E Literacy
The San Antonio City Council’s message to city-owned CPS Energy, last week’s approval of a 3.5 percent rate hike (to be delayed until AFTER this summer) rather than the requested 5 percent, approaches very closely a vote of no confidence in the utility. What will we get for the 3.5? We don’t know. CPS officials…
Greening Boxes
Okay, I just came from digesting the solar world vision in a 20-minute Powerpoint as presented by one of the industry’s leading actors at Bill Sinkins’ Bday bash (“Only politics” stands in the way, we’re told), so my expectation level is, perhaps, appropriately high. When I’m told that San Antonio’s Imagine Homes has been named…
E Literacy
The San Antonio City Council’s message to city-owned CPS Energy, last week’s approval of a 3.5 percent rate hike (to be delayed until AFTER this summer) rather than the requested 5 percent, approaches very closely a vote of no confidence in the utility. What will we get for the 3.5? We don’t know. CPS officials…
Greening Boxes
Okay, I just came from digesting the solar world vision in a 20-minute Powerpoint as presented by one of the industry’s leading actors at Bill Sinkins’ Bday bash (“Only politics” stands in the way, we’re told), so my expectation level is, perhaps, appropriately high. When I’m told that San Antonio’s Imagine Homes has been named…
On the Street
The best in ride-by journalism! The second best blog in San Antonio! As always, read at your own risk! Letters (to the Penthouse Suite) #1 Bolivia Calling From On the Street Foreign Correspondent From Bolivia Roberto Guerra: Thanks, Jones. So… we’re sending that “postcard” out as a little email promo-type thing, but that’s totally cool…
On the Street
The best in ride-by journalism! The second best blog in San Antonio! As always, read at your own risk! Letters (to the Penthouse Suite) #1 Bolivia Calling From On the Street Foreign Correspondent From Bolivia Roberto Guerra: Thanks, Jones. So… we’re sending that “postcard” out as a little email promo-type thing, but that’s totally cool…
Tower of Babel, amen
Sure, at the moment your best bet for getting our troops out of Iraq looks like a fossilized Republican (weird, weird, weird), but that allegedly Dem-controlled Congress might be good for something after all. Check their response to the FCC’s plans to let big media roll itself into one big tootsie roll (again, note to…
Tower of Babel, amen
Sure, at the moment your best bet for getting our troops out of Iraq looks like a fossilized Republican (weird, weird, weird), but that allegedly Dem-controlled Congress might be good for something after all. Check their response to the FCC’s plans to let big media roll itself into one big tootsie roll (again, note to…
Terri Hendrix
Release Date: 2008-05-14 Serenading audiences with a blend of folk, country, Latin, and blues, Terri Hendrix takes the stage as part of the Walden Coffee House Concert Series. Hendrix’s latest album, The Spiritual Kind, shows her emotional involvement with philosophical questions, and her onstage storytelling will get your mind rolling about some of today’s issues.…
Before the Music Dies
Release Date: 2008-05-14 Is original music drowning in the wake of big-label marketing? Filmmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen traveled the country to uncover how American music arrived at this moment of truth, generating revealing interviews with musicians, industry insiders, music writers, and fans. Featured artist performances prove that great music is always out there.…
Ensiferum, Turisas, Tyr, & Eluveitite
Release Date: 2008-05-14 Folk metal may seem like an oxymoron, but Ensiferum has made the genre their own. The traditional harshness of metal is flawlessly infused with surprisingly clean and melodic vocals, making for a catchy and original musical style. Lyrical themes are reminiscent of heroic, middle-age fantasy tales, while the dynamic song structures and…
Ronald K. Brown Master Class
Release Date: 2008-05-14 Praised as “one of the most profound choreographers of his modern dance generation” by The New York Times, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence blends African, modern, ballet, and hip-hop dance styles to tell stories essential to the human experience. Brown’s dances possess an earthy, rhythmic drive, reinforcing the importance of community in contemporary culture.…
PrintDance Performance
Release Date: 2008-05-14 In celebration of May as both Printmaking and Dance Month, artist Regina Saunder cuts images of dancers onto four 4-by-8-foot pieces of plywood that will be printed by dancers in four live performances. The dancers will ink the plate on stage, and use the weight of their bodies to produce the final…
Koffin Kats, Phenomenauts, AKA’s, Maldroid, Bridgette Handly, & Blood Moon Howlers
Release Date: 2008-05-14 Transmission: Forget the fact that the San Francisco-based, sci-fi psychobilly, toilet-paper-throwing, theremin-helmet-wearing Phenomenauts were once chosen as Best California Live Band by the East Bay Express and Best Lifestyle Music Artist by the SF Weekly; that the band (led by “Commander Nova,” who calls his bandmates “my men,” their roadies “cadets” and …
Schoolhouse Rock Live!
