San Antonio Current - November 27, 2024 by Chava Communications

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Editorial

Contributing Arts Editor Bryan Rindfuss

Contributors Abe Asher, Bill Baird, Ron Bechtol, Danny Cervantes, Macks Cook, Amber Esparza, Brianna Espinoza, Dalia Gulca, Anjali Gupta, Colin Houston, Kiko Martinez, Mike McMahan, Kevin Sanchez, M. Solis, Caroline Wol Dean Zach

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in this issue

10 San Antonio jewelry artists to shop this holiday season

07 News The Opener News in Brief

‘Fundamental breakdown’: How San Antonio-based USAA landed in regulators’ hot seat

Amid steady growth, USAA’s banking arm failed to make investments needed to satisfy regulators and some longtime customers

Standing up for A ordable Housing

Tenants at Robert E. Lee Apartments ﬁght back as developer Weston Urban bids on the downtown property

Bad Takes

Both major political parties are too beholden to the donor class to reform a broken economic system

22 Calendar

29 Arts Holiday Horrors

event Dulce returning to the DoSeum on Dec. 6

Spirited Holiday

Here’s how to shop local when buying gifts for those who love beer and spirits

39 Music

Jingle Bell Rock

Shopping San Antonio-style for the music fan on your list

Critics’ Picks

Decadent San Antonio holiday 26 Feature Homegrown Adornments

Our picks of things to do

San Antonio is getting its ﬁrst-ever Krampus Parade

Local Reads

Support San Antonio authors by putting these books on your holiday list

33 Screens All In for Anything Judson, UTSA grad Soﬁe Calderon shares screen with Oscar winner in SpecialOps:Lioness

34 Food Signature Accomplishments

Not every dish works at Stixs & Stone, but its creative take on Asian fusion is mostly a winner Seasons Sweetenings

Your

Courtesy Photos

That Rocks/That Sucks

HTexas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is oﬀering up a stateowned 1,402-acre ranch in Starr County as a de facto deportation hub for the incoming Trump administration. In a le er sent to the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago address last week, Buckingham invited the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol or ICE to construct a facility on the ranch for the “processing, detention, and coordination” of Trump’s promised deportation campaign.

The federal government has approved the use of more than $3 billion in federal money to back Texas’ plan to expand broadband internet access in the state. Texas will receive the money through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, which was created as a result of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Texas’ plan, submi ed for approval last December, will secure broadband internet access for 7 million currently unconnected residents.

The Texas State Board of Education last Friday approved a controversial state-authored elementary-school curriculum that includes biblical teachings, which proponents say will promote a be er understanding of U.S. history. Critics argue the lessons violate the separation of church and state and are likely to isolate and alienate non-Christian students. Americans United for Separation of Church and State said the curriculum is “part of the nationwide eﬀort by Christian Nationalists to impose their religious beliefs on public school students.”

HThere’s a new Victor Wembanyama mural in town, and it’s the largest mural so far dedicated to the Spurs star. Artist Alan Calvo, who’s already painted two murals of the 7-foot-4 French phenom, was commissioned to create a third at Gil’s Tire and Wheel, 6239 San Pedro Ave. The mural features Wembanyama and other San Antonio motifs in black and white, a style Calvo said was inspired by old-school lowrider pencil drawings he did growing up. — Abe Asher

Promising hellﬁre and damnation to nonTrump voters with Texas preacher Kenneth Copeland

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

There’s been no shortage of right-wing televangelists celebrating Donald Trump’s presidential victory, but leave it to Texas MAGA cultist Kenneth Copeland to ratchet up the hate and bile to new proportions.

During Copeland’s ﬁrst Sunday sermon after the election, he declared that Trump’s return to the White House will unleash a “spiritual awakening” in America, according to reporting by the online site Right Wing Watch.

What kind of awakening? Well, one where LGBTQ+ people are afraid to make themselves

known and where Jesus would personally deliver eternal damnation to anyone who didn’t vote for the bronzer-smeared reality show host-turnedChristian nationalist savior.

“No more rainbow ﬂags,” Copeland said of the new era.

The pastor added that he’d had a vision in which the ever-merciful Jesus would hold anyone who voted against Trump — or didn’t bother to vote — responsible for every fetus aborted in history, according to Right Wing Watch.

”[It was] Judgment Day, and Jesus stood there and he said, ‘Those of you that didn’t vote, I put you in that nation and you didn’t vote ... or you didn’t pray and vote like I told you to, you will listen to the names of all the babies that are here and never got any life. And it’ll take a while because there’s over 65 million of them. But you are gonna listen to every one of them and you are gonna be held responsible for their death.’”

Interestingly, a YouTube video Copeland’s Eagle Mountain International Church posted of his tirade has since been taken down. Wonder if it’s because the assclown’s sentiments run counter to the church’s slogan that it’s the place “Where love is king.” — Sanford Nowlin

YOU SAID IT!

“I know that’s on everybody’s

mind, and so the answer is, ‘We don’t know yet.”

— AssistantCityManagerLoriHoustonon whowouldpayforaproposed$4billion downtownsportsdistrictthatwould includeanewSpursarena.

The push to build a new downtown stadium for the San Antonio Missions minor-league baseball team may have hit a roadblock due to terms San Antonio ISD has set for the sale of the potential stadium site. The district’s trustees unanimously approved a plan for the sale that demands $45 million to fund the district’s advanced-learning academy, aﬀordable housing guarantees, a new parking garage, and more.

Property taxes have soared in San Antonio, jumping 43% over the past ﬁve years. A new report from the online real estate marketplace RedFin found that San Antonio residents paid an average of $449 per month as of August, up

from just $314 monthly in August 2019. That ﬁve-year increase was the ninth-largest of any U.S. city, with Fort Worth, Dallas and other Southern cities also in the top ten.

The San Antonio Marathon will debut on Dec. 7, 2025, replacing the long-running Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon series, which is leaving due to differences with the city and San Antonio Sports. The San Antonio Marathon will be organized locally and is expected to draw 18,000 participants in its first year. San Antonio Sports officials maintain the new event will raise the profile of running in the city. — Abe Asher

ASSCLOWN ALERT

Creative Commons Kenneth Copeland Ministries

VALERO ALAMO BOWL ALAMODOME

DEC 28

RANKY TANKY WITH MS. LISA FISCHER

JO LONG THEATRE JAN 17

A ‘sea of telephoning’

A group of 25 Army oﬃcers started USAA in 1922 after a meeting in downtown San Antonio’s Gunter Hotel. Members of the group were tired of being dropped by other insurers due to the frequent moves required by their military service.

Over the decades, USAA steadily picked up members, ﬁrst expanding to include other branches of the military

MIn 2021, USAA opened an oﬃce in the banking hub of Charlotte, North Carolina, which is home to experienced bankers whom the company can hire to address its regulatory issues.

and then adding homeowners insurance and life insurance in the 1960s and banking services in the 1980s.

After 1996, when the company allowed enlisted military personnel rather than just oﬃcers to join, its membership jumped substantially. Its customer base skyrocketed again in 2009, when the business again expanded its membership criteria. Today, individuals are eligible to join USAA if they currently serve in the U.S. military; if they’ve ever

Creative Commons / City Dweller.

honorably served; or if they are family members, including grandchildren, of people who have served.

The challenges of adding enlisted military members to USAA’s customer base went beyond sheer numbers. Those personnel earn less money than the oﬃcers on which USAA built its business, and many are young, ﬁnancially inexperienced and susceptible to a unique set of challenges.

Withee, the former Marine, said he welcomed the addition of enlisted members to USAA’s ranks, even if it meant higher costs for oﬃcers.

“It might be slightly more expensive for some of us, but it’s be er for all of us,” he said.

But the membership expansions have also brought a shift away from easy customer service, Withee added, pointing to what he described as a “sea of telephoning,” as he gets bounced between diﬀerent customer representatives.

Another USAA member, who’s banked with the company for nearly 30 years, noted a shift away from what was once a “very, very intimate customer service model.” Now, there’s a “call bank of people that I’ve got to ﬁght through” to get on the phone with someone who can make a decision, said this person, who declined to speak publicly about his banking relationship.

He said he’s a fan of USAA’s “awesome” online banking tools. But he’s often spent more than an hour on the phone with USAA, particularly when trying to arrange banking aﬀairs for his father. The frustrations have prompted him to slowly move his banking business elsewhere, he said.

As USAA grew, it became a major fixture in San Antonio. More than half of the firm’s 37,000 employees work in the Alamo City, most at a sprawling North Side campus that has more office space than the Pentagon. The facility includes multiple cafeterias, coffee shops and wellness clinics, along with jogging trails, basketball courts and other fitness amenities.

USAA has also expanded its footprint elsewhere. In 2021, it opened an oﬃce in the banking hub of Charlo e, North Carolina, which is home to experienced bankers whom USAA can hire to address its regulatory issues.

Earlier this year, USAA also quietly moved its bank’s headquarters from San Antonio to Phoenix, where it has long had a presence. Roger Wildermuth, a USAA spokesman, described the move as an administrative change and said it

didn’t have any impact on hiring plans. The San Antonio Express-News ﬁrst reported on the headquarters change.

‘Fire drill after ﬁre drill’

The bigger change is happening in USAA’s executive ranks. In August, Peacock said he would retire in 2025 after about ﬁve years leading the company. That tenure was consistent with how long he and his wife envisioned he’d be in the role, he wrote in a le er to employees.

But key leaders under Peacock have also left in recent months — a reshuffling that suggests fresh faces were seen as necessary to complete USAA’s intended overhaul. Recent departures include Paul Vincent, who was president of USAA’s bank; Chief Risk Officer Neeraj Singh; Chief Audit Executive Gilbert Gitiche; and Chief Security Officer Jason Wi y.

The extent of the shakeup is a classic sign of a “bank that has signiﬁcant issues” and can’t seem to ﬁx its problems with regulators, said Williams, the former bank supervisor who’s now at Boston University.

In a statement, the company said it has a “deep bench of highly qualiﬁed senior leaders to continue USAA’s legacy of exceptional service.”

“Leadership change is a natural occurrence in any large, dynamic organization,” the company said. “Each situation is unique, as individuals leave to pursue other opportunities and as USAA adapts, which at times means adding new talent to meet the evolving needs of its membership.”

The turnover has put pressure on employees in USAA’s compliance department, according to three former compliance employees who spoke on condition of anonymity. The division — tasked with making sure USAA doesn’t violate banking laws and repairs its regulatory standing — has suﬀered from an exodus of frustrated employees.

One former employee recalled being “underwater almost the entire time,” with meetings from sun-up to sun-down, yet seemingly making li le progress.

“We were drained. It was just ﬁre drill after ﬁre drill,” this person said.

There was “no cohesiveness” in USAA’s compliance department, a second former employee said, recalling initiatives that “were either falling through the cracks or just ge ing roadblocked.”

A third former compliance employee recalled USAA as a “bureaucratic nightmare,” with late nights spent on compiling reports that were “very redundant” and li le openness to making processes more eﬃcient.

In a statement, USAA said the company’s goal is “to always be a great place to work.”

“We encourage open dialogue across the enterprise, and we continue to take time to listen to, and act on, employee feedback,” the company said.

Cliﬀord Rossi, a risk management expert who teaches at the University of Maryland, said he’s hopeful that new leadership will ﬁnally bring about an overhaul and “reinvigorate the bank.”

“They’ve got a great reputation. Their heritage is stellar,” said Rossi, a former

chief risk oﬃcer at Citigroup’s consumer lending division. “Providing services to military veterans and their families, it doesn’t get any be er than that. So in the actual management of the bank, there’s something fundamentally going on to have these repeat compliance issues.”

‘America’s good bank’

In the years after the 2008 ﬁnancial crash, many looked to USAA Federal Savings Bank as a gem in the tarnished banking industry. A 2012 proﬁle in Reuters lauded the fact that the bank didn’t need to “take a penny in federal bailout money” and also praised its post-crisis growth. “Meet America’s good bank: USAA,” the story trumpeted.

