San Antonio Current – May 22, 2019

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in this issue Issue 19_11 /// May 22-June 4, 2019

San Antonio Current Publisher: Michael Wagner Editor-in-Chief: Sanford Nowlin

Editorial

Senior Editor: Bryan Rindfuss Food & Nightlife Editor: Lea Thompson Art Director: Carlos Aguilar Staff Writer: Chris Conde Digital Content Editor: Sarah Martinez Contributors: Ron Bechtol, Daniel Conrad, James Courtney, Jade Esteban Estrada, Dan R. Goddard, Lance Higdon, Steven G. Kellman, Hannah Lorence, Kiko Martinez, Kelly Merka Nelson, M. Solis, Gary Sweeney, Erin Winch Editorial Interns: Diana Amaya, Lori Salazar

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Creative Services Manager: Tina Corbeil Graphic Designer: Samantha Serna Graphic Design Interns: Keneth Hammes, Pedro Macias, Michelle Moreno

Circulation

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Chief Executive Officer: Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers: Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services: Stacy Volhein Creative Director: Tom Carlson Digital Operations Coordinator: Jaime Monzon Senior Marketing and Events Director: Cassandra Yardeni Director of Digital Sales: Fran DiCarlo www.euclidmediagroup.com National Advertising: Voice Media Group (888) 278-9866, vmgadvertising.com San Antonio Current 915 Dallas San Antonio, Texas 78215 sacurrent.com Editorial: (210) 227-0044 / Fax - (210) 227-7755 Display Advertising: (210) 227-0044 Fax: (210) 227-7733 Classified: (210) 227-CLAS / Fax - (210) 227-7733 The San Antonio Current is published by Euclid Media Group Verified Audit Member San Antonio Distribution – The Current is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader.

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Bryan Rindfuss

12 Feature

Westward Ho!

As downtown development spreads, displacement and gentrification are set to roll over the West Side

BY B E N O L I V O, S A N F O R D N O W L I N A N D G A I G E D AV I L L A

09 News

Runoff Queen Melissa Cabello Havrda Maintains Her Cautious Optimism San Antonio International Claims a Soaring Success, but the Numbers Offer a Grounding in Reality

24 Calendar

Our top picks for the week, This Modern World

33 Arts

Once More, with Feeling

A review of Once at the Public Theatre

More Love for Nye

Local treasure Naomi Shihab Nye named Young People’s Poet Laureate

Saint Sadist Straps Readers in for a Nihilistic Descent into Hell

Tears of the Trufflepig Hallucinates a Bizarre Alternate Reality

37 Screens

Music Listings

56 Etc

Savage Love, Crossword Puzzle

Fine Print

Photograph’s gentle approach overcomes its dawdling pace in Mumbai-set romance

Out of Step

The White Crow Suffers from Casting a First-Time Actor, Talented Dancer in the Lead Role

39 Food

Squaring Up

Developer is counting on new restaurants to finally help St. Paul Square live up to its promise

Cool Business Plan

El Paraiso helped make paletas a San Antonio summertime staple

42 Music

Trill Pedagogy

Rap group Third Root drops Spring Semester, the final installment of a four-part series

On The Cover: This week’s cover riffs on SA’s iconic “Bienvenidos al Westside” mural for a cautionary tale about gentrifcation’s impact on the area considered the city’s cultural heart.

Art Direction: Tom Carlson Photography: Bryan Rindfuss sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT

5

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8

CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

Runoff Queen Melissa Cabello Havrda Maintains Her Cautious Optimism

BY JADE ESTEBAN ESTRADA

S

an Antonio native Melissa Cabello Havrda believes that there’s a lesson to be learned from every one of her life experiences.

The past four months of her second bid to represent District 6 on San Antonio’s city council has been ripe with those lessons as she prepares for a runoff with certified public accountant Andy Greene. Cabello Havrda is vying for the open seat being vacated by Greg Brockhouse — an opportunity she wasn’t expecting for another six years.

I first met Cabello Havrda in mid-February at Mad Pecker Brewing Co. on Tezel Road in the heart of Northwest San Antonio. The energetic attorney, dressed in an orange campaign t-shirt, invited me to sit at an open table. The owner, one of her campaign supporters, had opened early just for our interview.

Cabello Havrda, now 44, ran for the D6 council seat in 2017, and advanced to a runoff with Brockhouse, who’s now entwined in an increasingly caustic runoff of his own with first-term Mayor Ron Nirenberg. That year, Brockhouse defeated Cabello Havrda with 52% of the vote. Despite the three opponents on the May 4 ballot this election cycle, she hoped that the outcome this time would swing in her favor.

Cabello Havdra’s interest in public ser-

vice began when she was a child. On a walk with her grandfather, she noticed there weren’t any sidewalks on a particular street.

When she asked why, her grandfather replied, “Porque no les importa. They don’t care about us.” In subsequent years, she would decide to make it one of her longterm goals to see to it that her community would get its fair share of resources and investment. When I asked her if she could give a personified description her part of town, she pauses for a minute and replies, “District 6 is the middle child of the city.”

Her experience advancing to a runoff as a first-time candidate was a crash course in political maneuvering.

“A runoff election is much more stressful,” she explains. “You have to start with a brand new plan. Whatever worked in the regular election, may or may not work in the runoff.”

Perhaps the most valuable lesson she learned is that a candidate must “flip the page and start over.” No matter how many block-walking interactions a candidate had that might have earned a general-election vote, both competitors are “back where [they] started: zero votes.”

“It was just 30 days of intense, stressful work,” she recalls, comparing a council race to a half-marathon and a runoff to nothing

news

Jade Esteban Estrada

GLITTER POLITICAL

short of a sprint. “And you didn’t necessarily train for that sprint. The reason I got so close last time is because I block walked the heck out of these neighborhoods.”

Along the way, Cabello Havrda also discovered that bold authenticity is key when engaging with potential voters, who she says are mostly concerned about property appraisals, traffic and crime.

“People don’t want to see your mask,” she says, referring to her own mask as “grownup Melissa lawyer lady. They want to see who you are.”

As part of that authenticity, she once let the F-word fly, and when she did, “people didn’t flip out” — a trickle-down perk of Trump-era political discourse.

And now Cabello Havrda could be poised to learn another lesson about the power of political association. Because of the 2017 runoff as Brockhouse’s opponent, and now, as the councilman’s possible successor, voters may perceive a link between her and Brockhouse, which could play to her advantage or disadvantage.

On election night, I returned to Mad Pecker Brewing Co. for Cabello Havrda’s watch party.

Amidst the supporters in orange T-shirts, there was a feeling that the clean win she’d hoped for wasn’t in the bag.

That turned out to be the case. Cabello Havrda won 47% of the vote, locking her in a runoff with Greene, who finished with 35%.

Though she was publicly optimistic, it was time to flip the page again.

“Maybe that’s the lesson that I had to learn,” she says days later. “That it takes more than hard work.”

The week after Mother’s Day, I joined Cabello Havrda on a block walk near West Commerce and Southwest 39th streets.

Most people she speaks to engage in, on the average, minute-long conversations.

Even the seemingly disinterested residents are polite and take her flyer with updated voting information.

“Quality over quantity,” she says of knowing when to end her campaign pitch as she offers me a bottled water from her backpack.

As she talks to an older woman, her daughter and granddaughter join us at the door. The smiling child reaches out and hugs Cabello Havrda, taking us all by surprise. It turns out that the family recognizes her from her block walking two years ago.

I jokingly tell Cabello Havrda that she does seem like the runoff queen.

“I’ve got my tiara,” she agrees with a laugh.

“All I can do is block walk,” she says as we approach a gated residence with a front porch shrine dedicated to Julián Castro. “You can never predict people ... how they’re going to vote or if they’re going to vote.”

If Cabello Havrda can inspire supporters to vote for her a fourth time, the self-described “almost councilwoman” may get the happy ending she’s been hoping for.

And wouldn’t that be a lesson in itself?

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news

Bryan Rindfuss

CITY SCRAPES

San Antonio International Claims a Soaring Success, but the Numbers Offer a Grounding in Reality

BY HEYWOOD SANDERS

Editor’s Note: The following is City Scrapes, a column of opinion and analysis.

“S

an Antonio International Airport is flying high,” declared the headline of a press release sent out earlier this year by the City’s Aviation Department. The release brought the announcement of a “record-breaking year” in passenger volumes — an “unprecedented milestone for an airport of its size.”

The news here was that San Antonio International had seen more than 10 million passengers in 2018.

Aviation Director Russ Handy chalked up the surge in air traffic to “hosting wonderful events like the NCAA Men’s Final Four” as well as the airport’s “great relationship with air carriers.”

The 2018 passenger total amounted to just over 11% growth from the year before. And, for some, including the chair of Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s Airport

System Development Committee, it stressed the imperative to expand and improve the airport to keep up with its growth. But a quick look at the numbers behind the press release tell a rather different story.

San Antonio International’s 2018 increase in passenger enplanements — the standard industry metric of passenger activity — did indeed amount to 11.2%, a notable boost from the 4.9% it incurred from 2016 to 2017. But that growth was far from the same for all air carriers serving San Antonio.

Southwest, our dominant carrier with some 40% of the total passenger volume, experienced growth from 2017 of just 7.3%. For American Airlines, the annual increase was 9.8%. And for Delta, the passenger growth came to just 2.9%. One carrier really drove the airport’s “record breaking year.” That was Frontier Airlines.

Frontier’s year-over-year increase in passengers amounted to 133% — more than doubling its 2017

performance. Without the Frontier business, the airport’s passenger growth amounted to a more modest 7.8%. And the performance of Frontier, known as an “ultra low-cost carrier,” exemplified the nature of San Antonio’s air-service demand. What Frontier offers are cheap flights: $39 round trips to New Orleans, $107 to Orlando, $127 to Las Vegas. Those aren’t the nonstop flights sought by local business leaders to connect San Antonio to the booming tech centers of the West Coast, or major East Coast urban centers such Boston and Washington, DC. They’re flights designed for leisure customers looking for inexpensive trips, albeit flights with lots of add-on fees and expenses. And on other Frontier routes connecting San Antonio with Cleveland, Omaha, and Tulsa, there’s also the appeal of hauling tourists to the wonders of San Antonio.

But Frontier didn’t come to San Antonio simply because it assessed our community as a prime market opportunity. It came in large part because the city offered a host of incentives under the local Air Service Incentive Program. Frontier was eligible for landing fee waivers, terminal rental waivers and up to $200,000 in direct marketing dollars. In describing the program, the Aviation Department compared our incentive program to those in Austin, San Jose, Raleigh/Durham and Orange County, and argued that San Antonio International “has more aggressive incentives than most airports on marketing, building rentals and airfield fee waivers.”

Aggressive as it may be, San Antonio’s incentive deals have had a very different result from those in other cities. In her 2016 article in the Journal of the American Planning Association, “Incentivize It and They Will Come?”, University of Pennsylvania Professor Megan Ryerson compared San Antonio’s incentive efforts with those of Austin.

“Austin was able to use their [incentives] to connect to high-value, highly sought-after destinations, including a nonstop British Airways flight to London’s Heathrow Airport,” she noted. “Austin now offers incentives for routes to Amsterdam (Netherlands), Frankfurt (Germany), London, Paris (France), and Tokyo.”

Then there was our community: “The new San Antonio routes, in contrast, were on low-cost airlines to Guadalajara and Mexico City (Mexico), likely to facilitate tourism but not instigate local business development.”

Then there’s the larger problem with subsidies.

They may persuade an air carrier to enter the San Antonio market or add a nonstop flight. But if the demand isn’t there, the service will stop, the airline shifting its resources to a better, more profitable market. Air Canada said in February it would end nonstop service from San Antonio to Toronto. Frontier announced that it would drop 16 nonstop flights. The subsidies were obviously not “aggressive” enough to change the market reality here. It’s a problem the city has encountered with a whole host of other subsidy deals. They might come, but will they stay?

And as for “flying high” with our 11% increase in business last year? Austin’s growth in passenger volume from 2017 came to 13.6% — flying just a bit higher.

Heywood Sanders is a professor of public policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio. sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT

11

As downtown development spreads, displacement and gentrification are set to roll over the West Side

BY BEN OLIVO, SANFORD NOWLIN AND GAIGE DAVILLA This story is a joint reporting project of the San Antonio Current and the San Antonio Heron.

Bryan Rindfuss

C

hris Benavidez and Sheila Hyde, a retired couple who, in 2017, bought and rehabbed a craftsman-style house on West Houston Street, a few blocks from the Bexar County Adult Detention Center, welcome the wave of development that’s expected to enter the near West Side in coming years.

After retiring recently — he from the U.S. Navy, she from teaching — the couple settled on San Antonio’s West Side for its affordability after spending many years in Seattle, Washington. Benavidez said some of the same growth patterns he saw in the Pacific Northwest are also taking shape in the Alamo City.

“You’re starting to see a lot of that coming here — a lot of these houses are pending under contract,” said Benavidez, 49. “It’s catching on.”

