…and the Thursday and Friday papers, too

Continuing an absolutely stellar (by starlight) month for me in newspaper arts-and-entertainment journalism is this interview I did with Wanda Sykes in the Austin American-Statesman. Wanda talks about the personal, the political, and the art of stand-up. If you don’t know who Wanda Sykes is, you should.

Finally, out in REAL magazine (a stand-alone monthly insert in the Statesman) is my piece on an all-abilities playground in Round Rock, TX. My wife Donna took one of the photos, too.

Thanks for reading.

You can read it in the Sunday papers

I’ve had a busy weekend in print in the Austin American-Statesman. Here’s my interview with comedian Steven Wright, in advance of his playing a new comedy festival in Austin, the Moontower Comedy & Oddity Fest. I remember Wright from his early days starting out in Boston’s comedy clubs, and it was good to talk with him and inquire into the workings of his unique mind.

Oh, and I also interviewed Carol Burnett, who’s making an appearance in Austin on Tuesday. I know it’s usual for journalists to affect a blasé pose about the people they speak with for print, but this one is kind of special for me. It’s also one instance where my being old enough to, well, remember the Carol Burnett Show (and rather well) was a distinct advantage. It took me right back to my high school drama club, where her show was part of the cultural fabric and one student thespian of my acquaintance worshiped her as the be-all and the end-all. Carol did seem to be one of the nicest people ever and she did not disabuse me of this in our conversation and I even made her laugh a couple of times. She also told me an interesting anecdote about how she turned down the lead role in the original Broadway production of “Funny Girl” and might have given a huge career boost to someone named Barbra.

Finally, I wrote a sidebar referencing the repurposing of Burnett’s childhood home in San Antonio as an early-childhood education center (which explores the little-known connection between Burnett and former San Antonio mayor and US education secretary Henry Cisneros).

I’ll just end by quoting myself from the main article:

<<Burnett might be, as she describes herself, “a clown,” but she also seems to be one of the few remaining people in show business who is a fully functioning grown-up. If you come to the show you might get to ask her a question yourself, or just say: Thanks, Carol.>>

Blondie and the art of the (very) long encore

My article on the band Blondie, including an interview with Chris Stein (the man beside, not behind, the blonde), is out today as the cover of the Austin360 entertainment tab (the Thursday pullout section of the Austin American-Statesman).  I don’t usually inject myself so much into articles like this, but given that I’ve been listening to their music and seeing them live since I was 18, it seems that I’ve measured out my life in Blondie concerts.  I’m particularly happy that the sidebar was included, which lists those concerts and namechecks Long Island, Boston, Mansfield, Ljubljana and, of course, Austin. If Blondie can keep it up, so can I.

The Pretenders at Stubb’s, 3/1/09

Me? I just stood off to the side somewhere, scribbling notes about whatever popped into my head. Then I went home and looked at it the next day and scribbled some more.

This was the result.

Das ist alles for today.

If they come to your town, go…

Let me tell you about my town, Part II

My latest impressions of Austin have just been published in the December issue of Executive Travel magazine, a monthly geared towards frequent business travelers. The magazine is a class act and I’m very happy with the way it came out. (This is about as good as my travel writing gets, folks. Of course, it helps immensely to be writing about a subject you know not just rather well, but intimately.)

The article includes brief sidebars on Austin’s airport and recommendations on what to see, do and buy, not to mention hotels and restaurants.

You’re welcome!

Let me tell you about my town…

Although when I started this blog I intended it as a personal outlet with which to sound off about anything and everything, rather than as an adjunct to a resume or one of those websites that shouts, “Here I am, look how great I be,” I don’t see anything wrong with occasionally trumpeting things I’ve done that I’m proud of — it is, after all, my website and if I don’t talk about this kind of stuff, who will?

This past year I’ve been lucky enough to have been keeping quite busy as a freelancer specializing in travel and business-oriented writing; I even restarted a long-dormant sideline (which used to be a main gig back in the day, in another life) of writing about music and musicians, this time for Austin’s daily newspaper, which I’m very happy about — it gives me an excuse to chat with and ask nosy questions of people like Nick Lowe and Amy Rigby, not to mention attending the occasional free concert in the middle of the week (I wouldn’t want to be out nightclubbing every night, even if I could stand to do that anymore, but once in a while is fine, it keeps the juices flowing, especially while feverishly scribbling in the dark as I listen to the goings-on on stage). I’ve also done quite a bit of writing about my adopted city of Austin for a variety of magazines, from Voyageur (the house organ of Carlson Hotels Worldwide) to Ty Pennington At Home.

In any event, back in April of 2007 I was approached by an editor at Fodor’s Travel asking if I’d like to update and expand listings for their Austin website — which I did, using the old, dated text as a framework, deleting closed restaurants (there were several), making notes of which hotels had changed ownership (quite a few), editing at will and adding reams of new copy.

That fall, I was tapped to write the Austin chapter of a forthcoming actual print guidebook; Fodor’s had published a guide to Texas over a decade ago, but it had been so long that this new project was treated as a first edition, which, essentially, it is. The book was published in July, and you can buy it here. A smaller guide to San Antonio, Austin, & the Hill Country, with expanded listings for those areas, came out in August.

