Mother Ginger Won't Give Up!

He wore the makeup home. (And we walked over Lady Bird Lake to get home!) Yes!

Mother Ginger After

Getting his makeup on in his dressing room.

Mother Ginger Before

I'm a little late in posting this, but back in December during Ballet Austin's "Nutcracker" season, FFP was Mother Ginger one night. This was the entrance to his dressing room which also had a nice sitting area, a make-up chair, etc. as befitted his star status.

Nutcracker time!

We shot a selfie of ourselves with the Nutcracker in the lobby at Ballet Austin's headquarters. 

Backstage at the Nutcrcaker

These lovely young people are Butler Fellows at Ballet Austin. The Butlers, who made this generous donation, are shown in the midst of their recipients.

Backstage at the Nutcracker.

Forrest is posing here with one of the Ballet Austin Nutcracker dancers who is in the Columbina costume that we funded.

Goodbye, Mother Ginger. It was sweet.

Rich Segal, meteorologist and weathercaster for Time Warner News 8, was Mother Ginger for the last performance of "The Nutcracker" yesterday. He did a great job. Here we see him atop the Mother Ginger dress getting ready to be wheeled onstage. The children lined up to go under the dress are the Bon Bons. Being backstage at "The Nutcracker" is a big part of my holiday experience and I'm always a little sad to see the last curtain come down. I'm 63, but I guess I'm a kid at heart.

Sara Hickman does Mother Ginger

As long as it's the season, I thought I'd throw in one more Mother Ginger shot. Here is my friend, well-known singer Sara Hickman all done up in her costume before the second act of "The Nutcracker." I took this photo Monday night while she was getting ready for her big role. Talk about a natural performer-- this woman was born to be on stage--and she is one of the most genuine, kind, warm-hearted souls you'll ever meet.

Like I said the other day, I've had a great time recruiting the VIP Mother Gingers since 1997-- it's hard to believe we've been doing it this long. Cookie Ruiz, the Executive Director of Ballet Austin, gave me the task back then and I'm grateful she had that much faith in me. It's always fun to watch VIPs get made up and have some fun. And it makes my holiday season anything but boring.

Backstage at the Nutcracker

I was backstage at Ballet Austin's "The Nutcracker" last night and saw this tableau of dancers watching two of their colleagues performing as the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Cavalier.

The lighting looked like it might be interesting, so I took out my iPhone and snapped this shot. Just using available light, it came out with a painterly feel.

Sara Hickman did Mother Ginger last night, by the way. She was terrific.

Coach Ginger

I was attending to my backstage duties at Ballet Austin's Nutcracker performance yesterday. Since 1997 when we started the program, I've recruited the celebrity Mother Gingers. These good sports (who have included Michael Dell, Lance Armstrong, Ann Richards, Kay Bailey Hutchison, E.D. Hill from Fox News, Augie Garrido, Ray Benson, Marcia Ball, Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson, John Paul DeJoria, and Kinky Friedman, among many others) get made up and are rolled onstage atop a huge red and white dress.

Yesterday's VIP Mother Ginger was UT women's basketball coach Gail Goestenkors. She was very gracious and friendly backstage and she got a lot of laughs out of the whole experience. Here's a shot I took of her in the costume before she went out in the second act.

Hook 'em!

By the way-- if you'd like to see The Nutcracker, performances are happening until Dec. 23rd. For more information, click the Ballet Austin link.

When the cat's away. . .

Linda and I got a backstage look at Ballet Austin's "The Nutcracker" last night. Here are some of the mice who visited us in the Green Room before their big foray onto the stage at the Long Center. Sarah and Ernest Butler are in the background, center. They made the naming donation for the Ballet's new home (The Butler Dance Education Center). It's a great time of the year.

It Snows Every Year in Austin

I'm a board member with Ballet Austin, which has become one of the best regional professional ballet companies in the country. One of my jobs with the ballet is to recruit VIPs to be Mother Ginger-- the figure on top of a huge skirt that is rolled out onstage during the second act. We've used people like Lance Armstrong, Michael Dell, US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Governor Ann Richards, Congressman Lloyd Doggett, singers like Ray Benson, Kinky Friedman, Pat Green, and Shawn Colvin, a General and the Sgt. Major from Fort Hood and many more. Since I'm already backstage to host them, I often snap photos. You can't use a flash, so the images come out blurred--which sometimes works to your advantage.

I took this one during the Snow Queen sequence a few years ago and it's still one of my favorites. Both the lighting and the composition clicked. I especially like how the dancers in the foreground go from dark to medium to lightest.