News – Environmental issues Dirty water
Web Exclusive Leon Valley pollution could warrant State Superfund designation A plume of contaminated groundwater under Leon Valley could be designated a State Superfund site, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality officials said April 20. Kurtis Tatsch runs water from his home’s private well recently as his wife Laura looks on. After contamination was found in…
Screens Clear and present danger
Dana Brown goes from ocean to desert for the world’s most grueling derby in ‘Dust to Glory’ Spectators at the annual Baja 1000 off-road race push perilously close to the contestants, who speed 1,000 miles across the desert for the thrill and fleeting glory. It’s an understatement to say that documentary director Dana Brown enjoys…
Best of SA 2005 And the winners are…
Food Arts Music Media People & Politics Places RUFF! Winners, losers, and very strange answers This year’s model: Bambi the chihuahua embodies San Antonio and Best of 2005. From public parks to front yards to their owners’ arms, chihuahuas are everywhere. If you walk too closely to them, you’ll find these small but mighty dogs…
Screens Attachment disorder
‘Paper Clips’ makes American triumphalism the moral of the Holocaust Students at an elementary school in Whitwell, Tennessee – birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan and home to the school board that fired John T. Scopes for teaching evolution – collected more than 29 million paper clips in a project designed to make the tragedy…
Election – District 1 The waiter
District 1’s Roger Flores enjoys serving his constituents, and he’d like an invitation to the next public office Roger Flores District 1 Councilman Roger Flores, whose district encompasses most of downtown and the historic neighborhoods of North Central San Antonio, has, on occasion, been so famously evasive that even political allies have said, Good luck…
Screens Armchair cinephile
The final frontier, on a shoestring Star Wars is coming, as a rushing stream of hype informs us. Though this permutation is geared toward 21st-century videogame tastes, the reappearance of Darth Vader brings with it a nostalgic whiff of the series’ 1977 debut, when it inspired the imaginations of a generation now in their 20s…
Music CD Spotlight
Roky Road It wouldn’t be fair to say that rock critics confuse mental illness with genius. It’s just that when the slightest hint of genius carries with it some history of psychological disorder, they fall in love with the myth. Critics approach Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson, Roky Erickson, and Daniel Johnston with a charity that…
Screens That’s a wrap
The low-down on this week’s premieres Sean Penn plays a government agent who must decide what to do with cunning linguist Nicole Kidman, who overhears an assassination plot at her United Nations job, in The Interpreter. After hearing about an assassination plot while working inside the walls of the United Nations, Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman)…
Election – District 6 Growing pains
Growth, crime tops in District 6 With Councilman Enrique Barrera unable to run because he’s maxed his term limit, the race for the District 6 seat is packed. Barrera hasn’t endorsed any of the eight candidates, leaving each to establish his or her own identity and name recognition. Political observers might remember Larry Romo and…
Screens Special screenings
Cine Las Americas International, ‘Desperate Living,’ ‘Lluvias De Verano’ and ‘The Water Magician’ Cine Las Americas International Film Festival Cine Las Americas Media Arts Center in Austin will host the eighth Cine Las Americas International Film Festival April 20-24. The festival features a selection of dramatic and documentary films made by or about Latin and…
Music Sound and the fury
Charmed quarks British avant-garde sax player John Butcher once devoted his doctoral studies to quantum physics, which is oddly fitting because Butcher delights in breaking music down to its subatomic particles. SA Current Online Sound and the fury A week on the scene Whether performing alone or with a small combo, he constantly explores the…
New review The dull desperation of ‘A lot like love’
Where’s the sweet serendipity? Amanda Peet and Ashton Kutcher try the When Harry Met Sally formula on a younger generation. The result, says Kiko Martinez, is “dull desperation.” A Lot Like Love Dir. Nigel Cole; writ. Colin Patrick Lynch; feat. Ashton Kutcher, Amanda Peet, Kathryn Hahn, Kal Penn, Alie Larter (PG-13) Ashton Kutcher (The Butterfly…
Food & Drink All you can eat
News and notes from the San Antonio food scene Want some human genes with that rice? The folks at Anheuser-Busch sure don’t. Last week, the nation’s largest brewer and buyer of rice announced it would boycott rice from Missouri if the U.S. Department of Agriculture allows Ventria Biosciences to grow genetically modified crops in the…
Music All ears
Sometimes angry, often sad young men Next Tuesday sees the release of a masterful new record – one that, if there’s any justice in the music world (uh, right) should bring to the mainstream an artist who until now has enjoyed a well-deserved cult following. The Mountain Goats is a confusing name for a band…
Election – District 7 The sump hole
Visting District 7? Bring your galoshes As one City Council candidate described it, District 7 is shaped like an amoeba separating at Leon Valley into two distinct areas above and below Loop 410. The six candidates the Current interviewed agree that the primary issues in their district are flood drainage, road maintenance, and safety, and,…
Food & Drink Allez cuisine!
