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Fourth of July weekend food/booze specials
And while it’s always a good time to fire up the grill and throw on some hot dogs or burgers, or watch Dad man the pit while praying he doesn’t pull a Homer Simpson and blow up the neighborhood, sometimes it is more enjoyable to sit back and let somebody else do the work.
With that said, here are a few dining/boozing options for Fourth of July weekend. So dust off that Francis Lightfoot Lee costume and have a blast this weekend, whether you’re doing the grilling or not. (And, please, eat and drink responsibly.)
Chris’ Little Chicago: Chicagoland transplant Chris Miller makes, in my opinion, the best damn dog in town. (Read my profile on him here.) Stop by his trailer on South Lamar this weekend for the following specials (and as an added bonus, bring a football or frisbee and enjoy the grassy acreage behind his trailer with some old-fashioned leisure activities.)
- Friday: Italian Beef Sandwich, potato chips and a canned soda or water for $6.50. Go all the way and “Get it Sweet Hot and Wet,” as Miller likes to say.
- Saturday: Fire Dog (spicy Polish sausage with mustard, onion, relish and peppers on top) with potato chips and canned soda or water for $5. For the Kids on Saturday: Two Jr. Dogs with ketchup & mustard, potato chips and canned soda or water for $4
- Sunday: Buy two hot dogs (any style) and get the third one FREE (of equal or lesser value).
You can also buy a hot dog and drink and get a FREE order of French fries.
Chris’ will be open Friday and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. (or until folks stop coming) and on Sunday from Noon - 5:30 p.m.
Cru Wine Bar: From 2 p.m. to close, Cru is getting in the bicentennial spirit by offering a three-course meal for $19.76. Check out the menu here.
Ranch 616: The upscale grill will be offering a special 4th of July menu that includes the following that can be served as appetizer platters or individually: Sugar-Cured Grilled 1/2 Quail, Scallion Grilled Beef Vacio Sliders, Mesquite Smoked Pork Brisket Sliders, Chile-Lime Grilled Tiger Prawns, Rosemary & Garlic Lambcicles, Mesquite Smoked Baked Potato Salad, Truffle Fries, Tony’s Agua Fresca of Mango-White Peach Lemonade
The Woodland: Head down South Congress for free appetizers with the purchase of an entree on the Fourth of July. You can also grub for free on a few Woodland appetizers at The Mohawk, as they will be dishing it out on Friday the 3rd for their afternoon happy hour that runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and includes kiddy pools, free grub and drink specials.
Mama Fu’s: Get red, white and Fu, as Mama’s has said this Fourth of July and receive $5 off any order of at least $20. But you gotta say, “I want Red, White and Fu,” so there’s that.
Veggie Hot Dog Eating Contest: For those of you veggie lovers or people who just love competitive eating, check out the Third Annual Veggie Hot Dog Eating Contest at 2 p.m. on the Fourth of July at the Tiniest Bar in Texas.
Hyatt Regency Austin’s Marker 10 patio: Stop along the trail at the hotel for free watermelon slices from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the Fourth of July before taking in the fireworks. The bar and grill will also be serving a fancy backyard menu that will feature fresh watermelon martinis, Texas pulled pork sandwiches with an arugula watermelon salad and refreshing watermelon skewers drizzled in local honey and aged balsamic vinegar.
Z’Tejas: [From their press release] In honor of the July 4th holiday, guests can enjoy a bucket of four ice cold Bud or Bud Light beers or four famous Leo’s Street Tacos, each for the low price of $7.04! This incredible deal will be available starting July 2 at 4 p.m. and run through July 5.
Photo of the Italian Beef from Chris’ Little Chicago provided by Chris Miller.
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Your A-List: Best place to celebrate an anniversary
You’re a busy person. You’ve got names, numbers and dates to remember, people to call back, promises to keep. But no matter how busy you think you are, there is one date you must always remember — your anniversary.
Don’t be a chump/chumpette who thinks simply buying a $3 Hallmark card and a few puny roses are enough to commemorate the special date. At least once a year, you’ve got to step your game up. Your “fabulous” cooking won’t be enough, you need to find that special place. For many, the answer is this week’s winner, Uchi, which received 19 percent of the vote.
The South Lamar Boulevard temple of sushi won the honor after beating out Austin fine dining pioneer Jeffrey’s, the interior Mexican extravagance of Fonda San Miguel and the delicious game-loving restaurant Hudson’s on the Bend. The precious yet modern Austin bungalow restaurant, designed by architects Michael Hsu and Joel Mozersky, came to life in 2003 and, at the time, was a welcome two-star addition to the growing sushi scene. In the past six years, Tyson Cole’s creation has become a paragon of creativity and quality in the Austin restaurant scene, drawing rave reviews from critics and diners alike.
Uchi prides itself not only on the freshest of ingredients but also on top notch service, a forward-thinking approach to flavor components and decadent presentation. Needlefish displayed as a sort of flying dragon complemented with a citrus vinaigrette presented in an oyster shell on a bed of salt in a wooden bowl is just one example of the fanciful culinary delights you may find at Uchi. In addition to classic fish preparation and flavors, Cole and his crackerjack staff, who have a say in initial menu suggestions, also like to throw in a taste of the local, as evidenced in Uchi’s madai sashimi of black snapper with ruby red grapefruit.
With its commitment to flavor, presentation and service, Uchi is certain to knock the socks off your special one. And with food and service this good, why wait for a wedding or engagement anniversary? Just celebrate the anniversary of another week or month passing.
See complete poll results after the jump.
