GREG ABBOTT OWNS HIS DEFEAT | LOOKING AT LUMNARIA | RAY & JOSÉPHINE'S BUTTERY GOODNESS | NOVEMBER 11 - 24, 2026
TEXAS FAMILY OWNED SINCE 1937
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CURRENT | November 11 - 24, 2026 | sacurrent.com
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Publisher Michael Wagner Editor in Chief Sanford Nowlin General Manager Chelsea Bourque Editorial Digital Content Editor Stephanie Koithan Contributing Arts Editor Bryan Rindfuss Staff Writer Michael Karlis
in this issue Issue 26-23/// November 11 - 24, 2026
Critics’ Picks
Contributors Abe Asher, Bill Baird, Ron Bechtol, Danny Cervantes, Amber Esparza, Brianna Espinoza, Anjali Gupta, Colin Houston, Kiko Martinez, Mike McMahan, Kevin Sanchez, M. Solis, Dean Zach Advertising Account Manager Parker McCoy Account Executive McCall Bagnall Account Executive Jess Hans Social Media & Marketing Coordinator Jehanna Pena Creative Services Lead Graphic Designer Ana Paula Gutierrez Events and Marketing Events Director Chelsea Bourque Chava Communications Group Founder, Chief Executive Officer Michael Wagner Co-Founder, Chief Marketing Officer Cassandra Yardeni Vice President of Operations Hollie Mahadeo Digital Operations Coordinator Jaime Monzon Revenue Operations Manager Rachel Gold Project Manager Megan Nally 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
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09 The Reckoning Arrives
Abbott and the Texas GOP may blame Trump, but they also own their defeat
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07News
The Opener News in Brief
Cleaning House
Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa already interviewing replacements for TEA chief Mike Morath
Sore Losers
Texas Republicans scramble to rein in powers of governor and lieutenant governor before Dems take over
15 Calendar
Our picks of things to do powerful
19Arts
Sensory Overload
Approved auditor info as required for public notices per section 50.011(1)(e), F.S. Circulation Verification Council 12166 Old Big Bend Road, Suite 210 St. Louis, MO 63122 www.cvcaudit.com Auditor’s Certification:
From aerial acrobatics to an opera heard through glowing headphones, Luminaria promises feast for the senses
21Screens
Best in Show
San Antonio 8th grader headlines Netflix spinoff series Doozie’s Doghouse 4
CURRENT | November 11 - 24, 2026 | sacurrent.com
23Food
Fresh Takes
From inventive fine dining to kitschy tiki cocktails, these five 2026 restaurant openings are among San Antonio’s most notable
Cooking Up Conversation
GREG ABBOTT OWNS HIS DEFEAT | LOOKING AT LUMNARIA | RAY & JOSÉPHINE'S BUTTERY GOODNESS | NOVEMBER 11 - 24, 2026
Leche de Tigre’s Santi Santibañez honors Mexican roots and a late mentor
Butter Believe It
San Antonio’s Ray & Joséphine delivers French classics without the fuss
27Music
Beautiful Chaos
Periphery’s guitarist talks about blending extreme metal, electronic textures and melody ahead of the band’s San Antonio show
Liquid Assets
Liquid Mike may be a band of modest means, but when it comes to hooks, the Michigan power-pop outfit is swimming in riches.
O
n the Cover: For years, political pundits said Texas was on the verge of becoming a purple state. Last week’s election skipped straight over the purple stage and turned the state blue. Cover design: Ana Paula Gutierrez.
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The Texas Attorney General’s Office last week sued Harris County over its ad campaign encouraging Black and Latino voters to head to the polls. The suit, filed in Harris County District Court, argues the ad was evidence the county wanted only members of particular racial and ethnic groups to vote. Outgoing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recused himself from the case. Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson last week said he will abandon Ken Paxton’s policy of suing out-of-state doctors who provide abortion medication to Texans. Paxton made a point of filing suits against those doctors, a practice abortion advocates said had a chilling effect on efforts to provide care within the state. Johnson, who defeated state Sen. Mayes Middleton last Tuesday, said he will “cease using Texas abortion laws as an instrument of persecution and intimidation, harassment and political showboating.” Tim Dunn, the West Texas Christian nationalist oil billionaire, contributed $5 million to a super PAC that aimed to help elect Mike Rogers to the U.S. Senate in Michigan. Dunn has been active in Lone Star State politics for years, donating in excess of $30 million to state Republicans and supporting President Donald Trump, but he had not previously made any known investments of that magnitude in a statewide race outside of Texas. Rogers lost to Democratic Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed. More than 6.6 million people voted early in Texas this year, breaking a state record for a midterm election set in 2018 when then-Rep. Beto O’Rourke came close to unseating Sen. Ted Cruz. Early voting was up in several large urban counties, including Harris, Dallas and Tarrant counties. Nearly 10 million Texans voted in the election in total, sweeping Democrats into every statewide office on the ballot and handing them control of the Texas House. — Abe Asher
YOU SAID IT!
“No one holds a candle on the Republican side to the Lone Star State. And yet, not only did they lose a very highly publicized U.S. Senate race — they lost everything.” —Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
news
That Rocks/That Sucks
Wikimedia Commons / Gage Skidmore
ASSCLOWN ALERT
Blaming the ‘mushy middle’ with Republican ideologue Don Huffines Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark. There’s a certain kind of politician who can look at a burning building and conclude that the real problem is nobody poured enough gasoline on it. Comptroller Don Huffines is just that guy. After Texas Republicans’ shellacking last week, this diminutive dickhead offered up an explanation that would be laughable if it weren’t so revealing: The GOP had been betrayed by the “mushy middle.” That’s right. According to Dandy Don, the problem wasn’t that Republicans had spent years putting the interests of wealthy donors, corporate benefactors and ideological extremists ahead of ordinary Texans. It wasn’t their attacks on public education, their obsession with culture-war bullshit or their apparent inability to make life more affordable. Nope. The problem was that Texas Republicans just weren’t far enough to the right.
The Texas Republican gerrymander that set off a nationwide redistricting war backfired on the GOP last Tuesday. Democrats held the majority of the seats Republicans targeted with their new congressional map and flipped two seats currently held by the party. In South Texas, Tejano singer Bobby Pulido routed U.S. Rep. Michelle De La Cruz and attorney Katy Padilla Stout won the seat formerly held by U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales. An ICE officer accused of running over a man in Houston with his vehicle has turned himself in to law enforcement authorities. The officer, Mario Alberto Morales, is facing a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for an incident in which he used his
That’s a remarkable diagnosis from a goblin who just lost his own election to Democratic state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt and managed to place third when he ran to the right of Gov. Greg Abbott in the 2022 GOP primary. Apparently, the voters didn’t reject the party’s agenda. They were simply disappointed that Republicans hadn’t pursued it with enough bomb-throwing fanaticism. Never mind that Texas Republicans have enjoyed nearly three decades of uninterrupted control of statewide offices. Never mind that Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have wielded enormous influence over the Legislature, using it to push one hard-right priority after another. If that’s the mushy middle, we’d hate to see what Huffines considers the hard right. The reality is that Huffines’ tantrum illustrates just why Republicans went down in flames. Too many in the GOP seem to think electoral defeat is never evidence that they’re out of step with the public. Instead, losing at the ballot box is proof that somebody failed to pursue those priorities aggressively enough. Here’s a notion this assclown may want to consider: Texas voters simply got tired of being governed by people who mistake ideological extremism for competence.— Sanford Nowlin
unmarked SUV to pursue 48-year-old construction worker Miguel Parra Hernandez across a parking lot and then Hernandez the man with the car. Hernandez is recovering from a broken leg in federal custody. Texas Republicans are absorbing their astonishing defeat in last Tuesday’s midterm election, with many of them blaming each other for their poor collective showing. Comptroller Don Huffines, who was defeated by state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, blamed Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for the party’s misery, while Patrick blamed an adverse political environment. President Trump, blamed Fox News for “constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition.” — Abe Asher
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CURRENT | November 11 - 24, 2026 | sacurrent.com
999 E. Basse Rd. San Antonio, TX 78209 theshopsatlh.com
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news The Reckoning Arrives
Abbott and the Texas GOP may blame Trump, but they also own their defeat BY SANFORD NOWLIN The following is a piece of opinion and analysis.
