San Antonio Current — August 12, 2020

AUGUST

12

—

AUGUST

25,

2020

ARTPACE’S OPEN CALL IS POISED TO JUMPSTART THE CAREERS OF MORE TEXAS CREATORS

registration now open

Virtual

7, 14, & 22-mile bike ride 5k & 10k walk/run complete your tour september 8-13, 2020

register by september 3, 2020 at worldheritagefestival.org 2020 World Heritage Festival - September 8-13 JOIN THE CELEBRATION! The City of San Antonio World Heritage Office presents this 5th annual festival in commemoration of San Antonio's Missions designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

For the safety and well-being of the community, this year's World Heritage Festival will include a series of virtual events.

tour de las misiones sponsors

View Full Event Calendar:

worldheritagefestival.org

#worldheritagesa

Co nve n i e ntly p re - packag e d

4 CO M B O PaCKS to ch o o se fro m ! ap e ro l sp ritz * crow n royal texas h i g h ball ce nte nari o margarita * d i cke l w h isky s o u r

Get your happy hour delivered! Order online or download our mobile app for quick and easy delivery or in-store pick up.

twinliquors.com You must be 21+ to shop and order online, receive delivery, or pick up in store. All deliveries require in-person veriďŹ cation of a legal photo ID at point of delivery. Orders will NOT be left unattended. Limited delivery area and pick up only available at select locations. All in-store promotions and pricing do not apply to online order. Exclusions apply. Please drink responsibly.

sacurrent.com | August 12 – August 25, 2020 | CURRENT

3

JOIN THE FUN OF

LEARNING TOGETHER

celebratING what makes our city so special

Around Town • Food + Drink • Nightlife • People • Shopping

8 week (Flex II) courses Only $99 per credit hour Faculty experienced in online & remote teaching

BEST BAKERY

BEST BU RGER

BEST HAPPY HOUR

One of the best community colleges in Texas BEST BARBERSHOP BEST BOOK STORE

BEST CL OTHING STORE

VOTE for your favorite local people, places and things to do!

CAST YOUR VOTE July 20 - August 22 AT SACURRENT.COM/BESTOFSA20 4

CURRENT | August 12 – August 25, 2020 | sacurrent.com

in this issue San Antonio Current

Issue 20-17 /// August 12 – August 25, 2020

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

21 Music

Editorial

Digital Content Editor: Kelly Merka Nelson Contributing Arts Editor: Bryan Rindfuss Food and Nightlife Writer: Nina Rangel Contributors: Ron Bechtol, Chris Conde, Daniel Conrad, 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, Steve Hargis Katie Hennessey, Darian Mendez, Laura Morales, Dana Nichols Kayla Padilla, Deanna Wilson

Sunny Days

Brooklyn label releasing tribute album to West Side soul pioneer Sunny Ozuna

Advertising

Advertising Director: Michael Wagner Media Account Manager: Jackie Villanueva

Marketing and Events

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

Creative Services

Graphic Designer: Samantha Serna Production Interns: Pedro Macias

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

Ana Fernandez

13 Feature

Who’s Next?

Artpace’s open call presents opportunity for Texas artists

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

06 News

The Opener News in Brief

10 Calendar Calendar Picks

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.

Online Evictions

How one San Antonio courtroom handles tenant-landlord disputes during the pandemic

Glitter Political

For Dr. Colleen Bridger, Mitigating the COVID-19 Pandemic Is One More Mountain to Climb

Questions About Reopening of Texas Schools Front and Center at Gov. Abbott’s San Antonio Event MJ Hegar Getting $1 Million Boost in Bid to Unseat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn

17 Food

Tapped Out

As the pandemic wears on, Texas craft brewers question how long they can survive

Summer Shandys

Several San Antonio craft brews make great additions to hotweather beer cocktails

20 Screens

Favorite Son

San Antonio native Ben Feinstein is a frontrunner in the award-winning political documentary Boys State

On the Cover: Designer Samantha Serna used photos of work created during past Artpace residencies to form the feature story’s headline. Photos courtesy of Artpace.

M

That Rocks/That Sucks

H

Even with COVID-19 ravaging the country and millions of Americans facing the loss of unemployment benefits and housing, the Trump administration’s war on asylum seekers continues. Starting October 2, asylum seekers will be required to pay a $50 fee — making the U.S. one of just four countries to make them pay for fleeing violence and persecution in their countries of origin.

H

During the uprising over the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, cities around the country have painted streets with messages of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. San Antonio’s — painted by artists and volunteers in the streets surrounding Travis Park last week — features a message penned by the city’s poet laureate, Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson: “Jubilant and exuberant is the melanin of our skin / From despair, we have arisen.”

H

Your tax dollars at work, folks. After Donald Trump made a border wall key to his 2016 election campaign, the White House has only finished five new miles of new fencing where none existed before, according to data obtained by the Express-News. Despite pledging to make Mexico pay, the administration has set aside $15 billion in U.S. funds to complete the project.

Wikimedia Commons U.S. Department of Justic

ASSCLOWN ALERT Veteran San Antonio political operative Jenn Longoria has joined Joe Biden’s Texas campaign as deputy director. Longoria ran Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s primary campaign in Texas in the spring and before that worked for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Polls show a tight race emerging between Biden and President Donald Trump in the state. — Abe Asher

YOU SAID IT!

“I invited every Black friend I know, and they didn’t show!”

— the chair of the McLennan County Republican Party to the Texas Tribune on why nearly every attendee of the group’s “Black Voices for Trump” event was white.

6

CURRENT | August 12 – August 25, 2020 | sacurrent.com

Ken Paxton Throws Up Another Roadblock to His Own Trial Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, indicted for felony securities fraud more than five years ago, last week sought yet another delay to the protracted prosecution of his case.

Paxton’s attorneys argued that Judge Jason Luong should recuse himself from presiding over the case because the AG’s office is representing him and other judges in an unrelated matter. Luoung is the

A group of hemp companies is suing the State of Texas in Travis County court, arguing that its ban on smokable hemp products violates the constitution. Texas legalized hemp last year, but in guidelines released last week, banned smokable products. The companies say the ban will cost both them and the state millions in revenue and hinder growth of the industry.

Democrats continue to spend big to turn Texas blue in a presidential election for the first time since 1976. A new Super PAC called Blue Texas PAC launched last week with backing from a range of Lone Star State political actors. It’s planning a significant ad campaign on behalf of Joe Biden this fall.

fourth judge so far to oversee the case.

Prosecutors said the Paxton team’s latest motion is without merit and an attempt prevent the case from going ahead in Harris County rather than a friendlier venue to the defendant.

The debate adds one more time-consuming turn to the legal case that’s been bogged down in attorneys’ legal wrangling over issues including where the trial should be held and how much prosecutors should be paid.

Paxton is accused of persuading investors to buy stock in a tech company without disclosing that he would be compensated for it — a charge he denies. For someone who maintains he’s innocent, the AG sure is acting like an assclown with something to hide.

— Sanford Nowlin

James Dobbins

With much still unknown about how Texas schools will operate in the fall, San Antonio educators last week participated in a car caravan to protest reopening plans. Among the group’s targets: San Antonio ISD’s plan, which would require teachers to present lessons in person even if all of their students are learning remotely.

— Abe Asher

How one San Antonio courtroom handles tenant-landlord disputes during the pandemic

BY JAMES DOBBINS

L

ike other Texas courts, San Antonio’s Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace has gone on Zoom.

On a recent Tuesday, Judge Rogelio Lopez Jr. presided over his Southeast Side courtroom, working to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants. However, the bailiff and I were the only people in the actual courtroom.

