UNDER FIRE
The GOP-controlled state legislature is once again targeting transgender Texans
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in this issue
Issue 24-25 /// December 11 - 24, 2024
Shutterstock / Jory Mundy
17 Feature Under Fire
The GOP-controlled state legislature is once again targeting transgender Texans
07
News
The Opener News in Brief
Washed Out?
Soap Factory tenants say they haven’t received funds promised to cover relocation
Bad Takes
Apps like Nextdoor aren’t making us more neighborly but more paranoid
21 Calendar
Our picks of things to do
25 Arts
Seeing the Unseen New collections of fiction and nonfiction build on Dagoberto Gilb’s long career as chronicler of the working-class Southwest 27
For Your Consideration — at Christmas
These holiday classics are screening at venues across San Antonio
29 Food
Chewing the Fat
Downtown’s Fathead Pizza serves up formidable New York-style pies
Sweet Success
EsquireMagazine names minds behind San Antonio’s Nicosi as year’s best pastry chefs
33 Music
Keeping the BEAT Bassist Tony Levin talks about revisiting the ’80s work of prog giants King Crimson
Critics’ Picks
On the Cover: The new session of the Texas Legislature hasn’t even begun but GOP lawmakers have already filed nearly 40 bills targeting transgender people. Cover design: David Loyola.
HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS
CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLURAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE
ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES
VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS
CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K
GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLURAYS 4K VIDEO GAMES HARDWARE ACCESSORIES VINYL RECORDS CDS DVDS BLU-RAYS 4K VIDEO
GAMES HARDWARE
That Rocks/That Sucks
HThe Republican victory in last month’s election may spell trouble for Texas Medicaid recipients. Though Donald Trump hasn’t shared plans to gut Medicaid funding on his return to the White House, he and his party have a empted to reduce it in the past. In Texas, which has one of the lowest rates of Medicaid coverage in the country, any federal reduction in spending on the federal program could put coverage out of reach for thousands of residents, according to a Texas Tribune analysis.
A new mural in San Antonio is paying tribute to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who’s still recovering from what the team called a “mild stroke.” The mural, created by Mikey Sanchez and shoe designer J.C.Art, depicts a young Popovich with the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy alongside an older version of the coach in a suit. The mural is located on a wall at Amol’s Party and Fiesta Favors
A new Texas Tribune report found that when the state legislature banned puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors in 2023, adults lost care too. Following the enactment of the ban, a number of doctors who were providing gender-affirming care to the trans community left the state or stopped providing that care entirely, leaving adults scrambling to find ways to get their medication or secure new providers.
HThe San Antonio Zoo has a new giraffe. The park late last month welcomed 1-year-old Waffles to its Naylor Savanna exhibit. The addition of Waffles is a major landmark given that reticulated giraffes, which are found in East Africa, are expected to be listed by the International Union for Conservation and Nature later this year as a threatened species. Zoo CEO Tim Morrow said the giraffe’s arrival represents the facility’s “continued commitment to conservation.” — Abe Asher
YOU SAID IT!
“He doesn’t really understand the
vaccine
science and is not really interested in understanding the science. He just makes a series of assertions that he can’t support and just keeps moving the goal posts”
— Dr.PeterHotez,deanofBaylorCollege ofMedicine’sNationalSchoolofTropical Medicine,describingRobertF.KennedyJr., Trump’snomineetoheadHealthandHuman Services, in aTexas Public Radio interview.
Conflating rape and sexual indiscretion with Pete Hegseth defender U.S. Rep. Chip Roy
Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.
Someone needs to sit U.S. Rep. Chip Roy down and explain the difference between a marital affair and a despicable act of sexual violence punishable by prison time.
In a defense last week of Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s emba led nominee for defense secretary, Roy told the Charlie Kirk Show that the rape allegation plaguing the Fox News talking head’s possible appointment is, well, no biggie because people like to fuck around.
“Look, we’ve all had some indiscretions in our past and things like that,” said Roy, a MAGA blowhard whose district includes parts of San Antonio along with Austin and the Hill Country. “Every human has. But good grief, Pete Hegseth — you know, he has the support of so many people. And he represents somebody who would take on the defense establishment.”
Huh.
For a moment, let’s put aside the fact that Roy’s statement sounds pre y goddamn close to an admission of his own ca ing around and focus on the word “indiscretion.” Last we checked, that’s a term people use when they’re looking for a polite way to say someone screwed around on their husband or wife.
In other words, a rape isn’t an indiscretion. Indiscretions are lousy decisions made by two consenting adults. Rape is a sexual assault commi ed without consent that can carry a lifetime of trauma for the victim. There’s a reason why we lock up people who commit them.
Those who have been following Hegseth’s pathetic a empt to win Senate backing know one of the most shocking allegations he faces centers around a 2017 police report accusing him of raping an a endee at a Republican women’s conference in California.
Perhaps Hegseth’s admission to five affairs during his first marriage could be wri en off as indiscretions. But, a rape accusation? Hell no.
If Roy is such an assclown that he can’t tell the difference, he has no business representing his district — especially the many in it who have been victims of sexual assault. If he does know the difference and pretends he doesn’t for the sake of political gain, the same applies.
— Sanford Nowlin
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced he will push a bill next year to ban all products containing THC statewide, a decision that could cripple the state’s burgeoning industry. Patrick, who controls the agenda of the Texas Senate, said he’d back the proposal when lawmakers convene in January. The sale of hemp-based THC products has been legal since the state legislature passed a bill allowing the sale of the consumable version of the plant five years ago.
A top Texas economist is warned that President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to levy steep tariffs against Mexico and Canada could cost the nation 2 million jobs and more than $250 billion from its gross domestic product. Trump has threatened to impose tariffs of 25%
on both of the U.S.’s neighboring countries, ostensibly to crack down on immigration and the flow of fentanyl. Waco-based economist M. Ray Perryman predicted the move would cause significant inflation in addition to job losses.
Two new candidates have entered the growing field vying to replace term-limited incumbent Ron Nirenberg as mayor: Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda and former U.S. Air Force Under Secretary and congressional candidate Gina Ortiz Jones. Cabello Havrda currently represents District 6 on council and presented herself as a problem solver in her campaign launch speech, while Jones ran close races in 2018 and 2020 to represent the Alamo City and much of South Texas in the U.S. House. — Abe Asher
ASSCLOWN ALERT
Shutterstock / Philip Yabut
TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
NOTICE OF RECEIPT OF APPLICATION AND INTENT TO OBTAIN AIR PERMIT (NORI) RENEWAL
PERMIT NUMBER 56315
APPLICATION. C. H. Guenther & Son LLC, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for renewal of Air Quality Permit Number 56315, which would authorize continued operation of the Grain Handling, Flour Mills, and Food Manufacturing Facility located at 129 East Guenther, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas 78204. AVISO DE IDIOMA ALTERNATIVO. El aviso de idioma alternativo en espanol está disponible en https://www.tceq.texas.gov/permitting/air/newsourcereview/airpermitspendingpermit-apps. This link to an electronic map of the site or facility’s general location is provided as a public courtesy and not part of the application or notice. For exact location, refer to application. https://gisweb.tceq.texas.gov/LocationMapper/?marker=-98.496623,29.411602&level=13. The existing facility is authorized to emit the following air contaminants: particulate matter including particulate matter with diameters of 10 microns or less and 2.5 microns or less.
This application was submitted to the TCEQ on November 5, 2024. The application will be available for viewing and copying at the TCEQ central office, and the TCEQ San Antonio regional office, 14250 Judson Road, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas beginning the first day of publication of this notice. The facility’s compliance file, if any exists, is available for public review in the San Antonio regional office of the TCEQ.
The executive director has determined the application is administratively complete and will conduct a technical review of the application. Information in the application indicates that this permit renewal would not result in an increase in allowable emissions and would not result in the emission of an air contaminant not previously emitted. The TCEQ may act on this application without seeking further public comment or providing an opportunity for a contested case hearing if certain criteria are met.
PUBLIC COMMENT. You may submit public comments to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below. The TCEQ will consider all public comments in developing a final decision on the application and the executive director will prepare a response to those comments. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic safety, and zoning are outside of the TCEQ’s jurisdiction to address in the permit process.
OPPORTUNITY FOR A CONTESTED CASE HEARING.
