New Smashing Pumpkins song actually pretty smashing
Billy Corgan gets all kinds of critical crap (some of it from me), for lots and lots of legitimate reasons, but this Teargarden by Kaleidyscope album he’s sporadically releasing is so far pretty awesome, though we’re only two songs out of 40-something in. Check out “Widow Wake My Mind” at the Smashing Pumpkins’ Mypsace page.…
Haiti: An SA Aftershock
By Enrique Lopetegui elopetegui@sacurrent.com Haitian-American Henriette Beauvil, a San Antonio resident, holding a picture of sister Marie Angel. She hasn’t heard from her since the January 12 earthquake. (Photo by Enrique Lopetegui) For Dr. Ruth Berggren and medical student Beth Melia, returning from Haiti on Sunday, two days before the January 12 earthquake, offers no…
Live & Local preview: Heavy Feathers
Not sure if these Feathers are heavy in the sense of mass, importance, or that vague multipurpose way that Back to the Future claimed teenagers used the word in the ’80s. Also, I’m not sure where to direct you if you want to preview their music beforehand. The Myspace page for Heavy Feathers belongs to…
Haiti: How we can help.
The following is a partial list of local and national organizations, including Obama’s White House, doing their part in trying to alleviate Haitians from the devastating effects of Tuesday’s earthquake. In order to make an informed donation, we suggest you visit Charity Navigator and Charity Watch. The Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics (write ‘Haiti’…
Jay Reatard dead at 29
Musician Jay Reatard reportedly died last night in his sleep of unspecified causes. He was a prolific, talented songwriter, and modern music’s a lot worse off without him. Read Rolling Stone’s slightly more extensive write up here.
Johnny Cash unearthed again and all he wants to do is have some fun
Yet another volume in the Johnny Cash: American series has been announced, with a scheduled release date of February 26. This will be volume number six in the series, and it’s the final one, they swear. Though the American series, which began in 1994, mostly features Cash’s noticeably weakened (increasingly so as the series progressed)…
Decadent Dady
Indulge in the culinary triple-threat at Restaurant Insiginia
Lonely Guy
A Single Man Director: Tom Ford Screenwriter: Tom Ford Cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode Release Date: 2010-01-13 Rated: R Genre: Film After a colleague prattles on about the pressing need for a bomb shelter in the wake of the Cuban missile crisis, George Falconer (Firth) coolly replies, “If there’s going to be a…
Critic’s Diss!
Broken Embraces Director: Pedro Almodovar Screenwriter: Pedro Almodovar Cast: Penelope Cruz, Lluis Homar, Blanca Portillo Release Date: 2010-01-13 Rated: R Genre: Film Remember the scene in Stardust Memories when aliens descend on Woody Allen with the message: “We enjoy your films — particularly the early, funny ones. Do mankind a real service. Tell funnier jokes!”…
Contra
Contra Composer: Vampire Weekend Conductor: Vampire Weekend Label: XL Recordings Release Date: 2010-01-13 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording When Alice Cooper first heard of Vampire Weekend, he was disappointed to discover that they weren’t — as their Scooby-Doo-ish name suggested — some new goth-metal band, but rather a quartet of polite ivy-leaguers with a hard-on for…
Heartland
Heartland Composer: Owen Pallett Conductor: Owen Pallett Label: Domino Release Date: 2010-01-13 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording If Heartland doesn’t become Pallett’s breakthrough album, record-buyers are wrong. Pallett’s sophomore effort has so many things going for it — Pallett’s not calling himself Final Fantasy anymore, for one thing (he’s getting big enough to worry about copyright…
Real Life Is No Cool
Real Life Is No Cool Composer: Lindstrom and Christabelle Conductor: Lindstrom and Christabelle Label: Smalltown Supersound Release Date: 2010-01-13 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Lindstrøm is a gold-standard Norwegian producer of powerfully fuckable, interstellar tech-disco music (frequently with Prins Thomas); Christabelle is his longtime contributor, a darkly sexy, disembodied vocal force that makes Glass Candy’s Ida…
Philly 76
Philly 76 Composer: Frank Zappa Conductor: Frank Zappa Label: VAULTernative Records Release Date: 2010-01-13 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording The glorious Philly ’76, recorded in former U.S. capital Philadelphia, 200 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and released for the first time ever on December 21, 2009, to celebrate Zappa’s 69th birthday, should…
