San Antonio Current - October 18, 2023

JOE LOPEZ'S CONTROVERSIAL TEJANO MUSIC AWARD | HOW WEMBY'S PUTTING HIS STAMP ON SA | SURVIVING THE SAN ANTONIO BEER FESTIVAL | OCT 18 - 31, 2023

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CURRENT | September 7 – 20, 2022 | sacurrent.com

SAN ANTONIO BEER WEEK RETURNS FOR 2023!

October 21 - 28 San Antonio Beer Week is a special week dedicated to celebrating beer and the community that enjoys it. It offers an exciting opportunity for small and independent craft brewers and the community of better beer retailers in San Antonio and the surrounding area to celebrate the ever advancing beer culture.

Whether you're a beginner or a full-fledged beer geek, this is your week to celebrate.

Visit sabeerweek.com for a full calendar of events! sacurrent.com | October 18 – 31, 2023 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

Publisher Michael Wagner Editor in Chief Sanford Nowlin General Manager Chelsea Bourque Editorial Digital Content Editor Kelly Nelson Contributing Arts Editor Bryan Rindfuss Food and Nightlife Editor Nina Rangel Staff Writers Michael Karlis, Brandon Rodriguez Interns Jace Gertz, Colin Houston, Dean Zach

in this issue Issue 23-21 /// October 18 – 31, 2023

Drinking to the Dead

Seek out Día de los Muertosappropriate libations at San Antonio bars, or concoct your own

Contributors Abe Asher, Noah Alcala Bach, Ashley Allen, Ron Bechtol, Danny Cervantes, Macks Cook, Brianna Espinoza, Jace Gertz, Dalia Gulca, Colin Houston, Kiko Martinez, Mike McMahan, M. Solis, Karly Williams, Caroline Wolff, Dean Zach

42 Music

Advertising Account Manager Marissa Gamez Senior Account Executive Mike Valdelamar Local Culture Creative Agency Director Mindi Overman

Sketch Rockers

Surreal psychedelic band Powdered Wig Machine celebrates first album release with Blue Star performance

Creative Services Creative Services Manager Samantha Serna Graphic Designers Pedro Macias Events and Marketing Marketing and Events Director Cassandra Yardeni Events Manager Chelsea Bourque Events & Promotions Coordinator Chastina De La Pena Social Media Director Meradith Garcia

Critics’ Picks

Circulation Circulation Manager Justin Giles Chava Communications Group Founder, Chief Executive Officer Michael Wagner Co-Founder, Chief Marketing Officer Cassandra Yardeni Operations Director Hollie Mahadeo Director of Agency Services Mindi Overman Social Media Director Meradith Garcia Director of Digital Content Strategy Colin Wolf Art Director David Loyola Digital Operations Coordinator Jaime Monzon chavagroup.com National Advertising: Voice Media Group 1-888-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com San Antonio Current sacurrent.com Editorial: editor@sacurrent.com Display Advertising: marketing@sacurrent.com

Synths and Attitude Courtesy Photo / Wittliff Collections

42 Feature

Tarnished Legend?

Controversy rages around the Tejano Music Awards’ recognition of singer Joe Lopez, a convicted rapist

The San Antonio Current is published by Chava Communications Group

09 News

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

News in Brief

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The Opener

Bad Takes

Attention, conservatives: militaristic pushback against migration never ends well

13 Calendar 21 Arts

Victor Wembanyama is about to change the NBA, and San Antonio has a front-row seat to the show

Guiding Light Circulation Verification Council 12166 Old Big Bend Road, Suite 210 St. Louis, MO 63122 www.cvcaudit.com Auditor’s Certification:

25 Screens

Confronting Demons

Local horror makeup artist Sergio Guerra opines on special effects in The Exorcist: Believer

31 Food

JOE LOPEZ'S CONTROVERSIAL TEJANO MUSIC AWARD | HOW WEMBY'S PUTTING HIS STAMP ON SA | SURVIVING THE SAN ANTONIO BEER FESTIVAL | OCT 18 - 31, 2023

Successful Sampling

Here’s your survival guide to the San Antonio Beer Festival

Calendar Picks

A Beautiful Year Ahead

Approved auditor info as required for public notices per section 50.011(1)(e), F.S.

San Antonio’s Sex Mex blends keyboards, punk and pop for uncompromising sound

Luminaria Director Yadhira Lozano taking the long running arts festival in new, more diverse directions

Friendly Fermenting Multiple craft breweries collaborate for this year’s Sn Antonio Beer Week

TexAsian Takeover

San Antonio fusion masters Sean Wen and Andrew Ho score big at both Curry Boys and Wurst Behavior

Table Talk

Twang CEO Elysia Treviño-Gonzales talks about breaking her company’s beer salts into all 50 states

O

n the Cover: San Antonio is hosting multiple Día de los Muertos events. Cover design: Samantha Serna.

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

sacurrent.com | October 18 – 31, 2023 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

H

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is declining to return the $3 million in donations and loans received from a far-right political action committee whose leader recently held a nearly seven-hour meeting with white supremacist Nick Fuentes. The Defend Texas Liberty PAC, a staunch supporter of Patrick’s, is led by Jonathan Stickland, who last week hosted Fuentes in Fort Worth. Patrick said the meeting was a “blunder” but refused to give up the cash.

Agricultural and construction equipment manufacturer JCB will open a factory on San Antonio’s South Side that’s expected to create some 1,500 jobs. England-based JCB is expected to bring in more than $265 million in capital investments over the next five years. In return, the company is receiving subsidies from the city, county and state governments.

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Gov. Greg Abbott has said he won’t clear the way for passage of a bill to give pay raises to public school teachers unless the Texas House first passes his school voucher bill. Abbott has made the voucher bill, which would approve using taxpayer dollars to fund private schools, one of his top political priorities — and he’s willing to block teacher pay raises to build support in the House, which has long opposed the idea.

The University of Texas at San Antonio welcomed its largest-ever freshman class this fall. Nearly 6,000 first-year students enrolled at the state school this semester, a 3% increase over last year. The high enrollment figure comes as the university has expanded its online programs and rolled out an initiative covering tuition and fees for some low-income Texas students. Roughly half of UTSA’s students hail from Bexar County. — Abe Asher

YOU SAID IT!

“Even after that first removal of books, what we see is a continued chilling effect that happens across schools.”

— Kasey Meehan,

Freedom to Read program director for PEN America to the Texas Tribune about the state’s ongoing book bans.

ASSCLOWN ALERT

Disrupting Kerr County’s elections with County Commissioner Rich Paces Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

Despite copious evidence that the 2020 election wasn’t rigged and that voter fraud in the United States is extremely rare, Republican zealots continue to throw civil servants’ efforts to run smooth and efficient elections into chaos.

In the latest such debacle, Kerr County Republican County Commissioner Rich Paces has led a months-long crusade to pitch out the Texas Hill Country county’s electronic voting systems and replace them with hand counts of ballots, the nonpartisan news site Votebeat reports.

Should it come to be, Paces’ plan would run taxpayers some $250,000, and it’s been enough of a shit show to prompt the resignations of two separate county elections chiefs in as many months, according to Votebeat.

Needless to say, some are not amused — even some from Paces’ own party. Kerr County Republican Party Chair Paul Zohlen told Votebeat that Paces had “single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to one of the finest election departments in the state.”

Zohlen also lamented that the Kerr County clerk is now tasked with assembling a team to impart the departed officials’ years of experience to staffers in time for upcoming elections.

Although a vote to alter the county’s counting process ahead of 2024 failed, Paces was

The executive director of the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG) has been placed on administrative leave while an investigation into a complaint that she created a hostile workplace environment continues. Diane Rath, who has led AACOG since 2014, is the target of an anonymous Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint. Rath has had a long career as a public servant, having also chaired the Texas Workforce Commission from 1996 to 2008.

A new Texas law further restricting what students are allowed to read in school took effect last month, and in its wake, districts are continuing to remove books from their libraries.

The district in Katy has banned 14 additional books, including titles by Dr. Seuss and Judy Blume, according to the Texas Tribune, while a district near Beaumont last month removed a substitute teacher who read to students from an illustrated adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary.

news

That Rocks/That Sucks

Twitter / @markleedickson

unrepentant and promised to turn up the pressure.

“This was just the first skirmish,” Paces told Votebeat.

Great. We’re sure Kerr County civil servants can’t wait to take note of this assclown’s next move. — Sanford Nowlin

Will Hurd’s longshot campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has come to an unceremonious end. The former San Antonio-area congressman dropped from the contest last week, just four months after he entered. Hurd, a staunch critic of former President Donald Trump, said he is now supporting Nikki Haley due to her foreign policy experience. — Abe Asher

Wikimedia Commons / Gage Skidmore

Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

news BAD TAKES

Attention, conservatives: militaristic pushback against migration never ends well

BY KEVIN SANCHEZ Editor’s Note: Bad Takes is a column of opinion and analysis.

F

oxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” — The Gospel According to Matthew San Antonio’s Migrant Resource Center has been full up for weeks now. Every day, around 1,000 weary travelers find shelter there or in a hangar at the airport, according to the city’s online “Migrant Dashboard.”

Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of San Antonio runs the locations with assistance from the Interfaith Welcome Coalition, and the facilities are in dire need of volunteers and donations, including children’s toys.

However, some greet asylum seekers in a less-thanChristlike manner. Demonstrators intermittently line the streets around the Migrant Resource Center, adding to the congestion they claim to protest.

Others, like George Rodriguez, a commentator on San Antonio talk radio station KLUP-AM, spin conspiracy theories.

“There is an effort by the Biden government, by Mayor [Ron] Nirenberg’s government, to hide from the public what is going on regarding this whole invasion,” Rodriguez said in an Indigenous Peoples Day “report” carried on his YouTube channel.

However, Rodriguez’s own video included a screenshot of the city’s online dashboard, which tracks how many migrants arrive daily, where they’re sheltered, their countries of origin and their means of transportation. So, what exactly is being “hidden from the public?”

As a Spanish speaker, Rodriguez could interview some of the “invaders” milling around the Migrant Resource Center on San Pedro Avenue to discover what devious plans they’re hatching to end our way of life. Instead, he’d rather spin conspiratorial yarns out of whole cloth to frighten his Christian suburbanite listeners. After all, if Republicans helped fix our broken immigration system, what would they campaign on?

Thankfully, real journalism on the subject isn’t hard to find.

Local TV station KENS 5 reports that some migrants sleep in surrounding parking lots as the Migrant

Michael Karlis

Resource Center’s funds dwindle. At the same time, more than $1 billion dollars of taxpayer money continues to go toward completing an absolutely useless border “wall”.

Last month, migrants from kleptocratic Venezuela accounted for the largest share of those encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the Associated Press. That South American country was “plunged into a political, economic and humanitarian crisis over the last decade, pushing at least 7.3 million people to migrate and making food and other necessities unaffordable for those who remain,” the wire service reports.

