January/February 2013 Issue

Ezine.com

ON THE TOWN

January/February 2013

Tobin Center Real / Surreal Asian Festival Roads Courageous Jewish Film Festival Boiler House at Pearl Dinosaurs Unearthed Plus 9 Additional Articles

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Features Brahms, Memphis, Shatner, Ross & More January and February Inaugurate a New Year of Remarkable Performances

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts: An Exciting Work in Progress

Steve Gilliam & Sam Carter Gilliam: Making the Scene

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The Infamous Dr. Brinkley Subject of New Musical 22

Dinosaurs Unearthed: Bigger. Better. Feathered.

February 23 - September 2 at The Witte Museum

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Real /Surreal Paints New Way of Looking at 64 American Art

A Fresh Take on History Chris Johnson Breathes New Life into the Emily Morgan Hotel with Passion and Fun

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Coushatta Casino Resort Brings Vegas Fun Next Door

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Boiler House Texas Grill & Wine Garden Now at Pearl

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Year of the Snake

78 Diverse Asian Communities Celebrate Heritage, Identity at Institute of Texan Cultures

Junior League’s Fete du Cuvee Celebrates Second Year

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JCC Prequel Kicks Off Jewish Film Festival with Hava Nagila (The Movie)

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New Art in the New Year

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Witte Museum and New Balance San Antonio Team Up For Boot Scoot and 5K Run

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

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Contributors

Departments January-February Events Calendar

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Mikel Allen, creative director / graphic designer

Christian Lair, operations manager / webmaster

Julie Catalano

Susan A. Merkner, copy editor

Book Talk: Shelia Black, Poet and Executive/ 88 Artistic Director of Gemini Ink

James M. Benavides Kay Lair Out and About with Greg Harrison 94

Cover Credits

Jim Dublin

Shannon Huntington Standley

Front Cover Photo: Felicia Boswell Of Memphis National Tour Photo by Paul Kolnik

Thomas Duhon

Performing Arts Cover Photo: Karen Gomyo Photo by Minoru Kaburagi

Greg Harrison, staff photographer

Events Calendar Cover Photo: William Shatner Photo by Joan Marcus

Jonathan Horowitz

Sara Selango

Shane Kyle

Jasmina Wellinghoff

Michele Krier

Cassandra Yardeni

Culinary Arts Cover Photo: Greg Harrison

Mauri Elbel

Laurie Pickei Dawn Robinette Lauren Ross

Visual Arts Cover Photo: Kay Sage No Passing, 1954. Oil on canvas.

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 55.10.

Eclectics Cover Photo: Greg Harrison Literary Arts Cover Photo: Greg Harrison Out & About With Greg Harrison: Greg Harrison

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

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

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Performing Arts

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Brahms, Memphis, Sh

January and February Inaugurate a Ne

By Sara Selango

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hatner, Ross & More!

ew Year of Remarkable Performances

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he challenge for patrons of the per forming ar ts in Januar y and Februar y is determining which incredible events to attend from the abundance scheduled. Show selection is amazing in all genres. Here’s a peek into happenings in these two months.

A discussion of classical music opportunities gets us started. Camerata San Antonio inaugurates 2013 with three performances of Personal Expressions Jan. 3-6 in Kerrville, Boerne and San Antonio, respectively. The San Antonio Symphony brings us Garza Plays Mozart Jan. 11-12 at the Majestic. Musical Bridges Around the World adds to the classical mix with a Judy and Jefferson Crabb Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral program titled Musical Gifts Jan. 13, plus A Little Nightmare Music featuring Igudesman and Joo at McAllister Auditorium Jan. 18. San Antonio Symphony assistant conductor Akiko Fujimoto leads a Musical Offerings’ Brahms and Beyond concert at Christ Episcopal Church on the afternoon of Jan. 20. That evening, she conducts a symphony performance of Passione: Italian Baroque at San

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Fernando Cathedral. Also on the afternoon of Jan. 20, Fredericksburg Music Club presents vocalist Ava Pine in concert at Fredericksburg United Methodist. The Jan. 22 Tuesday Musical Club appearance of pianist Joyce Yang at Laurel Heights Methodist is another highlighted performance in the first month of the year, as are SA Symphony’s Symphony Espagnole featuring violinist Karen Gomyo and conductor Karen Kamensek Jan. 2526 at the Majestic, and San Antonio Chamber Music Society’s Jan. 27 presentation of Miro String Quartet at Temple Beth-El. Februar y brings with it Superbows, a MidTexas Symphony per formance on the second day of the month at Brauntex Per forming Ar ts Theatre in New Braunfels. Russian Folk Festival, featuring baritone Nikolai Massenkoff, takes the stage at Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater in Kerr ville the following afternoon. Musical Bridges offers another evening of classical music at San Fernando Cathedral Jan. 3, in addition to a per formance called Musical Generations featuring pianist Lilya Zilberstein and her two

sons on Jan. 24 at McAllister Auditorium.

Antonio, Youth Orchestras of San Antonio and many more. For more information, go to www.

Under the direction of Sebastian Lang-Lessing, sasymphony.org or www.brahmssa.com. the San Antonio Symphony has organized an amazing festival dedicated to the music In musical performances other than classical, of Johannes Brahms. Not only are symphony Doc Severinsen and the San Miguel Five play the concer ts included, but those of many other Brauntex in New Braunfels Jan. 4-5, and Justin presenting and per forming organizations as Beiber fills up AT&T Center Jan. 12. The legendary well. This is a huge under taking for which the Diana Ross graces the Majestic stage Jan. 29, symphony should be duly commended. Their with Matchbox 20 and special guest Phillip concer ts include Brahms 1 on Feb. 8 and Brahms Phillips there the following evening. The Carver 2 the following evening, with both per formances offers Christian McBride and Inside Straight Feb featuring pianist Kirill Gerstein. Brahms 3 and 9 at Jo Long Theatre. Symphony pops in the first Brahms 4 are on the festival docket for Feb. two months of the year are From Broadway to 15 and 16 featuring violinist Vadim Gluzman. Hollywood by Symphony of the Hills Jan 12 at the Lang-Lessing conducts Brahms 1-4, all at the Cailloux in Kerrville, and SA Symphony’s Pops Goes Majestic. Nineteen ar tistic par tners have joined to the Movies with Carl Topilow conducting Feb. together to comprise the festival, including San 1-2 at the Majestic. Boerne Performing Arts offers Antonio Symphony, Camerata San Antonio, SOLI three exceptional shows in January and February Chamber Ensemble, Musical Bridges Around the at Champions High School auditorium. Drumline World, San Antonio Choral Society, San Antonio Live! kicks things off Jan. 30, with The 5 Browns International Piano Competition, Cactus Pear and Celtic Nights close behind on Feb. 9 and 23.

Festival, San Antonio Chamber Music Society, Musical Offerings, Children’s Chorus of San Touring theater puts for ward some great

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oppor tunities as well, beginning with Ar ts San Antonio’s presentation of William Shatner ’s one man show, Shatner ’s World: We Just Live In It, at the Majestic Jan. 9. Then there’s The Rat Pack Now at the Brauntex Feb. 9, followed by the Cadillac Broadway in San Antonio road show engagement of Memphis, a super-show in my opinion, at the Majestic Feb. 19-24. Four per formances of Andrew Lloyd Webber ’s Tell Me on a Sunday at the Brauntex Feb. 21-24 round out this discussion.

by Fredericksburg Theatre Company, Dir ty Rotten Scoundrels at Circle Ar ts in New Braunfels, Playhouse 2000’s The Girl in the Freudian Slip at the Cailloux in Kerr ville, Love, Loss and What I Wore at Hill Countr y Ar ts Foundation’s Elizabeth Huth Coates Theatre in Ingram, and A Time to Heal at S.T.A.G.E. in Bulverde.

Before I finish, please let me remind you to see Tu Dance at the Car ver Jan. 18, to refer to the events calendar in this magazine for all shows Community theater in the first few months of associated with the San Antonio Stock Show and the new year includes Glengarr y Glen Ross at the Rodeo, and to take in an on-screen Metropolitan Sheldon Vexler, Cats at the Cameo, The Full Monty Opera per formance at Cielo Vista 18, Huebner 14 and Neil Simon’s Chapter 2 at the Woodlawn and or McCreless Cinema. Enough said. the Woodlawn Black Box, A Raisin in the Sun at Jo Long Theatre, and the world premier of Roads Get some tickets and go!

Courageous at The Playhouse SA’s Russell Hill Rogers Theatre.

Out-of-towners are Rabbit Hole and Funny Valentines at Boerne Community Theatre, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

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Photo Credits: Pages 8-9 Felicia Boswell and the

Bryan Fenkart in the

Joyce Yang

National Cast of Memphis

Photo by Larry Ford

Photo by Paul Kolnik Drumline Live!

Karen Gomyo

Courtesy Boerne Performing

Photo by Paul Kolnik

Photo by Gabrielle Rivere

Arts

Pages 10-11 (L-R)

Kirill Gerstein

Carl Topilow

Courtesy San Antonio

Courtesy carltopilow.com

National Cast of Memphis

Vadim Gluzman

Symphony

Courtesy San Antonio Symphony

Diana Ross Pages 12-13 (L-R)

Courtesy Majestic Theatre

Akiko Fujimoto Courtesy San Antonio

William Shatner

Symphony

Photo by Joan Marcus

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Tobin Center for the An Exciting Work in

By Jim Dublin

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hen the new Tobin Center for the Performing Arts opens in September 2014, it will be the best place to see and hear a live performance – anywhere, organizers say – and its programming will offer something for everyone.

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This $203 million facility re-purposes one of San Antonio’s historic landmarks, the 1920s-era Municipal Auditorium, into a contemporary theater complex with unique versatility. Situated along the banks of the San Antonio River in the city’s heart,

e Performing Arts: n Progress

the Tobin Center will feature the acoustically tuned, multi-purpose 1,750-seat H-E-B Performance Hall, a 250-seat studio theater and a 600-seat outdoor performance plaza connected to the River Walk with a water taxi portal.

While the auditorium’s original Moorish façade will be preserved, the Tobin Center’s River Plaza will serve as a “second front door” which opens onto the Museum Reach extension of the San Antonio River leading to the San Antonio Museum of Art, the2013 Pearl| Brewery and January-February On The Town 15

the Witte Museum. People on the River Walk will be Bugg said, “Truly, this will be San Antonio’s performing able to watch and listen to performances taking place arts center, and we will have performances and inside on a 20-foot-by-30-foot projection screen on entertainment that will have a very broad appeal.” the River Plaza.

Funding for the project comes from a public-private “We want to open up the Tobin Center and the partnership that combines Bexar County, the city of performances inside it so that people walking by will San Antonio and the private sector. In 2008, Bexar see and hear it and want to experience the magic County voters overwhelmingly approved a bond issue themselves,” said J. Bruce Bugg, chairman of the Bexar which earmarked $100 million for a new performing County Performing Arts Center Foundation which is arts center, and Bexar County subsequently funded constructing and will own and operate the facility. another $8 million in improvements along the River Walk. The City of San Antonio donated the Municipal “The Tobin Center represents a major community Auditorium and adjacent San Antonio Fire Department investment in San Antonio’s arts infrastructure and headquarters building, valued at $41 million, to the speaks volumes about our community’s sense of foundation, which agreed to raise an additional $54 itself, of our aspirations and our determination to million in private donations. Private giving, with nearly realize them,” Bugg said. two years to go before the grand opening, totaled more than $36 million at press time.

“This will be a game-changer for the performing arts in San Antonio and will become the focal point for The new theater complex is named after longtime the city’s performing arts companies, with artistic and San Antonio arts patrons, the late Robert L.B. Tobin economic advantages for them,” Bugg said. “A venue and his mother, the late Margaret B. Tobin. The Tobin like this creates an air of excitement for performers as Endowment made a $15 million challenge grant to kickwell as audiences and helps attract the world’s great start the fundraising campaign, and that challenge has performing artists and groups. Besides symphony, already been exceeded by other private gifts. opera, ballet and modern dance, we’ll have cabaret performers, theater, touring shows and groups “We have had a wonderful response from leading ranging from country music to jazz to performers individuals, corporations and foundations,” Bugg said, “and from the Americas and around the world.” now we are moving into Phase II of our capital campaign.”