A
fter 12 years in the Governor’s Mansion, Greg Abbott apparently forgot one of the basic rules of politics. Even in fiercely independent Texas, voters expect you to occasionally do something for them. Notice the use of the word “voters.” Not major donors. Not lobbyists. Not billionaires who pour millions into political action committees. Not the 11.6% of registered Texans who showed up to vote in the Republican primary. We’re talking about the general election voters who stand in line at H-E-B, pay property taxes and wonder how they’re going to afford to take their kids to the doctor. On Tuesday, those voters — the ones who don’t have Abbott on speed dial — handed him his first general-election defeat in three decades. They elected Democrat Gina Hinojosa as Texas’ first Latina governor and shut down the Republican Party’s three-decade hold on the office. As the dust settles, many on the receiving end of the shellacking — likely even Abbott himself — will describe his defeat as collateral damage. They’ll say he and other Republicans lost their statewide offices because angry voters showed up to repudiate Trump. That’s partly true. But it’s far from the whole story. Political experts say blaming Abbott’s defeat entirely on Trump lets the governor off the hook for an impressive collection of self-inflicted political wounds, from his unpopular voucher scheme and his clumsy about-face on data centers to the expensive and cruel performative politics underlying his $11 billion Operation Lone Star. “I think definitely Trump played a big part in this, but it wasn’t just him,” University of Texas at San Antonio political scientist Jon Taylor told the Current. “Years of Republican rule in Texas and exhaustion with Abbott after 12 years also factored into it. Along with anger about everything from Big Bend National Park to flock cameras to AI data centers to vouchers to harsh immigration [policies] and the Texas collaboration with ICE. They all played a role.” And Abbott and his longtime chief political strategist, Dave Carney, deserve credit for those failures. They worked plenty hard on them. Take vouchers, for example. Abbott spent years ramming that scheme down Texans’ throats, even bankrolling the defeat of fellow Republicans who stood in his way. The result was a $1 billion program that threatens to siphon money and
students away from public school districts as they struggle to stay solvent. The issue alienated Wikimedia Commons / USDAgov-Bushland_U_S_Livestock_Insects_Research_Laboratory_Tour_55325996834-1 rural Republicans who to give Texas police the power to pull people over for fear the collapse of their public schools and don’t have any private campuses driving while brown. As loud as Abbott was about vouchers and the nearby to spend a voucher on. border, he was strangely silent on affordability and Hinojosa, a former Austin ISD school board presicorruption as those emerged as top voter concerns dent, seized on the unpopularity of the program and made public education a centerpiece of her campaign. this election cycle. One of his few acknowledgments of voters’ pocketbook pain came in a laughable series Meanwhile, Abbott spent the closing weeks accusing of “affordability roundtable” photo ops his office her of being too woke, invoking tired clichés about arranged weeks out from the election. transgender kids and Sharia law. On the other hand, Hinojosa made affordability “It was like he was running his campaign from the central to her campaign and offered proposals to help last playbook and not this one. Just tone deaf toward issues that really mattered to Texans,” Taylor said. “It’s Texas families weather the crisis. For one, she proposed making $1,500 payments directly to Texans from the stunning. I mean, this is a guy who was arguably the state’s fat-to-bursting emergency savings account. most powerful governor in the United States and he lost to somebody who he outspent almost eight to And when it comes to corruption, a Public Citizen one. It just is astounding to think that this happened, investigation found that donors to the governor’s but it happened.” Texans for Greg Abbott PAC received nearly $1 bilThen there was Abbott’s flip-flop on data centers. lion in no-bid state contracts from 2020 to 2024. The Before public opposition to water- and electricipacts came as Abbott declared state emergencies over ty-hogging computing facilities reached a fever pitch, COVID-19, border security and natural disasters — decAbbott eagerly courted investment from the induslarations that allow the state to dispense with normal try. Under his watch, the state showered data center low-bidder contracting rules. developers with tax incentives and maintained a lax At the same time, Abbott and GOP cronies including regulatory environment to cozy up to Big Tech. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton Once again, Hinojosa recognized a political openbenefited from millions in campaign contributions ing and called for a moratorium on new data center that tech mogul Elon Musk and far-right West Texas construction and tougher safeguards. oilmen Farris Wilks and Tim Dunn poured into party Abbott responded by touting new restrictions of his and candidate coffers. own and a pause on construction of the massive com“The reason you saw the Trump agenda rejected so puting facilities. Only an investigation showed that strongly in Texas is that there was an arrogance and state approvals continued for dozens of data center entitlement on the part of Abbott and Patrick and projects, exposing the governor’s election-year reversal Paxton — that they were the natural owners of these as more political theater than substantive policy. offices,” Southern Methodist University political sciThe biggest blue swings during Tuesday’s election ence professor Cal Jillson said. “I think everybody knew came from majority-Latino counties in South Texas and that Talarico might win, but I don’t think that Abbott along the border, according to a Texas Tribune analysis. and Patrick and Republicans further down the ticket Hidalgo, Maverick, Starr, Webb and Zapata counties really believed that Hinojosa was going to win.” each moved upwards of 38 points toward Democrats By Nov. 3, Abbott and his GOP cronies had spent compared to the 2024 election, the data shows. nearly 12 years in charge of a state where Republicans It’s hard to imagine that anger over Trump’s harsh controlled virtually every lever of statewide governimmigration crackdown and demonization of Latinos ment. At some point, it’s difficult to keep blaming the didn’t play a big part in that border wave. other guys for everything that’s wrong. But the president didn’t act alone. Turns out voters expect more from their elected ofAbbott was with him all the way, busing migrants to ficials than culture wars, political stunts and favors for Democrat-controlled cities, installing razor wire and billionaires. On Tuesday, they made that expectation floating barriers in the Rio Grande and attempting painfully clear. sacurrent.com | November 11 - 24, 2026 | CURRENT
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news Cleaning House Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa already interviewing replacements for TEA chief Mike Morath BY MICHAEL KARLIS
I
n her first press conference as governor-elect, Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa told reporters last Thursday that she and her team are “actively interviewing people” to replace Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath. Firing Morath, an appointee of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott who served in his role since 2016, was one of Hinojosa’s campaign promises, and one she appears ready to prioritize. Indeed, reversing Abbott’s school voucher program was front and center in Hinojosa’s gubernatorial campaign. Since Abbott rammed the scheme through the Texas Legislature last year, watchdogs estimate that the $1 billion program has cost Texas public schools about $300 million in funding as kids leave public school districts and enroll in private schools. What’s more, parents of disabled students who qualified for the program have complained that it’s harder than they expected to use those vouchers to enroll in private campuses, since those institutions aren’t required to enroll all applicants, even if they can afford it. Nearly a quarter of private schools accepting vouchers used students’ religious preference in admissions, watchdog group Our Schools Our Democracy found. “The data tells two stories at the same time: most students using a voucher this year were already in private or home school, while thousands of families who explored a voucher ultimately chose not to use it,” Dee Carney, director of the Texas Center for Voucher Transparency, said during a recent press call. “It’s precisely what the research from other states show and what we’ve been stressing — eligibility does not mean access.”
Gina
Although Hinojosa has pledged to overturn the controversial voucher program, the governor can’t unilaterally throw out a law passed by the legislature. Although Democrats will control the Texas House and every statewide elected office come January, Republicans still dominate the Texas Senate. Even so, State Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, a voucher skeptic who backed Hinojosa, told the Current that more Republicans are skeptical of the program than the public might think. “I’m not sure the Senate is hellbent on keeping it as is,” Bernal said. “I think they’ve all seen that it’s not working the way they thought it would. So, we could get rid of vouchers, for example, that give people tuition to private schools. But, there is a version of vouchers, for example, that might pay for pre-kindergarten for families that don’t qualify right now. It would be hard for the Senate to they don’t want to help the lower middle class and working class, but we want to help the wealthiest Texans – especially after what happened earlier this week.” What also may help Hinojosa gain favor among Republican lawmakers is
her emphasis on bipartisanship during the gubernatorial transition process. On Thursday, she announced that Ernest Bailes, a self-described conservative Republican whom Abbott helped oust from the Texas House during the 2024 GOP primary over his opposition to vouchers, would play a significant role on her gubernatorial transition team. “We will put partisanship aside,” Bailes said during Thursday’s presser. “We will work together for what is best for the kids of the State of Texas. We will take care of education, and we will support and listen to the people.” Bernal expects state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, the lieutenant governor-elect, to put public school reform on the agenda for the legislative session slated to begin in January. That’s likely to include not just vouchers but teacher pay, school accountability and revising the STARR test. Even so, University of Texas at San Antonio political scientist Jon Taylor told the Current that Hinojosa may want to refrain from blowing all her political capital on the lightning-rod issue of school vouchers right off the bat. “Republicans are going to block things here and there,” Taylor said. “But, I think they also recognize that they had
their asses handed to them on Tuesday, and they’re going to have to be, at least, willing to work with the governor when it’s in their interest or what they believe is in the best interest of the state.” Easy wins that Taylor speculates could be in Hinojosa’s cards could be THC legalization — a policy proposal promised by Goodwin that’s generally popular — and data center regulation. Specifically, their water use and how it relates to water scarcity in the semi-arid Lone Star State. That data center issue was among former Republican Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller’s top concerns before he too fell victim to Abbott’s wrath during the 2024 primaries. Regardless of Hinojosa’s legislative priorities, Bernal maintains Democratic lawmakers are largely united on the issues that need to be tackled. “For most of us, the priorities aren’t different,” Bernal said. “I think what Governor-elect Hinojosa found is that her priorities are the same as most Texans. It’s not as if we’re all sitting down trying to think of what to do. Hopefully, we’ll get the chance to do the things that the majority of Texans have been wanting us to do for quite some time.” sacurrent.com | November 11 - 24, 2026 | CURRENT
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THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS EVE THE BEST OF TSO AND MORE
