Casting Call for Danish Feature Film
Posted by Mark Jones at 9:14pm on 3.21.2007 Just got an email from director Spencer Parsons. He’s in the process of finishing a feature film for Danish television called “I’ll Come Running”, which is produced by Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen, producers of the indie film “Old Joy”, which starred Will Oldham and was…
Profits During Wartime
SA false-claims attorney Glenn Grossenbacher. Photo by Mark Greenberg. When Glenn Grossenbacher talks about the workings of San Diego-based defense contractor SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation), the word he always comes back to is “insidious.” Grossenbacher, a San Antonio attorney who has handled two of the biggest false-claims cases in U.S. history `“High Currency,” August…
Profits During Wartime
SA false-claims attorney Glenn Grossenbacher When Glenn Grossenbacher talks about the workings of San Diego-based defense contractor SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation), the word he always comes back to is “insidious.” Grossenbacher, a San Antonio attorney who has handled two of the biggest false-claims cases in U.S. history `“High Currency,” August 2-8, 2006`, speaks from…
Casting Call for Danish Feature Film
Posted by Mark Jones at 9:14pm on 3.21.2007 Just got an email from director Spencer Parsons. He’s in the process of finishing a feature film for Danish television called “I’ll Come Running”, which is produced by Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen, producers of the indie film “Old Joy”, which starred Will Oldham and was…
last words
The Sincerest Form of Flattery Artist and businessman Ray Chavez recently silkscreened an idea too good not to steal. You can pick up the original Pinche Bush T-shirt and its Valentine variation, Pinche Cupid, at On Main (120 W. Mistletoe, 737-2323). Here are six more versions for which we’d happily plunk down $12 “plus Bush…
Green With Mild Envy
Our vegan critic takes a stab (no animals were harmed!) at the city’s only veggie heaven
A VampSlayer Returns
Buffy the Vampire Slayer enjoyed a seven-year television run during which the Chosen One died twice before UPN staked the show permanently. But you can’t keep a good slayer down, especially one imbued with so much cultural energy, and we’re crazy-glad to report that Buffy’s translation to pen and ink, The Long Way Home, Part…
No Company Man
Peter Matthiessen gets around. For Wildlife in America (1959), he visited every wildlife refuge in the United States. The subtitle of Oomigmak (1967) records another itinerary: The Expedition to the Musk Ox Island in the Bering Sea. For Sand Rivers (1981), Matthiessen trekked across the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania. For The Snow Leopard (1978),…
The Bar Tab
Tucker’s Kozy Korner 1338 E. Houston 231-8277 Top shelf: circa $4.25 Tucker’s Kozy Korner is back. For those who already know the bar, its return should feel seamless. For those who have never been, joy awaits. Tucker’s Kozy Korner is located at the corner of East Houston and Cherry streets on the near East Side,…
The Queque
It ain’t no easy trick for the Queque to escape not only the office, but the city for a couple days mid-week. Especially if our main goal is to check out the hottest new Nordic indie-rock outfits. But even political bloodhounds can’t resist the scent of SXSW blowing in from the 35: armpit patchouli, flat…
Ask the Chef
Dear Chef Boy Ari, I like spicy food, to a point. Too much spice and I feel the pain at both the “import” and “export” ends, if you know what I mean, as well as in the middle. But without a little heat, it isn’t a meal. The problem is that if I add a…
A Vamp Slayer Returns
Buffy the Vampire Slayer enjoyed a seven-year television run during which the Chosen One died twice before UPN staked the show permanently. But you can’t keep a good slayer down, especially one imbued with so much cultural energy, and we’re crazy-glad to report that Buffy’s translation to pen and ink, The Long Way Home, Part…
