November/December 2009 Issue

Ezine.com

ON THE TOWN

November/December 2009

The The Lion Lion King, King, Nutcrackers Nutcrackers & & More More Louise Louise Locker: Locker: Elf Elf Louise Louise Marion Marion Oettinger, Oettinger, Jr. Jr. Mayra Mayra Worthen Worthen Kirk Kirk Feldmann Feldmann Carlos Carlos CortĂŠs Cortes Joe Joe Cosniac Cosniac Plus Plus 12 12 Additional Additional Articles Articles

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Features The Lion King, Nutcrackers & More

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Front Cover Photo: Courtesy Majestic Theatre

Kirk Feldmann: Box Office King

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Performing Arts Cover Photo: He Lives In You: THE LION KING National Tour © Disney

By Joan Marcus, Courtesy Majestic Theatre

Ballet San Antonio Marks 25 Years

November-December 2009 Events Calendar Dr. Marion Oettinger, Jr.: SA Musuem of Art

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Local Museums and Art Centers Offer Exhibits, Gift Memberships

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Joe Cosniac and Paesanos Restaurant Group

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Pinch Pennies and Dine Well: Make Reservations and Make Money

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The Federal Purchase: Eleven Years After

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Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza

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Visual Arts Cover Photo: Greg Harrison Culinary Arts Cover Photo: Michael Atwood Urban Cover Photo: Gerry Lair Literary Arts Cover Photo: © saffiresblue / bigstockphoto.com Festivals & Celebrations Cover Photo: © Shannon Drawe / Dreamstime.com Eclectics Cover Page Photo: Gerry Lair

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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Contributors

Departments Box Office: Know Before You Go

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More Performing Arts: San Antonio Rose Live at the Aztec Theater

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Portfolio: The Art of Carlos Cortés

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More Visual Arts: Gilbert Barrera Sculpts Lady Justice

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More Culinary Arts: Major Players Open New Restaurants

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Book Talk: Barbara Ras – Trinity University Press

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More Literary Arts: Hot Off the Press for the Holidays

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Artistic Destination: Round Top, Year Round

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Accolades: Elf Louise Turns 40

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Leigh Baldwin Amanda Reimherr Buckert Julie Catalano Cynthia Clark Paloma Cortez Thomas Duhon, artist Chris Dunn Dana Fossett Alexis Gunderson Greg Harrison, staff photographer Michele Krier Christian Lair Kay Lair

Claudia Maceo-Sharp Marlo Mason-Marie Susan A. Merkner, copy editor Cynthia Munoz Angela Rabke Paige-Ramsey Palmer Blair Russell Sara Selango Shannon Huntington Standley Jasmina Wellinghoff Erin West

Gerry Lair – Publisher 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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Contents page 3

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Performing Arts 10-42

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The Lion King, Nutcrackers & More The Holiday Season Promises to Be Very Entertaining

By Sara Selango

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saw The Lion King twice when it played the Majestic a few years ago, and two times was not enough. Now, between Dec. 9 and Jan. 3, I have a chance to experience it in the same venue again. You can take advantage of this opportunity, too. Millions of words have been written exalting and deifying this musical. Believe them all. It’s a true on-stage spectacular combining exceptional choreography, music and lyrics, scenic design, costuming and story. Seldom will you ever leave a theatre as fulfilled as after viewing The Lion King. Bring the family. Bring the office. Bring the neighborhood. You won’t be sorry and you’ll remember that afternoon or evening forever. I am assuming this will be a sold-out run at some point with all tickets purchased, even single ducats in the last row of the balcony, so don’t wait. In my opinion, The Lion King is not an expense; it’s an investment in your cultural life. The Lion King is traveling to San Antonio to see you. After this, you’ll have to travel to see it. Seize the moment.

performances are Nov. 21-22 at the Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater in Kerrville. A week later is Arts San Antonio’s The Nutcracker, which runs Nov. 27-29 at Municipal Auditorium and returns Dec. 4-6. The Metropolitan Classical Ballet partners with the San Antonio Metropolitan Ballet in these performances, along with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Bernard Rubenstein.

Moscow Ballet dances one performance only of their Great Russian Nutcracker Nov. 29 at the Majestic. The Nutcracker featuring the Alamo City Dance Company is next, Dec. 18-19 at McAllister Auditorium on the campus of San Antonio College. The final presentation of The Nutcracker this holiday season is by Ballet San Antonio with performances on Dec. 24 (matinee) and Dec. 26-27 at Municipal Auditorium. The Nutcracker is a tradition that always brings joy. Make your choice and go.

The San Antonio Symphony carries on several traditions again this holiday season, starting with three performances Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is a wonderful of Handel’s Messiah under the direction of resident investment in your cultural life as well. This holiday season conductor Ken-David Masur. The University United select from five presentations. Scheduled first is the Fifth Methodist Church plays host to the orchestra for this special Annual Nutcracker in the Hills presented by the Kerrville presentation Dec. 4. On Dec. 5, the symphony travels Performing Arts Society. Featuring the San Diego Ballet, to Coker United Methodist Church for a performance,

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followed by an appearance in Cibolo at Byron Steele II High School auditorium Dec. 6. Masur also will be on the podium for the ever-popular Holiday Pops, featuring the San Antonio Symphony Mastersingers, Dec. 18-20.

Other holiday-oriented musical performances this year include The Christmas Music of Mannheim Steamroller Nov. 27 at the Majestic; Symphony of the Hills’ presentations Dec. 3 and 6 at the Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater in Kerrville of Rising Stars, featuring selections from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite plus Christmas songs; Cowboy Christmas Ball featuring Michael Martin Murphey Dec. 5 at the LBJ Student Center Ballroom at Texas State University in San Marcos; Mid-Texas Symphony’s Olde English Christmas Dec. 13 at Jackson Auditorium on the campus of Texas Lutheran University in Seguin; and Trans-Siberian Orchestra Dec. 27 at the AT&T Center.

27-28 by The Company Theatre at Little Italy Restaurant; Las Nuevas Tamaleras Nov. 27–Dec. 13 at the Guadalupe Theatre; A Christmas Carol: The Musical Nov. 28–Dec. 27 at the Russell Hill Rogers Theatre in San Pedro Playhouse; Christmas at the Theater Dec. 10-13 by the Fredericksburg Theatre Company at the Steve W. Shepherd Theater; and Inspecting Carol at the Cameo from Dec. 12-Jan 3.

Also included on my list of things to see in November and December, but not holidayish, are the Broadway Across America presentation of Riverdance: Farewell Tour Nov. 6-8 at the Majestic; San Antonio Chamber Music Society’s presentation of Shanghai Quartet Nov. 8 at Temple Beth-El; Irving Berlin’s I Love a Piano Nov. 13 at the Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre in New Braunfels; High Hair and Jalapenos Nov. 13–Dec. 31 at the Josephine Theatre; Play It Again Sam at the Cameo Theatre Nov. 14Dec 6; Camerata San Antonio Recital featuring violinist Live theater offerings with a holiday flavor are Forever Karen Stiles Nov. 15 at Travis Park United Methodist Plaid: Plaid Tidings Nov. 5-Dec. 19 at the Harlequin Dinner Church and San Antonio Rose Live Holiday Show Nov. Theatre; The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Nov. 17-Dec. 28–Dec. 20 at the historic Aztec Theatre.

3 at Magik Theatre; Christmas Belles on stage Nov. 20Dec. 12 at Elizabeth Huth Coates Theatre in Ingram; Bah The season is loaded with great things to see. Happy Humbug – A One-Man Christmas Carol presented Nov. holidays! Give yourself the gift of live entertainment.

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Photo Credits: Pages 10-11 The Tree of Life from THE LION KING National Tour ©Disney Photo by Joan Marcus Courtesy Majestic Theatre Page 12-13 (Left to Right) The Nutcracker

By Ballet San Antonio Elizabeth Gordon and Armando Maldonado Photo by Glenda Deahl Ewa Kupiec Photo by KASSKARA Courtesy www.ewakupiec.com The Nutcracker

By San Diego Ballet Courtesy Kerrville Performing Arts Society

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Lyle Lovett Courtesy Majestic Theatre Shanghai Quartet Courtesy www.shanghaiquartet.com Riverdance: Farewell Tour Photo © 2003 by Joan Marcus Courtesy Majestic Theatre Page 14 (Left to Right) Nemanja Ostijic Courtesy Indiana University Jacob’s School of Music The Doobie Brothers Courtesy Majestic Theatre Sweet Plantain Courtesy Carver Community Cultural Center

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16 On The Town | November-December 2009

Kirk Feldmann: Box Office King

By Julie Catalano Photography Greg Harrison

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hen Disney’s mega-musical The Lion King returns for a repeat engagement from Dec. 9 to Jan. 3, the Majestic Theatre once again will be the house that roared. The theatrical masterpiece and pop culture phenom – two of its elaborate costumes were recently donated to the Smithsonian – broke records in 2006 when it drew 115,000 patrons to the Majestic over a six-week run, resulting in an economic impact to the city of more than $22 million.

Kirk Feldmann, executive director and partner of theatrical management company Arts Center Enterprises (ACE), is understandably excited about the return of the iconic cast of characters. He believes the blockbuster show will be a sellout, welcoming more than 70,000 guests over a four-week run. “We’re bullish,” Feldmann says.

to come to San Antonio. By 1989 the exodus to the suburbs had taken its toll, leaving downtown in a state of decline.

“The city had identified Houston Street as an area of emphasis,” Feldmann says of the area known as a grand shopping and retail district from the ‘20s to the ‘50s.

Then-mayor Henry Cisneros, Joci Straus, the Las Casas Foundation and ACE joined forces to redevelop the Majestic and Empire theaters in a strategic undertaking that included the expenditure of $50 million in federal, state and local funding.

“There was a plan, and different people had roles to play. City government and the public sector provided all the streetscape improvements. The city provided some of the renovation funds. The nonprofit sector raised the remaining funds, and then our role was to be And why not, given the track record of the venerable in charge and accept all of the operating risk but have Majestic since its massive $4.5 million facelift in 1989, a profit motive that really fueled us to drive activity which was Feldmann’s first foray into the renovation of into the building.” historic theaters, an area in which he is now considered a nationally recognized expert. With his partners at ACE And drive they have: The Majestic brings a quarter– Allen Becker, Gary Markowitz, and David Anderson – million visitors to San Antonio every year, many Feldmann helped to create and implement a business traveling from surrounding states who see the city model that renovates beloved-but-dilapidated historic as not just a place to see a show, but a destination – theaters in urban corridors and then keeps them which means hotel stays, restaurant meals and visits to running as smoothly – and profitably – as possible. area attractions.

The Austrian-born Feldmann got an early introduction to theater in New York and D.C., where he worked at the historic Warner Theater as box office treasurer before being hired by current ACE partner David Anderson in 1983.

The Majestic’s 80th birthday this year is certainly going to be better than its 60th. “Twenty years ago, its future was in peril,” Feldmann says. “It has been gratifying to see our projections and expectations end up being fulfilled.”

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect for the once and future king of renovation and redevelopment The ACE team is also a dream come true for Katrina-

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ravaged New Orleans, where the historic Saenger Theatre was on the verge of a major renovation when the devastating hurricane hit. The project, set for reopening in 2013, “is in the final stages of design and we expect to go into construction the end of this year.” That will be the second theater for ACE in postKatrina New Orleans, the other being the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts that opened in January.

With the transfer of more than 40 performance dates by the San Antonio Symphony from the Majestic to the new Bexar County Performing Arts Center in 2013, Feldmann says that a series of new initiatives “will create new, specialty programming – more jazz, more country-western and children’s programming.”

Wherever Feldmann travels, he sees faces light up when he mentions these treasured institutions that have managed to survive time and tribulations. “These Feldmann says if these projects “hit a home run, old movie palaces have so much history and emotional then there will be opportunities for the city of New attachment within the communities that it makes it a Orleans to succeed as well.” The company is still pleasure to work with them,” he says. “People smile and finalizing the timeline for renovation of the once- say, ‘Oh, I remember when…’ And then they tell you a grand Loew’s Kings Theatre on Flatbush Avenue in story.” With just a hint of pride befitting a box office Brooklyn, one of the five “Wonder” theaters built in ruler, he adds: “You feel like you have reconnected a the early 20th century. community with its own memories.”

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Ballet San Antonio Marks 25 Years Meet Mayra Worthen, Director

By Michele Krier Photography Dana Fossett

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t’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas...and that means The Nutcracker is just a pirouette around the corner. What little girl doesn’t dream of someday dancing as Clara in front of that magnificent tree?

