San Antonio Current — August 25, 2021

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in this issue Issue 21-17 /// August 25 – September 7, 2021

Hickoids

Music Listings

San Antonio Current

Editor-in-Chief: Sanford Nowlin General Manager: Chelsea Bourque

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

Marketing and Events

Marketing and Events Director: Cassandra Yardeni Events Manager: Chelsea Bourque Account Manager: Nathan Sokul Account Executive: Marian Galvan Marketing Interns: Julia Bentley Social Media Content Creator: Meradith Garcia

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Circulation

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Shutterstock

10 Feature

Battling the Infodemic

As online disinformation snowballs, how do we avoid being crushed?

09 News

The Opener News in Brief

14 Calendar Calendar Picks

18 Arts

Back in the Saddle

Beloved local designer Agosto Cuellar returns to retail with new Blue Star boutique

Newcomers Guide

Deep Culture: If you’re new to San Antonio, these locations and events can get you off the River Walk

Eat your way through San Antonio’s food culture

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San Antonio-tied talent from Robert Rodriguez to Henry Thomas are involved in a slew of movie deals

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Southerleigh Haute South succeeds with new, if caloric, spins on regional comfort food

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Soul Survivor

Tia Rodriguez of Urban Soul Market is winning converts to her vegan concept

Hot Dish

30 Music

Touring in the Time of COVID

Rejoining humanity on the road with

O

n the Cover: This week’s cover story addresses the crushing amount of online disinformation about the pandemic and vaccines. Design by Samantha Serna.

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H

Indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking Texans to snitch on local officials who institute mask mandates to slow the spread of COVID-19. In a tweet last Thursday, Paxton’s office encouraged people to email a dedicated account to report such cases. So far, more than 70 local entities, urban and rural, have imposed mask mandates of some kind in defiance of Gov. Greg Abbott’s order barring them from doing so.

H

With COVID-19 cases surging in Texas, Austin’s marquee ACL Festival will require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test from within the last three days for entry. The festival, which draws an average of 75,000 attendees per day, will take place over the first two weekends in October at Zilker Park after being cancelled last year. George Strait, Billie Eilish, Phoebe Bridgers, and Tyler, The Creator are among those set to perform.

H

An appeals court last week ruled that Texas can ban the use of a common abortion procedure in the second trimester, a major setback for reproductive rights advocates in a case that’s now likely to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. “This ban is about cutting off abortion access, and nothing else,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole Woman’s Health. “It should never be a crime for doctors to… follow the most current science.”

Gov. Abbott suffered another COVID-related setback last Monday when a Bexar County judge ruled that the county and the city of San Antonio can, for the moment, implement a mask mandate despite Abbott’s order preventing Texas municipalities from doing so. Judge Antonia Arteaga wrote that local officials met their burden of proof and that her thoughts are with children who are being forced to attend school in person but are unable to access vaccines. — Abe Asher

YOU SAID IT!

“Quickly getting access to monoclonal antibody therapy when you’re the fully vaccinated, asymptomatic Governor of Texas shows just how anxious and scared [Gov. Greg Abbott] actually is of a virus that he constantly downplays. Hope Texans take note.”

news

That Rocks/That Sucks

Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons

ASSCLOWN ALERT

Sen. John Cornyn’s Reefer Madness Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

Don’t expect U.S. Sen. John Cornyn to be swayed as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer works to build support for marijuana legalization in the upper chamber.

NORML recently shared a letter Cornyn sent a constituent who asked him about marijuana policy, and in that reply, the Texas Republican said he won’t vote to legalize cannabis because he’s worried about … get this … overdose deaths.

Cornyn, who chairs the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, points out that between 1999 and 2020, nearly a million U.S. residents died of drug overdoses. He added: “Reasonable minds can disagree, but I am

Gov. Greg Abbott, he of the orders banning mask mandates and vaccination checks, tested positive for COVID-19 last week and received Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment despite reportedly not experiencing any symptoms. The governor had not only been vaccinated, but had also received a third, booster shot of the vaccine, according to reports.

— Dr. Vin Gupta,

Lung doctor and emergency room physician via Twitter Facebook / Paris ISD

concerned that marijuana legalization could make this epidemic worse. I am committed to working with my colleagues to end the opioid epidemic and save lives.”

If you know much of anything about the devil’s lettuce, you have likely picked up on a couple problems with Cornyn’s argument.

First, while it’s possible to consume too much THC and feel kinda weird from it, people don’t die from huffing down too many bong hits. Experts are split whether it’s completely impossible for an adult to consume enough marijuana to have fatal marijuana overdose or just damned near impossible.

Second, marijuana isn’t an opioid. Which is kind of something we expect the guy who chairs the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control to know. Even if Cornyn didn’t intend to label pot an opioid in that quote, it certainly looks like he was willing to rhetorically blur the lines to uphold the status quo.

Looks like Schumer will have to press on with cannabis reform without the help of a certain assclown who once billed himself as “Big Bad John.” — Sanford Nowlin

A Northeast Texas school district last week found a loophole to get around Gov. Abbott’s order banning schools from issuing mask mandates: including the requirement as part of its dress code. “Nothing in the Governor’s Executive Order 38 states he has suspended Chapter 11 of the Texas Education Code, and therefore the Board has elected to amend its dress code consistent with its statutory authority,” the Paris Independent School District wrote in a statement.

A Texas appeals court last week ruled that smokable hemp products can be sold legally in the state — so long as they aren’t produced here. The ruling is the latest in an ongoing fight between four Texas hemp makers and the Texas Department of State Health Services, which banned the sale of smokeable hemp last summer. — Abe Asher

Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com

news

Battling the Infodemic

As online disinformation snowballs, how do we avoid being crushed?

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

O

ver the weekend, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a social media warning urging people not to take Ivermectin, a potentially dangerous horse-deworming drug.

Even though the veterinary medication is unproven against COVID-19, its distribution increased 19-fold in August as people bought it to stave off infections by the coronavirus, according to federal data reviewed by ABC News.

That increased demand is largely driven by anecdotal online claims about its ability to cure COVID, accord-

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ing to health experts. Beyond that, Fox News hosts including Tucker Carlson have promoted the drug, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, was suspended from YouTube in June over a video promoting the drug as an alternative treatment in humans.

“You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” the FDA said in a blunter-than-blunt warning shared Saturday, August 21 across multiple social media platforms.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the Internet has been awash in conspiracy theories, false claims and snake-oil cures. Indeed, the

CURRENT | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | sacurrent.com

Courtesy Photo City of San Antonio

World Health Organization frequently uses the term “infodemic” to describe the runaway spread of falsehoods around COVID-19, vaccines and masks.

Now, with the delta variant threatening to overwhelm hospitals in Texas and other states, the deadly stakes of that infodemic have once again come into focus. Public health officials lay much of the blame for the current wave of U.S. infections on vaccine hesitancy driven by the spread of online falsehoods.

“We have a secondary pandemic, one which is becoming a matter of national security, and that’s a pandemic of disinformation,” said Juan B. Gutiérrez, a University of Texas at San Antonio mathematician who’s tracked the spread of COVID-19 since its arrival on U.S. shores.

Disinformation Inc. Many spreaders of online COVID-19

falsehoods — including those who share them inadvertently — do so because they distrust big institutions: the government, big media, big business.

The irony, experts argue, is that they’re doing the mule work for a burgeoning industry reliant on their willingness to traffic in reshares.

Misinformation tracking firm NewsGuard identified more than 500 websites pushing falsehoods about COVID-19, two-thirds of them based in the United States. Those sites are fueled by tens of thousands of unique online ads from more than 4,300 brands, who bought them through the automated process used for the bulk of online ad sales.

And here’s another irony. NewsGuard found that Pfizer, hospitals and health insurance companies involved in the U.S. vaccination effort were among the entities buying ads on sites spreading lies about the origins about the safety and efficacy of those shots.

“We are in serious trouble,” Joan Donovan, the research director of Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, told National Public Radio in March. “Disinformation has become an industry, which means the financial incentives and the political gains are now aligned.”

To Donavan’s point, while COVID-19 lies may be grabbing headlines right now, they’re hardly the only flavor of online deception.

Even after the de-platforming of former president Donald Trump, his surrogates and followers continue to push lies about the 2020 election being stolen. And amid mounting data that human-caused climate change is irreparably damaging the planet, the online world is rife with spurious claims otherwise.

While some of us have tried to reduce our intake of social media amid the flurry of disinformation, the numbers suggest it’s had minimal impact. Since 2018, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit have all tallied increases in the amount of time people spend on their platforms, according to tech data firm Active Consulting.

Further, roughly one in five Americans say social media is their primary source of political news, according to a 2020 Pew Research Center poll.

Pew surveys also show that respondents who listed social media as their primary source of political news had worse knowledge of current events

than any other group, except those who primarily rely on local TV news as their primary source for political news.

Lack of appetite As scrutiny has increased on online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, they have taken some action to halt the spread of false information. Social media companies have engaged independent fact checkers, invested in automated content moderation and flagged potentially false COVID-19 posts.

But industry analysts argue those efforts have so far been window dressing.

Even after Facebook and Twitter have made high-profile promises to crack down on COVID-19 distortions, many online users still see false claims about vaccines and masks regularly on their own social media networks.

