San Antonio Current - April 17, 2024

NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITES

SCAN TO NOMINATE

24 Feature

Jeremy Sochan’s True Colors

The Spurs’ ‘global citizen’ is putting his stamp on the team and San Antonio

09 News The Opener News in Brief

Front Runner?

Pelaez may have an early jump on San Antonio’s mayoral election, but experts say it’s still wide open

Bad Takes

It’s time for all of us to take potential environmental calamity seriously

Closing the ‘Hemp Loophole’

Pressure is building for lawmakers to rein in delta-8, a product that arose from the 2018 Farm Bill 18 Calendar Calendar Picks

Celia Álvarez Muñoz’s exhibition

Los Brillantes (The Brilliant Ones) offers heartfelt portraits of San Antonio artists 35 Screens Creative Energy

Former Texas resident Lukas Haas stars opposite John Travolta in action flick Cash Out 37 Food Festival Faves

NIOSA’s best-loved foods have origins as diverse as the cuisines the festival offers Touchless but Tasty

The ghost kitchens at Lombrano Food Hall offer automated food experiences that mostly hit the mark Hot Dish

CENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL

FIESTA FIESTA FANGDANGO FANGDANGO

THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024

5 PM - 11 PM

CENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL

The 5th Annual FangDango event is on Thursday, April 25 at the campus of Central Catholic. This event is now part of Fiesta® San Antonio and includes Food Booths, Live Music, Kid's Area, and Entertainment for the entire family! ¡Viva Fiesta!

That Rocks/That Sucks

HCarlos Alvarez, the San Antonio businessman who helped make both Corona and Shiner national beer brands, died last week. Alvarez, who was born in Acapulco, Mexico, followed his father into the beer distribution business and launched the Gambrinus Co. in 1986 — becoming a major U.S. importer for Corona and acquiring the brewery that produces Shiner three years later. In recent years, Alvarez was a major donor to higher education, public radio and the arts. He was 73.

The solar eclipse meant big business for the Lone Star State. According to Bülent Temel, a political economist at UTSA, Texas likely brought in $150 million to $603 million in eclipse tourism spending — the most money of any state in the path of totality. In an interview with the Texas Standard radio program, Temel said the eclipse would likely be “the most profitable per-minute stimulation of the state economy in the state’s 179-year history.”

HBoth of the declared candidates for San Antonio mayor last week said they oppose using the city’s Reproductive Justice Fund to help residents obtain abortion care out of state. At a council meeting last week to discuss guidelines for how to use the new fund, Councilman Manny Pelaez and Councilman John Courage stood in opposition to a majority of their colleagues — including Mayor Ron Nirenberg — who expressed support for using the fund to cover abortion-related travel expenses.

A coalition of Rio Grande Valley organizations are suing the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in an attempt to stop the agency from giving 43 acres of Boca Chica State Park to Elon Musk’s SpaceX in exchange for 477 acres of land adjacent to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge The coalition suing to stop the deal has argued that Boca Chica is sacred to the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas and a beloved recreation spot for residents. — Abe Asher

YOU SAID IT!

“It’s funny, and I have to say hilarious, that lives don’t seem to matter after they’re born, especially when they’re immigrants, when they’re LGBTQ+, when they’re Black or brown or poor. God forbid somebody be on food stamps.”

—  District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez addressing anti-abortion protesters inside City Council chambers.

Railing against God haters and refugees with Dan Patrick

Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has once again displayed his lack of even the most basic grasp of both the U.S. Constitution and the Bible, two written works he claims to hold dear — when it’s politically convenient.

Speaking last week at Houston’s Second Baptist Church, Patrick urged pastors to run for elected office and framed the November election as a fight between Christ-revering Republicans and those who “hate God,” the Houston Chronicle reports. Evoking the constitutionally prohibited blurring of church and state, he added that if believers are “ready for battle” in 2024, “the victory will be the Lord’s.”

Patrick went on: ”If we don’t win in 2024, we lose this nation. Today, it is a battle of darkness and light. There are people who pray to God, believe in God, raise their families in God’s work and there are people over here who don’t believe in God and want to kick God out. They hate God. That’s the battle we’re in.”

In discussing this purported battle to let light prevail, Patrick passed over basic Christian tenets such as justice, mercy and humility, instead choosing to spew anti-immigrant rhetoric.

During the speech, the lieutenant governor claimed “millions” of undesirables, including “criminals, sex offenders and child abusers” are

The San Antonio-based financial services company USAA is laying off 220 more people, the company’s sixth round of layoffs in the past two years. The company’s recent layoffs have affected some 1,200 employees across its IT, human resources, client-advising and business-continuation departments as well as the mortgage unit of the USAA Federal Savings Bank, according to the Express-News. USAA said its overall employment numbers have remained steady as it has filled other positions.

Campaign finance watchdogs are asking the Federal Election Commission to investigate a deal between U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and San Antonio-based radio group iHeartMedia that’s resulted in payments of some $630,000 in advertising revenue from Cruz’s podcast into a super PAC supporting his re-election bid. An iHeartMedia spokesperson has said payments to the Truth and Courage PAC are “associated with” sales of ad time on the podcast. Federal candidates aren’t allowed to solicit contributions to super PACs.

crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, the Chronicle reports. He also doubled down on the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which posits the Biden White House isn’t enforcing immigration laws because it wants those same migrants to become Democratic voters.

Last we checked, the Bible stated “the foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born” (Leviticus 19:33-34) and urged believers “do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers” (Hebrews 13:1-3).

Which suggests this pandering assclown’s understanding of the gospel he wants to force down everyone’s throats is about as solid as his grasp of the Constitution and its pesky notion that religion is a private matter.

— Sanford Nowlin

After teasing a run for months, Councilman Manny Pelaez last week formally announced his candidacy for mayor. Pelaez, an employment attorney who represents District 8, is the second member of City Council to declare a candidacy for mayor. John Courage entered the race earlier this year. Pelaez, running on a slogan of “Safer. Stronger. Smarter,” says he wants to improve public safety and revitalize downtown. He’ll likely be among the most conservative, business-friendly candidates in the race to replace outgoing Mayor Ron Nirenberg. — Abe Asher

Wikpedia Commons / Gage Skidmore

Wikimedia Commons / Gage Skidmore

Front Runner?

Pelaez may have an early jump on San Antonio’s mayoral election, but experts say it’s still wide open

BY MICHAEL KARLIS

After months of hinting that he’s set his sights on holding San Antonio’s highest elected office, District 8 City Councilman Manny Pelaez last week announced that he is officially running for mayor.

Pelaez’s business-community support, relatively high name recognition and fundraising capabilities suggest he’s starting with an advantage, San Antonio political strategist Christian Archer said. The question is how long that will last.

“I would say the clear front runner today is Manny Pelaez,” Archer said. “He has probably been the most aggressive. When you turn around at every event, Manny Pelaez is working the room. But when the ballot actually comes around, that’s a different thing.”

Despite having key playing pieces in place, Pelaez carries baggage as a result of political blunders over the past 12 months, according to experts. His about-face on a city council vote over whether to pass an Israel-Palestine ceasefire resolution could bite him in the ass, they argue.

And with the actual election more than a year out, Pelaez isn’t the only council member with eyes on the prize. District 9’s John Courage has already thrown his hat into the ring, and District 4’s Adriana Rocha Garcia and District 6’s Melissa Cabello Havrda are considering runs.

What’s more, after seven years of Ron Nirenberg, who also previously represented District 8 before becoming mayor, San Antonio voters could be more inclined to favor an outsider than another city hall insider, Archer added.

Israel-Palestine

Although Pelaez might have grabbed plenty of headlines leading up to his big announcement, they’ve not all been positive. One of his most notable moves over the past year has been jumping head-first into one of the most divisive topics in recent memory,

observers said.

For those who need a reminder, Pelaez signed on to a memo in December supporting a motion to discuss an Israel-Palestine ceasefire resolution, which was supported by District 2 City Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 4 Councilwoman Teri Castillo, the most progressive members of the dais.

To hold a special meeting, three council members must support the motion, making Pelaez’s signature the linchpin.

A meeting was scheduled for Jan. 11, then Pelaez asked that it be postponed until the following month. As February rolled around, he got cold feet again, eventually withdrawing his signature altogether.

Pelaez’s decision led to protesters shutting down a City Council meeting the week when the vote was scheduled to take place. Members ducked out to an Executive Session as protesters held signs and chanted “Free Palestine” in the chambers.

Pelaez was out of town during that meeting.

“I think it hurts him today, I think it hurts him in terms of when it comes to making a big decision [as mayor]: how are you going to make it?” Archer said of Pelaez’s decision to wade into the ceasefire issue. “It’s certainly recoverable, but he’s going to spend time answering that question, and how does that help you when you want to talk about a vision for the future of San Antonio?”

Archer continued: “No one cares what a city council member thinks about the war in the Middle East. And yet, you know, it became an issue that a lot of people got hurt by, Manny in particular.”

Pelaez isn’t alone in being stung by local tensions over the Gaza conflict. Courage was heckled by pro-Palestinian activists during the January announcement of his mayoral run.

Political strategist Kelton Morgan, who ran Nirenberg’s 2017 and 2019

mayoral campaigns, said the only memorable thing about Courage’s press conference was that ended up “a disaster.”

Pelaez likely opted for a video announcement to avoid succumbing to a similar situation, Morgan said.

Advantage? What advantage?

With 13 months until election day, Archer and Morgan agree that Courage’s and Pelaez’s decisions to announce early come down to fundraising. Once a candidate files the paperwork to run for mayor, they can receive individual donations of up to $1,000 — twice the donation cap for those running for city council.

“Money is the mother’s milk of politics, and Manny has been making phone calls, and he’s been aligning for more than a year with people that would give him the upper hand in terms of running for mayor,” Archer said.

Even so, Morgan warns that once a candidate announces, they have to keep up the momentum until the end or risk being forgotten. He also questioned whether either candidate has the appeal to deep-pocketed donors to take full advantage of an early announcement.

