First Friday backlash
Video by Jeff Turner
Oscar bet loser karaoke: ‘Things Have Changed’
And now Gilbert Garcia performing 2000’s Best Song winner “Things Have Changed,” words and music by Bob Dylan.
It’s alive – Texas Republicans engineer a new Voter ID Frankenstein
The Texas Senate is once again gearing up to re-launch its contrived effort to pass Voter ID legislation with a hearing on March 10. Like a Frankenstein monster that just won’t die, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and Senate Republicans are back for another try with SB 362, allegedly because of what a huge problem vote…
Lobbying at City Hall
By Gilbert Garcia Two weeks ago, when attorney Ted Lee publicly confronted District 8 Councilwoman Diane Cibrian over her role in the City’s zoning process, one of his big assertions was that Cibrian has an overly chummy relationship with lobbyist Bill Kaufman. The Current, which looked into Cibrian’s front-end role in the zoning process last…
Minneapolis Bureau, Under the Bridge, y Foto-rama
Minneapolis Bureau, Under the Bridge, y Foto-rama I. MINNEAPOLIS BUREAU That’s a snowplow, y’all. I put it there to herald the next installment from Lori Mocha, the Current’s Minneapolis Bureau. Winter’s still happening there, and well, sir: SHE DON’T LIKE IT. Here’s what she has to say: “Hey down there in San Antonio, y’all. I…
Canary Islanders bring next-tech lessons to San Antonio
Alfonzo Chiscano, president of Friends of the Canary Islands, prepares to introduce his necktie to his handkerchief. Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Canary Islanders represented a good portion of the European settlement stock of colonial San Antonio, ultimately helping transform the San Antonio River’s headwaters into an organized system of canals for drinking and irrigation water hundreds…
Cardinals briefly grounded but then soar at Majestic
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals rolled into town yesterday on what’s being billed as a farewell tour of sorts and overcame some early obstacles to deliver a show rich with emotional and sonic majesty. Adams, guitarist Neal Casal and drummer Brad Pemberton were sighted dining at Acenar’s patio on the Riverwalk before the show, just…
Sewer dooings: Local politicos slow to embrace anti-sewage bill
Return to Sender? Bexar Commissioners having a hard time making their mark. Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com As far as bill language goes, House Bill 595 pending in the House Natural Resources Committee up in Austin is as plain as a one-sided coin. Clocking in at a mere 423 words, the bill to outlaw the discharge of…
Express-News: Save an art journalist today!
Blue Star Exec Director Bill FitzGibbons is starting a grassroots campaign to save the job of arts writer Dan Goddard, one of the edit staffers who was laid off at the daily last week. Letter’s below, with contact phone numbers and email addresses. Although the Current (read: I) have been known to complain that Dan’s…
City Council: (Policy) check’s in the mail!
