Little Romeo goes down
More than enough ink has already been spilled on Tony Romo’s Mexican vacation and his subsequent failure to record his first playoff win with the Dallas Cowboys, but it’s time for a little sanity to be restored. Much as we hate to (even indirectly) defend Jessica Simpson, it’s mindless media piling-on to suggest…
Coffee grumps
Slate earned my undying affection a couple of years ago by turning that old daily-paper log of crap, “news you can use,” into a cup of steaming, comparably economical goodness by publishing a column about Starbucks’ equivalent of the crazy first wife in the attic: the “short” — bumped from the menu long ago with…
Little Romeo goes down
More than enough ink has already been spilled on Tony Romo’s Mexican vacation and his subsequent failure to record his first playoff win with the Dallas Cowboys, but it’s time for a little sanity to be restored. Much as we hate to (even indirectly) defend Jessica Simpson, it’s mindless media piling-on to suggest that a…
Coffee grumps
Slate earned my undying affection a couple of years ago by turning that old daily-paper log of crap, “news you can use,” into a cup of steaming, comparably economical goodness by publishing a column about Starbucks’ equivalent of the crazy first wife in the attic: the “short” — bumped from the menu long ago with…
The Current Craft o’ the Month
I have a pretty clear picture of the universe I’d like to inhabit; it’s basically Amelie meets The Science of Sleep. Ish. And if those titles mean nothing to you, I think I can sum things up in one clearly definable word: Whimsical. In fact, in this imaginary Ash-iverse, there are actually popsicles called Whimsicles.…
Big Tex update: testing, ho!
Apologies first off to Big Tex owner and San Antonio developer James Lifshutz, who did not request immunity from liability for any health problems that might befall former tenants of the one-time vermiculite-processing facility on the banks of the San Antonio River. He asked only for immunity from liability for workers who will be accessing…
The Current Craft o’ the Month
I have a pretty clear picture of the universe I’d like to inhabit; it’s basically Amelie meets The Science of Sleep. Ish. And if those titles mean nothing to you, I think I can sum things up in one clearly definable word: Whimsical. In fact, in this imaginary Ash-iverse, there are actually popsicles called Whimsicles.…
Big Tex update: testing, ho!
Apologies first off to Big Tex owner and San Antonio developer James Lifshutz, who did not request immunity from liability for any health problems that might befall former tenants of the one-time vermiculite-processing facility on the banks of the San Antonio River. He asked only for immunity from liability for workers who will be accessing…
Vast, Mothers Anthem, & Emporium
Release Date: 2008-01-16 The name stands for Visual Audio Sensory Theater, and the musical outfit came of age in the Bay Area in the mid ’90s with a self-titled debut which became a cult classic. VAST frontman Jon Crosby’s unique songwriting and production style continues to evade niche appeal, mixing electronic, world, classical, metal, and…
Dr. Martin Luther King Wreath-Laying Ceremony
Release Date: 2008-01-16 Join the largest U.S. march continuing Dr. King’s legacy. Education: March from the Dream to Reality begins at 10 a.m. at the Eastside Boys & Girls Club/MLK Freedom Bridge, 3500 MLK Drive, and ends at Pittman-Sullivan Park, 1001 Iowa. The commemorative program begins at Noon with speaker Dr. Terrence Roberts, member of…
PuroSlam Reborn featuring Vivacious Tea
Release Date: 2008-01-16 PuroSlam enters the Atomix age, transplanting its crew of hosts, poets, and oddballs to its new home just off the St. Mary’s strip. DJ Donnie Dee still heads the assorted cast of hecklers and judges, and the Slam kicks off the new year with an encore presentation of Vivacious Tea, the band…
The Morgan Scott Ballet
Release Date: 2008-01-16 Explore the sights, sounds, and flavors of the rainforest and learn about the treasures found in these vital, endangered ecosystems. You’ll sample coffee, cocoa, and treats made with tropical plants, learn about the ethnobotany, amazing bats, and lifesaving medicines of the rainforests, and enjoy hands-on children’s activities. $6 adults, $3 children, 10am-3pm,…
Coffee Day and Rainforest Roundup
Release Date: 2008-01-16 Explore the sights, sounds, and flavors of the rainforest and learn about the treasures found in these vital, endangered ecosystems. You’ll sample coffee, cocoa, and treats made with tropical plants, learn about the ethnobotany, amazing bats, and lifesaving medicines of the rainforests, and enjoy hands-on children’s activities. $6 adults, $3 children, 10am-3pm,…
