, astrology and her 20-pound cats. For this issue, Annie shot golfer Cole Moreland. Writer Chad Swiatecki has interviewed hundreds of musicians in his years covering music, but few if any of them were as self-aware and open as cover subject Jack Ingram. “To get an hour of a career musician talking about how things didn’t turn out quite right, and how he’s moving on with confidence and character...that’s rare.” A graduate of Michigan State University, Chad relocated to Austin in 2008 and works as a freelance writer and editor. He covers creative industries for the Austin Business Journal and regularly contributes to Rolling Stone, Spin, the Austin American-Statesman and CultureMap Austin.

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The Ultimate Golf Getaway

Located on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand, Kauri Cliffs Resort should be on your bucket list as the perfect retreat and golf getaway. Read all about a recent visit from the publishers of ATX Man.

Summer Music

b 2013 ACL Festival Lineup: It’s Bigger! It’s Better! And it covers two weekends for the first time ever: October 4–6 and October 11–13. Depeche Mode, Lionel Richie, Kings of Leon, Muse, Wilco and more turn out for the festival of the year. Get the jump on the lineup and plan your strategy for getting the most out of Austin’s premier live-music happening. We’ve got the goods at atxman.com. b Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Austin’s longest-running summer live music series, Unplugged at the Grove, every Thursday evening, sipping on a Shady Thang and listening to Reckless Kelly, Alpha Rev, Band of Heathens and more. b Take a look at our summer concert roundup, including Blues on the Green, Unplugged at Shady Grove, The Bullock Museum, the Backyard, The Whitewater Amphitheater and the Austin Symphony in the Park.

Keeping Austin Weird

Get the scoop on two of Austin’s quintessential happenings as we venture out to play Chicken Shit Bingo at Ginny’s Little Longhorn and watch the turtle races at Little Woodrow’s. b Happy Father’s Day! Five fun places to take Dad to celebrate his special day June 16th. b Must-Read Book for Dads: Read our review of Bruce Feiler’s latest, The Secrets of Happy Families.

Newsmakers

b Now in 14 cities including its latest locations in Virginia, Alamo Drafthouse just opened its doors in the Washington D.C. area. We’ve got the inside track about their latest expansion and future plans. b Mars One, a Dutch nonprofit organization, plans to place a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2023 that will be funded by broadcasting the entire mission to the whole world. The company is now accepting applications for a one-way ticket to the Red Planet, and as of May 7 (just two weeks into the application period), more than 78,000 people from around the world have applied. The ATX Man connection: Dr. John Traphagan, PhD, of the Religious Studies Department at UT. Read Andy East’s fascinating interview with Dr. Traphagan, who is currently an advisor for Mars One.

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the buzz

MUSIC OUTSIDE THE BOX ATX Man picks the best spots around town for easy outdoor listening, playing all summer long.

The Backyard at Bee Cave

Austin 360 Amphitheater In an effort to permanently brand Austin as the live music capital of the world, the much-anticipated Austin360 Amphitheater at Circuit of the Americas— the largest outdoor entertainment venue Break in the new in town with a capacity for 14,000 fans— amphitheater at opened the gates to its Tower Amphitheater one of these hot this spring. Kicking off with Kenny Chesney summer concerts: and quickly followed by Dave Matthews, Mumford & Sons, Zac Brown and Jimmy Buffett in his June 8 and 9 first Austin appearance in 17 years, the Wiz Khalifa, amphitheater gives big-name artists the big concert stage they require. Most notably on July 25 the summer schedule: country powerhouse Rockstar Energy Keith Urban. After wrapping up the 12th Drink Mayhem Festival (featuring season of American Idol, the Australian Rob Zombie), musician is making his way across the August 2 states, stopping at Circuit of the Americas August 15 during the first leg of his Light Train, August 4 the Fuse tour. Urban’s latest is best heard Lil Wayne with T.I. without a roof overhead. “You’ve got the and 2 Chainz, crazy crowd up on the lawn, and it’s just a August 17 big outdoor party,” he says. “With this record having a lot of up-tempo material on it, it’ll lend itself to that kind of environment. So I’m really looking forward to being outside.” Little Big Town and Dustin Lynch will join the Australian country superstar.

Break a Sweat

Commit to a healthy beach bod this summer by signing up for these fun races. By Adam Linehan

18 ATX MAN summer 2013

The Atlas Ride For the past nine years, a team of University of Texas students has biked from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska, to raise money to fight cancer. Join them on the first 25, 50 or 70 miles of their epic journey. June 1, Running Brushy Middle School, texas4000.org

Put on your reds, your whites and get ready to sing the blues—The Backyard is hosting psychedelic bluegrass group The String Cheese Incident for a three-day jam session, starting on the Fourth of July. Come back July 28 for Sublime with Rome, the new music project of Sublime’s surviving members. thebackyard.net

Blues on the Green Every other Wednesday through August 7, thousands of musiclovers unplug and stretch out at Zilker Park for KSGR’s free summer concert series. Catch the Wheeler Brothers and the Whiskey Sisters on June 12. ksgr.com/bluesonthegreen

Austin Symphony’s Concerts in the Park

Unplugged at the Grove

Savor the sounds of the Austin Symphony in the great outdoors at the Hartman Foundation Concerts in the Park summer series. Performing on the grounds of the Long Center on Sunday nights until August 25, performances will range from light classical and jazz to film scores. austinsymphony.org

Marking its 20th year, Shady Grove’s summer music series will be hosting some of Austin’s best live acts on their expansive patio every Thursday at 8 p.m. until September 19. Not-to-miss shows include Ray Wylie Hubbard August 1 and Band of Heathens August 22. theshadygrove.com

Stubb’s Bar-B-Q There’s no other restaurant in town with a live music scene quite like this. With its permanent outdoor stage and bars, the scene at Stubb’s is set for you to chow down on a combo plate and join the crowds outside. Watch Of Monsters and Men (June 3), Fall Out Boy (June 9), LL Cool J with Ice Cube and Public Enemy (July 2), and Fitz and the Tantrums (July 13). stubbsaustin.com

Whitewater Amphitheater Cap off a day of tubing, rafting, canoeing and drinking in New Braunfels with a live show at dusk. The torch-lit venue along the Guadalupe River is one-of-a-kind, and will be hosting a range of acts including Bob Schneider (June 8), Kendrick Lamar (June 13) and Pat Green (August 3). whitewaterrocks.com

The League Dinner with Harry Anderson and Turk Pipkin Join longtime pals and actor-magicians Turk Pipkin and Harry Anderson July 1 to help them celebrate their 60th birthday with an evening of cocktails, an awardwinning chef-prepared dinner and wine pairings. The night will be topped off with a magic and comedy show by the two birthday boys themselves. Tickets are $250 per person and benefit the Kenya Schools Fund. nobelity.org

Rogue Trail Series: The Ranch Hit the trail in either a 10K or 30K race. This is the first in a three-part series hosted by Austin’s Rogue Running. June 2, Reveille Ranch, roguerunning.com

Keep Austin Weird Fest and 5K This event celebrates everything that is wonderfully unique about Austin. Take part in the 5K and then stick around to enjoy live music and local food at the festival that follows. June 22, Auditorium Shores, keepaustinweirdfest.com

Couples Triathlon Everything’s easier in pairs. Come as a couple or just platonic friends, and take part in this two-person team triathlon event. The course includes an 800-meter swim, an 11.2-mile bike ride and a 3.2mile run. July 14, Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park, couplestri.com

The One gadget: Rukus Solar Bluetooth Speaker

Google Fiber: Austin Entering Fiberspace By Andy East

Google unveiled plans to make Austin the next recipient of Google Fiber, its super-fast fiber-optic Internet and television service. Although Google still needs to build its network infrastructure, the search giant hopes to have its first customers online by mid-2014. With download and upload speeds of up to one gigabit per second, Google Fiber is more than 100 times faster than the nation’s average Internet connection. If pricing in Kansas City— the first Google Fiber recipient—is any indication, Austinites should expect a gigabit Internet plan with one terabyte of cloud storage for around $70 per month. For around $120 per month, Google will throw in high-definition TV service and their newest Android tablet, Nexus 7, which also serves as a remote control. Google also offers a heck of a deal on one connection plan: Internet at average U.S. speed, with guaranteed service for at least seven years, for a one-time construction and installation fee of $300 (or 12 monthly payments of $25). While the California-based tech giant maintains that their objective is to merely spur online innovation and prod Internet service providers into updating their networks and offering more competitive services, many analysts suspect that the search giant is making its initial forays into the Internet service industry. What effect, if any, Google Fiber will have on the industry is yet to been seen, but shortly after Google’s Austin announcement, AT&T issued a communiqué stating it would be willing to offer Austinites its own gigabit Internet service, but has been mum on details. No matter Google’s intentions, the more Austin businesses and residents with ultra-fast Internet, the better positioned Austin will be for the 21st century. Visit fiber.google.com/cities/austin for updates and more information on how to get Google Fiber in your neighborhood.

other newsmakers

Gary Clark Jr. photo by Dave Mead.

Virgin Territory Virgin America is now boarding at Austin Bergstrom International Airport. The groovy airline— owned by the king of cool, British billionaire Richard Branson—has launched their service to Austin with daily nonstop flights to San Francisco in addition to connecting flights to Seattle, San Diego, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Seasonal connections to Anchorage, Alaska, are also an option if you’re really desperate for those cooler climes.

Traffic Jam It probably comes as no surprise that Austin was named as one of the most congested cities in the nation. Coming in at number four behind Los Angeles, Honolulu and

Gary Clark Jr. at the 2012 Austin City Limits festival

San Francisco, our metro area was measured at more than three times the nation’s average, according to traffic information and services analyst INRIX.

APP: Golflogix Tucked in the pocket of nearly every pro on the greens is a secret weapon: Golflogix. This smartphone app (free for the basic service, or $20 a year for all the bells and whistles) is the No. 1 golf GPS app, providing accurate distances to the hole, scorekeeping, logged club tracking and bird’s-eye views of some 32,000 golf courses worldwide and counting. The app serves almost like a personal golf pro trainer: tracking your history on the course, it identifies your outlying weaknesses and offers tips and articles to help you improve your game. At the end of your play, a personalized magazine is created for you from the expert instruction of Golf Digest. golflogix.com

BOOK: The One Thing, by Gary Keller Gary Keller, cofounder and chairman of the board for Keller Williams Realty, explores the ways accomplishing one small thing can make a big difference in his new book, coauthored by Jay Papasan. Keller can certainly speak on extraordinary results, having seen his business grow from a single office in Austin to the largest real estate company in the US and Canada. The One Thing holds a simple message that just might be the key to taking your business—real estate or not—to the next level. the1thing.com

A Bunch of Malarkey Cheflebrity Brian Malarkey—costar of The Taste and a finalist on Top Chef—brings his excess of energy to Austin with the opening of his playful downtown eatery, Searsucker. The third location of his restaurant, the joint serves creative tapas-style offerings (from beef tongue to chicken and waffles) as well as the Chef’s Whim package, during which diners can eat until they throw in the towel. 415 Colorado St., searsucker.com

The Rukus Solar Bluetooth Speaker ($150) is a wireless system that will never run out of power, thanks to the addition of a 40-square-inch embedded high-efficiency solar panel. With an internal lithium-ion battery, it can play all day and into the night—not to mention charge your smartphone or tablet via a USB port. The versatile design also comes equipped with an AC adapter for indoor use or on the off chance the weather forecast calls for clouds. Available at Amazon.com, Brookstone and REI; etoncorp.com

FESTIVAL: Hot Sauce Festival

Austin City Limits If you didn’t already get your tickets to ACL this fall, act now—the first weekend has already sold out. The festival released the full lineup for Octo-

ber 4–6 and 11–13 at Zilker Park, headlined by Depeche Mode, Muse and Kings of Leon—and Austin also says “Hello” to Lionel Richie. See the full lineup on aclfestival.com.

Prepare your palate to sample more than 350 hot and spicy entries at the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival August 25. The longtime festival, now in its 23rd year, returns to Fiesta Gardens to showcase and grade hot sauce and salsa makers from around the state. The fest has become the largest of its kind in the world, drawing as many as 15,000 spectators. Entrance to the event is free with a donation to the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas (either three healthy, nonperishable food items or a cash contribution)—last year’s event raised more than $12,000 and nearly 16,000 pounds of food. austinchronicle.com

atxman.com 1 9

the buzz

1863

1853

// 150th anniversary

Potato Chips As the story goes, potato chips were first made in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1853 by a disgruntled chef. After a restaurant patron repeatedly sent back his potatoes for being too thick and under-seasoned, the chef sliced the potatoes as thinly as possible, fried them and doused them in salt before sending them back out. Eighty years later, Herman Lay founded the H.W. Lay Distributing Company and launched his own line of snack foods, including the potato chips that are now sold worldwide. Lay’s currently offers hundreds of flavors to satisfy regional tastes, including poutine (Canada), red caviar (Russia), Vegemite (Australia), mint (India), nori (Thailand) and blueberry (China). Vincent Van Gogh Born March 30, 1853, Dutch Impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh is as much known for his colorrich paintings of landscapes, flowers and portraits as the mysterious mental illness that afflicted him for much of his life. Van Gogh’s most famous work is arguably The Starry Night, painted during his stay at an asylum just one year before his suicide in 1890. The Starry Night is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as part of its permanent collection, but you can see Van Gogh’s paintings in person in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

1888

125th anniversary

Texas State Capitol On April 21, 1888, the Texas State Capitol building opened to the public after seven years of construction. Built in the architectural style of 15th century Italy

20 ATX MAN summer 2013

Thanksgiving Abraham Lincoln declared the first national Thanksgiving holiday on October 3, 1863, in a proclamation stating that Thanksgiving would be celebrated on the last Thursday of November (typically also the fourth Thursday, but not always.) President Franklin Roosevelt caused quite a stir in 1939 when he decided Thanksgiving would be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November rather than the fifth Thursday,

the true last Thursday of November. About half the states celebrated Thanksgiving according to Lincoln’s original proclamation and half celebrated on Roosevelt’s new date; Texas, however, took both days off as a national holiday along with Colorado and Mississippi.

Edvard Munch Norweigan painter Edvard Munch, born this year, produced four versions of his famous

Gettysburg Address

By the Numbers ATX Man looks back and celebrates the iconic and life-changing events, inventions, happenings and people with significant milestones this year. By Rachel Merriman

1873

Expressionist painting The Scream, one of which sold at auction for $119.9 million this year, making it the most expensive painting ever purchased. The other versions of The Scream are just as sought after: one was stolen from The National Gallery in Oslo in 1994, and another taken in broad daylight from the Munch Museum in 2004, but both were eventually recovered intact.

Although Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is comprised of just 10 sentences and 272 words, it is widely regarded as one of the most important speeches in American history. In the midst of the Civil War, Lincoln’s speech re-affirmed the values set forth in the Declaration of Independence just “four score and seven years ago,” honored fallen Civil War soldiers and acknowledged the concept of human equality. Read the full text of the Gettysburg Address at abrahamlincolnonline.org.

(140th anniversary)

Levi Strauss & Co.

It’s difficult to name any other item of clothing that has endured as long as a classic pair of blue jeans, yet the original creator of the fashion staple turns 140 this year. Levi’s iconic 501® jeans have been worn by everyone from 1950s beat poet Jack Kerouac to President Barack Obama. levi.com

and struck in red granite from the Marble Falls area, the capitol building remains the largest state capitol ever built. The Goddess of Liberty that tops the capitol rotunda today is a replica; the original statue resides in the Bullock Texas State History Museum. Capitol

Store display from the 1950s

visitors can take a selfguided tour of the capitol grounds during business hours. tspb.state.tx.us

St. Edward’s University’s original Main Building Originally constructed in 1888, the neo-gothic

limestone building with bright red doors at 3001 South Congress Avenue is one of the most beautiful buildings on the Catholic university’s campus, which was founded by Rev. Edward Sorin in 1885. Its position on top of an extinct volcano

offers a fantastic vantage point for views of the Austin skyline, which at 669 feet above sea level is the highest point in the downtown area. The historic building would be celebrating its 125th anniversary if it hadn’t been destroyed in a fire,

but since it was rebuilt in 1903, a 110th anniversary isn’t too shabby either.

National Geographic “Inspiring people to care about the planet” is the motto of the National Geographic Society, which

Scream: Edvard Munch: Skrik / The Scream, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, photo: © Børre Høstland, National Museum

(160th anniversary)

1913

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke these famous words in the opening lines of his inaugural address, which took place in the middle of The Great Depression. Read the text and listen to FDR’s full speech at millercenter.org.

Income Tax The 16th Amendment to the Constitution passed on February 3, 1913, allowing the government to collect federal income tax. Texas was the ninth state to ratify the amendment out of the 36 needed to pass it, and is also one of the nine states today with no state income tax. Woolworth Building When the Woolworth Building opened in New York City in 1913, it was the tallest building in the world at the time, standing at a height of 792 feet. In today’s architecture feats, that’s nothing: Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is currently the tallest building in the world, dwarfing the Woolworth Building with a height of 2,722 feet. In addition to holding the world record for tallest building, the Burj Khalifa holds the records for building with most floors, highest elevator installation, highest nightclub and highest restaurant.

1933 (80th anniversary)

Wille Nelson photo © David McClister; Titanic photo by Emory Kristof, protected by copyright. Contact National Geographic, nationalgeographicstock.com, for release.

(100th anniversary)

FM Radio

Without the technology patented in 1933 by Edwin Armstrong, the music radio programs we love today likely wouldn’t have been possible due to the limitations on AM radio. There’s been quite a buzz lately around KUTX, the new sister station of KUT, which debuted in January. According to its website, KUTX plays more than 30,000 different songs and hosts more than 300 live performances in the historic studio 1A each year. Hear KUTX’s song of the day at kutx.org/song-of-the-day.

Willie Nelson

Austin’s most beloved country singer Willie Nelson turned 80 this past April, and with more than 7 million plays on the popular music tracking site last.fm, it seems The Red-Headed Stranger and his music are just as relevant as ever. Turning 80 is an incredible milestone, but it isn’t the only notable number associated with the internationally acclaimed performer.

1953 Corvette Then / Now Cost: $3,490 / $111,900 Number produced annually: 300 / 11,647 (2012) 2014 Stingray Specs Engine: LT1 6.2L V-8 Horsepower / Torque: 450 / 450

has published some of the most amazing images of the natural world in the popular magazine National Geographic since 1888. The magazine has a global circulation of eight million and is printed in 33 languages.