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Your A-List: Best local song from the past year
Austin has long had a reputation as being a home for the singer-songwriter. It’s no surprise then that Sugarland native and Your A-List winner with 47 percent of the vote, Ben Mallott landed in our city.
In his steel-tinged “Heartbreaks,” Mallott sings, well, of heartbreaks and how they will beset all of us in the end. Truer words never sung, Mr. Mallott.
Statesman music critic Michael Corcoran, when pressed for a comparison, likened the songwriter to a country Nick Lowe who has shown a knack for first-rate songwriting.
You can check out Mallott, who credits old standards, a juvenile heart, and his mother’s Ray Charles albums as inspirations, at the newly revamped Flipnotics every Thursday in July before he heads out west for a couple of dates.
Check out complete poll results after the jump.
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Interview: Robert Kenner, director of ‘Food, Inc.’
During the better part of the past 40 years, according to Robert Kenner’s new documentary “Food, Inc.,” we have seen a massive industrialization of the food we consume, leading to an increasingly unhealthy population and an environment in peril.
A handful of gigantic corporations engineering meat and produce in an effort to make cheaper food in larger quantities has led to a growing public health crisis, the new film contends.
Most disturbingly, Kenner says, most of the companies mentioned in his film do not want consumers to know what is in their food - or to ask.
I spoke with Kenner by phone recently to discuss how we got to where we are and what consumers can do to demand healthier choices from the people who put much of the food on America’s tables.
The M.O.: How are you?
Robert Kenner: I’m good. Yourself?
Well, after watching your movie, a little nervous to eat lunch, to be honest. But I do feel good that I am eating leftover pork tenderloin that we bought from a local farm. So I feel somewhat OK about it.
Well, listen, the answer is that you just have to keep going. And know that there’re good choices and you’ll start to make better choices, and you’re not gonna be perfect. I’m not perfect. For me, traveling is a pain. How do you eat? You have fewer choices. Eating at home, you’re gonna have better choices, but that’s hard for most of us.
If fast food hadn’t come around, do you think we’d be in the predicament we are with regard to the food industrial complex or do you think it simply hastened the inevitable?
It certainly sped up the process, because when McDonald’s wanted all their hamburgers to taste the same, they went from 50 meat producers to a very limited number so that they could have a consistency in the hamburger. So all of a sudden you had a few huge players. Then all of a sudden there was one French fry player, one potato player. What was astounding to me is they’re amongst the biggest buyers for apples, lettuce, tomatoes. So all of a sudden there were so few players. And you realized it spread to everything.
Soon, tobacco companies will have to publish the ingredients to cigarettes on their products. How have we reached a point where we are going to know what is in cigarettes but not know what is in our food?
For me the most shocking thing was when we went to the cloning hearing on whether to label cloned meat. I didn’t even know there was cloned meat. When that representative stood up and said, ‘I think it’s just not in the consumers’ interest to be given this information; it’s way to confusing,’ I thought, that just happens time and time again. These companies do whatever they can to stop you from knowing what’s in your food.
Was that the most shocking thing you discovered?
One was how they are able to keep from us the information about what we are eating. And they can even keep us from talking. I don’t think people went into this with evil intentions to sell us bad food, I think they went into it to figure out how to sell more food and get us to eat more calories and to make greater profits. But ultimately they have to start to figure out a different system but it is up to us as consumers to start to demand that and start to put pressure on them.
What’s been the impact of farm subsidizing on how and what we eat and how has that led to the explosion of corn?
Ultimately we started to subsidize corn because it was a way of producing calories cheaper and helped to keep food costs down because it doesn’t spoil and you can regulate. So we tried to solve a problem 40 years ago, and we were successful. Unfortunately, things got out of balance. I don’t really think there’s a conspiracy between food companies and pharmaceutical companies - which is a question I get asked all the time. But I do think they’re certainly benefiting each other. Certainly, food is benefiting pharmaceuticals because this food, on one hand, is certainly inexpensive, but there’s a real high cost to this low-priced food and it’s making us sick. The consequences of this food, they become shocking when you start to look at them, and surprising. That one-third of all Americans are going to get early-onset diabetes … it’s just staggering.
That’s unbelievable …
There’s a book by a former head of the FDA who was appointed by George (Herbert Walker) Bush who just talks about how these food companies are designing foods to deliver us salt, sugar and fat because you’re basically addicted to them. And it sounds like tobacco … they know you sort of can’t resist it. We have these built-in desires to eat this kind of food, but the amounts of sugars, salts and fats that are going into these foods now are astronomical. And it’s really not good for us.
Why have we skewed our food production towards these cheap foods instead of towards what is good for us?
I think it happened gradually. I don’t think it was intended. Well, on one hand I don’t think it was intended, but on the other hand, I do think these corporations will do everything possible to sell you this food. They’ll advertise and do research on how to get you to buy it, and basically, again, that involves sugar, salt and fat. As we start to see and understand how dangerous this food is for us, I think we’ll actually start to change things.
The tone of the film isn’t gloom and doomy, with the exception of a few Kubrick-esque tracking shots in the grocery store and some of the music. How did you settle on your tone?
I thought tone was really important because I wanted the film to be empowering. You want people to know that this is a system that we can change and we are going to change. I wanted to connect the dots to a system that is failing us. And ultimately, even though we are up against incredibly powerful forces that are well connected to government, it’s not different than tobacco in that once we start to see and understand what is wrong with the system, I really believe consumers are going to be able to start to transform it and change it.
I wonder if there’s any chance, with Congress talking about health care this summer, there will be any ancillary effect on people thinking about the causes in addition to how we take care of all these sick people.
