The Peached Tortilla team is keeping busy. What started as a fusion food truck has evolved into a local success story with multiple trucks, brick-and-mortar restaurant, catering service, and now, Peached Social House, a new boutique venue in North Central Austin.
"Our goal was to create a venue space that had an identity of its own but could also be transformed into something further by our clients," said founder Eric Silverstein in a statement.
The 4,400-square-foot space is designed to host everything from pop-up dinners and mixers to art shows and weddings.
The versatile downstairs area holds 100-175 guests, depending on the setup. An open, modern aesthetic courtesy of Kevin Stewart Architect is accentuated by renovated shipping containers and a second-floor mezzanine. There's a state-of-the-art sound system and projector for business meetings and movie screenings. Other amenities available to rent include a bridal suit, funky furniture, and elegant dishware.
A fully equipped commercial kitchen means all of Peached Tortilla's delicious bites are made fresh onsite. In addition to in-house catering, the flexible Social House team connects clients with top vendors to make planning an event as easy — and affordable — as possible.
Peached Social House is now booking events. Look for the space at 6500 N. Lamar Blvd.
The funky furniture and elegant dishware are available to rent.
Photo by Nicole Raney
The funky furniture and elegant dishware are available to rent.
To help ensure his career is “alright, alright, alright” in the AI era, Oscar-winning movie star Matthew McConaughey has trademarked two of his greatest assets: his face and voice.
Last year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued eight trademarks designed to prevent AI users from mimicking McConaughey’s likeness or voice without authorization. Applications for the trademarks, known as “motion marks” and “sound marks,” include:
A 7-second video of him seated near a fireplace and Christmas tree in his living room.
A 7-second video of him standing on a porch
A brief audio clip of him saying, “Just keep livin’, right?” J.K. Livin Brands, which owns McConaughey’s Just Keep Livin apparel business, controls the trademarks.
A brief audio clip of him uttering his iconic “Alright, alright, alright” catchphrase from the 1993 cult classic film Dazed and Confused.
“My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is ever used, it’s because I approved and signed off on it,” McConaughey, a Uvalde native and longtime Austin resident, told The Wall Street Journal. “We want to create a clear perimeter around ownership with consent and attribution the norm in an AI world.”
As AI continues to infiltrate the entertainment business, McConaughey and other Hollywood A-listers are pursuing trademarks to stop AI-driven misuse of their faces and voices. However, everyday actors with limited resources may be unable to afford going through the trademark process and defending a trademark violation.
“Some actors fear a possible future in which studios will pressure them to sign away their likeness,” Scientific American reported in 2023, “and their digital double will take work away from them.”
The Wall Street Journal notes that various actors and singers have grappled with AI-created fake videos, audio, and images on the internet, including Tom Hanks and Taylor Swift. A study released in 2024 by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers predicted AI-generated content could cause music creators to lose 24 percent of their revenue by 2028, and could lead to screenwriters and directors losing 15-20 percent of their revenue.
The threat of AI stealing work from actors became a sticking point in 2023 negotiations between entertainment studios and striking members of SAG-AFTRA, a labor union representing performers, recording artists, and broadcasters.
Kevin Yorn, founder and managing partner of Southern California law firm Yorn Levine, which handled the trademark applications for McConaughey, says that while the actor and his attorneys support the evolution of AI, legal boundaries must be put in place.
“Protecting individual voice, image, and intellectual property is essential to building a future that works for everyone,” Yorn says in a statement provided to CultureMap. “Along with Matthew, we are forward-looking, engaged in the possibilities of AI, and thoughtful about how everyone’s creative identity is represented and protected.”
