San Antonio Current — March 10, 2021

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L A U D I V I D IN ARTISTS GRANTS

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WEDNESDAY

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THURSDAY

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FRIDAY

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Follow the smokestacks to San Antonio’s premier lifestyle shopping center featuring over 65 uniques shops and fabulous choices for fine and casual dining. Highway 281 at 255 East Basse Road | (210) 824-8885 | QuarryMarket.com | Follow us sacurrent.com | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | sacurrent.com

in this issue San Antonio Current

Issue 21-05 /// March 10 - March 23, 2021

Facing East

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

Best Quality Daughter’s ‘AsianAmerican’ cuisine draws on more than just those two influences

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, Lea Thompson, Abe Asher Editorial Interns: Emily DiTomasso, Brianna Espinoza, Katie Hennessey, Cristela Jones, Jay Moreno, Dana Nichols, Emily Schmalstieg, Jada Teague

Hot Dish

22 Music

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, Michelle Moreno

Circulation

Circulation Manager: Justin Giles

Euclid Media Group

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

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Courtesy Photo / Sam Kinsey Teen Canteen Collection

22 Feature Dig This!

Unearthing the forgotten magic of San Antonio’s ‘60s garage rock scene

06 News

The Opener News in Brief

Current Events Texas’ Other Pandemic

Petition Pushback

Fix SAPD members says police union setting the stage for harassment as they campaign for Prop B

Glitter Political

Council candidate Teri Castillo believes in the cultural interconnectedness of District 5

13 Calendar Calendar Picks

14 Arts

Star attraction

La Morena celebrates 20 years of flamenco dance at Carmens de la Calle

Pandemic Proof

After last year’s cancelation, Contemporary Art Month moves forward in safe environment

17 Screens

From the Heart

Director and San Antonio native Paul Briggs on bringing emotion to Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon

19 Food

A Seat at the Table

Councilman Roberto Treviño discusses his $14 million plan to aid local foodservice workers

On the Cover: Samantha Serna designed this week’s cover, which assembles a rogue’s gallery of SA’s 1960s garage rock scene. Photos from the Sam Kinsey Teen Canteen Collection.

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That Rocks/That Sucks

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The Electric Reliability Council of Texas overcharged energy providers by $16 billion over the two days following the state’s mid-February power outages, an independent market monitor reported. Potomac Economics, which monitors utilities on behalf of state regulators, said ERCOT failed to drop prices after the worst blackouts were over. Some retail electric companies, including the state’s largest power cooperative, have already filed for bankruptcy.

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San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg is vowing to save the landmark Woolworth Building, which was one of the first lunch counters in the South to desegregate.

Nirenberg last week said any plan to redevelop Alamo Plaza would not imperil the historic Woolworth or Crockett buildings — a triumph for conservationists and civil rights activists who protested a proposal to replace the building with a museum.

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Following Gov. Greg Abbott’s common sense-defying repeal of Texas’ statewide mask mandate, San Antonio-based grocery giant H-E-B announced that it will no longer require customers to wear masks. An H-E-B spokeswoman said that while employees still need to don face coverings, the chain will only “urge” customers to do the same.

Thanks to the Biden administration, Texas teachers and childcare providers are finally eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.

Though educators have been working in person for months, Texas didn’t prioritize them for vaccination until Wednesday — one day after the White House urged all states to get teachers at least a first dose of a vaccine by the end of March. — Abe Asher

YOU SAID IT!

“Until the state government is ready to step up and vaccinate all of those that are currently working in the food and beverage industry, they need to keep policies in place to protect these workers and the small businesses they support.”

— Joel Rivas,

founder of Heard and Saint City Culinary Foundation, nonprofits that offer healthcare services to hospitality-industry employees.

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CURRENT | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | sacurrent.com

ASSCLOWN ALERT

Squirming on TV with the Chamber’s Richard Perez Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

Little surprise that when Gov. Greg Abbott announced his controversial plan to kill off the statewide mask mandate, the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce quickly fired off a statement effusively praising the move. After all, when was the last time the Chamber met a business regulation it liked?

Where things devolved, however, was when Chamber CEO Richard Perez appeared on KSAT’s nightly news on Thursday, March 4, for a live Q&A. Anchor Steve Spriester asked Perez to comment on the lousy predicament the policy change creates for service-sector workers as they are now stuck trying to enforce mask rules without the state’s authority. At the same time, those workers also risk infection because few have been vaccinated, Spriester added.

Perez’s non-answer? He assured viewers he’s “coordinating a letter with the other chambers of commerce” to ask Abbott to send more vaccines to San Antonio.

There! Problem solved!

After that dodge, anchor Myra Arthur again tried to pin Perez down, pointing out that in, a press statement, grocer H-E-B said Abbott’s nixing of the mask mandate requires retailers to enforce “an emotional topic for many.”

Perez squirmed, lamenting the sticky situation the order creates for San Antonio’s poor, unfortunate business owners. Barely rating a mention, though, were their actual workers.

“There’s no doubt, Myra, that this puts business owners in a very awkward position,” he said. “They’re doing two things, right? They’re trying to keep themselves afloat, because of COVID and the effects it’s had. But, at the same time, they want to bring people in, they want to sell their wares, they want to provide their services, so it’s a very delicate balance. But I can assure you that our businesses are ready, they’re ready for the challenge.”

Perez then assured viewers that businesses want to

A new plan is in the works to rejuvenate the site of San Antonio’s long-vacant Lone Star Brewery. Houston-based Midway has partnered with San Antonio’s GrayStreet Partners on an effort to turn the 32-acre property across the San Antonio River from Roosevelt Park into a mixed-use development featuring apartments, offices, retail, green spaces and more.

In an unsurprising move after February’s statewide blackouts, the board overseeing the Electric Reliability Council of Texas has fired CEO Bill Magness. The past weeks have been tumultuous for the nonprofit, with seven board members also tendering their resignations.

But many experts say ERCOT’s failures are a symptom of larger problems, including Texas’ deregulation of its power market and inadequate oversight of power generators.

Facebook / San Antonio Chamber of Commerce Richard Perez

protect their employees and customers, and “ultimately they’re going to meet in the middle somewhere.” Whatever that means. If this assclown can’t speak up for San Antonio’s frontline workers in the middle of a pandemic, maybe he should just stop talking. — Sanford Nowlin

Three of Gov. Greg Abbott’s four top medical advisers last week said the governor didn’t directly consult them prior to lifting Texas’ mask mandate, and one of said the move came too early. A fourth adviser declined to say whether the drastic policy shift was a solid idea. The day prior to Abbott’s announcement, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — also presumably not consulted — urged states not to ease COVID-19 restrictions. — Abe Asher

Courtesy Photo / Midway and GrayStreet Partners

Texas’ Other Pandemic Greg Abbott killed the mask mandate. How else will he enable far-right conspiracy mongers?

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

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all Gov. Greg Abbott’s elimination of Texas’ mask mandate “neanderthal thinking,” as President Joe Biden did. Or call it a political acquiescence of the most craven and cynical kind.

You’d be right in either case.

Abbott’s decision to strike down the mask rule on Wednesday, March 10, has no scientific basis. To be sure, three of the GOP governor’s four coronavirus medical advisers confirmed he didn’t directly consult them before announcing the move.

And there’s no economic justification either. The Wild West atmosphere it fosters will only make those Texans rightfully worried about contagion even more likely stay home and keep their dollars in the mattress.

The cruel reality behind Abbott’s action is that he’s not a leader but a political opportunist.

The governor is wagering that if can avoid a primary challenge from someone further to the right — Texas GOP Chair Allen West is certainly hinting at such a run — he’ll have the 2022 general election sewn up. After all, last November’s contest made it clear Texas isn’t yet a purple state.

Political observers point out that Abbott’s ambitions probably don’t end with the Lone Star State. He could chase the Republican presidential nomination as early as 2024. To do that, he’ll need the Trump base, many of whom still buy into toxic rhetoric that the pandemic is a hoax and masks are a hideous affront to American freedom.

While medical experts continue to maintain that face coverings are one of the most effective ways to curb the spread of COVID-19, masks have become one more partisan symbol for an increasingly unhinged far right.

The Texas Republican Party’s West has been particularly eager to depict masks as a symbol of overreach by the big, bad gubmint — and Abbott as their chief proponent. Three days ahead of early voting last November, West helped lead a protest outside the Governor’s Mansion to blast the mask mandate and

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CURRENT EVENTS

Instagram / @governorabbott

other perceived pandemic overreaches by the building’s current occupant.

A one-term Florida congressman, West has made a political career as a bomb thrower, saying in 2009, “There are three words I hate to hear used. I hate ‘big tent.’ I hate ‘inclusiveness.’ And I hate ‘outreach.’”

Never mind that West’s math is off by one word, Abbott seems to have seized on the sentiment. In recent months, the gov has made plenty of efforts of his own to show that, like his potential primary challenger, he’s not Mr. Kumbaya either.