Tough-talking Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has wasted more than the entire annual budget of Oklahoma on Operation Lone Star, a constitutionally dubious effort to make the lives of migrants a living hell by arresting them on minor property crimes.

In an Express-News commentary, Geoff Burkhart, executive director of the Texas Fair Defense Project, calculated the cost at about $400,000 per migrant arrest for trespassing. Imagine if we allocated that money to humanitarian assistance instead, or on an ambitious foreign aid program to wipe out poverty in our hemisphere instead.

To many on the extreme Right, Abbott’s miles of razor wire and serrated blade-equipped buoys in the Rio Grande are insufficiently cruel. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican whose district includes both Austin and San Antonio, has proposed legislation to detain all asylum-seekers for the crime of asking us for help.

Millions of desperate people crammed into massive detention camps — what could go wrong?

Not to be outdone, ignominiously fired former Fox News blowhard Tucker Carlson called Abbott a “betrayer of your own people” for not shooting on sight anyone who crosses the U.S.-Mexico border between ports of entry.

“Abbott’s got a National Guard,” Carlson told a cheering crowd of supporters in Michigan last month. “He’s the commander-in-chief of the National Guard, and it’s Texas, so they have double-stacked magazines in their sidearms. You think they couldn’t stop illegal border crossings in a week? Just assemble

along the border. He refuses to do that. I’ve suggested it to him three times, including in private at a cocktail party in Dallas last year. ‘Why don’t you seal the border, man?’ It’s not complicated. If someone’s trying to break into my house, it’s not complicated to repel the person. Do you have a firearm or don’t you? Are you willing to defend your house and your children or aren’t you?”

Except most criminals committing B&E of houses aren’t actively fleeing violent persecution or looking for work to feed their families. Also worth mentioning: the United States is far bigger than a typical residence — even Carlson’s $5.5 million mansion.

To borrow his analogy, though, isn’t prioritizing the issue of immigration above genuine civilizational threats such as climate change a bit like worrying about uninvited guests while your house burns down?

Disgraced pundits aside, the two frontrunners for the Republican presidential nomination have engaged in a similarly atrocious rhetorical arms race.

Former President Donald Trump has promised his voters “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country,” citing the 1950s-era “Operation Wetback” as a model to emulate. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has promised, on his first day in office, to invade Mexico.

Appearing on the Left Reckoning podcast, Mexican journalist Kurt Hackbarth detailed what DeSantis’ threat would mean if executed.

“Cartels don’t have places that say, ‘Hi, we’re cartels here,’ right? The U.S. military would be bombing populated areas ... they’d be bombing hospitals, schools, neighborhoods. They’d be bombing and killing and maiming thousands upon thousands of innocent people. They’d create migration flows 50 to 100 times anything that’s ever been seen up till now. This has not been well thought out at all.”

Nativists evidently need reminding that refugees are not an invading army. And if we seek a militarized solution to every border crisis, the gruesome and horrific events transpiring in Gaza could foreshadow the rest of this century.

It’s up to the Americas to write an alternative. sacurrent.com | October 18 – 31, 2023 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

SPORTS

WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN Pro wrestling returns to San Antonio as the WWE brings feuds and lots of star power via its Friday Night SmackDown.

A week after the return of Roman Reigns, John Cena will continue his rivalry with the Bloodline, a multi-year conflict that’s split legendary tag team The Usos onto opposite sides. Charlotte Flair, the Street Profits, Bianca Belair, Asuka and others are also confirmed for the card, which will showcase athleticism and showmanship in equal measures. $20 and up, 6:45 p.m., Frost Bank Center, 1 AT&T Center Parkway, (210) 444-5140, frostbankcenter.com. — Colin Houston

SAT | 10.21 BURLESQUE

PASTIE POPS: ALL HALLOWS TEASE

calendar

FRI | 10.20

Courtesy Photo / Welcome to Night Vale

Burlesque troupe the Pastie Pops is ready to bewitch with its annual Halloween show. As always, expect an event that’s both spooky and spellbinding. Jasper St. James, Mary Annette, Vixy Van Hellen, Natasha B. Capri, Pantie Oaklie, Scarlett Valentine, Dahlia Vixen, Eddie Divas, Miss Good and Ira Descent will deliver hauntingly hot performances. Meanwhile, host Camille Toe and Topsy Curvy will keep the festivities lively as they play out on the floor of the Bonham Exchange’s Rainbow Ballroom. $20-$150, 8 p.m., Bonham Exchange, 411 Bonham, instagram.com/pastiepops.— Dalia Gulca

Courtesy Photo / Frost Bank Center

local, regional and global breweries will be around to offer their wares, in-

SAT | 10.21

cluding one-of-a-kind casts and special

SPECIAL EVENT

designated drivers and nondrinkers as

17TH ANNUAL SAN ANTONIO BEER FESTIVAL

collaborations. Low-alcohol beers and non-alcoholic brews will be available for well. Visitors are invited to bring lawn chairs and blankets, and pooches are

Beyond the foamy libations promised in its name, the

also welcome at this year’s fest, which

venerable San Antonio Beer Festival promises something for

benefits the San Antonio Food Bank. The

everyone — including music, games, local vendors and tons

San Antonio Beer Festival is a 21-and-up-

of food, not to mention wine and cider for those seeking

only event, and drinks will flow, rain or

alternative beverages. Just the same, beer is the main attrac-

shine. $45-$110, noon-6:30 p.m., Crockett

tion, and enthusiasts can explore a sudsy sea by sampling

Park, 1300 N. Main Ave., sanantoniobeer-

from 400-plus premium and craft brews. More than 100

festival.com. — Amber Esparza

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.

Jaime Monzon

CHRISTOPHER

CROSS

FRI NOV 3

GET TICKETS AT THEESPEE.COM

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

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OCTOBER 20-22

OCTOBER 21

OCTOBER 26-28

OCTOBER 29

NOVEMBER 2-5

Jason Banks

Two Girls, One Ghost

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

calendar SAT | 10.21 SPECIAL EVEN T

LUMINARIA Once again, the Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival will bathe multiple downtown locations in the warm glow of creativity. The annual free festival, now marking its 15th anniversary, celebrates art in all of its wide-ranging forms: from sculptures and video installations to music, film, dance and even live theater and poetry readings. Among this year’s highlights are a performance by the AM Project, a digital art and music program for San Antonio youth, and an installation by acclaimed Mexico-born artist Verónica Castillo Salas, who will present her living sculpture A Tree of Life: The History of Mother Earth.

Performances, exhibitions and large structural installations by scores of artists will be scattered throughout locations across Hemisfair and the Henry B. González Convention Center, transforming the center city into an open house for the arts. For updates and a selection of featured artists, check out Luminaria on Instagram at @luminariasa. Free, 6 p.m.-midnight, Hemisfair, 434 S. Alamo St., Henry B. González Convention Center, 900 E. Market St., luminariasa.org. — Dean Zach

James Macari

FRI | 10.27 COMEDY

SAMANTHA BEE

Canadian comedian Samantha Bee is poking and prodding at tricky targets in her new show Your Favorite Woman: The Joys of Sex Education.

Aided by a unique comedic voice, Bee cemented herself as a late-night pioneer in the early 2000s, breaking into a field then oversaturated with male stars. After joining the “Best F#@king News Team” on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and turning heads with her irreverent takes on topics ranging from environmentalism to porn, she went on to become the program’s longest-serving regular correspondent. That success carried over into her own weekly late-night comedy series, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, which ran for seven seasons on TBS. Bee has described her latest tour as “if a hot flash was a live show,” alluding to the wacky and unexpected transformations the female body undergoes during menopause — one of the show’s gritty focal points. In Your Favorite Woman: The Joy of Sex Education, Bee will educate the audience on puberty, menopause and everything in between using her signature wit. Responding to the show’s breakout success, the comedian recently added 17 new dates to the tour, and San Antonio is one of two Texas cities included in the fall run. $39-$180, 8 p.m., Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com. — AE

Jaime Monzon

WED | 10.25 SPORTS

SPURS V. MAVERICKS No. 1 draft pick Victor Wembanyama will play his first regular-season career game in a much anticipated nationally televised matchup against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. After finishing 11th in the Western Conference last season, the Mavs have racked up a busy offseason that involved signing Kyrie Irving to a 3-year extension and building much-needed depth around Doncic. However, with the addition of Wemby, and strong performances from Tre Jones and Devin Vassell against Oklahoma City in preseason games earlier this month, the Spurs’ young core looks poised to give a key Texas rival a run for its money. $67 and up, 8:30 p.m., Frost Bank Center, 1 AT&T Center Parkway, (210) 444-5140, frostbankcenter.com. Watch on ESPN/ESPN Deportes.

— Michael Karlis Spurs/Reginald Thomas II

sacurrent.com | October 18 – 31, 2023 | CURRENT

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

calendar

FRI | 10.27 SUN | 10.29

Jaime Monzon

SPECIAL EVEN T

DAY OF THE DEAD SAN ANTONIO

In San Antonio, the waning days of October don’t just signal the time for last-minute Halloween costume purchases. They mark the start of citywide celebrations of Día de los Muertos, or the Day of The Dead.

This year, Day of the Dead San Antonio will kick off with the annual River Parade on Friday, where guests can watch 25 artisan-crafted vessels make their way down the San Antonio River, each representing unique figures and cultural symbols associated with the holiday, which originated in Mexico and celebrates departed loved ones ($16-$26, 7 p.m. Friday, San Antonio River Walk). With festivities continuing throughout the weekend, a free celebration at La Villita will feature live music, margarita trucks and a robust collection of calaveras, or decorative skulls, made by local artists. The gathering will also include painting and altar-creating workshops, an artisan market and an exhibit of alebrijes, or colorful Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures. While community activities are free, some events are ticketed.

Free, noon-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon-7 p.m. Sunday, La Villita, 418 Villita St., dayofthedeadsa. com. — Macks Cook

sacurrent.com | October 18 – 31, 2023 | CURRENT

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ARTWORK BY

@FORREAL_ART

RENDER ME THIS SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

ART CONTEST

WHAT WOULD VOODOO RANGER LOOK LIKE IF HE/SHE/THEY LIVED IN SAN ANTONIO? WHAT WOULD VOODOO RANGER BE DOING, DRINKING, OR EATING? Show us your depiction of Voodoo Ranger in San Antonio by submitting your painting, drawing, sculpture, tattoo, carving, etc. of Voodoo Ranger.

HOW TO ENTER AND RULES:

1. Create your own rendition of Voodoo Ranger as if they were from San Antonio Texas.

2. Follow @voodooranger, and @newbelgium_texas 3. Feed post using #VoodooRangerSA & #RenderMeThis. (Stories don’t count, Only Feed posts and Reels) 4. Winners will be announced on October 27th through @newbelgium_Texas IG handle.