As promised, we started emailing our candidate questionnaire yesterday to folks who’ve filed to represent you at City Hall come May. The 9th is the filing deadline, and we’ll make sure the late-comers get theirs, too. If you’re a registered candidate and didn’t get one yet, it may be because we’re having trouble tracking down…
On the Street (2006-2009), R.I.P.: The “Legendary” FINAL POST
“Always give your best. Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and thenâ?¦ you destroy yourself.” Richard Nixon, August 9, 1974 (final press conference) Elevator (Me and You) Oh yes, it was a good ride up. This song, strangely, sums it all up. Consider it…
Asked her for water, she gave me Listerine
Keeping the animals in line: SAWS Board Chairman minds the ring. Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Point one: If you are buying water in little plastic bottles, you’re an idiot. Tough love, I know. But it’s time get over all that insanity. Point number two: We sit on an ocean of beautiful, crystal-clear freshwater (unless you live…
International Women’s Day March
Release Date: 2009-03-04 San Antonio women will march in solidarity with those around the globe Saturday, celebrating the 100th Anniversary of International Woman’s Day. This year’s theme, Mujeres: Roots of Change, Voces de Conciencia, reclaims the legacy and responsibility of women’s successes throughout history. In a 2007 lawsuit, members of the IWD March Planning Committee…
Randy Pavlock & Twenty-Four Seven
Release Date: 2009-03-04 One of many brilliant guitar slingers to emerge from Navasota, Texas (just outside College Station), Randy Pavlock plays heavy blues with attitude. A self-taught player, he was inspired at the age of 7 by artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Miles, B.B. King, and Willie Nelson. Late mentor and family friend…
Slinging Ink Tattoo Expo
Release Date: 2009-03-04 Cutting-edge ink dominates SA’s annual expo and live-music mashup, featuring onsite tattooing, celebrity appearances (like the Strip Club Choppers), tattoo contests, magic shows, local bands, and national acts. More than 100 top tattoo artists demonstrate their work and meet potential customers, while Lucky 13 sponsors nearly round-the-clock human suspension shows. Saturday is…
Take Action Tour w. Cute Is What We Aim For, Meg and Dia, Breathe Carolina, Every Avenue, & Anarbor
Release Date: 2009-03-04 Hopeless Records and non-profit org Sub City sponsor the annual tour, now in its eighth year, featuring headliner Cute Is What We Aim For (below) along with Meg & Dia, Breathe Carolina, Every Avenue, and Anarbor this go-round. The tour benefits DoSomething.org, a national non-profit that inspires, empowers, and celebrates a generation…
m(dot)e(dot): A Life Experiment & A Ranch Home in Manhattan
Release Date: 2009-03-04 Audiences get two divas for the price of one in the Paul and Mo Showz, a double feature combining two distinctly different, developing plays. Monessa Esquivel churns up the spiritual saints who free the soul/spirits/libido trapped in a woman’s body in m(dot)e(dot), while Paul Bonin-Rodriguez debuts the final installment in a trilogy,…
Basura Bash
Release Date: 2009-03-04 Basura Bash 2009 will be the Alamo City’s largest waterway cleanup effort to date, building upon the 25 tons of trash (including 3.5 tons of recyclables) that 2,400 volunteers hauled out of our waterways last year. Eight creeks, two rivers, and one lake are slated for a little TLC, and volunteers can…
Fashion Showcase: Minchu Luxury Apparel
Release Date: 2009-03-04 Minchu Luxury Apparel claims to create “ergonomic undergarments that reduce two sizes instantly,” and that piques our interest — who wouldn’t want to drop from double-digits into the coveted six-ish realm? The modeling team’s hair and makeup will be styled by Aveda, and they’ll flaunt gowns from Debi’s Bridal and Blonde Boutique’s…
Breathing Places: History of San Antonio Parks
Release Date: 2009-03-04 Did you know that San Anto’s public space dates back to the Spanish land grants of the 1730s? Or that Brackenridge Park used to have elk and bison in it? I”ll bet you didn’t know that San Pedro Springs park had a zoo. And how do you feel about vintage tinted postcards?…
Vega
Release Date: 2009-03-04 Austin’s Vega, the latest project from former Ghosthustler frontman Alan Palomo, got some internet love last summer for the single “All Too Vivid,” and with good reason. It’s just the sort of instantly likeable ’80s throwback track amateur music critics love to passionately champion before savagely mocking it once it becomes too…
