Does the name Ahmed al-Jumaili ring a bell? Probably not. Perhaps the names Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi sound more familiar. The two men were shot and killed by police in a Dallas suburb just over a week ago, when they opened fire outside a controversial cartoon exhibit of the Prophet Mohammad organized by hate-monger…
PechaKucha comes back to San Antonio May 26. The Arneson River Theatre (418 Villita Street) will host event beginning at 7:30 p.m., kicking off the festivities with happy hour. Japanese for ‘chit-chat,’ PechaKucha brings together some of the most creative minds in San Antonio. Each slideshow is 20 slides 20 seconds long and anyone can do…
Celebrating the sounds of the SA music scene, Freetail Brewing Co. and Empire Theatre have teamed up for TwoTen Empire, a local music series starting off on the right note. Christening the series debut is The Lost Project with special guest Pop Pistol. Doubling as the release party for their first full-length album, Far From Where You Are,…
Memorial Day is right around the corner, yet grey skies still threaten next week’s forecast. If the rain doesn’t let up, break out your biggest umbrella and fire up the grill anyway. These recipes are too good to forfeit to bad weather. 1. Grilled Fish Tacos with Lime Cabbage Slaw Not so much spicy as…
Thursday, May 21: If you have ever dreamed of the combination of beer, bacon and bingo, then Alamo Beer has made your dreams a reality. The company will host the event “Beer, Bacon & Bingo” at the Alamo Beer Hall, and, of course, will offer the sale of cold beer per usual. Bacon, including candy…
Spurs small forward/cyborg/Popovich muse Kawhi Leonard earned All-Defensive First Team honors today for the first time in his career. Leonard, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, was named to the second team last year. This year he was the leading vote-getter, finishing 13 votes ahead of Golden State forward Draymond Green. Tim Duncan snuck…
Hillary Clinton is coming to Texas. But she’s staying north of San Antonio. Clinton, the former secretary of state, will hold fundraisers in Austin and Dallas as she swings through Texas on Wednesday, June 3 and Thursday, June 4. Clinton is the odds-on favorite to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Her only competition so far…
Whether one would consider 365 days of barbecue a heavenly gift or a diabolical curse to the digestive track, fledgling author Johnny Fugitt did what probably any Texan would’ve done if offered — left his job and took a year hiatus to take a cross-country road trip to discover the best and accidentally stumbled on…
As this year’s Fiesta festivities have only recently wrapped up, the next year’s worth of planning kicks off for San Antonio’s signature event. San Antonio, you have the chance to win $5000 and all the fame Fiesta has to offer. The Fiesta San Antonio Commission is seeking entries for their official 2016 poster contest. Next year…
San Antonio, worry no more. SAPD may soon offer a comfortable place to meet all your ‘Casual Encounter’ needs. Meeting for a Craigslist exchange can often be a scary experience, but meeting in a police department parking lot could eliminates that anxiety. City Councilman Mike Gallagher has proposed a program listing several police substations throughout…
**UPDATE 5/22/15 7:23 p.m. Pablo Martinez called us and briefly discussed his hiring as new executive director of San Anto Cultural Arts. He spoke about the move being “as life coming full circle” since he’s originally from SA and is now returning. He starts June 9. He said he had actually been trying to get…
Update 12:16 p.m.: Story updated to clarify Martin Lewis’ role with the Patron Motorcycle Club. A former San Antonio Police Department detective is among the nearly 200 arrests following a fatal biker brawl in Waco on Sunday. Martin Lewis, a 32-year veteran of the SAPD, is charged with engaging in organized crime — the charge…
Ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft haven’t fully operated in San Antonio since April, but cab operators want customers to think twice about using them again should they make a comeback. The TX Rides For Hire Campaign targets ride-sharing services’ background check policies, claiming that they are insufficient and put consumers at risk. Ed…
Allow us to present the debut of We Leave at Midnight’s “Everyone Laughs At Their Own Mistakes,” a new cut from the San Anto outfit’s forthcoming EP Terror Flora. Like previous tastes from the record, it’s a rich bite of pop flavor, with singer/guitarist John Daly and crew leading the way through an insane number…
Texas marijuana reform activists are busy balancing a small victory with the passage of a limited medical marijuana bill with major shortcomings in the law, which allows the use of Cannabidiol oils for the treatment of seizures. First off, the law doesn’t allow the use of whole-plant marijuana. Cannabidiol oil, or CBD oil, is a…