“I don’t see people lining up down the block to write $1,000 checks to either of those guys,” Morgan said.

Meanwhile, the council experience Courage, Pelaez, Garcia and Havrda have makes all of them political in-

siders at a time that Archer said many in the San Antonio electorate may be craving an outsider.

“In many election cycles, it’s been a disadvantage to be on council,” Archer said. “I haven’t seen any recent polling, but it’s not like City Council’s [approval rating] is polling any higher than 40% or 50%. So, it may not be an advantage to be on council. It might be an advantage to be an outsider that doesn’t have a record — and there have been mistakes made by all these council members.”

At least two potential mayoral contenders would fit the outsider bill. Former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos, a Republican who formerly worked under Govs. Rick Perry and Greg Abbott, is said to be weighing a run, as is San Antonio tech entrepreneur Beto Altamirano, whom Archer describes as having the charisma and vision of former Mayor Henry Cisneros.

Pelaez, a corporate attorney on labor issues, has tried to present himself as a visionary by using that buzzword and others such as “innovation” and “potential” in his campaign video. However, Morgan questions how well those actually play to voters.

“Sometimes people like to think it’s about big grand thoughts and ideas,” Morgan said. “But, municipal elections typically are about basic things that the city is supposed to do. [This election] is going to be about crime, it’s going to be about public safety, traffic, infrastructure and it’s going to be about basic city services.”

Courtesy Photo / Manny Pelaez Campaign

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BENEFITING

It’s time for all of us to take potential environmental calamity

BY KEVIN SANCHEZ

seriously

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

It feels like I’ve lobbed enough fair criticism at comedian Bill Maher, who’s scheduled to perform at the Majestic Theatre in October, over his penchant for reckless COVID-19 misinformation. Perhaps that justifies cutting the old man some slack and trumpeting a point of agreement. “Maybe the No. 1 lesson from the pandemic was the need for proper air ventilation,” Maher said on his HBO show Real Time back in March. “But if there’s been a big national movement to retrofit buildings, I missed it.”

He’s right. Every single classroom, office space, retail store and factory floor in the United States should clean the air we breathe with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA)-grade filtration systems. We should welcome the day when they’re as ubiquitous a feature in modern homes as refrigerators and water heaters.

Though the Biden-Harris administration recently announced $32 million in grants to tackle air pollution in schools, that’s a drop in the bucket next to what’s needed. Yet we’ve known for decades, poor indoor air quality, including higher levels of carbon dioxide, results in a diminished ability to concentrate.

My favorite such study was from Germany in 2019. In that case, researchers found 10 micrograms per cubic meter of PM2.5 — particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter — increased the odds a chess player would make a bad move by 26%. Is it any wonder that substandard ventilation lowers math test scores and makes students more distracted and irritable, according to peer-reviewed studies?

And who isn’t in favor of fewer respiratory illnesses, asthma attacks, sick days and allergies? As with other shared environmental concerns, the U.S. should set a global example. According to the World Health Organization, indoor air pollution accounts for approximately 4.3 million premature deaths annually — a quiet pandemic for which there are no vigils.

Most of us spend 90% of our lives indoors, but sometimes stepping outside for fresh air isn’t much healthier. On April 9, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cracked down on six hazardous chemicals emitted from 80 Texas plants, mostly along the Gulf Coast, which are used to make plastics and pesticides. The chemicals are also known to cause cancer as well as immune and neurological injury.

“According to the EPA, the new rule will slash more than 6,000 tons of toxic air pollutants annually,” Alejandra Martinez reported for the Texas Tribune.

That raises the obvious question: why the feck are we just now doing this?

Wildfires also take a toll on our lungs.

“State lawmakers and agriculture officials are still assessing the full extent of the damage caused by the record-setting wildfires that ravaged the Texas Panhandle in late February, including the Smokehouse Creek fire, the largest in state history,” according to KERA reporter Julián Aguilar.

Already the average wildfire season is months longer than a few decades ago, a trend expected to continue given the drier conditions created by climate change, according to scientists.

In an April 10 report, the nonprofit Center for Houston’s Future concluded in a study based on interviews with experts and dozens of studies that “a multitude of health threats,” including heatstroke, cardiovascular maladies, contaminated water, mosquito-borne illnesses, ozone and even disruption to food supply are worsened by climate change.

Rising temperatures are as much a city problem as a rural one. Thanks to the urban heat island effect, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Dallas’ Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability mapped out tree-sparse neighborhoods covered in concrete where the temperature felt a full 10 degrees hot-

ter than what the thermometer read. That’s proven deadly on the 109-degree days that hit Texas last summer.

San Antonio-based environmental blog Deceleration News drew up similar maps for our neck of the woods in 2022 and last week via Instagram took mayoral candidate Manny Pelaez to task for having “undermined climate action in San Antonio for six years” as District 8 councilman. Seems that 30% of the most sweltering census tracts fall within his district, including a bastion of working-class rental housing.

However, in an email Deceleration acquired through an open-records request, Pelaez informed the CEO of Valero in 2019 that our city’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan “does not have my support until I hear that Valero, NuStar, Toyota, HEB, Frost, Ancira, et cetera can support it.”

Zeroing-out carbon and methane emissions requires international coordination, of course, but if elected representatives whose constituencies are most affected by extreme heat are more concerned with appeasing corporations, we’re in trouble. Progres-

sives already helped elect one mayor who backslid on his anti-fossil fuel commitments. Why show up in 2025 for another?

As dire as the warnings of the scientific consensus are, they may have understated the danger.

“We need answers for why 2023 turned out to be the warmest year in possibly the past 100,000 years,” climatologist Gavin Schmidt wrote in the journal Nature last month. He acknowledged “the 2023 temperature anomaly ... could imply that a warming planet is already fundamentally altering how the climate system operates, much sooner than scientists had anticipated.”

The April 8 eclipse was one of those rare events that unites people across partisan divides and generations, but it also served as a reminder that many of us, behaving like atomized consumers in the perpetual light of our beloved screens, have lost much of any connection to the planet on which we depend.

Earth Day is April 22, and I’m left wondering whether celebrations are in order, or collective mourning.

Shutterstock / Grindstone Media Group

Closing the ‘Hemp Loophole’

Pressure is building for lawmakers to rein in delta-8, a product that arose from the 2018 Farm Bill

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

Delta-8’s Wild West days may be numbered. Federal lawmakers face growing pressure to close a loophole in the U.S. Farm Bill that allows commercial sale of THC-containing hemp products such as delta-8. Those products, widely available in retail spaces ranging from smoke shops to convenience stores, produce a similar high to cannabis but are technically legal to sell and buy.

The 2018 bill, scheduled for renewal every five years, is up for reauthorization again, and many — including law-enforcement officials, public health experts and even some in the cannabis business — want new language either banning the intoxicants’ sale or putting major restrictions around them.

Late last month, a bipartisan group of 21 attorneys general sent a letter to Congress urging it to narrow the definition of legal hemp as it renews the Farm Bill. The previous language allows “bad actors” a workaround to sell unregulated THC-containing products, the group argues, and many of those are falling into the hands of kids.

“Regardless of your Committees’ intentions, the reality is that this law has unleashed on our states a flood of products that are nothing less than a more potent form of cannabis, often in candy form that is made attractive to youth and children — with staggering levels of potency, no regulation, no oversight, and a limited capability for our offices to rein them in,” the AGs said.

Due to the $28 billion delta-8 industry’s current lack of regulation, states are dealing with a rise of poisonings from poorly made and improperly la-

beled products, according to the letter.

Between Jan. 1, 2021, and Feb. 28, 2022, poison control centers nationwide handled 2,363 delta-8 exposure cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly half of those involved people under the age of 18.

Indeed, a national survey of more than 2,000 high school seniors from the youth polling group Monitoring the Future found more than 11% had used delta-8 in the past year.

Banning or regulating

Jonathan Miller, general counsel for industry group the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, last month told the Dallas Observer that the lack of regulation on intoxicating hemp products is troubling, especially their accessibility to kids. However, he said banning them in the Farm Bill is the wrong approach.

“We need regulation. We need the FDA to come in and start regulating hemp products like they promised they would five years ago,” he told the publication. “The answer is not a prohibition or changing the definition of hemp in a federal law to ban these products.”

However, states such as Texas may not be waiting for Congress or the FDA to act. Last week, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who sets the agenda for the Texas Senate, said he wants the body to consider a ban on intoxicating hemp products ahead of the 2025 session.

If Texas moves to do so, it would join more than a dozen states that have banned delta-8 and simi-

lar products, according to the National Cannabis Industry Association. Several others have passed laws restricting the availability of the intoxicants.

Unexpected ally

While hemp producers may not want to see alterations to the Farm Bill, some in the legal cannabis industry have no problem with that. Nor with Texas lawmakers curbing delta-8’s availability.

Nico Richardson, CEO of Austin-based Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation, one of three suppliers approved under the Lone Star State’s narrow medical-cannabis program, said Delta-8 purveyors are deliberately and dangerously exploiting a loophole.

In contrast to cannabis, where THC is naturally occurring, delta-8 products containing significant doses of the compound are created through a chemical process. Third-party lab testing shows that some products now on the market are more potent than they claim to be, contain illegal THC or include harmful contaminants, Richardson said.

“I’m not against broad-scale legalization in this country, but it needs to be done in a well-regulated fashion,” he said. “It needs to be done like in other states that have regulated their recreational markets, which requires stringent testing. Because this is a bio-accumulator plant, and it sucks up heavy metals and pesticides and puts them in the flower. And you do not want to be consuming that.”

Ironically, Richardson and others urged Texas lawmakers to take steps to regulate THC-containing hemp products during the 2023 legislative session, but he said those efforts went ignored. Although the industry was prepared to see a delta-8 bill materialize, one never did.

“To see what happened with hemp [in the 2023 session] was just shocking,” he said. “It was very clear the intent was not to have a completely open drug market in Texas. But that’s where we are today, and it’s only getting worse.”