After seizing on law and order as a winning issue, for example, Abbott has issued racially charged — and likely empty — threats to have DPS take over the Austin Police Department and to slap harsh penalties on “rioters” at largely peaceful Black Lives Matter protests.

Given that hollow rhetoric, it may be tempting to write Abbott off as a windbag, another of the American right’s mouth-farting human Whoopie Cushions. But his posturing, particularly when it comes to the pandemic, has real consequences.

Texas businesses have warned that they’re bracing for confrontations with customers emboldened by the governor’s order, who will refuse to follow mask rules. Those same self-centered science deniers risk becoming sick themselves and worsening the spread of the virus as highly contagious new variants show up in the state.

Media reports suggest the Anti-Science Brigade’s harassment of businesses sticking by their mask rules is already underway.

After a Mexican restaurant in Houston said it would continue to require customers to wear masks, it was bombed with social media nastygrams, including threats to report workers to immigration authorities, the Washington Post reports.

University of Texas at San Antonio mathematician Juan Gutierrez, whose research

tracks the spread of the coronavirus, likens Abbott’s removal of the mask mandate to a statewide game of Russian roulette.

“Every week [without the rule], we add another bullet and spin the chamber,” he said.

As one could expect from a math professor, the numbers bear out Gutierrez’s argument.

When Abbott rushed ahead to reopen Texas businesses last May, COVID-19 rates skyrocketed. And when he finally implemented a statewide mask order in July, the numbers edged down again — slowly but substantially.

But the health risk is just one consequence of Abbott’s cowardly actions. Experts warn to expect the governor to engage in further concessions to the far-right fringe as political season draws near.

The other tragic consequence of the governor’s continued complicity is that he’s become a superspreader in another dangerous pandemic: a disinformation pandemic.

“We have a secondary pandemic, one which is becoming a matter of national security, and that’s a pandemic of disinformation,” UTSA’s Gutierrez said. “This isn’t about party. It’s about an alternate reality.”

To be sure, that disinformation, eagerly lapped up by a substantial block of the Republican electorate, doesn’t end with the belief that COVID-19 is hoax.

The events of January 6 show that a terrifying number of Americans believe that one of the fairest and most secure elections in our nation’s history was a con job. That a shadow government run by satanic pedophiles is actually running the country. That the deadly Capitol insurrection fomented by GOP rhetoric and carried out by members of their own team was actually the work of Antifa infiltrators.

When Abbott caves to this constituency, Texans should make no mistake about the consequences: he’s handed the crazies the keys to the bus.

Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com

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because this security guard was like, ‘Woah, this is nuts.’”

Over the course of the day, eight presumptive law enforcement officials appeared at the early voting, Justice said. Some were wearing badges and T-shirts with the San Antonio police union branding. Some carried guns. They held signs that told voters to “Say NO to defunding our police,” and they verbally confronted potential signatories.

To Justice, it seemed like the protesters’ presence actually prompted some voters to sign the petition.

Still, he was afraid enough for his own safety that he called organizers from the organization Texas Tool Belt to come and escort him to his car.

“I was afraid that the police officers were going to jump me or something,” he said. “It got that bad.”

Fix SAPD ultimately turned in more than 20,000 signatures, giving voters across the city the chance to repeal Chapter 174 of the Texas Government Code in the May 1 citywide election. That measure will be listed as Proposition B on the ballot.

But the harassment and intimidation multiple Fix SAPD members said they faced while collecting signatures in the winter may be a sign of things to come as the repeal campaign heats up in advance of the election.

Canvassers who worked for Fix SAPD on the signature drive said they had positive experiences talking to people across the city about their effort — including with police officers and their families, some of whom signed the petition.

But they also maintain that they faced a level of intimidation and harassment atypical for a political campaign — even in today’s highly charged climate.

“I’ve spoken to people from city hall, and they have spoken about how SAPOA [San Antonio Police Officers Association] will stop at nothing about their relentlessness to do whatever it takes to keep [Chapter 174] intact,” police-accountability activist Valerie Reiffert said. “I believe wholeheartedly that that includes putting Fix SAPD people in danger.”

Neither SAPOA nor the San Antonio Police Department responded to a request for comment on this story.

Courtesy Photo / Fix SAPD

Petition Pushback

Fix SAPD members says police union setting the stage for harassment as they campaign for Prop B

BY ABE ASHER

O

n October 20, a San Antonio activist who goes by the name Justice the Musician arrived at Cody Library to collect signatures from early voters for a petition to repeal the part of the Texas Government Code that gives police officers the right to collectively bargain.

Justice was working on behalf of advocacy group Fix SAPD, which sees the police union’s collective bar-

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CURRENT | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | sacurrent.com

gaining power as a primary obstacle to law enforcement reform in the city.

His day was proceeding normally as he talked to voters about the petition and Fix SAPD’s vision for reform. Then law enforcement officers showed up.

“All of the sudden, you hear these people who were saying ‘Lies! Fake news!’ These police officers with guns on them, not in full uniform … which was crazy,

Union accusations An inflection point came January 4, when SAPOA president John “Danny” Diaz held a press conference with San Antonio police chief William McManus in which he accused Fix SAPD members of trying to “divide the city” and alleged they were “out-of-state political operatives … funded by dark, special interest groups.”

Diaz also said he’d heard reports that Fix SAPD canvassers were “physically aggressive in their efforts to get their signatures on a petition to weaken and defund the police.”

In the aftermath of that press conference, Fix SAPD canvassers said they saw a marked increase in hostility from people around the city.

“After Danny Diaz made his statement, it was very evident: people would literally get in my face and threaten to do violent stuff,” Fix SAPD canvasser Todd Milam said. “People are going to be aggressive and

crabby about stuff that they don’t like, but they need something ... to make them feel like it’s okay to be violent.”

Members of Fix SAPD told the Current Diaz’s statement was designed to do just that — mark the petitioners as outsiders whom San Antonians had reason to fear.

“Everybody started freaking out,” Fix SAPD’s Josey Garcia said of the atmosphere following Diaz’s presser.

“People started going to the Next Door app talking about [how] we’re dangerous people going through the neighborhood. And that’s when the threats really started.”

Diaz’s statements caused such a stir that four of Fix SAPD’s 42 paid canvassers subsequently left their jobs in fear.

“They said it wasn’t worth risking their lives like that,” Garcia said.

The canvassers who remained on the job continued to face harassment and abuse, as they had from the first weeks of the campaign, Fix SAPD members allege.

Over his months canvassing, Milam said he was chased away from one property with a shovel. He also had to aid a fellow canvasser in another neighborhood after five men surrounded the volunteer’s vehicle.

Multiple canvassers said that they were followed while out collecting signatures, and Garcia said that the group was surveilled by a middle-aged white man in a Jeep at a location where petitioners regularly gathered. The group had to cease meeting at that particular location, and some canvassers were relocated to different areas of the city.

One young canvasser, Dominic Treviño, was threatened with a gun when he knocked on a door on the East Side.

Treviño filed a police report on January 6, but said he’s not been contacted about the incident since.

Fear and anxiety Much of that aggression came from regular citizens, some of whom called the police on the canvassers, according to volunteers. But, they added, some of the intimidation also came from police officers and other law enforcement personnel themselves.

In addition to police physically showing up at sites where canvassers were collecting signatures, several activists said officers tailed them as they worked, and, in one case, warned a canvasser that they were in pro-police neighborhood.

Garcia said canvassers, by and large,

chose not to file police reports about the alleged harassment since they feared retaliation.

Justice said that while he collected signatures at Julia Yates Semmes Library on November 3, he encountered people protesting the Fix SAPD effort who later told him they were ex-convicts hired by SAPOA. “It causes me severe fear and anxiety,” Garcia said the aggressive tactics he’s witnessed. “I’m a veteran who suffers from PTSD. It gives me fear and anxiety every day. It gives me fear for my children. But the fear that I feel now I’ll feel any day if it means that my children don’t have to face this 50, 60 years from now.”

Milam agreed, arguing that SAPOA is knowingly inciting violence.

“They fully know, as adults, the consequences of what they’re doing,” he said. “They know that people are going to take these actions in their name, and they’re completely disconnected from the consequences, legally and financially.”

‘Slower response times’ So far, SAPOA’s campaign urging voters to reject Fix SAPD’s ballot proposal hits the same notes as its campaign to defeat the petition drive, accountability advocates say. They argue the union is distributing campaign literature that misrepresents Fix SAPD’s platform and what repeal of Chapter 174 would actually mean.

One door hanger paid for by SAPOA’s political action committee announces that “Anti-Police Activists want to Weaken and Defund Police” and threatens that repeal of Chapter 174 repeal would mean “slower response times, and more crime.”

A repeal of the union’s collective bargaining rights wouldn’t affect the police budget, Fix SAPD advocates point out. It’s also unclear how changes to officers’ labor contract could affect call response times and crime. Even so, other cities in which police power has been threatened, such as Portland and Minneapolis have seen slowdowns in response time to calls, according to media reports.

