5 Things You Have to Do This Week
Tue 3/25 “5th Annual Cookie Jar Exhibition” Lily’s Cookies’ tasty Contemporary Art Month tradition continues with a freshly baked collection of one-of-a-kind cookie jars (created by local artists Wesley Harvey, Diana Kersey, Kimberly Rumfelt, Mark Crutsinger, Sarah Rohlack, Daniel Armstrong, Jenny Smith, Eric Owen, Kambri Hernandez and Andrew Leo Stansbury) to be unveiled at a…
Recognize Your Favorite Contemporary Art Month Events with the Cammies
As another Contemporary Art Month draws to a close, you can cast your votes for your favorite shows online through early Friday morning (sunrise, 7:30 a.m.-ish, to be more precise). The write-in ballot, with quirky categories like “The R. Mutt Award for Novel Mediums” and “I Am Not Spock Award for Doing the Unexpected” is…
City Proposal Leaves La Villita’s Little Church Food Program Uncertain
Update: It was recently discovered that the City brokered a good faith agreement with the Little Church 30 years ago that allowed them to stay if they raised enough funds for renovations, which they eventually did by 1982, reported the San Antonio Express-News. While the Department for Culture and Creative Development says the deal has “no real…
Sunday Night Sound Bite: DJ Snake & Lil Jon: “Turn Down for What”
In the words of Mark Twain, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” More than a century after Twain’s death and three decades beyond the Golden Age of MTV, Enquiring Minds want to know: Can a video make the song? Not to discredit the musical mastery of French-born DJ…
What I Ate: Burger-filled Weekend and a Bit of Cockasian
I did some burger research this weekend, and rest assured, San Antonio, our burger game is still strong. The rest of the week included stops at Bakery Lorraine for macarons, along with an impromptu Kimura visit for a bowl of delicious noodles. Oh, and finally had my first taste of the Cockasian food truck! For…
Dispatch: Maverick Music Festival 2014
Photo credit: Jaime Monzon It’s an exciting time for Maverick Music Festival. In its second year, the independent music bash at La Villita grew from one day to two, from twelve acts to over 40, and saw rampant growth in attendees from SA and beyond. With La Villita as its homebase, Maverick offers a unique…
Bonehead Quote of the Week: GOP Women Leaders On Gender Fair Pay Laws
Beth Cubriel, executive director of the Texas Republican Party This week, controversy surrounded GOP governor hopeful and Attorney General Greg Abbott, who skirted around whether or not he’d allow a state version of federal equal pay law to stand (the answer was eventually “no”). While his campaign dealt with the media storm of criticism and questions, Republican…
Tycoon Flats Launches Breakfast Menu
Pancakes via Tycoon Flats (Courtesy/Wilson Parish) Always on the hunt for breakfast/brunch joints, I stumbled on a Facebook post by Tycoon Flats (2926 N St. Mary’s) this afternoon that immediately grabbed my attention: a photo of fluffy pancakes drizzled with nuts and dried berries. Turns out burger-haven Tycoon Flats is diving into the breakfast market…
These San Antonio-Themed Barbies Just Might Offend You
Someone on Reddit has redefined the phrase “on point” with a collection of dolls that can only be described as puro San Antonio. They’ve inexplicably highlighted a collection of Alamo City-themed Barbie dolls that embody the very best (or worst) of their respective parts of town. Rather than try to figure out the why of this whole exercise, let’s just…
Castro, Patrick Will Debate Immigration In April On Univision
They’ve set a date. After weeks of bickering online, state Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) and SA Mayor Julián Castro have agreed upon a day and time for their debate showdown on immigration. State Sen. Dan Patrick challenging Mayor Castro to a debate in SA at the Alamo in February. Screen shot via YouTube. When Castro likened…
Full Record Store Day 2014 Lineup Announced
For casual vinyl collectors or the most adamant of audiophilic nerds, Record Store Day 2014 boasts several hundred new releases, bangin’ reissues and collectors’ gems to pick up exclusively at independent stores. Celebrated on the third Saturday of April, Record Store Day was founded in 2007 to champion not only the physical format, but the neighborhood…
Next Possible Governor of Texas Opposes Making Equal Pay Suits Easier
Republican candidate for governor and Attorney General, Greg Abbott, says he’d veto a bill that would make it easier for women to fight for equal pay. Abbott says no thanks to gender discrimination pay law. Photo by Mary Tuma Abbott initially dodged the question—generating criticism from Democrats for not giving a straight answer— but the…
9 Free Events Happening This Week
Art Event: La Carpa Guadalupe 6-9 p.m., Friday, March 21 Curated by Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center Executive Director Patty Ortiz, this traveling artistic exhibition features installations by local artists Cruz Ortiz, Chris Sauter, Andy Benavides, Victor and Sarah Pagona and Mat Kubo. Read the full review by Bryan Rindfuss. Location: Museo Guadalupe parking lot, 723 S…
