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IN THIS

FIRST WORDS

On “San Antonio Man Accused of Pointing Laser at News Helicopter”// Stephen Manion: Give him 25 years. This verges on attempted murder. On “City Council Backs Contract Extension, Raise for City Manager Sheryl Sculley” // Gus Martinez: At the end of the day, will the irate masses remember these shenanigans come election time, when council goons who gave her the raise are up for reelection, and vote to throw them out? And will the alternatives to the goons be any better?

ISSUE Issue 16_08 /// February 24-March 1, 2016

NEWS

Newsmonger Primary elections // Murder, he wrote // Wrong kind of leader

On “Two New Growler Stations, a Healthy Pop-Up and More”// Jorge Villarreal: Guess that one Current writer who prefers to drink whatever swill Anheuser brews up won’t be there anytime soon [sic]

CALENDAR

ARTS + CULTURE

Our top picks for the week

View from Above SA photographer takes unfamiliar pictures of familiar parks

Drive-by City Remembering the gang violence of the 1990s

• Send your thoughts, comments or kudos to letters@sacurrent.com

SCREENS

FOOD

NIGHTLIFE

#CineSoBrown What not to miss at the 38th annual CineFestival

Connecting Loose Ends The San Antonio Food Bank wants your leftovers

Wing & Things Trust Wing Daddy’s with your wing needs

Locked and Loaded Who could and who should take home an Oscar this year

Flavor File You won’t recognize this year’s Culinaria Festival Week

Happy Hour Hound Boozing it up at Stay Golden Social House

MUSIC

Ears to Hear Witness the roots of American music with The Blind Boys of Alabama Don’t Ever Fucking Question That One half of Atmosphere speaks In Through the Back Door Stapleton saves his best for solo effort Traveller Music Calendar What to see and hear this week 8 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

ETC.

Savage Love Jonesin’ Crossword Freewill Astrology This Modern World

ON THE

COVER In the midst of its 38th annual program, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s CineFestival aims to “redefine” what Latino film is. Illustration by Jacob Stead Art direction by Rick Fisher and Sarah Flood-Baumann

sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 9

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2016

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NEWSMONGER Primary Elections// Murder, He Wrote // Wrong Kind of Leader The Primaries Are Coming Super Tuesday is nearly here and early voting ends Friday. This year’s a big one. While all eyes are on the presidential race, particularly the Republican primary, there’s more than just that on the ballot, from local to state races as well. Visit home.bexar.org/elections/ or call 210-335-VOTE for more info. Go vote! Murder, He Wrote San Antonio Tea Party activist Jeff Judson, who spearheaded efforts to stop the city’s plans to spend millions to bring a streetcar system to Downtown in 2000 and 2014, is challenging House Speaker and State Representative Joe Straus to represent House District 121. And to say he’s flinging mud doesn’t do his campaign justice. He’s accusing Straus of murder. Seriously. Here’s the subject line of an email blast he sent out February 18: “Is Straus to blame for murder? Judson says yes!” The pandering comes on the heels of a video published by the

te ticipa t par o l n il n s ca h at w Texa s ram t g e o r g u e yp n ref ia in an r y uld in S m co m result e of who o r ris on o te r - a ny as. te d t x c e e T n n in be co resettled g in e b -

The Wrong Kind of Leader Texas just gained another dubious distinction: the state topped the nation in number of hate groups for 2015. But, hey, everything’s bigger in Texas, right? The Southern Poverty Law Center, which released its massive Intelligence

Checking the temperature of events in Bexar County and beyond

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Young Conservatives of Texas PAC that shows the father of Spencer Golvach, a Houston man murdered by an undocumented immigrant named Victor Rodriguez Reyes, who had been deported multiple times, blaming Straus for his son’s death because the Texas Legislature did not pass a bill attempting to outlaw so-called sanctuary cities. “His duplicity has been revealed, claiming on the one hand that he’s tough on border security, while proactively killing the ban on Sanctuary Cities,” Judson says. “But now the truth is out and the voters in this election will know that Straus’ active sabotage of this legislation had deadly consequences, just as was predicted.” That same day, Straus sent out a press release touting support from law-enforcement representatives from all across the Lone Star State, including Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau. “Using a grieving father to accuse Joe Straus of a horrific murder committed by a career criminal is deplorable and irresponsible,” she says.

BEXAR-O-METER

Report last week, notes that larger states, like Texas, California and Florida regularly top the list, which is still an unfortunate reflection on the Lone Star State. “The number of extremist groups operating in the United States grew in 2015 — a year awash in deadly extremist violence and hateful rhetoric from mainstream political figures, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s annual census of hate groups and other extremist organizations,” the Intelligence Report states. And, as the nation knows, Texas’ politicians have been at the forefront of condemning Central American asylum seekers, attempting to turn away war-torn Syrian refugees, initiating caustic attempts to defy the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling and perpetuated Islamophobia, to name a few. Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa singled out presidential candidate Ted Cruz and Governor Greg Abbott for their roles in stoking the flames of hate. “The Jim Crow days should be in the past. George Wallace should be no more. No elected official, candidate or political party should ever profit from hate speech,” Hinojosa says in a statement. mreagan@sacurrent.com

Super Tuesday Bernie or Hillary? Trump or Cruz or Rubio? B-Cycle New stations added at The DoSeum, the Pearl and SAC Affluenza Kid Ethan Couch’s case heads to adult court Pay Raise City Council approves $400K+ contract for City Manager Planned Parenthood State employee resigns for role in report critical of Texas Zika Virus There are six possible cases in Bexar County

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sacurrent.com • January 27—February 2, 2016 • CURRENT 12

NEWS

•

Educación, a West Side mural painted in 1994 by Juan Ramos and Cruz Ortiz.

Remembering San Antonio gang violence in the 1990s

MICHAEL MARKS

DRIVE-BY CITY MICHAEL MARKS/@MICHAELPMARKS

Thousands of Shootings Gang activity in San Antonio crested more or less with the rest of the country in the 1990s. Prolific violence in cities like Los Angeles dominated national headlines. Curtailing gang crime was a major emphasis of the Clinton administration, and the issue seeped into state legislatures as well. Organized crime had existed for decades in San Antonio, but the seeds of widespread gang activity among young people were sown in the late 1980s. “We had this proliferation of Bloods, Crips, coming in from other places,” said Mario Salas, a community activist who served as a city councilman during the ’90s. “They brought with them that gang culture ... and sort of

infiltrated the criminal element, which was a little bit more quiet during that period of time.” The number of juveniles arrested in San Antonio for violent crimes tripled between 1987 and 1994, according to the Texas Law Enforcement Management and Administration Statistics Program. The number of youths arrested for unlawfully carrying firearms doubled over the same period. The San Antonio Police Department recorded over 1,200 drive-by shootings in 1993 – nearly 3.5 per day. That figure dwarfed the number in other Texas cities, and it unofficially marked San Antonio as the state’s drive-by capital. Although no part of the city was immune, the vast majority of the violence occurred on the East and West Sides, particularly where poverty was prevalent. Gang members killed each other and innocent bystanders to protect their home turf and drug-selling interests. Housing projects – such as Alazan-Apache Courts, Cassiano Homes, East Terrace and Wheatley Courts – served as hubs for different groups, sometimes housing multiple rival gangs. It’s a reality that Kyle Coleman saw every day from 1989 to 1997, when he was a member of the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department gang unit. The unit was started in the late 1980s to respond to growing gang threats. Most of the gang members he dealt with were between the ages of 13 and 17. Coleman attributed the rise in drive-bys to the simplicity with which they were executed, the ease of procuring high-powered weapons and to the 1988 movie Colors. Colors features a scene in which actor Don Cheadle,

playing a Los Angeles Crip, shoots a group of Bloods with a shotgun in a driveby. The film became a cult classic in gang culture. Guns were often stolen or procured by older gang members at gun shows, Coleman • Cyrus Bates at 16 said. The first gun Coleman ever took off the street was a .25-caliber automatic pistol. But as gangs grew, so did the sophistication of their arsenal. “The longer that we were working on the gang unit … we were taking AK-47s, MAC-10s and AR-15s off the street,” Coleman said.

COURTESY OF MECOLE WILLIAMS

Everything Cyrus Bates wore was white. As a black teen growing up in San Antonio in the 1990s, Bates wore the color to avoid being mistaken for a gangbanger. The violence of the city whirled furiously around him in reds, blues and browns, and Bates wanted to avoid it. For him, wearing white was the answer. “You could turn on the news back then and that’s all you saw. Crips and Bloods, Crips and Bloods, Crips and Bloods,” said his mother, Cheryl Salone. “That’s not a way of living life. I tried to keep my kids away from it.” Bates, a charismatic and bright teen, was tempted by the fast money gang life offered, sometimes weeping to his mother about how tough it was not to sell drugs. He resisted, but with difficulty. “It was a battle between the streets and a better life,” Salone said. “I just kept begging him and begging him, ‘Please give the good life a chance.’” Try as Bates and his mother did, he died on the street nonetheless. Bates was shot and killed in his Northeast Side neighborhood on the evening of June 11, 1998. Otto Rodriguez shot Bates from the passenger seat of a blue Cadillac. He then got out of the car and shot him again in the back. The motive for the crime is unclear, but Bates’ family believes Rodriguez mistook him for the real target. Rodriguez was found guilty of murder, and sentenced to 60 years in prison. He’ll be eligible for parole in 2028. Rodriguez was 23 at the time of the crime; Bates was 16. But Rodriguez and Bates’ stories are as tragic as they are common. They’re one of thousands who died in driveby shootings or were incarcerated for perpetrating them and other violent acts in San Antonio in the 1990s, fueled by a surge in gang activity. Many of the communities affected most still bear the scars of one of the most violent periods in the city’s history.

“My Neighborhood Was a Jungle” Darrell Boyce wasn’t a gang member, but he easily could have been. Boyce moved to San Antonio from New York City in 1989 with his family when he was 11. He now works for San Antonio Fighting Back, a group that helped fight gang violence in the ’90s and continues to perform community development work. Boyce grew up in East Terrace, one of the hotspots for CONTINUED ON PAGE 15 ►

sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 13

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NEWS

MICHAEL MARKS

•

A mural at Cassiano Homes commemorating Jose Jesus Rodriguez’s death.

◄ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

Drugs and gang violence dominated the neighborhood.”

gangs on the East Side. He remembers drive-bys as a constant threat. His mother didn’t let him or his brothers leave their home after 6 p.m. Although he tried to keep out of harm’s way by engaging in extracurricular activities, violence was impossible to avoid altogether. “From 1993 to 1998, I probably had 15 to 20 friends that were killed due to gang violence. These are guys I went to school with, we played basketball together. It was really a hard life,” Boyce said. Two of Boyce’s brothers were incarcerated: one for drug-related charges, the other, who’s still in prison, for murder. A fellow East Terrace resident, Edwin Debrow Jr., was perhaps the youngest person ever to be charged with murder in Texas. Debrow was 12 in 1992 when he was convicted of killing Curtis Ray Edwards, a taxi driver, in a botched robbery. At the time he was a member of the Altadena Block Crips, following in the footsteps of his older brother. He remembers most of his childhood as “hanging around older guys and learning the drug trade.” Now 36, he’s projected to be released in 2031. “When I was a kid I don’t remember anyone who influenced me positively,” Debrow said in a letter to the San Antonio Current. “My neighborhood was a jungle and full of so much lawlessness. There was not any programs [sic] for the kids who were running around in the streets.

Looking for Something After drive-by shootings peaked in 1993, they dropped to 540 in 1994 and 339 in 1995, according to SAPD. Police embedded deeper into the neighborhoods, forging relationships with gang members and aggressively issuing search warrants to try and seize guns in people’s homes. “We learned that the best thing is to talk to them. I was really shocked that a lot of these kids were just looking for something. Every kid was looking for something different,” Coleman said. Community pressures also helped weed out some of the violence, both through stronger neighborhood associations and through events like the 1994 Gang Summit. The Gang Summit was held over an early weekend in April at Grace Lutheran Church. Mediators – mostly former gang members – came from across the country to forge truces between San Antonio gangs. Rev. Ann Helmke, who helped organize the 1994 Gang Summit, remembers watching the news each night and despairing for the future of the city. “The young people who were being arrested were young. They were the future of our community,” Helmke said. “If you lock them up, for some reason it made people feel better. It didn’t do that for me. I was like, ‘You’re locking up our young people!’… And all I wanted to do is go out to the curb and scream ‘Stop!’” The summit included an open forum for gang members,

community groups, elected officials and mediators to air grievances and establish goals. Although not all gangs participated, particularly those from the East Side, the final sessions included four West Side gangs calling a truce. Several others followed suit in the weeks following. Although shootings continued after the summit – including at least one the day after it concluded – they did so at a slower rate. Organizers claimed that it served as a symbol of hope moving forward. But the slowdown was also due to attrition among the gangs’ ranks by death, imprisonment, and, Coleman hypothesized, fear and boredom. “The gangs started slowing down when they started realizing that all of this just wasn’t fun anymore. Everybody knew somebody who had gotten hurt or shot or killed. It wasn’t fun anymore,” Coleman said. “What Kind of Man He Would Have Been” The most important signs of the violence in the 1990s – the dead and imprisoned – are largely invisible. But there are some physical reminders, too. One of the murals at Cassiano Homes shows the face of a boy above a scroll that reads “In Memory of Jose Jesus Rodriguez, 1979 – 1991.” By multiple accounts, Rodriguez was 12 when he tried to quit the 8 Ball gang, the dominant group in Cassiano Homes. An older gang leader shot and killed him for CONTINUED ON PAGE 16►

sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 15

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16 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

