5 Things You Have to Do This Week
1. Ambassadors of the New Inspired by the evolution of of hip-hop and rap facilitated by new promotional platforms, the Constituents Music Group rolls out a new series uniting “some of the dopest up-and-coming acts the region has to offer.” The collective’s inaugural Ambassadors of the New event features performances by charismatic, unsigned artists including…
Warped Tour: 4 SA Bands to Watch
In the 17th annual Battle of the Bands hosted by Ernie Ball, over 100 bands were given the opportunity to play at the 2013 Vans Warped Tour. The San Antonio bands that will be playing at AT&T Center on August 3 are Not So Lucky, Missing In Alaska, Tera Ferna, and Hayden, Oh My. Go…
Cheesecake Factory Celebrates National Cheesecake Day July 30
Let’s not talk about calories: July 30 is National Cheesecake Day! Head to the Cheesecake Factory if you’re looking to celebrate in a big way. The national chain will debut a new flavor, Toasted Marshmallow S’mores Galore, to celebrate. Try to keep yourself from drooling: For serious cheesecake lovers. (Courtesy) Along with the debut, the…
Video recap: a terrific night of boxing in San Antonio
Saturday at the AT&T Center, Andre Berto lost via a crushing 12th round knockout at the hands of Jesús Soto Karass, but San Antonio won as a viable boxing market and the sport in general continued bouncing back with yet another series of great fights. The night stealer was the Figueroa-Arakawa bout, firm candidate for…
Even more tips for throwing a cocktail party
Practice and planning makes perfect. (Courtesy) Even if you haven’t read this week’s “How to throw a cocktail party on a budget” in print (seriously, why haven’t you? That’s rude.), take note of these bonus tips from the women of Gypsyfeed: Its a Party, Have fun with it: Pace yourself. DO NOT try to shop,…
5 Things You Need to Know About Scotch
Scotchy, Scotch, Scotch…(Lauren Silva) Scotch whisky: two words that delight some and drive fear into the hearts of many. As a newbie to the drinking scene, I fall into the latter category. This golden liquid baffles me to no end and, when out at bars, I often find myself asking a series of Roseanne Roseannadanna-type…
Shot of the Week: Hi-Tones’ Chango
Pucker up! (Toni Guarrino) Raspas are a typical Hispanic child’s summer pastime, but only a Spurs-loving Alamo City kiddo knows of the jaw-clenching pucker associated with a “Chango.” SInce 2011, Hi-Tones (621 E Dewey Place, (210) 573-6220) has been doling out Changos in shot form: pickle juice, Mexican Chamoy sauce and an unnamed spirit. Rimmed…
Not So Fast, Texas: DOJ Backs Effort to Still Oversee Texas’ Voting Law Changes
Update: In a private meeting among civil rights leaders on Monday, President Barack Obama pledged his support to protect minority voters, and San Antonio state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer had a seat at the table. The only Texan in attendance, Martinez Fischer joined members of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the NAACP and…
8 Oscar Hopefuls You Can Catch in San Antonio This Summer
While summertime usually means big blockbusters from the movie studios, like the latest installment of The Fast and The Furious franchise, summer also has its share of potential Oscar contenders. In fact, several Best Picture winners have been released in the heat of summer including Forrest Gump (July 1994), Crash (May 2005), and The Hurt…
Duk Truck on the Cooking Channel Tonight
Duck confit tacos, please! (Courtesy) DUK hunters, Jason Dady fans or people who love watching food on TV while wishing there was something called Smell-ovision, can finally watch one of the city’s food trucks on Cooking Channel’s Eat St. tonight. Per the DUK Truck’s facebook, the episode will be screened at Alamo Street Eat Bar…
After L1fe and Ghostpizza Collaborate for Funky Swap Meet
“I have an idea, let’s all rave to our favorite progressive tunes and swap a bunch of our vintage fad items” – said by no one ever. But, why not? Nationally acclaimed talent collective, Ghostpizza and local St. Mary’s boutique, After L1fe have teamed up to bring the Alamo City its very first swap meet…
Anti-Abortion Activists Laud Closure of Three Texas Planned Parenthood Centers
Putting “No matter what” to the test, this week three Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas announced plans to close After drastic budget cuts during the 2011 Legislative session, compounded with its exclusion from the Women’s Health Program, three Planned Parenthood clinics in rural Southeast Texas are slated to shut their doors. Clinics in Bryan, Huntsville…
10 Things You Have to Do This Weekend
