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69
CONTENTS
49 SCREENS
10 NEWS
Bay Watch Jason Dady’s latest surfside concept delivers
Rejuvenated Public art in the long-anticipated Yanaguana Garden at Hemisfair Park includes Native American history and installations focused on playing
Old-School Vibes Big flavors, wee space at Fairview Coffee Bar & Grub
So Long, ‘Slingers San Antonio Gunslingers remember their tumultuous two-year run in the 1980s
Flavor File Brunch hopping isn’t for the faint of heart
September 30 – October 6, 2015
57
20 CALENDAR
Our top picks for the week
Culinary Calendar Six ways to get your drink/grub on this week
60 NIGHTLIFE Lesser Evil If you have to drink pumpkin beer, make sure you’re not drinking swill Remix We’re ditching claggy Clamato for celery flavors
Lights up on Fall Your guide to autumn’s world-class performances of theater, dance and music
67 MUSIC
Flying Far, Far Away How will climate change impact the Rio Grande Valley’s stellar bird-watching scene?
The Fall Concert Guide Gang of Four, Stevie Wonder and more in our guide to the coming season
Fall Fishing With temperatures cooling off, here’s our look at solid fishing holes around town
No Phones Necessary Put that thing in your pocket and pay attention to Golden Dawn Arkestra
Go Outside A round-up of day trips and weekend jaunts at Texas state parks
This Is What Survives The Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio begins its Forbidden Composers series with the artists banned by the Nazis
Flagship Pollinator Monarch butterflies are leading the way in how we talk about pollinators Mind the Bees Local agencies are helping bees thrive Underground Delights From education to entertainment, area caves offer diverse opportunities
43 ARTS & CULTURE Our Cultural Mythology Publishing house Wings Press celebrates its 40th anniversary Coming Home From New York City to Brazos Street, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s new executive director talks vision, future
8 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
51 FOOD
28 FALL
Frozen in Time A look at the geologic history of the Guadalupe Mountains, from continental battleground to underwater reef 39
Dead Zone Our critic’s take on Sicario and the growing genre of American narcocinema
More Than a Minute Despite the name of his seminal band, Minutemen bassist Mike Watt is an enduring punk icon Music Calendar What to see and hear this week
79 ETC.
Savage Love Jonesin’ Crossword Freewill Astrology This Modern World
ON THE COVER
Our favorite season is back, loaded with outdoor opportunities, a thrilling arts and music calendar and — for better or worse — pumpkin-flavored beer. Art direction by Rick Fisher and Sarah Flood-Baumann
sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 9
NEWS
BRYAN RINDFUSS
REJUVENATED
The Yanaguana Garden at Hemisfair pairs art with history and play MARK REAGAN/@210REAGAN
A long time ago, before there was a Bexar County or the bustling metropolis called San Antonio — or even Texas — there was a blue panther that lived in a blue hole. One day, a water bird flew into the hole where the panther lived. “And the water bird shot out of the blue hole and opened its wings and the droplets from the blue hole fell across the land, which gave life to the area,” said Ramon Vasquez, executive director of the nonprofit American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions. This is the story of where Yanaguana, a Payaya Indian village on the San Antonio River came from. Nowadays, the Tower of the Americas overlooks Hemisfair Park — an area that used to be a neighborhood before it was bulldozed by the city to make room for the ‘68 World’s Fair. In 2009, a new chapter was opened with the creation of the Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corporation. And three years later, the city issued $30 million in bonds to fund three phases of redevelopment. The first, called Yanaguana Garden, will open at 6 p.m. October 2, coinciding with First Friday. The 4-acre park is dynamic, featuring climbing structures, a splash pad, over-sized chess, sustainable greenery and public art installations, all of which are centered around the Yanaguana story. Enter Oscar Alvarado, a San Antonio artist whose mosaic sculptures and murals can be found all around the city, such as the San Antonio River Walk stairway. The story of Yanaguana will flow like the river throughout the park. For roughly five months, Alvarado and his team have meticulously set thousands of pieces of glass and porcelain into Gaudí-like benches, in undulating patterns on splash pads and on a nearly 5.5-ton sculpture called “PanterAzul,” the blue panther that chased the water bird — an anhinga — out of the blue hole. The climbable panther is made with 150 pounds of steel, 10,500 pounds of concrete, 200 pounds of mortar and grout, and 150 pounds of glass beads. It’s surrounded by a thick layer of colorful rubber and play areas for children. The anhinga is perched on top of a mosaic bench across the way. Vasquez said he is satisfied with the inclusion of Native American history at the park. “I’m looking forward to taking my grandchildren. It’s really good for San Antonio. You know, my parents used to take me and my siblings to Hemisfair, and we spent a lot of time there,” he said. “Over the years, it’s kind of lost its attraction for residents and that’s one of the main reasons we decided to share our story. It’s a way to give something back to residents as native people.”
Dedicated workers have set thousands of pieces of glass and porcelain at Yanaguana Garden.
He calls it a rejuvenation. “It’s going to be a powerful opportunity,” Vasquez said. “We’ve been talking with the Hemisfair project about being included in educational programs that will happen with the new gardens. It’s really important to have original people involved in telling our story to visitors.” Let’s Play While Alvarado is tasked with telling the Yanaguana story, a team of six San Antonio artists led by Stuart Allen created a series of installations called PLAY. Each installation will stand on its own, but will reflect the larger project. PLAY’s goal is summed up in the project statement: “Of course ‘play’ is a multifaceted term and the artist team is considering the word from many perspectives: from the idea of imaginative children’s play, to a dramatic production, to the notion of playing with time. And while children are a primary audience, the installations that make up PLAY will possess a depth of meaning that will maximize the potential for intergenerational engagement,
socializing, creativity, resourcefulness and fun.” Along with Allen, artists Justin Boyd, Joey Fauerso, Jennifer Khoshbin, Karen Mahaffy and Alex Rubio explore the play space through sound, sculpture, murals and interactive installations. Allen created “Kite Table,” which is a galvanized steel table with directions on how to make kites in the American, Korean, Guatemalan and Japanese traditions etched onto the table’s surface. Each of those countries also had a presence at the ’68 Worlds Fair. Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment YANAGUANA GARDEN Corporation CEO Andres Andujar, who GRAND OPENING described the table as steel origami, said more than 1,000 kite-making kits Friday, October 2 Ring in the opening of Yanaguana will be provided for workshops. The kits Garden at 6 p.m. on First Friday for a are being provided by the nonprofit, family-friendly night in the park with Seattle-based Drachen Foundation, music, food and a beer tasting. which is a kite archive and resource Saturday, October 3 center. Allen has served on its board of Join the official ribbon cutting at 10 directors for more than 15 years. a.m. and play in the park all day long. There will be music and programming While Allen’s “Kite Table” combines for the whole family. the heavy with the light, Boyd’s “Sound Scout” isn’t exactly visible. Boyd is Sunday, October 4 Join all six artists for a day of creative focusing on the acequia that runs PLAY for children and fitness demonstrations and food for adults.
For more info, visit www.hemisfair.org
10 CURRENT • September 30– October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 ►
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NEWS
BRYAN RINDFUSS
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Yanaguana Park will be a destination for all generations.
◄ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10
through the Yanaguana Garden with lines of trees on each side. He has installed speakers in the trees that turn the sounds of children laughing and playing into a water-like sound. “Processing children’s laughter into waterlike [sic] sound makes a simple yet poetic statement speaking to the history and use of the space,” he writes in an artist statement. Fauerso’s “CAMPSITE” is just like it sounds, four “powder-coated steel ‘pup-tent’ forms” in a camp circle. Low-voltage LED lights will illuminate the tents while encouraging human engagement and create an “imaginative place for children to gather, discover, and make-believe.” Appropriately adjacent to the Magik Theater, Koshbin’s “Play Theater” utilizes three 12-feet wide, 8-feet high fabricated powder-coated cut steel panels that incorporate trees, animals and plants, creating a theatrical space where imaginations can run wild. “My idea is that play in public, both as a theme and as an activity, flourishes in incomplete spaces that invite improvisation and story making,” Koshbin writes in an artist statement. Mahaffy explores homes that once stood in the area with “House,” which is modeled after “saltbox style” houses that once stood in the park. “Keeping the overall structure very open and light, key structural elements of the playhouse (walls and roofline) will
be framed in white powder-coated steel with a scaled floor plan etched into the concrete slab,” Mahaffy says in her artist statement. “Exterior wall sections will be created with perforated steel panels, laser cut with period wallpaper patterns, and roof panels cut to mimic large shady pecan trees.” Rubio and a team of students with the Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum’s MOSAIC initiative will install a psychedelic-looking mural that will be installed for two or three years before another one takes its place. All of this excites Andujar, who says PLAY, the Yanaguana Garden and the story of Native Americans all fused together to create an educational and engaging park that will be a destination for the young and the old, the resident and tourist alike. “It’s is so exciting and seems like sort of a dream,” Andujar said, reflecting on the process. Vasquez calls the opening symbolic. “I think that it is pretty significant that our bringing back (the area) to life, it’s very symbolic,” He said. “Hopefully, many residents will be able to share in its treasure.” But there’s still much to do, including the next two phases of the project: Civic and Tower parks. However, like the San Antonio River’s creation when a water bird flew into a blue hole and out again bringing life to the region, the Yanaguana Garden is just the beginning. mreagan@sacurrent.com
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NEWS
SO LONG, ‘SLINGERS An oral history of the San Antonio Gunslingers MICHAEL MARKS/@MICHAELPMARKS
Those headlines you read about the Raiders flirting with San Antonio are nothing new. The movement to bring professional football to San Antonio is old news — and for a brief period 30 years ago, it even succeeded. Kind of. The San Antonio Gunslingers, a bona fide pro ball club in the United States Football League, played at Alamo Stadium in 1984 and 1985. The short-lived league played its games in the spring and boasted NFL stars such as Herschel Walker, Steve Young and Reggie White. The Gunslingers never owned a winning record and landed near the league bottom in average attendance both years. The 1985 season was especially tumultuous — the Gunslingers’ eccentric oil baron owner Clinton Manges quit paying the team’s bills for the last month of the season, including player and coach salaries. The team played out the year but dissolved before its third season. Despite that, the coaches and players who the San Antonio Current caught up with looked back at their time with the Gunslingers fondly. Here’s what they remember: Bill Bradley, defensive backs coach and assistant to the general manager: I don’t think anybody would ever call that group of guys “ragtag.” Underdogs, characters, colorful. Guys who got off of teams for disciplinary reasons. Not drugs. Well, maybe some with drugs. Peter Raeford, defensive back: I came to San Antonio with $80 in my pocket, just on a wing and a prayer. I just wanted to make the team, I wasn’t worried about starting. But I ended up starting ... and made First Team All-USFL. It was a just a dream season. Current: There were few marquee names on the Gunslingers, with the exception of Rick Neuheisel, a former quarterback at UCLA who won MVP at the 1984 Rose Bowl. Tommy Roberts, running backs coach: Rick was extremely intelligent. He was like any QB — we had to make him run the ball. He wanted to throw every time, but show me a QB who doesn’t. Current: Manges, the team owner, was the prototypical Texas hustler. He made a fortune in the oil patch, as well as powerful friends and adversaries among Texas’ ruling class. But his wheeling and dealing caught 14 CURRENT • September 30– October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
The Gunslingers’ run in the 1980s was short but memorable.
up to him. In 1991, federal marshals seized his massive South Texas ranch, named Magic Kingdom, to pay off his debts. He was sentenced to over two years in prison in 1995 for mail fraud. Manges died in 2010. Bradley: Part of my job was to sign people up for season tickets. People would say “Is that that team that Clinton Manges is going to own?” We’d say “Yes.” So they’d say “Well, then I don’t want any season tickets.” Roberts: Clinton Manges, you either loved him or hated him. There was no in-between with him. I was on the love side. Bradley: I would have to say Clinton was a maverick oil man, and a maverick business man. He did a lot of things his way. He was a tremendous salesman and a great talker and was well-connected in South Texas, from San Antonio down to Freer. Not always on the up-and-up. David Knaus, defensive line coach: He wore a diamond around his neck that would choke a horse. I remember he had a thing for Taco Cabana. Whenever we went on the road we would load up our charter flight, there was a lot of good food on those charter flights, but he was insistent on having Taco Cabana fajitas and guacamole on our charter flight.
