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in this issue
Issue 24-20 /// October 2 - 15, 2024
31 Feature
Stone Free
Experience Hendrix tour heading to San Antonio after five-year hiatus
07 News The Opener News in Brief
City Search
Did an assistant city manager meddle in the hiring process for San Antonio’s new Animal Care Services director?
Bad Takes
Running San Antonio’s government ‘more like a business’ isn’t the solution to our problems
15 Calendar
Our picks of things to do
19 Arts
Still Adjusting Culture
San Antonio’s retrospective for Chicano artist Rolando Briseño highlights a groundbreaking career
23 Screens
Big Name, Big Heart
Actress Emilia Jones talks about spending time in Texas with whistleblower Reality Winner
25 Food
Tasty Return
San Antonio’s Thai Curry shows there’s more to explore in Southeast Asian cuisine
Restaurant and Bar News
Botika chef-owner Geronimo Lopez takes over Hotel Emma’s culinary program
Restaurant chain Haywire bringing farm-to-fork fare to La Cantera
34 Music
Dark Side of the Mind
Brazil’s much-praised Crypta bringing its powerful take on death metal to San Antonio
On the Cover: The Experience Hendrix Tour will hit San Antonio’s Majestic Theatre on Wednesday, Oct. 9, to pay tribute to the iconic guitarist. Design: Ana Paula Gutierrez.
HAn Austin jury last week cleared five of the six supporters of former President Donald Trump who were accused of breaking federal law when they surrounded a Joe Biden campaign bus on I-35 in October of 2020. The jury found that of all the defendants, only one, Eliazar Cisneros, was liable for using intimidation to prevent Biden surrogates from advocating for their candidate. Cisneros has been ordered to pay $40,000 in damages, which his lawyer said he will appeal.
San Antonio’s Animal Care Services department will stop its practice of deleting critical comments on social media, the city a orney said last week. The announcement came after the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) sent a le er to the department accusing it of violating the First Amendment. FIRE found that the department deleted some 800 comments from its Facebook page in May, roughly 80% of which condemned its euthanasia policy.
CPS Energy’s J.K. Spruce coal plant is among the 50 worst-polluting industrial sites in the country, according to a new study by three leading environmental groups. The analysis, based on 2022 federal emissions data, found that Texas as a state was responsible for the most greenhouse gas emissions that year — emi ing more than California and Florida, the second and third-highest emi ing states, combined. In response to the study, CPS Energy said it is working to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
HCards Against Humanity has sued SpaceX for $15 million, alleging Elon Musk’s company trespassed on and damaged land the game company owns in South Texas. According to a petition filed in Cameron County state district court, SpaceX used Cards Against Humanity-owned land three miles from its rocket launch site in Boca Chica as a construction-staging area in violation of no-trespassing signs and without seeking permission. Cards Against Humanity purchased the land in 2017 in an effort to stop the construction of a border wall. — Abe Asher
YOU SAID IT!
“We are going to get into a situation where people are empowered to discriminate against these kids.”
Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.
Fresh off tweeting that Vice President Kamala Harris used “witchcraft” to whip Donald Trump’s ass in their recent debate, Dallas televangelist Lance Wallnau has launched a traveling roadshow to break swing-state “demonic strongholds” that may cost Trump the election.
Wallnau — a self-avowed Christian nationalist — is partnering with fellow MAGA evangelist Mario Murillo to spearhead the Courage Tour, which according to online site Right Wing Watch, will stage multi-day events that combine political rallies with “miracle healings.”
In between calling for Christian rule of the U.S. and spewing anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments, Wallnau has spread plenty of outrageous claims about Harris as a candidate. For example, he’s accused her of representing “the spirit of Jezebel” and being “the devil’s choice” at the ballot box, Right Wing Watch reports.
Given Wallnau’s propensity for spewing hate and hot air, it’s easy to dismiss the Courage Tour as an exercise in grandstanding and moving spiritual snake-oil. But Team Trump appears to see real opportunity in using the extreme-right evangelist to fire up a snake-handling base.
To that end, Trump vice presidential nominee and Hillbilly Elegy author Sen. JD Vance appeared last Saturday at the Courage Tour’s stop in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, where he was joined by roughly two-dozen other far-right figures, including U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Texas pseudo-historian and Assclown Alert alum David Barton.
Interesting since Vance penned a 2016 Washington Post op-ed accusing U.S. evangelicals of failing the white working class by spinning conspiracy theories and ginning up paranoia rather promot-
ing healing and community.
“Mr. Trump, like too much of the church, offers li le more than an excuse to project complex problems onto simple villains,” Vance wrote at the time.
“Yet the white working class needs neither more finger-pointing nor more fiery sermons.”
What should be apparent by now is that Vance, who once called Trump “America’s Hitler,” is nothing more than a low-rate conman willing to align himself with any stripe of extremist assclown, so long as they further his political aspirations. —
Sanford Nowlin
A plan to connect Austin, San Antonio and Nuevo Leon, Mexico, via high speed rail is picking up steam. A meeting of the Texas Passenger Rail Advisory Commi ee last week included representatives not just from Austin and San Antonio, but also from the northern Mexican state. But while Mexico’s federal government has invested heavily in rail in recent years, it remains to be seen whether the Texas Legislature would have any interest in funding such a project.
An anti-LGBTQ+ school voucher advocate is on leave from his position at a right-wing lobbying organization after clips of him performing in gay porn videos a decade ago resurfaced online. Corey DeAngelis, a regular contributor to Fox News, has been an ally of Gov. Greg Abbo
in the Republican governor’s bid to pass a school voucher bill in Texas. A PAC formed by DeAngelis’ organization ran ads targeting 12 anti-voucher Republicans in the leadup to the March primary.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is suing the owner of Ingram Park Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram for failing to protect two female employees from harassment and discrimination. According to the suit, filed last week in district court in San Antonio, owner Benson Enterprises also created a hostile work environment. The EEOC is seeking damages and back pay for the two women and asking that one of the women, who was fired, be reinstated or additionally compensated. — Abe Asher
Shutterstock / lev radin
Twitter @lancewallnau
City Search
Did an assistant city manager meddle in the hiring process for San Antonio’s new Animal Care Services director?
BY MICHAEL KARLIS
San Antonio Assistant City Manager David McCary used his position to give preferential treatment to one applicant to lead the city’s troubled Animal Care Services department while potentially holding back another, critics charge, pointing to city email correspondence.
McCary’s alleged efforts to sway the hiring process came despite the city signing a $30,000 contract with Pennsylvania-based executive-recruiting firm Affion Public in January to conduct an independent search for the position. The city is still in the midst of a search to replace ACS Director Shannon Sims who resigned
in May.
According to emails between City of San Antonio Executive Recruiter
Jeff Baldwin and Affion Public CEO Scott Reilly obtained by the Current, the city government outsourced ACS’s director search to the recruiting agency because McCary himself didn’t want to give potential candidates the feeling that there was any outside influence in the hiring process.
“[McCary] is very sensitive on how things can be perceived with the process with this particular position,” Baldwin said in an April 29 email to Reilly.
Even so, other electronic correspondence obtained by the Current suggest that McCary told Baldwin in conversation to order Affion Public’s
Reilly to move District 1 ACS Advisory Board Member Charlene Ducote onto the finalist list, bumping another potentially more qualified candidate from outside the Alamo City from consideration.
That request came despite Affion making an earlier determination that Ducote wasn’t qualified enough for the position, according to emails.
What’s more, city correspondence shows that McCary appeared to have told Baldwin that a separate ACS director candidate, Christy Ortiz-Andrews, became confrontational with him when asking about her job application. McCary later recanted that story in a letter to someone in his own department.
In a statement to the Current,
Ortiz-Andrews accused McCary of “single-handedly influencing the candidate pool with his biased and unprofessional conduct.”
In an emailed statement to the Current , McCary declined to comment on why he felt the need to push Ducote ahead of the final round of interviews, or why he changed his story about his interaction with Ortiz-Andrews.
Despite the city’s pricy contract with Affion Public to conduct the candidate search and interview process, McCary said, “It is ultimately the City’s responsibility to vet and choose the next director of Animal Care Services.”
City Manager Erik Walsh didn’t respond to the Current’s request for
Michael Karlis
comment.
