Cover Story
Tony Harris Dishes About Fashion Week San Antonio
“Every morning you wake up and you ask the questions: ‘What are you going to eat?’ and ‘What are you going to wear?'” Local fashion producer Tony Harris tells me this amidst a series of iPhone dings and brief side conversations with patrons at Ocho Lounge in the Hotel Havana. He’s totally right, I think,…
An Open Letter to Phil Collins: Please Sing the National Anthem for the Spurs
Sir Phil Collins, LVO, Indulge us for a moment. It’s the national anthem ceremony before tipoff at the AT&T Center, just 4.7 miles away from the sacred ground of the Alamo. Lights go dim, players line up on the foul lines and the American flag replaces the wraparound stadium e-ads for just a moment. Phil,…
Here is Mayor Ivy Taylor Doing the Wobble
There is not much context to go along with this video, but we’re not really sure it even needs context. So here’s Mayor Ivy Taylor doing the wobble like it’s 2012. Now if only we can have her instruct people to film in landscape, then she would be the most perfect mayor ever. (function(d, s,…
Texas is Funny Updates: Glish Releases Album, Cherry Cola Champions Signs to Label
Glish Releases Glish on November 4th Texas is Funny Records’ heavy hitters Glish have just released their anticipated first full length, Glish, featuring eight tracks of dreamy, ethereal shoegaze. You can stream the album on Soundcloud, or purchase Glish on iTunes to support the aural arts. Cherry Cola Champions Signs to Texas Is Funny Joining…
10 Things You Have to Do This Weekend
Thu 11/6 “In the Belly of the Beast” Employing a signature blend of landscape painting, woodcutting, text and Spanish/English code-switching, El Paso native Ricky Armendariz conjures ominous scenes while nodding to everything from Bob Dylan song lyrics and Greek mythology to Native American icons and the U.S./Mexico border. Fittingly, Armendariz likens the intricate cuts he…
So It Turns Out the Dewhurst Ballot Mistake Wasn’t Fake After All
Yesterday, we reported about a tweet sent by Governor-elect Greg Abbott about faulty voting machines in Bexar County. Abbott remarked on a tweet originally sent by Bexar County voter Jade Stanford, who claimed that her ballot screen incorrectly displayed David Dewhurst’s name as the Republican candidate for governor instead. Bexar County Election officials never returned…
Nicole Kidman Loses the Plot in Rowan Jaffe’s ‘Before I Go to Sleep’
Hollywood’s prestige season looms, and if prestige is a season, and that season is fall, then Before I Go To Sleep, directed by Rowan Joffe, is the first leaf that plucks itself from the branch and floats slowly through the thick humid air and onto the still-hot-from-summer San Antonio dirt—applauded for its effort, but ignored…
SA’s Octahedron is a Finalist in Unsigned Artists Competition
Witness SA natives Octahedron duke it out in the Recording Conservatory of Austin’s annual Unsigned Artists Competition at the chance to record at Stinson Recording Studio in Austin for a whopping total of 100 hours. The only San Antonio band in the competition, Octahedron is in the top four out of 100 Texas Bands, breezing through the…
Texans Overwhelmingly Pass Transportation Funding Measure
Anyone who has lived in San Antonio for any extended amount of time knows they can’t remember a time when there wasn’t construction on our roads and highways. So, hopefully, a Texas highway funding bill, overwhelmingly passed by voters Tuesday, will some how help projects in the Alamo City speed up. (We know that’s not…
15 Acts You Need to See at Fun Fun Fun Fest
It’s the festival for the rest of us. The weirder, nerdier, but cooler in its own way and definitely owns it rock/hip hop/metal/electronic/comedy/punk/a tiny bit of jazz if you’re looking for it festival at Auditorium Shores that’s smaller than Austin City Limits and practically perfect in every way—Fun Fun Fun Fest. This year’s bill is…
Local Showdown: Four Important SA Election Results
Wow, what a night! Another election has come and gone and as Tuesday night returns started rolling in, it became clear the Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed was going to have a nail-biting, bad night. Democrat Nicolas “Nico” LaHood ousted Reed, who has been Bexar County’s top prosecutor since 1998, in a razor close…
Leticia Van de Putte Promises She’s Not Done
