January 25, 2017

January 25-31, 2017

lass Il Forno’s Pizza C of The hybrid beauty ans’ ic James Cobb’s ‘17 Pel Milli Mars’' rally ’ cry for ‘San Anto

2016, r e t t i b a After tonio n A n a S n a how c tween e b t s u r t build policed? d n a e c i l po 14 page •

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CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

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FIRST WORDS

1

• Send your thoughts, comments, kudos or tips to letters@sacurrent.com

PETA Claims Medics at Fort Sam Houston Are Shooting, Stabbing Goats: Well if PETA is so upset about it we can replace the goats with liberals. — Jeremy Kirkley With Fiber Stalled, Google Isn’t Really Talking With the City Right Now: Between pandering “leaders” like Taylor, Sculley and our City Council, and the anti-progress idiots who always complain, it’s a wonder we still have cars and indoor plumbing and running water in San Antonio, never mind Google Fiber. — Michael Hernandez Photos: From SA to DC, Women March Against Hate: Nothing can be done here, women have rights here. Protest in the middle east and india where women are actually treated like crap.

Women get raped in the street in broad daily light and noone does a thing, parts of their genetelia get mutilated, acid gets thrown on them for denying sex to their husbands. Man, women here in the states have it so hard.

But since im a man spilling truth, that makes me a chauvinist pig and an idiot, right? — Greg Flores Coach Pop Praises Women’s March, Shames Trump in Interview: It’s funny that Trump supporters LOVE the tangerine tinted troll because “he speaks his mind and tells it like it is”, but their widdle ears are too sensitive to hear anyone else do it — Yvonne Baker

IN THIS

ISSUE

32

Issue 17_04 /// January 25-31

11

NEWS

Couch Time With Rick Perry Or: How Perry didn’t know that Trump wants to gut his new department

14

FEATURE

Trust issues After a bitter 2016, how can San Antonio build trust between police and policed?

Cutoff Averted Judge temporarily blocks Texas attempt to cut Planned Parenthood from Medicaid

“Human Simulators” PETA claims medics-intraining at Fort Sam are shooting stabbing goats

Illustration by James Heimer Art direction by Sarah Flood-Baumann 8

CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

Our top picks for the week

32

ARTS + CULTURE

11

35

SCREENS

Adolescent Angst 20th Century Women tells an endearing story of teen confusion

ON THE

After a year punctuated by rallies over police violence, the police shooting of an unarmed man, and a bitter contract dispute between the city and its police union, Mayor Ivy Taylor has vowed to build trust between the community and police.

In this week’s feature, we examine what’s at the root of that distrust – and what city, police and union leaders say they plan to do about it through a new mayor-appointed city task force.

CALENDAR

Fiber Optics With fiber stalled, Google isn’t really talking with the city right now

Dazzling Geometry The surreal, hybrid beauty of James Cobb’s ‘17 Pelicans’

COVER

24

43

NIGHTLIFE

Deities and Brews New beers, same attitude at New Braunfels Brewing Co.

45

MUSIC

“We Are Coming” Milli Mars reps hometown in latest video, “San Anto” Teen Spirit SA artists remember the albums of their teens Music Calendar What to see and hear this week

37

FOOD

Going Green Finding SA’s tastiest vegetarian dishes Food Court A new food truck park, Sam’s Boat docks and more

59

ETC.

Savage Love Jonesin’ Crossword Freewill Astrology

sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 9

10

CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

NEWS

COUCH TIME WITH RICK PERRY

Or: How Perry didn’t know that Trump wants to gut his new department ALEX ZIELINSKI | @ALEX_ZEE

≥

Several hours before former Gov. Rick Perry’s confirmation hearing last week. news broke: Donald Trump’s administration has plans to eliminate at least a dozen federal departments — including three major offices within the U.S. Department of Energy.

But Perry, the incoming Secretary of Energy, appeared to be the last to know.

Asked by Sen. Deborah Greer (D-Mich.) how he’ll run the DOE after these massive cuts she had just read about, Perry seemed perplexed. “Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true,” Perry said.

“I can’t tell you if it’s true or not.”

Later, asked again by Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) if he supports cuts to offices he previously told the committee were a top priority, Perry laughed nervously.

“Well, Senator, maybe they’ll have the same experience I had and forget that they said that,” he replied, a joking reference to that one time Perry called for eliminating the entire DOE (before forgetting the name of the department, that is) during a 2012 presidential debate.

Perry told the committee he now “regrets” that idea.

Soon enough, it became abundantly clear no one from the Trump transition team had told Perry about the substantial cuts on the horizon for the agency he’s

CUTOFF AVERTED Judge temporarily blocks Texas attempt to cut Planned Parenthood from Medicaid ALEX ZIELINSKI | @ALEX_ZEE

≥

A federal judge has temporarily

ALEX ZIELINSKI | @ALEX_ZEE blocked Texas from booting

Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid coverage plan.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks granted the women’s health provider

supposed to now lead. And unfortunately for Perry, many of his talking points at Thursday’s confirmation hearing actually focused on the importance of offices his new boss wants gone — the Office of Energy Efficiency, Office of Renewable Energy, and Office of Fossil Energy.

Multiple times, Perry mentioned Texas’ significant wind power program — the largest in the country — that expanded under his governorship. “If confirmed, I will support energy in all forms, and that certainly includes our renewables,” he said. That may be difficult without the Office of Renewable Energy.

The energy industry, Perry stressed, can create thousands of jobs and greatly improve the economy. Job creation (and protection) was also Perry’s sole reason he said he’s cautious to support initiatives to slow climate change.

Impoverished oil fi eld workers and coal miners could lose their jobs, he said. Yet Trump’s administration is apparently also planning to defund the Economic Development Administration, an offi ce that specifi cally gives grants to “economically distressed communities” to help with job creation (and protection). Perry seemed to be

an injunction last Thursday — following three days of hearings — delaying the state’s plan to remove Planned Parenthood from Medicaid coverage this month. Sparks, who called the state’s evidence “baloney,” moved the cutoff date to February 21.

The state announced its plans to block 13,000 of Texas’ low-income women on Medicaid from accessing any Planned Parenthood services in December. The only reason the Department of Health and Human Services had for going through with this? The state still believes that Planned Parenthood profits off donating fetal tissue. Of course, this belief is based on the widely

reading from a different script.

Aside from his ignorance over looming budget cuts, Perry also appeared hazy on a few other major energy issues. While Thursday’s hearing was the first time Perry said he believed human activity contributed to a fair amount of global warming (an idea many conservative lawmakers still scoff at), he didn’t have any details or data to support his new, more nuanced take.

When Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked Perry what percent of climate change is affected by manmade technology, Perry smirked, and said he couldn’t comment since he wasn’t a climate scientist. “I don’t think you’re ever going to be a climate scientist,” Franken replied. “But you will be the head of the Department of Energy.”

The absurdist theater reached its apex during Perry’s exchange with Franken, during which Texas’ longest serving governor, referencing his earlier meet-and-greet in Franken’s offi ce, told the senator, “I hope you are as much fun on that dais as you were on your couch.”

Couch time with Rick Perry. As Franken put it, “Oh good Lord.”

discredited undercover videos taken in 2015 by a pair of anti-abortion activists — activists who were ultimately indicted by a Texas grand jury on felony charges after they lied their way into a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic using fake IDs (that same grand jury also cleared Planned Parenthood of any alleged wrongdoing).

There has yet to be any evidence that the health organization has ever sold fetal tissue — but according to Texas health officials, that’s beside the point.

Shortly after DSHS announced it would boot Planned Parenthood from the joint state-federal Medicaid program, the group sued. During the hearings last week, Jami Snyder,

Texas’ chief deputy director for Medicaid, said she was certain Texas women on Medicaid would be able to find a local alternative to Planned Parenthood if it was cut — maybe just not in every county, she added.

Snyder’s vague certainty was met with hard data from University of Colorado Boulder’s Amanda Stevenson, a reproductive health researcher, showing that pregnancies covered by Medicaid spiked in regions without a Planned Parenthood nearby. This was proof, she said, that women weren’t able to access low-cost contraceptions or abortions without Planned Parenthood.

Sparks will make a decision on the case by the end of February.

sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 11

NEWS

FIBER OPTICS SHUTTERSTOCK

With fiber stalled, Google isn’t really talking with the city right now MICHAEL BARAJAS | @MICHAELSBARAJAS

≥

Last week, just days after city hall essentially stalled Google Fiber’s much-anticipated rollout in San Antonio, city leaders say Google’s been mum on the issue and has only provided “limited information” to the city thus far.

While councilwoman Rebecca Viagran defensively assured citizens city leaders hadn’t “halted” the high-speed fiber-optic network (she called any such suggestion “misinformation”), here’s what actually happened last week: After enough people got mad about Google building one of its “huts,” a transfer station the size of a large shed surrounded by fencing, in a tiny Terrell Heights neighborhood park, Mayor Ivy Taylor essentially asked City Manager Sheryl Sculley to consider a “moratorium” on fiber construction. Sculley responded with a memo placing all “construction activity” on the fiber huts “temporarily on hold” earlier this month. Sculley also said her office would invite Google representatives to last week’s council meeting, at which her staff planned to brief city leaders on the supposed path forward when it comes to Google Fiber.

Not only did Google reps not show, they’re apparently not even really talking with city staff

12

right now. At last Wednesday’s meeting, the city revealed they’re basically ordering Google to move eight of its 15 planned hut locations (locations the city had already approved but has now decided aren’t such a good idea because enough Terrell Heights-ers decided to jump on the “Make Parks Great Again” train). What does Google think of that?

Deputy City Manager Peter Zanoni told council that Google hasn’t been saying much — “They’ve been pretty quiet.”

Meanwhile, Zanoni tried to downplay how disruptive the city’s new plan could be to Google Fiber’s SA rollout, telling council that, “based on the limited information we have from them,” Google was probably already going to re-evaluate its network and look for changes that could be made anyway. We couldn’t even reach a real person at Google for questions, and only got a prepared, emailed statement from an anonymous spokesperson: “Google Fiber remains excited about delivering high-speed connectivity to San Antonio residents. We want to be good neighbors, and we will continue to work with the City to follow all permitting and other requirements throughout

CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

construction and when selecting network hut sites.”

How assuring.

What’s still not known is how long this pause will last or whether it could impact the 20-year, $1 million lease agreement the company signed with Google Fiber back in 2014.

What we do know, however, is that the company has soured on fiber elsewhere and pulled back where it’s faced roadblocks, just last year halting fiber installation in eight different cities, including Dallas. And we already knew Google Fiber construction could get rocky; as the company continues to roll out its fiber line in Austin, that city’s dealt with hundreds of complaints ranging from trespassing to cut water lines and dumping.

Neighbors near Haskins Park have demanded the city force Google to demolish the fiber hut in their neighborhood and move it somewhere else, which the city doesn’t appear to be willing to do right now. City staff also couldn’t say when construction on Google Fiber’s line might pick back.

What Zanoni could tell council is that he’s hoping city staff can talk with Google reps in the next two or three weeks.

Maybe. He’s still waiting to hear back from them.

“ HUMAN SIMULATORS” PETA claims medics-intraining at Fort Sam are shooting, stabbing goats ALEX ZIELINSKI | @ALEX_ZEE

Last Thursday, animal rights group PETA sent Fort Sam Houston officials a letter accusing them of mutilating goats during training exercises and asking that they please stop.

PETA claims a “whistleblower” recently came forward to say that Army Reserve combat medics at Fort Sam shoot, stab, and kill goats during training in order to learn how to treat traumatic injuries.

“Cutting open goats in training exercises provides military medics with substandard training, because humane simulation-based training methods are superior,” said Ingrid Taylor, an air force veteran and PETA veterinarian, in a prepared statement.

“There is no need to harm animals, upset our service members, and send medics into war zones inadequately prepared.” (Fort Sam officials didn’t respond to our request for comment Thursday.)

In its letter to Fort Sam Houston Brigadier General Heather Pringle, PETA takes the curious step of both asking if the allegations of goat mutilation are true and urging officials to “take immediate steps to move Fort Sam Houston away from Cold War-era animal-based trauma training.”

While using live animals in military training exercises may seem grotesque, the practice is legal. Only recently have army medic programs started to transition from practicing on dead or wounded animals to artifi cial “human simulators.”

In its letter, PETA asks that Fort Sam consider doing the same.

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FEATURE

After a bitter 2016, can San Antonio build trust between police and policed?

words // MICHAEL BARAJAS • @michaelsbarajas Illustration // James Heimer

14

CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

FEATURE

R

ogelio Carlos carried a camera as he walked around his family’s far Westside lot on May 20, 2014, checking in on construction of his new family business.