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A distinctive feature of the H-E-B Performance Hall is its first-in-the-nation “flat floor” capability. Literally, at the touch of a button, electro-mechanical systems can transform in 15 minutes the traditional raked seating (835 seats) on the ground floor into several different configurations which greatly increase the flexibility of the hall. Among the floor settings, it can be raised to the level of the stage, seating as many as 800 people at 80 banquet tables, and can also be set with tiers for cabaret seating.

This feature added $10 million to the cost of the project, but Bugg said the foundation’s board of trustees was so enthused about the capabilities it would add to the building, they decided to add the flat floor to the construction budget and raise the money to fund it.

Hall, the Studio Theater and the River Plaza.

Architecturally, the building will be a stunner. With the iconic Moorish towers and entrance and, behind it, the new portion of the structure rising to some 123 feet and clothed in an aluminum “veil” with LED lights that will illuminate the building at night, the Tobin Center will be an extraordinary addition to the downtown cityscape. As with the interior of the hall, the exterior lighting can be choreographed to match the character of the events taking place inside.

The Tobin Center will be a busy place, with tens of thousands of San Antonians and visitors expected to attend performances and events of all sorts and sizes every year. A key audience group will be young people: students from around the city and surrounding The acoustics in the H-E-B Performance Hall can be communities who will receive special treatment for many “tuned” so that audiences will be able to experience performances and opportunities for master classes by performances – symphony, opera, popular music, visiting artists, after-school programs and summer camps. musical theater, plays – as they were meant to be heard. All the interiors of the hall, including seating, A permanent home for San Antonio’s performing arts will be carefully selected to maximize acoustic quality. companies. An extraordinary audience experience.

Those attending performances or other events inside A place where young people can be inspired. A the hall also will note the LED lighting around the “new” downtown landmark that will spur continued mezzanine and balcony facing, enabling lighting to redevelopment. The Tobin Center will be a shining be changed to fit the mood of the performance or beacon of creativity, of entertainment and community event. Sound insulation throughout the Tobin Center pride. The best place to see and hear a live performance will enable simultaneous use of the H-E-B Performance – with something for everyone.

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Steve Gilliam & Sam Carter Gilliam: Making the Scene

By Julie Catalano Photography Greg Harrison 18 On The Town | January-February 2013

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t didn’t take long for young actor Steve Gilliam to “I did all my drawings with paper and pencil, drafting realize that he could be a lot more successful behind tools and watercolor renderings, dry pigment paint, the curtain than in front of it. all of that. Now I am completely computerized.” He still draws and uses watercolors, “but then I can scan into the “I discovered that I could actually make a living by working computer and go in with Photoshop. It’s incredible what backstage,” said the talented and prolific scenic designer, you can do.” whose illustrious 40-plus-year career has included an eclectic array of work for professional, community and Visiting his self-described “substantial” website – an university theaters, touring companies, corporations, understatement if there ever was one – reveals a mindtheme parks and more. boggling collection of countless designs from a roster of shows that reads like a history of the theater. Everything Freshly retired from a 30-year career as professor of drama from Amadeus to Annie, Madame Butterfly to Mame – and theatre director at San Antonio’s Trinity University, drops and sets beautifully depicted in sketches and Gilliam is finally at a place where, as he describes it, “I’m drawings in black and white and color – right down to having a ball.” the props, like the magic mirror in Beauty and the Beast, and the portable jail partitions in Chicago.

And why not? The Idaho-born, Iowa-bred artist this year celebrates 20 seasons as resident scenic designer at the If Gilliam has a signature piece, it’s Fiddler on the Roof, calling historic MUNY in St. Louis, the oldest and largest outdoor it their “most famous tour,” opening in 2000 with Theodore theatre in America. With wife and business partner Bikel and touring for three years, followed by a production Sam Carter Gilliam, their SLG Design & Creative Talent at the MUNY in 2008, and more tours with Topol and then company has been involved in hundreds of theatrical Harvey Fierstein in the role of Tevye. The challenge of taking projects over the years. an iconic show built for drops – impossible at the outdoor MUNY – meant Gilliam had to find a way “to make the Gilliam received his B.A. degree in speech and scenery move in a way that maintained the pacing of the drama from the University of Northern Iowa, and an show,” revealing the scenery in a choreographic style “like M.F.A. degree in scene design from the University of a dance.” It worked. “We love ‘Fiddler.’ We made enough Michigan-Ann Arbor. Describing himself as “classically money from it to put my daughter through graduate trained,” he explains the changes that technology has school.” Gilliam has two children from a former marriage: brought to his field.

Rafael, 38, and Monica, 35.

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That level of expertise comes from meticulous preparation, and Gilliam has it down to a perfect combination of science and art. First, he learns the play inside and out, has multiple discussions with the director, works to establish the tone, and then dives into research. Days in the library lugging and poring over stacks of books have been replaced by Google searches. “By the end of the week, I’ll have 20,000 to 30,000 images collected in various folders.”

Technology has given Gilliam the best of all worlds – researching and creating in his “man cave” studio in San Antonio, complete with loft, drafting tables and “car racing in the background,” and communicating with theatrical professionals all over the world. “I’ll design and post things on the Internet, and then you can have a producer in New York and a director from Los Angeles and somebody else is in Europe. That, plus Skype, has created a wonderful way [to work].”

working on shows for MUNY – this year Spamalot, June 17-23; Nunsense, July 1-7; and Les Miserables, July 1521. He credits the long-running gig to the small-world nature of theatre: “One of my best friends from graduate school was the lighting designer, and they had just fired their scenic designer.” The Gilliams’ first show was Ain’t Misbehavin’ in 1994, “and we’ve been going out there ever since.”

Closer to home, Gilliam is excited about a whole new world where the “divas” are easier to work with – two spring shows at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi and the new Pets Ahoy production slated for Sea World next summer. (If you’ve seen The Cannery Row Caper sea lion show with Clyde and Seamore, you’ve seen Steve and Sam’s design work.) “I’m having the most fun right now,” Gilliam says. “I am loving retirement.”

For a peek at Steve and Sam Carter Gilliam’s remarkable portfolio, go to http://www.trinity.edu/sgilliam/ The couple spends two months every summer in St. Louis showlinks.html.

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Scenic designs shown are from the national tour of Fiddler on the Roof

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THE INFAMOUS DR. BRINKLEY FOCUS OF NEW MUSICAL Story and Photography by Jasmina Wellinghoff

Thomas Nyman and Kevin Parman met in July 1989 and within five minutes of saying hello found themselves talking about Dr. John Brinkley, the infamous surgeon from the Depression era who became a wealthy celebrity by promising to restore men’s virility through implantation of goat gonads into their bodies.

As it happened, both young men had childhood memories of visiting Brinkley’s widow back in the 1970s when she was living in a dilapidated Del Rio mansion that Nyman describes as “perfect for a haunted house but so inviting.”

Now San Antonio residents, Nyman and Parman have written an original musical based on Brinkley’s credulitydefying life, titled Roads Courageous, which will have its world premiere at the Playhouse San Antonio Feb.22 through March 17 under the direction of Tim Hedgepeth.

In fact, the musical’s title was adopted as the banner

name for the entire 2012-13 season, which focuses on “Stories of America.”

Brinkley’s story probably belongs in the category of “Only in America.” With dubious medical credentials, this ambitious “smooth-tongued charlatan,” as the American Medical Association called him, performed thousands of operations, built his own radio stations to advertise his services and won fame and fortune working out of a clinic in Milford, Kan. After the state’s authorities finally revoked his license and the Federal Radio Commission shut down his station, he first tried to reinvent himself by running for governor but eventually relocated to Del Rio and built an even more powerful radio transmitter right across the border in Mexico. Called XER, the station could be heard as far away as Canada. By the late 1930s, however, his luck was running out. Though he set up a new clinic in a Del Rio hotel, Brinkley died in 1942, a discredited and bankrupt man.

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Nyman remembers hearing sympathetic tales about the doctor from his rancher grandfather, who lived in Del Rio not far from the Brinkley mansion. His curiosity aroused, the boy found a way to be invited to the big house where the still-imposing rooms and old-world furniture as well as the aging, friendly Mrs. Brinkley made an indelible impression on him. Parman, too, visited the mansion multiple times as a young boy in the company of his parents and played the piano for the lady of the house. Eventually his father purchased that piano in 1978 when the widow and her granddaughter had to sell the property.

“Mrs. Brinkley loved to tell stories from her past,” said Parman, who composed the music for Roads Courageous.

“She spoke grandly about her life and always maintained that her husband was a brilliant surgeon and a heroic man that one day science would validate.”

they first got involved with theater, working in various capacities with the local community troupe. Still, Nyman had a hard time convincing Parman to work on Roads Courageous until one day he brought up the subject of the Brinkleys’ son’s suicide. Known as Johnny Boy, the Brinkleys’ adult son shot himself one day while speaking to his mother by phone. He had asked her for money but she had none to give.

“We started talking about that, and Kevin went straight to the piano and started playing. In his head, he heard the music for that scene,” Nyman said.

That music became the show’s theme, Parman said, “a beautiful but broken sound that combines major and minor chords to create dissonance.” The completed score of about 20 songs was later orchestrated by Stephen Ferri and Andrew Fox, winners of the 2012 Outstanding Orchestration With their shared fascination with the Brinkley saga, award at the New York Musical Theater Festival.

Nyman and Parman moved from New York to Del Rio in the 1990s, purchased the vacant manse and lived Written by Nyman, the play opens with the suicide there for eight years. It was also during this period that moment and then reverts to telling the story as a long 24 On The Town | January-February 2013

flashback, starting from 1915. The cast includes top talent, such as Roy Bumgarner as Brinkley, Sherry Gibbs Houston as his wife and Karl Roach in the role of Johnny Boy as a boy. Byrd Bonner will portray Morris Fishbein who, as the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, was the adventurous surgeon’s nemesis. Also incorporated in the story are the Lonesome Cowboy (Chris Berry), whose songs were broadcast by XER, and Rose Dawn, a radio psychic played by Anna Gangai.

that stood behind the grand piano, as well as multiple other artifacts, photos and periodicals.

Writing about his experiences and connection to the old residence, Nyman wrote the following on the show’s website: “We would eventually leave Del Rio, but the heart of that house will always be inside us both. The story of Brinkley would live through us.”

For tickets for Roads Courageous, call the Playhouse at When the Brinkleys’ granddaughter, Johnny Boy’s 210-733-7258 or visit its website, www.theplayhousesa.org. daughter Angela, came to see Roads Courageous during a workshop performance last year, “she bawled,” Nyman said. “She was so touched by how accurately Sherry captured her grandmother’s persona.”

