San Antonio Current — January 13, 2021

JAN. 13 - JAN. 26, 2021

FIRESTARTER Ted Cruz's cynical election gambit helped ignite the Capitol riot

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in this issue Issue 21-01 /// January 13 - January 26, 2021

San Antonio Current

Out of the “Blue”

Remembering recently deceased “Blue” Gene Tyranny, a San Antonioborn composer who collaborated with Iggy Pop, Laurie Anderson and more

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

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Advertising Director: Michael Wagner

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

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Firestarter

Ted Cruz’s cynical election gambit helped ignite the Capitol riot

San Antonio Current 915 Dallas San Antonio, Texas 78215 sacurrent.com

07 News

The Opener News in Brief

Glitter Political

District 3 council candidate Phyllis Viagran aims to carry on her family’s work ethic

12 Calendar

in Tony Parker: The Final Shot

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 Final Shot

New Tony Parker documentary likely to engage fans with familiar faces from the Spurs and a legendary rival

The San Antonio Current is published by Euclid Media Group Verified Audit Member San Antonio Distribution – The Current is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader.

18 Food

JAN. 13 - JAN. 26, 2021

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Dry Goods

The growing array of non-alcoholic products can turn Dry January into a spirited celebration

Calendar Picks

15 Arts

Trash to Treasure

The newly opened Spare Parts store connects artists with materials otherwise destined for the landfill

16 Screens

French Connection

Director Florent Bodin captures amazing career of retired Spurs star

Sober, not Stodgy

San Antonio culinary pros offer tips for putting some zip into nonalcoholic home cocktails

FIRESTARTER

20 Music

Rock is dead.

Long live rocanrol.

Break It All, Netflix’s six-part rock en español docuseries, sparks fierce debates but offers valuable history lessons

Ted Cruz's cynical election gambit helped ignite the Capitol riot

The presidential ambitions of Texas’ junior senator have taken him to a new low. Cover design: Samantha Serna.

M

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.

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CURRENT | January 13 – January 26, 2021 | sacurrent.com

ASSCLOWN ALERT

The iconic Cowboy Breakfast that unofficially kicks off the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo will be a private event this year. Due to the pandemic, event organizers will deliver tacos to nonprofit groups instead of holding its traditional parking lot event.

17 Texas Republicans

H H

In a welcome move, the Department of Health and Human Services directed the Food and Drug Administration not to collect fees from distilleries that manufactured hand sanitizer during the first months of the pandemic.

Distilleries such as San Antonio-based Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling, were facing fees of $14,000. “Small businesses who stepped up to fight COVID-19 should be applauded by their government, not taxed for doing so,” an HHS spokesman told news site The Hill.

H

Texas is giving thousands of residents who rely on Planned Parenthood for non-abortive healthcare services less than a month to find new providers in the middle of a pandemic. Late last year, the GOP-controlled state succeeded in its bid to boot the healthcare provider from its Medicaid program after getting favorable court ruling at the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Police accountability group Fix SAPD last week submitted 20,000 signed petitions to the city in a bid to let voters decide whether San Antonio cops should be able to engage in collective bargaining. If the city clerk verifies the signatures, the measure would appear on the May ballot. SAPD has faced outrage over a string of cases in which officers accused of gross misconduct were returned to the force by an arbitration process guaranteed under its current labor contract. — Abe Asher

YOU SAID IT!

“I have disagreed with the president’s language and rhetoric for the last four years and have said so many, many times.”

— U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to ABC affiliate KTRK in his hometown of Houston following the Capitol riot.

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

Hours after a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump insurrectionists — an event that marked first non-peaceful transfer of power since the birth of the Republic — these 17 Texas Republicans voted to sustain one or both objections to Joe Biden’s legitimate presidential win: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington U.S. Rep. Brian Babin U.S. Rep. Michael C. Burgess U.S. Rep. John R. Carter U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls U.S. Rep. August Pfluger U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne U.S. Rep. Randy Weber U.S. Rep. Roger Williams U.S. Rep. Ron Wright

news

That Rocks/That Sucks

Courtesy Photo / U.S. Rep. Brian Babin

Let’s remember these putrid, cowardly assclowns at the ballot box. — Abe Asher

Scandal-plagued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, under indictment for securities fraud and a reported FBI investigation for abuse of office, was again at the center of ignominy he spoke at the pro-Trump rally preceding the coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol. Paxton told the crowd that he would keep fighting to secure a second term for President Donald Trump.

He later claimed on Twitter without evidence that the terrorists who stormed the capitol were “not Trump supporters.”

The first Texas case of the new, potentially highly contagious COVID-19 strain was last week identified in Harris County in a person with no history of travel, suggesting community spread of the strain is already happening in the state.

While it does not cause more severe illness, the contagiousness of the strain has health officials on high alert.

A group of environmental organizations are suing EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler for failing to respond to a petition asking the agency to address what it claims are Texas’ violations of federal air-pollution laws. The groups argue that the EPA allowed Texas regulators to grant permits for eight refineries and other pollution-producing plants without serious oversight. Their case will be heard in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

— Abe Asher

Jaime Monzon

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Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | January 13 – January 26, 2021 | sacurrent.com

news GLITTER POLITICAL

District 3 council candidate Phyllis Viagran aims to carry on her family’s work ethic

BY JADE ESTEBAN ESTRADA

O

n May 1, a familiar surname will appear on the ballot in the District 3 race for San Antonio City Council. Phyllis Viagran is running for the open seat now held by her younger sister, four-term councilwoman Rebecca Viagran, who’s reached the end of her term limit.

Still glowing from a morning spin class, Phyllis Viagran, who turns 48 on January 15, greets me through my computer screen. The resemblance to her sibling on council is striking.

As we get into the interview, Viagran seems confident she can edge out her four other opponents.

She holds that she has the skills, qualifications and connections to lead her community through the pandemic.

“The Viagrans, we’re all just workers,” she says with a smile. “We just work. There’s hardly any days off for us. That’s why I think my sister was able to do so well.

I am super proud of her.”

Early in her own career, Viagran was a teacher at a Catholic elementary school. She loved the exerience, which taught her the importance of being patient.

“The thing about teachers — and I tell this to them all the time — [is that] you can do anything,” she says.

“You want a corporate job? You want a nonprofit job? Wherever you want to go, you can do it, because you’re doing that all in the classroom.” She pauses for a moment. “I think everyone should [teach] for a year or two.”

While she’s left the elementary school classroom behind, education still figures into her career: she’s works for Senior Planet, a company that helps older adults navigate the Internet.

Thanks to a first-row seat to her sister’s eight years on council, Viagran says she’s been able to observe the behind-the-scenes realities of the job — such as the fact that the gig is nonstop. She also noticed that communicating with constituents isn’t always easy.

“You have people who want to complain but don’t bring solutions, [and] there’s tons of misinformation out there,” she explains.

Apathy is also a major hurdle, Viagran adds.

“Managing the people who are like ‘So what?’