He welcomes the reinvestment and hopes it will help address some of the area’s issues, such as transient foot traffic.

But with development comes a downside. Some community members are concerned about the potential for mass displacement caused by rising property values, predatory practices by investors and code violation enforcements in a part of San Antonio many people consider the cultural heartbeat of the city.

If the West Side gets gentrified, what’s left?

Perhaps the most profound sign of the coming change is

12 CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

the University of Texas at San Antonio’s plan to quadruple the size of its downtown campus over the next 10 years.

But it’s not just UTSA expanding into the West Side. The San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA) intends to build two mixed-income housing developments in the area near the Alazan Courts, the circa-1939 housing projects west of Alazan Creek, between Guadalupe Street and César E. Chávez Boulevard.

A mile north of the courts, closer to downtown, VIA Metropolitan Transit plans to rehab the abandoned Scobey industrial complex, just east of the detention center, into a mixed-use housing and office development.

Smaller projects are in the works, as well. Nonprofit developer Alamo Community Group wants to build a 160-unit, four-story affordable housing complex at 811 W. Houston St., a cluster of older and modern structures the group recently purchased from the Alamo Colleges District.

On the other side of Interstate 35, in downtown proper, the activity is more immediate. Weston Urban is co-developing the 23-story Frost Tower, expected to open next month. The developer is also obligated — under the agreement between Weston Urban, Frost Bank and the city of San Antonio that enabled the project — to build 265 housing units on properties it owns in the area.

GrayStreet Partners, another local developer active in the

downtown area, recently purchased properties on North Flores Street, including the Cadillac Bar and the row of buildings anchored by the former Kallison’s Western Wear store.

Not everyone is as optimistic about the imminent growth as new residents Benavidez and Hyde.

Kristel Puente, a UTSA student who on Sunday earned a bachelor’s degree in Mexican-American studies, said the university has offered little to no details on how it’s going to engage with the West Side community.

“They always say … ‘We’re going to expand cultural programs. We want to honor these neighborhoods,’ ” said Puente, who’s a member of the Mexican American Studies Student Organization, or MASSO, at UTSA. “But they never give you a detailed or strategic plan of how they’re going to do that.”

Puente attended a recent community meeting on the school’s expansion. She said the gathering became heated because the format prohibited vocal feedback and community members felt they weren’t being heard. If UTSA was serious about including the West Side community in its plans, she argued, the institution would have done so before it made its announcement last September.

“It’s not that we’re against the growth or changes or education,” she said. “It’s just we want them to understand the history [of the West Side] and to do 15 6 better, and they can.”

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6 12

Bryan Rindfuss

Same Old Scenario

If the scenario sounds familiar, that’s because San Antonio’s been seeing it play out on the East Side for several years now, said Christine Drennon, an urban studies professor at Trinity University.

“If we don’t start to control the process on the West Side, the result will be the same,” she said. “You’ll see long-term residents pushed out and replaced by higher-income, better-educated residents, mostly from a different ethnic group.”

However, there’s a key difference between the two areas, Drennon points out. While the gentrification on the East Side initially included purchases of stately homes capable of becoming showpieces with some restoration and upkeep, the historically Hispanic West Side is largely composed of smaller homes with lower resale value.

Much of the near West Side’s housing stock is appraised

between $40,000 and $70,000, according to Drennon. So, once gentrification takes root, it will be displacing residents from one of inner San Antonio’s last pools of affordable single-family housing.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg acknowledged that if the city is going to avert such a wave, it must act now. He pointed to the work of his Housing Policy Task Force, which has prioritized efforts to tackle displacement, gentrification and escalating property taxes.

In March, the City Council approved a $1 million fund to assist residents on the cusp of displacement — or, who are currently being displaced — because of rising rents or unexpected costs. So far, 118 people have been served — more than half of the total anticipated. The city is also looking to designate the near West Side and two East Side communities as neighborhood empowerment zones under a Texas statute that freezes city property taxes for

homeowners for up to 10 years.

“We’re on the cusp of widespread displacement, which is why we accelerated our displacement prevention policies and implemented our mitigation tool,” Nirenberg said.

Still, critics worry whether the city’s moving fast enough on those efforts. West Side property owners are already receiving offers from developers, often willing to buy their houses as-is.

Kristi Villanueva, president of the West San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, said she’s worried many residents will receive lowball offers for their homes or small business properties and jump at the first they receive.

“Everyone’s being approached with offers, but the developers are basing them on the listing price that these folks paid for their property 10 or 15 years ago,” she said. “If people aren’t educated about their options, they may think 17 6 they’re getting a good deal.”

Below Left: West Side homeowner Chris Benavidez sees new investiment as beneficial. Below Right: Not all of his neighors agree.

Bryan Rindfuss

Bryan Rindfuss

sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT 15

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6 15

Urban Campus

Few projects slated for the West Side are likely to have as much short-term impact as the planned expansion of UTSA’s downtown campus. The City and Bexar County have sold five acres closer to downtown, three blocks east of the main campus, to the university. The parcel — within the boundaries of Dolorosa, South Flores and West Nueva streets and South Santa Rosa Avenue — will house a $57 million school of data science and a $33 million national security collaboration center.

The UT System’s board of regents has committed the $70 million to fund the projects, while Rackspace co-founder and downtown developer Graham Weston has kicked in an additional $15 million for the school of data science.

But the project doesn’t end there.

UTSA is also waiting for $126 million in tuition revenue bonds from the Texas Legislature to build a college of business on the parcel. Future plans are also likely to include residential developments for students, faculty and staff.

The university has been gathering input from students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni and community members for its downtown master plan since last year. However, the meeting held May 6 at Guadalupe Theater to discuss the expansion was the only second community meeting this year. Roughly 60 people attended.

“It was evident in the master plan process that residents want a two-way conversation,” said Veronica Mendez, UTSA’s vice president of business affairs. “And, as a university, that’s something we’re good at facilitating.”

But some West Side activists like Graciela Sanchez, director of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, are frustrated by the process. Sanchez attended the May 6 meeting and said attendees questioned how the university was going to prevent displacement in the West Side.

“There’s more to the university expansion than just to be able to see their architectural designs,” Sanchez said. “We’re talking about gentrification and displacement that will take place after they [build it].”

She said she’d like to see how UTSA will prevent the up-

Above: A rendering of the proposed UTSA expansion shows its spread to the west. Right: SAHA wants to build mixed-income housing near the Alazan Courts.

rooting of long-time residents, but the university seems to have pushed that responsibility to the city.

“You’re watching a volleyball or tennis match, but you’re the ball going back and forth,” Sanchez said. “So you feel overwhelmed by how you’re being tossed around and getting nothing.”

Still, Sanchez acknowledged that some UTSA administrators have been listening to concerns from West Side residents and activists. The Esperanza Center and MASSO, the student group, met with UTSA president Taylor Eighmy last November and aired concerns about the expansion.

“Back in the ’70s, when [UTSA] wrote up their initial vision statement, it did talk about the history and culture of [the West Side], so how are they building those programs within this school?” Sanchez asked.

“If it’s a Hispanic-serving institution, or people of color-serving institution, what are we doing to help strengthen that?” Sanchez continued. “Without a sense of what they’re doing downtown, it makes us very anxious, nervous and many people angry.”

It’s because of these concerns from the West Side community that the city is requiring UTSA to conduct an economic and social impact study before it considers selling 19 acres

of land west of the campus to the university, Assistant City Manager Lori Houston said. In the latter phases of its 10year plan, UTSA expects to build academic buildings and student housing on the land that’s currently home to the Frank D. Wing Municipal Court Building, a police substation and a fleet maintenance center.

“We’ve always been aware of the concerns the West Side community has regarding the displacement and gentrification of the neighborhoods,” Houston said. “That’s exactly why we made the requirement in the contract with UTSA that they prepare an impact study.”

UTSA has hired the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB), a nationally recognized nonprofit focused on supporting equitable neighborhood development, to conduct the study. If that name sounds familiar, it might be because NALCAB recently conducted research and technical support for the Mayor’s Housing Policy Task Force and also completed an assessment of San Antonio’s most vulnerable communities.

The initial findings of NALCAB’s study should be available by late summer, UTSA’s Mendez said.

“I think that in three months or so we’ll see something actionable,” she added.

Armed with NALCAB’s research, the university will begin facilitating conversations with residents about how to minimize displacement.

The university’s master plan already calls for the new development to interface seamlessly with surrounding neighborhoods and celebrate their history and culture, Mendez points out. Buena Vista Street, in particular, would have a pedestrian bridge that runs level with the vehicular bridge that connects downtown with the West Side. There also looks to be an elevated park that hangs over a Frio Street-level promenade and basketball courts outside a recreation and wellness center that presumably would be available to West Side residents.

Further, the school could choose to locate future projects such as business incubator or student-aid office on the West Side to strengthen its ties to the neighborhoods, Mendez added.

NALCAB Executive Director Noel Poyo said institutions tend to put their heads in the sand when it comes to acknowledging the downside of their growth. He commended 19 6 UTSA for its willingness to conduct the study.

Ben Olivo

sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT 17

ymcasatx.org/summer

Celebrate 10 years of vitality along the Museum Reach segment of the San Antonio River Walk with art, culture, recreation, live music, and food!

Headlining band: The Purple Xperience – A Prince Tribute Show

18

CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

Bryan Rindfuss

6 17 Poyo added that the gentrification of Southtown, Dignowity Hill, Five Points and other near-downtown neighborhoods is proof the same is coming to the West Side. The time to address displacement is now, he added, not after the damage has already been done.

“There’s no such thing as stopping the market. Try damming a river with sticks; it’s hard,” said Poyo. “But what we can do is shape it and slow it.”

Developers’ perspective Last week, UTSA administrators and Weston Urban reps, including Weston himself, visited Arizona State University’s campus in downtown Phoenix to meet with university officials about what works, and what doesn’t, in an urban campus setting.

The relationship between UTSA and Weston Urban is one that’s newly formed.

A few years ago, when Weston Urban began purchasing land in west downtown, the developer’s strategy was to continue to unilaterally build around tech incubator Geekdom, using its other holdings.

The strategy changed last year, however, when UTSA’s Eighmy announced the university was expanding the center city campus, which has stayed west of I-35 since it opened in 1997.

“A year or so ago, along comes Dr. Eighmy, and we sort of said to ourselves, ‘This is the collaborator we’re been waiting for,’ ” said Randy Smith, president of Weston Urban.

Now, Weston Urban wants to create a “tight-knit fabric” between its downtown portfolio, mostly located in the des-

olate western half of downtown, with UTSA’s growth in the same area. And Weston Urban continues to grow, having recently purchased a vacant two-story office building on Dolorosa, next to the land where UTSA’s new buildings are going, and the old Toudouze market property at 700 W. Houston St., for future development.

“Obviously we’re not in the education-space business, but we think there are a lot of things we can do and develop in partnership with the university, community and others that will foster the kind of mixed-use environment that students will get excited about,” Smith said.

Smith said the company is aware of concerns about the western part of downtown and near West Side areas becoming unaffordable to residents.

“I think going forward you’ll see a mix of price points and product types, and local and regional and national operators,” he said.

Developer David Adelman and business partner Barlcay Anthony, CEO of Sea Island Shrimp House, own some buildings a block north of UTSA’s campus, next to VIA’s Centro Plaza transit hub. Those include the former Cattleman’s Square Tavern and the building that’s home to nonprofit Avance. The duo want to build a mix of office, retail and housing on the site.

Adelman sees UTSA’s ambitious plan doing more good than harm to the near West Side by providing higher education options to the community.

“When people are educated, their health improves, their need for social services declines,” he said. “You just want as many people educated [as possible]. I think the downtown campus offers a lifestyle element that has been lacking for a long time, and as we fill it in with people, that creates a

livable place for people to say, ‘Hey, I enjoyed my time here at college and I want to stay.’”

Adelman also has strong feelings about the need for reinvestment in neglected communities, whether it comes from a public institution such as UTSA, or the private sector, or both.

“Often if a neighborhood is experiencing disinvestment, declining property values, declining school districts, that’s just bad for our community as a whole,” said Adelman. “If you have reinvestment, I think that’s, on the net, positive.

What comes with it is a little bit of gentrification. I actually think a little bit of gentrification is good.”

“If you’re a property owner and you have a neighborhood that’s experiencing reinvestment, that’s good for you,” he added. “But people who are most negatively affected are renters. So I’ve always been in favor of having a displacement strategy to make that a smoother process. … But you know, when you’re born, there’s no constitutional right to live anywhere other than you have an opportunity to buy or rent anywhere where you want.”

Rehab or Demolition Next to the Alazan Courts, on vacant land, SAHA plans to build the Alazan Lofts, an 88-unit mixed-income apartment development — 40 units would be public housing, 40 a mix of low-income units and eight market-rate.

SAHA also is partnering with 210 Development Group on an apartment project a half-mile south of the courts called the Tampico Lofts. Half of those units would be market-rate and the other half rented to people making 80% of the area median income, which is $53,440 for a family of four 23 6 sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT 19

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CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

6 19 in the greater San Antonio area, according to the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development.

