San Antonio Current — May 6, 2020

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Can We Do It?

Texas’ governor is in a rush to reopen. Texas

workers aren’t so sure.

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in this issue San Antonio Current

Issue 20-10 /// May 6 – May 19, 2020

21 Food

Publisher: Michael Wagner Editor-in-Chief: Sanford Nowlin

‘There Is No Right Answer’

Editorial

Digital Content Editor: Kelly Merka Nelson Contributing Arts Editor: Bryan Rindfuss Contributors: Ron Bechtol, Chris Conde, Daniel Conrad, James Courtney, Jade Esteban Estrada, Dan R. Goddard, Lance Higdon, Steven G. Kellman, Hannah Lorence, Kiko Martinez, M. Solis, Gary Sweeney, Leah Thompson Editorial Interns: Brianna Espinoza, Trevor Flynn, Steven Hargis, Katie Hennessey

San Antonio restaurant owners want to reopen, but some refuse to do it on Gov. Abbott’s timetable

22 Music

Advertising

Advertising Director: Michael Wagner

Back with a vengeance

Marketing and Events

Marketing and Events Director: Cassandra Yardeni Events Manager: Chelsea Bourque

SA’s Phonolux rips Trump with incendiary ‘Regime’ song and video

Creative Services

Graphic Designer: Samantha Serna

Circulation

Circulation Manager: Justin Giles

Euclid Media Group

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

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Nina Rangel

12 Feature

Gov. Greg Abbott’s Gamble on Opening the Texas Economy Has High Stakes for Workers Across the State

06 News

The Opener Glitter Political

Gina Ortiz Jones Listens to the Experts — and Voters — on COVID-19

CityScrapes

Make His Point

14 Arts

Odd Objects

If San Antonio needs to fund another round of COVID-19 assistance, here’s where it can find the money

Puro Puzzles

Coronavirus Crisis Brings Harsh Challenges to San Antonio’s Undocumented Community

Virtual Vitality

AG Ken Paxton Really Doesn’t Want Texans to Vote by mail, and He’s Threatening County Election Officials to

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San Antonio museums share fascinating (and creepy) finds from deep in their collections

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San Antonio florist David Garcia joins the jigsaw game

Can We Do It?

Gyms shifted online during the pandemic, and fitness instructors say it may be the wave of the future

Texas’ governor is in a

rush to reopen. Texas workers aren’t so sure.

19 Screens Viral Load

There’s a surplus of ‘virus movies’ to stream on Amazon Prime during quarantine

Not all workers are thrilled with Gov. Greg Abbott’s reopening schedule. Cover design: Samantha Serna.

M

news

That Rocks/That Sucks

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Alamo Colleges District responded to the coronavirus pandemic last week by waiving summer tuition for all currently enrolled students, so long as they have a 2.0 GPA. Full-time students who took class during the spring are eligible for up to nine free credit hours, while part-timers are approved for up to six.

H

Despite his assurances that Texas is beating back COVID-19, Gov. Greg Abbott’s reopening of many Texas businesses on Friday came a day after the state reported its highest daily death from the disease. A total of 50 Texans died Thursday from COVID-19-related deaths.

The same day, another 1,033 people tested positive, one of the state’s highest single-day totals.

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After its first Drive-Thru Zoo experience sold out in two hours, the San Antonio Zoo announced it will offer the in-car safari tours daily through May 17. The zoo launched the first-ofits-kind tours to make up for lost revenue as it hemorrhages cash during the stay-at-home order.

After a Travis County district judge ruled that Texas voters worried about COVID-19 should be able to send in ballots by mail, state Attorney General Ken Paxton sewed confusion by sending a letter hinting that he may throw the book at county election officials who comply with the judge’s order. Paxton also claimed the judge’s ruling is on hold while the state appeals it. — Sanford Nowlin

YOU SAID IT!

“I don’t want anyone to have to deal with what I’m dealing with. If my business closes, it’ll close because I wasn’t willing to put people’s lives on the line.”

— Mike Nguyen,

Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com

Noodle Tree owner and lymphoma patient on why he didn’t open his restaurant on May 1.

ASSCLOWN ALERT

Brad Parscale San Antonio techie-turned-Washington campaign manager Brad Parscale was back in the headlines last week after getting sideways with his famously fickle boss.

President Donald Trump screamed at Parscale on the phone Friday, blaming him for his slipping poll numbers and even threatened to sue, the New York Times and others reported. The call came as the White House played damage control following the reality-show president’s suggestion that ingesting disinfectants just might be that evasive coronavirus cure everyone’s looking for.

But after all that shouting, things were rosy again by Tuesday, the Times also reported.

Apparently, Parscale — now a Florida resident — visited the White House armed with a makeup bouquet in the form of “new campaign polling data in which the president’s standing had climbed.” Aww. Parscale himself weighed in on the matter last week on Twitter, branding the reports of the tiff “#FakeNews.” Of course. What else?

“There’s absolutely no daylight between us,” he gushed of Trump. “We have a great relationship that spans almost 10 yrs.”

The tweet was uncharacteristically warm for Parscale, who typically uses the platform, much like his boss, to take shots at political rivals including “Sleepy Joe Biden” and “WeakKneed Ron Nirenberg” or to label the free press the “enemy of this country.”

For all of that Twitter bluster, it’s apparent there’s one person this assclown doesn’t dare stand up to on social media: his abusive boss.

— Sanford Nowlin

Last week, local officials began including COVID-19 cases from the Bexar County Jail in their overall count of diagnoses for the disease. As of Friday, there were 1,477 positive tests countywide, a jump of 103 from the previous day. The majority of the new cases — 91 of total — came from the jail, a COVID-19 hotbed. At press time Monday, officials have confirmed 98 cases among inmates and 41 among deputies.

In Texas’ largest cities, including San Antonio, 62% of front-line workers are women, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data by the Associated Press. Those employees are also more likely to be people of color.

Workers in professions such as health care, social services and the grocery industry are considered essential workers during the pandemic but face higher infection risks due to their continued exposure to other people.

Twitter / Brad Parscale

After nearly 15 years of fits and starts on the way to development, the shuttered Lone Star Brewery, appears to have a new lease on life.

Last week, a bankruptcy judge authorized the sale of the 32-acre complex south of downtown to GrayStreet Acquisitions, a subsidiary of developer Gray Street Partners, for $14.5 million.

Michael Barajas

GLITTER POLITICAL

Gina Ortiz Jones Listens to the Experts — and Voters — on COVID-19

BY JADE ESTEBAN ESTRADA

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emocratic nominee Gina Ortiz Jones hasn’t been elected to serve the people of Texas’ 23rd Congressional District. Even so, the COVID-19 crisis has inspired her to open a virtual field office to help residents connect to health care and financial resources.

“We are stepping up and, in many ways, serving as a congressional office would,” she explains via phone.

For those who have observed Jones’ solution-driven mindset during her time running for office, the decision to provide weekly updates on COVID-19 may not come as much surprise. The candidate firmly believes that leadership is actionable.

During her 2018 bid to represent the sprawling border district, Jones, now 39, was pegged by her party’s far-left wing as a Washington insider and an establishment figure. After winning that year’s runoff against Democratic Socialist Rick Trevino, she secured the nomination and went on to challenge Republican incumbent Will Hurd, who ultimately defeated her by a razor-thin margin of 926 votes.

