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What do you get when you mix two entrepreneurial Texas boys, a thirst for fresh- brewed sweet tea and premium vodka? Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka. Austinites Clayton Christopher (founder of the cult fave, Sweet Leaf Tea) and Chad Auler (who created Savvy Vodka; his parents own Fall Creek Vineyards, natch) have the know-how to trump iced-tea vodka wannabes who pump high-fructose syrup and artificial flavors into their spiked sweet-tea taste-alikes. Not settling for anything less than the real deal, this duo brews up black Indonesian whole-leaf tea, then sweetens it with Austin's Good Flow Honey and pure cane sugar from Sugar Land. Then they bottle their tea concentrate with a handmade vodka that's been distilled 10 times through a column still. The result is named after Deep Eddy, the famed Austin swimming hole that's now owned by the state; a portion of the proceeds from each bottle sold goes toward keeping the fresh spring pool going. Drink Deep Eddy Sweet Tea over ice with a splash of sparkling water, club soda or even Sprite. Or do what we do, and sip it like an undercover Arnold Palmer with chilled lemonade. At $21 a bottle, expect to see pop-up parties organized all over the state as the guys set out to dominate the sweet-tea vodka market. At fine liquor stores. Laurann Claridge november | page 6 | 2010 POP. GOSSIP. ExTrAorDiNAry: rice University's new light show, Radiant Pathway, futuristically bridges art and science. El Paso–raised Leo Villareal completed the commission for the BRC (BioScience Research Collaborative) building a few weeks ago — an ode to light as performance that builds upon the creations of Cruz-Diez, Turrell and Flavin through a sculpture that mimics nature in its endless perambulations of light. Rice public art program director Molly Hipp Hubbard gave us a tour ... Overheard at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: "It's the first time I've ever entered a work of art." That's what one gallery-goer said about the lyrical, 162-foot-long wall drawing permanently residing in the museum's Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Arts of China Gallery. Chinese contemporary master Cai Guo-Qiang produced the massive work from gunpowder, smoke and fire. FLUxUS FASCiNATioN: A years-in-the- making retrospective for Fluxus pioneer Benjamin Patterson opens at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, organized by senior curator Valerie Cassel oliver (November 5 – January 30), marking the septuagenarian's first-ever major museum exhibition. MiGHTy AND MyTHiC: New Mexico-based James Drake represented America in the 2007 Venice Biennale. Now the former Texas talent takes over the Station Museum of Contemporary Art in "A Thousand Tongues Burn and Sing," with charcoal drawings and a Trophy Room commenting on humanity and animality (through January 9). CoCK-A-DooDLE-Do: Houston conceptual artist Anthony Thompson Shumate pulls another rabbit out of his art hat — only this time, it's a rooster. See what we mean in "Cocky" at Barbara Davis Gallery (November 19 through December). CoUNTry HoUSES, DESiGN HEArTS ArT: At Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers, catch rebecca Campbell's oil-on-linen vignettes of British country houses November 11 and 12 (artist reception Thursday, November 11, 6 to 9 pm) ... Head to Decorative Center Houston for San Francisco–based Alexis Laurent's installation of paintings, sculpture and elements of nature in "Be a Flaneur" (November 17 – December 17); its opening coincides with DCH's Fall Market and Design Excellence Awards presented by PaperCity. WHy NoT WyETH: The sensitive realist works of American painter Jamie Wyeth haven't been exhibited in Houston since 1983. Now they're showcased at Meredith Long & Company, with subjects ranging from flora and fauna to an Apollo spacecraft launch (through November 30). Wyeth's lineage — his father was the incomparable Andrew Wyeth and his grandfather, the illustrator N.C. Wyeth — places him firmly in the pantheon of a American artistic greats. ASTroWorLD/ THE GrEAT MoNDiNi/GoNE GoTH: Leave it to Bill Davenport's optical Project to reassemble the original 1967 model for Astroworld — a project devised by Houston's Ed Henderson (on display through December 11). Contact Davenport at borabora@wt.net to acquire this relic of our history ... Whitney Biennial showman Franco Mondini-ruiz arrives for a one-night extravaganza at Colton & Farb Gallery Friday, November 12, purveying little canvases plus some signature Popish ceramics … At Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Mark Greenwalt's drawings and paintings feature Hieronymus Bosch–like beings (through November 27) BooKiN' iT: Line up at The Menil Collection Wednesday, November 3, 7 to 8 pm, for a book signing/program to celebrate Art and Activism, the volume edited by director Josef Helfenstein and publisher Laureen Schipsi that examines founders Dominique and John de Menil's commitment to art and architecture, community and human rights ($65, Yale University Press for The Menil Collection) ... Be there for the first public launch of Texas Artists Today ($95, Marquand Books) at Brazos Bookstore Sunday, November 7, 4 to 6 pm, with an artist reception/book signing (reserve your signed copy, 713.523.0701; for complete