A large TV screen on the wall above the judge’s bench showed 10 individual streaming videos. Lawyers, landlords and tenants from across San Antonio sat waiting for the court to begin in their offices, living rooms, and in one stream, what appeared to be a bedroom.

After the bailiff swore in the plaintiffs and defendants, Lopez opened the session by reading the day’s docket. The virtual proceedings seemed to run as smoothly as could be expected under the circumstances.

“It is very difficult to do this right. The court is restricted,” Lopez said. “Due to the pandemic, restricting the court is contrary to everything I believe in.”

The hearings unfolded after a federal eviction moratorium expired last month, leaving housing advocates concerned about a potential surge in evictions. So, whether a Bexar County renter will be cast out for not paying on time is largely in the hands of judges like Lopez.

During the hearings, the judge patiently waited through technical difficulties, mysterious reverberations, the murmur of background conversations and the snap of a soda can being opened.

“Anyone who is not participating must put their sound on mute, please,” Lopez said as he strained to hear one soft-spoken complainant.

Case Backlog Right now, Precinct 4 is only hearing 100 eviction suits a week. Before the pandemic,

news

Online Evictions

Screen Capture / Zoom

up to 250 evictions went through Judge Lopez’s courtroom weekly. The court currently has a backlog of some 400 cases.

When the Texas Supreme Court lifted its moratorium on evictions in May, Lopez and his staff plowed through a similar backlog in two weeks. It’s too early to tell how quickly the court will resume its regular caseload — and there’s no telling how much worse the economy will get, forcing more landlords to start eviction proceedings against tenants who miss rent.

“The city and the county have programs for rental assistance to help both landlords and tenants,” Lopez told the plaintiffs and defendants. “There are monies available that may help people resolve these matters without going through the full eviction.”

No matter what, Lopez said, he’ll continue to use Zoom instead of in-person court proceedings because of the COVID-19 threat.

Under the court’s current rules, he’s only hearing evictions of tenants suspected of committing criminal activity or are accused of being an imminent threat to their neighbors.

‘A Difficult Time’ What unfolded over the next hour of hearings is typical of these proceedings: landlords, usually represented by an attorney, made their case to evict a tenant. The tenants, mostly without representation, defended themselves. More often than not, during this session, they lost.

The first plaintiffs of the day complained that their tenant’s family members threatened them with pepper spray and violence.

The landlords offered a 30-day continuance on their lawsuit if the tenant agreed to resolve the problem, meaning, not allow the

Judge Rogelio Lopez Jr. presides over a Zoom session between landlords and tenants while his courtroom sits largely empty.

M

disruptive family members into the rental.

The tenant agreed and avoided imminent eviction for at least the next month.

“Landlords realize it’s a difficult time. I think they genuinely want to work things out,” Lopez said in his chambers after the court concluded. “I always encourage the parties to work things out. Everyone benefits, because the landlord wants to get paid and the tenant wants to stay home.”

The next case didn’t fall under the Lopez’s view of an imminent threat. And though the tenant allegedly owed more than $3,000 in back rent, the judge pushed back the lawsuit to a later date when regular evictions will proceed.

Other tenants weren’t as fortunate.

One after another, the judge agreed with the plaintiffs and ordered tenants to vacate their homes in five days or appeal the decision. After he rendered the decisions, a city representative spoke up, offering information on financial and rental assistance to the defendants.

Kenny Wilson, president and CEO of the Haven for Hope shelter, expects an increase in homelessness as the pandemic and its economic consequences play out.

But, so far, he hasn’t seen evidence of mass evictions.

“The city is taking lots of steps to keep people in their home, including specialists on standby at the court hearings to help people.

I hope it stays the same,” he said. “I’m a little surprised, but grateful.”

Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com

news GLITTER POLITICAL

For Dr. Colleen Bridger, Mitigating the COVID-19 Pandemic Is One More Mountain to Climb

BY JADE ESTEBAN ESTRADA

W

hen Dr. Colleen Bridger pops up on my computer screen, her curiously shaped earrings immediately catch my eye.

“They’re meant to look like ginkgo biloba leaves,” she says, gently trailing the one on the right.

The medicinal herb seems like an appropriate fashion choice for the interim director of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District and the face of the city’s COVID-19 response team.

Before we dive into the interview, I ask how she’s doing.

“I’m hanging in there,” she replies. “This pandemic has just been unlike anything I have ever dealt with.”

Bridger, 52, served as Metro Health director before being promoted to assistant city manager in summer of 2019. When Metro Health Director Dawn Emerick resigned suddenly amid the pandemic, Bridger filled in the role while continuing her work as assistant city manager.

“I don’t want to make this too much about [Emerick],” Bridger says. “There’s already been too much about her. But the thing that I would like to remind everybody is I was leaving.”

After 25 years working in local government, Bridger was counting down the days to the launch of her own business when the resignation happened. Indeed, the letter came three weeks before her scheduled retirement.

Though I sense some dolefulness from Bridger, many San Antonians were relieved that she delayed her departure to help the city battle the biggest public health crisis in more than a century.

As our conversation unfolds, it seems clear that Bridger’s rural upbringing inspired the work ethic that brought her to this point in her life. Raised on her mother’s hobby farm in Michigan, she grew up showing beef cattle, Dorset sheep and the occasional turkey at the 4-H Fair every year. She, her mother, her sister and her mother’s female roommate did all the chores.

“There were no men on this farm,” she says. “We didn’t leave the heavy lifting or the gross stuff to the boys because we had to do everything.”

A planner from the onset, Bridger later used the prize money she earned showing animals to pay for her undergraduate education.

“Growing up on a farm taught me about patience, because you plant things, and then later, you harvest them,” she says. Farm life also taught her that Mother Nature ultimately holds the cards. “You can do things to prepare and try to mitigate some of it, but there

8

CURRENT | August 12 – August 25, 2020 | sacurrent.com

Sanford Nowlin

are things you can’t do anything about. You have to have a backup plan, and you have to be somewhat Zen about the whole experience, because if not, you’ll drive yourself crazy.”

Bridger’s relationship with the great outdoors continues. She and her mother have an annual tradition of a shared hiking trip. A few years back, they climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

“That was pretty cool because my daughter, my mother and I all made it to the highest part of Kilimanjaro. I don’t know how many three generations of women have done that.”

Bridger has managed to balance a demanding career with a contented family life. She and her husband Chuck will soon celebrate 31 years of marriage, and they have two grown children.

Even so, Metro Health faces big challenges, key among them building public trust as it tackles COVID-19.

“I think one of the things that we need to do is recognize that there’s a lot of noise that’s distracting people from the messages that we’re trying to get out,” she says. “Part of the reason for that noise is to undermine trust in government.”

One of the department’s initiatives has been to share “consistent, concise and consolidated messaging,” while partnering with community influencers.

On that subject, I ask what her response is to President Trump’s recently tweeted picture of himself

wearing a mask.

“So, the PC answer that I will give you is that I haven’t had a lot of time to look at anybody’s tweets, let alone the president’s tweets,” she says after a lengthy pause. “My less than PC response is pffft.”

As San Antonio lives through a summer like no other, Bridger hopes to see residents become more accustomed to the new normal.

“I think in the beginning, everybody thought that if they just hunkered down and stayed in their houses this virus would go away,” she says. “And what we’ve realized is that that’s not the case. We have to learn to change the way we live so that we can live with this virus, and that means wearing masks every time you’re interacting with other people, that means staying six feet away from other people. If we can learn to change some of those things, then I think we’ll get to the point, when there is a vaccine, we can get to that herd immunity.”

