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in this issue
Issue 25-01 /// January 8 - 21, 2025
08 Tumultuous 2024
These 10 stories dominated San Antonio’s news cycle last year
07 News The Opener News in Brief
National Profile
Gina Ortiz Jones enters San Antonio mayoral race with deep pockets but lack of City Hall experience
Bad Takes
Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s defense of San Antonio’s failure to help its poorest residents flunks the test
16 Calendar
Our picks of things to do
20
Lordy, Lordy, Look Who’s 40!
San Antonio’s Jump-Start Performance Co. celebrates four decades of creative experimentation
23
Top 10 Movies of 2024
Here’s a rundown of the best things Current film journalist Kiko Martinez saw last year
24 Food
The Islands Come to Southtown Relocated Luna Rosa is a solid showcase for soulful cuisine of Puerto Rico
27 Music
Family Tradition
Dweezil Zappa keeping his father’s groundbreaking music alive with show at Empire Theatre
Critics’ Picks
On the Cover: The Current picked 2024’s biggest stories affecting San Antonio residents. Cover collage and design by David Loyola.
Courtesy Image City of San Antonio
0 JOIN FEE
That Rocks/That Sucks
HDonald Trump’s pick to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development, former Texas State Rep. Sco Turner, has a track record of opposing affordable housing and tenant protections, according to a ProPublica investigation. Turner, who represented a North Texas district, also voted against funding public-private partnerships to support the homeless and against studies of homelessness in young people and veterans. Prior to entering politics, Turner played in the NFL.
The team of paramedics, clinicians and mental health officers charged with responding to mental health crisis calls in Bexar County is now operating around the clock. The county’s Specialized Multidisciplinary Alternate Response Team, or SMART, has been in operation for the past four years, but until this fall went offline between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. That required the sheriff’s department to respond to mental health crisis calls in the middle of the night.
Texas A orney General Ken Paxton has sued the NCAA, alleging it misleads collegiate sports fans by allowing trans women to compete in women’s competitions. Paxton, a Republican culture-war crusader, filed the lawsuit under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act in a bid to stop trans women from participating in women’s NCAA sporting events in Texas
A new study finds that San Antonio is the best major city in which to get a ta oo. The study, conducted by the German studio LL Ta oo, found that Alamo City ta oo parlors have the best online ratings in the U.S. with an average Google review score of 4.38 out of 5 — besting fashion capitals such as New York and Los Angeles. Las Vegas finished in second place, while Denver took third. — Abe Asher
Making false assumptions based on a ‘gut feeling’ with incoming ‘border czar’ Tom Homan
Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.
Tom Homan, the 30-plus-year immigration enforcement veteran selected to serve as Donald Trump’s “border czar,” has already seized on his boss’ proclivity for bluster and bullshit.
During a Fox News appearance last week to discuss the New Year’s Day terror a ack in New Orleans and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas hours later, Homan claimed without evidence that the second incident must be the work of Islamic jihadists.
Why? Without providing a lick of evidence, Homan chalked it up to a “gut feeling.”
“I’ve done this for three and a half decades,” said Homan, a former Border Patrol agent who served as acting director of ICE during the first half of the first Trump administration. “I just think there’s too many similarities, there’s too much coincidence. Down the road, they’re going to show there’s some connection, whether it’s some same network where they got the tools to pull these terrorist a acks off.”
So far, details supplied by actual federal agents investigating the incidents — you know, people who must rely on evidence, not “gut feelings” — suggest Homan pulled his answer straight out of his ass, wet and steaming.
New Orleans a acker Shamsud-Din Jabbar had an ISIS flag in his truck and posted online videos declaring his support for the terror organization. Meanwhile, Ma hew Livelsberger, the Green Beret who shot himself and detonated the Cybertruck in
Las Vegas, left notes showing his support for Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
In those notes, Livelsberger said his suicide was a “wake up call” aimed at addressing what the Associated Press called “political grievances, societal problems and both domestic and international issues.”
“This was not a terrorist a ack, it was a wake up call. Americans only pay a ention to spectacles and violence. What be er way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives,” Livelsberger wrote in a le er reported on by the AP. In a separate note, he urged Americans to “rally around” Trump and Musk, the la er an ally of the incoming president.
So far, federal investigators have revealed no connection between Livelsberger and Jabbar beyond the coincidental. Both served at the same military base at one point and both rented their vehicles from the carsharing service Turo, for example.
Even so, authorities said they’re continuing to pursue any lead that could tie the cases together, which a far cry from Homan’s bombastic claim.
What is clear so far is that Homan — a Project 2025 co-author and an architect of the first Trump White House’s ghoulish family separation policy — is an assclown more concerned about echoing his boss’ nativist, anti-Muslim rhetoric than taking the time to know what the fuck he’s talking about. —
Sanford Nowlin
YOU SAID IT!
“There will be NO mask mandate in Texas. Period”
— RepublicanGov.GregAbbottinatweet aftersomehospitalsinotherstates requiredpatientsandstafftodonmasks toslowthespreadofrespiratoryillnesses, which are now on the rise.
Visionworks of America Inc. is facing a federal lawsuit after suffering an alleged data breach on Oct. 10. According to the lawsuit, the San Antonio-based company, which has more than 700 optical stores across the country, failed to notify its customers in a timely manner after it suffered the system break-in. The suit also alleges Visionworks was negligent in protecting customers’ data, including social security numbers, birth dates and other financial and medical data. Visionworks hasn’t issued a statement in response to the legal complaint.
The House Ethics Commi ee last week cleared two Texas Republicans of spending campaign money for personal use. U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston, U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson of Amarillo
and two other members of Congress were under investigation for violating campaign finance law. The commi ee said there was evidence their individual campaigns failed to comply with campaign finance law or record-keeping requirements but not that the representatives themselves knowingly misused campaign funds.
As of Jan. 1, most Lone Star State drivers are no longer required to have their car pass an annual safety exam. The Texas Legislature’s House Bill 3297, passed in 2023, struck the rule requiring the safety inspections from the state code. A group of 17 Texas counties still require annual emissions tests, including Harris, Dallas and Travis counties. Bexar County residents aren’t subject to that inspection either. — Abe Asher
Wikimedia / Commons Gage Skidmore
Tumultuous 2024
These 10 stories dominated San Antonio’s news cycle last year
BY SANFORD NOWLIN
Fast-growing San Antonio grappled with plenty of bigcity problems during the 2024 news year, from affordable housing to stray animals. Meanwhile, Texas’ topsy-turvy politics made plenty of other headlines that had an impact on the Alamo City.
Here’s a look at the 10 biggest news stories of 2024, as chosen by the San Antonio Current. They’re presented in no particular order.
1. Project Marvel and the Missions ball park. San Antonio’s leadership once again showed its proclivity for investing in big projects over improving the city’s longstanding shortcomings. Council gave a green light to the development of a downtown ball park for the minor-league San Antonio Missions, and city staffers showed off vague details on Project Marvel, a costly downtown sports district that would include a new Spurs arena.
2. Continued failures on affordable housing. Despite Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s repeated promises to wrangle San Antonio’s affordable-housing problem, he and other city leaders didn’t deliver
much on the issue. The new Missions ball park, for example, will raze one of downtown’s few low-cost apartment complexes, while City Council left $20 million in state tax credits on the table when it rejected plans for a new affordable apartment complex opposed by District 10 residents.
3. Charter Amendments Pass. San Antonio voters approved all six charter amendments on the November ballot, which granted raises for City Council and longer council and mayoral terms while removing a salary cap and tenure for the city manager. While most passed easily, the amendments removing the city manager salary cap and lengthening council terms were close, suggesting SA voters aren’t willing to rubber-stamp every proposal coming out of City Hall.
4. The city’s stray and dangerous dog problem. After le ing its stray and dangerous dog problem fester for years, San Antonio spent last year dealing with the aftermath. The city finally concluded a lengthy search for a new head of its beleaguered Animal Care Services department, and council voted in December to approve stiffer fines and harsher penalties — including the forced sterilization of roaming dogs — for irresponsible pet owners.