I think that you can’t have health care reform in this country without having food reform. What I think will change right away is food safety … with the FDA now looking to have the power to recall products that are making us sick in the immediate sense, such as E. coli 0157. The idea that this E. coli that didn’t exist 30 years ago is now not only in meat, not only in spinach, but in chocolate chip cookie dough … it’s pretty amazing that we’ve created these sort of bugs because of this industrial system that is sort of spreading and getting out and moving into all these other arenas.
I was surprised at how subversive this world was, how litigious it was and how things are connected that you don’t think are connected. When I was talking to Barb Kowalcyk (documentary subject and mother of a child who died from E. coli) and she told me she couldn’t tell me what she eats … one, I realized I was entering a different domain than I thought I was in. And then when she mentioned Oprah … what was interesting to me was I had remembered Oprah but I had forgotten the connection to food somehow … all of a sudden I went, ‘Oh my God, it’s more insidious than I thought.’
What we had hoped to do in this film is really promote a conversation. Obviously I am disappointed by so much of the reaction from large industry.
None of them would really talk to you when doing the film …
Well, almost none. The man from the National Chicken Council did, and I thought we presented his best points. Wal-Mart did and Eldon Roth from BPI (Beef Products Inc.) did. Eldon is like the Ray Krocs of the world, in that he is like one of these American entrepreneurs and he is solving a problem. And he was proud of what he is doing and he let me in. And I have to say I admire a lot of what he’s doing - I might question some of it, but the fact is he’s not hiding behind a curtain. And he’s proud of what he does, and I feel like I haven’t gotten to say that enough. It’s the people who don’t want to talk and then want to have a controlled message afterward I find sort of scary.
It seems kind of perverse that we are given this idea of farmers as this agrarian, Rockwellian ideal when in fact it seems from watching your film that many farmers are becoming indentured servants for these industries. Talk about how these companies are keeping farmers under their thumbs.
With the chicken farmers the problem is that they’re so in debt. And there’re fewer and fewer farmers in the United States now. I don’t know what the exact number of farmers is but I’m sure it’s at least half of what it used to be 40 or 50 years ago. Monsanto has come out and said we demonize farmers in this film. And there are people who have not seen the film saying not to see it because it demonizes farmers, and it’s just not a health way of having a conversation. Though Cargill (an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and service) just came out and said, ‘Listen, we realize ‘Food, Inc.’ is having a tremendous success and ultimately we welcome this conversation.’
Can you talk about Monsanto and their seed investigators?
Monsanto didn’t want to talk to us in the film on camera, and then they came out with Web sites afterward dedicated to our film and they try and follow me on the radio whenever possible. They said on the radio that they didn’t ever decline to be on the film, but what happened was we had four to five months of phone calls back and forth, we didn’t do much email but we did have 10 exchanges back and forth. We basically told them who was in our film and what we were talking about - with our characters’ permission - we then even gave them the name and phone numbers of some of these people so they could talk. It was numerous conversations, at which point they were never responding about not being in the film. Then we sent a letter saying, ‘At this point a lack of response will be taken as a no because we have to conclude the film.’ And they never responded to that. And then they go on the air and say, ‘We never declined to be in the film.’
They have armies of lawyers. But I don’t understand … you think they could defend their position about how their seeds work and why they think they’re good. But they go out and, I think, create misinformation.
Were you worried about facing litigation as a result of the movie?
You don’t want to say things that aren’t correct. But obviously this (the food industry) is a much more litigious world than you want to ever imagine. Who thought food could be so dangerous? You’re entering scary territory when you talk about food. There are laws designed to make it so they can sue you more easily.
What are the ‘veggie libel laws’ and their consequences?
The fact is you can be sued for disparaging a food product. And you can be sued for corporations losing income. Oprah was sued during the mad cow disease scare for saying she didn’t want to eat hamburgers. She was sued. She won the case eventually, but, you know, it took millions of dollars and six years of her time. That’s something that sort of slows one down. I’ve spent more money on legal fees for this film than on my past 15 films altogether.
One of the interesting things about the film is seeing how connected some of the people at the food industries are related to government. Can you talk about the relationship between major government figures and their work with or for these food companies?
One thing that we say in the film, and I just want to reiterate, it’s not bad to have people from industry go work in government and be part of it. I think that’s happened before and it hasn’t been terrible. What’s a problem is when people are ruling on things that they worked for or on in industry and then they go back to the same industries and get rewards. You know, there feels like a conflict of interest, and that’s where it’s crossing the line. I don’t think we should rule out the fact that just because people have worked in industry it should be considered a problem. I think it’s when they go back and forth and keep getting rewarded for what they do when they’re in government that it becomes a problem.
What do you say to people who complain about the prohibitive costs of organic foods?
The problem is we have an uneven playing field. We’re subsidizing food that’s making us sick. We don’t see the actual costs when we go to buy it. Those costs are going to bankrupt us. We show this family in our film, and ultimately this family is spending $500 a month for medicine for the father to buy diabetes medicine … which is going to be the case for one of every three Americans who’s born after the year 2000, so this is going to be an amazing expense for Americans. Even if you’re eating out of the garden you’re going to be paying for this food. In making this film, there were times when I was in field and I saw people in space suits spraying our food, and I’m thinking,’You know, I don’t know if I want to eat food where people have to wear space suits to grow the food. Something seems wrong.’
I think there are many solutions, and I even respect Cargill saying, ‘Don’t rule out the industrial system, it can be part of a solution.’ I’m ready to have that conversation. We’re not proposing you only eat a certain kind of food, but I am saying this system we have now - it’s a brand new system, it’s only about 40 years - is failing, and we need to have a conversation about how we’re going to feed ourselves.
