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Issue 24-16 /// August 7 - 20, 2024
23 Feature
Cultural Legacy
San Antonio’s inaugural Xicanx Month celebrates power, scope of the Chicano Arts Movement
09 News
The Opener News in Brief
New Top Dog?
Key candidate for San Antonio Animal Care Services director was once under criminal investigation
Reproductive Health Crisis
During San Antonio stop of national bus tour, advocates say Texas’ abortion ban imperils health access
Bad Takes
If the U.S. values its Olympic athletes, they should receive a living wage
CityScrapes
There’s reason to doubt the numbers San Antonio leaders will use to tout a downtown sports development
18 Calendar
Calendar Picks
23 Arts
29 Screens
Unsafe Space
Director Fede Álvarez aims for effective mix of horror and action in Alien: Romulus
31 Food
Opulent Octopus
Aguachile’s grand way with Mexican-style seafood worth the admission price
Bottoms Up
Whiskey Business returning to San Antonio’s Witte Museum later this month
37 Music
Didn’t Stop Believing Revamped and drama-free Journey performing in San Antonio with Def Leppard
Critics’ Picks
On the Cover: Jose Esquivel’s LaTiendita is among the works displayed at the Contemporary at Blue Star during Xicanx Month. Image courtesy of the Contemprary at Blue Star. Cover design: Samantha Serna.
Jorge Villarreal
HBimbo Bakeries is closing its San Antonio production facility and laying off 138 workers. The announcement of the facility’s closure comes after Bimbo’s parent company, Mexico-based Grupo Bimbo, announced a restructuring of its North American operations. The company has also closed a pair of New York production plants. The San Antonio layoffs are expected to take effect Oct. 5, according to a state filing.
Three University of Texas at San Antonio athletes are representing their home countries in track and field events at the Paris Olympics Diego Pettorossi and Fatoumata Kabo are competing for Italy, while Alanah Yukich is representing Australia. Those track and field events run through Aug. 10. Another UTSA affiliate, trainer Shelby Dale, will be part of the medical staff for the U.S. team at the Paralympic Games at the end of August.
HThe San Antonio Police Department spent nearly $28,000 to send its SWAT team to compete in an event in Dubai in February. Records obtained by Texas Public Radio show that SAPD gave participating officers administrative leave for the trip. The New York Police Department was the only other police department in the U.S. to send officers to the competition in the United Arab Emirates, which also featured officers from countries with troubling civil-rights records, including Russia, China and the Philippines.
HSan Antonio Spurs great Sean Elliott has his Apple Watch to thank for his health after recent scare. For several weeks, Elliott’s watch alerted him he was experiencing an irregular heartbeat called an atrial fibrillation. The 56-year-old sought a medical screening, and doctors used a procedure called a cardioversion to shock his heart back into rhythm. Elliott, a small forward, won a championship with the Spurs in 1999. — Abe Asher
YOU SAID IT!
“The magic created by Zach Bryan, our incredible fans and our dedicated team, culminating in a recordbreaking night, was a dream come true.”
Railing against sin with recently arrested North Texas pastor Terren L. Dames
Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.
As senior pastor at North Dallas Community Bible Fellowship, Terren L. Dames has directed fiery rhetoric at transgender people and Christians who support them, using a 2022 sermon to claim they “spit in God’s face.”
“We so-called ‘Christians’ who stand up and condone this evil immorality, we’re cursing God to his face and saying, ‘Your image is disgusting! I will twist it how I want it to be!’” Dames said in that sermon, shared online by The Friendly Atheist blog.
“We’re living in a place that’s bringing down the same thing that happened in Sodom and Gomorrah,” the pastor continued.
Sadly, those kind of hateful claims appear to all to common among evangelical pastors and right-wing politicians. And all too often they bring to mind the Biblical lesson of “Judge not, lest be judged.”
That seems to apply in the case of Dames, who was swept up in a police bust earlier this summer arranged to crack down on human trafficking, Dallas-Fort Worth TV station Fox4 reports. The Friendly Atheist was the first to link that report back to Dames’ anti-trans screed.
A Plano police officer posing as a prostitute placed an online ad on a site often used solicit sex for cash, according to an arrest affidavit
cited by Fox4. Dames contacted the number on May 2 and offered $150 for “full service” — a slang term for … you know … getting full service, the station also reports.
Dames was arrested after showing up at the hotel where he agreed to meet the police officer and now faces felony charges, Fox4 reports, again citing police records.
The assclown was removed from his church position in May due to “moral failure,” according to Fox4. — Sanford Nowlin
A study by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy found that undocumented immigrants in Texas paid nearly $5 billion in local and state taxes in 2022, accounting for 6% of the state’s total tax revenue. Sales and excise taxes accounted for $2.8 billion of that revenue, while property taxes accounted for $1.8 billion. Former President Donald Trump has said he wants to deport up to 20 million undocumented migrants if he reclaims the presidency.
The Texas Department of Corrections claims there have been no heat-related fatalities in its prisons in the past dozen years, but autopsies obtained by the Texas Newsroom cast doubt on that assertion. One man who died in custody, John Castillo, had a body temperature of 107.5 degrees at the time of his death. Another, Patrick Womack, had a temperature of 106.9. The state is a defendant in a federal lawsuit accusing it of engaging it cruel and unusual punishment for failing to air condition its prisons.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals last week ruled that the floating barriers Texas deployed in the Rio Grande last year to deter migrant crossings can stay, pending the outcome of a lawsuit that will be heard in federal district court. The feds sued Texas to force the removal of the barriers, arguing that they are safety hazards, violate international treaties and weren’t approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. — Abe Asher
after country singer Zach Bryan broke the Frost Bank Center attendance award previously set by hometown hero George Strait.
YouTube Screen Capture / North Dallas Community Bible Fellowship
Shutterstock / Vic Hinterlang
New Top Dog?
Key candidate for San Antonio Animal Care Services director was once under criminal investigation
BY MICHAEL KARLIS
Atop candidate to replace San Antonio Animal Care Services’ retired director faced a criminal investigation over accusations that he wrongfully euthanized dogs and falsified records, according to documents obtained by the Current Montgomery County Animal Care Services Executive Director Aaron Johnson, who was eventually cleared of the allegations against him, applied to lead the city’s beleaguered ACS department in January 2024. He remains one of two candidates still under consideration for that job, city officials confirmed.
In a statement to the Current, Johnson said both a grand jury and his county’s district attorney found that he had no criminal liability.
“[The District Attorney] also noted that the heightened scrutiny these investigations often receive is sometimes unwarranted — a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with in this case,” Johnson said via email.
San Antonio engaged in a high-profile search for a new ACS director over recent months after the department came under fire amid a series of grisly dog attacks and public complaints that it was chronically underfunded and short-staffed.
The city contracted executive hiring agency Affion Public to search for a new director, and city officials conducted in-person interviews at the Henry B. González Convention Center in May and June. However, San Antonio City Manager Erik Walsh said in a July 1 statement that he wasn’t ready to make a hire and extended the search.
At that point, the city appointed an interim director from its own ranks.
Despite the accusations Johnson faced in Montgomery County, which includes the northern Houston suburbs, he’s one of only two people from a pool for 74 applicants still under consideration as a potential director of San Antonio ACS, according to emails obtained by the Current. The most recent of those is dated July 2 — the day after Walsh announced that the city needed to push back its hiring timeline.
Administrative leave
Johnson, along with Montgomery County ACS Assistant Director Mark Wysocki, were put on administrative leave with pay in September 2018 after a veterinarian at the county’s no-kill shelter alleged the duo illegally euthanized 70 animals confiscated from a hoarder north of Houston, the Conroe-Montgomery County Patch reports.
Eric Yollick, an attorney in Montgomery County, alleged in a Fox 26 Houston report that the animals
were euthanized without an evaluation by the shelter’s senior veterinarian, who left the facility because he was “upset about what was going on.”
Due to the vet’s absence, Johnson and Wysocki falsified records to put the animals down, Yollick told the TV station. He also suggested the pair may have doctored the paperwork to inflate the shelter’s live-release rate.
Johnson and Wysocki were reinstated in October 2018 following a criminal investigation by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to media reports.
“As part of their investigation, the Grand Jury reviewed every recent allegation of criminal conduct against the shelter employees,” Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon told the Patch. “They found no criminal liability.”
