Cover Story
How Weed Advocates Hope to Spark Legalization in Texas
Less than a mile from the Whatcom County Courthouse and even closer to Bellingham High School sits Top Shelf Cannabis, the first store to open and operate after Washington state legalized marijuana for recreational use. Hundreds of people of all ages, including people in their 70s, lined up at Top Shelf when its doors opened…
9 Free Events Happening This Week
Tues 8/19 Percy Jackson’s Birthday Party Barnes & Nobles celebrates fictional demigod Percy Jackson’s birthday in conjunction with the publication of author/creator Rick Riordan’s new illustrated collection Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods. Free, 6pm Tuesday, Barnes & Noble (La Cantera), 15900 La Cantera Pkwy, (210) 558-3903. Tues 8/19 Bekah Kelso Bekah Kelso is holding down…
SAPD Seeks Alleged Dog Killer
The San Antonio Police Department accuses Gary L Kennedy of beating a dog to death with a metal bar. Authorities are seeking public assistance in locating the suspect. San Antonio police are looking for a man accused of cornering a dog and beating it to death. Gary Laurence Kennedy is wanted on a charge of…
‘Bon Appetit’ Names Hot Joy No. 7 Best New Restaurant in America
Photos by Casey Howell If you haven’t been to Hot Joy yet, you might want to get there soon before food-sluts from across the nation start lining up outside the doors. Bon Appetit named Hot Joy as the No. 7 best new restaurant for 2014. The list includes NYC’s Estela, San Francisco’s Tosca and Thai…
7 Other Retail Products We Need From Whataburger
What will they release next Let’s get the newsy bit out of the way first–Whataburger and HEB announced the release of the SA-based burger chain’s sauces and mayo, bottled and available for sale at your local ‘B. You can pour on the peppercorn ranch, jalapeño ranch, honey mustard and creamy pepper, and don’t forget Whataburger’s…
5 Things You Have to Do This Week
Mon 8/18 Slaves Jonny Craig has a pretty good idea of what his audience wants, regardless of the band in which he packages his efforts. The former singer of Emarosa, Dance Gavin Dance and Islands & Glaciers, Craig’s emo-rock presence is now gracing a new supergroup called Slaves. The debut, Through Art We Are Equals, marks…
Ride-Share Consumers Mistaking Regular Commuters for Uber Drivers
This Yellow Cab employee stands outside of the city council chambers last week before a hearing on ride-sharing services. The vehicle-for-hire industry keeps warning San Antonio’s policy makers that any number of bad things could occur if ride-sharing companies like Lyft and Uber are allowed to operate in the Alamo City. Among concerns discussed during…
What I Ate: Post-cleanse cocktails and such
Two things happened after my juice cleanse experiment. I couldn’t finish food, and I sure as hell lost my drinking endurance. The week includes stops at Cured and Hot Joy to celebrate their Bon Appetit nods, a visit to George’s Keep for a quick Crave juice demo and a 45-minute wait for free ice cream…
No Arrest Warrant Will Be Issued for Gov. Rick Perry
via Getty Images Update Monday, Aug. 18 at 6:00 p.m. An arraignment date for Gov. Rick Perry has been set for Friday, Aug. 29, at 9 a.m. in Austin. While he doesn’t have to appear in court himself, his lawyers do, according to reports from Austin. Gerald Reamey, a law professor at St. Mary’s University, said…
5 Ways to Prevent a Hangover, 5 Ways to Zap One
Preventing a Hangover 1. Drink water! Alcohol dehydrates and drinking water helps offset the effect. 2. Eat before drinking. When drinking on an empty stomach, your body will absorb alcohol faster, quickly intoxicating and dehydrating you. 3. Stick to lighter drinks. Darker beverages like red wine, rum or whiskey contain congeners, which are toxins formed…
Easy Green: 10 quick ways to make money in college
Sell clothes Plato’s Closet is a great place to take your gently worn apparel in exchange for cold, hard cash. They accept clothes, shoes and purses, as long as they are without stains, rips or odors. The pay is determined by style, age and current inventory. Visit platoscloset.com or visit one of their four San…
Campus Crosshair: Sexual Assault Chronically Under Reported
In April, President Barack Obama enlisted the help of famous men to help fight sexual assault against women. Steve Carell, Daniel Craig and Benicio Del Toro, to name a few, joined Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in an advertisement as part of the “1 is 2 Many” campaign. The men in the ads direct…
15 Types of Commonly Encountered College Students
1. The Kiss-Ass Usually a freshman, this student tries to absorb everything the teacher says and immediately after class rushes to talk to the teacher for 15 extra minutes about what was just covered. Behaviors include: sporting the latest and greatest North Face backpack, functioning as a walking Office Depot and speed-walking to the next…
Speak Up! Find your voice and make a difference on campus
Using your voice as a college student is important. Campuses in the 1960s and ’70s morphed from quiet institutions of study to battlefields for counterculture protests. Fast-forward 50 years: The art of protest has changed. Students have ditched megaphones for smart phones, using social media to spread messages. College students have long been at the…
