San Antonio Current — January 12, 2022

ABBOTT'S BORDER BUST | JOINING FORCES WITH MOTHERLING | JOSHUA RADIN JAN. 12 - JAN. 25, 2022

Why diners should be understanding as restaurants grapple with

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CURRENT | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

in this issue San Antonio Current

Issue 22-01 /// January 12 – January 25, 2022

22 Food

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

Be Nice or Leave

Editorial

Digital Content Editor: Kelly Nelson Contributing Arts Editor: Bryan Rindfuss Food and Nightlife Writer: Nina Rangel Contributors: Ron Bechtol, 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, Mackenzie Cook Editorial Interns: Ashley Allen

Hot Dish

27 Music

‘I’ve Never Had a Hit’

Marketing and Events

Ahead of his Tobin Center show, singer-songwriter Joshua Radin talks about connections that matter

Marketing and Events Director: Cassandra Yardeni Events Manager: Chelsea Bourque Account Manager: Nathan Sokul Senior Account Executive: Mike Valdelamar Marketing and Events Coordinator: Julia Bentley Social Media Manager: Meradith Garcia

Music Listings

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Creative Services Manager: Samantha Serna Production Interns: Pedro Macias, Marlene Mejia

Circulation

Circulation Manager: Justin Giles

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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 National Advertising: Voice Media Group (888) 278-9866, vmgadvertising.com San Antonio Current 915 Dallas San Antonio, Texas 78215 sacurrent.com Editorial: (210) 332-5448 Display Advertising: (210) 332-5448 Classified: (210) 227-CLAS / Fax - (210) 227-7733 The San Antonio Current is published by Euclid Media Group

Sanford Nowlin

22 Feature

Be Nice or Leave

Why diners should show understanding as restaurants grapple with staffing issues

07 News

The Opener News in Brief

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Border Bust

A year after February ice storm, new data shows Texas natural gas providers still not ready for freeze

The human costs of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star continue to pile up

14 Calendar

‘Kid Death’ Reporting

18 Arts

Veteran San Antonio police reporter launches Texas true-crime podcast

Moving to Texas for more freedom? Not so fast. Study ranks the state 49th in personal liberties

Calendar Picks

Joining Friendly Forces

ABBOTT'S BORDER BUST | JOINING FORCES WITH MOTHERLING | JOSHUA RADIN JAN. 12 - JAN. 25, 2022

Why diners should be understanding as restaurants grapple with

STAFFING

ISSUES

Year-old art collective Motherling joins Mexic-Arte curator Isabel Servantez for exhibition of women collage artists

21 Screens True Grit

Actress Isabelle Fuhrman taps into her own ambition, drive to play obsessed rower in The Novice

O

n the Cover: Restaurants are suffering through their worst staff shortages in recent memory. Be prepared to cut them some slack. Cover design: Samantha Serna.

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CURRENT | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

H

A year after the February ice storm that left hundreds of Texans dead, a new analysis of state data shows that natural gas providers are unprepared for a similar event. Over the first weekend in January, natural gas providers across the state burned or wasted 1 billion cubic feet of gas due to cold weather-related shutdowns, per number crunching by energy research firm BloombergNEF. What’s more, gas production dropped to its lowest level since the storm.

H

San Antonio ISD, facing a staffing shortage, is recruiting substitute teachers and offering revised pay rates as high as $200 per day for teachers with a bachelor’s degree who are willing to teach in an area of “critical need.” The district held teaching fairs last week, aiming to bolster its workforce. SAISD said it’s offering the highest pay for subs in Bexar County.

H

MetroHealth is advising people seeking COVID-19 tests in San Antonio to be wary of fake testing sites. With omicron spreading rapidly and people struggling to find tests, cities across the country have received reports of scam testing sites that may ask for social security numbers, charge an upfront cost or lack an affiliation with a storefront or healthcare organization.

Becky Hammon is finally getting a chance to be a head coach.

The longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant, who interviewed for NBA head coaching jobs and became the first acting female head coach in NBA history after Gregg Popovich was ejected from a game in 2020, has been named head coach of the WNBA Las Vegas Aces. Hammon, who had a decorated career as a WNBA player, will finish the regular season with the Spurs before moving to Nevada.

— Abe Asher

YOU SAID IT!

“Legalizing cannabis in Texas is going to be economically beneficial for the entire state, but we must do it right. We must do it in a way that is equitable and rebuilds black and brown communities destroyed by the past 50 years of the so-called ‘war on drugs.’”

— Lee Merritt,

Civil rights attorney and Democratic candidate for Texas attorney general

ASSCLOWN ALERT

Groveling With Ted Cruz Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

Along with picking Twitter fights with celebrities, squirming seems to be one of Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s most frequent pastimes.

After being excoriated last week by right-wingers for calling the Jan. 6 insurrection a “violent terrorist attack,” Texas’ junior senator appeared Thursday on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show to cram his own words back into his weirdly shaped pie hole.

“The way I phrased things yesterday, it was sloppy, and it was frankly dumb,” Cruz said during what could best be described as a groveling appearance on the extreme-right entertainer’s program.

After Carlson shouted over Cruz, cutting him off and effectively calling him a liar, Cruz smiled meekly then explained that when he used the T-word, he was only referring to Jan. 6 rioters who attacked the police — and not anyone else who stormed the Capitol and tried to overturn a fair and free election.

“For a decade, I have referred to people who violently assault police officers as terrorists,” Cruz explained. “I’ve done so over and over and over again.”

Carlson and other far-right figures hyperventilated last Wednesday, the one-year anniversa-

news

That Rocks/That Sucks

Wikimedia Commons / Gage Skidmore

ry of the Jan. 6 insurrection, after Cruz during a Senate hearing praised police who fought back a “violent terrorist attack on the Capitol.”

It’s bad enough that Cruz, one of the biggest assclowns in Washington, tried to praise law enforcement after he helped egg on the false claims of a stolen election that inspired the Jan. 6 attack.

Now, after Carlson’s tongue-lashing, it’s clear that Texas’ junior senator is so spineless that he can’t even stand by that reasonable assessment of the mayhem his words and actions helped bring about. — Sanford Nowlin

San Antonio-based Pabst Blue Ribbon started 2022 under fire after posting a tweet suggesting that people staying sober in the first month of the new year try another activity instead. “Not drinking this January? Try eating ass!” the company posted from its official Twitter account on January 3. When a user replied, “PBR or ass?

Whats the difference?” the brewer replied, “Ask your mom.” The company later deleted and apologized for the tweets.

San Antonio’s Bill Miller Bar-B-Q temporarily closed all its dining rooms in San Antonio, Austin and the surrounding area, citing a staff shortage. The chain’s locations were still open for curbside, drive-through and delivery services, however. Dining rooms were set to reopen on January 10.

Blueprint Hospitality has purchased CPS Energy’s former headquarters on the River Walk for $19 million and plans to turn the property into a hotel, the Express-News reported. The deal also includes a stake in the Tower Life Buildings parking garage. CPS Energy, which listed more than $50 million in real estate holdings in 2019, will use the proceeds to pay down the $210 million it spent on a new headquarters on McCullough Ave. — Abe Asher

Instagram / @billmillerbarbq

Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

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news Border Bust

The human costs of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star continue to pile up

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

A

s Gov. Greg Abbott escalates his bravado on border security going into the 2022 election, it’s hard to imagine how his Operation Lone Star is a winner with anyone other than hard-right Republican primary voters.

