You’re invited to the IKEA Live Oak Birthday Fiesta! ®
Come celebrate our 1st birthday with true San Antonio flavor. We’re talking two exciting days of IKEA Fiesta Medal giveaways, prizes and activities the whole family can enjoy.
Saturday, February 15, 2020 – Sunday, February 16, 2020
IKEA Live Oak 1000 IKEA RBFCU Parkway Live Oak, TX 78233
sacurrent.com |
January 29 - February 11, 2020 | CURRENT
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CURRENT |
January 29 - February 11, 2020 | sacurrent.com
in this issue San Antonio Current
Issue 20-03 /// January 29 - February 11, 2020
38 Feature
Publisher: Michael Wagner Editor-in-Chief: Sanford Nowlin
Echo Chambers
Editorial
Food & Nightlife Editor: Lea Thompson Calendar Editor: Kelly Merka Nelson Contributing Arts Editor: Bryan Rindfuss 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, M. Solis, Gary Sweeney Editorial Interns: Diana Amaya, Brianna Espinoza, Trevor Flynn,
Too many SA music fans stay inside their comfort zones. Let these five local artists lure you out. BY C H R I S CO N D E
Advertising
Sales Manager: Joseph Allen Account Manager: Mallory Jochen, Cristal Colleli Account Executives: Tom Barry, Mike Valdelamar Digital Sales Specialist: Mike Valdelamar
Marketing and Events
Marketing and Events Director: Cassandra Yardeni Events Manager: Chelsea Bourque Marketing & Events Interns: Marlene Mejia and Caitlin Muñoz
Creative Services
Creative Services Manager: Tina Corbeil Graphic Designer: Samantha Serna Graphic Design Interns: Pedro Macias, Raquel Prado, Jacqueline Rivas, Gabriela Rivera
Circulation
Circulation Manager: Justin Giles
Business
Business Manager: Sonia Acosta
Euclid Media Group
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. Get listed 1. Visit sacurrent.com 2. Click “Calendar” and then “Submit an Event” 3. Follow the steps to submit your event details Please allow 48 hours for review and approval. Event submissions are not accepted by phone. Copyright: The entire contents of the San Antonio Current are copyright 2019 by Euclid Media Group LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Publisher does not assume any liability for unsolicited manuscripts, materials, or other content. Any submission must include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business correspondence should be mailed to the address listed above. Subscriptions: Additional copies or back issues may be purchased at the Current offices for $1. Six-month domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $75; one-year subscriptions for $125.
Courtesy of Spy MC
07 News
Self Medicating
Texas’ hostile abortion regulations have many women ending their pregnancies on their own, a new study reveals
Glitter Political
Book Review
San Antonio Author and Attorney Jay Brandon Reveals the Implicit in Legal Thriller From the Grave
31 Screens Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet stars give fans a first look at gaming-themed TV series at PAX South
Looking for Jobs in the Center City
Cut Gems
Moving the Goalpost
Faced with losing seats in the Texas Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick threatens to lower the threshold for bringing votes to the floor
14 Calendar
Calendar picks Art Picks
25 Arts
Playful Provocateur
Artist Heyd Fontenot talks ‘Flaming Critters,’ ‘Swamp People’ and ‘The Lodge of St. Reborlaro’
Music Picks
49 Etc
Crossword Puzzle
Game On
Texas Tornado Roland Gutierrez Keeps Up His Fight to Legalize Cannabis
Numbers show Julián Castro’s Decade of Downtown didn’t bring big employment gains
38 Music
15 Oscar-nominated short films play exclusively at the Bijou starting January 31
35 Food
Revised Classics
Julia’s Bistro & Bar departs from tried-and-true French cuisine with visits to Latin America and the USA
The Takeaway:
Brandon Peterson on breaking from the Texas barbecue norm
Table Talk
On The Cover: Singer-songwriter Dylan Alley is among the San Antonio musical artists highlighted in this week’s feature story. Cover design: Melissa McHenry.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 29 book and lyrics by w. blake winchell, music by brett strader, featuring the san antonio symphony, soloists, and choir
2:00 P.M. AND 7:00 PM TICKETS UNDER $30 AT TOBINCENTER.ORG
6
CURRENT | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | sacurrent.com
PROCEEDS BENEFIT REMEMBER THE ALAMO FOUNDATION
news
Self Medicating
Texas’ hostile abortion regulations have many women ending their pregnancies on their own, a new study reveals BY SANFORD NOWLIN
W
omen in Texas, which has of the most restrictive state abortion laws, attempt to selfadminister abortions at more than three times the national average, new peer-reviewed research shows.
A recently released study from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, or TxPEP, found that 7% of patients seeking abortions at Texas clinics had tried to end their own pregnancies before asking for the procedure. The national number is just 2.2%. Researchers behind the new investigation, published in the journal BMC Women’s Health, point out there are methodological differences between the Texas and national data. Even so, the wide difference makes it clear the Lone Star State is out of step with much of the rest of the country. “What we know from the study is that how far away the Texas clinics are and how much it costs to travel to them played a significant role in these women’s decisions,” said head researcher Liza Fuentes, a scientist at Guttmacher Institute. “The takeaway is that cost and distance really matter, and that’s something that’s been shown with many other types of healthcare.” Fuentes and her team surveyed and interviewed more than 700 patients seeking abortions at Texas clinics between 2012 and 2015. They found that many of the women felt they had no other option but to self-administer the procedure, often with the use of drugs obtained over the counter in Mexico or via the Internet.
ulous areas must to travel long distances to obtain abortions. For example, there’s now just one clinic, Whole Woman’s Health in McAllen, serving the entire Rio Grande Valley. Many South Texas women drive to San Antonio, a trek of up to 250 miles, to obtain the procedure. What’s more, health insurance companies also don’t cover abortion in Texas except in cases where a patient’s health is endangered. That means poor or middle-income women choose self-induced abortion when they worry a medical care at a clinic will be too expensive, Fuentes points out.
Restricting Access
‘Barrier After Barrier’
That timing of TxPEP’s research is important. Its data collection came as Texas enacted some of the nation’s most stringent rules limiting access to abortion care. In 2013, the Legislature passed a law requiring all abortion doctors have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of the clinics where they conduct the procedure. The rules also mandated that clinics be outfitted like hospital surgical suites — an expense many simply couldn’t afford. The U.S. Supreme Court threw out the Texas law in 2016, but by then the damage was already done. A National Public Radio investigation last year revealed that the number of Texas clinics plummeted from 40 to 22 in the wake of the regulations. Most of the remaining clinics are now clustered in big cities, meaning women in less-pop-
Many of the women TxPEP surveyed reported taking misoprostol, an abortion-inducing drug that’s also sold under the brand name Cytotec. While available with a prescription, it can also be purchased over the counter in Mexico and on the black or gray market. Other women reported that they used herbs, teas or vitamins, often at the advice of relatives. Almost none of the women in the study appeared to have contemplated inherently risky means such as a blow to the stomach to terminate their pregnancies. Even so, Fuentes said their clinic visits indicate they may not have used the drugs properly or chosen ineffective methods. Further, some of the women said that without medical supervision they were unsure what
Shutterstock
A pro-choice protester holds up her sign during a March For Our Lives rally in Houston.
I
effect their attempted self-abortion might have on their future fertility or how to know if the procedure had put their health at risk. “Patients didn’t always have the information they needed on how to use the method or what to expect,” Fuentes said. “They were often ineffective, leading to a delay of many days or weeks before they sought an abortion at a clinic.” Mara Posada, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of South Texas, said the study’s findings should come as little surprise given state lawmakers’ repeated efforts to close access to the procedure. Indeed, the Trump administration last week reinstated federal funding for a Texas health program that excludes Planned Parenthood and other groups that provide abortions — a move some worry will embolden the state to continue erecting barriers to access. Posada said she’d like to see more research from emergency rooms showing whether some women who self-administer end up choosing dangerous methods that result in injury. “When you create barrier after barrier to obtaining safe and legal abortions, people are going to seek alternative methods,” she said. “And depending on where they get their information on those methods, they could be effective, or maybe not.”
Find more newsmore coverage Find news every day at sacurrent.com
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CURRENT | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | sacurrent.com
news GLITTER POLITICAL
Texas Tornado Roland Gutierrez Keeps Up His Fight to Legalize Cannabis
BY JADE ESTEBAN ESTRADA
I
t’s a rainy Friday morning when I meet Texas State Rep. Roland Gutierrez in his Southwest campaign office. He’s just returned from a trip to Colorado, where he continues his research on cannabis legalization, a primary issue of his second campaign for Texas Senate. The scar that streaks through his left brow draws my attention to what may be the best hair in Texas politics. Gutierrez, a Democrat representing Texas House District 119, which encompasses parts of San Antonio and adjacent sections of Bexar County, is in the midst of his effort to flip the seat held by Texas State Sen. Pete Flores. Democrats lost their hold on SD 19 after last year’s special election to replace then-state Sen. Carlos Uresti, who resigned after being convicted of 11 felonies. The former senator was subsequently sentenced to 12 years in prison. Gutierrez, 49, came in third in the special general election behind U.S Rep. Pete Gallego, who ultimately lost to Flores in a runoff. This time, Gutierrez feels the time is right. “I’m certainly not going to let Pete Flores continue being the rubber stamp for [Lt. Gov.] Dan Patrick,” he said. “[As a state senator], you need to be able to think for yourself and be able to see what’s best for this community.” For the past 20 years, Gutierrez has specialized in immigration law, assisting foreign nationals and their families with visas. That work has taken him to China now 15 times. “If you knew Spanish and English and Mandarin, you would communicate with 85% of the world,” he says. “I’m trying to learn Mandarin, but it’s hard.” But certainly not out of reach. After all, sheer will has driven Gutierrez’s political ascent. In 2001, Gutierrez’s lost his first run for San Antonio City Council by 150 votes. Three years later, he ran for County Commissioner for Precinct 1, but lost to Sergio “Chico” Rodriguez, the uncle of current Democratic opponent Xochil Peña Rodriguez. The third time was the charm, though, and he won the District 3 council seat in 2005. It’s difficult to ignore the political intelligence he’s amassed since his days on the dais. That growth has allowed him to thrive when speaking on the floor of
Jade Esteban Estrada
the Republican-controlled Texas House. “It’s different from being a member of city council, [where you are] one of 11 people. Now you’re one of 150 people. [So], you’re trying to find your voice.” Even so, finding that voice took time. He describes himself as a “liberal bomb thrower” during his first few years in the Pink Dome, playing defense to GOP game plans. In time, though, Gutierrez finessed his strategy. “You know, I need to be a little nicer on the front mic,” he said of that realization. “Be a little nicer on the back mic. I need to help people along the way get their legislation done — at least the stuff that doesn’t offend me ... or my constituency.” These days, he believes legalizing cannabis can garner support from both sides of the aisle and help fund education by generating $3.6 billion in taxes. “If you talk about true conservatism, which is like Edmund Burke kind of stuff, right? Cannabis is exactly that,” Gutierrez explains. “The libertarians of the Republican Party agree with me. They want full legalized cannabis. They don’t want the government in their backyard. They want to be able to take this plant that heals them and do what they will with it. Every state around us has legal cannabis — and legal gaming.” Gutierrez says that, in many ways, he takes after his father. “My father was a superhero to me,” he says. “But he was tough. I think I was in college [when] my father told me that he loved me for the first time. I knew that he loved me, he just didn’t [outwardly] express his love.” Gutierrez credits his father with instilling him with a
strong work ethic. “‘You’ve got to work,’ he said. ‘No matter what’s going on in the world. No matter what problems [arise]. You just have to keep knocking on doors.’ So, when the doors closed, he kept on knocking,” Gutierrez says, tears forming in his eyes. While that work ethic helped fuel Gutierrez’s political rise, his immediate family brings him a sense of balance. “Time is so precious. The kids bring me back to normalcy. Those little girls are only going to be little one time,” he says of his tweenage daughters, Victoria and Izabella. “They’re not so little anymore. Work is always going to be there. You got to find the balance, and that balance is your children.” During a conversation about the value of bilingualism, he switches from English to Spanish with brow-raising dexterity. “Believe it or not, when I was about six years old, I hardly spoke English,” he says in his signature Texas drawl. “Somewhere along the way, I watched a lot of Westerns, and I started talking like this.” I ask Gutierrez why he’s chosen to devote his life to public service. “It’s a short life,” he says. “I believe we have to squeeze all of the juice out of those lemons. We have to take these opportunities to improve ourselves, improve the lives of the people around you and make [the world] a better place to live.” To that end, Gutierrez thinks legal cannabis is a step in the right direction. Even so, he adds that he’s unsure whether the political will exists right now. “But,” he adds, “I’m sure gonna try.” sacurrent.com | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | CURRENT
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news CITY SCRAPES
Looking for Jobs in the Center City Numbers show Julián Castro’s Decade of Downtown didn’t bring big employment gains BY HEYWOOD SANDERS Editor’s Note: The following is City Scrapes, a column of opinion and analysis.
