San Antonio Current – August 22, 2018

Honky Tonk on St. Mary’s Strip

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CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

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in this issue San Antonio Current

Issue 18_34 /// August 22-28, 2018

fascination in the overlooked

Publisher: Michael Wagner Editor-in-Chief: Greg Jefferson

27 Screens

Editorial

Senior Editors: Bryan Rindfuss, Jessica Elizarraras Art Director: Carlos Aguilar Food & Nightlife Editor: Jessica Elizarraras Staff Writers: Chris Conde, Sanford Nowlin Digital Content Editor: Sarah Martinez Contributors: Alexis Alvarez , Ron Bechtol, Erik Casarez, James Courtney, Callie Enlow, Jose Garza, Dan R. Goddard, Alejandra Lopez Gonzalez, Lance Higdon, Steven G. Kellman, Hannah Lorence, Michelle C. Lorentzen, Abby Mangel, Kiko Martínez, Jeremy Martin, Kelly Merka Nelson, M. Solis, Gary Sweeney, J.D. Swerzenski, Kelsey Valadez, Erin Winch Editorial Interns: Alisa Pierce, Lori Salazar, Camille Sauers, Victoria Wilson

Piece & Love

Puzzle anchored by intimate story, subtle lead performances

Journey on Her Own Actress Kelly Macdonald on her coming-of-age role in the indie drama Puzzle

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31 Food

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31 Feature

Honky Tonk on the St Mary’s Strip

Garrett T. Capps partners with Strip owners for Lonesome Rose JESS ELIZARRARAS

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09 News

Up to the Task?

Mayor’s task force lays out a path for S.A. to fix its housing woes — now it’s time to execute

Sick-Time Politics

City council passes a sick-leave ordinance that may be DOA

SA Pays

Alamo City outshines other cities in salaries, cost of living

Picking Off Birds and Limes

San Antonio has removed more than 100 dockless scooters blocking rights-of-way

14 Calendar

Our top picks for the week

24 Arts

Beauty in the Mundane Master printmaker Kent Rush finds

Honky Tonk on St. Mary’s Strip Musician Garrett Capps turns barman

Honky tonky is coming to the St. Mary’s Strip, and country singer Garrett T. Capps (on the cover) is one of the partners bringing it.

Lonesome Rose will open in October, housed in the former Phantom Room at the strip’s south end.

Photo by Josh Huskin Art Direction by Carlos Aguilar sacurrent.com | August 22-28, 2018 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

s a n a n t o n i o b e e r f e s t i va l . c o m

Bryan Rindfuss

Up to the Task?

Mayor’s task force lays out a path for S.A. to fix its housing woes — now it’s time to execute

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

A

year in the making, Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s Housing Policy Task Force last week issued a report that gives S.A. a blueprint for its first comprehensive housing plan.

The unveiling comes as the city struggles to keep pace with growth that’s rapidly outpaced housing supply — especially for low- and middle-income residents. And, importantly, the document acknowledges the socioeconomic segregation at the root of the problem, something local leaders have historically been loath to discuss.

With home ownership rates sliding from 61 percent to 54 percent between 2005 and 2016, the time is right for bold moves to fix the city’s housing woes. And experts say that’s just what will be required to make the task force’s recommendations work. “[Nirenberg’s] heart is in the right place,” said Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert, an advocate for affordable housing.

“It’s now a question of whether the priorities are going to mirror what’s in his heart.”

The report lays out an ambitious yearlong path to implement policies that tackle displacement, gentrification, rising property values and other problems. It also advocates a ten-year plan to make housing a top City priority and recommends coming up with some serious public funding — try $1 billion — to make it happen.

“We’re including both policy and a road map for action,” said task force chair

Lourdes Castro Ramirez, who once led the San Antonio Housing Authority and served at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “The first year is critically important, but to address an issue as complex as housing is also going to require a long view.”

The task force recommendations are: • Create a coordinated city housing system, including a “housing chief” and a one-stop center for housing information.

• Develop a 10-year funding plan to develop and preserve affordable housing that draws on multiple sources, including city bonds.

• Build and maintain more affordable housing units for both rental and purchase — including homes for vulnerable residents.

• Protect neighborhoods, including addressing the strain of rising property taxes.

• Create a governance system to hold the city’s housing operations accountable to the public.

Some of those ideas draw on successful policies implemented in Los Angeles, Denver and New York, but much is homegrown.

The task force sought input from hundreds of residents via community meetings and working groups.

The recommendations go to city council next month for debate. The progressive-dominated, Nirenberg-friendly council is a receptive audience. But much depends on whether the plan is adopted in full or whether council, daunted by the scope and price tag, moves it forward in an incomplete or watered-down state.

news

Ticking Clock

Certainly, now would seem to be the time to act.

The average sales price for a house here climbed 7 percent, year over year, to $218,000 in July, according to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. As of 2016, 165,000 of all San Antonio households were spending more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing, which economists consider a budgetary red line.

Calvert said he’s impressed with the scope of the task force’s plan, but he cautions that the economic injustices that created the crisis will take a long time to undo. That means city leaders also need to lobby for changes at the state level in conjunction with its plan.

He points to Democratic state Rep. Diego Bernal’s proposed legislation that would freeze property taxes for people who have lived in their houses for at least 15 years and whose property tax payments went up 120 percent or more during that time.

For his part, Calvert is pushing for an amendment to the Texas Constitution that would index residents’ net property tax bills to inflation.

Working Together Even if council adopts the task force’s recommendations unchanged, the city faces the arduous task of figuring out how they will work with its existing neighborhood plans, said Christine Drennan, director of Trinity University’s urban studies program.

During the ‘80s and ‘90s, San Antonio turned its focus to developing individual neighborhood plans to protect the character and future of San Antonio’s urban core communities. But those existing plans may contradict the aims of the new policy.

“We’ve never had a citywide housing policy before, but as we implement it, we have to recognize that it’s sitting on top of what came before,” said Drennan, who worked with the task force during its early stages.

One challenge will be ensuring that new developments fit the character of existing neighborhoods without giving residents of wealthier areas an excuse to slam the door on lower-income residents.

Drennan also would like to see the city tie in the housing policy with its efforts to create new jobs and remedy public transportation woes — all of which are efforts to ready the city for the 1 million new residents it’s expected to gain over the next 25 years.

New housing, no matter how affordable or well-intentioned, can contribute to sprawl and its ills.

“How do we conceptualize a way to make that all work together?” she asks. “My fear is that we just may end up kicking this all down the road.”

Find more newsmore coverage Find news every day at sacurrent.com

news | city current

Sick-Time Politics

City council passes a sick-leave ordinance that may be DOA

BY GREG JEFFERSON

T

o anybody who doesn’t pay close attention to City Hall, it looked last week like city council passed a paid sick-time ordinance with the same kind of deliberation and attention to detail that Donald Trump devotes to his 5 a.m. tweets.

There’s some truth to that.

By a vote of 9-2, council members decided to plunge local government directly into the operation of private companies. And they did it without knowing how many companies would be affected, what the costs would be or how exactly the city would enforce the new ordinance.

Councilman Manny Pelaez, a labor and employment attorney, went as far as saying the ordinance probably wouldn’t hold up in court. For good measure, the District 8 councilman tweeted the next day: “… The ordinance is almost certainly going to be preempted and gutted.”

Later that Friday, he added, also in a Tweet, “Paidsick-leave is on life support” after a state appeals court put Austin’s ordinance on hold. The Austin city council adopted its paid sick-time measure in February, and business opponents promptly sued, arguing that the state can require employers to cover their workers’ sick time, but not cities.

Pelaez agreed with that argument – right before he voted in favor of the ordinance at hand.

Thursday’s vote to mandate paid sick leave for all but San Antonio’s smallest companies was the clearest indication yet of how scrambled our politics are as we head into the midterm elections.

What’s done the scrambling? The know-nothing populism that helped put Trump in the White

10

CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

House; the strong sense that working people have to take policy into their own hands if they want government to address their needs; and the volatile racing fuel of social media.

This is how screwed up it’s gotten at the local level: Some council members, including Pelaez and Mayor Ron Nirenberg, felt their best option was voting for a measure that was still weighed down with big, unanswered questions, including whether it would help or hurt the local economy. While not every council member who voted “yes” was as torn – Shirley Gonzales, Rey Saldaña and Ana Sandoval spoke movingly in favor of paid sick leave – the fact is they did so with almost no information or forethought. The city’s fiscal analysis, the plan for how the city’s Metropolitan Health District will enforce the ordinance, the discussion with businesses and labor – all that will come later, weeks or months after council’s decision.

I asked Jeff Coyle, director of the city’s government and public affairs department, why city staff hadn’t attempted to answer council members’ questions about what kind of punch the ordinance would pack.

“State law requires a fiscal impact analysis for charter changes, not ordinances,” Coyle said in a written statement. “From a practical standpoint, the charter petitions directly affect the finances and operations of city government, while the paid sick leave ordinance applies to private employers, so analyzing the potential fiscal impact to the city is much more complex.”

Nirenberg seemed to understand how messy this decision was, and how it must have looked to voters.

“Given these two choices today, I will vote for the measure,” he said. “Doing so is the only viable solu-

tion that gives San Antonio the opportunity to move forward by responding fairly to this petition while maintaining the flexibility to craft a San Antonio-specific policy before it takes effect – if the [Texas] legislature doesn’t resolve the matter this spring.”

That was another complication – the reasonable, and probably correct, argument that this wasn’t local government’s decision to make, but the state’s.

To go back to basics: Working Texans for Paid Sick Leave, a coalition that includes Texas AFL-CIO, the Texas Organizing Project, MOVE Texas and Planned Parenthood, collected more than 140,000 signatures in April and May to force the issue. After the city clerk certified 70,419 of the signatures, council had two choices: pass paid sick leave as an ordinance or, if council members said no way, put it on the November 6 ballot and let voters decide.

