Hyperpretension
A black plate does not a meal make
HARRY’S BACK
The fifth installment of J.K. Rowling’s children’s series will be released worldwide on June 21 To paraphrase Eminem, the poet laureate of hip-hop: Guess who’s back? Harry’s Back. Call a Friend. Harry’s Back. At the book industry’s annual BookExpo held in Los Angeles earlier this month, booksellers and press people searched in vain for…
WHO STOLE THE SOUL?
The Prince of thieves: he who stole the soul. What mainstream American soul music needs is a lack of constriction A few years ago, a guy who was writing a book called me up and asked a loaded question: “What killed R&B?” he asked, as if it was foregone that the genre was dead.…
CHAPTER 11 AND VERSE
San Antonio Symphony cellists David Mollenauer (front) and Giovanni DiGiosia perform during a recent free public concert held at Trinity Baptist Church. Donations received from concert-goers benefited the struggling orchestra. Photo by Mark Greenberg Three months ago, there was a sense of great optimism surrounding the San Antonio Symphony. A public push for donations…
THREE CHEERS FOR THE RED, WHITE, AND BLACK
Jack White and Meg White are a husband-and-wife roots rock duo from Detroit, Michigan. Oops – I mean, they’re a brother and sister, raised on gutbucket blues and the Rolling Stones. Wait! They’re both an incestuous pair of Motown sinners who were born to the same mama, then went on to get hitched and…
HONEY FROM A BEE
The drama of competition is played out through the lives of real competitors from many different backgrounds in Spellbound. For Thorstein Veblen, the economist who coined the term “conspicuous consumption,” spelling in English – a ragtag language rich in quirks – is a striking instance of inefficiency. “English orthography satisfies all the requirements of…
NEW REVIEWS
Alex & Emma Kate Hudson and Luke Wilson in Alex & Emma. Memo to screenwriters: When building a tale around the conceit that the characters are writing a story within your story, if you want to poke fun at the silly flakiness of the story being written, it is best to a) ensure that…
THE 9TH ANNUAL SAN ANTONIO UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL
A still from Bikini Bandits, the winning “Spirit of the Festival” feature film at the San Antonio Underground Film Festival. THE 9TH ANNUAL SAN ANTONIO UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL The 9th Annual San Antonio Underground Film Festival got its name from the Express-News, who refused to print the original title: the Golden Shower Video Festival.…
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Amadeus Amadeus (Director’s Cut) Dir. Milos Forman; writ. Peter Shaffer; feat. F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice (R) Yes, it’s kind of about classical music – but only in the way that Raging Bull is about boxing or Citizen Kane is about the newspaper business. In other words, you…
STILL PLAYING
Tyrese in 2 Fast 2 Furious 2 Fast 2 Furious Dir. John Singleton; writ. Michael Brandt; feat. Paul Walker, Tyrese, Eva Mendes (R) Content-free, 2 Fast exists for purposes of visual stimulation only, like a video game, so, of course, anything approaching dirty reality is stricken from the record. Yes, there’s a story somewhere,…
SHOW TIMES
FRI 6/20 – THU 6/26 These show times are provided by the theaters and are subject to change. The Current includes show times submitted by press deadline, and is not responsible for the changes in the ever-morphing film industry. All times are p.m. unless otherwise indicated. DOWNTOWN AMC RIVERCENTER 9 Rivercenter Mall, third floor, 558-9988…
ALL EARS
GREATEST HITS, REVISITED Quick: Look at the cover of James Brown’s In the Jungle Groove (Polydor) and tell me when it came out. The Godfather of Soul is sporting a ‘fro and soul patch, reclining in an all-denim suit on the concrete bench of what appears to be a holding cell. I’d place it in…
HOOPS HYPOCRISY
Spurs’ substance trumps style, even if Americans turn their heads The morning after the Spurs’ heartbreaking Game 4 loss to the New Jersey Nets, radio blowhard Jim Rome talked to ABC’s Tom Tolbert about the NBA Finals. Rome said he didn’t care who won the series, he just wanted it to end as quickly as…
SELLING OREGANO
Eric Schlosser Eric Schlosser, the ‘Fast Food Nation’ scribe, serves up leftovers with ‘Reefer Madness’ It’s an hour before Eric Schlosser is scheduled to speak to the crowd at Bookpeople in Austin, but already the folding chairs are filling with the fans and fanatics. In the front row, a smartly arrayed woman in her…
IN SEARCH OF WMDS
Not just inquiring minds, but now everybody wants to know: “Where exactly are those weapons of mass destruction?” The Bushites have been scrambling furiously to find answers, and they’ve come up with a few lame excuses. Yet I suspect that somehow, somewhere they will find something on which to pin the WMD label. Meanwhile, Bushite…
FOWL PLAY
George Ferrandi, “Snowbirds and Streetfights” installation shot. Images courtesy of the artist and The Bower. ‘Snowbirds and Streetfights’ exhibit seeks new context at the Bower The gaggle stands in silent assembly, each diminuitive, butter-yellow duck perched upon his own private concrete island. The six – seven if you count the severed duck head -…
ARTIFACTS
news and notes from the san antonio art scene Hope everyone enjoyed the music at Blue Star last First Friday. According to rumor, hearsay, and all other forms of social misconduct that make the art world SO MUCH FUN, the owner of Blue Star has said ix-nay on the outdoor music – for good. Noise…
