Sound and the Fury
A week on the scene Case of blues Even by the most conservative estimates, Peter Case has experienced at least four musical careers. As a teenager in the ’60s, he busked his way up and down the east coast playing folk music. In 1975, while in San Francisco, he hooked up with fellow songwriters Jack…
Breaking the narrative mold
Mary Agnes Rodriguez’ paintings take a literal approach to the subject in Changing the Face of Domestic Violence, a group show on view at 1906 Gallery through November 3. Two South Flores shows bridge the figural gap Chances are good that the people who went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 already had a beef with Bush.…
Marvel girl
‘This week’ is an invitation to the complex world of Jean Grae With her third album, Jean Grae – a former Alvin Ailey dancer and South African emcee – invites us deeper into her complex world. This Week is Grae’s attempt to chronicle what she goes through in the course of a typical week. Based…
Artifacts
News and notes from the San Antonio art scene Lifelines Blue Star Contemporary Art Center’s annual Arts & Eats is arguably the most polished of the city’s wine-and-dine galas. The bigtop in the parking lot is ringed with two dozen restaurant booths and numerous liquor dispensers, and the auction inside the gallery is filled with…
Calinvasion
Abstract Rude of Haiku D’Etat One bill that shouldn’t be missed In the hip-hop pantheon, California will forever be linked to gangsta rap. In 1991, N.W.A. released the landmark Efil4zaggin, Ice Cube dropped Death Certificate, and Compton’s Most Wanted debuted with Straight Checkn’Eem. At the same time, in a crowded South Central café called The…
Truth at 24 frames per second
Scenes from Roger & Me, Bush’s Brain, The Corporation, and Control Room. The documentary enjoys a new golden age, but reality is as elusive as ever “Reality,” quipped Vladimir Nabokov, “is a word that means nothing without quotation marks.” The meaning of “reality” has recently been stretched within the frames of different lenses. While what…
All ears
When songs attack! Ever had a good song go bad on you? Say you’re trying to get to sleep after a stressful day, you’re trying to clear your head and drift off, but that song you thought was so great in the afternoon simply will not evacuate your conscious mind? They Might Be Giants were…
Time is on their side
screens-primer1_330.jpg First-time filmmaker Shane Carruth brings a Twilight Zone sensibility to a modern problem If only all backyard films were as good as Primer, Texas first-timer Shane Carruth’s feature that took the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year. Part of the fun is that Carruth has created a low-budget DIY movie about two 30-something…
New reviews, small screen, and special screenings
Film screenings coming to movie theaters, television, and local film festivals New reviews When Will I Be Loved? Dir. & writ. James Toback; feat. Neve Campbell, Dominic Chianese, Frederick Weller (R) To echo Two Girls and a Guy, his 1997 study of sexual rivalry as a three-way chess game in which uncourtly queens can outlive…
Mad cow
‘Grand Champion’ needs to be put down Finally, a kids’ flick with subliminal themes of drugs, theft, and castration. Just kidding. It’s appropriate that the prize-winning steer in Grand Champion is named Hokey, because this film is hokier than hokey. At 93 minutes, it’s pokey. It’s hokey-pokey. The story puts its right foot in the…
Armchair Cinephile
Hubcaps over Hollywood Some thought the day would never come: After numerous pushed-back release dates – I think it was first announced in the ’90s – Tim Burton’s magnificent Ed Wood (Buena Vista) is finally in stores this week. It’s worth the wait. The movie is exceptional in Burton’s filmography, one in which the filmmaker’s…
Recent reviews
Bright Young Things Dir. Stephen Fry; writ. Fry, based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh; feat. Emily Mortimer, Stephen Campbell Moore, James McAvoy, David Tennant, Dan Aykroyd, Jim Broadbent, Simon Callow (R) Evelyn Waugh’s novel Vile Bodies, on which Stephen Fry, in his directorial debut, based Bright Young Things, is the kind of foreign import…
Pin the crown on the donkey
(Photo illustration by Julie Barnett) Once divided, newly unified local Dems working for Kerry College students from several local campuses converged in the parking lot of a gas station at the intersection of Roosevelt Avenue and Loop 410 last Saturday. Their mission: to decorate about 20 cars with Kerry/Edwards flags, bumper stickers, and soap-on-the-windows slogans…
Panini dream
From front: Prosciutto di San Daniele with burrata cheese, tomato, fresh basil and olive oil; Nicolo panini with parma cured ham, brie cheese, arugula, tomato and truffle oil; Bresaola panini with cured sliced beef, Parmesan cheese, arugula, olive oil, lemon, and pepper. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) Il Panino’s smart Italian sandwiches transcend their American digs…
Short on justice
Quanah Parker is the Libertarian candidate for the Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 2. It’s slim pickin’s for Democrats on the state judicial slate Texas Democratic Party Chief of Staff Mike Lavigne believes state Supreme Court candidate and longtime Democratic activist David Van Os can win his race for Place 9. Most of the major…
The politics of food
It’s not as catchy as “the global test,” but hunger, organic foods, and GMOs are political issues The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they feed themselves. — Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste (1825) Although the politics of food isn’t overtly a campaign issue for either major presidential candidate, food issues…
Dum-duh-duh-dum
The story you are about to read is true. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent. On October 17, KLRN hosted a candidates’ debate for several state, federal, and local races. Afterward, a fracas allegedly broke out between Republican challenger Jim Valdez and Democratic incumbent State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, and…
Versatile friend of the vegetarians, nutritional yeasts can be a silent partner or a tasty condiment
Meatless in steer city Contrary to popular belief, brewers yeast and nutritional yeast are not the same thing. True, both are inactive – meaning you can’t use them to leaven bread or ferment beer – and both are an excellent source of protein, folic acid, and vitamin B. In fact, two tablespoons of either will…
All You Can Eat
News and notes from the San Antonio food scene Opening soon: Living downtown offers many amenities, but a grocery is not one of them. Enter Roland Polanco who is aiming to reintroduce the traditional neighborhood grocery feel with his new business, Delivery Market, in the 700 block of South Alamo, next to Azúca. It is…
A water race
It’s not sexy, but the EAA Board contest is important You have to look for it, even exercise a little patience, but toward the bottom of the second page of the election ballot is the line for the Edwards Aquifer Authority Board race. Although the contests for president, Congress, Texas legislature, constables, and judges are…
Complicated life
Avril Lavigne: a teen idol growing up in public Avril Lavigne talks about false rumors, guy fans, and small-town Ontario One of the hottest entertainment stories circulating at the moment goes like this: Canadian teen-idol rocker Avril Lavigne recently dyed her hair blond because she’s desperately vying for the role of Courtney Love in a…
The heat is on
As voting begins, environmental groups criticize VIA initiative Mass transit is a concept that historically the environmental community has supported, but two local groups said last week that they oppose VIA’s ballot initiative for a sales tax increase. Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas and the Bexar County Green Party are criticizing the measure, which asks…
Patriot’s heart
American Music Club Mark Eitzel on America and its greatest Music Club The biggest thrill of SXSW 2004 was, amid all the ho-hum reunion and comeback shows, seeing one in which the band sounded as vital as it had been the first time around: The reunited American Music Club was potent and affecting. Now there’s…