1954 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible

6,000: The number of people who attended Nelson’s benefit concert for West at The Backyard

96: singles 300: albums 25: No. 1 singles (U.S.)

// 60th anniversary

(estimated) Fuel delivery: Direct Injection Compression ratio: 11.5:1 Manual Transmission: 7-speed with Active Rev Match Automatic Transmission: sixspeed paddleshift Chassis: Standard, Z51, Z51 with Magnetic Selective Ride

2,500: songs

Willie by the Numbers

67,890*: The estimated number of joints Nelson has consumed in his lifetime

35: music videos

DNA James Watson and Francis Crick, scientists at the University of Cambridge, discovered the double-helix structure of DNA in March 1953. Their discovery earned them the Nobel Prize and led to our understanding of the human genome and the formation of the Human Genome Project, which completed mapping of the more than 20,000 genes that comprise our genetic code in 2003. If you’re curious about your genes, 23andMe offers genotyping (analyzing genetic variants for various conditions and traits) for $99. 23andme.com

2: movie soundtracks

8: dollars he was paid at his first gig

44: years Nelson has played Trigger, his Martin N-20 guitar

*assuming Nelson has smoked a conservative three joints per day since he was 18 years old.

As photographed in 1991: The rusted prow of the R.M.S. Titanic, which sank in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg in April 1912.

Five National Geographic History Highlights January 13, 1888: National Geographic is founded at the Cosmos Club in Washington D.C. as “a society for the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge.”

1926: Photographer Charles Martin and scientist W.H. Longley produce the first natural-color underwater pictures.

1961: With a National Geographic grant, Jane Goodall begins her study of chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream Park.

1985: Robert D. Ballard announces the results of the R.M.S. Titanic discovery at the National Geographic Society.

2005: National Geographic teams with Siemens to sponsor a five-year project CT scanning ancient Egyptian mummies, including King Tutankhamun.

atxman.com 2 1

the buzz

1963

replace granny’s rotary telephone.

By the Numbers

(50th anniversary) ZIP Codes First introduced on July 1, 1963, ZIP codes are now the standard method of organizing the postal system. Find statistics about your ZIP code at city-data.com/zipmaps/austin-texas.

Beatlemania In February 1963, The Beatles released their first U.S. single, “Please Please Me,” and would go on to become the most successful band in rock ‘n’ roll history.

(Continued from page 21) ATX Man looks back and celebrates the iconic and life-changing events, inventions, happenings and people with significant milestones this year.

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan Bob Dylan released his second EP on May 27, 1963, which would include some of his bestloved songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.”

Push-Button Telephone Even “push-button telephone” sounds a little obsolete when compared with your iPhone’s touch screen, but after its introduction in November 1963, it would slowly but surely

“I Have a Dream…” 100 years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the speech that would go down in history as one of the defining moments of the Civil Rights movement. The following year, King would become the youngest individual to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Read the full text of King’s speech at usconstitution.net/dream.

1988

25th anniversary

Prozac First introduced in 1988, Fluoxetine was prescribed 3.9 million times in 2011, making it one of the most commonly-prescribed antidepressants on the market today. The CDC estimates that one in 10 U.S. adults suffer from depression.

22 ATX MAN summer 2013

“Never Gonna Give You Up” Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” hit number four on the charts in 1988, but 25 years later, the ’80s classic has enjoyed a revival as an internet meme known as rickrolling. Individuals are “rickrolled” when they are lured into clicking a link and are met with the music video for “Never Gonna Give You Up” instead of what they were expecting to see. Though the prank originally started on the seedy online forum 4chan, it has since spread to a widely practiced pop culture phenomenon—President Obama’s Twitter rickrolled millions of followers in 2011.

2003

JFK Assassination In one of our biggest national tragedies, President John F. Kennedy is shot while traveling in his presidential motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Iron Man The Marvel superhero first appeared in the comic book Tales of Suspense #39, released in March 1963. Portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in today’s silver screen adaptations, the character has since been featured in the movies Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, The Avengers and The Incredible Hulk. 1963 Births: Johnny Depp, Mike Myers, James Hetfield, Michael Jordan, Quentin Tarantino

(10th anniversary)

iTunes Music Store After opening on April 28, 2003, the iTunes music store sold over one million downloads in its first week and has been going strong ever since. Though music is still frequently downloaded illegally on the Internet, iTunes continues to enjoy a great deal of success, hitting a record of 25 billion song downloads in February. iTunes songs range anywhere from 69 cents to $1.29 a piece.

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the buzz you should know

David Garza Stopped just half a mile before the finish line at this year’s tragic Boston Marathon, the Austin triathlete shares his personal story of fear, inspiration and hope. By Carissa Stith

He found himself alone. Not in solitude, but alone. He was one of 26,839 runners participating in this year’s Boston Marathon, and within the sea of runners, he couldn’t find his running partner, Matt. He pulled off to the side at mile-marker 24 and waited. The Boston Marathon marked their third race in just three months, and the long miles were taking a toll on their bodies. After completing the Austin Marathon in February and Ironman Cabo in March, the 26.2 miles they faced together in Boston seemed unbearable. But this was a race they needed to finish, and the two agreed to maintain a four-hour pace. Four minutes passed until he spotted his running partner. Matt instantly waved his hand in the air, motioning him to move forward without him. He wasn’t prepared to leave behind his wingman. He joined Matt, falling into sync with his slower pace. At mile 25, they heard the blast. Although the noise seemed odd, they continued their race. As first-time participants, they didn’t know what to expect at the finish line or what type of festivities Boston planned for the event. As he and Matt approached the final turn of the race, a group of policemen stopped them in their tracks. They learned about the terrorist attack soon after. As more time passes, Garza is able to shake the eerie feeling of what might have happened that day—if he had continued on without his running partner and maintained

24 ATX MAN summer 2013

the agreed-upon pace, it’s extremely likely he would have crossed the finish line at the exact moment the bombs detonated. But even with these thoughts circling in his head, the Boston Marathon bombings haven’t swayed his perspective on participating in future races. Walking away means letting Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev win. Walking away also means letting down his children. So instead of looking back, the six-time Ironman continues to focus on staying true to his identity: a father who likes to ride a bike. His drive to return to the course after such a tragedy comes from his two children, four-year-old Melia and seven-year-old Troy. With them by his side, along with his wife, Mindy, Garza says quitting isn’t an option. “My kids are the energy source I can rely on when I need to dig deeper,” he says. “They remind me that I can always give more.” Returning to his first marathon after the Boston tragedies might ignite mixed feelings, but Garza hasn’t always approached his races with full confidence. He held doubts toward races in the past, specifically his first Ironman in Cozumel. But his family gave him the strength he needed to complete the race. When he crossed the finish line and embraced his wife—who broke through the security line to reach him—and his children, he realized that this race was a Team Garza effort. This was a milestone they completed together. “When my son turned to me and said, ‘You’re an Ironman, Daddy’…” Garza pauses to recollect himself, “that meant the world to me.” Since his first Ironman, Melia and Troy have kept tabs on their father’s training, double-checking dates and ensuring his swim times remain up to their standards. His son would know as he’s already following in his father’s footsteps. In addition to playing soccer—a sport enjoyed

by both Mindy and Garza—Troy also competes in his own triathlons. “He’s ready for his next tri and the Capital 10K next year,” Garza says with pride. Since moving to a bigger bicycle last summer, Troy and his father are spending more time together swimming, cycling and running. Melia is venturing off on her own path—one that doesn’t require sweating. “I have an athlete and a diva,” Garza says with a laugh. “My daughter doesn’t like to sweat, so we do her nails and braid her hair. I’m doing whatever I can to be involved in her life.” Balance is key for Garza. Between training and running Ride, his indoor cycling studio, he makes a point to have Daddy-Daughter and Daddy-Son days with Melia and Troy. “They know I’m busy, but I still want to make time for them,” he says. “That’s my top priority.” Through his competitive nature and ongoing participation in the Ironman races, Garza looks to set the example for his children that they can remain active in sports but still make time for their family and focus on all of the important things life entails. And in order to do so, he will need to pick up where he left off—just 0.4 miles from completing the Boston Marathon—and prepare for the next big race. Because in the eyes of the Garza family, quitting is not an option. Find David Garza at Ride, 117 Lavaca St., 512.322.5252, ride-indoorcycling.com

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Leaving the garden hose out while mowing the lawn was one wrong decision. Avoid another by keeping the damaged garden hose out of your blue recycling cart.

Make the decision to Recycle Right Learn how at austinrecycles.com

18 HOLES FOR 18 CHARITIES.

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Special thanks to The Dominion Golf Group.

Thanks for making the first annual ATX Man Golf Classic a huge success!

Special Section: 2013 ATX Man Golf Classic

1 “We are grateful for the support and the opportunity to share our mission!” Katie Reyes, American Heart Association

“Your concept of 18 charities for 18 holes of golf was very creative. I participated in over 30 golf tournaments last year and no event contributed to more than three charities.” Chris Tyson, Tyson Sports Fundraising

6 18 HOLES FOR 18 CHARITIES.

GOLF CLASSIC 2013

Stay tuned for details on the 2014 Golf Classic! powered by

Special Section: 2013 ATX Man Golf Classic

Photos by C. Thompson Photography and Rob Murray.

“Thank you so much for hosting yesterday’s ATX MAN Golf Classic – it was such a positive experience and the golf teams were so great! It was so fun meeting with other charities and sponsors!” Sumaya Saati, Austin Children’s Museum

1 Katie Reyes and Glen Huschka from American Heart Association 2 Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr and Cherie Mathews of HealInComfort 3 Cole Moreland 4 Harvey Zinn, Rusty Edgar, Keith Herman and Ray Herman with Benchmark Bank’s team 5 Roger Beasley Mazda hole-in-one car 6 Benchmark Bank and Starlite Vodka 7 Meredith Cooper with Wonders & Worries and Michael Lacy with Ideal productions 8 David Ostoon, Jacques Perreau and Eric Sutherland 9 Thank you banner 10 Ryan Ekno and Charlotte Fiese with The First Tee 11 Turk Pipkin and Christopher Garvey 12 Ferman Navar and Benjamin Nemec 13 Paige Amstutz, Meredith Bagan, Chrissy Abraham and Maureen Martin 14 Tournament winners Steve Tonsi, Rick Castleberry, Dean Buschick and Fernando Ezeta and with Christopher & Melinda Garvey

18 HOLES FOR 18 CHARITIES.

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Special Section: 2013 ATX Man Golf Classic benefiting charities American Heart Association “Building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.” heart.org

Austin Humane Society Executive Director Frances Jonan with Jim Bagan

Jim Bagan

Giving back by supporting local charities. By Andy East

“It’s important to give back more than you take,” says Jim Bagan, vice president of Roger Beasley Imports, title sponsor of the ATX Man Golf Classic. “That was instilled by my parents, everyone I have worked for. It’s been my philosophy.” Bagan, a San Francisco Bay area native who came to Austin to attend St. Edward’s University, discovered his love for selling cars during summer school, and more than two decades later Bagan oversees the operation of six Austin-area car dealerships. Encouraged by his latest successful charity endeavor at the ATX Man Golf Classic, Bagan is gearing up for more. “[The Golf Classic] was a great experience,” Bagan says. “To go out and get involved in 18 charities at once is a really unique experience. We want to see if we can expand it next year.” The Golf Classic offered a full day of golf to more than 80 participants and successfully introduced participants to 18 Austin charities as well as raised funds for each of the organizations. “As a locally-owned business, we know how impactful local dollars are,” he says. “We try to pick out charities that really are locally funded, and we look to see that funds are spent locally to make Austin a better place.” Bagan focuses on charities that help those who cannot speak for themselves such as children and animals and sees the Golf Classic as one of the must-attend charity events in Austin for years to come. “Now we want to help take [the Golf Classic] to the next level and build it up to be one of Austin’s premier events,” says Bagan. “With the number of charities involved, we can take this to the next level. This tournament really has staying power.” Bagan is actively involved with the Austin Humane Society, Hand to Hold, Worries & Wonders and many other local and national charities.

Andy Roddick Foundation ARF believes talent is universal, but opportunity is not. By focusing on character development and values such as honor, respect, dignity and duty, our goal is to provide all children a support system that gives them hope for a brighter future. arfoundation.org Austin Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure The mission of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening and treatment. komen.org Austin Children’s Museum Austin Children’s Museum creates innovative learning experiences for children and families that equip and inspire the next generation of creative problem solvers. austinkids.org Back on My Feet Back on My Feet is a national organization that uses running to help those experiencing homelessness change the way they see themselves, so they can make real change that result in employment and independent living. backonmyfeet.org Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas The BBBS mission is to provide children facing adversity with strong, enduring and professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. bigmentoring.org 18 HOLES FOR 18 CHARITIES.

GOLF CLASSIC 2013

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Boys and Girls Club of the Austin Area Our mission is to inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens. bgcaustin.org Bikes for Kids Believing that every child should experience the feeling of getting a brand new bike, bike lock, and helmet on Christmas morning, Bikes for Kids provides bicycles for children who would never get that experience otherwise. mix947.com Center for Child Protection Our mission is to reduce the trauma for children during the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases. centerforchildprotection.org Hand to Hold Hand to Hold aims to provide comprehensive navigation resources and support programs to parents of preemies, babies born with special healthcare needs and those who have experienced a loss due to these or other complications. handtohold.org Heal in Comfort 4 a Change Heal in Comfort 4 a Change works toward enabling all upper-body post-surgery patients to heal in comfort, regardless of their financial circumstances. healincomfort4achange.org Mamma Jamma Ride The mission of Texas Mamma Jamma Ride is to provide charitable support for services provided by beneficiary agencies by producing an annual fundraising ride, promote educational awareness for breast cancer prevention, foster com-

munity support, and promote philanthropy and volunteerism for breast cancer services and awareness. ride.mammajammaride.org Safe Place Safe Place is dedicated to ending sexual and domestic violence through safety, healing, prevention and social change. safeplace.org The First Tee of Greater Austin The goal of First Tee is to impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf. thefirstteeaustin.org The Nobelity Project We’re working toward a more peaceful and sustainable world—one peace at a time. nobelity.org The Rise School of Austin The Rise School of Austin is a nonprofit organization providing the highest quality of early childhood education services to children with developmental disabilities and children without disabilities. riseschool.org/austin Wonders and Worries Wonders and Worries helps children cope when a parent faces serious or life-threatening illness. wondersandworries.org Zero Prostate Cancer Run We stand for zero tolerance for prostate cancer. The End of Prostate Cancer, we commit ourselves not only to reduce the disease or alleviate its pain, but to end it. zerocancer.org

good life

spirits

Gin City

Daniel Barnes, of Treaty Oak Distilling

Refreshing drinks from three local gin distillers. By Matt McGinnins, Photos by Jojo Marion

Summer calls for a cocktail as light and sassy as the skimpy sundress hugging the shape of the hottie sitting on the barstool next to you. What you need is a cocktail with f lavors as complex as the f loral pattern on that sundress. You need a cocktail made with gin. Yes, gin. It’s like vodka, but with f lavor. Gin is the stuff that Bond drinks. Gin is the stuff that bootleggers surreptitiously made to thumb their nose at the absurdity of Prohibition. Gin is the stuff that has captured the imagination of a whole new wave of craft distillers. Gin is the stuff that is both bold and elegant enough to capture the attention of that lady in the sundress. Fortunately there are new Texas-made gins being introduced just in time for summer. Let’s declare it the “Summer of Gin.”

With Waterloo, Old is New The man behind Treaty Oak Distilling, Daniel Barnes, decided to distill gin two years ago because he wants to make spirits that intrigue him. “Gin shows off the craft ability of a distiller with playfulness and uniqueness,” Barnes says. “Distillers have the ability to control the flavors and display their personalities. That, and we really like gin.” Waterloo gin was one of the first modern Texas-made gins when it was released at the end of 2011. It is made with a neutral base spirit made from corn and wheat—sort of like vodka. The base liquor is then put back into a copper pot still to go through another round of distillation, but this time with a stainlesssteel basket crammed full of 11 botanicals in the column of the still above the vaporizing pot. The alcohol vapors circulate in botanicals six to eight times, grabbing the intricate flavors of each ingredient. Barnes and his head distiller, Chris Lamb, experimented with almost 50 different recipes

32 ATX MAN summer 2013

before they found the exact flavor profile they liked. Waterloo is made with a mix of Texas-grown botanicals such as lavender, rosemary, pecans, citrus from the Rio Grande Valley grapefruit, lemon, and orange zest along with juniper, coriander, ginger root, licorice root and anise. That mix of botanicals gives Waterloo the up-front juniper punch of a traditional London Dry style with a little Texas on the palate. The very name, Waterloo, ties London and Austin together. After that smack of juniper it eases into a long lick of honey from the lavender, piney bitterness, nutshell and mischievous citrus. Some people compare it to Hendrix in style, but with less citrus and cucumber. The folks at Treaty Oak have a fantastic treat

up their sleeve: aged gin. The Waterloo Antique series will be available in July. While barrelaged gins have been a hot trend with some craft distillers, this will be the first one made in Texas. Barnes had a gleam in his eye when he

described Antique while showing me around the barrel room. “What happens when you give a bold gin a full year in a first-use heavy-charred barrel?” he asks me. “It gets rich whisky notes of cinnamon, clove, anise flavors. The juniper and floral still come through, but it has a nice round, caramelly finish. We are bottling it at 94 proof, so it has heft but is approachable straight out of the bottle. It also makes an amazing old-fashioned with quality orange and grapefruit bitters.” Moonshine makes a fantastic cocktail to highlight the classic flavors of the un-aged Waterloo gin, which is the namesake of the original structure, the Strawberry-lime Rickey Waterloo Waterloo Gin goes well in a Compound. refreshing twist on a classic Rickey. Mike Groener, Waterloo Try it with fresh strawberry. of Genius Gin Gin is sold 3 large, ripe strawberries for around half a lime cut into quarters in the taste profile. It’s a way to $25 a bottle K ounce simple syrup both create an experience for the in retail shops 2 ounces Waterloo Gin customer and put my distinct mark in Louisiana, lime wheel, for garnish on the brand,” he says. Oklahoma, Despite the tinkering, the Illinois and strawberry slice, for garnish original recipe just wasn’t right. He Texas. It In the bottom of a mixing glass, visited several distilleries including will soon be muddle the strawberries, lime Aviation in Portland for inspiration available in wedges and simple syrup. Add and realized that they had a similar New York and the gin and shake vigorously with characteristic to his recipe—a California. It’s ice to chill. Strain into an Old characteristic he didn’t like. also poured Fashioned glass over fresh ice. “There was a low note to some in bars and Garnish with the lime wheel and of them that tasted too rustic,” restaurants strawberry slice. Groener says. “It wasn’t beautiful. around Austin, including Lucy’s The gins didn’t go well in cocktails. When I returned from Portland, I Fried Chicken, revamped my recipe and was done Moonshine, the Four Seasons, Jack Allen’s with it in about a week.” Kitchen, Bartlett’s and Hopdoddy. Groener prides himself on the handmade qualities of his gin and fastidiously makes a flavorThe Genius Behind the Gin neutral base spirit from sugar to let the botanicals The newest gin to hit the market in Texas this June do the talking. He uses a cold steep in the base is Genius Gin. CEO and President Mike Groener for some of the heat-sensitive botanicals like and his partner, Charles Cheung, started the lavender, angelica root, elder flower and lime leaf development of Genius in April 2012 because, as for a highly aromatic flavor. Other ingredients he put it, they “really, really love gin.” That’s one like juniper, cardamom and coriander (and two hell of a good reason to make it. secret ones) are meant to be heated up—and even Groener is passionate about aesthetics and has toasted, to impart flavor. an engineer’s attention to detail. He established Groener distills the heat-loving botanicals and the the flavor profile over the course of a year, steeped spirits to make both a standard 94 gin and experimenting with various ingredients. “Being a 114-proof Navy Strength gin (Navy Strength gets a craft distiller, I had a chance to show my style its name from the practice that the British Royal

Gin Fitzgerald This classic cocktail is light, fresh and tasty. The gin flavor is a little bit up front so you can appreciate it, but it is as delicate as a first kiss. This could be the drink of the summer. 2 ounces gin O ounce lemon juice K ounce simple syrup 2 dashes Angostura bitters (no more!) Shake over ice and serve it up with a lemon garnish.