O
n January 28, 2010, Mayor Julián Castro made a big announcement during his first State of the City address to the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and its crowd. “I believe that 2010 marks the beginning of the decade of San Antonio,” Castro began. “This is the decade that we will emerge as an economic powerhouse across the nation, across the world.” A few minutes deeper into his speech, Castro was more specific about how the center city would play into his vision: “[I] believe that this decade, these next 10 years will be the Decade of Downtown.” And while the mayor touted the planned, ultimately abortive, downtown streetcar and the redevelopment of Hemisfair, he was very specific about jobs, promising “that every time we have the potential to bring in a new employer to San Antonio or to grow jobs from within, they think about the 281 corridor and they think about Westover Hills, they think about the I-10 corridor and other parts of our city, but they also seriously consider investing in downtown San Antonio.” So now as we hit the 10-year mark from the date of that speech, it seems a fitting time to ask where we are, how well the “decade of downtown” has been realized, and where those jobs have actually gone. The U. S. Census Bureau’s annual County Business Patterns report breaks out private employment totals by ZIP code, and the most recent report, for 2017, came out in late November. For the primary downtown ZIP, 78205, the employment total was 27,191. And that did indeed represent an increase from 2010, as the national economy was beginning to recover from the effects of the 2008 recession. But the 2010 employment total was 25,703, so the increase over ten years was just 5.8%. Even more striking is the view from the middle of the 1990s. In 1996, ZIP 78205 had 26,447 private jobs. The takeaway there is that downtown’s private employment has barely changed over two decades, despite a host of public projects and investments. Indeed, compared to downtowns of other big Texas cities, our performance was pretty poor. Down-
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CURRENT | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | sacurrent.com
Sanford Nowlin
town Dallas’ 75201 ZIP started out far bigger than ours, with more than 54,000 jobs in 2010. By 2017, it had grown to 76,990 — a 40.9% increase. Downtown Houston’s 77002 ZIP began the decade with more than 84,000 jobs and managed to grow by 8.9%, despite the vagaries of the oil business. And ZIP 78701 in downtown Austin grew from fewer than 42,000 jobs in 2010 to more than 62,000 in 2017 — dramatic growth of 48.7%. Mayor Castro specifically noted the U.S. Highway 281 corridor, the I-10 corridor and Westover Hills. So how did job growth there compare to the anemic performance downtown? The north side 78216 ZIP, bisected by 281 from Basse to Bitters, has always been a major employment center, holding more than 48,000 jobs in 2010. By 2017 that had grown to 60,290, a 24.5%. Farther out 281 and north of Loop 1604, ZIP 78259 grew by 35.8% hitting nearly 7,200 jobs. On the I-10 corridor north of Loop 410, the 78230 area saw growth of 13.5% to more than 25,000 jobs.
Before he was a presidential candidate, Julián Castro was San Antonio’s mayor and architect of its Decade of Dowtown.
I
And north of 1604, the 78257 ZIP area, including the Rim, grew by an impressive 80.6% to more than 12,300 employees. Finally, the Westover Hills ZIP code of 78251 grew by 49.3% from 2010 to 2017, hitting employment of 29,771 — more than the downtown ZIP in 2017. The full verdict on the “decade of downtown” isn’t complete quite yet. Employment numbers have obviously grown — just not downtown. And while it’s not clear San Antonio has emerged as an “economic powerhouse,” it is evident that we’ve continued to build a widely dispersed “spread city,” one where the new jobs and new opportunities are miles from our historic center and older neighborhoods. Heywood Sanders is a professor of public policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
sacurrent.com | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | CURRENT
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news
Moving the Goalpost
Faced with losing seats in the Texas Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick threatens to lower the threshold for bringing votes to the floor
I
f Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick isn’t able to dominate the game, apparently, he’ll just change the rules. The architect of the state’s controversial bathroom bill said that if the GOP loses one or more Texas Senate seats in November, he’ll drop the threshold needed to push bills to a floor vote. He made the comment last week at a conservative policy conference in Austin. Currently, Republicans have the 19-vote “supermajority” required to move legislation to the floor for passage. However, there’s a possibility they could lose that ability if Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, or other vulnerable GOP senators can’t hang onto their seats in an election that’s likely to bring high Democratic turnout. “I’m right there at that number, and if we lose one or two seats, then we might have to go to 16 next session,” Patrick said. “We might have to go to a simple majority because we will not be stopped in leading on federalism in the United States of America.” After Patrick was elected lieutenant governor in 2015, the Senate dropped its longstanding 21-vote threshold to 19, empowering him to force through a slate of divisive measures that played
Gage Skidmore
to social conservatives. Among those was the bathroom bill, which targeted transgender people by saying they only could use public restrooms of their birth gender. That measure ultimately died without debate in the House, but not before drawing scorn from civil-rights groups and freaking out fiscal conservatives who realized the resulting boycotts would be bad for business. Under Senate rules, Patrick only needs a simple majority vote to change the rules yet again, and that gives his recent threat teeth, observers point out. Democratic pushback to the pronouncement came quickly. “The Texas Capitol belongs to all the people of our great state. The rules of the Senate are there for a reason — to protect the interests of all Texans from right-wing extremist legislation and create a deliberative body,” Texas Democratic Party Executive Director Manny Garcia said in a statement. “To threaten to change the rules as more Democrats get elected is yet another example of Republicans circumventing Texans and jamming through unpopular Republican legislation that harms Texas families.” sacurrent.com | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | CURRENT
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THU | 1/30 – SAT | 2/1 COMEDY
CRAIG ROBINSON
Have you always wanted to meet comedian and movie and TV star Craig Robinson? Well, as Robinson says in the 2013 apocalyptic comedy This Is the End, when he refuses to help fellow comic Aziz Ansari crawl out of a fiery pit to Hell, “It’s too late for you! You’re already in the hole!” What we mean by that is the VIP tickets for all five shows are sold out, so you’re out of luck in that department. But you can still buy general admission and hope he invites you back to his post-show hot tub time machine. Along with making the rounds as a stand-up comedian this year, Robinson can be heard as the voice of a squirrel with attitude in Dolittle and seen in the sixth episode of Netflix comedy series Medical Police. Early next month, he’ll star in the Disney+ original film Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, about an 11-year-old detective and his imaginary pet polar bear. Certainly a far cry from the R-rated animated comedy Sausage Party, where Robinson plays an anthropomorphic package of grits who rapes a box of crackers. $30, 8 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 p.m. & 9:45 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, 618 NW Loop 410, (866) 4683399, improvtx.com/sanantonio. — Kiko Martinez Courtesy of Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club
THU | 1/30 – TUE | 2/11 ART
‘FASHION NIRVANA: RUNWAY TO EVERYDAY’
Nay Art Museum is going all-out with a celebration of everything ’90s in “Fashion Nirvana: Runway to Everyday,” the museum’s first ever large-scale fashion and video art exhibition. Sure, it’s popular to shit on the the grunge decade, but don’t forget that this is the decade that gave us The Craft and Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fifth Element sci-fi couture. In addition to more than 60 garments made by all our runway favs — from Oscar de la Renta to Alexander McQueen — “Fashion Nirvana” will showcase a selection of period video art from artists including Rineke Dijkstra, Mariko Mori and San Antonio native Jim Mendiola, not to mention a collaboration between Tony Oursler and iconic guitar explorers Sonic Youth. Anyone with a friend who can’t stop complaining about the recent resurgence of ’90s fashion may want to drag them along to illustrate just why chokers and platform shoes are making a comeback. $10-$20, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays, noon-5 p.m. Sundays and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesdays through May 17, McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave., (210) 824-5368, mcnayart.org. — Kelly Merka Nelson
Warning to the Audience.” Monty is murdering for love — or rather the means to marry Sibella, who’s recently received a more lucrative proposal. As tales of bloodstained class struggle go, this one is far sillier than recent cinematic thrillers such as Parasite or even Knives Out. That might be because classic English pomposity makes for an easy target. In any case, audiences at The Public probably won’t feel too much sympathy for Monty’s victims. $10-$45, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, January 30, 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through February 23 (see website for additional showtimes), The Public Theater, 800 W. Ashby Place, (210) 733-7258, thepublicsa.org. — Trevor Flynn
THU | 1/30 – SUN | 2/9 TH EATER
A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER
Todd Oldham
If all you remember about ’90s fashion is hammer pants, think again. In an inspired pairing with its “Selena Forever/Siempre Selena” exhibition, the Mc-
Multiple homicides get the musical comedy treatment in Robert Freedman’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. The titular “gentleman” Monty Navarro makes use of his killer charm — meant literally in this case — in a plot to claim the inheritance of the family that disenfranchised him. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2014, the farce lays out Navarro’s dastardly deeds, which are so awful the show features a disclamatory prologue song, “A Siggi Ragnar
THEATER
THE MUSIC MAN
Mandee Johnson Photography
THU | 1/30 – SAT | 2/1 COMEDY
JO KOY
It’s probably for the best that Filipino American stand-up comedian Jo Koy uses his stage name rather than the one he was given at birth. Joseph Glenn Herbert sounds more like a tax attorney than someone who could actually make audiences laugh, amirite? (Tap, tap.) Is this thing on? Luckily, Koy has a long history of making his fans double over as a guest on shows including Chelsea Lately and Hollywood Uncensored with Sam Rubin. Koy’s current Just
Kidding Tour features all new material from the Tacoma, Washington, native. So, if you saw his 2019 Netflix special Comin’ in Hot, don’t worry about hearing retread material. Even super fans that religiously listen to his podcast The Koy Pond should be safe. Along with his stage performances, Koy’s new animated series This Functional Family is scheduled to debut sometime this year on TruTV. The project, which follows a “multi-racial, multi-generational, multi-everything modern family,” was greenlit for a 10-episode first season. As of press time, one of his three Majestic shows is already sold out, so get on it fast. $47.50-$95, 8 p.m. Thursday, 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com. — KM
Courtesy of UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures
SAT | 2/1 SPECIAL EVEN T
ASIAN FESTIVAL
Celebrate the Year of the Rat with the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures during its annual Asian Festival. The event will recognize cultures from China, the Indian subcontinent and the island nations of the Pacific through authentic food, music and martial arts — and with some shopping thrown in for good measure. Attendees can also take part in anime-themed activities, play games like mahjong and learn how to tie a turban. A longtime fixture of the San Antonio community, the Asian Festival serves as a stepping stone to making connections both across the world and within the Alamo City. $5-$15, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures, 801 E. César E. Chávez Blvd., (210) 458-2300, texancultures.com. — Brianna Espinoza
calendar
FRI | 1/31 – SUN | 2/9
Courtesy of Woodlawn Theatre
