Pearl veggies, music, honey!
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Pearl Brewery, that “emerging culinary and cultural destination” of our beloved San Anto is aiming to be the spot where local, sustainable agriculture gets interesting, gains traction, and gets locals growing again. We could construct an insidious and pedantic PowerPoint detailing all the reasons locally grown foods are good for us. Or…
Voter ID battle continues in Texas House
Greg M. Schwartz gschwartz@sacurrent.com Will the Texas House get a controversial voter ID bill out of committee this week, and if so, what form will it take? The clock is ticking, with the May 11 deadline to vote bills out of committee just a week away. It seems that most in Republican leadership know that…
District 5 lucha libre heats up
Greg M. Schwartz gschwartz@sacurrent.com The wide-open battle for District 5 is heating up, as candidates and their supporters attempt to discredit their competitors in what looks to be a tight race. The incumbent is usually the favorite, but Lourdes Galvan’s frontrunner status is questionable. She failed to garner an endorsement from the Express-News, which decided…
San Antonio boasts worst recycling rate of largest U.S. cities
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Thank God for OKC. Texans used to chortle snide gratitudes for Louisiana, the only state in the Union that regularly ranked lower in terms of health care, education, and the number of crackling towers of burning toxic waste. Until we went Republican, anyway, and we started swapping places with the Magnolia State.…
Live & Local preview: Viet Ruse
Tonight we’re heading out to Vintage House to see local reggae-infused rock act Viet Ruse. Check them out in the video above. This free show begins at 9pm, and Pinata Protest and DJ ESPR are also on the bill. BYOB with a valid ID. The flyer also promises a pinata filled with Vintage House coupons,…
Lege 81 update: Inquest 2, Modernity 0
N.B.: Yes, I owe you a followup digital-billboard-study post, but then all this shit keeps happening at the Capitol, and closer to home. Monday, Scout’s honor. It was a tough day at the Pink Dome for common sense and self-determination. One reason Texas women ought to be less enthusiastic about secession than their boot-scootin’ counterparts:…
Projected nuke power’s price tag inflating
Activist group places figure as high as $22 billion Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com A new report about the ultimate cost of new nuclear power in Texas suggests the figure could reach almost three times earlier company projections. Officially released from the steps of San Antonio City Hall this week, the report by a former director of…
TX Supreme Court overturns landfill/leukemia judgment
The Supreme Court of Texas today upheld its anti-trial-law bona fides, overturning an appeals-court ruling in favor of San Antonio’s Pollock family. Justice Hecht delivered the opinion; Justice Medina filed a dissenting opinion, in which he was joined by Justice O’Neill. The Pollocks, former neighbors of the long-neglected West Avenue landfill, sued the City after…
MAC Flak
By Gilbert Garcia For much of her contentious re-election campaign, Mary Alice Cisneros has had to answer complaints that she’s not sufficiently responsive to her constituents. Recently, however, another issue has begun to dog the District 1 councilmember: allegations that she’s exaggerating her achievements and inflating her record. The two complaints are related, in the…
Chaléwood No. 6: Cristián de la Fuente
Cristián de la Fuente — TV’s In Plain Sight By Kiko Martinez San Antonio Current contributing writer paperboy5456@yahoo.com Hollywood is still a pretty tough town for Latino actors says Chilean heartthrob Cristián de la Fuente. While roles aren’t as stereotypical as they have been in the past, de la Fuente says they are still scarce.…
Where the Streets Have No Funds
By Gilbert Garcia Here’s QueBlog’s definition of political cyanide for a city councilmember: being forced to cut $14 million in planned street repairs a week before election day. Coming out at a neighborhood forum as a parishioner of the Church of Satan would be only slightly more damaging to your grassroots rep. That was the…
Getting it wrong the first time: digital billboards
A newly released study of digital-billboard safety commissioned by the Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials surveys the research currently available, here and abroad, and presents a list of best practices for communities that plan to allow and regulate what the industry likes to call “variable message” signs. The nutgraf: San Antonio’s digital-billboard policy…
S.O.S. – Save Our Salute
Release Date: 2009-04-29 Saluté, the legendary conjunto venue that has staged such acts as Esteban Jordan, Flaco Jimenez, and Valerio Longoria, is in danger of closing due to rising licensing fees. (Where are those tea-bagging parties when we really need them?) San Antonio’s hip-hop and Chicano rock communities are aligning to offer a diverse benefit…
The Barber of East L.A.