Bradley: To have [a game] on TV, you had to have seating for about 26,000 people. But [Alamo Stadium] only sat about 20,000. And so Clinton bought about 6,000 extra folding chairs — really nice metal folding chairs. He had them painted Gunslinger blue and green, and he’d set them out near the end zones. No one ever sat in them. Big Chief, the guy who ran the stadium, he’d take them out of the box and set them all out, then when the game was over he’d store him underneath the stadium. That was Clinton Manges. Mike Hagen, running back: The lockers were underneath Alamo Stadium. They were terrible. You had your locker and that was it. You were kind of on top of everyone. I’d compare them to a middle school locker room. Roberts: I thought Alamo Stadium was a nice stadium. Now on the Monday Night Football game against the Houston Gamblers the lights went out and caused an hour delay, that’s true. Hagen: You go to San Antonio, you’re on ESPN, Monday Night Football, and the lights go out. It didn’t CONTINUED ON PAGE 17 ►
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NEWS
◄ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14
look really good I don’t think, but it all worked out. They had that happen at the Super Bowl. Knaus: There were some parts of management that didn’t understand the inner workings of pro sports, like equipment. When we said “We need this amount of 16 millimeter film.” They said “You film practice?” One of the main people in the front office didn’t realize that we didn’t have to provide game helmets to the opposition, that they would bring their own helmets. Current: But by the last month of the 1985 season, equipment was the least of the Gunslingers’ worries. Manges was deeply indebted, much of his oil business had dried up and he quit paying players and coaches, passing out IOUs instead. Roberts: We pulled up at the airport, I believe it was in Jacksonville, and (Gunslingers linebacker) Rich D’Amico was right in front of me. He’s a big old boy, and limos pulled up to the plane to pick up ... Clinton and the guys up at the front of the plane. I thought (D’Amico) was going to destroy something. I said, “D’Amico settle down.” He said, “Look at this, he’s not paying us and he’s driving a limo.” I said, “Don’t worry about it, he’s not paying them either.” Bradley: I remember one practice, they’d all start yelling “CHECK CHECK,” like checking into a new play, then they’d yell, “CHECK BOUNCE, CHECK BOUNCE.” Mike Ulmer, defensive back: There toward the end when the finances were getting tough, that’s when you wanted to have a fast car, because right when you got your check, you tried to get to the bank as fast as possible. I think (Gunslingers defensive back) Jim Bob Morris had the Camaro, and he had the advantage. Rich Garza, offensive lineman: I really didn’t get caught up in all that stuff. I was a single guy, I was all tunnel vision about playing ball. I was making a good living. A lot of this stuff is fabricated. Running to the bank with your check? I never did
that. Maybe some guys did. My check never bounced. Ulmer: It would get a little tense in the locker room. I remember one game, a televised game, we asked, “Do we even go out and play or not?” Hagen: There was a big thing about we were going to make a stand. Some of the guys wanted ... to not play unless we got paid. Juan Castillo, linebacker: There’s some guys that were pretty good players. Everyone understood that ... if you did well there, you might have a chance to go in the NFL. Hagen: Everyone thought it was all going to come around. The (players’ association) … said just hang in there, you’re going to get paid, you’re going to get paid, just do what you’re supposed to do. If you guys don’t play, you have no chance to get paid. But if you play, you have a chance to get paid. Raeford: With the risk of getting injured, and deciding to go ahead and play, that was something that was a scary situation. I remember I bought my first vehicle not knowing if I was going to be able to make the payments. I bought it off the showroom floor, it was a 1984 Mazda RX-7. I was excited to get it, but then after not getting paid I was like, “Oh no, I don’t know if I’ll be able to pay for it.” Bradley: I recouped some of my money. (The folding chairs) were stored way down in some dungeon of the stadium. I took them out and sold thousands of these folding chairs to a salvage company in Fort Worth. Me and my nephew and Big Chief, we loaded those folding chairs up from about 3:00 to 3:30 in the morning, so I recouped some of my money. Manges owed me over $47,000. So I was at the bottom of a long list. Hagen: We went out those last couple games and we played hard. You couldn’t tell we weren’t getting paid. Bradley: It all kind of put us together for one cause: To get our money and to play great football. And that’s what we did! I wouldn’t trade in those years. mmarks@sacurrent.com
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Free Concert Fridays Join us through the end of October 30th from 7PM - 11PM
October 2 – Bittersweet Featuring Variety Rock the best local October 9 – Nick Lawrence Band sounds of Country and Country Rock San Antonio. October 16 – Charlie Bravo Rock ‘N Roll
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October 30 – Eclipse
Journey Tribute
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30
Neon Indian MUSIC
Austin’s Alan Palomo, who records and performs as Neon Indian, enjoyed meteoric success leading up to and following the 2009 release of his hypnagogically groovetastic electronic album Psychic Chasms. Era Extraña (2011) picked up right where Chasms left off and established him not just as a practitioner of the fleeting micro-genre chillwave, but as an inventive songwriter and composer. Now, just a few weeks ahead of the October 16 release of his third album, Vega Intl. Night School, Palomo comes to Paper Tiger to dazzle us with his latest set of cerebral extrapolations on club music. $22, 8pm, Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersa.com. — James Courtney
THU+SAT
01+03
Madama Butterfly OPERA
OPERA San Antonio and the San Antonio Symphony bring the tragedy of unrequited love to the stage with Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Set in 1902 Japan, the opera follows a young geisha who unfailingly waits for her lieutenant husband’s return. Featuring soprano Maria Kanyova in a performance that conveys “the young wife’s innocence, vulnerability and pain,” the opera is among the most frequently performed around the globe despite its disastrous premiere in 1904. Puccini revised the opera four times after that to great success. $31.50-$199, 7:30pm Thu & Sat, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — Murphi Cook
20 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
FRI
02
Toybox Monster ART
Alta Vista Skate Shop Y Gallery, a splendid place that fuses the traditional skate-shop vibe with an arty bent, presents an exhibition of work by artist and skater Daniel Howard, who works under the nom de paintbrush Toybox Monster. And if that first sentence didn’t contain enough off-kilter juxtapositions to whet your curiosity, Howard’s work, brightly colored and playfully morose, is worth seeing for novelty reasons alone. This exhibit is entirely comprised of art made on or from recycled skateboards. Check out some of his work before you head out: instagram.com/toybox_ monster. Free, 7:30-9pm, Alta Vista Skate Shop Y Gallery, 640 S. Presa St., (210) 592-1413. — JC
FRI-SAT
02-03
‘Immersed’ ART
Promising a fresh perspective on the Linda Pace Foundation’s sprawling collection, “Immersed” gathers works by 17 artists, including Francesco Clemente (Italy), Tracy Emin (England) and Chiho Aoshima (Japan). Conceived by curator Annette DiMeo Carlozzi as a tribute to Pace’s pioneering spirit, the exhibition aims to evoke “the cool heat of intense engagement, riffing in unexpected ways on the immersive experiences of artmaking and art-viewing.” Following Friday’s reception, SPACE hosts a Saturday afternoon conversation with Carlozzi and artists Byron Kim, Anne Chu and Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle. Free, 6-8pm Fri, 2-3:30pm Sat, SPACE, 111 Camp St., (210) 227-8400, lindapacefoundation.org. — Bryan Rindfuss
FRI-SUN
02-04
American Idiot THEATER
Green Day always knew their Grammy-winning rock opera would be more than just a record. Developed by frontman Billie Joe Armstrong with director Michael Mayer, American Idiot translates the concept album into a rock musical unlike any other. Following three disillusioned suburban youths trying to find meaning in a post 9/11 world, the show includes very little dialogue, relying instead on the band’s lyrics to tell its story. Hardcore fans delight: The musical contains songs from several albums and even an unreleased track. Kurt Wehner directs the Woodlawn’s production. $17-$26, 7:30pm Fri-Sat, 3pm Sun, Woodlawn Theatre, 1920 Fredericksburg, (210) 267-8388, woodlawntheatre.org. — MC
SAT
03
Huevos Rancheros Gala SPECIAL EVENT
Easily the most casual “gala” on the Alamo City’s social calendar, San Anto Cultural Arts’ all-inclusive fundraiser celebrates the egg as a symbol of artistic creation while honoring local heroes in the heart of the West Side. Providing support to the nonprofit’s public art programs and community newspaper, the Saturday morning affair feeds the masses with huevos rancheros and entertains them with live music, a silent auction and raffle. The 18th annual event sees Juan Solis and Rosie Castro inheriting King and Queen Huevo crowns from David Gonzales and Antonia Castañeda. $25 suggested donation, 9am-noon, Avenida Guadalupe, 1327 Guadalupe St., (210) 226-7466, sananto.org. — BR
SAT
03
Moveable Art Party
MON
SPECIAL EVENT
After successful outings in King William and Blue Star, the Artist Foundation’s Moveable Art Party heads east to activate an array of spaces in historic St. Paul Square. Billed as “the most creative event of the year,” the nonprofit’s signature fundraiser promises an “anything-goes evening of art and performance.” Besides highlighting the talents of AF grant winners (including puppeteer Zach Dorn, choreographer Stephan Gaeth and flamenco diva Tamara Adira), MAP fuels the festivities with food from The Esquire, Dignowity Meats and Tim the Girl, plus libations from Alamo Beer, Bending Branch Winery and Dorcol Distilling Co. $125-$150, 7-11pm, St. Paul Square, artistfound.org. — BR
05
Billy Idol MUSIC
The concept of Billy Idol — yes, the “White Wedding” guy — performing at the Tobin in 2015 is only mildly strange. Idol has a reputation for snarlingly mercurial performances, which is pretty rad, but he’s often seen by contemporary pop culture as something of a caricature of the early new-wave and late glam-punk genres. However, he is an apt tunesmith and he does have three Grammy noms to his credit. Peak Idol may have occurred sometime in the late ’80s, but he released his first album in over 10 years in 2014 — fans should find that reason enough to check this show out. $45$67.50, 7:30pm, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — JC
sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 21
Saturday, October 24, 2015
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TICKETS AT ATTCENTER.COM, THE AT&T CENTER BOX OFFICE, OR BY PHONE 1-800-745-300 22 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
TICKETS ON SALE NOW: $35 | Jo Long Theatre
Ticketmaster: 1.800.745.3000 • Carver Box Office: 210.207.2234 • thecarver.org
Carver Community Cultural Center 226 N. Hackberry • 210.207.7211
CALENDAR NIGHTLIFE
WED-SUN
30-06
‘Miró: The Experience of Seeing’
His name may pop up in conversations about surrealism, abstract expressionism and dadaism, but Spanish master Joan Miró defied movements and easy classification. Born in Barcelona in 1893, Miró drew deep inspiration from his native Catalonia (and especially the seaside town of Mont-roig) but evolved considerably among the avant-garde icons of 1920s-era Paris — Pablo Picasso and André Breton among them. Exemplified by his heavily symbolic Still Life with Old Shoe (1937), elegantly abstracted series Constellations (1939-1941) and immersive triptych The Hope of a Condemned Man, Miró employed his own visual vocabulary to address the political landscape and illustrate the atrocities of war. Culled from the permanent collection of Madrid’s Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and highlighting the artist’s later years (from 1963 to 1981), the traveling exhibition “Miró: The Experience of Seeing” brings together more than 50 paintings, drawings and sculptures said to “plumb the process of making art.” $15-$20, 10am-4pm Wed, 10am-9pm Thu, 10am-4pm Fri, 10am5pm Sat, noon-5pm Sun, 10am-4pm Tue, McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave., (210) 824-5369, mcnayart.org. Through January 10, 2016. — Bryan Rindfuss
Art
Art opening: “A Village Dreams” Kent
Rush curates a small selection of paintings by late artist and La Palomilla collective member Jose Guadalupe Guadiana. Created between the 1990s and early 2000s, the folk-figurative works recount compelling and endearing stories of the inhabitants of a village lost in the rapture of their dreams. Free, 6-9pm Thursday-Friday; Terminal 136, 136 Blue Star, (210) 458-4391.
Art opening: “Bodies Revealed” Produced by Premier Exhibitions, the internationally touring blockbuster “Bodies Revealed” features real human bodies donated for science education and then preserved, dissected, and “respectfully and artistically displayed.” Viewers can experience the wonder of the human form while taking an up-close look inside the skeletal, respiratory, reproductive, muscular, digestive, nervous and circulatory systems. $15-$20, 10am-5pm Saturday, noon-5pm Sunday, 10am-5pm Monday, 10am-8pm Tuesday; Witte Museum, 3801 Broadway, (210) 357-1900.
Art opening: “Much More” Curated by
Mary Caitlin Greenwood, “Much More” unites artists Logan Sebastian Beck (Houston) and Travis LaMothe (Dallas) in an exhibition of sculptural and mixedmedia works exploring commercial design inspired by the automobile industry. Free, 6-9pm Friday; Hello Studio, 1420 S. Alamo St., Suite 106, (210) 291-8640.
Art opening: “Take Home a Nude” Karen
Evans curates diverse works by local artists
David Blancas, Bryson Brooks, Seth Camm, Victor De La Fuente, James Hetherington, Abraham Mojica, Oscar Saenz, Cody Vance and Debra Benditz. Free, 5:30-8:30pm Thursday; Debra Benditz Art Studios, 237 W. Travis St., (512) 588-2606.
Closing reception: “The Spirit Within” High Wire hosts a closing reception for “The Spirit Within,” a Fotoseptiembre exhibition featuring works by Maureen “Momo” Brown, Danna Byrom, Guillermo Francisco Gaitan, Michele Jacob and Charles Harrison Pompa. Free, 6-9pm Thursday; High Wire Arts, 326 W. Josephine St., (210) 827-7652.
Film
5 Broken Cameras The San Antonio chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace presents a screening of 5 Broken Cameras, a critically acclaimed documentary about life and non-violent resistance in a West Bank village surrounded by Israeli settlements. Co-directed by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat and Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi, the film follows one family’s evolution over five years of village upheaval. Free, 2:30pm Saturday; Central Library Auditorium, 600 Soledad St., (210) 207-2500.
Manhattan Short Film Festival Since its
inception in 1998, the world’s first global film festival has grown to include 100,000 cinema lovers participating in the judging process of films coming from 250 cities, 52 countries and six continents. This year’s finalists include the U.S. drama El Camino Solo, about a businessman who gets stranded in the desert; a Chilean digital
FRI
02
Mike Epps: The Real Deal Tour
“Y’all think I’m going to hell for that one?” Mike Epps asks the audience after a particularly over-the-top bit toward the end of his first stand-up special, Underrated … Never Faded & X-Rated. The response sounds like a nearly unanimous, “Yes.” Epps, seemingly never at a loss for words, is quick to retort, “Then you’re going too, for laughing.” Though Epps more than lives up to his self-imposed “X” rating, his biggest laughs come from, as the title of his current tour suggests, giving audiences the “Real Deal.” Whether he’s raging against the smug spokespeople on daytime television trade-school commercials or admitting that people still refer to him as Day-Day (his character in Next Friday), Epps — who’s also slated to play Richard Pryor in two upcoming films — is at his best when he’s simply telling his own frenetically charged, unrepeatably profane version of the truth. If he goes to hell for that, he’ll be dragging theaters full of delighted audiences along with him, riffing on how sweaty his balls are the whole way down. $53-$103, 8pm, The Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com. — Jeremy Martin
animation called Bear Story, inspired by the filmmaker’s grandfather who was exiled from Chile during the 1973 coup d’état; and the German film Bis Gleich, about two seniors who form a unique bond while communicating from their windows. $5-$10, 8pm Friday-Saturday; URBAN-15, 2500 S. Presa St., (210) 736-1500.
RiffTrax Live: Miami Connection Don’t miss your chance to see Mike, Kevin and Bill of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame as they sling their wisecracking commentary at the cult classic Miami Connection. Released in 1987, the oddity follows multi-national martial-arts rock band Dragon Sound as they chase beach bunnies, perform their hit song “Against the Ninja” and embark on a roundhouse wreck-wave of crime-crushing justice. $12.50, 7pm Thursday, 7:30pm Tuesday; Santikos Palladium, 17703 IH-10 W., (210) 496-2221. For additional theaters, visit fathomevents.com.
World Heritage Film Screening In
celebration of the San Antonio Missions’ UNESCO World Heritage designation, the San Antonio River Authority and National Park Service cohost screenings of the films The Mission Reach: Restoring the San Antonio River and Gente de Razón: People of the Missions. Free, 6:30pm Wednesday; Alamo Drafthouse Park North, NW Loop 410, (210) 677-8500.
Theater
Evil Dead: The Musical & The Rocky Horror Show In 2006 The New York Times suggested, “Evil Dead: The Musical wants
to be the next Rocky Horror Show, and it just may succeed.” While those are some big fishnets to fill, Evil Dead has made quite a splash since its 2003 debut in the back room of Toronto’s Tranzac Club. A campy mashup of all three films in Sam Raimi’s horror franchise, Evil Dead even acknowledges its debt to Richard O’Brien’s cult musical from 1973 with a shout-out in “Do the Necronomicon” — a devilish dance number that name-drops “The Time Warp” along with other pop oddities like Henry Winkler and Bell Biv DeVoe. With Halloween on the horizon, the Cameo rises to the occasion with Jonathan Pennington starring as both sex-crazed transvestite Dr. Frank N. Furter and chainsaw-wielding demon slayer Ash Williams. $20-$40; Evil Dead: The Musical: 8pm Friday, 7:30pm Saturday; The Rocky Horror Show: 10:30pm Saturday; Cameo Theatre, 1123 E. Commerce St., (210) 212-5454.
Master Class Inspired by a series of classes
real-life opera diva Maria Callas gave at Juilliard in the ’70s, Terrence McNally’s Master Class follows an imagined class as the singer spirals into recollections of triumphs and trials. Callas built her storied career on a voice some considered ugly, with one critic noting, “for all its natural lack of varnish, velvet and richness, this voice could acquire such distinctive colors and timbres as to be unforgettable.” Vanity would be her downfall and after immense weight loss, her frail frame could no longer support her famous voice. $10$25, 8pm Friday-Saturday, 3pm Sunday;
sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 23
s a ’ e r e Th Ts u n h of c n u B
here!
Pecan Fest saturday, Oct 24 Beer & Wine Garden, Live Bands, Food, Trade Booths, Pecan Pie Contest, Pecan Ice Cream, Pecan Treats, Pumpkin Patch, Pumpkin Decorating Contest, Sebastopol House & Magnolia Hotel Tours, Quilt Show, Pottery Show, Car Show, Hat Parade, Street Dance
Pecan caPital of texas
Oct 23/24: Ghost Tours Oct 24: Tour de Pecan Bike Ride Oct 25: Cemetery Reenactments & Historic Tours
SeguingOnuTS.cOm
24 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
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CALENDAR NIGHTLIFE
Classic Theatre of San Antonio, 1924 Fredericksburg Rd., (210) 589-8450.
Of Mice and Men Sixteen years before
Vladimir and Estragon wandered across the stage in Waiting for Godot, another pair of rootless males, George and Lennie, were making their way through Depression California. John Steinbeck constructed his short 1937 novel Of Mice and Men as if it were a play, and the work — Steinbeck’s most successful after The Grapes of Wrath — has proven remarkably adaptable: three film versions, an opera and countless stage productions, including a Broadway revival last year starring James Franco and Chris O’Dowd. The metalcore band that calls itself Of Mice and Men performed in San Antonio last May, but a version of Steinbeck’s work is now on stage at the Cellar Theater. True to the Robert Burns poem from which it borrowed its title, Of Mice and Men is the fatalistic story of how benign intentions are frequently scotched — in Burns’ words, “gang aft agley.” $12-$30, 8pm Friday-Saturday, 3pm Sunday, The Playhouse, 800 W. Ashby Pl., (210) 733-7258.
Special Events
The National Acrobats and Circus of China ARTS San Antonio presents The National Acrobats and Circus of China’s Peking Dreams, a long-running production incorporating balancing on high chairs, aerial acts, trapeze and rope tricks, juggling, diving through rings, bicycle trickeries, martial arts and gymnastics. $29-$110, 7:30pm Tuesday; The Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 226-3333.
Yanaguana Indian Arts Market The Briscoe
welcomes 40 Native American artists for this
second annual event featuring handcrafted works of art (including basketry, jewelry, carvings, beadwork, pottery) along with storytelling, dancing, musical performances, demonstrations and Native Americaninspired food. Free, 10am-4pm SaturdaySunday; Briscoe Western Art Museum, 210 W. Market St., (210) 299-4499.
Talks Plus
Coronado’s Bull San Antonio artist Cruz
Ortiz discusses printmaker Sam Coronado’s Quince, his legacy and the iconic use of bull imagery in Chicano art. Free, 6:30pm
Tuesday; Briscoe Western Art Museum, 210 W. Market St., (210) 299-4499.
David Eagleman KLRN, the Trinity
Distinguished Scientists Lecture Series and The Mind Science Foundation cohost a screening and presentation with neuroscientist David Eagleman in conjunction with his forthcoming TV series exploring how the brain functions and why people feel and think the things they do. Free, 7:30pm Thursday; Laurie Auditorium, Trinity University, One Trinity Pl., (800) 874-6489.
The Music Man The Playhouse revives Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey’s 1957 Tony winner The Music Man. Inspired by Willson’s boyhood in Mason City, Iowa, the musical follows con man extraordinaire Harold Hill as he poses as a bandleader and falls for the town librarian and piano teacher. Friday’s opening night performance is followed by a reception with the cast and crew. $12-$30, 8pm FridaySaturday, 3pm Sunday; The Playhouse, 800 W. Ashby Pl., (210) 733-7258.
Words
Banned Book Brunch In observance of
Banned Book Week (September 27-October 3), the Underground Library hosts a community book brunch designed to promote literacy through the sharing of stories with an emphasis on cultural, political and social consciousness. Free, 10am-noon Saturday; Movement Gallery/ Underground Library, 1412 E. Commerce St., (210) 299-2666.