Shutterstock / Billy F Blume Jr.

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FIESTA

The Alamo City’s favorite season has returned — and, no, we’re not talking about spring. The 11-day party known as Fiesta San Antonio is back, bedazzling the city with dozens of events between April 18-28 that invite revelers to get their party on while raising money for local organizations. While this roundup isn’t an exhaustive list of every party included in this year’s celebration, it does offer an overview of the highlights every Fiesta fan should hit at least once. A comprehensive schedule of official 2024 Fiesta events is available at fiestasanantonio.org. — Amber Esparza

FIESTA FIESTA AT THE ALAMODOME

The Fiesta San Antonio Commission and City of San Antonio will jumpstart this year’s citywide celebration with Fiesta Fiesta, held for the first time at the Alamodome’s H-E-B Plaza. The grand carnival, meanwhile, will take place in Lot C. Despite the change of venue from Historic Market Square, Fiesta Fiesta will feature all its classic food, fun and activities, including a packed music lineup with a headlining performance from Tejano rapper ZEUS. El Mero Necio at 9 p.m. Before the night’s main act, revelers can check out the People’s Parade at 6:30 p.m. as well as shop, swap and peruse Fiesta medals at Pin Pandemonium in the plaza’s center. The adjacent Fiesta Carnival will run through the entirety of this year’s citywide party, but the kickoff event is one night only. Free, 4-11 p.m. Thursday, April 18, H-E-B Plaza at The Alamodome, 100 Montana St., alamodome.com.

FIESTA OYSTER BAKE

Oh shucks! The San Antonio-style celebration of the oyster, baked and otherwise, returns to St. Mary’s University campus for its 108th year. Revelers can enjoy two days of food and fun honoring the delectable sea specimen and choose from a variety of music acts performing across five stages. This year’s headliners range from ’80s and ’90s rockers Collective Soul and Stephen Pearcy of Ratt to country acts Casey Donahew and Kevin Fowler to Tejano titans Ram Herrera and Gary Hobbs. Proceeds from the St. Mary’s Fiesta Oyster Bake go back to supporting students and programs at the university. $25-$175, 5-11 p.m. Friday, April 19, and noon-11 p.m. Saturday, April 20, St. Mary’s University, 1 Camino Santa Maria, (210) 426-3324, oysterbake.com.

A TASTE OF NEW ORLEANS

Those already missing the food from Mardi Gras can rely on the San Antonio Zulu Association and its quintessential Fiesta event to keep the spicy Louisiana-style fare flowing. This year’s Taste of New Orleans menu will showcase dishes including soft shell crab, crab au gratin, gumbos, seafood boils, etouffee and a host of other Creole and Cajun flavors. Live music options vary nightly, but are reliably strong. Children under 12 enter for free, and rides, play areas and activities such as face painting will keep them distracted while you chow down and laissez les bons temps rouler. $17-$35, 5-11 p.m. Friday, April 19, noon-11 p.m. Saturday, April 20, and noon-10 p.m. Sunday, April 21, Sunken Garden Theater, 3875 N. St. Mary’s St., saza.org.

MISSION REACH FLOTILLA FIESTA

Those looking for an event that pivots toward outdoor activity rather than just stuffing one’s face may want to explore the Mission Reach Flotilla Fiesta, the “official kayaking event of Fiesta” — although, in ac-

tuality, there’s still plenty of face-stuffing to go along with the outdoor activity. The South Side park festival invites visitors to celebrate nature on the San Antonio River with arts and craft activities, free kayaking and a fishing clinic from the Fin Addict Angler Foundation. Performances throughout the day include a drum circle, ballet folklórico and live music from cumbia orchestra Volcán. Free, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, April 21, Acequia Park, 8500 Mission Parkway, sariverauthority.org.

A NIGHT IN OLD SAN ANTONIO

A Night In Old San Antonio — or NIOSA, as it’s known to the party pros — spreads its mass consumption of finger foods across four nights and 14 culturally themed areas in and around downtown’s La Villita Historic Village. More than 160 food, beverage and entertainment options allow partygoers to nosh on Crispy Shrimp Wraps and Yak-I-Tori in China Town, sopapillas and Steer-on-a-Stick in Frontier Town and shrimp po’boys and escargot in the French Quarter. In other words, NIOSA should have something to satisfy any Fiesta-goer’s appetite. Children under 12 are admitted to the grounds for free with an accompanying adult and ticket. $20-$25, 5:30-10:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 23-Friday, April 26, La Villita, 418 Villita St., (210) 226-5188, niosa.org.

BATTLE OF FLOWERS PARADE

One of Fiesta’s most Flambeau-yant events — oh wait, wrong parade.

Drawing an average of 550,000 spectators annually, the Battle of Flowers is one of the largest parades in the country and the biggest draw of the Fiesta season. So much so that many local offices, school districts and banks take the day off to accommodate attendance at the parade, which celebrates the revolutionary battles fought at the Alamo, Goliad and San Jacinto. Floats, buggies, marching bands and people from all walks of life will be bedecked with elaborate costumes, paper flowers and colors galore as they make their way through the streets of downtown San Antonio.” $30-$40, 9:55 a.m. (Vanguard), 10:30 a.m. (Parade), Friday, April 26, Downtown San Antonio, battleofflowers.org.

KING WILLIAM FAIR

Kicking off with a 9 a.m. parade, the King William Fair offers a full day of Fiesta fun for the entire family. Revelers flock to the historic, south-ofdowntown neighborhood to close out the party season with food, music, shopping and live performances. The gathering features free admission for children under 11, and it offers a Kid’s Kingdom overflowing with games, rides and attractions. More than 35 musicians, performers and artists are slated to perform at the day-long event, making it an eclectic and freewheeling way to wrap up the Fiesta season. $15-$20, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday, April 27, King William Historic District, 122 Madison St., (210) 271-3247, kwfair.org.

THU | 04.18SUN | 04.21

SPECIAL EVENT

THE AMAZING ACROCATS

For the third straight year, the professional circus troupe known as the Amazing Acrocats will purrade its way into San Antonio for a display of flipping felines. Going strong since 2005, the company consists of adopted orphaned, rescued or stray cats, ranging from tuxedo bundle of energy Dixie (“the Dynamo”) to black cat Buggles (“the Nerd”). It turns out you can train cats: with the help of positive reinforcement clicker training, Chief Executive Human Samantha Martin’s cats flip cue cards, jump through hoops, balance on balls and perform other feats of flexibility and athleticism. They even make music together as Tuna and the Rock Cats — the world’s only all-cat band, which includes cowbell, guitar, drums and piano — and the recently formed Jazz Cats, which features felines on clarinet, trumpet and sax. Acrocats ticket sales help support Rock Cats Rescue, a nonprofit which promotes cat welfare and has helped 330 kitties find homes since 2009. But that’s not all — the troupe’s local partner for the show is the San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition, which will receive a portion of all ticket sales.

$25-$65, 7 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday, Josephine Theatre, 339 W. Josephine St., (210) 7344646, rockcatsrescue.org/tourschedule. — Dean Zach

TUE | 04.23THU | 04.25 SPECIAL

FIESTA CORNYATION

Originally launched as a parody of the annual Coronation of the Queen of the Order of the Alamo, this 73-year-old Fiesta tradition long ago turned its focus to satirizing local, state and national politics. This year’s “The Court of Peripheral

Opulence” will crown longtime San Antonio artist Cruz Ortiz as King Anchovy LVII, the head of a court of extravagantly costumed actors delivering skits lampooning current events and high-profile personalities. Fiesta Cornyation isn’t just an off-color spectacle, though, it’s also a charitable organization whose mission remains raising money for LGTBQ+ causes and charities in the city. This year’s recipients include the San Antonio AIDS Foundation, BEAT AIDS and the Thrive Youth Center. $15-$45, 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary’s St., (210)

THU | 04.25

BIANCA DEL RIO: DEAD INSIDE COMEDY TOUR

One of the most beloved queens to emerge from RuPaul’s Drag Race, Bianca Del Rio is touring with a brazen brand of comedy that’s unafraid to offend. Bianca Del Rio had been doing drag for nearly 20 years — and almost gave it up — before she won the sixth season of Drag Race in 2014 at the age of 37. Now, a decade later, she’s been in movies where she stars as the main character (including Hurricane Bianca and its sequel), written a book, sold out both Carnegie Hall and Wembley Arena — and been the first queen to ever perform in either of the storied venues. Now, she’s on her sixth world tour. Not only do those achievements prove she’s come a long way from getting her start in New Orleans’ 1990s drag scene, they suggest that even though she’s calling her tour Dead Inside, her career is very much alive and thriving.

$43.50-$289, 8 p.m., H-E-B Performance Hall, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — DG

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

Courtesy Photo / Amazing Acrocats

Julián P. Ledezma

Matt Crockett

TUE | 04.30WED | 05.01

THEATER

HAIRSPRAY

The Tony Award-winning and multi-movie-spawning musical Hairspray is set to sashay and shimmy through a limited two-day run in San Antonio. Hairspray centers around the adventures of Tracy Turnblad (Caroline Eiseman), a feisty teenage girl living in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1960. Emerging from the straight-laced ’50s, Tracy wants nothing more than to cut loose and unleash her passion for dance. The perfect opportunity presents itself when her favorite after-school television music program, The Corny Collins Show, puts out an open casting call. Tracy races to the studio the following morning, coming face-to-face with its intimidating executive, Velma von Tussle (Sarah Hayes). Velma’s immoral leadership methods — from pulling strings to put her daughter center stage to vehemently opposing racial integration — catch Tracy off guard. Even more surprising: no one seems to want to stand up for what’s right. Although Tracy is turned away at the door, she embarks on a mission to oust Velma and reform The Corny Collins Show’s exclusionary casting, giving everyone the chance to dance. $37.12-$124.50, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, H-E-B Performance Hall, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — Caroline Wolff

Jeremy Daniel Donnell

Jimmy

thur. may 9, 2024 | 6-10pm buy your tickets at sacurrentflavor.com

Jeremy Sochan’s True Colors

The Spurs’ ‘global citizen’ is putting his stamp on the team and San Antonio

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

During a recent tour of Southtown’s 1906 Gallery, Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan showed he doesn’t just collect San Antonio art, he’s willing to get his hands dirty making some.

