Austin, TX
‘Surreal’ neon light show enchants Zilker Botanical Garden this month
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AUSTIN (KXAN) — For 2 weekends this spring, the Zilker Botanical Backyard will rework into an immersive, neon artwork exhibit for guests to discover.
Designed by Sharon Keshishian and the Ion Artwork crew, The Surreal Backyard is a “botanical-themed neon surrealism” artwork show that can embrace interactive sculptures guests can have interaction with, together with meals, craft cocktails, dwell music and dancing.
The Surreal Backyard will open to the general public with a VIP occasion Thursday night. Basic admission for the exhibit runs Friday and Saturday this week, with a last weekend on show April 28-30.
That is the primary Surreal sequence Ion Artwork has placed on for the reason that begin of the pandemic and its first time collaborating with the Zilker Botanical Backyard Conservancy, Keshishian mentioned. She added she’s excited to assist put a highlight on each the fantastic thing about neon artwork and the botanical backyard — a spot she dubbed the “jewel” of downtown.
“We have now excessive hopes to assist the backyard and assist arts,” she mentioned. “We really feel like that is the right partnership — I imply, it assist arts in Austin, and it’s supporting this little jewel of a backyard that’s right here in downtown Austin that so many individuals don’t find out about proper now.”
A portion of proceeds raised will go go the ZBGC. The nonprofit launched in 2015 and works in tandem with the Austin Parks and Recreation Division to assist the botanical backyard’s existence and maintenance within the metropolis.
Funding from this occasion will go towards the backyard’s operations and income for future occasions and programming, mentioned Monica Sivilli, public relations coordinator for ZBGC.
Pre-sale tickets start at $40, whereas tickets purchased on the door price $50 with charges.
Native foods and drinks trailers on website will embrace Crepe Loopy, Downtown Burgers, Garbo’s Lobster, Maudie’s Tex-Mex, TacoMan 512, Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop, Zucchini Kill Bakery and Black Sheep Lodge. Stay leisure in the course of the two-weekend occasion options music from DJs Byrne Rock and Manny Mo, together with Mixer Rogers.
Austin-based Ion Artwork launched in 1986, based by Sharon and her husband, Greg, as a neon artwork store. The Keshishians specialise in glass and metalwork, creating and promoting art work, steel signage, architectural décor and lighting design.
Sharon mentioned her hope is guests will see the fantastic thing about neon artwork as a timeless inventive kind — one whose makes use of lengthen past simply illuminating bars, eating places and different leisure areas.
“Everybody can have a bit of neon,” she mentioned. “And we hope it makes everybody glad, and it places just a little smile in your face …. particularly these days, we’d like that on this planet.”
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Austin, TX
5 things to know about Texas’ Jim Schlossnagle, including his dramatic Texas A&M exit
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Jim Schlossnagle left Texas A&M for the Texas head coach job immediately after the Aggies’ College World Series run fell short, which created a firestorm of controversy in Aggieland.
Here are five things to know about Schlossnagle:
1. Aggie turned Longhorn
Schlossnagle’s previously mentioned move from College Station to Austin was one of the most shocking coaching moves both in state history and in recent college sports history. Not only did he leave the Aggies to become the Longhorns’ head coach, but he did so less than 24 hours after Texas A&M lost the College World Series final to Tennessee.
The next day, he was officially named Texas’ next head coach and took the entire coaching staff with him. The day after he took the Texas job, 11 Aggie players (including six starters from the College World Series) entered the transfer portal. It’s safe to say that as Texas joins the SEC next season, Schlossnagle’s first trip back to College Station as Texas’ head coach will be a series to keep an eye on.
According to D1Baseball.com’s Kendall Rogers, the deal with Texas was done before the Aggies’ postseason even started.
“One interesting note is that I was told by multiple sources today that this deal — at least at the highest level — was done between A&M’s series with Georgia and before the Regional round,” Rogers tweeted.
