Cheech & Chong: 'Cheech & Chong's Animated Movie! Musical Soundtrack Album'
No matter what you think of comedy legends Cheech and Chong, their mastery of the stoner genre is undisputed. They have more hits, pardon the pun, in film, comedy records, and performance than a lot of “serious” artists. Cheech and Chong’s Animated Movie! Musical Soundtrack Album (their first album since 1985’s Get Out of my…
Julieta Venegas: 'Los momentos'
Julieta Venegas is back! Not that she had gone anywhere, but this is her darkest, most daring record since 2000’s bueninvento, her last before she became an alternative pop superstar with her breakthrough Sí (2003), selling truckloads but pissing off legions of rockeros in the process. “Vuelve” (with Café Tacuba’s Rubén Albarrán and Chilean rapper…
Todd Rundgren: 'State'
In spite of a long, significant career, Todd Rundgren’s greatest hit has been his talent as a producer (an eclectic and influential list that includes names like New York Dolls, Patti Smith, and XTC). In fact, he’s one of very few people on the planet who can truly self-produce, but he hadn’t had a solo…
Tar Sands Blockaders Target Valero Texas Open
Early this year, we wrote about a group of activists protesting the Keystone XL pipeline that have started to target San Antonio-based Valero Energy (see: Tarnation, Jan. 30, 2013), the nation’s largest independent oil refiner. Saturday, the group took their fight to the company’s Valero Texas Open charity golf tournament at the AT&T Oaks Course.…
National Poetry Month: Gloria Amescua
Perspective: the Linen Cabinet The antiqued brass knobs on the linen cabinet falsify their age. Little indentations form angel wings that ring the circle. They’re not brass, nor antique in this forty-year old house. Marks of wear from others whom I’ll never know and my own hands diminish—accent its deceit. But that is the way…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Jazz Meets Classical XXI
Founded in 1983, locally based Musical Offerings presents a broad range of programming that “brings together the talents of musicians from varied musical environments.” The 21st season of the professional chamber organization’s Jazz Meets Classical features an 11-piece ensemble (Joan Christenson, Laura Scalzo, Matthew Diekman, Ben Westney, Zlatan Redzic, Brent Watkins, Pierre Poree, Rich Oppenheim,…
Mad Season: 'Above'
To understand why the deluxe reissue of Mad Season’s Above seems like such a big deal, you have to flash back to the days when grunge was a musical giant just about to nod off into a satiated slumber, rather than a dinosaur that’s been relegated to classic-rock nostalgia status. As the bands involved in…
'Mad Men' Returns to Reclaim its Past Supremacy
There are two men, both ravaged by war, trouncing their assorted affairs behind a bar at night. The younger man refuses the older gentleman’s offer to buy him a celebratory drink. He believes each generation is due its turn. “Some day I’ll be the veteran in paradise,” he says. “I’ll be the man who can’t…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: ‘The Producers’
When it was released, Mel Brooks’ 1967 film The Producers ruffled feathers with its “deliberate appreciation of bad taste,” among other crimes. Deemed “amateurishly crude” by The New Yorker, the dark comedy follows a washed-up Broadway producer and his sheepish accountant as they stage Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at…
SA Scorpions Earn Encouraging Draw in Season Opener at Minnesota
(Photo courtesy of sascorpions.com) The San Antonio Scorpions kicked-off their North American Soccer League’s 2013 season earning a fair 0-0 draw against Minnesota United FC. It was a lively, wide open game with scoring chances for both teams. Twice (once for each team), the ball hit the crossbar and twice Scorpions goalie Pat Hannigan’s reflexes…
DJ Trentino Wins 2013 U.S. Red Bull Thre3style; SA’s Donnie Dee Solid, but Fails to Make the Top Three