Release Date: 2009-04-29 Directed by MacArthur Genius Luis Alfaro, this is a tale about queer and punk Latinos living in East Los Angeles, set amid the political unrest of the ’80s Reagan era (a conservative period described in great detail in Mike Davis’s legendary book City of Quartz). Written and performed by Mari Garcia, Raquel…
Kenny Chesney w/Miranda Lambert
Release Date: 2009-04-29 What is it about former Nashville Star finalist Miranda Lambert’s brand of country? The 25-year-old East Texas native doesn’t really even play crit-friendlier alt-country or cosmic country or Americana or ’70s-era Hee-Haw country, mind you, but contemporary, Clear Channel country, but she still merits mention among the Pitchfork types who don’t ordinarily…
Counting to 12 in Russian
12 Director: Nikita Mikhalkov Screenwriter: Nikita Mikhalkov Cast: Sergey Makovetsky, Sergey Garmash, Aleksey Petrenko Release Date: 2009-04-29 Rated: PG-13 Genre: Film Following a three-day murder trial, a bailiff leads the jury out to deliberate. “You’ll be done in 20 minutes,” he assures them, seriously underestimating the task of reaching a unanimous verdict. Though 11 jurors,…
Lourdes Perez and May Nasr
Release Date: 2009-04-29 Esperanza Peace + Justice Center presents an exciting musical event, Written in Water — an unlikely pairing of two intensely passionate singers on stage together for the first time: May Nasr from Lebanon and local musical and human-rights icon Lourdes Perez from Puerto Rico. Though their musical traditions may differ, they are…
Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle Composer: Bill Callahan Conductor: Bill Callahan Label: Drag City Release Date: 2009-04-29 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording “It used to be darker, then it got lighter, then it got dark again,” Bill Callahan (Smog) sings over swollen strings on opener “Jim Cain,” and since his ex, Joanna Newsom, began…
Two Suns
Two Suns Composer: Bat for Lashes Conductor: Bat for Lashes Label: Astralwerks Release Date: 2009-04-29 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording I’m not sure why, but when confronted with a wholly unique, genre-busting, 21st-century sound, the default formula for describing it is to compare it to stuff we’ve already heard. So, yeah, Natasha Khan (aka Bat For…
Fortress Round My Heart
Fortress Round My Heart Composer: Ida Maria Conductor: Ida Maria Label: Fontana Release Date: 2009-04-29 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Ida Maria is 24-year-old Norwegian Ida Maria Børli Sivertsen, and she really likes to drink. Like, a lot. On her terrific debut, Fortress Round My Heart, Ida Maria falls down, gets up, and falls back down…
Fork in the Road
Fork in the Road Composer: Neil Young Conductor: Neil Young Label: Reprise Release Date: 2009-04-29 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Neil Young has made some weird records — Trans’ robo-slop, the ersatz rockabilly of Everybody’s Rockin’. So Fork in the Road — a concept album about his 1959 Lincoln Continental hybrid — isn’t totally out there.…
Travels with Frenchie
Part VIII: Greek to me
1988 again?
17 Again Director: Burr Steers Screenwriter: Burr Steers Cast: Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Matthew Perry, Sterling Knight, Michelle Trachtenberg, Melora Hardin, Jim Gaffigan, Brian Doyle-Murray Release Date: 2009-04-29 Rated: PG-13 Genre: Film So, I guess somebody really wanted to stick it to George Burns. Right? I mean, what other explanation could there possibly…
Battle for Terra
Critic’s Pick Battle for Terra Director: Aristomenis Tsirbas Screenwriter: Aristomenis Tsirbas Cast: Luke Wilson, Amanda Peet, Dennis Quaid, Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood Release Date: 2009-04-29 Rated: PG Genre: Film Anything mistaken for a new god in the sky can’t be a good thing. Especially if it’s big enough to blot out your planet’s light…
Alameda Presents Wine and Movie: Is it Really So Strange?