Navy employed of taking gin of at least 57 percent alcohol on its boats, because if it were spilled on gun powder, the gun powder was still useable). That attention to detail resulted in well-integrated flavors with the juniper sliding smoothly across the entire palate accompanied by a subtle sweetness. The Navy Strength has a slight nuttiness from the roasted coriander, and the higher alcohol gives it the vibrancy of sucking on a fistful of gin-flavored Altoids. While it can be appreciated straight up in a martini, it’s also versatile enough to go into a variety of cocktails. Groener mixed two cocktails using fresh-squeezed juices to taste cocktails and homemade simple syrups. When Genius is released in June, it will be

atxman.com 33

good life

Spirits

[continued from previous page] available in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio at retail stores such as The Austin Wine Merchant, Specs and Twin Liquors, as well as bars and restaurants such as Drink.Well, Midnight Cowboy, Volstead, Grackle, Tigress Pub, the Four Seasons and Vespaio.

It’s a Texas Gin Revolution After nearly five years of dreaming, scheming, planning and experimenting, Revolution Gin cofounders Aaron Day and Mark Shilling are nearly Aaron Day, Jennifer Querbes ready to introduce their craft and Mark Shilling, distilled gin to Texas. of Revolution Gin “Aaron and I had been talking about our desire to make a spirit for awhile, and one thing led to another and we decided to stop talking about it and do it,” Shilling says. “Gin is what we want to do first. Craft distilling is wide open to experimentation, with flavors and styles that the big guys can’t do.” “We were inspired by what we are seeing in the craft distilling industry,” Day quickly adds. “Tito [Beveridge, of Tito’s Handmade Vodka] showed it can be done. [Dan Garrison, of Garrison Brothers Whiskey] showed that it can be done in a craft way.” The two choose to seek the counsel of other distillers and found an eager group of mentors willing to share advice. (In fact, the meetings and conversations led to the formation of the Texas Craft Distillers trade association, of which Daniel Barnes is president.) “The mentorship we’ve received has helped us get off the ground,” Shilling says. “We had many productive conversations, and now it’s off to the races.” Revolution Gin has secured a site for its distillery near Dripping Springs, in the same neighborhood as Argus Hard Cidery, Jester King Brewery and Thirty Planet Brewing Company. They see the area as a cultural corridor leading from Austin to the wineries near Fredericksburg. They aren’t alone in thinking that the area has appeal for day-trippers and tourists alike. Treaty Oak Distilling plans to move its operations to the neighborhood this fall. The gin is in the planning stages as Revolution works on getting its license. The intent is to make a neutral base spirit with red wheat—or

34 ATX MAN summer 2013

may even use non-GMO corn to make a gluten-free base that is consistent and reliable so they can focus on the botanicals. To gather inspiration for the flavor summer teeth profile, Revolution has met While Revolution Gin isn’t yet available Combine all in a shaker filled with ice, and shake briefly to to taste, Jason Stevens, the bar manwith bartenders and opinion integrate. ager at Bar Congress, created a special makers, including the folks gin-based summer cocktail that he’ll at Bar Congress and Bobby *For a boozier cocktail, double mix for you using any Texas-made gin. Huegle of Anvil Bar in strain into an old-fashioned glass Houston to better understand 1 K ounces local gin filled with cubed ice. Garnish with the specific style of gin that is K ounce Gran Classico a grapefruit peel. wanted in Texas. L ounce dry Sherry (like Fino, *For a lighter, more refreshing “Simple is sometimes better. Manzanilla or Amontillado) cocktail, single-strain shaken We are looking at using seven 1 barspoon simple syrup cocktail into a Collins glass botanicals in our gin,” Shilling 1 ounce fresh-squeezed Rio Star filled with crushed ice and top says. The focus will be on Grapefruit Juice with soda, then stir to integrate. Texas-sourced botanicals such N ounce lemon juice Garnish with grapefruit peel and as citrus, lavender, rosemary few drops Bitter Truth Celery fresh mint. and ash juniper berries. Bitters Revolution is shooting for a 1 ½ ounces soda water (optional) continental style, rather than a London dry, that brings complexity to cocktails. The star of the botanical show will be rosemary. about $30. To get the word out to prominent “Rosemary is distinct and has real legs,” Day mixologists, they hired an experienced spirits says. “We’re excited to see what that brings.” broker, Jennifer Querbes, as partner and COO. Revolution expects to release its gin in area What are you waiting for? Let the Summer of restaurants, bars and stores in early fall for Gin begin.

good life

Good Eats

License to Grill A conceptual approach to Texas’s favorite pastime: the complicated art of backyard barbecuing. Despite a recent influx of restaurants boasting the latest international culinary trends on their Skip the line for Franklin Barbecue’s menus, Central Texas’s reputation famous brisket, and for world-class barbecue remains make it yourself. undiminished. And with the help of pit masters like Aaron Franklin and John Mueller, Austin has definitely that’s likely because most men are either content earned its place as an essential detour for with serving mediocre barbecue to themselves, foodies making their way along the legendtheir families and their friends—or they’re simary Texas Barbecue Trail. ply afraid to admit that there is a lot about the But one doesn’t need to drive out to Lockhart art of cooking meat they don’t fully understand. or stand in line for two hours to get their hands Making great barbecue is a helluva lot more on premium barbecue. Like most things in life, involved than slapping a rack of ribs over a fire, the best kind of barbecue is the kind you take the drenching it with sauce and swelling with pride time and energy to cook yourself...right? Well, as you watch your buddies struggle like ravenous maybe not. Let’s say this: The best kind of barwolves to wrench the meat from the bone. becue is the kind that with enough practice and The first step in graduating from the guy who know-how you could potentially make yourself simply “mans the pit” at every tailgate party while using little more than a few ingredients, a pit and wearing punny cooking aprons is admitting that your two bare hands. your ability to barbecue is not something that has A lot of men fancy themselves pit masters, and been bestowed upon you by some higher power or inherited from your great, great grandfather Shop Like a Pit Master like your predisposition If you’re serious about getting serious about barbecue, we highly recommend to having high cholespaying a visit to Barbeque Mercantile. With sauces and rubs from all over the terol or your weak chin. country as well as virtually every tool you’ll ever need—including a carefully Using fire and smoke selected collection of grills and smokers—this is definitely a great place to take to turn translucent your first step toward becoming a local barbecue legend. In addition to offering slabs of raw meat into countless books on the subject, owner Kathy Bousquet regularly hosts worktender and juicy cuts of shops led by some of the biggest names on the competitive barbecue circuit. charred black, brown When you’re ready to get grillin’, swing by and check the place out—it’s one of a and brilliant red barbekind. 5003 Burnet Road, 512.371.3748, bbqmercantile.com cue is an art form that

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predates the invention of the George Foreman Grill by hundreds of years, and thus it demands respect. Doing barbecue right takes practice and careful attention, and, most importantly, an intimate understanding of its three most essential components: heat, smoke and time. If you watch Game of Thrones, you know that fire comes from the breath of dragons and can turn an entire village into a heap of smoldering ash in no time. However, fire—which thanks to modern technology can easily be produced with the click of a button—can be a force for good as well. In the hands of a skilled pit master, fire can be used in combination with wood to create hot, delicious-smelling smoke that can in turn be used to cook meat and imbue it with that rich, smoky flavor barbecue fanatics love to drool about. Simple, right? Wrong. Besides the risk of setting your beard aflame, getting frivolous with fire can risk the quality of your barbecue, and that’s no laughing matter. Back when the barbecue tradition was largely confined to the eastern shores of the American South, early pit masters would shovel piles of hot coals under whole hogs and roast them slowly. But once the tradition found its way into the hands of German settlers in Texas during the

By Adam Linehan

mid-19th century, their method of using wood to smoke meat emerged as a more efficient alternative to the original coal method. For most city-dwellers, making barbecue the traditional Southern way is probably not a very practical (or safe) option, especially considering that part of the process involves regularly extinguishing the pig whenever it catches fire. Thankfully, cooking meat with a smoker is perfectly acceptable according to the Texas barbecue tradition; using that fancy new gas grill of yours, on the other hand, is absolutely not. So, if it is Texas-style barbecue you aim to make, the first step is getting your hands on an actual smoker comprised of a firebox, a cooking chamber and a smoke stack with a damper. Wood smokers tend to be a little on the hefty side, but that’s because they’re designed to cook briskets, pork shoulders and other hefty animal parts (hamburger patties and hotdogs don’t make the cut). Note: Heavier, thicker-skinned smokers better retain heat and control temperature— many pit masters prefer smokers 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch thick. Still, it is impossible to say that any one kind of smoker is best for making delicious barbecue. An expensive top-of-the-line pit might require a lot less work to efficiently operate, but with enough practice and know-how, a man can turn out premium product with a smoker fashioned out of a few coffee cans and a 55-gallon drum—just use your imagination. Once you secure a smoker, the next step is picking up an axe and felling your favorite tree, allowing it to dry and then chopping it down into logs small enough to fit into your firebox. (For the nonlumberjacks, you can always buy these at the store.) Oak, pecan, hickory and mesquite are some of the more popular Texas varieties, but be aware that each burns at a different temperature and for different lengths of time, and your decision will ultimately determine the flavor of your meat. “Different types of wood go with different types of food,” says Kathy Bousquet, barbecue aficionado and owner of Barbeque Mercantile in North-Central Austin. “Pecan is a very good all-purpose wood because it goes with everything. It has the robustness of the hickory, which is a sharp wood, but it has a more mellow flavor.” Whatever type of wood you decide to go with, it’s important to keep in mind that smoke is a seasoning, so the heavier the smoke, the more apparent the flavor of the wood will be in the meat. Benjamin Franklin once said, “He that can have patience, can have what he will.” And if it’s delicious barbecue you will, you’d be wise to heed Mr. Franklin’s sage advice, because using

Barbecue Crossroads Two-time James Beard Award–winner Robb Walsh talks about his latest barbecue bible and how to master the grill. A couple of years ago, writer Robb Walsh and his buddy, acclaimed photographer O. Rufus Lovett , set off across the American South in a quest to discover “the keepers of the flame—the last of the oldfashioned Southern barbecue pits.” As its title implies, Barbecue Crossroads is a book about barbecue, a subject matter most people would rather explore on The Food Network if not on the plate. But with its elegant prose, beautiful photographs and extensive catalogue of Southern recipes, Crossroads sheds light on the subject in a way no one has done before, revealing a world of unexpected beauty around it . Through stories and photographs of pit masters, smoky barbecue joints and every thing in between, Walsh and Lovett expand the connotation of the word “barbecue” until the reader is left with a sweeping portrait of the South—its people, its culture and its rich culinary tradition. For readers unfamiliar with the terrain, Crossroads lifts the shroud to expose an often-overlooked facet of American culture and enriches our appreciation for well-cooked meats in the process. ATX Man recently spoke with the grill master about his new release and why it belongs on your kitchen bookshelf. ATX Man: This is your 12th book—your third on barbecue and grilling. Can you talk about what makes Barbecue Crossroads stand out? Robb Walsh: It isn’t about this guy is better than that guy, or this restaurant is better than that restaurant. The book is about the beauty and the fragile nature of this barbecue culture of ours. It attempts to lead people away from asking who’s the best, which restaurant’s the best. Let me ask you this: What’s the best song ever written? It’s kind of a dumb question, right? What’s the best painting? What makes one painting better than the other? I ask you to appreciate barbecue culture for what it is. I spent many, many years writing about, ranting about and ranking barbecue, and this book is about what happens when you approach barbecue from another point of view. AM: What key qualities do you think most great pit masters possess? RW: They’re motivated by the preservation of the tradition and not making the maximum amount of money. They have to be long-suffering. When making great barbecue in the artisan tradition, you have to pay attention to it; the whole time it’s on the smoker you have to watch the fire, watch the meat, baste it, turn it. That’s a level of dedication a lot of people aren’t willing to put up with in this modern era.

atxman.com 37

good life

Good eats

The wood pile at Smitty’s Market in Lockhart, from Barbecue Crossroads

[continued from previous page] indirect heat (i.e. smoke) to cook meat is a long process—sometimes very long. To ensure success, it is important to remain cognizant of the fact that the type, cut and weight of the meat you’re cooking determines the temperature of the cooking chamber, the length of cooking time and the temperature the meat must reach internally before it can be considered done. Whatever the case, there is a lot of waiting involved—and by “waiting” we mean drinking, and by “drinking” we mean this is a process meant to be enjoyed. Regulating temperature with a smoker is not all that difficult, but it’s still a much more involved process than is required when operating a more userfriendly cooking apparatus like a gas grill. Basically, if you cook your meat too fast, you’re going to end up drying it out, and that defeats the entire purpose of barbecue. The goal is to retain as much fat and moisture in the meat while still keeping it tender, and that requires bringing the internal temperature of the meat to around 140 degrees, at which point the collagen and connective tissue begins to break down. And if you want to cook like the pros, don’t be afraid to crank up the heat. “Competition temperature [for brisket] is 193 degrees, so if you’re in the circuit, that’s you’re target,” Bousquet says. “That’s going to keep the brisket tender but will also give you the

38 ATX MAN summer 2013

ability to slice it without it falling apart. But a lot of people like brisket that falls apart, so if that’s what you’re going for you’ll need to take the temperature up to 200 to 205.” In other words, there’s a million different ways to cook a brisket, or any other type of meat for that matter. It’s all about knowing your audience. Everything in the barbecue world—the numbers, the temperatures and the cooking times— remains up for debate, but you’d be wise to do some research before embarking on your first test run. After that, the rest is really up to you. Since the tradition emerged in the Carolinas four centuries ago, it has split too many times and in too many directions for any one faction to justify the claim that they’re the rightful heirs to the throne, so why not join the fray? Find out what you love about barbecue, and then set out to make it. The journey may be long, but take comfort in the fact that every milestone will be marked by a plate of homemade grub in your belly, each more delicious than the last (well, that’s the hope anyway). Just remember: You don’t have to win any national competitions to convince your friends, your family and even yourself that when it comes to barbecue, you’re No. 1. There are a lot of folks out there claiming to make the world’s best barbecue, and that’s because most of them actually believe it. Wouldn’t it be nice to be one of them?

Here’s the Rub Robb Walsh shares his advice for making and using a rub.

Stubb’s Spicy Pork Rub Stubb has passed away, but Stubb’s Bar-B-Q on Red River Street in Austin keeps his spirit alive. The restaurant shared its recipe for spicy pork rub in Barbecue Crossroads.

When using a rub, sprinkle it 1 cup salt generously over ¼ cup chili powder the surface of the ¼ cup paprika meat, but don’t L cup garlic powder overdo it. Just as L cup cayenne you wouldn’t want ½ cup ground dry rosemary to completely coat a good steak in ½ cup ground black pepper salt and pepper, Combine all ingredients and store you don’t want in a shaker. Makes about three cups. to cover the meat with a barbecue rub. If you rub the meat a day in advance and marinate it in the refrigerator overnight, you allow the meat to absorb the flavors. If you want to buy a commercial barbecue rub, go ahead. Just be sure to check the ingredient list for liquid smoke, MSG, chemicals and preservatives if you don’t like those things in your food. It’s a lot cheaper to make your own rubs at home.

good life

trailer treats

The Seedling Truck at Trailer Food Tuesdays

Keep up with the everchanging food truck scene. By Tiffany Harelik

❱❱ As we say goodbye to one of Austin’s most iconic and well-known food trailer parks—the beloved home of thai food, tacos, subs and sweets on South Congress—we also welcome new food truck courts across our hungry city. The food trailer landscape in Austin has changed and grown over the past few years, and while some of our favorite food trucks

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1. Go to Food Truck Events One food truck event that provides an easy way for patrons to test the waters on different food trailer menus is Trailer Food Tuesdays, presented by Trailer Food Diaries. Back for its second season at the Long Center for Performing Arts, this event brings nine local food trucks every month and aims to showcase one truck from out of town, allowing Austinites to save a road trip and try food truck menus from other cities. In March, Easy Slider from Dallas brought their Sweet and Lowdown sliders (beef slider with bacon, goat cheese and strawberry jam), among other slider options, while April brought in a truck from Houston. This family-friendly event is packed with live music courtesy of Minor Productions and offers a full bar. Patrons are encouraged to use the hike and bike trail or carpool. While chairs and tables

Lucky J’s at Trailer Food Tuesdays

are provided, many enjoy bringing a picnic blanket to have dinner with the city skyline in the background. During sunset, there is no other place you’ll want to be in Austin than Trailer Food Tuesdays, held on the last Tuesday of each month until October, from 5–9 p.m. trailerfoodtuesdays.com; twitter.com/trailerfoodtues

2. Use Local Food Truck Resources There are a few local bloggers and websites that follow the food truck scene and offer insight on new menus. Find them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter and check out their websites.

