Tar Sands to Texas: BP’s Gulf spill is only half the story
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com On the way to becoming the largest offshore disaster in history, the BP Deepwater spill has all eyes on the Gulf as the first globs of oil have begun to wash ashore. Public calls for an offshore drilling moratorium have not only gone unanswered, federal regulators have continued to dish out dozens…
Dady Does Dinner–in Spain
Some dudes have all the luck. Well, not luck exactly. Talent, persistence, connectionsâ?¦all came into play in awarding (and award it seems) local wunderkind Jason Dady a dinner reservation at fabled El Bullà in Rosas, Spain. The restaurant, on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, is frequently cited as the “world’s best”, a title that has also been…
WAO: Still a Family Affair
There were big shifts at the Wild Animal Orphanage last weekend, but will it help the beleaguered animal sanctuary move in the right direction? We reported on the hot mess that was the Wild Animal Orphanage last fall, when founding couple Ron and Carol Asvestas were ousted by their own daughter, Nicole Asvestas Garcia, following…
FCC Shifts Strategy on Net Neutrality
One battle is over, but the net neutrality war continues. After losing a court case against Comcast, which stripped the FCC of much of its power to regulate broadband networks under its current classification as “information services,” the FCC is proposing changing the classification of the internet so it falls under the umbrella of “telecommunication…
Captivity Audience
This month, a looming billboard message courtesy of PETA confronts visitors to SeaWorld and San Antonians commuting nearby. The signage near Loop 410 and Old Pearsall Road asserts “Whales and Dolphins Want Out: Don’t support captive animal shows.” That’s roughly the same message that four experts (three scientists and one preservation society head) urged congress…
David Foster Wallace video interview
An uncut 84 minute interview with DFW for German television, from 2003. Topics include Infinite Jest, “The Depressed Person,” tennis, American individualism, entertainment as addiction, etc., etc. Doesn’t really pertain to anything in particular, other than it’s fascinating for Foster Wallace heads. Discussion question: Does the fact that he committed suicide invalidate his worldview or…
Goliad uranium mining on trial at State Office of Administrative Hearings
Attorney Jim Blackburn holds up a map of the area UEC would like to mine. Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com AUSTIN ― Assuming the current economic recession or “Twilight Zone” Wall Street mysteriousnesses don’t suck human society down into Mad Max levels of chaos and global dysfunction, uranium mining across South Texas will most likely pick up…
State of the Slasher Address 3: There will be (more) blood
by Stephen Graham Jones `Jones is the author of seven books, most recently Ledfeather. Read his blog at demontheory.net` In 1984 Wes Craven said to an already primed audience, “Come down to the cellar with me, and I’ll tell you” a story. That story of course involved one “Fred Krueger,” who would soon, like Jason…
cabbage bowlers (video)
How much fun can you have with a head of (locally grown) cabbage, right? Makes more sense if you’ve read (or only grazed) this week’s cover story. â?? greg
La Mission opens Friday
Watch the trailer above. Current contributor Gregg Barrios had this to say about the film: Initially, director Peter Bratt leads us to believe we are in for a Chicano gang film with its focus on Che Rivera (Bratt), an ex-con, single father, alcoholic bus driver who converts old cars into gleaming low-riders. But when we…
La Gloria Swings Open its Heavenly Gates
La Gloria, in Spanish, refers to paradise. (It can also refer to a kind of tart, but we’ll put that aside for this post.) La Gloria is also the name of C.I.A.-trained chef Johnny Hernandez’s new restaurant on the banks of the San Antonio River at the Pearl Brewery. Street foods of Mexico are its…
Iron Man 2
Critic’s Pick Iron Man 2 Director: Jon Favreau Screenwriter: Jon Favreau Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell Release Date: 2010-05-06 Rated: PG-13 Genre: Film Our Rating: 3.50 I hate to say it, but I think it’s finally time to forgive Jon Favreau for directing Made and Elf. I’ll need…
No debate on proposed immigration bill…for now
Dang! We were looking forward to seeing State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio) and State Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) on CNN this morning, just as we had looked forward to it yesterday and the day before, but we were notified minutes after their scheduled appearance on Tony Harris that it wasn’t happening, again. :(…
Castro’s nuke lobbying limited to date
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com After the reconciliation of squabbling nuke-power partners NRG Energy and City-owned CPS Energy in mid-February, the utilities agreed to part ways ― to a degree. By cutting its share from 40 percent to 7 percent, San Antonio was able to stop the million-per-day payments into the planned construction of two new reactors…
Texas Legislators stall efforts to expand West Texas nuke dump
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com A public hearing near the site of what could become a national (if not international) nuclear waste dump in West Texas has been canceled by the still-unfunded Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact Commission. The cancellation came after the agency was overwhelmed with comments on a proposal to start laying out the terms…
Haute backlash?