1. Rey’s Birthday Bash Last year, drag promoter Rey Lopez celebrated his birthday by importing 12 RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants to entertain 1,200 fans at the Bonham. According to Lopez, he was the first in the U.S. to squeeze that many alums from the Logo series into one room. Lopez smartly rounds out his lineups…
Celebrate Nat’l Tequila Day with These 3 Drinks
San Antonians are masters of celebration. Whether it’s a special occasion or no occasion at all, we always find reason to venture to our favorite watering hole, whet our whistles and have a good time, and, come July 24, Tequilatown will have good reason to celebrate: National Tequila Day. That’s right. A brief background on…
2013 ACL SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED
The wait is over. You can start planning your schedule for the Austin City Limits Music Festival which takes place at Zilker Park. This year, the festival is taking a cue from other festivals such as Coachella, spreading the music into two weekends, October 4-6 and October 11-13. The majority of the bands will play…
TRAVIS BUFFKIN: THE LONG, LONG Q & A
(photo by Bryan Duff) My first conversation with Travis Buffkin started at the Hi-Tones patio on June 14, the day Cryin’ D.T. Buffkin & The Bad Breath presented Tattooed Rose. It was a rainy day and a wet night, but people showed up. Obviously, not an Afton Show. The second part of the conversation took…
Eureka the Butcher Pays Tribute With New Album
“My mother is a very special woman with an unbelievable sense of God,” Omar Rodríguez-López (The Mars Volta, Bosnian Rainbows) told the Current on March 12 of last year, after the premiere of his film Los Chidos during South by Southwest. On March 22 of that year, days after her 65th birthday, Frances Rodríguez (née…
Cryin’ D.T. Buffkin and the Bad Breath Don’t Want Your $13
How fitting that, on the night of June 14 at Hi-Tones, just as Cryin’ D.T. Buffkin & The Bad Breath were about to present their brand-new Tattooed Rose album, Francois Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player was showing on the TV set above the bar. It was pure chance, but jumping from Charles Aznavour on the…
David Lynch: 'The Big Dream'
David Lynch is not a musician. He even refuses to be called one. Following what may be his final feature film, 2006’s Inland Empire, Lynch has taken to exploring various forms of artistic expression, including acting, painting, photography and, since 2001, music. The Big Dream is a marked improvement from 2011’s Crazy Clown Time, particularly…
Culinary Calendar: 8 ways to Get Your Grub and/or Drink On
Wednesday, July 24: Twin Liquors Marketplace makes mixology easy. Learn about base spirits and how to make bar- quality cocktails at home. Spirits include Bulleit Bourbon Frontier Whiskey, Ketel One Citroen and Don Julio. Free, 6-8pm, 12955 San Pedro, (210) 403-2322. Thursday, July 25: Find out how to make the best dishes out of your…
This is Not An Institutional Critique: Artpace’s IAIR 13.2
Failed utopias, form wrenched from utility, experience unhinged: if one were to attempt to buttress the work of all three participants in Artpace San Antonio’s summer 2013 offering under a central theme, the notion of dislocation comes to mind. Clarissa Tossin (Houston), Trevor Paglen (New York City) and Pak Sheung Chuen (Hong Kong), selected by…
Booze and beer, together at last
Beer cocktails and beer blends are hardly a new concept: Folks have used beer as a base for other drinks for centuries dating back as early as the first millennium. Familiar examples include the Shandy, the Michelada, and the Black and Tan. With a near simultaneous boom in both craft cocktail and craft beer culture,…
Gogol Bordello: 'Pura Vida Conspiracy'
Gogol Bordello’s move to ATO Records has produced the group’s most exacting effort to date, effectively harnessing the band’s energetic musical orgy through waves of melody and madness. “Dig Deep Enough” is a brazen protest and worldly chorus with beautifully melodic injections. “Lost Innocent World” equally stomps in anger over loss and confusion, and the…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “I have tried in my way to be free,” sings Leonard Cohen in his song “Bird on a Wire.” In other words, he has done the best he can to liberate himself from his unconscious patterns, bad habits, and self-delusions. He hasn’t been perfect in his efforts, but the work he…
Savage Love: Head Fake
I’ve been mostly happily married for 15 years. I’m a straight man. I love my wife. We used to have a great sex life. But after many years, children, and just day-to-day reality, our sex life is now pretty unsatisfying. While my wife was barely GGG at the beginning, now she will not go down…
Urban Homesteader: Harvesting water
