Loving Lavender
Two lavender plants are currently bloomingâ??one for the first time in about three years. Maybe remembering to water has something to do with it. In addition to making an infused simple syrup for cocktail purposes, I plan to do a lavender salt I just read about in a tome called The Breakaway Cook by Eric…
Top Kill at Ciao II
Desperate times call for desperate measures. With Ciel closed and Ciao II languishing at Damien Watel’s Stone Oak outpost, the indefatigable chef/entrepreneur has announced a revamp of the theme at Ciao II. It has become a bar and grill featuring live music and pool tables. The menu now sports offerings such as Big Fork burgers,…
Wild Animal Orphanage Update: Bye Bye Bubba
Wild Animal Orphanage endured yet another tough month, capped off with the euthanization of Bubba, the beloved White Tiger. The start of May brought new management, with husband-and-wife team Jamie and Michelle Cryer assuming the Director and Chairman of the Board slots, respectively, after the board members fired Nicole Garcia as CEO in a messy…
Bus Rapid Transit is muy verde (if not muy rapido)
Queque ventured to one of VIA’s three public meetings on the ballyhooed bus rapid transit systemto be launched between the Medical Center and the Westside down Fredericksburg Road, and came away impressed, just not with the whole “rapid” claim. The Thursday afternoon meeting at the Wonderland of the Americas (previously Crossroads Mall) was well attended…
Burger Blowout
I seem to be on a burger kick lately. You need to know that this is not normal. It must have been Bunsenburger that started the ball rolling, and the last stop was Timbo’s near the Pearl. Theirs is a good example of a traditional burger, and fans of relatively flat patties abundantly garnished with…
Give Me Liberty…
“It’s never too late to enter a convent,” proclaims the Liberty Bar at the Convent website. Love itâ??especially considering that the move from the venerable old location to the new, originally scheduled for May 26, is now announced as 11:00 a.m. June 2. Restaurants always open later than they first think. Maybe even later than…
Attention idle rich actors: Buy a private workshop with Robert Duvall
Oscar winning thespian extraordinaire Robert Duvall (you might remember him from such films as Four Christmases, Secondhand Lions, John Q, and Deep Impact) is currently auctioning himself off on ebay. One lucky (and extremely wealthy) SOB will offer to pay more than anyone else for a private acting class with Duvall and his wife, Luciana…
The Square
The Square Director: Nash Edgerton Screenwriter: Nash Edgerton Cast: David Roberts, Claire van der Boom, Joel Edgerton, Anthony Hayes Release Date: 2010-05-28 Rated: R Genre: Film Our Rating: 3.50 The Edgerton brothers’ short film, Spider, gives you a good preview of what you’re in for with their starless, down-under noir, The Square. An understated setup…
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Director: Mike Newell Screenwriter: Mike Newell Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina Release Date: 2010-05-28 Rated: PG-13 Genre: Film Our Rating: 2.50 Movies based on video games have a history of overall suckiness. It doesn’t matter how good or bad the game is; watching flesh-and-blood…
Final warning, kids: Josiah Film Fest entries due
Filmmakers under 21 take note: If I show up in any of your movies, I’m totally telling the cops you lied about your age. Also, get your entries for Urban-15’s Josiah Youth Media Festival in the mail right this instant, young man/lady/man-lady, or you’ll be sorry. The final date you can drop your masterwork in…
Sci Am ranks fusion as a longshot this century
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com While I sometimes find myself at odds with the conclusions that Wired writers and editors reach on energy matters (Have you got something truly massive? Lots of blinky lights? With an impossibly long-lived waste stream? They’re probably for it.), I frequently find myself in stride with Scientific American. Another case in point…
Can County Get Ventura Heights Out Of Lien Times?
