GOP IT consultant who planned to spill beans is killed in shady plane crash
From the Current’s “National Affairs” desk comes the sickening type of news we can probably expect to see more of as the Bush/Cheney regime exits the White House and attempts to cover the tracks of their many criminal misdeeds. A GOP consultant who was apparently Karl Rove’s right-hand IT guy was killed in a suspicious…
Twit for Change
Greg Harman She wrote cutely about her husband’s affinity for leftovers. â??Oh, the big goof!” we can hear Suburban Mom guffawing with a shake of the head as fresh disposable plastic storage containers dance in the frostless fridge. I responded that my leftovers are actually left on the stove to gently mold over before being…
Show & Prove: Road Blocks
After riding a season-high six game winning streak, the San Antonio Spurs came back to Earth this week with a pair of grueling losses on the NBA road. Chris Paul and the Hornets kicked off the skid by avenging their Western Conference semi-finals Game 7 loss to the Spurs in New Orleans. During the course…
FINAL DAYS!! THERE’S STILL TIME TO VOTE ROBO!!
It’s almost election day! The Library of Congress will announce its 25 “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films” for 2008 — that is, this year’s inductees to the National Film Registry — at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, December 30. That leaves 10 days to vote, if you haven’t yet, for the Current’s officially endorsed candidate…
HAPPY update addendum
OK, that first sentence of my blog post is an abomination, for which I apologize, y’all. Unfortunately our blog doesn’t let you edit, and I’m too Friday-night lazy to delete and re-post with all the links and whatnot. MORE IMPORTANTLY: The LGBT Archives flickr slideshow is by Enrique Valdivia,
HAPPY update
ITEM #1 First, a little backstory. I’ve had some really interesting conversations with readers of the Hap Veltman/HAPPY Foundation LGBT archives stor(ies), which you can find here. I’ve gotten questions I’ve gotten is about Mr. Veltman’s early life, who his family were, etc. So I figured I’d post this timeline, which there wasn’t room for…
Live & Local Preview: Deadpool
Get those shitty shaken martini jokes ready, cause tonight we’re headed to Bond’s 007 Rock Bar (450 Soledad) to check out local thrash metallurgists Deadpool. As previously reported, the band was recently endorsed by Halo Guitars, so we’ll see if guitarist Carlos Lopez earns his shiny new axe, emblazoned with the band’s logo. And that’s…
Man dares driverless cars
Sit anywhere you likeâ?¦ THERE’S NO DRIVER!!! (Image courtesy SRI) Greg Harman Just as highways, once built, never freakin’ disappear, suburban dwellers once stung by oil price surges will keep driving like they’re undergoing torture â?? as if they can’t remove the maddening cranial implant until they have arrived at the tippy top of the…
Woman puts body before Wall
Greg Harman Just as highways, once built, never freakin’ disappear, multi-million dollar walls have this habit of staying in place â?? at least until the empire crumbles, and sometimes not even then. While the money interests behind guns heading south from the U.S. and the drugs they help bring back to our nightclubs, suburbs, and…
On the Street: A Light, A Rake, A Shadow…
Letter(s) (to the On the Street Penthouse Suite) Again, this facebook thing is watering everything down. It’s like analog vs. digital all over again. #1 Whee! http://plutor.org/filmaddict/?f=efyms412 Compare how many of the IMDB top 250 you’ve seen Whee! I came in at 75.6%. Working next to a video store certainly did hurt things. In fact…
Micky & The Motorcars w. Tom Gilliam & Tractor Pull
Release Date: 2008-12-17 Road-tested alt-country five-piece Micky and the Motorcars rolls into San Antonio to play songs from its fourth album, Naive, which continues to climb the Americana radio airplay chart. The added horsepower of hot guitar and hearty percussion sweetens the heart-felt love songs, revs up hard-driven road songs, and enriches Micky Braun’s signature…
Christmoustache
Release Date: 2008-12-17 Facial hair is sprouting for the Alamo City’s Third Annual Christmoustache. Each year, local artists, musicians, and their friends attempt to grow the wiliest, woolliest, and wackiest moustaches to celebrate the season. DJ JJ Lopez of KRTU will be working the decks and Demitasse, with members of Buttercup, will play holiday-themed music.…
Oooey Cucuy!
