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5 Local Bartenders You Need To Know In San Antonio
Joshua Brock, Sternewirth & The Old Main Assoc. You can have all the technique in the world, but if you aren’t good with people … This, in a nutshell, is bearded Josh Brock’s approach to cocktails. Brock, 33, is a fallen-away liberal arts major who started in the hospitality industry: steak houses, coffee shops, some…
Texas Supreme Court Rewrites Judicial Bypass Law
Jane’s Due Process, a nonprofit that assists pregnant teenagers in Texas, says the state’s Supreme Court issued new judicial bypass rules that are more extreme than the Texas Legislature’s version of the law. Judicial bypass allows minors to obtain court approval to consent for an abortion when parents are missing, deported, dead, in prison, abusive…
H-E-B Prohibits Open Carry in Its Stores
Don’t take your guns to H-E-B. At least not on your hip or in a shoulder holster. Texas’ new open carry law, which goes into effect January 1, permit licensed adults to do so, but many businesses have the right to prohibit the practice. Businesses must hang a sign at the entrance stating they do…
Watch Several Videos from the Alabama Shakes’ Forthcoming Austin City Limits Premiere
The PBS show that annually chronicles some of the finest voices in folk music, that is, the people’s music, (whether it be country, rock ‘n’ roll, soul, R&B, blues, jazz or pop), is set to kick off its 40th anniversary season with rock ‘n’ roll-AM-soul outfit the Alabama Shakes. In honor and in preparation of…
Conjunto Legend Eva Ybarra Struggles to Find Her Place
By this time Eva Ybarra should be no stranger to our readers. Her plight has been covered by the Current as well as numerous other local publications, most recently by Express-News music editor Hector Saldaña. In the article, which recently ran in the Houston Chronicle, Saldaña eloquently portrays the hardships that have befallen Ybarra throughout most of…
Pilot Program Seeks Remedy for San Antonio’s Sidewalk Problems
A solution to San Antonio’s web of cracked, crooked and sometimes non-existent sidewalks could arrive early next year in District 1. Councilmember Roberto Treviño will kick off a pilot program for a new type of sidewalk in his district, which includes part of Downtown stretching north to about Loop 410. The new sidewalks are precast,…
San Antonio’s Getting Its First Pita Pit
More healthy, fast casual options are on the way as San Antonio scores its first Pita Pit off UTSA Boulevard. The restaurant chain, which has more than 600 locations worldwide, will open on January 2 at 7115 UTSA Boulevard. The store will open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday-Saturday.…
San Antonio’s Top 5 Urban Mysteries and Near-Miracles of 2015
Update 2:30 p.m. Friday, January 15: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that the VIA Centro Plaza does not use solar power. This is incorrect. The plaza’s solar component includes a 272 250-watt modules on its South Canopy, which have a total capacity of 68 kW. It’s been a big year for urban…
The Friendly Spot Is (Basically) Giving Away Their Back Bar Draft Beers
Like fuzzy bears getting ready for winter, so, too, are the owners of The Friendly Spot getting ready for chilly temps ahead. Today, through Thursday, December 31 or until they’re gone, all draft beers in the back bar (that’s a total of 48 taps) are priced at $3.50 (plus tax) per pint. So, for the…
John Bradbury, Drummer for The Specials, Has Died
Replacing The Specials’ original drummer, Silverton Hutchinson, in 1979, John Bradbury was the backbeat-backbone of the second wave ska band. Originally in 2 Tone ska group The Selecter and the writer of ska anthem “Gangsters,” upon Bradbury’s immersion in the rude boy outfit The Specials, the group saw its greatest success, releasing “A Message to…
Check Out the Swag Every Player in the Alamo Bowl Will Get
Oregon’s and Texas Christian University’s football teams, the two clubs playing in the Alamo Bowl on Saturday, January 2, have to be at least a little bummed that they’ve ended up in San Antonio for their season finale. Not that the city’s annual postseason college football game is anything to sniff at (the ever-expanding bowl…
‘American Pickers’ Is Coming to Texas to Buy Your Antiques
There’s a whole lot of crap on television, but the popular History Channel documentary American Pickers about two antique pickers who travel across the country finding forgotten relics isn’t one of those shows. And it’s coming to Texas. A press release from Cineflix Productions says the show’s hosts, Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, are looking…
Video: San Antonio Spurs Mascot Catches Loose Bat in the AT&T Arena … While Dressed in a Batman Suit
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’)); A bat was on the loose in the San Antonio Spurs arena again (via Spurs) Posted by NBA on TNT on Monday, December 28, 2015 Last night, a bat got…
Staying in This New Year’s Eve? Here’s Some New Year’s-Themed Netflix Picks to Help Ring in 2016
If the idea of popping corks and hard-to-see-out-of-2016-shaped-glasses makes you want to curl up into a human comforter-burrito, just flip on one of these New Year’s-themed gems and avoid the Champagne headache altogether. Four Rooms (1995) – An anthology comprised of four short films by a cadre of independent directors who met each other at the Sundance…
