Arts La vida peligrosa
Tommy Lee Jones’ new film tells a true-enough tale of the treacherous borderlands The day is May 20, 1997, and 18-year-old American citizen Esequiel Hernandez Jr. is herding his family’s goats not quite a mile from his home in Radford, Texas. He is carrying a .22-caliber rifle almost old enough to be called a relic.…
Music Sound and the fury
A week on the scene Thrasher’s bash For the local jazz community, the last week has been a long going-away party for drummer Gerry Gibbs and the members of his sextet, who are all in the process of relocating to Los Angeles. Gibbs describes the move as a bittersweet one, saying, “San Antonio has been…
Arts Craigssucks.org
Why is SA’s version of the famous hook-up site so lame? Well, it’s been a year and three months since San Antonio’s slightly used computer monitors, pilots on layover looking for some NSA (no strings attached) fun, and telemarketing-job offers congealed into one pleasantly white, gray, and blue concoction known as Sanantonio.craigslist.org, our local hub…
Arts Identity-based civil rights
Covering is a manifesto for the oppressed authentic self in each of us Kenji Yoshino was destined to obsess about identity. A first-generation Japanese-American, his parents raised him to be “100 percent American in America and 100 percent Japanese in Japan.” A vague prescription for an adult, much less a transpacific child. Toss in homosexuality,…
Music Philadelphia freedom
Robert Skoro explores all the angles of pop songwriting Robert Skoro’s work could be described as the sound of two distinct songwriters. Both of them are named Robert Skoro. As a kid growing up in Minnesota, Skoro received several years of classical piano training, and followed that with a solid decade of concentrated study on…
Arts Retratos
One of 115 Retratos on display at SAMA: “Elisa Saldívar de Gutiérrez Roldán,” by Diego Rivera. The San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 W. Jones Ave., will host Retratos: 2,000 Years of Latin American Portraits, a groundbreaking exhibition exploring Latin American art and history through portraiture. Retratos comprises approximately 115 paintings and sculptures culled from…
Music Manufacturing integrity
The James Frey debate raises the question: What is authenticity in music, and does it matter? Whether driven by a quest for genuineness in an image-driven culture or by the marketing jet stream, we’ve recently witnessed an explosion in verité entertainment: everything from amateur porn to amateur singers. Memoirs have benefited, particularly redemptive autobiographies —…
Arts Social intercourse
Starbucks for the waiting room, and a fundraiser for the river Downtown San Antonio has another royal in its River Walk court. The Hotel Contessa celebrated its grand opening January 22 with a swanky benefit for the San Antonio River Foundation that drew the city’s movers and shakers to mingle among tasty buffets and martini…
Arts In the round
News and notes from the San Antonio theater scene In 2000, frustrated by the unreliability of the Express-News’ published audition notices, the San Antonio Theatre Coalition began compiling its own listing of upcoming auditions and sending free weekly electronic updates to all interested parties. E-Audition has been one of SATCO’s most popular programs and, as…
Media Fast times at Bonneville
Anthony Hopkins finds the spirit in a man driven by speed Ronald Donaldson, director of The World’s Fastest Indian, can still recall the 1971 Speed Week along Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats when a 72-year-old world-land-speed record holder named Burt Munro climbed onto his legendary modified 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle for his last record-attempting run. “Burt…
Media Sparring with Wilde abandon
A Good Woman jousts ably with Oscar’s wit and wisdom First produced on stage in 1892, Lady Windermere’s Fan was adapted to film in 1916 and then, by Ernst Lubitsch, in 1925. But trying to capture Oscar Wilde’s scintillating wit on the silent screen seems as futile as transposing Vermeer to radio. “I have nothing…
Media Armchair cinephile
Straight-to-video/boob tube/silver screen The big news in DVD this week — in all of Filmdom, in fact — is Steven Soderbergh’s Bubble (Magnolia). `See “Too real to feel good,” Issue 06_04.` As a film, it’s not such a hot story: Again, Soderbergh has stepped back from Hollywood gloss to experiment; this time the result is…
Media That’s a wrap & Special screenings