In one of his early acts as Texas Governor, Greg Abbott made it a point to protect the oil and gas industry from pesky cities who say “not in my backyard!” And it’s all Denton’s fault for standing up for itself. Last November, a group called Frack Free Denton convinced nearly 59 percent of local…
**Update 5/19/15 12:31 p.m. The story has been edited to reflect that the website for the anti-Uber campaign is now working. We’ll provide another update once we receive comment from The Mach 1 Group, the PR company representing the campaign. We’ve also reached out to Uber for comment, but have yet to hear back. A…
Back for year two, the San Antonio Current presents our bitchin’, free concert series at the Arneson River Theater. Teaming up with Coors Light, we’ve prepared a show every third Tuesday of the month through the summer, in coordination with the city’s free-parking Downtown Tuesday initiative. Tonight, the series begins in hip-hop form with Carlton…
Don’t make them say they told you so. It may be a dreaded time of the year for Texas drivers, but the state apparently sees no other way around it. Starting today and for the next two weeks, the Texas Department of Transportation will be conducting its annual “click it or ticket” crackdown. Beyond the…
Update (1:13 p.m. Tuesday): The legislation officially passed a third reading and now the bill officially heads to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk. The original story continues below. ******** Medical marijuana could be legal in Texas, sort of. The Texas House of Representatives voted 96 to 34 to approve the second reading of a Senate bill…
Quick kids, buy all the e-cigarettes you can! I’m joking, of course. But newly-passed legislation will likely soon cut minors in Texas out of the e-cigarette market. The Texas Senate sent a measure to the governor today that makes it illegal to sell e-cigarettes to minors. The House passed the bill last week. E-cigarettes, also…
Jared Padalecki, who stars in Supernatural, a long-running cult horror/fantasy show on The CW, has reemerged on Twitter today after posting a pair of distressing tweets on Friday asking his fans for support. The San Antonio native cancelled of a scheduled appearance at a fan convention in Rome last week, indicating he had a “desperate and…
Monday, May 18 Jim Cullum Jazz Band Playing the music of King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Bix Beiderbecke, cornetist Jim Cullum is a leader among a growing community of trad jazz players. Free, 7pm, Tucker’s Kozy Korner, 1338 E. Houston, (210) 320-2192 Monday, May 18 Small World Led by drummer Kyle Keener and…
The Obama administration announced today that it will ban the transfer of some federal military-grade equipment to local law enforcement agencies. But the actions will have little affect on the San Antonio Police Department. The ban comes at the recommendation of a task force the president organized in January to assess how local law enforcement…
Danika and John Tolbert were devastated when their cat Cortez disappeared on May 6. But their sadness soon turned to frustration and anger after they found Cortez’s photo on San Antonio Animal Care Services’ website, where the male cat was described as female, declawed and sans microchip. Cortez is male, has his claws and has…
This week in SA Food Pics we shout-out to a couple of home-cooked delicacies along with a variety of stunning, colorful plates from around the city. Fish dishes are du jour as exemplified by the Ocean and Bama rolls by Kona Grill (15900 La Cantera Parkway) and a “Tuna Tower” by Kumori Sushi & Teppanyaki…
Monday, May 18 Stars of Jesus Christ Super Star Q&A Ted Neeley (Jesus), Kurt Yaghjian (Annas), and Larry Marshall (Simon, the Zealot) will be at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (Park North) in San Antonio for a Q&A session before the movie and a meet and greet afterwards. See the movie as you’ve never seen it…
Nepal-born Rajina Pradhan’s family may have been spared from the two recent earthquakes that ravaged the country, but the co-owner of Tarka Indian Kitchen is making it a point to send help home. Pradhan and partner Tinku Saini are rallying their four locations (one in San Antonio at 427 N. Loop 1604 W.) to donate…
Local Music Week began an exciting seven days of programming last night at Hi-Tones, inaugurating its celebration of the city’s music culture. From the organization itself, Local Music Week is a “celebratory campaign to showcase San Antonio’s rich and diverse living music history.” It’s a holistic approach, remembering that all participants, from production and backend…
San Antonio may find the help needed for the ongoing effort against AIDS and other communicable diseases, as a bill legalizing the distribution of sterile needles passed through the House. State Rep. Ruth McClendon, a San Antonio Democrat, filed the bill which aims to create disease-control programs that would reduce blood-borne diseases and refer program…