But it’s not Mom’s kitchen, either, at Auden’s
Jacuzzi Boys, This Horn of Afrika, Eets Feats
Release Date: 2010-05-05 Rehearsing in a double-wide in Key Biscayne seems to have provided the Jacuzzi Boys with some interesting stories to tell with their upbeat garage rock. The Miami-based band’s song “Smells Dead” is about a snake that slithered into their mobile home and died between the walls. Rats, possums, and crocodiles have also…
Lunch at Landmark Coffee House and Cafe
Release Date: 2010-05-05 Every April after our annual Best of San Antonio issue comes out, a very pleasant Louis Prima sound-alike calls to ask us to please add Best Fried Catfish as a category. This year, in response, we distinguished between Best Fresh and Best Fried Seafood, but I think the gentleman caller is right:…
Horse the Band w/ Endless Hallway, Oceana
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2010-05-05 If the prophecy in the title of Refused’s 1998 masterpiece, The Shape of Punk to Come, had been correct, we’d have fewer bands that sound like castrated Buzzcocks and a lot more groups that sound like Horse the Band. HTB, which formed 1999, isn’t a carbon copy, by any means:…
Lunch at Hilly Flores Cafe
Release Date: 2010-05-05 When I first reviewed Hilly Flores in its original location at the intersection of Hill and N. Flores — where the name made sense — it was an enigma. Now that the owners have abandoned that VFW Hall-like space for a location downtown that exudes an air of just-short-of-sleazy speakeasy, the enigma…
Baby, baby it’s a wild world
Babies Director: Thomas Balmes Screenwriter: Thomas Balmes Release Date: 2010-05-05 Rated: NONE Genre: Film My section editor had scorned the notion of reviewing Babies, assuming it was “a talking baby movie.” And it totally is, but not in that unctuous Look Who’s Talking / Baby Geniuses saccharine babylicious kinda way, nor in the hack “kids…
Her name is Rio
Release Date: 2010-05-05 My first experience at Club Rio was a disaster. After waiting in line for more than an hour, a huge crowd was let in to see Guadalajara-based synth-pop band Belanova play a “private concert.” I still don’t understand what was private about it: The tickets were free. The band was scheduled to…
Nobody’s Daughter
Nobody’s Daughter Conductor: Hole Label: Mercury Release Date: 2010-05-05 Rated: NONE Media: CD Length: LP Format: Album Genre: Recording The Sex Pistols’ manager, the late Malcolm McLaren, once famously described the band’s pathologically troubled bassist Sid Vicious as “a fabulous disaster.” That description also fits Courtney Love, whose careening and well-documented personal and professional misfortunes…
Besides
Besides Composer: Diego Bernal Label: Antipop Release Date: 2010-05-05 Rated: NONE Media: CD Length: LP Format: Album Genre: Recording Like the work of Madlib and Jay Dee, Diego Bernal’s newest album Besides isn’t so much about the songs as it is about the parts of songs. The album’s opener “All You Can Do Parts 1…
Swim
Swim Composer: Caribou Label: Merge Release Date: 2010-05-05 Rated: NONE Media: CD Length: LP Format: Album Genre: Recording Like the work of Madlib and Jay Dee, Diego Bernal?s newest album Besides isn?t so much about the songs as it is about the parts of songs. The album?s opener ?All You Can Do Parts 1 and…
Women + Country
Women + Country Composer: Jakob Dylan Label: Columbia Release Date: 2010-05-05 Rated: NONE Media: CD Length: LP Format: Album Genre: Recording Romance, melancholy leavened by bursts of joy, and stubbornly individualist politics permeate Jakob Dylan’s second solo album, a mesmerizing work that yields more nuance and depth each time you listen to it. Dylan works…
The Secret of Kells
