Animal Care Services Director Seeks Public Input
Today and tomorrow you can catch the last of the public meetings arranged by Animal Care Services. These meetings give citizens an opportunity to speak their mind on spay/neuter options, pet licensing, tethering and animal sales before revisions to the Chapter 5 ordinance covering animal issues are proposed to the City. We attended a meeting…
New EPA boss says tougher ozone standards inescapable
Al Armendariz is betting on San Anto in the new energy economy. Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com No matter how much Bexar County squirms, it can’t wriggle out of tougher air pollution regulations on the way, the region’s new head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the Current last week. “I think the standard is going…
Not weird, exactly, but kinda the least of my problems
I get emails from Saks 5th Avenue. I admire their hustle in contacting me as often as they do, since they’re unlikely to see any money from it. Mostly I just ogle the shoes. I did buy a sweater on sale there once. Once. But I just got an email that, given the state of…
Tony Tamales
Tony Tamales Let me just say this before starting: the singular form of tamales is tamal, not tamale. I realize that this is a hopeless cause and promise never (or at least infrequently) to mention it again. So, multiple tamales are the subject of the third-annual event known as the Tamalada Throw-Down! (The actual title…
New World Wine Royalty
Julio and Amalia Palmaz came from their native Argentina to California’s U.C Davis for Dr. Palmaz’s medical residency. To most of us for whom wine is the prescription of choice, UCD is, however, best known for its grape-growing and wine-making programs, so it’s perhaps not surprising that while there the couple developed a serious addiction…
French Wine Made Facil
Well, not really. If the 600-plus page book I have, grandly entitled “An Encyclopedia of the Wines and Domaines of France”, is any indication, simple is not a word that leaps readily to mind in this context. But if there were anyone to get the juices flowing and the process of appreciation going, that would…
D.H. Larewnce’s “Odor of Chrysanthemums”
In honor of the miners who died in West Virginia this week and with thoughts for their families, I looked up and re-read this short story by D. H. Lawrence, author of Women in Love, The Rainbow, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and Sons and Lovers, in addition to several collections of short stories, a couple of…
A Dallas suit challenges nuisance law, too
I hoped to have more for you on this case today, readers, but I’m still awaiting return calls. Check next week’s QueQue for a more in-depth discussion of this angle. If you’re interested in this (and you should be), you can read the court filings, and watch oral arguments before the Texas Supreme Court. Slavin…
Date Night
Date Night Director: Shawn Levy Screenwriter: Shawn Levy Cast: Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Taraji P. Henson, Jimmi Simpson Release Date: 2010-04-09 Rated: PG-13 Genre: Film Our Rating: 4.00 The leaden, lowbrow oeuvre of director Shawn Levy up to this very week reads as depressingly brain-dead and uninspired as a “Things to do on…
Two Tons of Steel w/ Rosie Flores
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-04-09 Claiming (as she does with the title of her latest album) to be Girl of the Century is gutsy, and claiming (as she does on her MySpace page) to be from Austin when she was clearly born in San An-mother-effing-tonio is practically treason around these parts. If you like rockabilly…
SUPER-CONGRATS to the Neighborhood Film Project filmmakers!