Release Date: 2008-05-14 Oh, I’m sure you remember those Saturday mornings, waking up early and singing along: “As your body grows bigger/ your mind grows flowered/ it’s great to learn/ ’cause knowledge is power.” Those were the days, when our only function was “hooking up words and phrases and clauses” … and of course, downing…
Lay It Down
Lay It Down Composer: various Conductor: Al Green Label: Blue Note Release Date: 2008-05-14 Rated: NONE Media: CD Length: LP Format: Album Genre: Soul Al Green is like Aretha Franklin in reverse. When Aretha stepped away from her church roots to sing pop music in the early ’60s, her gospel followers were mortified. When Green…
Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles Composer: Crystal Castles Conductor: Crystal Castles Label: Last Gang Records Release Date: 2008-05-14 Rated: NONE Media: CD Length: LP Format: Album Genre: Club Music Toronto duo Crystal Castles are known (in hipster dance circles, at least) for their high-energy, Gameboy-fueled music, best displayed in “Alice Practice” and the very similar-sounding “Love and Caring,”…
Then She Found Me
Then She Found Me Director: Helen Hunt Screenwriter: Helen Hunt Cast: Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick Release Date: 2008-05-14 Website: http://www.thinkfilmcompany.com/ Rated: R Genre: Film “Did you ever meet someone and know in a heartbeat you’ll do whatever they say?” April Epner’s birthmother asks her in the street in Then She Found…
Vast, Vallejo, Jupiter One, Dead Twins, February Chorus, Stealla Rose, & more
Release Date: 2008-05-14 The epitome of a Texas music venue, Josabi’s promises pool, darts, lots of cedar trees, and a full afternoon line-up of music in the one and only Helotes. VAST headlines the much-anticipated show, bringing the experimental blend of noise, rock, pop, and classical that has earned them their reputation. Once signed to…
Mindless Self Indulgence
Release Date: 2008-05-14 MSI halts their world tour at Scout Bar on Thursday, punching out electro-metal originals and funky remixes from their new album If. One of the most unique and hard-working acts today, MSI continues to storm the scene with their infectious and feisty electronic, metal, and punk sound, winning over fans with their…
Dear Uncle Mat
I used to be a fat and unattractive gay man. Guys at the bar would pinch at my flappy waistline and mock my homemade and tightly fitted XXL Ace Of Base T-shirt. The ugly men would still buy me drinks and exchange numbers, but I was not attracted to them. After dropping 80 pounds and building more muscle, I’m…
Standardized tests and sudden-death playoffs
Waiting for some dough The Queque imagines an anteroom somewhere … drinks and hors d’oeuvre are not served, absent-minded, understaffed attendants circle by at irregular intervals … in which SA’s toxin casualties await word from the EPA in 30, 60, and 90-day increments. “Hi, Ramiro,” says one to the other. “What’s the latest on Big…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): After working for years in various jobs at San Francisco TV station KTVU, Frank Sommerville was promoted to the top of the heap — lead anchorman of the 10 o’clock news program. He promised that his new power wouldn’t make him lazy or complacent. “Nobody will out-curious me,” he bragged. I…
Sticking it to the man (or the DA, anyway)
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s May 5 ruling that 2007 state legislation authorizing a pilot needle-exchange program in Bexar County doesn’t protect participants from being arrested for distributing drug paraphernalia kicked the DA’s case against local activists Bill Day, Mary Casey, and Melissa Lujan into gear. The trio, volunteers with the non-profit Bexar Area Harm…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Readers: My recent column regarding the dissimilarities between Scots and Mexicans provoked a surprising amount of angry responses — by real Scotsmen furious that letter-writer Great Scot could be so pendejo. Here’s the best reader carta: Having just read Great Scot’s question and your response, I can’t help but think that he is one…
Toxic Translator