You may request a contested case hearing if you are a person who may be affected by emissions of air contaminants from the facility. If requesting a contested case hearing, you must submit the following: (1) your name (or for a group or association, an official representative), mailing address, daytime phone number; (2) applicant’s name and permit number; (3) the statement “[I/we] request a contested case hearing;” (4) a specific description of how you would be adversely affected by the application and air emissions from the facility in a way not common to the general public; (5) the location and distance of your property relative to the facility; (6) a description of how you use the property which may be impacted by the facility; and (7) a list of all disputed issues of fact that you submit during the comment period. If the request is made by a group or association, one or more members who have standing to request a hearing must be identified by name and physical address. The interests the group or association seeks to protect must also be identified. You may also submit your proposed adjustments to the application/permit which would satisfy your concerns.
The deadline to submit a request for a contested case hearing is 15 days after newspaper notice is published. If a request is timely filed, the deadline for requesting a contested case hearing will be extended to 30 days after mailing of the response to comments.
If any requests for a contested case hearing are timely filed, the Executive Director will forward the application and any requests for a contested case hearing to the Commissioners for their consideration at a scheduled Commission meeting. Unless the application is directly referred to a contested case hearing, the executive director will mail the response to comments along with notification of Commission meeting to everyone who submitted comments or is on the mailing list for this application. The Commission may only grant a request for a contested case hearing on issues the requestor submitted in their timely comments that were not subsequently withdrawn. If a hearing is granted, the subject of a hearing will be limited to disputed issues of fact or mixed questions of fact and law relating to relevant and material air quality concerns submitted during the comment period. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic safety, and zoning are outside of the Commission’s jurisdiction to address in this proceeding.
MAILING LIST. In addition to submitting public comments, you may ask to be placed on a mailing list for this application by sending a request to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below. Those on the mailing list will receive copies of future public notices (if any) mailed by the Office of the Chief Clerk for this application.
AGENCY CONTACTS AND INFORMATION. Public comments and requests must be submitted either electronically at www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/eComment/, or in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O.Box13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087. Please be aware that any contact information you provide, including your name, phone number, email address and physical address will become part of the agency’s public record. For more information about this permit application or the permitting process, please call the Public Education Program toll free at 18006874040. Si desea información en Español, puede llamar al 1-800-687-4040.
Further information may also be obtained from C. H. Guenther & Son LLC, 129 East Guenther, San Antonio, Texas 78204-1402 or by calling Ms. Marina Garza, Raba Kistner, Inc. at (210) 699-9090.
Notice Issuance Date: November 18, 2024
Washed Out?
Soap Factory tenants say they haven’t received funds promised to cover relocation
BY MICHAEL KARLIS
Some tenants who moved out of the Soap Factory Apartments — the low-cost downtown complex that could be razed to make way for a new minor league baseball stadium — say they haven’t received a $2,500 relocation stipend promised by the city.
As part of a memorandum of understanding between the city, real estate developer Weston Urban and the owners of the San Antonio Missions baseball team, tenants who leave the apartments are promised $2,500 if they vacate by
September 2025.
However, three tenants who moved out in the last couple of weeks told the Current they haven’t received a dime to cover their relocation costs. What’s more, they have received mixed messages about the status of the money they expected to receive.
“I wanted to renew my lease because I loved living there,” former tenant Robert Laurence said. “Obviously, the whole issue of them tearing it down caused me to leave.”
Laurence is lucky enough to have a friend that allowed him to crash at their place while he waits for his check. He’s
now worried the money may never come.
“If it wasn’t for my friend, it would have been very easy for me to end up on the street,” said Laurence, who lost his job earlier this year.
Laurence said it’s been difficult to find housing in San Antonio as affordable as the Soap Factory.
Responding to the Current’s inquiries about the promised payments, San Antonio Missions board member Bruce Hill in November said tenants who didn’t receive relocation checks “didn’t pay their rent for months.”
However, on Friday, city officials said checks haven’t gone out because money isn’t yet available to make payments to relocating tenants. The disbursement of funds depends on whether a baseball stadium will actually be built, according to a statement provided by the city.
The fate of the Missions’ proposed 4,500seat arena currently lies with the San Antonio Independent School District, which owns a 2.3-acre plot needed to construct the facility. The land is currently used as a parking lot for Fox Tech High School.
SAISD’s Board of Trustees is expected to vote during a Monday afternoon meeting whether to sell the property.
“The funding for the $2,500 stipend is conditioned upon the development of a baseball stadium,” the city said in an emailed statement. “Unless the property is secured, the stadium will not be built. The City, Weston Urban, and SAISD are working together to address some items identified by SAISD and hope to resolve before SAISD’s December Board meeting. If resolved and the SAISD Board approves the terms for the land transaction, the stipends will be disbursed.”
The deadline for this issue of the Current was Monday afternoon, prior to the meeting, so it’s unclear as of press time
Adam Doe
MONSTER JAM
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whether all parties agreed to SAISD’s proposed deal.
Whatever the outcome, the prospect that a failure by SAISD to approve the land sale could scu le the whole deal wasn’t made clear in the memorandum of understanding approved Sept. 12 on a 9-2 City Council vote. District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo voted against the project.
Former Soap Factory tenant Laurence and others who moved out of the complex said they were unaware of the condition the city now says applies to them receiving their stipend. They said they feel like they’re ge ing screwed.
“It just feels like they’re going to keep the money instead of it going to the residents,” Laurence said. “It all seems very shady. I want to ascribe the best intentions, but it seems like they just want to push everyone out. It’s really frustrating.”
Land Sale
Designated Bidders LLC, the entity that owns the San Antonio Missions baseball team, has until Dec. 9 to respond to SAISD’s list of demands approved last month if the district is going to sell the
During a Nov. 18 meeting, SAISD’s board imposed conditions for the land sale including that the district receive $45 million to build an Advanced Learning Academy, guarantees the city construct at least 1,250 affordable housing units inside the district and $400,000 in annual
If Designated Bidders LLC and Weston Urban refuse to meet those demands, they may be forced to relocate the stadium development to another part of
Even if the baseball stadium isn’t built on Fox Tech’s parking lot, that doesn’t necessarily save the Soap Factory Apartments, SAISD Superintendent Jaime Aquino cautioned during November’s board meeting.
Weston Urban bought the complex in August 2023, meaning that even if the development firm doesn’t get its baseball stadium, it can still do whatever it wants with the complex.
“Even if we were not to sell the land, that is not going to solve the issue of displacement [at the Soap Factory],” Aquino said.
New guidelines
The fact that the disbursement of funds to Soap Factory tenants was con-
tingent upon the Missions and SAISD striking a land deal wasn’t made clear during the Sept. 12 meeting at which City Council approved moving ahead on the project.
According to the project’s memorandum of understanding, Weston Urban would pay tenants $2,500 as long as they executed their lease prior to Oct. 1. Meanwhile, the city would be on the hook for the payout for tenants earning below 80% of the neighborhood’s Average Median Income who also lived at the Soap Factory for at least one year and relocate within Bexar County.
Relocating tenants said Building Brighter Communities, the nonprofit contracted by Weston Urban to help with Soap Factory relocations, has so far been unable to clarify when they’ll receive their $2,500 stipends.
In a Dec. 3 exchange of text messages between Building Brighter Communities CEO Brandon Johnson and a Soap Factory tenant inquiring about the money, Johnson said, “Westen Urban [sic] and the City are both working to finalize their agreement.”
In another text message from Nov. 13, Johnson told a tenant, “The apartments said they are in the process of finalizing the funds to have available; however, no concrete date as of yet.”
Johnson didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment from the Current With a question mark still hovering over the fate of the promised relocation stipends, a former Soap Factory tenant who identified himself as Stephen said he isn’t ge ing his hopes up.
“I’m very doubtful,” said Stephen, who declined to give his full name out of fear of retaliation. “I think they’re making it extremely hard for people to get their money, and the ambiguity of when it’s coming and where it’s coming from. And [those] should have been day-one things.”
Stephen was able to buy a home in New Braunfels with his girlfriend after his lease at the Soap Factory expired. Even so, he’d like to be reimbursed for moving costs, which he paid out of pocket.
“I’m fortunate enough to be position where that didn’t really hurt me too much, but for a lot of tenants, I know that’s not the case for them.”
The Monday meeting at which SAISD’s board could approve the land sale to the Missions’ owners will start at 2:10 p.m. at the district’s headquarters, 514 W. Quincy St.
TAKES
Apps like Nextdoor aren’t making us more neighborly but more paranoid
BY KEVIN SANCHEZ
Bad Takes is a column of opinion and analysis.
The paranoia exuded by suburbanites is enough to make even this diehard advocate of marijuana legalization second-guess himself.
