Live & Local Preview: Sons of Sancho
Saturday, we’re headed to the appropriately named Retox (1031 Patricia) to watch Sons of Sancho perform. Cover is $3 and the show begins at 10 p.m. Joining them will be Corpus Christi’s Sun Salutation for a some red hot Son on Sun action. Oh, Retox, you know exactly what I like. I’d also like it…
On the Street: Rolling the 7-Sided Die, the MPO,
“Pardon me, but do you really play D&D?” (A question I didn’t ask Tim Duncan as I was sitting next to him at Jamba Juice) Letter(s) (to the On the Street Penthouse Suite) Don’t Come Back to the Five and Dime While I was out of town for a reunion for my High School intramural…
SAAF Shout-Out
Since 1986, when it began as a volunteer-run hospice in the back room of a bar owned by Robert “Papa Bear” Edwards, the San Antonio AIDS Foundation has offered a lifeline for those suffering from HIV/AIDS. SAAF operates a residential hospice, offers a hot meal program (42,000 meals annually served in the SAAF House dining…
The Real McCain
By Gilbert Garcia If you throw out John McCain’s surprise mortgage-buyout plan, last night’s presidential debate was the exact same debate we saw two weeks ago, albeit with candidates pacing the stage and staring into the grills of their Nashville questioners. I’ll say this: McCain’s grimacing snark-attack routine may not be pretty, but it sure…
Grupo Fantasma
Release Date: 2008-10-08 An enormous 2007 clearly set the stage for another fruitful year from Grupo Fantasma. From their critically acclaimed performances with Prince in London to a national airing on PBS’s “Austin City Limits,” the band continues to expand their musical horizons and deliver groundbreaking live performances. Their trademark sound has translated comprehensively on…
22nd Annual Gruene Music & Wine Fest
Release Date: 2008-10-08 Celebrate Texas Wine Month at the Gruene Music & Wine Fest, a three-day affair that pairs exemplary food and wine with music from the Lone Star State. Saturday’s tasting event features a craft market and over 40 Texas vintners and food producers, while Sunday’s music fest presents authentic Texas artists at Gruene…
Mystic Zoorific
Release Date: 2008-10-08 Animal lovers can get their fill of exotic critters at the Mystic Zoorific benefit, where visitors can meet and take snapshots with a wallaby, hedgehog, and snake courtesy of Zoomagination. The family-friendly affair also features mingling magicians performing their favorite tricks and DJ Freddie Modern mixing dance music on the floor. Grand-prize…
Carver Master Class w. Ghanaian Drummer
Release Date: 2008-10-08 The Carver presents a class with Ghanaian drummer Jerry Kwashie Dzokoto, a djembe soloist for the percussion group Djembe Kan. After being exposed to Ghanaian drum and dance as a young child, Dzokoto began his formal training as a percussionist at age 5. Since then he has studied under various master drummers…
SMART Fair & Music Festival
Release Date: 2008-10-08 The South Flores Arts District hosts the second annual SMART Fair, a Current-sponsored, family-oriented event that combines live music, visual art, children’s workshops, and performance art. SMART stands for Supporting Multiple Arts Resources Together, and this year LoneStar Studios is doubling the scope of the music portion with 16 musical acts performing…
Helios Creed w. Shitcity Dream Girls
Release Date: 2008-10-08 Formed in the San Francisco bay area in 1976 by a singing drummer named Damon Edge, Chrome’s sound was completed with a guitar-torturing maniac named Helios Creed. The band recorded a series of LPs during the new wave/post-punk explosion that explore the dark state of mind only hinted at by ’60s psychedelia,…
International Accordion Festival