Music and Dance Residency/Concert with Ethel
Release Date: 2008-01-16 Ethel, the rock-infused, post-classical string quartet hailing from New York City will take up a three-day residency at the Guadalupe Arts Center as part of their 10-month long performance and residency tour, Truck Stop. Their SA stop explores early 20th century Tejano Conjunto music with accordionist Eva Ybarra and culminates in a…
Honky Tonk Happy Hour w. James Hand
Release Date: 2008-01-16 Country audiences don’t tend to be quite as youth-obsessed as the pop crowd, but even by country standards, putting out your debut national release at the age of 53 is pushing it a bit. That’s exactly what Waco native – and veteran horse trainer – James Hand did with his 2006 CD,…
Chocolate Day
Release Date: 2008-01-16 Explore the sights, sounds, and flavors of the rainforest and learn about the treasures found in these vital, endangered ecosystems. You’ll sample coffee, cocoa, and treats made with tropical plants, learn about the ethnobotany, amazing bats, and lifesaving medicines of the rainforests, and enjoy hands-on children’s activities. $6 adults, $3 children, 10am-3pm,…
The Vagina Monologues
Release Date: 2008-01-16 PuroSlam enters the Atomix age, transplanting its crew of hosts, poets, and oddballs to its new home just off the St. Mary’s strip. DJ Donnie Dee still heads the assorted cast of hecklers and judges, and the Slam kicks off the new year with an encore presentation of Vivacious Tea, the band…
Survivor Slam X Fundraiser Spectacular
Release Date: 2008-01-16 PuroSlam enters the Atomix age, transplanting its crew of hosts, poets, and oddballs to its new home just off the St. Mary’s strip. DJ Donnie Dee still heads the assorted cast of hecklers and judges, and the Slam kicks off the new year with an encore presentation of Vivacious Tea, the band…
‘Diving Bell’ is an impressionist masterpiece
The Diving bell and the Butterfly Director: Julian Schnabel Screenwriter: Julian Schnabel Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner Release Date: 2008-01-16 Website: http://www.thedivingbellandthebutterfly-themovie.com/ Rated: R Genre: Drama With sincerest apologies to the very, very good film I’ve been asked to review, I must dispose of a nagging, inexcusable tangent. Two-thousand and seven, besides being one of…
27 Dresses
27 Dresses Director: Anne Fletcher Screenwriter: Anne Fletcher Cast: Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Edward Burns, Judy Greer, Malin Akerman Release Date: 2008-01-16 Website: http://www.27dressesthemovie.com/ Rated: PG-13 Genre: Romantic Comedy Lock me up, I did not hate 27 Dresses. (If you listen very closely, you can hear my editor snickering somewhere.) It is, admittedly, The Wedding…
Great Northern Guns, Yoshimoto, Altus, Consider the Source, & The Last Starfighter
Release Date: 2008-01-16 “San Antonio is a shithole” reads a particularly inflammatory blog that’s been the primary focus of MySpace music circles as of late. Posted by a member of Great Northern Guns, the three-part blog slams the city for being ignorant and insular, then launches into a rant about a music scene with “a…
Letter Perfect
Beautious Big Bend is being battered right and left lately with bad, bad, bad policy. Patterson has pretty much ruined any chance of a reasonable solution to the Christmas Mountains fiasco. (Forcing a buy-back and redonation of the preserve doesn’t count as reasonable in my book.) Chertoff and Homeland Security are anxious to start digging…
World according to Gurf
Talent, it’s been said, recognizes genius, so if Gurf Morlix took a little time to launch his solo career, chalk it up to the company he keeps. Producing songwriters such as Lucinda Williams, Robert Earl Keen, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Mary Gauthier, and Slaid Cleaves can be hard on a writer’s ego. “I’ve been writing songs…
Untraceable
Untraceable Tuesday, January 22nd 7:30pm at Santikos Silverado 1604 and Bandera Road Sorry, we are all out of passes for this screening
THE SOUND & THE FURY
Café Revolucion (527 El Paso) hosts a stellar rock-en-español lineup Saturday, January 19, with Rock For Otoniel. The show is a fundraising concert, with all proceeds going directly to the family of Ramiro Otoniel Sosa Grajales, a 9-year-old boy battling leukemia and in dire need of a bone-marrow transplant. The lineup includes Karma, the jangle-guitar…
Krispy Kreme Calendar
Krispy Kreme Calendar Size: XL To qualify: Please send an email to freebies@sacurrent.com Include your name and email address where you can be reached. One winner will be picked by The Current on Friday and notified by email.