(Photo by Lauren Martin) LOS ANGELES, April 5 — San Antonio DJ Donnie Dee, representing the South, had a solid performance at the 2013 U.S. Red Bull Thre3style finals Friday night in Los Angeles, but failed to make the top three of the competition. Chicago DJ Trentino (Midwest champ) was the winner and will go…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: ChimaeraCon
Hot on the heels of the apocalyptic hoopla of 2012, ChimaeraCon rises from the flames with “Aftermath,” a weekend offering survivors “an escape to a new world with new possibilities.” The not-for-profit gathering champions tabletop gaming and organizes vendors, artists, and activities to delight fans of science fiction, anime, cosplay, and the steampunk lifestyle. With…
TIME Cover Star Kristen Ellis-Henderson Talks Marriage Equality
On March 28, Time magazine’s double cover reflected the fact that, fortunately indeed, the times they are a-changin’. It featured two gay couples, one male, one female. The latter was that of Kristen Ellis-Henderson (bassist for badass, all-female country-rock band Antigone Rising), and her spouse Sarah Kate Ellis-Henderson. They both got pregnant at the same…
Guest Post: SA Pets Alive Announces Black Fridays
Dog of the Week- Jack 247593 A 2 yr old neutered, German Shepherd Saluki blend. He is a sweet boy who loves giving and receiving affection and attention! He loves to play! Jack would do best with an active family who can take him for walks and maybe even a run! He appears to be good with…
Seven Movies Roger Ebert Hated
Legendary Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert passed away yesterday at the age of 70 after a long, difficult battle with both thyroid and salivary gland cancer. Most famous for his iconic review show with fellow critic Gene Siskel, “Siskel and Ebert At The Movies,” Ebert won a Pulitzer Prize for film criticism in 1975. He…
Seven Movies Roger Ebert Loved
Legendary Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert passed away yesterday at the age of 70 after a long, difficult battle with both thyroid and salivary gland cancer. Most famous for his iconic review show with fellow critic Gene Siskel, “Siskel and Ebert At The Movies,” Ebert won a Pulitzer Prize for film criticism in 1975. He…
National Poetry Month: Ire’ne Lara Silva
there will be singing in the morning and singing in the night singing in the days of want and singing in the days of plenty singing alone and singing with ghosts singing old songs and singing new songs we will remember songs we haven’t heard yet songs that haven’t been dreamt yet songs no one…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Bomba Estéreo
Originally an instrumental project exploring the intersection of Colombian folklore and electronic music, Bogotá’s Bomba Estéreo arrived at its distinct sound when founder Simón Mejía invited vocalist Liliana Saumet to collaborate on a song on the LP Vol. 1. She’s now a permanent member and her elastic voice leads the group’s danceable excursions in Afro-Colombian…
Remembering Roger Ebert (1942-2013)
I was only six years old when Siskel and Ebert and The Movies (later changed simply to Siskel & Ebert) made its TV debut on September 20, 1986 under the Buena Vista Television umbrella. By then, Chicago-Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert had been critiquing movies for nearly two decades and in 1975 became the…
Jung-hee Mun Searches for Presence at Fl!ght Gallery
Click to see the "In Minds, with Rhymes, on Lines” photo gallery. Since graduating from UTSA with a BFA in printmaking in 2008, Jung-hee Mun has established a reputation for using realistic figuration to uncanny effect, exhibiting in a number of venues from small art spaces such as the late Cactus Bra, to large institutions…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Machine Gun Kelly
Known for a rapid-fire cocktail that’s equal parts hip-hop and punk rock, Machine Gun Kelly (born Richard Colson Baker in Houston) built an underground buzz around a string of DIY mixtapes and got his first taste of success in 2009 when he became the first rapper to win Amateur Night at the Apollo. Breaking out…
Is 'Evil Dead' the bloodiest R-rated movie ever?
