Live & Local Preview
Hey there, Jeremy Martin followers! Tonight I’ll be kicking ass and taking notes at Limelight where I’ll be reviewing the synth-fueled stylings of Hyperbubble. Normally this is where I’d normally describe the show, but the band does a better job than I could on their myspace page, so I’ll quote: Live electro-robo meltdown with girl-boy…
For the love animals: It has to be Haass says our favorite cat crusader
San Antonio’s leading cat lady (and leading cake lady, at least at the Current, where she frequently delivers high-cal goodies) is endorsing Bexar County Commissioner candidate Chip Haass. Haass is in a tight race for the Precinct 3 seat against fellow ex-City Councilman (and Ex-News endorsee) Kevin Wolff, whose father, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff,…
bioterror bombast
By Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Three steps to rethinking the federal germlab/bioterror/agro-defense research compound known as the National Bio- & Agro-Defense Facility… 1) Perry’s last-minute effort to grease the machine fails. Numbskull Perry, months after the approved deadline for greasing special deals with the Feds, tries to raise the state’s share of tax breaks to lure…
Whole kernel Cornyn
By Gilbert Garcia During their second televised debate, you could tell that John Cornyn and Rick Noriega were serious about solving our nation’s energy problems — because they both spent the entire hour conserving their energy. To be fair, the two Texas candidates for the U.S. Senate fired plenty of catty insults at each other,…
On the Street: Discusses Economics, Sports, Art, Games of Chance, and Other Important Facets of Life That Affect Us Deeply
Letters (to the On the Street Penthouse Suite) #1 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Bike Show From reader Carlos comes this link to a hilarious post from the Bike Snobâ?¦ â?¦ http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/10/down-with-gears-or-down-with-gears.html To quote, I’ve long suspected that New York City’s seemingly endless supply of overpriced “vintage” bicycles comes from vast…
Más Artifacts: Laura Salazar, Mama for Obama-rama Art Car Internet-Only Expando-Blog Special with Fotos (Redux!)
Artifacts being a pithy-type column, we had no choice this week but to give very short shrift to the very talented artist / activist / philosopher Laura Salazar, and we didn’t even print a photo of the damn Obama art car we were talking about. THEN, after spending an hour and a half writing an…
Blinded by the blight: ode to a tree
Finally, the slide show (via a downloadable pdf) the Queque promised: a sweet tribute to a tree whose rough trimming coincided with the appearance of a new digital billboard just up the road. This was created by Ted Trakas of Vance Jackson Neighorhood, Inc (vjni.org), who has been an ardent and research-ready opponent of the…
The United States of Joe the Plumber
By Gilbert Garcia Politicians are often advised to personalize their message, to tell stories about real people that illustrate the impact of a policy choice. But the final debate between John McCain and Barack Obama proved that you can go berserk with this personalization stuff. Like the guy who figures that if one fish-oil pill…
dear mister schieffer…
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com Though invisible in today’s tirade of talking points, the issue of creating “green-collar” jobs was once a mainstay of the Democratic Primary debates. Clinton, Edwards, and Obama were high on the notion of championing the Next New Deal for America and establishing the new energy economy. In response to Al Gore’s call…
Body of Lies
Critic’s Pick Body of Lies Director: Ridley Scott Screenwriter: Ridley Scott Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong and Golshifte Farahani Release Date: 2008-10-15 Rated: R Genre: Film Ridley Scott doesn’t care. Not really. The esteemed director is an undeniable stylist and consummate craftsman, but looking over his impressive filmography you’d be hard-pressed to figure…
Offend Maggie
Offend Maggie Composer: Deerhoof Label: Kill Rock Stars Release Date: 2008-10-15 Rated: NONE Format: Album Genre: Recording If the benevolent spaceship from the end of Close Encounters put on a rock concert, there’s a good bet it would sound like Deerhoof. The otherworldy avant-rock quartet has made a career out of subverting the traditional songwriting…
Dig Out Your Soul
Dig Out Your Soul Composer: Oasis Label: Big Brother/Reprise Release Date: 2008-10-15 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording The days of the brash, coke-fueled (ie., genius) Oasis are over. The brothers Gallagher have become nothing more than a singles band since their mid-’90s output, producing two or three great songs for every other so-so album. That trend continues with Dig Out Your…
Peace Queer
