BOOKMAKING WITH JOEY FAUERSO | CONSISTENCY ON THE MENU AT CULLUM'S ATTABOY | TEXAS TRAILBLAZER WILL JOHNSON | JAN 24 - FEB 6, 2024
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CURRENT | September 7 – 20, 2022 | sacurrent.com
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CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | 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 Interns Amber Esparza
in this issue Issue 24-02 /// January 24 – February 6, 2024
Critics’ Picks
Contributors Abe Asher, Bill Baird, Ron Bechtol, Danny Cervantes, Macks Cook, Brianna Espinoza, Dalia Gulca, Anjali Gupta, Colin Houston, Kiko Martinez, Mike McMahan, Kevin Sanchez, M. Solis, Caroline Wolff, Dean Zach Advertising Account Managers Marissa Gamez, Parker McCoy Senior Account Executive Mike Valdelamar Local Culture Creative Agency Director Mindi Overman Creative Services Creative Services Manager Samantha Serna 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 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 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
Shutterstock / Poli Pix Co. LLC
10 Feature
Border Brawl
What’s Abbott trying to prove in his showdown with the feds?
San Antonio Current sacurrent.com Editorial: editor@sacurrent.com Display Advertising: marketing@sacurrent.com The San Antonio Current is published by Chava Communications Group San Antonio Distribution The Current is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. Get listed 1. Visit sacurrent.com 2. Click “Calendar” and then “Submit an Event” 3. Follow the steps to submit your event details Please allow 48 hours for review and approval. Event submissions are not accepted by phone. Copyright notice: The entire contents of the San Antonio Current are copyright 2023 by Chava Group LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Publisher does not assume any liability for unsolicited manuscripts, materials, or other content. Any submission must include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business correspondence should be emailed to the addresses listed above. Subscriptions: Additional copies or back issues may be purchased at the Current offices for $1. Six-month domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $75; one-year subscriptions for $125.
09 News
The Opener News in Brief
Cityscrapes
San Antonio’s DeLorean deal shows the need to develop the city’s economy instead of chasing pipe dreams
Bad Takes
Let’s stop treating homelessness and our automobile obsession like problems without solutions
15 Calendar Calendar Picks
22 Arts 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:
Creative Breakthroughs
San Antonio artist Joey Fauerso celebrates a prolific decade with the new book You Destroy Every Special Thing I Make
25 Screens
Cinematic City
San Antonio Film Commissioner Kimberly LeBlanc surveys the moviemaking landscape BOOKMAKING WITH JOEY FAUERSO | CONSISTENCY ON THE MENU AT CULLUM'S ATTABOY | TEXAS TRAILBLAZER WILL JOHNSON | JAN 24 - FEB 6, 2024
27 Food
Believe the Hype
Cullum’s Attaboy continues to excel thanks to an unrivaled attention to detail
United We Brunch moves to San Antonio’s Witte Museum for latest installment Hot Dish
33 Music
Unafraid of Intimacy
Singer-songwriter Will Johnson, a collaborator with Jason Isbell, Vic Chestnutt and others, playing the Lonesome Rose
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n the Cover: Writer Michael Karlis gets to the bottom of the governor’s latest bout of anti-immigrant grandstanding. Cover design: Samantha Serna.
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CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
ANNUAL SUMMIT OF EVENTS, IN AND AROUND DOWNTOWN SAN ANTONIO: SYMPOSIUMS, FILM SCREENINGS, CONCERTS, ART EXHIBITS, PANEL DISCUSSIONS, HEALTH AND FITNESS EXPOS, MIXERS, DEBATES, AND MORE!
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CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
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San Antonio ISD cancelled classes for much of last week after weather-related heating and plumbing conditions racked dozens of its campuses. In the wake of the debacle, Superintendent Jaime Aquino said he accepted the resignations of Deputy Superintendent of Operations Ken Thompson and Chief of Operations Mike Eaton. A federal appeals court last week blocked Texas from enforcing a new state law requiring booksellers to rate the explicitness of sexual content in books they sell to schools. Businesses including Austin’s Book People sued the state last July, arguing the measure violated the First Amendment. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the nation’s most conservative appeals courts, agreed.
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Joe Jama, whose contributions helped define San Antonio’s West Side soul sound, died last week at 74. The singer and bassist was a member of the Royal Jesters and a key figure in a musical movement that combined elements of Mexican music with R&B and soul. Jama is credited with bringing funk, jazzy arrangements and Chicano consciousness into the sound. H-E-B has launched another round of advertisements featuring San Antonio Spurs rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama. The new TV spots — one which runs 15 seconds and another which runs 30 — focus on the grocery chain’s ice cream brand Creamy Creations and also feature other members of the NBA team. — Abe Asher
ASSCLOWN ALERT
Refusing to make good on a pledge to resign with Texas DPS Chief Steve McCraw Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark. “If DPS as an institution — as an institution — failed the families, failed the school or failed the community of Uvalde, then absolutely I need to go,” Texas Department of Public Safety Chief Steve McCraw said during an October 2022 meeting with the families of children slaughtered in the Robb Elementary School shooting. “But I can tell you this right now: DPS as an institution, right now, did not fail the community, plain and simple,” McCraw continued. After the U.S. Justice Department released a blistering 575-page report blaming every level of law enforcement for “cascading failures” in their response to the shooting, it’s hard to take McCraw’s defense of DPS seriously. After all, DPS accounted for 91 of the 376 members of law enforcement who stood around, waiting 77 minutes before they breached a classroom and took down the shooter. That’s the largest share of any organization. While the report cites lack of training and communication as some factors in that languid response, it specifically details failures of leadership, decision-making and policy. Even though McCraw wasn’t at the scene, as
— Texas Sen. Roland Gutierrez,
D-San Antonio, on the Justice Department’s report on law enforcement’s failed response to the Uvalde school shooting.
Facebook / Texas Department of Public Safety
the state’s highest-ranking uniformed member of law enforcement, he should have been hands-on and calling the shots. The sluggish timetable should have set off alarm bells and demanded his response. It’s time for this assclown to show his pledge to Uvalde families was more than empty rhetoric. If McCraw has any decency or courage, he should leave his position immediately. — Sanford Nowlin
The family of Andre “AJ” Hernandez has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the San Antonio Police Department. Represented by prominent civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, the family argues that SAPD violated Hernandez’s Fourth Amendment right to protection against unlawful search and seizure when an officer shot and killed him when responding to a stolen vehicle call in June 2022. Last year, a grand jury declined to indict the officer on criminal charges.
YOU SAID IT!
“There’s not a lot in this report that we didn’t already know and that you haven’t already broken to the public — not a whole lot. But I think the final conclusion — the only solace we can take from this — is that it’s finally there in black and white, and in writing, for us all to see.”
news
That Rocks/That Sucks
Michael Karlis
San Antonio lawmakers expressed outrage last week after a U.S. Department of Justice report catalogued a series of deadly errors in state and local law enforcement’s response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. The report is among the most thorough accounts of the botched response to the shooting produced to date, spelling out how police failed to confront the shooter in a timely fashion.
San Antonio City Council last week voted 10-0 to censure Councilman Mark Whyte over a DWI charge he incurred in December. Mayor Ron Nirenberg has also temporarily stripped Whyte of his committee assignments. Whyte was apologetic when the censure resolution was brought up during a special meeting. However, he later told reporters that his colleagues “shouldn’t have jumped to any conclusions” about the incident prior to the legal process playing out. — Abe Asher
Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com
news Border Brawl
What’s Abbott trying to prove in his showdown with the feds? BY MICHAEL KARLIS
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ver the weekend, the Dallas Morning-News, in collaboration with PolitiFact, debunked a viral video that appeared to capture President Joe Biden threatening to wage war with Texas. “We’re going to make sure those cowboys don’t stop the surge of military-age men from entering,” a voice sounding eerily like the president’s said in the clip. “If we have to send F-15s to Texas and wage war against Texas, so be it.” The clip garnered hundreds of thousands of views. Despite its debunking, self-proclaimed patriots responding on X and TikTok said they’re ready to defend Texas from Biden’s authoritarian overreach. The fake recording is making the rounds as Gov. Greg Abbott’s standoff with Biden over whether the state or the federal government has immigration oversight comes to a deafening crescendo. After months of falsely proclaiming that the White House maintains an “open borders” policy, Abbott ordered Texas National Guard troops to seize Eagle Pass’s Shelby Park as part of Operation Lone Star, his border crackdown that Texas lawmakers have so far funded to the tune of $10 billion. Officially, Abbott has said the seizure and the Guard’s subsequent lockout of Customs and Border Protection agents is his attempt to thwart illegal crossings that the White House has no interest in stopping. However, to many political observers it’s just the latest spectacle executed by the grandstanding GOP governor. One executed with the hope that Biden responds by nationalizing the Texas National Guard — a move that would allow Republicans to paint him as a power-mad dictator. “There would be individuals on both sides that would be very energized,” St. Mary’s Law professor and constitutional law expert Jeffrey Addicott said about the prospect of the White House taking control of the Guard. “With Biden running a reelection campaign, the optics would be bad. Texas is trying to secure the border, and you’re trying to stop Texas from doing so; that’s not a good message.” Biden’s decision to federalize the Guard would also be subject to judicial review, and it would be a tough sell to the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court, Addicott added. Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson agreed, saying Biden is unlikely to take Abbott’s bait, no matter how tense things get. “Most people do not want to see the federal government nationalize the Texas National Guard as part of a conflict with the State of Texas and its governor, because that is potentially a clash of arms,” Jillson said. Instead, Jillson said Abbott’s seizure of Shelby Park is part of a larger conservative agenda to get the U.S.