When he looked up, he saw a red truck in the distance. It was moving fast, coming straight at him.

Carlos swore in a complaint to the San Antonio Police Department that the man driving the truck stopped just short of hitting him, got out and started barking orders. Carlos was confused and hesitated; he had no idea the man shouting at him was an undercover cop.

Soon enough, two uniformed SWAT officers flanked the plainclothes detective. Carlos says he quickly dropped to the ground, yelling, “This is my property.”

The undercover detective was the first one who hit him, according to Carlos’ complaint. It wasn't long before all three were punching, kneeing or kicking him on the ground. Carlos later swore that one officer kneed him on the left side of his face, and that another jumped up and down on his head. The beating stopped once they had his hands cuffed behind his back. One of the cops yelled, “Where’s the gun?” When Carlos tried to explain there must be a mistake, another officer told him to shut up.

Turns out Carlos got caught in the path of a police chase and, unfortunately enough for him, matched the description of the suspect police were after – namely, he was Latino and wearing a white T-shirt. The actual suspect, wanted for felony domestic assault, had ditched his car nearby; officers feared he could be armed after they found a baggie of meth and a short-barrel shotgun in the front passenger seat. Police found the real suspect just south of Carlos’ property; he was carrying shotgun shells in his pockets, but no weapon. After the officers realized their mistake and un-cuffed him, Carlos asked why they had to beat him. According to his complaint, one of them simply explained, “You fit the profile.”

Carlos walked away with a gash above one eye, severe brain swelling, a broken tooth and neck pain so intense that after a year and a half of physical therapy that didn’t work, his doctors recommended an operation – which, due to complications, left him largely paralyzed. The officers who beat Carlos so badly he needed spinal surgery – identified in court records as Carlos Chavez, Virgilo Gonzalez and a “Detective John Doe,” who SAPD won’t identify due to his

undercover work – were cleared of wrongdoing by the U.S. Department of Justice last year. Carlos’ family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the officers and city that continues to drag on in court.

SAPD’s citizen review board recommended suspending all three officers for 15 days for chasing down and beating the wrong guy. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus, however, reduced their suspensions to just five days. Not that they’d actually miss any work – the officers just took it out of their accrued vacation time, a perk allowed by the deal their union first struck with the City of San Antonio decades ago.

What does a case like Carlos’ do to public trust in the police? That question is at the heart of a conversation San Antonio city leaders are now just starting to have in the form of a new “Council on Police-Community Relations” that began meeting last fall. Mayor Ivy Taylor says she created the group with the hope of bulding mutual trust after a bitter 2016 – a year marked by more high-profile deaths at the hands of law enforcement; more nationwide protests over police violence; targeted killings of officers that left even more law enforcement officials on edge; and a dustup with the local police union that seems to have only underscored the distrust.

“We have had our share of incidents,” Taylor told the Current , “and we wanted to have the opportunity to talk about some of those challenges and see how we could strengthen relationships between police and community members.”

In some ways, it’s a conversation years in the making. Outside investigations and audits that revealed serious, structural problems within SAPD several years ago set San Antonio on a slow path to police reform before many big-city departments were even forced to consider it. The city prides itself in having undergone a series of changes in the past several years, including increased officer training and more civilian oversight of the department’s disciplinary process. And last year, the department was one of 15 selected to participate in a White House-driven reform effort called “Advancing 21st Century Policing.” In fact, McManus and local police union leaders argue that there’s not even really a problem here – that is, except for maybe “public perception” of the police.

Both McManus and union officials told the Current they hoped the mayor’s task force will emphasize “community education” on how citizens can appropriately deal with police; McManus, in particular, argues that if people were more aware of the reforms SAPD has undertaken in recent years, trust between police and policed would be a non-issue.

Activists and reformers, meanwhile, insist that last year’s conflict over the city’s contract with the San Antonio Police Officers Association – which a city council majority passed without any reforms to police discipline or accountability measures – only highlights tensions that have existed below the surface for generations. They also point to a string of officer misconduct cases in recent years (including an officer recently fired for trying to feed a homeless person an actual shit sandwich) as further sign that reforms and strict punishment for what the city likes to call “bad apples” are still sorely needed.

Some of those activists invited to the mayor’s task force have been frustrated by the process; others have even dropped out, saying the group is talking in circles and avoiding some clearly-defined issues that, while maybe not unique to San Antonio, should be at the heart of any conversation around policing here. Like the fact that, according to an Express-News analysis last year, cops here use force disproportionately against people of color. Or, as shown by Carlos’ case, the reality that officers might beat you so bad you’ll need spinal surgery if they mistake you for a suspect – and, if you complain afterward, their “suspension” might not even include time off the clock.

Mayor Taylor says it was in part the public reaction to last February’s killing of Antronie Scott – an unarmed black man shot to death while police were trying to arrest him on a felony warrant – that helped convince her of the need to build trust between the police and community. While McManus initially said he’d fi re SAPD offi cer John Lee for shooting and killing Scott (Lee says he mistakenly thought Scott’s cell phone was a gun), the chief ultimately backtracked amid intense pressure from a police union that, like many across the country, maintains that reforms are starting to threaten effective policing.

Continued on page 19 >

sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 15

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CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

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CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

FEATURE

< Continued from page 15

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or officer Jackie Neal, it didn’t matter that the 18-year-old was 22 years younger than him, that she was still a senior at Reagan High School, or that he was supposed to be her mentor under the police department’s “Explorer” program for future cadets. According to court filings, the girl later told investigators Neal was like a father figure because she didn’t know her real dad.

When the department found out Neal was having sex with a high school student, his supervisors issued a no-contact order – which Neal promptly violated when he texted the girl congratulations for completing the Explorer program. In September 2013, Neal was issued a three-day suspension and bumped to night shift. Neal used up some accrued vacation time so he didn’t actually have to miss any work.

Two months later, Neal was patrolling the Southside when he pulled up behind a 19-year-old woman. According to a lawsuit she later filed in federal court, Neal followed her in his cruiser for several blocks before he turned on the flashing lights, pulled her over, and accused her of driving a stolen car. Neal asked if she had any drugs on her before he ordered her out of the car, handcuffed her and searched the vehicle.

When he walked her around to the trunk of the car for a pat down, she asked him to call a female officer out to the scene to conduct the search. She says Neal reached into her shirt and fondled her breasts for several minutes before he started taking off her pants.

After he raped her, the woman claims Neal warned her not to say anything because he knew where she lived.

Apparently, it wasn’t an empty threat. After the woman contacted police, Neal got an email notifying him he’d been placed on administrative duty. According to department disciplinary records, Neal called a sergeant friend who told him what the allegations were. Neal then drove to a nearby police substation, where he used a fellow officer’s login to pull up the woman’s information on a department computer.

According to the lawsuit, Neal stopped by the woman’s house looking for her while she was at the hospital undergoing a rape kit and being questioned by police.

Should Neal have still had a badge by the time he assaulted the woman? His short, sort-of suspension for having sex with a high school student he was supposed to mentor at the department wasn’t even his first complaint on record with SAPD. Yet an expert later hired by the city to review the case – former SAPD Police Chief Albert Ortiz – concluded that while Neal’s sexual relationship with the girl was “distasteful and discouraging,” it was neither a fireable offense nor reason for department officials to think Neal might later commit serious misconduct on duty. McManus later testified in a court deposition that at the time he had a “stern conversation” with Neal about having sex with the high schooler, but that he never actually considered firing him.

Neal’s arrest in 2013 on rape charges actually underscored a problem at SAPD that city leaders had vowed to fix years earlier. By 2009, about one third of officers fired for misconduct had been investigated for sexually-motivated offenses, triggering an external review of the department that concluded officer supervision was “a significant issue” at SAPD. By 2010, McManus had announced he’d shuffle some administrative duties away from field supervisors and add more sergeants to directly watch over officers. A 2010 report by the Matrix Consulting Group commissioned by

SHUTTERSTOCK

the city manager’s office also warned that the department seemed to have a culture in which front-line officers “do not welcome supervisory presence.”

Because of how the department publicly reports its numbers, it’s not clear how many of the hundreds of sworn complaints against police officers every year result in disciplinary action. What is clear, however, is that plenty of officers are still being fired or disciplined because of problems that involve, among other issues, complaints of sexually motivated misconduct – which McManus says is to be expected. “We are a very large organization,” he told the Current. “We are going to see officers getting in trouble.”

In the lawsuit Neal’s victim filed against him in federal court (which the city ultimately settled for half a million dollars), she referenced seven other cases over a four-year period involving SAPD officers accused of raping, fondling, or exposing themselves to women while on and off duty.

Disciplinary records that are publicly available from the past two years show the department has delivered one-to-five day suspensions for other officers accused of everything from meeting up with and groping match.com dates while on duty to threatening ex-girlfriends with so-called “revenge porn.” Even after the disturbing example set by Neal, an officer was suspended for just 10 days last year after he was accused of groping the breast of an 18-year-old in the department’s Explorer program. (Local TV station KSAT recently created a database of all officer suspension records from the past two years; SAPD apparently won’t host the database on its own department website.)

SAPD’s Internal Affairs department separates complaints into two silos: formal complaints, which accuse the officer of “a significant variance from normal behavior,” and line complaints that the department considers to be “minor.” For 2015, the most recent year for which a report is available, there were 174 formal complaints and 373 line complaints.

Use of force incidents tracked by the department skyrocketed in 2014 from 760 the year prior to 1,189, likely

because officers were finally required to report so-called “takedowns” of suspects in the field (which, according to the department, is defined as “a leg sweep, body flip or similar control technique intended to control an individual who is offering resistance during arrest and handcuffing”). While department officials contend the reporting change makes use of force numbers look inflated, activists say the new stats give us a better understanding of how many people actually encounter police violence every year.

After the February 4, 2016 shooting of Antronie Scott, local leaders eagerly wanted to avoid the kind of mass demonstrations that followed police shootings in other cities. McManus and officials with the city manager’s office went before the Express-News editorial board and announced their plan to fire officer John Lee for placing himself “in a vulnerable position where he didn’t give himself time to react,” resulting in a fatal mistake. Lee claimed he approached Scott from behind, demanded that he show his hands, and quickly fired when Scott turned around instead.

McManus seemed frustrated, caught between rank-andfile officers who wanted his support and a community that demanded action.

McManus also assured the daily’s editorial board that Lee hadn’t actually breached the legal standard that courts use to judge police violence; however, the chief also publicly acknowledged, for what appears to be the first time, that the community now seems to want to hold cops to a standard higher than not-unconstitutional and not-criminal. Later that year, members of Mayor Taylor’s task force on policing would actually meet behind closed doors at the local FBI field office, where they heard officials with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office explain why, due to how judges have ruled on the issue over the years, it’s so hard to prove excessive force in either criminal or civil court.

The police union was livid that McManus referred to Scott’s shooting as “lawful but awful” in his comments to the media. sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 19

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FEATURE

The end result was like the worst of both worlds. McManus ultimately reneged and decided more training, not punishment, was the right call for officer Lee. Meanwhile, the following month, some 97 percent of police union members (or roughly 2,000 San Antonio cops) signed onto a union vote saying they had no confidence in McManus’ ability to lead the department. McManus and Mayor Taylor caution against taking the no-confidence vote, or the union’s accompanying 12-page report explaining it, too seriously because it happened in the throes of a contentious contract negotiation process.

Still, Dean Fischer, the SAPOA vice president who now sits on the mayor’s police-community relations task force, says offi cials would be wrong to dismiss the report. “They wanna say that vote was all about us trying to score a better contract – that’s simply not true,” he told the Current .

In its report, the union accused McManus of “poisoning the community” against their fellow officer. They also accused their chief of opening the department up to reforms that would “endanger the lives of police officers.”

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ccording to officer Michael Garza’s SAPD suspension letter, he was drinking on duty the night of July 26, 2012 when his girlfriend asked him to meet up at the Thirsty Horse Saloon. When Garza took her back to her place, an ex-boyfriend, Alfredo Aragon, was waiting with a gun.

Records state that Aragon sprayed Garza’s unmarked police car with bullets, with one striking Garza’s girlfriend in the abdomen. Despite having a wounded passenger, Garza chased Aragon for nearly two miles. Garza shot Aragon in the back, killing him as he tried to run inside his northwest side home.

McManus actually filed a murder charge against Garza, but a grand jury wouldn’t indict him. In a suspension letter four months later, McManus tried to fire Garza for drinking on the job and lying about details of the shooting, among other violations.

Only McManus couldn’t actually fire him.

Garza got his job back with the department in 2015 after he appealed his firing to an arbitrator under a provision embedded in the city’s collective bargaining agreement with the police union. According to SAPD, at least five fired officers like Garza have successfully appealed to get their jobs back over the past decade; there are at least 10 officers currently appealing their firings in arbitration.