Little bit of soul
Rare & Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of The Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin (Rhino) Not long ago, I stumbled across a review of an Aretha Franklin reissue that said something to the effect of, if similar recordings by a comparable male artist were being released, they’d be greeted by 10 times the hoopla.…
‘Fully Committed’ is fully exhausting
I would rather wait on hold for an hour and 15 minutes than sit through the Cellar Theater’s Fully Committed again. (And so, I surmise, would some of you, fellow audience members from last Saturday night. I don’t want to be a narc, but I caught two of you dozing off.) At least on hold…
Playback
Six years ago, Eminem bragged in song that he’s “the worst thing since Elvis Presley.” Surely, Marshall Mathers didn’t mean to say that he, like the King, was headed for premature health woes, under-the-radar hospital visits, a hermetic lifestyle, and a ballooning waistline brought on by junk-food binge eating , but if the rhinestone-studded white…
ARTIFACTS
Earlier this month the wait was finally over for the much-anticipated debut of the City’s new cultural website, sahearts.com. I was eagerly looking forward to the arrival, which was postponed a few times. (I’d like to thank the Office of Cultural Affairs’ Linsey Whitehead for keeping me well-informed during the arduous process of unveiling the…
Kicking into high gear
It’s early Saturday evening inside Club Heat and local filmmaker Mark Cantu, 29, is watching the clock. With his lead actors, extras, and camera in position, Cantu is aware of his time constraints. The club will be welcoming its first patrons in an hour and he has a few scenes to shoot before the music…
Vegas in 10
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, correct? Well, not exactly … SAT Playwrights artistic director Modrea Mitchell-Reichert organized Viva Las Vegas, a sin-city themed version of their usual 10-minute play festival that adds its own twist to the already challenging task of creating a short, well-executed play. Although the SAT Playwrights aren’t actively involved…
CRITICAL Darling
Oh my gosh, I’m going to die: Arrested Development-Superbad-Juno star/barely-legal fantasy boyfriend of intelligent women everywhere, Michael Cera, is Alexander Hamilton here: youtube.com/watch?v=6V_DsL1x1uY. Just … go. (Pairs well with the Ben Franklin impersonator episode of The Office if you happen to be a softy for the founding fathers.) Critical Darling would also like to tip…
A new-folk pioneer
The Current recently spoke with local artist Karl Frey about his education, inspirations, artwork, and his attempts to revive what he calls the Lost American Folk Aesthetic (as Frey stated, it’s not necessarily a movement, it’s merely a term he uses in his artist statement). Frey was first touched by the muse as a child…
Late night TV’s return: The world is a better place
For the past week and a half, I’ve reacquainted myself with an old friend — my TV set. We didn’t have much to catch up on — he told me about the latest Survivor winner; I told him about the wonderful outdoors (he was actually quite fascinated). Following the chit-chat, we got down to business…
Husband-wife P.I. team tracks cheaters of all stripes
With a concealed button camera recording every move, husband and wife private investigators Scott and Valerie Fulmer look to document the truth. On this specific case, the Fulmers have been hired by a man to follow his wife on a girls’ night out. The client believes she may be cheating on him. Stalking her while…
Armchair Cinephile
PICK OF THE WEEK: She’s Gotta Have It (MGM) How the hell did it take so long? Until this week, Spike Lee’s funny, sexy debut film had never been released on DVD in the States. It must be noted that this is the week’s pick movie-wise, not DVD-wise, as there are, inexplicably, no extras whatsoever.…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that Mexican-Americans have the highest proportion of DUIs and alcohol-related traffic fatalities of any ethnic group (60 percent as opposed to 40 percent for Caucasians — they’re even substantially higher than any other Latino group). I apologize that this question isn’t wisecracky, but that statistic is…
Oh, sweet Marjane
I am attempting the impossible. Thus, I plead with you not to completely rip me to shreds in the comments section of this blog. While perusing at the nearby Half-Price Books, I came across a book that captured my attention Graphic Novels: Stories to Change Your Life (Yes, if Natalie Portman was into graphic novels `H-e-l-l-o she…
Return of blog anxiety
Six years ago, I wrote a column titled “Blog Anxiety,” which was all about how bloggers make me nervous and jealous with their lightning-fast news cycles. I bemoaned my inability to commit words to public record without waiting for editorial oversight, and without waiting for publication day (inevitably several days if not weeks after I…