5. Art is judged by artists based on creativity, skill & and cultural accuracy of the area.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MUST BE 21+ TO ENTER. NOT AFFILIATED W/ INSTAGRAM. ENDS OCTOBER 20TH, 2023. REGIONAL GRAND PRIZE: $500 GIFT CARD, A VOODOO RANGER SWAG BAG, RECOGNITION ON SOCIAL MEDIA @SACURRENT, A FULL PAGE AD IN THE SA CURRENT MAGAZINE & $500 DONATION TO TBA. REGIONAL 2ND AND 3RD PRIZE: $100 AND SWAG BAG.

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

BENEFITING

calendar

SAT | 10.28 SUN | 10.29

Courtesy Photo / Día de los Muertos at Hemisfair

SPECIAL EVEN T

DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS AT HEMISFAIR

Popularly known as Muertos Fest, Día de los Muertos at Hemisfair will reawaken this year at the recently opened grounds of Civic Park. Recently ranked as one of the nation’s top fall festivals by USA Today, this celebration of the treasured Mexican holiday will include two full days of community altars, poetry and dance performances, art vendors, children’s activities and workshops to honor the family and friends who have been lost but not forgotten. Grammy-winning Ozomatli, an LA-based group whose dance music draws from many genres, will headline a slate of musical performances by 40 acts. Grammy-nominated conjunto master Santiago Jiménez Jr., Mexico-born singer Mariangela, country-meets-Norteño group Laura Denisse y Los Brillantes, West Side Soul revivalists Eddie and The Valiants and Selena tribute act Bidi Bidi Banda will perform on multiple stages. Each day also will include a procession led by the Las Monas dance, drum and puppet performance group to remember the departed. Free, 10 a.m.-11 p.m.

Saturday, noon-9 p.m. Sunday, Hemisfair, 434 S. Alamo St., muertosfest.com. — AE sacurrent.com | October 18 – 31, 2023 | CURRENT

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This stunning exhibition spans over 250 years of American art and features more than a hundred works of art by artists including Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, Allan Crite, and more!

Visit www.samuseum.org for tickets and more information.

Clockwise from top left: Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau (American, 1837–1922), La Captive, Circa 1883, Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD n.Foundation; Charles Ethan Porter (American, 1847–1923), Sunflowers, Circa 1880s, Oil on linen canvas. Courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation; William J. McCloskey (American, 1859–1941), Basket of Apples, 1896, Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation.

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

arts

A Beautiful Year Ahead Victor Wembanyama is about to change the NBA, and San Antonio has a frontrow seat to the show

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

T

he words echoed through the Alamo City like the majestic church bells at Mission San José: “With the first pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, the San Antonio Spurs select Victor Wembanyama.”

In June, for the third time in Spurs history, the team landed the league’s top draft pick.

David Robinson, whom the team landed in 1987, was the first. Then, a decade later, Tim Duncan graced us with his bank shot and changed the trajectory of the organization forever.

Now, 26 years and five NBA championships after Duncan’s arrival, San Antonio is hoping Wembanyama, who was born seven months after the Spurs won their second ring in 2003, can lead them to victory once again.

It’s a lot to ask any 19-year-old, but it’s a challenge the French-born athlete was built for.

At Spurs Media Day earlier this month, Wembanyama told the Current and a gym full of reporters how he views his upcoming rookie season, which begins Oct. 25 at home against the Dallas Mavericks.

“All my expectations are really to learn how to win as quick as possible,” he said.

After missing the playoffs for the past four seasons — before that, the team tied the NBA record of 22 consecutive appearances — Spurs fans are hoping the rookie’s learning curve is brisk. They’re eager to rediscover that championship mentality and do it on the shoulders of a basketball phenom looking to leave his mark like the Hall of Fame players who came before him.

However, the basketball court isn’t the only place Wembanyama is expected to make a major difference as a Spur.

San Antonio’s culture and landscape are already changing in his presence. Speculation is percolating that the team is exploring the possibility of building a new downtown arena because of our new 7-foot-4 resident.

And this is before Wemby has played a single second of official NBA basketball.

Imagine what happens if he ends up becoming the generational player many are predicting him to be.

The upcoming season will include 19 nationally televised Spurs games — 12 of them at home — which is easily the most the team has

Kiko Martinez

received during its recent seasons of rebuilding. A new arena could make sense if Wembanyama soars — and if it turns out Spurs fans aren’t the only ones watching the team from their living rooms and local sports bars.

Let’s not forget the $500-million community space called The Rock at La Cantera that will house the team’s new state-of-the-art training facility. Sure, planning for the venue began years before anyone knew Wembanyama’s name, but now that he’s here, it’s evident that The Rock at La Cantera is going to have a bigger transformative impact on the city sooner than anticipated.

Along with the major economic surge that new facilities may deliver to the city — assuming an arena deal is thought through and executed carefully — the arrival of Wembanyama has caused a stir in all aspects of San Antonio life. From new public murals to a hamburger named in his honor that includes French onion strings and foie gras, Wembanyama can feel the love that devout Spurs fans have for their newest player.

“It’s hitting me more and more every day, but first, I really didn’t realize how big of an impact this could be,” Wembanyama said.

“It’s really funny walking around or driving around and seeing my face sometimes.

People here treat me like family, even though they don’t know me personally. It’s really comfortable. It’s a really good place.”

Gregg Popovich, who will soon start his

28th straight season as the Spurs head coach, said he doesn’t “spend any moment whatsoever worrying” about how Wembanyama is going to fit into the fabric of San Antonio.

“He has great maturity for his age,” Popovich said. “He’s a thinking person. He’s highly intelligent. He’s just a good man. He hasn’t had nor will he have any problem blending in and getting the respect of his teammates or understanding our community and what responsibilities he has there.”

San Antonio is home to only one major professional sports team, and that will be the case for the foreseeable future. This is Spurs country no matter what other team or league rolls into town — and, frankly, most roll out not long after they arrive. So, there was no doubt fans would embrace the new star of that team from the start.

It was especially easy to do since Wembanyama’s genuine reaction the night the Spurs won the NBA Draft Lottery made it clear he wants to be here. He wants to wear the silver and black. He wants to lead the Spurs into their next chapter of excellence. It might take some time as the team works through growing pains, but San Antonio is excited that it has a front-row seat to what is sure to be an extraordinary show.

“I know I’m going to live through incredible things and also obstacles,” Wembanyama said. “But I know it’s going to be a beautiful year.”

Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com

202 LAMAR STREET - BELOW HAYS STREET BRIDGE - @ALAMOBEERCO 22

CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

arts Guiding Light

Luminaria Director Yadhira Lozano takes the long-running arts festival in new, more diverse directions

BY ANJALI GUPTA

E

xecutive Director Yadhira Lozano is gearing up for her third year of San Antonio’s multimedia arts blowout, Luminaria. Founded 15 years ago by then-mayor Phil Hardberger, this year’s one-night extravaganza has a distinct role to play in our cultural landscape.

“Luminaria serves to inspire visitors and residents with the wonders of all of the arts,” said Lozano, the first Latina to lead the organization. “We seek to elevate San Antonio onto an international arts map — that we are on par with other artistic cities across the world, that we can become an arts destination and fuel a creative economy where we all benefit: our live music venues, bars and restaurants, theaters, hotels and especially our artists.”

A native of San Antonio, Lozano returned to her hometown after spending decades working in arts administrative roles in Los Angeles, most recently as communications director at the Autry National Center.

After two colleagues relocated to San Antonio to open the Briscoe Western Art Museum, that organization eventually made her an offer that she couldn’t refuse.

So, in 2013, she found herself back home amongst her extended family. She then served multiple roles at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, including festival director of the Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival and as a special projects coordinator at the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC).

After spending so much of her career in Los Angeles, Lozano was struck by the limitations and hardships arts professionals endure in the Alamo City’s severely underfunded arts sector.

“Artists do not enjoy high pay or salaries. Locally, there are few opportunities to work full time in the arts, and many move out of town for more financially stable opportunities,” she said. “We need to do better so that artists and arts administrators enjoy equitable pay and benefits.”

Lozano says that when she began her tenure at Luminaria, it was abundantly clear that the arts community was calling for more diversity, better representation of the city’s demographics and opportunities for emerging artists to have a public platform.

“I task my staff and curators to actively scout talent,” she said. “We attend art openings, live music events, plays and network out in the field as much as possible. This has led to artists, especially artists of color, to realize they are welcome and wanted on our stages. Supporting Artists become Featured Artists

Christian Möller

and network across genres, age ranges, ethnicities, genders.”

Thus Luminaria’s reach expands every year.

“Advocacy and transparency have defined my role at Luminaria,” Lozano said. “So many people absolutely love the festival but in order to make the festival come to life, we need funding. Serving on the city’s Arts Commission representing Council District 3, I am at the forefront of how our city is changing to meet the needs of the arts community. Letting our elected officials know our challenges as well as our successes is vital. From federal to state and local, our representatives need to know how much our economy relies on the arts.”

To that point, Visit San Antonio released a report stating that the hospitality industry brought in $19 billion to San Antonio in 2022, according to Lozano.

The arts contributed 12% to that total.

Lozano’s primary goals for her continued tenure include creating more paid opportunities for local artists. All local Luminaria artists are currently paid, thanks to a two-year National Endowment for the Arts Rescue Grant.

Additionally, she wants to form new partnerships, including with artists and organizations located near Luminaria’s office in St. Paul Square.

“We seek to elevate this cultural arts destination located on the historic East Side, where countless major Black artists have performed,” Lozano said. “We cannot do this all alone. We need to work together and

Yadhira Lozano prepares to address the crowd at a previous year’s Luminaria.

She is the first Latina to lead the high-profile arts organization.

M

keep building on the work of those who have come before, and those that are still fighting the good fight to have our arts and culture be respected, appreciated and well-funded.”

What should we expect from this year’s event?

Forza Dance from NYC did its own fundraising to travel to San Antonio to perform at Luminaria.

URBAN-15 will be activating a procession with Little Amal, a puppet symbolizing Syrian refugee children which is currently traveling the world. Contributors to the literary quarterly Voices de la Luna will be reciting quinceañera poetry in celebration of the magazine and Luminaria’s 15th anniversaries.

Beyond that, a Tex-Mex showcase features local favorites Los Texmaniacs with special guests who include living legend Flaco Jimenez and Dwayne Verhayden of the Netherlands.