Release Date: 2008-10-08 Surprisingly, Extraordinary Rendition, this year’s bright multicultural debut release from Rupa & the April Fishes takes its name from America’s black-ops practice of transporting prisoners to countries with looser human-rights laws in order to torture them. Fortunately, finding a connection between this sexy globalist dance-off incorporating French jazz, mariachi, Roma-tinged folk pop,…
Rock ’n’ roll will never die
Release Date: 2008-10-08 Rock ’n’ roll is alive and well at the Trap, a loud bar in a remarkably quiet part of town. Located at the intersection of Pecan Valley and Southcross, the Trap is off the beaten path. The Southeast Side has always intrigued me and is probably the most culturally diverse area of…
Jobriath/Creaures of the Street
Jobriath/Creaures of the Street Composer: Jobriath Label: Collector’s Choice Release Date: 2008-10-08 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording “I’d do anything for you or to you,” Jobriath snarls on opener “Take Me I’m Yours” — a perfect introduction to the man ridiculed in 1973 as an overhyped, overcalculated glam-rock flop, and credited now as the first openly,…
Matador Singles ’08
Matador Singles ’08 Composer: Jay Reatard Label: Matador Release Date: 2008-10-08 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Tennessee’s gritty garage-rock sweetheart Jay Reatard (formerly of the short-lived Bad Times, the Reatards, and Lost Sounds) has culled his copious catalog and fashioned his inclination for raucous punk into the much-anticipated 13-song Matador Singles ’08. Containing the 7-inch singles…
The Way I See It
The Way I See It Composer: Raphael Saadiq Label: Pookie Entertainment Release Date: 2008-10-08 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording There’s nothing inherently wrong with trying to recreate the spirit of classic R&B. We all love Motown, Stax, and Philly soul, and wouldn’t it be nice to discover a batch of new songs recalling what was so…
Religulous
Religulous Director: Larry Charles Screenwriter: Larry Charles Cast: Bill Maher, Tal Bachman, Larry Charles Release Date: 2008-10-08 Studio: Lionsgate Rated: R Genre: Film Heaven knows, the world could stand to take a good, hard look at its track record of integrating religious faith and earthly affairs. But would you expect that thoughtful analysis to come…
The Duchess
Critic’s Pick The Duchess Director: Saul Dibb Screenwriter: Saul Dibb Cast: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell, Charlotte Rampling Release Date: 2008-10-08 Studio: Paramount Rated: PG-13 Genre: Film Marie Antoinette sans the Strokes. The imprisonment of European female royalty — the arranged marriages, the constant surveillance, the pressure for propriety — is a…
Dave Attell
Release Date: 2008-10-08 Named one of the 25 funniest people in America by Entertainment Weekly, Dave Attell often uses his infatuation with alcohol, drinking alcohol, and what happens after you drink alcohol to anchor his set. But it isn’t his material that makes his show so great — it’s his delivery. While jokes about drunken…
Final dog days
My dog Nemo just turned 16. According to the old Lorne Greene Alpo commercials “that’s like 112 to you and me.” People who meet Nemo often remark on his name. They assume we’re big Finding Nemo fans, but my Nemo is 11 years older than the motherless clownfish. He was actually named for the Winsor…
S’Nuff film
If you mention this column to me in person, I entitle you, the reader, to punch me as hard as you can, anytime between now and when you finish reading this sentence. It’s the least I can do, considering I neglected to tell you last week about Troma Tuesdays at Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes (1255 SW…
¡Ask a Mexican!