Johnson was among those who applied to replace
outgoing San Antonio ACS Director Shannon Sims amid a firestorm of controversy surrounding the department. Sims was initially set to retire in June, but he was pushed out early after lambasting his critics in an acerbic speech, calling them “social media terrorists.”
In his July 1 statement, City Manager Walsh promised San Antonio would continue searching for a top-notch candidate to lead ACS forward.
“The ideal candidate will strengthen and foster relationships with the animal care community, our partners and stakeholders; champion a healthy and thriving workforce; and support the placement of pets for life with a focus on enforcement,” Walsh said. “The process will continue until the best candidate is found.”
However, San Antonio Assistant Director of Communications Brian Chasnoff told the Current this week that two candidates who applied before Walsh’s
Michael Karlis
July 1 statement are still under consideration and Johnson is among them.
Chasnoff declined comment on the 2018 criminal investigation of Johnson.
July 2 email
Even though Walsh said the city had decided not to hire any of its slate of applicants as of July 1, San Antonio Deputy Director of Human Resources Krystal Strong emailed Johnson the next day to inform him that he was still under consideration.
As of that time, Johnson was the only potential candidate to be informed that they were still under consideration for the job, emails show.
“Although the recruitment process is ongoing, you have not been removed from consideration,” Strong wrote to Johnson. “In regards to the current state of the hiring process, the recruitment of this position remains a priority of the City and our City Manager. However, we are beginning our annual budget process, which is our busiest time of year and may impact our anticipated timeline.”
The three other finalists who made it to a round of in-person interviews included Arlington, Texas Animal Services Manager Ashley Woolnough, Pearland Animal Services Manager John Fischer and Monica Dangler, director of Tucson, Arizona’s Pima Animal Care Center.
Dangler was notified in a July 2 form email that San Antonio had ended its search for an ACS director.
“On behalf of the city of San Antonio, I am writing to extend our sincere apologies for the lack of communication to you yesterday regarding the status of our Animal Care Services Director recruitment,” read the email Dangler received from San Antonio’s Human Resources Department.
“Candidate experience is very important to the City of San Antonio, and you should have been informed through official channels before anyone else and we recognize that this was not an ideal experience for you,” the message continued.
Despite HR’s email to Dangler, Chasnoff informed the Current that she is, in fact, still being considered to lead ACS.
“The hiring process for the City’s new ACS Director is ongoing,” Chasnoff wrote in a statement he amended twice since the Current first reached out to him Wednesday. “Aaron Johnson and Monica Dangler remain under consideration while we continue to recruit for this critical position.”
Johnson also initially received a rejection email on July 2, but he was notified nearly 7 hours later that he was still being considered for the role.
The city paid for rooms for Johnson, Dangler, Woolnough and Fischer at the Grand Hyatt downtown for their in-person interviews earlier this year, according to city emails.
However, Johnson was the only candidate invited back a week later for a final June 7 interview at City Hall, correspondence shows. That time, the city booked a room for him at the Hotel Valencia Riverwalk, and he was scheduled for a tour of city animal-care facilities and a meeting with Walsh.
San Antonio ACS Timeline: How did we get here?
September 2018
Montgomery County Animal Care Services Director Aaron Johnson and a colleague are put on paid leave pending a criminal investigation into accusations that the pair illegally euthanized 70 dogs and falsified paperwork to increase the shelter’s live release rate.
October 2018
Johnson is cleared of any legal liability and is allowed to return to work.
December 2022
San Antonio Animal Care Services records 188 dog bites for the year — a 70% increase over 2018 numbers.
Feb. 24, 2023
Air Force veteran Ramon Najera, 81, is mauled to death by a pack of three pit bulls on the city’s West Side in a shocking incident that grabs national headlines and sparks public outcry.
Aug. 16, 2023
Max De Los Santos, 76, is attacked in his yard by a free-roaming German shepherd and pit bull. He survives his severe injuries, but is later forced to have both legs amputated.
Animal Care Services Director Shannon Sims goes before City Council to justify a 26% increase to the department’s funding. Mayor Ron Nirenberg scorns Sims for taking so long to ask for funding, citing the recent dog attacks. ACS only responds to about 44% of all “critical calls” officials also reveal during the meeting.
Sept. 5, 2023
Paul Anthony Striegl Jr., 47, is severely injured after two pit bulls scaled his fence as he sat in his Northeast San Antonio yard.
Sept. 14, 2023
City Council approves the city’s annual budget, including a 33% bump to ACS’s budget — the largest funding increase of any city department.
Oct. 1, 2023
Striegl dies at Brooke Army Medical Center from injuries sustained during his attack. He’s the second person to die from a dog attack in San Antonio that year.
November 2023
After two years in his position, Sims announces he’ll retire in June, but will stay longer if necessary to help a new director transition into the position. He maintains his retirement is for personal reasons, and has nothing to do with the string of dog attacks.
Dec. 11, 2023
San Antonio’s Human Resource Department posts the job for director of Animal Care Services on its website. That posting generates 18 candidates.
January 2024
The city contracts executive search recruiter firm Affion Public to help in its search.
Jan. 25, 2024
Johnson, who still heads Montgomery County Animal Care Services, applies to become head of San Antonio ACS.
April 2024
Eight applicants, including Johnson, are invited to participate in individual WebEx interviews.
Apr. 17, 2024
Council’s Public Safety Committee calls out ACS Assistant to the Director Shannon Oster-Gabrielson for the department’s lackluster improvement following the budget increase. Despite the bigger budget, Oster-Gabrielson reveals that ACS is far from meeting its self imposed goals.
May 8, 2024
Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito introduces policies to reform ACS, including tougher penalties for owners of dogs that routinely leave their property, mandatory spay and neuter regulations and an anonymous dangerous-dog reporting system. Animal rights advocates protest at City Hall, demanding that someone from outside ACS be hired to replace Sims.
May 16, 2024
In response to the protesters’ persistent flow of Freedom of Information Act requests, Sims delivers an acerbic farewell address in which he lashes out at animal-rights advocates and department critics, calling them “social media terrorists.”
May 20, 2024
Sims quietly retires earlier than expected.
May 31, 2024
Four finalists for the ACS director position, including Johnson, are invited to San Antonio for a final round of in-person interviews at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
June 7, 2024
Despite his previous criminal investigation, Johnson is the only applicant invited to attend another in-person interview, this time at City Hall. There, he meets with City Manager Erik Walsh and other high-ranking city officials.
July 1, 2024
Walsh announces that the city will continue its search for a new ACS director, opting not to hire any of the finalists. Michael Shannon, director of San Antonio’s Development Services Department, will lead ACS in the interim.
July 2, 2024
Johnson is notified by San Antonio Human Resources that despite Walsh’s announcement the day prior, he’s still under consideration for the job.
July 29, 2024
San Antonio Assistant Director of Communications Brian Chasnoff tells the Current that despite Walsh’ previous statement, finalist Monica Dangler is also still a potential candidate in the search for a new ACS director.
Source: City of San Antonio documents and emails, media reports
Reproductive Health Crisis
During San Antonio stop of national bus tour, advocates say Texas’ abortion ban imperils health access
BY MICHAEL KARLIS
On Monday, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, bought full-page ads in Texas’ five largest newspapers inviting Lone Star State medical professionals to relocate to the Land of Enchantment.
“I know that legal restrictions on healthcare in Texas have created a heavy burden for medical practitioners — especially those of you now barred by law from providing the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare,” Grisham wrote in the ad copy. “It must be distressing that a draconian abortion ban has restricted your right to practice and turned it into a political weapon.”
Indeed, a study published by the New York-based healthcare research institute Commonwealth Fund last month found that Texas is the nation’s second-worst state for reproductive healthcare. The Lone Star State earned that distinction by having one of the nation’s highest maternal mortality rates and the highest rate of women skipping needed reproductive-related checkups.
Those skipped checkups are likely due to Texas having the lowest number of maternity-care providers in the nation—between 52 and 70 for every 100,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44 — according to the Commonwealth Fund.
In turn, Texas’ dwindling number of medical professionals specializing in reproductive health is a result of the state’s abortion ban and increasingly restrictive policies around women’s healthcare, abortion activist DakotaRei Frausto told the Current. “We’re seeing here in Texas that there is a brain drain happening, where, of course, people don’t want to work here, and they don’t feel safe working here, and it’s because of all the repercussions that can happen to providers here,” said Frausto, a San Antonio native. “But on top of that, we are seeing that health care clinics are underfunded and understaffed.”
