March 4 primary: Art Hall
ArtHall In the Democratic Primary race to take on Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, former San Antonio Councilman Art Hall has been portrayed positively as a bridge-builder, and negatively as inexperienced (his campaign website originally touted rail-safety reform as a goal). Hall’s critics have also suggested that he’s merely looking for a statewide perch from which…
March 4 primary: Dale Henry
In the Democratic Primary race to take on Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, former San Antonio Councilman Art Hall has been portrayed positively as a bridge-builder, and negatively as inexperienced (his campaign website originally touted rail-safety reform as a goal). Hall’s critics have also suggested that he’s merely looking for a statewide perch from which to…
March 4 primary: Art Hall
ArtHall In the Democratic Primary race to take on Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, former San Antonio Councilman Art Hall has been portrayed positively as a bridge-builder, and negatively as inexperienced (his campaign website originally touted rail-safety reform as a goal). Hall’s critics have also suggested that he’s merely looking for a statewide perch from which…
March 4 primary: Dale Henry
In the Democratic Primary race to take on Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, former San Antonio Councilman Art Hall has been portrayed positively as a bridge-builder, and negatively as inexperienced (his campaign website originally touted rail-safety reform as a goal). Hall’s critics have also suggested that he’s merely looking for a statewide perch from which to…
What are you doing Tuesday evening?
Chances are, you’re not familiar with the Texas primary-caucus system. It’s internecine and requires degrees in Euclidean geometry and genetics to fully comprehend. A little ESP skill doesn’t hurt, either, since the process involves a seance with Democratic ghosts of elections past (this year, For Whom the Chris Bell Tolls). Fortunately those smarty-pants lefties up the road…
The Acme Candidate Selectorama 2008 is here!
Let’s say — totally hypothetically speaking, of course — that you wanted to select a presidential candidate in Tuesday’s primary based on something more than a vague desire for “change” or a preference for “experience.” Something like, ah, issues, say. Well, the EU’s here to help (And why not? The prime-minister model doesn’t lend itself…
Whip it good
Jump rope: Swing back to your office:
On the Street
Letters (Delivered to the On the Street Penthouse Suite via the Ether, Pigeons, and All Methods In between) #1. An On the Street long time reader with close ties to Brazilian street grappling the medical field (someone we will now obliquely refer to as Homes) sent this astounding clip. As with many of the…
What are you doing Tuesday evening?
Chances are, you’re not familiar with the Texas primary-caucus system. It’s internecine and requires degrees in Euclidean geometry and genetics to fully comprehend. A little ESP skill doesn’t hurt, either, since the process involves a seance with Democratic ghosts of elections past (this year, For Whom the Chris Bell Tolls). Fortunately those smarty-pants lefties up…
I Hate Over Acting
This past Saturday, a friend and I made the pilgrimage to see I Hate Hamlet over at Ruben’s Café on Blanco road, off Basse in an area where every shopping center we passed looked exactly the same. It was my first dinner-theater experience and I was open to anything that Damian Gillen and The Company…
The Acme Candidate Selectorama 2008 is here!
Let’s say — totally hypothetically speaking, of course — that you wanted to select a presidential candidate in Tuesday’s primary based on something more than a vague desire for “change” or a preference for “experience.” Something like, ah, issues, say. Well, the EU’s here to help (And why not? The prime-minister model doesn’t lend itself…
Ralph and Matt
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have spent considerable time in San Antonio over the last two weeks, but a deeper South Texas connection to this presidential race slipped past many people busily eyeing Tuesday’s Texas primary. On Thursday, Ralph Nader, making the latest in a string of insurgent presidential bids, named Matt Gonzalez, former San…
Whip it good
Jump rope: Swing back to your office:
On the Street
Letters (Delivered to the On the Street Penthouse Suite via the Ether, Pigeons, and All Methods In between) #1. An On the Street long time reader with close ties to Brazilian street grappling the medical field (someone we will now obliquely refer to as Homes) sent this astounding clip. As with many of the messages…
I Hate Over Acting
This past Saturday, a friend and I made the pilgrimage to see I Hate Hamlet over at Ruben’s Café on Blanco road, off Basse in an area where every shopping center we passed looked exactly the same. It was my first dinner-theater experience and I was open to anything that Damian Gillen and The Company…
Ralph and Matt
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have spent considerable time in San Antonio over the last two weeks, but a deeper South Texas connection to this presidential race slipped past many people busily eyeing Tuesday’s Texas primary. On Thursday, Ralph Nader, making the latest in a string of insurgent presidential bids, named Matt Gonzalez, former San…
Thriller 25
Thriller 25 Composer: various Conductor: Michael Jackson Label: Epic Release Date: 2008-02-27 Rated: NONE Media: CD Length: LP Format: Album Genre: R & B In 1982, Michael Jackson and producer Quincy Jones focused the youthful energy of Off the Wall into a more diverse and mature package, tackling pop, funk, and rock in a way…
District Line
District Line Composer: Bob Mould Conductor: Bob Mould Label: Anti Release Date: 2008-02-27 Rated: NONE Media: CD Length: LP Format: Album Genre: Indie Rock To think there was once a time when 30 was considered way too “old” for a rock musician! I mean, just imagine Mick Jagger singing “Satisfaction” at 40. Crazy thoughts! Surely,…
Fred Eaglesmith’s 5th Annual Texas Weekend w.