In his 2012 comedy special What’s Wrong With People? comedian Sebastian Maniscalco had riffed on how different a feeling it is when someone’s at the door today versus a couple decades ago.
“Twenty years ago, your doorbell rang, that was a happy moment in your house. It’s called ‘company,’” he said.
“You’d be si ing there on a Thursday night, watching TV, your doorbell rang, the whole family shot off the couch and went to the door. Nobody looked to see who it was. And the person would be like, ‘I was in the neighborhood, thought I might stop by see how the kids are doing.’ And you lost track of the time, two hours went by, you were like, ‘Next time we’re gonna come by your place,’ they were like, ‘My door’s always open’.”
Maniscalco continued: ”Now, your doorbell rings, it’s like, ‘What the fuck?’ You have to turn and ask your family: ‘You invite anybody over? You invite anybody over?’ You can’t stop by anybody’s house anymore. If you do, you have to
call from the driveway. You’re like, ‘I’m here, can I approach?’”
The irony here is that in the ye olde great-again days, we were a more violent society. Both consolidated FBI reports from police departments across the country and the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ annual victimization surveys “show dramatic declines in US violent and property crime rates since the early 1990s,” according to the Pew Research Center. However, we stubborn Americans “tend to believe crime is up, even when official data shows it is down,” Pew added.
Right-wingers may quibble over shifting definitions of what counts as a felony, but there’s near-universal agreement on what constitutes a murder: the homicide rate was 9.8 per 100,000 residents in 1991, and it was 5.7 per 100,000 last year.
Sociologists coined a fancy term for this cognitive bias in the early 1970s: “mean world syndrome.” That’s when people perceive their society as more dangerous than it actually is, typically due to exposure to media violence. Back
then, it was cop shows on TV, today it’s smartphone footage of unhoused people and teenagers “up to no good.”
A 2023 study led by Adam Fe erman, director of the the Personality, Emotion, and Social Cognition lab at the University of Houston, found that “participants who reported using neighborhood apps perceived local crime rates as higher than those who do not use the apps, independent of actual crime rates.”
Just last week on Nextdoor, I was greeted with a notification to “Be on the lookout for these 3 teens.” The youths were “trying to break into backyards,” a user in Whispering Oaks ominously warned. She included three personally indefinable photos taken from her security camera, mentioning that one was wearing “a hoodie” and “had a bar.”
Turns out, the alleged crowbar was actually a pressure-washer wand, and the youngsters were going door-to-door offering to clean people’s trash bins for a li le extra cash. Dozens reacted to the post. Who knows how many more viewed it.
Kevin Sanchez BAD
And despite several neighbors, including one of the boys’ own moms, informing her the kids were saving up for bicycles, the post remains up as of press deadline. So do the following helpful comments: “Call SAPD,” “Spoiled kids trying to act like criminals, they won’t make it in prison” and “They aren’t going to live long being common thieves.”
“Nextdoor has digitized the so-called ‘neighborhood watch,’” columnist Hayden Buckfire wrote for The Michigan Daily last October. You may have heard that the Great Lake State, like Texas, was carried by a dogwhistle presidential candidate on Election Day. Not unrelated, Nextdoor has “enabled an irrational fear of crime and general toxicity that violate the very neighborly premise of the app,” which “contributes to a more divided and paranoid world,” Backfire concluded.
A recent study by University of Colorado Denver criminal justice scholar Mary Dodge of Nextdoor app posts and comments from the area where she lives backs up Buckfire’s conclusion.
“Citizens frequently employ the Nextdoor app to circulate information regarding suspicious activity and specific illegal incidents,” according to the study. “The use of social media apps to engage in participatory policing practices can generate a sense of safety and social cohesion but also produce ethnic profiling, risky vigilantism, and distrust among neighbors.”
And does this sound familiar?
“The perpetuation of stereotypes associated with potentially suspicious per-
sons includes the individual’s personal characteristics such as race and gender, their choice of a ire, including wearing black jackets, hoodies, and hats, while carrying a backpack, and loitering where ‘neighbors’ assume they do not belong,” Dodge states in her analysis.
“Keyword phrases were exemplified by posts such as ‘Lock your doors at night’ and ‘Be on the lookout.’ Additionally, posting pictures and videos of suspected offenders is common on the platform. In similar cases, neighbors asked, for example: ‘Does anyone recognize these young teens?’ ‘If anyone recognizes this pair of low life smash and grab thieves, please PM me.’”
This relentless everyday reinforcement takes a toll, according to Dodge’s study.
“Nextdoor users, when responding to initial posts, often replied that crime is currently out of control and has become a normalized feature of the community. Specifically, these commentators believe that because of the increased criminal activity, community members are no longer safe to venture outside. For example, a user responded to a crime alert: ‘Good luck ge ing any interest from cops these days ... Criminals don’t worry about cops.’”
A particular brand of politics naturally follows from there.
“Several users possess such myopic views that they insist that politicians have a stake in organized crime,” Dodge wrote. “Several other users shared this sentiment, directly admonishing the governor and the city’s district a orney
for contributing to high crime rates:
‘The DA will not prosecute crime.’ Multiple users contend that politicians are ‘too soft on crime’ and should embrace the goal of retribution.”
And that’s where things turn nasty, according to the analysis.
“Posts specifically advocated for neighbors to confront possible suspects and criminals verbally and physically. In this context, vigilantism refers to actions that seek to punish, prevent, or investigate a crime without proper legal authority. Numerous commentators encouraged neighbors to secure access to weapons, including firearms, metal bats, pepper spray, and tasers. The respondents to the initial posts stressed that until community members confront offenders, residents’ quality of life will continue to deteriorate. For example, a user’s comment regarding a vehicle theft notes, ‘I catch someone screwing with my car, and they’ll eat lead.’ Some citizens endorse violence and are willing to go to extremes to eradicate criminal behavior. One user states, ‘Between porch pirates and these a-holes, I wish we had the lose-a-hand penalty for stealing.’”
When I posted this study on the Nextdoor app, one commenter dismissed the risk of unnecessarily escalating situations as “leftist nonsense.” Because who needs to listen to eggheads when you’ve got gut-feeling penal populism?
Nextdoor boasted nearly 46 million weekly active users in the third quarter of 2024, a 13% increase over the prior
year. So, if you’re searching for yet another reason Biff Tannen re-won the presidency, look no farther.
A full 81% of Trump voters say the criminal justice system is generally not tough enough on criminals, according to Pew. Though, presumably, they’re not referring to Donald Trump himself, nor his cabinet picks. The U.S. already keep more people in sweaty cages than any nation on Earth. Se ing aside the proposed return to Hammurabi’s Code, how much more punitive can we afford to be?
Of course we’d all rather our odds of ge ing robbed drop to zero, and being a victim of a serious crime can scar people for life. What’s more, crime does increase over the holidays.
But do we really need to overreact by treating anyone who steps on our property as a foreign invader? Wouldn’t it be best to ask common sense questions before plastering wanted posters of unsuspecting teenagers all over social media?
The loss of a sense of community can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Perhaps normalizing aggression and refusing to remedy the root causes of crime, like generational poverty, perpetuates the same cycles of violence we sensationalize. Even if you did your part to vote against Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, if you have three deadbolts on your door in a relatively safe suburb and are itching to reach for a deadly weapon, it may be worth considering whether you’re part of the problem.
Shutterstock / Tada Images
AUTO AUCTION
Under Fire
The GOP-controlled state legislature is once again targeting transgender Texans
BY SANFORD NOWLIN
If you thought the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature was done trying to make transgender people’s lives miserable, buckle up. Lawmakers are at it again. With the 89th Texas Legislature scheduled to begin Jan. 14, GOP lawmakers have already filed nearly 40 anti-trans proposals for debate. Among those are bills to ban trans Texans from public restrooms and to stop them from changing the gender on their birth certificates. Another would allow minors taken to drag shows to sue for
damages.
While anti-trans bills have been a fixture of state legislative sessions for nearly a decade, observers said Texas Republicans are emboldened this time around by wins in the recent election cycle that party officials chalk up to anti-trans political ads. What’s more, the bills’ backers know the Trump White House will offer zero pushback.
The onslaught of anti-trans legislation also will come amid a wash of other bills seeking to move the state further right, said Laura Barberena, a veteran San Antonio-based Democratic political consultant. Far from being
able to stop it all, the Lege’s minority party’s best case scenario may be moderating the damage.
“This legislative session is going to be very challenging for Democrats, because so many of the things that we believe in and know are right — and that we know are basic human rights — are under a ack,” Barberena said. “I don’t know that we have the resources needed to be able to confront every single one of those issues in a way that can be effective.”