That provision, which essentially strips the chief from final hiring and firing decisions, wasn’t even on the table when Mayor Taylor went into court-ordered contract negotiations with the police union last year – but some other reforms were. Amid public outcry over cases like Antronie Scott’s shooting, Taylor says she asked the city manager’s office to come up with some disciplinary reforms to bring into negotiations with union officials. Among the city’s suggestions were reforming internal affairs procedures that heavily favor accused officers facing discipline; the contract provision that lets officers forfeit accrued leave in lieu of an actual suspension (which both Jackie Neal and the officers who beat Rogelio Carlos benefitted from); and a curious policy that automatically reduces officer suspensions of three days or less to written reprimands after two years (a policy that some elected leaders have even called government-sanctioned falsification of records).

In the end, the union wouldn’t even budge on that last policy, which Black Lives Matter activists like Mike Lowe, who led marches on city hall last year during the contract debate, considered the lowest of the low-hanging fruit of police reform – accurate record-keeping in the police disciplinary process. Lowe eventually stopped going to the mayor’s task force meetings after they failed to even bring up the union contract and the protections it affords officers. People like Lowe question what the task force can even accomplish unless it both reviews cases of officer discipline and the union contract.

“I think what the mayor wants is to create an atmosphere where people can say, 'Yes, yes we trust the police,'” Lowe told the Current. “I don’t necessarily have a problem with that, but how do you have a conversation like that without

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FEATURE

discussing the specific things we keep bringing up that, to us, show that the police have done wrong?”

Fischer with SAPOA naturally takes a different view. In fact, he claims some of the reforms that have been embraced by city leaders are just “motivated by political correctness, media hype and overreaction.” McManus, for instance, has called for training officers with a new strategy for police encounters that reformers call “LEED” – short for “listen and explain with equity and dignity.”

Fischer calls such policies “half-baked,” saying he prefers the old “ATM” method (short for “ask, tell, make”).

McManus actually contends that big, sweeping reforms aren’t even really necessary right now. He pointed to a list the city manager’s office passed out at the task force’s first meeting, which outlined about eight reforms the department has made to policies or procedures over the past decade. They include policies that require officers to respond more quickly to domestic violence calls and 2008 reforms to the department’s citizen complaint process (like that complainants can now be accompanied by another person, whether for legal reasons or moral support, when they attend an officer’s disciplinary proceeding). He also points out that SAPD boosted civilian oversight of its internal review process when the city negotiated its last union contract in 2009, adding the number of civilians assigned to the review board that evaluates cases like officer shootings.

So far, what’s been discussed at the mayor’s task force meetings has been pretty vague. At January’s gathering, the group’s fi fth, the members actually broke out into individual sub-groups that are supposed to come up with some specific policies or recommendations that Mayor Taylor says she wants to present to city council’s public safety committee in the coming months.

Judging from the meetings thus far, it’s almost impossible to tell what those specific policies or recommendations might look like – or, for that matter, whether they’ll even address the concerns that drew protesters out to city

hall last year. Fischer says he hopes to communicate one simple idea during the task force meetings – that the community needs to be “educated” to comply with police orders. The lesson to be learned from Antronie Scott’s shooting, he says, should be that if you have outstanding warrants, turn yourself in before police have to come find you. Among other lessons the police union hopes to bring out at the task force meetings, according to Fischer: “If I have to chase you, it’s your fault. If I have to fight you, it’s your fault. If I have to shoot you, it’s your fault.”

At a council briefi ng earlier this month, McManus actually brought up another issue that the mayor’s task force will probably have to broach at some point if they really want to build trust – not just from the community, but from the police. McManus told city council’s public safety committee that the public’s increased scrutiny of law enforcement has created what he calls “hesitancy of response.”

He gave an example to illustrate the point. One recent day, while driving into the office, McManus got a call about a homeless woman who wouldn’t stop trespassing outside a local business.

He was the one who had to make the arrest. When he tried to take the woman into custody, however, she recoiled.

McManus said he and the woman eventually ended up on the pavement as she continued to resist. The chief told council members that what was apparently a new thought entered his mind: What if someone’s catching this on video? “Am I going to become the next viral video?” he said.

It’s actually more hesitation that people like Diane Peppar, Antronie Scott’s mother, want from police during law enforcement encounters. After her son’s death, Peppar says she just wanted to know why the officer was afraid enough to shoot and kill her son. “Why was he so trigger-happy?

What was he so afraid for? I lost my son, my one and only,” Peppar said. “It’s a hard pill to swallow.”

mbarajas@sacurrent.com

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sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 23

STEVE TRUMAN

CALENDAR

◀ Likely to the chagrin of the dairy industry, a Google search for the term “Milk Queen” currently returns much less about lactose-loving pageant winners than it does New York-based performer Milk, who brought a campy, conceptual vibe to the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Remembered for outlandish runway styles — including a veiled look enhanced with a white goatee — Milk is the creative alter ego of Dan Donigan, a Syracuse native who worked as a competitive figure skater “for like, ever,” stepped into his first pair of heels for a Nutcracker-inspired drag party in Boston and caught the attention of New York nightlife doyenne Susanne Bartsch as the leader of a drag troupe dubbed The Dairy Queens. In a unique turn of events, Donigan came full circle in 2016 as part of the eclectic cast of a gender-fluid advertising campaign for Marc Jacobs, a company he started doing merchandising and visuals for in 2009. Courtesy of Rey Lopez Entertainment, the self-styled “Muppets meets ’90s supermodel” lands in San Antonio for two performances at Heat preceded by a Sip ’N’ Shop and “underwear-signing” event at Male B Wear (free, 7:30-10pm, 1700 N. Main Ave.). $10-$25, 10:30pm & midnight, Heat Nightclub, 1500 N. Main Ave., (210) 386-4537, facebook.com/reylopezentertainment. — Bryan Rindfuss

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CALENDAR OUR TOP PICKS FOR THE WEEK

‘On the Curve’

of artists Constance Lowe, Jesse Amado, Andrés Ferrandis, Nicolás Leiva, Nate Cassie, Laura Anderson Barbata, Ricky Armendariz and Ethel Shipton.

“On the Curve,” a show ART While the curvilinear aspects that focuses on the are clearly evident in the clean multitude of possibilities within the realm of curvilinear artwork, lines and precise curves, each artist offers their own unique is the latest from Olmos Park’s Ruiz-Healy Art. The group exhibit, perspective, concerns, personality and process in the pieces. which opens with a reception on January 25 and runs through The resulting whole presents a compelling argument that within February 25, features the work WED

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even the most rigid forms, endless permutations and explorations are possible based on an artist’s particular pursuit/approach.

As the exhibit announcement explains, these artists “delve into curvilinear shapes and forms with a bold intellectual and playful practice using art history as an impetus.” Free, 6-8pm, Ruiz-Healy Art, 201-A E. Olmos Drive, (210) 804-2219, ruizhealyart.com.

— James Courtney

COMEDY Considering the innumerable YouTube users posting painfully sincere garbage covers of viral hits by Drake, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga at all hours of any given day, just how good do purposefully bad versions of this stuff need to be to get the attention of 7 million subscribers, to land a development deal with Netflix, to put a book on The New York Times bestseller list and put an “internet celebrity” into legendary comic/curmudgeon Jerry Seinfeld’s car for a coffee date? Miranda Sings, the megalomaniacal, tone-deaf alter ego of comedian Colleen Ballinger, has given new meaning to “there’s no success like failure” since she appeared in 2008. A large part of the charm lies in Ballinger’s irony-free investment in the character she’s created. Every loving detail — from Miranda’s clownish lipstick to her cluttered bedroom — heightens the reality until you can’t be sure everyone watching realizes it’s a put-on.

Miranda might well be descended from Tony Clifton, but unlike Andy Kaufman’s misogynistic nightclub singer, she’s always the butt of her own jokes because she doesn’t realize she’s making a joke at all. The triumph of the self-centered over the self-aware is so spot on that the real Mirandas of the world could never sniff-out the satire. $39.50-$75, 8pm, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — Jeremy Martin

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CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

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THU

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◀ Here’s a swell treat for fans of old horror movies, gothic literature and spooky/ambient FRI-SAT soundtracks alike. This unique Dr. Jekyll event, hosted by the hardworking folks at and Mr. Hyde URBAN-15, will present FILM + MUSIC a silent showing of the 1920 movie Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (starring John Barrymore), which is based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novel, accompanied by a live score/soundtrack performed by ATX band Invincible Czars. Last year, Invincible Czars gave another horror classic, Nosferatu, a similar treatment, with stunning and widely lauded results. For this performance, the soundtrack work by Invincible Czars promises to be minimal and creepy, and includes audience participation as well as a few reworked pieces that originally appeared in the film. $10-$15, 9pm, URBAN-15 Studio, 2500 S. Presa St., (210) 736-1500, urban15.org. — JC INVINCIBLE CZARS

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◀ Since celebrating its 21st ART birthday and bringing art-world veteran Veronique Le Melle on board as executive director in 2016, Artpace has stayed true to late founder Linda Pace’s vision — welcoming three geographically diverse trios of resident artists and hosting three independent exhibitions each year — while implementing thoughtful tweaks to process and presentation. In a twist possibly only art nerds might notice, the revered San Antonio institution is once again inviting the curator of its forthcoming International Artist-in-Residence cycle to also select the artists for an exhibition in the Hudson Showroom. Herself a multifaceted artist with an extensive

FILE

NASTASHA BOWDIN

‘Did You Ever See Such a Thing as a Drawing of a Muchness?’

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PAX South SPECIAL EVENT The international gaming convention PAX (short for Penny Arcade Expo), returns to San Antonio for its third annual event as tens of thousands of Texas gamers (and those from galaxies far away) convene to participate in three

exhibition history, Wisconsin-born Michelle Grabner steps in as curator of the curiously titled “Did You Ever See Such a Thing as a Drawing of a Muchness?” — a group show gathering works by Natasha Bowdoin (Houston), Harold Mendez (Chicago) and Rodrigo Valenzuela (Los Angeles), all of whom were living in Texas when they applied to Artpace’s statewide open call. Running concurrently, Benjamin McVey’s “Open” involves the San Antonio artist relocating his painting studio into Artpace’s newly rebranded Main Space, formerly known as the Window Works Gallery. Free, 6-8pm, Artpace, 445 N. Main Ave., (210) 2124900, artpace.org. — BR

full days of video game panels, tournaments, concerts, special guest appearances and an expo featuring gaming companies showing off their latest products. PAX, which also holds conventions in Seattle (PAX Prime and PAX Dev), Boston (PAX East) and Melbourne (PAX Aus), debuted PAX South in San Antonio in 2015 and broke the attendance record for a first-year PAX con. Numbers are anticipated to rise even higher this year as PAX South continues to build on its popularity and the fact that it caters to video game enthusiasts of all sorts — from those who like MMORPGs to vintage Atari games to dice and card games. Autograph sessions this year include epic fantasy writer Patrick Rothfuss (The Kingkiller Chronicle), video game reviewer “Angry” Joe Vargas (The Angry Joe Show), YouTube gaming channel personality Stacy Hinojosa (aka StacyPlays) and podcasters Cox n’ Crendor. $35-$75, 10am-midnight FriSat, 10am-7pm Sun, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, 900 E. Market St., (210) 207-8500, south.paxsite.com.

– Kiko Martinez

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CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

that’s 100 percent pure alcohol — two shots of Wild Turkey, hold the Turkey — and its White superfan (aka member of the “Rontourage”) equivalent includes an autographed pass, access to a post-show Q&A, a DVD copy of White’s Comedy Salute to the Troops and even a CD recorded by White’s wife, singer Margo Rey. Such a cross-promotion might seem out of place for another comic, but the personal nature of

White’s storytelling guarantees true obsessives access to detailed accounts of his life with every stand-up special and podcast appearance. He’s essentially America’s drunken uncle who’s actually funny, so getting his family in on the act is as natural as the next round. $47.75-$246.75, 7pm & 10pm, The Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com. — JM

JESSE SALAZAR III

▶ A quick survey of Ron “Tater Salad” White’s promotional materials indicates it’s almost impossible to capture photographic evidence of the former “Blue Collar” comic without a cigar in one hand and a scotch on the rocks in the other, so it’s only fitting that the premium VIP ticket package for his current tour is called the “200-Proof Experience.” For those of you drinking along at home,

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FILM ◀ Technically, it’s more of a film showcase. Hosted by CO LAB, a “working community for artists and creatives,” the nonfilm festival will feature local filmmakers looking for more exposure in their hometown and offer them an opportunity to network with peers in the local film industry. For this inaugural event, 11 short films will be accepted to screen across different genres. As of press time, no shorts had been selected, according to Corey Clark, founder of CO LAB and co-founder of the filmmaker’s showcase. Local filmmaker Chuco Garcia hopes to get some good news soon. He submitted a short documentary on

This Is Not a Film Festival

Ron White COMEDY

local Chicano artist Adan Hernández. Local filmmaker Jesse Salazar III submitted his short mockumentary The Box Boy. The comedy tells the story of a father coming to grips with his young son living in a cardboard box in their backyard. “I submitted because I just like supporting anything that’s local and involves film,” Salazar said. “It’s fun to see other local indie work and show my stuff — if it gets in.