She fought like hell for a year, facing an uphill battle from one day in her campaign for Texas lieutenant governor. But Tuesday night, as State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte took the stage to thank her supporters after losing to her Republican opponent Dan Patrick, she vowed that she wasn’t done. Early in the…
Statewide Showdown: A Handful of Election Results
Big Republican wins in major statewide races solidify once again the GOP’s stronghold of our state’s leadership. Take a look at these and few more key races that went down in Texas this midterm election. U.S. Senate John Cornyn, R-Texas, will keep his long-held U.S. Senate seat after defeating Democratic opponent David Alameel. Voters gave…
The 2014 Election Live Blog
The polls close at 7 p.m. and we’ll be live blogging election results, reactions and developments all night. Follow us on Twitter at @SACurrent, or you can get updates all night from our news team. Alexa Garcia-Ditta (@agarciaditta) will be updating on statewide races. Mark Reagan (@210Reagan) will focus on the local elections. For statewide…
The Vexler Vexes with Euripides’ Doleful Drama ‘The Trojan Women’
To stage an ancient Athenian play today, adjustments must be made—by the director and the audience. It would not do to have the actors speaking Greek, or wearing masks throughout. Contemporary audiences must come prepared for an experience more akin to a religious ritual or a communal poetry reading than an encounter with Ibsen or…
Greg Abbott Tweets That His Name Is Left Off Bexar County Ballot
Mid-day today, Republican candidate for Texas governor Greg Abbott tweeted that his name was left off the ballot at a Bexar County voting booth. “Ballot irregularities omit my name from ballot in Bexar Co. Call Secretary of State if you spot other problems,” he tweeted. He also blasted out a link that shows images of…
Don’t Throw Out Your Kids’ Halloween Costumes
Halloween is over. You’ve already raided your kids’ candy hauls and collected their discarded eye patches, cat ears, and glittery wings from around your house. What now? Chances are your kiddos aren’t going to want to be a pirate and a ladybug again next year, so maybe you should just toss out their used accessories.…
10 Free Events Happening this Week
Wednesday, November 5 “Guatemala” The San Antonio Public Library hosts a photo exhibit by UTSA President Dr. Richard Romo, who captured the people and culture of Guatemala in images that “unearth stories that words alone cannot tell.” Free, Wednesday noon-8pm, Thursday-Sunday, 10am-6pm, Monday noon-8pm; Forest Hills Branch Library, 5245 Ingram, (210) 207-9230 Thursday, November 6…
Aural Pleasure: ANTI-MORTEM’s ‘New Southern’
New Southern / ANTI-MORTEM / Nuclear Blast / *** 1/2 Exploding out your speakers from Chickasha, Oklahoma is the newest addition to Nuclear Blast Entertainment: ANTI-MORTEM. The release of their debut album New Southern is a huge bang to the head with a mature, raw sound from the youngsters. With every member between the ages…
A Historic Water Grab, Err, Deal
San Antonio City Council agreed to what several council members described as a historic water deal, ensuring a diversified water supply and more than 16 billion gallons of water a year—for 30 years. North Side District 9 Councilman Joe Krier, a vocal supporter of the deal between San Antonio Water System and the Vista Ridge…
Even the San Antonio Spurs’ Beer Pairing is Perfect
When you think beer pairings, you think IPA’s and spicy food, stouts and chocolate, or blonde ales and nutty cheeses. You wouldn’t think to pair a beer with your favorite NBA team, but Thrillest did, and their beer paring selection for the San Antonio Spurs is so beyond perfect. What is it? Freetail Brewing Co’s Born…
SA Food Pics: 10 Pics to Jump Start Your Week
I don’t know about y’all, but last week sure seemed rough. Between the Halloween parties and everything else going on this fall it was a crazy week. Well, let’s jump start this week with some delicious food pics straight from Smoke Shack (2347 Nacogdoches), Beat Street Bistro (2512 N Main), and Eilan Piatti (17803 La Cantera…
5 Things You Have to do This Week
Tuesday, November 4 Dirty Dancing “Nobody puts Baby in a corner. I carried a watermelon. You gotta hold the frame. I’ve never seen the movie Dirty Dancing, I just picked three quotes at random from the IMDB page to try to impress you.” From now until November 9, if you’ve got you’re eye on a…
Brownsville: Texas Border Militants Clash with the Law (Again)