Dear Readers: I don’t like to rerun columns ’cause it makes me look like a lazy Mexican, but I realize that, as my column invades foreign terrain (Chattanooga! Columbia, South Carolina! Steamboat Springs, Colorado!), new readers might not understand some of my commandments. Following, then, are the two most-frequently asked questions about the Mexican’s methodology:…
High-school rivalry
It’s easy to lump Gossip Girl, last year’s hot-as-hell teen drama, in with 90210, this year’s (and also 1990’s) hot-as-hell teen drama. They both portray the highest of high society, chronicling hopelessly rich prep-school kids and their mostly horrid parents. Having never had to deal with mundane struggles like how to find money for school…
Electric Roma
Going into this week’s International Accordion Fest (and beyond), it’d be helpful for “world music” fans to make a little permanent mental adjustment: Take all the good, funky associations you have with the word “gypsy” and shift them over to the label “Roma.” Then ignore it when promoters, record labels, and the musicians themselves sometimes…
Cinema Obscura
Fact: The guy who made Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles won an Oscar before the guy who made Taxi Driver and The Last Temptation of Christ. Think about it for a minute. You can assume the Academy never saw the heroin-shooting, freaky-sex-fiending puppets in Feebles, and they probably hadn’t even heard of Bad Taste,…
THE SOUND & THE FURY
Most bands like to believe that their music is too idiosyncratic and original to be readily classified. In the case of Austin’s Fatback Circus, it’s actually true. This veteran quartet is dark and heavy enough to appeal to the contemporary metal crowd, but they’re all over the place — in a good way. As demonstrated…
Limitless communication, in 160 characters or less
Oh, hello there. Would you pardon me for a moment while I respond to this text message from a friend? Greatest apologies. And — done. Sorry again, but I just love sending text messages from my mobile phone to communicate with colleagues and family members, moreso even than placing voice calls. Don’t you? Apparently you…
ACL hangovers
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today David Byrne & Brian Eno (Todo Mundo) With hopes that everyone who made the trip to the Austin City Limits fest has recovered from any sunburn, hangover, or fried-food-related illness that resulted, let’s tidy up some ACL-related odds and ends. One of the week’s big treats was a spin-off…
Dog is my stage director
People lined up through the electronic sliding doors to the entrance of the Stieren Theater in the Ruth Taylor Fine Arts building, waiting to buy tickets for the play Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, written by Bert V. Royal and directed by Roberto Prestigiacomo. I was glad I made reservations through the…
Altus
Local musicians — turn down the damn volume already. Live, Altus hits harder than the Clear Channel-friendly tracks on their MySpace page would indicate, burying their catchy hooks in snarling power chords and a grumbling low-end rhythm, but the overbearing amplifiers (a problem common at small-venue performances) damn-near deep-six Steph McVey’s should-be-soaring vocals. Many punkish…
Off the hook
In a letter dated September 26, 2008, the Texas Rangers threw former City of San Antonio Telecommunications Manager John Foddrill a long overdue rope. The 57-year-old grandfather of three has spent the past two and a half years trying to convince a host of law-enforcement agencies to investigate his former employer, the City’s Information Technology…
“Film School” — Shadows & Tall Trees
Act One: in which a pseudo-classically plucked guitar riff meets cute with a twisted neo-primitive drum pattern. They make for an awkward couple at first, but soon discover an idiosyncratic chemistry. Just as they seem settled, though, distorted and increasingly desperate-sounding vocals push into the foreground and spur the climax. The drums quicken to semi-automatic…
The QueQue
Reasons to be Cheerful (Part 4): After a week gorging on punk rock origin stories — blame it on Gay Fiesta, we don’t know — Que2 has been flapping about the choppy waters of stillborn heroes hoping to strike a happy chord. Femicides continue unabated in Juarez: No, that wasn’t the news we sought. Germ…
Queering the Movimiento
When bleached-blond Danny De La Paz rollerbladed onto a minimalist stage at Our Lady of the Lake University on August 13, 2005, wearing a glass tiara, a muscle T-shirt, and tight, bulging shorts while Brian Adams’ campy anthem “Heaven” played in the background, you knew this wasn’t gonna be just another Chicano gangbanger story. The…
Northside nailbiter
Chip Haass was busy studying for mid-terms when electoral politics came crashing through his door. Haass, 31, had enrolled at St. Mary’s University Law School last fall, shortly after completing his second term as a District 10 councilmember. Three months into his first semester, Haass learned that veteran Bexar County Commissioner Lyle Larson would give…
Bathhouse babe in the woods
Fair warning to readers of this article: It contains mass amounts of sex talk. Specifically, I’ll be discussing gay sex, bathhouses, condoms, and STDs. If this bothers you, maybe you should get over it. Frankly, if the gay community weren’t so afraid to voice these issues, everyone would be a lot better off. Bathhouses, a…
Oyez, oyez!