Public money
San Antonio began its search for a new ACS director last December. It launched the effort after then-ACS Director Sims said he planned to retire sometime during the summer but would stay on to train the new hire if needed.
Sims’ two-and-a-half-year tenure became mired in controversy after a series of headline-grabbing dog a acks, and he retired earlier than expected. Sims left in May after giving an acerbic speech at an ACS Advisory Board meeting, during which he referred to those leaving critical comments on the department’s Facebook page as “social media terrorists.”
Watchdog group Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) this summer accused ACS of violating residents’ First Amendment rights by deleting critical comments from its Facebook page. City A orney Andy Segovia earlier this month said ACS will no longer remove such comments.
Despite ACS posting the job listing for the director position on the city website in December, only 18 potential candidates applied within the next month, McCary said at a May meeting of the department’s advisory board. In January, “a decision was made” to hire Affion Public to help conduct a national search and vet candidates for the job, McCary also said at that gathering.
Affion Public’s contract with the city included three payments of $9,333, according to records obtained by the Current. The city made the first of those once the company launched its search, and the second came when it provided a selection of candidates.
The last payment, which is still outstanding, will be paid after the city hires a new ACS director, records show.
“The City of San Antonio sometimes uses executive search firms to help hire high-level positions, such as this critical role in Animal Care Services,” city officials said in a statement to the Current on the process. “This allows the City of San Antonio to tap into search firms’ expertise in specific industries and national networks to help find a diverse and highly qualified slate of candidates for consideration. Ultimately, the city will choose the next director of Animal Care Services.”
‘Short list of candidates’
MIndeed, City Manager Walsh — McCary’s boss — will make the final decision who becomes the next ACS director, according to city officials.
However, email correspondence makes it appear that McCary, who acts as a liaison between ACS and Walsh as part of his city position, disregarded Affion’s recommendation and urged the contractor to move forward a candidate previously deemed unqualified.
On April 15, city recruiter Baldwin emailed Affion Public CEO Reilly asking about the status of ACS D1 Advisory Board member Ducote’s applications for the director position.
“Per our conversation — David McCary was asking about Charlene Ducote,” Baldwin said in the email. “Can you tell me what sort of process she went through with you guys and/or any information you have regarding her candidacy[?]”
In his reply, Reilly explained that Ducote’s application did “not meet the qualifications we were looking for.”
“I spoke with David [McCary,] and he wants to include her in the screening of his short list of candidates,” Baldwin wrote in response. “He is currently working on a schedule and dates for the screenings.”
Despite Affion’s reservations about Ducote — a University of Texas at San Antonio grad who currently works as a veterinary technician — she made it to a list of final eight finalists for the ACS director position — a job with a salary range of $150,000 to $250,000, according to applications obtained by the Current .
In a separate, April 19 email, Baldwin
told Reilly to replace Esteban Rodriguez, executive director of the Sea le Animal Shelter, with Ducote on the list of finalists.
“We will interview all of the finalists with the exception of Esteban Rodriguez,” Baldwin wrote. “We will instead replace that spot with Charlene Ducote.”
McCary didn’t respond to the Current’s questions about why he intervened in Affion Public’s recruiting process or why he singled out Ducote, only saying via email that “it is ultimately the city’s responsibility to vet and choose the next director of Animal Care Services.”
Ducote couldn’t be reached for comment by press time.
‘Something
must be done’
While McCary’s intervention appeared to give Ducote a leg-up in the hiring process, another candidate for ACS director, Christy Ortiz-Andrews — an applicant with two master’s degrees from the University of Texas at San Antonio — alleges the assistant city manager worked to push back her application.
At the end of an April ACS Advisory Board meeting, Ortiz-Andrews approached McCary to discuss her application, saying she hadn’t yet heard back from the city, a source familiar with the ma er told the Current. The person declined to be named over concerns about legal repercussions.
That source, who witnessed the interaction between McCary and Ortiz-Andrews, described it as being cordial and civil.
Even so, Baldwin told Affion’s Reilly in an April 24 email that Ortiz-Andrews “confronted” McCary after the meeting.
“She wasn’t too happy about not being referred as a finalist or something along those lines,” Baldwin wrote.
However, in a September le er to Interim Assistant to the City Manager Joe Frank Picazo, McCary appeared to change the official tune about the encounter.
“At no time did I feel Ms. Andrews was confrontational in my conversation with her,” McCary wrote. “Andrews was not confrontational in my conversation with her. Ms. Andrews was very professional and was only seeking clarification in the recruitment process.”
In her statement to the Current, Ortiz-Andrews accused McCary of meddling in the hiring process and a empting to smear her.
“Nobody wins when two stories don’t converge, but when an employer’s comments become disqualifying and defamato-
ry, something must be done to mitigate it.”
Where the process stands
As of press time, the official line from the city is that the search for a new ACS Director is ongoing. However, that statement also may be a bit misleading.
On July 1, officials hastily announced that the city wouldn’t be hiring either of the two finalists for the ACS director position — Monica Dangler, director of Tucson’s Pima Animal Care Center, and Aaron Johnson, executive director of Montgomery County Animal Care Services near Houston.
“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,” San Antonio City Manager Walsh said. “The process will continue until the best candidate is found.”
Despite Walsh’s comments, San Antonio Deputy Director of Human Resources Krystal Strong on July 2 informed Johnson, who only holds an associate degree from Houston Community College, that he’s still the city’s preferred candidate to take the position.
“Although the recruitment process is ongoing, you have not been removed from consideration,” Strong wrote. “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 the year and may impact our anticipated timeline.”
Dangler didn’t receive a similar email. Further complicating ma ers, Johnson was accused of wrongfully euthanizing 70 animals confiscated from a hoarder north of Houston in September 2018. Johnson was placed on administrative leave from his job in Montgomery County, but he was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing.
Emails obtained by the Current show that the city and McCary were aware of the accusations once made against Johnson, according to a background check conducted by Affion Public. The company shared that background check with city officials, the correspondence shows.
The city has released no official timeline showing when a new ACS director might be hired. In the meantime, former San Antonio Development Services Department chief Michael Shannon has been leading the department.
Running San Antonio’s government ‘more like a business’ isn’t the solution to our problems
BY KEVIN SANCHEZ
Editor’s Note: Bad Takes is a column of opinion and analysis.
Anyone who advocates running government like a business must never have been put on hold by an insurance company or cable provider.
During a recent online group chat the Express-News conducted with District 8 Councilman and mayoral candidate Manny Pelaez, Metro Editor Greg Jefferson posed a question from an a endee.
“The NCAA’s Final Four, which I believe is next year, has delayed needed sewer repairs, and Major League Baseball’s timetable has led to initial approval of a new ballpark for the San Antonio Missions without as much public deliberation as there could have been,” Jefferson relayed. ”Does the city government cater too much to corporations, allowing boards of directors elsewhere to define the parameters of our city’s conversation?”
Pelaez was incredulous.
“Yeah, so nobody who voted for the new Missions baseball stadium was in the back room, right?” Where we all kind of talk and hash this out, right? Nobody said, ‘Hey guys, are we catering enough to corporations here? Should we cater more to corporations?’” he said. “Those conversations never happen. It’s a really convenient, you know, way to look at the world and you know, validate your conspiracy theory appetites.”
So, that question constituted a convenient validation of someone’s appetite for conspiracy theories?
Let’s begin with what’s not in dispute.
“The San Antonio Missions are a Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres,” reads an agenda memorandum from San Antonio’s city manager dated Aug. 29. “Since 1994, the team has played home games in Nelson Wolff Stadium.”
Now the problem: “Due to the age of the Stadium, MLB has determined that the facility in its current condition is not suitable for minor league baseball
in the future. MLB requested that the new ownership group have a plan for a new ballpark by August 1.”
After receiving a le er of intent on that plan signed by Mayor Ron Nirenberg and County Judge Peter Sakai, the MLB further requested “a more binding detailed commitment from the parties by October 15.”
That explains why San Antonio must have a new stadium to keep our minor league team, and it also helps explain why, given MLB’s proffered timetable, the conversation has felt rushed to so many constituents.
“People have been talking about this project, but they haven’t been talking to us and with us,” Graciela Sánchez, director of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, informed City Council at a special session a week before the project’s approval. She concluded her allo ed time with choice words: “This is bullshit.”
