San Antonio Current — December 2, 2020

DEC. 2 - DEC. 15, 2020

NECTAR OF THE GODS. AWA R D - W I N N I N G , T E X A S S T R A I G H T B O U R B O N W H I S K E Y. M I N U S T H E B I T E .

Every bottle of Garrison Brothers is overflowing with the finest, gourmet-grade ingredients on the planet. The nectar inside was made from a sweet mash bill and heat-forged in the scorching Texas sun, extracting all the flavor possible from our new American white oak barrels, yielding a darker, richer, and fuller bourbon than any out there.

DRINK LIKE AN ADULT ™

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Š2020 Garrison Brothers Distillery

sacurrent.com | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | CURRENT 3

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CURRENT | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

in this issue San Antonio Current

Issue 20-25 /// December 2 - December 15, 2020

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

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, Abe Asher Editorial Interns: Emily DiTomasso, Brianna Espinoza Trevor Flynn, Katie Hennessey, Dana Nichols, Deanna Wilson

Advertising

Advertising Director: Michael Wagner

Marketing and Events

Marketing and Events Director: Cassandra Yardeni Events Manager: Chelsea Bourque Sales & Event Coordinator: Sky Hawkes Marketing Interns: Julia Bentley

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 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

Illustration by Samantha Serna

10 Feature

Shop Local Breaking the Bank

With Texas in a budget crisis, the GOP-controlled Lege may not be in the mood to do anything but cut

09 News

The Opener News in Brief

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CityScapes Space Chase

Glitter Political

Outgoing County Commissioner Kevin Wolff Tips His Hat After 15 Years of Public Service

19 Calendar Calendar Picks

23 Arts

The Executioner’s Song San Antonio artist Mark Menjivar takes aim at capital punishment

29 Screens

Macho Bravado

Actor Ricardo Chavira draws on his own family to portray patriarch in Selena: The Series

33 Food

Following the Flavor

Exploring San Antonio’s everevolving food truck scene is worth the drive

River Walk Return

New Executive Chef Joseph Perez brings ‘hunger to learn’ to the reopened Esquire Tavern

39 Music

Music Picks

On the Cover: Samantha Serna designed this week’s cover, which riffs on Texas’ budget woes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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CURRENT | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

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sacurrent.com | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | CURRENT 7

Shop Small.

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The perfect holiday gift awaits at Historic Market Square.

With over 100 locally owned shops, you’ll find authentic Mexican curios and artifacts, hand-crafted leather goods, and a diverse collection of cultural apparel.

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CURRENT | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

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Weston Urban, the developer of downtown’s new Frost Tower, has unveiled a 1.2-acre park adjacent the 24-floor office building. The natural oasis along West Houston Street has already attracted cyclists, dog walkers and families. The developer said it wants to hold outdoor movie screenings, fitness classes and other events at the site.

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A federal appeals court last week cleared Texas to drop Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program. While state officials targeted the women’s health provider because it provides abortion services, the organization said losing its Medicaid funds would deny low-income women access to cancer screenings, birth control and other care.

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West Point Military Academy cadet Tyrese Bender of San Antonio became one of just 32 students nationwide to be presented with a prestigious U.S. Rhodes Scholarship. Bender, a leader in campus diversity initiatives, will pursue graduate studies in sociology at Oxford University in England through the scholarship.

To continue work on the border wall, the outgoing Trump administration wants to buy or seize a total of 5,300 acres of private land, primarily in South Texas, according to a Government Accountability Office report.

Those seizures would be in addition to 135 plots of private land it’s already snapped up through July of this year. — Sanford Nowlin

YOU SAID IT!

“Your lawless attitude [and] simple-minded approach to serious national security matters demonstrate that you are unworthy to represent the good people of Texas.”

— Former CIA director John Brennan

tweeting back to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz after the senator accused him of siding with “Iranian zealots.”

news

That Rocks/That Sucks

Wikimedia Commons / Elvert Barnes

ASSCLOWN ALERT

Everylegalvote.com Assclown alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

Despite claiming a mission of protecting fair elections, Texas-tied website Everylegalvote.com is a promotional tool for groups backing President Donald Trump’s efforts to delegitimize the November election, a recent New York Times investigation shows.

The slick-looking site — which the Times tied to far-right figures such as Russell Ramsland, a Texas businessman who launched an unsuccessful 2016 run for the U.S. House — purports to be a “citizen coalition using reports, affidavits and math” to determine whether fraud took place in the 2020 election.

In reality, most of the content pulled into its

news feed is from right-wing sources that back up Trump’s unfounded allegations that a shadowy cabal engineered widespread voter fraud scheme that cost him the election.

A prominently located map on the site states that Trump actually received 232 electoral votes compared to president-elect Joe Biden’s 214. (In the reality occupied by most of the world, Biden won with 306 votes.) Visitors can even toggle a view that shows what the map would look like “without voter fraud.” Surprise, surprise: in that case, Trump wins bigly with 318 electoral votes.

“We believe the media, certain elected officials, and other people in positions of power and control within the US, as well as in other countries, are not being open or transparent,” the site explains. “They are attempting to install Joe Biden as president without due process of law and order.”

Clearly, these assclowns are running a site without the transparency and openness they claim to champion. — Sanford Nowlin

Amid 2020’s pandemic and social unrest, Texans have set a new record for gun purchases. From January through October, the FBI conducted more than 1.9 million background checks for gun sales in the state. That’s more than any full year on record and also the third highest in the nation, behind Illinois and Kentucky.

The U.S. Supreme Court last week rejected a request by retail giant Walmart Inc. to sell liquor at its stores in the Lone Star State. Texas is the only U.S. state that prohibits publicly traded companies such as Walmart from holding liquor permits, even though they’re allowed to sell beer and wine.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office has fired the last remaining whistleblower who asked federal authorities to investigate whether AG Ken Paxton abused his office by doing favors for a political donor. The office formally terminated Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel Ryan Vassar on November 17. He’s the fifth whistleblower cut loose from the agency in less than a month. Three others have resigned in recent weeks. — Sanford Nowlin

Courtesy Photo Texas Attorney General’s Office

Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com

news

Breaking the Bank

With Texas in a budget crisis, the GOP-controlled Lege may not be in the mood to do anything but cut

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

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olice accountability. Medicaid expansion.