Alice And The MK-ULTRA Experiment
Release Date: 2010-01-13 The Rose Theatre Co.’s Chris Manley has written a play about a ’50s and ’60s-era covert CIA mind-control mission that caused a handful of deaths, and provoked many a psychotic episode. Typically, unknowing subjects were dosed with LSD (or a cocktail of other drugs), interrogated, and studied. In the play, young college…
En La Sombra de Sus Pasos
Release Date: 2010-01-13 The San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department supports the longest-running municipal dance program in the country. To celebrate its 75th anniversary, the program has partnered with Jump-Start Performance Co. to present three evenings of creative expression. Sonya Jimenez, Jackie Rodriguez-Navar, Denise Guerra-Rios, and dance troupes Fandango and Alamotion will perform dances ranging…
Harlem Gospel Choir: Concert of Hope Tour
Release Date: 2010-01-13 Founded on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in 1986, the Harlem Gospel Choir lifts spirits worldwide with messages of hope, faith, and inspiration. With powerful, angelic voices (belonging to members ranging in age from 17 to 70), the 65-member choir enlightens audiences about African-American culture while raising funds for children’s charities. The…
Coco Peru Takes on Texas
Release Date: 2010-01-13 In a field that doesn’t offer many opportunities for mainstream crossover, drag diva Coco Peru (AKA Clinton Leupp) has made quite a mark. In addition to appearing (almost always as Coco Peru) in gay-themed movies like Girls Will Be Girls (as an actress who’s in love with her abortion doctor and continues…
Art opening: Animalities
Release Date: 2010-01-13 Animalities is an exhibition of two New York artists exploring how animals might perceive the world. Syracuse-based Chris Wildrick’s “sketches” illustrate how animals might react to certain obstacles in their paths. Always Landing on My Feet, 2009, shows the artist hopping off a porch, rolling off the roof of a car, bouncing…
Art opening: Alejandro Cesarco
Release Date: 2010-01-13 Can you believe Artpace is already 15 years old? That makes us feel positively ancient, but being closer to big-city artists has made the wrinkles well worth our while. In a nostalgic turn, Artpace has invited three past residents to create installations in their Main Avenue windows. First up to bat is…
No Idea Festival: Seeds + Systems
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-01-13 costellorulez69: Where we going 2nite? bad_abbott420: No Idea. costellorulez69: No Idea? WTF dude? What’s the name of that effing sweet experimental jazz concert you said we were going to? bad_abbott420: No Idea. costellorulez69: Aaaaaaaaargh!!!!! bad_abbott420: LMFAO. costellorulez69: But I don’t want to listen to electro-pop band LMFAO. Mexico City saxophonist…
Alamo Colleges Chancellor Bruce Leslie is:
A) Destroying SA’s Community Colleges B) Saving Money and Improving Standards C) A Tool of the Board of Trustees D) All of the Above
Damsels in distress need not apply
In a murky apartment, a muscular gent clad in trousers and slung-down suspenders plays the trumpet for a dark-haired vixen tied to a chair. He takes the instrument from his lips, but its tune blares on — yes, just as it would in Mulholland Drive’s Club Silencio. The man traces lines over the body of…
Short Shorts
For the beginning of the year, I present to you three existential tales. In one, a stumble creates panic, temporarily allayed. In another, family is pitted against the guaranteed warmth of a bottle of whiskey (no one should have to make that choice!). Finally, a narrator’s angst is portrayed abstractly by the innumerable, bestial quandaries…
ARTifacts
Gone are the days in which we counted on the McNay for a genteel air befitting the ’09 ladies-who-lunch set, and for a tasteful but minor collection of post-Impressionist works. The exuberant Stieren Wing opened the space wide, the collection’s growing larger and more challenging, Mr. Barrilleaux brings the contemporary bien cierto, and dammitalltohell if…
Abe Cortez
Has anyone informed you lately of the incredible artistry and intricate weaving that goes into the making of a very fine Panama hat (which, of course, everyone knows is not made in Panama, but in Ecuador)? Or apprised you of the fact that the jungle-straw “jipijapa” is the only plant material that can be used…
¡Ask A Mexican!