“Facebook and Twitter don’t really have any incentive to stop it,” said telecommunications industry analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics. “The more outrageous the content, the more clicks it gets, which is what these platforms call ‘engagement.’”

He added: “Social media is a self-reinforcing cesspool.”

Given how large social media platforms have become, it’s also unclear how capable they are of monitoring their own content, critics charge.

For example, the man arrested last week on charges of making a bomb threat near the Library of Congress livestreamed anti-government tirades for hours before Facebook disengaged his account. Two years ago, the platform said it would create new livestreaming restrictions after a gunman shared his slaughter of dozens of Muslim worshipers in New Zealand.

Monitoring livestreams, much less scouring users’ accounts for pandemic or election falsehoods requires big investments of time and money, Entner points out. Social media platforms are eager to keep the government off their backs, but not if it means carving into their profits.

“Silicon Valley is in it to make money, first and foremost,” he said. “They don’t give a shit about the rest. In their mind, if the rest of the country burns down, so be it.”

While politicians like to make noise about reining in social media platforms’ worst offenses, industry observers point out that the First Amendment prevents lawmakers from regulating their content.

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Failure to speak to our friends, family members and neighbors about the dangerous falsehoods they’ve shared or succumbed to is an essential part of reversing the dangerous course the United States is on, said Aaron Delwiche, a communications professor at San Antonio’s Trinity University.

“If we give up on that attempt to persuade, to talk, to dialogue, we’re giving up on democracy,” he said.

Such conversations may be more comfortable to have offline, Delwiche said, and they can’t be framed as debates.

Instead, the person initiating the discussion needs to find common ground with the person they’re trying to persuade and couch the discussion in terms of concern for the other person’s safety and wellbeing.

Given the schism rending our country right now, that may be a tall order, but Delwiche argues that we may not have another choice. The nation, he points, out undertook similarly difficult dialogues following the Civil War and the Great Depression.

“Refusing to do this hard work is going to be the death of us,” he said. sacurrent.com | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | CURRENT

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FRI | 08.27 SUN | 09.05 SPECIAL EVENT

FORD PARADE OF LANTERNS After a one-year hiatus, the annual Ford Parade of Lanterns is making its way down the River Walk once again. Ten vibrant floats will make two laps around the downtown stretch of the river, showcasing extravagant displays. Lanterns are added annually, so you’re sure to see something new, regardless of whether you’ve gone before. The parade traditionally takes place in February to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but it was postponed until August this year due to pandemic concerns.

Guilherme Bergamini / Courtesy of Fotoseptiembre

Gabriel Chavez Zeckua / Courtesy of Fotoseptiembre

Mami Kiyoshi / Courtesy of Fotoseptiembre

THU | 08.26 TUE | 09.07

If you’d like some food and drink while you watch, grab a riverside table at one of the many restaurants along the parade route and marvel over the displays with a margarita in hand. This year’s version is only taking place on weekends, so mark your calendars accordingly. Free, 8-10 p.m. Fridays-Sundays August 27-September 5, San Antonio River Walk, thesanantonioriverwalk.com. — Dana Nichols

ART

FOTOSEPTIEMBRE

San Antonio’s annual celebration of the photographic medium is back with a full slate of virtual and in-person exhibitions. Starting September 1, a series of online galleries will debut, featuring local and international photographers including Al Rendon (San Antonio), Mami Kiyoshi (Japan/ France), Guilherme Bergamini (Brazil), Yang Shun-Fa (Taiwan) and Tracey Maurer (San Antonio). Exhibitions will open across the city starting August 26 with Gabriel Chavez Zeckua’s “San Antonio — Perspectives From the Sky” (August 26-October 1, UNAM San Antonio Gallery, 600 Hemisfair Plaza). Notable exhibitions include “In Tempore,” a group exhibition held at Slab Cinema’s new Arthouse space (September 2-25, 134 Blue Star), Hayfer Brea’s “Nothing to Say” (September 2-18, Un Grito Gallery, 1420 S. Alamo St.) and Mari Hernandez’s “Figments of Truth” (September 9-November 13, Michael and Noémi Neidorff Art Gallery, Trinity University Dicke Smith Building, One Trinity Place). Times and locations vary, fotoseptiembreusa.com. — Kelly Merka Nelson

SAT | 08.28

Facebook / The San Antonio River Walk

FI LM

THU | 08.26 SAT | 08.28

POWDERED WIG MACHINE EPISODE X EXPERIMENTAL FILM PARTY

FRI | 08.27 TUE | 09.07

COMEDY

Sure, the world is completely going to shit, but have you gotten a dose of artsy weirdness lately? You sure about that? Because, if you haven’t, Presa House Gallery has totally got your back with this evening of

TH EATER

screenings. Let’s take a look-see, hmm? We’ve got the 10th episode of

CRISTELA ALONZO

CINDERELLA

Comedian and actress Cristela Alonzo’s pinned tweet on Twitter lists

The Woodlawn Theatre will present Cinderella, a modern Broadway

stand with an EMT, a porcupine ball that inspires lunacy, an Orlando

some of her career accomplishments and mentions that she doesn’t

adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1957 Cinderella musical.

Bloom superfan and someone gulping milk straight from the jug while,

“get the attention others get … I have to promote myself.” So, here

Originally written as a televised musical starring Julie Andrews, the

ahem, relaxing in a bathtub. That last scenario may scratch the itch for

we go: Alonzo, who was born and raised in San Juan, Texas, was a

fairy tale adaptation includes memorable tracks such as “In My Own

those that pine for the spaghetti-in-the-tub scene from Gummo. The

semi-finalist on the reality series Last Comic Standing in 2010. Four years

Little Corner,” “Impossible/It’s Possible” and “Ten Minutes Ago.” The

promo photo for this shindig even features a getup oddly reminiscent

later, she became the first Latina to create, write, star in and produce

Woodlawn is debuting a refreshed version packed with fresh characters

of the costumes Peter Gabriel wore back in his Genesis-fronting days.

her own U.S. network sitcom, Cristela, for ABC. The series was cancelled

and new twists, so this performance promises to have something for

Somehow not enough? What about screenings of 10 short films by re-

Powdered Wig Machine, which features elements such as a one-night

after one season, and later Alonzo said the support for her show was

gional artists? And that’s not even mentioning two sets of music from

“non-existent” behind the scenes. “Whether this show fails or succeeds,

Powdered Wig Machine character Patricia, naturally with her Bra-Lettes,

I want to do it my way and make sure I did everything I could to keep it

who will be making their live debut. $5, 7 p.m., Presa House Gallery, 725

authentic,” Alonzo told the Current in 2014. Since then, Alonzo has lent

S. Presa St., (210) 913-5842, presahouse.com. — Mike McMahan

her voice to a pair of animated films, The Angry Birds Movie and Cars 3, and voiced a computer-generated arctic hare for TV’s His Dark Materials. She also released her autobiography, Music to My Years: A Mixtape Memoir of Growing Up and Standing Up; a Netflix special, Lower Classy; and the podcast To Be Continued, which features a mix of sketches and social commentary. In the future, give Alonzo more ink. She deserves it. $50-$200, 8 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, 618 Northwest Loop 410, (210) 541-8805, improvtx.com/sanantonio. — Kiko Martinez

Courtesy of Powdered Wig Machine Courtesy of Woodlawn Theatre

Cinderella fans new and old. The Woodlawn has partnered with the Special Olympics Texas for the upcoming musical and will collect

Courtesy of LOL Comedy Club

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CURRENT | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | sacurrent.com

TUE | 08.31 FI LM

donations throughout the production’s duration. $18-$30, 7:30 p.m.

PAPER MOON

Thursdays and Fridays, 3 p.m. Sundays August 27- September 19, Woodlawn

Texas Public Radio’s Cinema Tuesdays are still being held as virtual

Theatre, 1920 Fredericksburg Road, (210) 267-8388, woodlawntheatre.org.

events as we continue to ride out the pandemic, but it’s been a great

— Mackenzie Cook

series so far. This virtual screening will feature the 1973 road dramedy

Show). Set in the Midwest during the Great Depression, the film tells the story of Moses “Moze” Pray (Ryan O’Neal),

SAT | 09.04 SPECIAL EVEN T

orphaned girl name Addie Loggins (Tatum O’Neal) to her

A CONVERSATION WITH THE DUKE’S DAUGHTER: AISSA WAYNE

family. Along the way, the duo team up to scam recently wid-

In conjunction with its current exhibition “Still in the

owed women into buying Bibles. Paper Moon was nominated

Saddle: A New History of Hollywood Westerns,” the Briscoe

a travelling Bible salesman who’s tasked with taking an

for four Academy Awards and O’Neal won Best Supporting

Los Angeles with her husband Scott Conrad, who won an

Oscar for Best Editing for the 1976 film Rocky. $6-$12, 2 p.m.,

Briscoe Western Art Museum, 210 W. Market St., (210) 229-4499, briscoemuseum.org. — KM

SAT | 09.04 FILM

Actress, becoming at age 10 the youngest person to ever win

calendar

Paper Moon directed by Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture

an Oscar in a competitive category. Fun fact: O’Neal beat out

THE LITTLE MERMAID

a pea soup-vomiting Linda Blair in The Exorcist that year.