Photos by Bonnie Berry Photography.

Street (Eat) Smarts

have moved into restaurant spaces, leaving the truck life behind for good, we wait to see who will bring the next best food concept to the trailer world. What are some of the best ways to stay on top of the ever-changing food truck scene?

❱ Food Trailers Austin: Initiated by Tony Yamanaka in 2010, this website is a hub for all things food trailers. foodtrailersaustin.com ❱ Austin Food Trailers: A new project by Clockwork Social Media, this site offers insight on deals, directories and write-ups. austinfoodtrailerstexas.com ❱ Austin Food Carts: Mike Krell is the man behind this site, which has information on most of the food trucks, trailers or carts in town and offers a place for comments and discussions. austinfoodcarts.com ❱ Trailer Food Diaries: With cookbooks, jellies and events, this site offers a one-stop shop for the food truck connoisseur. trailerfooddiaries.com

3. Check out Tiff’s Picks Here is a sneak-peak at a few new trucks I have featured in the third volume of Trailer Food Diaries Cookbook, Austin Edition (coming out later this fall): Garbo’s: Originally from Connecticut, Heidi Garbo had been in Austin just one year before opening Garbo’s, a New England–themed mobile food truck. “My inspira-

tion comes from summers in Maine on Block Island eating lobster rolls, watching the sailboats,” Garbo says. “My clam chowder is actually my mother’s recipe. Good bacon makes all the difference.” “My favorite thing on the menu is my CT Roll,” she continues. “Its star is of course the fresh lobster, on which I brush a lemon-tarragon drawn butter. This is served on a toasted Sweetish Hill freshly baked bun and served with Cape Cod potato chips, a homemade side and a Maine Root soda.” “Because of my family background I am able to get fresh lobster meat shipped to me overnight,” she says. “That, to me, is the biggest factor. It hasn’t been frozen a year and then thawed out to become a dry, tasteless meat of some sort. I use the best bread, the best high-quality butter, fresh herbs, local produce and I make everything including the mayo from scratch. The only thing I don’t do is catch the lobster—my family does that.” Guac N Roll: After more than a year in research and development, Ben and Ashlea’s big green vegetarian truck with a Mohawk officially launched in December. All of the guac served here is made fresh in small batches inside the truck; large batches isn’t in this team’s repertoire. Ashlea’s favorite guacamole on the menu is the

One of over 12,000 reasons why you should play golf on September 9th. A few more reasons: The Brian Jones Classic, The Hills Country Club, lunch on the course, dinner and tickets for a pre-tournament party held the evening before. And the best reason of all: all proceeds benefit the 12,000+ kids served by the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Austin Area. For sponsorship information or to reserve your team, call 444-7199 or visit www.bgcaustin.org

Guac the Casbah, which is their truck-made guac mixed with hummus (also truck-made) and topped with cucumber, mint, sesame seeds and raisins. Paired with green salsa and a co-chata (a truck-made hazelnut and cinnamon horchata drink mixed with espresso), she’s in heaven. “We’ve simply taken the elements of our favorite Mexican/Latin American foods—which were abundant in our last hometown of Phoenix—and put our own spins on them,” Ashlea says. The Guac Star is a popular menu item that resembles one of the more traditional guacamoles. It includes mashed avocado topped with jalapeno, red onion, cilantro, grape tomatoes and dried papaya. The Saba O’Riley offers a different take on guac: mashed avocado topped with spicy masala peas, diced radish and jicama, and drizzled with saba (reduced balsamic). Their drinks are as unique and wonderful as their guacamoles. The fresh-squeezed mint limeade is refreshing to wash any of these down with and an instant favorite among those who try it.

❱❱ For more food truck recommendations, check out trailerfooddiaries.com, or follow along on twitter @trailerfood.

good life

on the scene

Perfecting the Craft

Brewmasters Brian “Swifty” Peters and Amos Lowe wrap up construction on the ABGB this month.

Brian Peters and Amos Lowe are brewing up good things at Austin’s newest brewpub, the ABGB. By Jane Kellogg, Photo by Rudy Arocha

It’s a dream that’s been fermenting in the minds of one of Austin’s pioneer craft brewers for some time now: a German-style brewpub and beer garden, nestled in the heart and soul of South Austin. After almost a year of planning and months of construction, the much-anticipated Austin Beer Garden Brewing Company—or the ABGB, for short—is finally ready to open its doors. Admittedly, the name doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as easily as their in-house craft brews. But it’s the product of a perfect union—Amos Lowe, the mastermind behind the idea and ultimately its construction, and Brian “Swifty” Peters, a veteran in the brewing world and a legend among aspiring home brewers. The two men share similar backgrounds—both are established engineers—but Swifty got a head start in the world of craft brewing, making his first home brew batch in 1989. A failure analysis engineer for GM, Peters came to Austin in 1991 to work for AMD. “I was home brewing out of sheer boredom,” he tells me. “Back then that was the hobby du jour.” Like most home brewers, Swifty dreamed that he could make a living out of it, and make a living he did. He left his high-paying job in 1996 and partnered up with Chip McElroy to start Live Oak Brewing Company. Live Oak quickly became a wild success—to this day the Austin brewery churns out award-winning pilsners in the old-world style of brewing practiced in Germany and the Czech Republic. It was, he says, a learning experience. Unfortunately, while the beers were well received, Peters’s partnership fell to the wayside. So Swifty moved on to brew at the now-defunct Bitter End with Tim Schwartz

42 ATX MAN summer 2013

(an evangelist of Texas craft beer, currently owner/ brewer for Real Ale Brewing Company). It was at the Bitter End that Peters finally crossed paths with Lowe, a stressed-out engineer who was itching to find a happier—and hoppier—career. “I was his disciple,” Lowe tells me. “I bothered Swifty every day and made him teach me how to make pils, because nobody was making it.” They brewed together on Fridays, while Lowe continued his day job at CTA Architects and Engineers. “I was bored, I wasn’t happy, I was working a lot of hours, and finally,” Lowe says, “I had an epiphany.” In 2007 Peters joined Uncle Billy’s Brew and Que as head brewmaster, and Lowe fol-

Growing Pains At nearly two acres, the ABGB’s grounds are optimistically large: Part of the reason why Peters and Lowe fought so hard for the expansive property is because of its potential to house both a brewpub and a craft brewery. Now, if you’re up to speed on Texas law, you know that currently brewpubs like the ABGB are prohibited from bottling their masterpieces and distributing it to retailers if they’re selling it on tap inhouse. Conversely, Texas breweries can’t sell their own beer for on-premise consumption. It’s a silly law that has stunted the overwhelming growth of Texas’s craft brew industry, conservatively estimated at contributing more than $608 million to the Texas economy in 2011 alone, according to a study commissioned by the Texas Craft Brewers Guild. But a package of craft beer bills have slowly been making their way through the legislative channels, and if the bill passes and heads to Governor Rick Perry’s desk like it’s supposed to this summer, the ABGB has the potential to be a whole lot more than a good place to kick back with a cold one.

lowed suit in 2010. The pair took home national awards for brews like Uncle Billy’s Bottle Rocket Lager and Hell in Keller, a crisp, German-style, unfiltered pils. But despite all the accolades, their excitement for running the tanks at someone else’s company was wearing thin. So in 2012 the pair left their separate brew posts and began a new journey: the ABGB. The space pays homage to the legendary Armadillo World Headquarters: Outside, makeshift cable-spool tables, are scattered about under the shade trees, reminiscent of the ones the old ’Dillo used to have. Twelve-foot-wide glass windows

Rebuilding a Legacy In the 10 years the old Armadillo World Headquarters managed to keep its rusty doors open, it made such an impact that—more than three decades later—people are still waxing nostalgic. Built out of a former National Guard Armory just south of the river, the establishment was called many things—“unglamorous,” “an ugly

hippie hole”—but in reality it was a laid-back, living-room setting where rednecks and hippies of all backgrounds could find common ground. It was ground zero for the burgeoning Live Music Capital of the World—one year after the ’Dillo opened, 12 more music venues in Austin followed suit. The stories behind the laundry list of iconic artists who performed in

pour in natural light, flanked with tin walls and outfitted with long, beer hall tables—enough to seat 150—handcrafted out of Russian red cedar by local artisan and friend Travis Norman. You won’t find a single television inside these doors; the layout is intended to steer the table’s focus toward the conversation. The menu, of course, is focused on the beer—but the kitchen cooks up thin-crust pizza and sandwiches with fresh ingredients delivered daily from Johnson’s Backyard Garden. From the beer hall, you have a clear shot of the four fermen-

this intimate setting are almost unbelievable: Tickets to Bruce Springsteen were sold at a dollar; Frank Zappa only set you back three. The Police, the Clash, BB King, Ray Charles, ZZ Top, Van Halen, Randy Newman, Linda Ronstadt—you name ’em, they all played there. It was an exciting time in music, but the ’Dillo was more than that. It found a way to

bring together the opposite ends of Austin’s great spectrum of citizens, providing a venue for them to talk and get to know one another over jalapeño nachos and $1.50 pitchers of Shiner. The ABGB hopes to recreate that old feeling. In some ways, they mean literally: The outdoor beer garden is outfitted with the same makeshift cable-spool

ters (A – B – G – B), blocked off only by an oversized glass wall. And off to one side is a generously sized stage, which hosts live tunes weekly. Meanwhile the cold room, hidden behind the bar, houses nine 15-barrel tanks and two half-size tanks for serving the finished beers directly to the taps. “They’re like giant kegs,” Swifty says proudly. Of the 10 beers made in-house, the first five are recipes they’ve mastered: Hell Yes Helles, Day Trip Pale Ale, Superliner IPA, Industry Pils and Big Mama Red. But these brewmasters are most excited for

tables, while the building itself mimics the industrial look of the former armory in its prime. The differences, of course, lie behind the bar. But all Swifty and Lowe aim to do is bring good beer into the mix—the good conversation and good feelings brewing in this vacuum of a community venue, well, that’s dependent on the patrons.

the freedom they now have to create whatever they damn well please. “I’m gonna be doing all kinds of zany stuff,” Peters says. “We’ll do a sour series, all kinds of barrel-aged series—it will be constantly rotating. It might last three days; it might last one day. And then we’ll have a new one the next week.” They’ve even set aside a few tanks that are purely for experimenting. It’s a playground for Peters and Lowe as much as it is a new playground for the capital city’s beer-loving crowd. 1305 W. Oltorf St., theabgb.com

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FREE ON-SITE QUOTES 2113 Wells Branch Parkway, Suite 6700 512-518-5335 | www.dyezz.com

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good life

travel

Green Getaways Two golf adventures to satisfy your urge to hit the exotic links. By Deborah Hamilton-Lynne

Accolades for hyatt Lost pine’s wolfdancer golf club Golfweek, “Best Courses You Can Play—2013”: #14 in Texas The Dallas Morning News, “Top 100 Courses in Texas—2013”: #53 Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuary Certification, January 2012 Golf Magazine, “Premier Golf Resorts 2012”: Top Three Best Golf in Southwest

Are you sitting in your office gazing out the window, feeling trapped and longing for the great outdoors? Do you yearn for a day where all you have to think about is how far you are from the green and which club you should use? Are you stuck in traffic on MoPac or I-35 thinking of what you have to do to convince the wife that yes, a getaway and a round of golf would be just the thing to bring your hectic life back into balance? You are not alone. Harvey Penick once said, “Golf has probably kept more people sane than psychiatrists have.” Golfers crave that walk in the woods, the time to take their minds off work and home and those few hours when they can take in the landscape and drive the ball to the green. No matter how frustrating or challenging a course may be for golfers, a round of golf is generally good for what ails ya. So what makes a golf getaway worth the time, the capital and the effort to arrange? Most golfers can’t put it in words, but the final analysis is the combination of service, challenge of the course, the landscape and how the course fits the terrain, the weather and the ability to relax with a cold one and a steak on the 19th hole while reliving the day’s play. ATX Man has unearthed two highly recommended getaways to satisfy your craving for one more round with additional amenities that will make these getaways ones to fondly remember when you are back in the office, on a conference call or sitting in traffic. One is fewer than 40 miles from Austin. The other is thousands of miles away. And both will let you leave your worries— and ATX—out of sight and out of mind.

to the Tonkawa Designer Arthur Hills/Steve American Indian tribe, Forrest and Associates which performed Par 72 ceremonial dances Yards 7,205 covered in wolf skin Rating 76.1 and imitated the behavior of wolves by Slope 137 dancing on all fours. Hills’s layout rambles over a dramatic, 150-acre stretch of terrain dotted with oak, cedar elm and pecan trees and cut by the Colorado River, which dramatically frames the right side of the layout’s memorable finishing holes. The course traverses three distinct ecosystems: rolling prairie, heavily wooded ridgeline and the river valley plain. Wolfdancer reflects the beauty of the surrounding region, featuring the natural lay of the land throughout, in turn creating a challenging and scenic course. These greens will challenge the most seasoned golfer and forgive the weekend warrior. Each player will take something different away from Wolfdancer and want to return in the near future. The Wolfdancer golf experience also includes a 13-acre driving range, a full-scale practice facility featuring 10 target greens and eight tee boxes, a short-game area with two chipping greens and bunkers, and GPS units in each golf cart. Visitors not wishing to pack up and carry their golf clubs to the resort can take advantage Golf Package of the Callaway club rental Through the end of the year, program. the stay-and-play package

Hyatt Lost Pines Wolfdancer Golf Club

› Accommodations in a standard room

575 Hyatt Lost Pines Road, Lost Pines, Texas, 512.308.1234, lostpines.hyatt.com

About the Course The Wolfdancer Golf Club was named after the land it occupies, formerly belonging

44 ATX MAN summer 2013

with unlimited golf includes:

› Unlimited golf for up to two › Daily breakfast credit at Firewheel Cafe › 20 percent discount on pro shop merchandise

The Resort Although The Hyatt Lost Pines Resort is just a few miles from Austin, your getaway really begins as soon as you turn off Highway 71. You begin to decompress immediately as a long drive winds toward the secluded

405-acre property located on the banks of the Colorado River. Remember to take your boots—you Hyatt Lost are sure to feel Pines Resort like a Texas Hill Country cattle baron. Stone and wood architecture invokes days gone by and the pair of resident Longhorns (aptly named T-Bone and Ribeye) complete the picture. Sidle up to the bar and get the feel of a Texas saloon in the Sheller’s Barrelhouse bar, complete with live music performed by local musicians, a billiards table, chairs covered in leather and cowhide, a long pecan bar and drinks served in Mason jars. For an exclusive clubhouse atmosphere, finish your round at The Major Neighbors Grill. Other amenities to enhance your getaway include Spa Django, Stayfit Fitness Center, an adults-only pool, two fire pits and kayaking on the Colorado. Tips from the Pro Kelly E. O’Donnell, PGA Wolfdancer is an “approach” golf course where the fairways are wide and generous but the key is your approach to each green. You cannot judge Wolfdancer by its scorecard because yardage plays a small role in the challenges during your round. The greens run out due to their quickness, so you have to be strategic and not always aim at the flag. Each green presents a new and challenging opportunity with a well struck and placed shot or a difficult challenge to make par if you are in the wrong location relative to the hole. Golfers take advantage and truly love our state-ofthe-art GPS system on the golf carts, as its gives a flyover of each hole and pinpoints accuracy in yardage to each hole.

The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs

Sailing charters in the Bay of Islands are also available. The lodge is part of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux Collection and is ranked as one of the top two hotels in the South Pacific and the top 25 hotels in the world.

Aerial view of Kauri Cliffs Resort

Kauri Cliffs Resort Matauri Bay, New Zealand, +64.9.407.0010, kauricliffs.com

Designer David Harman of Golf About the Course Course Consultants, Orlando, Florida Kauri Cliffs is located on the Par 72 East Coast of the Yards 7,151 North Island of Rating 74.8 New Zealand Slope 144 in Matauri Bay, Northland. This location in the Bay of Islands provides a wonderful year-round travel destination for golfers. Fifteen holes have spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean, six of which are played alongside cliffs that plunge to the sea. Both the Cavalli Islands and Cape Brett provide additional backdrop. The course played host to Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf match in 2003 between Fred Couples and Michael Campbell, and the PGA Tour’s Kiwi Challenge in 2008. Kauri Cliffs offers a world-class practice facility with bunkered target greens, a short game Accolades for kauri cliffs resort Golf Digest, “100 Best Courses Outside the US—2012”: Ranked #19 Golf Magazine, “Top 100 Courses in the World—2011”: Ranked #80

area with practice bunker and multiple putting areas. The range looks out to on a stunning beach, Little Takou. The Resort The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs is set on 6,000 acres of pristine farmland. The facility features 22 guest suites and a two-bedroom owner’s cottage. Every suite offers its own private porch, bedroom with sitting area and open fireplace, walk-in wardrobe and luxurious bathroom. The cottages are nestled in a native forest overlooking the golf course and the Pacific Ocean. The main lodge features breathtaking 180-degree views of the Pacific Ocean, the offshore Cavalli Islands and Cape Brett. Facilities include the 18-hole championship golf course, two Astroturf tennis courts, two swimming pools (one indoor and one outdoor infinity pool), as well as a luxury spa and fully equipped fitness center. The property also features walking trails, three secluded swimming beaches, a natural waterfall and a magnificent Kauri Tree. Guests can enjoy horseback riding, clay-bird shooting, land-based fishing for snapper from Pink Beach with a guide, or there are charter options available to take advantage of deep-sea fishing during the summer from the Bay of Islands.