Photo Credits:

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Though the two co-creators have other musicals in the works, they are not likely to turn their backs on the Brinkley story anytime soon. They live and work surrounded by the “goat-gland doctor’s” mementos. They have tracked down and bought the walnut table that used to sit in the Del Rio mansion’s music room and the grandfather clock

Page 22 Kevin Parman and Thomas Nyman

Page 24 Parman and Nyman with Brinkley artifact

Page 23 Dr. Brinkley’s tonic bottles

Page 25 Portrait of Mrs. Brinkley

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26 On The Town | January-February 2013

Events Calendar 28-44 30-48

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January-February 2013 Events Calendar Music Notes Camerata San Antonio Personal Expressions 1/3, Thu @ 7:30pm Kerrville First Presbyterian 1/4, Fri @ 7:30pm Boerne First United Methodist 1/6, Sun @ 3pm Christ Episcopal San Antonio Almost Patsy Cline Band 1/4, Fri @ 6pm (doors open) Leon Springs Dancehall JB & The Moonshine Band 1/4, Fri @ 7pm (doors open) Cowboys San Antonio Brauntex Presents Doc Severinsen and the San Miguel Five 1/4-5, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre New Braunfels Rockbox Theater Fredericksburg 1/4-2/24, Fri @ 8pm, Sat @ 4:30 & 8pm, Sun @ 2pm

Jody Nix 1/5, Sat @ 6pm (doors open) Leon Springs Dancehall

Rocky King 1/12, Sat @ 6pm (doors open) Leon Springs Dancehall

Country Rewind Concert Series: Doug Stone & Rick Trevino with Nick Lawrence Band 1/5, Sat @ 7pm (doors open) Blue Bonnet Palace

Mario Flores & The Soda Creek Band 1/11, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

The Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular 1/5, Sat @ 8pm Majestic Theatre The Gourds 1/5, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall Nick Lawrence 1/11, Fri @ 6pm (doors open) Leon Springs Dancehall Aaron Watson 1/11, Fri @ 7pm (doors open) Cowboys San Antonio San Antonio Symphony Garza Plays Mozart 1/11-12, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Jeff Garza, horn Evan Rogister, conductor Majestic Theatre

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Justin Bieber 1/12, Sat @ 7pm AT&T Center Symphony of the Hills From Broadway to Hollywood 1/12, Sat @ 7:30pm Dr. Jay Dunnahoo, conductor Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater Kerrville Johnny Cooper 1/12, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Kyle Park 1/12, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall

Musical Bridges Around the World Musical Gifts – Judy and Jefferson Crabb Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral 1/13, Sun @ 6:30pm Jerryn Crabb, soprano Michael Schneider, piano Elena Gorina, piano Cactus Country 1/18, Fri @ 6pm (doors open) Leon Springs Dancehall Pat Green 1/18, Fri @ 7pm (doors open) Cowboys San Antonio Musical Bridges Around The World Igudesman & Joo: A Little Nightmare Music 1/18, Fri @ 7:30pm McAllister Auditorium San Antonio College Jason Eady 1/18, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

15 Season 2012 / 2013 Main Stage Series at McAllister Auditorium San Antonio College

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1300 San Pedro Avenue

Musical Generations Sunday, February 24

3 p.m.

Image © Roman Drits

Lilya Zilberstein, famous concert pianist from Germany, is joined by her gifted sons Anton, 16, and Daniel, 19.

The Youth Orchestra of San Antonio will accompany the trio in a virtuoso performance, bringing a colorful program to the stage that includes Mozart Concerto for Three Pianos and Brahms for one, two and three pianists.

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Judy and Jefferson Crabb

Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral

History, Spirit and Music Meet.

Sunday, April 28, 6:30 p.m.

FREE and Open to the Public

Sponsored by

The Russell Hill Rogers Fund for the Arts Carol Lee Klose

115 Main Plaza, in the Oldest Cathedral in the United States, in the Heart of Downtown San Antonio

and Carolyn A. Seale

Part of the

2:00 p.m. - Box Office opens 2:40 p.m. - General seating Tickets - $25. Discounts for seniors, students, and military with ID. Children 12 and under are always free. “Meet the Artists” Chocolate Fountain reception to follow the concert.

Fantasia for Cello Russian virtuoso cellist Boris Andrianov and concert pianist Karolina Syrovatkova of the Czech Republic will dazzle us with a romantic program.

“Meet the Artist” Dessert Reception catered by Giovanni to follow the concert.

Sponsor a school bus to transport 70 kids to a Main Stage Concert!

Visit our website for more information.

Musical Bridges.org

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(210) 464-1534

Baroque 2: Italian Baroque 1/19, Sat @ 7pm UTSA Recital Hall Landon Dodd 1/19, Sat @ 8pm Anhalt Hall Max Stalling 1/19, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall Musical Offerings Brahms and Beyond 1/20, Sun @ 3pm Timothy Jones, baritone Akiko Fujimoto, conductor Christ Episcopal Fredericksburg Music Club Ava Pine, vocalist 1/20, Sun @ 3pm Fredericksburg United Methodist San Antonio Symphony Passione: Italian Baroque 1/20, Sun @ 7pm Kenneth Freudigman, cello Akiko Fujimoto, conductor San Fernando Cathedral Tuesday Musical Club Joyce Yang 1/22, Tue @ 2pm Laurel Heights Methodist University of Texas San Antonio Faculty and Friends Concert 1/22, Tue @ 7:30pm Recital Hall UTSA Main Campus

Alamo Chapter of the American Guild of Organists Works of Johannes Brahms 1/25, Fri @ 7:30pm Parker Chapel Trinity University San Antonio Symphony Symphony Espagnole 1/25-26, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Karen Goymo, violin Karen Kamensek, conductor Majestic Theatre Roger Creager 1/25, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store 6th Annual Luckenbach Blues Festival 1/26, Sat / 2-10pm Luckenbach Dancehall Opera Piccola and Alamo Arts Ballet Theatre 1/26, Sat @ 7pm Thiry Auditorium Our Lady of the Lake University Doug Moreland 1/26, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights 1/26, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall

30 On The Town | January-February 2013

San Antonio Symphony Inside Symphony The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra 1/27, Sun @ 2:30pm Akiko Fujimoto, conductor Laurie Auditorium – Trinity San Antonio Chamber Music Society Miro String Quartet 1/27, Sun @ 3:15pm Temple Beth-El Music at the Museum XIII 1/28, Mon @ 6:30pm San Antonio Museum of Art Diana Ross 1/29, Tue @ 8pm Majestic Theatre Matchbox 20 with Phillip Phillips 1/30, Wed @ 7:30pm Majestic Theatre Camerata San Antonio Brahms Festival Special Concerts #1: String Sextets 1/31, Thu @ 7:30pm Jun Yi Ma & Bonnie Terry, violin Allyson Dawkins & Emily Freudgiman, viola Ken Freudigman &David Mollenauer, cello Christ Episcopal Church Brauntex Presents Joni Morris 1/31, Thu @ 7:30pm Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre New Braunfels

San Antonio Choral Society The Choral Works of Brahms 1/31, Thu @ 7:30pm First United Methodist Boerne 2/3, Sun @ 4pm Laurel Heights United Methodist Mario Flores & The Soda Creek Band 2/1, Fri @ 6pm (doors open) Leon Springs Dance Hall San Antonio Symphony Pops Goes to the Movies 2/1-2, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Carl Topilow, conductor and clarinet Majestic Theatre Rance Norton 2/2, Sat @ 6pm (doors open) Leon Springs Dancehall Mid-Texas Symphony Superbows 2/2, Sat @ 7:30pm Craig Sorgi, violin Eliza Thomason, viola David Mairs, conductor Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre – New Braunfels San Antonio International Piano Competition Piano Series Andrea Lam 2/2, Sat @ 7:30pm Ruth Taylor Recital Hall Trinity University

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Joe Ely Band 2/2, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall Bleu Edmondson 2/2, Sat @ 9pm Luckenbach Dancehall Bart Crow 2/2, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Russian Folk Festival featuring Nikolai Massenkoff, baritone 2/3, Sun @ 3pm Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater Kerrville San Antonio Choral Society Choral Works of Brahms 2/3, Sun @ 4pm Laurel Heights United Methodist Musical Bridges Around the World Brahms – Judy and Jefferson Crabb Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral 2/3, Sun @ 6:30pm Carolyn Sproule, mezzosoprano, Emanuel Borok, violin Mark Cheikhet, viola, Elena Portnaya, piano Fingers and Cords 2/4, Mon @ 6pm San Antonio Museum of Art

Camerata San Antonio Brahms Festival Special Concerts #2: featuring Kirill Gerstein, piano 2/7, Thu @ 7:30pm Anastasia Storer & Matthew Zerweck, violin Emily Freudigman, viola Ken Freudigman, cello Christ Episcopal Church San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo 2/7, Thu @ 7pm – Clay Walker 2/8, Fri @ 7:30pm – Eli Young Band 2/9, Sat @ 1pm – Lee Brice 2/9, Sat @ 7:30pm – Toby Keith 2/10, Sun @ 1pm – Austin Mahone 2/11, Mon @ 7pm – Reba McEntire 2/12, Tue @ 7pm – Casting Crowns 2/13, Wed @ 7pm – Gary Allan 2/14, Thu @ 7pm – Thompson Square 2/15, Fri @ 7:30pm – OneRepublic 2/16, Sat @ 1pm – Lady Antebellum 2/16, Sat @ 7:30pm – Lady Antebellum 2/17, Sun @ 1pm – Kip Moore 2/17, Sun @ 7pm – La Original Banda el Limon 2/18, Mon @ 7pm – Dierks Bentley 2/19, Tue @ 7pm – Jerrod

32 On The Town | January-February 2013

Neimann 2/20, Wed @ 7pm – The Band Perry 2/21, Thu @ 7pm – Brantley Gilbert 2/22, Fri @ 7:30pm REO Speedwagon 2/23, Sat @ 1pm – Justin Moore 2/23, Sat @ 7:30pm – Darius Rucker AT&T Center San Antonio Symphony Brahms Festival 1 2/8, Fri @ 8pm Kirill Gerstein, piano Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor Majestic Theatre Alejandro Escovedo 2/8, Fri @ 8pm Gruene Hall Nick Lawrence 2/9, Sat @ 6pm (doors open) Leon Springs Dancehall Brauntex Presents The Rat Pack Now 2/9, Sat @ 7:30pm Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre New Braunfels Boerne Performing Arts The 5 Browns 2/9, Sat @ 7:30pm Champions HS Auditorium Boerne

Carver Community Cultural Center Christian McBride & Inside Straight 2/9, Sat @ 8pm Jo Long Theatre San Antonio Symphony Brahms Festival 2 2/9, Sat @ 8pm Kirill Gerstein, piano Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor Majestic Theatre James McMurtry 2/9, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Turnpike Troubadours 2/9, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall San Antonio Symphony DISCOVER Brahms 2 2/10, Sun @ 3pm Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor Majestic Theatre Romancing Brahms… a Golden Finale 2/11, Mon @ 5:30pm San Antonio Museum of Art Youth Orchestras of San Antonio and The Children’s Chorus of San Antonio Brahms Re-imagined 2/11, Mon @ 7:30pm Majestic Theatre

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Voci di Sorelle Love Letters: Music of the Heart 2/12, Tu @ 7pm 2/16, Sat @ 7pm Cowden Gallery San Antonio Museum of Art SOLI Chamber Ensemble and Ballet San Antonio Love Triangle 2/12, Tue @ 7:30pm Ruth Taylor Recital Hall Trinity University Brauntex Presents Alex Meixner 2/12, Tue @ 8pm Brauntex Performing Arts Theatere New Braunfels Brauntex Presents Alter Eagles 2/14, Thu @ 7:30pm Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre New Braunfels Camerata San Antonio Brahms Festival Special Concerts #3: featuring Vadim Gluzman, violin 2/14, Thu @ 7:30pm Ilya Shterenberg, clarinet Renia Shterenberg, violin Emily Freudigman, viola Ken Freudigman, cello Angela Yoffe, piano Christ Episcopal Church Meyer Anderson Band 2/15, Fri @ 6pm (doors open) Leon Springs Dance Hall

Voci di Sorelle Love Letters: Music of the Heart 2/15, Fri @ 7pm The Union Church Building Kerrville

San Antonio Symphony DISCOVER Brahms 4 2/17, Sun @ 3pm Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor Majestic Theatre

Bellamy Brothers 2/15, Fri @ 7pm (doors open) Cowboys San Antonio

Fredericksburg Music Club San Antonio Brass 2/17, Sun @ 3pm Fredericksburg United Methodist

San Antonio Symphony Brahms Festival 3 2/15, Fri @ 8pm Vadim Gluzman, violin Kian Wang, cello Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor Majestic Theatre Kyle Park 2/15, Fri @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store San Antonio Symphony Brahms Festival 4 2/16, Sat @ 8pm Vadim Gluzman, violin Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor Majestic Theatre Jon Wolfe 2/16, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store Micky & The Motorcars 2/16, Sat @ 9pm Gruene Hall Gary P. Nunn 2/16, Sat @ 9pm Luckenbach Dancehall

34 On The Town | January-February 2013

Cactus Pear Festival Johannas Brahms Complete Violin Sonatas 2/17, Sun @ 7:30pm Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio, violin James Winn, violin Christ Episcopal Almost Patsy Cline Band 2/12, Fri @ 6pm (doors open) Leon Springs Dance Hall Bob Schneider 2/22, Fri @ 8pm Gruene Hall Monte Goode 2/23, Sat @ 6pm (doors open) Leon Springs Dancehall

Musical Bridges Around The World Musical Generations 2/24, Sun @ 3pm Lilya Zilberstein, Anton Zilberstein and Daniel Zilberstein, piano 2/24, Sun @ 3pm McAllister Auditorium San Antonio College Copperleaf Quintet Miserere: Reflections for Lent 2/24, Sun @ 3pm Mission San Jose Children’s Chorus of San Antonio Project Sing!