CONTEMPORARY ART
Organized by the Rubell Family Collection, Miami
SEPTEMBER 5, 2015—JANUARY 3, 2016
SAN ANTONIO MUSEUM of ART 200 West Jones Avenue | San Antonio, Texas 78215 | 210.978.8100 | samuseum.org This exhibition is generously supported by the Koehler Foundation, Bank of America, N.A.,Trustee, and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. He Xiangyu, The Death of Marat, 2011, fiberglass, silicone, fabric, human hair and leather, Ed. 1/3, 13 x 80 1/2 x 33 1/2 in. (33 x 205 x 85 cm), Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection, Miami, Photography by Chi Lam
sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 25
26 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
On view through January 10
McNay Art Museum San Antonio, Texas 6000 North New Braunfels San Antonio, Texas 78209-0069 mcnayart.org
EXHIBITION ORGANIZED BY THE SEATTLE ART MUSEUM AND THE MUSEO NACIONAL CENTRO DE ARTE REINA SOFÍA. THIS EXHIBITION IS SUPPORTED BY AN INDEMNITY FROM THE FEDERAL COUNCIL ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES. JOAN MIRÓ, FIGURE AND BIRD, 1968. LOST-WAX CASTING, PATINATED BRONZE. NACIONAL CENTRO DE ARTE REINA SOFÍA. © SUCCESSIÓ MIRÓ / ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK / ADAGP, PARIS 2015.
sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 27
SAN ANTONIO PUBLIC LIBRARY
Digital Library Friday, 10/2 6:00pm - Midnight
LIGHTS UP ON FALL
The season’s exciting lineup of live performance transports audiences MURPHI COOK
Import Jackpot Race and Test and Tune
eBOOKS
(Bring your car, truck or bike out) Test and Tune drag racing will be going on so anyone with any car, truck or bike can drag race all night!
eAUDIOBOOKS
Saturday, 10/3 9am - 6pm
Import Face Off Import Car Show, Sound Off and Race
MUSIC
Friday, 10/9 6pm - Midnight
Badge of Honor Racing w/Grudge Races and Open Test and Run -andQuick Performance Cycles Presents: Bike Night! Plus Open Test and Tune
VIDEOS
Friday, 10/16 6pm - Midnight
Truck Night plus Test and Tune
MAGAZINES FREE WITH YOUR LIBRARY CARD
(BRING YOUR TRUCK)
Presented by All Out Diesel Performance Kids 12 & under free. Military & Ladies Buy One Get One of the Same Free
FALL
MYSAPL.ORG/ DIGITAL
3641 S Santa Clara Rd, Marion, TX
(210) 782-9578 • saraceway.com facebook.com/ sanantonioraceway @saraceway 28 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
mysapl 210.207.2500
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With summer vacation a distant memory and the holidays far from sight, the daily doldrums of life may seem endless. Luckily, with the release of local performing arts centers’ new seasons, escape can happen in 90 minutes or less. With world-class performances of theater, dance and music, you’ll be left wondering just where you want to go next. The following are just a few of the countless selections offered this autumn. With 10 companies in residence, and a calendar chock-full of touring productions, something is always happening in any one of the three performance spaces at The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. Regardless of the season, some events still include a “splash zone,” especially when longtime comedian Gallagher is involved. Gallagher’s Joke’s On You Tour (October 4) features his famous foodsmashing sledge-o-matic, so you better bring a poncho or prepare to leave dirty. For more laughs, the “Southern-fried version of Dame Edna” loads oodles of plastic goodies onstage for Dixie’s Tupperware Party (October 8-11). Combining drag with an unbeatable sales pitch, the show includes free giveaways and audience participation; and yes, you can really purchase the Tupperware. Later, Italy’s Teatro del Drago returns to San Antonio with a magic puppet-filled retelling of Pinocchio (November 11-22) as part of AtticRep’s International Festival of Performance of San Antonio. Established in 1820, the puppet troupe represents five generations of the Monticelli family’s commitment to the art of puppetry.
And if you fancy yourself an audiophile, both Lionel Richie (October 22) and Liza Minnelli (November 28) are included among the impressive roster of concerts offered this season. 100 Auditorium Circle, tobincenter.org. Since 1992, ARTS San Antonio has cast an impressive net in its quest to bring the world’s finest entertainment to venues around the city. The National Acrobats and Circus of China (October 6, Majestic Theatre) tumbles into town with their acrobatic spectacle first performed for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. For even more movement based work, Ballet Hispanico performs the sensual CARMEN.Maquia (October 22, Lila Cockrell Theatre), based on Georges Bizet’s iconic opera about a passionate gypsy. The kids will go wild for Imago Theater’s ZooZoo (November 8, Aztec Theatre). The production features polar bears, anteaters, penguins and more in an immersive theatrical experience merging mime, dance, music and special effects. Between The Majestic Theatre and the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, there’s plenty of material for countless date nights. Audiences can settle into a demon’s point of view in the stage adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters (October 10). Set in an office in hell, one of Satan’s senior tempters teaches his nephew how to make damnation enticing. An alternative to the novelist’s satiric view of hell is Alvin and the Chipmunks: Live On Stage (October 22), combining rock and rodents for an experience straight
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FALL
out of the movies. Expect breakdancing, food fights and a trio of Chipettes, too. And for sweet throwback tunes, check out any of the many upcoming concerts, including The Beach Boys (October 8), Styx (October 14) and conductor Brent Haven raging with The San Antonio Symphony for The Music of Queen (October 23) and The Music of Led Zeppelin (October 24). The multicultural, multidisciplinary Carver Community Cultural Center is prepping its stage for some groundbreaking legendary performers. Executive Director Yonnie Blanchette promises, “This year possesses an extraordinary line-up! Patrons will enjoy each performance and the passion each artist brings to our stage.” Highlights include Urban Bush Women (October 17), the over 30-year-old movement troupe that merges contemporary dance, music and text to give a voice to untold stories, and awardwinning blues guitarist Robert Cray (November 7). 226 N Hackberry, thecarver.org.
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Featuring a season of “outstanding multidisciplinary work that illuminates our cultural experiences, pioneers new creative approaches and preserves and reinvents our artistic tradition,” The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center produces a steady lineup of influential artists, including a Halloween Eve Concert with Patricia Vonne (featuring a costume contest and a screening of her Sin City-inspired short film Zorro Girl), and a Día de los Muertos reading by San Antonio Poet Laureate Laurie Ann Guerrero from her 2015 book A Crown for Gumecindo (November 1). November brings the electronic beat of the “primal-meets-modern hybrid of machine and (wo)man” Femina X (November 21). 723 S Brazos, guadalupeculturalarts.org.
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4 RUVEN AFANDOR
The Woodlawn packs a punch with musicals steeped in pop culture. First up is American Idiot (October 2-November 1), adapted from the 2004 Green Day album of the same name, following three young men in search of the meaning of life. And of course, it just wouldn’t be Halloween without the company’s annual production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (October 15-31), starring contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race. This year, the plus-sized beauty Ginger Minj takes the stage as Dr. Frank-nFurter in a production that will surely leave audiences shivering in anticipation. 1920 Fredericksburg Road, woodlawntheatre.org.
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1. Lionel Richie (October 22). 2. Patricia Vonne (October 30). 3. Dixie’s Tupperware Party (October 8-11). 4. The Music of Led Zeppelin (October 24). 5. Liza Minnelli (November 28). 6. American Idiot (October 2-November 1). 7. Imago Theater’s ZooZoo (November 8). 8. The Screwtape Letters (October 10). 7
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sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 29
THE OVERTIME THEATER LIVE. LOCAL. ORIGINAL. 1203 CAMDEN STREET, SAN ANTONIO TX 78215 210-557-7562 * THEOVERTIMETHEATER.ORG
October 3, 2015 – January 31, 2016 Presented by
Bodies Revealed at the Witte Museum is presented by Massage Heights with generous support from Central Living by David Weekley Homes, Institute for Women’s Health, and the City of San Antonio Department for Culture and Creative Development. Media Partner - Time Warner Cable Connect a Million Minds
WitteMuseum.org | 210.357.1910 | 3801 Broadway | San Antonio, TX 78209
30 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
FLYING FAR, FAR AWAY South Texas is a birding mecca, but climate change could alter that MICHAEL MARKS/@MICHAELPMARKS
One of the country’s premier birding destinations is right in our own backyard. The Rio Grande Valley is a bird-watching mecca for many reasons: The region’s tropical climate brings in birds that might otherwise require an overseas trip to see. It’s a major north-south migration flyway for hundreds of species. And the mild winter allows for year-round birding that’s impossible, or at least quite uncomfortable, in other parts of the country. As a result, birders from all over the world come to the Valley to add rare specimens to their life list and to soak up the South Texas sun. It’s a boon for the local economy, and a point of pride for residents and amateur naturalists. Tim Brush would know. He’s a biology professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and an avid birder who’s studied the region’s birds for over two decades. “The Valley, it’s certainly one of the very top birding destinations in the U.S.,” Brush said. “We’re very important because we offer people a chance to see tropical birds without going out of the country.” Though there are concerns over what South Texas birding will look like in the future, the region still hosts a lush, vibrant array of birds at the moment. Birds tend to linger in the Valley during the fall migration season. Many travel thousands of miles and use South Texas as a stopover to munch on insects and berries, fattening up to bank energy for a long journey. But the birding landscape of the region is changing. Warmer temperatures are luring birds that normally wouldn’t come as far north as the Valley, while other birds are becoming scarcer due to habitat destruction. “There are bird species that have spread north and become more common in the Valley and South Texas. That may be partially due to climate change, but it’s been going on for 80 or 100 years, probably before climate change really started,” Brush said. Take the tropical kingbird, which is a bird that’s becoming more common. It’s a small grayish-green and yellow bird with a sharp, pointed beak. Once there was only a single spot near Brownsville where you could see it, according to Brush. But that’s no longer the case.
“They’re still a good bird to see, and people still come to the Valley to see it ... but they’re more widespread than they used to be,” Brush said. “It gradually spread north and now they seem to be pretty well-established in the Valley.” The same goes for species such as the clay-colored thrush, which is well-adapted to living in a more suburban environment. Brush isn’t the only one to notice this. In the book The Changing Climate of South Texas 1900-2100, ornithologists John Rappole, Gene Blacklock and Jim Norwine hypothesize that “rapid ... northward and eastward shift in the breeding ranges of several ... bird species in South Texas and northeastern Mexico is occurring due to climate change.” The authors concluded this by studying the historical ranges of birds found in the region, comparing them to current reports from the field. The data is mostly anecdotal, and they stress the need for greater investment to find empirical backing. But the sheer scope of the movement — the authors counted over 70 species whose ranges have dramatically changed — suggests a cataclysmic cause. “Northward range expansion of subtropical bird species in South Texas may be related in ways that are not yet understood to increasing temperature,” the authors wrote. “We are not aware of any other single environmental factor with which range change for 70 bird species might be correlated.” The yellow warbler, a cheery little bright yellow bird, once ventured no further than southern Tamaulipas, but it can now be seen on South Padre Island. A more extreme example is the pyrrhuloxia, a gray and red bird that looks similar to a cardinal. It was rarely seen beyond the very southern tip of Texas in the mid-20th century, but these days it lives as far north as Midland. But on the other end of the spectrum, birds such as the red-billed pigeon and the tropical perula are disappearing along with the ecosystems which support them. Brush said that the impacts of urbanization in the Valley can be extrapolated across all of North America. “You have to look at it at an even broader scale. Is what’s happening in the Valley happening across the U.S. and Canada?” Brush asked. “In general, certain birds that are pre-adapted to living with people, or at least in the habitats we create, those species are spreading and doing well.” The fact that more birds are changing their migration habits isn’t problematic in and of itself. And if South Texas birders add a few unexpected species to their life lists, that’s pretty neat. But when combined with habitat destruction, the environment becomes suitable for fewer and fewer birds, leading to biotic homogenization — science speak for species dying out, resulting in a less diverse ecosystem. The final result, in the long-term, is a departure from the ecosystem that defines South Texas, and from its ultra birdfriendly habitats. “If our hypothesis is correct, the ecological and evolutionary effects could be profound,” the authors wrote. “Based on the observed shifts in bird species’ distribution ... it would appear that these changes are well underway.” mmarks@sacurrent.com
FALL
Birds such as the tropical kingbird (top), the golden warbler (middle) and the pyrrhuloxia (bottom) are feeling the impact of climate change.
sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 31
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FALL FISHING
Opportunities for anglers abound around town Fall has arrived and, if you’re up for fishing, autumn holds plenty of opportunities for positive experiences even in not-so-popular fishing holes. After all, fish require good eating before winter, and meteorologists are predicting a wetter, colder winter than usual thanks to El Niño. “Fish will bite a little earlier as temperatures start to cool off,” says Steve Nixon, a professional fishing guide who runs SanAntonioFishingGuides.com. The prime bass lakes provide high numbers of large fish while they move into shallower waters. One famed bass fishing spot northwest of San Antonio is Medina Lake. Local media showed images of a mostly dry Medina Lake early this year, following a prolonged drought that affected the state. Then record rains fell this spring. After it had filled back up, Medina Lake was restocked with more than 204,000 largemouth bass fingerlings. It will take another two years or so until the bass are large enough to be available in high numbers. Regardless, Labor Day weekend was a chance for many people to cast their lines into Medina Lake for other fish. Calaveras Lake, south of San Antonio, is one of three lakes in Texas stocked with thousands of redfish, which typically spawn in the fall along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Nixon explains that redfish spawning is an exciting time for anglers on the coast, but the mature redfish are beneficial to freshwaters closer to town. Blue catfish can be commonly found in Calaveras Lake, too.
Braunig Lake, also south of town, has an ample supply of redfish along with largemouth bass, striped bass and channel catfish, according to FishingScout.com reports. Scott Birnel of Red White and Blue Guide Service says on his company’s Facebook page that he is particularly excited for catfish season this fall and winter. Members of FishingScout.com say they also see rainbow trout and blue crappie in solid numbers in Canyon Lake. Aside from the big lakes in the San Antonio area, there are less crowded fishing holes and some diamonds in the rough. Nixon insists the San Antonio River in Brackenridge Park is a great spot for beginners and advanced fishers alike. “It has species of perch, bream, largemouth bass. I definitely would say Brackenridge is a hidden gem,” Nixon says. According to San Antonio Fishing Forum (SAFF), Earl Scott Pond is small, yet well-liked among fishers seeking a free fishing spot amid urban sprawl. It’s located near Bamberger Nature Park, in the Babcock/DeZavala Road area. SAFF members report seeing bass and bluegill there. Back out along Interstate 35, a wet spring means quality fishing remains in the Guadalupe and Comal rivers around San Marcos and New Braunfels. “We’re in pretty good shape. The spring rains really helped out and set things up nicely,” Nixon says. Afternoon into early evening is usually the best time to fish in autumn as the sun will have adequately warmed up surface water by then for hungry fish to appear. Happy fishing.
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sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 33
FALL
GO OUTSIDE
4 State Parks To Visit MARK REAGAN/@210REAGAN
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Scorching 100-degree plus days in South Texas are waning. As dangerous heat subsides, the urge to go outdoors grows as summer turns to fall. The Lone Star State is vast and opportunities to spend time outside are plentiful. The state’s beauty is as large as the distances it encompasses. Luckily, Bexar County residents are not in short supply of gorgeous state parks — whether they don’t want to drive far or are ready to put some miles behind them. Starting closest to home, Government Canyon State Natural Area (12861 Galm Road, San Antonio, 210-688-9055) is home to dinosaur tracks that are 110-million-years old — enough said. Experts believe the Sauroposeidon, which means “earthquake god lizard” (they grew to nearly 60 feet and weighed 55 to 60 tons), and the Acrocanthosaurus, a predator that was nearly 40 feet tall, weighing approximately 6.5 tons, left the footprints. There is no better fall destination than Lost Maples State Natural Area (37221 FM 187, Vanderpool, 830-9663413), which is just under a two-hour drive from downtown San Antonio. There are several species of oak, including Texas Red Oak, that produce the classic red foliage that defines fall
in some northern states. Just remember, this place does get crowded when the leaves change. If you didn’t get enough time on the water this summer, Pedernales Falls State Park (2585 Park Road 6026, Johnson City, 830-868-7304), is a little more than an hour away from San Antonio. Featuring giant limestone slabs and cool water, there’s more than enough to do at this park, including biking, hiking, camping and swimming. However, the river is susceptible to flash floods, which could be tragic if someone is in the wrong place at the wrong time. So be aware and follow the park’s warnings and recommendations. A little farther away than the other parks featured in this story is a hidden gem called Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site (90 Highway, Comstock, 432-292-4464). It’s roughly three hours away, but a chance to see cave art dating from 2,000 to 8,000 years ago in stunning western beauty along the Rio Grande is always worth it. Humans began living in the area some 10,000 years ago, when mammoths would have roamed the wild west. One last thing to remember while soaking up the great variety of outdoor fun in the Lone Star State: to keep it beautiful, leave no trace. mreagan@sacurrent.com
sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 35
36 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
FALL
FROZEN IN TIME
The geologic wonders of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park MATT STIEB/@MATTHEWSTIEB
As a New England expatriate in Texas, a trip to the desert seems like a visit to another planet. At the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, that otherworldly feeling is quite real, achieved through a travel in time, if not through space. Just below the flat line where New Mexico perches over Texas, the park is home to a coral reef some 250 million years old. Rewinding to the Permian period — around 252 to 298 million years ago — much of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico was covered in an inland sea. “It would be about the size of Lake Erie,” said Jonena Hearst, the park’s official geologist. “Because we were sort of a backwater and most of the exciting geology like volcanoes and vaults occurred elsewhere, what was preserved here has not been destroyed.” As the sea dried up, the reef’s sponges, algae and other lime-secreting organisms remained in a petrified state, creating the highest point in Texas at 8,751 feet. Like a skeleton to a med-school student, the reef has helped researchers understand how a coral reef works when it’s fleshed out and teeming with life. “It’s difficult to see the backbone in the modern reef,” said UT-Austin geology professor Charles Kerans. “’Cause you’re looking at the shark that’s coming at the back of you, and you’re not paying attention to the fine structure of the reef.” A few hundred million years
is beyond the reach of human understanding, but in the ancient and undeveloped land of West Texas, it’s a temporal blink of the eye. Before the Guadalupe Mountains were an underwater reef system, the area was a battleground for the supercontinents of Gondwana and Laurasia. “About 300 million years ago, these continents ran into each other and raised a huge mountain chain that probably rivaled the Himalayas,” said Hearst. Reaching even deeper in the record, there are rocks in the area dating back 1.8 billion years. “They form the core of what will become the North American continent in another billion years or so,” Hearst said. In 2015, the most important time related to the Guadalupe Mountains is seven hours — the time it takes to get from San Antonio to the park’s entrance. In the fall, Guadalupe’s massive fossilized ridges share top billing with the beauty of the changing season. “The most spectacular area is McKittrick Canyon,” said Kerans. “Sometime in the second or third week of October, when the leaves start to change in the canyon itself, it’s very impressive. You have these beautiful limestone ridges with amazing red maple. It’s a beautiful place in October.” mstieb@sacurrent.com sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 37
38 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
FALL US FWS
FLAGSHIP POLLINATOR
Migratory monarch decline highlights larger problems of climate change MARK REAGAN/@210REAGAN
Monarchs are an ambassador for all insects, showing the need to improve and restore pollinator habitat.
and butterflies, from the environment.” The president’s memorandum created the Pollinator Health Task Force, which, in a 64-page document, outlines strategies and goals for increasing pollinator populations. That effort explores ways to improve the 1,500-mile Interstate 35 as a pollinator corridor, particularly as a way to bolster habitat for migrating monarchs. Even though federal, state and local governments are creating plans of action to stem the decline, anyone with a yard or a patio for plants can make a difference.