Frausto spoke to the Current as Ride to Decide — a national bus tour of women discussion discussing abortion access — visited San Antonio on Tuesday, July 23. The tour is intended to help people in states where abortion was outlawed after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade know how to obtain the medical procedure.
When she was 17, Frausto found out she was eight weeks pregnant.
“I struggled with chronic nausea, which led to me
having hyperemesis, where I was throwing up several times a day,” Frausto said. “I couldn’t even keep water down, couldn’t keep my medication down. I had extreme fatigue because I have anemia, which led to me becoming extremely malnourished.”
Out-of-state relief
Due to these complications and other factors, Frausto decided to terminate the pregnancy. Although the Supreme Court hadn’t yet overturned Roe v. Wade, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had signed Senate Bill 8, also known as the “heartbeat bill,” which bans abortions after a fetus’ heartbeat was detected.
Because of the state’s restriction, Frausto ultimately spent $2,000 of her own money to get an abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“To be honest, I don’t know if I’d still be here,” Frausto said. “I know for a fact my pregnancy was unbearable.”
However, the Supreme Court’s decision to end decades of protection for women seeking abortions has had implications beyond just the right to terminate pregnancies, Ashley Quenneville, deputy director of abortion-rights group Free and Just, said at Ride to Decide’s San Antonio stop.
In the 22 states with abortion bans, women have an increasingly difficult time gaining access to basic reproductive care, according to Quenneville. That’s especially true in Texas, where an astounding 22% of women between the ages of 15 and 44 years old lack health insurance.
“We’re seeing a decline in applications for medical students in states with restrictive abortion bans,” Quenneville said. “So, this is impacting women’s healthcare across the board, whether it’s not being able to find an OBGYN in the community where you live, or it simply to receiving information from your
MAbortion-rights advocates speak during the Ride to Decide national bus tour’s stop in San Antonio last month.
doctor about what’s going on with you and your body.”
Pregnancy complications
Quenneville added that when women can’t access basic reproductive health care, the odds of complications during pregnancy increase. She recalled the story of a woman she met in Louisiana during the Ride to Decide tour.
That woman’s pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage. However, despite obvious signs of complications with the pregnancy, doctors in Louisiana wouldn’t even take her on as a patient until she was at least 12 weeks pregnant, according to Quenneville.
“She had been pregnant before, and she’d had a child, and it was atypical before the abortion ban to not be able to see a doctor before 12 weeks,” Quenneville said. “So, that state’s abortion ban interrupted the standard of care that she had experienced with her first pregnancy.”
With Texas’s Republican-controlled legislature showing little interest expanding birth control, wellness exams, menopause care and other reproductive health services in the wake of state’s abortion ban, the exodus of medical professionals is likely to continue, Frausto said.
“There is no specific candidate or campaign that can fix this issue, because there is no choice where there is no access, and we need to make sure that we are implementing these evidence-based policies that address the intersectional barrier and stigma of abortion access every step of the way, from economic justice to disability justice,” she said.
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There’s reason to doubt the numbers San Antonio leaders will use to tout a downtown sports development
BY HEYWOOD SANDERS
Editor’s Note: CityScrapes is a column of opinion and analysis.
I’m thrilled that the city of San Antonio, Bexar County and the Missions are working together to advance our center city transformation efforts and spur continued development in the downtown region. — Mayor Ron Nirenberg
In the last year of his four terms as mayor, Ron Nirenberg appears to have decided that the most important public investment our city needs is a new stadium for the San Antonio Missions.
This would be the same Mayor Nirenberg whose official bio on the city website touts his initiative on equity in budgeting, efforts dealing with historical inequality, promotion of affordable housing, investment in workforce development and focus on climate change.
Now, Nirenberg’s not just focused on a single sports stadium but “Project Marvel” — a vision for a new downtown arena for the Spurs accompanied by an entertainment district, and possibly a convention center expansion, a new hotel and improvements to the Alamodome.
The mayor’s newfound interest in developing a so-called sports district is a remarkable evolution for a public official who entered office promising a different kind of local political leadership.
And so here we are, with rumors of grand public spending initiatives swirling around month after month, and a City Hall leadership wrapped in “nondisclosure agreements” that ensure taxpayers — likely facing a public tab in the hundreds of millions if not a billion or more — are kept in the dark about what, where, how and how much.
For a mayor ostensibly committed to equity and openness, it’s quite a change. But it’s really not a surprise.
San Antonio’s public business has long been about private profit and deals. Big, taxpayer-funded projects — whether a new city hall in the 1880s, Municipal Auditorium in the 1920s, Hemisfair in the 1960s or the city-financed Grand Hyatt hotel in the 2000s — were the public means of advantaging one or another group of well-placed property owners.
It’s the same today.
The deal for a new ballpark on the west side of
downtown has long been pushed by developer Graham Weston and his Weston Urban firm. Just as Weston sought to create a new “tech hub” on that side of downtown and pushed development of the new Frost Bank Center and a building swap with the city.
Today, that tech vision looks rather more modest than once touted. And with the vacancy rate for the city’s newest “Class A” downtown office space standing at 40.5% at the end of this year’s second quarter, a booming tech future in the area looks unlikely.
But a new ballpark next to San Pedro Creek won’t do anything for the folks with property and investments on the River Walk or the east side of downtown. To boost and support them, we need another grand public “silver bullet.”
Thus, the call for a brand new Spurs arena and possibly an even grander “zone” around it. The city staffers working on Project Marvel have pulled together an interesting roster of folks now wrapped in nondisclosure agreements to push for the project.
Express-News reports list an impressive set of major development firms: Houston-based Hines Interests, the developer of San Antonio’s Hotel Contessa and the Westin Riverwalk hotels; Lincoln Property Co.; Catellus Development; and a Trammell Crow affiliate.
But two names that stand out on that list aren’t in the development business.
Both C. H. Johnson Consulting and HVS are firms that specialize in consulting on convention center, sports facility and hotel projects.
Charlie Johnson’s C. H. Johnson Consulting is the one that produced a 1997 forecast for the performance of a proposed new convention center in Boston.
That forecast came to conclusion that the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center would
MOne of the consultants linked to Project Marvel did the initial forecasts for the city-financed Grand Hyatt.
generate 794,000 new hotel room nights to the city annually, even as the existing Hynes Convention Center maintained its existing business.
Johnson proved slightly off. In 2019, before the pandemic hit, that new center managed just 390,000 hotel rooms nights. And much of that was cannibalized from the Hynes Convention Center, which saw its business drop by some 200,000 room nights a year.
The second firm, HVS, has a track record closer to home — it did the initial consultant studies for San Antonio’s city-financed Grand Hyatt. When HVS delivered a 2004 analysis to justify the city’s development of the 1,000-room hospitality property, conventions in San Antonio produced over 700,000 hotel room nights annually. HVS forecast that the Grand Hyatt would boost that by 180,000 a year.
Instead, the city tallied just 766,259 convention room nights in 2019. Even with the addition of the Grand Hyatt and then a $325 million convention center expansion in 2016, the city ended up with the same convention business it had years earlier.
So, when our public officials finally surface Project Marvel and plans for a new ballpark, there’s plenty of reason to expect a flood of enthusiastic consultant studies filled with big, optimistic numbers and lots of promises.
Given consultants’ past predictions, the public has lots of reasons to not believe them.
Heywood Sanders is professor emeritus of public administration at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Courtesy Photo / Grand Hyatt
If
the U.S.
values its Olympic athletes, they should receive a living wage
BY KEVIN SANCHEZ
Editor’s Note: Bad Takes is a column of opinion and analysis.
Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination. The heroes standing with me are examples of this power. They are champions and they deserve the world’s recognition. — Nelson Mandela, 2000
No stranger to symbolic nativist displays, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently gushed with praise for Olympic athletes who hail from Texas. Midway through the summer games, he’d already posted to social media a half dozen times exulting the inspiring accomplishments of athletes including Plano native and gymnast Asher Hong and University of Texas at Austin senior Luke Hobson, who took home bronze in 200-meter freestyle swimming. As Simone Biles, a native Texan, shared the gold with her teammates, Abbott trumpeted her as the “most decorated US Olympic gymnast in history.”
