Glassjaw in Austin

Glassjaw’s popularity peaked during my high school years.  It is the soundtrack to my adolescence.  Oh yes, I clearly remember hanging my arms out a friend’s car window as we drove around, loosing our voices to their last full-length album, Worship and Tribute. The album that also reminds me of frantically trying to hide my septum piercing from my mom every time I came home from school or being heartbroken over a boy with tattooed sleeves and large gages.

It’s been six years since a combination of front man Daryl Palumbo’s Crohn’s disease and the birth his side project Head Automatica took the band on hiatus. The post hardcore band fronted by vocalist Palumbo and guitarist Justin Beck is back on tour after playing several scattered festivals around the U.S.  They played to a sold out show Thursday night, on Emo’s outside stage, straight from a show they had in Perth, Australia or as Palumbo referred to it, “Austria or Australia, one of those.” 

Palumbo’s distinctive aggressive vocal style was just as I remembered it but there was a notable difference in his stage presence.  He was older, not less tattooed, but thinner and more homeless looking than the thick-framed glasses wearing homie I remember.   

A sweating mob surrounding the stage swaying and moshing together like a wave out at sea during a hurricane.  It was a scream-a-long event that included tunes off their only releases, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence, Worship and Tribute and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. 

It was hard to stay put as I tried very hard to concentrate on staying grounded and balanced while my camera pierced my chest.  I spent the most of show suspended in air with both my hands up as people around me got to second base with me and traded sweat.  It didn’t keep me from yelling along as confessions of love sprouted randomly through out the crowd.   I closed my eyes and thought, ‘I feel you crowd, I love him too.  You’re right, he is beautiful.’        

Napkin notes: More on Sandbar

This week I reviewed the Sandbar, still one of my favorite restaurants in town, despite a few grumbles about the new location. If I could afford to, I'd eat there at least once a week. Print means limitations, though, so as promised a few notes that didn't make it into the story:

• Sandbar serves an over-the-top iceberg wedge that is like a treasure hunt: Navigate around the fresh avocado island, through a delightfully light sea of dressing to find fresh cheese crumbles, plump and savory tomato confit, and tender hardboiled egg. Fresh chives, shallot, thin slivers of crisp bacon (note: we ordered extra) -- at our house we call iceberg lettuce crunchy water but it makes perfect sense here as the sturdy but unobtrusive anchor.




• Lobster-roll economics: Judging by comments at Urban Spoon, I'm not the only diner who misses the lobster roll at lunch -- in fact, it makes a lot more sense as a meal at lunch -- but not $$-wise, apparently, which is why it's currently regulated to evening-only. Chef Weissman is said to be considering installing a lobster tank, which I gather might make a difference, but in the meantime, if you care as I do -- please order it more often at dinnertime.

• The whole fried fish is served with an addictive sauce with the consistency of ponzu (and like a ginger ponzu, fresh with ginger, citrus, and scallion flavor), but clearly of a higher order. James Martin says it's made with, among other things, salted black beans, fish sauce, and fresh garlic, scallion, and ginger. Which sounds like it could be overpowering, but it's actually almost delicate. I love it almost as much as the fish itself. 

• The hot plate: My biggest gripe will make little sense to folks who prefer their fish hot and cooked, but there are a few other places in town to get very good dishes along these lines (although as always, you'll find more attention to detail at Sandbar, and seldom will something be out of balance), while what was so exciting about Sandbar's debut is that it presented the opportunit to eat seafood like those lucky coastal bastards to the East and West of us. But to be fair, the new Sandbar has a full kitchen, which the original location did not and more seats to fill  -- Current critic Ron Bechtol says they used to cook the whole fried fish at next-door Le Reve, for instance, as well as the unctuous (in a very good way) lobster bisque ...

• ... which James says is a classic French preparation that gets some of that rich flavor from Cognac, and takes something like 7 hours to prepare. I've noticed more complaints about this dish than any other in food-site user reviews of Sandbar (tastes burned, say some; no actual pieces of lobster, say others) and I sincerely hope Chefs Weissman and Carlson pay no attention whatsoever. SA could be on culinary maps for this soup alone.

Alice in Wonderland (1903)

While you're waiting for the latest issue of the Current (hitting newsstands tomorrow), and the Tim Burton Alice remake (opening Friday), check out the first filmed version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, courtesy of the British Film Institute. 'Preciate it, guvnah!

funding Fundred with art hundreds

(Note: This will run in tomorrow's CAM guide, also.)