5. Small business closures. Twenty-twenty-four marked another tough year for restaurants and traditional brick-and-mortar retailers in San Antonio. Higher prices and dwindling sales led to the demise of a number of favorite dining spots, including some longtime local institutions. This year promises to be bring a sequel as economists warn that tariffs and mass deportations proposed by President-elect Donald Trump will send prices shooting back up.
6. The governor’s refusal to give up on school vouchers. After the Democrats and rural Republicans killed off school vouchers in the Texas Legislature in 2023, Gov. Greg Abbo made good on his promise to back primary challenges for GOP members who refused to get behind his push for vouchers. Stay tuned to this year’s session to see what happens next.
7. Texas’ bungled Medicaid rolls. Texas is already the most under-insured U.S. state, and things got worse in 2024. The Lone Star State continued shedding people from the Medicaid rolls because the federal government ended a pandemic-era policy that automatically renewed federal benefits. Critics argue the Texas Department of Health and Human Services Department didn’t do
enough to warn people. What’s more, the department’s systems are so broken and outdated, many who tried to re-enroll were unable to do so in time.
8. Continued population growth. Thanks to an influx of 22,000 people in 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau named San Antonio the city with the biggest population boom that year. We’ll see what the 2024 stats show, but there’s every reason to predict people will continue moving here, exacerbating big-city problems such as housing affordability and traffic congestion.
9. Uncertain state of cannabis in Texas. Shops selling hemp products designed to get people high proliferated this year thanks to a loophole in Texas law. The end result is an open and unregulated market for THC, which Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has pledged to shut down in the upcoming legislative session. Meanwhile, the state continues to operate one of the nation’s most-restrictive medical pot programs.
10. Wide-open mayoral race. With term limits preventing Mayor Ron Nirenberg from running again, the race for the city’s top elected office became a wild and wide-open affair. Nearly 20 people have signaled interest in the race by filing a treasurer’s report, and one has already dropped out. Those who remain include four present and former members of council, a tech entrepreneur, a former Under Secretary of the Air Force, an ex-Texas Secretary of State and more.
Courtesy Image City of San Antonio
WHAT MAKES LOCAL CULTURE
WE ARE NOT JUST MARKETERS; WE ARE CULTURAL ARCHITECTS.
We weave your unique local flavor into every social media campaign. We don’t just navigate the social media landscape; we own it! Your success is our success, and we believe in the power of community. Ready to embark on a social media journey that celebrates your local culture and propels your brand to the forefront? Let’s create, connect, and conquer together.
MONSTER JAM JAN 25-26
news National Profile
Gina Ortiz Jones enters San Antonio mayoral race with deep pockets but lack of City Hall experience
BY MICHAEL KARLIS
With the Dec. 4 unveiling of her run for San Antonio mayor, former Under Secretary of the U.S. Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones became a candidate to watch.
Jones, a Democrat with two nearmiss congressional races under her belt, said she’s raised more than $100,000 to support her mayoral run, and she’s landed the endorsement of the well-funded VoteVets progressive PAC.
The San Antonio native and John Jay High School grad also boasts an impressive resume. The daughter of a Filipino immigrant, she holds five university degrees and rose up the U.S. military ranks, serving as an Air Force Intelligence Officer before joining AFRICOM, where she served during South Sudan’s independence vote and Libya’s civil war.
Jones also held a trade position in the Obama White House, where she took on China’s ongoing trademark infringement issues. Further, she’s the first LGBTQ+ woman of color to serve as Air Force under secretary, a job where she managed a $170 billion budget.
Adding to her political clout, Jones twice ran to represent the San Antonio and South Texas congressional district currently served by U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, a moderate Republican.
“Everyone in this city — young professionals, working families, retirees, our young people and our veterans — deserve a mayor that will fight for them and deliver results, and I look forward to doing just that,” Jones, 43, said in a statement when she announced her candidacy.
While Jones has a background and
war chest any other candidate in the crowded 2025 mayoral race would envy, it’s an open question how that experience will translates to city politics — and how much clout it holds with local voters.
During an hour-long late-December interview with the Current, Jones frequently veered toward discussing state and national issues rather than those centered around City Hall, and she also appeared unfamiliar with some key stories in the local news cycle.
City Hall outsider
In a city where a quarter of the population is functionally illiterate and nearly 20% live in poverty, Jones identified a lack of broadband internet access as one of the most important local issues.
“We like to call ourselves Cyber City
opportunities where you can improve access to affordable housing, but at the end end of the day, we’ve got to increase the supply, right?”
Leadership focus
During the interview, Jones voiced concern about Texas’ abortion ban and the incoming Trump administration’s planned mass deportations and tariffs on Mexico — policies she identified as especially consequential to San Antonio residents.
“At the end of the day, the continued delay and denial of life-saving care for women in Texas, that is a choice,” Jones said.
When asked what she would be able to do as San Antonio mayor to counter policies set at the state or national level, Jones pivoted, arguing that her past roles in D.C. uniquely qualify her to lead.
Laura Barberena, the longtime political consultant running Councilman Manny Pelaez’s mayoral campaign, maintains that however impressive Jones’ resume, she’s an outsider when it comes to San Antonio’s city politics. That will be a handicap in the 2025 race, Barberena added.
USA, but over half of the families in our community qualified for that federal subsidy just to get high-speed broadband internet,” Jones said. “So to me, that’s a disconnect. I think we’ve got to talk about cyber strength overall.”
Jones didn’t elaborate on how she plans to connect more Alamo City residents to cheap broadband access, though.
Jones also cited affordable housing as one of San Antonio’s top issues. This issue has grabbed recent headlines due to the pending demolition of downtown’s low-cost Soap Factory apartments and a City Council vote against an affordable housing complex opposed by North Side residents.
However, Jones once again was unable to offer a detailed plan for tackling such a complex issue.
“We can work with a team of experts to do that,” Jones said. “I think there are
“[Jones’] service to our nation’s military is commendable and deserving of our respect,” Barberena said. “However, when it comes to politics it’s worth noting that her political track record consists of two failed congressional campaigns and no experience in municipal government. Running a city as dynamic and complex as San Antonio requires more than ambition — it requires hands-on experience with local policies and governance, and a meaningful connection to the people in the community.”
Even so, Jones said her background has prepared her to take on the city’s top leadership role.
“I know about leadership,” she said. “I think that is fundamental to what a mayor does at the end of the day. Like in any organization, you’re going to have experts that understand housing policy or green-space policy or water policy. But leadership takes setting a vision and holding folks accountable if they’re not acting in the way that they were elected to lead.”
It remains to be seen how ready San Antonio voters are to make that leap of faith. Jones has until May to make her case.
Courtesy Photo Gina Ortiz Jones
Mayor
Ron Nirenberg’s defense of San Antonio’s failure to help
its poorest residents flunks
the test
BY KEVIN SANCHEZ
Bad Takes is a column of opinion and analysis.
“What you have to understand is the public has a very short memory. But corporations - they never forget.” — Martin Scorsese as the corporate sponsor in the 1994 film Quiz Show
One of the more auspicious moments in Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s four-term tenure came when he co-wrote a le er to Jeff Bezos, the billionaire CEO of Amazon.
At the time, municipalities were throwing tax breaks at the second-largest company on Earth for the privilege of being considered for its new corporate headquarters. “Want jobs? Then bribe us with government subsidies like the $3 billion Foxconn got to build a factory in Wisconsin,” was Amazon’s subtextual diktat.
“Blindly giving away the farm isn’t our style,” Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said in a joint le er to Bezos. And with that, SA withdrew from a humiliating race to the bo om.
Of course, San Antonio was unlikely to win Amazon’s HQ anyway, and Nirenberg’s conveniently timed progressive grandstanding has frequently stood in contrast with the less-than-inspiring sausage-making that goes with governing.
Last month, for example, Nirenberg penned a le er to the editors of Texas Monthly in which he called out the state legislature for giving “pay raises to jailers but none to public school teachers.” He also lamented that “public safety accounts for nearly two out of every three dollars in the city’s general-fund.”
Even so, it’s doubtful Mayor Ron will be sporting a Defund The Police T-shirt anytime soon.