“We will have all the lights, lasers and digital art people have come to expect,” Lozano said. “Luminaria is an immersive experience. You have to come and experience it in person to feel the love, dedication and inspiration of our great city.” sacurrent.com | October 18 – 31, 2023 | CURRENT

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SAN ANTONIO'S

CINEMA BREWERY WEST SIDE LOOP 1604

RESERVE YOUR LUXURY DINING RECLINER

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

San Antonio horror makeup artist Sergio Guerra rates The Exorcist: Believer’s special effects

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

S

an Antonio-based special effects artist Sergio Guerra knows a thing or two about turning people into monsters. In 2011, he was a contestant on the first season of the SyFy reality show Face Off, which runs a group of prosthetic artists from across the country through a series of competitive makeup challenges. He also owns his own company, The Darkness FX, which creates creepy props for horror movies, haunted houses and theme parks.

Earlier this month, Guerra and I attended an advance screening of The Exorcist: Believer, a sequel to the 1973 horror classic. After, we talked about how well he thought the makeup department did in transforming actresses Olivia O’Neill and Lidya Jewett into demon-possessed children. The Exorcist: Believer is currently playing at local theaters.

What did you think about the practical effects in the movie?

I liked them. They were mostly subtle. You could still see the girls there. For me, the whole point is that you know the demon is trying to corrupt something pure. You have to make them look scary because it’s a horror movie, but you have to keep some of that humanity.

How long would a makeup job on a movie like The Exorcist: Believer take to complete?

Smaller faces are quicker to do, so I think a makeup artist could have applied everything in about an hour and a half. They get a lot of close ups and used a lot of silicone. If you work on the molds and get the pieces out right, then the edges almost disappear on their own. That makes it easier on applications.

Is there anything specific that impressed you with the makeup in this movie?

I really liked what they did with the lips.

They made them dry and cracked. In the original movie, [makeup artist icon] Dick Smith did that with makeup, but here, they were able to do it with 3D prosthetics. When you get the closeups, you get that depth. That was really good.

screens

Confronting Demons

Universal Pictures

What did you think about some of the computer-generated (CG) effects they included along with the practical effects?

Ultimately, I think the final look was good.

I’m not sure if it was CG at the end [of the exorcism scene]. It looked like areas of their foreheads were growing as they were metamorphosing, but it might’ve been my eyes playing tricks on me. They cut away from it quickly. Do you remember the transformation scene in The Howling? They were puffing up his face for an hour!

Do you find that younger fans watching horror movies from the 1980s find practical effects hokey?

I guess young people might. They might say, “Oh, that looks fucking hokey,” but it’ll still fuck them up. They know it’s fake because you can tell it’s fake. But a lot of them have to look away because it scares them.

Sometimes, CG work looks more realistic, but it doesn’t really have the same effect. [Viewers] will be like, “Oh, that’s gross,” and then that’s it. If you know it’s CG, your brain rests, and then the shock passes.

So, do you think the head-turning scene in the original Exorcist still works today?

I’ve worked at theme parks and haunted houses, so I know all about scaring people.

I don’t know why some things work, but I

know what works. It’s the stuff that gives you a guttural reaction. I think it’s the physical aspect of it. When people know it’s real, even if it looks hokey, it just grabs you more.

Have you ever worked on a movie about possession before?

I’ve done it a couple of times. But I’ve done tons of those kinds of makeups. I’m doing another one at an event for the 50th anniversary of the original Exorcist on Oct. 20 in Austin. But again, I’m going to try to keep the person’s face there. I don’t want her to look like an actual demon.

In a movie, you could lose the emotional connection with an audience if you did that, right?

Yeah. I mean, I’ve only done a few movies, but I like to get an idea of what [the director] is trying to get from the audience, so I can work within those boundaries. I have to figure out a way to get their vision on screen but still create something shocking. In one of the first features I did, the main actress was this beautiful girl who gets kidnapped by this psycho killer. Her husband finds her but she’s already dead, and she’s been rotting for a while. But I wanted people to be heartbroken.

I didn’t want to make her half a skeleton and gross, which would’ve been cool. I needed it to look like her. So, I tried to do that. I still tore out her eyeballs though.

Find more film stories at sacurrent.com

BENEFITING

Beer • Seltzers • Food • Music • Games + More!

PRESENTED BY

October 21, 2023 | Crockett Park L I M I T E D T I C K E T S , P U R C H A S E T O D AY

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

OFFICIAL 2023 BREWERY LIST GOLDEN ROAD 76 6666 FOUR SIXES 13

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28 SONGS BREWHOUSE + KITCHEN 48 ALAMO BEER COMPANY 44

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Beer Experience

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Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad, Barrel-Aged Belgian Quad Rootstock Rose, Cider Ranger Creek Wee Heavy, Wee Heavy Alamo Beer Co Oktoberfest, Marzen Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn Oktoberfest, Oktoberfest Brouwerij Huyghe Delirium Nocturnum, Belgian Dark Strong Ale Dogfish Head Brewery Dogfish Punkin Ale, Pumpkin Ale Hacker Pschorr Brewery Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest, Oktoberfest Paulaner Brauerei Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier, Oktoberfest Real Ale Brewery Real Ale Oktoberfest, Oktoberfest Stone Brewing Stone Notorious P.O.G. Berliner Weisse, Berliner Weisse Weihenstephan Weihenstephan Oktoberfestbier, Oktoberfest Freetail Brewing Co. Flor De Maiz, Farmhouse Ale Saint Arnold Brewing Co. Bishop’s Barrel 23, Whiskey Barrel Aged Rye Dopplebock Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Parabola, Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout Weathered Souls Brewing Co. Banana Cream Pie, Imperial Stout Austin Eastciders Mosaic, Imperial Cider

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Main Stage Line-up: Donnie Dee | Noon - 1:30pm 40% Dolomite | 1:45pm - 3:15pm Vinny Tovar | 3:30pm - 4:45pm Falco | 5pm - 6:30pm

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WE’LL BE BLUNT It ’s Delicious

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

food

Successful Sampling Check out this handy survival guide to the San Antonio Beer Festival

BY NINA RANGEL

S

lainte! Skol! Salud! Prost!

There are many different ways to say, “Down the hatch,” and the 17th Annual San Antonio Beer Festival, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 21, is a good excuse to use any and all of them.

Representatives from 150-plus local, regional and international breweries will descend upon San Antonio’s Crockett Park with more than 400 craft and premium beers, ranging from hoppy to malty to sour — and everything in between.

With so much going on at the event — there are also food trucks, live music, DJ sets and more — it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

We gathered these survival tips from Beer Fest pros to help you get the most out of Texas’ second-largest, single-day beer celebration.

DON’T skip hydration stations

Jaime Monzon

get the purest taste of the many styles being poured. Pros also suggest drinking your rinse water for added hydration before your next taste.

Our first tip will always be some iteration of the phrase, “Drink water.” San Antonio Beer Festival is a marathon, not a sprint, so make sure you scope out the locations of the many water stations as soon as you arrive. Keeping a 1:1 ratio — or at least stopping for a water break every couple of beers — will help you recharge and rehydrate.

DON’T pre-game

DO arrive with a tasting plan

This outdoor event hosts thousands of brew lovers on the grounds of a historic city park.

It’s possible to lose your friends and phone service may get spotty. Pick out a designated meeting spot before you arrive so any members of your group know where to go if they fall behind or get lost.

There’s no way you can responsibly sample every brew on offer, so take a look at the online list before arriving. That way you can plan the day around your taste buds, ensuring you get to your must-try beers before their kegs run dry. Another pro tip: start with lighter beers and work your way up to more complex variations.

DON’T be afraid to dump a beer you don’t like

We promise we won’t judge you if you decide to skip a booth or pour out a beer that doesn’t appeal to you. The festival is a great opportunity to sample variations that you wouldn’t normally order, but if you’re not sure about your next pour, asking for just a half glass is also completely acceptable.

DO rinse out your sample cup between pours

Even beer novices can detect remnants of a previous brew left in a cup. Take a little time to rinse out your cup between samples so you

San Antonio Beer Festival is one enormous celebration, and it’s all built around beer. So do yourself a favor and save your partying for the event itself. You paid for tickets, after all.

And limiting your intake to fest hours lessens your chances of making a spectacle.

DO designate a meeting spot

DON’T forget to eat

Ideally, you should eat a decent meal around an hour before the event starts. Armadillo’s Texas Style Burgers, Ming’s, The Cove and other locally owned eateries are in the proximity of Crockett Park. And don’t forget to eat while you’re there. Onsite food trucks will offer bites for the duration.

DO plan your ride home in advance

Be smart, and leave the driving to someone else. That means planning ahead. Select a designated driver in your group or split a rideshare. Safety should be a top priority.

DON’T forget to check the weather

When preparing for an outdoor, rain-or-

shine event, it’s always wise to check the weather before leaving home. This is Texas, after all. Sunblock is always a solid companion, but if the forecast warns of rain, you’ll want to be sure you’re also prepared with a poncho or umbrella.

DO practice polite sampling

You can help keep lines short by getting your sample and moving out of the way. If you want to chat with the brewery staff about what they’re pouring, step to the side of the booth and ask for a moment of their time.

Most will be happy to accommodate. Be sure your sample card is easily accessible when you approach the front of the line, and don’t forget to say please and thank you.

DON’T get sucked into your phone

Documenting the fest with friends, capturing great photos to share online and knocking out beer reviews on the spot are all part of the fun. But try to avoid spending so much time on your phone that you miss the real-life fun bubbling up around you.

DO prepare for all of life’s little needs

Sunscreen and a reusable water bottle may be obvious additions to your Beer Fest gear list, but travel hand sanitizer and toilet paper are also worthwhile additions. You know, just in case. Lawn chairs and blankets are also welcome, so feel free to pack those and grab a shady spot for a relaxing afternoon.

San Antonio Beer Festival, $45-$110, noon-6:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, Crockett Park, 1300 N. Main Ave., sanantoniobeerfestival.com.

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NORTH BOERNE’S FAVORITE NEW BREWPUB

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Multiple craft breweries collaborate for this year’s San Antonio Beer Week

BY TRAVIS E. POLING

T

he ever-growing number of breweries in San Antonio means one collaborative beer for the 11th San Antonio Beer Week just wasn’t enough.

This year, eight mix-and-match brewery teams of 15 breweries got together throughout September to make different beer styles that will be highlighted at the San Antonio Beer Festival and at Beer Week events that follow.

Traditionally, one of the highlights of Beer Week, which runs Saturday, Oct. 21 through Saturday, Oct. 28, is a limited-edition collaborative creation that draws on the expertise of multiple Alamo City craft brewers.

In SABW’s early years, Bexar, Comal and Kendall counties together boasted just five craft breweries, which made it possible to gather for a quiet morning of brewing, with each brewey contributing ingredients and know-how.

However, the number of local beer producers has grown steadily since.

As a result, there was little for most participating brewers to do in recent years except hang out and drink the host brewery’s wares while the collaboration went down.

Daniel Mayfield, brewer at Roadmap Brewing Co. and a member of the SABW board of directors, said this year’s multiple collaborations are good for the brewing community because they let brewers work together and learn from each other.