Fueled by his repeated claims that the Biden Administration isn’t doing enough to stem illegal border crossings, Abbott’s high-profile project deployed state troopers and Texas National Guardsmen to arrest migrants accused of minor property crimes such as property trespassing.

However, the $2 billion operation has drawn stinging criticism from lawmakers and immigrant-rights groups for violating arrestees’ constitutional rights, creating a legal morass and creating hardships for Texas National Guard troops.

Since its launch last year, Operation Lone Star has overwhelmed South Texas criminal justice systems with misdemeanor arrests, and both federal lawmakers and the ACLU have called for a Justice Department probe, citing the constitutional questions raised by Abbott’s pet project.

Prosecutorial bungles have led to the large-scale release of migrants after courts determined that hundreds were detained for weeks without charges or the ability to speak to an attorney, according to extensive reporting by the Texas Tribune. For many, that jail time is more than they would have received had they been found guilty of the minor offenses for which they’d been charged.

“Gov. Abbott deserves every bit of scrutiny that these policies bring about,” said Susannah Cunningham, a national security fellow at the Truman National Security Project. “The images of him at the border making these proclamations, surrounded by mostly white law enforcement officials are extremely evocative of Klan tactics.”

Cunningham, who has extensive experience working with refugee groups, argues that Operation Lone Star demonizes immigrants while clinging to an outdated deterrence policy that’s repeatedly been proven ineffective in deterring immigrants fleeing hunger, violence and grinding poverty.

In an emailed statement, Abbott spokesperson Nan Tolson called Operation Lone Star a response to the White House’s “reckless open border policies.”

“Gov. Abbott initiated a new policy of arrest and jail — instead of President Biden’s catch and release program — to stop this revolving door and deter others considering entering illegally,” Tolson said.

Tolson added that Abbott’s office has issued $74.8 million in grant funding to help South Texas commu-

Instagram / @Gov. Greg Abbott

nities execute “coordinated border security operations.”

The ACLU complaint, filed last month in partnership with other civil rights groups, alleges that local officials involved in Abbott’s sweep have used xenophobic language, tried to enlist the aid of militia groups and sought to contract with private security groups to detain migrants, nearly all of whom have been Black or Latino.

Indeed, the filing argues, “the nature of the program — state-sanctioned targeting of immigrants — has further fueled racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric and action” in Texas.

Strain on troops Beyond the effect on migrants, both documented and undocumented, critics say it’s also become increasingly clear that Operation Lone Star is taking a toll on members of the Texas National Guard. A December investigation by the Army Times documented four suicides among those troops late last year, most of whom sign up expecting to serve part time.

In November, Abbott’s office bragged to news site Border Report that it had deployed 10,000 troops for its anti-migrant sweeps.

The suicides come as multiple news organizations report that troops pulled into Operation Lone Star are plagued by pay delays and poor working conditions. Additionally, Texas Military Department’s tuition assistance funds were cut in half under the state’s new two-year budget.

In an emailed statement supplied to the Current, the Texas Military Department said it dispatches “Behavioral Health teams” with each task force it deploys and that it offers a 24/7 counseling program.

Department officials told the Texas Tribune that only two of the four suicides reported by the Army Times were among troops “on orders in support of Operation Lone Star.”

In comments to the Current, the Texas Military Department said it’s working through payroll problems and correcting them as soon as they’re identified.

“Any lingering pay issues are primarily systems and administrative errors and as such it is possible for

new pay issues to arise,” according to the email.

Renewed calls for a probe U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, was among 25 federal lawmakers requested the Justice Department and Homeland Security investigate Operation Lone Star in an October letter. Castro said he and the others are preparing to renew their request.

“There have got to be consequences from the Justice Department for the governor abusing resources and unconstitutionally keeping people in jail for prolonged periods,” he said. “He’s risking people’s lives, including members of the Texas National Guard, who have been pulled into work they weren’t trained for at the same time as their benefits have been cut.”

Castro disputes the necessity of state intervention, pointing out that the U.S. Border Patrol has three times as many agents in South Texas as it did 20 years ago and has made massive investments in monitoring technology.

To be sure, the Biden White House last year deported more migrants than the Trump administration did over its entire four-year-term, the Washington Post reports. Indeed, civil rights groups complain that Biden has kept in place some of the most draconian elements of Trump’s immigration policy, including Title 42, which uses the pandemic as rationale for expelling migrants without the chance to request asylum.

In the end, critics charge, it’s unimportant to Abbott and his advisors whether Operation Lone Star works. Like the governor’s resurrection of Trump’s border wall, it’s largely performative — a means to posture while distracting from failures such as his mishandling of the pandemic that’s so far killed 77,000 Texans.

“It’s about spectacle: it’s being done for political gain,” said Aimee Villarreal, a professor of Mexican American Studies at Our Lady of the Lake University.

“But, at the same time, it’s also propagating undemocratic principles by militarizing border communities. ... What you see going on is what you see in war zones.” sacurrent.com | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | CURRENT

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Feb. 2

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CURRENT | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

1 AT&T Center Parkway San Antonio, Tx 78219 For tickets visit ATTCenter.com/Events

news ‘Kid Death’ Reporting Veteran San Antonio police reporter launches Texas truecrime podcast

BY MAX BOOTH III

H

ello, everyone. I’m Thomas Edwards, a veteran crime reporter who’s covered some of the most gruesome homicides and darkest mysteries to plague Texas during modern times,” begins the first episode of The Rap Sheet, a new true crime podcast Edwards hosts with his wife Florence.

In that episode, the couple tackles one of the highest-profile crimes in the city’s history: the unsolved murder of 11-year-old Heidi Seeman, who was abducted in broad daylight on the streets of Northeast San Antonio in 1990.

Where many true crime podcasts rely on late-night Wikipedia browsing for their source material, The Rap Sheet differs in that Thomas Edwards, a former San Antonio Express-News police reporter, covered the cases he discusses when they originally occurred.

When it comes to the Heidi Seeman case, he met with the family, assisted in the search and even “unwittingly befriended the man later named as a prime suspect.”

The same hands-on experience can be applied to any of their couple’s other episodes — which range from a one-man crime spree in Marble Falls to a serial pedophile-murderer San Antonio paramedic. Being present during the cases they’re discussing holds an undeniable advantage over other podcasts also tackling similar subjects.

“I was standing next to the suspect,” Edwards explains. “I was there when the crime scene unfolded.”

Sometimes those crimes even made national headlines. An upcoming episode will cover the Republic of Texas secessionist group’s 1997 standoff, for example.

“Their splinter group went out to West Texas to a compound and eventually ended up in a faceoff with about 500 law enforcement officers in the mountains,” Thomas Edwards said. “There were boobytrapped roads. They took a rancher hostage, shot him, took his wife at bay. But I was in and out of their compound a lot, and got the only interview with their leader after he was arrested. With these crooks, I was there rubbing shoulders with them and the officers chasing after them. That’s the perspective I bring. I’m not just reading you something. I’m telling you, ‘Well, here’s what I saw. Here’s what he said when I talked to him.’”

From Kolchak to the front page

Max Booth

An army brat, Edwards lived all over the country.

His father, a lieutenant colonel in the Medical Service Corps, served four tours of duty at Fort Sam Houston. It was growing up in the Alamo City, watching episodes of Jeff Rice’s cult TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker, that Edwards first found inspiration to embrace a newspaper career.

“I fell in love with the idea of this reporter always stumbling across these macabre events and mysteries,” he said.