In the meantime, Bridger says leaders can’t afford to waffle when it comes to fighting the pandemic.

“Yo-yo diets don’t work, and yo-yo COVID responses don’t work either,” she cautions.

I ask what makes her happy.

“On Friday, I am driving to Tuscaloosa and seeing my pregnant daughter for the first time since she’s been pregnant, and laying hands on her stomach,” she says. “I have just been looking forward to that for months.”

MJ Hegar Getting $1 Million Boost in Bid to Unseat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn

T

Questions About Reopening of Texas Schools Front and Center at Gov. Abbott’s San Antonio Press Event

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

G

ov. Greg Abbott appeared in San Antonio last week to trumpet Texas’ success in distributing personal protective equipment, or PPE, during the pandemic.

However, many of his prepared remarks — not to mention most questions posed by reporters — focused on the contentious debate on how to reopen schools as COVID-19 infections and deaths remain high across the state.

At the Texas Division of Emergency Management’s central warehouse, Abbott talked up the state’s distribution of PPE, pointing out that the agency has so far distributed more than 59 million masks and 568,000 gallons of hand sanitizer to schools in preparation for their reopening. He also outlined efforts to ensure the upcoming flu season doesn’t cut into supplies.

But a substantial portion of Abbott’s remarks were devoted to defending

his guidance that school districts, not orders by local health officials, should determine when and how schools restart. That guidance appears to stand in the way of a recent order from San Antonio Metro Health that schools must remain virtual until Sept. 7.

“The people who know best about that are local school districts,” the Republican governor said, adding that board members and superintendents are still able to weigh the advice of public health experts.

“Nothing is stopping them from doing that, and they can fully adopt whatever strategy the local public health authority says,” he added.

One reporter asked Abbott why people should listen to him over the recommendation of medical doctors.

Abbott replied that local districts, not him, had the power to make decisions.

The governor’s remarks come as the state’s educators and parents voice frustration over conflicting guidance

Abbott Screen Shot

over which authorities have the final call to set the schedule for reopening schools.

Abbott’s appearance also marked his first press conference in months as the state struggles contain alarming infection rates.

Instead, the governor has focused on brief appearances on local TV stations to provide updates on the health crisis.

A recent poll shows that nearly twothirds of Texans disapprove of Abbott’s performance during the pandemic. His approval numbers in that ongoing poll have dwindled each month since April.

In statement, the Texas Democratic Party characterized Abbott’s San Antonio presser as a photo op and a distraction.

“Just like Donald Trump, Governor Abbott has proven time and time again that he has failed Texans in our greatest time of need,” said Abhi Rahman, the Democrats’ communication director.

“After refusing to hold a press conference for three months while the situation severely worsened, Abbott finally held a staged photo-op in front of crucial PPE where he didn’t directly answer questions and refused to take responsibility for his failures managing the coronavirus crisis.”

he Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee last week said it will make a “seven-figure coordinated investment” in the campaign of MJ Hegar, the former Air Force helicopter pilot challenging threeterm U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

The contribution marks the DSCC’s first major investment in a general election in Texas, which hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994.

However, the committee’s decision appears bolstered by a late-July poll it commissioned that puts Hegar almost neck-and-neck with her opponent.

In that survey, conducted by Global Strategy Group and Latino Decisions, Cornyn is at 43% and Hegar at 42%, while 15% of voters remain undecided. The poll also found Hegar had room to grow her name recognition, according to the DSCC. However, other recent polling hasn’t suggested a close contest. A Morning Consult survey released last week gave Cornyn a 6-point lead with likely voters, and a Quinnipiac University poll from July put the GOP senator’s lead at 47% to 38%.

Even with the DSCC’s entry into the race, Cornyn also enjoys a considerable financial advantage. The incumbent had $14.5 million in cash at the end of the second quarter, compared to Hegar’s roughly $1 million, pre-DSCC. — Sanford Nowlin

Facebook / MJ Hegar

sacurrent.com | August 12 – August 25, 2020 | CURRENT

9

SAT | 08.15 SPECIAL EVENT

VIRTUAL DETECTIVE: FOLLOW ME

The escape room experience — locking a bunch of people in a closed space for an hour or until they puzzle their way out — isn’t exactly socially distant.

You might not think that kind of challenge could be virtually adapted to take place on a Zoom call, but considering how desperate we are to escape our homes right now, perhaps it’s not surprising the industry is moving online. Hell, even librarians are getting in on it. Soon, the Tobin Center will host its own Virtual Detective game, Follow Me, in which participants role-play expert sleuths armed with weapons, badges and the power of the internet. In a caper worthy of Sherlock Holmes or Sam Spade, your team of detectives must decode clues, defuse a bomb, save your missing partner and track down the Evil Mr. E — all in under 60 minutes. It’s clear that the appetite for adventure is out there, because the first game is nearly sold out and the Tobin has added a second to meet demand. Each game accommodates 25 players and is recommended for ages 10 and up. Participants will require a computer and secondary device with internet access and be able to use Zoom, which is free. Those interested in booking their own private game can email tickets@tobincenter.org. $27.50, 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday, August 15, Zoom, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-86241, tobincenter.org. — Trevor Flynn

Callejeros de San Anto will perform their South Texas-inspired music via Facebook livestream.

Setting the stage in front of the Villa Finale — the historic final home of Walter Mathias — the band is expected to present a bit of their “upbeat puro Tex-Mex rhythm” to get at-home viewers up off the couch. With a hearty tuba, traditional accordion, vocal harmonies and a bajosexto in the mix, Los Callejeros de San Anto reimagines classic songs for performances that are uniquely their own. The band was recently featured on KSAT last month, and are even taking private bookings to put on a socially distanced performances in locals’ front yards. The ongoing concert series, which is handled by the King William Cultural Arts Association, highlights one musical act each month with a streaming performance that takes place in locations around the King William District. After the livestream of this “abuela approved” group’s performance, the video can be viewed over on the King William Association YouTube channel and Facebook page along with previous performances in the series. Free, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Facebook Live, King William Cultural Arts District, (210) 227-8786, kingwilliamculturalartsdistrict.com. — Brianna Espinoza

America,” will stream via Zoom conference. Moderated by Aundar Ma’at and Born Logic Allah, owners of Melaneyes Media and producers of Walk on the River: A Black History of the Alamo City, “The Lynching of Black America” will cover the history of lynching and its continuation into the modern day, with a Q&A afterward. To keep the event accessible, the event is priced as “pay what you can,” with tickets ranging from $1 to $100 on Eventbrite. A private link will be sent to attendees via email on the day of the event. $1 to $100, 7-9 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays, Zoom, Melaneyes Media, (210) 560-1733, melaneyesmedia.com.

— Laura Morales

MON | 08.17 FI LM

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM

When the sun goes down, noir rolls in as Slab Cinema and The Good Kind Southtown partner up to deliver this week’s Noir Monday featuring Ol’ Blue Eyes, himself. In The Man with the Golden Arm, Frank Sinatra stars as Frankie Machine, an illegal card dealer and recovering heroin addict out of prison.

With nothing to his name but an old drum set, he takes it up in an attempt to turn his life around. But when his former drug dealer and a former employer walk back into his life, he soon realizes it ain’t easy to kick old habits. This film also features Kim Novak and Darren McGavin — the latter of whom filmgoers may recognize from his later work in A Christmas Story and Kolchak: The Night Stalker. To maintain social distancing practices, seating must be reserved online. This outdoor screening event is pet-friendly.