“It’s always interesting to see how people do the process differently and talk about what’s important to every-

body,” Mayfield said. “I’m all about the hops, and Flix Brewhouse is all about the fermentation and giving the yeast the best to make good beer.”

The San Antonio drinking public also will benefit from cross-brewery efforts in the form of fine ales and lagers in their bellies.

Let’s run down the details so enthusiasts can keep their eyes open for the resulting collaborations: • Flix Brewhouse hosted brewers from Second Pitch Brewing, Roadmap and Community Cultures Yeast Lab for a hazy double IPA with guava and mango.

• Black Lab Brewing hosted Wild Barley Kitchen & Brewery for a rare kvass-style beer made with sourdough bagels made in house at Wild Barley.

• Cactus Land hosted Künstler Brewing in the making of an apricot IPA. • Alamo Beer Co. teamed up with the new Thirsty Pups brewery, which had a soft opening this month.

• Dos Sirenos brought in brewers from Cactus Land to collaborate on a passionfruit lager.

• Cactus Land’s busy beer wizards went to Longtab Brewing to whip up a golden ale done in the British style.

• Second Pitch played host to Freetail Brewing Co. to make an English brown ale.

• Finally, Wild Barley was host to Ranger Creek Brewing + Distilling.

That collaboration is especially fitting because Wild Barley’s co-owner was brewmaster at Ranger Creek for many years before starting his own venture.

Adventurous wellͲcrafted beers on 28 taps Superbly grilled burgers and sandwiches MouthͲwatering appetizers and wings Sports and action TV on 11 screens Daily and weekly food and drink specials

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food TexAsian Takeover

San Antonio fusion masters Sean Wen and Andrew Ho score big at both Curry Boys and Wurst Behavior

BY RON BECHOL

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an Antonio restaurateurs Sean Wen and Andrew Ho have come a long way conceptually from staging crawfish boil pop-ups to becoming 2023 James Beard Best Chef Texas nominees, but the pair don’t seem concerned about boundaries.

The roving pop-ups morphed into brick-and-mortar permanence when they opened Pinch Boil House, a restaurant, now located in Alamo Heights, that specializes in seafood boils of all kinds. Then the guys moved on to their next big thing: curry.

Just not conventional curry. For concept number two, the pair paired up with South BBQ & Kitchen’s Andrew Samia — who shared that Beard nomination — to launch Curry Boys BBQ. The dining spot first operated out of a shipping container on North St. Mary’s Street, then jumped to a pink-painted house mere meters away.

As the name suggests, the concept is all about curry meeting ’cue — and to the benefit of both. It’s also apparent that success depends on neither culture trying to upstage the other.

Yes, there are more assertive curries at Thai restaurants all over town. But the mild green variant that bathes South’s oak-smoked Prime brisket is more a soothing cradle for the lightly smoky, tender beef than a sparring partner. Chunks of potato and carrot plus a foundation of rice provide textural contrast.

And the result is a win-win.

Perfectly smoked brisket is always a win, pulled pork less so. However, at Curry Boys it hooks up with Panang curry, usually paired with chicken or shrimp, and to unexpectedly good effect. “Succulent” comes to mind with the pork, while the menu would have you believe the curry is “bold and flavorful.” I’ll hand them the “flavorful” part of the equation. Peanut, red chili paste and coconut milk are just a few of the components that make it a perennial favorite. But “bold?” Not so much. Yet that didn’t matter. Once again, the whole exceeded the sum of its parts.

For unabashed spiciness at Curry Boys, give the cold chili-garlic noodles a spin. The fideo-like vegan noodles come coated in chili oil with soy sauce and sriracha. Garlic adds zing, cilantro a grassy fragrance and fried shallots a crunch. If you can get past the mess of smoked edamame slathered in a sweet and hot Thai sauce, the precious pearls within the leathery pods are almost worth the effort.

If Curry Boys and Wurst Behavior, Wen and Ho’s latest venture in Tobin Hill, share a common denominator other than the urge to buck tradition, that’s

Ron Bechtol

queso.

Teaming up this time with Swine House’s Joe Saenz, another pop-up veteran, the pair’s Wurst Behavior operates as a classy beer garden. A steel Japanese tori gate frames the entry, and neon-bathed indoor seating recently opened in a flanking cottage. The venture’s menu includes pretzels, dogs and brats.

While the Curry Boys queso is spiced like the restaurant’s titular specialty, at Wurst Behavior, Korean kimchi provides the cross-cultural allure. Topped with slivered green onion and served with a small mountain of very corn-y chips, it’s killer. More than a single person should ever attempt to eat, but hard to stop. Adding an on-tap beer to the equation — maybe a Kirin to reinforce the Asian vibe — might add insult to injury, but do it anyway.

Then plunge right in to a burger or dog adorned with that same, stealthily spicy queso. To be honest, and I generally strive to be, the kimchi queso burger was semi-successful. Though the counter claimed I could have the designer beef cooked medium rare, the kitchen thought otherwise. It emerged a resounding medium. There appeared to be a few morsels of

actual cabbage kimchi, maybe a scattering of green onion slices, although I would have appreciated more of both to play up the uniquely Korean connection.

Yes, the package, paired with exceptionally crisp fries, still stood out from standard burger fare. Just not far enough to meet expectations.

There was nothing halfway about the bratwurst roll with Thai papaya salad, however. In theory, this is the kind of opposites-attract coupling that should absolutely work: take a snappy, juicy sausage in a bun and shower it with cold, crunchy and acidic green papaya salad, which is also tinged with sultry heat.

But at first, the coupling was just shocking. I warmed to it over time, but in the end, not without guilt, I dipped the last of the bun and brat into the dregs of the kimchi queso. Yes. We can agree to disagree on the success of individual items at Curry Boys and Wurst Behavior, but it would be hard not to give Wen, Ho and their partners high marks for electrifying San Antonio’s sometimes somnolent palate.

It’s also impossible not to try to second guess what’s next. Pan-Asian pizza? Stay tuned.

CURRY BOYS BBQ

WURST BEHAVIOR

556 E. Courtland Place | (210) 560-2763 | curryboysbbq.com

358 E. Craig Place | wurstbehaviortx.com

Hours: 10 a.m.-11 p.m. daily

Hours: 4 p.m.-11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 4 p.m.-midnight Friday, 10 a.m.-midnight Saturday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday

The skinny: Curry meets ’cue in a creative, East-meets-West exploration of unlikely bowlfellows.

The skinny: Brats and burgers get a Pan-Asian makeover in a Germany-meets-Japan biergarten setting.

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available

M-f 6a-11a

99

¢

Breakfast

Tacos

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

food TABLE TALK

Twang CEO Elysia Treviño-Gonzales talks about breaking her company’s beer salts into all 50 states

BY BRANDON RODRIGUEZ

Name: Elysia Treviño-Gonzales Birthplace: San Antonio, Texas Title: President and CEO, Twang Favorite San Antonio memory: “Riding the trolly

with my grandma through downtown to Kiddie Park, or Popo, my grandpa, taking me to the Original Donut Shop for donut holes, or visiting Buttercrust Bakery on field trips.”

Go-to restaurants: Rosario’s, Chris Madrid’s, Singhs Vietnamese, Best Quality Daughter Favorite recent book: I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez Most recent vacation: Nashville, Tennessee

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an Antonio-based beer salt company Twang has grown significantly under the leadership of President Elysia Treviño-Gonzales. Since taking reins of the family business seven years ago, its sales have boomed and the footprint of its local production plant has grown to 50,000 square feet.

Last month, the 37-year-old company broadened its relationship with Walmart. The retail giant now carries Twang’s citrus-flavored beer salts in 3,500 stores nationwide, giving it a presence in all 50 states.

Treviño-Gonzales hopes that’s a major step toward making her products a staple in bars across the country and the Twang brand a household name.

Separately, the company has also formed strategic partnerships with top beverage brands including Heineken USA’s Dos Equis and Boston Beer Co.’s Truly Seltzers.

During a recent interview, Treviño-Gonzales discussed her plans to educate unfamiliar customers — especially those outside the business’ core Southwest market — with Twang’s Latino-centric products.

Our conversation was edited for length and clarity.

What’s your biggest accomplishment as Twang’s CEO?

My biggest accomplishment so far from taking over

Elysia Gonzales

Twang is that I’ve doubled [sales] over the last six or seven years. … And probably another big standout of accomplishment for me would be during COVID. We were able to keep all of our employees safe and working and never missed a paycheck or anything like that. So, working as a team through COVID was a real testament to the legacy that we’ve been building over the last 37 years in terms of our company culture.

Really, what makes Twang is our people.

The Walmart deal gets Twang into all 50 states, including a lot outside the Southwest, where people may not be familiar with the idea of adding salt and lime or lemon to a beer. How do you educate those consumers and get them on board?

It’s going to be a combination of things. Definitely [social media] and partnering with influencers. You know, recently, we did a sponsorship program with Spencer Boyd in NASCAR’s [Craftsman] Truck Series.

We branded a NASCAR truck to really start to expand the Twang name into territories that are unfamiliar [with the product] and the name itself. It’s a little bit of a curiosity. So, it will be everything from social to [outdoor events]. One of our biggest and probably main ways to educate people about Twang is to really put the product in people’s hands. So, we like to do a lot of field events where people are already out enjoying themselves, whether at a music concert, a sporting event or a tailgate. [It will involve] field events and brand ambassadors handing out products.

How does the new Walmart partnership fit in with Twang’s long-term development strategy?

Oh, it is huge. Because before, we were really only able to concentrate our marketing in areas and territories that we had distribution. And, with us being located in San Antonio, we’ve always been fortunate enough to have a lot of consumers come and visit San Antonio and come across our products, and then go back to Kansas or Nebraska or wherever they’re from.

And we’ve always run twang.com, our own internal store, but the fact that consumers now can find our products in just their everyday store, that’s really where our sweet spot is, because it’s a very impulsive type of purchase. … We had to really kind of put some proof in the pudding to [get approved for] the expansion that we have now. So, we’ve been building our store count over the last handful of years to where now Walmart has recognized that this is a trend or something consumers all across the United States would enjoy.

Where do you see Twang 10 years from now?

My goal would be 10 years from now for every household across the United States to have a Twang product in their pantry, and that we continue to expand. Whether that’s new flavors, new categories, new products. That’s where I continue to see [our] evolution, just really focusing on the big idea, right?

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GILBERT MARTINEZ 40

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@FORREAL_ART

food Drinking to the Departed

Seek out Día de los Muertosappropriate libations at San Antonio cocktail spots, or concoct your own

BY RON BECHTOL

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he Days of the Dead, now almost as popular in parts of the U.S. as in Mexico, are celebrated Nov. 1-2 and are shrouded in centuries-old customs. The construction of altars to lost loved ones is one such tradition. In addition to photos, special breads and sugar skulls, people often leave bottles of a deceased loved one’s favorite liquid spirit on their altar in tribute. Tequila, of course, appears frequently.

