Polished plates
The oft-overlooked La Calesa houses the impeccable
A Day At The Races
Dems duke it out on federal, state, and local levels They’re all liars. Well, that’s a slight exaggeration. Only 88.7 percent of political candidates mangle the truth, spin the issues, or exchange campaign contributions for special favors. Like most citizens, the Current doesn’t want to be cynical, but it’s hard not to see elections…
RECENT REVIEWS
21 Grams Dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu; writ. Guillermo Arriaga; feat. Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melissa Leo, Paul Calderon (R) 21 Grams juggles three main characters who, though they don’t know it yet, are involved in one story. We see snippets (very short ones, for much of the film) of their…
Wanted: Someone To Return Calls
County Commissioners Precinct 1 Incumbent: Robert Tejeda Challengers: Chico Rodriguez, Roland Gutierrez Precinct 1 has ragged borders, with the northern frontier running along Durango to Hwy 90 to 151 and Culebra outside of Loop 410 to the Medina County line. To the east at Durango and I-37, the boundary runs south along Hackberry to Wilson…
Sunday Best
A recent performance of Mariachi Mass at Mission San José (courtesy photo) Geraldine Orta-Charles devoted her life to spreading the message of Mariachi Mass Geraldine Orta-Charles approached Mariachi Mass with the zeal of a crusading missionary. Every Sunday morning, Orta-Charles, a gifted singer/guitarist, and the daughter of local Mariachi Mass founders Jesse and Josephine Orta,…
East Side Showdown
Texas House of Representatives District 120 Incumbent: Ruth Jones McClendon Challenger: Sandra Martinez The district’s eastern boundary abuts — but doesn’t include — Schertz, Converse, and China Grove; the southern boundary extends along New Sulphur Springs Road and Hwy 87. To the west, the district runs up Broadway, grazing the southern edge of Alamo Heights…
Thrash Compactor
Probot men, Dave Grohl, Lemmy, and Wino Thrash Compactor By Bret McCabe Dave Grohl leaves the Foos behind for some first-class metal doom Just admit it. The Foo Fighters have always been a vanilla band. Not just a “sitting at the bar during opening act” yawn festival; we’re talking “call the girlfriend on the phone…
A Chink In The Armor
Democrats try to give Bush an ass-kicking in his own state On Tuesday, March 9, Texans could either choose the next president of the United States or they may participate in a relatively anti-climatic primary. Although several candidates have influenced the race, most notably Howard Dean, two main contenders remain – with similar platforms and…
Sound and the Fury
The El Orbits make bingo rock at Casbeers on Tuesday, March 2. ∇ ⇐ ∅ ∀ ↵ ∏ ∝ ⊗ a week on the scene Texas Waltz Time The Flatlanders’ February 21 show before an overflowing, delirious Gruene Hall crowd found the Lubbock legends in spirited form, as Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Joey…
Nader on the Run
Citizen Ralph Nader Consumer advocate turned politician takes another stab at White House Ralph Nader urged a packed auditorium at Our Lady of the Lake University to vote him into the Oval Office in November, pointing out that Democrats wouldn’t be hurt since Republicans have sewed up George W. Bush’s adopted state. Responding to a…
Bland on Bland
The Norah Jones phenomenon is astonishing, but it’s not without precedent. The public’s love affair with Jones strongly recalls the reaction to Tracy Chapman’s 1988 debut album. Like Jones, Chapman was a demographic miracle, a young artist who older folks could understand and embrace. To them, she represented a return to substance and real musicianship,…
Paint It With A Different Brush
Jody Blake, Curator of the Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts, stands in front of some of the designs by Russian artist Natalia Goncharova for Diaghilev’s production of the opera Le Coq d’Or, on display at the McNay from March 13 through May 2 as part of Le Coq d’Or: Natalia Goncharova’s Designs for the Ballets…
Swamp Thing
Omar Dykes Omar Dykes isn’t a man known for surprises. The Mississippi native has been cranking out the same roadhouse blues-rock since he settled in Austin 27 years ago, with no indication that he’s ever contemplated a stab at trip-hop or rap-metal. Dykes is like a craftsman who spends his adult life makes nothing but…
Transatlantic Exchange