Food and drinks can be ordered in advance, or upon early arrival, from the restaurant and bar for pick-up. $6-$22, 8:30-11:30 p.m., The Good Kind Southtown, 1127 South St. Mary’s St., (210) 212-9373, slabcinema.com. — Steve Hargis

Facebook / Los Callejeros De San Anto

SUN | 08.16 SPECIAL EVEN T

‘THE LYNCHING OF BLACK AMERICA’

Reminder:

Although live events have returned, the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us. Check with venues to make sure scheduled events are still happening, and please follow all health and safety guidelines.

SUN | 08.16

Pexels / Cedric Lim Ah Tock

LIVE MUSIC

LOS CALLEJEROS DE SAN ANTO

For the fourth iteration of the online King William Concert series, traditional conjunto group Los

The resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality have confronted the of violence Black Americans have faced at the hands of law enforcement and white Americans. This month, Melaneyes Media will begin a new series of educational presentations with the goal to “combat the resurgence of any acts of terror that may threaten our communities.” On Sunday, August 16, the first presentation of the series, “The Lynching of Black

Warner Home Video

Don’t put your

sexual health on hold!

Our Health Equity Clinic is OPEN + accepting new patients Learn how we’re utilizing telemedicine for new HRT • PrEp • PCP • STD screening + more!

CALL TODAY

210.688.5792 or 210.589.2958

12

CURRENT | August 12 – August 25, 2020 | sacurrent.com

arts

ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF ARTPACE

Ángel Rodríguez Díaz, “Splendid Little War” / Seale Studios

Who’s Next?

Artpace’s open call presents opportunity for Texas artists

BY BRYAN RINDFUSS

I

n her 2003 memoir Dreaming Red, late San Antonio artist, collector, philanthropist and Pace Foods heiress Linda Pace chronicled her inspirations and goals for Artpace, the nonprofit residency program and contemporary art space she founded in 1993.

“I wanted to bring artists to San Antonio to do the kind of work they had always wanted to do,” Pace recounted. “I wanted to build a place that would put the emphasis on the process, not the product. By creating such a place, I would also be exposing others to contemporary art they wouldn’t be able to see without traveling to places like New York.

This was important to me.”

Inspired by institutions such as New York’s Dia Art Foundation — founded in 1974 “to help artists achieve visionary projects they might not otherwise be able to pull off — Pace and her collaborators devised the International Artist-in-Residence (IAIR) program, which invites guest curators to select trios of artists — one from Texas, one from elsewhere in the U.S. and one from abroad — to live and work at Artpace for a two-month period that

culminates with an exhibition for each artist.

Likened to a “laboratory of dreams,” Artpace stands out from other residencies by placing Texas artists alongside nationally and internationally recognized figures. It also encourages residents to take creative risks and offers support in the form of a full-time staff, a $6,000 stipend and a production budget of up to $10,000.

A champion of San Antonio’s art scene, Pace hoped Artpace would earn worldwide credibility — a goal it’s safe to say she saw realized before her 2007 death. Since its inaugural cycle in 1995, Artpace has hosted more than 200 resident artists, including global art stars Teresita Fernández, Leonardo Drew, Wangechi Mutu, Lorraine O’Grady, Isaac Julien and Nancy Rubins, not to mention Venice Biennale Golden Lion award winners Annette Messager, Carolee Schneemann, Regina José Galindo and Christian Marclay.

Frequently boasting star power of their own, IAIR guest curators select artists based on their own interests and thematic pursuits. However, Artpace assists them with the

selection of Texas artists by compiling a list of qualified candidates based on an annual open call.

“Linda’s commitment to San Antonio and Texas artists is honored by the Artpace open call,” Artpace Director Riley Robinson said. “[It’s] an opportunity for any contemporary artist living in Texas to have their artwork seen by curators from around the world with the possibility for a residency and exhibition at Artpace or inclusion in other exhibitions by that curator elsewhere in the world.”

The future of real-life exhibitions remains uncertain in the era of COVD-19 — the current round of IAIR exhibitions opened in March and is currently viewable online only. Even so, Artpace is pushing forward with its Texas open call for three 2022 residency cycles.

With the deadline for applications approaching on August 21, we took the opportunity to look back at 10 memorable exhibitions created by San Antonio artists spanning from Artpace’s infancy to its recent past.

For application guidelines and details, visit anyartist.org or click on the Texas Open Call tab under Residencies & Exhibitions tab at artpace. org. The $15 application fee has been waived this year due to the financial hardships of COVID-19.

Jennifer Ling Datchuk: “Thick” (Spring 2019) An Ohio native of Chinese, Russian and Irish descent, Jennifer Ling Datchuk is perhaps best recognized for her work in porcelain

Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com

arts Nothing” featured flashing neon signs that read “Secret Crack” and “True Sperm,” and a Trans Am tricked out with scissor doors and a glowing undercarriage.

“My residency has had a tremendous impact on my work,” Blizard said. “It started the work I’m doing now and opened up doors that I didn’t’t even know existed.”

Jennifer Ling Datchuk, “Thick” / Seale Studios

but employs a wide array of materials to explore identity, race, beauty, rituals and history. “I applied to the Artpace open call every year for almost 10 years,” Datchuk explained. “I felt like I won the lottery when Dr. Deborah Willis selected me as the Texas resident [for] spring 2019.” During her residency, Datchuk created “Thick,” an installation anchored by a massive red curtain rendered in artificial hair and porcelain beads. On either side of the curtain — which she described as “a metaphor for the thresholds we cross and spaces we enter and exit daily in our lives” — Datchuk presented fascinating sculptural objects and fashionable photographs that challenged female representation and illustrated the reclamation of ideas and spaces. “The Artpace team helped realize my exhibition, which lived as a financially and physically impossible idea in my sketchbook,” Datchuk said.

Ana Fernandez: “AM/PM” (Fall 2018) Over the last decade, Corpus Christi native Ana Fernandez has tapped into the pulse of San Antonio, both through her moody and captivating paintings and as proprietor of Chamoy City Limits, a Tex-Mex food truck-turned eatery serving up chili and trickedout raspas. Fernandez’s interests in food culture and the enigmatic street scenes of South Texas coalesce magically in Los Valles, a 2017 painting owned by Ruby City, the permanent home for the Linda Pace Foundation’s permanent collection. During a summer program at Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Fernandez learned the art of fresco and incorporated the ancient medium into her Artpace exhibition “AM/PM.” While the immediate draws were arguably Fernandez’s paintings of unassuming subjects — including a Quik Mart convenience store and the darkened parking lot of Don José Mexican Cafe — the addition of frescoes and found-object sculptures brought the room together in an intriguing way. “Living [at Artspace] was interesting in that you experience the institution from the inside out in a quiet, intimate way,” she said. “There’s a point right before the opening when everything becomes 14

CURRENT | August 12 – August 25, 2020 | sacurrent.com

formalized. The studio becomes an exhibition space, and what was once private becomes public again.”

Jenelle Esparza: “Gathering Bones” (Summer 2018) Although she identifies chiefly as a photographer, Corpus Christi native Jenelle Esparza has proven herself as an interdisciplinary artist, often working with sculpture and textiles to explore cotton and its myriad connotations. Beyond mining her family’s roots in South Texas cotton fields, Esparza investigates the ubiquitous crop as “a symbol of oppression due to its history of violence and exploitation in the U.S.” Pensive and deftly executed, her Artpace exhibition “Gathering Bones,” comprised handwoven tapestries, electroplated copper cotton spurs and short-handled garden hoes curiously rendered in borosilicate glass. “My experience at Artpace was pivotal for the trajectory of my work,” Esparza said. “Our curator, Dr. Jeffreen Hayes, was very hands-on and involved in our progress, and that was very memorable and influential to me.”