Do you think we’re turning the corner?
I think there’s beginning to be a consciousness. It’s mothers who have to feed their children who are going to make it all change. They are the ones who change things much faster than government.
How do you empower people to make healthier choices and put pressure on these food companies and the government?
As we say, there are two ways of going about it. You vote three times a day … so becoming more conscious … when you buy locally, all of a sudden you are making a conscious decision that is helping a local farmer, making you eat a better meal, helping the environment, helping workers … it spirals. Hopefully we can start to change little things. If we can change one of our meals, we’re going to have a great change. But we also have to vote with our votes. Look at takepart.com or my site, robertkennerfilms.com, we list organizations that you may want to become partners with who are involved in political legislation.
I saw an article from the Guardian over the weekend that said that 98% of personal products labeled as ‘green’ are not actually as eco-friendly as they may purport, so people are being ‘greenwashed’ into believing they are making a more eco-conscious purchase.
These companies are very smart and know how to operate. There are companies now selling processed food and calling it local. So, we’re up against large, sophisticated businesses. I think the problem with organic is that the standard of certification are too low. You can have organic milk, but the animals are still in CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations), which are operations where you may find 30,000 chickens in a dark room where they don’t see daylight for their entire lives. Or it’s pigs or dairy cows that don’t get to move, but they can still be called organic. So the standards are too low. Michael Pollan was saying he thinks people generally live up to those (organic) standards; the problem is we need to raise those standards.
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Sleepwalker gets knife to the face
I’ve been known to sleepwalk. I’ve been known to get drunk on rare occasion. I have even had the misfortune of using my then-girlfriend’s closet as a toilet during said sleepwalking. So this story hit a little too close to home.
According to KansasCity.com, a Kansas man arrived home drunk Tuesday night and reportedly began to engage his girlfriend in conversation for a few hours. Obviously he was too drunk to know better but not drunk enough to just pass out.
The story continues …
The girlfriend awoke about 1:30 a.m. and saw her boyfriend urinating in the closet. She believed he was sleepwalking, because he had done that in the past. She tried to wake him up, but he ignored her and walked toward the kitchen.She said he pushed her out of his way. Scared he might hit her, she grabbed a knife and held it up as he approached. After he was cut, she drove him to a hospital. His injuries are believed to be non-life threatening.
To do list: throw away girlfriend’s knives.
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Your A-List: Best Place to Dine Alone
Why eat solo at one restaurant with a limited menu when you can hit up a single spot that serves food to satisfy any palate? Exactly.
With hot stations serving everything from Indian food to rotisserie chicken to several stand-alone areas with table service for Italian and seafood, this week’s Your A-List winner Whole Foods offers endless options for those looking to dine alone after cruising the aisles looking for dates, er, specials.
Complete results
- Whole Foods, 38 percent
- Austin Java, 11 percent
- Kerbey Lane, 10 percent
- Zen, 8 percent
- Magnolia Cafe, 7 percent
- Jo’s, 5 percent
- The Tavern, 5 percent
- Maudie’s, 4 percent
- Home Slice, 4 percent
- Halcyon, 2 percent
- Tino’s, 2 percent
- La Traviata, 1 percent
- Blue Dahlia, 1 percent
- Enoteca, < 1 percent
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Your A-List: Best Public Access
You’ve hear him on the radio, you’ve seen him on the TV show. Alex Jones is the pied-piper for the masses of conspiracy theorists and patriots who don’t trust what they hear from government or mainstream media, and he has made it his mission to get what he believes to be the under-reported truth out to citizens through every medium imaginable. He’s also this week’s Your A-List winner, with 28 percent of the vote.
The staunch libertarian and native Texan first made a name for himself over a dozen years ago with his call-in public access show, “Reality Check.” He arguably came to national attention when he suggested building a monument to the Branch Davidians outside of Waco in 1999. At the time, Jones said of his plan, “It’s a monument to the First Amendment. We want to show these people (surviving Branch Davidian members) we understand how they were demonized. It’s a monument against the police state.”
He’s continued to fight what he calls the police state and New World Order through documentary film making, radio and TV appearances, his Web siteInfowars.com, as well as a roll playing a seemingly close-to-real-life version of himself in Richard Linklater’s “A Scanner Darkly.”
Others receiving votes
- ‘Cookin’ Good,’ 21 percent
- ‘The Atheist Experience,’ 10 percent
- ‘Up Late Austin,’ 8 percent
- ‘Democracy Now,’ 8 percent
- ‘Primetime Tejano TV,’ 5 percent
- ‘Fiesta Musical,’ 5 percent
- ‘Clown Time,’ 5 percent
- ‘The Dad Show,’ 4 percent
- ‘Indie Live Austin,’ 3 percent
- ‘Frontiers,’ 3 percent
- ‘The Simple Truth’, < 1 percent
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David Sedaris in San Marcos Friday night
Humorist and author David Sedaris may be dressed up in denim this weekend, as he will be visiting Hastings in San Marcos. You read that correctly. Sedaris in San Marcos.
The New York Times bestselling author has a massive following in Austin, as evidenced by his sold-out shows and the long snaking lines present at each of his book-singing appearances here. Apparently his fame stretches down the IH-35 corridor, as he is scheduled to be in both San Marcos and San Antonio this weekend.
Considering how difficult it can be to see Sedaris in Austin, it may be worth your time to head down the road to catch him in San Marcos.
Sedaris is touring in support of the recent paperback release of “When You Are Engulfed in Flames.”
David Sedaris reading and book signing
Hastings
Friday, June 19
6 p.m.