But even as USAA ballooned in size — accepting more money from depositors — it failed to build the kinds of safeguards that regulators expect from bigger banks, several experts said. And those expectations started ge ing tougher after the crisis, as regulators implemented new rules to make banks safer, and the brand-new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau investigated potential wrongdoing in the industry.

It took several years, but the much-larger USAA eventually came into the sights of bank regulators and faced a series of crackdowns.

The string of bad news started in 2019, when the CFPB ﬁned USAA $3.5 million over errors in customer payments and for reopening some customers’ checking accounts without their consent.

USAA’s main federal bank regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, would soon issue an order finding widespread failures at the bank. The regulator flagged ineffective audits, failures in complying with consumer protection rules and shortcomings in USAA’s information technology systems.

In 2020, the OCC ﬁned USAA’s bank $85 million over those violations. USAA shook up its bank leadership in early 2021 as the company grappled with its escalating regulatory problems.

A particularly stinging rebuke came in 2022, when regulators ﬁned USAA $140 million over the bank’s weak protections against criminals laundering money.

“As its customer base and revenue grew in recent years, USAA … willfully failed to ensure that its compliance program kept pace, resulting in millions of dollars in suspicious transactions ﬂowing through the U.S. ﬁnancial system without appropriate reporting,” Himamauli Das, the acting director of the Treasury Depart-

ment’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, said at the time.

The bank received “ample notice and opportunity to remediate” its issues but failed to do so, Das said.

‘A fundamental breakdown’

Peacock has long acknowledged that USAA’s bank did “not suﬃciently invest in the capabilities and expertise necessary to meet regulatory requirements.” His yet-to-be-named successor as CEO will be tasked with implementing the long-needed reforms and making them stick.

Two recent security-related disclosures were small, but they nonetheless pointed to continued struggles. Last year, USAA said a data breach led to unauthorized individuals accessing some members’ personal information, aﬀecting about 19,000 of its members. It disclosed another incident in August, saying nearly 33,000 members’ documents may have accidentally showed up on someone else’s USAA account.

The company is due to undergo another examination under the Community Reinvestment Act, a law that looks to ensure banks adequately serve their communities and lower-income customers.

Most banks pass their CRA exams without a problem. USAA has failed twice in a row, a rare occurrence for a bank with $110 billion of assets, which puts it among the 40 largest banks in the country.

Though USAA received high marks elsewhere in its exam, the two consecutive failures were automatically triggered by separate legal violations.

During its 2020 exam, regulators found violations of laws that limit how much interest lenders can charge to service members, a failure that stemmed from inadequate compliance systems. They also found some cases of USAA wrongfully repossessing borrowers’ vehicles. A class-action lawsuit over the interest charges emerged, and USAA settled the case in August for $64.2 million. In its next exam, released in 2023, USAA again would have received a passing grade, but regulators found 6,477 violations of a law guarding against deceptive practices in consumer lending. The exam report said the bank failed to “provide promised interest rate discounts” on auto loans.

The CRA failures point to “a fundamental breakdown” at USAA, said Adam Rust, the director of ﬁnancial services at the Consumer Federation of America.

“What’s especially shameful about it is that they’re serving service members who deserve be er,” Rust said.

In a statement, Wildermuth, the USAA spokesman, said the product that caused problems in the latest CRA exam was discontinued in 2020 and the bank received solid marks otherwise.

“We remain focused on serving USAA members with excellence and consistent with applicable laws and regulations,” Wildermuth said. “USAA has a 100-year legacy of helping to build strong communities — both our military communities and the communities in which we live and work.”

Not ‘earning anything’

Adding to USAA’s troubles is the fact that its bank has struggled to make money since 2020, turning a once-reliable proﬁt machine into an albatross.

Leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, USAA’s main banking subsidiary was making about $1 billion in annual pretax profits. The reliable earnings stream helped “offset volatility” in USAA’s property insurance business, where devastating wildfires or hurricanes can unexpectedly cut into profits, according to a research note from S&P Global Ratings.

But the bank reported pretax losses of $391 million in 2020 and $463 million in 2021. Its expenses surged as the company spent more on hiring and technology to ﬁx its regulatory issues.

Higher expenses collided with less revenue from USAA’s credit card and auto loans — as consumers found themselves with more cash thanks to COVID-era savings and stimulus funds. Fewer loans meant that USAA collected less interest.

One-time sales of assets in 2022 helped USAA’s bank brieﬂy return to proﬁtability, but it reported a pretax loss of $398 million in 2023.

This year isn’t looking too much be er. Through the ﬁrst nine months of the year, the bank has recorded only $92 million in pretax earnings — a far cry from the hundreds of millions it used to rake in.

“The bank isn’t earning anything to speak of,” said Todd Baker, managing principal at Broadmoor Consulting and a lecturer at Columbia University.

USAA’s bread-and-bu er insurance business remains solid. But if the proﬁtability struggles of its bank persist, the result could be a “long-term weakening of USAA’s diversiﬁed earnings stream and competitive position,” the S&P analysts wrote.

Though regulatory troubles have hurt the company’s bo om line, USAA also

made some poorly timed investments in 2020 and 2021, when interest rates were at rock bo om.

Rather than hanging onto its cash, USAA sunk a large chunk of money into mortgage-backed securities. Homeowners who bought their houses in 2020 and 2021 locked in ultra-low interest payments, but USAA took the other side of that bet.

While USAA is making money every time those homeowners make their mortgage payments, its income stream would be far bigger if the company had waited until interest rates went up and the mortgage-backed securities started paying far more.

What’s worse, USAA’s portfolio has fallen in value, since the value of its low-paying securities declined when newer mortgage-backed securities started paying more. The problem should ﬁx itself over time, particularly if interest rates fall sharply again soon.

But for now, there’s a higher risk that USAA’s holding company will have to pump cash into its struggling bank, according to the S&P analysts, though they said such an infusion is still unlikely.

More setbacks with USAA’s regulators also represent a risk, S&P noted, since

Msuch pitfalls could prompt the ratings agency to downgrade its view of the company. A downgrade would signal to USAA’s bond investors that the company is less creditworthy, potentially raising borrowing costs on debt that USAA issues to ﬁnance its operations.

Moran, USAA’s interim bank president, pointed to the bank’s improved earnings and its “exceptionally strong” net interest margin — which measures the diﬀerence between what USAA makes on interest and what it pays its depositors. That could bode well for be er earnings as USAA members spend more money on their credit cards and turn to the company for auto loans.

And Moran pointed to the company’s “deep relationships with our members” as a key asset.

“Our ﬁnancial strength and commitment to service are absolutely unwavering, and we will continue to be there for our members whenever they need us and however they need us,” Moran said.

Courtesy Photo USAA

USAA CEO Wayne Peacock is retiring next year after ﬁve years leading the company.

‘Sure

didn’t feel personal’

Unlike other banks of its size, and even many smaller banks across the country, USAA’s stock is privately held. If the stock was publicly traded on Wall Street, it would face “immense pressure” from shareholders seeking a rebound in proﬁts, said Williams, the Boston University professor.

Absent a stock chart, one gauge of USAA’s long-term performance is its ability to keep customers happy.

And by that measure, publicly available data suggests there’s reason to be optimistic. USAA customers “continue to be extremely satisﬁed” with their banking experience overall, Jim Miller, who leads J.D. Power’s ﬁnancial services division, said in an emailed statement. USAA has also consistently ranked well in J.D. Power’s insurance studies.

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But Army veteran John Hathaway has noticed a diﬀerence from 14 years ago, when he joined USAA. Back in 2010, another home insurer had demanded Hathaway buy additional coverage since his house was thought to be in a ﬂood plain. County records showed otherwise, and USAA pulled records to verify that he didn’t need additional coverage.

“They actually did the research,” Hathaway said. “It made me feel like they saw me as a person and not just a customer.”

The experience was markedly diﬀerent

earlier this year, when Hathaway made a claim on behalf of his father, a fellow USAA member. When a storm caused roof damage to a rental home his father owned, USAA dispatched an adjuster working under contract.

Hathway found the adjuster uncommunicative and worried that USAA wasn’t likely to cover all the damage. Compounding the stress, the home’s tenants were peppering Hathaway with questions about how quickly the repairs would be done. He didn’t get answers to any of his questions until USAA sent an automated voicemail days later, telling him how much the company was prepared to pay.

“At that point, it sure didn’t feel personal,” Hathaway said.

Hathaway experienced additional frustration with the company’s automated phone systems while trying to take care of his father’s aﬀairs. And the news about the bank’s regulatory ﬁnes gives him pause.

While Hathaway is not in a hurry to expand his relationship with USAA, he plans to stick with his USAA insurance policy, and he still carries one of the company’s credit cards. Despite his reservations, he worries about the kind of service he’d get from another provider.

“It’s not because I love USAA,” he said. “I’m just worried that if I switch insurers, I’ll end up ge ing screwed.”

Five-year losing streak

Since 2019, San Antonio-based USAA has had a string of setbacks, including ﬁnes and the departures of key executives.

• CFPB ﬁne, Jan. 3, 2019: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ﬁnes USAA’s bank $3.5 million over consumer-related violations.

• OCC order, Jan. 7, 2019: The Oﬃce of the Comptroller of Currency issues a wide-ranging order on USAA’s risk shortcomings.

• New CEO, Feb. 1, 2020: Wayne Peacock becomes USAA’s CEO.

• CRA downgrade, Oct. 1, 2020: The OCC discloses that USAA’s bank received a “needs to improve” rating on its most recent Community Reinvestment Act evaluation.

• $85 million ﬁne, Oct. 14, 2020: The OCC ﬁnes USAA $85 million over risk management and compliance shortcomings.

• Key appointments, Feb. 2, 2021: USAA names a new chief risk oﬃcer and a new president of its banking unit.

•$140 million ﬁne, March 17, 2022: The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the OCC ﬁne USAA $140 million over anti-money-laundering protections.

•Bank president’s exit, May 31, 2024: Bank President Paul Vincent, who took over in 2021, departs the company.

•CRO’s exit, Aug. 1, 2024: Chief Risk Oﬃcer Neeraj Singh, who arrived from Citigroup in 2021, leaves the company during the month.

• $64 million settlement, Aug. 2, 2024: USAA agrees to pay $64 million to settle a class-action suit alleging it overcharged military members who were entitled to interest-rate protections.

• Aug. 19, 2024: USAA CEO Wayne Peacock announces plans to retire in the ﬁrst half of 2025.

Source: News reports, federal ﬁlings

Standing up for Aﬀordable Housing

Tenants at Robert E. Lee Apartments ﬁght back as developer Weston Urban bids on the downtown property

BY MICHAEL KARLIS

Tenants at downtown’s Robert E Lee Apartments, fearing displacement and homelessness, are organizing and gearing up for ba le with San Antonio real estate developer Weston Urban. Weston Urban in August oﬀered $4.35 million to buy the historic, century-old

building with an unfortunate name, according to a le er the Texas Department of Housing and Community Aﬀairs sent to some Robert E. Lee tenants. The oﬀer exceeds the property’s appraised value by $2 million.

Although Weston Urban hasn’t placed an oﬃcial bid on the 72-unit building as of press time, tenants allege that the building’s current owners, RELEE Part-

ners LP and JHM Financial Group LLC, are trying to expedite the removal of the tower’s low-income renters by making it more diﬃcult for those on government beneﬁts to pay rent.

“People are having panic a acks, they’re having anxiety a acks,” founder of the newly formed Robert E. Lee Tenants Union Megan Navarro told the Current. “People are pacing the halls because of stress, and stress is a killer. Displacement is violence.”

Tenants also maintain that the Rober E. Lee’s management has engaged in union busting tactics in an a empt to prevent tenants from organizing against Weston Urban’s bid.

Oﬃcials with the Robert E. Lee’s ownership and management were unavailable for comment by the Current’s press time. Weston Urban oﬃcials also were unavailable for comment at press time.

Mprotest earlier this month in front of Opportunity Home San Antonio.