After over a year of pandemic life, the Little Mermaid’s desire

Another fun fact: during the picnic scene, actress Madeline

to join human society might be beginning to hit a little

Kahn, who also landed an Oscar nom for the film, initially

close to home. If you, too, “wanna be where the people are,”

refused to say the line “Let ol’ Trixie sit up front with her big

consider escaping the murky depths of your bedroom and

tits.” Bogdanovich convinced her that they would just do the

heading down to Mission Marquee Plaza for an outdoor

take once. They did, and it ended up in the final cut. Free, 7

Courtesy of Briscoe Western Art Museum

p.m., Amazon Watch Party, tpr.org/tpr-cinema-tuesdays. — KM

and “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” and even do a little people

daughter of legendary Western actor and Oscar winner John

watching in a comfortable open-air setting. The showing is

Wayne (True Grit). During the event, Aissa Wayne will share

appropriate for all ages of mermaid enthusiasts looking to

stories about what it was like having the Duke as a father

spread out a picnic blanket and watch some good old Disney

and the memories she cherishes from her time on movie sets

animation under the stars. Free, 7 p.m., Mission Marquee Plaza,

with him. This includes a handful of 1960s films she also ap-

3100 Roosevelt Ave., slabcinema.com. — MC

Donavan’s Reef and McLintock! In 1998, Wayne released the

FRI | 09.03 SUN | 09.05

book John Wayne: My Father about her dad’s childhood, film career and life outside of the spotlight. “My father is vast, endearing, courageous, caring, tenacious and vital,” Wayne wrote. “Still, he is not the faultless hero who strode through my early childhood.” After the conversation, attendees are invited to go on a guided tour with Wayne and guest curator Andrew Patrick Nelson. Wayne, 65, a retired lawyer, lives in

COMEDY

jam out to hits such as “Part of Your World,” “Under the Sea”

Western Art Museum is welcoming Aissa Wayne, the

peared in as a child, including The Alamo, The Comancheros,

Paramount Home Video

showing of the 1989 Disney classic animated film. You can

DERAY DAVIS Davis is a popular standup, so no one should be surprised with the success of his Showtime special DeRay Davis: Power Play. Or that it followed on the heels of the wildly popular Netflix special DeRay Davis: How to Act Black. But Davis has a wider resume than successful streaming specials. For starters, he grew up in challenging circumstances on Chicago’s South Side. Like any good comic, though, he mined the material for laughs and used it as a springboard into comedy competitions, which propelled him onto the live circuit. Davis has appeared in a wide range of projects, from dramatic series Empire to feature films, including License

Disney+

to Wed, Imagine That, Life As We Know It and Old Dogs. He’s also used his talents for voiceover work on shows including The Boondocks and Black Lightning. Davis recently provided a balanced perspective on his controversial peer Louis C.K., noting that the comedian has the right to tour but also that the public is free to skip the shows. $70-$280, 7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday, Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, 618 Northwest Loop 410, (210) 541-8805, improvtx.com/sanantonio. — MM

FRI | 09.03 SUN | 09.05

Jaime Monzon

SPECIAL EVEN T

SAN JAPAN

In a nod to the anime convention’s 2020 cancellation, San Japan is back with what it’s calling its 12.5 con, a modified event that seeks to maximize safety while the pandemic is still a going concern. This year is themed as a “Throwback Convention,” celebrating the history of San Japan and showcasing art and photography from the event’s 12-plus years. Its slate of guests includes voice actors from video games and anime including Laura Stahl (Genshin Impact, The Promised Neverland), Khoi Dao (Genshin Impact, Fire Emblem: Heroes), Xander Mobus (Persona 5) and Chris Hackney (Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Hunter x Hunter). Though the full schedule wasn’t available at press time, San Japan has also promised panels, plenty of cosplay, a maid cafe and more. Local geeks still might feel burned after the last-minute cancellation of Celebrity Fan Fest this summer, but their worries may be assuaged by San Japan’s COVID-19 precautions. Event attendance is capped at 10,000, a zero-tolerance mask policy is in place and con-goers must either provide proof of vaccination or complete a health survey prior to entry. For the latter, San Japan has partnered with the app Health Pass by CLEAR, which attendees can download and set up prior to the event for faster entry at the door. $70-$220, Friday, September 3-Sunday, September 5, Henry B. González Convention Center, 900 E. Market St., (210) 570-8576, san-japan.org. — KMN Courtesy of LOL Comedy Club

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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Bryan Rindfuss

Back in the Saddle

Beloved local designer Agosto Cuellar returns to retail with new Blue Star boutique

BY BRYAN RINDFUSS

T Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com

he last time we spoke to local designer Agosto Cuellar, he was between two milestones.

First, he was selling off the final remnants of Jive Refried — the wildly creative Southtown vintage emporium he ran from 1999 to 2o11 — as part of a 20th anniversary exhibition at Clamp Light Artist Studios & Gallery. Second, he was putting the finishing touches on “Barrio Folk Baroque,” an eclectic collection of upcycled garments he presented during New York and Paris fashion weeks in partnership with the retail and production outfit Flying Solo.

Not that he ever said “never,” but Cuellar has somewhat quietly returned to the realm of retail via Augustine, a boutique he named after his grandfather. Situated in a Blue Star space previously inhabited by Mockingbird Handprints, Augustine reflects Cuellar’s keen eye for picking, pairing and repurposing —

talents he learned as a kid and still cultivates via his day job in the marketing department at Goodwill — along with his lifelong love affair with rasquache, an artistic practice rooted in celebrating and transforming everyday materials.

most important takeaway was meeting people that are doing the same thing I’m doing.

San Antonio can be a bubble, and there are not many people doing this. But in New York and Paris, oh my god, there are stores [on every block] with a real wow factor.

And there was also a retail component to the shows?

It was with Flying Solo, and they do have retail stores in New York. They showcased eight of my pieces and those were available to photographers, editors, other designers and people that were producing shows. A couple of my things got picked out and paired with other stuff. One Spanish deHow was your experience showAugustine signer paired my designs with ing in New York and Paris?

6-9pm Thu-Fri, 1-9pm Sat-Sun her hats and it just worked. I It really was an eye-opening 1414 S. Alamo St. #108B was like wow! She did a photo experience for me as a sustaininstagram.com/iloveaugustine_vintage shoot for a magazine back in able fashion designer — beMadrid. So, it was a lot of that cause [my work] was really [sort of collaboration]. The way accepted. I felt like I was gonna they have it set up, it’s more of have some kind of pushback … a designer showroom. But that in itself was but sustainable fashion, recycling, repurposinteresting. I took a little bit of everything ing has already taken hold in New York and because I didn’t know what to expect. Some Paris. And so, I got invited at the right time of my stuff got used, some of it didn’t. [Flying [to show] my 2019 collection. It was a time to meet other designers from around the world, Solo] curated the looks and they had a stylist some emerging, some established. I think the that made sure the shoes [and accessories]

worked. It’s funny because my shoes didn’t get there in time — I ordered them online — but the show had to go on.

So, what did your models wear?

I was so blessed that this other designer that was set up next to me had these fabulous shoes — strappy gold high heels. [The stylist] told her they didn’t work with her outfits and that she needed combat boots. So, she went and bought eight pairs of combat boots and gave me the gold shoes. We’re still friends.

She’s amazing. … And the shoes were perfect with my outfits.

That’s good karma.

I was thinking I was gonna have to send the models out barefoot. I was freaking out. But she saw me, and she was like, “Don’t worry … you can have these.”

So that was [a good example] of a designer coming through for another designer. The community feel was very present.

How did your new boutique Augustine come about?

It happened very organically. I wasn’t looking for a space — which you probably wouldn’t believe because of all the stuff I have. … Before COVID, I was doing pop-ups at Brick and other locations. But I got tired of the hauling and unloading, and then display, and it was up for four or five hours and then you take it down. And so, I approached Elizabeth [Ciarfeo] at Brick and she said, “Hey, you should look into this space.” So, I reached out to James [Lifshutz] with the intention of just doing a pop-up shop. And James had actually been to Jive back in the day. So, he knew the concept, he knew what I was about, and how I made [Jive] into an installation piece and gathering place for people to hang out and find unique items.

And he asked, “Why do you just want to be there for a couple of months? Why don’t you sign a lease?” So, I did. And here I am [laughs]. … And he worked with me, because they’re trying to revitalize after COVID and get people interested in coming back. We just recently had First Friday and there are new tenants: there’s Helotes Creek Studio, Divine Sunshine Vintage and Slab Cinema moved in and they’re doing an arthouse.

It’s great that there’s new energy at Blue Star.

I like to say we’re in the “Soaring ’20s” instead of the Roaring ’20s because it’s starting to soar again. I know we [still] have issues with the pandemic but people are masking up and taking precautions.

They still want to be out — because that’s just who we are as artists. I don’t have the street windows like I used to at the old store. But I really am excited about the tenants around me. I do really well off the traffic from Stella, Sukeban and Brick. And I haven’t really promoted Augustine. It’s been very organic. …

I’m still settling in. … And I’m older and wiser than I

Bryan Rindfuss

was when I had Jive. Over there, I was like promote, promote, promote, promote. Here, I’m on a more thought-out route.

What have customers been buying?