Clothes-minded
The San Antonio climate can be tough on fashionistas. Wearing tank tops and flip-flops to Thanksgiving dinner is downright disorienting. But every once in a while, the unpredictable weather can work in your favor. For example, when the winter weather arrives just in time to take advantage of the winter season sales. We’re getting a…
I love a charade
Martin was a quiet boy who grew into one hell of a man, placing himself again and again in the often bloody breach between attack dogs, boots, and batons of Jim Crow’s South on one side and the world he preached about – a world of racial harmony he radically conspired to help create –…
Dear Uncle Mat
So here’s the situation … I met this guy on MySpace (which I have never done before due to the fact that it’s against my MySpace code of ethics, but persistence pays off). We exchanged phone numbers and eventually met at a bar for some drinks. We hit it off really well and he ended…
Letter Perfect
Beautious Big Bend is being battered right and left lately with bad, bad, bad policy. Patterson has pretty much ruined any chance of a reasonable solution to the Christmas Mountains fiasco. (Forcing a buy-back and redonation of the preserve doesn’t count as reasonable in my book.) Chertoff and Homeland Security are anxious to start digging…
THE QUE QUE
Renting while brown Just in time to dash Queque’s sunny new-year musings about San Antonio’s shining beacons of progress — commemorated most fecundly last week with the baptism of a Monterrey Oak tree in honor of his Mayoralness, adjacent to JFK’s Lacy Oak tree in District 3’s Espada Park; the seedling, which the Queque will…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I urge you to spend 2008 turning all of your pretty good but half-developed notions into a few brilliant, fully formed ideas. While you’re at it, melt down your hundreds of wishy-washy wishes and recast them into three driving desires. This is the Year of Pinpoint Aim, Aries, also known as…
Oh, sweet Marjane
I am attempting the impossible. Thus, I plead with you not to completely rip me to shreds in the comments section of this blog. While perusing at the nearby Half-Price Books, I came across a book that captured my attention Graphic Novels: Stories to Change Your Life (Yes, if Natalie Portman was into graphic novels…
The City of San Antonio v. the people of San Antonio
The new parade ordinance, passed November 29, 2007, by the San Antonio City Council, allows the city to charge organizers for costs related to street marches that exceed $3,000. City attorneys and police maintain that the charges are for traffic control. Community activists argue that the ordinance invites viewpoint discrimination, since it lists six preferred…
The royal Roberts
Robert Parker, Jr. and Robert Mondavi aren’t the only non-French members of the wine trade to have received that country’s Legion of Honor medal in recognition of contributions to Gaul’s glorious culture — but their numbers are not, er, legion. And the two Bobs have much more in common than a massive medal. Both are…
Out to get Craddick
One of the most watched races in the 2008 Texas Democratic Primary isn’t at the top of the ballot. As a matter of fact, it is confined to one State-House District in Austin. Nevertheless, the battle between Brian Thompson — an attorney and openly gay candidate for the Texas House — and State Representative Dawnna…
Amuse-BOUCHE
A-B is not a press-release whore, jumping on every bit of pre-fashioned “news” that pops into her mailbox. But she had to make an exception for Seguin’s own PickleSickle, in part because A-B harbors a sometimes lonely passion for pickle-juice paletas (so refreshingly sour in the hot summer), in part because it was invented by…
Revealing Briefs
AUSTIN — Public education in Texas earns an average grade of “C” according to the 12th Annual “Quality Counts” report published by Education Week. The report, released last Wednesdays, examined states in six areas of policy and performance. FORT WORTH — State Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Fort Worth) took a rather unprecedented step for a Democratic…
All the perks
Years ago, San Antonio clamored for coffee shops. Now they are everywhere. With at least four coffee shops in Southtown, a Starbucks on the South Side (and a buttload on the North Side), the new challenge is not where to go, but where not to go. About a year after it opened I finally stopped…
Generation gaps and gender barriers
Gloria Steinem began her January 8 New York Times Op-Ed piece (“Women Are Never Front-Runners”) with a simple, but compelling, premise. If Barack Obama had the exact same biography, but was an African-American woman rather than a man, would he/she have stood a chance to be elected to the United States Senate in 2004, or…