That’s what’s hard, that ‘so what?’ attitude,” she says with a fading smile.

Viagran’s first approach to overcoming that mindset is to find common ground, but she admits that too can be a challenge.

“Some people are like, ‘Unless it happened to me, it didn’t happen,’” she says. “Well, just because this didn’t happen to you doesn’t mean that it isn’t hap-

Norberto Geremy Landin

pening to somebody else.”

I ask her how that pushback makes her feel.

“It just makes me want to get out there more and advocate more for the truth and give people all the tools they need to go and seek the truth,” she replies.

“I think if there are more voices that say, ‘We can’t accept that anymore,’ then those ‘so what?’ people will start to listen and start to see that changes can be made for the better.”

She adds a crucial caveat: “But, I think perspective is so important. If we don’t understand the perspective of the groups that we’re talking to it makes it very difficult to get to an understanding and healthy communication.”

For several years, Viagran has been involved with Southside community work, and a four-year stint at Visit San Antonio plugged her into the business sector. Before that, she worked for the city of San Antonio’s crisis response team, helping people affected by domestic violence.

“We need a strong voice and strong leadership to get us through this crisis and this pandemic,” she says. “I looked around and saw who was interested and who wasn’t. I finally decided, ‘I will regret it if I don’t run.’ That’s where I feel that my strength is, in getting people and community through crisis. I’m a resident of District 3. I want to serve my community.”

Viagran will likely benefit from name recognition.

If she wins, she adds, she’ll also benefit from her

sister’s counsel.

I ask if she could describe the key to successful collaboration.

“The key to collaboration is to eliminate that usthem mentality,” she says. “We need to have people talking to each other. We need to see people where they’re at to get this collaboration started. The other thing is we kind of need to let go of some of these old hurts and these old grudges. You’re from the South Side, so you know how South Siders can hold grudges. We need to get past those or put them on the back burner so we can get things done.”

From there, our conversation turns to the differences between her and her sister.

“My sister’s more like a tend-and-befriend [person] like my mom, and I’m more of a ‘let’s roll’ type of person like my dad,” she says. “Like my thing is, ‘OK, this is your criticism, how are we going to fix this? Let’s roll and let’s fix this.’ That’s the biggest difference between the two of us.”

I ask why she chose to wear a mask in her official campaign photo.

“Because that is going to be our new normal for a while,” she says with a heavy sigh. “Even with the vaccine, even as we recover, masks are going to be our new normal. I wanted people to know that I was comfortable with [wearing a mask] and I wanted them to be comfortable with [wearing a mask].” sacurrent.com | January 13 – January 26, 2021 | CURRENT

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news

disavowed it repeatedly.

“I have disagreed with the president’s language and rhetoric for the last four years and have said so many, many times,” Cruz added.

Political calculus

his seat, accusing him of spinning a “web of deception,” then “feigning concern that millions of Americans had gotten caught up in it.”

That claim, of course, is laughable.

The two were heated rivals when they both sought the 2016 Republican nomination, but after Trump’s victory, Cruz emerged as one of the president’s chief enablers, a tireless sycophant who never missed a chance to namedrop the commander in chief.

“I’ve worked hand-in-hand with President Trump from the day he’s been elected, and together we’ve accomplished incredible results for the country,” Cruz fawned during one CNN appearance.

To wit, Cruz was parroting Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud well before November rolled around, and during the Capitol riot itself, his office blasted out a fundraising message asking for cash to support his effort to “reject electors from key states.”

That unyielding support is a far cry from Cruz’s 2016 campaign rhetoric, when he at various times labeled Trump “utterly amoral,” a “sniveling coward,” a “pathological liar” and “a narcissist at a level I don’t think this country has ever seen.”

What changed?

A frequent critic of what he’s dubbed the “Washington cartel,” Cruz has built his political brand around the role of Tea Party outsider. He sees the support of Trump’s MAGA crowd as essential to his chance of clinching the next Republican presidential nomination.

“It’s clear Cruz is trying to nurture the support of that base for 2024,” Trinity University political scientist David Crockett said.

Backing away

Dangerous ambition

The senator’s response to the outcry has been textbook Cruz.

The national debate champion and Harvard Law grad has tried to lawyer his way out of the scandal, maintaining that he never wanted to reverse the election, only to seek a 10-day probe into questions about widespread voter fraud. After all, he argued, polls show more than a third of the electorate believes that’s the case.

To hear Cruz explain it, he was Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith struggling to heal a divided country.

“What I have said is that serious claims of illegality need to be considered, they need to be adjudicated and they need to be considered fairly based on the facts and based on the evidence,” he told KTRK, the ABC affiliate in his hometown of Houston.

In reality, those claims have been adjudicated to death. Since November, they’ve been rejected as fabrication and fantasy by judges — some appointed by Trump himself — in more than 60 legal cases filed by the president and his allies.

During that same TV appearance, Cruz also tried to distance himself Trump, claiming he didn’t support the president’s irresponsible rhetoric and that he’d

To those who have followed Cruz’s career, it came as little surprise to hear him try to legitimize the president’s bullshit claims of a rigged election.

A former Cruz associate on George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign said it quickly became clear to other campaign staffers that the Harvard-educated lawyer would say anything, do anything or manipulate anyone to further his own political ambitions.

“In every office there is that guy that everyone talks about behind his back because he is so full of himself and treats people so poorly — the guy no one wants to end up alone with in a conference room or elevator because his conversation is so uncomfortable,” said the former staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “On the 2000 Bush campaign, that guy was Ted Cruz.”

While Cruz’s time with the campaign did land him a job in Washington, the animosity he generated from fellow staffers ensured it wasn’t a post in the Bush White House but in the “bureaucratic backwater” of the Federal Trade Commission, Politico reports.

“The point is he didn’t learn,” Cruz’s former campaign coworker said of the snub.

Shutterstock

Firestarter

Ted Cruz’s cynical election gambit helped ignite the Capitol riot

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

D

uring his time on the national political stage, Sen. Ted Cruz has been a punchline: an unctuous, arrogant prick whose name alone — like, say, Kanye West’s — can elicit chuckles during late-night show monologues.

Now, after the events of Wednesday, January 6, nobody’s laughing.

Shortly after the Texas Republican gave a speech objecting to Congress’ certification of president-elect Joe Biden’s legitimate November win, armed insurrectionists fueled by those same deceitful claims of election fraud overran the U.S. Capitol.

Five people died in the carnage, which marked the first non-peaceful transfer of presidential power in modern U.S. history.

That same day, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, and his brother Julián Castro, a former Democratic presidential candidate, issued Twitter statements demanding Cruz step down immediately.

“He has conducted himself shamelessly, and I think he has done this because he believes it’s the only way, the only chance that he has to win the Republican nomination for president,” Joaquin Castro told the Texas Tribune.

More calls for Cruz’s resignation have followed.

On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, echoed the Castros’ sentiment, adding that if he doesn’t leave, the Senate should expel him.