Way to rock, filmmakers of SATX! Read the Artifacts article here. The finalists for the Neighborhood Film Project are as follows, with the winner from each category in boldface, and indication of whether he/she is a student. ***Note to all NFP filmmakers: if you send me a link to your film online, I’d be happy…
Songs that make the young girl cry
Release Date: 2010-04-07 I love karaoke. That’s right — no shame in it. I relish the moment when an individual breaks off from the herd, bottoms-up their Bud, and stands bravely to pour out some feeling for a captive audience. With every new track, a hometown prodigy could be discovered. Anticipation and regret mingle dangerously.…
A Prophet
Critic’s Pick A Prophet Director: Jacques Audiard Screenwriter: Jacques Audiard Cast: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Hichem Yacoubi Release Date: 2010-04-07 Rated: R Genre: Film Malik El Djebena (Rahim) has been in and out of the juvenile detention system since age 11. He’s homeless, no family or friends. After assaulting a policeman, the 19-year…
Congratulations
Congratulations Composer: MGMT Conductor: MGMT Label: Sony/Columbia Release Date: 2010-04-07 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording If MGMT’s second full-length, Congratulations, gets labeled a sophomore slump (which it will be) it’s probably just a case of false advertising. Those Pink Floyd comparisons I never quite understood in Oracular Spectacular reviews, their (quite right) insistence that the follow-up…
Wu-Massacre
Wu-Massacre Composer: Meth, Ghost, and Rae Conductor: Meth, Ghost, and Rae Label: Def Jam Release Date: 2010-04-07 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording The Wu-Tang Clan web can get so tangled it’s hard to distinguish the U-Gods from the Inspectah Decks. All you really need to know about Wu-Massacre is that the Wu’s three greatest living rappers…
Good Morning Magpie
Good Morning Magpie Composer: Murder by Death Conductor: Murder by Death Label: Vagrant Release Date: 2010-04-07 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording I kind of picture Murder by Death singer-guitarist Adam Turla, after his 2009 solitary songwriting stint, stumbling out of Appalachia with 11 new songs like Moses descending from Mt. Sinai with the 10 commandments. Scruffy.…
Raymond v Raymond
Raymond v Raymond Composer: Usher Conductor: Usher Label: LaFace/Jive Release Date: 2010-04-07 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording You can take the title of Usher Raymond’s sixth album a couple of ways. The 31-year-old R&B singer divorced his wife in November after a tumultuous two-year marriage. The hitmaker also fights two sides of himself on Raymond v…
Ecstatic rotations
Unearthly American delights at Bunsen Burgers
Lunch at Taqueria los Arcos
Release Date: 2010-04-07 My dining companion for this Fast Foodie outing is playing racquetball this afternoon, which means he’ll be able to justify the five plates of food we’re about to scarf — which, to stare truth boldly in the face, will be layered on top of most of the basket of warm, crispy chips…
What it feels like for a girl
Rock ‘n’ roll herstory
Coffee talk
Houston hip-hop legend Devin the Dude has written songs about inflation (“Almighty Dollar”), car maintenance (“Lacville ’79”), and proper genital sanitation (“Broccoli and Cheese”), but he’s most often associated with a single substance: coffee. He’s been a member of the Coughee Brothaz né Odd Squad for nigh on two decades now, and he describes his…
Ram remembered
There’s a placeIn San AntonWhere I can goAnd not feel alone! Taco Land! — The Dead Milkmen Nearly five years after he was murdered in cold blood, a man will be remembered for gathering drunks, punks, bikers and other assorted misfits hell-bent on loud music. On April 9 and 10, during the fifth annual music…
Live & Local
Hardcore is a strange animal. The overall quality of a proper hardcore show is less contingent on whether the band is particularly good or talented than on how willing the crowd is to get caught up in the moment. The show is better when the crowd is out in full rage, and lackluster when the…
The Sound & The Fury
While San Antonio’s old-guard music scene will be celebrating the fifth-annual Ram Jam (see “Ram remembered” ) this weekend, you damn kids have plenty of options, too. Friday night, rock ’n’ rollers should check out Blowing Trees, Tongue Tied Lightning, Fatback Circus, and the Vinyl Affair at Limelight (2718 N. St. Mary’s, myspace.com/limelightsa) and the…
Dear Uncle Mat
Dear Uncle Mat, I wanna know how to grow balls. I blame myself for every friggin’ thing in my life, and my daughter says she’s not happy because I’m not happy. That was hard to swallow, but she opened my eyes and scrambled my brain: She sees too much. I work Monday through Friday, 8…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): It would be a good week for you to perfect your ability to crow like a rooster, Aries. I also recommend that you practice your skill at leaping out of bed in the morning fully refreshed, with your imagination primed and ready to immediately begin making creative moves. Other suggested exercises:…