I’ve done really well with my repurposed stuff. I get to do model fittings here, I get to showcase my work — the stuff that I recycle, repurpose. [Augustine] was really about that.

But I felt that just doing that wasn’t enough to keep the clients coming back. So, I [brought in home accessories] for people who are nesting.

People [are shopping for] dishware, things for the house. I really want it to be a destination for other designers — I want to do trunk shows, I want to do events where people Bryan Rindfuss can showcase their work.

I’m not doing any consignment only because I haven’t gotten there yet. I named it Augustine after my grandpa. That’s why I’m Agosto: it’s derived from [my grandfather’s name]. I wanted to honor the fact that he was a businessman. He owned several bars. … My

parents are part of the business as well. My mom runs the register, my dad helps hang stuff and price stuff, and my sister and my nieces all help. So, First Friday is a family thing. [Opening Augustine] has been a family-building way to see my parents more often. …

We have lunch, we hang out and talk. And that part I really love because for a year I didn’t see them due to COVID. It was tough. And now we’re catching up.

My mom is really the reason I got into fashion. She’d always take me to thrift stores when I was a little kid, and I was wowed by everything. I just loved it — and it never stopped. So, when she comes in here, she’s all dressed up. She wears all her stuff and [folks are] like, “That’s your mom? Oh, now we know where you get it from.” Yeah, my mom’s definitely a little fashion diva.

Are you keeping the same hours every week?

Yes, we are. That’s one thing that I learned from Goodwill — to be consistent. I’ve also learned some other valuable things at Goodwill. I think my price point is right on [target] with a boutique, but not a high-end boutique. I want people to come back. I want them to feel like they’re getting a deal. I don’t want them to feel like I’m doubling or tripling the prices. I don’t want to be that guy. I find stuff for it to go away — I don’t find it for me. I love the thrill the Findofmore hunt. I’m buying it for someone else. I just don’t know artsupcoverage who that someone else is until they show at the front of the counter and say, “I love this every piece. This dayisat me.” sacurrent.com sacurrent.com | August 25 - September 7, 2021 | CURRENT

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mile

BIKE RIDE

WALK & RUN

7:00 a.m.

Mission Park Pavilion #1 6030 Padre Drive San Antonio, Texas 78214

Register by August 30, 2021 at WorldHeritageFestival.org to be guaranteed a commemorative bib, finisher's medal, T-shirt, and keepsake passport for exploring the Missions.

JOIN THE CELEBRATION! The City of San Antonio World Heritage Office and its collaborative partners present this 6th annual festival in commemoration of San Antonio's Missions as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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902 Northeast Loop 410, (210) 828-1470, blindtigercomedyclub.com.

Deep Culture

If you’re new to San Antonio, these locations and events can get you off the River Walk

BY DANA NICHOLS AND MACKENZIE COOK

W

hile well known for the Alamo and River Walk, San Antonio is home to a wide array of sights and experiences that reflect its deep-rooted culture.

If you’re a newcomer to the city, it’s a great idea to veer away from the tourist draws and experience a variety of less-known attractions — at least lessknown to tourists. From scenic parks to annual cultural events to top-notch arts and entertainment, San Antonio has much to explore.

your favorite flick — an experience Slab Cinema offers. Catch a movie at one of the San Antonio Museum of Art’s Film on the Green or Family Flick nights, or venture out to the historic Mission Marquee Theater for weekly family-friendly screenings. Many of the movies are even free to attend. Just make sure you get there before dusk to claim the perfect spot. Ticket prices and locations vary, slabcinema.com.

The Classic Theatre

Founded in 2008, the Classic Theatre is a small, non-profit professional theatre featuring both local and national performing artists. Last year, during the pandemic, the company partnered with the San Antonio Botanical Garden to provide the same quality theater in an outdoor setting. Its production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It will run September 9-26. classictheatre.org.

Bryan Rindfuss

Agarita Chamber Players

Hopscotch

Since its opening last year, the immersive, interactive gallery Hopscotch has packed work from a wide variety of artists into its 20,000-square-foot space near downtown’s Travis Park.

Since photography is allowed in its exhibitions, the gallery is also known for its prime Instagram photo ops.

Getting hungry after perusing the art? Hopscotch also features a lounge, patio, food truck and full bar. Tickets are $24, but students — hey, that’s some of you! — get $4 off with a valid school ID. $20-24, 711 Navarro St. Suite 100, letshopscotch.com.

Courtesy of Classic Theatre

Pearsall Park

Instagram / slabcinema

Blind Tiger Comedy Club

As San Antonio’s only underground comedy club, Blind Tiger brings the intimacy of a New York City-style club to the basement of the historic Magic Time Machine restaurant in Oak Park.

Every Friday night, comedians take the stage beginning at 10 p.m. — just be sure to stick around for the free Secret Midnight Show with special guests.

The club is 21+, so bring a valid ID if you’re hoping for an evening of laughs.

a part of a larger campus that includes Chris Park and the Studio exhibition space. What’s more, it’s housed in an award-winning building designed by renowned architect Sir David Adjaye OBE. Free, 150 Camp St., rubycity.org.

At 505 acres, you’re sure to find something new on every trip you make to Pearsall Park — the sheer size alone pretty much guarantees it. A fitness area, splash pads, a skate park, disc golf, dog parks and various art installations can be found throughout the public space. With so much stuff to do and acres of land to explore, there’s something for everyone regardless of age or interests. 4838 Old Pearsall Road, sanantonio.gov.

This homegrown chamber ensemble is known for offering innovative, interactive performances and events across San Antonio. Its four San Antonio musicians are dedicated to putting on shows that are accessible to people from all walks of life. Also, each performance is typically a collaborative effort with a local venue or artist — sometimes both. Upcoming performances include Agarita + the San Antonio Museum of Art (August 24) and Agarita + Joel Salcido Ruiz and Oscar Casares (October 15). Free, locations vary, agarita. org.

Courtesy of Agarita

Muertos Fest

Courtesy of Hopscotch

Bryan Rindfuss

Ruby City

Slab Cinema

Little compares to the nostalgia-inducing experience of pulling into the drive-in theater to catch a screening of

Jaime Monzon

Ruby City is the posthumous realization of a dream of the late art collector Linda Pace. The contemporary art center offers a range of exhibitions and is

In San Antonio, Día de los Muertos is a big deal. As such, Muertos Fest celebrates our lost loved ones with live music, poetry, vendors, a procession and an altar contest. The festival is open to everyone, and it’s a great way to get a sense of San Antonio’s culture while connecting over a lively and meaningful cultural celebration. Free,

sacurrent.com | August 25 - September 7, 2021 | CURRENT

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The key to finding work you’ll love tomorrow is finding a college that works for you today. And with the Alamo Colleges District, you have what it takes, because we give you everything you need on your first steps toward success.

You have real accessibility. A family of five colleges conveniently located near you – Northeast Lakeview College, Northwest Vista College, Palo Alto College, St. Philip’s College, and San Antonio College.

You have real choices. Select from a wide range of academic and career training paths. One of them is surely just right for you.

You have real affordability. Thanks to low tuition and easily available financial aid, you can follow the first two years of your college dream with no money headaches.

You have real help. Open enrollment means that getting into college here is a snap. And you’ll have your own advisor from day one until you graduate or finish career training.

So, put in the work and in two years or less, you’ll have a real paycheck to take to the bank - or real college credits to take to a 4-year university. You have what it takes!

AT ALAMO.EDU

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CURRENT | August 25 - September 7, 2021 | sacurrent.com

thing for everyone — art enthusiasts and newbie alike. Free, 6 p.m.-midnight November 13, Hemisfair, 434 S. Alamo St., luminariasa.org.

Ballet San Antonio

Bryan Rindfuss

October 23-24, Hemisfair, 434 S. Alamo St., muertosfest.com.

Japanese Tea Garden

Located within Brackenridge Park, the Japanese Tea Garden offers visitors a slice of serenity just miles away from downtown. What was originally a rock quarry was transformed into a lily pond and garden in 1917 through collaborative city efforts. Shaped over the course of generations, it’s evolved into the beloved attraction we know today.

The garden is open to the public daily from dawn to dusk. 3853 N. St. Mary’s St., saparksfoundation.org.

Ballet San Antonio has been bringing the professional dance experience to the Alamo City since 1985. If you need a place to take your sweetheart on a date, this may be a romantic and unforgettable option. Upcoming performances include A Night at the Castle (October 22-24) and The Nutcracker (December 3-5 and 10-12). If you are interested in checking out a show, but not sure which one, you can also head down to Travis Park on September 18 for Ballet SA’s free event, Ballet in the Park, which will feature a sneak peek of its 2021-22 season. Ticket prices and locations vary, balletsanantonio.org.

Courtesy of Ballet San Antonio

Friedrich Wilderness Park Instagram / amity_ridge

Luminaria

San Antonio’s nonprofit contemporary arts festival, Luminaria, will take place on November 13 in Hemisfair.

The annual event provides a platform for local, national and international performing and installation artists via a magical night of inspiring creativity.

Luminaria is sure to have a little some-

This isn’t your regular city park. Friedrich Wilderness Park is known internationally for being home to two federally recognized endangered species of birds: the Black-capped Vireo and the Golden-cheeked Warbler. While you can’t bike or bring the pups along because of this, the 10 miles of hiking trail that wind throughout the park are sure to please any nature enthusiast. 21395 Milsa Dr., sanantonio.gov.