NEWS

◄ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

it. Another part of the mural shows Rodriguez’s casket surrounded by fellow gang members, represented by black shadows. “Nobody messes with that picture. They respect it. People get hurt if they mess with it,” said Robert Ramirez, a 60-year-old Cassiano Homes resident who’s lived much of his life in the complex. Another West Side mural, Educación, was commissioned by San Anto Cultural Arts in 1994. The piece by Juan Ramos and Cruz Ortiz depicts a Latina holding a banner that reads “Educación” above skeletons in blue and red hats, pointing guns at each other behind tombstones. The mental effects run deep, too. For Boyce, he sees something broken in his community that has yet to be fully repaired. “The community has lost pride,” Boyce said. “The community has lost family. The community has lost faith in those who are supposed to be our leaders.” Those who grew up within the violence, even if they or their families were unharmed, could have had their growth retarded by their environment. Randy Gladden was the principal of Gonzalez Achievement Center, a San Antonio ISD alternative school, from 1990 through 1995. Many of his students, including Debrow, came from communities ravaged by gang activity. They and their parents would tell him stories about how the whole family slept in the bathroom to keep away from stray bullets coming through windows, or how their local playgrounds had been overrun by drug dealers. Some students would suddenly disappear altogether. “I took away that it is possible to live beyond that [environment] and to become something else,” Gladden said. “It is really, really hard. … I understand that for some children and young people, it really is insurmountable.” Even though the brazen youth gang violence of the ’90s has abated,

violent crime still plagues some San Antonio neighborhoods – particularly in former gang hotbeds. Drive-by shootings happen regularly, and no one is immune from the violence. In November 2014, a vehicle owned by Mayor Ivy Taylor was shot at during a drive-by, and a building owned by Taylor’s husband was also hit. Two people were wounded. Police Chief William McManus and District 2 Councilman Alan Warrick recently held a set of community meetings to address the rampant shootings, drug-related activity and vandalism that East Side neighborhoods face. Frustrations from long-time residents bubbled up, and many pressed for a more visible police presence in their part of the city. “These problems are chronic. They’ve been around forever,” McManus told KSAT. He plans to send more street crime units to East Side communities. But the crime has persisted for so long, Salas wondered if perhaps people have just gotten used to it. “It makes some people want to move and just surrender to that norm that evolved over the course of time. It makes some people very nervous, it makes some people go and purchase guns. It makes some people put burglar bars all over their house,” Salas said. The greatest cost of the violence in the ’90s, almost all agree, is the young lives who were plucked from their communities, whether by death or by imprisonment. The waste of life and talent in such a seemingly arbitrary way leaves those left behind struggling with unanswerable questions, and memories of lost lives. “We just wonder what kind of man he would have been,” Mecole Williams said of her brother, Cyrus Bates. “What kind of children would he have? Would he be married? He was going to be an engineer – what kind of engineer was he going to be? But he’s in heaven. He lives on. He lives on through us.” mmarks@sacurrent.com

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210-465-7125 sacurrent.com sacurrent.com• January • February 27—February 24—March 2, 1, 2016 • CURRENT 17

CALENDAR

SHANNON LOCHRIDGE

ESTRELLA CHACON WED

Luminaria Take Two SPECIAL EVENT

Steadfast in its mission to bring great art to light, Luminaria follows up last week’s stellar event at the San Antonio Museum of Art with part two of Luminaria Take Two at the Tobin. Like the SAMA event, Wednesday’s show brings in artists who were scheduled to participate in last October’s rainedout festival with some solid additions. Focused on choreography, stage performance, multimedia arts and film, this incarnation of Luminaria boasts indie filmmakers Ronnie Cramer and Richard Edson, dancer Seme Jatib and troupes A’lante Flamenco and Oui Danse, among others. Free, 7-10pm, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — James Courtney

THU

The Halfways MUSIC

Thursday night, head for the green glow of Limelight and catch a swell regional bill. Anchoring the show, ATX’s The Halfways are a well-polished psych-rock act with folk sensibilities. Launched several years ago as the personal project of Daniel Fernandez, the act is now a four-piece and just recently released an excellent fullband debut EP. Here’s a psych-rock band that, rather than follow the grainy, lo-fi craze of the moment, presents its sinuous and smooth music in full color and high definition. HTX’s Mantra Love (psych-pop/punk) and SA’s Sioux & Fox (heady indie rock) round out the bill. $5, 9pm, Limelight, 2718 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 735-7775, thelimelightsa.com. — JC

18 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

FRI

‘It’s Art Not Porn’ ART

Formerly a source for all flavors of X-rated periodicals, the no-longerseedy space under the sign that reads “Broadway News” is now the home of Richter Goods, a local fashion company launched by Mario Guajardo in 2011. Among Contemporary Art Month’s earliest offerings, the tellingly titled group show “It’s Art Not Porn” riffs on the venue’s checkered past while doubling as an open house enhanced with music and light bites. In addition to sharply tailored shirts and other Texas-made apparel designed by Guajardo, the opening reception showcases works by San Antonio artists Cindy Tower and Jesus Toro Martinez. Free, 6-9pm, Richter Goods, 2202 Broadway, contemporaryartmonth.com. — Bryan Rindfuss

FRI

Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo MUSIC

In October of 1980, Pat Benatar and future husband Neil Giraldo graced the cover of Rolling Stone — Benatar dominant in leather and red stripes, Giraldo consumed by her élan. It was a fitting tip-off for the decade, when she broke through as the first female artist to perform on MTV and became one of the station’s go-to hit-makers. (If I can learn the “Love Is a Battlefield” shimmyshake dance before I die, I will have no regrets.) A slightly incongruous and totally awesome choice for the rodeo, Benatar and guitarist Neil Giraldo celebrate their 34th year of marriage with a tour of her zeitgeist hits. $15$200, 7:30pm, AT&T Center, One AT&T Center Pkwy., (210) 4445000, attcenter.com. — Matt Stieb

CALENDAR

BEC LORRIMER.

FRI-SAT

26-27

Creatures of the Night THEATER

Emily Fitzgerald has had her head in a who-done-it for the past year. The result? Creatures of the Night, a noir-style mystery about a private eye faced with very real monsters. Inspired by the J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) protagonist Eve Dallas, Fitzgerald’s detectives Valentine and Dandy navigate through a revolving cast of characters in an ever-darkening coffee-shop haunt. The Overtime unveils the mysterious play with an ensemble cast led by Sarah Nixon Hemmi. “I also hope you don’t solve it: Like a magic trick, it’s so much more fun to be surprised,” says Fitzgerald. $10-$15, 8pm Fri-Sat, The Overtime Theater, 1203 Camden St., (210) 557-7562, theovertimetheater.org. — Murphi Cook

FRI-SAT

26-27

Bravo Broadway! MUSIC

The San Antonio Symphony takes a virtual stroll on Manhattan’s neon-lit Great White Way for Bravo Broadway! Under the direction of associate conductor Akiko Fujimoto, the program breathes new life into cherished show tunes (from Les Misérables, Chicago and My Fair Lady, among other musical mainstays) with assistance from seasoned vocalists Christiane Noll (pictured) and Doug LaBrecque. While Noll earned Tony and Drama Desk nods for her role in the Kennedy Center’s revival of Ragtime, LaBrecque is best recognized for star turns in Showboat and The Phantom of the Opera. $20$100, 8pm Fri-Sat, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, sasymphony.org. — BR

SAT

Hoedown Throwdown

SUN

MUSIC

What do you get when you mix a punk rock venue (on the River Walk of all places), a whole bunch of folks in Western wear and an off-the-chain dance party complete with a mini laser light show? You get the Hoedown Throwdown: a sort of premature and unofficial rodeo after party going down at The Ten Eleven Saturday. The event will feature 10-plus DJs and electronic music-makers, dance battles(!) and more bass than you’re even ready for. Ladies in rodeo attire get in free before 10 p.m. and everyone in rodeo attire gets discounted admission all night. Here’s to boots, beats and booze, y’all. $8-$10, 6pm-2am, The Ten Eleven, 1011 Avenue B, (210) 320-9080, theteneleven.com. — JC

YACHT MUSIC

Tinder? Segways marketed as hoverboards? Is this the best we can do? On YACHT’s sixth record, I Thought the Future Would Be Cooler, Claire Evans and Jona Bechtolt answer with a firm no. But this forward-thinking dance band does their best to bring us to the funk-utopia: to release their album last year, YACHT dropped a GPS coordinate to an LA billboard, where they hosted a Q&A and handed out risographed flyers of the record’s manifesto. Lyrically, the band’s digital pop skews between a Ted Talk and Sesame Street; it’s what you should play for your kids if you want them to grow up as cool nerds. $15, 8pm, Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersa.com. — Matt Stieb

sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 19

april 8&9

maverick music festival 2016 La Villita Maverick Plaza

The Flaming Lips PUBLIC ENEMY THE CHURCH THE DRUMS REVEREND HORTON HEAT YOUNG FATHERS WILD CHILD

BRIGHT LIGHT SOCIAL HOUR

MOTHER FALCON

#MAVERICKMUSICFESTIVAL 20 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!

AN ANTONIO

TEXAS

maverickmusicfestival.com

CALENDAR NIGHTLIFE

THU-SUN

25-28

Late Night Catechism

THU-SUN

Get your lucky rabbit’s foot ready, because the convent needs a new roof. Improv meets Sunday School with the wise-cracking, no-nonsense nun on a mission to raise some funds in Late Night Catechism Las Vegas: Sister Rolls the Dice! Veteran actress and faux Sister Kimberly Richards is no stranger to the wild world of the habit or Sin City; Richards worked as a Vegas dancer before nabbing her longtime role as the nun, and no night is the same in either profession. Since the show builds off of Richards’ riffs with her audiences, each evening will be wildly different (though laughter and admonishment should be expected). $34.50, 7:30pm Thu, 8pm Fri, 2pm & 8pm Sat, 2pm & 7pm Sun, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — Murphi Cook

Art

”Corita Kent and the Language of Pop”

Corita Kent was a Roman Catholic nun, the beloved art director at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles and a prolific pop artist. Her works in printmaking offer multiple entry points as they fuse issues of faith and social activism. Encompassing more than 60 works by Kent, SAMA’s latest rightly places the artist alongside contemporaries like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. $15-$20, 10am-5pm Wednesday-Thursday, 10am-9pm Friday, 10am-5pm Saturday-Sunday, 10am-9pm Tuesday; San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 W. Jones Ave., (210) 978-8100.

”Lorem Ipsum” Hailed as “a champion of

unabashed visual pleasure,” New Yorkbased artist Cordy Ryman works with such non-traditional materials as reclaimed wood, industrial paints, scrap metal, Velcro and Gorilla Glue. One of several shows celebrating Artpace’s 21st birthday, “Lorem Ipsum” runs in tandem with San Antonio artist Chris Sauter’s “Biography Construction Site (Cakes).” Free, noon-5pm Wednesday-Sunday; Artpace, 445 N. Main Ave., (210) 212-4900.

”Made in Germany” Organized by the

McNay’s René Paul Barilleaux, “Made in Germany” highlights contemporary German works from the Rubell Family Collection. The exhibit, which features paintings, sculptures, photographs and works on paper, collects pieces from such notables as Anselm Kiefer, Katarina Fritsch and Bernd Becher. $15-$20, 10am-4pm Wednesday, 10am-9pm Thursday, 10am-4pm Friday, 10am-5pm Saturday, noon-5pm Sunday, 10am-4pm Tuesday; McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave., (210) 824-5368.

”Texas Draws” The Southwest School of

Art’s biannual exhibition series “Texas Draws” showcases Texas artists who “extend the traditional definition of drawing and apply both traditional and non-traditional approaches to this timehonored discipline.” Free, 9am-4pm Wednesday-Saturday, 11am-4pm Sunday, 9am-5pm Monday-Tuesday; Southwest School of Art, 1201 Navarro St., (210) 224-1848.

”Undertoad” Julie Speed is a painter,

printmaker, collagist and more. After ditching Rhode Island School of Design at age 19, she moved around the U.S. before settling in Texas in 1978 to hone her craft according to her own muse. Her work, currently on view at Ruiz-Healy Art and Austin’s Flatbed Press, mixes mediums and relishes in a pointed and purposeful magical realism. Free, 11am-4pm Wednesday-Saturday, 11am-4pm Tuesday; Ruiz-Healy Art, 201 E. Olmos Drive, (210) 804-2219.

Film

The Alamo Slab Cinema pops up at Alamo

Plaza for a free outdoor screening of John Lee Hancock’s 2004 war drama based on the 1836 standoff between a group of Texan and Tejano men, led by Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jim Bowie (Jason Patric), and the forces of Mexican dictator Santa Anna (Emilio Echevarría). Free, 6:30pm Saturday; Alamo Plaza, 300 Alamo Plaza, (210) 225-1391.

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum When Katharina Blum spends the night with an alleged terrorist, her quiet, ordered life falls into ruins. Suddenly a suspect, Katharina is subject to a vicious smear

25-28

Donnell Rawlings

To close out his 2010 comedy special From Ashy to Classy, Donnell Rawlings offers his own take on a time-honored tradition among African American comics: the “white voice.” Rawlings (Ashy Larry and many others on Chappelle’s Show and Day-Day Price on The Wire) gets a lot of comedic mileage out of the disparity between races, but he insists the goofy white voice is something white and black people have in common — at least while African Americans are at work. The implications of this joke could probably fuel a dissertation, but the closest Rawlings ever comes to lecturing is when he plays the title character in “Dr. Trill’s ‘Take It in the Face System’ Seminar.” $20, 8pm Thu, 8pm & 10:15pm Fri-Sat, 7pm Sun, Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club, 618 NW Loop 410, (210) 5418805, lolsanantonio.com. – Jeremy Martin

campaign by the police and a ruthless tabloid journalist. Screened as part of the McNay’s GET REEL Film Series, Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta’s powerful adaptation of Heinrich Böll’s novel is a stinging commentary on state power, individual freedom and media manipulation — as relevant today as on the day of its release in 1975. Free, 7pm Thursday; McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave., (210) 824-5368.