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CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
Photo illustration by Samantha Serna
Supreme Court to overturn a 2012 ruling that said immigration-enforcement authority lies exclusively with the federal government. Both scholars maintain that Abbott’s Operation Lone Star and seizure of Shelby Park are little more than political theater — albeit with real-world consequences.
The Supreme Court In 2012, Arizona passed Senate Bill 1070. Eerily similar to Texas’ own Senate Bill 4, which Abbott signed into law last month, Arizona’s so-called “Show Me Your Papers Law” allowed state and local authorities to arrest anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. Additionally, Arizona’s law allowed police to make such arrests without a warrant or probable cause. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-3 decision that Arizona’s SB 1070 was unlawful and that immigration enforcement is the exclusive duty of the federal government. “Abbott hopes they’ll decide differently and say that states can protect their own borders,” Jillson said. “But, I doubt that will happen, because immigration has historically been a federal issue, and while the Supreme Court has been willing to turn over longstanding precedents, I don’t think they will allow [states] to control their own borders.” To the professor’s point, the Supreme Court’s ruled 5-4 Monday in a separate border fight between Texas and the U.S. government that federal agents are legally authorized to cut through concertina wire Abbott deployed along the Rio Grande. Even so, Addicott believes both sides could muster solid arguments in front of the high court. It’s possible the court’s conservative supermajority, which voted to overturn Roe. v. Wade last year, could even come down in Abbott’s favor. Still, Addicott was light on details about what immigration enforcement would then look like. “Those opinions are pretty narrow,” Addicott said of the 2012 Arizona ruling. “The federal government has primary authority, which we all understand. But the real issue is, what if they’re not doing their job?” Indeed, Biden told a bipartisan group of mayors visiting the White House Friday that the U.S.-Mexico
border hasn’t been secure for the past decade. Immigration authorities encountered more than 225,000 migrants along the southern border last month, the highest such total recorded in the past 23 years. However, Jillson and Addicott agreed that Operation Lone Star, while appealing to the governor’s base, isn’t doing anything to stanch that flow of migrants.
Grandstanding governor Although Abbott’s action in Eagle Pass attracted significant media attention, Jillson said it’s done little to curb illegal immigration. Shelby Park is not much more than a 47-acre green space located near an international border bridge that Border Patrol Agents previously used as a processing center for migrants. Despite Abbott deploying buoys with chainsaw blades in the Rio Grande and concertina wire along its banks, the majority of Texas’ 1,200-mile border with Mexico isn’t rigorously patrolled by either the state or federal government. There’s simply too much to cover. Abbott’s use of state funds to continue building former President Donald Trump’s wall has so far yielded around 50 miles of barrier at a $1.5 billion cost to taxpayers, according to the Texas Tribune. The hard truth is the nation’s immigration system is broken and neither Republicans nor Democrats in Washington have so far shown an appetite to meet in the middle and work through a solution, Addicott said. Meanwhile, the Eagle Pass pissing contest has real consequences. During the standoff, three migrants — a woman and two children — drowned last week while trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas. Federal officials, including U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said Border Patrol agents were unable to rescue the three because they were closed off from the park, a claim Abbott has denied. Days later, another migrant’s lifeless body was pulled from the Rio Grande near Shelby Park. And the bodies could keep coming. Neither Jillson nor Adicott expects a Supreme Court ruling on the matter for at least a few months.
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sacurrent.com | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | CURRENT
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news CITYSCRAPES
San Antonio’s DeLorean deal shows the need to develop the city’s economy instead of chasing pipe dreams BY HEYWOOD SANDERS Editor’s Note: CityScrapes is a column of opinion and analysis.
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ocal officials gushed with gusto when a reconstituted DeLorean Motor Co. revealed a little more than a year ago that it was locating its headquarters in San Antonio. “In an increasingly competitive electric vehicle market, San Antonio is ready to lead,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg effused. County Judge Nelson Wolff was no less enthusiastic: “We have invested in building the ecosystem with the engineering, tech and cyber talent, infrastructure, and supply chain that companies need. ... We’re about to see those investments pay tremendous dividends.” Officials with the resurrected DeLorean Motor Co. had announced plans to bring back the stainless steel, gullwing car that starred in the Back to the Future films as an electric vehicle. And they chose the Alamo City as the site of their new headquarters, saying they would locate themselves in a new office tower at Port San Antonio, no less. As a result, our town would get 450 new engineering and managerial jobs, a big boost in the competition for electric cars and the possibility of landing a new manufacturing plant. Both the city and the county were ready to back DeLorean with public incentives: a 10-year tax abatement from the county, and up to $562,000 from the city based on the number of jobs created. It was all full of grand hopes and promises. Until it fizzled. Earlier this year, DeLorean officials asked to terminate the incentive deal. The firm had seen a leadership change and scaled back the launch plans for its first car. So, despite the “ecosystem” and readiness to lead — not to mention other overheated rhetoric from local politicos — we ended up with nothing. The only positive note was that our
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local governments hadn’t committed any money up front. The DeLorean saga is only the latest is a long and storied history of jobsare-coming and tremendous-dividends hype that’s delivered remarkably little in the end. It reminds me of the tale of the “Texas Teleport” from 40 years before, the grand new telecommunications hub promoted by Henry Cisneros that was going to put San Antonio in the forefront of satellite communications and make the city eminently attractive to firms looking for state-ofthe-art connectivity. Homebuilder Ray Ellison promised a 3,000-acre development dubbed “New World” near Windcrest, with 15 million square feet of new office space. There would be a tie-in to a new Freeport Business Center in Southwest San Antonio. The Alamo City was touted as being uniquely situated to tie into orbiting satellites as the focus of a global network. Cisneros and local business leaders toured New York, Chicago and San Francisco selling the idea. In mid-1984, the mayor announced that the telecom facility would be “the most comprehensive and sophisticated teleport in the nation,” likely to bring “national recognition to our city as well as set the standard for teleports in the future.” Except that it really wasn’t ever plausible. San Antonio had no particular locational or other advantage. As other cities pursued the teleport idea, it gradually became clear that it really wasn’t needed or economically viable. And so it died. But the idea that a San Antonio mayor could get a political boost from announcing a grand new project and the coming of hundreds, or even thousands, of new jobs was far from over. So, a constant stream of announcements of big economic development
CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
Courtesy Photo / DeLorean Motor Co
deals has followed, usually accompanied by incentives and tax abatements from the city and county. There were the new theme parks of the 1980s — Sea World and Fiesta Texas — and the whispers that our town would be the “next Orlando.” Except that didn’t happen. Our two parks have consistently underperformed in terms of attendance. There were also new computer chip manufacturing plants that opened, then closed. Add the lottery ticket printing company, the aluminum recycling plant and the sunglass manufacturer, and of course, Southwestern Bell, which evolved through a series of acquisitions back into AT&T. Those entities all came, then left. While there have been occasional economic development and incentive success stories, like Toyota, all too often it appears we’re constantly doing deals
largely to make politicians and the local economic development establishment look good. Other cities, including Austin, have managed to do better by building on their strengths and pursuing a consistent, focused strategy rather than desperately chasing deals. We could use governmental leaders who recognize and understand we must develop our economy, ones who can provide a roadmap for our economic future rather than a series of promises and announcements. With Nirenberg term-limited out of the mayor’s office, that’s something we need to insist on from the next batch of candidates for city office: results rather than rhetoric. Heywood Sanders is a professor of public policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
BAD TAKES
Let’s stop treating homelessness and our automobile obsession like problems without solutions BY KEVIN SANCHEZ Editor’s Note: Bad Takes is a column of opinion and analysis.