SAHA’s plan: Empty the cinder-block buildings by moving Alazan residents into the newer digs, then demolish the aging courts building-by-building over the course of many years.

Some preservation groups, including the Westside Preservation Alliance (WPA), see SAHA’s strategy as one of displacement — forcing people to leave their homes while simultaneously introducing housing for higher-income households.

SAHA disputes that notion.

“We’’re not trying to relocate anybody,” said Lorraine Robles, SAHA’s director of Development Services and Neighborhood. “This is an opportunity for individuals living in Alazan [Courts] to be able to have an opportunity to get a new unit.”

Tim Alcott, SAHA’s real estate and legal services officer, said Alazan Courts residents will be given options, such as Section 8 vouchers, which would allow them to move to more prosperous parts of town.

The WPA would rather the courts be preserved and improved, keeping the community intact.

“We argue and advocate for its rehabilitation and not for its demolition,” said Antonia Castañeda, a local historian and member of the WPA, at an alliance meeting earlier this year.

But SAHA officials said it would be more costly to renovate the 1939 structures than it would be to build anew.

SAHA’s strategy brings up larger questions about whether introducing market-rate apartments into a severely impoverished community is the right play, or whether the community is just fine on its own, simply needing some upgrades here and there.

To truly understand the complexity of the plan, one must look east.

Five years ago, SAHA forced out the residents of the Wheatley Courts on the East Side to make room for the mixed-income East Meadows development, which was spearheaded by a $30 million Choice Neighborhood grant.

SAHA officials took issue with some of those who characterized the plan as a displacement.

Each household was given the much-coveted Section 8 housing voucher, and the option to move back into the newly built apartments. Less than a quarter actually moved back.

Good Intentions But Trinity’s Drennon cautions that even good intentions can result in widespread displacement.

She points to the Westside Creeks Restoration Project, which is working to restore a quartet of streams running through the near West Side. The San Antonio River Authority-led project will bring better flood control while beautifying surrounding neighborhoods. But those will come at a price to local homeowners, Drennon said.

“It’s going to be so beautiful, but at the same time, it’s going to increase people’s property values,” she said. “If we do nothing to address that, the question becomes, ‘Are we more comfortable with beautiful creeks or with the displacement of people?’”

Much of the problem, Drennon argues, comes down to the city’s historic neglect of the West Side — especially its schools. When underfunded campuses turn out few students ready for higher education or prepared to take the skilled jobs that offer upward mobility, the surrounding area is unlikely to thrive.

“If wages kept up, the residents would have been able to invest in their own homes,” Drennon said. “Yes, we need to invest in our places, but we also need to invest in our people.”

Bryan Rindfuss

‘We Need Jobs’ District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales said she’s concerned about gentrification but points out that a different kind of displacement is already happening in the West Side neighborhoods she represents.

Low-income residents are often unable to pay for upkeep on their homes and have faced obstacles getting loans from banks. Gonzales is aware of at least four constituents that have recently become homeless because their residences are no longer livable. Representatives of the Esperanza Center say West Side residents regularly approach them with the same issue.

“The risk we have today is people losing their homes, not because of gentrification but because their homes are in such disrepair that they can’t live in them anymore,” said Gonzales, who initiated several city initiatives to help residents stay in their houses.

Gonzales said she favors a smart and measured approach to new capital flowing into her district, adding that some of the loudest voices calling for a slowdown of West Side development are coming from people who don’t live in the district.

“With UTSA’s announcement people can finally see some degree of development, but for the six years I’ve been in office, we really haven’t had any at all,” she added. “It’s been the 1970s since there was much new development here. So, we’re desperate for new structures, for new investment. We need jobs.”

Housing Police Esperanza’s Sanchez wants to see a reduction in code enforcement officers in District 5, largely the near West Side, and the culture of code enforcement changed from acting as a “police force” to something more like social workers.

“I know that we’re not a police force,” said Michael Shannon, director of Development Services, which oversees code enforcement in the city. “But we have a job to do, which is to help maintain the health and safety codes of those neighborhoods.”

Shannon said before 2012, about 80% percent of code enforcement cases were from people who reported violations, with the other 20% percent of cases from officers finding violations while on patrol. Those percentages are

now reversed, he said.

From October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018, District 5 had 14,143 code enforcement cases, the third highest in the city behind the East Side’s District 2, which had 15,797 cases, and District 1, which had 18,690. Nearly 12,000 of the code enforcement cases in District 5 were initiated by patrolling officers.

Additionally, 30 homes were demolished in District 5 that fiscal year, the highest of any district.

Development Services offers to help residents who can’t afford repairs or fines with the Compliance Assistance Fund. When a fine is paid, Development Services takes $20 and puts it into the fund. However, the fund is nearly dry, according to officials, because it was used to help four Southeast San Antonio residents last year. Less than $20,000 was in the fund, and a maximum of $5,000 can be dispersed to a single resident.

Through the 311 app, anyone can report code enforcement violations or submit service requests. Shannon said most of those reports are made anonymously. When asked if developers could use the app to report on properties or land they’re interested in purchasing, Shannon said it was a concern he’s heard, but hasn’t seen the evidence.

“We don’t want anyone utilizing services in a negative manner,” said Shannon, “in terms of possibly forcing people out of their homes or property.”

The city seems to have acknowledged — somewhat — the frequency of code enforcement violations being levied on people who can’t afford the fines. Shannon says code enforcement officers are now trained “to have their radar up,” for residents who are struggling financially or medically and likely can’t fix their properties or pay fines. Code enforcement officers can tell Development Services they’ve encountered a struggling resident, then the department can refer the resident to Neighborhood and Housing Services Department (NHSD) for help.

Regardless of the help available, Villanueva of the West San Antonio Chamber said many residents are distrustful of a city they feel has neglected their neighborhoods for so long. Connecting those people with programs to avoid displacement will require serious outreach — perhaps even blockwalking efforts.

“The frustration from the neighborhoods is becoming very severe,” Villanueva said. “They don’t know who to turn to.” sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT 23

SPECIAL EVENT

EMERALD BALL

FRI | 5/24 - SAT | 5/25 MUSIC

THE MUSIC OF JOHN WILLIAMS L

Whether it be the fearsome “Imperial March,” the iconic alien communique from Close Encounters of the Third Kind or the magical celeste melody that set the tone for the Harry Potter universe, John Williams’ simple yet arresting motifs have enhanced the onscreen artistry of a vast array of beloved films. While many may think that he first hit it big with the dread-inducing two-note tuba riff that heralded the arrival of an infamous man-eating shark, Williams already had a bevy of credits to his name by the ’70s, including the scores of The Poseidon Adventure and John Wayne’s The Cowboys.

For its latest Pops Concert, the San Antonio Symphony puts Williams’ best work front and center, showcasing exactly why his music will never be something that simply fades into the background of a scene. The Symphony rounds out the program with a selection of music that served to influence Williams, including Gustav Holst’s “Mars” (from The Planets), selections from Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and a performance of the first movement of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto by concertmaster Eric Gratz. $10-$96, 8pm Fri-Sat,

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, H-E-B Performance Hall, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, sasymphony.org. — Kelly Merka Nelson

SUN | 5/26 FILM

‘HOW REDNECKS SAVED HOLLYWOOD’ p

Joe Bob Briggs is here to school us on the importance of the redneck to the cinematic canon in an evening event he’s dubbed “How Rednecks Saved Hollywood.” A persona invented by John Irving Bloom as a reporter at the Dallas Times Herald, Briggs made a name for himself in the ’80s and ’90s as a prolific reviewer of B movies (which he dubbed “drive-in movies”) and went on to host the late-night movie show Joe Bob’s Drive-In Theater on TCM, followed by TNT’s MonsterVision. Almost two decades after his hosting stint originally came to a close, Briggs is enjoying a bit of a renaissance — horror-streaming service Shudder brought him on board for the 13-film marathon The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs in 2018, which was such a hit that they renewed the series in a recurring format, with a new double feature released weekly. For “How Rednecks Saved Hollywood,” Briggs will lend his expertise not only as a cult film connoisseur, but also a Texas native, covering topics

If you keep up with the slideshows we post on sacurrent.com, you’ve undoubtedly come across the work of Julián P. Ledezma, a tireless photographer who closely follows San Antonio’s colorful drag scene. Beyond the many late nights he spends shooting entertainers and partyers on the Main Strip, Ledezma stages studio portraits with drag performers, many of whom were represented in his 2017 solo exhibition “Invoking the Reign.” In 2012, Ledezma devised a way to combine his talents and give back to the LGBTQ* community via the Emerald Ball, an eclectic variety show benefiting the nonprofit Pride Center and its mission to “serve the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV communities by connecting them and their families to community resources and organizations related to health, wellness, support, education, activities and advocacy.” So far, the Emerald Ball has raised more than $20,000 for Pride Center with a specific focus on helping it establish the physical community space it acquired last year. When it comes to booking the talent, Ledezma offers performers not cash but an individual photo shoot in exchange for their participation. (Judging from a quick head count, Ledezma’s about to have more than 15 upcoming shoots on his calendar.) Emceed by snaggletoothed, curler-wearing camp queen Tencha la Jefa in the cozy confines of Woodlawn Pointe, the eighth annual affair unites drag talents from both traditional and avant-garde sides of the equation (from Beyoncé D. Mykels and Nilaya Milan Matthews to Ezzy Breezy and Kitty Buick) with boundary-pushing sideshow performer Salem, the drag king collective Los MENtirosos, genre-jumping singer-songwriter Azul Barrientos (pictured), dance ensemble Grupo Folklórico de Bendiciones and aerial troupe Suspend Your Belief, among others. $15-$650, 7-11pm Sat, Woodlawn Pointe, 702 Donaldson Ave., brownpapertickets.com. — Bryan Rindfuss

ranging from the “existential difference between Forrest Gump and Slingblade” to “why the redneck is the scariest monster in all of film history” (if you don’t have the Deliverance banjo riff in your head by now, we’d be pretty surprised). Speaking of Deliverance, while Briggs’ presentation will certainly be educational, it is definitely not kid-friendly, so admission to the event is 18 and up only. $25, 7pm, Alamo Drafthouse Park North, 610 N.W. Loop 410, (210) 677-8500, drafthouse.com. — KMN

TUE | 5/28 FI LM

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK 5

Alamo Drafthouse

24 CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

With an iconic opening action sequence that traumatized yours truly as a toddler (most four-year-olds have yet to confront human mortality, let alone at the hands of a massive, unstoppable boulder), Raiders of the Lost Ark marked the birth of a new classic that spawned three sequels spanning as many decades, much in the vein of the film serials of the ’30s and ’40s that served as its inspiration. Born out of a partnership between George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, both underdogs who had hit it big with scrappy productions in the mid-’70s (if you’re drawing a blank, those were Star Wars and Jaws), Raiders of the Lost Ark hits a pitch-perfect balance between adventure, romance and a hefty dose of levity (“Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?”), thanks in large part to Harrison Ford’s portrayal of adventuring archaeologist Indiana “That belongs in a museum!” Jones. The film’s stunning imagery and art direction nabbed it five Oscars,

calendar

SAT | 5/25

Courtesy of Patton Oswalt

$15, 7:30pm Tue, Santikos Bijou, 4522 Fredericksburg Rd., (210) 6148977, tpr.org. — KMN

THU | 5/30 COMEDY

PATTON OSWALT

Julián P. Ledezma

with impressive effects that instill nostalgia for a time before most film and TV was coated in a shiny CGI-finish. For all of the above and more, Raiders of the Lost Ark is a fitting opener for this year’s TPR Cinema Tuesday

series. This summer’s selections include everything from Alfred Hitchcock to David Fincher, plus the return of the popular Oscar Shorts program, and will finish with a bang with another early ’80s hit: The Blues Brothers. $10-

Although he’s built himself quite the name in film and television, from voicing rat protagonist Remy in Pixar’s Ratatouille (2007) to his viral role on Parks and Recreation as a disgruntled, filibustering citizen in 2013, as well as myriad appearances on almost any show you can imagine, Patton Oswalt’s true calling has always been stand-up comedy.

His 2016 special Talking for Clapping earned him both a Primetime Emmy and a Grammy, and

he followed that up with 2017’s alternatingly hilarious and devastating Annihilation, in which he wrangled with the sudden loss of his wife, true crime author Michelle McNamara, who died in April 2016. Oswalt is a rare breed of performer who can deftly jump from material on our country’s infamous “racist scrotum dipped in Cheeto dust” to the day he told his young daughter that her mother was dead — and without giving the audience whiplash. With Annihilation under his belt, it’s unlikely his material will let up on this latest tour, so be ready for things to get a bit heavy amidst the laughs. $34.50-$75, 7:30pm Thu, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, H-E-B Performance Hall, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — KMN

Paramount Pictures

ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO “AFRICA’S PREMIERE DIVA”

SAT., JUNE 1, 2019 JO LONG THEATRE | 8PM | $40 KIDJO’S REMAIN IN LIGHT RECREATES THE 1980 LP AS AN AUTHENTIC AFREOBEAT RECORD THAT DIVES HEAD-ON INTO THE FELA KUTI-INSPIRED AESTHETIC OF THE TALKING HEADS ORIGINAL.” ~ NATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS

Carver Box Office (210) 207-2234 or

Ticketmaster (800) 745-3000 | TheCarver.org 26

CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

calendar

their show on the road, giving people nationwide a chance to enjoy their act live. $49.50-$99.50, 8pm Fri, the Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 2263333, majesticempire.com. — KMN

FRI | 3/31 SAT | 6/1 TH EATER

RIDE: THE MUSICAL p Grab that friend of yours who can do an ear-splitting two-finger whistle and hail a taxi to the Overtime Theater’s latest original production — Ride: The Musical.