Here Are The First Tweets Of Some Famous San Antonians
Twitter turns eight-years-old today, and the micro-blogging service is celebrating by launching a tool that mines through your endless stream of 140-character-or-less nonsense to dig up your first tweet. (Hey, it beats those narcissistic videos that inundated your Facebook feed a few months back.) The tool is a revelatory look into the inanity of the social media…
Shot of the Week: The Get Lost
Drink it all in. (Dustin Dooling) Note: No, this isn’t an awful take on the lost MH 370 Malaysian airplane. Ladies, this shot’s for you. Next time that unwanted presence at the bar keeps pressuring you to have a shot with him, order this. The fruity smell will have him looking for a dark corner…
Erik Sanden and Julia Barbosa Landois launch Kickstarter for Performance Art Collab
SA workhorse Erik Sanden has embarked on a performance art project with artist Julia Barbosa Landois, as if either creative didn’t have enough on their plate already. In the past six months, Sanden recorded Blue Medicine, the debut of his Demitasse project with longtime collaborator Joe Reyes, while Landois exhibited her work at Blue…
Soft Opening for Southtown’s B&D Ice House
Salt and pepper brisket, shrimp cocktail, cole slaw and green chili mac and cheese. The Dady-meets-Beard project known as B&D Ice House (1004 S Alamo) opened its doors today with steady stream of hungry patrons looking for some good brisket. A look inside B&D. (Janae Rice) The menu houses some mean smoked meats like salt…
9 Cool Treats to Bring in Spring
With cool mornings and warm afternoons, it’s got us yearning for some cool treats in SA. Cool raspas in any flavor you can imagine, spicy and sweet fruit cups and fresh agua frescas make up this list of the best places to get cool treats. 1. Chamoy City Limits Mangonada with house made chamoy (Courtesy)…
10 Things You Have to Do This Weekend
Thu 3/20 International Artists-in-Residence Exhibition Last year, Artpace was among 895 nonprofit organizations selected to receive an Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Not surprisingly, the awarded $65,000 will go towards the facility’s renowned International Artist-in-Residence program, which annually provides nine artists with housing, workspace, technical assistance and a stipend to…
First Course Fodder: Seasonal Items at Salata, Ranger Creek Beer Dinner and Dishcrawl
First Course brings in exciting food news to you in tiny, digestible bits. Could Arcade Midtown Kitchen be among the crawl? (Courtesy) Salata (11075 IH 10) is rolling out new seasonal items for their menu. Kale, asparagus, green beans and zucchini have been added to the lineup of fresh ingredients to the salad bar. The…
Where Y’at Owners Working on New Project
Expect more Nawlins eats soon (Courtesy) The folks behind Where Y’at food truck (@WhereYatSA, (210) 420-0090) are getting into the brick-and-mortar game in a pretty familiar spot. And the St. Mary’s Strip is about to get tastier. Pieter Sypesteyn and wife Susan will open The Cookhouse at 720 E Mistletoe in the location previously occupied…
Getting Ready for SA Current Flavor 2014
Let the eating begin. Tickets for SA Current Flavor 2014 are basically sold out. There’s only a handful of tickets available and two ways to get tickets before the foodie showdown commences. Watch Fox News First on Thursday, March 20 to see one of our Culinary showdown chefs, Stefan Bowers of Feast (1024 S Alamo)…
Pizza Patrón Cries Censorship Over Ch!#gona Pizza
(Courtesy) Hey, remember a few weeks ago when Cockasian came under some hot water for its saucy name? Get those earmuffs on the kids for this next one. Texas-based pizza chain, Pizza Patrón, is now under the spotlight for an upcoming menu item which will be launched March 31, aptly named La Ch!#ngona. La…
SA Cocktail Conference Presents $100,000 to Charities
Charlie Deacon (HeartGift SA), Kim Abernethy (ChildSafe) and Mark Bohanan during Wednesday’s press conference. The collective hangover has subsided from this year’s San Antonio Cocktail Conference, and it’s time to pop some more bubbly. On Wednesday afternoon, Mark Bohanan, owner of Bohanan’s Prime Steaks & Seafood and creator of the SACC presented a $100,000 check…
Open Call for Writers: Tejano Conjunto Festival Program
The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center is currently accepting written submissions to be considered for publication in the 33rd Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival program. Acceptable formats include short stories, poems, essays, interviews and scholarly articles, as long as they focus on some aspect of conjunto. According to festival founder and curator Juan Tejeda, the program is…
Analysis: San Antonio Ranks First In Income Segregation
In an analysis conducted by Atlantic Cities’ Richard Florida that charts the level of income segregation among 350 U.S. metro cities, San Antonio leads the pack. Screen shot via Atlantic Cities Using data modeled after Pew Research Center methodology, Florida and a team of researchers found that the San Antonio-New Braunfels area ranked first in the…
KSAT’s Charles Gonzalez Opens Rosella Coffee Co.