Indeed, a far-less-radical charter change that went to a local vote in 2023 could have freed up jail space by ticketing pe y crimes such as shoplifting and graffiti, and it also would have appointed a justice watchdog to go over the police budget with a fine-tooth comb.
Nirenberg not only refused to support that measure, he went on TV and hyperbolized a purported “lack of consequences for low-level crimes.” In doing so, he joined a chorus of bad-faith critics who alleged that a ballot initiative signed by more than 37,000 San Antonians was the diabolical work of “outside agitators” hellbent on decriminalizing theft and fomenting anti-racist riots.
The Texas Monthly article Nirenberg recently felt compelled to set straight — one bearing the headline “San Antonio Is Booming. Why Is It Still So Poor?” — was one he also recommended as “a must read for all who care about our city” and “an honest reckoning with the systemic racism that ... continues to shape many of
the inequities we face today.”
In the piece, award-winning journalist Mimi Swartz documented the Alamo City’s persistent generational poverty next to a checkered past of pro-growth agendas. Target ’90 under then-Mayor Henry Cisneros and the Decade of Downtown under then-Mayor Julián Castro boasted “huge tax incentives, fee waivers and infrastructure grants” for real estate moguls, Swartz wrote. Meanwhile, “the really tough stuff” — poverty reduction, education and improving health outcomes — “was passed over in favor of developments for a wealthier clientele.”
“San Antonio’s ‘structure’ remains one dominated by business interests — mostly Anglo — that put short-term gains over improving the lives of San Antonians for the long haul,” Swartz reported, citing remarks from María Berriozábal, the first Latina to serve on City Council.
To Nirenberg, who staked his mayoral legacy on the acuity of his “equity lens,” the Texas Monthly report must have stung.
“While I don’t dispute any of her facts, San Antonio native Mimi Swartz selectively curates those facts to make her argument,” Nirenberg charged. He took
particular umbrage when she quoted Diane Sánchez, former president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, who asked, “How can we have [produced] two Housing and Urban Development secretaries [Cisneros and Castro], and San Antonio has one of the biggest housing problems in the U.S.?”
Nirenberg countered that San Antonio is affected by “larger economic forces” that present challenges to major metros nationwide.
“That’s what makes the article’s potshot — quoting a former president of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce asking how a city that provided the nation with two Housing and Urban Development secretaries could face an affordable-housing crisis — so baseless,” the mayor wrote. “Find me a city in America that hasn’t struggled with housing costs in the post-pandemic economy, and name me a city that has done more than San Antonio to address it. (The sound you’re hearing now is crickets.)”
Snark aside, Nirenberg presented a straw man fallacy — a misrepresentation of an opponent’s argument to render it
Michael Karlis
easier to refute. Sánchez didn’t actually ask how our city “could face an affordable-housing crisis”, as Nirenberg subtly restated her question. Instead, she asked how we could face “one of the biggest housing problems in the U.S.”
Merely pointing out that every city has “struggled with housing costs in the post-pandemic economy” isn’t a reasonable excuse for San Antonio’s failings. It’s like trying to explain away the F grade you got on exam by saying everyone else got a C or worse.
Per Nirenberg’s challenge, can we name a city that’s done more than San Antonio to address housing costs?
Although posed as a bold statement, it’s the kind of political rhetoric that the mayor likely knows is impossible to refute with data.
If one points out that Houston, Fort Worth and El Paso all have lower rates of homelessness per 100,000 residents than San Antonio, Nirenberg might point out
the difference between the cards our city’s been dealt versus how well we’ve played the hand.
So too if one points out that eight metro areas beat San Antonio-New Braunfels on the average cost of new residential construction. Or that Washington, D.C., has the highest concentration of subsidized housing per capita. Or that Chicago is doing more to promote “yes, in my backyard” housing policies by loosening zoning restrictions.
Or that the reported wait times for applicants to Opportunity Home, formerly the San Antonio Housing Authority, are measured in years.
However one decides to fact-check Nirenberg, it’s inarguable that San Antonio isn’t doing all it can.
Nirenberg himself has described the city’s decision to leave $20 million in state tax credits on the table after City Council rejected plans to erect an affordable apartment complex in District 10 as
officials are quite happy to bask in those “larger economic forces” when it suits them.
And the mayor outright ignored Swartz’s critique of his signature Ready To Work initiative. In the article, she noted that “enrollment in the program has been far lower than anticipated” given a significant skills mismatch between available jobs and those applying. Indeed, the effort has since mutated into another thinly veiled experiment in corporate welfare and, as Swartz detailed, “will now be using $3 million in local tax dollars to subsidize 31 local companies to train employees they already have, instead of serving job-seekers.”
Nirenberg’s op-ed “selectively curates” those legitimate criticisms comfortably out of view.
Swartz’s invaluable labor of historical memory remembers a time when “urban renewal” served as a euphemism for the demolition of working-class neighborhoods. What if, in lieu of SeaWorld, Fiesta Texas and the Alamodome, San Antonio had invested in hospitals, schools and public housing?
Yes, “Republican-led state government cuts resources that would enhance opportunities for the working poor,” as Swartz rightly noted in her story. But nobody forced San Antonio to prioritize theme parks and sports arenas above basic needs. Instead we listened to “optimists” with bridges to sell us.
“an embarrassment”.
“Nirenberg never spoke with me about the Vista Park zoning case until we were si ing on the dais the day of the vote,” wrote District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte in a defensive op-ed of his own published in the Express-News
Tough to blame “larger economic forces” for fumbles like that. Yet the mayor found time to lecture an editor at Texas Monthly about the critical importance of collaboration.
“If you’re serious about making change,” Nirenberg remonstrated, “you need to know who holds the keys to funding, where accountability lies, when the ball is in your court to act alone, and when you must work as part of a coalition.”
Sage advice.
Rather than serious investigative journalism, Nirenberg was evidently expecting a business-section puff piece about how many jobs Toyota and Navistar bequeathed the city, proving that elected
San Antonians are owed a non-condescending answer from their mayor to a very simple question: with a new Missions stadium in the works and Project Marvel looming, why is this time different? And are the behind-the-scenes NDA-protected negotiations and the massaging of already-low expectations really the only way to get things done?
To the man pushing all his worldly possessions through my neighborhood in a stolen grocery store cart two weeks ago, I suspect tedious exchanges like these won’t provide much solace.
Homelessness is up 18% nationwide, and the city’s own website notes that “95,000 households in Bexar County are left without housing options affordable to them.” Nirenberg’s much-ballyhooed plan to address this problem is to build or preserve “over 28,000 affordable homes” and develop “1,000 new permanent supportive housing units over the next 10 years.”
Leaders aspiring to some degree of honesty should level with us: If this is the best we can do, then our best isn’t good enough.