“The Legislature is a Patsy for Homebuilders!” That’s County Judge Nelson Wolff in yesterday’s Bexar County Commissioners Court expressing his frustration with flimsy state law that allows for messes to develop like the one currently found in Ventura Heights, an unincorporated subdivision near Converse. In response to resident after resident pleading during public commentary for…
Gov & Country: On â??Rick’s Camp’ and Bill White’s Honor Guard
Would-be Guv Bill White, apparently okay with cameras. Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Seems like ever since the Gov heroically rescued his daughter’s puppy, the victim of a lone coyote’s gaze, which every True Texan knows to be an obvious signal of evil intent (refer to the Great Coyote Eye-Plucking War of 1889), questions about a little…
Infinite Arms
Infinite Arms Composer: Band of Horses Conductor: Band of Horses Label: Columbia Release Date: 2010-05-26 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Last time around, Bed Bridwell was seeing ghosts. On Band of Horses’ third album, he’s back in the real world, kicking around in factories, kitchens, and boyhood homes. The people and places Bridwell visits on Infinite…
Lisa Frank, Leg Sweeper, Blackie, XRY, Sex Bomb Baby
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-05-26 Betcha you’ve already made a guess at what a band ironically named after cutesy-folder fashioner Lisa Frank that’s holding “sorta our first album release” at a house party and boasts song titles such as “Grrlz Just Wanna Have Fun,” “MegaBitch!” and (our personal favorite) “Fuck Luv, Eat Pizza” sounds like.…
Riverwalk Jazz Shows at the Pearl
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-05-26 The Jim Cullum Jazz Band will be joined by piano legend Dick Hyman and revered vocalist Catherine Russell for this concert series which will be broadcast live from the Pearl Stable Thursday evening. Both of these visiting artists boast resumes that might leave you feeling like an underachiever: Touted for…
Cocktails for a Cause
Release Date: 2010-05-26 What could be better than unwinding with friends over after-work cocktails and appetizers? Knowing that every penny you spend doing so is being donated to cute, innocent, four-legged critters in need. For the first time ever, we’re throwing a swanky mixer benefiting the Animal Defense League of Texas, a nonprofit, no-kill shelter…
Hellzapoppin Sideshow Revue featuring Zamora the Torture King
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-05-26 Billed as a “kiddie show for adults,” a “hellacious fountain of youth,” and “the world’s largest and greatest touring circus sideshow,” the Hellzapoppin Sideshow Revue has made appearances on the National Geographic Channel and toured Sweden with Marilyn Manson. This Sunday (after nu-metalheads Saliva, Sevenboard, Lokey, and Carmeci have burst…
CineMundo at Main Plaza presents Viva Las Vegas
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-05-26 If it’s a meaty plot you’re after, 1964’s Viva Las Vegas is the wrong place to look. The original trailer promises the film is the “swingin’est, singin’est, grooviest, lovin’est entertainment sensation it has ever been your luck to enjoy.” Variety commented on the film’s unique ability to “dazzle the eye,…
The Bamboozle Roadshow
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-05-26 Although some readers may feel cheated that Third Eye Blind won’t be joining the SA leg of the Bamboozle Roadshow, we’re still wondering how Six Flags is going to host 14 bands in one day. Featured bamboozlers include Good Charlotte, Hanson, All Time Low, Boys Like Girls, Cartel, Forever the…
Duquesne University Tamburitzans
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-05-26 Formed more than 70 years ago, the Duquesne University Tamburitzans bills itself as “America’s longest-running multicultural song and dance company.” The elaborately costumed troupe showcases music from Bulgaria, Serbia, Bavaria, Slovenia, Greece, Poland, Russia, and Hungary, played on long-necked, Eastern European stringed instruments called tamburitzas. Hailing from Pittsburgh, highlights from…
MacGruber!