Edwards started working at the Express-News in January 1985 as a police reporter, where he was nicknamed “Kid Death” by a sportswriter based on how many gruesome murders he covered over his career.

“I worked all hours, all shifts, where I really got to learn about crime, police procedures and how officers conduct themselves,” Edwards said.

He also had to learn how to interview people on the worst days of their lives.

“A lot of times you’d think people would slam the door in your face — but, actually, they want to talk instead,” Edwards said. “They want a record. They want the rest of the world to know who this person was.”

‘The Wild West’ The first inkling of what would eventually become The Rap Sheet originated in the 1990s, when the now-defunct San Antonio Light was owned by the Hearst Corp. and the Express-News was owned by Rupert Murdoch. The rival daily newspapers were located across the street from each other.

“It was the Wild West,” Edwards says. “It was fun, but it was frenetic too, because we were constantly in competition.”

This fun-filled rivalry came to an end when Hearst purchased the Express-News and shut down the Light in 1993. “[The San Antonio Light reporters] were our competitors, but they were also our friends,” Edwards recalls.

“As our colleagues across the street were contemplating what to do when their jobs were over, some of

us started talking about how this town loves a crime story. I don’t know who came up with the idea, but we started talking about maybe all of us breaking away and doing our own little crime newspaper. Then the Light closed, people went their separate ways, I got booted upstairs and became an editor. Everybody got married, had kids, so that crime newspaper idea was kind of forgotten.”

Beating the street But Edwards never completely let go.

Following the August 2021 end of his job with LOCAL Community News, where he served as the executive editor for nine years, Edwards decided to launch The Rap Sheet with his wife.

In addition to going over his old newspaper stories for episode preparation, Edwards follows chat groups and Reddit threads — and keeps up with the network he built as a beat reporter.

“I still talk to my old police sources,” he said. “The primary years for these cases are the late ’80s, the ’90s, and the early part of this century. Probably really nothing past 2009. By then I became nothing but an editor running papers and telling other reporters what to go cover.”

That last part doesn’t appear to be changing.

Edwards just landed a new gig as executive editor for Granite Media Partners Inc., a Taylor-based enterprise that runs a network of 10 Texas community papers.

But he still misses the trill of being a police reporter.

“I loved it,” Edwards said. “I enjoyed the job. You never loved the grief or the pain. We enjoyed performing our duty.”

So, is The Rap Sheet his way of reliving those days on the crime beat?

“I like to think of it as telling people about stories they might not have been around for the first time that they’d still be fascinated by,” he said.

The Rap Sheet is available to stream on most podcast platforms, including Spotify and iTunes. sacurrent.com | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

news Moving to Texas for more freedom? Not so fast. Study ranks the state 49th in personal liberties

BY MICHAEL KARLIS

F

or a second consecutive year, Texas posted the highest annual population growth among U.S. states, according to U.S. Census figures, and many of its new residents cite the state’s laissez-faire governance as part of the draw.

But if you’re searching for greater personal freedoms, a new study suggests you’d best look elsewhere.

That analysis, published by self-described libertarian think tank the Cato Institute, found that the Lone Star State — a place where you can open-carry without a mask on — ranks 49th among U.S. states when it comes to personal freedoms.

Cato gave Texas high scores when it comes to economic and fiscal freedom — it ranks No. 10 and No. 12 on those, respectively — and the study ranked the state No. 21 overall when it comes to a variety of freedoms.

But that’s not to say Texas is a beacon in the personal freedom category. The state’s “generally aggressive” criminal justice record helps explain its finish near the bottom.

More Texas citizens are imprisoned per capita than those of any other democracy on the planet, for ex-

UnSplash / Taylor Brandon

ample. And although only 12% of the state is African American, that demographic makes up the majority of state inmates. Drug-related arrests are around the national average, but possession of fewer than two ounces of weed under the state’s “harsh” cannabis laws can land violators a 180-day sentence in the county jail.

The study also cited the Texas’ tough stance on gambling as a drag on its personal freedom ranking.

Even sports betting remains illegal here, even though the practice is permitted in 30 states and the District

A year after February ice storm, new data shows Texas natural gas providers still not ready for freeze

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

E

ven though Texas’ natural gas industry had 11 months to remedy production flaws that worsened the devastating power outages during last February’s ice storm, a new analysis of state data suggests those problems still exist.

During the cold snap that hit Texas the first weekend of January, “instruments froze, output plunged and companies spewed a miasma of pollutants into the atmosphere in a bid to keep operations stable,” according to an examination of state environmental filings by energy research firm BloombergNEF. Over that weekend, Texas natural gas providers

burned or wasted 1 billion cubic feet of gas due to cold weather-related shutdowns, according to filings with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the state’s primary air-quality monitor, cited by Bloomberg.

What’s more, the analysis found that gas production during the weekend dropped to the lowest level since Winter Storm Uri, which killed nearly 250 people, according to official state figures.

“It makes our hearts beat a little faster because of what we went through last February,” Virginia Palacios, executive director of the regulatory watchdog

of Columbia.

What may be most surprising to some about the Cato analysis is where the Lone Star State is positioned when it comes to the rights of gun owners.

Texas ranked No. 31, while Kansas topped the nation with the leniency of its gun laws.

Texas may be a cheaper place to live, its people friendlier and its climate balmier than most of the country. But if you’re looking for more freedom, you may want to consider Nevada, the “freest” state in the country, according to the CATO report. group Commission Shift, told Bloomberg News, an affiliated wire service that reported on the analysis.

“It was a traumatic event that I don’t think anybody wants to relive.”

After February’s disaster, consumer groups and environmental advocates called on lawmakers to require the natural gas industry to make significant upgrades to their infrastructure in preparation for another freeze.

San Antonio’s municipally owned utility CPS Energy is also locked in multiple lawsuits with gas companies which it accuses of overcharging during the last year’s shutdowns.

However, the Republican-controlled Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the state’s energy industry, isn’t expected to enact new weatherization regulations until 2023. Critics also argue that those rules include loopholes that would allow some providers to avoid the upgrades altogether.

Neither the Railroad Commission nor the TCEQ offered comment to Bloomberg on its analysis. sacurrent.com | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | CURRENT

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TUE | 01.18 COMEDY

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 LIVE: TIME BUBBLE TOUR Two years since the live stage version of the cult classic TV show graced the Tobin’s stage, Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live is back, baby.

And while time may have stopped due to the pandemic, things have changed around MST3K. Yes, the beloved wise-cracking puppets from the cult TV show — Tom Servo, Crow and GPC — are still in action, so don’t worry there. But this time the festivities will be overseen by Emily Connor (actress Emily Marsh), the show’s new host and the first woman to fill that role in its 30-year history. The crew will be riffing on Making Contact, a 1985 “techno-horror-fantasy” from director Roland Emmerich. While Current staff haven’t reviewed the film, we’re guessing it’s no Independence Day. For the naysayers: show creator Joel Hodgson isn’t appearing this year, but he remains the production supervisor. Maybe he’s marooned off-planet? The live show will include a screening of the film with commentary as well as skits, all in a format that mirrors the original TV series. $34.50-$84.50, 8 p.m., Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — Mike McMahan

Photo by Brandi Morris

THU | 01.20 COMEDY

FORTUNE FEIMSTER There’s busy and there’s busy. Comedienne Fortune Feimster falls in the latter category. Most prominently, her one-hour special Sweet & Salty is streaming on Netflix, where she also stars with David Spade on The Netflix Afterparty. Beyond that, she’s done her standup thing on Conan and Seth Myers. It all began for Feimster when she hung out as a panelist on Chelsea Lately, though she followed this up with appearances on, well, everything! And that’s no exaggeration, as she’s showed up on Dear White People, Drunk History, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Glee, 2 Broke Girls and The L Word: Generation Q. As if all that wasn’t enough, she also hosts the podcast Sincerely Fortune with her partner Jax. And there’s more! She appears every morning with Tom Papa on Sirius XM’s What A Joke With Papa and Fortune. Yeah, that qualifies as a lot. No wonder she gets salty.