An editorial in Cruz’s hometown newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, also called for him to relinquish

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CURRENT | January 13 – January 26, 2021 | sacurrent.com

Indeed, Cruz’s willingness to join fellow Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, and do Trump’s seditious bidding is more proof of an inability to grasp that his unbridled pursuit of power is damaging both to himself as well as the country.

Coming to terms Cruz is no idiot. Even his detractors admit he’s a calculating strategist with a sharp legal mind.

While the senator may not have intended his tireless attempts to delegitimize the election to inspire a coup attempt, he’s savvy enough to have known that bloodshed and unrest were potential outcomes.

During the 2016 campaign, Cruz appeared to be well aware of then-candidate Trump’s powder keg rhetoric.

During an appearance on right-wing commentator Glenn Beck’s show, Cruz decried his rival’s “consistent pattern of inciting violence.”

In the wake of last week’s insurrection, former Cruz associates have called out their former boss for his culpability. In a statement last week, Chad Sweet — Cruz’s former campaign chair — said the senator “aided and abetted” Trump’s “relentless assault” on U.S. democracy.

“I can surmise [Cruz] thinks he’s a very smart lawyer who can parse his way out of this,” Amanda Carpenter, a former communications director for Cruz told CNN. However, she added, “He has to come to terms with the fact that he, through his actions, played directly into the hands of the mob. …

And it is so horrifying to watch someone descend into this and not be able

to admit what happened.”

But history shows the odds are against Cruz stepping down, much less admitting his hand in the tragedy.

He’s long relished his role of hated disruptor. After all, this is the guy who shut down the entire U.S. government to make a point about Obamacare — a move then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called “a toddler’s version of legislating.”

Still, observers say the bloodstains from the Capitol riot will be damn near impossible for Cruz to wash from his hands. Even before the election gambit blew up in his face, Cruz wasn’t a shooin to another senate term. In 2018, he only beat Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke by a 50.9-to-48.3 margin, making it Texas’ closest U.S. Senate race since 1978.

“If you look back at recent Texas election results, it’s people like Cruz and [Texas Attorney General] Ken Paxton who have barely won reelection,” Trinity’s Crockett said. “The lesson there to Republicans is that if you’re going to be a firebreather, that’s less and less a path to power.”

Last week’s coup attempt is leading some who voted for Trump for his economic agenda and law-and-order messaging to think hard about the Faustian bargain they made when they pulled the lever. After last week’s tragic spectacle, an increasing number now grasp the threat he represents to the Republic.

It’s time for Texas voters to take a similar inward look and ask how the hell they ever could have supported a cowardly, self-serving seditionist named Ted Cruz.

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sacurrent.com | January 13 – January 26, 2021 | CURRENT

11

THU | 01.14

presenting a virtual production of George Stevens

SPORTS

Jr.’s Thurgood. The play, which premiered in 2006,

SPURS VS. MAVERICKS

details the life of late civil rights activist, lawyer

Heading into the season, NBA oddsmakers identi-

and U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood

fied Dallas Mavericks wunderkind Luka Doncic as

Marshall. Prior to joining the high court, Marshall

the early favorite to with the league’s MVP award.

played a key role in the historic Brown v. Board of Ed-

Now in his third season, Doncic is the first player in

ucation case, which ruled that segregation of public

NBA history to be named to the All-NBA first team

schools is unconstitutional. Marc Pouhé will play

by age 20. However, early shooting struggles for

the title character, a role previously performed by

Doncic, coupled with the absence of former All-Star

luminaries including James Earl Jones and Lawrence

Kristaps Porzingis, have yielded a slow start for the

Fishburne. $35-$25, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays- Saturdays, 2

Mavericks. With the insertion of 21-year-old Keldon

p.m. Sundays January 14-24, The Public Theater of San

Johnson and 22-year-old Lonnie Walker IV into the

Antonio, (210) 733-7258, thepublicsa.org. — Brianna

starting lineup, youth is finally being served in San

Espinoza

Antonio. After last season’s breakout performance in Orlando’s NBA bubble, where he averaged 14 points

MON | 01.18 Instagram / @Spurs

PBS

and 5 rebounds, Johnson continues to turn heads with a fluid game fueled by athleticism, efficiency,

of the 1970s organization 9to5, a group of Boston

and strength. Along with Dejounte Murray, Walker

secretaries who sought change for American work-

will be tasked with limiting Doncic, as he works

ing women through unconventional protests. The

through some early season shooting woes of his

documentary features interviews with 9to5 founders

own. 7:30 p.m., streaming on fuboTV. — M. Solis

as well as Jane Fonda, the activist and actress who starred alongside Parton in the 1980 comedy 9 to

SPORTS

SAT | 01.23

SPURS VS. ROCKETS After a tumultuous off-season marked by the depar-

5. The installment is one of four in the Indie Lens Pop-Up series, which features documentaries telling the story of fights for diversity, equity and inclusion

ture of head coach Mike D’Antoni to the Brooklyn

throughout history. Free, 6 p.m., presahouse.com/

Nets, general manger Daryl Morey to the Philadel-

indie-lens-pop-up. — Dana Nichols

phia 76ers, and superstar Russell Westbrook to the

SUN | 01.24

Washington Wizards, the Houston Rockets return to the AT&T Center for a two-game stint against the Spurs, presumably with former league MVP James Harden in tow. The arrival of former All-Stars John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins has yet to boost

Yesenia Morin / Courtesy of City of San Antonio MLK Comission

SPECIAL EVEN TS

With point guard Derrick White recovering from a

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. COMMEMORATIVE VIRTUAL MARCH

fractured toe, the Spurs continue to seek consistency

San Antonio’s mega-sized commemoration of

from their backcourt. Expect another strong effort

Martin Luther King Jr. will be a virtual event this year

from reserve Patty Mills whose 27 points propelled

due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The annual march

San Antonio to a 116-113 victory over Kawhi Leonard

brings together hundreds of thousands of San

and the Clippers in Los Angeles earlier this month,

Antonians in remembrance of the late civil rights

halting a four-game skid for the Spurs. 7:30pm,

leader, making it the largest MLK weekend march

EVIL DEAD

watch on AT&T SportsNet Southwest. — M. Solis

in the nation. This year, however, two local stations

Cult actor Bruce Campbell is the latest celeb to take

— News4SA and TVSA — will air a virtual gather-

his show to the web. The star of the decades-span-

ing. In addition to filmed segments paying tribute

ning Evil Dead franchise has switched things up

to the life and legacy of King, the broadcast will

to a livestream format for his latest appearance.

include photos and videos from previous marches

In the video-on-demand event, Campbell will talk

submitted by San Antonio community members and

about filming the original Evil Dead, treat attendees

organizations. Free, 10 a.m., News4 San Antonio and

to a screening of the beloved B movie and answer

TVSA, sanantonio.gov/MLK. — Dana Nichols

questions posed by fans in the chat. Evil Dead

the Rockets’ early season prospects in what looks to be another crowded Western Conference race.