Wikimedia / Commons Eric Dietrich
ONGOING - SUN | 02.02
VISUAL ART
‘LUNATICS IN THE GARDEN’
Visual artist James W. Johnson was born in upstate New York and moved to Lubbock in 1978. Since then, he’s devoted more than 90,000 hours to his creative output. “Lunatics in the Garden” is a collection of Johnson’s work owned by longtime friend Marynell Maloney, the late San Antonio attorney. It’s been on display in France for the past 30 years. An exhibition of “Lunatics in the Garden” recently opened at FL!GHT Gallery at the Blue Star Arts Complex, marking the first public display of this body of work in the United States. Primarily a painter, Johnson works in a wide range of styles and mediums, from realistic landscape paintings to playfully surreal figurative works and colorful sculptures. Free, by appointment, FL!GHT Gallery, 112R Blue Star, (210) 872-2586, facebook.com/flightsa. — Neil Fauerso
WED | 01.08
SPECIAL EVENT
ED TALKS, BUT MOSTLY LISTENS: NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
The next round of locally curated conversation series Ed Talks, But Mostly Listens features a sit down with preeminent Palestinian-American writer, editor and educator Naomi Shihab Nye. Nye grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem and San Antonio, the la er being her current residence. She has served as the Young People’s Poet Laureate for the U.S., poetry editor for the New York Times Magazine and the Texas Observer, and she’s also served as a visiting writer in hundreds of schools and communities all over the world. Her books include Everything Comes Next, The Tiny Journalist, Habibi and 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, a finalist for the National Book Award. In addition, she’s received the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets, the Texas Writer Award 2024 and Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Texas Institute of Le ers, the Arab American National Museum and the National Book Critics Circle. All proceeds from her book sales for the evening and everything collected at the door will go to the Hanoon Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to serving Palestinian communities by providing comprehensive healthcare and essential humanitarian support. $5 suggested donation, 6-9:30 p.m., Brick at Blue Star Arts Complex, 108 Blue Star, (210) 265-6072, brickatbluestar.com. — Anjali Gupta
THE SECRET OF SKINWALKER RANCH
The team behind the History Channel's The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch is taking its show on the road. Sightings of UFOs — now called UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) — and “high strangeness” are said to occur with alarming frequency at Skinwalker Ranch in Utah. Although the land in question borders the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, the term “Skinwalker” is Navajo for an evil witch who has the ability to shapeshift and wreak havoc upon enemies, which at one time included the Ute people. One such witch is rumored to walk the land to this very day. Past residents have shared tales of strange occurrences including mysterious lights in the sky, ca le mutilations and bizarre encounters with a wolf-like humanoid creature. The team of scientists and surveillance experts who produce the TV series will discuss evidence collected thus far in their investigations, reveal details about their experiments and dissect new data collected during the filming of Season 5. $39.75, 7:30-9:30 p.m., H-E-B Performance Hall at The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Cir, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — AG
Courtesy Image FL!GHT Gallery
Courtesy Photo History Channel
Courtesy Photo Naomi Shihab Nye
MUSIC BACH REFLECTIONS
Chamber music ensemble Camerata San Antonio’s first concert of the new year will explore the music of celebrated Baroque composer J.S. Bach, whose work inspired not only Beethoven and Mozart but jazz musicians including Bud Powell and Bill Evans and rockers such as Deep Purple and Yngwie Malmsteen. Performers Ma hew Zerweck on violin, Emily Freudigman on viola and Kenneth Freudigman on cello will present a trio of Bach Reflections concerts that reveal the “rigor and depth” of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” and his Fourth Cello Suite along with Corigliano’s “Fancy on a Bach Air,” a modern piece reflecting the composer’s style. Tickets are available at Camerata’s website. $20 or free for students, 4 p.m. Friday at First Presbyterian Church, 800 Jefferson Street, Kerrville; 3 p.m. Saturday at Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, 11093 Bandera Road; and 2 p.m. Sunday at Christ Episcopal Church, 510 Belknap Place, cameratasa.org. — Sanford Nowlin
SUN | 01.12
MUSIC
THE QUILT: LIVE IN CONCERT
San Fernando Cathedral will reverberate with diverse and soulful sounds during a concert based on the award-winning documentary The Quilt: A Living History of African American Music. Part of the DreamWeek summit, the performance embraces the film’s goal of exploring the history of African American musical culture from slavery times to the present. Jazz pianist and composer Aaron Prado, who served as music director and composer of original music for the film’s soundtrack, will perform at San Fernando along with Dallas-based jazz pianist Arlington Jones, Nicole Cherry on violin, Brandon Rivas on double bass and Georgie Padilla on percussion. The San Antonio Gospel Heritage Choir, formed by the San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum in 2023, will kick o the concert, which is presented by Musical Bridges Around the World. Musical Bridges, a San Antonio nonprofit, initially developed and produced The Quilt film in response to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its 2023 debut, the documentary has won awards, including Best Full-Length Music Documentary at the Queens Underground Film Festival and the Gold Medal at the Atlanta Children’s Festival. Free tickets are available through Musical Bridges’ website. Free, 7 p.m., San Fernando Cathedral, 115 Main Plaza, (210) 464-1534, musicalbridges.org. — SN
SAT | 01.11
REMEMBERING LA MATANZA (THE MASSACRE)
On January 28, 1918, outside the village of Porvenir in Presidio County, a group of Texas Rangers and ranchers murdered 15 Mexican men and boys. Tensions were high in the border community after the Mexican Revolution, and despite no evidence that victims were involved in the war or banditry of any kind, they were separated from the other villagers and executed. More than a century later, tensions still simmer on the border, and with a second Trump term days away, we are entering a dangerous time of revanchism. As part of DreamWeek San Antonio, an annual series of events honoring the legacy of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, two documentaries about the massacre will screen at Central Library. Porvenir, Texas (2019), a 56-minute documentary directed by Andrew Shapter that first aired on PBS, provides a comprehensive overview of the incident. The 16-minute documentary They Call Us Sediciosos (2021), directed by Iz Gutierrez, follows Jovita, a Mexican reporter who interviews a mother whose son went missing in 1915 during La Matanza. This event is presented in conjunction with the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute. Free but RSVP requested via sylvia.reyna@sanantonio.gov, 2-3:30 p.m., Central Library Auditorium, 600 Soledad St, (210) 207-2500,, mysapl.org. — NF
Instagram / Camerata San Antonio
Courtesy Image Mexican American Civil Rights Institute
Courtesy Photo Musical Bridges Around the World
WED | 01.15 + FRI | 01.17
SPORTS SPURS VS. GRIZZLIES
The Spurs tip o the first of back-to-back games against Ja Morant and the resurgent Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night at the Frost Bank Center. Morant’s return from last year’s season-ending shoulder surgery has sparked Memphis to the second-best record in the Western Conference. Still one of the most explosive players in the league, Morant was recently sidelined with a Grade 1 AC joint sprain in the same shoulder. A healthy roster yielded a 4-3 record for the Spurs with close losses to formidable opponents on the road, including the Knicks and Timberwolves. Following a thrilling overtime win at home against the Atlanta Hawks, point guard Chris Paul reflected on his team’s depth. “We have a really good team, and I just hope we understand that we can be really good,” Paul told reporters after the 126-133 victory. “We don’t have to wait till next year or the year after. We need to be trying to win right now.” Expect extended minutes for Spurs standout rookie Stephon Castle if Morant is available to suit up.
$18 and up, 7 p.m. Wednesday and 8:30 p.m. Friday, Frost Bank Center, 1 Frost Bank Center Drive, (210) 444-5140, frostbankcenter.com, Fanduel Sports Network-Southwest. — M. Solis
THU | 01.16
VISUAL ART
SONGS FOR FRAN AND DONNY
Renowned art historian, curator and educator Fran Colpi taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio for many years and authored seminal books, essays and catalogs that reshaped scholarship and thinking about contemporary art before her death in 2022. Artpace San Antonio and UTSA will honor Colpi ’s legacy with two shows opening this January. Songs for Fran and Donny is a group exhibition at Artpace celebrating the intimate relationship of Colpi and her husband, Donny Walton, with the arts community. Both exhibitions are curated by Artpace alumni artists Constance Lowe and Hills Snyder, writer Jennifer Hope Davy, UTSA Gallery Director Sco Sherer and Texas Christian University Gallery Director Sara-Jayne Parsons. The Artpace exhibition features new works by Artpace-affiliated artists inspired by their personal connections to the beloved couple. The second exhibition — Do you really believe that? — opens Jan. 22 at UTSA Main Art Gallery and will focus on Colpi ’s scholarship and philosophy through a variety of artworks and ephemera. Participating artists in the Artpace exhibition include Andréa Caillouet, Nate Cassie, Meg Langhorne, Ken Li le, Karen Mahaffy, Michele Monseau, Juan Miguel Ramos, Ethel Shipton, Randy Wallace, Jack Robbins, Alex de León, Robert Tiemann, Justin Boyd and Mark Hansen. Free, opening reception 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16, otherwise 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and noon-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Artpace San Antonio, 445 North Main St., (210) 212-4900, artpace.org. — NF
Instagram / Spurs
Courtesy Photo Mary Colpitt
Lordy, Lordy, Look Who’s 40!
San Antonio’s JumpStart Performance Co. celebrates four decades of creative experimentation
BY BRYAN RINDFUSS
January’s always been an important month for Jump-Start Performance Co., the San Antonio experimental theater company that’s presented more than 500 original works since its 1985 inception.