What’s inarguable is this: MLB “determined,” then MLB “requested,” and in response, the owners and city planners have worked behind the scenes “to supply what is required or desired.”
That’s the dictionary definition of “catering.”
While closing big deals and revitalizing urban blight is difficult, community involvement can’t just mean giving folks a PowerPoint presentation of what’s already been decided — no ma er how lovely or lucrative.
As for the Band-Aid solution in lieu of replacing century-old pipes under South Alamo Street to accommodate tourists expected during the Final Four, Pelaez admirably confessed to Jefferson “the city stumbled on that one” and concluded “we can do be er.”
Since the chief of operations for the San Antonio Water System described the sewer situation as “a ticking time bomb,” keep your fingers crossed that by eventually “doing be er,” we can avert a literal shitstorm.
In response to Pelaez, the reason
elected leaders don’t sit around asking themselves, ‘Should we cater more to corporations?’ is because catering to corporations is the default factory se ing for most of them.
Touting his experience as a corporate a orney, Pelaez likes to brag that he was “created in a test tube at Toyota.” It’s no wonder then that when multi-billion-dollar corporations want him to do their bidding, he’s more than happy.
“We need to run the city like a business to get the ultimate efficiencies out of it,” former homebuilder and Morgan’s Wonderland founder Gordon Hartman told Texas Public Radio journalist David Martin Davies earlier this month. Hartman is co-chair of the RenewSA political action commi ee, which is iceskating uphill to win voter support for six amendments to the city charter on the Nov. 5 ballot.
If the vote were held today, a majority of likely Bexar County voters would find out about the various amendments in the voting booth itself. Only 19% of those surveyed had even heard of the proposed changes, according to mid-September polling by the UTSA Center for Public Opinion Research.
Most favored cleaning up charter language to edit outdated terms, for example, but a mere 17% said they
would vote to remove the city manager’s tenure limit and salary cap. This despite San Antonio political consultant Eddie Aldrete telling listeners to his podcast that unbridled CEO compensation “seems to have fairly unanimous support from the business community.”
It’s tough for me to blame this disconnect on the people. No ma er how many choices a business offers consumers — paper or plastic, window or aisle, supersizing the meal — those pale in comparison to genuine co-participation in decisions which affect our lives. Civics is irreducible to commerce, and citizens aren’t customers content to drop a comment in the suggestion box every couple years.
“Good government is efficient,” the editorial board of that socialist rag the Financial Times wrote back in 2017, but it’s “also equitable and transparent and accountable to the broad electorate. These various constraints” mean “management approaches native to business often fall at the first governmental hurdle.
“The government should not be run like a great company,” the board continued. “It should be run like a great democracy, which is much harder to do.”
Michael Karlis
THURSDAY, OCT 24 21+ ONLY
WED | 10.02TUES | 11.02
THE ART AND SCIENCE OF MARGARET CRAIG
Remarkable skilled printmaker, multimedia artist and scientist Margaret Craig has been named The San Antonio Art League + Museum’s Artist of the Year and her exhibition, The Art and Science of Margaret Craig, is currently on view in the group’s King William space. Craig ‘s work speaks to the delicate balance of eco-structures that are subjected to endless cycles of post-consumer waste. Although delicate and seemingly fragile, her work both mimics and bears the scars of this constant interaction in a real and profound way. “My work is rooted in the symbiotic eco-structure we all precariously live in and involves an elaborate, possibly excessive, process that (re)cycles the original post-consumer paper and plastic through several art forms and media, including acrylic, watercolor, printmaking, marbling, papermaking and sculpture,” Craig said in a statement. Her imagery, though derived from nature, includes the waste of commercial products, revealing the traces of branding embedded far beyond logic and reason. On First Friday, the space will host a performance by Craig thematically tethered to the exhibition, which closes Nov. 2. Free, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, The San Antonio Art League + Museum, 130 King William St., (210) 973-4188, saalm@saalm.org, saalm. org. — Anjali Gupta
THU | 10.03THU | 10.31
THEATER
THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW
The Rocky Horror Show is time-warping back to the San Antonio stage this month. The production, which debuted in London’s West End in 1973, was once widely derided for its brazen sex positivity, gender fluidity and embrace of the glam-rock counterculture. However, it’s since achieved cult status and is beloved
by millions for the very same reasons. Its film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Meatloaf and others is now a worldwide cultural mainstay enjoyed as a background as costumed fans act out the onscreen happenings. Take your pick on genre. It’s all in good fun. The San Pedro Playhouse’s production promises true-to-source raunch, and the production is therefore limited to audiences 18 and older. IDs will be checked at the door. $35-$55, 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Saturday, San Pedro Playhouse, 800 W. Ashby Place, (210) 733-7258, sanpedroplayhouse. org. — Caroline Wol
Courtesy Image Margaret Craig
Courtesy Image / San Pedro Playhouse
THU | 10.03MON | 11.04
SPECIAL EVENT
COMMUNITY OFRENDA
When the fake cobwebs have come down, colored porch lights replaced and Halloween candy goes on closeout, San Antonio will welcome back Día de los Muertos, a centuries-old tradition of remembrance and reverence for deceased loved ones — a custom native to the lands we inhabit. In accordance with a mission to preserve and commemorate the past, the Briscoe Western Art Museum is assembling its annual community ofrenda . Upon admission into the museum, all guests are invited to leave photos, mementos and personal offerings on the altar. Throughout the month of October, the Briscoe also will host classes where guests can learn how to make a variety of culturally specific crafts, including sugar skulls and piñatas. Pre-registration is available at the museum’s website. Free, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Monday, Briscoe Western Art Museum, 210 W Market St., (210) 299-4499, briscoemuseum. org. — CW
FRI | 10.11SUN | 10.13
SPECIAL EVENT
BIG TEXAS COMICON
It’s time to sweep the leg, San Antonio. The biggest draw at the Big Texas Comicon this year is the cast of the Netflix series Cobra Kai, which will step confidently onto the convention floor like it’s the All-Valley Karate Tournament. The cast will even include OG rivals Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) from the 1984 movie The Karate Kid. Joining them is actor Xolo Maridueña, who plays Miguel Diaz in Cobra Kai and also kicked butt as the titular superhero character in Blue Beetle. If martial arts isn’t your thing, plenty more celebrities will be on hand during the threeday celebration, including a pair of hobbits — Elijah
Wood and Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) — and a handful of biker gangsters including Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy), JD Pardo (Mayans M.C.) and San Antonio native Emilio Rivera (Sons of Anarchy and Mayans M.C.). Blue Beetle’s Maridueña will even have fellow superheroes to hang with during the convention, including Jon Bernthal (The Punisher), Charlie Cox (Daredevil) and Ron Perlman (Hellboy). What’s more, a huge “Shellabration” with actors like Judith Hoag (April O’Neil) from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe is on the agenda. Every celebrity in attendance will have paid autograph and photo opportunities, so be sure to practice the correct stance for the original movie’s famous crane kick if that’s the pose you’re going for. No mercy. $30-$35 adults, $5 children (ages 3-10), 2 p.m.-8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, Henry B. González Convention Center, 900 E Market St, (210) 207-8500, bigtexascomicon.com.