How she finds time to be sweet, we’ll never know. $29.50-$49.50, 7:30 Courtesy of Jose Villalobos

THU | 01.13 TUE | 01.25 SPECIAL EVEN T

DREAMWEEK 2022

8624, tobincenter.org. — MM Fronterizo/Border Faggot.” Raised on the U.S./Mexico border in El Paso, Villalobos is known for his artistic protests of toxic masculinity through performance, sculpture and fashion (Free, 7 p.m.–11 p.m., Jan. 15, Brick at Blue Star, 108 Blue Star). The history of civil rights in San Antonio will be on display during the exhibition “Piecing Together a Story of Courage” through historic images, recordings and interviews

The 16-day summit centered on civil and civic engagement features a

(Free, 10:30 a.m.-noon, Jan. 15, Instituto Cultural de México, 600 Hemisfair).

host of events across San Antonio. Inspired by the teachings of Martin

African American culture will be celebrated through music in a concert

Luther King Jr., DreamWeek is held “to foster the exchange of ideas” in

presented by Musical Bridges Around the World, where featured

an environment “where real-world issues are presented and nurtured.”

artists from the documentary The Quilt will be in attendance (Free,

The 10th annual event will include symposiums, panel discussions,

7 p.m., Jan. 23, San Fernando Cathedral, 115 Main Plaza). All events are

film screenings, art exhibits and musical performances. Selected

subject to change. Times and locations vary, January 13-30, (210) 444-2315,

works by artist José Villalobos will be on exhibit during his show “Joto

dreamweek.org. — Kiko Martinez

14

CURRENT | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

p.m., Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-

Courtesy of Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

calendar

Courtesy of San Antonio Botanical Garden

SAT | 01.22 TUE | 01.25 SPECIAL EVENT

ORCHID WEEK

Orchids go well beyond the purple and white flowers you often see for sale at the entry of H-E-B stores. In fact, they comprise one of the largest families of flowering plants on the planet, which includes the vanilla orchid, the source of the popular spice that shares its name. The San Antonio Botanical Garden is dedicating an entire week to orchids, starting off with a seminar day featuring a keynote lecture about the native orchids of Texas. Programming also includes an orchid show and vendor fair, sessions on orchid cultivation, a DIY vanilla extract class and two drop-in care clinics for hobbyists to get expert help with any ailing plants. Whether you’ve just got a single phalaenopsis sitting in the kitchen window or have a humidity-controlled greenhouse full of rare specimens à la Twin Peaks’ Harold Smith, you’re sure to find something to love. $3-$35, Jan. 22-30, San Antonio Botanical Garden, 555 Funston Place, (210) 5361400, sabot.org. — Kelly Nelson

FRI | 01.21 COMEDY

KATHLEEN MADIGAN Comedian Kathleen Madigan likes to say her 32-year comedy career started as a “happy accident.” She’s like the Bob Ross of the standup comedy circuit, except she doesn’t paint landscapes or have a billowy fro. Instead, Madigan, prior to the pandemic, was selling out shows across the United States and performing at least 250 times a year and still finding time to make stops on late-night talk shows and comedy series on Netflix, Comedy Central, HBO and other networks. That includes One Night Stand, Truly Funny Women, Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen and Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee alongside Jerry Seinfeld. Her last comedy special was Netflix’s Bothering Jesus in 2016, where she makes fun of her home state of Missouri, her crazy parents and how

Reminder:

fun it is to drink red wine while watching House Hunters.

Since the pandemic hit, Madigan, like every comedian on the planet, launched her own podcast, Madigan’s Pubcast, and hasn’t been too bummed out about having to avoid the public. “The government is telling me to stay at home and watch Netflix?” she recently told the Monterey County Weekly. “Nailed it!” $34.50-$49.50, 8 p.m., Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — KM

Luzena Adams

Although live events have returned, the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us. Check with venues to make sure scheduled events are still happening, and please follow all health and safety guidelines.

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CURRENT | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

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Courtesy Photo / Motherling

Joining Friendly Forces

Year-old art collective Motherling joins Mexic-Arte curator Isabel Servantez for exhibition of women collage artists

BY BRYAN RINDFUSS

E

Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com

arly last year, young artists of color and longtime besties Sealia Montalvo and Crisa Valadez decided to take their friendship to the next level with a creative partnership.

Aiming to fuse the complementary talents and interests of Montalvo (who’s studying civic engagement and nonprofit management at the University of Texas at San Antonio) and Valadez (who’s studying visual art and new media at Our Lady of the Lake), the International School of the Americas grads set out to highlight up-and-coming artists through the approachable, DIY format of pop-up exhibitions. Although the germinating seed was firmly planted, one key thing was missing: a name.

“It was kind of funny actually, because we’d had our idea for months but we just didn’t have a name,” Valadez recalled.

In search of something slightly obscure, earthy and metaphysical, the San Antonio natives bounced words off one another and eventually settled on a moniker for their nascent endeavor: Motherling.

“We were like, ‘Yeah, that makes sense,’” Montalvo said of the name. “Because we definitely are female-driven; we definitely try to support female-identifying and non-binary individuals within our community to try to

be as inclusive as we can.”

That directive became abundantly clear with Motherling’s first pop-up “Loveforms.”

Unveiled last February at Brick in the Blue Star Arts Complex, that group show united works by 20 women and female-identifying artists through an open-ended theme: love.

Beyond highlighting local creatives, Motherling’s debut showcased Montalvo’s hanging and installation abilities — skills she learned as a teenager attending Blue Star’s MOSAIC Student Artist Program.

“I took that experience through to [other] projects, and it definitely helps with Motherling collective,” said Montalvo, who has since brought Valadez up to speed on the ins and outs of hanging a show.

Last July, Motherling widened its scope by mixing a few male artists into “Text to Frame” — a “visual poetry show” hosted at Rojo Gallery.

Those two shows caught the attention of rising curator Isabel Servantez, who served as Semmes Foundation intern at the McNay Art Museum from 2020 to 2021 and was recently named curator of exhibitions and programs for Austin’s Mexic-Arte Museum.

“After their exhibition ‘Text to Frame,’ Sealia and Crisa approached me with the offer to curate an exhibition with them,” Servantez

From left: Curator Isabel Servantez collaborated with Motherling’s Sealia Montalvo and Crisa Valadez on the exhibition “Garden of Reflection.”

M

explained. “I was immediately excited about this opportunity. Over the course of several years, I had been keeping track of three collage artists: Zoe Carlson, Nancy Casanova and Anna Foran. Although their practices are seemingly disparate in themes and techniques, I felt drawn to each of their bodies of work, approaching collage from different and unique perspectives and approaches. … I felt strongly that these three artists would fit well together.”

