July/August 2014

Ezine.com

ON THE TOWN

July/August 2014

Restaurant Restaurant Week Week Opera Opera San San Antonio Antonio Chris Chris Hill-El Hill-El Mirador Mirador Fiesta Fiesta Noche Noche del del Rio Rio Matisse, Matisse, Life Life in in Color H-E-B H-E-B Body Body Adventure Adventure Joffrey Joffrey Workshop Workshop Texas Texas Plus Plus 12 12 Additional Additional Articles Articles

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Features

Going Gaga in July and August Over Legends, Idols, Funny Folks and So Much More

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The Joffrey Workshop Texas: On Their Toes

The Dream of Opera: A Conversation With Tobias Picker, Artistic Director of Opera San Antonio Live From New York….It’s Camp Broadway: National Theater Summer Camp Debuts in San Antonio

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Fiesta Noche del Rio Captures City’s Diverse Culture

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Chris Hill Gives El Mirador, a Southtown Favorite, a New Lease on Life

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Features Cont.

Witte’s New H-E-B Body Adventure Makes Health and Nutrition Fun!

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Matisse, Life in Color: Masterworks from the Baltimore Museum of Art at SAMA Through September 7

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A Sparkling Gem: One local artist’s spin on South Texas glamour décor

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Chuck Ramirez Solo Exhibition: Opens September 11 at Blanca Berlin Galeria Madrid, Spain

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Departments Events Calendar

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Book Talk: Mo Saidi: Physician, Poet, Literary Magazine Co-Founder

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1885 Cotton Gin is Site of Sister Creek Vineyard

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Artistic Destination: The 1968 Exhibit: Bullock State History Museum in Austin

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The Road to Restaurant Week

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Random Thoughts: Broadway Three Ways

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Summer Sizzles with Hot Exhibitions at San Antonio Museums and Art Centers

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Out & About With Greg Harrison

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Picture This: What’s New In The Zoo

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Lair Creative, LLC would not knowingly publish misleading or erroneous information in editorial content or in any adv appear under any circumstances. Additionally, content in this electronic magazine does not necessarily reflect the view mances and exhibits, it is recommended that all times and dates of such events be confirmed by the reader prior to at

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Cover Credits Contributors Front Cover Photo: Joffrey Workshop Texas Photo by Adela Gott

Mikel Allen, creative director

Vivienne Gautraux Adela Gott

Bryan Bayles Performing Arts Cover Photo Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio Photo by Liz Garza Williams Events Calendar Cover Photo: Ottmar Liebert Photo by Greg Gorman Culinary Arts Cover Photo: Photo by Greg Harrison Visual Arts Cover Photo: Carmen Oliver Courtesy Institute of Texan Cultures Literary Arts Cover Photo: Photo by Greg Harrison Eclectics Cover Photo: Photo by Greg Harrison

Kelly Hamilton

Betsy Beckmann

Greg Harrison, staff photographer

John Bloodsworth Olivier J. Bourgoin (aka, Olivier the Wine Guy) Julie Catalano Elana Coates Thomas Duhon Chris Dunn Donald Ewers

Christian Lair, operations manager / webmaster Kay Lair Susan A. Merkner, copy editor Ginger McAneerRobinson

OnTheTownEzine.com is published by Lair Creative, LLC 14122 Red Maple San Antonio, Texas 78247 210-771-8486 210-490-7950 (fax)

vertisement in On The Town Ezine.com, nor does it assume responsibility if this type of editorial or advertising should ws or opinions of the management of Lair Creative, LLC. Since On The Town Ezine.com features information on perforttendance. The publisher assumes no responsibility for changes in times, dates, venues, exhibitions or performances.

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Performing Arts

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Going Gaga in July and August over Legends, Idols, Funny Folks and So Much More!

By Sara Salengo

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es, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (aka Lady Gaga) is coming to town! See her at the AT&T Center July 14 as she per forms Lady Gaga’s ar tRave –The ARTPOP Ball. Justin Timberlake plays the same venue three weeks later on Aug. 5. They are two big names for sure, but not the only ones gracing San Antonio stages in the two hottest summer months. Three absolute superstar legends of the music industr y are appearing at the Majestic.

First is Tony Bennett July 23, then the Coal Miner ’s Daughter, Loretta Lynn Aug. 8, followed

by Smokey Robinson of Motown fame Aug. 20.

The oppor tunity each of us has to be a face in their crowds is immense. They are truly icons in their respective genres of music and are not to be missed.

the big theater on Houston Street too on Aug. 31. As to funny folks, also referenced in the headline, how about Eddie Izzard July 2 at the Majestic and Carlos Mencia at Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Aug. 15-17? Big laughs! For more hilarity, go to the websites of LOL and Rivercenter Comedy Clubs for complete listings of comedians appearing at these venues in July, August and beyond.

From the “so much more” categor y mentioned above, let me star t with Stephanie Sant ’Ambrogio’s Cactus Pear Musical Festival July 3-13. Four classical music programs will be per formed over the course of the festival at locations in San Antonio, Boerne, Fredericksburg and New Braunfels. With the theme of Golden Keys, this is the 18 th season for the musical Around the corner from the Majestic and up the jewel that is the Cactus Pear Music Festival. street a block or so, The Aztec Theatre offers For all per tinent information including venues, five exciting evenings of enter tainment in July. programs, per formers, dates and times, please Included are appearances by Kansas, Tab Benoit google their website. with Ruben V, Ottmar Lieber t & Luna Negra, Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band and Toad The Wet Another long-standing tradition in the city is Sprocket. August brings with it Queensr yche Fiesta Noche del Rio, per formed outdoors on starring Geoff Tate, G Love & Special Sauce Friday and Saturday nights during summer - Keb’Mo’, plus Spanish Harlem Orchestra months at Arneson River Theater in historic La presented by Ar ts San Antonio. For dates and Villita. Now in its 58 th season, Fiesta Noche del times, check out the Aztec website.

Rio is an incredibly spirited and color ful evening of Spanish music and dance. Put this one on The mention of idols in the heading of this stor y your calendar for the whole family to attend. centers on American Idol. The Idol Live Tour, featuring Season 13 winner Caleb Johnson and I would also like to mention what happens to be a runner-up Jena Irene, comes to the Majestic for first for the Scottish Rite Per forming Ar ts Center. one night only July 28. Lila Downs appears at Steve Lippia in Simply Swigin’ with Sinatra and July/August 2014 | On The Town 9

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Friends inaugurates their new per forming ar ts series with shows Aug. 23 and 24. Congrats! As an aside to this, if you haven’t experienced the Scottish Rite on Avenue E, check it out online.

Built in 1927, it ’s a grand, opulent theater with a seating capacity of over 2,000.

July and August are per fect months in which to par take of amazing evenings filled with countr y and western music at dance halls in San Antonio, New Braunfels, Gruene, Helotes and Luckenbach to name a few. An example list of who is playing in and around town in these months includes Jennifer Nettles, Eli Young Band, Jerr y Jeff Walker, Pat Green, Cor y Morrow, Kevin Fowler and Dwight Yoakam at Whitewater Amphitheater in New Braunfels; Gar y Allan, Brandon Rhyder, Johnny Bush and Reckless Kelly at John T. Floore Countr y Store in Helotes; Texas Tornados, Bob Schneider, Roger Creager, The Mavericks, Radney Foster, Two Tons of Steel and The Marshall Tucker Band at Gruene Hall; Dale Watson, Bleu Edmondson and the Almost Patsy

Cline Band at Luckenbach Dance Hall; and last but not least, Jon Wolfe and Bar t Crow at the County Line as a par t of the Ancira Music Series.

Believe me when I say that this is just a par tial listing of the C&W enter tainment available in the area. Get your boots on and scoot to one or all of these great places.

Summer blockbusters at community theaters are a staple always enjoyed by patrons of the per forming ar ts. This July and August be sure to swing on over to the Woodlawn to see Tarzan followed by Smokey Joe’s Café, and take in The Who’s Tommy too at Playhouse San Antonio. Big River rolls onto the Cameo stage this summer and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest opens Season 16 at the Sheldon Vexler Theatre in late August. Out-of-towners include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Kerr ville at the Kathleen C. Cailloux, The Music Man at Circle Ar ts in New Braunfels, Breaking Legs in Boerne at their local theater, Young Frankenstein plus Red, White & Tuna on the outdoor stage of the Smith-

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Ritch Point Theatre in Ingram, The Fantasticks by Page 10 Fredericksburg Theater Company, and All Shook Up at S.T.A.G.E in Bulverde.

Loretta Lynn Courtesy Majestic Theatre On the subject of “all shook up,” expect an Elvis sighting this summer. Donny Edwards brings his Elvis tribute show to Rockbox Theater in Page 11 (L-R) Fredericksburg July 15-16.

Smokey Robinson There’s so much to see and do in July and August. Courtesy smokeyrobinson.com Get some tickets and go!

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Lila Downs Courtesy liladowns.com Page 12 (L-R)

Photo Credits: Page 8 Tony Bennett Courtesy Majestic Theatre

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American Idol Live Tour Courtesy Majestic Theatre Fiesta Noche del Rio Photo by Al Rendon

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THE JOFFREY WORKSHOP TEXAS: ON THEIR TOES

By Julie Catalano Photography Donald Ewers

he Joffrey Workshop Texas (JWT) has been synonymous with San Antonio summers for 36 years. Ballet icon Robert Joffrey himself handpicked the city as the location for what once was the only workshop that bore his name and where he personally taught every year from 1978 until his death in 1988.

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you’re being presented with until later in life,” says Villanueva. “I learned how fantastic those experiences were because of their direct connection to the original Joffrey days.” The San Antonio native is now part of that legacy—Villanueva went on to dance with the Joffrey Ballet for 13 seasons ending last year, and has been a JWT faculty member and choreographer since 2010.

But what many dance lovers don’t know is that every year, the three-week workshop culminates in a gem As always, the students—this year more than 70— of a performance that JWT director Buddy Trevino face a nonstop grueling but exhilarating schedule. calls “the city’s best kept dance secret.”

Classes at St. Mary’s University run Monday through Saturday and include daily ballet technique, pointe, It’s true. While many might mistakenly think that the men’s classes, contemporary, pas de deux, character performance is a glorified dance recital—after all, dance, lectures, dance appreciation, music for the majority of participants are dance students in dancers, career-related seminars, and of course, their teens and younger—the fact is that the caliber those all-important nightly rehearsals. of the program far outshines anything you’d see from an ordinary dance school. That’s because this At the end of that road lies the performance. Students workshop is anything but ordinary. have no idea when they begin the workshop what works they will be performing, and the teachers From the beginning, Joffrey himself designed don’t always know exactly what they’ll be staging the San Antonio summer intensive program to either until they see their students. Meanwhile, from immerse serious dance students and teachers in the day one, the clock is ticking, and the faculty has to rigorous training required by a professional dance decide what they will be presenting—even if every company. It’s a legacy that continues to this day. detail isn’t worked out yet.

Former JWT student and current faculty member Mauro Villanueva remembers his days as a workshop JWT faculty, international choreographer and participant and young performer. “I was maybe Broadway performer Nathalie Marrable explains: “I 11 or 12,” he says. “My early teachers were Eleanor usually take a look at what dancers I have and what D’Antuono, Paul Sutherland, Brunilda Ruiz.” All dance their best skills might be on the stage. I then keep greats and former Joffrey Ballet company members. my style—which most dancers will tell you is very “At that young age you don’t realize the history fast and complex—but tailor it to suit the students.”

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This year Marrable (who, like Villanueva, started as a JWT student) is teaching contemporary technique, Pilates, “and hopefully a Broadway workshop and a Rockette Experience as well.”

The most senior teacher is the legendary Trinette Singleton, former Joffrey dancer who joined the company at 18 and stayed for 15 years. A JWT faculty member for more than 10 years, Singleton will be restaging “part or all—to be determined—of my ballet ‘Capriccios’ to Shostakovich,” which won her the Outstanding Choreographer award at the 2010 Youth America Grand Prix semi-finals. Rounding out the rest of the faculty is co-director Susan Trevino, Brenda S. Tally, Paul Adams, Tye Love, and another Joffrey legend-- dancer/ballet mistress Diane Orio.

“Diane was the teacher RJ [Joffrey] originally brought [to San Antonio] to teach with him,” says Singleton.

Joffrey never used costumes in the early days, and even now the frills are minimal—maybe a tutu here and there for a pas de deux, or a simple flowered headpiece. Mostly it’s basic leotards and tights—the classroom staple. The reason, Joffrey would explain, is so the audience can see the lines of the body unencumbered by yards of tulle, embellished jackets, or flowing capes. He always wanted the audience to see the technique, which is still king, according to Villanueva. “A lot of what we do is technique-based and that translates into the performance, and the quality of the performance goes up.” Adds Singleton: “The most satisfying part of the performance is seeing the growth that the dancers make in two or three weeks’ time, in all the varied choreography they are asked to do. I think the audience is surprised with the eclectic aspect of the program.”

