Gemase Lee Simmons guilty on all counts
The story of how Gemase Lee Simmons conned over a hundred young men and women (some of them minors) is long, complex, and at times very, very difficult to wrap your head around. But here’s how Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery distilled it Monday: “It is a sordid tale of stolen money and, more…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Reba McEntire
Hey! Did you know that sitcom actress Reba McEntire, who has played such diverse characters as Reba Hart on Reba and Reba MacKenzie on Malibu Country, is also a popular singer? That’s right: while we were all taking a nap, she somehow accumulated 56 million album sales, 35 Number One singles, seven Country Music Awards,…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: MURS
Know him: Ever wish you could satisfy your lust for hip-hop without overlooking messages that degrade women, glamorize gun and drug culture, and are willfully un-empathetic? Whether you are a casual fan or a longtime student of the game, MURS (“Making the Universe Recognize and Submit” or “Making Underground Raw Shit”) is a force you…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Short Shorts Fest
Organized by local actor John Lambert and co-hosted by singer/entertainer Geraldine Ortega and Milne Studio founder Brad Milne, this should be the biggest and most fun Short Shorts Fest yet. Actress Jamye Cox and actor/director/spoof master Taylor James Johnson are a winning combination that will keep things funny on the red carpet. Out of the…
‘House of Cards’: Netflix and the reinvention of TV
A skeleton unearthed beneath a parking lot in Leicester is, according to DNA analysis, the physical remains of Richard III, the Plantagenet king vilified by William Shakespeare. But his wily, ruthless soul lives on in Francis Underwood, a Machiavellian House majority whip in the new Netflix flick House of Cards. As Congressman Underwood, Kevin Spacey,…
(Alleged) Dirtbag of the Week: Glen L. Dukes, charged with human trafficking
Police say Glen L. Dukes lured in at least two East Side women with food, clothing, shelter, and crack cocaine and in exchange pimped them out, took all their earnings, and beat them if they didn’t obey his commands. Authorities arrested Dukes, 43, this week on two counts of continuous trafficking of persons. If convicted,…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Rock Your Socks Off One-Year Anniversary
The Rock Your Sock’s Off formula is simple: you donate a pair of new or gently worn shoes for charity, and pay half the ticket price. In return, you get a night of music and the knowledge that your shoes helped someone who needed them. This year, the festival teamed up with SA Sneaks Up…
New York Romance by Danny Herrera
Flash nonfiction is a fascinating, short format, and I do not exclude it from the more general idea of “short work,” which I employ here. As I’m sure I’ve said before, what I love about flash fiction/prose poetry/nonfiction is it is an extraordinarily dynamic form (defined, for me, by brevity more than anything else). And…
Alamo Drafthouse + Dogfish Head Film Fest
Welp, it’s that time of year again when our beloved Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and the ever tasty Dogfish Head Brewing Co. get together and throw the Off-Centered Film Festival. Slated to go down April 18-20 in Austin, the festival’s theme this year is “Hip-Hop, Off Centered.” Submissions are being accepted now through March 1st and…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: The Yippee-Ki-Yay Cabaret
Whip crackin’, gun slingin’, and lasso spinin’ collide with improv comedy, shadow puppetry, and musical melodrama in The Yippee-Ki-Yay Cabaret, a troupe comprised of New Old Time Chautauqua alums Clay Mazin’, Vanessa Vortex, and Jasper Patterson. Combining the eclectic talents of Mazin’ (a multi-instrumentalist), Vortex (a hula-hooping, trumpet-playing circus cowgirl), and Patterson (a theater director…
Trial under way for bogus modeling agent/TV producer
We just capped day three in the trial against bogus reality TV producer Gemase Lee Simmons, and the allegations against him just get curiouser and curiouser If you believe the FBI’s case against him, Simmons is a whole new breed of digital-age predator. According to the feds, Simmons’ typical ruse would go something like this:…
Post Office cancels Saturday mail
usps.com Postmaster General Patrick Donahue announced today that the United States Postal Service will no longer deliver mail on Saturdays. The new “Six?Day Package, Five?Day Mail Delivery” scheduled to begin this August will save the floundering mail agency an estimated $2 billion a year. And they need it. The USPS has been struggling financially for…
Urban Homesteader: more citrus
While the glorious Meyer Lemon has a specifically wonderful character, I am of the opinion that fresh citrus in general is one of the finest tools in the culinary arsenal. Fortunately, we live in a climate that favors home-growing a whole range of citrus goodness. Most tolerate a light freeze, don’t need huge…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: 4th Annual Bob Marley Birthday Celebration
The Reggae Bar celebrates the 68th birthday of Jamaican singer-songwriter and Rastafarian icon Nesta Robert Marley (1945-1981) with a free all-ages party hosted by DJ Dish.1 featuring live music by Ras Yama & the Melodic Souls, DJs, free Jamaican food, drink specials, and CD giveaways. Free; 9pm Wed, Feb 6; The Reggae Bar, 2016 Austin Hwy, (210) 772-9891.…
Boiler House restaurant review: Dem Bones
Harry, the neighborhood hound, was greatly appreciative of the lamb shank bone he was brought from Boiler House, easily the most dramatic new restaurant to open in San Antonio in recent months. His appreciation was not diminished in the least by the bone’s having been previously picked whistle-clean. Harry, it should be said, is not…