Theater

How I Learned to Drive Inspired by

Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer-winning How I Learned to Drive puts the girl behind the wheel. Told through a series of driving lessons, the memory play follows a disregarded girl through her strained sexual relationship with her aunt’s alcoholic husband. First produced nearly 20 years ago, the play, with its cartoonish Greek chorus, jumbled chronology and driver’s manual references, continues to stir new questions about power and blame. Sarah Tipton and Dallas Akins star in Trinity’s production. $6-$12, 7pm Wednesday-Thursday, 8pm Friday-Saturday; Trinity University, Stieren Theater, One Trinity Pl., (210) 999-8515.

Jesus Christ Superstar After finding

surprise success with their 1970 concept album Jesus Christ Superstar, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice developed the rock opera into a spirited Broadway production based loosely on the last week of Christ’s life. Sung through in slang-infused show tunes — including the groovy “What’s the Buzz,” title track “Superstar” and torch ballad “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” — the groundbreaking musical presents Christ as something of a

celebrity sell-out while shining a forgiving light on his betrayer Judas Iscariot. Rick Sanchez directs The Playhouse’s production. $12-$30, 8pm Friday-Saturday, 3pm Sunday; The Playhouse, 800 W. Ashby Pl., (210) 733-7258.

The Diviners The Vex’s 17th season

continues with Jim Leonard, Jr.’s sliceof-life drama following a disturbed young man and his friendship with a disenchanted preacher in the fictional town of Zion, Indiana during the Great Depression. $16-$22, 7:30pm Thursday, 8pm Saturday, 2:30pm Sunday; Sheldon Vexler Theatre, 12500 NW Military Hwy., (210) 302-6835.

The House of Bernarda Alba The

University of the Incarnate Word Department of Theatre Arts opens the door to Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca’s all-female play set in the tension-filled household of a domineering matriarch obsessed with family honor and respecting her recently departed husband. $8-$10, 7pm Thursday, 8pm FridaySaturday; University of the Incarnate Word, Coates Theatre, 4301 Broadway, (210) 829-3800.

Rock of Ages Humorously summed up

by The New York Times as a “karaoke comedy about warped-vinyl dreams,” Chris D’Arienzo’s jukebox musical Rock of Ages employs ’80s radio hits such as “Waiting for a Girl Like You” (Foreigner), “We Built This City” (Starship), “The Final Countdown” (Europe) and “Don’t Stop Believing” (Journey) to conjure campy scenes straight out of the glory days of MTV — replete with big hair, Spandex and Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers. Christopher Rodriguez

sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 21

FE B R UARY 10–APR IL 24

Thomas Schütte, Grosse Geister #2 [Big Spirit #2], 2003. Polished bronze. Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection.

The Elizabeth Huth Coates Exhibition Endowment and the Arthur and Jane Stieren Fund for Exhibitions are lead sponsors.

Exhibition organized by the McNay Art Museum in collaboration with the Rubell Family Collection.

The Flora Crichton Visiting Artist Fund, the Ewing Halsell Foundation Endowment for Visiting Artists, the King Ranch Family Trust Endowment for Visiting Artists, Mitcham Partners, Judith and George Schroeder, the Director’s Circle, and the Host Committee are providing additional support.

6000 North New Braunfels | PO Box 6069 San Antonio, Texas 78209-0069 mcnayart.org

22 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

23 CALENDAR

directs Brian Hodges, Amanda Golden, Isidro Medina and Anthony Cortino in the Woodlawn’s production. $17-$26, 7:30pm Friday-Saturday, 3pm Sunday; Woodlawn Theatre, 1920 Fredericksburg Road, (210) 267-8388.

The Seagull Set on a lakeside Russian

estate, Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull weaves a tangled web crawling with the likes of playwright Konstantin, his neurotic mother Arkadina, her younger lover Trigorin and aspiring actress Nina. Once summed up by critic Charles Isherwood as “a play about misfired loves and misbegotten lives,” the 19th-century tragicomedy lands at The Classic Theatre in a production directed by Allan S. Ross. $10-$25, 8pm FridaySaturday, 3pm Sunday; Classic Theatre of San Antonio, 1924 Fredericksburg Road, (210) 589-8450.

Words

Mentorship Celebratory Reading & Wine Reception Gemini Ink hosts a

celebratory reading with 2015 Mentorship Program participants Carrie Fountain, John Phillip Santos, Danielle Sellers, Chris Yan, Joshua Levine and Amanda Harr. Free, 7-9pm Saturday;. Gemini Ink, 1111 Navarro St., (210) 734-9673.

Special Events

San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo

Established in 1949 and now counted as one of the Alamo City’s largest and most prestigious events, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo takes over the Freeman Coliseum and AT&T Center with Xtreme Bull Riding, Mutton Bustin’ contests, livestock and horse shows, a marketplace with more than 600 vendors, a Texas Wildlife Expo and a stacked music lineup featuring Brantley Gilbert (7pm Wednesday), Gary Allan (7pm Thursday), Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo (7:30pm Friday), Turnpike Troubadours (1pm Saturday) and Chris Stapleton (7:30pm Saturday). $5-$200, Wednesday-Sunday; AT&T Center, One AT&T Center Pkwy., (210) 225-5851.

Talks Plus

Lessons in Cultural Sustainability from Cuba As part of Villa Finale’s

Power of a Dream Lecture Series, professor and architect William Dupont explores the UNESCO World Heritage inscription of the San Antonio Missions as a watershed moment in the history of the city while looking to Havana for lessons on practices of cultural sustainability that could benefit San Antonio. $30, 6pm Thursday; Villa Finale, 401 King William St., (210) 223-9800.

Garden Ridge Community Center

Luis Carlos Montalván A 17-year veteran

2-day passes available Saturday

of the U.S. Army, former Captain Luis Carlos Montalván returned from his second tour in Iraq with damaged vertebrae, a brain injury and severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His treatment and recovery significantly changed when he was partnered with a highly-trained service dog named Tuesday. God’s Dogs Rescue hosts an evening with Montalván (and Tuesday) in support of his New York Times Bestseller Until Tuesday and his children’s picture book Tuesday Tucks Me In. Photo ops and “paw-tographed” copies of both books will be available at the event. $13-$38, 7pm Thursday; Barshop Jewish Community Center, 12500 NW Military Hwy., (210) 302-6827.

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LGBT

Yara Sofia Rey Lopez Entertainment brings

Puerto Rican drag star, makeup artist and RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Yara Sofia (season three’s Miss Congeniality) to Heat for a show with performances by Amerie Parker, Alayna Marquez, Nilaya Milan Raven, Aaron Andrews, Chyna Cravens, Kylie Crawford and Felisha Andrews. $10$25, 10:30pm, Heat Nightclub, 1500 N. Main Ave., (210) 227-2600.

Dance

Riverdance Irish dance phenomenon

Riverdance’s 20th anniversary world tour promises new costumes, lighting, projections and the addition of “Anna Livia,” featuring female troupe members in an acapella hard-shoe number. $35-$95, 8pm Friday, 2pm & 8pm Saturday, 2pm & 7:30pm Sunday; The Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 226-3333.

Synergy Pre-professional dancers from

the Ballet Conservatory of South Texas perform excerpts from Marius Petipa’s 19th-century work Raymonda along with contemporary pieces by local, national and international choreographers. $15$30, 7:30pm Saturday, 2pm Sunday; Jo Long Theatre, 226 N. Hackberry St., (210) 820-3400. sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 23

ARTS + CULTURE

VIEW

FROM ABOVE San Antonio photographer makes familiar Alamo City parks look unfamiliar MARK REAGAN/@210REAGAN

> Justin Moore has achieved his dreams. In 1999, he started a photography business because he loves taking pictures; passion number one, check. In 2001, he fulfilled his childhood dream of becoming a pilot, achieving passion number two. And so, naturally, his passions are now married into one: aerial photography. “When someone came out with a flying camera, it’s the combination of my passions in one fell swoop,” Moore said. He’s talking about aerial drones. Specifically, the Inspire 1 and Phantom 3 Professional craft that he uses to capture stunning images of San Antonio’s many parks. “I can go fly at these different city parks and donate this technology and these photographs to the parks department, who [responds] in open arms to get these images and help tell their story,” Moore said. From the Mission Reach to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens to San Pedro Springs to Brackenridge Park, Moore has taken stunning aerial photos of a large chunk of the city’s parks. All of which he donates to the parks department so they can use the amazing photos to promote the outdoors. “When people see San Pedro Springs from the air — a lot of people who have never been — it encourages people to come check out parks because they are seeing them in a way that they’ve never seen before,” he said. “Many of our city parks are quite beautiful and amazing from the air.” He said donating his time and work to promote the outdoors in San Antonio is just the right thing to do. “I’m passionate about it,” Moore said. “That’s exactly what my mission is.” mreagan@sacurrent.com

24 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

∙The serenity of Woodlawn Lake as seen from above, at dusk. Below: Here's the Donkey Lady bridge like you've never seen before.

ARTS + CULTURE

∙The only way to truly appreciate the beauty of the Mission Portal is from above.

∙A birds-eye view of the Leon Creek Greenway.

∙Trees obscure the East Texas Piney Woods trail at the San Antonio Botanical Garden.

sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 25

SCREENS

#CINESOBROWN ENRIQUE LOPETEGUI

FRANCISCO CORTÈS

∙The Guadalupe’s executive director Jerry Ruiz at CineFestival’s opening night e

26 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

CineFestival and the Meaning of 'Latino' Film

“I’m trying to redefine what a Latino film is,” Jim Mendiola, CineFestival director, told the San Antonio Current about the festival’s 38th edition taking place through February 27 at the Guadalupe Theater. “I don’t want to be so dogmatic as to what ‘Latino’ means.” Oh, the old etymological “Latino” debate … See, when it comes to describing what a “Latino” or “Latin American” is, you unavoidably have to deal with opened cans of worms coming at you from all angles: Is America a country or a continent? In the U.S., are you also referring to, say, Romanians when you say “Latino”? Are there any Romanian films at CineFestival? What do you do when the very term “Latino” is a misleading word concocted by foreigners and eagerly embraced by post-colonial “Latinos” who preferred the L-word rather than “Hispanic” or, God forbid, indio or negro? “The term ‘Latin America’ was invented by the French,” the late Mexican author Carlos Fuentes told (in Spanish) Chilean writer and journalist Sergio Marras in 1993’s América Latina, Marca Registrada (Latin America, Trademark), a collection of Q&As with most of the leading Latin American writers from the left and the right. Despite their different views, most of those interviewed agreed on the dubious origins of “Latino.” Fuentes goes on: “[The French’s] purpose was to include themselves in the continental

mass. Since the terms Iberoamérica [and] Hispanoamérica didn’t include them, they thought, ‘Let us invent a concept that does — Latin America.’ And [we] were glad that, in the 19th century, the French would open up their arms for us. France was our ideal. Just read Esteban Echeverría, Vicuña Mackenna [and] the many Latin American writers and thinkers who believed we could escape the terrible curse of descending from Spain, from the Indians and, even worse, from the African slaves, allowing us to become honorary French. One way of becoming honorary French was to call ourselves Latin Americans.” Instead, Fuentes — both in Marras’ book and in his own Valiente Nuevo Mundo (Brave New World) — preferred the impractical but more accurate Indo-Afro-Ibero-América, which “includes all the traditions, all the elements that really form our culture, our race, our personality,” as he told Marras. Now, transfer the debate to the U.S. and, more specifically, San Antonio, and you have a handful: Are Latino films united by skin color? For all practical purposes, I’m a Latino, but I’m white with blue eyes. Is it language? Plenty of “Latinos,” here and in Latin America, don’t speak Spanish. Are we united by culture? Any Latin American who never left his/her country doesn’t know what a taco is. Simply put, Latinos come in all shapes and forms, and good luck trying to translate a cook book from English to Spanish: it is impossible to make all ingredients understood in every Spanish-speaking country. So Mendiola took the practical, more honest approach: In the U.S., Latino film is a brown thing, hence the #CineSoBrown hashtag. “In the context of #OscarSoWhite, Latinos aren’t usually part of the conversation,” said Mendiola. “It’s either black or white.” A true

statement, even though Mexicans (and by that I mean Mexicans from Mexico) have done much better than anyone in the last two years: Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity won the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Director, Alejandro González’s Iñárritu’s Birdman won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director and the Golden Globe for Best Picture, and his The Revenant already won the Golden Globe for Best Picture this year and it is a strong contender to sweep again at the Oscars on February 28. Moreover, his back-to-back victories at the Director’s Guild Awards (for Birdman and The Revenant) in the last two years are a first in history — no other director had ever won the top DGA prize two years in a row. Yet, Latinos in Hollywood feel disrespected and underrepresented, no matter how many wins. All CineFestival can do is showcase the best Latino movies it can afford with a limited budget and hope for the best. “For any festival to be successful, you need to attract stars, and for that, you need money,” Jerry Ruiz, the Guadalupe’s executive director since 2015, told the Current. Which brings you to the old chicken-and-the-egg dilemma: Do you first need to attract audiences before you get sponsors, or do you need sponsors to lure stars to San Antonio so people will come? “The challenge with a film fest in San Antonio is balancing popular taste

