Bexar County Jail overcrowding â?¦ it’s all in your head
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com If you’ve got a naturally sunny disposition (despite the long shadow of those prison bars falling on your shoulders), chances are you’ve got more room to roam on the inside of Bexar County Jail these days. You may even be tempted to crack open a $3.59 can of “no bean” commissary chili…
Fire and ICE
By Enrique Lopetegui elopetegui@sacurrent.com On February 25, about three dozen vociferous activists gathered in front of the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement building on Fourwinds Dr. to demand the closing of the Willacy County (“Tent City”) and Los Fresnosï’ Port Isabel (PIDC) detention centers. As part of the “Dignity, Not Detention campaign organized by the…
A Friday musing
Much of life consists of concocting an acceptable outward appearance, which can be a playful and pleasurable endeavor or â?? if you find yrself in a state of existential awareness of essential loneliness and Otherness â?? a helluva job to maintain. Rifts are inevitable. Meanwhile, here’s Digable Planets.
An interview with ‘Crazies’ director Breck Eisner
Breck Eisner – The Crazies By Kiko Martinez San Antonio Current contributing writer kiko@cinesnob.net During a phone interview with me today, director Breck Eisner spoke about his new film The Crazies, a remake of the 1973 horror film of the same name by George A. Romero. In the film, a group of small town folk…
Chaléwood No. 27 – Ana de la Reguera
Ana de la Reguera – Cop Out By Kiko Martinez San Antonio Current contributing writer kiko@cinesnob.net In 2006, actress Ana de la Reguera’s first opportunity to act in the U.S. came when she played Sister Encarnación, a nun at an orphanage who catches the eye of Jack Black’s monk-turned-luchador character in the comedy Nacho Libre.…
RIP, Shake Em Down
Photos and text by Imelda Vergara Wednesday was the last Shake Em Down Wednesday at Limelight with DJs Daecos (Daecos Tijerina), Gnarly Brown (Carlos Lopez), Sonora (Joseph Albert Muniz), Natter Smoak (Loy Somoak), and Spaceman (Christopher Muniz) They all wore black. Gnarly Brown sported a suit, complete with a fedora. Daecos wore a black button-up…
Bioshock 2
Bioshock 2’s biggest problem is that it’s a sequel. At the hands of a new development team at 2K Marin, Bioshock 2 stands out as an exceptional game. As a sequel to the original Bioshock, a game that was less a game and more a postmodern reflection on medium itself, it disappoints, never matching its…
KINKY, TONIGHT!!!!
Ahhh, Kinky Friedman. He’ll be at Sam’s Burger Joint TONIGHT! Get tix here. Singer-Songwriter, Novelist and Essay Writer, Peace Corps volunteer, Animal rights activist, friend to Presidents, Media darling and former gubernatorial hopeful: Movie star too! (Watch for the Kinkster as the president of the United States in the trailer for Mars, an of-the-moment Austin…
Slinging Ink Tattoo Expo
PHOTOS BY BRYAN RINDFUSS
Totally Fantastic Goat Sale
PHOTOS BY BRYAN RINDFUSS
Berlinale Film Festival: Post-game wrap-up
By Angelika Jansen angelikajansen@yahoo.com What a let down â?? the Potsdamer Platz void of filmstars, wannabe stars and press! The 60th Berlinale (February 11-21, 2010) is over, but memories remain of a gigantic birthday celebration with decent movies and huge crowds. Almost 30,0000 tickets were sold, 400 films shown, and all movie theatres were filled…
ACTING!!! Do some.
