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What’s your favorite venue to see a band?
I went to college in New Orleans, and Tipitina’s Uptown will always be my favorite music venue. Dr. John, George Clinton, The Roots, James Brown, Willie Nelson, Nine Inch Nails – I saw some great musicians there. The memories I have of that place are indelible and, in some cases, unmentionable.
Now that I have a little musician in the house, my favorite venue is the living room, where my four year old sits on a wooden stool to play his ukulele and sing inappropriate songs loudly and off-key.
What do you like for comfort food?
Being from Texas, Mexican food is my favorite comfort food to eat, but mostly I cook for comfort. I am totally soothed by cooking a huge, involved, multi-course meal. I love to build on recipes and try new things. I almost never cook the same thing twice. But my family is comforted by a few meals in particular, so I do have some go-to comfort meals: spaghetti, Boeuf Bourguignon, tortilla soup. I also make a mean chili con carne.
What is your favorite place to camp?
My all-time favorite camping experience was in the Badlands of South Dakota. We arrived late and took the last spot in a remote campground filled with buffalo. In the light of a huge, full moon we spent half the night staring out our tent window at the herd of giant beasts and hoping there wouldn’t be a stampede.
Now that we have a little one, our camping is a tad more luxurious and a little less adventurous. We have a 1981 VW Vanagon, which we love to take up to Washington to camp in the gorge. We have fun times together, but I look forward to the time when our son is old enough for us to sleep in a field of buffalo in the middle of nowhere.
What do you like best about where you grew up?
The artists. Dallas gets a bad rap for being a superficial, concrete mecca filled with big hair, big hats and big egos, but many people don’t realize that it has one of the most diverse and thriving arts communities in the world. The architecture is world-class, the museums are plentiful, well-funded and exceptionally curated. Its fashion, music and culinary scenes are on the leading edge. My dad is a photographer and my mom worked in advertising, so I grew up around lots of creative, inspiring, tolerant, hardworking folks. Also, Tex-Mex.