piñata protest at accordion fest
In case you missed it … our local conjunto renegades tore up Arneson Theatre on the River Walk this weekend. (Video by Sonya Harvey.)
Let Purple Be Your Power Color
Want to kick-start the Halloween festivities early? Look no further. San Antonio Roller Derby and the SA Zombie Walk give you the perfect reason to dress up all week. SARD preps for Hallow’s Eve this Sunday with Monster Mash-Up — skaters from around Texas will mash it up on the track in a Halloween-themed exhibition.…
5MB: 10/17
1MB Stock market website The Street is reporting that the used video game industry pulled close to $2 B in 2009. Weigh that against an overall sales figure of $19.99 B in 2009 and you can see why game publishers want people buying fewer used games. That’s almost 10% of the pie they’re never seeing…
Video interview with the Constellations
At Austin City Limits festival last weekend, we saw Atlanta funk rock group the Constellations perform live. We had such a good time that when we heard they were swinging down to SA on tour with Electric 6, we immediately asked if they wanted to be the Sound and the Fury’s guinea pigs for the…
Danny Bevins: American Smart Ass
I love the fact that being a smart ass is a quality that’s frowned upon by the management of Six Flags, but an absolute necessity for Stand Up comedy and like Stand Up comedy not everyone can do it well. You see it takes a true master to pull off smart while being an ass…
Rock Band 3 looks to bridge reality/fiction gap
The Gentleman Gamer is proud to announce the arrival of a new voice on gaming at The San Antonio Current: Officer D-Pad. Here’s his righteous preview on Rock Band 3. — Harmonix’s third entry into the Rock Band series is taking all other rhythm games, turning them upside down and shaking them for all the…
‘Beauty’ offers a lite spin on well-worn story
Thomas Jenkins tjenkins@trinity.edu After last season’s surprise cancellation of 101 Dalmations — a production so troubled it actually closed on the road — Broadway Across America has substituted a return engagement of Beauty and the Beast, the eternally heart-warming tale of compulsory exogamy. Expanded from the hit 1991 animated film by Ashman and Menken, Beauty…
ACL Photos
Finally! We have photos. It isn’t easy combing through thousands of em. And no, I’m not a professional photographer. Obviously.
Brotherhood Plays CD Release Show
Local metal heavyweights Brotherhood celebrate their new EP, The Struggle, with a release show this Saturday, October 16th, at the White Rabbit. Drummer Dave McConnell said the show is $5 to get in and $5 for a 30 minute EP that the band poured everything they had into — he wants you to spread the…
Are You a Sugar Addict?
Chances are, we’ve all experienced its effects…the highs, the lows, the cravings, the withdrawal… Refined sugar is one of the most addictive subtances. According to some research it has been shown to be as addictive as cocaine and heroin. So what is it about getting that sugar fix? And what can you do to ween…
It’s Good to Know You’re Not Positive
In the 80’s, as AIDS was rearing its ugly head in the gay community, I felt something akin to a “call from God” to volunteer at the newly established San Antonio Aids Foundation (SAAF). I began by making visits — bringing conversation, hand-holding, magazines, and sometimes food to hospitalized AIDS patients. Soon, I was given…
Deer Vibes + many more at ALS benefit tonight
I ran into the very nice dudes from Deer Vibes at King’s Court Frankfurter Express last night. They were super stoked to tell me about the ALS Association benefit they’re playing tonight at the 1011, 8pm, $8, 1011 Ave. B, theteneleven.com Unfortunately for them, I had my camera on me. Voila, the good sports at…
Interview: Tom Six
It’s usually never a good sign for a filmmaker when people get up in the middle of your movie and leave the theater shaking their heads in disgust. But for Dutch director/writer Tom Six, it’s kind of flattering. “Sometimes I think, ‘Oh, it’s a shame that you walked out because you’re going to miss so…
