Top 10 Festival People en Español Moments
Gloria Estefan Saturday at the Alamodome (photo by Joe Turner, special for the Current) Here’s my quick take on the 2013 Festival People En Español, which took place Saturday and Sunday at the Alamodome. The Good: The crowd was considerably larger than in 2012. This time, about 80 percent of the 11,000 seats at the…
5 Things You Have to Do This Week
1. Shawn Phillips He tutored Joni Mitchell, collaborated with Eric Clapton, wrote for Donovan and sang back-up for the Beatles, but singer-songwriter Shawn Philips remains under the radar. Born in ’40s-era Fort Worth, Phillips developed his own brand of progressive folk in the clubs of New York’s Greenwich Village and San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, ditching a…
Summer Restaurant Openings/Closings and Then Some: A Wrap-Up
Summer isn’t over yet, technically, but Labor Day seems like a good time to really think about everything that’s happened in these past few months. Let’s do just that with all the tasty and not-so-tasty openings, closings and what nots that happened this summer: Andrew Weissman kicked things off in late May with the opening…
Joaquín Castro presents HSF/People En Español scholarships to local students
Raúl Rodríguez and Gisela Ortega, the recipients of the HSF/People En Español scholarships. OK, amigos, this is it. The second annual Festival People En Español was officially announced Friday at the Convention Center. Saturday and Sunday will be two days filled with free events at the Convention Center and paid concerts at the Alamodome. After…
Video: Gloria Estefan reunites with her 1st Grade Teacher in SA
In town for the Festival People En Español, on Friday morning singer Gloria Estefan paid a visit to a San Antonio woman who marked her for life: Winston Elementary School teacher Dorothy Lee Collins, 81, who was her first grade teacher in 1963, when the Cuban-American singer spent a year in San Antonio at age…
Shot of the Week: Drunk Gummy Bears
We decided to stay home for this week’s Shot of the Week. After seeing all of the Pinterest recipes with vodka-soaked gummies, and hearing our interns talk about giant gummy shots, we decided to give this a shot. So we tossed a 5-ounce bag of gummy bears (worms, letters, sharks also work) into a air-tight…
Top 5 Martial Arts Movie Masters
Related: The Grandmaster Create a chart of the greatest martial artists ever and they would somehow all link back to Bruce Lee’s martial arts teacher Yip Man. In the new martial arts drama The Grandmaster, actor Tony Leung portrays the legendary teacher of Wing Chun school of kung-fu. Here’s a look at the Current’s picks for…
One Direction movie opens at Santikos
The advance “press” screening for One Direction: This is Us—the 90-minute 3-D concert-interview film of the hugely successful British boy band, opening August 30 at Santikos—was filled with teenage girls who were singing and screaming before the movie even started. After the movie was over, they were even happier: the movie delivered exactly what they…
Listen to Paul McCartney’s “New” single: album out Oct. 15
On Wednesday, Paul McCartney released “New,” the first single off the namesake album to be released in the UK on October 14 and in America the following day. It is his first album of originals since 2007’s Memory Almost Full, and comes right after releasing the covers album Kisses on the Bottom in 2012. The…
The End of an Era: Tony Parker Retires…From Music
… From Music You know the saying: all actors want to be rock stars, and all rock stars want to be actors. Well, you can add that all athletes want to be rappers. I shouldn’t be surprised to hear that San Antonio Spur Tony Parker has a music career, or I should say had a…
Late Night Eats: Taking on Ben & Jerry’s Late Night Snack
The lineup We’re kicking off a new series here at the Current. To start, we decided to take on one of the best late night treats around, Ben & Jerry’s Late Night Snack. Sure there are naysayers, but this combines ice cream with chocolate, salted caramel and crunchy potato chips. It has everything. You can…
Art Installations To Show Another Face of the United States
The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center is working with the Inside Out Project Thursday, from 11am-7pm. Stop by to learn more and get your portrait taken in the photobooth truck. The Inside Out Project is an international project led by TED speaker JR, a passionate street artist that helps connect communities through his creative use of…
Best of the Free Stuff at #FestivalPeople: Kat Dahlia
From now until the Festival People En Español this weekend, I’ll be sharing with you what I consider to be the strongest free attractions of the fest. My personal pick is Cuban-American singer/rapper Kat Dahlia who, hours before her ticketed performance at the Alamodome, will perform for free 12:45 p.m. Sunday at the Convention Center…
GIFs Now Allowed On Facebook (!!!!!)