The low-down on this week’s premieres With a new year comes a new batch of remakes. Phoning in first is When a Stranger Calls, which starred Carol Kane in 1979 as the wide-eyed baby-sitter who receives prank calls from someone who seems to be watching her. In the 2006 rendition, Camilla Belle (The Ballad of…
Main Plaza redux
Mayor Hardberger wants to make downtown more pedestrian friendly, beginning with the beginning Juan Antonio Pérez de Almazán was captain of San Antonio’s presidio when he laid out the plan for a church and town square in July 1731. Today, that square lies at the intersection of Main and Commerce streets, across from the City…
Food & Drink The bar tab
We’re in the basement There’s an air of Mystery! about the Havana Riverwalk Inn. In the parking lot, we came upon a pair of double-handled cast-iron urns chained together and looking rather bleak, as if at any moment their ornate bowels could burp up one of Edward Gorey’s wraiths. From there, a beguiling throughway led…
News Concession stand
Pro-choice activists can’t give up on the right to an abortion Slate.com’s William Saletan caused a bit of a stir with a January 22 New York Times column arguing that reproductive-rights activists need to give up on abortion. Great, I said. Let’s just do away with equal protection and the right to privacy, period. Frankly,…
Food & Drink All you can eat
News and notes from the San Antonio food scene Wine enthusiasts can start the month off with a swish and a swirl at Circa 1900’s Wednesday Wine Showcase, 5-8 p.m., February 1 (1906 San Pedro). This week’s tasting features Bulgarian wines with Velizar Iliev, native Bulgarian and owner of “Grapes Unlimited,” a local wine distribution…
News Party line
Uma, Tumbo, and a clean river Uma and Tumbo spend much of their day submerged up to their eyeballs in the same aquifer water that supplies the San Antonio River. They don’t seem to mind at all, even with all the spectators gawking at them. It’s the price they pay for being the resident Nile…
Music CD Spotlight
Stray cat Mabon “Teenie” Hodges is one of the great sidemen in the history of soul music. As a Hi Records guitarist in the 1970s, he brought both a jazzy elegance and a funky grit to the classic records of Al Green, and co-wrote R&B milestones such as “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”…
News Bad news bearers
State, fed agencies seem unfazed by troubling Kelly reports When you sift through the hundreds of pages of numbers and the long chemical names, the situation at Kelly Air Force Base boils down to this: The water, dirt, and fish in Leon Creek are contaminated with toxic chemicals. The Air Force’s incomplete data is hampering…
Food & Drink CAN IT!
How to pick a great tin of tomatoes Slow-cooked sauces, chilis, and soups are comforting winter fare – even when it’s a mild winter – and the familiar canned tomato is often at the center of the recipe. Commonplace, perhaps, yet anything but standard, canned tomatoes can make or break a dish. Before you protest…
News Speed reads
Hill Country prophylactic Attendants of a Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance meeting Saturday discussed planned toll roads that will affect Helotes, from Cross Mountain Road to the city limits. Participants focused on water and septic infrastructure, particularly how citizens can mobilize to protect the Trinity Aquifer from more development. The GEAA agreed that the immediate goals…
Food & Drink It’s hydroponic
The owner of Big Kahuna grows his own — vegetables that is Sometimes a restaurant’s back story is just as interesting as its food. A few minutes in the door suggested that might be the case with Big Kahuna: Not only did the place have a funky, handmade look, with plastic leis and fugitive-from-fast-food seating,…
Feature The people’s lawyer?
Texas AG Greg Abbott has been a friend to corporations, but now he says he works for you “Hey, this is Greg Abbott,” the Texas Attorney General’s voice crackles warmly over the phone. It’s a casual, friendly greeting, appropriate to a politician settled in Austin, which despite the biennial cash- and drama-fueled spectacle of the…
Music Current Choice
Urban sprawl Raise your hand if you didn’t know Keith Urban is Australian. Okay, keep your hand raised if you didn’t know Keith Urban is “just friends” with Nicole Kidman. And finally, keep those hands up there if you think Kidman breathed a sigh of relief for getting out when she did after ex-hubby Tom…