Last week, SAPOA’s Diaz held a press conference at which he again alleged that Fix SAPD’s core motivation is “defunding the police,” a slogan that hurt Democrats in November’s midterm elections.

But Fix SAPD members says any portrayal of its organization as radical

Courtesy Photo / Valerie Reiffert

or unconcerned about San Antonio’s public safety is absurd. Its canvassers included students, religious leaders, current and former military and law enforcement officers, longtime civil rights leaders and people whose families have been victims of police violence.

“When we’re sitting there and telling our youth this is the perfect time to use your voice to stand up for this city,

we’re met with hostility, threats of violence,” Garcia said.

In less than two months, voters will decide whose message they agree with.

“It takes courage and it takes bravery for people who are not affected by this to stand up and make those changes,” activist Reiffert said. “And I just hope that the city of San Antonio remains courageous at the ballot box and votes yes to repeal chapter 174.”

sacurrent.com | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | CURRENT

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news

Jade Esteban Estrada

GLITTER POLITICAL

Council Candidate Teri Castillo Believes in the Cultural Interconnectedness of District 5

BY JADE ESTEBAN ESTRADA

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rogressive Teri Castillo is facing 10 other candidates in the crowded race to represent San Antonio’s vibrant, though economically hard-hit, West Side on city council.

As we chat via Zoom, Castillo, 29, tells me what it was like growing up in her neighborhood — the setting for stories she grew up hearing about how her grandparents first met. A picture of the couple hangs on the wall behind her, next to an art piece that reads “Support Biz in the Hood.”

During her childhood, her parents owned and operated an ice cream truck. And helping run that particular biz in the hood helped her hone her math skills.

“We always had the best nachos,” she recalls. “We would fill the nachos to the brim and weren’t cheap with the cheese. We hooked it up.”

She says it felt good to see so many customers happy to see the truck arrive. “But when we’d run out of cucumbers or cheese it was, like, ‘Oh, man,’” she adds with a chuckle.

I tell her that’s an appropriate analogy for holding public office. If she’s elected to council, sometimes she’d make people happy, but sometimes she’d have to tell the people of District 5, “Hey, we’re out of cheese.”

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CURRENT | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | sacurrent.com

She laughs. “That’s a great analogy. I think that’s why transparency is important, right? If we run out of cheese, is it because we didn’t bring enough on the truck to reheat? Is it because we brought all we had, and we ran out? It’s important to have that communication, transparency and dialogue with constituents [about] why something is stalling or why it fell short.”

The one-time ice cream truck helper is now a historian of urban policy.

“Oftentimes, we learn from history. But what we see is a lot of policy being refashioned,” she explains.

“We’re seeing the perpetuation of inequalities because of the refashioning of policy that needs to be addressed and changed, especially when it comes to housing and the shaping and creation of cities.”

Through a series of op-ed pieces in the Express-News, Castillo has tackled such subjects as the criminalization of poverty and the demolition of homes in Brown and Black neighborhoods and how this practice affects the people of District 5.

“When we look at the homeowners of these homes that are slated for demolition, there are a lot of folks who work in our service industry and [are] front line workers,” she says. “Not only are they losing the value of their home because it’s going to be demolished, they are also left with a bill for demolition.”

Castillo serves on the Texas Organizing Project’s healthcare committee, which advocates for the Lone Star State to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. It’s one of just 12 states that hasn’t.

“Doctors are strong proponents of the eviction moratorium because our medical doctors have made the very same argument that we need to keep people quarantined in order to keep the whole community safe,” she says. “Because if not, we’re just going to have the spread of the virus. We just need to ensure that when folks contract COVID, there is space for them to quarantine.”

In a time when “housing is indeed healthcare,” she adds, access to homes or places to shelter will help community members and their families stay safe.

“Yes, [D5 residents] are resilient, but without assistance, the most resilient person will break. The most resilient person can become homeless. We are ready for this change that we have been waiting for — and meaningful action.”

Letting her community know about the eviction moratorium has been a prime concern throughout the pandemic, which is now stretching into its second year.

I ask her if she thinks that policy change will take time to make its way through the halls of government.

Castillo replies by pointing to the difference between policy that’s pushed by community and policy promoted by politicians who think they know what’s good for the city.

“I think it’s important that change comes from the bottom up, not top down,” she says. “You have to work together. If not, that’s when the change is slow.

It helps when there’s neighborhood associations and other coalition folks meeting and pushing for the same thing.”

When our conversation turns to outgoing District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales’ eight years on the dais, Castillo says she appreciates Gonzales’ focus on an equity budget. The candidate also speaks highly of the Shotgun House Initiative, the housing preservation project the councilwoman helped push.

I ask Castillo to list the three top priorities in her COVID-recovery plan.

“We need to identify funding for our legacy businesses for grants, and we also need to make sure that we’re cutting any red tape that’s restricting small businesses from accessing the funding,” she says, outlining her first.

Her second priority is investing more in Metro Health, while the third is increasing the amount of housing assistance the city offers.

Castillo is keeping up her mental health during the pandemic by running in her neighborhood, but admits she misses the in-person quality time with loved ones.

Through all the difficulties of the health and economic crisis, Castillo keeps her eye and her heart on the reason she’s working so hard in the first place: her District 5 community. She lives two houses away from her tío, and her tío lives two houses away from her tía. “[It’s] just like the...interconnectedness,” Castillo says. “It’s still here, living so close to family and networks. We depend on each other for so much.”

alamo beer company brewery & beer hall | 202 lamar st. san antonio, tx | alamobeer.com 12

CURRENT | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | sacurrent.com

calendar

first time in over a year on Friday night when they take the

FIED AIR

court against former Texas Longhorn Mo Bamba and the

SOLI Chamber Ensemble is joined by Grammy-winning

Orlando Magic. San Antonio joins 14 other NBA franchises

electric guitarist D.J. Sparr for a streaming performance in

to have fans in attendance, with a reduced capacity of 3,200

which “phasing, loops and funk meet rock, flavors of jazz

Spurs faithful. Prior to arrival, fans are required to complete

and contemporary classical harmonies to bring electrify-

a mobile health screening and temperatures will be checked

ing energy to the ear.” The concert will be free to view on

at the door. Upon entry, attendees must wear face masks,

SOLI’s YouTube channel. Following the group’s usual modus

maintain physical distancing, and can expect a cashless and

operandi, SOLI will perform three world premieres on the

Gather your thinking caps and be ready to laugh as The Of-

touchless experience facilitated through the team’s app and

program: Anthony Joseph Lanman’s Hammer and Nail, Olivia

fice! A Murder Mystery Parody enlists your help in identifying

upgraded Wi-Fi. On the court, the Spurs have weathered

Kieffer’s A Singing Planet and a piece the ensemble commis-

the Scranton Strangler. The Tobin Center is hosting an au-

COVID-19 protocols with wins over the New Orleans Pelicans

sioned from Sparr, A Bell Outside a Bell Inside a Bell. SOLI’s

thorized parody event that allows fans to help Michael Scott

and New York Knicks and tight losses against the Oklahoma

Ertan Torgul will get particularly into the rock ’n’ roll spirit

solve a murder mystery. Based on hit TV show The Office, the

City Thunder and Brooklyn Nets. A matchup against an

for Sparr’s Vim-Hocket, Calm, eschewing his usual violin for

live theatrical parody will be an outdoor, socially distanced

Orlando team currently outside of the Eastern Conference

an electric version of the instrument. Free, 7 p.m., YouTube,

walking tour. Groups of up to 30 will pass through five

playoff picture presents another opportunity to improve San

solichamberensemble.com — KMN

walkable locations to see — and maybe investigate — favor-

Antonio’s spotty home record. 8 p.m., AT&T Center, One AT&T

ite show characters including Dwight, Pam, Jim and more.

Center, (210) 444-5000, attcenter.com, Fox Sports Southwest. —

Visitors will try to catch the Scranton Strangler by utilizing

M. Solis

WED | 03.10 TUE | 03.23 TH EATER

THE OFFICE! A MURDER MYSTERY PARODY

their detective skills, finding clues, planting evidence and discovering red herrings. The 90-minute show with locally cast actors will take place Tuesdays through Sundays March 10-28. $39.50-$44.50, 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays March 10-28, Tobin Center, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 2238624, tobincenter.org. — Jada Teague

SAT | 03.13 SPECIAL EVEN T

HISTORIAS FAMILIARES The first in a series of three workshops on community and

THU | 03.11 THU | 03.18

family history preservation, the Museo del Westside and Esperanza Peace and Justice Community Archives present

Courtesy Photo / SOLI Chamber Ensemble

FRI | 03.19 FILM

family photographs, documents and memories. Attendees

FEMME FRONTERA FILMMAKER SHOWCASE

will learn practical, budget-conscious solutions for taking

The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center along with Latino

care of family historical materials by certified archivist and

Collection Resource Center at the San Antonio Public

Museo del Westside co-curator Donna Guerra. The workshop

Library’s Central branch are bringing their 5th Annual

will include guidance for protective storage of a wide

Femme Frontera Filmmaker Showcase back to the screen.