Dear Mexican: I’m surprised by the choice of the word “amnesty” by those who would demonize immigration reform, especially in the South. Doesn’t the modern well-being of many Southerners derive in some way from their ancestors’ having sworn to amnesty oaths, both before and after the Civil War? Isn’t it being disingenuous to make the…
Bohanan’s new barkeep
My Great Uncle Willard was a bootlegger; I’m Italian-Irish … I was born to drink.” But Don Marsh, manager of Bohanan’s newly opened street-level bar on Houston, was born to do more than rest his boot on a brass rail; he’s a natural behind the bar as well, and the drink he created in honor…
Pushing Pens
It was sort of always a dream of mine,” admits young emcee Dino Foxx. “I’ve been a spoken-word poet for years, but to be able to actually rap — that was just something that I always secretly wanted to do.” Despite what you’ve heard, dreams still do come true in San Antonio, and hip-hop theater…
Heads of the Hydra
Helotes rock band Hydra Melody began in 2001 as an after-school jam session for Stinson Middle School students Robert Pompa and Jordan Berlanga. Initially, eighth-grader Pompa played guitar and seventh-grader Berlanga played drums, but Berlanga, though he considered the guitar a “hobby” he “learned through finding tabs on the internet” soon came out from behind…
Live & Local
Thursday is Big Ass Beer night at Scout Bar, when $2 will buy you a tall, curvaceous glass of generic domestic beer. That’s not an advertisement but a disclaimer for the following review. Rock ’n’ roll is the opposite of the Olympics: Performance-enhancing drugs work better on the audience. Seven Board, who’ve billed tonight as…
The Sound & They Fury
It took me a while to get used to smoke-free Luna’s new set-up, but it works: You can now see and hear the band perfectly, no matter where you sit. If you don’t believe me, join Cedric Burnside (the grandson of R.L. Burnside) and Lightnin’ Malcolm for a night of Delta blues two-guitar attack (Friday,…
Dear Uncle Mat
First, I want to say I sent this same question to another nat’l columnist, Dan Savage, but as I really want some outside sound advice on this, I am asking you, too, I guess to increase my chances of getting any response!! Well, a little over a year ago, I posed for photographs that would…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Earth’s north magnetic pole is not the same as the geographic North Pole. If you take out a compass to orient yourself toward due north, the compass arrow will actually point toward a spot in the frigid wilds of Canada. But what’s really odd is that the north magnetic pole…
Come on in!
The sign outside Adelante probably stands guilty of false advertising, or at least faulty geography. “Where Heaven and Health Meet,” it proclaims, as if heaven were not in itself healthy and health not itself divine. But the neat old eatery in Terrell Heights, a few blocks north of the McNay museum, is a hell of…
A house divided
Of the many great television dramas of the last decade, from The Sopranos to Mad Men, only three HBO series approached the half-kept promises and intrinsic hypocrisies of our American republic with a radical fundamentalism. Deadwood told us how the West was really won: by strongmen and expedient compromises that passed for progress. The Wire…
New Probation chief cleans house, police put PERF in the contract
Fresh cups For some employees within Bexar County Adult Probation, the New Year couldn’t come fast enough. As January approached, former Probation Chief Bill Fitzgerald, ridiculed by the more uncouth elements of the San Antonio media family (read: us) as a paranoid, out-of-touch, union-busting, foot fetishist overflowing with blind faith in poorly performing piss sniffers…
New Probation chief ditches snoopy Cline, bones up on lawsuits
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com For some employees within Bexar County Adult Probation, the New Year couldn’t come fast enough. As January approached, Former Probation Chief Bill Fitzgerald, ridiculed by more uncouth elements of the San Antonio media family (read: us) as a paranoid, out-of-touch, union-busting, foot fetishist, overflowing with blind faith in poorly performing piss sniffers…
Disgraced Bartley cashed out of CPS with pension, insurance
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Though humiliated and driven from his position as Interim General Manager at City-owned CPS Energy for failing to divulge a multi-billion gap between CPS nuclear-expansion cost estimates and its partner Toshiba, Steve Bartley isn’t suffering. Under terms of his negotiated settlement agreement, Bartley was “given” nearly two years of service time with…
