Cover Story
The Drink Issue
Welcome to Drink We’re taking a close look at the area’s cocktail scene—from bartenders to watch, to drinks you should be making at home, to updates on the fourth year of the San Antonio Cocktail Conference—the Current’s Drink issue is keeping you in the know. Amateurs and spirit-pros alike can jump into the city’s…
13 Concert Tours Coming to San Antonio
Saturday, February 7 Rick Springfield: Stripped Down – An Intimate Solo Performance of Music and Storytelling Armed with an acoustic six string, mega hit “Jessie’s Girl” and soap star good looks, the multi-talented Rick Springfield will make women of all ages swoon. $60 – $125, 8pm, Majestic Theatre, 224 East Houston, (210) 226-5700. Wednesday, February 11 An Evening with…
10 Must-See PAX South Panels This Weekend
This weekend, PAX South, the biggest gaming convention of the new year, will nerdify the Henry B. Gonzalez Center. The past year has been a windfall for San Antonio nerds. Wizard World invaded San Antonio last summer; Alamo City Comic Con got bigger, and better; and anime fans ran rampant all through downtown during San…
San Antonio Cocktail Conference: Post-hangover thoughts
The fourth annual San Antonio Cocktail Conference wrapped up on Sunday, and it really wasn’t a moment sooner. Not because the conference wasn’t a blast, but because there’s only so many days this food and nightlife writer can drink in a row. After hydrating, eating some menudo, popping a Tylenol and gathering my thoughts on…
Even NASA Thinks Tortillas Are Awesome
Here’s a fun fact: Tortillas are a staple in the astronaut diet. Hey, if it’s good enough for your abuela, it should be good enough NASA. As Sploid points out, astronaut Rodolfo Neri Vela requested tortillas for a mission in 1985, and the Mexican staple has been eaten on space missions ever since. Why? As…
10 Free Events Happening This Week
Wednesday, January 21 Comedians. Seriously. Comedy Showcase The “Comedians. Seriously.” Podcast will be presenting a free comedy showcase featuring an array of local comedic talents. Come out and support local comedy and enjoy the delicious brews of the Blue Star Brewing Company. Free, 8pm Wednesday, Blue Star Brewing Company, 1414 S Alamo, (210) 212-5506. Wednesday,…
SA’s RMRS Sets Up Indiegogo Campaign
RMRS is a phoenix that rose from the ashes of SA’s Pygmaeus, Cure for the Radio and Collective Dreams. The alt-rock group RMRS, runner-up in the Current’s SA Music Awards in the Best Indie Rock Band category, is asking its fans to donate to their Indiegogo campaign to keep their project in high gear. RMRS’…
New Seafood Concept on the Way Via Chef Jason Dady
San Antonio is getting more oysters for shuckin’. This time it’s The Shuck Shack. The concept comes from the Jason Dady Restaurant Group, as they look to open the eatery sometime this spring. Located at 520 E Grayson, The Shuck Shack sits almost across the way from the original home of Bakery Lorraine. According to…
Spurs Vines of the Week: Kawhi Returns, Manu Beats Buzzer
After missing 15 games with a broken hand (during which the Spurs went an underwhelming 7-8), Kawhi Leonard is back in the Spurs starting lineup. Those are huge hands—no wonder it took so long to heal. Directions in Arc from Patty Mills After shaking forward Gerald Henderson at the three line, Patty Mills puts a…
Protesters Stage Die-in During Annual MLK March
Roughly 50 protesters staged a die-in during San Antonio’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. march this morning. The protest aimed to bring attention to police brutality and the high profile deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and San Antonio’s Marquise Jones. [Photos: 135 Photos of San Antonio’s 2015 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day March (Part 1)]…
What I Drank: San Antonio Cocktail Conference edition
Disclaimer: I can’t feel my face. After days’ worth of cedar exposure, I’m finally feeling the effects of the nasty allergen. Or I could still be hungover. Regardless, my wrap up of the events will come later this afternoon. In the meantime, here’s a snippet of the booze, the parties, the boozy parties and just…
Houston’s Becky Masson Joins Robbie Nowlin’s #WickedNightsAtWickes
San Anto is getting a visit by Houston’s Becky Masson, of Fluff Bake Bar, this Sunday, January 25 at 6 p.m., inside Robbie Nowlin’s home. She’ll join Nowlin of Citrus at Hotel Valencia for the second installment of #WickedNightAtWickes, a philanthropic dinner that asks guests to open their wallets and directly help feed the residents of…
Boba Fett Actor Daniel Logan on Growing up ‘Star Wars’
Daniel Logan played a young Boba Fett in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and his life has never been the same since. [Photos: 60 Photos of Star Wars Bounty and Boba Fett at Heroes and Fantasies] Overnight, he went from an outgoing, average kid living in New Zealand to the kid otherwise known…
Have Creeping Corporate Interests Led Us To Lose Sight of MLK’s Dream?