MacGruber Director: Jorma Taccone Screenwriter: Jorma Taccone Cast: Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Philippe, Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe, Maya Rudolph Release Date: 2010-05-26 Rated: R Genre: Film Our Rating: 4.50 If there’s a sober and devastating caveat to be rubber-stamped (dramatically and with echo by curiously stern teenage box-office employees) upon just-purchased tickets for MacGruber (and…
AmeriVespa: Lucha Libre
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-05-26 After all the visiting scooterati tire of riding around and looking stylish Friday, you can bet your wheels they’ll land at the Friendly Spot for a party that gets our vote for general awesomeness. The ferocious, masked warriors of M.A.L.L. (Mexican American Lucha Libre) will be out in full force…
Skittles: a legend
This Is Happening Composer: LCD Soundsystem Conductor: LCD Soundsystem Label: DFA Release Date: 2010-05-26 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording If getting through an entire LCD Soundsystem record never gave you trouble before, you’re not going to object now. This Is Happening typifies what people love — and what some hate — about James Murphy in even…
AmeriVespa
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-05-26 Do you feel sexier this week, just living here, despite (maybe because of?) the way your clothes will cling to the most ample of your body parts for the next five months? It’s not, of course, the weather. It’s not the roasted jalapeños on your torta. It’s not (though it…
Distastefully extravagant
Sex sequel makes consumerism fun again
Evil empire
Jack Abramoff’s live action film
Brothers
Brothers Composer: The Black Keys Conductor: The Black Keys Label: Nonesuch Release Date: 2010-05-26 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney aren’t brothers, but they might as well be. The Akron duo has been together since they were in their teens, and they work together like tuned-in siblings: The Black Keys…
The ArchAndroid
The ArchAndroid Composer: Janelle Monae Conductor: Janelle Monae Label: Atlantic Release Date: 2010-05-26 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Does it break some sort of music-criticism decorum to insist that you buy an album when I don’t, technically, understand what the holy hell’s going on with it? Screw it. If I wait until I know enough to…
Dear Uncle Mat
Dear Uncle Mat, I need a way out and fast. Well, maybe not too fast, but I need to open a door or a window or a crack in the floor. I need to break up with my boyfriend. He is a loser. He hasn’t worked since last summer and has turned into a lazy…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Mozart once challenged his friend Haydn to play a harpsichord piece he’d written. Haydn tried, but stopped partway through when the musical score called for him to play a note in the middle of the keyboard even though his right hand was fully occupied at the high end and his left…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican, I have a sister. I read your column each time it comes out in the Tucson Weekly. Once, we were talking about all the hatred against Mexicans in our state and my sister said, “Sis, why do they hate Mexicans so much in Arizona? Why do they hate us so much?” I asked…
The replacements
Watching Mike Clancey lead Tuesday’s weekly jam session at Trey’s House, it’s easy to forget that he’s doing anything other than rocking out, but Trey’s House, just south of Chris Madrid’s on Blanco, offers holistic healing for traumatic brain injury sufferers. His band comprises both full-time musicians and club members, leading them to amble along…
Dutch Tejano?
Earlier this month, when Dutch homebuilder and proud parent William Verheyden filled out a survey for the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, he answered the question, “How did you hear about the Tejano Conjunto Festival?” by simply writing, “Friend of Flaco Jimenez.” While this is a true statement, it leaves out an important component in his…
Imitation Korn
Who’s the worst version of Korn? James “Munky” Shaffer isn’t saying. “Man, we’re still a bad version of us,” he laughs. “I just hope people show up tonight.” Guitarists for 17-year-old, genre-shaping, platinum-selling bands still big enough to guarantee hotel room after-parties till 4 in the morning, wake-up calls at 4 in the afternoon, and…
Live & Local
