San Antonio Current — June 2, 2021

JUNE 2 - JUNE 15, 2021

MOBILIZING YOUNG VOTERS | A TEEN COMEDY ABOUT BIRTH CONTROL | DINING AT DOMINGO

J O I N

JUNE 17, 2021

Fiesta San Antonio June 17-27, 2021

T H E

l

F U N

HEMISFAIR

l

O F

4 – 10 PM

www.fiestasanantonio.org #Fiesta2021

|

#FiestaSA

CHERRY LIMEADE 1 ½ oz cherry-infused Tito’s Handmade Vodka 4 oz limeade 1 lime slice, garnish 1 cherry, garnish

Just add infused Tito’s Handmade Vodka and limeade to a glass over ice. Garnish with a lime slice and cherry.

No time for an infusion? No problem. Just muddle a few cherries in your glass and sip away the stress.

sacurrent.com | June 2 - June 15, 2021 | CURRENT

3

in this issue Issue 21-11 /// June 2 – June 15, 2021

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

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 Social Media Content Creator: Meradith Garcia

Creative Services

Graphic Designer: Samantha Serna Production Interns: Pedro Macias

Circulation

Circulation Manager: Justin Giles

Euclid Media Group

Sam Kindrick Collection / The Wittliff Collections

Chief Executive Officer: Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers: Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services: Stacy Volhein Director of Agency Services: Mindi Overman Digital Operations Coordinator: Jaime Monzon Senior Marketing and Events Director: Cassandra Yardeni www.euclidmediagroup.com

22 Feature

Honky Tonk Heart

Exploring San Antonio’s country music history, from Red River Dave to the Lonesome Rose

09 News

The Opener News in Brief

‘Building a Movement’

Veteran San Antonio organizer Jenn Longoria takes on a new role: driving turnout of young, Latinx voters

12 Calendar Calendar Picks

15 Arts

Portrait Power

Blue Star revisits an age-old tradition with ‘The Sitter’

17 Screens

Conversation Starter

South Texas native Victoria Moroles hopes her Hulu comedy Plan B can improve birth-control access

National Advertising: Voice Media Group (888) 278-9866, vmgadvertising.com San Antonio Current 915 Dallas San Antonio, Texas 78215 sacurrent.com

19 Food

Downtown Draw?

JUNE 2 - JUNE 15, 2021

Fresh approaches to Mexican faves may help newly opened Domingo lure locals as well as tourists

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

Corn Gods and Cane Spirits

San Antonio Distribution – The Current is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader.

Hot Dish

Copyright: The entire contents of the San Antonio Current are copyright 2019 by Euclid Media Group LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Publisher does not assume any liability for unsolicited manuscripts, materials, or other content. Any submission must include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business correspondence should be mailed to the address listed above.

Subscriptions: Additional copies or back issues may be purchased at the Current offices for $1. Six-month domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $75; one-year subscriptions for $125.

Get listed 1. Visit sacurrent.com 2. Click “Calendar” and then “Submit an Event” 3. Follow the steps to submit your event details Please allow 48 hours for review and approval.

Event submissions are not accepted by phone.

Sampling the corn-based liquors of Mexico gives new twists to old favorites

22 Music

Music Listings

MOBILIZING YOUNG VOTERS | A TEEN COMEDY ABOUT BIRTH CONTROL | DINING AT DOMINGO

O

n the Cover: San Antonio has a long and storied history when it comes to real-deal country music. We introduce you to some of its key players. Design

by Samantha Serna.

MILITARY 20% OFF EVERY DAY WITH VALID I.D.

FOLLOW US FOR THE LATEST ON CLASSES, EVENTS, SPECIALS + MORE MEGAPLEXSA.COM

VOTE FOR US BEST OF SAN ANTONIO ® ADULT STORE VOTE.SACURRENT.COM

2 LOCATIONS OPEN DAILY: 7AM - 2AM 9405 IH-35 @ THOUSAND OAKS | 210-595-6781 11827 HWY 281 N @ NAKOMA | 210-404-0011

6

CURRENT | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | sacurrent.com

sacurrent.com | June 2 - June 15, 2021 | CURRENT

7

WE ARE WORKING TO LEARN HOW EXERCISE IMPROVES HEALTH AND WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Be Part of a National Movement to Discover Exercise!

The MoTrPAC study measures the changes that occur during and after exercise. This will help researchers learn how exercise improves health.

We are looking for volunteers who: » Are women 18 years of age or older. » Have been cycling or weight lifting on a regular basis for more than a year. » Have no history of diabetes or heart disease. » Would like to have the opportunity to participate in human performance testing and have study-related health exams at UT Health San Antonio.

The Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) is supported by the NIH Common Fund through cooperative agreements managed by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases (NIAMS), and National Institute on Aging (NIA).

* Volunteers will be compensated for their participation*

CALL 210-450-3333

Email: motrpac-dl@uthscsa.edu or Visit: www.motrpac.org/join For more information, please contact the study team at the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at UT Health San Antonio.

BUY SELL TRADE

CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS D RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDW ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS D RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS D RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS D RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES ACCESSORIES ACCES V I D E O G A MVINYL E S | H RECORDS A R D W A R E CDS | A C CDVDS E S S O RBLU-RAYS I E S | V I N Y4K L R VIDEO E C O R D SGAMES | C D S HARDWARE | DVDS 6 S A N A N T O N I O L O C A T I O N S | C D E X C H A N G E S A .

C O M VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECO BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K

we buy games we pay cash for your cds,dvds, blu-rays, games & game hardware

803 sw military | 928-3471 13486 us 281 | 545-3472

6997 bandera rd | 509-3472 5253 walzem | 650-3472

9861 ih-10 west | 641-1600 6900 san pedro | 826-2662

6 SAN ANTONIO LOCATIONS | CDEXCHANGE-SA.COM 8

CURRENT | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | sacurrent.com

H

When George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis last year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he was committed to working for reforms to prevent police brutality. However, Texas’ landmark George Floyd Act never got a vote in the state legislature, and at press time, only police reform measures were expected to pass before the session’s end. “The Texas Legislature is saying Black lives don’t matter,” said Durrel Douglas, executive director of Houston Justice.

H

Democrats in the Texas House celebrated by waving pride flags as a bill that would have prevented transgender students in Texas schools from joining sports teams based on their gender identity instead of their sex assigned at birth missed the House deadline for voting on measures sent over from the Senate.

House Dems succeeded in running down the clock on the transphobic legislation.

H

With the U.S. Supreme Court set to issue a ruling on a major abortion rights case for the first time with its new conservative majority, the Texas legislature has passed a bill that would outlaw abortion in the state should the high court overturn Roe v. Wade. The law would take effect just 30 days after any court ruling or constitutional amendment that gave states the ability to ban abortion. At press time, the bill was headed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.

A new San Antonio capital-improvement project promises aesthetic and infrastructure upgrades for the city’s historic West Side, including new public art, gathering spaces, widened sidewalks and bike lanes. The project kicked off last week with the painting of the Guadalupe Street Bridge’s underpass columns.

It’s expected to be finished by 2023. — Abe Asher

YOU SAID IT!

“He called our military ‘woke’ and ‘emasculated,’ which I pointed out — fairly, I thought — is funny coming from a guy who let Donald Trump use his testicles on the driving range.”

— Jimmy Kimmel, on his ongoing feud with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas

ASSCLOWN ALERT

Backing Senate Bill 29 Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

At the tail end of the recently completed legislative session, Democrats in the Texas House successfully ran down the clock on Senate Bill 29, a toxic proposal that would bar transgender student athletes from playing on sports teams corresponding to the gender with which they identify. Like the discriminatory and punitive so-called “bathroom bill” conservatives pushed during the 2017 session, it was a solution desperately in search of a problem.

Trans athletes and their families testified about the harm SB 29 would cause. Advocacy groups warned about the psychological damage the debate was having on these already vulnerable youths. What’s more, the University Interscholastic League indicated that there were no documented instances in which transgender student-athletes competing in the sports it oversees had an unfair advantage.

As such, the party-line votes of these Republican Texas Senators supporting the bill are an embarassment: Paul D. Bettencourt, Brian Birdwell, Dawn Buckingham, Donna Campbell, Charles Brandon Creighton, Bob Hall, Kelly Hancock, Joan Huffman, Bryan Hughes, Lois

news

That Rocks/That Sucks

Facebook / Dr. Donna Campbell

Kolkhorst, Jane Nelson, Robert Nichols, Angela Paxton, Charles Perry, Charles J. Schwertner, Kel Seliger, Drew Springer and Larry Taylor.

To them we say, your discriminatory and mean-spirited vote may be red meat for your base, but it doesn’t make you any less of a fucking assclown. — Sanford Nowlin

Last week, Cowboys Dancehall managed to avoid a citation for overcrowding during a Saturday concert in which the venue hosted a crowd that authorities said was 800 people over capacity. The San Antonio Fire Department said that it declined to penalize the club because it quickly addressed the issue. Earlier this year, Cowboys was twice cited for violating COVID-19 capacity limits.

San Antonio-based corporations Whataburger and USAA have remained silent as the Texas Legislature works to curtail voting rights in the state, according to the coalition Texas Right to Vote, which issued a list calling out businesses for their inaction on the matter. A few Lone Star State corporations, including Dell Technologies and American Airlines, have condemned the legislation, which is expected to slash polling locations in predominantly non-white areas of major cities.