Learn to Longboard and Make Walking to Class a Thing of the Past
If you are carless in college, you’re probably spending a lot of time walking around in the hot sun, hustling to get to class on time and arriving uncomfortably hot and sweaty. Getting a bike would make travel faster, but bikes are expensive and a nuisance to lock up and leave outside. An easier and…
10 Incredible Destinations to Consider for a Semester Abroad
Madrid The capital of Spain, Madrid is the perfect combination of metropolitan lifestyle and Spanish tradition. Home to the royal family, the famous Prado and Museo Reina Sofía, the city isn’t lacking in artistic or historical merit and has something for everyone. Programs to consider: University of Texas–Austin (spring and fall); Southern Methodist University (summer);…
Play Hard, Study Harder: succeed in the classroom and on the field
Student-athlete: There is a reason why student appears first. Being a student comes first, but college is also the time to discover your hobbies, passions and future career. This past year I was a first-year student at Trinity University where I also was a first-year softball player. The immense workload that I carried throughout the…
10 Unconventional Dorm-room Recipes for Improvising Foodies
Food in college can be mundane, especially when you frequent campus cafeterias. But college food doesn’t have to be boring and routine. With a little creativity and some small appliances, you can make some awesome grub. All you need is a microwave, panini maker, waffle iron, toaster oven, coffee maker and/or iron and within minutes,…
The Conundrum of Starting College in a Relationship
A looming question hanging over your head when you start college is whether to stay with your high-school boyfriend or girlfriend or call it quits. Everyone’s situation is different: either you’re moving away, growing apart or trying to make the relationship work. Whatever the situation, it’s never easy. So here are some tips to consider…
Maximize Your Cramped Dorm Room with These Simple Tips
Before moving into your own apartment, most colleges make you live on campus, like canned sardines. Yes, we’re talking about the dreaded college dormitory. Living in a dorm may seem like a yearlong sentence in a box-like cell, but if you follow a few tips and use every millimeter of space, your experience shouldn’t be…
Gov. Perry Indicted for Alleged Abuse of Power and Coercion
Via Flickr Update: Aug. 16, 2014, 2:16 p.m. At a press conference Saturday, Gov. Perry called his indictment a “farce of a prosecution” and stood behind his veto of the Public Integrity Unit’s funding. The Texas Constitution “clearly outlines the authority of any governor to veto items at his or her discretion,” he said Saturday in Austin. “I exercise this…
No Other Realm Like It, Except The Ocean
This rendering shows a view of SeaWorld’s plans for larger orca habitats. Courtesy of SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. SeaWorld announced a “transformational” plan for its killer whale exhibits that would double the size of its orca facilities. “The first of these environments will be built at SeaWorld San Diego and is planned to have a water…
Bonehead Quote of the Week: Rush Limbaugh on Robin Williams
Via TheDailyBanter.com Of course Rush would be the guy to make even a beloved entertainer’s apparent suicide political. After the tragic and sudden passing of Robin Williams, conservative talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh spouted off on his show that Williams’ death, and the media coverage that followed, is a reflection of a “leftist worldview,” which he characterized as…
3 Ways to Get Your Drink/Grub on this Week
(Via) Saturday, August 16: Busted Sandal Brewing Co. and the San Antonio Cerveceros will host a free all-grain brewing class while making a collaboration benefit brew for the local ALS Association Texas Chapter. Learn about water chemistry, pitching yeast and more while the groups make an Oktoberfest Kolsch Ale. Bring your own lawn chair. Free,…
Shot of the Week: Water Moccasin
Via Dustin Dooling Growing up in Texas is an adventure. There is the heat, the endless expanses and the wild nightlife. But, more important than that, all Texas children grow up with a firm understanding of the dangers of wildlife, snakes not the least of which. Of all the legless devils bellying around the prairies…
6 Shows to See this Weekend
Spanish Harlem Orchestra (Friday, August 15) The Spanish Harlem Orchestra in full After decades of session work and arranging for the likes of Tito Puente and Celia Cruz, Bronx-born pianist/bandleader Oscar Hernandez teamed up with producer/composer Aaron Levinson to form the Spanish Harlem Orchestra in 2000. Drawing from the rich Latin culture of its namesake…
SeaWorld Stock Falls, PETA Protests in Downtown
This photo provided by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals shows people protesting against SeaWorld in Downtown San Antonio. SeaWorld has a whale of a problem. As the water wonderland’s stock dipped low Thursday, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) protested in Downtown San Antonio against the park. Residents and tourists who found…
