Bob Dylan: 'Tempest'
Time Out of Mind (1997) started the best chapter of Bob Dylan’s late career, thus setting a new, unbelievable standard for himself and his contemporaries — that of the rare legend who keeps getting better with time. Love and Theft (2001) and Modern Times (2006) were increasingly strong, and the fine Together Through Life (2009)…
Rep. Buck McKeon makes secret weekend visit to Lackland
Advocates fighting against military sexual assault bristled at a secret Sunday visit by GOP Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, to Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. The Hill newspaper reported late Sunday that McKeon made his surprise three-hour Lackland visit to talk with officers, enlisted airman and some 30 recruits. McKeon…
Gary Clark Jr. to perform at Arneson Theater Oct. 11, new album Oct. 23
The hottest bluesman on the planet returns to San Antonio on October 11, with a must-see show at the Arneson River Theater (418 Villita Street, doors at 7pm). Still riding high after his acclaimed The Bright Lights EP, the Austin-based guitarist/singer-songwriter will release his long-awaited full-length debut on October 23 (but he might release it…
Pick of the Day: Swing Nite with the Biscuit Grabbers
Austin-based Western swing and jazz cats the Biscuit Grabbers (Huck Johnson, Enrico Garcia, and Matt Thomas) land at Sam’s for Swing Nite. San Antonio Swing Dance Society members instruct dancers of all skill levels from 7-8 p.m., the trio takes the stage around 8:30 p.m., and DJ Lil’ Bit spins during the breaks. $9-$10; 7pm Mon,…
‘Selena Karaoke’ now available
Produced by Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and co-produced by Suzette Q. Arriaga (Selena’s sister), here’s the new, authorized Selena Karaoke album released by EMI/Capitol Latin on August 28.
Daddy Yankee at the People en Español Festival (video)
Daddy Yankee (who, unlike Luis Miguel, didn’t give photographers and videographers any crap) opens his set at the Alamodome’s People en Español Festival on September 2. — E.L.
Luis Miguel at the People en Español Festival (video)
Minutes after Luis Miguel asked for all photographers and video cameras to be removed from the pit, he finally came out onstage last Sunday night at the Alamodome. This was the beginning of his two-hour plus set.
Pick of the Day: Fotoseptiembre: “It Might Have Been Midnight When Last We Talked”
With a title that borrows a line from Dean Young’s poem “Centrifuge,” Fotoseptiembre’s “It Might Have Been Midnight When Last We Talked” unites two accomplished night photographers who create arresting images employing long exposures and painting with light. Curator of the traveling exhibition “Darkness, Darkness” and author of the Focal Press book Night Photography —…
Blessed Sacrament Academy–changing to meet the challenges in San Antonio
In a city as big as San Antonio, there are many community focal points–places that draw people together. Some are neighborhood centers, some are churches, some are schools. Down on Mission Road, there’s Blessed Sacrament Academy (BSA), a ministry of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament. From their Southside home, this ministry…
Pick of the Day: Puro Conjuntazzo
Before you put on your hat and boots, let me warn you: this conjunto party is, uh, different, but it should be a lot of fun. Qué Padre (pictured, with Chuck Hernández on a stand-up bass that at times becomes a cello) and Eric Rosales (classical guitar) have a crazy mix of hip-hop, boleros, rancheras,…
Daniela Bobadilla on having Charlie Sheen as a dad in ‘Anger Management’
Daniela Bobadilla stars as Sam Goodson in the FX comedy series “Anger Management.” In the TV comedy series Anger Management on FX, actress Daniela Bobadilla (Desperate Housewives) stars as Sam Goodson, the 13-year-old daughter of an anger management therapist played by Charlie Sheen. During our interview, Bobadilla, 19, talked about her role on the show…
Pick of the Day: The Nightmare River Band
Alt-country boys The Nightmare River Band are bringing their raucous party to town “whether you like it or not.” Made up of core members Matt Krahula (vocals, guitar, ukulele) and Seth Faulk (drums, vocals) along with Jason Wexler, Paul Madison, and Bobby Pawlings, the New York-based band stirs “foot-stomping rhythms, full arrangements, and a harmonious…
Castro as partisan attack dog
Stirring. Historic. A speech that’ll be remembered for decades. Safe to say the jury’s still out on all that. But as snippets of Mayor Julián Castro’s speech at the Democratic National Convention began to leak hours before his big showing beneath the bright lights of Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena, it was clear San Antonio…