Looking back, Jones’ campaign didn’t have the messianic feel of Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 run for the U.S. Senate. Nonetheless, the attractive and smart Jones was elevated by a rarely seen lesbian star power that inspired her backers to view her as the year’s Great Gay Hope.

The fact that she came so close to defeating Hurd fueled her second bid, boosting her enthusiastic base beyond the LGBTQ community and onto a higher tier of electability.

“I can’t believe that it’s already been two years. You have no idea how much I want to be at Taqueria El Rodeo right now,” she says, naming the Northwest Side eatery where we first met.

I tell her that I’m holding up two imaginary Gina Ortiz Jones Barbie Dolls, one from 2018 and one from this year. I ask how they’re different.

“Um ... let’s see,” she says, playing along. “To be honest, I don’t think they’re going to be too different.

They are motivated by the same things, making sure that the community is well represented. Frankly, I think the Barbie Doll of 2020 would be living through COVID-19.”

That latter premise weighs over everything right now and certainly puts up a “Winding Road” sign en route to November’s election.

Jones says White House officials were warned of the oncoming coronavirus pandemic but chose not to act. “No one could have imagined that we could be living through this,” she says. “Unfortunately, much of this is needless.”

I ask her when she thinks the country will be over the worst of the pandemic.

“I’m not a doctor,” she says. “I’m just the one that listens.”

And listen she does. Jones invites Texas’ brightest

Jade Esteban Estrada

minds to appear on her weekly town halls, which she posts on her Facebook page, along with Spanish captions.

I compliment her on the wide variety of experts she’s already interviewed.

“Well, I don’t know what I don’t know,” she replies.

“I’ve always said, ‘If I’m the smartest person in the room, there’s a problem.’ I think part of being a good leader, Jade, is recognizing that one doesn’t have all the answers. I mean, who does? Nobody does.”

Nine months ago, a photo of Jones standing at a memorial dedicated to the victims of last year’s mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart popped up in my Facebook feed. It struck me as a significant milestone in her journey as a Texas leader.

When I ask how the tragedy affected her personally, she pasuses, seeming to flip back a few news cycles.

“It was heart-wrenching to think that anybody in our country would be targeted simply because of the color of their skin,” she says. “And it was equally heart wrenching to think that that killer was motivated by the words of our country’s leader. First, I felt I needed to call it what it was, which was a white nationalist-fueled domestic terrorist attack that caused the largest massacre of Latinos in American history.”

She continues: “It showed all of us just how dangerous this type of rhetoric can be if left unchecked.

And that’s why I’ve always said, it’s not just what our leaders do, it’s also what they don’t do. It’s also the silence of so many and then the complicity of so many that are also responsible for that tragedy and continue to be responsible, unfortunately, for what’s going

on today. That was another unfortunate and needless event. It shouldn’t have happened, and we know it doesn’t have to be that way.”

I ask if there’s anything she would praise about Hurd’s administration?

“Praise?” she replies slowly, as if pulling the word out of a muddy pond. I immediately wish I’d used a less celebratory term.

“In all fairness, I have heard in local communities that he has a good staff and they are responsive,” she acquiesces. “That’s a low freakin’ bar, right? If you’re praising somebody because their staff answers the phone and gets back with somebody? That just shows you just how low our expectations are.”

With her eye on the future, Jones says she would like people who attend her town halls to ask a question: “What is the world that you want after this?”

“I think people are dealing with the economic consequences and the health consequences [of COVID-19] in their own way,” she says. “I’m not going to tell anybody how they should feel about this, but people are going to walk away with their own understanding of what this has meant to them personally and what that could mean to them as they decide who their next leader should be — and they have every right to do that.”

I ask her if there’s something she’d like people to keep in mind as we continue down this path of so many unknowns.

“I think we are a resilient people,” she says. “We’ll get through this. [But] I think we’ve absolutely learned our lesson.” sacurrent.com | May 6 – May 19, 2020 | CURRENT

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news CITYSCRAPES

If San Antonio needs to fund another round of COVID-19 assistance, here’s where it can find the money

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

F

or breakfast Sunday morning, COPS President Bea Gallego had eggs, bacon, coffee, and victoria dulce. She earned every bite.”

So began Roddy Stinson’s Express column on Monday, January 17, 1977.

The “sweet victory” savored by Beatrice Gallego and the COPS (Communities Organized for Public Service) organization that Sunday in early 1977 was the approval by city voters of the 10-1 district election plan for city council.

The change in minority representation from an entirely at-large council would reshape both the makeup of the body and city policy priorities over subsequent years.

Just a few days ago, COPS/Metro could savor “sweet victory” once again, both for the organization and for the thousands of San Antonians who have had their lives and personal finances upended by the coronavirus and the stay-at-home orders. The city council, in a 10-to-1 vote, approved the commitment of $25 million for emergency assistance, to help residents with rent, utility bills, gas, groceries and Internet access.

In the face of the current economic devastation, it’s not much. Hopefully, the money is only a first installment to address needs that are likely to grow over the coming months. Even so, it still took concerted pressure on the mayor and council to deliver on this meager amount.

An initial proposal by city staff, reluctant to commit the abundant general fund reserves and seemingly rummaging under the couch cushions for spare dollars, amounted to just $15.8 million.

sa-19

Almost all of that sum came from federal dollars, both under the current stimulus program and the Community Development Block Grant program.

The possible local dollars were found in the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone funds, including $400,000 from the Houston Street zone and the Midtown and Inner City zones at $1 million each.

These funds are where the city has stashed away the increased property tax revenues from new development around the Frost Tower and San Pedro Creek downtown, as well as along the Museum Reach of the river and the Pearl Brewery developments.

Then there was $3.05 million from the Housing Trust Corporations, and another $2.5 million from the Parking Enterprise Fund, originally budgeted for projects that aren’t likely to happen anytime soon. This all amounted to city hall’s spare change in the face of the

situation exemplified by the lengthy lines for food aid from the San Antonio Food Bank.

At this point, it’s difficult to predict the course of the coronavirus locally or the depth of the economic recession locally and nationally.

But if the pressures on San Antonio families continue though the summer and into the fall, the need for public assistance will undoubtedly be far more than the current allocation of $25 million.

So, in the interest of easing the workload of city staff, here are some suggestions for where a few extra dollars might be found.

The current fiscal year 2020 budget includes $2.5 million in “Visit San Antonio Hosting Obligations,” described as “funding for annual contractual obligations to support major conventions, meetings and/or events.” I’d guess (or even bet) some of those conventions and events aren’t happening this year.

Surely, that money could be better used for San Antonians.

And then there is the place where City Manager Erik Walsh, and his predecessor, has been stashing general fund dollars in recent years: street maintenance.

The current budget allots a whopping $110 million to street maintenance. I enjoy the nice fresh asphalt as much as any driver. But, surely, we could make do with a little less this year, putting off those maintenance projects for some months or shifting the spending to the next fiscal year.

We shouldn’t prioritize street maintenance over a local populace scrambling to find food, pay bills and maintain a roof over their heads.