And you can check out the CAM Calendar all month long!

Special kudos to Kendra Curry who's helped to orchestrate this, and to Andy and Yvette Benavides and SMART for empowering this event!

****************************************

CAM Preview Pick

fundred pickup

Quick! Head on over to fundred.org and learn all about an urgently innovative public art / public works / public health project goin’ on across the nation. Thumbnail sketch: soil contamination is rampant in the US, particularly in post-Katrina New Orleans, where it’s estimated that 30% of inner-city children suffer from lead poisoning, a leading cause of lifelong neurological and learning problems.

(slide of blood scan showing lead poisoning)

A  team of scientists has come up with some very cool strategies to lessen soil lead levels by “locking” the contaminant into bio-unavailable ( i.e. “won’t contaminate people”) minerals, a system that could be piloted in NOLA then implemented in lead-affected cities everywhere (including our own!). Awesome — the only catch is, the estimated cost for “Operation Paydirt” is $300,000,000.

Ouch. This is where “Fundred” comes in; artist Mel Chin has spearheaded a nationwide art movement wherein schoolkids and activists, artists and dabblers and moms and dads and abuelitas and scientists and everybody and anybody each creates an individual work of paper art based on the hundred dollar bill (find some cool templates and instructions here.

Here are some examples:

This accumulated “creative capital” is being picked up by an armored truck called “Sous Terre” from schools and universities and community centers and arts institutions all across the country.

This Thursday, Sous Terre (which means “underground”) will stop in San Antonio. The already-made fundreds by SA kids and artists and those made on-site during the pick-up will be combined with fundreds from everywhere from LA to Marfa, then late this Spring, will be presented to the United States Congress with a request that lawmakers match this grassroots in-kind labor with some very real funding for soil contamination. Help New Orleans and represent San Antonio!

 

 

 

Here's Mel Chin talking about the project:

Farouk, Farouk, Farouk is on fire

He don't need no water, just your vote in the Democratic primary. I had every intention of making fun of J. Xavier's hip-hop tribute detailing Farouk Shami's policies —officially released by his campaign, mind you — but after listening to it I'd rather wipe a booger on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
We don't care who you vote for, but we strongly endorse this song. Any candidate willing to embrace Auto Tune technology's got our — um — attention I guess is the right word for it.
Official press release reprinted below. Somebody record a Rick Perry endorsing hip-hop song, stat.

In a last minute push to win supporters and motivate Texans to go to the polls tomorrow, Farouk Shami has publically released the song "Farouk" from prominent hip hop artist J. Xavier.  The song outlines Farouk's new solutions for Texas, including creating jobs and reforming the education system so it looks out for all Texas children. 

"I thank J. Xavier for his support and lending his amazing talents to our campaign," said Farouk Shami.

A Friday musing

Much of life consists of concocting an acceptable outward appearance, which can be a playful and pleasurable endeavor or — if you find yrself in a state of existential awareness of essential loneliness and Otherness — a helluva job to maintain. Rifts are inevitable. Meanwhile, here's Digable Planets.

An interview with 'Crazies' director Breck Eisner

Breck Eisner - The Crazies
By Kiko Martinez
San Antonio Current contributing writer
kiko@cinesnob.net

During a phone interview with me today, director Breck Eisner spoke about his new film The Crazies, a remake of the 1973 horror film of the same name by George A. Romero. In the film, a group of small town folk in Iowa are infected by a virus that causes them to become aggressive psychopaths. Breck, who is the son of former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner, also talked about why he decided the movie needed to be remade and whether or not he thinks he could survive a global pandemic if one were ever to happen.

One could say that the reason we’re seeing so many horror remakes is because Hollywood is running out of ideas. Original scripts are a rarity in the industry. Would you disagree with that assertion?

You know, I totally understand the frustration with all these remakes. I would share that same frustration if every remake was a piece of junk. If a remake is great and people are making them for a reason and there’s something to tell, then go for it. But if a remake is just there to exploit a property and make money it’s no longer a reason to make a movie. With The Crazies, I saw a movie that had relevance when it was first made in ’73 and a relevance that existed today. It’s a different world, a totally different audience, and there are still things to say about the core conflict that makes the original work. For me, the idea of writing off all remakes is wrong. If it’s good then it’s no different than remaking a book or a graphic novel. Do it because there is a purpose.