In the recent past, several motley bands of armed citizens have agitated the United States Border Patrol by kindling a state of confusion and disorder along the Mexican border. Groomed as patriotic vigilantes, these unregulated paramilitants—self-identified by names like the Minutemen, the Oathkeepers and the Rusty Rangers—camp near the Rio Grande River with the aim…
SA City Council to Consider Cellphone Ban for Motorists
Driving while talking on a cellphone could be illegal in San Antonio by next week, if City Council approves a proposed ordinance Thursday that amends the texting while driving ban to include all phone use. “The City Council believes that prohibiting the use of hand-held mobile communication devices to engage in any use of a…
Halloween Arrest: SA Duo Accused of Pot Candy Possession
A pair of Alamo City alleged pot-candy enthusiasts were arrested at a tattoo parlor on Halloween. Authorities with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department arrested Belinda Garza and Richard Castillo Friday on the 1400 block of Southwest Military based on a warrant obtained by the San Antonio Police Department. SAPD Spokesman Douglas Greene said in mid-October,…
12 Tracks for Muertos Fest at La Villita
It’s time to festoon loved one’s altars with marigolds, bedazzled sugar skulls and scented candles during Dia de los Muertos this weekend. The cultural holiday holds a special place in the hearts of San Antonians due to our city’s rich Mexican community. What better way to honor our dearly departed than to celebrate life and…
The Scariest Part of the 2014 Elections: Texas’ Voter ID Law
As early voting wraps today, more than 1 million Texans have cast a ballot so far. But when the Supreme Court of the United States allowed Texas’ voter ID law to remain in tact this election season, the majority of the justices gave Texas the green light to knowingly exclude hundreds of thousands of people,…
‘The Daily Show’ in Texas: Austin’s weirdness and Spoon
Last night, The Daily Show closed out it’s week of Texas-themed episodes with a look at Austin’s real weirdness. It turns out that the so-called liberal bastion in the middle of the Lone Star State is almost entirely represented in Congress by Republicans, with the exception of Representative Lloyd Doggett. Why? Redistricting, of course. And…
Shot of the Week: Zombie Food
This is it. The official shot of Halloween. Not only is this shot terrifying to look at, after just a few, you may even find yourself feeling a little bit zombie-ish. Better still, scare up a few friends and create your very own zombie horde that would make The Walking Dead look tame. Loosely based…
Perry Tells Obama How to be President
Texas Governor Rick Perry said in an official statement Wednesday that negative comments made by an unidentified senior member of President Barack Obama’s administration targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left him in disbelief. The anonymous staffer allegedly called the Prime Minister “chickenshit” in response to Netanyahu’s refusal to enter (or consider entering) a ceasefire with…
5 Shows to See this Weekend
Matisyahu (Friday, October 31)Hasidic emcee Matisyahu has spent the last decade enlightening crowds with his brand of reggae–influenced hip-hop. In recent years, the beard has been trimmed and he’s distanced himself from his heritage, but his flow and inspiring lyricism continue to command his live shows. In the mid-aughts, songs like “One Day” and “King…
Phil Collins’ Alamo Artifacts Have Arrived
On Tuesday of this week, British pop-rock icon Phil Collins gifted a massive chunk of his lifelong collection of Alamo relicts and rarities—the largest collection of its kind to be amassed by a private collector—back to the site the fateful battle. Currently housed in the Gallagher House on E. Houston Street, the artifacts will one…
New Tiki Bar Heads to Southtown
Get those coconut shells ready, y’all. The owner of Tapa Tapa Truck, Rudolfo Martinez is teaming up with Esquire Tavern bartender Roy Guerrero to open Concrete Jungle at 1628 S. Presa. The bar, opened by these longtime friends, will focus on Caribbean tiki drinks with a strong focus on rum (Guerrero’s admitted first love) and…
City Council Approves $3.4 Billion Water Deal
The San Antonio City Council unanimously approved a contract Thursday between San Antonio Water System and the Vista Ridge Consortium to pump in water from Burleson County. The Vista Ridge Consortium is comprised of the Spanish-based company Abengoa and Austin-based Blue Water. Here’s how this is supposedly going to work: Abengoa will build a 142-mile…
Can You Guess What Halloween Candy is Most Popular in Texas?