It’s finally happened! GIF search engine, Giphy, has cracked the GIFs on Facebook code. No longer will you suffer silently, unable to take to FB to express your joy/anger/grief/indifference/salutations/confusion/love for Tim Duncan and/or Jennifer Lawrence via that hilarious animated image you stumbled upon on Tumblr/Reddit/anywhere else on the internet but Facebook until now. Giphy makes…
10 Things You Have to Do This Weekend
1. LoneStarCon 3 Save for a few years during World War II, the World Science Fiction Convention has been held consistently since 1939. Dubbed LoneStarCon 3 and themed “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” the 71st annual event takes over the Convention Center with six days of panels, readings, workshops, screenings, autograph sessions, kaffeeklatsches, morning…
Best SA Bar Food: Readers’ Picks
Related: Cover-3 Has a Homewrecker You’ll Love Inspired by our jaunt to Cover 3 this week, we asked you, dear readers, what your favorite SA bar food is. Check out the results below. Do you agree? Let us know what your choice would be in the comments. Flying Saucer, 11255 Huebner Road. Continued on next…
California’s Del Taco Comes to San Antonio Sept. 4
A sample of the snacks at DT. (Courtesy) The first of 25–count ’em– 25 Del Taco’s will open Wednesday, September 4 at 11 a.m. The chain, which opened in Yermo, Calif. in 1964, was bought by Sagittarius Brands in 2006. It’s known for combining crispy tacos, burritos, burgers, fries and shakes. “Since we opened in…
HemisFair’s Civic Park Public Survey Now Open
Related: To Talk or Not to Talk: HemisFair and Convention Center designs, HemisFair Photos A survey regarding HemisFair renovations, specifically concerning programming of the northwest corner civic park, was released Wednesday for the community to have an opportunity to share their opinion on the plans to remodel. The idea for HemisFair is to turn the…
LGBT Non-Discrimination Ordinance Debate Sees Record Testifiers, Gets Rowdy
In what sounded more like a sporting event than a city council meeting, last night’s B session and subsequent Citizens to be Heard once again revolved around debate over the city’s proposed LGBT non-discrimination ordinance– this time, with an even larger and rowdier audience. Nearly 500 people signed up to testify for or against the…
From the Current archives: Remembering Michael Jackson
Today, August 29, 2013, Michael Jackson ould have been 55 years old. Yet, we celebrate his memory by re-reading a wonderful piece written by former Current staffer Gilbert García and published in our magazine on July 8, 2009, days after the singer’s death on June 25. “Why celebrate a person’s birth by going back to…
Is ‘Millennial’ a Bad Word?
Current intern Maribel Hermosillo Related: The College Issue Millennials are taking over the world and they are doing so on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Twenty-something year olds are being labeled as a Millennial or generation Y by the media. It was bound to happen as the generations born before 1981 are known as generation X…
MLK Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, 50 years later
“This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave one of history’s greatest speeches from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in front of a crowd of 250,000. It was a turning…
The Heroine Present New EP at White Rabbit
Jetting from coast to coast to record their latest, working with stellar producers and generally running around like they own the place, the Heroine certainly aren’t acting like a local band anymore. If next year’s South by Southwest does for them what it’s done for any number of other breakout acts in the past, they’ll…
CPS: “I’ll take a bonus, you take a rate hike”
This story has been updated from the original CPS Energy has requested San Antonio residents to understand the demands of the marketplace while they increase electric and gas rates a combined 4.75 percent. If it’s approved by city council in October, the proposed fee hike will take effect in February 2014. It will mark the…
SA's Ito Romo Debuts Illuminating Collection