Why do you think directors like George A. Romero and Wes Craven are open to the idea of their movies being recreated? I know you’ve said in a past interview that you would only remake a movie if you saw a flaw in the original. Do you think they see some of those flaws, too?

I think the flaw – if you can call it that – of [1973’s] The Crazies is a lack of resources. Obviously, having more money doesn’t mean you are going to have a better movie, but in a movie like The Crazies it’s a movie about the government taking over a town. When scaled to that, it’s kind of expensive if you have the desire to do it right. Romero was very limited in what he could do. One of the things I wanted to push against and try to scale up was to depict the military in a realistic way. In terms of their openness to make movies, I can talk specifically about Romero. He owns the rights to this movie. He benefits financially from selling it. It was his decision to allow the remake to happen, which gave me confidence in getting into this project. His point of view on it is this: here it is guys, be true to the original but I want to see your version of it. This is your movie. Go ahead and remake it.

While The Crazies has some gory moments, I wouldn’t necessarily say it focused on that element like a lot of horror movies do these days. Was not overdoing the gore something you did intentionally?

For me I just wanted to make a movie that I would want to see and the style of horror that I like. I certainly recognize that there are gorier movies out there. What I like in horror is a strong concept and good characters that you can invest in so when things start going horrifically wrong for them you have an emotional connection to them. My thought on gore is that it should service the movie itself. It’s fine when it’s in a scene where it’s appropriate. But don’t put gore in a movie for gore’s sake. Don’t just make it graphic because you think that’s what people want.

You’ve said in a past interview that the horror genre is something you hope you can keep doing. You said you’re not mucho of a romantic comedy type of guy. What’s the last romantic comedy you saw?

(Laughs) Oh, gosh, what is the last romantic comedy I saw? Is Wedding Crashers a romantic comedy? I love comedy. I love what the Coen Brothers do and I love comedy with a male point of view. If I was going to do a romantic comedy it would have to have some kind of dark comic take on it. But I love movies and appreciate them so to get the opportunity to make a good one, I would certainly take it.

Do you personally think you would be able to survive something apocalyptic like what we see in The Crazies?

I would absolutely go down in the first page of the script. I would like to think I would survive but I think I would be one of those guys that didn’t make it out alive.

What is something that drives you crazy about the film industry? About life in general?

What drives me crazy in the film industry is just the uncertainty of it. You’re never employed. You’re always looking for your next job. It’s a really unstable life. It can drive you mad. In life: traffic. Sometimes traffic can push me to the brink of insanity.

Chaléwood No. 27 - Ana de la Reguera

Ana de la Reguera - Cop Out
By Kiko Martinez
San Antonio Current contributing writer
kiko@cinesnob.net

In 2006, actress Ana de la Reguera’s first opportunity to act in the U.S. came when she played Sister Encarnación, a nun at an orphanage who catches the eye of Jack Black’s monk-turned-luchador character in the comedy Nacho Libre.

Since making her American film debut, de la Reguera has worked mostly on Spanish-language projects in Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia, including films such as Sultanes de Sur with Jordi Mollá (Che: Part Two) and Paraiso Travel with John Leguizamo (Nothing Like the Holidays).

Now, de la Reguera, who was born in Veracruz, Mexico, stars in her second American comedy Cop Out alongside Bruce Willis (Live Free or Die Hard) and Tracy Morgan (TV’s 30 Rock). The movie was directed by Kevin Smith (Zach and Miri Make a Porno). In the film, de la Reguera, 32, plays Gabriela, a woman who escapes from a group of killers in Mexico and ends up under the protection of two New York City cops (Willis and Morgan).

During an interview with me, de la Reguera talked about why it was hard not to laugh during the shoot and what she added to the script to make her character a bit more mischievous.

Have you been looking forward to the next opportunity to star in an American movie since your last one was four years ago?

Yes, but I love my career in Mexico, too. I’ve been doing amazing projects there. I work all over the place. I just chose things that I like and things I think I can do well. I’ve been trying to get more opportunities in the U.S. This was my next big one.

Was it a lot different only speaking Spanish in Cop Out since everyone else is speaking English?

Yeah, I don’t speak any English in the movie so there are lots of misunderstandings between characters. That’s what makes it funny a lot of the times. They don’t know what is going on with me or what I’m doing or saying.

There is a scene where you are locked inside the truck of a car. I’m guessing you’re not claustrophobic.

I’m not claustrophobic at all. I was happy because it was very sunny outside and it was comfortable, so I could take a little nap (laughs).