917 S. Highway 80 [map]
Watch Sedaris’ recent appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
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And Shady Grove’s neighbors think they’ve got problems …
New Yorkers do things a little differently than they do in South Austin, apparently.
Neighbors of The Cooper Square Hotel, located in Manhattan’s Bowery, have grown tired of the incessant noise coming from the swank hotel’s second floor outdoor bar. While the bar closes at 8 p.m., the neighbors are only a few feet from the noise and some complain they are bothered not only from the outdoor noise but from the chatter inside, as well.
In protest of their unwanted guests, some residents at the apartments adjacent to Cooper Square have added a new tool to their repertoire outside of simply calling the cops.
From the story on WPIX.com:
“The residents have formed a panty coalition, stringing up soiled panties, briefs, bras, - and even some ginormous granny panties - in plain view of the bar, sending a clear message to patrons that not only do people live in those neighboring apartments, but they also need to do laundry.”
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Your A-List: Best Fried Chicken
In his last review of the cash-only server of American classic, former Statesman food critic Dale Rice had the following to say about this week’s Your A-List winner:
“The fried chicken ($4.89 for a two-piece, white-and-dark-meat plate) was as crisp and non-oily as the onion rings, with juicy, tender, flavorful meat beneath that golden crust.
Served with fries, cole slaw and Texas toast — making the chicken a hearty meal — that fried poultry is no pushover, even on a table with tasty burgers.”
Top Notch
7525 Burnet Rd [map]
452-2181
Complete results
- Top Notch, 33 percent
- Hoover’s, 18 percent
- Threadgill’s, 9 percent
- Bush’s Chicken, 6 percent
- Nubian Queen Lola’s, 5 percent
- Dot’s, 5 percent
- Gene’s Poboys, 4 percent
- Hill’s, 4 percent
- Shoal Creek Saloon, 3 percent
- Arkie’s, 3 percent
- Terry’s Seafood and Chicken, 2 percent
- Evangeline Cafe, 2 percent
- Broken Spoke, 2 percent
- Tony’s Southern Comfort, 2 percent
- Ms. B’s, 2 percent
- Iron Gate Lounge, < 1 percent
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A legacy of leaps
Many young men spend much of their lives trying to extricate themselves from their fathers’ shadows, hoping to form identities and legacies separate from those of the old men.
But when your father is a generational icon, a flesh-and-blood superhero, the pursuit might seem futile.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
As 11-year-old Robbie Knievel sat on his motorcycle alongside father Evel Knievel, 50,000 screaming fans made clear to young Robbie that his destiny would run parallel to that of his father. Living the life of a high-flying entertainer was his birthright and one he could not and did not want to ignore. He knew then he wanted to be a daredevil. Had to be a daredevil.
‘I don’t get off on adrenaline, I was born with adrenaline, and that’s why I keep doing what I do,’ Knievel said by phone on Monday, already in town for this weekend’s Republic of Texas Biker Rally. ‘And people can say he (Evel) was crazy and he shouldn’t have done what he done, but my dad always said, “Remember, we kept out word.” ‘
That sense of pride and honor is likely what led Evel Knievel, when asked why he attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon, a 50-50 life-or-death proposition, to answer, ‘Do you know who the hell I am?’
‘We have charisma and we speak from our heart. We do what we do and we keep our word and that’s what makes us who we are, and that’s why people come to see us,’ Robbie Knievel said. ‘There’s only a handful of us out there who can do what we do, but there’s only two guys that made it famous - me and my dad.’
Kaptain Robbie Knievel brings that grandiose air with him to Austin this weekend, when he will jump almost 200 feet of Budweiser trucks in front of the Capitol.
The jump will be one in a line of more than 250 performed by the 47 year-old Knievel over the past 38 years. And, although he might use a different motorcycle than that heavy Harley-Davidson his father rode, he rides with the same swagger and a perverse levity.
Despite the dangers that inherently come with each jump, Knievel confesses that outside the occasional butterflies, making the death-defying jumps is standard operating procedure.
If a man can look into the face of death, or at least severe injury week in and week out for almost four decades, one must wonder whether there is anything that intimidates the guy. For an answer, one must look beyond the simple, worldly fears of broken bones or slithering reptiles.
The devil, Knievel says, is the only thing that scares him.
‘But I believe in Christ, so I’m not worried about the devil. I’ve got a belief and faith and trust,’ Knievel said. ‘And my dad did before he died, and we had a lot of good talks before he died. I’m looking forward to eternity, but we all got a path lined out for us. People that are living for the world are livin’ for nothing. We’re all gonna die. You gotta look at what’s ahead, be spiritual and loving to your neighbor.’
In this world of extreme sports and user-generated videos inhabiting every corner of the Web, displaying the dangerous exploits of thousands of amateur stuntmen, Knievel has a little more difficulty standing out than his father did in the ’70s.
At that time, before the explosion of cable television and before the Internet had anesthetized our sense of wonder and ability to be inspired, Evel Knievel was a dynamic hero of the highest order. Swathed in a garish red, white and blue jumpsuit astride a motorcycle, he was Elvis, Captain America and James Dean wrapped into one.
The idea of a comic book daredevil hero, inspiring kids with jaw-dropping feats of motorized airborne acrobatics might seem anachronistic today. But the son of Evel Knievel unabashedly carries on his father’s legacy and insists that what he does is about more than just jumping motorcycles over inanimate objects. It’s about a code, a way of the daredevil warrior, put on the planet to entertain and inspire people.