Any time I can interact and network with other local filmmakers, I’m down.” $5-$7, 5-8:30pm, CO LAB, 723 N. Alamo St., (210) 901-9902, pointwestproductions.com/ notafilmfestival. – KM

JOSH HUSKIN

▲ Vince McMahon’s legion of jackedup, muscle-bound warriors rassle for the distinct honor of headlining WrestleMania in April when the WWE returns to San Antonio for the Royal Rumble. Unofficially dubbed “the kickoff to the road to WrestleMania” — WWE always had its way with monikers — the Royal Rumble has surprisingly taken place in San Antonio more than any other city (three times in the last 20 years). Iconic wrestling superstars such as John Cena, Goldberg, The Undertaker, and Brock Lesnar are scheduled to perform along with relative WWE newcomers AJ Styles, Roman Reigns and Kevin

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COURTESY OF WWE

SPORTS

WWE Royal Rumble

COUR TESY OF RON WHIT E

CALENDAR NIGHTLIFE

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29 Owens. The main event of the evening is the fabled Royal Rumble match in which 30 wrestlers enter one ring and it’s “every man for himself.” The objective is to toss your opponent over the top rope until there is only one oiled-up rassler left standing. The victor then goes on to Orlando, not for Disney World but rather to headline the “grandaddy of them all,” WrestleMania.

The Rumble is one of WWE’s most famous traditions (this is the 30th edition) and it’s a hoot for die-hard wrestling fanatics and casual fans alike. $45-$407, 5:30pm, Alamodome, 100 Montana St., (210) 207-3663, alamodome.com. — Chris McDonald

SPORTS

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Spurs vs. Thunder ▲ After the departure of former league MVP Kevin Durant to Oakland via free agency, most NBA observers dismissed the Oklahoma City Thunder as legitimate title contenders. Although no longer regarded as an elite team, the Thunder have held their own in an unforgiving Western Conference, primarily due to the relentless play of Russell Westbrook. Westbrook is averaging an astonishing triple-double in points, rebounds and assists this season, a feat previously accomplished only once in league history, by the great Oscar Robertson. Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard will be tasked to slow down Westbrook’s wrecking ball offense in a preview of a potential first-round playoff matchup. With Durant no longer in the mix, San Antonio must set the tone early by asserting their dominance. $30-$1,899, 7:30pm, AT&T Center, One AT&T Center Pkwy., (210) 444-5000, attcenter.com. — M. Solis

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CALENDAR

ART Art opening: “Critical Mass” This group

exhibition provides for a survey of artistic styles and disciplines while allowing a glimpse into each Southwest School of Art faculty member’s current creative direction and practice. Free, 5:30-7:30pm Thursday; Southwest School of Art, 300 Augusta St., (210) 224-1848.

Closing Reception: "Sex, Race, Science" & “Wall Rumble” Presa House Gallery

and Studio One Zero Three team up with Amaya’s Cocina to present closing receptions for revered local artist Rolando Briseño’s “Sex, Race, Science” and the WWE-inspired group show “Wall Rumble.”

Briseño is creating an edible table installation for the occasion. Free, 6-11pm Saturday; Presa House Gallery (725 S. Presa St.) & Studio One Zero Three (721 S. Presa St.), (210) 445-6997.

“Adults” Fusing classical and modern

sensibilities, painter Ana Hdz-Burwell depicts millennials in the midst of contemporary situations. Free, 5-10pm Thursday, 5pm-midnight Friday, 5pm-1am Saturday; Dorćol Distilling Company, 1902 S. Flores St., (210) 229-0607.

"Construction Sights” With his latest

body of work, local artist Mark Hogensen draws with ink to explore “our awareness of rigidity and perception of objects in space.” Free, 10am-5pm WednesdayFriday, 10am-3pm Saturday, 10am-5pm Tuesday; Parchman Stremmel Gallery, 7726 Broadway, (210) 824-8990.

"Julian Onderdonk and the Texan Landscape" Sometimes landscapes,

dismissed as not heady enough or symbolic enough (or as too boring), get a bad rap. The truth of the matter is as it has always been: landscape painting, at least in the hands of the true masters of the form, can be just as inspiring, insightful and dynamic as any other style of painting. With its new exhibit, featuring over 25 exquisite landscapes by San Antonio native and impressionist hero Julian Onderdonk (1882–1922), the San Antonio Museum of Art presents active proof of the historic and artistic vitality of landscape painting. Entitled “Julian Onderdonk and the Texan Landscape,” the exhibit juxtaposes work from Onderdonk’s years training in New York, as well as his iconic depictions of the Texan landscape in the late 1800s and early 1900s. $5-$10, 10am-9pm Tuesday, 10am-5pm WednesdayThursday, 10am-9pm Friday, 10am-5pm Saturday-Sunday; San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 W. Jones Ave., (210) 978-8100.

RAW San Antonio presents "Cusp" RAW

celebrates San Antonio's diverse art scene with an evening combining live music, visual

art, performances, hair and makeup artistry, accessory design and a fashion show. $22$30, 7-11pm Wednesday; Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St Mary's St., (210) 812-4355.

FILM Friday Movie Party In this cult classic, Craig

(Ice Cube) deals with his father hassling him from the toilet, the massive neighborhood bully, his not-girlfriend constantly calling and hanging up, and helping Smokey come up with money to pay for all the weed he smoked instead of sold. The Drafthouse invites guests to live the laid-back dream with fake joints, gold chains, scratch ’n’ sniff smell-along cards and even a dog-catching contest before the show. $14.07, 7:30pm Sunday; Alamo Drafthouse Park North, 618 NW Loop 410, (210) 677-8500.

Letter To My Mother Sponsored by the

nonprofit Alpha House, Letter to My Mother takes an impactful look into the lives of mothers suffering from addiction in the U.S. A Q&A with the filmmakers and Alpha House staff and alumae follows the screening. $10, 7pm Thursday; Santikos Palladium, 17703 I-10 W., (210) 496-2221.

National Gallery Legendary documentary

filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes the viewer on an immersive journey through one of the great museums of the world: the National Gallery in London. The camera wanders through galleries and focuses on the experiences and work of the museum’s visitors, educators, curators and preparators. A wine reception precedes the McNay’s Get Reel screening at 5:30pm.

Free, 6-9pm Thursday; McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave., (210) 824-5368.

THEATER Basic Training In this award-winning

theatrical mix of storytelling, breakdancing and comedy, Kahlil Ashanti performs as 23 different characters based on his experiences in the military entertainment troupe “Tops in Blue.” $22, 8pm Saturday; Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624.

Mamma Mia! BMW of San Antonio brings

the ABBA-inspired Broadway staple to the Tobin for two performances only. On the eve of her wedding, a daughter’s quest to discover the identity of her father brings three men from her mother’s past back to the Greek island paradise they last visited 20 years ago. $35.60-$99.50, 2pm & 7:30pm Sunday; Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624.

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Highway 57 to fill up with musical fun courtesy of the gas pump boys and sisters Prudie and Rhetta who run the Double sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 29

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Cupp Diner across the road. $18-$25, 8pm Friday-Saturday, 3pm Sunday; Performing Arts San Antonio, 15717 San Pedro, (210) 557-1187.

The Rat Pack Lounge Roxie Theater waxes

SPECIAL EVENTS Cowboy Breakfast Kicking off the San

Antonio Stockshow and Rodeo and raising money for St. Philip’s College, this 39th annual event will serve free breakfast tacos to an estimated 40,000 people in the parking lot of Cowboys Dancehall. Free, 4:30-8:30am Friday; Cowboys Dancehall, 3030 NE Loop 410, (210) 646-9378.

nostalgic with a musical revue celebrating the heyday of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. $25-$30, 8pm Friday, 7:30pm Saturday, 3:30pm Sunday; Sunday; Roxie Theater, 7460 Callaghan Paramour presents Geek Chic Paramour Road, (210) 360-9180. invites self-identified nerds to mix and WORDS mingle with like-minded individuals while enjoying food and cocktails — geek chic Ben Longoria Local writer Ben Longoria attire encouraged. Free, 7pm-2am Friday; discusses his recent work American Paramour, 102 9th St., Suite 400, (210) Monsters, a collection of tales about the 340-9880. wicked creatures and abominations who occupied America in its past. Free, 11am-1pm Saturday; The Twig Book Shop, 306 Pearl Pkwy. Suite 106, (210) 826-6411.

Bonnie Lyons English professor, author and poet Bonnie Lyons sheds light on her life experiences and works, focusing on her most recent book, Wow: Wonderful Old Women, which includes interviews with women over 80 sharing their stories as a way to combat ageism and sexism. Free, 2-4pm Saturday; The Twig Book Shop, 306 Pearl Pkwy. Suite 106, (210) 826-6411.

COMEDY Ali Siddiq Many comedians are

courageous, but it takes a special type of spirit to begin your stand-up career while in prison like Ali Siddiq did.

Winner of Comedy Central’s Up Next competition, Houston’s Siddiq covers everything from fatherhood and politics to grocery shopping and Nigerian stripper associations. $16, 8pm Thursday, 8pm & 10:15pm Friday-Saturday, 7pm Sunday; Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, 618 NW Loop 410, (210) 541-8805.

Michael Carbonaro Stand-up comedy,

devious magic tricks and bizarre antics collide in the work of truTV's “genial and witty” Michael Carbonaro. $39.50, 7:30pm Sunday; The Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 226-3333.

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Pony Express Love Letters Stop by the

Briscoe to craft a personal love letter on a vintage typewriter or with calligraphy pens. The letters will be hand delivered free of charge to loved ones in the downtown area via bicycle messenger, like a modern-day Pony Express. Or, the museum will mail your letter anywhere in the U.S. Free, 10am-9pm Tuesday; Briscoe Western Art Museum, 210 W. Market St., San Antonio, (210) 299-4499.

TALKS PLUS Artist Lab Discussion Panel The

Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center hosts a panel discussion with 2016 Artist Lab fellows Lisette Chavez, Sarah Fox, Raul Gonzalez, Kristel Puente, Andrei Renteria and Jose Villalobos. Free, 2-4pm Saturday; Galería Guadalupe, 723 S. Brazos St., (210) 271-3151.

LGBT Suicide Drag Squad: Lip Sync Battle

Sparky's Pub welcomes Alamo Empire for a lip-sync battle co-hosted by Madness Knight Lord and Fiona KaneJaymes. Anyone can compete, battles are decided by tips and the last person standing will leave champion. Free, 4-8pm Sunday; Sparky's Pub, 1416 N. Main St., (210) 550-9975.

DANCE Compagnie Herve Koubi Presented

by ARTS San Antonio, French-Algerian choreographer Hervé Koubi makes his San Antonio debut with 12 French-Algerian and African male dancers with street dance and hip-hop backgrounds. The troupe's Ce Que le Jour Doit à la Nuit (What the Day Owes to the Night) is a highly physical, stunningly fluid work that combines capoeira, martial arts and urban and contemporary dance with powerful Sufi imagery. $29-$99, 7:30pm Saturday; Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary's St., (210) 226-3333.

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When we first arrived at Flight Gallery, to walk and talk with James Cobb through his new exhibit “17 Pelicans Along the Banks When I’m 64,” my 3-year-old daughter Emerson, true to her current custom, insisted on having the first word. “What do you do with all these paintings?” she asked the long-celebrated, consistently-inventive San Antonio artist. Breaking out in his trademark mischievous smile — a delightful thing that seems somehow tied to his restless and playful creative spirit — he blithely told her: “Well, I make them. And then I put them up here for people to see. And then I usually take them home with me.”

Aside from being an adorable interaction, I found it fairly representative of Cobb’s sharp wit, frankness and openness. In his continuing affair with fine art, Cobb, as he stated himself, is chiefly concerned with “cultivating the joy of the work.” Truth be told, that focus on intrinsic satisfaction first is probably why he continues to outdo himself.

“What continually enchants me about making visual images is that it’s kind of a personally perpetually reinforcing experiential loop,” Cobb said. “I’m excited by what I see, experience, and ideas that I have and then I allow them

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to inform the visuals I create. Those visuals often excite and surprise me and this reinforces my excitement about what I see, experience, and ideas that I have.”