US FWS
Just two years ago, the number of monarch butterflies reaching the southern-most migratory destination in Mexico was the lowest since scientists began measuring the population 22 years ago. A combination of deforestation in Michoacán, Mexico; the use of genetically modified herbicide-resistant crops, which resulted in the loss of the monarch’s host plant, milkweed; Manifest Destiny-like land development; and severe weather are all suspected as culprits in the dramatic loss of insect pollinators. After the disastrous 2013 findings, the monarch’s plight went mainstream — stirring interest in conservation and bringing attention to population declines in other pollinators, like bees. Monika Maeckle, author of the Texas Butterfly Ranch blog, said a year later a coalition joined together to lobby the U.S. Department of Interior to list the monarch as an endangered species. “The petition proposing listing the monarch as an endangered species and threatened species caused debate and public awareness … about what we can do about this,” she said. “It sparked positive developments.” Maeckle credits the interest in monarchs — and the population decline — in bringing the butterfly’s struggle to the forefront of the 20th annual Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Conservation and Management in April between the United States, Mexico and Canada. “It’s not just about monarchs,” said Maeckle. “Monarchs are ambassadors because they are beautiful and ubiquitous. There’s also a honey bee crisis and the general decline of our ecosystem. They may be small, but are very important pieces in the food web, which is suffering.” That commonality, coupled with stunning orange-andblack wings, is something everyone can identify with. Even President Barack Obama weighed in via a presidential memorandum highlighting the monarchs. He called the decline in all pollinators a serious problem that requires immediate attention because of the potential impact on the sustainability of the country’s food production systems, potential negative economic impacts on agriculture and for the overall health of the environment. “Pollinators contribute substantially to the economy of the United States and are vital to keeping fruits, nuts, and vegetables in our diets,” Obama wrote. “Honey bee pollination alone adds more than $15 billion in value to agricultural crops each year in the United States. Over the past few decades, there has been a significant loss of pollinators, including honey bees, native bees, birds, bats,
“Plant some kind of native plant that flowers in your yard, if you have one. Support organizations that do research and pay attention to pollinators. Let politicians know and encourage them to take steps in policy,” Maeckle said. While the urgency is real, there seems to be good news for monarchs this year. Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch, a nonprofit program based at the University of Kansas, said fall migration in 2015 may be the best in four years. “The number of eggs found and the distribution of these finds now leads me to suspect that the migration through the upper Midwest will be better than any migration seen since 2011,” he wrote in an online population status update. Maeckle said recent spring rains in Texas, which is the last leg of the trip into Mexico, are keeping flowers lush. “Texas is so important,” she said. “We have nectar. They come down and fuel up on the way.” Early migratory monarch butterflies should already be arriving in Bexar County or traveling through, and the peak migration will land between October 10 and 27. So if you’ve got a yard, purchase some of those flowering native plants to welcome the monarchs on their journey south. mreagan@sacurrent.com sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 39
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FALL
MIND THE BEES
Saving the honey bee means education JESSICA ELIZARRARAS/@JESSELIZARRARAS
Raise your hand if you love fruits, veggies and most other produce? If you don’t want to see your favorite type of berry or apple or squash go away, you may want to help honey bees do their job of pollinating said crops. Though learning about colony collapse disorder (or the reason bees keep disappearing) can easily turn into a spooky, post-apocalyptic scenario, the reality is bees are considered a keystone species, any “plant or animal that plays a unique and crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions.” We need them to pollinate all the things we love to eat. So it stands to reason that instead of panicking next time a bee buzzes into your personal bubble — don’t swat at it. Or, if you stumble across a hive: A) get inside and leave them be, and B) call the Bee Czar. Born Walter Schumacher, this bee whisperer of sorts heads the American Honey Bee Protection Agency out of Austin. With bee crews — not to be confused with worker bees — across the state, Schumacher is trying to lend honey bees a helping hand. The nonprofit offers removal and relocation services at a suggested donation depending on driving distance, equipment needed and hive size. The other recourse, which Schumacher vehemently advocates against, is hiring an exterminator.
“It’s a 40 million dollar industry to kill honey bees,” Schumacher said. “Death is their business.” He and his San Antonio crew relocated 10 beehives to the Omni San Antonio Hotel at the Colonnade, where the bees are “essentially paying rent to the hotel by producing honey,” Schumacher said. The hotel then uses the honey in its restaurant or sells it at the gift shop and proceeds go back to saving more bees — paying for gas, boxes and labor. At least 30 beehives have been saved so far. The American Honey Bee Protection Agency’s other main tenet is education; classes are offered through Austin Community College and more are in the works in cities where crews are located, including Dallas, San Antonio and Kerrville. The education trickles down to organizations like SA’s Green Spaces Alliance, led by executive director Julia Murphy, which help rehabilitate beehives (and more than 300,000 bees) on 31 acres of land. The organization will host its annual gala (a Sweet Honey Soiree this year) on October 1, and the honey cultivated from the hives will be gifted to attendees. “The function of pollination is essential to our livelihood — the bees are an unsung commodity,” Murphy said.
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FALL
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Subterranean fun found beneath the Earth’s surface Summer is giving way to fall and, still, visiting a cave is literally and figuratively one of the coolest things to do in South Texas. First off, there are the “show caves” – those open to the public and, in some cases, tourist attractions. Such spots closer to town are: Cascade Caverns and Cave Without a Name in the Boerne area, Natural Bridge Caverns northeast of San Antonio, and Wonder World Cave in San Marcos. Natural Bridge, one of the state’s biggest caves, offers developed trails and a tour that involves repelling. Visitors above ground can also interact with wildlife. Cascade is more undeveloped than, say, Natural Bridge. But its quaint charm – and a 100-foot underground waterfall – is alluring. On the flipside, Cave Without a Name is more educational than touristy. It also occasionally accommodates live acoustic music. But caving is more than enjoying what lies beneath the Earth’s surface. For a group such as Bexar Grotto, a National Speleological Society chapter, caving is about protecting caves and conserving the surrounding land. Bexar Grotto Chairperson Gregg Williams says the show caves represent a tiny fraction of more than 500 caves known to exist around Bexar County. Some caves are the result of tunneling activities from decades ago. Adults and youngsters often stumble upon something resembling a cave, many times on private land. “For all intents and purposes, virtually all of these known caves are on private
property or held by non-profits and institutions for research,” says Williams. Typically, groups such as Bexar Grotto may work with the individual or organization caring for a specific cave to set up a time to explore. Otherwise, to paraphrase Boromir from Lord of the Rings, one does not simply find a giant hole in the ground to search inside of. Robber Baron Cave, off Nacogdoches Road near Alamo Heights, is a project of the Texas Cave Management Association. Caving groups and educational facilities are among the organizations that get to explore it, the longest known cave in the county with nearly a mile of mapped passages. “It has an interesting history,” Williams says. “It’s been known since 1886, and it has gone from a speakeasy to being a commercial cave in the `30s. There have been rumors of buried treasure but of course never confirmed.” Bracken Bat Cave, northeast of town, is home to North America’s largest colony of Mexican free-tailed bats. Williams was a preteen when he first saw the bats fly out at dusk in search of food. “Seeing the emergence of 30 to 40 million bats was amazing, life-changing,” he adds. Government Canyon State Natural Area, which opened to the public in 2005 near Helotes, contains more than 35 caves where exploration opportunities are just starting to get fleshed out. Groups such as Bexar Grotto are a great, safe way to get involved with caving, Williams says. “It’s a passion,” he says.
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sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 43
ARTS + CULTURE
OUR CULTURAL MYTHOLOGY Reflecting on 40 years of Wings Press JAMES COURTNEY
By the end of this year, local publishing house Wings Press will have published 18 books — including works by Naomi Shihab Nye, Dave Biggers, John Igo and Wendy Barker — while celebrating its 40th year of existence. Begun by Joanie Whitebird and Joseph Lomax in 1975, Wings has grown significantly and garnered well-deserved national recognition since 1995, when current editor Bryce Milligan took over. Milligan, something of a Texas renaissance man, runs the entirety of the operations at Wings while also finding time to write his own poetry, teach, make music, make instruments, review books, sculpt and so much more. Needless to say, dude is pretty darn impressive. Perhaps the best part about Milligan and Wings is that they have consistently sought to publish work by writers who are underrepresented in published literature and to work with Texas writers whose works, in various ways, preserve our diverse cultural heritage. From Tejana literature to literature embedded in the Chican@ movement, from game-changing memoirs to the surreal and heartbreaking poetry of the dispossessed, from fiction to kids’ books to essays and extended non-fiction works — the 200-plus titles that Wings has published since 1995 represent the soul of Texas, and the essence of struggle, writ large. The San Antonio Current caught up with Milligan to discuss his endeavors with Wings and the press’ 40th anniversary. Can you tell me what about the founders of Wings has helped inspire you to continue and grow the press since 1995? I met Joseph Lomax a time or two in the ’70s, but Wings was located in Houston back then, and there were not that many opportunities for us to cross paths. He was always more interested in printing as an art form. Joanie Whitebird, on the other hand, seemed to be everywhere, and was more into counter-cultural literature, although she loved printing, too. The heart and soul of the American small press movement at the time seemed to be an organization called COSMEP — the Committee of Small Magazine Editors and Publishers. There was a somewhat infamous COSMEP conference in Austin in 1978, which is where I first met Joanie. We became friends because she had published Townes Van Zandt’s songbook a couple of years earlier, and I’d known Townes from singing in the Rubaiyat in Dallas in the late ’60s. Whitebird once characterized Wing Press as “an informal association of artists and cultural 44 CURRENT • September 30– October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
Bryce Milligan reflects on his two decades with Wings Press
mythologists dedicated to the preservation of the literature of Texas.” I love the phrase “cultural mythologists.” Can you unpack it for me a bit? Also, to what extent does the phrase describe you and/or the writers published by Wings Press post-1995? That term was a Joanie original, and I’ve always had a soft spot for it. But I think what she meant by it was influenced by Marshall McLuhan’s ideas — that those who create literature, i.e. the mythologists, are able to influence the culture. It was a different time. The counter culture of the ’60s and early ’70s felt very much as if we could change the world by creativity alone. By the early ’80s, I was increasingly involved with the Chicano movement, which had a similar feel to it. Anyway, as to how all that applies to Wings Press, post-1995 — I still feel that literature can make the world a better place. There is a “mission statement” in the back of every book I publish. It reads, in part, that we believe that “writing is a transformational art form capable of changing the world, primarily by allowing us to glimpse something of each other’s souls. We believe that good writing is innovative, insightful, and interesting. But most of all it is honest. As Bob Dylan put it, ‘To live outside the law, you must be honest.’” If I have a personal motto, it is that line from Dylan.
Tell me more about the transfer of Wings Press to you in 1995. Aside from the press having published your stuff, what motivated you to take up the reins and keep Wings Press going? Joanie had pretty much run the press into the ground. She knew it but did not want to give up the press because she felt she would be letting down the folks who had helped her over the years. (Most of those folks were dead by then, but still … ) She admired what I had done with a couple of literary magazines I’d founded and edited and produced, Pax: A Journal for Peace through Culture and Vortex: A Critical Review. She also liked my literary activism on behalf of Chicano literature. So she said I could have the press for $100, if I would swear to “keep it going.” Joanie was very much into her Native American image of herself, so we split our palms in the backyard and I swore to keep the press alive. It was a very natural transition, pairing up with what I had done as a book columnist for the Express-News and the Light, with the lit mags, with starting and directing the InterAmerican Book Fair and the Latina Letters conferences. Over the years since 1995, you’ve branched out with the genres that you publish. Is this something you consciously decided to do, or did you just start getting more and more quality work submitted in diverse genres?
ARTS + CULTURE
I have always published what I see as necessary work. That has a lot of breadth, and it can be seen as nothing more than “I publish what I like.” But I’d like to think that there is more to it than simply idiosyncratic taste. A few examples: voices that have been traditionally marginalized, for whatever reason, and experimental work that a writer has found difficult to publish. Sometimes it is simply necessary work because it fills a void, whether that is local history (Maria Berriozabal’s memoir or Carmen Tafolla’s book about Emma Tenayuca come to mind) or a book helping kids do better science fair projects, or a book out about the Fukushima disaster less than a year after the event. But no matter what it is, the work has to have a high literary quality and be of some cultural value. (I would say cultural importance, but that would be verging on hubris.) To me, the Word really is the most powerful thing in the world. I think of this every time I go to the post office and they ask if there is anything dangerous in my packages. I always say, “just words.” Can you approximate the significance of Wings’ 40th anniversary to you? To our city? If there is any significance to the fact that Wings has survived for 40 years, it is that it is a bridge in and of itself between the counter-cultural impetus of the small press movement of the 1960s and ’70s and the new world of complete connectivity, instant access to information and a growing preference for e-media over paper. As for the significance of the anniversary to the city, I don’t know. I know that I once taught former Mayor Castro creative writing, and he felt that promoting a local poet laureate was an idea worth pursuing. Former city councilwoman Maria Berriozabal decided that Wings was the proper publisher for her memoir, Maria, Daughter of Immigrants. I’ve published some books that document
important local history, like this year’s Rosengren’s Books, a history of the state’s most important bookstore. But perhaps most important to the city is that I’ve published a lot of San Antonio writers, thus documenting the literary creativity of the city. What are your hopes for Wings Press in the next 40 years? I would like for the archives of the press to be permanently housed in a university library. I expect to be the publisher for another 15 years or so, at which time perhaps I’ll be lucky enough to find someone to share a blood oath in the backyard with and pass it on. The Literati Speak We caught up with a few noteworthy literary figures and asked them to comment on Milligan and Wings’ significance. Their outpouring of praise, briefed here, serves as a firsthand testament to an important legacy. Dave Oliphant, founding editor of TCU’s Prickly Pear Press, told the Current that, in his estimation, “Bryce Milligan has, almost single-handedly, nurtured Texas letters through his Wings Press. Without Bryce and Wings, many vital voices would have remained silent, in particular those of the MexicanAmerican writers and of the many mavericks who do not conform.” For her part, local icon, celebrated poet and Wings author Naomi Shihab Nye told us that she feels “very lucky that [Milligan] wanted to publish [her new book Famous].” She added that “Joanie Whitebird certainly made a great choice when she selected Bryce to carry on her dream.” American Book Award winner and Wings’ author Jeff Biggers said that he’s “amazed by [Wings’] defiant publishing audacity to carry stories across Texas, across borders, and across our imaginary times, whatever the cost.” From October 28-November 19, Central Library (600 Soledad) will host an exhibit titled “40 Years of Wings Press.”
The exciting love story of a Chicano Veteran becoming an overnight sensation by saving Paris from terrorists.