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
Release Date: 2009-03-04 One of the most honest and sincere artists in music, Ryan Adams creates a concert vibe akin to hanging out with your best musician friends in their living room. With a three-guitar lineup that blends Adams’ with Neal Casal and pedal-steel maestro Jon Graboff, the Cardinals deliver a majestic alt-country-rock sound that…
Cow pokes
Release Date: 2009-03-04 Cattleman Square had auspicious beginnings as a gathering point for the old Chisholm Trail, an 18th-century Camino Real. Subsequently it served as a hub for the Missouri-Pacific railroad before falling on hard times as automobiles became the main form of transportation and shipping. Now, walking under I-35 from downtown into the Cattleman…
Slinging Ink Tattoo Expo
Release Date: 2009-03-04 Cutting-edge ink dominates SA’s annual expo and live-music mashup, featuring onsite tattooing, celebrity appearances (like the Strip Club Choppers), tattoo contests, magic shows, local bands, and national acts. More than 100 top tattoo artists demonstrate their work and meet potential customers, while Lucky 13 sponsors nearly round-the-clock human suspension shows. Saturday is…
Aldaco’s del norte
Tacos al pastor just as good in Stone Oak
The Watchmen
Critic’s Pick Watchmen Director: Zack Snyder Screenwriter: Zack Snyder Cast: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson Release Date: 2009-03-04 Rated: NONE Genre: Film Early in director Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Alan Moore’s legendary graphic novel, there’s a shot of anti-superhero graffiti “Who watches the watchmen?” spray-painted…
Middle Cyclone
Middle Cyclone Composer: Neko Case Conductor: Neko Case Label: Anti- Release Date: 2009-03-04 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Middle Cyclone is Neko Case perfecting her individual art: a country-music subgenre as mournfully heartbroken as its high-and-lonesome precursors without reverting to the cliché honky-tonk infidelities and working-class posturing that infects so much roots music (see “Cardinal knowledge,”…
Troubadour
Troubadour Composer: K’Naan Conductor: K’Naan Label: A&M/Octane Release Date: 2009-03-04 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Straight outta Somalia doesn’t have quite the ring of, say, Compton, or even Detroit, but African rapper K’Naan boasts a much tougher backstory than most stateside MCs. He left his war-torn homeland on the country’s last commercial flight when he was…
The Clifford Ball DVD
The Clifford Ball DVD Composer: Phish Conductor: Phish Label: Rhino Release Date: 2009-03-04 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording How does a band top itself after they’ve sold out Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve for a show (December 31, 1995) regarded by most fans as the greatest in the group’s history? By staging the biggest…
El Moz
In Mexico I went for a walk to inhale the tranquil, cool, lover’s air I could sense the hate of the lonestar state And a small voice said, “What can we do?” — Morrissey’s “Mexico” Thanks to her rendition of Juan Gabriel’s ballads, in the world of Latin pop music no Spaniard is more Mexican…
Cygnet lake
Dear young dancers of the Ballet Conservatory of South Texas: Hello, girls! Thank you for inviting us, the audience at your performance Poetry in Motion, to glimpse your development as dancers and artists. I know you will grimace when you hear this, because you are young and need approval designed just for you, individually— but,…
Jeff Carruthers, Candidate for City Council, District 10
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternative you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term shortage of nuclear-fuel waste. I support the addition of one nuclear power plant…
THE SOUND & THE FURY
Think of it as making up for lost time, but after 20 years in hibernation, the Krayolas have cranked out their third album in two years (counting the 2007 singles retrospective, Best Riffs Only) with Long Leaf Pine (no smack gum). The new album immediately stands out as the most adventurous effort from this veteran…
Amuse-BOUCHE
Priscilla Feral, president of local animal sanctuary Primarily Primates, will be signing copies of her recently released cookbook, the Best of Vegan Cooking, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 5, at Green, SA’s award-winning vegetarian HQ. The event, hosted by the San Antonio Vegetarian Society, includes an all-vegan buffet for only $10 and the opportunity to join…
Branden Moore, Candidate for City Council, District 10
