Stage In the round
News and notes from the San Antonio theater scene – Acting classes for the young Child support This month it’s all about education because, hey, the children are our future. Want the future out of your hair this summer? San Pedro Playhouse is joining the ranks of local theaters offering summer youth programs with its…
Music Current Choice
Moot court Moot Sometimes you have to get a little distance from something to truly appreciate it. How else to explain the way British Invasion bands of the ’60s seemed to value and understand the essence of American blues and rock ‘n’ roll so much more than kids who were raised in the music’s back…
Screens The nostalgia is strong with this one
San Antonians reminisce about the first time they felt the force Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor reprise their roles as Anakin and Obi-Wan. It was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away … well 28 years, to be exact, at the Century South Theater, that I saw Star Wars for the first…
News Speed reads
PGA conservation plan delayed, Developers target Herrera in D6, Dining with the mayoral candidates Delayed: Last week, U.S. Fish & Wildlife had planned to issue a Habitat Conservation Plan for the PGA Tour for public comment, but the release has been delayed. Dawn Whitehead of USFW said the developer, Lumbermen’s Investment, has amended its permit…
Screens Tragedy foretold
Darth Vader’s mesmerizing metamorphosis makes ‘Revenge of the Sith’ the satisfying prequel we’ve been waiting for In Revenge of the Sith, the final episode of the Star Wars prequels, Anakin Skywalker embraces his dark side. After stepping up to the plate for the start of a second trilogy and striking out with 1999’s Episode I…
Screens A Nazi hunter finds himself
‘Walk on Water’ probes the root causes of the modern Israeli psyche Lior Ashkenazi and Knut Berger play the descendants of Holocaust perpetrators and victims who are trying to escape the weight of history in modern Israel. Berger (left) and his sister, portrayed by Carolina Peters, are the grandchildren of a Nazi war criminal who…
News feature Shortchanged
Marginalized, the mentally ill can’t get the help or the funding for services they need Mary Baird has several family members who struggle with mental illness. She opposes privatizing state hospitals. “The facilities are so under-funded. If they had what they needed, we would have better care. Let’s face it: A corporation needs to make…
New reviews
Travellers and Magicians Dir. & writ. Khyentse Norbu; feat. Tsewung Dandup, Sonam Lhamo, Lhakpa Dorji, Deki Yangzom, Sonam Kinga (NR) Fleeing his stifling post in a small town for the open road, a government officer encounters an apple picker, a merchant’s daughter, and a Buddhist Monk in Travellers and Magicians. The conventions of a road…
News A hard rain is gonna fall
“Flexible choice” bill could hurt the poorest of the poor Proposed changes to federal housing law have raised fears in San Antonio over the future of Section 8, a program that covers a portion of the rent for low-income families or individuals. The State and Local Housing Flexibility Act, known in the U.S. House as…
Screens Armchair cinephile
Ripped from the headlines With all the recent talk about fillibusters, confirmation hearings, and showdowns over this or that political appointee, the timing couldn’t be better for Advise & Consent, the 1962 Otto Preminger film whose sprawling cast includes Peter Fonda and Charles Laughton. How problematic those words – advise and consent – have become…
News – Party Lines City sued, residents in the dark
Governing bodies such as City Council frequently use executive sessions to mask certain aspects of doing business at City Hall. Elected officials hide behind closed doors to discuss personnel matters such as the “duties, appointment, and employment of the City Manager.” They talk about real estate, such as the latest freebie, a portion of City…
Screens Reprint
Four decades later, ‘Blow-Up’ is still compelling, but decidedly unhip Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up was scandalous in 1966 and is startling now, albeit for different reasons: Then, its few nude scenes were decadent; today, the grotesque emaciation of its actresses quashes any potential titillation. Then, showing characters smoking pot was daring; now, we wonder how this…
News – City CouncilObjections over objectivity
Dustup clouds Council’s zoning nomination Last January, City Councilwoman Patti Radle asked retired firefighter and water activist Eiginio Rodriguez to apply for the vacant District 5 seat on the Zoning Commission. He had no idea what he was in for. On May 5, when City Council voted on Rodriguez, District 1 Councilman Roger Flores Jr.,…
Screens Special screenings
Napoleon, Symphonic TV, Slab cinema, Mexican movies Mexican Movies at the Instituto La Llorona / The Crying Woman Dir. René Cardona (1959) Witch? Siren? Virgin? Mourning mother? La Llorona will screen at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 22 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 25 at the Instituto de México, 600 Hemisfair Park. Admission is free. Movies…
Feature Pop-culture covenant
Connection Covenant Church finds lessons in TV shows from ‘Desperate Housewives’ to ‘Pimp My Ride’ Pastor Ikki Soma speaks to the congregation about the importance of having a connection with God. (Photos by Laura McKenzie) The topic for today’s sermon is Donald Trump. Well, not Trump per se, but his ultra-successful NBC reality series, The…
Screens That’s a wrap
The low-down on this week’s premieres Is it such a shock that film companies across the board didn’t dare go head-to-head with the force and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith? With 28 years of sci-fi history behind it and a large enough fan base to start its own Rebel Alliance, the…
Culture feature Trace elements
SAMA’s Asian Treasures preserve the influence of commerce and religion A stoneware granary jar from the late-3rd-century Jin Dynasty sits in the foreground. Behind, a wall of Tang Dynasty tomb models that show the influence of Silk Road trade, such as the two-humped Bactrian camel, and cultural exchange with Western kingdoms, including an elaborate, 3-foot-tall…
Food & Drink Beep beep!
