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Bill Lively and the Dallas Performance Art Center
Bill Lively spoke to the DRT today regarding the October 2009 opening of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts. Bill is an extremely impressive speaker whose life has been devoted to the improvement of the arts and culture in Dallas. First impressions on the Art Center? This thing will be amazing! New York’s Lincoln Center will be an after thought when this thing is completed in October 2009. Why?
First, it was well funded. Over 130+ citizens and companies in Dallas donated over $1,000,000. Second it is architectually a beautiful complex with leading edge design that will make the public gasp in awe. Finally it focuses the entire arts community into one environment with facilities specifically tailored to each performance need. In short, it is the type of arts center that EVERY city in the US will be envious of!
One of the biggest benefits though will be the fact that with this new complex, Dallas will start to obtain the type of talent that will thrive in a community built for them. Every performer worth their salt will at least want to do one performance in this world class facility. And once here, who knows? Maybe they will call Dallas home!
But to make this happen, the citizens of North Texas MUST support this by going to shows! Buy season tickets, schedule family and company events, do something. Dallas will be blessed with the greatest performance center in the norther hemisphere and unless we go there for every show, we will not be able to obtain the cultural recognition for this great city. Personally I will be glad to take my visitors to something other than the 6th floor and with this new center we have an awe inspiring home to great talent.
UPTOWN DALLAS ASSOCIATION PRESENTS FIRST FESTIVAL
UPTOWN DALLAS ASSOCIATION PRESENTS FIRST FESTIVAL
ALL ABOUT UPTOWN FESTIVAL: A CELEBRATION OF ART & LIVING
(DALLAS, TEXAS) AUGUST 12, 2008 — Dallas’ most vibrant neighborhood, Uptown, has created a one day street festival dedicated to the unique culture and art of the area named, All About Uptown Festival: A Celebration of Art & Living. The festival will be presented by the Uptown Dallas Association (UDA), a non-profit corporation supported by the Uptown Public Improvement District.
The All About Uptown Festival: A Celebration of Art & Living is a one day free festival exploring the best of Uptown from live music, food & drink, legendary chefs cooking demonstrations, artisans, historic tours of the areas Victorian homes, trolley system and cemeteries. Of course, a festival isn’t complete without activities for the little ones and four legged friends!
With more than 90 restaurants and bars in this region of the city, great food is an integral part of Uptown life. Respectively, the reality that hunger exists in North Texas is a worthy cause to many Uptown business owners and residents. All About Uptown Festival: A Celebration of Art & Living will team up with North Texas Food Bank as its’ official nonprofit partner to spread the word about fighting hunger. The festival will be featured in September as one of the 30 ways to make a difference during Hunger Action Month.
Main Stage
The Main Stage located at the far end of Fairmount Street near Howell Street will feature local and national talent all day long including local bands such as Hard Nights Day, Scott Whitaker and others along with a national headliner to be announced!
Chef Showcase Tent
From 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., experience hourly demonstrations from legendary Uptown Dallas chefs. After each cooking demonstration, a small tasting and wine pairing from Cork & Concha Y Toro is provided. Featured chefs include David Bull of Bolla, Paula Lambert of The Mozzarella Co., Gianni Santin of Rosewood Crescent Hotel, Christopher Meier of The Capital Grille, FISH Sushi Restaurant and Bar, Truluck’s, the Ritz Carlton Hotel Dallas and others.
Food & Drink
Great food and drink is a signature of Uptown. The All About Uptown Festival: A Celebration of Art & Living is a chance to taste and sip all that is Uptown! The following local restaurants will feature a festival menu available for sale throughout the day on the festival grounds. Some of the restaurants included are 2900 The Restaurant, Angela’s Bistro 51, Black Friar, Coal Vines, Creperie Du Chateau, Idle Rich, Nick & Sam’s Steakhouse, Rocco’s Pizza & Pasta, Sambuca Uptown, Savory Catering, State Allen Lounge, The Conservatory at the Rosewood Crescent Hotel, The Fish Restaurant & Sushi Bar, The Ginger Man, Uptown Bar & Grill and others.
Dean Foods Kids Korner
From 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., DEAN Foods presents the Kids Korner featuring a sundae bar, healthy eating tips, face painting, storytelling, crafts creating your own placemat and special guests from the AFI Film Festival.