Wondering what the majority of your neighbors will be handing out to trick-or-treaters tomorrow night? Don’t worry—no matter where you live, most of your neighbors won’t be giving out razor blade apples or marijuana edibles or anything sinister like that (not according to Google, at least). By checking out what holiday goodies have been trending…
10 Día de los Muertos Events to Attend this Weekend
Día de los Muertos is a time to come together with your family, and to pay respects to your departed loved ones by creating elaborate altars with which to honor them. On these altars, we leave goodies to be enjoyed by the spirits of our loved ones from the other side. Such goodies might include…
‘The Daily Show’ in Texas: Mex Tex and Ellar Coltrane
“Latinos are worst than Korean and Chinese. That’s a fact.” So says a segment from last night’s episode of The Daily Show, which is broadcasting a series of Texas-focused episodes this week. The episode focused on so-called illegal immigration, and Al Madrigal, took to the streets dressed like Lou Diamond Phillips from Stand and Deliver…
Texas is Funny: SA’s little label that could
When Scott Andreu started the Texas Is Funny label in 2009, his intentions were uncertain at best. Budian, Andreu’s band at the time, wanted to release an album and someone suggested they start a “fake” label for the release. Andreu, however, saw this as an opportunity that could lead to something new, something he had…
Pan y Más: Celebrating Día de los Muertos in SA
If you’re planning to celebrate Día de los Muertos, or more specifically either Día de los Inocentes on November 1 and Día de los Difuntos on November 2, which make up the bank holiday in Mexico, you’ve got plenty of options. The holiday’s imagery has grown more prolific as gaggles of Halloween revelers will don…
The Sounds of La Villita’s Muertos Fest
To soundtrack the celebration of family, death and pan de muerto, La Villita’s Muertos Fest has prepared an excellent lineup for the two-day fiesta. Like the weekend’s altar contest, in which contestants create traditional ofrendas with new and imaginative materials, the musicians onstage take traditional forms from the Americas and give them a creative spin.…
Lunchtime Snob: R&R Café
If you stand long enough at the order counter of R&R, the chef’s mom, who, along with her husband, operated a taquería in the same location for years, will tell you everything you want to know about her son—his growing up rolling tortillas in the kitchen there, his U.S. Navy experience, his training at culinary…
5 Ways to Get Your Drink/Grub on This Week
Friday, October 31 and Saturday, November 1Say Sí continues their Día de Los Muertos weekend with the eighth annual Muertitos Fest featuring exhibits, festive food, activities for the kids and artisan booths. Free, 6-10pm Friday, noon-3pm Saturday, 1518 S Alamo, (210) 212-8666, saysi.org/muertitos-fest. Friday, October 31: The Hangar hosts its fourth annual Haunted House Halloween…
New Menus Around Town and More Hours for Tuk Tuk Tap Room
Let’s file this under things that are awesome: The folks at Tuk Tuk Tap Room (1702 Broadway), which as of late includes front of the house badass Winnie Mak (formerly with Arcade Midtown Kitchen and Lüke), are expanding their hours of operation to include Monday nights from 5 p.m. to midnight with off-menu board and…
Dude, Where’s My Swatter? Getting the job done at Barfly’s
It’s not so much that I won’t be going back to Barfly’s any time soon…but the place certainly baffles me. To start, it’s nestled in the same shopping center as Chongco Thai, an emergency vet clinic, a tattoo parlor and who knows what else. Barfly’s is the third incarnation of the location, which most recently…
On the Rocks: Amo, amas, amari
Show of hands here: How many of you have been inveigled by a perverse bartender into trying a straight shot of Fernet-Branca? And your reaction? Thought so. Fernet (there are other formulations besides the Branca label) is one of a class of Italian bitter digestivos called amari, plural of amaro and a word putting it…
SAPD Report, Video Tell Two Tales
Almost a week after a police officer filed his report describing the arrest of a woman on San Antonio’s West Side, a witness uploaded video of the event to the internet. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it tells a different story from the officer’s official account. On July 4, 2012, Destiny Annmarie Rios was arrested on the 2300…