Voter access. Marijuana reform.

There’s no shortage of big issues for the Texas Legislature to grapple with when it convenes in January for the first time in two years.

There’s a problem, though. Texas is facing a budget shortfall of at least $5 billion — likely more — that will suck most of the oxygen out of the room. The COVID-19 pandemic has cratered the state’s economy, draining state coffers and raising questions about how much larger that deficit may grow.

What’s more, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle face pressure to maintain the increased school funding they approved last session, when they hammered together a plan that would give public schools a budget boost while limiting property taxes.

“This session is likely to be lean in terms of significant legislation passing,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. “I think we’ll see the Legislature do what it usually does and cut its way to a balanced budget.”

Dealing with pandemic safety concerns is likely to further narrow the chances for major legislative accomplishments during the session, observers warn.

Details remain murky how the Lege will manage gathering during a public health crisis. However, the Dallas Morning News, citing veteran lobbyist Bill Miller, reported that the Senate is likely to push to trim the session’s agenda and juggle just two meeting rooms between its 16 committees.

Weighty issues That’s not exactly good news for legislators hoping to tackle pressing issues this session. And the more than 550 bills filed at press time suggest there’s no shortage of weighty ones to debate.

For example: State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston filed the George Floyd Act, which includes a series of policing and criminal justice reforms.

Meanwhile, State Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, filed a measure to expand Medicaid eligibility, potentially allowing Texas to join the majority of states that have expanded coverage.

Dozens of bills filed in advance of the session also aim to expand voter access in the state, allowing wider access to programs such as drive-thru voting, which were rolled out during the pandemic.

“As soon as the pandemic hit, I began worrying about how our elections would play out,” said Rep. Jessica González, D-Dallas, a former clerk in the Voting Rights Office at the U.S. Department of Justice, told the Texas Tribune. She’s already filed multiple pieces of voting-related legislation and plans to 10

CURRENT | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

Samantha Serna

introduce more.

Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, who introduced a proposal to legalize marijuana for recreational use, says bills like his could have a chance this session, if lawmakers see them as a means to fixing the state’s fiscal woes. He wants GOP lawmakers understand that if Texas fails to legalize, it will lose a needed revenue source and lose out on a budding business.

“Republican leadership has some preconceived notions that were created during the Nixon administration, and those don’t make much sense in today’s world,” he said.

Victory lap But Republicans won’t exactly be in the mood to compromise, observers warn.

Despite predictions that Democrats might make serious gains in the Texas House, or even flip it in November, the GOP held onto its majority in both chambers. That means Republicans will still control the agenda, and they’re likely to focus what energy they can on their own pet projects.

The bills filed so far suggest conservatives are still intent on fighting out the culture this session. State Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, for example, filed a proposal to ban abortions at 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has cut revenues from state coffers, leaving the Legislature in a budget scramble.

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Under current Texas law, abortions are prohibited after 20 weeks.

What’s more, Republicans are likely to continue efforts to strip power from municipalities, especially Democratic-controlled metros. Earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott said he’ll push for bills that punish cities that cut police spending. Republicans, who keyed in on back-the-blue messaging in the November election, are likely to oblige. They’ll also be unlikely to budge on issues of police reform, Gutierrez said.

“I think they feel like they had a good election cycle on that message, and they’re going to double down,” he added.

Indeed, it may be difficult to find middle ground on much of anything outside of the need to dig the state out of its current budgetary mess. The Republican-controlled Lege hasn’t enacted significant new taxes since the early 1990s, and handicappers don’t think that record is likely to change anytime soon.

“It’s hard to see what the legislative priorities will be other than to balance the budget,” SMU’s Jillson said.

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CURRENT | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

news CITYSCRAPES

Space Chase

In pursuing Space Command, San Antonio once again looks for an outside savior

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

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ere San Antonio goes again. Looking to someone else for our future and our salvation. Hoping Washington will deliver the goodies and jobs to keep our city growing and prospering.

In quest of “significant” economic impact, Mayor Ron Nirenberg flew off to DC to ask the Pentagon to grant us the new headquarters of the Space Command. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn joined in the plea, arguing that San Antonio is “Military City, USA,” “as patriotic a city as they come,” and “a natural fit.” Local business leaders joined the fray, arguing to the Air Force that we are the natural home to another contingent from the military branch.

It’s what San Antonio has done for generations — look to Washington and the federal government to grant us jobs and dollars, in the hope that someone else would pay to grow and develop our city.

In the wake of the devastating flood of 1913, city leaders dithered, despite the long-apparent need to invest flood control. Rather than take on the cost of those improvements, the leaders of the Chamber of Commerce turned to the federal government and the Army Corps of Engineers.

At the request of U.S. Sen. Morris Shepard, Major E. N. Johnston of the Corps finally arrived in the city in November 1916 to assess the flooding situation and the prospect of federal help. But the Army’s ultimate decision, delivered in December 1919, was that the San Antonio River wasn’t a navigable waterway and thus didn’t qualify for federal aid. Waiting on the promise of federal dollars, the city avoided dealing with its flooding problem, setting up the catastrophe of the 1921 flood.

A decade later, when the Army Air Corps faced the problem of increasingly congested airspace around the pilot training centers at the Kelly and Brooks bases, military leaders pressed for an expansive new combined training field requiring some 2,000 acres of land. But the Army was unwilling to pay for a site, particularly as a host of cities around the country began to offer their own sites free of charge. The first plan floated by the Chamber of Commerce involved the city taxing the properties and firms to be benefitted by the new flying school.