As retail giants promote sales and corporate-sponsored Martin Luther King Jr., Day events kick off nationwide, community organizations and social justice groups in San Antonio want to take back King’s dream, urging elected officials and companies to put his vision of equality and basic civil rights into practice through policies that give everyone a fair…
5 Things You Have To Do This Week
Monday, January 19 Action Pack Quote-Along: The Princess Bride Inconceivable! Who would’ve thought to screen a quote-along of one of the most quotable movies of all time? The Alamo Drafthouse is hosting an Action Pack Quote-Along of The Princess Bride. Prepare to say, “Prepare to die!” $12, 7pm Monday, Alamo Drafthouse Park North, 618 NW Loop 410, (210)…
Marfa’s New Myths Festival Announces Lineup
Like most of Texas, the staff at the Current has a big crush on the little town of Marfa, taking any excuse to visit the high desert oasis. And what better reason is there to make the six-hour drive than for the New Myths mini-fest presented by the Mexican Summer label and Ballroom Marfa. …
10 Songs To Put on Your MLK Day Playlist
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day isn’t just a federal Holiday, but a time to celebrate the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and recognize the challenges our nation still faces today when it comes to race. So kick back and listen to some of the best songs that remind us of how far we’ve come,…
Alamo City Comic Con Announces 2015 Dates, New Film Festival
Alamo City Comic Con will once again take over the halls of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center September 11, 12 and 13, 2015, and a brand new international film festival will coincide with the popular pop culture convention. ACCC brainchild Alfredo “Apple” De La Fuente announced the dates of the convention’s third year at…
H-E-B Plans to Open Downtown Grocery Store this Summer
H-E-B has taken the next step toward opening a grocery store to serve downtown residents. The San Antonio Express-News reports the grocery company has submitted plans for the new store, dubbed the South Flores Market, to the Historic Design & Review Commission. The panel, which consists of 11 City Council-appointed members who review exterior building…
Do You Know Who Stole $2500 Worth of Brisket from Two Bros. BBQ Market?