OMG the ‘Ween! Ur Never 2 Old to LOL
In the interest of honesty and total transparency, we feel the need to clear the air: we can’t wait for Halloween. It’s candy, late night adventures and dressing up — what’s not to like? And if you’re like us, you’ve been talking about it for, oh, months. The perfect Halloween costume takes time — sometimes…
Make a Safe Sex Commitment
In October, part of the on-going effort to protect our brothers and sisters is to bring awareness of all types of gay issues. One of the most crucial problems facing gay communities of color is a commitment to safe sex practices. The National Latino AIDS Awareness Day was created in 2003, as a mobilizing vehicle…
Pixies play 33 songs for the 33 Chilean miners
Everything about this makes me love the Pixies more than I already do. Last night, the Pixies played Santiago, Chile, the same night the miners trapped for 69 days were rescued. To honor them, they played 33 freaking songs in one set. Here’s what Frank Black had to say via a written statement: “We were…
Potential CPS Energy carbon solution would turn CO2 into roadways
Even if our political leadership never recognizes climate change as a policy priority, pending federal legislation is forcing folks inside city-owned CPS Energy to consider places to hide politically volatile carbon dioxide emitted from their growing collection of coal plants. One company Cris Eugster, the utility’s sustainability officer, mentioned in a conversation this week for…
Pairs of Things and Other Stories
Pairs of Things and Other Stories Composer: Hotel Brotherhood Conductor: Hotel Brotherhood Label: King Condor-Blackmott Release Date: 2010-10-13 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Chicago-based songwriter Ross Cashiola has managed to put together Marfa’s closest approximation of an “it” band. Under the Hotel Brotherhood banner, the sculptor and part-time Marfa resident (sparked by a Chinati Foundation internship)…
Red
Critic’s Pick Red Director: Robert Schwentke Screenwriter: Robert Schwentke Cast: Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis Release Date: 2010-10-13 Rated: NONE Genre: Film Never mind the swift hand-to-hand combat skills Zoe Saldaña shows off in The Losers or the way Angelina Jolie leaps off highways and onto the tops of big rigs in…
Real Stories from Real Soldiers: Repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” with guests Eric Alva & the Sanctuary Project
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-10-13 If you missed Monday’s opportunity to be photographed emerging from the closet — don’t cry: National Coming Out Week (Oct 7-15) activities continue through Friday! On Thursday, a series of talks (featuring members of SAC’s Onstage Drama Club) will be held in the Visual Arts and Technology Center (950 Lewis…
Mushroomhead, Final Trigger, Koheleth, & Stygian
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-10-13 Not unlike GWAR, members of Cleveland-based electro-industrial-monster-metal band Mushroomhead lurk behind frightening costumes and junior-high-worthy pseudonyms (Jeffrey Nothing, Skinny, Gravy, and Pig Benis to name a few). A (recently-ended) longtime rivalry with Slipknot (allegedly fueled by the two groups having a bit too much in common) hasn’t kept Mushroomhead from…
2nd Annual Mole Throwdown
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-10-13 For $20, guests at Centro Cultural Aztlan’s 2nd Annual Mole Throwdown can sample mole dishes from a variety of local restaurants (iced-down cervezas will come in handy for the fiery varieties), bid on artwork donated by more than 40 of the gallery’s featured artists, channel their inner American Idol in…
Ale Fest 2010
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-10-13 This Saturday, we’ll be in HemisFair Park “working” very hard to make sure each of our guests makes good use of the 100+ beers on tap at Ale Fest. Should you happen to find room in your stomach for something other than beer, Alamo Drafthouse, Lion & Rose, and Infinity…
Brotherhood CD Release with Lonestar Driveby, Under Nothing, My City Underwater, Immortal Guardian, & Top Dead Center