The Music Man is the story of a con artist scamming a small town by selling music lessons he can’t actually deliver to form a marching band that can cool its hot-headed youth. But things get real as he gets to know his marks and falls for the only person who sees through him. Set in 1912 Iowa, it’s hard to think of a more nostalgic American tale. The 1957 Broadway hit captivated audiences with innocent tunes including “The Wells Fargo Wagon” and “Gary, Indiana” that you can still hear playing at Disneyland’s idyllic Main Street USA. On the other hand, “Shipoopi” is now so dated its offensiveness borders absurdity. The noble lie of charlatan-turnedcommunity organizer might be a strange sell today, but you gotta admit “76 Trombones” still bops. $18-$30, 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays through February 23 (see website for alternate start times), The Woodlawn Theatre, 1920 Fredericksburg Road, (210) 267- 8388, woodlawntheatre.org. — TF
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CURRENT | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | sacurrent.com
FRI | 2/7 – SAT | 2/8 SPECIAL EVENT
STOMP
Get those feet moving along with the rhythm and see what happens when grownups are allowed to bang on pots and pans. Using lighters, brooms and even garbage cans, this eight-piece performance group orchestrates an irresistible percussive racket that’s earned the long-running show myriad awards. Returning to the stage with a slew of repurposed props that could give the Blue Man Group a run for their money, this latest tour freshens things up with two brand new routines. Though the show makes for excellent family-friendly entertainment, don’t be surprised if the kids try to make their own trashcan stilts once they get home. $21.20-$76.50, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, H-E-B Performance Hall, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — BE Courtesy of Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
SAT | 2/1
MON | 2/3 – TUE | 2/4 TH EATER
CALL OF THE WILD
Spurs Sports and Enterntainment SPORTS
SPURS VS. HORNETS
Although not as emotional as the Hornets’ stop at the AT&T Center last season, which coincided with Manu Ginobili’s jersey retirement, Saturday night’s contest presents a final opportunity for Spurs faithful to catch the Silver and Black before they hit the road for Coach Pop’s annual chemistry builder. This season’s Rodeo Road Trip, which spans eight cities in 21 days, consists solely of matchups with key Western Conference opponents. After back-to-back games against the Clippers and Lakers to open the trip, things won’t get any easier for DeMar DeRozan and company. Not when the subsequent stops include Denver, Oklahoma City and Salt Lake City. DeRozan has been on an offensive tear as of late, capturing Western Conference Player of the Week honors in just the second week of 2020. Sweetening the deal, Grammy-nominated soul and funk duo Black Pumas will give a special post-game concert. $10-$1661, 8 p.m., AT&T Center, One AT&T Center, (210) 444-5140, attcenter.com. — M. Solis
Bring something warm enough to brave the Alaskan wilderness for an illustrated performance of Jack London’s 1903 novel, Call of the Wild. The story follows the adventures of the mixed-breed dog Buck, who must learn to adapt and survive in the harsh conditions of Alaska after being kidnapped from his home in sunny California. Coming to the Tobin Center ahead of the new movie adaptation, this performance will combine old-fashioned storytelling and projected illustrations to immerse the audience in a tale of growth and inner exploration. A special performance tailored to those with autism spectrum disorders or other sensory sensitivities will allow an even wider audience to be inspired by Buck’s courage. $5-$9, noon Monday (Sensory Friendly Performance; tickets not available day of event), 9:30 a.m. and noon Tuesday (Sold Out), H-E-B Performance Hall, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — BE
play revolves the once-common practice of cigar factories having lectors read to workers during their shifts. Once introduced to the scandalous lives of characters in Leo Tolstoy’s masterpiece, employees pursue their own perilous desires and expose hidden failings and flaws. Multiple marriages and the future of the factory itself are at stake as mechanization threatens to displace the lector tradition. On February 23, audience members can meet the cast, director Kelly Roush and St. Mary’s University Professor Gerald Poyo, whose great-grandfather was a lector back in the day. $19-$34, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays through March 1, Classic Theatre, 1924 Fredericksburg Road, (210) 589-8450, classictheatre.org. — TF
FRI | 2/7 – SUN | 2/9 TH EATER
ANNA IN THE TROPICS
A family of Cuban immigrants comes undone when exposed to Anna Karenina amid the sultry heat of Tampa, Florida. Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning
Siggi Ragnar
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FRI | 2/7 – TUE | 2/11 ART
‘TEXAS WOMEN: A NEW HISTORY OF ABSTRACT ART’
The San Antonio Museum of Art opens 2020 with a groundbreaking new exhibition titled “Texas Women: A New History of Abstract Art.” The first large-scale exhibition of its kind, the show features 85 works by female abstract artists who have lived and worked in Texas from the mid-20th century to the present. In keeping with that larger-than-life scope, the works span painting, sculpture, drawing and installation. In addition to featured artists from across Texas — Sara Cardona, Linnea Glatt, Dorothy Hood, Terrell James, Dorothy Antoinette “Toni” LaSelle, Susie Rosmarin and Lorraine Tady, to name a few — the show also features pieces from San Antonio’s Constance Lowe and Liz Ward. “No matter the media, materials or processes each artist uses, she brings inventiveness, risk-taking and experimentation to her practice,” SAMA’s Brown Foundation Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Suzanne Weaver said in a statement. “Over careers of many decades, each has challenged approaches to abstraction — organic and gestural or inorganic and geometric — to make work that is continually fresh.” $10-$20, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays through May 3, San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 W. Jones Ave., (210) 978-8100, samuseum.org. — KMN
SAT | 2/8 WORDS
FIRST ANNUAL SAN ANTONIO AFRICAN AMERICAN BOOK FESTIVAL
The Friends of Carver Library are hosting the city’s first-annual San Antonio African American Book Festival at the East Side library branch to promote local authors, champion literacy and benefit the library. Parents can bring their kids as early as 10:30 a.m. for the Children’s Book Festival, and local black authors will take the spotlight at noon to discuss their works and how African American literature has enriched their lives. Among the authors announced at press time are former Air Force lieutenant colonel, pediatrician and teen wellness expert Uchenna Umeh, who will have copies of her 2019 books How to Raise Well-Rounded Children and A Teen’s Life: Looking at Teen’s Lives Through Their Daily Struggles. The Carver Friends will also feature Aundar Ma’at, a historian who published his story coloring book Kwanzaa Tales of Africa in 2018 and has co-produced two films, including the documentary A Walk on the River, a chronicle of San Antonio’s black history. Free, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Carver Branch Library, 3350 E. Commerce St., (210) 2079180, mysapl.org/visit/locations/carver-library. — Daniel Conrad
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Courtesy of Sheldon Vexler Theatre
Glowing hands shouldn’t be an occupational hazard, argue the women of These Shining Lives — nor should radium poisoning. This play chronicles the true story of four women who sought well-paid work at the Radium Dial watch factory in the 1920s and 1930s and fought for justice when they discovered that their employer prioritized profits over their safety. In The Vex’s production, Jessica Reynolds-Carrillo narrates the play as Catherine Donohue, who was the lead plaintiff in the employees’ lawsuit against the factory. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before Radium Dial was finally forced to pay damages. While monumental, the women’s victory was pyrrhic, as Donohue and others eventually succumbed to radium poisoning. American workers today owe their legal protections to these women — who became known as the “Radium Girls” — and others like them who fought long, difficult battles to advance workers’ rights. $25, 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through March 1, The Sheldon Vexler Theatre, 12500 NW Military Highway, Suite 275, (210) 302-6835, vexler.org. — TF
The vehicle listed below were impounded by San Antonio Police Department & will be auctioned at a public auction on
MAR. 18, 2020 at 6:00P at
SAN ANTONIO VEHICLE IMPOUND FACILITY
Registered owners may pick up vehicles by showing proof of ownership & paying all towing & storage fees prior to Auction.
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YEAR
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3383067
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5F11S1015J1004214
$2,946.20
3380277
2000
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T RA I L E R
NO VIN
$2,814.50
3176551
2000
OTHER
T RA I L E R
NO VIN
$5 , 52 1 . 75
3167680
1900
BOAT
B OAT
NO VIN
$5 , 52 2 . 55
3168221
2000
TRAILER
T RA I L E R
1864115
$5 , 572 . 55
3363679
2018
FORD
VA N
1FTYR2CM2JKB34243
$ 3 ,1 8 4 . 35
3470592
2012
JEEP
L I B E RTY
1 C 4 PJ M F K 0 C W 1 1 5 1 0 0
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3468048
2018
OTHER
M OTO R C YC L E
CJ201711095
$ 2 , 01 5 . 2 5
3465230
2013
OTHER
T RA I L E R
14HU0810XDNAV2425
$ 2 , 03 6 . 9 0
2562036
2008
T RA I L E R
T RA I L E R
NO VIN
$1 4 , 0 0 9 . 35
3048909
1900
OTHER
P R O P E RTY
943181
$ 6 , 9 9 4 . 75
3456335
1996
DODGE
C A RAVA N
2B4FP2539TR510066
$ 2 ,1 45 .1 5
3477619
2003
AUDI
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TRUTC28N131006216
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3506757
1996
TOYOTA
CO R O L LA
1NXBB02E2TZ359841
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3474678
2000
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NO VIN
$1 , 92 8 . 65
2952884
1900
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H O M E M A D E T RA I L E R
NO VIN
$ 8 ,1 63 . 8 5
3181744
2000
OTHER
SIGN
NO VIN
$5 , 3 49 . 35
3029058
2000
TRAILER
T RA I L E R
NO VIN
$7, 2 32 . 9 0
3348071
1901
OTHER
H OT D O G STA N D
NO VIN
$ 3 , 357. 55
3366215
1970
TRAILER
T RA I L E R
NO VIN
$ 3 ,1 41 . 0 5
3565709
2000
OTHER
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4P5SH1226R1112188
$78 1 . 2 0
3625 Growdon Rd. San Antonio, TX | 210.881.8440 sacurrent.com | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | CURRENT
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art picks Left: Jesse Amado, I Am Not Your Mexican #5, Le Corbusier acrylic, chicharron, virgin wool felt on canvas, 2019 Right: Alejandro Diaz, Plastered in Mexico, acrylic, fiber paste, 2019
Courtesy of Ruiz-Healy Art
WED | 1/29 ART PICK
‘DOUBLE PLEASURE’
As far as exhibition titles go, Ruiz-Healy Art’s latest says a lot. For starters, it nods to a pair of exhibitions — one in San Antonio, the other at gallerist Patricia Ruiz-Healy’s new outpost in New York City — showcasing the work of longtime friends Jesse Amado and Alejandro Diaz. Beyond being accomplished San Antonio natives that have drawn creative inspiration from their Mexican American heritage, Amado and Diaz have quite a bit in common: both earned their undergrad degrees from the University of Texas at Austin; both were early Artpace residents (Amado helped inaugurate the residency program in 1995); both made the leap to New York, where Diaz still lives; both have public art installations in San Antonio; and both are represented in the permanent collections of Ruby City and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Interestingly, “Double Pleasure” is also only the second time Amado and Diaz have been paired for a two-person exhibition. Known for conceptual works reliant on color, texture and materiality, Amado has championed the simple power of text, the nostalgic medium of felt and the deep intensity of Yves Klein Blue. In 2015, Amado referenced his own cancer battle in “30 Day Rx,” a solo exhibition at Ruiz-Healy Art that employed the repetition of brightly colored wool felt circles to represent courses of prescription medication. Revealing the process behind his precisely cut, bicolor “tablets,” Amado attached limp, intertwined felt remnants to the wall with tailor’s pins and gave them telling titles such as Consequences #1. Poppy from the outside but poignant from within, that show helped cement a visual vocabulary that continues to emerge from Amado’s work today. Despite calling the Big Apple home, Diaz remains embedded in the local landscape as founder of Sala Diaz, the experimental art space he launched in Southtown in 1995.