That’s complicated enough. Now mash up paid sick leave with the fire union’s three proposed amendments to the city charter.

As you might recall, the amendments would curb future city managers’ pay and require them to leave after eight years; make it easier to put city ordinances, including spending decisions, to a public referendum; and require the city to take disputes with unions to mediation, not court.

The San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association collected more than 100,000 signatures to put the measures on the November ballot. Most council members held their noses and obliged, voting unanimously last week to send the poison pills to voters.

They then immediately turned to paid sick leave.

(Here’s not the place to go into the union’s shady means of paying for the signature-gathering efforts.)

It proved nearly impossible to separate the firefighters’ amendments from the Working Texans coalition’s handiwork.

That’s because of the concern among amendment haters – namely, council members and others in the politico-business complex – that having paid sick leave on the ballot would attract a bunch of voters who usually don’t show up for midterm elections. The thinking goes that, once they start poking around the other ballot items, they might decide they like the idea of cutting the city manager’s pay.

This fear was muted Thursday, but it had been a major factor in talks behind the scenes.

There was also some thought that next year’s Republican-controlled legislature would work even faster to kill the city’s paid sick-time law if council members put their stamp of approval on it, instead of voters. After all, who wants to be seen under-cutting the will of voters?

And that’s the saddest, least understood part of last week’s spectacle: For all the cheering of supporters who worked hard to make mandatory paid sick time a reality, council’s vote was probably their high point – and even that was downbeat.

With the prospect of legal challenges and conservative state lawmakers going ballistic over the mandate, Pelaez was probably right when he said: “I believe this is dead on arrival in Austin.”

A victim of our screwed-up politics.

sacurrent.com | August 22-28, 2018 | CURRENT

11

SUNSET DINNER

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ENJOY

a picnic-style dinner at sunset adjacent to the historic farm at Mission San Juan. Join us for hay-ride tours of the farm, mission tours, music, appetizers, beer, wine, cocktails and more! The event begins at 6:30 PM with picnic baskets available for pick-up at 7:15 PM.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

6:30 PM - 8:30 PM 9101 GRAF RD., SAN ANTONIO, TX 78214

ADULT MEALS = $ 75 CHILD MEALS = $ 15

Register and view restaurant menus at www.safoodbank.org/sunset.

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edible

san antonio®

12

CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

To be in the study, the child should: Be between the ages of 8-17 years old, have not received a psychiatric diagnosis & have a parent without a psychiatric diagnosis.

Children will be: - Given pictures of their brain - Given a certificate from the University acknowledging their successful time volunteering in research - Given the gratification of knowing their participation may help other kids who are seriously ill - Paid for their participation

If you are interested in participating in this research,

Please Call (210) 450-8362 OR BDstudySA@uthscsa.edu

news

Picking Off Birds and Limes San Antonio has removed more than 100 dockless scooters blocking rights-of-way

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

I

Shutterstock

SA Pays

Alamo City outshines other cities in salaries, cost of living

t’s not your imagination. Those dockless electric scooters really are cluttering up downtown.

Since Bird — S.A.’s first scooter-sharing company — arrived in late June, the City has removed 110 of the vehicles left in potentially hazardous locations or blocking rights-of-way, according to the Center City Development & Operations office.

That doesn’t mean SAPD’s been hauling the scooters to its impound lot and demanding loot for their return. Just that authorities have been scooping up the offending rides and returning them to their owners.

“We expect any dockless company that operates in the city to monitor their equipment and to avoid placement in the city’s right-of-way or anywhere that it could create a safety hazard to the public,” Center City honcho John Jacks said in an emailed statement. “The city has the right, and has removed, equipment in its rights-of-way, sidewalks, trails and/or trailheads that are identified as obstructions or hazards.”

If you’ve been following the arrival of the aforementioned Bird and competitors Lime and Blue Duck, you know those obstructions — along with rider and pedestrian safety — have come up as the city looks to regulate the new technology. Officials have set a September timetable for adopting rules, and they’re seeking input via an online survey.

Part of the appeal of the rental scooters is that people can pick them up and drop them off pretty much anywhere, letting commuters to cover the “last mile” between a bus route and a final destination. That benefit aside, it still sucks when one blocks access to a crosswalk, a business’ front door or a wheelchair ramp.

Just as regulations often play catch-up with new tech, sometimes courtesy needs to do the same. In other words, just because you can talk on a mobile phone in a movie theater doesn’t mean everyone won’t call it out as the dick move that it is.

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

A

lamo City residents may not pull down West Coast-style salaries, but not living on the West Coast sure does wonders for our wallets.

The San Antonio-New Braunfels metro ranks fourth in the nation for cost-adjusted salaries — an annual average of $72,022 a year — compared to other metros with at least 250,000 residents and growing job markets, according to a report from Indeed, the job-search website. Lubbock was the only other Texas city on the top 10.

Its average adjusted salary of $72,340 landed it at No. 3.

The study illustrates how living expenses make a significant difference how far a paycheck goes. San Francisco salaries are 19 percent higher than those in San Antonio, for example, but

adjusted for costs such as housing, goods and services, salaries are actually 11 percent higher here.

To get its rankings, Indeed drew salary figures from jobs posted on its website and adjusted them based on cost-of-living stats from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Researchers also adjusted the report to compare cities with high job growth and low unemployment, filtering out cities that may have high adjusted salaries but poor job prospects.

“Even if you’re only considering economic factors when choosing a new hometown, don’t stop at adjusted salaries,” the report says. “Unless you’ve already got a secure job in hand, you should consider the ease of finding a job today and the odds of having one in the future.”

Shutterstock

sacurrent.com | August 22-28, 2018 | CURRENT

13

FRI | 8/24 - SAT | 8/25

Sarah Beard Buckley

WED | 8/22 WORDS

RICHARD BLANCO L

Nicole Erwin TH EATER

GLADIATORS IN LOVE

True veterans of San Antonio’s theater scene, playwrights Mark Leonard and Thomas Masinter met as Trinity University students circa 1972 and have since collaborated on “about a half-dozen” plays including the well-received “cajun voodoo musical” Fire on the Bayou. “No sacred cow is left un-barbecued” in their new “farcical musical parody” Gladiators in Love. While it drops nods to iconic films ranging from Spartacus and Hercules to Brokeback Mountain and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the new play is essentially a dramatic fan letter to Steve Reeves, a late bodybuilder and beefcake superstar of the “swords and sandals” era of cinema. In addition to the promise of fresh material from the “local award-winning legends” (who admit they probably “should be ashamed of themselves ... but are not”), this initial semi-staged reading enlists the talents of eight local actors and vocalists who’ll embody mythological deities and Roman courtesans, not to mention a pupu platter of pop-culture phenoms both loved and hated — Daisy Duke, the Marx Brothers, Dom DeLuise and Donald Trump among them. Word to the wise: Gladiators in Love is decidedly “not for the prudish or easily offended.” $10, 8pm Fri-Sat, The Overtime Theater, 5409 Bandera Road, Suite 205, (210) 557-7562. — Bryan Rindfuss

Each year, as a part of its integration of freshman students, Trinity University sponsors a program called “Reading TUgether,” wherein the entire school community is invited to read a book and engage with it in formal and informal ways. It’s a unique way of providing a shared experience for students and faculty alike. Past selections have included Evicted

by Matthew Desmond, Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss, and The Circle by Dave Eggers. This year’s reading is Richard Blanco’s 2014 coming-of-age novel The Prince of Los Cocuyos. And here’s where you come in even if you have no affiliation with Trinity, as a kind of capstone to the shared-reading experience: Blanco, the official poet for Obama’s second inauguration,

WITH A SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

@EMPIRE

AUGUST 23

5PM & 6PM

SEPTEMBER 4 & 17

14 CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

SEPTEMBER 11

SEPTEMBER 21

SEPTEMBER 22

OCTOBER 19

calendar

will give a reading that’ll be free and open to the general public. Free, 7pm, Trinity University, Laurie Auditorium, One Trinity Pl., (210) 999-8117, trinity.edu. — James Courtney

WED | 8/22 + THU | 8/23 MUSIC + FI LM

BEN DICKEY & BLAZE 5

The biographical drama Blaze – about late country-western singer/songwriter and San Antonio native Blaze Foley – doesn’t officially hit theaters here until August 31.

But the hype is starting now. On August 22, musician and breakout actor Ben Dickey, who portrays Foley in the upcoming film, will perform an acoustic set covering a number of Foley’s original songs like “Clay Pigeons,” “If I Could Only Fly” and “Big Cheeseburgers and Good French Fries.” After the concert, Dickey will stick around for a fireside chat and answer questions from the audience. The following night, Dickey will be in attendance for a special free screening of Blaze, which was co-written and directed by Academy

Sundance Selects

Award-nominated actor and screenwriter Ethan Hawke (Before Midnight, Boyhood).

The film explores Foley’s career in the ’70s and ’80s, his relationship with girlfriend Sybil Rosen (Alia Shawkat) and his drug and alcohol addiction. In 1989, Foley was shot and killed by the son of one of his friends after an altercation. A Q&A with Dickey (moderated by yours truly) will take place after the screening. Concert: free, 7:30pm Wed, The Pigpen, 106 Pershing Ave, (210) 267-9136, thepigpensa.com. Screening: free, 7pm Thu, Santikos Bijou, 4522 Fredericksburg Road, (210) 734-4552, santikos.com. — Kiko Martinez

THU | 8/23 FILM

UNCOLONIZED \

Comunicación Combativa

A free screening of the 2018 short documentary film Uncolonized will take place August 23 at Our Lady of the Lake University. The film “takes a critical look at the historical experiences of native children inside of the U.S. public education system” by following

a family who decides to homeschool their daughters, Natahney, 11, and Mimicah, 7, rather than send them to public school.