A latte and banana-peanut butter toast from Rosella Coffee Co. This will likely be one of my most meta blog posts ever, but they have wi-fi available so can you blame me? Rosella Coffee Co. opened its doors Wednesday, March 19 at 203 E Jones. Owned by KSAT weekend anchor Charles Gonzalez, the shop…
8 Great Songs From SXSW 2014
Photo by Jaime Monzon Eagulls – “Tough Luck” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVcGkU2b5Ak These post punkers from Leeds are cast quite firmly in the mold of the genre’s UK forefathers, but in 2014, no one’s playing the game quite as well as Eagulls. Black Lips “Boys in the Woods” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6rRZFw3mMI&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DI6rRZFw3mMI&has_verified=1 Teaming up with the enigmatic ATL Twins for the “Boys…
5 Ways to Get Your Drink/Grub on This Week
A new spring drink from The Brooklynite Wednesday, March 19: The Brooklynite is unveiling its spring menu of 22 new cocktails, which feature fresh juices from Crave-Market, chef Elizabeth Johnson’s new venture. The new drinks include a Plains Walker with bourbon, sherry, Fernet and Angostura bitters, and a What’s Up Doc? with tequila blanco, casoni, Crave-Market’s…
Maverick Music Festival Saturday Picks
Though Maverick draws from a deep pool of national talent, the festival also serves as a gathering call for some of the best acts the 210 has to offer. On the Arneson River stage, Fea—the extracurricular punk project of Girl in a Coma’s Phanie Diaz and Jenna Alva—will play their first public performance at 9:30…
‘The Blazing World’ Novel Sets Fire to NYC Art World
In Siri Hustvedt’s newest book, The Blazing World, the protagonist, artist Harriet Burden, refers to one of her assistants as unheimlich, a Freudian term that means uncomfortably strange or uncanny. It’s an excellent description of this unsettling but immediately engrossing novel about art, identity, memory and the stories we tell ourselves and the world. Unappreciated…
The Curator Diaries Week 5: Making decisions for the CAM Perennial
Multiple times throughout this story I have visited artists without any real knowledge of what to do, or who to work with. This week was pivotal for decision-making. From my conversation with David Mercado Gonzales, I decided that this CAM Perennial had to be a community-based exhibition. [The Curator Diaries Week 5 Bonus: Remarkable clarity]…
No Prohibitions: People-watching at Bootleggers
In an era when cocktail bars keep popping up (see our conversation with George’s Keep co-manager Steven Martín), there’s always room for another dive, another sports bar, another live music venue—or a combination of all three in Bootleggers’ case. The bar opened last December to a reinvigorated Saint Mary’s Strip. Faust Tavern had joined the ranks…
Kick-ass Sports Talk: An Interview with the Ticket’s Mike Taylor
Mike Taylor, the jocular host of his own show on Ticket 760AM, has a pretty solid record talking sports, or kicking sports’ ass, as he puts it. “I still love what I do,” Taylor says, “even though getting up at 4 a.m. every morning is an ass whip and something I will never get used…
3 Can’t-Miss Acts for Maverick Music Festival Friday
Rejoice! In its sophomore year, Maverick Music Festival offers San Antonio its first national-caliber independent music fest. And with 40 acts over two days, figuring out which bands to focus on can be daunting. So, we’ve compiled a little guide for the weekend’s affairs. On Friday, the shorter of the two days, rock ‘n’ roll…
Flavor File: George’s Keep soft opening, bye-bye Bubble Room and more Juicer Heroes
Eilan just got its first cocktail bar. Fans of Steve Mahoney’s two other bars, Green Lantern and Blue Box, can now enjoy classic cocktails inside George’s Keep (17101 La Cantera Pkwy, (210) 310-3733). You can read more about the concept from bar co-manager Steven Raul Martín on page 45, but folks can expect two bar…
12 Critics’ Picks for Maverick Music Festival Saturday
Creatura 11:20am (Arneson River Stage) Lonely Horse 12:30pm We’ve written quite a bit about this much-buzzed local duo, but with talent this expansive and hearts this pure, it’s impossible to overstate the point. The fact is, Lonely Horse can stand its own with any act on this stacked bill—particularly in the live performance department. Equal…
Diego Bernal Wants to Occupy Downtown: Options for addressing vacant property problems
As Heywood Sanders points out in this week’s Cityscrapes column, the vacant building has become almost as much a symbol of downtown San Antonio as the River Walk. That’s hardly news, but the fact that the City is finally moving to address the problem is. In his March 7 State of the Center City Luncheon…