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-10-13 San Antonio metalheads Brotherhood are releasing their first album since replacing their lead singer this summer. Actually, the former singer was already the only remaining member of the band, so the group truly does have “new everything” as it succinctly proclaims on its MySpace page. While the songs off the…
San Antonio Reggae Festival
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-10-13 Hard to imagine, we know, but starting Thursday, a certain stretch of Austin Highway will be as close as you can get to Jamaica without hopping a plane to Kingston. Unique vendors (including booths selling clothing, accessories, and authentic Jamaican food) and a top-notch lineup of touring and local bands…
2010 International Accordion Fest
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-10-13 For an instrument that’s nearly as loathed as it is loved, the accordion managed to infiltrate the globe like one hot virus. For ten years, San Antonio’s International Accordion Festival has sought to inoculate music-lovers with the humble little instrument’s wide-reaching history and innovative uses. The keys to the accordion’s…
Revolucion: Into the Third Century featuring “Mujeres de Guerra, Celebraciones Con “Bailes de Jalisco,” Traditional folk songs by Azul Barrientos, Revolucion into the Third Century
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-10-13 Think we’re done with the Revolución? Not by a disparo largo. At the Carver Community Cultural Center this Thursday and Friday, check out dance dance Revolución: Into the Third Century, presented by the Erison Dancers, led by Chicago DanceMakers’ Forum Award-winning choreographer (and Palo Alto dance instructor) Erica Wilson-Perkins. The…
Tiger Suit
Tiger Suit Composer: KT Tunstall Conductor: KT Tunstall Label: Virgin Release Date: 2010-10-13 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording KT Tunstall calls the music on her third album “nature techno.” And that’s a pretty fair summation of the grooves found on Tiger Suit — a mix of songs rooted in traditional folk music but tweaked with bursts…
Simian Mobile Disco Is Fixed
Simian Mobile Disco Is Fixed Composer: Various Artists Conductor: Various Artists Label: Defend Music Release Date: 2010-10-13 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording The Simian Mobile Disco is Fixed mix celebrates cheeky monkey Londoners James Ford and Jas Shaw’s new residency at New York City’s FIXED parties. The duo’s spastic collection ranges from the spacey “Eternal Night”…
The socialist networks
“What’re you rebelling against, Johnny?” “Whaddya got?” – Marlon Brando, The Wild One. Expect the unexpected in Carlos, which opens with a car bomb explosion followed by a TV news recap as New Order’s “Dreams Never End” churns on the film’s soundtrack. Welcome to the world of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (aka Carlos the Jackal). Running…
How to suckseed in bizness
***Show cancelled. Please see bottom of this story for details and special Current giveaway offers.*** Funny coincidence: ICP stands for Insane Clown Posse, but it also stands for Integral Capital Partners, an investment team that searches out expansion-stage private companies. I can tell you from my overflowing mailbox that the goofy hip hop ICP we…
¡Ask A Mexican!
Dear Mexican, What is it with the Mexican hang-up on body parts? When General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was struck by a cannonball at the knee in one of his 8,000 wars, his right leg was removed from the knee down. When he returned to Mexico City, he ordered a state funeral be held…
I danced with a zombie
Dr. ‘S’ Battles the Sex-Crazed Reefer Zombies: The Movie: The Musical demonstrates the notion that zombies are funny. Writer-director Bryan Ortiz’s band of weed-fuelled horndog undead teens is energetic and jocular, with a James Dean-hipster vibe, sexy and silly and in-on-the-joke. OK, wait, let me try to do a largely spoiler-free plot summary. It’s Cold…
It’s Alive! Again!