Tequila plays a part in yet another practice, that of spilling some on the ground so that the returning spirits may partake of it without dealing with pesky bottle caps. If you’re paying homage to several of the dear departed and happen to have a handle of tequila at hand, then by all means go for it. I prefer to think that toasting them with a special cocktail is a better, win-win way to go.

With that in mind, these San Antonio spots offer opportunities to get your dead drinks on.

The Esquire Bar was one of the first places in town to seriously stock high-end tequilas and mezcales, a practice that expanded to the even more atmospheric Downstairs bar at the River Walk level. The Curandero’s Prediction at Downstairs is an especially appropriate seasonal drink that makes use of both Abasolo Mexican Corn Whiskey and Nixta Elote Liqueur with its uncanny nose and taste of fresh masa. La Niña de Mis Ojos employs the Esquire’s special-barrel-pick tequila, pairing it with Chartreuse, lime and honey.

A list of some 25 agave spirits in one- or two-ounce shots is also at your disposal. Prices range from $6 for an ounce of an emsamble mezcal to $60 for 2 ounces of Fuenteseca Extra Añejo Tequila—that last one is only to toast your favorite uncle if he left you a substantial sum in his will.

To get into the spirit at Cuishe’s bar in St. Paul Square, it will help to read its retelling of the legend of Mayahuel. The story involves drunken rabbits, graves and a wicked grandmother. The menu begins with cantaritos, cocktails served in various sizes of clay cups. Rounds of curated shots, frozen or infused, follow. Next we come to what Cuishe calls “Mexologia,” which is further broken down into Mezcaleria and Tequileria cocktails. From the mezcal side, let’s say that the Puebla — blood orange mixed with Madre Mezcal, ginger beer and presented with a Chamoy rim — is especially appropriate. But there’s also no reason not to settle on the Oaxaca — named

Ron Bechtol

for one of the best places to witness DOD celebrations — and its mix of Wahaka Mezcal, tamarind and a mole-salt rim. Tequila-based options include the Xalapa with Jose Cuervo, fresh pomegranate and lemon topped with a celebratory hit of cava. A huge shot list of select tequilas and mezcales, plus other agave-based spirits such as sotol, bacanora and raicilla, rounds out the menu. Go with friends and consider ordering compatible snacks. Your late abuela would surely approve.

The bar at Mixtli — unlike the restaurant, no reservations are required — is small but mighty. Think of the space itself as a kind of altar to the spirits (you chose whether liquid or ghostly) of Mexico. Most of the base ingredients, whether used straight from the bottle or modified through techniques such as fat washing, will be ones most of us don’t regularly have on our own back bars, but that’s what makes this such an adventure. Thinking of departed friends with exotic tastes, perhaps an appropriately named Raices Antiguas will fit our bill. It’s composed of MG Mezcal, distilled pechuga style with gin botanicals, a rum-like charanda from Uruapan, palo santo bitters, lavender and lemon — and it’s both refreshing

and complex. Among the House Classics, think the incense that might sometimes swirl around an altar when sipping the Smoked Old Fashioned with corn butter-washed tequila, mezcal and mole bitters.

I left Mixtli’s bar inspired to concoct a cocktail of my own — but one that didn’t use especially exotic ingredients. If you’re inspired to make it, it’s likely you may have to buy only one bottle you don’t already have: Ancho Reyes ancho liqueur. It’s great with agave spirits, gin, even rum. Here it is:

Death and Calacas 1 ½ oz. Tequila, silver or reposado 1 oz. mezcal ½ oz. Ancho Reyes 3/4 oz. lime juice ½ oz. simple syrup or agave nectar A slice of lime peel for garnish Add all ingredients to an ice-filled tin and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled coupe with a Tajin-dipped rim if desired. Squeeze lime peel over drink and drop in. sacurrent.com | October 18 – 31, 2023 | CURRENT

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Former Grupo Mazz frontman Joe Lopez is scheduled to receive his recognition at the 43rd Annual Tejano Music Awards.

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Courtesy Photo / The Ramón Hernández Archives

Tarnished Legend?

Controversy rages around the Tejano Music Awards’ Lifetime Achievement recognition for Joe Lopez, a convicted rapist

BY MICHAEL KARLIS

I

n the late ’80s and early ’90s, Brownsville-founded Grupo Mazz was among the hottest names in Tejano music and a major South Texas concert draw.

The influential band was known for bringing an updated sound and image to the genre, drawing on rock and pop influences. Its hits, including “Amor Con Amor,” “Estúpido Romántico” and “No Te Olvidaré,” remain popular to this day.

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Given that track record, it might seem like a decision by the organizers of the Tejano Music Awards to give a Lifetime Achievement Award to one of Grupo Mazz’s founding members would be cause for celebration among South Texas music fans.

Instead, the recognition of former Grupo Mazz lead vocalist Joe Lopez with that award is mired in controversy, and some Tejano fans say they plan to protest the 43rd Annual Tejano Music Awards, scheduled for

Saturday, Oct. 21, at the Boeing Center at Tech Port.

Casting a dark cloud over the award is Lopez’s 2006 conviction on charges that he raped his then-13-yearold niece. He served 12 years of a 20-year sentence for the crime and was released from prison in 2018.

What’s more, some fans argue that the recognition slights the legacy of fellow bandmember Jimmy Gonzalez, who died in 2018. Gonzalez’s supporters argue he did most of the work in running the band, while Lopez eventually left to strike out on a solo career.

While Grupo Mazz racked up six Latin Grammy Awards, it won all of them after Lopez’s departure.

By that time, the group had been renamed Jimmy Gonzalez y Grupo Mazz. In recent public statements, Gonzalez’s family accuses Lopez of taking credit for those Latin Grammy wins in the bio he submitted to the Tejano Music Awards.

However, the Texas Talent Musicians Association, which organizes the Tejano Music Awards, sticks by honoring Lopez for his lifetime contribution to the music form. Gonzalez received the same recognition posthumously in 2018.

“Our mission statement is to recognize artists and songwriters for their contributions to Tejano music, and that’s the only thing we base it on,” TTMA Vice President Frank Salazar said.

“The initial bio that was sent to us was sent by [Joe Lopez’s] camp,” Salazar also said. “We don’t know everything about an artist. So, when they send us their bios, we’re assuming that they are what they’re saying. As far as investigating, we can only do so much of that.”

The Current tried to reach out to Lopez for comment, contacting both his brother and his current music label, Monterrey Music. We received no response by press time.

Even so, Gonzalez’s family did respond, saying they were “devastated” by the TTMA’s decision to recognize Lopez.

“We certainly do not agree with the TTMA’s decision to hail Lopez with a Lifetime Achievement Award, specifically because he attempted to impersonate our father and his career accomplishments, and most importantly because we stand in solidarity with the victim of the crime in which Lopez was found guilty,” the family said in an emailed statement.

A wild run While Grupo Mazz was popular and left a lasting stamp on Tejano music, the anger over Lopez’s award isn’t the first time controversy swirled around the group.

“There was an aspect of [Grupo Mazz] that was similar to the excesses of what you hear about Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, and what you hear about some of the binges those bands did,” said music historian Hector Saldaña, curator of the Texas Music Collection at The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University.

The Grupo Mazz was also subjected to a bitter breakup during its run. Lopez left in 1999 to strike out on a solo career, which Gonzalez and others said put

Divergent paths With that early success under his belt, Lopez struck out on his own.

Music historian Saldaña said it’s likely a talent agent whispered into Lopez’s ear that he didn’t need Gonzalez or the rest of Grupo Mazz to succeed. However, Gonzalez said in the 2015 radio interview a woman Lopez was romantically involved with urged him to leave the band.

Either way, Lopez split from Grupo Mazz in 1999, leaving his childhood friend behind.

Gonzalez was so distraught that it took him more than a year to perform again.

music

further stress on the band. By many reports, that departure ended a long-running friendship and musical collaboration.

Lopez and Gonzalez jointly launched what would eventually become Grupo Mazz in the ’60s in Brownsville, according to a biography published by Texas music journalist Ramon Hernandez.

“We grew up together, we went to kindergarten together, we went to the elementary, and we graduated from the same high school,” Gonzalez told Tejano music radio host Robert Rivas in May 2015.

After knocking around in South Texas groups, sometimes together and other times apart, the pair crossed paths again when Lopez joined Gonzalez’s band Something Different during the early 1970s. That group ultimately become Grupo Mazz in 1978.

“Joe [Lopez], as the lead singer, was the frontman, the musician who got the spotlight and all the attention,” journalist Hernandez said of the duo’s relationship.

“Whereas an always humble Jimmy [Gonzalez] was content doing second voice.”

During his 2015 radio interview, Gonzalez maintained that he did most of the behindthe-scenes work for the band and even recorded one complete song on every Grupo Mazz album imitating Lopez’s voice. He did it so well, many fans mistook the tracks as being sung by Lopez himself, the musician added.

“I mean, I did everything,” Gonzalez said in 2015. “A lot of people didn’t know that, and I think people are realizing that. I picked the songs, I did the arrangements, I went to the studio, I recorded the whole thing. Joe didn’t even take time to practice the songs at home.

He did them in the studio.”

Although Gonzalez and music historian Saldaña insist that Lopez was more of a pretty boy frontman than the engine behind the group, Grupo Mazz certainly had its share of success while he was in the band.

The act signed its first major recording deal with CBS Records in 1988 and won multiple Tejano Music Awards, including Most Promising Band of the Year (1981), Album of the Year (1988) and Song of the Year (1990), according to the TTMA archives.

Still, no Latin Grammys, though.

Couretsy Photo / Wittliff Collections

Eventually, however, Gonzalez and others regrouped as Jimmy Gonzalez y El Grupo Mazz. The new incarnation continued to record and tour, eventually bagging Latin Grammy awards for Best Tejano Album in 2001, 2022, 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2014.

On the other hand, Lopez’s solo career proved lackluster, according to Saldaña.

Eventually, it ground to a halt due to the singer’s legal troubles.

In 2006, a Cameron County jury convicted Lopez on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child on allegations that he raped his teenage niece two years prior, court records show.

Lopez was released on parole in March 2018. He remains on the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry.

Grupo Mazz played one final performance in Dallas before Lopez was sentenced. During his 2015 radio interview, Gonzalez said that was the last time he had any contact with Lopez.

“I wasn’t too crazy about it after what he did to me; it just terribly hurt me,” Gonzalez said. Rompio mi corazon is what he did to me.”

He continued: “He has the right to call me, and he has my phone number, but he has yet to call me. So, I don’t know, I guess there’s still damage there.”

After his 2018 release, Lopez tried to launch a solo career, but the move proved controversial. That same year, he canceled a show in San Antonio after reportedly receiving death threats.

