DDT sampling around Kelly to continue after federal settlement
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Hundreds of San Antonio residents who sued the U.S. Air Force over toxic contamination impacting their homes will soon be sharing in $1,000 slices of federal settlement gains. Yet, the mystery of elevated cancers and other health complaints around the former military base remains â?? as do toxics in the community. A…
Spinning economy, border militarization with a rosy afterburner
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com If (White, Christian) American is sick of anything more than (Brown, possibly Muslim) America, it’s the bait-and-switch reports of the ever-coming economic recovery. Every trend daring to hint at improvement has an economic lens shoved so far up its backside that it offers up whatever conclusions the fund-hungry researcher requires. Over in…
More Sippin’ Summer Sauvys
Summer suggests sauvignon blanc. Okay, it also implies some lusty reds for bounty from the barbie, but I happen to have tasted several sauvys recently, so let’s assume that it’s shrimp on the grill, not burgers or pepper-rubbed rib eyes. Let’s also assume that nobody wants to pay a bundle for summer sippers, and all…
Cohen’s New Career
“I’m feeling really good about this. I’ve wanted to teach for a very long time, but I had to have a career first. This comes at a really good time for me.” So said Scott Cohen in response to a press release declaring his move from Executive Chef at Pavil Restaurant and Bar and the…
Chaléwood No. 33: Felipe Esparza
Felipe Esparza – Last Comic Standing By Kiko Martinez San Antonio Current contributing writer kiko@cinesnob.net After two months taking the stage in front of all of America, 40-year-old comedian Felipe Esparza was named the winner of the seventh season of the hit TV talent show “Last Comic Standing” on Aug. 9. The win included $250,000…
Eat Pray Love
Critic’s Pick Eat Pray Love Release Date: 2010-08-18 Rated: PG-13 Genre: Film Not that this hair begs splitting, but, coming up, I was always taught that you “pray” before you “eat.” (Moving on.) Based on the biggest international publishing sensation/popular avalanche since the last book Oprah Winfrey suggested everybody pick up and read, Eat Pray…
King of the Beach
King of the Beach Composer: Wavves Conductor: Wavves Label: Fat Possum Release Date: 2010-08-18 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording After Wavves’ second album became one of 2009’s breakout records, frontman Nathan Williams said he was going to explore more grown-up directions. He’s barely old enough to drink, so why would he want to make his band…
All Night Long
All Night Long Composer: Buckcherry Conductor: Buckcherry Label: Eleven Seven Release Date: 2010-08-18 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Sleaze rockers Buckcherry recently released a benefit song to aid “victims of the `BP` oil spill — both human and animal.” It’s a noble gesture, but most fans will probably spend more time with the ballsier, retro sounds…
Croweology
Croweology Composer: The Black Crowes Conductor: The Black Crowes Label: Silver Arrow Release Date: 2010-08-18 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording The Black Crowes’ mastery at obliging both Jimmy Page’s and Widespread Panic’s fan bases works against them on Croweology, two CDs of favorites performed acoustic. There’s already a popular unplugged version of “She Talks to Angels”…
Love, actually
What to do with Much Ado, Shakespeare’s suddenly topical examination of the institution of marriage? Director Andy Thornton opts for meta-theatrics: thus the actors don, in full view of the audience, the robes and roles of Beatrice, Benedick, et al. while the production’s exposed costume racks and vanities form an “off-stage” that’s actually onstage. It’s…