Works by native Texan Jeff McMillan and Englander Cornelia Parker, who met while Parker was a 1998 ArtPace resident, explore themes of relocation, transitoriness, and exchange. Their work is on view at Finesilver Gallery through April 10. A Texas expatriate and a transient Englishwoman explore relocation Native Texan Jeff McMillan and Cornelia Parker from England…
Artifacts
News and notes from the San Antonio art scene “Dia De Los Muertos,” from Chuck Ramirez’ Dinner series, was among the artist’s work featured at ARCO International 2004 in Madrid, Spain, February 12-16. (courtesy photo) Warm Welcomes San Antonio artist Chuck Ramirez received a very warm reception at ARCO International 2004, this month in Spain.…
Up In Smoke
From left: Hasan Yahya and Montaser Ashqar play cards and smoke hookah pipes at Shisha Café, named after the traditional Middle Eastern tobacco and molasses mix smoked in the pipe. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) Middle Eastern fare and hookahs meld in Shisha’s café culture Pleasing many people and annoying others, San Antonio’s restaurants entered the…
Polished Plates
The jewel box-like interior of La Calesa. (Photo by Laura McKenzie) The oft-overlooked La Calesa houses the impeccable The exterior is quiet and unassuming – a small tan building, tucked behind the Uniroyal station on Hildebrand and Broadway. For years, I had driven by the place – occasionally tempted by the sign offering lunch specials…
No-Fly Zone
“I remember that I heard someone was coming to drill with us from Texas. And it was implied that it was somebody with political influence.” — Bob Mintz Lieutenant Colonel, US Air National Guard (ret.) Two Guardsmen clip Bush’s wings Two members of the Air National Guard unit that President George W. Bush allegedly served…
Oscar Bait
Champion, in training for the Tour de France Wordless wonder from France competes with Pixar’s aquatic adventure The folks over at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences may have stumbled when they started giving awards to animated features two years ago – refusing to nominate Waking Life, the very sort of daring, unique…
Living In Sin And Celluloid
A steamy scene from Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (courtesy photo) ‘The Dreamers’ offers more than highbrow softcore Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci has never been shy about sex. He shocked the world with Last Tango in Paris (which was as startling for the way it thought about physical intimacy as for what it showed of it),…
An Unorthodox Approach
Rabbi Michael Lerner Controversial rabbi speaks about peace, Isreal, and the Palestinians Former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover once described Rabbi Michael Lerner as “one of America’s most dangerous criminals.” A Newark, New Jersey native, in the early ’60s Lerner studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary and later became a social activist, protesting the Vietnam…
Armchair Cinephile
Experiments sublime and goofy The arrival in Austin of Unseen Cinema, a landmark series of experimental film from film history’s first half century, put me in a mind to revisit the watershed event of the second 50 years, Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon. Mystic Fire Video has released Meshes, along with five other works,…
A Test of Integrity
Schools are caught in a trap between doing what’s right for their special students, and complying with the law One boy is counting pictures of cats. Another rocks on the nearby couch, bending over a pillow on his lap. Later, the students go over their homework assignments: asking each other what they ate for dinner…
CineFestival 2004
CineFestival 2004 Many Roads, Un Destino The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center will screen more than 50 innovative films created by emerging and veteran filmmakers at CineFestival 2004. This year’s program, “Many Roads, Un Destino: Chicano/Latino/Indigenous Perspectives on Immigration,” runs Wednesday, March 3 through Saturday, March 6 at the Guadalupe Theater and additional venues. Daytime screenings…
Havana Gila
Katey Miller (Romola Garai) and Xavier (Diego Luna) do some dirty dancing. (courtesy photo) Return of the woolly dancing monster If, as some pious groups maintain, all dancing is dirty dancing, then the Dirty Dancing franchise has many opportunities for expansion. Imagine an adolescent’s terpsichorean tumult set against the backdrop of the Wendell Wilkie campaign…