Uncolonized also looks at the history of “Indian boarding schools” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries where native children were sent to assimilate them to Euro-American standards. “With our kids, we want the freedom for them to think for themselves, protect themselves and learn what they want to learn,” said Chasity, the young girls’ mother, in the film. The screening is sponsored by the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions (AITSCM), the mission of which is to “work for the preservation and protection of the culture and traditions of the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation and other indigenous people of the Spanish Colonial Missions in South Texas and Northern Mexico through education, research, community outreach, economic development projects and legislative initiatives at the federal, state and local levels.” Free, 6pm, Our Lady of the Lake University, Providence Hall, Blue Room, 411 SW 24th St., (210) 227-4940, aitscm.org.

— KM

Sign up for ExcluSivE prESalES & announcEmEntS! tExt maJESticEmpirE to 22828 COMMON

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Woodlawn Theatre

FRI | 8/24 SUN | 8/26 TH EATER

HELLO, DOLLY! L

If you hadn’t noticed, the 1964 madcap musical Hello, Dolly! returned to the stage in grand fashion last year thanks to a multi-Tony-winning Broadway revival starring Bette Midler (and later Bernadette Peters) as vivacious matchmaker and “professional meddler” Dolly Gallagher Levi. Penned by 87-year-old Broadway legend Jerry Herman (Mame, La Cage aux Folles) and late playwright Michael Stewart (Bye Bye Birdie, 42nd Street), the musical plays out in turnof-the-century New York, where its

widowed protagonist is plotting to mix a little business with pleasure. Tasked with finding a new wife for “well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire” Horace Vandergelder, Dolly instead sings, dances and schemes her way into the marriage equation — essentially saving her client for herself. Stepping into a high pair of heels inaugurated by the late great Carol Channing, beloved San Antonio actress Anna Gangai takes the lead opposite Tim Hedgepeth (as Horace) in this Woodlawn Theatre production directed by Christopher Rodriguez. $18-$30, 7:30pm Fri-Sat, 3pm Sun through September 16, Woodlawn Theatre, 1920 Fredericksburg Road, (210) 267-8388, woodlawntheatre.org. — BR

and takes up residence with her sister Stella and her incorrigible husband Stanley Kowalski. Whether you already love it or have yet to experience it, any chance to see Street Car performed is special. You’ll have just such a chance this weekend, as the Vex opens its four-weekend run of the indisputable classic on Saturday. This incarnation of the masterwork is directed by Dylan Brainard and stars Regina Burpo, Kevin Cox, Matthew Halteman and Sarah Hamilton among others. $15-$23, 8pm Sat, 2:30pm Sun through September 16, Sheldon Vexler Theatre, 12500 NW Military Hwy., (210) 302-6835, vexler.org.

— JC

SAT | 8/25 SUN | 8/26 THEATER

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

While many people know A Streetcar Named Desire as a 1951 film — one of the best ever — starring Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh and Kim Hunter, it was a Pulitzer Prize-winning play four years before the movie premiered. Written

by Tennessee Williams, one of the true masters of American drama, Street Car follows Southern belle Blanche DuBois as she moves to New Orleans

Presa House Gallery

SUN | 8/26 MUSIC

NOODLEBOY & ANDREW WEATHERS L

TUE | 8/28 TALKS PLUS

Texas Public Radio

‘HOW YOUR VOTE MATTERS’ Remember that time, nearly two years ago now, that we all learned the hard way that we should probably be more invested in the American political apparatus? Good times, eh? As this year’s November elections approach, it is comforting to a certain degree to see just how many individuals and organizations are energizing, empowering and educating (particularly young) folks to get out and vote. On that note, Texas Public Radio’s young professionals group Generation Listen, along with the League of Women Voters of San Antonio (LWVSA) and others, is hosting a panel discussion that will “discuss navigating the system, important issues and candidates, how to stay civically engaged outside of the election cycle and how to get other millennials involved.” Panelists for the talk, which will be moderated by TPR’s Kim Johnson (who we’re proud to call a former intern), include Drew Galloway, executive director of MOVE Texas, and LWVSA board member Becca DeFelice. The evening will also include live poetry and music, a mixer and an opportunity to register to vote on site. Free, 6:30-8:30pm, Brick at Blue Star, 108 Blue Star, (210) 262-8653, tpr.org/generation-listen. — JC

16 CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

Noodleboy, a name given as a term of endearment, is a homegrown songwriting project centered on the domestic — Jeremy Purser’s sparely arranged songs cover subject matter drawn from personal experiences, cats and plants, and feature sounds from his daily life, like a voicemail from his mother. Purser eschews high production values, instead opting for lo-fi indie guitar backed by kitschy drum kits. Joining Noodleboy on the bill is Andrew Weathers, an improviser and composer who recently relocated from California to Littlefield, Texas. Weathers’ most recent release, Build A Mountain Where Our Bodies Fall, is effervescent and somewhat ethereal, but its cosmic soundscapes are grounded by melodies that evoke grassroots American anthems. Attendees are asked to provide a small donation for the touring bands. Pay what you can, 8pm, Presa House Gallery, 725 S. Presa St., (210) 913-5842, presahouse.com.

— Kelly Merka Nelson

MUSIC

TWRP q

When costumes, aliases or anonymity are key features for a rock band (KISS, GWAR, Ghost, The Residents and Peelander Z all come to mind), it’s only natural to wonder how their music would fare without the layers of artifice and manufactured mystery. Claiming to be an “elite squad of rock stars from the future” who draw creative inspiration from science, kung fu and video games, Toronto-based Tupper Ware Remix Party (TWRP) inevitably raise those suspicions but fly their gimmick flag high while delivering cheeky, well-produced, disco-tinged dance music that’s been embraced by hipsters, millennials, nerds and fans of like-minded outfit Ninja Sex Party (who are unsurprisingly regular TWRP collaborators). Enlisting the musical talents of Doctor Sung, Lord Phobos, Havve Hogan and Commander Meouch, TWRP is blatantly influenced by helmet-wearing, Grammy-winning French duo Daft Punk (robot-voice treatments included) but their direct lifts are accompanied by so many goofy winks and nods that it’s hard not to give them a hall pass. Commenting under the after-school-special-worthy video for “Synthesize Her” (lead track from their 2018 full-length Together Through Time), YouTube user Wes Papes put the kitschy quartet in their place: “TWRP is the most ’80s band not from the ’80s.” $10, 8pm, Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — BR

Courtesy of Tupper Ware Remix Party

June 23–September 16

El Greco!

Velázquez!

Goya!

SAN ANTONIO MUSEUM of ART 200 West Jones Avenue | San Antonio, TX

samuseum.org Carlos and Malú Alvarez Caption: Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664); Saint Isabel of Portugal (detail), ca. 1635; Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid P01239; © Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

sacurrent.com | August 22-28, 2018 | CURRENT 17

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www.World He rit ag e F est ival.org 20 CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

Sep tember 8, 2018 - 8 AM Mission Par k Pavilions 6030 Padre D r ive Narr at ed Bike Ride Tou r 7 Mi les: San J os e and San J u an 14 Miles : Alamo, C on cep cion and San J os e 22 Mi les: Alamo, Concep ci on , San J os e, San J uan an d Es p ada 5K an d 10K Ru n & Walk Enjoy a walk or ru n t hr ou gh t he s cen ic Ri ver Walk, Mi s si on Reach and Mis s ion San J os e Receive a passport a nd ge t a sta m p a t e a ch of t h e st op s.

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calendar

FILM

Yellow Submarine One of the true gems in the history of films about music or made by musicians, Yellow Submarine, starring and inspired by the music of The Beatles, was written by Lee Minoff, directed by George Dunning, and boasts wonderfully trippy animation created by a host of stoned animators on both sides of the pond. The beloved children’s fantasy/comedy, based directly on music from the Fab Four, first hit theaters 50 years ago. Fun for the whole family and an unforgettable theater experience for any true Beatles fan, Yellow Submarine hearkens to a simpler time when even the cool kids were able to enjoy the innocent pleasures of a silly vanity project like this. In celebration of the film’s 50th anniversary, the Aztec “transforms into its historic movie theater setting for a one-time only matinee screening.” $14-$20, 3pm Saturday; Aztec Theatre, 104 N St Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355.

TH EATER

Aye, No! You’re going to have to get really lucky to get a seat for Liz Coronado Castillo’s hilarious, yet heart-rending, play

Aye, No!, to be presented throughout this month by Teatro Audaz. Tickets are sold out already — but there’s always the waitlist.

Castillo, who is currently resident playwright at Sul Ross University, first teased Aye, No! in San Antonio with a staged reading at Bang Bang Bar in 2016, and now the popular (out in West Texas) play is getting the full treatment. Like so much of Castillo’s vibrant and vital work, the play zeroes in on the power of borders: the border town where it takes place, the borders and boundaries that characters place on the young protagonist Alicia (who has the audacity to not bring a man home with her), and the arbitrary borders of gender and sexuality. $20-$35, 7:30pm Thursday-Saturday, 2pm Sunday; The Public Theater of San Antonio, 800 W. Ashby Pl., (210) 733-7258.

SPECIAL EVENTS

5-Year Anniversary Party Busted Sandal Brewing celebrates its fifth anniversary with a party featuring beer samples, commemorative glasses, food trucks and live music by Saltwater Slide and Red Light Jazz. $20, 4-10pm Saturday; Busted Sandal Brewing Company, 7114 Oaklawn Drive, (210) 872-1486.