Mayra Worthen, director of Ballet San Antonio Academy, who was already serious about ballet by the tender age of 10, took her dream of dancing even further than that vision of Clara -- she founded her own school of dance. Since early childhood, Worthen danced in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Thanks to her talents, along with connections between her dance instructor in Puerto Rico and the director of the Texas Christian University dance program, boasting one of the oldest ballet programs in the nation, Worthen found herself accepted into the program.

“I knew since I was small that I wanted to teach. I was injured at TCU,” Worthen says, “but God had put that in my heart, so I bounced back, becoming a teacher, something I had actually been doing since I was 14.”

She graduated from TCU in 1975 and bought her old ballet school in her native Puerto Rico, founding the Mayra Worthen School of Dance in San Juan, where she taught and directed for eight years. She also taught at Ballet Municipal de San Juan and Ballet Puertoriqueno.

Worthen traveled back and forth between Puerto Rico and San Antonio when her late husband came to study at St. Mary’s. She opened her San Antonio dance studio in 1984, and the nonprofit organization Ballet San Antonio grew from that beginning. It originally was known as the Texas Ballet Concerto.

“We gave our first performance because the dancers themselves wanted to perform,” says Worthen, who is youthful, graceful and elegant. “Now we are kicking off our 25th anniversary this year with The Nutcracker.

For so many people, Nutcracker is a family tradition.

We think our Christmas Eve performance will be a very special time for families, in addition to our other performances.” The 2009-10 season includes a performance of Coppelia, ballet’s greatest comedy, in March at the Majestic Theatre.

The company also has earned an appreciative following for their annual showcase Off Center contemporary dance performances with exciting new choreography -- all by local choreographers. Looking like a United Nations roster, dancers in the professional company, with an average age of 26, hail from Japan, Cuba, France, Puerto Rico and from across the United States. Equally impressive is the list of exports: Worthen’s students and alumni have danced with world-renowned companies, including Alvin Alley, Paul Taylor, the San Francisco Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater and the Cincinnati, Houston and Memphis ballet companies.

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Worthen’s mission for the professional ballet company is to “share the splendor of dance through diverse artistic performances and outreach programs.” Her Ballet San Antonio’s student performances have reached more than 100,000 students. And this classically trained professional ballet company is the only performance group in San Antonio trained in the Ballet Russe tradition.

“Ballet Russe is a philosophy,” Worthen says. “We have a style that we’ve developed which features exuberance, a passion that the dancers have in addition to athleticism.

The dancers must use their whole bodies, expressing passion even with their faces and their eyes.”

For 26 years Worthen has served as the director and principal teacher of the Ballet San Antonio Academy and artistic director of Ballet San Antonio. Her many accomplishments, including training several thousand dancers over the years, have not gone unnoticed. The San Antonio Express-News named her Outstanding Woman of the Year in the Arts for 1987.

She designed her own dance studio which combines a dramatic black-and-white design motif and practicality that includes several dance studios and a state-of-theart dance floor providing give for the dancers. The company moved into the new building in 2005. “I could just live here,” Worthen says enthusiastically.

The studio offers adult classes, which are a great form of exercise, Worthen says. “Our students can start at the age of 3 and up to 90. They are getting a good workout and having a good time. It requires dedication, but it also has to be fun.” The academy enrolls all year long, while the season for the company is 24 weeks from October through May. Making dance accessible is a cause Worthen believes in. Thanks to Ballet San Antonio, children throughout the city have had opportunities to see performances at local hospitals and schools. The company also collaborates with the San Antonio Symphony and the San Antonio Opera. For nearly two decades, Ballet San Antonio has performed to capacity crowds at Lila Cockrell Theater. Ballet San Antonio’s Learning That Moves You outreach program provides positive role models for children throughout the city.

“We’ve been here 25 years,” says Worthen, not willing to rest on her laurels, “and I look forward to the next 25 years of putting Ballet San Antonio on the map!”

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November-December 2009 Events Calendar Music Notes Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral Musical Bridges Around the World Presentation 11/1, Sun @ 6pm San Fernando Cathedral – Main Plaza Music on the Move: Greece and Rome Musical Offerings Presentation 11/2, Mon @ 6pm & 8pm San Antonio Museum of Art Nemanja Ostijic Arts San Antonio Presentation 11/3, Tue @ 7:30pm Ruth Taylor Recital Hall Trinity University Granger Smith 11/4, Wed @ 6pm (doors open) The County Line IH-10 The Doobie Brothers 11/4, Wed @ 8pm Majestic Theatre Chris Cagle 11/6, Fri @ 7pm (doors open) Cowboys San Antonio The Derailers 11/6, Fri @ 8pm Gruene Hall

Rich O’Toole 11/6, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store San Antonio Rose Live 11/6-12/27, Fri @ 7pm Sat @ 2pm & 7pm Sun & Mon @ 7pm Aztec Theatre Crooked Still Encore Performing Arts Series at Texas State University 11/7, Sat @ 8pm Glade Outdoor Theatre – San Marcos An Evening with Linda Rondstadt 11/7, Sat @ 8:30pm Municipal Auditorium Eleven Hundred Springs 11/7, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Reverend Horton Heat 11/7, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall Shanghai Quartet San Antonio Chamber Music Society Presentation 11/8, Sun @ 3:15pm Temple Beth-El

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Cristal Smith 11/8, Sun @ 5pm Jo Long Theatre Third Eye Blind 11/9, Mon @ 7pm Lone Star Pavilion at Sunset Station Free Veterans Day Concert: Salute to Service San Antonio Symphony 11/11, Wed @ 7pm Municipal Auditorium Robert Earl Keen 11/12-13, Thu @ 8pm Fri @ 9pm Gruene Hall Son Volt 11/13, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Eugenia Leon 11/14, Sat @ 7pm Charline McCombs Empire Theatre

Bachanalia San Antonio Brass Presentation 11/15, Sun @ 2pm Beacon Hill Presbyterian Church Camerata Recital Camerata San Antonio Presentation Karen Stiles, violin Vivienne Spy, piano 11/15, Sun @ 3pm Travis Park United Methodist Church A Seranade to San Antonio Puerto Rican Heritage Society Presentation 11/15, Sun @ 3pm Antonio Barasorda, tenor Alfonsina Molinari, soprano Charline McCombs Empire Theatre

Tanya Tucker 11/14, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall

Rock and Roll Marathon featuring Grand Funk Railroad and Los Lonely Boys 11/15, Sun @ 6pm Alamodome

Josh Abbott Band 11/14, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

Hatebreed 11/20, Fri @ 6pm Lone Star Pavilion at Sunset Station

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Mark McKinney 11/20, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

Bernstein’s Mass UTSA Orchestra and Choirs 11/22, Sun @ 3pm UTSA Recital Hall

Bonnie Bishop 11/20, Fri @ 9pm Gruene Hall

2nd Annual Brauntex Unplugged with Susan Oliver, Cody Canada, Seth James, Wade Bowen And Bleu Edmondson 11/22, Sun @ 6:30pm (pre-concert party 4-6pm @ Seekatz Opera House) Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre – New Braunfels

Emporer and Romeo & Juliet San Antonio Symphony 11/20-21, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor Ewa Kupiec, piano Majestic Theatre Dashboard Confessional 11/21, Sat @ 6pm Lone Star Pavilion at Sunset Station Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan 11/21, Sat @ 7:30pm Municipal Auditorium Roger Creager 11/21, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall Gary P. Nunn 11/21, Sat @ 9:30pm John T. Floore Country Store Bach in a Style of Jazz Musical Bridges Around the World Presentation 11/22, Sun @ 3pm Valerie Grokhovski, piano Boris Andrianov, cellist Mark Cheikhet, violin McAllister Auditorium – San Antonio College

Lyle Lovett 11/22, Sun @ 8pm Majestic Theatre Eli Young Band 11/25, Wed @ 7pm (doors open) Cowboys San Antonio Kevin Fowler 11/27, Fri @ 7pm (doors open) Cowboys San Antonio Aaron Watson 11/27, Fri @ 8pm Gruene Hall The Christmas Music of Mannheim Steamroller Broadway Across America Presentation 11/27, Fri @ 8pm Majestic Theatre Reckless Kelly 11/27, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

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Puscifer 11/28, Sat @ 8pm Majestic Theatre Stoney Larue 11/28, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Jason Boland & The Stragglers 11/28, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall Breaking Benjamin 11/29, Sun @ 6:30pm Sunken Gardens Amphitheater Kenny Barron and Anne Drummond UTSA’s Monday Night Artist Series 11/30, Mon @ 7:30pm UTSA Recital Hall – 1604 Campus Endgame Tour: Megadeth with Machine Head, Suicide Silence & Arcanium 12/1, Tue @ 5pm Sunken Garden Amphitheater The All-American Rejects & Taking Back Sunday 12/2, Wed @ 7pm Lone Star Pavilion at Sunset Station Reckless Kelly 12/3-4, Thu-Fri @ 8pm Gruene Hall

Rising Stars Symphony of the Hills 12/3, Thu @ 7:30pm 12/6, Sun @ 2:30pm Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater – Kerrville Kelli Pickler 12/4, Fri @ 7pm (doors open) Cowboys San Antonio Handel’s Messiah San Antonio Symphony Ken-David Masur, conductor San Antonio Symphony Mastersingers 12/4, Fri @ 8pm University United Methodist Church 12/5, Sat @ 8pm Coker United Methodist Church 12/6, Sun @ 3pm Byron Steele II High School Auditorium Charlie Robison 12/4, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute to the Beatles 12/5, Sat @ 7:30pm Laurie Auditorium – Trinity University Sweet Plantain Carver Community Cultural Center Presentation 12/5, Sat @ 8pm Jo Long Theatre

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Michael Martin Murphey Cowboy Christmas Ball Encore Performing Arts Series at Texas State University 12/5, Sat @ 8pm LBJ Student Center Ballroom – San Marcos

Cory Morrow 12/18-19, Fri @ 8pm Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall

Family Holiday Pops San Antonio Symphony 12/20, Sun @ 2:30pm The Kelly Willis and Bruce Laurie Auditorium – Trinity University Robison Holiday Show 12/5, Sat @ 9pm Holiday Saxophones Gruene Hall 11/20, Sun @ 7pm Musical Evenings at San Guadalupe Theater Fernando Cathedral Musical Bridges Around Trans-Siberian Orchestra the World Presentation 12/26, Sat @ 3pm & 8pm 12/6, Sun @ 6pm AT&T Center San Fernando Cathedral – Main Plaza

Danny Perez 12/11, Fri @ 7pm (doors open) Cowboys San Antonio

Scott Wiggins Band 12/26, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

Jerry Jeff Walker 12/11-12, Fri @ 8pm Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall

Band of Heathens 12/30, Wed @ 8pm Gruene Hall

Daughtry 12/12, Sat @ 7:30pm Joe Freeman Coliseum An Olde English Christmas Mid Texas Symphony 12/13, Sun @ 4pm David Mairs, conductor Amanda Grooms, soprano Jackson Auditorium – Texas Lutheran University in Seguin

Delbert McClinton 12/31, Thu @ 8pm Gruene Hall

Holiday Pops San Antonio Symphony 12/18-19, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Ken-David Masur, conductor San Antonio Symphony Mastersingers Municipal Auditorium

Two Tons of Steel 12/31, Thu @ 9:30pm John T. Floore Country Store

On Stage Ruthless 11/1, Sun @ 3pm Cameo Theatre She Stoops to Conquer 11/1, Sun @ 3pm Jump Start Theatre

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Bratwurst 11/5-11/8, Thu-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2pm Circle Arts Theatre – New Braunfels Foxtales Playhouse 2000 Presentation 11/5-14, Thu-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 2pm Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater - Fredericksburg Orphans 11/5-11/15, Thu @ 7:30pm Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm (No show on Friday) Sheldon Vexler Theatre Antigone 11/5-11/15, Thu-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2pm (no show 11/6) Thiry Auditorium @ OLLU Forever Plaid: Plaid Tidings 11/5-12/19, Thu-Sat @ 6:15pm (Dinner), 8pm (Show) Harlequin Dinner Theatre Dracula: The Musical?