Created in 2015 and 2016, “17 Pelicans Along the Banks When I’m 64” is a body of work that melds the digital with the analog. By working digitally, with programs like Illustrator and Photoshop, and also importing elements of his paintings from photos, Cobb, like some cyborg wizard, is able to achieve organic-synthetic hybrid works that, seeming to unfold in a plane of infinite depth, pull the viewer in.

The works in this three-part exhibit — which gets its whimsical and curious title from a pelican-counting moment in Port Aransas, the artist’s walks on the river near his house, and his realization that he had finally aged into a favorite Beatles song — are playful, curious, surreal, and geometric, but somehow also natural and human.

Long “seduced by computers’ possibilities in the realm of fine art,” though he’s “not a fan of sitting at a computer for hours on end,” Cobb explained that this process allows him the “ultimate freedom of experimentation,” without fear or

hesitation. Because digital elements can be manipulated and then, if the manipulation goes awry, restored to their original form, Cobb likens the process to “the creation of music from tracks.” Though he still adores the movement and physicality of painting, working in the digital realm saves time and allows for new ideas to be explored and stretched to their limits.

Cobb’s favorite thing about his current, ever-evolving process is “the layering aspect,” which allows him to work in a way that is “almost like collage, but with no limitations in terms of depth.”

The effect on the artist is elation, as Cobb relishes in “the technical aspects” as well as the sheer possibilities, and the effect on the viewer is mind-bending. One gets the sensation, because of the depth and combination of sharpness and subtlety that he is able to achieve, that these pieces go on forever and emerge from deep within the material they are printed on.

Catch the exhibit through the end of the month and, for a chance to learn more about Cobb’s work, dig the “Hang Out with James Cobb” event Flight Gallery is hosting on Wednesday, January 25 (7:45-10pm).

sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 33

34

CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

SCREENS

ADOLESCENT

ANGST 20th Century Women tells an endearing story of teen confusion

ANNAPURNA PICTURES

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A movie as well written and acted as 20th Century Women must be seen. It must be seen by teenage boys who don’t know how to act around girls. By teenage girls who allow peer pressure to dictate their actions. By middle-aged men and women who are lost souls in search of themselves, and by parents who are doing their best in a world that’s constantly changing.

It also must be seen by anyone who enjoys engaging dramas. Writer/director Mike Mills, whose first film, Beginners (2010), was based on his relationship with his father, this time tells his mother’s story. It’s 1979, and 15-year-old Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) is growing up without a father in Santa Barbara, California. His mother Dorothea (Annette Bening, great as usual) is liberal and loving, though ineffectual in certain regards. For a time, she hopes her tenant/handyman William (Billy Crudup) can be a positive influence on Jamie, but soon realizes they have little in common. So to help Jamie become a man, Dorothea enlists her tenant Abbie (Greta

Gerwig), a 25-year-old cancer patient who’s into punk man he’s capable of being. rock, and teenage neighbor Julie (Elle Fanning), with Abbie’s influence is more cultural: She introduces whom Jamie is madly in love even though he doesn’t him to punk rock music, teaches him how to talk to know what real love is yet. women and empower himself, and gives him feminist All three women have a profound effect on Jamie, textbooks to read. Julie teaches him about heartache each in vastly different ways. Dorothea had Jamie and yearning; she’s a lost soul who values his when she was 40, and now at 55 openly admits to friendship and their closeness, but refuses to have not understanding his generation. She also treats sex with him. Live and learn, young man. him like the man of the house. In one scene, she asks 20th Century Women is also about the zeitgeist Jamie to be home in case Abbie needs anything after of the era, including cultural artifacts, values and seeing her oncologist. He asks what to do if there’s generational conflicts consistent with the late ’70s/ bad news. She tells him whatever it is, he can handle early ’80s. When these artifacts combine with Roger it, and points out that men always try to fix things for Neill’s lively musical score, the frequent use of fast women when all they need to do is just be there. “I’m motion, garish costumes and a production design not a man, I’m just me,” he says, clearly uncomfortable that feels old even for the ’70s, we get the full scope with what his mother is asking of him and the of what’s molding Jamie into who he will become. association she’s giving him with manhood, which Furthermore, it’s in these details that the film feels he knows he isn’t ready for. “Well, yes and no,” she lived in, like an old photo that brings up fine memories responds with a sly smile, and we know she’s right — of a time gone by. Conveying this essence is he’s too young and immature for full responsibility, extraordinarily difficult, but Mike Mills has but he needs to learn these things to become the ★ ★ ★ ★ succeeded in a wonderfully endearing way.

sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 35

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CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

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FOOD

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GOING GREEN

Finding SA’s tastiest vegetarian dishes JESSICA ELIZARRARAS | @JESSELIZARRARAS

≥

Patrick Attwater isn’t my first vegetarian friend, but he’s one the most enthusiastic. Save from sending me links to PETA videos, the owner of One80 Solar is a bit of a poster boy for all things vegetarian/almost vegan. Though not averse to a plateful of vegetables, my general conditioning is to seek out delicious animal proteins (and I refuse to imagine a life without eggs, or cheese or a really great pork chop).

But in the spirit of this never-ending food journey I’ve found myself on as food and nightlife editor, and in an effort to connect with a growing population, I agreed to eating at least one vegetarian dish a day for a week with Attwater as my veggie spirit guide. Filled with a few of the 10-year vegetarian’s favorites, we kept the restaurants in the New American genre and here’s what we’ve found.

Liberty Bar’s Zucchini Sandwich // Our week began with a visit to Southtown’s salmon-colored convent for their zucchini sandwich, ensalada de garbanzo and a pizza (Attwater’s creation of artichokes, “fancy” olives, red sauce, mushrooms, hold the cheese). Much like their meaty counterparts, the bread, in this case sourdough, was integral to making a great sandwich. The zucchini was grilled just past al dente, and the addition of yellow mustard helped liven up the summer veg. Don’t forget to add the eggplant puree to the mix, but beware: this sandwich is messy. Paired with the warm ensalada de garbanzo of sautéed chickpeas, carrots, celery, garlic, onions, spinach and feta, the sandwich was a solid start to our journey. $9 for sandwich, $10 for salad, 1111 S. Alamo St., (210) 227-1187, libery-bar.com.

La Tuna Grill’s Garden Bean Veggie Burger // Though the roasted lamb sandwich is an old favorite, I was pleasantly surprised with the garden burger at La Tuna if only for its accouterment and sweet Hawaiian buns. Topped with refried black beans, guac, crush tomatoes, cheddar, roasted salsa and tortillas chips for good measure, the burger lets you customize the lettuce, tomato, onion ratio. Ask for half-fries, half-coleslaw, for extra zest. $9.79, 100 Probandt St., (210) 212-5727, latunagrill.com.

The Cove’s Vegan Bacon Cheeseburger // On day three, the idea of yet another sandwich was a bit daunting. We split the kale avocado spinach salad, vegan barbecue delight with a chipotle-laced barbecue sauce and the vegan bacon cheeseburger, both with house-made patties as foundation.

Though the delight was good, I was impressed with the tofu bacon — shocking, I know — and the variety of textures in this humble sandwich. Crunchy, creamy, toothsome and I didn’t miss beef once. $9.25, 606 W. Cypress St., (210) 2272683, thecove.us.

FEB

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Ming’s Noodle Bar’s Ma La soup and Veggie Buns \\ Scheduling conflicts made for asterisk days where I didn’t have a veggie buddy to share my meals, but already deep into this quest, I decided to continue on my own at Ming’s Thing. Vegetarian items were easier to spot at Ming’s Noodle Bar where the menu is actually pretty vegfriendly. I opted for the “Ma La” noodles of sweet potato noodles, fresh broccoli and mushrooms and a Sichuan-style (read: spicy) broth. Yes it’s a bit of a cheat with its chicken broth, but after doubling my veggie serving I couldn’t phatom adding sausage or pork belly to the mix. The veggie bun, topped with German slaw, pickled edamame and fried shallots was a nice bonus. $8.50 for soup, $3 for bun, 5249 McCullough Ave., (210) 570-6318, mingsnoodlebar.com.

Frank’s Vegan Sausage // We traded mystery meats for mystery wheats at Frank where vegan substitutes are available in either vegan sausage or vegan dogs. Let the fixings be your kids here and opt for the vegan sausage in a Texalina, which combines horseradish coleslaw with a Carolina mustard barbecue sauce and cheddar and add vegan chili. Trust me. $9.50, plus .75 for sausage switch, $1 for vegan chili, 1150 S. Alamo St., (210) 265-5292.

Bliss Vegan Platter // After a week of tasting all manners of patties and wheat concoctions, I still had room for Bliss’ vegan offering. Though not on the menu, the plate is always available to order, and changes to fit the season. That night’s plate featured an assortment of goods including enoki mushrooms, grilled zucchini and asparagus, farro salad, sautéed carrots and spinach, Brussels sprouts, velvety smooth hummus, a roasted artichoke heart and a roasted cross-section of cauliflower that had us all singing the praises of this chlorophyllless veg. Enough to satiate big appetites and probably great tossed with quinoa as leftovers, the vegan plate was the highlight of our veggie adventure. $25, 926 S. Presa St., (210) 2252547, foodisbliss.com.

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FOOD

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JESSICA ELIZARRARAS | @JESSELIZARRARAS

COURTESY OF IL FORNO

CHARLIE SMITH

COURTESY OF THE ROSH BUSH

•

Food trucks, kolaches and pizza classes are in store.

The Rose Bush Opens

>If you’ve driven or walked on San Pedro within the last five months, you may have noticed a cluster of food trucks on a semi regular basis. Owned by Robert and McKayla Rose, owners of Philly’s Phamous Cheesesteaks, The Rose Bush serves as a food truck park with indoor/outdoor seating options and it’s BYOB so you can pair your cheesesteak with whatever craft brew or red wine you’re into these days.

Found at the corner of San Pedro and Huisache, The Rose Bush already plays host to Phillys (naturally), Take 5 Pasta, Taste of Victory, Bad to the Bone BBQ, Vero Wood Fired Pizza, Lada Ladies, and the occasional visit by Big Aloha Kitchen (SA’s first Hawaiian food truck, which coincidentally launched at The Rose Bush in September).

Hours for the park are 5 to 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. The Rose Bush is closed Mondays.

2301 San Pedro Ave., (210) 621-8908.

More Seafood

> Sam’s Boat, a Houston-based casual, seafood joint is readying for the opening of its first San Antonio location. The Galleria-area fave describes itself as offering “a full complement of fresh Gulf Coast seafood and Tex-Mex favorites coupled with daily specials, refreshing libations, mastery of sports bar excellence, in an exciting dining environment.”

The San Antonio spot will join locations in Austin, Cypress, Lake Conroe, Seabrook and the original Richmond Ave. location on January 30. Expect to find lunch staples such as fish and shrimp baskets for lunch, along with Tex-Mex, burgers, sandwiches and Gulf-inspired specials.

For now the location is still hiring servers, hostesses, barbacks and bussers.

1827 N. Loop 1604 E., Suite 103, (281) 924-2758.

Pizza 101

> I’ll spare you the cheesy pizza/school puns, but you’ll want to reserve your spot for this class. Led by chef Jason Garcia at Il Forno, the hour-long course on January 31 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. will teach students how to throw their own dough and make fresh mozzarella.

This is the second class of its kind by Garcia, who helped open Aroma in Austin and later worked with Doug Horn at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana. Well-versed in all things Napolitano and with pronunciation that rivals Giada’s, Garcia leads a fun, laid-back but thoroughly informative and hands-on session.

Guests will be able to nosh on the fruits of their labor after it’s fired on Il Forno’s signature hand-made oven.

Cost ($40) includes class, recipes and dinner.

122 Nogalitos St., (210) 616-2198.

Valentine’s Day Listings

> While we might still be in the throes of January, it’d behoove significant others across the land to get a feel for what area restaurants will be serving up as a V-Day feast.

To that effect, restaurants and bars hosting Valentine’s Day dinners and/or events have until February 1 to share details on their plans. Send menus, pricing, times and what-nots to food and nightlife editor, Jessica Elizarraras at flavor@sacurrent.com to be included in this year’s Valentine’s Day listings.

Grand Kolaches

CHARLIE SMITH

> Dignowity Kolaches is launching their official grand opening celebration, and it’s going to be a lengthy one. The month-long soiree began last week and runs through February 11. But the long celebration seems just right for founding sisters, Silvia Alcaraz and Lupita Rivero, who opened their bakery last year and wanted to get everything just right before embarking on their “getthe-word-out” campaign.