“Jump-Start started having an annual Performance Party when it started having a physical space, which was in 1987,” retired co-founder Steve Bailey told the Current from his home in Slovenia. “Since they occurred in January, they were a welcome to the new year — and a way to celebrate Jump-Start’s anniversary. Equally important, they were a way to showcase the diverse performance scene of San Antonio. Sometimes there were over 40 short performances stretching long into the night. This showed that Jump-Start not only presented its own work but was also a community space where a broad range of original work was presented.”
Delightfully unpredictable and often fast-paced, this beloved Jump-Start tradition is set to take over the Pearl’s Stable Hall on Saturday, Jan. 11, with Performance Party XXXX: Sangre Vital
In addition to eclectic offerings from company members and collaborators, the 40th anniversary celebration promises performances by esteemed San Antonio poet Naomi Shihab Nye, author Amalia Ortiz’s queer Xicanx feminist punk band Las Hijas de la Madre and special guests Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Balitronica Gómez of the “live art laboratory and border research institute” La Pocha Nostra. Based in Mexico City and San Francisco, California, the transdisciplinary troupe has curated a “Pocha Power Hour” combining short works by San Antonio-based theater artist Marisela Barrera, accordionist Nicolas Valdez, fashion designer Fabian Diaz and drag kings Xiomara Bazaldua and Jess Hawkins, among others.
Curiously, Jump-Start’s initial spark can be traced all the way to South America circa 1984.
“I had gone to Peru for a cultural exchange and worked with a theater company there called Teatro del Sol,” Bailey told dancer, choreographer and longtime collaborator Sandy Dunn in a video she shot in the fall of 2024. “I was working with this amazing theater company that did amazing work and did not compromise. They had no money, they had no resources and they were not compromising their art. And I was just saying, ‘If they can do it in Peru, we should be able to do this in the United States.’”
Upon his return to San Antonio, Bailey, a Trinity University alum, contacted Dunn about the concept he hoped to launch.
“I called Sandy Dunn on the phone and said, ‘Hey, do you want to start a performance theater company? And we’re not gonna compromise! We’re just gonna do what we want and we’re gonna make it work,” Bailey recounted. “And Sandy said, ‘Sure, let’s do this!’ We had a meeting in my living room, and we went around the circle and asked everyone, ‘Why are you here?’
And a woman named Susan Taylor said, ‘You know what? I feel like a dead ba ery. I need a jump-start.’ And that was how the name came up.”
With Bailey, Dunn and artist-activist Dennis Poplin as co-founders and theater
artists Chuck Squier and Kim Corbin as founding company members, Jump-Start evolved and grew consistently — se ing up shop in an empty building on the corner of Commerce and South Presa streets in 1986. It relocated in 1988, becoming an early resident of the Blue Star Arts Complex. That same year, influential gay Black playwright and performer Sterling Houston joined the company and invigorated Jump-Start until his death in 2006. In 1989, Jump-Start relocated to a now-demolished building on South Alamo Street before returning in 1994 to the Blue Star space now occupied by Brick (1994-2014). In 2014, the company relocated to its present Beacon Hill space on Fredericksburg Road.
Jump-Start reflections
In anticipation of Performance Party XXXX: Sangre Vital, we quizzed Jump-Start co-founders and company members about cherished memories, performance highlights and what’s kept the motor running all these years.
Steve Bailey
The largest Performance Party by far was when Jump-Start opened its space in Blue Star in the ’90s. There were over 1,000 people at the event — you could not move. Everywhere was packed — the theater, the lobby, outside the building. People were si ing on the stage and there was only
MLa Pocha Nostra's Balitronica Gómez and Guillermo Gómez-Peña are the special guests at Jump-Start's 40th anniversary Performance Party.
a 20-foot-diameter circle for the performances. I remember technical director Max Parrilla had to go to the second-floor office and watch from the window.
One time I was being shadowed by a college student [who wanted] to see what a producing director did in a day. They came early and found me on my knees cleaning the toilet because we had an event that evening. I stood up — toilet brush in hand — and said, “Welcome to the glamorous life of an artist-run company. We do what we have to do, and everything is part of it.” Jump-Start has always been about its company and other artists, whether creating a new show, presenting a community artist or cleaning a commode.
Sandy Dunn
Steve was quite an artistic force and the reason I wanted to be a part of Jump-Start. … The first pieces we did [together] were the company-developed piece Fish Dance; Macbeth in Flames by Steve Bailey and Angstrom: She Is Taller Than I by Steve Bailey and Mark Blakeney. Any rumor that Steve and I were gold naked aliens in that performance is true.
Origin story
Geloy Concepcion
MA collage by Robert Rehm featuring (clockwise from top) Steve Bailey, an alien, Pamela Dean Kenny and Monessa Esquivel in HighYello Rose, Rehm in Epcot ElAlamall, and Kitty Williams in Katherine’s Joint.
I must mention two extraordinary people who worked with Jump-Start. Sterling Houston — playwright, actor, musician, prose writer, artist extraordinaire — was with Jump-Start from 1988 until his death in 2006. Sterling wrote at least 15 plays, most of which were produced at JumpStart. I also loved working with [late San Antonio artist] S.T. Shimi. … She joined our company and stayed for 20 years. Shimi wrote and performed many solo works at Jump-Start, and together we produced a series of performances around the element of water, including Watermark and Watermark 1.5
Kim Korbin
I saw an announcement for a modern dance workshop in the Express-News Weekender. Donna Gardner, a guest artist, was conducting the workshop, and I met several new people there — Catherine Cisneros from URBAN-15, Sandy Dunn, Steve Bailey and really just a bunch of cool artists, architects and dancers. Steve was working under Ric Slocum at [Our Lady of the Lake University’s] 24th Street Experiment and he invited me to audition for a show there. That’s where I met Chuck Squier, who was also working at 24th Street. After a while, Steve and Sandy and Dennis Poplin decided to start a new theater company that would present all original work, and I a ended the living-room discussion about launching Jump-Start. Sandy, Chuck and I are still company members. I think my first performance there was Fish Dance — a collaboration between the company and three visual artists who provided exquisite
props and costumes of handmade paper and clay. It was presented in a tight li le upstart gallery in Los Angeles Heights. We didn’t have our own space and in the early years rehearsed in a borrowed living room and a vacant space on Presa above the River Walk until we rented a space in the fledgling Blue Star Arts Complex. … Unable to stay at Blue Star because our rear exit would have dumped people onto the railroad tracks in an emergency, our second theater was in an old auto-repair garage on South Alamo. I was onstage there one night with Gertrude Baker in a scene from Sterling Houston’s High Yello Rose when the lights suddenly went out — we had no electricity. Someone pulled up the garage door and asked the audience member who was parked in front to turn on their headlights. Other audience members went to their cars to get flashlights. The show went on — thanks to the community folks who jumped in to help.
Chuck Squier
When I first got to San Antonio in the early ’8os, I scouted out the theaters in town and was impressed with the work I saw at the 24th Street Experiment at OLLU. Their work was bright, energetic, innovative and noteworthy. I began volunteering and working with Steve Bailey and others. We became disillusioned with the restrictions placed on our work by the university. Steve and Sandy called a meeting at Steve’s house one afternoon. Maybe 20 of us showed up to discuss what we wanted to do. … I think my first project with Jump-Start was called Fish Dance with Sandy and Steve leading. … The collaborative artists who were showing at the space helped us with costumes by painting T-shirts with ocean and fish motifs, and they created fish masks out of palm tree fronds that had recently been pruned. The gallery was packed with folks for the opening. It was all so exciting and invigorating.
While I have hundreds of specific memories of the past four decades — I could bore a person to tears! — for me what is most resonant is the thought of all the hundreds of artists who have created and shared work on the Jump-Start stage.
Lisa Suarez
I’ve been involved with Jump-Start since the
MLisa Suarez and S.T. Shimi climb the wall in the Jump-Start performance FindingLoveinWartime.
early ’90s. … It was like no other company I ever encountered. It was and still is non-traditional and all-inclusive and pushes the boundaries of performance, theater and the creation of original works. Jump-Start was doing stuff other theaters wouldn’t even think of doing or were even afraid to try.