Release Date: 2008-12-17 Madmedia presents ¡Oooey Cucey!, a fundraiser hosted by Joel Settles to benefit the group’s upcoming project, Lunada. The feature film will interweave three of San Antonio’s beloved folk tales; La Llorona, The Donkey Lady, and The Devil at the Dancehall. The night includes a silent auction of legend interpretations by local Tejano/a…
The Naughty List
Release Date: 2008-12-17 2008 is almost over, but the Overtime Theater is ending the year with a bang. Better check this twice — with the winter holidays comes “The Naughty List,” celebrating the timeless bawdiness of classic burlesque with updated subjects and attitudes. It’s a show with some flesh and pizzazz, featuring performers from Big…
Bright Ideas Christmas Bazaar
Release Date: 2008-12-17 Big Kahuna holds its first annual Christmas bazaar, Bright Ideas, which emphasizes solar-energy technologies and sustainable-living practices. The day brings together local artists and craft vendors for displays of original merchandise perfect for last-minute holiday shoppers and bargain-hunters alike. Free food samples, live art, music, sustainable-living practice demonstrations, and more. Free, 9am-5pm,…
The Krayolas Christmas Bash
Release Date: 2008-12-17 The “coolest song in the world” isn’t a laurel you go tossing all willy-nilly onto just any track. So you can imagine how honored locals the Krayolas were to find out their “Catherine” would be included on the Wicked Cool label’s compilation album The Coolest Song in the World, Vol. 8, scheduled…
Ciao down
Quality contemporary Italian in Olmos Park
Amy Jean Porter
Release Date: 2008-12-17 Amy Jean Porter, a Connecticut-based artist of tremendous commitment, has apparently drawn more than 1,200 species of animals for her ongoing project “All Species, All the Time.” Her primate-heavy drawing show, entitled Freaked Out Monkeys in the Trees, is on display at Finesilver until January 10. Porter’s drawings have been published in…
Electric Arguments
Electric Arguments Composer: Paul McCartney Conductor: The Fireman Label: ATO Records Release Date: 2008-12-17 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording This collaboration between Paul McCartney and producer Youth is bad news for fans anticipating the release of “Carnival of Light,” the rare 14-minute Beatles track Macca’s been talking up recently as too “avant-garde” for its time. If…
Christmas Double Feature
Release Date: 2008-12-17 The Company Theatre’s Damian Gillen brings his one-man version of A Christmas Carol to San Anto as part of a 10-city statewide tour. Bah Humbug! is a unique adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic about hope and compassion — Gillen plays all the roles that chronicle the story of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge and…
Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition
Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition Composer: Pavement Conductor: Pavement Label: Matador Release Date: 2008-12-17 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Brighter stars tend to burn out faster, and indie-rock pioneers Pavement — a very bright spot in the somewhat spotty ’90s — were no exception, imploding after five stellar albums. Matador has been dutifully reissuing the…
The Naughty List
Release Date: 2008-12-17 2008 is almost over, but the Overtime Theater is ending the year with a bang. Better check this twice — with the winter holidays comes “The Naughty List,” celebrating the timeless bawdiness of classic burlesque with updated subjects and attitudes. It’s a show with some flesh and pizzazz, featuring performers from Big…
Conflict Resolution
Conflict Resolution Composer: The Passive Aggressives Conductor: The Passive Aggressives Label: Dead Fish Records Release Date: 2008-12-17 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording The first LP from Oakland’s premiere indie alt-rockers is a showcase for Keren Gaiser and her formidable pipes. Gaiser once aspired to the Celine Dion realm until her husband wisely convinced her to audition…
Tonight Is Glory, In Her Defense, OBFE, & The Farewell Memory
Release Date: 2008-12-17 Hailing from El Paso, TX Tonight Is Glory has just completed their full length CD, The Vision and Reality, with producer Grant Beachy (Agraceful). Thanks to their DIY ethos, the melodic hardcore quintet has created a huge underground buzz and enjoys a reputation for making music that goes the distance.
Tapes
Tapes Composer: The Rapture Conductor: The Rapture Label: !K7 Release Date: 2008-12-17 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Whoo-hoo! A new Rapture record! Er, not exactly. Brooklyn’s revered indie-dance act the Rapture releases Tapes, a patchwork DJ mix of some of its favorite acts, old and new. At first glance, the disc is either a disappointing stop-gap…
Girl In A Coma Xmas Show w. Not The Government & Blue Means Go
Release Date: 2008-12-17 Girl in a Coma will perform all of the songs off Both Before I’m Gone, in addition to their Christmas songs (available on iTunes) with the help of a special guest. Also performing are Not the Government and Blue Means Go.
