Emancipet, Austin SoundWaves, Toast of the Town

Fifty of the 500 animal lovers gathered for the Emancipet lunch sat at the same table.

That’s right, co-chairwoman Mary Tally sat a full 50 of her friends at a long table near the front of the Four Seasons banquet hall. Among those, elbow-to-elbow, were Mike Martinez, Walter Wilkie, Carla McDonald, Bill Dickson, Carol Adams and Sharon Chapman.

Emanpicet presented only two speakers, but just the right ones: Tally and nonprofit director Amy Mills. Here are a few tidbits from their testimony about the Austin group that has spayed, neutered and/or vaccinated 173,793 pets.

• In 2006, more than 13,000 shelter animals were killed in Austin. Last year: 1,300.
• Emancipet has teamed with Austin Pets Alive, Animal Trustees of Austin, City of Austin, Austin Humane Society and ASPCA to make this the largest no-kill city for two years runing.
• Austin shelter live release rate: 90 percent. Houston: 40 percent. And as many as 1 million strays live on its streets. (Partly, I’d say, it’s Houston’s insane sprawl.)
• Emancipet plans to open three new branches in three Texas cities, starting out with gooseneck truck versions.

Austin SoundWaves

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It was top secret. Due to security concerns. Two dozen local dignitaries joined 30 ambassadors to the U.S. for an afternoon performance at the Long Center.

The diplomats, in town for a tour of Austin’s best, were late. So we caught up with Monica Peraza, Eddie Safady, Paul Beutel and others in the lobby and inside the Dell Hall while members of Austin SoundWaves sat patiently on the stage. These are first and second-year musicians for East Austin college prep academies that are part of a program based on the Venezualan “La Sistema” model.

The ambassadors slowly processed to their seats. The orchestra played. It was about what you’d expect from a group of new musicians.

The waterworks started when the first-year students joined their second-year mentors at the front of the stage, all holding violins that looked way to big for their tiny frames. Such little kids! Playing such pure, simple sounds. At the Long Center. Then getting to meet ambassadors.

All thanks to the Hispanic Alliance for the Performing Arts. Cool.

Toast of the Town

I was drawn to another Toast of the Town party — which benefits St. David’s Foundation’s health science scholarships — became of Robert Edsel’s name.

The Texan, who had won the Texas Medal of the Arts, was a competitive tennis player before he started an oil exploration company that pioneered horizontal drilling. Clearly a Renaissance man in many ways, he semi-retired to Florence, Italy with his family. There, he studied art history and asked everyone the seemingly obvious question: “How did all this art survive World War II, when 65 million people died and Europe was bombarded almost out of existence?”

The answer he found after much research and three published books is fascinating and familiar to some readers: American and British scholars joined the armed forces as “Monuments Men,” saving art, churches and other priceless treasures from destruction and abduction.

Edsel was at the home of John and Marilyn Blewitt’s West Austin hilltop house with its priceless wrap-around views to speak about his new book, “Saving Italy,” and the upcoming George Clooney movie based on his earlier books. Also his foundation, which is helping to find and preserve lost art, to keep alive the memories of the Monuments Men and to prevent such horrors as the looting of the musueums and archives in Iraq.

Edsel is incredibly eloquent. The program stretched into the night, but nobody complained, except perhaps about the folding chairs for those of us with tender backs. Can’t wait for the movie!