Meeting of the week
Take a guess. C’mon! Yes, the proposed expansion of the smoking ban comes before Council this week, and chats with several of the dais’s current residents suggest that it’ll pass with a few modifications: smoking will likely be allowed on River Walk patios and in areas of City parks that aren’t designed for gatherings, and…
Can’t hack it
If you analyze Brian Regan’s act purely by subject matter, it’s straight-up Evening at the Improv hackery. Reading the newspaper, TV anchormen, irrelevant Spanish lessons, and other minutia get minutes of stage time, and a setup from his latest DVD, 2008’s The Epitome of Hyperbole, is literally, “Men and women are different, man …” But…
Artist on artist action
My wife and I had recently moved to San Antonio, and we were becoming acquainted with the city’s hip art scene. While at Blue Star’s Arts & Eats, a friend of ours came over with his date, a striking woman with a nest of hair that looked as if swirling ribbons of honey were pouring…
Shaken, not stirred
If you happen to show up at Boneshakers around 8:30 p.m. on a Sunday night, you’ll see a sign that rivals “Gone fishing.” “Beer, bands, and bicycles” is the mantra of this new beer bar and music venue — a place that’s already being called “home” by alternative types, hipsters, cyclists, and a random array…
Bottle & tap
There is no Ranger Creek flowing near the industrial buildings lining Whirlwind Drive in Northeast San Antonio, but it won’t be long before something else altogether begins flow from the newest tenant. Ranger Creek Brewing Co. is San Antonio’s first microbrewery since Frio and Yellow Rose mashed in for the last time a decade ago.…
‘El Parche’ slips away
Grieving and defiant, Azeneth Dominguez unlocked the doors to Saluté International Bar on Saturday evening just before the official opening hour. Faced with questions about her dear friend, accordionist Esteban “Steve” Jordan, just one day after he passed away at 71 due to liver cancer, she narrowed her eyes. “I don’t mean to be nasty,”…
Magical “Rockordeon” Show Remembered
Someone once told me that Esteban “Steve” Jordan plays like he has magical powers. With a salt-and-pepper mane and a single eyepatch, the accordion mastermind certainly appeared mystical. In the early Aughts, I attended my most memorable of Jordan’s weekly Friday-night performances at his home-away-from-home, Saluté International Bar. During one song, he waved his arms…
A welcome extension
When I attempt to contact River City Extension frontman Joseph Michelini, he’s on the road and has to be roused by his manager. I don’t bother to ask whether he’s hung over or just stayed up too late watching Hulu. I imagine being in the throes of your first national tour is exhausting no matter…
Concept is God
If concept-album connoisseurs Coheed & Cambria want to believe that geeks don’t dominate their fan base, they should stay away from Google. Click on the first link returned from searching “Coheed & Cambria interview” and you’re taken not to Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, or even the band’s own website, but to a site called SciFiSlacker.com.…
Dear Uncle Mat
I am sorry about being so vague in this letter, but I think you will understand. I accepted a promotion this spring when we restructured our company. I didn’t have to, but I didn’t want to risk being cut if they decided my old job didn’t fit into the new corporate structure. The new job…
Live & local
The scant attendees wander through the three or four open rooms of Serendipity Artspace, San Antonio’s latest repurposed house/art gallery, marveling quizzically at the bits of Jackson Pollock-inspired work lining the walls. I’m told the show was supposed to have been held outside, but a lack of patrons allowed them to move the spectacle indoors.…
¡Ask A Mexican!