How Evil Dead, the “reinvention” (as Uruguayan first-time director Fede Álvarez likes to call it) of Sam Raimi’s 1981 cult classic The Evil Dead, got away with a mere R rating is perhaps the movie’s greatest mystery. Everything else, in spite of the expected philosophical ramblings on demonic possession, hits you right in your face…
'Million Dollar Quartet' at The Majestic Theatre
In some ways, this is the world’s easiest review to write: if you admire the music of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, and if you like tribute concerts (like the oft-touring Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles), then you’ll enjoy the energetic Million Dollar Quartet, currently lighting up the Majestic downtown. But…
The Cell Phone Turns 40 Today
It was 40 years ago today, in 1973, that the first phone call was made from a hand held wireless telephone. Father of the cell phone Martin Cooper being adorable. The cell phone’s inventor, then Motorola employee Martin ‘Marty’ Cooper was reportedly inspired by Captain Kirk’s gold flip-top ‘communicator.’ Cooper himself placed the first call himself while…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Tyler, The Creator
It’s been an insane four years for rapper, producer, video director, graphic artist, fashion designer, and gadfly Tyler Okonma — better known as Tyler, the Creator. Since the release of his DIY cult-classic Bastard (2009), Tyler has found himself at the frenetic center of a hype storm the likes of which could only exist in…
Bleached: 'Ride Your Heart'
It’s not hard to imagine the sister duo of Jessica and Jennifer Clavin re-defining what it means to be a teenager today, but with their debut album from their latest project, Bleached, the sisters mined emotion like it were Texas oil and paired it with melodic garage rock. The pop hooks and angelic cadences are…
Industry News: New Food Truck Park and Homebrewing for Women
Port San Antonio, housed in the former Kelly Air Force Base, is a crossroads of transportation and business on the West side. And now, it’s the home of a new food truck park at 3007 General Hudnell Drive, the address of a former bank. The park is open to any who want to grab lunch.…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Art cannot be modern,” said Austrian painter Egon Schiele. “Art is primordially eternal.” I love that idea. Not all of the artifacts called “art” fit that scrupulous definition, of course. Katy Perry’s music and the film Wreck It Ralph may have some entertainment value, but they’re not…
SA DJ Donnie Dee Already Crushed the South; Now He Goes for National Gold in LA
For two years, San Antonio-born-and-raised DJ Donnie Dee (Dontia Twine) wanted no part of Red Bull’s Thre3style competition, in which DJs have 15 minutes to pump up the crowd while mixing at least three different styles of music. Super Soul Shakedown’s Scuba Gooding Sr. (Steven Balser), a longtime friend, kept pestering him about it, but…
‘'Mad Men' enters the Summer of Love
Mad Men (8pm Sun, AMC) Our last visit to the NYC advertising world was haunted by phantoms. The season five finale found Madison Avenue mystery man Don Draper (Jon Hamm) hallucinating the ghost of his dead brother — a manifestation of the guilt he rightly felt following tragic events in his firm. The episode suggested…
Tyler, the Creator brings 'Wolf' to the Rabbit
It’s been an insane four years for rapper, producer, video director, graphic artist, fashion designer, and gadfly Tyler Okonma — better known as Tyler, the Creator. Since the release of his DIY cult-classic Bastard (2009), Tyler has found himself at the frenetic center of a hype storm the likes of which could only exist in…
'Upside Down' defies its own physics
When I was a kid, I used to take my mom’s compact mirror and walk around the house staring down into it, pretending I was actually walking on the ceiling. I’m pretty sure a lot of kids do this, but as far as I know, Juan Solanas’ Upside Down marks the first attempt to adapt…
Filling up at Big Hops Growler Station
Sometimes a beer tastes so good on draft that you wish your sipping didn’t have to stop at the pub exit. Back at home, the bottled stuff somehow just doesn’t satisfy. Hardcore Texas brewpub patrons have long quenched their thirst for freshly tapped take-home brews by purchasing capped, half-gallon jugs, known as growlers, and a…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: Please explain to me why so many mexicanas seem to think it more important to stay home and babysit than to attend school (so that they may become more in life than producers of offspring). As an educator (lately of students identified as “at risk” for failure in high school), I have faced…
Swerzenski's look at six local turntablists to watch
When it comes to DJing, vinyl is not what it used to be. Except for staunch old-schoolers like JJ. López, DJ Plata, and Ras Gilbert, most vinyl DJs today use a combination of digital means (via laptop) and special blank timecode vinyls such as those put out by Serato since 2004. This allows the DJs…
Director Fede Álvarez on Resurrecting the ‘Evil Dead’
Three minutes and 50 seconds was all Uruguayan director Fede Álvarez needed. That was the total runtime of Ataque de Pánico (Panic Attack), an impressive, albeit micro-budgeted, short film Álvarez made about robots destroying Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, which he uploaded onto YouTube in 2009. It quickly garnered attention from a number of Hollywood…
Luminaria 2013 at Instituto Cultural de Mexico
Click here to see the Luminaria 2013 at Instituto Cultural de Mexico photo gallery. If you missed Luminaria this year because you were out of town, stayed home because you thought it would be rained out, or just hate crowds, hear this: The party’s over, but a little bit of SA’s annual art blow-out in…
Will the Renewed SA Scorpions Finish the Job This Time?