Tips From the Pro Ryan Brandenburg, PGA The golf course is seaside, so even on a calm day there is always a windy corridor. The pictures of the course can be intimidating with the lush green of the fairways and roughs contrasted by the wispy brown fescue. However, we like to tell people the intimidation is more visual than physical. With five sets of tees, the course plays very fair. Hole 17, one of my favorites, plays along the cliff ’s edge with the Pacific Ocean down to the left and a fescue covered ravine to the right. The fairway sits slightly diagonal to the elevated tee box, and your eye will easily play a trick on you if you don’t think your tee shot through. Golfers wishing to master this hole need to consider their position on an elevated tee, factor in the wind and pick their landing area carefully. Once safely on the fairway, golfers can choose a low, running shot into the green or opt for a lofted approach. The green is quite deep, and for a solid par golfers must be careful to consider the speed, which typically runs around 11. For more on Kauri Cliffs, see our exclusive web article on atxman.com from publishers Melinda and Christopher Garvey.

atxman.com 45

A CK Ingram

The country crooner is living the dream, giving back to Austin and making music on his own terms. By Chad Swiatecki / Photos by Matt Lankes Hair and Makeup by Johna Simon, Mirror Mirror Salon, 4410 Burnet Road, 512.420.8868, mirrormirroraustin.com Styling by Ashley Hargrove, dtkaustinstyling.com Style Assistant: Stephanie Gawlik Shot on location at ACL Live, acl-live.com

n the music business there’s a lofty milestone called the diamond record—an album certified as selling 10 million or more copies— which only a handful of stars ever achieve. The Beatles have five of them, and so does Led Zeppelin. Garth Brooks has a gaudy six diamond records, while country peers Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks weigh in with three and two, respectively. Journey, Meatloaf and Matchbox 20 have amazingly managed to join that club too. Taylor Swift doesn’t have any yet, though with 22 million total albums sold at age 23 it’s a good bet she’ll have one before she turns 30. Jack Ingram—the honest and smooth-sounding Austin country crooner who for several years and two

albums was Swift’s label mate on Big Machine—is so far away from having a diamond record he’s practically in another time zone, and even a few country miles from going platinum or gold. It’s a distance that Ingram, 42, says he is perfectly aware of and mostly comfortable with as he peppers an hour-long conversation with the phrase “10 million records,” referencing it as a career ideal that might forever elude him, even after a series of hit singles in the mid-2000s. “We didn’t sell 10 million records,” the now record label–free singer says matter-of-factly about his time on Big Machine, which saw him top the Billboard country charts with “Wherever You Are” and place several more singles in the top 40. “We sold a couple hundred thousand. So under

those rules of the music business, and certainly the company that I was with, a couple hundred thousand records is not going to be OK for a record company that sells 10 million Taylor Swift records.” Rather than being despondent, there’s a steady confidence to Ingram’s voice as he talks about the frustrations and thrilling heights of the last several years of his career, which began by playing at bars and parties while he was studying psychology at Southern Methodist University and has reached a sort of crossroads after parting ways with Big Machine in 2011. Whether Ingram ever gets to the point where his album sales have precious metals associated with them is anyone’s guess. But by turning his attention toward charity and giving for most of this past year and teaming up with some big-name friends to draw

Mack on Jack ATX Man: What have you learned about Jack and the type of guy he is during the process of working together? Mack Brown: Jack is incredibly driven and focused on providing the best for his family, his fans and his community. I knew when we came together for this event that we would be able to empower a lot of young lives and at the same time provide an event and an experience for the community that everyone can really enjoy. AM: Jack calls himself a control freak, and clearly he works hard, but he obviously cares a lot about everything he does. MB: He works so hard at everything he does, you can hear it in his music and see it when he performs on stage. When we were planning the event, he was so focused on making it the best experience possible for everyone involved. I was blown away by the passion and experience displayed throughout the Jack & Friends concert and how passionate he was in choosing artists for that night because he knew the incredible impact it would have on the audience.

Jack Ingram, Mack Brown, Kris Kristofferson and Matthew McConoughey

AM: What kind of lasting impression/legacy do you think MJ&M can make in Austin? MB: After kicking off our first year, we hope to continue to grow and encourage the community to get involved in empowering kids through attending future events, and opening their hearts to all of the amazing organizations that MJ&M will impact.

Mission: accomplished.

of events—two sold-out nights of music at ACL Live, a gala with silent auction, a golf tournament and fashion show—raised more than $1 million for The Rise School of Austin, Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, HeartGift, CureDuchenne and Grounded in Music. The auction alone—with an Aston Martin auto fetching $180,000 and an American Kennel Club-registered golden retriever going for $15,000—rang up nearly $350,000.

Total figures are still forthcoming, but by nearly all estimates, the early April slate

Also eye-bulging was the lineup of musical talent secured by Ingram, with legends like

An Event to Remember When Jack Ingram, Mack Brown and Matthew McConaughey joined forces in late 2012 to create the Mack, Jack & McConaughey charity, their goal was to raise the stakes of fundraising in Austin by leveraging their combined star power to draw big names and even bigger sums of cash for five Austin-area children’s charities.

48 ATX MAN summer 2013

Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark and Randy Travis pitching in and taking turns on the stage. The hushed audience savored every second, from Clark’s sparse guitar and learned character sketches to Travis’s easy back and forth with the crowd ahead of favorites like “Diggin’ Up Bones” and “Forever and Ever, Amen.” There was also Ingram, who acted as a sort of emcee for the night by introducing close to a dozen of his musical heroes and contemporaries. And in a show of comfortable humility, the songwriter also served as the opening act at his own

party, giving a heartfelt take on “Great Divide” before ceding the stage to the impressive lineup. “I’ve had to go on right after Kris Kristofferson has played,” Ingram recalls of an intimidating appearance at Willie Nelson’s picnic a few years back. “As good as I think I am, I also know the facts. Five hall-of-fame songs in a row by Kris Kristofferson and five of the best I can do, I mean, I’m on the B team. To have him there, on the side of the stage watching me…I’m not a kid anymore so I wasn’t nervous, but I was very excited.”

more attention and dollars, he’s shown that—in some respects—he’s got nothing left to achieve. His Mack, Jack and McConaughey charity, founded with University of Texas football coach Mack Brown and acclaimed actor Matthew McConaughey, got off the ground this year because of a desire to make a big splash with their combined star power and raise several hundred thousand dollars for five charities focused on youth empowerment. Inspired in part by the high-profile charity golf tournaments held by Willie Nelson, former Longhorns coach Darryl Royal and golfer Ben Crenshaw, MJ&M made its initial bow in April. With two soldout nights of music at ACL Live, a glitzy silent auction, golf tournament and fashion show, the launch showed that it’s possible to get out of the cycle of what Ingram called “rubber-chicken dinners” and golf outings that rarely accomplish more than helping the participants feel good about themselves. “I had the hat from the Darryl and Willie tournament that my dad gave me from 1983 that I was looking at,” Ingram says of his first inspiration in late 2011 for what quickly became a group effort. “I started thinking about that one night, and I texted Mack and asked him if he’d ever heard of that golf tournament. He said yes. This is all after one o’clock in the morning, so I was really surprised he was answering me. And so I said, ‘Would you like to put something together with me?’ and he said yes. He said, ‘I’m in. Let’s talk about it in the morning.’ That was my cue to stop texting him.” Brown quickly suggested the pair bring his good friend McConaughey into the fold and the three set forth on planning a way to combine their separate charitable efforts into a unified front that could bring far more awareness and fundraising than they could have on their own. Brown says Ingram’s pitch to him soon became a sort of blessing by allowing him to focus on one concentrated effort—during a somewhat calm period in the football calendar—rather than participating in many smaller events throughout the year. “We were doing so much that…we were all over the place,” Brown said prior to the opening night reception and concert that featured McConaughey comrade John Mellencamp. “We felt like we could make one huge event and still give the same amount or more money back to the charities we’re very passionate about.” Aside from making the initial call to launch the effort, Ingram’s biggest imprint on the MJ&M launch was on its second night with a concert featuring nearly a dozen songwriters he recruited, including Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Bobby

Pinson and Randy Travis. By opening that set with one song before playing fan/co-emcee for the night and introducing his friends and heroes, Ingram gave himself a smaller role and let the bigger stars get most of the attention. It’s a role he says he became comfortable with as the charity’s mission and plan of action came into focus. “I know where my name is on the food chain of Mack, Jack and McConaughey, but I also know where my name is on the food chain of general exposure

Theory black leather jacket,

in Texas,” he says. “I $995, and John Varvatos heathered tee, $89.50, knew that if it was available at Neiman Marcus, Mack Brown, Jack 3400 Palm Way, 512.719.1200, Ingram and Matthew neimanmarcus.com. Sunglasses, McConaughey at an his own event in Austin, in Texas…I knew that alone would be a pretty big splash. Part of what I wanted to do was something that was much bigger than myself or the people involved, and I think we achieved that.” Fundraising totals for the launch events weren’t

atxman.com 4 9

Jack Ingram performing at the Jack & Friends concert at ACL Live at the Moody Theater 50 â&#x20AC;&#x201A; ATX MAN summer 2013

disclosed as of this writing—though many estimates out the number as more than $1 million—but the charity has already started making plans for its 2014 events, showing the three men are committed to making a difference in Austin for years to come. Asked why he settled in Austin in 2004 after his career was already well underway, Ingram starts with the practical; after the birth of their first child, Ingram’s wife, Amy, needed help with rides and day care, and her sister who lived in Austin offered to help. But the city’s inherent charm and weirdness was also a draw that made it easy to relocate. The couple now lives with their three children in a west Austin home near the Golf Club at Spanish Oaks. “I’ve always loved the live-and-let-live mentality around here,” Ingram says. “I’m not a hippie, but that ‘free to be you and me’ vibe is pretty strong here. And it really works, and you can be whoever you want to be. You can reinvent yourself. You can be a rich, badass investment banker or a struggling songwriter, and you can end up in the same place.” And while he’d already released several records and made a national name for himself through touring, Ingram says Austin’s music-friendly climate made it easier to find both opportunity and acceptance as an artist. “I wasn’t coming here to cut my teeth or to find myself, or to allow myself to be an artist. I’d already carved that out by the time I’d moved here. The heartbeat of music in Texas is here, and I wanted to be close to that. If for nothing else, to recharge. The legitimacy of music here is important. If you’re at a party in other cities and someone asks what you do, and you say ‘I’m a singer-songwriter,’ it’s kind of like, ‘Really? Are you still doing that music thing?’ It’s just kind of like it’s not real unless you have outward signs of success. But in Austin you can say that and there’s no sideways looks. It’s the same as being in real estate or any other profession.” Austin is also a city where a wide-eyed idea like getting a Grand Ole Opry season’s worth of songwriting talent up on stage for a good cause can actually happen, which is why beyond the dollars raised, the second night of the MJ&M extravaganza was so special. “Kris Kristofferson not only played that night, but he sat on stage for all three hours and listened to every song that was played, and they were playing for him,” says longtime Austin radio personality and music journalist Andy Langer, who helped emcee the event. “Kristofferson is usually gone in a waiting car once he’s done playing, so you talk about the best-case scenario, that’s it right there. That’s something you can build on because it’s of a caliber where Kris Kristofferson sat at this event and watched three hours of songwriters who were there performing.” The night of stripped-down, simple picking and singing points to one possible career direction for Ingram as he contemplates what he’ll do next after separating from Big Machine in 2011. Going after radio-fueled stardom is an option, Langer says, but so

too is following in the footsteps of great Texas voices like Robert Earl Keen. Golf, and Jack Ingram’s “Pawn Shop “He’s still in a place where he’s able to write his own ticket. Does Theory” he want to keep swinging for the fences and try to get the exposure It makes sense that a star-studded golf outing at Barton Creek Resort was one that comes with that? Or does of the highlights during the first round of fundraising events for the Mack, Jack he make the kind of records he’s and McConaughey charity. A longtime duffer who loves to play solo to unwind always wanted to make, which and enjoy the mental challenge of the game, Jack Ingram estimates he’s played probably wouldn’t sell well with in dozens of charity tournaments over the years. Nashville, and set himself up as But it’s a childhood link to the game’s history, thanks to his father’s penchant the next of the great troubadours for pawn shop treasure hunting, that has stayed with him and shaped the who will always be able to fill up “take it or leave it” philosophy he’s applying to the next phase of his career. a theater?” “My dad always went to pawn shops,” Ingram says. “He collected golf clubs The answer, for now at least, and would try to get these certain kind of Ben Hogan woods that were worth isn’t quite clear. Ingram makes thousands of dollars, and you could find them in pawn shops for $20 because no bones about his desire to have they just looked like a regular golf club. I was trying to buy a stereo, and he his music heard by as wide of an was teaching me about earning money and trying to buy something smart. So audience as possible—“I’ve always we went to a bunch of pawn shops and he taught me, ‘When we walk in here wanted to have people know my we’re going to figure out the price before the guy comes up to us. There’s a music. If I wasn’t concerned with price we’re not going to go over, and when we say that price, if he doesn’t say that, I’d just have kept on playing yes we’ll say that’s all we’re paying or we’re walking out. And we’re not lying. in my bedroom.”—but a listen to We are walking out and we’re not looking back. And you watch. When we walk the demos he’s prepared over the out he’ll come to the door and ask us back in and he’ll give us our price. But last year-plus confirms that he’s you have to mean it.’ turned the corner and left the glossy studio sheen of his Big MaI always called that the pawn shop theory. And the beauty of that is meaning it. chine days behind. It’s saying, ‘This is what I will do, and there’s no negotiating. If you don’t want While still showcasing his gift to do that, great, we can still be friends.’ That’s how I’ve learned to look at my for relatable characters in tough career—at this point it’s not a negotiation; I’m gonna make music the way I and common struggles, there’s want to make it. You just have to trust in me that I want to make commercial a sparse, more rugged feel to his music. I want to make music that sells, because my life depends on it as well. latest material that suggests he’s If you trust me, and I tell you I’m going to make music that I think is great, and headed down the road of a long I’m gonna hand it in to you, that’s our relationship.” line of Texas songsmith heroes instead of letting someone else cast him as the next radio-ready, easily digestible Brad Paisley or Kenny Chesney clone. road, but the song’s chorus—“I could pack it all in “I won’t make a compromise again musically,” he and give it all up, but then what? It’s a heartache I says, referencing the crossover attempts and slick wouldn’t trade for anything”—emphatically states production of his recent records that were a pretty that he’s in this for the long haul. stark contrast to his sweaty, rocking live shows. “Not The question he’s still trying to answer as he rebecause I’m an outlaw or banging my chest or slamgroups after his brush with modest-but-sometimesming my foot on the table—it’s because I’m 42 years uncomfortable success is where that road leads. old, and I don’t have to. And I know exactly what kind “I find myself now, in a very positive way, digging of music I want to make, and how I want to make it. If myself out of my own success,” he says. “You have you don’t want to do that with me, that’s fine. I could some success, but you don’t have the grand success die tomorrow. You get to that point in your life where, that you want to fully express yourself artistically, and money’s great, but I’m going to be able to make money you kind of back yourself into a corner a little bit. because now I’m sure of who I am and what my tal“It’s like one of those Amazing Race shows where ents are. It has nothing to do with chart success.” everyone is gung ho, you’ve got a plan and you go ‘Oh... Ingram’s comfort with the ups and downs of his This is great. We’re further along than we wanted to profession comes across loud and clear on “Living but we hit a roadblock.’ And you go, ‘OK, I guess we’ve The Dream,” a twanging rocker that’s one of the got to figure this out.’ That’s where we ended up for strongest and most stirring of his newest batch of the last year and a half. Now we got to turn in another songs. Over the course of the song’s four-and-adirection. I know there’s an audience out there for me. half minutes, Ingram revisits a career’s worth of Is it 100,000 people? Is it a million? I have no clue. But long nights, bum gigs and hungover mornings that I know there’s an audience or else I wouldn’t be makare part of the deal when toughing it out on the ing a living doing what I do.”

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great golf

au s t i n s t y l e Central Texas’s golf options are top-drawer, varied and full of history, so let’s tee it up. by St e v e H a bel

During the past two decades, Austin has become nearly as well known for its collection of top-notch golf courses— many of the daily-fee variety—as it is for live music and Longhorns football. In fact, Golf Magazine named Austin as America’s top city for golf in 2008—and the courses touted in that publication are even better now than they were then. For golfers, the appeal of our verdant

Pictured: Vaaler Creek Golf Club, p. 56

region is obvious: The skies are clear about 300 days out of the year, and one can hit the links in all seasons. There are more than 60 courses, most of them really good and some of them great, within a 45-minute drive in any direction. Austin also has golf history on its side. It’s home to Onion Creek Club, birthplace of the PGA’s Senior Tour. Then there’s one of the oldest existing clubs in Texas, Austin

Country Club, founded in 1899 and famous for its connection to perhaps the greatest golf instructor who ever lived, Harvey Penick. Two of Penick’s most famous pupils, World Golf Hall of Famers Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw, still live in the capital city. Austin is also the residence of Champions Tour member Tom Jenkins and the training ground for the 2012 national champion University of Texas men’s golf team.

In this ATX Man special report, we highlight five of the best courses in the area (each in a different direction on the compass), get a little insight on the game from one of the top teaching professionals in the area, take a quick peek at some of the newest must-haves to help your game and—in case you are looking to get out of town for some time on the links—a handful of courses close enough to drive to, play and be home before dinner.

53 atxman.com 5 3

W Avery Ranch Golf Club Fashioned by Andy Raugust (a design disciple of the legendary Jack Nicklaus) and opened for play in Northwest 2002, Avery Ranch Golf Course is set 10500 Avery Club Dr., on 226 acres and enjoys a routing that 512.248.2442, averyranchgolf.com features natural limestone caverns, 72 knobby live-oak trees, rolling hills and Par meandering streams and lakes among Yards 7,121 (from the back set of five tees) blended panoramic vistas. The golf at Avery Ranch is pretty Rating 74.3 good, too, and offers a wide variety of Slope 133 play. There are doglegs left and right, narrow fairways, strategically placed bunkers, forced carries over ravines, limestone outcroppings, water and well-protected greens. The natural beauty of Avery Ranch is apparent right off the first tee. The 377-yard par four brings into play an inlet of Brushy Creek, rolling hills and plenty of trees. Off the tee you must clear the creek below and stay in between the trees, which line both sides of the fairway and almost every other fairway on the course. The seventh hole is a par four that is as scenic as it is challenging. It’s relatively short (397 yards), with a hard dogleg left that requires a carry off the tee box as well as one to the putting surface, the latter of which is one of the more demanding shots on the course. This approach features a view of the two-tiered green that includes several bunkers in front and to the right, native cacti behind and a large man-made rock wall in front. The back nine is a unique blend of equal parts par threes, fours and fives, allowing players to utilize more Habel Hint Players who are of a risk-reward strategy. long and accurate off the tee The 161-yard par-three 13th hole rewith their driver can take big quires precision but also rewards great swings—and big chances— shotmaking and is one of the course’s at Avery Ranch. For the middle signature holes because of its impressive to high handicappers, there is setup. It’s guarded by water the entire a huge reward for being in the length of the hole on the right, includes a fairway, and you can still enjoy canopy of towering oaks around the back a modicum of success by usand features a rim rock feature with a 20ing hybrids and fairway woods foot drop-off to the right of the green. off the tee. Take advantage of Avery Ranch Golf Course is difficult the three par fives on the back enough to entice the low handicapper nine, and hold your breath on while creating an enjoyable golfing experithe par threes. ence for all levels of players.