For Contemporary Art Month’s Perennial exhibition, guest

assortment of archival materials, including photographs,

The streaming showcase and Q&A will feature seven short

curator Doreen A. Rios has brought together a series of video

documents, leather items, clothing and digital files. Those

films from filmmakers around the world that highlight the

works that are being shown in two outdoor screenings at

who sign up beforehand will receive a three-minute window

stories of underrepresented communities, including works

Blue Star Contemporary. The exhibition, titled “Here, the riv-

at the workshop to showcase an item and receive advice on

by Morningstar Angeline, Ebony Bailey, Jackie Barragan,

ers run both ways,” explores the multidimensional concept

how to best care for it. San Antonians can either tune in to

Karolina Esqueda, Celina Galacia, Xochitl Rodriguez and

of territory, expanding “on the notion of wandering, the

the workshop on Zoom or watch via Facebook, YouTube or

Amada Torruella. Whether you tune in to watch “Oda a los

intimate – yet collective – daydreaming and, of course, the

Twitter. Free, 11 a.m., bit.ly/HistoriasFamiliares. — Dana Nichols

Frijoles” by Karolina Esqueda or “Los Amuletos Migran” by

ART & FILM

CAM PERENNIAL: ‘HERE, THE RIVERS RUN BOTH WAYS’

Historias Familiares, a virtual workshop on caring for

Amanda Torruella, the powerful themes of cultura, death,

cultural mythologies delineated by migration, gentrification, gender, and communication systems.” The events split the exhibition into two chapters, “Territory as body” and “Territory as land,” with a unique slate of short video works centering on each theme. Featured pieces range in length

SUN | 03.14 FILM

immigration and family are guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. Free, 7 p.m., Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, esperanzacenter.org. — Cristela Jones

Heather Warren-Crow, Betelhem Makonnen, Patty Ortiz,

INDIE LENS POP-UP SERIES: CODED BIAS

Francis Almendarez, Hannah Spector, Julia Zipporah, Daniel

The Indie Lens Pop-Up Series — presented by ITVS, Indepen-

Jackson, Karen Y. Martínez, Hugo Santana and Verónica

dent Lens, KLRN and Presa House Gallery — continues with

Gaona. Free, 6:30 p.m. Thursday March 11 and 18, Blue Star

an online screening of the documentary Coded Bias, made

SPURS VS. HORNETS

Contemporary, 116 Blue Star, (210) 227-6960, contemporaryart-

by award-winning filmmaker Shalini Kantayya. The film

Despite adding leading Rookie of the Year candidate LaMelo

month.org. — Kelly Merka Nelson

follows computer scientist Joy Buolamwini, who realized

Ball to their roster, expectations were low for the Char-

that facial recognition technology failed to accurately detect

lotte Hornets heading into the regular season. Ball’s gifted

dark-skinned faces or those of women. Following this dis-

passing game, paired with inspired play from former Celtics

covery, Buolamwini formed the Algorithmic Justice League,

Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward, has helped turn things

a group pioneered by women with the goal of exposing the

around for a Hornets squad that has already reeled off wins

widespread underlying biases in everyday technology. After

against the Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Buck and Golden State

the screening is a showing of “The History of White People

Warriors. When the Spurs and Hornets faced off in Char-

in America,” an official selection of the 2020 PBS Short Film

lotte back in February, Rozier went off for 33 points, while

Festival that follows the story of an interracial couple in the

Dejounte Murray paced San Antonio with 26 points and 12

decades after Bacon’s Rebellion. Free, 6 p.m., pbs.org/inde-

rebounds in route to a convincing 122-110 victory. Monday

pendentlens/indie-lens-pop-up. — DN

night’s contest at the AT&T Center kicks off a nine-game

from 10 seconds to 8 minutes, from artists Hedwige Jacobs,

Courtesy Image / Contemporary Art Month

FRI | 03.12 SPORTS

SPURS VS. MAGIC The Spurs welcome fans back to the AT&T Center for the

MON | 03.22 SPORTS

homestand for the Spurs that, outside of a two-game set

WED | 03.17 CLASSICAL MUSIC

SOLI CHAMBER ENSEMBLE: ELECTRI-

with the Los Angeles Clippers, comes against sub-par competition. A surge at home could prove pivotal for the Spurs in what is sure to be another congested Western Conference playoff race. 7:30 p.m., AT&T Center, One AT&T Center, (210) 444-5000, attcenter.com, Fox Sports Southwest. — MS

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.

Star attraction

La Morena celebrates 20 years of flamenco dance at Carmens de la Calle

BY MARCO AQUINO

J

ackie Rodriguez-Navar, who dances under the name La Morena, has been performing at tapas spot Carmens de la Calle since 2000, delivering some of the most exhilarating, live flamenco performances in the Alamo City.

Last fall, Carmens celebrated its 20th anniversary, and its reputation as a live music venue rests largely on the popularity of La Morena’s performances. After being shuttered for nearly a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the downtown restaurant is gearing up to reopen in coming months — and the dancer will be back as a star attraction.

La Morena first began dancing at Carmens as part of an ensemble formed by renowned vocalist Chayito Champion. As Champion built an audience for flamenco at the cafe, she enlisted members of her own family as well as dancers from around the city.

Eventually, owner Paula Sullivan hand-picked La Morena, then just out of her teens, to give her first solo performance as a dancer during one of the restaurant’s Friday night flamenco shows. Guitarist Alejandro Herrera was recruited to play alongside her, and the pair mapped out a 45-minute set.

“I remember I didn’t think I could do it,” La Morena said. “Even with Chayito, I was not a soloist dancer. I didn’t think I could pull it off, but Paula and Chayito said, ‘You can do it.’”

Despite that early hesitation, she and Herrera became crowd favorites. La Morena thrilled audiences with rapid-fire footwork and Herrera with exquisite showmanship. Every now and then, the guitarist would burst from his chair and into a fury of footwork while holding his instrument in the air. The shows often ended with standing ovations.

Setting the stage Back then, the cover charge was just $5, and Carmens — located off the St. Mary’s Strip until its 2014 relocation downtown — was frequently so packed during performances that attendees had to stand along the walls. Aside from having its own loyal following, the cafe benefited from an influx of bar-hoppers from the nightlife district.

“For a few years, it was just the two of them performing together as one of the featured ensembles,” Carmens owner Sullivan said. “La Morena would dance all night, with no singer, and Alex would play the guitar. They would leave people breathless. La Morena and Alejandro established the momentum that took us into what we are now.”

Over time, other acts joined the roster at Carmens: Austin duo Teye and Belen, Olivia Chacon’s Flamencura, Arte y Pasión and dancers from the San Antonio Parks and Recreation, to name a few. The venue established itself not only as San Antonio’s go-to spot for 14

CURRENT | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | sacurrent.com

Matt Bynum

flamenco. After hosting major jazz players including Randy Brecker, Sam Rivers and Ravi Coltrane, it became a gathering place for fans of improvised music.

While Carmens’ role as a New York-style “listening room” is significant, Sullivan admits it was always the flamenco that “paid the bills.”

Stylistic evolution To witness La Morena perform today is a testament to her soaring abilities and commitment to the art of flamenco. Her passionate approach leaves audiences in awe.

“When you see people in the audience crying or filled with emotion or joy, it just fills you with joy,” she said.

In her younger days, La Morena had no qualms showing off her abilities, dancing at superhuman speeds and with an aggression unmatched by other local dancers. And Herrera was right there, matching her level of intensity with his guitar.

More recently, though, La Morena has performed with a variety of dancers including Sonya Casillas and with guitarist Steve Arispe. After two decades at Carmens, her shows are decidedly more expressive thanks to a subtlety and authenticity not seen in her earlier work. She credits that evolution to maturing both as a dancer and person.

“I think experience and life changes bring a lot to your performances,” La Morena said. “My performances now are a little bit more grounded. After I had children, and also after having a career as an educator, I just felt more connected to the earth ... if that means anything.”

’Grew up there’ La Morena began dancing at the age of 7 under the instruction of Carmen “La Chiqui” Linares.

“She taught me almost everything I know, all the basics which led to professional dancing,” La Morena said. “She was also a motherly figure who taught me a lot about life, and she encouraged us to learn outside of her studio as well.”

La Morena spent years taking classes at Linares’ private studio and later with her at the San Antonio Parks and Recreation’s dance studio. Under Linares’ guidance, La Morena traveled to Germany and Puerto Rico, where the two dancers further shared their artform with audiences. La Morena credits her mentor with instilling a passion for flamenco that she can’t live without.