Compounding the anxiety, Robert E. Lee residents are witnessing the eviction of tenants at the Soap Factory Apartments, another downtown apartment complex owned by Weston Urban, Navarro added.

Weston Urban bought the Soap Factory, a rare example of low-cost housing inside the urban core, in August 2023. Now, the apartments are set for demolition to make way for a new $160 million baseball stadium.

Several tenants at the Soap Factory have told the Current they fear they’ll end up on the streets if their home is razed.

“I saw how they were treated, and I’ve been to their tenants union meetings,

Michael Karlis

Megan Navarro speaks at a

and I’ve seen the deal Weston Urban gave them, and it’s completely unacceptable,” Navarro said.

Weston Urban did not respond to the Current’s request for comment about what they plan to do with the Robert E. Lee, or if current tenants will be displaced.

Union Busting Tactics

A paralegal student at San Antonio College, Navarro moved into the Robert E. Lee in September after the apartment complex she’d been living in burnt down. She stayed in a hotel down the street using money from her renter’s insurance while she waited for the Robert E. Lee’s management to process her application.

Although Weston Urban placed its bid on the Robert E. Lee on Aug. 13, Navarro said she wasn’t notiﬁed by management that the building could be sold when she signed her lease and paid her deposit. She added that she probably would have looked elsewhere if she had known about Weston Urban’s plans.

“The second night I’m here, I get told about this by another resident,” Navarro said. “So, I come downstairs the next morning to confront the leasing manager about it, and she says, ‘Oh yeah, well, you kind of fell into a grey area, so we didn’t think we really had to tell you.’”

After seeing headlines about City Council’s approval of the plan to demolish the Soap Factory, Navarro began organizing a tenants union. She contacted progressive group the Texas Organizing Project and left ﬂyers at every single door to invite residents to the union’s ﬁrst meeting.

Twenty-seven tenants showed up, many of whom had no idea about the building’s potential sale, according to Navarro. Others told her they saw management ripping the posters down, which she said could explain the meeting’s low turnout.

“The majority of the people that live here are elderly, and so they’re assuming that management is looking out for their best interest, and that’s why some of them are hesitant to speak with me, because the manager here told them ‘that girl’s going to get in trouble,’” Navarro said.

Three other Robert E. Lee tenants told the Current that they witnessed management employees ripping down posters advertising the union meeting.

“We’re not bringing people here to make a mess or create trouble,” wheelchair-bound Robert E. Lee tenant Javier Rey Hernaiz said. “We’re trying to understand what’s going on so we’re not tossed on the street.”

Hernaiz knows a thing or two about ending up on the street. He lived at Haven for Hope, the region’s largest homeless shelter, before the organization got him a place at the Robert E. Lee. Haven for Hope pays his rent at the Robert E. Lee, which he’s grateful for, but he said he’s not enthusiastic about the prospect of returning to the shelter.

On another occasion, management told Navarro that she had to have permission ﬁrst before holding a meeting in the lobby, she maintains. Even so, there’s nothing explicitly wri en in her lease agreement that says tenants need permission from management to hold meetings.

“I’ve had lawyers look at this with me, and I’ve read my lease agreement,” she said. “I’ve had my professors look at this, and they give the typical disclosure that they can’t give me legal advice, but [they] say, ‘You can absolutely do what you’re doing.’”

Payment problems

Navarro and other Robert E. Lee tenants said they’re also concerned about a sudden and inexplicable change of the payment system made on Nov. 1 on how they’re able to pay rent. Residents of the apartments said the alteration makes it harder for those on government assistance to make their payments.

All 72 units at the Robert E. Lee meet the federal deﬁnition of low-income housing, according to state records, meaning that the majority of tenants receive some sort of government assistance.

Robert E. Lee management announced at the start of this month that the Walkin Payment System, also known as WIPS,

would no longer be accepted. Launched in 2013 by residential property management company Yardi Voyager, WIPS allows tenants to pay their rent, water and utility bills using cash.

As of Nov. 1, the Robert E. Lee only accepts rent via the online app MoneyGram and BILT, a Mastercard account that allows qualifying cardholders to earn rewards for paying their rent.

Most of Robert E. Lee’s tenants don’t qualify for BILT, according to Navarro. Meanwhile, paying rent via MoneyGram is easier said than done, she added.

“The problem then becomes, they don’t accept money orders, they don’t accept cash, they don’t accept checks,” Navarro said. “The other option is MoneyGram. Well, I’ve gone to Walgreens, and their MoneyGram is frequently down. The H-E-B on Presa Street does not have a business center, and a lot of these tenants have mobility issues. Most don’t own a car. So, how are they supposed to pay their rent?”

Indeed, Robert E. Lee tenant Daniel Ryan, who receives Social Security and other government aid, told the Current he’s been unable to pay his rent since the changeover.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Ryan said. “I guess I’ll take my money somewhere I can spend it.”

What’s Next?

Weston Urban’s oﬀer is still pending, and it’s unclear how long it will take for the sale to go through. However, tenants who spoke to the Current are already

mentally preparing to move out or potentially ﬁnd themselves homeless.

“If Weston Urban buys this property, I’ll probably have to move back into my car,” said one tenant, who didn’t provide her name out of fear of retaliation.

Meanwhile, mobility-impaired Hernaiz, who can’t drive and doesn’t own a car, fears that he could end up living far outside of downtown. Being stuck in a place where he couldn’t access nearby necessities in his wheelchair would make his existence nearly impossible, he added.

Harnaiz points to the irony of the lack of aﬀordable housing in San Antonio’s tourist-centric downtown: that economy can’t survive without working-class people living in the urban core.

“They want to make this part of town a playground for millionaires,” he said. “I’ve never heard of a doctor who works 14 hours at the hospital, then comes over, serves tables and washes some dishes at Pinkerton’s.”

Navarro said that she’s going to continue ﬁghting for the tenants at the Robert E. Lee.

She said the tenants union, backed by nonproﬁts and at least one council member, do have a trick up their sleeve if RELEE Partners LP and JHM Financial Group LLC accept Weston Urban’s bid. However, she said she’s waiting until then to publicly disclose that plan.

“Everybody deserves a home, and for a lot of people here, they’ve lived here longer than I’ve been alive,” Navarro said. “I’m not going to let them get displaced.”

Shutterstock / JustPixs

Michael Karlis

Both major political parties are too beholden to the donor class to reform a broken economic system

BY KEVIN SANCHEZ

Bad Takes is a column of opinion and analysis.

Iﬁnd myself ﬁlling out a lot of online surveys these days to supplement my nanoscopic income.

When I’m asked whether I, (a) strongly approve, (b) somewhat approve, (c) somewhat disapprove or (d) strongly disapprove of the way Biden is handling his job as president, I always click (d).

That may perplex those familiar with this column, who may have plunked me into the “Democrat socialist” box and already turned the page. But this month, the United Nations’ Special Commi ee on Israeli Practices Aﬀecting the Occupied Territories, ﬁrst convened in 1968, made public a report concluding that Israel’s assault on Gaza and the West Bank is “consistent with the characteristics of genocide.”

That’s the first time an official UN body has go en around to using the g-word without preceding it by the qualifier “plausible.” And, as of Nov. 21, Prime Minister Benjamin Netayanhu finds himself a wanted man, as the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for his arrest on the charge of crimes against humanity.

Any administration supplying arms to an apartheid regime actively engaged in genocide deserves nothing less than strong disapproval and opposition. An Independent from Vermont, Sen. Bernie Sanders, did his best two weeks ago to block military aid to Israel. The Senate, still under Democratic control for now, overwhelmingly rejected his entreaties. Not a single GOP senator stood with Sanders. Yet plenty of Republican politicians feigned support for peacenik sentiments on the campaign trail, often arguing, “Why do we spend so much money on endless conﬂicts overseas instead of the people in distress here at home?” At that point, cue fake sympathy for the homeless, the working class or even the environment.

This classic ploy is called the False Choice, as if the richest country in history can’t aﬀord to both increase domestic spending and oﬀer much-needed support, for instance, to Ukraine’s brave resistance against Russian imperialism. And the double-talk of Republican lawmakers ought to be self-evident when they continue to wage war on the most milquetoast of policy proposals to improve the lives of everyday Americans. Take two easy examples: replacing carcinogenic lead pipes and raising wages for Head Start teachers.

You may reside in one of the 300,000 homes to which San Antonio Water System oﬃcials this month sent a notiﬁcation warning about possible lead contamination. The element Pb is no joke. It’s a neurotoxin that can irreversibly lower your intelligence quotient and cause miscarriages, asthma, heart disease, impotence and organ failure. There’s no safe level of exposure.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 7% of water lines in Texas are lead-laden, making it among the worst ﬁve states in the nation. And in early October, the EPA ﬁnalized a rule as “part of the President’s commitment to replace every lead pipe in the country within a decade, making sure that all communities can turn on the tap and drink clean water.”

So, who could possibly be against that? Well, Republicans, it turns out.

Upon adoption, 15 Republican state a orneys general protested the new rule in a public le er, accusing the EPA of violating the hallowed Commerce Clause. In their view, the harm reduction isn’t worth the expense. In response, Roya Alkafaji, manager for Environmental Defense Fund’s Healthy Communities program, minced no words in comments to a policy wonk monthly called Governing Magazine.

“That’s the whole thing about lead pipes: They unexpectedly release lead into drinking water,” Alkafaji said. “I don’t think kicking the can down the road is the solution.”

Donald Trump is expected to do just

that by rescinding the rule quickly after returning to the Oval Oﬃce.

In an article headlined “The Biden Reforms That Will Be First To Go,” reader-supported investigative news outlet The Lever catalogued more than 100 regulatory protections likely to meet the chopping block next year.

“To help address labor shortages in the child care industry, the Department of Health and Human Services released a rule boosting salaries and health beneﬁts for teachers and staﬀ in its Head Start program, which provides support and education for more than 800,000 young children in low-income families,” the article cited as one example.

Again, who could be against that? I think you know who.

“Last January, Republican lawmakers sent a le er to the agency calling the proposal ‘misguided’ and ‘inappropriate’ for mandating salaries higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour,” The Lever reported.

Why are clean water and engaged preschoolers not above the fray of political debate? What makes these controversial partisan ideas? Is it simply automatic negation of whatever the other team wants? Is it just stubbornness? What explains the unremi ing stinginess?

Because Trump’s party also is expected to dramatically increase the near-trillion dollars the military-industrial complex giddily receives every year, despite the Pentagon recently failing its seventh consecutive audit. If we’re lucky, a handful of Democrats might complain before folding like cheap suits.

But why does the price tag of mass deportations or executing innocent inmates on death row never seem to trigger the same sticker shock as healthcare subsidies or food assistance? If anything the government might do to actually help people runs afoul of your governing philosophy, you’re not really a conservative, you’re an anarcho-capitalist.

“The unwillingness of either party to threaten an economic status quo in which all decisions are based on the singular concern of economic proﬁt has left American politics focused on culture wars that are simultaneously polarizing and irrelevant to the economic interests of most people,” University of Texas at San Antonio political scientist Walter Wilson wrote in the Express-News following the election.

Wilson lamented that “elite Democrats” seem just as beholden to their “donor classes” and “the same neoliberal market ideology long espoused by Republicans.”

Sad to say I share a country where millions of voters believe a billionaire who shits in a golden toilet is going to take on the ruling class, as he summarily staﬀs his cabinet with pro-corporate shills. We’ll clearly need stronger me le than the wealthy elites who run this place if we’re to survive the next four years.

In the meantime, you have this columnist’s express wri en permission to pester your Trump-loving family members about lead pipes and early childhood education around the Thanksgiving dinner table.

