We Have an Issue: The Force Is Strong With This One
It's Santa Boba Fett!
By Kimberley Jones, Fri., Dec. 24, 2021
Star Wars opened in America in 1977 but didn't make its way across the UK until 1978. Culture Editor Richard Whittaker saw the film opening day at an old-timey picturehouse, the Majestic Cinema in Macclesfield, England. He was 7 years old, and his grandmother took him. They ate fish & chips beforehand, and she bought him a rubber ball – information that is perhaps not relevant to this story, but Richard shared it with me anyway, his eyes gone a little faraway. It was a formative day.
I first came to Star Wars on VHS – I don't remember when. Star Wars was just always there, as elemental to me as my inner organs. I spent endless hours reenacting the movies with my much-battered action figures. When I got a little older, I imagined new adventures and put them down on paper, finessing the action, fiddling with the dialogue until it sounded right – in other words, becoming a writer and an editor. Proofreader James Scott helpfully points out I was writing fanfic – we just didn't call it that yet in the Eighties.
So yes: Richard and I both are scratching a big item off our bucket list with this week's cover. The occasion is Richard's interview with Austin filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez has had his own decades-long history with the franchise, one that culminates in the new Disney+ show The Book of Boba Fett, which debuts Dec. 29. See that interview here.
We've got another real treat kicking off in this issue and continuing for a few weeks: the return of Tim Stegall's ongoing history of Austin punk. It's a project Stegall first debuted in these pages in 2019; past installments of his "Austin Punk Chronicles" have explored psychedelia, Roky Erickson and Doug Sahm's early collaboration, and the (brief) rise of glitter rock. This issue launches a three-part series that covers the birth of Austin's first punk band and record store and ends with the Sex Pistols' historic show at Randy's Rodeo. Catch up on past installments at austinchronicle.com/austin-punk-chronicles.
We're on newsstands a day early on account of Christmas, but we'll be back to our regular distribution next week. Here's wishing you all safe and stress-free holidays. And hey – if you have the opportunity to do someone a kindness, go ahead and take it.
Online This Week
Never Look Back... But always listen back. Music writers Kevin Curtin and Rachel Rascoe assemble their favorite songs that emanated from Austin in 2021. Check out the Austin Chronicle's Spotify account for 80 minutes of vital hometown sounds.
The Austin Chronicle Show on KOOP 91.7FM
This week, music staffers Kevin Curtin, Rachel Rascoe, and Derek Udensi share their favorite songs of the year.
Tune in Fridays, 6pm, to KOOP Community Radio. Past episodes at austinchronicle.com/av.