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arly last month, after enjoying a show at Paper Tiger, I returned to the spot where I parked, only to find no car. I misread the details of a parking sign, and had been duly towed. After ride-sharing home, attempting to pick up the vehicle at midnight, only to discover the motionless line at the impound lot would have taken hours, then finally retrieving the car in the morning, my bill came to $245. What a racket. But, hey, at least it wasn’t stolen — merely held hostage. Which begs a question: why do we allow private companies to conduct non-consensual towing in the first place? Seems like parking illegally should be a city matter, and we the public should get to deliberate and decide on what remedies are appropriate and at what cost. However, the more I thought about it, the more I sympathized with people who have it worse. Some 4.6 million Americans drive an hour and a half to work and an hour and a half back, according to Census data. That’s three hours trapped in a car every workday, uncompensated. From 2010 to 2019, the number of these so-called “super commuters” increased 68% in the Houston area alone. For our part, San Antonio ranked as “the least walkable major U.S. city,” according to one analysis. Of the 100 most congested roadways in Texas, a dozen are located in the SA-New Braunfels metro. Yet some, like the British neoliberals over at The Economist magazine, romanticize what they openly refer to as the United States’ “car-defined existence.” Convenience, speed, suburbanization: the automobile’s ubiquity “has put larger homes and quieter streets within reach for a remarkably wide cross-section of the country,” the publication opined. What’s left out of the romance are the more than 40,000 people who die in U.S. car crashes annually. In one 12-hour period last year in San Antonio, five traffic accidents left two dead and three pedestrians injured, the Express-News reported. Had the casualties occurred in a slow and steady drip, as per usual, perhaps they wouldn’t even have been deemed newsworthy. And how about those who can’t afford the average
Shutterstock / Kzenon
of two cars per household because they can’t afford that house they purportedly need a car to get to? At least 653,104 people in the United States were homeless on a single night in January 2023 — the highest number since the national point-in-time count began in 2007. The San Antonio Report reported that at least 315 people experiencing homelessness died last year in Bexar County, and the Current’s Stephanie Koithan recently called out the city’s planned displacement of 700 homeless encampments without the shelter space or supportive housing to match. That displacement appears to be moving ahead despite a Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s May 2022 promise not to raze encampments just because they’re unsightly. “The city of San Antonio is not going to go in and abate homeless encampments just because we don’t like the sight of them,” he proclaimed. “That’s not what we do.” Meanwhile, District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez, a likely 2025 mayoral candidate, has at least dropped the pretense. “You have no choice but to abate,” he told City Council last August, reductively describing the cities of Seattle, Portland and Eugene, Oregon, as “three large homeless encampments.” All three are “pretty much war zones at this point” and rife with the “constant smell of feces and urine,” he added. With hyperbolic bad takes like these, who needs Donald “American Carnage” Trump? What’s funny, as comedian Adam Conover pointed out last week, is that when “the federal government decided it wasn’t safe for people to sleep on the streets during COVID-19 because it could be a vector for the virus,” they injected “cities and states with massive funding to rent hotel rooms and provide housing.” The result? Some 200,000 fewer people went without roofs over their heads, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“Imagine if that program had been allowed to continue, what a dent we could have made in the problem!” Conover concluded. “This proves that the fact that we allow homelessness is our choice. Do not let anyone ever tell you otherwise.” The ills of our car-dependent society, as shown in the 2015 documentary Bikes vs Cars — now streaming for free on Kanopy — sadly appears evergreen. After a bus driver in São Paulo, Brazil, accidentally strikes and kills a bicycle rider, a professor of urban planning blames puts the blame on neither. “It’s not the fault of the cyclist, it’s not the fault of the bus driver,” the expert explains. “It’s a faulty system that doesn’t take people into account.” In response, folks will propose every solution imaginable, except one that requires systemic change and a modicum of self-sacrifice. Gun enthusiasts don’t say they enjoy the adrenaline rush of firing loud boom-boom machines; rather than agreeing to ban assault rifles, they speak in hallowed tones about “the defense against tyranny” and absurdly suggest hiring armed officers for every classroom. Likewise, the car is emblematic of our profound conflation of liberty and freedom. Liberty is an individual’s ability to do whatever they want, whenever they want — to get into their carbon-emitter and take off, passing on the so-called negative externalities to others. Genuine freedom, though, means taking care that we can all flourish together and aren’t subject to being arbitrarily shat upon by forces in which we have no say. As frustrating as it is to deal with a towed vehicle, it pales in comparison to “learning to live with” millions of wrecks a year, debilitating respiratory diseases, record-breaking temperatures, billionaire dictators, weekly mass shootings, airborne toxic events and complicity in crimes against humanity. Couldn’t we instead learn not to live with at least some of these? In any case, next time I’ll be taking the bus. sacurrent.com | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | CURRENT
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CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
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THU | 01.25
composer Aaron Prado, for which they will be joined by
COMEDY
competition will culminate with a final round held at the
performers from the Mexico City Philharmonic and leona player Vico Díaz (7 p.m. Feb. 1, 226 N. Hackberry St.). The
ANTHONY JESELNIK
Tobin Center, in which the finalists will perform a complete
Anthony Jeselnik may be the first stand-up comedian to
concerto with the Mexico City Philharmonic, conducted
draw critical comparisons to both deadpan surrealist
by Yoo (7 p.m. Feb. 3, 100 Auditorium Circle). The gold, silver
Steven Wright and legendary insult comic Don Rickles. The
and bronze medal winners will be announced following
key is Jeselnik’s onstage persona, which he likened during
that performance. Various times, dates and locations, (210)
a New York Times interview to a “comedy version of a horror
464-1534, musicalbridges.org/gurwitz. — Kelly Nelson
movie.” He delivers his performances in the character of a
SAT | 01.27
smug sociopath whose punchlines can involve anything from casual murder and spousal abuse to Alzheimer’s disease. Are the laughs uncomfortable? Yes. Are they PC?
SPORTS
Hell, no. At the same time, Jeselnik has drawn praise for
SPURS VS. TIMBERWOLVES
finding a way to cross comedic lines without pandering to the worst impulses of audiences looking for racist, sexist and homophobic cheap shots. As Jeselnik explained to
Robert Michaelson
Outside of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s youthful resur-
gence, Minnesota’s extended run at the top of the Western
the Times, the character he portrays is “such a monster
International Piano Competition. Presented by Musical
Conference standings has been the biggest surprise in the
that you know I’m on the right side of things.” Given his
Bridges Around the World, the quadrennial competition
NBA this season. The Timberwolves bowed out in five games
continued stream of Netflix specials and Comedy Central
features top pianists from across the globe, vying for gold,
to the Denver Nuggets in the opening round of last year’s
roast appearances, there’s a ready audience for Jeselnik’s
silver and bronze medals with prizes of $30,000, $20,000
playoffs, finishing the season as an eighth seed. Minnesota
pitch-black brand of humor. Just be warned that it’s not
and $10,000, respectively. Representing countries includ-
has already dispatched the Spurs on two separate occasions,
for everybody. $35-$75, 7 p.m., H-E-B Performance Hall, Tobin
ing South Korea, China and the United States, this year’s
including a 94-102 loss in December where five Timber-
Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210)
contestants will be evaluated by a jury of six world-class
wolves scored in double figures and Rudy Gobert pulled
223-8624, tobincenter.org. — Sanford Nowlin
pianists and music industry leaders, led by Jury Chair Scott
down 21 rebounds. Despite minutes restrictions to Victor
Yoo, the chief conductor and artistic director of the Mexico
Wembanyama, San Antonio has shown more resolve with
City Philharmonic Orchestra. This year, legendary singer
point guard Tre Jones inserted into the starting lineup. After
Dionne Warwick is serving as the competition’s honorary
an epic showdown with Giannis Antetokounmpo earlier this
chair and will also perform a paid concert at the Majestic
month, Wembanyama offered a glimpse into his competitive
Theatre on Jan. 31. The Gurwitz begins with its Grand Open-
mindset. “Every game is a statement from now on,” he told
ing at the Coates Chapel on UTSA’s Southwest Campus,
assembled media. Expect another statement performance
which will feature performances from members of the jury
from Wembanyama in a rematch with Gobert and Karl-An-
panel as well as the drawing of the competitors’ perfor-
thony Towns. $21 and up, 7:30 p.m., Frost Bank Center, 1 Frost
mance order ($75, 7 p.m. Jan. 26, 300 Augusta St.). The com-
Bank Center Drive, (210) 444-5140, frostbankcenter.com, KENS.
petition’s four rounds will be held in concert halls across
— M. Solis
San Antonio, including the Carver Community Cultural Center and Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, from Jan. 27-Feb. 3. They are free, but tickets are required. Each round will also be streamed online for free viewing. The first
FRI | 01.26 SUN | 02.04
Elizabeth Viggiano
CLASSICAL MUSIC
GURWITZ INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION
two rounds will be held at the University of the Incarnate Word’s Dianne Bennack Concert Hall from Jan. 27-30. For these rounds, each pianist will perform a 50-minute recital featuring a variety of solo repertoire. After round one, six semifinalists will be selected to move forward to round
Reminder:
two (1-4 p.m. and 6-10 p.m. Jan. 27-28, 1-4 p.m. and 6-10 p.m.
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.