AACOG in air denial, Rivard flirts with UT job
Remedial oxygen Clean-air bullies at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are considering cutting smog out of the American diet, but warning shots fired by our Bexar County Commissioners and officials with the Alamo Area Council of Governments suggest they’ll have to slice their way through South Texas politicians to get it done. Bexar’s Commissioners and…
Wronger and righter
I was working in my office when I got a call from Rusty in Nashville. He and I have a long history of trying cases together, the most infamous being the deaths of six prisoners, all chained and shackled, who were burned to death while being transported in a cargo van. It’s a hell of a…
Or not
“Our son was born on February 2, 1997. I became pregnant a few months after I touched the Fertility Statues in San Antonio after trying to conceive for 11 years!”— unattributed quote on a Ripley’s Believe It or Not! brochure entitled “African Fertility Statues: The Legend” OK, here’s why this story is topical: I received…
ARTifacts
The Current congratulates the winners of the Neighborhood Film Project Screening and Contest! “We had an amazing turnout, and the talent on display through these different works was amazing to see,” enthused Sebastian Guajardo, special projects manager for the Office of Cultural Affairs, which co-sponsored the event with the San Antonio Museum of Art (where…
Worst case scenario
Ten years later, the fears surrounding Y2K have faded mercifully into the recesses of our collective subconscious. The millennium bug never bit — computers didn’t fail, economies didn’t crumble, governments didn’t fall. But Steven Amsterdam’s imaginative first novel, Things We Didn’t See Coming, posits a reality in which the worst predictions came to pass. Told…
ARTifacts
Mourning Dove, an award-winning radio play by Emil Sher now being mounted as a stage production, is seeking special performers to audition for a major role. The character, Keith, is a 20-30 year old man with a mild developmental handicap. Director Matthew Byron Cassi’s younger brother has Down syndrome, and he says “I’ve been involved…
Dry eyes, please
Sentimentality is the enemy of great art, but it’s the balm we liberally apply to cover our historical crimes. That’s the underlying conflict that may doom Treme, the new HBO series set in post-Katrina New Orleans and produced by key members of the formidable team behind The Wire. There is of course much to be…
We want to believe
As has been noted, the truth is out there. A more less-likely place for truth to reside, however, is in here — a Denny’s restaurant in north central San Antonio. Once a month, a congregation convenes to discuss a topic that lurks in the penumbra of mainstream discourse. The diverse cast rarely changes; attendees refer to…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican, I know that Mexicans and pochos can be black, white, Asian, and indios, but I just got my United States census form. Figured you would be the best person to ask about question #9 — Race. I know I’m not white (I been pulled over too many times for BS reasons), I’m not…
Chisme Y Chicle
Being the sort of person who walks out of the store in our new shoes, CC had to be at the redone Havana Hotel April 1 to see what Texas lifestyle queenpin Liz Lambert had done with the former Cohiba. `See “Havana social,” March 24.` The clubby basement bar was a favorite confiding/confession spot for…
Parading in the Big Easy
Last month, the San Antonio Free Speech Coalition learned oral arguments in their case against the city and its revised parade ordinance would be heard by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, located in New Orleans. I squeezed into the group’s serious meeting on April Fool’s Day to see how the exhaustively active group…
Express-News Editor interviews for UT post
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com San Antonio Express-News Editor Bob Rivard is one of the most recognizable San Antonians there are. Barrels of CMYK ink will do that for a guy. His news resume showcases decades of determination and talent ladled over with the sorts of awards working writers gnash their teeth after. He’s been a force…
They are so creative in the Philippines.
I am not kidding. I would really like to travel there. I love chicken adobo, I was a fan of this clip back in the day, I think the traditional highly complex courtship process is fascinating and possibly useful, Corazon Aquino is in my roster of favorite women ever as is Lynda Barry, plus my…
