Wall Rush
Here’s another high-profile, border wall critique sure to being a smile to your dry lips. The New York Times ran an interesting item yesterday suggesting our desperate border wall has a few bugs in. No, not Boeing’s pretend wall of high-tech gadgetry, the steel mesh and concrete serpent en route to Texas. Lawrence Downes, in…
Wall Rush
Here’s another high-profile, border wall critique sure to being a smile to your dry lips. The New York Times ran an interesting item yesterday suggesting our desperate border wall has a few bugs in. No, not Boeing’s pretend wall of high-tech gadgetry, the steel mesh and concrete serpent en route to Texas. Lawrence Downes, in…
On the Street
On the Beach It was a week of changing perspectives. Road trips often have that way of rebooting one’s personal computer. As always, to the letters… Letters (to the On the Street Penthouse Suite) #1 From the desk of Elray came this announcement… WHO: UTSA New Media Studio WHAT: 2nd Annual End-of-Year Screening & Exhibition…
Kihachiro Kawamoto’s ‘The Demon’
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/04/kihachiro_kawamoto.html (Sorry folks, can’t find embeddable video anywhere …) I can haz present?
Right to Migrate
The UTSA Institute for Law and Public Affairs, Honors College and Camborne Productions are sponsoring a special screening of the documentary film Beyond Borders: The Debate Over Human Migration on Wednesday, April 23 at 5:30pm in the MB 0.106. Dave Szamet, the film’s producer and UTSA Immigration Law professor Daniel Serna will be in attendance…
McNay sneak peak
Mere hours ago, I walked the grounds of the McNay Art Museum. A few members of the press were allowed for a sneak peak (the Jane and Arthur Stieren Center for Exhibitions is still being worked on, it’s set to officially open on June 7) and it was amazing. No artworks were installed yet, McNay…
Basura Bash
Volunteers spend a Saturday cleaning up a 10 mile stretch of San Antonio rivers and creeks from South Alamo to Southtown. Found among the discarded items were tires, TVs, furniture, broken windows and metal debris. To find out what you can do to help, go to www.basurabash.org.
On the Street
On the Beach It was a week of changing perspectives. Road trips often have that way of rebooting one’s personal computer. As always, to the letters… Letters (to the On the Street Penthouse Suite) #1 From the desk of Elray came this announcement… WHO: UTSA New Media Studio WHAT: 2nd Annual End-of-Year Screening & Exhibition…
Kihachiro Kawamoto’s ‘The Demon’
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/04/kihachiro_kawamoto.html (Sorry folks, can’t find embeddable video anywhere …) I can haz present?
Right to Migrate
The UTSA Institute for Law and Public Affairs, Honors College and Camborne Productions are sponsoring a special screening of the documentary film Beyond Borders: The Debate Over Human Migration on Wednesday, April 23 at 5:30pm in the MB 0.106. Dave Szamet, the film’s producer and UTSA Immigration Law professor Daniel Serna will be in attendance…
McNay sneak peak
Mere hours ago, I walked the grounds of the McNay Art Museum. A few members of the press were allowed for a sneak peak (the Jane and Arthur Stieren Center for Exhibitions is still being worked on, it’s set to officially open on June 7) and it was amazing. No artworks were installed yet, McNay…
Basura Bash
Volunteers spend a Saturday cleaning up a 10 mile stretch of San Antonio rivers and creeks from South Alamo to Southtown. Found among the discarded items were tires, TVs, furniture, broken windows and metal debris. To find out what you can do to help, go to www.basurabash.org.
Idle Curiosities
I know the world is scary and the economic forecast, supermercado, and gas pump intimidating in the later-day of Bush. But San Antonio, you’re bigger than to roll up and plug up when questionable pitches roll your way. I know this ‘cuz I watch you fight over the Edward’s recharge zone, for better housing standards,…
Idle Curiosities
I know the world is scary and the economic forecast, supermercado, and gas pump intimidating in the later-day of Bush. But San Antonio, you’re bigger than to roll up and plug up when questionable pitches roll your way. I know this ‘cuz I watch you fight over the Edward’s recharge zone, for better housing standards,…
Fiesta: Walk Across Texas
Release Date: 2008-04-16 Enjoy spring wildflowers, hike through 11 acres of mazes that make up the Texas Native Trails, experience the diverse ecosystems of the Hill Country, and float through a crowd of butterflies. An official Fiesta event, Walk Across Texas is a chance to get away from the crowded downtown streets and enjoy Texas…
Nightrocker’s 420 Party w. Bexar County Bastards, Man-EAters of Tsavo, Trian Woodburn’s, Shitcity Dreamgirls, The Heroine, and more
Release Date: 2008-04-16 It’s an all-day party for cannabis-cultura — the Nightrocker’s annual ganja bash is a happening affair that abandons the political in favor of culture and the result is a highly anticipated yearly event. Jam out to stoner rock by The Man Eaters of Tsavo, Bexar County Bastards, The Train Woodburn’s, Shitcity Dreamgirls,…
Jeffree Star, Schoolyard Heroes, Dr. Manhattan, Breathe Carolina, & P.D.A.