Release Date: 2009-04-29 Just as Slab Cinema takes a week off from its regular screenings, Museo Alameda comes out of nowhere to fill the gap with this intriguing documentary, Is it Really So Strange?, a film about the extraordinary popularity of Morrissey and the Smiths in Latino culture. This film fits amazingly well with the…
Synesthesia
Release Date: 2009-04-29 Our Lady of the Lake University’s Art and Music departments team up for this multimedia festival. The goal is to combine live music with visual art — or more specifically, mix visual and aural stimulation. OLLU students have synchronized their animation videos to accompany the OLLU bands, which include Quartet, SuperRoot, States,…
Art Opening: Tierra Nueva
Release Date: 2009-04-29 UTSA MFA student Carlos Daniel Donjuan breaks new personal ground as his paintings show a balance between the graffiti art of his past and the figurative techniques he’s learned in the gallery world. The paintings show many struggles, with a common theme being the tension between underground and dominant culture. This looks…
Art Opening: Beep Beep Robot Show
Release Date: 2009-04-29 San Angel Folk Art presents this fascinating and amusing look at the future (and the past) as told through this collection of found-object robots. Each robot is a unique assemblage of various junk parts compiled by artists from across the world. Limitations in materials often provide the most creativity. We predict some…
Father and Sons II
Release Date: 2009-04-29 This popular event returns with three different sets of local father/son jazz musicians: George and Aaron Prado; Peter and Michael Carey; and Joe and Joe Jr. Posada. Who knew that jazz was such a family affair? This is a unique event, to be sure. Sons don’t have to attend with their dads,…
Cults of personality
Selected by Trevor Smith, curator of contemporary art at the Peabody Essex Museum, the newest Artpace residents explore failed relationships, indoctrination and gullibility, and the homogenization of modern America. Sterling Allen’s “Housing Edition” comprises three framed paintings and three structures resembling playhouses. Each painting depicts one of the houses, nestled in an idyllic garden setting…
Crime Scene Cleanup
It’s been more than two decades since plumes of toxic chemicals were discovered seeping from the former Kelly Air Force Base into the soil and groundwater under the surrounding neighborhoods. More than 20,000 homes sit above these plumes in an area residents have come to call the “Toxic Triangle” because of higher than normal rates…
Say (You) Never
You must admit it’s cliché (trite) to say you never thought you’d live to see whatever ripe old age you are, even if you said so for years and meant it. Even alone in a public toilet, eyes locked on your own eyes in the mirror drying hands (mindlessly) on rough brown paper. Hands minutes…
The SA Environment Network’s Mayoral Forum
Friday, April 17, the San Antonio Environmental Network kicked off Fiesta with a forum featuring three of the main contenders in the May 9 mayoral election: District 8 Councilwoman Diane Cibrian, public-relations guru Trish DeBerry-Mejia, and former District 7 Councilman Julián Castro. Questions for the candidates were submitted by members of Environment Texas, the Greater…
Dear Uncle Mat
I have two questions. The first is simple. What is the best method for house-training a new dog? I went to the bookstore, and there are so many options. I watch TV shows like The Dog Whisperer, but they never seem to address house-training new puppies. Your column states that you give pet advice, and…
Take This Country and Shove It
Few states can claim an official tourist slogan as (inadvertently?) truthful as “Texas: It’s like a whole other country.” With that in mind, Governor Rick Perry’s caught-up-in-the-moment suggestion at an April 15 Tea Party protest in Austin that Texas might secede from the United States has drawn attention to a state movement eager to remove…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little,” said the writer Sydney Smith. While this is always good advice, it’s especially apt for you right now. You’re in a phase when giant leaps of faith are irrelevant, and fast, massive accomplishments are…
Italian whites
Had any good Roero Arneis lately? Omniboire hasn’t, either. Or we hadn’t, rather, until last week. And now we’ve got that new-puppy enthusiasm — except we’re not talking about woolly Portuguese water dogs, but Italian white wines, many of which are also unknown breeds around here. So in the spirit of boosting the underdog (as…
Amuse-BOUCHE
A few years ago, Chef Mike Behrend started eating vegetarian meals and exercising. In the process he dropped 100 pounds and now runs marathons and competes in triathlons. In 2006 he opened San Antonio’s only vegetarian restaurant (also certified kosher), repeat Best of San Antonio winner Green. Even for meat eaters, it’s a real treat and bargain. Just north of downtown at…
Artist in Residence Vol. II
Download the full PDF right here. Beto Gonzales is a working graphic and fine artist from San Antonio. A semi-regular Current contributor, he is a graduate of the San Antonio College visual-arts program and UT Austin. His work will be featured alongside that of Julia Barbosa Landois in an exhibition at the UTSA Satellite Space…
¡Ask a Mexican!