Green With Mild Envy
Green 1017 N. Flores 320-5865 7am-9pm Mon-Thu; 7am-7pm Fri; 8am-9pm Sun Entrée price range $6.99-$7.99 Accessible Any list of civilized amenities that the seventh-largest city in the United States ought not to do without has to include — along with a concert hall, major-league baseball, light rail, and Equity theater — a vegetarian restaurant. The…
A Vamp Slayer Returns
Our favorite vampire slayer is back and intact, with a posse of new slayers to help fight the black-op Initiative. Courtesy image. Buffy the Vampire Slayer enjoyed a seven-year television run during which the Chosen One died twice before UPN staked the show permanently. But you can’t keep a good slayer down, especially one imbued…
Aural Pleasure
Broken Glasgow Hooks are very important to The Fratellis. In fact, it’s hard to think of an album released in this decade that possesses more do-do-do’s and la-la-la’s than the debut release from this Glasgow, Scotland band. In some quarters, the group is being hyped as a tartan second coming of the Arctic Monkeys, and…
No Company Man
Gemini Ink’s Spring Autograph Series: Peter Matthiessen Reading and Q&A 7pm Thu, Mar 22 Free Charline McCombs Empire Theatre 226 N. St. Mary’s Luncheon & Colloquim Noon Fri, Mar 23 $50 Pearl Stable 312 Pearl Parkway Master class 6:30-9pm Fri, Mar 23 $100/110 Gemini Ink 513 S. Presa 734-9673 Geminiink.org Peter Matthiessen gets around. For…
Aural Pleasure
Broken Glasgow Hooks are very important to The Fratellis. In fact, it’s hard to think of an album released in this decade that possesses more do-do-do’s and la-la-la’s than the debut release from this Glasgow, Scotland band. In some quarters, the group is being hyped as a tartan second coming of the Arctic Monkeys, and…
Bread or Roses?
Two of the artworks the Tobin Endowment is selling to meet its $5-million pledge to the McNay: Charles Demuth’s Study for “I Saw the Number 5 in Gold” (1925-26), top, and Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1916 watercolor, “Blue I.” “The more she stared, the more she felt at home. Then she was crying, and the two of…
Aural Pleasure
Broken Glasgow Hooks are very important to The Fratellis. In fact, it’s hard to think of an album released in this decade that possesses more do-do-do’s and la-la-la’s than the debut release from this Glasgow, Scotland band. In some quarters, the group is being hyped as a tartan second coming of the Arctic Monkeys, and…
A Vamp Slayer Returns
Our favorite vampire slayer is back and intact, with a posse of new slayers to help fight the black-op Initiative. Courtesy image. Buffy the Vampire Slayer enjoyed a seven-year television run during which the Chosen One died twice before UPN staked the show permanently. But you can’t keep a good slayer down, especially one imbued…
Heavy Rotation
If you’ve glanced at the Billboard charts in recent weeks, you might have noticed that 2007 is shaping up as a watershed year for independent music in America. Within a span of two months, the Shins’ latest release on Sub Pop and Arcade Fire’s new album for Merge both debuted on Billboard at No. 2.…
Barack, You’re the One that I want (to party with)
presidential blog Speaking of getting someone else to pick up the tab, presidential candidate and New Mexico’s Governor Bill Richardson held a $500 to $2,300 cocktail fundraiser at the Plaza Club on Houston Street on Monday, according to the Walker Report. The Hillraisers (Senator Hillary Clinton supporters) held a fundraiser at the downtown home of…
Page Turner
It was a winter night, pre-Christmas, and I was fulfilling a manic creative compulsion to make thousands of homemade magnets to give away as holiday gifts. While working, the soft sounds of piano jazz played in the background from my stereo’s default station, 91.7 FM. Suddenly, my senses were jarred when a high-pitched female voice…
Green With Mild Envy