FROST BANK CENTER 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM TICKETS AVAILABLE AT TICKETMASTER.COM 12
CURRENT | November 11 - 24, 2026 | sacurrent.com
DONDE EL PÚBLICO PUEDE CONOCER A LOS AUTORES TEXASBOOKFESTIVAL.ORG
news Sore Losers
Texas Republicans scramble to rein in powers of governor and lieutenant governor before Dems take over BY STEPHANIE KOITHAN
T
exas Senate Republicans scheduled a meeting Wednesday afternoon to discuss reorganizing the chamber, according to Quorum Report editor Scott Braddock. The question now percolating among political observers is how far Republican lawmakers might go to block Democrats from enjoying the same powers the GOP has wielded for decades. State Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Waxahachie, fired off a Wednesday morning tweet calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to “convene a special session to REIN IN EXECUTIVE EMERGENCY POWERS … before Gina Hinojosa is sworn in!” “We still have total power in Texas, and we must act like it by using the remaining ten weeks to restore separation of powers and limit the emergency powers that Governor-Elect Hinojosa is set to inherit, which would allow her to destroy liberty in Texas by executive fiat,” Harrison wrote in his tweet, which included a letter he addressed to Abbott. In the letter, the state rep. said that he had long been an opponent of the position’s “unchecked emergency powers” — regardless of party. “Now that Texas has elected a Democrat Governor, the urgency is undeniable… and inaction is intolerable,” Harrison added in the letter. “Without action, Governor Hinojosa will inherit the powers of a DICTATOR.” An earlier proposal, HB 911, would have required emergency orders that infringe on constitutionally protected rights to be limited in scope and duration. The lieutenant governor wields enormous influence over the Texas Senate’s legislative agenda, making the office one of the state’s most powerful elected positions. This is what gave Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick the authority to repeatedly block
Screenshot-2026-11-05-at-2.13.34-PM
bills focused on cannabis reform and the state’s THC industry. Not surprisingly, there are rumblings that Republican senators also want to rein in the powers of Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin, according to Quorum Report. However, there has been no update since details of Wednesday’s closeddoor meeting emerged, including what the outcome was. Abbott could, theoretically, call a special session to rein in the emergency powers of his own office and that of the lieutenant governor, but will he? After all, anti-data center Democrats — including Hinojosa — have been calling on him to hold a special session for months if he truly wishes to put a pause on data centers, all to no avail. Experts also question whether it would be a good look for Republicans to rein in powers they’ve enjoyed for decades just weeks before the opposition party takes office. Southern Methodist University political
scientist Cal Jillson said the Texas Senate could come together without a special session to rewrite the rules governing how much control the lieutenant governor has over the chamber. However, he questioned whether such a move would further damage the Republican brand. “I think they could do it. It would be [a] Senate rules change, and that can be done within just the Senate [and no special session], as far as I understand it,” Jillson said. “But I think that they should give some thought to what they’re about to do, because if I was Gina Hinojosa or the incoming lieutenant governor, I would immediately be making the argument that the people’s decision in this recent election to transfer leadership to the Democratic Party was being obstructed by these Republican incumbents.” Jillson argues that Republicans might further reinforce the narrative of government corruption if they choose to act on this impulse.
“One of the things that cost Republicans a lot in this election cycle was when Talarico broadened out the definition of corruption to include Elon Musk and the West Texas oil billionaires pouring in hundreds of millions of dollars to try to beat the Democrats,” Jillson continued. “I think people responded to that. And I think you could effectively critique the Republicans in the Senate for trying to disempower the new Democrat leadership before they even arrive as another kind of corruption.” According to Jillson and many online political commentators, voters have already spoken at the ballot box, and stripping powers from the officials they elected would effectively undermine their decision. “Texas Republicans’ response to a historic ass whooping is to subvert the will of Texas voters to protect the status quo,” Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett wrote on X. “Texans shouldn’t stand for this bullshit.”
sacurrent.com | November 11 - 24, 2026 | CURRENT
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TREASURES. TREATS. TRADITION The 47th Annual San Antonio Christmas Showcase will feature more decorations, more shopping, more holiday cheer & more fun!
DON’T MISS! Over 400 Unique Shopping Boutiques
Holiday Sweets & Treats
Huge Beer & Wine Garden
Holiday Decor & Gifts
Live Music
International Food Court with Over 20 Restaurants Gourmet Coffees, Teas & Pastries
Wreaths, Ornaments & Handmade Crafts Photos with Santa & the Grinch
SAVE $3 ON ADMISSION*
when you purchase online at
ChristmasShowcase.com *Adult admission to the 2026 San Antonio Christmas Showcase is $15 + fees when you purchase online. Adult admission is $18 at the door. Kids under 16 are FREE.
ATG E N T E RTA I N M E N T V E N U E S
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12
Jessica
JESSICA
KIRSON
Jessica
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21
DECEMBER 4 - 5
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20
Tickets on sale now at us.ATGTickets.com.
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CURRENT | November 11 - 24, 2026 | sacurrent.com
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20
SCAN FOR TICKETS
calendar
WED | 11.11 - THU | 11.12 COMEDY
MICHAEL BLAUSTEIN
Washington, D.C., native Michael Blaustein is the class clown who never grew out of the role. His thirst for attention has taken him to stages around the world. Blaustein brings The Taste Me Tour to San Antonio with the high-octane crowd work that fuels his viral clips. Some find his unfiltered style abrasive, but fans know there’s no malice behind it, just a goofball having fun. Audiences might recognize him from MTV’s Punk’d reboot, Battleclips or CBS’ Person of Interest. His longest-running project is Stiff Socks, a podcast about doing weird stuff that he launched with Trevor Wallace in 2019 and that is still going strong. Onstage, he mixes crowd work with written jokes, proving his 2024 special’s title is right: he’s a Silly Goose. $25.01-$110.19, 7 p.m., Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 226-5700, charlinemccombsempiretheater.com. — Valerie Lopez
Couresy Photo / Michael Blaustein
THU | 11.12 SPECIAL EVEN T
GUNTER STUDIO TOURS
The Gunter Hotel, the historic downtown haunt that hosted a legendary recording session by Robert Johnson, the patron saint of Delta blues, unveils its brand-new, state-of-the-art recording studio. As part of a three-day celebration commemorating the 90th anniversary of Johnson’s historic session, the public is invited to tour the facility on a first-come, first-served basis. Notable engineers and the studio’s co-designers, Michael Ramos and Steve Durr, will lead the tours, sharing their expertise and knowledge of the Gunter’s storied history and its enduring connection with musicians as diverse as Johnson, John Mellencamp and Billy Bragg. Free, 5-7 p.m., The Gunter Hotel, 205 E. Houston St., (210) 227-3241, jotsatgunter.com. — Anjali Gupta Public Domain / © 1989 www.douglashorsetramway.net
calendar FRI | 11.13 SPORTS
SPURS VS. WARRIORS
The road to the NBA Cup runs through familiar terrain for the Spurs when Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors return to the Frost Bank Center on Friday night. Now in his 18th season, Curry lit up the Spurs defense for 46 and 49 points in consecutive wins in San Antonio last November, and recently turned back the clock in a 44-point performance versus the Timberwolves in Minnesota. Rounding out West Group C are the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers and Sacramento Kings. After a pair of losses to start the season, the Spurs have responded with five wins in a row and counting, including a 130-103 rout of the Kings at home “I think the standard that we’re setting for ourselves is that we have to start great, and that doesn’t have to be with points,” Julian Champagnie told reporters after the game. “That doesn’t have to be with scoring the basketball. That just means go out there play defense, finish defensive possessions with rebounds, and then get quality shots whether they go in or they don’t go in.” $139 and up, 8:30 p.m., Frost Bank Center, 1 Frost Bank Center Drive, (210) 444-5140, frostbankcenter.com, Peacock, NBC. — M. Solis
THU | 11.19 VISUAL ART
JOE HARJO: BECOMING SMOKE
Instagram / spurs
Joe Harjo’s film Becoming Smoke explores the survival of Native culture in the face of commodification, erasure, misrepresentation and appropriation. Harjo, of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, is now based in San Antonio. At the center of the film is a dancer wearing a garment inspired by ceremonial dress but fashioned from retail security tags. As he dances, the weight of the costume pulls at his skin, making his movements more and more difficult and laborious, exposing his vulnerability despite his dance of defiance. He continues to assert his presence and persists through sheer willpower drawn from the refusal to be effaced. Free, 6-8 p.m., Artpace Rooftop Terrace, 445 N. Main St., (210) 212-4900, artpace.org. — AG
SAT | 11.14 - FRI | 11.20 TH EATRE
HEDDA GABLER
University of the Incarnate Word Theatre Arts Department presents Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, one of his most famous plays, first performed in Munich in 1891. As with many of Ibsen’s works, we find our young antiheroine trapped in a gilded cage of bourgeois melancholy, surrounded by fainting couches and self-invented — and self-destructive — dramas to keep her mind entertained. In this adaptation by Jon Robin Baitz, Hedda’s character is transformed into a willful and persuasive protagonist whose actions don’t fall short of displaying actual agency. It’s an interesting spin on a classic — one whose effectiveness remains to be seen. $5, noon and 7:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday matinee, University of the Incarnate Word, 4301 Broadway, (210) 829-3805, uiw.edu. — AG
Wikimedia Commons / Nick Juhasz
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CURRENT | November 11 - 24, 2026 | sacurrent.com
calendar SAT | 11.21 VISUAL ART
20 YEARS: RUIZ-HEALY ART
Founded in 2006 by art historian Patricia Ruiz-Healy, Ruiz-Healy Art champions Latin American, Latino and Texan artists across the United States and beyond. This 20th anniversary celebration features work by the 20 artists whom the gallery represents. Ruiz-Healy hones a sort of import/ export model of gathering talent. Her roster includes contemporary artists from San Antonio who are now based elsewhere (Jennifer Ling Datchuk in Arizona and Alejandro Diaz in New York), San Antonio-based artists (Nate Cassie, Leigh Anne Lester and Eva Marengo Sanchez), the estate of Chuck Ramirez and Mexican masters such as the inimitable Graciela Iturbide. Free, noon-3 p.m., Ruiz-Healy Art, 201 E. Olmos St., (210) 804-2219, ruizhealyart.com. — AG
Chris Strachwitz © Arhoolie Foundation
SAT | 11.21 FILM
CHULAS FRONTERAS
The San Antonio Public Library and the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute + Latino Collection & Resource Center (MACRI) present Les Blank’s Chulas Fronteras (1976), a benchmark documentary celebrating the music and culture of the Texas-Mexico borderlands. The film features a number of musical legends, including Lydia Mendoza, Flaco Jimenez, Narciso Martinez, Santiago Jimenez and Little Joe & La Familia. This screening marks the film’s 50th anniversary, offering an opportunity to revisit its sustained significance. San Antonio-based filmmaker Jim Mendiola will deliver an introduction. Free, registration required, 2-3:30 p.m., Memorial Library, 3222 Culebra Road, (210) 207-9140, mysapl.org.— Anjali Gupta
Courtesy of Ruiz-Healy Art, New York _ San Antonio and the Estate of Chuck Ramirez.