signing schedule, contact Margaret Bott, mdbtoday@gmail.com). Catherine D. Anspon Author Kay Thompson's irrepressible Eloise took up residence at The Plaza in New York decades ago. Now the adventurous little heroine has a suite named after her — decorated by none other than Betsey Johnson, the quirkiest designer on Seventh Avenue. Johnson is simply mad for all things pink, so it's no surprise that these 18th-floor lodgings are splashed in shocking shades of that hue, with girly rosebud prints and a jolt of black- and-white zebra-striped carpet. Hilary Knight's famous illustrations of little Miss Eloise grace the walls, while the precocious one's name is sprawled in neon lights above her big fluffy and oh-so-pink king-sized bed. Mummy and Daddy's optional adjoining room is much tamer but also quite plush (after all, this is the newly redesigned Plaza). While you're there, take afternoon tea at the storied Palm Court, where Eloise, Weenie and Skipperdee would surely approve of the kid-friendly mini grilled cheese sandwiches, warm scones and organic PB&J. Then send your little one to "charm school" in the Eloise Shop, where she can learn to dress, dine, write thank-you notes and pronounce "s'il vous plait." Rates from $995 ($2,045 for the adjoining parents'/nanny bedroom as well) and include all sorts of Eloise-themed goodies, too. Information 888.240.7775; theplaza.com. Laurann Claridge If you dream of Africa but couldn't squeeze a safari into your schedule this year, program your GPS for the Houston Zoo. Next month, phase one of The African Forest expansion — the most ambitious project in the zoo's 88-year history — opens. The immersive, 6.5-acre experience will capture the exoticism of western equatorial Africa, introducing the urban adventurer to chimpanzees, rhinos, antelope, ostriches and more through virtually invisible barriers. It all begins at a village trading outpost (we love the leaf-thatched huts), where you can sign up for guided tours and overnight camps, or gather 'round the fire pit for storytelling and educational programs. Then head into the wilderness, along winding paths where you'll commune with a colony of chimps, watch rhinos and kudu mingle in an open setting and get closer to giraffes than ever before in a new habitat that promises eye-to-eye viewing and even feeding opportunities. Now, that's what we call a zoo "keeper." Opening December 10 to the general public (December 2 for members only). Information houstonzoo.org/africanforest. Sharon L. Taylor ARTNOTES Courtesy Houston Zoo Cai Guo-Qiang's Odyssey, 2010, at MFAH ColleCtion MFaH, PHoto © Will MiCHels CHad Harlan Meet you under the Arc de Triomphe on November 20: Christie's in Paris will be offering the largest grouping of Richard Avedon photographs ever to come to market. More than 60 modern masterpieces — Jean Shrimpton, Twiggy, the Dalai Lama, Picasso, Marilyn, the Beatles and, yes, Dovima holding back her elephants — go on the block precisely at 5 pm at Christie's Paris saleroom. Shall we celebrate our winnings at Maxim's, afterward? Avedon: Photographs from The Richard Avedon Foundation; pre-sale viewing 20 Rockefeller Plaza, 212.636.2000; christies.com. Rob Brinkley Marilyn Monroe, actor, New York, May 6, 1957 PHotograPH by riCHard avedon. © tHe riCHard avedon Foundation brought to you by C o l l e C t o r ' s Conversation Dallas brought to you by art Fair artist riCharD Patterson Dialogues with Fair Co-FounDer Chris Byrne born in the U.K. in 1963, richard Patterson graduated from the seminal british art school Goldsmiths College, where his contemporaries included fellow YbA Damien Hirst, who co-curated Patterson into one of the most influential exhibitions of the 1980s, "Freeze." This internationally renowned painter and sculptor inaugurates our monthly Collector's Conversation series. represented by astute tastemaker Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, the outspoken Patterson currently lives and works in Dallas. Chris Byrne: richard, what did you think of this past year's Dallas Art Fair? richard Patterson: Last year's art fair, in the words of Alec Baldwin doing Tony Bennett singing on Saturday Night Live, was "Just great. I like things that are great. Great things are fantastic ..." CB: Can you share your ideas for the window installations at Neiman Marcus' downtown store for the 2011 event? We've noted the historical legacy connected to window displays, beginning in 1945 with Marcel Duchamp's for Brentano's bookstore in New york promoting his friend André Breton's volume Le Surréalisme et la Peinture. rP: I've asked Neiman's to consider their windows as contemporary vitrines for the public exhibiting of art by some major artists in the heart of downtown Dallas. Neiman's has a history of supporting art — it's great that they're prepared to do it. Other cities, such as London and New York, pride themselves on public or corporate art that appears on the street. It signifies progress and cultural inquisitiveness as well as just a flashy way of advocating ideas about philanthropy. For the rest of the conversation, plus a side of controversy, head to papercitymag.com. www.DallasartFair.Com Dallas art Fair: April 8 – 10, 2011, preview GAlA April 7 Richard Patterson and Chris Byrne at Murray Street Coffee Shop, Dallas Harrison evans Eloise Suite Clayton Christopher and Chad Auler