The highlight, says Marrable, is “seeing the progression, from basic structure to the full production on the stage. JWT is such a passionate workshop.” The best part, she says, is “seeing an idea come to life through young dancers who are living and breathing their movement. It’s not fake. It’s very real...and it’s incredible.”

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Joffrey Workshop Texas Performance Saturday, July 19, 2p John Paul Stevens High School 600 N. Ellison Drive San Antonio, Texas 78251 For more information: 210-744-1272 thejoffreyworkshoptx.com

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The Dream of Opera A Conversation With Tobias Picker, Artistic Director of Opera San Antonio

By Ron Moore

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ew human endeavors are as passionately pursued and practically elusive as the dream of opera. Either as achieving a noteworthy performance, let alone an inspired one, or the grandiose almost promethean effort of forming a self-sustaining company.

With the arrival of Opera San Antonio under its artistic director, American composer Tobias Picker, the city of San Antonio is on the verge of realizing this very thing.

It should be mentioned that San Antonio was the first city in Texas to offer professional resident opera in the state. This dates back to the tenure of San Antonio Symphony conductor Max Reiter in 1946. Previous to that there was an opera house in the heart of downtown, near the Alamo and the

Menger Hotel, dating from the 1880s. From Reiter’s time to the 1980s opera appeared on again off again. Ironically, the famous post-war productions also took place in the old Municipal Auditorium, site of the new Tobin Center for the Arts, often hosting up to 6,000 viewers. The Metropolitan Opera providing the principals and the chorus made up of local talent we have now, in an odd way, come full circle.

How did it happen?

Years before ground was broken for the Tobin Center, Picker said, “I was brought down to San Antonio by Mel Weingart. They wanted to commission an opera for the opening of the center.” What followed instead was one of

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those unpredictable moments of pure serendipity.

This discussion then grew into the idea of nothing less than creating an opera company, this joining other resident artistic organizations making the Center their home.

While continuing to compose, Picker took on the role of artistic advisor. He was in many ways a perfect choice. He came to opera as a child.

“My grandfather played for me the great Wagner operas on the gramophone when I was growing up,” he said. “He also took me to the old Met.”

The composer’s path was set. There was no question that this was something he would do as he followed his musical education at Julliard under the great modernist Eliot Carter, among others. In a diverse body of work ranging through chamber, orchestral and vocal works, he has completed five operas, all of which will be performed this coming season throughout the world.

What is it exactly the artistic director does?

“I am responsible for the creation of the entire season,” Picker said. “I choose each of the operas. I find all the principals and other singers.”

Among the friends and associates Picker has

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brought are Eric Owens, the new Wagner sensation; Patricia Racettte and Anna Catherina Antonnaci.

The Tobin Center’s first season yields an interesting musical mix, linguistically and in terms of styles.

Audiences will be treated to Richard Strauss’ lustful and lush Salome, a double bill of Italianate realism in Wolf-Ferrari’s The Secret of Susannah, and French modern melodrama with Francis Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine. Finally there is Picker’s own Fantastic Mr. Fox. The composer explained that he always wanted to write something for children.

“I had just finished Emmeline. And in the audience at one of the performances was Roald Dahl and his friend, Donald Sturrock. They said they wanted to do a piece with me based on his children’s novel, Fantastic Mr. Fox. In fact, Sturrock had already written the libretto. I asked him to send it to me, and I loved it.”

Fantastic Mr. Fox, a pastoral work part allegory and part moral fable, is set on a farm and pits humans against animals in a battle of wits.

Picker said the work is a parable and transgenerational entertainment for adults and children, like Mozart’s The Magic Flute or Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen. Picker recalled in writing it his own youthful viewing of Menotti’s Amahl

and the Night Visitors.

Along with his artistic vision, Picker and the core of people who form Opera San Antonio have been equally meticulous in the choices of officers and board members. “I’m very proud of our board,” he said. It is an astute and carefully chosen blend of old and new, including Plato Karayains (formerly of the Dallas Opera); Mel Weingart; Margaret King Stanley and Linda Hardberger, longtime promoters of the arts in the Alamo City; singer Patricia Racette, and the much-admired David Glockley. The full list is at operasa.org.

“I hope people come and enjoy it,” Picker said.

Tickets at the Tobin Center Box Office: 210-223-8624 Opera San Antonio: 210-673-7270 Online: operasa.org

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • Photo Credits:

Page 19 (L-R) Patricia Racette Photo by Devon Cass John Brancy Courtesy Opera San Antonio

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Michelle DeYoung Photo by Christian Steiner

Brian Jagde Courtesy brianjagde.com

Jay Hunter Morris Courtesy Opera San Antonio

Page 18 Tobias Picker Photo by Gregory Downer

Anna Caterina Antonacci Photo by Benjamin Ealovega

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Live From New York… It’s Camp Broadway!

National Theater Summer Camp Debuts in San Antonio

By Megann Pettit Photography courtesy Camp Broadway

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hey may be used to belting it out in the living room, but young theater-lovers of San Antonio now have the opportunity to step into the spotlight and join the show.

Las Casas Foundation, known for its dedication to supporting the per forming arts through education, is once again setting the stage for young performers and helping them pursue their dreams by bringing Camp Broadway, a summer camp for aspiring artists and theater fans, to San Antonio Aug. 4-8 at the Charline McCombs

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Empire Theatre.

Whether they are seasoned school production stars or just enjoy hamming it up at home, teens and tweens of all talent levels are welcome at Camp Broadway, as no experience is necessary.

Inspired by Broadway ’s cherished works and steeped in its grand traditions, Camp Broadway enables children ages 10-17 to build confidence, inspire creative expression, and instill well-being in aspiring artists and future audience members.

Over the course of five days, the young stars will learn about every aspect of a Broadway production.

The learning-intensive camp includes singing, acting and dancing lessons by trained Broadway professionals; master classes with Broadway artists; a backstage seminar with a production crew and question-and-answer sessions with industry professionals. After a week of training, the program culminates in a special on-stage performance for family and friends.

Kaye Lenox, CEO of Las Casas Foundation.

A nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of the performing arts through education and scholarships, and the restoration and preservation of historic theaters, Las Casas Foundation works to engage children in the arts in hope that they will become active members or supporters of the performing arts community.

“Whether it’s on stage, behind the scenes or in the audience, study after study show that children benefit from being exposed to performing arts,” Lenox said. “To keep San Antonio’s performing arts community growing and thriving, we need to nurture these future artists and audience members.”

“Camp Broadway is a wonder ful opportunity to expose children to the per forming arts. Giving these young stars a peek behind the scenes and showing them what it really takes to be a part of a Broadway production gives them a newfound respect for the work that’s put into these shows To help ensure that everyone has the chance to and cultivates a lifetime love of theater,” said participate in this unique summer camp, Las Casas

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is offering need-based scholarships to help campers Photo Credits: realize their dreams of standing in the spotlight.

Camp Broadway joins a growing list of educational programs offered by Las Casas Foundation. The foundation works to support per forming arts in San Antonio through programs such as Behind the Scenes, an educational theater program targeting at-risk youth, and the Las Casas Per forming Arts Scholarship Competition, an annual event for graduating college-bound high school seniors that has awarded $485,000 in scholarship funds since its inception.

Page 22 Camp Broadway 2013 campers per forming a number from The Pajama Game Page 23 Participants from 2013 Camp Broadway performing a routine from Damn Yankees

For more information about Camp Broadway in Page 24 San Antonio or Las Casas Foundation, visit www. Camp Broadway 2013, campers lascasasfoundation.org. in a dance rehearsal

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Fiesta Noche del Rio Captures City’s Diverse Culture

Musicians, Dancers and Vocalists Perform On a Historic La Villita Outdoor Stage

By John Bloodsworth Photography Al Rendon

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ince 1957, Fiesta Noche del Rio patrons have lined the banks of the San Antonio River at the Arneson River Theater to savor the summer outdoor spectacular featuring San Antonio artists performing the music, song and dance of Mexico, Spain, Argentina and Texas.

more than one million visitors from around the world and raised more than $2.5 million for local children’s charities through the efforts of the Alamo Kiwanis Club Charities, Inc.

As the oldest continuing outdoor performance of its kind in Fiesta Noche del Rio, a fast-paced, interactive the United States, and the only stage production produced professionally produced show has been seen by by the Alamo Kiwanis, all of whom are volunteers, Fiesta 26 On The Town | May/June July/August 2014 2014

Noche del Rio supports the educational, social, physical also played the role of Diana Morales in “A Chorus Line” and emotional needs of our community’s youth. and was dance coordinator for the 1993 Olympic Festival.

With a stellar cast of musicians, dancers and vocalists, the The audience sits on the grass-covered steps of the rich, cultural heritage of San Antonio is brought to the theater. A nearby stone bridge is often made part of stage for 28 performances in the breathtaking Arneson the performance space. It is now called Rosita’ Bridge in River Theater with the charming San Antonio River honor of Rosita Fernandez, a pioneer of Tejano music, running through the beautiful outdoor venue. who performed here as star of the summer-long Fiesta Noche del Rio for almost 25 years.

Tickets to all performances (Friday and Saturday nights at 8:30pm) may be purchased at customer service centers Today Rosita’s vision continues under the leadership at all HEB Stores, at the San Antonio Visitor Center across of Elizabeth (Lisa) Sanchez-Lopez who now serves as from the Alamo on Alamo Plaza and online at www. the director, choreographer and lead female singer. A fiestanochesa.com. Tickets are also available from 12respected dance artist and educator, Lisa was instrumental 8pm on the day of the show at the river level of the in the opening of two attractions in our community Arneson River Theater and at the gate prior to the show, – Sea World of Texas and Fiesta Texas – as a performer, beginning at 6pm. For group sales call 210-226-4651. choreographer and dance consultant. In 2012, Lisa was inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame for For more information, please contact us at akc@alamoher local contributions to the arts and education. She has kiwanis.org.

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Events Calendar 30-46 30-45

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July-August 2014 Events Calendar Music Notes Two Ton Tuesday Two Tons of Steel 7/1-8/19, Tue @ 8:30pm Gruene Hall Ancira Music Series Jon Wolfe with Bonnie Lang 7/2, Wed @ 7pm County Line BBQ – IH10 Cactus Pear Music Festival Program 1: Golden Keys 7/3, Thu @ 7pm Coker United Methodist Church Program 2: 20th Century Passageways 7/5, Sat @ 7pm Coker United Methodist Church 7/6, Sun @ 2pm First United Methodist Church Boerne Program 3: Hidden Doorways – Rare Treasures for Baritone, Oboe & Strings 7/10, Thu @ 7pm Coker United Methodist Church

7/13, Sun @ 2pm First United Methodist Church Boerne Program 4: The Baroque Baedeker Through France, Germany & Italy 7/11, Fri @ 7pm McKenna Event Center New Braunfels 7/12, Sat @ 7pm Coker United Methodist Church 7/13, Sun @ 7pm First United Methodist Church Boerne Jennifer Nettles with Brandy Clark 7/3, Thu @ 7:30pm (doors open) Whitewater Amphitheater New Braunfels The Dirty River Boys 7/3, Thu @ 8pm Gruene Hall Heart of Texas Concert Band Let Freedom Ring 7/4, Fri @ 1:30pm Alamo

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Eli Young Band with Chase Rice 7/4, Fri @ 7:30pm (doors open) Whitewater Amphitheater New Braunfels Cody Jinks 7/4, Fri @ 8pm Gruene Hall Celebrate America The Sentimental Journey Orchestra 7/4-5, Fri @ 4:30pm Sat @ 4:30pm & 8pm Rockbox Theater Fredericksburg

Almost Patsy Cline Band 7/5, Sat @ 8:15pm Leon Springs Dancehall Texas Tornados 7/5, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall Roger Creager and William Clark Green 7/5, Sat @ 9pm Luckenbach Dance Hall Gary P. Nunn 7/5, Sat @ 9:30pm John T. Floore Country Store

Kansas 7/5, Sat @ 7pm (doors open) Aztec Theatre

Swing Night at Sam’s 7/7-28, Mon @ 7pm Sam’s Burger Joint

Jazz 91.7 Presents Skyline Swing 7/5, Sat @ 7pm Jim Cullum Jazz Band Skyline Room Trinity University

Ancira Music Series The Damn Quails with Kyle Reed Band 7/9 Wed @ 7pm County Line BBQ – IH10

Turnpike Troubadours with Jerry Jeff Walker and Jonny Burke 7/5, Sat @ 7:30pm (doors open) Whitewater Amphitheater New Braunfels

Pure Platinum 7/10-8/16, Thu & Sat @ 8pm 8/23-30, Sat @ 4:30pm Rockbox Theater Fredericksburg

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Mike Stinson 7/11, Fri @ 8pm Luckenbach Dance Hall Bob Schneider 7/11, Fri @ 8pm Gruene Hall Boots & Roots 7/11-8/16, Fri @ 8pm Sat @ 4:30pm 8/22-30, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Rockbox Theater Fredericksburg Thompson Legacy & Company 7/11, Fri @ 8:15pm Leon Springs Dancehall Gary Allan 7/11, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Tab Benoit with Special Guest Ruben V 7/12, Sat @ 7pm (doors open) Aztec Theatre

