‘CityBook’ Celebrates Launch with Glam Bash at Holthouse Manse

Daniel Ortiz
‘CityBook’ Celebrates Launch with Glam Bash at Holthouse Manse

THE PREMIER ISSUE of Houston CityBook was the most talked-about publication of the year, and we were honored to throw a buzzy party to match! Executive Publisher Lisa Holthouse and her husband, Michael, opened up their Memorial manse for the cocktail soiree, coordinated by the Sullivan Group. Guests entered the property via a winding, candlelit driveway, grabbing champagne out of an airstream trailer, decked out in the magazine logo by Air Space Creative. Bubbly in hand, partygoers continued back to the sprawling backyard, outfitted with sleek lounge furniture by BeDesign. Swift + Co.'s spread included tender lamb lollipops, which paired nicely with Yellow Rose cocktails and tunes by Unique Style Productions' DJ Cesar Gil. But the most showstopping moment occurred when musician William Close played his “Earth harp," an instrument with strings that reached from the roof all the way down to the ground.


Business+Innovation

Matthew Dirst (photo by Jacob Power)

FOR FANS OF early music — an often scholarly lot who aren’t afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves — bad-boy Baroque-era painter Caravaggio certainly nailed something in his dramatic 1595 painting, “The Musicians.” (Simon Schama talks about this in his TV series The Power of Art.) One look at his masterpiece, and you feel as if you’ve stumbled upon and surprised a roomful of dewy-eyed musicians, their youthful faces swollen with melancholy, with the lutist looking like he’s about ready to burst into tears before he’s even tuned his instrument. So no, you certainly don’t need a Ph.D. to enjoy and be moved by the music of Handel, G.P. Telemann, or J.S. Bach, but a little bit of scholarship never hurt anyone. Knowing the history of this music may even deepen your appreciation of it.

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'A Hidden Agenda'

On Saturday, Jan. 6, artist-owned Archway gallery greets the new year with Inward Journey, an exhibition of unapologetically beautiful abstract paintings by Houston painter Mohammad Ali Bhatti.

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