THU | 01.14 SUN | 01.24

FILM

Courtesy of Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

megafans that still want a taste of the VIP experience

FRI | 01.22

can shell out some extra cash for a limited-edition

Courtesy of Ken Mahnke for MBAW CLASSICAL MUSIC

$25-$50, 7 p.m. Saturday, January 23, tobincenter.org. —

IL FAVORITE: LEONARDO COLLAGELIKE, PIANO

Kelly Merka Nelson

Pianist Leonardo Collagelike, winner of the Bronze

event poster, which will be mailed directly to them.

Medal and Audience Favorite Award at San Anto-

SUN | 01.24 FILM

9TO5: THE STORY OF A MOVEMENT Facebook / The Public Theater of San Antonio TH EATRE

THURGOOD Continuing with a lineup of one-person plays for its 2020-202ONE season, the Public Theater is 12

CURRENT | January 13 – January 26, 2021 | sacurrent.com

Instagram / @Spurs

nio’s Hurwitz 2020 International Piano Competition, is returning to the Alamo City virtually for a streaming solo performance. The Italian native will be the spotlight performer of the Russel Hill Rodgers Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral on this iteration of their free virtual Sunday perfor-

As part of PBS’s Indie Lens Pop-Up series, San Anto-

mances. These musical evenings aim to merge his-

nio’s Presa House Gallery has partnered with local

toric architecture and the music of award-winning

PBS affiliate KLRN to host a free virtual screening of

artists from around the world, and who better than

the 2020 documentary 9to5: The Story of a Movement.

a performer that locals already declared il favorite?

Delving beyond the surface of Dolly Parton’s hit sin-

Free, 7 p.m. Sunday, Musical Bridges Across the World,

gle (and movie!) “9 to 5,” the film explores the story

YouTube, musicalbridges.org. — Brianna Espinoza

BY KATIE HENNESSEY

calendar

DreamWeek’s virtual discussions aim to build civic engagement

Sarah Brooke Lyons

THU | 01.14

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN MENTAL HEALTH

San Antonio’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace will facilitate a panel discussion on the pursuit of happiness during the

fight for civil rights. Speakers will highlight examples from the struggles of Palestinians and Black Americans to show

Hosted by the Center for Health Care Services, this panel

how movements can work in parallel. Free (donations encour-

discussion will center around ways for organizations to

aged), 6-7:30 p.m., Zoom, facebook.com/JewishVoiceforPeaceSA.

incorporate mental health initiatives and better support employee wellbeing. Free, 10-11 a.m., Zoom, chcsf.org.

THU | 01.21

CHANGING OUTCOMES THROUGH EDUCATION AND OUTREACH: GENDER SOCIALIZATION AND RAPE CULTURE

Jr., is in its ninth year, and its calendar is as full

D

POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE

as ever. The only 2021 caveat is that many of its

Board members of police accountability group Fix SAPD will

Nia Davis from the Rape Crisis Center will discuss the impact

discuss police oversight in San Antonio and ways citizens

of societal and cultural gender norms that place values and

can take action. Topics include a petition drive by the group,

expectations on males and females. Free, 10-11 a.m., Zoom,

civic engagement around issues of tolerance, equality and

SAPD collective bargaining and Texas’ proposed George

rapecrisis.com/events/gender-socialization-rape-culture-4.

diversity, all fitting into DreamWeek’s 2021 theme of “Life,

Floyd Act. Free, noon-1 p.m., Facebook Live, facebook.com/

Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

fixsapdtx.

reamWeek, San Antonio’s annual celebration of the multicultural legacy of Martin Luther King

events have moved into the virtual sphere.

Local organizations will use virtual discussions to build

SAT | 01.16

As part of a series of talks running January 14-21, presenter

Here’s a selection of events happening during the 10-day summit. For details on other DreamWeek-affiliated events,

MON | 01.18FRI | 01.22

visit dreamweek.org.

ADVOCATING FOR EQUALITY AND JUSTICE FOR IMMIGRANTS UNDER THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION The Migrant Center for Human Rights is hosting a five-part podcast series discussing the incoming Biden Administration’s likely approach to immigration policy and how

SAT | 01.23

Sarah Brooke Lyons

encouraged), 8:30-9 a.m. Monday-Friday, migrantcenter.org/

DISARM HATE: THE DEADLY INTERSECTION OF GUNS AND HATE CRIMES

advocating-for-equality-and-justice.

This panel discussion organized by the Bexar County

citizens can advocate for positive change. Free (donations

chapter of Mom’s Demand Action for Gun Sense in America will explore the deadly intersection between guns and hate

WED | 01.20

Sarah Brooke Lyons

ENVISIONING LIBERATION: PALESTINE AND BLACK LIVES MATTER

crimes. Community leaders from diverse backgrounds will discuss how marginalized groups are disproportionally affected by gun violence. Free, 3-4:30 p.m., Zoom, momsdemandaction.org.

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.

COME AND GET YOUR LUNCH. kuenstlerbrewing.com

Mention this ad in for 10% OFF your food order from 11am–3pm daily.

14

CURRENT | January 13 – January 26, 2021 | sacurrent.com

arts

Trash to Treasure The newly opened Spare Parts store connects artists with materials otherwise destined for the landfill

BY KATIE HENNESSEY

P

rintmaker Maggi Peachey’s eyes were opened to the potential of creative reuse on a Denver art walk.

The San Antonio artist stumbled upon a store with that offered reused materials at discount prices to creatives and other resourceful shoppers. After some research, she was shocked to discover her hometown offered no such retail option.

Now, thanks in part to Peachey, that’s no longer true.

Spare Parts, San Antonio’s first-ever creative reuse store opened in December. The shop, located at 13491 Wetmore Road, offers discount art supplies including paint, paper, beads, jewelry, office essentials and sewing items that otherwise might have been destined for the trash bin.

After her eye-opening Denver trip, Peachey joined Spare Parts, then a mobile operation that had grown out of serving local teachers.

She helped the members develop a business plan and actualize its goal of establishing a brick-and-mortar shop. Now, she serves as the nonprofit’s committee chairwoman.

“Purchasing these fine-art and quality supplies can get very expensive, and that can be intimidating,” Peachey said. “By offering a selection of pre-owned items, it gives artist like me an opportunity to explore and maybe try out a new medium that otherwise I wouldn’t even look at before.”

Spare Parts founder and executive director Mary Elizabeth Cantú said the nonprofit fosters creativity through sustainability. The shop connects creatives lacking in supplies with environmentally sustainable resource, in turn, keeping them out of landfills.

“Everything you see around you has the potential to be trash. Everything,” Cantú said. “And we know there isn’t room in our landfills for this stuff. We have to be smarter about the way we interact with the things around us, because there’s no such thing as throwing something away. It doesn’t disappear; it goes somewhere and usually stays there for a long time. Our creative community can help with diverting trash. They can transform it into beautiful art or turn it into a creative project.”

Due to COVID-19 precautions, Spare Parts has made its wares available to local cre-

Ismael Rodriguez

atives online and curbside pick-up. However, it’s now taking limited in-store shopping appointments with its next opening planned for January 16-17. The group will announce future openings via its Facebook page.