Release Date: 2008-02-27 Clean the rodeo dust off your boots and don some comfortable blue jeans for this four-day country-music festival at Gruene Hall. Canadian singer-songwriter Fred Eaglesmith headlines Friday and Saturday evening. $40 buys a ticket for Friday’s Fred Eaglesmith BBQ Dinner Show catered by the Gristmill, and includes the Late Show. Saturday features…
The Phantom of the Opera
Release Date: 2008-02-27 With lavish sets, costumes, and special effects, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera transforms the Majestic into the 1911 Paris Opera House, where music and masquerade are inspired by a phantom in the catacombs. Phantom recently surpassed Cats to become the longest-running show on Broadway at 20 years. $17-80, various…
An Altar for Emma
Release Date: 2008-02-27 San Antonio native Emma Tenayuca was a pioneering activist who focused on the disparity between rich and poor and issues affecting laborers and migrant workers. She’s often left out of history books and lists of local heroes, so the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center and Our Lady of the Lake University have…
All That Remains, Chimaira, Five Finger Death Punch, & Light This City
Release Date: 2008-02-27 What do Bon Jovi and Chimaira have in common? Signature Series guitars from ESP, now introduced by Chimaira guitarists Rob Arnold and Matt DeVries. With their album Resurrection, Chimaira has earned a respectable buzz in the world of hardcore, underground metal. A night of mayhem ensues with All That Remains, Light This…
Last Friday at Beethoven: The Sons of Sancho, Ledaswan, & Doc-J
Release Date: 2008-02-27 Hip-hop, live music, poetry slam, food and beer, all in an event appropriately titled Last Friday. Put together by local band The Sons of Sancho, the monthly event proves that live, original music can thrive and it doesn’t have to follow any rules. This month features The Sons of Sancho, Ledaswan, KSYM’s…
South Austin Jug Band
Release Date: 2008-02-27 Delivering their unique hybrid of Americana and rock, this Austin band stops at Casbeers as part of a nationwide tour to promote their newest album Strange Invitation. Funky string sounds mix with drums, electric guitar, and digital looping to create the edgy, modern bluegrass sound exclusive to the South Austin Jug Band.…
Audrey Auld Mezera and Andrew Hardin
Release Date: 2008-02-27 When it comes to musical tastes, Australia sometimes feels like Tennessee with kangaroos. The land down under has its own secret history (at least it’s a secret to most Americans) of singing cowboys and bluegrass groups who take as much inspiration from Celtic folk as American mountain music. Audrey Auld Mezera is…
Want a rise with that?
