Trump Tower for All

Imagine a Trump Tower standing tall at the heart American capital cities. The Trump Tower deal  for Moscow reportedly included a gift to Vladimir Putin of a $40 million dollar penthouse apartment at the top of the building.

The recipients, like Putin, should have no real need for the gift—but demonstrate a good dose of chutzpah, the Yiddish word that best captures the Trump personality.

·      Atlanta, Georgia—

o  Ted Turner, media mogul, “Mouth from the South, ounder on CNN and revolutionized mass media on a global scale.

·      Austin, Texas—

o  Willie Nelson, country music star with IRS issues

·      Birmingham, Alabama—

o  George Wallace heirs, Alabama governor, ran for President despite reputation as racist

·      Boston, Massachusetts—

o  Big Papi David Ortiz, a “disruptor” who changed baseball by overcoming the Boston Red Sox curse with a 2004 World Series victory—an “unprecedented” achievement

·      Cambridge, Massachusetts—

o  Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts, an Oklahoma native she claimed Native American ancestry and got branded as “Pocahontas” by Trump—himself an individual known to stretch the truth on occasion.

·      Chicago, Illinois—

o  Rod Blagojevich, 40^thGovernor of Illinois until his impeachment and removal from office, contestant on 9^thseason of Celebrity Apprentice in 2010, good TV hair

·      Cincinnati, Ohio—

o  Pete Rose, star baseball player for Cincinnati Red Sox, Hall of Fame entry has been denied due to gambling habit

·      Dallas, Texas—

o  Ross Perot, the feisty billionaire, made a 1992 run as an independent Presidential candidate

·      Detroit, Michigan—

o  Henry Ford heirs, created Ford Motor company, used assembly line to produce cars for middle class

·      Houston, Texas—

o  Roy Hofheinz heirs, developer with vision, create the Houston Colt .45s (AKA Houston Astros) baseball team and developed the Astrodome (Eighth Wonder of the World), the first domed stadium.

·      Miami, Florida—

o  Meyer Lansky heirs, Jewish mobster who reached across the aisle to the Italian Mob to build Las Vegas in the middle of Nevada desert

·      Minneapolis, Minnesota—

o  Al Franken, former Minnesota Senator and SNL comedy performer, the penthouse apartment is consolation for Al being kicked to the curb by #metoo movement

·      Montpelier, Vermont—

o  Bernie Sanders, the independent Senator from Vermont, like Trump recognized the frustration of working class Americansrecognized the frustration of working class Americans

·      New Orleans, Louisiana—

o  Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, trumpet player extraordinaire with gravel-toned voice and great phraseology

·      Portland, Oregon—

o  Phil Knight founder of Nike, advertising phrase “Just Do It” defines the Trump improvisational or “transactional” style of doing business

·      Los Angeles, California—

o  Arnold Schwarzenegger, bod builder and movie star turned an unlikely, unexpected, inexperienced politician who got elected despite the odds, failed host of The Celebrity Apprentice

·      San Francisco, California—

o  Stewart Brand, editor of the who anticipated Internet with Whole Earth Catalog, Brand insisted the Earth photo take from satellite in 1967 should be available to all

·      Seattle, Washington—

o  two penthouse apartments for: 1) Bill Gates (Microsoft), 2) Jeff Bezos (Amazon) real billionaires

SXSW-- has it ruined Austin?

I drove around town yesterday, a Saturday afternoon, with a few classic Austinites as my passengers. Classic Austinites? Those are high IQ people, laidback to the point of self-indulgent, often underemployed and sometimes fully unemployed, and living here for at least two decades. We got stuck in traffic a few times-- on Lamar Boulevard through downtown-- and got stuck in gridlock on our return going north on Mopac. One guy, a philosophical sort with a razor edge, made a comment: "South By Southwest ruined Austin."

The same friend added, voice dripping with disgust, "Broken Spoke with big condo projects on both sides captures the new Austin."

My friend takes a taciturn view of life. I had to wonder if he was right. Even the Austin American-Statesman wondered the same thing. Their headline last week asked if crossing the 2 million population mark was a good thing? What the heck... friends of mine started leaving in 1993 because of increased Austin traffic, high rise development and the disappearance of the slow lane lifestyle.

I got here in 1973 and in a few seconds and detect three key elements making Austin wonderfully weird in the first place:

1) Creativity
2) Freedom
3) Friendliness

The singer Michelle Shocked once referred to Texas "as a loose-limbed kind of place." I thought that really explained the charm of living in Austin.

Willie Nelson, godfather to the peace and love thing bubbling beneath this place, got the whole thing kicked off by melding hippies and redneck culture. Talk about a calming effect. The phrase "Live Music Capital of the World" helped Austin forge an identity. And the playful "Keep Austin Weird," reflected the view from outside Austin as much as anything else. "Keep Round Rock Mildly Unusual"-- hints at the viewpoint of most other places.

But SXSW, beginning as a music festival in 1987, packaged the Austin magic. The festival embodied Austin neater than a GSDM advertising campaign. Those SXSW folks knew Austin, but also sensed a future for Austin-- a bigger, better, more full-throated Austin. Their vision held more power than any previous attempt to capitalize on Austin.

SXSW and its marketing genius made "the Austin thing" more understandable to the masses and eventually a global audience. Now rich girls from Long Island fly their whole bachelorette party to Austin for a weekend of revelry!

You decide.. is SXSW a symptom or a cause of the new, more frenetic, higher-priced Austin? And has SXSW worked to Austin's benefit or detriment?