Political observers said the flood of anti-trans legislation is predictable given the accelerating rightward shift of the Texas Legislature and the national sentiment among the GOP base. Polls show GOP voters as increasingly eager to push back against the rights of transgender people.
Even before Texas lawmakers began filing bills for the upcoming session,
MLawmakers in statehouses nationwide filed 669 anti-trans bills this year.
conservative lawmakers nationwide flooded state legislatures with a total of 669 anti-trans bills in 2024.
The numbers from the Lone Star State’s 2023 session suggest that even if Dems can band together with moderate Republicans to block the most egregious anti-trans legislation, some will get through.
The Lege filed a total of 140 bills last session targeting the rights of transgender people, and a total of seven passed, including laws that ban minors from obtaining gender-affirming care, curb trans athletes’ ability to compete and prohibit certain kinds of drag performances.
Johnathan Gooch, communication director for LGBTQ+ advocacy group
Shutterstock / Jory Mundy
news
Equality Texas, said his organization is ready for this session’s fight, adding that some of the bills that made it through last session — including the drag ban — have since been halted in the courts as legal challenges play out.
“We’re hopeful that we can stand strong against most of the bills that will be filed this session, and some of them that we’ve seen so far are just ridiculous, especially the one that would allow minors to sue over drag shows,” Gooch said. “I think many of the people that are in the capitol have enough common sense to shut down the worst of this legislation.”
Gooch added that Equality Texas and other organizations plan to fight disinformation about trans people by making doctors, experts and everyday Texans available to lawmakers to ensure they have the facts on their side.
“The best antidote to disinformation is just presenting truth,” Gooch said. “And in this case, it’s meeting a trans person. I think the issues become so much simpler when you meet a trans man with a full beard and a flannel shirt. There’s no question about which bathroom he should be using, and the notion of restricting that or changing his driver’s license is absurd.”
Focus on fear
As with the previous legislative session, much of the pre-filed legislation targeting trans people focuses on children. Some of the proposals would ban their access to library books on gender identity, for example, or increasing penalties for those who provide gender-affirming care to minors.
There’s a reason for that, said Amy Stone, a sociology professor at San Antonio’s Trinity University who’s extensively studied a acks on the trans community.
As conservatives faced increasing pushback from broad-scale legislation targeting LGBTQ+ people, the Republican playbook has shifted to going after the much smaller and less-understood trans community. Just 1.6% of U.S. adults are transgender or nonbinary, according to 2022 Pew Research Center data.
Efforts to strip trans teens and children of rights are even less likely to draw blowback because minors can’t vote, Stone added.
“This anti-LGBTQ rhetoric almost always centers around fears about children: things that could happen to
children, what a child could turn out to be,” Stone said of the spate of recent legislation. “What we’re seeing very much fits in with that kind of rhetoric.”
Ultimately, such a acks also work as a smokescreen for lawmakers who are unable, or unwilling, to deliver on meaningful legislation for their constituents.
“Politicians know bringing up these things can be a good distraction from discussions about why groceries are so expensive, or whether your kids are in danger from gun violence, or what are other physical threats children actually face,” the professor said. “I think, for the most part, politicians who are very focused on concerns about transgender women in bathrooms aren’t concerned about gun violence in schools. There’s a real contradiction there.”
Just the same, Texas Republicans have dug into the strategy, and until polls convince them otherwise, they’re unlikely to let go of it, experts said.
“The American people and especially Texans that I represent, they’ve had enough of it,” State Rep. Brian Harrison, who represents a conservative district south of Dallas-Fort Worth, recently told the Texas Tribune of trans rights. “They’re forcing you to celebrate something that’s at odds with objective reality, and in many instances, forcing tax dollars to fund it.”
Action not words
While it may be tempting to write off sentiments like Harrison’s as outof-touch and bans on drag shows as laughable and absurd, Gooch warns
that the implications for trans Texans, especially minors, are real.
An increase in anti-transgender state laws from 2018 to 2022 significantly corresponded with a 72% rise in suicide a empts among transgender and nonbinary youth, according to a peer-reviewed study from The Trevor Project, the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ young people.
Political observers also caution that new leadership overseeing the Texas House is also likely to give anti-trans legislation be er odds of passing this session.
When conservative Texas lawmakers led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick tried to restrict what bathrooms trans people could use in 2017, moderate Republicans including then-Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio quietly snuffed out the proposal by preventing it from seeing debate on the House floor.
While it’s unclear as of press time Monday who will lead the Texas House next session, it’s a safe bet that person will be further to the right than both the retired Straus and the prior speaker, Dade Phelan, who became a GOP target after overseeing the impeachment of A orney General Ken Paxton and not enthusiastically backing Gov. Greg Abbo ’s school voucher legislation.
Additionally, the Trump White House is unlikely to offer any legal resistance to Texas’ anti-trans political moves. Beyond spending $65 million on anti-trans campaign ads, the president-elect promised to investigate and potentially halt trans health care
Mand has urged Congress to pass a bill declaring there are only two genders, both assigned at birth.
“I find it heartbreaking that Republicans choose to single out Texans who are just trying to live their lives,” political consultant Barberena said. “I wish they would practice more of the moral values that they preach, because if they did, we could make Texas a much more welcoming place for so many people.”
If those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community or consider themselves allies want to help stop the onslaught, they must do more than express outrage, according to Barberena. People need to show up in Austin and show up in force. And if they can’t, they must donate to organizations on the ground doing the work.
“More than ever, we need to get people more involved, and that does not mean going on social media and posting things and liking things. That is performative and not real,” she said. “People need to physically go to the Capitol. They need to show up in numbers, they need to express ideas. They need to get with a lobby organization and meet with legislators. To hang out on social media and somehow think that you’re participating in politics is not enough.”
Twitter @equalitytexas
LGBTQ+ advocates speak out for trans rights in front of the Texas Capitol in 2022.
WED | 12.11 - TUE | 12.28
THEATER
THE PERFECT GIFT
The Overtime Theater is doing admirable work by producing the works of local playwrights at an a ordable price, something that encouraging expands the appeal of the art form to regular folks, not just the New Yorker festival set. The Perfect Gift, written by Susan Cain McQuilkin, uses Christmas as a framework to explore what we do to get by and survive everyday life, something that can feel insurmountable. Using the familiar a-stranger-knocks-at-the-door trope, The Perfect Gift a deeply felt and resonant story that o ers an interesting and provocative alternative for families during the holiday season. $18, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday through Dec. 28, The Overtime Theater, 5409 Bandera Road #205, (210) 557-7562, theovertimetheater.org.— Neil Fauerso
THU | 12.12
THE MCNAY ART MUSEUM’S 70TH ANNIVERSARY FAMILY NIGHT
The McNay Art Museum, named for founder Marion Koogler McNay, was the first modern art museum established in Texas. Since Koogler McNay’s death, the museum’s holdings have grown from her personal collection of some 700 pieces to more than 22,000, representing anything from antiquities through present day contemporary art. This year marks the 70th of the McNay’s existence, an event that’s been celebrated through special exhibitions, lectures, screenings and more. As the year draws to a close, the museum invites the public to join together in a celebration of art and community for its 70th Anniversary Family Night, which will feature live music, exhibitions and activities for all ages. While the gathering is free, registration is required via the museum’s website. Free, 5-8 p.m., McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave., (210)-805-1768, mcnayart.org. — AG
THU | 12.12
SPECIAL EVENT
PECHAKUCHA SAN ANTONIO, VOLUME 45
PechaKucha San Antonio, part of a global arts and culture series that invites creative folk to introduce themselves and their practices to live audiences, will hold its final event of 2024, the 45th in the series. Each presenter gets exactly 20 images, and each slide advances automatically every 20 seconds, for a total time of 6:40 per presenter.