New York City cab driver Stockton spends his days in traffic, living his life in stop-and-go as he scrambles to pay the bills each paycheck, while his daughter Jess longs for a life beyond what can be afforded on their meager means. When

a limo driver drops into their lives, the two are faced with a choice: “Will they continue life as they know it, or will they shift gears and change their lives forever?” Written by Rachel Roth and Dan Timoskevich, the production features Robert Moritz as Stockton and Arnie Rose as Jess. It’s directed by Nicole Erwin. $10-15, 8pm Fri-Sat through June 22, the Gregg Barrios Theater at the Overtime, 5409 Bandera Rd., Suite 205, (210) 557-7562, theovertimetheater.org.

— KMN

Dan Timoskevich

THIS MODERN WORLD BY TOM TOMORROW

Courtesy of Penn & Teller

FRI | 5/31 COMEDY + MAGIC

PENN & TELLER L

Want a longstanding career in entertainment, but don’t know how to make it last? Take a page from magician duo Penn & Teller’s book and carve out your own niche! Penn & Teller first hit it big in the ’80s with their unique blend of comedy and skillfully crafted illusions, which they have parlayed into live performances, TV shows, books and more. They’ve also used their powers as purveyors of trickery to debunk pseudoscientific beliefs, most notably on the show Penn & Teller: Bullshit! (which aired on Showtime from 2003

to 2010). While Penn is famously the “talker” of the two, Teller hasn’t spent his entire career in silence, even voicing himself in a cameo on The Simpsons.

The duo now hosts Penn & Teller: Fool Us on the CW, wherein they pit budding magicians against their knowledge as veterans of magic in a competition to see whether each guest can pull the wool over the duo’s eyes. If Penn & Teller cannot suss out the method behind a competitor’s illusions, the magician will be awarded the opportunity to act as the opener for their Las Vegas residency. Luckily for those of us who can’t make it out to Vegas, between the aforementioned residency and their shooting schedule Penn & Teller have somehow found time to take sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT

27

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FRI, JUNE 14TH 9:30PM

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SUN, JUNE 16TH 10:00PM

PRECIOUS CHILD SLICES THROUGH SAN ANTONIO

SUN, JUNE 30TH 9:30PM

THE ROCKETZ MON–FRI | 4pm – 2am SAT–SUN | 5pm – 2am 2423 N St Mary’s St | TheMixSA.com 28

CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

calendar SAT | 6/1

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Anna Webber

SPECIAL EVEN T

STEVE MARTIN & MARTIN SHORT

First acquainted on the set of Three Amigos, Steve Martin and Martin Short developed a longstanding friendship that has kept them in each other’s orbit for almost three and a half decades. The duo reconnected as performers with a show for 2011’s Just for Laughs festival, which took the format of a dual interview between the two men. This evolved into a touring production which has further transformed over time into a vaudevillian evening that includes everything from musical numbers (featuring Jimmy Kimmel Live! pianist Jeff Babko and bluegrass band the Steep Canyon Rangers), the comedians’ beloved characters and even some deep cuts to early career work — if you’re lucky, Martin might break out some of his classic “King Tut” dance moves. Filmed on tour in South Carolina last year, their Netflix special entitled An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life was released to critical acclaim and garnered the duo a few Emmy noms. Regarding the special, Rolling Stone notes that “Martin and Short go through the motions of pretending that theirs is a passive-aggressive Hollywood friendship, forged out of careerist self-interest rather than genuine fondness … But the men’s warm laughter punctures the illusion.” Currently touring under the title “Now You See Them, Soon You Won’t,” the nostalgic show may not have the punch of cutting-edge comedy produced by the likes of John Mulaney and Hannah Gadsby, but the Hollywood veterans put their combined experience to good use for a charming evening of entertainment. $69.50-$500, 8pm Sat, The Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 2263333, majesticempire.com. — KMN

SUN | 6/2 MUSIC

THE CLEARING & THE FOREST L

SOLI Chamber Ensemble caps off this season with the world premiere of Scott Ordway’s The Clearing and the Forest, a site-specific evening-length work commissioned by the ensemble for its 25th anniversary. Ordway last collaborated with SOLI for its 20th season concert Future, and his star has only risen in the five years since. Critically acclaimed for “boundary-defying mixed-media

pieces” like the audience-interactive “whisper play” Tonight We Tell the Secrets of the World, Ordway has applied his trademark multidisciplinary approach to The Clearing and the Forest, blending “chamber music, experimental theater and visual art installation” in a work that “explores themes of displacement, immigration, refuge and home.” The Clearing and the Forest is an immersive landscape — SOLI members Ertan Torgul, Stephanie Key, David Mollenauer and Carolyn True move fluidly through the space, at times eschewing the imposed border of the proscenium to play their instruments behind or even hidden from the audience, all the while surrounded by the lush scenic design of Boston-based Erica Eliot, who crafted the set from predominantly organic materials. For more insight into the performance, grab a seat early for a pre-concert talk at 2:30 p.m., in which SOLI members and Ordway will talk about the process of bringing this work to life. $10-$25, 3pm Sun, McNay Art Museum, Leeper Auditorium, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave., (210) 824-5368, solichamberensemble.com. — KMN

SOLI Chamber Ensemble

MON | 6/3 TALKS

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON \

Between his radio show Star Talk, live appearances and hosting the reboot of the docuseries Cosmos, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson cultivated for himself a squeaky-clean image as a charismatic “science communicator” and heir apparent to the mantle of the late, great Carl Sagan. But, at the end of 2018 he found himself mired in accusations of misconduct that arose in the wake of #MeToo, including the resurgence of a longstanding accusation of rape by Tchiya Amet, who attended the University of Texas at Austin as a grad student with Tyson in the 1980s. Investigated and cleared by his employers at Fox Broadcasting and National Geographic, Tyson has resumed his duties on Star Talk and Cosmos, and is now carrying on with his career as before, including making live appearances like his upcoming lecture at the Tobin, “The Search for Life in the Universe.” Certainly, Tyson is a dedicated and brilliant scientist, but his image now occupies a liminal space of “men who may or may not have done wrong” (a place he shares with Aziz Ansari, James Franco and many others), which he cannot use black-and-white facts and data to escape. $50-$89.50, 7:30pm Mon, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, H-E-B Performance Hall, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — KMN sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

“Bruce Lee Shoes” Cinnabar’s latest exhibition showcases the work of Emanuel De Sousa, a Portugese-born, London-based artist who puts a poppy spin on portraiture. In addition to nods to iconic martial artist Bruce Lee and his yellow jumpsuits, De Sousa’s latest series of paintings features porcelain dogs, mylar balloons and other objects plucked from “tiny closed universes where absurd, nonsensical realities make sense.” Free, Wednesdays-Saturdays, 12-6 p.m.; Cinnabar Art Gallery, 1420 S. Alamo St., Suite 147, (210) 557-6073.

FILM

Paris Is Burning As a film student at New York University, Jennie Livingston had a chance encounter with a group of young gay men voguing in Washington Square Park. Livingston’s groundbreaking 1990 documentary chronicles drag ball culture and the African-American, Latino, gay and transgender communities involved in elaborate runway competitions. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”

The McNay screens the influential doc in conjunction with the forthcoming exhibition “Transamerica/n: Gender, Identity, Appearance Today.” Free, Thu., May 30, 7 p.m.; McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave., (210) 824-5368.

Six of 007 Slab Cinema’s James Bond film series continues with free outdoor screenings of 1995’s GoldenEye starring Pierce Brosnan and 2012’s Skyfall starring Daniel Craig. Pre-show entertainment begins at 7pm. Free, Tue., May 28, 8:15 p.m. and Tue., June 4, 8:15 p.m.; Hemisfair Park, 434 S. Alamo St., (210) 212-9373.

Lonely Are the Brave Curated by Dr. Andrew Patrick Nelson of Montana State University’s School of Film and Photography, the Briscoe’s summer film series kicks off with a revival of director David Miller’s 1962 Western starring Kirk Douglas as a fiercely independent cowboy whose uncompromising spirit is severely challenged after he breaks out of jail for a minor offense and finds the entire county’s police force on his trail, helicopters and all. $5-$10, Sun., May 26, 1 p.m.; Briscoe Western Art Museum, 210 W. Market St., San Antonio, (210) 299-4499.

Cinema Terrible For its inaugural event, Cinema Terrible will screen the Taiwanese beat-em-up in the style of Wuxia Return of the Kung Fu Dragon (Ju Ma Pao), a movie described by bizarre-film aficionado

Gregory Smalley as “a frantic, somewhat disorienting experience” with a marked “disdain for realism.” Free, Wed., May 29, 6:30-8:30 p.m.; Central Library, 600 Soledad St., (210) 207-2500.

Knock Down the House The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center screens Rachel Lears’ 2019 documentary on progressive Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush and Paula Jean Swearengin in hopes of sparking constructive dialog about how elections are run, the role of money in politics and the state of our representative democracy across partisan lines. Free, Fri., May 24, 6:30-9 p.m.; Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, 922 San Pedro Ave., (210) 228-0201.

TH EATER

Cabaret To close out its 20th season, the Vexler is putting on a timeless classic: Cabaret. A subversive, sexy musical set in Berlin on the eve of Nazi rule, Cabaret made a huge splash when it premiered in 1966, sweeping the Tonys for that year, and has been a mainstay of both Broadway and touring productions ever since, including several award-winning revivals. The seedy Kit Kat Klub lets its clientele immerse themselves in song and dance to escape the threat of violence on the horizon, but such distractions can only go so far — interpersonal conflict becomes magnified by political tensions, fracturing relationships amongst both patrons and performers. The Vex’s production features Rick Sanchez as the flamboyant Emcee and Amanda Gordon as the Kit Kat Klub’s headliner Sally Bowles, and will be performed on a thrust stage, which allows the audience to sit on three sides of the stage, bringing them closer to the cast to allow for more — ahem — intimacy. $15-$23, Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Sheldon Vexler Theatre, 12500 NW Military Hwy., (210) 302-6835.

Hamilton The 2015 hit Broadway musical and cultural phenomenon Hamilton has finally made its way to San Antonio.

Inspired by Ron Chernow’s 2004 Alexander Hamilton biography, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s re-telling of the life of America’s first treasury secretary, Hamilton became a theatrical benchmark the moment it debuted off-Broadway at the Public Theatre. What makes the musical so unique is both the musical style and its casting choices. Miranda infuses his Revolutionary War musical with the contemporary sounds of hip-hop, R&B, soul and even some traditional musical theater. The cast

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is comprised of a racially diverse group of performers portraying the founding fathers. The end result is a story steeped in our cultural history, with enough contemporary resonance to attract audiences of all generations. $170-$571.50, Tuesdays-Thursdays, 7:30 p.m., Fridays-Sundays, 8 p.m. and Saturdays-Sundays, 2 p.m.; The Majestic Theatre, 224 E Houston St., (210) 226-3333.

The Little Foxes Drawing from a verse in the Song of Solomon, The Little Foxes relays the tale of the Hubbards, a set of wealthy siblings whose extreme avarice and small-mindedness “spoil the vines.”

Regina Hubbard Gibbens, ineligible to inherit a proper chunk of her family’s estate by virtue of her gender, faces mounting frustration with her timid husband, whose lack of business acumen has denied her the level of wealth and success that her brothers, who split the inheritance, have enjoyed. In a bid to finally take what’s hers, Regina schemes with her brothers Hubbard to invest in a cotton mill that is sure to make them money hand over fist.

The problem? Both her husband Horace and daughter Alexandra are against the plan. A role originated by none other than Tallulah Bankhead and immortalized on film by Bette Davis, Regina’s single-minded obsession tears apart her family, leaving her alone with the only thing she ever truly loved: money. The Classic’s production is directed by Melissa Utley and stars Kelly Hilliard Rousch, Byrd Bonner, Anthony Ciaravino and Christie Eanes. $18-$33, Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. and Sundays, 3 p.m.; Classic Theatre of San Antonio, 1924 Fredericksburg Rd., (210) 589-8450.

COMEDY

Gina Brillon Possibly best recognized for her role in Gabriel Iglesias’ feature film The Fluffy Movie, Bronx-born stand-up Gina Brillon delivers a unique brand of comedy combining personal experiences and sex therapy. $17-$27, Wed., May 22, 8 p.m., Thu., May 23, 8 p.m., Fri., May 24, 7:30 & 9:45 p.m., Sat., May 25, 7 & 9:30 p.m. and Sun., May 26, 7:30 p.m.; Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, 618 NW Loop 410, (210) 541-8805.