Hub for educators Cantú said her interest in connecting resourceful creatives with recycled materials started 10 years ago.

At the time, she was working as an art teacher and faced a problem common to educators — budget cuts had dried up funds for supplies.

When she heard about a local retailer going out of business, she rushed to scoop up creative materials that would otherwise have been thrown away.

“There was so much stuff that they said to come back with a U-Haul,” Cantú recalled.

“That’s when I realized this opportunity was bigger than me, and I began collecting other pre-loved items for teachers across the city.”

Operating out of garages and storage units, her creative reuse organization channeled landfill-destined materials to those who could put them to use for creative projects.

Cantú organized giveaways to help get those items into the hands of educators often left to buy supplies out-of-pocket.

‘For the whole community’ Middle-school art teacher Eric Cavazos became aware of Spare Parts at one of those events.

“It was like walking into Willy Wonka’s

Chocolate Factory,” said Cavazos, who now serves on the organization’s board. “I thought, ‘These people get me. They know how art teachers think.’”

The Spare Parts retail shop’s soft opening included a private VIP shopping event.

Cavazos likened that in-store shopping experience to a playground for his mind.

“It’s truly an art teacher’s dream thrift store,” Cavazos said. “You get to use your imagination and brainstorm on the spot for future art projects you can do with the items in the store.”

“My favorite items are true spare parts,” he said, describing how corks and bottle caps he picked up during the excursion could be used to create small figurines. “The possibilities are endless.”

Peachey said she hopes the store finds an audience beyond San Antonio’s art community.

“We have a lot of office supplies, so if you are looking for one sticky notebook or a few paperclips, we have that,” she said. “If you’re homeschooling your kids now and you need just a few crayons that you’re missing, we have that.”

Other items could end up becoming oneof-a-kind gifts or an addition to someone’s wardrobe, she added.

“We have a ton of beading and jewelry and some interesting and unique housewares,” Peachey said. “Really, it’s for the whole community.”

Those interested in donating to Spare Parts can arrange a drop-off by emailing store@ sparepartssa.org.

Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com

French Connection Director Florent Bodin captures amazing career of retired Spurs star in Tony Parker: The Final Shot

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

W

hen the San Antonio Spurs picked 19-year-old Frenchman Tony Parker in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft, another French teenager, this one already in Texas as a foreign exchange student, intently watched his ascent.

Parker not only become just the third French player to play in the NBA. He became one of the league’s stars.

“I was a French guy in Texas when Tony was drafted, and I was telling everyone, ‘You should look for this guy!’” documentarian Florent Bodin told the Current during a discussion of his new film Tony Parker: The Final Shot. “I was very proud of him!”

Though Bodin and Parker’s paths crossed a few times while Bodin was working as a sports journalist, it wasn’t until 2018 that the director got what he calls “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to make a documentary about Parker as he neared the end of an 18-year career, 17 of them with the Spurs.

The film, currently streaming on Netflix, explores Parker’s meteoric sports career, from a young, elite player in Paris to his final season, spent with the Charlotte Hornets.

What motivated you to make a documentary about Tony Parker?

I’m a filmmaker for a company that has made documentaries before on athletes like Teddy Riner, who is a judo [athlete], and on Karim Benzema, the Real Madrid soccer player. Tony was interested in documenting the end of his career. We started talking with him and his agent back in 2018. We decided to start filming because we thought it might be his last days as a pro baller.

Once Tony was drafted, did you automatically become a San Antonio Spurs fan?

(Laughs.) No, not really. But I really love sports. I was a sports journalist before I was a director. I specialized in basketball, so I had interviewed Tony before, but [the interviews] were not very long. So, to get to do the documentary was a dream. [Soccer player] Zinédine Zidane is the greatest athlete of French sports, but Tony is at the same level.

There’s some great footage in the film I had never seen before when Tony was a kid. Did Tony share all of that with you?

Tony has a mother who is very good at documenting Tony’s life. She had everything. She shot a lot of the video herself of Tony playing basketball. It was like pure gold for us. Tony went to a very prestigious school in France before becoming a professional.

That’s where he played with [Ronny] Turiaf and [for16

CURRENT | January 13 – January 26, 2021 | sacurrent.com

Netflix / Tony Parker: The Final Shot

mer Spurs player] Boris Diaw. There’s some very cool [video] of them when they are in the classroom, being regular students before becoming world-famous.

Someone else you interview in the film is Kobe Bryant. Describe that experience. This must have been only a few months before he died, yes?

It was one of the craziest experiences of my life. I think it might be one of his last interviews. We shot that in November 2019, and the accident happened two months after that. During the interview, he was so witty and professional, and really into talking about Tony. I asked him to introduce himself and the first thing he said was, “I’m Kobe Bryant. I played against Tony for years and years and years, and he’s responsible for me not winning more championships.” I was like, “This is going to be a great interview.” It was terrible to know that two months later he was gone.

What was it like being in the AT&T Center the night the Spurs retired Tony’s jersey?

It was very special seeing all the fans. The Spurs lost the game that night, but nobody left the arena after the game. They wanted to recognize Tony and his

career. I think at that point, Tony realized that he had an amazing career. Before that, he never wanted to talk about the end of his career with me. But after the jersey retirement, he realized that he had done some pretty great things in the NBA. It was very special for us because we went to the after-party and there were all these different cultures mixing together. It was like recreating the Tony Parker Universe in one place.

I saw David Robinson dancing to a French song, and I was like, “Man, that’s weird.”

There is a French journalist in the documentary who says Tony felt “disrespected” because the Spurs didn’t sign him for his final year in the NBA. Did you get a sense that that’s how Tony felt, or was that just one person’s opinion?

Maybe that word is too strong, because there is no problem with the Spurs organization and Tony. There was a playing time problem and there was a money problem. He and his entourage felt like he could make more money somewhere else. I think the Spurs thought that Tony would never leave and that he would finish his career in San Antonio. I think they had too much confidence. It was a business problem, and Tony is a very good businessman.

screens

The Final Shot

New Tony Parker documentary likely to engage fans with familiar faces from the Spurs and a legendary rival

BY M. SOLIS

W

ith the meme-inducing impact of The Last Dance, ESPN’s 10part portrait of the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls, and HBO’s much-anticipated two-part meditation on Tiger Woods, Tiger, nostalgia-fueled sports documentaries dot the cultural landscape.

San Antonio Spurs icon Tony Parker is now the subject of his own celebrity sports doc with Tony Parker: The Final Shot, which features interviews with Spurs luminaries including Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, David Robinson and Gregg Popovich.

Directed by Florent Bodin and released via Netflix, The Final Shot spans Parker’s formative years in France and sterling 18-season NBA career. Similar to how The Last Dance borrowed heavily from David Halberstam’s masterful tome Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made, The Final Shot seems to take its narrative cues from Parker’s recent memoir Beyond All of My Dreams.