— Kiko Martinez
Courtesy Photo / Briscoe Western Art Museum
Courtesy Photo / Netflix
SAT | 10.12
SPECIAL EVENT
RUBY CITY’S 5TH ANNIVERSARY
Ruby City this month will celebrate five years of dedication to San Antonio’s creative community. The board and staff invite residents to be their guests of honor for the occasion, which will feature Los Angeles-based artist Jeffrey Vallance. In honor of founder Linda Pace’s obsession with the deep interpretation of dreams, this celebration includes a workshop led by local creative writing coach Leigh Baldwin, sweets by micro-bakery Geranium Club,
a champagne toast on the plaza, a performance by Mariachis Damas de Jalisco and, finally, a seance led by Vallance. Known for blurring the lines between artist and curator, Vallance will host the seance in the form of an “artist spirit” panel, working with mediums to channel the spirits of three artists — Niki de Saint Phalle, Joan Mitchell and Linda Pace — for what he anticipates to be a lively discussion about art and artmaking in the great beyond. A full schedule of the day’s events is on the Ruby City website and an RSVP is recommended for the seance. Free, 4-9 p.m., Ruby City, 150 Camp St., (210) 227-8400, rubycity.org. — Anjali Gupta
Blues legend Robert Johnson has a special connection to San Antonio: some of his only recordings were made in the historic, and supposedly haunted, Gunter Hotel. A ghostly, supernatural aura seems to radiate from Johnson’s life and music. As the story goes, he met the devil at the proverbial crossroads and sold his soul for the ability to master the blues. Originally performed at Jumpstart in December of last year, San Antonio artist and musician Fred Himes’ stage show Devil at the Crossroads — Storytelling in Blues has a unique take on this mythic history and combines original music, animation and the ramblings of a fictional “rival” of Johnson, one Virgil T. Honeybone. Honeybone also serves as an unreliable yet compelling narrator for this flight of fancy. $10, 7-9 p.m., La Zona Cultural, 337 W. Commerce St., (210) 212-9373, centrosanantonio.org/zona-cultural. — Neil Fauerso
Jojo Dancer Photography / Anthony Garcia
5-year Anniversary Celebration: Dreams, Champagne, Mariachis & a Séance!
Saturday October 12, 2024
Ruby4-9pm City, 150 Camp Street, San Antonio,TX 78204
Ruby City celebrates five years with a dream interpretation workshop, cake, champagne, and a special séance with Los Angeles artist Jeffrey Vallance.
Event Schedule: 4pm – Dream Interpretation workshop in Chris Park – limited space, RSVP required 5pm – Remarks, cake, champagne toast in Ruby City’s Plaza 5:30-6:30pm – Mariachis Damas de Jalisco, Ruby City Plaza 7pm – Séance with Je rey Vallance in Ruby City Sculpture Garden
Guests can stay for some or
Still Adjusting Culture
San Antonio’s retrospective for Chicano artist Rolando
Briseño highlights a groundbreaking career
BY MARCO AQUINO
The latest show to open at the City of San Antonio’s Centro de Artes gallery, “Dining with Rolando Briseño: A Fifty Year Retrospective,” is a fi ing celebration of the Chicano artist.
The show, curated by Ruben C. Cordova, runs through Feb. 9 and features more than 75 works that span the breadth of San Antonio-born Briseño’s decades-long career.
During that time, Briseño would go on to become an activist, food historian and “cultural adjuster.” He was one of the last members to join the seminal art collective Con Safo during the 1970s and was heavily
influenced by artist Mel Casas.
Briseño also was the partner of San Antonio artist Angel Rodriguez Diaz, who died last year. The powerhouse couple often created highly political works concerned with the advancement and preservation of both LGBTQ+ rights and Latino culture.
“Together, they worked to make San Antonio a be er and more beautiful place,” curator Cordova said.
Among the works in Centro de Artes’ exhibition are the artist’s first painting at age 17, several prints created while Briseño was part of Con Safo and a large sculpture of Saint
Anthony once displayed in front of the Alamo during a performance piece.
At the heart of the exhibition, though, are Briseño’s works incorporating food.
Moctezuma’s Table
One of the highlights is Corn Tortilla Twin Towers, a model replica of the World Trade Center created from more than 300 corn tortillas and pigmented with red chilies. The work is an homage to “los hijos de maiz,” the many undocumented immigrants who Briseño believes worked as dishwashers and busboys at the World Trade Center and never returned home.
“Corn is thought to be the grain of sustenance,” Cordova said. “In fact, some people have theorized that it was the development of corn, and the calories it provided and nutritional value, that allowed for the rise of the great Mesoamerican civilizations, beginning with the Olmec.”
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The Aztec emperor Moctezuma often dined from more than 300 dishes, according to Spanish accounts. Briseño was angered by 19th century ethnologist Lewis Henry Morgan who claimed that information was false. Morgan insisted that all Indigenous Americans only ate a communal stew cooked in a large ke le.
Briseño’s disapproval of the manner in which Mexican food was denigrated led him to create a series of works that treated all aspects of Mesoamerican food from cultivation to worldwide decimation.
“He wanted to show not only the importance and sophistication of food in pre-Columbian society but also how it was selectively bred and how it later impacted the world,” Cordova explained.
In the large-scale scale painting Tabasco, Briseño incorporates a variety of pop-art elements — the use of text, an emphasis
on name brands and focus on mundane household items — as he depicts the label on a bo le of Tabasco hot sauce. The work protests the brand’s use of the word “pepper” instead of the word “chile,” a choice Briseño perceived as a denial of the sauce’s main ingredient and its Mexican origins.
Tablescapes
Briseño grew up in a traditional household where family members ate around the dinner table and meals were a time for sharing and discussion. After leaving for college, he was shocked to see that students often ate in front of the TV.
“It gave him such a jolt that it became the engine for his Tablescapes series,” Cordova said. “He further imagined that there was going to be an increasing amount of devices and technology that
were going to invade the table.”
As a result, works in the series depict TV remotes placed alongside spoons and forks and microwaves juxtaposed with television sets.
In Games People Play, Briseño shows two men who sit in front of each other but avoid each other’s gaze so they can focus on figures on monitors that could be either TVs or computer screens. Again, the artist is commenting on the distraction from interpersonal communication and alienation caused by modern technology.
“One of the big transitions came in the ’60s, when families were watching the evening news during dinnertime while the Vietnam War took place,” Cordova said. “That’s when there was this migration to the TV screen during what they called the first televised war. It really
commanded a ention.”
Works from Briseño’s Celestial Tablescapes series are displayed toward the back of the gallery and in a separate room. Many of the works in that series depict nude male and female figures. While a simple, nondescript warning sign at the entrance is easy to miss, it nonetheless marks immense progress by the city in displaying the nude figure.
The incorporation of the Celestial Tablescapes works certainly is a long way from the nationwide scandal that ensued when city officials chose to remove a work featuring nudity from its “XicanX: New Visions” exhibition in 2020.
For these reasons and more, it’s vital that we appreciate and celebrate the work of artists such as Briseño, whose work continues to push boundaries and question cultural norms.
Free, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, noon-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through Feb. 9, 2025. Centro de Artes Gallery, 101 S. Santa Rosa Ave., (210) 207-6960, sa.gov/arts.
OCT 26TH ¡ FREE ! OCT 27TH
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Big Name, Big Heart
Actress Emilia Jones talks about spending time in Texas with whistleblower Reality Winner
BY KIKO MARTINEZ
It was British actress Emilia Jones’s first trip to Texas when she met Reality Winner, the woman she was cast to play in the dark comedy biopic, Winner
The film tells the story of Winner, an NSA translator who was sent to federal prison after leaking an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Jones traveled to Kingsville for about four days. During that time, she hung out with Winner at her home and met all her animals, including a pack of rescued dogs and a horse named Trouble.
“Reality’s got a big heart,” Jones, 22, told the Current during a recent interview.
Jones even went with Winner to her yoga and CrossFit classes to prove that she could capture every aspect of her life, including her athleticism. That part didn’t work out too well for Jones, however.
“She’s super fit, and she loves sports, so I signed up for both of those classes,” she said. “And then, I instantly regre ed it because I’m not as fit as her.”
What Jones didn’t regret was ge ing to know Winner “on a personal level,” which she considers “important for the film” in many ways.
“We were trying to humanize her,” she said. “There’s no one like Reality.”
During our interview, Jones, who’s known for her breakout role in the 2021 Oscar-winning drama CODA , talked about why she thinks Winner’s story is unknown by many people and how she feels about someone who undertook such a polarizing act.
Winner is currently streaming on on-demand platforms.
Were there any concerns going into a film like Winner knowing this would be the first time you’d play a real person?
As an actor, you read the material, and you think, “OK, how would this person feel in this situation?” or “Do I have the experience to draw from?” I got to hang out with [Reality] before we started shooting, so I could talk to her about her experience and get to know her as a person. Humans are complicated.
What did you learn about her?
Reality’s coping mechanism is comedy. She’s a very calm person, but there’s a lot going on underneath the surface. So, it was really interesting for me to tap into that. That was a major draw. I really enjoyed playing a real person.
Since this was your first time in Texas, did anything strike you about the state in particular?