An entrepreneur’s ephemera tells the story of the drive-in era “I’d emptied out all of the file cabinets and was sitting there exhausted in a lump. You know how sometimes a notion comes in your head: It was get up and go look in that cabinet one more time. Well I did, and there was…
Dance Zero to ‘Lights!’ in three weeks
Contemporary dance pioneer Amy O’Neil takes Northwest Vista’s students through her paces Dancer and choreographer Amy O’Neil works with students during a workshop at Northwest Vista College. The San Antonio native is here for a month-long residency in the college’s Kinesiology and Dance Department. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) By most accounts, dance, and especially modern…
Food & Drink A rare Turkish gem
Turqouise Grill offers classics, baba ghanoush and hummus, with a Turkish twist. From front: Patlican Kizartma, fried eggplant served with yogurt and garlic sauce; Adana Kebab, char-grilled beef and lamb served with grilled vegetables on a bed of rice. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) To many of us, the word turquoise conjures up Santa Fe-tourist types…
Music Sound and the fury
A week on the scene Kings of the strip dancesound jazz andnight clubs the bands furyshows musicians sa current online  sa current online Adam Ant once sang “If you strip for me, I’ll strip for you,” but no one really took him up on it. Demi Moore’s character in the movie Striptease demonstrated…
Food & Drink Toast
Fine spirits According to 13th-generation distiller Marko Karakasevic, there were only two fruit-flavored vodkas on the market in 1998: Absolut Citron and Stoli Ohranj. Today, he says, there are more than 200, and he credits his own flavored vodkas with helping trigger the explosion. The man’s got hubris. He also has some exceptional products. Following…
Food & Drink All you can eat
News and notes from the San Antonio food scene Soul food fest Soul Food Fest, held in historic La Villita from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, May 20, and 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday, May 21, has expanded to two days to include a Friday night Gospel Fest. This year marks the sixth anniversary of…
Book review Go with the flow
Exploring SA’s ancient waterways You know it’s raining in San Antonio when shopping carts, couches, and tires bob and cut through flooded creeks and drainage ditches like ships in a squall. San Antonians mistreat their waterways, but lest you think it’s the work of modern degenerates, early dwellers also fouled their lifelines: Acequias, hand-dug marvels…
Music feature – Big band Brass in pocket
Gerry Gibbs’ Thrasher Big Band is equal-parts swing orchestra and avant-garde ensemble Drummer and bandleader Gerry Gibbs (left) performs with his Thrasher Big Band at Luna Fine Music Club. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) Gerry Gibbs is hurting. In recent weeks he’s suffered from overwhelming, mysterious chest pains, and his groin causes him so much aggravation…
Classical music A Zhou ‘from the top’
San Antonio Symphony, Majestic Theatre host National Public Radio show The San Antonio Symphony in performance. When the San Antonio Symphony announced in March that their final concert of the season would be underwritten by the Tobin Endowment, President and CEO Eddie Aldrete had to have been excited about meeting yet another fundraising milestone in…
Music – Hip-hopWarring factions
Why hip-hop’s cultural dominance is leading to burnout and dissension 50 Cent is glorified by a system that hinders the careers of other hip-hop artists. Nothing, it’s said, fails like success. If so, rap music is looking forward to a major comeuppance. One can spot the burgeoning seeds of destruction in what acts are signed,…
Culture – accessoriesThat’s what escorts are for, dahling
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CD Spotlight
Moon, June, Spoon The great irony of the Spoon story is that a band long belittled for being a Pixies clone is now universally lauded for the original way it deconstructs the conventions of rock’s guitar-bass-drums dynamic. The long-awaited Gimme Fiction feels like a continuation and refinement of 2002’s Kill The Moonlight. While Kill is…