Courtesy of Alejandro Diaz
Although it only represents one aspect of Diaz’s wide-ranging oeuvre, his public art installation A Can for All Seasons remains a hometown favorite as it welcomes travelers to the San Antonio International Airport with a hefty dose of rasquachismo in the form of plants potted in supersize versions of classic Mexican canned goods, including the ubiquitous La Morena brand jalapeños. When he was finding his footing in New York, Diaz dove into “populist art” by taking to the streets to sell curious cardboard signs that later informed neon works offering such signature declarations as “Make Tacos Not War,” “Happiness Is Expensive” and “Wetback by Popular Demand.” Diaz also hit a high note in 2015 with the Linda Pace Foundation exhibition “It Takes a Village,” which celebrated his keen sense of humor alongside a sharp brand of cultural commentary exemplified by Muebles — a series of cast-resin sculptures that presented Mexican migrant workers as pieces of furniture. Although still informed by sculptural elements, “Double Pleasure” strikes up a visual conversation that’s rooted in painting, social concerns and a shared fondness for found objects. Among the highlights to expect from the San Antonio portion of the two-city, twoman show are Amado’s I Am Not Your Mexican #5 — a riff on primary colors involving acrylic paint, draped felt and dangling chicharrones — and Amado’s Plastered in Mexico — which conjures a cantina vibe with spilled bottles of Corona, bits of a broken statue, drawings of a mustachioed, sombrero-wearing character and a graffiti-like rendering of the Latin motto of Bard College (“Dabo tibi coronam vitae” or “I shall give thee the crown of life”), where Diaz earned his master’s in 1999. In the exhibition catalog, curator and art historian Carla Stellweg sheds light on the duo’s stylistically different yet interconnected points of view: “While the category of ‘Latino’ art and artists is a much-debated subject, the case of Amado and Diaz offers a highly sophisticated and eloquent view of Mexican American and Latino visual culture at this time.” Free, opening reception 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, January 29, on view 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through March 28, Ruiz-Healy Art, 201 E. Olmos Drive, (210) 804-2219, ruizhealyart.com. — Bryan Rindfuss sacurrent.com | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | CURRENT
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CURRENT | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | sacurrent.com
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arts
Playful Provocateur
Artist Heyd Fontenot talks ‘Flaming Critters,’ ‘Swamp People’ and ‘The Lodge of St. Reborlaro’ BY BRYAN RINDFUSS
B
orn and raised in Southwestern Louisiana, artist Heyd Fontenot boasts a colorful background that involves performing in rodeos, studying film at UT Austin, working behind the scenes of reality TV, directing the bygone Dallas gallery and artist residency CentralTrak and plenty in between. Celebrated for playfully provocative nude drawings, Fontenot became a familiar face in San Antonio through a 2017 Artpace residency that culminated with “Unnatural Urges,” a cabin-like installation that doubled as a film set and invited visitors inside to behold its eccentric decor. While at Artpace, Fontenot fell under San Antonio’s spell. “I vibe on San Antonio really hard,” Fontenot confessed. “It feels right to me.” So, after a previously arranged two-year stint in Oklahoma in conjunction with the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, he returned to San Antonio to pick up where he left off. In residence at the Sala Diaz offshoot Casa Chuck (named after late local artist Chuck Ramirez) since October 2019, Fontenot has been focusing his energy on an ongoing project dubbed The Lodge of St. Reborlaro — an art-centric gathering place dedicated to three tenets: community, mental wellness and spirituality. With a named that references Pentecostal evangelist Oral Roberts (spelled backwards), Fontenot’s Lodge will be the subject of an exhibition set to open this fall at Blue Star Contemporary. Your bio indicates your work borrows “themes and images from fraternal secret societies, rodeos, brothels, places of worship and interior design showrooms.” Can you give me a few examples? Well, my Artpace residency exhibition is actually a good example, because I was drawing on this bar my dad used to go to that was in a trailer house in my hometown [laughs] … And the back room was kind of like my take on an opium den. I’ve never been in an actual opium den but, through cinema or literature, I might have some notion of an opium den and I find that fascinating subject matter. All my forays into the dark arts or witchcraft would [also] be mostly based on literature and history. … But then with the rodeo stuff, every weekend of my childhood until I went to college, my family went to rodeos. My brothers and I performed [as ropers] in rodeos and my dad was a pro rodeo cowboy in the ’50s
Chris Creese
and ’60s. So the imagery I take from that stuff is based on my life experiences. Were you good at roping? I went to the state finals every year. And I qualified for the national finals. It wasn’t a great love of mine. It was kind of like those difficult queer stories you hear about how some parents can’t deal with their queer son and so they take them hunting or make them do sports. And that was my experience too. I didn’t hate the rodeo, but it wasn’t anything I was super drawn to on my own. It was just a way for me to get along with my dad. … I actually got a scholarship to go to college through my rodeo stuff. … But I didn’t rodeo when I went to college; I studied art. It was kind of the start of me being more who I was. Artforum characterized your nude portraits as “too cute to be scandalous.” Do you agree with that assessment? Actually, that is by design. When I recognized that I wanted to work with the nude as subject matter, I realized just how tricky that was going to be … because I didn’t want to shy away from full-frontal nudity. I had to figure out a way [to make it] serious [but] playful. I would attribute that strategy to a survival technique as a queer
Heyd Fontenot cradles a skull in the first version of his installation The Lodge of Saint Reborlaro in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
M
person … because as a queer person, some people see you as a sexual predator, as a pervert. We’re always sort of on trial for our morality. What can you tell me about your video project Flaming Critters? It’s inspired by the work of two other artists, people I might refer to as my aesthetic queer ancestors: Kenneth Anger and Jack Smith. Flaming Critters is a pretty direct reference to Jack Smith’s [experimental film] Flaming Creatures. … It’s all improvisational. There are production notes that I make for particular vignettes … [and] even storyboards. But there’s no on-camera dialog or script in the traditional sense. Part of that is because I have a background working on commercial films and I’m disappointed by the lack of creativity in the process. … The last television show I worked on was called Swamp People and that was probably in 2009. It was a reality show on the History Channel and it’s about alligator hunters. We would get notes from the office in New York about
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Fontenot’s 2017 drawing Ben with KanKan Hiding Her Eyes shows his unique approach to capturing nudes.
a
have that. Houston kind of has that with the CORE program. … It was a very unique opportunity to build something like that, and also having the administrative support and the money and the 24-hour access to that facility. I would work until seven in the morning.
Chris Creese
how they wanted it to run, [even though] they had not spent any time with these hunters. And they were dictating based on a template they conceived. It’s not anything like a documentary, it’s really like, “How do we fashion this and mold it into segments of television we sell advertising for?” In my own studio practice, I’ve decided to go against all of those formulas because I find them to be very limiting and also sort of unfair to the medium.
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1/27/2020 12:05:36 PM
There’s a prevalence of queer issues in your work and you titled an exhibition “Homosexuals Are Ruining My Life.” Do you consider yourself an activist? I would say that my work is political, and I would say that I’m an activist … and I think I’m most effective as an activist in my studio practice. That is where I feel I have found my voice, and where I want to exist an activist. And actually, that title, “Homosexuals Are Ruining My Life,” was something I like to do, where I take a phrase and turn it around. When that was conceived, there was a lot of hysteria around gay people being able to marry. And people would say, “They’re going to ruin the institution of marriage.” And I was thinking, you’re the only person that can truly ruin your marriage. … So, I took that phrase because I was thinking about personal accountability. … How is someone else’s life affecting your life? And how is anybody having rights lessening your rights? What stands out from your Artpace residency? I loved being at Artpace and I think it’s such a tremendous resource — not just for the artists that get to do it but for San Antonio. I feel like that program connected San Antonio to an international art world. Austin doesn’t have that. Dallas doesn’t
What sort of work have you been making at Casa Chuck? [It’s a] project called The Lodge of Saint Reborlaro. … The idea is to create a community platform and a place for artists to gather with certain intentions … And the tenets are community, mental wellness and spirituality. Katie Pell was going to do a project with me, and her illness cut that short. But she left instructions for a program, and I want to pursue that once I get the space sort of worked out. What was her vision for it? Katie Pell’s project was something that she put into practice with the art classes she taught, which [went something] like: “I want you guys to pair up, maybe with somebody you don’t know very well. And I want you to sit with each other with your knees four inches apart. And I want you to look at each other.” She called it “eye bathing.” Things like that are so rare in our culture. We don’t even do that with our partner — where you just sit and look at each other. I’m hoping that just by providing the space, people [will] start to look at their lives in a different way … I think art openings and the socializing that goes along with that is wonderful because you get to see your friends and it’s a party environment. But it’s also somewhat limiting in that you’re often not very quiet with the work that you’re seeing. … Part of my Casa Chuck residency is meeting people, becoming somewhat familiar with the community and soliciting participation in the lodge. Because I don’t want to do all the programming myself. I want it to be a reflection, truly sourced and generated from the community. Do you see that as being a temporary or long-term project? I would welcome either. And I know this won’t be for everyone. I know some people are really uncomfortable being quiet. Or they poo-poo any sort of venture into metaphysics or spirituality. But I would love it if San Antonio responded and found it valuable. I would love it if it became a regular thing and it stuck around. And I think that will really be reliant on who gets involved.