Shutterstock / Jory Mundy

WED | 11.27- TUE |12.10

AMALIA MESA-BAINS: “THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF MEMORY”

“The Archaeology of Memory,” which runs through Jan. 12, represents the first major retrospective of visual artist Amalia Mesa-Bains’ oeuvre, which spans more than 45 years. An artist, curator and cultural critic, Mesa-Bains is considered a pioneer, particularly in her use of traditional ofrendas (alters or offerings to the dead), descansos (roadside resting places) and capillas (home yard shrines) in a contemporary art context. These idiomatic forms, exemplified in her exhibition by four large-scale installations, are used to connect a lineage of fractured cultural memory and reframe archetypal notions of femininity, mortality and healing. Free (members, children under 12 and Bexar County residents who visit 4-7 p.m. Tuesday or 10 a.m.-noon Sunday), $12 (students) or $22 (general admission), 10 a.m-7 p.m. Tuesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 200 W. Jones St., (210) 978-8100, samuseum.org. — Anjali Gupta

WED | 11.27 - TUE | 12.10

THEATRE

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT

Magik Theatre is bringing the seasonal classic The Velveteen Rabbit to life for a run that lasts through Dec. 29. Based on Margery Williams’ story, first published in Harper’s Bazaar in 1921, this allegorical tale begins on Christmas morning when a young boy receives a stuffed bunny as a gift. As their affection for one another grows, the rabbit becomes quite a metaphysical li le fellow and, like Pinocchio before him, yearns to become “real,” gradually understanding that his wish has irreversible consequences. A surprisingly poignant testament to the transformative capacity of self-awareness, The Velveteen Rabbit is a perfect shared family experience during the holiday season that can bring the message of selflessness to light and melt hearts of all ages. $23.50-$53.50, showtimes vary daily, 420 S. Alamo St., (210) 227-2751, magiktheatre.org. — AG

WED | 11.27

SPORTS

SPURS VS. LAKERS

When the Spurs and Lakers squared o earlier this month, starting point guard Chris Paul reached a signiﬁcant milestone, becoming just the third player in NBA history with 12,000 career assists. The history-making one came on a lob to center Victor Wembanyama, who paced the Spurs with 28 points in an intense 120-115 loss. Laker Anthony Davis led all scorers with a commanding 40 points, continuing his early season bid for league MVP. After the game, Wembanyama reﬂected on recent matchups with the rival Lakers. “I think as a team we all feel more in control of the situation,” the 7-foot-4 phenom told reporters. “Having less big up and downs. So, it’s not linear, but we’re getting better. Looking back a year from now, we just got much better. So, we’re trying to keep it that way.” With head coach Gregg Popovich recovering from a mild stroke and starting forward Jeremy Sochan rehabbing after surgery on his left thumb, injuries continue to impact the season in an unrelenting Western Conference. $55 and up, 7:30 p.m., Frost Bank Center, 1 Frost Bank Center Drive, (210) 444-5140, frostbankcenter.com, Fanduel Sports Network-Southwest. — M. Solis

Instagram / Spurs

Gonzalo Pozo

FRI | 12.06

FILM

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE: 1967-1975

The Carver’s excellent Black History film series continues with the revelatory documentary The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975. Taken from 16mm footage filmed by journalists that was lost and rediscovered in the 1990s in the cellar of a Swedish television station, the documentary intercuts the bracing original footage with interviews and commentary from some of the most notable Black Panthers of the era, including Kwame Ture, Angela Davis and Huey P. Newton. The film is divided into segments such as COINTELPRO, the Vietnam War and the War on Drugs, creating a succinct overview of one of the most tumultuous and ever-relevant periods in American history. Free with reservation, 6 p.m. Little Carver Civic Center, 226 N. Hackberry St., (210) 207-7211, thecarver.org. — Neil Fauerso

SAT | 12.07TUE | 12.10

SPECIAL EVENT

CAROLING IN THE CAVES

In 1960, four students from St. Mary’s University convinced a Hill Country rancher to let them explore what they believed to be a small cave on her property. What they found is nothing short of magical: miles of limestone chambers ﬁlled with towering columns, emerald pools of water and delicate crystalline formations dating back to the Cretaceous period. Natural Bridge Caverns is the most extensive cavern system in the area and one of the largest in Texas, a racting 400,000 visitors per year. For the holiday season, the park adds a 30-foot Christmas tree and trail of lights, a 5,000-square-foot outdoor maze and an ice-skating rink to the mix, along with special Caroling in the Caves nights, a unique multi-sensory experience for people of all ages. The caroling experiences continue every Friday and Saturday through Dec. 23. $18.99 (children) and $24.99 (adults) for park admission with additional fees for tour packages including Caroling in the Caves, 4:30-6:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 26495 Natural Bridge Caverns Road, (210) 651-6101, naturalbridgecaverns.com. — AG

Courtesy Photo Natural Bridge Caverns

2011 - Sundance Selects

SAT | 12.07

VISUAL ART

“PHANTOMS AFTER DARK: AN EVENING OF PERFORMANCE & FILM”

Legendary Southtown house gallery Sala Diaz has hosted some of the city’s most significant and interesting art shows, performances and happenings in its decades-long existence. It is perhaps the quintessential San Antonio art hub — welcoming and unpretentious, but frequently daringly creative. Keeping with that focus Sala Diaz will present an evening of twisted and transgressive short films and performances by some of the most interesting and outré artists in town. Jonesy and Megan Solis will screen short films, while Sarah Fox will perform one of her signature puppet shows. Bring a blanket and an open mind. Viewer discretion advised. Free, 8 p.m. Sala Diaz, 517 Stieren, (210) 275-4903, info@saladiazart. org, saladiazart.org. — NF

SUN | 12.08

MUSIC

LILY HENLEY

CELESTIAL SOUNDS: RUSSELL HILL ROGERS MUSICAL EVENINGS AT SAN FERNANDO CATHEDRAL

The San Antonio nonproﬁt Musical Bridges Around the World, which regularly brings beguiling and beautiful world music performances to town, is bringing performer and scholar Lily Henley to the historic San Fernando Cathedral. Henley focuses on Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) music and culture, and she will be joined by Jordan Tice on bouzouki and guitar and Ethan Jodziewicz on bass to perform haunting Sephardic songs that weave in American and Celtic inﬂuences. The beauty and profound nature of the music no doubt will be heightened by the holiday season and the se ing inside one of the oldest cathedrals in the United States. Free but reservations required, 7 p.m., San Fernando Cathedral, 115 Main Plaza, (210) 4641534, musicalbridges.org. — NF

SUN | 12.08

SPORTS SPURS VS. PELICANS

It’s been a tough start for former Spur Dejounte Murray, who now wears a Pelicans jersey. Murray was traded from the Atlanta Hawks to New Orleans over the summer and fractured his left hand in the Pelicans’ ﬁrst game of the season. Additional injuries to CJ McCollum and Zion Williamson have strained New Orleans’ roster, and the team recently took the court without six of its rotation players. The silver lining to San Antonio’s own injury woes has been rookie Stephon Castle, who’s averaging 14 points and 4 assists since being inserted into the starting lineup. Castle’s defense and playmaking proved critical in a spirited win against the Thunder, where he handed out eight assists and a crucial late-game block. Acting Head Coach Mitch Johnson praised Castle after the 110-104 victory, stating, “He has great defensive instincts. You just see him, and he makes plays.” Castle’s contributions on both ends of the ﬂoor will be on display Sunday night against the Pelicans, particularly if Murray or McCollum suit up. $21 and up, 6 p.m., Frost Bank Center, 1 Frost Bank Center Drive, (210) 444-5140, frostbankcenter.com, Fanduel Sports Network-Southwest. — MS

SATURDAY DECEMBER 14

Instagram / Spurs

Ally Schmaling

Courtesy Image Megan Solis

Homegrown Adornments

10 San Antonio jewelry artists to shop this holiday season

BY BRYAN RINDFUSS

Many of us celebrate and support San Antonio’s vibrant arts community all year long, but the holiday season presents an ideal opportunity to kick it into high gear.

A focused follow-up to last year’s spotlight on prints created by local artists, this installment of the Current’s Shop Local edition unites 10 area creatives working in the realm of jewelry and adornment.

Although wide-ranging in terms of style — from elegant and gem-encrusted to whimsical and wacky — a few common threads emerged between our featured artists. A few are represented by Sifuentes Metalsmith, formerly Equinox, the long-running La Villita gallery and shop founded by Alejandro Sifuentes. And several honed their skills in community classes in the metals department at UTSA Southwest, formerly Southwest School of Art. (Registration for the winter term opens to the public on Dec. 10.)

Alejandro Sifuentes, Sifuentes Metalsmith

During the spring equinox of 2011, San Antonio native Alejandro Sifuentes started changing the game for local jewelry artists with the introduction of Equinox Gallery.

“My vision was to create a space in the ﬁeld of metalsmithing to showcase artists’ work and have conversations about the intersections of culture, craft and art,” Sifuentes told the Current. “On our 11th anniversary in 2022, we changed our name to Sifuentes Metalsmith, when my daughter joined me in the business. I wanted it to reﬂect the culmination of knowledge and continuing legacy of honoring handcraft.”

A revered metalsmith with 45 years of experience, Sifuentes now displays and sells the work of 10 diverse jewelry artists alongside his own — which is highlighted by exquisitely earthy rings that combine precious metals and gemstones.

“Rings are at the core of my process,” Sifuentes said. “The engineering needed for the perfect ﬁt challenges and motivates me. Whether it is a pueblo deco-inspired turquoise ring or a rose-cut diamond wedding set, I am honored to transform raw

materials into art pieces people can wear.”

One winning example of Sifuentes’ contemporary take on old-world adornment, his Saddle Ring (pictured, $2,950) showcases a portrait-cut yellow diamond on an oxidized silver band enhanced with a fused gold texture that evokes rust.

“I want my pieces to feel like artifacts,” Sifuentes explained. “Creating moments of discovery every time they are held and placed on the body.”

Sifuentes Metalsmith, 418 Villita St., Building 4, (210) 994-0981, sifuentesmetalsmith.com

Atsuko Taniguchi

A native of Osaka, Japan, Atsuko Taniguchi relocated to San Antonio in 1993 and has been making jewelry for 30 years. Outside of Sifuentes Metalsmith, Taniguchi shows and sells at perennial San Antonio events including the Uptown Art Stroll in Olmos Park Terrace. Typically working with silver, gold and gemstones, Taniguchi describes her one-of-a-kind pieces as “a combination of geometric and organic shapes.”

Reminiscent of the Atomic Era, Taniguchi’s sterling silver earrings with 18-karat gold bezels (pictured, $420) are delicately punctuated with amethyst, blue topaz, tourmaline and peridot.

This holiday season, Taniguchi will be among the hand-picked vendors at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center’s Black Friday alternative Mercado de Paz/Peace Market (10 a.m.-6 p.m. Fri, Nov. 29 and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat, Nov. 30, 922 San Pedro Ave.). instagram.com/atsukotaniguchi

Bárbara Miñarro, Breakfast Friend

Born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico, artist Bárbara Miñarro spent her teens in McAllen and moved to San Antonio in her 20s.

Although her buzzy brand Breakfast Friend began as a hand-painted purse project, Miñarro branched out into jewelry four years ago with whimsical accessories incorporating anything from vintage beads to semi-precious stones and polymer clay.

“It started as a side project — just experimenting with ideas and materials,” Miñarro said. “But it’s grown into something I really love. For me, it’s about creating pieces that feel playful and a li le unexpected, while still being something people want to wear every day.”

A fan favorite, Miñarro’s Make Your Own Charm Necklace (pictured, $38-$88) invites shoppers to choose between one and seven charms, which include tiny pretzels, pink conchas, sardine cans and Topo Chico bottles.

“My jewelry is playful and personal,” she said. “Each piece is like wearable art — approachable, expressive and meant to spark joy for the wearer.”

In addition to her online store, Miñarro sells her Breakfast Friend creations locally at R+R Collective Co., Artpace and Contemporary at Blue Star, and will be popping at Feliz Modern for a Small Business Saturday event on November 30 (10 a.m.-4 p.m., 110 W. Olmos Drive) breakfastfriend.shop

Daniela Madrigal/Fruity Poms

Laredo native Daniela Madrigal relocated here a decade ago to pursue her MFA. A few years later, she started making playful jewelry under the moniker Fruity Poms and became an instant hit at local gift shop Feliz Modern.