SCREENS

with interesting programming,” said Mendiola. “The [reason] people come to festivals is because of stars.” Mendiola and the Guadalupe’s budget is limited, but what they lack in funds they’ve been compensating for with lots of imagination, and this year may very well be a turning point for the festival: After five years on board as a programmer/curator or co-curator, Mendiola (who was CineFestival curator in 1998-99) is now the festival’s director and has a much-needed ally in Ruiz. What started as a showcase of made-inthe-U.S. Latino films is gradually turning into a welcome Pan-American fest. So the stage is set for a fulltime, year-round curator (instead of the part-time role Mendiola currently has) and, in that regard, both Mendiola and Ruiz have shown positive signs. “This is a transition year, when the festival has a chance to grow,” said Mendiola. “I think I can finally do a festival the way I think it should be. The new administration really recognizes that and it’s letting us grow in a way that will make this festival pretty unique.” “We’re all interested in growing the festival and attracting a bigger audience to the West Side, but also potentially in the future do screenings in other locations too, not just the Guadalupe,” Ruiz said. “[CineFestival] is the first festival of its kind in the U.S. and we want to keep investing in it, but to grow you need at least one year-round staff person, if not more. That would be a worthy investment for us.” Time speaks for itself, and CineFestival’s staying power is its

most convincing argument to lure potential investors to join the cause. So far, the festival has been able to exist for 38 years only through the passion, dreams and sweat of the handful of people and sponsors behind it year after year, but much more is needed. Yes, the fest has stumbled at times, and every year is a miracle. But never since I came to San Antonio did I see a CineFestival that settled for cheap thrills. Instead, the festival has strived to secure the best possible films with what’s available, and it has nothing to be ashamed of. But the festival, like any other serious small, medium or large festival out there, needs stars and not just “the best available” films — it needs the best, and Mendiola and Ruiz deserve a chance to make it happen. In the meantime, Mendiola has been learning a few lessons from other comparable neighboring festivals. “The Morelia [Michoacán, México] International Film Festival is 12 years old, and in 12 years they have become one of the major international film fests in the world,” said Mendiola. “Of course, they have a lot of money, but they also have good ideas. I don’t have the money right now, but I can borrow some of their ideas.” One of those ideas is to showcase first-time shorts, and the following year first-time features by up-andcoming local and national talent and have them return to the festival year after year to show their new films, so local audiences follow and embrace their career. But Morelia not only showcased those films: It went to the film schools to look for the best new talent and offered significant prizes to them, thus attracting la crème de la crème of the new generation of Mexican filmmakers. “It was a strategic development and it worked,” said Mendiola. “By the sixth year, these filmmakers had their movies shown at Cannes. That’s something I’d love to start doing here eventually.”

Today’s CineFestival budget is much, much larger than in 2004, when I started following the festival (I’m finding it hard to get Mendiola and Ruiz to tell me the number on the record, but I’ll keep trying), but still nowhere near the minimum amount necessary to produce a serious, kick-ass festival. And I don’t mean Cannes, and not even South by Southwest. I’m talking about a medium size, cool festival that will offer the cleverest, edgiest “Latino” movies in the U.S. and abroad and the incentives to attract key figures in the movie industry and, with it, massive crowds. The crowds grow a little year after year, and sold-out nights are becoming more common. But in order for CineFestival to really grow, explode and become the type of festival it always dreamed to be, somebody needs to cough up the big bucks, even though Mendiola had a special mention for Galia Farber, San Antonio’s new film commissioner. “She’s starting to recognize the value of the festival and [the commission was] very supportive of us.” So I tried one more time, and asked Mendiola for attendance and budget figures. “Our budget this year is a little bigger, but not at the level we hope to attain,” said Mendiola in an email. “As the festival has grown over the last few years, and with the continuity of programming, its impact is felt [and] we had a bit more success with sponsors. Attendance is on the rise. People are used to seeing movies at the Guadalupe again and we want to continue that habit with monthly screenings.”

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Óscar Jaenada as iconic Mexican actor Mario Moreno in the 2014 biopic Cantinflas

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS THROWBACK THURSDAY: FRONTIERLANDIA The winner of CineFestival’s 1996 Jury Prize, this is the biggest trip you can have at this year’s fest. At times straight-ahead documentary, at times travelogue, this unpredictable, highly entertaining Culture Clash-meets-Monty Python extravaganza explores border life, the spirit of Aztlán, Mexican death metal and features Guillermo Gómez Peña as a talking cockroach. The film will be preceded by Femina-X’s “Frida’s Heart” video, directed by Laura Varela and Daniela Riojas, who will be in attendance along with Frontierlandia co-director Rubén OrtizTorres. 6:30pm Thu, Feb. 25.

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WASHINGTON HEIGHTS Well-acted 2002 film set in the New York neighborhood of the same name and based on a story co-written by director Alfredo De Villa and a young(er) Junot Díaz. Need we say more? 8:30pm Thu, Feb. 25. CONTINUED ON PAGE 29 ►

sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 27

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7 PM

SCREENS

∙Tim Roth stars as an ATF agent kidnapped by a young gun smuggler (Kristyan Ferrer) in 600 Miles.

∙A still from Mark Hentemann’s animated sitcom Bordertown

∙

A scene from Los Punks ◄ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

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CANTINFLAS I was never able to document its veracity, but there is a famous old quote by Charles Chaplin, who knew a thing or two about comedy: “Cantinflas is the greatest comedian alive.” I couldn’t agree more. Mario Moreno “Cantinflas” (1911-1993) was Mexico’s ying to rival Tin-Tan’s yang, but his impact was such that, in 1992, Spain’s Royal Academy included three new words in its dictionary: cantinflear (“to speak in an absurd manner without saying anything”), cantinflada (“a person who talks or acts like Cantinflas, Mexican actor,”) and cantinflas (“A person who talks or acts like Cantinflas”). He won a Golden Globe for Best Actor (Comedy or Musical) for Around the World in 80 Days (1956), but this 2014 biopic directed by Sebastián del Amo was panned by critics. However, Cantinflas’ portrayal by Óscar Jaenada is so good that you won’t even notice the dude’s from Spain. It’s a masterful, dead-on impression I won’t mind watching again and again. This senior screening is free and open to the general public. Free, 10am Fri, Feb. 26.

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600 MILES Tim Roth as an ATF agent on the hunt for illegal gun smugglers moving assault rifles from Arizona to Mexico, but when he’s about to catch the Mexican kids, he’s kidnapped by them instead. But … surprise! He kind of befriends his captor and … Familiar, right? Not only that, director Gabriel Ripstein (the son of Mexican director Arturo Ripstein) didn’t have

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a better idea than to name Roth’s ATF agent “Hank” (any Breaking Bad fan will get my point). Fortunately, the movie is not nearly as bad as its plot, and it deservedly won Best First Feature at the Berlinale in 2015. “This isn’t a gangster thriller,” Ripstein rightly told The Hollywood Reporter upon winning. “It’s a much deeper and more involving drama than the plot summary would suggest.” 7:30pm Fri, Feb. 26.

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LOS PUNKS: WE ARE ALL WE HAVE Backyard Latino punks in East L.A., South Central, Watts and Boyle Heights. Mexicanos making noise at home and in black neighborhoods. A must-see documentary about one of the wildest, loudest underground scenes in LA. 9pm Fri, Feb. 26.

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THE OTHER BARRIO Richard Montoya was always my favorite member of Culture Clash, the San Francisco-based Chicano comedy team. In this neo-noir directed by Dante Betteo and co-written by him and Montoya, based on a story by 2012 SF poet laureate Alejandro Murguía, Montoya shines as a housing inspector and gets a chance to shows all his range. Music by five-time Grammy nominee producer Greg Landau, who also scored La Mission. 4pm Sat, Feb. 27.

CLOSING NIGHT: BORDERTOWN I must confess I stopped watching after the first two episodes of Fox’s new animated series about Border Patrol agent Bud Buckwald and Mexican next-door neighbor Ernesto González, but I’m not ready to completely give up on Mexifornia, the fictitious town where the action takes place. Reviews have been mixed, yet it’s too early to dismiss the series, created by Family Guy writer Mark Hentemann and executive-produced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. That’s why I want to see these two brand new episodes at CineFestival, complete with an extended Q&A with series writer and consulting producer Lalo Alcaraz (the cartoonist behind La Cucaracha) and SA actor Nicolás González (the voice of Ernesto, whom Mendiola calls “the future of Latino acting in the U.S.A.”). Too bad the other consulting producer, Gustavo Arellano (of Ask a Mexican! fame), couldn’t make it, but Alcaraz’s presence guarantees lethal comebacks whenever a bigot heckles from the audience. 7:30pm Sat, Feb. 27. All screenings ($8 per ticket or $20 for a day pass) take place at the Guadalupe Theater, 1301 Guadalupe St., (210) 271-3151, guadalupeculturalarts.org. Visit cinefestivalsa.com for tickets and the complete schedule. CONTINUED ON PAGE 31 ►

sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 29

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WHAT ABOUT SA?

Besides some shorts and the documentary Las Tesoros de San Antonio (which had its world premiere on February 21), CineFestival will feature a Pepe Serna tribute day on Wednesday, February 24, with screenings of Aguruphobia (comedy, 6:30 p.m.) and the world premiere of Aaron Lee López’s Gino’s Wife (8:30 p.m.), shot in SA and starring Jesse Borrego. It’s a well-deserved homage to Serna, a fine, underrecognized actor who is in top form in López’s crime drama. But CineFestival won’t just show SA films for the sake of showing SA films. The good news is that SA today is similar to the Austin Richard Linklater found when he did Slacker, and the city is ready for a new generation of filmmakers with something to actually say. “I came to Austin 16 years ago,” Linklater told The New York Times in 2000. “My rent was $133 a month, all bills paid, and I could live on $3,500 a year. So I spent all my time watching movies, editing, shooting. Film students are like, 'How do you do it?' I don’t know. If you have to work all day just to pay your rent, I don’t know. If I was just starting out now? I might go to San Antonio.” Sixteen years have passed and SA is still not known as a city where great movies come from. There is only one way to change that. “[Linklater] set out to do an original film instead of following Hollywood formulas,” said Mendiola. “I think that’s the approach SA should have.” But everything starts with a good screenplay, and local Latino auteurs and writers should take advantage of next year’s CineFestival’s Latino Screenwriting Project, organized in conjunction with the Sundance Institute. C’mon, guys. Less talking about lights and lenses and cameras, and more attention to screenwriting. Don’t procrastinate and go to latinoscreenwritingproject.com now.

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SCREENS

LOCKED AND LOADED The tops look like locks at this year’s Oscars KIKO MARTÍNEZ

Ready to earn some bragging rights by winning your Oscars pool against your fellow cinephiles? Take note of the San Antonio Current’s predictions for the top eight categories. Then watch the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 28, at 7:30pm on ABC.

∙

BEST DIRECTOR A director hasn’t won back-toback Oscars in 65 years, but the way Alejandro González Iñárritu (The Revenant) is blowing through the competition in all the precursor awards, it’s bound to happen this year. If anyone is going to ruin his night it’ll be George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road), followed by Adam McKay (The Big Short), Tom McCarthy (Spotlight) and Lenny Abrahamson (Room). Who will win: Iñárritu Who should win: Iñárritu

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BEST ACTOR Whether you think his role as an early 19th century fur trader in The Revenant is one of the best performances of his career, the time has come for five-time Best Actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio. Sorry Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Bryan Cranston (Trumbo), Matt Damon (The Martian) and Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl). Practice those gracious smiles the losers always have to give when they announce the winner. Dicaprio is a lock. Who will win: DiCaprio Who should win: DiCaprio

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BEST ACTRESS Speaking of locks, there’s a better chance Jada Pinkett-Smith shows up on the red carpet than Brie Larson (Room) not taking home her first Oscar. Saoirse Ronan’s (Brooklyn) time will come soon enough

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and the nominations for Cate Blanchett (Carol), Jennifer Lawrence (Joy) and Charlotte Rampling (45 Years) are achievements enough. Who will win: Larson Who should win: Larson

BARRY WETCHER

BEST PICTURE With eight nominees vying for the top prize, three films have risen to the top in the homestretch: Spotlight, The Revenant and The Big Short. If any of the others — Mad Max: Fury Road, Room, The Martian, Bridge of Spies or Brooklyn — sneak in for the win, it would be an upset. But filmmaker Tom McCarthy’s drama on the Boston Globe’s investigation of the Catholic Church looks poised to take home at least two trophies Oscar night, including the most coveted. Who will win: Spotlight Who should win: Spotlight

∙

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR At this point, how could the Academy not give the Oscar to Sylvester Stallone (Creed) for the same role he earned an Oscar nom for nearly 40 years ago? Nostalgia and a solid performance are on his side. On the other side is a hungry Tom Hardy (The Revenant) who has the best chance at pulling the upset win, followed by a trio of great performances by Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies), Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight) and Christian Bale (The Big Short). Who will win: Stallone Who should win: Hardy

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS With The Danish Girl and Ex Machina, Alicia Vikander has had the biggest year of any of the Oscar-nominated actors. Will that translate into a win? Probably, but not if Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs), Rooney Mara (Carol), Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight) and Rachel McAdams (Spotlight) decide to throw a wrench in what seems to be turning into a fairly predictable Oscar evening. Who will win: Vikander Who should win: Vikander

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BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY The question isn’t whether Spotlight wins this category over Inside Out, Ex Machina, Bridge of Spies and Straight Outta Compton. It’s if the Academy deems this win as sufficient praise for the film and awards The Revenant or The Big Short with a Best Picture win. It’s possible it’ll go home with both, but weirder things have happened. Who will win: Spotlight Who should win: Spotlight

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BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY The Big Short is riding high and seems to be crash proof. It’s too bad for the other nominees — Room, The Martian, Brooklyn and Carol — who would probably have a better chance at gold if they had Selena Gomez explaining synthetic collateralized debt obligations to the audience. Who will win: The Big Short Who should win: Room For more Oscar predictions, visit sacurrent.com. sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 33

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Some of these tomatoes won’t sell. Why waste them?