Spurs Announce 2014 Regular Season Schedule
Back for 82 more (via Getty) The Spurs announced the schedule for the 2014 regular season, tipping-off on Tuesday, October 28 at the AT&T Center against the Dallas Mavericks. Before the game begins, the Spurs will receive the 2014 championship rings and unveil the team’s 5th championship banner in the AT&T Center’s rafters. Season highlights…
Behind Closed Doors: SA City Council Picks New Members
This screen shot taken from a live-streaming session of city council shows newly-appointed District 2 Councilman Keith Toney and District 7 Councilwoman Mari Aguirre-Rodriguez being sworn in. Aguirre-Rodriguez will serve temporarily until Councilman Cris Medina returns from military training and Toney will serve until Nov. 4, after which a replacement will be elected by voters.…
10 Things You Have to Do This Weekend
Fri 8/15 “Fill Your Lungs with Fresh Air: Matisse and Writing” Henri Matisse, Icarus, from the illustrated book Jazz Presented as a companion to the touring exhibition “Matisse: Life in Color,” “The Art Books of Henri Matisse” spotlights the “second life” the modern master found as illustrator of more than a dozen publications including a…
The Great Ride-sharing Conspiracy, Slavery and More
This is Gabriel Icab. He is a taxicab driver who is against allowing Lyft and Uber to operate in San Antonio. He said there is no compromise, outside of the ride-share companies following the law as it’s written. San Antonio’s contentious ride-sharing debate is heading into Task Force Episode II. In a Wednesday Public Safety…
Vipers and Doobie Ashtrays: a Texan history of marijuana music
Though the slang has changed, singing about weed has been a staple of Texas music since the early hours of its recorded history. Here’s a brief (and certainly incomplete) retrospective look at songs and artists down for the marijuana sounds. “La Cucaracha” / Traditional corrido Most people on the North American continent know the melody…
Lt gov candidate debate–not if, but when?
Via Texas State Senate website Update: Aug. 14, 2014, 4:10 p.m. Save the date, everyone! Both lieutenant governor campaigns have confirmed that Democratic nominee Leticia Van de Putte and Republican nominee Dan Patrick will debate on Monday, Sept. 29, 2014, in Austin. The debate will be hosted and moderated by the Texas Tribune and broadcast live via…
Blues Category Added to San Antonio Music Awards Voting
One of two known pictures of blues legend Robert Johnson On November 23, 1936, blues legend Robert Johnson holed up for three days in the Gunter Hotel in downtown SA, recording 16 works that would help define his legacy. Since then, blues has been an important part of San Antonio’s musical heritage, in various and evolving…
Wendy Davis touts legislative efforts to address untested rape kits
Sen. Wendy Davis, joined by Rape Crisis Center executive director Miriam Elizondo on the left and rape survivor Patricia Stich-Langford on the right, visited San Antonio today to talk about her efforts to address backlog of untested rape kits. Photo by Alexa Garcia-Ditta At a campaign stop in San Antonio today, Democratic candidate for Texas…
Cured, Hot Joy Make ‘Bon Appetit’s’ List of 50 Nominees for Best New Restaurants
(Via) This is huge news, food-hounds. Bon Appetit’s food and drink editor, Andrew Knowlton, revealed his nominee list of restaurant’s vying for the spots on the magazine’s Top 10 Best New Restaurants 2014. Area favorites Cured, owned by chef McHugh and wife Sylvia, and Southtown’s favorite former pop-up, Hot Joy, made this year’s list. This…
Body Art: SA’s Freebies release the physical on self-titled debut EP
Joseph Erik Montano and Dane Rousay of the Freebies It’s difficult to make music a physical experience, to give a body to ideas expressed in sound. Vinyl plants do it by pressing albums onto 180 gram and, recently, EDM has granted pop a new texture, pumping untested levels of low frequencies into its audiences. But…
Spurs Oppose Potential Raiders Move to SA
Spurs gear in vintage Raiders style via NBA Store Each Spring, when the Spurs inevitably reach the playoffs, SA rallies behind its team, decking out in black and silver and tacking those little flags on car windows. It’s the time of the year when San Antonio feels most like a community, coming together in support of the only…
Carlos Mencia on Homicidal Rage, Cyber-bullying and Other Funny Stuff
It’s been nine long years since the first joke-stealing allegations surfaced against stand-up comedian Carlos Mencia. Although the outcry by fellow comedians and the public is no longer at the fever pitch it was back in 2007, the aftereffects spread like hellfire and were devastating to Mencia’s professional image. Despite this, the Honduras-born stand-up, best…
Kawashi Sushi’s Safe Bets Land Downtown
There’s something hopeful about the opening of a restaurant—new business, new life, new flavors, new favorite dishes. But for Downtown denizens who have seen two restaurants come and go in the space once occupied by beloved Twin Sister’s Café & Bakery, that sunny optimism might have turned into gloomy apathy. To understand our trepidation about…