Boban Marjanović Went Wolf Hunting Last Night
Wow, Boban Marjanović. Last night during the Spurs 101-95 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves the 7-foot-3 center towered over the opposition, tying Kawhi Leonard with a team-high 17 points and securing the team’s 18th win at home, where they are undefeated. All this comes during a game where Tim Duncan was out with knee soreness…
Need a job? You can become a professional snuggle buddy
Last year, the Atlantic published a story about “cuddle parties,” meetups where people get together in rooms with mostly strangers to “connect” – aka, hang out and cuddle with other people in a strictly platonic environment – and professional cuddlers who charge a fee to huddle with lonely strangers seeking human contact. Loneliness is rampant…
Authorities Nabbed the Affluenza Boy and His Momma In Mexico
Mexico. Of course it was Mexico. Authorities detained Ethan Couch and his mother Tanya Couch Monday in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta. CBS News reports that immigration authorities approached the Couch’s, who couldn’t prove they were in Mexico legally. So they’ll be deported to the U.S., where Ethan Couch is in hot water for…
One Texas Legislator Is on a Mission to Keep Texas Safe From ‘Foreign Law’
Texas Representative Dan Flynn is frightened enough of Sharia Law to request a ruling from Lone Star State Attorney General Ken Paxton about whether a state judge can “refuse to apply foreign law in certain family disputes.” This isn’t new. Last year, Flynn and several other lawmakers tried to pass American Laws for American Courts,…
Lemmy is Dead! Long Live Lemmy!
There are two times, now. One life dividing these two times. What shall forever be known among rock ‘n’ rollers as B.L. and A.L. Before Lemmy and After Lemmy. The fast-living, hard-loving, hard-living, fast-loving baddest rock ‘n’ roll motherfucker of the last billion years has left us. The one-time Hawkwind bassist and Motörhead frontman, Ian…
Janet Jackson Postpones January SA Concert
LiveNation has just announced that several dates on Janet Jackson’s 2016 Unbreakable Tour must be postponed due to a surgery procedure that the singer will be undergoing. Tickets previously purchased will be honored at the soon-to-be-scheduled follow-up show. Refunds will also be granted at the original point of purchase. Here is what Jackson’s press release…
Bono Busks for Charity
U2 frontman Bono has been panhandling on Christmas Eve for Dublin homeless charity Simon Communities for six years now. Although last year he took a break from the sing-song spanging due to surgery resulting from a serious bicycle injury, this year he was joined by Hozier, Glen Hansard (the real talent) and other artists to help bring…
Is Your New Year Resolution to Find A Job?
If 2015 wasn’t the best for your career, start 2016 out the right way by finding employment. On January 13, HireLive is holding a career fair from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Embassy Suites Hotel at 10110 US Highway 281. Job opportunities include sales reps, outside sales reps, account executives, retail managers, account managers,…
Attorney General Ken Paxton Files Lawsuit Against EPA’s New Ozone Standards
You’ve probably heard this before, but Texas has (once again) sued the federal government. This time, the Lone Star State is challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s new ozone standards, which lower the National Ambient Air Quality Standard from 75 to 70 parts per billion. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says in a press release that…
5 Shows to See This Week
Monday, December 28 Steve Aoki In an era when handsomely paid EDM acts often appear to be doing little more than pushing buttons and tinkering with dials onstage, Steve Aoki spins the “superstar DJ” role into a hyperactive art form that involves spewing Champagne, throwing cakes and crowd-surfing aboard an inflatable raft. With musical roots…
Actor Eddie Redmayne on The Danish Girl, His Approach to Trans Role
In the British-American drama The Danish Girl, a “fictional account” of the life of landscape artist Einar Wegener, one of the first recipients of sexual reassignment surgery, Academy Award-winning actor Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) portrays Wegener during his transition into a woman in the mid-1920s. The film also explores the relationship between Einar (now known as Lili)…
Get A Real Job, San Antonio: Be a Professional Tree Climber
Whether you’ve got one or you need one, jobs can be a drag. So in a San Antonio Current feature, we scan local job boards to find a real gig you could have that you may never have thought of. This week: grab some shears, a rope and don’t look down as a professional tree…
After Tornados Devastate North Texas, Governor Greg Abbott Declares State of Disaster
While many of us in South Texas were enjoying a warm Christmas, our neighbors to the north suffered devastating weather. A series of tornados impacted the Dallas-area this weekend, killing 11 people and causing large swaths of damage. On Sunday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster in Collin, Dallas, Ellis and Rockwall…
Winter Weather Finally Arrives in San Antonio