San Antonio Food Bank fights hunger by preventing food waste

MATT STIEB

Imagine a French grocery store — cheese in all its forms, long breads, wine in abundant glory. As of February 4, an image of charity can be added to this shopping list of cultural signifiers. Spurred by Paris City Councilor Arash Derambarsh, French supermarkets now must donate food that would otherwise be thrown away. Any supermarket that is 4,305-square-feet or larger must now sign with charities to give away food approaching its best-before-date. With such a push forward in sustainability and giving, the new law offers an opportunity to reflect on our own donation policy in Texas. Immediately, this square-footage number betrays a major difference between French and American food systems. Where 4,000 feet might represent a wellstocked corner grocery in Paris, American supermarkets casually take up 50,000-square-feet or more. An alliance between the private sector, nonprofits and government has emerged to decrease food waste in these massive stores. Unlike in France — where some supermarkets reportedly poured bleach on discarded food to prevent food poisoning — the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (and Texas’ Good Faith Donor Act) guarantees that donors are not liable for harm. In the American fashion, tax incentives sweeten the deal. In 2015, Congress upped the incentive to 15 percent of taxable income for supermarkets donating food. In South Texas, the San Antonio Food Bank is the major player, connecting supermarkets to people who need meals. Operating in 16 counties in southwest Texas, the food bank feeds about 58,000 people every week. “From field to fork, any opportunity where there’s food that is edible for human consumption that is not going to be sold, we try to exercise strategy to get that food from those that have it to those that need it,” SAFB president Eric Cooper said.

From farmer and manufacturer surplus to consumer donations to “creative stuff around wild game,” the food bank finds the most efficient ways to connect the loose ends of the food supply chain. Working with major retailers like H-E-B, Walmart, Trader Joe’s and Target, the SAFB sells the benefits of donation and good PR to stores who would otherwise toss food left on the shelves. “For most retailers, we try to offer a value equation,” said Cooper. “We try to work with these retailers in a way that says ‘Hey, number one: You can decrease your disposal cost. We don’t want you throwing away food that would be edible for human consumption. You can decrease that cost while increasing your tax position and your tax write-off … You can improve your operational efficiencies. Maybe they’ve got stuff that they’re not going to sell that’s taking up space in their retail footprint and isn’t going to be sold to the customer.” Supermarkets offer a major food source for the SAFB and donation centers across the country — Cooper gave an “off-the-cuff” estimate that 25 percent of national food

bank supplies come from retailers. “We have roughly 40 vehicles, about 25 percent of those vehicles are leaving the food bank in the morning early — about 5:30, 6 — super empty and they’re picking up from retailers,” said Cooper. Implemented in America, a donation policy adopted from France would create game-changing opportunities in the donation sphere, as well as problems of infrastructure, nutrition and tone. It’s a different approach,” said Cooper. “Personally, me and the food bank, we’re probably a little bit more in the spirit of carrot versus stick. We’d rather give encouragement to do the right thing versus forcing it. But, ultimately, the behavior is what’s desired.” Securing the infrastructure to store and move this glut of food would be the major challenge for this hypothetical American donation law. Refrigerated trucks, drivers, increased storage and warehouse workers CONTINUED ON PAGE 37 ►

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would be needed to connect all this excess food to the hungry. “You could put an unseen financial burden on the nonprofit community when a law like that goes into place,” said Cooper. But, the benefit could exceed this infrastructure cost. According to Cooper, getting supermarket attention and participation has not been an issue. But maintaining interest in the gritty, unglamorous details has proven more difficult. “I think the challenge is sustaining the transaction,” said Cooper. “I think the food bank is always working hard to gain support from the community so we can provide that service to the donor to get that food to those in need.” Here, a donation law could be vital. Choosing the stick over the carrot would require all participants to maintain the supply chain or suffer the fines and bad press. “It’s getting the regulatory entities, the retailers and the charities all on the same page to impact the community, the economy and the environment in the best possible way,” said Cooper. “There are some additional logistics and possible labor expenses, but the benefit outweighs those expenses.” With a donation law on the books, American hunger and sustainability could be radically improved. In America, 49 million people — about 15.3 percent of the population — face hunger, not knowing where their next meal will come from. Requiring supermarkets to donate excess and unsold food could put a real dent in these numbers and the $76

billion the government spends on food assistance programs. Food waste also presents a roadblock to building a more sustainable nation. In 2010, a staggering 133 billion pounds of food went uneaten. Given that it takes 25 gallons of water to grow one pound of wheat, and 2,400 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, food waste represents a wealth of American resources thrown into the dumpster. Once in the landfill, decomposing food produces methane, a greenhouse gas 21-times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide. In America, landfill waste accounts for 34 percent of all methane emissions. Though the largest source of landfill waste is from consumer leftovers, adjusting individual action is far more difficult than regulating an industry with a single law. A donation policy — to reroute unsold food to the hungry or send it back to the field as fertilizer — would cut methane emissions without any new or expensive technology coming into play. In September 2015, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency announced the first national food waste goal, calling for a 50-percent reduction in waste by 2030. From fast-food-from-scraps to excess-saving software and current donation efforts, there are considerable efforts coming from the private sector to achieve this goal. But a supermarket law à la the French could ensure that we can ring this bell in 2030 — that this food waste reduction won’t be another sustainability goal swept aside in the pursuit of economic growth.

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There’s a lot of newness surrounding this year’s Culinaria Festival Week. Apologies in advance if you were a huge fan of the food truck event or Best of Mexico — those events are long gone. Though details are still being finalized for some of the events, the organization has released this year’s lineup. The fun starts May 19 with “Underground Kitchen,” which will take place across several venues in town and feature chefs, winemakers and mixologists in more casual and intimate settings. “Back to Bubbles” will return on May 20 at La Cantera Resort giving goers a chance to party while looking fabulous. Best of Mexico essentially transitions into “Tacos and Talk (and Tasting)” on Saturday, May 21. The event will feature the best of SA’s tacos, spirit tastings, cooking demos and fun seminars. The “Grand Tasting” has made the cut, but will be moving to La Cantera Resort on May 22 with dancing, music and plenty of bites during this signature Culinaria event. Sunday’s events include a still fuzzy “All About Brunch” event and the return of “Burgers, BBQ & Beer,” though a location has not been released as of press time. Visit culinariasa.org for more details. Siege Week, Alamo Beer’s celebration to its namesake is in full swing. From now through March 6, the brewery will host city-wide pint nights, multicourse dinners and happy hours with stops at Lüke San Antonio, The Cover, Tycoon Flats, Shuck Shack (where you can fill up on crawfish), The Block, Tucker’s Kozy Korner, Flying Saucer, The Brass Tap, Hills & Dales and more. The 13-day tour ends with a food truck throwdown on Saturday, March 5, from noon to 3 p.m. and a One-Year Anniversary Party with Two Tons of Steel on Sunday, March 6, from noon to 9 p.m. (the band hits the stage at 5 p.m.). Visit alamobeer.com for more details. The San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk (889 E. Market St.) will host Sierra Vieja Tequila for a four-course pairing event on Friday, February 26 at 7 p.m. Imported from Magdalena, Jalisco in Mexico, Sierra Vieja uses the purest 100 percent Weber blue agave plants to create a trio of tequilas that’ll be used for creating a blanco shooter with smoked brisket sope, spiked lavender lemonade with salmon cascabel, Chef James Klaus tequila ice cream and Sierra Vieja Old Fashioned with chocolate. Tickets, $40, are available at eventbrite.com; email Sara Montman at sara. montman@marriott.com. flavor@sacurrent.com

THANK YOU, nio San tiAngnto for us! for vo

Authentic Thai Cuisine

Open 7 Days a Week 226 W Bitters Rd #124 • (210) 545-3354 • saebthainoodlesa.com sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 39

NOW OPEN! THURSDAYS

SUNDAYS

10pm - 2am

Wells

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200 10141 Wurzbach, San Antonio, Texas 78230 • (210) 877-2100 wurzbachicehouse.com • Corner of Ironside and Wurzbach

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$3.00 Open 11 to Late Night Daily!

1420 N. Main Ave. · (210) 22- SPORT KnockoutSA.com 40 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

JOIN US!

KICKBALL | SAND VOLLEYBALL | FLAG FOOTBALL | SOCCER AND MORE!

Visit www.SanAntonioSSC.com for more info

NIGHTLIFE

JESSICA ELIZARRARAS

WINGS & THINGS The appeal of ridiculous

• Wings are kind of our thing.

drinks at Wing Daddy’s JESSICA ELIZARRARAS/@JESSELIZARRARAS

It’s never too early to think about the playoffs. If anything, considering how the Spurs have played this season, the collective San Anto populace should spend more time watching the Silver and Black on big screens. Though there wasn’t a game on at the time, the screens at Wing Daddy’s on Heimer Road were a mighty pull. This El Paso-based franchise is slowly making its way across the Southwest and Mexico (where they already have five locations) after they initiated a franchising branch in 2014, six years after launching the original concept. Let’s get familiar with these wing providers, shall we? THE BOOZE • Yes, there’s beer on tap and in bottles, and local names such as Freetail make an appearance on a few tap handles. But the real draw here are the outlandish drinks you can enjoy. The drink menu is legitimately overwhelming, if only because I’m a sucker for all things Curacao (no, really) served in large margarita chalices. All of the concoctions hover at around $10, so it depends on what your goals for the evening are if you’re hoping to imbibe more than two of these cocktails. I ordered the gummy bear piña colada topped with a toasted coconut rim, only to learn they were out of gummy bears (clearly, it’s a popular item). Though the peach vodka-fueled peach ring-a-rita looked amazing, and peach rings are a favorite, I landed on the Sharky Blue Hawaiian with Malibu, blue Curacao, pineapple juice and a trio of large gummy sharks. Those looking to really get things going can spring for the Fireball Piña Colada, which sounds like a party … or dip into dos-a-rita territory with the adult beer float that uses Not Your Father’s Root Beer, or an Apple Orchard-rita. Whatever floats your boat goes. The grapefruit margarita is also solid if that’s more your speed. Happy hours are identical at all Wing Daddy locations, so make note of that. From 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, patrons can enjoy $2 domestic pints, $2.50 23-ounce domestic pours, $3 specialty pints, $3.50 23-ounce specialty drinks and $3 16-ounce frozen margs. THE AMBIENCE • Think Buffalo Wild Wings without the huge capital and you’re halfway there. This particular location was plenty roomy, well lit and the sound was on point. Service was great — the all-female staff (this is essentially a sports bar at heart) was attentive and courteous.

SOUNDS • They all emanate from a dozen or so TVs that line the walls of Wing Daddy’s. Though some sort of mixed martial arts match was on, the sound of choice was a throwback playlist of R&B/hip-hop/pop videos … because who doesn’t miss watching “Big Pimpin’” and “Just Dance” while eating chicken wings. BITES • If MTV were to follow me around for a week or so (and they wouldn’t, I’m neither good-looking enough nor am I within their target demographic, but play along), the reality show I’d more than likely star in would be “True Life: I’m Addicted to Chicken Wings.” Yes, I’m being hyperbolic, but chicken wings are one of life’s ultimate pleasures. There’s something raw and primal about digging into a batch of fresh-fried wings and drummies. Wing Daddy’s are tasty and ginormous, though, I would love more leeway when it comes to choosing flavors (you can pick two for an order of 20). That said, I might have a new favorite lemon pepper around town. The menu also features a slew of other bar snacks. You'll find fried pickles, sleezeballs — tater tots on steroids — and more.

• Yes, there are sharks in your drinks at Wing Daddy’s.

PATIO • Smokers out there should make note that there is an outdoor seating option at Wing Daddy’s off Bitters and Heimer but you’ll be staring at the backside of a Target and 281 traffic. Not entirely picturesque, but who needs idyllic views when you have gummy-bear-filled drinks? Big drinks, bigger screens and 20 wing flavors to choose from — Wing Daddy’s Sauce House has found a new fan. flavor@sacurrent.com sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 41

CLUB SiRIUS

HAPPY HOUR Mon- Sun: noon-8pm

FEATURING DJ SLIC RIC & DJ NAAWZ • MIXING THE LATEST MUSIC AND VIDEOS ON 5 HD SCREENS

Drinksirius.com • Lesa@DrinkSirius.com

@clubsirius

/toosirius

a m y ina

Esta Semana

cant

Wed Feb 24th

Ruben V • 8-10PM

Friday Feb 26th

West Kings Highway • 7-9PM Lillie Lemon • 9-11PM

Saturday Feb 27th

Samm Bones • 6-8PM 23 • 9-11PM Beth Lee & the Breakups • 11:30-1:30AM

Sunday Feb 28th

El Westside Sound System and Friends • 2-6PM Ezekiel Morphis Music • 8-10PM

628 Jackson St | 210-320-1840 42 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

NIGHTLIFE

ALEXIS BARNHART

HAPPY HOUR HOUND

Booze It up at Stay Golden Social House

Happy Hour 12p-7p Every Day!