Working in the unlikely medium of wool, Madrigal creates surprisingly detailed accessories celebrating all things cute and edible — rainbows, bu erﬂies, Hello Ki y-inspired sushi rolls, even bags of Takis and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

“My jewelry style is fun and bold,” Madrigal said. “They’re definitely statement pieces.”

While her extra-large daisy earrings are among her best sellers, Madrigal also does well with “anything seasonal,” such as her stocking stuﬀer-worthy Peppermint Drop earrings (pictured, $35). fruitypoms.com

Lorena Angulo

MJewelry creations by (clockwise from upper left) Alejandro Sifuentes, Atsuko Taniguchi, Bárbara Miñarro, Daniela Madrigal, Lorena Angulo.

A ﬁxture of the San Antonio jewelry scene for nearly two decades, Mexican artist Lorena Angulo is known for work that meshes with the local landscape.

“I took my ﬁrst metals class at Southwest School of Art in 2006 and have been making jewelry ever since,” Angulo said.

Whether working in silver, bronze, brass or copper, Angulo spins hallmarks of Mexican culture into contemporary designs worn proudly by well-dressed locals.

“My best sellers are always earrings,” Angulo said. “And the ones inspired by birds and milagro hearts are the most popular.”

Fi ing well within that framework, her Día de los Muertos-inspired Papel PicadoCalavera earrings (pictured, $220) are adorned with a dangling row of African glass beads.

Angulo is currently hosting a holiday sale with a 10% site-wide discount through Dec. 4.

lorenaangulo.com

Priscilla Martinez/ Priscilla Martinez Design

“I began playing around in simple jewelry design when I was in elementary school,” San Antonio native Priscilla Martinez said. “I really got to do a deep dive in high school through the art program, which included metalsmithing as part of the regular curriculum.”

That early start inspired Martinez to continue studies in the metals department

MJewelry creations by (clockwise

at the Southwest School of Art and eventually launch Joyarte Jewelry Couture — a line rooted in wire-wrapping. Building on 17 years of success, Martinez rebranded in 2021, adopting Priscilla Martinez Design as an umbrella over Joyarte, the gold-plated collection Priscilla Laurel and ﬁne-jewelry line Priscilla Martinez.

“My jewelry has been through many eclectic styles throughout the years, ranging from abstract to contemporary to bohemian,” Martinez said. “My most recent silhoue es have included studies in line and geometry, ﬂoral and foliage motifs, architectural references and running water imagery.”

Outside of ready-to-wear pieces, such as her swirling Nadia Bouvardia necklace (pictured, $650), Martinez frequently gets tapped to design custom creations.

“During COVID especially, I had many friends and acquaintances ask if I could help them design a special piece for them,” Martinez said. “They wanted to use grandma’s old diamond ring or pieces from their jewelry box that they never wore. That aspect has been very gratifying because I’m able to create, with their input, a piece of wearable art that commemorates a special person or a milestone in their life.” priscillamartinez.com

Susan Oliver Heard

The jewelry bug first bit accomplished jeweler and gemologist Susan Oliver Heard when she was a 10-year-old making friendship bracelets at camp. Fi ingly, the work she’s best known for today is directly inspired by the great outdoors.

Meriwether’s minimalist aesthetic takes shape in quirky designs that bring to mind game-board pieces — including tiny houses, Lego-inspired rings and even a sterling silver gummy bear (pictured, $70). During the holidays, Meriwether will pop up alongside fellow metalsmiths Laura Davis and Laura Evere at the Tobin’s Holiday Art Market (10 a.m-5 p.m. Sat, Nov. 30, 100 Auditorium Circle) and the Pearl’s seasonal Night Markets (5-9 p.m. Wednesdays through Dec. 18, 312 Pearl Parkway). instagram.com/sm.metalsmith

Sulo Bee/$P4RKL3_FiLTH_CL0UD_NiN3

Easily the most out-of-the-box creator in the bunch, Sulo Bee doesn’t consider their work jewelry but “sculptural wearables.” As for Bee’s project $P4RKL3_FiLTH_CL0UD_NiN3, it isn’t a jewelry line but “a world” the San Antonio native has built. What may function as earrings are “sculptures for ears” while brooches are “sculptures with kickstands.”

Working with metals since their undergrad days at Texas State University, Bee describes their work as “dreamy, but grungy.”

arts

“I pull everything from nature,” Heard said. “I imagine the plants or animals I see around me in everyday life clutching stones, frozen in time and coated in colors — or bougied up for a party.”

Although she’s a big fan of sterling silver, the San Antonio native is more inspired by gemstones.

“The stones are the catalyst for every piece,” Heard said. “I’ll see a little critter or a flower or shell and think, ‘Boom — that’s what I’ll do with that stone.’” Those lightbulb moments have taken shape in owl, snake and octopus rings, crocodile bracelets and scorpion belt buckles. One covetable member of Heard’s wearable menagerie, her sterling silver Carmen the Chameleon ring (pictured, $950) is distinguished by one yellow diamond eye and one turquoise eye.

As the year draws to a close, Heard has much to be thankful for. In addition to landing on MSN’s list of the Top 10 Exclusive Jewelry Designers of 2024, she took home top honors in Jewelers of America’s 2024 CASE Awards design competition with a white-gold ring anchored by a massive Ethiopian opal.

To see Heard’s distinctive work in person, drop by the Alamo Heights boutique Sloan Hall (5934 Broadway) or make an appointment to visit her eponymous Heard Gallery via email at susan@ heardgallery.com. heardgallery.com

Susanna Meriwether/ Susanna Meriwether MetalSmith

A self-described Army brat who’s lived off and on in San Antonio since 1975, Susanna Meriwether started taking jewelry classes at the Southwest School in 2011. Over the past 13 years, she has developed a style she describes as “clean-lined and minimalistic.”

“I work primarily in sterling silver, recycled sterling silver, copper, bronze and enamel, and sometimes incorporate semi-precious stones,” Meriwether explained.

“There is an otherworldly presence to the semi-corporeal creatures that adorn the surfaces of each piece,” Bee said. “I spend a lot of time ﬁnding speciﬁc stones that match the identities of the creatures — like grape agate, wavelite or epidote. Color is essential to the work, so [I use] spray paint, gouache and golden acrylic.”

Created last year in conjunction with Dutch magazine Current Obsession’s talent-accelerator program GEMZ, Bee’s sculptural necklace __iRiD3SC3NC3]] (pictured, $2,000) is rendered in silver, steel, concrete, sticks, citrine, geode, asphalt, shell, epoxy, rubber and paint.

While Bee’s more adventurous work can be acquired directly through their website, Sifuentes Metalsmith stocks an assortment of smaller wearables.

sparkleﬁlth.cloud

Tracy Stephens, Freaky Tiki

Recognized by many local creatives as the festively dressed manager of bygone bead emporium Nomadic Notions, proud San Antonian Tracy Stephens has been making jewelry since the age of 9.

“My jewelry line Freaky Tiki is eclectic and fun,” Stephens said. “My creations often entail semi-precious stones and sterling silver, but I love adding vintage plastic beads and objects with a sense of humor.”

Guaranteed to make a statement — and likely a li le noise to boot — Stephens’ leather and tiger iron necklace (pictured, $150) is highlighted by a row of Indonesian silver dangles.

Outside of pop-ups she announces on social media, Stephens sells smartly priced earrings at Creative Floral Designs by Helene in Alamo Heights (5218 Broadway).

A diehard animal lover, Stephens has rescued and rehomed 53 dogs in the last 15 years.

“Almost 100% of the proceeds of my work go to the rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming of San Antonio street dogs,” she added. instagram.com/trakarma

Find more arts coverage every day at sacurrent.com

from upper left) Priscilla Martinez, Susan Oliver Heard, Susanna Meriwether, Sulo Bee, Tracy Stephens.

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Holiday Horrors

San Antonio is getting its ﬁrst-ever Krampus Parade

BY STEPHANIE KOITHAN

Bad children, beware! Krampus is coming!

San Antonio’s ﬁrst-ever Krampus Parade will terrorize the King William neighborhood on the evening of Thursday, Dec. 5. Organized on behalf of Hermann Sons Hall, the event is modeled after European gatherings that pay homage to a folkloric demon who punishes naughty kids at Christmastime.

Parade participants will dress as Krampus, who arrives on Krampusnacht, or Dec. 5 — the eve of the Feast of St. Nicholas. As legend goes, the horned anthropomorphic ﬁgure punishes naughty children by whipping them with a switch or carrying them oﬀ to Hell in a basket.

Go a love the Germans’ heartwarming holiday traditions!

“The Krampus Parade celebrates the forgo en mysteries of the holiday season,” San Antonio Krampus Parade Grand Marshal Bob Cri enden told the Current. “This parade is about rediscovering those old traditions where every December night held the possibility of encountering something magical — whether delightful or fearsome.”

How to participate or watch the parade

Parade participants are instructed to line up in the parking lot of Blue Star Arts Complex at 5 p.m. Dec. 5. Spectators can bring lawn chairs and camp out anywhere along the route by 6:30 p.m. From Blue Star, the parade will follow King William Street, ending at Hermann Sons Rathskeller, the time-capsule bar in the basement of Hermann Sons Ballroom.

There’s no fee to march in or a end this parade.

More than 150 people are expected to walk in the parade, according to organizers. Fifteen krewes have joined, and each is required to have a minimum of one Krampus, with the rest of the members dressed festively in accordance with the individual krewe’s theme.

It’s not too late to participate in the parade. Krewes wishing to sign up can email hausvonkrampus@gmail.com to register. There are no ﬂoats or vehicles, which organizers said makes the event more like a New Orleans second line or Mardi Gras parade.

Participants need not belong to a krewe to march, either. All are welcome to walk alongside the krewes, Cri enden said.

Even so, event organizers strongly advise participants to bring illumination since King William grows dark after sundown. Organizers also recommend bringing noisemakers and bells for the procession.

Spare the rod, spoil the child

Along its route, the parade will make a stop at the King William Street gazebo for a ceremony honoring community dignitaries. For the inaugural event, these will include delegates from the King William Association, Blue Star Arts Complex, Beethoven Männerchor and more to be announced.

Rather than the birchwood switch or rod Krampus historically carries to punish children, participating Krampuses will bestow the dignitaries with golden birch rods to grant them clemency from punishment. That is, until next year.

How did this terrifying tradition make its way to the Alamo City?

The parade is organized on behalf of Hermann Sons Hall, which held its ﬁrst Krampus party last year. A few months ago, the German heritage hall approached Crit-

Snap a photo with Krampus at local doll museum

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

If you still need a Krampus ﬁx after a ending the parade, don’t worry, a homespun San Antonio a raction has you covered.

Visitors to the Haunted Dollhouse Museum, 619 W. Hildebrand Ave., this holiday season can snap a photo with the horned mythological creature. Just cuddle up for a holiday pic your friends and relatives will deﬁnitely remember.

“With Krampus, you don’t just sit there on his lap and smile like you do with Santa,” Haunted Dollhouse Museum director Giovanna Albrecht said. “There is a lot of participation with Krampus and the people. They can sit on his lap, or Krampus can read to them. Krampus can even stuﬀ them in a bag or choke them.”

Photo sessions are available noon-6 p.m. Saturdays and noon-5 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 22. They cost $20 per group or are free with paid museum admission.

The self-described “creepy-cute haunted doll museum” also will host a Creepmas Party on Dec. 6 starting at 8 p.m. Krampus will be there, along with food, drink, music, performers and an artisan night market. The block party is free, but the full experience requires a $20 donation.

The Haunted Dollhouse Museum is easy to spot from the blowup Krampus displayed on its front lawn. Once inside, visitors can shop from an assortment of merch featuring the Yuletide devil, including pins, kitchen towels, mugs, T-shirts and, naturally, a sweater that comes in various sizes for men and women. Just don’t call it an ugly sweater, or Krampus will stuﬀ you in his sack.

tenden, a ﬁve-time Fiesta commissioner, to organize a Krampus parade that would culminate at the party.