Fredericksburg Theatre Company 11/6-7, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm Steve W. Shepherd Theater Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 11/6-8, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 3pm Woodlawn Theatre

Riverdance: Farewell Tour Broadway Across America Presentation 11/6-8, Fri @ 8pm Sat @ 2pm & 8pm Sun @ 2pm & 7:30pm Majestic Theatre Aftershock 11/6-21, Thu @ 7:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm Boerne Community Theatre Almost, Maine 11/6-12/6, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm Cellar Theatre San Pedro Playhouse Irving Berlin’s I Love A Piano 11/13, Fri @ 7:30pm Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre – New Braunfels Urinetown: The Musical 11/13-21, Wed-Thu @ 7pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30-m Jane and Arthur Stieren Theatre – Trinity University If I Can’t Have You, No One Can 11/13-21, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2pm Coates Theatre @ UIW Miss Bowden’s Dream & La Frontera 11/13-22, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm Honkey Tonk Angel & Her Cowboys 11/13-28, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm The Rose Theater Company

High Hair & Jalapenos 11/13-12/31, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm Josephine Theater El Fin Del Mundo Motel 11/14-15, Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 3pm Sterling Houston Theatre @ Blue Star Play It Again Sam 11/14-12/6, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 3pm Cameo Theatre Christmas Belles 11/20-12/12, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 2pm Elizabeth Huth Coates Theatre – Ingram Beauty and the Beast 11/25-12/20, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 2pm & 7pm Woodlawn Theatre Bah Humbug – A OneMan Christmas Carol The Company Theatre Presentation 11/27-28, Fri-Sat @ 6:30 (Dinner), 7:30pm (Show) The Big Apple Room – Little Italy Restaurant Las Nuevas Tamaleras 11/27-12/13, Thu-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 3pm Guadalupe Theater

A Christmas Carol: The Musical 11/28-12/27, Fri-Sat @ 8pm, Sun @ 2:30pm Russell Hill Rogers Theatre San Pedro Playhouse Lydia An AtticRep Presentation 12/3-20, Thu-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm Attic Theatre – Trinity Ebanazio: A Winter’s Tale of Old San Anto 12/5-6, Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 3p Sterling Houston Theatre @ Blue Star Xmaspalooza

by The Dawnview Crew 12/4-19, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm The Rose Theatre Company The Lion King Broadway Across America Presentation 12/9-12/13, Wed @ 8pm Thu @ 2pm & 8pm Fri @ 8pm Sat @ 2pm & 8pm Sun @ 1pm & 6:30pm 12/15-20, Tue-Fri @ 8pm Sat @ 2pm & 8pm Sun @ 1pm & 6:30pm 12/22-27, Tue @ 8pm Wed @ 2pm & 8pm Thu – no show Fri @ 8pm Sat @ 2pm & 8pm Sun @ 1pm & 6:30pm 12/28-1/3, Mon-Tue @ 8pm Wed @ 2pm & 8pm Thu @ 6:30pm Fri – no show Sat @ 2pm & 8pm Sun @ 1pm Majestic Theatre November-December May-June 2009 | On The Town 29

Christmas at the Theater Fredericksburg Theatre Company 12/10-13, -Thu-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 2pm Steve W. Shepherd Theater A Christmas Carol 12/11-20, Thu @ 7:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm Boerne Community Theatre Inspecting Carol 12/12-1/3, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 3pm Cameo Theatre

Moscow Festival Ballet Great Russian Nutcracker 11/29, Sun @ 5pm Majestic Theatre

The Dance

Fiesta de Navidad Guadalupe Dance Company 12/13, Sun @ 3pm Guadalupe Theater

Lakota Sioux Indian Dance Theatre Carver Community Cultural Center Presentation 11/14, Sat @ 10am Jo Long Theatre

The Nutcracker New Braunfels Ballet Presentation 12/18-19, Fri-Sat @ 7pm Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre

Historias y Recuerdos Guadalupe Dance Company 11/19-22, Thu-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 3pm Guadalupe Theater

The Nutcracker Alamo City Dance Company Presentation 12/18-19, Fri @ 7:30pm Sat @ 3pm & 7:30pm McAllister Auditorium SAC

5th Annual Nutcracker In The Hills San Diego Ballet Kerrville Performing Arts Society Presentation 11/21-22, Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2pm Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater

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The Nutcracker featuring Metropolitan Classical Ballet and SA Metropolitan Ballet An Arts San Antonio Presentation 11/27-29 & 12/4-6, Fri @ 7:30pm, Sat @ 2pm & 7:30pm Sun @ 2pm Municipal Auditorium

The Nutcracker Ballet San Antonio Presentation 12/23-27, Wed @ 7:30 Thu @ 2pm Sat @ 2pm & 7:30pm Sun @ 2pm

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Standup Larry the Cable Guy 11/1, Sun @ 7:30pm Majestic Theatre Rodney Laney 11/1, Sun @ 8:30pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Richard Lewis 11/18, 20-21, Wed @ time tbd Fri-Sat @ time tbd Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Rahn Ramey 11/25-29, Wed-Sun @ time tbd Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Kevin Brennan 12/2-6, Wed-Sun @ time tbd Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club

For The Kids Miss Nelson Is Missing 11/3-7, Tue-Fri @ 9:45am & 11:30am Fri @ 7pm, Sat @ 2pm Magik Theatre Walking with Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular 11/4-8, Wed-Fri @ 7pm Sat @ 11am, 3pm & 7pm Sun @ 1pm & 5pm AT&T Center

32 On The Town | November-December July-August 2009 2009

The Theatre Tots The Weather 11/7-28, Wed @ 10am Sat @ 2pm The Rose Theatre Company The Best Christmas Pageant Ever 11/17-12/23, Tue-Fri @ 9:45am & 11:30am Fri @ 7pm, Sat @ 2pm Magik Theatre Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grow Up 11/25, & 27-29, Wed & Fri @ 7pm Sat @ 10:30am & 2pm Sun @ 1pm & 4:30pm Freeman Coliseum The Theatre Tots Holiday Adventure 12/5-23, Wed @ 10am Sat @ 2pm The Rose Theatre Company

Miscellaneous U.I.L. A & AA State Marching Band Contest 11//2, Mon @ 7:45am and 6:45pm Alamodome U.I.L. AAAA State Marching Band Contest 11//3, Tue @ 8:30am and 6:45pm Alamodome Taste of CIA Cookbooks: Baking at Home-The Desserts 11/7, Sat / 9:30am-2:30pm Culinary Institute of America at Pearl Brewery

ESPN U – Road To The 2009 Championship in San Antonio NCAA Women’s Basketball 11/17 – Times TBD AT&T Center Taste of CIA Cookbooks: Soups 12/5, Sat / 9:30am-2:30pm Culinary Institute of America at Pearl Brewery WWE-World Wrestling Entertainment: TLC- Tables, Ladders & Chairs 12/13, Sun @ 6:45pm AT&T Center U.I.L. 5A Division I & II State High School Football Championships 12/19, Sat @ 2pm Alamodome

On Exhibit ARTPACE Window Works Stuart Allen: Parallax Thru 11/29 Hudson (Show)Room Jeffrey Wisniewski: The Battle of the Buddha Thru 1/3/10 International Artist-InResidence New Works: 09.3 Adriana Larr Mario Ybarra, Jr. Adrian Esparza curated by Jens Hoffmann Opens 11/19

BIHL HAUS ARTS RX Art: Take Your Medicine Thru 11/14 BLUE STAR CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER The History of the Future: Michael Berman and Julian Cardona Nancy Sutor – Curator Thru 11/13 Jason Willome: Extensions Thru 11/13 The Familiar Unknown Featuring Susan Beiner, Rebekah Bogard, Rebecca Hutchinson and Anne Drew Potter Ovidio Giberga - Curator Opens 12/3 INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES Tusks! Ice Age Mammoths and Mastodons Thru 1/3 Military Aviation Comes of Age in San Antonio Thru 7/4/10 INSTITUTO CULTURAL de MEXICO The Mini Series II Michael Mehl – Curator Fernanda Chemale – Brazil: ElefanteCidadeSerpente Tom Drahos – France: Jaina Alastair Magnaldo – France:

November-December 2009 | On The Town 33

Hautes Coutures Philip Scholz Ritterman – California Light Drawing Erwin Staiheli – Switzerland Passages Berthold Steinhibler – Germany Ghost Towns Thru 12/30 Nuevo León - Imágenes de Nuestra Memoria Michael Mehl – Curator Thru 12/30 McNAY ART MUSEUM The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art: Works on Paper Thru 1/3 Reclaimed: Paintings From the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker Thru 1/10 Recent Acquistions Modern and Contemporary Art Thru 1/10

SAN ANTONIO BOTANICAL GARDEN David Rogers’ Big Bugs Thru 12/6

Lonesome Dove Photographs by Bill Wittliff Thru 1/3

John Henry: Art In The Garden Curated by Bill FitzGibbon Thru 6/1/10

Don Yena: Painting the South Texas Story Thru 1/10

SAN ANTONIO MUSEUM OF ART

Circus Folk: Secrets Behind The Big Top Thru 2/14

The Art of the Missions of Northern New Spain Thru 1/3 Culinary Delights Thru 2/21 Seasons of Beauty: Yoshitoshi’s Thirty-Two Aspects of Life 11/3-1/17 SOUTHWEST SCHOOL OF ART & CRAFT Abelardo Morell: The Universe Next Door Thu 11/08 Cynthia Jones Miller: Solo Exhibition Thru 11/08

Onstage in Amsterdam: Prints from the Schouwburg Theatre Thru 1/17

Engaged and Fragmented 11/19-1/24

MUSEO ALAMEDA

Peter Sowiski: Stealth Service 11/19-1/24

Frida Kahlo Through The Lens of Nickolas Muray Thru 12/6 Jesse Trevino: Mi Vida Thru 2/28

WITTE MUSEUM

Art of Pulp Painting 11/19-1/24 Art for Giving 11/19-1/24

34 On The Town | November-December September-October July-August 2009 2009 2009

Colors on Clay: Pottery of San Antonio Thru 3/21

Festivals & Celebrations Wurstfest Thu 11/8 Landa Park New Braunfels Centro Cultural Aztlan 32nd Annual Dia de los Muertos Exhibition and Celebration 11/2-13 Centro Cultural Aztlan First Friday Art Walk 11/6 & 12/4, Fri / 6-9pm Southtown / Blue Star / King William Main Plaza’s 2nd Annual Latino Music Festival featuring Johhny Rodriguez, Flaco Jimenez and Tish Hinojosa 11/7, Sat / 12pm-12am Main Plaza

Veterans Day Parade 11/7, Sat @ 12pm Commerce Street Downtown New World Wine & Food Festival 11/8-15, Various Locations www.nwwff.org San Antonio Rock “n” Roll Marathon & Half Marathon 11/15, Sun @ 7:30am Start: Lion’s Field - Broadway End: Alamodome A Rhapsody at Blue: Arts & Eats 2009 11/18, Wed / 7pm-11pm Blue Star Contemporary Art Center Light The Way 11/22-1/6 University of the Incarnate Word Ford Holiday River Parade and Lighting Ceremony 11/27, Fri @ dusk River Walk Holiday Open House Art.i.copia 12/12, Sat / 9:30am-5pm Soutwest School of Art & Craft Die deutsch Weihnachtsfeier German Christmas Candlelight Celebration 12/13, Sun @ 5:30pm Maragarite B. Parker Chapel Trinity Celebrate San Antonio 12/31 HemisFair Park Arch Plaza

November-December 2009 | On The Town 35

On Screen Swan Lake 11/1, Sun @ 3pm Embassy Theatre Turnadot Metropolitan Opera 11/7, Sat @ 12pm 11/18, Wed @ 6:30pm Cielo Vista 18 Fiesta 16 Theatre McCreeles Mall Cinema Aida Metropolitan Opera 11/11, Wed @ 6:30pm 11/12, Thu @ 12pm Cielo Vista 18 Fiesta 16 Theatre McCreeles Mall Cinema Eugene Onegin 11/12, Thu @ 7pm 11/15, Sun @ 3pm Embassy Theatre The Nutcracker 11/19, Thu @ 7pm 11/22, Sun @ 3pm Embassy Theate Cosi Fan Tutte 12/17, Thu @ 7pm 12/27, Sun @ 3pm Embassy Theatre Les Contes d’Hoffman Metropolitan Opera 12/19, Sat @ 12pm Cielo Vista 18 Fiesta 16 Theatre McCreeles Mall Cinema

Photo Credits

Page 29 (Left to Right)

Page 34 (Left to Right)

Page 24 (Left to Right)

Ruthless: The Musical Courtesy Cameo Theatre

The Doobie Brothers Courtesy Majestic Theatre

Riverdance: Farewell Tour Photo © 2003 – Photo by Joan Marcus Courtesy Majestic Theatre