11807 West Avenue @ Blanco | 210.616.2144| FatRacksSportsBar.com

of their happy hour beers: Alamo, Lone Star or Pearl, all local, all quintessentially Texas. If a cocktail is more your style, you’re in luck. Stay Golden Social House’s happy hour menu includes various cocktails, including a classic daiquiri and an old fashioned. Because I can’t resist ginger beer and a copper mug, I went with a Moscow Mule. My drink was just boozy enough, with just the right amount of sweetness and not so much ginger flavor that you feel like you’re on an airplane. All in all, the perfect Mule. If none of the happy hour drinks tantalize your taste buds, you can always order off the regular menu. Stay Golden Social House has a sizeable local beer list, as well as any cocktail you could dream up. If you’re indecisive, don’t hesitate to ask. The personable bearded bartender was more than happy to chat and offer up suggestions based on my taste. With cocktails of this quality going for $10-$11 elsewhere, it’s easy to see why Stay Golden Social House is a great happy hour spot. You can get your fancy drink on for $5 a pop, or enjoy $3 happy hour beers if hops are more your style. On a beautiful sunny San Antonio day, I can’t imagine a better combination than an open-air bar filled with friendly staff and patrons with a crisp, cold and reasonably priced drink in my hand. Cheers to that!

Brisket

In this unseasonably warm February weather — even for San Antonio — I can’t help but want to spend every waking minute outside. While our northern neighbors are shoveling snow and shivering in their parkas, it feels like a sin to waste the sunny afternoons drinking indoors. Enter Stay Golden Social House (& Boozeteria). Tucked right next to the booming Pearl, the bar is compact and easy to miss if you’re just driving by. Don’t let its size fool you, though. SGSH’s open-air design and perfectly sized patio make Stay Golden Social House (401 Pearl Pkwy.) the perfect after-work happy hour spot. I walked in at about 5:45 p.m. on a Wednesday, and while there were seats available, the bar was buzzing. Groups of friends and coworkers gathered in clusters on the patio, while others chatted with the bartender at the long, rusticlooking bar. Stay Golden Social House has a hipster, garage-cool vibe, but not in an annoying or overdone way. Yes, their menus are written on chalkboards. Yes, you sit on metal barstools. And, yet, Stay Golden Social House does their decor in a way that seems cool and casual instead of redundant. Now onto the fun part: the booze. Happy hour is from Monday through Friday from 4 to 7 p.m., the perfect window. You can’t go wrong with any

Bloody

M ar y

ALEXIS BARNHART

106 PERSHING AVE (BEHIND THE SMOKE SHACK)

Feb 24 - Wine Tasting - 7-9 PM

Vive La France – We will be sampling some French selections. Come on down and taste some of what France has to offer. It is a mix of white and reds.

Feb 25 - Out in SA

We are having an Out In SA mixer/fundraiser. We are open to the public some feel free to join the fun.

214 Broadway NectarSa.com @NectarSAT NOW SERVING SUNDAY BRUNCH • 11 AM-3 PM Web: NectarSA.com

@Nectarsat

March 1 - Wine-O Bingo - 7-10 pm

Come have some fun playing Wine-O Bingo and win some fun prizes.

March 2 - Wine Pairing Dinner - 7-9 PM

Argentina, Join us as we travel to Argentina for a 4 course dinner with a 6 course wine pairing for $50. Call for reservations 375-4082

Nectar Wine Bar and Ale House

now u feb now thr thru feb.. 29 at sac sacurrent.com/bestofsa urrent.com/bestofsa

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NOMINATe Your BEST OF SAN ANTONIO® poll CANDIDA TES are now open top 5 in each category will be in the best of san antonio® poll running in march

sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 43

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12234 nacogdoches rd. at thousand oaks Open 7 Days A Week • Mon-Fri: 2P-2A • Sat-Sun 1P-2A 210.286.6208 | slackerssa.com

MUSIC

EARS TO HEAR The Blind Boys of Alabama spread the gospel of song

•

Witness the roots of American music with the Blind Boys of Alabama

J.D. SWERZENSKI

2410 N. ST MARY’S ST. / ADVANCE TIX - PAPERTIGERSA.COM

Friday, February 26th Ghostpizza Presents

DZA

8:00PM ALL AGES Sunday, February 28th Transmission Events & The Glitoris Presents

YACHT 8:00PM ALL AGES PLUS- DJ SET AFTERPARTY!

Friday, March 4th

NERVOSA The Blind Boys of Alabama first formed at the Alabama Institute for the Blind in 1944. For reference, other “legacy” groups, such as the Texas Tornados, ZZ Top and even the Rolling Stones, have been together continuously for 25, 45 and 50 years, respectively. At 72 years and counting, the Blind Boys have been around longer than hip-hop, soul, rock ’n’ roll and the host of other styles their gospel sound helped to inspire. Few can compare with their legacy, either: Touring the big-tent revivals of the ’50s, performing at benefits for Martin Luther King Jr. in the ’60s and, most recently, performing for President Obama at the White House. That 70-plus year run has come with plenty of change for the band. Only one of the original Blind Boys, Clarence Fountain, who started the group with four other 9-yearold classmates at the Talladega, Alabama school, continues to tour with the group today. What has remained solid is the group’s sound — unapologetic gospel — and their driving goal to “spiritually uplift audiences.” “We’ve always been the kind of group that doesn’t get away from what we are doing,” says Blind Boys’ singer and longtime manager Eric “Ricky” McKinnie. “We’re in a gospel group, we can draw all

men with our sound, people have by Curtis Mayfield, Prince and come from all walks of life, from all Stevie Wonder on 2002’s Higher working backgrounds.” Ground, taking on the classic McKinnie has been with the country songbook with 2011’s Take Blind Boys for 26 years, which the High Road and recruiting Bon still makes him the new guy as far Iver’s Justin Vernon to produce as the group is concerned. Those on 2013’s I’ll Find a Way. In spite years, however, have marked a of, or perhaps because of, these huge transition for the Blind Boys. stylistic departures, their devotion After spending the majority of their to the gospel style has deepened, career performing on the gospel often by accentuating the gospel circuit of mostly Black Baptist roots of whatever style they choose churches, the band began reaching to take on. out to new audiences through a As for future collaborations, number of fruitful collaborations: McKinnie notes that the door working with Booker T on 1992’s is always open. Even then, the Deep River, performing the role Blind Boys have a few dream of Oedipus on Broadway in “The collaborations in mind. Gospel at Colonus” and netting “If we could go on tour with their first Grammy win in 2001. If Stevie Wonder, we’d have a lot of the transition from sanctuary to fun with that,” he mused. “We’d stage seems like a big change, also love to do a country tour with the Blind Boys don’t seem to see someone like Willie Nelson. That, anything different in performing for or a real contemporary artist, like spiritual or secular audiences. Taylor Swift, who would take it to a “We don’t preach to the people, younger audience.” we sing to the people,” This Thursday’s show will McKinnie explains. “Music feature the Blind Boys and is universal. We try to give Down By The the gospel sound that has Riverside: Blind them a music to relate to. carried them for so long. Boys of Alabama When we sing, the lyrics “You can expect to and The Dirty are right, everything just hear the best in music, Dozen Brass Band comes together.” some songs you do know, $45-$55 Lately, the Blind Boys some you may learn to 8pm Thur, Feb. 25 have made it a mission to sing,” says McKinnie. “Tell Charline McCombs Empire Theatre relate their gospel sound everyone down in Texas 224 E. Houston St. with a range of different that the Blind Boys are (210) 226-5700 styles, covering songs coming to town.” majesticempire.com

8:00PM ALL AGES Saturday, March 5th Paper Tiger & Southown Vinyl Presents

‘SOUTHTOWN VINYL GRAND OPENING AFTER PARTY!’

YOSHIMOTO WHATEVER? DJ SERGE & DESTROY 8:00PM ALL AGES

Monday, March 7th Transmisson Events Presents

MOON HONEY W/ LEVEES, BRIGHT LIKE SUN 7:00PM ALL AGES Tuesday, March 8th Mondo Nation & K23 Presents

FRED & TOODY (OF DEAD MOON) 8:00PM ALL AGES Thursday, March 10th Transmisson Events Presents

ELECTRIC SIX W/ PARLOUR TRICKS 7:00PM ALL AGES Thursday, March 10th Mondo Nation Presents

THE BODY W/ CRAWL, BURNT SKULL 8:00PM ALL AGES Sunday, March 13th Transmisson Events Presents

THE ROCKET SUMMER W/ FARRO 7:00PM ALL AGES

2410 N. ST MARY’S ST. / ADVANCE TIX - PAPERTIGERSA.COM sacurrent.com • February 10—February 16, 2016 • CURRENT 45

46 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

MUSIC

DON’T EVER FUCKING QUESTION THAT

SIDDIQ SAYERS

•

Atmosphere, just two real dudes

Real talk with Slug of Atmosphere

JAMES COURTNEY

Minneapolis hip-hop act Atmosphere, at Paper Tiger this weekend, has enjoyed an atypical career in a temperamental genre with a constantly shifting base. Comprised of rapper Slug (Sean Daley) and DJ/producer Ant (Anthony Davis), Atmosphere has churned out seven LPs and nine EPs since its 1997 debut Overcast. A longtime favorite of the hip-hop underground, the duo has made a name for itself primarily on the strength of Daley’s unique gift for writing and delivering raps that are brutally (sometimes humorously) self-aware, insightful in their observations and uncommonly sophisticated in their handling of literary elements like metaphor, symbolism and characterization. Daley’s work, at least for the most part, is also notable for going against the mainstream rap grain in three particular ways. First of all, his raps are often intensely personal, honest, diary-like meditations on his own actual life. Secondly, his presentation of women and violence in his music has largely avoided the pitfalls of objectification and glorification, respectively. Thirdly, he’s got a decidedly blue collar slant and avoids superficial materialism in his work, seeming to see himself more as an artist and public servant than as a star emcee. A few weeks ago, Daley — a busy dude, who also founded and runs the influential Rhymesayers Entertainment — was kind enough to indulge some of my questions about his career and his approach. Below are some highlights of that chat. On his blue collar mentality vs. the lavish trappings of mainstream rap: People want to criticize the excesses or bragging in rap, but you’ve got to remember that these are havenots who are looking for a way to feel like haves. When you think about that, it’s really amazing that anybody claims a blue collar mentality in hip-hop, because that’s kind of like aligning yourself with what your parents were, and that’s not very hip-hop. Me, personally, I never thought I would be a rapper for a living. So, my roots are still from a point of view of work ethic. Just like my parents, I’m a backbreaker. I’m going to break

my back doing this, but that’s just me and where I’m coming from. I don’t know how to shit on anyone else. Look, I come from the underground scene, so I know I’m supposed to look down on rappers with mainstream success and mainstream style. But, I have more perspective than that. If hip-hop is like a tree, all of the branches are important. If you start cutting off branches, especially some of the ones that are the most alive and thriving, then you’re going to kill the tree. It is important that this whole tree stay intact. People have to be able to admire the whole thing for what it is. On his treatment of women in his rhymes: To be fair, I don’t think you can say that I don’t objectify women in my music. Maybe they’re just objectified in different ways or more creative ways. We are constantly objectifying people of both sexes because we want to make them

into something that is easy to hate or love or whatever. Or, it’s a defense mechanism. I have been guilty of not always being able to find ways to describe people, including women, that doesn’t involve putting them in some sort of a box. I definitely want to reach a place where I am able to tell a story and feel like I have really freed the characters from stereotypes. But, it’s an ongoing process and I don’t feel like I have reached my best yet. I mean, come on, I made an album called Lucy Ford, where I literally represented a woman as the devil, but it’s not seen that way because my rap so often gets viewed through the lens of literature.

Atmosphere feat. Brother Ali Sold Out 8pm Sat, Feb. 27 Paper Tiger 2410 N. St. Mary’s St. papertigersa.com

On the role of hip-hop: If this shit makes you dance, then it’s doing its job. If this shit makes you think, then it’s doing its job. If this shit makes you want to go back to work after lunch and stab your boss, then it’s doing its job. sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 47

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48 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

MUSIC

BECKY FLUKE

IN THROUGH THE BACK DOOR Chris Stapleton’s rise to fame is no Cinderella story TRAVIS BUFFKIN | @DTBUFFKIN