To round out the trio of artists Servantez selected, Montalvo and Valadez chose two San Antonio-based collage artists: Tink Castillo and Anette Cavazos. On view at FL!GHT Gallery through January 28, the resulting collaboration is “Garden of Reflection,” a non-narrative exhibition comprising analog and digital collages exploring “shape, form, material and movement” along with myriad themes in between.

“It has been a pleasure working with Sealia and Crisa,” Servantez added. “They are excited, creative and diligent in giving opportunities to artists and art professionals.”

The Motherling duo also boasts a gift money or training can’t buy: synergy. During one of our visits with them at FL!GHT, we witnessed a moment that was pretty freaking adorable. As they mapped out the placement of artwork on the bare gallery walls, Valadez looked to Montalvo and said, “I feel like I couldn’t do this with any of my other friends.”

“I feel the same,” Montalvo replied.

These visual highlights of the show are five reasons to visit Motherling’s “Garden of Reflection.”

Zoe Carlson, Father Sky

paste collages made from “discarded paper ephemera from her travels, books, magazines, old drawings and artworks that have been damaged and abandoned.”

Incorporating acrylic paint, magazine clippings and embroidery on muslin, Denver-based “artist, seeker, daughter, sister and nonprofit administrator” Zoe Carlson’s latest body of work is inspired

by Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags, Peruvian ofrendas and “indigenous communities doing the real work at the frontlines of environmental justice.”

Bryan Rindfuss

Anette Cavazos, Growth

Guided by dreams, memory, ambiguity and composition, San Antonio native Anette Cavazos’ collages combine archival illustrations and clippings from magazines and books she collects from thrift stores.

Courtesy Photo / Zoe Carlson

Tink Castillo, Blasphemy

Driven by surrealism, San Antonio-based Houston native Tink Castillo experiments with layers and textures in hand-cut collages that encourage viewers to look past the obvious and “focus on the hidden meanings.”

Thank you to our Press Club members

for keeping independent local journalism alive!

Courtesy Photo / Anette Cavazos

Anna Foran, Untitled (Party)

Toronto-based visual artist and writer Anna Foran layers clippings, paint and pencil on paper to conjure ghosts, gaps and “the fullness of absence.”

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$ 5 0 / M O . O R $ 5 0 0 O N E - T I M E D O N AT I O N

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Courtesy Photo / Tink Castillo

Nancy Casanova, Reflection 2: Flashbulb Memories

San Antonio artist, collector, scavenger and nomad Nancy Casanova examines human behavior and habits in cut-and-

Courtesy Photo / Anna Foran

For more about Motherling, follow the collective on Instagram @motherling.sa.

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CURRENT | January 12 - January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

screens

True Grit

Actress Isabelle Fuhrman taps into her own ambition, drive to play obsessed rower in The Novice

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

W

hen actress Isabelle Fuhrman (The Hunger Games) read the script for the psychological sports drama The Novice, she considered it a dream role she didn’t want to lose out on.

So, she wrote a letter to the film’s first-time feature writer and director Lauren Hadaway.

Not about the part, but about a relay race she once ran from Santa Monica to Las Vegas — with a broken wrist.

“I ran about 60 miles with a cast on my arm,” Fuhrman, 24, told the Current during a recent interview. “I wrote her to let her know that I was the only person that she could possibly cast for the movie. Not only could I handle it emotionally, but I could handle it physically too.”

Fuhrman’s letter was persuasive, her taped audition great, so she booked the role. In The Novice, she plays Alex Dall, a college freshman who becomes obsessed with making her university’s varsity rowing team.

During the training, Alex puts her mind and body on the line, taking a risky path that could either lead to success or self-destruction.

The Novice is currently available on VOD, and Fuhrman was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her role.

Winners of the 37th Independent Spirit Awards will be announced March 6.

and my hands would be bleeding. I was hoping they didn’t get infected like they do in the script. I was living and breathing what Alex was going through. I really felt like I was in it the entire time.

What kinds of physical demands did you have to endure through the production?

Did you have to fall in love with rowing, too?

(Laughs.) I endured a lot! I really killed myself for this role. [Director] Lauren [Hadaway] made it clear that there wasn’t going to be a [stunt] double and that I was going to have to row the entire movie. I was like, “Yeah, I’m game for this!” Then, the next day, I’m waking up at 4:30 a.m. and rolling out of bed in pitch-black darkness to row for six hours and then lift weights for an hour. That was my schedule for the six weeks leading up to filming.

Did you become obsessed with your character in the same way she becomes obsessed with rowing?

For me, I was getting obsessed with the role.

[Alex’s] journey quickly became my journey, simultaneously. The training really aided in the process. I would come home with blisters,

Apple TV

I had to fall in love with the sport. I had to master the sport and sit in a boat alongside girls who had been rowing since they were 7 or 8 years old. I had to look like I knew what I was doing and look like I was fighting for one of the top spots. That was a lot of pressure I put on myself. I knew I had to push myself every single day. It was really fascinating to see my physical transformation happen. I really altered myself physically, mentally and emotionally. I was in a state of exhaustion that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced on a film. It became my life.

Do you think you could make a real-life university rowing crew when you were at your peak?

You know, I was thinking, “Maybe if I ever want to go back to college, I could get in

through rowing.” I feel like I got in a great space for the role. When I was making the movie, I had so much energy, even with the exhaustion and physical deterioration. I was the strongest I’ve ever been. I was thriving on it. I feel like I did the rowing community justice and captured what it means to have the grit, ambition and drive to achieve a certain goal for yourself.

Has the film industry broken your heart yet?

Oh, yeah. You put your heart and soul into the projects you audition for. There’s so much rejection in this industry. No one will really explain it to you either. When I was a kid, it really bothered me. You’re developing your sense of self, so you ask, “Am I not doing it right?” As I’ve gotten older, you realize that no one really knows what they’re looking for. Now, I don’t get upset about the roles I don’t get. I think The Novice would’ve been an exception though. I felt in my bones the moment I read it that this was a role for me.

I think the universe puts you where you’re meant to be.

Find more film stories at sacurrent.com

Be Nice or Leave

Why diners should show understanding as restaurants grapple with staffing issues

BY NINA RANGEL

W

hen did going to brunch become so difficult?” my usual weekend dining companion and I asked each other on the morning of Sunday, Jan. 2.

After trying to make reservations at nearly a dozen San Antonio restaurants, we felt defeated — and hangry.

All our favorite brunch spots were closed for the weekend, citing staffing issues or the ongoing pandemic.

We finally settled on walking into a Southtown eatery around noon. The online reservation system had been inexplicably suspended, but we had it on good authority from a kitchen staffer that the reservation books were sparse with scheduled diners.

22

When we arrived, we were given a laundry list of requirements we had to meet for dining in, delivered by a hostess with a practiced and dry, takeit-or-leave-it tone.

And that’s when it happened. My inner Karen emerged. I asked the hostess, in a snippy, unfamiliar tone, “Was any of this posted anywhere online?” I’m not proud of it, and every time I relay the experience to someone else, the internal shame I have for not practicing empathy in that moment grows just a bit more.

But there was an upside. Curiosity blossomed out of that shame.

My work life includes 20 years in the restaurant business, and I have a deep-seated love for my hospitality

CURRENT | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

Nina Rangel

family. If I had allowed the fatigue of these stressful, uncertain times to drive me to that point, how bad has it gotten for other diners? And, more importantly, what has that emotional escalation meant for San Antonio hospitality workers?

As it turns out, it’s miserable right now for staff at local restaurants and bars.