Did you get to teach Bruce Willis or Tracy Morgan any Spanish?

Bruce knows a little bit of Spanish. Tracy really has no idea. I didn’t get to teach them too much. We were just working and having fun with the scenes. I think it was better that they didn’t know Spanish because they weren’t supposed to know what I was saying. For me it was harder because I had to pretend I didn’t know what they were saying to me and sometimes they were saying something funny and I was supposed to be scared or crying. It was hard to keep a straight face when they were saying all these funny things.

Is it easier to act in English or Spanish?

It’s easier for me to act in Spanish, but as soon as I get the lines in English and I know them by heart it becomes really easy. You don’t have to worry about the language anymore. It just takes more time. In Spanish, I can learn lines in 10 minutes. In English, it’s going to take an hour.

What was it like to work with Kevin Smith? This is the first movie he’s directed that he didn’t write himself.

I was a huge fan and we connected very well. We had a lot of fun working together. He really takes care of the actors and has great ideas all the time.

Did you have to stick to the script or did he give everyone some freedom with his or her characters?

Actually, my part was written in English on the script. I had to translate my own scenes. I asked Kevin if I could give her a dirty mouth. People that don’t know Spanish aren’t going to know what I am saying, but I am saying some terrible things. Kevin loved the idea, so we changed that.

So you added all your own curse words?

All of them. She didn’t have any bad words, so I put all of them in.

Hopefully, they paid you a little more for writing and translating your scenes.

(Laughs) No, they didn’t, but I was happy to do it and I was happy that they thought it was a great idea. We had fun with it and they trusted me. It felt really good.

RIP, Shake Em Down

Photos and text by Imelda Vergara

Wednesday was the last Shake Em Down Wednesday at Limelight with DJs Daecos (Daecos Tijerina), Gnarly Brown (Carlos Lopez), Sonora (Joseph Albert Muniz), Natter Smoak (Loy Somoak), and Spaceman (Christopher Muniz)  

They all wore black.  Gnarly Brown sported a suit, complete with a fedora.  Daecos wore a black button-up and a red bow tie, and Spaceman wore a leather jacket.  At bar, Brown said, “I figured I’d dress for a funeral, since it’s the last day.”
Despite it being the last Shake Em Down, the crowd was enthusiastic, lively and drunk.

Daecos spinned indie sweet-tooth favorites like Passion Pit’s “Smile Upon Me” and Gnarly Brown scratched over Totally Michael’s obscene “Casual Satisfaction.’  Their remixes are underrated. They’re dance worthy, but there was minimal dancing that night.

There was a time when kids peered through the lime bars with anxious faces waiting to get in.  What happened to the sweaty nights on the dance floor?  

Over the course of their year and half at Limelight, Shake Em Down Wednesdays, much like Fuck Yeah! Thursdays, was responsible for a lot of matchmaking in those steamy spring and summer noches.  Maybe everyone fell in love and fell out?  Now they’re home eating pizza, having sex, and watching TV?

The unique blend of indie electronic and pop, contemporary rap, and old school hip-hop will be missed on the Limelight stage but we’ll be sure to catch them on the St. Mary’s strip another day of the week.  They’ve recently filled in slots at Lava Lounge and Saluté.

Rival Wife and Pussy Foot accompanied them on their farewell stage.

Rival Wife, an all-white rap duo, screamed lyrics into the crowd backed by toy-keyboard beats and got weird on stage.  Their performance was theatrical, slapping the floor, kneeling, arm reaching, jumping, and dancing.  They preached, shouted, and rapped about the government, culture, and why Austin sucks.    

Pussyfoot, an all-female duo, who contrary to their myspace page don’t really sing about silly stuff, they sing about real stuff in a silly way. “This song is about boys with STDs” said keyboardist and vocalist, Mandee with a tomato-red-lipped grin.  They played their first on stage show last night and they had a huge crowd. Fast singing, high pitch squeals and simplistic distorted guitar rifts that remind me of Le Tigre and Sleater-Kinney.  Even though their performance was lacking, I’m thankful that more girls are strapping on instruments and rocking out.

Wednesday nights now belong to DJs Le Doom and Johnny Walker for I Heart Wednesday.

KINKY, TONIGHT!!!!

Ahhh, Kinky Friedman.

He'll be at Sam's Burger Joint TONIGHT!

Get tix here.