John Slaughter 7/12, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store JB and The Moonshine Band 7/12, Sat @ 9pm Luckenbach Dance Hall Sunday Jazz at the Witte: Small World A Brazilian Affair 7/13, Sun @ 3pm Will Smith Amphitheater Witte Museum Lady Gaga’s artRave The ARTPOP Ball 7/14, Mon @ 7:30pm AT&T Center Donny Edwards Elvis Tribute 7/15-16, Tue-Wed @ 7:30pm Rockbox Theater Fredericksburg

Jim Raby and the Good Whiskey Band 7/12, Sat @ 8pm Kendalia Dance Hall

The Mavericks: Malocon III 7/17-18, Thu-Fri @ 9pm Gruene Hall

Hot Texas Swing Band 7/12, Sat @ 8:15pm Leon Springs Dancehall

Rooftop Jazz Concert Series The Hardbop Project:Tribute Art Blakey + The Jazz Messengers 7/18 @ 8pm Artpace

Dale Watson with Special Guest Holly Williams 7/12, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall

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Dale Watson 7/18, Fri @ 8pm Luckenbach Dance Hall Brady Honeycutt 7/18, Fri @ 8:15pm Leon Springs Dancehall Wheeler Brothers 7/18, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Drum Corps International Southwestern Championship 7/19, Sat @ 2:30pm Alamodome Rance Norton & The Cadillac Cowboys 7/19, Sat @ 8pm Anhalt Dance Hall Billy Mata 7/19, Sat @ 8:15pm Leon Springs Dancehall Bleu Edmondson 7/19, Sat @ 9pm Luckenbach Dance Hall

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band 7/22, Tue @ 7pm (doors open) Aztec Theatre Ancira Music Series Thieving Birds with James Pardo 7/23, Wed @ 7pm County Line BBQ – IH10 Tony Bennett 7/23, Wed @ 8pm Majestic Theatre Roger Creager’s Birthday Show (acoustic with special guests) 7/23-24, Wed-Thu @ 8pm (full band) 7/25-26, /Fri @ 8pm Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall Austin Mahone Live on Tour with The Vamps & Fifth Harmony 7/25, Fri @ 7pm Freeman Coliseum

William Clark Green 7/19, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

Almost Patsy Cline Band 7/25, Fri @ 8pm Luckenbach Dance Hall

Cooder Graw 7/19, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Dance Hall

Cactus Country 7/25, Fri @ 8:15pm Leon Springs Dancehall

98.5 The Beat Presents Beat Bash IX 7/20, Sun @ 7pm Freeman Coliseum

Billy Joe Shaver 7/25, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

Live from Las Vegas…

“Concert Superstars” 7/25-26 @ 8pm Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre New Braunfels Pat Green with Special Guest Cory Morrow 7/26, Sat @ 7:30pm (doors open) Whitewater Amphitheater New Braunfels Reckless Kelly & Charlie Robison 7/26, Sat @ 8pm John T. Floore Country Store Thomas Michael Riley 7/26, Sat @ 9pm Luckenbach Dance Hall Summer Jazz & Lunch Series Zarabande 7/27, Sun @ 12:30pm McNay Museum of Art

Ancira Music Series Bart Crow with Aaron Einhouse 7/30, Wed @ 7pm County Line BBQ – IH10 Ottmar Leibert & Luna Negra 7/31, Thu @ 7pm (doors open Aztec Theatre Radney Foster 8/1, Fri @ 8pm Gruene Hall Wagon Aces 8/1, Fri @ 8pm Luckenbach Dance Hall Nick Lawrence 8/1, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

Espinoza y Paquita 7/27, Sun @ 7pm Freeman Coliseum

Jake Penrod & The Honky Tonk Express Hank Williams Tribute Band 8/2, Sat @ 8:15pm Leon Springs Dancehall

Toad The Wet Sprocket 7/28, Mon @ 7pm (doors open) Aztec Theatre

Brandon Rhyder 8/2, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

American Idol Tour 7/28, Mon @ 7:30pm Majestic Theatre

Micky & The Motorcars 8/2, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall July/August 2014 | On The Town 33

Justin Timberlake 8/5, Tue @ 8pm AT&T Center

Maxwell 8/13, Wed @ 7:30pm Majestic Theatre

Almost Patsy Cline Band 8/22, Fri @ 8pm Luckenbach Dance Hall

Dale Watson 8/29, Fri @ 8pm Luckenbach Dance Hall

Under The Sun Tour Featuring Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray & Blues Traveler 8/5, Tue @ 8pm Majestic Theatre

Arts San Antonio Presents Harlem Orchestra 8/15, Fri @ 7:30pm Aztec Theatre

Hayes Carll 8/22-23, Fri @ 8pm Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall

Bob Schneider 8/30, Sat @ 9pm Luckenbach Dance Hall

Loretta Lynn 8/8, Fri @ 8pm Majestic Theatre

Prince Royce 8/15, Fri @ 8pm Freeman Coliseum

Tessy Lou and the Shotgun Stars 8/8, Fri @ 8pm Luckenbach Dance Hall

Mike and the Moonpies 8/15, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

Jody Nix 8/9, Sat @ 8:15pm Leon Springs Dancehall

Monte Good & the Honky Tonk Heroes 8/16, Sat @ 8pm Anhalt Hall

Larry Joe Taylor and Deryl Dodd 8/9, Sat @ 9pm Luckenbach Dance Hall The Wheeler Brothers 8/9, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall Johnny Bush & The Bandoleros 8/9, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Sunday Jazz at the Witte: Mission City Hot Rhythm Cats - The City of New Orleans 8/10, Sun @ 3pm Will Smith Amphitheater Witte Museum

Doug Moreland 8/16, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Summer Jazz & Lunch Series Henry Brun 8/17, Sun @ 12:30pm McNay Museum of Art

Jon Wolfe 8/22, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Steve Lippia in Simply Swingin’ with Sinatra and Friends 8/23-24, Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 2pm Scottish Rite Performing Arts Center Cactus Country 8/23, Sat @ 8:15pm Leon Springs Dancehall Thomas Michael Riley 8/23, Sat @ 9pm Luckenbach Dance Hall Dirty River Boys 8/23, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

Hillsong Worship 8/19, Tue @ 7pm Freeman Coliseum

OneRepublic Native Summer Tour 8/25, Mon @ 7pm Freeman Coliseum

Smokey Robinson 8/20, Wed @ 7:30pm Majestic Theatre

Electric Cowboy 8/29, Fri @ 8:15pm Leon Springs Dancehall

34 On The Town | July/August 2014

Charlie Robison 8/30-31, Sat @ 9pm Sun @ 8pm Gruene Hall Lila Downs 8/31, Sun @ 7pm Majestic Theatre

Live Theatre The Skin of Our Teeth 7/4-6, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 2:30pm The Wimberley Players Les Miserables 7/4-6, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 2pm Fredericksburg Theatre Company Steve W. Shepherd Theater Tarzan 7/4-20, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 3pm Woodlawn Theatre Glen or Glenda 7/5-12, Thu-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 7pm Greg Barrios Theatre @ The Overtime Theater

July/August 2014 | On The Town 35

Young Frankenstein 7/5-19, Thu-Sat @ 8:30pm Sun (7/6) @ 8:30pm Smith-Ritch Point Theatre Ingram Breather 7/5-26, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun (7/6 @ 2:30pm), (7/20 @ 7pm) Thu (7/10 & 24 @ 8pm) The Stables @ Overtime Theater Café du Jump: 8 x 8 7/7, Mon @ 8pm Jump-Start Performance Company Los Locos de Valencia 7/7-10, Mon-Thu @ 7:30pm McCreless Theatre San Antonio College All Shook Up 7/10-27, Thu-Sat @ 8pm (optional dinner @ 6:30pm) Sun (7/20 & 27) @ 4pm S.T.A.G.E., Inc. Krause House Theatre Bulverde The Music Man 7/10-8/3, Thu-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2pm Circle Arts Theatre New Braunfels Black to the Future 7/11-26, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Rose Theatre Company

Big River 7/12-8/10, Fri & Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 4pm Cameo Theatre Antigone 7/14-17, Mon-Thu @ 7:30pm McCreless Theatre San Antonio College Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat 7/18-8/2, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun (7/27) @ 2:30pm Playhouse 2000 @ Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater Kerrville Breaking Legs 7/18-8/2, Thu @ 7:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm Boerne Community Theatre The Professionals 7/25-8/23, Fri-St @ 8pm Thu (8/7 & 21 @ 8pm) Sun (8/3 & 17 @ 7pm) Greg Barrios Theater @ The Overtime Theater Red, White & Tuna 8/1-16, Thu-Sat @ 8:30pm Sun (8/3) @ 8:30pm Smith-Ritch Point Theatre Ingram The Who’s Tommy 8/1-24, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 3pm 8/24, Sun @ 8pm Russell Hill Rogers Theatre @ Playhouse San Antonio

36 On The Town | July/August 2014

The Fantasticks 8/7-10, Thu-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 2pm Fredericksburg Theatre Company Steve W. Shepherd Theater

The Bootmaker and The Elves 7/1-8/2, Tue-Fri @ 9:45am & 11:30am Fri @ 7pm, Sat @ 2pm The Magik Theatre

The Queen’s Castle 8/8-9/27, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm) Check website for additional performances The Stables @ Overtime Theater

Shrek The Musical 8/16 & 23, Sat @ 2pm 8/22, Fri @ 7pm 8/27-9/27, Wed @ 10:30am Fri @ 10:30am & 7pm The Magik Theatre

Smokey Joe’s Café 8/15-9/14, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 3pm Woodlawn Theatre

Dance Ballet Latino de San Antonio 7/11-12, Fri-Sat @ 7pm Jo Long Theatre @ The Carver Jazzed On Tap 7/19, Sat @ 8pm Jo Long Theatre @ The Carver Joffrey Workshop Texas Performance 7/19, Sun @ 2pm John Paul Stevens HS Auditorium

Children’s Theater Tots Children’s Theater Cinderella 7/9-24, Wed-Thu & Sat @ 10am Rose Theatre Company

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest 8/23-9/20, Thu & Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 2:30pm (No shows on Fridays) Sheldon Vexler Theatre @ Barshop Jewish Community Center

Comedy Eddie Izzard 7/2, Wed @ 8pm Majestic Theatre Bil Dwyer 7/2-6, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Dan Davidson 7/2-6, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Rivercenter Comedy Club

An Evening with Chris Mata 7/7-9, Mon-Wed @ 8:30pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Nick Griffin 7/9-13, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Mitch Fatel 7/10-13, Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Rivercenter Comedy Club

Helen Hong 7/23-27, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Steve McGrew 7/24-27, Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club David Beck 7/30, Wed @ 8pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club

John Morgan 7/16-20, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club

Quinn Dahle 7/30-8/3, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Rivercenter Comedy Club

Keith Alberstadt 7/16-20, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Rivercenter Comedy Club

Brad Williams 7/31-8/3, Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club

Rene Sanchez 7/19, Sat @ 8pm & 10:30pm Sam’s Burger Joint Kris Shaw 7/23, Wed @ 8pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club

Slim Bloodsworth 8/6, Wed @ 8pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Leanne Morgan 8/7-10, Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club July/August 2014 | On The Town 37

Kevin Hart’s Plastic Cup Boyz 8/7-10, Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Mike Britt 8/13-17, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Carlos Mencia 8/15-17, Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Sun @ 8pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Tanya Lee Davis 8/20-24, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Dan St. Germain 8/21-24, Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Cleto Rodriguez 8/27-31, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club

Exhibitions ARTPACE Summer 2014 International Artist-In-Residence Exhibition Kader Attia Margaret Meehan Jungeun Lee N’Gone Fall, Curator 7/10-9/14 Hudson Showroom Vincent Valdez Now thru 8/31 Window Works Cathy Cunningham-Little Now Thru 8/31 BLUE STAR CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM Plexus no. 26 Featuring Gabriel Dawe Now thru 8/3 Spinning Yarns: Photographic Storytellers Now thru 8/3 Ancestral Archetypes Featuring Jenelle Ezparza 7/2-8/3

38 On The Town | July/August 2014

BIHL HAUS ARTS Only From The Heart Works by sculptor Marika Bordes Now thru 7/12

Adam (Public Artwork)

By Arturo Herrera 25’ h x 98’ w, Frost Bank Garage Commerce at Main Now thru 12/2016

Hot! 7/25-early September

McNAY ART MUSEUM

BRISCOE WESTERN ART MUSEUM Briscoe Museum Film Series: Urban Cowboy 7/15, Tue @ 6pm Briscoe Museum Film Series: Thelma & Louise 8/19, Tue @ 6pm INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES

Hats Off to Fiesta!