Jan. 30, 4301 Broadway). With the competitors whittled down to three finalists, round three will commence Feb. 1 at the Carver Center. Each finalist will perform a selection
At the end of the month, 12 top pianists from five countries
of repertoire composed after 1950 as well as a newly com-
will convene in San Antonio for the return of the Gurwitz
missioned chamber music work written by San Antonio
Reginald Thomas II / San Antonio Spurs
BLACK F R I BLUES SUN GOV’T SAT FEB FEB SAMANTHA FISH FEB 24 16 FT. JESSE DAYTON 18 ATG PRESENTS
VIOLIN
DEATH WISH
MULE
GET TICKETS AT THEESPEE.COM
LIVE OUTDOORS THEESPEE.COM
M A J E S T I C E M P I R E . C O M
BLACK FFEBR I
DIONNE WARWICK FRIDAY, JANUARY 26
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31
VIOLIN 16
FEBRUARY 2-3
VIBEZ TOUR: AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH GODSMACK
nicolas reyes & MAtt kirk FEBRUARY 13-18
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23
85
ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
ng Sta rring Starri TE NOTE UE NO BLUE TH E BL THE ET QU INTET QUINT
Featuring Gerald Immanuel Joel Kendrick Matt Clayton Wilkins Ross Scott Brewer
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27
TUESDAY, MARCH 5
ALAN CUMMING IS NOT ACTING
HIS
AGE
© Ludo Studio
MARCH 8-10
FRIDAY, MARCH 8
SATURDAY, MARCH 9
DEATH WISH BLUES
SUN SAMANTHA FISH FEB FT. JESSE DAYTON 18
SAT GOV’T FEB
MULE 24 DEEP CULTURE MEDIA PRESENTS
KALIMBA
FRI APR ÍNTIMO TOUR 2024 05
ZEBRA
SUN APR WITH ABYSS OF BLISS 28
NEVAH BLUFFIN ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS
R&B LOVE FEST
SAT MAY THROWBACK EDITION 18
MARCH 15-16
FRIDAY, MARCH 22
MORE UPCOMING EVENTS: 3/29 RYAN HAMILTON 3/30 THEE PHANTOM & THE ILLHARMONIC ORCHESTRA 4/4 HASAN MINHAJ 4/5-4/7 THE BOOK OF MORMON 4/11 FRANKIE QUIÑONES 4/12 ALICIA VILLARREAL 4/17 ADAM ANT 16
CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
THURSDAY, MARCH 28
Ambassador Theatre Group Venues
calendar
WED | 01.27
Courtesy Photo / Briscoe Western Art Museum
SPECIAL EVEN T
WILD WEST WILDLIFE FESTIVAL
Bison, owls and bears, oh my! On the last weekend of January — rain or shine — guests at the Briscoe Western Art Museum will have the opportunity to walk on the wild side as part of the Wild West Wildlife Festival. The free family friendly fest, held in the Briscoe’s Jack Guenther Pavilion on the River Walk, features animal-themed storytelling, wild arts and crafts and hands-on experiences with Texas wildlife artifacts — not to mention free admission to the museum and its current exhibitions. Activities range from make-your-own hummingbird feeders, bison masks and bear fork paintings to education on San Antonio wildlife tracks from the Mitchell Lake Audubon Center. Real animal skins, skull replicas and even owl pellets will be on display, all of which offer windows into the many stories the natural world has to tell. There’s something for creatures of all ages — even the youngest, who have the Cub Cove Toddler Zone and Miss Anastasia’s storytime to enjoy. Plus, there’s grub available for sale from the Lada Ladies food truck. Free, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Briscoe Western Art Museum, 210 W. Market St., (210) 299-4499, briscoemuseum.org. — Dean Zach
sacurrent.com | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | CURRENT
17
improvtx.com/sanantonio | 618 Nw Loop 410, SaN ANTONIO, TX 78216 | 210•541•8805 JANUARY 25-27
JANUARY 30
FEBRUARY 2-3
FEBRUARY 8-10
FEBRUARY 15-18
Matt Braunger
Sammy Obeid
Big Jay Oakerson
Juan Villareal
Godfrey
Feeling down? Let it out.
This time of year can be tough on anyone’s mental health and wellbeing—making healthy outlets more important than ever. Whether to a friend or a fresh page in your journal, express your feelings and begin your path toward healing.
Gift yourself time to check in
For more resources and support, visit TurnToSupportsTX.org 18
CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
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WED | 01.31 THU | 02.01
Morris Mac Matzen
TH EATER
PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL
In town for two days only, the critically acclaimed romcom Pretty Woman leaps from the screen to the stage at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. Pretty Woman: The Musical tells the same unlikely love story we know and love from the 1990 film, alongside original songs written by Bryan Adams, the Grammy Award-winning singer of big hits from the era, including “Summer of ‘69” and “Heaven.” Directed by Jerry Mitchell — known for such beloved Broadway comedies as Hairspray, Kinky Boots and Legally Blonde — Pretty Woman: The Musical follows business mogul Edward Lewis (Chase Wolfe), who’s never made room for love in his quest to build a corporate empire. His values are called into question after he hires sex worker Vivian Ward (Ellie Baker) for what he thinks will be a one-night stand. Free-spirited and deeply passionate, Vivian begins to soften Edward’s heart, while Edward sharpens Vivian’s sense of ambition. In an endearing and hilarious series of trials and triumphs, the relationship grows more complicated than either could have anticipated. This production is recommended for mature audiences only due to mature language, sexual content and brief drug use. $39.60-$124.50, 8 p.m. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, H-E-B Performance Hall, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — Caroline Wolff
SAT | 02.03
Reginald Thomas II / San Antonio Spurs
SPORTS
SPURS VS. CAVALIERS
As the NBA trade deadline approaches on Thursday, Feb. 8, the rebuilding Spurs host Jarrett Allen and the Cavaliers in their last home game before this season’s nine-game Rodeo Road Trip. Allen led the way for the Cavs in a close 115-117 win against the Spurs in Cleveland in early January, during which he posted a commanding 29 points and 16 rebounds. Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama responded with 24 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks, while shooting guard Devin Vassell contributed 22 points. Wembanyama is currently leading the league in blocked shots despite playing limited minutes. His first Rodeo Road Trip kicks off in Florida with stops in Miami and Orlando before heading north to Brooklyn and Toronto. After the All-Star Break, the gauntlet continues for the Spurs with matchups in Sacramento and Minneapolis. In what has quickly become a lost season in San Antonio, the team’s annual chemistry builder gives head coach Gregg Popovich an extended opportunity to close ranks and correct course. $22 and up, 7:30 p.m., Frost Bank Center, 1 Frost Bank Center Drive, (210) 444-5140, frostbankcenter.com, KENS. — MS
sacurrent.com | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | CURRENT
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Scott Martin
Creative Breakthroughs
San Antonio artist Joey Fauerso celebrates a prolific decade with the new book You Destroy Every Special Thing I Make BY BRYAN RINDFUSS
B
orn in San Antonio and raised in a Transcendental Meditation community in Fairfield, Iowa, artist Joey Fauerso creates captivating paintings, drawings, videos and installations, many of which draw from personal experiences — from the everyday to the extraordinary. “I went to the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment and that was a very seminal experience in a lot of ways,” Fauerso told the Current. “It was an interesting group of people who moved there from all around the world. That community has led to a lifelong interest in utopian experiments in America and beyond — and how our upbringing fits into that larger experiment, that larger thread of American history.” In 2014, Fauerso was diagnosed with breast cancer and her work began to evolve in a bold new direction. In addition to largely eschewing color in favor of a stark black-and-white palette, she began developing a “subtractive” method of painting by laying down broad fields of acrylic paint and then strategically removing layers to create her subject matter. She also started using herself as a model — and taking creative cues from snippets of her children’s conversations. “I made some big changes that were also big, creative breakthroughs,” Fauerso said. “The work became much more personal, very personal. I wanted my art-making and my relationships to be happening all at once, and to have a lot of intimacy all the way through. And that ended up [leading to] the best creative period of my life.” Spanning 2014 to the present, that prolific period in Fauerso’s artistic journey recently took shape in an impressive new book from San Antonio-based
22
CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
F&M Projects, the nonprofit publishing arm of the multidisciplinary design studio French & Michigan. Titled after one of Fauerso’s works, You Destroy Every Special Thing I Make compiles projects and exhibitions that coincided with international residencies and high-profile grants — including a Guggenheim Fellowship in the Fine Arts and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for Painters and Sculptors. Punctuating the cloth-bound book’s image-driven chapters are thoughtful essays by curator Veronica Roberts, writer Aurvi Sharma and poet Jenny Browne, among others. As exciting as the book is for Fauerso, it’s also a milestone for F&M Projects. In 2018, the platform held an open call and ultimately selected Fauerso along with fellow Texas artists Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Sterling Allen and Ryan Takaba. “Working with Joey is what dreams are made of — not only because her work is so strong but because she herself is so wonderfully authentic and wholeheartedly funny,” French & Michigan co-founder Céleste Wackenhut said. “Through F&M, I’m trying to redefine what it means to be a curator and work with artists in impactful ways. This project really embodies this effort. I feel a lot of responsibility putting these books out in the world because it needs to represent the artist accurately both in text and tone. Joey believed in our ability to do that from the start and recognized the great effort that goes into this production. After all these years, Joey is not just invested in the success of her own book, she’s invested in the success of this program. I’m endlessly grateful to her for seeing the big picture.” As a means to share highlights from You Destroy Every Special Thing I Make, the Current flipped through
Courtesy Image / Joey Fauerso
From left: Joey at work by San Antonio photographer Scott Martin; Fauerso’s painting The Waiting Room is in the permanent collection of Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art
U
the 296-page book with Fauerso during a visit to her Southtown studio.