Battle Banana ends in defeat for Iron Chef Indian “Our lives are not in the lap of the gods, but in the lap of our cooks.” – Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living Jesse Amado, a.k.a. Iron Chef Chinese, won the homegrown Battle Banana for the interplay of heat and sweet in his grilled bananas…
Campaign contributions Show them the money
Web Exclusive Election campaign contributions top the $1 million mark On April 8, campaign finance reports for City Council and mayoral candidates were due. Forty-four people are running for City office; as a group, they have collected $1,086,268 in campaign contributions, not including loans candidates have made to themselves. Below is each candidate’s total contribution…
Culture Feature Music even a grinch could love
The Children’s Chorus of San Antonio defies stereotypes with the premiere of ‘Then, Now, Forever’ Choral music is a funny thing. One of the earliest, most fundamental, and potentially most beautiful musical mediums in the Western tradition frequently conjures up images of bad church choirs and high-school assemblies. Even worse is the mention of a…
Food & Drink Old wine, new bottles
The ever-evolving Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival At the Grand Tasting of the Texas Hill Country Wine &Food Festival, Jesse Perez of Francesca’s puts the finishing touches on his shrimp trio in mirasol chile sauce. (Photos by Ron Bechtol) The Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival was launched by a dedicated group…
Stage Holy Harem
A young girl believes she is a stigmata-covered Bride of Christ in ‘Mariette in Ecstasy’ Ashley Lindstrom and Timothy Jo perform a scene from the Trinity University Theater Department’s production of Mariette in Ecstacy. (Photos by Mark Greenberg) Ron Hansen’s 1991 novel, Mariette in Ecstasy, is about a stigmatic, a person whose body bears some…
Food & Drink Meatless in Steer City
Homemade granola is a snap to make and packs a B12 wallop Rolled oats are like sunflower seeds when it comes to roasting: One minute they are just golden, the next they are burned beyond recognition. This is the only difficult part of preparing your own granola; otherwise it’s as simple as throwing a bunch…
News – From the editor By the time she gets to Phoenix
Sheryl Sculley: Beam her up During the 2002-03 NBA season, the Portland Trailblazers had the highest payroll in basketball: $104 million. After bloating their roster with such high-flying players as Scottie Pippen, who earned $19.7 million that year, the Blazers finished nine games back in their division and failed to clinch an NBA title. From…
Visual Arts Art capades
The Current investigates April’s bountiful art buffet Lynn McCabe’s pot_luck (top left), on view at Cactus Bra, juxtaposes the urges behind art, food, and assigned values through the pot-luck dinner tradition. Luis Valderas’ graphic-inspired work, which draws on Aztec and Mayan imagery, was included in Latino Expressions II: Artistas de San Antonio, at the Downtown…
Music Lowdown blues
Local diehards struggle to revive a sluggish scene In early April, the San Antonio Blues Society promoted a local concert by California guitar hero Tommy Castro. The next week, Kathy Wolters broke out in hives. The San Antonio Blues Society’s board of directors are pinning their hopes on a Fiesta-week festival. Board members are (clockwise…
Election – Speed reads Out-of-town contributors lining up for SA election
Segovia’s campaign funds, Prop 2, Mayoral candidates to debate environment issues Dallas loves Segovia: Of the $29,761 raised last quarter by District 3 Council candidate Ron Segovia, $9,000 came from out-of-town contributors, primarily from the Dallas area. The incumbent collected at least $1,500 from the bigwigs at Southwest Housing, which specializes in affordable housing. Within…
Words Independence: priceless
John Perkins confesses he was an agent of globalization who offered countries easy money in exchange for their sovereignty “Why do they hate us?” Americans asked after 9-11. John Perkins had learned the answer two decades previously. After 12 years of hesitation, the events of 9-11 impelled him to publish his story in Confessions of…
Music Current Choice
Sangre, sueños, and songs Juanes Juanes, like Shakira, hails from Colombia. And, like the platinum-blond superstar, this singularly-named male heartthrob has hit the top of the charts across Latin America, sold out auditoriums, snagged several Grammys and received a Pepsi endorsement to boot. Unlike Shakira, however, he has no intention of recording in English anytime…
Election – Democratic Party The fight club
While local Dems argue, the party’s strength wanes Rudy Casias, Democratic Party Chairman. (Photo by Elyas Bakhtiari) Turf wars, mudslinging, accusations of cronyism and corruption, legal battles: This may be business as usual when Democrats and Republicans butt heads over legislation in Austin, but when it describes the state of the union of your own…
Fiesta Fiesta footwear and the Corn Ball
Fiesta faux pas, unless you’re a cast member in a Cornyation skit, as this Barbarella look-alike is. Fiesta fabulous, with flowers, iridescent finishes (this year’s best bet), and, of course, a fresh pedicure. Cornyation: Fiesta’s mid-course correction Tiptoe through the tequila cups How do the well-heeled prepare for Fiesta? Spring for special heels, of course,…
News – Party Lines Helotes, Wal-Mart, and a flea circus
Welcome to the age of acrimony An anonymous e-mail sender gleefully pointed out that last week’s yellow-journalism coverage of the Wal-Mart scandal in Helotes/Grey Forest was barking up the wrong tree. “You not only spelled mayoral candidate and Wal-Mart foe Jon Allan’s name wrong, you misspelled the dog’s name and you got the timeline wrong.”…
Screens When life gives you transvestites …
Richard Elfman turned a career in crazy old Vegas into a transgressive film masterpiece Do you recognize this man? Richard Elfman was a co-founder of the original Oingo Boingo, which brought younger brother Danny to fame, but the elder Elfman is perhaps best remembered for Forbidden Zone, the 1980 film John DeFore calls “cheerfully offensive”…
News – Briefs Reproductive rights bills pending
Former TX Supreme Court judge and UT Law Professor will help State Representative rewrite HB1212 It’s back to the drawing board for State Representatives Frank Corte and Phil King. Last Wednesday, the representatives on the House State Affairs Committee met until the wee hours the next morning to hear public testimony on 13 abortion-related bills,…
Screens A spotty business
Director Carroll Ballard herds big cats in ‘Duma’ Bring together all the species of animals that director Carroll Ballard has worked with in his 25-year career of feature filmmaking and you would have yourself one very unique petting zoo. Ballard, 67, has filmed horses, wolves, geese, and dogs since 1979, when he directed the original…