At the invitation of Meechi Ceramics owner Michelle Hernandez, Sochan slid his 6-foot-8 frame behind a potter’s wheel, removed his jewelry and began crafting a bowl, attentively listening and following directions as she guided him through the process.

“Oh, no! I broke it!” Sochan said as a tear appeared at the top of the bowl that was starting to take shape. “My hands are too big.”

The 20-year-old NBA player was undaunted, though, as Hernandez leaned in to show him how to fix the mistake by reshaping the spinning clay. He patiently finished the vessel, asking his host if she could make sure it gets passed along to him once it’s glazed and fired.

Although Sochan’s visit to 1906 was a public relations move at its core — an effort by the team’s front office to collect footage of video footage of the player — he made something more of it. Rather than the allotted hour, the walkthrough lasted two and a half, Sochan’s genuine enthusiasm on display for the duration.

He posed for photos with kids taking an art class, toured the living area of gallery owners Andy and Yvette Benavides and used his phone to snap a pic of one artist’s Spotify playlist after taking an interest in the psychedelic cumbia music thumping through the workspace.

“I love it here,” Sochan said at one point, showing the wide, gap-toothed smile that’s one of his trademarks. “Good vibes. Good vibes.”

It was clear from the visit that Sochan, who earlier this month wrapped up his second year with the Spurs, feels at home in Southtown’s artsy ambiance. After all, he recently bought a condo in the neighborhood, and he’s become a fixture at its locally owned businesses, where he builds on his collection of vintage housewares.

“For me, it’s just lively,” Sochan said of the area. “It’s a place that makes me feel something — knowing that I’m around people, I’m around entertain-

ment, I’m around green, I’m around the river. I can walk around trails, around stuff like this, studios and art galleries. I think that’s just the beautiful part of us as humans. There’s so many different ways of socializing, of growing and learning.”

Born in the U.S. to a Polish mother and raised in Britain, Sochan came to the Spurs as the No. 9 pick in the 2022 NBA draft. Although his spotlight has dimmed since the arrival of a certain 7-foot-4 French phenom by the name of Victor Wembanyama, Sochan’s oncourt versatility all but ensures he’ll be an integral part of the Spurs’ rebuild. His exuberant personality also suggests he’s putting a stamp on the city itself.

Observers say Sochan’s varied interests, global background and love of the city give him the potential to emerge as a fan favorite on the level of other now-legendary international Spurs players such as Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Patty Mills.

While an ankle impingement and subsequent surgery ended his season with eight games to go, Sochan proved himself to be a Swiss Army knife for the team. He averaged 11.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Observers have also heaped praise on his defense, which has enabled the young player to shut down some of the league’s best shooters. Cue tape of Sochan making Dallas superstar Luka Doncic’s life a living hell and holding his shooting to 6-for-27 during the teams’ March 19 matchup.

Joyful competitor

Talk to Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich and he’ll praise both Sochan’s on-court versatility and his inquisitive mind. To be sure, Pop said he’s not seen a player so eager to ask questions since Ginobili’s time with the team.

“Jeremy is like a blank slate in that regard. Everything seems to interest him, whether we’re talking about race relations in America or what kind of wine might be drunk at a dinner or just random talk about what’s happening in the Middle East,” Popovich told the Current. “He wants to know, and he’ll ask questions about it. … He’s jumped in and found, I think, a comfort zone where he feels like he can ask about all

these things.”

While Sochan’s proclivity for dying his hair every color of the rainbow and his ability to get under opponents’ skin drew early comparisons to Dennis Rodman, personality-wise he appears to be the opposite of the grandstanding-prone rebounder.

Sochan is a team player who radiates infectious enthusiasm, according to Popovich. His positive energy and ability to lead by example were apparent early in his rookie year.

“When I think about Jeremy, I think about enthusiasm, energy, love of the game and that kind of thing,” Popovich said. “And by osmosis, everybody else feels that and gets a part of that. So, I think that’s basically his personality and what he gives on a daily basis or game-by-game basis.”

Teammate Devin Vassell said Sochan’s offbeat sense of humor served as glue that held the team together even as it endured a season where it landed second from the bottom in the Western Conference.

“He’s just a super joyful person. I mean, he’s just going to put a smile on your face,” Vassell said. “He just wants to make everybody in the room laugh and smile, and that’s probably the biggest thing I would say. There’s never a dull moment when it comes to Jeremy. He’s always laughing and trying to get everybody else in a good mood.”

That ability to bust up his teammates manifested early as part of the Spurs tradition of singing “Happy Birthday” to each player during his big day. After Sochan participated in his first team singalong, he shouted out, “Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray! Don’t forget the champagne!”

The tag didn’t just get laughs, it stuck. Now, it’s an expected part of every birthday recognition.

“I don’t know where he got that from, but that’s Jeremy,” Vassell said.

Lest anyone assume Sochan’s geniality and sense of humor are a sign that he’s nothing but an overgrown class clown, friends and colleagues say the young player displays a wisdom beyond his years and a curiosity for exploring other cultures.

During his visit to the 1906, several artists asked Sochan about his elaborate tattoos, and he indulged, explaining, for example, how he wants an image of Icarus plummeting to earth to serve as a reminder not to let his ego carry him too high.

Sochan’s varied musical tastes also suggest he’s a guy eager to explore. He’s a huge Radiohead fan but also loves the mind-bending experimental techno of Aphex Twin, the avant-garde jazz of

saxophonist Steve Lacy and the electronica-tinged R&B of Sampha.

‘Coach’ not ‘Mom’

Sochan describes himself as a “citizen of the world,” and his globetrotting life certainly reflects that.

Although born in Western Oklahoma, where his mother Aneta played Division II hoops for Panhandle State, Sochan ended up in Europe soon after her graduation. His father, Ryan Williams, who played for the school’s men’s basketball team, was largely absent from his life and died in a 2017 car wreck.

After a brief stint in France, the Sochans settled in England, where Jeremy spent most of his youth. Growing up in Milton Keynes, a city 50 miles northwest of London, he tried his hand at multiple sports — soccer, rugby, track and badminton among them — but it was basketball that grabbed and held his interest.

Aneta — a former point guard — proved an inspiring and demanding coach. She drilled her son on how essential defense is to the game and cut him little slack. He was required to call her “coach,” not “Mom,” on the court. If he slipped up, she punished him with push-ups or laps.

Despite his mother’s hard-ass approach, Sochan said she never tried to force the sport on him or saddle him with unrealistic expectations.

“I think it helped that I had a genuine connection with a genuine person who wanted me to be great,” he said. “But the other thing that I personally think helped was that there was no pressure. There was no moment in my career — or when I was young, learning how to play — where my mom would be like, ‘This is the way. This is what you have to do with your life.’”

Sochan relocated to Southampton for high school, where he joined a semi-pro basketball team stocked with players who were considerably older and more experienced. He also played for Poland’s U-16 team, which took a FIBA Division B European Championship and landed him a tournament MVP trophy.

The Big D

Sensing he’d outgrown England’s basketball opportunities, Sochan enrolled in La Lumiere School, a private campus in Indiana, but the pandemic shut down play and he headed back to Europe within months, joining a Germany club league.

Sochan committed to playing col-

lege hoops for Baylor in 2020, which allowed him to regularly jump between positions, playing both point guard and center. After winning 2021-2022 Big-12 Sixth Man of the Year honors and being named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team, he declared himself eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft and was picked up by the Spurs.

Even now that he’s reached the pros, Sochan said he still values the wisdom his mother shared about playing a strong defense. He considers defense a “lost” art in the NBA, and he thrives on it.

“It gives me some type of energy. Where does it come from? The satisfaction of stopping a player from scoring or having a good game, maybe? I don’t know,” Sochan said. “It just comes naturally to me. It’s something that I feel like as a kid was really important. My parents were always [saying], ‘Playing defense is important and it’s going to keep you on the court. It’s going to keep you playing, giving you minutes.’”

Like the game’s best defenders, Sochan understands that the head game is part of his arsenal. When asked how he gets under other players’ skins, he smiled coyly, and said he’d rather not give up his secrets. Even so, he did let one slip.

“Just being friendly with them sometimes is the best way to get into their heads,” Sochan said. “They think, ‘Oh yeah, we talking friendly, it’s going to be a chill game,’ or something, and then you play hard.”

Local interests

In his two years in San Antonio, Sochan’s done more than settle down in Southtown. He’s actively become part of the city’s cultural scene, exploring its museums, getting to know out-of-theway haunts and throwing his financial support to homegrown businesses.

Santiago Ortega, co-owner of Government Hill juice shop Southwest Elixirs, said he and his wife extended an invite to the then-rookie Spur to visit their business after a chance meeting. To their surprise, the NBAer not only showed up and became a regular but frequently brings his family and other members of the team into their store.

After posing up at a table by the front window to enjoy a Mystic Mushroom smoothie or an avocado toast while watching a soccer match on his phone, it’s not uncommon for Sochan to head over to shop at the independently owned plant store and vintage shop in the same shopping center and walk out

with a purchase, Ortega added.

Shortly after their first meeting, Ortega and his wife and business partner Madison recommended Sochan check out the San Antonio Museum of Art. He immediately extended an invitation for them to join them on his first visit. Though work got in the way, they appreciated his willingness to hang out.

“He’s just a very sincere person, very inquisitive,” Ortega said. “At 19 or 20, sometimes you can be a little narrow-minded, but for someone so young, he’s really an old soul.”

Sochan’s connection with Southwest Elixirs also led to his hiring of his personal chef, Cait Gomez. The Ortegas recommended her based on her experience and understanding of healthy ingredients.