The city attorney concluded that any form of city financing was unconstitutional, forcing the Chamber to seek hundreds of thousands of dollars through

Wikimedia Commons / U.S. Air Force

private donations. And while some were willing to donate to the Army, the donations fell well short of what was needed to purchase the site. Finally, at the last minute, a local judge ruled that the city could sell notes backed by delinquent property taxes. Local banks loaned the money to the Chamber-created Airport Co. with the promise that the city would repay the loan, and at the very end of December 1927, the city was able to commit funds and the site to the Army.

The efforts to have Washington boost San Antonio’s fortunes didn’t end with the development of the “West Point of the Air” at the base then called Randolph Field. Even after the massive expansion of military missions in the city during World War II, local business leaders continued to look to DC, promoting the city as the home for the planned Air Force Academy in the early 1950s. They appeared convinced that San Antonio had a special relationship with the Air Force. The Chamber promoted locations at Kelly and Lackland, and finally suggested a Camp Bullis site for the new Academy. However, the city ultimately lost out to Colorado Springs.

And we’ve since lost other Air Force missions and

bases, since Kelly and Brooks have been forever changed by base realignment.

In repeatedly looking to the military and the federal government to bestow jobs and economic wealth, successive generations of local leaders have too often chosen to ignore the realities of the city’s true situation and its needs. Public improvements, such as flood control and new roads, were often deferred or ignored in favor of accommodating the Army or the Air Force.

By regularly looking outward — to Washington, or to Silicon Valley, or to Japan — for jobs and new employers, San Antonio’s business leaders have focused on marketing, rather than developing, the city.

Yet the recent renewal of city funding for Pre-K SA and approval of Proposition B, the SA Ready to Work initiative, suggest local voters see the imperative to invest in San Antonians.

Our leaders need to focus their efforts — and more public dollars — on the people and the obvious needs of this community.

Heywood Sanders is a professor of public policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio. sacurrent.com | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

news GLITTER POLITICAL

Outgoing County Commissioner Kevin Wolff Tips His Hat After 15 Years of Public Service

BY JADE ESTEBAN ESTRADA

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hen Kevin Wolff appears on my computer screen, I get a glimpse of his much-talked-about hat collection on the wall behind him. It’s vast and expertly arranged from light to dark colors, Brooks Brothers-style.

The only hat missing is the metaphorical one he wears as Bexar County’s Precinct 3 commissioner.

“I have always been follically challenged, as we see here,” he says lifting his felt hat in gentlemanly way.

“For me, that is first a tool, and second, a fashion statement.”

The eldest son of County Judge Nelson Wolff is drawing closer to the end of his third and final term on Bexar County Commissioners Court. Last year, the younger Wolff told reporters he wouldn’t seek re-election after nearly 15 years in elected office, an announcement that shakes up his family’s political legacy.

In January, when Commissioner-elect Trish DeBerry is sworn in as his successor, Wolff will return to the private sector. Indeed, the Republican tells me he never intended to leave it for as long as he did.

Politics, nonetheless, is in Wolff’s blood. As our interview unfolds, he explains how his look and political prowess were inspired by the styles of both Harry Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson, two U.S. presidents he says are historically underrecognized.

“What I saw out of those two and other presidents is not so much about doing this party line or that party line, but more about doing the business of actually getting the government to run,” he says. “LBJ was a master of legislation and politics, especially at the federal level.”

Wolff’s lessons in statesmanship came early.

When he was 5, his dad — a Blue Dog Democrat — won a seat in the Texas House of Representatives. In later years, he watched his father become a state senator, a city councilmember, and in the early 90s, mayor of San Antonio.

Wolff, however, decided against following in his father’s footsteps, instead pursuing a career in the corporate world, where he thrived for more than two decades.

In 2002, Wolff’s “service ethic” kicked in after three members of San Antonio City Council were charged with bribery. “[That] was the straw that broke this camel’s back,” he says. “This is my hometown [and] here are these people messing it up.”

For Wolff, running for council’s District 9 seat be-

Jade Esteban Estrada

came an act of moral necessity. He left his $300,000 a year position as the chief operations officer at First American Title for a servant-leader position that paid $20 a week.

He planned to serve two terms then jump back into the corporate world. However, after his council tenure, he set his eyes on the Precinct 3 seat on the Commissioners Court, one physically — though not politically — to the left of his father’s. Since 2009, the pair have often been in opposition on political issues, which the younger Wolff chalks up to different life and career experiences.

I ask him what it’s like working with his father on such a public stage.

“So, while Dad and I have what I’ll call usually a fun time in regard to arguing [about] things that are happening at the federal or even state level, we really don’t fight a whole lot on the local level,” he explains.

“Simply because when you look at local elected positions and local politics, you’re doing what I call the nuts and bolts of government.”

Wolff describes himself as a “rational Republican,” a position that comes with political challenges, especially in the Trump era.

“The more middle you get, the more your pain increases, certainly more at the federal level,” he says.

“Because you don’t only get beat up by the other side you get beat up by your own side. [You] get tired real quickly [of] having the crap beat out of you by both sides, and that’s unfortunate. I see that as the biggest current downfall of our overall governmental system.

Over the past 15 years that I’ve been in office, I’ve seen that gap widen and deepen, and that concerns me.”

Few elected officials leave political life unscathed; Wolff is no exception. In July 2016, he made headlines when he was charged with driving while intoxicated.

“Obviously, that was a very, very difficult time for me and my family,” he says, adding that he learned important lessons from the incident.

Not seeking re-election was a gradual decision, one he discussed with his wife Sandi and his daughter Sydney over a six-month period.

“Once, we had finally decided, it was a great relief,” he says. “I don’t know how else to explain it. You don’t realize how much you think about something until you don’t have to think about it anymore.”

Although Wolff isn’t exactly sure where he’ll work next, he’s hopeful he’ll locate a good match for his talent and experience. In the meantime, he’s relaunched his consulting work, which he started before entering public life.

“I will miss being able to do the job,” he says.

“Because you can get some really good things done, especially in local government.”

Wolff, who focused on transportation issues during his time in office, ticks off some of his accomplishments, which include adding the San Antonio area’s first high-occupancy vehicle highway lanes. Those, he says, are lasting rewards for his time in public office.