Josh Wolf A stand-up who’s toured with both Chelsea Handler and Larry the Cable Guy; appeared in Raising Hope and My Name Is Earl; written a New York Times bestseller titled It Takes Balls: Dating Single Moms and Other Confessions from an Unprepared Single Dad; and hosted Fox Sports’ The College Experiment, Trinity University alum Josh Wolf performs comedy from the sweet spot in the middle

of several concentric Venn diagrams that wouldn’t ordinarily be connected. The former Chelsea Lately writer and panelist and Last Comic Standing contestant has also worked as a Nintendo spokesperson, hosted a shark-themed talk show and made multiple appearances on the web series Getting Doug With High (in case you still didn’t think you had any common interests). Wolf’s laid-back goofs fit in just about everywhere, so God knows who’s going to be in the audience — but chances are they’ll be laughing. $20-$30, Thu., May 30, 8 p.m., Fri., May 31, 7:30 & 9:45 p.m. and Sat., June 1, 7 & 9:30 p.m.; Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, 618 NW Loop 410., (210) 541-8805.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Astronomy on Tap SATX Astronomy on Tap SATX is a monthly event where guests gather for drinks and meet science experts in the field of astronomy. This month, Dr. Rohini Giles will describe her experience studying Jupiter from a telescope stationed at the top of the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii and Dr. Michael Poston will discuss his work in a laboratory simulating the surfaces of other planets. Free, Wed., May 29, 7-8:30 p.m.; Blue Star Brewing Company, 1414 S. Alamo St., (210) 212-5506.

Brickadelic Vintage Market Brick at Blue Star and the Mermaid Farm team up for a market featuring 30-plus vintage vendors along with local makers, beats by DJ Despeinada and food for purchase from Home Team Hotdogs. Free, Fri., May 31, 5-11:45 p.m.; Brick at Blue Star, 108 Blue Star, (210) 262-8653.

Museum Reach 10th Anniversary: Decennial Fest4All The San Antonio River Walk’s Museum Reach celebrates its 10 year anniversary with a recognition ceremony, kayaking and canoeing, a 5K at the Witte, fitness on the plaza at the Tobin, gallery tours at SAMA, live music at Ventura and Rosella Coffee House, and a block party on Brooklyn between N. St. Mary’s and Avenue B. Visit sara-tx.org for the complete schedule. Free, Fri., May 24, 4-7 p.m., Sat., May 25, 7 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sun., May 26, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; San Antonio River Walk - Museum Reach, 1300 Camden St., (210) 227-1373.

Viva La Mujer Market Que Retro Arts celebrates and empowers women with a free event uniting women artists, vendors, fashion designers and entertainers. Free, Sat., June 1, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Wonderland of the Americas, 4522 Fredericksburg Rd., (210) 273-5023. sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT

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32 CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

arts

She becomes his muse and (more importantly) his de facto agent, as the two bond over music and barely concealed longing. Enda Walsh’s impossibly Irish book becomes more fantastical as the evening progresses — strumming a song to a loan officer probably wouldn’t work in the Alamo City — but allows for some lovely supporting characterizations (especially Paul Henry as a down-on-his-luck shopkeeper, spiraling through his own loneliness).

Olivia Clari Nice is a real find. The Girl warps the tonal field around her (“I am always serious.

I am Czech,” she deadpans), which can make her character a bit of a cipher. Instead, Nice’s choices were endlessly fascinating: I couldn’t take my eyes off her. French, with a terrific set of pipes, makes for a compelling Guy, even if the character is a bit underwritten dramatically.

The production’s scenic concept — by Dan Heggem, Jeremy Whittington and George Green — could use Siggi Ragnar another, um, once-over: it’s a weird amalgam of hanging curtains, high-end incandescent light fixtures and golden platforms. Whereas the Broadway design was rather on-the-nose — an Irish pub — at least it anchored the story in a Once specific time and place. Here, it’s not $20-$407:30pm Thu-Sat, at all clear what the symmetrical cur2pm Sun through June 9 tains signify or how the set informs the story. (It’s possible, for instance, and Markéta Irglová. Mostly notably, the Public Theater of San Antonio that those gorgeous fixtures gesture it features the insanely hummable toward the firmament, since the muOscar-winning song “Falling Slowly,” 800 W. Ashby Pl. sical ultimately concerns transcenwhich bookends a tale of star-crossed (210) 733-7258 dence, artistically and romantically. lovers who are — you guessed it — Even more could have been done falling slowly in love. But they’re thepublicsa.org. with that notion. I also want those also falling slowly through life, each bulbs in every room of my house.) trapped in a relationship of dubiBut these are quibbles. Once ous viability and consigned to the largely tells its story through music, and the set never unsettling neverland of contemporary Dublin, itself gets in the way of Green’s fluid staging, which arcs confronting new obstacles, including economic ones. toward some gorgeous climaxes (such as an a cappella We first meet an anonymous Irish lad — Guy (Robby rendition of “Gold”). Longtime readers of the Current French) — crooning broken-heartedly on his guitar. know my heart is, by now, a shriveled lump of coal, He is overheard by an immigrant Czech Girl, who but even I fell, and not just slowly, for Once. recognizes (at once, natch) his compositional talent.

Once More, with Feeling A review of Once at the Public Theatre

BY THOMAS JENKINS

O

nce: The Musical, now on the main stage of the Public Theater of San Antonio, delivers mightily on a recent agreement with Actors’ Equity Association: the production boasts no fewer than ten Equity-affiliated artists. (In fact, the female lead, Olivia Clari Nice, has already played Once twice. Now thrice.) And such expertise is sorely needed: the conceit of the evening is that there are no pit musicians, but rather the actors play every instrument, including guitar, piano, percussion and cello. Just on the level of technique, it’s a fiendishly difficult show to pull off, and the Public Theater should be proud of its ambition and its success.

Based on John Carney’s independent film, Once is buoyed by an eclectic folk-rock score by Glen Hansard

More Love for Nye Local treasure Naomi Shihab Nye named Young People’s Poet Laureate

BY BRYAN RINDFUSS

M

any Texans — myself included — were fortunate enough to become familiar with esteemed Palestinian-American poet, author and educator Naomi Shihab Nye quite early in life.

Beginning in the 1970s, Nye led youth poetry workshops and brought warm, playful energy to classrooms near and far as part of the Artists in Schools program. Based on conversations with friends, I can confirm that I’m not the only one who cherishes the memory of sitting in a circle and watching Nye sing her original tune “The Rutabaga Song” — a quirky earworm from her 1979 album Rutabaga-Roo (I’ve Got a Song and It’s for You). A visit from Nye meant not only a break from

Josh Huskin

the doldrums of desk time, but an uplifting spell with an adult who was likely cooler than the teacher — and better at connecting with kids.

Now four decades later, the self-professed “wandering poet” has authored or edited upward of 30 volumes — including poetry collections for children and adults alike, novels for young readers, short stories and picture books — and earned numerous awards and accolades along the way, such as Guggenheim, Lannan and Witter Bynner (Library of Congress) fellowships, a Lavan Award from the

Academy of American Poets and four Pushcart Prizes. Often placing themes surrounding Jerusalem, immigration and Arab-American identity in relatable, imaginative contexts, her works include the collection 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East (2005), the novel The Turtle of Oman (2016) and this year’s The Tiny Journalist — a collection inspired by Janna Jihad Ayyad, a young Palestinian activist who began using her mother’s smartphone at the age of 7 to report on the Israeli– Palestinian conflict.

On Tuesday, Nye’s long list of credits became even more impressive as she was named the 2019-2021 Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation, the Chicago-based organization behind Poetry magazine. Designed to “celebrate a living writer in recognition of their devotion to writing exceptional poetry for young readers,” the two-year laureateship comes with a $25,000 prize and will see Nye bringing poetry to geographically underserved or rural communities through readings and recommending new poetry books to young readers (via poetryfoundation.org) every month beginning in August.

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

arts Saint Sadist Straps Readers in

for a Nihilistic Descent into Hell

BY MAX BOOTH III

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CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

ack when I was a kid, my older brother and I used to walk across town to our local Hollywood Video.

The building itself was peculiar, as half of it belonged to Hollywood Video and the other half, literally split down the middle, was operated by Blockbuster. I never understood how this arrangement worked, but there you have it.

Eventually, Blockbuster pushed Hollywood Video out of business, and in its place a Papa Murphy’s emerged into the world. But before that, my brother and I thrived on Hollywood Video’s horror collection. It felt dangerous.

You had no idea what to expect. The covers on the films didn’t encourage the lighthearted.

The artwork alone usually invoked a sense of uneasiness. These films were weird, unpredictable and often made the viewer feel physically dirty.

I fondly recall one afternoon walking back home with VHS copies of Dead Alive, Terror Toons and I Spit on Your Grave. I was 10 years old.

I bring all of these memories up now because I felt a similar impact while reading Austin resident Lucas Mangum’s latest novel, Saint Sadist.

The plot here, while simple, is truly dark. Our narrator, Courtney, begins her story at the age of 12. Her father’s a drunken, abusive monster and the only way, in her mind, to escape his physical violence is to open herself up to him sexually. Fast-forward several years. Now, she’s 19 and pregnant with her daddy’s offspring. She finally decides enough is enough and runs away in the dead of night, embracing the life of a sex worker until eventually coming into contact with a weird,

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dangerous religious cult. You can’t say things have gotten out of hand, because they’ve never been good in the first place.

Mangum’s writing style heavily contributes to overall feeling of dread that surrounds this book. His sentence structure provides an often-poetic minimalism and the short, gut-punching chapters come at you with machine-gun speed.

Saint Sadist is a book that dumps readers into a grave on its first page, and instead of having the option of climbing out, only allows them to dig deeper. You’re not going to feel like a better person after reading it. You’ll probably want to go take a long, hot shower. And that’s perfectly OK. Sometimes literature needs to be dangerous. Sometimes it needs to make you uncomfortable. Sometimes it needs to hurt.

arts Tears of the Trufflepig Hallucinates a Bizarre Alternate Reality

BY MAX BOOTH III

T

exas is fucking weird. Spend enough time here and its surreal peculiarities will work their way inside you like worms partying within a buried skull. Maybe it’s the heat.

A Texas sun is not like any other sun. The first week I moved here from Indiana, I took a walk along a farmto-market road while wearing flip flops. The toe straps snapped on my return trip, forcing me to walk along the concrete on the soles of my bare feet. I don’t know how long I lasted, but I remember waking up some time later in a ditch, covered in sweat and fire ants. The first thing I saw was the sun, looking down like it was taunting me, ridiculing this idiotic human who dared go up against something he did not understand. The thing is, nobody quite understands this land, but many artists have certainly made an attempt. Texas’ underground music scene regularly takes a stab at exploring our state’s many oddities. Murals and graffiti also provide a good sense of our culture.

But nobody understands the fantastical mythology of Texas more than Fernando A. Flores, an Austin bookseller and author who was born in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and raised in South Texas. His debut novel, Tears of the Trufflepig, reads like the insane historical record of an alternate universe only two small steps to the left of ours. Set along the border between Mexico and South Texas, Trufflepig is a mix of Jeff Vandermeer, Roberto Bolaño and David Cronenberg. That is to say, the ideas presented here are full of trippy imagery and terrifying body horror.

Two border walls are already built, and a third one’s under construction as the story opens. It’s a world very much like our own, and also incredibly different.

In Flores’ psychedelic version of reality, the government has legalized narcotics, consequently forcing cartels into trafficking ancient artifacts, shrunken indigenous heads and filtered animals — the latter, of

course, meaning cloned creatures brought back from extinction to amuse the rich.

Special dinners with expensive invitations spring up at random locations, offering multi-course meals consisting of luxurious foods such as fried dodo birds and Galapagos gumbo. The titular Trufflepig is another one of these animals, although it holds far more weirder purposes than mere consumption.

When our protagonist, a grieving widower named Esteban Bellacosa, first stumbles upon this mythological creature at one of these illegal dinners, he’s shocked into silence.

“In the dim lighting it looked like a pig with tiny ears, but it acted very doglike, with its front legs erect. A slurping, salivating tongue hung out of its mouth, FSG Originals which was actually a beak, like a chicken’s or rooster’s. It had the dark green skin of a crocodile, with rivulets shining like a fine pair of boots, and somebody had tied a handkerchief with the border disarmament symbol around its neck.”

By the end of the novel, every reader will want their own Trufflepig — and that’s a guarantee.

In contrast to its science fiction elements, Tears of the Trufflepig also refuses to shy away from reality. After all, this is a novel set on the border. Shit’s inevitably going to get rough. People are granted tax breaks for killing immigrants. Families stake out walls hoping for a chance to shoot a brown person and take a picture posing with their prey. In the year 2019, we don’t need to stretch our imaginations very far for these scenes to seem believable. In interviews, Flores claims to have started the novel back in 2014, long before our current administration, yet it feels like a book that couldn’t have been written any other time than right now.

