Pick of the Day: Swing Nite with AC and the Bad Billys
“Carrying the torch for American roots music” and playing their asses off in the process, San Marcos-based AC and the Bad Billys are known for energetic live performances and strong dance vibes. On Monday, the rockabilly swingers bring their up-tempo jump blues sound to Swing Nite at Sam’s. The San Antonio Swing Dance Society members…
Café Tacuba 101: Key albums by a key band
Re (1994) ★★★★ Tacuba’s second album is a masterpiece that doesn’t leave any stone unturned: from polkas to banda, from bossa to mambo, from Giorgio Moroder to Helmet and beyond. If you only buy one of their albums, get this one. Avalancha de éxitos (1996) ★★★★ Re’s follow-up is a collection of covers of…
The return of Café Tacuba, Mexico's artsy roots rockers
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the self-titled debut of Café Tacuba, the band that turned the world of Latin alternative music upside down with an unusual early format of a drum machine, acoustic guitar, stand-up bass, and a high-pitched charro-sounding singer wearing guarache sandals and a straw hat. For their August 15 show…
African lion on the loose in San Antonio? Stranger things have happened
The author investigates a recent lion report on the city’s west side At or around 1:30 a.m. on the morning of August 3, local authorities investigated a report of an ‘African lioness’ running loose in western Bexar County. Evidently, a woman who lives on Mesquite Trail near Talley Road phoned the Sheriff’s office after spotting…
Video Review: ‘Quantum Conundrum’
After some toiling with about $500 of new technology, I finally managed to get my own video capturing device and editing software to work! Presenting my first %100 home-made video review of Quantum Conundrum! http://youtu.be/RWOsIM9EwHs See you in the next level, Gray
Pick of the Day: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
With a title that references what playwright Edward Albee once described as “a rather typical, university intellectual joke,” Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? plays out in three intense acts: “Fun and Games,” “Walpurgisnacht,” and “The Exorcism.” Set in Connecticut, the play revolves around unhappily married George (a college professor) and Martha (daughter of the college…
Pick of the Day: The Importance of Being Earnest
In essence a spoof on Victorian society, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest has been treated to a number of revivals and adaptations, the most recent being a 2002 film directed by Oliver Parker. In the comedy of manners, Jack Worthing dreams up a high-maintenance London-based brother named Ernest as an excuse to periodically…
Pick of the Day: The Trishas CD Release Party
“Gold and silver are very hard to find, love is rarer it don’t shine,” sings Liz Foster on the pretty, exultant final track of the Trisha’s debut LP, High, Wide & Handsome. Equally rare are the talents of these amazing women; each writes in their own distinct manner, and they harmonize like angels. They first…
Tattle Tale by Amanda Rothbauer
Who hasn’t ratted a sibling out at some point or another (you might not even know that you’ve done it)? You probably don’t even think about it. What’s the psychology behind it, really? To curry favor? Or do we just enjoy getting people in trouble? That feeling of control in a chaotic world. Anyway you…
Today: Rebuild Alamo Plaza
Team Better Block takes the new urbanism term ‘placemaking’ literally, constructing temporary mock-ups of people-friendly cityscapes in blighted blocks at cities across the country. The idea is, if investors can get a look at a better future, they just might build one. And after the demo, they often do, turning abandoned buildings to boutiques,…
Teach for America success in SA debated
By Andrew Oxford If students are less than energetic about returning to the classroom this month, at least a few young teachers hope to make up for that. Brandon Honore is one of them. “Teach for America brings a lot of energy to education,” Honore said. The Dallas native arrived in San Antonio with TFA…
Mayte Garcia hopes ‘Hollywood Exes’ inspirational for women facing divorce
Mayte Garcia, ex-wife of pop star Prince, is featured on the VH1 reality show “Hollywood Exes.” Puerto Rican dancer Mayte Garcia was 22 years old when she married pop singer Prince in 1996. Their marriage was annulled three years later and the couple officially divorced in 2000. Now, Garcia is using her past relationship to…
Spuriosity: Stay Gold
Once the dust settled at the frantic Olympics hoops quarter-finals, Manu Ginobili was left in London as the last Spur standing. Flanked by longtime teammates Carlos Delfino, Andres Nocioni, and Luis Scola, Ginobili delivered a complete game, scoring 16 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, and dishing out 3 assists in a hard fought 82-77 victory over…
Lone Star Green: Texas Republican Party is the real ‘extremist’ in the climate fight
A future without rain, projections from the U.S. Global Change Research Program. By Greg Harman Hot? Dumb question. Unless you work in an ice factory, movie theater, or chilly data center, you know you are. Last month was the warmest July in the continental U.S. on the record books, capping the warmest 12-month period the…
Video Jam at Unit B (Gallery)
If you missed the Video Jam during CAM last spring, cease your despair. You’ve another chance to take in the free, bring-your-own-blanket outdoor screening of local video at Unit B (Gallery) tonight. If you did take in the last event, you’ll surely rush again to the small but famed art spot on Stieren Street…