A decades-old promo photo shows off the Grupo Mazz lineup that included both Joe Lopez and Jimmy Gonzalez.

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Anger over the award While the bad blood between Gonzalez and Lopez may be old news, the controversy over the latter’s pending Lifetime Achievement Award is anything but, according to observers.

“I’ve been getting a lot of calls about that, and a lot of people are thinking about protesting [the awards],” said Felix Mendoza, a former media contact for the Tejano Music Awards.

While much of the anger centers around the TTMA’s decision to honor a convicted sex offender, many also have vented frustration about the award’s announcement. Like Gonzalez’s family, some online posters expressed outrage that Lopez’s bio included mention of Grupo Mazz’s Latin Grammys, all of which were won after he left.

On Sept. 29, Gonzalez’s estate posted a strongly worded message on a Facebook fan page dedicated to the late musician. Family members accused the Tejano Music Awards of allowing Lopez to impersonate Gonzalez and steal his career achievements.

“We urge the Tejano Music Awards and Association to retract the misinformation shared in a mass email to their followers which falsely credits Mr. Joe Lopez as the recipient of Grammy Awards earned by 45

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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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

music

Couretsy Photo / Wittliff Collections

43 Jimmy Gonzalez y Grupo Mazz while in his solo career,” the statement read.

As of press time, the post has garnered 3,000 reactions and more than 600 comments.

“That email was insulting to read.

And his biography had something missing,” fan Piper Lemone commented, noting that two press releases from the TTMA on the award failed to mention Lopez’s rape conviction.

“The credit must go to Jimmy Gonzalez,” chimed in Benito Conteras Jr. Music historian Saldaña understands the outrage.

“If you don’t appear on that record, then that’s not your [Latin] Grammy,” he said.

The TTMA ultimately sent out a revised version of its press release, this one removing the Latin Grammys from Lopez’s list of achievements. However, the group plans to move ahead with the Lifetime Achievement award.

“Without one or the other, without

Joe Lopez was Mazz’s public face, but critics now say he’s trying to steal the spotlight from late bandmate Jimmy Gonzalez.

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Jimmy or without Joe, there would be no Mazz,” STTM’s Salazar told the Current. “Joe was the voice of Mazz, Jimmy was the guy behind them making sure that the band sounded tight. It was a contribution by both gentlemen that made the sound of Grupo Mazz. So, by recognizing one and not the other, we didn’t think that was right.”

Who ultimately deserves the most credit for Grupo Mazz’s success may remain a subject debated by Tejano fans for years to come. The fact that emotions run so high decades after the band’s time together remains a testament to its lasting impact.

“We did beautiful music, and that’s why it won’t go away,” Gonzalez said during his 2015 interview.

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Frost Bank Center 1 AT&T Center Parkway San Antonio, TX 78219 For tickets visit FrostBankCenter.com

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

music

Sketch Rockers

Surreal psychedelic band Powdered Wig Machine celebrates first album release with Blue Star performance

BY BILL BAIRD

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an Antonio’s Powdered Wig Machine is far from a conventional rock act.

Over the past year, the trio has emerged as one of the city’s foremost purveyors of performance-art, surreal multimedia and psychedelic punk — a happy collision of skewed art-world antics and garage rock energy.

Makes sense then that group’s origins are also far from conventional. It was originally conceived as a web video series of the same name, which primarily focused on sketch comedy and interviews. The series’ intent was to blend offbeat comedy with the sensibilities of independent film — and with David Lynch’s surreal masterpiece Mulholland Drive as a major touchpoint.

As part of the show, creators Brandon Pittman and visual artist Mauro De La Tierra conceived of a drag character named Patricia, who wears a roach-infested wig. Pittman now inhabits that character as singer-guitarist for Powdered Wig Machine — the band, not the web series, of course.

“I originally pictured the Powdered Wig Machine as a conveyor belt with all these wigs being spit out, and then on to the next one,” Pittman explained. “I thought Patricia would be just one of them, but people wanted me to keep doing it. I said, ‘OK, but if I do, I’m gonna play music.’”

With San Antonio garage-rock luminary The Wizard aka Vincent Garlisi on bass and Daniel Raigoza on drums the band forms a platform for Pittman to explore the musical side of Patricia’s character. As the next step on that journey, the group recently completed its first full length album, It’s What I’ve Always Wanted.

Powdered Wig Machine will play a show this Friday at Slab Cinema Art House in the Blue Star Arts Complex to celebrate the LP’s release. Guests including Bridgette Norris-Sanchez of local pop act HoneyBunny, Amanda Vega of “disco punk” quartet Lloronas and Kra of horn-driven BexarBrass will augment the band. Guitar-driven indie-rockers Grrrltoy will open the festivities.

It’s What I’ve Always Wanted Transforming the video series Powdered Wig Machine may not seem like an obvious segue, but Pittman said it allowed him an entry back into music, his first love.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he said.

“In my early 20s, I just wanted to tour and make records.”

Ashley Bueno

During that time, Pittman moved from the Alamo City to Rhode Island. While he wrote plenty of songs during that several-year stretch, he didn’t exactly manage to get the touring and making records thing off the ground.

“I had an internet girlfriend,” he said, laughing.

“Worked at a gas station, lived in a basement.”

Returning to San Antonio gave him a renewed appreciation for Texas and the community where he’d grown up.

“This town is weird but it’s charming,” Pittman said.

“Like a good Ella Fitzgerald song ... she’s going nutty, but she’s in on the joke, and you can be in on it too if you want to be.”

The same could be said of Powdered Wig Machine itself. The members’ wild appearances and outlandish antics invite in the audience rather than turn it away. Combined with raucous garage punk, the group delivers a compelling package — one Pittman hopes is embodied on It’s What I’ve Always Wanted. “[The name] has a dual meaning,” he said. “Its sarcastic, its sad but its also self-effacing. But what if there was a third meaning? A game show we’re all playing called It’s What I’ve Always Wanted. I like repurposing it yet again.”

In fusing sketch comedy, drag and punk rock, Pittman has also sees his stage persona as bringing multiple dimensions to bear.

“I love the juxtaposition — the feminine quality, but we’re playing really pummeling rock,” he said. “I love drag. For me, it all starts with laughter. I don’t know how to put it into a box or a label, and I don’t need to. I can feel it, and it feels good.”

‘Strange places’ Despite Texas right-wing politicians’ efforts to

target drag performances, Pittman said he’s found ample support in San Antonio. That includes an invitation to perform at the Fiesta’s Cornyation, a festive mashup of drag and satire that Pittman described as “an interesting intermingling of pros with newcomers.”

“Makes you feel small in some ways,” he added.

“Flattering to be asked, but intimidating.”

Aided by members of San Antonio’s thriving visual arts scene, Powdered Wig Machine has formed a cohort. That includes not just early collaborator De La Tierra, who helped conceive the Patricia character, but also tattoo artist Azure Sky, who provided visual art for every album track, and visual artist and Not For You Gallery owner Ursula Zavala, who directed videos for the band.

“We all exist within the notion that ... we’re not too cool for something,” Pittman said. “Coming up through the art and music scene, you always have these people that are too cool ... and they just kind of bore me.”

Moving forward, the band wants to continue pushing the envelope, according to Pittman, and that includes seeking out unconventional venues.

“I want to play everywhere. Strange places,” he said.

“I’d love to do something weirder at Fiesta. I have this vision of playing at a sex toy store.”

For Pittman, odd venue choices are all part of a package that creates transcendent experiences.

“The biggest goal for me is to stop time for people,” he says. “The best art makes everything stop. Create the moment that all of us exist in together. How can I stop time for myself and for you? Because other people did that for me.” $10, 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20, Slab Cinema Arthouse at Blue Star, 134 Blue Star, (210) 212-9373, slabcinemaarthouse.com. sacurrent.com | October 18 – 31, 2023 | CURRENT

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critics’ picks Thursday, Oct. 19

Emily Wolfe Emily Wolfe is having a moment. The Austin singer-songwriter opened for cult rock monsters Tool recently, and while that may help sell her a much broader audience, it won’t be an overnight success story. Wolfe earned that spot with years of work and solid releases, the latest being self-produced LP The Blowback, which drops the day after this gig. Wolfe previewed the album with the single “Walk In My Shoes” in early August. The topical tune addresses the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs. Wade, and it includes an intro featuring angry sounds of protest. The rest of the track is a typically charging slab of noisy roots-ish rock — the kind of material that earned her a slot opening for Tool. And there’s an added bonus: Wolfe’s drummer is San Antonio badass Johnny Radelat, who also played with Gary Clark Jr. $13-$60, 8 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — Mike McMahan

Emily Wolfe

Grrrltoy, Kill Romeo, HoneyBunny Billed as a Punk Rock Prom, this gig features three woman-fronted and riot grrrl-inspired San Antonio bands — grunge-forward Grrrltoy, power-poppers Kill Romeo and surf-rock adjacent HoneyBunny. Of note: Grrrltoy also is releasing its first EP this month. While organized by SATX Vintage Crawl as a fifth-year anniversary celebration for the Divine Sunshine Collective, a vintage clothing and art spot at the Blue Star Arts Complex, the event doubles as a benefit for the San Antonio Food Bank, complete with a raffle, a can drive and multiple vendors. $5-10, 7 p.m., Brick at Blue Star, 108 Blue Star, brickatbluestar.com. — Dalia Gulca

Ween. In addition to the DJs, the night will feature live acts Kontravoid, which hails from Vancouver, and Buzz Kull, who call Australia home. As the name expects, fetish performers will round out the bill. Free-$15 (depends on age and entry time), 9 p.m., Bonham Exchange, 411 Bonham, (210) 224-9219, bonhamexchange. com. — Danny Cervantes

Friday, Oct. 20

Saturday, Oct. 21

Ready Revolution, Honeybunny You may know San Antonio-bred brothers Emilio and Diego Navaira from their former outfit The Last Bandoleros. But if you don’t know Ready Revolution, you’re missing out on candy-coated melodies that will have you humming long after their set of rocking power-pop is done. Though the brothers live in Nashville now, the band is making a homecoming for this gig — including new bassist Emely Navaira, who also happens to be their sister. Don’t sleep on SA’s own Honeybunny, who gets crowds dancing with a signature mix of bouncy No Doubt-style pop and funky, punky rock. $15-$80, 8:30 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint. com. — MM

Esmé Patterson, Susannah Joffe Those looking for a little pastoral relaxation could do worse than check out Esmé Patterson’s recent single “Circles.” The song channels Mazzy Star singer Hope Sandoval’s warm-blanket voice. But don’t box Patterson in.