“Texas is well-represented at the Olympics this summer. We have the 3rd-most athletes competing among the states,” Abbott tweeted a day before events kicked off in Paris. “Texas is proud of you all. Good luck!”
Well said, Gov. In all, 41 Olympians from Texas are representing the United States in the 2024 games. And aside from sharing an inane piece of culture-war clickbait about an alleged mockery of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper during a drag queen-bedazzled opening ceremony — c’mon, it’s Paris, France, not Paris, Texas — Abbott’s focus on rooting for the home team provided a brief respite from his usual hyper-partisan nastiness. It provided a much-welcomed breeze of cool civil air.
A bipartisan consensus ought to emerge, however, that when it comes to our country’s non-symbolic support for Olympic athletes, we’re not putting our money where our purported patriotism is.
In an excellent article, Houston Chronicle sports reporter Danielle Lerner informed unaware readers like myself that “unlike most countries, the United States does not provide government funding for its Olympic and Paralympic committee.”
Even though the “American sports ecosystem frames the most visible professional athletes as wealthy titans,” she wrote, “the majority of Olympic sport athletes, particularly those in niche individual disciplines like wrestling, cycling and fencing, often have to borrow money or work odd jobs to make ends meet while chasing their dreams.”
Her interviews revealed that one cyclist lived in a van, while a boxer picked up cash working as a birthday clown and a taekwondo fighter delivered food to make ends meet.
To be sure, a 54% of these high-performance athletes make less than $50,000 a year, and more than a quarter of them earn less than $15,000, according to a 2024 report from the Congressional Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics.
Since nearly half of the athletes earn no compensation, the Commission found “many of America’s most talented athletes must pay for the privilege of competing under our flag.”
“You feel what you’re doing is not worthy in the eyes of whoever, anybody, to get paid for what you’re doing,” Houston-based fencer Courtney Hurley, who won bronze in 2012, confided to Lerner.
You can’t eat applause, after all.
“Some of the most talented competitors go to sleep at night under the roof of a car or without sufficient food or adequate health insurance,” the
Commission reported. “Leaders tasked with overseeing movement sports have instituted policies that prioritize revenues over the development of their sports and the well-being of those they are meant to serve. The current system promotes near-term incentives for medals over equitable access to sports by millions of Americans. In nearly every case, the losers have been the athletes.”
Hopefully, the XXXIII Olympiad will light a torch under the asses of those very leaders. Even those who are flyweights in common decency, should grasp that “[y]ou get better performances out of us when we have less to worry about,” taekwondo fighter and silver medalist CJ Nickolas told Lerner.
Of course, none of this is to present the Olympics in rose-colored hues. The funny people at left-leaning YouTube podcast Some More News recently laid out the ongoing history of the games as a corrupt, environmentally unfriendly, human rights-abusing juggernaut.
“They’re bad for the place they’re held, bad for governments, bad for human rights and bad for the entire world,” host Cody Johnston lamented. “But despite everything I’ve said, I’m actually not suggesting that we do away with the Olympics.”
Except, he added, “We don’t need to
Membark on billions of dollars in new construction projects just so 1,000 people can watch a beach volleyball game. Even if the Olympics remains at its current gargantuan, carbon-belching scale and continues terrorizing our greatest world cities like a fit, inspirational kaiju, the International Olympic Committee could still make a huge difference simply through more accountability and better enforcement. Either the Olympics reforms itself and actually gets better, or it just becomes such a trash factory that we stop having them.”
That would be an incalculable loss for all involved. Channeling our rivalry, chauvinism, and aggression into noble exhibitions of human excellence heralds a day when every battlefield will be replaced by a playing field.
But if you don’t want to take care of the soldiers, don’t start the war — even if by other means.
No worker should be “constantly worrying about making a living wage,” as Lerner aptly put it — especially not those whose Herculean efforts and fanatical dedication offer an uplifting example for us all.
Shutterstock / Anders Riishede
Plano native Asher Hong is among the Texans competing in the Paris Olympics.
WED | 08.07SAT | 08.31
FLIGHT GALLERY
CAMOUFLAGE: REAL TREE AT FLIGHT GALLERY
Camouflage: Real Tree continues visual artist Justin Korver’s engagement with hunting culture as a place of performativity. The work focuses on camouflage as expressive of a certain masculine aesthetic that’s been largely rendered obsolete through aesthetic commodification. If used as home décor, does camouflage still break the boundary of the body in a way meaningful to the outdoorsman or is it just something for a fashionable social media influencer? Does it blur the line and logic that separates humans from nature? “The meaning of camouflage is paradoxically human/natural, masculine/feminine, straight/queer,” Korver said in explaining the exhibition, “and my artwork expands our understanding of camouflage and expresses the tension of our crisis in a more-than-human and damaged world. Maybe in the dappled light, we’re all creatures.” Concurrently on view is Camouflage: Blaze Orange in the Main Space at Artpace San Antonio. These exhibitions mark the end of an era for Korver, as he and his family prepare to move to Kansas City later this month. He chooses to think of these two exhibitions as a “forget-me-not” gesture to San Antonio’s artistic community. Free, Open by appointment, Flight Gallery, 112R Blue Star, (210) 872-2586, instagram. com/flightgallery.
— Anjali Gupta
social norms and niceties, was interrupting exclusive conversations the world over to ask artists, activists, historians, journalists and musicians he admired about an array of subjects. These days, immersive conversations are a rarity. Saavedra, who still vacillates between enabler and agent provocateur, is determined to bring the tradition back to the fore — inviting audience members to join him and a guest in Southtown’s living room, the Brick at Blue Star, for four bimonthly events. His first guest, Ananda Tomas, is Executive Director of ACT4SA, the first organization in San Antonio to focus on policing the police, pushing for accountability through solidarity and activism. The conversation is a pay-what-you-can event. No one will be turned away. A portion of ticket sales will be donated to a cause of each guest’s choosing. Tickets are available at simpletix.com/e/edtalks-but-mostly-listens-tickets-178512. $3 suggested donation in advance, $5 suggested donation at the door, $11 suggested donation for complete series, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 7, Brick, 108 Blue Star, (210) 265-6072, facebook.com/events/1166224208414471. — AG
SAT | 08.10
LITERARY
WORLD ON FIRE: WRITING ABOUT CRISIS AND HOPE IN THE NATURAL WORLD WITH SASHA WEST
Face with an overwhelming number of environmental issues — global warming, fossil fuel consumption and emissions, deforestation, rising ocean levels — it’s easy to feel powerless in the pursuit of a sustainable planet. However, in a world where too many ignore the climate crisis, no step is too small. Anyone with access to pen and paper can amplify the earth’s cries for healing, which is the focus of acclaimed poet Sasha West’s World on Fire workshop. The Gemini Ink event promises to help writers develop a lens through which to channel their climate concerns into powerful and persuasive eco-poetry. In her two collections, Failure and I Bury The Body and How To Abandon Ship, West examines oil spills, natural disasters and extinctions with urgency and hope in equal measure. Workshop participants will be guided through generative writing exercises designed to combine these seemingly discordant approaches to addressing climate change. In addition to one completed poem, attendees will leave the workshop with prompts to inspire future works in addition to a list of resources for sharing and submitting their work. This workshop is open to writers of all skill levels. $75–$130, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 10, Gemini Ink, 1111 Navarro St., (210) 734-9673, geminiink.org. — Caroline Wolff
in a creative and supportive environment,” said Duron, who’s also the proprietor of Etchcraft Glass Etching. This Second Saturday showcases a live sound meditation from Rabbit Hole 7 and live painting from artist Adam De La among other local work. Free, 6-11 p.m., Haus of Etchcraft, 120 Lone Star. — Brandyn Miller
SUN | 08.11
COMEDY
SEBASTIAN MANISCALO
Comic and actor Sebastian Maniscalco, who co-wrote and starred in the 2023 film About My Father, is bringing his It Ain’t Right tour to San Antonio. The 47-date tour represents the stand-up’s longest-ever set of road dates. Known for his physical delivery and reminiscences about an “old-school” Italian American upbringing, Maniscalco frequently looks back on simpler times with nostalgia. While that occasionally takes him into predictable territory via tired jabs at political correctness, he shines when he applies that lens to modern life’s true absurdities, from people’s lack of manners and empathy to the cesspool that is social media. $35 and up, Frost Bank Center, 1 Frost Bank Center Drive, (210) 4445140, frostbankcenter.com. — Sanford Nowlin
San Antonio visual artist Ed Saavedra is launching a new series of conversations featuring notable local activists and personalities. Long before achieving institutional validation, Saavedra, never an adherent to
SAT | 08.10
VISUAL ART AND PERFORMANCE HAUS OF ETCHCRAFT
A labor of love for San Antonio artist and musician CJ Duron, Haus of Etchcraft aims to present work by local creators who have yet to break into the art scene. “As an artist just starting out, I struggled to get my work seen. I want to provide a place where artists can show their work
THU | 08.15
MAGIC/COMEDY
PENN & TELLER
The notion that Penn & Teller have been performing together for 49 years seems almost as implausible as one of the duo’s magic tricks. Yet that’s when the pair first began working together as Philadelphia street performers, blending comedy and uncannily crafted illusions. Fast-forward to the present and Penn & Teller have packed an impressive list of accomplishments into their nearly five decades together. From their record-breaking Las Vegas show at The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino to Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, the Emmy-nominated TV show defrocking fraudsters claiming to be psychics, healers and UFO abductees. In addition to being nominated for 13 Emmys, the program became Showitme’s longest-running series. Somehow, in between work in Vegas, writing books, taking their show on the road and frequently
Courtesy Image / Justin Korver
Courtesy Image / Ed Saavedra
Courtesy Photo / St. Edward’s University
Courtesy Photo / Rabbit Hole 7
Courtesy Photo / Frost Bank Center
putting in guest appearances on anything from The Simpsons to Big Bang Theory, the pair have managed to take their latest TV series Penn & Teller: Fool Us! into its 10th season. The CW Network show gives other magicians a shot at fooling the illusion-spinning comedy team for a chance to star in its Las Vegas stage show. $49-$350, 8 p.m., Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com. — SN
SAT | 08.17
COMMUNITY EVENT
AUSTIN TYPEWRITER, INK. TYPE-IN
Austin Typewriter, Ink. (ATI) will present a “type-in” at the South Side’s Mission Branch Library, a stone’s throw from Mission San José. What’s a type-in, you may ask?