In his first collection, titled The Border is Burning, South Texas author Ito Romo steps far from his magical novel El Puente and gives readers evocative vignettes of characters on the brink of alienation, addiction, desperation and loss. These stories are filled with the gritty, hard-boiled drama that characterizes the literary side of Chicano noir,…
People en Español: Festival at Night
$33-$253 Sat Aug 31-Sun Sept 1 Illusions Theater at the Alamodome 100 Montana (800) 745-3000 ticketmaster.com Saturday: 6:30pm: Maite Perroni 7pm: Bobby Pulido 8pm: Jencarlos Canela 9pm: Gloria Estefan 10:30pm: Alejandro Fernández Midnight: Target surprise performance (Also: a special appearance by Sebastien De La Cruz) Sunday: 6:30pm: Grupo Treo 7pm: Chris Pérez Project 7:30pm: Noel…
Gratis! Best Of The Fest's Free Events
If you have time and energy to spend, go to the Convention Center (200 E Market) Saturday and Sunday and enjoy a super kid-friendly atmosphere with a wide variety of activities from music, fashion, interviews, meet-and-greets and games. Here’s some highlights Saturday: 10:45am: ¡A Bailar! With the Guadalupe Dance Academy and Ballet Folklórico de Navarro.…
The acts you can't miss at Festival People en Español at the Alamodome
GLORIA ESTEFAN If you think Gloria Estefan comes to SA as a nostalgia act, wait until you hear her next album. Produced by her husband Emilio, The Standards comes out September 10 through Sony Masterworks and it’s her most ambitious album since her masterpiece Mi Tierra (1993). It includes guest vocals by Dave Koz, Joshua…
A Chance To Be A Kid Again At Hangar Tavern
Contrary to its moniker, Hangar Tavern isn’t a spacious warehouse filled with airplane memorabilia–far from it. You can be a kid again at the Brook Hollow nook, while getting your drink on. This is neighborhood bar meets playroom. Snuggled in the corner-most lot of the shopping center that also holds a Chinese restaurant, a UPS…
‘The Grandmaster:’ The Story of the Man Who Trained Bruce Lee
Resplendent visuals, chaotic narrative. Director Wong Kar Wai’s epic stab at the life of the legendary Yip Man (also spelled Ip Man), a martial-arts master who taught a young Bruce Lee the Wing-Chun style of kung-fu, was reported to initially run for more than four hours. From this rough cut, The Weinstein Company released a…
Will This Be The Year Of Festival People en Español?
The second annual Festival People en Español returns to San Antonio with something to prove: that last year’s poor attendance was an understandable first-time fluke, and that the festival is destined to grow in years to come. People En Español is the largest Spanish-language magazine in the U.S., and the festival—inspired by New Orleans’ Essence…
Boxer Sergio "Maravilla" Martínez Comes to Potentially Hostile SA
For years, 38-year-old Argentine boxer Sergio “Maravilla” Martínez (51-2-2, 28 KOs), middleweight champion of the World Boxing Council, was considered by experts as the third best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, just behind Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. He’s still easily in the top 10, but is he still “maravilla” (literally ‘a marvel,’ in…
Two New SA Breweries: Busted Sandal Brewing Co. and 5 Stones Brewing Co.
The recent craft beer boom in Texas continues with two new micro-breweries bursting onto the San Antonio-area scene this summer: 5 Stones Craft Brewing Co. and Busted Sandal Brewing Company. These rookies are hungry to please and look to become part of the budding San Antonio craft brew movement. 5 Stones Craft Brewing Co., owned…
Industry News: Farm to Juice opens, Pink Pig’s last oink and Sonic’s UTSA burger stamp
All you Roadrunners, go to Sonic Drive-In (visit sonicdrivein.com for participating locations) starting on Thursday, August 29 and order a Rowdy’s Brisket Cheeseburger. The brisket burger will be spirit-heavy with the UTSA logo on the bun in edible food coloring. Plus, a portion of proceeds will benefit UTSA student athletes. Do it for your school!…
Will Anti-LGBT Remarks Hurt Chan's Shot At The Texas Senate? Probably Not.