‘I do stuff by the seat of my pants like my dad did, and I have good things to say to the kids and the public, and that’s what I’m about. I do a lot of charities and stuff, and it’s all about what comes from your heart,’ Knievel said. ‘God only knows your heart. I don’t do it for the money. I do it because I’m the son of Evel Knievel, and there’s nobody left.’
And while he professes to be dutifully carrying on the legacy of his iconic father, with two jumps in the works for Wembley Stadium and the Snake River Canyon, attempts at which his father came up short, one has to wonder if maybe Robbie Knievel has his eye set on creating his own legend after all.
The Jump at the Capitol
Kaptain Robbie Knievel will jump almost 200 feet of Budweiser trucks lined on 11th Street in front of the State Capitol. The gates will open at 8 p.m. Friday (this should coincide with the arrival of the ROT motorcycle parade down Congress Avenue). The jump is scheduled to happen at 11 p.m.
ROT Rally wristband holders can pay $20 for a spot between 10th and 11th streets on Congress Avenue. Anyone can pay $20 for a spot between Ninth and 10th streets on Congress Avenue. And blocks south of Ninth Street on Congress Avenue will be free and open to the public.
To buy tickets and more information: www.rotrally.com.
Images from Knievel Cycles.
Click the link below for videos of Robbie Knievel’s jumps.
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Your A-List: Best Local Film Series
Austinites love their movies almost as much as they love their live music, and there is not shortage of local film series to keep us satisfied year round. The winner of this week’s poll, with 37 percent of the vote, is not only a great way to see classic films, but a great way to beat the summer heat.
All summer long, almost every day of the week through Labor Day week, you can enjoy a screening at the Paramount Summer Film Classics series.
According to Statesman film critic Chris Garcia, “the schedule offers a robust if mostly predictable combo of old classics, recent classics and foreign perennials featuring more than 70 movies. Plus, Warner Bros. cartoons unspool before many films. (Remember, bring a sweater. That grand old dame of a theater, our favorite film spot, gets chilled out for summer.)”
Check out Garcia’s list of 20 must-see films this summer.
Thursday night’s screenings: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” at 7 pm or the ultimate tear-jerker, “The Way We Were,” at 9:25 pm.
Go to the jump for complete results.
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Your A-List: Best TV Reporter
As the polls closed, Castano outdistanced Wolfson, gaining as many votes as everyone else in the field combined. Castano reports for the NBC affiliate’s evening newscasts, often fronting the night’s big story.
The Oregon native started at KXAN in 2007, after spending her early years in the TV biz reporting and producing news in her home state, as well as a stint as a disc jockey.
Although her job generally concerns serious matters, Castano finds humorous respite in the writings of David Sedaris along with musical diversions in the form of the music of Shakira, according to her bio on the KXAN site.
Go to the jump for complete poll results.
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Your A-List: Best Country/Western Bar
Ask a lot of people what kind of music they like, and they may say “everything except country.” Then they quickly add the caveat, “well, except for classic country.” The Broken Spoke may have had a few updates over the years, but there is no denying that the winner of Best Country/Western Bar, with 35 percent of the vote, is genuine country. Or at least genuine Texas.
There may be businesses that have been around Austin longer than this week’s winner, but you’d be hard pressed to find one more iconic.
Opened by James White on 1964, the Spoke is the epitome of a classic Texas dancehall and conveniently located just miles from downtonwn. Of course, when White first opened the doors, the South Lamar Boulevard location was considered to be the edge of town.
“Like the club, owner James White is a throwback to the days of honky tonk. The club gets a fresh-faced crowd of dancers every Thursday for Jesse Dayton,” says Statesman scribe Michael Corcoran.
The Broken Spoke [site] 3201 S. Lamar Blvd. [map]
Go to the jump for complete poll results.
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Your A-List: Best Coffeeshop
We had a great Austin360 cover story on coffee shops with corollary vices a couple weeks back. In it, food critic Mike Sutter profiled this week’s winner Ruta Maya (20 percent of the vote), one of the first coffee shops I visited upon returning to Austin in 2002.
Here is what he wrote:
If there were a Museum of Austin Clich´s and Stereotypes, Ruta Maya would be its gift shop and snack bar. On the patio, there are petitions to sign and a table promising ‘Cabalistic Tarot Readings.’ And the deep, roasty aroma of coffee fills the senses, tingles the scalp - a caffeine contact high, with liquid satisfaction starting as low as $1.50 for an espresso. There’s beer on tap and six wines by the bottle or glass, plus sandwiches, wraps, empanadas and whatever else lands in the takeout cases.
On stage, an open-mike poet in black leather pants drops flinching F-bombs in adjectival and astonishingly active verb forms. But even before Ruta Maya left its dodgy Warehouse District birthplace on Fourth Street for its rambling warren on South Congress Avenue some years ago, cigars have given the place an earthen Latin American character. The Habana House tobacco shop’s door opens right into Ruta Maya, an F-bomb shelter with a walk-in humidor the size of a two-car garage and half a dozen chairs, all occupied on an April night by cigar-smoking men staring blankly at ‘American Idol.’ For cigar people, the shop carries dozens of boutique and classic brands, including 26 Arturo Fuente frontmarks, at reasonable markups. For tourists, the Acid cigars smell like tobacco and patchouli oil, an authentic sensory memento of Ruta Maya.
Ruta Maya [site]
3601 S. Congress Ave., Suite D-200 [map]
707-9637
Go to the jump for complete results.
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Luckenbach is ‘Pickin’ for the Record’
Did you know there is a Guinness World Record for Largest Guitar Ensemble? Well, there is. And it’s not held by the Gypsy Kings. Actually, it’s held by “the Germans,” according to a press release we received today.