lastwords_08_20 New nuke plants have become quite the controversial undertaking in San Anto. Not in the upper levels of CPS, where they elevate at abuelita’s secret mole status, a charge to kill and die for. If not to “lie” for, then at least to withhold every shred of relevant information, a process that had become…
Clothes-minded
Remember back when you were a hippie, reading the crazy malarkey on the back of a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s soap as you stood in the shower (ALL ONE OR NONE!), thinking OK, maybe saving the world is a bit much, but at least I’m doing something decent with my consumerism? Reclaim that mild sense…
‘Workers’ rock Hondo vote
Green jobs and solar roofs? In Hondo? This month’s election in small-but-growing, 9,000-population Hondo west of SA has dramatically shifted the makeup of the city council there — and its agenda. With a three-candidate sweep achieved under the banner of the “Real Change Campaign,” volunteers and organizers from San Antonio’s Southwest Workers Union helped usher…
El Chaparral is Helotes
House call MJ: The top-shelf margarita with Cazadores was smooth and potent. The real test for a bar is how low they set the “bar” for their house version. It was sweet but better than I thought. I didn’t mind sharing. Or is that another way of saying I drank both of them? MLH: I don’t have much…
Crescent City Meltdown
Over the years, we’ve all grown accustomed to the wild disparity between the way NBA teams perform at home and on the road. But the 2008 postseason has brought the absurdity to a new level. So far, home teams have built a 17-1 record in the second round of the playoffs, and the lone blemish…
Amuse-BOUCHE
“I love to eat, and I love all food — being from Texas,” says new Oro Executive Chef Moses Cruz. “But I’ve been all over the country with Hyatt … so I’ve learned to appreciate diverse cultural cuisines.” Oro’s menu will accordingly stay mostly Mediterranean, but with Cruz’s own flair. New items to watch for…
Hill Country Militia
At what point does dissatisfaction become dissent, and dissent a full-fledged movement? In the hills outside San Antonio, we may be about to find out. A series of long-simmering insults coupled with rapacious growth on the fringes of Bexar County are driving many to radicalize in ways they could not have predicted. The mood has…
Hanging with wine-industry icons
I know what you must think: He spends all his spare time voguing in swell places, swilling other people’s free (and fabulous) wine. Wrong. Rarely happens. But when it does, the occasion’s memorable. And just to prove what a decent, magnanimous, and caring guy I am, I’m going to share. True, your experience will be…
Gospel truth
Singer/guitarist Jim Heath is old-school, and not just because of his predilection for country, blues, rockabilly, and classic rock ’n’ roll. (You know, when it was still three words.) The man better known as the Reverend Horton Heat doesn’t have much use for the recording studio, preferring to sweat it out under the lights, something…
‘Workers’ rock Hondo vote
Green jobs and solar roofs? In Hondo? This month’s election in small-but-growing, 9,000-population Hondo west of SA has dramatically shifted the makeup of the city council there — and its agenda. With a three-candidate sweep achieved under the banner of the “Real Change Campaign,” volunteers and organizers from San Antonio’s Southwest Workers Union helped usher…
THE SOUND & THE FURY
The major news on the SA club scene this week is the debut of Scout Bar, a large, multi-venue club based on the successful brand established in Houston. Located on the North Side (19314 U.S. Highway 281 North), Scout Bar will host national and local rock bands while simultaneously featuring a DJ room for dance…
Crescent City Meltdown
Over the years, we’ve all grown accustomed to the wild disparity between the way NBA teams perform at home and on the road. But the 2008 postseason has brought the absurdity to a new level. So far, home teams have built a 17-1 record in the second round of the playoffs, and the lone blemish…
Indiana Jones Whip
The San Antonio Current loves Indiana Jones and we know you do too. The Indiana Jones Electronic Sound FX Whip has whip cracking sounds and plays the Indiana Jones theme song. For everyone ages 6+. For your chance to win, please send an email to freebies@sacurrent.com One winner will be picked on Friday, May 16th…