At Carmens, La Morena has been able to live out that passion over the course of two decades. As such, it’s a place that holds special meaning.

“I actually grew up there,” La Morena said. “I became a woman there. I met my husband there. I went through college there while performing at Carmens.

There was a huge evolution there for me.”

While not being able to perform at Carmen’s during the pandemic brought her sadness, La Morena says she looks forward to working with Sullivan on new projects in the near future. During the COVID crisis, the pair staged several pop-up events around town, some livestreamed on social media.

“I have no doubt that while it may not be every week or every other week, Paula will continue presenting the artform in some way or another,” La Morena said. “Once you experience flamenco, it’s hard to let it go.”

arts Courtesy Image / Contemporary Art Month

Pandemic Proof

After last year’s cancelation, Contemporary Art Month moves forward in safe environment

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

W

hen COVID-19 hit the United States around this time last year, San Antonio’s Contemporary Art Month became one of the many events canceled in its wake.

This year, things are different.

CAM executive director Nina Hassele and the board were determined to get creative and hammer out a new way to carry on the celebration in a pandemic-safe way. As other event promoters have done over the past year, the organizers are giving artists and attendees a digital option. CAM will also hold in-person events for artists, performers and curators to exhibit their work in a socially distanced manner.

Although already in full swing, CAM still has plenty more lined up for the rest of March and beyond. If you’re just getting started, why not begin with the CAM Breakout series? Its schedule includes events featuring performance artists, video presen-

tations and musicians at different locations around town.

Participants in the Breakout series include Hayfer Brea with a video projection called “Alone” and “Go Ahead,” a spoken-word performance by Anthony M. Flores. Also on the books are a performance of “The American”

by David Alcantar and a show called “Doomsday Clock” curated by Martín C. Rodriguez and Verena Gaudy.

In addition to a multimedia exhibition “Can’t Let Go” in the main space of Clamp Light Artist Studios and Gallery — which features performance and video pieces played on a loop in the gallery’s window — Raul Rene Gonzalez has curated a group exhibition in Werk Space, his studio space at Clamp Light. Starting March 12 and running through April 3, “Drawing, Drawing, Drawn” will feature drawings by Auriel May Garza, James Huizar, Eric Mathis, Daniela Oliver de Portillo, Lizbeth Ortiz, Octavio Quintanilla

A still from Julia Zipporah’s “#BIRDEATINGOTHER” (2020), one of the film works featured in this year’s CAM Perennial exhibition “Here, the rivers run both ways.”

M

and Isabel Servantez.

The free online event “Surviving: Visual Poetry Anthology” with author and artist Madison Cowles Serna will take place March 12. Serna will read from her book and share in conversation over Zoom at 6 p.m.

This year’s CAM Perennial pivoted to film so that the exhibition could be presented in socially distanced viewings. In addition to two outdoor screenings at Blue Star Contemporary on March 11 and 18 (see Calendar section for details), the exhibition “Here, the rivers run both ways” will also be projected without sound on the billboard atop High Wire Arts from 7:30-8:45 p.m. on March 14.Later in the month, on March 25, contemporary artist Van Hanos will participate in an online lecture discussing his artistic approach, which “juxtaposes 18th- and 19th-century academic styles with abstraction.”

For a complete listing of all CAM events, visit contemporaryartmonth.org.

Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com

16

CURRENT | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | sacurrent.com

Director and San Antonio native Paul Briggs on bringing emotion to Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

E

ver since San Antonio native, animator and filmmaker Paul Briggs was a teenager, he wanted to work for Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Briggs, who attended Alamo Heights High School, got that opportunity in the late 1990s when he landed a position in the visual effects department at the studio and began contributing to animated projects including Hercules and Mulan.

Briggs worked his way up to storyboard artist on films, including Bolt, Tangled and Winnie the Pooh, then to head-of-story on Frozen and Big Hero 6. He has also lent his voice to Disney characters such as Yama in Big Hero 6 and the giant, growling snow monster Marshmallow in the Frozen franchise.

In Raya and the Last Dragon, Briggs takes on the role of co-director alongside John Ripa, who also held the title.

The directors of the film are Don Hall (Big Hero 6) and Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting). Briggs calls their directing team the “Power of Four.”

During an interview with the Current, Briggs, 46, talked about what initially got him interested in animation and what it is about Disney movies that make them so special. He also explained how making Raya and the Last Dragon reminded him of the time he spent living in San Antonio.

Do you get a chance to come back to San Antonio often?

I try to get out there as much as I can. My dad still lives there. Most of my sisters live up in New Braunfels now. I still love San Antonio so much. There’s something really special about it. When we were traveling through Southeast Asia to do research for this film, I kept thinking about San Antonio. There was so much history and legacy in the places we

screens

From the Heart

Raya and the Last Dragon / Disney Animation Studios

went like Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Indonesia. Like San Antonio, those places have such a deep-rooted culture. It really made me appreciate San Antonio so much more.

Well, we definitely wouldn’t mind if you pitched San Antonio as the setting for the next Disney movie.

(Laughs.) Yeah, that’s not a bad idea!

What interested you at an early age in animation?

I remember once my mom and I were at the Walden Books at North Star Mall, and she bought me a great book called The Illusion of Life about Disney animators [Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson]. I knew right Courtesy Photo / Paul Briggs away that animation is what I wanted to do. But it’s funny because when I went to college at a fine art school in Kansas City, I was doing a lot more ceramics and sculpture. It was my instructor there who pushed me to submit to Disney.

What is it about Disney’s animated films that make them so special?

One of the things that Disney films always have is heart. That’s what always spoke to me. Also, there’s always been some really heavy stuff they deal with in Disney films. I’ve

always admired that. For example, in Dumbo with the sequence between Dumbo and his mother when they’re saying goodbye for the last time was a really heavy emotional moment that is handled so beautifully with just a song. I think about that a lot. Frozen is about fear and love and siblings. Big Hero 6 is about loss and grief. In Raya and the Last Dragon, there’s a really deep and emotional theme about how to bring people together. That’s a really heavy thing that I think is very important right now. It’s something that resonates with what’s going on in the world, especially in our country.

Talk about what it was like working on a movie during the pandemic.

A huge portion of this film was made from home during the pandemic. I remember it was like, “Yeah, we’re not going to be able to do this at the studio.” I remember all these animators walking out with their computers.

It was like, “OK, we still have to keep making this movie!” With four [directors], it was actually pretty amazing. We called it the “Power of Four” because we were all very much in line together. It was really four of us speaking with one voice — over Zoom. It was a great working relationship.

As a director for Disney, is the big goal to get to direct your very own feature? Is that what you’re working toward at the end of the day?

Yeah, you have to have a story you want to tell. What do I want to say? What can I draw from my own life? These movies take time, so there has to be a really deep, passionate message that you want to say to the world.

Find more film stories at sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | sacurrent.com

food Jade Esteban Estrada

A Seat at the Table

Councilman Roberto Treviño discusses his $14 million plan to aid local foodservice workers

BY NINA RANGEL

C

ouncilman Roberto Treviño’s recently approved relief plan for local food workers hasn’t grabbed as many headlines as his involvement in the Alamo Plaza plan, but the $14 million initiative stands to bring substantial help an industry still struggling amid the pandemic.

The plan will provide nearly $10 million in aid to local bars and restaurants in the form of grants to help them retain staff and stay current on payroll. Additional funding will cover living expenses for foodservice industry employees struggling to make ends mean during the crisis.

A former foodservice worker himself, the District 1 councilman talked to us about what drives his efforts to give the local restaurants, bars and their workers a seat at the table.

A lot of folks in the industry will tell you that what we set aside before was simply not enough. I agree with them. I think this begins to help a lot of those businesses that are fortunately still around. But the reality is that there are a lot of businesses who could have used the help — now it’s too late. That’s tragic, and the reality we’re going to have to face. The broader question is going to be ‘Is this enough?’ I think we all feel like it’s a good [starting point], and we’re grateful, but we’re probably going to need more. No one anticipated this winter storm, and that has only created a bigger issue for us. We were already vulnerable as a city, and we became more vulnerable with that event.

Now that your plan has been approved, what’s next?

Yes, I used to be part of the industry myself.

I became an architect over time, but some of

Can you speak to your own experience with the food service industry?

my favorite work experience has been working in food and beverage. That time makes up some of my best memories, really, in life. My favorite job was working at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q, and it was just because I was working with the best people. I really believe we need to do as much as we can to put more money into food and beverage and our housing assistance program, because that’s where we are, that’s where we live. These are the people we know, and that’s the most complete way to address the emergency. They are part of the community, they recognize that they need to be there for us, so we need to be there for them.

There can be a stigma surrounding folks who choose to invest their lives behind a bar or in a kitchen. What are your thoughts on that?

One of the things we set out to do is to show that food and beverage is very much part of the fabric of our community and should be recognized as a workplace of choice. Some people just want to work in bars and restaurants. That’s where they want to be. I outlined that money from the Workforce Development Program could be taken to support this effort, because this is supporting existing workforce.