Now thru 7/6 Folklife in the Piney Woods of Texas Now thru 8/31 Texas Contemporary Artists Series Now thru 10/26 LINDA PACE FOUNDATION Pace Gems: Selections from the Linda Pace Foundation Permanent Collection SPACE:The Linda Pace Foundation Gallery Now thru 9/13

Matisse and Picasso: A Friendly Rivalry Now thru 8/10 Paul Strand: The Mexican Portfolio Now thru 8/24 Beauty Reigns: A Baroque Sensibility in Recent Paintings Now thru 8/17 Cosmic Dream (The Ayahuasca Dream Remix) Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A.) Now Thru 8/17

GUADALUPE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER Museo Gaudalupe Flatland Opens 7/11 Guadalupe Theatre Gallery Te Quiro Alot Mamacitas Now thru 7/23

July/August 2014 | On The Town 39

SAN ANTONIO BOTANICAL GARDEN

Ga-Ga: Roygbiv Now thru 7/6

Art in the Garden 2014 (In conjunction with Blue Star Contemporary Art Center) Now thru 1/31/15

All School Exhibition 2014 7/19-8/31

SAN ANTONIO MUSEUM OF ART

Julian Onderdonk in New York: The Lost Years, The Lost Paintings Now thru 9/9

Diego Rivera in San Antonio: A Small Focus Exhibition (On Display at Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Art at SAMA) Bob Kuhn: Drawing on Instinct Now thru 7/6 Glories of the Baroque Now thru 7/26 Matisse: Life in Color Now thru 9/7 The Art Books of Henri Matisse: Works from the Bank of America Collection Now Thru 9/7 SOUTHWEST SCHOOL OF ART Nicolas Leiva: Infinite Cycle (Also on display at RuizHealy Art) Now thru 7/6

WITTE MUSEUM

Fairytale Fiesta Now Thru 8/24 Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body Now thru 11/3 H-E-B Body Adventure Now Open TEXAS A&M EDUCATIONAL & CULTURAL ARTS CENTER Contemporary Latino Art: El Corazon de San Antonio Thru 8/31

Miscellaneous Tejas Rodeo Thru 11/29, Sat @ 7:30 Bulverde San Antonio: The Saga Thru 12/31, Tue, Fri, Sat & Sun @9pm Main Plaza / San Fernando Cathedral

40 On The Town | July/August 2014

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus: Built to Amaze 7/2-6, Wed-Thu @ 7:30pm Fri @ 12pm & 4pm Sat @ 11:30am, 3:30pm & 7:30pm Sun @ 3pm Alamodome July 4th Celebration & Fireworks 7/4, Friday / 8am-10pm Woodlawn Lake Park 58th Annual Fiesta Noche del Rio 7/4-8/9, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Arneson River Theatre Mercado O’liva 7/5, 8/2, Sat / 11am-5pm Spanish Governor’s Palace Arts San Antonio & Gemini Ink Present Carroll Cartwright: Dr. Hollywood 7/13, Sun @ 2pm Chiego Lecture Hall McNay Art Musuem Old Gruene Market Days 7/19-20, Sat-Sun 10am-5pm 8/16-17, Sat-Sun 10am-5pm Gruene 2nd Annual Salsa in the Plaza 7/19-20, Sat-Sun / 12-6pm Market Square

Charreada 7/20, Sun @ 3pm Charro Ranch Paula Deen Live!

8/6, Wed @ 7:30pm Majestic Theatre Culinaria: Restaurant Week 8/16-23 at participating restaurants across the city Labor Day Celebration 8/30-9/1, Sat-Mon 11am-10pm Market Square Gala of the Royal Horses 8/31, Thu @ 7pm Freeman Coliseum

Sports San Antonio Missions vs. Tulsa Drillers Texas League Baseball 7/2-4, Wed-Thu @ 7:05pm Fri @ 5:05pm Wolff Stadium San Antonio Talons vs. Jacksonville Sharks Arena League Football 7/6, Sun @ 3pm Alamodome San Antonio Scorpions vs. Club de Futbol Monterrey NASL Soccer 7/6, Sun @ 6pm Toyota Field

July/August 2014 | On The Town 41

San Antonio Missions vs. Springfield Cardinals Texas League Baseball 7/5-7, Sat & Mon @ 7:05pm Sun @ 6:05pm Wolff Stadium

San Antonio Missions vs. Corpus Christi Hooks Texas League Baseball 7/21-23, Mon-Wed @ 7:05pm Wolff Stadium

San Antonio Stars vs. New York Liberty WNBA Basketball 7/9, Wed @ 7pm AT&T Center

San Antonio Stars vs. Tulsa Shock WNBA Basketball 7/22, Tue @ 7pm AT&T Center

San Antonio Stars vs. Seattle Storm WNBA Basketball 7/11, Fri @ 7pm AT&T Center

San Antonio Scorpions vs. Carolina RailHawks NASL Soccer 7/23, Wed @ 7:30pm Toyota Field

San Antonio Talons vs. Cleveland Gladiators 7/12, Sat @ 7pm Alamodome

zvs. Indiana Fever WNBA Basketball 7/26, Sat @ 7pm AT&T Center

San Antonio Missions vs. Frisco RoughRiders Texas League Baseball 7/13-16, Sun @ 6:05, Mon & Wed @ 7:05pm Tue @ 11:05am Wolff Stadium

San Antonio Stars vs. Chicago Sky WNBA Basketball 7/29, Tue @ 7pm AT&T Center

San Antonio Scorpions vs. Fort Lauderdale Strikers NASL Soccer 7/19, Sat @ 7:30pm Toyota Field

San Antonio Missions vs. Frisco Rough Riders Texas League Baseball 7/31-8/3, Thu-Sat @ 7:05pm Sun @ 6:05pm Wolff Stadium

42 On The Town | July/August 2014

San Antonio Stars vs. Connecticut Sun WNBA Basketball 8/1, Fri @ 7pm AT&T Center WWE Live 8/3, Sun @ 7pm Freeman Coliseum San Antonio Stars vs. Phoenix Mercury WNBA Basketball 8/7, Thu @ 7pm AT&T Center San Antonio Scorpions vs. Indy Eleven NASL Soccer 8/9, Sat @ 7:30pm Toyota Field San Antonio Stars vs. Los Angeles Sparks WNBA Basketball 8/10, Sun @ 3:30pm AT&T Center San Antonio Missions vs. Arkansas Travelers Texas League Baseball 8/12-14, Tue-Thu @ 7:05pm Wolff Stadium San Antonio Stars vs. Minnesota Lynx WNBA Basketball 8/15, Fri @ 7pm AT&T Center

San Antonio Missions vs. NW Arkansas Naturals Texas League Baseball 8/15-17, Fri-Sat @ 7:05pm Sun @ 6:05pm Wolff Stadium San Antonio Scorpions vs. Atlanta Silverbacks NASL Soccer 8/23, Sat @ 7:30pm Toyota Field San Antonio Missions vs. Corpus Christi Hooks Texas League Baseball 8/23-25, Sat & Mon @ 7:05pm Sun @ 6:05pm Wolff Stadium San Antonio Missions vs. Midland Rock Hounds Texas League Baseball 8/26-29, Tue-Fri @ 7:05pm Wolff Stadium

Photo Credits Page 30 (L-R) Two Tons of Steel Courtesy twotons.net Jon Wolfe Courtesy liveatfloores.com

July/August 2014 | On The Town 43

Bella Hristova Photo by Lisa Marie Mazzucco

Texas Tornados Photo courtesy Shawn Sahm

Tony Ross Courtesy Cactus Pear Music Festival

Gary P. Nunn Courtesy liveatfloors.com

Page 32 (L-R) Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio Photo by Liz GarzaWilliams

Tab Benoit Photo by Native Orleanian Fine Photography Jerry Moran

Lo-An Lin Courtesy C actus Pear Music Festival Brandy Clark Courtesy brandyclarkmusic.com

Page 36 (L-R)

Dale Watson Courtesy liveatfloores.com Donny Edwards Courtesy donnyedwards. com

Johnny Bush Courtesy liveatfloores.com

Dwight Yoakam Courtesy liveatfloores.com

Henry Brun Courtesy henrybrun.com

Helen Hong Courtesy Rivercenter Comedy Club

Page 40 (L-R) Smokey Robinson Courtesy smokeyrobinson. com Steve Lippia Courtesy stevelippia.com

Leanne Morgan Courtesy Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club

OneRepublic Courtesy onerepublic.com

Nick Griffin Photo by Leslie Hassler

Charlie Robison Courtesy charlierobison. com

Fiesta Noche del Rio Courtesy fiestanochesa. com

Page 42 (L-R)

Fiesta Noche del Rio Courtesy fiestanochesa. com

Eli Young Band Courtesy liveatfloores.com

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Courtesy kennywaynesheperd.net

Page 33 (L-R)

Page 37 (L-R)

James McMurtry Courtesy liveatfloores.com

Jim Cullum Photo by James Cullum

Roger Creager Courtesy liveatfloores.com

Lila Downs Courtesy liladowns.com

Jerry Jeff Walker Courtesy jerryjeff.com

Pat Green Courtesy patgreen.com

Kevin Fowler Courtesy liveatfloores.com

Page 34 (L-R)

Page 38 (L-R)

Almost Patsy Cline Band Courtesy liveatfloores.com

Bart Crow Courtesy liveatfloores.com

Josh Abbott Band Courtesy liveatfloores.com

Brandon Rhyder Courtesy liveatfloores.com

Radney Foster Courtesy radneyfoster.com

44 On The Town | July/August 2014

Carlos Mencia Courtsy carlosmencia.com Page 45 (L-R)

Page 44 (L-R) Ottmar Liebert Photo by Joe Mozdzen

Coming Soon Majestic & Empire Theatres Rodney Carrington – 9/26 Beauty and the Beast 9/30-10/5 The Beach Boys – 10/8 Adam Corolla – 10/10 Symphony Goes to the Movies: Star Trek Into Darkness – 10/17-18 Clint Black – 10/19 George Lopez – 10/24-25

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts Lynard Skynyrd – 9/5 Vikki Carr – 9/10 Charlie Daniels Band – 9/17 Bill Cosby – 9/19 The Piano Guys – 9/23 Nice Work If You Can Get It – 10/3-4 Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band – 10/7 Art Garfunkel – 10/9 50 Shades! – The Musical – 10/14-26 Susan Boyle 10/21 Garrison Keillor 10/29

Arts San Antonio @ Aztec Theatre Beatrice Rana – 10/2 Igudesman and Joo – 10/21 @ Empire Theatre Suzanne Vega – 10/17

San Antonio Symphony @ Tobin Center Renee Fleming - 9/20 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – 10/24-25 Tchaikovsky 4 10/31-11/1

The Playhouse San Antonio The Wizard of Oz 10/3-11/2

Ballet San Antonio @ Tobin Center Dracula – 10/16-19

Cameo Theatre Married Alive (from Niagara to Viagra) – Fall ‘14

Opera San Antonio @ Tobin Center Fantastick Mr. Fox 9/23-28

Sheldon Vexler Theatre The Trojan Women – 10/25-11/15

Musical Bridges Around The World @ San Fernando Cathedral Viva la Cuba – 10/5 San Antonio Chamber Music Society @ Temple Beth-El Jerusalem Quartet – 10/19

Woodlawn Theatre Unbroken Circle 9/25-10/5

July/August 2014 | On The Town 45

46 On The Town | July/August 2014

Culinary Arts

48-60

July/August 2014 | On The Town 47

48 On The Town | July/August 2014

”

By Olivier J. Bourgoin, a.k.a. Olivier the Wine Guy Photography Greg Harrison

M

any events happened in San Antonio during the mid-1960s. In anticipation of HemisFair, the 1968 World’s Fair, much of the River Walk and a great deal of downtown underwent an urban renewal frenzy which is largely credited for putting our city on the map. An iconic element of the city’s landscape, the Tower of the Americas, was raised then. To accommodate visitors from all over the globe, several hotels were built, including the first La Quinta Inn, as well as the riverfront Hilton Palacio del Rio on South Alamo Street.

operating there ever since. (Julian Trevino died in 1998, and Maria died in 2013. Their son and daughter-in-law, Julian and Diana Trevino, operated the restaurant for years.)

Fast forward to 2014. By all accounts, any restaurant that has remained successful for more than 45 years is not something that is unheard of, yet it is rather rare. Running a business day in and day out can take its toll. Enter Chris Hill. On the heels of having purchased and remodeled the historic Esquire Tavern, Hill started negotiations with the Trevino A few blocks south from there, in a neighborhood family, and in May 2014, he became the owner of now referred to as Southtown, another business another piece of San Antonio’s history, El Mirador. was born in 1968. Julian and Maria Trevino opened El Mirador at the corner of Presa Street and Cesar Hill said he is happy about the way things have Chavez Boulevard (formerly Durango). In the back turned out at the Esquire. “I am very proud of what we of the enterprising couple’s mind, HemisFair was have achieved in just three years. We have received sure to deliver hordes of hungry customers. Maria favorable Zagat ratings and mentions in Travel and was already adept at making her famous homemade Leisure and in Esquire as one of the top 16 bars in the tortillas which she sold regularly at La Villita. United States.”