(Laughs.) There were a lot of cowboy boots. I felt very British. [Reality] has a lot of land, and she has a li le swing on her deck. I feel that’s very American and very Texas.
Why do you think fewer people know about Reality’s story than someone like Edward Snowden or Julian Assange?
Reality was silenced, so she couldn’t talk about what happened and what she did. Online, there’s a lot about her name. I think people were so drawn to her name and how different it was, so people didn’t actually read about what she did. That’s why we wanted to do this film. I think Reality is such an amazing person. What she did for her country and for the American people is so admirable that we wanted to make sure people understood why she did it.
Why do you think Reality’s story lends itself to more of a dark comedy narrative?
was kind of shocked when I read the script, because it was quite funny. I hadn’t met Reality at that point. I was definitely intrigued by the route that filmmakers were taking. I totally understood it because when I met her, I did nothing but laugh. I thought it was a really clever way of showing people Reality’s humor.
Reality went to prison for breaking the law. How do you see her — as a hero or a villain?
Reality definitely inspires me. I think there are two types of people in the world: people who are content in le ing life play out and people that can’t do that and want to fight for what they think is right. Reality is [the la er].
I think it’s extremely admirable. This film has taught me a way of thinking going forward.
You’re only 22 years old, and you’ve already starred in an incredible Oscar-winning film like CODA. What do you look for when deciding on a new project?
I’m always looking for a challenge. I look for characters that I haven’t played before — something different. I always want to learn something from whatever I do. I just did an [so-far untitled] HBO show with [writer and producer] Brad Ingelsby (Mare of Eas own), where I got to have a mullet and have a Delaware County accent. I really like tapping into characters that are almost completely different from myself.
screens
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Tasty Return
San Antonio’s Thai Curry shows there’s more to explore in
Southeast Asian cuisine
BY RON BECHTOL
In the dark days BPE — that’s Before Pearl Era — many of San Antonio’s most rewarding restaurants were Thai.
And yet I have been guilty for a few years now of abandoning the subtle yet scintillating cuisine for the likes of artisan pizza and South Indian stews. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago, when somebody asked me what my favorite Thai restaurant was, that it hit me: I didn’t have one. Not only that, I couldn’t remember the last time I had ordered Panang curry or green papaya salad.
There must be something in the wind, since not long after an acquaintance mentioned a Thai place on Broadway that had escaped my a ention for more than two years. I don’t know if Thai Curry will become my new favorite, but it’s a start at redemption.
Mine, not theirs.
In my defense, the restaurant is easy to miss. Once inside, the neutral-colored décor is forgettable. And the appetizer list offers li le beyond other similar restaurants around town. There’s also a cheese roll with “curry flavored” cream cheese, but I draw the line at cream cheese — even if I am a empting atonement.
Diving deeper into the menu, though, some old favorites appeared. Thinking of it as an appetizer — admi edly, a pricy one at $30 — my equally neglectful dining companion and I landed on duck salad in lieu of yet another crispy calamari in a sweet sauce.
We weren’t disappointed. TC’s kitchen knows its way around duck. Crisp skin cloaked succulent meat, toasty cashews provided contrast and crunch, while a hit of lime balanced out the chili-induced heat. Ordered at a three on a scale of five, we could have gladly suffered just a tad more burn, but beware of adding the marinated chili that comes in a condiment container. That stuff is out to get you.
Thai curries, it should be mentioned, are soupier than, say, their Indian counterparts. There are six such dishes on TC’s menu, including a kabocha squash version begging to be tried another time.
Among them, the green curry — you have a choice of proteins ranging from beef and tofu to soft shell crab or more of that duck — is perhaps the most subtle. For starters, it’s not really green. The coconut milk base takes over from green chili paste in a quietly authoritative way. On reflection, the beautifully tailored vegetables, which included decoratively cut zucchini, diminutive eggplant and more, nearly stole the
show from the sliced chicken breast we chose as our protein. Here, too, we could have used a li le more heat than level three, but it does creep up on you.
Red curry appears on the lunch special menu, and it’s probably fine at the heat level it emerges from the kitchen if you don’t specify. I ordered this one with shrimp, and there was a decent abundance. There was also cubed pineapple, which I had failed to take note of, but I got over it by the bo om of the bowl. Fried rice with a whisper of egg and toasted garlic makes for a nice side option. Ignore the egg roll.
Curries, of course, are to be expected at a Thai restaurant, along with classic soups such as Tom Yum and Tom Kha. But scanning the menu for something unique, the entrée section offered tamarind sauce as an option for the by-nowusual array of vegetables and meats. This was new to me, and though it read as simple, the combination of fruity-puckery tamarind with fried, flour-dipped pork was a match made in some to-be-hoped-for heaven. Equally simple
THAI CURRY
steamed vegetables helped elevate this dish to a plateau far above any stickily smothered sweet and sour you will have encountered before. No number of Hail Mary equivalents for having neglected Thai food would be enough without an order of the ultimate palate-scouring plate that is green papaya salad. It’s been my undoing more than once in the past. Thai Curry offers the option of an E-San — or Esan/Isaan — version hailing from Northeastern Thailand, a region known for sticky rice and bold flavors. When I asked about it, I was told that it was “stinky” and I wouldn’t like it. Of course I had to order it.
The “stink” apparently comes from an anchovy-based fish sauce, and though it’s noticeable, it doesn’t overwhelm. A squeeze of lime helps even out the flavors of the basically bland-butcrunchy green papaya and the exquisitely incendiary chilies, all accompanied by shrimp and shredded carrot. Even for those not repenting, this is a good test of world cuisine credentials.
Are you up for it?
8210 Broadway, (210) 888-1155, thaicurrysa.com
Hours: 11 a.m-3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon-9 p.m. Saturday
Best Bets: Curries, duck salad, papaya salad, tamarind pork
The Lowdown: The dining room is a somber gray at Thai Curry, but the food manages to sparkle in spite of that. You can safely ignore most appetizers, but drill down on the varied curries, the salads such as duck and green papaya and entrees the likes of pork in a tangy, sour-ish tamarind sauce for a treat. Exploratory eaters may also want to consider Thai drunken noodles, several noodle soups with fried garlic and the classic Thai soups such as Tom Yum and Tom Kha.
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Ben Vargas
Botika chef-owner Geronimo Lopez takes over Hotel Emma’s culinary program
BY SANFORD NOWLIN
Geronimo Lopez, chef-owner of recently shu ered Botika at the Pearl, has landed on his feet — and not terribly far from his previous culinary venture.
Lopez, a James Beard Award nominee, has joined the Pearl’s Hotel Emma as executive chef, according to officials with the luxury hotel. The announcement comes days after the property won a prestigious Two Key rating from the Michelin hotel guide.
A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Lopez has worked in culinary and management positions at luxury hotels and resorts in Europe, Mexico and Hawaii, including several Michelin-Star establishments in France. He’s also enjoyed a national media spotlight through appearances on Food Network’s Chopped
and Beat Bobby Flay.
“I am thrilled and honored to be joining the Hotel Emma team. I’ve long admired the property and believe it truly embodies luxury and best-in-class service,” Lopez said in a statement. “I look forward to contributing to the outstanding Hotel Emma brand with my culinary expertise.”
In July, Lopez announced the closure of his eight-year-old Asian-Peruvian restaurant Botika, which grabbed accolades for an innovative mix of sushi, small plates and entrees highlighting Chinese and Japanese influences on Peruvian cuisine. At the time, he declined to discuss the reasons behind the closure.
Under Lopez’s direction, Hotel Emma’s cuisine will “undergo an exciting
Restaurant chain Haywire bringing farm-to-fork fare to La Cantera
BY STEPHANIE KOITHAN
Dallas-based restaurant chain
Haywire is opening a location at San Antonio’s La Cantera this fall, offering locally sourced ingredients, a Texas-proud menu and an immersive dining experience.
Though officials did not specify an opening date, the location will be open sometime in the next couple of months.
The restaurant at 15900 La Cantera Parkway will occupy a sprawling 16,000 square-foot, multi-level space with a capacity of over 400 people. The space will also feature artwork by Texas creatives, including that of San Antonio artist Jonathan Shepherd.