Now is the time to prioritize people over potholes.

Heywood Sanders is a professor of public policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio. sacurrent.com | May 6 – May 19, 2020 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | May 6 – May 19, 2020 | sacurrent.com

news

Coronavirus Crisis Brings Harsh Challenges to San Antonio’s Undocumented Community

AG Ken Paxton Doesn’t Want Texans Voting by Mail. Now He’s Threatening County Elections Officials to Make His Point

W

T

BY MIKE MCMAHAN

hile life during a pandemic hasn’t been fun for anyone, San Antonio’s undocumented population faces unique challenges during the crisis.

Some of those people are essential workers but don’t necessarily receive that designation from the authorities.

Nor are they even recognized as such by much of the community. Some in the community may not even be aware of services available to them during the pandemic.

“The undocumented workers that harvest crops are still out there harvesting crops,” said Bernadette Solorzano, a psychologist who works with San Antonio’s undocumented population. “We’d be in trouble without those people and the work that they do.”

Still, these workers are losing their jobs.

“A lot of people are laid off,” she added. “There’s no unemployment for them to apply for, so that’s worsened their situation.”

Solorzano hopes that the current crisis may awaken more empathy for the group, which has been scapegoated by right-wing political figures in recent years.

San Antonio is home to more than 60,000 undocumented people, according to one recent study based on 2017 data. Collectively, the group earns $1 billion annually and contributes more than $100 million to taxes.

San Antonio officials appear aware the strain facing undocumented families. For example, the city’s recent $25 million COVID-19 relief package doesn’t require recipients to show citizenship documents.

Solorzano is clinic director of Community Counseling Service, which focuses on serving marginalized and low-income populations including undocumented people. She said undodumented residents have long faced hardships the rest of us are only now experiencing.

“There’s always an element of

Wikimedia Commons

sustained uncertainty, which we’re all experiencing through COVID,” she said.

“There’s always this fear that they’re going to get pulled over and picked up.

Then they’re not coming back home again. So, there’s always anxiety.”

In this way, undocumented residents may not see as significant of a change, particularly in terms of their mental health.

“It’s going to depend on if the family is hit by COVID-19. If they have to deal with illness or death of a family member, that will be an added problem,” she said. “Or if they tried to get help but couldn’t.”

Diana Lopez, executive director of the Southwest Workers Union, said her organization has received calls during the pandemic from undocumented people experiencing financial stress and depression. Some worry that they have no financial safety net in the U.S. and no local support system of relatives

to help out if they lose their jobs.

“It’s something we really haven’t figured out how to address, other than staying on the phone with them and letting them talk about what they’re feeling,” she said.

Walk-in mental health services are available at Community Counseling Service. Immigration status is not something the clinic asks about, and if they became aware of a client being undocumented, it would be protected information.

There is room for non-professionals to help as well. Organizations such as Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) are frequently looking for volunteers, particularly volunteers who are bilingual.

“For most people, helping other people improves your mental health,” Solorzano said. “You’re putting change out in the world and you’re making

exas Attorney General Ken Paxton fired off a letter Friday threatening to prosecute election officials who advise able-bodied voters, who normally wouldn’t qualify for a mail-in ballot, that they may submit one because of the pandemic.

The letter is in direct conflict with a ruling two weeks ago by a state district judge that states Texans concerned about catching COVID-19 at the polls may request absentee ballots instead. Travis County Judge Tim Sulak ruled that the expansion is justified under the portion of the state election code that lets people with disabilities vote by mail.

Paxton, a Republican, appealed the ruling to the Third Court of Appeals. He maintains that while the appeal is pending, Sulak’s order is essentially on hold.

In the letter, Paxton said the suit doesn’t alter Texas’ existing election code. What’s more, he warns that “third parties” could face criminal penalties if they counsel voters that the risk of contracting COVID-19 qualifies them as a having a disability.

Paxton argues that the code clearly defines “disability” as having a “qualifying sickness or physical condition” that prevents someone from voting at the polls, he added.

However, in the disputed ruling, Sulak wrote that state law is ambiguous about what qualifies as a disability.

Further, he ruled that the state is barred from “issuing guidance or otherwise taking actions” to prevent counties from accepting mail-in ballots from people trying to avoid exposure to COVID-19.

“Ken Paxton’s letter — which is not binding — gets the law wrong and serves no other purpose than to attempt to intimidate voters and county officials,” Thomas Buser-Clancy of the ACLU of Texas told the Texas Tribune.

— Sanford Nowlin

sacurrent.com | May 6 – May 19, 2020 | CURRENT

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news

Nina Rangel

Gov. Greg Abbott’s Gamble on Opening M the Texas Economy Has High Stakes for Workers Across the State

Employees at the Winchester in SA voted on whether to reopen Friday. Not all businesses gave workers that choice.

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

B

rad Lewis, a bar employee at San Antonio’s Hotel Emma, has been worried about being called back to work. But not as much as three coworkers who are immunocompromised and face higher health risks during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lewis said he’s glad bars weren’t cleared to open on Friday, May 1, when Gov. Greg Abbott allowed restaurants, retailers and malls to reopen at 25% capacity. According to Lewis, the plan poses big risks to people who draw a paycheck dealing with the public.

“The state is kind of shooting itself in the foot and putting workers in danger,” he said. “I think we’re going to see more infections.”

The Republican governor’s plan to reopen the economy before Texas’ COVID-19 infection rates have

12

CURRENT | May 6 – May 19, 2020 | sacurrent.com

clearly peaked is a gamble, labor advocates argue. It’s a gamble with the lives of workers and their families.

The reopening came a day after Texas reported its highest daily death toll from COVID-19 – a total of 50 fatalites. The same day, another 1,033 people tested positive, one of the state’s highest single-day totals.

As of May 3, 31,548 Texans tested positive for the coronavirus and 867 have died. Last weekend — the first under Abbott’s reopening — Dallas County tallied its biggest single-day jump in COVID-19 cases, adding 234 on Sunday. Houston, meanwhile, recorded five deaths on Saturday, matching its highest single-day death toll.

“Superseding local stay-at-home rules without the full virus-fighting infrastructure recommended by medical experts is a recipe for disaster for working

families and all Texans,” said Rick Levy, president of the Texas AFL-CIO. “The Governor’s plan can do much more to assure that working people will be safe when they are back on the job.”

If the state is going to move ahead on a broad reopening of the economy, it should require employers to provide personal protective equipment and additional safety rules, Levy added. What’s more, it should offer protections to workers who report violations of the standards.

Diana Lopez, executive director of the Southwest Workers Union, worries that if the return-to-work order results in a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, San Antonio could be hit especially hard. Roughly 13% of the city’s labor force works in the hospitality industry, where face-to-face interactions are part of the job and social distancing is difficult.

Many low-wage workers furloughed from restaurant, retail and hotel jobs may feel no option but return, even if they have underlying conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure or live in a house-

hold someone in a high-risk group.

“You have no other option but to pick between paying your bills and keeping your family afloat or risking your health or the health of someone you live with,” Lopez said.

‘Russian Roulette’ While doing interviews to sell his reopening plan, Abbott repeatedly stressed that he’s working with medical professionals to guide the effort and that the state could slam on the brakes on the next phase of the plan, scheduled for May 18, if cases increase.