February 7—May 3, 2020 Liz Trosper (American, born 1983), toothy zip (neon:ochre) (detail), 2019, UV inkjet print on canvas, 102 x 74 in., Courtesy of Barry Whistler Gallery, Photography by Liz Trosper
200 West Jones Avenue | samuseum.org sacurrent.com | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | CURRENT
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CURRENT | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | sacurrent.com
San Antonio Author and Attorney Jay Brandon Reveals the Implicit in Legal Thriller From the Grave BY PATRICIA PORTALES
F
Courtesy of Jay Brandon
or a moment, Edward felt a sense Fade the Heat, After-Image, Milagro Lane — are of dislocation. It was strange to be set in San Antonio, this one takes place in sitting here, from prison inmate post-Hurricane Harvey Houston, a setting to lawyer questioning the district given rich description. “One of its victims attorney’s sister, in a couple of years. His had been the Criminal Justice Center, the life track had not led here,” Bexar County 20-plus-story downtown tower,” whose Assistant District Attorney and author Jay occupants moved to the civil courthouse, Brandon writes of the protagonist in his Brandon writes, “but the difference in atlatest novel From the Grave. mosphere was the same as between an auto The book is Brandon’s 19th in a career crerepair shop and a cathedral.” ating fiction that spans Texas courtrooms, Brandon’s urban environment also international espionage and family tragedy. reveals the cultural chasm between accused In From the Grave, Edward Hall, a former kidnapper Willis’ home in the Third Ward, lawyer and ex-prisoner, considers an offer where shotgun shacks are fodder for from District gentrification, Attorney Julia and River Oaks, Lipscomb, whose where the sister survived a estate of his kidnapping. The alleged victim opportunity? is a façade of Have his disbarwealth. ment rescinded Brandon’s if, during a background probationary as an attorney period, he tries gives him skillone case and loses. ful command What’s more, Hall in revealing not already knows only courthis client, alleged room tension kidnapper Donbut also in the ald Willis, from moral tension his time in the that is justice. pen. Behind it lies, During his for example, an incarceration, implicit protoHall and Willis col around the developed a “Rule,” a rarely mutual trust. rescinded law Hall offered legal that mandates a advice, while the witness may not accused kidbe present while napper offered other witnesses Reading from From protection from testify. the Grave with Jay the advances of other The reader can’t help inmates. After meeting Brandon but marvel at what again on the outside, Hall Brandon’s own trial Wednesday, January 29, 5 p.m. worries taking the case is experience brings to his The Twig Book Shop a conflict of interest, but description of lawyers’ 306 Pearl Parkway, Suite 106 Willis refuses to have anynearly imperceptible (210) 826-6411 | thetwig.com one else represent him. courtroom signals. Ultimately, that conThe novel, however, cern proves trivial as the pair uncover larger is more than a legal thriller. Read it for a discrepancies in the accusation and go head- larger aim: an examination of what we ofto-head with prosecutor Veronica Salazar. ten call into question — our career choices, Though several of Brandon’s novels — where we live and how others perceive us.
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THURSDAY, MARCH 19 | San Antonio Museum of Art BENEFITING
screens
Kelly Merka Nelson
Game On
Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet stars give fans a first look at gaming-themed TV series at PAX South BY KELLY MERKA NELSON
I
t’s not often that San Anto gets thrown a bone by Hollywood, but Apple TV+ decided the Alamo City was just the place to give fans a first look at the new, gaming-centric workplace comedy Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet. Looking to court Mythic Quest’s target demographic prior to its February release, three of the show’s stars — Rob McElhenney (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Ashly Burch (Horizon Zero Dawn, Attack on Titan) and Charlotte Nicdao (Content, The Strange Chores) — came to San Antonio to meet fans at the PAX South gaming convention, followed by a screening of the first episode at the AMC Rivercenter. In the show, McElhenney, who co-created the series with It’s Always Sunny co-star and partner in crime Charlie Day, plays Ian — prononced EYE-an — the narcissistic creative director for a wildly successful World of Warcraft-esque MMORPG called Mythic Quest. The pilot opens just prior to the release of the game’s first major expansion, Raven’s Banquet, when conflict erupts within the dev team’s highest ranks over a virtual shovel. It’s fair to say the show is hotly anticipat-
ed. According to a series rep, around 150 people were turned away from the theater on Friday, January 17. The episode didn’t disappoint, and the audience laughed heartily throughout. During a Q&A following the screening, McElhenney explained the origin of the series. As it turns out, when he was first approached by Ubisoft — the AAA gaming studio behind the popular Assassin’s Creed series — to make a show about the gaming industry, he had no interest in the project. But after Ubisoft convinced him to visit its Montreal studio, he changed his mind. “I went into the studio,” McElhenney said, “and one of the very first people that we met was this guy — he had this kind of long hair, and this big beard, and he had 15 rings on each hand. … I said, ‘What do you do?’ He said, ‘I’m a creative director.’ I said, ‘Oh, what does that mean?’ He thought about it for a second, he looked at me, and then he looked out into the distance: ‘I create worlds.’” “I go and I call Charlie [Day], and I’m like ‘We’re making the show,’” he continued. “This is incredible.”
From left: Ashly Burch, Charlotte Nicdao and Rob McElhenney
I
While McElhenney wasn’t versed in the game development world prior to making Mythic Quest, he did have gaming bona fides: “I grew up playing games and my kids now, they play a lot of games, but it just never crossed my mind that this would be an interesting place to set a show.” However, Burch — who plays QA tester Rachel as well as writes for the show — has extensive behind the scenes experience in the gaming industry. She’s best known for her roles as Chloe Price in Dontnod Entertainment’s Life Is Strange and robot-busting protagonist Aloy in Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn. If anyone in the audience still doubted the stars’ cred, their fears were assuaged by a lengthy discussion of video games they played on set, from Stardew Valley to The Last of Us. There was a mild kerfuffle when an audience member became distraught after mishearing that McElhenney may have killed Skyrim’s benevolent dragon Paarthurnax. “I said I didn’t kill him!” McElhenney exclaimed. “You gotta be careful the shit you say here,” Burch quipped. “And the moral choices you make in video games.” Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet premieres on Apple TV+ on February 7.
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screens Cut Gems
15 Oscar-nominated short films play exclusively at the Bijou starting January 31 BY KIKO MARTINEZ
M
ost movie fans are well aware of the Oscar nominations heavy hitters like Joker and 1917 recently received, but the short films nominated this year deserve love too. With that in mind, the Current reviewed all 15, including animated, documentary and live action. A program featuring all of them opens Friday, January 31, exclusively at the Santikos Bijou.
ANIMATED SHORTS
A+E Networks
From the Czech Republic, Dcera (Daughter) is a stop-motion, papier-mâché-looking animation exploring the fragile relationship between a dying father and his daughter, who suffered from a lack of affection during her childhood. The sad and tender short will hit you at the center of your heart. In Hair Love, a father squares off with his daughter’s hard-to-manage hair — a job normally left for her mother who runs a hairstyling vlog. The 2-D short is sweet, uplifting and funny, especially when dad faces off against a curly-haired monster. mKitbull is the third film produced through Pixar’s SparkShorts program for independent animated shorts. The 2-D animation centers around a stray kitten who develops a friendship with an abused pitbull. It’s moving and hopeful, especially if you’re a pet lover.
Disney +
In Sister, a man remembers growing up with an annoying little sister in China during the 1990s. The story is conveyed rather plainly via narration and stop-mo-
tion animation, but it packs a realistic and tragic punch as it addresses the Chinese government’s controversial population policies during the era. Our favorite in this category is the French stop-motion short Memorable, in which director Bruno Collet takes a creative approach to dealing with the subject of Alzheimer’s. Through surreal imagery and homages to post-impressionist painters such as Vincent van Gogh, Collet finds a beautiful way to express his heartbreaking narrative. Think Amour if directed by Michel Gondry.
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
St. Louis Superman tells the story of Bruce Franks Jr., a 34-year-old rapper elected as a Missouri state legislator in 2016. The short follows Franks as he works to pass a bill that would identify youth violence as a public health epidemic. It’s telling and touching. ALearning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) details the story of underprivileged Afghan girls who are learning to read, write and ride skateboards. Although their country is considered one of the worst places in the world for women, these courageous kids empower themselves to be free in mind and spirit. In Sweden, hundreds of refugee children suffer from a coma-like illness called Resignation Syndrome, a condition brought on by the trauma and stress associated with the migration process. Life Overtakes Me offers a fascinating and emotionally demanding look.
Married couple Paul and Millie Cao revisit their painful memories of the Vietnam War in Walk, Run, Cha-Cha, a story that explores their current life in the U.S., which includes a shared love of dance. Sadly, the message of lost time doesn’t always resonate through the blending of history and performance art. mIn the Absence, the strongest entrant in this category, provides a harrowing look at the sinking of a ferry in South Korea in 2014 that killed 250 high school students. Video footage from inside the boat, audio from first responders and interviews with survivors, rescue divers and parents of the deceased make the short doc somber and impossible to shake.
Field of VIsion
LIVE-ACTION SHORTS
When an attractive couple make having sex in front of their apartment window a frequent thing, a frustrated husband and wife start to feel their age in the comedy The Neighbors’ Window. As their eyes continue to linger, the script
switches gears to reveal an obvious message about appreciating things one might take for granted. In Saria, two sisters living in an abusive safe home in Guatemala devise a plan to escape and find refuge in America. The film is based on a true story of a fire in the orphanage that took the lives of 41 teenage girls in 2017. Unfortunately, a fairly pedestrian screenplay prevents it from making a genuine emotional connection. A woman makes an urgent phone call to save herself from a kidnapper in Belgium’s A Sister (Une Sœur). Unknown to her abductor, she places a call to emergency services and drops hints about her location. The dialogue between the woman and the operator is consistently tense, but the concept itself has been used many times before in other thrillers. Set in rural Tunisia, the comedy Nefta Football Club follows two young brothers who find a lost mule carrying packages of drugs. The boys decide to bring the white powder back to their village, but each has a different idea on how to distribute it. The short is clever, even if the storytelling doesn’t break much new ground. Also set in rural Tunisia is our favorite live-action short, Brotherhood, about a family that welcomes its eldest son home after a long journey. Returning with him is his pregnant Syrian wife who wears a niqab, or face veil. Brimming with resentment for his son, the father makes a decision that will likely haunt him. Exquisitely shot, it won’t be surprising if this short is eventually expanded into a feature-length film.