Volume 45 presenters include artist Brenda L. Burmeister, record hoarder Chris Hernandez, stone mason Curtis Hunt III, master craftsman A ie Jonker, cultural placemaker Andrea “Andi” Rodriguez, public interest technology expert Emily Royall and Roberto Treviño, executive director of the San Antonio Philharmonic. The evening’s emcee is poet and author Jenny Browne, Poet Laureate of both the City of San Antonio and the State of Texas. The welcome reception will include live music by musicians from the San Antonio Philharmonic, complimentary bites by San Antonio chefs and restaurants including Tandem, Naco Mexican Grayson, Beacon Hill Deli and Olla Express. Cocktails will be available for purchase from Amor Eterno. $10, 6:30 p.m., Sco ish Rite Cathedral, 308 Ave. E, pechakucha.com/communities/ san-antonio. — Anjali Gupta
Dave Stone-Robb
Courtesy Photo McNay Art Museum
Josh Huskin
FRI | 12.13 - SAT | 12.14
BALLET
CHILDREN’S BALLET OF SAN ANTONIO: THE CHILDREN’S NUTCRACKER
The Nutcracker is by far the most popular ballet in the world — perhaps tied with Tchaikovsky’s other legendary work Swan Lake — and for good reason. The epic and imaginative work has a large cast, providing a perfect opportunity for children of varying ages and skill levels to take on fun roles. Taking place in the imagination of a child on Christmas Eve, the Nutcracker embodies the spirit — especially aesthetically — of Christmas, depicting a beguiling, magical fantasy world filled with tin men, a Mouse King and the Sugar Plum Fairy. This marks the 10th year the Children’s Ballet of San Antonio has performed the Nutcracker, and it promises to be especially grand at the Lila Cockrell Theatre on the Riverwalk. $40$45, 7 p.m. Friday, Dec.14, and 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, Lila Cockrell Theatre, 200 E. Market St., (210) 462-7660, childrensballetofsanantonio.org. — NF
TUE | 12.17 - THU | 12.19
THEATRE
YIPPEE
KI YAY: THE PARODY CELEBRATION OF DIE HARD
Die Hard is one of the great Hollywood action movies of all time. Entertaining and dazzlingly photographed, it includes an all-time iconic Bruce Willis performance and a star-making film debut by classically trained English actor Alan Rickman. The film represents the apotheosis of ’80s high-concept popcorn movies and is arguably the progenitor of the Christmas action film genre. It’s also fairly ridiculous, featuring Twinkie-chomping cops, sniveling coke-sniffing yuppies and glowering, long-locked East German terrorists. As such, it’s been a ripe target for affectionate parody, ridicule and homage. Yippee Ki Yay, the acclaimed Fringe Festival-endorsed show by Richard Marsh, weaves a super-fan’s relationship to the film with a loving sendup and recreation. Content warning: this performance includes divorce, foot trauma and German terrorists. $28-$50, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, obincenter.org. — NF
SUN | 12.21
SPORTS
SPURS VS. TRAIL BLAZERS
The Spurs close out a three-game homestand against Scoot Henderson and the Portland Trailblazers. When the teams met in November, San Antonio secured a 105-118 win behind a balanced attack with eight players in double figures. At the quarter mark of the NBA season, the resilient Spurs have exceeded expectations thanks to their improved crunch-time play. Following a close win against the Kings in Sacramento to start December, San Antonio stood at 5-3 in clutch games after finishing 13-28 in similar contests last season. Showcasing his versatility, Spurs center Victor Wembanyama has already scored 50 points in a game this season and was recently recognized as the inaugural Western Conference Defensive Player of the Month for October and November. Next up for the Spurs is a four-game road trip that includes a Christmas Day matchup against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The nationally televised game will be the first Christmas Day contest for San Antonio in eight seasons. $25 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
Courtesy Photo Children’s Ballet of San Antonio
Courtesy Photo Tobin Center
Seeing the Unseen
New collections of fiction and nonfiction build on
Dagoberto Gilb’s long career as chronicler of the workingclass Southwest
BY ROBERTO ONTIVEROS
This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news outlet and magazine. Sign up for their weekly newsle er, or follow them on Facebook and X.
Since the publication of his 1985 chapbook of stories, Winners on the Pass Line, Dagoberto Gilb has been altering the literary landscape by offering his readers strong working class-centered fiction about Latinos in the Southwest. His efforts have earned him awards and honors such as the PEN/Hemingway Award for his breakthrough collection The Magic of Blood Now, the 11 pieces in his latest collection, New Testaments — released Oct. 1 by City Lights — further cement his reputation as a master of the short story by quietly incorporating a theme that has hitherto been largely latent in his work: surrender as a form of salvation.
In this spry and soulful selection of recent stories culled from publications such as Alta Journal, A Public Space, and Zyzzyva, Gilb, now 74, returns to familiar themes of families dealing with economic disparity and men caught in what could only be called a kind of dangerous love. But in a book where toxicity can take the form of a criminally bent cousin or a literal toxic cloud, characters often abandon anger for a retreat into tranquility.
An ex-musician rationalizes how the stolen photograph of an ex-lover might be a rite of passage for an adolescent thief, a former highrise construction worker visiting a past paramour at a Starbucks refrains from physically countering a lunatic barking incoherent racist epitaphs at him, and a young man trying to connect with a father he scarcely knows at a Mexican restaurant that sells Peking duck disappears into Mexico when the meeting is cut short by a conflagration connected to the Symbionese Liberation Army and the LAPD. New Testaments is a book about le ing go. In the fable-like “Two Red Foxes,” the inconvenient adjustments to advancing age are explored in a story about an elderly man who is being driven “a li le crazy” by his inability to locate a mini-mag flashlight. Our hero spies the dreamlike canines outside his home like some kid in a fairy tale: “He stared at the morning on the other side of the glass, and his eyes filled with the wonder of a child. At first he didn’t believe what he saw. It shook him it was so sudden. He wasn’t certain if they had been there all along, or just appeared in the
corner of the window. They were two. A few heartbeats came and went. Not dogs. Another pause. Foxes. They were foxes.” Seeing the foxes is a kind of miracle of private triumph for the protagonist, but a empts to share his vision with family and even a lifelong friend lead to suspicion of senility.
The theme of disability—Gilb himself is a stroke survivor—is tackled in “The Dick, Casillas,” a story about an aging ex-athlete who enjoys working out at a gym and platonically cha ing up a young woman at the desk. The woman’s hotheaded trainer boyfriend keeps interrupting our narrator’s a empts to engage with the gal. Upon acting out his impulse to come to physical blows with the man, our hero gets knocked down and injured in a way that has him wearing a boot with a Velcro strap and receiving a humbling lesson from a famous retired local coach.
“You need help?” the retired coach asks our wounded protagonist. “My pride,” our protagonist replies.
“You go a let that go so you can see what’s really hurting,” the coach cautions.
As tempting as it is to yoke Gilb’s latest collection of fiction to his simultaneously released book of essays, A Passing West (from University of New Mexico Press), these books are different animals. New Testaments, with its stories about humble healing and how personal myths may patch up memory loss, is a patient beast. A Passing West is, with Gilb’s recollections of auto shop epiphanies and insider info about the Corona beers kept in Rolando Hinojosa’s University of Texas office minifridge, decidedly on the prowl.
For all its insight into the political implications of Tres Flores hair product and the right-wing propaganda regarding the Alamo, A Passing West — perhaps read best as a kind of memoir laced with critical asides, including recollections of working at an industrial laundry managed by the father he rarely dealt with and feelings of shame over a post-junior
college book theft — reveals Gilb’s appetite for understanding his literary ancestry.
In “Rivera and Rulfo,” a short piece of praise for two of the author’s major influences, Gilb, a former construction worker and carpenter, pens a line that comfortably announces his pet peeve with contemporary le ers. “Back in the old days of American Literature — call that pre-1975 — not every writer was expected to live and study in the same way,” he writes, taking a careful shot at the writers who have been quickened in creative writing workshops rather than the world of actual work.
Gilb’s long-awaited second collection of essays achieves cohesion while elaborating on topics as seemingly incommensurate as the historical significance of Taco Bell, the irony of Mexican immigrants moving to Iowa to work in the corn industry, and the literary world’s all too easy acceptance of Cormac McCarthy’s version of la frontera — furthering the suspicion that Gilb, while crafting minimalist fiction masterpieces like The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuña and the lush bildungsroman, The Flowers, has been moonlighting as one of our bravest and most stylistically gifted cultural critics all along.
Both New Testaments and A Passing West share a deep concern with the hidden lives of Mexican-American people.
In the essay “Now You Don’t See Us, Still You Don’t,” Gilb appropriates Lao Tzu in order to explain the quiet triumph of his people, making their lives in an America that often won’t admit to their cultural influence on language and literature.
“The perfect gardener leaves the yard looking as though it were nature itself. The perfect thief goes in and out and no one knows the place was violated. The perfect carpenter is one whose doors open and close so seamlessly, whose cuts are so taken for granted, it never occurs to anyone to remark on any of the fine, skilled work done. And thus, say I, are we: So much given, and taken, all done so perfectly, it is simply that there are no footprints to be seen.”