After some 110 pounds of cocaine were found washed ashore on the South Texas Coast earlier this month, the Matagorda County Sheriff’s Office is asking beachgoers to refrain from handling any suspicious packages they find in the water or dunes. The sheriff’s office has processed and photographed the cocaine and says it will dispose of it through proper channels. — Abe Asher

Google Street View

Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com

10

CURRENT | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | sacurrent.com

news ‘Building a Movement’ Veteran San Antonio organizer Jenn Longoria takes on a new role: driving turnout of young, Latinx voters

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

L

ongtime San Antonio political operative Jenn Longoria this month joined Jolt Action, one of the state’s foremost Latinx civic-engagement organizations, where she’ll steer its statewide voter registration and voter mobilization strategies.

Previously, Longoria served as served as Texas deputy director for Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and as Texas director of Elizabeth Warren’s presidential run. Her decade of organizing experience also includes work for Barack Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns, along with state and municipal races.

We caught up with Longoria, who will remain based in San Antonio, to ask about her work with Jolt and how participation by young Latinx voters can reshape Texas politics.

You take on this role as the Texas Legislature prepares to pass a bill that voting-rights groups argue is all about suppressing votes of people of color.

Do you see your work at Jolt as a counterbalance to that legislation?

I mean, it was a tough season, and I think organizations like Jolt are going to be working overtime to make sure that we are talking to young people and talking to potential voters about how these laws affect them. We’ve had to deal with issues like this before, and we’re just going to organize our way out of it. We’re going to make sure that we are talking to young people — that’s what Jolt does best — so that we’re building a movement of Latinos across Texas that’s focusing on young Latino voter turnout, and the numbers are there. So, it is going to be a tough hill to climb, but we’re capable of it, and we’re a progressive organization in Texas, so we’re just going to do the work.

This session, the GOP forced through a lot of bills feeding into the culture war. Does that divisive legislative agenda help you make the case to young voters that they need to be more engaged?

Overall, Jolt’s mission is just to make sure we’re empowering young Latinos and helping them get into places where they understand how powerful their vote is. So, yes, having that session to talk about and letting people know what they’re up against is a little

Courtesy Photo Jenn Longoria

bit of a motivation, and it can set a fire under people that are fighting for equality and fighting for easier access to voting rights.

How does your experience with national campaigns figure into the work you’ll be doing with Jolt?

The experience I’ve had has really helped me see Texas for what it is. It’s huge. It’s unwieldy. And we know that Latinos in Texas are not a monolith. We know that we have to be talking to people across Texas in different regions. But also, that experience has helped me see where we need some extra help and where we’ve got a strong base. ... I was drawn to organizing because of my really strong beliefs in voter registration and access to voting. I want to make sure that people’s voices for communities of color are heard and that we’re really fighting for those people. …

That experience helped, because I really have a broad overview of what the electorate in Texas looks like. I know where to drill down, and I’m excited to be able to do that with Jolt.

There’s been talk for years that demographics are shifting Texas purple, but that sure didn’t happen in 2020. How do we know that there are really enough folks out there who are willing to be engaged in the political process to substantially change election results in Texas?

One thing that I have learned in campaigns is that, typically, large campaigns will engage with the Latino community at the tail end of the campaign or when they want to buffer those numbers and shore up a few extra votes. And so many times that Latino outreach isn’t as pervasive as it should be. It’s not as from-theground-up as it should be. So, what we want to do at Jolt is make sure that we are talking to Latinos all

throughout the year, all throughout the process, so that it’s not just coming to those communities at the last minute to ask for votes when we hadn’t been there the whole time. We want to offer them leadership opportunities and education opportunities so that we are actually empowering people to take charge politically and with the system. Campaigns will come in, look for votes where they can, where they’re easy to find, and they’re going to be dictated by resources and money. And Jolt’s motivation is empowering community. So, I think those are two things where one serves the other. The work we’re doing with Jolt will eventually help out progressive candidates or candidates that align with the issues that Latinos really care about.

On that note, political experts argue that the gains along the Texas border by Trump and other rightwing candidates could come down to Latinx voters feeling like they’ve been neglected by the Democratic Party. Do you think there’s been permanent damage there?

I don’t think that we’re too far down that road to correct. I think that it’s true when we talk about Texas being a battleground state or when we talk about having to fight for every vote. I think the fact that we’re having to contest races where we never had a chance before is a great sign, but on the flip side of that coin, we are going to have to work for every vote in all communities. We aren’t going to be able to take Latino votes for granted. We’re going to have to make sure that we’re listening to them and really talking about the issues they care about. And I think it was a good wake up call to see that this is not a done deal in the Valley. sacurrent.com | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | CURRENT

11

SUN | 06.06

TUE | 06.08

COMEDY

Arguably the most anticipated is Spider-Man: No Way Home, debuting in December. The internet has been lit up with rumors of casting and

FILM

cameos, but let’s slow that roll. Even Spidey fans have aging brains.

BOB SAGET

LA LA LAND

A whole lotta folks know Bob Saget from saccharine shows like Full

Moviegoers can lay out a blanket and hum along to “City of Stars”

2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home? No worries. Slab Cinema has a fun

House and America’s Funniest Home Videos. Less known is that his stand-

under San Antonio’s night sky at Slab Cinema’s upcoming screening

summer evening featuring a dusk screening of the film to jog those

up act is pretty much exactly the opposite of those acting and hosting

of the 2017 Oscar-nominated film La La Land. La La Land tells the story

pre-COVID memory banks. Far From Home features regular leads Tom

Having trouble remembering what happened in the last installment,

gigs, featuring darker and more off-color jokes. Apparently, going blue

Holland, Samuel L. Jackson and Zendaya, as well as the franchise

paid off: Saget’s comedy specials have popped up anywhere from HBO

debut of Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio. The movie will be preceded by

to Amazon Prime to Netflix. He earned himself a Grammy nom with

family-friendly activities. Heck, the festivities are even pet-friendly, so

his 2014 stand-up album That’s What I’m Talking About and even scored

feel free to bring your friendly neighborhood spider. Free, 7 p.m., Travis

a New York Times bestseller with his book Dirty Daddy. If that’s not

Park, 301 E. Travis St., (210) 207-3677, slabcinema.com. — MM

enough, he directed the cult classic Norm Macdonald flick Dirty Work

TUE | 06.08

and has been involved with a host of other TV and film projects. For his current tour, which includes a one-night stop here in the Alamo City, Saget is presenting fans with more than an hour of new material. $60-

FI LM

240, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., LOL Comedy Club, 618 Northwest Loop 410, (210)

FLIGHT

541-8805, improvtx.com/sanantonio. — Mike McMahan

Online screenings have become a thing during the pandemic, and even as reasons abound for optimism about COVID, it’s not too late for an evening that doesn’t require leaving home. Texas Public Radio’s Cinema Tuesdays continues its series of online watch parties with 2012’s Flight.

The film stars Denzel Washington as a commercial airline pilot who is hailed as a hero after a miraculous landing, though he’s later revealed to have been under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The story is

Lionsgate

of Mia and Sebastian, brought together in Hollywood by their shared passion for music and dreams of making it big. However, as romance buds, the trajectories of their individual successes and dreams bring forth difficult questions about the future of their relationship. The screening is one of three scheduled for the month at Slab’s Legacy Park location, preceded by Singin’ in the Rain on June 1 and followed by The Motorcycle Diaries on June 22. All shows begin at dusk, about 15 minutes after sundown. Seating is limited and tickets are required. $5-10, 8 p.m., Slab Cinema, 103 W. Houston St., slabcinema.com. — Dana Nichols

TUE | 06.08 FILM

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME You may have heard of a small series of art films known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kidding aside, Marvel movies are blockbusters among blockbusters, and the comic brand is poised to crush the rest of 2021, with no less than four films set to drop before year’s end.

Paramount PIctures

“loosely inspired” by the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 in 2000.

Flight marked director Robert Zemeckis’s return to live-action cinema, 12 years after Cast Away. The film earned Washington an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and was generally well-reviewed, currently sporting a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes. Register for TPR’s event in advance to be eligible for a door prize, then join the discussion after the film in a virtual lobby. Free (requires Amazon Prime), 7:30 p.m., tpr.