Gomez said she’d never worked with a pro athlete and was initially apprehensive. However, she was quickly impressed with Sochan’s open-mindedness, including an eagerness to explore the healthier sides of Mexican cuisine. He’s also courteous and respectful of her time, regularly sending text messages if he expects to be home late from practice.

“I wondered, ‘Am I walking into a frat house kind of thing? Am I gonna be there feeding all the guys?’” Gomez

MFrom left: Jeremy Sochan visits with Douglas Galloway in the artist’s studio. Sochan learns how to work on a potter’s wheel with Michelle Hernandez of Meechi Ceramics.

said. “But it’s turned out to be nothing like that. He’s just so driven and so laser-focused on what he wants to accomplish.”

Strong family ties

Both Gomez and the Ortegas said they’ve witnessed the strong bond Sochan maintains with his mother, stepfather Wiktor Lipiecki and a younger brother. The family now lives in San Antonio, Spurs officials confirmed, and it’s clear they’re very much part of Sochan’s life, regularly dropping by the juice shop with him and visiting his home.

Gomez said the exchanges between Aneta and Jeremy make it clear where he inherited his sense of humor.

Mother and son regularly exchange good-natured quips. He appears to delight in pushing her buttons while she can dish it right back out.

Jaime Monzon

Jaime Monzon

arts

6Sochan emerged as one of the NBA’s toughest defenders. The defensive game ‘gives me some kind of energy,’ he said.

“It always cracks me up,” Gomez said. “You can tell there’s lots of love and mutual respect behind it all.”

The chef said she’s also gotten kitchen coaching from Aneta on how to prepare some of Sochan’s favorite Polish dishes, including pierogis. The pair worked together on a healthier recipe for the carb-heavy dumplings, which are typically filled with cheese and potatoes.

As he put down roots, Sochan also added to the family, bringing on a German shorthaired pointer, Otto, who’s less than a year old and “completely wild,” he said.

Fashion forward

Sochan doesn’t see himself toning down the hair as he settles into his role as one with the Spurs. It’s just another extension of his longstanding interest in fashion and self-expression, he said.

After all, who can forget the lilac Indochino suit Sochan sported for the NBA Draft. He picked the suit’s color to complement his hair: bleach blonde at the time. Since then, he’s turned heads by wearing a white double-breasted suit with no shirt underneath — total rockstar move — and a vibrant limegreen cardigan that somehow made preppy look hip.

That playful approach to fashion even included shaving off his signature hair one time while playing for Baylor. The clippers came out on a dare during a plane trip to play Kansas State. In keeping with a recurring theme, Sochan said he went bald to bring the team together when spirits were down. “It was a little crazy, but yeah, it was fun — which is what I was after,” Sochan said. “I feel like I rocked the bald look too.”

Although Sochan’s one-handed free throws have struck some NBA fans as a look-at-me affectation, the origins of the technique are anything but. He adopted the approach during the 20222023 season after Popovich suggested it could help boost his accuracy. It paid off, as Sochan increased his average free throw percentage by 30%.

To Spurs General Manager Brian Wright, Sochan’s willingness to run with Pop’s unconventional advice is

one of the player’s strengths.

“Not only does he do it not just in practice, but he works at it, and goes and does it in front of 18,000 people,” Wright told the Current. “And there’s not one other person doing it that way in the NBA. It just tells you a little bit about him — not just the work side, but the trust and belief side — that he has the self-confidence to go out and say, ‘You know what? I can be different and I can try it, and I’m going to do what works for me.’ I think that’s a pretty real example of who he is.”

‘Stronger and more resilient’

While it may be early to talk about a player’s legacy after just two years in the league, Sochan’s put some thought into the matter. And, from where he sits, legacy is more than just championship rings and a collection of statistics.

“To me, a legacy is: ‘How can I impact people?’” he said. “Of course, to some

extent it might be about my individual success, but it’s not completely about that and ‘Look how great I am.’ I think to me, it’s to connect with people and be someone who sheds good, positive vibes and helps people out. I think that’s what I think I want my legacy to be.”

Might that someday include a fashion line? A program that gives back to the city’s arts scene, small businesses or young athletes?

Maybe. Hard to say. Sochan emphasized that he’s a perfectionist, so he’s not interested in pursuing anything outside of the NBA that he can’t devote serious attention to. For now, his focus is on basketball and family.

Wherever his path takes him, Wright said Sochan’s self-awareness and eagerness to express himself make the sky the limit.

“He knows who he is, he knows who he wants to be, he knows what he wants to accomplish, and he’s just

beginning,” Wright said. “The guy is 20 years old, and he’s well on his way. He also knows it’s just the beginning and there’s a bright future ahead.”

Part of that, Sochan said, is looking back on a key lesson his mother and stepfather imparted: you can’t have it all right now.

That lesson of patience has helped him absorb a year many had hoped would turn out better for the young team. One also assumes it will guide his recuperation from the injury he suffered at the end of the season.

“Of course, there’s times where I want it all right now. I want to change now, and I want to be the best I can be. But I also understand sometimes it’s not like that,” he said. “Sometimes — like even this year — things are a test. The test is: Are you going to break or are you going to keep going? Are you going to become stronger and become better and more resilient?”

Reginald Thomas II

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS NOTICE

Date: March 22, 2024

Request for competitive sealed proposal for bids for rental vans and non-CDL box trucks

The San Antonio Food Bank is soliciting bids to furnish the following rental vehicles:

Fourteen (14)Non-CDL Cargo/Panel Vans. These vehicles will be utilized by the San Antonio Food Bank staff members for our children’s feeding program and will be in service from 05/29/24 to 08/16/24 Please include all associated costs (i.e. mileage, physical damage, liability etc.) Awarded vendor MUST deliver vehicles to SAFB on 5/29 by 12PM. Only Non-CDL vehicles listed above will be considered for this solicitation. Any Vehicle maintenance will require a scheduled appointment and a replacement vehicle provided. Rental company responsible for vehicle break downs and roadside assistance and will require a replacement vehicle as well. Please note all bids and contracts are subject to review by TDA.

Bid Due Date and Time: Wednesday, April 17, 2024 by 10 AM

Central Time

Bid Opening Date and Time: Bids will be opened on Friday, April 19, 2024, at 10 AM Central Time, at the San Antonio Food Bank (address below). Bidding organization representative welcome to attend opening.

Bid Delivery Procedures: Sealed bids must be hand delivered by time and date listed above to Natalie Rendon or Heather Guzman. If mailed, bids must be sent via United States Postal Service Certified

Mail To:

San Antonio Food Bank C/O: Natalie Rendon 5200 Historic Old Hwy 90 San Antonio, TX 78227

Evaluation/Voting Members:

George Cox: Procurement Manager, San Antonio Food Bank

Natalie Rendon: Procurement Coordinator, San Antonio Food Bank

Heather Guzman: Director of Meal Programs & Compliance, San Antonio Food Bank

Questions on this communication may be directed via e-mail to: Natalie Rendon: Procurement Coordinator, San Antonio Food Bank nrendon@safoodbank.org until Monday, April 15, 2024 by 10 AM Central Time

arts Behind the Veil of Public and Private

Celia Álvarez Muñoz’s exhibition Los Brillantes (The Brilliant Ones) offers heartfelt portraits of San Antonio artists

BY ANJALI GUPTA

The U.S.-Mexico border is more than 1,950 miles of territory inhabited by roughly 19 million Americans and 11 million Mexicanos. It forms the potential backdrop for the longest ongoing imagined film noir in North American history.

The border exists, for many, as a space outside the boundaries of mainstream culture, a zone of transgression inhabited by shady characters, dens of iniquity, moody lighting and three-legged dogs. That’s not to say that very real and very deadly dangers don’t exist in the region, but reality long ago spilled over into the realm of fiction, creating a dystopian narrative set in an environment that many see as hostile to all of its inhabitants.

For many born and raised on the border, however, the realization that a political boundary is itself arbitrary and fictive comes at an early age. It’s permeable not just physically but culturally, intellectually and socially. It’s not just a zone of transgression (or a zone to be transgressed), but a mixing pot on hyperdrive — a tumultuous place of shifting possibilities with multiple histories waiting to be written.

El Paso-born conceptual artist Celia Álvarez Muñoz works in a variety of media including artist’s books, photography, installation and public art. According to Muñoz, who was born in 1973, growing up in post-depression El Paso engendered a physical and temporal agility that allows her to navigate disparate social spaces efficiently and proficiently.

Often, when people talk about border culture, they tend to make sweeping generalizations, which don’t consider the ethnic and cultural variation within a vast geographic region of which San Antonio is a part of, culturally speaking. For

Muñoz, this adds to her infatuation with specific communities and the plurality of voices contained therein.

“Some people are more informed or invested in regionalism. More politicized. More deeply informed. More affected by the regions’ conflicts or what it offers positively, culturally and geographically. Less superficial,” the artist says.

Such work can either contrast with or parallel her own but, either way, bears equal interest. As such, her creations tend to shift between micro and macro glimpses behind the veil of the personal and the private. Muñoz’ romance with San Antonio began more than 30 years ago.

artists in 2002, when she developed the series Semejantes Personajes/Significant Personages for her solo exhibition, Stories Your Mother Never Told You, at Blue Star Art Space — now the Contemporary at Blue Star. Of the 41 portraits she originally exhibited, the Linda Pace Foundation/ Ruby City recently acquired 19. This series forms the core of her current exhibition Los Brillantes (The Brilliant Ones) at Ruby City.

Los Brillantes (The Brilliant Ones)

“I respond to the city’s scale,” she says. “Especially its urban center. Its neighborhoods at every turn. Its fidelity to its natural resources, and to its proud rooted mixture of Latino ethnicity. I became acquainted with artists and their work when I juried an annual Contemporary Art Month exhibition, Blue Star 8, back in the ’90s, and visited a good number of artists’ studios. I found them informed and politicized, yet very approachable. I liked their work, motives and commitment. It was a golden moment in San Antonio.”