I think it needs to be said more often that the food and beverage industry is a large part of San Antonio’s culture. It is who we are.

Find more food & drink news at sacurrent.com

food

Facing East

it’s executed with a clarity and creativity — oh, those crispy shallots — that make you look at it anew. This Western palate could have used a few flakes of finishing salt, but their absence is only incidental.

There’s salt in appropriate abundance in the saltand-pepper shrimp, a dish that’s proved disappointing from lesser kitchens. The full portion is meant to serve a happy family of three, but the half order is entirely adequate for two or more. We were warned about shell, but there was only the tip of the tail to contend with, and it was just lightly crunchy. There wasn’t even a suspicion of grease. The creative kicker in this dish is its juxtaposition with a Thai-inspired and galangal-accented dipping sauce. Even the most strident anti-revisionist couldn’t complain.

The pairing of Thai and Chinese seems tame when contemplating the snack that is their Sizzlin’ Rice Chips, served with a Thai curry baba ghanoush — and parmesan — for an Asian-Middle Eastern-Italian mashup that could have been an overreach. Yet the mountain of cloud-light chips freckled with black sesame seeds was perfectly happy to play in the unexpectedly warm and comforting bath. Kitchen irreverence begets guessing games on the part of the diner, and we collectively detected a hint of sweetness that might have been maple syrup or brown sugar.

The name dan dan, which signifies peddler’s noodles carried on a pole, doesn’t in itself suggest a Ron Bechtol preparation, but most of us have become used to the combination of springy noodles with ground pork in a light but fiery coating featuring chili oil. Not so at BQD, where the noodles and the pork remain but the sauce once again benefits from ties to Thailand.

Redolent of coconut milk and makrut lime leaf, the creamy Panang curry totally upends expectations — but in a provocatively good way.

Thai chili “jam” was a necessary accessory to the, again, unexpected combination of crab boudin with Oaxaca cheese in the eponymous eggrolls. Call them a good try that missed the mark. The equally threads, they are utterly addicting and a suitably odd-coupling of breakfast-taco chofeisty companion to either the floral rizo, egg and cheese in potstickers but earthy Tapei Personality cocktail Best Quality Daughter with “hot, hot salsa” will have to wait with scotch and chrysanthemum syr602 Avenue A | (210) 819-4236 bestqualitydaughter.com for another day. Sturdy and comfortup or the lilting Gin Sing with litchi Hours: ing, a plate of fat noodles with short cordial and roasted coconut juice.

Tues-Thur 11 a.m.-3 p.m. & 5-9 p.m., rib featured quality ingredients, but The pair were best two of the three Fri-Sat 11 a.m.-3 p.m. & 5-10 p.m. with a flavor profile dominated by cocktails we sampled on a recent Main dishes: $14-$60+ five-spice, it seemed to lack the crevisit.

Best Bets: ative verve of most of the other offerTo be clear, early press releases Taipei Personality cocktail, honey fried peanuts, sizzlin’ rice chips, gailan with ings. Split steamed buns are fried to characterized BQD, named for a oyster sauce, Panang curry dan dan noodles, salt-and-pepper shrimp, serve as savory brackets for ice cream scene in The Joy Luck Club, as an lychee sherbet sandwich and sherbet in the two desserts on “Asian-American concept,” thus The skinny: offer. Best-quality status goes to the giving owners Jennifer Hwa DobberBest Quality daughter brings a refreshing take on Asian-American cooking to the sublime lychee. tin and Quealy Watson — the pair Pearl. Overseen by the team that honchos If you’re seated outside, as we were, also owns Tenko Ramen in the Pearl’s the Bottling Department’s Tenko Ramen, familiar-sounding dishes such as gai lan make it a point to do a tour of BQD’s Bottling Department — freer rein with oyster sauce and salt-and-pepper interior. It’s got abundant visual in the kitchen. In an era of pitched shrimp take on a fresh life, and creative mashups such as rice chips with Thai verve. Pandemic-appropriate piñata battles over who gets to represent curry baba ghanoush and dan dan noodles in Thai curry raise both eyebrows and pandas served as place-takers on what cuisine, naming has become expectations. alternate tables in one dining room, increasingly important. while custom wallpaper featuring Despite the hyphenated descripoffbeat local landmarks enlivens the bar. Should that tor, the restaurant’s dishes that sound straight-on paper ever need replacing, BQD need not be ashamed Chinese are the ones that first catch the eye. Gai lan to add itself to the roster of landmarks.

(Chinese broccoli) with oyster sauce is one such, and

Best Quality Daughter’s ‘Asian-American’ cuisine draws on more than just those two influences

BY RON BECHTOL

M

any lunar new years ago, I made my one trip to China. Already a little bored by card-carrying Cantonese cuisine as it was then served in the U.S., I was expecting a kind of epiphany of the so-this-is-whatit’s-supposed-to taste-like sort.

Didn’t happen.

This might have had to do with the fact that we were closely supervised and likely taken to restaurants considered not to pose a challenge to foreigners. Or maybe I just needed a little more palate practice to pick up on the subtleties of the cuisine.

Fortunately, the often-challenging cooking of the Sichuan and Hunan provinces eventually made their way to American shores, rendering Chinese regional foods once again of interest. But that was also long ago.

If, like me, you’re often in need of a swift kick in the keister to reenergize your appreciation of a cuisine gone cold, may I suggest Best Quality Daughter?

Let me also suggest that on your visit to the newish eatery at the Pearl you start with the tantalizingly tingling honey fried peanuts. They’re like a praline with the added boost of numbing Sichuan peppercorns. Topped with a tumbleweed tangle of red chile

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CURRENT | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | sacurrent.com

approachable, elevated dining in Olmos Park. Opening mid-March.

Theory Coffee Co. owner Mark Vollmer Jr. plans to repurpose the gas station property at 2347 Nacogdoches Road into a vision he’s dubbed the Flavor Corner, featuring tacos, coffee and a community meeting space. Opening this summer.

NEWS

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ho’s got time to click through all of the food stories coming out of Countdown City these days? We get it, you’re busy and just need quick tidbits to get you caught up on the latest culinary happenings.

Welcome to the first installment of Hot Dish, where we offer up the latest savory scoops in quick, easy-to-digest servings.

The Current’s Good To-Go portal now allows users to check which bars and restaurants will require guests to mask up and stick with COVID-19 safety measures, despite Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to drop the statewide mask mandate.

San Antonio food-industry veteran Stefan Bowers has left his post as executive chef of the Goodman & Bowers Restaurant Group to relaunch and helm downtown pizza spot Playland.

San Antonio’s Dorćol Distilling and Brewing sued St. Elmo Brewing in federal court, alleging the Austin company infringed on its trademark by using a name and textbased imagery that could be confused with HighWheel Betty Kölsch, a beer Dorćol launched in 2016.

OPENINGS

Fans of luxurious vibes and no-nonsense cocktails can now enjoy specialty spirits, wine and beer at Rock and Rye, a new spot at The Rim from Bar 1919 owner Don Marsh. Open daily.

The St. Mary’s Strip will gain an eatery for adventurous seafood lovers in Fish Lonja, a partnership that will combine cocktail-focused nightspot Midnight Swim with Fish Lonja’s fish tacos and fresh seafood-topped tostadas. Opening March 12.

Southtown will welcome another vegan-friendly option in Tidy Ben’s Sloperia, a joint that serves up a meatfree take on messy childhood fave the sloppy Joe sandwich. Opening March 27 inside Jokesters 22 Pub and Grub.

Glass and Plate Restaurant, a new lunch, dinner and weekend brunch spot from former Culinary Institute prof and chef Justin Ward, will offer

Instagram / Fish Lonja

Husband-and-wife duo Houston and Emily Carpenter, owners of San Antonio’s Little Em’s Oyster Bar, will open a “sexy” new eatery called Up Scale in the Southtown building that once housed brunch and dinner hotspot Feast.

Downtown’s Back Unturned Brewery is facing accusations that its owner misused money raised from when it participated in San Antonio brewer Weathered Souls’ Black Is Beautiful campaign, which raises money for social justice groups. Back Unturned owner Robert Garcia allegedly handed proceeds to his personal trainer, who says he’s using it for a nonprofit he plans to launch. More to come.

Got a Hot Dish you want to share? Send tips to flavor@sacurrent.com. sacurrent.com | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | CURRENT

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Courtesy Photo / Jim Ryan

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rom 1964 to 1968 — the years between the Beatles’ Ed Sullivan appearance and the psychedelic tidal wave that engulfed the music scene — the Alamo City produced a clutch of timeless garage rock classics.

Short-lived bands including the Outcasts, the Stoics, the Chayns, the Five Canadians, Sweet Smoke, the Laughing Kind, the Argyles and the Pandas issued a string of a propulsive, proto-punk singles that are both wildly unhinged and wonderfully addictive. To be sure, when record collectors voted on the 1,000 top U.S. garage 45s for Mike Markesich’s book Teen Beat Mayhem, San Antonio had five records in the top 30.