Eat your way through San Antonio’s food culture

BY NINA RANGEL

I

n 2017, San Antonio was designated as a Creative City of Gastronomy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, becoming on the second U.S. city to land that recognition.

Suffice to say, we take our food seriously. If you’re new to the Alamo City and want to see what the fuss is all about when it comes to its unique and vibrant food scene, here are 12 that delicious ways to familiarize yourself with what we have to offer.

Indulge in some puffy tacos. New San Antonians are sure to find countless versions of this deep-fried deliciousness born right here. The pillowy fried pockets of corn masa are typically filled with savory stuff such as shredded chicken, guacamole, cheese, beans, and picadillo.

Scope out auténtico neighborhood taquerias. There’s just something about a neighborhood taco spot, where the tortillas are handmade, and the fiery green salsa flows like wine. Bonus points if the menu is handwritten.

Gnaw on some smoked Texas barbecue.

The Texas barbecue experience encompasses more than just grilled and smoked meats. Our advice: don’t sleep on sides such as creamy southern coleslaw, potato salad and house-pickled jalapeños.

Sip on icy waterside drinks. There isn’t any scientific data to back this up, but we think tipples sipped by a river, lake or pool — kiddie or otherwise — just taste better.

Take in the skyline at one of many rooftop spots. You can dine, drink and lounge on a handful of elevated spots in San Antonio, thanks to a recent uptick in terrace and rooftop spaces. Plan a visit any one of them for the food and stay for the view.

Justin Eastman

Courtesy of City of San Antonio

Celebrate special events with tradition-

al foods. Fiesta San Antonio is the perfect places to experience chicken on a stick; holidays are time for tamales; and mole negro is a specialty for Dia de Los Muertos. SA food and special events go together like a wink and a smile. Lucky for Alamo City residents, the traditional fare of local events is downright delicious.

Sip a margarita as big as your face.

It doesn’t get more San Antonio than enjoying a margarita served in huge, salt-rimmed glass. Newcomers will easily find countless flavor options that provide the perfect accompaniment to a Tex-Mex meal, or just about any other kind of food.

Explore the flourishing craft beer scene. Transplants who enjoy a quality brew will delight in knowing that San Antonio is home to many top-notch breweries and brew pubs. The 2021 San Antonio Beer Run will take place September 4-11, offering a great excuse to visit many of those spots.

Stock up on local goods at area Farmer’s Markets. From produce to art to handmade wares, SA makers post up at weekend farmer’s markets dotted all over town to share their talents. The Pearl’s weekend market is definitely the big daddy.

Book a Hill Country wine tour. Texas’ wine industry has grown exponentially over the last decade, resulting in countless vino-producing properties across the sprawling Texas Hill Country. Leave the driving to someone else and book a tour with one of several local guides.

Explore dining options other than Tex-Mex. SA may be the self-proclaimed Tex-Mex capital of the world, but the city offers a wide variety of other cuisines, from exceptional Vietnamese and Korean to relative newcomers like Jamaican and Central American food.

sacurrent.com | August 25 - September 7, 2021 | CURRENT

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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.

24

CURRENT | August 25 - September 7, 2021 | sacurrent.com

screens Netflix

Gone Hollywood

San Antonio-tied talent from Robert Rodriguez to Henry Thomas are involved in a slew of movie deals

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

T

here’s been no shortage of new Hollywood projects, and no shortage of Alamo City-tied moviemakers, actors and other creators involved

in them.

Among those are deals and projects with HBO and HBO Max, Paramount+, Netflix and more. Here’s a look at what some of San Antonio’s homegrown talent has been up to in August.

Robert Rodriguez

The San Antonio-born and Austin-based director of such films as Spy Kids, Desperado, Machete and Alita: Battle Angel, recently signed a deal with HBO and HBO Max to potentially develop original series for the network and streaming platform. Joining Rodriguez is his son Racer, who will serve as the lead development executive under the new agreement.

“It’s intriguing to be able to tap into the wealth of iconic IP available across the WarnerMedia portfolio and explore new stories to tell,” Rodriguez told Variety. “I’m looking forward to a meaningful collaboration with the high-caliber creative talent at HBO and HBO Max who have proven they’re willing to take risks, challenge norms and tell inclusive stories while producing a wide breadth of quality content.”

Along with his HBO deal, Rodriguez has

also transitioned El Rey Network, his cable TV channel, to the streaming platform Roku Channel. The director founded El Rey in 2013 to offer programming to English-speaking Latinos. The network’s original programming included the shows From Dusk till Dawn: The Series, Matador and Lucha Underground. El Rey went off the air late last year.

Henry Thomas

A remake of the 1989 horror film Pet Sematary may have hit the big screen only a couple of years ago, but Paramount already wants to do it again. This time, they’ve cast San Antonio native Henry Thomas (E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial) in an undisclosed role. The new version, which will premiere on Paramount+, will be an adaptation of Stephen King’s 1983 bestselling book of the same name. The story follows a father who discovers an ancient burial ground near his home, which gives him the power to raise the dead.

Jessica Collins

Clickbait, a new TV miniseries debuting Wednesday, August 25 on Netflix, stars Adrian Grenier (TV’s Entourage) as a man whose abduction is broadcast online. The Alamo City connection comes through San Antonio-born actress Jessica Collins, a graduate of both Clark High School and the Julliard

School. Collins began her career in 2005 on an episode of Ghost Whisperer. Since then, she’s starred as a regular on the AMC series Rubicon and NBC’s Revolution.

Jared Paladecki

Walker star and San Antonio native Jared Paladecki has recently shared more details about what happened back in June when he tweeted about being left out of a new TV project. Paladecki was commenting on a tweet posted by Supernatural co-star Jensen Ackles. He and Ackles played brothers Dean and Sam Winchester on the show. Ackles’ tweet announced an upcoming series, The Winchesters, which would tell the story of Dean and Sam’s parents and feature Ackles as the narrator. The news seemed to surprise Paladecki. “Dude. Happy for you,” he tweeted.

“Wish I heard about this some way other than Twitter. I’m excited to watch, but bummed that Sam Winchester had no involvement whatsoever.” Recently, the Madison High School graduate said he wasn’t blindsided by the news. “It’s hard to tweet a specific tone,” he told the New York Times. “If you write it online, it’s like, ‘Oh, he doesn’t know! They’re going to kill each other! The world is ending!’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no.’ I try to avoid social media as much as possible because of that.”

Michelle Rodriguez

The San Antonio-born actress is expected to return for a 10th installment of the Fast and Furious film franchise, a movie that now has an official release date. The presently unnamed sequel is scheduled for an April 7, 2023 theatrical release. That’s plenty of time to figure out how to get the entire crew up into space, so they can burn rubber on Mars.

Find more film stories at sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | sacurrent.com

food

Southern Fried

Southerleigh Haute South succeeds with new, if caloric, spins on regional comfort food

BY RON BECHTOL

I

f county and state fairs have taught us anything over the years, it’s this: if they fry it, we will come.

San Antonio’s Southerleigh Haute South has taken this lesson very much to heart. Perhaps literally.

Sure, many of its menu items seem like they might impede the orderly flow of blood in the veins if consumed on a regular basis.

However, there’s also this to contemplate: an occasional well-prepared indulgence can also warm the heart. Southerleigh knows how to do this, too.

The drawling design of this offshoot of Southerleigh’s original Pearl establishment has a kind of soft-South look — the sort of décor espoused by Southern Living and Magnolia Journal. Think washed brick, driftwood tones and polite gray-blues.

The aesthetic induces a state of calm that almost makes it OK when a server tells you that the fried, soft-shell blue crabs aren’t available, and rarely are, and when you also learn that the oysters for the po-boy hadn’t yet been delivered.

But when life denies you lemonade, have a lavender-inflected and gin-based Porch Swing, one of the restaurant’s six draft cocktails, and order cheddar-fried mac and cheese balls. The golf ball-sized bites are even better, I’m guessing, than the “famous” non-fried side they’re made from. They arrive five to an order, their crunchy coating cloaking a molten, cheesy interior flecked with pimento. The accompanying “comeback” sauce is a little thin for my taste, but the punchy, pink “tiger” option works just fine. This isn’t medical advice, but you may not want order these if you’re also contemplating the fried chicken, a signature item.

The maque chou-like warm bay shrimp cocktail starter, generous enough to be considered a main dish, is only marginally less artery occluding. But its bold flavors, heightened with thyme, butter and Crystal hot sauce, almost-crunchy corn and abundant shrimp add up to a guilty pleasure.

Fried chicken isn’t part of my personal culinary heritage, but if it were, I’d be happy to admit Southerleigh’s yard bird onto the table any time. Unlike those TV commercials that feature fried parts encumbered by lethally craggy coating, the quarter bird — I ordered dark — arrived discreetly dusted, judiciously fried and blessed with a moist interior. A single honey-fried biscuit, another signature item, shared the platter.

Ron Bechtol

The hot sauce presumably meant for the chicken was fine, too, but almost better as an enhancer of the already well-seasoned “Southern-style” collard greens I selected as a side. Haute South’s take on the classic was contemporary — still bacon-y but forgoing “pot likker” for more texture.