Bollywood ending
Slumdog Millionaire Director: Danny Boyle Screenwriter: Danny Boyle Cast: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto Release Date: 2008-12-17 Rated: R Genre: Film Sometimes it seems that Hollywood doesn’t know how to make crowd-pleasing romantic movies any more. You know, films that put the underdog through sheer hell before letting him finally…
Sycoph-antics
Yes Man Director: Peyton Reed Screenwriter: Peyton Reed Cast: Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Bradley Cooper, John Michael Higgins, Rhys Darby Release Date: 2008-12-17 Rated: PG-13 Genre: Film Jim Carrey is a genius. Wholly, sincerely. Without pause or qualification. A towering, immoderately gifted, once-or-twice-in-a-generation genius. If you don’t agree, you just wait a couple decades, and…
The Tale of Despereaux
The Tale of Despereaux Director: Sam Fell, Robert Stevenhagen Screenwriter: Sam Fell, Robert Stevenhagen Cast: Matthew Broderick, Tracey Ullman, Emma Watson, Tony Hale, Frances Conroy Release Date: 2008-12-17 Rated: G Genre: Film My wife summarized the plot as: “A small mouse is supposed to be afraid, but he’s not afraid.” And I’m afraid I don’t…
Pop Pistol w. Accord of Dissonance and Sarah & Octopus
Release Date: 2008-12-17 San Antonio electro-fusion rock trio Pop Pistol has announced the release of their first full-length album, Angelus, and will play an extended set at Jack’s Patio Bar this Saturday. The group has been gaining momentum the last few months with slots on Local 782 benefits at Tonic and the Mix, a spot…
Deadpool w. Perish The Land
Release Date: 2008-12-17 Big news in the Deadpool camp — guitarist Carlos Lopez has been endorsed by Halo Guitars, noted for their outrageous body designs, and the band is bringing in Mistress Juliya of Fuse TV to celebrate. Best known for her Fuse show “Uranium,” Juliya traverses the country hosting huge metal events, has interviewed…
Amuse-BOUCHE
An attractive, lively professional crowd nearly filled Vela Wine Bar last Thursday evening when Current food critic Ron Bechtoland A-B stopped in for a drink at Paloma Blanca’s adjacent sister operation. The contemporary furnishings are smart and comfy (if not arranged for nuzzling), and the wine list is solid (A-B had a Wild Horse pinot…
The Current’s holiday show flowchart
It’s never too late to kiss under the mistletoe, feel that special holiday glow, get your Santa slippers on. Just use the Current’s handy flowchart guide to find the manufactured holiday cheer that fits your religious and theatrical proclivities (kids included, or not). The Current’s holiday show flowchart (PDF)
2008 riesling redux
It’s the end of the year, the time when lists appear. Best of, worst of, most underappreciated … that sort of thing. My editor hates lists — or so she says. So this will be a list disguised as a resolution: I hereby resolve to learn more about German and Alsatian wines in 2009. Yes,…
Time after time
I’ve written a lot of columns about cleaning out your closet. I’m a ruthless editor with high standards and no remorse. If it doesn’t fit, is out of style, looks better on the hanger, or doesn’t work with the rest of your wardrobe, toss it, I always say. I’ve given away clothes that still have…
2012: Game on
Earth’s 26,000-year passage around the galaxy into alignment with the Milky Way’s galactic equator — a journey known as the precession of the equinoxes — is now just four years from completion. So says the legendary, galactic calendar of the ancient Maya. But many still wonder what 2012 really signifies. Speculation includes opposing theories of…
¡Ask a Mexican!
