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    Monday 10.00 a.m. ... I meet my cameraman, Jimmy, at the hotel and we drive to Destiny's Child's office and studio to meet Kelly Rowland. Jake and Tina Knowles, Beyonce and Kelly's parents, who manage the band -- have opened up a club or venue in the grounds of the office -- where they showcase new talent and the girls perform. We wait inside it for Kelly to get back from an interview for the American channel "Lifetime." 11.00 ... Kelly arrives and has had only two hours sleep the night before. She's in town for All-Star weekend; which is the climax of the NBA's year. All the top basketball players come to town to take part and the weekend is Houston's biggest; and packed with parties. Destiny's Child sang the national anthem at the All-Star game; and Kelly was out nearly the whole night after. Because she's so exhausted we decide to make "This Is It" soul food restaurant our first stop so she can get something to eat. 11.30 ... We arrive at This Is It, which at first glance is pretty basic (you get a tray and queue up for food; like at school). But Kelly insists the food is amazing and it turns out she is right; the restaurant which is empty when we first arrive is soon packed full of people queuing up. We interview Kelly while she eats a huge plate of food -- I can't believe she can fit it all seeing as she is so little -- but she says she works it off. 12.30 p.m. ... We leave and drive to Kelly's church -- St. John's. She's been going there every week since she was a kid and it's a really important part of her life and upbringing. It's grown a lot since she started going and become really active in Houston; trying to help out in the community. Kelly is really proud of the way the church has grown; and has done her part by helping contribute along with the Knowles family to the "Knowles-Rowland Center for Youth" -- which as its name suggests is a youth center where kids can come and do activities, who might otherwise not have anywhere to go. 1.00 ... We drive to the Galleria. Houston is huge and it takes a lot of time to cross it. It has one main center; Downtown, which is where we've been. But it also has an entire other central district which is centred around the Galleria, a big shopping mall. Once in the mall Kelly heads straight for a shop called Gregory's; which is her favorite and unique to Texas. She gets very excited about all the shoes and has a trying on session for a while, before we walk around the center of the mall which features an ice rink in the middle. People recognize her everywhere we go and want to pose for photos or just talk to her; and she makes time for all of them. As we're getting back into the car a very over-excited guy jumps out of his car and rushes up to tell Kelly that if she's ever in Washington DC he will take her out. Her huge bodyguard eventually prises him off the car... I'm not convinced she'll be calling him to take him up on his offer when she next visits DC but he seemed to think it was highly likely. 2.00 ... We get back to the studio and Kelly shows us around; there are gold and platinum discs everywhere from albums they've made and she tells us about her first solo performance and how scared she was. Looking at all the discs on the wall; it's hard to imagine any of them were ever scared to perform. It's also amazing to see how many countries they've sold so many records in across the world. Usually bands find it pretty hard to appeal globally; but Destiny's Child seems to have achieved it. 2.30 ... We finish for the day as Kelly is exhausted; and say goodbye. Then we head out to film some of the restaurants she mentioned but that we didn't have time to go to -- Houston is not only big and sprawling but has more restaurants in it than anywhere I have ever been, so by the time we finish it's nearly night. It's a very weird city; particularly if you're European. There's no real center and place where people walk around and gather -- everyone drives everywhere. But all the food is amazing -- particularly steak and barbecue. So if you like driving you'll probably like it, though not so great if you also like drinking ... |
 | Source: Explosive device sewn in suspect's underwearPart of an explosive device that failed to take down a plane last week was sewn into the underwear of the Nigerian man accused of igniting it, a law enforce ... |
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