Located on East Houston, just east of 281 in the storied Dignowity Hill neighborhood, and right across the street from the celebrated Dignowity Meats sandwich hangout, Dignowity Kolaches has been building a name for itself by shaking up the staid kolache status quo with its juicy barbarcoa kolaches, available every Friday along with the prerequisite Big Red soda pop (in glass bottles, no less).

The barbacoa, cooked in-house and hand-rolled into the flaky kolache pastry by Rivero, is quintessentially San Antonio, making Dignowity Kolaches a breakfast stop that should be on every local’s list.

Open Tuesday through Saturday, you can get your fix of the old standards, too: meat, cheese and fruit kolaches, as well. The bakery also features a menu of cakes, cookies and quiche. Large orders and catering, a specialty of Alcaraz and Rivero, themselves the founders of the award-winning catering house of authentic interior Mexican cuisine, Cocina Heritage, are also available.

The schedule of deals (one per purchase/transaction) is as follows: January 24-28 ~ Buy one of anything, get a second one free; January 31-February 4 ~ Free drink with a purchase; February 7-11 ~ Take your Dignowity Kolaches receipt to any participating East side business (TBA) for $1 off your $5+ purchase.

Dignowity Kolaches, 1629 E. Houston St., (210) 320-1050.

Send food- and nightlife-related events and news to flavor@sacurrent.com.

sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 39

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CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

$5 admission

includes 10 craft beer samples & a raffle ticket. Spurs tickets Giveway! www.stouthousesa.com | 11851 Bandera Rd #119, Helotes, TX | 210.637.9094

NIGHTLIFE

SHUTTERSTOCK

DEITIES BREWS

New Beers, Same Attitude at New Braunfels Brewing Co.

ERIC MORENO

≥

Since starting up operations in 2012, Kelly Meyer and his crew at New Braunfels Brewing Co. have been making beer “their way.” Made with 85 percent wheat, fresh hops, house yeast, locallysourced water, and a ton of attitude. With a line of saurs, “Fun-damentals,” elementals, and experimentals, they are forging a path that is truly unique in the local craft beer world.

“We came up with our style basically through trial and error,” Meyer said. “We had a good six or seven months in the beginning of no production since we had to break down and sell off the 60-barrel system we originally had.

The last batch from that old system, we left the top off and open to the elements and that is basically the culture of all our saurs. You are literally tasting downtown New Braunfels in all our beers, for better or worse.”

When I say they are doing things their way, that isn’t hyperbole. No one else is making saurs the way they are. No one else is doing as much barrel-aged beer as they are. And, interestingly enough, no one else is getting called out for invoking the name of a Hindu deity the way they are.

On January 14, a press release sent out by Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, argued for the Texas brewery to withdraw Lord Shiva beers. The three beers in question — "Shiva’s Tears”, “Shiva’s Wrath” and “Cosmic Dancer” — aren’t going anywhere.

“Essentially, this clown thinks he speaks for all of Hinduism and instead of coming and talking to me about his concerns, he released this press release to everybody,” Meyer said. “The local Hindu temple responded to it and they said that basically because this is beer, it is unacceptable.”

A spokesperson for the San Antonio temple told the Express-News he shared Zed’s sentiment.

“We consider Shiva the creator of the universe,”

AND

said Reddy Yeluru of the San Antonio temple. “When somebody’s talking about your creator, like your Mom and Dad, we feel offended. If it were associated with a good thing, we wouldn’t feel bad. But alcohol has a bad connotation.”

In typical Meyer fashion, he sloughed it off and kept right on brewing.

The beers that Meyer is putting out are far and away the most unique in the area – and unique is a good thing.

In the next few weeks, they are releasing a slew of new brews onto the world. Their newest is what they are calling New Braunfels Best, a collaboration beer with Guadalupe Brewing Company.

“They have a honey ale that finishes a little bit sweet.

In talking with them, I said they should do a saur version of it. They said they didn’t want to do that so I said we would do that for them. They gave us their wort and we fermented it in a barrel and we added our Blondine on top of it. It’s a blend of our Blondine, their honey wheat, and fermentation. It’s something special and we haven’t even sold it beyond our brewery yet,” Meyer said.

This beer is familiar enough for it to be a good gateway into what they are brewing there, yet different enough for it to stand out against the myriad other beers on the local scene. Also one that will be familiar to the senses – but not in terms of beer – is their Sunset in Nirvana. This beer is everything in the toolkit thrown together, with hints of cinnamon, vanilla bean, green tea, and citrus. This thing dances across your tongue, hitting every taste bud along the way.

The beer starts off with an 8 percent of New Braunfels Brewing Co.’s weizenbach, then is fermented with NBBC’s saur culture along with Saigon cinnamon, Madagascar vanilla, Taiwanese oolong tea, and oranges.

“It’s basically everything I like added into this beer,”

Meyer said.

While this stellar beer is only available for a short time at the brewery, a pair of barrel-aged wonders are soon to be hitting spots all over S.A. Their Black Fury is an aggressively sour beer made in the dunkelweizen and Schwarz style. This rocket-fuel-like brew has all the great notes of classic dark German beer combined with the oakiness you can only get from barrel aging and it has to be tasted to be believed. It’s chocolatey and tart and good.

“Black Fury is probably the most challenging beer we’ve done,” he said. “A lot of people have tried this, but they’ve never tried this version of it. This year, I think we’ve figured out what we’re doing. On a little side note, we’re releasing this in time for the inauguration with Cullum’s Attagirl. They’re doing a little tongue-in-cheek [event] where they are tapping Black Fury and serving it with fried chicken.”

Also on tap is their aptly titled Very Seldom Naughty.

This aromatic, wine-centric beer is a blend of their hefeweizen and white wine. It is frankly unlike anything else I have had from New Braunfels Brewing Company and it is outstanding. For those who aren’t hardcore fans of their saurs, this beer is one you have to try.

“Very Seldom Naughty came out because I also enjoy drinking wine,” he said. “This is made from lees, which are basically the skins of white wine grapes and yeast sediment. We blended that with our hefeweizen. It is a little sweet, a little juicy, and we will have these in SA in about a week.”

Though I didn’t get to try this one, fans of their now infamous PKL FKR will have a new beer to champion as the Olive FKR (made with, yes, olive juice) was released on January 21. It will definitely be worth making the trek up to Comal County for that one.

180 W. Mill St., New Braunfels, (830) 626-2739.

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MUSIC

YOUTIBE SCREENSHOT // MILLI MARS

≥

“WE ARE COMING” Milli Mars reps hometown in latest video, “San Anto” CHRIS CONDE

MAST ER SOUN D STUDIOS

CHRIS CONDE

TEEN SPIRIT

SA artists remember the albums of their teens

≥

Facebook is terrible and awesome all at the same time. We see the best and worst of our “friends’” raw, unfiltered emotions splattered across our screens, (especially during the recent train-wreck of a presidential election). There are, however, fun and sometimes silly personality quizzes and ridiculous memes to take our minds off the approaching apocalypse. If you’ve logged into Facebook at all in the past week, you’ll know that the most recent distraction has been the Top Ten Inspiring Albums From Our Teens list.

So we slid into the DM’s of a few local musicians to request a peek at some of their early inspirations:

Aerial shots of San Antonio blend with a mariachi band playing outside a downtown building during the opening of “San Anto,” the latest video and rereleased track of local rapper Milli Mars.

The song originally appeared on his 2011 album YMID but the rapper says he never put out a video because of some conflict within the music/media collective that he says he’s no longer a part of.

Mars says that “San Anto” isn’t necessarily a single but might appear on an upcoming tape. He also stressed that the reason for releasing a video was pretty singular in purpose: “This a rally cry for our city. [San Antonio] is full of so many artists here that are just ready to destroy mother fuckers. This [song] is all of us waving a flag saying ‘We are here. We are coming.’”

Directed by Jason Balencia (who’s also working on a video with local rapper MJ

Elena Lopez of Baby Bangs, Octahedron 1. Modest Mouse - Build Something out of Nothing 2. The Killers - Hot Fuss 3. El Ten Eleven - El Ten Eleven 4. Algernon Cadwallader - Fun 5. Modern Baseball - You’re Gonna Miss It All 6. Men At Work - Cargo 7. The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour 8. Oberhofer - Time Capsules II 9. The Frights - You Are Going To Hate This 10. Beach House - Teen Dream Tiffany Farias-Sokoloski of Yoshimoto 1. Bikini Kill - Pussy Whipped 2. Bikini Kill - Reject All American 3. Team Dresch - Personal Best 4. Bratmobile - Pottymouth 5. My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realise 6. My Bloody Valentine - Tremolo 7. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless 8. Slowdive - Souvlaki 9. Sleater Kinney - All Hands on the Bad One 10. Sleater Kinney - Dig Me Out Stephanie Cardona of Voodoo Boogaloo 1. Ruby Throat - The Ventriloquist 2. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black 3. The Killers - Hot Fuss 4. X-Ray Spex - Germfree Adolescents 5. Gorillaz - Demon Days 6. The Dresden Dolls - Yes, Virginia

Apollo), “San Anto” pulls the viewer through a story of what appears to be a drug deal gone awry as a gun-toting and hooded Milli Mars pushes another Milli Mars into the trunk of a BMW (I smell a metaphor...). “You can be a lion or a sacrificial lamb/no lyin’ tell the truth I know exactly who I am/ Yo I been to heaven and reached the gates/ how my city put me through hell but I keep my faith/” Mars raps from the trunk of the BMW before he’s led to a warehouse (uh-oh).

Throughout the track, Mars reps the River City with lyrics like “To live here/ die here/ even more, I survived here/” and “Nevertheless we progress ‘cuz my city's strong/proud to say where I’m from yo San Antone”. With his next album Black Goku dropping February 10th, Milli Mars continues to lead the pack with his ferocious rhyme skills, and his rich but haunting baritone vocals.

7. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine 8. Paul Williams & Various Artists - Phantom Of The Paradise: Original Soundtrack 9. T-Rex - Electric Warrior 10. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson 1. Jodeci - Diary of a Mad Band 2. Boyz II Men - II 3. Aaliyah - One in a Million 4. Kirk Franklin and Nu Nation - God’s Property 5. Janet Jackson - Janet 6. Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill 7. Tupac - All Eyez on Me 8. Enya - Shepherd Moons 9. Missy Elliott - Supa Dupa Fly 10. Various Artists - Romeo + Juliet: Original Soundtrack Amelie Ohern of Prylene 1. Autechre - Quaristice 2. Fergie - The Dutchess 3. Various Artists - Shake It Up: Live 2 Dance 4. Ippo Yamada - Megaman Zero OST 5. Gwen Stefani - Love, Angel, Music, Baby 6. Lo-Bat. - Game Boy 7. Thompson Twins - Into the Gap 8. Various Artists - Jet Set Radio Future OST 9. Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus - Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus 10. Cheryl Lynn - Cheryl Lynn

sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 45

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COURTESY OF MATT THE ELECTRICIAN

CHRIS CONDE

WED

25

MUSIC PICKS

SUN MACHINE, FLOWER JESUS, MOCKINGBIRD EXPRESS

PUDDLE OF MUDD Ever wonder where some of your favorite 90s bands got their names from? For instance, Limp Bizkit? I have a few guesses myself... In the early years 90s, rockers Puddle of Mudd used to practice in a space that was next to a Missouri River levee, and according to singer Wes Scantlin, the band would have to walk over literal puddles of mud to get inside of their practice space (Woomp there it is). With the help of fellow 90’s brethren, Fred Durst, the Kansas City four piece set out to conquer a nation, one grunge inspired nu-metal hit at a time. 7pm, $21-$25, Alamo City Music Hall, 1305 E. Houston St.

26

The psychedelic surf sounds from the 60s have come full circle, so call your acid dealer cuz you’re in a for a ride, maaaaaaan.

Just up I-35 resides the band Sun Machine, another Austin group that has dropped in on the tsunami wave THU

26

of psyche-rock that has, in recent years, started to flood the sprawling plains of South Texas.

They play alongside Flower Jesus Quintet and Mockingbird Express, two of San Antonio’s finest hallucinogenicsinspired rock outfits.

9pm, $3, Hi-Tones, 621 E. Dewey Pl.

COURTESY OF THANK YOU SCIENTIST

COURTESY OF SUN MACHINE

MATT THE ELECTRICIAN

THU

Born to a union carpenter and a seamstress, Matt Sever moved from the west coast to Austin in the mid-1990s searching for better opportunities for his music career.

An electrician by day and folk artist by night, Sever, still in his work attire, would actually introduce himself as “Matt the Electrician” as a way to explain his appearance to the crowd. The name apparently stuck. Combining banjo picking, acoustic guitar strums and minimal percussion, Sever finds a way to blend his charming lyricism into the mix to produce really interesting folk songs that keep the listener eager to hear more. 7:30pm, $10-$30, Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St.