Play acting Following an introduction by Wackenhut and an essay by Roberts, the book opens with a chapter dedicated to Fauerso’s 2015 project Dog Hospital. Inspired by a homespun game her sons Brendan and Paul were playing one day, the project pairs washy watercolors with ominous text: “Another dog got a tumor.” “You have to take him to the people for the operation.” “This is one of the pieces closest to my heart,” Fauerso said. “The boys were playing a game called Dog Hospital, which was [really] about them processing me going through cancer treatment. Part of what I told myself is, ‘I’m just going to let the creative process happen in our life.’ So I was writing down what was happening and documenting and taking pictures of our life. I wrote down verbatim what they said and made paintings [based on the] text. … I remember showing it to Jenny Browne and saying, ‘I made this thing and I don’t even know if it’s art. This doesn’t feel like my artwork. It feels like something that’s just helping me to find joy in this brutal time. But then I ended up making it into a book and people really responded to it.” That positive outpouring landed Dog Hospital in the collections of Ruby City and Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art — and landed Fauerso in a Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) exhibition the artist considers “an amazing break.”
The art of falling apart Similarly, Fauerso’s years-long endeavor You Destroy Every Special Thing I Make was sparked by an over-
arts
ing reads as a conceptual self-portrait. “Most of the women [in my work] are me,” Fauerso confirmed. “In this painting, I was thinking about all the times you’re lying in a doctor’s waiting room in this vulnerable position and how shitty the art is. I wanted to make my dream waiting room. So there’s Eva Hesse, all my favorite painters and my favorite places in nature, Georgia O’Keeffe’s studio and one of the Russian Women’s Battalion of Death fighters. Every image Waiting game becomes a portal of something.” A recurring Fauerso motif since Dog HospiWhile it’s highlighted in various sections tal, the crawling woman makes appearances of the book, Fauerso’s distinctive technique in “Wait for It” and throughout the book. of subtractive painting is on full display in “I always like to say, ‘I like the men to be the chapter “Wait for It.” Named after an lazy and sexy, and I like the women to be exhibition that debuted at the Visual Arts either in their own dreamy space or scramCenter at the University of Texas at Austin in bling.’” 2021, the chapter features a pair of two-page In the book’s introducspreads that showcase tion, Wackenhut exthe surprisingly organic textures Fauerso achieves pands on the symbolism by squeegeeing layers of behind the figure. wet paint off canvases “The crawling womYou Destroy Every she brings to life on her an, while originating Special Thing I studio floor. as a self-portrait, has Make The artist’s quick developed into a symbol sells for $50 and is available to preorder strokes leave behind highlighting the invisivia frenchandmichigan.com. unpredictably mottled ble labor experienced by patterns that lend themall women through an The book’s official release is set for selves remarkably well to intersectional feminist Saturday, Feb. 24, 2-4 p.m., at French & Michigan, 1200 S. Presa St. skin tones, landscapes, lens. Her continuous flora and fauna. Reminisappearance — sometimes cent of DIY printmaking centered and sometimes techniques, these patjust escaping the frame, terns are informed by the dings and bumps sometimes alone and sometimes one of many in her studio floor — an accidental work of — becomes a silent rhythmic beat persisting abstract art in its own right. throughout Fauerso’s practice.” One of the chapter’s key images, Fauerso’s The “Wait for It” chapter also evidences a 2020 painting The Waiting Room depicts slow but steady return to color. In the 2021 a nude woman lying in a doctor’s office. painting Under the Table, an almost-monoSpeaking simultaneously to illness and the chromatic still life sits atop a tableau of role of women throughout art history — one stretching figures and an upside-down cat of Fauerso’s recurring themes — the paint— yet another curious motif — against a pink-
heard interaction between her sons. “One day Paul had built something with Legos, and it was around the time that Donald Trump had been [elected]. Paul was crying and he said to Brendan, ‘You destroy every special thing I make.’ And I wrote it down because it’s so sad — but also so funny.” Around that same time, Fauerso was preparing for her 2017 Blue Star Berlin residency and had decided to take her kids along. Since her husband, Artpace Director Riley Robinson, would only be joining them for a short time, Fauerso began devising a project she and her boys could work on together in Berlin. Alluding to the construction and destruction of childhood Lego sets, the concept took shape in precarious arrangements — involving everything from wooden blocks and steel sculptures to paintings and canvas cutouts — that Fauero captured tumbling down in hundreds of videos she later edited into one 10-minute, four-channel video. Intriguingly, the video — presented in the book as stills and viewable in its entirety at joeyfauerso.com — almost reads as a black-and-white animation project, save for appearances by her “littles” as they blow through the scene to bring the sets crashing down. “It was kind of an epic thing to make,” Fauerso said of the piece, which took two years to complete and made its debut at MASS MoCA in 2019.
Courtesy Image / F&M Projects
Fauerso’s book was designed by M. Wright and published by F&M Projects.
M
and-blue backdrop that her bumpy studio floor helped push into sunset-like territory. As we perused the final chapter, simply titled “Paintings,” Fauerso summed up the book eloquently. “[My diagnosis] didn’t slow down my work. [In fact] my work kind of exploded at that point. I would say the last 10 years have been the best 10 years — even though hard things happened.”
Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com
24
CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
San Antonio Film Commissioner Kimberly LeBlanc surveys the moviemaking landscape BY KIKO MARTINEZ
L
ast week, MovieMaker magazine for its sixth consecutive year named San Antonio one of the Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker. In describing the advantages of filming in San Antonio, the publication noted its access to production facilities and equipment rental houses along with state and supplemental local film incentives, which can total up to 30% of a production’s cost. “That adds to the allure of a film-loving city with about 15 movie theaters, at least a dozen festivals, and at least half a dozen film societies,” the magazine reads. During an interview on the same day as MovieMaker’s inclusion of the city on its list, San Antonio Film Commissioner Kimberly LeBlanc talked about how state and city incentives are making it more affordable to produce projects in the Alamo City. LeBlanc, 42, joined the San Antonio Film Commission, a division of the city’s Department of Arts & Culture, in 2022 after working at the Texas Film Commission for 13 years. She also serves as the city’s music program manager. A 2005 Trinity University graduate, LeBlanc has a degree in urban studies and history.
What is your reaction to MovieMaker magazine naming San Antonio as one of the best places to live and work for filmmakers for the sixth year in a row? To me, it’s really striking. You can read their analysis of what San Antonio has to offer, but the rubric that they’re looking at is an affordable, inclusive, creative community that stands out for filmmakers. I hope it makes people who are living and working in San Antonio feel really proud about being a part of this community and getting that kind of recognition. I hope it draws more eyes to all San Antonio has to offer.
Has the film commission had a good start to the new year? We have. We were just in LA last week for a media and industry mission trip and were able to connect with a lot of partners there now that the strikes are over. In the last two days, our team has been scouting with a large-scale TV series that’s looking to film in San Antonio within the year, which is an incredible opportunity.
screens
Cinematic City
Courtesy Photo / Kimberly LeBlanc
Speaking of opportunities, I saw that the Department of Arts & Culture just opened its 2025 grant application for local artists.
Yes, and it’s important to remind filmmakers they can apply for these grants too. The application window closes on Feb. 23. These grants are just one of the many ways San Antonio supports the creative class and the artists who are living and working in San Antonio. It’s a substantial resource for filmmakers. Coming out of the strikes, I think people are hungrier than ever to connect and collaborate.
Since it’s possible to make movies anywhere these days, is it still important to the film commission that local talent stays local? It’s so important to keep the talent here. We have a tremendous talent pipeline coming from San Antonio’s youth film-education programs. Also, our college and university infrastructure for film students is really expanding. To me, it’s incredibly important to make sure that the local talent sees that San Antonio is a place for them. If somebody wants to be a part of the San Antonio film community and wants to sustain themselves in the industry here, it’s my goal they see that that’s possible.
Can San Antonio compete with other filmmaking cities now that filmmakers have access to increased state and local
incentives?