Tears of the Trufflepig exceeded all expectations in the best of ways, and I cannot wait to follow the rest of Fernando A. Flores’ career. Do not pass on this one.

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MAJESTIC THEATRE JUNE 7 - JUNE 9 sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019| CURRENT

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CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

Photograph’s gentle approach overcomes its dawdling pace in Mumbai-set romance

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

I

n writer-director Ritesh Batras’ 2013 romantic comedy The Lunchbox, the Indian filmmaker delighted audiences with a heartfelt narrative set in Mumbai about a woman who begins an innocent penpalship with a stranger when the lunch she packs is accidentally delivered to him instead of her husband.

Batras, who also directed the 2017 Netflix drama Our Souls at Night with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, returns to his hometown of Mumbai for his latest foreign-language romance, Photograph.

Although it’s not quite as charismatic in character and tone as his feel-good foodie film, it does have a gentle approach that is difficult to dislike.

Photograph tells the story of Rafi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a struggling street photographer who is under some intense pressure from his persistent grandmother Dadi (a scene-stealing Farrukh Jaffar) to settle down and get married. Dadi is even going as far as telling people who know her grandson that she will stop taking her medication if he doesn’t decide on a bride.

Rafi, however, doesn’t seem too worried about giving Dadi grandbabies anytime soon. When he meets Miloni (Sanya Malhotra), a pretty, young

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accounting student who stiffs him five rupees for her photo, he devises a plan to appease Dadi. He asks Miloni to pose as his fiancée and meet his grandmother. If this sounds like a cheesy American rom-com like The Wedding Date or Failure to Launch, it’s close. But what makes Photograph much more palatable than a movie the Hallmark Channel would upchuck at Christmastime is Batras’ direction, the sweet-natured personalities of Rafi and Miloni, and the way Batras as a screenwriter examines the Indian culture and how class factors into their daily lives.

Where moviegoers will lose out is in the film’s dawdling pace. It’s one thing to create an atmosphere where a relationship slowly builds or evolves over time, but there’s nothing in Photo-

Out of Step The White Crow Suffers from Casting a First-Time Actor, Talented Dancer in the Lead Role

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

D

espite the number of dance movies Hollywood has churned out over the last century, from Swing Time and Footloose to the Step Up franchise, the feature dance biopic has never found its footing. Take any great dancer from any genre — Martha Graham, Sylvie Guillem or Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers — and some might find it a bit surprising that none of these icons of the dance world have been given the cinematic treatment.

One obvious reason for this could be that unlike biopics on famous musicians, artists or athletes, it’s a lot harder to fake dancing on the big screen. It’s easy enough to cast Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh in At Eternity’s Gate, but Dafoe doesn’t really have to know how to paint like the Dutch post-impressionist. And look at actor Rami Malek. He just won an Academy Award for portraying singer Freddie Mercury by lip-syncing

screens

Fine Print

Sony Pictures Classics

Queen’s music in Bohemian Rhapsody.

In The White Crow, a biopic on Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who is considered one of the greatest in the history of ballet, director and Oscar-nominated actor Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient) was tasked with finding someone who could not only be believable as Nureyev onstage, but who could also carry an entire film on his shoulders as the lead.

By casting first-time actor and Ukrainian ballet dancer Oleg Ivenko, Fiennes discovered someone with the talent to perform all the necessary arabesques and pirouettes, but in doing so forfeits the acting skill needed to create a fully formed character. Ivenko is inanimate — a poster boy for ballet, perhaps, but a poster board for drama. Even if the dancing

graph that tells audiences that once the credits roll, Rafi and Miloni don’t end the charade and go their separate ways. In what could have been the most charming storyline in a movie this year, Rafi searches for something from Miloni’s past that she hasn’t experienced in years, but for whatever reason Batras denies moviegoers the satisfaction of watching that moment unfold when he finally presents it to her.

Batras is a wonderful storyteller and arthouse film fans should commit his name to memory now, but when all is said and done, Photograph will be known as one of his enjoyable if minor works.

Photograph opens exclusively at the Santikos Bijou Cinema Bistro May 24.

portion of his portrayal is all audiences care about, two-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter David Hare (The Reader) doesn’t seem to be interested in making Russian ballet a compelling part of the narrative.

The White Crow is more about Nureyev’s upbringing in an impoverished family in the USSR during the 1940s and his pursuit to become a professional ballet dancer regardless of his “inadequate technique” and the fact that during the Cold War, the Soviet regime kept their citizens isolated from other countries. Hare’s script fails to explore any of Nureyev’s relationships with much authentic emotion, which is regrettable since Fiennes gives a solid performance as Alexander Pushkin, one of Nureyev’s ballet instructors in Leningrad.

The film’s only truly fascinating moments come at the end when Nureyev is trapped in a Paris airport by Soviet officials and decides to claim asylum for fear that he will be taken back to the USSR and punished. The scene plays like something from an espionage thriller. It might not be as exciting as, say, a 32-turn fouetté, but it definitely puts the geopolitical tension of the era into perspective.

The White Crow opens exclusively at the Santikos Bijou Cinema Bistro May 24.

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food

Squaring Up

Developer is counting on new restaurants to finally help St. Paul Square live up to its promise

BY LEA THOMPSON

W

hen REATA Real Estate purchased Sunset Station and 11 buildings within St. Paul Square in late 2017, the firm had a vision of transforming the historic near East Side complex into a dining and entertainment destination.

Less than two years later, many of the square’s previously vacant buildings are filling up with restaurants, including Toro Kitchen + Bar and the soon-to-open Lilly’s Greenville, a new concept from Steve Mahoney, whose bar empire includes Francis Bogside and Green Lantern.

St. Paul’s Square was once the center of life for San Antonio’s predominantly black East Side, but efforts to revitalize the area into a destination for both locals and out-of-town visitors have been ongoing since the early ’90s — and largely in fits and starts. Don Thomas, a partner at REATA, says he hopes the area is finally reaching critical mass.

“We’ve got some interesting and exciting local concepts that are coming to the development,” Thomas said. “Our focus is to create another local destination not unlike Southtown, Blue Star or the Pearl have done.”

REATA is also in talks with restaurateurs

about leasing spaces on East Commerce Street, previously managed by San Antonio-based construction giant Zachry Corp.

As part of that expansion, Asian eatery Suck It The Restaurant is expected to open its second location at the square — a more elevated version of its original Medical Center location. REATA also is working on leases with a restaurateur with plans for an Oaxacan-style Mexican eatery, plus a new coffee and bakery concept.

“I’ve had my eye on this area for years, but it’s amazing to see how it’s grown within the last year or so,” said Mahoney of Lilly’s Greenville. “There’s so much here. Lilly’s is going to open as a simple place, a back-tobasics kind of thing.”

Beyond the expanded roster of dining options, REATA also opened The Baldwin at St. Paul Square, adding new 271 new apartment units to the mix, plus additional free parking.

At the same time, the historic Sunset Station, a local events venue that once housed the popular Aldaco’s Restaurant, is gearing up to announce a rebranding effort later this summer. Aldaco’s left the space in 2014 to focus on its Stone Oak and Dominon locations.

Sunset Station’s existing management will

continue operations, Thomas said, but REATA is working with local architect Candid Rogers to reimagine the space as a destination for public concerts and major events.

During the ’90s, Sunset Station hosted musical acts from Dick Dale to Lyle Lovett, but its use as a concert venue has waned.

“We want to bring that back,” Thomas said.

Even though RIATA has brought new life to the square, existing landmarks like the square’s namesake St. Paul United Methodist Church — among the oldest African-American churches in the Lea Thompson United States — and local dive bars like Alibi’s, remain accessible and popular among neighborhood residents.

The area has also become home to a number of nonprofits and non-hospitality businesses including SA 2020, the Rivard Report and Dream Voice, the organization behind the annual DreamWeek events.

REATA said it’s working closely with local businesses and organizations to ensure that there is a dialogue between developers and residents of the East Side, which has historically been underfunded and neglected by city leaders. It’s also contributed to DreamWeek events, which celebrate African-American culture and equality.

The San Antonio Growth for the Eastside, the City-funded nonprofit overseeing East Side development efforts, was unable for comment on this story. However, some of the square’s current occupants were cautiously optimistic about the new signs of life.

As the area continues to grow, the Eastside community and area stakeholders must remain dedicated to thoughtful development to avoid displacing longtime residents and businesses, said DreamWeek founder Shokare Nakapodia. But that development does promise to bring inclusive and progressive growth, and new restaurants promise to bring more activity and economic investment.

“These new restaurants affect everyone at the square,” said Nakapodia said, who offices in the retail space above Lilly’s Greenville. “It’s early days yet, but I can see this area becoming a really major hub, leaning toward entertainment in the evening and having a very socially conscious work environment, by 2020.”

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Cool Business Plan

El Paraiso helped make paletas a San Antonio summertime staple

BY VALERIE BUSTAMANTE

I

the Alamo City. t’s hard to imagine enduring a sweltering a “They wanted to move to a city that had a denser summer without paletas, or Mexican popsicles.

Hispanic community so that their children would But they haven’t always been a San Antonio grow up in their culture,” said Maggie Flores, who mainstay. helps her parents manage the business. “They Before José Flores and his wife, Maria, opened the thought that San Antonio was perfect to start a busidoors of El Paraiso — the Alamo City’s best-known ness and raise children.” paleta maker — in 1984, there were few local paleNot to mention, Jose Flores pointed out, San Antoterias, or dedicated paleta shops. Not to mention, nio’s warm weather makes it a perfect market for the raspas were the frozen treat of choice. icy treat.

El Paraiso, which is still run by the Flores family, Using fresh, quality ingredients and original recinow sells between 10,000 to 12,000 paletas a day to a pes, the couple started El Paraiso with just 12 flavors. mix of walk-in customers and retailers that carry its product. Customers of all ages open the freezer doors Business built through word of mouth, and the company gained another boost when it was featured of its Fredericksburg Road factory and store whenevon a Spanish-language television program a few years er they crave the sweet taste of a strawberry flavored after opening its doors. paleta or the saltiness of mango con chile.

The menu has since expanded to 24 While the company’s success may paleta options, including vanilla and be homegrown, the Flores family were El Paraiso raisin, piña colada, cookies and cream, actually San Antonio transplants. watermelon, pineapple and lemon.

They discovered the city while takelparaisoicecream.com But the Flores family’s dedication to ing trips from their hometown of Chi1934 Fredericksburg Road quality remains. They use name-brand cago to Mexico. Tiring of his demandSan Antonio Texas 78201 and fresh ingredients —from Borden’s ing factory job, Jose Flores decided (210) 737-8101 milk and Oreo cookies to fresh strawthe family needed a change. Inspired berries to cocoa beans. by his memories of the paleteros in The 10-person paleta crew works to Chicago’s Little Village, he decided to create one flavor at a time, using a process that restart his own business and bring that experience to

quires each flavor’s ingredients to be poured into dozens of steel molds. The plaletas are placed in a large bath that freezes them within 10 minutes. Once done, they’re sealed in the signature white and blue packaging and stored in a walk-in freezer.

Because of the manual labor required, El Paraiso has only grown internally, keeping all of its production at a single location.

“It’s the artisan way we do things.

We don’t do anything automated.

This dessert is such an important part of our culture,” Maggie Flores said. “I actually remember the paletero passing by my own house ringing the bell. I remember going, ‘Oh, I know Valerie Bustamante him!’”

At one point in the 1990s, El Paraiso employed nearly 50 paleteros, who traveled the neighborhoods selling from push carts. That number dwindled as harsh weather, permit requirements and urbanization made the trade more difficult. Even so, about 15 paleteros still make the rounds during the warmer months, clanging their bells as they stroll the streets.

And, of course, plenty of customers still visit the store, often picking up paletas by the dozen.

Longtime customer Myra Cazares visits every time she’s in San Antonio, and her family picks up a box of paletas to take back home. For Cazares, walking into El Paraiso takes her back to summertimes when her family once lived a few blocks from the store.

“We grew up with these paletas in our neighborhood,” she said. “They were part of many memories with our families, so I guess that’s why at least I hold a special place for them in my heart.”

Valerie Bustamante

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41

music

Courtesy of Third Root

Trill Pedagogy

Rap group Third Root drops Spring Semester, the final installment of a four-part series

BY CHRIS CONDE

S

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an Antonio hip-hop group Third Root has been putting in challenging and invigorating work via a series of four EPs collectively known as Trill Pedagogy.

Kicking off last year with Summer Semester, the releases explore themes of decolonization and raise awareness about injustices endured by people of color and native people. They also issue a call to action, urging listeners to become educated so they too can fight oppression.

And, now, with the final installment, Spring Semester, which dropped May 3, the group — which consists of Easy Lee Peters, Marco Cervantes (aka Mexican StepGrandfather) and DJ Chicken George — is taking things into the home stretch.

Peters explained that the group saw a sequence of shorter releases as a way to create a unique musical experience and have it correspond with the quarters used in an academic calendar.

