A dating service with a difference
‘He’s For Me’ arranges personal introductions for gay clients.
In
her second year as a client, Tammy Shaklee’s matchmaking service introduced her to Clif Mitchell.
“He was by far, hands down what I was looking for,” Shaklee says of the insurance numbers man. Still, the former director of the MakeA-Wish Foundation Austin didn’t rush things. Shaklee, previously married in Amarillo, dated Mitchell for 2½ years before they married.
They will celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary on New Year’s Eve.
Shaklee, 45, was so pleased with the service, It’s Just Lunch — which unlike onlinebased sites provides only inperson introductions — she offered to buy the Austin franchise.
“When you are in love you want everybody to be in love,” she says. “I know it’s disgusting for some, but hopefully it can be inspirational.”
Learning that the franchise was unavailable, she zeroed in on a friend’s insight: There were no such It’s Just Lunch services for professionals who happen to be gay. Sure, some traditional matchmakers on the coasts had branched out, but none focused exclusively on the gay community.
So Shaklee spent months interviewing gay men in medicine, education, politics, philanthropy business, media and other professions about what they expected from a service that might foster introductions, courting, dating and long-term relationships.
By Peter Mongillo
Bright moments from the year in Austin music included Bruce Springsteen at South by Southwest, Gary Clark Jr. at the Austin City Limits Music Festival (and every major festival), and the establishment of some clubs that strengthened the live music scene. 2012 also was a year of great loss, with deaths that left members of the Austin music community and beyond in mourning. A look at some of the events that shaped the musical year:
Bruce Springsteen at SXSW. Perhaps the biggest name to deliver the keynote address to the annual music conference, Springsteen brought a guitar with him to the podium before a packedto-the-brim room at the Austin Convention Center. During his speech, he offered a personal history of music, explaining — and showing through performance — how many of his greatest songs evolved (borrowed?) from classic rock and Motown staples. Later that night, the Boss and his band played before a crowd of roughly 3,000 at ACL Live, a three-hour show that included guest spots from Eric Burdon, Jimmy Cliff, Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely. His tour of Austin also included a pop-up performance with Escovedo and Ely at the Austin Music Awards earlier in the week.
Gary Clark Jr. breaks out. The 28-year-old has been a regular in the Austin blues scene since he began playing for tips at age 15, but 2012 was a huge year in the larger music world for the guitarist and songwriter. Although not a complete unknown thanks to an acting gig in the John Sayles 2007 film “Honeydripper,” Clark earned prominent slots at nearly every major fest, including before 30,000 people on Sunday afternoon at ACL Fest, in part on the strength of 2011 EP “Bright Lights.” And the fests were just the beginning. Clark released a major label debut, “Blak and Blu,” in October, performed at the White House for a special celebration of the blues, was part of a tribute to Buddy Guy at the Kennedy Center Honors, and performed twice with the Rolling Stones on their 50th-anniversary tour.
Neil Young plays ACL Fest. Neil Young brought Crazy Horse out of hibernation — the first time the lineup of Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina and Frank “Poncho” Sampedro have played together since 1996 — to record two albums in 2012. They also hit the road for a short run of shows, one of which was a Saturday headlining set at Zilker Park. Young