SAT | 11.21 SPORTS
SPURS VS. PELICANS
In an early NBA season that has seen surprise Western Conference teams like the Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers emerge as contenders, the New Orleans Pelicans currently sit at the bottom of the Southwest Division. With the Phoenix Suns in search of a true point guard and Pelicans executive vice president Joe Dumars favoring Jeremiah Fears, former Spur Dejounte Murray’s star-crossed tenure in the Crescent City could be coming to a close. The backcourt rotation continues to be a topic of conversation for the Spurs as their win streak continues, with stellar performances by Dylan Harper against the Timberwolves and Jazz at home. “I think just knowing personnel and obviously when I’m on the floor alone, without the two guards, it’s a time for me to just attack the defense and it’s kind of my job to get my teammates involved so I put pride in that,” said Harper after finishing the night with 25 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists versus Minnesota. “I take pride in my passing and just being able to get people to their spots.” $63 and up, 7 p.m., Frost Bank Center, 1 Frost Bank Center Drive, (210) 444-5140, frostbankcenter.com, DAZN-SAS. — AG Instagram / spurs
sacurrent.com | November 11 - 24, 2026 | CURRENT
17
ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS
Due Dec. 23, 2026
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CURRENT | November 11 - 24, 2026 | sacurrent.com
arts
Sensory Overload From aerial acrobatics to an opera heard through glowing headphones, Luminaria promises feast for the senses BY ANJALI GUPTA
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ore than 200 artists will converge on historic Houston Street, turning it into a living, breathing, pulsating canvas for the 2026 Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival. San Antonio’s one-night extravaganza offers live music, film, theater, dance, painting, sculpture, digital projections and large-scale installations to the public, all free of charge. This year, a participatory Art Parade invites attendees to join in, marching down Houston Street en masse and further establishing the festival’s mission to strengthen community bonds. In a press release, Luminaria Executive Director Yadhira Lozano said, “We are excited to bring Luminaria to this historic and contemporary part of downtown. The city is preserving our collective history while partners bring new life to the area through public art, summer concerts and holiday celebrations. Luminaria artists will highlight this area with their creativity and love of San Antonio.” Partnering organizations will serve as anchor points along the way, giving shape to this otherwise choose-your-own-adventure melee. These include the Centro/Art Everywhere Project, the San Antonio River Foundation, Texas Public Radio, San Pedro Creek, the Alameda Theatre, Paseo on Houston and the Institute of Texan Cultures. Each site will be activated by featured artists’ projects, including a kinetic sculptural installation by Pamela Martinez, aerial acrobatics by Cirque Aria and an interactive operatic performance by Nathan Felix. Featured artist Pamela Martinez, a multi-instrumentalist and composer who performs under the moniker Teletextile, presents Estafiate Plant Sound Sculpture, in which living plants are rigged to create music and emit light as viewers move through the installation, gently touching the plants along the way. Martinez has toured throughout the U.S., Europe, the U.K. and Asia, presenting what Metronome Magazine calls her “electronic wizardry.” Much of her work explores the connection between nature and technology through music. Angela Sanchez is the founder of Cirque Aria, a San Antonio-based aerial acrobatics ensemble that includes an eclectic array of performers whose skills include parkour,
Courtesy Photo / Nathan Felix
burlesque, juggling and equestrian acrobatics. Situated at the intersection of physical prowess and technology, Cirque Aria’s aerial dexterity and interactive digital projections are an entrancing blur of light, color and movement, with the human form taking center stage. Featured artist Nathan Felix presents his opus Glory Gone, featuring Sarah Pena — an opera performed live and streamed to 200 pairs of illuminated headphones, which will be distributed to attendees. In what may be Felix’s most complex logistical challenge to date, opera singers will perform outside at ground level, audible to passersby. His chamber ensemble, comprising strings, a choir and piano, will perform in the VIP area of Texas Public Radio, backlit and visible from below but only audible through the headphones. The logistical scenario Felix has set up for himself is ambitious, to say the least. When asked how he sees this piece playing out — people wandering through a crowd with a head full of sounds incongruous with their surroundings — he is cautiously optimistic. “People without headphones will be able to hear the opera singers but might not have any context as to what exactly is going on unless they notice others wearing lit-up headphones and make the connection that it’s part of a flashmob-type performance,” says the composer. “It will add to the chaos but in a really complementary way. Meanwhile, people with headphones can just get lost in the music and connect to the singers and the ensemble above.” In terms of streaming wireless audio from two
locations to a mixing board and out to headphones, Felix will not be acting as the wizard behind the curtain, so to speak. A team will handle the performance’s many technical demands. “Obviously, I am staging and directing but dealing with live radio frequencies and multiple wireless signals? Too complex. Above my pay grade. I have engineers coming in and we’ll troubleshoot during rehearsal. We might have to pivot, but I really do want to keep that separate indoor/outdoor staging. The people downstairs will be able to see the performers on the second floor while those upstairs will be able to overlook this sea of Luminaria attendees — see that chaos from an aerial perspective. I think that’s going to be really interesting.” Since Luminaria launched in 2008, projects have steadily grown in scale, ambition and interactivity. It’s this growth and sense of adventure that keep people coming back year after year. After all, when it comes to contemporary art, bigger isn’t necessarily better — but Luminaria keeps finding ways to make ambition count.
Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival 2026 Free, 6 p.m.-midnight, Saturday, Nov. 14, 111 W. Houston St., luminariasa.org.
Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com
Named Best Cocktail Bar three Years in a Row! Cheers, San Antonio!
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CURRENT | November 11 - 24, 2026 | sacurrent.com
San Antonio 8th grader headlines Netflix spinoff series Doozie’s Doghouse BY KIKO MARTINEZ
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t this early stage in her career, actress Celestina Harris, 13, has already shared the screen with accomplished performers such as Academy Award winner Zoe Saldaña (Lioness) and Emmy Award nominee Mandy Moore (Dr. Death). Now, the 8th grader and San Antonio native stars in her own TV series, Doozie’s Doghouse, which premiered on Netflix earlier this week. A spinoff of the popular program Gabby’s Dollhouse, the show follows Doozie (Harris), Gabby’s younger sister, as she embarks — no pun intended — on a series of adventures in her own dog-themed playhouse. In a recent interview with the Current, Harris discussed the lessons Doozie’s Doghouse teaches young viewers and revealed which superstar actress she hopes to work with someday.
The last time we spoke, you mentioned wanting to do more animation voice work. Since then, you have landed several roles, including the title character in Doozie’s Doghouse. Did you ever imagine you could speak that ambition into existence?
I definitely imagined it. Right after the audition [for Doozie’s Doghouse], I built a home studio for voiceover auditions. I worked and worked, and bookings started rolling in. I’m just so blessed and happy to have all these opportunities.
A home recording studio sounds really cool. Yeah, it was definitely a process. A lot of people tell me that my voiceover booth is really neat. It just made sense to build one instead of having to go all the way to another studio and pay to record there. Whenever I have an audition, I always do it there.