Her husband, Julian, was a butcher by trade. The combination of their skills soon made El Mirador Many of the 40-plus employees at El Mirador have a favorite of locals as well as visitors. In 1978, the worked there for years, even decades, and are Trevinos moved their already thriving restaurant a expected to remain on board. For more than four block away to 722 S. St. Mary’s St., and it has been decades, El Mirador has been serving an assortment July/August 2014 | On The Town 49

of delicious, authentic Mexican fare. Many of the recipes came from the city of Salinas Victoria in Nuevo Leon, where Julian Trevino’s family originated, and from Guanajuato, Maria’s homeland.

“I am excited about taking a very good restaurant and having the opportunity of making it better,” Hill said. “I want to bring it back to its roots and serve absolutely the freshest farm-to-table Mexican/TexMex food around, with better quality meats, locally sourced ingredients and eggs, that sort of thing.”

The property where the restaurant currently sits was the site of a house built around 1865 by Jeremiah and Katherine O’Hara. According to documents provided

by Hill, the old limestone walls and a fireplace, as well as what is known as the pink room, are vestiges from the original house. Subsequently, the property was sold to Jim Mitchell, who was reputed to have been a rider alongside world-famous hunter and showman Buffalo Bill Cody.

Hill said he intends on having a first-class bar program.

Houston Eaves, who had been working as the Esquire’s bar manager, was promoted to the position of beverage director over both establishments. Hill said plans are to serve fresh, homemade sangria, small-batch tequilas, and signature cocktails with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice.

“El Mirador is rumored to have witnessed the anointing of more politicians for office than any other location in town, including city hall,” Hill wrote in the recently released employee training manual.

“It has been the subject of a New York Times review, has a regular mention in Texas Monthly as a place to go, and has been touted by the Guardian in London as a place not to miss in San Antonio.”

Hill said he also bought the building adjacent to the Esquire. “It’s known as the old Witte building,” he said.

“There are possibilities for several other venues.”

El Mirador: 722 S. St. Mary’s St., San Antonio, Texas 78205. Phone: 210-225-9444. Open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Monday; 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

50 On The Town | July/August 2014

July/August 2014 | On The Town 51

52 On The Town | July/August 2014

1885 COTTON GIN IS SITE OF SISTER CREEK VINEYARDS By: Olivier J. Bourgoin (aka Olivier the Wine Guy) Photography Greg Harrison

L

ocated on scenic FM Road 1376, in picturesque Sisterdale, just 12 miles north of Boerne and 17 miles south of Frederiksburg, Sister Creek winery has been producing handcrafted wines for more than 25 years.

Owner Vernon Friesenhahn mostly shuns public praise and attention, preferring to leave both the wine making and the day-to-day operation to two of his trusted and long-tenured employees. In the mid 1980s, when he first bought the property -- the site of a now restored 1885 cotton gin -- Friesenhan’s intentions were to use the land mainly to graze cattle. To the pleasure of myriad Texas wine aficionados since then, that plan was soon abandoned. At the outset, five of the 45 acres of land were planted with Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir grapes, and … the rest is history? Not quite. Within five years, the fledging winery was nearly wiped out by Pierce disease, a bacterial pathogen that kills grapevines, and a common blight, a curse to Texas grape growers since grapes have been grown here.

clear some brush, cut trees, and now we can say, “The rest is history.”

Ferro, who also consulted with neighboring Grape Creek Vineyards, is a well-known personality in winemaking circles. His origins are deep rooted in a famous Mexican-Italian winemaking family from Baja, Calif. Starting in 1931, his father, Esteban Ferro, was already a winemaker for the oldest winery in Enseñada. It was Enrique Ferro who mentored Hernandez and taught him most of what he needed to know to become Vickie a successful Owen winemaker in his own right.

After the original vineyard was destroyed, it was replanted in 2002 with Black Spanish grapes -- a varietal that is known to be resistant to Pierce disease -- all of which are sold to another Texas winery. The majority of the wine that is made at Sister Creek comes from grapes grown in the Texas high plains near Lubbock as well some as from nearby Llano, north of Fredericksburg. Drawing from his knowledge and experience and from what nature provides him, Hernandez has been crafting barrel-aged, European-style award-winning wines Likewise, Danny Hernandez, who has been the only year-in, year-out, ever since. winemaker Sister Creek Winery has ever known (except for renowned enologist Enrique Ferro, who Today, the winery produces 12,000 cases of wine was brought on as a consultant in the early days), annually, including an 8-month barrel-aged was not originally hired to make wine. Having Chardonnay (Meursault style) and a Pinot Noir, also completed a tour of duty in the military, Hernandez Burgundian style. Several Bordeaux Blend-style was just an outdoors-loving UTSA student looking wines round up the offerings, as well as a Merlot -- all for an outdoorsy type of summer job. Friesenhan of them aged in 60 gallon oak barrels for anywhere hired Hernandez as a caretaker for the property, to from 12 months to 36 months.

July/August 2014 | On The Town 53

David Prejza, who has worked as the tasting room manager for the past eight years, said, “We use a lot of white oak barrels from Virginia, Pennsylvania and Missouri, as well as some French oak.”

In recent years, while many Texas wineries have been shifting their focus and production toward a more Mediterranean style of wines, Sister Creek continues on its unwavering path, working with the same tried and true varietals. Using traditional winemaking methods which have made it a successful operation combined with minimum filtration techniques, Sister Creek’s wines are best described as full flavored.

“We also make an Italian style Muscat Canelli which is one of our best sellers,” Prejza said. “Wine never sleeps; come see us.”

SISTER CREEK WINERY Open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

1142 Sisterdale Road, Sisterdale, Texas 78006 830-324-6704 (Closed on New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.)

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • Photo Credits: Page 52 Danny Hernandez Winemaker Page 53 (Above) Sister Creek corks (Below) David Prejza Tasting Room Manager

54 On The Town | July/August 2014

July/August 2014 | On The Town 55

56 On The Town | July/August 2014

The Road to Restaurant Week

By Ginger McAneer-Robinson

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mid the bustle of a hot and fun San Antonio summer, Culinaria has officially wrapped up its 2014 Festival Week and left everybody craving more of the delectable creations served by some of the area’s most ingenious chefs.

While Culinaria Festival Week only takes place once a year, you won’t need to wait until next May to enjoy the tasty creations of the chefs who so pleased your palate. Just save that appetite until August because San Antonio Restaurant Week will be making a return to the culinary scene, and those very same chefs and quite a few more will be devising their most enticing menus yet to stimulate your taste buds and save your wallet a bit in the process. Calling all foodies -- near and far -- this is definitely not something to be missed!

dinner, and the second, a $10 lunch and $25 dinner.

Of course, restaurants may provide an optional wine or beverage pairing for an additional cost, so keep an eye out for the opportunity to quench your thirst in a way that will complement your meal. For each lunch purchased, the participating restaurants will donate $1 to Culinaria and the programs Culinaria supports, and each dinner will be a $2 donation.

As the participating restaurants will be satisfying a previously insatiated stomach, you will undoubtedly find fulfilment in helping the San Antonio community.

Reservations can be made with the restaurants, and while they are not required, they are definitely encouraged. With this week of what could be termed foodie divinity, San Antonio Restaurant Week will be reaching a wide range of restaurants in the area -from casual fare to fine dining, Restaurant Week is Come out and help San Antonio Restaurant Week expanding to help San Antonio residents discover celebrate five years this August for one truly restaurants that match the setting and budget for beneficent week of wining and dining at some any dining occasion. of the best restaurants this city has to offer. The event provides you with the opportunity to be Another exciting feature encompassed by San adventurous with your palate but also stir up that Antonio Restaurant Week is Restaurant Week Oncraving for a long-time favorite. The celebration the-Move. Food trucks are popping up all over takes place Aug. 16-23, so if there was a week of San Antonio, and their cuisine just about matches not having to cook at home, this is it! that of the city ’s favorite restaurants. Restaurant Week On-the-Move gives patrons the innovative Indeed, up-and-coming restaurants and local legends mobile kitchen experience and the opportunity have partnered with Culinaria to create special to enjoy new concoctions at a value price, as menus for the benefit of guests. The participating the food trucks will provide an $8 lunch and a restaurants have created three-course lunch and/ $15 dinner. A full list of the various restaurants or dinner menus for different allotted price ranges. and food trucks that will be participating in San There are two tiers from which a restaurant can Antonio Restaurant Week can be found on the choose. The first provides a $15 lunch and $35 Culinaria website at www.culinariasa.org.

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Culinaria is a nonprofit organization whose primary goal is to encourage visitors to San Antonio based on delicious food and fine wines while enhancing a strong, culinary community and encouraging a healthy way of life for San Antonio residents. Culinaria gives back to its ever-supportive community by providing culinary scholarships to those hoping to enrich San Antonio’s culinary community, by means of the Chefs4Chefs program, in which Culinaria provides aid to chefs who may be enduring personal or familial hardships and by its upcoming Culinaria Urban Farm, through which Culinaria aims to aid the local community through nutritional education.

This evolution of goals through Culinaria’s mission will help San Antonio elevate into new spheres of cultural possibilities.

San Antonio Restaurant Week is one more step toward accomplishing Culinaria’s long-term goal of the Urban Farm. The purpose of the Culinaria Urban Farm is to encourage the values of a farm-to-table diet by educating San Antonio on how to raise one’s own produce and transform it into a healthy – yet very tasty - meal.

Eat. Drink. Give. San Antonio Restaurant Week, Aug. 16-23. For a list of restaurants, menus and other events of Culinaria, including Restaurant Week in January, visit www.culinariasa.org, like them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter or Instagram.

Or call 210-822-9555.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • Photo Credits: Page 56 Christian Draghici | Dreamstime.com Page 57 (Above) cobraphoto | Dreamstime.com (Below) Ppy2010ha | Dreamstime.com

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Visual Arts 62-82

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Summer sizzles with hot exhibitions at San Antonio museums and art centers!

By Betsy Beckmann

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an Antonio’s Summer of Matisse keeps getting better. San Antonio Museum of Art (www. samuseum.org) exhibits Matisse, Life in Color: Masterworks from The Baltimore Museum of Art through September 7, an unparalleled opportunity to view many of the master’s finest works. The Cone sisters of Baltimore collected Matisse’s drawings, paintings, sculptures, and prints over forty years of his career, and the artist personally guided them in building this worldfamous collection. Timed tickets (call 210.227.4826) allow visitors to contemplate without the throng. If you think you know these magnificent works from reproductions, the real thing will amaze you. The Art Books of Matisse (through September 7) features four lyrical limited edition books produced over the artist’s career, including the innovative cut-outs of Jazz. Glories of the Baroque: 17th-Century European Art (through July 26) highlights outstanding, and sometimes surprising, examples in the museum’s European collection, including two important new acquisitions.

The McNay Art Museum (www.mcnayart.org) draws from its own collection for Matisse and Picasso: A Friendly Rivalry (through August 10), highlighting the formal interplay of the two masters in a range of different media.

Paul Strand: The Mexican Portfolio(through August 24) features twenty haunting photogravures from the photographer’s 1933 visit to Mexico, revealing a softsepia, pre-tourist, but still achingly tough world of rural churches and fieldworkers. In Beauty Reigns: A Baroque Sensibility in Recent Painting (through August 14), Chief Curator René Paul Barilleaux explores the work of thirteen exuberant contemporary abstract artists — Jose Alvarez, Kamrooz Aram, Charles Burwell, Annette Davidek, Fausto Fernandez, Nancy Lorenz, Ryan McGinness, Beatriz Milhazes, Jiha Moon, Paul Henry Ramirez, Rex Ray, Rosalyn Schwartz, Susan Chrysler White. The work, both melancholy and sublime, shares characteristics of intense color, surface image layering, pattern repetition, and fragments of repetition.

fantasy and legend, and Julian Onderdonk in New York: The Lost Paintings, the Lost Years (through September 9), which reveals little-known early work by the San Antonio impressionist whom most think of as the father of early-20th-century Texas landscape painting.

Biologically inquisitive visitors (and little boys of all ages) will thrill to Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body (through November 3), which balances scientific explanation with the pure “ick”factor of the body’s various effluvia.

Respected for its fine collection, The Briscoe Western Art Museum (www.briscoemuseum.org) tells the story of five centuries of the American West through the artifacts and distinct points of view of cowboys, Spanish colonists, Native Americans, Latinos, pioneers of varied extraction, and more. Don’t miss “210 Gallery Talks” on the first Tuesday of each month, in which artists and scholars elucidate key aspects of the Western experience. July 1, Comanche Nation artist Vickie Owen and musician Calvert Nevaquaya will speak (and play) on the significance of the contemporary teepee he crafted for the museum; on August 5, the artist Anne Wallace will set her work in the context of her family’s history as pioneers and ranchers in North Texas.

Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum (www.bluestarart. org) exhibits San Antonio artist Jenelle Esparza’s Ancestral Archetypes July 2–August 3. Esparza explores connections among organic life and landscape through ghostly silhouettes of of people layered amid aspects of their gardens, plants, and natural surroundings. Spinning Yarns: Photographic Storytellers (through August 3) focuses on photography as a storytelling medium, exploring the roles that photographer, viewer, and medium play in the construction of narrative. Plexus no. 26 (through August 3) features site-specific installations by Dallas artist Gabriel Dawes, exploring thread and fibers as materials that connect fashion, architecture, and the human need for shelter while implicating the construction of gender and identity.

The Witte Museum (www.wittemuseum.org) continues the popular exhibitions Fairytale Fiesta (through The Institute of Texan Cultures (www.texancultures.

August 24), featuring Fiesta gowns inspired by myth, com) explores the creativity of East Texan rural artisans

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in Folklife in the Piney Woods of Texas (through August 31). For the fifth annual Texas Contemporary Arts Series (through October 26), curator Arturo Infante Almeida selected two works each from twelve diverse regional artists to produce a mosaic of the emerging regional scene of progressive art.

Ruiz-Healy Art (ruizhealyart.com) presents the work of 19 important, and very different, modern masters through the lens of a unifying medium in Paper, Pencil & Ink: Prints & Other Works on Paper (July 10–August 30). The exhibition includes works on paper by Rufino Tamayo, Richard Diebenkorn, Andrés Ferrandis, Ricky Armendariz, Vincent Valdez, Leonora Carrington, Victor Vasarely, Sergio Hernández, Creighton Michael, Robert Motherwell, Benjamín Dominguez, Ione Robinson, Tamara De Lempicka, Francisco Toledo, Joy Laville, Ethel Shipton, Nate Cassie, Constance Lowe, and Joan Miró. The power and diversity of the line never ceases to surprise, and the work is accessible enough to take home.

of the heroic visual code of sports photography and the dark local history of the lynching of Latino Americans.

The art center will also show the fruit of its renowned International-Artist-in-Residence program (July 10– September 14). For the class of Spring 2014, guest curator N’Gone Fall has selected the work of Kader Attia (Berlin, Germany and Algiers, Algeria), Jungeun Lee (Frisco, TX), and Margaret Meehan (Dallas, TX). This is an opportunity to see artists on the rise take creative risks after a season of nurturing.

At the Linda Pace Foundation (www.lindapacefoundation. org), Pace Gems: Selections from the Linda Pace Permanent Collection exemplifies the founder’s philosophy to collect and stimulate local and international contemporary art (through September 13). Featured artists include Forrest Bess, Franco Mondini-Ruiz, John Pomara, and Dario Robleto, Catherine Opie, Donald Moffett, Lynda Benglis, Kendell Geers, Teresita Fernandez, Mona Hatoum, Jim Hodges, Yayoi Kusama, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Marilyn Minter, Glenn Ligon, and Wangechi Mutu.

San Antonio artist Vincent Valdez invokes a haunting past and an open future in The Strangest Fruit (through August The Southwest School of Art (www.swschool.org) 21) at ArtPace (www.artpace.org). Powerful portraits of presents its yearly All School Exhibition July 19–August 31, the artist’s friends floating mid-air are poised at the nexus showcasing juried recent works by studio artists, adjunct

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faculty, and students ranging from Teen Studio Intensive Pages 64-65 (L-R) Program participants to adult SSA Certificate graduates Dinah Coakley, Archana Kapaleeswaran, Carlos Moreno, Simon Vouet and Mahalah Rood.

French (1590–1649) Two Philosophers, early 17th century Finally, Bihl Haus Arts (www.bihlhausarts.org) lends an Chalk on buff paper, h. 9 ½ in. (24.1 cm), eye to what’s hot with Only from the Heart... a powerful w. 14 in. (35.6 cm) exhibition of warm wood and mixed-media sculptures Gift of Karen Hixon, 2013.18 with an Afro-French-Caribbean ache by Haitian-born artist Marika Bordes (through July 12). On July 25, the gallery opens Hot! SA Artists Respond to Climate Change. Henri Matisse Guest curators Raul Castellanos and Mobi Warren join French, 1869-1954 Kellen McIntyre to produce a multimedia exhibit and Young Woman at the Window, Sunset, 1921 poetry/prose/performance event around a pressing topic Oil on canvas; h. 20 11/16 in. (52.5 cm), that is, well, all too apparent in San Antonio mid-summer. w. 20 5/8 in. (52.4 cm) The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland, BMA 1950.245 Photo Credits: Photography by Mitro Hood ©2014 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Page 62 Rights Society (ARS), New York

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Rufino Tamayo Langosta Lithograph, h. 76 cm x w. 56 cm

Briscoe Stage Coach Briscoe Western Art Museum

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Witte’s New H-E-B Body Adventure Makes Health and Nutrition Fun!

By Bryan Bayles, PhD, MPH - Curator of Anthropology and Health, Witte Museum Photography Courtesy of Witte Museum The Witte Museum recently celebrated the grand opening of its spectacular new four-story, indooroutdoor H-E-B Body Adventure Powered by University Health System. Located in historic Brackenridge Park and perched alongside the San Antonio River, the Witte is the “People’s Museum,” with more than 430,000 demographically representative visitors each year from all 50 states, 170,000 of whom are school-aged children, and 80,000 of whom attend free of charge.

The new $5 million permanent, state-of-the-art H-E-B Body Adventure builds on this equity and pioneers a

bold national model to ignite health behavior change for family members of all ages.

A family favorite reignited When it came time to liven up the popular H-E-B Science Treehouse building, the Witte partnered with H-E-B to do something no other museum in the nation had done: address the urgent need of our community and nation to find fun, exciting ways to get people physically active, learn about our bodies and discover July/August 2014 | On The Town 67

our rich traditions of healthy eating and nutrition.

The Witte began prototyping several experiences to determine whether families would respond to a museum taking such a progressive approach and venturing into the public health arena. Could healthy living truly be made fun? The Witte tested an interactive dance/gaming floor called Move It!, installed a 20-foot-high climbing wall appropriately named Mount Witte, and a suspended bike ride, the H-E-Buddy SkyCycleTM.

State-of-the-art adventure for all ages

At the heart of the H-E-B Body Adventure is an innovative system of networked components called the POWERpass. Visitors sign in at touchscreens and select one of 12 Buddies to accompany them on their adventure. Buddies are real area residents who underwent a journey of healthy lifestyle changes which they share through inspirational videos during the visitors’ activities. Individuals can then print out a takehome POWERprofile to remember their experience and The response from the public was overwhelmingly keep the wellness conversation going as they return positive. The message from the community was clear: home with friends, family and even healthcare providers.

“Prescribing change is not as effective as inspiring change.” Visionaries at University Health System and Throughout the H-E-B Body Adventure, amenities Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas and many others available throughout the city are highlighted. On South echoed this sentiment and lent their critical support. Texas Trailblaze, for example, visitors get their heart rates Officially endorsed by the Mayor’s Fitness Council, the up on a stationary bicycle and watch their avatars cycle H-E-B Body Adventure has become a safe haven where in real time along the beautiful new trails of the Mission families can experience transformative moments that Reach of the San Antonio River. At Pick Up Your Pace, empower and enrich every body. visitors walk, jog, or race across a motion-capture screen, 68 On The Town | July/August 2014

receive an Energy Score and see their stride length and speed. Families can then explore how long it will take them at that pace to walk along the extended linear park from Mission Espada to the Witte. At You Are What You Drink, visitors climb atop a giant soda cup equipped with a stair-stepper, select a beverage choice and then see how long it will take to work off their choices. Wellness components such as Relax to Win and the serenity floor immerse visitors in mindfulness and stress management, while visitors learn about healthy eating in the state-ofthe-art demonstration kitchen developed in partnership with the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio. Witte staff use ingredients from the accompanying outdoor vegetable and culinary herb gardens to highlight simple, healthy recipes everyone can make, while the little ones can tumble and crawl through a fruit and vegetable-themed Toddler Discovery Garden playscape.

ages. This summer, the Witte offers The Adventures of Super You!, multiple day-long and week-long adventure camps where children can dance, play, eat and relax their way through the new H-E-B Body Adventure, as well as experience the world-renowned blockbuster exhibition Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Body, which opened June 21 at the Witte. For adults, the H-E-B Body Adventure hosts Salud! Culinary Nights, where visitors meet top local chefs, farmers, ranchers and food historians in an intimate setting as they learn about culturally and seasonally themed menu items.

Each program also features wine or beer pairings from the finest Texas winemakers and brewers.

With its pioneering new H-E-B Body Adventure, the Witte Museum has established itself as a leader in meaningful civic engagement and hands-on learning to make San Antonio the model of fun, transformative change for In addition to the ongoing interactive experiences the rest of the nation. inside, the H-E-B Body Adventure has a robust curriculum of educational and enlightening public programs for all To learn more: www.wittemuseum.org.

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Matisse, Life in Color Masterworks from the Baltimore Museum of Art at SAMA Through September 7

By Betsy Beckmann – Originally published in The View

suggesting emotion rather than simply documenting what the eye sees. “ The challenge of seeing Matisse involves reconciling his obvious sur face charm—the bright colors, the pleasing patterns, the agreeable subjects—with his pictorial complexity and psychological subtlety,” e n r i M a t i s s e ( Fre n c h , 1 8 6 9 - 1 9 5 4 ) was wrote Jack Flam in Matisse in the Cone Collection: one of the most important and influential The Poetics of Vision. “ The poetics of his work artists of the twentieth century. His grows out of the way he reinvented what he saw paintings liberated color and line from being purely as part of the process of trying to perceive and descriptive to becoming free and expressive— record it in a meaningful way….”

Drawn from The Baltimore Museum of Art’s renowned Matisse collection, this sweeping exhibition features more than eighty paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, spanning six decades of the artist’s prolific career.

H

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Whether depicting a landscape, a still life, a room interior, or a nude figure, Matisse animated his compositions to express organic qualities such as the freshness of air and the luminosity of light, the fragrance of a floral arrangement, the liveliness of an exotic décor, or the sinuosity of the human body. In so doing, he reconditioned cultural eyes to a new way of seeing, a direct appreciation of the interplay of color, line, and shape for its pure delight and essential beauty. According to Matisse, looking at art should be like sitting in an easy chair.

Matisse first tried his hand at painting in 1889. While working as a court administrator he had taken ill, so his mother gave him an art kit while he was recuperating.

Deriving so much enjoyment from the experience, Matisse decided to enroll in art school. From 190408, he was associated with a group of artists dubbed the Fauves, or “Wild Beasts,” by an art critic who found their boldly colored, thickly textured works shocking in comparison to earlier art.

Throughout his career, Matisse worked in many mediums, often simultaneously. In the Life in Color exhibition, visitors will find more than eighty paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings, spanning six decades. Often Matisse would engage in more than one medium to explore a single artistic idea in various ways. Creating a sculpture in three dimensions might inform a rendering of the same subject in a painting, while a drawing from a live model could shed light on how to depict the same model in a painting or sculpture.

Matisse, Life in Color is organized thematically, with sections devoted to landscape, still life, room interiors, and nudes. Viewers will be able to discover stylistic shifts and developments within each section.

For example, in the early landscape The Dam at Pont Neuf (1896), Matisse employed a subdued palette to portray the River Seine on a gray day. By contrast, Festival of Flowers (1922) uses a deep perspective, a multi-colored palette, and quick, animated brushstrokes to capture the sparkling pageantry of a Mardi Gras parade in the southern French town of Nice, where Matisse maintained residence.

Of all his subjects, Matisse’s favorite was the female figure. In many of his paintings of room interiors, female models are shown dressed in “exotic” 72 On The Town | July/August 2014

clothing and surrounded by colorful tapestries, rugs, and patterned wall coverings. In other paintings, they are unclothed and posed in the tradition of the odalisque, a term used loosely to refer to Western depictions of women, often shown nude or dressed in North African or Middle Eastern clothing, who recline in ornately decorated interiors.

In his sculptures of the female nude, such as Large Seated Nude (original model 1922­­– 1929; cast 1930), Matisse carefully studied the reclining pose found in so many of his paintings, examining the position from multiple angles while emphasizing the supple, twisting lines of the female form.

