Why should all the New Year's Eve partying be relegated to one night? Revelers got an early jump on new year festivities at the House of Blues "New Year's Eve-Eve" party Wednesday night. The party had a definite '70s vibe as Le Freak sang a slew of iconic disco-era tunes, including "Bad Girls" and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough." At one point, the band — all wearing sky-high afro wigs and miles of sparkly Spandex — recruited seven men from the audience to perform special choreography to the classic Village People hit, "YMCA." One enthusiastic audience member called himself "Juan Travolta" and did a mean imitation of the actor's moves in Saturday Night Fever. The cheese factor was so high that my friend said she felt like she had gained five pounds just from watching the band perform. But the music was irresistible. After the concert ended, many in the audience, including a lot of University of Missouri fans in town for the Texas Bowl, continued to trip the light fantastic in the nearby Foundation Room.
garden party
Magical moonlight soirée celebrates 100 years of MFAH’s artful women
Something for the kiddos, a luncheon for sartorialists, and a pastoral evening soirée. Such was the bustling weekend at the former home of the First Lady of Texas, Ima Hogg, concluding on April 14 with the 2024 Bayou Bend Garden Party, themed “Moonlight Sonata.”
For the musically inclined, the famed Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor made a cameo courtesy of the live band led by Anthony Caceres.
Think of cordial chitchat over bubbles as the well-heeled old guard of Houston’s social scene relished in a lovely open-air setting in the Diana Garden at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston home to its American decorative arts collection in River Oaks.
Chairs Susie and Mel Glasscock and Shelli and Steve Lindley greeted the 250-some celebrants as close-knit friends. Ima Hogg, whose portrait hangs upon the back entry to the manse from the garden, would have approved.
MFAH director Gary Tinterow framed the evening meaningfully as he paid respects to the museum’s centennial and the many women who made such a milestone a reality. Like blossoming from one acre near the intersection of Main Street and Montrose Boulevard in 1924 to 14 acres and a dynamic cultural campus that embraces three gallery buildings, a sculpture garden, a visitors center, a gift shop, a library, restaurants, coffee shops, two art schools, two movie theaters, and two house museums. Like the expansion from a collection of 60 to 70,000 meritorious holdings. Like maturing from a team of 60 volunteers to a professional staff of more than 600. Like being a destination that flourished from attracting a few hundred visitors to more than one million.
“Women were at the forefront,” Tinterow said. According to the art historian and curator, generous contributors such as Ima Hogg, Audrey Jones Beck, Caroline Wiess Law, and the Weingarten and Sakowitz families, among many others, are the reason MFAH is among the 10 largest art museums in the country. Men did contribute—let’s not forget Jesse H. Jones and Hugh Roy Cullen, of course.
Tinterow used the affair to present incoming Bayou Bend director Daniel Kurt Ackermann to his new Houston family. Ackermann—taking the reins from director Bonnie Campbell’s 20-year tenure—arrived from the Old Salem Museums and Gardens and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem, N.C.
With the support of Lugano Diamonds as principal underwriters, the event added $540,000 to support Bayou Bend’s operating budget. Décor by The Events Co. and a satisfying menu by City Kitchen rounded out the relaxed gathering.
Among the affable group were Whitney and Jim Crane, Michelle and Frank Hevrdejs, Anne Duncan, Sharyn and Jim Weaver, Krissi and Taylor Reid, Polly and Murry Bowden, Debbie and David Dacus, Marc Tabolsky, Carey Kirkpatrick, Kari Dagley, Moti Ferder, Josh Gaynor, Cecily Horton, Stuart Winston, Denise Wynne, Colleen and John Kotts, Cynthia and Anthony Petrello, Nancy and Rich Kinder, Lynne and Joe Hudson, Laura and Keefer Lehner, Alexandra and Jeffrey Butt, Susie and Skip McGee, Nancy and Butch Abendshein, Lisa and Downing Mears, Lisa and Ralph Eads, Ric and Maureen Campo, Jenna Lindley,and Matthew Lindley.