The Haywire menu focuses on farmto-fork cuisine with Texas ingredients and an impressive whiskey and wine list, both local and international.
transformation that underscores the property’s vibrant history and culture,” the property’s management said in a statement.
Hotel Emma’s culinary concepts
“Texas Plates” like the chicken fried steak, 33 oz. Tomahawk ribeye and a selection of Gulf Coast seafood offerings “tell the story of the Lone Star State,” according to Haywire officials.
Haywire also features plenty of Tex-Mex faves such as queso blanco and innovative interpretations like elk tacos. The kitchen is helmed by Chef de Cuisine Abel Sanchez, who comes to Haywire from Brenner’s Steakhouse on the Riverwalk.
Cowboy breakfasts being a staple of Southern comfort food, the restaurant naturally features a hearty brunch menu, served 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Offerings include a crabcake benedict, barbacoa chilaquiles, chicken & waffles and Wagyu pastrami hash.
This will be the first Haywire to open
include farm-to-table American restaurant Supper, cocktail bar Sternewirth and grocery and prepared-foods spot Larder in addition to catering and inroom service.
in San Antonio. The restaurant also has locations in Houston, Dallas and Plano, with an Austin location opening soon as well.
The expansive San Antonio dining destination will include a dedicated wine room and private dining areas, such as an outdoor Airstream that seats
up to 10 for an intimate mealtime experience.
Haywire operates under the auspices of FB Society, the restaurant group behind Velvet Taco, Whiskey Cake, Ida Claire and other concepts launched throughout Texas, with a growing portfolio outside the state as well.
Courtesy Photo / Botika
Instagram / Haywire Restaurants
Stone Free Experience Hendrix tour heading to San Antonio after five-year
hiatus
BY SANFORD NOWLIN
The Experience Hendrix Tour, the all-star tribute to guitar god Jimi Hendrix, is back on the road for the first time in five years.
The tour kicked off Sept. 19 in Hendrix’s hometown of Sea le and will stop at San Antonio’s Majestic Theatre on Wednesday, Oct. 9. Tickets are already on sale.
The Alamo City show will feature Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Eric Johnson, Dweezil Zappa, Dylan Triple , Arthur Menezes and Henri Brown along with Chris Layton of Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Mato Manji from Indigenous, Chuck Campbell and Calvin Cooke from the Slide Brothers, and Noah Hunt and Kevin McCormick from Shepherd’s band.
Musicians including Zakk Wylde, Taj Mahal, Samantha Fish and Stanley Jordan are also
appearing at other stops along the way.
The Current caught up with Shepherd via phone to talk about the Experience Hendrix Tour’s more-than-slight return, its evolving lineup and why new generations continue to be drawn to Hendrix’s art.
This is the first Experience Hendrix tour in five years. Why now, and how’s it feel to be hitting the road with it again?
Before COVID, this tour had generally worked out to be a biannual event. … But then, obviously, COVID happened and shut everything down for everyone. So, that accounts for two of the years, and then everybody needed to get back to work individually. I think all the different artists, everyone needed to get back out on the road and get their business back up and running. And so I think the five-year break is just really that. It was COVID, then just allowing everyone to get back to work and have enough time for things to get back to normal. One of the reasons why this tour has endured over the years is because the artists enjoy doing it so much. We’ve been doing it long enough now where it’s like a big traveling musical family, and there’s a lot of artists that have been a part of this thing for a long time. So we have a lot of history together, but we’re also continuously trying to find new tal-
MKenny Wayne Shepherd is among the musicians performing in San Antonio as part of the Experience Hendrix Tour
ent to bring in and be part of the experience. And so we’ve done that on this tour as well. … Depending on the market, some of the newer artists include Samantha Fish on some shows, we have Christone “Kingfish Ingram” on some shows. … We’re keeping it interesting and having a great time while paying tribute to the greatest of all time.
The Experience Hendrix tour was groundbreaking because it wasn’t a tribute band trying to perfectly recreate Hendrix’s music, but a group of established musicians putting their own spin on the songs. Is it testament to Jimi’s power as a musician that you continue to pull in so many veteran players?
Well, it’s obviously been a very compelling package from the start. In the beginning, it was basically a combination of musicians who played with Hendrix himself, artists that actually influenced Hendrix — like Buddy Guy, for example, because Hendrix studied Buddy Guy’s guitar playing — and then you had art-
ists that were influenced by Hendrix. … Now, over the years it’s evolved.
Back in the day, we had Mitch Mitchell, who was one of Hendrix’s drummers and who did the tour for several years, and then he passed away. And then we had Billy Cox who had been on it for years, and then I believe he’s recently retired from performing. So, time is passing and it’s so important to honor those people and to come see them while they’re still playing. That’s always been my mission in blues music as well. It’s to turn the fans on to these musicians that have inspired me, so people can go check those musicians out while they’re still here to play music.
Now, the tour’s evolved to where we don’t have some of those artists who played with Hendrix, but what we do have — and what really is enduring is Hendrix’s influence — is that you have artists of so many different musical backgrounds, really different genres, coming together. It just goes to show how vast his reach and his influence was with the music that he created in such a short amount of time.
A lot of shit-hot guitar players can amaze fellow shredders but leave regular music fans unimpressed. However, for all his innovation and skill, Hendrix seems to be somebody both musicians and non-musicians continue to be dazzled by. Why do you think that is?
Well, here’s the thing — and that’s always been my approach to my music as well — I’m not one of those technically mind-blowing guitarists that just appeals to the guitar geeks. I’m just not one of those instrumental technicians. And for me as a listener, I always was drawn more to the guitar players I felt were relatable in their talents and in their music. The ones that wrote and recorded music that appealed to more than just the guitar players. And so that’s been my approach. If there’s something special in what I do, it’s not necessarily guitar calisthenics, if you will. My music is based on feel and emotion and evoking that in the listener. … And that’s what Hendrix did as well. He was ahead of his time, probably the most advanced guitar player of his time, but we hadn’t go en to the point where these guys were just playing up and down the neck and all these different complicated scales and finger tapping and all that stuff. That hadn’t even happened yet, really. So he was really, at that time, the most advanced, but guitarists
were still searching, they were still developing rock and roll back then. And I think they were just following their instinct rather than chasing technique. So, ultimately, I think that’s what makes his music more relatable is he was writing songs. He wasn’t trying to teach a guitar clinic when he was playing. He was writing songs to connect with people.
What do you think is the least understood aspect of Hendrix as a musician and songwriter?
We’re a different generation now than they were then, and so the lyrics of some of his songs can seem a bit far out. And you go, “What is this guy talking about? What is he writing about?” And then you dig into it and you learn about his history and learn about his service in the military. And some of the sounds he was coming up with. He was mimicking the sounds of paratroopers jumping out of airplanes, which is really fascinating. This guy heard that sound in real life and then was trying to recreate it on his guitar. And did a really great job doing
it, by the way.
But his lyrics, sometimes they’re a li le far out, and you read about his fascination with science fiction and outer space. … But they’re some of the most incredibly profound songs that have been wri en, and he was an incredible lyricist. Again, some of it’s far out, but the song “Angel” or “Castles Made of Sand” or “Even Purple Haze” and “Voodoo Child.” These are incredible songs that people still enjoy decades later. They were wri en by a guy in his early 20s and in a very short amount of time. I think sometimes his songwriting ability gets overlooked in favor of his guitar playing, but he was the total package.
Do you think that’s why his legacy has endured, why he’s still such an iconic musician all these years later?
Yes. Well, great musicians are great musicians, but the songs are what make a legacy — in all honesty, a massive, long-lasting legacy. Because great songs are great songs no ma er when they’re recorded, and people want to hear them. Classic rock radio is a testament
to that. You hear those songs a million times a week on classic rock radio because they’re great songs and people still enjoy listening to them. They will probably a 100 years from now. And it really boils down to the songs, and Jimi had the songs, for sure.
What song are you most excited to be playing on this tour?
Well, my favorite is we do a medley at the end of my part of the show where we weave together “Voodoo Chile Blues” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” which some people might get confused, but they’re two different songs. One’s a really slow blues song and one’s an uptempo guitar-rock anthem — and we do a medley of those two songs. And I’ve been playing “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” almost every show I’ve ever done since I was 15 years old. So I always enjoy playing that song, but the medley hits a li le harder with both of those songs back to back.