He pauses for a moment, then smiles.

“You know, on a personal note, I’m probably going to miss working with Dad,” he adds. sacurrent.com | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | CURRENT

15

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SAT | 12.03 & SUN | 12.10

TH EATER

calendar

THU | 12.05 – TUE | 12.15

Italy, buying a villa in Tuscany and having an affair, Mayes learns what life is really like outside the confines of her

marriage. The San Antonio Botanical Garden is screening

the rom-com as part of its Foodie Cinema series, an outdoor

event complemented by an Italian-inspired dinner and cocktails. $40.50-$45, 6:30 p.m., San Antonio Botanical Garden, 555

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Funston Pl, (210) 536-1400, sabot.org. — Emily DiTomasso

Fans of Charles Dickens’ classic holiday spook-fest have a

FRI | 12.10 – SAT | 12.12

chance to safely see a top-notch performance of the Christmas tale — and to support San Antonio theater while they’re at it. The Classic Theatre of San Antonio has partnered with TBD Pictures to present a recorded performance of A Christmas Carol, which was filmed at the United Palace theater in

LIVE MUSIC

upper Manhattan. Tickets sales will support the Classic as well as other regional theaters nationwide whose coffers

RED BULL ESTADOS UNIDOS DE BASS

have been drained due to the pandemic. The one-man show

Red Bull supposedly gives you wings, but this year they’re

features Jefferson Mays as the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge and,

also bringing music straight to your home with their second

well, pretty much everyone else. He’ll reprise roughly 50 roles he originally took on for the 2018 premiere of the play at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. In that production, live audiences were confronted with the presence of a coffin

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment FILM

and a jump-scare as soon as the curtains parted. Two-time

CADDYSHACK AND HAPPY GILMORE

Tony-nominated director Michael Arden kept things dark

Slab Cinema is up to trouble again — good trouble that

— literally — with Mays leaning in and out of different light

is — and it includes, mini golf, beer and … Bill Murray? In

to help distinguish characters and wading through clouds

partnership with the newly opened biergarten in town,

of fog. In what now seems a prescient career move, Mays

dubbed The Metzger Biergarten in honor of previous Cool

has made a name for himself in one-person performances

Crest Miniature Golf owners Harold and Maria Metzger,

on and off-Broadway, winning a Tony Award for 40 roles in

Slab Cinema is hosting a three-week slate of comedy films.

I Am My Own Wife and a nomination for the nine roles he

Fittingly, the first two screenings will feature golf classics

performed in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. For

Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore, which have plenty of fun for

this COVID-era production, the actor wore a mask and un-

all to enjoy, whether you’re there for the golf jokes or just

derwent frequent testing throughout the rehearsal process.

want to laugh along with Bill Murray or Adam Sandler’s an-

Once patrons have purchased a ticket, they will have access

tics. Those looking for even more Murray can come back on

to the performance for unlimited viewings within a period

December 17th for his starring role in the comedic retelling

of 24 hours at any time during its five-week run. $57.50,

of Dickens’ classic Scrooged. Cool Crest’s new addition, which

December 2-January 3, The Classic Theatre of San Antonio,

comes in time to celebrate its 91st year of operation, will fea-

onthestage.com. — Trevor Flynn

ture beer, wine and food trucks on site, so you can get your fill while enjoying the socially-distanced outdoor screening. $3, 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Thursdays, Cool Crest Miniature Golf & Metzger Biergarten, 1402 Fredericksburg Road, (210) 732-0222, slabcinemaarthouse.com/shop/cool-crest/10. org. — Brianna Espinoza

SUN | 12.04 FILM

UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN

Maceo Plex

annual Red Bull Estados Unidos de Bass music festival. The fizzy, caffeinated livestreamed event is set to take place over three weeks from five different cities in the nation — Miami, the Bay Area, Austin, New York and L.A. — from December 4-19, in celebration of Latin-inspired American bass music across the United States. The Austin portion runs from December 10-12 and will feature Texas-based artists and producers such as DJ and music producer Maceo Plex from Dallas, founder and director of Austin-based creative studio Las Walt Disney Home Video

YouTube / Geffen Playhouse

Cruxes Veronica Ortuño and eight DJs from the Austin-based

In her 2003 adaption of Frances Mayes’ memoir, Under the

collective Peligrosa, which includes nu-cumbia pioneer El

Tuscan Sun, director Audrey Wells takes viewers on a trip

Dusty and Orión Garcia. As another streaming event to add

to Italy with Diane Lane in the driver’s seat as Mayes, a San

to the list, this one highlights local Texas artistry that you

Francisco writer who is starting a new life after being left by

can support — and bump to. Free, 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday,

her husband. After meeting a variety of different people in

6 p.m. Saturday, redbullmusic.com. — Brianna Espinoza

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.

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arts Bryan Rindfuss

The Executioner’s Song

San Antonio artist Mark Menjivar takes aim at capital punishment

BY BRYAN RINDFUSS

B

orn in Virginia and raised in a military family that bounced across Central America before settling in San Antonio in 1992, Mark Menjivar took an untraditional path into the realm of art.

After earning degrees in social work and social practice, he spent two years volunteering in Bolivia with a nonprofit providing medical services, meals and childcare for prostitutes.

“The work that I was doing there completely made me change the way that I thought about sacrifice,” Menjivar said. “Because women were selling often the last thing that they had — their own bodies — to be able to provide for their children.”

Returning home feeling burned out, Menjivar found inspiration for his next chapter in an unlikely place: iconic French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson’s book À Propos de Paris. Fascinated by the collected images, Menjivar set out to teach himself photography. In addition to turning his spare bathroom into a darkroom, he admittedly “made every mistake possible” and “photographed every cliche that you could imagine.”

He eventually found his footing with a series of photographs “examining the interiors of refrigerators in homes across the United States.” Not only did his Refrigerators

get exhibited in more than 20 U.S. cities, they set the stage for Menjivar to address food insecurity and hunger while partnering with area nonprofits.

