The Huffington Post reports on the controversy surrounding a show featuring male strippers in Warrenton during the recently concluded semi-annual antique madness in the Round Top area.  Some of the locals were upset when Stephanie Welch booked the American Cowboy Las Vegas Revue for performances at an enclosed tent amidst the many antique dealers in beautiful downtown Warrenton.  Welch saw the handsome hoofing hotties at another antiques show and decided to book them on the same weekend as the 47th Original Round Top Antiques Fair.  The fact that the coolly clad cowboys were performing on Good Friday and Holy Saturday did not sit well with some of the locals who picketed on State Hwy 237.  Even some local politicos got in on the action.

“I find all of it pretty distasteful to begin with, the fact that they’re actually having it on Good Friday and Holy Saturday across the street from the church really makes it distasteful to me and the vast population,” Fayette County Judge Ed Janecka told KXAN TV.

In the interest of full disclosure, Red and family were in Warrenton on Good Friday shopping and visiting friends who exhibit (not that kind of exhibition) there.  The large tent where the buff and booted boys were dancing was clearly visible from the friend’s booth.  Only for a brief moment could we hear the rhythmic thumping of the dance beat.  As we left after sundown, about 50 protestors were still walking the shoulder of the road carrying signs and crosses.  They were peaceful and mostly unobtrusive in expressing their rights to free speech.  At least they left us alone because one of our party was wearing his Jesus shirt.   And frankly, I have never noticed the church in Warrenton because it is covered up by vendors and shoppers during the antiquing frenzy.  All in all a lot of hubbub about nothing.

The Texas Tribune reports on a dust up between Rep. Borris Miles and a DPS trooper assigned to protect Attorney General Ken Paxton at the Vince Young Steakhouse in Austin.  Miles apparently wanted to speak with Paxton who was having dinner with state representatives and others in a private room at the restaurant when he was stopped by the officer.  Profanity ensued.

Miles claimed the plain clothes trooper did not identify himself until after he had placed his hands on the lawmaker.

 “A white man just walks up to me and starts grabbing me,” Miles said. “What do you do?” 

The DPS report confirms at least part of Miles’s story.

“When I saw Rep. Miles make a move for the door, I stood up, grabbed his arm to divert his attention to me and told him he was not allowed to go into the room.  . . I then positioned myself between him and the door. At this point, Rep. Miles became belligerent with me, using excessive profanity.”

The University of Houston revealed that it is paying actor and UT alumunus Matthew McConnaughey $135,000 to speak before the first school-wide graduation ceremony in recent memory at new TDECU Stadium.  McConnaughey has indicated that he will donate his part of the fee to a charity.  However, his booking agency, Celebrity Talent International, will keep at least $20,000 for its role in securing the gig for the Academy Award winner.

UH had refused to release the amount of McConnaughey’s fee citing an unusual confidentiality provision in the engagement agreement.  CTI sought to keep the fee from public disclosure arguing that if UH revealed McConaughey’s fee, a “reporter or someone” might create “unfair negatives online.”  That plan backfired as the effort to keep the fee confidential created enough backlash and embarrassment for a publicly funded institution that should have no secrets about such matters and should have refused to sign a contract with a confidentiality clause.

Enough bad publicity apparently forced UH’s hand even though the Attorney General’s office has not ruled on the open records request seeking the contract.  In a curious statement, UH claimed, “The university has concluded its business with CTI and, therefore, is no longer bound by its confidentiality agreement with the agency.”

That would be unlike any confidentiality agreement Red has ever laid eyes on.  A standard feature of such agreements is that they survive the transaction contemplated in the agreement.  Strange days indeed.