Taken together, the pair of books reminds us that Dagoberto Gilb remains an artful advocate for the unseen.
For Your Consideration — at Christmas
These holiday classics are screening at venues across San Antonio
BY KIKO MARTINEZ
It’s not tough to find virtually any classic holiday movie streaming on one of the countless apps available on phones and smart TVs.
Feel like laughing at the Griswolds’ misadventures in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation? It’s only a click away on Hulu. Head over to Disney+ for Miracle on 34th Street. Eat some gingerbread cookies after midnight and watch Gremlins on Max.
Cuddling up under the covers this month with hot cocoa and watching holiday favorites sounds like a great plan, but there are other options for cinephiles who want to leave the house and enjoy the experience in a communal se ing.
Below is a list of familiar movies playing across San Antonio through the end of the year.
Elf
The 2003 comedy stars Will Ferrell as Buddy, a human raised by elves, who travels from the North Pole to New York City to find his biological father. In 2021, Ferrell revealed that he turned down $29 million to make a sequel to the film, which many regard as a modern classic.
Elf is screening at Santikos Casa Blanca theater at 4:10 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, for $5 plus fees. There will also be an Elf movie party at 7 p.m. the same day at the Alamo Drafthouse Stone Oak. A free outdoor screening of the movie is scheduled for the Tobin Center on Friday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m., and another free outdoor viewing will take place at The Rock at La Cantera on Friday, Dec. 20 at 8 p.m.
LoveActually
This 2003 romantic comedy stars Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson and a host of other talented British actors. Although some viewers argue a pair of its storylines haven’t aged well over the past two decades, there’s a sweetness to many of the others that can’t be denied.
Love Actually is screening at Santikos Casa Blanca theater on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 3:10 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and at Santikos New Braunfels at 2:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. the same day. Tickets for both are $5 plus fees. The flick also is screening at EVO Entertainment Schertz + EVX in Schertz on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 3 p.m. and at EVO Cinemas Creekside in New Braunfels on the same day at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Regular admission prices apply to those screenings.
It’s a Wonderful Life
Made in 1946, this drama follows a frustrated businessman named George Bailey (James Stewart) who is visited by an angel and shown what the world would have been like if he had never been born.
It’s a Wonderful Life is screening at Santikos Casa Blanca theater on Thursday, Dec. 12, at 2:10 p.m. and 5:20 p.m. and on Christmas Eve at 12:40 p.m. and 3:50 p.m. Admission for those runs $5 plus fees. The holiday classic also is showing outdoors at 11 a.m. Christmas Eve at The Rock at La Cantera.
The Grinch
The 2000 version of this beloved children’s story stars Jim Carrey as the title character, a furry, green creature who loathes Christmas and the citizens of Whoville, where the holiday is beloved. It’s adapted from the 1957 children’s book of the same name by Dr. Seuss, which was also made into a 1966 animated TV special.
The Grinch is screening at Santikos Casa Blanca on Monday, Dec. 15, and Wednesday, Dec. 18. Showtimes are 4 p.m. and 6:40 p.m. both days for $5 plus fees. As part of Slab Cinema, the film is also screening outdoors for free at the Tower of the Americas at 5:20 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14.
White Christmas
Now celebrating its 70th anniversary, the 1954 Oscar-nominated musical is set postWorld War II and follows a song-and-dance team known as Wallace & Davis who fall in love with a pair of sisters. Together, they try to save a failing inn in Vermont.
White Christmas is screening at the Santikos Palladium and Santikos Embassy theaters on Sunday, Dec. 15, at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. and on Monday, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m. for $12.50 plus fees.
More Christmas Classics
The outdoor theater at La Cantera has more screenings scheduled this month. Those include The Nightmare Before Christmas on Friday, Dec. 13, at 8 p.m.; The Muppets Christmas Carol on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 4 p.m.; and A Christmas Story on Thursday, Dec. 26, at 7 p.m. Also, don’t miss a screening of Home Alone at Hemisfair on Tuesday, Dec. 17, at 6 p.m. Keep the change, ya filthy animal!
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Chewing the Fat
Downtown’s Fathead Pizza
serves up formidable
New York-style pies
BY RON BECHTOL
The Vera Pizza Napoletana guys would have us believe that a dome, woodfired and tile-encrusted oven capable of blistering heat is the only way to turn out a proper pizza. And, to be honest, local acolytes such as Il Forno and Dough certainly deliver exceptional pies that way.
My own propane-fired portable oven is allegedly capable of up to 900 degrees, but I don’t think I’ve coaxed it up to more than 700. And, to be honest once again, there have been some hits and some misses. In other words, when it comes to pizza, technique trumps temperature.
The ovens at Fathead Pizza, a new operation occupying downtown San Antonio’s former Kimura space, are of the stacked, gas-fired variety — fire brick-lined and with a pizza stone floor.
The ovens are capable of up to 650 degrees, and my first pie was baked at 560 degrees according to the restaurant’s cha y pizzaiolo. To be honest one more time, it lacked the volcanic, visual drama of the quasi-charred Neapolitan style. But it didn’t lack for taste.
Fathead’s crust is of the thin persuasion — they reference New York in their marketing materials — and it has good, developed flavor on its own. Though not mentioned on the menu, the kitchen will do two toppings on the same 14-inch pie — a reviewer’s dream and a diner’s boon. At the chef’s recommendation, I chose one half of mine to be Fathead’s Spicy Pie and the other half its Wild Mushroom option.
Let’s pause for a brief rant about “wild” mushrooms.
The term conjures up feral fungi plucked from mossy forest floors by maidens bearing wicker baskets. Nope. The shiitake, oyster and baby bellos listed on the menu, while less common than the prosaic bu on variety, are usually commercially raised. A be er term to use than wild might be “expensive,” as San Antonio fine-dining bastion Biga cheekily does in its menus.
Which does bring up the question of cost: Fathead’s pizzas, ranging in price from $21.50 for a ”New York Classics” pepperoni and mushroom to a princely $25.50 for the Meat Lover’s model, aren’t cheap. They also aren’t as wildly inventive as those of, say, Il Forno. But their relative restraint has its own virtues.
The Spicy, for example, is composed of soppressata, shredded mozzarella, tomato sauce and Calabrian pepper sauce. Soppressata, being leaner than many Italian sausages, doesn’t leave the angry, orange oil slick of pepperoni, and its slicing into large discs makes for a visually appealing presentation. These guys
are serious when they say “spicy,” though. The tender-tongued might suggest they leave off a few shakes of the chili flakes that adorn the top. Otherwise, perfe o.
I also liked the mushroom model with its well-calibrated balance of sauce, cheese and fungus. But for a modest sagging at the center — an issue with many pizzas — the almost-crisp crust was a perfect foil for its toppings. There’s a perky pesto you add yourself. You could even throw some pepper flakes onto this one — in moderation.
Studiously ignoring the subs and salads to concentrate on the main event, I returned for another split pie — this time a classic Margherita and a seasonal special featuring coarse, uncured sausage, goat cheese, shredded mozzarella and a unique, roasted tomato sauce.
La Margherita is the only pie to feature the house-made mozzarella — you can add it in the compose-your-own category — and the soft cheese melts into impressively creamy puddles. A light skim of simple-but-savory tomato sauce, a few ribbons of fresh basil and ecco la, as the Italians might say — or not.
FATHEAD PIZZA
152 E. Pecan St., Suite 101 (210) 267-2201
fatheadpizzasa.com
food
Please pay a ention to the roasted tomato sauce on the special. It’s chunky and more of an equal partner than a background foundation for the dabs of fresh cheese, sausage and company. Returning to the question of price, please indulge me while I parse this further. Just for the hell of it, I decided to compare the per-squareinch cost of Fathead’s pizzas to those of Dough and Il Forno, both of which feature 12-inch pies as opposed to Fathead’s 14.
Taking the most expensive option in each case, here’s the result: Fathead runs 17 cents per square inch to Dough’s 23 cents and Il Forno’s 15. Just for grins, the 14-inch ExtravaganZZa at Domino’s weighs in at 13 cents. Make of that what you will.
For dessert, why not tiramisu? Fathead’s is from a recipe the chef says he’s been perfecting for 19 years. Layered with mascarpone rum cream, it covers all the bases from coffee to cocoa, managing to be blissfully airy along the way. Cheesecake and house-stuffed cannolis are the other, post-pie options.
By the way, Fathead’s pizza is almost even be er the next day re-warmed in a blazing hot cast-iron skillet. Just F.Y.I.