Winter Concert 2/27, Wed @ 6:30pm Thiry Auditorium Our Lady of the Lake University

On Stage Cameo Theatre Cats 1/1, Tue @ 2:30pm 1/4-13, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 3:30pm

Brandon Rhyder 2/23, Sat @ 9pm John T. Floore Country Store

The Overtime Theater Hell and Back 1/3-5, Thu-Sat @ 8pm Greg Barrios Theatre

Boerne Performing Arts Celtic Nights 2/23, Sat @ 7:30pm Champions HS Auditorium Boerne

Arts San Antonio Presents Shatner’s World: We Just Live In It 1/9, Wed @ 7:30pm Majestic Theatre

Boerne Community Theatre Rabbit Hole 1/10-19, Thu @ 7L30pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm Geniuses of the American Musical Theatre: Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan Lecture/Concert featuring Herb Keyser and Bett Butler 1/14, Mon @ 7:30pm Josephine Theatre

Harlequin Dinner Theatre Murder is a Game 1/17-2/16, Thu-Sat @ 8pm (Dinner @ 6:15pm) The Playhouse San Antonio Red 1/25-2/17, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm Cellar Theater Boerne Performing Arts Drumline Live!

1/30, Wed @ 7:30pm Champions HS Auditorium Boerne

Circle Arts Theatre – New Braunfels Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 1/31-2/24, Thu-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2pm

Playhouse 2000 Girl in the Freudian Slip 2/1-17, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm, Sun @ 2pm Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater Kerrville

Sheldon Vexler Theatre Glengarry Glen Ross 2/7-3/3, Thu & Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm (No shows on Friday – one additional performance on 2/24, Sun @ 7:30pm) Barshop JCC Woodlawn Black Box Neil Simon’s Chapter 2 2/8-24, Fri-Sat @ 7pm Sun @ 3pm Woodlawn Theatre

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The Classic Theatre San Antonio Painting Churches 2/8-24, Thu-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 3pm Sterling Houston Theatre @ Blue Star

Cadillac Broadway in San Antonio Memphis 2/19-24, Tue-Fri @ 8pm Sat @ 2pm & 8pm Sun @ 1pm & 6:30pm Majestic Theatre

San Antonio College Theatre Department The Underpants 2/9-17, Thu-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 2:30pm McCreless Theatre

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tell Me on a Sunday 2/21-24, Thu-Fri @ 7:30pm Sat @ 2pm & 7:30pm Sun @ 2pm Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre New Braunfels

Hill Country Arts Foundation Love, Loss, and What I Wore 2/14-3/2, Thu-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 2pm (2/17 only) Elizabeth Huth Coates Theatre Ingram Trinity University Theatre Department Arcadia 2/15-16, Fri-Sat @ 8pm 2/17, Sun @ 2:30pm 2/20-21, Wed-Thu @ 7pm 2/22-23, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Stieren Theater The Renaissnce Guild A Raisin in the Sun 2/15-24, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 4pm Jo Long Theatre at the Carver Woodlawn Theatre The Full Monty 2/15-3/17, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm Sun @ 3pm

S.T.A.G.E. A Time to Heal 2/21-3/10, Thu-Sat @ 8pm (Dinner optional @ 6:30pm) Sun @ 2:30pm (Lunch optional @ 1pm) Kraus Haus – Bulverde UIW Theatre Arts The Memory of Water 2/22-3/2, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2pm Coates Theatre Boerne Community Theatre Funny Valentines 2/22-3/9, Thu @ 7L30pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm Fredericksburg Theater Company A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 2/22-3/10, Fri-Sat @ 7:30pm, Sun @ 2pm Steve W. Shepherd Theater

36 On The Town | January-February 2013

The Playhouse San Antonio Roads Courageous 2/22-3/17, Fri-Sat @ 8pm Sun @ 2:30pm Russell Hill Rogers Theatre

Opera The Metropolitan Opera Series: Les Troyens (Live on screen) 1/5, Sat @ 11am Cielo Vista 18, Huebner 14 & McCreeles Cinema The Metropolitan Opera Series: Un Ballo In Machera (On screen encore presentation) 1/9, Wed @ 6:30pm Cielo Vista 18, Huebner 14 & McCreeles Cinema The Metropolitan Opera Series: Aida (On screen encore presentation) 1/16, Wed @ 6:30pm Cielo Vista 18, Huebner 14 & McCreeles Cinema Hill Country Opera & Arts Opera-Pasta-Pizza (with singers from Texas State University Opera Department) 1/17, Thu / 6:30pm-8:30pm Broken Stone Pizza Boerne

The Metropolitan Opera Series: Maria Stuarda (Live on screen) 1/19, Sat @ 11am Cielo Vista 18, Huebner 14 & McCreeles Cinema The Metropolitan Opera Series: Les Troyens (On screen encore presentation) 1/23, Wed @ 6:30pm Cielo Vista 18, Huebner 14 & McCreeles Cinema Opera Piccola of San Antonio Brahms Festival Gypsy Lover 1/26, Sat @ 7pm Thiry Auditorium Our Lady of the Lake The Metropolitan Opera Series: Maria Stuarda (On screen encore presentation) 2/6, Wed @ 6:30pm Cielo Vista 18, Huebner 14 & McCreeles Cinema The Metropolitan Opera Series: Rigoletto (Live on screen) 2/16, Sat @ 11am Cielo Vista 18, Huebner 14 & McCreeles Cinema

Dance Carver Community Cultural Center TU Dance 1/18, Fri @ 8pm Jo Long Theatre

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Texas State University Encore Performing Arts Series Ballet Folklorico from UT Pan American 2/17, Sun @ 7:30pm Evans Auditorium San Marcos

Children’s Woodlawn Theatre Disney’s Little Mermaid, Jr. Youth Cast 1/11, Fri @ 7pm Sat-Sun @ 3pm Teen Cast 1/12-14, Sat-Mon @ 7pm Woodlawn Theatre 13 The Musical Teen Cast 1/18-19, Fri-Sat @ 7pm 1/20, Sun @ 3pm The Performing Arts Academy of New Braunfels Disney’s Aladdin, Jr. 1/18-20, Fri @ 7pm Sat @ 2pm & 7pm Sun @ 2pm Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre New Braunfels The Magik Theater Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat and Other Tales 1/9-2/16, Thu @ 9:45am & 11:30am, Fri @ 9:45am, 11:30am & 7pm Sat @ 2pm

The Magik Theater Rapunzel 2/27-3/30, Tue-Thu @ 9:45am & 11:30am, Fri @ 9:45am, 11:30am & 7pm Sat @ 2pm

Comedy Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Jim David 1/2-6, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Erik Rivera 1/2-6, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Mark Sweeney 1/9-13, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Rich Vos 1/16-20, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Mike Yard 1/16-20, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm

38 On The Town | January-February 2013

Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Hannibal Buress 1/23-26, Thu@ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Tom Clark 1/23-27, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Lisa Lampanelli 1/25, Fri @ 8pm Lila Cockrell Theater Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Andrew Kennedy 1/30-2/2,, Wed-Thu@ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Carole Montgomery 1/30-2/2, Wed-Thu @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Peyton Clarkson 2/6, Wed @ 8pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Tommy Blaze 2/6-10, Wed-Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Christian Finnegan 2/7-10, Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm

Rivercenter Comedy Club Joey Vega 2/13-16, Wed-Thu @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Maryellen Hooper 2/14-17, Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Rivercenter Comedy Club Kris Shaw 2/17, Sun @ 8:30pm The Second City Touring Company 2/19, Tue @ 7:30pm Jackson Auditorium Texas Lutheran University Seguin Rivercenter Comedy Club Jack Mayberry 2/20-24, Thu & Sun @ 8:30pm Fri-Sat @ 8:30pm & 10:30pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Kevin Nealon 2/22-23, Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Chris Bliss 2/28-3/3, Thu & Sun @ 8pm Fri-Sat @ 8pm & 10:15pm

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On Exhibit

INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES

Printed in San Antonio 1/23-5/12

ARTPACE

Texas Contemporary Artists Series: Ana Fernandez Thru 1/20

Majority Rules: A Decade of Contemporary Art Acquisitions 1/23-9/15

International Artist-InResident New Works: 12.3 Dor Guez David Benjamin Sherry Sarah Sudhoff Heidi ZuckermanJacobson, curator Thru 1/13 Window Works Leigh Anne Lester Cultivated Divergence 1/10-4/28 BIHL HAUS ARTS Journey to the Underworld & Other Forbidden Places Before the End of Time Thru 1/26 On & Off Fredericksburg Road Studio Tour 2/16-17 BLUE STAR CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER Dirty Dozen Thru 2/16 Lines & Other Curves Thru 2/16 Justn Randolph Thompson – Meet Me in the Bottoms Thru 2/16

Bantu Eyez: Somali Bantu of Texas Photography by Cristina J. Sanchez Thru 3/3 Arte Chihuahua Thru 5/5 Asian Festival 2/16, Sat 10am-5pm McNAY ART MUSEUM

Leonard Brooks of San Miguel de Allende 1/30-5/19 Real/Surreal: Selections from the Whitney Museum of Modern Art 2/13-5/19 The Human Face and Form 2/13-5/19 SAN ANTONIO BOTANICAL GARDEN

For Jerry: Masterpieces Art in the Garden 2012 from the Lawson Bequest (In conjunction with Blue Thru 1/13 Star Contemporary Art Center) Prints of the People: The Thru 3/1 Taller de Grafica Popular Thru 1/20 SAN ANTONIO MUSEUM OF ART Estampas de la Raza: Contemporary Aphrodite and the Gods Prints from the Romo of Love Collection Thru 2/17 Thru 1/27 Rostros de Maria: The Virgin as Archetype America’s Finest: Recent Works by Vincent Valdez and Inspiration Thru 2/20 Thru 1/27 Cecilia Condit: World Thru 1/27 Fiesta, Fete, Festival 1/16-6/9

40 On The Town | January-February 2013

SOUTHWEST SCHOOL OF ART Justin Boyd: Days and Days Thru 2/10

Anita Valencia: Sun She Rises, Sun She Set, And You Ain’t Seen Texas Yet Thru 2/10 Juan De Dios Mora: Laters 12/6-2/10 Mock/Bite 2/21-4/28 Julie Speed: Solo Exhibition 2/21-4/28 Tracy Lynch: Kindred Gestures 2/21-4/28 WITTE MUSEUM Texas Performers Under the Big Top Thru 1/13 Artists on the Texas Frontier Thru 5/27 Mummies of the World Thru 1/27 Threads of South America: 2,000 Years of Textiles Thru 3/31 Witte Through Time: 85 Years and Still Growing Thru 8/13 Dinosaurs Unearthed 2/23-9/2

Miscellaneous

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U.S. Army All-American Bowl 1/5, Sat @ 12pm Alamodome

Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam 1/12-13, Sat @ 7pm Sun @ 2pm Alamodome San Antonio Cocktail Conference 1/17-20 Harlem Globetrotters 1/31, Thu @ 7pm AT&T Center San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo 2/7-23 AT&T Center JCC 12th Annual Jewish Film Festival 2/9-13 Santikos Embassy 14 Cine Festival en San Antonio 2/23-3/2 Guadalupe Theater Guadalupe Cultural Center

Photo Credits Page 28 (L-R) Camerata San Antonio Photo by Greg Harrison Doc Severinsen and the San Miguel Five Courtesy Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre

Mario Flores and the Soda Creek Band Courtesy liveatfloores.com Pat Green Courtesy liveatfloores.com Page 30 (L-R) Igudesman and Joo Courtesy ingudesmanandjoo.com Max Stalling Courtesy maxstalling.com Akiko Fujimoto Courtesy San Antonio Symphony Ava Pine Courtesy Fredericksburg Music Club Page 32 (L-R)

