Sew, sew good: It’s a good thing Buttons Restaurant serves lunch and Sunday brunch because it is soooooo happenin’ and hot at night that we were wondering when you’d have a chance to use this $50 gift certificate, courtesy of Darren Harris. Chef Keith Hicks’ sumptuous, southern spreads, entertainment and environment has made this an IN spot for all the Cute-as-a-Buttons crowd.     Mo’ Moes than Joes: So, there’s this show fixin’ to arrive at Bass Performance Hall courtesy of Casa Mañana called Five Guys Named Moe. Figuring it stars Moe Howard, Moe Bandy, Moe Norman, Moe’s Grill and Cousin Moe. But, nooooooooo! Media mistress Darcy Koch at Casa says it’s a jazz-based musical with classic tunes from Louis Jordan. She’s got two sets of two tickets to opening night next Tuesday. Darcy also says that Casa now has student preview nights and “rush tickets” for $10. Just need a student ID, which B still has from Florida State, circa 1972.   Healthy, happy birthday: One of Mr. B’s two annual birthdays is Nov. 2 and boss Miserly Mistress says she would buy B breakfast AND lunch to celebrate. “Sure, B, come on down to the Chamber’s Health Care Summit 2009 at the Fort Worth Convention Center and you’ll get a continental breakfast with state elected officials and lunch with speaker Travis Baugh, president and COO of Healthpoint.” There’s a half-day of health care info from business and policy experts so you can be info-rmed on the debate. Two of you can join B. If you don’t win these tickets, go online to find out more.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK         Julie Hunter, Regions Bank and chair of the Chamber’s Women Influencing Business Committee, welcomed Senator Wendy Davis and Allyson Baumeister of Sanford, Baumeister & Frazier, PLLC at last week’s WIB luncheon at the The City Club. About 130 business execs and politicos came out on a rainy, cool day to hear Sen. Davis review her rookie accomplishments and lessons learned at the Texas Capitol.     Sponsored by

The music is in me: Mr. B was an understudy on Broadway for about…an hour. That’s how long it took Michael Cavanaugh to realize B couldn’t carry a note or remember the words to the tune, any tune. Cavanaugh, though, has a voice and a memory, and his Michael Cavanaugh in Concert - The Music of Billy Joel and More joins the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra for three concerts October 16 -18. If you go to Bass Performance Hall, you’ll hear his interpretations of Joel’s greatest hits, behind-the-scenes anecdotes about working with Joel and hits from other artists. One of you will go opening night with a guest courtesy of the Symphony’s babilicious Barbara Lewis.

I want My(own)Space: Are you leery of taking that big step from offline to online marketing? Don’t know a font from a Facebook? Hotshot marketer Mike Roundtree of roundtree advertising + marketing, inc. has a guest pass for the all-day (this Friday, Oct. 16) AAF-Fort Worth Interactive Marketing Workshop.  You’ll learn about social media, paid searches, user experiences, media planning and buying, and designing for the web. You’ll be the new Mr. B.

No attorney confidentiality: A little treasure hunt here. Check out this week’s Fort Worth Business Press and answer these questions from last week’s Power Attorneys event. First two correct answers win a year’s subscription to the Business Press.

• Which local attorney once was denied entrance to the Dallas Petroleum Club?
• Which woke up from anesthesia to find he was running for office?
• Who read a briefing book at a Dallas Cowboys game?
• Who recently climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro?

Happy trails to you:  You remember Mr. B’s idea that boss Miserly Mistress and Doug Harman stole? The heritage Trails? Well, XTO just bought the latest Heritage Trails marker at 7th and Houston - former Landmark building, now landscaped parking. The marker locates a city block that was the center of the downtown financial district. Recently, the markers (there are 20 of them) won the President’s Trailblazer Award from Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. And the Texas Historical Commission is doing a training video that uses Heritage Trails as a model example of how to showcase community heritage.

Can we re-draw? The Chamber and VisionFW have started a mentor/mentoree program and condolences to Cantey Hanger attorney Charlie Florsheim. He drew Chamber Big Boss Bill (BBB) as his mentor. Florsheim will probably have to start editing Newz-E-Letter.   Stretch your budget? Karen Anisman oversees a program called Civic Literacy Internships at TCU.  Students can serve in a non-profit or public sector (government) capacity, paid or unpaid, and if they fulfill all requirements, they can receive Political Science credit. The requirements include: 150 hours of service, write a paper and present a portfolio of their work. Karen swears that students are capable of managing projects, providing valuable research and technical support, planning events, educating children or adults, etc. under their mentor’s supervision.