Christie Blizard: “We Invent Nothing” (Summer 2017) The harder one tries to “understand” the darkly humorous work of artist and disruptor Christie Blizard, the harder the task becomes. Born in rural Indiana, Blizard has made numerous appearances on Good Morning America and The Today Show — not as a guest but a conceptual photo-bomber holding signs scrawled with perplexing messages such as “I Am Not A Ghost.” Often using her own body as a canvas, she’s worn 3D-printed masks of Scarlett Johansson, Elle Fanning and Jennifer Lawrence and sees them as “the empty vessels for the telepathic transference into the death dimension.” She’s channeled her interests in “the non-binary, the posthuman and the transhuman,” into costumed performances at Burning Man and the Roswell UFO Convention, and she’s frequently accompanied by a puppet modeled after revolutionary French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard. In addition to video footage of her trippy performances at EDM festivals, her Artpace exhibition “We Invent

Katie Pell: “Bitchen” (Fall 2006) Raised in the suburbs of Wilmington, Delaware, late artist Katie Pell found inspiration everywhere from the woods behind her childhood home to hippy culture and rock stars. Roughly a decade after relocating to San Antonio, Pell hit a high note with “Bitchen,” an Artpace exhibition that fused feminist concepts with lowrider culture. Built around a narrative following “a group of women who win a class-action lawsuit against a major discount retailer and use their small windfall to begin a custom appliance enterprise,” the ambitious endeavor involved a candy-striped dryer equipped with disco lights, a freezer outfitted with a chandelier, an Allman Brothers Memorial Toaster and a flame-spitting stove now in the permanent collection of Ruby City. Amusingly, Pell entered some of these appliances in car shows. Speaking to the Current last year, Pell said her Artpace residency was residency was a lot of fun. “We partied a lot. And I liked working with the other residents.”

Anne Wallace: “El Otro Lado” (Fall 2004) Born in New York City and raised in a Texas ranching family, Anne Wallace taught English in Guanajuato for six years — “I got deported,” she confessed — and then spent nine years doing humanitarian work along the U.S.-Mexico border. In addition to co-founding Laredo’s Refugee Assistance Council, Wallace was part of Amnesty International’s first

Katie Pell, “Bitchen” / Kimberly Aubuchon

Women’s Human Rights Committee. When she learned she’d been selected for an Artpace residency, Wallace set out to drive the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border. While on the 2,000-mile trek, she recorded stories from migrants, environmentalists, landowners, a tribal member, a reformed coyote and a group of women who told her about a binational volleyball game using the border fence as a net.

“There are so many wonderful things [about border culture] that are being destroyed now with the wall, our politics and militarization,” Wallace said. “And that [game] was just an incredible example of these communities defying norms, defying the militarization and coming together to have fun.” When she returned to Artpace, Wallace assembled a sound and video installation she titled El Otro Lado. “I’ve had some really wonderful residencies,” Wallace said. “But the support of Artpace staff and their mission to really allow and even encourage artists to take risks and push their work in new directions and have faith in that process, that’s very powerful and really extraordinary in my experience. … That’s the hallmark and the genius of what Linda set up.”

Chuck Ramirez: “Bean & Cheese” (Spring 2002) For many years, late local artist Chuck Ramirez functioned as the glue that held much of San Antonio’s art scene together. Known by his many friends as “Tía Chuck,” Ramirez had a knack for celebrating the overlooked, the discarded and the beaten-down.

Through large-scale, hyper-detailed photographs, Ramirez presented worn-out brooms, decapitated piñatas and over-stuffed garbage bags as objects of beauty. In the course of his Artpace residency, Ramirez created 17 photographs connected by the common thread of food. Raw meat, a whole chicken and sausage links shared the walls with quieter subjects that have emerged among Ramirez’s best-recognized works, including empty candy trays and a styrofoam Whataburger cup with an unassumingly poignant message in sharp focus: “When I am empty, please dispose of me properly.” Since his death in 2010, Ramirez’s life and work have been the subject of the McNay Art Museum’s 2017 retrospective “All This and Heaven Too” and Angela and Mark Walley’s 2018 documentary Tía Chuck. Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz: “Splendid Little War” (Winter 1998) Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz relocated to San Antonio in 1995 to live with his partner and fellow artist Rolando Briseño. Hailed as a master portrait artist, Rodriguez-Diaz began exhibiting his work in the 1980s and his dramatic 1993 painting The Protagonist of an Endless Story — which captures renowned author Sandra Cisneros against a fiery sunset — is held in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. While in residence at Artpace, Rodríguez-Díaz showcased his masterful painting skills with a self-portrait as a chupacabra but also ventured into unexpected territory with a curtain made from pennies, two large-scale chalk murals featuring characters ranging from the Taco Bell chihuahua to the Virgen de Guadalupe,

and a slightly menacing, 32-foot-tall self-portrait rendered in 8,500 Christmas lights that graced Artpace’s facade. As Rodriguez-Diaz has been battling Alzheimer’s for the past three years, Briseño was kind enough to offer his own recollections of his partner’s residency. “I remember that Linda liked his light curtain so much that she left it up until the next show opened ... I took Linda to lunch around that time and talked to her about the Latino experience. After that, Artpace was very accommodating to Latinos and many more Latinos showed there.”

Franco Mondini-Ruiz: “Infinito Botánica” (Fall 1996) During the 1990s, Boerne-born attorney-turned-artist Franco Mondini-Ruiz held court at Infinito Botánica — a buzzy, hybridized space appointed with religious statues, candles, incense, milagros, antiques, tchotchkes and contemporary art created by himself and other San Antonio fixtures. As his cleverly curated botánica looked and felt like an evolving art installation, it came as no surprise when Mondini-Ruiz recreated the space in the confines of Artpace — and then proceeded to sell the assembled items. Summed up by art critic Frances Colpitt as “a fluid exchange of cultural objects — historical, ethnic, sexual, and religious — played out against the sleek chic of the space’s decor,” Mondini Ruiz’s “Infinito Botánica” went on to inhabit other prestigious spaces, including the Whitney Biennial in 2000.

Ken Little: “Soaring — The Rules of Engagement” (Winter 1995) Hailing from the Amarillo suburb of Canyon, artist, musician and educator Ken Little has been tied to Artpace since its inception. “I met Linda before Artpace

was founded,” Little explained. “She came by and toured my studios, and I had five other artists there and Riley Robinson was one of them — and that’s where she met Riley. Linda had an amazing vision of what she wanted, and Riley had the knowhow to get it done. Riley had been my assistant in sculpture at UTSA.” Not only was Little selected as Artpace’s fourth San Antonio resident, he taught a handful of early residents, including Jesse Amado, Elizabeth McGrath and Joe Daun. “[Linda Pace] really upped our profile for the graduate program at UTSA and helped me build that program to be what it eventually was — nationally recognized,” Little said. “[Artpace] took local artists and they put us shoulder-to-shoulder, side-byside with national and international figures, without any kind of discrimination. And basically, took what would be ‘local artists’ and made that not a bad term anymore.” For his 1995 exhibition “Soaring — The Rules of Engagement,” Little presented a synthesis of sculptural elements he’d been working with for several years — “neon drawings” of hands with facial expressions, floating human figures covered in dollar bills, steel house frames suspended from the ceiling and a massive, glowing clay bear seemingly asleep in the center of the gallery. “She wanted us to go as far as we could towards something that would stretch our boundaries, stretch our limits,” Little said. When asked if he’d kept any of the installation’s components, Little replied that he had. “I most recently used [the money figures] in a show at Artpace of former residents. They were actually flying in air in the [1995] exhibition, and I took them and hammered them flat on the floor and kind of destroyed them, and laid them on the floor at Artpace, and called it Making America Great Again. So, it came full circle.”