With the state film incentive securing a historic appropriation of $200 million, it’s been really exciting to see the program get funded to the tune of what it deserves. It gives San Antonio a great advantage because filmmakers can pair the state’s program with the local program. That’s as competitive as anywhere. It really puts us in a league of our own among the Texas cities. It puts us back in the conversation.
I’m sure it would help if San Antonio had at least one studio where large productions could be built, yes?
Yes, it would be a great added value to our film community to have a large-scale, established studio. It would only benefit us, but the fact that we don’t have it isn’t keeping projects from expressing an interest in coming here. Most of the projects that we’re working with are looking to film on location. They’re looking for authenticity. Also, I think Hill Country Studios, [a 200-acre film and TV production studio coming soon to San Marcos,] is going to have a huge impact on our film community.
So, we can’t build Barbie Land in San Antonio just yet, but maybe in the future. Not yet. But if Greta Gerwig reaches out, we will find an alternative warehouse space for her, and we will make it work!
Find more film stories at sacurrent.com
CHECK OUT PARTICIPATING ICE HOUSES HERE! 26
CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
food Nina Rangel
Believe the Hype
Cullum’s Attaboy continues to excel thanks to an unrivaled attention to detail BY NINA RANGEL
E
very so often, it’s worth revisiting a restaurant that drew raves when it opened. Plenty of places grab the attention of diners and critics when they launch, only to falter due to inconsistency, staffing changes or a willingness to rest on those early laurels. That’s been especially true as restaurants have grappled with recent challenges such as staffing shortages, inflation and rising rents. Cullum’s Attaboy was certainly one of those places that drew breathless praise when it opened in 2022. Foodies flocked to the small, butter-hued bungalow at the top of the St. Mary’s Strip, drawn by its precisely executed French-inspired fare. Count me among them. I have stopped by for solo brunches, often in celebration — a promotion, a birthday or the completion of a huge project. Whether it was a fluffy, hollandaise-embellished omelette or an off-menu Croque Monsieur with a perfect béchamel,
it was clear chef Chris Cullum and his crew cared about delivering the best from their open kitchen. Kindred culinary spirit and Chef De Cuisine Alysha Brooke has proven a capable right hand. Here’s the good news gleaned from a recent visit: Cullum’s Attaboy has lost none of its luster. The omelettes are prepared in the classic French style, creamy and custard-like, topped with a generous application of lemony hollandaise. They’re served alongside a simple bed of frisee greens tossed in a bright champagne vinaigrette. While the menu includes options to add shavings of earthy, musky truffle or a dollop of caviar, the adornments aren’t necessary. The eggs are the star. In any dish where the fluffy scrambled eggs figure, you can’t help but savor the buttery, perfectly seasoned pillows of protein. Attaboy’s seafood also continues to excel. The crew bakes its escargot in their shells,
packed with herbed scotch-compound butter that enhances the succulent, yet subtle, clam-like flavor of the French delicacy. Drop them onto the crispy toast points and dive in without fear. Diners also shouldn’t be intimidated by the extensive caviar and roe offerings. Yes, we’re talking fish eggs. And, no, we’re not joking. The menu’s Swell Life arrangement — which features smoked trout roe and black river caviar — is served with tangy crema, chive and blini, or savory miniature pancakes. It’s a fantastic way to experience a key Cullum ethos: that premium ingredients, often considered unapproachable, should be accessible to all. Of course, you could also try the menu’s “Shot & a Bump” option, which pairs a small serving of caviar with a shot of crisp vodka. Serving up such a fancy ingredient from such an unassuming spot on the Strip may sound unorthodox — but that’s sort of the point. Cullum told the Current in November 2022 that diners should be able to explore fancy AF culinary territory without worrying about breaking the bank. Attaboy’s counter-service model and minimal staffing allows the chef to do just that. The eatery offers Oscietra-royale caviar — extracted from Russian Sturgeon — for as low as $6 per gram, for example. That’s a price point more on par with a retail grocer than a 29
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food UNITED WE BRUNCH MOVES TO SAN ANTONIO’S WITTE MUSEUM FOR LATEST INSTALLMENT
S
an Antonio’s premiere brunch event, United We Brunch, will return Saturday, Feb. 10, for its seventh installment, boasting a new venue and the fierce competition of the Tito’s Vodka Bloody Mary Challenge. This year, attendees will savor cocktails, bubbles and mimosas while sampling brunch bites at the Witte Museum, 3801 Broadway. Participating restaurants include Postino, Lucy Cooper’s Texas Ice House, Tu Asador and newcomer Freight Fried Chicken. DJ sets and other entertainment will provide an extra eye-opener. The 2024 edition of the Tito’s Bloody Mary Challenge will take over an outdoor stage overlooking the San Antonio River. The competition, which made its United We Brunch debut in 2020, pits local bartenders against each other to determine who makes the Alamo City’s best variation on the classic cocktail and hangover cure. In addition to bragging rights, the winner takes home a $500 cash prize. This year’s United We Brunch benefits the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County, which raises more than $45 million annually for programs that help create a diverse and thriving community. The 21-and-up event will run 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets and more details are available online at unitedwebrunchsa.com. United We Brunch, $55-$100, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, Witte Museum, 3801 Broadway, unitedwebrunchsa.com. — By Nina Rangel
Nina Rangel
27 fine-dining restaurant. Cullum’s dedication to quality seafood doesn’t stop at fish eggs, however. The menu typically features a simply but beautifully prepared pescatarian entree. Currently, it’s a champagne butter-poached scallop with the spot’s hollandaise sauce, smoked trout roe and dill. On a recent visit before the scallop took the slot, Cullum’s poached white fish, with court-bouillon — a white wine and lemon-spiked poaching liquid — and served with asparagus and roe was easily one of the best composed dishes I have tasted. The court-bouillon, made with the iconic throuple of celery, carrot and onion, brought plenty of salt, white wine, herbs and zesty peppercorn to the party. The slightest, surprise waft of truffle oil teased olfactory nerves without overpowering the dish. Those familiar with truffle oil know what a feat that is. The smallest overuse can easily overpower a protein, or any other ingredient, for that matter. In this dish, Cullum used both black bass and tilefish, depending on what was on offer from his seafood vendor, but it was the balance of everything else that knocked my socks off. Fortunately, that continues to be the
case for nearly everything I have tried at Attaboy, from its food to its cocktails to its coffee, the latter charmingly offered in a serve-yourself way, replete with old-timey mint-green milk glass sugar shakers. The details in everything at Attaboy make it a must-try, and that much hasn’t changed — not even as economic woes continue to roil the restaurant industry. Sure, the spot’s food and drink are consistently stellar, but it’s the attention to each cocktail, each delicately prepared sauce or salad that makes every experience memorable. Cullum’s late father, the renowned jazz musician Jim Cullum Jr., held a longstanding residency at downtown’s The Landing Jazz Club. That afforded the young chef-to-be exposure to highend foods and techniques early in life. The eatery’s name was dreamt up by the elder Cullum, whose photo looks over Attaboy’s marble countertop. Though the chef doesn’t fancy himself a musician like his father, it’s clear the proclivity to produce effortless, transformative harmony runs deep. And so far, there’s no sign that song is approaching its coda. Jaime Monzon
sacurrent.com | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | CURRENT
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CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
NEWS
OPENINGS
Downtown’s Bier Garten Riverwalk has closed after more than a decade, making way for the upcoming Alamo Visitor Center and Museum, slated to open in 2027.
Mr. Juicy, the burger joint owned by SA culinary luminary Andrew Weissman, will open a Castle Hills location around June 1. The new store will be the brand’s second location. instagram.com/ mrjuicyburger.
Las Vegas-style steakhouse Ace of Steaks, noted for over-the-top menu items including a $1,000 gold-plated 44-ounce Tomahawk steak, has closed after less than a year in business. Nola Brunch & Beignets will relocate to a new space in the River North neighborhood this Spring. More details coming on this one. Cibolo nightlife staple Old Main Ice House has reopened following a fire last fall. 110 N. Main Street, (210) 455-5275, oldmainicehouse.com. San Antonio favorite Sangria on the Burg has rebranded as a new concept called Saucy Birds. The new eatery offers sauced chicken wings along with sangria and margarita flights, both popular features at its predecessor restaurant. 5115 Fredericksburg Road, (210)-265-3763, sangriaontheburg.com. North of downtown Italian mainstay Fratello’s Restaurant & Deli will close permanently Jan. 31. 2503 Broadway, (210) 444-0277, fratellosdeli.com.
Beerhead Bar & Eatery is now open in Northwest San Antonio — the first of three locations the Illinois-based chain plans to open in San Antonio. 19338 Babcock Road, (210) 267-1119, beerheadbar.com. San Antonio chef Nicola Blaque’s Freight Fried Chicken is now open inside the Pearl’s Bottling Department food hall. 312 Pearl Parkway, Building 6, instagram.com/freightchicken. Austin-based Four Brother’s Arepas (their apostrophe placement, not ours) is now serving Venezuelan cuisine inside the Make Ready Market food hall. 203 W. 8th Street, makereadymarket.com.