“What I found out, as time went on, is that I cared more about what was happening in the space than I did [about] what was happening on the walls,” Menjivar said.

His next endeavor took shape in The Luck Archive, a collection of he described as “over 500 objects, photographs and stories that use luck as a starting point to explore belief, culture, superstition and tradition.”

Beyond generating substantial press and accolades, those two projects helped establish Menjivar’s distinct approach to art-making: a hybridized process informed by research, social issues and community involvement.

In 2014, Menjivar’s work took a sharp turn sparked by the State of Texas executing the 500th person since the 1976 reinstatement of capital punishment.

“That number — 500 — just started to haunt me,” he said. “[I started] thinking about what that means, living in this state, [explaining] capital punishment to my kids. … And so, I started to do a number of projects around that.”

One of those projects is built around David Lee Powell, an Austin man who was convicted

Menjivar’s installation is featured in Blue Star Contemporary’s “Please Form a Straight Line” exhibit.

M

of murdering a police officer in 1978, spent 32 years on death row before he was executed in 2010. Facilitated by a partnership with the Texas After Violence Project — an Austin-based community archive dedicated to “cultivating deeper understandings of the impacts of state-sanctioned violence” — Menjivar gained access to 17 boxes containing Powell’s possessions at the time of his death.

From that archive, Menjivar created DLP Inventory — a powerful text installation and companion photograph currently on view in the Blue Star Contemporary exhibition “Please Form a Straight Line” — and “Birds, Rats, Roses,” a Sala Diaz exhibition that humanizes Powell through official documents, ephemera, a scrapbook-like catalog and a recording of a “Palindromic and Invertible Canon” for piano that Powell composed while on death row.

As a complement to both exhibitions, Menjivar designated an area at Sala Diaz where visitors can affix notes to the walls in response to his work and the complex issues it presents. On December 10, Menjivar will lead an International Human Rights Day Art Walk that begins at Blue Star and culminates with a presentation at Sala Diaz. Registration is required at bluestarcontemporary.org.

We caught up with Menjivar on the Sala Diaz porch to learn more about his Powell project and his role as a resident artist with the Texas After Violence Project. Condensed highlights from the conversation follow.

Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com

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How did you become involved with the Texas After Violence Project?

In 2014 I started a project working with over 30 high school students at the International School of the Americas to look at capital punishment from really diverse perspectives. One of the ways we did that was by looking at the first person who was executed in Texas after capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. And that was a man named Charlie Brooks Jr. — [he] was also the first person executed by lethal injection in the United States. I connected with the Texas After Violence Project (TAVP) because they have a very large archive of oral histories done over the past 15 years. And two of those oral histories were the sons of Charlie. And so TAVP put me in touch with Charlie Brooks’ sons, and they gave me permission to use the oral histories in the classroom. They also provided me with all the correspondence that they had with their father. It was incredibly powerful for a group of 30 students and myself to begin to use those documents as a way to learn deeper about the capital punishment system here in our state. … TAVP’s beginnings were really rooted in oral histories around the effects of capital punishment. They’ve talked to prosecutors and defense attorneys, families of people who have been executed, families of people who were murdered in a crime where someone was executed. …

One of the things I really respect about them is [their] diverse perspective. They’re really trying to provide all of those voices so that we can get a fuller picture of it. Because capital punishment is not black-and-white — it gets into grays. And capital punishment is not just about death. Capital punishment is about class and poverty. It’s about mental health and addiction.

It’s about loss. It’s about the legal system. It’s about so many other things.

Does TAVP have an end goal?

They definitely do. They are against the death penalty 100%. There’s no question about that. And I have that same sentiment as well. I don’t hide that at all. In my art practice — and also in my life — I value dialogue over debate. Because I think a dialogue begins with listening, as where debate is trying to convince somebody that you’re right and they’re wrong. Almost all the work that I do and the conversations that I’m hoping to have [are] about listening — and respecting that there’s a wide spectrum of where people sit inside an issue. I think that one of the best ways to have an honest dialogue is being honest about where we’re at. So, I don’t hide the fact that I am against the death penalty. I think it causes great harm to our community and to our state here in Texas. I also respect that it is a really difficult issue, and that people may be at a different place as well. … I’m also for safe communities. When a crime occurs, it’s a tragedy.

There are ways that we [can] keep our communities safe that don’t involve executing people.

What does your role as an artist in residence with TAVP entail?

When I came into the role of artist in residence, it was particularly around helping them to activate a couple of archives that had been gifted to the TAVP. And one of those is the contents of the cell of David Lee Powell.

And the first piece you made with the archive is the DLP Inventory that’s on view at Blue Star?

Courtesy Photo / Mark Menjivar

Yes. So, David left his belongings to a filmmaker living in California. And it was his intention that something would be done with the contents of his cell. He came to view his death as a political act, towards the end of his life. [The filmmaker] was not able to complete a project, so she gave David’s possessions to the TAVP. When I learned about that, in thinking about my interest in capital punishment, and working extensively with archives as an art practice, it seemed like a really great fit. I’ve been living with David’s objects for the last four years and the first thing that I did was to make a simple inventory. I went through every box and cataloged every item and just made a text list. I also photographed them as well. … I wasn’t interested in being like “this is David’s alarm clock” or “this is David’s radio” or “this is David’s chess board” or “this is David’s coffee cup.” But I think that the fact that he had a chess board, that he had an alarm clock, he had a coffee cup, I think what it does is it helps me to realize that these are individuals that are on death row. It’s so easy to get lost in numbers or this idea of death row or an execution being something that’s just abstract, that’s hidden away in a far-off place in East Texas. Encountering David’s objects and seeing into his life in this way helped me to humanize that process.

Was the sheet music the most unusual thing you discovered in the boxes?

