Sold-Out Wine Dinner at Tony’s Toasts CanCare’s Hope-Filled Mission

Sold-Out Wine Dinner at Tony’s Toasts CanCare’s Hope-Filled Mission

Martie and Mark Alsop

SUPPORTERS OF THE Houston-based organization CanCare gathered at fine-dining stalwart Tony’s to toast the nonprofit — literally — during a sold-out wine dinner.


A three-course meal, beautifully prepared by exec chef Kate McLean, was served alongside wine pairings selected by sommelier Scott Banks. The crowd, which included Tony’s own Donna Vallone and Harris Health System CEO Esmaeil Porsa, raised more than $100,000 — thanks in part to a very full-bodied raffle prize. Winner Mark Alsop took home two dozen bottles of fine wine.

Co-chair and Kinder Morgan president John Schlosser and CanCare president Darcie Wells each spoke to the guests about the organization’s mission to “provide a survivor by the side of anyone facing cancer,” ensuring that patients experience greater healing and don’t lose hope.

Brad and Patty Jones

Vivek and Ishwaria Subbiah

Brig and Marcia Smart

Peter and Gordana Vickers

Norman and Donna Lewis

Ed and Denise Knight

Esmaeil and Alizia Porsa

Mark and Shannon Nini

Jeff and Barbara Steen

Lisa and Eric Elder

John Schlosser, Mel Edwards, and Susan and Kirby Greteman

Leslie and Val Brock

Parties

Mwenso Carnegie Squad

WITH SUMMER FAR from over, DACAMERA continues to roll out some of the hottest musical programming to be enjoyed here — and anywhere else in the South for that matter — with Houston SUMMERJAZZ 2023 (Aug. 17-20). The series highlights the breadth of contemporary jazz, with nods to the music’s Cuban, pan-African, funk, pop, and soul connections. This year’s festival includes performances by the Spanish Harlem Orchestra (Aug. 17), vocalist Gretchen Parlato in her first Houston appearance (Aug. 18), and crowd-pleasing global artists Mwenso & The Shakes (Aug. 19), whose members come from Sierra Leone, London, South Africa, Greenwich Village, Madagascar, France, Jamaica and Hawaii. (Jazz is, indeed, “global” music.) All Houston SUMMERJAZZ concerts take place in the Wortham Center’s Cullen Theater.

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Art + Entertainment

BEGINNING THIS THURSDAY, Aug. 17, DACAMERA’s Houston SUMMERJAZZ festival presents a concise, three-night program of jazz in a myriad of contemporary forms, with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra (Aug. 17) illuminating its historical connections to Cuba and Puerto Rico, and internationalists Mwenso and The Shakes (Aug. 19) extolling the music’s pan-African, funk, and pop potential. In between those two hits, on Friday, Aug. 18, all of these tributaries and more will be explored in a set by two-time Grammy-nominated vocalist Gretchen Parlato, making her first appearance in Houston.

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Art + Entertainment