“The best garage-rock records from the city have the same qualities ... a willingness to experiment and cut loose, and a commitment to intense performances,” said Chris Bishop, who operates garagehangover. com, a massive online resource on the ’60s garage rock phenomenon. “For that short heyday of the garage sound, San Antonio deserves to be as legendary as any Texas city. San Antonio’s music scene was more diverse, though, with many Hispanic artists, which may have made it harder to categorize.”

Texas garage and psychedelic rock have long been prized among record collectors, and they continue to be a source of inspiration for a new generation

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of musicians. In recent years, the rock underground has percolated with acts exploring both garage and psych sounds. Its influence is apparent on bands as diverse as Thee Oh Sees, Tame Impala and Kikagaku Moyo, and it’s the central draw of Austin’s massive Levitation festival.

“The word ‘intensity’ is synonymous with Texas music. And Texas has a reputation of being wild. Those two things together play a big part of Texas psych,” said Marc Smith, the mastermind behind current day psych-blues act Mockingbird Express, which operates out of the Alamo City. “San Antonio is unique in Texas, because it’s always been a crossroads city.

And, as we know from Robert Johnson, crossroads are necessary for great music.”

Indeed, that crossroads aspect of San Antonio proved crucial to its mid-’60s music scene. Our numerous military bases not only imported new people and ideas from around the country; they provided a crucial source of gigs for developing bands.

“It was an interesting situation because, well, there were actually places to play,” recalled Jim Ryan, bassist for legendary SA garage rockers the Outcasts.

“All the air bases around town had clubs — enlisted men’s club, officer’s club, teen club. Fort Sam had at least four places to play. We’d be booked three, four, sometimes five nights a week at these military clubs.”

That demand for live entertainment created a thriving atmosphere, with separate music scenes popping up across town.

The West Side Sound, which blended R&B and Latin influences, for example, was largely captured by Abie Epstein and his studio at 735 North General McMullen Dr. Epstein cut more than 900 45 rpm singles, many of which were recently reissued by Chicago’s influential Numero Group label. While he’s best remembered for his West Side soul releases, the studio owner also had an impact on the city’s garage scene, recording many of its best singles, including releases by the Mind’s Eye, the Argyles, and Robb London and the Rogues.

Epstein was a force of nature on the city’s Hispanic West Side, but the focus of the garage rock scene lay primarily on the city’s largely Anglo Northern stretch.

The undisputed impresario of that music scene was the visionary Sam Kinsey and his Teen Canteen. As record shop owner, Kinsey had his ear to the ground.

Although a few years older than his patrons, he was among the first people locally to recognize to recognize an explosion of youth culture and organize events around it.

music

Courtesy Photo / Sam Kinsey Teen Can teen Collection

Courtesy Photo / Sam Kinsey Teen Canteen Collection

Courtesy Photo / Sam Kinsey Teen Canteen Collection

Among Kinsey’s noteworthy shindigs was the 1964 Teen Fest, which gave the Rolling Stones their first U.S. show. It was a disastrous affair. The opening act was a group of trained monkeys — yes, really — and the crowd in the largely empty Joe and Harry Freeman Coliseum booed the band offstage. Afterwards, a group of cowboys taunted guitarist Brian Jones for his long hair. Undaunted by the jeers, Jones walked up and crushed one of the rowdies’ Stetsons over his eyes.

The Rolling Stones never forgot the gig.

When they returned to San Antonio in 1974, Mick Jagger told Kinsey, whom he’d personally invited to the concert, “I wanted you to see we could draw a crowd.”

That first Stones show might have been a disaster, but it inspired the bevvy of upand-coming garage rockers who were in attendance. The Outcasts’ lead singer, Buddy Carson, was particularly taken with Jagger’s strutting, which he incorporated into his band’s live performances at after Kinsey opened his own venue, the Teen Canteen.

The spot’s modular stage allowed bands to assemble the pieces in ways that catered to their own stage shows.

Courtesy Photo / Sam Kinsey Teen Canteen Collection

“The Outcasts definitely designed the best stages,” remembered Bob Galindo, who performed in the Laughing Kind, the Zilches and the Bourbons, and whose brother Dan Galindo played bass for legendary Austin psych rockers the 13th Floor Elevators. “It had a small runway for Buddy Carson to do his Mick Jagger impersonations, which were excellent.”

The Teen Canteen hosted innumerable shows for both new and established bands, quickly becoming a hot ticket for Alamo City residents hungry for rock ’n’ roll. Hundreds of teens regularly packed the performances, dancing for hours.

“Imagine that! A place for young bands to play,” marveled Galindo in a program created for a 2010 Teen Canteen reunion.

The venue began at Jefferson Methodist Church Hall, then subsequently moved to Wonderland Mall, its most famous location, where it resided until 1968. After a bit more

Clockwise from upper left: The Outcasts rock the Teen Canteen; Teen Canteen imprasario Sam Kinsey; young San Antonians enjoy good clean fun during a dance at the Canteen; The Stoics were one of the SA garage outfits that managed to release a recording before the first wave died out; The Outcasts smile for the camera in a mid-’60s promotional photograph.

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shuffling, it relocated across from Northeast Stadium, where it lasted until 1977.

Kinsey envisioned the Teen Canteen as a safe, wholesome place for kids to enjoy music and create their own culture. It was also a place where parents felt safe leaving their teenagers. The space had a dress code and strict no-alcohol policy, and in its earliest days, drugs hadn’t yet entered the picture.

“Sam Kinsey was different than most people. He had rules and decorum. Morality standards quite different than bars,” said Hector Saldana, frontman of ’70s garage

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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music

ed legions of adoring female fans. rock revivalists the Krayolas and Texas “That was the way to meet girls ... music curator for Wittliff Collections at woo women,” said Ryan, bassist for the Texas State University, where Kinsey’s Outcasts. “It was fairly competitive, but archives are held. “Kinsey gave these we were all friends. If somebody won young people an outlet. It was an incuthe battle of the bands, that was fine, bator.” we just went on to different places, To be sure, the Teen Canteen emerged as a crucial provdifferent dates and different ing ground for prime groups. It was a fairly regional talent. The thriving scene.” venue gave ZZ Top The Outcasts’ its first paying two singles, “I’m gig — $150 on in Pittsburgh” September 13, and “1523 1969 — and Blair,” are booked Bilnow among ly Gibbons’ the most pre-ZZ gaprized gaCourtesy Photo / Jason Chronis rage rock rage band the Moving 45s of the Sidewalks. era.

It also “Last I played host checked, to a pre-Monthey were kees Mike going for about Nesmith, SA’s leg$800 on eBay,” endary Sir Douglas laughs Ryan.

Quintet, whom Bob The band’s career Dylan once described as began with gigs on milihis favorite band. Augie Meyers’ tary bases and slots on battles of Lord August and the Visions of Lite the bands, culminating in a stint as played the Canteen’s grand re-opening Teen Canteen’s house band for more at Wonderland in 1968. than a year. After opening for British Another of the Canteen’s early acts invasion group Herman’s Hermits, the Outcasts hooked up with the two most was Christopher Cross’ Flash. Cross later went on to stratospheric multi-platinfluential music producers in Texinum success as a ’70s and early ’80s as — the infamous Huey Meaux, who soft rocker. But early on, with Flash, the produced the Sir Douglas Quintet, the Alamo Heights High School grad was Big Bopper and innumerable No. 1 hits, known as a local guitar hero. and Leland Rogers, brother of country In Kinsey’s eyes, a healthy rock music star Kenny Rogers and impresario of scene actually was of great benefit to Houston’s International Artists, perthe community at large. haps the most legendary psych label of “My main purpose of pursuing that the ’60s. The Outcast’s singles charted business was to generate an income,” locally but stalled out around No. 30.

Kinsey said in a phone interview. “Lat“We didn’t have the payola to make it er, I found it supported the local mugo,” Ryan said with a laugh. sicians. Finally, I found an unintended During those boom days, studios effect of the place was the positive popped up to document the SA sound, effect it had on the attendees’ lives. It as did new clubs and psychedelic shops. Besides Epstein’s aforemenkept some people from dropping out of school because if they dropped out tioned studio on McMullen, Jeff Smith’s of school ... they could not attend the Texas Sound Studios and Jim RidgeTeen Canteen.” way’s Alamo Audio helped document the burgeoning scene. Alamo Audio also ran a label of the same name that custom pressed record in editions of 100 to 500 copies, perfect for local distribution.