“All the key metrics are going in the right direction, and that is exactly why the doctors advised us that we had the green light to open up to the extent we are opening up,” Abbott recently told the Texas Tribune.

By “all the key metrics,” the governor actually is referring to just two of them. That pair of statistics is state’s infection rate, or the ratio of positive cases to the total number of tests, and its hospitalization rate, the proportion of infected people who end up in the hospital.

Even assuming those data sets are the most important ones — Abbott claims that’s what his medical advisors tell him, anyway — critics point out that the governor is working with incomplete info. Texas’ testing record ranks 47th in the nation. According to experts, that means it’s still unclear exactly how big a problem we have.

As of May 2, the state had tested 391,000 people, or just over 1% of its total population of 29 million, according to the independent COVID Tracking Project.

That falls considerably short of the daily minimum of about 152 tests per 100,000 people the Harvard Global Health Institute’s recommends before states re-open their economies.

“The decisions already in place in cities and counties have, by and large, worked to slow the spread of the coronavirus,” Levy of the AFL-CIO said. “Local officials should not have to yield to an edict from on high based primarily on case counts when under-testing almost certainly means we do not have a true picture of the spread of COVID-19. Instead, local governments should be accorded the same discretion to roll out reopening plans that they had to enact distancing and other requirements.”

Dr. Bryan Alsip, University Health System’s chief medical officer and part of the San Antonio-area COVID-19 transition team, said the economy can safety reopen — so long as people continue to adhere to strict guidelines.

“It means that those interventions which worked to keep it at a lower level need to be maintained for a longer period of time,” he said. “Ultimately, if we stop doing those things or ignore the recommendations we put into place, we run the risk of bringing more and more people together in a quick amount of time.

They could potentially pass the virus to each other and infect others, which would lead to a higher number of cases in a very rapid amount of time.”

However, other medical experts have a more brutal assessment of what lies ahead for states who reopen ahead of making significant gains in testing.

“I think they’re playing Russian roulette,’’ in-

fectious disease expert Dr. John Swartzberg of the University of California-Berkeley told USA Today.

“They’re hoping obviously that reopening the states is not going to lead to increased cases. They have no way of monitoring the answer to that question until it explodes.”

Disappearing Benefits?

Following Abbott’s order, the state released new rules relaxing the guidelines for receiving unemployment benefits.

Under the rules, Texans who are at high risk or live with high-risk people, such as immunocompromised individuals or those over 65, can still receive unemployment benefits. Those who have been diagnosed with COVID-19, are in a 14-day quarantine or live in a household with someone who has tested positive can also continue to receive benefits.

What’s more, those who don’t have access to childcare due to school and day care closures can also continue drawing on unemployment benefits.

Any other case would be subject to a review by the Texas Workforce Commission “based on individual circumstances,” according to a news release from the state.

However, that eligibility expansion was announced days after Abbott’s announcement. By then, several news organizations had run stories speculating that people who didn’t head back to work might be dropped from the unemployment rolls.

In a statement, Texas Democratic Party spokesman said the delayed announcement was evidence that Abbott was rushing to reopen without adequate planning in place.

“Abbott’s overlooking of the elderly who can no longer seek unemployment benefits was yet another example of how he’s utterly mismanaged the crisis and botched the gradual reopening of Texas businesses,” Texas Democratic Party spokesman Abhi Rahman said in a statement. “If the decision to open the state prematurely wasn’t bad enough, Abbott proved

again that he really had no plan.”

Worker advocates also say it remains to be seen how strict the state plans to be about the requirements. Where will it draw the line for people with borderline high blood pressure, for example, or those with concerns about other health conditions that may not be among the most obvious ones? <subhead>Worker Recourse Workers concerned about COVID-19 do have some legal recourse at the federal level if they’re worried about being called back to the job too soon, said San Antonio labor attorney Michael Galo.

Congress passed a paid sick leave provision in March that guarantees workers up to 80 hours off, assuming a doctor confirms their return poses a health risk. Under the same package of laws, workers also can get emergency family leave if their children are out of school and childcare is unavailable.

Galo also recommends that those worried about their health speak to their employers about delaying their return. Some companies are likely to bring back workers on a staggered basis, meaning someone else could be moved to the front of the line instead.

However, he points out that none of those offer long-term guarantees of workplace safety. After all, experts warn there could be a coronavirus resurgence in the fall, and a potential vaccine is likely a year or more away.

“People are in a little bit of a tough situation here, and I’m not sure what the outcome is going to be,” Galo said.

That means for many Texas workers, the only viable option is to head back to their jobs to keep the paychecks coming.

Lewis, the San Antonio bar employee, said he’ll return once his hotel’s management decides it’s time.

Even so, he’s concerned some members of the public may read the state’s rushed decision to reopen as a signal to stop following social distancing guidelines.

“It’s frustrating, because I believe this should be about common sense,” Lewis said. “But, instead, I think they made it all about money.”

Instagram / Cerroni’s Purple Garlic

sacurrent.com | May 6 – May 19, 2020 | CURRENT

13

Odd Objects

Peggy Tenison

Courtesy Photo / Briscoe Western Art Museum

San Antonio museums share fascinating (and creepy) finds from deep in their collections

BY KELLY MERKA NELSON

I

n addition to the greatest hits of culture and history, museums house tons of hidden gems that often go unnoticed. Inspired by a recent Twitter challenge from the Yorkshire Museum — which requested that institutions share the creepiest objects in their possession — we asked four local museums to show off the strangest and compelling pieces from their collections.

Cat Mummy, San Antonio Museum of Art

Egyptian, Roman period, 30 B.C.–395 A.D., Cat remains, linen, pigment, 20 x 7 in. (50.8 × 17.8 cm), San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of Gilbert M. Denman, Jr., 91.80.206 Many people know that Ancient Egyptians mummified animals, but the San Antonio Museum of Art has a particularly interesting feline mummy in its collection.

“Ancient Egyptians not only mummified people, but also animals, especially during later periods of Egyptian history. Although many mummies of mammals, birds, and reptiles were mass produced, new research suggests that some of the animals were mummified with the same elaborate care given to hu14

CURRENT | May 6 – May 19, 2020 | sacurrent.com

mans,” says Jessica Powers, SAMA’s curator for ancient Mediterranean art.

“With restoration, we discovered that the mummified cat in our collection has a red wrapping over its head, which is very unusual for an animal. Red wrappings were typically found on mummies of priests.

The museum’s cat mummy had a rough 2,000 years, but with restoration, it is now looking more like it did when it was entombed. We also determined that the cat was an orange tabby because some of his fur remained!”

Castroville’s Horse-Drawn Hearse, Institute of Texan Cultures

Made in 1898 by the Sayer & Scovill Co. of Cincinnati, OH. The Institute of Texan Cultures has a fascinating artifact from Texas’ funerary history: a horse-drawn hearse that was used in the town of Castroville from 1919 until around 1930. The secondhand hearse was driven by August L. Tschirhart, who would charge $5 per funeral.

That’s interesting enough on its own, but it turns out the hearse may also be haunted. James Benavides,

Courtesy Photo / McNay Art Museum

the institute’s senior communications specialist, shared one spooky story with the Current.