Green 1017 N. Flores 320-5865 7am-9pm Mon-Thu; 7am-7pm Fri; 8am-9pm Sun Entrée price range $6.99-$7.99 Accessible Any list of civilized amenities that the seventh-largest city in the United States ought not to do without has to include — along with a concert hall, major-league baseball, light rail, and Equity theater — a vegetarian restaurant. The…
The Bar Tab
Tucker’s Kozy Korner 1338 E. Houston 231-8277 Top shelf: circa $4.25 Tucker’s Kozy Korner is back. For those who already know the bar, its return should feel seamless. For those who have never been, joy awaits. Tucker’s Kozy Korner is located at the corner of East Houston and Cherry streets on the near East Side,…
Ask the Chef
Dear Chef Boy Ari, I like spicy food, to a point. Too much spice and I feel the pain at both the “import” and “export” ends, if you know what I mean, as well as in the middle. But without a little heat, it isn’t a meal. The problem is that if I add a…
The Fast Foodie
Thai Dee 5307 Blanco 342-3622 11am-9pm Mon-Sat For those who like to eat a LOT of Thai food for fairly little money, Thai Dee is a good choice. If your priorities for Thai food are otherwise, well … at least you’ll have leftovers for your friends. I met a person who said this is their…
Not your Papa’s Haydn
Bernhard Heiden’s Concerto for Trumpet and Wind Orchestra Performed by the San Antonio Wind Symphony 7:30pm Sun, Feb 25 University United Methodist Church 5084 De Zavala Think of all the popular music out there with smooth rhythms and bland melodies, rocking along to an utterly predictable finish. Compare that to the atonal discord of avant-garde…
The Art Capades
Jules Bastien-Lepage’s 1879 painting “Joan of Arc.” Courtesy image. Robert Indiana: The Mother of Us All 10am-4pm Tues, Wed, Fri; 10am-9pm Thu; 10am-5pm Sat; Noon-5pm Sun Free McNay Art Museum 6000 N. New Braunfels 824-5368 Mcnayart.org Masterpieces of French Painting 10am-5pm Tue, Wed; 10am-9pm Thu; 10am-7pm Fri-Sat; 12:15-7pm Sun $15-18 Adult; $6.50-8 Thu Museum of…
Aural Pleasure
Norwegian Would Phantom Punch Sondre Lerche (Astralwerks) Norwegian pop-rocker Sondre Lerche (say it with me: Sawn-druh Lair-kay) wears his influences like badges of honor. While last year’s charming jazz-pop cocktail Duper Sessions mixed equal parts Chet Baker and Burt Bacharach, his newest, Phantom Punch, is a smoothie blend of XTC, A-Ha, and Elvis Costello, with…
Pale Rider
Comedian Jim Gaffigan: proud to be pale and conflict-free. Courtesy photo. Jim Gaffigan: Beyond the Pale 8pm & 10:30pm Sat, Feb 24 Charline McCombs Empire Theatre 226 N. St. Mary’s 226-2121 Majesticempire.com Search for comedian Jim Gaffigan on YouTube and you’ll quickly see the effect of Viacom’s recent demand that the video-sharing site remove more…
Sound and the Fury
Bells of St. Mary’s The next week shapes up as a big one for the White Rabbit. In addition to hosting the odious but extremely popular Chris “Don’t Call Me Vin” Daughtry on February 27, they’ll bring in alt-rock heroes Sparta the following night. Sparta formed when El Paso’s At the Drive-In disintegrated in 2001…
Blacked-Out Sabbath
Taking Back Sunday: Just don’t ask about Adam Lazzara’s marbles. Courtesy photo. Taking Back Sunday 7pm Tue, Feb 27 $25 Sunset Station (Lonestar Pavilion) 1174 E. Commerce 222-9481 Taking Back Sunday is a lot of things. A melodic hardcore band, for one. A rock cliché, for two, as lead singer Adam Lazzara is, let’s just…
Best Bet
The Drams: a power-pop response to Slobberbone’s murder ballads. Courtesy photo. The Drams 9:30pm Fri, Feb 23 Casbeers 1719 Blanco Rd. 732-3511 Grand designs just aren’t a part of Brent Best’s vocabulary. Anyone who followed the career of his late Dallas-based alt-country band, Slobberbone, would be hard-pressed to discern any kind of plan. The shows…
Hustle and Flow
After finishing up their annual chemistry-building Rodeo Road Trip with a ho-hum 4-4 record, the San Antonio Spurs now set their sights on the remaining NBA regular season grind and another run at that elusive fourth championship. The not-so-blockbuster trade that hoops pundits were clamoring for finally arrived in a deal that sent San Antonio…
The Fast Foodie