Who steals brisket, honestly? Chef Jason Dady shared the the above image of a brisket bandito this afternoon on his Instagram account. We’ve got a local brisket bandit on the lam, adn this guy must really LOVE brisket, like “is willing to go to jail” loves brisket. The unidentified man stole 6 cases. 450lbs. $2500…
New Video Game Arcade Opens in San Antonio
San Antonio will soon have its own Japanese arcade, jam-packed with Japanese toys and games. Named Otaku Café, after the Japanese word for people who are obsessed with Japanese anime and manga, the arcade will feature 18 Japanese game machines, including popular titles like BlazBlue, Street Fighter IV, and Marvel vs. Capcom. They will have…
4 Ways to Get Your Drink/Grub on This Week
Saturday, January 17: The San Antonio Cerveceros will kick off the year with a course on cleaning techniques, regiments and cleaning supplies. In “Keeping it Clean,” you’ll learn how to keep your brews from turning south using 5 Star Cleaning supplies. The group will also be tapping into their Ales for ALS beer, brewed last…
Heroes and Fantasies to Host Star Wars Extravaganza on Saturday
Heroes and Fantasies will use the force this Saturday, January 17. The comic books shop is hosting a Star Wars Comic Celebration Event in honor of Marvel’s new Star Wars #1 comic book release. As we’ve seen from previous bashes, this store knows how to party nerd-style. Local comic book artists Joe Wight, Austin Rodgers, and…
U.S. and Mexico Soccer Teams to Face-off in Alamodome on April 15
The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team will face-off against Mexico later this spring at the Alamodome. The upcoming match between the two rivals will mark the first time the U.S. team has played in San Antonio. The two teams previously squared off last April in Glendale, Arizona, a rout that ended in a 2-2 draw.…
2 Cocktail Conference Happy Hours to Check Out on Thursday
The San Antonio Cocktail Conference officially starts with tonight’s opening party at the Majestic Theatre, kicking off a whiskey-soaked weekend of seminars and soirées celebrating cocktail culture. (Find out how the conference has evolved this year and get a full schedule of events.) A number of liquor brands are converging on San Antonio to peddle the hard…
10 Spots to Grab Lunch for Under $10 in San Antonio
Even if you’re saving money for that overseas trip, on a tight budget or just a penny-pinching aficionado, you still have to make your taste buds happy. If you can do so and save a bit of cash, then that’s just great. Here are 10 great San Antonio lunch spots to lunch spots for $10…
10 Things You Have to Do This Weekend
Thursday, January 15 “Hare & Hound Press + Artpace” They’re separate entities that operate in different ways, but Artpace and the Linda Pace Foundation share the vision of late founder Linda Pace, who believed “contemporary art is essential to a dynamic society.” In celebration of Artpace’s 20th year, and a gift to LPF from a…
Maverick Music Festival Announces Initial Lineup: Cypress Hill, Cake, Toadies, tUnE-yArDs
Maverick Music Festival announced the first round of its 2015 lineup this morning, with promises of an exciting cross-genre bill. Hip-hop legends Cypress Hill, sugary indie outfit Cake, Texas alt-rock favorites The Toadies and pop futurist tUnE-yArDs will headline the third Maverick fest, occurring April 10 and 11 at La Villita. For last year’s two-day bash, Maverick…
SA Actor Richard Jones on ‘Boyhood,’ Richard Linklater and Tommy Lee Jones
Born in San Antonio in 1946, actor Richard Jones knew exactly what he wanted to do as soon as he graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 1965. “I wanted to be an actor,” Jones, 68, told the Current. “So, I jumped the city walls like most adventurous men do and went out to…
7 Shows to See this Weekend
Thursday, January 15 Peter Evans Trumpeter Peter Evans is a part of the mid-career generation of jazz artists jumping in on a gig or recording date anytime a laureled player or director calls their name. Unlike the old days, when musicians would incessantly sit in for jazz and blues sessions, musicians like Peter Evans dive…
Can You Guess What Texans Googled Most in 2014?