Golf Club Star Ranch

round, not to be beat up.” Golf Club Star Ranch has a handful of the Located on a scenic hilltop on what used to be toughest par fours in the area, including a halfone of Central Texas’s largest cattle ranches, dozen that play at 440 yards or more. Included Golf Club Star Northeast Ranch fulfills its in that roster are back-to-back two-shotters on 2500 FM 685, Hutto, promise as both the front-side: the 455-yard par-four second hole, which plays with the predominantly south 512.252.4653, starranchgolf.com a test and a rewind and to a green that is bracketed on both ward for golfers Par 71 of all skill levels, sides by sand, and the 451-yard third hole that Yards 7,017 turns back into the wind and is a near twin to following the the second hole, just in reverse and with a large Rating 73.5 natural rolling Slope 130 contours of the mound in the middle of the fairway to navigate. Most players love the 376-yard par-four 14th, land while usa hole that challenges the golfer to hit a threeing a central lake and prevailing wind to create wood or a long-iron off the tee between two an experience both formidable and fun. sets of fairway bunkers to a landing area that is Designed by Austin-based golf course ardownhill. The shallow, three-tiered green sits on chitect Roy Bechtol with help from Carter rock ledge, with a stream in front to catch drives Morrish, Golf Club Star Ranch opened to rave that are too long and a cactus garden behind the reviews in 2001. It gets plenty of play—more green to put a premium on your approach. than 50,000 rounds last year—but never feels Players finish the round with a little prescrowded due to the wonderful routing and pacent: a 507-yard par five that plays uphill and ing of the course’s holes. features a huge false front to the putting “We designed Star Ranch to be a fun course surface. Three bunkers guard the front of the for every level of player,” Bechtol says. “There green, so there is a need to fly your ball to the are times when you think your shot may be out top of the hill. of play, but you find it in the light rough. The course rewards great Habel Hint Expect to shoot a few strokes better than normal here, thanks to the course’s play and is not as punifriendly bounces and playability. But don’t take Star Ranch for granted—it is a true and fair tive as some courses where you have no way challenge. It also has one of the best practice areas around, with a 55,000-square-foot teeing area for its driving range and a short-game area with multiple teeing areas, six target greens, to recover. We want five bunkers, two chipping greens and rolling terrain for working on every golf shot in the bag. the player to enjoy the

Must-Haves for Every Golfer Gadget Zepp’s GolfSense ($130) attaches to the back of a golfer’s glove. With every swing, four motion sensors produce and relay a 3D swing analysis to any iPhone, iPad or Android that includes club-head speed, estimated carry distance, swing path and plane, tempo and tips on how to improve. The device weighs in at just 17 grams, so light that most people forget it’s even on their glove. golfsense.me Club Even a high percentage of PGA Tour players cannot consistently aim their putters at the hole from 10 feet. So what makes average golfers think they can? Researchers at Edel Golf (based in Liberty Hill) believe the answer might be a custom-made putter.

The Edel team uses a laser to indicate a player’s true aim. Then, through a process of elimination, it whittles down head sizes, lofts, hosels, weights and shaft lengths until the aim is true to the line. The finished product ($375–$800) is cast in 303-grade stainless steel and should be considered a work of art as much as a tool for the golf course. edelgolf.com Equipment Forget the hard-shell case. For golfers who are serious about traveling and protecting their clubs, there is no better solution than the Club Glove Last Bag ($299). Every piece of it is built to protect golf clubs and last forever. This bag was made using a waterresistant nylon fabric that’s up to three times stronger and lasts up to five times longer than standard polyester. Its patented high-impact plastic wheelbase with in-line skate wheels and bearings provide smooth and quiet transport. The

Last Bag is used by more touring professionals on the PGA, Champions and LPGA tours than any other product. clubglove.com Book The interplay between fathers and sons has long been one of golf’s most enigmatic relationships. In Golf Dads ($22), best-selling Texas-based writer and former professional Curt Sampson brings to life remarkable stories of golfers, their fathers and the game. The stories feature wellknown subjects such as Michelle Wie, Ben Hogan and David Feherty. With Father’s Day approaching, Golf Dads is sure to hit home with anyone who has been handed a worn club by his father or who has watched his child swing a stick at a rock and marveled at the possibilities. curtsampson.com

Onion Creek Club

Although water can make for many tough decisions throughout the round, so can the bunkers, The history of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf which are placed quite liberally throughout the tournament and its legendary players are still on course. On a handful of Onion Creek’s greenside display in its clubhouse and rustle through the bunkers, the front walls are four feet tall. huge trees that hold sentinel over the fairways and On numbers three through eight, the creek is greens of the original 18-hole layout, designed by much more of a concern. Any errant tee shot to the Jimmy Demaret and founded by Texas amateur golf right can find the water or, perhaps even more punilegend Jimmie Connolly in 1974. tive, be lost in the wall of trees and vines that are in The course is graced by gently rolling fairways place to keep your ball dry. In addition to the creek, shaded by towering cypress, oak and pecan trees ponds come into play on numbers five, nine and 10. that line the banks of Onion Creek. Over the years, Length can also be a factor on the original the fairway corridors of the course have tightened course, especially on the tough, dogleg left 601as the trees have grown and accuracy throughout yard, par-five seventh. Water is in play the entire the round is paramount even more than when Onhole, with the club’s namesake creek running along ion Creek Club was founded. the right. Tall oak trees border the narrow Habel Hint It’s not the hardest of golf courses, but there are plenty of challenges and loads of playability. fairway on the left and Thanks to the various configurations and its overall beauty and charm, the club’s members never get tired of force golfers to execute playing it. The Crenshaw/Coore nine sports some great offerings as well, especially the eighth and ninth, dual three precise shots to par fours that play at 450 and 461 yards, respectively. Golfers will also like the first two par fives on the North have any chance of par. Course, the 526-yard fifth, which is reachable, and the grip-it-and-rip-it 577-yard 12th.

The 342-yard Southeast downhill par-four 2510 Onion Creek Pkwy., 12th hole—Onion 512.282.2150, onioncreekclub.com Creek’s signature Par 70 offering—looks Yards 6,351 out over a narrow fairway some 50Rating 70.7 plus feet below as Slope 132 the course’s creek threatens on the right. The creek reappears on number 16 as it runs the length of the hole down the right side. The iconic closing hole at Onion Creek Club is a 558-yard par five on which the approach is all uphill to a narrow green surrounded by sand on three sides. Take two more clubs than you think you’ll need on the third shot, especially if the pin is in the back. Since Demaret first sent a golf ball rocketing down the No. 1 fairway, Onion Creek has held a special place in golf history.

Morris Williams Golf Course

This past February, after being closed for nearly a year, a renovated Morris Williams (spruced up and shined by Austin-based designer Jep Wille) was revealed. Parts of the course were rerouted and most of the greens have been enlarged and reshaped. The putting surfaces on the renovated course have many more contours and mounds, making both chipping and putting more interesting than before. One notable green that was redesigned is on the 412-yard par-four 16th, which has a Biarritz-inspired surface with a low tier centered between two higher ones. The green on the 395-yard par-four 10th has been shifted several yards to the right to move it away from a new power station just off Manor Habel Hint Larger greens mean more hole positions farther apart from one anRoad. The short, quirky 13th now has a other, meaning the new Morris Williams GC should be able to weather the footsteps split fairway, with the trees and brush of the herd of people expected to play the course. And because the course is usually at the top of the hill to the left of the buffeted by high winds, the new greens should help with pace of play and are landing area cleared and leveled. Golfers easier to hit on from the fairway. Thanks to Wille’s work here, Morris Williams GC is now can opt to tee toward the top of that now the best of Austin’s five municipal courses. hill, leaving a wedge or short iron over It’s a new day at Morris Williams Golf Course, with a redesigned course and sparkling new amenities that make a trip into nearby East Austin a must for any Central Texas golfer. Located near Austin’s Mueller complex just east of UT, Morris Williams’s original layout was designed by the prodigious Leon Howard and was the city’s third municipal course. Since it opened in 1964, it has been the site of numerous amateur, high school and college tournaments, and for many years it was the home course of UT golf when George Hannon was both the Longhorns’ head coach and the head pro at Morris Williams.

Play the Long Game

Sometimes it’s just good to get away from the immediate Austin area, and these three courses—all within an hour’s drive of downtown—are worth playing every time opportunity avails. Lady Bird Johnson Course, Fredericksburg This Hill Country golf staple is now, thanks to a wonderful, recently completed renovation by designer Jeff Blume, even better than ever. Course improvements include the installation of new grasses, rerouting and lengthening of several holes, and

a makeover of the clubhouse. Laid out over an undulating, tree-lined 125 acres, dissected by Live Oak Creek, the 18-hole, 6,686-yard course plays to a par of 71 and features 48 bunkers and water in play on 10 holes. Native areas have been allowed to grow back on several parts of the course. golffredericksburg.com Vaaler Creek Golf Club, Blanco Voted the nation’s number 19 best new course for 2010-11 by Golf Digest, Vaaler Creek is the first signature design by Michael Lowry, who fashioned a much-

the pond in front of the green, or play the hole as before down the right side of the fairway. Mounds have been constructed alongside and just off many fairways to keep balls from scooting out of bounds. And the whole shebang is routed through naturally rolling hills with pleasant, mature trees and some nice—and strategically placed—water features. Morris Williams Golf Course still has the toughest set of par threes in the city, led by the downhillover-water 218-yard third hole. During the recent UIL Class 5A State East Golf Championships 4300 Manor Road, 512.974.8333, (the first big tournaaustintexas.gov/department/ ment played on the morris-williams-golf-course revamped layout), 72 the four one-shotters Par were ranked one, Yards 7,023 three, five and six on Rating 73.0 the course as far as Slope 124 difficulty.

tougher-than-it’s-carded 6,874-yard par-72 track among the live oak and cactus. Lowry routed his course along the rolling scrub brush-filled prairies and worked in all kinds of cool features: ponds, sand hazards of all sizes, elevated tee shots and undulating, tree-lined fairways. The course’s true last line of defense is its lightning-quick, mounded and segmented putting surfaces, which can turn even the most aggressive player timid. vaalercreekgolfclub.com The Legends Golf Course, Kingsland World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Kite and the

design team of Roy Bechtol and Randy Russell transformed 200 acres of farmland into a masterpiece that flows through open fields before morphing into rolling, rock strewn Hill Country terrain. It plays to a par of 72 and is carded at 7,260 yards, surrounded by Lake LBJ with its eighth hole resting alongside the lake. The course demands the pinpoint accuracy Kite is known for in his play and his designs, while the routing is a combination of lengthy and short holes, with plenty of risk-reward opportunities. legendsgolftx.net

Fazio Canyons at Barton Creek Club and Resort World renowned golf course architect Tom Fazio has designed two courses at the Barton Creek Club and Resort, which since its opening in 1987 has been oft-recognized as one of the top destinations for golf and getting away in the United States. Fazio’s second and newest masterpiece at the resort is called Fazio Canyons, located just two miles from the main resort and with its own pro shop and extensive practice areas. Canyons is like Fazio’s other course at the resort, the famed Fazio Foothills, except evHabel Hint Never, and I mean never, erything is just a little rougher around the edges— turn down a chance to play the Fazio which is a good thing. Canyons course, even at the expense Canyons, which opened in 2000 and is the of not being able to play the more top-ranked resort course in Texas according to popular Fazio Foothills. Pace of play at The Dallas Morning News, offers numerous scenic Canyons is better and the pomp and holes lined with stately red oaks and sycamore circumstance that permeates Foothills trees and features spectacular Hill Country views is absent at the younger sibling – it’s of Short Springs Branch, a beautiful limestone-bed just great and demanding golf that the creek which meanders throughout the track. player will never forget. Barton Creek After a beginning to your round that allows a Club and Resort is a place where you golfer to get some momentum, Fazio Canyons can’t go wrong when it comes to golf.

Tips from a Pro

River Place Country Club head golf pro Chris de Keratry shares the best ways to improve your game. Chris de Keratry understands that golf can be a frustrating sport, but he’s River Place Country Club’s secret weapon when it comes to helping players make the game a little easier and a lot more fun. He’s been the head professional at River Place since 2010, after stints in his hometown of Amarillo, then Odessa, then out on the east side of Austin at Bluebonnet Hill Golf Course. Now he’s the big cheese at one of the most beautiful courses around. De Keratry started teaching full time in 2008—a bad year to start your own teaching business, or any kind of business for that matter—and has worked alongside some of Texas’s best teaching pros, including Tim Cusick (formerly Hank Haney’s director of instruction and now at The Four Seasons in Dallas) on the full swing and Marius Filmalter (who is recognized on all the pro tours as the top expert in putting) on the short game. His life away from the course is focused on his family: Melissa, his wife of 24 years, and two beautiful daughters, Lindsay (who will be student at Texas A&M in the fall) and Meredith (who is heading into the 8th grade.) “My family is the most important thing to me,” de Keratry says. “It takes a special family to put up with the life of a golf pro.” ATX Man sat down with de Keratry in the grill overlooking 11 holes at River Place, set in the near-northwest Austin community of the same name. He had just finished presiding over the club’s Member-Guest tournament, and he was practically bubbly from the experience. But then, de Keratry smiles quite often. ATX Man: If I am a mid- to high-handicap golfer, what is the first step to getting my game down to single-digit status? Chris de Keratry: That’s an easy one: the short game. I play with my members a lot, and even though they hit their share of bad shots, it’s still the three putts, missing short putts for par or bogey, terrible chipping, pitching bunker play and an inability to hit the green from within 100 yards that keeps them from scoring. I tell them that they should have a goal of taking no more than three shots every time they get within 100 yards of the green. That would shave lots of strokes off their score.

takes a toll on your game, especially with its final four holes that call for all your skills and any confidence you have remaining in your tank. The parfive finishing hole (a downhill, 561-yard beauty) is tremendous and by all accounts rivals Barton Creek’s much-lauded sister 18th hole on the Foothills course. Other spectacular holes at Fazio Canyons are the 596-yard, dogleg left par-five fifth; the 457-yard uphill par-four ninth, which usually plays into the wind and sports a huge putting surface; the 450-yard, dogleg right par-four 10th, on which your approach is played over a creek that runs in front of the green; and the sporty par-four 13th, which at just 357 yards from the back tees has teeth aplenty, with two huge fairway bunkers on the left and a cliff wall on the right West that borders an immense green measuring 54 yards from front to back. 8212 Barton Club Dr., It would be hard to stand before a judge and say 512.329.4000, bartoncreek.com honestly which of Barton Creek’s two Fazio courses Par 72 are the best, so let’s just say this: if Foothills is No. 1, Yards 7,153 then Canyons is No. 1A—both are a pleasure and a Rating 75.5 challenge to play and can leave golfers humbled if they don’t bring their A game to the course. Slope 141

AM: What’s the one thing you would tell a golfer to focus on? CK: It’s so hard to pick one thing, but I suppose I would really want a student to learn how to use the back of their forearm and hand to square the clubface. I see so many slicers that have this terribly strong grip. They read in some golf magazine that they should get three or four knuckles showing on their left hand to take out some slice. Well they still haven’t done anything to fix their swing, only put a Band-Aid on something. When I demonstrate to them where the clubface is pointing with a proper rotation of the forearm and back of the hand, they see that the ball would be going a mile left. If they could learn to rotate the arm through impact, they would probably see a huge hook. Then I’d move on to fix their grip that was too strong and try to get their swing shallower. AM: How important is equipment to the game? CK: It’s pretty important in some cases and not so much in others in my opinion. I see students playing with 20-year-old irons all the time. I know there is better technology out there compared to even just a year or two ago, but I don’t think in many cases a player would lower their score at all by getting new clubs. The introduction of the hybrid was huge; players who struggle with long irons can really improve their long game by hitting hybrids. The better the player, the more important it is to get good shaft and head fitting done. The mid-low handicappers can really see a change with properly fitted head and shaft combinations. Club fitting in general is a great idea. Even putter fitting is important. AM: How does fitness play a role in good golf? CK: It’s a big part of the modern game. I’ve had so many personal trainers approach me over the years who want to incorporate what they do into my teaching program. I love the idea of personal physical fitness and development because I see how much trouble most people have to swing the club correctly—their body just can’t move a certain way. However, there is a big difference in a “quality of life” personal trainer and one that understands exactly how the body moves biomechanically in a golf swing. It’s not all

about getting stronger or becoming more flexible. As a matter of fact, if you can teach a person how the body creates leverage from the ground and how the body should be moving to create power and speed through proper biomechanics, they’ll see great improvement in distance without ever getting stronger. If a personal trainer can teach you all of that and get you stronger, then that’s the best possible situation. If players can improve their fitness and biomechanics, then the sky is the limit for their game. AM: What’s the best golf course you’ve ever played, and what’s your favorite course? CK: I’ve never really traveled much and played different courses. To be honest, I’m pretty easy to please. I grew up playing the city golf course in Amarillo—that’s where the term “golf pasture” was started. I walk out of my golf shop at River Place and see the most beautiful views in all of Austin and remember what my days in Amarillo were like— what a difference! There are so many great courses just within a two-hour drive from my house here. Austin Country Club has got to be in my top three that I’ve played. It’s similar to River Place, in that you hit every club in your bag. I haven’t played Escondido or Boot Ranch yet, but I hear great things. Improve your golf swing with Chris de Keratry at River Place Country Club. 512.346.6784, riverplaceclub.com

Zagiri dress shirt, $120, and Lucchese rattlesnake boots, $609, available at Allenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Boots, 1522 S. Congress Ave., 512.447.1413, allensboots.com. AG jeans, $168, available at Nordstrom, 2901 S. Capital of Texas Hwy., 512.691.3500, nordstrom.com. Belt, his own

Summer Style Golfer Cole Moreland dresses down for a casual summer in the country. Photos by Annie Ray Hair and Makeup by Monnie Hightower and Raylene Witt, Pinup Salon, 7318 McNeil Dr., 512.258.4244, pinupsalonaustin.com Styling by Ashley Hargrove, dtkaustinstyling.com Style Assistant: Stephanie Gawlik Shot on location at Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort, lostpines.hyatt.com