Cherry and Lamar Block Party In protest of the development of the Bridge Apartments (which threaten to block the view from the Hays Street Bridge), the Esperanza showcases 40 photographs submitted to the nonprofit’s Corner of Cherry and Lamar Photo Contest. Free, 6-9pm Saturday; Hays Street Bridge, 800 N. Cherry St., (210) 228-0201.

Culinaria Restaurant Week Aiming to give “visitors and residents the opportunity to experience the quality, variety and hospitality that embody the San Antonio dining experience,” local nonprofit Culinaria’s biannual Restaurant Week unites more than 100 eateries offering fixed-price menus for breakfast/brunch ($25), lunch ($15) and dinner ($35-$45) through August 25. $15$45, times vary Wednesday-Saturday; visit culinariasa.org for details.

Feliz Modern’s First Birthday The cheery Olmos Park boutique celebrates its first year with a day filled with “fun surprises in store.”

Free, 10am-4pm Sunday; Feliz Modern, 110 W. Olmos Drive, (210) 622-8364.

Whiskey Business This annual favorite benefiting the Witte Museum invites guests to discover the best in whiskeys, bourbons and select scotches at an adults-only event featuring a dozen distillers, sipping sessions, live music and cuisine samples from area restarants including The Rustic, Hanzo, Toro Kitchen & Bar, Dignowity Meats and Francis Bogside. $60, 8-11pm Friday; Witte Museum, 3801 Broadway, (210) 227-0044.

YO

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ARRIVING SOON M—

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ART

“Alberto Mijangos: 159” Comprising 96 artworks gathered from private and institutional collections, the retrospective “Alberto Mijangos: 159” spotlights a revered painter who was born in Mexico City but made San Antonio home and left deep impressions on our art community as an educator and gallery director. Curated by Dr. Teresa Eckmann in observance of the Tricentennial, the exhibition draws its title from a number that held symbolic meaning for Mijangos — 1 signaling the beginning, 5 referencing the middle and 9 representing the end of his artistic career. Free, 11am-6pm Wednesday-Sunday, 11am-6pm Tuesday; Centro de Artes, 101 S. Santa Rosa Ave., (210) 206-2787.

“Spain: 500 Years of Spanish Painting from the Museums of Madrid” SAMA’s grand and prestigious summer exhibition, which features many works of art that have never been on view in the United States before, boasts more than 40 masterpieces from throughout the last five centuries of Spanish painting, all culled from major collections in Madrid. As such, this special show gives visitors a chance to get in touch with our city’s Spanish roots via work by some of the finest artists in the history of the world — from El Greco to Goya, from Velázquez to Sorolla, Picasso and beyond. $13-$20, 10am-5pm Wednesday-Thursday, 10am-9pm Friday, 10am-5pm Saturday-Sunday, 10am-9pm Tuesday; San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 W. Jones Ave., (210) 978-8100.

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Staying Cool for Back to School

Beauty in the Mundane

Master printmaker Kent Rush finds fascination in the overlooked

BY BRYAN RINDFUSS

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CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

hen you take into consideration the numerous forms and variations of printmaking, it presents itself as one of the more complicated artistic mediums to wrap one’s head around.

Even if you only studied art by default in school, you might’ve made a quick-and-dirty monoprint by smearing paint on a woodblock and transferring your masterpiece onto paper. And many of us are versed in at least the basics of screen-printing (aka silk-screening or serigraphy) thanks to its relative simplicity and everyday applications (band merch, beer koozies et al.). But when you dive into etching,

lithography, collotype, photogravure and other related processes, you’ll find that printmaking can be a laborious and complex practice involving precise chemistry, light-sensitive materials, multiple steps and specialized tools such as etching needles, zinc plates, gelatin sheets, leather rollers and stone grinders. Not exactly something one picks up as a casual hobby.

The most prevalent form due to its commercial use for posters, magazines and advertisements, offset lithography exemplifies printmaking’s most obvious purpose: to print multiples of the same image. But for certain artists working in the versatile realm of printmaking, the ability to make dozens,

arts

a solo exhibition in 1977, his history with the museum includes a retrospective in 1998 and the recently opened showcase “100 Years of Printmaking in San Antonio: Kent Rush.” Organized by prints and drawings curator Lyle Williams in conjunction with a Tricentennial series exploring the history of printmaking in the Alamo City, the exhibition expresses a lot in a relatively compact setup. But save for an informative video that shows the artist at work in his studio, viewers shouldn’t expect much immediate gratification. Regardless of the mediums at play (Rush works between drawing, painting, collotype and lithography with an emphasis on “the space between photography and printmaking”), his work requires viewers to slow down and contemplate what they’re looking at and, perhaps more importantly, how and why it was made.

The word “subtle” has been used with regularity in descriptions of Rush’s work. And while that feels like an accurate descriptor for his figurative output — including photo-realistic drawings, photographs and prints celebrathundreds or thousands of the same image ing mundane objects, concrete embankments might be less important to their output than and freeway underpasses — his collage-like the nuances and visual idiosyncrasies of the abstractions — which often fuse represenmedium itself.

California transplant and longtime San An- tational fragments with intense studies in mark-making — are far from subtle. Taken as tonio resident Kent Rush fits snugly into this a whole, his often inter-related bodies of work category of artists. While he does print numbered editions of the same image, his master- run the gamut from minimalist to maximalist, from quiet, controlled arrangements to chaotic ful work explores the unusual tones, textures storms of intersecting lines. and patterns intrinsic to printmaking.

With multiple mediums and styles at play, Born in the Bay Area, Rush inherited a one might question the connective thread or knack for making things from his father, an visual continuity in industrial art teacher Rush’s work. Arguwho died when Rush ably the most obvious was a child. Although 100 Years of Printmaking in “theme” that emerges he excelled at art San Antonio: Kent Rush is the artist’s affinity during high school, for found objects and Rush opted for an $15-$20, 10am-4pm Tueignored corners of the architecture program Wed, 10am-9pm Thu, urban sprawl. Wabefore settling on 10am-4pm Fri, 10am-5pm ter run-off stains in art, with teaching beSat, noon-5pm Sun drainage ditches are ing the end goal. AfThrough September 30 presented as exprester earning degrees sionistic collaborafrom the California McNay Art Museum tions between man College of Arts and 6000 N. New Braunfels and nature; concrete Crafts (now CaliforAve. is celebrated as an nia College of the overlooked source Arts) and the Univer(210) 824-5368 of imperfect beauty; sity of New Mexico, mcnayart.org gum wrappers become Rush relocated to artifacts — dust under Texas to help launch the rug of of modern the printmaking procivilization. gram at the San An“For about 20 years, I was photographing tonio Art Institute, a bygone school housed primarily concrete objects, Rush told the on the grounds of the McNay Art Museum.

Current during a recent tour of his McNay Short of a return to California from 1979 to exhibition. “What I really love formally are 1982, Rush has remained a constant presjust basic shapes … So I would scour the ence in San Antonio ever since, exhibiting countryside trying to find odd concrete obnearly everywhere imaginable and teaching jects because, for one, concrete’s kind of like generations of future artists at UTSA for 36 the base of our whole existence in the modern years (1982-2018). world. It’s like our foundation material but In addition to being one of the original nobody pays any attention to it.” founders of Blue Star Art Space (now Blue In terms of materials, however, paper Star Contemporary), Rush boasts a long might be the biggest common denominator relationship with the McNay. Beginning with

in his work. Regardless of what processes and tools are involved, the vast majority of what Rush makes could be categorized as “works on paper.” Even his large-scale paintings, monochromatic abstractions reminiscent of Japanese screens, are rendered on paper that’s been stretched like canvas.

Interestingly, some of the more immediately relatable images in the new exhibition are from his most recent body of work. Titled Recuerdos, the still-in-progress series of collotypes involves Rush visiting cemeteries across South Texas to photograph humble concrete gravestones with a large-format camera, a well-worn backdrop and a light-diffusing apparatus. While it could be seen as merely the latest chapter of Rush’s artistic love affair with concrete, it feels like a significant departure since it introduces a more obvious human connection. Describing one of the images in the series, which depicts a hand-lettered gravestone inlaid with a purple glass cross, Rush explained, “There’s kind of sentimentality that doesn’t exist in the more professional tombstones.”

Standing out as something of a wildcard, our personal favorite in the show conjures an odd dichotomy — a weathered statue of Saint Francis positioned in front of a panel salvaged from a vintage pinball machine. “My wife (local artist Victoria Suescum) and I both love what we call vernacular art,” Rush said. “And even though this isn’t vernacular art, because it’s cast concrete, it kind of fits in because it’s the kind of stuff people put in their yard, and every year they paint them and pretty soon they get encrusted … and you can’t see the details ...

This series has that same notion, there’s kind of a sentimentality there, a preciousness.”

Find more artsmore coverage Find news every day at sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

screens

Sony Pictures Classics

Piece & Love

Puzzle anchored by intimate story, subtle lead performances

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

T

he metaphor might be the most obvious of the year – a housewife and mother has to find a way to piece herself back together and obtain happiness via jigsaw puzzles — but Puzzle, like the hobby itself, is a comforting escape.

A remake of a 2010 Argentine film of the same name, Puzzle is a quiet and heartwarming drama starring Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men) as Agnes, the aforementioned wife and doting homemaker to her blue-collar husband and pair of teenage sons.

Agnes loves her family, but something is missing — something she can’t get from grocery shopping or Bible studying or recipe collecting. She is unfulfilled and wants to do something that will make her feel accomplished. She experiences this unfamiliar sensation when she receives a jigsaw puzzle for her birthday and realizes she’s a natural at putting it together. Traveling by train from her home in Connecticut to New York City to buy another, she is swept into the world of jigsaw puzzles when she meets Robert (Irrfan Khan), a lonely hobbyist looking for a new puzzle partner for an upcoming competition.