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33
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food
Revised Classics Julia’s Bistro & Bar departs from tried-and-true French cuisine with vists to Latin America and the USA BY RON BECHTOL
Courtesy of Julia’s
W
ho knows if this is some form of atonement for past brutish behavior, but according to an article in Eater, there was a recent wave of male restaurateurs naming their establishments after women. Beyond a possible attempt to make up for bad behavior, there may also be a marketing rationale, according to the piece. A woman’s name connotes “warmth, caring and hospitality.” The naming of Julia’s Bistro & Bar, the latest restaurant venture by Jean-Francois Poujol, may or may not be a result of this movement, but there’s more to it than trend tracking: for a restaurant with French underpinnings, Julia’s also evokes that American icon of Gallic gourmandise, Julia Child. If you think that this implies the bistro, a mere door away from Poujol’s European-Italian operation SoHill Café, is meant to be a temple of French haute cuisine, think again. “I also have a niece named Julia,” he explained. Adjust accordingly — and selectively. The moules marinière come across as an unadulterated classic: beautiful mussels bathed in wine and garlic and served, if you plead for more, with just enough bread to sponge up as much of that exquisite sauce as possible. The same pillowy baguette, sliced lengthwise, is the underpinning for escargot toast. It may sound typique, but I’ve never seen it in this opulent form, slathered with mushroom duxelle, topped with tender snails, oozing with melted brie and lashed with mild Pernod butter and garlic. The serving is more than generous, and you should share it — but you’re forgiven if you don’t. At least, I’ve forgiven myself. Also on the small plates section, you’ll find the lamb chili relleno, a dish that departs from France to take a tour of Mexico and South America. Here Chef Justin Limburg, also the steward of SoHill, takes an unusually slender roasted poblano chile, stuffs it with braised lamb and goat cheese, coats it, seriously deep fries it and tops the whole with chimichurri sauce. There’s a little lost lamb hiding in here somewhere, but I couldn’t get over the overbearing, crunchy coating. Lamb and duck both figure frequently on Julia’s menu. One of the best expressions of duck is in the confit salad with arugula, tiny tomatoes and a snappy dressing: the moist and decadent duck is a perfect playmate for the bitter greens. Grilled frisée au lardon was less successful. Maybe it would have shone with a sturdier lettuce and a runnier poached egg. Joined by Mexican chorizo, lamb and duck duke it out in Julia’s cassoulet, a white bean dish
from Southwestern France. Cassoulet is one of those deceptively difficult “peasant” dishes that differs among regional cities and more than rewards the several days that can be spent in its making. One version involves a crust of breadcrumbs that gets stirred back into the mix several times. Garlic sausage often figures prominently. Julia’s rendition shortcuts a lot of the complication, and I admit that I prefer sturdier sausage to the dispersed chorizo, yet this is the quintessential winter dish. There are good pops of garlic and thyme-accented flavor, and it makes a pedestrian glass of Côtes du Rhône taste almost patrician. The wine list, by the way, offers some thoughtful selections at reasonable prices. The lamb shows the best of chez Julia in classically braised, shank form. It’s big, beautiful, fall-from-the-bone tender and unashamed of its lamby flavor. And if I found the brown sauce it’s served with a little overpowering, the plate’s sweet potato purée and wilted arugula more than compensated. Straying substantially from its coq au vin roots is the hybrid-sounding chicken au vin — with mole sauce and poblano-laced mashed potatoes, no less. There’s not a lot of wine to be noted, but the Franco-Mexican mashup almost works. If the shrimp and grits is an attempt to bring a little bit of the almost unadulterated South to the menu, the results are less convincing. There’s supposed to be Mexican chorizo, “Cajun trinity” — onion, bell pepper and celery — and ragout, but all this and the shrimp take a back seat to the creamy grits lightly flavored with smoked cheddar. Smoked cheddar shines in an even less expected way in a dessert, the so-called apple dumpling — really more like a turnover. This time, the cheese
Julia’s Bistro & Bar
1725 Blanco Road 78212 (210) 476-5404 | Juliasonblanco.com Tues.-Thur. 4-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 4-10 p.m. Entrées $14-$24
Best Bets: Escargot toast, duck confit salad, moules marinière, braised lamb shank, Julia’s cassoulet, apple dumpling with smoked cheddar ice cream The Skinny: If the name of Julia’s Bistro evokes that famous Julia of French food fame, that’s fine with Jean-Francois Poujol, the restaurant’s owner — just don’t expect Child’s classic version. Expect instead dishes from the totally traditional moules marinière and braised lamb shank to Franco-Mex mashups such as chicken breast in wine with mole sauce and American-influenced apple turnovers with smoked cheddar ice cream. The lighting is terrible at Julia’s, but the service is Texas-friendly — and there’s a good wine list to smooth over any rough edges. is successfully showcased in ice cream. In an odd way, the item may be the most “American” dish on the Julia’s eclectic menu — a riff on cheddar cheese with apple pie, and it works beautifully. It should probably be said at this point, that the service is more friendly American than stand-offish French, if you’ll excuse the stereotype. The American doyenne of French cuisine would likely have approved of the subtle tweaks her namesake — or not — kitchen gives to a classique of the dessert canon: pôt de crème. It’s made here with Mexican chocolate topped with crème Chantilly subtly scented with cinnamon. Cool and caring no matter the culture.
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food
Talk BY LEA THOMPSON
The Takeaway: Brandon Peterson on breaking from the Texas barbecue norm Name: Brandon Peterson Job: Pitmaster and Owner, Bandit BBQ Birthplace: Lubbock, Texas Years in food service: Six Big impact: In February, Peterson will open his new barbecue spot inside Southtown’s Freight Gallery, 1913 S. Flores St. Money quote: “While touring [in rock band the Umbrellas], I got to try things from just about every state. I draw influences from all over the place.” Tell us about your background and how you got where you are? I moved to California to play music, but I eventually started cooking and teaching myself how to cook. I would call my mom and grandparents to learn how to make things, and I quickly decided to try my hand at barbecue. I eventually started catering company. I was looking to open a restaurant [in California], but the opportunity arose here, and we were looking to make a change. I took the leap of faith and moved here with 36
my wife, my 21-month old daughter and our three pups. Did you go to culinary school or are you self-taught? I’m self-taught. I couldn’t find the food I wanted in California, so I learned how to make the things that I wanted to eat. What’s the best part of your job? The best part of this is making people smile through good food and connecting people. Hopefully we’ll be seeing the same faces every week. What’s your favorite ingredient to cook with and why? Probably brisket. Brisket is one of those things where some people can do it and some people can’t. It’s one of those things that, when you put the time and patience, you end up with a really great product at the end. What’s your secret weapon at work? Apple cider vinegar works its way into
CURRENT | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | sacurrent.com
Zackery Newton
a lot of recipes. It’s good for everything, apparently. Who was the mentor that had the biggest effect on your career? My mom is always trying to one-up herself, and both sets of grandparents were very good cooks. My grandpa on my mom’s side did barbecue catering. We’d sit out and make brisket together. My spicy barbecue sauce is based off his original sauce recipe. It’s about 60 years old. That’s the sauce I grew up eating. What’s next for you? I plan to open Bandit BBQ sometime in February. We’ll be open for breakfast and lunch, or until the meat runs out. We’ll have tacos and biscuits and sandwiches, with brisket and pulled pork available. What are some unusual things that people can look forward to eating? Some of the things I do are not the Texas barbecue norm. I’ll be doing smoked tri-tips, which is kind of a California specialty that I’ll be testing out. My mustard-based barbecue sauce was inspired by my trips through the Carolinas. While touring [in the band], I got to try things from just about every state. I draw influences from all over the place. It’s not necessarily a Texas thing, but people really dig it.
Facebook / P. Terry’s
OPENINGS
Austin-based burger chain P. Terry’s is expected to open its first San Antonio outpost at 8539 Fredericksburg Road this fall. … Plantyful Sweets, a newly opened shop located at 1520 N. Main St., offers a variety of satisfying desserts that just happen to be vegan-friendly and gluten-free. … SayTown Tacos is bringing over-the-top tacos, fideo and buñuelos to 312 Pearl Parkway, Building 6 in February. … Elsewhere Garden Bar & Kitchen will take over 103 E. Jones Ave. and is expected to open later this year, offering “playful” sharable dishes.
CLOSINGS
Chef Andrew Weissman has closed his fast-casual River Walk restaurant The Luxury at 103 E. Jones Ave. However, he will resurrect the concept at San Antonio International Airport this summer. … Baklövah Bakery & Café, located at 403 Blue Star #106 in Southtown, has shut down.
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37
Dylan Alley
Echo Chambers
Too many SA music fans stay inside their comfort zones. Let these five local artists lure you out. BY CHRIS CONDE
O
n any given night, San Antonio is alive with music. Punk, metal and noise lineups fill West Side DIY venues. Hip-hop shows thud from clubs on the St. Mary’s Strip. Indie-rock fans seek out new bands at Loop Land bars. The Alamo City isn’t just one music community but several, each segregated by genre, and often, geography. The rich diversity of the music being created here is something to cherish, but musicians, promoters and fans worry much of it goes unheard. While fans and bands may support music in their own individual scene, they’re frequently oblivious to the talent that exists in others. The result? Local musicians are making music in silos, which prevents the kind of musical crosspollination that makes for a healthy, vibrant and exportable music scene. “It seems like most of the younger bands don’t stray far from the bosom of their clique,” said Jeff Smith, owner of San Antonio’s Saustex Records label and frontman for the longtime country punk band the Hickoids. But bands don’t bear the sole responsibility. Audiences are prone to attend shows for genres they’re familiar with, and many are unwilling to make the trek to check out new and unfamiliar sounds, local musicians point out. Meanwhile, other scenesters look down their noses at bands in their own genres that mix things up or push in new directions. James Woodard, frontman for avant-metal band
38
CURRENT | January 29 - February 11, 2020 | sacurrent.com
the Grasshopper Lies Heavy experienced the latter situation firsthand. Even though Grasshopper has toured in Japan and produced a string of critically acclaimed releases, it faced local indifference when it started playing live shows in the late 2000s. “Especially when we were starting out, no one knew who the fuck we were and no one cared,” Woodard said. “We weren’t metal enough for the metal dudes, and we weren’t indie enough for the indie kids, so it was really hard to find a niche.” San Antonio-born pop performer Wayne Holtz, a recent transplant to LA, said that skittishness keeps local audiences from discovering new music they might love. He points out that younger fans are often just eager to see new music, no matter the genre — and that’s the best mindset to keep. “You’ve got to dip your feet into different pools before you figure out what you really like,” said Holtz said. “And if you think about the real pulse of the music scene, it’s in this huge group of kids that are all going to warehouse shows, who don’t care what they’re checking out. They just want to be entertained. There’s nothing wrong with going in with a blind eye.” San Antonio’s sprawl also plays a part in the siloed nature of the music scene. While downtown and the near North Side have long had the highest concentration of live music venues, recent years have brought a flood of new venues to the suburbs. Some, such as Imagine Books & Records near Leon Valley, have adventurous booking policies. Others,
including The Rustic in the La Cantera area book not just original local music but renowned touring acts. Woodard of the Grasshopper Lies Heavy pointed out that younger fans who grew up in the ’burbs may rarely ever get to the inner city. “Especially when you’re younger and in high school, you’re totally detached from [the downtown] world,” he said. But older music fans also need to venture outside of their geographical comfort zone. “For a city as large as ours, it’s kind of goofy [to think] that the St. Mary’s Strip is one of the only places you can see music,” Woodard said. So, how do bands, promoters and fans start tearing down the silos? Ultimately, it comes down to having an open mind, insiders say. Bands need to be open to playing new places, even if it means gassing up the van and driving more than a few blocks to the venue. Bookers need to take more chances and diversify bills. And audiences need to step outside of their scenes and cliques — whether those are drawn by genre, location or age — and experience a wider sampling of local music. While it’s absurd to think a single article in the Current can help sort all those things out, we can at least urge listeners to check out performers making a big noise in their own scenes who haven’t yet broken out. To that end, here are five artists we think deserve an audience outside of their respective circles. Have fun and get listening.