Peace Queer Composer: Todd Snider Label: Aimless Release Date: 2008-10-15 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Unlike other opinionated singer-songwriters (paging Conor Oberst), Todd Snider is able to maintain a balance between politically charged recordings and tongue-in-cheek humor. In addition to the humorous title, the album cover features Snider — tied up and blindfolded — being held…
Live at Shea Stadium
Live at Shea Stadium Composer: The Clash Label: Epic Release Date: 2008-10-15 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording “Rain’s a load of rubbish,” Kosmo Vinyl says, introducing the only band that matters to an apparently drenched audience. “Don’t worry about rain.” And the crowd — contrary to the story that the Clash, an odd choice to open…
San Antonio Current Ale Fest 2008
Release Date: 2008-10-15 We love beer and sausage, you love beer and sausage — it sounds like an Ale Tryst in the making! Put on your lederhosen and hook up with the Current at the Hemisfair Arch Plaza for our third-annual Ale Fest, San Antonio’s citywide orgy of high-end brews and meat on a stick.…
Pepper, The Supervillians, & Passafires
Release Date: 2008-10-15 Hailing from the big island out west, Pepper arrived in California eleven years ago and has built a steady fan base with their unique blend of surf, rock, and reggae. After numerous rounds on the Vans Warped Tour, the band is on the road supporting their fifth studio album and first self-released…
New Kids on the Block w. Natasha Bedingfield & Tami Chynn
Release Date: 2008-10-15 Pull out the stonewashed jean jackets, jellies sandals, and slap bracelets — because that’s probably what you were wearing the last time you saw New Kids on the Block. Your favorite heartthrobs are back on the map after dissolving 15 years ago and, believe it or not, throngs of screaming, arm-waving, hyperventilating…
Graffiti Shavings
Release Date: 2008-10-15 Prhymemates and The Yard launch their inaugural artist series with the work of Chicago’s graffiti legend Revise CMW, who was exposed to the colorful world of graffiti at a very young age. Revise’s artistic approach has stretched far beyond traditional graffiti standards through constant experimentation, and he’s honed his skills as a…
The Super Soul Shakedown w. Joe Jama, & Ernie Garibay and Cats Don’t Sleep
Release Date: 2008-10-15 Enjoy Texas funk ’n soul from the Say-Town masters at this quarterly, groovin’ dance party created by the Prhymemates’ Scuba Gooding and DJs/radio hosts Donnie Dee and JJ Lopez. Enjoy a great lineup of jazz and soul visionaries — this go-round features the sounds of Joe Jama (Royal Jesters, 100 Proof) and…
P.E.A.C.E. in the Plaza
Release Date: 2008-10-15 Extend a hand to people in need with P.E.A.C.E. in the Plaza, an all-day festival that aids the Battered Women and Children’s Shelter. Music coalition Local 782 once again emerges on the city’s humanitarian front, providing live music by 11 local bands. Guest speakers, live art, vendors, a silent auction, and fun…
BOOtanica!
Release Date: 2008-10-15 Get ready for Halloween at BOOtanica!, the Botanical Garden’s annual festival that celebrates October traditions and fall gardening. Let the kids try out their costumes early in the parade, or partake in fun family activities like pumpkin decorating, nature walks, storytelling, and a spooky science show. Walk through a tent filled with…
HEALTH & Mouse Fire
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2008-10-15 Be thankful whenever the indie gods are kind enough to smile down upon us. Since making their name in the blogosphere when good buddies Crystal Castles remixed their song “Crimewave,” Health has been touring the country with non-stop tenacity, playing at small venues, sometimes pro bono. Health’s brand of noisy…
‘Express’ lame
The Express Director: Gary Fleder Screenwriter: Gary Fleder Cast: Dennis Quaid, Rob Brown, Nelsan Ellis, Kris Wolff, Darrin DeWitt Henson Release Date: 2008-10-15 Studio: Universal Rated: PG Genre: Film As far as inspirational true-life sports dramas go, few contenders stand out in the field. For every modern classic like Friday Night Lights, we are blitzed…
The Grassroots Media Justice Tour
Critic’s Pick Release Date: 2008-10-15 What issues does the corporate media neglect in a one-daily-newspaper town? Where can we turn for grassroots organization and information to ensure we’re keeping pace with independent media outlets around the world? Sponsored by Left Turn Magazine, ColorLines Magazine, Free Speech Radio News, and other independent media projects, the Grassroots…
City of (dying) lights
City of Ember Director: Gil Kenan Screenwriter: Gil Kenan Cast: Bill Murray, Toby Jones, Saoirse Ronan, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau Release Date: 2008-10-15 Studio: Fox Walden Rated: PG Genre: Film For the “only light in a dark world” the city of ember is, well, kind of a shithole. Established as an underground shelter when mankind…