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Contemporary Tex-Mex concept Mi Gente has opened in the space that formerly housed San Antonio staple Martha’s Mexican Restaurant. 5822 Babcock Road, (210) 267-5961, facebook.com/ MiGenteSA.
Old Main Ice House Facebook / Old Main Ice House
sacurrent.com | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | CURRENT
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CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
music
Unafraid of Intimacy
Singer-songwriter Will Johnson, a collaborator with Jason Isbell, Vic Chestnutt and others, playing the Lonesome Rose BY BILL BAIRD
W
ill Johnson is both a musician’s musician and a Texas indie-rock trailblazer. Johnson, who started as a rock drummer, released dozens of albums over three decades in music. He initially found success as a lo-fi singer-songwriter and guitarist. Performing and recording under the moniker Centro-Matic, he released a spate of albums, EPs and singles. That Denton-based band eventually morphed into South San Gabriel, a quieter project with a revolving cast. For the past 7 years, Johnson — now working out of a tiny town in Hays County — has been steadily releasing excellent albums under his own name, and he’ll perform this music during a Saturday, Feb. 3, show at the Lonesome Rose. Aside from his solo work, Johnson has initiated projects with many greats of modern indie music, including Vic Chestnutt, David Bazan, Jason Molina, Mark Eitzel and Jim James of My Morning Jacket. His visibility reached a new high when he joined indie songwriter supergroup Monsters of Folk, consisting of Conor Oberst, M. Mard, Mike Mogis and My Morning Jacket’s James. From there, Johnson became drummer for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, one of the biggest names in Americana. We spoke to Johnson recently over the phone. He dialed in from a frigid arena in Oklahoma, where he was waiting to perform with Isbell.
Staying warm?
I can’t remember the last time I was warm. (Laughs.) I’m in Oklahoma City, and it’s about 17 degrees out there. I’m in an arena, so hopefully the reception isn’t terrible. I haven’t done a ton of arena shows. This particular one is two nights at the Oklahoma City Thunder arena.
Seems like it’d be harder to play in front of a small group. In an arena the crowd becomes a faceless blob.
The faceless blob thing kind of helps, in a way. But yes, I find it more intense to play to 20 people in a living room.
You’re among your peers at an intimate show.
Courtesy Photo / Will Johnson
A lot of the time. And there’s nowhere to hide. It’s intense for a reason. I like that energy. It throws everybody into a vulnerable situation based on trust. I like that energy and it’s good for everybody.
Your life is like a battery with the plus and minus. Going back and forth from arena shows to intimate stuff.
(Laughs.) You’re right. I think it’s good to keep it switching up. I never wanna do one thing too long. Each experience teaches you something different, broadens your horizons a little bit. And you stick around long enough, you play in some exhilarating situations.
What are some of those for you?
Well, in 2009, I was involved in this project Monsters of Folk with some old friends. We were playing the Bridge School Benefit and Neil Young is standing there, shaking everybody’s hands as they come off stage. That’s a real honor. But also a couple times while we were playing I was like, “Just don’t look left, he’s over there. Just keep your head down and play your drums.”
How did you start? Was music always in
your bones?
When I was 3 or 4, I’d set up a drumset with cookie tins on the couch and wail away. When I was 9 or 10, my mother bit the bullet and bought me a $100 drumset. It was an early start. I lived in a small town in Missouri and there wasn’t much to do — either sports, music or you got in trouble. There weren’t a lot of options. I was obsessed from the start, wanted to know how records were made. Laying on the floor with record jackets sprawled out, looking at the artwork and the liner notes and the pictures, wondering where these things came from. That led to high school bands in Killeen, Texas, but the cool thing there was the proximity to Austin. A number of clubs would let me in at age 15, 16 or 17, so I cut my teeth playing at Liberty Lunch and Cannibal Club and Texas Union Ballroom, places that would let me in. I’ve been playing in bands my whole life.
I read Sheryl Crow was your babysitter.
Ha! Yeah. And her mom taught me piano. We lived a half mile from each other in the same small town in Missouri. She was also playing that Bridge School Show, so we caught up. It felt like seeing an old friend.
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music
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29 You started as a drummer, right?
Yeah, I was a drummer right out the gate. When I turned 24, that’s when I got serious about songwriting. I was a late bloomer. I was just learning. It took me a little while.
When you adopt different monikers, does it open different portals of creativity?
Yes. Thinking of Centro-Matic and South San Gabriel, when we decided to do South San Gabriel, we were at a crossroads. Centro-Matic never changed in its 18 years, but we knew we wanted to collaborate, let other people in. We had all this extra, low-key, almost ambient stuff, [so] we let that be South San Gabriel, and Centro-Matic would be the rock band. So yeah, a lot of times it is based on that, adopting a different persona — exploring in different ways.
And now you use your own name. Got tired of introducing yourself? (Laughs.) Maybe. I haven’t overthought it. I’m letting Centro-Matic live as it is, and South San Gabriel too, and I feel we will come back to those.
How do you relate to Texas music?
Going back to childhood, there was so much Texas music that informed me. Of course, it could be Willie Nelson or Townes Van Zandt, but it could just as easily be the Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid or Roky Erickson. There was such a wild beautiful music buffet going in Texas when I was young. I didn’t pledge allegiance to a certain style. I was definitely into punk rock but also loved the diverse landscape. That was really
Johnson initially found success as a member of Centro-Matic, a group known for its eclectic approach to alt-country.
M
important when I was 14, 15 years old, just figuring out who the hell you are in the world. And with access to Austin, I could go down and see great bands like the Reivers or True Believers. It was like a hole had been busted in the wall, that all music didn’t have to be like FM rock, largely what was mainlined into our military community in Killeen. Van Halen or The Cars, great stuff, but you know… . You didn’t have to be that polished to have a life in music. There was a great radio show on KLBJ, Critic’s Choice. Jody Denberg did it. Every Sunday at 9. I had my two cassette recorders, and I’d record it as I went to sleep. That’s the first place I heard the Minutemen, Hüsker Dü. And that’s really informative stuff.
You ever play in the Alamodome? What’s your experience of San Antonio?