Tusks! Ice Age Mammoths and Mastodons Courtesy Institute of Texan Cultures

Crooked Still Courtesy www.crookedstill.com Shanghai Quartet Courtesy www.shanghaiquartet.com Eugenia Leon Courtesy www.eugenialeon.com Page 26 (Left to Right) Ewa Kupiec Courtesy www.ewakupiec.com Mariachi Vargas Photo by Lefty Ray Chapa Gary P. Nunn Courtesy www.liveatfloores.com Lyle Lovett Courtesy Majestic Theatre Page 28 (Left to Right) Glen Smith of Mannheim Steamroller Courtesy Majestic Theatre Sweet Plantain Courtesy www.sweetplantain.com Michael Martin Murphey Courtesy www.michaelmartinmurphey.com Jerry Jeff Walker Courtesy www.jerryjeff.com

36 On The Town | November-December July-August 2009 2009

Page 30 (Left to Right) He Lives in You from THE LION KING National Tour © Disney Photo by Joan Marcus Courtesy Majestic Theatre Bah Humbug – A OneMan Christmas Carol Courtesy The Company Theatre Page 32 (Left to Right) 5th Annual Nutcracker in the Hills Courtesy Kerrville Performing Arts Society Larry the Cable Guy Courtesy Majestic Theatre Page 33 (Left to Right) The Nutcracker By Metropolitan Classical Ballet Courtesy Arts San Antonio Rebekah Bogard Distract Me, 2006 17 x 30 x 17 inches, Animals 27 x 37 x 31 inches, Animals on green base Materials: Earthenware, underglaze, resin Courtesy Blue Star Contemporary Art Center

Ron Adams (Born 1934) Blackburn, 2002 Lithograph, Edition No. 55/80 Image 25 x 35 inches Courtesy McNay Art Museum Frida on White Bench, New York 1939, carbon process print Photo by Nickolas Mury Courtesy Museo Alameda Jesse Trevino El Alameda, 1980 Acrylic on canvas 84 x 54 inches Ernest W. Bromley, Bromley Communications, LLC Courtesy Museo Alameda Page 36 (Left to Right) Lady Bug Dave Rogers’ Big Bugs Courtesy San Antonio Botanical Garden Traveler by John Henry Courtesy San Antonio Botanical Garden Gentry Wagon From Circus Folk: Secrets Behind the Big Top Courtesy Witte Museum Accordionist Alex Meixner at Wurstfest in New Braunfels Photo by K. Jessie Slaten

November-December 2009 | On The Town 37

38 On The Town | November-December 2009

Box Office: KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

By Blair Russell

L

et me start by saying, I love to go to the movies.

However, I must tell you that I have adopted a mindset regarding this form of entertainment that is different from how I felt in the past. Simply stated, I never make a quick, impromptu decision on which movie to see. Gone are the days when I used to pop into a theater, pick one off the marquee, get tickets and head to the concession stand.

I know that in my case, once I feel comfortable with my choice of which film to see, the next question is when and where to see it? I will admit to being frugal, so I have become very well-versed on promotional times at all theaters in my area. Without question, the bargain matinee has become the staple of my viewing pattern, especially on weekends.

Each theater chain features other ways to save as well, such as bulk ticket offers, club cards and text coupons, to name a few. Bulk purchases save a dollar or two per I enjoy movies just as much now as before, but I’m more ticket depending on the theater chain. Club cards let you cautious when it comes to plunking down the cash. build up points toward free concessions and admissions.

Suffice to say, and without getting down to specific Text coupons can reflect anything the chain desires. Text dollars and cents, a movie for two with popcorn and a members receive a variety of messages over the course of soft drink can cost a tidy sum. I don’t mind spending time, usually centered on deals. Join to save. the money, but because of the investment required, I certainly don’t want to miss on my film selection. The next step in the process for me is to figure out what I Research is my key to having a super-enjoyable time at call the “snack factor.” How much am I willing to spend on the theater. The best surprise is no surprise. my popcorn habit? I try to establish a figure in my head and then stick to it like butter. The theater proprietor My approach is not terribly scientific, but if you follow needs my purchase in order to pay rent and salaries, so I my lead, you might hedge your bet a bit. Know before play the concession stand game to a degree. I like to think you go, that’s the goal.

I practice moderation at this particular venue.

Obviously, the first things to explore are the movies that seem of interest. My suggestion is to glean all you can from the Web sites of each theater chain in town. They are sophisticated in their presentations and offer much more than time, place and price. One of their most important services is to connect you with reviews for each movie from varying sources around the country.

Take time to read a few. Trailers (previews) are also available on these sites. Click the little arrow and watch them. Reviews and previews help you make informed decisions on how to invest your entertainment dollars.

Patience and planning usually equal a positive end result. Another place to find “all things movie” is the Internet Movie Database, www.imdb.com.

Putting in the time and effort to research your next movie selection may seem like work, but it pays well in good experiences. Know (as best you can) that the movie you’ve chosen is really to your liking; get the best price on your tickets; and don’t go overboard on foodstuffs.

Adhering to this simple three-thought process means you win (more often than not), and so does the theater because if you’re a satisfied patron, you’ll come back time and again.

Know before you go. Spend your entertainment dollar wisely.

November-December 2009 | On The Town 39 November-December 2009 | On The Town 39

More

PA Performing Arts

San Antonio Rose Live at the Aztec Theater!

By Erin West

Top: Featured San Antonio Rose Live singers Bottom: Ten-member cast of San Antonio Rose Live Photos courtesy SARL, LLC

Blue Star FP Ad

A

couple of weeks ago, I saw a live show at the Aztec Theater. Honestly, I never expected to have that opportunity. For decades, the Aztec had been a boarded-up memory from my childhood; an incredible atmospheric theater where I once saw epic movies like The Ten Commandments. In my mind, it had been closed forever. The actual date the Aztec ceased operation was sometime in 1984, the same year it was purchased by the San Antonio Conservation Society; a maneuver that saved it from demolition. Now 25 years later, the Aztec has been expertly restored and features spacious seating, state-ofthe-art sound and lighting technology, plus a new stage.

And it is now home to San Antonio Rose Live.

Based on a journey through country music history from the early 1920s to the mid 1980s, San Antonio Rose Live is a tight, two-set performance featuring songs from such legendary country performers as Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, June Carter, George Jones, Tammy Wynette and many more.

Each half of the show features well-written dialogue, big-screen visuals and interesting historical facts in addition to the playing and singing of the skilled entertainers. If I am allowed a favorite moment in the show, it was the singing of two Everly Brothers’ songs, Cathy’s Clown and Wake Up Little Susie, by cast members who just happen to be brothers.

San Antonio Rose Live features a cast of 10 world-class musicians and singers who give it their all for two hours, with each and every audience member being the willing beneficiary of their super-talented efforts.

Take it from someone who grew up listening to the Louisiana Hayride and the Grand Ole Opry on the radio, this show is worth the asking price.

If you are like me and want to see the “inside” of the Aztec again, there is no better way to do it than by seeing San Antonio Rose Live. You will enjoy this show, even if you are not an avid country music fan. It’s that good. See it Friday through Monday at 7 p.m., and there’s a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Y’all go.

40 On The Town | November-December 2009

November-December 2009 | On The Town 41

42 On The Town | November-December 2009

Visual Arts 44-62

November-December 2009 | On The Town 43

44 On The Town | November-December 2009

Marion Oettinger, Jr.

The Betty and Bob Kelso Director of the San Antonio Museum of Art

By Angela Rabke Photography Greg Harrison

M

useums are always full of surprises, and the San Antonio Museum of Art is no exception.

Speaking to Marion Oettinger, museum director, reveals one of those surprising tidbits: Oettinger, who has served the SAMA in various roles since 1985, brings a unique perspective to his position—that of an anthropologist.

Prior to arriving in San Antonio, Oettinger’s career in anthropology involved teaching and professorial roles in Chapel Hill, N.C., as well as conducting research in Mexico and South America. During that time, one of Oettinger’s exhibitions on Mexican folk art came to the attention of the folks at SAMA, who asked Oettinger to join the museum as curator of Mexican folk art.

Twenty-four years and many projects later, he finds himself at the helm of a museum reinvigorated by the development of the Museum Reach of the River Walk.

“The River Walk development is probably the most important thing that has happened since 1981 when we opened,” Oettinger says. “It is beautiful, and we have seen a renewed interest in attendance, especially on Tuesday nights, when we have free admission. The river is a vehicle that will drive carefully thought-out development in the area, and what was an abandoned neighborhood will now be brought to life and make the museum more accessible. This gives us a better opportunity to share our collection with the city.”

With such a comprehensive collection -- SAMA, along with the McNay Art Museum, is a collecting institution -- comes a great sense of responsibility.

“Collecting is very significant. A major part of our budget is dedicated to the expenses of maintaining thousands of works of art,” he says. In addition to the incomparable Latin collection, the works at SAMA range from Egyptian, Greek and Roman art to one of the finest Asian collections in the nation. Oettinger sees the importance of this diversity. “We are a diverse population, yet when children come to the museum, it is often the first time they are exposed to China— and to teach them about that culture through art is very important.”

With increased traffic and a renewed sense of energy, the museum is on track to further cultivate interest in its collection and its position in the art world. “The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Art (housed within SAMA) was my biggest project as a curator and as a Latin Americanist. The collection is the most comprehensive statement about Latin American art in the United States,” Oettinger says. The center, which houses art and artifacts covering 4,000 years of Latin American history, speaks to Oettinger’s passion for his job. “I think that most museums are historically staffed by art historians or administrators,” he says. “My background enables me to bring two stories to every work of art. One story is about form, and the other is about function. As an anthropologist, I focused on function and how that evolved, rather than the formal qualities of shape and texture. I am now looking at material objects instead of a family history as a window through which I can still answer the same questions about what was happening with a particular society at a particular time. Now I ask November-December 2009 | On The Town 45

questions of both of those things and am able to speak to both.”

The current exhibit, titled The Art of the Missions of Northern New Spain, is one of the most important exhibits SAMA has brought to San Antonio, Oettinger says. It explores the Jesuit and Franciscan missions of Northern Mexico and the American Southwest and includes San Antonio’s own five missions. The exhibit opened in Mexico City, and San Antonio is the first U.S. stop. The catalogued exhibit includes many important pieces, such as a magnificent painting depicting the destruction of San Saba and other artifacts from Mexico, Europe and the United States.

Many have never left their Mission homes until now.

The exhibit, which will be surrounded by events such as Mission Days and musical performances, will close Jan. 3. After that, visitors can look forward to exhibits covering everything from psychedelic art (which was organized by SAMA) to Buddhist art as it related to the Dali Lama.

For more information, visit www.samuseum.org

“The River Walk development is probably the most important thing that has happened since 1981 when we opened. It is beautiful, and we have seen a renewed interest in attendance, especially on Tuesday nights when we have free admission. The river is a vehicle that will drive carefully thought-out development in the area, and what was an abandoned neighborhood will now be brought to life and make the museum more accessible. This gives us a better opportunity to share our collection with the city.”

- Marion Oettinger, Jr. director San Antonio Museum of Art 46 On The Town | November-December 2009

November-December 2009 | On The Town 47

Portfolio:

48 On The Town | November-December 2009

The Art of Carlos Cortés

By Paloma Cortez Photos of Carlos Cortés by Cynthia Clark

I

nspired by the organic and untamed works found in nature, San Antonio artist Carlos Cortés continues a family legacy of “faux bois” (“false wood” in French) concrete artisans. Enhancing some of the city’s public spaces, his concrete sculptures, which are skillfully created to resemble wood, often cause passersby to stop and inspect closely.

“I enjoy people’s reaction the most, like when I go to the River Walk and look at the people saying really nice things about the work; it’s a really good feeling,” Cortés said.

As the third generation of “faux bois” artisans, Cortés preserves a family tradition which began with his great-uncle Dionisio Rodriguez, who learned the craft in Mexico City and later taught and collaborated with his father, Maximo Cortés, when he moved to San Antonio. Dionisio is most remembered for his impressive work and contributions to the city, which include various pieces at Brackenridge Park. Although Carlos grew up around his father, who continued creating “faux bois” work until he was 91 years old, it wasn’t until his mid-20s that he decided to follow in his family’s legacy.

“I grew up around my dad. He worked from home, and I was influenced by him a lot,” Cortés said. “I was very fortunate to grow up in the family that I grew up in because I don’t think I would be doing exactly the same thing...I believe your direction is already laid out.”

Working from his outdoor studio in San Antonio’s King William District, Cortés continues to use techniques passed down by his great-uncle and father while also incorporating some of his own methods. Cortés is among a few “faux bois” artisans who continue to tackle the long and rigorous work needed to create eye-catching pieces. Using a process that involves November-December September-October 2009 | On The Town 49

shaping concrete and cement over a wire frame, Cortés carves out the crooked grooves and knots which resemble bark with tools he created himself from brushes, nails and forks. Dyeing the piece while damp creates uneven patches of color that enhance its natural appearance.