“So, one night, a guard was on duty, making his regular rounds. When he gets to the exhibit floor, he finds the hearse doors open,” Benavides said. “He thought some of the senior officers were playing a joke on him, so he closes the doors and goes about his business.

“Coming up on the end of his night shift, he’s making his last sweep of the exhibit floor and he finds the hearse doors open again. He laughs to himself, then realizes, he was the only person in the building.”

Benavides continued: “The doors don’t open easily; they take two hands to work a latch and pull open.

But stories persist, that from time to time, the guards will find the hearse doors open.”

Jean Tinguely and Eva Aeppli’s Kerzenstock mit Maske (Candlestick with Mask) (ca. 1991), McNay Art Museum

Iron and bronze, wax candle, with gouache on papier mâché and ribbon. Collection of the McNay Art Museum, Jeanne and Irving Mathews Collection.

The McNay’s collection features a lot of challenging modern art, but staff say this piece by Jean Tinguely and Eva Aeppli, which recently went on display, is capable of startling in a more visceral way.

The sculpture was fabricated as part of a series by Surrealist artists Jean Tinguely and Eva Aeppli, shortly before Tinguely’s death in 1991, according to the McNay.

SAN ANTONIO FLORIST DAVID GARCIA JOINS THE JIGSAW GAME

Courtesy Photo / Institute of Texan Cultures

“It is a reflection of the artist’s later preoccupation with mortality and combines both artist’s styles and preferred media (Tinguely typically worked with metals and kinetic materials; Eva frequently implemented fiber, masks, and other tactile media in her work),” the museum wrote.

“The sculpture only recently went on view upstairs in the McNay mansion and is the first 3D object by the artist in the Collection. Nonetheless, it can still make you jump upon entering the gallery!”

Andy Warhol’s Geronimo (ca. 1986), Briscoe Western Art Museum Screen-print on Lenox museum board, Briscoe Western Art Museum Collection, Gift of the Jack and Valerie Guenther Foundation.

You know who in town has an Andy Warhol on hand? Bet your first guess wasn’t the Briscoe Western Art Museum, whose collection includes a screenprint by the pop artist based on an iconic image of Geronimo.

The print is part of Warhol’s larger “Cowboys and Indians” series.

“Warhol includes celebrities such as John Wayne and Annie Oakley as well as historical figures like George Armstrong Custer and this image of Geronimo,” the museum told the Current.

“Warhol’s putting these figures in conversation with each other is quite interesting, especially when you notice that it is only the image of Geronimo (taken from an original photograph by Ben Wittick) that looks back, directly at the viewer.”

Craving more? Check out an extended version of this article at sacurrent.com.

arts

eum

PURO PUZZLES

Googling the words “puzzle” and “pandemic” these days returns headlines such as “People are Curbing Their Stay-at-Home Anxiety the Analog Way: With Puzzles” from CNN. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal posted “Coronavirus Means Everyone Wants Jigsaw Puzzles.

Good Luck Buying One.” An odd example of collective consciousness in the e-tail era, the puzzle boom has resulted in unmeetable demand. Puzzle giant Ravensburger has been unable to fulfill orders and “puzzles for adults” jumped from the 1,435th most-searched item on Amazon into the top 10 alongside cleaning supplies and toilet paper. Sought-after puzzles are being resold at premiums and small businesses are stepping in to fill gaps in the market.

No. 9 — a Beacon Hill boutique specializing in floral design, gifts and chocolates — is one such example.

“We were, and still are, getting calls from people who want floral product from us, [but] we just haven’t been in the position to do it,” owner David Garcia said. “That’s how the puzzle thing came along. …

I was reading about puzzles selling out — and people selling them for ridiculous prices on eBay — and I was like, ‘Wow, this is kind of shitty.

And this is maybe a good way for us to jump in the game.’”

After connecting with a fabricator, Garcia ordered several designs reproducing artwork he’d commissioned. Priced at $35, his puzzles all ring in at 500 pieces, with the difficulty level of each depending largely on imagery. The puzzles are available online at no9floralandgifts.com.

Arcoiris Named after the Spanish word for rainbow, Arcoiris depicts a grid of color-coded skulls Garcia assembled for a Día de los Muertos ofrenda honoring the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre. “We had that image in front of the altar, [and] people signed well wishes to Pulse on it,” Garcia explained. Repeated pattern aside, Arcoiris is perhaps the easiest puzzle in the bunch.

Comida Por Vida A graphic homage to the Alamo City’s culinary inclinations, Comida Por Vida is a no-brainer for foodies in quarantine. The work of graphic designer Enzo Fiorello, the design celebrates barbacoa, Big Red, tacos and paletas in a playful melange of fonts and illustrations. Since it was commissioned as a silkscreen for baby onesies, it’s completely black and white — which makes for tricky puzzling.

Dulces Sueños Candy-colored conchas, rainbow sprinkle cookies and pig-shaped maranitos fill this pan dulce extravaganza. Photographed by Feliz Modern proprietor Ginger Diaz and originally printed on beach towels and cell phone clutches, the vibrant design is like a virtual trip to the panadería that’s simultaneously uplifting and hunger-inducing.

Rebirth A testament to Garcia’s fascination with New Orleans and legendary voodoo queen Marie Laveau, this dark still-life features a painterly floral arrangement sprouting from an ominous skull vase. Ideal for Goths in self-isolation, it’s captivating to ponder — perhaps extensively as its black background makes it the most challenging puzzle in the lot.

— Bryan Rindfuss

Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com

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arts Virtual Vitality

Gyms shifted online during the pandemic, and fitness instructors say it may be the wave of the future

BY KATIE HENNESSEY

W

hen the coronavirus pandemic forced the closure of nonessential businesses, local gyms and fitness instructors were forced to ramp up their online presence to maintain memberships and make sure their bills get paid.

San Antonio fitness leaders say it’s been a challenge to quickly create online classes and keep clients on task in quarantine. But they add that the abrupt change is helping them prepare for industry changes. Plus, the past couple of months have helped them create opportunities for the local community to engage with the gym in a whole new way.

Keeping Them Engaged When Joe Kreidel opened the indoor climbing gym Armadillo Boulders in 2018, he knew the business would face obstacles, but a global pandemic was hard to see coming. Temporarily closing its doors was a scary step.

“There was so much unknown then, and even now there’s a lot we don’t understand, like when it will be safe to open,” Kreidel told the Current.

Fortunately, the gym had already been expanding its online presence to give members a sense of community.

So, when COVID-19 forced it strictly online, some of the work was already done.

“Now, we have a YouTube ab-andcore class, I hosted a route-setting informational video, we are going to be doing a Zoom book club,” Kreidel said.

“We’re trying to keep people engaged with the gym so people are excited to return once we get the chance to open.”

Armadillo Boulders’ Instagram account has been active, publishing content on staff’s climbing experiences. It’s also hosted a youth photo challenge to recreate famous climbing photos at home, and members are sharing athome workouts by climbing structures such as door frames and stairways.

“It’s a challenge trying to come up

with engaging content,” Kreidel said.

“But, so far, our online programs have been pretty successful.”