Alongside side Dean Foods, The North Texas Food Bank will offer freshly baked chocolate chip cookies & milk from Dean Foods. Donations will be accepted for the cookies & milk. Special appearance by the North Texas Food Bank chef from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
City Vet’s Pets R Uptown
City Vet, the elite Uptown doctor to Dallas’s pets, will be part of the festival with a pet cooling station, snacks, training demonstrations, pet adoption and tours of the Uptown City Vet clinic. Of course, Uptown dogs are the most glamorous so a “Think you have the most sophisticated Uptown Pet?” and other categories contest will take place throughout the day. Registration is a $5 donation to Paws in the City. Others will be able to vote for $1.
Experience Uptown
Several Uptown retailers are partnering with the festival to give guests a sample of the Uptown life. Here is a sample of the participants: Aqua Medical Spa, Century Bank, Eterna Med Spa, Intown Properties and Manning Wellness Clinic.
Historic Tours
Experience the culture of Uptown with guided tours of one of Dallas’ most historic areas.
Trolleys
More than 250,000 people ride the McKinney Avenue Trolley Authority vintage trolley cars each year. With 5.2 miles of track in the heart of Uptown, where McKinney Avenue still uses the original red bricks with which the street was paved in 1892, many choose the trolley as alternative transportation along with being a great ride back in time. The trolley system connects with DART at the City Place Station.
On the festival day, there will be trolleys available every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. – 12:00 a.m. Riders can pick up and get off the trolley along the various stops on McKinney Ave. The closest trolley pick up site near the festival entrance is on Routh Street at McKinney Avenue. Docents will share interesting history and points of interest along the route. The trolley barn or their “home,” will be open and guests can tour the facility from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Uptown Trails Cemetery Tour
One of Dallas’ most significant cemeteries provides visitors a glimpse into history. The Greenwood Cemetery, located east, off McKinney Avenue near Bowen Street, is where eight former Dallas mayors rest. Out of those eight, two were shot dead. In 1877 Ben Long, in an attempt to help out a saloon owner, was shot by a drunk who didn’t want to pay for his beer. And J. M. Thurmond was killed in 1882 in court by a fellow lawyer, with whom he had a long-standing feud. Other ghostly Dallas mayors include William L. Cabell, John Henry Brown, John Henry Traylor, Ben Cabell, Frank W. Wozencraft and Sawnie Robertson Aldredge.
>From Noon – 5 p.m. during the festival, William B. Travis Vanguard and Academy students host historic cemetery tours every 30 minutes.
State Thomas Historic District Tour
Now known as the State Thomas Historic District, the surrounding few blocks contain the most intact collection of historic residential structures of the late 1880’s Victorian period remaining in Dallas. It is the last remnant of a once large, fashionable upper-middle-class community. Before 1880, parts of two families’ farms on the SW corner of the McKinney Road made up present day State-Thomas. In the late 1800’s elegant mansions of Dallas’ prominent businesspeople lined Maple, McKinney, Routh and Fairmount, including The Dallas Morning News publisher George Bannerman Dealey and printing magnate William Scarff.
During the festival, guided historic home tours will feature select homes that offer a range of historic significance and interest as well as the Freedman’s Memorial, a dedicated place honoring Dallas’ early African and African-American settlers from the post-Emancipation era. Motor coaches pick up/drop off every 30 minutes between 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. at the corner of Routh Street and McKinney Avenue.
Get Involved
Becoming a volunteer member of the All About Uptown Festival team is a great way to enjoy the day’s activities while giving back to the Uptown community. Volunteers may help in a variety of areas including greeting guests, assisting in the Chef Demonstration Tent, City Vet Pets R Uptown, Dean Foods Healthy Kids Korner, Historic Tours and General Festival Fun. All festival volunteers must be 18 years of age or older.
Sponsors
All About Uptown Festival: A Celebration of Art & Living sponsors include 1900 McKinney/The Hanover Company, Andrews Distributing, Bell Nunnally & Martin, LLP, Dan Branch of the U.S. House of Representatives, City Vet, Dean Foods, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Gables Residential, LiveWire, Post Apartment Homes, Proforma FGI, Rosewood Crescent Hotel, The Capital Grille, The Stoneleigh Hotel, Truluck’s, West Village and Zodiac Valet Trash.
Media sponsors include 103.7 litefm, Movin’ 107.5, 100.3 Jackfm, QUICK, Premium Passport and Modern Luxury Dallas. The All About Uptown Festival: A Celebration of Art & Living is presented by Uptown Dallas and produced by Event One Meetings and Sweeney Media Group.