We googled some weird stuff last year. In case you’re curious about what everyone was getting so search-happy about, Estately has done us the service of creating a map of each state’s most frequently searched term from 2014. One look at the map above shows we should be especially ashamed of some of our searches…
Groups Oppose Greg Abbott’s Lawsuit Against Immigration Executive Action
San Antonio community and immigration organizations are coming together to oppose Greg Abbott’s lawsuit against President Barack Obama’s immigration executive action as a federal district judge in South Texas prepares to hear the case in a Brownsville courtroom tomorrow. The Texas Organizing Project, Service Employees International Union of Texas, and Domesticas Unidas, which represents domestic…
Meat Week San Antonio Returns on Sunday, January 25
I’m not sure where I left my stretchy pants … regardless, Meat Week, a celebration of all things meaty, beefy and smoked, returns to the city on Sunday, January 25 with a series of carnivorous events. Planned in part by Denise Aguirre of Taps y Tapas, and other meat enthusiasts, the event is the only…
Winter is Coming: Santikos Palladium IMAX to screen ‘Game of Thrones’
NERD ALERT: IMAX announced to today the locations that will present the massive fantasy hit Game of Thrones on their large format screens. The Santikos Palladium will screen the final two episodes of season four, plus a trailer for season five, in their IMAX theater on January 30. The IMAX screenings were originally scheduled January 23…
DreamWeek Continues with Taste the Dream Gala on Saturday
DreamWeek will celebrate diversity through food with the inaugural Taste the Dream Gala on Saturday, January 17 at 6 p.m. inside the Institute of Texan Cultures, 801 E Cesar Chavez. The event will steer away from stuff gala-ness and instead feature food stations manned by local chefs including Johnny Hernandez (La Gloria, True Flavors, The…
Abbott Axes Longtime Texas Music Office Director
Governor-elect Greg Abbott has cleaned house, like all politicians do when elected. And longtime Texas Music Office director Casey Monahan fell victim to the political purge. But a Change.org petition to reinstate him is gaining momentum, reaching 2,000 signatures as of Wednesday morning. “We, the undersigned, as professional musicians, professionals in the Texas music industry,…
Woven Icons: Nelson Rockefeller’s Picasso tapestries celebrate the Spanish master’s greatest hits
Imagine being able to ask Pablo Picasso, the most renowned artist of the 20th century, to help decorate your basement. For Nelson Rockefeller, it was more than a tycoonish whim. Between 1958 and 1975, he commissioned Picasso to create large-scale tapestries based on some of the Spanish-born artist’s best-known paintings to hang in Kykuit, the…
Year 4 Brings More Change, Growth for San Antonio Cocktail Conference
The eyes of Texas are about to descend on San Antonio’s coupes, flutes and tumblers as the city kicks off the fourth annual San Antonio Cocktail Conference. I’ll be frank—I’m never quite ready for what the conference brings. Unfamiliar with what exactly goes down? Here’s a brief synopsis of what the SACC is, what transpires…
Tenders to Track: We’re keeping an eye out for these next-gen bartenders
When it comes to cocktails, SA’s scene is still very much on an upswing. As The Last Word gets into its groove, Mezcalería Mixtli gears up for a Mexican takeover of Olmos Park and Paramour readies for its opening in the near future, craft bartenders are keeping San Antonio palates abreast with new flavors and…
Free Will Astrology, Week of January 12
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You will never make anything that lasts forever. Nor will I or anyone else. I suppose it’s possible that human beings will still be listening to Beethoven’s music or watching The Simpsons TV show 10,000 years from today, but even that stuff will probably be gone in five billion years, when…
Hot Joy’s Karah Carmack Heads an Army of Production Elves During the Cocktail Conference
By the time you read this, the San Antonio Cocktail Conference will have already kicked off. And once again, Karah Carmack will helm a team of more than 40 bartenders from across the country (and Canada) as they produce several hundred liters worth of citrus juice and simple syrup and juggle liquor drop-off throughout the…
Your San Antonio Cocktail Conference Boozin’ Schedule
Wednesday, January 14 BBQ and Bourbon KickoffThis pre-conference event sponsored by the Current will feature barbecue stations, sides and other Two Bro. faves paired with Old Forester, Woodford Double Oak, Woodford Rye and Jack Daniel’s single barrel bourbon. $60, 6:30-9pm, 1256 West Avenue. Thursday, January 15 Opening Night at The Majestic TheatreThe third time’s…