Austin-based ATI will bring choice vintage typewriters for attendees to sit down and manually pound out a poem, a few random thoughts or, perhaps, a well-timed letter to a loved one. A nostalgic throwback experience for some, this could very well be a first pre-PC writing experience for others. Bring your own White Out! Free, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Mission Branch Library, 3134 Roosevelt, (210) 207-2704, mysapl.org. — AG
SUN | 08.18
BRISCOE SUMMER FILM SERIES: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
San Antonio’s Briscoe Western Art Museum will close the stable doors on its Summer Film Series with 2023 blockbuster Killers of the Flower Moon. Directed by Martin Scorsese and based on the non-fiction book by David Grann, the Oscar-nominated biopic unfolds in 1920s Oklahoma after members of the Osage tribe discover oil on their land. Although the Osage people are granted rights to the oil, the courts deem them “incompetent,” requiring them to appoint white legal guardians to manage their income. William King Hale (Robert De Niro), a deputy sheriff and cattle rancher from a nearby town, poses as a friendly financial manager, all the while enacting a sinister and sprawling murder plot, striving to pilfer the tribe’s oil reserves and the wealth it generates. Killers of the Flower Moon delivers a brazen confrontation of commodity culture, corporate greed and colonialist paradigms. The film lays bare a terrifying reality: how race, class and political influence can be used to absolve criminals of the consequences of their actions. Tickets to the screening are included in the price of museum admission. Due to graphic violence, Killers of the Flower Moon may not be suitable for children under 17. Free, 1-4 p.m., Briscoe Western Art Museum, 210 W. Market St., (210) 299-4499, briscoemuseum. org. — CW
Melinda Sue Gordon
Courtesy Photo / Penn & Teller
Unsplash / Debby Hudson
Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers | Soñadores + creadores del cambio
June 7–October 6, 2024
Contemporary at Blue Star 116 Blue Star
San Antonio, TX 78204 contemporarysa.org
Xicanx Art Exhibition
August 1–30, 2024
Luminaria Pop Up Gallery 126 Gonzales
San Antonio, TX 78206 luminariasa.org
Undercurrents: Vincent Valdez
July 11–December 1, 2024
Artpace San Antonio 445 N Main
San Antonio, TX 78205 artpace.org
Lovers & Fighters: Prints by Latino Artists in the SAMA Collection April 20, 2024–April 13, 2025
San Antonio Museum of Art 200 West Jones Ave San Antonio, TX 78215 samuseum.org
Xicanx Month is a commemoration of the Chicano Arts Movement that holds its roots in San Antonio. Xicanx Month will not just be an event; it pays tribute to the cultural legacy that has shaped our community.
2:00–3:00pm at Ruby City 150 Camp Street San Antonio, TX 78283 rubycity.org
Jose Cosme
Un Poquito De Todo
6:00–9:00pm at Dock Space
107 Lone Star Blvd. San Antonio, TX 78204 dockspacegallery.com
Living Witness to Wealth of the Soul: XICANX Mindfulness
6:00–10:00pm at Bihl Haus Arts 2803 Fredericksburg Rd. San Antonio, TX 78201 bihlhausarts.org
Ancestral Soul: Celebrating San Antonio's Chicano Rock and Roll
7:00–11:00pm at S.M.A.R.T 1906 South Flores Street San Antonio, TX 78204 smartsa.org
August 23
Agarita + Azul Barrientos
7:30pm at Pearl Stable 312 Pearl Parkway San Antonio, TX 78215 agarita.org
Sacred Art of Altars Preview
5:30–7:30pm at San Antonio Art League and Museum 130 King William Street San Antonio, TX 78204 celebrationcircle.org
August 24
Celebration Circle Presents: Mini Altar Workshop 10:00am–12:30pm at San Antonio Art League and Museum 130 King William Street San Antonio, TX 78204 celebrationcircle.org
Xicanx Symposium 10:00am–2:00pm Contemporary at Blue Star 116 Blue Star San Antonio, TX 78204 contemporarysa.org
SAY Sí and the San Antonio River Foundation Present: Chicanx Month Art Installation Unveiling 5:30–8:30pm at Brazos Pocket Park and SAY Sí 1310 South Brazos St. San Antonio, TX 78207 saysi.org
August 25
Xicanx Symposium 10:00am–2:00pm Contemporary at Blue Star 116 Blue Star San Antonio, TX 78204 contemporarysa.org
Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers. Photo by Beth Devillier
Cultural Legacy
San Antonio’s inaugural Xicanx Month celebrates power, scope of
the Chicano Arts Movement
BY ANJALI GUPTA
In 1962, César Chávez and Dolores Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers Association, organizing agricultural workers to demand fair wages, legitimate contracts and improvements to the working and living conditions in California’s agribusiness centers.
This push became a tidal wave that galvanized Mexican Americans across the country, coalescing in the Chicano Movement. Chicano art emerged in its wake, questioning cultural stereotypes and championing the complexities of Mexican American culture. Its practitioners were influenced by Mexican muralism, pre-Columbian art and an aesthetic that is neither fully Mexican nor American but something new, distinct and powerful.
San Antonio’s Xicanx Month is a citywide celebration commemorating the Chicano Arts Movement and paying tribute to a cul-
tural legacy that helped shape our community. The term Xicanx, pronounced Chee-caan-x, uses the ‘X’ from Spanish transcriptions of Nahuatl — a major Indigenous language of Mexico — at the beginning of the word, while the ‘x’ on the far end signals non-binary inclusivity.
In this, its inaugural year, Xicanx Month will be celebrated with events, exhibitions and performances throughout the month of August. Venues and presenters include Artpace San Antonio, the Contemporary at Blue Star, Dock Space Annex, Ruby City and Urban 15, among others.
Artpace San Antonio
Vincent Valdez: Undercurrents
San Antonio-born Vincent Valdez tackles the weighty subject of systemic racism in his
MThe installation Los Brillantes at Ruby City is among the exhibitions highlighted as part of Xicanx Month.
powerful drawings, paintings and prints.