Release Date: 2008-04-16 Do you know where your children are? Last year a group of upset parents formed a petition against Schoolyard Heroes, citing the band’s “fascination with the evil world of Satan” and a presumed motive to corrupt kids. The band has a strong penchant for the macabre, but it’s inconsequential — their latest,…
Son Volt w/ special guest Bobby Bare Jr.
Release Date: 2008-04-16 When Uncle Tupelo disbanded in 1993 and Jay Farrar started Son Volt, his fans enthusiastically followed him. But when Farrar launched his solo career in the face of declining interest for new Son Volt material, some wondered if it meant the end for his band. These diehards wanted highway anthems. They wanted…
The Super Soul Shakedown
Release Date: 2008-04-16 If you like raw Latin funk with a little soul, check out Austin natives Brownout, who bring their super-funky, raw soul and extremely danceable music to the Alamo City as part two of The Super Soul Shakedown. Resident DJs JJ Lopez, Donnie Dee, and Scuba Gooding Jr. developed the themed quarterly event,…
Fresh from the deep
Mariscos El Marinero simply lives up to its name
Streaks and geeks
Forgetting Sarah Marshall Director: Nick Stoller Screenwriter: Nick Stoller Cast: Jason Segel, Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Russell Brand, Bill Hader Release Date: 2008-04-16 Website: http://www.forgettingsarahmarshall.com/ Rated: R Genre: Comedy Look, man. You guys know who you are.Right this minute, there are folks out there waiting, flush with either trepidation or bitterness, for this thunderin’, steamrollin’…
Alien in a foreign land
CJ7 Director: Stephen Chow Screenwriter: Stephen Chow Cast: Stephen Chow, Xu Jiao, Kitty Zhang Yugi Release Date: 2008-04-16 Website: http://www.sonyclassics.com/cj7/ Rated: PG Genre: Foreign Dude, I’m such a sucker for cute creatures. Not that that affinity alone would’ve pushed me beyond the theater-lobby doors and into, say, Shrek the Third (nope, not even for you,…
Chicago 10
Chicago 10 Director: Brett Morgen Screenwriter: Brett Morgen Release Date: 2008-04-16 Website: http://www.takepart.com/Chicago10 Rated: R Genre: Animation/Live Throughout the fall of 1969, eight anti-war activists — David Dellinger, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Bobby Seale, Jerry Rubin, and Lee Weiner — stood accused of inciting a riot during the Democratic National Convention…
Poisonous Times
Poisonous Times Composer: The Old Haunts Conductor: The Old Haunts Label: Kill Rock Stars Release Date: 2008-04-16 Rated: NONE Media: CD Length: LP Format: Album Genre: Indie Rock Anyone lucky enough to stumble onto Poisonous Times, the new album from Olympia, Washington, trio The Old Haunts, may wonder how a band so expertly propulsive has…
Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings
Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings Composer: Counting Crows Conductor: Counting Crows Label: Geffen Release Date: 2008-04-16 Rated: NONE Media: CD Length: LP Format: Album Genre: Singer/Songwriter (Rock/Pop) Adam Duritz wants us to feel sorry for him. We may see him in magazines and on television hanging out with beautiful people, attending lavish parties and sipping…
Pepper, Red Eye Empire, & Iration
Release Date: 2008-04-16 Hawaiian reggae? That’s what we said, but Kona natives Pepper don’t play traditional Hawaiian music. Rather, they stick to a strict diet of alternative power pop, rock, punk, and reggae. Influenced by early ’70s and ’80s Jamaican sounds, Pepper can be described as an eclectic mix of the Police meet Ziggy Marley…
San Antonio AIDS Foundation’s WEBB Party
Release Date: 2008-04-16 Through December 2002, 4,488 AIDS cases were reported in San Antonio and 2,344 of those have died. To blunt the annual toll of the disease, the San Antonio AIDS Foundation created WEBB Party. Its annual single-largest fundraiser offers an exquisite cuisine tasting, music by guest DJs, silent auction, and a celebrity appearance.…
The Super Soul Shakedown (chapter 2) w. Brownout and DJs Donnie Dee, JJ Lopez, & Scuba Gooding Sr.