It’s one of the discoveries that stopped me in my tracks. When I found a fragment of the musical score inside of the envelope, I was like, “What is this?” It made me begin to ask questions and to dig deeper. …

And then there’s the paper trail of the music [being

played in the courtroom during his final appeal]. …

I was trying to find the original tape, [but] nobody had a recording of it. That’s what led me to reach out to composer Richard Castillo here in San Antonio to recreate the piece.

Was Powell a trained musician?

No, he was not trained. David was really a genius. He graduated valedictorian of his high school class at age 16. He was in the honors program at UT Austin.

And then he fell into addiction and suffered from mental health issues. And it was in that time period that he was involved in the killing of Ralph Ablanedo.

Powell’s girlfriend, who was with him at the time of the murder, did she end up in jail?

She spent 15 years in jail and is out now. … There are a lot of questions about who pulled the trigger. …

In the [exhibition] book you’ll see [a note with the words] “that damn girl.” From the research I was able to find, when they asked Ralph Ablanedo who pulled the trigger … he said “that damn girl.” … David never [blamed her]. It’s a complicated case. … A lot of people, when they find out I work on capital punishment issues, will ask, “What did David do?” There’s curiosity when we ask that question, but also I think [people are asking] if it was justified. Did [he] do something that was so bad that we can justify him being executed? So much of what I’ve been trying to do with this project is to shift that conversation from “What did David do?” to “What are we doing now?” We’ve now executed 570 people since capital punishment got reinstated, and I think it affects our community in so many different ways. sacurrent.com | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | CURRENT 25

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Actor Ricardo Chavira draws on his own family to portray patriarch in Selena: The Series

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

I

t was late in the afternoon on March 31, 1995, when actor Ricardo Chavira (TV’s Desperate Housewives) found out 23-yearold Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla had died. Chavira, who was also 23 at the time, had just finished class at the University of the Incarnate Word and was walking to his bus stop to go home when he saw a group of people congregating outside the Selena Boutique located on Broadway not far from the Witte Museum.

“As I’m walking by, I saw people out there lighting candles and putting out flowers,” Chavira told the Current last week. “There were news cameras out there. And I just remember thinking, ‘Oh, shit, something happened. I need to get home.’”

Once home, Chavira’s father told him what happened to the beloved Latina entertainer earlier that day in Corpus Christi.

“We watched the 6 p.m. news together,” Chavira recalls. “I still remember the way the fabric felt on the couch we were sitting on.

That was a very big moment for San Antonio and the South Texas region.”

Twenty-five years later, Chavira has become part of Selena’s history. The San Antonio native stars as the late singer’s father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., in Netflix’s Selena: The Series.

The real-life character was first brought to the screen in theaters in 1997 when Oscar-nominated actor Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver) portrayed the family patriarch in the feature film Selena with Jennifer Lopez in the title role.

The new series, which will be released in two parts, expands on the story of the members of the Quintanilla family.

The first part of Selena: The Series includes nine episodes and debuts December 4 on Netflix.

What was your relationship like with Selena’s music growing up in San Antonio?

My dad was the big Tejano and Conjunto fan. I remember when I was in high school, he was like, “Hey, there’s this young girl, and she’s doing really great things. You have to hear her music.” But all I wanted to listen to was Metallica and Nirvana. I wanted to be in a flannel shirt in Seattle. I always felt like I was being subjected to Tejano music.

If I got into my father’s truck, I could play my music for 30 minutes, but then he got to play his music for 30 minutes. There would

screens

Macho Bravado

Netflix / Ricardo Chavira

always be a Selena song that came on, so I do remember those songs. And I do remember her performances like at Rosedale Park and at the Convention Center for the Tejano Music Awards. I remember seeing clips and reading about it, so I’ve always had a huge familiarity with her music.

What do you think makes Selena so timeless?

[Her] story is a huge story for us, being from San Antonio and from South Texas and being Mexican American. We don’t have enough of our stories being told. The movie came out 25 years ago, and here we are releasing the series. In those 25 years, how many other stories from South Texas have hit the entertainment scene the way this one has? This one is iconic because she was iconic, and her music was iconic. The thing that really makes her stand the test of time is the fact that she was taken away from us so soon. That’s what creates that legacy, unfortunately.

How is the series different from what audiences saw in the 1997 film?

The series really delves into the workings of the Quintanilla family. It gives intimate portrayals of the foundation of this family and how it set Selena up for success. Hopefully, that’s going to bring in a whole new generation of Selena fans.

Did you have any conversations with Abraham about how you would portray him?

I know the writers, creators and executive producers had conversations with the Quin-

tanilla family early on. They gathered a lot of information that became the storytelling threads for the series. I never had any contact with Abraham or [Selena’s brother] A.B. The only person I had contact with was [Selena’s sister] Suzette.

So, what kind of research did you do to play the role?

I watched as many interviews with Abraham as I could and reread the history. I had never seen the movie. Once I got this role, I knew I didn’t want to watch the movie, because I didn’t want it to inform me on how I was going to approach it. I also talked to my dad.

My dad and my tios are Mexican American men from the same generation [as Abraham].

I remember when I watched the first few interviews with Abraham, I was like, “Dude, he sounds like my dad. He sounds like my Tio José.” I had this wonderful well of resources and material from just the men in my family.

So, I started drawing from that — that Mexican American, macho bravado that the older generation puts on.

Picture yourself going to a quinceañera in San Antonio. What Selena song do you want the DJ to start playing when you walk in?

If everyone is dancing, it should be “Techno Cumbia.” It’s funny because I thought I knew all the Selena songs, but as we started working on the series, I realized I didn’t. One of the songs I really fell in love with was “La Carcacha.”

Find more film stories at sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

food

Following the Flavor Exploring San Antonio’s ever-evolving food truck scene is worth the drive

BY RON BECHTOL

I

n the pre-history of the food trailer phenomenon, there was the simple taco truck.

It hung out around construction sites at noon, dispensing quick and cheap lunches to hungry workers. I haven’t checked lately, but I imagine there must still be some active operators, their mobile kitchens resplendent in their quilted stainless cladding.