Of course, jigsaw puzzle competitions, or

Sony Pictures Classics

puzzles in general – as exciting as that sounds as a movie plot – isn’t the real reason Agnes and Robert connect. This isn’t a film like Searching for Bobby Fischer or Akeelah and the Bee where audiences are going to witness a competitor’s skill level rise as he or she prepares for a final, nail-biting tournament. No, Puzzle is about what is essential for Agnes’s growth as a person, which includes Robert’s passion for puzzles and his belief that Agnes can evolve into the independent woman she wants to become.

Replace puzzles with just about any other activity you can think of — bread making, swing dancing, bird watching — and you’ll likely have the same film as long as Macdonald and Khan are at the center of the narrative. Macdonald’s performance is intimate and subtle, lending itself perfectly to her restrained character. Khan, once again, is a

master of monologue (Life of Pi and the third season of HBO’s In Treatment are great examples of this). Paired together, they form a beautiful platonic relationship that flourishes for nearly the duration of the film.

Sadly, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Oren Moverman (The Messenger) and firsttime screenwriter Polly Mann, decide to bow to convention and make Agnes and Robert more than just friends by the third act. It’s a disappointing decision, but one that happens after we’ve already come to admire how their interaction with one another has expanded their outlook on life.

Puzzle might be missing a few pieces, but it’s still a pretty picture.

For our interview with Puzzle director Marc Turtletaub, visit sacurrent.com.

Find more film stories at sacurrent.com

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Sony Pictures Classics

Journey on Her Own Actress Kelly Macdonald on her coming-of-age role in the indie drama Puzzle

T

he Current spoke to Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald (Trainspotting, Gosford Park, TV’s Boardwalk Empire) recently about her role in the independent drama Puzzle.

What resonated with you about this story and what did you hope to reveal about Agnes on screen?

I was very interested in [Agnes] when I started reading [the script]. I found it quite emotional. It was pretty much all there in the writing. What I hadn’t realized was how much of a joy it would be to play Agnes on this journey on her own. Even if she’s in a room full of people, she’s on her own. It’s heartbreaking.

Do you consider what she is going through a sort of mid-life crisis or would you define it as something else?

I think it’s a coming-of-age rather than a mid-life crisis. Her mid-life crisis will come much later in life. [Laughs] I think she’s looking to grow up. She hasn’t been given the space to do that.

Did it have to be puzzles? I mean, wouldn’t it be the same film if she took up basket weaving instead?

Absolutely. It could be anything. I think that’s the good thing about the film. Puzzles are the thing that opened her life up in a way that she didn’t know before. It’s not about winning a puzzle competition.

It’s about people being given room to change. She’s been sort of stuck in time.

was to build all the puzzles. Did you feel bad when the script called for you to break one to pieces?

[Laughs] I felt bad for the prop department, I have to say. They had some late nights preparing these puzzles. It was a lot of work for someone.

I saw that you’re reprising your role as Merida from Brave in the Wreck-It Ralph sequel later this year. Does this

have anything to do with the fact that Brave beat Wreck-It Ralph for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2013?

[Laughs] I don’t think John C. Reilly is trying to get me back or anything. [Laughs] I’m so happy they called me. I never thought that would happen. [In the sequel], she’s more Merida than she’s ever been.

–Kiko Martinez

How important is it to build chemistry with your leading man prior to shooting the film and what was your experience like working with Irrfan?

I think it’s pretty important. You can never tell if something is going to work on the screen or not. He’s an amazing actor and he arrived with such energy and enthusiasm. He’s a very physical actor. His body language is great when he’s in character.

Your director told me that there was a team of people on set whose job it

Sony Pictures Classics

sacurrent.com | August 22-28, 2018 | CURRENT

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food Honky Tonk on the St. Mary’s Strip Garrett T. Capps partners with Strip owners for Lonesome Rose

BY JESS ELIZARRARAS

I

t was a strange and beautiful trip for Phantom Room, which opened in 2015 inside the former home of Web House and the Mexican restaurant Los Frogs.

The bass reverberated throughout the large space that served as a gateway to the St. Mary’s Strip for close to two years before

tragedy struck.

On November 16, 2016, an early morning fire ravaged the backroom of the hip-hop bar known for Llorona shots and some of the best twerkin’ around, and put it out of commission for a year.

And while Phantom was closed, the St.

Ryan Vestil

Mary’s Strip evolved around it. Ojo, also owned by Danny Delgado and his partners, opened in the former La Bikina on the opposite end of the Strip with a mix of New Wave, cumbia, dance hits, party jams and “babe stuff.” Paper Tiger added its own emo night.

The Gallery replaced Hardbodies and now hosts parties put on by the Plastik Collective where alternative queer folk don a mix of glitter and leather during performances that involve the art of the vogue and burlesque.

And The Squeezebox hosted unofficial goodbye dance parties for Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker.

33 6

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CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

food | nightlife 6 31 When Phantom Room eventually rose from the ashes exactly a year after the fire, fans returned to pack the venue on weekends. So it was shocking when the bar recently announced it would close with little more than a week’s notice.

And because things move fast on St. Mary’s Strip, San Antonio didn’t have to wait long for the news of what will replace Phantom Room at the corner of Grayson and St. Mary’s Street.

Enter Lonesome Rose.

Billed as a honky-tonk bar and venue, Lonesome Rose will aim for an early October opening with owners Andrea Vince, Joey Cano, Miguel Delgado and Danny Delgado still backing the location, and two new faces leading the charge. Hillary Woodhouse, who’s managed The Squeezebox for the past two years, will jump on as a partner.

And so will Americana singer/songwriter Garrett T. Capps.

Even as the first venue in at least a decade to bring country music to the downtown area, Lonesome Rose will bring a little something extra, given Capps’ flair for progressive tunes.

“Garrett Capps is a talented throwback to the original outlaw country era.

He brings a looser, slightly psychedelic vibe to the redneck swagger, plus he has some pretty good words,” said Hector Saldaña, former Express-News music writer and current Texas music curator at the Witliff Collections at Texas State University.

Danny Delgado’s relationship with Capps stemmed from the latter’s help booking shows at his Southtown bar.

“I met Garrett through the music scene. He was booking shows for us at Lowcountry and bringing in some amazing acts that were traveling through,” Delgado said. “We shared the same interest when it came down to SA needing a honky tonk. My business partner Joey Cano and I had been thinking about it for years.”

Capps, who released his latest album Back in the Shadows (Again) this May, shared an early vision for the space during an interview with the Current last week.

“I’ve been saying for years, like, we need a place that is going to fit the format that this place is going to be – a honky tonk-style place that feels real Texan/San Antonian, with danceable country western music on the regular,” Capps said.

Transforming the bar into a honkytonk haven will include building a

Jess Elizarraras

stage in the main room, ditching the DJ booth, expanding the bar and adding a jukebox – “ideally one that can play both CDS and 45 RPM records,” Capps said. A revamp of the backyard is in the cards as well. Programming will lean on monthly regulars, varying from honky tonk to conjunto.

Woodhouse said the bar will take a casual approach, so don’t expect elaborate cocktails.

“I think we’ll get some Pearl, the downtown crowd, tourist crowd and the St. Mary’s Strip, so we’re trying to appeal to everybody with things that are easy to execute and won’t take too long, and I imagine we’ll sell lots of beer,” Woodhouse said.

“A lot of beer,” Capps echoed.

For Capps, the venue is a culmination of years trying to host bands from beyond San Antonio and not having a space to do it in.

“There isn’t really a place in town that I’ve been able to host my friends from outside of SA that play like-minded country-western, progressive country … bands that can play 1.5 to 3 hours to a crowd that ideally would be dancing,” Capps said. “We’ve tried places all over town, but there isn’t a regular spot.”

Again, his niche sound meant Capps

RIP, Phantom Room. Howdy, Lonesome Rose; Hillary Woodhouse will join the bar as a partner, she’s previously worked at The Squeezebox, The Esquire and The Brooklynite.

L

wasn’t going to start playing the usual country bars, i.e. Midnight Rodeo, Cowboys, or SA Country Saloon.

“We’re talking more like classic and alternative-minded as well. That’s

where it gets complicated. I don’t play at venues we talked about because we’re a little more punk rock,” Capps said. “Lonesome Rose is a little more open-minded, a little more hip.” sacurrent.com | August 22-28, 2018 | CURRENT

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food | nightlife

In the Cellar

Toro Kitchen + Bar’s latest project packs in boozy science projects

BY JESS ELIZARRARAS

S

panish fare and cocktails are moving into St. Paul Square this weekend as Toro Kitchen + Bar opens its second location at 1142 E. Commerce St., Suite 100.

The 2,500-square-foot space, which will hold more inside seating, will feature the same menu as the Stone Oak location, said Thomas Hogan, who is opening the location with business partner Gerardo De Anda.

“From the first time we saw the space, we knew it had to do different things,” said Hogan of the underground bar, Cellar Mixology, which is accessible via secret entrance.

The basement space reminded Hogan and De Anda of New York, Boston and Chicago bars, and the concept for Cellars developed as a way to incorporate gastronomy into cocktails.

Bar manager Hector Vargas, who opened Hotel Havana’s bar in 2010, and later went onto Hotel Contessa and briefly Toro, is spearheading the cocktail menu that includes sodium alginate-based “spherifications”

of classic drinks such as minty mojitos, spicy cucumber margaritas and melon balls. The menu will also feature nitrogen-based sorbet versions of a Carajillo, a spicy margarita and a White Russian to start.

Classic cocktails will also be featured, and prices will range from $12 to $13 for spherifications, and $9 to $15 for the remainder of the board.

Cellar also features a stage for live music, which Hogan says will lean into upbeat jazz and the occasional DJ set.