Admission and Parking
Admission is free and open to the public. Free parking will be available at the Crescent Real Estate Tower next to the Rosewood Crescent Hotel, the festival host hotel. Attendees can purchase food, beer, wine and products from participating restaurant booths. ATMs will be on site.
Overnight Package
All About Uptown Festival Experience presented by the Rosewood Crescent Hotel is a special offer for festival goers including an overnight stay on Saturday, September 13th at the Rosewood Crescent Hotel, and receive your stay, breakfast next morning and valet parking for only $225! Reservations are available at 214-871-3200 and mention the All About Uptown Festival for this “Uptown” deal. (Rates do not include tax and fees.)
Festival hotline: 469-341-0613
About Uptown Dallas Association
All About Uptown Festival is produced by The Uptown Dallas Association (UDA), a non-profit corporation, established to represent and promote businesses in the Uptown area, as well as to create a viable social network, host events, and draw media attention to Uptown. UDA is committed to creative solutions for attracting visitors to support our community while enjoying our shopping, dining and entertainment. UDA is also a partner to business owners, promoting UDA is also a partner to business owners by providing e-newsletters, active website and visitor center to keep business owners, residents and visitors informed and engaged in Uptown life. www.uptowndallas.net
Insights into Billionaires
Today, Rick Sapio presented an insightful look into his experience over the past year with 7 different billionaires he has had the opportunity to meet with in person. Rick has always been a strong presenter but today’s event was phenomenal. We are truly blessed to have Rick’s involvement with the DRT (and all the barbs, off colored comments and other c**p that comes with him - but hey, no one is perfect.).
A couple of highlights on Rick’s “journey”:
- This was an accidental process that started his journey.
- Once he met with his first billionaire, he turned this into a project.
- Set set out to try and understand the common traits each of them have. One of the most obvious is that all of them have a Clarity Of Purpose in what they do and are highly focused on it.
- Money is the by-product of their work and not the reason for it.
- they all have a very strong value system including a very high degree of the “Serving Ego”
- They look at opportunities over the long term and not just immediate short term gain.
- They understand that events in life ebb and flow like the seasons of nature. They are not always 100% hard charging.
- They all share one commonality that can be understood as their “Secret To Life”.
I have included a copy of the PowerPoint presentation Rick presented(The Journey - Insights into Billionaires). While he does provide some details in this the truth is that Rick’s presentations and stories of this journey are 10x more interesting than the slides. If you ever have the chance to see Rick present this, you are in for a life treat!
Rocky Bleier at DRT
Like children going to a Hana Montana concert, the DRT was all abuzz about Rocky Bleier’s Tuesday appearance at DRT. For those of you too young to remember, Rocky was a war hero in Vietnam and a running back for the Steelers with four superbowl rings. Rocky and Franco Harris are considers one of the most successful running back pairs of all time.
What makes Rocky’s story so interesting is how his early life evolved. After graduation from Notre Dame he played 1 season with the Steelers before being drafted to the Army. In Vietnam he won several medals include the Silver Star and Purple Heart for very serious injuries he sustained in combat. His doctors never thought he would play football again.
After leaving the Army he re-joined the Steelers, but never really had the playing time he wanted. Depressed he quit the Steelers but re-joined after a friend on the team convinced him to return. When Franco Harris became injured and the backup to Franco became injured, Rocky got play time. Yet to his surprise when Franco returned Rocky was not sidelined but became a starting back. From this point on Rocky’s career flourished with the Steelers.
His discussion at DRT focused on the idea of HOPE. Given all the events of his early life and the difficulty he had as a 5′9″ running back on an NFL team, it is easy to see how one can become discouraged. Much of Rocky’s point is that we ourselves choose to succeed or fail in life. Yes life can be hard and many things that are outside your control can create major barriers, but it is how we respond to those barriers that matters the most. Hope is a powerful emotion that helps you overcome those barriers.
For Rocky his hope became his reality. He wanted to be a hero…and he was! He inspired millions through his play on the field and how he overcame the extreme difficulties of his was injuries. In many ways Rocky is an inspiration. Yes he had doubts, yes he was told by “experts” he could not play football, yes he had major physical injuries…and yes he was able to achieve great success.
We all face major barriers in our life. How we respond to them determine who we are and what we become. Hope for the future, for one’s life and for one’s destiny can and is the cornerstone of how one can achieve anything, regardless of the circumstance.