The Little Café on Broadway 8238 Broadway 824-9484 On the front door to the Little Café is a small, interesting sign: “No donuts served here.” That might seem odd if the Broadway location was not the former home to first Dunkin’ Donuts and then River City Donuts. Conversions of former chain restaurants can be amusing.…
Children of the Rice
Some of the hottest food on earth: rice soup with ground-pork balls and an array of condiments. Photo by Chef Boy Ari. Mention “Bhutan” here in Thailand, and women will comment how handsome the new king of Bhutan is. Last summer, when he was still the crown prince, he came to help celebrate the Thai…
Straining for the High Notes
Filet Mignon and Tres Leches cake from La Scala. Photo by Antonia Padilla. La Scala 2177 NW Military Hwy 366-1515 11am-10pm Sun-Thu; 11am-11pm Fri & Sat Evening entrées: $14.25-$36 Credit cards Accessible Some restaurants simply soldier along without the benefit (or the curse) of critical attention. Word of mouth, habit, familiarity (and fear of the…
The Say-Town Lowdown – Guest Column
I love my bulletin board. It’s the old-fashioned cork kind, and located outside my office door in Laurie Auditorium on Trinity University’s campus. I like to use thumbtacks and paper to post my ideas so those who come to performances can not only see my thoughts if they like, but touch them, too. Right now,…
The Queque
Imagine the hue of the Queque’s flattered blush when we logged on to MySpace Saturday morning to discover a friend request from THE Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm. Now imagine the even deeper shade of red, a manifestation of our pure fury, when a friend of the Queque directed us to Express-News columnist…
Pain-free Polluting
As Helotes’s 80-foot burning mulch mountain gasps toward an inarticulate conclusion, new federal reporting standards regarding the amount of toxic pollution being released — or, rather, the toxic pollution being released that you will know about — are just warming up. The new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule governing how facilities report the release of…
The Mashup
NEW YORK — George W. Bush claims that Iran has been shipping weapons, including bombs used against U.S. military convoys, to Shiite militias in Iraq. I believe him. Iranian leaders would be idiots to sit out a war whose outcome will affect them for decades to come. Bush denies that he’s about to go to…
Home on the Range – A former New Yorker’s guide to the Texas adjustment
“Did they feed you?” These were the words I used to greet my old amigo as he concluded palm pressing and mild flirting at the tail end of his lecture to the journalism students at the University of Texas. I knew these would be the most thoughtful and warming words to a pensive Jewish New…
Game Theory
Sergeant STAR works for the Army, punk, so don’t try to push him off message. Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself? My name is Sergeant STAR, which stands for Strong, Trained And Ready. I’m an artificial-intelligence agent created for the U.S. Army to provide you with information about Army life. I don’t…
The Bar Tab
No, it’s not a place to bring your mother, your kids, or any date you’d hope to impress. But if you’re looking to hang out with the guys, it’s between 2 p.m. and 2 a.m., and you’re not too far from Lackland Air Force Base, there is a place you can go. The Afterburner. To…
Update: Obama vs. The Irish
I met the Cavalier’s driver, Carol Aguero. She said she was down on the Riverwalk, handing out mini-placards and holding up posters, during the Irish Festival, and the organizers asked her to leave. Kinda bullshit, huh? Worry not, the Current’s on it. – Dave Maass
Did anyone get the license plate of that dragon?
dave Posted by Dave Maass at 11:31 pm on 03.19.2007 Last night, Nicole Chavez and I sat rink-side at the first match of the Alamo City Rollergirls’ season, Dragon Divas vs. the Missyfits. I sat this one out, writing-wise, while Nicole took pen to pad … until centrifugal force propelled a weighty Diva into Nicole’s…