It’s fine manners to eat fried chicken with one’s hands — even in polite society. However, there’s no way an over-stuffed po-boy — I subbed fried flounder for the absent oysters — can be consumed with any degree of grace.

If dining in company, just shrug your shoulders apologetically and have at it.

Southerleigh’s roll is pillowy without being namby-pamby and the substantial pickles are just sour enough. If only the well-fried fish hadn’t disappointed in its underwhelming

coating — a deficiency that the asked-for side of remoulade almost compensated for.

Seasoned fries made a perfectly acceptable sidekick.

At Southerleigh, it’s hard to escape fried things, even at dessert. Enter its “famous” fried pies. Start by imagining a piping hot funnel cake in all its sugary, greasy glory.

Then, transition to a folded and flaky pastry filled with — in my case — that quintessentially Southern fruit, the peach.

The combination is just haute enough to suggest pairing with a Southerleigh 75, the house’s riff on the French 75 with locally distilled Seersucker Gin and Champagne. The bubbles won’t neutralize the pie’s calories, but on a trip to Southerleigh Haute South, who’s watching those?

SOUTHERLEIGH HAUTE SOUTH 5822 Worth Parkway, Unit 112 | (210) 236-8556 | southerleighhautesouth.com Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday-Sunday Price point: $9.50-$36 Best bets: Warm bay shrimp cocktail, cheddar-fried mac and cheese, fried chicken, seasoned fries, Southern-style collard greens, fried pies The skinny: The folks behind Southerleigh Fine Food & Brewery and Mon Chou Chou, both at the Pearl, have spun off a casual satellite, Southerleigh Haute South, located at The Rim. The focus here is on chicken (fried and rotisserie), oysters (fried and fresh) and other deep-South classics. Think collard greens with bacon, Galveston Bay shrimp boil and po-boys of several varieties. The fried chicken is deftly done, sides such as the balls of cheddar-fried mac and cheese and the warm bay shrimp cocktail with corn are new takes on old South cuisine that merit a try, and fried pies are just too damn good. Have it all with a crisp Front Porch cocktail with gin or a Southerleigh 75 with both gin and Champagne.

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CURRENT | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | sacurrent.com

food Soul Survivor Tia Rodriguez of Urban Soul Market is winning converts to her vegan concept

OPENINGS New seafood joint Mr. Crabby’s is now open in Northeast San Antonio, near IKEA.

BY NINA RANGEL

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efore her current stint as a successful vegan chef and owner of Urban Soul Market, Tia Rodriguez lived and breathed the corporate life.

That meant sitting at a desk for nearly eight hours of her day and eating what was available. Neither of those was a healthy option.

Armed with family recipes and a desire to treat her own body more thoughtfully, Rodriguez struck out on her own last year. She took a stand for health and opened Urban Soul Market in Universal City, a curbside-only concept specializing in what she calls “plant-based food for the soul.”

When it comes to true soul food, most folks expect comforting but caloric delicacies such as butter-soaked collard greens, slow-simmered pot roast and crisp fried chicken. How is it, then, that Urban Soul Market has not only survived, but thrived, offering a healthy take on the culinary tradition?

We talked with Rodriguez about what it’s like to run a vegan curbside business in meat-and-potatoes San Antonio and her hopes for the future of vegan eating in the suburbs.

Let’s start with how this concept was born. What was the inspiration?

I was having some medical problems, and I just got to a point where I realized I had to make a change. I’d been working in corporate America for a minute, was sitting at my desk, not being very active, and decided it was time for me to take control.

So, your first thought was a curbside vegan soul food business?

That wasn’t my first thought, no. But I started creating and marketing this food out of my house and delivering it at first … and people were going wild for it. They would taste it and send me messages about how they couldn’t believe it was vegan. So, when the opportunity to work out of this space became a real thing, I had to jump on it.

Houston-based hot chicken food truck Clutch City Cluckers has begun serving near UTSA. Gravves Coffee is now serving up spooky vibes and specialty brews on the St. Mary’s Strip adjacent to Rumble.

Interior Mexican eatery Tlahco Mexican Kitchen is opening a second location in Stone Oak this fall.

The owner of San Antonio’s El Remedio food trucks will launch a Mexican sushi mobile kitchen this fall.

Austin comfort food staple Kerbey Lane Cafe will make its Alamo City debut near Andretti Indoor Karting.

The team behind Angry Elephant bar will open upscale drinking spot Shin-Dig on San Antonio’s North Side this fall.

NEWS Courtesy Photo / Tia Rodriguez

Are there plans for a brick and mortar?

For this concept, I don’t think so. We may open another similar space with tables out front, but the curbside model seems to be what our customers want. We had been on track to sign a lease for a brickand-mortar space with a dining room very recently, but that kind of fell through … right before COVID. And I feel like that was a blessing in disguise, because I don’t have any idea how we would have made that work through the pandemic.

What’s your hope for the future of vegan eating in San Antonio?

I just want to get this food to as many people as I can. Because, the trend has been, when people taste it, they can’t believe they’re not eating an animal product. And I am happy to be getting this Instagram / @urbansoulmarket message out there, that cruelty-free food can also taste like something your family prepared.

The 2021 San Antonio Beer Run will take place September 4-11, offering locals a chance to tour local craft brewing spots.

Weee!, an e-grocer specializing in Asian and Hispanic food products, is now offering service in the San Antonio area.

Cameron Davies, owner of San Antonio-based food truck manufacturer Cruising Kitchens, has gifted Olympic gold medalist Tamyra Mensah-Stock’s mother a $250,000 mobile kitchen.

More than 200 San Antonio bars are now serving Yuengling Lager, which last week became available in Texas for the first time in the company’s 192-year history.

Roadmap Brewing has raised nearly $11,000 for mental health nonprofits via an initiative among craft breweries called “Things We Don’t Say: Craft Beer for Mental Health.”

Cereal Killer Sweets has launched a walk-up sweet shop called C.K.S. Pastry House, serving up sweet and savory snacks.

Courtesy Photo / Glazer’s Beer and Beverage of Texas

sacurrent.com | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | CURRENT

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Courtesy Photo / Richard Tomcala

Touring in the Time of COVID Rejoining humanity on the road with Hickoids

BY JEFF SMITH

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’ll preface all of this by stating that I’m not an epidemiologist, sociologist, scientist or even a published non-fiction writer. I sing for Hickoids, and I approached the Current about writing a piece chronicling the band’s tour of the Southern United States against the backdrop of the surge in delta variant cases.

Initially, I thought I would come away from the tour with some hard takeaways. Instead, what I experienced left be me with more big questions than small answers.

The Hickoids were originally scheduled to be in Spain at the end of July through the middle of August, after having canceled a similar tour in 2020.

Toward the end of April or beginning of May it was becoming apparent that the trip was off the table because of the slow vaccine rollout there and regulatory issues that made it unclear whether we could even gain entry.

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So, it was decided that we’d use the time to tour the American South instead, which promised to be wide open on those dates.

For the uninitiated, Hickoids began in the mid ’80s and could be most aptly described as a no-holdsbarred garage band that folds country and glam rock into our sound. Thirty-plus people have filtered through the band, and save me, all the other members that appeared on our 1985 debut album are now deceased. I often tell people we’ve been around so long that our first band photo was a cave painting.

We’ve never had wide success. We play and tour because we enjoy each other’s company — and because we like entertaining folks with our brand of raunch ’n’ roll. We make enough to cover expenses and divvy up a little at the end of a run. We know who and what we are, and we don’t have grand expectations.

After COVID forced us to sit idle for most of the past year and half, we felt that getting in the van and

Hickoid Jeff Smith (second from right) hides his face as the band pauses for photo following a gig.

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playing a couple weeks’ worth of shows would be a victory in our scheme of things. And, if things got too crazy or one of us fell ill, we’d just turn around and come home.

We were prepared for the whole thing to crater up until the day we left.

A ‘germy’ life At the risk of inserting too many asides, there seem to be unending questions and considerations begot by every aspect of this story. You likely wonder whether the band members are all vaccinated. The answer is yes. I think I can speak — with the exception of our youngest member, Harvey McLaughlin — for the others when I say, “We ain’t spring chickens.” Any reservations we had about getting jabbed were far outweighed by our collective desire to return to a more normal state of being.

Personally, I’ve lived a “germy” life. During my days

Under the Volcano On Wednesday, July 28, the Hickoids began our “C’mon Back” tour at Under the Volcano, a small bar near Rice University in Houston.

We were joined by our friends the Guillotines and had a nice-sized crowd, many of whom hadn’t seen each other since the beginning of 2020. I spoke with my friend Ken Hoge early in the evening. Ken took some of the most iconic photos of the Sex Pistols at their infamous Randy’s Rodeo show in 1978.

I’ve only come to know him over the past decade but he’s a warm, cheerful and funny guy.

“I felt invincible after I got the vaccine,” he told me at the club. “I started going out and having fun, and now I don’t know what the fuck to think.”