Ken Little, “Soaring — The Rules of Engagement” / Roberta Barnes

sacurrent.com | August 12 – August 25, 2020 | CURRENT

15

16

CURRENT | August 12 – August 25, 2020 | sacurrent.com

food

Tapped Out

As the pandemic wears on, Texas craft brewers question how long they can survive

BY NINA RANGEL

B

etween unclear and ever-changing state rules, nationwide supply issues and a lack of government relief, Texas craft breweries are struggling to survive the COVID-19 crisis.

Faced with those hurdles, two out of three Texas breweries don’t believe they’ll make it to 2021, according to a recent survey by the Texas Craft Brewers Guild.

And that’s not just a problem for ale enthusiasts but for the state’s economy, according to the Brewers Association. The national trade group has tallied 341 craft breweries in Texas, or two breweries for every 100,000 beer-drinking-age adults. Those businesses account for an annual economic impact of $5 billion.

“We’ve seen on-premise sales drop sharply, due to a combination of factors: capacity, shutdown limitations, a supply chain that’s feeling unexpected pressures,” said Bart Watson, the association’s chief economist.

“And some consumers simply aren’t feeling comfortable going back to bars are taprooms just yet.”

With COVID-19 infections still surging across the state and a recent poll showing that nearly two-thirds of Texans disapprove of Gov. Greg Abbott’s handling of the pandemic, local brewers say they don’t think that will change in the near term.

“There’s just a general sense of confusion around legislation and enforcement,” said Dustin Baker, co-owner and brewer at San Antonio’s Roadmap Brewing Co. “I don’t necessarily blame TABC entirely, because they’re in a difficult position: trying to interpret rules and regulations that have never before existed.”

In late July, the downtown brewery alerted Facebook fans of a recently discovered “loophole” in its license which should, theoretically, allow guests to order to-go beers and imbibe at the tables next to its building. Less than 24 hours later, the TABC came a-knockin’ and told Roadmap staff in no uncertain terms not to allow guests at the tables.

Roadmap’s attorneys still contend that their interpretation of the licenses provided by the city of San Antonio is correct, but Baker’s choosing his battles.

“We’re at a point where we simply don’t have the resources to fight it,” he said. “It’s difficult to spend time and money to figure out how to open just a portion of your building.”

Roadmap is one of many Texas breweries

Facebook / Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling

that built a business around a taproom and never added a kitchen. In light of recent regulations, that decision is working against them.

Kitchen Conundrum On July 30, the TABC issued an amendment to Abbott’s order that shuttered establishments whose alcohol sales make up 51% or more of total sales. Under the adjustment, Texas bars that have kitchens and can prove their business has recently been operating at less than 51% alcohol sales can reopen as restaurants.

“If you don’t have a kitchen, you’re screwed,” said Tim Castaneda, co-owner and brewer at San Antonio’s Black Laboratory Brewing said, summing it up. “That’s really hurting us. It’s frustrating that you can sit down at the restaurant next door and have a beer, but you can’t come have a beer in our taproom.”

Black Laboratory opened in San Antonio’s Dignowity Hill neighborhood on March 27 — 21 days after Texas’ first confirmed coronavirus case. Since the business was so new, it didn’t qualify for city or federal relief funds.

However, Black Laboratory did qualify for a Small Business Administration loan, which has helped it stay afloat.

Castaneda said his business was lucky enough to have crowler-filling equipment on-site plus a stockpile of aluminum cans

A Ranger Creek worker fills curbside orders. Brewers have relied on curbside to weather the pandemic.

M

for takeout customers. But — and here’s where the hits keep coming — a nationwide aluminum shortage means Black Laboratory may have to make some big decisions come November when its stock runs out.

“We can do growler fills, and that may be something we look into if the canning situation escalates,” Castaneda said. “But I have a degree in microbiology, so I’m super conscious of cross-contamination and really can’t take that chance.”

Canning Plans Yes, you read that right: on top of everything else, brewers are contenting with a nationwide aluminum shortage.

At the end of July, the Brewer’s Association reported that aluminum can manufacturers were operating at 100% capacity with no efficient way to increase production. That came as the pandemic-induced shift to at-home drinking steadily increased demand for canned beverages.

“The cans, you know, that can be a major thing,” Castaneda said. “Our whole idea was to be serving out of the taproom. We never planned on serving beer to-go.” 185

Find more food & drink news at sacurrent.com

food DINE-IN • TAKEOUT DELIVERY

CALL (210) 737-8646!

ALSO AVAILABLE ON

MON- SAT 5:30AM-3PM | SUN 7AM-3PM

521 E Woodlawn Ave. | elmilagritocafe.com |

E M P LOY M E N T

ALL 3 LOCATIONS ARE NOW OPEN! “TURNED THE TREND OF TYPICAL VAPING AND SMOKE SHOPS TO THE MODERN ERA...”

-A.M., GOOGLE REVIEW “NICE STOCK AND EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE THAT VIBES WITH THE HOME FEELING...”

-N.T., GOOGLE REVIEW “QUALITY PRODUCTS AND HAVE EVERYTHING FROM VAPING GEAR TO GLASS PIPES AND CIGARS...”

-M.D., GOOGLE REVIEW “I GIVE THIS PLACE 10 STARS OUT OF 5!

BEST SMOKE SHOP I’VE BEEN TO...”

-R.M., GOOGLE REVIEW

HAPPY HOUR PRICING! TUESDAY + WEDNESDAY 4-7PM 10% OFF ALL MERCHANDISE EXCLUDING TOBACCO PRODUCTS. 18

9822 POTRANCO RD #115 • 210.957.0636 19422 U.S. HIGHWAY 281 N. #105 • 210.251.4058

7325 N LOOP 1604 W STE 101 • 210.988.3720

CURRENT | August 12 – August 25, 2020 | sacurrent.com

Facebook / Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling

17 Dennis Rylander, co-founder of Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling, is also starting to see to worry about the aluminum shortage.

“We’ve only seen the beginnings of it so far,” he said. “All of our beers are in cans, so we’re impacted by large changes there. … We saw close to a 20% increase in can pricing, and very increased lead times.”

As a combined brewery-distillery, Ranger Creek faces issues on both sides of the state’s 51% guideline. The brewstillery can sell limited amounts to bars and restaurants and gets by with merchandise and virtual whiskey-tasting packages. But Rylander says it’s not enough.

“Our broader plea has been, obviously, for [the governor] to see that we take this very seriously,” he said. “When we are allowed to operate, we implement all of the safety precautions — if not more — than you’d see at a bar or restaurant.”

5

Becton, Dickinson & Co. (BD) seeks a San Antonio, TX –Pulm.& Critic.

Manager, Operations Finance in Care Phys. needed to provide pt. care in San Antonio, TX to provide general San Antonio, TX. Reqs.: Deg. in Med., Med. accounting and reporting support for Residency, pulm./critic. care a domestic manufacturing plant. Req. fellowship, TX Med. Lic., bd.

MS + 2 or BS + 5 yrs exp. Mail resume eligible/certified. Send C.V. to: to: (BD), Attn: Cecilia Sam, Pulmonary Consultants of San Antonio, 3750 Torrey View Ct., P.A., Attn: Arturo Homma, San Diego, CA 92130.

10007 Huebner Rd., Ste. 402, Must reference Job Title: Manager, San Antonio, TX 78240 Operations Finance; Code: 000946. EOE.

