Screens Special screenings
Forgiveness, the best revenge Harvest of Redemption Dir. Javier Chapa (2005) Based on a true story told by Mercedes, Texas native Eddie Howell in the eponymous book, Harvest of Redemption tells the story of a young man, who as a child growing up in the Rio Grande Valley, witnessed his father’s brutal murder. A reception…
Screens That’s a wrap
The low-down on this week’s premieres Following in the large footsteps of the rhinos, elephants, and zebras that stampeded through 1995’s Jumanji, Zathura, also based on a Chris Van Allsburg children’s book, tells the story of another board-game adventure in which two brothers find an intergalactic game that transports their home into outer space. From…
News Bridge mix
Southtown residents oppose proposed river improvement Southtown is in a tizzy again. This time, it’s not First Friday revelers who are a burr under its saddle, but a proposed multi-million-dollar pedestrian bridge. The bridge, part of the San Antonio River Authority’s Eagleland Project, would span the river behind Brackenridge High School. But it is bumping…
Food & Drink Movable feast
A recap of the New World Wine Wine Wine & Food Festival Last week, more than 7,000 San Antonio foodies came out to sip, swirl, spit — and let us not forget chew — their way through the 6th Annual New World Wine & Food Festival. If revelers were unaware that the festival gained an…
News Party lines
To tell the truth – Realities of War tour offers a less rosy perspective on combat Just two days before Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez served as the grand marshal in last Saturday’s Veterans Day parade and City Council welcomed him with open arms, a couple of ex-soldiers served on a Realities of War panel in…
Food & Drink All you can eat
Current Online news politics culture News and notes from the San Antonio food scene And the Golden Bun goes to … Move over enchiladas con carne and huevos rancheros. Lulu’s Jailhouse Café, 918 Main, has been awarded Best Hometown Veggie Burger in PETA’s national Second Biennial “Golden Buns” Awards. PETA taste testers, who sampled upwards…
News Briefs
Students debate Prop 2 On Friday, November 4, student groups held an open mic at the sombrilla on the University of Texas at San Antonio’s 1604 campus, to discuss Proposition 2, which would define marriage as between a man and a woman in Texas’ Bill of Rights. The amendment has been the most controversial aspect…
News Speed reads
Hardberger gets high marks: Mayor Phil Hardberger received a 56-percent approval rating in an October survey of 592 respondents conducted by students and faculty at UTSA’s Culture and Policy Institute. That translates to excellent, or at least good, but nearly one in three said they could not judge the judge, or mayor’s, performance, saying they…
Food & Drink The bar tab
Ballin’ on a budget While living in Los Angeles, and not on a celebrity’s budget I might add, I discovered the only way I could marginally engage in Hollywood hoopla was by tactfully hitting bargain nights and happy-hour specials. Now gladly back in Texas, I’m still working with a tight budget and on the constant…
Feature A civics action
A San Antonio lawsuit fights to save the Texas Constitution from Tort Reform In the beginning it was a story about a girl. Her name was Sarah and she was almost 4. She lived with her family on the near North Side, in a two-story house with brick trim and a large yard that spread…
Music Crossing Jordan
Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from Michael Corcoran’s new book, All Over The Map: True Heroes of Texas Music, published by University of Texas Press When he walked onstage at the 20th anniversary of the Tejano Conjunto Festival at San Antonio’s Rosedale Park in May 2001, Steve Jordan was resplendent in a purple…
Arts A beautiful find
From chandeliers fashioned from animal skulls to lovingly sanded doorframes, Christian Brunner is creating an oasis eight blocks from downtown Christian Brunner excels in building large-scale sculptures, but his compound on North Flores Street could be the grandest installation of all. A former biochemist , Brunner transformed into a sculptor and painter whose design projects…
Music CD Spotlight
Million miles ahead The Plimsouls occupied a curious place in the annals of ’80s power-pop. Not as quirky or influential as the dBs, not as lovable as Redd Kross, not as commercially accessible as the Bangles, they were a cult band admired more for what they hinted at than what they actually achieved. When the…
