ACRG Close Out Fifth Season
Last night, the Alamo City Rollergirls’ Las Tejanas team took on Dallas troupe Assassination City in a season-ending bout that was important for a few different reasons. First of all, the close of the 2010 season marked the fifth full year of flat track roller derby in San Antonio. A line of boisterous fans snaked…
TOMEE USB Controllers Keep Gaming Gangster
If you’re like me, you need a good USB game pad for your computer. Why would you be like me? I’ll get to that in a second, but first, let’s talk about the Tomee SNES USB Controller for PC and Mac. I got mine from Stone Age Gamer, specializing in old video games and mutant…
Laura Varela, filmmaker, on “As Long As I Remember: American Veteranos” on KLRN
I interviewed Laura Varela last week about her documentary As Long As I Remember: American Veteranos, about three San Antonio artists who are also veterans of the Vietnam War. It aired on Thursday night on KLRN, and you can find more info about more broadcasts on Laura Varela’s website. I hear that the documentary will…
Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
You’ve got one more chance to get down ‘n’ derby with the Alamo City Rollergirls this season. Tickets are still on sale for Sunday’s last regular season bout, pitting Las Tejanas against Assassination City at the Rollercade Skatecenter, 223 Recoleta. Visit Brownpapertickets.com, drop by the Rollercade, or purchase through any ACRG member you see…
Prepare for another wave of Lisa Frank nostalgia
Bummer! All girl fucking punk band Lisa Frank are taking a “long break” according to their announcement at last night’s show opening for Japanther. That was the only sour note in an otherwise excellent night of music at the 1011 from both predictably unpredictable Brooklyn duo Japanther (crowd-surfing half-a-song in is always a good sign,)…
My “at symbol” is Bigger Than Yours
So is my hashtag. Check out these bookends I picked up today.
Interview: Jacob Vargas
I was in college the first time I saw The Exorcist. The year was 1998 and it had been 25 years since Linda Blair first upchucked pea soup on the big screen, so I was a bit behind when it came to the horror genre. I wasn’t even born when the movie debuted in 1973,…
Space chimps’ kin headed to San Antonio research lab
Sonya Harvey sonyaharveytx@gmail.com Animal experimentation. Government involvement. Objector whistleblowing. Sound more twisted than a Bobo the Chimp caper? It’s the continuing saga of the 200-plus chimpanzees housed at the Alamogordo Primate Facility at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. Some are descendants of the infamous Coulston Foundation colony, the so-called space chimps used to…
Dude, really, look at this
So you’ve stumbled upon my blog. You were probably looking for the witty banter of Sarah Fisch but you landed here instead. The good news is that I’d like to think of myself as being at least two-thirds as witty as Sarah. In a way, I’m the second-hand Sarah. What’s the point of this? I’m…
Two women, One Blog
This blog will not save the world. It will not inspire thousands to a higher calling. It won’t provide the answers to the world’s deepest questions. It will, however, provide mild to moderate amusement in the form of snarky, goofy and sassy dialog, diatribes, videos, hastily-drawn comics and commentary on geek culture. We’ll talk technology,…
Breath=Life Force (Part 1)
Yes, ’tis true. Our breath is what gives us the vital energy we need to get through each day. Of course, food and water are important sources of energy as well…but without the breath, we’d survive, what, a couple of minutes? That fact alone is reason to give more attention to the breathing process. Most…
A video glimpse of 2nd Saturday
This was on 9/11/10. Undoubtedly the happiest 9/11 I’ve had in years. And that really is Vincent Valdez & co.s new band’s first rehearsal. EVER. Lots of good stuff that night! Forgive the roughness â?? I’m still teaching myself how to edit video.