Rocky Bleier to speak at DRT
Rocky Bleier is an NFL Legend and was the starting running back (side-by-side with Franco Harris) for The Pittsburg Steelers when they won 4 Superbowls in the 1970s. He currently possesses Championship rings from Superbowls IX, X, XIII, and XIV.
Rocky was known as the catalyst and Team Leader for what is arguably the greatest football team of the 20th century.
His life story was made into a movie, called “Fighting Back”, starring the late Robert Urich, and he is the author of a great book, by that same name.
What has made Mr. Bleier’s life so fascinating is that after he was drafted as an All-American out of Notre Dame, he was then drafted by Uncle Sam and had to go on the front lines in the war in Vietnam in the late 1960s.
He was badly injured TWICE on the battlefield and was told that he would never be healthy enough to be an athlete, and that his athletic career was OVER. Incidentally he was also awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze star.
Even though he is VERY small by NFL standards at 5′ 9″, and even though he had debilitating injuries; he decided that he would fight his way back to being a starter on an NFL Team; and become a Champion (which took 3 1/2 long, grueling years to make the starting lineup). Then he decided that he would spend the rest of his life inspiring people to fight the odds in their own lives, which he has done for the past 25 years.
The Crescent Spring Celebration 2008
On April 17th you are invited to the Crescent Court Spring Celebration, starting at 6PM. Benefiting BIG THOUGHT, this first class event includes live entertainment, cooking demonstrations, food tasting, an art auction, mini spa experiences and a fashion show by Stanley Korshak.
For more information download this file (crescent csc save date 08.pdf ). For ticket reservations download and complete the Reservation Form. The cost is only $75 per ticket. For more detailed information on the event, go to crescentspringcelebration.com
What is Business Success?
Last Tuesday Curtiss Rippee (www.rcfo.com) gave an phenomenal presentation on what is the meaning of business success. I will not spoil it for you as I have included a PDF of the presentation for your review.WhatIsBusinessBusinessSuccess.pdf
What was really interesting was the fact that a person trained as a CFO was able to look past the idea of profits, revenue, cash flow, etc. to get at a definition of business success that was actually meaningful beyond the numbers. This was an amazing presentation and Curtiss shared insight that really did affect the way that a person can and does think of their business.
So when you are ready to understand the real meaning of Business Success, download the PDF file..WhatIsBusinessBusinessSuccess.pdf
Raising money in Dallas
Alexander Muse over at the Texas Startup Blog has some great resources for raising money including the Venture Capital Directory. You can also check out his latest post on Jeff Williams from Hunt Ventures here.
Phil Romano at the DRT
Continuing in the vain of great Dallas business icons, Phil Romano spoke at the DRT this AM. Phil is a very interesting person. His key message was “be different” in everything. He spent some time discussing his business success and how he has made $100s of millions in pursuing opportunities including restaurants, heart stints and the lap band. He then took a number of questions from the group discussing his methods of success.
What struck me though was his answer to the question, “what was the hardest decision he ever made”. He gave an interesting response. Back when he was 50 they found cancer in his appendix. They successfully removed it and no cancer existed but the event changed his mind set. In essence he became re-born and decided that life was too precious and that he was going to pursue his passions, whatever they may be. Part of this was to divorce his wife of 25 years as he wanted to spend the next 50 years of his life pursuing those things he was not able to do in the first 50 years. Certainly this mid life course change and all that it entailed (including the divorce) where some of the toughest decisions he has made.
But as he pointed out, he does not look back with regret on anything he has done but constantly moves forward. You can learn more about Phil and his life by reading his book, Food for Thought.
Robert Bloom at DRT
On December 11, 2007 Robert Bloom, former CEO of Publicis, presented several key concepts from his new book, The Inside Advantage. First off, Bob is a LEGEND in Dallas Advertising. He sold his agency to Publicis and then went on to be their CEO. Given the fact that Publicis is the 4th largest ad agency in the world, this was no small task.
Bob’s book is a very simple yet powerful read. It his book, he provides a road map to how companies can internally discover their inside advantage. It starts with a very clear and focused understanding of WHO the customer is. This is not easy but if done properly, Bob’s roadmap can help any company achieve a unique position in the market.
So does his process work? Well according to some very large brands like BMW, the answer is yes.
Take a moment and order his book at Amazon. You will find it worth every penny.