Release Date: 2008-02-27 Parked cars lined the street corner of Guadalupe and Trinity last Wednesday afternoon, while other drivers scoped out makeshift spots amid “No Parking” and “No Trespassing” signs posted in front of homes. The Pussycat Dolls’ “Buttons” was blasting when we entered the front door of Las Mariposas Café, and every person in…
designing with nature
Decades after the first Earth Day thrust the environment into the minds of most Americans, the green movement has gained momentum, and with a combination of smart design and conscious market-based efforts, eco-friendly businesses may have finally found their place in the world. These days, people are looking for more eco-friendly practices in their lives…
The magical world of Gondry
Actress Isabella Rossellini once told The Guardian that she gravitated toward certain directors because she wanted to “take a trip into their brain.” Movie-watchers, I firmly believe, choose fare on the same basis — sometimes unwittingly — and one soul’s Michael Bay is another’s Hal Hartley. If I had any doubts before, Be Kind Rewind…
home is where the art is
One-half art gallery/woodworking studio, one-half living space— sounds like your average cool Southtown artist digs, huh? Add to that living in the shadow of the bustling Blue Star Arts Complex and a nice view of the downtown skyline and you’re at Art House Studio, the residence of Dan Pfeiffer and his partner, Liz Steving. Did…
‘City’ of lost children
Rio’s not all supermodels and Carnival you know. And just in case City of God didn’t make that clear, here comes City of Men, the movie of the Brazilian television-series spinoff of God to make things clear. I’m not going to lie: I only saw City of God maybe six months ago because I remembered…
Napa Valley cabs
Few places in the New World rival California for cabernet sauvignon. Yes, Washington State is coming on strong, and, once you get past the phalanx of malbecs, Argentina has much to offer. But Napa Valley is still the gold standard, especially to the fervent followers of Robert Parker and The Wine Spectator. Trouble is, many…
Armchair Cinephile
PICK OF THE WEEK: The Last Emperor (Criterion) Bernardo Bertolucci’s slice of Chinese history arrives in two cuts here, and for once it’s the shorter one the director prefers. The other, 218 minutes to the theatrical version’s 165, was fleshed out with deleted scenes to suit the running-time needs of a TV broadcaster’s schedule. The…
Amuse-BOUCHE
The difficulty in reforming procrastinators is that happenstance often rewards laggards (Poky Little Puppy, anyone?). The tardy benefactors this week are those of you who’ve yet to vote in our 2008 Best of SA Readers’ Poll (ballot page 15, and online at sacurrent.com). Your footdragging means that you can consider the Texas Department of Agriculture’s…
The man behind the meth
Breaking Bad (AMC, Sundays, 10 pm) There’s something gutsy about Breaking Bad. It ain’t the normal-Joe-becomes-drug-dealer scenario. Post Weeds, a character like Bryan Cranston’s cancer-riddled chemistry teacher Walter White doesn’t seem implausible, nor does his decision to cook methamphetamine as a kind of life-insurance policy for his family. It ain’t the cursing, which is abundant…
Everybody sing!
Somebody once quipped that keeping a song in your heart is like providing karaoke for the voices in your head. Clever, sure, but these days, we don’t even need season seven — season seven! — of American Idol to prove we’d much rather just open our mouths, belt out “Umbrella,” and let the voices in…
Remembering Raúl Salinas
I don’t know when I first met Raúl Salinas. I don’t even know if it was through his writings or in person. I guess I’ve known him for about as long as I’ve known Chicano Literature, which means since the early ’70s. I don’t know how many times we read at Floricantos and Canto al…
Close Shaver
One could easily spend hours talking with Billy Joe Shaver. Besides a Warren Buffet-size wealth of anecdotes – culled from more than four decades of country carousing with the likes of Waylon Jennings, Townes Van Zandt, Shel Silverstein, Willie Nelson, and countless others – there is Shaver’s heart. It’s at the center of most stories…
Dr. Seuss’ Hoton Hears a Who
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! Saturday, March 08th 10:00am at Santikos Palladium 17703 w. IH-10 We are out of tickets for this free screening
ARTIFACTS
If you haven’t heard about Art House, don’t feel bad, it took our very own production designer Tiffany to alert us to its “massive, nationwide art projects.” Art House currently has four activities anyone can participate in (for a reasonable fee of $10-13), from collecting objects to the sketchbook project. Sign up today at arthousecoop.com/project/list.…
THE SOUND & THE FURY
San Antonio will be better represented than usual at this year’s SXSW music festival, with a dozen acts cutting across a surprisingly wide range of genres. Tenor-sax titan Spot Barnett will perform twice, once with O.S. Grant, and once in support of Latin-soul group Sexto Sol. DJ Jester the Filipino Fist, a highly familiar SXSW…
10,000 BC
10,000 BC Wednesday, March 05th 7:30pm at Santikos Palladium 17703 w. IH-10 We are out of tickets for this screening
Man behind the mask
It was 1985 in the small town of Hancock, Maine when 7-year-old Jason Mills began performing H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance on stage as part of his father’s Gilbert and Sullivan theater troupe. One year later, British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber held the world premiere of his 10th theater production, The Phantom of…
Honor guard
Following a second request from the Texas Republican Party, Representative Rick Noriega, Democratic candidate for John Cornyn’s U.S. Senate seat and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, today released military records to the public. We’ve provided the link here in case his campaign’s fear that the Republicans are planning to swift boat him prove true…
