DON’T CHOP DOWN THE RODNEY CROWELL TREE! Two Chinaberry trees the country-music star planted with his mother by the front sidewalk of his childhood home at 10418 Norvic St. in Jacinto City never grew at all, but a third one Rodney Crowell named after himself did well. “It’s a Spanish-speaking fellow that lives there now,” Crowell tells the Chronicle‘s Andrew Dansby. “He had built a house where our house had fallen down. I got him out in the yard and tried to explain everything. I gave him a record of The Houston Kid. He looked at me like, ‘What do you want me to do with this?’ So we had a pointing conversation. I told him, ‘I planted that tree. Don’t chop it down!’ After a while he said, ‘Yes! Shade!’ I thought, OK, well the tree’s safe. A few years [later] I go back by, and it was cut down. I was livid. But the good news is the trunk is still there, and the trunk had started to sprout some little limbs. So maybe it’ll grow back in some way. These trees are tougher than we give them credit for. But I was mad; I was sure I’d gotten the point across.†[29-95]
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Cutting down trees is very common with immigrants from south of the border.
I’ve seen it way too often and will never understand it.
All China Berry trees should be weeded out of Houston. They are non-native and very invasive.
Rodney Crowell ROCKS HARD! Seems like all
the good ones leave town . . . oh well, he
had a pretty good excuse: Roseanne Cash!
For you young ones out there (under 35)
do yourselves a favor and check out the music of Rodney “The Houston Kid” Crowell.
@Craig
WTF? Generalize much?
If I had a chinaberry tree in my yard, that sucker wouldn’t last 1 week – they are messy, brittle, and grow wildly.
Thank Mr. Teas for the damn Chinaberry trees. They are a major invasive problem and should be weeded out. Why not replace each chinaberry with an native oak?
Crowell’s autobigraphy is called Chinaberry Sidewalks. The Chron just reviewed it.
Sounds a bit arrogant of Mr. Crowell.
Days of old Bellaire – a rose bush and Chinaberry tree in every yard. Good for throwing at other kids and pretty fall foliage, but the hulls….just try to walk barefoot across a yard with a Chinaberry tree!
If he was really so concerned about it he should of bought the house. Also, there is the possibility that the tree was damaged in a storm.
I think some people are confusing the “Chinaberry” (Melia azedarach) with the “Chinese Tallow” (Triadica sebifera), the former being much messier but easier on the bare feet, and the latter being much more invasive.
To see the hateful responses to local “Houston Kid” Rodney and pick, pick away at his success really makes me think
that many of the Chron commenters are actually sad, lonely losers trapped at home
accepting the socialist Medicare benefits
with their state/municipal benefits while
hating on poets, successful poets with someting to communicate beyond anger, self-pity and hate.