Former TEA employee appeals case over controversial creation-evolution policy
Amie Ninh amieninh@hotmail.com The federal court in the Western District of Texas dismissed her lawsuit earlier this spring, but Chris Comer, former Director of Science for the Texas Education Agency, will appeal the decision that upheld the TEA’s unwritten “neutrality” policy on evolution and creationism. Comer was terminated in November 2007 after she forwarded an…
Rumble in the cement jungle
Text and photo by Enrique Lopetegui elopetegui@sacurrent.com This is what the end of a real Town Hall meeting should look like. Activists George Windrow and Nadia Gaona in a rare moment of truce. Who needs a town hall when you have the sidewalk? Last Friday, at the two offices of U.S. Representative Ciro Rodríguez (D-Texas)…
Lightning Rod: RG Griffing draws a libel suit from the Wild Animal Orphanage
When it comes to headlines, no local watchdog has a sharper bite than the San Antonio Lightning’s RG Griffing, and as those headlines are sometimes the story itself, it was only a matter of time before someone hired a lawyer. And sure enough, last week, Carol Asvestas, executive director of the Wild Animal Orphanage in…
State of Z
By Enrique Lopetegui elopetegui@sacurrent.com Jean-Louis Trintignant in Costa-Gavras’s Z (1969). Photo courtesy of Rialto Pictures. As I was zapping one day during my teenage years, I had no clue what I was watching, but I immediately knew it had to take place in Uruguay. The clothing of the civilians being detained, the uniforms of the…
Sure, I’m a bitch about nuclear, but where does the daughter of Minerva stand?
One of a dozen protesters lined up yesterday outside the Council’s B Session discussion on a proposal to expand the South Texas Project nuclear complex. By Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Y’all have heard enough from me for one week (or at least la jeffa has) on atom-splittage. Besides, until CPS Energy quits suppressing the Jeremy Rifkin…
Open Letter to a Would-Be Current Freelancer, & Some Changes ‘Round Here
(Note: this post is partially based on a response I wrote to a high school friend who queried about writing for us. I hope he does.) “I’ve got this idea I wanna write about for the Current.” Awesome. Because, truly, the Current is always looking for great freelance writers. Writers who know the city, its…
Do they know it isn’t Christmas: Disney pulls the train in SA
Don’t hate the people in the above photo. On Friday, August 14, you too will have the chance to pretend it’s anywhere near time to get in the Christmas spirit while you’re waiting in line at the Amtrak station on a South Texas August afternoon. That’s right: Disney’s Christmas Carol train is coming to town.…
Two reasons to go to City Council tomorrow, and none of them start with “N”
If you were following intrepid Current reporter gharman on Twitter today, you might think that this week’s City Hall excitement will set with the sun, but peruse tomorrow’s A Session agenda, and you’ll find plenty of interest, starting with: A. The reeducation of HemisFair Park, which turned 40 last year, and just sits there these…
Pay up and shut up
Text and photos by Enrique Lopetegui elopetegui@sacurrent.com Esperanza’s Graciela Sánchez raising hell. The cops said “100-150,” but I counted around 200, if not more (the Express-News reported 300). Whatever the number of the crowd, Graciela Sánchez, director of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, knows how to put on a good show. Summoned by the…
I Sell the Dead
Critic’s Pick I Sell the Dead Director: Glenn McQuaid Screenwriter: Glenn McQuaid Cast: Larry Fessenden, Brenda Cooney, Dominic Monaghan, Ron Perlman, Angus Scrimm Release Date: 2009-08-12 Rated: NONE Genre: Film Our Rating: 3.00 Arthur Blake (Monaghan, aka Charlie from Lost) steals corpses from their graves, but it’s not his fault. “It was body snatchin’ or…
Management
Management Director: Stephen Belber Screenwriter: Stephen Belber Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn, Woody Harrelson, Margo Martindale, James Liao Release Date: 2009-08-12 Rated: NONE Genre: Film Your assignment: Write a believable film which culminates in Steve Zahn (the goofy guy from Saving Silverman who isn’t Jack Black or Jason Biggs) and Jennifer Aniston hooking up, for…
Brotherhood Tour Kick Off
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2009-08-12 If you’ve never been to a Brotherhood show, or been within a 5-mile radius of one, you might be excused for thinking the local metallurgists are some kind of hippy-dippy peace-and-love outfit — an acoustic Christian-rock act, maybe, or a reggae band made up of trust-fund babies with dreadlocked blond…
Astro physics
Release Date: 2009-08-12 Several months ago, I was in a general funk, and decided to do something out of the ordinary in hopes of snapping out of it. I got on my bike at about 9:30 p.m. and rode down Eisenhauer for a lonely game at Astro Bowl. I didn’t do too poorly (I broke…
War pigs
A dark satire for dark days
Kinda ‘Funny’
Funny Books Director: James Christopher Screenwriter: James Christopher Cast: Derick Morris, Mike Shirley, Vivianna Chan, Erin Larson, Stephanie Dunbar Release Date: 2009-08-12 Rated: PG-13 Genre: Film The biggest problem with Funny Books, the second film from Austin-based production company Twitchy Dolphin, is also the aspect it makes the least sense to criticize. Complaining that this…