Release Date: 2008-04-16 If you like raw Latin funk with a little soul, check out Austin natives Brownout, who bring their super-funky, raw soul and extremely danceable music to the Alamo City as part two of The Super Soul Shakedown. Resident DJs JJ Lopez, Donnie Dee, and Scuba Gooding Jr. developed the themed quarterly event,…
The Hard Luck Heroes CD Release Show w. S.A.F.D. Pipe & Drum, Brigede, & more
Release Date: 2008-04-16 The Hard Luck Heroes are blue-collar rock ’n’ roll, but mix in the musical stylings of Mike Ness and Johnny Cash, and the whole crowd will be singing along to the debut, Broken Hearts & Shattered Dreams. A heavy dose of improvised lead guitar and sing-a-long vocals are live-show standards, while special…
Jester’s court
As DJ Jester The Filipino Fist, UTSA alum G. Michael Pendon has rocked Alamo City crowds with the famed Underdog Turntablists and Supa Brother Scientists, and global audiences on tours with renowned acts such as Kid Koala and Grand Buffet. For the last four years, Jester has served as the designated closer at SXSW and…
THE SOUND & THE FURY
Ron Wilkins, Joël Dilley, and Darren Kuper recently returned from a tour of Russia, and it’s unlikely that Eurasia will ever be quite the same. The trio of local jazz virtuosos made the trip at the invitation of Wilkins’ old friend, pianist Valeri Grohovski. Wilkins has battled kidney disease for the last several months, but,…
Tiempo Libre goes orchestral
It’s not easy for them, but the members of Tiempo Libre are learning to control their energy. The seven-piece Miami band of Cuban expats pride themselves on the rhythmic explosiveness of their timba music, but when they perform Ricardo Lorenz’s new classical/popular hybrid piece Rumba Sinfonica, they must harness that force to prevent them from…
CDs Nuts
Visiter The Dodos (French Kiss) It’s kind of amazing how much noise two guys can make with a drum kit and an acoustic guitar. Opener “Walking” is deceptively dreamy, but the rough transition to the staccato drum beat “Red and Purple” sets the real tone for the album. The second song, augmented by what sounds…
High times
The Current recently took part, alongside roundabout six or seven other outlets, in SXSW roundtable discussions with Kal Penn, John Cho, and Neil Patrick Harris, followed by writer-directors Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz, all in connection with the forthcoming release of Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. Alas, I cannot in good faith recommend…
Art + work
“I went out to buy the human blood in the morning, and then I began the walk. It probably lasted about 45 minutes: that walk on pavement that did not burn.” Thus Regina José Galindo begins to describe her 2003 protest in the streets of Guatemala City to an interviewer for Bomb magazine. She continues:…
CRITICAL Darling
Celebrity fashion/gossip blogs are tricky beasts. Don’t read them, especially if you write about entertainment, and you’re out of the loop (Ooooh, so that talentless dimwit got the part because his girlfriend is the producer!). Do read them, and you’re fueling the star-fucking machine, and, for some reason, you find yourself knowing who Lauren Conrad…
ARTIFACTS
Before digital cameras (with their fancy portable printers) and such … there was the Polaroid. Remember those days? Point, shoot, and you’ve got your picture in a snap. (We’d advise you not to take Outkast’s “Hey Ya” lyrics literally, when André Benjamin says to “shake it like a Polaroid picture.” Apparently you can damage the…
‘Burlesque’ B-girls let it shine
Moments before the Cameo Theatre’s Not Too Blue Burlesque begins, Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard for the Money” played while a few of the Cameo’s B-Girls gulped down margaritas and ran to the backstage to prepare for a late night of stripping and often-cheesy skits. As 11:10 p.m. hit, a crowd of 20 or so…
Microhoo!