Full disclosure: I only wrote what I estimate to be 85 percent of the Austin chapter (another writer handled most of the nightlife/entertainment section, because it was such a huge job and deadlines were short), but, yeah, I’m the guy you can blame if the chapter steers you wrong. It was a lot of work that felt at times like a final exam in being a Real Travel Writer, as I zipped around from one hotel to another like a lunatic (no, I didn’t stay in every one of these hotels overnight, but I did check out the rooms and public spaces thoroughly, from historic landmarks to highway off-ramp crash pads), dashed from one Austin Attraction to the next, gave some ink to a host of new shopping opportunities, laid down the Basics of Getting There and Getting Around (uh, no, you don’t need a car downtown), and familiarized myself with good and bad, cheap and luxe restaurants alike (and no, in case you’re wondering, I did not end up eating dozens of meals on the cuff). I took great delight in deleting two restaurants from the listings that in my opinion, had become faded tourist traps (I’m not saying which ones; if you know Austin well, you might deduce them from their absence), and a hotel or two with exceptionally rude front-desk staff.

I tried as hard as I could to be as current with the listings as possible, but of course, right after the deadline things happened like long-time restaurants closing and the city’s arena football and hockey teams (both minor-league affairs) folding. Chefs leave, shops close; what can you do. Call ahead. Check the web site.

In any case, I can now say that I’ve probably seen the interiors of more hotels in Austin than almost anyone except serial masochists and temporary maids.  During the course of my research, by the way, I determined that nearly all of these hotels either: a) have recently completed a major renovation, b) are in the middle of major renovations, or c) are planning major renovations next year.

Or at the least, they’re getting new carpeting and some chairs for the lobby. Oh, and Sleep Number beds are big. And if the place doesn’t have in-room flat-screen TVs yet? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Looking for a place to stay? Get in touch.

Veterans’ Day special

The Austin American-Statesman is running this article of mine tomorrow about an American soldier from Texas who didn’t make it out of Iraq alive, along with over 4,000 of his comrades (and who knows how many Iraqis and other soldiers of how many nationalities). A few of his e-mails to his wife made their way to the pages of the New York Times, where Austin musician Elana James, of the band Hot Club of Cowtown, read them and set one of them to music.

It was one of those stories where I really didn’t know where I was going with it until I went ahead and wrote it, as if the subject matter took me over and said, “Write this — I know what you need to say.”

It’s understandable that there’s been so much focus on the election and its aftermath lately — and it’s good to know Hope isn’t just a town in Arkansas anymore, and Chicago isn’t just the former stomping grounds of Richard Daley and Al Capone — but let’s not forget those guys over there, no matter what you think about the purpose and justification of the Iraq war. At least we’re on the downslope now.

One last listen

The Austin American-Statesman published another of my articles yesterday, which you can read here. It’s a feature on the Austin-based nonprofit organization Swan Songs, which arranges private concerts for people with terminal illnesses. Sort of like a local Make-A-Wish Foundation for adults (props to my sister-in-law for pointing this out).

It’s one of the more interesting topics I’ve ever covered, and I was glad to help publicize this worthwhile endeavor.

In the way of modern newspapers, there’s even a link to supplementary video.

Me and Mr. Nick

Last month I had the pleasant task of interviewing the commendable gentleman singer and songwriter Nick Lowe for the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. The profile, which runs today, marks my first foray into the waters of newspaper music journalism in, uh, quite a while.

Nick Lowe is a delightful person to chat with, and the soul of politeness. Mrs. Pogoer and I are looking forward to seeing him when he plays Austin on Friday. The first and last time we saw him play live was at the London Palladium in October 2001, an unforgettable occasion when, a month after 9/11, he took the stage and began playing his wonderful cover of the Chi-Lites’ “There Will Never Be Any Peace (Until God Is Seated At The Conference Table).” The audience took the point immediately, and I think that few have forgotten it. For all his skill at writing original songs, Lowe has matured as a vocalist to the point that few can touch him for expression and understated power, with no need for amplification and choirs.

Mrs. Pogoer and I were just getting to know each other at that point. Yesterday, we marked our fifth anniversary as a married couple. Things have changed a bit in Mr. Lowe’s personal life, as well — we both became fathers relatively late in life (though he’s got me by a decade, I’ve got two of ‘em to deal with, to which he remarked, “Lord have mercy, man!”), and what’s more, during the interview, we discovered that his son was born just one day before my twin pack.

And so it goes, and so it goes; and where it’s going, no one knows.

Fanka nam manka, or: The Perfect Storm

Which, for those not clued in to the wonders of Slovene slang of the past decade, means “funk is scarce.” It’s a pretty good description of Thanksgiving (Zahvalni dan) in general, but also of things around chez Pogoer this week. In the words of Mrs. Pogoer, I’m quite weary of the virus plaguing our home for the past two weeks, but that’s not all. I’ve just gotten over a nasty gastrointestinal disorder (I’ll spare you the details), Mrs. P is feeling right poorly herself, and the kids are acting extra-cranky, too. (Although it does give me an excuse to say the kids are acting like two-year-olds, which is to say, acting their age.)

Work-wise, I’m in the midst of an extensive field-research project in Austin for a major travel publisher’s guidebook, which involves visiting all sorts of hotels and restaurants, both incognito and not, plus other urban diversions. Then there’s another magazine article due around the first of the month. It’s nice to have work, but this is one of those perfect-storm moments. On top of this, our master bath is in the midst of a total re-do (more out of necessity than vanity, though we are getting new vanities) and we’ll have to wait until after This Damn Holiday Weekend is over to finish the job. At least we have the guest bath, which spares the back lawn some indignities, ha ha.

What I’m trying to say is, it’ll probably be a while before I post properly here again, but not for want of wanting to. Call it a late-November interregnum.

Srečno Zahvalni dan vam želi!

Nice to have that cold front finally here.