Matchbox Twenty Courtesy matchboxtwenty.com Carl Topilow Courtesy carltopilow.com David Mairs Courtesy Mid-Texas Symphony Page 35 (L-R) Kirill Gerstein Courtesy San Antonio Symphony Andrea Lam Photo by Greg Barrett Bart Crow Courtesy liveatfloores.com Lady Antebellum Courtesy ladyantebellum. com

Voci di Sorelle Courtesy benissimomusic. org SOLI Photo by Kemp Davis Alex Meixner Courtesy alexmeixner.com Page 40 (L-R) Vadim Gluzman Courtesy San Antonio Symphony Gary P. Nunn Courtesy liveatfloores.com Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio Photo by Liz Garza Williams

Page 36 (L-R)

Brandon Rhyder Courtesy liveatfloores.com

The Band Perry Courtesy thebandperry.com

Page 42 (L-R)

Karen Gomyo Courtesy San Antonio Symphony

REO Speedwagon Courtesy Majestic Theatre

Lilya Silberstein Courtesy schmidtart.com

Karen Kamensek Courtesy San Antonio Symphony

The Rat Pack Now Courtesy Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre

William Shatner Photo by Joan Marcus

Roger Creager Courtesy liveatfloores.com

The 5 Browns Courtesy Boerne Performing Arts

Felicia Boswell and Bryan Fenkart National Tour of Memphis Photo by Paul Kolnik

Page 38 (L-R) Troy Peters Courtesy Youth Orchestras of San Antonio

Maryellen Hooper Courtesy Maryellenhopper.com

Joyce Yang Courtesy pianistjoyceyang. com

Page 34 (L-R) Miro String Quartet Courtesy themiroquartet. com

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44 On The Town | January-February 2013

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Culinary Arts

46-54

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46 On The Town | January-February 2013

Boiler House Texas Grill & Wine Garden Now at Pearl

By Jonathan Horowitz Photograpy Shane Kyle

B

oiler House Texas Grill & Wine Garden, now open at Pearl Brewery, offers something unique to San Antonio’s culinary scene. Located in the original boiler house built in 1894, which powered the brewery during its heyday, many of the building’s significant architectural features have been incorporated into the design of the restaurant, including two of the enormous coal-powered boilers that frame the bar and form the walls of Boiler House’s kitchen.

“Boiler House is Texas-inspired, but that doesn’t mean we’re doing chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes,” Moore said. “We’re taking Texas flavors and twisting them, presenting ingredients people know, but mixing it up to present combinations that reflect an international influence on Texas tastes. My career has allowed me to work across a number of cuisines — the Boiler House menu reflects those influences.”

The foundation of the menu is “small plates” ideal for The restaurant offers a high-energy venue, mixing sharing, perfect for the relaxed wine garden atmosphere urban and industrial to honor the feel of the old boiler and communal picnic tables featured in Boiler House’s house and, while infusing a Texas-style chic, creating unique outdoor space, the wine garden. Playing off a the perfect watering hole to gather with friends, family traditional European beer garden, the space includes or colleagues for lunch, dinner, weekend brunch or an custom-made picnic tables designed to keep wine (or evening out. beer!) chilled while people enjoy spending time with friends and family noshing on contemporary Texas fare.

“It’s definitely the most unique kitchen environment I’ve been a part of. The first time we toured the building, I was “The proteins and prime cuts are designed to be the in awe of the structure and the boilers. I love the design centerpieces of the meal so that diners can then build and am excited to be a part of the new chapter at Pearl,” around those to create a meal for sharing,” Moore said. said James Moore, formerly the chef at MAX’s Wine Dive “Or guests can do a mix of small plates and proteins, (Boiler House’s sister restaurant) and now the executive adding breads or something from the market. We’re chef at Boiler House. really letting our customers build their meal by choosing the ingredients that appeal to them.”

“Our concept and menu fit the uniqueness of the building,” Moore said. The new concept from Lasco With a culinary passport that includes Japanese, Italian, Enterprises, parent company of both MAX’s and Boiler Mediterranean, classic American comfort food and more, House, is a wine-centric, Texas-style restaurant featuring it’s not hard to see that Moore likes to explore the world grilled delicacies from local farms and markets and through food. Is he ready for the challenge? “I’m excited extraordinary wines from around the world. to see the doors open. I outlined the first concept menu January-February 2013 | On The Town 47

in summer 2011 and have worked to refine it and create dishes that fit this amazing space and distinctive design.

It’s great seeing it all come together,” he said.

“I love a challenge. I love to innovate, so sinking my teeth into a new concept and being a part of bringing Boiler House together has been fun. I’ve opened restaurants before, but this is the first time I’ve been involved conceptually. And of course, Lasco has a history of success, so being a part of the team putting Boiler House together has given me the opportunity to work with the best.”

Jerry Lasco, founder and CEO of Lasco Enterprises, said, “One of chef Moore’s biggest talents is his ability to create new dishes and menus. Chef Moore’s leadership and talent have led MAX’s in San Antonio to win not only the hearts of SA food lovers, but dozens of culinary awards and contests since its opening. The most comfortable position to be in when opening a restaurant is to be opening with a chef that has gained everyone’s respect and confidence. Chef Moore has built a reputation as one of Texas’ most creative and consistent talents.”

In addition to the two years Moore spent crafting gourmet comfort food at MAX’s, the chef brings more than 22 years of restaurant experience, world travel and knowledge of numerous styles of cuisine to the Boiler House kitchen.

“It is all about attention to the integrity of the products and the simplicity of the foods,” Moore said. “It is letting the quality of the ingredients speak for themselves. And it’s a concept that definitely influences what we’re doing with Boiler House — letting quality ingredients shine.”

Boiler House servers will walk diners through the menu, and offer wine suggestions to pair with the food, or conversely, the right food pairing for a favorite wine.

“Our servers know the menu and know our wines,” Moore said. “Like at MAX’s Wine Dive, we’re not wine snobs. We want the wine experience to be fun and definitely not intimidating. We don’t take ourselves too seriously or look down on anyone who asks questions about wine or the food. We want to talk to our customers and share information to help them enjoy their experience even more.”

To learn more, visit www.boilerhousesa.com.

48 On The Town | January-February 2013

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50 On The Town | January-February 2013

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Junior League’s Fête du Cuvée Celebrates Second Year

By Dawn Robinette

T

he Junior League of San Antonio is celebrating the return of Fête du Cuvée Fine Wine Auction, a mustattend event for San Antonio wine enthusiasts.

The event’s name is a play on the term “tête de cuvée,” the top of the line from any Champagne house. Fête du Cuvée celebrates the best of the best, featuring fine wine, fabulous food from fantastic chefs and unique auction items sure to excite wine enthusiasts.

52 On The Town | January-February 2013

An elegant black tie affair, this amazing winecentric event features the opportunity to bid on exclusive lots in a remarkable silent auction that includes unique offerings, large format bottles, libraries and allotment wines; as well as a live auction that offers one-of-a kind packages and fabulous wine-related experiences.

Acclaimed San Antonio chefs create unique dishes for Fête du Cuvée, pairing each with wines they feel best accentuate their dish. Each chef prepares their dish at food stations around the ballroom and personally serves the dish to Fête du Cuvée patrons, making the event an opportunity to interact with some of the hottest names on the San Antonio culinary scene. The featured chefs for 2013 include: Jeffery Balfour, Executive Chef, Hotel Valencia Riverwalk; Stefan Bowers, Executive Chef, FEAST; John Brand, Executive Chef, Ostra at Mokara Hotel & Spa and Las Canarias at Omni La Mansión del Rio; Geronimo Lopez, Executive Chef, NAO – New World Flavors; James Moore, Executive Chef, Boiler House Texas Grill & Wine Garden; and John Russ, Executive Chef, Lüke San Antonio.

The chefs were announced over hors d’oeuvres and wine at a special event hosted by Frost Bank, Fête du Cuvée’s presenting sponsor. An exclusive preview party featuring catering by Executive Chef Clint Connaway of MAX’s Wine Dive will be held for Fête du Cuvée patrons at Porsche of San Antonio, giving patrons the opportunity to enjoy another food and wine experience while learning about the auction items available during the March event.

Net proceeds from Fête du Cuvée benefit the community programs and projects of the Junior League of San Antonio. Relying on fundraisers such as Fête du Cuvée to provide funding to support its efforts, the Junior League of San Antonio impacts

more than 60 San Antonio-area non-profits and agencies each year, contributing more than 10,000 volunteer hours, project management and funding, making it a valued partner to worthy organizations throughout the city.

The corks will be popping as event attendees raise their glasses at the second annual Fête du Cuvée on March 2. While tickets are limited, custom sponsorships and underwriting opportunities for this exclusive event are still available. To learn more about the event, sponsorship opportunities and how you can enjoy this fabulous evening designed for true wine enthusiasts, visit www. sanantoniowineauction.com.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Photo Credits Page 52-53 (L-R) Jeffrey Balfour Hotel Valencia

James Moore Boiler House Texas Grill & Wine Garden

John Brand Las Canarias / Ostra

John Russ Luke San Antonio

Geronimo Lopez NAO – New World Flavors

Clint Connaway Max’s Wine Dive

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54 On The Town | January-February 2013

Visual Arts

56-68

January-February 2013 | On The Town 55

New Art in the New Year!

by Cassandra Yardeni

T

wenty-thirteen is poised to be a great year for San Antonio. The city is bustling with new business, new resttaurants, new ideas and happily, new art.

Galleries and museums both large and small bring the very best in arts and culture. From found art to animatronic dinosaurs, there’s something for everyone to enjoy on the town!

Blue Star Contemporary Arts After reviewing over 100 submissions, Catherine Anspon, the Fine Arts and Social Editor at PaperCity Magazine in Houston, selected seven artists from San Antonio and five artists from Houston to be shown in Dirty Dozen, on display at Blue Star Contemporary Arts through Feb. 16.

performance and audience participation,” says Anspoon.

She notes the recurring theme of the supernatural present in many of the works.

Also on display at Blue Star is In Lines and Other Curves, an exhibition presenting the separate but related directions artists Matt Irie’s and Dominick Talvacchio’s solo practices have taken since their latest collaborative work in 2009.

Participating Artists from San Antonio include Esteban Delgado, Gabriel Diego Delgado, Claudio Dicochea, Michele Monseau, Ethan Moore, Ivan Salcido and Gary Schafter. Participating Artists from Houston include Ann Wood, Susan Plum, Nancy Douthey, Jon Leach and Liza Littlefield.

Irie’s paintings question what can happen when the starting point is a “finished” paint drip. The drip, removed from its ordinary context as a house painting mistake, is a fully formed object that has an inherent movement of its own. When applied and layered repeatedly in a modular fashion, the movement of discrete drips can complement, contradict, and confound one another in opening up spaces that are as illusionistic as they are inviting. In considering the way that the material process is front and center in experiencing these paintings, Irie likes to think of that process as one of using the uncanny drip to simultaneously create and solve a puzzle.

“Dirty Dozen is about obsessive artists who individually explore themes of nature, the supernatural, architecture, socio-politics, community, pop culture, cloning and baroque ornamentation through painting, video, sculpture,

Talvacchio’s recent work shares with Irie’s an aesthetic sensibility and an interest in the dynamics and tension of repetition. Here, the original movement is one that could be called the eros of mathematics, the creation and play of

56 On The Town | January-February 2013

the objects that belong to it. The material presence given to this eros, this life force, becomes subtly erotic, and the works invite an experience of losing oneself not in chaos, but rather in the order so created. Many of these works on paper and video pieces are referred to as “palpations,” suggesting the art of touching a body in order to sense a mysterious presence within it. At their core, both bodies of work share a spirit of surprise, an obsession with the unexpected and often mesmerizing outcomes of the movement of seemingly simple parts. In Lines and Other Curves is on view through February 16.