But how the world of mobile kitchens has changed — both in geographic distribution, ethnic food options and social media promotion. Corners of the city that might never have imagined having access to the food truck phenom now have several options. And that, naturally, calls for periodic investigations of what’s new in far-flung neighborhoods.

Here’s one, and it happens to be a new favorite. Reversing the initial trend of trucks as a potential steppingstone to brick-andmortar status, popular Mexican eatery Ro-Ho Pork & Bread (facebook.com/rohoporkandbread, (210) 689-4890) exemplifies the opposite: a successful restaurant that’s decided to branch out with a mobile version.

Located at the corner of Goliad Road and Hot Wells Boulevard — and sharing a small parking lot with a lively pollos asados trailer — the Ro-Ho trailer’s primary product is its popular torta ahogada. It comes to you in a kind of DIY kit for assembly at home: a split birote roll stuffed with savory carnitas, a plastic bag bulging with a modestly spicy tomato sauce, and some cabbage, onion and radish. Your job is to place the two halves of the sandwich into a large bowl, pour in the sauce, add garnish and consume — just slowly enough to let the bread get a little soggy.

For the torta and the Taco Chilango, there is a choice of “regular” carnitas or the more textural “mixed” version. Whichever you chose, the taco will come studded with crispy chicharrones — a beautiful and crunchy counterpoint to the moist meat — and a fragrant chile de arbol sauce. One of the best tacos in recent memory, it will draw me back just as easily as the torta. But one word of advice: it’s way easier to pay with cash.

Another recent and memorable food truck stop was at The Block, a University of Texas at San Antonio-area food truck park at Road Runner Ridge and UTSA Boulevard. I’d hoped to catch Bull Gogi Boys on a late Friday afternoon, but they were elsewhere. Not to worry,

Ron Bechtol

though, Venezuelan emissary Zulia’s Kitchen (facebook.com/zuliaskitchent, (737) 333-5748) was another target, and it more than made up for the loss.

The arepa is a cornerstone of Venezuelan cuisine. Its form is similar to that of a gordita, but it’s made instead from cooked, dehydrated corn meal that is rehydrated into a masa-like dough. My choice, the overstuffed Llanera, came with peppery grilled chicken (beef is also an option), white cheese, pico de gallo and avocado, all tucked into a split arepa. Sabrosisima. But equally satisfying was the simpler empanada of carne mechada, or shredded and stewed beef. I’m not sure which of the two aioli-adjacent sauces was meant for the empanada, but the stuffed pastry was flavorful enough to be consumed without either. As was the wheat-dough encased fried pastelito I chose to have filled with a crumbly, slightly sour queso blanco.

All was not lost on the quasi-Korean front, though, as there’s another concentration of trucks flanking the neighboring service station. Among them is Coreanos (facebook.com/ CoreanosSanAntonio, (979) 383-4681), a recent arrival from Houston. Neither Korean nor Mexican purists are likely to be amused by the pair of cultural mashup items I ordered — they’re best described as hot messes. The Loco Pollo was a kind of burrito oozing with chicken, formerly crispy fries, kimchi and spicy mayo. The Kim Bap Bowl, ordered with

chopped bulgogi, was served atop rice with cabbagey kimchi and more spiced mayo, and it proved a little easier to manage. But here’s the deal: if you don’t think about it much, both actually taste pretty good. The kimchi was an especially welcome combatant in the Mex-mashup melee.

My final stop was BarBCue Done Wright (bbqdonewright.com, (808) 866-8651), a truck whose menu is within striking distance of the Filipino culinary canon. It’s usually parked in front of a store dispensing CBD products on South Presa Street.

The most classic offering says it all in its name: Filipino Soul BBQ chicken. In addition to banana ketchup and vinegar, the recipe for this popular street food sometimes includes 7Up. The chicken is lacquered, luscious and a welcome addition to our own street scene.

William Wright’s Slammin ’Bama ribs also say it all in the name, offering all the meaty, peppery and smoky flavors you’d expect.

These, though, are closer to Atlanta than Manila.

I’m less sure that Honolulu would want to claim the bland Hawaiian mac salad, but I’d be personally thrilled to take ownership of the truck’s barbecue baked beans, whatever their combined origins. They’re sweet, sour, hot and fragrant. In short, sensational.

If you order the Get My Taste Budzz On combo plate with two sides, just double up on those beans.

Find more food & drink news at sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

food River Walk Return

New Executive Chef Joseph Perez brings ‘hunger to learn’ to the reopened Esquire Tavern

BY NINA RANGEL

I

t’s been a crushing year for the food and beverage industry, but revered River Walk fixture the Esquire Tavern is determined not to let 2020 be a total loss.

Closed since March due to the pandemic, the craft cocktail haven appointed new leadership behind its bar and in the kitchen and made productive use of the shutdown. It reopened earlier this month with new dishes, new cocktails and a renewed focus under recently named Executive Chef Joseph Perez.

Perez, known as “JP,” to coworkers, first joined the Esquire team in 2014 under the watchful eye of then-executive chef and boss lady Brooke Smith.

Under Smith’s instruction, Perez learned the ins and outs of house-made charcuterie and whole-animal butchering in the small kitchen of Downstairs, the river-level bar underneath the Esquire. At the time, Perez possessed no formal training, but he quickly climbed the ranks, becoming Downstairs’ sous chef in 2018.

Until its closure, he also served as sous chef at Southtown staple El Mirador, also owned by Esquire Tavern proprietor Chris Hill.

After a short stint at Olmos Park eatery Evolution Restaurant, Perez has returned to the River Walk, simultaneously bringing his laid-back attitude and a genuine excitement to the culinary landmark.

Esquire Sous Chef Emilio Baez was also on hand for the interview.

Tell us about the new influences you’re adding to the Tavern menu.

Perez: We kept a lot of the older items like the bologna melt and the Big Red empanada, because people want to come back the Tavern from the pandemic to some kind of familiarity.

A lot of the new items are Chilean- and Argentinian-inspired, as Emilio and I constantly try to find ways to add our backgrounds to the Esquire’s line up.