“It is so hard for me to consider it art sometimes, but more of a craft, but some of the work my family has done is still very artistic,” he said.

San Antonians have become familiar with the work of Cortés and his family whether they are relaxing at the Shops at La Cantera or exploring the HEB Treehouse at the Witte Museum. His most recent work, a 180-foot grotto, is one of the latest features at the River Walk extension project. Those walking along the newly extended River Walk may pass through a whimsical setting completed by a waterfall and deceptively looking cave.

“I like art that is functional,” Cortés said. “I am fortunate to work with architects that have a vision and see that these pieces can work in a space. I like to come into a project and be part of the design.”

50 2009 2009 50 On On The The Town Town || July-August September-October November-December 2009

Currently, Cortés is finishing up his contribution for the River Walk North expansion project and also continues to find and plan new projects.

“I know that I still have more work inside of me that I want to do and work until I can’t work anymore and that creative juice will hopefully always be there,” he said.

For more information on Cortés and his work, visit www.studiocortes.com.

“I enjoy people’s reaction the most, like when I go to the River Walk and look at the people saying really nice things about the work; it’s a really good feeling.”

- Carlos Cortés Sculptor / Artisan

November-December September-October 2009 | On The Town 51

Local Museums and Art Centers Offer Exhibits, Gift Memberships

By Shannon Huntington Standley

T

he holiday season is closing in fast, and the exhibits on view in San Antonio provide an opportunity to see world-class offerings while doing a little holiday shopping. Each one of these art and cultural institutions offers annual memberships—a unique holiday gift. In addition to continually changing exhibitions, the museums and galleries in San Antonio also boast a variety of programs and events geared toward individuals and the entire family, making a membership the perfect 52 On The Town | November-December 2009

gift for anyone on your list. Several levels of affordable memberships are available, including individual, family or senior, making this a gift easily tailored to your needs.

The McNay Art Museum is exhibiting one of the finest collections of African American art in the United States— San Antonians Harmon and Harriet Kelley’s. Boasting close to 100 prints, drawings and watercolors, The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art:

Works on Paper, is on view through Jan. 3. The Kelleys began collecting in the 1980s, and the collection now spans more than a century of American art.

The McNay is also exhibiting rarely-seen Old Master paintings, a collection with a long history. Reclaimed: Paintings From the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker, on view through Jan. 10, tells an extraordinary story of art stolen by the Nazis. Goudstikker, a pre-eminent art dealer in Amsterdam, fell victim to the Nazi practice of looting cultural properties. In 2006, family members successfully reclaimed 200 paintings, one of the largest claims to the Nazis ever resolved. This exhibit features nearly 40 of the finest examples of the recovered art.

The Institute of Texan Cultures is tipping its hat with A Salute to Military Flight, an exhibit on a century of military aviation, on view through July 4. This retrospective is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first flight at Fort Sam Houston. The exhibit features Military Aviation Comes of Age in San Antonio, which includes artifacts and images from private collectors and from the official collection of the U.S. Air Force; Flights of Fancy, a collection of folk art

model airplanes, photos of Alexander Calder’s artistic airplanes painted for Braniff Airlines, and iconic photos from Texas aviation photographer Jay Miller; and San Antonio: Military City U.S.A., a commentary on the significance of the military in San Antonio.

Don’t miss Tusks! Ice Age Mammoths and Mastodons, on view at the institute through Jan. 3. Through 80 fossil specimens, artifacts and replicas, visitors get the opportunity to delve deeper into the fascinating world of prehistoric elephants and their relatives.

Paper is the word at the Southwest School of Art & Craft.

Paper Engaged, Paper Fragmented: Contemporary Art Created From, About, By, With, and On Paper opens Nov. 19. Featuring four portfolios by artists Peter Sowiski, John Risseeuw, Eric Avery and Drew Matott, as well as Drew Cameron, each artist considers issues of combat and healing that will resonate with many in San Antonio. In addition, the school also will host a concurrent national exhibition, of 17 leading artists who use paper pulp to “paint” their artworks on handmade paper, The Art of Pulp Painting. Also opening Nov. 19 is the annual Art for Giving exhibition featuring works by many of the U.S. artists who are represented in the school’s own gallery.

November-December 2009 | On The Town 53

The Witte Museum is peeking behind the canvas with Circus Folk: Secrets Behind the Big Top. On view through Feb. 14, Circus Folk unravels the secrets from behind the big top and is drawn from the Witte’s famous Hertzberg Circus Collection, one of the largest and most impressive collections of circus art and artifacts in the world. People came from every corner of the world—some were born into it, others ran away to join it—but no matter the reason, they became circus folk, a family creating magic in a traveling tent show. From promoters to performers to roustabouts, this exhibit takes visitors through every aspect of creating these traveling spectacles with four sections: Life in a Traveling Village, The Circus Family, Getting Physical, and Rules of the Ring. While there, don’t miss Lonesome Dove: Photographs by Bill Wittliff, a glimpse into the making of the 20th anniversary of the historic television miniseries, on view through Jan. 3.

Worldly exhibitions are filling the galleries at the San Antonio Museum of Art as the year comes to a close.

The Arts of the Missions of Northern New Spain: 16001821, on view through Jan. 3, is the first exhibit to explore the rich artistic legacy of the Franciscan and Jesuit mission churches in northern Mexico and the American Southwest. The exhibit includes almost 115 objects from collections in Mexico, the United States and Europe, most of which have never left their original locations. Nov. 3 through Jan. 17, SAMA debuts Seasons of Beauty: Yoshitoshi’s Thirty-two Aspects of Daily Life, the first of four seasonal rotations of woodblock prints by the Japanese master in the Lenora and Walter F. Brown Asian Art Wing.

Artpace’s New Works: 09.3 features artists Mario Ybarra Jr., Adriana Lara and Adrian Esparza, opening Nov. 19. California artist Ybarra creates works that can be considered historical and anthropological in nature, drawing on inspiration from southern California’s mix of Mexican-American inhabitants, history and street culture. Mexico City-based artist Lara playfully acknowledges the lack of originality in the art world and utilizes gallery environments to set up problems or situations for the viewer to decode. El Paso artist Esparza produces artworks from low-cost and recycled materials such as T-shirts, serapes, posters and ceramic figurines, transforming these common craft items by reconfiguring them into new patterns and arrangements. Jeffrey Wisniewski: The Battle of the Buddha, on view through Jan. 3, features an artist whose work has posed something of a challenge to 54 On The Town | November-December 2009

critics and audiences since he first began showing publicly at the beginning of the 1990s. Wisniewski’s art has been rationalized as an extension of the conceptual strategies of 1970s artists like Robert Smithson, Walter DeMaria and Gordon Matta-Clark, while also being read as dystopic visions of sociocultural evolution.

Two great exhibits grace the walls at the Museo Alameda. On view through Dec. 6, Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray features approximately 50 photographic portraits taken of Frida Kahlo. The photographs, dating from 1937 to 1941, explore Muray’s unique perspective; in the 1930s and 1040s he was Kahlo’s friend, lover and confidant. Muray’s photographs bring to light Kahlo’s deep interest in her Mexican heritage, her life and the people significant to her. Jess Trevino: Mi Vida is a major retrospective examining the career of nationally recognized artist Jesse Trevino, a seminal figure in the Chicano art movement. On view through Feb. 28, the exhibition title is inspired by a work, Mi Vida, which was recently rescued from demolition by art collector Cindy Gabriel.

Blue Star Contemporary Art Center is presenting The Familiar Unknown, Dec. 3 through Feb. 14. The exhibit features nationally known artists Susan Beiner, Rebekah Bogard, Rebecca Hutchinson and Anne Drew Potter, and is curated by Ovidio Giberga, who is the head of the ceramics department at UTSA. Through the medium of clay, Bogard sculpts fictional animals revealing her real-life stories. Hutchinson creates works based on organic structures and deformities found in nature. Potter blurs anatomical signifiers of gender, race and age. Beiner transforms the organic into the synthetic.

Don’t miss your last chance to see Big Bugs at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, on view through Jan. 3. Dave Rogers’ sculptures stand as tall as 25 feet and have wingspans up to 17 feet wide. Ten giant bug sculptures are perched throughout the gardens and made with natural materials. Buzz on by and check them out!

There is plenty to see and do at the art and cultural institutions in San Antonio. See world-renowned works of art, get a glimpse into important history, and experience creatures that lived before our time, and while you are at it, scratch off a few gifts from your holiday shopping list with the gift that lasts an entire year—memberships!

November-December 2009 | On The Town 55

Photo Credits Charles Criner Mr. Alvin White (Man with Chicken), 1998 Screenprint Collection of Harmon and Harriet Kelley Courtesy McNay Art Museum Page 49 Gloria del Cielo from The Arts of the Missions of Northern New Spain: 1600-1821 Courtesy San Antonio Museum of Art Page 50 (Above) Taiso Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) Smoky: A Housewife of the Kyowa Era (1801-1804) From fūzoku sanjūnisō or Thirty-two Aspects of Daily Life, 1888 On loan from Lenora and Walter F. Brown Courtesy San Antonio Museum of Art (Below) Nickolas Muray (1892-1965) American (b. Hungary) Classic Frida (with Magenta Rebozo) 1939, Carbon process print Courtesy Museo Alameda 56 On The Town | November-December 2009

Page 51 (Above) Hieronymus Galle (1625–c. 1679) Still Life with Flowers in a Vase, 1650–75 oil on panel Marei von Saher, the heir of Jacques Goudstikker Courtesy McNay Art Museum (Below) Jesse Trevino Progreso, 1977 Acrylic on canvas 50 x 60 inches Collection of Kathy Sosa Courtesy Museo Alameda Page 52 Peter Sowiski Stealth Service, 2005 handmade paper with colored pulps screen printing, 15 x 60 feet Courtesy Southwest School of Art and Craft

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More

VA Visual Arts

Gilbert Barrera Sculpts Justice

By Amanda Reimherr Buckert

W

hat once was lost has now been found. The front steps and walkway to the Bexar County Courthouse are once again adorned by the fountain that was there the day the doors opened in 1896. Although the original Aphrodite sculpture that complemented it may have crumbled into ruin, a new statue has taken its place. Now, a new creation of Lady Justice – packed with historical significance and symbolism – sits gracefully perched atop the restored fountain.

In 1896, the fountain was purchased from J. L. Mott of New York and stayed in the east courtyard of the courthouse until 1927 when it was moved to the pump-station park on Market Street. By 1997, it had ended up in storage at a San Antonio Water System warehouse.

The fountain was recovered and returned to the Hidalgo Foundation so that restoration could begin after the Foundation’s president, Tracy Wolff, began a search in 2003 for missing courthouse artifacts. Then in 2006, the Foundation commissioned local artist and sculptor Gilbert Barrera to restore the fountain and create a new statue. Barrera is the son of well-known local attorney Roy Barrera, Sr. and is the chairman emeritus of the Texas Society of Sculptors.

Barrera extensively researched both the fountain and the statue. He then found a company in Alabama that did cast iron restorations and owned original sand molds of J. L. Mott fountains, including the one the Bexar County fountain was poured from. He was delighted to find that it was almost an exact match.

58 On The Town | November-December 2009

“The fountain was stored in pieces on pallets, and it had 20 coats of paint on it, half an inch thick of lime crustation and rust,” he said. “I was so glad to have the original molds so that I could redo this cast iron fountain properly.”

He said the sculpture part of the project took a bit more creative work. “There is some version of Lady Justice at almost every courthouse in the world. More people know and recognize her than even the Statue of Liberty,” Barrera said. “The original statue on the fountain was one of Aphrodite, but I wanted to be original and started to look at the history of Lady Justice.”

Barrera traced the roots back to a goddess named Themis and said he wanted to come up with a composition of who she was during her time of popularity, which was about 800 B.C.-1 B.C. “I discovered that Themis was one of the children of the gods Gaia, goddess of the Earth, and Uranus, god of the heavens and the sky. She was also the sister or half-sister of Aphrodite. So, I immediately knew I was onto something with the serendipity that the original fountain sculpture was of Aphrodite.”

Themis was the goddess of natural order and defined the night and day, the hours and the order of the seasons.

Three female figures at the base of the fountain represent Themis’ first generation of children, her three daughters.

Each daughter represents a season – spring, winter, and summer; fall was not recognized then. “It is jam packed with symbolism. I designed her to stand on a globe, representing her mother Gaia and the ribbon floating behind her is a symbol of her father, Uranus,” he said.