Washed Out Wants You to Use Your Imagination
Born and raised in sleepy south Georgia, Greene sought to counteract the dominant musical forces of his childhood, the Southern rock icons that ruled the Bible Belt airwaves. “That music is still the king,” Greene told me over the phone, driving through central Texas. “When I was 14 or 15, just learning to play guitar,…
Satisfying eats at Señor Veggie
I don’t care for food that tries to be something it’s not. Gardein meatless products, while readily accessible and relatively cheap, only make me wish for the real thing. Thankfully, this isn’t the case at Señor Veggie. The restaurant, owned by husband-and-wife team José and Tiffany Cruz, opened in mid-February to an enthusiastic reception. Needless…
Texas Beefs Up Its Chances at This Year’s World Beer Cup
The 2014 Craft Brewers Conference is set to descend on Denver, Colo. next month and with it the biennial World Beer Cup competition (WBC). Breweries from all over the globe will enter various ales and lagers in this international competition sponsored by the Brewers Association, the non-profit trade group that represents many small, independent breweries…
YACHT’s Tech-Savvy Dance Punk
As the sun heats up in the mid-afternoon, don’t expect YACHT to wilt in the incipient spring heat. No strangers to Texas, the duo of Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans has recorded their past two records in Marfa, a place they call “Actual Reality.” According to Evans, YACHT’s vigorous frontwoman with whom I talked over…
Chef’s Tips for Dining Out with Kids
I recently asked a Facebook group of bloggers in San Antonio which local, non-chain restaurants they find to be the most fun for young families. The Cove, the Friendly Spot, Beto’s on Broadway and Big’z Burger Joint were some of the more popular options for their child-friendly facilities, but a few others earned nods for…
La Carpa Guadalupe: Contemporary art under the big top
While the CAM Perennial focuses on the community that made the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center what it is today, GCAC’s La Carpa Guadalupe takes cues from the Mexican-American tent shows that popped up in parking lots, city limits outskirts and fields across Texas, New Mexico and Colorado in the early 1900s and throughout the Depression,…
SXSW 2014 Wrap-up: 5 Favorite Acts
101 Slammin’ SXSW Photos (a trifle NSFW) Though it was still a stellar, predominantly free week to experience the latest and greatest in the game, the bloated spectacle of this year’s South By Southwest Music Conference continued to move away from its intended origins of celebrating music for music’s sake. In 2014, branding—though inevitable as…
Freedom Jazz: Arturo Sandoval brings his legendary trumpet skills to SA
In the fall of 2013, Cuban-born trumpeter Arturo Sandoval won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award granted to civilians. “It’s a huge honor, I’ll be grateful forever,” Arturo tells the Current over the phone in a luxuriant Cuban accent. “For me, it’s the most important word in the dictionary. No freedom, no life.…
Cityscrapes: International urban scholars converge downtown
From March 19 to 22, more than 700 international urban scholars will convene in San Antonio for the annual meeting of the Urban Affairs Association. We’ll discuss the most current research in the urban field, from planning and development to culture and society. We’ll also share the lessons that we’ve learned from cities around the…
Know Your ‘Tender: Steven Martin of George’s Keep
Trying to get a hold of bartenders is tough. It’s especially trying when said bartender is in the process of opening the latest cocktail bar to hit San Antonio. Steven Raul Martín (formerly of Esquire, Brooklynite and NAO) helms George’s Keep along with co-bar manager Johnny Bernal of the Green Lantern. We talked to Martín,…
Del Reignites Futuristic Collaboration Deltron 3030 at the Korova
Del the Funky Homosapien is a true hip-hop lifer. After releasing the star-studded Deltron 3030 album Event 2 last year with collaborators Kid Koala and Dan the Automator (above), Del kicked off 2014 with a killer (and free) solo release, Iller Than Most. But if you know hip-hop, you know this guy’s been paying dues…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “When you plant seeds in the garden, you don’t dig them up every day to see if they have sprouted yet,” says Buddhist nun Thubten Chodron. “You simply water them and clear away the weeds; you know that the seeds will grow in time.” That’s sound advice for you, Aries. You…
‘Post Penis’ at Blue Star: Is there art after sex?