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Price range: $21.50 to $25.50 per pizza
Best bets: Both New York Classics and Fathead Faves pizzas along with the tiramisu
The lowdown: Fathead Pizza has taken over downtown’s former Kimura space, added ovens, some red tile and splashes of graffiti-like décor to create a respectable pizza joint of the New York persuasion. The 14-inch pies feature thin, flavorful crusts and toppings. Whether classic or creative, they’re just restrained enough. Subs and salads round out the menu, and there’s a modest wine and beer list. A trio of house-made desserts includes an almost-delicate tiramisu.
Ron Bechtol
Sweet Success
Esquire Magazine names minds behind San Antonio’s Nicosi as year’s best pastry chefs
BY SANFORD NOWLIN
Esquire Magazine has named Tavel Bristol-Joseph and Karla Espinosa of San Antonio’s recently opened Nicosi as its Pastry Chefs of the Year.
The honor comes as part of the publication’s annual Best New Restaurants in America issue, which identifies what it calls the nation’s “35 new culinary champions” while also lauding top chefs and culinary rising stars.
High-end dessert bar Nicosi opened this summer at the Pearl’s gourmet grocery, Pullman Market, 221 Newell Ave., specializing in seasonal, multicourse tasting menus.
Experiences at the 20-seat dining spot run $100 without alcohol pairings and $120 with alcohol, and diners should expect a full meal with emphasis on acid, sweet, bi er and savory. A no-photography policy is enforced to build mystique around its creations.
“An eight-course dessert tasting menu
— just dessert — could be an ordeal. Self-serious. Weird. Saccharine,” Esquire wrote of its choice. “But Tavel Bristol-Joseph and Karla Espinosa are too damn talented to make it anything but a blast.”
While Nicosi’s admission price puts it out of reach for most San Antonio diners, Bristol-Joseph and Espinosa certainly aren’t without pedigree.
Bristol-Joseph was also named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs in 2020 on the strength of the bakery and dessert items on offer at several high-profile restaurants he launched in Austin.
Meanwhile, Espinosa has built on culinary experience in Mexico, Spain, Argentina and Belgium to earn raves as head pastry chef at MAD in Houston and embrace an innovative, seasonal approach to creating sweets.
The two Nicosi chefs were the only San Antonians featured in Esquire’s list. Only two Texas restaurants earned a spot among its 35 best: Houston James Beard Award finalist Late August and Dallas yakitori spot Mābo.
Robert Lerma
Keeping the BEAT
Bassist Tony Levin talks about revisiting the ’80s work of prog giants King
Crimson
BY MIKE MCMAHAN
Bassist Tony Levin recalls that John Lennon once told him “don’t play too many notes” as he prepared to cut a session with the former Beatle. But Levin already knew that was expected of him.
A musician’s musician, Levin has drawn praise for extending his instrument’s function and stretching the boundaries of what’s possible. But — and this is important — he tries not to go beyond what the song requires.
Levin is currently touring with BEAT, a project that revisits the music that he made with progressive-rock luminaries King Crimson in the 1980s. The tour stops at San Antonio’s Majestic Theatre on Saturday, Dec. 14.
Levin checked in via Zoom from the tour’s stop in Denver to talk enthusiastically about BEAT. But the Current couldn’t let him get away without asking him about his unusual choice of instruments and his new solo album, Bringing It Down to the Bass.
King Crimson, the brainchild of British guitar maestro Robert Fripp, went through many evolutions during its more than five-decade lifespan, though its DNA is encoded with progressive rock.
The ’80s era of Crimson celebrated by BEAT shifted away from the band’s ’70s focus on skronky avant-garde compositions and improvisations. Instead, a rhythm-centered world vibe took center stage, owing much to guitarist-vocalist and songwriter Adrian Belew’s time as a touring member of Talking Heads.
That ’80s integration of Crimson — which also included Levin on bass and Chapman Stick (more on that momentarily) and Bill Bruford on drums — released three tightly wound records, the best regarded being the 1981 debut, Discipline.
As a studio musician, Levin may have played on hundreds of albums backing legendary artists including Lennon, Stevie Nicks and Peter Gabriel, but King Crimson — and, by extension, BEAT — offers what may be the best showcase for his work.
Though the lineup split before the ’80s ended, Belew wanted to revisit its music again in recent years. Fripp, now retired at 78, gave
his blessing, and BEAT was born. In addition to Belew and Levin, BEAT’s lineup is completed by guitarist Steve Vai and drummer Danny Carey, who also pounds the skins for Tool. Fripp approved both choices.
BEAT is a four-headed beast, allowing each virtuoso player to contribute something unique thanks to divergent approaches and experiences. Even though the lineup is something of a dream team for prog fans, Levin revealed the tour was years in the making due to the individual members’ demanding schedules and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The following interview with Levin was edited for length and clarity.
What made Steve Vai and Danny Carey so good for the open spots?
Well, first of all, it was Adrian who chose them, not me, but I was thoroughly thrilled to have them. Steve Vai is one of the few guitar players that I’ve known of who would even want to tackle or be able to tackle playing Robert Fripp’s parts of the 1980s. Steve also has his own style, and I’m thrilled when he veers off into sometimes the same notes [from the original recording] but with his own style. Likewise, Danny is just a great musician and able to do a whole lot of things. In the case of Danny, he grew up sort of a fan of Bill Bruford in that era. And he actually owns a couple of drums that were formerly Bill’s. So, what could be a more fi ing thing? I think it was just a labor of love that made him
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want to revisit — well, not revisit, revisit in my case. Made him want to visit.
I knew what you meant. Revisit his youth and love of the records. There you go. Well put. And I think that’s why he’s doing it. I think it’s just really fun for him. And, certainly, the way he’s a acking it and playing fits in with that.
Danny’s manager had said he’s had a huge grin on his face ever since this was all figured out. What’s the difference performing this material with the new guys as opposed to with Robert and Bill decades ago?
It’s very different, if I can even pretend to remember what it was like. But it’s similar in ways. We’re not sticking exactly to the record the way it was. And that was the same when we first toured. However, these are different musicians, and the way it goes is very different. It’s a li le wilder and maybe less in control. I’m having trouble finding the words, but extremely different. We kind of locked in in the ’80s to a way to do the live versions. It had room in it to wander, but not a lot of room. And, this time, we didn’t start out with that. We started out with “Let’s see where this goes.”
Given that we’ve all aged, is it challenging to revisit the older parts?
King Crimson’s music has always been regarded as highly technical.
My bass parts and my Chapman Stick parts were not particularly technically difficult. I haven’t quantified how my technique has faded a li le bit as I got older, but I’m sure it has. I used to be fairly fast, but I was never the fastest guy. And now I’m not the second-fastest guy, but I’m not usually trying to play fast. I have no difficulty finger-wise and technically playing the instrument. There are a few places in the set where a piece has very complex parts, where I’m playing on one side of the Chapman Stick, I’m playing in one time signature on the other side, and I’m playing with the guitars in a different time signature. But then Adrian is singing in a third time signature, and I have the option of singing background vocal with him, or maybe not. In the first time around, I was a hotshot, and I did all three of those time signatures. Now I have tried a few times on some shows, but most nights I think about it and I say, “I’ll just let that go.” I don’t know if it’s my age or if I had to be so immersed in those counter-rhythms that my fingers could do them. My hands could do them on their own without me having to pay a ention to it.
Can you explain to our readers what a Chapman Stick is? It’s one of those I-know-it-when-I-hear-it things for a lot of listeners. I ought to be good at answering that. I’m not sure I am, but I have been asked a lot
of times since 1976. It is both a bass and a guitar. It has a stereo output. My Chapman stick is 12-string. They’re all either 10-string or 12-string. I have six guitar strings and six bass strings, and I can play them both at the same time, one finger on each. There’s a lot of possibilities that are a li le bit like playing a piano. The bass strings have a very percussive sound, which made me think, “This is going to be appropriate for some music I do.” But then in 1981, I found myself in King Crimson, looking to play my bass parts not in the usual find-the-groove-and-make-it-agood-bass-part but in a progressive way of, “What can I do to reinvent the way I even look at the instrument?”
Your new solo album is varied, despite being all bass-led tracks. “Road Dogs” has a sort of ZZ Top flavor. I wasn’t trying to be ZZ Top at all, but yes, the end section sounds like ZZ Top. There are worse ways to sound! And I will tell you an interesting story about that: there’s no guitar on that track. That’s me playing the cello.
Really?