I became not just an actor at Jump-Start but a multi-media performing artist, singer, songwriter and playwright. I wrote and premiered I’ll Remember for You: An Alzheimer’s Story, which will always be my favorite accomplishment at Jump-Start because it was about my caring for my mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s.
I’ve done things and acquired skills at JumpStart that I don’t believe I would have ever done anywhere else. Our original productions encouraged us to always think outside the box and tap into unknown skills and talents. For me that included climbing ropes, stilt-walking, dancing on ice and eating fire.
I’m excited about this upcoming celebration of Jump-Start turning 40. It’s great that we are highlighting Guillermo Gómez Peña, who honored us back in the early 2000s with his incredible productions — in which I had the pleasure of being involved. They were the Museum of Fetishized Identities (2002) and Epcot: El Alamall (2004). These were my introduction and training in “performance art” like no other.
Giving voice to the voiceless and advocating for tolerance and acceptance of the “other” will always be my main reason for valuing Jump-Start as we continue into the next 40 years.
Here’s a rundown of the best things Current film journalist Kiko Martinez saw last year
BY KIKO MARTINEZ
After watching 237 feature films at theaters and on streaming platforms in 2024, here are my 10 favorites plus a few honorable mentions.
1. Anora
Wri en and directed by Sean Baker (The Florida Project), the arousing dramedy follows Anora (Mikey Madison), a headstrong, young stripper who’s swept off her six-inch stile os by Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the immature 21-year-old son of a rich Russian oligarch. When their spontaneous marriage is met with disapproval and Vanya bails from the messy confrontation, Anora and three Russian and Armenian henchmen comb Brooklyn looking for him. Hilarious and heartfelt, Madison is a revelation as the title character dropped into a modern-day, adult version of a romantic fairy tale. Pre y Woman’s got nothing on Anora, the best film of 2024.
2. Conclave
Set inside the Vatican, this unassuming thriller tells the story behind the election of a new pontiff by the College of Cardinals, led by British Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes). Politics take over as the cardinals congregate and position themselves to find the votes needed to lead the Catholic Church. Directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), Conclave is a slow-burning, fascinating and unpredictable narrative anchored by a colossal ensemble cast.
3. September 5
Set during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, the historical drama recounts when a Palestinian militant group took members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage inside the Olympic Village. The film is told from the perspective of the ABC sports crew who had to quickly pivot to hard news when the tragic event started to unfold. Told with palpable urgency and emotion, September 5 is a gripping film about journalists doing their jobs amid high-pressure conditions.
4. Dìdi
The coming-of-age dramedy set in 2008 follows Chris Wang (nicknamed “Dìdi”), a 13-year-old Tai-
wanese kid searching for happiness while living in Fremont, California, with his mother, grandmother and older sister. Desperate to fit in, Dìdi turns to social media, new skater friends and a potential love interest to break out his pubescent rut. Writer and director Sean Wang (Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó) offers a genuine and oftentimes uncomfortable take on boyhood through humor, angst and vulnerability. It’s a familiar narrative, of course, but one that soars above most similar coming-of-age films.
5. Challengers
For someone previously unmoved by the work of Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino (Bones and All), it was a surprise that one of his two 2024 films (Queer being the other) registered so high on this list. Challengers situates a love triangle in the world of professional sports, where two tennis players and friends (Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist) have been vying for the a ention of the same tennis superstar (Zendaya) for more than a decade. The animosity and adoration inside the entanglement radiates, and screenwriting newcomer Justin Kuritzkes’ script brims with devilish wit and excitement. Game, set, match.
6. Memoir of a Snail
The best animated film of 2024 comes by way of Australian stop-motion animator Adam Elliot, who hadn’t released a feature since his 2005 masterpiece Mary and Max. In Snail, Elliot follows the adventures of Grace, a young girl in 1970s Melbourne, who is separated from her twin brother after a series of tragedies and starts ba ling her trauma by hoarding snail keepsakes. Far too woeful for children, Snail leaves a trail of complex themes about death and despair while offering hope to those who embrace their own oddities.
7. Emilia Pérez
Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that Emilia Pérez, from French filmmaker Jacques Audiard (A Prophet), is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Part crime thriller, eccentric musical and campy Spanish-language novella, the film tells the story of a dangerous cartel kingpin (Karla Sofía Gascón) who hires a lawyer (Zoe Saldaña) to help arrange a new life as a trans woman. Debate has swirled around the
film’s polarizing impact on trans representation in Hollywood, but Emilia Pérez pulls no punches with its incredible visuals and gender- and genre-bending bravado.
8. A Real Pain
Actor and second-time feature film director Jesse Eisenberg tells the story of two cousins, David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin), who travel together to Poland to learn more about their Jewish heritage after the death of their grandmother. However, David and Benji aren’t exactly living on the same wavelength, which adds bumps to their journey. Funny and sincere, A Real Pain gives Culkin a foundational character he consumes with his whole heart. It’s the best performance of his career.
9. The Girl with the Needle (PigenMedNålen)
The psychological horror film from Denmark is even more disturbing when you learn that it’s inspired by a true-crime story. The script follows a young and impoverished seamstress (Vic Carmen Sonne) who takes a job as a wet nurse for a woman (Trine Dyrholm) who finds homes for unwanted children in Copenhagen. Shot in somber black and white, Swedish-Polish director and cowriter Magnus von Horn (The Here After) takes viewers into frightening corners where darkness reigns.
10. Música
The romantic comedy genre is given a significant boost of creativity and charm with Música, a film by online content creator, actor, writer and debut director Rudy Mancuso. In real life, Mancuso was born with synesthesia, which allows him to interpret everyday sounds into music. Música features this perceptual phenomenon and how it affects the life, relationships and dreams of a young, Brazilian puppeteer named Rudy (Mancuso). While there’s some typical rom-com comfort to be found in Música, the movie consciously avoids cliches and plays to its own syncopated beat.
Honorable mentions (in alphabetical order): Civil War, Nickel Boys, Nowhere Special, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, Saturday Night, Smile 2, The Substance, Tuesday, Will & Harper
screens
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Courtesy Image Universal Pictures
The Islands Come to Southtown
Relocated Luna Rosa is a solid showcase for soulful cuisine of Puerto Rico
BY RON BECHTOL
Isuspect the recent holidays have you all egg-nogged out by now. I mostly managed to avoid eggy excessiveness, whether from a carton or from scratch. But that doesn’t mean I skipped creamy — and, yes, caloric — concoctions altogether.
For starters, there was the 10th-annual Brandy Alexander Tour choreographed by San Antonio’s Dorcol Distilling, mak-
ers of Kinsman Rakia, an apricot brandy. As usual, elite bartenders at places such as Bohanan’s, Mezquite and The Study at Dean’s whipped up Kinsman-based variations on the Brandy Alexander theme. But this year, each bartender joined forces with a pastry chef to provide sweet sidebars to the seasonal drink. I sampled several.
I also briefly considered mixing up a batch of the Trinidadian holiday specialty that is ponche de crème. The format is
familiar: both sweetened condensed and evaporated milks, eggs, rum, bi ers, nutmeg … but the mixture is gently cooked, thus alleviating concerns over raw eggs. No, the rum doesn’t kill the bacteria.
Similar to the ponche is another Island-adjacent specialty, Puerto Rico’s coquito, but as the name suggests, milk from a coconut rather than a cow dominates. Though there are many variations, the simplest form of the lush drink contains only coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks and a dusting of cinnamon. Easy peasy.
Even easier: order one from the cocktail list at Boricua-themed Luna Rosa in its new location inside the former Southtown home of Rosario’s. The restaurant also offered bo led to-go versions of the drink bo led when I visited.
At Luna Rosa, coquito comes accessorized with an orchid blossom, and it’s
liberally adorned with cinnamon. Rich without seeming heavy, it was a perfect introduction to Christmas as celebrated on the island — traditionally until mid-January.
