Yeah Yeah Yeahs: 'Mosquito'
Alternative, art-punk darlings Yeah Yeah Yeahs are one of the most revered outfits in the indie-sphere. Capable of reinventing their sound and glossing up their aesthetic without being seen as sellouts, posers, or a band on the decline, Karen O. and crew command the kind of creative respect that causes their audience to treat their…
Steve Earle & the Dukes (& Duchesses): 'The Low Highway'
Steve Earle’s latest album features three songs from the soundtrack of HBO’s Treme, on which he played a recurring character. All of these songs are very good (especially the resilient “That All You Got?”) and will hopefully encourage a bunch of Starbucks patrons to buy this album and then get confused. Minus these three sunny…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Foreigner
How many tracks would you guess Foreigner’s un-ironically named greatest hits album No End in Sight has on it? Did you guess 32, as in five songs longer than the Beatles’ 1? If so, you’re probably also the only person who can sing along to all of the album’s two hours, 18 minutes, which includes…
National Poetry Month, poem by Sheila Black
East Mesa The butterflies mate at the top of tall hills, a map they must hold by smell—the oiled paths of the land, clustering above the tree line as if they needed to see one another laid bare. “We don’t understand it,” the butterfly expert explains. “Hard not to interpret—they need space and silence just…
SA Scorpions lose home opener against defending champs Tampa Bay
(photo courtesy sascorpions.com) In front of a crowd of 8,117 fans that included Mayor Julián Castro, the San Antonio Scorpions lost 0-2 to defending champions Tampa Bay Rowdies Saturday night at Toyota Field. Even though the Rowdies were clearly the better team, the Scorpions again showed their usual fighting spirit and did have several chances…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Hetaerae
Elevated to statue-worthy status by such legendary beauties as Aspasia of Miletus, consort of Pericles, hetaerae (often translated as courtesans — prostitutes with a courtly, upper-class clientele) comprised a desirable crew of talented, educated resident aliens and slaves who entertained some of the most powerful men in ancient Greece. Fusing “religious and sexual fetish imagery,…
“Sacrilege,” the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ provocative new video
Mosquito, the new album by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, comes out April 16. The first single, “Sacrilege,” was recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios in Tornillo and produced by Nick Launay and TV on the Radio’s David Andrew Sitek. Actress/model Lily Cole stars in the video directed by France’s Megaforce (Charles Brisgand, Clément Gallet, Léo Berne…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Sam’s Fiesta Americana Music Jam
As a bit of a pre-Fiesta warm up, Sam’s Burger Joint presents their aptly named Fiesta Americana Music Jam this Saturday. The event will last most of the day and feature music from an excellent selection of regional talent in the Americana/Texas music vein that Sam’s booking agents so expertly mine. Rollicking red dirt country…
VIDEO: Downtown San Antonio Timelapse by Declan Fleming
Check out this neat timelapse video of San Antonio we stumbled upon by San Diego techie Declan Fleming. It seems Fleming has an affinity for watching the sun go down in cities across the country. He’s got similar videos of Chicago and Baltimore on his Vimeo page.
Guest Post: SA Pets Alive Thanks You
What a Difference a Week Makes Last Thursday all of the 70 kennels at our Dog Facility were full and with an influx of owners surrendering their pets, we had and additional 20 crates with deserving dogs that needed our help. We couldn’t do our job of saving perfectly adoptable pets from euthanasia until homes were…
Sen. Elizabeth Warren Embarrasses, Exposes, and Eats (Bad) Bank Regulators Alive
If corrupt bankers in the U.S. ever go to jail (as their colleagues in Iceland did), chances are Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) will be behind the effort, as will those who lost their homes through the illegal maneuverings of people who walked free because, hey, you can’t punish banks — they’re just too big. This…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Kenny Barron
Jazz doesn’t lack for elder statesmen. But there’s few in that crowded field who can claim to have started their careers playing behind Dizzy Gillespie, shared the band stand with the likes of Freddie Hubbard, Ron Carter, and Elvin Jones, or put together a discography that reads longer than some Tolstoy novels. Pianist Kenny Barron’s…
'Til Death Do Us Part…
Ed. note: This powerful first-person account about the fight for a Florida domestic-partnership registry comes to us from sister site Orlando Weekly, where Billy Manes is a staff writer. Texas currently doesn’t recognize domestic partnerships statewide, either. “You need to stop lying. I’m not going anywhere, but I really need you to stop lying,” I…
How well did SAISD board vet superintendent finalist?