Don’t drool while reading: Here’s what we ate while learning cooking tips at the Vidalia’s Restaurant/Renaissance Worthington Hotel cooking school: Black bean pancake with garlic butter shrimp and a chili Hollandaise sauce, pan seared sea bass with butternut squash risotto, and chocolate infused pancake topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate and caramel sauces. Some cooking day tidbits: Roast your spices dry to amplify the flavor. Recipes on the back of packages are usually very good because marketing departments have spent tons to get them correct. Vidalia’s chef Manuel Vasquez is Fort Worth-born, but Atlanta trained. As a child, he helped his mother cater Mexican events in Fort Worth. The Worthington feeds 300 associates and some Riverside High School students free every weekday in its cafeteria.   Takes one to know one: Renaissance Worthington executive chef James Morris says he’d rather be a judge than a contestant on Top Chef Masters. He also watches Kitchen Nightmares. His favorite celebrity chef is Rick Bayless, “the Gringo doing Mexican.”

Ms. Big Stuff: Lauren Turner, new homeowner and one of Mr. B’s 13 editors at the Chamber, received this email from her Auntie V: "I just had a call from a charity asking me to donate some of my clothes to the starving people throughout the world. I told them to buzz off!!! Anybody who fits into my clothes isn't starving!!!"

Thorny mistake: OK, so we know Pete Rose isn’t in the baseball Hall of Fame, but where is he? Mr. B went to the Chamber’s economic development meeting this morning to hear him speak. Event brochure says he is the legislative director for former Fort Worth Representative Pete Geren. What? Wrong Pete Rose? Wondered why he wasn’t selling autographs.

Weird stuff: Read you could freeze chicken seven months. Who tests the eight-month frozen chicken?   Double down: Integra Realty Resources has 59 offices across the U.S. and Mexico doing valuations. The D/FW office, overseen by Ben Loughry, does double the business of every other office, which says a lot about the D/FW market.

OK, ok already: With all the awards it wins, how does MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival have time to put on a festival? Latest honor is the International Festivals & Events Association’s Grand Pinnacle Award as best in class in event marketing and promotion.

Back to school: With the Chamber’s assistance, the Adopt-A-School program between businesses and the Fort Worth ISD has grown by 33 participants to 279 schools. Some other FWISD factoids:

• Poly H.S. 11th graders had the highest math scores in the district. If you remember, the state was considering closing Poly.
• 80 projects are in various stages from the 2007 bond election approval. All should be finished in 2010, on time and on budget, according to superintendent Melody Johnson.
• 27,000 parents showed up the first day of school, many with flex time given by their employer.
• Johnson is vowing to make the FWISD the country’s “first urban digital district.”

Trading days: Mr. B is bringing his boxes and boxes of baseball cards to the Tarrant Area Trade Show Oct. 29 at Will Rogers. Anybody need a 1956 Mickey Mantle?

No Coach Cupcake: David Pratt, an attorney with Decker, Jones, McMackin, McClane, Hall & Bates, coached his Texas Wesleyan School of Law moot court team to a Top Eight finish in the John Marshall Law School International Moot Court Competition. A Wesleyan student, Colby Gunnels, won Best Oral Advocate.

Lively talk: If you missed the great conversation during the TCU Neeley Executive Speaker Series last week with Super Bowl XLV President and CEO Bill Lively, here are some highlights:

• The host committee, trying to raise $30 million, has signed 14 sponsors at $1 million each. “Last week, a group of us visited a local CEO. He opened his office door to see Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Daryl (Moose) Johnston…and me. Roger and Troy had him sold in three minutes and we talked football the rest of the time.
• The vote to place the game in North Texas was only 17-15. “Jerry’s a lightning rod,” Lively understated. “But Jerry and (wife) Gene promised the best game in Super Bowl history…Jerry also has given the host committee 30 suites, which has been very helpful in selling sponsors.”
• Sites are decided in secret ballot and generally are based on “where owners and spouses have a good time. We’ve assigned a committee to make sure that happens!”
• Super Bowl XLV will have the biggest budget in the biggest region playing in the biggest stadium. The host committee (252 area leaders) also is the biggest and average attendance at each meeting has been 216.
• “Your mayor has been a ‘zealot’ in getting people to come to Fort Worth.”
• Want to volunteer? They’ll need 10-to-15,000 volunteers. Go to the Super Bowl XLV website and register. Assignments are handed out during 2010. Angie Bulaich – yes, the fullback Bulaich family – handles community relations.

Stalker: Barb Sisson of TDG Creative says she married her high school sweetheart. She also says she began “checking him out” during first grade!   Better late than never: Principal Financial’s Carrie Duvall is marrying Lockheed Martin’s Eric Fox Nov. 21. Eric says instead of congratulations, he’s only hearing “’Bout time.”