@ARI.EJORADO JOSHUA JONES

MP

MUSIC

NEW MADRID If a band is listed as “Danceable indie rock” anywhere in a headline or description, I’m usually quick to dismiss and forget the band ever existed. Despite New Madrid being an indie rock band incorporating elements of, well, dancey-ness, they are a multigenre influenced four piece who shouldn’t be confined by any one description.

Hailing from Athens, Georgia, the boys harness the psychedelic sensibilities of post-rock to create gigantic movements as reverb-laden vocals echo through the mountainous soundscapes. 9pm, $5, 502 Bar, 502 Embassy Oaks #138 WED

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Combining the elements of math rock, nu-emo and...ska?, Thank You Scientist manages to pull off what could otherwise easily become a trainwreck. Djent-y drum hits carry swelling saxophones as singer Salvatore Marrano delivers a poppy melody, bringing about a fucking weird but interesting blend of experimental art rock.

At one point, the band channels old Incubus before immediately slamming into a math rock break. It’s confusing and exciting and I’m not sure if I like it but it’s sure as hell not boring. 7pm, $15, Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St. THU

26

THANK YOU SCIENTIST, CONSIDER THE SOURCE

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50 CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

MUSIC

Consider this one of San Antonio’s concerts you should not miss this year. The amazing gospel singer, with a voice that could melt the iciest hearts, is backed by some damn good gospel and jazz instrumentation, his lyrics floating perfectly through the songs. Porter’s performances are a perfect example of what legendary singing should look like (from someone awarded a Grammy for best jazz vocal album, no less). Don’t miss this chance to catch someone who is truly one of the best vocalists of our time. 8pm, $35, Carver Community Cultural Center, 226 N. Hackberry

DEEP STATE

FRI

GREGORY PORTER

27

AARON LEWIS

COURTESY OF SNACK BAR

Before the days of torrents, Spotify and even Napster, soundtracks were actually one of the best ways to buy a decent mix of current tunes. That’s how I (and probably a lot of us) found out about that band Soul Coughing, who’s reggae rap-rockish tune “The Bug” appeared on 1997’s Batman and Robin soundtrack.

On tour in support of his latest solo record, The Heart Watches While The Brain Burns, Mike Doughty combines 90s rock roots with a surprisingly interesting mix of quirky, spacey sounds that sound almost Beck-inspired.

With Wheatus, 7pm, $17, Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St Mary’s St.

Line, Lewis transitioned from sad nu-metal singer to sad country singer. On tour in support of his latest country effort, Sinner, which actually includes a feature from outlaw country god Willie Nelson, Aaron Lewis reminds us all how fucking old we are and that changing shit up is apparently possible for anyone. 7pm, $17-$27, Cowboys Dancehall, 3030 NE Loop 410 @ I35

SAT

28

MIKE DOUGHTY

OF SOUL COUGHING

27

COURTESY

Aaron Lewis has come a long way from his adolescent angst-igniting anthems from the late 90s. If you graduated high school between 1998 and 2005, you or someone you know probably had a Staind CD (and you or someone you know might’ve probably wrote some terrible poetry because of those songs). But with the release of 2011’s Town FRI

Yet another rad band from Athens, Georgia has emerged. Started by singer/guitarist Taylor Chmura with desire to form “an aggressive/cathartic/punk band that was undeniably catchy,” Deep State has done...well, just that. This is what rock and roll should sound like — loud, in your face, and unpredictable. With San Antonio label Texas is Funny’s own The Hawks of Holy Rosary on the bill, this show is gearing up to be a party, bro.

9pm, $5, Limelight, 2718 N. St. Mary’s St. FRI

COURTESY OF LIGHTWORKS

COURTESY OF GREGORY PORTER

27

HIDDEN RITUAL, LAKE OF FIRE, LIGHT WORKS If you threw a rock at a crowd of people in Texas you’d hit someone in a psyche-rock band. I’m not encouraging people to throw rocks at anyone, but it’s interesting to watch this colorful explosion expand and stretch over south Texas with the emergence of rock and roll bands that channel the trippy dynamic of the 1960’s. Austin’s Hidden Ritual and Lake of Fire fall into the aforementioned genre, and with the shimmering, atmospheric pulsing of fellow Austin brethren, Lightworks, this next K23 show is definitely the perfect Saturday DIY show. $7, 7pm, K23 Gallery, 704 Fredericksburg Rd. SAT

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sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 51

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Drinksirius.com • Lesa@DrinkSirius.com 52 CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

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MUSIC

MUSIC CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25 The Georges Rockabilly band The Georges play Gruene. Free. Gruene Hall, 6-10pm Top Heavy Alt/rock cover band Top Heavy plays at the Amp Room. Free. The Amp Room, 10pm Valerie Kuehne and the Wasps Nests, HyperBubble A concert of “colorful, boundary-smashing music.” $10. Highwire Art Gallery, 7:30-10pm Wednesday Evening Picker Circle w/ Jimmy Lee Jones Open unplugged acoustic jam with Jimmy Lee Jones. Free.

Luckenbach Dance Hall, 5pm

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26 210 Blues Band Every Thursday & Sunday night SoHo Martini Bar features the R&B sounds of San Antonio’s own 210 Blues Band. Free. SoHo Wine & Martini Bar, 10pm August Harris, Alyson Alonzo August Harris performs at Limelight with soulful crooner Alyson Alonzo, Formative Fire, and more. $5-$8. Limelight, 9pm Crush Alternative/electronica dance night featuring such artists as Die Antwoord, Purity Ring, Interpol, The Smiths, M83, Crystal Castles, CSS, The Knife, Joy Division. Free Thirsty Camel, 10pm The Strayhearts Southern rock/Americana band the Strayhearts perform with singer/ songwriter Brock Zeman. $7-$40. Sam’s Burger Joint, 8pm

FRIDAY, JANUARY 27 Andrea Dawson Band R&B artist Andrea Dawson Band play at Luna. $10. Luna, 9:30pm Bad Funky Bones Classic and current Motown, R&B, soul and funk. The Cove, 9-11pm Deer Vibes Deer Vibes perform with Formative Fire and Voracious. $5-$8.

Ventura, 8pm DNCE You probably know them from “Cake by the Ocean,” DNCE is coming to the Aztec. $45-$148. Aztec Theatre, 8pm Encrypted Encrypted play with Aztec Death and Robert Sullen. Free. The Mix, 9pm Lacey Sturm Formerly of Flyleaf, Lacey Sturm brings her solo sound to Fitzgerald’s with Stitched Up Heart, Palisades, and Fire from the Gods. $15.

Fitzgerald’s Bar & Live Music, 7-10pm

Los Nahuatlatos Los Nahuatlatos perform their Chicano soul sound at Burleson. Free.

Burleson Yard Beer Garden, 9:45-11:45pm

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Mozart and Tchaikovsky Geralrd Schwarz conducts classics from Mozart and Tchaikovsky. $12-$96. Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 8pm Rasheed Hip hop artists Rasheed, Jes Latino, Fade Dogg and more perform at the Korova. $7-$10. The Korova, 7pm Skyrocket! Skyrocket! performs 70s and 80s covers. $12-$90. Sam’s Burger Joint, 9 p.m.

Udo Dirkschneider German heavy-metal singer of Accept and U.D.O performs Accept’s songs for the last time. $28.50-$66.

Alamo City Music Hall & Club, 8pm Zane Williams Country musician Zane Williams performs with Texas singer/ songwriter Austin Meade. $12-$15. John T Floore’s Country Store, 9pm

SATURDAY, JANUARY 28 10 Years with Big Jesus and Realm Indie rock band 10 Years performs with Big Jesus and Realm. $21-$25. Alamo City Music Hall & Club, 7:30pm Cory Morrow Unplugged Texas country artist Cory Morrow plays at Sam’s, joined by singer/songwriter Drew Fish. $15-$90.

Sam’s Burger Joint, 9pm

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Elija Zane Elija Zane performs blues rock at the Cove. The Cove, 9-11pm Gary P Nunn Texas country artist Gary P. Nunn plays at Floore’s. $12-$15. John T Floore’s Country Store, 9pm Jai Malano Jai Malano performs soul and blues at Luna. $10. Luna, 9:30pm Jennifer Birmingham Band Victoria-based country singer Jennifer Birmingham performs with a full band. Free. The Phoenix Saloon, 9pm Lee Winright CD Release Mulberry’s will be hosting Lee Winright’s CD, Time Between Times, release. Free. Mullberry’s Wine and Food, 4-6pm Mozart and Tchaikovsky Gerald Schwarz conducts classics from Mozart and Tchaikovsky. $12-$96. Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 8pm Mozart: Posthorn Symphony Mozart’s Posthorn Symphony shares the program Danzi’s Don Giovanni variations, and Hanson’s “Romantic” Symphony, along with Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme for cello and orchestra. $15-$96.

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 8pm Murs The Korova hosts rapper Murs, Mega Ran, Bitforce, Lotus Tribe and more. $10.

The Korova, 7pm sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 53

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CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

MUSIC

OONTZ FEST #11 DJ Hans 242’s Angry German Oontz Oontz Fest #11 joins forces with the Industrial Pop tour to feature Aesthetic Perfection, Solar Fake, Nyxx, DJ HANS 242. $13-$15. The Amp Room, 7pm

South River Trio Pop/Americana singer/ songwriters South River Trio play at the Cove. The Cove, 6-9pm

Pop Evil Rock band Pop Evil performs with guests Badflower. $20. Aztec Theatre, 8pm

Sunday Afternoon Picker Circle w/Dan West Cowart Unplugged acoustic show with Dan West Cowart. Free. Luckenbach Dance Hall, 1pm

Rave Bass Kaos the Space Cadet, HiveMind and more bring the bass to Rock Box. $5-$10. The Rock Box, 9pm

The Welch Family Show Americana band the Welch Family Band play Gruene. Free.

Gruene Hall, 4-8pm

Saturday Afternoon Picker Circle W/ Pistol Creek Unplugged, acoustic session with Pistol Creek. Free. Luckenbach Dance Hall, 1pm Silent Minority Silent Minority performs with pop/punk band Given a Chance.

Ventura, 9pm Sine Electronic trio Dawn of the Phoenix performs with Sine, Curse Mackey. $5-$8.

Limelight, 9pm Small Town Habit Small Town Habit play at Cooter Brown’s. Cooter Brown’s Saloon

MONDAY, JANUARY 30 August Burns Red Metalband August Burns Red perform with Protest the Hero, In Hearts Wake, and ‘68. $23. Alamo City Music Hall & Club, 6pm Booty Feet, Wayne Holtz Indie pop band Booty Feet perform with Xy!o and beloved local Wayne Holtz. $2. Hi-Tones, 9pm Bret Graham Country artist Bret Graham plays Gruene. Free. Gruene Hall, 6-10pm

So This is Suffering Deathcore band So This is Suffering play the Korova basement with Fortunes, Assailants, Crossways, and more. $8-$10. The Korova, 4:30pm

Matisyahu Studio Session This performance offers fans a casual experience where they can get up-close, personal and interact with artist Matisyahu. $34.50-$67.50. Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 7:30pm

So What, Headhunter So What is a Metallica tribute band, joined by Headhunter, a Krokus tribute band, and more. $8-$10. Bond’s 007 Rock Bar, 8pm

Monday Evening Picker Circle w/ Stephen K. Morris Unplugged Americana session with Stephen K. Morris. Free. Luckenbach Dance Hall, 5pm

Voodoo Boogaloo Trip-hop duo Voodoo Boogaloo is joined by Scorpio Rising and performer Wayne Holtz. Free. The Mix, 9pm

Swing Nite with the Octanes Austin’s rockabilly band The Octanes play at Sam’s. $10. Sam’s Burger Joint, 8:30pm

SUNDAY, JANUARY 29

TUESDAY, JANUARY 31

210 Blues Band Every Thursday & Sunday night, catch the R&B sounds of the 210 Blues Band. Free. SoHo Wine & Martini Bar, 10pm

Claude Butch Morgan Open unplugged acoustic session with Claude Butch Morgan. Free. Luckenbach Dance Hall, 5pm

Carrie Newcomer Songstress Carrie Newcomer performs at the Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater.$26.50. Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 7pm

GEN-X 80s 80s Retro/New Wave from classic to obscure. Free. The Amp Room, 10pm

Marks Brothers Influenced by everything from swing to rock, the Marks Brothers perform at the Cove. The Cove, 2-5pm Nag Champa Producer Nag Champa performs original cumbia tracks live.

Limelight, 9 p.m.