RATS: Young, gifted and punk Young, gifted and punk as fuck, the all-female hardcore punk quartet RATS has quickly found a following in its own community. The band, formed in 2018, settled into a lineup featuring founding vocalist Danika, bassist Alisa, guitarist Angel and drummer Bella. In true punk form, the band refuses to use last names. “Both of my parents are old-school punks,” Danika said. “My dad really likes GBH, so I started out with that type of stuff. … Then I found more hardcore bands like Gorilla Biscuits and Youth of Today.” RATS’s sound reflects the chaotic energy of its ’80s influences. But it was Danika’s introduction to riot grrl outfit Bikini Kill that became the catalyst for her to launch a band. “Right away, I was like, ‘Whoa, there’s a girl doing all this stuff and being angry about all this shit that’s happening,’ so I was like, ‘I’m gonna make a band,’” she explains. RATS dropped an eight-song release entitled Demo 2019 at the end of last year, which may have appeal to old-schoolers who have long moved on from all-ages gigs. The frantic energy is akin to that of early ’80s hardcore pioneers such as Minor Threat. What’s more, the band’s lyrical challenges to the patriarchy and its willingness to sing about the bullshit women and marginalized people have to put up with has obvious appeal to forward-thinking folks outside the hardcore scene. Stay tuned. RATS is writing new music and hopes to have a new EP finished this summer.
Dylan Alley: The evolution of a songwriter After cutting his musical teeth at Imagine Books & Records, singer-songwriter Dylan Alley has become a favorite in the Northwest San Antonio music scene. “I think the thing that makes Dylan the most special as a singer-songwriter is he has this great honestly that is joined to a really quirky sense of humor,” Imagine owner Don Hurd said. After watching Alley start performing at a young age, Hurd witnessed his evolution into a
music
RATS
Baldemar
strong showman and songwriter. Alley’s songs crackle with so much imagery they’re likely to win over folks not normally apt to show up at singer-songwriter showcases. “He came into the store one day to play me a new song called ‘Werewolf,’ which is an incredible song about him and his father,” Hurd said. “And that’s when I saw the change in Dylan. He really found what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it. Once that happened, he was a different person. His confidence went up and his live performances became extraordinary.” But Alley’s songs don’t just address his personal life experiences with raw emotion. Humor may be one of his secret weapons. Take the song “Air Hockey Champion,” where Alley describes the rise and fall of, well, a shit-hot air hockey player. “I think I should be signed wearing sweatbands and jumpsuits and doing promos for Bud Light,” Alley sings. “And the people will all see me and say, ‘Hey, it’s that one guy, he’s the Gretsky of air hockey.’” Alley’s voice evokes singers from emo and post-hardcore bands such as Thursday and American Football, and his plentiful tattoos suggest an underground rock pedigree. But those wary of mosh pits shouldn’t worry. The folk aesthetic of Alley’s music widens its appeal. “I don’t really consider myself a singer,” said Alley, who cites English punk and folk artist Frank Turner and singer-songwriter Brett Dennen as influences. “I kind of just not so much talk, but project, my voice. ... And it’s aggressive and it’s angsty, and it’s got a folk-punk element.” Alley hopes to have new music out soon.
Baldemar: ‘People being nice and sharing’ Lo-fi and poppy, self-proclaimed “gunk-pop” solo artist Baldemar specializes in songs that are washed out, reverb-drenched and tiptoe into post-punk and vaporwave territories. But there’s more to his sound than that. Well-crafted and accessible songs lurk beneath the layers of static and noise. Little surprise then that Baldemar Esquivel III — he just goes by his first name for the eponymous project — has emerged as a favorite in San Antonio’s lo-fi bedroom pop scene, which is largely concentrated around house performances. However, he’s also taken his show to larger
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music Bestia
venues, though, including the Paper Tiger. While still building his rep in San Antonio, the artist has amassed an impressive number of streams on his Spotify page, with some songs reaching over 50,000 plays. Although the quality of his tunes accounts for some of that, much stems from his self-promotion. “I would just do my best to talk to a lot of people,” he said. “I think it mostly happened through genuine word of mouth and people being nice and sharing my music.” Baldemar played in bands in the local indie rock and lo-fi scenes before forming his current project in 2015 and releasing an EP called Front Porch Doom the following year. He primarily writes and records on his phone using the program GarageBand. Baldemar is working on new music and aims to release something “girthier” than Front Porch Doom, which was only five tracks. He hopes to release Self-Loading — that’s the working title, anyway — before this spring’s SXSW Festival, where he’ll be playing unofficial shows.
Bestia: Painting with sound A transplant from the Rio Grande Valley, Bestia is an electronic outfit that explores the sonic corridors of ambient and experimental music. Some people have a hard time categorizing ambient as music since it’s so sonically amorphous. So, it may be easier to grasp solo artist Bestia’s work by considering it sound painting. The best approach is letting the sounds themselves draw you in. Bright, echoing and warm, Bestia creates prolonged movements that breathe and exhale, giving the listener a feeling that they’re being pulled
Spy Mc
through a field of pulsing waves. Subtle dynamic shifts and texture changes allow the listener to explore and digest each building block of the compositions. “There’s an economy of composition that he really nails,” said Woodard of Grasshopper Lies Heavy, a fan of Bestia’s work. “I feel like a lot of ambient or noise artists go over the top, and they’re so ready to add beats and things and don’t let the compositions breathe. I feel like his minimalism is really powerful.” Conrad Gonzalez, the musician behind Bestia, played in punk bands through middle school in and high school and eventually started recording bands in the Rio Grande Valley. He ended up in San Antonio two years ago by chance — a move that helped him get sober and take the next step in his musical evolution. “I was a junkie [and] lost a job about 30 minutes away from here, got stranded and had a friend house me,” he explained. Now two years sober, Gonzalez says he’s cut back on his work schedule as a cook — often 90 hours a week — so he can focus on creating music. The approach seems to be working. He released his debut album Procession Of in October and will drop its follow-up in coming weeks. “As much as I like what’s on Procession Of, it’s kind of not what I want to be making,” he said. “I bought a bunch of gear that can [capture my ideas], and hopefully there will be more interesting shit coming out soon.”
SpyMC: Relating to people By the age of 13, San Antonio rapper SpyMC was already freestyling with older friends and discovering that he had the flow and lyrical goods.
But it wouldn’t be until he relocated to Minnesota in 2006 that his hip-hop career truly flowered. “I was only in freestyle battles before that, but when I moved up to Minneapolis, I was like, ‘Alright, I’m going to actually sit down, write songs and do shows,” said the rapper, whose real name is Jose Angel Perez. While there, the emcee also started Loud Mouth League, a hip-hop organization that facilitates rap battles around the Midwest But a 2011 move brought SpyMC back to his hometown. Reacclimated into San Antonio’s hip-hop scene, he dove deep into the indie rap community and started throwing his own shows. His “How We Do at Limelight” showcase still runs every first, third and fifth Wednesday on the St. Mary’s Strip, offering rap up-and-comers a chance to display their skills. Part of SpyMC’s appeal is how easy he makes his delivery appear. He sounds comfortable firing off his highly technical rap verses, enabling him to navigate beats with the precision of heart surgeon. That ease of deliver may be key to expanding his audience beyond hardcore hip-hop fans. The rapper expects to drop a full-length album called Patience in February or March, which also could expand his listening circle. The 10-song release exhibits a thoughtful, mature artist. Clearly, he’s aware of his skills yet careful not to show his entire hand in the first song. Over the course of the record, he tells stories of his own life experience in an entertaining and engaging way. “A lot of people rap about rap, and that’s not really a relatable subject, because the everyday listener is not a rapper,” he said. “So, [Patience] is a lot of my life and what I’m going through. Current situations, how I’ve overcome things. … I don’t know everything, but I know what I know, and I know people can learn from my choices, whether they’ve been mistakes or successes. And that’s what I want to do — relate to people.”