“We were trying to give listeners a series of EPs that sounded like the four seasons,” Peters said. “From the warmth of summer through the cold of winter, back to the rain

and growth of spring. The four EPs form a full yearlong curriculum that supports creating and keeping the agendas and methods of teachers trill.” Trill, by the way, is an amalgam of the words “true” and “real.”

Peters explained that music business evolutions such as streaming required the group to rethink its strategy for releases. By offering music in EP-sized bites, consumers can listen to 4 or 5 tracks more often, rather than try to digest an entire album in one sitting.

While the other three EPs certainly hold their own weight, there’s something especially fresh and heavy about Spring Semester that makes it stand out.

“Spring Semester features production from [DJ and nu cumbia pioneer] El Dusty, which gives it a different flavor,” said Cervantes, who added that the entire EP was recorded in El Dusty’s hometown of Corpus Christi. “His style, along with Adrian Quesada’s, shines throughout the EP ... and I’m really proud of the end product.”

The EP opens with “Mexstep for President,” a piece where Cervantes shows off his chopping skills — a style of rapid-fire rapping made popular in the Midwest and

on the West Coast.

The rest of the album is an eclectic mix of El Dusty’s cumbia influences with Quesada’s Latin rock flavor that easily could become the soundtrack for an afternoon drive around South Padre Island. With Cervantes’ and Peters’ expertly delivered verses atop the music, the mix feels vibrant and luminous yet retains an approachability that could draw in any fan of rap and hip-hop.

The next chapter for Third Root will include releasing Trill Pedagogy on vinyl, touring, offering new merchandise and releasing more music.

“While working on Trill Pedagogy, I was also compiling beats for the second installment the Mind Elevation Mixtape, which we first introduced in 2013,” DJ Chicken George said. “I’m constantly getting requests for the next volume, so now it’s time to deliver.”

Since two of the members are full-time educators — Peters teaches high school English on the west side of Atlanta, while Cervantes is director of Mexican-American studies at UTSA — the group must balance its rap career with teaching the next generation of Americans.

“I think racing the clock has been the biggest challenge,” Cervantes said. “I love teaching, researching and making music, so I feel there aren’t enough hours in the day to devote to all three, all the time. I try to do the best that I can, stay busy and let the ancestors drive me.”

Information on Third Root releases and tour dates are available on the group’s Facebook page and at thirdroot.bandcamp.com.

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music | music listings Wednesday, May 22

DEGA, ALYSON ALONZO, HUNNY BUNNY 5

Athens duo Dega know a thing or two about groove, ably matching dreampop aesthetics with electronic pulses.

Soulful crooner Alyson Alonzo and experimental R&B duo HunnyBunny round out the eclectic bill. $5, 8pm, Limelight, 2718 N. St. Mary’s St., thelimelightsa.com. — Chris Conde

JON STICKLEY TRIO

A band that refuses to confine itself, Jon Stickley Trio’s blend of drums, violin and guitar create music that wouldn’t be out of place at a medieval court, a progressive music fest, a gypsy campground or a bluegrass jamboree. In the group’s hands, the

musical styles and histories meld into one. Free, 8pm, Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., samsburgerjoint.com.

— Shannon Sweet

Thursday, May 23

THE LUCKY ODDS & NUCLEAR JUAREZ

The Lucky Odds’ sound brings forth an image of Fonzie using his office in the boys’ restroom for way more than business transactions — like blasting the Sex Pistols while having sex clad in his trademark leather jacket. The Lucky Odds stay true to rockabilly roots while adding a wild touch of psychobilly to the mix. Free, 9pm, Bang Bang Bar, 119 El Mio Dr., thebangbangbartx.com. — SS

Chris Conde

top pick

PETER BRÖTZMANN AND HEATHER LEIGH Friday, May 24

Experimental percussionist Claire Rousay’s Contemporary Whatever series has brought plenty of boundary-shedding musicians to San Antonio, but none with the heroic stature of Peter Brötzmann. The German saxophonist’s career in improvised music has spanned 50 years, multiple groundbreaking projects and included work on some of free jazz’s definitive albums. For this date, Brötzmann is collaborating with Heather Leigh, a former Texan now living in Scotland who’s pushing the sonic limits of the pedal steel guitar — an instrument most often used to lend a high and lonesome whine to trad country. The pair have toured extensively in this configuration and released four albums, of which Sparrow Nights was named one of the 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2018 by Rolling Stone. While Brötzmann has a reputation for working on the abrasive end of the avant-garde spectrum (his breakthrough 1968 album was appropriately titled Machine Gun), critics have described his collaborations with Leigh as a “lyrical,” “seductive” and full of “existential-blues pathos.” $10, 7pm, FL!GHT Gallery, 112R Blue Star, (210) 872-2586.

— Sanford Nowlin Takahiro Kyono/Flickr

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Music By C3 Tri o Tri o

music | music listings Thursday, May 23

BRYTIAGO

Described by Rolling Stone as the leader of the freshman Latin Rat Pack, Brytiago is ascending from the massive shadow of Daddy Yankee, the Reggaeton giant responsible for getting the young Puerto Rican artist his record deal. Although Brytiago has no full-length projects to his name, his steady release of banging singles makes him someone to watch. With Darell. $50-$73, 7:30pm, Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., theaztectheatre.com. — SS

JERRY DE LEON

Jerry De Leon embodies the core of country. His ambitions are nothing fancier than to create honest, pure and emotive music, which is safe to say he’s pretty much the opposite of the greased-up Nash Vegas types that haunt the C&W and crossover airwaves.

Free, Thirsty Horse Saloon, 7pm, 2335 NW Military Highway, thirstyhorse.net. — SS

PSYCHO 78

Although the Misfits are still touring with a stitched-together, Frankenstein’s Monster of a lineup, tribute act Psycho 78 does its best to bring back the Danzig days, when schlock punk was new and exciting. Perhaps to cleanse the palette

TEXAS TACO TEQUILA & MUSIC FESTIVAL

of odes to B-movie gods and pulp fiction monsters, the band’s extended set will pay tribute to punk as a whole, so expect anything from the politics of the Dead Kennedys to the brutality of Black Flag.

Free, 9pm, Amp Room, 2407 N. St. Mary’s St., theamproom.com. — SS

Saturday, May 25

I guess it’s just the year of tacos and music — and festivals celebrating the love for both. (Surely you remember Taco Fest back in February.)

Produced by Inspire Productions, a Houston-based event planning and production company, the Texas Taco Tequila & Music Festival is headed to San Antonio for the first time, and the lineup looks mighty fierce. Headlining are Los Lonely Boys, “Suga Suga” singer Baby Bash and soul-rockers The Suffers. Alongside lucha libre wrestling and a lowrider car show, attendees can enjoy 30 taco vendors, a best taco contest, handcrafted margaritas, tequila tastings and numerous artisan vendors and more. $20-$85 (free for kids 12 and under), Nelson Wolff Stadium, 5757 W. U.S. Hwy 90, (210) 675-7275. — CC

PENTATONIX

Do you dig five-part vocal harmonies without accompaniment? You’re in luck. Pentatonix, a vocal troupe specializing acapella versions of pop songs, is heading our way. Don’t expect a clone of the Manhattan Transfer, though. This group adds plenty of contemporary flair to its arrangements, using its mouths and vocal cords to beatbox and add percussive sounds and thumping bass lines. $22-$149, AT&T Center, 7pm. — CC

Friday, May 24

BLUE WATER HIGHWAY

Hailing from Lake Jackson, Texas, but based out of ATX, Blue Water Highway is a fiery young five-piece that blends indie rock elements into its folk and country roots. Dig the band’s sound at bluewaterhighwayband.bandcamp. com. $12-$15, 7 pm, John T. Floore Country Store, 14492 Old Bandera Rd, Helotes, liveatfloores.com. — James Courtney

top pick

top pick Piper Ferguson

Saturday, May 25

NEKROMANTIX 5

Psychobilly, with its fevered fusion of rock ’n’ roots stylings with punk energy, might seem like a uniquely American genre. But few have done it better over the years than Danish act Nekromantix. $18, 7 pm, Vibes Event Center, 1211 E. Houston St., vibeseventcenter.com. — JC

SACRED REICH, SWORN ENEMY

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HATEBREED

Friday, May 24 Alongside acts like Throwdown, Bury Your Dead, Terror and Sworn Enemy, Hatebreed paved the way for metal-inspired hardcore in the late ’90s — an era where a tidal wave of bands from both the punk world and metal world borrow aesthetics from each other for a heavy amalgam that united fans from both scenes. With a catalog that could

simply be described as brutal, Hatebreed quickly became a favorite in the metalcore genre, rising through the ranks with ridiculously heavy grooves and ferocious energy.

Also on this bill celebrating Hatebreed’s 25 years in the game are Obituary, Agnostic Front, Prong and Skeletal Remains — bands that run the gamut from death metal and to straight-up hardcore. $25, Doors 5:30pm, Vibes Event Center, 1211 E. Houston St., (210) 255-3833, vibeseventcenter.com. — CC

Two thrash metal stalwarts, both newly active for the first time in years, descend on the Alamo City as one combined and freakish force of nature. Fans of old-school San Antonio metal take note: former SA Slayer drummer Dave McClain has been handling the sticks for Sacred Reich of late. $21, 7pm, Rock Box, 1223 E. Houston St., therockboxsa.com. — JC

JACKOPIERCE

Jackopierce is a veteran outsider folk-rock duo from Dallas that’s been quietly crafting oddball alternative folk music for the better part of three decades. Recommended for fans of tight acoustic guitar work and vocal harmony. $28-$200, 7pm, Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., samsburgerjoint.com. — JC

WHITNEY SHAY

Blessed with a powerful voice and

Billy Tombstone

overflowing charisma, Whitney Shay make soulful pop music that blends elements of jazz, swing, R&B, blues and soul. This young, rising star may come from San Diego, but she sounds a whole lot more like Vegas, baby. $10, 9:30pm, Luna Music Bar, 6740 San Pedro Ave., lunalive.com. — JC

Sunday, May 26

CITIZEN, KNUCKLE PUCK

Get lulled into Citizen’s hypnotic trance of soothing melodies at your own risk.

It’s only going to result in jolts back to riffage reality. Members hail from Michigan and Ohio, but apparently, nobody told them those states aren’t supposed to like one another. Knuckle Puck caters even more to the college-radio style with its intense delivery. Bands of millenials for millenials? Yep, these cats should feel right at home on the St. Mary’s Strip. $22-$26, 6pm, Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com.

— Jay Nanda sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

music | music listings top pick

SNOW THA PRODUCT Saturday, June 1

After sweet indie record deals that turned sour and recently slipping from under the yoke of a major label contract with Atlantic, rapper Snow Tha Product has somehow managed to land on both feet, no thanks to a shifty music industry. Born Claudia Alexandra Feliciano, Snow Tha Product matches hard-hitting raps with technicality and flavor matched by few in the game — male or female.

Considering how much of a boys’ club the music industry is, especially in hip-hop, Feliciano’s success is a testament to her skill level and energy. No matter what, Snow Tha Product will always be revered as one of the most skilled emcees in the game. After releasing the Vibe Higher mixtape at the end of 2018, she now returns to San Antonio for a show at the Aztec Theatre. $25, 8pm, Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — CC Atlantic Records

Sunday, May 26

JIM CULLUM JAZZ BAND

Jim Cullum, his cornet and his “classic jazz” band have been stalwarts on the SA music scene for longer than a lot of fans have been alive. Do the math: his band came together in 1962. Since then, the group has performed nationwide at celebrated venues like Carnegie Hall but have always graced San Antonio with regular appearances. Great American music goes down well on a Sunday night. $10, 5:30 pm, Roarin’ Jazz Club, 411 Bonham St., roarinjazzclub.com.

— Mike McMahan

Monday, May 27

that first sip on hold. She doesn’t come across as overbearing, but the tone of her pipes is more than enough for an entire venue to take notice. The stoner-ish sounds of Dead Now, the Sabbath-y offerings of Witchcryer and the brooding Doomstress Alexis sleeping among the dead make this package worthy of carrying over the holiday weekend. $8, 9 pm, Limelight, 2718 N. St. Mary’s St., thelimelightsa.com. — JN

named Best New Artist in 2015 by Virginia Reggae. Want another? When he’s not singing, Adwela Dawes blows on a tube plugged into his hand-held keyboard. You won’t see Mick Jagger, or pretty much anyone else, do that. Take The Road Less Traveled with the group as it plays tracks from its 2017 debut album that charted at No. 28 on the iTunes reggae list. $5, 9 pm, The Reggae Bar, 826 San Pedro Ave. — JN

ADWELA & THE UPRISING, CAPISTRANO

Thursday, May 30

Raise your hand if you had Fredericksburg, Virginia, down as a reggae hotbed. Nope? That’s just one intriguing reason to check out this seven-piece band

THE HAYRIDE HOP WITH RUBY DEE AND THE SNAKEHANDLERS

These days when someone says “snakehandlers,” it’s easy to think of Evangelicals and our current, Handmaid’s Tale-esque reality. Rest assured, however, this show will be a helluva lot more fun. The Hayride Hop is a regular Monday night event, and Austin’s Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers will certainly keep it lively. The Americana outfit describes its rhythm section as “cathouse drums” and “doghouse bass,” so that should provide a hint about what you’ll be getting. $5-$25, 7:30 pm, Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., samsburgerjoint.com. — MM

It’d be too easy to size up comparisons between relatively new Power Trip and another thrash crossover outfit from Texas that’s been around for 30-plus years.