Get ready for a chilly New Year, winter weather has finally arrived in San Antonio. The National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio reports temperatures could rise to the upper 50s on Tuesday, with a low 60 possible on Wednesday. But come 2016, expect temperatures in the 40s. While the winter weather is relatively tame here in…
Tupac and Biggie Roles Cast in New Biopic
All Eyez On Me, the biopic of late rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur, has cast its lead role, played by uncanny lookalike Demetrius Shipp Jr. Playing the Notorious B.I.G. in the film and reprising his role from 2009 biopic Notorious will be Jamal Woolard. Music video director Benny Boom has been hired on to the film as…
10 Shows to See This Weekend
Thursday, December 24 Lonely Horse Farewell Residency Playing each other as much as they play their own instruments, Lonely Horse has been poised to drag San Antonio popular music into the 21st century for several years now. The loogey-fuzz of Long’s guitar and the Keith Moon-meets-Cherokee-drum-circle powder keg of Hild’s foot and right hand could…
10 Things You Have to Do This Week
Thu 12/24 Santa Claus As if delivering presents to all of the world’s children in a single night wouldn’t be difficult enough, the Saint Nick of the silver screen is perpetually delayed by one pain in the ass after the other. If he’s not arrested on trumped-up charges or straight-up murked by Tim Allen, he…
Did this San Antonio Santa Snub a Sick Child?
Christmas is always ripe with controversy these days. The Alamo City’s latest Claus-related dust up is whether a Santa at a Bass Pro Shops in northwest San Antonio paid enough attention to a 13-month-old baby afflicted with a genetic brain and muscle disorder. The child’s mother, Megan Self, tells KENS that Santa took a quick…
Speed Rack Returns to San Antonio on January 12
Do you love speed? Are you a fan of kicking cancer to the curb? Are craft cocktails your jam? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’ll want to pencil this one into your calendar. Speed Rack, a national competition that pits female bartender against each other in a contest of efficiency and…
Get a Real Job, San Antonio: Be a Mascot for the San Antonio Stars and Austin Spurs
Tired of the cubicle or late-night shifts at a gas station? In our next installment of an ongoing blog where we scan local job postings to find out of the ordinary, interesting and fun jobs, we came across one position all Alamo City residents are familiar with: team mascots. Spurs Sports & Entertainment is seeking…
San Antonio Might See Its Warmest Christmas since 1964
Today may be Christmas Eve, but the “winter” weather is great. The Facebook photos of the classic snowy Christmas may be nice to look at, but a nice warm Texas day in December is hard to beat. The National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio reports that Christmas Day temperatures could end up in the lower 80s.…
Columbia House, Former CD Mail-Order Company, to Relaunch as Vinyl Mail-Order
Remember all those card stock 1/4 page ads from Columbia that would slip out of your Playgirl, advertising 4,776 records for $0.17? Well, they’re back and they’re working in vinyl! As records are having their renaissance – your single uncle that sleeps in the garage and spends all his time under his conversion van is…
Selena Tribute Band, Bidi Bidi Banda, to Play S.A.
The “refried dream” of Stephanie Bergara, Bidi Bidi Banda is a tribute band devoted to the late Queen of Tejano, Selena Quintanilla. Boasting members of Austin’s premier Latin bands, the group rolls through the classic hits like a ’55 Bel Air down Culebra. Oh, and their keyboardist has like 6 levels of keyboards, so shit…
Vincent Valdez Receives Joan Mitchell Foundation 2015 Painters & Sculptors Grant
San Antonio artist Vincent Valdez was awarded a $25,000 grant by the New York City-based Joan Mitchell Foundation. “The Painters & Sculptors Grant Program was established in 1993 to acknowledge painters and sculptors creating work of exceptional quality through unrestricted career support,” the foundation says in a press release. “The first year of grants was…
Texas Cuts Funding to Houston HIV Prevention Program in its War Against Planned Parenthood
The State of Texas’ campaign to wipe Planned Parenthood out of the Lone Star State continued this week as officials targeted HIV prevention in Houston. The Houston Free Press reports that the Texas Department of State Health Services sent Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast a letter saying its contract for the three-decade-old program that funds HIV testing,…
The Beatles to Release Full Catalog on Streaming Services at Midnight
The 13 original albums and 4 compilations released by the most famous pop group of all time will be released at 12:01am, local time, for Christmas Eve, or just December 24 if you don’t celebrate or just don’t care about the holiday. The providers to receive the Fab Four’s canon will be Apple Music, Spotify,…
A Whale Not Usually Found in the Gulf of Mexico Died on a Galveston Beach Yesterday
The Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network says the whale that stranded itself on Galveston Island Thursday is a Sei whale, a Great Whale, one of the largest mammals on earth. “This species does not typically inhabit nearshore waters in the Gulf of Mexico and its presence on the beach indicated its health was compromised. The…
Did San Antonio Set the Stage for a Statewide Ride-Hail Debate?