Dear Readers, As you read this, my trusty burro, pigtailed chica, and I are crisscrossing Aztlán researching Mexican food. So now is as bueno as any time to do some housecleaning for the columna. Hay que start with a letter from the Mexican’s longtime amigo, William Lobdell. For years one of the most prestigious religion…
The Sound & the Fury
There you have it, San Antonio music scene, you don’t have Jeremy Martin to kick around anymore. You done run him off to the Hollywood Hills. Instead of daydreaming about an updated version of Day of the Locust starring Martin in all the hapless roles, how’s about getting off your asses and supporting the scene…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19):In the 18th century, the French Academy laid down rules about the differences between professional and amateur paintings. For example, it was decreed that true artists must create a “licked surface,” hiding all evidence of their brushstrokes. When the Impressionists barged into the scene in the 1870s, one of their rebellions against…
Rescue me
In June 2010 alone, San Antonio Animal Care Services euthanized 1,191 dogs. Of those, approximately 409 were healthy and adoptable, with no medical or behavioral reason to be put down. A whopping 723 were categorized by ACS as definitively unhealthy and untreatable, while the remainder were put down as unhealthy but potentially treatable or manageable.…
Fast Foodie
Some things never change: 100-degree days in summer, cascarones at Fiesta, tourists thronging the Alamo, floppy white bread at barbecue joints… At The Barbecue Station, there’s at least the option of floppy wheat bread. And there are the usual sides of creamed corn, well and truly cooked green beans, cole slaw, potato salad, pinto beans…
CPS saves the budget (again)
Council got an introduction to City Manager Sheryl Sculley’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year last week, one which, perhaps unsurprisingly, balances itself on expected revenues from San Antonio powerhouse CPS Energy and its magically* inflating natural-gas prices. The $2.3-billion budget holds property taxes steady at their current rate and keeps the SA employee…
Fast Foodie
According to the usual internet sources, sansei are third-generation Japanese born outside of Japan. In Latin America, the largest concentration of sansei live in Brazil, though we suspect that Peru (think ousted president Fujimori) must have its fair share as well. Inevitably, detached from the mother culture, the sansei have developed variations on traditional cuisine,…
Brothers can’t spare a dime
Future dropout? Meet City Manager Sheryl Sculley’s proposed City budget for 2011. Y’all can, like, hang out in the garage for a little bit together, but then you’ll have to go. Future Baby Mama? Yeah, I know the rec center is closing early these days because of the budget cuts. But we’ve got a date…
A local ‘Powder’ keg
The man with the bullhorn standing in the middle of the downtown intersection doesn’t have permission to be there. Not according to the City of San Antonio, anyway. What he does have, however, is a rented police officer who has stopped traffic in all four directions. A stuntman is driving one car and his father is driving another. He…
Arts and craftiness
Arts funding is getting the squeeze along with the rest of the City budget: The take from its 15-percent allotment of the Hotel/Motel Occupancy Tax will be down by as much as 13 percent this coming year, thanks to our anemic economy. Last year, the Office of Cultural Affairs, which oversees the distribution of funding…
Pretty smart for a hillbilly
Many people would pay to see Bill Murray read the phone book, and those people will get their money’s worth in Get Low, a quiet, ponderous indie film about an ornery old coot trying to throw himself a funeral hootenanny in Depression-era Tennessee. As Frank Quinn, Murray plays a city-slicker funeral director with the subtle…
Fracking for nonattainment
Watching the regulatory kabuki up in North Texas can’t inspire a lot of confidence in the increasing number of South Texans leasing their land for so-called “non-traditional” natural-gas development in the newly popular Eagle Ford Shale `see “The next petro boom,” June 23`. Late last month, the industry’s PR front organization, the Barnett Shale Energy…
Vino Ruffino, Pizza Deliziosa
You don’t want to hear this, but I’m going to tell you anyway: I got an impromptu invitation to a lunch at Dough the other day that yielded not just the usual great pizza and cheeses, but a host of new winesâ??at least mostly new to me. The prices were good, tooâ?¦ No matter who…
Net Neutrality Proposal by Google and Verizon Sparks Fierce Dissent
Jake Muncy jmuncy@trinity.edu Last week, Google and Verizon came out with a controversial policy recommendation in an attempt to solve the dispute over net neutrality. Our readers may remember a short blog I wrote in May about a battle over internet regulation between Comcast and the FCCâ??a battle that Google and Verizon hope to end…
Alamo City Rollergirls looking for fresh blood (and bones)
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com All those greasy, grunting gladiators of the TAPOUT tribe leave you cold? Motocross fumes make you queasy? For my vicarious sports thrills, I’ve found Texas roller derby to offer the most entertaining, creative, and paradigm-flipping sports action going. Sunday’s “Back to School Texas Rivalry” put on at the Rollercade on Recoleta (w/…
Happy Birthday Davy Crockett
Love or hate the mythologized cultural import of the Alamo, go ahead and celebrate Davy Crockett’s birthday. When else are you going to find a good excuse to get whiskey-drunk all day wearing a ‘coon skin hat? Also, when else can you watch related ridiculous clips of John Wayne, Billy Bob Thornton AND Fess Parker?…