But it wasn’t just famous names that The emerging clubs included the made up the fabric of San Antonio’s Mind’s Eye on Austin Highway, the garage scene. The thriving environLove Street Light Circus on Commerce ment birthed dozens of lesser-known Street, the Mystic Moor on Austin bands that pushed and inspired each Highway, Home on San Pedro and the other. Along the way, they also attractnotoriously hip Pusi-Kat Club near

La Villita. A Southside alternative to Kinsey’s venue, Teen Town, popped up in McCreless Plaza. Later, head shops and psych stores included the not-sosubtly-named Joint Effort and Granny’s Teahouse also made an appearance.

of one of the great, um, lost singles of San Antonio music.

To accommodate the mind-expanding scene sprouting up around them, the Mind’s Eye even opened a club of the same name on Austin Highway, adjacent to the old Seven Oaks. It’s now a parking lot. Band lead guitarist Steve Perron managed the venue while Charles Winans — the Sir Douglas Quintet’s first manager and arguably the city’s biggest “head” at the time — ran the lightshow. Old Heckle and Jeckle cartoons flickered on its inside walls.

“Really good vibe in that place. Very psychedelic,” Ryan of the Outcasts recalled. “We played there many times.

It wasn’t around that long unfortunately.”

Also contributing to the explosion was a radio landscape vastly different from today’s.

Singles by San Antonio garage acts actually got play on major radio stations alongside records by nationally known artists. Long before Clear Channel and I Heart Media imposed playlist monotony, local DJs had autonomy and were able to take chances on local and regional bands.

Homer, a San Antonio garage group that rose from the ashes of the Outcasts, landed on the local charts by giving local DJs copious amounts of The club’s overtly drug-influenced prime beef as enticement for spinning name made it a target for local law their records — God bless Texas. Homer enforcement. After only a few months, guitarist Galen Niles’ father, a superthe Mind’s Eye shuttered the venue and market manager, made the arrangemoved to LA, where Monkees frontman ments. Niles sprung from the garage Davy Jones agreed to produce their descene to become the city’s reigning but record. He even repped the group guitar hero for years, first with the on the famed Sunset Strip.

Outcasts, the Pandas and Homer, then Amid money and drug problems, forming Ultra, which played arguably though, the group retreated to San Antonio, sans album, but with a new the most famous gig in local history — the Sex Pistols’ legendary name: The Children. The Children’s one album, performance at RanRebirth — recorded dy’s Rodeo.

After 1967 with Internabrought the tional Artists’ Summer of Rogers at Love to San the controls Francisco, a — is now similar vibe considered began to a classic Courtesy Photo / permeate of Texas Jason Chronis the Alamo psych. Even City’s muif it went sic scene. nowhere Garage rock at the time. morphed A second into psych. album, to Among the be helmed by bands who underLou Adler, the went that evolution renowned producer were the Stoics, a mixedbehind Carole King’s race band whose one single Tapestry and other smashes, “Hate” is now considered a garage-rock fizzled out amid more drug drags and classic. After splintering, members money squabbles. formed another group, The Argyles, Just as groups disbanded, reformed, who, after releasing some excellent morphed and fizzled, San Antonio’s singles, morphed yet again into The scene itself was ever changing, and by Mind’s Eye. The latter group’s single 1968, it had started to dissipate. Look“Help, I’m Lost” — a multi-layered affair ing to for wider fame, some SA bands featuring a violin plus a raga-esque preferred to go to Houston to record, guitar solo from Galen Niles — remains while others, most notably Bubble sacurrent.com | March 10 – March 23, 2021 | CURRENT

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music notes even contained the first written reference to “punk rock.”

Eventually, Nuggets became a series of releases, then a box set, and other comps surfaced, digging up obscure singles from the era.

“We got labelled punk in the ’70s, and it seemed to fit the bill,” the Outcasts’ Ryan said.

By that point, rock culture was already mining its own past, finding inspiration in an earlier incarnation, whose unbridled energy now felt missing from the scene.

Teen / Sam Kinsey The old became Courtesy Photo ction Canteen Colle the new.

“Nuggets did what I always hoped it would do: spark this Puppy, found success in kind of archaeoAustin. logical interBy 1973, Texas also lowest, so all of a ered its drinking age to 18, sudden, people forcing the teen club scene started digging to compete against regular around for bars. The Teen Canteen shortKinsey Teen group garage ened its name to the Canteen.

Courtesy Photo / Sam Canteen Collection band records. ...

While it continued to provide So, it just kind a crucial proving ground for of continues local talent, the initial magic on and on and had largely faded. on,” Kaye told the website Mu“The marijuana scene came sicScribe in 2019. along, and I had to learn the scent, as the doorThat kind of rediscovery is ongoing, and it’s conman,” Teen Canteen’s Kinsey recalled with a laugh. tinued to shine a light on San Antonio’s rich garage “Somebody would walk in and I’d say, ‘Oh, I like your rock scene. Taken as a whole, the city’s output from cologne.’ They’d say, ‘Oh, I’m not wearing cologne.’ the period is as good as anything on Nuggets, if not Then I’d sniff. ‘Oh, I swear I smelt some new cologne better. Alamo City garage 45s are some of the most on you.’ And that was the cool way to let them know highly prized — and highly priced — records on the that I knew.” collector market. The culture spawned by Nuggets As harder drugs filtered through the scene, the inhas singled out San Antonio as singularly important, nocence filtered out. Momentum stalled. The garage and numerous singles of the era popped up on subserock scene, almost as soon as it appeared, vanished. quent compilations.

Not surprising, though. That ephemeral quality is intrinsic to youth culture. Kids grow up and scenes dissolve for numerous reasons — college, the draft and addiction all played their part in this case.

“That’s the culture of rock ’n’ roll. You get one One of these comps, Highs in the Mid-Sixties, was shot,” said Ryan of the Outcasts.

Mockingbird Express frontman Smith’s first exposure to San Antonio’s first-wave garage and psych. Five volumes of that 23-record series were dedicated to Texas music alone.

“The sheer number of amazing Texas bands would surprise a lot of people,” Smith said.

The glorious rush of garage rock had passed. But it In 2021, San Antonio is still a crossroads city, and was ripe for rediscovery. the vibrant feel of its early garage days continues to As primitive early rock ’n’ roll gave way to the resonate. pomp and virtuosity of ’70s prog, something got “A lot of south Texas musicians feel a personal and lost. Namely, the fun. Early punks sifted through the spiritual connection with where it all came from,” remnants of the ’60s looking for inspiration. Most Smith added. “There is an intensity, not just in how notably, future Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny musicians play, but with how we consume music as Kaye assembled Nuggets, a two-LP compilation well. There is a hunger here for rock ’n’ roll, particucelebrating overlooked rock 45s. It was the book of larly. It’s in the soil, the air, the water and in people’s Genesis for the nascent punk movement, and its liner blood around here.”

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The Children (upper left) were one of the bands representing the evolution of the psych era. The look of the Chayns (lower right) also evolved as the ’60s progressed.

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In 2017, San Antonio’s Psych Del Rio fest brought together the city’s garage-psych history with its new generation carrying the torch. The 1960s garage legends Bubble Puppy shared the bill with a bevy of San Antonio newcomers, including True Indigo, fronted

by Oscar Webber. (As an aside, Jason Chronis, who supplied images of some of the records running with this story also played Psych Del Rio with his group Tele Novella.)

“Music from the ’60s, I get a lot of inspiration from that,” Webber said of his band’s debt to the forbears of the Alamo City’s mind-expanding sounds.

The original wave of San Antonio garage rock, though short-lived, created compelling music that’s now being rediscovered by another generation of local musicians tired of antiseptic, sanitized, auto-tuned pop. Even if those old records might be a little out of tune, that’s precisely the point. The songs brim with pure, unfiltered energy.

The recordings are still out there, breadcrumbs for those interested in learning the history of their own city and one of the truly great eras of rock ’n’ roll.

“They have this reckless abandon,” reflected Saldana, the Wittliff curator. “It’s almost like pure expression.

There’s no denying the creativity and the energy of these records.”

THE RUNAWAYS — 18TH FLOOR GIRL THE CHAYNS — THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG IN THIS PLACE FIVE CANADIANS — WRITING ON THE WALL THE OUTCASTS — I’M IN PITTSBURGH (AND IT’S RAINING) THE STOICS — HATE THE PANDAS — WALK THE MIND’S EYE — HELP, I’M LOST LORD AUGUST AND THE VISIONS OF LITE — LET ME BE ME THE CHAYNS — NIGHT TIME THE BOURBONS — OF OLD APPROXIMATELY SWEET SMOKE — MARY JANE IS TO LOVE BOTUMLES PIT — 13 STORIES HIGH THE LAUGHING KIND — I COULD HAVE SHOWED YOU THE WAY THE BARONS — COME TO ME THE ARGYLES — STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU BABY ROBB LONDON AND THE ROGUES — BITTER TEARS CYRKLE OF SOUND — LIES HOMER — DANDELION WINE THE CHILDREN — PICTORIAL For more San Antonio garage classics, tune into this Mixcloud playlist at mixcloud.com/sasound/sa-garage-1965-1968

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