SPECIAL NAVIDAD SHOPPING GUIDE EDITION Dear Readers: A couple of columnas ago, I published a short list of my favorite books regarding Mexicans and Mexican-Americans and urged ustedes to submit better choices so that gabachos can have a Christmas shopping list for their favorite Mexicans, or to understand nosotros better. Muchos responded, and below is…
Herd that
For SA’s music scene, redemption will always reside in the heart of its — pulsating, albeit petite — resilient core. New permutations of disbanded bands are constantly cutting and pasting members, customizing and cannibalizing their sounds to create something new from the old. Enter Bisön (don’t let the umlaut confuse you — it’s still pronounced…
It’s just a piece of paper
Student art shows remind me that it’s really hard to make great art. (And that you have to see them quickly; they come and go like holidays.) Gallery and museum exhibitions usually pass through some sort of curatorial process, and in an age when the Texas journal Artlies deservedly devotes an issue to “The Death…
THE SOUND & THE FURY
Deadpool guitar shredder Carlos Lopez recently inked an endorsement deal with Halo Guitars (they even made him a built-to-order six-string Octavia guitar with the band’s “dp” logo inlayed on the fretboard). One of the perks for Deadpool is the opportunity to headline a Slave to the Metal Tour show, hosted by Fuse TV’s heavy-metal dominatrix,…
The QueQue
Bully pulpits It becomes incumbent on your hustling lil’ Que2 from time to withering time to bend the lean switch of correction upon the backsides of certain politi-dopes and pedagogues. This past week has proven no different. Hard nut No. 1: Jerry Patterson Significance: Texas Land Commissioner Offense: Hostage-taker There was a time in the…
Ask the clerk
La Soledad Chocolate de Oaxaca $9.95 Ever since I started working here, I thought that would be the perfect gift for my sister. When people go to her house, she always likes to give her guests something — nothing fancy, but just a little something, and I thought the chocolate would be something different. And…
File under “P”
Why does it surprise me how much attention the new disc from Omara Portuondo, Gracias (World Village), is getting in the press? The septuagenarian songstress certainly deserves it, but her association with the Buena Vista Social Club might lead you to guess fickle tastemakers would deem her last decade’s news. Happily, lights are shining on…
The (not so) bad seed
The night before Barack Obama’s final presidential debate with John McCain, one of Michelle McClelen’s friends called to suggest a debate drinking game. The idea was that every time a candidate uttered the word “ACORN,” you’d down a shot. McClelen, 33, is the legislative director for the Texas branch of ACORN, the Association of Community…
Easy to love, hard to buy for
We all have them, dear readers: loved ones and barely knowed ones for whom we must ante up some sort of trifle at Kwanzmasakkah time. Time was, you could save up a month’s worth of TCBY wages, buy a heap of cassingles, wrap ’em up in the San Antonio Light’s Sunday funnies, and just dole…
Bukkake Daydream
“Fucking play already,” some guy yells during Bukkake Daydream’s loud and extensive soundcheck. Lead singer Jeff Palacios laughs and humps at the air in front of him. “We’re just going to have 10 minutes of me doing this,” he threatens, but the band starts up, for real, soon after his next pelvic thrust. This chaotic,…
Members only
Didn’t s/he say that what s/he really wanted was to spend more time together? And those kids. They’re growing up so fast. Before you know it, they’ll be ditching you for all-ages (read: all ages but yours) shows on the St. Mary’s strip and your family time will be indistinguishable from an on-demand limo service.…
Shaken by the neck
The idea that life is predestined was a strange concept for British director Danny Boyle to wrap his head around until he began filming his newest feature, Slumdog Millionaire. “I was very skeptical about `destiny` before I started filming Slumdog,” Boyle told the Current during a phone interview last month. “I thought it was something…
I read it in a book
Assuming you and yours already own the local cannon (La Sandra, the Santos, the Gates of the freakin’ Alamo), consider expanding your horizons and signed-first-edition options with the following recent entries in the ever-expanding San Anto literary universe. The Theory of Light and Matter By Andrew Porter University of Georgia Press $24.95 This collection of…
S’Nuff film
There are so many holiday film screenings this week you might just be able to distract your family from realizing that you’ve been evicted from your house in the middle of winter. Ho ho ho. Free and local: The Winter Holiday Spectacular from noon to 11 p.m. Saturday, December 20, at HemisFair Park (200 S.…
Give as good as you get
The host/ess gift — that clever, useful, often consumable something that you take to a formal-ish party to say thank you for dealing with the catering, bartender, and cleanup so that we can stand around and make small talk once a year — has been back in vogue for some time now, but it seems…
Presidential robots
Much can be gleaned from the cabinet appointments following an incoming president’s election day triumph. But until now, perhaps the most revealing presidential selection has been concealed from the public. Friends, gorge on this feast of truth: Since 1957, each commander-in-chief has been allowed to request the construction of a personal presidential robot. A First…