Mr. & Mrs. G’s Home Cooking
Release Date: 2008-10-15 Mr. and Mrs. G’s, nearly a 20-year Eastside institution, is a much beloved injection of the Deep South into South Texas. Business has been good: You can identify the original building by the walk-in refrigerator next to the front door. Like the rings on a cut tree, you parse each successful year…
Fried pork chops for the soul
Release Date: 2008-10-15 Soul food is born out of poverty, Southern and rural — food that is local, cheap, and easy to grow or forage. A good cook takes these foods that no one would want and adds love, turning castoffs into a feast. With our economy crumbling, that might be the appeal of soul…
Amuse-BOUCHE
Last week, the Culinary Institute of America, San Antonio hosted its First Annual Symposium on Latin Cuisines, Cultures, and Exchange. Aptly titled “Latin Flavors, American Kitchens,” the invitation-only event brought together food authorities and food-service trendsetters in an effort to advance the future of Latin American culinary talent and Latin-rooted flavors. The passion for the…
Fine wines for hard times
It’s ironic, given the recent massive bailout of Wall Street in the guise of making nice to Main Street, that some of the best advice on inexpensive wines should come from The Wall Street Journal. “Tastings,” by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, recently examined Italian primitivos (often cited as kin to Zinfandel), and the…
Boys’ noise
“Maneater” by Hall & Oates is playing in the background at Limelight, cynosure of music and drinks for hipsters on the North St. Mary’s strip. The party on the dance floor isn’t under way yet as it’s early in the night, so we’re in the back room talking. “How many ’80s music nights are there around…
THE SOUND & THE FURY
This year’s International Accordion Festival didn’t lack for highlights: The master, Paulino Bernal, celebrating his return to the conjunto scene after three decades of self-imposed, radio-evangelism exile; and Amuma Says No, a crowd-pleasing dance band that brought the Basque tradition from Boise, Idaho. But the center of the festival’s energy was unquestionably Kal, the gypsy-punk…
Surfing with the devil
“Feel Flows” made me a music nerd. I’d already developed a small-time obsession with the usual geek bands — the Replacements, the Velvet Underground, the Pixies — but the first time I heard Carl Wilson’s sleepy tenor reciting those poetic lyrics over alien jazz flute, I became all-out obsessed. Discovering that the Beach Boys, a…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: A group of very young soldiers in the Mexican Army were being chased through the castle by U.S. Marines. At the end of the chase, the Mexicans realized they were trapped on a balcony and, instead of dying on bayonets, they wrapped themselves in Mexican flags and leapt to their deaths off the…
Sons of Sancho
Lead Son Matthew Emilio Garcia has broken one of the unwritten rules for concerts before he’s sung a note: He takes the stage wearing his own band’s T-shirt. He soon clears himself of any suspicions of narcissism, however, by continually seeking audience approval. By the third or fourth time Garcia asks “Seriously, Retox, how are…
Phone ‘Sex’
In the interview below, I deploy the word “hilarious” several times with reference to imminent teen sex comedy Sex Drive. And you know what? I’m not backing off of it. Now, that doesn’t mean the film isn’t awash in crass and unrepentant juvenility, nor does it preclude the certainty that many of the plot points…
“Southern Aquatic” — Linus feat. Marcos Campbell
“It ain’t original, rapping ’bout the drugs you sold,” local rapper Linus complains. “It ain’t original, filling up your mouth with gold.” But the tropes of hip-hop have become so commonly known that even pointing them out is a cliché. Hell, pointing out that pointing out these things have become a cliché has become a…
S’Nuff Film
So I’m not saying for sure that Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne is a faithful S’Nuff Film fan, but after I mentioned his new film, Christmas on Mars, in last week’s column, the local Alamo Drafthouse (1255 SW Loop 410, drafthouse.com/westlakes) scheduled screenings for 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. Sunday, October 19. Tickets are $8.50. The…
Entertainment weakly
Entertainment Weekly always had an on-again, off-again relationship with gaming. It’s like Derek Shepard and Meredith Grey or Chuck and Blair on Gossip Girl — hot in the broom closet one moment, icily distant the next. For brief periods over the last decade, EW included regular game reviews in its pop-culture pages, only to drop…
Cinema Obscura