Makeup of the night
Standing backstage during a performance of The Phantom of the Opera, makeup artist Rudy Guerrero waits to hear his favorite sound of the evening. No, it’s not the seductive lyrics sung during “The Music of the Night” or the blaring synthesizers of “Overture.” Instead, Guerrero waits for the part of the production where the Phantom’s…
Hearts of Darkness
The Golden Age American Music Club (Merge) “I wish that we were always high,” sings Mark Eitzel at the start of the new American Music Club album, and there’s something about that yearning for escape that bolsters doubts fans may have about the songwriter’s ambitions — since reforming the band a few years ago —…
Peep shows and porn kings
Readers who never had the privilege of visiting New York City before the Giuliani era (hey, we dodged a presidential bullet with him, didn’t we?!) may find this tough to believe, but Times Square was once a nexus of depravity, frightening for children, and (trust me on this) deeply embarrassing for an adolescent kid to…
Playback
Barack Obama is an old-school R&B kind of guy. He especially loves Earth Wind & Fire and Stevie Wonder, for obvious reasons: They peaked as Obama entered his teen years, and they were both slick but soulful, funky but resolutely pop, cosmic but realistic, and unmistakably American but vaguely internationalist. Much like the Democratic frontrunner…
Honor guard
Following a second request from the Texas Republican Party, Representative Rick Noriega, Democratic candidate for John Cornyn’s U.S. Senate seat and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, today released military records to the public. We’ve provided the link here in case his campaign’s fear that the Republicans are planning to swift boat him prove…
Barn voyage
Owner Bobbi Ravicz announced to her faithful customers on January 2 that the Yarn Barn’s lease has expired, and the Olmos Park landmark would be up for sale. After 37 years of devotion to her yarn and customers, Ravicz, 69, announced on her website that “It is now time for me to kick back and…
Muro del odio
A major policy shift is underway on the Texas border. It’s been called the Berlin Wall, the Wall of Shame, and even Wall of Hate — Muro del Odio. Following the failure of Congress and the Bush Administration to forge new immigration policies, those looking north have only the face of Homeland Security to judge…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Why won’t Mexicans vote for a black man? — Hillary Hater Dear Readers: Dozens of ustedes have sent the above question since the Iowa caucuses, forwarded mainstream media reports on this supposed phenomenon, and cringed with me when pundits took as gospel Hillary Clinton pollster Sergio Bendixen’s assertion to the New Yorker that “The Hispanic…
Your pan-handlin’ man-handlin’ dustbowlin’ daddy
A fresh deck in New Deal While the Obama and Clinton firmaments rotate their star-studded constellations over the skies of Texas (two Kennedys, three Clintons, and an Orion’s Belt of less heavenly bodies at last viewing), drawing our gazes up, up, to modern-day Mount Olympus, on the dirty, careworn earth the machinery of for-profit progress…
Clothes-minded
Savvy fashionistas know the right bag can make or break an outfit. Handbags are a way to solve practical problems (where else will that cell phone and wallet go?) but perform above and beyond with the opportunity to try out colors, shapes, textures, and volume we may not be brave enough to go for in…
THE SAY-TOWN LOWDOWN
Cities are forever comparing themselves to others, trying to see how they rank and stack up. San Antonio is no exception. Our political and business leadership loves to tout the fact that we’re the nation’s seventh-largest city. But when it came to County Judge Nelson Wolff’s aborted effort to land the Florida Marlins, Major League…
Dear Uncle Mat
I want to tell you about my horrible Valentine’s Day. I am single, I don’t give a fuck about the stupid holiday. I think it is another excuse for people to be super-stupid and make other people feel even more crappy than they already do. It was invented by greedy evil vampires. I don’t want…
Obama talks substance; media yawns
February 19 must have been a strange day for Barack Obama. Over the course of a single day, Obama faced accusations that he’d plagiarised a few stump-speech talking points from his friend, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick; that his wife, Michelle, was an unpatriotic ingrate for telling a Milwaukee audience, “For the first time in my…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): What’s the opposite of a freak out? Let’s call it a freak in. I suspect you’re about to enter into this state. That means you will have at your disposal all the intensity of a hysterical fit, but you’ll be able to express it artfully as you accomplish acts of amazing…
I’m Will Ferrell?
I actually read somewhere that, like, I don’t know if this is true, but you hold a field-goal-kicking record from high school or something, and you’re actually like a pretty athletic — Yeah, yeah. And so, kind of coming off of that … I played a lot of sports. So, I was wondering, you `also`…
Need flair? Try faux art
Faux painter Jayne Samuelson Wright manages to juggle being a business success, a talented artist, and an incredibly sweet woman all at the same time. Seriously, kick out those unfriendly painters, scrap that wallpaper, and start dialing Wright’s cell. Wright was initiated into the world of faux art at Pompeii Italian Grill on Nacogdoches road…
Critical Darling
The order in which the Academy Awards were presented made me want to hit my face repeatedly with a rubber ball, I ? Huckabees-style. We lingered breathlessly, what, like an hour after the Best Actress statuette had been awarded to Marion Cotillard, for that climactic bam-bam-bam of Best Actor, Director, and Picture — really hammering…