Courtesy Photo / LOL Comedy Club

12

CURRENT | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | sacurrent.com

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

org/tpr-cinema-tuesdays. — MM

show. Among the works on display was Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise — a moody painting capturing a hazy morning on the Port of Le Havre. While initially criticized

SUN | 06.13 SPECIAL EVEN T

calendar

FRI | 06.11 TUE | 06.15

Impressionists a name — thanks to a critic who used the

DRIVE-THROUGH CELEBRATION: LIMITLESS! FUN

term derisively. As Impressionism rose to prominence in

For the drive-through celebration of its grounds expansion,

the 1880s, American artists flocked to France to glean what

the McNay Art Museum is encouraging visitors to think out-

Travel in time and space and experience Michelangelo’s

they could from masters like Monet, who unwittingly drew

side the box — and inside their cars. Tied in with the current

Sistine Chapel without leaving the city of San Antonio. The

throngs of aspirants to the picturesque village of Giverny.

exhibition “Limitless! Five Women Reshape Contemporary

exhibit will include 34 reproductions of Michelangelo’s

Informed by the hallmarks of the movement — especially its

Art” — a show highlighting trailblazing artists Martine Guti-

works that adorn the Sistine Chapel in Italy, including “The

celebration of outdoor scenes illuminated by shifting day-

for its unfinished look, that 1872 painting gave the emergent

ART

MICHELANGELO’S SISTINE CHAPEL: THE EXHIBITION

light — American artists began to bring their sensibilities to the table. Perhaps more spinoff than imitation, the resulting genre comes to light this summer in “America’s Impressionism: Echoes of a Revolution.” Representing a collaboration between the San Antonio Museum of Art, Pennsylvania’s Brandywine River Museum of Art and Tennessee’s Dixon Gallery and Gardens, the traveling exhibition assembles more than 70 paintings by American icons Mary Cassat and William Merritt Chase, Monet mentees Willard Metcalf and Theodore Wendel, and bluebonnet-loving Texas artists Julian Onderdonk, Dawson Dawson-Watson and José Arpa, among many others. $12-$20, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Saturday-Sunday through September 5, San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 W. Jones Ave., (210) 978-8100, samuseum.org. — Bryan Rindfuss

Wikimedia Commons

Creation of Adam” and “The Last Judgement.” Rather than craning your necks to admire the works on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, visitors can walk through a 9,000-squarefoot mansion’s three stories and come up close with the works while sipping on drinks. The near life-sized exhibit is to fill the spaces of the Lambermont Events venue, marking the first time the touring exhibition will be hosted in a historic house. Those who haven’t visited the chapel will have the opportunity to admire Michelangelo’s works for the first time, while those who have will be able to do so from a new perspective and closer than before. Ten-thousand Texans are already in the virtual queue to visit the

Courtesy Photo / McNay Art Museum

show, so book your tickets sooner rather than later to secure your spot. $10-$23.50, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday

errez, Letitia Huckaby, Yayoi Kusama, Sandy Skoglund and

June 11-September 6, Lambermont Events, 950 E. Grayson St.,

Jennifer Steinkamp — the drive-through event is the second

sistinechapelexhibit.com. — DN

of its kind to be held at the McNay. Beginning at Emporia Boulevard, the driving route guides families through the

FRI | 06.11 TUE | 06.15

museum’s expanded grounds and new outdoor sculptures with activity stops along the way. Participants will get access to creativity kits and H-E-Buddy goodie bags, and they can take part in interactive activities such as creating a block print using the weight of their cars. The museum’s grounds

ART

expansion is part of a $6.25 million landscape master plan

‘AMERICA’S IMPRESSIONISM’

announced in fall of 2019. Work on the project is slated for

Characterized by swift and feathery brushstrokes, unblend-

completion this fall. Registration for the event begins June 7

ed dabs of color and sketchy depictions of everyday French

and spots are limited. Free, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave., (210) 824-5368, mcnayart.org. —

life, Impressionism made its first big wave in 1874 when a group of tradition-bucking artists united for a pivotal group

Courtesy Image / San Antonio Museum of Art

DN

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.

VOTE NOW FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALISTS NOW! TS E T CK OU I T P LD I V O S

AU G U ST 20, 202 1 WI T T E M U S E U M T I C K E TS AT S AWH I S K EYB U S I N E S S .CO M

14

CURRENT | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | sacurrent.com

arts

Portrait Power

Blue Star revisits an age-old tradition with ‘The Sitter’

BY BRYAN RINDFUSS

G

iven that it’s as old as the hills, including the ones in ancient Egypt, portraiture might not seem like an apt vehicle to convey contemporary of how photographers work responsibly and collaboratively with their subjects,” McGilideas. But the age-old tradition has evolved vray said. “In none of the images can you see continuously — eschewing self-aggrandizing the subjects’ faces. … [His work shows that] a displays of power, wealth and beauty to beportrait is not just an image of an individual.” come a wildly adaptable storytelling device.

Also approaching youth from a thought“The most famous portraits have this static ful perspective, Jewish Israeli photographer sense to them. The point of painting the porNatan Dvir’s series Eighteen focuses on Arab trait wasn’t necessarily presenting this huge, teens coming of age amid the Israeli-Palesbroader narrative,” explained Jacqueline tinian conflict. Photographed in their living Saragoza McGilvray, curator and exhibitions spaces, his self-aware subjects appear simulmanager at Blue Star Contemporary. “But a taneously tough and vulnerable. lot of these portraits — Dutch portraits, En“I wish to confront and dispute the wideglish portraits, the Mona Lisa — are commisspread misconceptions and stereotypes of sioned portraits. I think that’s an important the people within my own country who I was distinction to make.” brought up to consider more as foes rather Noticing a wave of contemporary artists than as allies,” Dvir explained in an interview creating portraits informed by personal with the photography site LensCulture. narratives and collaboration, McGilvray set A Wyoming native who now calls San Antoout to organize “The Sitter,” a wide-ranging exhibition exploring portraiture through the nio home, artist Madison Cowles Serna seeks to amplify the voices of rape and abuse surwork of 13 artists. vivors. For Withstand, she collaborated with “I was seeing a lot of artists give a great 16 survivors of sexual assault deal of agency and decion a monumental painting on sion-making to their subrepurposed billboard vinyl. In jects,” she said. “That really ‘The Sitter’ addition to allowing each of is what started me down Free, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Thursday-Sunday through them to select the photograph this path. … It’s predomSeptember 5 she worked from, Serna invitinantly a mix of painting Blue Star Contemporary ed her subjects to share their and photography, which of 116 Blue Star stories through letters she course both mediums have (210) 227-6960 bluestarcontemporary.org incorporated into a text-based longstanding traditions in sculpture. portraiture. … There’s also “[Her subjects] have a lot of the through line of the artist activating portraiture as a way to [explore] agency,” McGilvray said. “They choose how they’re represented, [and] that is really drivsomebody’s cultural background or their ing the whole composition of the work.” own personal narratives and histories.”

In the midst of a busy install, McGilvray walked us through “The Sitter” and shed light Domestic allusions on a few of the stories behind the work.

Through deft use of mixed media, San Antonio artists Ruth Leonela Buentello and Collaborative narratives Sarah Fox both push their untraditional portraits into installation territory.

There’s plenty of visual enjoyment in Based on family snapshots, Buentello’s “The Sitter,” but many pieces take on deeper large-scale paintings Gamer Niñas and The meaning with a bit of context — including the work of Zora Murff, Natan Dvir and Madi- Last Supper are lovingly framed in ruffled fabric and hung atop wallpaper. son Cowles Serna.

“These two paintings are pretty rich with Based in Arkansas, Murff created his photographic series “Corrections” while working as objects,” McGilvray said. Describing the enrapt subjects of Gamer Niñas, she continued, a tracker for Linn County Juvenile Detention “It feels like these girls are really in their own and Diversion Services in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. space and really have ownership of that space Described by Murff as “an examination of — their headphones and their dolls and postyouth experience in the system,” his series is represented by two poignant photographs of ers on the wall. To me, that also is about the objects that we use to define ourselves.” juveniles in his charge.

Riddled with anthropomorphic rabbits, “What he’s doing is really at the forefront

Madison Cowles Serna, Withstand

Fox’s contributions include drawings, a digital video, a set featuring a creepy bunny puppet, a mirror, cans of Lone Star and a faux finish the artist painted on the wall. Fox, who was installing her work during our visit, explained that the project addresses cycles of addiction and family trauma.

“I use a lot of humor in the work to try to make that stuff more approachable to talk about and less scary,” she said.

Vibrant expressions Providing welcome blasts of color and joy are paintings by Denton-based Loc Huynh and San Antonio’s Carmen Cartiness Johnson and Cruz Ortiz.

Delightfully quirky and cartoony, Huynh’s paintings show his adorable mother slicing fish, preparing pho and clutching a cowering dog in the midst of a storm. As McGilvray explained, Huynh left his dog in his mother’s care when he went to college, and the pair formed a bond. “[The series] talks a little bit about empty nesting … [and the dog is] a humorous standin for him too,” McGilvray said.

A self-described painter and storyteller, Johnson paints people and places in an exuberant style. Among her featured works is The Octagon Room — a densely packed painting that offers a fisheye view of a Black community gathered in celebration. It seems to divulge something new with each glance. “[The Octagon Room] is inspired by her upbringing and people opening their homes or businesses as a community space — and all of the things and conversations, the exchanges, the life that unfolds in a space like this,” McGilvray said.

Once better known for graphic screen prints, Ortiz has been taking portraiture seriously lately and even documents his live sittings. In addition to countless portraits of his wife Olivia, Ortiz has put his signature spin on San Antonio personalities including artists Jesse Amado and Alejandro Diaz, and politicos Julián and Joaquin Castro. A shining example of this new chapter is a portrait of scholar, educator and author Ellen Riojas Clark.

“In a sense, he’s talking about making a record of these people that are significant figures in their communities,” McGilvray said.

“And by creating images of them, this is one way to also insert them into art history.”

Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE SAN ANTONIO PUBLIC ART LANDSCAPE “Najo Jām” by Carlos Cortés and Doroteo Garza at Comanche Lookout Park

“Bloom” by Leticia Huerta at the River Walk Public Art Garden

“Innature” by Ashley Mireles at Phil Hardberger Park

“Star of Texas” by Sebastián at the San Antonio International Airport

The Department of Arts & Culture’s Public Art Program allows you access to world-class art in large and mostly outdoor spaces — and all free of charge! We have some exciting new additions to the San Antonio Public Art landscape to share with you. Go to www.SanAntonio.gov/Arts to learn more and see a map of the public art in our collection.