Scratch that spider monkey alert … ‘W.C.’ is home again
This morning, staff from Primarily Primates lured “W.C.,” a two-foot-high spider monkey who slipped his enclosure recently ensuring inclusion in this week’s QueQue, into the auditorium of Concept Therapy with bananas and grapes. After, they were able to quickly dart the slender money with a tranquilizer — ending Northwest Bexar’s “ape” scare. “We are so…
Blackbird Sing
Blackbird Sing Composer: Blackbird Sing Conductor: Blackbird Sing Label: Self Release Date: 2010-09-15 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording How unfortunate that “Manxiety” opens an otherwise pleasing debut EP by the new self-described “Texicana” group Blackbird Sing. That song, also the longest on the album, begins promising enough with simple piano and acoustic guitars, but about one…
Light Chasers
Light Chasers Composer: Cloud Cult Conductor: Cloud Cult Label: Rebel Group Release Date: 2010-09-15 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording For their seventh album, environmentally conscious chamber popsters Cloud Cult blasts off on a galactic mission in 16 songs, perhaps a euphemism for the birth of Cloud Cult founder Craig Minowa’s second child. His first son died…
False Priest
False Priest Composer: Of Montreal Conductor: Of Montreal Label: Polyvinyl Release Date: 2010-09-15 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording False Priest’s cover art is a grotesque mess, which sorta sums up Of Montreal’s music. The revolving collective’s tenth album comes down from the alter-ego orgies of 2008’s Skeletal Lamping, with lots of hate (“Go away/You’re a bad…
I’m Still Here
Critic’s Pick I’m Still Here Director: Casey Affleck Screenwriter: Casey Affleck Cast: Joaquin Phoenix Release Date: 2010-09-15 Rated: NONE Genre: Film I’m Still Here proves Joaquin Phoenix is either the greatest living actor or a colossal, real-life asshole. The debate is centered on the film’s still-murky concept: Did brother-in-law/director Casey Affleck make a documentary about…
Hispanic Heritage Month Events
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-09-15 Thanks to Congress, the seven-day period President Lyndon B. Johnson originally authorized as “National Hispanic Heritage Week” back in 1968 became a month-long celebration in 1989. It’s still early in the game, but so far SAC gets the award for SA’s most enthusiastic organizer of events. A performance by Mariachi…
Icons The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 4
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-09-15 Not the only gay in the village, but definitely one of the more flamboyant ones, local celebrity Jade Esteban Estrada continues his schizophrenic foray into the world of musical comedy with ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 4. The one-man show (which premiered earlier this year…
Art Opening: FotoSeptiembre: Joan Fredrick and Mario Perez: Love Letters to San Anto (San Antonio)
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-09-15 Through photographs, diehard Saluté fans Joan Frederick and Mario Perez pay tribute to the storied venue. The pair’s official FotoSeptiembre exhibition Love Letters to San Anto captures the essence of a city that wouldn’t look or sound quite the same without conjunto music and the dancing it inspires. After the…
San Antonio Opera Presents Double Bill: Suor Angelica & Pagliacci
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-09-15 San Antonio Opera’s 15th season kicks off with a double bill brimming with scandal. After giving birth to a bastard child, Angelica, an attractive, well-to-do youngster, is forced to become a nun. After seven years in the habit, Suor Angelica gets some wretched news from back home and (momentarily forgetting…
El Padre: The Story of Hidalgo’s Revolution
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-09-15 Trust the great and powerful SAY Sí to dovetail its accomplished youth arts programming with Hispanic Heritage Month and the centenary of the Mexican Revolution. Its Teatro ALAS high school performance company and Teatro ALAS middle school troupe will perform their original play: El Padre: The Story of Hidalgo’s Revolution,…
Japanther, XRY, Lisa Frank
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-09-15 San Antonio’s music scene can be so random, can’t it? We’re used to being ignored, musically speaking, the Jan Brady to Austin’s Marcia. Sometimes though, awesome bands surprise us and act like San Antonio is what it is: a huge metropolis and interstate highway hub just a quick jaunt down…
â??Fantastic Fuerzas/Forcesâ?