(Laughs.) Not yet. We’ve played Sam’s Burger Joint. That’s always fun. For a while, I’ve only been doing living room shows in San Antonio — only about 40 people, all acoustic in someone’s living room. I haven’t done a venue show in San Antonio in 10, eleven years at least. I love that city so much. I’ve always loved San Antonio and really looking forward to being back. $12, 9:15 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 455-0233, thelonesomerose.com. sacurrent.com | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | CURRENT
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CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
critics’ picks Wednesday, Jan. 24
Kid Fears, sleep well, Cement Diver Atlanta shoegazers Kid Fears were born from a solo project from lead singer Rose Ewing and began touring as a band in 2021. Inspired by Low and My Bloody Valentine, Ewing’s honest and quiet lyrics are punctuated with moments of distortion and rhythmic musicality. Kid Fears’ second album, Undying Love, was released this past summer. $10, 7 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — Danny Cervantes
Los Texmaniacs
Wednesday, Jan. 24-Thursday, Jan. 25 Lyle Lovett and his Quasi-Cowboy Band Consider this performance by legendary Texas artist Lyle Lovett at legendary Texas venue Gruene Hall musical nirvana. While Lovett tends to play the Majestic when he hits the area, seeing the Cowboy Man in the state’s oldest dance promises to be an intimate and amazing experience. Lovett’s career spans more than four decades, and whether he’s exploring country, Americana, big band or movie soundtracks, his soulful songwriting always reveals the deeper truths of the human experience. $99.50, 8 p.m., Gruene Hall, 1281 Gruene Road, New Braunfels, (830) 606-1281, gruenehall.com. — DC
Thursday, Jan. 25 A Tribute to the Music of Walt Disney Old-school Disney musical numbers have an ineffable magic to them, like they’ve been plucked from the Great American Songbook. Following a highly successful 2023 Disney tribute, regular performers at the Pearl’s Jazz, TX, aim to repeat the magic with a 1960s-style jazz ensemble led by Brandon Guerra, Adam Carrillo and friends. The group will take on such classics as “The Bare Necessities” and “When You Wish Upon a Star.” If this show ends up selling out, keep your eyes peeled. Two more performances will follow in February. $25, 7 p.m., Jazz, TX, 312 Pearl Parkway, jazztx.com. — Bill Baird
Courtesy Photo / Los Texmaniacs
Saturday, Jan. 27 Los Texmaniacs, featuring Augie Meyers and Flaco Jimenez All hail the puro San Antonio torch bearers! The Texmaniacs, led by Max and Josh Baca, bring an energetic update to the classic bajo sexto- and accordion-driven conjunto sound, while Meyers and Jimenez are, to put it mildly, are part of our city’s musical Mount Rushmore. $28, 7:30 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — BB
Friday, Jan. 26
Saturday, Jan. 27
Slow Joy With his solo project Slow Joy, Esteban Flores backs up his deeply personal emo-tinged lyrics with a grungy guitar sound. A Dallas native who’s also in the band Feeves, Flores was encouraged by a therapist to use his music to process grief. The benefit of this expression plays out on Slow Joy singles such as “Crawling” and “Soft Slam” that have Flores gaining fans via TikTok. $18-$20, 8 p.m., Vibes Underground, 1223 E. Houston St., (210) 255-3833, facebook. com/vibesunderground. — DC
Moving Panoramas, Pussy Gillette, The Ghost Wolves, Lauren Lakis Moving Panoramas deliver a compellingly dreamy shoegaze pop that lulls with its swirling beauty. Little surprise the Austin group has earned praise from NPR, the BBC and Paste Magazine. Frontwoman Leslie Sisson boasts an impressive rock resume, having played or guested with Matt Pond PA, Nada Surf, Mark Gardener of Ride, Broken Social Scene, American Analog Set and The Posies. The rest of the acts on the bill round out a night of powerful
music made by women. Pussy Gillette rattles the walls with ass-kicking garage rock, The Ghost Wolves channel prime White Stripes, and Lauren Lakis opens the evening with melodic 4AD-style bliss. $12, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — BB
Thursday, Feb. 1 FIDLAR, Floats FIDLAR is an acronym for Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk, which pretty much sums up this Los Angeles based trio’s whimsical approach to punk with California surf rock vibes. On the strength of its debut album, Stereogum named FIDLAR one of the 40 best new bands in 2012. Although the group has faced the trials and tribulations of a growing act since then, it continues to prove energetic and amusing. $25, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — DC
Friday, Feb. 2 Young Dubliners Celtic rockers Young Dubliners have entertained crowds worldwide since forming in Santa Monica, California, in 1988, and lead
singer and rhythm guitarist Keith Roberts has remained the band’s constant over the decades. The group’s fusion of rock with Irish folk drawn influence from Thin Lizzy, The Pogues and U2, all of whom helped blaze the trail. The Young Dubliners are currently working on a new album crowdsourced with the help of fans. $30-$180, 8:30 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint. com. — DC
Sunday, Feb. 4-Monday, Feb. 5 Brian Blade and the Fellowship Drummer Brian Blade’s stellar rep extends not just from his groundbreaking playing with his group The Fellowship but for his work with Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and on innumerable Daniel Lanois productions, including Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind. Enough said, but we’ll say more. Blade’s shown his jazz bona fides on albums cut with Wayne Shorter, and he won a Grammy for his album with Chick Corea. The Fellowship is one of the best ensembles in modern jazz, allowing Blade and his crew to stretch out across numerous genres. $75, 7:30 p.m., Jazz, TX, 312 Pearl Parkway, jazztx.com. — BB
sacurrent.com | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | CURRENT
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E M P LOY M E N T NS Brands Ltd seeks a Demands Requirement Planner to work in San Antonio, TX. Responsible for market demand plan and inventory control, direct coordination with demand sales forecast, web callout analysis, and replenishment plan of finished goods. Must be able to speak, read, and write in English and Spanish. 20% domestic and 20% international travel required. Submit resume to Joania Y Marquez Arellano at ymarquez@naturesweet.com. Must put Job Code DRPC222. Sales City San Antonio dba Sandler Training seeks a VP of Sales and Marketing (San Antonio, TX). Manage, coordinate activities furthering co.’s sales services (i.e. sales training, sales mgmt., sales leadership, coaching, sales consulting & customer service training) to C-Suite executives in diverse industries & other clients. Analyze/apply market trends to ensure profitability. Evaluate performance of Director of Sales & provide guidance to ensure monthly & annual behavioral sales objectives are met. Report sales results to owner & keep quarterly results on track to meet annual forecast by evaluating financial aspects of services offered & developing pricing strategies. Prospect to build book of business in defined sales territories incl. San Antonio & South Texas. Manage client relations & identify client preferences to determine focus of sales efforts. Meet monthly & annual behavioral sales objectives. Build, maintain relationships w/ clients and prospects. Track sales activities thru co.’s Customer Relationship Management Database by reviewing Director of Sales activities/entries thereto. Recruit, train new sales associates & manage same. Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing or related field + 2 yrs. exp in sales related position that includes managing client relations, strategizing how to grow business w/in sales territories, & selling to C-Suite Executives. 2 yrs. exp. must include 1 yr. recruiting, training, sales team members & analyzing. applying market trends. Background check. 5% U.S. travel. Submit CVs via email to: Sophia DeJong- sophia.dejong@sandler.com Contract Analyst, Vigo Construction Group, Inc., San Antonio, TX: Review contracts re Pro. Serv., Supp., Loan & Fin., Purch. & Sale, & similar contras. written in Eng. Or Span.; analyze contr. clauses and write summs. in Eng./Span. Analyze operational practs. of the Co. and its affil. Cos to evaluate the compliance with contr. terms; Analyze the practs. Of suppliers to evaluate their compliance with contr. terms & provide analysis in writing/verbally in Eng./Span. to the Co. or affil. Cos.; Analyze the terms of reqs for pub. gov. bids and reqs. For props. in Mex. Prepare summs. of bid terms in Eng./Span. including summs. of anti-corruption compliance reqs. for bids. Prep. & assemble bid docs.; Develop & maintain s/sheets of important contrs. & key contr. terms; maintain org. files of standard contr. term for the Co. & its affil. Cos.; Communicate with outside legal counsel to provide eval. Of legal qns. to the Co./to affil. Cos. Min. Req.: Bachelor’s Degree in Law, Mgmt., Econ., Acctg., or a rel. field. Must have 12 mos exp. in contr. analysis and contr. interpretation; must have 12 mos. exp. in analyzing the terms of gov. bidding props. in Mex., preparing bid docs. and reviewing anti-corruption compliance reqs. for gov. bids in Mex.; Must be fluent in Span. Send resumes to kmanrique@grupovilarino.es. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
“How to Succeed”--you know what they say. by Matt Jones © 2024 Matt Jones Across 1. Card pack 5. Jazz legend Davis 10. Galaxy addition? 13. Supporter 14. Kind of army or band 16. 2014 U.S. Women’s Open champ Michelle 17. *Showroom sale item 19. Tax preparer’s charge 20. There’s no accounting for it 21. *”You’ll do great!” 23. Indefinitely long period 24. Actress Taylor-Joy of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” 25. Bar offerings 26. “Yes, ___” (improv principle) 28. Small child 30. Lay down the lawn 32. “Help wanted” listings 34. Capricious urge 37. Overinflate 41. *”All we need,” per a 1988 Guns N’ Roses ballad 44. “8 Seconds” venue 45. Make agitated 46. One of four on the New Zealand flag 47. Geese formation shape 49. ___ Soundsystem (“I Can Change” band) 51. He/___ pronouns 52. Not fully
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CURRENT | January 24 – February 6, 2024 | sacurrent.com
55. Certain internet junk 58. Monopoly board abbr. 60. *Screen protector of sorts? 62. Amounts typically shown in red 65. Got away fast 66. Conclusion leading to perseverance, or a hint to the last words of the starred answers? 68. Enmity 69. Tribute 70. Lower range 71. Like much of PinkNews’s demographic 72. See 33-Down 73. Decelerate Down 1. Nuts 2. Swingin’ Fitzgerald 3. Secretive kind of auction without knowing the price 4. City near Osaka 5. Rapper/actor ___ Def, a.k.a.Yasiin Bey 6. Worked up 7. “30 Rock” character Liz 8. Bad thing to see on your gas gauge 9. Mexican restaurant condiments 10. Horrible 11. Jigsaw unit 12. Looks up the answer, maybe 15. Org. for teachers or artists 18. “It’s living ___-free in my head”
22. Crockpot scoopers, maybe 26. Partway open 27. ___ contendere (no contest plea) 29. Nighttime hunter 31. Kimono sash 33. With 72-Across, portrayer of Brian Hackett on “Wings” 35. Corp. debut 36. Word processing function for automating letters 38. Attentive 39. “Superfood” berry 40. Political period 42. Shoe end 43. “Waterfalls” group 48. Conditional deposit 50. Marcel Duchamp’s movement 52. Parsley bit 53. Scarlett of “Gone With the Wind” 54. It doesn’t grow on trees 56. “Fork it over!” 57. Take ___ at (guess) 59. The Venetian’s site 61. Numerical suffix 63. One of the Jackson 5 64. Winter weather prediction 67. “Get ___ Ya-Ya’s Out!” (Rolling Stones album) Key on page 23
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