Beyond the virtual participation, members are also kicking in cash. So far, a quarter of members have contributed financially, including paying their April and May membership fees.

“It showed that a lot of things we are trying to do, as far as being a close community for people, have really connected with our members,” Kreidel said.

Maintaining Community CrossFit San Antonio owner Mario Barajas has kept his business going by hosting group classes on Zoom. His biggest challenge is keeping the workouts interesting on an online platform.

He holds four classes a day, two in the morning and two in the evening, offering a weighted workout for those who have equipment, plus a variation of the workout using only body-weight exercises.

“I am doing everything that is possible to keep people engaged,” said Barajas, who’s owned the gym since 2015. “The workouts are getting pretty tough, because we’ve been going at it for so long. There are only so many squats and pushups you can do.”

Knowing most members have limited equipment at home, Barajas has been forced to come up with creative solutions.

“We’ve started incorporating odd-object bags into our workouts,” he said. “People will stuff a backpack with books, water jugs, anything they can find. It doesn’t have to be heavy, but it can add weight to some of the movements like chair dips, stairs and squats.”

Before the gym closed, Barajas had 175 paying members. Since then, the number has dwindled to 120. While most are logging in and joining the workouts, others continue to pay their fees even though they aren’t regular online participants.

Instagram / @armadilloboulders

Barajas said the social media presence has a value beyond helping members keep up with their workouts, though. He’s initiated challenges to stir comradery, such as a Facebook Live cooking challenge and a team-based nutritional competition.

“The CrossFit community is so much about community itself,” Barajas said.

“Community-wise, I think this will make us stronger in the end.”

Personal Training Personal trainer Alex Lungien has worked for Gold’s Gym on Culebra and 1604 since 2015, specializing in oneon-one training and cross-functional workouts. When he was furloughed due to the pandemic, he transitioned to freelance training by offering Skype sessions.

“It’s a natural evolution for the fitness industry to offer online training,” Lungien told the Current. “This just sped the process up by a couple of decades.”

Luckily, Lungien had existing clients to call on. But other aspects of building an online business presented challenges — such as monitoring participants’ safety, effort level and tempo during workouts.

“I can’t be there to catch my client, or catch a weight if it falls, or literally support them through a movement,” he said. “And even if it’s not physical touch, it’s so much easier in person to modify someone’s technique, gauge if they are doing the movements correctly, or listen to someone’s breathing.”

When a client’s video has poor lighting, a delay or is only shot from one angle the task becomes even tougher.

Lungien’s ready to get back to business at Gold’s Gym, adding that it’s hard to stay positive without knowing the timeline for his return.

“I’ve heard it said that if you go to prison, it could be the nicest prison in the world, but it still could be considered cruel and unusual punishment if you don’t have an estimated release date,” he added.

But despite the challenges, he sees the work he’s putting into online coaching as part of his professional growth.

“There is a huge market for distance clients,” Lungien said. “The cliché excuse about not having enough time to exercise, well, if there is no commute, you can get right to your workout. It makes me wonder if clients will want to stick to online workouts and not return to training in person.” sacurrent.com | May 6 – May 19, 2020 | CURRENT

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Viral Load

There’s a surplus of ‘virus movies’ to stream on Amazon Prime during quarantine

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

I

f the only “virus movies” you’ve watched so far while in quarantine are Outbreak and Contagion and you’re looking to keep your blood pressure elevated during the real-world pandemic, you’re in luck.

A quick journey into the untapped fringes of Amazon Prime will reveal a wealth of independent virus-themed films you’ve probably missed.

“I think watching movies about viruses during a pandemic is very similar to watching scary movies in October or Christmas movies in December,” said San Antonio filmmaker Buddy Calvo, whose last film, 2018’s Stage V, followed a group of kids fending for themselves after a deadly virus spreads worldwide. “It’s just a theme for the state of mind we are currently in.”

(For more on Calvo, check out this issue’s story on his band Phonolux.)

Once the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us — whenever that will be — Calvo thinks screenwriters and directors are going to gravitate to more virus-themed projects.

“Filmmakers will never stop making endof-the-world movies because audiences will never stop watching,” he said. “After all of this is said and done, I think there’ll be an uptick in this genre. We want to know or fantasize about how this will all end, and we’ll always line up to see the next film that gives us a preview of our own destruction.”

Since there’s no way we’d be able to list the scores of virus movies currently streaming on Prime, we selected a few that stand out.

We’re not including any zombie narratives and only picked movies about the virus itself, its impact on society and the people who are infected.

“I don’t think there is any need for more zombie films,” Calvo said. “What always interested me is how people might react during the apocalypse and how the average person could be much more dangerous than any zombie or monster.”

Below are five of the better non-zombie virus flicks streaming on Prime. For an extended list of these kinds of movies — but with a much broader range in quality — visit sacurrent.com.

Containment (2015)

A group of Brits in an apartment building awake to find they have been sealed into their flat with no communication to the outside world. Patrolling the grounds around the

Embers - Slamdance Presents

building are people in Hazmat suits. In a short and steady 77 minutes, the story finds an interesting albeit familiar hook as the residents team up to escape the forced quarantine. Despite the humdrum ending, the moral questions presented are thoughtful, and the talented cast makes for a nice collection of sympathetic characters.

Diverge (2016)

A survivor of a deadly virus is sent back in time by a scientist to stop the outbreak from ever happening. Early on, most of what viewers witness is the man and his infected wife trying to survive outside of the quarantine zone. When the time travel narrative kicks in, the film hits a few unique strides and crosses over into some unnerving storylines that the most fervent sci-fi fans will enjoy.

Embers (2015)

A decade after a global epidemic that causes retrograde and anterograde amnesia, survivors are forced to go through life without recalling the past or creating new memories.

Broken into five separate stories, the most fascinating of these is about an unnamed couple who wake up not knowing who one another is, but still knowing they love each other. Another features a young woman

who’s been quarantined with her father for more than nine years. Each narrative presents humanity in a distinct way.

Light of My Life (2019)

Oscar-winner Casey Affleck stars as Caleb, a father surviving in the solitude of the wilderness with his young daughter Rag, whom he disguises as a boy. His actions come after a global plague has decimated most of the female population. The sense of dread that permeates the film never lets up, much as in John Hillcoat’s 2009 dystopian thriller The Road. Affleck, who also directs, has created an intimate film — one that speaks on parental responsibility and the great lengths to which a father would go to protect his child.

What Still Remains (2018)

While it doesn’t do much to separate itself from these types of post-apocalyptic films, a feat that is incredibly hard to do these days, the film will be passable for fans of The Walking Dead who actually like the human stories more than the zombies. After a plague spreads across the world, a young woman ends up at a nearby sanctuary run by religious zealots who are defending themselves from a faction known as the Berserkers. But who are the real monsters?

Find more film stories at sacurrent.com

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food

‘There Is No Right Answer’ San Antonio restaurant owners want to reopen, but some refuse to do it on Gov. Abbott’s timetable

BY NINA RANGEL

I

n late March, the Texas Restaurant Association estimated that as many as 500,000 bar and restaurant jobs could be lost due to the pandemic. As of April 30, the actual numbers revealed an even more tragic reality: some 680,000 jobs have evaporated since COVID-19 spread to the U.S. Despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement last week that restaurants could reopen at limited capacity, many in San Antonio’s food-service industry remain skeptical.