Pick of the Day: Fotoseptiembre: “Alien Contexts: Mexico and the US”
Scott Sherer, Associate Professor of Art History at UTSA, curates Fotoseptiembre’s “Alien Contexts: Mexico and the US,” an intense look at life on the border through then lenses of five accomplished artists. SA’s own Anne Walace takes an experimental approach to documenting the border’s complexities and dangers; David Taylor (Tuscon) presents border monuments as “silent…
Bottle & Tap: Get on the bus
Get on the bus Boneshakers bicycle-friendly pub, a champion of Texas craft beer, wants to take its customers to the places where the good stuff is made. Each month, Boneshakers will fill a bus and hit two Texas breweries for tours and tastings leaving from its new location by the Hays Street Bridge at 306…
The Flying Saucer: Happy days are here again
There’s a good buzz on at Flying Saucer ’round six on a Monday evening. It might always be this way (and the buzz might often mount to a roar), but I prefer to think that the crowd had something to do with $3 pint night. Or pint day, as the place opens at 11 a.m.…
How judges, probate attorneys, and guardianship orgs abuse the vulnerable
Mary Dahlman’s problem is all about money. A lot of people want at the estimated $20 million trust Dahlman’s deceased mother left to her and her brother. Over the past year, a flock of local probate attorneys have already drained nearly half a million dollars in fees out of that trust. And they want more.…
Nutty for coconut water
A recent blurb in the food files mentioned that coconut water is one of the trendiest ways to spend money this season. We’ve been picking up cans of the stuff in Asian markets for years, and found ourselves wondering if the high-premium labels added more than fancy packaging. We discovered that it’s not what’s added,…
Alvin Lee: 'Still on the Road to Freedom'
Forty years after Ten Years After made a name for itself at Woodstock, guitarist Alvin Lee returns with a sequel to his career-making 1973 solo album. While his chops are as finely honed as ever, it lacks its predecessor’s all-star line-up, which robs it of a lot of its punch. The lyrics are heartfelt odes…
Alanis Morissette: 'Havoc and Bright Lights'
To enjoy Alanis Morissette’s latest, it’s best to pretend Jagged Little Pill never happened. With years and enlightenment, Morissette has lightened up considerably since that blistering 1995 debut, swapping angst for Enya, bitterness for serenity. Her layered, polished, almost inspirational pop has its moments here, notably with the piano-driven “Havoc,” and her familiar attitude surges…
¡ASK A MEXICAN!
Dear Mexican: One of your readers wrote a question about “DREAMers,” and I have a thought on the subject. This is not a criticism, although I have criticized your column before. I know that most Hispanics in the United States are in favor of the DREAM Act, but what if this is a set up…
Vexler's 'August: Osage County' production resembles theater's finest
August in Bexar County saw (at last!) the local premiere of Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County, the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of dysfunction in the heartland. Now, this may not be the most profound American play of the last 10 years, but it’s unquestionably the most, um, American American play of the last 10 years: in…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Life tests you all the time. Sometimes its prods and queries are hard and weird; they come at you with non-stop intensity. On other occasions the riddles and lessons are pretty fun and friendly, and provide you with lots of slack to figure them out. In all cases, life’s tests offer…
Whiskey Ships set sail with Soft Enterprise
Diverse elements collide peacefully and quite pleasantly on Soft Enterprise, the latest effort from San Antonio songwriter Mike Chapa’s Whiskey Ships project. As on his first album (2010’s Love Aqueduct), we get power chords, meandering keys, surf vibes, hand claps, and a deadpan delivery reminiscent (but not wholly indebted to) Ben Gibbard’s early Death Cab…
Mike Birbiglia survives it all in 'Sleepwalk with Me'
At first I thought it was going to be a bad attempt to present Annie Hall in a contemporary way. Everything was there — the odd couple (in this case, a slob who doesn’t want to marry the perfect girl), the talking to the camera constantly reminding us we’re in a movie, the pain-in-the-ass parents,…
Taco Taco Franchises in North Carolina