Savage Love: Porn and Circumstance
My fiancée is extremely bothered by me looking at porn. It revolves around insecurities that have gotten so bad that even other girls bother her. (We can hardly go to a beach anymore.) I don’t have any weird relationship with porn—no addiction, no violent stuff, and I look pretty infrequently. She acknowledges that it’s a…
Thrive Youth Center Will Shelter San Antonio’s LGBT Homeless Youth
Sandra Whitley has known she was a lesbian since she was 13. Growing up in a small Panhandle town, Whitley remembers being mistreated by her classmates. It was 1975, and after a while, she lost friends and her school threatened to expel her. She thought about running away, something many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender…
Cocktail Know-How: The Rosso Corsa
As we toast to our New Year’s resolutions and quickly break them, the San Antonio Cocktail Conference draws ever near. Bartenders are putting finishing touches on their amazing new creations and studying up on the old favorites, some of which were featured in this column. This year, the master mixologists at Bohanans have outdone themselves,…
Mayor Ivy Taylor: The accidental politician
It’s two weeks before Christmas Day, and I’m sitting across from Ivy Ruth Taylor in the mayoral office at City Hall. Her necklace bends with the weight of a golden cross, fashionably framed by a black and white scarf tied in a single knot. I recall my last sit-down with the former District 2 city…
Flavor File: Cocktail Conference spillover and details on Restaurant Week
Ready the Topo Chico, aspirin, menudo, breakfast tacos or whatever go-to hangover cure is in your arsenal—the San Antonio Cocktail Conference is here. You can read all about new changes, updates and get a full schedule online. If you somehow missed out on tickets, area bars and restaurants are lining up casual events for the…
Director Clint Eastwood Underwhelms with ‘American Sniper’
Navy SEAL Chris Kyle was the most lethal sniper in American military history. He served four tours of duty in the Middle East, had more than 160 confirmed kills, was called “Legend” by his fellow soldiers, and was an emotionally distant husband and father while actively enlisted. Kyle’s story is inherently fascinating. Clint Eastwood’s telling…
File Under Jazz: Pianist Vijay Iyer on electronic music, Limp Bizkit and the limits of jazz
In September of 2013, pianist Vijay Iyer won the enviable MacArthur Genius Grant—$625,000 in cold, unfettered cash—for his insane creativity and nonstop achievements in jazz. Since the dawn of his career, it’s been clear that Iyer was destined for prizes and certifiable genius. But, at first, it was unclear what field the accolades would pile…
Exit Interview With Outgoing Artpace Director Amada Cruz
This ain’t Artpace Director Amada Cruz’s first time at the San Antonio rodeo; previous to her appointment as director in 2012, Cruz served on a selection panel for several International Artist-in-Residence exhibitions in 1999-2000, and has served on the organization’s board. She was also a friend of the late founder Linda Pace. Cruz relocated to…
Third Root Curates MLK Day DJ Celebration
On Sunday night, social justice emcees Third Root host a DJ gig remembering the legacy of MLK and the unmatched contributions that African Americans have made to our culture. Over the phone, we spoke with Easy Lee of Third Root, discussing social movements in hip-hop, civil rights in 2015 and his passionate work in Third…
Former SA Resident James McMurtry Returns With a ‘Complicated Game’
James McMurtry, the son of writer Larry McMurtry—best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning, miniseries-inspiring novel Lonesome Dove—is an Americana singer-songwriter with a chip on his shoulder. His songs, beginning with those on his stellar 1989 debut Too Long in the Wasteland, are writerly and sprawling meditations on American decay. He tells the stories of the…
Mayoral Horse Race
Former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro left a bad taste in the mouths of Bexar County Republicans. “What we saw in the last mayor is he stepped out into the national scene and spoke at the Democratic National Convention, and things were obvious where he was,” Bexar County Republican Chair Robert Stovall said, explaining that…
Simply Great Fare at Silo Terrace Oyster Bar
There were a few reasons why I may have been apprehensive about the Silo family’s latest endeavor. Silo Terrace Oyster Bar, sister restaurant to Alamo Heights’ Silo Elevated Cuisine/Nosh and a second eatery off Loop 1604, had a fairly innocuous opening this past November off I-10 and directly across from The Dominion. Immediate notions of…