Free, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Thursday through Sunday through Jan. 19, 2025, Ruby City, 150 Camp St., (210) 227-8400, rubycity.org.

The exhibition also includes airbrushed works that highlight an architectural feature that embellishes otherwise traditional American bungalows around town: trabajo rústico (rustic work), more commonly known as faux bois, a distinct technique in which an artist manipulates concrete with shaping tools and stains to resemble real wood. Examples of trabajo rústico could once be found all over town thanks to Mexican artisan Dionicio Rodríguez, who moved his studio to San Antonio in the early 20th century.

Once encountered, the artistry of trabajo rústico isn’t easily forgotten.

MThis portait of San Antonio visual artist Ethel Shipton is among the works by El Paso-born conceptual artist Celia  Álvarez  Muñoz on display through Jan. 19, 2025, at Ruby City.

advance the film at will, creating multiple exposures, happenstance flares and impromptu distortions in a single frame. Her subjects were not specifically asked to pose. Rather, they were photographed in their studios, either at work or in conversation with others or the photographer. The result is a series of singular images reflecting various levels of interaction with the camera, ranging from total disregard to the familiarly artificial: arms crossed, poreless skin, coiffed hair, eyes leveled at the camera lens — affectations a portrait session seems to traditionally evoke, even in the most complex people.

To capture that cultural moment, Muñoz began to document San Antonio

Muñoz’ portraits are technically distinctive as well. Shot on a Holga, an odd medium-format film camera with a fixed aperture, focal length and shutter speed. The Holga allows the photographer to

The artist then further manipulated the images digitally to resemble contact sheets, inserting layers that mimic motion and add visual interest. Each is as distinct as the subject and reflects the levels of tweaking the artist saw fit to impose. Aside from the aesthetic and archival relevance of these images, they are also unique in that subjects can be revisited — even the ones who are no longer with us — and introduced to future audiences.

As a series, it is heartfelt — even loving — open ended and forward focused, suggesting stories yet to come.

Courtesy Image / Ruby City

$1,000

Scholarship Open to H.S. Seniors!

BLAYNE TUCKER MUSIC SCHOLARSHIP

Open to all High School Seniors in Bexar County who are seeking a higher education degree in music

Rules:

Must be a current High School Senior

Must live in Bexar County

Must write a 250-300 word essay on why you deserve this award

Must include how you will give back to the local community once you achieve your goals

Entries must be received by May 24th

EMAIL: BlayneTuckerAward@gmail.com

A panel will choose ONE (1) winner who will receive $1,000 to help with college/ university costs

Scholarship Sponsors

WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON JUNE 7TH

Creative Energy

Former Texas resident Lukas Haas stars opposite John Travolta in action flick Cash Out

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

Actor Lukas Haas was only 9 years old when he made a big-screen splash opposite Harrison Ford in the 1985 crime thriller Witness. Nearly 40 years later, the former Austin resident is still working as an actor in Hollywood.

Some of the most recognizable titles in Haas’ filmography include The Ryan White Story, Mars Attacks!, Inception, The Revenant and The Righteous Gemstones. In 2022, he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the ensemble cast in the comedy-drama Babylon alongside Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.

In his latest film, the action flick Cash Out, Haas plays Shawn Goddard, a member of a crew of thieves who drags his older brother Mason (John Travolta) into a bank heist for a big score. Unfortunately, the robbery doesn’t go as planned, and Shawn and Mason find themselves trapped in the bank as law enforcement officials surround it.

During a recent interview with the Current, Haas, 48, talked about why creativity is such an important part of his life. He also explained his ties to Texas and discussed what it was like working with Travolta and his other co-star, rapper Quavo.

Cash Out premieres April 26 in theaters and on digital platforms.

You’ve had a wide-ranging career since you appeared in Witness as a kid. What drew you to your latest film Cash Out?

I love diversity in my career. I love doing things that are unexpected. I don’t really love doing the same kind of thing all the time, because you just feel like you’re in a rut and the creativity kind of dissipates. I like to stay creative and enjoy myself. So, [Cash Out] is something I had never done before. There’s just a whole lot of levity and fun and silliness. I had never done anything quite like that. And then, obviously, [working with] John Travolta, it was like, “Hey, let’s do this!”

It’s interesting that you already finished shooting Cash Out 2, also, yes? Yeah, we already made the sequel! It was funny to get that call. It was like, “Hey, we’re going to make a sequel.” I’m like, “I haven’t even seen the first one! It hasn’t even come out yet!” It was a lot of fun getting to do it again. I think the second one is even better

than the first one.

Your co-stars in the film include John Travolta and Quavo. What was the experience like working with them?

Amazing. John is super special. He’s an icon and one of the true pros out there. He’s also just a lovely guy who comes to work every day with a smile on his face. It was really easy to work with him. He’s incredibly smart about working out the scenes. We would move through each scene and make sure it worked and flowed the best that it possibly could. He’s really great at that. And Quavo is just a really cool dude. He’s a natural. He’s a charismatic guy. We all had a good time together.

I saw in your biography that your mom is from Texas. I’m talking to you from San Antonio.

She was born in San Antonio.

Does she still have family here? Do you come back to visit at all?

You know, I used to live in Austin for a long time after I was born in Los Angeles. My mom wanted to move back to Austin to be with her parents when I was around 13 years old. So, I moved back to Austin. I have a lot of ties to Texas. We have some family there. Texas is

where I’m from — half of me anyway.

After all this time in Hollywood, what keeps you going? Is it still as cutthroat today as it was 40 years ago?

You know, [the industry] changes for sure. It’s definitely still cutthroat. What keeps me going is being creative. That’s what I thrive off of. That’s the DNA of me. The cool thing about my career is that I’ve gotten to work for such a long time. I’ve been really lucky to get to play a lot of different kinds of roles. What keeps me going is when I get to tackle something I didn’t ever expect to tackle, and when I get to play a role that I don’t necessarily recognize myself in. When I get to challenge myself, that’s when I get to be the most creative.

Do you recognize yourself when you watch the movies you made as a kid?

For sure. Even at that age, I loved acting. My dad’s an artist and my mom’s an opera singer and screenwriter. Creativity is who I am. I see myself in those [early] roles, although I was so young. It’s a different person completely, but I can also see myself trying to be someone else. I was refining my way through it. I’m blessed that this is my career.

Find more film stories at sacurrent.com

Rocky Sixteen Candles Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Pretty in Pink Wonka Stand and Deliver

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Encanto Blue Beetle

Corpse Bride The Mummy

The Book of Life Gremlins & How the Grinch Stole Christmas Sing 2 Freaky Friday Barbie Trolls Band Together Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Festival Faves

NIOSA’s best-loved foods have origins as diverse as the cuisines the festival offers

BY NINA RANGEL

ANight In Old San Antonio, or NIOSA as locals call it, has been the centerpiece of food-minded Fiesta revelers for 75 years.

Indeed, many of the four-night gathering’s handheld eats have reached South Texas icon status. Nearly every Alamo City native knows the gloriously crunchy, pickled jalapeño-tinged deliciousness of Chicken on a Stick or the perfectly golden brown crispness of a NIOSA buñuelo — even if they’re unsure of their origins.

Fortunately, the San Antonio Conservation Society — the group that organizes NIOSA as its biggest annual fundraiser — has documented the lore behind many of the party’s most beloved snacks. And the inside scoops may be as delicious as the items themselves.

“NIOSA comestible recipes can be something someone on staff saw that really looked great, an innovative idea that maybe they saw at a fair or they dreamt up in their sleep,” 50-year Conservation Society member and NIOSA Chairwoman Patti Zaiontz said. “And some [NIOSA chairpeople] are food people. I actually came up with some of the things we serve today. The fried green tomatoes and the Steer on a Stick were ideas that I had many, many moons ago when I was a vice chair in the office.”

Though many of NIOSA’s most asked-after eats came from members of the board, others have stories deeply rooted in festival history.

For example, Maria’s Tortillas — a popular vendor whose crisp yet pliable corn tortillas are hand-patted and grilled on-site before being buttered and filled with cheddar cheese and salsa — is named for Maria Luisa Ochoa, housekeeper to 1951-53 Conservation Society President Ethel Harris. During her tenure, Harris enlisted Ochoa to make tortillas for the event, and the expansive booth has since become a tradition many visitors flock to first. Today, Maria’s sells nearly 6,600 tortillas annually.

Production changes

Savory anticuchos, the marinated steak shish-kebabs available in NIOSA’s Mexican Market area, also can be tied back to Harris. A friend brought back the anticucho marinade recipe from Peru, and Harris saw to its NIOSA introduction in the mid-1950s. For more than 50 years, the skewered snacks were among

those prepped by hand in their actual booth. However, changes to health department regulations now require them to be assembled beforehand in a commercial kitchen.

NIOSA’s buñuelos, fried Mexican pastry discs dusted with cinnamon and sugar, are among the foods offered at the event since it began. The booth’s first chairwoman, Mary Ashley Culp, served buñuelos in 1938 when NIOSA was still called the Indian Festival.

In the early days, organizers bought buñuelos from a local bakery that could only make 700 for all four days of the event, so they regularly sold out, according to Conservation Society lore. In the late ’60s, volunteers began making the buñuelos at Hemisfair by machine. In the booth’s heyday, the buñuelo crew could sell as many as 20,000 annually. These days, patrons buy around 1,200 per NIOSA — a result of more sweet treats proliferating at the festival.

Shypoke Eggs aren’t actually eggs at all, but they’re easily one of the most recognizable NIOSA foods. The bite features pickled jalapeños and melted white and yellow cheeses on a round tortilla chip, stacked to resemble a sunny-side-up egg.

The recipe for Shypoke Eggs didn’t originate at NIOSA but at Hipp’s Bubble Room, a McCullough Avenue beer joint known for its greasy burgers and festive interior. Owner Loyal D. Hipp approved his tavern’s signature app to be served at the festival. Although Hipp’s closed in 1980, its crisp-and-cheesy creation lives on in NIOSA’s Frontier Town.