Finding Solutions Ryland and other San Antonio brewers say they want the same thing from the state: to be allowed to reopen with the same limitations as restaurants.

When Abbott closed bars, brewery taprooms and wineries for the second time on June 26, he dealt yet another blow to an already decimated industry.

Abbott justified the closure, by arguing that people ignoring social distancing in bars had led to a spike in COVID-19 cases.

“The idea that people are safer because a restaurant serves food … obviously, we believe that to be false,” Road-

map’s Baker said. “We’re not looking for special circumstances, we just want to even the playing field and operate like other places that are being allowed to serve alcohol safely [on-site].”

Economist Watson’s research shows that states that have allowed brewers to deliver their wares directly to consumers have shown a sales rebound during the pandemic. However, that can’t happen in Texas under current rules, which prevent brewers from selling beers directly except in their on-premise taprooms.

“Direct-to-consumer shipping would be extremely helpful,” Ranger Creek’s Rylander said. “Other states have removed the limitations on direct sales, making it so that a brewery or distillery can direct deliver. That would benefit us greatly.”

A direct-sales precedent has already been set in the Lone Star State, local brewers argue.

In March, Abbott implemented a rule change allowing Texas restaurants to sell beer and other types of alcohol via takeout and delivery. Brewers say they don’t understand why that rule can’t be widened to include them.

These homegrown businesses have been forced to reimagine their business models multiple times as the craft brewing industry evolved. Now, many worry that without regulatory help for the state, COVID-19 could shut off their taps for good.

“It’s tragic, because [the pandemic] is an event that’s impossible to forecast,” Watson said. “It’s a case where breweries can — and have — done everything right, and they still just can’t get through it.”

Summer Shandys

Several San Antonio craft brews make great additions to hot-weather beer cocktails

BY RON BECHTOL

I

t’s hard to think of a more refreshing summer quencher than beer, but going back, folks have found ways to give water, barley, hops and yeast an even more summery twist.

The shandygaff sprang forth in mid-19th century Germany as perhaps the first beer cocktail — a oneto-one mix of beer and ginger beer or ale. There’s evidence that a similar mix also evolved in the UK around the same time, and later versions were made with lemonade.

Whatever its origins, the name of this summery cooler was eventually shortened to the shandy, the name by which it’s known today.

Seasonal beers have long been a part of brewing evolution, and European brewers, sensing an opportunity, began bottling brews with the flavorings built in. These augmented beers were typically lower in alcohol and made for easy summertime drinking — a coupling that eventual production in cans only served to reinforce.

In one of those believe-it-or-not origin stories, Germany also gave birth to yet another summery beer concoction: the radlermass. Originally conceived as a cyclist’s quaff, this one was invented in 1922 by an innkeeper south of Munich whose establishment was on a bike trail he helped create.

One day, overwhelmed by the demands of thirsty cyclists, he added lemon soda to his beer to stretch the supply, and the rest is history. This term, too, was eventually shortened. It became the radler, and the line between it and the shandy eventually began to blur.

And now, here we are: in the grip of a serious summer. Never one to take the easy route when a complication can be had, I decided to return to the radlers and shandys of yore and mix my own from largely local ingredients.

Don’t Forget the Lime During the course of my investigation, I mixed up a radler — with actual cycling associations — made with strictly San Antonio ingredients: Highwheel Betty, a German-style kolsch ale made by Dorcol Distilling & Brewing, and Limoncito, a lemon and lime soda produced by Southside Bottling Works. Tradition suggests six ounces of each in a tall glass, but I preferred seven ounces beer to the soda’s five. To play against Limoncito’s honey component, a squeeze of non-traditional lime doesn’t hurt either. It slips down at a peloton’s pace.

Grapefruit shandy-radler are also easy to knock back in the summer heat, and I found there are a

Ron Bechtol

couple of ways you can go here.

One is to dose your beer of choice with an equal part grapefruit soda. Fancy options include the bitter San Pellegrino version. Mexico’s Jarritos is fine, too.

But to go totally local, make your own grapefruitade from Texas ruby reds and simple syrup.

Here’s how: Add one and a half ounces of fresh grapefruit juice to an ice-filled shaker, followed by an ounce of simple syrup and three ounces of water.

Shake, strain into a pilsner glass and top off with beer. I asked Jason Davis of Freetail Brewing Co. and TJ Miller of Ranger Creek Brewing which local beers would make a good foil. Based on their suggestions, I selected the Freetail Bat Outta Helles Lager, but I would be equally happy with Ranger Creek’s San Antonio Lager. Yup, another squeeze of lime perked up the proceedings.

Ginger and Wheat Inspired by the original shandygaff recipe, I looked for a different style of beer to go with a ginger brew I had on hand, the actually alcoholic — many aren’t — Crabbie’s Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer, a Scottish

product. Your results, as they say, may vary, depending on which ginger beer or ale you use. And they may also vary if you choose Alamo Beer Co.’s Luna Blanca White, a Belgian-style wheat beer brewed with coriander and orange peel, over Ranger Creek’s LoveStruck Hefe, a German-style wheat beer. Either works well, and the recipe can be scaled up to work with a pitcher.

Add four ounces of ginger beer or ale to a tall, icefilled rocks glass. Drop in a few lemon slices and mint sprigs and top with as much of a 12-ounce can of beer as fits. Finish the cocktail with a generous squeeze of lemon juice, and remember, like a michelada, you can add more beer as you drink.

Speaking of micheladas, I also played around with a shandy in the style of our neighbor to the south.

That one took the form of the more rudimentary chelada — no tomato or other additions to get in the way. Simply add mix two ounces of lemon juice and a couple pinches of salt into a 12-ounce beer. I used Freetail’s Puro Pils for a puckery, San Anto vibe, but any of the above ales and lagers can be played with for a cross-cultural experience. For an even more puro product, add a little Tajin to the salted rim. sacurrent.com | August 12 – August 25, 2020 | CURRENT

19

Favorite Son

San Antonio native Ben Feinstein is a frontrunner in the award-winning political documentary Boys State

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

D

Find more film stories at sacurrent.com

escribed in the political documentary Boys State as a “Reagan-loving arch-conservative,” San Antonio native Ben Feinstein has been on a journey of self-discovery since filming wrapped two years ago.

In Boys State, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, filmmakers follow Feinstein and a group of young men participating in a high school summer leadership program in Austin as they’re tasked with building a mock state legislature from the ground up. This includes campaigning for state representatives, creating party platforms, holding elections and drafting and passing bills.

Politicians who partook in Boys State as teens over its 83-year history include former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and current U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, among others.

Feinstein, a graduate of Keystone School and a double amputee since the age of three, was elected as one of two state party chairmen from the 1,200 students who attended the 2018 edition of Boys State. In the documentary, he’s seen leading a campaign to elect his party’s candidate for governor.

“The principals of freedom, democracy and patriotism were embedded in me at a very young age,” Feinstein told the Current during an interview earlier this month. “Ever since I can remember, I wanted to serve the country.”

Although Feinstein, at one time, aspired to enter politics, that’s no longer the case. For him, serving his country now means working as a civilian at the CIA or FBI. The change he’s seen his party go through since President Donald Trump took office prompted the change in plans.

Today, Feinstein considers himself “drifting” from the Republican Party. He’s seeking position where he can “stay in a neutral role.”

“I think the current political atmosphere is a little disheartening to me as someone who considered himself a Republican a few years ago,” he said. “I feel like some of the values and especially some of the language and statesmanship of the Republican Party has been lacking.

The current party isn’t exactly what I’m looking for.”