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“Themis became known as Justitia because she was the first counselor and gave advice on the natural laws and order. Eventually, we came to know her as Lady Justice.”

Barrera’s Lady Justice features her classic symbols of the blindfold, the sword and the scales. None of the details is without meaning – he researched the true meaning of each piece and added his own symbols to help embody their profound significance. Barrera chose to emphasize these well-known accessories by placing gold leaf on them so that they stood out from the rest of his sculpture.

“The scales were the common man’s measuring device, and I designed them as they would have been during her time,” he said.

He added that the scales help her weigh both good and bad evidence, and so to reflect that, he has a snake on top of one scale for the bad evidence and a dove on top of the other to represent the good.

“Then, beneath one scale is a Gemini to show the he said/she said aspect of witness evidence. The other has beneath it a dagger and a paper scroll to symbolize the weapon and the written law,” Barrera said.

Lady Justice’s sword symbolizes the idea of enforcement and that, for there to be enforcement, there must be a respect. Her blindfold represents the fairness of her decision without regard to power or popularity.

Barrera had such a clear vision of what he wanted her to be like that he bypassed some usual steps in his creative process and went right to his wax maquette. Once approved, he created his four-foot wax model and then carted it off to the bronze foundry, where 120 pounds of bronze was poured. He said it took more than 200 individual steps between the wax mold and his finished work of art.

Barrera said it is a not just a sculpture, but a landmark and hopes that she will be to the courthouse what the boots are to North Star Mall.

Photo Credits Page 59 - Gilbert Barrera with The Lady Justice Sculpture

By Charlie Alzado

60 On The Town | November-December 2009

Left - Gilbert Barrera with The Lady Justice Sculpture and Fountain

By Robert Barrera

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Culinary Arts 64-72

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64 On The Town | November-December 2009

Joe Cosniac and Paesanos Restaurant Group 40 Years of Showing Who’s Boss -- You

By Chris Dunn Photography Greg Harrison

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he weather in San Antonio often elicits a lot of fans; unfortunately, of the mechanical, cooling type and not of the ardent devotee kind, particularly after the mercury-popping summer experienced this year.

But since climate had a direct bearing on us being able to enjoy four decades of such memorable dishes as Gamberi Paesano (Shrimp Paesano), Calamari Gigantissimo (Giant Calamari), as well as numerous and always available off-menu items such as the Special Salad, perhaps we should be a little more grateful for the sunbaked clime that brought us the oven-baked (as well as broiled, sautéed and deep-fried) creations of Joe Cosniac’s Ristorante Paesanos.

After coming to San Antonio to work at HemisFair in 1968, the 21-year-old Cosniac returned home to a wintry Montreal, Canada, and realized his heart was back in Texas. “It [Canada] didn’t feel like home anymore,” he said. “I got used to the weather here and the whole different culture.”

So he permanently moved to the Alamo City on Christmas Day, 1968. And on Feb. 2, 1969, he and his friend and business partner, Nick Pacelli, who passed away in 1992, opened the first Paesanos on McCullough Avenue.

The rest is history -- a history that is still being made.

The original 40-seat location, along with its red leatherette chairs and ‘60s vibe, are gone, but not the driving force behind it. “That was the beginning, the genesis,” Cosniac said, “but you’ve got to evolve. You can’t stay in the same place forever.”

And he certainly didn’t stay in the same place; his selftaught restaurateur expertise has taken him a long way.

The Paesanos Restaurant Group now comprises eight restaurants: three Paesanos locations in San Antonio, at

555 E. Basse Road at the Alamo Quarry, 3622 Paesanos Parkway inside Loop 1604, and 111 W. Crockett St. on the River Walk, as well as the Rio Rio Cantina and the Zuni Grill, also on the River Walk, and three restaurants in Colorado.

Cosniac credits his employees for the continued success of all his restaurants. “You’ve got to have a great concept, but then more important than that, you have to have the right people in place.”

Sarah Cochran, marketing director for Paesanos, says the key to Cosniac’s success is his adherence to the philosophy behind the original location. “Joe always says you’re [only] as good as your last meal,” she explained. “Don’t get complacent, strive for excellence, be consistent and serve quality product.”

According to Cosniac, “It’s simple. Somebody comes in the door, you want the place to be spotless, you want to greet them properly, give them what they want, give them an experience, and by giving them that, hopefully they’ll come back, and you get the chance to do it all over again.”

That philosophy has kept people coming back for decades and has created a multigenerational clientele, from toddlers to teens, their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Lifelong customer and local businessman Tim Gilliam said, “Many of us grew up eating there as kids; we really feel like it’s a family kitchen, and we belong there.”

Over the years, the Alamo Quarry location has evolved into the place to see and be seen by many of San Antonio’s rich and famous (and those who want to be). Cosniac said it happened spontaneously. “The people created that themselves,” he said. “We provide them the November-December 2009 | On The Town 65

setting -- the food, the service and the ambiance -- and they provide the rest.”

But the food always takes center stage. Who can forget his or her first taste of Shrimp Paesano, a tour de force of crispy shrimp enrobed in a velvety liaison of egg yolks, butter and lemon juice?

When asked how that recipe came about, Cosniac said he approaches all his recipes like he does his restaurants -- with the customer in mind. “You experiment, you experiment. Then, after seven, eight, 10 times, you’ve got it just the way you want it. And then, you try it out on a diversity of people, and you see the reaction. Then after you get that, you train your staff to make it correctly, consistently; and then, you leave it alone for awhile.

“You wait till people ask you about that dish. You don’t put it on the menu right away. It’s not about making something that takes too long or is too complicated -something you like -- because that isn’t important. If the guy coming in the door likes it, it’s good.”

Perhaps that focus on the customer is the key to Cosniac’s success. “The guy in the kitchen, I don’t pay him,” said Cosniac, “it’s the person sitting out there that pays him.”

When asked if he had ever imagined celebrating 40 years in the restaurant business, Cosniac said he never had time to think about it. “It was always lunch, dinner, dinner, lunch, one day at a time.”

But most importantly, it was always one customer at a time. “I’ve got one boss,” said Cosniac, “and that’s the guy walking in the door.”

“It’s simple. Somebody comes in the door, you want the place to be spotless, you want to greet them properly, give them what they want, give them an experience, and by giving them that, hopefully they’ll come back, and you get the chance to do it all over again.”

- Joe Cosniac Owner, Paesanos Restaurant Group 66 On The Town | November-December 2009

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Pinch Pennies and Dine Well Make Reservations and Make Money

By Marlo Mason-Marie

W

ithout reservation, I would like to tell you how you can create dining dollars by simply making restaurant reservations.

For decades, the standard procedure for securing a table for a specified number of people at a certain time has been to pick up a phone and call the restaurant of choice to make the request. This is a tried and true method, but now there is a better way.

Go to www.opentable.com for details.

but some reservations at selected restaurants for certain times are worth 1,000 points. Open Table keeps track of your total, then offers you the chance to cash in for a dining voucher valid for use at any of their member restaurants, and there are thousands of them across the nation. For example, when you reach 2,000 points, you can choose to receive a voucher for $20. Then again, you may decide to keep going until you achieve the 5,000 point level and qualify for a $50 payout. A $100 bonus awaits This elegant, upscale service features many of the your arrival at 10,000 points. finest restaurants a city has to offer and affords the opportunity to lock in a reservation by typing brief The way I figure it, I’m going to make a reservation information, then applying a single click. What’s anyway, so why not get paid to do so? This makes total more, when you join this complimentary service, you dollars and sense to me. In reality, Open Table pays are actually credited with points for every reservation me for allowing them to provide this much-needed made and completed. The normal total is 100 points, service. It’s found money!

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When you receive a voucher, it looks much like a traveler’s check and is made out to “member restaurant.”

It is important to note that their member restaurant list across the nation reads like a “who’s who” of the culinary world. Take New York City, for example. There are 807 restaurants on the service in Manhattan alone, including landmarks such as 21 Club, Delmonico’s, Le Perigord, the original Gallagher’s Steak House and Palm Steak House, Russian Tea Room, Grand Central Oyster Bar, Le Cirque and The Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel. In addition, such well-known restaurateurs as Bobby Flay, Mario Batali and Tom Colicchio have their restaurants on the service. This brief listing gives you an idea of the quality of Open Table’s offering. The service is equally represented in other major U.S. cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and the like.

In San Antonio, you can use the service at 36 of the city’s finest restaurants. If you plan a visit to Biga or Pesca, make your reservations through Open Table.

The same is true for The Palm, Cappy’s, Morton’s, Barbaresco, Ruth’s Chris, Bohanan’s, Citrus, Roaring Fork, Acenar, Piatti and many more. Don’t forget to look for 1,000-point opportunities at San Antonio restaurants. They exist and obviously help expand your point inventory quickly.

Not only can you make Open Table reservations online, but now you also may use your Blackberry, iPhone, Palm WebOS or Android.

Make reservations and make money (dining dough).

This is good stuff!

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CA Culinary Arts

Major Players Open New Restaurants

By Alexis Gunderson Photography Gerry Lair

Left: Fogo de Chao Right: Barbaresco Tuscan Grill and Enoteca

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t goes without saying that I’m really enjoying the growth of the restaurant industry in San Antonio.

A-list restaurateurs are completing major projects, one after another, making it an exciting time to be hungry in our city. The list is long, starting with Jason Dady’s newest creation, Insignia at the Fairmount Hotel, which features his take on modern American cuisine. Insignia adds to his inventory of fine eateries, which already includes The Lodge, Bin 555, Tre Trattoria and Two Bros. BBQ Market.

Pat Kennedy, who is best known for bringing both La Mansion del Rio Hotel and the Watermark Hotel to the River Walk, is now opening his second restaurant in the Stone Oak/Sonterra area since selling those properties to Omni. Along with executive chef Scott Cohen, Kennedy debuted Brasserie Pavil last year and now has Watermark Grill, a prime seafood and steak establishment, occupying the space that once housed Reggiano’s just off Stone Oak Boulevard and Loop 1604. In addition, he maintained ownership of Pesca on the River in the Watermark.

Three new downtown properties give cause for culinary excitement as well, starting with Le Midi, the sister restaurant to Soleil Bistro on Blanco. Le Midi is located at the corner of Navarro and Houston and features the flavors of Provence. Next up is Damien Watel’s Bistro Bakery at 141 W. Commerce, a spinoff from the original on Olmos Drive across from Bistro Vatel and Ciao Lavanderia. Fogo de Chao completes the trio.

Located next to the Marriott Rivercenter, this Brazilian steakhouse features gaucho-style fixed-price dining at both lunch and dinner.

Barbaresco Tuscan Grill and Enoteca is next. On San Pedro in the old Maggie’s location, the restaurant is owned by Michel Adib with Erick Abram as executive chef. Wonderful reviews make this place a must try.

Before closing, I want to mention that Gourmet Burger Grill, my favorite hamburger place, has opened a second location at 11224 Huebner Road just off IH10. I also want to say that throughout November, the Bruce Auden of Biga on the Banks is also getting into the new El Papalote Taco and Grill, on Loop 1604 between act with Auden’s Kitchen, scheduled to open in early 2010. Stone Oak Parkway and Blanco, is doing a promotion to Look for this to be a casual restaurant serving everyday benefit the Autism Treatment Centers of Texas. Enjoy food with wine and beer in an affordable and relaxed good food for a good cause. neighborhood atmosphere. You’ll find it in Concord Plaza The list of new restaurants doesn’t stop here, but I must. in Stone Oak/Sonterra.

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Urban 74-78

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The Federal Purchase: Eleven Years After

By Gerry Lair with Leigh Baldwin Photography Cynthia Clark

74 On The Town | November-December 2009

I

remember walking down Houston Street near the Majestic Theatre one morning in 1997 and saying to myself, “What a waste.” The sidewalks were devoid of people and many buildings along this, the greatest of San Antonio’s streets, were empty and in disrepair. It was impossible for me not to think back on childhood memories of days spent on this very avenue shopping with my family, dining and seeing movies at some of its fabulous atmospheric theaters. Names like Frost Bros. and Wolff and Marx came to mind, as did Pincus Company, Vogue, Neisner’s and JC Penney. Just around the corner on Alamo Plaza were Guarantee Shoe and Joske’s of Texas, “The Big Store.” Memories, yes, but what about the future?

If the past (since the advent of suburban shopping malls) was any indication, the future seemed bleak.

To me, the best-case scenario was to look at the large inventory of empty buildings and say, what if? What if someone were to buy a bunch of these vacant edifices,

redevelop them and get things going back in a positive direction? At least by employing this thought process, the glass was half full. There was hope. And then, there was action.