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ARTS + CULTURE
COMING HOME
A Q&A with the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s new executive director MARK REAGAN/@210REAGAN
What attracted you about the position at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center? I was really interested in this idea that the arts are for everyone, and it should be a really democratic experience where anyone can have access to the arts, so that’s kind of what intrigued me about coming here when I heard about the opening. I have family and friends who have lived in San Antonio and was familiar with the Guadalupe. I thought it was a really cool opportunity to come back home to South Texas and lead this organization that has such a great history and a strong presence in the community, in this neighborhood. This has been such a proving ground for so many great notable Latino artists, so I was really interested in building on that legacy. What is your vision? The vision is to really do work that grapples with the question of what it means to be Latino, Chicano, MexicanAmerican in the 21st century. We want to do contemporary and new work that helps audiences navigate that tricky identity presentation. Can you provide an example of how to express that tricky navigation through the arts? Piñata Protest played last Friday (August 21), they are a great example of the kind of artist that are rooted in 46 CURRENT • September 30– October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
DANIELA RIOJAS
From the Rio Grande Valley to the New York City theater scene and now to Brazos Street on the Westside, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s new executive director brings Big Apple experience back to his Texas roots. Born in Brownsville, Jerry Ruiz is a Harvard University graduate who earned his MFA from the University of California — San Diego. While in New York City, he passionately demonstrated himself as an advocate for Latino arts.
Jerry Ruiz
tradition but are mashing up tejano and punk rock. Will you work to bring in new audiences? At the Piñata Protest show we were all kind of marveling at how blended the audience was. They’re your young people but also some older people. It was a really interesting blend across generations. So we definitely hope to attract those new audiences while still serving the audiences loyal to us for many years. How do you balance the intersection of young and old? I know that my generation and the younger generation, the Millennials, we have had it easier as a result of all the struggle and the result of progress the other generations have gone through. It is perhaps easy to forget that we didn’t always have it this good. That could lead to some interesting conversations and perspectives. It’s a good question to wrestle with.
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MONDAY, THURSDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ON THE SLAB CINEMA 48 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
SCREENS
DEAD ZONE Sicario brings life to the chilling violence of the drug trade MARYANN JOHANSON
Director Denis Villeneuve raises the bar after his intense and harrowing Prisoners with a movie on a warpath. The War on Drugs has never felt more like actual warfare than in Sicario. FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) serves on a drug squad, as the lead on a hostage search and rescue team. As the film begins, we see just how brutal this line of work can be. Sicario’s opening sequence, a raid on one of the properties owned by a known drug lord and used for many aspects of the business, is nail-biting and bone-chilling; when one seasoned FBI agent has to step outside to vomit, you almost want to join him. What the cops find inside the house isn’t visually very graphic, but that almost makes it worse, because your imagination fills in the gruesome details. The scene sets a tone akin to that of a horror movie — sleek and elegant à la The Silence of the Lambs. Kate is no innocent, nor does she shrink in front of violence: She was not the one who had to step outside to throw up. But now she is through a looking glass and down a rabbit hole, and getting deeper at every turn into a world in which the rules she knows don’t apply ... and this infuriates her. Her idealism comes smack up against the realities of the War on Drugs; not that the horrifically messy situations they find themselves in aren’t real, but they are artificially manufactured by everyone on both sides. Sicario is one of the best movies of the year. For the incredible performances; Villeneuve had to battle for Blunt to take on a part that had been written for a man. Blunt makes Kate tough and smart and capable, but as a woman in what has traditionally been a man’s role — law enforcement, that is, not starring in action drama — her character also brings the subtle criticism that new perspectives in law enforcement are needed, though not always welcome. For the savage atmosphere, which at times feels more like dystopian sci-fi than ripped-fromthe-headlines actuality. For the pulse-pounding score, by Jóhann Jóhannsson, which thrums like war drums or a frightened heartbeat. And for how, like Kate, it rages with frustration against the real politik that has colonized and taken over the ideals of fairness and justice that we pretend rule us.
Sicario (R) Dir. Denis Villeneuve; writ. Taylor Sheridan; feat. Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro Opens Friday, October 2
THE NEW NARCOCINEMA Mat t Stieb / @MatthewStieb
Gritty, low-budget, sometimes silly narcocinema has been active south of the border since the ’70s — for a solid treatment of the form, see Vice’s mini-doc from 2013. But in the last decade, the violence, corruption and absurdity of the War on Drugs has seen an upswing of creativity and big budget attention, from awardguaranteed projects like Sicario to flop-house material like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s shoot-‘em-up border flicks in 2013 and 2014. No Country for Old Men (2007) The Coen brothers’ adaptation of Cormac McCarthy touched most gracefully on a foundational trope of narcocinema and an unfortunate truth for cartel victims — no matter your level of capability, there’s always an even nastier hitman willing to make a dollar. With a dead-eyed leer and an unfortunate haircut, Javier Bardem played that bigger, badder fish to perfection, earning him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Breaking Bad (2008) Though Breaking Bad found its home 270 miles north of the border in Albuquerque, the tragedy of Walter White gave faces to the system of the drug trade. Each business shake-up or low-level gang hit in the ABQ generated a chaotic and unforeseeable ripple on the supply chain — watch that trigger finger, Jesse! Working with such violent disciples of the Holy Dollar, there’s no bad deed that goes unpunished.
The Counselor (2013) After the success of No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy got directly in the writer’s seat for his first original script. Directed by Ridley Scott, The Counselor follows its eponymous hero (Michael Fassbender) as he and his wife (Penélope Cruz) do business with ridiculously good-looking cartel affiliates including Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz and Javier Bardem, whose hairline and orange timbre brings to mind a crime lord version of Nic Cage. Despite the blinding star power, The Counselor couldn’t live up to its critical or commercial expectations. Narcos (2015) Set in Brazil, Narcos is further south on the production chain, but makes the list for its bingewatching potential and the high profile of its antagonist. Directed by José Padilha, the Netflix series tells the fictionalized tale of cocaine Robin Hood Pablo Escobar. With a net worth of $30 to $50 billion — it’s hard to calculate the net value of mountains of coke and money — Escobar was the richest criminal in history. The Cartel (In Development) Inspired by the letdown of The Counselor or by the tunneling ways of the Sinaloa cartel, Ridley Scott is back for more cross-border conflict. Based on Don Winslow’s novel of the same name, Scott takes on a narrative based on El Chapo, the billionaire kingpin who dug his way out of max security via a tunnel just below the shower this June. mstieb@sacurrent.com
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sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 49
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UT Friday, • 6-9pm DO L10/2
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Join us for the First Friday Wine Walk Masquerade themed. Start at Nectar and pick up your mask, then off to Haunt, Soho, and O’liva.
Wednesday, 10/7
Beer Tasting, we will sampling some beers for fall
Wednesday, 10/14
Wine Tasting - This will be a blind Pinot Noir tasting
Wednesday, 10/21
NOW OPEN 214 Broadway•NectarSa.com @NectarSAT
Wine Tasting - Don’t think about Riesling as a sweet wine anymore. Join us as we learn how great this wine actually is.
Friday, 11/6
First Friday Wine Walk - Theme to be announced. Web: NectarSA.com @Nectarsat Nectar Wine Bar and Ale House Nectarwinebar
50 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
FOOD
Shuck Shack’s beachy charm is hard to diss JESSICA ELIZARRARAS/@JESSELIZARRARAS
It dawned on me that in the twoish years I’ve worked at the San Antonio Current, I’d yet to review a new restaurant by Jason Dady. Umai Mi, Tre Enoteca and even B&D Ice House — his joint concept with the Newman clan — were handled by freelancers. It was high time I stepped up to the plate, figuratively and literally. Dady and wife Crystal opened Shuck Shack over Fourth of July weekend, and though the weather might have been too hot for it then, the cooler fall months will make a regular out of anyone that sits on that patio. Bright red foldable tables and chairs fill the deck, while tough, wooden picnic ones are lined up throughout the gravelly patio — the whole vibe, complete with wait staff in brightly colored fishin’ shirts and cargo shorts, is casual, cool and relaxing. A playground for the kiddos stands as a centerpiece, though my attention after each visit went immediately to the parking lot. After opening this many eateries, and learning from others who might not have had the foresight to include a parking lot, Dady and co. outfitted this space with just enough spots to keep folks happy. Thanks for not making me walk around aimlessly, Jason. What the Shuck Shack does that the other Dady joints don’t necessarily do is
DAN PAYTON
BAY WATCH
feature the bar equally with the food. Call me a lush, but lately, I’d rather take in a drink or two and pair it with a couple of really great snacks. The piña colada (can we get more of these on menus ASAP?) made use of opal ice, and was sweet and balanced. Paired with the kewpie deviled eggs (a tasty Umai Mi leftover), or the crunchy, white cheddar jalapeño cornmeal hush-pups, the cocktails are quite sessionable. Make things slightly more interactive with a “Cajun boil” whole artichoke and a “limonade” drink made with Deep Eddy lemon vodka, Topo Chico and a lime paleta from El Paraiso. If this drink doesn’t say Texas, I’m not sure what does. Of course, the evening could also be whiled away over one or two dozen raw oysters. The market selections change often, so the would-be oyster connoisseur can explore bivalves from across the U.S. On a recent Monday night, the full dozen Gulf oysters split among three was briny, refreshing and a light start to our evening. But it’s time to talk about the elephant (or would it be whale?) in the room — a $40 lobster roll with meat from the entire tail, two claws and two knuckles. Having visited the Shuck Shack four times since its July opening, I tried the roll twice. Once with a group of foodies who split the roll almost five ways and the second time during that same Monday when we split a more-reasonably priced $22 half roll. There is definitely a market of eaters willing to pay top dollar for freshly flown sea spiders dressed in fresh mayo and crisp celery. The full roll has its merits, but this eater can’t reasonably pay the price of four craft cocktails for what boils down to a good sandwich. And while that is very much an option, the rest of the menu should enrapture eaters on a budget. The burger ‘n fixins made with 44 Farms out of Cameron,
Shuck Shack’s bivalve selection changes often, but always features something fresh.
plenty more to focus on than one expensive Texas was delightfully layered with item. The clam chowder à la minute should flavors. The fish and chips can’t be be on your list, as should the oystah’ missed — the batter is crisp and dreamy chowdah’ — an East Coast classic that’ll and consistently so. The shrimp roll warm seafaring bones come winter. employs an alluring mixture of brown With lunch service but a butter, sofrito and horseradish few weeks old, the Shuck aioli to delectable results — and Shuck Shack Shack is already seeing a it’s only $16. 520 E Grayson healthy mid-day crowd. Get in Though the menu is tidy — I’m still (210) 236-7422 working my way through it — there’s facebook.com/sashuckshack there — flip flops are optional.
Skinny: Casual and beachy, Jason Dady’s latest venture is a laid-back hang with great food and patio-pounding cocktails. Best Bets: fish and chips, shrimp roll, burger, both chowdahs, oysters on the half shell. Hours: 11am-10pm Mon-Thu, 11am-11pm Fri-Sat, 11am-9pm Sun Price: $5-$40; $1.65-$2.75 for oysters
Firrssdt ays T hu_ S A · TX
OCTOBER
1 ST
Kick off the CTRC Partners Shopping Card event
at Pearl on First Thursday – one night only – all shops are participating. Join us for a preview night of shopping before the program officially begins October 9th.
Open ‘til 7 PM
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PARTNERS SHOPPING CARD 2015 sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 51
Smokey Mo’s Bar-B-Q
Spring Branch/Bulverde (830) 438-8330 19851 Hwy 46 W (Just east of 281 on Hwy 46)
San Antonio • (210) 481-3835 20210 Stone Oak Pkwy (near Stone Oak & Evans) San Antonio • (210) 494-9090 22106 Bulverde Rd (Corner of Evans & Bulverde)
Brisket - Turkey - Sausage Chicken - Pork Loin - Ribs - Sides
We Cater! No Order is too big!
Boerne • (830) 331-2633 1685 River Road (The Ranch at Cibolo Creek)
www.SmokeyMosBBQ.com
I! X E R O L I A K PETITE)
(GOOD AP
When you eat at Guido’s, you eat with Family!
John the Greek’s restaurant serves food the way mom used to make it for over 25 years and will continue to evolve and expand.
ers Danckend! y l l e Be y we ever
Dine in, Carry-out & Delivery 2607 Jackson Keller | 210.802.9866
www.johnthegreek.com
210.403.0565 • San Pedro @ Thousand Oaks
HABIBI CAFE M e d i t e r r a n e a n R e s ta u r a n t & H o o k a h L o u n g e
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52 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
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NOW HIRING. PLEASE APPLY IN-STORE 6565 BABCOCK RD STE. #23 (AT DE ZAVALA) 210.384.2974
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OLD-SCHOOL VIBES
Happy hour app
Fairview Coffee Bar & Grub packs some big flavors in a tiny shop LAUREN W. MADRID
Do we need more coffee craftsmanship shows. The sourdough shops in Midtown? That’s what makes for a tangy toast, topped I asked myself as I pulled up with herbed goat cheese and fig to Fairview Coffee Bar & Grub, a newly preserves. This dish sounds humble, opened coffee shop at St. Mary’s and but the flavors balance beautifully. The 281. Within a 5-mile radius of Fairview, pastry case is loaded with muffins there are at least 10 coffee shops (not and donuts, including the must-have counting the myriad Starbucks). Do we Mexican hot chocolate donut, which need more hipster baristas, pour overs has just the right amount of spice and and Millennials on MacBook Pros? is filled with a citrus cream. The shop I’m not sure if we do, but we should recently added savory bread puddings appreciate Fairview for what it brings to the menu, made with either to the area. Located between Pizza sourdough or waffles. The sourdough, Classics and SA Pops, Fairview is on cheddar and sausage pudding was the small side for a coffee shop. They’ve more of an egg custard with bread maximized the interior as best they can, on top, but I’m not complaining. It with a long table dominating the main was gooey and hearty, the egg still dining area and a few bar chairs lining moist while the bread on top stayed the wall. On the sidewalk underneath crunchy. My half-order of waffles the awning, wrought-iron tables double with fruit compote was serviceable. the dining area and offer a bit of privacy The waffle itself was a little bland for those who don’t want to share a and immediately got soggy from the table with strangers. weight of the compote. The coffee and tea is the usual fare: slow pours, espressos, cortados, lattes, The Gremlin’s Take cappuccinos, a vast selection of hot As the mother of a 10-month-old, I and iced teas, blah blah blah. Really, like to bring him on my culinary jaunts. we all need to be drinking El Chingón: Not every place is conducive to dining homemade Horchata and a shot of with an infant, so here’s the lowdown. espresso poured over ice with cinnamon The outside tables were a godsend, on top. If you’ve ever wanted to pour so my kid could sit in a highchair and coffee into your cereal and babble without disturbing the drink it, this is the drink for you. Fairview Coffee Bar college students. Toast crusts Fairview’s food menu is were chewy enough to keep and Grub 3428 N St. Mary’s, small but has some real the gremlin busy gnawing while (210) 731-8009 standouts. Pastries and breads 7am-4pm Mon-Fri, I devoured some pastries. Baby are made in-house, and the gives it two thumbs up. 8am-4pm Sat-Sun
WEEKLY CALENDAR Monday Madness
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Wednesday
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Sunday Night
Catch Your Favorite Sports
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FOOD
CULINARY CALENDAR
5 Ways to Get Your Drink/Grub on This Week JESSICA ELIZARRARAS/@JESSELIZARRARAS
Go eat outdoors.
s a m y na i t n a c
Friday, October 2 Oktoberfest: The Deutschland festivities are in full swing at The Hoppy Monk, which is adding 20 Oktoberfest brews, live music, traditional Bavarian snacks, a ceremonial wooden keg tapping along with ceramic steins shipped all the way from Germany that will be available for purchase. Prices vary, 11:30am-2am Friday and Saturday, 1010 N Loop 1604 E, (210) 545-3330, facebook.com/ thehoppymonksanantonio. Octobeer Feast: The Boardwalk on Bulverde hosts its fifth annual Oktoberfestthemed festival and pet adoption. Participating food trucks include Treats on Streets, Gracie’s Kitchen, Sir-Wacha, Chilito’s Express Latin Fusion Kitchen, Where Y’at, Cajun on da Geaux, Mr. Fish, Ain’t Yo Momma’s Pie and more. A portion of the proceeds from the event will benefit Animal Care Services, which will have animals up for adoption available on-site. $5 admission, food prices vary, 6-11pm Friday, noon-11pm Saturday, noon-8pm Sunday, (210) 850-4472, boardwalkonbulverde.com. Saturday, October 3 Om Plate: Say.She.Ate and Mobile Om are teaming up for a yoga-fied spin on a supper club. Enjoy mindful yoga practice followed by a four-course, family-style meal prepared by chef Brandon McKelvey. The menu includes sashimi with rice cracker, curried butternut squash dumpling soup, Asian-style grilled fish, noodle salad, crudités with wasabi hummus, green papaya salad and whole grilled eggplant with chutney. $80, 7-10pm, 1114 S St. Mary’s, (210) 816-0936, mobileomtx.com. Sunday, October 4 Houston Street Food: Houston Street Charities, the non-profit behind the San Antonio Cocktail Conference will host this urban picnic benefitting the San Antonio Food Bank. The outdoor dining experience will feature a communal long table and gourmet picnic baskets from Bohanan’s, Citrus, Market on Houston, The Friendly Spot, Palm Restaurant and Biga on the Banks. Each basket purchase includes unlimited beer and wine. Proceeds will help fund the food bank’s Kid’s Café. $50 per person, 11:30am2pm, Houston Street between Navarro & North St. Mary’s, houstonstreetfood.org. Wednesday, October 7 Catalan Cuisine: The foods of Northeastern Spain are on the menu at Central Market, which celebrates the McNay’s “Miró: The Experience of Seeing” with more than 50 works by Spanish artist Joan Miró. $60, 6:30-9pm, 4821 Broadway, (210) 368-8617, centralmarket.com. Send food- and booze-related events to flavor@sacurrent.com
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JESSICA ELIZARRARAS/@JESSELIZARRARAS
The coffee revolution continues in the Alamo City with the addition of Thursday Night Throwdowns, hosted by Local Coffee and Merit Roasting Co. The first installment goes down Thursday, October 8 from 7 to 11 p.m. Held at Merit (2001 S Presa), the event invites latte artists from all over the city and state for this pour-off with a $5 buy-in to compete and cash awards for first, second and third Chicken and beignets at Alchemy. place winners. Special guest judges for this go-round include Lorenzo Perkins of Cuvee Coffee in Austin, along with coffee writer, consultant and trainer Scott Rao. Go see your fave barista compete and good luck falling asleep after.