•

Stapleton saves his best for solo effort Traveller

In the world of star making there are numerous coalescing fantasies. One, the illusion of the unknown talent, the penniless artisan, toiling away at their craft year after fruitless year, finally being discovered playing in a dive for beer money. Or that of a tween diamond, lost in the rough of Internet obscurity — the Bieber ether — posting a video of themselves singing their favorite boy band tune, possessing a modicum of talent and a fair share of pubescent naiveté. One tale that is rarely told is that of the industry insider that finds their way in through the back door, working hard from the mailroom of obscurity to the corner office of notoriety. It’s a common story, particularly in the country music world, where legends like Willie Nelson, Roger Miller and Kris Kristofferson all spent years writing for other established artists. It, unfortunately, lacks all of the classist appeal of the rags to riches fable that we are assured comes with every presentation of a new star. Enter Chris Stapleton, who has not been plugging away at becoming the Next Big Thing for decades. He didn’t perform a pitch-perfect rendition of “Drunk in Love” on American Idol or post bedroom videos of himself doing his best Aguilera frills and falls to a One Direction ditty. Stapleton is a highly respected Nashville songwriter with six number one singles under his belt. Chances are you’ve even unwittingly heard a Stapleton song. He co-wrote “If It Hadn’t Been for Love” on Adele’s 21 (Limited UK edition). He penned “Drink a Beer,” made popular by Luke Bryan, the video for which Stapleton sits just back and to the left of Bryan, cloaked in the shadows and coming in with the higher harmony, his rich smoker’s croon embarrassing

the nasal nicety of Bryan’s aw shucks delivery. He also Charlie Rich, Bobby Bare, Merle Haggard and Willie authored Thomas Rhett’s “Crash and Burn,” a tune that Nelson but are put to great use by Stapleton and his rafterfudges the ever-dissolving line between cracker R&B and rattling range, helping to etch out his own style. country and utilizes the “Uh!” and “Ah!” of Sam Cooke’s Traveller, producer Dave Cobb’s throwback techniques “Chain Gang,” a tie that binds it back to Stapleton’s joining and the shifting duality of Nashville – their growing of sultry southern soul and hardcore honky tonk on his willingness to place traditionalists like Sturgill Simpson, newly Grammy-ed album Traveller. Kacey Musgraves and Stapleton alongside the carbonated Ironically, the appeal of Traveller, Stapleton’s first rosters that rake in the Walmart money – are attempts solo effort, lay in it not being a hearty regurgitation of to return to a more sincere sound of heartbreak, songs the classic country requisites of pedal steel, acoustic that are companions to drinking and loneliness, active guitar and tears-in-my-beer pageantry. It draws from all of activators of that high, lonesome feel. Rather than fun little these sonic staples of the genre, utilizing a live backing packages of beat and banality that will be overplayed, band and a handful of songs name-checking the amberexploited and discarded after they’ve reached market enablers of beverages, but it also ties in Seger-esque saturation and become inevitably unlistenable, these storytelling (that’s Bob, not Pete) and his driving Detroit labored tunes are compiled from 15 years of Stapleton style (“Parachute”), saying nothing of the similarity of their archives. voices. Hank Jr.’s rock ‘n’ roll-your-own attitude is present Nashville’s championing of these latter-day revivalists is in several of the tunes as well, particularly, the “Country surely motivated by profit; fearing the embarrassment of Boy Can Survive”-sounding “Nobody to Blame,” as well losing another Willie or Waylon to their desire for making as in the grain of Stapleton’s voice, which, I can’t believe records their way, becoming legends in the process, or I’m gonna write this, sounds like the best qualities of Kid encouraging another Bakersfield; a satellite industry that Rock’s country offerings, another native Detroiter. bucks Nashville trends and in so doing pits the country Traveller throws in several rolling soul numbers, music enclave against somewhere less industrial including a reworking of George Jones’ classic and more sincere. However, if it just so happens PRCA Rodeo “Tennessee Whiskey,” the title track, album closer that the Music Machine’s interests align with Presents Chris “Sometimes I Cry” and my favorite “Fire Away,” those of folks that actually like country music Stapleton the chorus of which has nearly identical lyrics made before Miley Cyrus, we have nothing to Sold Out 7:30pm Sat, Feb. 27 to Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” gain but sincere storytelling and contributions to AT&T Center These entries all chart new territory into white the canon from fine, pedigreed artists, the ranks 1 AT&T Center Pkwy. knuckle country-soul balladry, a style that has been (210) 444-5000 of which Stapleton can count himself a member. prevalent in past country artists like Mickey Gilley, dtbuffkin@sacurrent.com attcenter.com sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 49

76 TAPS

FRIENDLY EATS TILL

MIDNIGHT

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7 DAYS A WEEK

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943 South Alamo • 210.224.BEER (2337)

FRIENDLY FAT TUESDAY! FEBRUARY 9TH, 3PM NOLA style Jazz from Los Blues Notes, Abita Brewing Company, Friendly Beads, Friends & King Cakes from Sweet Chela’s. M O N - F R I 3 P - 1 2 A • S A T - S U N 1 1A - 1 2 A

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50 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

AT&T CENTER| FRIDAY, MARCH 18 TICKETS ON SALE NOW! WWW.TICKETMASTER.COM

MUSIC

THU

Julieta Venegas

The Cali-born queen of Latin alt-pop, Julieta Venegas, was 10 years old when she first began learning piano. From that initial step she has, over the years, blossomed into one of the most refreshing and talented musical forces in the world. Gifted on the accordion, on the guitar, as a songwriter, as a producer and as a singer, Venegas probably deserves even more love than her Grammy (Best Latin Pop Album, 2007, for Limón y Sal) and five Latin Grammys would indicate. Her seven albums, which all incorporate elements of traditional Mexican music within an alt-pop (or adult contemporary, if you prefer) framework, showcase a restless creativity that belies both her charm and massive success. Venegas, now 45, also has a reputation for putting on spellbinding shows all across the world. If you’re looking for a good place to start with this singular talent, I recommend her absolutely perfect sophomore album Bueninvento, an accordion-heavy, rock-leaning album of emotive fury and self-affirmation, as the most immediately enchanting entry point. $25-$50, 7pm, Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com –James Courtney

Wednesday, February 24

Freestyle Forever Remember when KTFM and the roller rink had all the best new jams, from C&C Music Factory to Stevie B? Here's your chance to get back into form, without having to re-learn to backwards skate. 210 Kapone's, 5pm

PRCA Rodeo Presents Brantley Gilbert On "Bottoms Up," Gilbert adds another insufferable hick-hop anthem to the growing list of tunes that can't decide if they wanna be Poison, Nelly or Alan Jackson songs. AT&T Center, 7pm

XV Relive all those youthful fiesta feels

with two DJs spinning quince classics. Hi-Tones, 10pm

Thursday, February 25

Two Tons of Steel Pros for over two

decades, Two Tons are actually the group I saw on Y2K. We survived. Dennis was the shit, but this new lineup is a real group of killers. With the Eskimo Brothers. 502 Bar, 9pm

PRCA Rodeo Presents Gary Allan

Another soundtracker for the Texas chapter of Sons of Anarchy-like motocountry. AT&T Center, 7pm

Friday, February 26

Adult Books Without a care in the world, save for cute girls and tight hangs with fwendz, Adult Books craft catchy bubblegum punk. With The Rich Hands and Shmu. Limelight, 9pm

Alien Knife Fight A two-stringed-bass-

playing, French-quoting Moog trio. Done. Awesome. Best show all week. This is where the kids should be. Unfortunately,

they'll be at the Cody Troy & the Beerbongers or VViTchezzz and MRDRDTH concerts. With Bellringer. The Mix, 9pm

Asleep at the Wheel The honorary Texans prove that Bob Wills and Texas swing still reign supreme. John T. Floore's, 7pm

Carolyn Wonderland, Marcia Ball and Shelley King Three Americana masters show the boys how it's done. Sam's Burger Joint, 8pm

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Darkest Hour 20th Anniversary with At All Cost These melodic groove

metal acts bridge the considerable gap between Slayer, T-Pain and New Found Glory. With Venomous Maximus, Of Ruins and Realm of Disgust. The Korova, 6pm

Darkness Divided Album Listening Party Hometown Christian metalcore

act Darkness Divided are the sonic equivalent of the crucifixion scene in Passion of the Christ, but if everyone paused the brutality for the breakdown. With Shattered Sun, Buried Under Texas, Outbreak Zero and more. Ten Eleven, 6pm

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Drowning Pool Let the bodies hit the

other bodies in the agro-bro pit. With Audiotopsy, Violent New Breed and Fortunes. Fitzgerald's, 7pm

Jessie James Decker Singularly, I'm not

against any of these things: a pretty woman, country music, songs about Clint Eastwood, drum machines. But together ... Bed Bath & Beyond country-pop. That's what this is. Damn you, Shania! With Temecula Road. Aztec Theatre, 7pm

Levees and Flower Jesus Quintet

Witness the poppy emo blues of Levees and foggy-garage rock of FJQ. With The

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MUSIC

Red Legs and Lowin. Hi-Tones, 9pm

Smoke DZA With Wrestlemania-themed

releases and eternal weed jams, DZA's gonna have folks at The Mix stoned and Stone Cold stunnin' from across the street. With P2TheGoldMa$k, Blues, Massie, Gawf, A.J Bray, Skip Thabos and Mookie Jones. Paper Tiger, 7pm

Uncle Lucius The band Tom & Huck buy

their weed off of down by the river barge. Gruene Hall, 7pm

Saturday, February 27

Ace Frehley The guitar Spaceman shows why his years in KISS are the only ones that matter. Fitzgerald's, 7pm

Acrylics and Ghost Police The beauty

of modern punk rock is that the rigid lyrical form has been freed up to discuss everything from LGBTQIAP rights and police brutality to pizza, jogging and selfies. Unveiling the politics of our everyday lives in the process. Heavy shit, man. With Sudden Attack and Blood Skid. Nite Lite, 8pm

Chelsea Grin What a sweet-sounding

name. Too bad it's a moniker for the knife technique of slicing your face into a permanent smile. With Oceans Ate Alaska, Lorna Shore, Wage War and Origin of an Enemy. The Korova, 6:30pm

Los Tigres Del Norte The norteño legends headline this show full of personas importantes. With La Señora Dinamita, Señora Santanera and La Orgullosa. San Antonio Event Center, 8pm

Mockingbird Express None can really

hold a candle to Jimi, but Mockingbird Express springboard off his revisionist blues psychedelia into a trippy pool of their own making. With Brick Top Blues Band. Faust, 10pm

The Molly Ringwalds If you're hungry like the wolf for '80s tunes, The Molly Ringwalds have got you, and all the classics, covered. Aztec Theatre, 8pm

Sunday, February 28

Family Concert Yosa Phil SXS Open the

door to a “That could be me someday!” musical experience for the kids: bring them to see the inspiring talent of the YOSA Philharmonic students as they perform side-by-side with the San Antonio Symphony! Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 3pm

FEB 26 - ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL

Harvey McLaughlin & the BottomFeeders Tape Release The

adroit pop rock 'n' roll group release their Goddamn Ghost Train tape. With Los Galacticos, Muscle Car and more. South Texas Popular Culture Center, 2pm

The Koffin Kats The speed and angst

of punk and the loungey coolness of rockabilly meet in this SoCal outfit's psychobilly sound. With Henchmen, Gamblers Mark and No Way Jose. The Korova, 7:30pm

FEB 27 - WHISKEY MYERS

Shanghai Quartet with Wu Man The

standard Western-style string quartet will be joined by a Chinese pipa, forging a whole new musical experience. Far fucking out, dude. Temple Beth-El, 3:15pm

Monday, February 29

FEB 28 - 4TH ANNUAL BEN DORCY DAY

Neck Deep Get neck deep in emo kids with these torch bearers of the not-so-tweenanymore genre. With State Champs, Knuckle Puck and Like Pacific. Alamo City Music Hall, 5:30pm

UV TV To be 23 again: drink piss beer, have

a stupid haircut and only listen to bands that worship The Wipers (sigh). With Talk Sick Brats, Creepstare and The Oblio's. Hi-Tones, 8pm

MAR 25 & 26 - RANDY ROGERS BAND

Sluetown Strutters This band has a jug, a

washboard and all the instruments you'd need to assemble a moonshine still on the spot. Faust, 9pm

Tuesday, March 1

Decades Revel in the darkness with post-

punk, new wave, electro and indie from the '80s, '90s and '00s. Web House, 9pm

APR 2 - CODY JOHNSON PLUS KYLE PARK & MIKE RYAN 210 Kapone's 1223 E. Houston St., (210) 279-9430, 210kapones.com 502 Bar 502 Embassy Oaks Drive, (210) 2578125, 502bar.com Alamo City Music Hall 1305 E. Houston St., alamocitymusichall.com AT&T Center 1 AT&T Center Pkwy., (210) 444-5140, attcenter.com Aztec Theatre 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355 theaztectheatre.com Faust Tavern 517 E. Woodlawn Ave., (210) 257-0628, facebook.com/thefausttavern Fitzgerald’s 437 McCarty Road #101, (210) 629-5141 facebook.com/fitzgeraldsbarsa Gruene Hall 1281 Gruene Road, (830) 606-1281, gruenehall.com Hi-Tones 621 E. Dewey Pl., (210) 573-6220, hitonessa.com John T. Floore’s Country Store 14492 Old Bandera Road, (210) 695-8827, liveatfloores.com Limelight 2718 N. St. Mary’s St., thelimelightsa.com Nite Lite 714 Fredericksburg Road, nitelitesa.com Paper Tiger 2410 N. St Mary’s St., papertigersa.com Sam’s Burger Joint 330 E. Grayson St., (210) 223-2830, samsburgerjoint.com San Antonio Event Center 8111 Meadow Leaf Drive, (210) 528-0434, saeventcenter.com South Texas Popular Culture Center 1017 E. Mulberry Ave., (210) 792-1312, stpcc.org Temple Beth-El 211 Belknap Pl., (210) 733-9135, beth-elsa.org The Korova 107 E. Martin St., (210) 226-5070, thekorova. com The Mix 2423 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 725-1313 The Ten Eleven 1011 Avenue B, (210) 320-9080, theteneleven. com Tobin Center for the Performing Arts 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org Web House 320 Blanco Road, (210) 531-0100, webhousecafe.com

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ACCEPTING DESIRE SAVAGE LOVE by Dan Savage

I’m a 36-year-old hetero male, into BDSM and polyamory. I’ve been drinking deep from the bowels of the internet lately, getting laid more than I ever thought was possible. I’m open about the fact that I fuck around a lot and that monogamy would never work for me. I use condoms with everyone except my primary partner, and I abide by your campsite rule. I don’t want to be anyone’s wonderful husband; I want to be the Casanova who climbs in through the window. Last week, the internet was good at delivering. Usually I can talk to 10 women who all seem interested, but in the end, only one or two want to actually meet. But last week, I had sex five times in five days with five different women. And that just made me feel awesome, turned on, and wonderful. Is there a term for someone who gets turned on by finding new people to have sex with? Have I discovered a new kink? Is there a name for people like me? If there is, I couldn’t find it. Google failed me. Can a person have a kink for finding new sex partners? What would it be called? Or am I just a slutty man-whore? Dude Drinking Deep I don’t think “drinking deep from the bowels of [blank]” is a good way to describe something you enjoy, DDD.