With the stain of homophobic remarks on her political record and a growing chorus of citizens calling for her immediate resignation, District 9 council member Elisa Chan’s hopes of leading San Antonio as mayor appear a distant dream in the rearview mirror. Considering the financial backing from heavy hitters like former SA mayors Henry Cisneros…
Chris Pérez, Selena’s Husband, Faces His Past and Looks Forward, Musically
Chris Pérez never saw it coming. “All I ever wanted to do was play guitar,” he told the Current. “I never thought I’d be the subject of an interview, much less be portrayed in a movie and all these other things that happened to me since Selena passed away.” Selena, murdered by the president of…
An email exchange with People En Espanol publisher Monique Manso
Last year’s ticket sales were disappointing, to say the least. What went wrong and what will be different this year? Last year was our first year so we were quite pleased with the turnout for our inaugural event, despite the constraints of a four-month promotion window. As a multi-dimensional event, the success of Festival is not…
Culinary Calendar: Seven ways to get your grub and/or drink on
Wednesday, Aug. 28: Yes, you can cook vegan Tex-Mex. Green Vegetarian Cuisine’s chef Mike Behrend will show you easy ways to de-meat-ify your abuela’s cooking, while also ditching lard and grease. $25, 6:30-8pm, Culinary Institute of America-San Antonio Cooking Class Kitchen, 312 Pearl Pkwy, greentexmex.eventbrite.com. Thursday, Aug. 29: This food truck challenge goes the extra…
Cover 3 Has a Homewrecker You’ll Love
A smattering of folks might still miss the late Roaring Fork with its Big Ass Burger, green chile mac ‘n’ cheese and spit-roasted half chicken. Once it was announced in early January that Cover 3 would be taking its place, sad fans seemed to trickle out of the woodwork. But the Austin-based sports bar hasn’t…
Just Happens to be LGBT: How social media saved SA’s equality campaign
In early 2012, while I was serving on the local steering committee of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), I visited Washington, D.C. for the organization’s annual Equality Summit. Being an election year, one of the speakers was David Plouffe, a senior advisor to President Obama. Although Plouffe’s speech was largely campaign rhetoric for the President’s…
Grow up, not out, with vertical gardening
I’m a firm believer in practical gardening and keeping it cheap, fun and simple. Grand-scale gardens are great if you can maintain them, but it requires time, space and long-term commitment. Renters may not have the option to dig up a corner of the lawn, and conventional containers fill up small balconies and patios in…
Proxy Theatre’s Bloody ‘Bethlehem’
The Proxy Theatre concludes its second season with Octavio Solis’ disturbing meditation on evil and cutlery, Bethlehem. A sort of mash-up of CSI: El Paso and Edgar Allan Poe, Bethlehem begins as a perfectly ordinary—even clichéd—police procedural, as an enterprising reporter (Ty Mylnar) interviews a parolee about a grisly slashing homicide near America’s southern border.…
VIA to offer free rides to and from Festival People En Español
Parking at the Alamodome for the August 31 and September 1 Festival People en Español night events will cost no less than $10, and Downtown parking near the Henry B. González Convention Center (where the free day events will take place) can be a hassle. Thanks to VIA Metropolitan Transit, you can get to and…
Analog is Not Dead #4: All black and white
Analog is Not Dead #4 — More Estate Sales, Bandera Cemetery, Dobbs Hotwells Bday, Sam Lerma shoot, at the Mix CLICK ON PHOTOS TO SEE LARGER VIEW I have been exclusively been using Fuji film products and their color darkroom paper to print my color photographs. I have been using their neopan 400 black and…
10 Free Events Happening in San Antonio This Week
1. Only at the Alamo: Anime at Alamo Drafthouse Fulfill your inner Otaku needs and join the Alamo Drafthouse for some Anime viewing pleasure. Oh, don’t forget about the giveaway at the end of each screening! Free, 7:30 Tuesday 8/27; Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes at 1255 SW Loop 410 San Antonio, TX 78227 (210) 677-8500 2. Steampunk…
Drunk History’s Texas Episode Airs Tonight on Comedy Central
Drunk History Get More: Comedy Central,Funny Videos,Funny TV Shows Comedy Central’s Drunk History will air its Texas episode tonight at 10/9 Central. The sneak peek clip above shows New Girl’s Jake Johnson as William Travis and SNL’s Chris Parnell as Jim Bowie as they take on Santa Anna at the Alamo. Hopefully we’ll catch glimpses…
The Original Taco Cabana Gets a Facelift
A mock-up of what the restaurant will look like after its restoration. (Courtesy) To celebrate it’s 35th anniversary this coming September, Taco Cabana will restore it’s original location on San Pedro and Hildebrand back to it’s original look. The month-long restoration project begins today, Aug. 27. Per a press release: The restoration project will update…
Franz Ferdinand: 'Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action'
With nearly a decade of published music criticism to come back and haunt me, I realize the only qualifications I’m accumulating are the “ifs,” “maybes,” and “buts” my reviews are taking on as I revisit brilliant albums I trashed and mediocre albums I recommended wholeheartedly. This concern is especially relevant with Franz Ferdinand, whose first…