Another Puerto Rican holiday specialty, pernil, also has a starring role at Luna Rosa. This roast of pork shoulder or bu is easy enough to do at home. All it requires is an adobo heavy with garlic. The hard part is finding a cut of pork with a fat cap and a covering of skin that’s scored in order that it turn into separately served cracklings. I gave up looking recently and resorted to tying a layer of pork belly to the top of the roast. The result was lots of lovely, rendered fat but, alas, no cracklings.
Luna Rosa’s pernil doesn’t come with a crisped skin side, but I was more than happy to skip all the fuss on my part. Some cooks will roast the pork just to the point of still being sliceable. Here it’s taken a step
Ron Bechtol
further to the pull-apart stage, and the result is tender, moist and flavor-packed — far be er than the more familiar pulled pork. Several traditional sides are available, but if you order the lunch bowl, as I did, it comes with the customary arroz con gandules, fried sweet plantains and marinated onions.
Gandules are sometimes called pigeon peas — not that that helps much. A small, sturdy legume, they seem destined to be mated to the tawny rice that in Puerto Rico is traditionally flavored with a spice mix called sazón and a sofrito of onions, peppers, garlic and more chopped into a paste. It looks unassuming, but don’t be deceived. Fried ripe plantains add a sweet touch to the plate, while escabeched onions counter with a sour, spicy tang. Or-
dered as a side, the sometimes-dense yuca frita surprised with its delicacy.
Though not necessarily part of a traditional holiday feast, mofongo is surely part of Puerto Rico’s culinary soul. Plantains, this time green, are sliced, fried, mashed together with garlic and chicharron, and formed into a mold that’s upturned on the plate.
Diners at Luna Rosa have a choice of adding substantial sides such as fried pork, chicken cracklings, shrimp al ajillo and ropa vieja, a dish whose name translates as “old clothes” but is actually a polished blend of shredded beef, olives, green bell peppers, a li le tomato and, of course, garlic.
The pairing of ropa vieja and mofongo couldn’t be be er: starchy yet far-from-stodgy
LUNA ROSA PUERTO RICAN GRILL Y TAPAS
910 S. Alamo St., (210) 314-2723 lunarosatapas.com
Best bets: Pernil in any form, plantains in any form, mofongo, ropa vieja, empanadadilla de carne, coquito cocktail
The lowdown: Luna Rosa is now comfortably at home in the former Rosario’s location in Southtown. The layout of the restaurant space remains much the same, but at least at lunch the noise level is tolerable, and service is efficient and helpful. The tapas aspect of the menu isn’t as exciting as it might be in almost any Spanish town, but there’s a good happy hour in compensation. As is traditional in Puerto Rico, pork dominates the meaty side of the menu. Expect garlic to prevail as well, along with plantains in many forms. Don’t skip the ropa vieja. Have a look at the take-away sandwiches and pastries at La Bodega next door as you leave.
plantains hitched to deeply savory beef. What’s not to like?
Luna Rosa’s menu is much more extensive than the above suggests. The empanadilla de carne, filled with ground beef, potato and olive, is well worth a ention, and the pork chuleta comes with the crisped edges the pernil lacked.
food
But ultimately it all comes down to dessert. There’s nothing wrong with a simple but classic flan, and Luna Rosa has two.
The restaurant also has a newly opened Bodega next door, and a discreet examination of the pastry case isn’t without its own rewards. Of the three pastries I tried, the pastelillo de guayaba — puff pastry sandwiching a slab of guava paste — was the best.
Cocktails will soon be served here as well.
Feliz Coquito y Próspero Año Nuevo!
Ron Bechtol
Ron Bechtol
Family Tradition
Dweezil Zappa keeping his father’s groundbreaking music alive with show at Empire Theatre
BY MIKE MCMAHAN
When your first name is “Dweezil,” you probably don’t need a last name.
But if you have a last name, it may as well be Zappa, making you the heir to one of the deepest and most unconventional catalogs in American music: that of the late and legendary Frank Zappa.
Dweezil Zappa — that very heir — will play San Antonio’s Empire Theatre on Tuesday, Jan. 14, interpreting his father’s music for a modern audience with his own band of
virtuoso musical compatriots.
Some might wonder why guitarist-vocalist Dweezil Zappa isn’t running from the dreaded “nepo baby” tag. The answer speaks to the nature of his father’s musical legacy. Running the gamut from rock to fusion to classical to prog to stranger points beyond, the elder Zappa is more properly approached as a composer rather than a conventional rock songwriter.
And anyone that knows orchestral music knows that the compositions often stick around past the composer’s lifetime.
We talked to the younger Zappa on the phone from his home in Los Angeles about the challenges of pu ing together an evening of his father’s music, noted for its challenging and technical nature along with its sheer weirdness. And, of course, we found out a li le more about that name of his.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
There’s a story that the nurse at the hospital refused to put Dweezil on your birth
certifi cate and you had to have your name changed when you were around 12. True?
The story is that the people at the hospital didn’t like the name Dweezil, so they weren’t going to let my dad in to see me unless there was some other name that they felt was, like, a Christian name or something. My dad put a bunch of names as my middle name just to appease these people. It was Dweezil Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa. When I learned that I had these middle names, I didn’t like any of them, so they were removed.
How closely do you aim to reproduce your dad’s music?
My goal from the beginning was always to have an apples-to-apples comparison. I like seeing my dad’s music being performed in the same way an orchestra would be performing Beethoven or Bach. A lot of people, when they cover musical artists’ material, they think, “Oh, I’m supposed to change it and do my own thing with it.” For the most part, I don’t want to hear that. I’d like to hear them play it the way it was. That being said,
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Courtesy Photo Dweezil Zappa
music
there are some slight variations that will take place in some of the versions that I do, but they’re based on taking multiple versions of my dad’s music and creating hybrid arrangements, so that you hear some of his different ideas of the way the music could be played in one performance. If I can create something that is based on something my dad already did and repurpose it in a new arrangement, that’s preferable to me.
How do you and the band learn the pieces?
There’s a lot of music that is wri en, and we will refer to it when we have access to the actual transcripts — the things that my dad wrote in his own handwriting. But when that might not be available, which is frequent, we will have to listen to multiple different versions. We’ll do transcriptions. We will note-check them, rhythm-check them and we will use a fine-tooth comb to really do the due diligence on the parts.
Once all of that is done and the parts are arranged, what kind of rehearsal goes on? Your dad was legendary for rehearsing bands hard. For sure. He used to rehearse a band for three months, even if the tour was going to be three weeks. The reason was that he wanted to be able to record every single show, and at that time you could make records, and have records sell, and you could make money off of publishing. That was the real business model that he operated from. If the band’s not rehearsed well, you’re going to have lots of mistakes, and then it’s harder to use any of the things. So, it becomes a question of why bother spending the money? Now you can set up a laptop and do a lot of stuff that you would have had to have rented a complete recording truck to do.
How do you go about choosing the set list? Do you balance songs that the fans are going to expect to hear versus things that you really enjoy from the catalog or things that you’ve discovered that are underrepresented on the archival concert recordings?
It’s pretty much as you described. We do try to assimilate what the fans have as maybe some expectations of the popular material, and then we also try to present things that they
might not have heard that are rare versions. On the [2024 dates of the] Rox(Postroph)y tour, we were playing a lot of stuff from Apostrophe (‘) and from Roxy & Elsewhere because [last year] was the 50th anniversary. [As we go into 2025 dates], we’re continuing with the same theme, ultimately choosing songs from both of those records. We’re playing lesser-known versions where he might have completely rearranged a song like “Yellow Snow” or completely rearranged “Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?”
For example, with “Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?” — which came
be hearing it and saying, “Wait, what just happened there? That’s different.” And to me, I like those kinds of surprises. Any kind of surprise in music is kind of the most fun thing.
“Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” and “Valley Girl” are well-known as novelty tunes but aren’t necessarily good representations of what your father did in a broader sense. What’s a good introduction to his work? To me, I think some of the easier records to digest would be Apostrophe (‘), Over-Nite Sensation and Roxy & Elsewhere. That’s a good place to start, because it’s 10 years into his career or more, and he’s taking a lot of different styles of music, and blending them, and creating a good listening adventure. On a record like Apostrophe (‘), you’re going to have jazz, funk, gospel, rock, experimental things, classical elements — they’re all in there. I think that’s a good, broad-strokes album for people to get used to the textures and the sounds, and it also has a bit of a sense of humor as well.