Cri enden said he’s had no trouble recruiting people to help organize and participate in the parade. The Valkerie von Krampus, or the parade’s organizing commi ee, includes event organizer alumni from Fiesta Flambeau, Cornyation and King William Yacht Club. For years, Cri enden has been responsible for hosting Chips and Salsa, the Fiesta event featuring casino games and salsa dancing.

Organizing commi ee members reached out to their respective social networks to recruit the inaugural parade’s ﬁrst krewes, he said.

San Antonio deserves a Krampus parade

If any American city deserves a Krampus parade, it’s San Antonio, Cri enden asserts. There’s a strong German tradition in the Alamo City and surrounding Hill Country, which is do ed with biergartens, social clubs, polka bands and Oktoberfests.

The Krampuslauf, or “Krampus run,” is yet another ancient German tradition that Cri enden says has a place here, especially in King William, a neighborhood se led by German industrialists that was once referred to as “Sauerkraut Bend.”

However, Cri enden is also aware and appreciative of the folkloric demon’s appeal with metalheads, who rival Germans with their abundance in San Antonio, and also represent at least half of the parade’s krewes.

“Krampus is very metal,” Cri enden added.

Wikimedia Commons / Jernej Furman

Local Reads Support San Antonio authors by putting these books on your holiday list

BY MAX BOOTH III

Another holiday season is upon us, which means frantically racking our brains for the perfect gift ideas for friends and family.

Assuming the people in question are readers, we’re lucky that 2024 was a great year for new books wri en by authors with ties to Alamo City.

From Westerns to horror tales to YA mariachi melodramas to poetry collections to sword-and-sorcery comics, we’re conﬁdent there’s something on this list that will appeal to a loved one while supporting a local creator.

The Bullet Swallower: A Novel by Elizabeth Gonzalez James (Simon & Schuster)

Described on the dust jacket as “a dazzling magical realism western in the vein of Cormac McCarthy meets Gabriel García Márquez,” The Bullet Swallower not only meets but exceeds those grand expectations. This fun, riveting and violent novel presents readers with gunslingers, train heists and epic family sagas told through dual timelines. Easily one of the coolest books you’ll read this year — and one to read before it’s adapted into a ﬁlm.

Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton (Tor Nightﬁre)

This sophomore release by San Antonio horror scribe Johnny Compton (The Spite House) tackles a plethora of interesting themes, including guardian angels and vampire mythology. What if the guardian angel who’s followed you around all your life brutally murders your new husband on your wedding night? That’s the question Compton poses at the beginning of Devils Kill Devils. From there, things only get more intense, so buckle the hell up, folks.

How

to Kill a Goat and Other Monsters by

Saúl Hernández (University of Wisconsin Press)

Wri en by a queer author from San Antonio raised by undocumented parents, this poetry collection is so intense and powerful it’s hard to believe that it’s Saúl Hernández’s debut book. Consider it required reading for anyone a empting to survive modern times — especially if you belong to the LGBTQ+ community. Hernández’s work is a punch straight to the heart.

The Border Between Us by Rudy Ruiz (Blackstone Publishing)

Partly inspired by the author’s own experience growing up on the U.S.-Mexico border, The Border Between Us is an essential coming-of-age tale about a boy and his family as they a empt to make sense of life while living in an area enriched with equal parts beauty and danger. A truly heartbreaking, riveting read. Gift this book to everybody you know.

Canto Contigo by Jonny Garza Villa (Wednesday Books)

Canto Contigo is a queer coming-of-age melodrama that takes place in the world of high-school mariachi contests. Either that last sentence immediately sold you, or

it didn’t — and if it didn’t, we feel bad for your soul. Jonny Garza Villa ignited the San Antonio young adult world a couple years ago with Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun, and the author has continued pumping out excellent material. Canto Contigo is the best yet.

Savage Wizard by Lesley Julien (Kickstarter)

Successfully crowdfunded earlier this year, the first two issues of Savage Wizard are perfect for the comic book fans in your life, especially if they also happen to love the sword-and-sorcery subgenre. Penned by San Antonian Lesley Julien, Savage Wizard tells the tale of “a disgraced barbarian” who’s “forced to learn magic with an unhinged wizard to stop his former brother-in-arms from conquering the world.” This comic rules, and anticipation is building for future installments. Until then, the first two issues are available directly from the author’s shop on creator-funding platform Ko-fi (@LESWRITE).

No Gods, Only Chaos by L.P. Hernandez (Sobelo Books)

After a rocky publication history that included previous presses dropping the ball, L.P. Hernandez took on the role of publisher for his latest short story collection, No Gods, Only Chaos. The book is

one of the debut titles of Sobelo Books, a new small press co-founded by Hernandez and fellow author L.C. Marino. This book is also notable for having received excellent early praise from the Talking Scared podcast, which called it “properly brilliant.”

Texas, Being: A State of Poems edited by Jenny Browne (Maverick Books)

For the poetry fans in your life, it’s hard to do be er than this anthology of poems all dedicated to the harsh and mysterious Lone Star State. Texas, Being was edited and curated by San Antonio resident Jenny Browne, a 2017 poet laureate of Texas. It features nearly 50 entries penned by a wide array of poets. A perfect gift idea, especially for those a empting to understand the inﬁnite strangeness of the land we all consider home.

Courtesy Image / Wednesday Books

Courtesy Books Maverick Books

Courtesy Image / Blackstone Publishing

All In for Anything

Judson,

UTSA grad Sofie Calderon shares screen with Oscar winner in SpecialOps:

Lioness

BY KIKO MARTINEZ

Puerto Rico-born actress Soﬁe Calderon’s family relocated to San Antonio when she was a kid so she could grow up with the best opportunities in life.

“We had some friends in San Antonio, so we gave it a try,” Calderon, 53, told the Current during a recent interview. “I still love it there. I was just there in July!”

After graduating from Judson High School in 1988 and then earning a business degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio four years later, Calderon was ready to pursue her dreams — although in the entertainment industry instead of the business world.

“The practical side of me was like, ‘Well, maybe you should become a talent agent,’” Calderon said. “But that wasn’t what I was drawn to. I always loved performing. Growing up, I did prose and poetry competitions, and I was on the drill team. So, I decided to take [acting] seriously and go full thro le.”

Currently, Calderon lives in Los Angeles where she’s spent the past two decades working on TV series, including episodes of The Shield, Criminal Minds, Heroes, Shameless, Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS and The L Word: Generation Q.

In her latest series, Special Ops: Lioness on Paramount+, Calderon has a small role as Atzi, the housekeeper of a Dallas cartel member under investigation by the CIA. Special Ops: Lioness stars Zoe Saldaña (Avatar) and Oscar winners Nicole Kidman (The Hours) and Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby). It is created and wri en by Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone).

During our interview, Calderon discussed balancing her career as an actress and business consultant, what kinds of roles she’s looking for and what her experience has been like as an Afro Latina working in Hollywood.

After you graduated from UTSA, did you go into acting right away or did you put your business degree to use ﬁrst?

I’ve always been a very practical minded person, so I sort of did both. I did my ﬁrst commercial with Selena. That’s how I got my Screen Actors Guild card. I did that commercial in San Antonio. I immediately got an agent. But I do have a full business resume, and I’ve had my own business for the last 20 years, too. I recruit and consult with nonproﬁts, education, government,

corporations and tech. Los Angeles is expensive to live in. Unless you go a trust fund, you go a manage both.

Since you live in LA now, is the audition process for you usually a traditional one?

I’m fortunate to have an agent, and they send me all the work. Things have deﬁnitely changed. I mean, 90% of the auditions, they’re no longer in person. Sometimes callbacks are on Zoom. I always tell actors that it’s important to remember that you get to perform when you’re auditioning, and to take that opportunity and don’t take it for granted.

Most of the TV series you’ve worked on are single episodes. Is the dream to ﬁnd a home base where you can do an entire season on one show?

That’s the dream — whether it’s a feature ﬁlm or to be a really strong recurring or series regular. That would be amazing. As an actor, you’re always aiming for that. I have a friend who had a three-episode arc on a show. The chemistry and the table readings were going so well, she ended up being a series regular. So, sometimes it comes that way, but most times a character like that is already ﬂeshed out.

Besides a more extensive character arc, what are you looking for when a script comes your way?

It’s important to me that the character has

depth and really moves the plot line forward. I’m looking for interesting characters. They can be scary or unlikable or likable or hilarious, as long as there’s depth to the writing. I’m all in for anything. There are so many avenues these days, especially through streaming. But good writing is always what drives everything. Taylor Sheridan writes all his scripts. That’s good TV.

Did you get to work with any of the major stars in this series?

I got to work with the great Nicole Kidman in my last scene of the last episode I’m in. It hasn’t aired yet, so I have to keep mum about it. But she was incredibly gracious. It felt like working with an old theater actor friend. She was fantastic.

As an Afro Latina in this industry, how would you deﬁne your journey so far in Hollywood?

A lot of times, people don’t know what to do with me. I fall into a couple of different categories. When my hair is blown out and straightened, they’re like, “Is she Indian? Is she African American? Oh, she’s Cuban. She’s Dominican.” One of my first recurring roles was on The Shield, and my character was Latina. That was a big deal to me. I feel like the industry has caught up a bit. We have a ways to go, and I still find myself educating people daily. I think what’s even lovelier is being cast in a part that might have gone to a white guy. TV and film can inform the culture, so things that audiences weren’t used to seeing become more accepted.

screens

Find more ﬁ lm stories at sacurrent.com

Courtesy Photo Soﬁe Calderon

Signature Accomplishments

Not every dish works at Stixs & Stone, but its creative take on Asian fusion is mostly a winner

BY RON BECHTOL

Culinaria’s twice-a-year Restaurant Weeks can be a good way to take San Antonio’s food temperature — for be er or for worse.

If the experience bombs, at least the expenditure was minimal. And if it surprises and delights, you can feel that you got the oyster with the pearl, and at a bargain price.

Such was the case with Stixs & Stone, a modest space awash in ﬂuorescent light but equally bathed in the warmth of a serving family that made one feel immediately at home. The pearl on this occasion, a year or so ago, was an exquisite pan-seared duck dish sauced in a complex hibiscus mole. It far exceeded any expectations I might have had.

It took me a while to get back to Stixs & Stone, this time with heightened anticipation and an awareness of the status of its chef, Leo Davila, as a UNESCO Chef Ambassador. Pesky thing, expectations.

This meal — at regular prices which are nevertheless modest — started well with a couple of appetizers: Korean Fried Cauliﬂower and a small order of Wok Fried Signature Pork Belly Delight, no less.

Apart from the cauliflower itself, which appeared more steamed than seriously fried, the first app featured a robust, classic Korean gochujang sauce strewn with sesame seeds, and fortunately, it was neither too spicy nor excessively sweet. Dainty wisps of pea shoots were cute but contributed nothing to the taste. Yes, the cauliflower was a li le al dente in parts, but that’s far preferable to being mushy. I would order it again, especially since the remaining sauce proved useful elsewhere.

As much as I keep claiming to be weary of seeing pork belly on menus, there’s

always the lure of the term “signature.” It implies something the chef is especially proud of. And Stixs & Stone’s chef has every reason to be so with the Pork Belly Delight. The belly of the beast is tender, just meaty enough, and its rendered fat helped lubricate the rice beyond its marriage with what the menu describes as “Texas Chinese BBQ sauce.” Slices of mushroom and bright-crisp broccolini and carrot provided textural and visual contrast. I’d even be happy to order this one again in its entrée iteration.

“Signature” reared its head again in the much-cited Big Red & Barbacoa Taco Flight. You can add a 12-ounce Big Red soda for a dollar — we didn’t — but the elusive ﬂavor and color is otherwise only to be experienced in the house-made corn tortillas. In reality, though, if you didn’t know to look for it, the taste might

STIXS & STONE

5718B Wurzbach Road, (210) 592-1187, stixsandstonesa.com

pass unnoticed. The beloved soda might have more inﬂuence if it were used in the barbacoa, but perhaps that’s too much of a cultural clash.