French-Mex
Ernesto’s fuses New and Old World decadence
Mad about Hatters
Release Date: 2009-08-12 Southtown’s reputation as a haven for artists and other members of the liberal intelligentsia is due to get a boost with the opening of Liberty Bar in its new, ex-ecclesiastical digs. A little healthy competition for area restaurants can only be good in the long run, though Madhatters Tea may find itself…
Heat the 20, Saint Pegasus
Heat the 20, Saint Pegasus Composer: Kick It! Conductor: Kick It! Label: Self released Release Date: 2009-08-12 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording The full-length debut from San Antonio’s Kick It! takes its title from a few of Alamo City’s finest gay clubs, but the tracks are too scruffy for a respectable dance floor. Take, for example,…
Boleros
Boleros Composer: Trio Azul Conductor: Trio Azul Label: Dragon Lady Records Release Date: 2009-08-12 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording This collaborative effort from local musicians Azul Barrientos (vocals, guitar), Bett Butler (vocals, piano), and Joël Dilley (bass) injects traditional boleros (“Sabor a Mi,” “Un Poco Mas”) with a lounge-jazz vibe for an album that’d go best…
No One’s First and You’re Next
No One’s First and You’re Next Composer: Modest Mouse Conductor: Modest Mouse Label: Epic Release Date: 2009-08-12 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Since signing to a major label in 2001, the members of Modest Mouse have continued to act like they’re still on an indie. The band regularly issues vinyl singles and puts out random collections…
Julian Plenti is â?¦ Skyscraper
Julian Plenti is â?¦ Skyscraper Composer: Julian Plenti Conductor: Julian Plenti Label: Matador Release Date: 2009-08-12 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Spoiler alert: Julian Plenti is really the alter ego of Paul Banks, well-dressed frontman for one of rock’s most polarizing bands, Interpol (opinions range from “Best band ever!” to “Hey, is this a Joy Division…
Same dog, different collar
“Es el mismo perro con diferente collar (same dog, different collar),” was Antonio Díaz’s reaction to the government’s decision, announced August 6, to finally yield to the demands of Díaz and other activists that no more undocumented-immigrant families (especially families with small children) be imprisoned at the for-profit T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor,…
Betty Jean Muyres
Betty Jean (Cadena) Muyres is one of those good Catholics who doesn’t mind raising a little hell when it comes to protecting the environment and the rights of property owners, and trying to preserve what precious little Hill Country dirt remains unscathed by the developers’ blade. Lately, that seems to call for bigger Bibles, faster…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Readers: We begin, as we do each week, with cojones, although the huevos in question deal with my column a couple of semanas ago about why gabachos prefer the former term for testicles as opposed to the latter. I gave a rough etymology of the two (cojones comes from the Spanish singular cojón, testicle,…
Dear Uncle Mat
WTF do I do? Bexar County probation’s UA contractor is crooked, as we ALL know. Do I refuse 2 submit 2 drug tests now? Duh. HELP! Treatment Associates is obviously inept when sampling drug screens. — A Mad Probationer, Gettin’ Screwed by a Bexar Dear Screwed by a Bexar, Even with my occasionally spotty taste…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I started producing some good work within 10 years of launching my writing career, but I didn’t hit my stride until the 18th year. From what I hear, many other skills require a long training period as well. According to an Aikido adept I know, for example, a practitioner may require…
LIVE & LOCAL
The Cove is packed when the Offbeats take the stage, but the people in the audience are mostly watching their plates of food. The band, reduced recently to the three Fosters, is set up for an acoustic show: Bryan and Sean on guitar, Colin behind an abbreviated drum kit, just bass and hi-hat. Still, the…
Murder Ink
Saturday, August 1 3:11 p.m. An argument that turned violent on the 1300 block of Thorain Boulevard ended with the death of 19-year-old Marcos Cervantes. He was shot in the chest outside of his home before he stumbled and fell at his doorstep. Friends gathered around Cervantes while EMS arrived to help. Cervantes was declared…
Electric boogaloo
Back in 1984, America was obsessed with breaking. Flicks like Flashdance, Wild Style, and Style Wars had already introduced the culture to the masses, but this was the year that b-boys stormed Madison Avenue, made the cover of Newsweek, and were invited to the closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. For folks…
Singstar: Queen
Publisher: Sony Systems: PS2 and PS3 PS3 MSRP: $39.99 PS2 MSRP: $29.99 Bust out your microphones and warm up your singing voice, a new version of SingStar has finally hit store shelves! Last year Sony released its first band-specific entry into the franchise with SingStar Abba. Sure Mama Mia is perplexingly the highest grossing movie…