The majority of the works in Life in Color are from the Cone Collection. Claribel and Etta Cone, two sisters from Baltimore, often made trips to Paris, where they befriended Matisse and Picasso and purchased works directly from the artists’ studios. Over 40 years, the Cone sisters filled their Baltimore apartments from floor to ceiling with the avant-garde art that they brought back from Paris. Eventually, the sisters acquired more than 500 works from Matisse, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, and illustrated books. As a result of the generous donations by the Cone sisters, The Baltimore Museum of Art today owns one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of Matisse’s art in the world. Visitors to the San Antonio Museum of Art this summer will see one of the twentieth century’s most complex and varied bodies of art work from that rare artist whose late work was as original and vital as his early innovations.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Photo Credits: Page 70 Henri Matisse French, 1869-1954 The Yellow Dress, 1929-1931 Oil on canvas; h. 39 9/16 in. (100.5 cm), w. 32 1/8 in. (81.6 cm) The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland, BMA 1950.256 Photography by Mitro Hood ©2014 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Page 71 Henri Matisse French, 1869-1954 Large Reclining Nude, 1935 Oil on canvas; h. 26 1/8 in. (66.4 cm), w. 36 3/4 in. (93.3 cm) The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland, BMA 1950.258 Photography by Mitro Hood ©2014 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Page 72 (Above) Henri Matisse French, 1869-1954 Purple Robe and Anemones, 1937 Oil on canvas; h. 28 3/4 in. (73 cm), w. 23 5/8 in. (60 cm) The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland, BMA 1950.261 Photography by Mitro Hood ©2014 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York (Below) Henri Matisse French, 1869-1954 Seated Odalisque, Left Knee Bent, Ornamental Background and Checkerboard, 1928 Oil on canvas; h. 21 5/8 in. (54.9 cm), w. 14 7/8 in. (37.8 cm) The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland, BMA 1950.255 Photography by Mitro Hood ©2014 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York July/August 2014 | On The Town 73

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A SPARKLING GEM One local artist's spin on South Texas glamour décor

By Kelly Hamilton Photography Mikel Allen

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nce a German model, stately with long golden locks, Erin von Borg Eaton now serves the artistic community of San Antonio in a different manner. One of four girls reared in a strict German family, Erin is now married and pursuing a family of her own with husband James Kepley ‘ Tres’ Eaton. Long time resident of Alamo Heights, Eaton now thrives within the social community of San Antonio and creates every chance she is afforded.

Growing up in a structured home with a mother who was a culinary master provoked Erin to pursue cooking as a pass time which eventually led her to open her own bakery in South Texas where she resided as a young adult. With sisters as artists and cooks, it came as no surprise to anyone in the family that Erin would follow her ambitions and effortlessly morph into a superior artist via the culinary arts. Her ability to visualize artistry in food and its presentation resulted in her desire and ability to use her hands and exceptional ability to visualize and create using a different medium.

the hallway amidst mid century French antiques and finely woven rugs. A home rich in texture, color and well-loved pets, Erin displays her most recent creation proudly in her living room – A golden coated cattle skull embellished with finely crafted metallic butter flies in an array of like colors. Erin’s foray into her latest endeavor of cattle skull enhancement began years ago when she acquired a skull and felt her creative juices begin to flow. It was with this first skull that she began adorning more skulls upon request.

As seen in the images accompanying the article, Erin’s skulls are adorned with turquoise, lapis lazuli - a bright blue metamorphic rock, various oil paints and Swarovski crystals. Each piece is custom and handcrafted to patron’s specifications.

No novice to art and its historical value, Erin’s keen sense of creativity is an international décor sensation dating back to ancient Greece. The technical term for skull design is “bucrania” where in ancient Greece, carvings of cattle skulls draped with garland depicted ritual animal sacrifices made to the Greek gods. Like the Renaissance Erin shares with me her childhood story of love, and Baroque architecture that came before it, laughter, creativity and rules as we sit on her the Beaux-Arts movement recycled the bucrania craftsman style home’s patio with wine in hand. motif to signify respect for the ancient world.

She vividly describes growing up in a structured home with a family of artists. Her jovial demeanor The embodiment of eclectic creativity, Erin and is a testament to the warmth and welcoming her husband strive to live a life of friends and air her home exudes. An eclectic display of her family adorned with all aspects of art. Her home sister ’s San Miguel influenced art embellishes and commitment to the arts is witnessed in each July/August 2014 | On The Town 75

hand-crafted skull she produces.

With a vast local demand for her product, it is Erin’s desire for artistic enthusiasts to seek out more information about her custom creations.

Displayed nationwide in galleries throughout Santa Fe, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Texas, Erin regularly hosts showings for her skulls at Taco Garage located at 8403 Broadway and at Tribecca di Olmos at 4103 McCullough St. in Olmos Park.

For more information on Erin von Borg Eaton please call (210) 275-1969, or email erin@ erineaton.com.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • Photo Credits: Page 74 Erin Von Borg Eaton with an array of embellished cattle skulls Page 76 (Above) Mariposa de Tres Oros 18 carat gold leaf covered skull Silk Monarch Butterflies hand painted with metallic paints (Middle) Las Vegas Hand painted silver metallic skull with clear rhinestones (Below) Tres Centavos Hand painted copper metallic skull with silver antique coins, mexican quartz stones, hand woven rope and clear rhinestones

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Chuck Ramirez Solo Exhibition

Opens September 11 At Blanca Berlín Galería Madrid, Spain Presented in collaboration with Ruiz-Healy Art, The exhibition will be on view through October

By Elana Coates Photography Courtesy Ruiz-Healy Art 78 On The Town | July/August 2014

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u i z - H e al y Ar t i s pl ea sed to be a p ar t o f a s p e c i a l so l o exh i bi ti o n o f wor ks

by C h u ck R a mi rez o pen i n g S eptemb er 1 1 at re n ow n e d co ntempo ra r y ph o to grap hy prese nte r B l an c a B er l í n G a l er í a i n Sp ain.

Rui z- H e al y Ar t is th e excl u si ve represent at ive of t h e e s t ate o f Ch u ck R a mi rez (19622 0 1 0 ) , o n e o f S a n Anto n i o’s mo st beloved a nd c r it i c al l y a ccl a i med a r ti sts. R amirez m i xe d an Ar te Povera -l i ke a ppreci ation for th e hu m b l e as p ec ts o f l i fe w i th a grap hic de si gn e r ’s e l an , br i n gi n g a joyo u s a f f i r mat ion to a c ute o b s e r vati o n s o n cu l tu ra l i d ent it y, co n sum e r is m , an d th e l i mi ts o f mo r t alit y.

Wor k i n g i n s e r ie s o f ph o to gra ph s, R am irez de pi c te d t h e d e t r i tu s o f l i fe —f i l l ed gar b age ba g s, cas to f f b roo ms, empt y ca n dy t rays, a nd bro k e n p i ñ at a s—i n sta r k po r tra i t s t hat m i me t h e p o l i s h ed tech n i qu es o f a dve r t ising layo uts an d p ac k age desi gn .

H is t ab leaux p hotograp hs, suc h a s S e ve n Days: Breakfast Tacos, acq uired fro m Ru i z Healy Ar t by t he Smit hsonian Ame r i c a n Ar t M useum for t heir p er manent co l l e c t i o n , ex p lore m ore sat urated comp o s i t i o n s t h at b r im wit h an effulgence of tex t ure a n d co l o r.

Throughout his wor k , whic h a l s o i n c l u de s inst allat ion and tex t, R amirez e l e vate d t h e of t-ignored wit h st unning at tent i o n t h ro u g h t ac t ic s t hat have ap t ly b een d escr i b e d by t h e late -M exic an c urator, Vic tor Zam u di o -Tayl o r, as “minimally b aroque.”

Loc ated on M ad r id ’s histor ic Plaza G u a rdi a s de Cor p s, Blanc a B er lín p resent s an inte r n at i o n a l selec t ion of est ab lished ar t ist s fro m Sp a i n , France, Israel, S out h Korea, t h e U SA, a n d Lat in Am er ic a. The up coming exh i b i t i o n , whic h will inc lud e p ieces from t h e Bro o ms, S even Days, Lost and Found, Pu r s e Po r t ra i t, July/August 2014 | On The Town 79

Co co n u t, Wh at acu p, a n d Ca n dy Tray ser ies of R a mi re z ’s l arg e - fo r mat ph o to gra phs, is a si gni f i cant s t r i d e i n f u r th er i n g th e R u i z-Healy Ar t pro gram o f co l l a bo rati ve pro j ec ts.

Th i s ex h ib it i o n bu i l ds o n th e program es ta bli s h e d wi t h Ch u ck R a mi rez : M i nim ally Ba roq u e c u rate d by Vi c to r Z a mu di o -Taylor a nd ex h i b i te d at S a n Anto n i o’s B l ue St ar Co nte m p o rar y Ar t M u seu m, 2011 a n d Dina M i tra n i G al l e r y, M i a mi , Fl o r i da , 2012.

R a mi re z i s m e m or i a l i zed th ro u gh th e Casa Ch uc k Ar t s R e s i d en c y, a pro gra m o f S a la Diaz m a na g e d by An j al i Gu pta . Th e resi denc y is he ld at R am ire z ’s pa st l i v i n g qu a r ters in t he icon i c, wo o d e n b u n ga l ow i n S a n Antonio’s S outhtown neighbor hood that also houses the le g e n d ar y S al a D i a z ser i es o f co ntem p orar y a r t ex h ib it i o n s.

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Ruiz-Healy Ar t cont inues to s u p p o r t n e w sc holar ly st ud ies on R am irez. D ur i n g h e r 2 0 1 3 inter nship at Ruiz-Healy Ar t, Th e U n i ve r s i t y of Texas at S an Antonio st ude nt, G i s e l l e Diaz c reated d igit al cop ies of R a mi re z ’s noteb ooks, review c lip p ings, an d h i s to r i c a l record s t hat ad d to t he ongo i n g wo r k o f R amirez ’s c at alogue raisonné.

Ruiz-Healy Art has also facilitated access to the Ramirez archives to Illa Gaunt, who is completing her Master’s thesis on Chuck Ramirez’s work at the University of Texas at Houston.

Wor ks by R am irez are held by Smi t h s o n i a n Am er ic an Ar t M useum , Washin g to n , D.C.; M useum of Fine Ar t s, Houston; Th e Eu ro p e a n M useum of Photograp hy, Par is ; D i a n e a n d Br uce Halle Collec t ion, Phoenix ; S a n Anto n i o M useum of Ar t ; M c Nay Ar t M u s e u m, S a n

Anton i o ; Th e L i nda Pa ce Fo u n dati o n, S an Anton i o, an d oth er pu bl i c a n d p r ivate per ma n e nt co l l e c ti o n s a n d h ave b een ex h i bi te d at B ro nx M u seu m o f th e Ar t s, NY; M use o d e Ar te L ati n o a mer i ca n o de Buenos Aires; A R CO 02, M a dr i d; G a l er i e K h a dr b er lin, B e r l i n; Dal l as Visu a l Ar t Center ; L awnd ale Ar t Cente r, H o u s to n ; M u seo de l a s Am er ic as, D e nver, an d m a ny mo re mu seu ms and g a l le r i e s inte r n at i o n a l l y.

P ho to Credits:

Blanca Berlín Galería is located at Calle Limón, 28 – Plaza Guardias de Corps, 28015 Madrid, Spain. Ruiz Healy Ar t was founded in 2004, and is located in the historic Olmos Park District of San Antonio; Ruiz-Healy Ar t specializes in contemporar y and modern ar t with an emphasis on Latin American ar tists and ar tists living in, or with a connection to, Texas.

Pages 80 - 81 ( L- R)

Pages 78 - 79 ( L- R) Broom S er ies- Orange Broom S er ies – Pur p le Broom S er ies – Green Broom S er ies – St raw

Lost and Found, Granny goes to Ve g a s Lost and Found, Toys The Fashionist a The M ake -Up Ar t ist July/August 2014 | On The Town 81

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Book Talk:

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Mo Saidi:

Physician, poet, literary magazine co-founder Story and Photography by Jasmina Wellinghoff

M

..o Saidi was born in Iran, where he earned his M.D. degree from the Tehran University School of Medicine. In 1969, he came to the United States to pursue a residency in OB/ GYN at the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, followed by a subspecialty fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Delighted by the sunny weather and the sunny disposition of San Antonians, he decided to settle here for good. During his medical career, Saidi authored more than 50 articles published in American medical journals as well as the textbook, Female Sterilization: A Handbook for Women.

There’s a game, called moshaere, where players recite verses from poems with each player starting with the word that ended the previously spoken verses.

It goes on until someone fails to continue the cycle.

My favorite poet during middle and high school was Omar Khayyam. His poetry is very philosophical and secular, questioning many aspects of religion and myths, and I fell in love with those notions. I was raised in a strict Moslem family and we, the children, were all annoyed by the pressure on us to practice Islam. That produced a backlash. By the age of 16, I lost my faith. At the same time, because of my readings in philosophy and religions, I began to write prose. But there was always a natural inclination in my soul to write poetry.

Post retirement, Saidi decided to devote himself to the literary life, publishing a volume of short stories and three poetry collections in addition to co-founding Even though I went to medical school, I never and managing the literary magazine Voices de la Luna, stopped reading and writing poetry. But the heavy a quarterly forum for poets and writers. work load and later, in the United States, dealing with a new language and a new country, forced me Saidi’s latest poetry collection, Between A and Z, was to put writing on the back burner until I had the issued earlier this year by Wings Press, a nationally opportunity to return to it. However, I did some respected small-press publisher. Commentators have writing in Farsi and published a couple of short described Saidi’s work as “narratively compelling” stories in prestigious Iranian literary magazines and “compassionate,” with one writer stating that in 1978 and 1985. I finally switched to English in “these poems wander across an impressive range of the early 1990s but my proficiency was not quite physical and emotional landscapes, landscapes of good enough so I decided to improve it. (He took memory and time. Saidi is a wise guide.” repeated sabbaticals from his medical practice to earn a master’s degree in English and American We talked to Saidi in his home office, while his literature from Harvard.) painter wife, Brigitte Saidi, worked in her studio next door. Both husband and wife are active participants JW: I gather that poetry is a lot more popular in Iran and supporters of the San Antonio arts community. than here.

