Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Mannheim Steamroller Christmas
Former jingle writer Chip Davis is one half of the creative team who dreamed up CW McCall, the fictional truckdriver immortalized in the country hit “Convoy.” Using the cash he earned during the CB radio craze of 1975, McCall founded American Gramaphone as a vehicle for his collaborations with keyboardist Jackson Berkey. Under the alias…
San Antonio Spurs: Texas Toast
The San Antonio Spurs finished up their recent four-game home stand with a spirited 122-116 victory over James Harden and the Houston Rockets on Friday evening. Houston’s dynamic duo of Harden and Jeremy Lin did not disappoint, combining for 54 points, 15 assists, and 6 steals, but San Antonio’s big three ultimately sealed the win…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Aguinaldos
Since forming in 1994, the family band Los Inocentes has performed at an array of gatherings including the Texas Folklife Festival, New York’s Ethnic Folklife Festival, and Luminaria. Comprised of siblings Binisa, George, and Itza Zentella, the local trio draws from Latin American roots music to create thematic suites such as “Songs of Independence” and…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Post Xmas Psychfest
Formerly known as The Hi-Tones, Austin-based psych-rock outfit Obscured by Echoes cites “the supernatural, space, the unknown, art of all mediums, and life and all that comes with it” as influences. In a review of their new album Black Matter Manifesto — set for an ironic release on cassette tape in addition to vinyl and…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Carmen Carrera
The popularity of RuPaul’s Drag Race has fueled a trend in touring drag entertainment that’s spearheaded on a local level by Rey Lopez Entertainment. In addition to importing alums from the Logo reality series and its spin-off RuPaul’s Drag U (hosted by the “Supermodel of the World” along with an array of “drag queen professors”),…
Work heals at the San Antonio Clubhouse
So, where were you this Christmas? Most likely you were with family enjoying all the usual happy activities. For many of those affected by mental illness, there is no family gathering or festivities–or hope. Fortunately, in San Antonio, nestled in a group of trees at the end of Recoleta Street, there is the San Antonio…
Top 10 last-minute music, TV, and film gifts before 2013
10 – The Ernie Kovacs Collection Vol. 2 **** True: with Ernie Kovacs, it’s hit-or-miss. But watching footage from when he was on, one can discover (or rediscover) a true pioneering genius of left-field, edgy comedy on TV. This collection is as good (if not better) than Vol. 1, and joins The ABC Specials and…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: A Christmas Story
The 1966 book In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash assembled a number of semi-autobiographical short stories the late author and radio raconteur Jean Shepherd first published in Playboy. In 1983, these colorful slices of life in Hammond, Ind., were immortalized in Bob Clark’s holiday comedy A Christmas Story, starring Peter Billingsley as Ralphie…
Newsmonger: The wheel of (in)justice, San Antonio's Finest
The wheel of (in)justice In the quiet fight between judges and commissioners over how to tackle indigent defense in Bexar County, one side’s starting to drop some troubling data challenging the current system. Bexar’s courts use an indigent defense system known as "the wheel," a rotating list of attorneys approved by misdemeanor and felony court…
A harvest of new restaurants
The emphasis now is on casual dining, but that doesn’t mean casually thrown together food is passing muster. On the contrary, chef-driven restaurants with high standards are flourishing in SA. Here are a few that we’re fond of from this year’s crop: Alamo Street Eat Bar (609 S. Alamo), Jody and Steve Newman’s transformation of…
The Current's music editor reluctantly chooses the best of 2012
Let’s be honest, here: any "best-of" list you find out there is a subjective, incomplete, inaccurate and, often times, just plain funny concoction that says more about the person who compiled it than the music itself. There is no way anyone can listen to every single album that’s released in a year, especially those who…
Joan Rivers heads the 'Fashion Police'
Fashion Police (9pm Fri, E!) Along with Giuliana Rancic, Kelly Osbourne, and George Kotsiopoulos, Joan Rivers will call out the best and worst of celebrity frocks, naming the “Fash-Hole” who’s committed the most egregious crimes against couture. The word “Fash-Hole” only begins to suggest Rivers’ raunchy approach to this subject. Now pushing 80, she can…
Two of the Current's top critics agree on the local artist of the year … but not on the album
LOCAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR Marcus Rubio’s Hello Dallas (EP) Put out in a rush job just days before his departure to grad school and the West Coast with it, Hello Dallas flew in the face of its rushed recording, revealing itself as Rubio’s most complete and enjoyable release to date. Part of this shouldn’t…
Our dearly departed: People who died in 2012
As the year’s end triggers our obsessive compulsion for list-making, we look to those we’ll miss in 2013. Mourning has its place, but in the tradition of our recent holiday passed, Día de Los Muertos, we prefer a celebration of the lives lived, the sharing of calaveras, epitaphs, and stories to encourage visits from the…
New food store opens in Southtown
I hardly ever complain about the H-E-B monopoly in San Antonio, but there is a definite lack of local food stores in town. Chef Tim McDiarmid of Tim the Girl catering responded by opening Uncommon Fare at 301 E. Cevallos in Southtown. The shop offers a variety of food and health products, including organic produce,…
Plan B NYE: Last minute options to ring in 2013
Still waiting for that invite? It’s probably not coming, so just bite the bullet and consider something off this shortlist of happenings (some clearly better than others) for your last-ditch New Year’s Eve options. And watch out for the Playboy models with champagne-filled Super Soakers – that one sounds filthy. Rooftop at the Cameo After…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): "They are trying to make me into a fixed star," complained religious leader Martin Luther a few centuries ago. "I am an irregular planet." I invite you to use that declaration as your own in the coming weeks. You have every right to avoid being pinned down, pigeonholed, and forced to…
The Apoca-List: A look back at things that pushed us closer to oblivion in 2012, and a few that may have drawn us back from the brink.
Wait, so they’ll shoot at you from helicopters? That’s the unnerving question we were left asking after a Texas Department of Public Safety sharpshooter, from his chopper, fired at a truck of Guatemalan immigrants speeding along a rural border road in October. An audio recording of the chase later confirmed that troopers believed the pickup…
The year in Art Town, Texas
Sometimes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger San Antonio is known for its small town feel — and that’s not publicity hogwash, but a compliment we insist on paying ourselves. This isn’t Houston, rightfully boasting its position as the third largest art market in the U.S. (after New York and L.A.), but something quite…
Year in film: The best movies of 2012
If you’re reading this, fire and brimstone did not disintegrate our printing press last Friday, which means the Apocalypse has been averted and you can get on with watching some of the most impressive films 2012 had to offer. Still, while you’re at it, keep an eye out for fidgety Mayans, Cornerstone Church nutjobs, and…
“Django Unchained,” the new Tarantino movie, opens today
Django Unchained, the new Quentin Tarantino movie, opens today in most major theaters in San Antonio. Read Jeff Meyers’ review here.