Regardless of who holds the record, it seems like Texas should own the damn thing. That’s why the Kerrville Folk Festival and Cheatham Street Warehouse have teamed up with historic Luckenbach to break the record while benefiting the Voices of a Grateful Nation Project, a group that assists the troops and their families.
OK, the details. The record as it stands now is 1,802 guitar players picking simultaneously. So, the folks in Luckenbach are calling on all guitar players, even those who can only play a handful of chords, to register to break the record and then head out to Luckenbach on August 23 to try and set the bar so high that nobody can top it.
The current record was set while the aforementioned 1,802 pickers played “Smoke on the Water” on June 26, 2007, in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany, led by the band Party Blues in Bb. Oh, the Germans. What fairly simple tune should the Texas group select as its record setter? “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys”? “Home on the Range”? Or, maybe the obvious, “Luckenbach, Texas,” led by Willie Nelson or Shooter Jennings? Register by July 15 at the Voices of a Grateful Nation Project Web site.
Check out what appears to be video of the current record holders doing their thing.
The video below seems to be of a group in Poland trying to claim the record earlier this year. And failing. Hmm. I smell a controversy. If anything it may be the Guinness Record of people butchering the lyrics of a Deep Purple song. (Be the 17th person to ever watch it … now!)
And now, just for grins … Waylon and Willie and the boys …
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Bret Michaels gets crowned at Tonys
Update: The AP is reporting that Bret Michaels fractured his nose and busted his lip in the incident written about below.
Did you see the Tony Awards last night? Of course you did. It totes rocks.
For those of you who didn’t, 80s hair legends Poison performed their cheesed-out “Nothing But A Good Time.” Why was Poison at the Tonys? Because frontman Brett Michaels is starring in Neil Labute’s “Reasons to Be Pretty,” of course.
Actually, the band was playing with some of the cast of “Rock of Ages,” which was nominated for Best Musical but totally got pwned by “Billy Elliot, The Musical.”
Anyhoo … the band ended its tune with guitarist C.C. DeVille, Michaels and bassist Bobby Dall leaning in to hit the final excruciating note. As the song came to it merciful conclusion, DeVille and Dall hightailed it back onto the raised stage as a massive piece of scenery lowered from the ceiling. Unfortunately for Michaels, he preened one second too long, missed his cue and as he tried to hustle back to his mark, got clotheslined by the set and ended up flat on his back as Stockard Channing took the stage.
Maybe Michaels should stick to mining groups of skanks to find ‘love’ on VH1. (We laugh because we’ve heard reports that he is not in any sort of critical condition.)
Check the awesomeness … and what the hell is with that weird shoulder shrug/clinch Michaels does as the end of the song?
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Your A-List: Best local writer
Of Austinite Lawrence Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “The Looming Tower,” luminary biographer Robert A. Caro said, “Lawrence Wright’s integrity and diligence as a reporter shine through every page of this riveting narrative.”
Not much I could say that could top that.
To go with his Pulitzer, National Book Award and host of other awards, Wright can now claim the title of Best Local Author, as voted by Austin360.com readers.
The former Texas Monthly writer, who was born in Oklahoma and attended Tulane University for undergrad studies in literature, was actually considering leaving the world of journalism to focus on screenwriting and directing (he penned the 1998 thriller “The Siege”), before two jets crashed into the World Trade Center Towers, another careered into the Pentagon and a fourth laid waste to a field in Pennsylvania.
After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Wright diligently and furiously went to work reporting the event for The New Yorker, an endeavor that would lead to his book “The Looming Tower,” one of the seminal works of non-fiction written about America’s most horrifying hour.
“I’ve never attached myself to any other project with such intensity and with a sense of history looking over my shoulder,” Wright told the Statesman’s Patrick Beach in 2006. “I knew it was the most important thing I would probably ever do, so I felt that I had to give it everything I had … I had some advantages in that I spoke some Arabic and had lived in that part of the world, but I was constantly aware of how much I didn’t know, how much I had to learn in order to understand the perspectives of the people I was writing about.”
Apparently Wright devotes himself as fully to his hobbies as he does his work.
From Beach’s interview:
If it sounds like all Wright does is work, that’s a bingo — he works at his job and his fun. He started playing piano halfway through his 38th year specifically so he could play “Great Balls of Fire” on his 40th birthday, and plays in the local blues collective Who Do.His piano teacher, Floyd Domino, says, “As people get older they get more comfortable and challenge themselves less. Larry challenges himself more.”
His tireless research, intellectual curiosity and passion set Wright apart from his peers. And as one of only two (as far as I can discern) Austinites to win a Pulitzer for book writing, along with David Oshinsky, Wright is not only one of the best writers in the city, but one of the best in the world.
(Read Patrick Beach’s 2006 excellent interview with Wright here.)
Image of Lawrence Wright in 2007 from Rodolfo Gonzalez AMERICAN-STATESMAN.
Complete poll results
- Lawrence Wright, 41 percent
- Sarah Bird, 35 percent
- Kinky Friedman, 4 percent
- Turk Pipkin, 3 percent
- Spike Gillespie, 2 percent
- Tim O’Brien, 2 percent
- Owen Egerton, 2 percent
- David Lindsey, 2 percent
- Stephen Harrigan, 2 percent
- H.W. Brands, 2 percent
- Joe Nick Patoski, 1 percent
- Ben Rehder, < 1 percent
- Jeff Abbott, < 1 percent
- Douglas Brinkley, < 1 percent
- Diane Fanning, < 1 percent
- David Oshinsky, < 1 percent
- James D. Hornfischer, < 1 percent
- Craig McCullough, < 1 percent
- Steven Saylor, < 1 percent
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Your A-List: Best dog-friendly restaurant
You may not be able to hear live music at Freddie’s Place any longer, but that doesn’t mean the laid-back restaurant has lost any of its creekside charm, for humans and canines alike.