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This weekend, I hosted a few girlfriends from out of town and we championed through two new brunches. The first at Old Main Assoc. (2512 N Main Ave, 210562-3440) where we enjoyed fluffy whiskey pancakes topped with caramelized banana, Cap’n Crunch chicken, biscuits with a solid gravy and several micheladas. We hopped on over to Alchemy Kombucha and Culture (1123 N Flores, 210320-1168), which launched their brunch offering this past weekend to insanely fun results. Expect to find biscuits and gravy, an okra-dotted barbacoa rice bowl, along with wings and tiny beignets with coconut, green curry, scallion and chile arbol. Get the Shamekiller (coconut washed vodka, pineapple OJ gomme and bubbles) to wash away any residual Saturday-night humiliation.
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Football season is adding more dining options to our lineup. Chef Drew Morros of Crossroads Kitchen inside Faust Tavern (517 E Woodlawn, 210-257-0628) launched a Monday Wing Night for Monday Night Football from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. I don’t partake in pigskin viewing, but I’ll stop by because wings are everything. Varieties during the launch included ranch-battered, Cajun, ginger beer and extra hot (the latter two will be staples going forward) priced between $5 and $9.
RESTAURANT & BAR
Pencil in two more events for this October. The Centro Cultural Aztlan (1800 Fredericksburg, 210-432-1895) will host the seventh annual Mole Throwdown on Thursday, October 15 from 6 to 10 p.m. Attendees will get a chance to sample more than 20 varieties of mole cooked by local restaurants, as paired with cold cerveza. Tickets ($40) are available through centrozatlan.org.
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Be ready to eat all the baklava your gut desires during the 55th annual Greek FUNstival at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church (2504 N St. Mary’s, 210-7355051) on October 16-18. Stop in for Greek snacks and more available to purchase, an Agora marketplace and authentic entertainment. Get your tickets through stsophiagoc.org/funstival.
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NIGHTLIFE
BRYAN RINDFUSS
LESSER EVIL
How much pumpkin is too much?
JESSICA ELIZARRARAS/@JESSELIZARRARAS
Confession: I may have dabbled in basic activities in a previous life. Like other young 20-somethings, I was thrilled at the idea of the release of pumpkin-flavored anything come fall. Dairy Queen’s pumpkin pie Blizzard with pumpkin puree, nutmeg and Graham crackers? Yep, I had it. Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte, the company’s longest running fall drink for 10 years? Yep, I was nutty enough to seek them out the minute they became available. The pumpkin fandom took a turn within the last few years as more and more of the fall gourd seemed to turn up in just about every product. And regardless of actual quality, consumers continue to buy it. Pumpkin spice yogurt, pumpkin spice latte M&Ms, Thomas’ pumpkin spice English Muffins, pumpkin spice almonds and pumpkin spice Oreos are all littered on shelves across every grocery store in town. And though we could sit here and advocate against every single one of these items, or go on at length about how butternut squash is actually the best winter squash around, I’ll focus instead on the most egregious of pumpkin casualties — pumpkin beer. As Fortune pointed out this September, the beer variety isn’t going away any time soon. If anything, pumpkin ales serve as a gateway beer for seasonals. The fall line up of beers — pumpkin, Oktoberfest and whatever brewers churn out for the holidays — sold more than $253.5 million, according to the Brewers Association. It’s lucrative, and ludicrous, but beer fans shouldn’t have to drink a slice of pumpkin pie in a pint. The other annoyance that goes along with pumpkin ales is how soon we see them on shelves. Whether
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Pumpkin beer hit shelves in August ... is there any left?
done purposefully to attract that overeager audience full of pumpkin-sluts, the onslaught of orange labels at the beginning of August makes for serious cognitive dissonance. It’s 90 degrees out, people! This first-to-market mentality means that by the time Halloween rolls around, let alone Thanksgiving when you could actually pair said bier with its namesake pie, there will be little to nothing to choose from. Buy the beers now, if you absolutely must, or wait for St. Arnold’s Pumpkinator — out in midOctober since the brewery uses seasonal pumpkins and not canned puree — which is often worth the wait, but comes in limited quantities. If the basic bitch that lives within you has to cave to the pumpkin cravings, I’d suggest Harpoon Brewery’s UFO Pumpkin — a slightly hazy number that’s held consistently well through several
60 CURRENT • September 30– October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
iterations since its launch in 2011. The aroma is malty and its profile rests more on its German Vienna and Munich malts than trying to mimic a full-blown pumpkin pie. It’s also fairly sessionable with a 5.9 percent ABV. Expect a smooth body and commendable middle-of-the-road-ness. Find it on most shelves across town. My visit to Central Market yielded mixed results. Helpful Kristopher in the beer department pointed me in the direction of two new beers in town, which are making use of bourbon barrels to add some heft to their fall wares. The bomber, an Imperial Bourbon Pumpkin Porter from Strange Land Brewery in Austin, the company’s first limited autumnal release, seemed like a great idea at first. The eerie label promised a malty beverage, but the results were more acidic than we hoped for. Coffee notes came through, but the
bottle-conditioned treatment left the beer with an extremely acidic flavor and overeager head that persisted through the last pour. The highlight for our motley tasting panel of craft lovers and Tecate-prone drinkers was the Kentucky Lexington Brewing and Distilling’s Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale. The four-pack of 12-ounce beers came in just under $15, but at 10 percent ABV, this isn’t a beer you want to slam. Instead, take in its golden hue and admire the caramel nose. The Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale was surprisingly balanced and not too sweet, and leaned more on its pumpkin pie spices than pumpkin for its flavor. Get your four-pack quick — the 90-degree “autumn” we’re in isn’t keeping pumpkin lovers at bay. You’ll want to get this before it’s gone. flavor@sacurrent.com
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2 ounces vodka 4 ounces tomato juice 2 teaspoons lemon juice Cayenne pepper Worcestershire sauce Salt Black pepper Celery stalk
1 1/2 ounces Zubrówka vodka 1 ounce celery syrup (recipe below) 1/2 ounce Chartreuse 1/2 ounce Luxardo Maraschino liqueur 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice Dash celery bitters
Stir the vodka, tomato juice and lemon juice together in an ice-filled tall glass, then add seasoning to taste. Garnish with celery stalk.
Put the vodka, celery syrup, Chartreuse, Maraschino and lime juice in an ice-filled shaker and shake thoroughly. Strain into a highball glass (or a tall glass, if adding bubbles) and top with a dash of celery bitters.
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One thing about writing a recipe column: After a while, the columnist’s personal picky likes and dislikes become obvious. For instance, I’ve remixed some pretty obscure cocktails – the Blood & Sand, the Clover Club, the Monkey Gland – but there are a few very common ones I haven’t approached. Like the Bloody Mary. Yechh. Yeah, I hate ’em. I just don’t like tomato juice (so thick and claggy, and almost always metallic-tasting because of the can). And this trend of spicing the juice and overloading the traditional celery garnish by adding cheese cubes and salami and bacon and whatnot – it’s just ridiculous, like drinking chili out of a glass. The only part I like is that celery stalk, even if most people just use it as a stir stick and abandon it on the edge of the brunch plate. So I give you a flipped Bloody Mary; I’ve made celery the star and moved the tomatoes to the supporting garnishy role. Blasphemy? Perhaps, but challenging the norm is kind of the
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JESSICA BRYCE YOUNG/@JBY789
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We flip the Bloody Mary
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point with such a classic drink. I made a quick spicy celery syrup and started experimenting with spirits to come up with a fresh, clean, noclag cocktail. I knew I wanted it to be herbal and lightly vegetal, showcasing celery in a starring role, so the vodka I chose was Zubrówka – not the imaginary setting of Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel, but a Polish vodka infused with bison grass, which gives it a, well, grassy flavor (available at Spec’s). I cut the sweetness of the syrup and the infused vodka and added to the celery-green hue with a bit of Chartreuse, an astringent digestif distilled from 130 different herbs and flowers. These ingredients, mixed I SS with some lime juice to JE balance, were good together, but not quite complete. As is so often the case, Luxardo Maraschino played the magic supporting role, rounding things out with its subtly nutty flavor in the background. For a longer drink, top off with an inch or two of your bubbles of choice (champagne or seltzer), but whether you stick with the highball or go pintglass, finish off the drink with a dash of aromatic celery bitters. Garnish with a tiny cherry tomato – or just skip the tomatoes altogether and dunk in a celery stir-stalk.
CELERY SYRUP One head of celery 4 green cardamom pods 2 teaspoons black peppercorns Zest of half a lemon 1 cup sugar 1 cup water Finely chop five or six stalks of celery. Bring sugar and water to boil in a large saucepan, then add celery, bring back to a boil and let it bubble for about a minute. Remove from burner and add the lightly crushed cardamom and peppercorns, then lemon zest to pan and stir. Let syrup cool to room temperature, strain and refrigerate.
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MUSIC
▲
From left to right: Stevie Wonder will get superstitious on Halloween; the unholy King Khan & BBQ Show; artist of the trio Brad Mehldau.
THE FALL CONCERT GUIDE Six can’t miss picks for October and November
Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club Saturday, October 17 | Laurie Auditorium With the U.S. opening an embassy in Cuba this year — and the impending invasion of the first McDonald’s in Havana only a matter of time — it’s hard to fully put into perspective how shocking the eponymous 1997 release from the Buena Vista Social Club was. The Afro-Cuban style, so pervasive in the 1940s and ’50s, had re-emerged from nowhere, with its original makers still capable of the same fire. Since that time, several members of the original lineup have passed, including pianist Rubén González and vocalists Compay Segundo and Ibrahim Ferrer. The remaining members, reformed as the 13-piece Orquesta Buena Vista, now look to keep the flame going for one last tour. — J.D. Swerzenski Gang of Four | Saturday, October 24 | Paper Tiger Formed in ’77, Gang of Four accomplished the unenviable task of merging the sexual, perpetual slink and grind of disco with the crude, radical and unkempt treble assault of punk rock. It was something many bands at the
time attempted but so few demonstratively accomplished. They were Marxist music for the roller rink. With tunes like “(Love Like) Anthrax,” the B-side to one of the best debut singles — “Damaged Goods” — of any UK band postInvasion, the Gang achieved one of the last admirable feats of 20th century writers and rockers alike: being banned by their government. Although guitarist/vocalist Andy Gill is the one remaining original member, this is a bucket list show. — D.T. Buffkin Stevie Wonder Saturday, October 31 | AT&T Center In 1976, 26-year-old Stevie Wonder arguably pulled off the greatest three-album streak in music with the towering Songs in the Key of Life, an 84-minute, double LP (triple if you count the 4-track EP) that offered ample acreage for his sprawling genius. Wonder, now 65, has set out to perform Songs in full, backed by a “very big band” to help pull off the album’s wide-ranging and intricate arrangements. Beyond guaranteeing performances of the album’s big hits “As,” “Sir Duke” and “Isn’t She Lovely,” the tour also offers a chance to hear deep cuts like “Contusion” and “Saturn” that never make it into Wonder’s regular sets. And don’t worry, he’s also promising to provide an encore of hits, just in case you were afraid he wouldn’t play “Superstition” on Halloween night. — JDS The King Khan & BBQ Show Tuesday, November 3 | Paper Tiger It was recently posited that prejudice against the young was the final form of discrimination yet to be fully confronted in the U.S. If inaccurate, at least it’s a provocative observation as “hipster” is used so pejoratively by young and old squares alike. King Khan & BBQ Show is a hipster band. That is, in no other time in the West during the last 100 years could their musically reverent and lyrically sacrilegious welding of junkyard
doo-wop and pep rally punk be so well received — mostly by little shits in Vans, cutoff shorts and flannels. But, fuck ’em, gang. In the immortal words of KK&BBQ, “I don’t give a FUCK, whatchu doin’ to me!” Bring your folks. — DTB Brad Mehldau Trio Wednesday, November 4 | Aztec Theatre “It’s as if he were aware of jazz tradition but entirely unencumbered by it,” The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings wrote of pianist Brad Mehldau nearly 20 years ago, a time in which the truth of that comment has only grown. Backed by his equally open-minded (and talented) trio of bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard, Mehldau has charted the course of modern jazz more than any other figure: refashioning Radiohead, Soundgarden and Sufjan Stevens into jazz standards, bridging jazz and classical with the help of Kanye West collaborator Jon Brion, and establishing a new Art of the Trio for contemporaries Vijay Iyer and Jason Moran. From a technical level, there are few more accomplished in jazz than Mehldau and his trio; there are even fewer that make it so easy to enjoy. — JDS Moving Units | Saturday, November 21 | Limelight Moving Units is the band I wish was playing at every gay bar that isn’t country or western themed. Their Newest LP Neurotic Exotic sounds suspiciously like they’re reaching for the high-fructose rock candy crown of modern dance music I believed singer Blake Miller was critiquing and détourning on Dangerous Dreams and Moving Units. Maybe it was the company he kept (31G Records, Festival of Dead Deer). Miller sounded anxious, too coked-up to fuck but completely lucid, empathetic and sexual; dry and nasal — like he’d been up for days reading Anaïs Nin and snorting horny goat weed and cotton. New single “The World is Ours” is an unwanted glitter-dong in my face. Praying for oldies. — DTB sacurrent.com • September 30– October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 67
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MUSIC
NO PHONES NECESSARY Cosmic big band Golden Dawn Arkestra takes over K23 J.D. SWERZENSKI
Like many first-time listeners, before anything,” he said. “I think it was my first contact with the Golden a cosmic mission that just unfolded Dawn Arkestra came during organically. And since then all the last year’s SXSW. In that noisy sea of musicians and dancers and designers interchangeable garage bands and laptop that have been involved have just projects, the Arkestra was exactly as pushed it forward.” advertised: otherworldly. The 13-piece As for the band’s use of the band, replete with horns, dancers and “Arkestra” title, Zapot sees the use of percussionists in interstellar attire, staged Sun Ra’s band name as an homage a multisensory spectacle using video rather than strict tribute. “We obviously projections, dance and a sound like drew a lot of inspiration from our Funkadelic scoring a spaghetti western spiritual guide Sun Ra, more visually soundtrack set on Saturn. The Austinthan musically. He also came from outer based band then pulled off another space. It’s more of an homage and a SXSW marvel by shocking people into thank you for teaching us ways of living putting their phones away. outside of the box.” “You’d think that at our shows Golden Dawn’s lone recording, would have all these photos posted, last year’s eponymous EP, was often but in our best shows, there’s only 80 described as cinematic, both for its photos, because people are paying scale and multi-toned direction. Live, attention,” said Zapot Mgwana, Golden that cinematic feeling becomes even Dawn’s saxophonist and leader. “One more enveloping, especially now that of our missions is to really bring people the Arkestra has recruited visual artist out of this dimension, and especially Bob Mustachio, who has produced people [who] get addicted to their video projects for the Black Angels and phones and these other places that Levitation Fest, to provide original video feel like another dimension, but are projections for the S.A. show. really one-dimensional. It takes a lot Zapot is currently at work with the band to take people out of that and have a on their debut LP, a record he describes transcendent experience.” as bigger, grander and better than the For Zapot, the moniker of AustinEP in every way. Still, for a project as based musical journeyman Topaz cosmically ambitious as Golden Dawn, Mcgarrigle, the band didn’t the bandleader holds modest begin with a clear musical hopes, particularly for the direction when they formed Golden Dawn Arkestra uninitiated, for their K23 Gallery in 2013, an approach that show this Friday. feat. FunkOTron, Femina-X has allowed the Arkestra “You may hate it, you may $8 to invite a range of styles, love it, but it’ll be different,” 9pm including Ethiopian jazz, Sly said Zapot. “Whatever your Fri, Oct. 2 K23 Gallery Stone-styled funk and new reaction, I at least hope 702 Fredericksburg Road wave disco. that you’ll put away your (210) 776-5635 “I came up with the name fucking phone.” facebook.com/k23gallery
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MUSIC
N O V 6. 7. 8
THIS IS WHAT SURVIVES
AU S T IN , T E X A S AUDI T ORI U M S H ORE S F UNF UNF UNF E S T. C O M
The Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio celebrates the Forbidden Composers banned by the Third Reich
Fun Fun Fun Fest 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
JAMES COURTNEY ROY COX
The Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio’s new series, appropriately (if melodramatically) dubbed Forbidden Composers, kicks off Saturday at the Tobin Center. Featuring the music of politically oppressed artists throughout history, the inaugural concert presents works by three Jewish composers who were stifled by the Nazi regime. Each of these individuals and their works — Hanns Eisler’s “Suite for Orchestra No. 4,” Erwin Schulhoff’s “Suite for Chamber Orchestra,” and Alexander Zemlinsky’s “Chamber Symphony” — were, in their time, treated as threats to the Third Reich. The result of this oppression was dire in the composers’ own time and left their stellar works Guest conductor Gemma New to be forgotten by history. Until now, these pieces have only very rarely been performed. Thus, the Schulhoff, who actually perished in a performance of these particular works concentration camp, and this of course becomes one part memoriam and one prevented them from continuing their part education. remarkable work.” “This is an important performance The compositions, New said, are because it’s an opportunity to more light-hearted than you might hear composers that were directly imagine. Schulhoff’s piece “Suite for affected by the Nazi regime,” said Chamber Orchestra,” in particular, Paul Montalvo, artistic director of the incorporates elements of ragtime, chamber orchestra. “Because of the jazz, tango and waltz. Meanwhile, [70th] anniversary of Auschwitz’s Eisler’s “Suite for Orchestra No. 4” liberation, and in light of recent antiis a piece of a film score that “has a Semitic events in our city, the evening certain old-Hollywood sound” that also will carry added significance.” fuses jazz with classical composition. Gemma New, guest The heavy hitter of the trio, conductor and associate von Zemlinsky’s “Chamber The Forbidden conductor of the New Jersey Symphony” plays like an Composers Symphony Orchestra, said, updated Brahms or Mahler $45 8pm Sat, Oct. 3 “This program is special — romantic with intriguing Tobin Center because these composers departures in tonality. It will 100 Auditorium had their lives turned upside leave listeners with “something (210) 223-8624 tobincenter.org down … Especially like to really chew on.”