The capital of Texas has long been seen as a trend-setting tech hub in the Lone Star State. However, in the less flashy world of local governance and regulation, San Antonio may be ahead of Austin, Houston and Dallas in its approach to ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft. When the ride-hailing companies launched in…
Spurs Sports and Entertainment Will Operate Toyota Field for 20 Years
San Antonio’s quest for a second professional sports franchise inched closer toward reality Tuesday morning when Spurs Sports and Entertainment finalized a deal with Bexar County and the city where it will operate a United Soccer League franchise in Toyota Field in 2016. The USL is the largest professional soccer league in the country, and…
6 Ways To Get Your Drink/Grub On This Week In San Antonio
Thursday, December 24 Christmas Eve Dinner: Let chef Lorenzo Morales and the staff at Old Main do the cooking this Christmas Eve. Two seatings are available with three courses of San Anto fare. Stop in for pierogi with truffled potato, buttered onions and crema; Christmas duck, with heirloom carrots, turnips, potatoes and polenta; and a…
The Phantom Room’s Got Your Dancing Needs Covered
There’s nothing better than a good basement bar. Not stuffy or exclusive, and yet a step-up from college bars of yore, these kinds of bars generally attract laid-back customers and have affordable prices to boot. Enter the Phantom Room. Owned by the same people behind Faust and several other ventures along the St. Mary’s Strip,…
We Visited San Antonio’s New Lebowski-Themed Bar
Would the Dude abide?
The San Antonio Cocktail Conference Turns 5
The 2016 Cocktail Conference promises to stir up some fun in San Antonio
Drink Trends We’d Like To See In San Antonio Next Year
These cocktail trends are taking us back to the future.
Which Of The 8 New Movies Opening Christmas Day Make The Nice List?
O come, all ye filmgoers.
3 Local Distilleries You Should Know
These San Antonio makers are changing craft spirits in Texas.
Savage Love: Other Dicks, Other Doms
What are your thoughts on two Doms sharing one sub? The scene I envision includes the domination of the other Dom. Do some Doms enjoy the submission to another Dom while also enjoying dominating the sub? It’s probably best to put it into the context of my fantasy. I tie my sub to a chair…
How To Fake Being A Wine Snob
Trueism: The best way to come across as somebody who knows wine — snobbism optional, is to actually know something. But assuming you aren’t intent on becoming a Master Sommelier there are a few things that can be done to speed up the process. Books, for example. Pre-eminent among them is Kevin Zraly’s Windows on…
Free Will Astrology: Week of December 23
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The raw materials you have at your disposal in 2016 may sometimes seem limited. You might not have access to all the tools you wish you did. You could be tempted to feel envy about the vaster resources other people can draw on. But I honestly don’t think these apparent inhibitions…
History Buffs Will Love San Antonio Beer
The subject matter for San Antonio Beer, written by Jeremy Banas and Travis E. Poling, two former Bottle & Tap columnists, is simple enough. Published by Arcadia Publishing and History Press and available where most books are sold these days ($21.99 and yes, there are still a couple Barnes & Noble stores in town), San…
This Modern World (12/23/15)
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“I’m glad I made the decisions I made, so I could be dirt-poor white trash and keep it true.” – Robert “Bob Dog” Catlin When I set out to do this piece, I intended to cover a rock ‘n’ roll show that occurred in 1984. That’s it, just one show. The concert happened to be…
How Christmas Songs Make Money
O, what a lucrative night.
Local Musicians Pick the Best and Worst Of 2015
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Civil Attorney From Mexico Moves To SA For The Arts
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As Temperatures Drop, It’s Tougher To Be Homeless in San Antonio
After a couple years in Albuquerque, Fred Christa forgot how warm San Antonio’s winters could be. Christa is homeless. He’s a San Antonio native who moved back to the Alamo City earlier this year. These days, he spends most of his day trolling through the downtown grid, up one side of the street then down…