Critic’s Pick The Secret of Kells Director: Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey Screenwriter: Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Liam Hourican, Mick Lally, Michael McGrath, Evan McGuire Release Date: 2010-05-05 Rated: NONE Genre: Film The critical consensus on Best Animated Feature-nominee The Secret of Kells goes something like this: Animators Moore and Twomey drew a…
The Life of The Westside Dog Show
Release Date: 2010-05-05 v> In conjunction with the Más Rudas Collective exhibition Operation Canis Familiaris, the Guadalupe Gallery presents the Life of the Westside Dog Show: an artful playground for dogs and their humans. Whether you have a super-talented pooch or a hideous mongrel, prizes are up for grabs. A dog/human look-a like contest kicks…
Chevelle, Nico Vega, After Midnight Project, Melovine
Release Date: 2010-05-05 With four bands on one bill, there’s always a chance one of the supporting acts could upstage the headliner. That’ll likely be the case when Chevelle, After Midnight Project, Nico Vega, and Melovine take Scout Bar’s stage this Friday. Although we’ve got nothing against “recovering Catholics” Chevelle (who “accidentally” released their first…
quaff, Von Army, Killer Dismount
Release Date: 2010-05-05 Japanese rock band quaff find inspiration in the beauty of their native tongue as well as guitar heroes like Slash, Flea, Axl Rose, and Nikki Sixx. Their music has been describes as “samurai rock” and employs the “twin-vocal style of ‘uta’ (melody) and ‘tuzuri’ (rap).” A favorite of Japan’s cosplay scene, quaff…
Dayton Contemporary Dance Co.
Release Date: 2010-05-05 Dayton Contemporary Dance Company’s performance this Friday is sure to be one of the major highlights of SA’s Dance Month. The internationally renowned company (which is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary) boasts the world’s largest collection of classic works by African American choreographers. Possibly one of the more arresting works in DCDC’s…
WhatName:Dr Sketchy_s Anti Art School
Release Date: 2010-05-05 If you’ve been meaning to brush up on your drawing skills without having a snooty art teacher breathing down your neck, consider attending the inaugural session of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. Dr. Sketchy prescribes a titillating combination of elements for his students: Rather than hiring a horrifying nude beast to pose statically…
Stations of the cross
It’s been a long way to here. San Antonio doom-metal outfit Las Cruces has spent the better part of 16 years battling limited budgets, a revolving lineup, and frequent hiatuses. But 12 years after their last record, they’ve returned with their excellent third album, Dusk. Fittingly, the record sat unreleased for three years. When pressed…
‘We’re being brainwashed’
Pub-rock cult icon Graham Parker answers the phone with a jaunty “GP here,” and keeps talking for a half-hour straight in his gravelly British accent. We managed to get in a few questions about his latest album, Imaginary Television, which features theme songs for TV shows Parker made up. What are some of your favorite…
Live & Local
The burden of continued artistic progression and expression seems to rest heavily on today’s artists, but San Antonio’s young newcomers Kites are ready take up that mantle. Well, perhaps ready is a bit of a stretch, but they certainly seem on the right path. Playing in GIG’s cozy, intimate, living-room environment, Kites find a home…
The Sound & The Fury
San Antonio’s got live if you want it, any way you want it, this week. (That’s right, we just referenced the Rolling Stones and Journey in the same sentence.) On Friday, check out Chevelle and Nico Vega at Scout Bar ($30.50; scoutbarsa.com), Dale Watson at Hangin’ Tree Saloon ($10; hangintree.com), the Rocketz at Zombies ($10;…
Dear Uncle Mat