Valencia’s Sun She Rise, Sun She Set and You Ain’t Seen Texas Yet; and Jaun De Dios Mora’s Laters are free and open to the public and offer a veritable feast for the senses, and media and content will captivate art enthusiasts of all types.

Finally, Blue Star presents Justin Randolph Thompson’s Meet Me in the Bottoms, also on view through Feb.16. The provocative installation addresses dismantled hierarchies through the lens of the architecture of theatre space, the propagandic employment of sound and the socio-political implications associated with the shoeshine trade. The work revolves around a social pact formed by shoe shiners, the concept of putting our best things away awaiting deliverance, the subversion of sound as background and the elevation of the viewer.

The installation features a temple to Coyolxauhqui, goddess of the moon, and artworks dedicated to other indigenous feminine deities revered before the Conquest.

These works honor the ancient belief that held sacred the feminine principle and equated it with spiritual power and reverence. This is a journey through time in which women are goddesses and warriors rather than wives or bed maidens.

Bihl Haus Arts Bihl Haus Arts presents Journey to the Underworld and Other Forbidden Places before the End of Time, an installation and exhibit of new works by artist Jane Madrigal, a cosmic journey through time and collective consciousness. The exhibit is on view through Jan. 26.

Bihl Haus is also a part of the On & Off Fredericksburg Road Studio Tour that takes place Feb. 16-17.

Southwest School of Art Through Feb. 10, the Southwest School of Art hosts three Institute of Texan Cultures captivating exhibits. Justin Boyd’s Days and Days; Anita Beginning Feb. 22, it’s all about girl power at the Institute January-February 2013 | On The Town 57

of Texas Cultures. Come celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts with this special exhibit that highlights the organization’s history from its early years to today through compelling stories and memorabilia.

San Antonio Museum of Art Current exhibits at SAMA are Rostros de Maria: The Virgin as Archetype and Inspiration which concludes on Jan. 30 and the very popular Aphrodite and the Gods of Love on display through Feb. 17. Organized by the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, the exhibit features 125 statues, vases, terracotta and bronze figures, mirrors and jewelry.

Witte Museum Mummies of the World continues at the Witte thru Jan. 27.

After that, Dinosaurs Unearthed makes a return visit to the museum beginning Feb. 23 and runs through Sept.

2. It carries with it the promise of being bigger, better and more feathered than ever and features advanced electronic technology that brings animatronic dinosaurs to virtual life. Complete skeletons, hands-on interactives and a paleontology dig site where kids search for fossils enhance the overall experience.

Dinosaurs Unearthed: Bigger. Better. Feathered. puts forth evidence suggesting that some dinosaurs are the ancestors of modern day birds rather than modern reptiles. The story of feathered dinosaurs is an interactive visual spectacle that visitors of all ages can enjoy. And keep an eye out for “Patty” the Apatosaurus, who at 60 feet long, greets you in the Witte front yard.

McNay Through Jan. 27, the McNay hosts Estampas de la Raza: Contemporary Prints from the Romo Collection, the most comprehensive survey of the contributions of Latino artists of post-1960 American printmaking to date. The exhibition chronicles the late 1960s at the outset of the Chicano Movement to the confident expressions of the 2000s.

Estampas de la Raza introduces recent gifts to the McNay from San Antonio collectors Harriett and Ricardo Romo.

More than 60 prints by 44 artists reveal the richness of a mixed cultural heritage, with depictions of Frida Kahlo, lowriders, a quiceañera, the Statue of Liberty, tattoos, and the Virgin of Guadalupe.

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“Estampas de la Raza is a celebration of the achievements of Latino printmakers, their rich and vibrant culture, and the incredible generosity of Harriett and Ricardo Romo,” says Lyle Williams, exhibition curator and McNay Curator of

Prints and Drawings. “Thanks to them, we are all able to enjoy these great works of art that chronicle the Latino experience in the U.S.” Organized thematically in five sections, the exhibition focuses on aspects of the Latino experience in the United States: the identity of individuals striving to define themselves; the Chicano Movement’s struggle to achieve economic, political, and personal equality; tradition, memory, and culture in the everyday lives of Latinos; icons that represent guideposts or social and political causes; and other voices revealing the complex and ever-changing directions Latinos choose.

Many images are larger than life, serving up a colorful, visual feast.

Next up at the McNay is Real/Surreal: Selections from the Whitney Museum of Modern Art in NewYork City. Dates for this exhibit are Feb. 13 through May 19.

What I have covered in this writing is but a tip of the arts’ iceberg. Explore the museums and art centers of the city in 2013. Make it a resolution you keep.

•••••••••••••••• Photo Credits: Page 56 George C. Ault, Hudson Street, 1932. Oil on canvas.

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 33.40.

McNay Art Museum

Page 58 Howler Monkey Mummies of the World Exhibit Courtesy American Exhibitions, Inc. Witte Museum

Page 57 Statuette of Aphrodite emerging from the sea.

Greek or Roman Eastern Mediterranean 1st Century BC – 1st Century AD Marble H 16 15/16” (43 cm) x W 11 7/16” (29 cm) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Frank B. Bemis Fund, 198620 San Antonio Museum of Art

Page 59 Sonia Romero, Bee Pile (Found ‘Em), 2010.

Screenprint. Collection of the McNay Art Museum, Gift of Harriett and Ricardo Romo.

McNay Art Museum

January-February 2013 | On The Town 59

DINOSAURS UNEARTHED: BI

February 23 - September 2 at Th

By Shannon Huntington Standley

60 On The Town | January-February 2013

IGGER. BETTER. FEATHERED.

he Witte Museum

January-February 2013 | On The Town 61

D

inosaurs Unearthed is back at the Witte but this time they are bigger, better and more feathered than ever! They stomp into the Witte’s Kathleen and Curtis Gunn Gallery February 23 through September 2.

Allow curiosities to soar and step back in time to discover the most fascinating creatures to have roamed the Earth. Experience the world’s largest and most advanced life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, complete skeletons, fossils, handson interactives, a paleontological dig site where visitors can unearth fossils as well as the opportunity to explore the most current scientific findings.

Walk amongst a life-sized Allosaurus, Dilophosaurus, Microraptor, Protoceratops, Angustinaripterus, Stegosaurus, Yangchuanosaurus, Omeisaurus, Tuojiangosaurus, Yangchuanosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex and keep an eye out for “Patty” the Apatosaurus, who at 60 feet long, will meet you in the Witte frontyard!

This exhibition highlights the latest discoveries in paleontology, including evidence suggesting some dinosaurs are the ancestors of modern day birds rather than modern reptiles. The story of feathered dinosaurs is an interactive visual spectacle that visitors of all ages can enjoy.

The discovery has drawn the fascinating connection between ancient dinosaurs and modern birds. Scientists have found that feathers first evolved as a means of warmth and display and later became specialized to the extent that flight was possible. Don’t miss the feathered Juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex, Gigantoraptor, Velociraptor, Sinosauropteryx and Confuciusornis.

Additionally, the Witte is presenting the Louis A. and Frances B. Wagner Lecture Series Beasts and Bones: New Dino Discoveries. Adults and children alike can step back in time to the Mesozoic Era and encounter the beasts that roamed the planet for more than 180 million years. The enlightening series of presentations by expert scholars include Cretaceous Coastal Creatures: New Findings from Texas on April 10 by Derek J. Main, Ph.D., Research Team with the Arlington Archosaur Site; Sea Dragons of the Triassic on May 8 by Dan 62 On The Town | January-February 2013

Lehrmann, Ph.D., Pyron Distinguished Professor of Geological Science, Trinity University; and Feathered Dinosaur Discoveries on June 12 by Julia Clarke, Ph.D., Associate Professor and John A. Wilson Fellow in Vertebrate Paleontology in the Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin.

Photo Credits: Pages 60-61 Omeisaurus skeleton

(Below) Feathered Juvenile T Rex

Page 62

Page 63

Plus, don’t let the kids miss Spring Break with (Above) the dinosaurs March 11-15. The Witte again Gigantoraptor presents Spring Break Adventure Camp, and this year is Dig Into Dinosaurs! The day-long dinosaur adventures are geared for children in grades 1-2 and 3-5. Each day features a different, exciting theme including Deep Time, Dino or Dino Not?, Paleontological Processes, Forever Fossils and Dino-mite Discoveries. The best part is, children can sign up for the whole week or just a day.

(Above) Allosauras

January-February 2013 | On The Town 63

Real/Surreal Paints New Way of Looking at American Art

By Mauri Elbel

64 On The Town | January-February 2013

R

eal/Surreal: Selections From the Whitney Museum of American Art is teeming with visual treasures that encourage a new way of viewing iconic American works from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.

Drawn from the deep holdings of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s permanent collection and expertly organized by Whitney curator Carter Foster, Real/Surreal focuses on the tension and overlap between two strong currents in 20th century art: realism and surrealism.

“Real/Surreal provides new insight into the tension in American art during the first half of the 20th century between realism and surrealism, a tension that has not been adequately shown in an exhibition before,” said Dr. William Chiego, director of the McNay Art Museum.

paintings, drawings, photographs and prints that elucidate how various artists developed qualified degrees of reality where imagination held more or less sway — depending on intention and influence.

Charles Burchfield, Paul Cadmus, Joseph Cornell, Philip Guston, Edward Hopper, Man Ray, Ben Shahn, Charles Sheeler, Yves Tanguy, George Tooker and Andrew Wyeth are among the more renowned artists featured in this exhibit; however, lesserknown artists and works from this time period are not overshadowed.

“Two works that capture the essence of the exhibition are Edward Hopper’s Cape Cod Sunset, a seemingly ordinary but eerily quiet and un-peopled view of a house, and George Tooker’s The Subway, where anxious people inhabit a frightening labyrinth of modern transit,” Chiego said.

While a basic connection to the observable world Real/Surreal will be on display at the McNay from underlies realist works, the term realism has many Feb. 13 through May 19, featuring a vivid array of facets. Subverting reality through imagination and January-February 2013 | On The Town 65

the unconscious rests at the heart of surrealism.

Yet convergences found in these different — sometimes oppositional — approaches encourage a new kind of interpretation of art from this time period in America.

Ben Shahn, Eugene Berman, Miklos Suba and Pavel Tchelitchew, some of which include singular examples from this period as well as others created by the same artists in the Whitney’s collection. For example, the McNay’s drawing Fantasia on a Theme

by Paul Cadmus is a study for the Whitney’s Cadmus Integral to the paintings of Edward Hooper, widely painting Fantasia on a Theme by Dr. S, both of which known for chronicling New York urban life, are his will appear in the San Antonio exhibit. own subjectivity and imagination. Charles Sheeler is among a multitude of artists who developed With Time Out New York recently naming Real/Surreal imagery based on the new conditions of industrial one of the best exhibitions of the fall season, and America. Abstract painters like Yves Tanguy relied Ken Johnson of the New York Times comparing it to on techniques from traditional, realist art to create visiting your grandmother’s attic and finding it loaded strange worlds, while Mabel Dwight and Helen with forgotten treasures, no one will want to pass on Lundeberg distorted these techniques to undercut this spectacular display of American art locally. the viewer’s sense of stability using recognizable objects and settings.

“The McNay is excited to present Real/Surreal because it is a rare opportunity, thanks to the Whitney’s deep In addition to the 65 works from the Whitney, Real/ collections, to see a crucial period of American art in Surreal will offer visitors the opportunity to view depth,” Chiego said. “Museum-goers will see iconic other works by artists represented in the McNay’s works that are seldom seen outside New York City.” own permanent collection. The McNay is contributing six paintings from Edward Hopper, Paul Cadmus, For more information, visit www.mcnayart.org.

66 On The Town | January-February 2013

Photo Credits:

Pages 66-67 (L-R)

Page 64

George Tooker, The Subway, 1950. Egg tempera on composition board. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Juliana Force Purchase Award 50.23.

Courtesy of the Estate of George Tooker and D. C. Moore Gallery, New York.

Edward Hopper. Cape Cod Sunset, 1934. Oil on canvas.

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Josephine N. Hopper Bequest 70.1166. © Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper, licensed by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Page 65 Federico Castellón, The Dark Figure, 1938. Oil on canvas.

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 42.3.

Permission courtesy Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York.