Don’t go looking for Dixie Hammer on MySpace, ’cause you won’t find them there — or anywhere else in cyberspace, for that matter. Frontman Milton Robichaux (guitarist and, on the few songs that have lyrics, lead vocalist) doesn’t even have a personal computer. Also, Robichaux, formerly of Big Drag (myspace.com/bigdragtx) and Happy Dogs (who, according…
The Sound & The Fury
I know what you’re thinking, San Antonio. “Geez, guys, you do so much for our music scene, how can we give something back?” Thanks for asking. We need your damn songs to stream from our Mixx Tape, post haste. Go to sacurrent.com/localmusichear/aboutmixtape.asp and download a release form, then email it along with your song to…
A Riesling romance
If pinot noir is “the heartbreak grape,” Riesling has to be its feel-good counterpart. Though, like pinot, it prefers cooler climates, it is nevertheless planted around the globe. And, unlike that one-note hussy that is chardonnay, this sweetheart offers something for everyone. She can be voluptuously honeyed and lush, and she can exhibit steely slate…
Insecure at home
Standing deep in the heart of Texas, approximately, and in the shadow of the Tower of the Americas just off Durango, artist Ken Little describes his new installation: “It is a white picket fence in the shape of the United States. It’s a simple garden fence, with no gates, no way in, and no way…
Travels with Frenchie
It’s the end of the month and therefore time for another installment of Travels with Frenchie, the monthly food series in which a trio of culturally mismatched San Antonians explores the San Antonio hinterland in search of dining adventure. As always, the culinary vice squad consisted of: Frenchie (aka Fabien Jacob, celebrated local sommelier), Carlos…
Fresh actors, fresh playwrights
You can call it a pilot program,” says SAY Sí theater coordinator Joel Settles of the first annual Teatro ALAS Young Playwright’s Competition, which culminated in last weekend’s aptly titled program Wings to Fly. In March, SAY Sí extended a call for entries to dramatic writers between the ages of 16 and 21, with the…
Funeral for a super friend
The city of Excalibur is mourning a hero — and not just any hero: the super kind. Local news anchors choke back tears as they air archival footage of the fallen Captain Piledriver (Rob Barron), the most powerful and prominent of the city’s superhero league. The title character of the Overtime Theater’s The Life and…
Artist on artist action:
Hills Snyder is an artist, musician, curator, and director of Sala Diaz, one of San Antonio’s premiere alternative art spaces. Last July, he curated the tour-de-force exhibit Lonely Are the Brave at Blue Star Contemporary Art Center. On Apr 14, 2010, at 2:38 PM, SweeneyArt wrote: Just testing my interview skills. If you don’t want…
X-rated freakonomics, the vexing vice squad, ICEd out
X-RATED FREAKONOMICS Were you alarmed to read in the Express-News last week that 71 of the 257 arrests for prostitution between January 1 and mid-May this year took place along the Roosevelt and South Presa corridors? The QueQue was, and not just because we live a stone’s throw from that incorrigible red-light district. It was…
Dismantling the boys club
10:40 a.m. “I JUST SAW JENNIFER1” 10:41 “NO WAY WHERE?…U KNOCKED IT OUT?2” 10:47 “NO I WAS DRIVING BY, AND SHE CAME OUT…SHE’S CUTE.” 10:48 “YA. SHE’S REALLY SHORT…IF THAT WAS HER…SISTER LIVES WITH HER BUT I THINK SISTER IS A LITTLE TALLER.” 10:48 “SHE TOOK OFF IN THAT TRUCK YOU SAID WAS HERS.” 10:49…
Whitewashing history
Recently, the NAACP, LULAC, and the Legislative Black Caucus held yet another protest rally at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, in opposition to the State Board of Education’s new standards for social-studies courses in the public schools. The adopted changes are a blatant attempt to distort historical fact in order to teach Texas and American…
Gore in the workplace â?¦ but not on the propellor blades
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Contrary to popular opinion, reporting isn’t all about crime, death, disease, and botched Botox. News manipulators celebrate the sunny news as much as the next disenfranchised heartbroken whelp. Like when AGE Refining didn’t blow up half of South San Antonio? We cheered hearty cheers in the Current news room during that smoker…
AGE-old question: toxic spills beside the San Antonio River
Lord willin’ and the crick don’t rise: AGE on San Antonio River’s bank. Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Now that San Antonio has dodged a fireball at AGE Refining on South Presa and the company fumbling its way out of bankruptsy reorganization, it may be time to consider â?? should the plant fail to recover its bearings…