The barbacoa itself is beautiful in a burly way — and no one person should eat all three tacos, it’s that rich. But the various sauces and accompaniments are simply overwhelmed — with the exception of the pickled watermelon, of which I could consume quantities. More, please, as a briny and crunchy contrast to the unctuous meat.

That leftover sauce from the cauliﬂower appetizer came in handy with yet another signature, the Signature Wok Fried Kimchee Stone Bowl. It basically turned out to be a typical Korean Bi Bim Bap with more variations such as fried or steamed rice, chicken or chorizo, gochujang or Chinese

Hours: Noon- 9 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday

Main dishes: $14-$28

Best Bets: Korean Fried Cauliﬂower, Wok Fried Signature Pork Belly Delight, Pan Seared Duck Breast, Signature Churro Bread Pudding

The lowdown: While set in a modest strip-center space, Stixs & Stone’s bills its menu as “chef-driven,” and there are many “signature” dishes to bolster the claim. The cheﬃest of all may be the Pan Seared Duck Breast in Hibiscus Mole, but the Wok Fried Signature Pork Belly Delight is not to be ignored. If the Signature Wok Fried Kimchee Stone Bowl fails to live up to its promise, the Signature Churro Bread Pudding brings back the John Hancock ﬂair.

BBQ Sauce. There’s also the option of a fried egg. Take it, then blend everything together with your chopsticks. We chose garlic steak as the main protein, but the garlic was shy and the kimchee even shier. The added cauliﬂower sauce helped, but even with its assistance the dish didn’t meet those elevated expectations.

Finally, we sampled the our last John Hancock at Stixs & Stone: the Signature Churro Bread Pudding. In its own way, the dessert as proved as bold as Hancock’s flourish on the Declaration of Independence, yet it also managed to seem almost modest.

Despite the fried connotations of the churros, the dish was both less dense and more ﬂavorful than many bread puddings — all this without bourbon or other boozy additives. Assuming that the “signature horchata mousse” described on the menu was what actually appeared to be an amped-up whipped cream, it all came together handsomely with the added inﬂuence of a li le cinnamon and a swirl of caramel.

Looking back at photos from that Restaurant Weeks dinner, I saw that, in addition to the duck, which is still on the menu, by the way, we were also served a two-tone tart. I don’t recall the ﬂavors implied by the two colors, but I do remember liking it quite a lot.

Two things are suggested by this: The Chef’s Special dessert is worth consideration, and there’s more to Stixs & Stone chef Davila than meets the current menu. If that’s not expecting too much.

Ron Bechtol.

Seasons Sweetenings

Decadent

San Antonio holiday event Dulce returning to the DoSeum on Dec. 6

BY SUZANNE TOWNSEND

Feliz navi-Dulce!

Dulce, the annual adults-only holiday celebration at San Antonio’s DoSeum, will return Friday, Dec. 6 to get guests into the holiday spirit with food, drink and entertainment while beneﬁting the museum’s nonproﬁt.

The San Antonio Current-sponsored event will oﬀer bites and beverages from favorite restaurants and food businesses including 1 Watson, Cosmic Cakery, El Luchador, Míra Matcha, Savor and many others. What’s more, a cocktail contest will showcase specialty drinks created by top local bartenders.

Dulce oﬀers live music and entertainment and immersive photo opportunities plus access to select museum exhibits. Guests can sip and stroll through a curated holiday marketplace.

Those feeling particularly festive — or competitive — can don their ugliest Christmas sweaters or wildest holiday-themed outﬁts for a chance to land a $500 cash prize.

Tickets are on sale now and start at $65 for general admission and $100 for VIP. The VIP package includes early admission, valet parking and a custom swag item. Limited tickets are available.

Funds raised from Dulce for the DoSeum’s nonproﬁt allow the institution to continue its mission of inspiring children and connecting families with hands-on interactive learning experiences.

$65-$100, 7-11 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, The DoSeum, 2800 Broadway, dulcesanantonio.com.

Find more food & drink news at

Ismael Rodriguez

food

Spirited Holiday

Here’s how to shop local when buying gifts for those who love beer and spirits

BY TRAVIS E. POLING

While some may argue that quantity is a quality, presenting someone with a case of Bud or a jug of bo om-shelf bourbon may not be the best way to say you care with a holiday gift.

If there are lovers of craft beer or ﬁne spirits on your list, here’s how to support local artisans while ensuring that you’re stuﬃng their stocking with something they’ll actually savor and enjoy.

Memberships

Mug club or brewery memberships are good ways to get the most out the brewery experience with frequent visits throughout the year. They tend to be pricey and limited, but they do come with a lot of perks.

For example, downtown San Antonio’s Roadmap Brewing Co. has a $200 membership — $225 after Nov. 29 — that includes $2 oﬀ all full-priced pints daily, 15% oﬀ merchandise and beer to go, access to new beer releases two days before the general public, a special drink coaster, a stainless steel koozie and access to members-only events, including bo le shares and holiday parties.

SA’s Longtab Brewing Co. opens its mug club to new members Nov. 29 for $225. Double memberships run $350. The 2024 membership, which included an exclusive beer-and-food pairing event and 15% oﬀ everything, sold out Jan. 15.

Kunstler Brewing Co.’s $200 Stammtisch Klub includes a 20-ounce German-style mug along with perks including a birthday ﬁll, a 15% discount on any full tab, a brewery Fiesta medal in April and a members-only party at the end of November.

Not all breweries advertise their clubs on their websites, so check Facebook for announcements on membership openings for the next year. The important thing to remember about a gift of this

caliber is that it works best if the recipient is likely to visit on a regular basis.

Brewery or distillery tours

Most breweries give free tours on designated days, and smaller ones tend to do so on request, assuming it’s not too busy. When it comes to gifting, some San Antonio craft-beer producers oﬀer tickets for a premium tour experience.

The well-established Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling oﬀers the option of a brewstillery tour that includes three healthy sample pours of beer and spirits for $15. Another $20 adds a VIP whiskey sampling after the tour that includes samples of rare whiskies, two future-release samples straight from the barrel and bourbon chocolates. The once-a-month Distillery Sensory Tour, which runs $50, oﬀers a deeper dive into the whiskey side of the operation via an intimate class of no more than 10 people.

Alamo Beer Co. has free tours but also oﬀers a paid VIP option that makes a worthwhile holiday gift. Also, check out Maverick Distilling in the heart of the city, where the $50 tour ends with tastings from the barrel in the former bank vault where whiskey is stored for aging.

Brewery merchandise

Beer lovers often have a great aﬃnity for their local brewery or pub, which is why most of the establishments oﬀer merchandise — at the very minimum, a branded T-shirt. Many go well beyond, creating product lines that include hats, koozies, Fiesta medals and special glassware.

Blue Star Brewing sometimes has brewery-branded onesies for babies, for example, and Gather Brewing Co. near Randolph Air Force Base sells stainless-steel tumblers and iPhone cases featuring its logo.

Basket, box and bucket

Some local companies that specialize in gift baskets can customize them for the beer or spirits lover. However, this kind of gift also presents the ultimate DIY opportunity that starts with a trip to the craft store for a basket or decorative box, some plastic shrink wrap and ribbon to ﬁt the occasion. A galvanized metal bucket, like those bars use to serve iced-down longnecks, also make good gifting vessels. While a trip to a well-stocked beer aisle at the grocery or liquor store can yield a sampling of local choices, the gift is even more personal with a trip to a brewery or distillery for branded swag along with cans and bo les only sold on-premise.

For added appeal, include a gift certiﬁcate to the establishment or extras such as glassware or foods to pair with the adult beverages.

Beer salt sampler

For those who like a savory kick to their brews, especially Mexican imports such as Dos Equis or Tecate, the San Antonio’s own Twang produces a variety of beer salts that make fun stocking stuﬀers. The company’s four-pack sampler includes lime, lemon-lime, pickle and cucumber-chile-lime ﬂavors. Look for them on local retail shelves or get the sampler of mini bo les for $10 at twang.com.

For those who like a beer cocktail for brunch, Twang also makes a classic michelada mixer along with a spicy version and one that ups the pucker with added pickle ﬂavor.

Safe journeys home

While a gift certiﬁcate to a San Antonio brewery tap room or distillery tasting room might be appreciated, the additional largesse of a designated driver gives it a personal touch. That could come in the form of a promise to be the sober driver on the night out or an e-gift from a rideshare company such as Lyft or Uber.

Jingle Bell Rock

Shopping San Antonio-style

for the music fan on your list

BY SANFORD NOWLIN

Music fans on your holiday shopping list can be hard enough to buy for, but if you’re trying spend your dollars locally, it can be even more or a challenge.

That said, don’t just throw up your hands and buy them a gift card to iTunes, Spotify or Guitar Center. There are plenty of ways to spend the money locally and support retailers, creators and music makers here in the community. Let’s run down a few.

Music stores

If the music junkie on your list still buys physical media — meaning vinyl records, CDs and tapes — it’s always fun to make a shopping excursion to one of San Antonio’s many music stories and ditch the impersonal move of ordering from Amazon.

Venerable Hogwild Records (1824 N Main Ave., (210) 733-5354, instagram/hogwildrecords) is a great spot to find new releases across a variety of genres, including punk, metal, EDM and Texas music, and the store’s selection of band merch, including not just T-shirts but patches, badges and even socks, can’t be beat. Relative newcomer Flagship Records (6336 Montgomery Drive, (832) 566-6838, instagram.com/flagship_records), located inside the Corn Pound arts and retail space, scratches a similar itch with an abundance of rare and hard-to-find punk and indie releases plus cool posters, shirts and more.

If you’re buying for someone who craves vintage vinyl, an amazing selection of locally owned stores including — but certainly not limited to — Friends of Sound Records (700 Fredericksburg Road, (210) 971-8044, instagram/ friendsofsoundsa), Southtown Vinyl (1112 S. St. Mary’s St., (210) 231-0512, instagram.com/ southtownvinyl), Crazy Rhythms Records (3617 Broadway, Suite 402, instagram.com/crazyrhythmsrecords) and Batcave Vinyl (555 W. Bi ers Road #122, (210) 990-0071, facebook.com/batcavevinyl) can help on that front. And deﬁnitely don’t snooze on the vinyl selection at La Segunda Bartique and Gallery (1302 S. St. Mary’s St., (210) 314-2740, instagram.com/la_segunda_ bartiqueandgallery), a hip vintage shop that has the distinction of serving alcoholic drinks to get shoppers in a spending mood.

If the person on your list is a fan of Tejano and conjunto music, it’s hard to beat longtime purveyors Del Bravo Record Shop (554 Historic Old Highway 90 West, (210) 432-8351, delbravorecordshop.com) and Janie’s Record Shop (1012 Bandera Road, (210)735-2070, janiesrecordshop. com). With Del Bravo in operation since 1966

MUsed vinyl sits among the vintage goods at La Segunda Bartique.

and Janie’s since 1985, buying from these spots supports San Antonio history and cultura.

Music instrument retailers

Unless you’re buying for your signiﬁcant other or an immediate family member, you’re probably not going to drop several hundred dollars on a new musical instrument for the person on your list, but you can certainly give them a gift certiﬁcate for a locally owned music store. Depending on their instrument of choice, there are plenty of options.

Both Robot Monster Guitars (609 E. Dewey Place, (210) 320-1710, instagram.com/robotmonsterguitars) and SpaceTone Music (416 Austin Highway, (210) 930-3662, instagram.com/spacetone_music) specialize in used electric guitars, amps and eﬀects. If your gift recipient is a gigging musician, there’s a good chance they’re already familiar with one or both these funky and fun spots.

Olmos Park shop GuitarTex (4330 McCullough Ave., (210) 822-1595) specializes in acoustic guitars sales and repairs with an emphasis on friendly service.