How did you land the role for Doozie’s Doghouse?
I auditioned and prepared and booked it. For Doozie, it was a much longer process — about five months. We started with a normal audition, and then we had a producer session and a callback with the director. Then, we had an in-person audition where I flew out to L.A.
I read that your little brother was a big fan of Gabby’s Dollhouse before you landed your show. What was it like telling him that you’re going to be part of that universe? He was so excited! I was already excited, and
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Best in Show
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he brought even more energy to me. Whenever I was doing character research, we were watching it together, and his eyes just lit up. I was like, “Wow, this is a way bigger franchise than I could ever imagine!” I imagined all the other kids and their eyes lighting up, too. It was a really heartwarming experience.
What do you think shows like Gabby’s Dollhouse and Doozie’s Doghouse teach kids?
Kids absorb the growth mindset of Gabby’s Dollhouse and the imaginative mindset in Doozie’s Doghouse. It really helps them learn from their mistakes. I feel like all the activities that we do, the crafts we make and adventures we have with the kids bring them a lot of joy. Doozie is so playful and energetic. She definitely has that puppy energy.
Speaking of puppies, Doozie is a dog lover who is entering a world that has traditionally been dominated by cats. Do you love dogs, too?
How do you balance school, friendships and the things you enjoy doing outside of acting with the demands of working in the entertainment industry? I have a lot of hobbies. Every chance I get, I try to do them. I love volleyball, hanging out with my friends and arts and crafts. Every single chance I get to do the things I love, I immediately do them. I just try to keep my childhood as alive as possible. I’m trying out for the volleyball team next year.
Last time we spoke, you mentioned wanting to work with Jenna Ortega. Are there still particular actors, directors or projects on your wish list?
This may be obvious, but who wouldn’t want to work with Zendaya? She is such a role model as a Black girl playing roles from the Disney [Channel] to Spider-Man to Dune. She’s such an influence to me. I wouldn’t mind working with Tom Holland as well!
I love dogs so very much! I love all animals, but I definitely have a little soft spot for dogs. I think a show like Doozie’s Doghouse shows kids that even though we’re all different, we can still play together and have fun and make friends.
When we first spoke three years ago, you had already appeared in Dr. Death and Lioness. How much has changed for you as an actress since then? Do you feel more confident walking onto a set?
I still get butterflies, but it’s more excited butterflies than nervous butterflies. I feel like I overcome my nerves by preparing. Whenever you’re nervous, it’s because you feel unprepared. Realizing that has helped me grow even more on set and become a better actress in general.
Find more film stories at sacurrent.com
FROM LOCAL LANDS, TO LOCAL HANDS
Pullman Market is built by the people behind it; the chefs, the butchers, fishmongers, the bakers, winemakers, the local farmers, and other makers that call Texas home. A visit to Pullman always ends as a one of a kind experience with something delicious to share.
2 2 1 N E WE LL AV E NUE | SA N A NTO NI O, TX | (21 0) 759 -0 086
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CURRENT | November 11 - 24, 2026 | sacurrent.com
food
food Fresh Takes
From inventive fine dining to kitschy tiki cocktails, these five 2026 restaurant openings are among San Antonio’s most notable BY KATHERINE STINSON
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pening a restaurant during tough economic times is no easy feat. Making a splash on the dining scene in a city the size of San Antonio during an economic downturn is even harder. Even so, the Alamo City has enjoyed a feast of notable openings so far this year, and these five restaurants and bars have certainly raised the bar. Whether it’s the elegant and innovative Esencia or the kitschy Paradise Unknown, these spots have all left a mark on the local scene by introducing diners to new flavors or elevating familiar ones. Katerina Restaurant Savvy locals were suspicious when a new American-style eatery opened in a Stone Oak Parkway location that had already claimed five locally owned restaurants. What could Katerina do to break the curse? The answer? Keep things simple — and true to Stone Oak. The 10,000-square-foot space underwent a massive overhaul, with a statuesque tree serving as the centerpiece of an elegant glass gazebo near the entrance. The space has two bars, live music on select nights, a killer happy hour that lasts until 7 p.m. and an expansive menu with burgers, pizzas, a strong appetizer selection and a braised beef short rib among the standout entrées. If you’re looking for the embodiment of the Stone Oak neighborhood, look no further than Katerina Restaurant. It’s no wonder the restaurant was fully booked for Valentine’s Day during its first week of operation. 18740 Stone Oak Parkway, (210) 972-9200, katerinarestaurant.com. Esencia
When James Beard Award semifinalist Leo Davila mysteriously closed his flagship restaurant Stixs & Stone in 2025, every foodie in town eagerly awaited his next move — which turned out to be two restaurants at the historic St. Anthony Hotel. Taking over as the executive chef of a renowned hotel is no easy feat, but Davila made it look easy, snagging another James Beard Award nomination for his first new concept, Anacacho Coffee & Cantina. Esencia, which opened in February 2026 in the former
Ron Bechtol
Rebelle space, felt like a natural successor to Stixs & Stone. Some of chef Davila’s signature dishes are still present on the menu — the famous Big Red & barbacoa tacos are a must — but Davila chose to elevate his culinary game in the new space, introducing an impressive carne asada torched tableside, a sweet and savory katsu chicken and waffle, a duck and flower entrée with hibiscus and Texas mole, and a stellar range of signature cocktails. With Esencia, Davila stayed true to his Mexican-Chinese heritage while embracing his new role as the hotel’s executive chef. 300 E. Travis St., (210) 352-3145, esencia-sa.com. Miles Bistro Miles Bistro faced its own challenge when it opened in May in a difficult East Commerce Street location in St. Paul Square. Previous tenant Francis Bogside lasted about two years. The restaurant chose to debut with a sorely underrated method — skipping the typical swarm of influencers and letting word of mouth speak for the menu instead. And a fine menu it is. Not only are the food options affordable for the area, but the quality is outstanding. A butcher’s cut steak, priced under $40, is perfectly seared to medium-rare, with a gochujang carrot butter that balances out the meaty cut with a hint of sweetness. The generous French fry service is the perfect shareable starter for a first date or a solo night out before heading out for drinks, while the adult happy meal — a filet-of-fish sandwich with a choice of a High Life pony or a gin martini — is a lowpriced way to serve up nostalgia without stressing out about the tab. Come for the food and stay for the cocktails and ambience, inspired by jazz legend Miles Davis. 1170 E. Commerce St., Ste. 100, (210) 201-3716, milesbistro.com. (a)Mar After months of a slow but steady social media campaign drumming up interest in the new Pearl-area eatery, (a)Mar co-founders
James Beard Award semifinalist Leo Davila’s Esencia incorporates flavors from both South Texas and Asia.
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and husband-and-wife duo Clarece and Carlos Clavijo took their time opening their flagship restaurant. The couple has dubbed (a)Mar — a play on the words for love and the sea — a love letter to their travels across Latin America. That affection shines through in the carefully curated food and cocktail menus. The Huachinango Zarandeado is tailor-made to share, while the oysters can be enjoyed raw or grilled. Want to be a bit more adventurous? There are black fish tacos with calamari and a pineapple pico de gallo, charred octopus served with chorizo on scratch-made tortillas, and even a Caribbean tostada. Stay for the speakeasy, particularly if you like mezcal. 403 Pearl Parkway, (210) 267-1048, amar-sa.com. Paradise Unknown Who could possibly cook up a tiki bar to rival Hot Joy and Hugman’s Oasis? Look no further than Alex Amaro, one of the co-founders of Be Kind & Rewind, a downtown bar that plays heavily on nostalgia for the ‘80s, ‘90s and early 2000s. Paradise Unknown stays true to the nostalgic theme, but in a completely different fashion — old episodes of Scooby-Doo keep bar patrons company amid dim lighting, illuminated by the sparkle of a disco-ball skull and countless other pieces of decor creating a spooky island atmosphere. The vibe may be kitschy, but the drinks are boozy enough to knock a grown man flat (the bar limits customers to two Zombies for a reason). It was a strategic move to have Wok Wey — a popular Mexican-Chinese fusion concept from chef Jaime Gonzalez (formerly of Carriqui) — on the premises. Nothing tastes better with tiki than steaming hot egg rolls. 238 Losoya St., (210) 436-1278, paradiseunknown.com.
Find more food & drink news at sacurrent.com
food
Cooking Up Conversation Leche de Tigre’s Santi Santibañez honors Mexican roots and a late mentor BY KATHERINE STINSON
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uests at San Antonio’s Peruvian restaurant Leche de Tigre have probably encountered sous chef Emiliano “Santi” Santibañez without realizing his significance at the popular dining spot. A fixture at the eatery’s cebiche bar, Santibañez helped Leche de Tigre’s owners, the Oliva brothers, open the restaurant, and he’s been a loyal part of the team since. Indeed, his ties to the brothers go back to 2014. In a conversation with the Current that’s been edited for length and clarity, Santibañez discussed his new pop-up concept Santa Cura, which pays tribute to his Mexican roots, and how a job at Costa Pacifica led him on a path toward his current position. Diners can find details about Santa Cura’s next pop-up on its Instagram page.