Pick of the Day: “Wunderbares”
Rome Prize-winner Franco Mondini-Ruiz is SA’s answer to Andy Warhol — an art-making machine as celebrated for his pop art piñatas as his Felliniesque fêtes. A master of blurring boundaries, Mondini-Ruiz specializes in exhibition openings that take on the spontaneous energy of what he’s likened to a cross between a European market and a panadería.…
Judith Crist (1922-2012), pioneering film critic: An appreciation
“To be a critic, you have to have maybe three percent education, five percent intelligence, two percent style, and 90 percent gall and egomania in equal parts.” — Judith Crist She was from another era. It was an age before cable, Sundance, video stores, and the Internet. For those of us coming of age, it…
Chacho & Brance Saturday on ‘Troubadour, TX’
If you missed the CD release party of San Antonio’s blues duo Chacho & Brance last year at Saluté, you’ll be able to relive some of that magical night on Saturday: they’ll be featured in the next episode of Troubadour, TX. The show, which airs nationally, will be seen here at 6 p.m. August 11…
Pick of the Day: Shut Up and Play the Hits
Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace’s Shut Up and Play the Hits was designed to make audiences feel like one of the lucky 20,000 who witnessed firsthand LCD Soundsystem’s sold-out farewell concert, an epic ending that puzzled the exploding fanbase of a band at the apex of its fame. Likened to Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz…
Single of the week: 50 Cent / “New Day” / (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope)
★★★ (out of 5 stars) The conglomerate known as Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent, is back — and brought along some friends. Polished production from Dr. Dre and strong vocals by Alicia Keys anchor 50’s new single, which starts off as an ode to the working man, utilizing a sample from Robert De Niro’s classic…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Apollo astronaut Russell Schweickart had a vision of loveliness while flying through outer space in his lunar module. "One of the most beautiful sights is a urine dump at sunset," he testified. He said it resembles a "spray of sparklers," as ten million little ice crystals shoot out into the void…
A conscientious objector unearths the lessons of the 'American War'
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it — which is how what Gore Vidal calls the United States of Amnesia ended up invading and occupying Iraq, less than 30 years after the debacle in Vietnam. The earlier conflict, in a distant, humid land, and the recent one, in a distant, arid…
Last Words: Build your own Castro campaign poster
Now that he’s scored one of the hottest speaking gigs in politics, September’s Democratic National Committee keynote, what’s next for Mayor Julián Castro? After all, 2004’s DNC keynote shoved then-Senatorial candidate Barack Obama onto the national stage. Four years later: Obamanation. Is it so strange that the New York Times-dubbed "Post-Hispanic Hispanic Politician" would be…
Creed: The band everyone loves to hate comes to SA
If anyone can speak to the truth of the old saying "you don’t miss what you had until it’s gone," it’s Mark Tremonti, guitarist of Creed. After three Creed albums that achieved amazing commercial success, in 2003 Tremonti went through a bitter split with singer Scott Stapp. With bandmates Brian Marshall (bass) and Scott Phillips…
Antibalas: 'Dirty Money'
For an outfit as well-known as Antibalas, it’s ironic that just about no one has listened to one of their records. For most they are “that horn band,” the dudes Tom Waits and TV on the Radio call up when they need a little extra instrumental punch. Dirty Money, the Brooklyn-based 12-piece’s fifth release, is…
Quealy return dinners at Monterey
Quealy Watson, former chef at The Monterey (1127 S St. Mary’s) left the helm several weeks ago. But back in town for a visit, he’s returning to the kitchen for two Monday night dinners (August 13 and 20). The menu will be market-driven with a handful of courses for $25. There will be no reservations,…
The International Pancake Film fest is coming to SA — submit batter now
"All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman, and a pretty girl," said Charles Chaplin. But that was then — today, all you need is a camera, at least one actor, and a few pancakes. According to its website, the International Pancake Film Festival started in 2007 as the world’s only…
Taste this: Pain aux abricot: $3.75
Don’t let the figure-eight shape of this apricot delight fool you — this is no Danish, but a French puff paste wonder, a mille feuille pastry made with beaucoup butter, hand-rolled, and topped with a honey glaze. The two fruit dollops are made from dried apricots reconstituted with brandy. Made by Quarry Farmers and Ranchers…
Trip the Light: 'Galactic'
Less than a year after his debut EP, Anthony Burchell — aka Trip the Light — returns with Galactic. Where 2011’s Fantastic painted TTL as intelligent dance music with Playstation-era textures and pop pastiche, Galactic is more singular. Burchell no longer sounds like he’s veering from Animal Collective to Namco. Instead, he’s plumbing Kraftwerk to…
Jessica Battes and Erin Stafford tour their muses
