POWER PLAY
Phil Gramm The Gramm family knows how to push its weight around. Just ask City Public Service. There is a place nearby where swaths of land are washed in gold and violet wildflowers, birds sing at daybreak in the juniper trees, and porcupines scuttle through the scrub. At Government Canyon State Natural Area, a…
ROCK OF THE WESTY
During an interview last year, Paul Westerberg mentioned that Keith Richards had relayed an encouraging message to him through a mutual contact. Westerberg reasoned that if someone like Richards appreciated his work, it didn’t matter how many records he sold. With that in mind, Richards’ sway over the former Replacements leader has never been…
CITY BONDS WITH ZOO
A sign promoting proposition 4 hangs outside of the San Antonio Zoo. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) The animals ask for $1.4 million In 1912, George W. Brackenridge installed 10 buffalo and six wapiti from Yellowstone National Park in a corral on a future golf course that would bear his name. Two years later, Brackenridge…
WOMEN ON THE VERGE
Lillix In recent years, the Vans Warped Tour has included a Ladies Lounge table/tent, a small homage to female alt-rock culture at an event overflowing with male aggression. This year, in recognition of the growing popularity of Ladies Lounge, Warped Tour organizers have fashioned the Girlz Garage Tour, a snotty, high-decibel answer to Lillith…
SOUND AND THE FURY
a week on the scene ELECTRONIC SOUNDS On Monday, November 3, UTSA presents the next installment in its new music concert series, “Electronic and Computer Music,” at the UTSA Recital Hall at the 1604 Campus. The evening’s program features work by perennially underrepresented contemporary sound makers including Steve Reich, John Cage, Bruce Hamilton, local composer…
ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN
Nephtalí de León, La Virgen de Guadaliberty, 1999, serigraph, 10.5 inches by 6 inches (courtesy photo) ‘Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art’ is a multi-volume index of local, regional, and national artists A crescendo of jubilant gritos! For collectors and aficionados of contemporary art, a comprehensive, encyclopedic work on Chicano art has arrived. Contemporary Chicana…
NO LOCALS ALLOWED
Melissa Streel and her son Liam, 7, sketch as they admire a painting from the McNay Art Museum’s collection on a recent Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) McNay collectors forum draws a dubious distinction At the 9th Annual Blue Star Arts & Eats fundraiser last week, the hot topic wasn’t the live mermaid…
ARTIFACTS
The Solipsist – a work of colored glass and steel – is part of the exhibit The Solipsist and the Other by Jayne Lawence at REM Gallery through November 8. The artist formed the gown by wrapping a curvaceous friend in flame-retardant material, and welding a steel frame around her. (Photo by Mark Greenberg)…
AN UNFINISHED REBOZO
Sandra Cisneros’ second novel, ‘Caramelo,’ is released in paperback Sandra Cisneros took 10 years to complete her highly anticipated second novel, Caramelo, and it shows: in her daring literary experimentation, the Bible-weight size of the book, the considerable amount of research it must have required, and in the minor but many flaws Caramelo contains.…
LAST TRAIN FROM SUNDANCE
Peter Dinklage plays Fin McBride (courtesy photo) Mismatched trio rides the rails in the season’s biggest “small” film Fin McBride is a dwarf. It’s what people notice about him. It’s what prompts a shopkeeper to ambush him with her disposable camera and a redneck to shout taunts in his direction. But it’s hardly Fin’s…
NEW REVIEWS
Alien: The Director’s Cut Dir. Ridley Scott; writ. Dan O’Bannon; feat. Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto (R) Harry Dean Stanton in Alien (courtesy photo) Nearly 25 years later, does Alien still deliver? Remember, nothing happens in its first 45 minutes, and there are only…
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Out Of The Ordinary Perfect films have been made, and Ordinary People, Robert Redford’s 1980 directorial debut that won four Oscars (including best director), is one. The story of an idyllic family unit destroyed by the accidental drowning of the oldest son, is a not-so-subtle plug for the benefits of psychotherapy, which saves the surviving…
Armchair Cinephile
Boo! 28 Days Later (Fox) Day of the Dead, Halloween (Anchor Bay) The Crazies, Christopher Lee Collection (Blue Underground) Lair of the White Worm (Artisan) Cronos (Lions Gate) Bowling for Columbine (MGM) The Santo Collection (Rise Above Entertainment) Flesh-eating zombies are coming back into vogue, it seems, and I’m not just talking about Donald…
RECENT REVIEWS
Esmeraldero Dir. Andrew Molina; writ. Eishy Hayata; feat. Hayata, Eva Varella, Luis velasco, Juan Pablo Shuk (NR) Esmeraldero’s problems are numerous, but they revolve around a central mistake: Eishy Hayata, a Japanese-born Columbian emerald baron, wrote, produced, and stars in his autobiography, resulting in a two-dimensional picture of a morally ambiguous business and man. The…
LOVE IN VAIN
Guitarist Chris Cortissoz (left) sits in with Cecil Yancey (right) and other members of the Smith Brothers, hosts for a regular Wednesday night jam session at the Iron Armadillo. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) Local blues scene confronts its own crossroads Last September, the United States Congress passed a resolution declaring 2003 to be the…
MISTER MISERY
Elliott Smith, as seen on the cover of his greatest album, either/or. (courtesy photo) Elliott Smith gave voice to a generation’s quiet desperation Basically, there are three kinds of songwriters. The first is the song-poet, someone whose material is driven by lyric content, with musical structures that are interchangeable and meant to serve the…
Armchair Cinephile
DVD: THE GREAT BABYSITTER The Lion King, Sleeping Beauty, Escape to Witch Mountain, Return From Witch Mountain, The Apple Dumpling Gang (Disney) The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, Casper, Babe, Pig in the City (Universal) Pinocchio (Miramax) Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends (Classic Media) Maybe you can explain this to me: I’m driving by a PayLess…