“They won’t play commercial music. It’ll be out of the box, like the rest of what we do,” Hogan said.

Both Cellar Mixology and Toro Kitchen opened August 17. It’ll be in a soft opening stage for the next three weeks with a grand opening celebration currently slated for September 8.

The bar opens 5 a.m. to 2 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; noon to midnight on Friday and Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

1142 E. Commerce St. Suite 100. sacurrent.com | August 22-28, 2018 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

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music Miranda Hanzal

Meet Vonna

From Left: Julian Martinez, D’Vonna Miller,

The newest addition to San Antonio’s DIY scene

BY CHRIS CONDE

W

hen D’Vonna Miller of the San Antonio duo Vonna told me that one of the songs off her group’s new EP was about kale, I was caught a little off guard.

Yeah, you read that right. The song titled “Elak” (kale backwards) has a serious tone with an electronic deep-house groove. But listening to the lyrics “I – I’m so green / but I need you / to put your hands on me,” it all kind of made sense in the most hilarious and creative way.

“Me and Julian [Martinez] (the other half of Vonna) were sitting at Green Vegetarian eating, and [Julian] said ‘You know what would be crazy? If we wrote a song about kale – like something just random and silly – a thoughtful song.’ I was like, ‘That’s genius.’”

A couple of days later, Miller wrote the song. That night, Martinez sent Miller a piece of music that, unbeknownst to both of them, happened to be in the same key as the music Miller had written earlier that day.

“I was like, ‘Oh, my God, Julian – what the heck. These literally match up perfectly. It was so weird.’”

For how young the duo is (Miller is 20 and Martinez, 21), it’s cool that they don’t take themselves that seriously even though their art should be payed attention to.

Comprised of Miller’s vocals and guitar alongside Martinez’s percussion and programming, Vonna’s music matches danceable indie-pop textures with touches of R&B and pop-punk all while wrapped up in the fabric of singer-songwriter compositions. It’s weird, but doesn’t feel contrived – it just works.

An offshoot of Miller’s old band Odd & Grey, which Miller co-founded in her eighth grade year and lasted until her senior year, Martinez joined the group for a year after Miller discovered the percussionist on Instagram.

Miller explained that even though the group’s name is taken from her actual name, Vonna would not be Vonna without Marti-

L

nez’s input.

“So, basically, I will bring the lyrics – it really just depends on the song. It’s such a collaborative thing between us,” Miller said.

“Sometimes, I’ll write an entire song and hand it to him and be like, ‘What can we do with this?’”

The eponymously named EP opens with “Cartoon,” a relatively poppy track with a sort of ’80s aesthetic. Synth rumblings swirl into electronic waves of echoing keyboard sounds, and Miller’s alto vocals weave in-between a glitching hip-hop beat. On “Hannah,” however, the duo showcases warmer tones with Miller singing with a Haley Williams of Paramore-esque timbre. A step or two from the low-dragging synths and pops of the more electronic songs on the EP, the track still manages to fit the EP’s aesthetic.

The duo are connected to a larger group of young DIY groups and artists that include Samantha Flowers, Elnuh and Booty Feet (Booty Feet actually helped record the EP) to name a few – a sort of unnamed collective of musicians that support each other’s shows and collaborate on music together.

Find more music coverage Find more news every day at sacurrent.com

3 3 0 e g r ay s o n s t WOOD & WIRE FRI., AUGUST 24 | DOORS 8PM | SHOW 9PM

AUGUST 24 • SHINYRIBS

ECLIPSE-A TRIBUTE TO JOURNEY SAT., AUGUST 25 | DOORS 8PM | SHOW 9PM AUGUST 25 • MAX STALLING

KEN SKAVIN’S SWINGIN’ BIRTHDAY BASH SUN., AUGUST 26 | DOORS 5PM | SHOW 6PM

SWING DANCE NITE WITH GEORGIA PARKER

AUGUST 31 CHARLEY CROCKETT

SEPT. 21 • ROBERT EARL KEEN

MON., AUGUST 27 | DOORS 7PM | SHOW 8:30PM

SEPT. 29 • TURNPIKE TROUBADOURS

TAB BENOIT WED., AUGUST 29 | DOORS 7PM | SHOW 8PM

samsburgerjoint.com 40

CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

music | music Picks Lit + Alien Ant Farm • Thursday, August 23 So last month we announced that this blast-from-Hot-Topic’s-past tour, aptly named the Gen-X Tour, was coming through Texas and would be featuring P.O.D., Lit, Buckcherry and Alien Ant Farm. Unfortunately for fans of those bands, the tour would not be headed to SA. However, Lit and Alien Ant Farm just announced they’ll be headed to Paper Tiger, so all is not lost, bro.

While we’ll admit that Alien Ant Farm’s cover of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” was probably the best rock cover of an MJ song out there, the band has kept true to their groove-heavy alt-rock sound. Compare them to Lit, who have morphed into a alt-country pop outfit. With these types of bands, you’ll probably be hearing more of the old shit, so don’t worry. $22-$27, Thu, August 23, Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. – Chris Conde Courtesy of Alien Ant Farm

Courtesy of Lit

music at greenbeard.bandcamp.com and howlinggiant.bandcamp.com, respectively. Free, 9pm, The Mix, 2423 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 735-1313, themix-sa. com. — James Courtney

BUTTERCUP + WE LEAVE AT MIDNIGHT + CHRIS MADDIN \ Friday, August 24

This weekend it’s time to party like it’s 2008 – sort of. Longtime fans of live, local music have been seeing the acts on this stacked bill, in one form or another, share the stage for at least that long.

And, with such consistently (and joyfully!) inventive bands as these, who could complain? Buttercup, for one, is a goddamn institution in this town, having shored up its cult-like fan base over the course of 16 years and more than five LPs worth of cheeky, (sometimes) sentimental and charismatically-executed indie pop-rock. We Leave at Midnight, the project of odd/intricate pop mastermind John Dailey, has been around nearly nine years and has released two LPs, including 2016’s masterful The Holy Rolling Flower Band. The band’s sound

is generally described as harmony and tempo change-laden indie rock, but that doesn’t quite capture the gently psychedelic, endlessly inventive and complex music this gem of a local act creates. At this show, fans can expect old favorites as well as brand-new stuff from both acts. Chris Maddin will open the evening. $5, 9pm, Limelight, 2718 N. St. Mary’s St., ticketfly.com. — JC

WOOD & WIRE q Friday, August 24

Punctuated by three-part vocal harmonies and banjo riffs that could hold their own next to the most technical of thrash-metal guitar riffs, Austin’s Wood & Wire are arguably one of our region’s best bluegrass acts today. Formed in 2011, the four-piece is known for getting audiences riled up with songs that often turn into full-on jams that can last upwards of nine minutes. If you like banjos, mandolins and the upright bass, this show’s for you. $10-$45, 8pm, Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., samsburgerjoint.com – CC

Josh Huskin

TOKE + GREENBEARD 5 Thursday, August 23

Don’t look now, but Loy Smoak’s Sell Your Soul Presents…, known for booking some of the crunchiest, down-and-dirtiest hard rock shows around, is bringing a positively sizzling bill of out-of-town, genre-straddling rawk to The Mix this week. North Carolina’s Toke, for starters, is a doom/ stoner rock (duh) three-piece that deftly melds its metal intensity with a rewarding penchant for blues infusion.

You can dig Toke’s music at tokenc. bandcamp.com. Greenbeard, hailing from ATX, come with the sludgy, deep-dish stoner fuzz too, but with a psychedelic, trance-inducing approach.

Courtesy of Toke

Finally, Nashville’s Howling Giant will round out the bill, offering up its mind-expanding, sci-fi/fantasy-influenced brand of searing space rock. Preview Greenbeard and Howling Giant’s

Courtesy of Wood & Wire

sacurrent.com | August 22-28, 2018 | CURRENT

41

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CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

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music | music Picks

Gomillion Leupold

SHAKIRA L

Friday, August 24

Courtesy of Jayceeoh

If you graduated high school in the early aughts, you know that Shakira’s “Whenever, Wherever” was impossible to escape – not that we were necessarily trying to (OK, maybe after the 100th time of hearing it). But even before that song hit the airwaves, bringing another Latina to the forefront of pop music, Shakira had released a solid four records plus a remix album and a MTV Unplugged album all before her monumental crossover record, Laundry Service. Since then, Shakira has continued to push through the years, collaborating with artists like Beyonce and Alicia Keys while releasing albums like her

latest El Dorado, which came out last year. $50-$187, 730pm, AT&T Center, 1 AT&T Center Parkway, (210) 444-5140, attcenter.com. – CC

JAYCEEOH

Saturday, August 25

JAYCEEOH is one-half of the newly formed duo 1000volts alongside the legendary rapper Redman. But the DJ can hold his own. From current EDM to grime and dubstep tracks, the dude has some serious skill, and since we don’t get this caliber of DJ in our town on the regular, all you EDM kids should def be at this one. $10, 9pm, Live Ultra Lounge, 19314 US-281, (210) 705-1283, liveultralounge.com. – CC

sacurrent.com | August 22-28, 2018 | CURRENT

43

music | music Picks MAMMOTH INDIGO + MORE Sunday, August 26

Color me surprised, but it seems Jack’s Patio Bar has cobbled together one of its best (and certainly most musically diverse) bills in recent memory. For one, LA’s Mammoth Indigo, which might vaguely call Modest Mouse to mind, comes to town supporting its fantastic and far-ranging sophomore LP Wilt.