Robb Bank$ and Da$h Hip hop artist Robb Bank$ plays Korova with Da$h, Wifisfuneral, and more. $20-$25. The Korova, 7pm Slim Bawb Cajun/folk band Slim Bawb play Gruene. Free. Gruene Hall, 12-3:30pm

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Jazz on the Rocks Weekly series combining live jazz, happy hour specials and complimentary small bites. Free. St. Anthony Hotel, 5-7pm The Lineup at Limelight Limelight hosts the Lineup, a Tuesday night dance party featuring DJ Free Verse. Limelight, 9pm Tony Taylor and Friends Singer/ songwriters Tony Taylor and Friends play Gruene. Free. Gruene Hall, 6-10pm Simone Porter The Tuesday Musical Club Artist Series upcoming concert is violinist Simone Porter. $25. Laurel Heights Church, 2pm sacurrent.com • January 25-31, 2017 • CURRENT 55

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ITMFA!

SAVAGE LOVE

2017

by Dan Savage

> A problem has cropped up for me ever since the reports of Donald Trump’s pissing Russian hookers made the news. Every time someone on social media tries to make a comment about how disgusting that is, someone else jumps in and scolds that person for “kink shaming.” The problem for me is that by normalizing my piss fetish, you’re making it dull for me. Piss was one of the few things that even the kink community found disgusting. I now find myself looking for different porn because, eh, a lesbian pissing in the mouth of another lovely lady on a train platform? No big whoop anymore, it seems. My polyamorous boyfriend and I found each other without knowing we shared a love for piss. Neither of us had ever had someone to enjoy that with before.

The one thing the piss porn I’ve been watching for half my life completely failed to capture is how goddamn amazing it is to embrace and make out with a person you love dearly while you’re both covered in each other’s piss. If you personally don’t want to kink shame, that’s fine. I get it. But everyone, please stop telling your friends not to kink shame so that my boyfriend and I can get back to the business of pissing on each other and feeling disgusting about it and horny because of it.

Pissed Off Slut Wife I have grappled with this same conundrum, POSW. If a kink is boneror slicker-inducing to some precisely because it’s so transgressive and disgusting to most, efforts to normalize said kink — by shaming kink shamers, for instance — could piss away that kink’s power to induce all those boners and slickers. But I’m confident that the kink shamers will continue to have the upper hand for decades to come, despite the best efforts of the kink-shamer shamers.

So your kink will continue to induce enough revulsion and disgust generally to keep you and your boyfriend feeling disgusting and horny in perpetuity. > Listening to pundits discuss the president on the radio, I was

inspired by your brilliant acronym (DTMFA) to yell, “Impeach the motherfucker already!” I’d love to see a line of bumper stickers and T-shirts bearing that sensible message: ITMFA! We need a shorthand for the obvious — think of the boost to productivity we’d get if we could cut half-hour conversations about the president to five simple letters: ITMFA! I appeal to you to bring this acronym into our everyday vocabulary.

Dumped My Motherfucker Already DEAR READERS: DMMA wrote me that letter in 2006. She wasn’t referring to Donald Trump, our current awful president, but George W. Bush, our last truly awful president. I thought DMMA’s idea was great, I put up a website (impeachthemotherfuckeralready.com), and I raised more than $20,000 selling ITMFA lapel pins and buttons. I donated half the money to the ACLU and the other half to two Democratic candidates for the US Senate. (My readers helped turf Rick Santorum out of office!)

I didn’t think I’d see a worse president than George W. Bush in my lifetime. But here we are. So I’m bringing back my line of ITMFA buttons and adding T-shirts and, yes, hats to the ITMFA collection. Go to impeachthemotherfuckeralready.com or, if that’s too much typing, ITMFA.org to order some ITMFA swag for yourself or someone you love. All the money raised will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, and the International Refugee Assistance Project.

We’re in for a long and ugly four years, folks. Let’s raise some money for groups fighting Trump, let’s bring ITMFA back into our everyday vocabulary, and let’s remember that we — people who voted against Trump, people who want to see him out of office as quickly as possible — are the majority. ITMFA!

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CURRENT • January 25-31, 2017 • sacurrent.com

“Arise!”— get up to the challenge.

ACROSS

1 Body of beliefs 6 Zipped past 11 Heathcliff, for one 14 2016 Disney title character voiced by Auli’i Cravalho 15 Statement of empathy (or sarcasm, depending on tone) 16 He shared a phone booth with Bill and Ted 17 Sides at the monastery diner?

19 Commingle 20 Rotary phone feature 21 “Forbidden dance” popularized in the late 1980s 23 “Daily Show” correspondent ___ Lydic 26 Kombucha brewing need 28 Pitchblende and hornblende, e.g.

29 Is here 31 “Thank you,” in Honolulu 33 “Just don’t look nervous” 35 Pivotal 38 “Read Across America” gp.

39 Smoking alternative, once 40 Hogwarts letter carrier 42 Muhammad of the ring 43 The Jetsons’ youngest 45 Creator of “Community” and co-creator of “Rick and Morty” 48 Quenches 50 Most dangerous, as winter roads 51 ___ en place (professional kitchen setup)

53 “King ___” (Jackson moniker) 55 “Ring Around the Rosie” fl ower 56 Paper crane art 58 Makes a knot 60 B-movie piece 61 Team of nine that doesn’t draw, dance, or play an instrument?

66 Beehive State college athlete 67 “___ Joy” 68 Home of the Burj Khalifa 69 “WKRP” character Nessman 70 Tissue masses 71 Rating system basis, often

DOWN

1 “Unbelievable” band of 1991 2 Wrestler-turned-B-movieactor Johnson 3 Yes, in Yokohama 4 How files were often stored, before the cloud 5 Bangalore wrap 6 Part of the NRA 7 Crossword puzzler’s dir.

8 Places where one may tip for getting tips 9 It’s visible on cold days 10 “O.K.” from Tom Sawyer 11 Special appearance by a Chevrolet muscle car?

12 Emulate The Dude 13 State with the most counties

18 Gives confirmation 22 New Mexico’s official neckwear 23 American Revolutionary patriot Silas 24 Shine 25 Places to buy Indian string instruments?

27 “I ___ robot, beep boop beep” (unusually common impersonation of a robot) 30 Tucker who sang “Delta Dawn” 32 Company with a duck mascot 34 Vague 36 At ___ (puzzled) 37 Like a clogged dryer vent 41 “Go forward! Move ahead!” song 44 Couturier Cassini 46 Cleopatra’s undoer 47 Removes, as an opponent’s spine in “Mortal Kombat” 49 ___ dragon (world’s largest lizard) 51 Business bigwig 52 Mad as hell 54 Others, in Spanish 57 Author unknown, for short 59 Comes to a close 62 Got into a stew?

63 “___ Action: It’s FANtastic” (old slogan) 64 Musical ability 65 “___ the season ...”

ETC.

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY by Rob Brezsny ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19):

Westward Ho! is the name of a village in southwestern England. Its name is impressive because of the exclamation point.

But it’s not as dramatic as that of the only town on earth with two exclamation points: Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, which is in Quebec.

I invite you Aries folks to be equally daring.

According to my reading of the astrological omens, you have a cosmic mandate and poetic license to cram extra !!!!s into all your writing and speaking, and even add them to the spelling of your name! Why? Because this should be one of the most exciting and ebullient phases of your astrological cycle — a time to risk showing just how enthusiastic and energetic you are!!!!!

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): The

New York Film Critics Circle named Casey Affleck the Best Actor of the year for his role in the film Manchester by the Sea. In his acceptance speech at the award ceremony, Affleck gave a dramatic reading of quotes

by David Edelstein, a prominent critic who has criticized his work. “Mumbly and mulish,” was one of Edelstein’s jabs about Affleck. “Doesn’t have a lot of variety,” was another. A third: “Whenever I see Affleck’s name in a movie’s credits, you can expect a standard, genre B picture — slowed down and tarted up.” I suspect that in the coming weeks, Taurus, you may get a vindication comparable to Affleck’s. I suggest you have wicked fun with it, as he did.

your use, Cancerian. Why? Because it’s likely you will be the recipient of blessings that prompt you to wonder if the Divine Wow is involved. One of these may indeed be financial in nature. (P.S.: Such boons are even more likely to transpire if you’re anchored in your sweet, dark wisdom and your holy, playful creativity.)

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): What influence do you need most in your life right now? Are you suffering because you lack a particular kind of help or teaching? Would you benefit from having a certain connection that you have not yet figured out how to make? Is there a person or event that could heal you if you had a better understanding about how you need to be healed? The coming weeks will be a favorable time to get useful answers to these questions -- and then take action based on what you discover.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): The next

two weeks will be a favorable time to kiss the feet of helpful allies, but not to kiss the butts of clever manipulators. I also advise you to perform acts of generosity for those who will use your gifts intelligently, but not for those who will waste your blessings or treat you like a doormat. Here’s my third point: Consider returning to an old fork in the road where you made a wrong turn, and then making the correct turn this time. But if you do, be motivated by bright hope for a different future rather than by sludgy remorse for your error.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): The

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): In the

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): Born to a religious mother on July 8, 1839, John D. Rockefeller amassed a fortune in the oil industry. Even in comparison to modern billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, he’s the richest American who ever lived. “God gave me the money,” he said on numerous occasions. Now I’m going to borrow the spirit of Rockefeller’s motto for

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): In 1733, workers finished building the New Cathedral in Salamanca, Spain. But if you go there today, you will see two seemingly modern elements on one facade: carvings of a helmeted astronaut and of a gargoyle licking an ice cream cone. These two characters were added by craftsmen who did renovations on the cathedral in 1992. I offer this vignette as metaphor for your life, Scorpio. It’s a favorable time to upgrade and

roulette wheels at casinos in Monaco have 37 pockets. Eighteen are black, 18 are red, and one is green. On any particular spin, the ball has just less than half a chance of landing in a red or black pocket. But there was one night back in August of 1913, at the Casino de Monte-Carlo, when probability seemed inoperative. The little white ball kept landing on the black over and over again. Gamblers responded by increasingly placing heavy bets on red numbers. They assumed the weird luck would soon change. But it didn’t until the 27th spin. (The odds of that happening were 136,823,184 to 1.) What does this have to do with you? I suspect you’re in a comparable situation — the equivalent of about 20 spins into an improbable streak. My advice: Don’t bet on the red yet.

refine an old structure in your life. And if you do take advantage of this opening, I suggest you add modern touches.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): I

suspect that in the coming weeks, you will be afforded opportunities to bend the rules in ways that could make life simpler, more pleasurable, and more successful -- or all of the above. To help you deal with the issue of whether these deviations would have integrity, I offer you these questions: Would bending the rules serve a higher good, not just your selfish desires? Is there an approach to bending the rules that may ultimately produce more compassionate results than not bending the rules? Could you actually get away with bending the rules, both in the sense of escaping punishment and also in the sense of being loyal to your own conscience?

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): I don’t necessarily guarantee that you will acquire paranormal powers in the coming weeks. I’m not saying that you will be able to foretell the future or eavesdrop on conversations from a half-mile away or transform water into whiskey-flavored coffee.

But I do suspect that you will at least tap further into a unique personal ability that has been mostly just potential up until now.

Or you may finally start using a resource that has been available for a long time. For

best results, open your imagination to the possibility that you possess dormant magic.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): A

London-based think tank does an annual study to determine which of the world’s countries offers the most freedom. The Legatum Institute measures indicators like civil liberties, social tolerance, and the power to choose one’s destiny. The current champion is Luxembourg. Canada is in second place. France is 22nd, the U.S. is 26th, and Italy 27th. Since I’m hoping you will markedly enhance your own personal freedom in the coming months, you might want to consider moving to Luxembourg. If that’s not an option, what else could you do?

The time is ripe to hatch your liberation plans.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): I love to see dumpsters that have been decorated by graffiti artists. Right now there’s one by the side of a busy road that I often drive down. Its drab gray exterior has been transformed into a splash of cartoon images and scripts. Amidst signatures that look like “Riot Goof” and “Breakfast Toys” and “Sky Blooms,” I can discern a ninja rhinoceros and a gold-crowned jaguar and an army of flying monkeys using squirt guns to douse a forest fire. I suspect it’s a perfect time to for you to be inspired by this spectacle, Pisces. What dumpster-like situation could you beautify?

THIS MODERN WORLD by Tom Tomorrow

beginning was the wild cabbage. Our ancestors found that it had great potential as food, and proceeded to domesticate it. Over the centuries, they used selective breeding to develop many further variations on the original.

Kale and kohlrabi were the first to appear.

By the 15th century, cauliflower had been created. Broccoli came along a hundred years later, followed by Brussels sprouts. Today there are at least 20 cultivars whose lineage can be traced back to the wild cabbage. In my astrological opinion, you Libras are in a wild cabbage phase of your long-term cycle.

In the coming months you can and should do seminal work that will ultimately generate an abundance of useful derivatives.

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