Full Nelson, half baked
The rock era has provided countless high-profile examples of how not to deal with the aging process. On the one hand, we’ve seen geriatric, surgically-mauled Peter Pans pathetically pretending that they’re still carefree teenagers. On the other, a string of icons so resistant to the burdens of a long life, they simply checked out before…
Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide
The San Antonio Current loves Indiana Jones and we know you do too. We are giving you the chance to win a copy of Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide. This is the definitive guide to Indiana Jones and his world. For your chance to win, please send an email to freebies@sacurrent.com One winner will be…
CDs Nuts
Evil Urges My Morning Jacket (ATO Records) MMJ no longer sounds like the band that recorded It Still Moves, but no other band will ever be able to sound like the new MMJ without developing time travel. How else could you hope to ape Evil Urges, their kick-ass new release that couldn’t possibly have been…
Amazons of art
A large-scale installation by Anita Valencia adorns one wall of Blue Star’s main gallery. Ten stars of varying sizes, three in silver and seven in blue, glisten majestically. A closer look reveals that they are made of metal lids and the bottoms of aluminum cans. It is surprising to observe the beauty expressed by such…
The man from Palo Pinto
Before he could discern the advantages of different kinds of film stock, director Anthony Henslee was more familiar with grazing livestock. Raised in Palo Pinto, Texas, on his grandfather’s 3,000-acre cattle ranch, Henslee, who was born in Arlington, grew up working in the family business until the age of 16. “We ran cattle and had…
ARTIFACTS
When I’m hit with bouts of insomnia, usually I don’t go online to find trippy, artsy video clips, but last night I found myself doing just that. And that’s when I came across the Los Angeles cable-access TV show Let’s Paint TV. Join host John Kilduff as he partakes in some “multitasking creativity,” which on…
CRITICAL Darling
Oops, he did it again. David O. Russell — of the repeatedly-calling-Lily-Tomlin-a-cunt-on-the-set-of-I Heart Huckabees O. Russells — has apparently gotten his current operation, Nailed, shut down according to Nikke Finke and chud.com. As if the news of Russell and actor James Caan parting ways after quarrelling (over the best way to choke on a cookie)…
A playhouse united
John McCain made it a point to remind us that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican on The Daily Show the other night. Ugh. Abe’s a name you drop if your aim’s to associate yourself with wholesomeness and equality. Dude abolished slavery, after all. He stood for the right thing, even when that didn’t make him…
Headbanging (the wall)
Metalocalypse (Cartoon Network, Mondays, Midnight) Confession time: I’d never watched Metalocalypse until April 30. I probably would have never watched it if the oddest thing hadn’t happened. Upon arriving at work two days prior, characteristically late and generally unkempt, I found the office buzzing about me. Glances. Whispers. “Dude, did you get your mail?” someone…
Photo fiesta
Houston-born photographer George O. Jackson Jr. focuses on a group of indigenous Mexicans in his vivid exhibition El Cuerpo Adornado: Exploring the Aesthetic Spirit of Mexico, on view at the San Antonio Museum of Art. The 25-piece collection features more than 70,000 images Jackson has taken for his photo project Essence of Mexico. El Cuerpo…
Straight Shooter
Don Pendelton’s The Executioner #1 Words by Doug Wojtowicz Art by SI. Gallant, Luis Antonio Delgado, and Chris Mowry $3.99, 28 pages (IDW) The Executioner, a 40-year-old paperback series, has been made into a comic a few times before, but I imagine the results have always been kind of frustrating. The story of Mack Bolan,…
Spittin’ Game
Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar) Playstation 3 $59.99 Yep, GTAIV is as awesome as you knew it would be, but not for the reasons you may have guessed. Sure, the Sgt. Pepper of amoral sandbox games moves into the next gen with shiny graphics, greater freedom, and better game play, but the real draw is…