Tell me about your experience in the food and beverage industry prior to Leche de Tigre.
I’m very proud that my experience began in San Antonio. It started as a summer job in a local marisqueria right after high school. It gave me a real sense of pride to start getting my small checks. I realized once I was put on the floor how much I enjoyed interacting with guests.
What restaurant job led you to meet Axel and Emil Oliva, co-founders of Leche de Tigre?
It was when I was hired at Costa Pacifica around 2014. I will never forget that first day. This guy comes in and asks me, “Hey, who are you?” I’m like, “Oh, I’m new.” He’s like, “OK, cool. My name is Emil. What do you know about Peruvian food?” I was like, “Who is this guy?” I didn’t know anything about Peruvian cuisine. 24
I always thought ceviche was from Mexico, where I was born. I’ve always been very excited to learn from people who come from different countries and walks of life. Axel, Emil’s brother, was actually the one who got Emil the job at Costa. Axel was working there as a bartender first. We all formed a really nice friendship.
How did you end up at Leche de Tigre?
A few years after leaving Costa Pacifica, I was working at Signature when COVID hit. I stepped out of the industry for two years. During this period, I kept going back to Emil’s house. One day, he told me that he was going to go ahead and actually open the Peruvian concept he had told me about years ago. “But it’s not going to be a food truck,” he said. “It’s going to be a restaurant.” At the time, I had been determined to move to Dallas for job stability. I agreed to help prepare Leche de Tigre for the grand opening, still keeping in the back of my mind that I would move afterward. However, the more I worked on the restaurant before opening, the more I realized Dallas was no longer an option.
What do you want people to know about the late Axel Oliva?
I think we can all agree that he was a great person. He was the kind of person who would eat last at the table, after making sure everyone else was taken care of. One thing I always admired about him was the fact that he would actually admit to guests if an order was messed up at the restaurant instead of trying to make excuses — a rarity! He had a knack for figuring out how to make people feel special. Sometimes, if an order was messed up, Axel would admit it to the guests, and he would find a way to make the dinner special for them regardless. The guests would end up radiating with happiness. He had a knack for turning things around. That’s the magic that he had. Sometimes I’d ask Axel, “Man, is that truly necessary? Is that something that we have to do? Am I doing too much?” And he was like, “Santi, nothing bad can ever come out of caring too much. Care away, man. It is OK to give a fuck.” And that was his thing. He was like, “Give a fuck, and everything will fall into place.” And you know, that’s what we try to do here. At the start of 2026, our mission was to honor the people of Peru through their food and history. Now our mission is also
CURRENT | November 11 - 24, 2026 | sacurrent.com
Gabriella Perez
keeping Axel’s legacy alive. We do that by celebrating humanity. Our brush is our knife, our canvases are the plates, and the restaurant is our little church where people can come in and get nourished.
What inspired your pop-up Santa Cura?
I knew I wanted to tell my own story. I came from Mexico — Monterrey, in particular — so I was surrounded by great food and history from both Indigenous people and immigrants. I grew up Mexican, but I felt very disconnected from Tejano and Latino culture. Even when I moved here to San Antonio, I saw Fiesta, and I didn’t really understand it at first. Fast forward three or four years — I went
to Fiesta again, and I teared up seeing everybody dance cumbia. That’s what I want people to take away from a visit to Santa Cura: an understanding that my own story has many different branches, but it’s also a celebration of our rich Latino and Tejano culture. Good food should heal you. And that’s where the idea of “Santa Cura” came into play. It’s a place where people can come to find healing from life’s troubles — hangovers, broken hearts, nostalgia and old memories. I’m trying to bring all that together through food. I hope it helps people remember that sometimes it’s good to slow down. Life is short, and we have to celebrate every chance we get. I hope Santa Cura can be that for people.
food
Ron Bechtol
Butter Believe It
San Antonio’s Ray & Joséphine delivers French classics without the fuss BY RON BECHTOL
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et’s start with an unusual food term: slobbery. It sounds much better in French, as words often do: baveuse. And it refers specifically to a way of producing omelettes in which the exterior is cooked just enough to set and the folded interior is still a tad runny. I was hoping for at least semi-slobbery at Ray & Joséphine, a newish, French-inflected “café eatery” on East Houston Street opposite Tucker’s Italian. And I pretty much got it. Chef-owner Rafaël Francois — the bistro is named for his two grandmothers — sports fancy French restaurant credentials. However, this omelette, filled with shredded Emmenthaler and grated Parmesan, seems to epitomize his San Antonio approach: simple food made exactly comme il faut — just as it should be. A bright persillade of finely chopped parsley and garlic lifts the eggs onto another plane, and a salad of frisée in an oil-forward dressing completes the plate modestly but effectively. Ray & Joséphine’s exposed brick interior, accented
by charcoal trim and ceiling, is just rustic enough to match the cuisine without belaboring the point. Without belaboring this comparison too much, take it as the perfect setting for an entrée salad under the menu category Verdure, or greenery. It will arrive heaped in a bowl in magnificent disarray. Frisée, red onion, baby beet, spinach, avocado, radish, thinly shaved pear. The ingredients seem selected with an eye to both taste and texture — my definition of what a salad should be. Ray & Joséphine’s pays the same attention to the dressing, which is applied in the proper judicious amount. The Champagne vinegar and oil support rather than dominate the ingredients. Add a generous order of colossal, lightly beer-battered onion rings — worth a Michelin vaut le détour in their own right — and you have an unorthodox but utterly satisfying lunch. But if you’re really hungry, there’s a menu category
called Sur le Pouce, or colloquially “on the go.” And while you could easily take these sandwiches out, there’s no way they could be done justice eaten on the run. They deserve contemplation. The bread for all six sandwiches is called pistolet, and it’s done here as traditionally as if it was baked by grandmother Joséphine. The bread is both lofty and sturdy, and you’re getting a lot of it — even after a little of the interior has been scooped out to make more room for the voluminous stuffing. Take the Boeuf & Raifort, for example. A version of the house salad occupies a fair amount of real estate to begin with, but it’s far from a filler. The greenery complements the shaved beef, Emmenthaler cheese, caramelized onions and horseradish dressing. It’s a good combination, but, for my money, I’d be willing to trade the cheese for a little more beef and horseradish. Not that chef Francois asked, but I wouldn’t change a thing about the beer-battered Flounder Orly sandwich. The fillet is cooked to its flaky ideal, its salad-like cohort is an even better match than with the beef, and the addition of dill and a few green olives makes for an utterly harmonious whole. For anyone just wanting to while away a lazy morning, no contemplation involved, let me suggest a foamy cup of Belgian chocolat chaud and a pastry or two. Or three. The chef says they’re doing more baking these days, and that is only to be encouraged. My croissant had the requisite look and laminated texture. Even more importantly, though, it tasted of good butter. You can get your Proust on with a luxuriously puffy Madeleine — also the essence of butter. The café’s mold makes bigger, shell-shaped sponge cakes than mine does, and that’s a good thing. Lacking a proper mold isn’t the reason I have never attempted making ribbed canelés — the baking can also be complex — and that’s without worrying about the classic mix of butter and beeswax that coats the mold. Save yourself the trouble. Order them here and they’ll arrive perfectly crunchy on the outside and custard-like within. Ray & Joséphine is awaiting its liquor license, but lazy mornings might soon stretch into languorous late afternoons or evenings. You might have to BYOP — or bring your own Piaf — for the full French experience, but otherwise this new addition to the San Antonio food scene does a bang-up job of bringing the soul of France to the heart of Texas.
RAY & JOSÉPHINE
1305 E. Houston St., rayjosephine.com. Hours: 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday Prices: $8-$16.80 The lowdown: Ray & Joséphine is French Chef Raphaël Francois’ homage to his two grandmothers. Fittingly, the café focuses on simple things done well: a perfect omelette, carefully considered sandwiches, a voluminous green salad that gets everything right. The bakery offerings also are likely to conjure the Paris of Proust. A liquor license is pending, after which the hours and menu may be extended — along with a selection of wines.
