David and Laura Neumeyer

File last edited 11 May 2008. Links were last checked in December 2007.

Go to:
Links, and pages with family pictures
Texas, music and dance
General
Articles and Reference
Dance Instruction, Social-dance Groups
Clubs in Austin, Clubs near Austin, Music and musicians

Henry Mitchell website (unofficial)

LINKS:

jetBlue

From 31 March 2008, Laura's new employer. She'll be working in the Austin station, as jetBlue expands their flight schedule with service to California and Florida in addition to the existing flights to Boston and New York.

David Neumeyer

David's page with professional information.

Center for Science in the Public Interest

Publishers of Nutrition Action.

Henry Mitchell website (unofficial):

David put this together in December 2004 to honor the nationally-known garden writer famous for both wit and wisdom. The highlight of the site is a collection of photographs of Mitchell's garden; these were taken by Nicholas Weber in 1987.

Franz Waxman

Composer for Hitchcock's Rebecca. Other titles include Objective Burma!, Sunset Boulevard, A Place in the Sun, and Spirit of St. Louis.

FAMILY PICTURES:

1. early McCallum pictures posted 3-12-04:

early McCallum family pics

Drew, Warren, Stuart, and McCallum family pics

photo of Mary Linda Drew Warren

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TEXAS: Sites with Information on Music and Social Dancing, mainly in Austin and South Central Texas:

(General)---------------------
Historic music venues:: Texas Music Office list of sites around the state. Good list that is kept up to date; descriptions seem to have been written by the club owners. Also look at their events list (in the tabs near the top of the page) for information on festivals and concerts.
Lonestar Music Tour Dates page.: A good list that extends several months into the future, Note, however, that links on the tour dates page stay within the Lonestar Music site; they are not artist or venue websites.
Texas Music Chart:: Weekly listing of shows around Texas. Usually slow to catch up after the weekend, but one of the best, concise lists available.
Dancing in Texas:: Big list of links to social dance groups, instruction, and nightclubs of all types (country, swing, celtic, etc.). Visually confusing and not up to date, but still useful.
Cajun French Music Association: There is a local chapter in San Antonio that sponsors a monthly dance and other events: de fa tras chapter. Cajun-style dancing is distinctive and a lot of fun.
John Goodspeed:: Weekly (newspaper) column about country music activities in and around San Antonio. Also check out the weekend entertainment listings: Weekender. Scroll down to "Weekender -- Dance Halls calendar for [week]." These lists include a couple area halls that won't show up readily elsewhere.
Austin Metro: Lists and links for a wide variety of local entertainment.
Monthly dance calendar for Austin:: Useful information on classes, groups, non-profit venues; very little on commercial dance halls or clubs. Also look at List of dance venues in Austin and surrounding area This is a good, compact list with descriptions on the same site as the dance calendar; useful for the same groups and venues, but also has basic information for a few commercial clubs and halls.
Texas Hill Country Visitor Guide: Lists and links for a wide variety of events and entertainment in the Hill Country region (the area and cities and towns covered can be seen here: Hill Country Map.
Central Texas Country.: Formerly Austin Americana. Includes a weekly calendar of club venues and bands; mostly country & western. The dance page has a good list of dance venues and comments on the floors: Dance page. Helpful for dancers; opinions freely offered. The site also has CD reviews. This is the best local site for current country dancing and music.
Bars and clubs in Austin (links):: This link is for Citysearch's "bars and clubs" category.
Top venues:: A small list of recommended clubs around Texas, mostly blues and swing. Hasn't been updated recently.
Polka in Texas:: Much informal history of the polka; includes a concise list of historical dance halls with paragraph descriptions, and a good list of festivals. Polka (Czech-heritage) festivals seem to be most common in late spring and early to mid-fall. Here are two of very different character: National Polka Festival (Ennis, just south of Dallas) and Kolache-Klobase Festival (East Bernard). East Bernard is 130 miles southeast of Austin. A good website with information about polka bands from New Braunfels: Polka Band Leaders
(Articles and Reference)---------------------
"Throughout Central Texas, community and history still meet up for scootin' and socializing": The Austin360 site reproduces Michael Corcoran's story in the Austin American Statesman (10 December 2007) on historic dance halls in the Austin/San Antonio area. Includes map, photos, and a short video presentation. The map has a legend and commentary: "Where to find dancehalls in, near Austin."
"50 Places to Dance": The Austin360 site reproduces Jonathan Goodsell's recent story in the Austin American Statesman (06 April 2006) on 50 local venues for dancing. Covers a very wide range of dance styles.
"Why is Austin called the live music capital of the world?": The Austin360 site reproduces Michael Barnes' story in the Austin American Statesman (1 September 2005) on 100 local venues for live music. Includes comments on dancing and dance floors for some entries.
List of dance halls (historic and modern):: Alex Trevino's list of TX dance halls, from his book Dance Halls and Last Calls: A History of Texas Country Music
Hearos: Sound levels can be higher than they should for some shows. Laura often wears earplugs (she recommends Hearos -- Walgreen's sells them). Recently, it's been harder to find the flesh colored earplugs, we're sorry to say. As to the sound levels: Don't the sound guys know that people like to be able to talk to each other? Don't the sound guys know that people have a better time when they *can* talk to each other? And that people who have a good time are more likely to come back another night? Don't the sound guys know that some people talk to each other on the dance floor to negotiate figures to dance next? Can't the sound guys even tell when the volume levels distort the music?
Janet's dance floor etiquette: More than a bit overstated, but lots of accurate information. The dances we enjoy are mostly partner or couple dances. We prefer to dance as a couple throughout an evening, and we have found that in almost all venues everyone respects couples. Contrary advice applies to classes, class-sponsored dances, and some organization-sponsored dances in urban settings.
(Dance Instruction, Social-dance Groups)-----------------------
Quicksilver:: Dance studio in north Austin (a block or two off Burnet near Hwy 183). Valerie Ryan is an excellent teacher; we've had all of our C&W training from her, as well as some swing and beginning cha cha. The website has very good, succinct comments in the FAQ on local venues to practice dancing: Where to practice.
Four on the Floor: A local swing-dance studio. Click on "events" for a weekly list.
Footworks is now Austin Uptown Dance: Another local studio, originally in Oak Hill, then in the Warehouse District just west of downtown, recently opened studios in south Austin (near Central Market) and in north Austin (near Lamar & Hwy 183). They offer a wide variety of lessons, from salsa and tango to beginning two-step. We learned nightclub (aka nightclub two-step) and basic swing (East Coast, West Coast, jitterbug) from Cliff and Terry at the first location. We've almost no experience with the studio since, but hope to get back into lessons now that theyÕve opened a place nearby.
Austin Swing Syndicate: A local social-dance group that, among other things, sponsors Thursday dances.
Austin Ballroom Dancers:: A local social-dance group that describes itself as "a social welfare organization dedicated to promoting ballroom dancing by sponsoring dances, classes, and workshops."
Austin Friends of Traditional Music:: A local group. On their home page, click on the "Dance" button for information and links for contra dancing and other types of traditional dance. Another link for contra dancing: A HREF="http://www.austincontradance.org/">Austin Contra Dance.
Austin Zydeco Dancers:: A personal page; best we could do on the net for local information on zydeco dance instruction.
People Who Dance: National orientation, not local. Rich list of dance links, especially clubs, organizations, instructors, and supplies.
Ballroom Dancers.com: National orientation, not local. Excellent, succinct online intros to ballroom, Latin, and swing dances. Nothing on C&W.

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