$49 and up, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com.
Brazil’s much-praised Crypta bringing its powerful take on death metal to San Antonio
BY SANFORD NOWLIN
Since coming together in 2019 as an offshoot from long-running Brazilian thrash metal act Nervosa, death metal band Crypta has drawn critical praise for a pair of albums that pay homage to the genre’s roots while pushing it in intense new directions.
The all-female quartet has also earned respect from metal heavyweights such as Morbid Angel, who invited the group onto its previous U.S. tour, and Tobias Forge of Ghost, who praised Cypta as his favorite up-and-coming band.
Crypta will perform Saturday, Oct. 12 at San Antonio’s Vibes Event Center as part of a package tour that also includes headliners Hatebreed along with Carcass and Harm’s Way.
We caught up with Crypta bassist-vocalist Fernanda Lira on the phone after a soundcheck in New Jersey to talk about the band’s lyrical and musical approach, its evolution and the challenges that remain for women musicians in extreme metal.
Crypta is a big stylistic shift from Nervosa. Had you been wanting to take that musical step for quite some time? You were right when you say it’s two completely different worlds. I have to agree with that, and it was on purpose. We actually planned on that, because Crypta was actually supposed to be a side project from when we were still in Nervosa — me and [drummer] Luana [Dame o] — and we just wanted to do something different. We just wanted to have a different creative outlet, and we just didn’t want to play the same genre we were playing in Nervosa, which was thrash metal. We just wanted to shift to something else. Then, thrash and death metal are my two favorite metal genres, and also Luana has always been a death metal drummer, so it was some sort of obvious choice for us, I guess. She played death metal already. I loved death metal already. So I think this was the way to go.
But from the beginning, we intended the band to be more extreme, and overall just different from what we were doing. Then, as we left Nervosa, then we really shaped Crypta into what we wanted it to be. Although it changed a lot from what we initially had planned for Crypta. We wanted to play old school death metal and stuff like that, based on my main influences, which are old-school death metal from Florida, and Luana, who loves old-school death metal from Sweden and stuff like that, but it has evolved from that. I think there’s even some modern elements here and there. It’s more atmospheric. There’s way more melody than what we planned initially, but yeah, still it’s way more extreme than what we were doing there in Nervosa.
Lyrically, the dominant subjects in death metal as a genre tend to be blood, gore and humanity’s propensity for violence. On the other hand, Crypta’s are more focused on personal issues: battling depression and overcoming adversity, for example. Can you talk a little bit about the lyric writing process and if there was ever any debate how to approach lyrics for the new band?
Actually, to me, it was the most challenging part of this whole transition between both bands. Because when it came to songwriting or writing riffs and everything, that was way easier. But when it came to the lyrics, I was exactly thinking like, “OK, I don’t think I have any repertoire to write about demons, guts and gory stuff,” and I don’t judge, because most of my favorite bands talk about that, but it’s just like, I wouldn’t be able to write about that. I was like, “OK, so what kind of dark stuff that still matches death metal could I be talking about?”
And then, at the time, I was going through some hardships, and that was inspirational to me.
So, I was like, “OK. I think I can still approach the darkness and gloomy vibes that death metal kind of requires from lyrics, but still talking about personal stuff, and also stuff that lots of people could maybe feel represented by — or that people could relate to in a way.” So that was the path I chose. I was, instead of exploring darkness in a way that people are usually doing in death metal — just because I can’t do it — I just went for what I felt more comfortable about, which is the psyche, the mind and the dark aspects of our existence — more philosophical stuff like that. And also, in
the beginning, on our first record, Echoes of the Soul, you can still see some protest songs, like more political songs. Those protest songs were just reminiscent from Nervosa times. … Because I was writing protest songs for a decade, it was very natural — organic to me — and I couldn’t help but still having a couple of them in our first record, but then on our second album, Shades of Sorrow, I think that when I reached what I wanted. That’s when I felt more comfortable with what I was creating. I was like, “OK, so this is what I’ve been wanting to do.”
ShadesofSorrowalso is big musical jump from EchoesoftheSoul. It feels more complex, more intense and the melodies are more distinct. How did that evolve?
I think there’s two main factors. The first thing is I think we evolved naturally as a band. On the first album, we were still trying to understand what we were as a band, musically speaking. We knew we wanted to sound aggressive and death metal, but still, we were still experimenting, I think. But in Shades of Sorrow, we knew already what we wanted, what we felt, what felt more exciting playing — and also what the fans liked the most. Also, the other factor is that
Estevam Romera
on the first album, it was mainly wri en by me and our ex-guitarist, Sonia Anubis. Now she plays in Cobra Spell, and we wrote most of the melodies together. She really liked the more of a melodic side of death metal, which is fine.
I think we did a great job in Echos of the Soul, but then when Sonia left the band, it was me and [guitarist] Tainá [Bergamaschi], who mainly wrote the new music. And Tainá, she still likes her melodies, but they’re more — I don’t want to say they’re not as happy as the first album, but they’re more … they’re darker. Let’s put it this way. It’s darker melodies, and so, yeah, I think writing the album with Tainá and not with Sonia, played a big part on changing the sound.
Brazil has long been a hotbed for heavy and extreme music going back to the days of Ratos de Porão and Sepultura. Did being in that environment embolden you to want to play heavy and extreme music from a young age?
First of all, I agree with you that maybe Brazilian bands have that rawness to them because of the kind of life we have in Brazil and Latin America as a whole, which is really not easy. I think it kind of reflects
on the music we play. For us, I don’t think it’s something that is thought, though. We don’t really think about sounding in this particularly aggressive way, raw, or whatever, but then I started hearing people giving me this kind of feedback every time since Nervosa.
“You guys have this Brazilian thing to your metal.”
And I’m like, “Really? What is this Brazilian thing?”
And then, with time, over time, I started ge ing it, ge ing what people were trying to say, and I think it definitely relates to the kind of life we live as part of a Brazilian society. It’s truly hard making a living. It’s truly hard surviving there. It’s really hard to thrive economically, socially there, so I think we all, at some point, used our music as our dearest way of expressing ourselves, and just unburdening about all the struggles we have to face daily. So I think that adds a lot to this typical rawness, aggression that Brazilian metal has.
Because you’ve played in a couple of bands that are comprised of all women members, was that difficult in Brazil? Is it difficult as you tour internationally?
Has it been difficult to be accepted in the same way as bands with all male members?
The curious thing is that I’ve always played with women only. I came to this conclusion a while ago. I don’t have anything against you guys at all, but it just felt natural from the beginning that I played with girls, because there were a lot of guy bands out there. I was like, “Damn! I want to get some girls and play,” and it just always felt natural to me. Now I understand the reason behind it, and I actually raised it as a flag. I’m very proud of having an older band, because we go through very specific ba les, being women in the metal scene, but on the beginning, it was nothing planned, actually.
It was very natural, but it was really tough on the beginning. It was really tough. It still is. Every woman, you know, that’s in a band or behind the scenes, whatever, is involved in tours, playing in bands or whatever, they’ll go through stuff you can’t even imagine. And I’m not only talking about dick pics, which we get a lot, and weird requests. “Could you post some videos playing barefoot?” (Laughs.) Yeah, yeah. That’s the lightest. That’s the lightest.
You have no idea the kind of pictures we get on our DMs, but this is just one example. But we get, before we had our crew, we got people who want to teach us on how to use our amps, our own instruments.
Jesus Christ.
Yeah, yeah. Still, to this day, I get blocked from my own dressing room every tour. At least once a tour, that happens, because people think we’re groupies — and nothing against them — but these people can’t associate women with being in a band. So we get blocked every tour, and then we need a guy tour manager to come and say, “Hey, they’re in a band,” and then people will believe it. But in the beginning, it was way harder. … I always felt that whenever I was on stage. I had to prove people that we can do this too. But I think metal has been really welcoming, more and more welcoming to girl bands and accepting the fact that we’re here to stay. And yeah, I think the metal crowds are more and more open to seeing girls on stage, and that’s really cool, but yeah, in the beginning it was really, really tough.
$39.50-$45, 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, Vibes Event Center, 1211 E. Houston St., (210) 2553833, facebook.com/vibeseventcenter.