While she has a history in folk, she’s expanded her palette to include dream pop, noisy roots rock and more. $15, 7 p.m., Tandem, 310 Riverside Drive, (210) 455-5400, tandemsatx. net. — MM

Bewitched, Kontravoid, Buzz Kull Tricks, treats and kinks are on tap at the Bonham Exchange with DJ collective Bewitched hosting a dark-themed rave billed as Kink O 48

CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

Courtesy Photo / Emily Wolfe

Thursday, Oct. 26 Pollyanna, Chancla Fight Club, Lease Agreement, NDGO, Scrambled Eggs If you’re feeling a pogo vibe coming on, Pollyanna has your back. The act describes its sound as “power-pop, bubble grunge and punk.” Alright. Whether you buy into that description, give the band’s banger “Mars” a spin.

It’s plenty catchy but a lot heavier guitar-wise

than pop-punk, and it even has an element of self-loathing. $16-$18, 7 p.m., Vibes Underground, 1223 E. Houston St., (210) 255-3833, vibeseventcenter.com. — MM Vacations, Last Dinosaurs Australian indie rockers Vacations describe themselves as “woozy guitar pop,” which makes sense considering their mellow sounds that invoke Cali surf-rock vibes. The band’s latest single, “Next Exit,” captures the aesthetic perfectly, pairing catchy lyrics with crisp guitars for a dreamy, lo-fi feel. Fellow Aussies Last Dinosaur serve as an enticing opener. $30-$109, 7 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — DC John Waite, Michelle Malone On his latest tour, John Waite is celebrating 40 years of his ’80s hit “Missing You” and drawing from the catalog he amassed fronting Bad English and The Babys. Opener Michelle Malone, lauded by Rolling Stone for her “soulful ballads and rowdy, riffy blasters,” is supporting her latest release, Fan Favorites, Vol. 1 Unplugged.

The Atlanta-based Malone’s sound mixes roadhouse rock ’n’ roll, raspy gospel and the organic warmth of folk. $25 and up*, 7:30 p.m., Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 226-5700, majesticempire. com. — DC

Friday, Oct. 27

Vicky Burp, Vintage Pictures, Daniel Miller and the (Dead) Roses, Cyan Drive, Sungate Park, Nate and the Moon Band Z Fest, a mini-festival showcasing local musical talent, is going on its seventh year — and the latest iteration leans heavier on the Halloween spirit than previous ones. Headliner Vicky Burp brings a melancholic tinge to her soft tracks, and the rest of the lineup ranges from the folksy, singer-songwriter vibes of Daniel Miller and the classic-rock inspired Tuens of Nate and the Moon Band to the post-punk and indie-rock sounds of Vintage Pictures, Cyan Drive and Sungate Park. $12, 6 p.m., Brick at Blue Star, 108 Blue Star, brickatbluestar.com. — DG

Monday, Oct. 30 Cuco Born to immigrant parents, Chicano artist and producer Cuco has evolved from humble Southern California beginnings into a major player in the music world. The artist’s second major-label release, 2022’s Fantasy Gateway, features collaborations with Kacey Musgraves, Bratty and others. Cuco seamlessly blends English and Spanish lyrics into gauzy dream-pop with bossa nova elements, creating a sound all his own. $20.50-$55.50, 7:30 p.m., Boeing Center at Tech Port, 3331 General Hudnell Drive, (210) 600-3699, boeingcentertechport. com. — DC

music

Synths and Attitude

San Antonio’s Sex Mex blends keyboards, punk and pop for edgy sound

BY BILL BAIRD

S

ex Mex burst onto San Antonio’s music scene last year with a catchy yet blistering synthpunk blast. Think of a warped collage of The Cars, Suicide and Devo delivered with DIY home-recorded grit and a heaping dose of attitude.

Originally the bedroom recording project of member Nathan Gray, Sex Mex’s first gigs featured him performing solo with backing tracks — a desperate effort to get his music out to the world.

“I used to do a lot of stuff with tracks, sending Ableton [music software] into amps to sound like guitar,” said Gray, who plays drums and sings in the current four-piece lineup. “I couldn’t find band members if I didn’t get out and do something. I was experimenting just to put myself out there, thinking folks would hear it and help me out. And now it’s an actual band.”

Filling out the rest of the group are Gray’s girlfriend Becky Moore on tambourine, Matthew Colliflower on keyboards and Nick Devora on guitar.

Though they have only been performing as a full band since March, the outfit has already earned praise from Spin Magazine, which included it earlier this year on a roundup of noteworthy punk releases.

“San Antonio’s Sex Mex are too punk to be pop, too pop to be punk, too late to be new wave, as they tell me,” the magazine said in praise of the quartet’s off-kilter sound. “Keep it cooking, freaks.”

To date, Sex Mex has dropped a self-titled CD, and a trio of digital releases are listed on its Bandcamp site.

Despite the praise from Spin, the band’s rough-and-ready attitude hasn’t always endeared it to the Alamo City music scene, as evidenced by a recent brawl that erupted at a scheduled gig at Hash Vegan Eats. Yes, a vegan brawl.

“I was helping with sound at a show we were playing with a hardcore band of 17-year-olds,” Gray explained. “The

Oct 31, 2023 Courtesy Photo / Sex Mex

drummer jumped into one of my amplifiers, broke it, and I got all pissed off. Instead of apologizing, he started cussing me out, saying he didn’t care.

I punched him, he punched back and then the whole band ganged up on me.

It was an ... interesting show. We did not get to play.”

Sex Mex’s influences aren’t obscure, but they certainly stand out in a local music scene that veers more towards roots or metal. Gray rattled off varied inspirations, some punk, some pop; some predictable, some not: Alice Cooper, The Cars, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Dion, The Ramones, The Spits.

Gray has always been interested in music, but it was a personal tragedy that pushed him to finally realize his vision.

“In high school, I always liked catchy, energetic music — punk to an extent,” he said. “And I always wanted to do it, but didn’t. For a while, I was gonna be a dad, but my girlfriend had a miscarriage. When that went away … I thought, ‘Now I might as well do what I actually want to do’ ... . This crappy thing happened, but I can take it and do something else, so I don’t feel like I’m wasting time.”

To be sure, Sex Mex isn’t sitting idly by. In addition to a full slate of local shows, the band will undertake a Midwestern tour in November, and it also has a 7-inch EP coming out on Italian label Goodbye Boozy.

2417 N St Mary'S St, SaN aNtoNio, tX 78212 /JoeySSaNaNtoNio

YOUR SPOT FOR THE ERIC SPECIAL AND SCARY GOOD BEER! sacurrent.com | October 18 – 31, 2023 | CURRENT

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E M P LOY M E N T H-E-B seeks Sr Software Eng. in San Antonio, TX to develop software solutions. E-Mail resumes to: Marisa Alcorta, at Recruiting10@heb.com H-E-B seeks Sr Software Eng. in San Antonio, TX to update software and enhance existing software capabilities. E-Mail resumes to: Marisa Alcorta, at Recruiting10@heb.com Advanced Quality Engineer, 3M, San Antonio, TX: Lead dvlpmnt of process risk mgmt per ISO14971 for assigned projects. Provide quality eng’g svcs for new & existing medical device products. Assist in failure investigations & problem resolution. Provide feedback to product dvlpmnt & mfg.

Bach in Biomedical Eng’g or Mechanical Eng’g req’d. Must have min of 3 yrs exp. as a Quality Engineer for a medical device co.: (i) Conducting root cause investigations on medical device products; & (ii) Reviewing & approving updates to quality system or design history docs & labelling for new & existing products based on FDA regs & recognized quality standards, incl. ISO14971. Exp. may be gained concurrently.

Position eligible for telecommuting from any location in U.S. Apply online: 3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/.

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CURRENT | October 18 – 31, 2023 | sacurrent.com

“TV Without Hesitation”--some abrupt endings.

by Matt Jones © 2023 Matt Jones Across 1. Cinema showing 5. Antibacterial body wash brand 9. Push a product 13. Actor Stonestreet 14. Heavenly figure 16. Ash, for one 17. Message that you missed an entire state at your door while out for a stroll?

20. Familial-sounding U.K. trip-hop group that once enlisted DJ Shadow, Thom Yorke, and Mike D 21. UT campus 22. Tagline intoned gruffly in many Halloween horror movie trailers 25. Had regrets 29. Where purple dinosaurs are ground into powder?

32. Poi-making need 33. Writer Roxane of the short story collection “Difficult Women” 34. “A Prayer for Owen ___” (John Irving novel) 35. Place on a scale 36. ___ Lanka 38. Vow at an altar 39. Measure from an annual checkup, perhaps 40. Unemotional one 42. Singer-songwriter Frizzell 44. Like 39, 49, 59, you get

the idea 47. It may be signaled with a whistle 48. German connecting word that’s, like, the height of a human?

50. Captain Kangaroo player Bob 52. 2009 movie with a 2022 sequel 53. Scientist’s workplace 54. Chef ’s cutting gadget 56. Near an open flame or eating holes in my sweater, probably?

63. Thor’s father 64. Accumulated, as a bill 65. Rug stat 66. Simon of “Hot Fuzz” 67. Largemouth fish 68. Coin with a Lincoln profile Down 1. Not so many 2. Savings plan option 3. Word before Jon or Wayne 4. Rod who wrote the 1974 #1 hit “Seasons in the Sun” 5. Bread that often contains molasses 6. Part of IHOP 7. “The Night of the Hunter” screenwriter James 8. “Superman” archvillain Luthor 9. Walked with confidence 10. Edwardian or Elizabethan, e.g.

11. Cariou who played Sweeney Todd on Broadway 12. Something to stand on

15. Put a tag on 18. Native to a particular region 19. Word fragment (abbr.)

22. “Notorious” SCOTUS member of the 2010s 23. Remote control battery size 24. “Have a sample” 25. Head out from the airport 26. Rescue financially 27. 2022 World Cup winner (abbr.)

28. Homer Simpson grunt 30. Submit, as an absentee ballot 31. Pointer finger 35. “For what reason?”

37. German white wine 40. Exch. purchase 41. Reason for OT 43. Relatively tame (but dizzying) Disneyland ride 45. Forensic letters 46. Arcade game with fast-moving arrows that (gasp) turned 25 this year, for short 48. Fencing weapon 49. Airport runway surface 51. Breakfast sandwich meat 54. “Electra Woman and ___ Girl” (‘70s series) 55. Promises to pay, for short 56. Short trip 57. Lyric verse 58. Drag accessory 59. Key above Caps Lock 60. Minecraft resource 61. X, on a clock 62. Fedora, e.g.

Find Key on page 15

FIGHT HUNGER WITH EVERY STEP! Lace up your running shoes and gather with family, pets, and the entire community on Thanksgiving Day at 8:30 AM for the San Antonio Food Bank’s Turkey Trot 5K Run/Walk at the Commander’s House in Downtown San Antonio.

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safoodbank.org/turkeytrot

REGISTER ACCESS EARLY BIRD PRICING THROUGH OCT. 31