Like NIOSA’s anticuchos, the festival’s Bongo K Bobs — or beef kebabs souped up with the addition of bell pepper and onion — are prepped in the Conservation Society’s commercial kitchen. Some 180 volunteers start prepping, cutting and skewering the meat four days before NIOSA begins, according to the Conservation Society. It also takes 240 volunteers to grill and serve the kebabs.

“We have to be really careful because we have a specific recipe for that marinade, so we have to be sure that they follow our recipe,”

Making the cut

Zaiontz’s history with NIOSA includes time serving as both chairwoman and president. NIOSA chairpeople oversee more than 160 food and drink booths and work with committees made up entirely of volunteers who organize all the details that make NIOSA one of the Alamo City’s biggest parties.

From banners and booths, to locks and keys, to ice and beer, committees work with NIOSA’s three full-time staff members to coordinate logistics for the sprawling event. Food-focused committees also make decisions on what eats should be shelved and which new ones receive a try.

While NIOSA’s longtime food favorites impart a sense of nostalgia for revelers, Zaiontz said the Conservation Society always looks for opportunities to shake up the offerings. For example, this year’s newbies include funnel cake fries, which will appear in the Louisiana-inspired Froggy Bottom area, along with popcorn and pickles, no-nonsense fair fare served in Clown Alley, a section dedicated to childhood food favorites.

A NIOSA food item typically gets the chop once an ingredient becomes too expensive or difficult to procure.

“Calf fries are my all time favorite, and they are simply too expensive and very hard to acquire these days, because other parts of the world think that’s a delicacy,” Zaiontz said.

NIOSA staff used to get the calf fries — and, yes, we’re talking battered and fried bovine testicles here — directly from a meatpacking plant. Volunteers hand-skinned, peeled and battered the morsels.

That is, until, they got too pricey to make sense as a fundraiser.

“You know, there’s only two per steer, so there’s a short supply of them, and they’re very expensive,” Zaiontz said. “There’s not a margin of profit with that, so we don’t have those anymore.”

Find more food & drink news at sacurrent.com

Zaiontz said.

Courtesy Photo / San Antonio Conservation Society

Touchless but Tasty

The ghost kitchens at Lombrano Food Hall offer automated food experiences that mostly hit the mark

BY RON BECHTOL

Irecently stumbled across an early ’50s photo of Audrey Hepburn, white gloves and all, standing in front of a row of chrome and glass cubicles at a Manhattan Horn & Hardart Automat.

The starlet in the photo is presumably about to put her nickels into a slot that will open to a seductive slice of pie, an illuminated slab of meatloaf or something similarly tasty. Both Hepburn and Horn & Hardart have passed on before us — but one is about to be reborn in San Antonio.

Given a boost during the pandemic, the notion of “touchless” or “contactless” food ordering has once again become a dining option. You can get anything from a steaming bowl of ramen to an entire, freshly baked pizza from a vending machine somewhere in the U.S.

Gone is the polished-brass posh of the original automats — which proliferated across the U.S. in the early 20th century then all but disappeared with the birth of fast food chains — but at least no nickels are involved.

At the Alamo City’s Lombrano Food Hall, a small order-pickup foyer fronts a warehouse of ghost kitchens for rent. Unlike a conventional food hall, you see nothing of what’s going on in any of the presumably individual operations beyond a wall of opaque, gymlocker-like cubicles.

Patrons complete their orders at a single, touchscreen kiosk. Be warned that each individual “restaurant” requires a separate order and payment, and it takes time for the kiosk to reboot between each interaction. So, if you’re blithely mixing Thai with Italian and Argentinian, for example, this can take some time.

Once each order is ready, Lombrano’s system will send a text message with a code to tap that opens your cubicle and allows you to claim your food.

Be aware as well that each kitchen is allowed to operate at its own schedule within broad opening parameters, so if the hubby is jonesing for Asian Fusion and the bestie has a yen for barbecue, that may require careful advance planning. Asian Fusion, as it happens, is a popular category at Lombrano, with at least four operators touting such options. As of this writing, there’s also Thai, Cajun, sushi, sandwiches, burgers, empanadas and the aforementioned barbecue option.

Of these I have tried five.

Noods Mexican-Asian Fusion gets its cross-cultural creds from adding carne asada or al pastor meat to otherwise standard Thai or Chinese fare. The Pad Thai is a good, sturdy rendition, although you might not notice the difference gained by subbing al pastor Pad Thai for the standard chicken or shrimp version if it weren’t pointed out. The same goes for the lo mein

noodles. There you have a choice of protein that ranges from carne asada to tofu and al pastor to chicken, but since the noodles are what really count, the fusion is only secondary.

Though I didn’t have them, the Korean fried chicken tacos might come the closest to an actual cultural mashup. In that case, the sweetly sauced chicken is tossed into flour tortillas with chipotle mayo, slaw, cilantro and sesame seeds for a trip across several borders.

Pad Thai also makes an appearance at T’s Thai Express. However, that ghost kitchen’s Thai-style honey pork ribs stood out as a unique dish. Slow-braised and wok-seared, they’re served in a “secret brown sauce” which appears much more abundant in the online photo. The not-so-secret end result was four plump, tender and sweet ribs with little visual or textural appeal but decent Asian-spice flavor. If you order them, a side of simple fried rice might be appropriate.

With offerings ranging from a French dip sandwich to banh mi and katsu pollo, another of Lombrano’s ghost kitchens, Eat Chingon, is like a mini food hall on its own. The dart landed on the eponymous Cochinita Chingona sandwich, and it’s a good one — with the exception of a feckless “French” roll. The filling is achiote-marinated pulled pork, plenty spicy in its own right, paired with a smear of incendiary habanero paste and a raft of pickled red onions for a cool, tangy crunch. Avocado is an optional addition.

A small tub of very good black beans with bacon accompanied the sandwich, make it an appealing combo anywhere. The red beans and rice from Eat Wit Yo Eyez are also worth ordering, though they could have used a little less rice and a little more beans.

The prize for packaging, hands down, has to go to The Royal Pasty Co. The name evokes British roots but the baked empanadas — artfully crimped around generous fillings that range from ground beef with cheese

and bacon to poblanos and corn and apple cinnamon — speak many languages and make perfect handheld snacks. They come in a nifty, logo-sealed box along with a couple of herbal sauces.

Hepburn’s white gloves almost wouldn’t be amiss in this case. But do use a fork for the Royal side salad you’ll want to order for contrast.

LOMBRANO FOOD HALL

The Cochinita Chingona from Eat Chingon

4275 Lombrano St., Lombranofoodhall.com

See website for operating hours of individual restaurants, along with their menus and prices.

The skinny: Lombrano Food Hall is more like a food foyer — a small ordering space fronting a “ghost” kitchen encompassing 16 or so individual restaurant operations. Two picnic tables offer seating out front, but it’s otherwise assumed diners will either order online for pickup or start their order in person at a single touch screen. Food options range from American to Thai to empanadas. While everything sampled has been at least good, the Cochinita Chingona sandwich was a singular standout.

Ron Bechtol

Ron Bechtol

NEWS

San Antonio Taiwanese comfort food spot Chow has closed. The business’ owners cited staffing and operating issues as the reasons behind their decision to shut down after just a year in operation.

Homegrown Italian American favorite ermo’s made a “strategic decision” to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Company president William Garza said he doesn’t plan to close either of Guillermo’s two locations during the business’ reorganization. Multiple locations, guillermosaustinstreet.com.

Boerne’s Dog & Pony Grill will close at the end of April, following a dispute with the landlord over a lease renewal agreement.

Revered San Antonio restaurants Cullum’s Atta boy and Mixtli have been named Foundation Award finalists, taking them a step closer to snagging the food industry’s most coveted award. Christopher Cullum of Attaboy moved forward in the Best Chef: Texas category, while Mixtli is in the running in Outstanding Restaurant.

Judson High School-area Mexican restaurant Sabrosito is temporarily closed after being hit by a vehicle. “Our team is working diligently to get inspectors in and restore the building to its

Woo Ri TeaHouse

Homecoming Queen

Rudi Gutierrez performing first San Antonio concert since appearing on The Voice

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

Five months after her musical journey ended as a contestant on The Voice, singer and San Antonio native Rudi Gutierrez is back in her hometown for a concert appearance.

Gutierrez, 28, is taking the stage at the Friday, April 20, Fiesta event Chanclas y Cervezas, marking her first Alamo City performance since her run on The Voice. The NBC singing contest ended for her last November when she narrowly missed the live playoffs. During a recent interview with the Current, Gutierrez explained why she chose Chanclas y Cervezas as her homecoming concert and how competing on The Voice changed her life.

Will Chanclas y Cervezas be the first time you’ve performed in San Antonio since your appearance on The Voice last year?

I sang the National Anthem at a Spurs game, so that was my first time singing back here in San Antonio. But [Chanclas y Cervezas] will be my first actual [concert] performance.

What made you choose a Fiesta event as the place where you’d make a return to the stage?

First of all, the Kumbia Kings go on after I do, which is insane. When they came to me and asked if I wanted to be part of the show, I saw the lineup was going to be amazing. What better way to get myself back into performing in San Antonio than at Fiesta? I’m super excited. I’ve gotten a couple offers here and there, but when they asked me to do this, it sounded like a gig worth performing at and being a part of. I wanted my first time performing back in San Antonio to be a big, fun show.

When you were living in San Antonio, would you go to Fiesta events?

Oh, yes, but I haven’t lived [in San Antonio] in the last six or seven years. My sister’s birthday is on April 25, so sometimes we would celebrate [her birthday] at Fiesta. There’s no excuse not to go. It’s always been a big tradition for me and my family to go out there and celebrate and drink too much and have too much fun.

Is a lot of your family going to the event to watch you perform?

Oh, yeah. They’re always asking when I’m going to perform [in San Antonio]. Now that I have a date, everyone’s ready to go out there to party. I have so much family. On my mom’s side, I probably have 100 close relatives. When I was on The Voice, they would all come over to my house to watch. They’re so excited to go to this performance and see me live.