Wayne Shorter: 'Without a Net'
Following a 43-year hiatus from the label, this is Shorter’s return to Blue Note. Recorded during Shorter’s 2011 European tour (and one date in Los Angeles backed by Imani Winds), the album finds the 79-year-old saxophonist howling primal screams throughout the album’s nine tracks and helped by the flawless Danilo Pérez on piano, John Patitucci…
Kiefer Sutherland connects it all in ‘Touch’
Touch (7pm Fri, Fox) If you love TV, you have to love its grand follies. These are the shows that throw caution to the wind to make REALLY IMPORTANT STATEMENTS ABOUT HUMANITY. Touch is one of those shows. Kiefer Sutherland plays the father of a mute boy who sees the connectedness of all things, somehow…
Industry News: Valentine's is for amateurs
Valentine’s Day is possibly one of the worst times to frequent a restaurant. The staff is stressed, everything is prix fixe, and couples are forcing romance over salads. Instead, force your loved one to consume food you have painstakingly prepared. Sur La Table is holding several cooking classes to prepare you, including Date Night classes…
Something Fiction: 'Mycology (EP)'
Young Saytown head-trippers Something Fiction are back with an EP of new songs and remixes from 2011’s patient and contemplative Botany EP. While each song on the release has its own charms — Run DMT’s remix of "Lucid Dream Machine" and Gonjasufi’s remix of "An Accident" are especially good — the whole lacks the sense…
Alt Hip-hop hero MURS comes to The Korova
MURS feat. Fashawn, Prof, Black Cloud Music $12-15 8pm Sun, Feb 10 The Korova 107 Martin St. (210) 226-5070 Know him: Ever wish you could satisfy your lust for hip-hop without overlooking messages that degrade women, glamorize gun and drug culture, and are willfully un-empathetic? Whether you are a casual fan or a longtime student…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: The pinche Republicans are making a gigante ruido about their “Hispanic” senators in Congress. Wáchale! Lets call a pendejo a pendejo. Please discuss with tu audiencia what Mexicans really think about Cubans in these Estados Unidos. El Güero Tejano (no Cubano) As a recent transplant from Miami to Albuquerque, I was wondering what…
Venom or Vino?
If you find yourself in Albuquerque any time soon, I have two suggestions. Number one is a visit to the American International Rattlesnake Museum in Old Town. Really. Not only can you "Learn about snakebites, venom, rattles, fangs and more!" but you can observe dozens of live (if usually a little somnolent) snakes in colors…
Best of Flash Fiction, January 2013
As some of you may know, I’m intrigued by constraint. I love poetry and prose that construct some kind of artificial or natural rules (or boundaries) and then play the game. Oulipo is a group of writers and mathematicians (and musicians and artists and on and on) who insist on constraint. Raymond Queneau, one of…
Texas whisky beats Scotland's finest in London blind tasting
Click here for a tour of Balcones Distillery It seemed like history repeating itself last December when Balcones Single Malt Whisky beat out the competition in a blind tasting in London, England. Taking top honors at Best in Glass, a judging of new international whisky releases, the contestant from the five-year-old distillery in Waco, Texas,…
Roman Polanski doc a winner at Jewish Film Fest
12th Annual Jewish Film Festival Feb 9-13 $8 per film, $70 for all Santikos Embassy 13707 Embassy Row (210) 302-6820 jccsanantonio.org On September 26, 2009, Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski took a plane to Switzerland, where he was going to receive an award from the Zurich Film Festival. As soon as he arrived, he was escorted…
Lawrence Wright paints a troubling portrait of Scientology
In lawsuits, plaintiffs routinely file "interrogatories," questions defendants must answer as a case heads to discovery. By far, the strangest I’ve ever seen surfaced in a San Antonio court: "Admit or deny that forcing Scientology employees to lick bathroom floors is a religious practice of the Church of Scientology." Last year, a local court played…
Newsmonger: Strip-club regs stalled, military still mishandling sexual assault reports
Pastie Party Strippers in local clubs can stick to their pasties, for now. The city this week had planned to start enforcing its new strip-club ordinance, which stipulates that any cabarets or clubs that want to dodge being labeled a “sexually oriented business” must make dancers cover up with bikini tops. Last month some 13…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): "What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible," said poet Theodore Roethke. For the foreseeable future, Aries, you could and should be a person like that. I’m not saying that you will forevermore be a connoisseur of amazements and a massager of miracles and a magnet for unexpected…
Ryan Lochte and the Riverwalk Olympics
Could Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin be headed our way? As announced last month, San Antonio is one of six U.S. cities in the running to host the 2016 Olympic U.S. Swim Team Trials to take place just weeks before the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. This past week, San Antonio Sports launched an online campaign…
Stay Current with the Pick of the Day: Luisa Wheeler
The 10th installment of the Institute of Texan Cultures’ Texas Contemporary Artists Series highlights Luisa Wheeler’s “bold” and “unbridled” works in an exhibition comprising 51 digitally manipulated photographs that chronicle her “life experiences through the present.” Curated by Arturo Infante Almeida, the solo show is playfully punctuated with a lone sculpture — a chair upholstered…