sacurrent.com | November 11 - 24, 2026 | CURRENT
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CURRENT | November 11 - 24, 2026 | sacurrent.com
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Beautiful Chaos Periphery’s guitarist talks about blending extreme metal, electronic textures and melody ahead of the band’s San Antonio show BY MIKE MCMAHAN
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eriphery, a Washington, D.C.formed band known for an eclectic sound that both defines and expands the extreme-metal subgenre known as djent, will rumble into the Boeing Center at Tech Port on Friday, Nov. 13. Australian prog-metal act Ne Obliviscaris is also on the bill, along with Greyhaven and Ando San. Periphery resembles something of a musical Lament Configuration — you know, the beautiful-but-razor-sharp Rubik’s Cube from Hellraiser that functions as a DM app to Hell. One on face, Periphery is one of the pioneering acts in djent, a subgenre named for its defining chunky and off-kilter guitar riffs. But twist the box a different way, and you might hear the simmering beeps and boops of electronic music. Yet another turn and you get a melody so catchy it might be on a pop record, followed by a vocal sounding more like one of Pin-
head’s bros. And that’s just how Periphery’s Misha Mansoor likes it. The Current talked with the axemaster via Zoom from his home in Los Angeles about the band’s creative process and how it brings its complex music to the stage after two decades together. Consider the band’s newest album, A Pale White Dot, which dropped in May. Mansoor explained that this album, like many of the band’s prior releases, was a reaction to the one before it. Looking back, Mansoor realized that the group’s once-unpredictable mix of influences had gradually become a formula of its own. Looking for a way out of that creative rut, the musicians decided to approach A Pale White Dot differently, beginning with a central theme: loneliness. The theme’s universal nature allowed the band to explore the emotion both literally and abstractly, shaping the album’s lyrics, music and overall atmosphere. Periphery has experimented with different approaches before. On 2014’s Clear EP, each member contributed a song, while 2015’s Juggernaut was a narrative-driven double concept album. That willingness to experiment was part of Mansoor’s vision from the beginning. “I started the band and found members that were aligned,” he said. “I wanted to start a project, [but] it felt like every band was very boxed in. I would hear a lot of people saying things like, ‘Oh, that’s cool, but that’s too metal.’ Or ‘That’s cool, but that’s too melodic.’ You defined a box. I was like, ‘Man, I want to be in a
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Priscilla Scott
genre of music where that’s never a factor.’” That multifaceted approach led to the immediate success of Periphery’s self-titled debut, according to Mansoor. “It was our mission statement,” he said. “There’s everything from extremely heavy, death metal-ish and black metal-ish parts, to electronic, beautiful poppy parts and clean stuff.” Vocalist Spencer Sotelo helps pull those disparate elements together. His harsh vocals are formidable, but his distinctive clean singing gives Periphery much of its melodic identity. His vocal acrobatics recall those of Faith No More frontman Mike Patton, and the melodies he sings have a way of lingering in the listener’s head. Combining such disparate elements on an album can be achieved with adept editing and a click track to manage complex timing. But Periphery isn’t about studio trickery. The band pulls off its adventurous music live. The group keeps its approach looser than the audience might expect, Mansoor said. The members don’t chart or transcribe the songs, instead relying on feel. “We’re not counting, but we’re very aware,” he said. “But after about a week on tour, you’re on autopilot and you can enjoy it.” Mansoor praised drummer Matt Halpern as the glue holding it together. “He’s an insanely technical drummer. But I would actually say he’s more of a producer than a drummer,” he said. “He’s just a producer that happens to play drums. His approach is very musical. He’ll play something extremely complex. But if you ask him to break it down, I don’t think he could. But he can play it.” Mansoor acknowledged that the performances aren’t identical every night, and that it takes a few shows for all the gears to turn exactly as the musicians want. That interplay between complex rhythms and electronic textures is another key to Periphery’s sound. “We get sort of blamed for being one of the first djent bands. And we had electronic elements in our music,” Mansoor said. “So it’s very possible that like people were influenced by that. Or also heard the electronic parts and were like, yeah, we need to integrate that. But I think what I like about IDM [intelligent dance music] and drum and bass is how rhythmically complex and interesting it can be. It’s just in a different context [with Periphery], you know?” Mansoor understands that the distance between Meshuggah and Aphex Twin isn’t as far as many think. “They’re both like weird, esoteric, cryptic, influential bands that people get absolutely obsessed with,” he said. “And I happen to love both of them.” $54.84, 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, Boeing Center at Tech Port, 3331 General Hudnell Drive, (210) 600-3699, boeingcentertechport.com.
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Liquid Assets
Liquid Mike may be a band of modest means, but when it comes to hooks, the Michigan power-pop outfit is swimming in riches. BY MIKE MCMAHAN
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iquid Mike doesn’t believe in wasting time. Not yours, not theirs, and certainly not the two minutes it takes to deliver a perfectly formed power-pop earworm. The Midwest-based band will bring its bite-sized power pop treats to San Antonio’s Vibes Event Center on Thursday, Nov. 19, sharing the bill with emo-popsters Oso Oso and indie rockers Bugsy. The Current caught up via Zoom with Liquid Mike frontman Mike Maple at his home in Marquette, Michigan, to discuss why he keeps the songs so short, whether the band moniker disguises a solo project and more. Maple comes across as one might expect from a Midwestern DIY rocker: self-effacing and easygoing. He no longer works as a postal delivery clerk, a job that somehow perfectly fit his vibe. Still, he’s grateful his 9-to-5 allowed him to buy his home, and he readily admits he makes a little less money as a full-time musician. Not many people talk about their salaries in personal conversations, let alone interviews.
The guy would probably speak openly about anything. That kind of honesty defines the music as well. Songs cut down to their very essence: a verse and chorus, maybe some synth swirls, maybe the main riff repeated. Sometimes the chorus gets a couple of spins, but not necessarily. What’s going on here? The band’s critically acclaimed Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot includes 13 songs but clocks in at a scant 25 minutes. And it’s not some kind of loud-fast-rules hardcore punk album. Unsurprisingly, the band’s name came about as casually as its music might suggest. “We had a show coming up and we needed a name that day,” Maple said. “At the time, it was kind of a solo thing. I was writing all the songs and I had like a crew. It’s kind of like Steely Dan or something, you know? This could be a band. It could be just me. It left some wiggle room.” Whatever its origins, Liquid Mike is certainly a band now. The lineup includes drummer Cody Marecek, who also contributes songs, along with Zack Alworden on bass and Monica Nelson on synths and trumpet. Nelson is Maple’s partner, which hasn’t caused problems in the band. In some ways, that relationship makes things easier, given that many touring musicians spend weeks or months away from their significant other, he said. While Liquid Mike started out as something of a solo project, Maple said the members have leeway to write their own parts based on his demos. And there’s a practical explanation for those short demos. “When I’m recording the demos at home, I’m playing everything,” Maple said. “And I’m not very good at playing, so they have to be short so I can actually get it in
Zack Zagula
one take because I won’t punch in ever. Which is stupid, since it’s a demo.” There’s that self-effacing streak. But anyone who has heard the band’s albums Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot or Hell Is an Airport knows they’re well-played and energetic. You don’t get accolades in Rolling Stone and Pitchfork for nothing. So if Maple’s as musically inept as he suggests, what gives? “Everyone else is playing on the albums,” he said. Maple may or may not be joking, but when pressed, he acknowledged that there’s artistic intent in the approach. “I feel like usually I can say what I gotta say in one verse, a chorus and then a solo,” he said. “I don’t need all that time to say what I gotta say. I’d rather just get it over with.” That homespun simplicity defines Maple’s overall approach. He started off like so many young rock fans, idolizing big acts such as AC/DC. After that he moved on to Pavement and Midwest indie rock stalwarts Guided by Voices. “You know, it was awesome to hear records that sounded bad that were kind of played bad but still had the same juice as a
big rock album that still hit you the same way,” he said. Unlike Guided by Voices, Liquid Mike doesn’t approach short songs as fragments of a larger collage. Liquid Mike songs stand on their own as pop-rock bangers, even as they contribute to the overall flow of an album. Played on shuffle, they all make sense, while some Guided by Voices songs can, at times, sound like arbitrary pieces of a lost demo from another dimension when removed from their original context. Maple recognizes that quality in Guided by Voices, recounting a recent conversation with a friend in which the band’s Universal Truths and Cycles was likened to a Peter Gabriel-era Genesis album. Imagine if the Genesis epic “Supper’s Ready” was cut into 23 one-minute tracks, and you get the idea. On a similar note, Maple’s claim that he’s not much of a musician also seems to fall apart when one considers how frequently his short songs employ the kind of odd time signatures more commonly associated with prog rock. Again, he offers a simple explanation: “I’ve never had a problem with counting.”