This week, the justices of the Supreme Court don their robes and reclaim their seats on the bench to open the Court’s fall session. The first week alone promises enough controversy and mayhem to rival any TV late-night lineup. Following their summer recess, the gang of nine will hear oral arguments on issues ranging from…
Our father(s)
Jeff Lutes is a licensed psychotherapist and current executive director of Soulforce, a direct-action, gay-rights nonprofit dedicated to challenging the too-often intolerant language and policies of organized religion in the United States. While the nine-year organization always launches its campaigns in the hopes of entering open dialogue, rebuffed approaches often morph into public protests and…
My Sweet Lord
The Warhol social scene of 1970s New York was a source of intrigue for many — gay or straight, free-spirited or unadventurous — because human beings are inherently curious. The primal desire to delve into the unknown is one of the central aspects of gender-bending, whether you’re the cross-dresser venturing on stage for the first…
It was a very weird year
Out of the thousands of years of recorded time, very few dates stand out as more than merely random digits. 1066, 1492, 1776, 1789, 1848, 1989, 2001 — each was an annus mirabilis, a wondrous year of extraordinary events. (A few world historical jerks stand out as anus mirabilis, but that is another matter). It…
Nymphs in the garden
Leave it to an artist from Iceland to bring out the power of San Antonio’s green space. Horizons, by acclaimed sculptor Steinunn Thórarinsdóttir, in association with the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center’s Art In The Garden series at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, is an exhibit that will not only help one appreciate what we…
Hand-job puppets need love, too
Absolutely the most clever aspect of Avenue Q — the surprise 2004 Tony Award winner for best musical — is how faithful it remains to the form of a bouncy children’s show while radically changing the content. So while we indeed have the advertised evening of muppets, anagrams, and counting songs, we’ve also an evening…
Pozole party
When I first tasted pozole in Mexico, I’d never heard of it. My husband had read about a place in San Miguel de Allende that was famous for their pozole verde, and as he tried to explain it to me — “It’s a Mexican soup made with pork, chiles, and hominy” — my mind kept…
Dear Uncle Mat
I really feel like I’m in the wrong here and hope that you can set me straight — well, not literally. I met my boyfriend about eight months ago. He is the funniest, most charming, and unbelievably perfect man who may have ever walked the planet. I am certain I was in love on the…
Amuse-BOUCHE
The September 28 FUNraiser for San Anto ice-cream man Justin Arecchi was a success, reports his wife, Fiona. More than 300 friends showed up to wish him well – including old bandmates and travelers from as far as L.A. and Chicago – and raise funds to cover medical expenses and loss of income. Arecchi, whose…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Writing in The New York Times, Paul Krugman waxed snide as he described the mindset of the U.S. Congress. It “has always had a soft spot for ‘experts’ who tell members what they want to hear,” he wrote. It’s very important, Aries, that in the coming week you avoid that kind…
‘Shot’ at the big time
As he stood over yet another dead animal during a sophomore biology lab, Steve Acevedo made a decision. Becoming a doctor would probably guarantee he’d live the good life monetarily, but he knew he wasn’t going to find the artistic outlet he needed studying medicine. “We were dissecting animals every week, and I just lost…
Nuke-fight Whack-A-Moley
Greg Harman gharman@sacurrent.com The ad is scare-your-pants-off serious. I don’t know what the budget for the campaign sits at or where this sucker ran, but it certainly was on par â?? or approaching parity with â?? those fullpage “filthy coal” ads that preceded the Guv Perry ass-kicking protests that shot down coal-plant fast-tracking in the…
Mas Agua
by Jeff Turner
Got scooters?
Maybe it’s the Vespa paraphernalia plastered all over the city or owning a pair of goggles that never get used, but scooters may just be the next mode of easy-to-manuveour-cheap-on-gas-neat-o-looking ride of the future if this economic crises continues. After all, what’s not to love about the wind in your hair, cheapER gas, and tons…