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. Due to the cost; the potential for irresponsible harm…
Cardinal knowledge
One of the most honest and sincere artists in music, Ryan Adams creates a concert vibe akin to hanging out with your best musician friends in their living room. With a three-guitar lineup that blends Adams’ with Neal Casal and pedal-steel maestro Jon Graboff, the Cardinals deliver a majestic alt-country-rock sound that makes playing the…
Karlos with a K
ec·cen·tric — adjective 1. deviating from the recognized or customary character, practice, etc.; irregular; erratic; peculiar; odd: eccentric conduct; an eccentric person. And, 2. a person who has an unusual, peculiar, or odd personality, set of beliefs, or behavior pattern. (Dictionary.com) Back in the day — and I’m talking only as far back as the…
Robert Yanez, Candidate for City Council, District 10
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. I do not agree with the thought of adding…
Accord of Dissonance
Guitarist Matt Vela’s T-shirt says “Pink Floyd,” but AoD’s extended off-kilter jazz rhythm and low-end-dominant passages scream Yes. Similar influences could be name-checked all night after Vela proclaims “Let’s do this” and Chris Hamner’s slapped bassline sets in, but no combination would quite nail it. The brand of prog-rock AoD plays is lyricless and leaderless,…
Mary Alice Cisneros, Councilwoman, District 1
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. San Antonio is one of the fastest growing cities…
Philip Cortez, Councilman, District 4
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. At this time, I am not convinced that nuclear…
“Sloppy Cats” — Cros and Seven-One
“I say I’ll never drink again almost every morning, but that’s a resolution that I keep ignoring,” Cros admits in “Sloppy Cats,” a catchy hip-hop track that fluctuates between a Ridgemont High-referencing bender ode (“I party like Spicoli, totally gnarly”) and a straight-up AA testimonial with a laptop-produced backing beat. Proclaiming love for intoxicants ranging…
Chris Forbrich, Candidate for City Council, District 1
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternative you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term shortage of nuclear-fuel waste. I support expanding the Nuclear Project. I support…
Michael Idrogo, Mayoral Candidate
1. Do you support the addition of the two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. Yes, I do support additional power-generating capability because…
It’s the economic model, stupid
“Most owners of newspapers are businessmen, not newspapermen. The news is something which fills the spaces left over by the advertisers.” – I.F. Stone Like many of my colleagues in this self-congratulatory and under-compensated field, I don’t intend to go down with the ship, but it’s pretty clear that none of us knows which direction…
Bryant Livingston, City Council Candidate, District 2
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. I am not in favor of the nuclear plan…
Trish DeBerry-Mejia, Mayoral Candidate
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. As we look at our energy generation, it is…
Haley’s comic
The “serious” super-heroics that earned the billion-dollar Dark Knight’s Heath Ledger an Oscar (RIP, Joker) and repulsor-rayed Robert Downey Jr. back to stardom would never have been possible if Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel masterwork, Watchmen, hadn’t gotten there first — more than 20 years before, in fact. (For an in-depth look at…
Dan Martinez, Candidate for City Council, District 2
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternative you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term shortage of nuclear-fuel waste. No, I would not support nuclear power plants at…
Julian Castro, Mayoral Candidate
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. San Antonio must enhance its energy portfolio to meet…
S’Nuff film
The national and local film markets seem to’ve shriveled this week in the face of that smiley-faced behemoth (look for a profile of SA’s own Watchmen star, Jackie Earle Haley, our take on the original graphic novel, and a review of the film itself — or just open the book to any page at random,…
Byron Miller, Candidate for City Council, District 2
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. I look forward to a spirited debate on the…
Lauro Bustamante, Mayoral Candidate
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. No to Nuclear Plants. Yes to Alternative. I support…
Who reads the ‘Watchmen’?