Restaurant owners have experienced unprecedented turnover and loss — both financially and to their labor reserves. Beyond that, servers, bartenders and other staff have felt the strain on their emotional health as customers lose their patience in dealing with lessthan-ideal dining experiences.

“We closed for a few days [between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2] out of an effort to protect the health, longevity and wellbeing of our staff, guests and the business itself. Obviously, this wasn’t our first choice, but it was the right choice for the long haul,” James Moore, executive chef of North San Antonio

brunch spot Full Belly said. “When we reopened on [Jan. 3], there were a substantial number of voicemails addressing the closure, but two stood out. They were just angry, riddled with expletives.” “[You are] stupid cunts that can suck a bag of dicks for being closed,” one voicemail scolded.

The other caller accused the restaurant staff of being “morons” and “idiots” before signing off with “Fuck you.”

Moore said it feels strangely fulfilling that people are that desperate to patronize his business. However, he’s not going to apologize to anyone for closing so he can ensure the safety of his staff and avoid a potentially disastrous service experience because he’s shorthanded.

“The irony is that the people that left those messages undoubtedly tried to find somewhere else to get brunch,” he said. “And knowing what I know about the current state of the industry, most other restaurants have also had to

170,000 unfilled jobs Moore, who also serves as president of the San Antonio Restaurant Association, estimates that 95% of the local operators he knows have endured unprecedented financial and labor-related blows over the past 16 months.

That number lines up with statewide data.

During a November forum, Texas Restaurant Association President and CEO Emily Williams Knight said the state’s foodservice industry had some 170,000 open jobs and that 91% of operators reported that they don’t have enough staff to open at full capacity.

Industry insiders say those numbers don’t provide the full picture of today’s crisis. The latest COVID-19 surge forced many Texas bars and restaurants to shut down over the typically busy Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

“We closed for the entire week right before New Year’s Day, because four members of our already small staff had COVID,” Full Belly shift lead Krystal Douglas said on a phone call. She was quarantined at the time and recovering from COVID herself. “And, of course, not making that money was tough, but a lot of us honestly really needed the break, because there’s just so much ugliness out in the world right now.”

Douglas added that the treatment she and staffers received from guests over the past eight months is the worst she’s seen during her 20-year career.

As a recent example, she cited a party of two who arrived a half hour late for their reservation with four extra guests in tow. When the host told the party they couldn’t be seated immediately due to the additional guests and would need to wait for 30 minutes, the woman who made the reservation accused the employee of being racist and called the police.

The situation only escalated after a server tried to calm the woman, but law enforcement never showed up.

“People get pissed off because we run out of pastries, they call the restaurant angry because online reservations are booked. It’s like they’re just angry at the state of the world and we’re easy targets,” Douglas said. “We’re as nice as we can possibly be, and we still get this person’s wrath because their coffee wasn’t hot enough.”

of behavior that usually draws a reprimand from managers.

Then sympathy set in. I felt for the mid-level managers who normally get stuck dealing with these kinds of situations — they’re the folks who end up drawing some of the most unenviable duties when the shit hits the fan.

“Guest behavior is absolutely affecting [staff’s] quality of life,” said Alejandro Caballero, manager of San Antonio brewpub Back Unturned Brewing. “The luxury of flexible schedules and time off that was once a benefit in the service industry is now almost nonexistent. They need to work in order to pay bills, but there is so much added pressure with the customers’ desire to go back to normal. It’s unsustainable.”

Caballero typically manages a staff of 10.

Under normal circumstances, the small and tightly knit group provides exemplary service to customers, he said. But these days, Caballero — like the folks from Full Belly — feels like he’s struggling keep customers happy while

food

close, whether it be for a few days or weeks. …

We’re all in the same boat.”

juggling pandemic safety protocols and keep things running while shorthanded.

Thousands of restaurant workers have left the industry for higher wages or more desirable working conditions since the beginning of the pandemic. The reality of the labor shortage is that longer wait times, limited menu options and fluctuating hours will be with us for a while.

Inconvenient? Yes. An excuse to lose your shit like I nearly did? Absolutely not.

“We do our best to accommodate people on a daily basis… but we’re not perfect,” Full Belly chef Moore said of the obscenity-laced voicemails he received. “Twenty years ago, I’d have have called that person out, invited them to say that nonsense to my 6-foot-2, 275-pound, short-fused self, but now, I just laugh. I’m not going to apologize to diners who want to throw expletives at me for deciding to preserve my business and protect the staff I do have. It’s a no-brainer.”

Quality of life Let’s rewind to my own brunch visit. After I was seated, the bartenders began audibly squabbling with each other. My former restaurant worker self was appalled.

“Surely they know we can see and hear them?” I thought to myself, while they complained about each other in clear view of a bar top full of people. That’s the kind

Sanford Nowlin

Find more food & drink news at sacurrent.com

24

CURRENT | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

food

OPENINGS Camp 1604, a massive indoor-outdoor beer garden, is now open in Northwest San Antonio.

L&L Hawaiian Barbecue will soon begin serving from a new location in New Braunfels.

New dual-level bar Conversa will open in March, bringing dress-to-impress vibes to the Dominion area.

an opening during the first part of this year.

Austin nightlife concept The Lucky Duck will open in downtown San Antonio this spring.

San Antonio’s South Park Mall is set to gain new Ojos Locos sports bar.

NEWS Northwest San Antonio’s Jerusalem Grill location is closed for repairs following a Dec. 29 fire.

San Antonio’s Bexar Kolache Co. plans to open a second storefront this month. The new location will be on Fredericksburg Road.

Topo Chico’s new Ranch Water Hard Seltzer is now available in San Antonio.

New Braunfels-based drive-thru coffee chain On The Grind will expand to Boerne this summer.

San Antonio’s free Taste of the Southside festival will take place at Por Vida Academy March 26-27.

Longtime local Mexican eatery La Fogata has taken over the former Nosh space on Austin Highway.

Local Jewish diner The Hayden will appear on Cooking Channel’s Food Paradise Wednesday, Jan. 26.

Korean donut spot Mochinut has opened a new location in the Stone Oak area.

Stetson Dance Hall, the new venture taking over the building that housed Cooter Browns, is eyeing

Pizza | Burgers | Beer

Olmos Park’s Glass and Plate Restaurant is the latest San Antonio eatery to close down, shutting its doors just shy of its first-year anniversary.

L&L Hawaiian

sacurrent.com | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | CURRENT

25

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El Camino is the perfect spot to bring together friends, family and furry companions under our eco-consciously designed covered seating with a fully stocked bar that includes, frozen drinks, craft brews, and top-shelf cocktails.

ElCaminoSA.com | Downtown SATX 1009 Ave. B 26

CURRENT | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

music

Catie Laffoon

‘I’ve Never Had a Hit’

While producer Jonathan Wilson (Father John Misty, Conor Oberst) lent The Ghost And The Wall a more expansive sound thanks to his instrumental additions, Radin will keep things stripped down for his San Antonio appearance. At the Tobin, he’ll be accompanied only by Danny Black on guitar and backing vocals.

Radin treasures his relationship with fans, ship with Scrubs star Zach Braff. often taking requests for songs via social The pair met in college, though their media. bond strengthened after graduation, “when “I have this cult following that I’m so gratewe were both writing screenplays and we ful for,” he said. “I’ve never had a hit. If I was would give each other notes on our scripts,” to ask my audience, person by person, ‘What the singer explained. “He got Scrubs and his song do you want to hear me play right now?’ whole life changed.” there’d be 30 or 40 songs in each row.”