So here goes. Power Trip is from Dallas; D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) hails from Houston. Power Trip’s 2013 debut was Manifest Decimation; D.R.I. has a song called “Manifest Destiny.” Both singers wear baseball caps.

And both bands serve as springboards for humans to launch themselves, the concrete of the Paper Tiger floor be damned. ’Nuff said. $17-$20, 7pm, Paper Tiger, Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — JN

Friday, May 31

DONOVAN KEITH \

Tuesday, May 28

ROYAL THUNDER

Royal Thunder frontwoman Mlny Parsons has the type of voice that’ll make those in the beer line put

POWER TRIP, BITTER END

Courtesy of Donovan Keith

Donovan Keith specializes in soul music so upbeat it’s almost disco. And while “almost disco” might not be a selling point to some readers, it shouldn’t dissuade them from noting the power of Keith’s vocals, which, honestly, could hold their own a cappella or with only a few backing instruments. They certainly stand out among this issue’s listings. $10, 9:30pm, Luna Music Bar & Lounge, 6740 San Pedro Ave., lunalive.com. — CC sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT

51

music | music listings THE BAYLOR PROJECT Saturday, June 1

NORTHSTAR

One of the most famous and influential figures in Africa, singer-songwriter-actress Angélique Kidjo has built an incredible career and gathered an audience as diverse as her musical palette. From jazz and Afro-pop/ Afrobeat to reggae and gospel, from Latin pop and world fusion to funk and rock, Kidjo — now working out of New York — has done it all over the course of 13 albums and four decades. Especially active of late, the multiple-Grammy-winning diva has dropped six albums since 2010, including Celia, her tribute to the late Deneka Peniston Cuban star Celia Cruz which came out in April. Needless to say, the opportunity to catch Kidjo live at this point in her career, especially in a space as intimate as the Jo Long Theatre, is nothing short of a gift. If you’re unfamiliar with Kidjo’s work and looking for an entry point, check out 2001’s Keep on Moving: The Best of Angelique Kidjo. $39, 8pm, Jo Long Theatre at The Carver Community Cultural Center, 226 N Hackberry, (210) 207-7211, thecarver.org. — JC

top pick

Friday, May 31

LEE FIELDS & THE EXPRESSIONS

Very few contemporary soul artists have managed to build as lasting a career as Lee Fields. Since his first single in 1969, the bluesy crooner has weathered every trend imaginable. Part of his longevity no doubt comes to the power of his music to connect with human emotions and make folks fall in love. $20-$22, 7 pm, Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — CC

ALAMO CITY JAZZ SERIES FEATURING ERIC DARIUS AND JEFF LORBER

+ $3.50 YOU CALL ITS

Saxophonist Eric Darius has a background in R&B and funk, and he released his most recent album, Breakin’ Thru, in 2018. Keyboardist Jeff Lorber, who comes with a jazz vet’s perspective earned in the ’70s fusion scene, achieved a more mellow sort success by having his music appear on the Weather Channel and on a resulting compilation release. Expect a smooth evening that can still deliver some danceable beats. $52.50-$65, 8pm, Charline McCombs Empire Theater, 226 N. St. Mary’s St., majesticempire.com. — MM

Saturday, June 1

SIDEWALKS & SKELETONS, BROTHEL., LOV3RS, SET

This stacked electronica bill could be reason for a Saturday night out. Sidewalks & Skeletons mixes a corrosive, trance-y sound with insistent beats, while Brothel., a rising producer, brings in vibes from a more cerebral zone reminiscent of the faded IDM scene. You might dance, you might think, you might just chill to the beat. $10, 9pm, Limelight, 2718 N. St. Mary’s St., thelimelightsa.com. — MM

THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS, NAHAYA

This package of local metal heavyweights is headlined by a band set on world domination, but the main attraction could be one of the support acts. Nahaya defeated nearly 20 bands at state and regional portions of the 2019 Wacken Metal Battle to advance to the national finals in Los Angeles on May 25. If it delivers the goods over four other regional winners, Nahaya’s Hollywood story will see it reppin’ the 210 at the world’s largest metal festival this summer in Germany. Win or lose, they’ll be opening this hometown gig in a bar that holds 100. $5, 9pm, Zombies Bar, 4202 Thousand Oaks Road, zombiesliveinsa.com. — JN 52

CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

music | music listings

Saturday, June 1

Atom Splitter PR

SYLAR L

Fresh off announcing an appearance at the 2019 edition of the Gathering of The Juggalos, metal band Sylar will make its way to SA. If you somehow need more information about these guys, they describe themselves as a “sonic stomp squad” and incorporate the feel of hip-hop and hardcore. The band’s touring in support of 2018’s Seasons. $16, 7pm, The Rock Box, 1223 E. Houston St., therockboxsa.com. — MM

top pick

Courtesy of Metalachi

METALACHI

Sunday, June 2 Metalachi, we submit, is the perfect San Antonio band, even though it’s actually based in Los Angeles. First of all, the Alamo City’s obsession with metal and enthusiasm for Mexican music — in this case, mariachi — are both satisfied by this act that. As you may have gleaned from the Metalachi’s name, it plays rock and metal covers — “Crazy Train,” “Man in the Box” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” to name a handful — in an over-the-top mariachi style. Second, the band’s flair for wild Spanglish-flavored showmanship matches our own culture, quirkiness and penchant for excess. Metalachi live, as anyone who’s witnessed its act can attest, crams in all the drama of each of its namesake genres and then some.

Active since the aughts, the six-piece has released three albums (Uno, Dos and, naturally, Tres) since 2012. Check ’em out on Spotify and be utterly convinced you can’t miss this show. $10, 7pm, Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — JC

sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

I keep running into the same issue with my best friend of five years. (She’s also my maid of honor at my upcoming wedding.) We’re both empaths — most of my friends are — and we’re both in therapy working on how to cope with that. I have severe anxiety that impacts my physical health, so one of the empath-related issues I’m working on is not following through with plans when I need to take time alone. My friend claims she understands this but my actions severely impact her mood. Example: We’ll make tentative plans to get together, I’ll feel too sick to follow through, and then she’s in a negative emotional spiral for days. The final straw came when she called me late this past Friday night — just once, with no subsequent voice mail, text message, or follow-up call. On Monday morning, I sent her a text message asking how her weekend was and got an icy reply. Evidently, something happened to her on Friday, she called me for support, and my failure to return her call left her feeling very upset. I apologized for the accidental trigger and tried to lay down some protocols for reaching out in an emergency situation (leave me a voice mail and send a follow-up text) so I know it’s urgent. She hasn’t replied. I’m really frustrated.

She has a lot of baggage around being shamed for being emotional, so I try to be careful not to invalidate her feelings, but I don’t know if that’s even making a difference. We’ve had several conflicts over the last year, always triggered by something I did or said, almost always accidentally, that caused her to “take a step back.”

She insists she understands I’m doing my best to be a good friend while also working through my own emotional shit. But that’s not the sense I’m getting. I’m feeling increasingly like it’s impossible to be a human being AND her friend.

Until recently, I had zero emotional boundaries and made myself available to her at a moment’s notice to help shoulder her emotional burden.

But now that I’m trying to be more conservative with my abundance and take better care of myself, it seems like all I do is hurt her. What the fuck do I do? I’ve tried to be open-minded and patient with her dramatic mood swings, but she seems unable to give me the benefit of the doubt, which I always try to give her. This rocky ground between us is adding more stress to the whole wedding situation. (You’re supposed to be able to rely on your maid of honor, right?) This thing we have is not sustainable as it is, although I love her deeply. Help me figure this out?

Emotions Making Personal Affection Too Hard Being so attuned to other people’s emotional states that you feel their pain — being an empath — sounds exhausting. But Lori Gottlieb, a psycho-

therapist in private practice, isn’t convinced your empath superpowers are the problem here.

“EMPATH’s moods seem overly dependent on what the other person does,” said Gottlieb. “That’s not being ‘an empath.’ Most people are empathetic, which isn’t the same as what these two are doing.

They’re drowning in each other’s feelings. This is what pop culture might call codependency, and what in therapy we’d call an attachment issue.”

From your letter, EMPATH, it sounds like you might be ready to detach from your friend — you mentioned a final straw and described the relationship as not sustainable — and detaching would resolve this attachment issue.

“This feels less like a friendship and more like a psychodrama where they’re each playing out their respective issues,” said Gottlieb. “A friendship isn’t about solving another person’s emotional issues or being the container for them. It isn’t about being devastated by another person’s feelings or boundaries. It should be a mutually fulfilling relationship, not being co-therapists to each other. In a strong friendship, each person can handle her own emotions rather than relying on the friend to regulate them for her.”

Gottlieb started writing an advice column because, unlike psychotherapists, advice columnists are supposed to tell people what to do. I’m guessing your therapist mostly asks questions and gently nudges, EMPATH, but since Gottlieb has her advice-columnist hat on today and not her psychotherapist hat, I asked her to tell you what to do.

“She should act more like a friend than a therapist/caretaker,” said Gottlieb. “She shouldn’t treat her friend or herself as if they’re too fragile to handle basic communication or boundaries. And they should both be working out their issues with their respective therapists, not with each other.”

And if you decide to keep this woman in your life (and your wedding party), EMPATH, you’ll both have to work on — sigh — your communication skills.

“Right now, they don’t seem to know how to communicate directly with each other,” said Gottlieb. “It’s either an icy text or complaining to outside parties about each other. But when it comes to how they interact with each other, they’re so careful, as if one or both might break if they simply said, ‘Hey, I really care about you and I know sometimes you want to talk about stuff, but sometimes it feels like too much and maybe something you can talk to your therapist about.’”

Lori Gottlieb’s new book, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, is a New York Times best seller.

Follow her on Twitter @LoriGottlieb1.

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

,

E M P LOY M E N T J O N E S I N ’ C R OS S W O R D BY M AT T J O N E S

“Eighteen Again”— in honor of Jonesin’s 18th anniversary ACROSS 1 Yale graduates, slangily 5 Carpet cleaners, in brief 9 Exams for high school jrs.

14 “The Wizard of Oz” surname 15 Without ___ (perilously) 16 “Let’s do this!”

17 “Great” Macedonian king who had his first military victory at age 18 19 “Lemon Tree” singer Lopez 20 Budapest’s river 21 ___ Nas X 23 Pascal or newton, e.g.

24 Turn blue?

25 Muddling through 27 Pahoehoe or a’a, e.g.

29 Flock of geese 33 Its clock speed is measured in GHz 36 At age 18, she got her ideas for “Frankenstein” during a summer stay in Geneva 39 Football game intermission 41 Hair braid 42 Roof edge 43 “Little Sure Shot” who was an accomplished sharpshooter at age 18 46 Putdown 47 Closer 48 Unwritten exam 50 Losing streaks 53 Forged check passer

57 Impish kid 60 Establishment that can be combined with a laundromat or arcade 61 “All right, whatever ...”

62 Purple ___ (New Hampshire’s state flower) 64 Hundred Years’ War leader captured by French nobles at age 18 66 NBC comedy with Glenn Howerton and Allisyn Ashley Arm 67 NASCAR course shape 68 “Switch” ending 69 Small, round, and shiny 70 Like an optimist’s outlook 71 “Life of Pi” author Martel

DOWN 1 “My goodness!”

2 ‘80s-’90s legal drama 3 “The L Word” creator/producer Chaiken 4 Type of reproduction 5 Barn attachment 6 “Anything else?”

7 Former “The Voice” judge ___ Green 8 Word before mall or steak 9 Casino section 10 It’s real, y’all 11 “It’s ___” (Pet Shop Boys hit) 12 Collette of “Wanderlust” 13 Fit of vexation

18 James Garfield’s middle name 22 Flame source at some concerts 25 Former French first lady ___ Bruni-Sarkozy 26 Scottish denial 28 Vicks ointment 30 Pleased 31 “Shazam!” star Zachary 32 Mr. Potato Head pieces 33 “Rumble in the Bronx” star 34 Greenhouse glass 35 Lower-arm bone 37 Tibetan source of butter 38 Grain-storage towers 40 Purpose of a certain kit 44 “Slippery” fish 45 One of the “Animaniacs” siblings 49 Dublin’s river 51 Huge 52 BYU location 54 Pageant prop 55 “The Smartest Guys in the Room” company 56 Scouting mission, briefly 57 Say too much 58 Ready to eat 59 “Fantastic Four” actress Jessica 61 ___ Connect (super-brainy BBC game show) 63 Overly modest 65 ___ in “apple” ANSWER ON PAGE 29

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sacurrent.com | May 22-June 4, 2019 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | May 22-June 4, 2019 | sacurrent.com

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