Thanks fer nuthin’
Last holiday season, a friend of mine expressed irritation when her sister purchased livestock from a charity organization for a family in the developing world. The beast in question was given in my friend’s name, as a holiday present from her sister. … To somebody she didn’t know. Follow me? Now, this complex in-absentia rigmarole…
Cinema Obscura
If Jews really do control the entertainment industry through some shadowy international conspiracy, why aren’t there any decent Hanukkah movies? That’s one of two valid questions raised by holiday loxploitation film The Hebrew Hammer. (The other one being “Why am I still watching this?”) In a plot to kill Hanukkah, Santa Claus (Andy Dick in…
Rise of the creative classes
Ain’t edumacation wonderful? The Current am able to think so, see, because on account of the mind-bending classes we done took throughout our long and learny life! We took some of these classes right here in San Antonio, too: everything from poetry-writing and feature journalism at Gemini Ink (geminiink.org) to many, many childhood art workshops…
“The Land of Plenty” — All the Lonely People
This track by a band (presumably) named after a line from “Eleanor Rigby” adequately fulfills its Beatlesque obligations, but (Gallagher brothers take note) it experiments with and modifies the now standard Britpop blueprint. A Peanuts-worthy piano loop provides melodic bounce to singer Chris Lyssy’s slouchy delivery, while brief orchestral swells hint at what Ringo and…
Singstar Country
SingStar Country features a selection of 30 songs ranging from artists such as Alan Jackson to Johnny Cash to Jessica Simpson. Thirty songs may not seem like much compared to some games in the music genre, the game offers a healthy variety. Each artist has made his or her mark in the country music world…
Married to murder
With her upcoming film Just Murdered, San Antonian Raina James — veteran screenwriter, shooter, and film editor — became a first-time feature director. Filmed in SA and starring several local actors, including Dawn Brooks and Rita Verreos of Survivor fame, Just Murdered is a horror-comedy that takes on the wedding industry, the conventions of horror…
Spittin’ Game: Holiday Edition, Part I
Saints Row 2 THQ PlayStation 3 $59.99 If you make it past the multiple screens of character-creation options (obsessives could spend 20 minutes modifying the bridge of the nose alone), Saints Row 2 offers a different experience from the Grand Theft Auto franchise from which it was Xeroxed. While San Andreas and GTA IV marked…
ARTIFACTS
I’m abashed to admit that until I read the City-sent PDF I’m about to heavily quote from, I’d never even heard of a “creative incubator.” Turns out it’s an actual, real-world space with publicly funded resources to help grow homespun culture-related businesses, providing infrastructure, tech help, office space, equipment, and even managerial and legal advice.…
Dear Uncle Mat
I’ve got a great job lined up (military), I recently graduated from high school, have my own car, and I’m very self-sufficient. My whole life is ready for liftoff, but I can’t help but feel depressed. I have a girlfriend of one year (we had our anniversary yesterday), my high-school sweetheart. For the last couple…
And He Would be Dead
The makeshift bandage on his hand had become soaked with blood. He had brushed his hand against the sheet, leaving a red feathered streak that would startle his wife when she returned. He had long dismissed the nurse that cared for him; her cliché encouragement and fumbling hands had exhausted his patience and only his wife cared…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): What I foresee for you in 2009 is an upgrade in your approach to creating and maintaining your alliances. I envision you having dramatically enhanced intuition about how to connect with people in satisfying and interesting ways. I picture you being able to push beyond your habit-bound ways of conducting your…
The Death of Carmen
Carmen was old. God she was old. I recently noticed the way her skin had softened and thinned around her body and her joints cracked when she rose after sitting for too long. Her hair was thin also. Sometimes I would find clumps of it on her bed or the bathroom floor. Mostly white hair…
River Re-Development Roundup
Part 2: Never the Same River Twice The SAMA River Landing BY SARAH FISCH sfisch@sacurrent.com Note: you can find my first river development story, “Water Under the Bridge(s)”, here. O mighty San Antonio River, majestic headwaters of our city’s glorious birth. â?¦Where the hell are you? On the very cold morning of the 10th of…
Take a chance … on DVD
Mamma Mia!’s out on DVD today. (Some might say “DVD and Blu-Ray,” but I remain swaddled in Downy-soft, blissful denial concerning the existence of the latter. So, there you go. I am a happy island, frozen in time somewhere around 2005. `On a related note, I think this Obama fella may have a serious shot.`)…
Dissecting Dr. Chu
Greg Harman As my workaday gears begin transitioning over to state public health and sustainability planning issues, I find myself constantly pulled back to snag a few must-read items from the national (and international) energy front. Though the country sent McCain and his promises of 45 new nuke plants packing last month, the debate over…