You, me and another 165 million other folks, Ken. I was also ecstatic to hang with my childhood pal Chris Juravich, whom I hadn’t seen in 40 years. He was my best friend growing up in Houston. We drifted apart as teenagers and hadn’t spoken until we reconnected on Facebook, ironically the day before his mother Opal Juravich succumbed to COVID-19 earlier this year. Chris isn’t a scenester, but he remarked how cool it was to be able to get to see bands up close again.

While the reunion with friends made it a fun show, the Hickoids weren’t that sharp as a band. That might come down to how much anxiety and emotion was built into just getting as far as Houston. Nobody seemed to mind, though, and some folks overdid it. My buddy David Ganz disappeared before we ever played despite having brought a small bale of hay, some un-shucked corn and a watermelon, which he placed on the stage.

All of those were later serially abused by the audience.

That night, I observed a pattern that I would see repeated almost every night of the tour. Folks seemed vigilant with masks on as they walked in, and they were also clearly trying figure out how much space to give each other. In other words, everyone was trying to find that comfort zone while remaining “safe.” Inevitably, though, by the end of the

night, the masks were cast aside or slipped down around the chin, and folks were hugging and rubbing on each other.

While alcohol played some role, it seemed more like an expression of two things. The first is the instinctual human need to read the faces of those around us and to be understood. The second is the more basic mammalian need to be touched.

Needs and rituals And that’s the thing that sucks about this pandemic. Beyond the death, financial havoc and displacement, it deprives us of our most innate needs and treasured rituals. Touch, the warmth of a smiling face or broad laugh.

Weddings, funerals, birthday parties and rock shows.

Pre-vaccine, Hickoids performed a few live-streamed shows for charity or fundraisers. For the first, it felt great just to be in the room with the guys and playing. But the shine progressively wore off, both as an artist and an observer. It’s an unsatisfying, tasteless

Courtesy Photo / Hickoids

meal that leaves you hungrier than when you started. I’d rather watch the most so-so band in the world in a roomful of people than the greatest via livestream. Call me a cannibal, but I need that human flesh.

What do all the changes we’ve seen in the past 18 months — from remote work to grocery delivery — mean to us a species?

Personally, I don’t buy into the narrative promulgated by the big tech companies that they’re working to bring us closer together. I think this is all a big fat multi-trillion-dollar wet dream come true for them.

I could really care less who gets rich or poor as corporations trot out new technologies. What’s being taken from us as we draw apart from each other is bigger and more important than any paper wealth. It’s called humanity. When we feel emboldened to jibe

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as a user of hard drugs, I carelessly consumed whatever someone proffered. I’m fortunate to have lived as long as I have, especially after donating my body to science several times over. I’m much less fearful of the lasting consequences of a vaccine than I am of the near-term psychological damage.

And I find the idea of a “chip” being injected along with the vaccine laughable. Why would it be necessary when almost everyone in the developed world has a smartphone?

Don’t get me wrong: I distrust the government no matter who is president, although some office holders are better and more qualified than others. Still, I believe our government has worthwhile institutions overseen by able and conscientious civil servants.

and insult people online in a way that we couldn’t face to face, that’s a loss of humanity. When we reduce others to whatever we perceive their essence to be because we skimmed a few of their social media posts, that’s a loss of humanity. When we no longer interact with people that we have nothing in common with except juxtaposition, that’s a loss of humanity. When we’re afraid to gather with our families and friends, to hug an elderly relative or hold a baby, or even go to a rock show for fear of becoming or making someone ill ... again, that’s a loss of humanity.

And like trust broken, it might be a lot harder to regain than it was to lose.

‘If there’s another shutdown…’

As we rolled up to the club in Birmingham, Alabama, on the first Saturday night of the tour, I told the guys about the last time Hickoids were scheduled to play the city three decades prior. For that gig, we were supposed to play a storefront that dated to the 19th century and had once been some sort of burlesque theater. It was mid-afternoon and the guys running the place had two-wire electric laying on the floor atop a heap of plaster pulled from the now bare-lath walls. They seemed to be under the influence of amphetamines, but they assured us they’d have it all together that night — after they passed a city inspection. We told them we were going to go get something to eat and drove on to New Orleans.

This time, though, we were playing The Nick, a venue opened in 1982 that’s hosted everyone from Jane’s Addiction to The Black Keys, which was given the title “Birmingham’s dirty little secret” by none other than U2’s Bono. The club sits on the edge of downtown near a tangle of freeway overpasses. It feels lived in and isn’t especially clean — my kind of place. The business operates as a private club, open from Friday morning until Monday morning, so you can imagine things get loose from time to time. As a younger man, I could definitely see myself doing some damage there.

We didn’t end up hitting the stage until after 1 a.m., and most of the original audience of students, older locals and hardcore punks faded mid-set. Even so, we seemed to resonate better with the crowd that came in as other bars closed, especially a gaggle of young gay dudes. We played until about 3 a.m., feeling satisfied that we’d done our job.

I chatted with one of the co-owners after the set, a lady named Pam Stalling who looks younger than her years. Pam’s a great hostess — imbibing and chatting with patrons, and even buying Hickoids T-shirts for staff, beyond paying us decently. As we made nightclub business chit-chat, I asked her how they’d been weathering the pandemic.

“We’ve been kicking ass up to now, we found ways to get by and make it work,” she said. “But if there’s another shutdown, that’s

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.

@STONEOAKORTHODONTICS

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CURRENT | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | sacurrent.com

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it, we’re done.”

As the tour went on, we felt safer on the road than if we’d stayed in Texas, where hospitals were filling up with COVID-19 cases.

But after two full weeks of shows, two of our final gigs were canceled due to concerns about the delta variant, and we decided to abandon a third in St. Louis and head home. It wasn’t a decision we made lightly, but our own insubstantial setback paled in comparison to the defining night of the tour.

Us and them Before I get to that defining night, I should mention that I think it’s an individual choice whether to receive a vaccine. While I wish that a vast majority of Americans would choose to roll up their sleeves, I don’t believe it should be mandatory. Requiring all Americans to get vaxxed would only further embolden the conspiracy-minded and potentially strengthen their argument.

That said, I do think enticements such as vaccine requirements as a condition of employment or healthcare coverage could drive a significant portion, say 10-15%, of those who remain unvaccinated to be swayed by their pocketbooks — fellow Americans be damned.

Still, the national polarization that threatens to turn to one of the most prosperous and powerful nations into a failed state comes into play. The coronavirus threatens to do what even the last election could not.

Once again, we seem to be divided into us and them. One side will refuse to get on board the forward-moving train mostly because the other has embraced it. Neither side possesses a monopoly on self-righteousness. On the one hand, you have the religious and socially conservative, and, on the other the liberal and “science minded.”

In the couple of weeks leading up to the tour, I watched as members of the latter group raised concerns on social media about the selfishness of the former. That kind of self-righteousness is no more a carrot, a stick or a bargaining chip than a picture of butchered fetus changes anyone’s opinion about abortion. The beliefs are deeply held and hard to change.

You have half the country who feel like they are defending their way of life while the other half is simply hoping to preserve their own lives, and maybe, protect the lives of those who they don’t see eye to eye with in the bargain.

We all want this to end, and even those who favor science over God aren’t above wishing for or accepting a miracle. Perhaps the former is the one thing that still binds us as humans.

Moving needles Now, back to that defining night.

After playing an uneventful show for a small crowd in Lafayette on Thursday, July 29, we headed to New Orleans for our next gig. On the drive I started seeing on my Facebook feed that a friend I met in “the city that care forgot” at one of our shows more than a decade ago had died. His name was Hollise Murphy, and he was only 38. Sweet dude and one of the truest music fans you would ever meet.

Since first meeting, Hollise at that gig, I ran into him again over the years at shows in New Orleans, Austin and San Antonio. He even traveled as far as Japan to go see bands from his hometown. As far as I could tell, he was loved by nearly anyone who met him. He was one of those rare fans who could make a band feel appreciated by his mere presence in an otherwise empty room.

“The dude was music and goodness,” John Littlejohn of the band Savage Master said of Hollise. “He was all the great things you’ve heard and read about — 110% all of the great things folks have said about him — his loving nature, his positivity, his enthusiasm. It’s all true.

An angel among us really. It didn’t matter if you met Hollise for five minutes or if you had known him for five years, he was your friend forever and he made sure you knew it.”

I knew Hollise had been to a small punk and metal festival that takes place annually at a few different clubs in New Orleans two weeks prior to our stop there. I also knew that a friend here in San Antonio had contracted COVID while at the same event — and so did several other attendees. It didn’t take long to surmise that Hollise had died of COVID. My suspicions were confirmed later as we loaded in for that night’s show. I was also told that he was unvaccinated, something still haven’t been able to fully confirm.

Hollise certainly wasn’t someone I would consider one of “them.” He was a smart, sensitive and funny guy who was full of light, yet if I what I heard was true, he chose to remain unvaccinated.

I’m not sure what his reasoning might have been, but if that’s actually the case, I wish it had been different.

Courtesy Photo / John Littlejohn

Later, as I carried some stuff from the van into the club, a maskless local lady who looked to be in her late 30s sat at one of the venue’s sidewalk tables talking loudly to a group of friends about how “the local hospitals are full of vaccinated people who are dying.”

I didn’t see any reports to substantiate any part of that statement, and I doubt she had anything to back up the claim either.