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critics’ picks Wednesday, Nov. 11 Suicide Silence Californian deathcore band Suicide Silence began its journey in 2002 and now is touted by Loudwire as one of the “Big Four” of the subgenre. After the sudden passing of original vocalist Mitch Lucker in 2012, Eddie Hermida — the previous vocalist of metal band All Shall Perish — took over screaming duties for Suicide Silence, and the band has carried on with its mission. Expect pinch harmonics, trashcan snare and grimace-inducing heaviness as the band hits the stage in SA. $40.60-$121.27, 7 p.m., Rock Box, 1223 E. Houston St., (210) 8032101, therockboxsa.com. — Brianna Espinoza
Friday, Nov. 13 Tomar and the FCs Tomar Williams learned to sing the hard way: fronting his family’s band on the Chitlin’ Circuit in the late ’80s. Williams spent the next few decades as a producer and sideman, then in 2015 he linked up with an Austin instrumental outfit called the FCs and remembered he liked being out front. Since then, Tomar and the FCs have made three records (Heart Attack, Rise Above and 2025’s Soul Searching), and NPR picked the act to represent Austin in its Tiny Desk contest. The band specializes in deep, sweaty, horn-driven soul — the kind that doesn’t work sitting down. $39-$99, 8 p.m., Crystal Ballroom at The Gunter Hotel, 205 E. Houston St., the-gunter-hotel.turntabletickets.com. — Bill Baird We Are Scientists, Sean McVerry Formed in Berkeley and later based in NYC, indie-rock band We Are Scientists is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its debut album With Love and Squalor. The band became associated with the same New York indie-rock scene that produced acts such as the Strokes and Interpol. Since Squalor, We Are Scientists has released an additional eight albums, including Qualifying Miles in 2025. Put on the band’s “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt” and get ready for a great Friday. $23.68, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — DC
Saturday, Nov. 14 Makaya McCraven Chicago drummer and producer Makaya McCraven is jazz’s mad-beat scientist. His method is to record improvised live sets, take the tapes back to his studio, then cut, loop and overdub them until they groove like hip-hop records. He calls it “organic beat music,” and it’s made him one of the most influential jazz musicians of the past decade. He has remixed Gil Scott-Heron’s final album, dug through the Blue Note vaults for Deciphering the Message and spent seven years making 2022’s ambitious In These Times. His newest, Off the Record, collects the four EPs
he put out last fall. Live, nobody’s sure where it’s going, including the band. $18-$43, 8 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — BB
Sunday, Nov. 15 Stinking Lizaveta, Deathbird Earth, Syr Philly’s instrumental doom-jazz lifers Stinking Lizaveta have been doing their thing for more than 30 years, and nobody else does anything like it. Brothers Yanni and Alexi Papadopoulos — guitar and bass, respectively — and drummer Cheshire Agusta play heavy music that swings, shreds and wanders off into the dark without a single word sung. They’re touring behind Cassandra, Prophet of Doom, the band’s 10th album, out in September on SRA Records. Fellow Philadelphians Deathbird Earth open with sci-fi noise rock. San Antonio prog-metalers Syr play tunes from their forthcoming LP, the delightfully heavy In the Orbit of a Dead Star. Full disclosure: Syr’s lineup features Current editor Sanford Nowlin. $10, 8 p.m., Hi-Tones, 621 E. Dewey Place, instagram.com/hitones_sa. — BB The Deslondes, Kristina Murray, Nicky Diamonds Pull up a chair for these New Orleans dudes. Their country soul sounds like it was dug out of a crate of old Stax and Sun 45s with Alan Lomax field recordings mixed in. Sam Doores, Riley Downing and Cameron Snyder all write songs and take turns singing. You get three songwriters, gospel harmonies and a rhythm section that knows exactly when to lay back. They’ll be coming off a Honky Tonk Fest set in Austin the night before, so they’ll be warmed up. Waltz accordingly. $10, 7:30 p.m., The Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St. Mary’s St., thelonesomerose.com. — BB
Wednesday, Nov. 18 Jazz Mills & Friends You might have already heard Jazz Mills without knowing it. She’s sung backup for the Sword, Caleb Landry Jones and Black Angels frontman Alex Maas, and she’s opened for Stevie Wonder and Arcade Fire. She also co-founded Cowboy and Indian with actor Jesse Plemons, a band that started by accident at SXSW. On her own, she writes dreamy, heartbroken pop that sounds like it came from a ’60s jukebox. These days she also manages Rattlesnake Milk and sings with Buffalo Hunt. For this show she’s bringing friends and turning the Gunter’s Studio Lounge into a sleepover. Pajamas optional. Probably. $30, 7 p.m., Studio Lounge at The Gunter Hotel, 205 E. Houston St., the-gunter-hotel.turntabletickets.com. — BB
Friday, Nov. 20 Lyle Lovett Texas legend Lyle Lovett drops into the familiar confines of the Majestic for his yearly appearance.
Lyle Lovett Wikimedia Commons / Brian Birzer
Saturday, Nov. 21
The singer-songwriter’s work has always been enchanting, including his hit “San Antonio Girl,” a sprawling love letter to a night out in the Alamo City. Last month, Lovett was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside Taylor Swift, cementing his status as one of the great storytellers of the era. $48.19-$145.79, 8 p.m., Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 2265700, majesticempire.com. — Danny Cervantes
Band of Horses In a Current interview two years ago, Band of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell said executives may be cooking up a tour behind the 20th anniversary of one of the group’s landmark alt-rock albums, Everything All the Time. Band of Horses will perform the record in its entirety in its first set, including the songs “The Funeral” and “Our Swords.” The second set will feature fan favorites from the band’s catalog that helped establish it as a linchpin of the 2000s indie boom. $42.75-$72.00, 8 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — DC
Bowling for Soup, Ballyhoo!, rosecoloredworld Growing up in Wichita Falls, founding Bowling for Soup vocalist Jaret Reddick mashed up his love of ’80s radio-friendly hard rock bands such as Quiet Riot and Ratt with punk acts like the Ramones and Green Day. The result is something all his own. Best known for the single “1985,” a catchy homage to Reddick’s youth, BFS will provide a lively lead-in to Thanksgiving. $52.50-$69.50, 7:30 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — DC Rattlesnake Milk, Strawberry Jams, VIAJE Lone Star Beer is bringing its Armadillo Ball back with Rattlesnake Milk, the Panhandle band whose songs sound like the High Plains after dark, replete with an empty sky, coyotes howling and a freight train rumbling somewhere in the distance. Strawberry Jams are also on the bill, and VIAJE will spin records between sets. It’s already sold out, so if you don’t have a ticket, start texting friends. Sold out, 7 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Pkwy., stablehall.com. — BB
Helstar, Antisma, Wicked Angel, Unnecessary Surgery, Starlight Band Houston-based heavy metal titans Helstar are celebrating their famous 1989 album Nosferatu with a run of shows for fans who have stuck with the band over the decades. Part power metal, part horror rock, Helstar embodies the evil riffage and shrieking vocals of ’80s metal. Understandably, San Antonio has always treated Helstar like a hometown band. Singer James Rivera plays here all the time, and guitarist Alan DeLeon Jr. comes from the SA scene. More than 40 years in, the group put out its 10th album, The Devil’s Masquerade. $20, 8 p.m., Fitzgerald’s Bar and Live Music Venue, 437 McCarty Road, Suite 101, (210) 607-7007, fitzrockssa.com. — BE
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EMPLOYMENT Aviation Planner to work in San Antonio office. Bach. in Bachelor’s aviation mgmt, engineering, or related. Send resume: HR, Garver, 4701 Northshore Drive, North Little Rock, AR 72118
“Bigger Than Before”--it’s huge! by Matt Jones ©2026 Matt Jones Across 1. Cosette in “Les MisÈrables,” for one 5. “Two guys walk into ___ ...” 9. Second U.S. President 14. As well 15. Nintendo character’s debatable full name (according to the 1993 live-action film) 17. Scottish band with a 1983 “In a ...” hit, but much bigger? 19. Marsupial that can eat leaves poisonous to other animals 20. Stately trees 21. South China, e.g. 22. Go very slowly 25. No, in Novosibirsk 27. Pixies song “Here Comes Your ___” 29. Intention 31. “Sun ___ Set” (2026 Beabadoobee single) 34. 7-Eleven drinks, but much bigger? 40. Needle part 41. Noodle or duck, e.g. 42. “A Christmas Carol” outburst 43. Nick Kroll animated series, but much bigger? 46. Oversaw 47. Lyricist Gershwin 48. Text messaging letters 49. 400-meter path shape 53. “Devil Inside” band 55. Health retreat 58. Bunches 60. Rent 64. Powerful slugger, but much
bigger? 68. Option from a barista 69. Tomato used in sauces 70. Salsa ___ 71. “Heads up” abbr. 72. “Lucky Jim” author Kingsley Down 1. “Crack is ___” 2. Potato, in Indian restaurants 3. ___ Nublar (“Jurassic Park” location) 4. “No ___!” (“Really!”) 5. Morning times 6. Barnyard sound 7. Folk singer Guthrie 8. Puerto ___ 9. Be entertaining 10. “Bizarro” cartoonist Piraro 11. Subject of some grants 12. Bog down 13. Bean curd source 16. “They’re altogether ___ / The Addams Family” 18. ___ Salvador 23. Paddle boat? 24. Stumble across 26. Wed. follower 27. Bestower of keys to the city 28. Rock tour venue 30. Prefix for millionaire 32. Photo storage device? 33. Quick quarrels 34. Rock 35. Public radio producer behind “Marketplace,” for short 36. Space Invaders company 37. “Memento” director Christopher 38. Lifter’s locale 39. “Quiet, you!” 44. Card game with a Champion-
ship Series in fall 2026 45. Slightly less expensive alternative to Beluga caviar 50. “Hacks” main character Deborah 51. Deciding force behind what gets promoted on social media, for short 52. Bathtub sponge 54. Super Bowl held in 2007 55. Sarah Snook’s “Succession” role 56. Eggplant shade 57. U.S.A. part 59. Small grass patch 61. Small piece of silver, say 62. Game before the final 63. Taylor Swift tour 65. Inexplicable 66. Ready follower? 67. Egg producer
Answers on page 21.
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