16

CURRENT | June 2 - June 15, 2020 | sacurrent.com

screens

Conversation Starter South Texas native Victoria Moroles hopes her Hulu comedy Plan B can improve birth-control access

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

I

n the R-rated teen comedy Plan B, actress and Corpus Christi native Victoria Moroles (TV’s Teen Wolf) plays Lupe, a Latina high school student living in conservative, small-town South Dakota, who has a reputation for being sexually active.

When her straight-laced best friend Sunny (Kuhoo Verma) loses her virginity at a party and realizes the next morning that the condom didn’t do its job, the two set off on a road trip adventure to Planned Parenthood to get the morning-after pill.

During a recent Zoom interview with the Current, Moroles, 24, talked about why she thinks birth control works as a topic for a comedy and why it’s taken so long for a movie like this — and starring two young women of color — to be made. She also discussed what attracts her to projects that have deeper implications and that could change society in some way.

Plan B is currently streaming on Hulu.

What resonated with you about Plan B and made you want to be a part of it?

I read the script and I thought it was a crazy, heightened, hilarious version of what young women face in America. I thought there was a good purpose behind it — bringing up the conversation about access to contraception.

Plan B, of course, is a comedy, but if you take the comedic elements out of it, I could only imagine how scary the situation would be for a 17-year-old kid. Why do you think the topic of contraception lends itself so well to the comedy genre?

It’s unexpected. I knew we were hopping into a very serious comedy, but the film has some incredibly healing and emotional moments.

Often, humans express themselves and have conversations in different ways. I think every kind of genre should bring up a conversation about any subject. This was just a really smart and cool way to do it.

Why do you think it’s taken so long for a comedy like this featuring two young women of color to be produced? Harold and Kumar, which is a totally different topic since they’re on a quest for hamburgers, debuted a decade ago.

I’d like to think that we’ve grown a lot in the

Courtesy Photo Hulu

past 10 years. It took time for our writers to be given the opportunity for their script to come to fruition. That’s really where it starts.

I think it’s taken time for people to allow people of color to be in these positions. I’m just happy that we’re getting there. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of it.

traception. Hopefully, that can move it an inch forward and impact our health care and educational systems and can offer a perspective where people’s minds can change.

As a young actress, would you be as attracted to a project like this if it didn’t have that deeper message behind it?

I hope stories like this help. [In Plan B], you don’t get a full conversation, but you do get closure for Lupe and her father [played by Jacob Vargas]. For that, I really pulled from my mother’s experience growing up with my grandparents. She was raised Catholic. I really used that as an influence to help with Lupe’s character.

I think it always adds something. I think the end story is medicine. Experiencing story through film and TV is incredibly important for our society and our culture. Whether we like it or not, the media is such a big influence in the way people see themselves and see others. I always try to look for something that can help in that way if I can.

Some conservatives might say that Plan B has a “liberal agenda.” If it does, what is it?

I think the agenda is just to open the conversation. I think the conversation raises awareness behind the accessibility to con-

Do you think a film like this could inspire Latino parents to reach out to their kids more about topics like sex and birth control?

Were you able to connect with Jacob easily since he has that Corpus Christi link from his time playing A.B. Quintanilla in Selena?

[Laughs.] Yes, I did! We only had one day together. But we just [punches fist into hand] from the bat. We really went for it. It was so cool. It’s just like talking to you. It’s so nice to have that connection with somebody.

Find more film stories at sacurrent.com

WALK-IN. CURBSIDE. DELIVERY CUSTOM ORDERS WELCOME

LILYSCOOKIES.COM 210.832.0886

Delicious brownies, bars and cupcakes. Homestyle and decorated cookies baked fresh daily.

18

CURRENT | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | sacurrent.com

food

Downtown Draw?

Fresh approaches to Mexican faves may help newly opened Domingo lure locals as well as tourists

BY NINA RANGEL

O

ne step off the elevator into the cozy lobby of Domingo Restaurante, and it’s clear that the recently opened downtown eatery could easily be written off as a special occasions-only establishment. Or a spot better suited to tourists.

The space on the river level of the Canopy

by Hilton San Antonio Riverwalk hotel plays up the SA vibes with vibrant colors and lavish textures, from the stained concrete floor to the huge Chuck Ramirez prints on the walls.

But Domingo has distinguished itself by acknowledging that some locals don’t want to deal with the hassle of dining downtown.

Perhaps wisely, it offers a locals-only discount to lure residents into its luxurious maw.

Turns out the food, with its fresh, high-quality ingredients and interesting — if not always entirely successful — approaches to Mexican staples, could prove a bigger lure than a markdown of its menu.

An order of the house guacamole arrived quickly, but its texture was different from the usual tableside River Walk tourist pleaser.

No chunks of red onion or tomato here, just simple, creamy avocado, lime and cilantro.

Charred serrano chile provided a subtle, slow burn. The Caesar salad was pleasantly — that is to say, only slightly — fishy, the flavors of anchovy and garlic dressing fresh, crisp romaine lettuce. A generous helping of shaved cheese blanketed the salad like a layer of powdery snow, adding just the right amount of saltiness to the opening course.

Seafood was the ticket for lunch, and the Baja fish tacos and tuna tostada were largely successful on the flavor-meter, even if there were some missteps. Of the two, the fish tacos proved the standout. Generously embellished with the house guac and a Baja sauce reminiscent of spicy mayo, the three small tacos were messy but satisfying. The handmade corn tortillas offered a complex depth of flavor one typically doesn’t find on the banks of the Paseo del Rio, although the tortillas didn’t entirely make up for the fish, which was woefully overcooked. The garnish, vibrant red chili threads, probably didn’t need to be there but were pretty just the same. I still finished the plate, so clearly neither of those slights were dealbreakers.

The tuna tostada, while lovely to look at, was unwieldy to eat. The dish consisted of a

Nina Rangel

tower of two tostadas, loaded with gorgeous sliced raw tuna, avocado, pickled red onions and pickled Fresno chiles. More avocado, cubed tuna and pickled stuff was sandwiched between the fried tortillas. Considering the sheer amount of fresh tuna, the $22 plate delivered bang for its buck. In the end though, it felt too much like an expensive, seafood-forward taco salad, where the only logical approach was to destroy the presentation to build a proper bite.

The cocktail offerings were plenty and varied. I sampled both the Oaxaca Colada and Passionfruit Margarita. The Colada, which features Mezcal, banana liqueur, coconut cream, lime and Angostura bitters, is served up. What hit me first was an ultra-boozy foam that brought the coconut and bitters to center stage. After the first sip, it felt like I was singing my nose hairs every time I exhaled.

Thankfully, a straw allowed me to get past the foam and turned the experience around. I’m not usually one for banana or coconut, but once I figured out how to avoid the foam, the cocktail proved a delightfully balanced, upscale version of that quintessential summer sipper the piña colada.

The Passionfruit Margarita was fairly straightforward, offering tart, tangy tropical flavors via fresh lime juice, orange liqueur, passionfruit syrup and tequila. A frosty, dressed glass completed the journey, which overall, was an enjoyable experience.

Domingo’s River Walk location and menu items such as a Mexican hamburger and fried chicken suggest that even though it’s offering a discount to locals, its primary draw is to tourists. Even so, there’s plenty for locals to latch onto — at least enough to warrant an otherwise uncommon trek downtown.

DOMINGO RESTAURANTE 23 N. St. Mary’s St. | (210) 404-7516 | domingorestaurant.com Hours: Monday-Thursday: breakfast 6:30-10 a.m., lunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m., dinner 5:30-10 p.m.; Friday: breakfast 6:30-10 a.m., lunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; dinner 5:30-11p.m.; Saturday: brunch 6:30 a.m.-3 p.m., dinner 5:30-11 p.m.; Sunday: bunch 6:30 a.m.-3 p.m., dinner 5:30-10 p.m.

Price Range: Lunch dishes from $14-24, dinner entrees cap out at $38 Best Bets: Baja fish tacos, Caesar salad, house guacamole, Passionfruit Margarita The Skinny: We get it, dinner and drinks downtown can be a huge production, when you factor in traffic, parking, reservations and the odd interaction with tourists. Domingo and its expansive river-level patio offer a respite that mostly works by paying homage to puro culture in everything from the atmosphere to the vibrant, fresh fare.

Find more food & drink news at sacurrent.com

Full kitchen and bar menu available Open 7 days a week • Explore our Garden!

Physically Distant.

Socially Connected.

Southtown’s

best kept secret.

1127 S St Mary's St. Sa, TX 78210 EatGoodKind.com

20

CURRENT | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | sacurrent.com

food Corn Gods and Cane Spirits Sampling the corn-based liquors of Mexico gives new twists to old favorites

BY RON BECHTOL

T

here’s a saying used to describe the essence of Mexico: “Sin maiz, no hay pais.”

To be sure, that relationship between corn and country goes back to pre-Columbian days, when the ancient Mayans believed human beings were in fact created from maize. While many consider tortillas the primary conduit for corn in modern Mexico, it turns out you can have your corn and drink it too.

The country produces several maize-derived spirits worthy of exploration.

Twist the top from a cob-shaped bottle of Nixta Licor de Elote and take a deep breath. It’s evocative of masa. Or a freshly made corn tortilla with just a hint of sweetness. Made from Cacahuazintle corn, half fresh and half dried and nixtamalized — or soaked and cooked in limewater — as it would be for masa, the base is macerated in Abasolo Corn Whiskey, which we’ll discuss more later. It’s also blended with water and piloncillo, or unrefined cane sugar.