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MUSIC
MORE THAN A MINUTE Mike Watt’s enduring punk career CHRIS PARKER
Minuteman, Stooge and punk icon Mike Watt.
Mike Watt is the Pied Piper actually trying to get a little creative.” of punk rock. He wasn’t there When Boon passed in a 1985 van first, but he has endured as accident, Watt was devastated. Around well as anyone through his many bands then, an Ohio State student who loved and solo projects, embodying the idea the Minutemen drove to San Pedro. and spirit of the form. EdfromOhio, as Watt dubbed him, “Punk was in your mind, it wasn’t knocked at Boon’s door and eventually some style of music in those days,” convinced Watt and drummer George Watt, 57, said. “Anything went. When Hurley to make music again in fIREHOSE. hardcore came in, it kind of got a After fIREHOSE broke up in ’94, certain way with fast guitars, but the Watt released four solo albums, punk we knew in Hollywood, some of collaborated with and backed numerous the bands didn’t even have guitars.” other bands. After a near-death Raised on ’70s arena rock like Black infection around the millennium, Watt Sabbath and Blue Öyster Cult, music bounced back, first behind J Mascis seemed beyond Watt and his buddy D. and then the Stooges, in what would Boon. Then they saw Black Flag play. become an ongoing association. Watt turned to Boon and said, “We “I was in pain and it got me down, but could do this.” Punk opened a world on the other hand, Fuck no! I had shit I of opportunity, and the music has only wanted to do,” Watt said of his recovery. grown more democratized and do-itHe’s featured in at least a half-dozen yourself ever since. combos in addition to The Missingmen, Minutemen’s sound was inspired by who back his solo material (including the terse minimalist angularity of the 2011’s amazing Hyphenated-man). UK band Wire, which developed into Watt was inspired to return to the sparely ferocious bursts and rubbery Minutemen’s sound by a documentary rhythms beneath thoughtful, elliptical on the band, providing a vehicle for midand vaguely political verse life contemplation, though in his with a blue-collar heart. mind he’s ever the punk teen. Mike Watt and The “Honest wage for honest “I need that because it helps Missingmen feat. work. But this expression thing, give me a focus,” Watt said. Hamell on Trial, this is about trying to be a little “I’m not trying to be naïve or The Beaumonts creative, too,” he said. “That’s infantile, but there’s something $12 8pm Thu, Oct. 1 why we felt very empowered about – Perry [Farrell, Jane’s Paper Tiger by the movement, it’s not just Addiction singer] once told me 2410 N St. Mary’s about service to the lifestyle, it’s papertigersa.com – ‘the child’s eye of wonder.’”
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sacurrent.com • September 30– October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 73
MUSIC
SUN
3
Helmet performing Betty
Any guitar geek turning abrasion into beauty in 2015 owes something to Helmet, the New York quartet that cut through the cocaine bullshit of ’80s metal with a string of wounded, focused albums during the Clinton years. In an era where record sales and signing bonuses flowed like bagged wine, Helmet was one of the few alt-bands signed to a major label that made a stylistic push forward, with touches of jazz and noise built into their drop-D affront. For her 21st birthday, Helmet is taking its third record, Betty, out on a spin across America. Head to toe their most ambitious effort, Betty is a thrashing, storming example of what guitars and angst could do together in the 1990s. Though some touches on the album — overdriven tone, high-pitched snare and roaming bass — would become touchstones of the nu-metal abhorrence, you can hardly blame Page Hamilton for his progenies’ obnoxious taste and white dreads. After Betty gets her time on the stage, Helmet will run through career hits and material from their newest release, Seeing Eye Dog. $17, 8pm, Paper Tiger, 2410 N St. Mary’s, papertigersa.com. — mstieb@sacurrent.com
Wednesday, September 30
set around the turn of the century in Nagasaki. Tobin Center, 7:30pm
DeerPeople’s sophomore release There’s Still Time for Us to Die is a deceptively bright effort, matching an upbeat indie-pop tone with subtly morose subject material you’d expect from the album name. 502 Bar, 9pm
Son of Kick Performing as Son of Kick,
DeerPeople Released in April,
University of the Incarnate Word Cardinal Jazz Band The University of the Incarnate Word jazz ensemble is an exciting learning lab for students, placing them in the company of gigging SA musicians like saxophonist John Magaldi and pianist Luvine Elias. The Cove, 8pm
Nag Champa Named after the Indian
incense, Nag Champa hosts a weekly revue of the explosive cumbia rhythm. Bottom Bracket Social Club, 10pm
Open Jam Session feat. Eric Gonzalez
Alto saxophonist Eric Gonzalez hosts an open call jam at the former punk spot. Viva Taco Land, 8pm
Thursday, October 1
Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
8373 CULEBRA STE. 103 • 210.521.4555 1639 BABCOCK RD. • 210.474.6005 74 CURRENT • September 30– October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
OPERA San Antonio presents Madama Butterfly on October 1 and 3, featuring soprano Maria Kanyova as Cio-Cio San and lyric tenor Adam Diegel as Lt. B.F. Pinkerton. Written by 19th century Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, Madama Butterfly is a tragedy of love and loss
Mika Abadie’s bass productions have taken him from his home in West London to festivals like Glastonbury and SXSW. The Falls, 11pm
The Grim Folks, National Standard
Rockabilly trio The Grim Folks stamp their “boom-chicka-boom” rhythms with a cowpunk attitude and the twangy, straight solos of Luther Perkins.Teachers by day, National Standard takes to the stage with fast bluegrass rhythms and an old school, hillbilly feel. The Amp Room, 11pm
Friday, October 2
Aaron Watson After a brief career in minor league baseball, Amarillo native Aaron Watson struck a hit with Good Time, his 2012 LP that reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Country chart. With Natalie Stovall & The Drive. Gruene Hall, 7pm
FEA Over the past year or so, Girl in a
Coma’s other two members, drummer Phanie Diaz and bassist Jenn Alva, have been kicking ass with their Chicana punk rock outfit FEA. Far from the tight, alt-goth melodicism of GIAC, FEA comes screaming to eat your brains, and they fucking mean it. With a three-song zine/ album out now a full length in the works for early 2016, FEA shows no signs of slowing down. With The Sweethearts. The Mix, 10pm
MUSIC
Buttercup: Daybreaker The Cobalt
Club, a concrete windowless bar that serves as a sanctuary from daylight or nuclear winter, opens every morning at 7 a.m. And every day since I moved to San Antonio, I’ve hoped that a band would play for the 7 a.m. barfly crowd. On Friday morning, SA indie mainstays Buttercup grant that request with a performance called DayBreaker, inviting patrons to drink, rock and go to work. Or, to stay for 19 hours until the bar closes the next morning. Cobalt Club, 7am
Royal Punisher An acolyte of Ornette
Coleman, Royal Punisher saxophonist Steve Esteban flies above the band, releasing hawkish, piercing bursts on alto. On guitar, Don Robin pops in with unexpected chordal jabs, opening up with mean bursts of Santanan guitar in solo sections. With Josh Glenn, Sioux & Fox. Hi-Tones, 9pm
Saturday, October 3
Randy Rogers Band With his 2013 album
Trouble, Cleburne native Randy Rogers made it to the ninth spot on the Billboard Top 200. It’s been a long time coming for Rogers, having learned to play at the age of six. Floore’s Country Store, 7pm
Ricky Martin From his Menudo
membership to 1999’s breakout with “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” from Spanish to English, from singing and dancing to acting, philanthropy (with The Ricky Martin Foundation) and even publishing an autobiography — a New York Times Bestseller in 2010 — Ricky Martin, siempre el chulito, has had one hell of a life. And, este guey is only 43. Freeman Coliseum, 8pm
Shannon and the Clams This Oakland
group’s unique sound falls somewhere between punk and oldies, between doowop and lo-fi garage rock, between wild emotive weirdness and pop-powered psych-rock prowess. This small room gig at Paper Tiger should see Shaw and company rocking a hefty helping of new tunes from
their solid and recently released fourth album Gone By The Dawn. Better hope your friends bought an extra ticket, ’cause this one is sold out. With Cool Ghouls, Rich Hands. Paper Tiger, 9pm
Sunday, October 4
Britannia The San Antonio Wind Symphony opens its 13th season with Britannia, celebrating the classical heritage of the British isles. UTSA Arts Building, 6pm
OCT 2 - Jeff Jacobs Band
Good Graeff Sisters Brooke and Brit Graeff produce beautiful, sturdy numbers of cello indie-pop. With The Onyx Humms. Limelight, 8:30pm
Wiccans Denton punks Wiccans are some bad motherfuckers, currently in an unofficial battle with Power Trip for the heaviest band in the DFW metroplex. With United Races, Sudden Attack, Ill Informed, The Unit, Detonate. The Ten Eleven, 7:30pm
Monday, October 5
Soli Chamber Ensemble: Texas Roadshow The Soli Chamber Ensemble
1032 S. Presa · tacohavensouthtown.com today Sign up weekly r u o at for letter e-news ent.com sacurr
Oct 3 - Randy Rogers Band
begins its 2015-2016 season with the world premiere of Carl Schimmel’s Roadshow for Thora, a work inspired by the oddities on the PBS series Antique Roadshow. Tobin Center, 7:30pm
Tuesday, October 6
The Lost Project Far From Where You
Are, The Lost Project’s debut 2015 effort, is an impressive sonic melting pot, drawing on pop, punk, ska, reggae, progressive rock and alternative rock. While The Lost Project’s live sets have always included heavy doses of ska, mixed up in an edgy pop-punk vibe, the album finds the trio accomplishing an impressive blending act, where many seemingly disparate elements coalesce to form a remarkably cohesive and polished whole. Nesta, 9pm
OCT 9 - Hal Ketchum
The Grave Babes October is a beautiful time of the year to catch The Grave Babes, SA’s resident horror-punk trio. Jack’s Bar, 8pm
502 Bar 502 Embassy Oaks, (210) 257-8125, 502bar.com Bottom Bracket Social Club 1609 N. Colorado, facebook.com/bottombracketsocialclub Cobalt Club 2022 McCullough, (210) 734-2244 Floore’s Country Store 14492 Old Bandera Road, Helotes, (210) 695-8827, liveatfloores.com Freeman Coliseum 3201 E. Houston St., (210) 226-1177, freemancoliseum.com Gruene Hall 1281 Gruene Rd., Gruene, (830) 606-1281, gruenehall.com Hi-Tones 621 E. Dewey, (210) 573-6220 Jack’s Bar 3030 Thousand Oaks, (210) 494-2309, jacksbarsa.com Limelight 2718 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 735-7775, thelimelightsa.com Paper Tiger 2410 N. St. Mary’s, papertiger.queueapp.com The Falls 226 W. Bitters Road, (210) 490-5553, thefallsbar.com The Mix 2403 N. St. Mary’s St. The Ten Eleven 1011 Avenue B, (210) 320-9080, theteneleven.com Tobin Center 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org UTSA Arts Building 1 UTSA Circle, (210) 458-4354, music.utsa.edu Viva Tacoland 103 W. Grayson St., (210) 368-2443, vivatacoland.com
OCT 16 - Josh Abbott Band
14492 Old Bandera Rd
Helotes, TX • 210-695-8827 For tickets: liveatfloores.com
sacurrent.com • September 30– October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 75
PUBLIC NOTICE
TEXASCOMMISSION COMMISSION ON ON E NVIRONMENTAL QQUALITY UALITY TEXAS ENVIRONMENTAL
NOTICE OF RECEIPTOF OFAPPLICATION APPLICATION AND AND INTENT INTENT TO NOTICE OF RECEIPT TO OBTAIN OBTAINAIR AIRPERMIT PERMIT PROPOSED AIR QUALITY PERMIT NUMBER 135584 PROPOSED AIR QUALITY PERMIT NUMBER 135584 APPLICATION UniFirst Corporation has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for issuance of Air Quality Permit Number 135584, which would authorize laundering of shop towels at the existing commercial laundryAPPLICATION facility located at 3047 EastUniFirst Commerce Street, San Antonio,has Bexarapplied County, Texas This linkCommission to an electronic map the site or facility’s general location is provided as a public courtesy and Corporation to 78220. the Texas onof Environmental Quality not part of the application or notice. For exact location, refer to application. http://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/hb610/index.html?lat=29.420281&lng=-98.440889&zoom=13&type=r. The facility will emit the following (TCEQ) for issuance of Air Quality Permit Number 135584, which would authorize laundering of shop towels at contaminants: organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants.
the existing commercial laundry facility located at 3047 East Commerce Street, San Antonio, Bexar County,
This application was submitted to the 78220. TCEQ on September 8, 2015. The electronic application will map be available for viewing andfacility’s copying at the TCEQ central office, the San Antonio office, and the San Antonio Central Texas This link to an of the site or general location isTCEQ provided as aregional public Library, 600 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 in the San Antonio regional office of courtesy and not part of the application or notice. For exact location, refer to application. the TCEQ.
http://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/hb610/index.html?lat=29.420281&lng=The executive director has determined the application is administratively complete will conduct technical of the application. 98.440889&zoom=13&type=r. The and facility will aemit thereview following contaminants: organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants.
CHANGE IN LAW The Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 709, effective September 1, 2015, amending requirements for comments and contested case hearings. This application is subject to those changes in law.
This application submitted to the TCEQ September 8, 2015. Thecase application available for PUBLIC COMMENT/PUBLIC MEETING You maywas submit public comments, a request for aon public meeting, or request a contested hearing to thewill Officebe of the Chief Clerk at the address below. The TCEQ will consider all public comments in developing a final decision on the application. The deadline to submit public comments is 30 days after newspaper notice is published. viewing and copying at the TCEQ central office, the TCEQ San Antonio regional office, and the San Antonio Central Library, 600 Soledad Street, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, beginning the first day of publication
The purpose of a public meeting is to provide the opportunity to submit comments or ask questions about the application. A public meeting about the application will be held if the executive director determines that there is a of this notice. The if any exists, available for public review in the San Antonio significant degree of public interest in the application or iffacility’s requested bycompliance a local legislator. file, A public meeting is not a is contested case hearing.
regional office of the TCEQ.
If only comments are received on the application, the response to comments, along with notice of the executive director’s action on the application, will be mailed to everyone who submitted comments or is on the mailing list for this application.
The executive director has determined the application is administratively complete and will conduct a technical
The executive director will complete review, issue a preliminary decision on the application, and a Notice of Application and Preliminary Decision will be published and mailed to those who are on the mailing list reviewtheoftechnical the application. for this application. That notice will contain the final deadline for submitting public comments. If a hearing request is timely filed in Response to this Notice of Receipt of Application and Intent to Obtain Air Permit, the time period for requesting a contested case hearing will be extended to thirty days after the mailing of the executive director’s response to comments.
CHANGE IN LAW The Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 709, effective September 1, 2015, for comments and contested case hearings. application subject After the final deadline foramending public comments requirements following the Notice of Application and Preliminary Decision, the executive director will considerThis the comments and prepare ais response to all relevant and material, or significant public comments. comments are received,in the law. response to comments, along with the executive director’s decision on the application, will then be mailed to everyone who submitted public comments or is toIfthose changes on a mailing list for this application.