THE SOUND & THE FURY
Gilbert Garcia’s gone, but don’t cry. He bit the mailman again, so we’ve taken him out to a farm where he can run, frolic, and review albums all day long in a big sunny field. We’ve got you a new writer to play with, though — none other than the Kamikaze himself, Enrique Lopetegui, who’ll…
Seasons in the abyss
Outside Slayer’s dressing room, Cannibal Corpse’s twisted murder metal can be heard grinding out of the speakers from a few hundred meters away. It’s evening in Sacramento, California, on the first stop of the Mayhem Fest, which also features Marilyn Manson and 14 other metal and metal-inspired acts. Slayer guitarist Kerry King barges out of…
“What We’re Not” — Peoplefood
In their own words, things Austin’s Peoplefood are not: relevant, esoteric, mainstream, optimistic, just painted on. You can picture the music video (does anyone still watch those?) for this song — the band goofing around in Central Park, holding up markered poster boards naming each of these things they’re not while the fuzzy guitars and…
S’nuff Film
Director Steven Spielberg plans on remaking Harvey, the 1950 classic starring Jimmy Stewart as a man with an invisible rabbit for a best friend. If you care very strongly about this one way or the other, hit me up at jmartin@sacurrent.com, because you seriously need to get out more. You’ll also be glad to know…
Lately come ‘the Brave’
What a summer. I’m still reeling from, among other things, Contemporary Motherfucking Art Month. You know, I sort of half-expected it to be pretty lame, seeing as how it’s gonna happen again in March. I figured the artists and curators would be girding their loins for the big show six months from now, and that…
ARTifacts
What with the constant shuffle of YouTube viral videos, political blogs, and endless social networking, the new ground broken hour-by-humming-hour that sweeps aside (then, sometimes, brutally reinforces) national and social boundaries, I ask you: can Facebook be an art vanguard? And I submit to you, fuck yeah. To wit: Oswaldo Pompa, a Dominican poet living…
First Friday roundup: Home is where the art is
Lili Peña Dyer’s series of all-white wall sculptures in the lobby of the Aloft Hotel fosters a meditative environment, a rarity in this world of sensory overload. The collection is titled Release, and the canvases, numbered 1 through 5, are covered with objects that resemble eggshells and cast an assortment of interesting shadows. In “Release…
Shootout at the cupcake corral
Once upon a time, cupcakes belonged to the world of children’s birthday parties. No more. Thanks to the emergence of trendy cupcake shops here and abroad, over the past few years I’ve enjoyed a wedding cupcake, a graduation cupcake, a you’ve-had-a-hard-day-and-you’ve-earned-this cupcake … it goes on. The beauty of a cupcake — what separates it…
The QueQue
Breaking bad The troubled Bexar County probation department’s top dog got whipped by the County’s Court at-Law judges Tuesday, when six of the misdemeanor black robes voted to give Chief Bill Fitzgerald the boot. `See “Urine trouble,” July 29.` The vote came during the first job evaluation Fitzgerald has received in five years, according to…
The world’s shortest ’80s movie
I’m going to go ahead and guess none of the people responsible for “Swing Shift” has actually had this claim evaluated by the folks at Guinness (the records keepers or the brewery), but this three-part film is pretty short at about 18 minutes give or take. And the description doesn’t say anything about it, but…
CPS: The case of the missing â??green’ paper and other active conspiracies
Put in my hand by a lone messenger. Please don’t shoot him. Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com At the Current, we haven’t always been the easiest on Councilmember Mary Alice Cisneros (below, right, in sepia). For instance, we said in the lead-up to her recent reelection that the Grand Dame of politic dynastism (we mean that in…
Blowing Trees ‘Goblins’ video
We’re a few weeks late with this one, but here’s Blowing Trees video for their song “Goblins.” I have to say, fellas, you passed up a pretty obvious opportunity for one bitchin’ video. No goblins to be seen. They do have a pretty sweet motion-trail thing going on, and everything’s all shiny and pretty like…
County Court-at-Law appointments: Ghost of John Longoria past
Update at 6:20pm: The Commissioners named Michael LaHood to County Court-at-Law #15; Monica Gonzalez to #13, the County’s second family-violence court; Ernest Acevedo Jr. to #14; and JP Linda Penn to court #5. Longoria didn’t make the final cut; he was reportedly nominated to #14 by Commissioner Chico Rodriguez, and Commissioner Tommy Adkisson seconded, but…
Mayor’s forum a bust for those who have long studied nuclear short-comings
Councilmember Reed Williams, whose question for CPS Energy was too dangerous for the public, demonstrates his telekinetic ability by forcing our camera out of focus. Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Your delightful Council made it through the first (last?) City-hosted town hall on CPS Energy’s nuke recommendation in one 10-member piece. But some of them will have…