The sprawling indoor/outdoor restaurant on South First Street won 29 percent of the vote in this week’s poll as the best place to dine, or sip on cold beer, with your four-legged best friend.
While some restaurants catering to people and their pooches can feel a little cramped and honestly inappropriate for pets, the spacious and rustic Freddie’s, with its plethora of picnic tables and active washer pit, feels like a busy park or the giant backyard of a non-condo-dwelling friend, with plenty of room to roam for panting pups, clamorous children and convivial adults.
Others receiving votes
- Opal Divine’s, 15 percent
- Crown and Anchor Pub, 12 percent
- Dog and Duck Pub, 10 percent
- Jo’s, 7 percent
- Austin Java, 5 percent
- P. Terry’s, 4 percent
- Spider House, 4 percent
- Green Mesquite, 3 percent
- Uncle Billy’s, 3 percent
- Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse and Cafe, 3 percent
- Moonshine, 3 percent
- BB Rovers, 3 percent
- Romeo’s, < 1percent
- Wake the Dead, < 1 percent
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The power of positive thinking, dance (and possibly drugs)
Sometimes people just need a reminder (or inspiration, or the safety of not feeling ‘uncool’) that it’s OK to cut loose and get down in public. Witness this cat at the Sasquatch Music Festival in Washington.
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More than a Taste of Ethiopia
(This article ran in Thursday’s print edition of Austin360. Click here for Statesman food critic Mike Sutter’s review of Taste of Ethiopia, which serves the best Ehtiopian food I have had in Texas, and possibly anywhere.)
From caring for her family to preparing a sublime array of traditional Ethiopian dishes at her Taste of Ethiopia restaurant in Pflugerville, Woinee Mariam throws her heart and soul into everything she does.
That passion compelled her to sit for four hours on the hard floor of her daughter’s new school in Washington, D.C., nearly three years ago.
Her daughter, Hewan, is autistic. And Mariam, dismayed by what she perceived as the disregard of the staff and apathy of the students, did not feel comfortable sending her to a new school that failed to meet the family’s standards. The determined mother wanted to take her daughter out of that school. Immediately.
After deciding with her husband, Solomon Hailu, that their family needed to relocate to find a better life, Mariam gathered their four adolescent children and moved to Cedar Park. Hailu, who would join the rest of the family soon after, had relatives here, and after researching school districts, the couple said they were certain the city would be a wonderful place to raise their children.
Upon her arrival in Texas 2 1/2 years ago, Mariam worked briefly at a bank before deciding it was time to realize her own dream. With the support of friends and family and an infectious exuberance, the small woman who had spent 17 years working in other people’s restaurants opened her own. Taste of Ethiopia was born.
Spend two minutes in the little restaurant painted with comforting natural hues or on the breezy patio area sweetly scented by jasmine, and as the sounds of Bob Marley and traditional Ethiopian music permeate the mood, you drift into the warm peace that comes with being a member of Mariam’s extended family.
That family includes John Durant, one of Mariam’s former bank co-workers, who offered for free the services of his design firm.
‘I knew they were just starting out, and the design and feel of the restaurant was the last thing on their minds,’ said Durant. ‘It was something that I felt drawn to do, to help my friends make their dream a reality. Woinee is a woman of energy and love.’
Mariam extends that love and positive energy to her customers, greeting all with the smile of someone who looks like she’s gotten away with something, as her eyes sparkle and her gregarious nature almost dares you to ask her a question. Once you have, it’s off to the races, your conversation pinballing from children to music to philosophy and, of course, food.
‘This is one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. I get to meet people from all walks of life,’ Mariam said. ‘There is nothing more satisfying than to see people come and dine and leave satisfied. I enjoy serving the first-timers who never had Ethiopian food. I see the skepticism in their eyes and hear it in their tone of voice. Then, I comfort them and explain the traditions and the food.’
Her people skills are surpassed by her hand in the kitchen. Each dish features fresh ingredients, traditional spices from Ethiopia and a balance of robust and subtle flavors that make each item its own revelation.
”All dishes have to be as authentic as they can be, cooked with spices from Ethiopia,’ Mariam said. ‘I credit my mom for teaching me the essence of cooking.’
‘What I learned during my early years has paid off,’ she said. ‘Major holidays such as New Year, Easter (the end of a 60-day fasting season), Christmas and other holidays are celebrated by preparing a major feast consisting of the dishes that are being served at the restaurant.’
With her gratitude, easy nature and love for food and people, Mariam has brought that sense of celebratory and communal feasts to Taste of Ethiopia.
A choice made in the best interests of a family has become a boon to the food lovers of greater Austin.
For Woinee Mariam and Solomon Hailu, the days of searching for the right home seem well behind them.
‘It’ll take a bulldozer to move me from Austin,’ Hailu said.
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Just saw the 1st showing here in Austin. Very Powerful.
News we knew & some we did Not want to know! Corporate food, Yum.
We will encourage many to see this film.
... read the full comment by Rick Perkins | Comment on Interview: Robert Kenner, director of 'Food, Inc.' Read Interview: Robert Kenner, director of 'Food, Inc.'
It’s unfortunate that he doesn’t have a good answer to your question: “What do you say to people who complain about the prohibitive costs of organic foods?”
... read the full comment by oh_steph | Comment on Interview: Robert Kenner, director of 'Food, Inc.' Read Interview: Robert Kenner, director of 'Food, Inc.'
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