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music CURTIS GRIMES
CELINE DION
Thursday, January 30 Has enough time passed for us to be able to hear “My Heart Will Go On” again? Celine Dion seems to think so. After spending years catering to nostalgic crowds in Las Vegas, the international pop diva is kicking off her first U.S. tour in more than a decade — a 50-date jaunt across the U.S. and Canada. “Now I get the chance to create a brand-new show and bring it to them in North America and around the world,” Dion said in a press release. Surely, some of us just can’t wait. $49-$247, 7:30 p.m., AT&T Center, One AT&T Center Parkway, (210) 444-5000, attcenter.com. — Chris Conde
Longtime fans of network singing shows might know Curtis Grimes from the 2011 season of The Voice, where CeeLo Green coached the Texas native to a respectable finish in the competition’s top ten. In the decade since, Grimes has applied his supple baritone to the comfy niche of Christian country, recording songs about Jesus instead of jacked-up trucks. It worked for Johnny Cash, and it seems to be working pretty well for Grimes too. Free with RSVP, 9:30 p.m., The Rustic, 17619 La Cantera Parkway #204, (210) 245-7500, therustic.com/san-antonio — LH
Shutterstock
Wednesday, January 29
Thursday, January, 30
KYLE MOON & THE MISLED, DAN GONZALEZ BAND
DURAND JONES AND THE INDICATIONS
Colorado-based and Texas-adopted singer Kyle Moon and his band will return to Sam’s Burger Joint for a show featuring his rough-and-rocking Americana sound. Local favorite the Dan Gonzalez Band will bring its mashup of bluesy Texas country-rock. $10-$45, 8 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — Brianna Espinoza
Durand Jones and the Indications are riding the current retro-soul resurgence, and honey, best believe they’re doing it well. The five-piece is touring in support of new album American Love Call, which is definitely a bedroom soundtrack, if you know what we mean. $15-$90, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx. com. — CC
ERIC JOHNSON
Guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson is stopping by SA to present a full playthrough of seminal record Ah Via Musicom. Released in 1990, it snagged Johnson a Grammy for the song “Cliffs of Dover” and made him one of the select instrumentalists in regular rotation on rock radio. There’s a touch of classical elegance to Johnson’s guitar playing, which he augments on occasion with soaring tenor vocals. $25-$45, 7 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — Lance Higdon
Friday, January 31
DO OR DIE
Chicago-birthed rap trio Do or Die will bring its flair for original titles to town for a show at a venue better known for its rock bills. Expect to hear recitations of compositions such as “Po Pimp,” “Still Po Pimpin” and “Kill or Be Killed.” $20-$25, 9 p.m., Fitzgerald’s Bar & Live Music Venue, 437 McCarty Road, Suite 101, (210) 607-7007, fitzrockssa.com. — Mike McMahan
Saturday, February 1
JON WOLFE, DAVID ADAM BYRNES, ROYALE LYNN
facebook / ZZ Top
SAN ANTONIO STOCK SHOW AND RODEO
Thursday-Sunday, February 6-23 Every year, thousands of folks flock to the Stock Show and Rodeo to get a taste — and a whiff — of all the food and entertainment the event has to offer. Among the latter is a dependably decent musical lineup. This year, “The Fighter” singer Keith Urban and rocker Sammy Hagar are among the highlights. Texas favorite ZZ Top is also slated for a Valentine’s Day performance. Check the website for the full lineup. Price and times vary, AT&T Center, One AT&T Center Parkway, (210) 444-5000, attcenter.com. — Chris Conde
Shutterstock
SARAH MCLACHLAN Sunday, February 9
Singer-songwriter Jon Wolfe delivers ballads about love, dancing, and most importantly, Texas with a twang likely to appeal to modern country listeners. Canadian C&W singer Royale Lynn and Fort Worth-based beer enthusiast David Adam Byrnes will round out the two step-ready lineup. $18, 7 p.m., John T. Floore’s Country Store, 14492 Old Bandera Road, (210) 695-8827, liveatfloores. com. — BE
If you’ve ever been blindsided with unexpected feels during an ASPCA TV spot as Sarah McLachlan’s song “Angel” plays over sad pictures of puppies and kitties, we’re right there with you. The combination of that song and those images is JUST TOO MUCH, DAMMIT! While McLachlan will most likely play “Angel” sometime during her set, as she will her slightly dark ’90s hit “Adia,” her catalog does touch on lighter-hearted subjects too. $50-$100, 8 p.m., Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., majesticempire.com. — CC
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music Tuesday, February 4
XAVIER OMAR
JEREMY PINNELL
Monday, February 10 Is it kosher to call someone local if they no longer live in San Antonio anymore but their parents do? While you simmer on that question, we’ll remind you that R&B sensation Xavier Omar is returning to his hometown to play a show at Paper Tiger. The singer has drawn raves from music publications including Pitchfork, XXL and Vibe to name a few, and he claims the Alamo City as the launch pad for his ever-expanding musical career. He still returns at least once a year to play a packed show, so it may be a good idea to catch one at a fairly intimate venue while we still can. $20-$30, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx. com. — CC
Jeremy Pinnell has all the makings of a classic country singer — a Kentucky raising, a commanding singing voice and lyrics that lay bare sin, sorrow, and redemption with equal conviction. He’s drawn comparisons to contemporaries like Sturgill Simpson and elders like Waylon Jennings, and with good reason: the man is a hardcore troubadour. $7-$30, 7 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — LH
GRAYSCALE AND HOT MULLIGAN
Signed to Fearless Records in 2017, Grayscale have honed a sound that lies between a slightly heavier version of the 1975 and the lighter side of screamo. Support comes from Hot Mulligan, an outfit that gives its compositions the it’s-2005-so-our-songtitles-must-be-sentences-of-five-ormore-words treatment. Prepare for a night of nasally pop-punk vocals. $18-$22, 6 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — BE
Friday, February 7
JASPER BONES
California romantic Jasper Bones is bringing all the feelings to the Alamo City by mixing Spanish and English lyricism over tender chord progressions strummed on his guitar. Bones
Courtesy of Xavier Omar
aims to have you longing for that one lost, or current, love — and for our money, he mostly hits the target. $12-$14, 7 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — BE
MEAN JOLENE, WHATEVER?, SUNDIAS
Austin’s Mean Jolene play The Sundays-style dream pop with a little punk octane in the tank. Songs on the band’s most recent record, Try Harder, dance along the tough-andtender continuum both musically
and lyrically. Local quartet Whatever? play a charmingly shambolic style of unreconstructed rock ’n’ roll, while Sundias pursue wah-heavy, fuzz-bassled jams under the intriguing — and apt! — genre moniker of “surf doom.” Free, 9 p.m., Limelight, 2718 N. Saint Mary’s St., thelimelightsa.com. — LH
HIGHLY SUSPECT
No, you’re not seeing double — a pair of twin brothers make up 50% of Highly Suspect. But there’s more to the band than schtick. It delivers
FOREIGNER
Monday, February 10 English-American rock outfit Foreigner’s “Juke Box Hero” stands among the most rocking rock songs about, well, rocking out. And expect to hear it as part of what the band’s labeling as The Hits Tour. Judging by the name, it’s also a safe bet you’ll hear classic tunes including “Cold as Ice,” “Hot Blooded” and “Feels Like the First Time” that dominated AOR radio through the 1980s. Of special local interest, the band will perform its megahit “I Want to Know What Love Is” with a local school choir and donate money to that choir and sales of CDs at the concert to the Grammy Foundation, a charity that aims to keep music education in schools. $49.50-$99.50, 7:30 p.m., Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., majesticempire.com. — CC Shutterstock
an appealing blend of bluesy desert rock, rough and emotional vocals and occasional orchestral flourishes. After starting as a bar cover band at the beginning of the last decade, these guys advanced to picking up a couple of 2015 Grammy nominations and landing some Billboard hits. $30$59.50, 7 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — BE
RUBEN V
If you’ve spent any time sampling regional acts, you’re likely familiar with SA guitar hotshot Ruben V. Bringing blues, Latin, soul and rock to the table, he tours and records prolifically. V also boasts a huge catalog of tunes to mix up for his engaging live shows. $10, 9 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — MM
Saturday February 8
MR. C – SUPERFREQ
UK DJ Mr. C is making his way to the Alamo City from across the pond to spin some tech house. Though C is known to many as frontman of long-running EDM outfit The Shamen, he purports to be a renaissance man, listing rapping and acting among his additional talents. $10-$25, 9 p.m., AV Expression, 125 Guadalupe St., (210) 748-6810, avexpression.com. — MM
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THE ADICTS
Saturday, February 8 You don’t spend 40+ years in a punk rock band without learning a few tricks. Perhaps that’s what keeps vocalist Monkey on his toes and makes him a master of the chopsticks. Brothers Pete Dee and Kid Dee round out the trio of original members in this storied UK outfit. $20, 6 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — MM
ALICIA OLATUJA
Combining elements of jazz, soul and R&B, Alicia Olatua is an outstanding vocalist who can destroy a cover of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.” She first came into the national spotlight by performing as featured soloist with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, and the New York Times has praised her “strong and luscious tone” and “amiably regal presence.” $34, 8 p.m., Carver Community Cultural Center, 226 N. Hackberry St., thecarver.org. — CC
FALLING IN REVERSE
A mix of active rock, post-hardcore and hip-hop, Las Vegas’ Falling in Reverse manages to whip what could be a messy hodgepodge of musical sounds into something that actually works. $27.75-$35, 6 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — CC
TROMBONE SHORTY AND ORLEANS AVENUE
New Orleans jazz and funk legend Trombone Shorty made a lot of San Antonio fans when he opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers a few years back. His energetic live shows areno-
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thing to be missed. $39.50-$89.50, 8 p.m, Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., majesticempire.com. — CC
JOE KING CARRASCO, PATRICIA VONNE
Joe King Carrasco may hail from the distant Panhandle ’burg of Dumas, but the self-described “King of TexMex Rock and Roll” spices up his songs with plentiful pan-continental influences. Expect bits of cumbia, reggae and a little polka too when Carrasco digs into his 40-year career. He’s also co-written with Austin’s Patricia Vonne, who shares the bill and similarly inflects her songs with elements of flamenco and spaghetti-Western soundtracks. $12-$50, 7 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint. com. — LH
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Fun stuff from 2014 & 2015. ACROSS 1 Archipelago components 7 NBA or NHL stats 10 [We meant it this way] 13 Prepare to serve, as a pizza or pie 15 French street 16 Sheep’s mother 17 Country that Conchita Wurst represented in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest 18 Fairway club not often found in a bag 20 ___ Martin (sports car) 21 Her self-titled album was named the best of 2014 by The Guardian and Entertainment Weekly 23 John of 2020’s “The Grudge” 24 Fire pit leftovers 25 Some endoscope users 26 Dorothy of the “Road” pictures 28 Buenos Aires loc. 29 TV show whose climactic episode “Ozymandias” was turned into a mini-op-
era premiering in 2014 33 Slippery ___ (herbal remedy source) 36 Teddy ___ (1980s bear that played cassettes) 37 Baby’s slipper 39 Music booster 40 Late night host who filmed in Cuba in 2015, the first to do so since Jack Paar in 1959 44 Biblical preserver 46 Battery terminals 47 Trig curve 49 Beam of happiness? 50 Robin’s “Mork & Mindy” costar 53 Hit indie RPG of 2015 with notable music, jokes about puzzles, and multiple endings 55 Miller who played the younger daughter in “The Descendants” 57 Tarantulas, e.g. 58 Award-winning 2015 movie whose title is Spanish for “hitman” 60 “Chicken Run” extra
61 Night flyer 62 Soccer forward 63 Amsterdam-based financial co. 64 “Wow” feeling 65 Highest North American peak DOWN 1 “I, Robot” author Asimov 2 Semi-wet snow 3 Ready, in Spain 4 ___-1 (“Ghostbusters” car) 5 Migratory seabird 6 Fashion designer Anna 7 “Ignorance is bliss,” e.g. 8 North African capital city 9 No longer hidden 10 National park in Tanzania 11 “___ let you down!” 12 They’re shown after the decimal 14 Hand down 19 Writer on a birthday? 22 Criminal tough guy 24 Acid class 26 Resting cat’s spot 27 “I Get ___ Out of You” 28 Acrobat software
company 29 Word after sports or training 30 Zombie spirit 31 Like the universe, cosmologically 32 Domicile 34 Finch’s creator 35 Game pieces 38 Hosp. areas 41 Yoga studio greeting 42 Indigo dye source 43 At a minimum 45 Lou of the Velvet Underground 47 Food on a belt 48 Show-offy way to solve crosswords 49 A metal one is reusable 50 Heavy jacket 51 The Little Mermaid 52 Haka dancer 54 “Fancy” singer McEntire 55 Nice-sized lot 56 Principal 59 “___ be my honor”
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E M P LOY M E N T
AT&T Mobility, LLC is proposing to install new wireless telecommunications antennas on an existing wood pole located at 12821 W. Golden Lane, San Antonio, Bexar County, TX. The new facility will consist of the collocation of antennas at approximately 33’-1” feet above ground level (measured to the top of the antennas) on the 30 foot tall wood pole. Any interested party wishing to submit comments regarding the potential effects the proposed facility may have on any historic property may do so by sending such comments to: Project 6119006426 - MB c/o EBI Consulting, 6876 Susquehanna Trail South, York, PA 17403, mbowman@ebiconsulting.com or via telephone at (617) 909-9035.
Howard Midstream Energy Partners, LLC seeks an SAP Business Analyst to work in San Antonio, TX. Gather and analyze financial process and reporting requirements using strong business understanding of accounting concepts, processes, and reporting. Recommend, design, and configure SAP functionality. Work with Project Systems and BPC, S/4 HANA. Expand knowledge of S/4 and Fiori functionality and configuration. Create detailed specifications for ABAP programmers to code. Manage the tasks and deliverables of external resources ABAP programming performed by external vendor. Design and maintain key master data, including updating master data in the production S/4 and Fiori instances. Email resumes to Natascha Bellesen-Lutz at nlutz@howardep.com. Must put job code 78256 on resume.
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