For weeks now, analysts and armchair financial nerds have been mulling over what it will mean if software megacorp Microsoft buys web-monkey farm Yahoo!. Would Microsoft-Yahoo! (known forevermore as Microhoo!) challenge Google to some kind of web-domination duel and win? Probably not. As much as I would love to see Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, and…
English beat
Though he left England more than a dozen years ago, Dallas-based comedian Steve Hirst still has what most Americans would consider a strong accent. His countrymen disagree. “Whenever I go into the pubs in England they’re like ‘Look the Yank’s here. Get him a pint of Bud Light!’” Having been here so long, he has…
Stalling the wall
I’m walking the trail at the Sabal Palm Audubon Center, shooting video, and narrating from bulleted points of sanctuary’s literature. Switching off the camera, I peer through the green-infused light and into the dizzying hundred-foot canopy above. Narcotized by this lush setting, I think how nice it would be to take my daughter here one…
Dear Uncle Mat
I think I have feelings for my roommate and best friend’s boyfriend. He and I have been hanging out a lot lately. She works weekend nights and we meet up and hang out watching TV or having drinks or whatever till she is off of work and then we all go out. They have been…
Democratic lubrication for a more perfect union
Birth (control) defects Scenting on the trail of Radar Love, our DNA imprinted in the era of inhibition-free hook-ups long before the prophylactic alphabet (AIDS, HPV, drug-resistant STDs) conflicted the libido of a younger generation, Queque sought nirvana in the poor-wo/man’s euphoric. And still does, frankly, but within the circle of a monogamous, v-sected relationship…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): A reader from Fiji is encouraging me to pay a visit. “Fiji is heaven on earth,” she says. “You’ll be ecstatic here.” While I have no doubt that’s true, it’s hard for me to imagine being any more ecstatic than I am when I travel to Hawaii. It, too, has resemblances…
Paying the PAC man
A visit to Robert Tobin’s old Oakwell Farms estate last week solved not only the sudden disappearance of Express-News culture columnist Mike Greenberg (incidentlight.com; draw what you will from the E-N’s proper-noun absence in Greenberg’s bio), it also answered the nagging question of how big a role, exactly, Bruce Bugg and his Tobin Endowment may…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: I work at a Seattle-based company, and our customer-service department uses a phone-tree system that asks all callers to press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish, and a few other numbers for commonly spoken languages in our area. I handle customer complaints as part of my job, and I get a surprising number…
Remembering a great SA philanthropist
“I felt I had an obligation to give back in a significant and extraordinary way.” — Linda Pace, Dreaming Red: Creating ArtPace, 2003 Bright red balloons, workshops full of enthusiastic children, thoughtful contemporary art, and fun snacks, including Blue Bell ice cream. Linda Pace is still with us even though she departed our world in…
Clothes-minded
Hopefully you’ve gotten your first pedicure of the new year, because it’s time to put away your closed-toe shoes and break out the sandals! Your closet should already have the two warm-weather classics: a pair of simple leather flip flops and a bright, feminine pair of peep-toe slingbacks. This year, your big addition should be…
Jesus is my chairman
“We try to look at places where corporations are having a huge impact on justice issues or sustainability and environmental issues, and we try to time the work that we do so that it can have the most impact,” says Laura Berry, executive director of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. ICCR’s efforts recently led…
Food for the gamer’s soul
The parking lot was empty at Gigabites & Java on a recent Friday night, but inside, the game stations and PCs were full. Located in the distinct yellow building on the corner of North St. Mary’s and Dewey, the gaming hotspot plus deli is frequented by regulars that live on and around the St. Mary’s…
The Fiesta Crashers
King Antonio King Antonio, first officially crowned by the Cavaliers as King Antonio IX in 1927, “pays special tribute to the military/civilian partnerships that weave the very fabric of our city’s history.” Courtiers: The Texas Cavaliers, founded in 1926 by John Carrington “to preserve and promote the ideals for which the heroes of the Alamo…
Amuse-BOUCHE
Not that A-B doesn’t appreciate Earth Day; commemorative days can draw attention to neglected causes. On the other hand, they can also become the vehicle for a lot of feel-good hype, and in hopelessly marketing-addicted America, another opportunity to consume … food, drink, gear, tchotchkes. So here’s a suggestion for your April 22. Become the…
Glorious Gluttony
You are a colorful, valueless component of this great project of resource consumption: Celebrate it! As the Big Day, that greenest collection of hours, that day when the unified realization of our interconnectedness in this great web of overconsumption switches on in each of our solitary socially-networked little lives and you remember that special someone…
Glorious Gluttony
You are a colorful, valueless component of this great project of resource consumption: Celebrate it! As the Big Day, that greenest collection of hours, that day when the unified realization of our interconnectedness in this great web of overconsumption switches on in each of our solitary socially-networked little lives and you remember that special someone…