The result is a liqueur unlike any you will have tasted before.

Sipping Nixta (pronounced “neeshta”) straight has its appeal. However, it’s better used, I think, as a cocktail ingredient — say in place of Cointreau in a Maiz Margarita. The corn is there, to be sure, and its presence turns the party favorite into something deeper, more profound, and more, well, completely Mexican. See the recipe below to give it a try.

The producer claims it’s also good simply poured over ice cream or into coffee. They don’t suggest that spiced café de olla might be an even better companion, but why not give it a try?

Americans are used to corn in whiskey form — think bourbon as the prime example. But rarely is bourbon completely corn-based, and it’s never made from nixtamalized maize.

On the other hand, Abasolo Ancestral Corn Whisky is a mix of nixtamalized and malted Mexican corn that’s double distilled in copper pot stills, then aged in American oak for 24 months. The spirit sips well neat, evoking the chamomile and a touch of honey along with the expected corn.

Try it in a cocktail with Nixta and Cocchi Americano or vermouth blanc in equal parts ratio, and the corn comes out in spades: sweet and earthy all at once. I’d add a squeeze of lemon to tone down the sweetness a tad and even further amp up the corn.

Abasolo isn’t the only corn spirit in Mexico, however, and it’s apparently not the first.

It’s said that Tzotzil Mayans have produced pox (pronounced “posh”) in the cloud-shrouded mountains of Chiapas since at least the 16th century. But its distribution outside the state has only been permitted since 2012. Initially used by native healers for its alleged medicinal and healing properties, one commentator claims that “the liquor acts an entry

Ron Bechtol

point between the material and metaphysical world in indigenous communities and cures both physical and spiritual ailments.” So, if you need an excuse …

In its most primal form, pox is made from sugarcane and fermented corn. Wheat bran sometimes shows up, along with herbs such as rosemary and bay. The only version that seems even moderately available in the U.S. is Pox Siglo Cero. You can find it, along with Nixta and Abasolo, at Alamo City Liquor and behind such bars as Pharm Table in Southtown.

Corn is apparent from the first whiff of Pox Siglo Cero, but it’s balanced by the grassy earthiness of unrefined sugar and the foundational ballast of the wheat. I personally like this one sipped straight, preferably over a large ice cube, but some bartenders suggest subbing it for rum in tiki drinks.

That serving suggestion takes us from the milpas, or cornfields, of Chiapas to the cane plantations of Michoacan and to charanda, a Mexican rum also relatively new to our shores. I leave the tiki drinks to bars, such as the recently opened Hugman’s Oasis on the River Walk, with the atmosphere to support the genre. The ultimate rum test for me is the daiquiri in its purest form. Again, see the recipe below.

The bottle of charanda I used, Uruapan Charanda Blanco, has all the earmarks of sugarcane-based rhum agricole from the French Caribbean, although with a slightly more rustic edge. That quality is apparent in the finished drink. Paranubes, produced in Oaxaca, is another Mexican “rum,” or aguardiente de caña, as it’s known locally, and I haven’t yet tasted it.

But soon.

Summer cocktail season is upon us, and why should margaritas get all the attention?

Maiz Margarita

1½ ounces reposado tequila 1 ounce Nixta ¾ ounce lime juice ¼ ounce agave nectar Pinch of salt Shake ingredients and pour over ice in a glass of your choice.

Charanda Daiquiri

2 ounces charanda ¾ ounce lime juice 1 tsp. sugar Stir the lime and sugar together in a shaker tin until dissolved, add the charanda and ice, shake for 10 seconds or so, strain into a chilled coupe glass.

W

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

OPENINGS Franklin Jack, a new mobile kitchen offering an extensive menu that mixes trademark cuisines from all over the country, is now posted up at Freetail Brewing’s South San Antonio taproom.

El Camino, SA’s newest and most colorful food truck park, is now open at 1009 Ave. B. Willie’s Grill & Icehouse has opened a new family-friendly location in nearby Cibolo.

Burger Boy — the iconic locally based purveyor of award-winning burgers, milkshakes and crinkle-cut fries — has opened its fourth location at 151 W. Bitters Road.

Three Star Bar, a new spot from cocktail guru Jeret Peña and chef Josh Calderon, will begin serving deli-style fare and high-quality whiskeys in the Government Hill area this July.

Texas chain P. Terry’s Burger Stand will open its first San Antonio location this summer.

Sichuan House owner Kristina Zhao will open a new Chinese restaurant, Dashi Sichuan Kitchen & Bar, in north central San Antonio this summer.

Nationally lauded Caribbean-inspired restaurant the Jerk Shack will open its third brick-and-mortar location next summer in downtown’s redeveloped Hemisfair district.

NEWS Online review site Yelp integrated a new search filter to make it easier to find LGBTQ-owned businesses via the platform.

Jesse Kuykendall, the chef behind Hotel Havana’s Ocho restaurant and newly opened Milpa, won Food Network’s Chopped, bringing home a $10,000 cash prize.

Tickets to Saint City Culinary Foundation’s second annual Awkward Prom are on sale now. The June 24 event will raise money for mental health resources for food service workers.

San Antonio Asian eatery House of Má temporarily closed over ‘internal disagreement,’ according to a joint statement released by owner Chris Hill and operating partners Eric Treviño and Luis Singh. sacurrent.com | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | CURRENT

21

Honky Tonk Heart Exploring San Antonio’s country music history, from Red River Dave to the Lonesome Rose

By Bill Baird

C

ountry music, as a genuine subculture — as opposed to a Nashville-created product — is intimately tied to the Alamo City.

The music’s roots run deep in San Antonio, all the way back to the Czech-German dance bands of the late 19th century. To be sure, a staggering number of the greats have called our city home: Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Johnny Bush, Adolf Hofner and Ernest Tubb, to name a few.

“The history of country music in San Antonio is pretty much the history of country music,” said retired Express-News music columnist Jim Beal Jr. That solid foundation has allowed country music, in its original form and its many offshoots, to thrive here.

The recent opening of the Lonesome Rose, for example, and the international success of modern-day cosmic cowboy Garrett T. Capps attest to the enduring appeal of the genre — and to SA’s central place in it.

To understand the significance of San Antonio in the development of country music, it helps to examine the genre’s origins. Though later lumped together, country and Western originated as two distinct genres, with country representing a cleaner, commercial version of Appalachian folk, while Western music took in a wider variety of influences. Alan Lomax documented the form in his 1910 book Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads.

Western music, also called cowboy music and Texas music, fused many influences — including country, blues, jazz and conjunto — into a new form, and that diversity is its most salient feature. As a crossroads city, San Antonio has always effortlessly combined musical forms. Of particular relevance, and easy to forget when surveying modern country, is cowboy music’s Mexican influence. And, of course, there were other shaping factors.

“Why is country music so strong in San Antonio? Well, our city has had a lot of country songs written about it, for starters,” said Hank Harrison, a bluegrass bandleader and host of the KSYM show “Hillbilly Hit Parade.”

“You’ve also got a great bunch of fans here. People here know how to dance. Plus, the military presence created military jazz bands, and those jazz players feed into every scene and make everything better.”

Royal lineage “Red River” Dave McEnery was one of the city’s earliest cowboy song heroes. After attending Brackenridge High School, McEnery rode the rails around the country and earned money as migrant worker and traveling singer.

His biggest hit, “Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight,” was also the first commercial country music TV broadcast, performed live at the 1939 World’s Fair. In one memorable stunt, the legendarily prolific McEnery was handcuffed to a piano at local radio station WOAI, where he wrote 22

CURRENT | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | sacurrent.com

52 songs in an eight-hour period.

In addition to writing the fascinating and still-relevant tune “Shame is the Middle Name of Exxon,” he penned the dark and bizarre ballad “The California Hippy Murders” about the Manson Family. McEnery also starred in films and hosted radio programs on WOAI and the legendary XERA/XERF, a 185,000-watt “border blast” radio station broadcasting from Acuna, Mexico.

Station owner Dr. John Romulus Brinkley lost his American radio license after grafting goat testicles into the genitalia of middle-aged men eager to reclaim their youthful virility. The power of the goat testes may have been phony, but it earned the physician real money. He pumped his millions into the station that became known as the X, which reached millions of American homes and made the Carter Family into country music’s first superstars. Indeed, the revered musical family lived in San Antonio to be in closer proximity to the station, where they performed twice weekly.

Country icon Johnny Cash later married June Carter of the group. But that’s not his only SA connection. The iconic singer-songwriter was stationed at Lackland and Brooks AFBs in 1950. While here, Cash met Vivian Liberto, his first wife, although his drug use and infidelity led to a 1966 divorce.

Jimmie Rodgers, often called the father of country music, also found his way to San Antonio.

Rodgers was known for elevating so-called “hillbilly” music by fusing it with elements of jazz and blues. His railman persona and songs captured the imagination of America, making him the first person inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

As Rodgers finished his career as a resident of Alamo Heights, Ernest Tubb was just starting. In the ’40s and ’50s, Tubb’s tailored suits and ten-gallon hats helped elevate the genre’s hillbilly image, while his use of electric guitars helped define Texas honky tonk.