The musical that won’t die haunts the Woodlawn. A mere two years after Richard O’Brien’s stage musical The Rocky Horror Show premiered in London, 20th Century Fox released Jim Sharman’s film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Two years after that, the lines between stage and screen blurred when TRHPS began attracting mixed nuts for…
Bozo assault
There’s a numbing sameness to only-in-America Horatio Alger stories: with persistence and determination, underdog succeeds in business and life by inventing or cultivating a contraption, process, or ability that catches on with millions of people. It’s rare that someone achieves renown by purchasing the rights to an existing character — an over-the-top clown, say —…
Dear Uncle Mat
Dear Uncle Mat, I took in a friend as a roommate when he lost his job. I have, or I should say had, a second bedroom I use as an office and let him crash there. Then when he was stressed about his storage bill, I let him move his stuff into my garage. He…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Until recently, no cricket had ever been observed pollinating a flower. All the evidence showed, in fact, that crickets don’t help flowers — they devour them. Then one night last January on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, researchers discovered that the species known as the raspy cricket was…
Refinery row
From the day Búho got started, the band members wanted to document everything: videos of rehearsals and live shows, audio cuts, and graphic projects galore. In deciding to be a noise-rock project with two guitarists, one drummer, an assortment of effects pedals, and no bassist, they found themselves going down a creative road less traveled,…
Rosedale Highs
The crisp October evening wind blows through the door of the Mix as the Rosedale Highs sets up. Neon blue light gently engulfs band members Chris Gavito (drums/vocals), Dustin Olinick (bass/vocals) and Jason Trevino (vocals/guitar), creating a smoky electric vibe. The band members have arrived dressed like gentlemen, sporting black pants, vests, ties, and sport…
The Sound & the Fury
Who knew UTSA books touring shows sometimes? Not me. But now I do since being bombarded with press releases from the camp of Ernie Halter, an acoustic nu-soul crooner from California. On Wednesday evening, he plays the Fountain Courtyard at University Center up 1604 way (One UTSA Circle, (210) 458-6044, utsa.edu). Halter appears to be…
The Queque – October 13, 2010
Spanking Mercado El Que snuck into the Pearl Stables for a bit of stall mucking last week at a panel discussion on the future of water in the region. What we found was un dais populated by all the usual aquatic suspects: expensive ties (and one power suit) from SAWS, BexarMet, Texas Water Development Board,…
CO2 smackdown
One by one, the blindfolded children step up and extend their decorated broom handles. Their attacks on the coal plant piñata range from the tearfully timid to irredeemably power-mad. “Show us how much you hate coal!” a woman eggs them on. It’s Global Work Day at the Roots of Change Community Garden behind the Southwest…
Bravo! Italian Restaurant
We’d stopped at La Cantera intending to eat somewhere else entirely, but, honestly, our noses led us to Bravo! Italian Restaurant. Emilio, an upbeat but not one of those over-the-top “I’m your new best friend” kind of servers, put us at ease that we’d made the right decision. His down-to-Earth attitude and deep knowledge of…
Hero of gyros
The popular image of Greek restaurants isn’t terribly new — some bouzouki music, a mural of Santorini (the island that must have the strictest homeowners’ association in the world), and someone asking, “You like-a da sauce?” every few minutes. Mina and Dimi’s Greek House has been simultaneously conforming to and resisting that stereotype for over…
Jeret Peña at Le Midi
Jeret Peña keeps a mirrored tie rack behind the bar he mans at downtown’s Le Midi. An experienced bartender with stints at places as varied as Pesca, Bohanan’s, and The Green Lantern, Peña disdains the term “mixologist,” but that doesn’t mean he’s averse to a little showmanship. Hence the ties, the patterned shirts, the suspenders,…
Bottle & tap
A few pints of autumn The weather has been darn near perfect for more than two weeks, which for San Antonio is an embarrassment of riches that only improves accompanied by a good pint of beer. Beer bars with patios are the first requirement. Second is a great beer selection, even if that means a…
Gay Orphans Suffer Due To New Gay Adoption Law
Many Organizations are distressed over the recent proposed law to ban Gay Adoptions. If passed the new ordinance would not only stop Gay couples from adopting children… but also prohibit the adoption of Homosexual children. “We just feel that ‘Gaybies’ (Gay Babies) have an unfair advantage over straight children due in large part to them…
Teaching Tolerance
Ferg_e – A Mom On A Mission Hey there. My name is Ferg_e and I am a mom on a mission. My mission is to make this world a better place for my son Bradyn to grow up in. I have a few strategies in place to make this a reality, one of them is…
On Zombies, and “Dr. S”
(Author’s note: This is an essay about zombies inspired by the super-fun and worthwhile musical Dr. “S” Battles the Sex-Crazed Reefer Zombies: The Movie: The Musical, which plays at the Overtime Theater until Nov 6. For a much shorter and more straight-up review of that show, see tomorrow’s paper issue of the Current.) I’ve always…