SPECIAL DRINKO POR CINCO MARIACHI CHEAT SHEET EDITION Dear Readers: As you drinko por Cinco this May 5, please take this column around listing songs that mariachis will actually, gladly play instead of having to glumly strum through the umpteenth “La Bamba” and “Guantanamera.” The following eclectic choices (and reasoning) came from hundreds submitted by…
Style wars
Meet the Mayor. Alamo City graffiti icon Cien isn’t quite sure when he was first acknowledged as San Antonio’s prime ambassador of hip-hop culture, but over the years the title has stuck. For 12-ounce prophets residing in Bexar County and beyond, Cien is who you go to when it comes to aerosol art in San…
THE SOUND & THE FURY
Hardcore heroes Lie and Wait have decided to split up while they’re still in full possession of their raging bile, and the SA band will play their final show on Friday, May 1, at the Ten Eleven, formerly known as the Warhol. Over the last four years, L&W cranked out two EPs, two split singles,…
The Blend?
As the Blend? set up to take the stage for their fourth-to-last show, guitarist Travis Simpson checked his mic with the words, “Hey, hey, my, my, rock and roll can never die.” If that were any indication how this set could go, the crowd and I were either about to begin a long night of…
“Goodbye My Love” — Los Crawdaddies
That minimally accompanied guitar noodle propelling the first minute or so is only the first stage in a Crawdaddies kiss-off. The rough-edged garage-rock verses and call-and-response coda provide catharsis, but the bookending guitar wank shifts gears just as you expect the fade-out. The riffage waxes reggae for the song’s finale, indicating that either the Human…
Mickey’s ‘earth’ mother
“It means no worries for the rest of your days It’s our problem-free philosophy Hakuna Matata!” — “Hakuna Matata,” The Lion King Disney’s earth is a stunning spectacle of nature’s richness, packaged and delivered without the faintest whiff of corporate deception. But don’t worry, it’s in there. Racing from above the Arctic Circle, across the…
2009 Candidate Q&A
Dear Readers: For your enhanced voting pleasure, please find linked below excerpts from 25 mayoral and council candidate questionnaires, administered by the Current to every 2009 council contender we could find (you can lead a politician to fodder, but you can’t make him/her think; not everyone was found, and not everyone we reached participated). You’ll…
S’Nuff film
San Antonians suffering from a second-tier-film-market inferiority complex might feel a little less lame today (Wednesday, April, 29), at least if they’ve got a cable subscription. Beginning today, haunted-house flick The Skeptic will be available for on-demand pay-per-view purchase the same day it opens in theaters in America’s significant-city trinity: Los Angeles, New York, and,…
Poole’s deep end
Newsflash: John Poole is not actually bat-shit insane! The rangy, super-animated actor, writer, and founder of the scrappy, unpretentious Overtime Theater is earning a local actorly rep as something of a crazypants: He’s oft-described as “zany,” “kooky,” and “kinetic.” The Current’s Kyle Gillette described Poole’s Fool in Lear as “a powerful and scary presence that’s…
Government ‘Office’
It’s often been referred to as an Office spin-off, but NBC’s new half-hour sitcom Parks and Recreation is really more of a self-inflicted style-bite. Creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur don’t transplant an already established character to a new location, Frasier style, but instead transfer Ricky Gervais’s uncomfortably funny mock-doc template from a paper company…
ARTIFACTS
Awww dang, Hizzoner, we barely knew ya! …Well, come to think of it, that’s not quite true. We had four grand years together, Mr. Mayor, you and the Current. And while we may have quibbled with you about this and that (your recent nomination of SAWS board members; the foibles of Main Plaza; Ms. Sculley’s…
The QueQue
Water boarding the Council Judge Hardberger’s impatience with the oft-glacial pace of City governance hasn’t scuffed his public reputation much, but the Mayor seems to sense that the issue is gaining steam as he prepares to leave office. Hardberger barely averted a PR disaster on April 16, when local environmental activists were prepared to blast…
LIGHTHEARTED (YET ODDLY DESULTORY) POST-FIESTA CUR-BLOG POST
Readers, are you having trouble picking up the pieces and getting on with your lives, post-Fiesta 2009? Yo también, fo sho. For one thing, I definitely should have done a Fiesta blog post either during Fiesta (ideal) or just after (acceptable), not late Tuesday afternoon (lame). But, see, I lost my voice somewhere between the…
