Check out this interesting story of how a young woman’s bus ride to Houston in the 1960’s led to a better life. A redeeming quality of Houston is that it attracts folks who are looking to improve their lot in life. I hope that quality never changes.
And to The Ashokan Farewell, no less!
It seems as if everyone who has been traveling recently has a horror story to relate about an abysmal experience with an airline. Heck, air travel has become so distasteful that I don’t even think about flying anymore if I’m traveling within the Houston-Dallas-Austin/SanAntonio triangle here in Texas. I have an excellent chauffeur (i.e., my wife) who handles the driving while I work. It’s far more pleasant than dealing with the non-stop hassles of air travel.
But if you simply must endure air travel these days, take a moment to read this Peter Greenberg article that provides about a half-dozen tips for minimizing stress during air travel, such as:
Avoid “direct” flights. The only good flight is a nonstop flight. Labeling a flight “direct” is an airline euphemism that means you’ll stop at least once, exponentially increasing your chances of being delayed.
This looks as if it has great potential. The NY Times has the background story on the project.
My younger daughter, my wife and I took in Denzel Washington’s new film the other night, The Great Debaters. Although the story was somewhat formulaic and the movie certainly not perfect, we found the movie to be hugely entertaining. The acting is superb, particularly the reliable Mr. Washington and newcomer Denzel Whitaker, a delightful young actor who literally steals the show as the youngest of the college debaters. Mr. Washington, who also directed, wisely decided to tell the story through Mr. Whitaker’s character (James Farmer, Jr.), and Mr. Whitaker is more than up to the task. What a talent!
Interestingly, the always-excellent Forest Whitaker plays James Farmer, Sr., the father of the young Mr. Whitaker’s character in the movie. However, despite their common last name, the two are not related.
At any rate, in discussing the movie on the way home afterward, my daughter observed that it sure is a good thing that the horrific racism depicted in the movie is not condoned in American society anymore. My reply was that brutal discrimination of blacks is still not as uncommon as we like to think. Scott Henson and Radley Balko comment on the unacceptable revelations of, at minimum, prosecutorial negligence in Dallas. Where is the outrage?
Happy Holidays to all Clear Thinkers from my lovely wife Susan and me. We appreciate you checking on our small slice of the blogosphere from time to time.
In my Hayes Carll post from a few weeks ago, I noted the grand tradition of Texas songwriters, one of whom is Robert Earl Keen. A number of years ago, Keen wrote and recorded one of the funniest Texas-oriented Christmas songs that I have ever heard, and now he has the video below to go along with it. For a slice of quintessential Texas culture, don’t miss it:
Finally, each Christmas season since 1949, the Wall Street Journal has published the late Vermont Royster‘s classic op-ed In Hoc Anno Domini, which is passed along in its entirety after the break below. Regardless of one’s religious persuasion or whether one has a religion at all, Royster’s short essay is a wonderful reminder of the extraordinary impact that an unlikely Jewish man of 2000 years ago had on the course of the human condition:
This map would be funnier if it wasn’t so darn accurate.
One of the highlights of the Kirkendall family’s Thanksgiving holiday was a family outing one evening that my older son Andy and his friend Jon Charbonnet arranged to enjoy a show by Hayes Carll, the emerging Texas singer-songwriter who grew up in The Woodlands.
The location of the show was Dosey Doe’s, a delightful coffeehouse/restaurant/bar that has become the go-to club venue over the past year in The Woodlands and Houston’s north side for performing artists. The show we attended was recorded as a segment in KVST-FM 99.7‘s series, “Real Life, Real Music,” which airs from 6:00-7:00 p.m. on Sunday evening.
When Carll burst on the national scene with his 2002 album Flowers and Liquor, some critics assumed that it was just a matter of time until he became another local Texas singer who made “good” in the mainstream Nashville country music scene. But Carll followed up his first album with the 2005 Little Rock, which cemented his reputation for remaining steadfast to his Texas-rooted songwriting in the same vein as such legends as Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Robert Earl Keen and Lyle Lovett.
Carll put on a wonderful show for my family and the other local folks, intermingling his soulful and heartfelt music with humorous and self-effacing memories of growing up in The Woodands, his college days in Conway, Arkansas, and “competing” for preeminence in the distinctive club scene of Crystal Beach, Texas during the early days of his performing career. At one point in the show, Carll admitted that he was struggling with naming his third album (scheduled for release in April, 2008), but that his mother — who attended the show and still resides in The Woodlands with Hayes’ father — suggested the title “He’s a Very Good Boy.”
Check out Carll’s touring schedule. If you enjoy Texas country/folk/rock music, then you will not be disappointed if you take in one of his shows (he is playing the Mucky Duck in Houston on December 1st). In the meantime, enjoy the video below of Carll singing “It’s a Shame,” which is on Flowers and Liquor. There is a reason that some are calling Hayes Carll the new “Bob Dylan of Texas.”
I’ve been carving the family’s Thanksgiving turkey for the past 25 years, so I speak with a bit of expertise in saying that this NY Times article and accompanying video provides the best turkey-carving instructions and tips that I’ve come across in quite awhile.
Have a restful and joyous Thanksgiving, and thanks for reading Clear Thinkers.
The New York Times discovers what we in Texas already know — the Texas Hill Country is wonderful!