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-09-15 Patty Ortiz curates Guadalupe Gallery’s Fantastic Fuerzas/Forces, an exhibition that explores the influence and significance of comics in contemporary art. Whether political or poppy in approach, artists Juan Felipe Salcedo, Gustavo Higuera, Angel Rodríguez-Diaz, Dulce Pinzón, Nadin Ospina, Jaime Higa, Xavier Garza, Rafael Fajardo, Albert Alvarez, and David Almaguer combine…
THIS THURSDAY, Sept 16, a San Anto documentary airs!
Laura Varela, an El Paso-born, San Antonio-based artist and filmmaker (also of Luminaria 2009, “EnlightTents” fame at Alamo Plaza), has screened her extraordinary documentary, As long As I Remember: American Veteranos, in festivals and libraries and community centers like…well, a campaigning soldier. This Thursday night, el 16 de Septiembre, the documentary â?? which documents three…
San Anto artist veterans get their due on 16 de Spetiembre: documentary on KLRN and nationwide!
THIS THURSDAY, Sept 16, a San Anto documentary airs! Laura Varela, an El Paso-born, San Antonio-based artist and filmmaker (also of Luminaria 2009, “EnlightTents” fame at Alamo Plaza), has screened her extraordinary documentary, As long As I Remember: American Veteranos, in festivals and libraries and community centers like…well, a campaigning soldier. This Thursday night, el…
The Queque – September 15, 2010
Bears bounce Observing the meltdown down the road at Wild Animal Orphanage, Lynn Cuny, founder and director at Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, one of the few wildlife groups remaining untainted by major scandal, is openly critical of WAO’s operations. “There have been problems there as long as I can remember,” she said. “They didn’t seem…
Danceless disco
Consulting is something I do religiously before going anywhere (and something I found extremely useful as a recent voyeur of the Hollywood lands). So, when zero results turned up for Cowabunga, I grew a little concerned, especially when I turned to Yelp and found nothing but past event fliers on Myspace pages and, to my…
THE SAY-TOWN LOWDOWN
When times are tough—and they haven’t been this tough in a long, long while—systems tend to crave fruit. I’m not referring to inner organs and ripe plums; what I mean instead is that large institutions, including government at all levels, balance budgets by chopping off the lowest-hanging fruit. City and state agencies are being asked…
¡Ask A Mexican!
Dear Mexican, I work at a large hotel in Orange County where 80 percent of the employees are Latin American, primarily Mexican. I love all of them and enjoy working with them. However, the one thing that bothers me is that when they are speaking to each other, they only speak in Spanish. They do…
Dear Uncle Mat
Dear Uncle Mat, I have a Facebook and Twitter stalker, and I don’t know what to do. I know him; he is dating a friend of mine. It started out innocently at first, with OK compliments that were totally appropriate … sort of. Except, of course, that he is dating my friend, so I’m not…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19):When teen pop star Miley Cyrus appeared on David Letterman’s late-night TV talk show, band leader Paul Schaeffer asked her if she lip-syncs to pre-recorded music during her performances. Miley replied that no, she never fakes it. For evidence, she said, anyone could go watch a Youtube clip from one of her…
Avoiding Waikiki
The sight of Diamond Head at the end of Waikiki Beach is one of the world’s most recognized images. Stay long enough, though, and you discover that Waikiki is not really Hawaii. The only locals there are serving you, and the Hawaiian restaurants you encounter are decorated with tiki torches and generic Polynesian items, where…
Cafe Citlali
The allure of eating in an art setting has been exploited by museums for generations; lately, high-art institutions such as New York’s MOMA have even shot for stars in the Times. Nobody would accuse Gallista Gallery of being a high-art institution. Nor is Café Citlali, the licuado-and-taco joint Gallista houses, a candidate for estrellas of…
Saving Texans from Texans
The highest point in Texas is Guadalupe Peak, 90 miles east of El Paso. A low point was Attorney General Greg Abbott’s February lawsuit intended to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions in the state. There are many other low points in a state that celebrates its Wild West…