Like Beyond All of My Dreams, the documentary opens with echoes of Parker’s June 10, 2019 retirement from the NBA, interspersed with requisite career highlights and footage from his sprawling San Antonio home. By allowing us into Parker’s inner sanctum, replete with NBA championship rings, framed All-Star jerseys and an NBA Finals MVP trophy, Bodin quickly establishes Parker as, first and foremost, a winner — a mindset that Parker himself credits to his father.

“Tony has won a lot and been one of the best point guards in the league for a long time, so I think he’ll be recognized as a guy who helped change the NBA into a more international sport,” Hall of Famer David Robinson says in the doc.

After a brief recap of Parker’s childhood in France, featuring rare glimpses of his first forays into organized basketball from the ’90s, Bodin succinctly delves into Parker’s final season with the Charlotte Hornets. Parker’s final shot in the NBA occurred March 17, 2019, in Miami as a member of the Hornets, a team which he joined after a perceived slight from the Spurs.

From there, Bodin revisits Parker’s unlikely rise in France with glowing recollections from former teammates Boris Diaw and Ronny Turiaf. The film begins to tread familiar ground for Spurs faithful as it follows the 2001 NBA draft and Parker’s subsequent

Netflix / Tony Parker: The Final Shot

rookie season in San Antonio. Although forgotten details such as Parker’s near selection by the Boston Celtics and Tim Duncan’s preference for coconut donuts are a nice touch, the remembrances from those closest to Parker truly bolster the film’s narrative.

“My very, very first impression was that he was a probably a little bit full of himself on the court and maybe not as tough as he needed to be,” recalls Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. “He convinced me in the next workout or two that I was totally wrong, and from that day on he was the guy. I gave him the basketball and he took over that position.”

Similar to Parker, the documentary hits its stride with San Antonio’s 2003 run to the NBA title. At that point, an air of gravitas comes from an unlikely source.

“I think it was the 2003 series,” the late Kobe Bryant says during an interview. “I feel

like for him that’s when things really clicked into gear for him and it became very, very difficult for us to handle him. I think his game became more well-rounded. I think he had a pretty good handle on offensively what Pop wanted from him.”

The ensuing string of NBA championships, hard-fought battles with Bryant’s Lakers, and eventual rehabilitation from a career-threatening injury, ultimately paint a compelling portrait of a player who at one point considered himself a “third wheel” in San Antonio.

“Manu was always what Manu was and Tony became more of a scorer at some point,” Duncan recalls during The Final Shot.

“I was a scorer more at some points. He controlled offense. I controlled offense. It was that mesh there, but we always had each other’s respect, and we had each other’s trust that we were all doing it for the right reasons and just trying to win.”

Find more film stories at sacurrent.com

Ron Bechtol

Dry Goods

The growing array of non-alcoholic products can turn Dry January into a spirited celebration

BY RON BECHTOL

A

s the Dry January phenomenon picks up steam, we’ve thankfully moved well beyond the virtuous Virgin Mary and the simpering Shirley Temple — neither of which most of us want to be overheard ordering during any month of the year.

To be sure, whether driven by folks swearing off alcohol for a month or embracing sobriety as a lifestyle, booze-free “spirits” are proliferating in the marketplace, and alcohol-absent cocktails are cropping up on the fanciest of bar menus.

But with the pandemic having driven a lot of drinking underground — by which I mean to your home bar — some of us feel a need for self-imposed abstinence to seem more like an exploration, not a punishment. As refreshing as a Topo and lime may be, it’s not something one necessarily looks forward to after a hard day of Zoom meetings.

Setting the stage, it’s important that a liquorless libation actually look like a serious drink. This means

18

CURRENT | January 13 – January 26, 2021 | sacurrent.com

getting out the same glassware you’d use if you were going full-bore, using good ice and paying attention to garnishes. A lemon twist goes a long way in keeping things semi-real.

That applies to opting for one of the many more exotic soft drinks giving Coke and Mountain Dew a run for their money. A quick scan of the shelves at Central Market revealed dozens of flavors and companies I had never paid attention to.

I was familiar with ginger beer, which is rarely alcoholic. But birch beer? Turns out that Boylan Bottling’s Creamy Red Birch Beer resembles its rooty cousin but has an appealing color and profile all its own. Pretty up the Boylan brew or Maine Root’s Sarsaparilla or Fentiman’s Victorian Lemonade with an orange wheel here and a lime wedge there and you’re in business. The same citrus upgrade can also benefit a canned tea such as the delicate but attractive Fitch Sparkling Tea with rosehip, hibiscus and elderflower.

Hella Cocktail Company’s Aromatic Bitters & Soda of-

fered a more simply flavored option. Available at Whole Foods from a company that also offers a line of inventive cocktail bitters, this easy drink is spiked with aromatic bitters and boasts a prominent clove note. I found it refreshing but one-dimensional. So, I added a splash of jalapeño-infused simple syrup I happened to have hanging around, which pepped things up but destroyed the beverage’s zero-sugar appeal. Losing weight under this regimen isn’t guaranteed, in other words.

Which brings us to actual mixed cocktails. One category is made from “alternative” gins, tequilas, whiskeys and more. I bought three of those to sample. The other style avoids emulating any traditional distillation. I only purchased one of those.

Seedlip describes its products as “the world’s first, distilled, non-alcoholic spirits.” Of the three varieties now available, I picked the Garden 108 and turned to a new cocktail book based entirely on non-alcoholic drinks for a recipe. Seedlip, writes Good Drinks author Julia Bainbridge, “really blew this space open.”

Tasted on its own, Garden has a summer meadow-after-a-shower kind of profile with a whiff of green pea.

Very subtle, in other words. I held out little hope for Bainbridge’s Jardin Verde cocktail, which mixes one and a half ounces of Seedlip Garden, four ounces of Fever Tree Mediterranean tonic and a thin, lengthwise slice of cucumber coiled around the inside of the glass. But to my amazement, all of Seedlip’s mown-meadow characteristics came through, just livelier and more lifted. I could drink this.

I could also easily drink another of Bainbridge’s recipes, which calls for you to buy verjus, the unfermented juice of unripe grapes, green or red. I found Fusion Verjus Blanc online. Also good for salad dressings and glazes, the bright, tart juice gives life to a delicate and refreshing, equal-parts cocktail of verjus, tonic and club soda.

Since gin is a personal poison of choice, I had to try a zeroed-out version. Monday is a widely available non-alcoholic version, and it at least smells tolerably like the real thing. I tried it first in a gin and tonic. My recipe: two ounces of Monday, a half ounce or more of simple syrup, the juice of a quarter of a lime, all shaken together with ice and strained into a Collins glass with three or so ounces of tonic. It was almost ginny enough.

I couldn’t bring myself to buy a de-fanged brown spirit, but I did try Ritual Zero Proof’s “tequila alternative.”

Its ingredient list includes mesquite smoke and a variety of peppery components.