Some films make you a worse person for having watched them. They diminish your already miniscule faith in humanity and donkey punch your very soul. I’m pretty sure Weekend at Bernie’s is one of those. It’s a tale as intelligent as it is sexy: Two insurance execs, responsible Rich (Silverman) and sleazebag party dude Larry…
The QueQue
Know when to fold ’em Dehydrated and with a detectable heart murmur, the Rev. Seymour Perkins, renegade Congregationalist and font of jarring urban-folk-art assault, was held over the weekend under medical supervision. The streetwalker-adoring artist, retired minister, and thorn-in-the-side of certain East Side powers-that-be only days before escaped a blaze at his Hackberry home sought…
Dear Uncle Mat
I know this probably isn’t the normal way to write you for advice, but I’m depressed and confused, and can’t wait for Thursday’s publication. My wife asked me last night to take a six-month trial separation, whatever that means, but also told me she’s been seeing someone (non-sexually). I have my faults, and some are…
Taking it to the limits
Phil Hardberger never gave much thought to the issue of term limits before he became mayor of San Antonio in 2005. To the degree that he considered them at all, he shared the feeling of many voters that efforts to extend term limits were driven by self-preservationist politicians eager to stay in office. But, he…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Sometimes the fastest way to get there/is to go slow,” sings Tina Dico in her song “Count to Ten.” “Sometimes if you want to hold on/you’ve got to let go.” That’s a ripe oracle for you to meditate on, Aries. As you explore the nuances of its meaning, you may discover…
Fathering the bench
When asked once what was the biggest mistake to come out of his administration, President Eisenhower replied that there were “two of them, and they’re both sitting on the Supreme Court.” Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor compared the relationship between a president and his judicial nominees to that of a father and child.…
Curious George
One of the unexpected pleasures of the McNay’s George Rickey retrospective is completely peripheral. I mean this literally; to stand in a roomful of George Rickey’s kinetic sculptures and, rather than focusing on one piece, to experience the continuous and cumulative effect of all that movement is very nifty indeed. Most of the pieces are…
The Current’s virtual voter guide
Your devoted weekly muckraker doesn’t endorse political candidates, forcing you to do the thinking for yourself, and leaving us unbeholden and unencumbered by buyer’s remorse when it comes time to criticize our elected reps. We do, however, provide you with this handy guide to recent, salient reporting on key competitive races and issues — all…
ARTIFACTS
A too-short history of 32-year-old artist Laura Salazar: she was born in Houston to Mexican immigrant parents. Her dad was a troubled Vietnam vet whose abusive behavior grew increasingly terrifying. “You know those headlines: ‘Vet Kills Family, Self?’” Laura says. “I knew that was going to be us.” Instead, she, her mom, and her younger…
Early voting
The Current loves the rush of voting on election day, but you can avoid long lines before or after work and during lunch on November 4 by taking advantage of early voting, October 20-31, at 40 locations across the city. Polls are open 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and noon-6 p.m. Sunday. Don’t forget your voter-registration…
Post-dramatic stress disorder
Oil on Canvas: Latino Landscape #1, an original play written and directed by Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center Theater Arts Director Vincent Toro with original choreography by the Guadalupe Dance Company, is a production chock-full of elements to like and admire. It’s energetic, relevant, oftentimes funny, very moving, artfully staged, and genuinely committed to its themes…
Hearts of glass
Hooray for the Classic Theatre San Antonio’s inaugural production: a delicate, thoughtful rendering of Tennessee Williams’ earliest masterpiece, The Glass Menagerie. As an artist, Williams was all for truth-in-advertising. The play’s narrator announces, with a certain melancholy, that Menagerie is “a memory play,” and so it is. (As in most of Williams’ works, such memories…
Make Me
The slide show began. “Pretty girl,” the captain said. His subordinates murmured in unison, a low, distant thunder of agreement. “For a hippie,” he added, and they responded in kind. “Her stupid boyfriend,” he continued, moving on to the next slide. “Note the slogan on the T-shirt.” There was a brief silence. It took time…
Chalk It Up
Houston Street was transformed into a larger than life canvas as street painters, seasoned artist, children, regular Joes and graffiti artists got down and dirty with water-based paint and chalk to create everything from 5 foot murals of famed art a la Van Gogh to freestyle renditions of The Fab Four as part of Artpace’s…
