June 12th Sarah Sides and I headed over to the new McCormick & Schmick’s in City Centre for their grand opening event. What a soiree. Patrick Henry Creative Promotions organized the event and invited us to check out the swanky new location.

The event was fabulous — fantastic atmosphere, great entertainment on the patio, generous amounts of M&S’s signature menu items and specialty mixed drinks. The food was delicious and the cocktails unique. Some of the specially mixed drinks for the event and now happy hours were a black raspberry Grey Goose Martini, Patron Margaritas, and wine spritzers — my favorite was with a Cabernet and St. Germain…fantastically creative and oh-so yummy.

The set-up invited guests to visit every corner of the new location – entertainment on the patio, wine and cheese in the back dining or meeting room, sushi bar near the open main bar area, seafood table with a fantastic ice sculpture leading you back towards the back dining room where the comfort food was served buffet style.

Hats off to PHCP for a well done event, highlighting all of what McCormick & Schmick’s has to offer in their new location.

This weekend was great for being outdoors, and what better way to spend your time outdoors than at a Arts Festival? The Spring Bayou City Arts Festival is in Memorial Park, a good setting to spend the day wandering among art.

Sarah Sides, Allison Johnson (the Intern) and I all volunteered at the Beer Booth, with tips benefiting SNAP (Spay and Neuter Assistance Program) in the morning. It has been something that I have done for the past few years and decided to share the fun. I have always wondered what it is like to be a bartender, and this is the closest I get to finding out. Usually there is a group of 7-10 people serving up beer, water, sodas and iced tea. It is a really good time in that you meet others in the Houston ad/marketing community (and others) AND you get to try new beers, not always craft beers, but definitely ones you don’t generally find elsewhere.

This weekend, as you can imagine, got pretty busy and by the time our shift ended at 2pm, there were lines backed up at least 10 people deep. I am happy that SNAP was able to get some of the monetary support it needed through the tips. People were all very generous and many came back because of our dazzling smiles and quick service (if I do say so myself.)

If you want to volunteer next time (Spring or Fall), get in touch with Tad Grow at Brandit Marketing. It is a lot of fun!

Team A at Broadway Cafe Beer Booth: Tad, Kate, Sarah, Allison & Steve

100% cotton, Hanes Beefy T, available in 3x,2x, XL, L, M & S. Mustard yellow with distressed dark blue lettering. $15 All proceeds benefit the Just Ask! Foundation.

Reggie will be the newest member of the STANANDLOU family as he offices with us while he builds his new foundation, the Just Ask! Foundation.

He is currently awaiting 501c3 certification so he can begin to raise money to help increase awareness of neurofibromatosis through his many websites, blogs, social media and appearances that have made him somewhat of a local hero here in Houston.

Please feel free to visit his website and his blog.

How long have you been an illustrator?
I grew up in the mid-fifties the son of an illustrator. In my early teens, I followed my father and his promise of a career in commercial art that will be “fun” and “glamorous” and “rewarding”. This was about the same time that I learned one of the Great Truths of Advertising: “Don’t believe anyone, not even your father.”

What inspires your work?
Later, in art school, while pretending to listen to lectures, I would surreptitiously doodle unflattering cartoons of my lecturer. All the while asking myself the age-old student question, “What the hell good will knowing any of this ever do me?”

Now, 35 years later, as a Creative Director at an advertising agency, I spend most days in fancy conference rooms surreptitiously doodling unflattering cartoons of Account Executives. I no longer bother to pretend to listen, however. Account Executives don’t respect creative types unless we appear abstract and non-plussed. And while knowing any of the stuff they blather on about still hasn’t done me a hell of a lot of good, I am at least getting better at doodling.

What media do you work in and why?
My method consists of flipping through a book of hundreds of stamps, with an idea in mind. When I find the stamp, I rough in the cartoon in broad strokes with a soft #2 pencil. I ink the final and add all the detail on the fly with a Sakura Pigma Micron 02 pen.

I lick the stamps with my tongue.

How would you describe your style of artwork?
About the time I started working for my father, I started cartooning on envelopes. This always seemed to be very popular with friends and family because, (a) who doesn’t like to get mail that’s not from the power company, and (b) who wouldn’t like to see beautiful portraits of politicians, statesmen and even saints made fun of by a guy with a pen?

Do you do any initial sketching or planning before starting a new piece?
And that’s really the fun part of what I do. For instance, for the game warden of my county, I once rendered Smokey the Bear (spokesbear for ecology and fire safety) cooking an endangered species over an unsafe fire pit. Sometimes I like to compromise the mission of a commemorative stamp. Like a cavalier John Audobon blasting birds out of the sky with a shotgun. Or take a stamp memorializing the-father-of-my-country George Washington (of “I cannot tell a lie, I cut down the cherry tree” fame) and put him in a crowd of George Washingtons laying blame on each other. This is, after all, how politics works in America now.

Which artist most inspires you?
As far as illustrators go, I have always admired R. Crumb for his wit and line quality and R. O. Blechman for his economy and emotion. I admire both of them for getting by with the first name of “R”. And of course I have always been inspired by my father, The Liar.

“Politics” has been described to me by Kinky Friedman as “Poli” meaning “many”, and “tics” meaning “blood-sucking parasites.”

What words of advice would you give to any aspiring artists out there?
Which leads me to my inspirations and advice. Kinky Friedman is a pretty funny writer, and who, like Dave Barry or Roy Blount Jr., remind me when I read him that great writers are the best inspiration for visual artists. Face it, if you can put a picture into someone’s head without actually using a picture, then you’re pretty damn good in the Picture Department.

After thirty years of inking envelopes, as far as I know, they have all been delivered. At least the ones I’ve dropped into mailboxes have. I’ve done a lot of commissions however, which get framed rather than mailed, I think because of the price. This leads to another Great Truth of Advertising: whether your product is any good or not, if you charge too much for it people will love it.

Kim White www.kimwhite.com

Jim White (Kim’s Dad) www.kimwhite.com/jimwhite.html

“If you can’t fix it with a hammer, you’ve got an electrical problem.” -Dad

Here are some shots from that night. You can enjoy more photos when you click the word, Lou_Is_One_Good_Looking_Guy!!! Click Reggie Gives Thanks to watch Reggie thank the Academy!

SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THE SKATERS, FANS, REFS AND FRIENDS WHO HAVE
MADE GOING TO THE ROLLER DERBY EVERY BOUT A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE! YOU
HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THAT IS APPRECIATED! EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS TO FRO-ROCIOUS, THE COLONEL, MISTILLA THE KILLA, CARMEN GEDDIT, JEKYLL & HEIDI, DEMENTIA, DEATH BY CHOCOLATE AND SO MANY MORE.