A recent spate of road trips into drought-stricken West Texas gave me a new pet peeve: acres of clean, smooth, low-pitched metal roofs for both agricultural and oil-boom industrial use with not a gutter or rain barrel in sight. A relatively mild summer and decent rains put San Antonio in better shape, for now, but…
Op-Ed: Blacks are Still Targets of Gun-toting Vigilantes
If you were to poll most African-Americans in this city and across the country regarding the Florida court decision in the George Zimmerman trial, no doubt the results would be skewed heavily to the negative. Legal scholars will argue that Zimmerman’s lawyers presented a case based on Florida law and proved that he acted in…
The Hunt for Blue November: Why Battleground Texas Needs White Women
You may not believe in destiny, but demography will not be denied. That could be the slogan of Battleground Texas, the organization of Democratic activists who have hitched their wagon to the Lone Star state. Galvanized by President Barack Obama’s decisive sweep of the swing states last November, veteran staffers of that campaign parachuted into…
‘Fruitvale Station’ Weaves Sublime Detail into Oscar Grant Story
Fruitvale Station will make you sick to your stomach. It will prompt you to shed at least a few tears, if not sob. And for many, it will inspire ire. The depiction of 22-year-old Oscar Grant’s last day alive, New Year’s Eve 2008, and his unwarranted death, face-down on a subway platform in Oakland, Calif.,…
Environmental Problems Persist For Residents near Former KAFB Site
For those who live in San Antonio’s so-called “Toxic Triangle,” this month serves as a somber reminder of the uphill battle they continue to face. Demanding justice and seeking to “reinvigorate” an ongoing struggle to remediate their polluted community, residents rallied at Port of San Antonio in mid July–marking the 12th anniversary of Kelly Field…
‘Fill the Void’ and the Mating Habits of the Pious
Early in Fill the Void, said to be the first mainstream feature film directed by an Orthodox Jewish woman, the serenity of a Tel Aviv apartment is disturbed by loud rock music. Someone closes a window, and the Mendelmans, a devout Hasidic family, can resume their pious lives without distraction from the secular world. Consisting…
Slider Provider: Small Bites, Big Taste
It’s hard out there for a food truck. After you factor in the cost of operating a truck, the nuance of finding that secret sweet parking spot and the Texas heat (which, yes, has been mild this year, but just try tending to a hot grill in a teensy trailer in 90-plus-degree weather), it’s easy…
Guy Clark: 'My Favorite Picture of You'
In the title track, Clark lovingly describes a Polaroid snapshot of his late wife Susanna glaring into the camera, pissed off after listening to Clark and Townes Van Zandt. Loss, despair and exhausted anger permeate the entire album, which kills off a character from an earlier, happier song (“The Death of Sis Draper”) and describes…
Industry News: New BBQ joint fires up on North Side, Freetail goes South, Lidia's SA Landing
Does San Antonio need more BBQ? Well, we have more now. Blanco BBQ (13259 Blanco) is now open, almost smack dab in middle of the space between I-10, Hwy 281, Loop 1604 and Loop 410. It opened last week and has done a sell-out business thus far. In addition to the usual meats and sides,…
Classy Cocktail Party Ideas for Any Budget
Time to throw the red Solo cups away. If you drink craft cocktails and beers out and about, bring it on home for your next shindig—it’s not as difficult as it might seem to host a party that’s as classy as you are. ••••• To start off, figure out your budget and number of guests.…
This Bytes: Rum Soaked Fruit Kebobs Recipe
Society tells us that men should be grilling and ladies should be sitting by the pool with a mojito, right? We’re pretty sure that’s how it goes. Now, as much as we agree with the mojito part, we’re dubious about the whole ‘only men can only grill’ thing. We are proof that ladies can grill…
10 Free Events Happening in San Antonio This Week
1. Movies by Moonlight- Tuesday, July 23 Pack a picnic, lawn chairs, and blankets and enjoy a free family friendly movie at Hemisfair Park. Free admission and free parking at city-operated parking garages, lots, and meters after 5:00 pm. Pre-show entertainment begins at 7:30 and the feature film A Bug’s Life begins at 8:30. Location:…
Following Six Flags Arlington Death, Six Flag Fiesta’s Iron Rattler To Remain Closed
The new and highly advertised ride at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, the Iron Rattler, will remain closed while officials continue to investigate the horrific tragedy that occurred in Arlington involving a similar roller coaster. Last Friday evening a woman was thrown to her death from a star attraction of Six Flags Arlington, the Texas Giant.…