Wikimedia Commons Frank Schwichtenberg
critics’ picks
Thursday, Oct. 3
Danny Ocean
Venezuelan-born singer-songwriter Danny Ocean has built his career on a fusion of Latin infl uences he blends into what he calls his “future pop” sound. Using electronic music and hip-hop beats, Ocean has enraptured legions of fans throughout the Americas, garnering over a billion streams of his 2019 hit “Me Rehúso.” Ocean is touring ahead of the forthcoming album Refl exa. $79.50-$299.50, 8 p.m., Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com. — Danny Cervantes
Tinlicker, Felix Raphael
Bust out the glow sticks, ravers. This is a dance party, straight-up. Tinlicker creates catchy house-electro songs of its own, but, in a live setting, the act is known to remix popular songs including The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” and tracks by Radiohead. Meanwhile, opener Felix Raphael is being lauded as an EDM rising star. Sounds like a recipe for gyrating, chemically enhanced fun. $35-$85, 8 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — Bill Baird
Sunday, Oct. 6
Architects, We Came As Romans, Brutus Formed by twin brothers Dan and Tom Searle in Brighton, East Sussex, metalcore outfi t Architects became known for a frantic and edgy sound. Nearly a decade after his brother’s death from skin cancer, Dan Searle has pushed the band in an even more aggressive direction, building on technical and progressive roots. Fans of Dillinger Escape Plan take note. $48-$101, 7 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — DC
Tuesday - Wednesday, Oct. 8-9
Lucinda Williams
Legendary singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams is playing a pair of shows on successive nights, each with a distinct approach. Tuesday’s features an audio-video companion piece to her recently released memoir Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You In addition to playing with her full band, the performance will feature signature moments from Williams’ Grammy-award winning career, highlighted with short fi lms, photos and storytelling. Wednesday’s will feature a traditional rock show drawing from Williams’ classic material, including “Can’t Let Go” and “Fruits Of My Labor.” $35-$89, 8 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — DC
Thursday, Oct. 10
Leon Bridges, Hermanos Gutierrez
Lucinda Williams
Fort Worth’s Leon Bridges took the world by storm with his Texas brand of ’60s neo-soul, and he’s stayed on top of the heap by adapting his sound, incorporating more modern productions techniques and collaborating with sonic travelers (and fellow Texans) Khruangbin. Bridges recently launched The Big Good, a nonprofi t that helps the homeless and struggling families, proving he’s not just a compelling musician but a believer in community. $60.50-$360.50, 8 p.m., Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com. — BB
and Flipper. $12, 8 p.m., The Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St Mary’s St., thelonesomerose.com. — BB
Saturday, Oct. 12
The Ugly Beats, The New Attractions
Tsushimari, We Are the Asteroid Long-running all-woman Japanese punk band Tsushimari is bringing its delightful insanity to SA. The band is known both for its provocatively feminist lyrics and fast, heavy jams. Meanwhile, We Are the Asteroid represent the best of Texas’ ’80s and ’90s freak-noise rock, with former members of legendary provocateurs Ed Hall, Pain Teens and Butthole Surfers. As evidence of the trio’s brilliance, it’s toured with the Melvins
The Ugly Beats pound out charming, high-energy garage rock, and the band is even known to cover the 13th Floor Elevators live, which is always a welcome thing. Erstwhile San Antonian Jake Garcia — also of the Black Angels — even performs with the group, providing a nice Alamo City connection. Opening act The New Attractions deliver the kind of classic power pop likely to appeal to fans of Badfi nger and early Tom Petty. $10, 8 p.m., The Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St Mary’s St., thelonesomerose.com. — BB
Cannons, Glass Spells
The meteoric rise of Los Angeles alt-pop trio Cannons can be pinned to their 2019 hit “Fire For You,” which got critical placement on a
variety of TV shows. The band’s gauzy pop has tinges of synth nostalgia, and its catchy beats act as a canvas for the distinctive and breathy vocals of Michelle Koy. Sold out, 8 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — DC
Sunday, Oct. 13
Clint Black
Clint Black may have been the last major country artist to break through on a national level before the genre veered into overproduced, absurdly awful territory. Although Black enjoyed the backing of Nashville, Music City hasn’t completely lost its course. He still makes songs in the old mold, and they still feel like classics. To boot, Black is coming to one of the area’s fi nest old-school country dancehalls to celebrate 35 years of his classic LP Killing Time . Country music doesn’t get much better. $37.50-$75, 7 p.m., Floore’s Country Store, 14492 Old Bandera Road, Helotes, (210) 695-8827, liveatfl oores.com. — BB
Shutterstock / L Paul Mann
LINERS
Cloud Solutions Architect – San Antonio, Texas. iHeartMedia Management Services, Inc. seeks candidates for the position of Cloud Solutions Architect. Resp. for architecting, designing, & prototyping complex, scalable, & robust cloud services for systems at iHeartMedia. Interested candidates should respond to req. #32499 at www.iheartmedia.com/careers.
Cloud Solutions Architect – San Antonio, Texas. iHeartMedia Management Services, Inc. seeks candidates for the position of Cloud Solutions Architect. Resp. for architecting, designing, & prototyping complex, scalable, & robust cloud services for systems at iHeartMedia. Interested candidates should respond to req. #33908 at www.iheartmedia.com/careers.
So ware Engineering Manager – San Antonio, Texas. iHeartMedia Management Services, Inc. seeks candidates for the position of So ware Engineering Manager. Resp. for design, develop, & deliver cutting edge campaign management, analytics & insights applications. Interested candidates should respond to req # 33144 at www.iheartmedia.com/careers.
Technology Engineer III sought by Capital Group Companies Global in San Antonio, TX (Hybrid work permitted, when not working from home must report to San Antonio, TX o ce): Responsible for mgmt & feature prioritization of the product/solution ensuring up to date understanding of CG technology strategies & roadmaps. Must have unrestricted right to work in U.S. 40 hrs/wk. Standard Company Bene ts. To apply, send resume to: Global Mobility Team - cgapplications@capgroup.com. MUST REF. JOB CODE SA0422PM.
Data Engineer IV sought by Capital Group Companies Global in San Antonio, TX (Hybrid work permitted - when not working from home, must report to San Antonio, TX o ce): Provides technology leadership & end-to-end solution ownership incl planning, research & strategy. Must have unrestricted right to work in U.S. To apply, send resume to: Global Mobility Team - cgapplications@capgroup.com. MUST REF. JOB CODE: SA0922BA.
“Just Do It”--what’s the word? by Matt Jones
2024 Matt Jones
Across
1. Ludicrous comedy
6. Border
10. Crawled, maybe
14. Nebraska metropolis
15. Grammy winner Celine
16. Facebook company
17. ey don’t play their own hits
19. Tricky
20. Outrage
21. Notable person
23. Itinerary word
24. Vietnamese soup sometimes served with tripe
25. Pro wrestling pair
27. Having no restrictions
32. Catty response?
33. Quite capable
34. Use a pen outside
36. Passing notice
39. Time to give up?
40. Oceanic movements
41. ___ helmet
42. Molten stu
43. Bene ciary
44. Film idol Greta
45. Muppet that’s got beef with a rock
47. Plastic instrument in elementary school music class
49. Manage
52. Faucet label
53. Spheroid
54. Appropriate for middle schoolers, maybe
57. Salt ___
60. Portuguese rivers
62. Personal transport that requires some balance
64. Fireplace grate stu
65. Neck-and-neck
66. Triangular road sign
67. Head experts, for short
68. Pre-1991 pol. divisions
69. George Jetson’s kid
Down
1. Centers of attention
2. Love, to Luis
3. Dance party
4. Jost’s cohost
5. Eavesdropping range
6. Dutch wheel
7. Get some grub
8. Beckett title character
9. Catches in a trap
10. ree letters of disbelief
11. Finch relative that can build
an intricate nest
12. Spacious courtyards
13. ___ Vice President (current title for Kamala Harris)
18. Touch a dog’s snoot
22. Big-headedness
24. Motivating speech
26. Like some long season nales
27. Maze blocker
28. Notion
29. Wheel clamp for parking violators
30. Stephen Colbert’s wife and coauthor of the cookbook “Does is Taste Funny?”