Jared French, State Park, 1946. Egg tempera on composition board.

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Donnelley Erdman 65.78.

Edward Hopper, Seven A. M., 1948. Oil on canvas.

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase and exchange 50.8. © Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

January-February 2013 | On The Town 67

68 On The Town | January-February 2013

Eclectics 70-90

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70 On The Town | January-February 2013

A Fresh Take on History Chris Johnson Breathes New Life into The Emily Morgan Hotel with Passion and Fun

By Dawn Robinette Photography Greg Harrison

O

n the grounds of Santa Anna’s battlefield stands a building once touted as the tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi, named for a servant whose actions helped Texas win its battle for independence at the Battle of San Jacinto, that a variety of friendly ghosts call home. Not sure you know which San Antonio icon fits that bill? Then it’s time for you to check into The Emily Morgan Hotel — A DoubleTree by Hilton.

over the Alamo is unparalleled. If you want to really feel San Antonio, you stay at the Emily Morgan.”

A Chicago native whose hotel management career has taken him around the country, Johnson is also a former stand-up comic who excels at finding ways to leave a mark. The walls of his office are lined with awards, recognitions and news articles featuring Johnson and his work at a variety of hotels. He’s been featured in publications including The New York Times, the Wall Street Built in 1926, The Emily Morgan Hotel originally was Journal and the Los Angeles Times. “I always try to look at the San Antonio Medical Arts Building. Its 1920s things differently. It’s not looking outside of the box; it’s Gothic style and location on Alamo Plaza make it one never seeing the box in the first place,” Johnson said. of the most recognizable buildings downtown. Home to The Emily Morgan Hotel since 1985, the historic Johnson uses that perspective to make everything at property is putting the finishing touches on a $4 The Emily Morgan Hotel stand out. During the hotel’s million renovation making the interior as memorable renovation, he hosted an event with the San Antonio as its fascinating façade.

Conservation Society that allowed guests to leave their mark on history: guests could write on the walls of one General manger Chris Johnson helms the historic of the hotel’s floors. The messages and a time capsule property. “You get Texas when you come to The Emily are now a part of the hotel.

Morgan,” he said. “Iconography is a sense of place, and we deliver that better than any other location in the city. Inspired by the building’s architecture and its proximity We’re neighbors with the Alamo — our view into and to the Alamo, the hotel renovation reflects the rich January-February 2013 | On The Town 71

culture and regional style of San Antonio. With a blend of Texas influences of pattern, texture and color, the renovation bathes the hotel in warm colors and tones, welcoming guests to stay and relax. The design features an upscale, muted Texas style: You won’t find cowboy boots and spurs lining the walls, but you’ll certainly be comfortable kicking up your heels or kicking back with your feet up, no matter what shoes you’re wearing.

“People are influenced by their environment. When guests stay at The Emily Morgan, we want them to feel embraced by a Texas classic with a current feel. The renovation honors the story of this fabulous building and our proximity to Texas history, yet gives the hotel a fresh twist,” Johnson said.

Johnson also wants locals to enjoy the hotel and has created events such as a monthly Psychic Happy Hour, as well as a Vegas night featuring Phil Yamin and the Bellagio Band. He also established a “Local VIP” card that provides a 25 percent discount at the hotel and can be used at Oro Restaurant and Bar, the hotel’s award-winning hot spot. And valet parking at The Emily Morgan is free for locals enjoying Oro, making it even easier to have a great time.

A self-described history nerd, Johnson said he enjoys working in a property steeped in history and interesting quirks, like an office housed in an area that was once a morgue. “We have an amazing mix of history both above and below ground. It’s fun to think about all that happened here. From the battleground to the medical building, it’s part of the personality of the building,” he said.

Part of that personality includes the Alamo, just 14 steps away from the hotel. The Emily Morgan Hotel is the official hotel of the Alamo.

“Our relationship with the Alamo helps set the Emily Morgan apart, and it is a natural fit,” Johnson said. “Our goal is to make the Emily Morgan the jewel of Texas — the place to stay in San Antonio and the place that locals enjoy. Every market has an iconic hotel, one that everyone stays in or everyone aspires to visit.

There are some great hotels here, but nothing stands out as the iconic must stay for San Antonio. We have the opportunity to create that with the Emily Morgan.

Everyone knows us on the San Antonio skyline and now everyone will know us as the destination to stay.”

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For more information, visit www.emilymorganhotel.com.

January-February 2013 | On The Town 73

COUSHATTA CASINO RESORT BRINGS VEGAS FUN NEXT DOOR

by Michele Krier

74 On The Town | January-February 2013

January-February 2013 | On The Town 75

I

f Louisiana seems like a different country to you, wait until you visit the Sovereign Nation of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, a federally recognized Native American Tribe. You don’t have to fly to Las Vegas to get your game on! Right next door in Louisiana is one of the nation’s most popular Indian Casinos, owned and operated by the Coushatta Native American Tribe.

Games from Blackjack, Roulette, Craps and Live Poker, to off-track betting from Saratoga to Louisiana Downs, attract guests each year to test their skills on the Vegas-sized gaming floor.

Thousands of reel and video slot machines and giant progressives with dream jackpots add excitement to the color ful casino.

David Sickey, a Council Member of the Coushatta Tribe, says, “Our history pre-dates Spanish Explorer Fernando Desoto’s explorations in the U. S. in the 1540s. The Coushatta people have lived here in the piney woods of Southwest Louisiana now for more than a century. This is our history.” He’s equally proud of the Tribe’s modern accomplishments. “We’re the fourth -largest private employer in this region.”

A walk around the casino floor brings to mind energetic casinos similar to Atlantic City. MiniBaccarat, live Bingo and high stakes gaming salons, in addition to 2,800 slots and 70 table games, provide plenty of playtime. A shiny new Cadillac car graced the lobby over the holidays and inspired players to think of literally driving away with their winnings. But the resort is known for large cash prizes and exciting promotions throughout the year.

A short drive from Lake Charles, Louisiana, the Coushatta Casino Resort offers more than 100,000 square feet of gaming at the premier casino destination serving Texas and Louisiana.

Add in several lovely hotels, including an upscale luxury hotel with a lobby that will make you think you’re on the Vegas Strip, and you have a vacation plan to fit every budget. The Top of

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the line recently opened Seven Clans Hotel is arguably the most elegant of the properties-featuring luxurious bedroom accommodations, upscale spa bathrooms and an elegant lobby with a well-stocked gift shop, snack bar, lounge and easy access to the casino. The Coushatta Grand Hotel and the Coushatta Inn are family priced and popular with travelers enjoying Vegas-style entertainment just a short drive from home. And the Coushatta complex happily hosts reunions and business conferences.

shows, to national headline acts like Larry the Cable Guy who performed to a sold -out crowd of 4,000 in The Pavilion in December. Age 16 and younger must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to attend events at The Pavilion. Age requirement for the Mikko Live lounge is 21.

And how can you top these entertainment options?

Round out your visit with a round of golf on a beautiful course surrounded by sky-reaching pine trees and the loveliest manicured greens you can imagine.

The Koasati Pines18-hole, par 72 championship layout has earned a great reputation among golfers. A visit to the FrenchQuarter style restaurant at the golf clubhouse and the well-stocked pro shop are a great way to top off your stay at the Coushatta Resort.

You don’t even have to leave the property to enjoy nine dining options--Gumbeaux for Louisiana’s famed seafood, Big Sky Steakhouse for, yes, steaks, but also for unbelievably delicious crabcakes, and a great wine menu. Choices from the Seven Clans Buffet to the Corner Bar and Deli give options for every appetite. And those who are 55-plus enjoy a pocket-pleasing $5.50 lunch buffet every Tuesday. Visit the website: www.coushattacasinoresort.com Entertainment is everywhere--from The Mikko And Free mobile APP: Live Lounge featuring comedy, touring bands and iphone store

at the Android store or

January-February 2013 | On The Town 77

YEAR OF THE SNAKE

Diverse Asian communities celebrate heritage, identity at the Institute of Texan Cultures

By James M. Benavides

78 On The Town | January-February 2013

W

hen the Asian Festival began 26 years ago, it was a family program at the San Antonio Museum of Art, marking the Lunar New Year. The festival quickly took on a life of its own, with a diversity of Asian cultures coming together to celebrate their unique identities and to announce their presence to the San Antonio community. The 26th annual Asian Festival will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Institute of Texan Cultures.

Guru Nanak Dev Ji challenged both religions with a new way of thinking. Sikhism acknowledges one universal god and strives for equality in all things: religion, caste, race, gender.

The word “Sikh” translates as “student,” and “guru,” the title for prophets, means “one who brings light to darkness” or “one who takes from ignorance to enlightenment.”

In addition to its monotheistic belief system, Sikhism embraces two premises of social responsibility: Honest The festival has welcomed a range of unique cultures to labor and work are the approved way of living one’s life, join in the celebration, including nations such as India, and sharing with others is a social responsibility.

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam and a variety of Pacific Islands. This year, Sikh Dahrmsal will represent San One of the customs that outwardly identifies a Sikh is Antonio’s growing Sikh community. the wearing of a turban. Hair is seen as a gift from god, and therefore is not cut. The turban is, in part, a matter “We have been trying to find ways to let people know of practicality to contain the hair, in addition to being a about the Sikhs and Sikh religion,” said Sikh community spiritual symbol. leader G.P. Singh. “This seems like a good opportunity.”

Singh will offer a lecture on Sikh life-ways, including the Singh, believed to be the first Sikh to come to San Antonio, turban, at the festival. Guests will have the opportunity to believes that in consideration of events happening wear a turban and have a photo taken. around the United States, this is the time to introduce the city to its Sikh neighbors. He estimates that some 150 to Turbans may be worn by either gender, and while it is 200 Sikh families have made their home in San Antonio. optional for women, they typically wear headscarves, tied in an Indian fashion. Young men usually start wearing a Sikhism is believed to be the fifth-largest religion in turban between the ages of 14 and 17. Boys start wearing the world. In a historic context, Sikhism is a relatively a patka, a small piece of cloth with a topknot, at ages 3 to new religion, founded in the late 1400s. While a clash of 4. Singh said that almost everyone who wears a turban in beliefs between Islam and Hinduism was taking place, the United States is a Sikh.

January-February 2013 | On The Town 79

“This is such a great opportunity to meet our neighbors and experience a part of their daily lives,” said Jo Ann Andera, Asian Festival director. “It is a pleasure to welcome the Sikh community to the Asian Festival. This event has been such a success and so well-received because of the authenticity of participants and the participation of so many diverse cultures. It is a privilege to gather these Texans together and celebrate with them.”

In addition to the presentation by the Sikh community, the festival will be a day filled with cultural observances, displays and demonstrations. At opening ceremonies, the San Antonio Lion Dance association leads a parade across the festival grounds, chasing away evil spirits. They are followed by performers from several organizations: costumed dancers, uniformed martial artists and other festival participants.

During the day, guests will be able to sample foods from Bangladesh, China, Japan, Thailand, Pakistan, India and others, including the Bombay Salsa Co. The festival is an opportunity to seek out Asian crafts and gifts such as silks and clothing, décor, and other items. Cultural presentations such as cooking demonstrations, mahjongg games and Kamishibai storytelling will be available.

For children, the H-E-B crafts tent will have a variety of free craft activities.

The festival grounds feature several demonstration and performance areas. Martial arts organizations will offer demonstrations of their styles, from “hard” forms, such as karate, to “soft” forms, such as tai chi chuan; plus the swordsmen’s arts of kendo and iaido. Various forms of dance are performed throughout the day, from classical Okinawan, to India’s folk and contemporary Bollywood styles.

The 2013 Asian Festival will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Institute of Texan Cultures. For more information on the Asian Festival, advance tickets and the Institute of Texan Cultures, visit TexanCultures.com.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Photo Credits: Page 78 2012 Asian Festival “Year of the Dragon”

80 On The Town | January-February 2013

Page 79 Tai Chi Chuan demonstration

Page 80 (Above) Foods from many Asian Cultures (Below) Demonstration of Kendo swordsmanship

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JCC Prequel Kicks Off Jewish Film Festival with Hava Nagila (The Movie)

By Lauren Ross

C

elebrating its 12th Annual Jewish Film Festival, the JCC presents Hava Nagila ( The Movie) at 7 p.m. Jan. 5 in the Holzman Auditorium on the Jewish Community Campus at N.W. Military Highway and Wurzbach Parkway.