What Feinstein is looking for now is a place where he can exercise his base-level principles.

“By working hard enough, anyone can accomplish anything they want in life,” he said.

A24

Since losing both his legs and the use of his right arm after contracting bacterial meningitis as a little boy, Feinstein knows what it means to exceed expectations. He said he’s never used his disability as an advantage to get ahead. “[My disability] is part of who I am,” he said.

“Something my mom has taught me from a very young age is that if I need the accommodation, I should take it, but never take advantage of stuff just because you can. I always say that I should strive to overcome it. I shouldn’t rely on it and sink into complacency with it.”

Some of Feinstein’s personal mantras have also evolved over the past few years. At the beginning of Boys State, he explains why it is a “bad thing for this nation” when society keeps “focusing on … factors like race or gender or disability” and less on “individual failings.”

When asked if he still feels minorities take advantage of the system by playing the race card, Feinstein’s answer is more nuanced.

“If you had asked me when I was 17 years old, when I had a lot less perspective on global issues, then I would’ve told you race wasn’t an issue, but that’s very obviously not true,” Feinstein said. “Racism is alive and real, but I think attaching everything to racism is selling people short on both sides.”

During one segment in Boys State, a young Black man who held the same position as Feinstein for the opposing party becomes the target of social media ridicule. Feinstein considers it

“really gross racism.”

“Despite that, there were so many examples — in both parties and at every level — of Black, White and Hispanic kids all getting along and seeing each other as fellow citizens,” he said.

“To account everything to race or to completely deny its existence is not accurate to human nature.”

In the past two years, Feinstein, who’s transferring to Dallas’ Southern Methodist University this fall after spending his freshman year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said his ideas have “softened and grown more complex,” especially when it comes to identity politics.

“I’ve opened my eyes to a lot of things where I was ignorant,” he said. “I always broadly fit into this ideal that, ‘I am an American, and that’s all there is to it,’ because that’s always worked for me. That’s a very hard sell for someone who is constantly being judged on their personal identity. I can’t condemn that.”

In the end, Feinstein hopes a film such as Boys State can inspire more nonpartisanship during the turbulent political times Americans find themselves in.

“Our political system doesn’t work if we view the other party as the enemy,” he said. “I feel Boys State shows the power of believing in someone even if they’re not on your side.”

Boys State will debut on Apple TV+ on August 14.

music

Sunny Days

Brooklyn label releasing tribute album to West Side soul pioneer Sunny Ozuna

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

A

recent spate of CD and vinyl reissues has introduced a new generation to West Side soul, a San Antonio-born sound that emerged in the early ’60s when Mexican American teens blended R&B and doo-wop with Latin music influences.

Now, Sunny Ozuna — a key figure in that homegrown movement — is the subject of a forthcoming tribute album on which contemporary acts reinterpret classics he recorded with his band Sunny and the Sunliners.

Brooklyn-based Big Crown Records, responsible a string of reissues of Ozuna’s early work, will drop the nine-track album Dear Sunny… next month. Just in time for the singer’s 77th birthday.

“The title is supposed to read like the opening of a letter, an homage,” Big Crown owner Danny Akalepse said. “That’s the vibe we were going for.”

Akalepse’s appreciation for the San Antonio singer began several years ago after a DJ friend introduced him to the Sunliners track “Should I Take You Home.” Ozuna’s clean, soulful vocals and the song’s snappy production made him an instant fan.

“I just like, ‘What is this?’” Akalepse said. “I had to hear more.”

Years-Long Affair Dear Sunny… features artists from Big Crown’s roster, which skews heavily to retro-soul acts such as Lee Fields and the Expressions and Lizette & Quevin — no surprise there.

But the inclusion of outfits such as indie-poppers the Shacks and the jazzy psych-pop trio Brainstory demonstrate Ozuna’s influence beyond soul and R&B. While Ozuna is often perceived of as a San Antonio treasure, Akalepse said the seminal tracks he recorded in the ’60s and ’70s are revered across the country. Sunliners tracks get regular spins both from East Coast club DJs and at oldies and low-rider events across the Southwest and California.

And Akalepse would know. Dear Sunny… is the continuation of Big Crown’s years-long love affair with Ozuna’s music.

Courtesy Photo / Big Crown Records

After his initial exposure to the Sunliners, the label owner scoured record shows for Ozuna’s out-of-print singles, his appreciation growing along with his collection. In 2016, he trekked to San Antonio to interview the singer and sift through his old recordings, promo photos and memorabilia.

The following year, Big Crown released Mr. Brown Eyed Soul, which collected some of the Ozuna’s best-known work from his classic era.

Three more reissue albums and a string of reissue singles followed.

Label Mates To be sure, Dear Sunny… sounds like Akalepse’s fandom rubbed off on his roster. All nine artists clearly have an affinity for the material that goes beyond serving up notefor-note covers. While the interpretations are reverent, more than a few are unafraid to add their Big Crown Records own stamp, sometimes drastically reimagining the material.

The Shacks’ take on Ozuna’s iconic “Smile Now, Cry Later” opens the album, giving the

song a breathy, ethereal quality that’s at once contemporary and nostalgic. Genre-blending New York group 79.5 reinterpret the upbeat “My Dream” as a sophisticated R&B heartbreaker with lilting female vocals and jazzy flute trills.

Veteran soulster Lee Fields’ take on “The One Who’s Hurting Is You” sounds as if it could have been cut during the same era as the early Sunliners tracks. The retro production puts Fields’ gritty, emotive vocals front and center.

German funk outfit Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band deliver a dose of hard-hitting syncopation on their version of “Get Down,” a War tune Ozuna released as a single.

Akalepse said he’s shared the recordings with Ozuna and knows the singer has listened to “at least some of them.” But the label owner said he’s fine if it takes Ozuna a while to take in the whole tribute.

After all, Ozuna is a performer who continues to forge ahead, even in his sixth decade as a recording artist.

The singer still performs live and releases music — interspersing self-released Tejano, religious and Christmas albums between his soul and R&B releases.

“I hope that what we’ve done is bring Sunny’s music to new audience,” Akalepse said.

“That’s been our motivation all along.”

Find more music coverage every day at sacurrent.com

TWO NEW Collection Sites Conveniently Located at

Look for the Bright Red San Antonio Food Bank Barrels at these two locations:

Alamo Heights Farmers Market

Whole Foods Market

Every Sunday • 10a-2pm

Daily • 8a-9pm

Please donate nonperishable items only. Wish list: Peanut Butter, Cereal, Tuna, Beans, Rice, Mac & Cheese, Canned Soups & Stews, Chili, Canned Luncheon Meats, Full Meals Canned/Boxed, Pop Top Food Items Food donations are critical to the ongoing mission of collecting and redistributing millions of pounds of food to individuals and families in Southwest Texas who don’t know where their next meals are coming from. By donating today, you’ll be helping a network of 58,000 individuals we serve weekly

Alamo Quarry Market is committed to giving back to the San Antonio community. Your donations are truly appreciated!

22

CURRENT | August 12 – August 25, 2020 | sacurrent.com

Social

Distancing??

Distancing WE CAN MAKE BEING ALONE WITH YOURSELF

MUCH MORE PLEASURABLE!

OPEN DAILY 7AM - 2AM

281 & NAKOMA | 210.404.0011 • I-35 & THOUSAND OAKS | 210.595.6781

MILITARY 20% OFF EVERY DAY with valid 11827 SAN PEDRO AVE. SATX 78216 | 9405 IH-35 N. SATX 78233 | MEGAPLEXSA.COM |

VOTE FOR ADULT MEGAPLEX BEST ADULT STORE!