The granddaddy of San Antonio music stores, Alamo Music Center (multiple locations) has been in operation since 1929 and oﬀers a diverse selection of instruments, from accordions and pianos to guitars and high school band gear. They also stock DJ equipment and oﬀer lessons and repairs.

MInstruments hang on the wall in Robot Monster Guitars.

Local musicians and bands

Far be it from us to recommend what local bands and musicians ﬁt the tastes of the person on your list, but if you know some of the ones they like, by all means look for those releases at the music stores listed above.

Another alternative to keep in mind is that Bandcamp (bandcamp.com), the online music site focused on indie artists and labels, oﬀers gift cards that can be used to purchase “millions of digital releases” or physical goods, including releases by Alamo City creators. At that point, it’s up to the person on your list to keep those dollars local — although it never hurts to give them a good-natured holiday nudge in that direction.

Find more music coverage every day at sacurrent.com

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critics’ picks

Saturday, Nov. 30

W.A.S.P., Armored Saint

Eighties heavy metal shock rockers W.A.S.P. formed from the ashes of bandleader Blackie Lawless’ previous act, Circus Circus, and he’s still rocking decades later. Indeed, the current incarnation of W.A.S.P. is touring on the 40th anniversary of its ﬁrst self-titled album. The group’s recently been slowed by Lawless’ back ailments, which twice postponed the tour. It also remains to be seen whether W.A.S.P. will stick to its past shock tactics or turn the SA show into a Trump rally, which the band caught plenty of ﬂak for doing at its most recent New York appearance. $53-$64, 8 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — Danny Cervantes

Claude Morgan & The Bandoholics, Kim Hubbeling, Brandon Padier, Cooper Greenberg and more

This musical block party featuring an array of San Antonio Americana artists will raise money for the Dellview Music Foundation, a nonproﬁt connected with locally owned Dellview Music Center that provides music education for local elementary schools and the community at large. In addition to great tunes, the family friendly event will include local artisan vendors, food, drinks and a silent auction. Free, noon-5 p.m., Dell Village Plaza, 122 Latch Drive, (210) 504-6160, dellviewmusicfoundation.org.

— Sanford Nowlin

Sunday, Dec. 1

Surfrajettes, Midnight Cowboy

Charmingly kitschy Canadian surf rock act

Surfrajettes — best known for a groovy sendup of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” — has built its rep with a novel look that often overshadows the members’ musical chops. The all-female group sports beehive hairdos and pastels that pay tribute to a bygone American age that also gave us surf guitar god Dick Dale, who laid the foundation for their sound. $20, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx. com. — DC

Wednesday, Dec. 4

Christopher Cross with the San Antonio Philharmonic

San Antonio native Christopher Cross is returning to town to perform at the sadly neglected — and totally badass — Sunken Garden Theater. The singer-songwriter dominated the early ’80s soft-rock sound with classics including “Sailing,” “Ride Like the Wind,” and “Arthur’s Theme,” the latter penned with none other than Burt Bacharach. However, his Alamo City connections go way further back. Born Christopher Geppert, Cross played at the legendary Teen Canteen, fronting Flash, a shit-hot electric psych-rock act, and he even ﬁlled in on guitar with Deep Purple for one of that band’s early U.S. gigs. The San Antonio Philharmonic will accompany

Shemikia Copeland

the prodigal son to celebrate the 125th birthday of Brackenridge Park. $40- $150, 7:30 p.m., Sunken Garden Theater, 3875 N. St. Mary’s St., majesticempire.com. — Bill Baird

Thursday, Dec. 5

Black Flag

Iconic LA punk outﬁt Black Flag is back in town for its First Four Years Tour, albeit in a radically di erent form than the one that recorded the songs the road dates celebrate. Founder and guitarist Greg Ginn is the only original member, and none of the singers featured on the absolutely crushing 1983 compilation album that lends its name to the tour are anywhere to be seen. However, current Black Flag vocalist Mike Vallely has done several stints with the band since 2003, so there’s that. Alas, no matter. This is Black Flag. Bow down to punk rock royalty. $27, 7 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — BB

Friday, Dec. 6

Shemikia Copeland, Mark Searcy

The Washington Post has called dynamic blues vocalist Shemikia Copeland “the greatest blues singer of her generation,” and that, friends, isn’t just wild hyperbole. Copeland, who draws

musicians, drifting from project to project with aplomb, equally at home in country, rock, the West Side sound and all points in between. Currently a member of legendary cowpunk group Hickoids, McLaughlin is set to release another album of barnburners on that Hickoids frontman Je Smith’s Saustex Records. For this show, McLaughlin and company will entertain the Blue Star First Friday crowd. Expect a party. Free, 7 p.m., Blue Star Arts Complex Outdoor Stage, 1414 S. Alamo St., bluestarartscomplex.com. — BB

Friday, Dec. 7-Saturday, Dec. 8

The Story So Far, Superheaven, Koyo California-based The Story So Far will bring its brand of infectious pop-punk with emo ﬂourishes to town for a two-night stand. The band released its latest album, I Want To Disappear, this past June, building on its catalog of guitar heavy-anthems with more of singer Parker Cannon’s emotionally resonant lyrics. The signature sound of The Story So Far will have a grungy lead in with Superheaven. $39.50, 7:30 p.m., Boeing Center at Tech Port, 3331 General Hudnell Drive, (210) 600-3699, boeingcentertechport.com. — DC

Sunday, Dec. 8

Sunjammer, Jerry David DeCicca, Styrofoam Winos

frequent comparisons to the likes of Etta James and Koko Taylor, has the ability to transform casual listeners into longtime fans with a versatile approach that veers between rough-and-rowdy shouts to soulful and subtle slow burns. She’s touring behind her latest album, the three-time Grammy-nominated Blame It on Eve. If you’re a fan of blues, soul and Americana, this one is not to be missed. $30-$115 (table), 7 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — SN

Why Bonnie, Skirts

Singer-songwriter Blair Howerton’s Why Bonnie musical project made a name for itself in the Austin music scene before relocating to Brooklyn. The group specializes in Americana touched with the atmospherics of late-’80s Britain guitar pop, and it’s both a potent combination and a popular one. Why Bonnie has released work on venerated indie labels Fat Possum, Keeled Scales and Fire Talk Records. $16, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — BB

Harvey McLaughlin Band

Keyboardist-and-more Harvey McLaughlin is one of San Antonio’s ﬁnest journeyman

The name of San Antonio band Sunjammer fairly well sums up its vibe: sun-kissed jams a la JJ Cale, 1973-era Neil Young or psych legends Relatively Clean Rivers. For this show, Sunjammer is paired with Jerry David DeCicca, another local — well, he’s from Bulverde — who’s crafting some of the most thoughtfully crafted Americana out there, period. Aside from his own music career, DeCicca has produced albums from forgotten legends such as Christ Gantry and Will Beeley, and he possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of music. Nashville’s Styrofoam Winos, meanwhile, craft melodic indie-rock in the classic fashion of Yo La Tengo. $10, 7:30 p.m., The Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St. Mary’s St., thelonesomerose.com. — BB

Monday, Dec. 9

Mountain Goats, Anna Tivel

Singer-songwriter John Darnielle formed lo-fi indie outfit the Mountain Goats’ in 1991, and was its sole member, despite the pluralized moniker. During those early years, he used a boom box to record many of the Mountain Goats songs on cassette. The Mountain Goats has since evolved into a Durham, North Carolina-based band with permanent members. The act has also evolved away from lo-fi tech recording and released its 23rd studio album, Jenny From Thebes, in 2023, chronicling a character featured in many songs over the years. $46, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — DC

Across

1. McEntire of “Happy’s Place”

5. Backup idea

10. Racetrack gait

14. Alternatives to lagers

15. Indian currency

16. Water conveyor

17. Group of British whales covered in Band-Aids?

19. “You ___” (Burger King ad campaign)

20. Outdoor dining arrangement

21. Chinese zodiac sign

23. Accelerated

24. Dog-walker’s item

25. Prescription sleep aid

28. Word sung before “dear [insert name here]”

31. “La ___” (Debussy opus)

32. Celery portion

34. Spine-tingling

35. ___-Z (old Camaro model)

37. Swung around a pivot

39. Take time o

40. Head & Shoulders target

42. Inherited factors

44. Actor Mahershala

45. Secluded spot

47. “___... on the side of my face” (line from “Clue”)

49. Cow, in Cannes

50. Equipment

51. Pyongyang’s country, in some headlines

53. Shout at some parties

57. Overnight ___

58. What to do in the search bar to get the latest scores?

60. One T of “ST:TNG”

61. Tiniest bit

62. Vacillate

63. Cra er’s website

64. Cowboy’s catcher

65. Till ller

Down

1. “Mean Girls” star ReneÈ

2. Late “First Lady of Children’s Folk Songs” Jenkins

3. Rhythm

4. St. Francis’s home

5. Puts forward

6. Drawn in

7. Scheduled mtg.

8. “ e Matrix” protagonist

9. Two-___ (apartment spec, slangily)

10. Classic skateboarding magazine

11. Nightmare that keeps you tossing and turning?

12. 1952 Olympics host city

13. Prom attendee, usually

18. Overdrinks

22. Taxi posting

24. Compare (to)

25. “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “___ Paradise”

26. anks, in Quebec

27. Ballots using really wide sheets of paper?

28. Bandit’s kid

29. Supermarket section

30. Some coolers

33. Aquarium growth

36. Cloudless forecast

38. Lets have the last word

41. Treasure hunter’s step

43. Acronym for a lawsuit led to silence or intimidate opponents

46. “___ it be?”

52. Mario ___ (Nintendo

53. Aquatherapy locales

54. Press clothes

55. Eyelid nuisance

56. ose, to Jose

59. “Motion approved” Answers on page 31.

48. Dry creek bed

50. Shot

51. Memo

series)

San Antonio Current - November 27, 2024

in this issue

Spirited Holiday

39 Music

Critics’ Picks

That Rocks/That Sucks

Promising hellﬁre and damnation to nonTrump voters with Texas preacher Kenneth Copeland

SPONSORS

A ‘sea of telephoning’

‘Fire drill after ﬁre drill’

‘America’s good bank’

Not ‘earning anything’

didn’t feel personal’

Weddings & Events Venue

La Cantera Resort & Spa

Coming 2025

Five-year losing streak

Standing up for Aﬀordable Housing

Tenants at Robert E. Lee Apartments ﬁght back as developer Weston Urban bids on the downtown property

Union Busting Tactics

Payment problems

What’s Next?

Both major political parties are too beholden to the donor class to reform a broken economic system

AMALIA MESA-BAINS: “THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF MEMORY”

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT

WED | 11.27

SPORTS

SPURS VS. LAKERS

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE: 1967-1975

CAROLING IN THE CAVES

SAT | 12.07

“PHANTOMS AFTER DARK: AN EVENING OF PERFORMANCE & FILM”

SUN | 12.08

SPORTS SPURS VS. PELICANS

Homegrown Adornments

10 San Antonio jewelry artists to shop this holiday season

Daniela Madrigal/Fruity Poms

Lorena Angulo

arts

Tracy Stephens, Freaky Tiki

Holiday Horrors

San Antonio is getting its ﬁrst-ever Krampus Parade

How to participate or watch the parade

Spare the rod, spoil the child

Snap a photo with Krampus at local doll museum

Local Reads Support San Antonio authors by putting these books on your holiday list

How

The Border Between Us by Rudy Ruiz (Blackstone Publishing)

Canto Contigo by Jonny Garza Villa (Wednesday Books)

Savage Wizard by Lesley Julien (Kickstarter)

No Gods, Only Chaos by L.P. Hernandez (Sobelo Books)

All In for Anything

Judson,

Lioness

screens

Signature Accomplishments

STIXS & STONE

Seasons Sweetenings

Decadent

food

Spirited Holiday

Here’s how to shop local when buying gifts for those who love beer and spirits

Memberships

Basket, box and bucket

Beer salt sampler

Safe journeys home

Jingle Bell Rock

Shopping San Antonio-style

for the music fan on your list

Music stores

Local musicians and bands

critics’ picks

Shemikia Copeland