In 1986, DC comic books ran advertisements featuring new costumed characters, and asked, forebodingly, “Who Watches the Watchmen?” Later that year, Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons, premiered, forever changing both comics and film. Set in a 1985 altered by the existence of superheroes, Watchmen portrays a Cold War reality in…
Ivy R. Taylor, Candidate for City Council, District 2
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. At this point, I am very skeptical about the…
Rhett R. Smith, Mayoral Candidate
1. Do you support the addition of the two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. While I am not opposed in theory to…
The QueQue
Boiler plate Citizens concerned about CPS Energy’s proposed nuke-plant expansion outside Bay City have until April 21 to apply to participate in the formal hearing with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Even if you don’t live close enough to the site to get the special nuclear-emergency DIY flyers in your phone book, you might want to…
Ron Wright, Candidate for City Council, District 2
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. With what we know now, I do not support…
Napoleon Madrid, Mayoral Candidate
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. Even though nuclear energy is currently one of the…
Flight plans
Last June, Airport Police Corporal Russell Martin went to his superior, Lieutenant John Gruchacz, urgently requesting that he be given a different partner. Five-and-a-half months later, the department gave him the boot. The decision by Chief Ron Bruner to terminate Martin exposed some emotional wounds that have been mounting within San Antonio’s Airport Police Department.…
John Carlos Garcia, Candidate for City Council, District 5
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. I am not in support of the current efforts…
Sweeping the clouds away
The children’s education series Sesame Street remains a singular program in television history. On the air since November 1969, it maintains the prestige of being the first, and possibly only, show for pre-schoolers that is as educational as it is entertaining. Former Baltimore resident and Jewish Times editor Michael Davis’ Street Gang: The Complete History…
Robert Garibay, Candidate for City Council, District 7
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. I do not support the addition of two new…
Tenchu: Shadow Assassins
If you’ve never played a Tenchu game, think of the plot of Kung Fu Panda. Except instead playing as a cuddly panda trying to master martial arts while making equally adorable animal friends, you are a skilled ninja hitman who must brutally maim and kill anyone foolish enough to oppose you. Hiding in the shadows…
Elena Guajardo, Candidate for City Council, District 7
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. The next sitting council will decide the future energy…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Readers: Before we move on to your spicy preguntas, a bit of housecleaning. Primeramente, gracias to all the Know Nothings who responded to my 100-word-essay challenge asking them to justify loving legal Mexicans but not the illegal ones; I will publish the best entries on the Mexican’s April Fools’ edición. On a more important…
Moon
Even though it was released a few years ago, the DS continues to sell like hotcakes. As a matter of fact, these days only one in five people even knows what a hotcake is, and the other four own a DS. Those are some startling statistics, and yet few of the games made for the…
Justin Rodriguez, Councilman, District 7
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. I believe there are still too many unknown variables…
Dear Uncle Mat
I will not lie. I am writing you on a dare, but this is a real dilemma for me. You recently wrote in your column that if you don’t enjoy masturbation, you aren’t doing it right. I am not good at masturbation. I grew up in a conservative Catholic family and was taught that it…
Appalachia y Aztlán
In “Hedge Ghosts,” the opening poem of her first full collection, Elijah’s Farm (Pecan Grove Press, 2008), Tennessee transplant Rachel Jennings shares a familiar familial yearning: “Like anyone I wanted / elders and epic heroes / and not such ghosts as these … ” These family ghosts, she reveals in her signature picaresque tone, set…
Jody Sherrill, Candidate for City Council, District 8
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. Yes if they are the less costly option. They…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” said Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s chief of staff. “It’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” While your crisis is nowhere near as pressing as those faced by Obama’s team, Aries, I recommend that you…
ARTIFACTS
This past Saturday, C-Art Studio opened an exhibit of Russell Stephenson’s abstract-expressionistic drawings and paintings. An intriguing gallery housed in a modest frame bungalow on a quiet, dead-end stretch of West Craig, C-Art is the brainchild of gallerist Claudia Treviño, a UTSA BFA ceramicist who learned early to befriend the then-MFA candidates, who had more…
Reed Williams, Candidate for City Council, District 8
1. Do you support the addition of two new nuclear power plants to the South Texas Project to meet our future energy needs? If not, please describe the alternatives you favor. If so, please explain your position or philosophy on the long-term storage of nuclear-fuel waste. I support the addition of two new nuclear power…