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Style

John Hardy whistle necklace, $450, wrap bracelet, $350, leather bracelet, $395, Ray Ban Wayfarers, $180, Zachary Prell swim shorts, $138, and Vince T-shirt, $45, available at Neiman Marcus, 3400 Palm Way, 512.719.1200, neimanmarcus.com

Above Par His vocabulary riddled with “yes ma’ams,” “no ma’ams” and “thank ya ma’ams,” Cole Moreland is the picture of a perfect Texas gentleman. At heart he’s an outdoorsman—he hunts, he fishes—and he’s partial to country music. But then he swaps out his ostrich-leather cowboy boots for a pair of golf shoes, and he’s a different man. He’s working. Such is the life of a young pro golfer. He’s taking me on a drive through the 18-hole course set on Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa’s 400 acres, just outside of Austin—in a golf cart that tops out around 12 miles an hour—so we have plenty of time to dive into Moreland’s past and discuss his drive to go pro. His father, Keith “Zonk” Moreland, made a name for himself in baseball in the ’80s, winning the 1980 World Series with the Phillies and going on to play for the Chicago Cubs—12 years in all playing in the major leagues. Cole grew up wanting to follow in those big footsteps, but life had other plans for him. “When I hit my growth spurt and wasn’t over five-foot-nine, I knew baseball wasn’t gonna work out for me,” he says. Instead, Moreland started focusing on golf. “My dad got me into it, actually.” He began playing more and playing well, and when he was a junior at Westlake High School, Moreland’s putting caught the attention of recruiters across the nation. “I went from not knowing where I wanted to go to school, to basically being able to pick where I wanted

to go—just to play golf,” he says. He was a standout at Auburn University, golfing under the tutelage of head coach Mike Griffin. “It got to the point where golf was the only thing I knew how to do,” Moreland says. “I had some success at it, so I decided to keep going…and it’s been pretty fun so far.” Moreland has been playing as a professional for the past three years, last year making it to the second qualifying stage of Q-School. This past April he placed at the Victoria Open and finished in the Top 10 at the Texas Honing Open. But he’s still working toward earning his card, and this summer and fall he’ll be traveling around the country to achieve it— playing primarily on the Adams Pro Golf Tour Series, the Web.com Tour and the NGA Pro Golf Tour. (And as of press time, he has a shot at playing in the US Open this month, at the Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania.) Because of this rigorous tournament schedule, Moreland ends up being on the road for most days out of the year. But even when he’s home in Austin, he doesn’t allow himself much time to kick back in his cowboy boots. “I want to go out, have a beer, see some friends, do whatever,” he says, “but the reality is, that’s when I have to be my most focused.” It can be trying and often monotonous, he says, sometimes playing for 45 or 50 days in a row. “But I love it,” he tells me. “And it’s a lot better than having a real job.”—Jane Kellogg

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s u mthe m er Know Style➜ legal In

BOSS Hugo Boss seersucker blazer, $595, Theory dress shirt, $255, and AG jeans, $168, available at Nordstrom, 2901 S. Capital of Texas Hwy., 512.691.3500, nordstrom.com. Lucchese ostrich boots, $550, available at Allen’s Boots, 1522 S. Congress Ave., 512.447.1413, allensboots.com

62 ATX MAN summer 2013

Under Armour polo, pants and Titleist visor available at Hyatt Wolfdancer Golf Club, 575 Hyatt Lost Pines Road., 512.308.4770. Shoes, belt and glove, modelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own

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Style

Sole Searching HELM laces up Austin’s fashion-forward men in handcrafted boots, designed in our own backyard. By Jane Kellogg

❱❱ Step into the HELM Boots outpost on East Sixth, and you’ll immediately notice two things: an appreciation for quality, stylish boots, and an appreciation for the quality, stylish men who wear them. That HELM customer can be many things—a carpenter, a chef, an outdoorsman, an engineer—but the one thing these men share is the desire for stylish footwear that will

64 ATX MAN summer 2013

last as long as their time on earth—a boot that perfectly combines quality leather with practical design. Appreciating the versatility and sensibility of such footwear, HELM founder and owner Joshua Bingaman has sold his fashion-forward work boots at art galleries such as Artpost in downtown Austin, through luxury retailers such as Nordstrom and online since 2009. While the boots have always been designed locally, Bingaman and his small Austin team were using cobblers in Istanbul and sourcing the leathers from tanneries in Holland and Australia, under the false assumption that there weren’t any American shoemakers and tanneries left to help them accomplish such a feat. But, in 2012 they finally found what they were looking for in Maine—one of the only remaining shoe factories in America. This year HELM launched its first collection of boots handcrafted 100 percent in the good ol’ US of A. The result was a stronger shoe, with American leather and American stitching that can withstand more rigorous wear and tear than their previous Turkish counterparts. Appealing to American men and

Austinites alike, HELM Boots took off this year. The broad-based success of the company led to the opening of its first brick-and-mortar store in April. But the East Austin location is more than just a showroom. “It embodies HELM and immerses anyone who walks through our doors into a creative space curated by our American heritage,” Bingaman says. In addition to work boots, the 900-square-foot store carries leather care products, a rainbow selection of laces, scents and home goods from Austin woodworker Edwood Studios. Although boots have simple beginnings, traced as far back as ancient Mesopotamia, they have since evolved into standard fare for any well-dressed man. Work boots like the ones Bingaman designs might be more of a fashion statement than an industry necessity—without steel toes or OSHA ratings, they don’t qualify as protective equipment—but that’s not to say these work boots aren’t a necessary component of every sensible man’s wardrobe. 900 E. Sixth St., 512.609.8150, helmboots.com

meet the boots Reid Black ($398) This boot combines gray waxed canvas panels with fullgrain black Fargo side leather, sourced from S.B. Foot Tanning Company in Red Wing, Minnesota—a tannery that has perfected techniques to maintain leather’s properties in excess of 50 years. Marion Olive ($398) This olivegreen boot reinvents HELM’s popular Marion design. It might be an unusual color choice, but with leather sourced from the famous Horween tannery in Chicago, it’s a shoe hue we can stand behind. Sam Brown ($399) The Sam boot is the American rebirth of HELM’s classics, the Samuel and Ray Ray. Combining Horween’s Carolina Brown Chromexcel leather with raw denim sourced from Raleigh Denim, this design has the southern gentleman in mind.

Store photos by Chris Bilheimer.

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health

Beat the Heat

Heat Cramps

Staying safe under the sweltering summer sun. By Jill Case

❱❱ One of the best things about living in Austin is the beautiful, warm and sunny weather year-round. But in the summer months, the temperatures can get extremely high, and those high temperatures can be hazardous to your health. According to the Centers for Disease Control, a total of 3,442 deaths from exposure to extreme heat were reported between 1999 and 2003 (an average of 688 a year); 66 percent of those heat-related deaths were male. So fellas: Take note of these illnesses and conditions caused by heat as we show you how to prevent and treat them.

Heat Rash Sometimes called “prickly heat,” this condition, which will cause a red area surrounded by little bumps, causes the skin to sting or feel “prickly.” While this is not a dangerous rash, it can by annoying. The best way to prevent it is to wear loose, light clothing that lets your skin breath when you are active outside in hot, particularly humid, weather. The rash will usually disappear on its own, but you can help it get better faster by cooling the skin with a shower and letting it air dry. Try not to block your pores with any oil-based lotions or moisturizers as the skin is healing. See a doctor if any of the bumps become infected or burst and ooze.

Here Comes the Sun As the most common form of cancer in the United States, melanoma will kill 8,600 men this year, the Skin Cancer Foundation reports. Men over the age of 50 are more than twice as likely to develop and die from the disease, and they are also almost twice as likely to develop basal and squamous cell skin cancer. The reason for this is unclear;

66 ATX MAN summer 2013

Heat cramps are simply muscle cramps that occur when you are exercising or working out in the heat. These cramps are painful, brief, involuntary and intermittent. They may occur while you are active or even a few hours after you are finished. Heat cramps may also indicate that you have heat exhaustion. Most heat cramps can be treated at home by resting and drinking sports drinks that contain electrolytes; however, some symptoms may require medical treatment. If you experience dizziness, fatigue, nausea, headache or a high fever, you should see a doctor right away.

Heat Exhaustion Heat exhaustion occurs when your body is overheated. This problem is usually caused by exposure or exertion during very hot days, especially with high humidity. Symptoms include confusion, dizziness, fainting, fatigue, headache, nausea, muscle cramps, rapid heartbeat and excessive sweating. If you experience these symptoms, you should immediately stop all activity and move to a cooler environment. Drink sports drinks and water to rehydrate. If the symptoms do not improve within half an hour, seek medical treatment because heat exhaustion can lead to a very serious condition: heat stroke.

men may spend more time in the sun and be less likely to use sunscreen, and many men neglect to protect their most vulnerable areas—ears and scalp—with sunscreen or hats.

➜ Slip, slop, slap, wrap! Slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, slap on a hat and wrap on sunglasses (not only to protect the eyes, but also the sensitive skin around your eyes).

Here are some tips (yes, some of them seem obvious, but are you following the obvious safeguards every time you are in the sun?) from The American Cancer Society on how to protect yourself:

➜ Avoid direct sun exposure for long periods of time, especially between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Try to be a shade-seeker rather than a sun-seeker.

Heat Stroke Heat stroke (sometimes referred to as “sunstroke”) is the most serious of all the heat-related illnesses. It can lead to brain damage, damage to internal organs or even death. Sometimes it’s a progression from heat cramps to heat exhaustion to heat stroke, but it can also occur with no previous signs of heat illness. This very serious condition always requires medical care, and you should call 911 immediately if you suspect you or someone you know has had a heat stroke. The primary symptom of a heat stroke is a body temperature of 104°F or higher, but more obvious symptoms to look for include dizziness; lack of sweat; hot, red and dry skin; nausea and vomiting; rapid heartbeat; throbbing headache; confusion or disoriented behavior; seizures; or loss of consciousness. Taking safety measures can usually prevent serious conditions such as heat stroke, but despite your best efforts, it may occur, and you should always consider it to be a medical emergency.

Deirdre❦Rhoad, M.D. Board Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery Member American Society of Plastic Surgeons

Preventing Heat-Related Illnesses Heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke can all be prevented by following some simple steps. ➤ Clothing: Wear loose-fitting, lightweight and light-colored clothing. ➤ Hydrating: Drink water to replace lost fluids, and drink sports drinks if you are exercising strenuously for an hour or more. ➤ Timing: Try to avoid exercising during the hottest part of the day (10 a.m.–4 p.m.). If you have to be outside during that time, take extra breaks, seek shade or cool areas and stay hydrated. Heat-related illnesses are preventable when you take these precautions, but despite your best efforts, you might still get sick. Being aware of the symptoms and seeking medical care when necessary could save your life.

Checking Yourself for Skin Cancer The American Cancer Society recommends you examine your skin once a month. Here’s what to look for: Basal Cell Carcinoma: Look for flat, firm, pale areas or small, raised, pink or red, translucent, shiny, pearly areas that may bleed after a minor injury. Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Look for growing lumps, often with a rough, scaly or crusted surface, or flat reddish patches in the skin that grow slowly. Melanoma: Look for any new spot that looks different from others on your skin, or note when a spot is changing in size, shape or color. Use the ABCDE rule, looking for any of the following: A—asymmetry (one half of the mole looks different from the other) B—border (edges that are irregular, ragged, notched, blurred)

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C—color (color that is not the same all over or includes shades of brown, black or patches of pink, red, white or blue)

BRING TEARS TO HER EYES.

D—diameter (spot that is larger than 6 millimeters across—about the size of a pencil eraser) E—evolving (note if the mole is changing in size, shape or color) Not all melanomas will follow these rules, so here are some other signs to note: ➜ A sore that doesn’t heal ➜ Pigment spreading from the border of a spot to surrounding skin ➜ Redness or a new swelling beyond the border ➜ Itchiness, tenderness or pain—any change in sensation

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fitness

Shape Up on the Green See improvements in your golf game with this warm-up routine before tee-off. By Ryan Nail, Photos by Rudy Arocha

In every sport we strive to be the best—or at least improve with time—but just like warming up a hot rod, you wouldn’t just turn on the engine and go ripping out of the parking lot. You have to turn the car on and let the engine warm up for a little bit so that you can get the best performance out of the speedster. The body is the same way: If you don’t warm up before you go play, you wont get your best performance—or even worse, you could get injured. Below are a few stretches specifically for your golf game, which will not just get you loose, but will help you perform better on the golf course.

RYAN NAIL is the owner of CoreFit Training. For more information, visit traincorefit.com

68 ATX MAN summer 2013

Leg-Arm Lifts: This stretch will help you warm up your flexion patterns. Lay on your back with your arms and legs straight, and then bring your opposite arm and leg as straight as possible to the middle of your body. Do this for a three count, then alternate. This will help your entire flexion system before you swing away.

The Windmill: This helps loosen your hips and your rotation for your gold swing. Stand shoulder-width apart and turn your toes from 12 o’clock to two. Put one hand on your hip, and with a straight back, bend over at a 90degree angle— then rotate. Take deep breaths as you do this for the ultimate stretch. The Lat Stretch: Begin on your knees with your hands behind your head and your back flat. Tilt from left to right and stretch your lats, the muscles on either side of your middle back. If your lats are tight, your glutes will be too, which can lead to a stiff back. This fixes these problems and loosens the connective tissue.

In the Know

➜

family man

Vacation Traditions Why teenagers seem to want to flush traditions, and why a cash incentive and cooler clime might just make the difference. By Clay Nichols

Family traditions are fragile things: They have great vulnerability in that they require consensus. And if you have teenagers in your family, you appreciate what a difficult thing consensus can be. Things which defy consensus on a regular basis: clothing, television, music, where to eat dinner, what to eat for dinner, which friends are nice, what constitutes a good grade, how fast is too fast, what should go on Facebook, when “on time” is, what a “small dent” is, what a “clean room” looks like. So how in the world are we all going to agree where we should go on a family summer vacation? This is the question I ask myself annually at about this time. For the last 14 summers, thanks to the generosity of careers bound by the academic calendar, we’ve closed up our house for four of the hottest weeks of the summer and set off for the cooler climes of the Massachusetts coast. It’s a family tradition. But what happens on that day when you mention Cape Cod, and the teenager rolls his or her eyes at the prospect? What happens when they sigh and sulk and stare at their cell phone, refusing to respond to your questions? When they cite sports obligations and school obligations and social obligations and all the other things that tie them to their hometown during the summer months? What happens when the teenager says, “I don’t want to go this summer?” Maybe it’ll never happen. Maybe we will sail smoothly through three uneventful adolescences. Maybe each July for the next decade we will launch from Austin without a hint of protest. Maybe our family tradition won’t be buffeted by the winds of teen drama. It is possible. In the meantime, I’m devising a cash incentive program.

70 ATX MAN summer 2013

Will I be pissed off that fateful summer they declare they are sitting this one out, determined to sweat it out here in sweltering Austin, or in a summer study program in Barcelona? Probably. But I hope that some part of my brain will recognize that teenagers have to be given some freedom of self-determination on the road to adulthood. Forcing them to go along on our happy summer adventure would be a recipe for war waged over a table set with chowder, stuffed quahogs and steaming lobsters. I guess the place itself is my best ally. Chatham, a charming knob on the very elbow of the Cape, works its way even into a landlubber’s bones—even a Texan’s bones. The salt of so many summers baked onto their skin will be tough to wash off. Other temptations include sailing lessons and yacht club membership where Austinites clearly have no business and Austin teachers absolutely cannot afford. Then there’s the beach. Also the week on Chappaquiddick with auntie Kendall, uncle Matt and the cousins. There are friends. Summer friends. With parents that I hope are also coming up with cash incentives. The thing that gives me greatest confidence in my oldest son’s desire to return to Chatham for at least one more summer is an unlikely one: a part-time job—a low-paying part-time job as a mate on a charter fishing boat. The captain’s name (and I am not making this up) is Story Fish. My son’s time aboard his neat little Fortier, taking tourists from New Jersey out for stripers and blues, is pure teen boy magic. So baiting hooks aboard Sundancer will probably keep my boy coming back as long as the fish stocks don’t collapse and the commercial fishing rules don’t

change and another crazy winter storm doesn’t fill in the channel to the harbor with sand. But what will keep my 12-year-old daughter coming back when she is a teen? What love will hook my youngest, only eight, and reel him back in, year after year? And what of our generous hosts—my wife’s patient parents? For how many more years can they abide our noisy, sweaty, sandy, hungry and thirsty invasion? A 14-year family tradition sounds so sturdy. Everyone around here knows it’s just what we do, a fact of every summer as sure as 100-degree days. Yet with each passing year it feels more like a hard eight we continue to hit again and again and again. I couldn’t be more grateful for our string of luck, but how long can it possibly go on before we crap out? What can we do to blow on the dice and keep them hot? I’m betting on story (the lowercase kind), because it seems to me that tradition and story kind of go together, enhancing and magnifying each other, mutually feeding and preserving and nurturing, like a raucous family dinner. So until and beyond that last summer in Chatham, I’ll tell mine, and listen closely, beaming like an idiot, to theirs.

Clay Nichols is cofounder and chief creative officer at dadlabs.com, the web's leading resource for all things dad. He is also an author, playwright, former teacher, husband and father of three living in Austin.

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In the Know

➜

legal

Foul Play If you’re prone to breaking the rules, take note of these five common offenses, and learn how to stay out of the slammer this summer. By Andy East

❱❱ Something about the summer brings out our inner party animal. While there’s nothing wrong with an increased appetite for fun, not channeling it responsibly can result in much worse than a hangover. ATX Man brought in resident legal expert Harold Hardy of the Hardy Law Office to highlight the most common summer legal dilemmas, give you the best summer tips on how to stay out of jail and what to do if the police come knocking.

DWI / DUI If the police nab you operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent or higher (something the National Transportation safety board is pushing to drop to 0.05), you will be charged and likely convicted of driving while intoxicated if you are 21 or older, or driving under the influence if you are not old enough to be drinking in the first place. If it is your first offense and you refuse to take a Breathalyzer test, under Texas law your driver’s license will be automatically suspended for 180 days. However, if you do take the test and fail, your license will only be suspended 90 days. If you are convicted by jury or plea

How to Deal with the Police ➜ Take heed from Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg’s arrest video and stay calm. Figure out why you are being questioned. Do not be confrontational. Being confrontational will ruin any chance you have at getting off with a warning.