Looka here, thespian types! 2, COUNT ‘EM 2 OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERFORMANCE. ACTUALLY, 3, IF YOU COUNT THE ATTIC REP FORUM PROJECT (SEE YESTERDAY’S BLOG) Season 1. General Auditions for The Classic Theatre’s 2010/11 Season Actors will be auditioning for Much Ado About Nothing (William Shakespeare), Blithe Spirit (Noel Coward), The Lion in Winter (James Goldman)…
Jazz Reflections
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-02-24 Yes, we admit it: We’re classing up our music pick this week by recommending something of a higher brow (defined by us as “an event where someone apologizes if he spills beer on you”), but don’t think we’ve gotten all classy and shit. It just happens that this entry in…
A Russian ‘King Lear’
The death of Leo Tolstoy
From crunchy to punchy
Release Date: 2010-02-24 In the Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange (based on the Anthony Burgess novel of the same name), protagonist Alex explains “The Korova Milk Bar sells Milk Plus: milk plus synthemesc, vellocet, or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. This will sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit…
Shutter Island
Shutter Island Director: Martin Scorsese Screenwriter: Martin Scorsese Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley, Ted Levine, John Carroll Lynch, Elias Koteas Release Date: 2010-02-24 Rated: PG-13 Genre: Film Our Rating: 3.50 If, following the last of these 500-or-somesuch words I’ve committed to…
Oscar Nominated Shorts
Critic’s Pick Oscar Nominated Shorts Release Date: 2010-02-24 Rated: NONE Genre: Film Four of the five live-action shorts nominated for an Oscar this year explore the darker side of human emotions. The one that doesn’t, Swedish entry “Instead of Abracadabra” by Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellstrom, does indulge in some gallows humor. The 25-year-old Thomas…
American VI: Ain’t No Grave
American VI: Ain’t No Grave Composer: Johnny Cash Conductor: Johnny Cash Label: Lost Highway Release Date: 2010-02-24 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording American VI, the supposed last official Johnny Cash release — at least until he’s inevitably Tupac’ed into a punchline — makes it apparent that the whole series is the product of a bar bet…
Falling Down a Mountain
Falling Down a Mountain Composer: Tindersticks Conductor: Tindersticks Label: Constellation Release Date: 2010-02-24 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Tindersticks mounted one of 2008’s most unexpected comebacks. Stuart Staples reconvened about half of the original band for The Hungry Saw, the band’s first release of new material in five years. It was a welcome return, as The…
Rage Against the Machine and the Art of Protest
Rage Against the Machine and the Art of Protest Composer: Rage Against the Machine Conductor: Rage Against the Machine Label: Sexy Intellectual Release Date: 2010-02-24 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording When Lennon died in 1980, the Reagan era began. When Rage Against the Machine broke up in 2000, Bush started breaking our balls. Despite the fact…
Scratch My Back
Scratch My Back Composer: Peter Gabriel Conductor: Peter Gabriel Label: Virgin Release Date: 2010-02-24 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Throughout Peter Gabriel’s long career — first as the camouflaged frontman and creative catalyst for Genesis, and then in his often groundbreaking solo work — he’s been one of rock’s most original artists. Whether penning elaborately plotted…
Jazz Reflections
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-02-24 Yes, we admit it: We’re classing up our music pick this week by recommending something of a higher brow (defined by us as “an event where someone apologizes if he spills beer on you”), but don’t think we’ve gotten all classy and shit. It just happens that this entry in…
Jazz Reflections
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-02-24 Yes, we admit it: We’re classing up our music pick this week by recommending something of a higher brow (defined by us as “an event where someone apologizes if he spills beer on you”), but don’t think we’ve gotten all classy and shit. It just happens that this entry in…
Know your dealer
The variety itself is almost intoxicating. Like a sommelier’s list of rare vintages, the underground, illegal pharmaceutical buffet beckons users into the local facet of the “Drug War.” But could a dangerous conflict really derive its fuel from a service this enticing and available, and treated with such high-end exclusivity? “Good evening, I have…
The QueQue
Black marks For too many, abuse at the hands of authority begins early. For Jimmy Aldana III, now at Bexar County Jail awaiting trial on charges of burglary and possession of marijuana, it started at Victory Field Correctional Academy in Vernon, Texas, where he was incarcerated for three years. “Guards doing things to kids. Having…
The kids are all right
Bryan and I had missed the chicken auction on Friday due to other work, and settled for the goat auction instead. We pulled into the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo public parking lot on Saturday afternoon about 15 minutes after the goat auction was to begin, and we were worried about missing it. We…