Update 11:11 a.m.: Bexar County Sheriff Department chief spokesman James Keith said deputies are on heightened alert after violence between alleged motorcycle gangs in Waco left nine bikers dead and nearly 20 injured. “There are some indications that more violence in Central Texas could occur,” Keith said, adding that South Texas motorcycle gang members may…
Supernatural fans are expressing concern and support for Jared Padalecki after the series co-star tweeted a pair of distressing statements on Friday. The San Antonio native abruptly pulled out of a planned appearance at JIBCON 2015, a fandom convention in Rome, Italy. Padalecki, who plays Sam Winchester on The CW’s long-running horror/fantasy series, explained the…
Blue Bell faces yet another upset to its name, as one man in Houston found a tooth in a scoop of ice cream. According to the Houston Chronicle, Eric Gutierrez was eating a bite of Cookies ‘n’ Cream ice cream, when he felt something that was not a cookie. He said he thought it might be…
Democrats in the state House prevailed this week in killing an anti-gay, unconstitutional bill that would prohibit the use of state funds to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The Republican led-effort was designed to supersede federal law in the event that the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down same-sex marriage bans in June. Democratic representatives…
Calling it an agonizing decision, Blue Bell Creameries CEO and President Paul Kruse fired more than 1,000 employees and furloughed another 1,400 workers. The terminations are because the company won’t be producing any time soon and supply and distribution will be limited “for some time to come.” Of those who were fired, 750 were full-time…
Sick of all the rain we’ve had lately? I’ve got some bad news. Here’s the San Antonio forecast for the next 10 days, according to weather.com: So what’s to blame for all the rain? We’re in the midst of El Nino, the periodic warming of part of the Pacific Ocean that creates low pressure systems…
“The Thrill Is Gone” for the rest of the us, now that B.B. King, blues icon and owner of that 1970 hit, left the planet yesterday at the age of 89. The guitarist, known for his trusted six-string Lucille and a note-bending panache, lived out his final days in a Las Vegas hospital, dealing with complications…
During a mid-year budget adjustment, San Antonio City Council approved funding so the San Antonio Police Department can purchase body cameras. City Manager Sheryl Sculley said Thursday during the council meeting that there’s been a robust discussion in San Antonio about body cameras and it’s time to move forward on implementation. Of the approximate 2,400…
Anita Perry, wife of former Gov. Rick Perry, tweeted this morning that she and the longest-serving governor in Texas history had a “special announcement” planned for June 4 in Dallas. The announcement is presumably that Perry will launch another presidential bid. But has Perry ever really stopped running for president? He dropped out of the…
Culinaria’s is doing its best to make sure tonight’s Best of Mexico event will be enjoyable despite the rain. The popular Culinaria Festival Week event will go on as planned at the Shops at La Cantera (15900 La Cantera Pkwy) from 7-10 p.m., but organizers are moving the foodie festivities to the covered upstairs portion…
Go home, Gov. Greg Abbott. You’re drunk. Abbott, the man who holds the state’s highest political office, is now on record as saying “the most important thing about barbecue is sauce,” a statement that is so very, very wrong. The governor made the declaration while dining at Washington D.C.’s Hill Country Barbecue Market in a…
Mad Max: Fury Road opens in theaters this weekend. (Read our review here.) If the action reboot has you pining for water wars in a parched, post-apocalyptic wasteland, we have some bad news for you: Your Mad Max fantasies won’t become a reality in Texas any time soon. That’s because the U.S. Drought Monitor says Texas…
San Antonio City Council unanimously approved a controversial plan to address gentrification in San Antonio today, despite efforts from community activists to send the plan back to the drawing board. The report from the Mayor’s Task Force on Preserving Dynamic and Diverse Neighborhoods prescribes a set of recommendations to “track neighborhood change, mitigate the negative…
Thu 5/14 – Sun 5/17 International Music Festival Last year, Musical Bridges Around the World channeled its annual programming into a festival dedicated to “bonding different cultures together and promoting world peace, diversity and understanding.” The nonprofit’s second annual International Music Festival returns this month with an entirely free program that wraps up May 24.…