At the time, Radin was cranking out scripts As time ebbs on, the music as a commercial enterprise world loses more and more rather than creating art for its iconic performers. This creown sake. $34.50-$59.50, ates opportunities for collab“I was always seeking out 7 p.m., oration that might not have an audience, trying to make Tobin Center for the existed 10 years ago. John something happen,” he said.

Performing Arts, Mayer — whose balladry is at Despite that early interest 100 Auditorium least superficially similar to film, music evolved into RaCircle, Radin’s — joined forces with din’s artistic outlet. He picked (210) 223-8624, surviving members of the up a guitar and learned a few tobincenter.org.

Grateful Dead in Dead & Co., chords. One day, Braff was at for example. his home, saw the guitar and What band would Radin asked to hear a song. At that join and connect with, if offered an opportupoint Radin had written a grand total of one: nity?

“Winter.”

At first the singer demurred. But under After some arm twisting from Braff, Radin threat of hypothetical bodily harm, he finally played his tune. The actor was so moved he answered: “I’d love to fill in for Garfunkel and included it on an episode of Scrubs. Fans of just do a duo with Paul Simon, sing harmothe show loved it, and the rest is history. nies for an entire show. Or I’d love to be Levon “I wrote honestly, not thinking ‘Will this Helm in The Band.” song be on a show?’” Radin said.

No, Radin may not be searching for the Since then, Radin has stuck with that connection, but it’s still making a connection approach. that counts.

“I’m about questions, not answers,” he said.

Cult crowd

Ahead of his Tobin Center show, singer-songwriter Joshua Radin talks about connections that matter

BY MIKE MCMAHAN

L

ots of singer-songwriters follow rules. Many seem to feel they’re required to be heart-on-sleeve romantics who hopelessly long to forge that connection.

Joshua Radin, who performs Sunday, Jan. 16 at the Tobin Center’s Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater, is a notable exception.

“I’ve had a terrible problem with letting people in my entire life,” confessed Radin, who’s touring behind his ninth and latest album, The Ghost And The Wall, which has drawn positive reviews for its gentle melodies and earnest introspection.

Radin, who spoke to the Current via Zoom from his LA home on a cold and rainy day, is a certified introvert when not performing in front of a crowd.

“It’s a switch that you flip right before you walk on stage,” he said. “It’s a constant search for connection with the world and one person.”

To be sure, Radin isn’t the kind of songwriter who yearns for that perfect love, just out of reach. Even though he’s hit middle age, he has no plans to enter a long-term partnership or marry. Not until he’s fully self-realized — and he has no idea when that might be.

From screenplays to songs Even so, life thrives on connections. Case in point: Radin got his big break via a friend-

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CURRENT | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

music listings Marcia Ball

Pop Pistol

Courtesy Photo / Marcia Ball

Wednesday, January 12 Terry Cavanaugh and Alpine Express Disney World may cost a damn fortune, but it keeps selling tickets because it offers a high-quality product. So, it stands to reason that a performer like Terry Cavanaugh, with five years of Disney World experience, will provide a quality Oktoberfest-themed show. Cavanaugh, who formed Alpine Express after his time at Disney ended, describes his performances as “high-wattage entertainment” and aims for audience involvement. Prost! Free, 5:30 p.m., Krause’s Cafe, 148 S. Castell Ave., New Braunfels, (830) 625-2807, krausescafe.com. — Mike McMahan

Thursday, January 13 Marcia Ball With more 50 years of recording and performance under her belt, count on Austin blues and boogie queen Marcia Ball to put on a spirited live show. Her exceptional voice and piano skills earned her the 2018 Texas State musician of the year award.

The intimate environment of Jazz, TX seems perfectly suited for a night of her rockin’ blues with swampy zydeco touches. $20, 7:30 p.m., Jazz, TX, 312 Pearl Parkway, Building 6, Suite 6001, (210) 332-9386, Jazztx.com. — Enrique Bonilla Duel Hailing from Austin, Duel capture all the dark, psychedelic underbelly of ’70s rock. Featuring ex-members of another ’70s-influenced band, Scorpion Child, this project seems perfectly suited to unlock the stoner in any fan of hard-hitting guitar rock. $10, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx. com. — Brianna Espinoza

Friday, January 14

Jaime Monzon

Dylan Wheeler Wheeler delivers a country rasp backed with wailing guitars reminiscent of 2000-era rock — but with a Southern flair, of course. But the guitars aren’t the only thing edgy in this native Texan’s tunes. He loves to use cuss words in his song titles.

Woo. $15-$18, 8:30 p.m., John T. Floore’s Country Store, 14492 Old Bandera Road, (210) 695-8827, liveatfloores.com. — BE Iron Maidens With a name that’s all about truth in advertising, the Iron Maidens are — you guessed it — an all-woman Iron Maiden tribute act.

Don’t be fooled by vocalist Kirsten Rosenberg’s stage name “Bruce Chickinson” or the rest of the band’s similarly jokey monikers. These bad-ass musicians, who last year celebrated 20 years as a band, may have a sense of humor about their schtick, but they’re troopers when it’s time to up the irons. $25-$150, 8 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — MM

Tuesday, January 18 Rain Dogs Acoustic rockers Rain Dogs will the stage at Sancho’s for the venue’s Duo Tuesdays. The pair focus on a singer-songwriter approach that ranges from introspective material inspired by Elliot Smith and to barroom-ready tuneage a la the Rolling Stones.

Free, 7 p.m., Sancho’s Cantina & Cocina, 628 Jackson St., (210) 320-1840, sanchosmx.com. — EB

Thursday, January 20 Arc Angels After a decade-long hiatus, Austin blues-rock outfit Arc Angels is reuniting for four Texas shows. The band was originally

composed of guitarists and singers Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton along with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s rhythm section. Expect world-class musicianship from this highly anticipated reunion. $35, 8 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — EB

Thursday, January 20 Still Woozy No, it’s not a description of how we’re all feeling after two years of being punched in the face by COVID. Instead, Still Woozy is the acoustic-meets-electric indie-pop songwriter born Sven Eric Gamsky. He got his start as a guitar teacher and playing in the math rock band Feed Me Jack before following his muse to solo work. Still Woozy aspires to spontaneity, quickly releasing songs, sometimes on the day he records them. $88, 7 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — MM

Friday, January 21 Silent Minority San Antonio’s Silent Minority are the alt-rock band you’ve been missing since high school. Their angsty lyrics and singalong-ready chord progressions are akin to bands like old-school Fall Out Boy. $10, 8:30 p.m., The Starlighter, 910 Fredericksburg Road, facebook.com/thestarlightersatx. — BE

Gary Dread Formerly the drummer of the South Carolina-based reggae-rock group The Movement, Dread is now behind the mic with a modern take on uplifting reggae. Dread recently collaborated with Rick Haze for hip-hop-influenced songs with an irie vibe. $16-$18, 7:30 p.m., Vibes Underground 1211 E. Houston St., (210) 255-3833, facebook.com/vibesunderground. — BE sacurrent.com | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | CURRENT

29

music listings

E M P LOY M E N T

All Them Witches

Monica L. Casady, San Antonio, TX reqs a Financial Administrator w/Bach's deg in Accounting, Finance or a related field & at least 1 yr of exp. Will accept 3 yr Bach's Deg to analyze financial info, reconcile & draft financial statements to ensure there are no financial misstatements, prep financial reports to maintain or record assets, liabilities, profit & loss, tax liability & related accounting financial info, pay invoices & implement accounting control procedures & practices, recommend investments & mitigate risk. Prep tax returns for outside Auditors to review. Will accept suitable alternative combo of education, training or exp.