What do you think your father would think of your project?
from the Roxy album — that was originally a different composition that had different rhythms and some other harmonies and things. So, we found the very first performance on some early recording, and it had a lot of different things in it. We made a hybrid version where it starts off as the version from the Roxy album but then it morphs into a version that predates the Roxy album. And you get thrown for a loop, because the rhythms that you are used to in the song kind of flip. It’s an interesting new way to hear the song, because if you’re very familiar with it, you’ll
Well, the thing is, any kind of musicianship on a level of ability where musicians can communicate at the speed of thought and play things and improvise and have a wide vocabulary within their musical abilities, he loved that. That was just a total playground for him. He would have put this band through its paces and then some. One of the things he would like most is that the band members like to be able to take on what their specific roles are and do them well. Where he had difficulties with his own bands is that people would initially be performing their role but later try to draw more a ention to themselves and change what they were doing, or try to get a ention onstage and change the music in the process. He would not like it when people would want to extrapolate and go in directions that weren’t necessary for the song. He very much was the composer and director of programming and all of that. If you weren’t playing what was required, then you would be immediately told “window or aisle? How would you like to return home?”
$49-$305, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 226-5700, majesticempire.com.
critics’ picks
Wednesday, Jan. 8
Moonshine Bandits, Blake Banks
A raucous combo of country and hip-hop drives the California duo of Dusty “Tex” Dahlgren and Brett “Bird” Brooks, known as the Moonshine Bandits. Formed in 2003, the duo’s brand of backwoods bravado and country soul comes full circle on its latest release Gold Rush. $20-$175, 8 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — Danny Cervantes
Thursday, Jan. 9
Max Diaz, Menorah, Shylo Graves
Eclectic indie artist Max Diaz is visiting SA on his Save a Horse tour after playing to sold-out stops across North America. While the 20-yearold is adept at channeling the style of a cowboy troubadour, his 2023 release Metanoia shows he’s still developing his style. Grungy San Antonio alt-rockers Menorah make for an intriguing opener. $15, 7 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — DC
Friday, Jan. 10-Sunday, Jan. 12
Paper Tiger Free Week
Mid-sized venue Paper Tiger is bringing in every conceivable genre of music for its annual Free
Week, an excellent and budget-friendly way to sample a variety of acts while leaving plenty of money to spend at the bar instead. Check the club’s website for details on its multiple stages, DJs galore and packed lineup of bands including Beware of Dog, Mariana Be, Limit of Destruction, Collective Dreams, Dogma Society and more. Free with RSVP, 8 p.m. nightly, Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — Bill Baird
Thursday, Jan. 16
Charlie Wilson
Having racked up a BET Lifetime Achievement Award, a Soul Train Icon Award and countless other recognitions, it should be clear that Charlie Wilson is a straight-up icon and one of the definitive voices in R&B. After beginning his decades-long career as lead vocalist for The Gap Band (“You Dropped the Bomb on Me, Baby”), Wilson struggled with drug addiction and homelessness before going clean and launching a successful solo career. Nicknamed “Uncle Charlie” by Snoop Dogg himself, Wilson has collaborated with an impressive array of artists including Bruno Mars, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake and Tyler The Creator. $39-$299, 7 p.m., Majestic Theatre, 224
E Houston St, (210) 226-3333, majesticempire. com. — BB
Saturday, Jan. 18
Buddha Trixie, Sports Coach, Telebastards San Diego’s Buddha Trixie plays a psych-kissed brand of indie-pop that is nothing crazy or new, but the band gains points for its fun and over-the-top visual aesthetic. Meanwhile, Ojai, California-based tour mates Sports Coach craft indie-pop with a late-night aesthetic. Houston’s Telebastards will open the show with tight, melodic post-punk guitar rock. $16, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx. com. — BB
Saturday, Jan. 18
Amanda Pascali
Texas singer-songwriter Amanda Pascali will bring her subtly rendered folk tunes to the inside of Boerne’s Cave Without a Name. The exquisite stalactites and stalagmites promise to provide an intriguing backdrop for Pascali’s songs, which speak to the experience of growing up a first-generation American. $37, 7 p.m., Cave Without a Name, 325 Kreutzberg Road, Boerne, cavewithoutaname.com. — BB
Friday, Jan. 17
The Pietasters, Madaline, Spies Like Us
The 1990s ska revival was perfectly timed for the rise of The Pietasters, a DC-area party band that went on to tour with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and grab a supporting slot with the late Joe Strummer. While the lineup has changed over the years, The Pietasters continue bring all the fun and nostalgia that’s a hallmark of those lively days. $20, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — DC
Sunday, Jan. 19
The Panhandlers
The Panhandlers are a supergroup of acclaimed West Texas singer-songwriters united in their desire to deliver on a rugged brand of homegrown country music. Josh Abbott, John Baumann, William Clark Green and Flatland Calvary’s Cleto Cordero partnered to track their album live to tape, recalling the bygone era of their ’60s and’70s influences, including Terry Allen and Waylon Jennings. After dropping a self-titled debut in 2020, The Panhandlers released the follow-up Tough Country in 2023, which built on the members’ incredible storytelling abilities. $29-$99, 8 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — DC
Shutterstock / April Visuals
Charlie Wilson
LINERS
Manager in San Antonio, TX w/
HS diploma/GED & 36 mo of managerial exp to: oversee gas station & convenience store operations, incl sta mgmt, inventory, budgeting, customer service, etc. To apply, mail resume to: VS Pearsall Market Corp dba Pearsall Market, 8692 Old Pearsall Rd, San Antonio, TX 78252.
16. Miranda July novel that made e New Yorker’s “ e Essential Reads 2024” list 18. Net ix “true story” miniseries that was #2 on e Guardian’s “50 Best TV Shows of 2024”
20. Qua made with honey
21. Build up
25. Jason who’s one half of Jay & Silent Bob
28. Screw up
30. Andean wool source
31. Wood-chopping tools
32. Iconic toy store ___ Schwarz
33. Onetime o ce note-takers
34. Dinghy propeller
35. Poker-themed roguelike deck-builder nominated for e Game Awards’ 2024 Game of the Year
37. “___ Been Everywhere”
38. Marvel mutant with cold powers
40. “___ Meninas” (Velazquez painting)
41. “Slumdog Millionaire” actor Kapoor
42. Reserved
43. Attached document, sometimes
44. Super Bowl XLIV MVP Drew
45. Tailless breed
47. Growing business?
49. Country crossover album that made many “Best of 2024” lists
54. Character paired with Wolverine in a 2024 title, the highest-grossing R-rated lm ever
57. ___ del Fuego
58. Where eye color comes from
59. Penn who’s not opposite Teller
60. Pants length measurement
61. ___ see ew
62. Greek letter found within other Greek letters
63. “Don’t change that,” to an editor
Down
1. “___ little too late for that”
2. Paint badly
3. Organic catalysts
4. Sky blue shades
5. Permanent “QI” panelist Davies
6. Not as shy
7. “Grey’s Anatomy” star Pompeo
8. “Skip To My ___”
9. Hockey star Bobby
10. “Isle of Dogs” director Anderson
11. Member of the fam
12. Out sailing
14. Personnel concern
17. Was defeated by 19. Best possible
22. Froglike, to biologists
23. Film appropriate for all ages
32.
33.
35. Half a stereotypical interrogation team
36. Confection that gets pulled
39. Shared albums around the 2000s?
41. Seat adjunct
43. JFK’s cra in WWII
44. Zombie chant
46. Got up
48. Play’s opener
50. Mexican earthenware vessel
51. Elm, palm, or maple
52. Part of QED
53. L.A. football player
54. Part of a party spread
55. Period of history
56. Financial help
Answers on page 25.
24. Art studio props
25. “Little Red Book” ideology
26. Bet at Churchill Downs
27. “___ American Band” (1973 Grand Funk Railroad album)