“This series,” the artist told the Current’s Bryan Rindfuss, “is a meditation on the violence that has historically been unleashed, in many cases as a direct result of U.S. government foreign policy and military interventions intended to disrupt and crush social and political opposition to American imperialism in Latin America.” Undercurrents also includes works by artists who inspired Valdez, including his partner Adriana Corral and his mentor Rubio. Free, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, noon-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, through Dec. 1, Artpace, 445 N. Main Ave., (210) 212-4900, artpace.org.
Dock Space Annex
Y Todo Lo Que Somos/Everything We Are
Dock Space Annex will feature four San Antonio based talents — mixed media artists
Gilbert Martinez and Lee Ortiz, street artist Edward Perez and educator Gloria Chavez
Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com
Jorge Villarreal
Ramirez — in a show called Y Todo Lo Que Somos/Everything We Are. The opening reception is part of the Second Saturday Artwalk in the Lone Star Art District. Call (210) 723-3048 to view the show outside of the reception times. Free, 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, Dock Space Annex, 107 Lone Star Blvd., (210) 723-3048, dockspacegallery.com/dock-space-annex.
The artists featured in Celia Álvarez Muñoz’ portraits currently on view at Ruby City will participate in a panel discussion on the experience of being photographed by Muñoz along with the shifting cultural landscape they encountered throughout their careers. The panel will be moderated by Mia Lopez, the McNay Art Museum’s curator of Latinx art. Featured artists include Ethel Shipton, Jesse Amado, Terry Ybañez, Cruz Ortiz, David Zamora Casas, Ana de Portela and Jim Mendiola. Free, 2-3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, Ruby City, 150 Camp St., (210) 227-8400, rubycity.org.
Urban 15
Robert Ojeda and the Bronze Band: A Tribute to La Musica Chicana
As the next event in its 50th anniversary summer series, Urban 15 is presenting Robert Ojeda’s performance art piece A Tribute to La Musica Chicana. This event covers the rich history of Mexican American musical traditions, from pre-colonial and indigenous creations through the 1960s. Ojeda’s goal is to “fill in a gap” in San Antonio’s music history by performing,
preserving and promoting the sounds that developed alongside Chicano identity. Ojeda is a Texas native whose cultural field research includes a 20-year collaboration with artistic director and choreographer Yolanda Chacon Beniquez of La Fiesta Danzantes de San Diego centered on the traditions of Mexican ballet forlklorico music and dance. Free, 5-7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, URBAN-15 Studio, 2500 S. Presa St., (210) 7361500, urban15.org.
The Contemporary at Blue Star Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers symposium
The Contemporary will present a two-day weekend symposium of programs and events inspired by the gallery’s current group exhibition Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers. The symposium is free, but registration is required for each individual program, which includes lectures, discussions and workshops. Topics range from zines as political tools to guided meditation along with a history lesson and demo exploring the cultural significance of the flour tortilla. Free, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Aug. 24-25, The Contemporary at Blue Star, 116 Blue Star, (210) 227-6960, contemporarysa.org.
More offerings are on the docket, including the ongoing exhibition Lovers & Fighters: Prints by Latino Artists in the SAMA Collection at the San Antonio Museum of Art, a collaborative performance between chamber ensemble Agarita and vocalist Azul at The Pearl’s Stable Hall and an art exhibit and performance Ancestral Soul: An Offering To The Architects Of San Antonio’s Chicano Rock And Roll at S.M.A.R.T. projectspace on Second Saturday. A comprehensive calendar of Xicanx
MLeft to right: On display as part of Xicanx Month are pieces by Lee Ortiz, Gilbert Martinez and Al Rendon. The works by Ortiz and Martinez are at Dock Space Annex, while Rendon’s is being shown at the Contemporary at Blue Star.
Month events, programs and locations is available from the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture at events.getcreativesanantonio.com/categories/ xicanx-month.
Courtesy Photo / Dock Space Annex
Courtesy Photo / Dock Space Annex
Courtesy Photo / Contemporary at Blue Star
Unsafe Space
Director Fede Álvarez aims for effective mix of horror and action in Alien: Romulus
BY KIKO MARTINEZ
Director and co-writer Fede Álvarez goes head-to-head with a new batch of Xenomorphs in the upcoming science fiction-horror flick Alien: Romulus
The movie is the seventh installment of the Alien franchise, not including the pair of Alien vs. Predator crossovers released in the 2000s. On the franchise’s timeline, Alien: Romulus is set between the original 1978 film Alien, directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator), and its 1986 sequel Aliens, directed by James Cameron (The Terminator). It follows a group of young space colonists who come across a terrifying extraterrestrial species while exploring a deserted space station.
Álvarez, who’s of Uruguayan descent, got his start in Hollywood when he remade the horror classic Evil Dead in 2013. He went on to direct 2016 horror-thriller Don’t Breathe, 2018 action-thriller The Girl in the Spider’s Web and 2021 mystery-thriller TV series Calls
He’s now adding his name to the noteworthy Alien directors who came before him, including Scott, Cameron, David Fincher (Alien 3, The Social Network) and French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Alien Resurrection, Amélie).
During an interview with the Current, Álvarez, 46, talked about adding to an established film franchise and why he describes the original Alien as “Star Wars’ evil sister.”
Alien: Romulus premieres Aug. 16 at theaters nationwide.
What is the most important thing to you as a director when you take on a project like Alien: Romulus or Evil Dead that has a long cinematic history?
Well, the key is always to make it in a way that you give the fans what they want to see. But above all things, I want to make it in a way that if you haven’t seen any of [the previous films], you can come in and have a blast watching it at the same level as everybody else and not feel like it’s an “Episode 7” or that you haven’t made this or that connection. If you’re a teenager coming to see [Alien: Romulus] and haven’t seen any of the other movies, I think it’s unfair to put out a movie that will make you feel like you’ve been left out because of the references to things that you don’t understand. A movie like [Alien: Romulus] has to work equally for fans and for a new audience.
It’s interesting that Alien: Romulus is both a sequel and a prequel. What was behind that decision?
Yeah, it takes place between [Alien] and [Aliens] because I wanted it to be an amalgamation of those two films stylistically. I wanted to have the horror of the first movie and the action of the second film. It wasn’t because it’s a storyline where you need to watch [Alien] then [Alien: Romulus] and then [Aliens] to understand. In [Alien: Romulus],
these are completely new characters in a slightly different storyline. But in time, it was very important for the canon and for the fans who want to know exactly where it takes place. [The original films] take place over many years. It was important to know exactly where [Alien: Romulus] sits.
What do you think it is about this franchise that’s kept it going for nearly half a century?
As long as Star Wars is alive, I think Alien will be too. I think Alien is Star Wars’ evil sister. Alien came out [two] years after the original Star Wars. It was an answer to that world. But instead of doing it as a hopeful adventure, it becomes this twisted horror. I think they have this kind of symbiotic relationship. There are more Star Wars [movies] than Alien at this point, but I think they kind of coexist.
You’re a Uruguayan filmmaker. Tell me about casting Isabela Merced. Is it important to you to cast Latinos in your movies? I always do. I have to have at least one actor who I can speak Spanish with [on the set] and more behind the cameras. Isabela was really a trooper. She was put through the wringer in this film. She’s on the front line of a lot of the horrific moments in the movie. She was definitely amazing to work with.
What would it take for you to pivot away from the horror and thriller genre that you’re known for and make a romantic comedy? Alien Loves Predator, come on! (Laughs.) You’re lucky I’m not doing that. There are way more capable people than me doing those movies. I don’t think that’ll ever happen.
Find more film stories at sacurrent.com
Walt Disney Studios
Opulent Octopus
Aguachile’s grand way with Mexican-style seafood worth the admission price
BY RON BECHTOL
Octopus looms large on the menu at Aguachile Seafood.
If you’re a sucker, as it were, for whole octopus, be prepared to shell out more than $70 for any one of five iterations available at the Mexican seafood spot. That’s surely a local pricing record for a cuisine that many reflexively think of only in terms of tacos.
Octopus is also controversial. Its burgeoning U.S. popularity has led to proposals for the creation of oceanic octopus farms. That’s lead to opposition from those who argue that the cephalopod is such an intelligent and charismatic creature that it deserves special protection. Farms are already banned in Washington State, and the movement is gaining momentum nationally.
Be that as it may, when octopus is cut up, as it is in the joyous jumble of seafood that fills Aguachile’s caldo de mariscos, it’s easier to plead ignorance and simply enjoy the tender bits.