The band’s sound, a welcome conundrum of sorts, oscillates freely and with alacrity between arty pop styling and dark, effusive indie rock. You can hear Diet Cokes And Smokes Pr Wilt for yourself at mammothindigo. bandcamp.com. Meanwhile, Eye Before Ego and Noise Quota are two fine local acts that make experimental punk and alt-rock music, respectively. $7, 9pm, Jack’s Patio Bar, 3030 Thousand Oaks Dr., (210) 494-2309, jacksbarsa.com. — JC

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CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

With a name like Bubblegum Octopus, anyone would hope that the music could be as magical as the amazing name. Thankfully, it is. Combining the textures, tones and elements of chiptune, glitch, casiocore, grind metal, metal core, early 2000s indie rock and ’80s pop, Bubblegum Octopus is sort of all over the place.

But there’s enough cohesiveness for it all to still make sense. It feels familiar, but definitely fucking weird in the most beautiful and creative way. If you’re searching for an experience in the avant-garde, a journey to Limelight Monday night might float your boat. $5, 8:50pm, Limelight, 2718 N. St. Mary’s St., thelimelightsa.com. – CC

music | calendar WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22 Blaze Foley Tribute Concert Ben Dickey to perform songs from his upcoming movie Blaze.

Inspired by the life of Blaze Foley, the unsung songwriting legend of the Texas outlaw music movement spawned the likes of Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. Free. The Pigpen, 7-8pm.

Chris Cuevas Project Adriel Cuevas, Zeke Galvan and Chris Villanuev of the Chris Cuevas Project will perform blues, soul and jazz. Free. Sancho’s Cantina, 6:30-8:30pm.

Ruben V Enjoy Ruben V at Sancho’s Cantina for an intimate rock and blues performance. Free.

Sancho’s Cantina, 9-11pm.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 23 96.1 Now: Just Show Up Show iHeart Radio presents Just Show Up Show featuring performances by pop artist Austin Mahone, Bryce Vine, Ocean Park Standoff and Cash Cash. This event is free on a first come/first serve basis. Free.

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 7pm.

Conjunto Nube Eight-piece conjunto band performs over two decades of original hits. $25.

Cowboys Dancehall, 7pm.

Joe Walmsley Liverpool’s Merseybeat/rock ’n’ roll musician Joe Walmsley for his new album Scouser in the Room. Free. The Amp Room, 8pm-1am.

The Rotten Mangos Austin-based band mixes garage rock psychedelia with surf rock antics.

The Rotten Mangos are joined by local quartet of sisters Eye of the Day and Mariguana. $3.

Limelight, 9pm.

The Skipping Beats Local indie rock suit performs with Space Wlvs and The Ghost In The Machine. $3. Hi-Tones, 9pm.

Tres Honchos Claude Butch Morgan, Robar Adams and Trevor Doak Morgan of the Bandaholics. Free. Sancho’s Cantina, 7pm.

ZoSo: The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience ZoSo pays tribute to Led Zeppelin with passion, accuracy and authenticity in this live concert at the Majestic Theater. Guests will enjoy this experience that emulates the musical styles, aura and visual imagery of an iconic Led Zeppelin concert. $22.75-$37.75. The Majestic Theatre, 8pm.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 24 The Aaron Prada Trio Pianist Aaron Prado, bassist George Prado and drummer Brandon Guerra.

Witnessing Prado will explore jazz from swing classics to boleros, be-bop to European avant garde. $5. Jazz, TX, 5:30-7:30pm.

Jamey Johnson This singer-songwriter from Montgomery, Alabama, has been showered with plaques, trophies and award statuettes, but they aren’t the answer to his dreams. “My dream already came true,” says the Alabama native who has rocketed to Nashville stardom. $17-$40. Cowboys Dancehall, 7pm.

New Orleans Night South Texas jazz musician Doc Watkins is joined by Pierre Poree of New Orleans and friends to perform live. $10-$30.

Jazz, TX, 8:30-11:30pm.

Shinyribs Austin country-soul group Shinyribs takes the stage with Garrett T Capps. $20-$25.

John T Floore’s Country Store, 7pm.

We Leave At Midnight Indie psychedelic band We Leave at Midnight is performing with special guest Chris Maddin and Buttercup. $5. Limelight, 9pm.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 25 Cky & Slaves Rock bands CKY and Slaves are performing live at Alamo City Music Hall.

Special guests include Royal Thunder, Awaken I Am, Marila Voe and more. $20-$25. Alamo City Music Hall & Club, 6-11:30pm.

Eclipse - A Tribute To Journey Eclipse, a tribute band to the iconic rock band Journey, is performing live at Sam’s Burger Joint. $12-$50.

Sam’s Burger Joint, 9pm.

Greene Greene will perform an assortment of classic country renditions at the Quarry Hofbrau.

Free. Quarry Hofbrau, 10pm-1am.

James McMurtry James McMurtry spins stories with a poet’s pen and a painter’s precision. Proof: The acclaimed songwriter’s new Complicated Game. McMurtry’s first collection in six years spotlights a craftsman in absolutely peak form as he turns from political toward personal. Further evidence: McMurtry’s Just Us Kids (2008) and Childish Things (2005). The former earned his highest Billboard 200 chart position in nearly two decades and notched Americana Music Award nominations. $15. Gruene Hall, 9pm.

Max Stalling Texas songwriter Max Stalling had no expectation of ever being in the music business. “I didn’t even pick up a guitar until graduate school,” notes Stalling. Max performs with alternative country duo Granville Automatic. $12-$15. John T Floore’s Country Store, 7pm.

Walker Lukens Indie rock artist Walker Lukens is performing live at the Paper Tiger. His two recent albums Devoted and Tell It To The Judge have received critical acclaim from NPR and the Austin Chronicle. $12. Paper Tiger, 8pm-midnight

Check us out at

SACURRENT.COM

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 RJ - The Grind Don’t Stop Tour Rodney J. Brown Jr., better known by his stage name RJ, is a rapper from Los Angeles. He’s known for his frequent collaborations with both YG and DJ Mustard. The artist’s most celebrated releases to date are his O.M.M.I.O. mixtape trilogy. $20.

Paper Tiger, 7-11:30pm.

TWRP: Together Through Time Tour Canadian synth rock band TWRP is performing live at the Paper Tiger for their Together Through Time tour. $10. Paper Tiger, 8pm.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 28 Kinyo with Renee Dion Kinyo is bringing his 25-song set list to join artist Rene Dion’s Haven tour throughout the U.S. After a year of performing in Japan and across Texas, these soul artists are coming to Fitzgerald’s to entertain their fans. Fitzgerald’s Bar & Live Music Venue, 9:30-11pm. sacurrent.com | August 22-28, 2018 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

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I’m in a pickle. All I want is to experience touch, intimacy and sexual pleasure – but without freaking out. I grew up with a lot of negative messages from men due to developing early, as well as having some other physical/sexual trauma (no rape or abuse), but the combination has me seriously fucked up. Whenever I get close to physical intimacy with someone, I run away. I actually faked an emergency once and physically ran away because I knew sex was a possibility that night. I’m not a virgin – but in those instances, I’ve been really drunk (and experienced no emotional/physical pleasure).

This is not what I want for my life. I want a relationship and love, and to be open and comfortable with someone expressing their care for me in a physical way without panicked thoughts flooding my brain. I’ve done lots of therapy, which has helped, but not enough. I recently heard of something called a sexual surrogate.

From what I understand, it’s somebody who is trained to therapeutically provide physical touch and intimacy in a controlled and safe environment. Are they legit?

She Can’t Adequately Release Extreme Dread Sexual surrogates are legit, SCARED, but please don’t call them sexual surrogates.

“We’d like to see the language shift back to ‘surrogate partner,’ which was the original term,” said Vena Blanchard, president of the International Professional Surrogates Association (IPSA). “Masters and Johnson originated the concept, and their treatment program was based on the theory that many people had problems that required the help of a cooperative partner, and some people didn’t have partners. So they trained people to work as ‘partner surrogates.’ The media took the term ‘partner surrogate’ and changed it to ‘sexual surrogate’ because it sounded sexier. But ‘sexual surrogate’ implies that the work is all about sex.”

So if surrogate partner therapy is not about sex – or not all about sex – then what is it primarily about?

“Surrogate partner therapy is a therapeutic treatment that combines psychotherapy with experiential learning,” said Blanchard. “It’s a program designed for people like SCARED, for people who struggle with anxiety, panic, and past trauma – things that can distort a person’s experience in the moment.”

Surrogate partner therapy happens in stages, with each progressive stage representing another “teeny, tiny baby step,” as Blanchard put it.

“The client first works with a legitimate therapist until the therapist thinks the client is ready to work with a surrogate partner,” said Blanchard.

“You may start by sitting in opposite chairs and

just talking. At some point, they might sit and hold hands, practice relaxation techniques, and focus on simple sensations. In the next session, they might touch each other’s faces with their hands.”

Sex can and does sometimes occur in the later stages of surrogate partner therapy, SCARED, but it doesn’t always and it’s not the goal – healing is.

“By having these repeated safe experiences, in a context where there’s no pressure, and consent is emphasized, and the patient is in control,” said Blanchard. “Someone like SCARED can learn to manage her anxiety, and her prior negative experiences are replaced with positive new experiences.”

While I had her on the phone, I asked Blanchard the first question many people have about surrogate partners: Are surrogate partners sex workers?

“A sex worker offers a sexual experience – that is the primary intention of what is a business transaction,” said Blanchard. “What a surrogate partner offers are healing and education. And while healing and education might also take place in a sex-work environment, and while some form of sexual contact might take place in surrogate partner therapy, the primary intention is different. A patient working with a surrogate partner is there to heal old injuries or break out of bad patterns so they can have a relationship in the future. People go to sex workers for an immediate experience – the agenda is sexual and about right now, not therapeutic and about the future.”

Then I asked Blanchard the second question many people have about surrogate partner therapy: Is it legal?

“There’s no place that it’s illegal,” said Blanchard. “There’s never been a court case challenging it. In California, where surrogate partner therapy is most common, no one has ever in 50 years challenged it.”