San Antonio Ink
A spate of stabbings ripped into San Antonio residents last weekend right under the noses of the San Antonio Police Department — but not a single arrest was made. Bikers, gang-bangers, punks, ex-cons, and accountants descended upon a single location from Friday through Sunday to risk spilling their blood. And everyone left wearing a smile. The…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican, I am a lifelong resident of Arizona and have worked side by side with illegals for 25 years as a bloquero. In all that time, I never knew ONE of them to be an aspiring American. In fact, their loyalties remain with their home states, they listen to mariachi and cumbia, and their…
Human mother beasts
“Rid the streets of the poet / to whom the doors are locked.” There is a wise dicho in Spanish: Cada cabeza es un mundo. Every individual is unique in this world. When Gemini Ink’s Writers in Communities asked me to facilitate and teach a poetry writing class last fall, I was humbled to be…
All in the family
Adam Haslett’s Union Atlantic is a timely, even prescient, work of fiction. Finished in September 2008, the very week that Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, the novel offers a lucid perspective on the manner in which the greed and venality of a privileged few can drive the economy toward and beyond the brink of collapse. To…
Dear Uncle Mat
I have a friend who is very kind and generous. He has always been there for me and I am grateful for that. Whenever I have a problem, I know I can turn to him for advice and help. As of late he has been offering his advice when it is unsolicited. It’s not that…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Everything is complicated,” wrote poet Wallace Stevens. “If that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.” I hope you will choose his wisdom to serve as your guiding light in the coming weeks. It is high time, in my astrological opinion, for you to shed…
The Willie way
New to Willie Nelson? Don’t cop to that shit around these parts, partner, unless you do it in a Martian accent. In his 76 years, Abbott, Texas’s native son has done so many phenomenal things a list of them would amount to a religious text, but let’s put it this way: He wrote a hit…
The great communicator
After speaking with Richie Havens on the phone, I feel I understand more about his fiery opening performance and magical exit at Woodstock ’69 — he lives in a trance. He speaks slowly, thinking and relishing each word, but often interrupting sentences and starting over, not necessarily finishing nor following his original thought and topic.…
Live & Local
A heavilyy distorted pop-punk guitar riff introduces the Nancy Silva Project’s opener, “Everything,” off the band’s two-track single released with BMS Music Distribution. The Project — featuring Jesse Avila on drums, Joel Martinez on bass, and Rai de la Cruz on guitar — sounds like an homage to the late-’90s post-grunge, alternative-rock days. Letters to…
The Sound & The Fury
On February 26, the great Esteban “Steve” Jordan (one of the world’s most influential and versatile accordion players, ever) will be celebrating his 71st birthday at Saluté (10 p.m., 2801 N. St. Mary’s, (210) 732-5307). He’s been playing there every Friday night for years, and if you haven’t seen him before, this show is a…
Zinfandel
Zinfandel — in its robust, red-blooded, take-no-prisoners version — is America’s grape. If we ignore primitivo, zin’s presumed progenitor, it’s planted in very few other locations than California, which once might have been considered America’s showcase state. Now, we aren’t claiming that increasing your zinfandel consumption will keep the wolf from California’s door, but every little…
Taco truck stop
It’s the end of the month and therefore time for another installment of Travels with Frenchie, the monthly food series in which a trio of culturally mismatched San Antonians explores the city in search of dining adventure. As always, the culinary vice squad consisted of: Frenchie (aka Fabien Jacob, local sommelier), Carlos the Bike Mechanic…
Amuse-Bouche
Restaurants in American museums have made the transition from cafeteria-line operations to bastions of culinary art and high design. New York’s Museum of Modern Art alone has three venues, one of which, The Modern, received two stars from the New York Times. With the Valentine’s Day soft opening of Café des Artistes, San Antonio can at…
Almost Time: International Woman’s Day March signs
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com The message is clear; the march is approaching.
Makin’ L-U-V at AtticRep: An Open Call!
Rick Frederick: one of the shining stars of the Trinity University-housed AtticRep Theatre and performance collective, known for its whip-smart, innovative and challenging productions of contemporary American and regional plays, wants you. THAT’S RIGHT, YOU. Well, in a narrative, performative sense. I mean, Rick’s handsome, but c’mon, the guy’s married. This March will mark another…