Put to the test in a Paloma with grapefruit soda, those peppery parts got an enhancement, along with notes of green bell pepper. Paired with orange juice in the Sunrise & Shine cocktail from Good Drinks, the green pepper and smoke linger in an aftertaste. You might not want to shoot this alt-agave, but with talented supporting players, it holds its own.

But those aren’t the only options for those opting out this month.

Better Rhodes, a new online store aggregating a multitude of options, recently launched in response to the growing interest in non-alcoholic beers, wines and spirits. After exploring the site, I realized its founder and I agree on at least one thing: a simple boozy drink such as a Martini is not convincing made with faux gin and a vermouth substitute such as Lyre’s Apéretif Dry. Only the aroma tantalizes — the taste and mouthfeel miss by a mile.

Maybe by Sober October I’ll have figured it out.

food

Sober, not Stodgy

San Antonio culinary pros offer tips for putting some zip into non-alcoholic home cocktails

BY NINA RANGEL

T

he point of Dry January may be to abstain from booze for the month, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun with what you drink. Just ask the pros behind the bar.

Searches for low- and zero-proof drink recipes spike each January, as more folks let wellness and moderation drive their drink choices — whether a resolution or just a new-year reset.

Since bartenders, chefs and other industry pros have been adapting to this growing trend, we asked three for insight into how to elevate your spirit-free at-home consumption.

Stay Seasonal At the dawn of each new year, Vianney Rodriguez — founder of award-winning blog Sweet Life and author of multiple South Texas-focused cookbooks — relies heavily on citrus flavors to create balanced zero-proof drinks.

The key here is the seasonality of Texas citrus.

Since Texas ruby red grapefruit is juiciest and sweetest around the Christmas holiday, she considers it a first-string player in winter drink menus.

“I think everyone is trying to rest, reenergize and refocus right now,” she said. “I always go into the new year with extra doses of fresh citrus, since colder temps bring on flu season and wintertime blues. I not only want to refocus my energy, I want to boost my immune system too.”

Any ingredients home bartenders can use to punch up the citrus flavor in wintertime drinks — alcoholic or otherwise — are likely to bring resounding success, Rodriguez added. Mint, basil, pomegranate, beet and allspice all complement a splash of citrus.

Discover distilled products Alex Lewis, bar manager for Evolution Restaurant, says the inspiration behind her zero-proof menu — that’s right, there’s a whole booze-free menu at the eatery’s sexy hidden speakeasy — is to offer thoughtful options to folks who know their way around classic cocktails.

“For people that are well versed in the classics, a run-of-the-mill mocktail may not satisfy that craving, that burn a good bourbon or gin will bring to the table,” she said. “With a lot of the new zero-proof liquors on the market, someone can still get the taste and sensation of a [gin-forward] Collins cocktail without actually consuming any alcohol.”

Jessica Giesey

Yes, distilled, non-alcoholic spirits are a thing.

(See the accompanying story for more on that.)

And they’re readily available at area grocery stores — if you know where to look. Specialty stores carry a variety of non-alcoholic brands including Dhōs, Lyre’s and Seedlip that produce tasty alternatives to gin, tequila and bourbon.

Finding the right ones for your personal palate can give mixed drinks the aroma and botanical properties expected from booze, but without the alcoholic intake.

Think wellness Pharm Table, a local eatery with a foundation in anti-inflammatory ingredients and Ayurvedic properties, will bring that touch to a craft cocktail program when its new Southtown location opens in coming months. Chef Elizabeth Johnson’s approach to the Ayurvedic diet emphasizes nourishment and eating for one’s particular body type — ideals the bar program has embraced.

“I think people are really looking to gain knowledge of non-alcoholic ingredients that are interesting and compelling,” said Houston Eaves, who consulted on Pharm Table’s new bar program.

Eaves, known for the innovative beverage work at the Esquire Tavern and Downstairs, is focusing on high-quality spirits and fresh,

Pharm Table’s Garden Street Collins is one of the new cocktails appearing on its non-alcoholic menu.

M

herbaceous ingredients — something amateur bartenders can experiment with at home. Also figuring in are Johnson’s own tea blends and wellness shots, which Eaves says offer depth of flavor and complexity that can be refreshing alternatives to an alcoholic cocktail on their own.

Leave Shirley Temples to the kids All three pros agree that zero-proof cocktails should steer clear of the boring, cloyingly sweet territory of old standby mocktails such as the Shirley Temple. It’s possible — and getting easier by the day — to imbibe in well-balanced and complex zero-proof drinks at home.

If you amp up the complexity of your homemade tipple, but it’s still not hitting the spot, Sweet Life blogger Rodriguez suggests remembering that we experience drinks with our eyes first.

“Put that sucker in a flute, add an intricate garnish,” she said. “Put as much care into your alcohol-free drinks as you would if they had booze in them, because they — and you — deserve it.”

Find more food & drink news at sacurrent.com

Rock is dead.

Long live rocanrol.

Break It All, Netflix’s six-part rock en español docuseries, sparks fierce debates but offers valuable history lessons

BY ENRIQUE LOPETEGUI

I

t only took a promotional poster for the new Neflix rock en español documentary Break It All to make rockeros worldwide mad as hell.

“Why isn’t [enter your favorite band] mentioned?” some asked. “Why is [enter a band you don’t like] in bigger letters than [enter band you like]?”

And the trailer for the six-part series, which began streaming late last month, didn’t help much either.

“Where is Caifanes?” Mexican fans inquired. “What are Mon Laferte and Maná doing there?” complained those who don’t consider the Chilean songstress and the immensely successful Mexican band to be “rock.” “Where are Los Shakers?” asked Uruguayan fans, offended by the fact that the band’s greatest hit was named “Rompan Todo” (“Break It All”), clearly the inspiration for the documentary series’ title.

For each person praising the series, another is lambasting it — all based on their personal taste or interpretation of history.

Despite those grievances, Break It All is the most complete and professional-looking and -sounding treatise on Latin American rock en español to date.

Previous efforts had primarily focused on a single country.

What Break It All isn’t meant to be is an encyclopedia of rocanrol, as many Latin Americans call the genre.

“There are 100 artists in [the series] and thousands out,” said Brooklyn-based Argentine Nico Entel, the series’ showrunner and producer. “The other way around would’ve resulted in a very boring series.”

He’s right. Break It All, which features 127 songs and lots of never-before-seen photos and footage, is anything but dull.

Each of the six episodes covers roughly 10 years of rock en español, starting with Ritchie Valens’ 1958 song “La Bamba” (the genre’s first influential hit) and the Mexican bands of that decade who translated early rock ’n’ roll hits into Mexican slang. Among those acts were Los Rebeldes del Rock, Los Teen Tops and Los Locos del Ritmo,

20

who influenced the fathers of Mexican and Argentine rock.

The series finishes by exploring the early fusion of electronica and native sounds including cumbia, banda and norteña created by artists such as Mexico’s Nortec Collective and Colombia’s Bomba Estéreo in the late ’90s and early ’00s.

A handful of bands from Spain are also included in the late ’80s-early ’90s segment, as is the impact of MTV Latino in the genre’s internationalization.