As a teen, Tubb worked as a San Antonio soda jerk, taught himself the guitar and landed an unpaid job at local radio station KONO. He rode his bicycle to the station, guitar strapped across his back, for live performances.

Rodgers’ widow heard those broadcasts. She took him under her wing and guided him towards stardom.

Later, he returned the favor for other young performers, including Hank Williams and Loretta Lynn.

Bandleaders and songwriters Equally important to San Antonio’s evolution into a country music mecca was Adolf Hofner, a renowned bandleader who, alongside Bob Wills and Milton Brown,

popularized Western swing. Born to Czech and German immigrant parents, Hofner sang songs in Czech and recorded for the legendary Okeh label. He was later sponsored by Pearl beer, after whom he named his band, the Pearl Wranglers.

Even the Texas Top Hands, Texas’ oldest continuously performing band, started in San Antonio. The group, founded in 1941, still gigs to this day, proudly carrying the torch for the Western swing subgenre. Its tour bus sat parked at Austin’s Broken Spoke for decades.

The Top Hands performed at the first San Antonio Rodeo and eventually became Hank Williams’ backing band on his fateful last tour. After playing San Antonio venue The Barn, Williams, then sick and drunk, played his final show at Austin’s Skyline Club.

The Top Hands aren’t Williams’ sole San Antonio connection. The country legend’s signature song “Lost Highway” was penned by Leon Payne, a San Antonio resident known as “the Blind Balladeer.” Payne wrote songs covered by Elvis Presley, Dean Martin and George Jones, and his “I Love You Because” and “You’ve Still Got a Place in My

Heart” transcended the country genre to become entries into the Great American Songbook.

San Antonio singer Johnny Bush’s signature tune “Whiskey River” went on to become the “anthem of Texas country.” After a stint in the Texas Top Hands, Bush ended up in Ray Price’s band with future giants Darrell McCall and Willie Nelson, the latter of whom covered the tune and helped make it iconic.

Though not originally from the Alamo City, Bush moved here in 1952 and dove headfirst into the roughand-tumble dancehall scene with a regular gig at the Texas Star Inn on Bandera Road.

“You had to do the standards that filled the dance floor ... back in those days, you had to keep the music going, because if you didn’t, they’d fight,” Bush said in 2002.

Dancehall days In the music’s heyday, Texas’ innumerable dancehalls helped foster the burgeoning country scene. Those venues became the petri dish from which the culture grew.

Dozens of dancehalls dotted San Antonio during those early days. Weekend partiers could trek across town, heading from the Farmer’s Daughter on W.W. White Road to Randy’s Rodeo on Bandera Road to the Texas Star Inn, also on Bandera, to Floore’s Country Store in Helotes and end up in Bandera at Arkey Blue’s Silver Dollar, the state’s oldest continuously operating honky tonk.

“In country music, the way you tell if you’re going over is if the dancefloor is full,” music writer Beal said. “The Farmer’s Daughter, that was hardcore Bob Wills-type

music

stuff. It was my favorite spot. The dancing was incredible there, and it was all ages.

It was a family thing.”

The dancehall period was widely considered a golden era for country music, helping make it “America’s music.”

The records also grew in popularity due to the Nashville sound, pioneered by Chet Atkins and others, which used strings and choirs to create a lush backdrop for singers. As country songs became more profitable, it also be-

came smoother and more polished, sounding more like pop and less like the genre’s roots.

But not for long. And that brings us back to San Antonio.

The outlaw sound

Eager to escape that slick sound, Nashville songwriter Willie Nelson moved to a ranch near Bandera and started a weekly residency at Floore’s Country Store. The Texas native’s return and his several-year stint at Floore’s culminated in his legendary 1972 Dripping Springs Reunion and the following year’s Fourth of July picnic, a blast that unofficially launched the progressive country movement, later known as outlaw country.

That scene created a constellation of stars: Jerry Jeff Walker, B.W. Stevenson, Michael Martin Murphey, Willis Alan Ramsay and Waylon Jennings. Their music was still country, but with less polish, less production and a lot more attitude.

Venues popped up all across San Antonio catering to the new music. During the 1970s, the city gave rise to the Bijou, the Golden Stallion, the Bits and Pieces and the Longneck, part-owned by San Antonio music legend Augie Meyers.

And there to document it all was legendary SA journalist Sam Kindrick, whose Action Magazine, launched in 1975, became a chief documenter of the emerging outlaw scene. His humor and attitude have both charmed and vexed readers and adversaries for decades.

“Sam Kindrick has done more than any single person over the last 60 years to document music and entertainment in San

Sam Kindrick Collection, The Wittliff Collections

Antonio,” Joe Nick Patoski, the dean of Texas music journalism, said in an article published by Texas State University’s Wittliff Collections.

Originally an Express-News columnist, Kindrick was fired for drunkenness and consorting with “undesirable types.” Among these undesirables was his close friend Willie Nelson.

“First time I met Willie, he was smoking dope under a mesquite tree

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.

VOTE NOW FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALISTS NOW!

24

CURRENT | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | sacurrent.com

music

out at Floore’s,” Kindrick recalls. “He later played me a cassette of the Red Headed Stranger before its release. I told him I didn’t think it’d catch on.”

Kendrick went on to emcee two of Willie Nelson’s legendary Fourth of July picnics, and started Action Magazine at the singer’s urging. The entertainment newspaper’s guest contributors included one who went by “Biscuit Wheels” and another writing from the Bexar County jail simply known as “Doc.” Kendrick credits the Medellin family and their San Antonio Press for carrying him through several rough patches.

abuse himself. His cocaine use and that of Nelson’s road crew reached such proportions that it became grounds for termination. “If you’re wired, you’re fired,” read signs posted on the singer’s tour bus.

Excess ultimately caught up with Kindrick, and he served time in jail. His arrest, splashed across the front pages of SA newspapers, proved to be the wake-up call he needed.

That hippy folk scene gave rise to some of the era’s great country songwriters, and while still a teenager, San Antonio’s Will Beeley was there to witness it all.

“There was a coffeehouse downtown called the Gatehouse. Another spot by San Antonio College called Doogie’s,” Beely said. “I was 15 and not allowed in, but I’d sneak in the back door, and I saw some amazing folks: Townes Van Zandt, Bill Moss, Don Sanders, Rex Foster, Cassell Webb, Marylou Weaver. Such amazing talent. I got to be the guy who’d play

Piece of the Action “ “Action wasn’t a music magazine,” Kindrick said. “It just covered the outsized personalities all around me.”

Beyond Nelson, Ramsay and Bush, those included David Alan Coe, Leon Russell, Spanky McFarlane and innumerable greats.

Though ostensibly a chronicler of outsized personalities, few were larger than Kindrick himself.

His stories are voluminous and hilarious, like the time he finagled a role in Steven Spielberg’s first film The Sugarland Express, shot in the San Antonio area during the early ’70s. “Goldie Hawn was a complete pothead,” Kindrick said.

Another time, Kindrick lured Jimmy Buffet to San Antonio honky tonk The Longneck.

“I told him, ‘I’ll give you $500 and all the coke you can snort.’ And he came down and played,” the journalist recalls.

“Packed the joint.”

Kindrick was no stranger to substance

country and hippie folk.

“The country people called us hippies,” he said. “That changed in the late ’70s, going in to the ’80s.”

Steve Earle, an eventual pioneer of the Americana scene, was also a character from the Gatehouse and a close friend to Beeley. Now one of the genre’s top acts, Earle learned his craft in San Antonio folk clubs as a teenager. He also got involved in the anti-war movement, performing Country Joe’s “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-toDie Rag” on a flatbed truck during a demonstration in front of the Alamo.

“My dad, who’s an air traffic controller and worked for the government, got in trouble,” Earle recalled in a 2019 interview with Beeley.

Roots outliers

“I’ve been sober since 1989,” said Kindrick, now 82 and still sharp as a tack.

Rocking the country As progressive country took hold, a parallel strain of roots music emerged from the rock scene and hippie subculture. The psychedelic scene induced a whiplash counterreaction from hippies burnt out on light shows, paisley and feigned interest in the sitar.

Inspired by the Band’s Music from Big Pink and the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, hip kids embraced stripped-down music that embraced its American roots.

Mixcloud playlist visit this link: BIT.LY/3FQSI3R

WILLIE NELSON - GOOD HEARTED WOMAN (LIVE AT FLOORE’S COUNTRY STORE)

GEORGE CHAMBERS - DIM LIGHTS, THICK SMOKE AND LOUD MUSIC DOUG SAHM - BE REAL LEON PAYNE - I LOVE YOU BECAUSE ADOLF HOFNER AND HIS SAN ANTONIANS - SOUTH TEXAS SWING

three songs between the acts. I learned a lot.”

Beeley recorded two classic alt-country albums — Gallivantin’ Gallivantin’ and Passing Dream — in the ’70s, but by the ’80s, frustrated by lack of success, he became a long-haul truck driver.