Yesterday, SAISD Board Chairman Ed Garza told local media that Manuel Isquierdo, the district’s new finalist for superintendent, was a strong, exciting candidate. Sure, due diligence turned up some flaws, like that Isquierdo, current superintendent of a Tucson-area school district, owes the IRS over $150,000 in unpaid taxes. Apparently, due diligence didn’t include Googling the…
Celebrating National Poetry Month: Poem by Jacinto Jesús Cardona
Ice House circa 1964 I restock the icebox with Lone Stars, Pearls, Falstaf, and Jax, a cold bed of longnecks for men who take pride in their sweat, men like El Pajarito, El Dormido, El Queque, El Escándalo, crumpled paychecks dangling from their shirt pockets, They wait for the life of the party, El…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
With a program that introduces such virtuosos as Marina Plezegetovstageskaya (known for her role as the Sour Cream Fairy), Lariska Dumbchenko (who was shot into orbit by the Russian space program in 1962), and Sonia Leftova (“The Prune Danish of Russian Ballet”), Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo often get crowds giggling before the curtain…
'The Place Beyond The Pines' looks and feels better than it really is
Director Derek Cianfrance sure likes to put Ryan Gosling in some God-awful T-shirts. As if the dollar store eagle-emblazoned crew neck he sported in the brutish, marriage-gone-sour Blue Valentine weren’t trashy enough, in The Place Beyond The Pines, his brooding Luke Glanton dons a moth-chewed Haines that actually manages to upstage his numerous tattoos. But…
The Krayolas keep home and creative fires burning with new EP
It was a surprise when the Krayolas returned from a two-decade hiatus in 2007 with an unrecorded Augie Meyers track, “Little Fox,” that become a minor hit. They found not only second life but greater productivity. Since then, they’ve released four full-lengths and three EPs, including their latest, free, eight-song Canicas (Marbles) EP. “Who’d have…
Interview with Char Miller
At War Over the Environment: Two Experts on the Politics of Parks and the Natural World with George Bristol and Char Miller Moderator: Weir Labatt Public lands might not seem like the type of topic to get your pulse up, but after listening to conservationist George Bristol and historian Char Miller, formerly Director of Urban…
From Waffles and Milkshakes to Cigars and Absinthe at Halcyon
In the food and beverage biz, location is not, as they say, everything. Finding a niche and delivering the expected should also be at the forefront of any business plan. And don’t forget to sweat the details. Italian? Fine, but family style or a trendy enoteca? Completely different crowds. Ice House? OK, but is the…
Interview with Glenn Frankel
The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend with Glenn Frankel Moderator: Clay Smith You know what they say, writing about filming is like painting about mixology, or something. By many accounts Pulitzer prize-winning Glenn Frankel has reversed the traditional course, writing a rich, dramatic investigation into the classic John Ford Western The Searchers, which…
Urban Homesteader: A Paean to Parsley
Like many people, I grew up thinking parsley was that stiff, crinkly, bitter-tasting sprig tucked between the patty melt and the French fries. Dad said it was for decoration, but it made your breath sweet if you ate it. It took me a while to make the connection between that version of parsley, the dry…
Interview with Nan Cuba
You Can’t Go Home Again: Fiction about Family Secrets with Nan Cuba and Andrew Porter Moderator: David Martin Davies Nan Cuba, professor of English at Our Lady of the Lake University and founder of Gemini Ink, began her career as an investigative journalist; after obtaining her MFA, she began publishing poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews…
Irony of the year: The Korova to improve sound at Limelight
On the afternoon of Friday, March 29, when The Korova co-owner Angel Castorena posted a message on Facebook warning that he’d soon make “a big announcement,” some hoped to hear what they’ve been waiting a long time for: “We have a new sound system at the Korova!” That was wishful thinking. Instead, the announcement was…
Interview with Ricardo Ainslie
Fight to Save Juárez: Life in the Heart of Mexico’s Drug War Moderator: Alfredo Corchado Ricardo Ainslie frequented Juárez during its most violent years, as war between the Sinaloa and Juárez cartels raged and soaked the city in blood. In his new book, The Fight to Save Juárez (UT Press), Ainslie writes an empathic account…