Given the Choice, SA Teens Choose Long-acting, Reversible Contraception
Estrella Peña, an 18-year-old recent high-school graduate, wasn’t using birth control when she got pregnant with her son Cristian, now 11 months old. But when she heard community health clinics were offering free, long-acting contraceptive methods to girls her age, she quickly made an appointment. “I was more than happy to have my baby, to…
Artpace’s ‘Invasive Species’ Puts a Modern Spin on an Age-old Genre
To prepare for “Invasive Species” at Artpace, artist Joey Fauerso took a tour of the Negley/Gill Swan Lake Ranch on the coast, riding on an airboat to the marshlands at San Antonio Bay where the Guadalupe River empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Utilizing almost 200 abstract paintings she made of one section of river…
Taste It: A Q&A with Comedian Nick Swardson
After 20 years of comedy, what is it about stand-up that keeps you coming back to it? There’s nothing like stand-up. Very few people can do it and I can think of a joke and tell it that night. Shooting a TV show or shooting a movie, I have to wait a year for it…
City Paid Female Employees Less Than Their Male Peers
Equal pay for equal work. It sounds simple, but according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, at least three female City employees experienced pay discrimination based on their sex. Over the summer, Animal Care Services employees Christine Peden and Jeanne Martinez filed a complaint against the City after they discovered that they were paid less…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): If you live in Gaza, you don’t have easy access to Kentucky Fried Chicken. The closest KFC restaurant is 35 miles away in the Egyptian city of El-Arish. But there was a time when you could pay smugglers to bring it to you via one of the underground tunnels that linked…
Savage Love: Inanimate Objections
My son is 15 going on 16, and he’s been experimenting with masturbation. At the moment, I pretty much just think fine, whatever, he’s a teenager, there’s very little I can do about it. So long as he doesn’t get porn-obsessed and start letting his grades slip, it’s fine. The issue is that, a few…
SA Sound: Blend Phonetics and Verisimilitude
The bilingual hip-hop of Blend Phonetics Gathered in a gallery-like living room a stone’s throw from the St. Mary’s Strip, assorted members of San Anto hip-hop collective Blend Phonetics reflect on their collective journey. It was this time last year that work began on their stellar debut Transitions, placing producer Bryan Hamilton and emcees Andrea…
Michael Keaton Reaches Great Heights in ‘Birdman’
We all need cinematic heroes, and Birdman, both character and film, fits the role with aplomb. Designed to aesthetically challenge, frustrate, inspire, amuse and amaze, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s new movie—and I do mean new—is the best I’ve seen so far this year. Michael Keaton, as Riggan, is an aging has-been of an actor, clinging to…
Beth Israel’s Dark, Funny ‘Dental Denial’
“Jamba Juice, Baja Fresh,” says Zack Claxon of Austin-based duo Beth Israel on “Family,” introducing the song like a bored narrator cruising down a franchised stretch of I-35. The tune, one of the stranger numbers on the Dental Denial LP, creeps into a verse repeating a cold, latrophobic line: “I don’t need medicine, it won’t…
Iñárritu 101: A refresher on the ‘Birdman’ director’s past films
Alejandro González Iñárritu was born in Mexico City in 1963. He began his career as a DJ at a rock station where he riffed on music, politics and pop culture, but his interest in filmmaking eventually eclipsed his career as a disc jockey. In 2000, he made his first feature film, Amores Perros. Characterized by…
Statewide Showdowns
With early voting officially underway, candidates and civic organizations are pulling out all the stops to get voters, especially Latinos and millennials, to the polls while encouraging them to bring their family and friends along. The millennial and Latino electorates are two of the fastest-growing and most influential voting blocs in this country, not to…