➜ The police do not need to read you your Miranda rights

72 ATX MAN summer 2013

bargain, you will be assessed with a Class B misdemeanor (up to 180 days in prison and/or a fine of up to $2,000). If a minor is in the vehicle with you, you will be charged with a state jail felony (two years in jail and/or a fine of up to $10,000). In addition to possible jail time and a fine, if you are convicted you will also have to pay surcharges to the tune of $1,000 per year for three years on the first offense. The best way to avoid getting a DWI is to have someone pick you up, take a cab or use a service like Sober Monkeys (512.808.9232, sobermonkeys.com) to drive your car home. No matter how outrageous you think Austin cab fares are, they are definitely a bargain compared to the fines, jail time, legal fees and higher insurance rates of having a criminal record—not to mention the unnecessary risk you pose to yourself and others on the road.

Public Intoxication Getting rowdy after a pub crawl on Sixth Street or bar hopping on Rainey Street might lead to being charged with public intoxication. Police look for the same behavioral characteristics as they do for DWIs, such as slurred speech, the odor of alcohol, glossy eyes and how you are moving and behaving. Public intoxication is a Class C misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $500.

Possession of Marijuana If you catch a bad case of ganja fever and the only prescription is hippie lettuce, keep in mind that if the fuzz catch you with two ounces or less you will be hit with a Class B misdemeanor. Possession of four ounces or less but more than two is a Class A misdemeanor (up to one year in prison and/or a fine of up to $4,000) and carrying more than four ounces but less than five pounds you are looking at a state jail felony. If you have more than five

to ask you a question. Miranda rights only apply if you have been arrested and are being interrogated.

➜ If you get arrested, invoke the right to remain silent. And if you do, remain silent. You cannot pick and choose when to speak.

➜ Be aware of what you are consenting to. You are 100 percent within your rights to not consent to a search without a warrant. It is for the

police to decide if there is probable cause and want to get a warrant.

➜ Get the phone number of someone who can get the word out about your situation.

➜ Hire an attorney or request a court-appointed attorney, especially if you get bonded out, as an attorney can serve as your calendar, ensuring that you do not miss court dates and have your bond revoked.

trouble overseas

pounds on you, it’s fair to say you might have bigger problems than the police.

Unlawful Possession of Prescription Drugs

1. Keep your mouth shut, especially when you aren’t familiar with the procedures in that country. 2. Advise the authorities that you are a U.S. citizen. 3. Request to speak with someone at the U.S. Embassy or the nearest U.S. diplomatic outpost regarding what rights you have, as they might differ from the U.S.

Just because the Xanax and Vicodin on you were acquired legally does not mean they are legal for you to possess. If the 4. Get an attorney. police pull you over and you cannot produce a prescription or if your driver’s license doesn’t match the name on the bottle, you will be charged with a Class A or B misdemeanor depending on the amount you possess.

Boating While Intoxicated (BWI) Yes, the police can also pull your boat over, and the same rules and punishments as DWIs apply. In case you were wondering, operating any kind of vehicle under the influence of alcohol, whether you are on a bicycle or piloting a Cessna, has serious legal consequences. Of course, the best way to avoid legal trouble this summer is by not breaking the law in the first place. Stay classy, Austin, and party responsibly. If necessary, draw straws for someone to serve as the designated driver or responsible adult. Better safe than sorry rings true when you are trying to play the keep out of jail card in ATX. Harold Hardy, J.D. is the founder of the Harold Law Office. Hardy grew up in Killeen, Texas, but received his law degree from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan. The Hardy Law Office specializes in family and criminal law. For more information on the Hardy Law Office, call 512.348.7320 or email harold@thehardylawoffice.com.

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In the Know

➜

home

Safe House Rest easy with an up-to-date home security plan. By Andy East

Although Austin is listed as the fourth-safest major U.S. city (behind El Paso, San Diego and NYC) in the latest city crime study by CQ Press, our capital city is still worlds apart from Pleasantville, with more than 5,200 residential burglaries reported in 2012 and more than 1,100 on the books during the first quarter of 2013. But thanks to recent advances in home automation technology, safeguarding your home is now more cost effective than ever. “Home security isn’t what it used to be,” says Christine Lemaire, customer relations and marketing director at Dyezz Surveillance (dyezz.com), an Austin-based security firm. “It’s much more accessible. If you have an Internet connection and a handheld device, you can watch your home from anywhere in the world.” The cutting-edge technology, called Z-Wave, allows users to retrofit wall outlets and appliances with transmitters that create a wireless mesh network, which feeds into existing Wi-Fi signals, making it possible to control anything via the web—from lights, door locks and thermostats, to garage doors and alarm systems. “It’s the hot thing on the market right now,” says John Dyess, founder and CEO of Dyezz Surveillance. “A lot of our clients in Austin are wanting and installing [these systems].” Z-Wave technology, the brainchild of Californiabased Zensys, is licensed to more than 100 manufacturers worldwide, which has spawned a wide array of new home automation products with free mobile apps ranging from Digital Security Control’s Connect 24 to ADP’s Pulse. “Prior to this development in technology, people were spending anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 on equipment,” says Brodie Owen, design and security specialist for Dyezz Surveillance. “[Now] a system

like Connect 24 can cost between $500 and $1,500, depending on the number of devices your system includes. What was once exclusively for the super-rich is now in the hands of the average person.” In addition to Wi-Fi-controlled home appliances, products like Connect 24 can also be synched to motion-activated security cameras with crisp, Blu-ray picture quality that can be used to identify burglars or watch children, pets and babysitters. “[With Connect 24], if anyone does anything within range of your cameras or enters or leaves your home, you are notified [via email and text message] immediately, and you can check live video feeds,” Owen says. While security cameras can facilitate burglary investigations, placing them at inadequate vantage points can offset their utility. “It drives me crazy [when] people put cameras way up high,” says Sergeant Robert Hester of the Austin Police Department. “If they put cameras where the doorbell would go, it would provide a perfect picture [of the suspect].” In addition to Z-Wave technology, Dyess also recommends yard signs warning potential intruders of the presence of an alarm system and “panic buttons,” which are wireless wall mounts that can be placed

...common home-security mistakes people make include leaving the blinds open, not getting their mail picked up and not having trash in front of their home on trash day. 74 ATX MAN summer 2013

anywhere in homes and, when activated, send an emergency distress signal to law enforcement. But even with a tech-savvy alarm system, that doesn’t mean you and your home are immune to burglars. Sergeant Hester stresses that some common home-security mistakes people make include leaving the blinds open, not getting their mail picked up and not having trash in front of their home on trash day. “The more obvious you make it that you’re gone, the easier it is for a burglar to select you as a target,” Sergeant Hester says. “They’re looking for an easy target. They don’t want to risk getting caught.” Sergeant Hester recalls a recent case in which the APD Burglary Unit trailed a suspected duo of Austinarea burglars. “We followed them around for a day,” he recounts. “It was literally neighborhood-to-neighborhood, shopping for houses. A vehicle would pull out, and [the suspects] would turn around and wait, and when [the vehicle] didn’t come back, they’d take a chance and knock on the door.” The thefts stole items from cars, front porches and even attempted to open a garage door. “It’s more of a crime of opportunity—an easy, quick way to make some cash.” “Just having alarm systems and yard signs will make the bad guy think differently about your home,” Dyess says. “When the alarm goes off, they know they have three to five minutes before the police come in.”

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In the Know

76 â&#x20AC;&#x201A; ATX MAN summer 2013

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pretty woman speaks her mind

Emily Bell The Texas native rock ‘n’ roll beauty is the real deal.

AM: Where do you like to go out in Austin to see live music? EB: Holy Mountain, The White Horse and Antone’s East. AM: Where do you go out to, uh, not hear live music? EB: I very rarely go to bars where there isn’t live music, but if I do, I’ll go to Vino Vino [on Guadalupe]… because I love wine.

By Adam Linehan

Photo by Gypsy Sun.

It’s not too often you come across a girl like Emily Bell: beautiful, talented and 100 percent dedicated to rock ‘n’ roll (knee-high boots and all). Born and raised in Houston, Bell cut her teeth in the H-town rock scene before moving to Los Angeles in 2006 to hone her craft in the belly of the proverbial beast. While there, the burgeoning artist found herself immersed in the city’s soul and R&B world, an experience she says was crucial to her development as a rock ‘n’ roll front woman. In 2010, inspired by a chance encounter with old friend and Houston roots-rocker John Evans, Bell decided that it was time to split the West Coast and return home to begin work on her debut album, In Technicolor, released last month. “I felt like I had done my time in L.A.—I had learned a lot,” says Bell, who admits that she eventually found the city’s industrydriven music scene slightly oppressive. “If you want to push boundaries, if you want to make something different, you have to put yourself in a situation where you can open up your mind creatively. And, for me, the solution was getting out—completely uprooting my life and starting from scratch.” Fortunately for us, Bell’s decision to return to the great state of Texas ultimately landed her right here in Austin, where in a short time she’s managed to anchor herself in the local music scene with her alluring stage presence and her singular take on soulful rock ‘n’ roll. ATX Man sat down with the tall, slender, refreshingly down-to-earth strawberry-blonde beauty over coffee and cigarettes on a recent sunny afternoon. ATX Man: Your image is—for lack of a better word— seductive. What role does seduction play in your music? Emily Bell: I think music is seductive. It seduces you. And when I’m on stage, I’m instinctively seduced by it. I’m not sitting behind a guitar playing sweet lullabies; I’m rocking out. Rock ‘n’ roll is sex in a lot of ways.

AM: What’s a soundtrack for a hot date? EB: “Sticky Fingers” by The Rolling Stones. Or Prince, anything by Prince. I love “International Lover.” AM: What does a good date look like? EB: A really good, rare steak at Austin Land & Cattle, great conversation, maybe catch a live show. Just a really simple night where you can eat, talk and listen to great music. AM: Prince? EB: [Laughs] Yeah, preferably “International Lover” by Prince. AM: If you’re not listening to live music, drinking wine or eating steak, what do you like to do? EB: I love to go swimming; I love the greenbelt; I love Barton Springs—the typical Austin things. AM: What do you find attractive in a man? EB: Confidence is extremely attractive—and chivalry is not dead. I like a confident man with good manners and ambition. AM: Any secret crushes? EB: John Evans is my boyfriend. So, I’m going to say John Evans. AM: [Inquisitive look] EB: [Laughs] I’m not going to single anyone out. AM: Well, what about style? How do you like a man to dress? EB: I like good old-fashioned flared blue jeans and a nice, simple western pearl-snap shirt. AM: The White Horse look? EB: [Laughs] Yeah, The White Horse look. I tend to go for that. I know people make fun of guys who wear girl’s jeans, but I think a lot of guys look really great in them. I don’t dog guys in girl’s jeans. Bell performs this month at the Free Press Summer Festival June 1 and 2 and the ATX Man summer issue launch June 4. emilybell.com

atxman.com 7 7

In the Know

➜

single guy

Secret Society Fess up: Is it ever okay to keep secrets from your partner? By Eric Leech

Why do you keep secrets? Perhaps you are afraid of the consequences, or the way it might alter your career’s success. Maybe you are afraid of how it will change the way your partner sees you. Whatever the reason, the biology of the male brain forces guys to hold many of their secrets suspended in their thoughts. Researchers think it has something to do with the fact that the process of erasing these thoughts from your memory actually causes connections to form with other memories, and before you know it, you’re constantly being reminded of everything you wish you could forget. At times it may feel like you are dying a thousand deaths just to keep this information covered up. But would it really be any better to confess? Today, we ask this question and finally get an answer.

More Harm than Good

Research suggests as many as three out of four people are leading a secret life. These secrets are introduced in youth, when it is practically a rite of passage to keep things from adults. Hoarding the power of truth makes you feel unique and independent. As our childhood secrets mature, something very unfortunate happens. One secret leads to another, and before we know it, we are living a life coded in isolation. Over time, secrets can even grow into a large web of mistrust. What you’re hiding today could be doing more harm than you realize. While there is not a lot of research on the topic, there are certainly enough theories about the toxic nature of secrets to know they can take a toll on your spiritual and physical being. It is in your nature to want to share yourself with others, and when you stifle this, it can drain your energy, creating physical ailments such as anxiety, high blood pressure, depression, chronic stress and a weakened immune system.

78 ATX MAN summer 2013

Digging in the Dirt

While we live in a society of sharing our secrets through AA meetings and 12-step programs, it has been suggested that keeping some secrets are not as damaging as keeping others. In fact, in certain circumstances, a secret can be the better alternative to dropkicking the can of beans. The difference between a healthy and unhealthy secret is whether or not they habitually manifest themselves into other parts of your life. For instance, if you feel shameful about confessing your favorite dessert or the number of strokes you had during a game of miniature golf, you might be holding onto more than your fair share of secrecy. This can lead to chronic stress, mistrust and poor health. In this case, you would fare best to relieve some of that burden. In contrast, secrets that protect the image of either yourself or others may promote less anxiety and guilt, thus increasing your overall health and humor. Some secrets do not devour your intimate relationships, but

rather preserve them. The difference is within your urgency to keep them hidden. A healthy secret is not hurting you or others. It could never be used as blackmail, as there is nobody you wouldn’t tell if you thought it would do more good than harm.

Pssst, Want to Know a Secret?

The majority of your fears and failures should be shared with your partner, close friends and loved ones. The act of secrecy makes you inaccessible to love, robbing your relationships of their intimacy and trust. Never fret showing your partner who you are, as she will most likely love you regardless. If she doesn’t, then you’re better off without her. The more adamant you are about hiding something, the more fearful you are of it, and the more crucial it is to build trust by sharing it with your partner before it eventually finds its way out. You may not have wanted to hear that, but we can always just keep it a secret between us guys...

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The Last Word

Words of Wisdom from My Dad A three-generation Perspective from Roy and Shay Spence. By Roy and Shay Spence, Photo by Rudy Arocha

By Roy Spence My dad, Roy Milam Spence Sr., or “Big R” as many people called him, was born in the culturally rich, economically poor border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, in 1913. His mother passed away when he was young. Like all pre-Depression era kids, he and his sister and two brothers pretty much lived hand to mouth. His daddy, Roy Moore Spence, did all he could, but times were tough. His values of family, hard work, love of this nation and optimism were forged at an early age. Although he grew up in the epicenter of the Great Depression, he was never depressed. He dropped out of school when he was young to support his family, but he never dropped out of life. Daddy and I had many great and remarkable adventures during his extraordinary 95 years. A highlight for both of us was a visit to the World War II memorial in DC. He was 90 years old and stood tall and proud wearing his Navy cap. People everywhere stopped to thank him and hug him; many wept. It was my most moving memory with my Dad. The fondest memories I have of him are from my childhood, walking hand-inhand with him in Piedras Negras, a border town just across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass. Everyone in the Piedras markets, bars and cafés knew him. Big R was a straight-up, six-foot-five, strikingly handsome man. But when he met somebody on the street, he would bend right over and hug them. He hugged them all—men, women and children—and they hugged him right back, especially the women and especially the older ones. He would say in Spanish, “Meet my son, Royito,” and the hugging would begin again. He taught me early on to say hello to everyone. To tell people you love them and mean it. To give flowers, or freshshelled pecans, pears, or Krispy Kreme doughnuts. To share everything you have with others. He never met a stranger, and thanks to him, I never have either. His lesson: Be kind to everyone you meet because everyone is fighting some kind of battle. I am a father too. I simply adore my children, Courtney, Ashley and Shay. I am so proud of them because of who they are. And I see my Dad in each one of them though the lights that shine kindness to all whom they meet.

80 ATX MAN summer 2013

By Shay Spence You can make a living doing what you love to do. At least, that’s what my dad always told me, though I never really listened to him until recently. Actually, I didn’t really pay attention to a lot of the words of wisdom my dad had for me until recently. Shay and Roy Spence “Sometimes you have to just jump off the bridge and build your wings on the way down,” he’ll say. That’s cool, dad, but sounds pretty dangerous. “Be kind to everyone you meet, because you never know what they are going through,” he explains after sharing an embrace with the woman he struck up a conversation with in the deli line at Randall’s. I mean, I consider myself generally nice, but do I have to be that nice? I would probably have APD called on me if I tried to pull something like that. My reluctance to heed my dad’s words wasn’t because he’s not good at giving advice. He’s amazing at giving advice. He has advised some of the most influential people in the country. He gives advice to crowds of hundreds on a weekly basis. “Your dad’s speech changed my life,” I have heard so often over the years. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’d think. How could he be resonating with all these strangers, but not with me, his son? Maybe it’s because I always saw us as being so different. Roy Spence: the eternal optimist, the ultimate champion for and living example of the American Dream, the man who springs out of bed before 5 a.m. with no assistance from caffeine and whom I’ve literally never seen sit still for more than 30 minutes at once. Then there’s me: his sometimes cynical, always sarcastic son; the kid who would stumble into morning classes five minutes late with a coffee in hand; the guy who can spend a Sunday glued to the couch watching a Law & Order marathon and be in perfect bliss. Perhaps it’s because he is so great at giving advice that I never really listened. My dad is successful at what he does because he

lives and breathes the words he speaks in his everyday life. It’s what makes him authentic, but when you grow up hearing it all on a regular basis, it sort of becomes a bunch of platitudes in your mind. As I’ve gotten older and had to face more difficult real-life situations and decisions, however, I’ve realized that my dad’s words are anything but platitudes. When I graduated from college with a degree I was no longer interested in and panicked about where I was headed next, my dad sat me down and asked me: “What do you love to do?” No one had ever phrased it that way before. “I love to cook. I love to write,” I said. “Well,” he told me, “you can make a living cooking and writing.” About a year after that conversation, I am now running two of my own food blogs and developing recipes for my dad’s hot sauce, Royito’s. In August, I’ll start culinary school. I wouldn’t say I’m “making a living” yet, but for the first time I am confident in the direction I am heading in, and it’s all thanks to my father’s simple words that I foolishly ignored for so long. Recently, I met a woman who had apparently known my family for a long time. She asked me what I was doing, if I was following in my father’s footsteps. “No,” I responded, “we’re pretty different.” As we were saying goodbye after this brief encounter, I brought her in for a big hug. “I don’t think you’re as different from your dad as you think,” she said. I considered that the ultimate compliment.