JW: In the first poem of the book, you refer to MS: Poetry is supreme in Iran. Historically, Persian your childhood desire to become a writer. Tell us writers have expressed themselves through poetry, about that. since the Zoroastrian era (400-500 BC). The type of poetry they wrote was basically lyrical story telling.

MS: In Iran, children are taught to recite poetry. Literary fiction is very recent in Iran.

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JW: Was it difficult to adjust to American life?

MS: Like many other immigrants, in the early years I missed the Iranian way of life, the family support, food, music and close friendships that I had with many of my colleagues there. But gradually I became accustomed to the American way of life and actually fell in love with life in America... The last time I visited Iran was in 1996 when my mother was having a difficult time with terminal cancer.

JW: Between A and Z is divided into six sections.

Could you explain the themes of each?

MS: The poems were grouped according to subject matter. The first chapter contains poems about childhood. The second is about man’s struggles; the third is focused on San Antonio, and the fourth on life and life lessons. The fifth chapter is about my love for my wife and about the comfort and satisfaction I have achieved in recent decades, and the sixth talks about tomorrow, hopes for the future.

JW: What kind of experiences spark ideas that become poems?

MS: When I witness events or read the news or other writings, those things trigger a chain of thoughts in me. That forces me to sit down and write down my thoughts. Every morning I write pages and pages in the form of journaling. Later I reread those pages and identify the most meaningful passages and eventually I write a poem.

Every poem has a message, so that’s the main thing I work on in subsequent days. I also try to incorporate poetic language and make it very concise. A sense of rhythm is also important. So the process may take me several weeks to complete.

JW: If someone could read only three poems out of this book, which three do you feel represent you best?

MS: (Without hesitation) I would suggest the prologue The Mansion which refers to the mansion of my childhood; I would suggest the poem Fifty-Five Percent in chapter three, which summarizes in a satirical way my thoughts about historical time and the role of religious myths; and finally the title poem, Between A & Z. The point of that poem is that life is immortal but that 86 On The Town | July/August 2014

immortality is not individual. The clue to continuing existence on Earth is love. Love is a force that continues to exist. (The poem ends with “Life endures, persists/ and survives because/of L, O, V, and E.”

by university English departments but since we are independent we sought a nonprofit status so that we could solicit support from corporations and individuals. Frost Bank, H-E-B, Wells Fargo, the Express-News and various professionals and writers, JW: From what you are saying and from your poems, of course, have been supporting us. I am pleased to I gather you are not too fond of religion in general. tell you the magazine’s finances are healthy.

MS: I would say I am not anti-religion; I have simply set aside the issue of God and religion. I think the human brain is incapable of answering the basic questions about creation, the origins and the end of the universe. Science has come a long way but has probably discovered only a fraction of the truth about what’s going on in the universe. Having said that, I would add that none of the religions is providing a rationally satisfactory explanation for the major philosophical questions humans face.

JW: How many readers do you have?

MS: Voices is published in four formats: hard copy, online version, e-magazine and for digital readers.

The print magazine is available through subscription and at the Twig and VIVA bookstores as well as a variety of venues where we sponsor readings.

Altogether, we have more than 3,000 readers.

JW: How do you see the magazine’s near future?

MS: Voices de la Luna aims to publish local, regional JW: Your poetry has been described as narrative and and national authors and to promote poetry and the accessible. Do you feel those are accurate assessments? literary arts in San Antonio. We believe poetry has the power to heal, and the arts in general enhance MS: I think my poetry is lyrical. Poetry can be written the quality of life in the community. We also believe in an accessible way, though you can present major in community service. We provide workshops and philosophical questions of life, death, war, peace poetry therapy sessions for colleges and places such and love. One of my favorite poets of today is Ted as the Bexar County Detention Center and Haven Kooser. He was a poet laureate of the United States for Hope, and local high schools. I, personally, go (and 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner), and he publishes to Haven for Hope and conduct a workshop called an online literary magazine that has 3 million Telling the Sacred Stories. About 40 people attend. readers worldwide. I was honored to be published Even though they are homeless for a variety of in his magazine. Kooser’s poetry is very simple; it’s reasons, these participants are well-educated for the not full of metaphors and convoluted phrasing. most part. I encourage them to tell their own stories, Naomi’s (Shihab Nye) poetry is also beautiful and and we have published some of them. understandable. Writers have the responsibility to use language to its fullest capacity but that doesn’t JW: What else is on your literary agenda? mean the poem shouldn’t be understandable.

MS: Another project I am working on is sort of an epic poem about San Antonio titled Yanaguana: Native River. It tells about the beginnings of San Antonio and its entire history and the relationship between the river and the city. It uses poetry and prose. I have presented this project to the City of MS: It was founded by two poets, James Brandenburg San Antonio, and we have received a small grant and me. In 2007, after The Poet magazine of San to produce the multimedia aspects of it. It will be Antonio failed to thrive, we decided to undertake a tone poem, involving music, photography and the task of publishing a literary, poetry and arts video. Daniel Parker is composing the music. magazine. We started by publishing only online but after the first two issues the interest of writers ------------------------------------------------------------------and readers convinced us to launch a print version Saidi’s comments have been edited. The opinions expressed as well. Many similar magazines are supported are his and not necessarily those of the publisher.

JW: Let’s talk about your other literary activities. You are the co-founder of the magazine Voices de la Luna which publishes a lot of poetry, but also prose and book reviews. What motivated you to start it?

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Artistic Destination:

The 1968 Exhibit:

Bullock State History Museum in Austin

By Julie Catalano

T

hat was the year that was ... everything.

Exhilarating, frightening, groundbreaking, tragic and triumphant. Those and countless other adjectives could easily describe 1968 and still not adequately convey the turbulence of the times.

“We were drawn to The 1968 Exhibit because of its strong Texas connections, including LBJ, the Apollo 8 space mission, and the Huey helicopter which was made in Fort Worth,” said Margaret Koch, director of exhibits for the Bullock State History Museum.

The 1968 Exhibit is a collaborative effort of the Minnesota Historical Society in partnership with the Atlanta History Center, Chicago History Museum, and Oakland Museum of California. After Austin, the exhibition travels to the Chicago History Museum, History Colorado in Denver, and the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, Calif.

But now there’s a traveling exhibition that comes close. Simply titled The 1968 Exhibit, it opened in June at the Bullock State History Museum in Austin and runs through Sept. 1. Whether or not you were around in 1968, the high-energy multimedia experience is designed to transport visitors back to one of the most pivotal years in U.S. history — or as they put it, “the year that shocked and rocked Texas The Vietnam-era Huey helicopter (the Bell UH-1 — and all of America.” series Iroquois) has turned out to be the star of the 90 On The Town | July/August 2014

show, said Bullock State History Museum director of marketing Laura Hubbard. “We had a group of 15 Vietnam veterans who helped to install it. That was an amazing experience.” It’s also the opening display, where a Huey has “landed” in an American living room in January 1968.

opened on Broadway, Laugh-In debuted on television, and Johnny Cash sang at Folsom Prison.

“There are so many pop culture items,” Hubbard said.

“We have Mr. Rogers’ sweater and his sneakers. The kids are enthralled by that.” And something else she found surprising. “They’re as captivated by LaughFrom there it’s a jam-packed roller coaster ride In as much as we were. This exhibit has had a much through a year that, in hindsight, seems almost broader reach in terms of demographics than we impossible to believe ever happened. Organized by initially thought.” timeline, it spotlights significant events each month that carry visitors relentlessly through the peak of the Heavily interactive, the exhibition has three lounges Vietnam war, nationwide riots and demonstrations, focusing on the music, design, movies and television and the shocking assassinations of the Rev. Dr. Martin that shaped a generation. Visitors can cast a vote in the Luther King Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy. There’s a 1968 presidential election, or challenge competitors program from King’s funeral service, and a camera to a 1960s-style quiz show about music and more. that photographed RFK the night he was shot. The Even the museum shop gets in the act, with tie-dye year ends with a hopeful sight: the first pictures of shirts, DVDs, bumper stickers, ’60s music CDs, and, of the Earth in its entirety taken from the window of the course, lava lamps.

Apollo 8 space capsule.

There are numerous links to Texas, including items Through it all, everyday life went on, and the from President Lyndon B. Johnson, Texas-born rock exhibition weaves in all of it. It was the year Hair icon Janis Joplin, and from the Apollo 8 manned July/August 2014 | On The Town 91

space flight directed by NASA’s mission control in Houston. On July 20, the museum will host “To the Moon — Texas and the Apollo Program,” consisting of an expert panel of NASA veterans discussing their roles in and memories of their space adventures.

They’re not the only ones who can reminisce. One of the most popular features has been Reflections, an online journal where ordinary people can leave their memories of that landmark year or, if they weren’t born yet, why that era has become important to them. “We’ve gotten so many amazing stories from people,” Hubbard said. As of this writing, almost 1,000 comments had been collected at http:// the1968exhibit.org/about-reflections.

Go ahead and add your own thoughts about the year that rocked ... everything. You know you want to. Peace.

For more info: The 1968 Exhibit through Sept. 1 Bullock State History Museum (thestoryoftexas.com) 1800 N. Congress Ave. Austin, Texas 78701 512-936-8746

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Photo Credits: Page 90 Earthrise: Courtesy National Aeronauticsand Space Administration Page 91 The Tet Offensive: Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration Page 92 (Above) Huey Helicopter Courtesy Bullock Texas State Museum (Below)

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Hippie Pants: Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

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RANDOM THOUGHTS: Broadway Three Ways

By Vivienne Gautraux Photography John Dyer

I

attended a performance of Wicked a few months back at the Majestic Theatre and while waiting for it to begin, a curious thought popped into my head, which was, just how many different Broadway touring shows have I seen in my life at this venerable old theater? On my way home after the final curtain, I began making mental notes. A bit later when trying to go to sleep, I counted shows like sheep…..Cats, Les Miserable, The Sound of Music, Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Lion King, Man of La Mancha, Jersey Boys, Memphis, Big River, Camelot, Spamalot and so on. The next morning I actually sat down at my computer, recalled them all and keyed them in, 73 to be exact. Mamma Mia, that’s a lot. I have been privileged to experience 73 different Broadway touring shows since the theater reopened in, I think, 1984 (list upon request). This is something one rarely thinks about, but it begs the question, just how much has the Majestic Theatre meant to the cultural lives of folks like me who reside in and around San Antonio? The answer is obviously mucho, especially when you add to this the many evenings and matinees enjoyed there through the years attending symphony, ballets, opera, concerts and comedy performances. It’s quite a place, and to think, it was once in jeopardy of being torn down.

ON SCREEN

audiences. As I write this article, I have a ticket in my pocket for what I am sure will be a legendary performance of Driving Miss Daisy starring Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones. It’s planned for a handful of grand evenings in the near future at several big screens across town. Other live theatrical performances I recall showing at area cinemas in the recent past include the West End revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, Broadway’s Romeo and Juliet starring Orlando Bloom and Candola Rashad, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera from Royal Albert Hall and its sequal Love Never Dies, as well as War Horse from London’s National Theater.

ON DVD For those of you who say, “I’ll wait for it to come out on DVD,” you are in luck several times over.

Broadway DVDs were once rare, but things have picked up recently. Jekyll & Hyde, Sophisticated Ladies, Smokey Joe’s Café, Memphis, Cats, Rent, Into the Woods, Oklahoma, Phantom, Pippin, Sweeney Todd, Camelot, Company, Shrek The Musical and more have been captured on little round discs for all to see, hear and enjoy. Playbill.com and Amazon.com have them all.

So if you are a Broadway aficionado, here are my suggestions. Take in ten shows in person at the Majestic during its 2014-15 season plus six Broadway-Off Broadway productions in the new Tobin Center’s Signature Series. Spend some time researching local movie theater websites for the aforementioned special showings. And, start a Broadway DVD collection today.

I’ll move along now to another kind of Broadway presentation. More and more, movie theaters are scheduling special showings of Broadway and London West End stage performances. I’ve only seen two to date and both were great. I’m speaking of Rent and Memphis, both filmed in their respective New York theaters before live That’s Broadway three ways.

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OUt Greg Harrison OUt&&About Aboutwith withGreg 98-101

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picture this:what’ PICTURE THIS FP EDITORIAL

stunning, hand-painted zoo animals majestically e 102 On The Town | July/August 2014

’s new in the zoo?

encircle a shiny new carousel in zootennial plaza.

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images by greg harrison

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