Welk without bubbles
Jersey Boys is perhaps the slickest musical to play the Majestic in recent years, and that’s no backhanded compliment: it’s undeniably entertaining — with some dynamite performances — as well as almost eerily cinematic in its fluidity. Indeed, Des McAnuff’s direction is so assured and effective that it almost, but not quite, obscures the fascinating…
Kick-Ass Disaster
Last year, local rock ’n’ rollers the Heroine declared themselves one of the hardest working bands in the San Antonio biz (see “Men at Work,” July 1, 2009). This year, they’re proving they damn well have the devotion to back it up. Their unrelenting gig schedule and their straight-up, sweat-soaked, kick-in-the-teeth live show guarantees survival…
Carry on
If you want to find a band that epitomizes the American rock ‘n’ roll dream, you couldn’t do a whole lot better than Kansas, six guys from Topeka who made it big. At some point, most red-blooded, musically inclined American teenagers fantasize about getting out of that no-account town and reaching for the stars, a…
10 minutes with Kiss
Tommy Thayer, who officially replaced founding guitarist Ace Frehley eight years ago in the original Fame Monster band, KISS, talks Gaga, make-up, and YouTube. When you play with KISS, do a lot of people cheer for Ace Frehley? Honestly, I never got any of that. You might think otherwise, but I’ve never seen that. Certainly…
The Sound & the Fury
Pop Pistol’s first national tour this summer went so well, it’s hitting the road again. To kick things off, they’re playing with Blowing Trees and the Rafiki Project Saturday night at Jack’s Patio Bar (3030 Thousand Oaks, jacksbarsa.com). Further north, they’ll revisit some of their prior circuit’s Midwestern stops and get a chance to play…
Clunky lies the crown
It’s been popular since at least 2008 to compare our naughty aughts to the Roaring ’20s, and the Great Recession to its rhyming predecessor. On the zeitgeist’s coattails, Terence Winter (of The Sopranos) and Martin Scorsese have created Boardwalk Empire from the eponymous nonfiction novel that chronicles the Atlantic City criminal enterprise of Enoch “Nucky”…
Down and Dirty Down Under
Like the first lines of Albert Camus’s The Stranger (“Mother died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.”), the opening scene of Animal Kingdom is a study in filial affectlessness. While police remove the corpse of his mother, dead from a cocaine overdose, 17-year-old Josh “J” Cody (Frecheville) gazes impassively at a TV game show.…
Horns of dilemna
Driving a well-used pickup truck with his tree-climbing dog “Cory” in the bed, David Bamberger wheels out of a picturesque field up slippery limestone scrabble. The day is a Hill County idyll, with one tour-jarring revelation. As we climb a small rise, an elevated deer blind comes into view. Bamberger’s displeasure is obvious. Nodding back…
Top Dead Center Will Open For KISS
Last Saturday, members of San Antonio rock outfit Top Dead Center got a career-altering phone call — the band was informed they would be opening a show for rock ’n’ roll icons KISS in one week. Back in June, KISS teamed up with Guitar Center and Eventful to create a competition that would allow unsigned…
Have Weedwacker, Will Fight
I spent last night watching people get their heads chopped off, their stomachs sliced open, their arms nailed to wooden planks, and their intestines pulled from their stomachs and used as rope. Such was the context of the blood and gore-ridden Machete, a movie that juxtaposes the politically charged immigration debate with the possibility of Mexican…
Troubled WAO entering talks with international wildlife group
Observing the meltdown down the road at Wild Animal Orphanage, Lynn Cuny, founder and director at Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, one of the few wildlife groups in the area still untainted by major scandal, was openly critical of WAO’s operations. “There have been problems there as long as I can remember,” she said. “They didn’t…
Texas AG finds climate denier lawsuits offer cheap headlines
As much as we detest the manipulations of our state attorney general — what with all of Greg Abbott’s suing of the federal government over national health care (if we get it here, how long before the Afghani’s start to grumble?) and objecting to the EPA’s attempt to reduce global-warming gases (what global warming?) in…