The albums were too good to languish in obscurity though, and eventually were reissued by the influential Tompkins Square record label. Beeley has since experienced a rediscovery. He was an outlier for what would later be called “Americana,” a melding of progressive

MOTHER MAYBELLE CARTER - WILDWOOD FLOWER JOHNNY BUSH - GREEN SNAKES ON THE CEILING ADOLF HOFNER AND THE PEARL WRANGLERS - I GET SO LONESOME (SINCE YOU’RE GONE) SLIM ROBERTS - LONESOME OLD WORLD TEXAS TOP HANDS - YOU’RE KILLIN ME ADOLF HOFNER - SHINER SONG (FAREWELL TO PRAGUE) JIMMIE RODGERS - T FOR TEXAS LEON PAYNE - LOST HIGHWAY ERNEST TUBB - DRIVIN NAILS IN MY COFFIN CHARLEY PRIDE - IS ANYBODY GOIN TO SAN ANTONE MOE BANDY - I JUST STARTED HATING CHEATING SONGS TODAY

Earle wasn’t the only Americana outlier to emerge from San Antonio’s music scene.

As a member of the ’60s psych group the Children, Cassell Webb recorded the lost psych classic Rebirth but went on to become a female voice in the emerging outsider country scene. Her shortlived project with Red Crayola frontman Mayo Thompson called Saddlesore produced one essential single “Old Tom Clark” in 1970, which was rereleased in 1994 by Chicago’s influential Drag City label.

Subsequently, Webb performed with Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie Nelson and B.W. Stevenson, before marrying renowned punk producer Craig Leon, whose credits include the Ramones, Blondie and Suicide. She reunited the Sir Douglas Quintet for their 1981 album Border Wave, produced albums by legendary English post-punks The Fall and continued to record on her own.

REX FOSTER - IN THE SPRING TEXAS TOPHANDS - YOU CAN’T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO GARRETT T. CAPPS - SUNDAY SUN JOHNNY BUSH - WHISKEY RIVER AUGIE MEYERS - MEMORIES (LIVE AT THE LONGNECK) BLAZE FOLEY - CLAY PIGEONS WILL BEELEY - SAILING WITH YOU SADDLESORE (FEAT. CASSELL WEBB) - OLD TOM CLARK STEVE EARLE - THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT THE LAST BANDOLEROS – WHERE DO YOU GO? sacurrent.com | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | CURRENT

25

improvtx.com/sanantonio | 618 Nw Loop 410, SaN ANTONIO, TX 78216 | 210•541•8805

26

JUN 3 JUN 5

JUN 6

JUN 9

JUN 10 - JUN 12

JUN 13

JUN 18 - JUN 19

Bryan Callen

Bob Saget

Edgar Vivar:

Tim Dillon

Comics of Cobra Kai

Brad Williams

CURRENT | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | sacurrent.com

El Señor Barriga y Ñoño En Vivo

Dan Ahdoot & Bret Ernst

music Like Webb, Gatehouse regular Rex Foster connected the counterculture to the emerging roots movement. The musician joined the legendary traveling concert-turned-film The Medicine Ball Caravan — touted as “Woodstock on Wheels” — then settling in France to record the album Roads of Tomorrow, a lost precursor to the alt-country movement.

The fabled Blaze Foley grew up in San Antonio under his real name, Michael David Fuller, and performed gospel tunes with his family. After living on a Tennessee commune, he returned to Texas with a new moniker and a head full of wonderfully evocative songs that continue to influence artists today.

Then of course there’s Doug Sahm, whom the New York Times dubbed the “patriarch of Texas rock and country music.” The San Antonio native played steel guitar with Hank Williams and was offered a spot on the Grand Ole Opry at age 13, although his mother declined on his behalf. He even learned fiddle from J. R. Chatwell, a member of Adolf Hofner’s band.

Sahm eventually left for the San Francisco scene after a 1966 drug bust. While there, he charted a Billboard hit with “Mendocino” and graced the cover of Rolling Stone twice. His eventual return to San Antonio didn’t last long, however. He was reportedly beaten up by Balcones Heights policemen displeased with his California license plate.

Sahm left for Austin soon thereafter.

Commercial turn By the time the ’70s closed out, however, country music changed, becoming more commercial. That focus on accessibility over authenticity increased with each subsequent decade.

“We old timers ... we got irate when we heard the shit they started putting out. It became pop,” Action’s Kindrick said. “Garth Brooks should’ve been hung by his heels. Him and Chris Gaines. Not that I feel that strongly about it.”

Texas’ dancehall culture, while still present, faded as time wore on. Its undoing?

“Netflix,” said SA bandleader Geronimo Trevino III, the author of Dance Halls and Last Calls, an indispensable book on the era. “Also, natural disasters, tornadoes, and even foul play.”

More than anything, though, stringent drunk driving laws ended the phenomenon, Trevino explained.

“Folks got scared to take a chance out on the highway,” he said. “Back in the old days, that was less of a concern.

And the old dance halls, folks brought their kids, no problem. It was a family event. But now you can’t really do that as much. It’s stricter with the kids being around alcohol.”

Despite the dearth of dancehalls, the music lives on. Some of the older venues remain and real-deal country continues to expand and thrive, observers say.

“Everybody always talks about the good old days,” Kindrick muses. “Today will be the good old days to somebody, someday. ‘I remember when,’ they’ll say. It’s all just ... evolving.”

To his point, Floore’s Country Store has continued to bring in the crowds by expanding their booking from strictly country to all things Americana.

“It remains vital. It’s the same kind of thing, it’s just they’re booking music of now, not the music of the ’40s,” former Express-News writer Beal said.

Indeed, Americana has emerged as a thriving genre nationwide, with recent converts including Robert Plant, the famed Led Zeppelin singer.

San Antonio Rose Meanwhile, St. Mary’s Strip honky tonk the Lonesome Rose has brought live country and roots music back to the city center. Venue co-owner Garrett T. Capps, a performer who’s emerged as a formidable country ambassador, explained the appeal.

“I would like to think that we’re picking up a legacy,” he said. “Our dream for this place is, when you open the door, it’s this hotbox of energy with folks dancing.”

Of course, recent spillover from Austin hasn’t hurt. The rising costs of living in the city once branded the “Live Music Capital of the World” has driven out performers who can no longer afford to call it home.

“They’ve obviously overshadowed us in the alt-country world, but things have been changing recently,” Capps added. “It’s hard to find a working-class musician who lives there anymore. It’s too expensive.”

Larger venues like Cowboys Dancehall and even the AT&T Center cater to the more polished commercial country sound, and of course San Antonio still lays claim to country mega-star George Strait, but even the country genre itself seems to be experiencing an upheaval with the genre-bending moves of rapper Lil Nas X. “Commercial country does well here, and it fills the AT&T Center, but nobody dances in there,” Beal says.

“Everybody’s sitting and listening. But there are dancehalls that are still kicking, and dancing is still a crucial part of it.”

Martinez Hall, for example, still provides the same program as it did nearly 100 years ago, the music writer points out. And it still makes folks dance.

“They book Czech and Polish bands and then country two-step,” Beal added. “The same kind of stuff Adolf Hofner was doing.”

To be sure, plenty of San Antonio artists are still holding down the old way. Foremost of those might be Billy Mata and the Texas Tradition, a heritage-minded band that’s racked up awards from the Academy of Western Artists and praise from old-school honky tonkers and the press alike.

But for some, it’s exciting to see bands coming up in San Antonio that can write new chapters for the music while avoiding mass-produced Nashville sheen.

The Last Bandoleros, for example, are reclaiming the genre’s aforementioned Hispanic roots. Currently signed to Warner Nashville, the band toured with Sting and were praised by Rolling Stone as 2018’s “most important new country band.”

The act’s fusion of country, rock and conjunto may be what brings the story full circle.

“You never know when something else is gonna come out,” Action Magazine’s Kindrick. “You never know when somebody is gonna come out and revolutionize the whole thing. There may be another Willie Nelson out there, in another form, with another twist on the music.”

George Chambers backed touring stars and lost band members to them too

BY BILL BAIRD

S

an Antonio singer-guitarist George Chambers played his first gig at Floore’s Country Store in 1952 and hasn’t stopped since.

“I’ve been doing this since I was 13 years old ... and I’m 150 now,” laughs Chambers, who may be the greatest unsung hero of the city’s country music scene. “We all make the mistake of getting old, but you just keep going.”

Also notable, Chambers’ band the Country Gentleman became a hotbed for regional talent moving on to bigger stages. His sidemen David Zettner and Bee Spears were hired away by Willie Nelson, while Preston Buchanan took a job with Charlie Pride.

“That was a big compliment, to have somebody of that stature, in that place, to hire somebody from our place,” Chambers said.

Besides playing his own songs, Chambers made a name for himself leading backup bands for touring Nashville stars during the era when hitmakers often toured alone.

For eight years, Chambers performed with every star who played Bandera’s Cabaret Club until its 1968 closure. He singles out stints with George Jones and Loretta Lynn as highlights and also fondly recalls his work with Willie Nelson, who recruited the Country Gentlemen not just to back him up in Texas but for stints in Vegas and Nashville.

“Willie Nelson was really good to us. He took us under his wing,” Chambers said.

During that time, Chambers made his living as a physics teacher at Holmes High School, having substitutes fill in while his band did road gigs. Americana great Steve Earle was among his students.

“He sent me a song a couple years ago, one he wrote in 1974 called ‘Singing Them Songs About Mexico’ and said, ‘Why don’t you and Johnny Bush record that so I can play it on my Sirius XM radio show?’” Chambers said. “‘They don’t know how to do conjunto in Nashville.’”

Chambers gathered his group and recorded it live in one take, alongside SA greats Harvey Kagan and Ron Knuth.

Though he never became an international star like some of the artists he played behind, Chambers has no regrets.