The soup’s rusty broth also sports squid rings, chunks of abalone, bay scallops, meaty mussels and shrimp. The flavor only gets more intense as the tide recedes. Think of the caldo as a harbinger of the menu’s bounty to come. Even a simple tostada de camaron cocido at Aguachile, flanked by chile-dusted cucumbers and sliced avocado, comes across as over-the-top. Whole shrimp laced with a spicy mayo crown a bed of the chopped shellfish, in turn bedded on a duo of shatteringly crisp tostadas sandwiching a layer of plain mayo. It’s all too big to pick up and too resistant to cutting with a fork to make eating easy. Still, the mess is ultimately worth it. Just don’t worry about finishing if you’ve ordered too much. Guilty as charged.
A michelada, served in a weighty schooner with a heavily crusted rim, seems appropriate at that point. It arrives with a bottle of your choice of beer — Pacifico, in this case — dunked headfirst into the spicy brew. Extracting it without additional mess is half the fun, and some beer will remain for topping off as the level sinks. There’s also a Tajin-crusted wand stuck in the glass to up the spice quotient as needed. You can, and should, do this while also celebrating occasional bursts of music from roving troubadours. It’s a toss of the coin whether a seafood torre, or tower, is worth the $22-plus it costs. I say yes — at least this once. It’s basically a repackaged shrimp aguachile that’s been packed into a cylindrical form and unmolded
on the plate. Surrounded by a moat of salsa verde — roja and negra are other choices — it’s both impressive and fun, not to mention eminently Instagrammable.
The geologically layered cooked shrimp rise above a blend of chopped onion and cucumber that hides a few raw shrimp “cooked” by the aguachile’s lime. You’ll probably want to use the house-packaged tostadas as scoops to deconstruct the dish.
The difference between molcas and molcajetes at Aguachile is apparently one of size and price, with the former starting at nearly $20 and the latter, fit for a foursome, topping out around $40. At $19.65, the molcacampechana is an adequate introduction to the category.
Buttressed by more crenelated cucumbers, the blend of seafood again includes both cooked and chile-cured shrimp, octopus,
AGUACHILE SEAFOOD
abalone and surimi, the tinted fish composite that U.S. marketers have dubbed krab.
Fortunately, the faux crab dissolves into shreds in the salsa negra — an umami-rich Sinaloan sauce of soy sauce, Worcestershire, Jugo Maggi and chiles. Just picosa enough, the salsa helped make this a favorite spooned onto more of the toasty tortillas.
Other offerings at Aguachile include tacos, tortas, fried seafood and even fajitas and burritos. Oh, and hamburguesas with everything from beef to chicken to shrimp as the centerpiece.
At the price point of most seafood, I’d personally prefer a more edited menu, but the proprietors apparently know their market. Slowly, the place began to fill up with families as the evening progressed and the noise level mounted.
Best bets: Caldos, tostadas, seafood towers, molcajetes
The skinny: Aguachile lacks the obvious decorative charm of a family- and tourist-friendly restaurant such as Mi Tierra, but it compensates with similar noise levels and an almost too-comprehensive menu heavy on seafood. Though pricey compared to less-ambitious Mexican restaurants, visually impressive offerings such as layered seafood towers and brimming bowls of seafood soup merit the tariff. The hefty stone molcajetes stocked with anything from abalone to octopus are also worth their weight.plates, some made from house-cured fish, are available to those who favor food over form.
Ron Bechtol
San Antonio bar Jaime’s Place brings in Burger Foos to run its kitchen
BY STEPHANIE KOITHAN
West Side outdoor bar and music venue Jaime’s Place has invited pop-up food business Burger Foos to permanently take over its kitchen starting this Thursday.
The Burger Foos menu will totally replace the existing food options offered at the nightspot “built for the barrio and beyond,” according to owner Jaime Macias. Burger Foos will operate the kitchen during the bar’s regular hours of 4 p.m.-2 a.m., Wednesday through Sunday.
Macias said he never intended to get “into the weeds” operating a kitchen at his establishment, yet that’s what happened. He was forced to apply for a food and beverage license when he launched in 2020, during the pandemic.
“Bars were not considered an essential service, but restaurants were,” he explained. Since the pandemic, Jaime’s Place
Bottoms Up Whiskey Business returning to San Antonio’s Witte Museum later this month
BY CHARLEY GALLEGOS
It’s almost time raise a glass to San Antonio’s premier whiskey-tasting event.
The Current’s 9th Annual Whiskey Business will take place Friday, Aug. 23, at the Witte Museum, giving attendees a chance to sample a wide array of whiskies, bourbons and scotches while exploring cuisine from the San Antonio area’s hottest restaurants.
The museum’s grounds and select exhibits will serve as a cultural backdrop for educational seminars, conversations with brand ambassadors, live music, multiple DJ stages and other entertainment. Craft beer and wine also will be available.
Proceeds from the 21-and-up event benefit the Witte Museum.
General admission tickets remain and are available at sawhiskeybusiness. com, according to organizers.
The $80 GA tickets include admission, food and drink samples plus access to Sipping Sessions, where distillers offer insights into their products. VIP tickets that include valet parking, access to rare spirits samples and special food and drink experiences are also available.
Spirits makers offering samples at this year’s Whiskey Business will include Brugal, Devil’s River, Rebecca Creek, Texas Ranger, Penelope Bourbon, Blue Run Spirits and dozens more.
Guests also can look forward to curated bites from San Antonio restaurants including The Good Kind, Tu Asador Mexican Steakhouse, Cosmic Cakery, Cakes by Felicia, The Moon’s Daughters, Stella Public House, Tributary, COVER 3, Cuarto de Kilo Mesquite Mexican Burgers, The Jerk Shack and others.
has been able to shift focus back to its original concept as a bar and venue, finally obtaining its liquor license in early spring. After that, Macias decided to start looking for someone to take over the kitchen.
Burger Foos, run by Jerry Ortiz, is a West Side-originated pop-up that’s served its Wagyu beef burgers at Chiflada’s, Guadalupe Plaza and Jaime’s, among other locations. The venture got its start serving outside Eccentric Tattoos, where Ortiz’s wife Gina works as an artist. She also came up with the rough draft of the logo design — a burger holding a spatula — which was later redesigned by Gemini Vato.
Macias said he approached Burger Foos because the pop-up’s brand aligns culturally with the West Side pride and community focus for which Jaime’s Place is known.
“I’m from that neighborhood,” Ortiz said. “So that’s why I didn’t hesitate to
say ‘yes.’ This is who I need to be.”
Burger Foos cooks its beef patties on a 500-degree grill, smashes them down into their own juices and serves them with melted cheese and grilled onions. In addition to burgers, Ortiz plans to serve bacon-wrapped hot dogs, brisket nachos, brisket tacos and more. A vegan option is even in the works, he added.
The Burger Foos menu will make its debut Thursday in tandem with a poetry slam by Zona San Anto, followed by karaoke from 8:30 p.m. until midnight. Jaime’s Place will also give away a pair of tickets to its upcoming Los Yesterdays show, scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 12.
Jaime Monzon
Courtesy Photo / Burger Foos
Didn’t Stop Believing
Revamped
and
drama-free
Journey performing in San Antonio with Def Leppard
BY ALAN SCULLEY
Journey is back on tour in a big way this year.
Having headlined arenas this past spring the band is spending much of the summer co-headlining a stadium tour with Def Leppard with the Steve Miller Band opening. The package tour heads to San Antonio’s Alamodome on Friday, Aug. 16.
Guitarist and founding member Neal Schon and keyboardist-guitarist Jonathan Cain agree that today’s edition of the band has never played or sounded better.
Speaking during a recent interview, Schon and Cain — the two remaining members going back to the early 1980s when Journey was churning out hits like “Don’t Stop Believing,” “Any Way You Want It,” “Open Arms” and “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” — shared thoughts on the band’s past, the 2022 album Freedom, recent lawsuits, disputes and personnel changes. They also talked about regaining a level of popularity that has Journey headlining arenas and stadiums.
“Neal would tell you it’s probably the most solid band we’ve had in a while. We finally found a great sound guy in England who really gets it,” Cain said. “The band has never sounded better. So I’m really happy with the way it gets presented. Finally, it sounds like the Journey everybody knows. It’s back to the ‘80s, that’s what it sounds like.”