Taco Taco Café, nationally lauded by Bon Appetit magazine and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network, is expanding. But not in San Antonio, or even Texas. The second Taco Taco location will be in … North Carolina. Franchise development company Fransmart plans to open the NC restaurant in early 2013 and will open…
Why 'The Next' is the new 'American Idol'
Go On (8pm Tue, NBC) On Friends, Matthew Perry created one of the funniest TV characters of all time in the neurotic quipster Chandler Bing. Perry hasn’t clicked in any starring vehicle since then, but not for lack of trying. After the doomed Mr. Sunshine and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, he returns in…
Strung Out: SoCal punk heroes revisit two key albums
Punk’s not dead, but it’s getting frightfully close to retirement age. SoCal hardcore legends Strung Out weren’t even part of the first wave of L.A. punk — even though he formed the band as a teenager, frontman Jason Cruz was a decade too late to count the likes of X or Suicidal Tendencies as peers.…
Strung Out again: SoCal punk for your earholes
Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues (Fat Wreck Chords) ★★★★ (out of 5 stars) Strung Out’s second album – and the first of two they’ll be playing in their entirety on their current tour – is definitely their finest work, and pretty much anything a fan of ’90s pop-punk could want. Jake Kiley’s buzzsaw rhythm guitar perfectly…
Gigantes Tour: The Latin fever in SA continues
MARC ANTHONY Unlike his famous former flame Jennifer López, singer-actor Marc Anthony has solid musical credentials. By the time he released his first (and best) salsa album (1993’s Otra nota) he was already established as an English-language dance-oriented Nuyorican. He was looked upon with suspicion by the old timers when he switched to salsa, but…
Fotoseptiembre offerings ignite the Instituto Cultural de Mexico
"Mixed Metaphors," a suite of seven exhibits curated by Fotoseptiembre’s founder and director Michael Mehl, presents elaborately constructed works by photographers from Switzerland, Mexico, the U.S., and Taiwan. Susan Burnstine uses simple handmade cameras to capture dark dreamscapes; Gabriel Figueroa Flores blends images sourced from diverse locales to fabricate towers of fantasy; subverting the mundane…
PRI radio host Ira Glass on confronting the challenges of screenwriting
Don’t hold your breath waiting for a movie studio to green-light a project based on the dreams of This American Life host/producer Ira Glass. Unless you’re interested in watching a film about a stressed-out Public Radio International on-air personality, Glass admits his subconscious is mostly unimaginative. “My dreams fall into two variations,” Glass, 53, told…
Agent Ribbons: not your average two-piece band
I always imagined Agent Ribbons as that seldom-seen two-piece drum/guitar band that surprises at every turn. The partnership you expect something from, but when they start playing, they bring more than you bargained for and force you to pay attention. When I mention this to Natalie Gordon (vocals, guitar), she laughs loudly. "You totally called…
Marcus Rubio: 'Hello Dallas'
It’s not often one comes across a track that earns a 10-plus minute runtime. Marcus Rubio has four of them on his latest effort (and last Gospel Choir of Pillows release). But this is a record generous with surprises, all of the good variety. Foremost may be Rubio’s uncanny flair for mixing styles. Chamber pop,…
Circa Survive: 'Violent Waves'
For their fourth album, Circa Survive have gone completely DIY, leaving Atlantic Records to do everything on their own. Violent Waves is arguably the band’s most subtle album. On first listen, you might not hear a “Get Out” or “I Felt Free” as on Blue Sky Noise or any of their songs that were instant…
A restaurant pocket book that works
There are many restaurant guides in print, but this one loses the often snarky tones and flippant comments of entertainment writers, replacing the effulgence of style with clean information and an organization of same that works. These aren’t just writers gassing on about restaurants, these are food experts who can write. Best of all, their…
Pick of the Day: “Texas Performers Under the Big Top”
Take advantage of the Witte’s Free Tuesdays (3-8 pm weekly) and step right up to “Texas Performers Under the Big Top,” a window into the Hertzberg Circus Collection, the nation’s oldest public archive of circus ephemera. The historical exhibit explores Texas’ role as an important stop for touring troupes and revisits the lives and times…
