LONE-STAR SOUL
Delbert McClinton (courtesy photo) Both physically and aesthetically, Delbert McClinton has always suggested a Texas-born Van Morrison. Both men are stocky and ruddy-faced singers trapped in the frames of construction workers and exuding all the glamour of Bob the Builder. They’re both rooted in early R&B, and they’ve both been known to pull out…
THE WASTELAND
A boarded-up home sits near the site of BFI’s rural Tessman Road Landfill. A mountain of dirt-covered garbage looms in the distance. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) The ever-expanding BFI landfill has brought rats, stench, and even fire to the East Side. For Martinez and Gardendale residents, San Antonians’ trash is no treasure. Thirty years…
SOUND AND THE FURY
a week on the scene SAX DRIVE The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s annual Holiday Saxophones show has been a seasonal mainstay for years, showcasing some of the best sax players in the area in rare combinations. This year, the Guadalupe has moved the concert up from its traditional mid-December slot to the end of November.…
SLOW BUILD, BIG FINISH?
Casa Salazar on East Houston Street features works by artists Olivia Villanueva, Jim Pruitt, and Juan Farias (courtesy photo) Third Thursdays: the arrival of another alliterative artwalk “We only knew downtown post-9-11,” says Brad Braune, whose gallery is one of the main commercial art tenants in central San Antonio. “It’s been such a struggle.…
ARTIFACTS
News and notes from the San Antonio art scene New work by San Antonio-based art provocateur Cruz Ortiz is currently on display at The Contemporary in Dallas. The exhibit, entitled “Coyote Girl Steals the Raspa,” is the latest installment in the Contemporary’s Mix Series, which is dedicated to showcasing ethnically diverse artwork from around the…
MISERY SPREADS AROUND BFI
Donna faces similar woes as Martinez and Gardendale Residents of Donna, a small town in the Rio Grande Valley near Brownsville, have grappled with similar problems faced by those living in Martinez and Gardendale. In 1994, BFI received a permit from the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission to open a landfill less than 1,500 feet…
BATTLING HIM AT ‘THE NEW REPUBLIC’
Hayden Christensen portrays the unscrupulous Stephen Glass in Shattered Glass. (courtesy photo) Journalist and fraud Stephen Glass is one bad byline Shattered Glass begins and ends in a classroom, and its lesson drives a sliver through the heart of any honest viewer. Stephen Glass, a literary wünderkind who, at 24, became a star writer…
AN UNVARNISHED AMERICA
Cate Blanchett (left) as frontierswoman Maggie Gilkeson and Tommy Lee Jones as her errant father in The Missing. (courtesy photo) Ron Howard’s film is a foray into the lawless wilderness of the old West The opening scene of The Missing — an epic tale of familial redemption and reconciliation set in the waning days…
CULT CLASSIC IMPERSONATOR
A hairy scene from Girls Will Be Girls. (courtesy photo) Dudes in dresses does not a campy favorite make The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hairspray managed to become cult classics because of moronic plots, stilted dialogue, and hyperbolic performances. With Girls Will Be Girls, Richard Day has attempted to manufacture an instant cult…
SANTA’S SOILED LAP
Billy Bob Thornton (left) as Santa, screaming, crying, scared child as himself, and Tony Cox as Santa’s little helper (courtesy photo) What’s a holiday movie without a surly department store Santa and a dwarf? Bad Santa is vile. Snot-dripping and alley-puking, pants-pissing, and rotgut-swilling vile. It does not have redeeming social merit; it will…
TAKE IT TO THE CLEANERS
Nichole Kidman as Faunia Farely in The Human Stain. (courtesy photo) ‘The Human Stain’ falls short of translating Big Literature to the Big Screen In a story about scandalous sex, concealed heritage, and die-hard vanity, a title like The Human Stain is easy to understand. In the case of this tale’s cinematic adaptation, though,…
RECENT REVIEWS
Elf Dir. Jon Favreau; writ. David Berenbaum; feat. Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Zooey Deschanel, Edward Asner, Daniel Tay, Mary Steenburgen (PG) Elf exploits Will Ferrell’s most innocent childish side, one that he has elsewhere used to play just play dumb. Here, Buddy is not stupid but guileless, a human raised by Santa’s helpers…
RARE AIR
Slug says: “I would rather you already know I’m kind of a dork before we ever actually have the opportunity to meet. And it doesn’t work with everybody, but there are a group of kids out there that already know I’m just a fucking talking shoe basically.” (Photo by Dan Monick) Indie hip-hop duo…
DOPING KIDS
Pharmaceutical companies are marketing adult drugs to kids, touting the medications at medical conferences as “highly effective and safe” for children. (Photo by Julie Barnett) Is that purple pill good for your child? For Dr. Stephen Borowitz, the most frustrating office visits are with parents of kids suffering from stomachaches and infants prone to…
IT TAKES A NATION
Mr. Lif: a new generation’s Barbados hip-hop hero. (courtesy photo) Mr. Lif’s eccentric vision maintains the hip-hop ideals of Afrika Bambaataa The unquestionable holy trinity of hip-hop consists of Kool DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash. While Herc was the father, and Flash the supreme alchemist, the godfather was always Bambaataa. Bam was…
THE ENERGIZER
Wind and solar energy are among the topics of the Texas Renewables Conference. Renewable energy continues to get short shrift in the latest version of the federal energy bill. (courtesy photo) Renewables conference pivotal in light of federal energy bill Earlier this year, when Linda Stone, executive director of the Metropolitan Partnership for Energy,…
FAMILY MAN
Midway through his fourth solo CD, The Preacher’s Son, Wyclef Jean takes the time to announce, “I’m a young man with an old man’s soul.” He has a valid point. Amongst his hip-hop peers, Jean has a rare ability to celebrate the past while maintaining a modern vibe, to conduct musical history lessons and…