Between finding out about Hollise’s passing and hearing the woman speak on the patio, I came to an inescapable conclusion about where the U.S. finds itself right now: We’ve got dueling brands of “truth,” but only one of them will kill you immediately.

Our defining characteristics as individuals should make our country a beautiful place not a deadly, divided one. Life would be staid if we were all the same.

I want to see the Hollises of the world again. To quote my friend John Littlejohn again, “This world is a darker place without [Hollise], and the only way I’ve concluded to bring some of that light back is to try to carry on his spirit by living as best as I can by his example. ... He would want us all to

Hickoids found out about the death of New Orleans fan Hollise Murphy (right) while they were on the road.

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‘stay awesome.’”

Beyond seeing folks like Hollise, I want to play and see bands at places like The Nick until I can’t do it anymore. When I walk into a truckstop diner with the band, the only thing I want to get sick from is food poisoning.

Vitriol and a sense of moral and intellectual superiority are understandable, but they don’t move the needle(s) — literally or figuratively. Last year provided enough shouting to last a lifetime. I’m determined to save the virtual rocks I throw from behind a computer screen for an argument I might win, like whether or Austin or San Antonio has better breakfast tacos.

When I speak to someone who chooses to go unvaccinated, I will do my best to reach them — for me and for them. I want to restore my humanity and help them regain theirs.

We can get back to fighting about the small stuff when that’s done — without masks.

sacurrent.com | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | sacurrent.com

music calendar Banda MS

Facebook / Banda MS

Wednesday, August 25 - Thursday, August 26 Kevin Costner and Modern West Will there be wolves? Will they be dancing? No one can say for sure, but what can be verified is that this show is a chance to see a Hollywood legend follow through on a passion project in an intimate environment. Costner’s screen work needs no introduction; it includes classics from JFK to Bull Durham, as well as his more recent hit TV show Yellowstone. His work with Modern West is less known, even though the band dropped its debut album, Untold Truths, more than a decade ago. More recently, the group released Tales From Yellowstone, which features songs from the point of view of Costner’s character on the show. $92.50, 7 p.m., Gruene Hall, 1281 Gruene Road, New Braunfels, (830) 606-1281, gruenehall.com. — Mike McMahan

Thursday, August 26 Jomo & The Possum Posse Hailing from Austin, Jomo Edwards and his posse are best known for the quirky video series Guy on a Buffalo, which has

been featured on NPR and in Forbes magazine. The band’s style of humor is made clear in its self-description as “the greatest band in the world. Possibly ever.”

If you couldn’t guess from the name, the Possum Posse is grounded in a roots style. $10-$50, 7:30 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 2232830, samsburgerjoint. com. — MM Aubrey Logan Trombonist, singer and songwriter Aubrey Logan is returning to Jazz, TX. If that’s intriguing to you, best grab tickets now, because the Berklee graduate’s last show at the venue sold out quickly. That makes sense, considering the artist’s last

original album reached No. 1 on Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart. She’s now touring on her latest release – her fresh take on classics called Standard. $35, 7:30 p.m., Jazz, TX, 312 Pearl Parkway, Building 6, Suite 6001, jazztx.com. — Enrique Bonilla Little Jesus Part of the new wave of Latin indie, Little Jesus is paving the way for new Spanish-language rock bands to break big. The group have all the makings of an indie-rock band, including buzzing guitars and slow jams, Facebook / Aubrey Logan but with an occasional reggaeton flair. $15-$17, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St Mary’s St., papertigertx.com. — BE

Aubrey Logan

Saturday, August 28 Banda MS Sixteen-piece Band MS’s recently announced MS Positivo tour will make a San Antonio in support of 2020’s El Trabajo es la Suerte. The ensemble’s Billboard Latin Music Award-winning discography of 16 releases offers something for fans of the brass- and percussion-focused regional Mexican genre. $49.50, 8 p.m., AT&T Center, 1 AT&T Center Parkway, attcenter. com. — EB Passing Strangers Look out weekend, because Passing Strangers is back with ’80s retro music that many middle-aged San Antonio music fans can fondly look back on. Expect the SA-based act’s new wave cover of Gary Wright’s “Dream Weaver” to make an appearance in the setlist. $15, 9 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — BE

Sunday, August 29 Lil Lotus Dallas’ Lil Lotus — real name: John “Elias”

sacurrent.com | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | CURRENT

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

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Cristela Alonzo

DeRay Davis

Carlos Mencia

D.L. Hughley

Stavros Halkias

Chingo Bling

Annie Lederman

CURRENT | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | sacurrent.com

music calendar Villagran — got his start in metalcore, but when he embarked on a solo career, he shifted to the emo-rap genre. Although he grew up in a religious household, the rapper found himself drawn into the world of drugs in his late teens. He celebrated a year of sobriety last November and has been featured in Alternative Press and PopMatters. $18-$36, 7 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com.

— MM

Between the Buried and Me

Wednesday, September 1 Giovannie and the Hired Guns Straight out of Stephenville, this rock-inspired country quartet is returning to San Antonio on a Labor Day weekend run of Texas shows. The group plays homage to one of the greats of Mexican music in its latest single “Ramon Ayala.” San Antonio’s own Ty Dillon opens up the evening. $10, 10 p.m. Thirsty Horse Saloon, 2335 NW Military Highway, thirstyhorse.net. — BE

Thursday, September 2 Graham Wilkinson A preacher’s son and Texas native, Wilkinson strived to make a name for himself as an independent musician for the past 12 years, all while holding down the fort as a family man. He creates soft, country-inspired tunes that speak to the soul similarly to those of Jason Mraz. Free, 8:30 p.m., The Rustic, 17619 La Cantera Parkway, Unit 204, (210) 245-7500, therustic.com/ san-antonio. — BE

Friday, September 3 Facebook / Between the Buried and Me

Warren G + Too $hort + Mack The West Coast hip-hop pioneer is making a San Antonio stop for the first time in more than a decade. A multi-platinum seller and hip-hop legend, G cemented his status through work with Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg and Dr. Dre. Too $hort and Mack 10 open the show, setting the scene for a night of West Coast sounds. $49, 7 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St. theaztectheatre.com. — EB Beartooth + Wage War + Dragged Under After coming to prominence in Attack!

Attack!, Caleb Shomo formed Ohio-based metalcore outfit Beartooth. He’s remained the band’s centerpiece and the sole member present for its entire run. The ensemble is touring behind its newest album, Below. $27.50, 6 p.m., Vibes Event Center, 1223 E. Houston St., (210) 255-3833, vibeseventcenter.com. — MM

Nathan Felix Originally set as an in-person gig that’s since been moved to November 12th, this virtual presentation of “The Four Harpsichord Concert” by composer Nathan Felix will include feature the quartet of advertised instruments set in a circle within the Great Hall to create an ethereal sound.

Inspired by SAMA’s exhibit “America’s Impressionism: Echoes of a Revolution,” expect this one to pull on your heart “strings.” Pay what you wish, 6:30 p.m., San Antonio Museum of Art, Virtual, (210) 978-8100, samuseum.org. — BE

Saturday, September 4 Twin Tribes + Wingtips Darkwave darlings and Brownsville natives Twin Tribes are bringing their brand

of synth-driven post-punk back to San Anto. The group’s most recent release, Altars, pays tribute to contemporary goth acts while adding a tinge of dream pop.

Chicago’s Wingtips, an electro-goth duo, and San Antonio’s one-man electronic project MVTANT open the night. $10, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s Street, papertigersatx.com. — EB One Horse Town Formed in 2008, the running joke with these rootsy rockers is that they “have over 110 years of collective experience” via years of opening performances for prominent country acts since the ’70s.

English singer and acoustic guitar player Sophia Johnson has dibs on opening the evening. Cover Charge, 9 p.m., The Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St Mary’s St., (210) 455-0233, thelonesomerose.com. — BE

Tuesday, September 7 Between the Buried and Me These long-running blenders of extreme metal and prog will bring their several times-delayed 20th anniversary tour to town. Though Between the Buried and Me have brought several stacked bills to the Alamo City in years past, this tour finds the band holding things down by itself with a two-set show. The night will open with a full performance of its album The Great Misdirect, followed by a “career spanning” second set. The evening’s retrospective portion is expected to include one song from the group’s newly-released LP, Colors II, a follow-up to the beloved — spoiler alert — Colors. $22, 7:30 p.m., Rock Box, 1223 E. Houston St., (210) 2553833, therockboxsa.com. — MM

sacurrent.com | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | CURRENT

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E M P LOY M E N T Quadrant Distribution, LLC is seeking a Network Engineer in San Antonio, Texas, fluent in telecommunications and networking language in English and in Spanish to operate and design voice and data networks for value added services including top-ups, prepaid calling cards, texting, IVRS based on Cisco TCL language and asterisk low level coding, gift cards, payment processing; provisioning networks for additional layers of security including encryption and VPNS; design, implement, maintain and support energy and power distributionfor necessary hardware for such applications; design, implement, maintain and support Cisco data networks including cabling, switching, routing, security, VPN access and monitoring; collaborate with co workers, end users, customers and providers in Mexico and the USA to integrate systems and other data.

Send resume via email to jobs@quadrantdistribution. com and reference job for Network Engineer.

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CURRENT | August 25 – September 7, 2021 | sacurrent.com

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