Yes, amazingly. I’m playing the electric cello. I had a good riff, and that went into a B section of what I would call a li le bit of a progressive rock thing that’s not in 4/4, and then back to the theme. And then it kind of did a thing — maybe Hendrix did it once — where
it [feels like] eighth notes, and suddenly you realize it’s a shuffle. I think one of his Woodstock tracks. Anyway, so now I’m in a shuffle, and I’m playing along the bass part. I’m writing the piece at this point. Playing the bass part and some Chapman Stick to simulate the guitar part. I have a thought in the back of my mind. I’ve often wanted to play fretless bass through a vocoder. A vocoder is a pedal effect that you can combine somebody’s words with an instrument. I haven’t heard it with a fretless bass, which really sounds like a human voice anyway. And then I thought, “Well, I’m going to forget this. I’m going to dinner. I’m going to just put a marker down on the tape.” And I pulled over the microphone and I sang “road dogs.” And I tried to make my voice sound like I thought the vocoder fretless bass would sound. And I just used the words “road dogs” just because. Fast forward, and I kept trying different vocoder type things, and it sounded like crap. It just didn’t sound any good. And I thought, well, you know what? That strange voice, I’ll just go with that. And then I’ll write a few more words, just humorous ones about rigging and trucking and busing and what we do on the road. It took me to ZZ Top Land and it took me to being a vocalist when I was planning on playing the bass through a vocoder. $69-$362, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com.
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critics’ picks
Wednesday, Dec. 11
323rd Army Band
This free holiday concert is a perfect way for folks to experience top-tier musicians celebrating holiday cheer while checking out San Antonio’s similarly top-tier new venue. Army bands have a long history of producing outstanding musicians — Jimi Hendrix, anyone? — and “Fort Sam’s own” 323rd is know for delivering performances with the expected precision. Free, 7 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — Bill Baird
Friday, Dec. 13
Tear Dungeon
Tear Dungeon features members of Austin punk legends A Giant Dog and Sweet Spirit, but you may not know it from the gimp masks and bondage gear they strut onstage. Musically, the act specializes in kickass garage punk combined with over-the-top theatrics, sometimes involving spewing fake blood. $15-$25, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — BB
Rattlesnake Milk, Dylan Earle, Emily Nenni
New West Records has put together an excellent bill, dubbed Ho Down XIII, to raise money for local nonprofit San Antonio Cultural Arts. Headliner Rattlesnake Milk is one of the best
“progressive country” acts out there, combining atmospherics and a DIY spirit with good vibes and great songwriting. Dylan Earle and Emily Nenni are also rising stars helping redefine Americana, country or whatever you want to call it. $20, 8 p.m., The Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St. Mary’s St., thelonesomerose.com. — BB
Dawes, Winnekta Bowling League
Brothers Taylor and Gri n Goldsmith, the founder of Dawes, set out on their own as a duo in support of the indie-rock act’s latest album Oh Brother, which o ers a more intimate and reflective take on its rootsy sound. Openers Winnekta Bowling League climbed the alt-rock charts with their delicate but driving single “This is Life.” $35-$99, 7 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — Danny Cervantes
Sunday, Dec. 15
Cherubs, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, Trash Dragon
Austin’s Cherubs ruled the Texas noise-rock scene in the early ’90s thanks to a series of 7-inch records and a killer LP called Icing . After an extended hiatus, the band is back with a bruising brand of sonic extremism not unlike Lone Star State predecessors including the Butthole Surfers and Scratch Acid. Cherubs will
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
melt your face, and you will thank them for it. $12, 8 p.m., The Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St. Mary’s St., thelonesomerose.com. — BB
Tuesday, Dec. 17
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
For generations, New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band has produced incredible Dixieland jazz from its Bourbon Street storefront. The intricate, interwoven interplay between its seasoned musicians is dazzling to watch and entrancing to hear. San Antonio jazz fans can experience the magic as the band turns its attention to making holiday classics swing hard. $35-$105, 8 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — BB
Friday, Dec. 20
Mariachi Sol de Mexico
For this concert, billed as “José Hernández’s Merry-Achi Christmas,” maestro Hernández will lead his 13-piece ensemble through a spirited yuletide performance. Expect to hear Mariachi Sol de Mexico breathe life into a variety of Mexican and American holiday standards that celebrate the spirit of the holiday on both sides of the border. $29.50-$69.50, 8 p.m., Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — Danny Cervantes
Greyhounds, The Point Austin’s Greyhounds — a duo comprised of guitarist Andrew Trube and keyboardist Anthony Farrell — was once described as “Hall & Oates meets ZZ Top,” and both comparisons are apt. The pair started as writers for Tedeschi & Trucks, and their material combines R&B sounds with funk and the Bakersfield country of Buck Owens. “Hard to Believe,” the lead single from the Greyhounds’ most recent studio album, o ers a soulful intro into their sound. $15-$90, 8:30 p.m., Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com. — DC
Saturday, Dec. 21
Blind Boys of Alabama
An ongoing group since 1939 with an ever-changing cast, the Blind Boys of Alabama continue a rich Southern gospel tradition but have broadened its appeal by tastefully fusing it with pop and rock elements. The group’s stirring sound has earned it multiple Grammys, allowed it to provide the theme song for the TV show The Wire and drawn it into star-studded collaborations. Live, the voices of the group’s visually impaired members meld in impeccable harmony and bring a palpable sense of joy to the crowd. $35-$49, 8 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — BB
Shutterstock / Adam McCullough
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C. H. Guenther & Son LLC, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for renewal of Air Quality Permit No. 56315, which would authorize continued operation of the Grain Handling, Flour Mills, and Food Manufacturing Facility located at 129 East Guenther, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas 78204. Additional information concerning this application is contained in the public notice section of this newspaper.
“Wakey Wakey!”--don’t sleep on the clues, either. by Matt Jones ©2024 Matt Jones
Across
1. Sound designed to wake you up
6. Sweetie ___ (term like “darling” or “Baez”)
9. “Hey, over here!”
13. Put your prioritizes toward 14. Quartz division
15. Chain that may sell Linzer 16. Zin ___ (stuck)
17. Only state with a threeword capital city
18. Unlike products of Aziz?
19. Hauler bound to wake you up in the morning
22. Fitz as a ddle, for instance 25. Poet’s palindromic “before”
26. “ anks for ___ memorizes”
27. Word a er “lazyaway” or “lesson”
28. Hailed czars
31. Felt like yelling “zowie,” but for longer
33. Where GAZ, PAZ, and WIZ are located
34. Singer McEntire
35. Miracle-___ (garden brand)
36. It may wake you up energetically
42. Insect in colonizes
43. Letters before a URL
44. e day before
45. “I hear Yaz!”
48. Rappers’ feud
49. “I’ve ___ zit before”
50. Securities trader, for Shortz
51. Onze, in Spanish
53. ey grow into large trezzes
55. Animal noise that’ll wake
you up on a farm
59. Pitchfork point
60. Native Zandezan
61. Landlocked Asian republic
65. “Law & Order: SVU” actor
66. Accessorizes
67. Prez-Nintendo console
68. “___ Bridges” (TV show with Johnson and Marzin)
69. Word before nail or nob
70. Ca eine pill brand to keep you awake (or, when respaced, instructions on how to handle many of the clues)
Down
1. “Queen Sugar” creator DuVernay
2. eorizes Getz tested here
3. “Greatest” boxer
4. Welcomed, as the new year
5. Rizzo award in 2016
6. Pocket bread
7. Since who-knows-when 8. Early anesthetic
9. Fezline noise
10. Sherlock Holmes, notably 11. ZZ Top lip feature, informally
12. Had discussions
14. Zazzle ordering site
20. Not so long ago
21. React at the end of Hot Zones, perhaps 22. San Antonio player
23. “Casablanca” character Lund
24. Queenly address
29. “Alizas” network
30. Use the tub
32. Relative of romazine
34. Lapse
35. Was a success
37. Chinese steamed bun
38. Su x with “Manhattan” or
“Brooklyn”
39. ___-reviewed journal
40. Like shares that are split halfsizes
41. Two-digit playing cards
45. Maze of Canadian comedy
46. Beethoven’s ird Symphony
47. Ribeye alternatives
48. Brunezzi’s island
49. Johannesburg township
52. Mister Zed’s sound
54. Host a er Jazzy
56. Adam’s third son in the Zotz
57. Bozo/Bozo reminder?
58. Buzzy on a lot
62. Word meaning frizzed, in ai cuisine
63. e ZA before + might mean this
64. Dick Cheney’s daughter
Answers on page 25.