Arts Too heavy to hobble
The Vex’s Crucible is imperfect, but Arthur Miller’s dark masterpiece shines through Arthur Miller is the American Shakespeare. None of our other playwrights has turned out so universal, so timeless and quintessentially human a body of work. Like Shakespeare’s, Miller’s words resonate far outside the time and place from which they arose, as demonstrated by…
Music Current Choice
Open secret We all have that fantasy of discovering a musical artist in some dark, smoky speakeasy-type dive, or at least real music fans do. We want that secretive, co-dependent relationship with a singer who sits atop a stool at the corner of the bar with nothing but an acoustic guitar and a voice you…
Arts The art capades
It’s opposites month: Green is red and history is contemporary Green, a new art space, is found by its flashing red sign. You may wonder about this but, due to the reverse nature of optics, when you close your eyes, you see it in green. Green is set in a Southtown Victorian home just across…
Music Sound and the fury
Wiggle room service Austin singer-songwriter Billy Harvey is the best kind of postmodern pop obsessive. Recording largely by himself on a laptop computer, the Illinois native freely indulges his off-kilter, mildly embarrassing preoccupations on his latest self-released album, Pie, a romper-room ride through the mind of a sensitive, conflicted romantic. “Piggyback Ride” finds him promising…
Arts Picture this
Haven’t picked up podcasting? Skip it. The vlogosphere has arrived. Michael Verdi is famous. So are Amanda Congdon, Ryanne Hodson, and Jay Dedman. Never heard of them? That’s okay; they’re famous anyway. And they want to add you to the list. These four, and an innumerable swell of others, are part of a surging movement…
Arts New Economy, same rules
Virtual wealth is a real-world asset when the price is right Three years ago, Kathleen (not her real name) realized that she was spending too much time online. The 21-year-old college student was a dedicated fan of the computer game Everquest. An active participant in her guild, she regularly participated in massive raids that could…
Arts Icy and intelligent
Web Exclusive SAC’s production of Frozen shines This year, the Summer Company at San Antonio College has pushed back its annual production until November; the current production of Frozen, the gripping three-hander now running at the school’s McCreless theatre, proves that it’s much, much better late than never. Bryony Lavery’s intelligent and wrenching drama, nominated…
Screens Más grande, más fuerte
CineFestival returns in grand form with exciting films and cash prizes Klieg lights used to illuminate skies above the near West Side to herald CineFestival, once the most lustrous event on the cultural calendar. Edward James Olmos and Cheech Marin mingled with capacity crowds for a week-long banquet of new films and videos. You could…
Arts Classical attitude
Web Exclusive Ah, the Holidays. As soon as you breathe a sigh of relief that the hot weather is gone (well, mostly) it’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas. Lacking the advantage of clear signals from the climate, you can count on the performing arts world for indicators of the impending Holidays. UTSA…
Screens Ride of the furies
Loosed on a foreign land without a higher purpose, jarheads go berserk We are always fighting the last war as much as the one at hand. Anthony Swofford was conceived during his father’s furlough from Vietnam, and that harrowing conflict — its music, movies, and expectations — shaped Swofford’s experiences as a Marine during the…
Screens Where the film fails
Atom Egoyan missteps with his leading lady Atom Egoyan, one of today’s truly unique cinematic voices, has made a movie or two that reached wide audiences (The Sweet Hereafter probably being the most popular). But he has never made one as conventional as Where the Truth Lies, a mystery that generally avoids his tendency to…
Screens Armchair Cinephile
Loonies, hand-drawn or human Fans of vintage Warner Bros. cartoons wish it happened more than once a year, but the company’s annual Looney Tunes: Golden Collection is still something to celebrate. The new Volume 3 is another four-DVD, 60-toon treasure trove, this time featuring some real oddities among the bonus features, such as Philbert, a…