Apocalypse-mongering, mega-church pastor and YouTube star John Hagee wants to make sure you’re lining his coffers and supporting his lavish lifestyle instead of throwing your money away. When we last heard from the evangelical Cornerstone Church pastor, he was blaming Barack Obama’s policies on Israel for all the ebola. Now the ultra-right wing Zionist has…
Gotta love those organizations whose name makes it clear what they’re about. Local Music Week, celebrating the culture, tunes and people of San Antonio’s music scene, is back next week with a run of show from Sunday, May 17 to Saturday, May 23. Stay tuned for a full preview of the week’s festivities. For those…
Thursday, May 14 Justin Townes Earle, Bekah Kelso The son of country artist Steve Earle, Justin Townes Earle takes vivid snapshots of American life on his two most recent (and best) efforts, Single Mothers and Absent Fathers. SA songwriter Bekah Kelso’s last effort, Within the Shifting Shade, was a glossy and beaming thing, like a…
The recent drizzle and forecast deluge aren’t keeping Culinaria and the food truck-following foodies from enjoying the third annual Food Truck Event on Thursday, May 14. Usually held at the Alon Town Centre off Military Highway, the Food Truck Event will wheel on over to North Star Mall, according an update from Culinaria organizers. Here’s…
Born out of a tipsy day spent at Pride, LezRideSA, is working hard to make a difference in San Antonio. Founders Anel Flores, Erika Casasola, Kate Scully and Lisa Ortega decided to make their own version of Dykes on Bikes. The group aims to create a safe space for the LGBTQ community and its allies…
Feeling an unprecedented amount of pressure to act stemming from growing criticism from activist and political circles, as well as various legal actions against it, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday it is taking steps meant to improve its immigrant family detention system. The department, through its agency U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,…
There are few surprises on the list San Antonio’s most prolific air polluters. It’s just what you’d expect: a group primarily composed of energy producers and heavy manufacturers. They’re categorized as point source pollution, which includes any pollutant that can be traced back to a single source — typically a large polluter like a smoke…
If you’ve still got that voter application registration lying around, now’s the time to get it in. Thursday, May 14, is the final day to register to vote in Bexar County in order to vote in the June 13 runoff election for mayor and the District 7 City Council seat. It’s too late to request…
Three-pound cinnamon roll eating contest? I am so there. Lulu’s Bakery & Cafe (918 N. Main), your go-to place for a post-bar chicken fried steak binge, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a week of contests and specials. The celebration begins Thursday, May 14, with all-you-can-eat chicken fried steak. (Challenge accepted!). On Friday, May 15,…
Enjoy watching extreme sports? Enjoy a little rock music? Well, you’re in luck, the X Games will be in Austin June 4 through 7, and organizers have announced the full music line-up The San Antonio Current previously reported that the iconic heavy metal band Metallica is on board as Saturday’s headliner. Along with ‘heaviest band…
Ellen DeGeneres is executive producing the American version of First Dates, and the show has sent out the casting call for all single Texans. The show is originally from the United Kingdom and aims to explore “the simple wonder of the first date.” There is no competition and no eliminations. If you’re genuinely looking for love and…
The ever-contested abortion debate lands on the Texas legislature calendar this week as Rep. Geanie Morrison drives forward a bill targeting minor’s access to abortion. Texas law currently holds that a minor must gain the consent of a parent or guardian in order to obtain an abortion, but if consent is not possible or puts…
Got gripes about getting around San Antonio? Tell them to someone who cares. Like the City of San Antonio, for instance. No, seriously — they want to know. On Tuesday, the City sent out a survey to help guide the transportation component of its SA Tomorrow initiative, a long-range planning effort for San Antonio’s growth…
Both Ivy Taylor and Leticia Van de Putte — the two remaining mayoral candidates — promised not to seek the city’s top office. Last July, City Council appointed Taylor, who at the time represented District 2, to serve out the remainder of Julián Castro’s term. President Barack Obama appointed Castro to secretary of the United…
By virtue of a good head start, Linda Escobar has enjoyed one of the longest and most prolific singing careers in the world of tejano music. In 1965, when she was just 7, Linda turned pro with “Frijolito Pintos,” a major hit recorded with her father, tejano guitarist Eligio Escobar. “It was a little rhyming…