See our SA Scorpions photo gallery. Even though the San Antonio Scorpions had a near-perfect first season in 2012, the first and last games of that amazing run could not have been more disastrous — first, they were trashed by Puerto Rico in the home opener, and then, after being ahead, lost the semifinal when…
31st Annual Low Rider Festival at Centro Cultural Aztlan
Click to see our Lowrider photo gallery. The first lowrider Victor Stewart customized was a 1967 Chevrolet pickup his father gave him. Most people saw a heap of junk, Stewart saw a canvas. It was 1979. The skills he learned in Body and Paint class at Brackenridge High School suddenly became practical. He chopped four…
Blackbird Sing: 'Enemies From Years of Loving'
The recording took about 10 days in 2012 (plus a few weekends for last touches), but the actual release took forever. Nevertheless, Blackbird Sing’s debut LP (originally scheduled for October) was worth waiting for. In spite of original songs with titles like “Manxiety,” “Song That Ends In The” (sic) and a gorgeous folk-country cover of…
Federal Judge Orders COSA to Lift Ban on Disgruntled Ex-employee
In federal court last week, City Attorney Michael Bernard and SAPD Chief William McManus defended the city’s seldom-used practice of banning citizens from City Hall and Municipal Plaza. As Jim Harrington with the Texas Civil Rights Project put it, the results “don’t exactly inspire confidence.” To recap, the case in question involves Michael Cuellar, a…
Airport Food Was Never This Good
You never know what you’ll spy on the tarmac at Stinson Municipal Airport. At noon on a recent day there was a lineup of small, Air Force-emblazoned single-engine planes painted with toothy shark grins. They looked like nothing so much as a phalanx of wannabe-wicked Chihuahuas. Inside Bernard’s Creole Kitchen, recently relocated to Stinson from…
Tyler, the Creator: 'Wolf'
On his third release, Tyler, the Creator blends almost innocent confessionals about his awkward attempts at love, his absent father, his deceased grandma, his chronic self-doubt with outbursts of visceral anger and brags about his new financial status. Familiar territory, in part, but the emotional payoff feels more tangible this time around, with a narrative…
Local tattoo artist featured in second season of Oxygen’s 'Best Ink'
Before the rattling drill of the tattoo gun, there is the calming hum that sounds through the room. The act of tattooing is brash and self-destructive. Those who bear tattoos are loud by design and undeniably distinguishable from the crowd. Just wait until you meet the tattoo artists themselves. Oxygen Channel brings tattoo artists to…
Taste This: Burger du Jour at Cullum’s Attaboy
Burger du Jour with cheese, onion rings, and side of fries: $12 I’ve long claimed that topping a burger with fried sides, like onion rings, is a mistake. They add unwelcome grease, make the sandwich too tall to bite, and botch the meld of textures in this grilled American classic. So, when the Burger…
National Poetry Month: Poem by Hayan Charara
SIGNS The sun and moon in the sky together were a sign. A dog stopped barking and this warned of heartache: the hem of a blue dress, the bright bare feet, the family discovered in a ditch. A man wonders if the moon can still be written about. A long time ago the moon…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Garrett T. Capps
Don’t be misled by Garrett T. Capps’ innocent smile and clean-cut look — the guy’s a ferocious beast. Even though he’ll be presenting his mellow (and highly recommended) Hope & Doubt & Freeway Birds EP, his hill-country folk debut, this is the same one-man orchestra who last year gave us the electric power Molotov cocktail…