The 2012 feature-length documentary is a funny, deep and unexpected romp through the history, mystery and meaning of the great Jewish standard.

Featuring interviews with Harry Belafonte, Connie Francis, Glen Campbell and Leonard Nimoy, Hava Nagila ( The Movie) follows the song from Eastern Europe and Israel to the cul-de-sacs of America.

Included with the film screening is a reception and Israeli dancing.

Feb. 9-13, the Jewish Film Festival will present 10 films at Santikos Embassy 14, U.S. Highway 281 North and Bitters Road, beginning Saturday night featuring Melanie Laurent in The Day I Saw Your Heart, a touching French comedy-melodrama that tackles thorny father-daughter relationships. On Sunday, the festival presents three films, including the recent release Roman Polanski: a Film Memoir, a documentary recorded during his 2009 Zurich house arrest. The conversations are illustrated with clips from Polanski’s films, news footage and exclusive photos, all chronicling the filmmaker’s extraordinary life. Preceding is A Bottle in the

Gaza Sea, a lovely and hopeful film of teen virtual penpals, one Israeli and one Palestinian, which avoids any sentimentality or easy answers.

Finishing Sunday is Naomi, an Israeli thriller of a May-December romance of a professor and his young wife whom he suspects of having an affair.

The festival continues each afternoon through Wednesday with feature films The Lying Game, Joanna, Kaddish for a Friend, God’s Neighbors and Yossi, and the documentary The Flat.

Full film descriptions, trailers, individual or festival pack ticket purchases are available online at www. jccsanantonio.org under Arts and Culture events, or by phone at 210-302-6820.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Photo Credits: Page 82: (Upper Left) The Lying Game

(Upper Right) Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir

(Lower Left) A Bottle in the Gaza Sea

(Lower Right) The Day I Saw Your Heart

November-December January-February 2013 2012 | On The Town 83

Rob Kaufman and Marise McDermott 84 On The Town | January-February 2013

Witte Museum and New Balance San Antonio Team Up for Boot Scoot and 5K Run

By Laurie Pickei Photography Greg Harrison ccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 65.7 percent of Bexar County adults are overweight or obese. The CDC also reports that approximately 12.5 million children and adolescents in the United States ages 2 to 19 years are obese.

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— a powerful experience to inspire a balanced life all while getting the body up and moving,” McDermott said.

New Balance San Antonio has partnered with the museum on additional programs including gently worn shoe drives and fitness-focused initiatives To combat these growing statistics on a local level, such as Fit Nights at local New Balance stores and the Witte Museum has partnered with New Balance VIP tours of the H-E-B Science Treehouse. New San Antonio for the Witte Museum’s Annual Boot Balance also will offer Boot Scoot and 5K Run Scoot and 5K Run, set for April 13. Focused on participants (novices, avid walkers and runners fitness and fun for the whole family, the Boot alike) the opportunity to train on a team through Scoot and 5K Run will start and finish in front of its inMotion program leading up to race day. the Witte Museum, with electronic chip timing as a new addition for this year’s event. Race proceeds “The health and well-being of the local community directly fund student field trips to the Witte, and is a key component of the New Balance San Antonio last year’s race provided $30,000 in scholarships. business model, and thus partnering with the Witte Through this effort — along with additional Museum on its many initiatives is a very natural fit,” fundraising activities throughout the year — more said New Balance San Antonio Owner Rob Kaufman. than 11,000 school-age children were able to visit the Witte on scholarships.

“We want San Antonio to get motivated and moving, and the best place to start is with a proper in-depth “The Witte is very excited to partner with New fit analysis and shoe fitting to find the right athletic Balance San Antonio. The Boot Scoot and 5K Run is shoes for your needs. This will not only enhance not only an important well-being initiative for our your overall health but will also improve your community but benefits the youth of our community fitness experience. After all, when your feet feel by providing scholarships,” said Marise McDermott, good, your whole body feels good,” Kaufman said. president and CEO of the Witte Museum.

More information about the Witte and the annual “Additionally, the partnership is a perfect fit as the Boot Scoot and 5K Run can be found at www.

Witte embarks on the transformation of the H-E-B WitteMuseum.org. For New Balance San Antonio store Science Treehouse into the H-E-B Body Adventure locations and more, visit www.newbalancesa.com.

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Literary Arts 88-92

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Book Talk:

Shelia Black, Poet and Executive/Artistic Director of Gemini Ink Story and photo by Jasmina Wellinghoff 88 On The Town | January-February 2013

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ollowing the departure of long-time director Rosemary Catacalos and a nationwide search for her replacement, Gemini Ink appointed Sheila Black as its new executive/artistic director last summer.

The combination of her literary accomplishments with her experience in nonprofit development made her an ideal candidate for the job.

my cell from Bill Dupont who was a Gemini Ink board member and he started chatting with me about coming to San Antonio the following Monday. He said mine was a “hot resume.” So it was a little bit like “she came, she saw, she conquered” (laughs).

The author of multiple children’s books, Black is also a gifted poet with two poetry collections to her name, and the third Wen Kroy due in a month or so. Last year she was selected by the U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine for the 2012 Witter Bynner Award which comes with a $10,000 fellowship to support the recipient’s future work. The program is overseen by the Library of Congress. In the Library’s press release, Levine explained his choice in the following way: “She is a consummate poet of memory who seems able to inhabit all the various women she is and has been. The loves and losses of a child, the young woman and the mother are present in these rich lyrics and storied poems. Hers is a poetry of feeling, and the whole panoply of emotions – from love to rage – is present and earned.”

SB: I knew about the organization but I hadn’t quite realized how unique and interesting it really was. Most literary organizations do either the writers-in-thecommunity type programs or the almost-university-level writing classes but not both. Gemini Ink had a history of doing both. Both the founder (Nan Cuba) and Rosemary Catacalos did a lot of creative and different things, and things that overlapped. The more I learned about the organization, the more interested I was in the job.

JW: What impressed you about Gemini Ink?

JW: You have been here several months. How has Gemini Ink lived up to your expectations?

SB: It’s my first executive director job so I am amazed by how busy I am. It’s a big job, and it can be rough trying to secure funds for a nonprofit in this economy. But I believe Both her collections – House of Bone and Love/Iraq were that arts and literary organizations are places where published by Cincinnati, Ohio-based Custom Words. people can have their lives transformed by learning to More recently, Black co-edited Beauty is a Verb: The express themselves through their craft. When I go to New Poetry of Disability (with Jennifer Bartlett and Mike one of our classes and I see the joy in the room, or into Northen), which was named a Notable Book of 2012 by one of our community writing residencies and see how the American Library Association. engaged kids are, for instance, I think that’s the heart of what we do, and in that regard Gemini Ink has more than Her recent “day jobs” included serving as development lived up to my expectations. officer with the New Mexico State University Foundation and as development director of the Colonias Development JW: Have you already become so busy that you don’t Council in Las Cruces, N.M. have time to write anymore?

We talked to the new director at Gemini Ink in mid- SB: Too busy to edit myself (laughs)! But I have a rule November. Following are excerpts from our lively and -- I really try to write a poem a day. I don’t always write multifaceted conversation. a good poem; in fact nine out of 10 days I write a bad one. I am an insomniac who wakes up at 5 a.m., and I JW: Let’s start with the obvious question: How did you find always write a poem. In the old days, I had more time for out about the job at Gemini Ink and why did you take it? rewriting and editing. Still, I use poetry as something that centers me in my life. And you have to write regularly and SB: I found out about it from the AWP (Association of for a long time to get better, much longer than people Writers and Writing Programs) job list. I used to keep realize. I am 51, and I am just beginning to feel that I am track of the jobs listed although I had a job with the New getting better (chuckles).

Mexico State University Foundation but I wanted a more poetry-driven one. So I was looking at teaching and arts JW: Judging by the recognition you have been receiving, administration jobs. I saw the posting on a Thursday and I you are already “better.” How did it feel to be selected for threw together a cover letter and my resume on my lunch the Witter Bynner Fellowship? That’s a big national honor break and sent them off. The next morning I got a call on and one that you can’t apply for.

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SB: It totally came out of the blue, for me to be honest.

I didn’t think I had a very high national profile as a poet.

I was a late bloomer who decided to go study poetry at age 35. After I graduated from the M.F.A. program at the University of Montana, we moved to southern New Mexico where my husband attended graduate school. I was lucky that there happened to be many good writers there, one of whom was Tony Hoagland. Just being around him in a poetry group helped me to learn a tremendous amount.

It was then that I entered my first book manuscript in a contest that Philip Levine was judging. I did not win but Philip wrote me a letter telling me how much he liked my poems. We corresponded for a while, so I sent him the book when it was published. Years later, I get this phone call from the Witter Bynner people telling me that I won this fellowship … It was the most astonishing moment of my life. I first thought the Library of Congress was calling me for a donation.

JW: What are your plans for the future of Gemini Ink? SB: I would like to see our University Without Walls (UWW) program offer more multi-session classes. I want it to become more of a university-level creative-writing instruction program. I would also like to see the readings associated with UWW become more of an identifiable series. In the past, we had the faculty read almost as part of the classes. I would like us to develop that into a real reading series, to develop the brand of this reading series. I probably will be bringing in fewer outside writers but more high-profile ones, and I would like to turn the readings into public conversations about writers and their craft and experience. The market is getting saturated with plain readings, so I am more interested in creating a forum for discussion between writers and the public.

When I came here, there was a minor controversy going on: Were we a literary or a literacy organization? I saw it as a straw battle. The best way to seed literacy is to get people access to literature in its myriad forms. And what’s wonderful about literature is that there’s no one right way to do it. Voltaire said, “All styles are good except the boring.” So we have been rewriting our mission statement somewhat (to emphasize the literary role).

Mission Statement: We believe that human story in all its diverse, complicated forms and genres is essential to developing compassionate richness in both individual and community life. Our mission is to provide excellent creative-writing education and literary experiences for writers of all levels.

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It’s a fairly big tent! I have a few other goals, as well, such as expanding the reach of the Writers in the Community program especially in the San Antonio ISD, and resurrecting the mentorship program where well-known writers work individually with mentorees.

JW: You also teach in the UWW program. I saw the catalog description of your class that focuses on key elements of poetry writing. Could you discuss those?

SB: They are certainly not the only elements of the craft but they are nice, central ones to start with. I think that “image” is one of the first things you learn as a writer in any creative-writing genre. You need to create pictures in your reader’s mind. My No. 1 rule for writing better is to really pay attention to the sentence, and that means strong specific nouns and verbs that can bear the weight of your descriptive power. You are kind of like Adam and Eve in the garden: You are naming your world. And then you bring it alive with the verbs. A swing swinging to and fro in the breeze creates a more vivid picture in the mind than just “a swing.” So I start with that, how to create indelible images.

The second element, “metaphor,” kind of grows from that.

The human brain is wired for metaphor. It brings two elements to the reader’s mind, and the mind instantly knits them together, which heightens the impression you want to achieve. And then we have form and tone. A poem is a little like a pressure cooker – you want tension to build up and then be released. Form is a strategy to help you accomplish that. Tone is more complicated, however. There are so many variations. Stephen Dobyns, author of Best Words, Best Order, defined it as the “speaker’s emotional distance from his subject.” It can be described as the writer’s attitude toward her subject, and the (poem’s) speaker’s feeling about what she is saying.

JW: You grew up with a disability and have written about it, including the poem What You Mourn that resonated strongly with the disability community. And now you co-edited a major poetry anthology of poets who are disabled. Tell us about its significance.

SB: It presented for the first time a disability-centered perspective in artistic terms, and it dealt honestly with living with a disability without presenting it as tragic. The writers included felt like the book was a coming-out for them as poets who use their experiences to spur poetic invention. The book’s done pretty well. It’s already being used in university-level courses.

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Out & About with Greg harrison 94-99

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