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The danger of resisting a temptation too strenuously is that the temptation might depart. I suggest that you prevent that from happening. Without throwing yourself at the mercy of the temptation, see if you can coax it to stick around for a while longer. Why? In my view, it’s playing a…
San Anto cred pop quiz! Name the city’s greatest non-NBA export. If your answer was anything other than tejano or conjunto, you’re wrong. Since the waning days of the 19th century, the Alamo City has been at the forefront of this Tex-Mex genre. And since 1981, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s Tejano Conjunto Festival has…
My wife is one of those women who need manual stimulation of her clit during sex to climax. Before meeting her, I had several long-term girlfriends, and not one needed to do this in order to climax. Before we got married, I explained that I wanted to explore and push the boundaries, and she promised…
The novel it’s based on is a century and a half old and it opens with a mad-sheepdog accident, of all crazy rural old-fashioned things. But this new cinematic adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd is more modern, more progressive and even just plain more grownup than half the movies thrown at…
Late last year, someone dubbed “Sexican” started following me on Instagram (NSFW) and liking my pictures. Populated by Photoshopped images of a topless Latina in cinematic situations (swimming with the Creature from the Black Lagoon, riding a dragon, seducing Mr. Spock aboard the Starship Enterprise), the unsurprisingly popular account (which boasts more than 20,000 followers)…
It was a while back, I admit, but there was a time when a couple of pink wines were considered the height of sophistication — among a largely unsophisticated crowd, but hey. If you wanted, say, to impress a date, you ordered Lancers or Mateus. For the life of us, we couldn’t have told you…
We can’t call it a cocktail takeover of the North Side if there are really only a handful of craft bars littering the landscape. Still, there is an untapped market of bargoers who might be in the mood for ditching the skeazy nightclubs or the hordes of sports joints (and since the Spurs are out…
Wednesday, May 13: Join Sustenio at Eilan Hotel & Spa in supporting Lung Force Week for the American Lung Association. The hotel will offer a signature Blue Bay Martini, with Ketel One, Cointreau, Blue Curaçao and Domain De Canton, as it honors staff and family members who have succumbed or survived the disease. $6 through…
Vegetarians, vegans and lovers of all things fiber can get their chompers ready for the opening of Vegeria Vegan Tex – Mex & American Cuisine’s second location. The eatery, opened in mid-2011 by chef-owner Fred-Anthony Garza, has built a following as the one of the few local restaurants that’s completely vegan. The new spot at…
Hidden in the back corner of City View Village off Huebner Road and I-10, you’ll find Fattboy Burgers and Dogs’ second location, a counterpart to the original off Vance Jackson. If you can find a parking space, you’ll find a fully customizable burger menu. I went with a Texas toast Fattboy (a half pound burger)…
It’s the classic culinary tale of making it — opening your own restaurant. For food truck owners who slave away on hot mobile kitchens, often acting as mechanic, chef, server and custodian, finally owning a brick-and-mortar joint might mean not having to deal with driving around a clumsy 18-foot truck in rush hour. Or at…
So this is what a two-hour action scene looks like. Mad Max: Fury Road is 120 minutes of noise, action and more noise. It’s an unrelenting assault on the eyes and ears that almost feels invasive, as if director George Miller wants us to experience every bone-crushing moment rather than simply watch it. Boy, is…
On Friday night, folk songstress extraordinaire Nicolette Good, one of San Antonio’s strongest young talents, will present her sophomore album, Little Boat on a Wave. The album, which follows up Good’s exquisite and widely-lauded 2012 release Monarch, is a breezy yet thoroughly engaging Americana gem. On Little Boat, Good casts off with a confident and…
The irony of Flaco Jiménez’s career is that the most successful musicians — at least in terms of popularity and ticket sales — all want to work with him. Yet, outside of Texas, among ethnographers, musicologists and those with their noses buried in the liner notes of popular music, he remains largely unknown. Flaco’s standing…
Born in 1931 in eastern Germany, Chris Strachwitz was an unlikely candidate for becoming a leading field recorder in American music. But since he first put Lightnin’ Hopkins on tape in 1960, Strachwitz has occupied a vital space in roots music, recording the local styles of America on his label Arhoolie Records. Named after a…