Dear Uncle Mat, My boyfriend and I are new in town, and are at a loss for how to make some gay friends. We are educated professionals with busy work schedules. He travels regularly, as well. We don’t like gay bars and San Antonio doesn’t really have a gay area or other central locations where…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Hip hop music definitely needs to include more tuba playing. I think that’s what’s missing from it. Likewise, the sport of skateboarding would benefit from having more dogs and monkeys that can master its complexities; the state of journalism could be improved by including more babies as reporters; and you Aries…
Soap-com
If The Office weren’t censored by the FCC, and the show’s producers didn’t care about appealing to a demographic that can actually afford to buy products, it might look more like Party Down. The Starz original series is a half-hour workplace comedy that feels mostly improvised, but it never breaks the fourth wall and never…
The Prodigal Daughter PART 1 IN A SERIES
My dad and I have walkie talkies. Let me say that again: My dad and I have walkie talkies, but the set was cheap and we could never get them to work. So instead we knock on each other’s doors, like polite neighbors, respecting some invisible boundary between parent and child. I live in a…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Readers, All together, now: ¡A LA CHINGADA WITH ARIZONA’S SB1070! For those of ustedes too occupied with the your Drinko por Cinco hangover, the initiative I mentioned (signed a couple of weeks ago into law by Arizona’s governor) gives immigration powers to the state’s police officers and sheriff’s deputies and allows them to stop…
The QueQue
This process needs fixing, bud. We were among the many reporters and stakeholders packed into a small hearing room at the Texas Capitol last Wednesday to hear testimony on the State Board of Education from a host of witnesses before the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. While the nation scoffs at Texas for allowing our SBOE…
The urban-garden revolution is under your feet
When the First Family paced off their kitchen garden last spring, it was an intentionally political act: Michelle Obama was not only preparing to fill her family’s table with homegrown veggies year-round, but taking aim at childhood diabetes and obesity. As spades turned the soil, she said the garden’s primary purpose was to educate the…
Generous gestures
If you haven’t already, check out Artpace’s website (artpace.org) to learn about and locate Félix González-Torres: Billboards, a Texas-wide exhibition of … well, it’s tricky to explain. Important to know: González-Torres (1957-1996) was an alum of the very first triad of Artpace Artists-in-Residence in 1995, and an internationally acknowledged important talent before his death of…
Tribute, Terror and Trauma
Tribute, Terror, and Trauma Jim Hodges’s Untitled (2010) opens with gracefully kinetic images of clouds and waterfalls against the melancholy soundtrack of Nancy Sinatra’s “You Only Live Twice.” It’s apt, given González-Torres’s short tenure on Earth as well as the ineffable life he persists in sharing with us through his work: “You only live twice…
A great tenant at the Vex
At last, the Vexler arrests its downward death spiral in programming with Rent, Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical of love, rebellion, and AIDS, set among the bohemian artists of Manhattan’s East Village. When it premiered in 1994, Larson’s rock-inflected score and countercultural vibe made it an immediate hit among younger theater-goers (especially among the flocking…
TECHJANO/A! Extended until this Friday!
This kickass, innovative, passionate show, which was originally one-night-only, has been given a stay of execution until This Friday, when from 6-8pm the artists will be performing a live performative dismantling of the exhibition. I highly recommend you go check it out. The Alameda’s open from 12-6 tomorrow (Wednesday), Thursday and Friday, then the closing…