In 1998, Federal Realty Investment Trust purchased 12 buildings located within blocks of each other on Houston Street. This acquisition gave Federal the opportunity not only to shape the future of the immediate area around their holdings, but quite possibly to also influence the rest of downtown. Now, more than a decade later, much progress has been made.

Examples include the Frost Bros. building, which has been fully restored as an office complex. Next door is Houston Street Court, a beautiful oasis in the center city where a shoe store once stood. Connected to it is a totally refurbished building that is home to Bohanan’s Prime Steak and Seafood and Parsons-3D/I architecture firm on November-December 2009 | On The Town 75

the second and third levels, respectively, plus Bohanan’s Bar, coming soon to the ground floor.

Prior to Federal, these structures were vacant for years, wasting away with no benefit to downtown. On the same block is the now-restored building that houses Metro Bar and The Palm restaurant. One block east is the Vogue building which also has been renovated and converted into office space. Directly across the street from Vogue is the totally reconstructed Walgreen Drugs, the oldest of its kind in the United States, dating back to 1936.

There’s more. At the corner of Houston and St. Mary’s stands Hotel Valencia, a 213-room contemporary luxury lodging establishment. Attached to it is Sip, an upscale coffee house. Acenar Hot-Mex/Cool Bar restaurant resides at Hotel Valencia, as well.

“Federal Realty has brought new life to Houston Street,” said Jan Sweetnam, vice president - Western region chief operating officer for Federal Realty. “With the addition of unique restaurants, local retail and a dynamic urban environment, Houston Street has truly come into its own.”

Ben Brewer, president of Downtown Alliance San Antonio, echoed her sentiments when he said, “Houston Street has always and will always be downtown’s ‘main street.’ It was where everyone came to shop and be entertained… not to mention the many offices that were located on the street. The investment made by Federal Realty and other property owners on the street in the past decade or so, and the renovation of the Majestic and Empire theaters, have been catalysts for positive change.”

The new additions previously mentioned generated an undeniable momentum in downtown revitalization. Just how much credit can be given to Federal as a catalyst for projects that were either developed, or are currently being developed by other entities in the downtown area is anyone’s guess. All I know is that just a few hundred feet off Houston Street on St. Mary’s Street is a recently opened high-rise Courtyard by Marriott next to the Drury Inn and Suites River Walk. Just across from them is the fully restored Aztec Theatre. Near it is the Drury Plaza Hotel in what was once the Alamo National Bank Building. Still more hotel construction is in progress at Houston and Soledad streets where a new Embassy Suites is rising quickly, and the Neisner’s Building at Houston and Broadway will soon become a new TownePlace Suites by Marriott. On Houston Street at Alamo Plaza, the new Hotel Indigo is opening very soon. Intuition tells me there were probably no plans on drawing boards for any of these projects prior to Federal’s acquisition of 12 properties on Houston Street just over 11 76 On The Town | November-December 2009

years ago. I could be wrong, but I really think the odds are with me on this one.

“Without question Houston Street has come a long way from the dark and abandoned days, with virtually every building put to new use, attracting investors, locals, visitors, residents, shoppers, diners and those seeking to be entertained,” says Andres Andujar, an architect and planner with Parsons3D/I. “This momentum has helped our downtown turn the corner on decay and will continue to serve as reason for redevelopment on the street and beyond.”

In a perfect world, all the projected plans for Houston Street that were discussed at the time of the purchase would no doubt be fully realized 11 years later. But we don’t live in a perfect world. Things happen. As Andujar notes, “While the initial strategy for Federal Realty Investment Trust’s Houston Street redevelopment revolved around substantial storefront retail with a mix of uses in the upper floors, the reality was that we didn’t have the downtown residential density to support large-scale retail anchors.

Additionally, the cost of land and buildings was too high to allow redevelopment of the buildings into residential properties priced in the range of our local market.”

However, this lack of strong residential density is slowly turning around, something that would never have happened without Federal Realty’s initial success. At North Presa and Houston streets, the Maverick building has been renovated for apartment homes. The Towers at the Majestic include market-rate rental apartments, and there is an ongoing waiting list for units at this wellrecognized address. In true ripple effect, the Houston Street investments have paved the way for the most recent impressive housing, parking and retail development at Santa Rosa Boulevard fronting Milam Park – The Vistana.

This 250-unit development is more than 50 percent leased in less than three months and continues to lease at the rate of 30 units per month. “This success will certainly incentivize other residential development so needed in our downtown core,” Andujar says.

When I walk down Houston Street today, I find myself thinking, “What if Federal hadn’t made its purchase?”

What if? But they did.

Photo Credits Page 74 – Hotel Valencia Page 75 – Mona Lowe, Reata Property Management Kirk Feldmann, Majestic Theatre Ben Brewer, Downtown Alliance San Antonio Page 76 - Andres Andujar, Parsons/3D/I Page 77 - (Top) Frost Bros. Building

(Bottom) Walgreen Drug’s

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Literary Arts

80-86

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80 On The Town | November-December 2009

Book Talk:

Barbara Ras

Poet and Director of Trinity University Press Story and Photo by Jasmina Wellinghoff

H

aving spent the bulk of her career in the world of small and university presses, Barbara Ras moved to San Antonio in 2002 to take charge of the Trinity University Press, which had been inactive for more than a decade. Thanks to her experience, connections and insights, TUP has since been able to attract and publish an impressive roster of 43 well-known authors from across the United States and beyond.

The press publishes only non-fiction in three areas of interest: books about Texas, Mexico and the Southwest; books on landscape (how it shapes its inhabitants and how they transform it), and collections of essays by writers on writing. Many of its titles have received awards and recognition from newspapers, magazines and a variety of regional and national organizations.

The 2008 coffee-table edition of “Art at Our Doorstep,” featuring San Antonio artists and writers, has probably garnered the widest local publicity.

Regrettably, TUP does not publish poetry. We say “regrettably” because Ras is also a talented and awardwinning poet who would likely be a discerning poetry editor/publisher. Hers is an authentic voice that weaves together “seemingly ordinary objects and events and make them shimmer,” as the Virginia Quarterly Review stated. She is the author of two existing poetry collections, Bite Every Sorrow (1998) and One Hidden Stuff (2006), with a new one The Last Skin to be issued by Penguin in the spring of 2010. With long lines and a quasi-narrative style, Ras’ poems flow like brooks, carrying along the familiar and the mysterious, the disturbing and the delightful, the darkness and the light. After her first book won the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, Ras was named Georgia Poet of the Year in 1999.

And her second collection was included on the Poetry Foundation’s bestseller list in 2006. This year she received a Guggenheim Fellowship to continue her creative work.

JW: Let’s talk about your publishing job first. Why did you choose the three areas of focus that TUP is now specializing in?

BR: For a small press to establish itself and create a presence in the publishing world, selecting a few niches is a good strategy. While these niches may seem limiting, there was a lot of opportunity for me to make quick progress because I had contacts within those areas. So I could get writers of stature to take a leap of faith and sign on with Trinity University Press. An example is Home Ground, edited by Barry Lopez. He normally publishes with Knopf and has an international reputation. For him to bring a project of this magnitude to Trinity was a major, major coup. (A critical and sales success, the volume features 40-plus writers describing the meaning of 800 regional and historical landscape-related terms.)

Another example is What I Can’t Bear Losing, a collection of essays by my hero (the celebrated poet) Gerald Stern. This is a new paperback edition with additional essays. The first was published several years ago by W.W. Norton. And Stern approached me actually… I practically levitated. He could have published his essays anywhere… It doesn’t get any better than this.

JW: In terms of copies sold, what’s a bestseller for TUP? BR: I can’t reveal that. Our sales figures are confidential.

JW: Generally speaking, what’s a bestseller for a small press?

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BR: Probably, 25,000 copies.

JW: Does your upcoming collection The Last Skin have an overarching theme?

JW: You have spent your entire career with small and university presses. Was that a conscious choice?

BR: The book is a reflection of the evolution in my life.

The poems in the first part tend to be darker. They BR: Hmm… yes, it was. I don’t think I have the sensibility reflect my state of mind after my mother died. Her for commercial publishing. My sensibility is just too death was cataclysmic for me. I was here alone in San quirky. I like things that are hybrid, I like things that are Antonio (starting the new job) because my husband crossover, and those books are harder to sell in numbers stayed behind in Atlanta to sell our house, and there that a commercial operation requires. That said, a lot of were other losses as well; death after death. I had a lot our books have achieved numbers that are not only of things to deal with at the same time. Also, you can’t respectable but enviable by commercial standards. be a conscious human being and not be affected by the However, one of the goals of a university press is to enormity of problems in the world. It can be difficult make available important works that have intellectually to maintain a sunny outlook. There’s a lot of suffering rich content that may not appear otherwise. and disparity and the climate change is one of the most urgent challenges of our time. All of that anxiety JW: What’s coming out this fall? colored a lot of my work. Later on, I traveled with my husband (Alfred Rucker) and daughter (Anne Rucker) to BR: Well, the Gerald Stern essays. They range from Machu Pichu in Peru where I had been 30 years earlier. extraordinarily deep and moving to hilarious. He has hit (We also visited) Lake Titicaca, and I was blown away by every note within the range of possibilities. Another title the experience. It captivated me. As soon as I got back, is In the Sun’s House, a memoir by Kurt Caswell, who spent I started writing about what it was like being there. It’s a year teaching on a Navajo reservation – exquisitely a serene place at 12,000 feet, massive mountains and written, searingly honest about a challenging and in multiple indigenous cultures. Those poems make up some ways desperate time he spent with a very poor the middle section of the book and discuss the beauty community. And there’s Colors on Clay, about the San of the landscape and the plight of a stranger who can’t Jose Workshops in San Antonio which revived Mexican possibly penetrate below the dazzling surface of a place. tile art (in the years between 1931 and 1977).

The third section contains poems of a more meditative and emotionally balanced nature, more light-hearted, JW: You are also a wonderful, original poet. How did about every-day experiences but seen through the lens you discover poetry? of someone eager to transform them into something other than that, into magic, if I dare say that. I always BR: As an undergraduate in a course on modern poetry. feel like I am reaching beyond the poem to bring in as The poet who spoke to me was (Rainer Maria) Rilke. A much of the world as I can. professor suggested I do a study of his Duino Elegies, sequence of poems, famously difficult and philosophical. JW: Are pain and suffering better muses than joy and I spent a semester immersed in that language, in those contentment? feelings. I was hooked. Once I fell in love with poetry, it was just an ongoing love affair. I eventually got an MFA BR: Not necessarily. Engagement with the world and in creative writing with emphasis on poetry. close attention are the best sources (of inspiration). If the purpose of poetry is “to praise and lament” (in the words JW: How did you start writing? of Edward Hirsch), then one of the wonderful pleasures of writing is to bring close attention to something.

BR: Badly! (laughs). I don’t want to mention Rilke and me in the same sentence but I just had the desire to inhabit -------------------------------------------------------------------------that same space that his poems created. I worked a long time, though, before something came out that wasn’t Ms. Ras’ comments have been slightly edited for space. banal. Developing the craft was a slow process for me To see the TUP catalog go to www.trinity.edu/tupress; Ms. because I was working in publishing at the same time. Ras’ books can be purchased through Amazon.com, Trinity So for me, it wasn’t a blast of brilliance; rather a slow University bookstore and most booksellers evolution to develop my own style.

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LA

Literary Arts

Hot Off the Press for the Holidays

By Claudia Maceo-Sharp (Left) Cookie Craft Christmas Photo courtesy storey.com

(Right) Pastry Queen Parties Photo courtesy randomhouse.com

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tradition, maybe that apple butter in Aunt Mary’s spice cake will renew interest in something possibly taken for granted. Layers, bundts, sheet cakes and muffins - 160 all-new recipes beckon.

Gather the gang. Tie on the aprons. Let the cookie bake family event begin. Try Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer’s Cookie Craft Christmas: Dozens of Decorating Ideas for a Sweet Holiday this year. This cookbook takes you from making the dough to shipping the product off to the family and friends who cannot join your table this year.

The color photographs fill the page to guide and appeal.

The Pastry Queen Rebecca Rather from Fredericksburg, along with Alison Oresman, has a new book out - Pastry Queen Parties: Entertaining Friends and Family, Texas Style. Her Pastry Queen Christmas: Big-hearted Holiday Entertaining, Texas Style was a prizewinner a year ago.

Add The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery & Café into the mix with its Texas Hill Country photography and you can bake up a storm for gifts and entertainment or buy the whole set for gifts themselves.