Watching a GOP debate? Perhaps best described as drinking deep from the bowels of the terrifying American id. Enjoying consensual sex with people you’re into? Better described as “drinking deep from Aphrodite’s honeyed mouth” or “licking Adonis’s jizz off Antinous’s tits” or simply “killing it”—really, anything would be an improvement. As for what your kink is called… “What DDD describes is consistent with a motivational style once called Don Juan syndrome,” said Dr. David Ley, author and clinical psychologist. “It has also been called Casanova or James Bond syndrome. Essentially, these are folks most excited by the quest/hunt for novelty in sex partners. This was once viewed as deeply dysfunctional from a heteronormative, monogamy-idealizing therapeutic culture. What I appreciate about DDD is that, even though he uses sex-addiction language, it’s clear he has accepted himself and his desire. I’d say he has adapted fairly well, and responsibly, to that tendency in himself.” I just posted a new word on the Physician Moms Facebook group and was told that I should send it to you. I got tired of hearing “She’s got balls,” so I made up a new word, clitzpah (klit-spe) noun: a woman with guts! Origin of clitzpah: clitoris (kli-teres) noun: an organ of the female genitalia, the purpose of which is purely to bring women pleasure, and chutzpah (hu̇t-spe) noun: a Yiddish term for courage bordering on arrogance. I hope this is useful! Jill Becker, clitzpah.com It’s a lovely word, Jill — and I’m happy to help you roll it out! On the Lovecast, Dan and a doc from Planned Parenthood answer your medical questions: savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter

NOTICE OF APPLICATION AND PRELIMINARY DECISION FOR AN AIR QUALITY PERMIT PROPOSED PERMIT NUMBER: 135584 APPLICATION AND PRELIMINARY DECISION. Unifirst Corporation, 68 Jonspin Rd, Wilmington, MA 01887-1090, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for issuance of Proposed Air Quality Permit Number 135584, which would authorize laundering of shop towels at the existing commercial laundry facility located at 3047 East Commerce Street, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas 78220. This application was submitted to the TCEQ on September 8, 2015. The proposed facility will emit the following contaminants: organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants. The executive director has completed the technical review of the application and prepared a draft permit which, if approved, would establish the conditions under which the facility must operate. The executive director has made a preliminary decision to issue the permit because it meets all rules and regulations. The permit application, executive director’s preliminary decision, and draft permit will be available for viewing and copying at the TCEQ central office, the TCEQ San Antonio regional office, and at the San Antonio Central Library, 6oo Soledad Street, 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 at the TCEQ San Antonio Regional Office, 14250 Judson Rd, San Antonio, Texas. CHANGE IN LAW The Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill709, effective September 1, 2015, amending requirements for comments and contested case hearings. This application is subject to those changes in law. PUBLIC COMMENT/PUBLIC MEETING. You may submit public comments or request a public meeting about this application. The purpose of a public meeting is to provide the opportunity to submit comment or to ask questions about the application. The TCEQ will hold a public meeting if the executive director determines that there is a significant degree of public interest in the application or if requested by a local legislator. A public meeting is not a contested case hearing. You may submit additional written public comments · within 30 days of the date of newspaper publication of this notice in the manner set forth in the AGENCY CONTACTS AND INFORMATION paragraph below. RESPONSE TO COMMENTS AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ACTION. After the deadline for public comments, the executive director will consider the comments and prepare a response to all relevant and material or significant public comments. Because no timely hearing requests have been received, after preparing the response to comments, the executive director may then issue final approval of the application. The response to comments, along with the executive director’s decision on the application will be mailed to everyone who submitted .public comments or is on a mailing list for this application, and will be posted electronically to the Commissioners’ Integrated Database (CID). INFORMATION AVAilABLE ONLINE. When they become available, the executive director’s response to comments and the final decision on this application will be accessible through the Commission’s Web site at wvvw.tceq.texas.govjgotojcid. Once you have access to the CID using the above link, enter the permit number for this application which is provided at the top of this notice. 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 . .htp://www .tceq.texas.gov /assets/public/hb61 o /index.html ?lat= 29.420281&lng=98.44088g&zoom=13&!;ype=r MAILING LIST. You may ask to be placed on a mailing list to obtain additional information on this application by sending a request to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below. AGENCY CONTACTS AND INFORMATION. Public comments and requests must be submitted either electronically at www.tceq.texas.govjaboutjcomments.html, or in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087 . Ifyou commun icate with the TCEQ electronically, please be aware that your email address, like your physical mailing 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 1-800687-4040. Si desea informacion en Espaiiol, puede llamar al1-8oo-687-4040. Further information may also be obtained from Unifirst Corporation at the address stated above or by calling Mr. Timothy M Cosgrave, Senior Manager EHS at (978) 658-8888. Notice Issuance Date: January 4, 2016

sacurrent.com • February 24—March 1, 2016 • CURRENT 57

Healthy Adults

Your good health could be the start of something beautiful.

ICON Early Phase Services is looking for healthy men and women to participate in a clinical research study. Sign up and you could play a role in advancing medical research.

Ask about study CO105:

adults between the ages of 18 and 45 • Healthy between 18 and 30 • BMI between 110 and 220 lbs. • Weigh • Compensation up to $9,250 for time and travel ICON Early Phase Services 58 CURRENT • February 24—March 1, 2016 • sacurrent.com

8307 Gault Lane • San Antonio, TX 78209

ETC.

JONESIN’ CROSSWORD by Matt Jones

Answer on page 23

“The Movie Room”—is there room for more? ACROSS

1 Charlie Brown’s oath 5 Acquisition by marriage 10 Library vols. 13 Songstress Shore 14 “The West Wing” actress ___ Kelly 15 Exercise unit 16 She starred in 2002’s “Panic Room” 18 Shiba ___ (Japanese dog breed) 19 It keeps pages from flying everywhere 20 Certain orthodontic device 22 Hardwood trees 24 Keep from escaping 25 Republican presidential candidate Marco 28 “Rock-hard” muscles 31 “Boyz N the Hood” actress Long 32 Devoured 33 Awake into the wee hours 36 Big game show prize, maybe 39 Circulation improver 40 He played the central unifying character in 1995’s “Four Rooms” 42 Reduction site 43 Pad prik king cuisine 45 Country with a red, white and blue flag 46 “Alley-___!” 47 Agcy. concerned with fraud

49 Bill ___, the Science Guy 50 Po, in a 2016 sequel, e.g. 52 How walkers travel 55 1850s litigant Scott 57 Rainy-day boots 60 “Keep Portland Weird” state 64 Chemistry suffix 65 He wrote, directed, and starred in the 2003 cult film “The Room” 67 Short cleaner? 68 Jouster’s outfit 69 Ferrell’s cheerleading partner on “SNL” 70 Antlered animal 71 Bumps in the road 72 Loch of legend

DOWN

1 Major uproar 2 Time-half link 3 Asian capital nicknamed the City of Azaleas 4 Fork over 5 “According to me,” in shorthand 6 Small bite 7 Less caloric, in ads 8 Neighborhoods 9 Prison chief 10 Best Actress nominee for 2015’s “Room” 11 Alaska’s ___ Fjords National Park

12 Blow off 13 Club crowd-workers 17 Masc. alternative 21 Canter or trot 23 Fish served on a cedar plank 25 “Huckleberry Finn” transport 26 Johnny ___ (“Point Break” character) 27 He played a part in 2000’s “Boiler Room” 29 Maurice and Robin’s brother 30 In storage 34 Wrestler’s objective 35 H, as in Greek 37 Apple MP3 player 38 P, in the NATO phonetic alphabet 41 “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” publisher 44 “___ know what it’s like ...” 48 Olympics broadcaster Bob 51 “___ Fideles” 52 Architectural rib 53 Tennis champ Rafael 54 Primrose protector 56 Use 62-Down 58 Austen title matchmaker 59 Skyline haze 61 Right turns, horsewise 62 Sculling needs 63 “Rapa-___” (1994 Easter Island film) 66 2222 and 2468, e.g., briefly

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY by Rob Brezsny ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): Just one species has a big enough throat to swallow a person whole: the sperm whale. If you happen to be sailing the high seas any time soon, I hope you will studiously avoid getting thrown overboard in the vicinity of one of these beasts. The odds are higher than usual that you’d end up in its belly, much like the Biblical character Jonah. (Although, like him, I bet you’d ultimately escape.) Furthermore, Aries, I hope you will be cautious not to get swallowed up by anything else. It’s true that the coming weeks will be a good time to go on a retreat, to flee from the grind and take a break from the usual frenzy. But the best way to do that is to consciously choose the right circumstances rather than leave it to chance.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): You have cosmic clearance to fantasize about participating in orgies where you’re loose and free and exuberant. It’s probably not a good idea to attend a literal orgy, however. For the foreseeable future, all the cleansing revelry and cathartic rapture you need can be obtained through the wild stories and outrageous scenes that unfold in your imagination. Giving yourself the gift of pretend immersions in fertile chaos could recharge your spiritual batteries in just the right ways.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): “Hell is the suffering of being unable to love,” wrote novelist J. D. Salinger. If that’s true, I’m pleased to announce that you can now ensure you’ll be free of hell for a very long time. The cosmic omens suggest that you have enormous power to expand your capacity for love. So get busy! Make it your intention to dissolve any unconscious blocks you might have about sharing your gifts and bestowing your blessings. Get rid of attitudes and behaviors that limit your generosity and compassion. Now is an excellent time to launch your “Perpetual Freedom from Hell” campaign!

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): “A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking,” said journalist Earl Wilson. Do you fit that description, Cancerian? Probably. I suspect it’s high time to find a polite way to flee your responsibilities, avoid your duties, and hide from your burdens. For the foreseeable future, you have a mandate to ignore what fills you with boredom. You have the right to avoid any involvement that makes life too damn complicated. And you have a holy obligation to rethink your relationship with any influence that weighs you down with menial obligations.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): “Your illusions are a part of you like your bones and flesh and memory,” writes William Faulkner in his novel Absalom, Absalom! If that’s true,

Leo, you now have a chance to be a miracle worker. In the coming weeks, you can summon the uncanny power to rip at least two of your illusions out by the roots — without causing any permanent damage! You may temporarily feel a stinging sensation, but that will be a sign that healing is underway. Congratulations in advance for getting rid of the dead weight.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): “We are defined by the lines we choose to cross or to be confined by,” says Virgo writer A. S. Byatt. That’s a key meditation for you as you enter a phase in which boundaries will be a major theme. During the next eight weeks, you will be continuously challenged to decide which people and things and ideas you want to be part of your world, and which you don’t. In some cases you’ll be wise to put up barriers and limit connection. In other cases, you’ll thrive by erasing borders and transcending divisions. The hard part — and the fun part — will be knowing which is which. Trust your gut.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): When life gives you lemon juice from concentrate, citric acid, high-fructose corn syrup, modified cornstarch, potassium citrate, yellow food dye, and gum acacia, what should you do? Make lemonade, of course! You might wish that all the raw ingredients life sends your way would be pure and authentic, but sometimes the mix includes artificial stuff. No worries, Libra! I am confident that you have the imaginative chutzpah and resilient willpower necessary to turn the mishmash into passable nourishment. Or here’s another alternative: You could procrastinate for two weeks, when more of the available resources will be natural.

see with an intensified focus, because then you will remember it better, and that will come in handy quite soon. 4. Make up new memories that you wish had happened. Have fun creating scenes from an imagined past.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): Most of us know about Albert Einstein’s greatest idea: the general theory of relativity. It was one of the reasons he won a Nobel Prize in Physics. But what was his secondbest discovery? Here’s what he said it was: adding an egg to the pot while he cooked his soup. That way, he could produce a soft-boiled egg without having to dirty a second pot. What are the first- and second-most fabulous ideas you’ve ever come up with, Capricorn? I suspect you are on the verge of producing new candidates to compete with them. If it’s OK with you, I will, at least temporarily, refer to you as a genius.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): You may be familiar with the iconic children’s book Where the Wild Things Are. It’s about a boy named Max who takes a dream-like journey from his bedroom to an exotic island, where he becomes king of the weird beasts who live

there. Author Maurice Sendak’s original title for the tale was “Where the Wild Horses Are.” But when his editor realized how inept Sendak was at drawing horses, she instructed him to come up with a title to match the kinds of creatures he could draw skillfully. That was a good idea. The book has sold over 19 million copies. I think you may need to deal with a comparable issue, Aquarius. It’s wise to acknowledge one of your limitations, and then capitalize on the adjustments you’ve got to make.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): “People don’t want their lives fixed,” proclaims Chuck Palahniuk in his novel Survivor. “Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas. Their distractions. Their stories resolved. Their messes cleaned up. Because what would they have left? Just the big scary unknown.” Your challenge in the coming weeks, Pisces, is to prove Palahniuk wrong, at least in regards to you. From what I can tell, you will have unprecedented opportunities to solve dilemmas and clean up messy situations. And if you take even partial advantage of this gift, you will not be plunged into the big scary unknown, but rather into a new phase of shaping your identity with crispness and clarity.

THIS MODERN WORLD by Tom Tomorrow

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): Your Mythic Metaphor for the coming weeks is dew. Many cultures have regarded it as a symbol of life-giving grace. In Kabbalah, divine dew seeps from the Tree of Life. In Chinese folklore, the lunar dew purifies vision and nurtures longevity. In the lore of ancient Greece, dew confers fertility. The Iroquois speak of the Great Dew Eagle, who drops healing moisture on land ravaged by evil spirits. The creator god of the Ashanti people created dew soon after making the sun, moon, and stars. Lao-Tse said it’s an emblem of the harmonious marriage between Earth and Heaven. So what will you do with the magic dew you’ll be blessed with?

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): It’s prime time for you to love your memory, make vivid use of your memory, and enhance your memory. Here are some hints about how: 1. Feel appreciation for the way the old stories of your life form the core of your identity and self-image. 2. Draw on your recollections of the past to guide you in making decisions about the imminent future. 3. Notice everything you

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