Excellent written & verbal skills req'd. Mail resumes to HR 214 Wellesley LOOP San Antonio TX 78231.

Primary Care Physician needed in San Antonio, Texas to manage and treat common health problems in patients aged 16 and up. Treat orthopedic, sports-related injuries and arthritis. Care for chronic illnesses. Review and document patient quality measures for preventative and proactive care. Degree in Doctor in Medicine (MD) required. Texas State MD license and current DEA and BLS certificates. 36 months of family medicine residence. Mail resumes to: MacGregor Medical Center - San Antonio, Attn: Nancy Gonzales, 9969 Fredericksburg Rd, San Antonio, TX 78240.

AUTO AUCTION FEBRUARY 2, 2022 at 3:00P at SAN ANTONIO VEHICLE IMPOUND FACILITY ALL VEHICLES LISTED WERE IMPOUNDED BY SAN ANTONIO POLICE DEPT. AND WILL BE SOLD VIA JOYRIDEAUCTOS.COM OR LIVE IN PERSON TO BE DETERMINED. Registered owners may pick up vehicles by showing proof of ownership & paying all towing & storage fees prior to Auction.

FEES ACCRUE DAILY AND ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

3625 Growdon Rd. San Antonio, TX 210.881.8440 30

ID#

YEAR

MAKE

MODEL

VIN NUMBER

FEES

4303804

2000

FORD

F350

BURNT

$5,390.85

4111286

1999

CHEVROLET

C-1500

1GCEC19R6XR143884

$8,127.25

4459064

2000

TRAILER

OTHER

NOT VISIBLE

$3,753.95

4621661

1999

TRAILER

OTHER

NOT VISIBLE

$2,010.05

4417358

1900

TRAILER

TRAVEL TRAILER

NOT VISIBLE

$4,251.90

4165891

1995

HONDA

MC-SPORT

NOT VISIBLE

$7,412.80

2985505

1900

CHEVROLET

C-1500

NO VIN

$6,416.90 $10,875.00

3880207

2000

TRAILER

OTHER

NO VIN

3902999

2000

TRAILER GENERIC

TRAILER

NO VIN

$11,071.65

3925497

2000

OTHER NOT IN LIST

TRAILER

NOT VISIBLE

$10,746.90

4025142

1900

TRAILER-GENERIC

TRAILER

NO VIN

$9,382.95

4156287

2000

TRAILER-GENERIC

TRAILER

NOT VISIBLE

$7,389.35

4234455

1900

OTHER NOT IN LIST

TRAILER

NO VIN

$6,503.50

4227595

1900

OTHER NOT IN LIST

TRAILER

NO VIN

$6,546.80

4199181

2000

TRAILER

TRAILER

NO VIN

$3,795.45

4329749

2012

OTHER NOT IN LIST

TRAILER

NOT VISIBLE

$5,312.75

4482819

1900

OTHER NOT IN LIST

TRAILER

NOT VISIBLE

$3,472.50

4155615

2012

TAO TAO

SCOOTER

NO VIN

$7,564.35

4480290

2021

OTHER NOT IN LIST

SCOOTER

LUJTCLP44MA606937

$3,494.15

4490951

2018

OTHER NOT IN LIST

MOTORCYCLE

L9NTCBAE0J1015086

$3,385.90

4497914

2004

OTHER NOT IN LIST

TRAILER

NOT VISIBLE

$3,299.30

3945742

2000

TRAILER-GENERIC

TRAILER

NOT VISIBLE

$10,290.45

4333429

2021

ZIEMAN

ATV

NOT VISIBLE

$5,247.80

3764727

1974

HONDA

MOTORCYCLE

NOT VISIBLE

$13,301.60

4437183

2000

OTHER NOT IN LIST

MOPED

NOT VISIBLE

$4,013.75

3845396

2006

OTHER NOT IN LIST

TRAILER

NOT VISIBLE

$20,455.15

3863654

1968

OTHER NOT IN LIST

TRUCK

D0M814ACQ10990

$20,725.50

4238954

1900

OTHER NOT IN LIST

MOTORCYCLE

NOT VISIBLE

$6,438.55

3930763

2014

FORD

FUSION

NO VIN

$10,660.30

3907108

2000

OTHER NOT IN LIST

VEHICLE PART

NOT VISIBLE

$11,006.70

3726970

2000

OTHER NOT IN LIST

MINI-BLACK

NOT VISIBLE

$14,145.95

3212828

1999

OTHER NOT IN LIST

SCOOTER

ACA06D045646

$20,532.70

4482876

1980

OTHER NOT IN LIST

TRAILER

4YMUL1018FT037969

$3,472.50

4370204

2003

DODGE

CARAVAN

1D4GP21353B340223

$4,814.80

4200131

2000

INTERNATIONAL

SEMI / TRACTOR

NOT VISIBLE

$31,250.62

4499446

1900

FREJUS

TRAILER

NOT VISIBLE

$3,277.65

4504425

2000

OTHER-NOT IN LIST

TRAILER

NOT VISIBLE

$3,037.70

4536817

2000

TRAILER-GENERIC

TRAILER

NO VIN

$5,042.94

4496686

2008

OTHER NOT IN LIST

TRAILER

NOT VISIBLE

$3,145.95

4454830

1983

OTHER NOT IN LIST

TRAILER

NO VIN

$3,797.25

3973686

1900

OTHER NOT IN LIST

TRAILER

4YD123623V1002021

$10,075.75

CURRENT | January 12 – January 25, 2022 | sacurrent.com

Courtesy Photo / All Them Witches

Saturday, January 22 Allen Stone Billed as “An evening with…,” blue-eyed soul man Allen Stone will bring a lengthy set of his classic R&B-inspired tunes to San Antonio.

Although he cites influences including Stevie Wonder, The Meters and Marvin Gaye, the singer wants his music to think about the world instead of just getting down. Stone has appeared on American Idol, Conan and Ellen and collaborated with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

His most recent LP Apart dropped in November. $28-$188, 8 p.m., Aztec Theater, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre. com. — MM Current Joys Guitarist-vocalist Nick Rattigan is the brains behind Nevada-based Current Joys, which blends post-punk and post-rock with melancholic pop.

Rattigan has been hard at work over the past couple of years, having released three fulllength albums during that time — no easy feat for any artist. $25, 7 p.m., Vibes Underground, 1211 E. Houston St., (210) 255-3822, facebook. com/VIBESEventCenter. — EB

Sunday, January 23 All Them Witches Nashville’s All Them Witches specializes in dark Southern blues rock fused with elements of prog and psychedelia. Live, it’s easy to imagine these guys putting on show that would appeal to stoner rock fans, doom enthusiasts and folks who just can’t get enough early ’70s Pink Floyd. $17, 7 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — EB

Tuesday, January 25 Kurt Travis After stints as vocalist for Dance Gavin Dance, A Lot Like Birds, and other similar-minded outfits, Kurt Travis clearly has experience in a wide range of microgenres whose names include the prefixes and suffixes “post-” and “-core” — or both. His solo work pulls from this sonic palette but focuses more on songwriting that breathes and grooves, favoring emotion over proggy riffs or aggression. $17-$19, 6 p.m., Vibes Underground, 1223 E. Houston St., (210) 255-3833, facebook.com/vibesunderground. — MM