Longhorns columnist Kirk Bohls put it bluntly: “Texas just stole A&M’s soul.”
2. His tense moment with a reporter before taking the Texas job
In the postgame press conference after the Aggies lost the CWS final to Tennessee, a reporter asked him about his future with Texas A&M since Texas had just fired head coach David Pierce.
He snapped back at the reporter.
“I think it’s pretty selfish of you you to ask me that question, to be honest with you,” he said. “But I left my family to be the coach at Texas A&M. I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again. And that hasn’t changed in my mind. That’s unfair to talk about something like that.”
At his introductory press conference, Schlossnagle explained and apologized for his comments.
“I wish I could have answered that better,” Schlossnagle said. “I didn’t intend to mislead (Texas A&M fans). In that moment, that’s exactly how I felt.”
“If I had left Texas A&M for some other school, in a different part of the country, the interesting text messages and messages that I got yesterday probably wouldn’t have happened. But I get it,” he later said.
3. The UT-A&M jump wasn’t his first in-state coaching move
Schlossnagle spent nearly two decades as TCU’s head coach, starting in 2004 until he left the Texas A&M in 2021. Just before that year’s Big 12 tournament, Schlossnagle told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he “had no interest in any other job.”
He had a terrific run in Fort Worth, as he became the winningest coach in TCU history and led the Frogs to Omaha five times (including a stretch of four straight seasons). TCU had been to NCAA Tournament just twice before Schlossnagle arrived and took the Frogs to the tournament 15 times.
4. He is one of the most decorated coaches in college baseball
Over his tenures as head coach of UNLV, TCU, and Texas A&M, he has accumulated a 945-452 record and plenty of awards along the way.
He has won eight conference Coach of the Year honors, is a two-time National Coach of the Year, and has gone to the College World Series seven times. He is also one of 11 coaches to win games in the CWS with multiple programs.
5. Unique relationship with Texas AD Chris Del Conte and waiting at a cemetery
Schlossnagle’s relationship with Texas AD Chris Del Conte dates back to Schlossnagle’s TCU days. Del Conte was TCU’s AD from 2009-2017 before becoming the Longhorns’ AD. At his introductory press conference with Texas, they cited their friendship as a reason for the move.
“For 10 years I’ve had a front row seat to watch the man lead a [TCU] from the ashes to five times in Omaha,” Del Conte said.
Later in the presser, Del Conte said he hid in a cemetery outside of College Station waiting for Schlossnagle to get home so we wouldn’t be seen in Aggieland.
“When I was in the cemetery, [then on the way] to their house, it’s just as crazy as it sounds. I played every scenario in my mind. I drove to his house, had a long, long discussion, put him in the car, and we drove off,” he said.
After the press conference, he proved his story was real with a picture of his hiding spot:
Find more college sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Find more Texas coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Find more Texas A&M coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Austin, TX
Travis County Attorney drops charges against 79 more UT-Austin protesters
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Criminal charges were dropped against 79 people arrested at a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Texas at Austin on April 29. Travis County Attorney Delia Garza announced the charges would be dismissed at a press conference on Wednesday.
The protesters were charged with criminal trespass, a Class B misdemeanor. Although the arrests met the initial requirements for probable cause, the County Attorney’s Office could not meet their legal burden to prove these charges beyond a reasonable doubt, Garza said.
There are still a number of other cases with more serious charges related to the April 29 arrests which are still under review, Garza said.
The April 29 arrests were the result of the second police crackdown on pro-Palestine demonstrations at UT-Austin. The first protest, on April 24, resulted in 57 arrests, most of whom were also charged with criminal trespass. Those charges, however, were quickly dismissed because law enforcement lacked probable cause, Garza said.
The police crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests on April 24 and April 29 at the University of Texas at Austin are part of a larger wave of law enforcement and university administrators responding to pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses across the country.
Just in: Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!
Austin, TX
Beloved watering hole Giddy Ups searching for new home after losing lease
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