If you’re interested in working with a surrogate partner, SCARED, you can contact the referrals coordinator at IPSA’s website: surrogatetherapy.org.

Finally, SCARED, the number of trained and qualified surrogate partners is relatively small – IPSA has just 70 members – so you might need to go where most of those trained and qualified surrogates partners are in order to work with one.

(The part of California that isn’t on fire is lovely this time of year.)

“Since there aren’t many qualified surrogate partners available,” said Blanchard, “people sometimes need to travel to another location and work intensively. People will come for two weeks and work every single day with a therapist and a surrogate partner.”

mail@savagelove.net @FakeDanSavage on Twitter www.ITMFA.org

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54 Ultravox frontman Midge 55 1980s Secretary of State Alexander 58 “Automatic for the People” group 59 Trivia magazine started in 2001 63 Org. that’s (supposed to be) concerned with pollution 66 Patient waiter 67 “Helps stop gas before it starts” product 68 “Neither fish ___ fowl” 69 Light bite 70 First two words of some political yard signs 71 TV alien with a reboot announced in August 2018 (as found in the long answers) DOWN 1 Interview goal 2 Science writer Flatow 3 Reddish-brown wood 4 Blew up 5 Bear, to Bernal 6 Parker Jr. of the Ghostbusters theme song 7 “Zounds!”

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CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

etc FREE WILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZNY ARIES (March 21-April 19): The two pieces of advice I have for you may initially seem contradictory, but they are in fact complementary.

Together they’ll help guide you through the next three weeks. The first comes from herbalist and wise woman Susun Weed. She suggests that when you face a dilemma, you should ask yourself how you can make it your ally and how you can learn the lesson it has for you.

Your second burst of wisdom is from writer Yasmin Mogahed: “Study the hurtful patterns of your life. Then don’t repeat them.”

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Speak the following declaration aloud and see how it feels: “I want strong soft kisses and tender unruly kisses and secret truth kisses and surprise elixir kisses. I deserve them, too.” If that puts you in a brave mood, Taurus, add a further affirmation: “I want ingenious affectionate amazements and deep dark appreciation and brisk mirthful lessons and crazy sweet cuddle wrestles. I deserve them, too.” What do you think? Do these formulas work for you? Do they put you in the proper frame of mind to co-create transformative intimacy? I hope so. You’re entering a phase when you have maximum power to enchant and to be enchanted.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): As you map out your master plan for the next 14 months, I invite you to include the following considerations: an intention to purge pretend feelings and artificial motivations; a promise to change your relationship with old secrets so that they no longer impinge on your room to maneuver; a pledge to explore evocative mysteries that will enhance your courage; a vow to be kinder toward aspects of yourself that you haven’t loved well enough; and a search for an additional source of stability that will inspire you to seek more freedom.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): If you have been communing with my horoscopes for a while, you’ve gotten a decent education – for free!

Nonetheless, you shouldn’t depend on me for all of your learning needs. Due to my tendency to emphasize the best in you and focus on healing your wounds, I may neglect some aspects of your training. With that as caveat, I’ll offer a few meditations about future possibilities. 1. What new subjects or skills do you want to master in the next three years? 2.

What’s the single most important thing you can do to augment your intelligence? 3. Are there dogmas you believe in so fixedly and rely on so heavily that they obstruct the arrival of fresh ideas? If so, are you willing to at least temporarily set them aside?

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “All the world’s a stage,”

wrote Shakespeare, “And all the men and women merely players.” In other words, we’re all performers. Whenever we emerge from solitude and encounter other people, we choose to express certain aspects of our inner experience even as we hide others. Our personalities are facades that display a colorful mix of authenticity and fantasy. Many wise people over the centuries have deprecated this central aspect of human behavior as superficial and dishonest.

But author Neil Gaiman thinks otherwise: “We are all wearing masks,” he says. “That is what makes us interesting.” Invoking his view – and in accordance with current astrological omens – I urge you to celebrate your masks and disguises in the coming weeks. Enjoy the show you present. Dare to entertain your audiences.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I think you’ve done enough rehearsals. At this point, the apparent quest for a little extra readiness is beginning to lapse into procrastination. So I’ll suggest that you set a date for opening night. I’ll nudge you to have a cordial talk with yourself about the value of emphasizing soulfulness over perfectionism. What? You say you’re waiting until your heart stops fluttering and your bones stop chattering? I’ve got good news: The greater your stage fright, the more moving your performance will be.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In all the time we’ve worked on diminishing your suffering, we may have not focused enough on the fine art of resolving unfinished business. So let’s do that now, just in time for the arrival of your Season of Completion. Are you ready to start drawing the old cycle to a close so you’ll be fresh when the new cycle begins? Are you in the mood to conclude this chapter of your life story and earn the relaxing hiatus you will need before launching the next chapter? Even if you don’t feel ready, even if you’re not in the mood, I suggest you do the work anyway. Any business you leave unfinished now will only return to haunt you later. So don’t leave any business unfinished!

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “When I picture a perfect reader,” wrote philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “I picture a monster of courage and curiosity, also something supple, cunning, cautious, a born adventurer and discoverer.” I suspect he was using the term “monster” with a roguish affection. I am certainly doing that as I direct these same words toward you, dear Sagittarian reader. Of course, I am always appreciative of your courage, curiosity, cunning, suppleness, and adventurousness.

But I’m especially excited about those qualities now, because the coming weeks will be a time when they will be both most necessary and most available to you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You do not yet have access to maps of the places where you need to go next. That fact may tempt you to turn around and head back to familiar territory. But I hope you’ll press forward even without the maps. Out there in the frontier, adventures await you that will prepare you well for the rest of your long life. And being without maps, at least in the early going, may actually enhance your learning opportunities. Here’s another thing you should know: your intuitive navigational sense will keep improving the farther you get from recognizable landmarks.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Healing isn’t impossible. You may not be stuck with your pain forever. The crookedness in your soul and the twist in your heart may not always define who you are. There may come a time when you’ll no longer be plagued by obsessive thoughts that keep returning you to the tormenting memories. But if you hope to find the kind of liberation I’m describing here, I advise you to start with these two guidelines: 1. The healing may not happen the way you think it should or imagine it will. 2. The best way to sprout the seeds that will ultimately bloom with the cures is to tell the complete truth.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Nineteenth-century British painter J. M. W. Turner was one of the greats. Renowned for his luminous landscapes, he specialized in depicting the power of nature and the atmospheric drama of light and color. Modern poet Mary Ruefle tells us that although he “painted his own sea monsters,” he engaged assistants “to do small animals.” She writes that “he could do a great sky, but not rabbits.” I’m hoping that unlike Turner, you Piscean folks will go both ways in the coming weeks. Give as much of your creative potency and loving intelligence to the modest details as to the sweeping vistas.

THIS MODERN WORLD BY TOM TOMORROW

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Are you ready to mix more business with pleasure and more pleasure with business than you have ever mixed? I predict that in the coming weeks, your social opportunities will serve your professional ambitions and your professional ambitions will serve your social opportunities. You will have more than your usual amount of power to forge new alliances and expand your web of connections. Here’s my advice: Be extra charming, but not grossly opportunistic. Sell yourself, but with grace and integrity, not with obsequiousness.

Express yourself like a gorgeous force of nature, and encourage others to express themselves like gorgeous forces of nature. sacurrent.com | August 22-28, 2018 | CURRENT

49

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CURRENT | August 22-28, 2018 | sacurrent.com

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participating venues: AMP ROOM (21+) DARKWAVE / GOTH / INDUSTRIAL PHANTOM Spell 27 Shadow Fashion LA BOTANICA (ALL AGES UNTIL 11 P.M., THEN 21+) DANCE / ELECTRONICA Lightwithin Voodoo Boogaloo Rivers Want THE MIX (21+) COUNTRY Michael J. & The Foxes Marcy Grace Band of Bandits VENTURA (21+) POP-ROCK Bad Heart The Please Help Nova Lux

SOCIAL SPOT (21+) ALT-ROCK Fox Motel Razor Doves Celestial Descent PAPER TIGER (ALL AGES) MAIN ROOM LATIN ALTERNATIVE/CUMBIA Pochos Chidos Los Nahuatlatos Grupo Frackaso PAPER TIGER (ALL AGES) COURTYARD BEATMAKER JKNODIC Arodbeats Jonah Conrad LIMELIGHT (21+) INDIE Optic Arrest Vintage Pictures We Leave at Midnight

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JANDRO’S (21+) INDOOR STAGE, SURF / GARAGE / PSYCH Flower Jesus Quartet Junkie Saigon Sinners JANDRO’S (21+) OUTDOOR STAGE PUNK Lemmings Yo Existo Lloronas RUMBLE (21+) SOUL / FUNK / R&B The Shiny Knights StereoFiend Cadillac Muzik LA ROCA (21+) FOLK / FOLK-ROCK Yosh & Yimmy Jaik Yanez & The High Road Sweet ‘Shine & Honey

THE OTHER SIDE (ALL AGES) JAZZ/JAZZ FUSION Jose Amador & Terra Nova MADD WOLF SANCHOS (21+) UPSTAIRS STAGE, TEJANO / CONJUNTO Santiago Jimenez Jr. LA 45 SANCHOS (21+) DOWNSTAIRS STAGE BLUES Favorite Son Catherine Denise Jake Castillo Trio HI-TONES (21+) PUNK Viet-Ruse No Time Knockin’ Chucks Pinata Protest (acoustic duo)

complete lineup and $10 all-access wristbands @ sanantoniomusicshowcase.com In addition to the convergence of dope local music, there will be representatives from Pacifico Beer, Deep Eddy Vodka and Austin East Ciders at the participating venues.