Jessica Battes’ ceramic works quote underwater forms; Erin Stafford’s paintings present pearls immersed in petroleum jelly. Both are recent MFA grads from UTSA, exhibiting together in the appropriately entitled exhibition "Submerged," on view at Tobin Hill’s REM Gallery through September 7. Battes’ works range from utilitarian pieces, such as Tetracoralla Bowl, incised with a pattern…
Heads up: Cafe Tacuba at Sunset Station, Aug. 15
Mexico’s Café Tacuba, one of the greatest Latin Alternative bands of all time (who’ve recorded with Flaco Jiménez, David Byrne, and Kronos Quartet, among others), will perform at Sunset Station next week. L.A.’s La Santa Cecilia will open. Next week we’ll have more info, but you don’t want to miss this one. Tickets are $40-$42…
Spectacular Saturday time-killing
Rare is the Saturday happy hour, but Luce is bucking the trend. "These tables would otherwise be empty at this hour," says owner Joe Buonincontri. To add further incentive to the 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., Monday to Saturday program, he puts all his regular appetizers on sale for half off. It’s a huge and…
An extremely up-close encounter with Neil Young
Neil Young Journeys completes director Jonathan Demme’s trilogy of concert films centered on Neil Young. While 2006’s Neil Young: Heart of Gold featured Young in Nashville returning from a bout with an aneurysm, and 2009’s Neil Young Trunk Show featured concert footage in Pennsylvania during the Chrome Dreams II tour, Journeys, a solo performance by…
Charles Mingus: 'The Complete Columbia and RCA Albums Collection '
When it comes to characters in jazz, they don’t come much more colorful than Charles Mingus. Volatile, passionate, and uncompromising in his genius, Mingus’ music reflected his choleric personality in broad, bold strokes. Even if this eight-disc collection does not provide the full range of his best work, it offers a fine portrait of the…
EMEKA! Nigerian pride and textile exuberance come into balance
The brand, Emeka! was born of the artistic and entrepreneurial spirit of Emeka Okoro. In his art, Emeka draws heavily from his Nigerian roots and boldly displays the pulsating, multi-colored traditions of his country. His insatiable creativity led him to convert his paintings into rugs, and he has recently dabbled in designing velvet slippers, cuff…
Carly Garza: One of SA's best voices still searching for herself
"The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt," wrote Bertrand Russell, and a variation of that quote is (wrongly, I think) also attributed to Charles Bukowski. No matter who said it, the quote reminds me of Carly Garza. For those who…
Olympics? What Olympics? Five shows that’ll make you scream
Nobody told me there’d be days like these. I was told nothing happens in San Antonio, that the music scene is dead, but week after week I can’t keep up with all the good stuff going on. So I’ll do my best to summarize the action that will keep you screaming until Tuesday. Thu. 9…
'Side' lining: Ed's Smok-N-Q
From a restaurant standpoint, it’s clear that Stone Oak and South W.W. White aren’t exactly equals; one flaunts high-dollar contemporary restaurants, the other is a haven for the homespun: soul food, fried chicken, giant pizzas … and barbecue. If Mariscos El Bucanero actually does return to remodel its original location, then we can add it…
¡ASK A MEXICAN!
Dear Mexican: So often when we see Mexican bands perform in the U.S. and Mexico, the crowd at some point starts chanting "¡Cu-le-ro!" ("Ass-hole!"). Why does the crowd yell "Cu-le-ro" at a band that they seemingly adore and paid a lot of money to see perform? Even fellow Latinos are really confused by this one!…
Newsmonger: First Camp Lejeune, Next Toxic Triangle?, Inside closed Lackland briefing
A BRIDGE TOO FAR (GONE) Council last week gave unanimous blessing to Alamo Beer Co.’s plans to build a microbrewery on the east end of the historic Hays Street Bridge, approving a near $800,000 incentive package that lets Alamo Beer set up tables and chairs on the historic bridge deck rent-free. Before council’s vote last…
Om: 'Advaitic Songs'
Om has always taken the Eastern drone-based ideas originating in their members’ previous band Sleep and run with them, farther and farther with each consecutive album. On their fifth, the band has pushed their boundaries so far that it would be a stretch to even call them a metal band anymore. Advaitic Songs (referring to…
A Q&A with Tucker's mainstay DJ JJ Lopez
I hear you have a pretty impressive vinyl collection. How big are we talking? I bought my first record in 1984 when I was 10. Back then you could go to a record store and they still had LPs or the cassette, and CDs weren’t even really there yet, you know what I’m saying? I…
Skip the alligator nuggets for this authentic Creole fare
It’s occasionally the case (let me hedge from the start) that Cajun/Creole food can come across as a kind of cartoon. As legit as they may be in some swampy circles, alligator nuggets come to mind. And when most things on a menu seem to come smothered in an equally swampy gravy, the what-are-you-trying-to-hide? alarm…
Pick of the Day: Cinema Tuesdays: Gilda
Two men find themselves at the mercy of a deceitful femme fatale in Gilda, a 1946 noir thriller set in Buenos Aires. Directed by Charles Vidor, the film draws a tense triangle between high-rolling casino owner Ballin Mundson (George Macready), down-and-out gambler Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford), and Gilda (Rita Hayworth), a quick-witted tease who finds…