Despite that, there was plenty of not-solong-ago speculation about whether Journey, having regained its status as an arena headliner, might see it all come apart — just as the band reached the 50-year mark.
In 2020, long-time bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith, a member during Journey’s 1980s peak, were fired after they sued to gain rights to the Journey name — a move Schon and Cain termed an attempted coup. The suit was eventually settled amicably, according to the band. Terms of the settlement haven’t been made public.
Soon a revamped lineup was in place, with drummer Narada Michael Walden and bassist Randy Jackson stepping in to join Schon, Cain, keyboardist Jason Derlatka and singer Arnel Pineda, who joined in 2007. This version of Journey made the studio album Freedom during the pandemic with Walden producing. The band then returned to touring in spring 2021 with drummer Deen Castronovo — a member of Journey from 1998
to 2015 — replacing Walden and Todd Jensen joining on bass.
But there were more issues to come. This time between Schon and Cain.
In early 2023, the pair traded lawsuits over access to an American Express account used to handle Journey’s finances. Cain had blocked Schon from having access because he felt the guitarist was recklessly spending the band’s money, an assertion Schon denied.
Schon also sent a cease-and-desist letter to Cain after the keyboardist joined a sing-along of “Don’t Stop Believing” at a November 2022 event for former president Donald Trump. Cain’s wife, Paula, had served as a spiritual advisor to Trump, and the couple became friends with and supporters of the former president.
Schon took offense to Cain’s performance, noting that Journey never was and never would be a political band.
Now all seems well again within Journey after Schon and Cain had a heart-to-heart talk last fall and resolved the credit card lawsuits.
“Basically, all we really did was get fed up with the legal [stuff] and having [lawyers] talk instead of us,” Schon said. “I went down and met Jon and we talked for a couple of hours, and we talked through it all. I think that’s what fixed everything.”
Cain agreed, saying outside entities were contributing to the friction.
“Over the last four years there were a lot of people that were out to divide us so they
could take control of us,” Cain said. “That just gained a lot of mistrust, and people told stuff that wasn’t true, and it was second-hand stuff going back and forth, like Neal said, [between] lawyers and stuff. In the end, it should just be the brothers that made the music. He and I created this thing.”
Cain continued: “We gambled on the fact that there could be a Journey without Steve Perry. We believed that in our hearts and we backed it up with a lot of hard work and touring, and here we are. I’m awfully happy that Neal knocked on my door that day and said, ‘I want my band back.’”
Indeed, Schon and Cain have gone handson in managing the band and overseeing its business functions, including income, expenses and merchandise sales.
And, of course, they’re leading Journey as the band returns to touring. Fans can expect to hear the platinum-selling act’s biggest hits — the dirty dozen as the band has nicknamed them —along with a handful of either new or deeper cuts.
“We just have a massive catalog with so many great songs that we don’t get to,” Cain said. “That’s the problem. When you play the dirty dozen, all we have is a slot for six songs we can play maybe. Then you have to rotate. So we always do substitutions with some new things here and there.”
$49 and up, 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, Alamodome, 100 Montana St., (210) 207-3663, alamodome.com.
Find more music coverage every day at sacurrent.com
Courtesy Photo / Journey
HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K
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Thursday, Aug. 8
critics’ picks Mike Dimes
10cc, Robin Taylor Zander
Britain’s 10cc is one of those rare bands that’s endured over the decades while enjoying both critical and commercial success. While best known for ballads such as “I’m Not In Love” and “The Things We Do For Love,” 10cc’s music runs the gamut from the surf rock send up “Rubber Bullets” to the reggae jam “Dreadlock Holiday.” Only Graham Goldman remains of the four founding members in this version of the band. $48.50-$84, 7 p.m., Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 226-5700, majesticempire.com. — Danny Cervantes
808 Day featuring Mike Dimes, DJ Buck Rogers
It may seem strange to declare a holiday for a piece of musical gear, but the Roland 808 drum machine is deserving. The iconic piece of ’80s electronics provided a “secret sauce” for recordings by Marvin Gaye, Afrika Bambaataa, Kanye West, the Beastie Boys, Bjork and more. Helping celebrate 808 Day is the much-loved SA rapper Mike Dimes, whose single “My Story” received 2 billion — yes, that’s billion with a B — views on TikTok. He’s a star in the making with stylistic nods to ASAP Rocky and Joey Badass. DJ Buck Rodgers, another Texas rising star, is a master of old-school turntables. $27, 8 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — Bill Baird
Saturday, Aug. 10
Ultra, Van Wilks
Two legendary rock acts are helping celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sam’s Burger Joint. Ultra ruled SA’s ’70s hard-rock scene and even opened for the Sex Pistols at their infamous 1978 Randy’s Rodeo show. “Ultra was one of those bands that the record companies missed the boat on,” legendary promoter Jack Orbin once said. “They were definitely one of the best things to come out of San Antonio.” Meanwhile, Van Wilks has built a formidable career playing Texas blues. In addition to performing as part of ZZ Top and collaborating with Billy Gibbons on songwriting, he’s toured with Heart and Aerosmith. Free, 8:30 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson Street, samsburgerjoint.com. — BB
Friday, Aug. 9
Drake White, Drew Fish Band Auburn University grad Drake White spent his post-college years in Nashville working as a contractor by day and a country singer-songwriter by night. In 2010, after years honing his sound, White left the construction business behind to focus on his music, which finally helped pave his way to success. His high-energy mix of country, blues, folk and rock hit big with the 2016 album Sparks, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard
Country charts. $25-$79, 8 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — DC
Thursday, Aug. 15
Pharcyde
Long-running rap group Pharcyde sprung from South Central LA onto the national scene in 1991 thanks to an irreverent, humorous and soulful take on hip-hop. Subsequent tours with De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, along with a spot at Lollapalooza solidified the act’s fanbase, launching several singles into the upper reaches of the Billboard charts. The group eventually fractured but has soldiered on with some of its original members. Expect classic, fun, catchy hip-hop from one of the surviving groups of a bygone era. $35, 8 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — BB
Friday, Aug. 16
Mohama Saz, True Indigo, John Charlie’s Heavy Love
Madrid, Spain’s Mohama Saz headlines this showcase billed as “World Psych Night.” The group’s sound pleasingly blurs boundaries as analog synths rub up against seductive rhythms and the non-Western scales of North Africa and
the Eastern Mediterranean. Much of Mohama Saz’s sound feels like a highlight of late-’60s Anatolian psych, a preferred time and place for aficionados and a clear influence on beloved and trippy modern-day act Khruangbin. SA trippers True Indigo and John Charlie’s Heavy Love round out this excellent bill of modern psych-rock. $18, 8 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — BB
Saturday, Aug. 17
Cactus Lee, Sunjammer Cactus Lee, the songwriting vehicle for veteran Austin musician Kevin Dehan, has been charming the hippest of the hip for several years running. His songwriting is simple, precise, moving, witty and classic Texas — think of Hoyt Axton and Jerry Jeff Walker cutting a record together with a four-track recording device. Local psych-rockers Sunjammer conjure classic ’70s stoner grooves ranging from the Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72 to the one-off cult classic Relatively Clean Rivers $10, 9:30 p.m., The Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St. Mary’s St., thelonesomerose.com. — BB
Sunday, Aug. 18
Ian McConnell, Plum Tongue San Antonio is one of the first stops on kitschy singer-songwriter and social-media personality Ian McConnell’s coast-to-coast tour. Described as a “Kroger-brand Ed Sheeran” for both his look and sound, he’s become a social media celeb thanks to his goofy, off-kilter look at the world. It’s difficult to separate schtick from talent when it comes to McConnell, but give his 2022 single “Friends” a listen to hear the sincerity of his lyrics removed from the zany package. $15, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — DC There I Ruined It
There I Ruined It, musician Dustin Ballard’s online project, went viral thanks to its hilarious and bizarre mashups of presumably incongruous artists and genres — from performing Metallica as children’s music to a swing version of Nirvana’s “Come As You Are.” Given that those creations have emerged as some of the Internet’s most hilarious viral moments, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with There I Ruined It. For this special tour, a live band will bring those creations to life. Expect familiar songs in a horrifying new context — and be ready to laugh a lot. $15, 6 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx. com. — BB
Instagram / mikedimes
“Count the Rings”--while you’re over there. by Matt Jones