The present-day’s exclusion comes down to it being too early to assess, according to series director Picky Talarico, also an Argentine: “We need more perspective. Ask me that 30 years from now.”

Through it all, Break It All shows the friction between rockeros and governments, mainly focusing on major markets such as Mexico and Argentina and secondary ones like Chile, Peru, Colombia and Uruguay.

“The hardest part was to show 60 years of history in six hours,” Talarico said. “Rock [en español] has so many important parts that every time we had to leave something out it was very painful.”

Two Texans had to be cut: the late Baldemar Huerta (a.k.a. Freddy Fender), who recorded a Spanish version of “Don’t Be Cruel” in 1957 but failed to have an impact in Latin America, and San Antonian Gloria Ríos (1928-2002), whose 1956 “El Relojito” — a cover of Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” — marked the first time a woman recorded rock ’n’ roll in Spanish.

“We couldn’t secure the rights to the songs; it’s complicated,” Talarico explained. “It was a shame, because seeing her dancing and singing that song on TV is a hallucinating experience.”

The main problem with Break It All is its tagline: “The History of Rock in Latin America.” The series doesn’t include Brazil at all, which deserves its own series, and it’s obviously not the whole story of the genre — only one that’s pretty darned comprehensive and error-free.

CURRENT | January 13 – January 26, 2021 | sacurrent.com

Courtesy / Netflix

A key criticism some have leveled against the series, paradoxically, is one of the best things about it: the ample time given to Rompan Todo’s Argentine producer Gustavo Santaolalla. Full disclosure: Santaolalla wrote the intro to my book and I wrote liner notes for albums by Bajofondo, a band he leads and produces.

It’s true that Santaolalla and Café Tacvba, a band he also produced, are the primary talking heads in the series, but is that such a bad thing?

Santaolalla, who won a Golden Globe for composition and two back-to-back Academy Awards — something only achieved by two others in history — is one of the most influential artists and producers in rock en español’s history.

What’s more, Café Tacvba is the most critically acclaimed Mexican rock band in history. In 2012, Rolling Stone chose 1994’s Re, the group’s sophomore album, as the best Latin rock album in history.

But to dismiss Break It All as the “Santaolalla Fest,” as too many have

claimed, is not supported by facts: out of 226 artists featured or mentioned in the series, he only produced 13, and many of those are featured in the series with accompanying music he had nothing to do with. So, screw that.

The film itself has remained in the Netflix Top 10 in virtually all of Latin America since its December 16 release, according to data from FixPatrol.com, and it’s continuing to inspire ferocious debates on social media.

If anything, Break It All is a terrific introduction to a genre that not only refuses to die but is seeing new success thanks to streaming. Especially among female audiences.

“The other day I read a statistic [indicating] that the sale of electric guitars had dropped a lot, but the number of women buyers had gone up,” said Uruguayan Juan Campodónico, from Peyote Asesino, Bajofondo and Campo fame.

“Rock is in quarantine, and the vaccine is Latin American and has a woman’s perfume,” Santaolalla said.

music

Out of the “Blue” Remembering recently deceased “Blue” Gene Tyranny, a San Antonio-born composer who collaborated with Iggy Pop, Laurie Anderson and more

BY BILL BAIRD

B

lue” Gene Tyranny, a San Antonio native recognized as one of the most talented musicians and composers of the 20th century, died last month without the fanfare usually reserved for such a passing.

A musician’s musician, a legend of downtown New York’s experimental scene, a gifted keyboardist and prolific post-modern composer, Tyranny passed away December 12 due to complications from diabetes. As a collaborator with Laurie Anderson, Iggy Pop and Robert Ashley, Tyranny’s music spanned genres and decades.

“One of the most important creative figures of his generation,” the critic Nicole Gagne wrote of Tyranny’s work.

His output and influence, among those who know, is staggering. Tyranny was a significant figure in modern American composition. His legacy is his music, much of which is still being discovered.

“Because he’s been very good at helping people sound their best — from Robert Ashley and Laurie Anderson, Iggy Pop — it can make it hard for [his] own personality to be sufficiently distinct,” Gagne also wrote.

Tyranny, who was born Robert Sheff, attended Jefferson High School in the late ’50s, where he wrote arrangements for the school orchestra and the three school choirs. As a young teen, he studied with Frank Hughes at Trinity University, where the music of American mavericks Charles Ives and Harry Partch opened his ears to new approaches. Together with fellow San Antonian Phillip Krumm, he organized DIY experimental concerts at the McNay Art Institute, premiering original scores from such notaries as John Cage, Yoko Ono and Phillip Corner.

After receiving a BMI composition prize, Blue was accepted to NYC’s prestigious Juilliard School at age 16. The school’s stifling atmosphere turned him off, though, and he headed to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he rejoined with Krumm and took part in the legendary ONCE group, whose festivals attracted the likes of Robert Rauschenberg,

Courtesy / Unseen Worlds Records

Claus Oldenburg, John Cage and Morton Feldman.

In 1965 he formed the Prime Movers Blues Band with a pre-fame Jim Osterburg, later known as Iggy Pop. Tyranny subsequently joined the Stooges for their Raw Power tour, during which he adopted his pseudonym “Blue” Gene Tyranny, playing keys while wearing full glam regalia and blue LEDs in his hair.

It was in Ann Arbor that Tyranny met perhaps his greatest collaborator, Robert Ashley.

Ashley started the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College — formerly known as the SF Tape Music Center — and hired Tyranny as instructor and studio engineer. The studio there was “open access” — revolutionary for the time. Mills College was, and remains, a central hub of avant-garde music.

Towards the end of the ’70s, Ashley received commissions, initially from NYC’s famed The Kitchen, and later from London’s Channel 4, to compose one of the great works of 20th century intermedia new music: Perfect Lives, a seven-part opera for TV that obliterated genre and took the composing world by storm. Tyranny wrote all of the music.

“Who needs the Bible?” John Cage said of the composition. “We have Perfect Lives.”

In the ’80s, Tyranny moved to New York

City, where he became a fixture of the downtown music scene, winning composition awards and residencies and providing soundtracks to more than 40 films.

He was also quietly devoted to gay rights, dedicating pieces to the first openly gay football player David Kopay and also to Harvey Milk. He lost his sight in 2009, just as reissues of his music reached a new generation of listeners.

Tyranny was known for his remarkable piano technique and compositions combining rock, pop, classical, and the avant garde.

He was the embodiment of the post-modern composer — unshackled from the boundaries of genre and orthodoxy, fluent and masterful, fusing music with elements of sound art, spoken word, video, and philosophy to create a singular vision.

He was among the first generation of composers, post-Cage, to forge a new paradigm.

“You didn’t have to write like John Cage or believe in indeterminacy... he freed us,” Tyranny once said.

Tyranny’s music was exquisite, delicate, intricate and unexpected.

Need proof? Listen to Out of the Blue, recently reissued by NYC’s influential Unseen World label. He filters ’70s pop through post-modern classicism with heart-melting results.

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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