“We never wanted to be stars, we just wanted to go play,” he said. “We made people happy, playing dances for years and years and years. I still have my tour bus parked in my yard. Interested in buying it?”

Sam Kindrick

sacurrent.com | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | CURRENT

27

CENTRAL CATHOLIC Saturday, June 19, 2021 5pm-11pm

Central Catholic High School 1403 N St. Mary’s St. 78215

Event Chairs: Johnny and Priscilla Gonzaba Event Co-Chairs: Joe and Erma Garcia For Sponsorships, Tickets & More Information: www.ccfangdango.org 28

CURRENT | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | sacurrent.com

music | listings The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Despite sporting a band name that sounds like the title for a Guided by Voices outtake, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus is fully committed to a classic emo sound and a Christian message. Hailing from Middleburg, Florida, a locale that sounds perfect for the title of a punk rock tune, the scene veterans have logged 16 years on the road. Their most recent release is 2018’s The Awakening. #FloridaMan jokes optional. $17, 7 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — MIKE MCMAHAN

The Texas Gentlemen

The Dallas-based Texas Gentlemen started life as a backing band but decided it was time for a change.

After switched gears, they evolved into a funk- and blues-infused country act that also incorporates the Southern rock of the ‘70s and psychedelic vibes of the ‘60s. They may have you reaching for your wellworn copy of the Dazed and Confused soundtrack. $15-50, 8 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — BRIANNA ESPINOZA

Friday, June 4 High Desert Queen + The Cinderleaf, King Country + Hotel Diplomat

This packed bill looks like a solid way to get your First Friday rock on. High Desert Queen’s name does some heavy lifting, as it’s not just a moniker, but also a description of the Austin group’s self-styled “desert/ stoner rock.” The Cinderleaf’s brand of hard-hitting but poppy rock is well-known to San Antonio residents, since the beloved band has been bringing its Neil Diamond-indebted noise for north of 20 years. Free, 7 p.m., Amp Room, 2407 N St Mary’s St., (210) 320-2122, theamproom.com. — MM

Larry Joe Taylor at Gruene Hall

If the “kitchen sink” approach to Americana is appealing, you may already know Larry Joe Taylor. He cites more obvious influences like Gary P. Nunn alongside more surprising artists such as the Doors. Taylor has hosted his gigantic namesake festival for more than 30 years, and it’s a sign of his reach that artists including Jerry Jeff Walker have covered his tunes. 7 p.m., $10, Gruene Hall, 1281 Gruene Road, New Braunfels, (830) 606-1281, gruenehall.com. — MM

Saturday, June 5 Wade Bowen

Texas country artist Wade Bowen has racked up an impressive following despite forgoing major record label backing. To stay busy during the pandemic, the singer continues to release live shows and storytelling segments with other prominent Texas musicians through his web series Wade’s World. $23-48, 8 p.m., Whitewater Amphitheater, 11860 FM306 Suite 1, New Braunfels, (830) 964-3800, whitewaterrocks. com. — BE

Sunday, June 6 Travis Tritt

Part-time country music legend, part-time actor and full-time pro-Second Amendment Republican who’s tried to discredit the Black Lives Matter movement, some might call Travis Tritt a triple threat. Apparently, he’s Southern rocking his way back to New Braunfels where he can perform the same songs that made him famous in the ‘90s. $33-78, 8 p.m., Whitewater Amphitheater, 11860 FM306 Suite 1, New Braunfels, (830) 964-3800, whitewaterrocks.com. — BE

Tuesday, June 8 Dirty Honey

A relative newcomer, LA’s Dirty Honey released its self-titled debut EP in 2019. Its single “When I’m Gone” topped Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart, an achievement all the more impressive given that they were the first unsigned band to do so. The group, with a name inspired by Robert Plant’s throwback solo band the Honeydrippers, has landed high-profile gigs opening for Guns ’N Roses and the Who. $20-25, 7

p.m., Rock Box, 1223 E. Houston St., (210) 255-3833, therockboxsa.com. — MM

Thursday, June 10 Tiesto

Tiesto is a man who needs no introduction to EDM fans. The Netherlands-born superstar has accomplished multiple feats during his lengthy career, including being the first solo DJ to play a stadium and pioneering a series of one-man, six-hour DJ appearances. Tiesto, who has also appeared at the Olympics, dropped his most recent album The London Sessions in 2020. If you want to get out and dance in a crowd, this may be the choice for you, particularly given Cowboys’ recent history of really packing ’em in.

Ah, but we kid. $43, 9 p.m., Cowboys Dancehall, 3030 NE Loop 410, (210) 646-9378, cowboysdancehall. com. — MM

Beginning June 1, 2021, appointments can be made for the following services only: Exemptions Appointment of Agent Ownership or Address Changes Appointments must be made in advance. Unscheduled visitors will not be permitted entry to the building.

Safety measures and social distancing will be in place inside and outside the building.

Contact 210-242-2432 or cs@bcad.org for additional information.

Scan the QR Code or visit https://booking.appointy.com/bcad to schedule an appointment.

Friday, June 11 Psycho 78 + Blood and Tears + More

Want to hear Misfits tunes without the guilt of paying to see the Misfits? Well tribute band Psycho 78 will take care of all your horror punk needs. Added bonus: they’ll be performing with Danzig tribute band Blood and Tears, whom you can take in without having to worry about hearing Danzig describe the idea for his next movie. 7 p.m., The Rock Box, 1223 E. Houston St., (210) 677-9453, therockboxsa.com. — BE

Carolina Story

Husband-wife duo Carolina Story, who specialize in a sound on the acoustic side of Americana, are making a San Antonio stop during their post-COVID return to touring. There will even be Bob Dylan-style harmonica-plus-acoustic guitar double trouble. Free, 6 p.m., The Rustic, 17619 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 204, (210) 245-7500, therustic.com. — BE

Aaron Lewis at John T. Floore’s Country Store

Have you ever asked yourself, “What can I do to help make America a racist shithole again?” If so, attending this show may be a step in that direction. Staind vocalist Lewis has somehow managed the difficult task of lowering the quality of his musical output by embracing not just commercial country but also flavoring his live shows with stage banter steeped in the modern strain of racist and nationalistic “patriotism.” If this sounds appealing, well, you do you. 7 p.m., $35-150, John T. Floore’s Country Store, 14492 Old Bandera Road, (210) 695-8827, liveatfloores.com. — MM

Saturday, June 12 Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears

VOTE NOW FOR YOUR FAVORITE FINALISTS NOW!

!

YOUR

!

Thursday, June 3

MOVE

Building on the worthy influences of James Brown and Howlin’ Wolf, Black Joe Lewis busts out a vintage sound steeped in soul, blues and rock ‘n’ roll. The Austin-based artist’s rep keeps building well beyond that city, which explains why he and his band have played so many music festivals over the years. $22$200, 9 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — BE

Intocable

Known all around the region for their innovative approach to Tejano and norteño sounds, Tex-Mex royalty Intocable return to Cowboys Dancehall for a grito-filled night. Let’s hope the venue stays at capacity this time. $50-1,000, 7 p.m., Cowboys Dance Hall, 3030 NE Loop 410, (210) 646-9378, cowboysdancehall.com. — BE

Murali Coryell at Gruene Hall

The son of guitar maestro Larry Coryell has been successful in his own right, having been inducted into the New York State Blues Hall of Fame. His style encompasses a wide range of sounds not limited to blues but also including soul, jazz and Latin music.

He grew up around icons including Carlos Santana and Miles Davis in addition to opening for blues-rock heavyweights such as Gregg Allman and George Thorogood. Free, 1 p.m., Gruene Hall, 1281 Gruene Road, New Braunfels, (830) 606-1281, gruenehall. com. — MM

The Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (AAMPO) plans for and guides federal transportation investments for the Counties of Bexar, Comal and Guadalupe and part of Kendall County.

Public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability or family status. To arrange for translation services or assistance due to disability (free of charge), please contact the MPO at aampo@alamoareampo.org or (210) 227-8651 (or Relay Texas at 71-1) at least five working days in advance.

The TIP development process is being used to satisfy the public hearing requirements of FTA’s Section 5307 program and this notice and associated review period will satisfy FTA’s Program of Projects requirements.

sacurrent.com | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | CURRENT

29

E M P LOY M E N T Senior Software Development Engineer in Test Elasticsearch, Inc. is seeking the following job in San Antonio, TX (telecommuting available anywhere in U.S).: Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (SSDE-SA-04): Developing/running/debugging automated tests; analyzing test results, troubleshooting errors, & reporting defects. Bachelor's + 5 yrs exp. Please submit resumes to Elasticsearch, ATTN: HR (SSDE-SA-04), 800 West El Camino Real, Suite 350, Mountain View, CA 94040,

referencing job title.

Elasticsearch is an EOE.

30

CURRENT | June 2 – June 15, 2021 | sacurrent.com

S ET T K U C TI O P D VI O L S

AU G U ST 20, 202 1 WI T T E M U S E U M TICKETS AT SAWHISKEYBUSINESS .COM

Hosted By

Celebrating Dad. Beer. Food. Music. Better Health.

SPECIAL PINTS FOR PROSTATES BEER!

SUNDAY, JUNE 20 11AM-9PM | FREE ADMISSION LIVE MUSIC BY TWO TONS OF STEEL

FREE PSA TESTING! SPONSORED BY:

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

ALAMO BEER COMPANY | 202 LAMAR ST. SAN ANTONIO, TX | ALAMOBEER.COM