There’s a photograph of Paul Rodriguez as part of the wall-text package. He appears young, handsome, bearded and thoughtful. His face is banded and speckled by rays of colored light, as though his image has been captured facing his multichannel video installation, which is lush with color, ambitious in scale, seemingly agenda-less and very seductive.…
Savage Love: Distressed Dad
I am a liberal parent. I raised a daughter who is bi and poly. I always thought that I could accept anything that parenthood might throw at me. I knew that I could embrace my son if he were straight, gay, bi, trans, etc. If there is a controlling consciousness of the universe, it has…
Esperanza’s CineMujer Film Series Spotlights Radical Women
If “well-behaved women seldom make history,” then count the ladies featured in an upcoming San Antonio film series anything but obedient. The CineMujer film project returns to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center this month with a powerful punch of documentaries starring rebellious and inspiring female activists who champion racial, economic, environmental and social justice.…
Value Vino: Texas tempranillo’s time to shine
Neal Newsom, the respected High-Plains grape grower, predicts, “In 100 years, Texas will be tempranillo, and everything else will be minor varietals.” Sooner would be better. Tempranillo is historically associated with Spain, where it is especially important in regions such as Rioja, Ribera del Duero and Toro. Grape guru Jancis Robinson calls it “Spain’s answer…
How ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’ Helped a Wes Anderson Hater Change (Sorta)
My name is David Riedel. You may know me as a film critic who sometimes writes reviews for the Current. Or you may not. But you’ll probably remember the following sentence because it contains four hot words: “Fucking,” “hate” and “Wes Anderson.” I fucking hate Wes Anderson’s movies. It feels really good to get that…
8 Ways to Get Your Drink/Grub on This Week
Wednesday, March 19: The Brooklynite is unveiling its spring menu of 22 new cocktails, which feature fresh juices from Crave-Market, chef Elizabeth Johnson’s new venture. The new drinks include a Plains Walker with bourbon, sherry, Fernet and Angostura bitters, and a What’s Up Doc? with tequila blanco, casoni, Crave-Market’s carrot juice, lime, simple syrup, arbol…
Outstanding in the Field Heads to Peeler Farms
Mick Klug Farm, St. Joseph, MI 2013 (Courtesy) Pencil this into your calendars, gourmands. Outstanding in the Field, a “roving culinary adventure” that aims to reintroduce diners with the farms their food comes from is heading to Floresville on Friday, October 17 at 2 p.m. Peeler Farms (you can read more about the farm in…
Sip Brew Bar Readies for Opening
A look at the new Sip menu. Downtown is getting an updated Sip (160 E Houston) back next week. The Current first reported in December on chef Andrew Weissman taking back the panini and coffee place from his sister this January. Sip Brew Bar will focus on great coffee (baristas trained at Cuvee Coffee Roasting…
The Curator Diaries Week 5 Bonus: Remarkable clarity
While my decision came fairly clearly last week, I still had obligations to visit the artists I had appointments with. I am always more than happy to get into anyone’s studio, since this is the most fun and important part of my job. This week I met with Jennifer Datchuk and Ryan Takaba (above), and…
‘Wicked’ Cast to Kick it Up for SA HIV/AIDS Support Groups
Pe Wicked fans will have the chance to see the actors in a different light Thursday as they team up with the San Antonio AIDS Foundation (SAAF) and the Rivard Report to host “Wicked WEBB,” an evening of song and dance benefitting Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA), and SAAF. SAAF Marketing Director Regina Villalobos-Perez…
Booze News: Stone Beer Week, Fiesta Cornyation and Pearl happy hour
Booze News slings up the latest gulp downs around town every Tuesday. A pint of Texas. (Courtesy) In benefit of Fiesta Cornyation, The Friendly Spot Ice House (943 S Alamo) is hosting a Get Friendly with Queen Anchovy event on Wednesday, March 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. so folks can get to know Jody…