Baez: Texas is so big, and there are so many different worlds of food. With this new menu, we want to respect Texas but bring in flavors from Central America.

You know, pebre sauce is a classic Chilean condiment, but when people find out its just cilantro, onion, olive oil, garlic and habanero peppers, they’re like, “I eat this stuff all the time!”

Courtesy Photo / Esquire Tavern

Perez: The culture we’re trying to create, it’s really electric and built on a hunger to learn. Our team is picking up new, more positive technical habits and trying to grow and gain more experience. We’re building a culture that centers around making sure our guys know that we know that we can’t do this without them. Emilio and I met last year, and when the pandemic happened and we had to shut down, we basically put our heads together and worked on the menu all summer. We’d be texting about new books or ingredients we discovered, and we really began a partnership that’s built around a love of food.

Perez: We want to stay true to the Tavern, but we don’t want it to be so heavy that it’s not approachable.

Baez: After so many years, a lot of cooks and chefs look at food as just a job, so it’s rare to meet someone who is just as excited about food as I am. JP and I connected right away and immediately worked well together.

About 95% of your kitchen staff is brand new to the Tavern. Tell us about that dynamic.

Tell us about your culinary journey to this new post as executive chef.

Perez: I was working on food trucks here and there, but The Esquire Tavern was my first jump into building a culinary career. On my first day at the Tavern, I didn’t have the lid completely on the VitaMix, and I accidentally splattered chicken liver pâté all over Brooke [Smith, former executive chef]. She just looked at me and said, “We’re gonna get through this, JP.” I knew then that I was going to gain a lot from her if she had that kind of patience! And I did, I learned so much from Brooke. She was constantly juggling projects on top of projects, and I’m so grateful to her for trusting me enough to take the reins of Downstairs when that time came.

Speaking of Downstairs, what’s the scoop?

Perez: We are working on a plan to reopen, and while I can’t tell you when, I can say we won’t be doing charcuterie down there. It’ll more fine dining, avant-garde cuisine — dishes that we’re working on developing now. At first, though, we’ll just offer an extensive cocktail, beer and wine menu. sacurrent.com | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | CURRENT

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36 CURRENT | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

music

music | music picks

Friday, December 4

Facebook / Minglewood

MINGLEWOOD

If you think there are too many Grateful Dead tribute bands, well, you don’t know the Dead. With a deep catalog open to interpretation, the hippie legends offer a jumping off point for musicians to do their thing.

Minglewood aim to put a “personal twist” on the catalog at this socially distanced show. $30-$80, 7 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — Mike McMahan

Saturday, December 5

Facebook / The Texases

THE TEXASES

Courtesy Photo Doc / Watkins Trio

DOC WATKINS AND HIS TRIO Tuesday, December 8 - Wednesday, December 16

Christmastime may not actually be upon us for another couple of weeks, but who’s counting? San Antonio-based jazz pianist Doc Watkins is bringing the classic yuletide spirit with 16 performances of the music from A Charlie Brown Christmas, cabaret style. Known as the creator of the weekly radio program Live at Jazz TX, Watkins seems intent on inducing childhood nostalgia with all the feels that Vince Guaraldi’s classic soundtrack summons forth. $40-$65, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Saturday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday, Carlos Alvarez Theater, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — Brianna Espinoza

Billed as an opportunity to bid adieu to member Jase Texas, the “greatest classic country cover band” will hosted a seated show with table service. The artwork that adorns The Texases’ merch highlights an ensemble tapping into iconic imagery with a sense of fun. $18.48-$100, 5 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — MM

JOSH WARD, JODY BOOTH

Houstonian Ward has a journeyman’s tale, having cut his teeth performing classics from artists like Waylon and Willie while tailgating between rodeos. He got his break playing with the Southern Breeze Band, a Texas swing stalwart, before fronting his own group, who boast a sound that mixes country and

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.

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CURRENT | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

music | listings

old-time rock ’n’ roll. $15, 7 p.m., John T. Floore Country Store, 14492 Old Bandera Road, (210) 695-8827, liveatfloores.com. — MM

Saturday, December 12

Jaime Monzon

FEA, KNOCKIN’ CHUCKS + MORE

Chicana punk rockers FEA are back on the scene, bringing their angry-yet-catchy tunes to the San Antonio masses. The evening also includes a full slate of other local punk acts, including Knockin’ Chucks. $10-$17, 8 p.m., Rock Box, 1223 E. Houston St., (210) 6779453, therockboxsatx.com. — BE

BLACK MARBLE, MOANING

Brooklyn’s dreamy, ’80s-esque Black Marble and LAbased support band Moaning — who do more airy singing than their name suggests — appear daring enough to tour in the time of COVID-19. Apparently, even in a pandemic, people crave synthesizers and warbly guitars. $14-$16, 9 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — BE

Sunday, December 13

Courtesy Photo / Jason Eady

JASON EADY Friday, December 11

Eady will perform solo for an acoustic evening at this seated show. The singer-songwriter, who was born in Mississippi and now calls Fort Worth home, cites Guy Clark, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard as his key influences. His 2012 album, AM Country Heaven, debuted at the top of the Billboard country charts, while his 2017 self-titled LP featured a duet with Vince Gill for “Genie in A Bottle.” Eady commented on the recent passing of Hal Ketchum: “One of the coolest things I’ll ever get to say in my life is that I got to get to know and sing songs with [him]. He showed what it meant to have hits with integrity.” $40-$125, 7:30 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — MM

Facebook / Igor and the Red Elvises

IGOR AND THE RED ELVISES

Promoting himself with posters that nod to Communist propaganda, Igor Yuzov brings a sound described as “Siberian surf rock” to the Alamo City.

And his “commie” cred is honest, having grown up in the former Soviet Union in a time when rock music was illegal. His origin story is appropriate to the era, as he once met Ronald Reagan and appeared on Star Search with Ed McMahon. $36-$115, 7 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — MM sacurrent.com | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | CURRENT

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42 CURRENT | December 2 – December 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

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