The governor’s “strike force” to oversee the project is headed by a key GOP donor and a lobbyist, and includes only three doctors.

That has some local restaurant and bar professionals questioning whether the decisions are being made with their interests in mind.

“All white men, not one person of color on camera,” Rebel Mariposa, chef-owner of LGBTQ-friendly La Botanica on the St. Mary’s Strip, said of Abbott’s press conference unveiling the plan. “Even the translator was a white man.”

“It’s like, ‘Are you even talking to me?’” she added.

Alamo City industry insiders worry about the consequences for both their workers and customers, especially since COVID-19 infections across the state were still rising at press time. If Abbott’s pro-business gamble results in more hospitalizations, service workers will be facing not just health consequences but potential financial ruin. “[Abbott] says he wants to protect those that are most vulnerable to the virus, but by reopening restaurants so early, he’s really not,” said Haleigh Guillory, bar instructor at the Culinary Institute of America campus at the Pearl. “Socioeconomically, industry workers are on the lower end of the income spectrum. That means no access to health insurance in most cases. Where’s the accountability when it comes to the establishments keeping their employees healthy and safe?”

In virtually every one of the dozen interviews the Current did to research this article, culinary professionals sounded weary, tired.

It’s easy to see them as sea captains weathering a storm, beaten down yet preparing for the rough waters yet to come.

“It’s heartbreaking to sit here every day and look at the dining room empty,” said Geron-

Josh Huskin

imo Lopez, owner of Botika at the Pearl. “It’s been my life for 30 years, and the stress is overwhelming. We have all of these people, our work family, behind us that depend on us, and the reality is that there is no right answer.”

Botika’s patio will be reconfigured to accommodate social distancing and to allow guests to enjoy to-go meals, but Lopez ultimately decided not to reopen the dining room.

Leo Davila of Catch the Wave, a popular San Antonio food truck, was set to sign the lease on a brick-and-mortar space earlier this year, but was unable to move forward amid the turmoil that lead up to the shutdown.

“This thing really cut us at the knees,” he said. “We were on track to sign a lease on a great space to start rocking and rolling with full production. COVID halted all of our progress.”

‘More Tired Than I’ve Ever Been’ Even those working in restaurants preparing to reopen say they’re unsure whether operating at 25% capacity will be enough to justify the risk and the added overhead.

“Even with the opportunity to open so soon, we’ll still have to continue to make alternate plans to make sure we stay viable,” said Haran Hernandez, a dining room manager at the Winchester in Alamo Heights.

“Curbside services, pantry items, groceries…

The work doesn’t stop when the doors open.”

The Winchester’s staff has been providing free weekly meals for furloughed service industry professionals since the middle of March.

“I see 200 industry people every week, and I’d say 50% still don’t have any income,” said JR Vega, the restaurant’s general manager.

“We’re just hoping for an option that’s not going to hurt us worse in the long term, before people start losing their homes, losing everything.”

While the Winchester has been offering curbside service during the stay-at-home order, it’s amounted to a lot of work for just

Geronimo Lopez of Botika at the Pearl ultimately decided against reopening his dining room.

M

10% of its normal sales.

“I’m more tired than I’ve ever been,” Vega added.

Following an all-staff meeting to discuss its options, the Winchester’s employees decided to reopen May 1.

Staying Shut But, at the end of the day, many San Antonio restaurant professionals say they’re not prepared to reopen — at least not it won’t put their lives and livelihoods at further risk.

“What I want most in the world right now is to go to a bar and hug my friends,” said Aaron Peña, owner Squeezebox on the St. Mary’s Strip. “It’s just not feasible right now if I want my friends to be safe.”

It’s not just the industry workers who are wary of returning to dining rooms. A HuffPost/YouGov poll found that 65% of Americans would continue to stay home even with no limitations in place.

In a Bexar Facts poll, almost 60% of San Antonio-area respondents said they worry the “worst is yet to come” with the pandemic.

Hours after Abbott’s announcement, the Texas Workforce Commission released a statement that said, “If a business reopens and an employee chooses not to return to work, they become ineligible for unemployment.”

“The governor doesn’t give a shit about us,” Peña said. “He wants his contributors and donors to be happy, so he’s going to do what he needs to do to benefit his pocketbook.”

There’s a clear divide between those who sheltered in place, worked from home and joked about being on a “forced staycation” and those who fought tirelessly to offer hospitality and comfort to Texans any way they could.

Local restaurant professionals say it’s about time state officials finally show them the same level of respect.

Find more food & drink news at sacurrent.com

Back with a vengeance SA’s Phonolux rips Trump with incendiary ‘Regime’ song and video

BY ENRIQUE LOPETEGUI

T

Find more music coverage every day at sacurrent.com

he animated video for Phonolux’s “Regime” shows Donald Trump in bed with Big Pharma and a bloodied, dead woman. In another scene, a whip-wielding Melania, clad in dominatrix gear, holds a “Castrate the Quitters” sign while the President is about to remove Uncle Sam’s balls with a guillotine. In another, the MAGA Supreme Leader sits on a toilet looking as if he’s masturbating, although we soon find out he was only tweeting.

And on and on and on.

In case the San Antonio rock band’s latest vid wasn’t in-your-face enough for you, the single’s cover illustration shows a hand holding Trump’s decapitated head, in a sort of Brujería’s Matando Güeros-meets-Kathy Griffin nightmare or dream — depending on which side of the aisle you’re on. The imagery is all backed up with a fierce rocker of a tune that suggests band leader Buddy Calvo is mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore.

“It’s a satire, it’s a joke,” said Calvo, the band’s keyboardist, vocalist and drummer.

“What the video says is, ‘You better be careful, because we never thought we’d be down this road we’re currently on.” And, he adds, things could still get worse.

Calvo started uploading new Phonolux songs in January with the new lineup: Art Romo on guitar and Mando Mora on bass.

Art Guillermo Jr., who performs on bass and drums, is the only member remaining from an earlier quartet lineup of the band.

The reconfigured Phonolux will continue releasing a song a month until January 2021, when it will drop a new, still-untitled album that will be released with two additional new songs.

Phonolux formed in 2007 and put out its self-titled debut in 2009. Both it and the follow up, Nashville Fires (2012), were among the best local releases in their respective years. Yet another album, Feather Fortress, came out in 2016, followed by silence. Then, the two-song EP “JeJune”/“Letters Make Words” dropped in January, “Regime” in February, “The Mourning” in March and “The Vine” in April. Two more EPs are scheduled for May and June. Phonolux was also scheduled to play live for the first time in many years at the Aztec Theatre’s Facebook Live page on May 1.

Even though Phonolux always displayed a talent for songwriting and ambitious, Rhodes/

Courtesy Photo / Phonolux

Wurlitzer-based production values à la Supertramp, the new tracks offer a more direct, guitar-oriented sound and rank among the best work yet from the band.

“Three upcoming songs have the ‘old’ Phonolux sound,” Calvo said. “Nothing wrong with that, but hopefully I want to feel that we’re growing.”