The Texas Book Festival starts a chapter in San Antonio
San Antonio sometimes gets knocked for not being literary, or even literate, enough for such a big city with such grand “creative class” ambitions. Here’s your chance to prove the haters wrong and engage in the first-ever San Antonio edition of the Texas Book Festival, a literature love-in birthed in Austin that quickly grew into…
Interview with Lawrence Wright
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief Moderator: Robert Rivard In his newest book, Going Clear, Austin-based journalist Lawrence Wright profiles Scientology, a new American religion that, while ubiquitous among the Hollywood elite, has a long, strange dark side. Read the full Q&A below to learn more about Wright’s work (read our review…
Thunder Heart Bison Offers a Cleaner Kind of Meat
“San Antonio needs more clean food,” said Cat New, chef of the Thunder Heart Bison food trailer. A tribute to all things bison, the trailer recently moved from Austin to San Antonio and is now located on the corner of Lexington and Main in front of the old Mr. Pencil building. A burgeoning culinary community…
Interview with Laurie Ann Guerrero
A Celebration of South Texas Voices Moderator Sandra Cisneros Laurie Ann Guerrero’s collection Tongue in the Mouth of the Dying won the 2012 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize and was published February 15 by University of Notre Dame Press. Her poetry and critical works have been published by Huizache, Texas Monthly, and Women’s Studies Quarterly, among others.…
Interview with Hipolito Acosta
The Shadow Catcher: A U.S. Agent Infiltrates Mexico’s Deadly Crime Cartels Moderator: Sergio Troncoso Born to Mexican-American migrant workers, our country’s immigration woes tug at Hipolito Acosta’s heart. As an undercover federal agent, he spent years infiltrating drug- and human-smuggling rings and saw firsthand what many migrants face coming to the U.S. He recalls sucking…
The Day Chile Said 'NO': How a dictator made it to the Oscars
For Chileans and those active in the Latin American left, September 11 took place not in New York in 2001, but in Santiago in 1973. On that day, and with the support of the U.S. government, General Augusto Pinochet (Chile’s Commander in Chief of the Army) bombed the hell out of the presidential palace with…
Big Pharma's Troubling History of Pushing Drugs on Foster Kids
Child protection workers found Jo Angel Rodriguez and her siblings living in a roach-infested home that reeked of urine and spoiled food. The kids, often plagued with lice, slept on soiled, squalid mattresses, according to documents filed in a local court. Rodriguez’s mother lost custody of her children in 2006 when complaints surfaced she and…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): German theologian Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a central figure in the rebellion against the Catholic Church that led to the Protestant Reformation. You’ll never guess where he was when he was struck by the epiphany that became the core axiom of his new religion. I’ll tell you: He was sitting on…
HHH: Morton's
Morton’s doesn’t proclaim a happy hour; it’s THE Steakhouse, after all. They do, however, have a Power Hour. And, quality considered, it’s a real deal. You may, however, have to endure a discussion on the relative merits of the Charger, the Camaro, and the Corvette in the clubby, wood paneled, and dimly lit space. The…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: We’re in state testing this week at the high school I teach at. After the students finish a section, they can only sit and read or just sit. I did an experiment: I chose the cholo-est, tatted, pierced, non-reader and dropped your book on their desk. Students that never read, read for 45…
Industry News: Park Motel Cafe makes a comeback
The Park Motel Café landed on Broadway in 2010, and disappeared last year. For the short while it was open, regulars went for the well-done sandwiches and decadent desserts. Well, it’s back, as a different restaurant — a pizzeria. Last week, Park Motel Café announced on their Facebook page that they are opening SoBro Pizza…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: “Pasión Popular”
Beyond the 1,000 works Peter P. Cecere donated to Arizona State University’s Art Museum (showcased in the 2007 exhibition “Everyday Miracles”), the collector gifted SAMA nearly 400 examples of ethnographic art. During his 25-plus years in the Foreign Service, Cecere amassed more than 12,000 pieces representing multiple cultures and illustrating a “fusion of differing beliefs.”…
