No raw deal
Pesca’s elegant oyster bar has a morsel for every plate
The eighth deadly sin: boredom
Jack Black holds aloft a can of what appears to be suck-ass; the contents of which contaminated Envy. The eighth deadly sin: boredom By John DeFore There’s nothing to covet in this lame comedy In Envy, the relationship of best friends and coworkers Jack Black and Ben Stiller is threatened when Black becomes insanely wealthy…
Ripley’s Quadrophenia
Ripley’s Quadrophenia By Gregg Barrios The chameleon con man Tom Ripley stalks his prey in four DVDs It’s common knowledge that many independent, anime, martial arts, foreign, and art house films rarely get a multiplex screening in this city. And when these films do show, they are often in one isolated theater for a very…
Armchair Cinephile
Armchair Cinephile John DeFore on DVD Scary monsters, super freaks With the impending release of Van Helsing, which has its way with icons like Dracula, a couple of movie studios have seen fit to reissue earlier movie appearances by those legendary ghouls. Judging solely from Van Helsing’s trailer, that film’s audience may well walk out…
Godsend? Not exactly.
Godsend? Not exactly. By John DeFore ‘The Omen’ and ‘Boys From Brazil’ cry: “Don’t blame us for this lame flick!” In the opening moments of Godsend, schoolteacher Paul Duncan is mugged in an alleyway. As two young men demand his wallet, a look of stunned recognition crosses Paul’s face and he blurts: “Maurice?” Turns out…
No raw deal
From front: Seared rare tuna with apple and cumin seed; Market Select red mullet from Tanzania with English sea salt piquante, extra virgin olive oil, and lemon, served with Pesca slaw. All shown on Pesca’s seafood bar. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) No raw deal By Ron Bechtol Pesca’s elegant oyster bar has a morsel for…
Sour Sweets
Canel’s, a candy sold all over San Antonio, have tested high for lead in four out of 13 tests conducted since 1994, reports the Orange County Register. A 2001 test found the candies had 40 times the recommended amount of lead. Young children are especially susceptible to lead poisoning, which causes a host of medical…
May Eats
May Eats Savor The Arts The Southwest School of Art & Craft will host its annual Savor the Arts benefit, supporting the school’s youth programs, on Thursday, May 6, at 7 p.m. The event features food from 13 restaurants, as well as performances by the Infidels, and a look at the annual All School Exhibition.…
Chicano Roots
Flaco Jiménez Chicano Roots By Alejandro Pérez Tejano Conjunto Festival celebrates and preserves a cultural tradition Like the couples leaning into each other, spinning and twirling, stepping back and forth in syncopation, the accordionist’s fingers dance. They dance across the buttons of the Hohner, punctuating the air with a rapid-fire huapango one minute, the smooth…
Sound and the Fury
Sound and the Fury Compiled by Gilbert Garcia a week on the scene You Can Call Him Al Al Green’s visit to Sunset Station on Friday, April 30 was revelatory on a number of fronts. For one thing, prior to this performance, I had no clue that the Rev. was such a Gatorade connoisseur. In…
Scarred for life
A Bexar County Jail inmate shows examples of prison tattoos. The most common are simple gang signs. Inmates may be required to perform specific crimes in prison to receive some larger, more complex tattoos. (Photos by Mark Greenberg) Scarred for life By Abraham Mahshie Plastic chess pieces and Styrofoam cups are the stuff of tattoos…
New Preservationists
New Preservationists By Gilbert Garcia More than a mere group, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a consortium of New Orleans musicians. New Orleans band continues to pass on its city’s jazz tradition It was probably inevitable that Ben Jaffe would be a musician. Jaffe, co-director of New Orleans’ Preservation Hall and bassist for the…
White Heat
White Heat By Gilbert Garcia Loretta Lynn once famously sang that when you looked at her, you were looking at country. It’s a hard point to argue, because few performers have been less altered by riches and fame than the Coal Miner’s Daughter. Lynn spent a mere 13 years living in that mythic little cabin…
Cyber-fi class is in session
The Event Handler, a character created by Michael Verdi, inhabits Holodeck and other virtual universes. Cyber-fi class is in session By Laurie Dietrich Michael Verdi’s ‘Holodeck’ is more tutorial than performance I assume you know what a holodeck is. But Michael Verdi doesn’t. He devotes a good chunk of his 45-minute performance piece, Holodeck, now…
Houston Kid
Rodney Crowell Houston Kid By John DeFore There’s surely something to please every country music fan (and many of those who stand on the sidelines) when it comes to Houston-born, Nashville-tested Rodney Crowell. He has written and produced huge mainstream hits, and has been integral to the career of Rosanne Cash – both in his…
Artifacts
Artifacts News and notes from the San Antonio art scene IT’S ONLY WORDS, BUT WORDS ARE ALL I HAVE … The Texas Commission on the Arts is seeking nominations for state poet laureate, state musician, state two-dimensional artist, and state three-dimensional artist (Don’t you wish you had been in on those discussions? 2-D and 3-D:…
Bring him back alive
Cameron Bright, who plays the cloned Adam, looks around disarmingly for the set of the Infiniti commercial he stumbled away from in Godsend. (courtesy photo) Bring him back alive By Steven G. Kellman ‘Godsend’ preys on naive hope and parental fear It is a dark and stormy night at the beginning of Godsend, a horror…
All Ears
All Ears By John DeFore The good, the bad, and the wonderfully ugly The Good: I’ve never entirely clicked with Australian songwriter Paul Kelly, but that changed almost immediately upon hearing his new Ways & Means (SpinArt), a double-album that both contains some of his finest work and (with co-producer Tchad Blake) crafts a sonic…
Recent Reviews
The Alamo Dir. John Lee Hancock; writ. Leslie Bohem, Stephen Gaghan, Hankcock; feat. Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Patric, Patrick Wilson, Emilio Echevarría, Jordi Mollá (PG-13) In its rush to be every thing to every one, The Alamo fails to bring forth anything other than a paint-by-the-numbers rendering of that historical event that provided…
Canned Tuna
Jaston Williams and Charlie Baker of Greater Tuna fame bring their petticoats and pratfalls to bear on the old theater warhorse, The Foreigner, playing at the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre through May 16. Canned Tuna By Laurie Dietrich Jaston Williams and Joe Sears serve a stale ‘Foreigner’ At least until the lights go down, the…