Whether the upcoming album will earn any new fans, especially after the polarizing, provocative nature of “Regime,” only time will tell.

“It’s not that we had so many fans to begin with,” said Calvo, half-joking. “Sure, yes, but what do you want me to do? The song is out there, and it is what it is.”

“When I saw the [“Regime” video and cover], I went, ‘Oh, shit… This is going to start something,’” band member Guillermo added. “I’m not a Trump fan at all, but at the same time, [we knew] some people wouldn’t want to share this, so I was, ‘Oh, fuck it, let’s do it.’”

Guillermo was right. As of press time, the “Regime” video — released in late March, directed by Calvo but not associated with Machina Cinema, his wife Perla Rivera’s film production company — only had 165 views on YouTube. The clip was “mysteriously” taken down after he tried to post it on his Facebook page. When he tried to share it from the band’s page, the service “wouldn’t even let me boost it

… ‘Your video contains blah blah blah…’”

Nothing New Under the Sun Phonolux not only burns pianos — as it did for a Current story in 2013, photographed by Josh Huskin — but it’s only continuing a proud tradition of pissing people off left and right.

And loving it.

“We have a running joke with the band, ‘Phonolux: Burning bridges since 2007,’” Guillermo explained.

“I’m sure it all started with me saying something to the effect of, ‘I don’t want to play with such-and-such band’ or ‘at such-and-such venue,’” said Calvo, who’s notoriously — and appropriately — picky when it comes to live sound.

“We always expect more of ourselves and the venues and people we play with. … When we voiced this, people that didn’t like what we had to say cut ties with us.”

Calvo wouldn’t mind neo-Nazis “cutting ties” with the band, but he also wants to keep the record straight. “[With ‘Regime’] I’m not promoting the idea that we should behead Trump,” Calvo said. “I’m promoting the idea that … it’s important to remind ourselves and those in power that we can change things. As Jim Morrison once said, ‘They got the guns, but we got the numbers.’”

E M P L OY M E N T Veterinarian, FT. PP-TX LLC dba City Veterinary Hospital in San Antonio, TX. Email careers@pathwayvets.com

Financial Analyst III - Rackspace US, Inc. – San Antonio, TX. Perform budget analysis & complex financial analyses on cash flows, operating results & business plan, & prepare forecasts & analyses on Geotechnical Engineer (San industry & general economic Antonio, TX): trends. Req’d: Master in Bus, Conduct geotechnical Finance or rel field + 3yrs exp in projects incl supervising financial planning, analysis or rel boring layouts, drill rigs, field OR Bach in Bus, Finance or rel field + 5yrs exp foundation inspections, & in financial planning, analysis or assigning lab tests & soil rel field. Req’d: Any exp w/all of classifications; prep following: creating moderately reports, proposals, manage complex long-term forecasting budgets, quality & cost models (revenues & expenses) & control. Reqs a Mstr's inCivil data analysis; budgeting, Engr. Mail resumes to financial statements, cash mgmt HR Manager, & financial analysis Arias & Associates, Inc., 142 processes; using knowledge Chula Vista Dr., of overall financial function & San Antonio, TX 78232 interrelated components; comm. complex quantitative concepts Financial Analyst III to non-financial audience; MS Office Suite, Hyperion – Rackspace US, Inc. – Planning, Hyperion Financial San Antonio, TX. Management, Oracle, SQL & Performs mod cmplx financial Novatus; forecasting analysis. Req’s: Mast degree in timely cash flow, sales & Biz, Fin, or rel field + 3yrs exp expense projections, in fin plan, analysis or rel field profitability, headcount, dept.

OR Bach degree in Biz, Fin, or performance & direct rel field + 5yrs exp in fin plan, expenses; monthly budget to analysis or rel field + any exp actual analysis & KPI’s; w/: creating mod cmplx assessing options to improve fcsting mods (revs and bus. expenses; ad hoc projects; expens) & data analysis for ext working w/non-US teams; written & verbal comm. to periods of time + data analysis non-financial audience. + tech knwl of bdgt, fin stmnts, Send resume to: cash mgmnt, & fin analysis careers@rackspace.com, Ref. proc + knwl of fin funct & 18073 interrelated comps +

expressing cmplx qnt concepts to non-fin aud; MS Office Suite; prgming skills on SQL, DAX, or VBA; fcsting timely cash flow/sales/expens projections, profitability, HC, dept perf & direct expens + mthly bdgt to actl analysis & KPIs + assess opts for imps on biz expens + ad hoc projs + work w/ teams in non-US loc.

To apply: qualified applicants please submit resumes to: careers@rackspace.com, Ref. 20331.

Chaplain at CHRISTUS Health (San Antonio, Texas).

Assesses, provides and documents effective spiritual care to patients, families & staff in a variety of situations.

25% domestic travel. Master’s in Family Ministry, Theology, Divinity, or closly rlted fld or for eq. + 1yr work exp in clinical pastoral residency role Mail CV & cover ltr ref job title to Amelia Litterios, CHRISTUS Health, 919 Hidden Ridge, Irving, TX 75038

LEGAL NOTICE

Astral Travel

Trinity Vehicle Storage Facility, Inc. 9911 N IH 35, San Antonio, TX 78233 (210)960-1901 License #0653735VSF https://www.tdlr.texas.gov

Learn How! Courses

2014 Prowler Trailer VIN: None LP: None Impound Date: 03/27/2020 Total Due: $1,005.50 If the vehicle is not claimed 30 days after the Date this notice is sent, the VSF has the right to dispose of the vehicle. Failure to do so shall be a waiver of all rights, title, interest and consent to sell the vehicle at Public Sale

No Monetary Cost Visit www.DarrylEBerryJr.com

AUTO AUCTION The vehicles listed below were impounded by San Antonio Police Dept. and will be auctioned Online at Joyrideautos.com on

JUNE 10, 2020 at 3:00P at SAN ANTONIO VEHICLE IMPOUND FACILITY Registered owners may pick up vehicles by showing proof of ownership & paying all towing and storage fees prior to Auction.

FEE ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. ID#

YEAR

MAKE

MODEL

VIN

CHARGES

3630354

2000

OTHER

MINI-BIKE

LRYYCDL0X50000841

$2,188.45

2303475

1975

FORD

PICK-UP

F10HRA26777

$41,720.80

3650301

2019

OTHER

MOTORCYCLE

LWGPCML03KA114323

$1,950.30

2301159

2000

OTHER

OTHER

CAT00304VNAD02949

$42,457.65

3715251

2020

OTHER

ATV

1M04X2XDCAM060246

$1,019.35

3528592

1900

TRAILER

TRAILER

4FPWB22276G110536

$3,400.85

3724216

2004

CHEVROLET

IMPALA

2G1WH52K049438309

$831.20

3699571

2007

FORD

MUSTANG

NO VIN

$1,365.75

2515892

1900

OTHER

LAWN MOTOR

GXL110A238220

$16,932.10

3345699

2000

OTHER

GOLF CART

2349218

$ 5,500.90

3609357

2000

OTHER

GOLF CART

A5CUBB2CJDA428061

$2,426.60

3625 Growdon Rd. San Antonio, TX | 210.881.8440

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