The Cake Mix Doctor Returns by Anne Byrn, will help add those secret ingredients to otherwise predictable mixes. Never to tamper with a beloved family

Inhale the sweet spices this season wafting from your own kitchen or assure your hosts’ successes with these current holiday gifts hot off the press as it were.

o many the scent of cinnamon is the incense of the season. Do you prefer your pumpkin pie with mince meat? When your best friend’s eyes rolled back in her head recalling the bourbon pecan pie last year, did you make a mental note to add some spirits to your own recipe this year? Now is the time to round up the recipes in preparation of the flour to cloud the air.

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Festivals & Celebrations 88-92

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MARIACHI VARGAS EXTRAVAGANZA:

88 On The Town | November-December 2009

San Antonio is Home to Texas’ Largest and Longest-running Mariachi Music Festival.

By Cynthia Munoz

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T

he best in the art of mariachi music is coming to San Antonio. For those unfamiliar with la musica de mariachi, Mariachi Vargas is regarded as the best mariachi group in the world. They carry the title as el mejor mariachi del mundo and set the standard for musicians in the mariachi music industry.

To truly experience the music of mariachi, one must see Mariachi Vargas, which headlines a seven-day mariachi music festival which now is in its 15th year.

The Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza has become Texas’ largest event of its kind and takes place each year in the Alamo City. Among the many events scheduled as part of the festival is a mariachi version of “American Idol” at 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at San Antonio Municipal Auditorium. “It’s a rigorous competition that brings together talented student vocalists of all ages from throughout the country who vie for the title of the best mariachi vocalist in the U.S.,” says Jose Torres, director of the University of Texas at San Antonio Mariachi. Mariachi Vargas selects one student as the best in the U.S. and that student opens the show.

Past vocal winners have won scholarships, touring opportunities, appearances on HBO specials, trips to Chicago, recording opportunities and more.

Mariachi Vargas has written, arranged, recorded and produced more than 70 CDs under the leadership of maestro Ruben Fuentes, who has served as director of the group for more than 50 years. He is a composer, arranger, musician, producer and director who has brought together 13 of the most talented musicians and vocalists in the world. Mariachi Vargas’ current repertoire includes popular songs like La Bikina, Huapangos de Ruben Fuentes and Adorado Tormento, all original songs written by Fuentes and Jose “Pepe” Martinez Sr., musical director of the group. For 112 years and five generations, Mariachi Vargas has performed traditional mariachi sones, huapangos, boleros, The Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza serves as host to the largest mariachi group competitions in the United States. rancheras and classical pieces played to perfection.

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More than 1,000 talented mariachi musicians from as far away as California and Boston will convene in San Antonio to participate in the event Nov. 20 at Municipal Auditorium. Mariachi groups compete in one of three categories: elementary/middle school, high school and college/university. Texas State University, Southwest Texas Junior College, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M International University and the University of Texas at San Antonio are a few of the schools with mariachi groups scheduled to compete this year. First-place winners in each of the three categories will open for Mariachi Vargas on Nov. 21. Past winners have won the opportunity to perform in all-expenses-paid trips to Atlanta, Ga., Eugene, Ore., and Quad Cities, Illinois. “The opportunity for students to travel outside their communities offers an educational experience that is often times priceless resulting in a lifelong learning experience for most,” says Adrian Lopez, mariachi instructor at Sommerset High School.

education in our community,” says Lopez. “Music and entertainment is the perfect way to get this message out to the youth.”

The Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza is part of the Fall Art Festivals through the city of San Antonio’s Cultural Affairs Department. Additional support is provided by Valero, Southwest Airlines, Anheuser Busch and the St. Anthony Hotel.

Tickets for Mariachi Vargas are available through ticketmaster.com or (800) 745-3000. A complete schedule of events for the 15th Annual Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza is available at www.mariachimusic.com.

Photo Credits Pages 88-89: Jose Martinez and Steeven Sandoval Page 90: Alberto Alfaro and Steeven Sandoval Page 91: The twelve members of Mariachi Vargas “The Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza serves as a Photos courtesy of Lefty Ray Chapa and platform to promote cultural preservation and higher www.mariachimusic.com November-December 2009 | On The Town 91

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Eclectics 94-100

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Artistic Destination:

Round Top, Year Round

M

ost Texans are familiar with the Round Top Festival Institute, a world-famous professional study program for orchestra, chamber music and solo performance. Music reigns for six weeks every summer, and concert aficionados flock from all over to enjoy a Europeanstyle tradition that’s endured for nearly four decades.

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By Julie Catalano

But not everybody knows that Festival Hill – the beautiful, bucolic compound set in the lush rolling hills of Washington County about 134 miles northeast of San Antonio – is also home to programs in art, architecture, theater, poetry and even gardening, with something for everybody almost every month of the year.

“We have events year-round,” says Festival Institute founder and internationally acclaimed concert pianist James Dick. “In addition, many businesses come here for conferences and retreats.” The scope of his original vision – providing a place for young, talented artists to learn and perform – extends far beyond that to arts and humanities education and public service. “We never close our gates,” he says.

Not that music isn’t still the centerpiece, as evidenced by the Nov. 21 concert featuring Dick with the Texas Medical Center Orchestra; the Gay Men’s Chorus of Houston with their holiday offering, A Twisted Holiday on Dec. 12; and the Synergy Brass Quartet on Jan. 30.

But there’s also the 12th Annual Theatre Forum the weekend of Nov. 6-8; the time-honored Nutcracker ballet

by Dancers Workshop and Ovation from Austin on Dec. 5; “In the summer, they come for the concerts,” adds and a New Year’s Eve celebration that includes a reception, Alain Declert, program director, “but our ‘August- dinner, overnight stay on campus and breakfast. “That has to-April’ series also offers programs to winter and become very popular,” Declert says. “We sometimes have spring travelers.” up to 80 people helping us bring in the New Year.”

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Superb performances aside, the lovely 210-acre grounds of Festival Hill alone are worth the trip to leisurely enjoy the picturesque Herzstein Stone Chapel and Memorial Plaza, historic structures, gardens, parks, lakes and jogging trails. In addition, visitors can view the permanent art, furniture, china, textiles and paintings in the David W. Guion Museum Room, the Oxehufwad Museum Room and – by appointment only – the Special Library Collections of books, manuscripts and photographs.

speakers, workshops, plant sale and gift shop will be featured March 19-20.

The herb gardens were a logical addition to the institute, says Henry Flowers, director of grounds. “It was an organic extension of making use of our natural resources.” Groups can attend scheduled garden tours year round.

The crown jewel of the institute is undoubtedly the magnificent 1,100-seat Festival Concert Hall, The McAshan Herb Gardens feature an extraordinary a masterpiece by any standard but an absolutely collection of botanical specimens from around the breathtaking find in such an unexpected setting. The world, including some rare medicinal plants not often world-class structure was painstakingly built using seen in this country. Springtime brings the fun and an assortment of woods -- oak, cypress, pine, walnut, popular Herbal Forum, next year spotlighting the teak and Canadian maple – with each board signed herb of the year: A Celebration of Dill. Expert guest and dated by the carpenter.

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“I play a lot of concert halls,” says Dick, who oversaw every detail of the construction that began in 1981, “and you can tell when a hall has been built by hand.” The Kansas-born visionary further explains the ubiquitous star design repeated throughout that also could serve as a symbol for the long journey that resulted in this one-of-a-kind artistic oasis in the middle of Texas: “People think it’s the Lone Star, and that’s fine. But to us, it is the North Star, representing faithful and constant guidance.”

For more information, a complete calendar of events, and virtual tours of the concert hall and other facilities, see festivalhill.org. For information on lodging and attractions in Round Top and surrounding areas, go to Washington County Chamber of Commerce, brenhamtexas.com.

Photo Credits: Page 94 Exterior of Festival Hill Concert Hall Page 95 Herzstein Plaza Page 96 Festival Hill Concert Hall ceiling Page 97 Interior Festival Hill Concert Hall Photos courtesy Round Top Festival Institute November-December 2009 | On The Town 97

Accolades:

San Antonio’s Elf

Turns 40

By Paige Ramsey-Palmer Photography Clark 98 On The Town Cynthia | November-December 2009

F

or 40 years, San Antonio has known Elf Louise as the spirit of Christmas. Giving toys to less fortunate children – in an adult’s eyes – may not seem like a high priority. Louise Locker, aka Elf Louise, saw these children’s unfulfilled dreams in a different light.

“I believe having a dream as a child is critical to believing in life, in miracles, in goodness, in possibilities as an adult. Encouraging children to believe their dreams can come true really can make a difference in their futures,” Locker says.

Through the generosity of many people, support from her mother and brother and help from several of her friends, on Dec. 24, 1969, the small band of “elves” set out at 6 p.m. to begin their toy deliveries. “I thought having a Santa’s helper would make us anonymous,” Locker says with a laugh, “so I convinced a tall, skinny friend to wear a Santa suit.”

Armed with a map, flashlights and bags full of presents labeled for each child, the crew wended their way through dark streets and alleys to find the houses.

“By 11 p.m., we were waking people up to deliver our Christmas presents. Amazingly, no one questioned us “This is even more critical with today’s economy; -- the children were beaming and some parents wept more parents these days can’t provide gifts for their with happiness. It was an amazing time.” children.” And thousands of volunteers have donated many hours and toys, proof positive that this is Parents of families in need often have to choose collectively San Antonio’s miracle for the children. between buying food or gifts, but their children still see the glitz of the holidays. Elf Louise and company “When I was a college student in 1969, I heard Johnny have stepped in to fill children’s holiday dreams more Carson read children’s letters to Santa a few days than 2 million times since 1969. Santa team volunteers before Christmas,” Locker explains. “I had precious say they receive so much more than they give when dolls I wanted to give to a little girl whose family they see the children’s faces. couldn’t provide Christmas presents, so I went to the post office and asked to see any letters to Santa.” The Elf Louise Christmas Toy Project doesn’t own The postmaster turned her down because of postal any real estate and has no paid staff members; the regulations, but she persisted. Finally the postmaster project depends 100 percent on the generosity of got permission for her to read the letters - not open San Antonians. Consequently, 98 cents of every or have them. dollar goes directly to buy toys and 2 cents of every dollar is used for overhead, primarily for utilities and “As I read through the pile of letters, I found one from insurance when the project’s Toy Workshop is open in Anna, who wrote, ‘Dear Santa, I know the reason you November and December. haven’t come to our house before is because we have never written a letter to you.’ I was so excited – This year, some 19,000 children will receive a visit I knew I had to give my dolls to Anna that Christmas.” from Santa’s helper and a band of elves. Today the In the hundreds of letters she found more like Anna’s volunteer teams are organized by dedicated elves – from children in 12 more families who were in behind the scenes who find the families, organize serious need. the toys and wrapping, and plan the delivery routes.

The Santa-and-Elf teams may be guided by highLocker knew about hard times, because one Christmas tech GPS systems or with maps printed from Google. her father had lost his job, but her mother found Otherwise, little has changed. The project has grown ways to make the holiday special for Louise and her bigger, providing 30,000 toys each year, and Elf Louise brother. A scholarship student at Trinity University, today considers herself the “spirit” behind the project. she remembers, “I literally didn’t have $5 to spend Volunteers work tirelessly to make sure the project on getting presents to these children. But I had such looks “effortless.” faith that I could make it happen.” Believing in human kindness, she purposely involved a larger group, not Thanks to the generosity of the South Park Mall just her friends. Locker sat at the lunch counter in Earl management, the project will be headquartered Abel’s Restaurant and told complete strangers about this season at the mall in the old Mervyn’s location, the letters and asked for their help. beginning in mid-November.

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Here’s how you can join Elf Louise Volunteer Opportunities • Data Entry • Toy Stockers • Wrapping • Warehouse Workers • Santa delivery

New Pledge-A-Gift Program Don’t have time to volunteer during the holidays?

Here is another way that you can support the Elf Louise Project and reinforce the spirit of sharing in your life.

You and your family, friends or co-workers can Pledgea-Gift to Elf Louise instead of giving or receiving a gift. Visit the Pledge-A-Gift Program and download a PDF card to print! Just give the card to the person you have asked to Pledge-A-Gift. The giver can put the card under the tree for you.

• Children can ask parents or Santa for one fewer gift this year.

• Companies can conduct a campaign and provide cards for employees to give each other.

• Church groups can set up a campaign and provide cards for worshipers to give each other.

• Schools can incorporate the campaign into their community service projects or classroom holiday celebrations.

• Families and friends can hold a Pledge-A-Gift holiday party and drop off gifts afterward at toy donation locations.

If you need gift ideas, Elf Louise has a wish list on the Web site. Look for the many ways you can make your Pledge-A-Gift shopping easy!

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