PUBLICCASE COMMENT/PUBLIC YouA may comments, request a court. Unless a written request for a OPPORTUNITY FOR A CONTESTED HEARING You may request a MEETING contested case hearing. contestedsubmit case hearingpublic is a legal proceeding similar to aacivil trial in statefor district contested case hearing is filed within 30 days from this notice, the executive director may approve the application. A contested case hearing will only be granted based on disputed issues of fact that are relevant and materipublic meeting, or request a contested case hearing to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the al to the Commission’s decisions on the application. Further, the Commission will only grant a hearing on issues submitted by you or others during the public comment period and not withdrawn. address below. The TCEQ will consider all public comments in developing a final decision on the application. deadline public comments is 30 days after notice is A person who may be affected by emissions ofThe air contaminants fromto thesubmit facility is entitled to request a hearing. If requesting a contested case newspaper hearing, you must submit the following: (1) your name (or for a group or association, an official representative), mailing address, daytime phone number; (2) applicant’s name and permit number; (3) the statement “[I/we] request a contested case hearing”; (4) a specific description of how published. you would be adversely affected by the application and air emissions from the facility in a way not common to the general public; (5) the location and distance of your property relative to the facility; (6) a description of how you use the property which may be impacted by the facility; and (7) a list of all disputed issues of fact that you submit during the comment period. If the request is made by a group or an association, one or The purpose a public meeting isname to provide the opportunity submit comments askto questions about the You may also submit your more members who have standing to request aof hearing must be identified by and physical address. The intereststo which the group or associationor seeks protect must also be identified. application. A which public meeting about the application will be held if the executive director determines that there proposed adjustments to the application/permit would satisfy your concerns.
is a significant degree of public interest in the application or if requested by a local legislator. A public meeting
Following the close of all applicable comment and request periods, the Executive Director will forward the application and any requests for contested case hearing to the Commissioners for their consideration at a scheduled is not a contested hearing. Commission meeting. The Commission may only grantcase a request for a contested case hearing on issues the requestor submitted in their timely comments that were not subsequently withdrawn. If a hearing is granted, the subject of a hearing will be limited to disputed issues of fact or mixed questions of fact and law relating to relevant and material air quality concerns submitted during the comment period. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic safety, and are outside of theare Commission’s jurisdiction address in this proceeding. If zoning only comments received on thetoapplication, the response to comments, along with notice of the executive
director’s action on the application, will be mailed to everyone who submitted comments or is on the mailing
MAILING LIST In addition to submitting public comments, you may ask to be placed on a mailing list to receive future public notices for this specific application mailed by the Office of the Chief Clerk by sending a written list Clerk for this request to the Office of the Chief at the application. address below. AGENCY CONTACTS AND INFORMATION comments requests must be submitted either electronically at www.tceq.texas.gov/about/comments.html, or in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental The executive Public director willand complete the technical review, issue a preliminary decision on the application, and a Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087. If you communicate with the TCEQ electronically, please be aware that your email address, like your physical mailing address, will become Notice Application and willprocess, be published those part of the agency’s public record. For of more information about this Preliminary permit application Decision or the permitting please call theand Publicmailed Educationto Program tollwho free at are 1 800on 687 the 4040. mailing Si desea información en Español, puede llamar al 1-800-687-4040. list for this application. That notice will contain the final deadline for submitting public comments. If a
hearing request is timely filed in Response to this Notice of Receipt of Application and Intent to Obtain Air
Further information may also be obtained from UniFirst Corporation, 68 Jonspin Road, Wilmington, Massachusetts 01887-1090 or by calling Mr. Timothy M. Cosgrave, Senior Manager, Environmental, Health and Safety at Permit, the time period for requesting a contested case hearing will be extended to thirty days after the mailing (978) 658-8888, extension 4332.
of the executive director’s response to comments.
Notice Issuance Date: September 11, 2015
76 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
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ETC.
ASSHOLE MOVES
SAVAGE LOVE by Dan Savage
operating under the assumption that you two were exclusive. So the cheating was an asshole move and your rationalization, as you seem to be aware, is a pile of self-serving bullshit that’s equal parts transparent and unnecessary. Because as much as you like hanging out with Mr. Two Months, the sex hasn’t been good for you and you haven’t been good to him. Don’t negotiate a nonmonogamous agreement. End it.
I’ve been dating this guy for almost two months. It’s been pretty good, except the sex isn’t really the best. I have this other male friend who has had a crush on me. Long story short: My friend made a move on me the other night. I told him I couldn’t, and he knew why, but to be honest, I was insanely turned on by his forwardness. He apologized, but a week later we hung out, and I told him that it really intrigued me, and we ended up having crazy cool sex—satisfying in all the ways the guy I’m dating isn’t. I haven’t told the guy I’m seeing about this and I don’t plan to. But I feel guilty. I keep rationalizing that we have never had a talk about exclusivity, and I therefore have no obligation to him. I want to keep fucking my friend, but I also enjoy dating this other guy. Am I an asshole? Am I obligated to disclose that I’m not interested in monogamy with him? Too Many Intrigues Are you an asshole? That can’t be ruled out, TMI, but I can’t make a determination with the limited data you’ve provided. One asshole move—and cheating on Mr. Two Months was definitely an asshole move—does not an asshole make. We know this because while everyone is guilty of the occasional asshole move, not everyone is an asshole. Assholes are made when asshole moves come one right after the other, and an ever-thickening layer of asshole moves hardens into total assholery. Anyway, while you might not have had a conversation with the guy you’re currently dating/cheating on about exclusivity, you wouldn’t feel guilty about what/ who you did if you didn’t think Mr. Two Months was
I am a 23-year-old straight male who has a pattern of getting into long-distance relationships that become semi-long-term relationships before I get depressed by the monotony of it all and wind up breaking up with the person. I resolved that in the relationship I’m currently in—nine months and counting—I would keep it casual, which resulted in it turning into an open mono/poly relationship, meaning I’m poly and she’s monogamous. She is great, cute, and intelligent, and there is nothing destructive or dishonest about our relationship. I just find myself not wanting to talk to her every day, and the weekly Skype calls feel like a chore. We have a great time when we visit each other, but I only feel like catching up when I see her in person. Is this the price I have to pay to keep her happy? Not An Asshole I’ve read that young people don’t make phone calls anymore—talking on the phone is for olds (full disclosure: We olds hardly speak to each other on the phone anymore, either)—so I’m surprised your young-andmono GF wants to hear your young-and-poly voice on a daily basis. I think you should propose a young-and-fun compromise: texting instead of phoning during the week and a Skype/masturbation session on the weekend. I’m a straight 28-year-old female, in a relationship with my boyfriend for two years. We live together, and on the weekends we care for his kid. We are very much in love and have a supportive, happy relationship. I’ve always had a hard time being monogamous. In every relationship, I tend to get a wandering eye around the two-year mark. Recently I went by myself to see a friend’s band and ended up meeting a man I had an insane chemistry with. We spent the whole evening together and wound up making out before I literally ran away. The next day, stone cold sober, I called him, drove to his house, and we fucked like crazy. It was animalistic and intense, and I felt like a fucking porn star. It was awesome. My boyfriend and I have sex that I truly enjoy, and I usually get off, but he struggles to be dominant, rough, or talk dirty, which are things I really get off on. He says he’s too self-conscious to be dominant in bed. This stranger did all the things I wish my
boyfriend would do. To test the waters, I casually mentioned an arrangement where we could sleep with other people, and he said he wasn’t into it. If I’m happy in my relationship, and the sex we have is consistently good, sometimes amazing, is that enough? Am I giving up on an aspect of my sexuality if I stay with him, or am I just looking for excuses to fuck other people? Likes It All Rough A loving and supportive partner, a happy relationship, and good sex that occasionally tips into the amazing column—yeah, most people would tell you that’s not only enough, LIAR, it’s a better relationship than the one they’re currently in, recently left, or ever hope to find. But the fact that most people would like to trade places with you isn’t relevant, LIAR, because what you have with your boyfriend isn’t enough for you. You want love, happiness, stability, and the freedom to fuck other guys—and you would want that freedom even if your boyfriend was capable of dominating you in the sack just the way you like. Seeing as you know this about yourself—seeing as you know that monogamy isn’t for you (see: the wandering eye at 24 months, the fucking that other guy at his place)—making a monogamous commitment you know you can’t keep is an asshole move. So here’s what you’re gonna do: Tell your lovely, loving boyfriend that nonmonogamy is a non-negotiable. You are willing, of course, to negotiate with him about the form your open relationship might take, but you must make it clear to him that a closed relationship is a recipe for disaster—because sooner or later, you will cheat on him. If he fights on that point, LIAR, if he tells you that he’s sure you’re capable of being monogamous, then you can tell him that by “sooner or later” you meant “last week, with this dude I met in a bar.” I think your answer to BFF last week missed an essential piece of information. She refers to herself as engaging in “drunken” threesomes and hookups. I think she needs to examine her own behavior, not that of her roommate and FWB, and the fact that her relationships seem to be fueled by the effects of her alcohol consumption. I’m guessing her letter was fuzzy for a reason. It was probably written in a drunken haze. Nothing you say will get through to her unless you address her use of alcohol. Alcohol Not The Solution Full disclosure: I was drinking when I wrote my response to BFF. So just as it’s possible that alcohol played a role in the drama BFF described, it’s possible I neglected to point that fact out because I was a little drunky myself. sacurrent.com • September 30–October 6, 2015 • CURRENT 79
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“Up With People!” — no, not the halftime show group ACROSS 1 Curly-tailed Japanese dog 6 Bit of turf 10 Bone with teeth 13 Gets back to full strengt 15 Debtor’s loss 16 Fireplace accumulation 17 Overcharge for a cigar? 19 Show set in Las Vegas 20 Bygone oath 21 Big name in oats 23 Los ___ (“La Bamba” group) 26 Public expressions of thanks 28 Bit of wishful thinking 30 Before, for poets 31 Stacks of wax 32 Bit of hair gel 33 “___ my keep” 35 Society page newcomer 36 Extinguished, as a candle 38 Meet in the middle? 42 Dessert often served a la mode 43 Many, with “a” 45 Prefix for pressure 46 “Honest” guy 47 Address from a rev. 48 Skyping accessory, maybe 50 Hay dummy? 53 Giant from Finland? 54 Louisiana subdivision
55 Blue movie material, slangily 57 “Ew!” 58 Program that just notifies you without blocking? 63 Mendacity 64 “Strange Condition” singer Pete 65 Like Aconcagua 66 Old salt 67 Downhill runner 68 Former Russian sovereigns
DOWN 1 Radius setting 2 Mauna _ _ _ (Hawaii’s highest peak) 3 German pronoun 4 Adopt 5 Pixar movie with an entomological theme 6 Can recycler, sometimes 7 Beirut’s country: Abbr. 8 Not at all transparent 9 It may start as a flat ring 10 Hoist one player in a chess game? 11 Balance sheet heading 12 Helicopter sounds 14 Place for relaxation 18 Descendants of 31-Across
22 “You’ve got mail” hearer 23 Pot tops 24 In the blink ___ eye 25 Carnival announcer that surfaces from the water? 27 “Ready ___ ...” 29 “___-haw!” 34 Austrian psychiatrist Alfred 35 The accused 37 Guy who might try to put whiskey in your meal 39 “I shall return,” e.g. 40 Antioxidant-rich berry 41 Mountain cat 44 Full-voiced 46 Tree in a giraffe’s diet 47 It may “let out” in the afternoon 49 Gets on the plane 50 Knocked over, as milk 51 Annual sports awards since 1993 52 “Trap Queen” rapper Fetty ___ 56 Focus of “Straight Outta Compton” 59 Start to exist? 60 Jazz Masters org. 61 Word with plug or bud 62 Some hosp. employees
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY by Rob Brezsny ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): The next seven weeks will NOT be a favorable time to fool around with psychic vampires and charismatic jerks. I recommend you avoid the following mistakes, as well: failing to protect the wounded areas of your psyche; demanding perfection from those you care about; and trying to fulfill questionable desires that have led you astray in the past. Now I’ll name some positive actions you’d be wise to consider: hunting for skillful healers who can relieve your angst and aches; favoring the companionship of people who are empathetic and emotionally intelligent; and getting educated about how to build the kind of intimacy you can thrive on.
LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): Should I offer my congratulations? You have corralled a gorgeous mess of problems that are more interesting and provocative than everyone else’s. It’s unclear how long this odd good fortune will last, however. So I suggest you act decisively to take maximum advantage of the opportunities that your dilemmas have cracked open. If anyone can turn the heartache of misplaced energy into practical wisdom, you can. If anyone can harness chaos to drum up new assets, it’s you. Is it possible to be both cunning and conscientious, both strategic and ethical? For you right now, I think it is.
TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): You may have seen websites that offer practical tips on how to improve your mastery of life’s little details. They tell you how to de-clutter your home, or how to keep baked goods from going stale, or why you should shop for shoes at night to get the best fit. I recently come across a humorous site that provides the opposite: bad life tips. For instance, it suggests that you make job interviews less stressful by only applying for jobs you don’t want. Put your laptop in cold water to prevent overheating. To save time, brush your teeth while you eat. In the two sets of examples I’ve just given, it’s easy to tell the difference between which tips are trustworthy and which aren’t. But in the coming days, you might find it more challenging to distinguish between the good advice and bad advice you’ll receive. Be very discerning.
VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Let’s say you have walked along the same path or driven down the same road a thousand times. Then, one day, as you repeat your familiar route, a certain object or scene snags your attention for the first time. Maybe it’s a small fountain or a statue of the Buddhist goddess Guanyin or a wall with graffiti that says “Crap happens, but so does magic.” It has always been there. You’ve been subconsciously aware of it. But at this moment, for unknown reasons, it finally arrives in your conscious mind. I believe this is an apt metaphor for your life in the next week. More than once, you will suddenly tune in to facts, situations, or influences that had previously been invisible to you. That’s a good thing! But it might initially bring a jolt.
GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): On
20th century’s most influential artist may have been Pablo Picasso. He created thousands of paintings, and was still churning them out when he was 91 years old. A journalist asked him which one was his favorite. “The next one,” he said. I suggest you adopt a similar attitude in the coming weeks, Libra. What you did in the past is irrelevant. You should neither depend on nor be weighed down by anything that has come before. For now, all that matters are the accomplishments and adventures that lie ahead of you.
a windy afternoon last spring I was walking through a quiet neighborhood in Berkeley. In one yard there was a garden plot filled with the young green stems of as-yet unidentifiable plants. Anchored in their midst was a small handwritten sign. Its message seemed to be directed not at passers-by like me but at the sprouts themselves. “Grow faster, you little bastards!” the sign said — as if the blooming things might be bullied into ripening. I hope you’re smart enough not to make similar demands on yourself and those you care about, Gemini. It’s not even necessary. I suspect that everything in your life will just naturally grow with vigor in the coming weeks.
CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): “I am rooted, but I flow,” wrote Virginia Woolf in her novel The Waves. That paradoxical image reminds me of you right now. You are as grounded as a tree and as fluid as a river. Your foundation is deep and strong, even as you are resilient in your ability to adapt to changing circumstances. This is your birthright as a Cancerian! Enjoy and use the blessings it confers. (P.S. If for some strange reason you’re not experiencing an exquisite version of what I’ve described, there must be some obstacle you are mistakenly tolerating. Get rid of it.)
LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): The
SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): A windbreak is a line of stout trees or thick bushes that provides shelter from the wind. I think you need a metaphorical version: someone or something to shield you from a relentless force that has been putting pressure on you; a buffer zone or protected haven where you can take refuge from a stressful barrage that has been hampering your ability to act with clarity and grace. Do you know what you will have to do to get it? Here’s your battle cry: “I need sanctuary! I deserve sanctuary!”
SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): Your fellow Sagittarian Walt Disney accomplished a lot. He was a pioneer in the art of animation and made movies that won
82 CURRENT • September 30–October 6, 2015 • sacurrent.com
numerous Academy Awards. He built theme parks, created an entertainment empire, and amassed fantastic wealth. Why was he so successful? In part because he had high standards, worked hard, and harbored an obsessive devotion to his quirky vision. If you aspire to cultivate any of those qualities, now is a favorable time to raise your mastery to the next level. Disney had one other trait you might consider working on: He liked to play the game of life by his own rules. For example, his favorite breakfast was doughnuts dipped in Scotch whisky. What would be your equivalent?
CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): October is Fix the Fundamentals Month. It will be a favorable time to substitute good habits for bad habits. You will attract lucky breaks and practical blessings as you work to transform overwrought compulsions into rigorous passions. You will thrive as you seek to discover the holy yearning that’s hidden at the root of devitalizing addictions. To get started, instigate free-wheeling experiments that will propel you out of your sticky rut and in the direction of a percolating groove.
AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): Have you made your travel plans yet? Have you plotted your escape? I hope you will
hightail it to a festive playground where some of your inhibitions will shrink, or else journey to a holy spot where your spiritual yearnings will ripen. What would be even better is if you made a pilgrimage to a place that satisfied both of those agendas — filled up your senses with novel enticements and fed your hunger for transcendent insights. Off you go, Aquarius! Why aren’t you already on your way? If you can’t manage a real getaway in the near future, please at least stage a jailbreak for your imagination.
PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions consists entirely of 316 questions. It’s one of those rare texts that makes no assertions and draws no conclusions. In this spirit, and in honor of the sphinx-like phase you’re now passing through, I offer you six pertinent riddles: 1. What is the most important thing you have never done? 2. How could you play a joke on your fears? 3. Identify the people in your life who have made you real to yourself. 4. Name a good old thing you would have to give up in order to get a great new thing. 5. What’s the one feeling you want to feel more than any other in the next three years? 6. What inspires you to love?
THIS MODERN WORLD by Tom Tomorrow
Chrysta Bell
Photo credit: Carlo William Rossi
October 23 – 24, 2015
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