How has your life changed since you were on The Voice?

I get noticed all the time. It’s the weirdest thing. That’s been the biggest change. I went to the Hyatt Resort for Easter and two girls knew who I was, and they started freaking out. They were like, “We watched you on The Voice!” I was on another show, The Bachelor, a couple of years prior, but it aired during COVID, so I was never able to leave the house. So, I didn’t really get as much attention as I probably would have if I didn’t have to be stuck inside. But [The Voice] was kind of different.

What has been the high point of your career so far?

I have to say working with Gwen Stefani. She has been one of my biggest idols since I was a little girl. So, that was definitely a highlight of my entire life. Recently, I was on TikTok, and I sent my music to producer Timbaland and he was like, “You’re so dope!” That was probably the second coolest thing that’s ever happened to me. He took the time to reach out to me and was like, “Please send me more stuff. You’re insanely talented.” I don’t know if he would have even looked at me if they didn’t know who I was from The Voice. So, The

Voice helped me get his attention, which is really cool.

When you were a kid, did you ever imagine you’d be doing some of the things you’re doing now in the entertainment industry?

I always wished that I would, because this has always been my life. I’ve been singing on a stage since I was 2 years old. I kind of knew that things would happen but not to this extent. I’ve worked my butt off hoping that they would. Seeing [my career] come to fruition has been incredible.

Even though you live in Los Angeles now, does it feel good that San Antonio still claims you?

Yes, because I am a Texan through and through. I will always be proud to be from San Antonio.

So, it’s safe to say that you stayed a Spurs fan and didn’t switch to the Lakers, yes? Oh, 100% a Spurs fan.

Did you get to see Victor Wembanyama up close when you sang at the Spurs game last year?

Yes, I went up to his kneecaps, or maybe up to his shins. How is that even possible? He definitely does not look real. He looks like an avatar.

$15 (presale), $20 (day of), Free (12 and under), 5-11 p.m., Saturday, April 20, The Greenline, 2532 Sidney Brooks Drive, (210) 678-3300, fiestasanantonio.org.

Jenifer Cusumano

critics’ picks

Wednesday, Apr 17

Adam Ant, English Beat

British punk and new wave icon Adam Ant continues to entertain with a mix of danceable rock punctuated by humor and theatrical flair. Four decades after popping up as frontman for Adam and the Ants, known for a double-drummer sound and pirate attire, Ant continues to play the classics with panache. Pioneering twotone ska and new wave act English Beat — or simply The Beat in the UK — will open with catchy hits including “Mirror in the Bathroom” and “Save it for Later.” $44.50-$84.50, 7:30 p.m., Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 226-5700, majesticempire.com. — Danny Cervantes

Friday, April 19

Bad Religion, Social Distortion

Bad Religion and Social Distortion both feature legendary frontmen, and both bands helped put Southern California on the punk rock map. Greg Graffin formed Bad Religion at 15, leading the accessible yet politically charged act. After struggling with personal demons, Graffin went onto earn a PhD in Zoology from Cornell, providing inspiration for a TV pilot called Punk Professor. Mike Ness has long led Social Distortion, a rootsy punk outfit known for its uptempo take on Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” Ness also struggled with demons of his own before getting his life back on track. $45-$72.50, 7 p.m., Boeing Center at Tech Port, 3331 General Hudnell Drive, (210) 600-3699, boeingcentertechport.com. — DC

Saturday, April 20

David Russell

Renowned classical guitarist David Russell doesn’t pander or dabble in gimmicks. Instead, he delivers jaw-dropping technique and pure musicianship. The approach has won Russell numerous honors, including a 2005 Grammy and an honorary membership in Amigos de la Guitarra, the oldest guitar society in Spain. This free concert will feature a range of pieces by Spanish composers plus a special arrangement of Bach. It’s organized by Guitar San Antonio, a nonprofit offering free guitars and lessons to children of military veterans. Free, 7:30 p.m., UTSA Recital Hall, One UTSA Circle, (210) 4584350, colfa.utsa.edu/events. — Bill Baird

Red Bull Batalla

Sixteen Spanish-language rap emcees will compete in a bracket-style tournament at this year’s regional Red Bull Batalla competition, which takes place just in time for Fiesta. Marketed as the world’s largest Spanish freestyle rap battle, the event takes place in regional and country qualifiers, which will allow winners to move on to the international competition, which

is held in Colombia this year. After the rhyme battle, special performances will follow by Mexican rapper Tornillo and Houston’s Bo Bundy. Free, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — Dalia Gulca

Monday, April 22

Chapparal Music and Heritage Fest

Western Swing is one of Texas’ great entries into the American cultural canon, and the Chapparal Fest pays homage to that lineage with a well-curated two days of free, all-ages music. Asleep at the Wheel, one of the great torchbearers for Western Swing, headlines the event, which also includes singer-songwriter Sunny Sweeney and San Antonio cover band The Texases. Daytime festivities include a biergarten, food and education along with interactive displays about sustainable agriculture. General admission is free but there are available upgrades for bar access and a “culinary experience.” Free, festival starts at noon and music at 4 p.m., Hemisfair Park, saparks.org/ event/chaparral-music-heritage-festival. — BB

Wednesday, April 24

Swans

Decades on, New York’s Swans remain one of the nation’s preeminent experimental rock bands, having explored and often influenced myriad subgenres, including post-punk, industrial, post-rock, drone, grind and more. Formed in 1982 by bandleader Michael Gira, the group initially specialized in brutally repetitive hypnotic noise. Over time, the sound expanded, as did Swans’ lineup, which for many years included Texas underground legend Thor Harris on percussion. Swans’ recent work features complex soundscapes and expansive drones backing apocalyptic lyrics. $35, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — BB

Thursday, April 25

loolowningen, The Whale, Jamail Japanese avant-noise trio loolowningen specialize in off-kilter time signatures and unusual hooks yet somehow manage to make their odd approach seriously rock. San Antonio post-bop powerhouse The Whale and guitar dismantler Jamail round out the bill. $8, p.m., The Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St. Mary’s St., thelonesomerose.com. — BB

Thursday-Friday, April 25-26

La Semana Alegre

Fiesta’s rowdy downtown legacy returns with La Semana Alegre at Hemisphere Park, a twoday distillation of the week-long music festival that was a staple for music fans during the ’80s and ’90s. Texas alt-rockers The Toadies and

Southern California-based Latin fusion collective Ozomatli serve as headliners on respective days. San Antonio trio Girl in a Coma will return after a series of reunion gigs last December. And you can’t enjoy your meat on a stick without an appearance by proto-metalers Legs Diamond, who are beloved in the Alamo City like nowhere else. Check the website for full lineups and schedules. $15-$100, 5 p.m. Thursday, Noon Friday, Hemisfair , 630 E. Nueva St., lasemanaalegre.com. — DC

Friday, April 26

Saint Motel, Gibbz

Formed in 2009 by film-school classmates vocalist A/J Jackson and guitarist Aaron Sharp, alt-pop act Saint Motel exploded five years later with the hit “My Type.” Bangers including “Move” and “It’s All Happening” followed. Saint

Toadies

Motel is known for its innovative live sets, and this show is themed as an awards show, which will allow the audience to vote on apects of the band’s performance. Sold Out, 8 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — DC

Sunday, April 28

No Vacation

San Francisco surf-punk band No Vacation built a following by juxtaposing melancholic lyricism against bright and dreamy instrumental work. By maintaining its original lineup through the years despite multiple relocations, No Vacation has demonstrated that a band can show fascinating development with patience and a willingness to spend years experimenting on its sound. $20, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — DG

Jaime Monzon

EMPLOYMENT

Thrive Mortgage is seeking a Loan Officer – Loan Production Partner in San Antonio, TX who will be responsible for the inbound/outbound sales of mortgage loan products. Must evaluate, authorize, approve, or deny loan applications. Act as a liaison between customers and our financial institution and help qualified applicants acquire loans in a timely manner. Handle the client from lead handoff to processing. This means prequalifying, preapproving, locking the loan, preparing needs lists, and reviewing the CD with each of your clients. Managing loans from multiple Originators. Host a buyer consultation call/meeting – get as many details as possible re: employment, income, assets, etc. Review 1003 for completeness. Review loan in detail - make needs list and notes for client. Structure loans in Encompass. Order services – credit, title, appraisal, flood, VOE, etc. Run AUS. Prequalify- calculate income, review (and understand) income and asset documents, calculate max purchase price. Set up a fee worksheet and/or Total Cost Analysis presentation. Send Prequal Letter to client, Realtor, and/or Builder. Choose loan templates based on credit score/ scenario. Request supporting docs and follow up. Organize supporting docs in Encompass Efolder. Update 1003 based on collected supporting docs. Receive contract – enter details into Encompass. Request disclosures and redisclosures. Lock loans. Set up final loan structure. Complete final income calc worksheet. Submit loan to Processor. Communicate status updates to client, Realtor and/ or Builder. Assist Processor and Closing Coordinator with any borrower needs. Send resume via email to Andrew Smith at andrew.smith@thrivemtg.com and reference job code 35375.

St. Jude's Ranch for Children seeks an Care Manager Coordinator: Req BS in Psych, Social Work, or related & 4yrs exp as a Behavioral Specialist, Direct Case worker, or Case Mngr w/focus on child/youth care. Position in Bulverde, TX. EMail CV to ATTN: Amber Cottrell, 474443, HR@SJRCTEXAS.ORG. EOE

All vehicles listed below were impounded by the San Antonio Police Dept. and will be scheduled to be sold at public auction via Joyrideautos.com

May 1, 2024, at 3:00 at San Antonio Vehicle Impound Facility

May 1, 2023, at 3:00 pm at San Antonio Vehicle Impound Facility 3625 Growdon Rd, San Antonio, TX. (210) 881-8440

Registered owners may pick up vehicles with proof of ownership, valid ID and payment all impound, towing and storage fees & applicable taxes prior to Auction. Fees accrue daily and are subject to change.