Singer-Songwriter, Novelist and Essay Writer, Peace Corps volunteer, Animal rights activist, friend to Presidents,

Media darling and former gubernatorial hopeful:



Movie star too! (Watch for the Kinkster as the president of the United States in the trailer for Mars, an of-the-moment Austin indie-film):

MARS - The Movie [HD Trailer] from Geoff Marslett on Vimeo.

And most importantly, surely,
current Ag Commisionner candidate.

He's a Texan treasure, is what he is! In the sad absence of Ann Richards and Molly Ivins, Mr. Friedman holds the central role of making sure the rest of the world knows we're not all entitled dipshits, right-wing martinets, American Idol hopefuls or dangerous psychos down here.

Kinky makes Texans look good; smart, brave, truth-speaking, self-aware, literate, fun-loving. Which most of us are, dammit! Fightin' the good fight on an often-absurd planet of poetic landscape, checkered history and bizarre ideology.

Furthermore, Kinky Friedman taught me how to pitch a softball, identify a wild  "touch me not" plant and to plant peppers in the soil-packed bed of a de-commissioned and recycled pickup truck.

Well, not just me, though; Kinky was a sort of camp counselor emeritus to hundreds of campers at Echo hill Ranch, founded in 1953 by Kinky's
progressive, enlightened parents as an oasis of child-centered, non-competitive summer fun and education amidst a Texas summer camp dominated by hardcore competitive sports (whereas when I was a counselor at Echo HIll, I was taught the adage "we don't teach swimming, we teach kids"), Bible-pushing (OK, we had Friday night shabbas, but it was pretty low-key), and semi-Fratlike preambles to a lifetime of class-privilege networks.

No, we sang Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan protest songs, did lots of arts and crafts and performance in addition to lots of physical activities (my sister Annie, amazingly, found hersef to be a crack shot at riflery, and I became a full-fledged Red Cross lifeguard). Not surprisingly, camper-written-and-directed skits were a regular feature of our communal evening entertainment (and forget 'noncompetitive' —  we may have been nurtured and encouraged, but just you try directing a cast of four in a little gem of sketch-comedy as a surely SNL-bound 12-year-old and your leading man insists on giving his punchline in Hebrew!)

I went to Echo Hill Ranch every summer from ages 10 to 15, and so did my sister.
So I can't be objective.

ANYHOW, THOUGH.
GUESS WHAT.
HE'S PLAYING IN SAN ANTONIO TONIGHT!!!!

See here, below.





KINKY FRIEDMAN'S TWENTY-TEN TOUR
Musician, Author, Icon Headed To Sam's Burger Joint

The man that the Washington Post called, "the last public intellectual in Texas since the death of Molly Ivins," Kinky Friedman, will be touring Texas to share his songs, stories, and excerpts from his breakout new book, 'Heroes of a Texas Childhood.'  Kinky's Twenty-Ten tour is set to make a stop in San Antonio Thursday night, with a live concert at Sam's Burger Joint (show starts at 8pm!)

"I want a chance to talk to the people of Texas, share some of my childhood heroes, and sing some songs," Friedman said. "I think the people of Texas appreciate a guy who rides, shoots straight, and tells the truth. That's the kind of guy I am."

Kinky will be available for interviews and comments after each show.

(and, of course, more information about the show can be found at www.samsburgerjoint.com)


DURING THE CONCERT HE DOES A SHORT READING FROM HIS LATEST BOOK - "HEROES OF A TEXAS CHILDHOOD"

(from www.KinkyFriedman.com)

In his latest book, Kinky Friedman reflects on the impressive characters
who colored his own years growing up in Texas. Heroes of a Texas
Childhood highlights 23 individuals who inspired and influenced the
child then known as Richard Friedman. Kinky's heroes come from all walks
of life. Some are well-known, like Sam Houston and Lady Bird Johnson
while others are more obscure. All of his subjects have something in
common: they each showed unwavering courage in the face of obstacles,
resistance and fear.


"Some of the heroes in this book are covered in glory, and some remain
unsung even to this day," says Kinky. "They are between these pages
because of the way they faced the failures, challenges and tragedies of
their lives...the best way to know somebody is to find out who their
heroes are." In paying homage to his heroes, Kinky's trademark wit meets
a softer, more thoughtful voice. Insightful, touching and always
entertaining, Heroes of a Texas Childhood is the most personal of Kinky
Friedman's 29 books.

Slinging Ink Tattoo Expo