Surviving Restaurant Week’s Biggest Year Yet
For those who think San Antonio Restaurant Week has become too bland, some new ingredients should spice things up for this year’s event, held August 16 through 23. Organizers at Culinaria, the culinary nonprofit behind the weeklong affair, took on a “more the merrier” approach. The grand total of participating joints, as of press time,…
Savage Love: CFNM Party Fail
Happily married straight woman here, just post-hysterectomy. No penis-in-vagina sex allowed for a few weeks. After years of reading Savage Love, we know this is a call for us to be creative, rather than the death knell for our sex life. (Thank you!) My question: Husband is well-endowed, and sex with him has often included…
The Guadalupe’s Exhibition ‘Flatland’ Is Anything but One-dimensional
With “Flatland,” curator Patty Ortiz partly plays with New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman’s notion that the internet, social media and growing globalization have leveled the world’s playing field, but she also toys with modern art’s fixation on the surface of a painting, extending from Henri Matisse’s compression of space to Jackson Pollock’s drip…
Woody Allen’s Casual Misogyny in ‘Magic in the Moonlight’
So it has come down to this: Woody Allen has made a movie that is so bland, derivative of his earlier work and completely lazy that it’s possible to wonder just what it is the man believes. Is he, like Magic in the Moonlight’s Stanley Crawford (Colin Firth) so immersed in his own ideas that…
London Sub & Pub Ain’t British, but Sure Feels Like Home
Let’s get this out of the way: London Sub & Pub is a bit of an eyesore. Most, if not all, of the bar’s neon signage has flickered off with time, and if you’re not entirely sure where you’re going, you might miss it and end up at the neighboring H-E-B. But you’re not there…
Willie, Sahm and Snoop: Famous weed busts in Texas
It’s no secret that musicians and weed find solace in each other’s company, augmenting and amplifying each other’s effects. But thanks to Texas’ strict marijuana policy, the devil’s lettuce has damned more than its fair share of musicians residing in or touring through the Lone Star state. In conjunction with our in-depth look at marijuana…
Flavor File: Lick Ice Creams opens, what’s next for Luca Della Casa, new Olmos Park concept space
America voted, and San Antonio’s Luca Della Casa won’t be getting his own show on Food Network … for now. Although Della Casa was a strong contender, Lenny McNab was revealed as the victor during this past Sunday’s Food Network Star finale. No offense, Lenny, but you’re basically the cowboy version of Guy Fieri and…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Researchers in Peru have recently tracked down many previously unknown varieties of wild cacao plants. What that means is that there are exotic kinds of chocolate that you and I have never dreamed of, and they will be commercially available within a few years. As delicious as your Chocolove XOXOX Extra…
Neo-soul Pioneer Maxwell Wants to Shake up R&B, Again
It’s been four years since neo-soul icon Maxwell performed in San Antonio behind BLACKsummers’night, his first album after an eight-year sabbatical and the opening installment of his highly anticipated R&B trilogy. This time around though, the first thing he wants to talk about is hoops, more specifically, the NBA champion Spurs. “Obviously, I love basketball…
10 Free Things Happening This Week
Tues 8/12 Run with SAMA Courtesy of SAMA Even in the dog days of summer, the Museum Reach is a popular route for runners. The San Antonio Museum of Art, in a team effort with the Mayor’s Fitness Council, offers Run with SAMA, a fun exercise experience for families and buddies of all ages and fitness…
Pro-life trainees told to “track license plates” of Texas abortion providers
from NARAL Pro-Choice Texas & Progress Texas video This morning NARAL Pro-Choice Texas and Progress Texas released audio capturing a pro-life activist training last week at the state Capitol, where speakers told attendees to track license plate numbers along with car makes and models of providers and clients as they arrive and leave abortion facilities.…
Voice your opinion on SA’s proposed budget
This screen grab from a City of San Antonio YouTube video about the proposed Fiscal Year 2015 budget shows a resident going to a community budget hearing. San Antonio’s proposed Fiscal Year 2015 budget totals $2.4 billion and residents have a right to question the city council and city manager on how their tax dollars…
5 Things to Know About Lick Ice Creams
Lick co-owner Anthony Sobotick and one of the employees at the newly opened shop. Lick Ice Cream (312 Pearl Pkwy) opens it doors today. Here are a few things to know before you go: 1. I don’t want to bury the lede: The store will offer one free scoop in the standard cup from 7-10…
Aquaman-San Antonio Laid To Rest
Photo via Facebook Aquaman is a much-maligned figure in the broader comic community, but here in San Antonio he is a beloved hero. This far inland from his vast, watery realm, he is known to many by his alter ego Jonathan Vela, a prominent fixture in the local cosplay community who died August 8 due…
