Sandbags and glad rags

If I didn't know better -- and I'm not sure that I do -- I'd say that the McCain campaign sandbagged Barack Obama, when they attacked him for canceling a visit with wounded troops in Germany, a decision which he made at the urging of the Bush defense department (Did we mention that the administration strongly supports McCain's presidential run?).
Over the years, we've all become accustomed to disingenuous political discourse. A certain level of phoniness is understood to be part of the game. But McCain's troops ad not only shoved its own fake outrage in our face, it practically proclaimed to voters: "You're all idiots, and that's why we're sure you'll buy this."
The subsequent McCain ad equating Obama with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton may have been more bizarre, but nothing matches the troops attack for naked audacity.
Taken together, these ads feel pathetic and inept, but that doesn't mean they won't work. When Lester Maddox stood in front of his restaurant back in the '60s with an axe to keep African-Americans away, it was also pathetic and inept, but it got him elected governor of Georgia. McCain hasn't sunk that far yet, but something tells me the Straight Talk Express is just beginning to build some steam.

On the Street

"Microbes! You may get my bodyin the end, but you will never get my dreams!"


Letters (to the On theStreet Penthouse Suite)


#1 Portland Cycle Rage

Nico may have sent thisto you already.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/149224

Hereis a video of a cyclist who got knocked off his bike onto the hood of acar.  And in classic "TJ Hooker style" is holding ontothehood for dear life, captured randomly on video for all to see...




#2 Call for Entries



#3 Hold the Presses

Literally as I'm about to finish looking under rocks in my inbox forsomething that feels like a legitimate letter (no offense Tops, butthat 'walk across the aisle' still hurts) in comes this letter from JJ.

hey Mark--

wonderful

here are those two localblogs I mentioned last night

http://sanantoniodailyphoto.blogspot.com/

http://strangesanantonio.blogspot.com/

and our new RooseveltPark blog:
http://rooseveltpark.blogspot.com/


Downtown Highlife Approaches the Terrible Twos



In another month will somehow be the 2 year anniversary of the unfamousDowntown Highlife Bicycle Club last Friday rides.  It's beenan evolving (or devolving) process, but the numbers are up and thespirits are high.  Even pedicabs are now showing up.  And to further emphasize this point, they can be seenhere in the right side of the frame, exuberantly monkeywrenchingdowntown transportation, or something to that effect.

It would be incredible (and incredibly expensive) but I wonder what itwould be like to hire a pedicab for the next DHBC.  One wouldprobably have to go to Penners beforehand to get properly decked out.



The ride took us out to Woodlawn Lake.  Though it looks like ascene from Miami Vice, we're actually not hauling ass across the lakein a cigar boat but instead are sitting on a weird floating dock. Woodlawn Lake has become a consistent destination, which isanother way of saying variety is needed.



After a turn up to Jefferson High School the route turned back to Fredfor an extended coast downhill, ending up at Angie's Icehouse. The jukebox wasn't working and here a mechanic rolled up thesleeves and dug in.  I can only hope that Freddy Fender wassoon playing after we left.



One of the DHBC insiders had a connection to Logan's Bar downtown...sowe ended up at Logan's.  Here, a band from San Marcos ripsthrough a metal cover of the Stones Paint it Black.



After getting lagniappes of Lone Star people became drunk on power anddecided to roll over to Limelight and NOT PAY COVER.  It wasafter 1pm so the grey area was there to be explored.  After some display of feathers, we all get in free.



I'm not sure of the name of this band.  They were like bonusfootage.  The headliner had already wrapped and they played amini-set in front of the stage.  Their first few songs wereincredible instrumentals.  The later few seemed like anotherband, but I'm pretty sure it was all the same.

(And on a sidenote, this was a foto taken with the 1600 ISO setting onthe camera, which looks like it was taken with a cellphone, which isdemoralizing considering the camera has some sort of Leica lens.)

Slaughterhouse Four

The Dignowity Hill  Puschart Derby returned for another yearof family fun, and another year of soul crushing domination by LaFamalia as they won their fourth race in a row.  But would we want it any other way?




(Foto: Fred Valenzuela)

Here are a list of possibly not very interesting audio interviews. The previous derby was thoroughly well documented. In thinking the same would be true for this year, I left thecamera at home and dabbled with the new audio recorder (though it'sactually at least half a year old and is most usually used forrecording the OTS Correspondents as they phone in with tales from theother side.)  Anyway, somehow there are almost no fotos floating throughthe ether to link to.  Everyone is  now jumping onthe video bandwagon.  

Judge Kimberly



Judge Mark Discussing Bribery




Ben Judson Silencing the Critics



Ed Refuting the NASA/Solar Panel/La Familia Industrial Complex



Trans Cheese Formers Work the Crowd



Carrot and Wine (Back atthe Ranch)

The UTSA New Media students held a group show at theSatellite Space at Bluestar, which is know for some reason as the Ranchin OTS speak.



Whereas most corners of the space where flowing with electrons, here inthe closet room, was this piece.  If not for the blasting Texasheat, one could better hear the audio component.  Alas, the roarof the A/C was too much.



However, right outside that doorway was this cleverly drawn stencil with wired! remote control.



It was a group show and so the themes were divergent but a general approach to how one receives media was the motif.



Papa Bill smirks in the background, while a world of colors floats in the foreground.



Without being completely ridiculous, static energy was another motif.



A set of monitors face to face and back to back.



The voting booth.  Inside one could choose which side they wereon.  Red paper and blue paper was available for one to cast theirvote.


Tokyo Olympiad

At the surprisingly well stocked video store at N. New Braunfels (justup a few blocks from the McNay) I found a copy of this obscureCriterion Collection documentary about the 1964 Olympics called Tokyo Olympiad.  

Ithas to be the most astounding displays of documentary extravagance everput to film.  Almost every conceivable sport is given sometime or focus in the film.  It's in 2.35 35mm widescreen, which inthe scheme of cellphone video cameras seems like a lost world. Though the foley sound effects go overboard on occasion, forthe most part it's a large scale art film with a breezy jazz score,reminiscent of Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch.

Of course it helps to have some interest in the Olympics.  I canimagine why one wouldn't these days, but whatever spirit of the eventis left, it is completely amplified in Tokyo.  Though whenever theStates get to hold the Olympics it's more of an internal debate as towhy this city versus that city got the honor, or more to the point, whythis corporate headquarters beat out some other city's corporateinfluence.  But for the rest of the world, hosting an Olympicevent can be a return to life.  That Japan was in radioactive ruinafter WWII can only set the backdrop for the delirious spectacle of the1964 Games.


The Beginning...




Racewalking...



Rifleing and Cycling...



CAM Closes Up Shop



Though the future of CAM is slightly flapping in the wind, littleanxiety was felt last night at the closing party at the Alameda. It was a signature Alameda extravaganza.  Free palettas,corndogs, and frito pie were everywhere.  The idea of CAM wasprobably lost in the middle of all this.  Two years ago at theCameo there were awards and a feeling of purpose.

However, I'm not sure that really mattered last night.  To havenothing would have been a shame.  The music was loud and thedrinks were strong.  It was a huge party and everyone there had agreat time.  If everyone woke up with an hangover and couldn'tremember what happened, then that's maybe the best way to close CAMdown and let it be reborn anew the next version that comes around.



Crazy low end on the speakers made the front doorstep a moving dancefloor.



I left early around 11:30.  Two finals that day had drained me.



Onward into the fog....

And so goes another week on the streets of San Antonio.  As always, to be continued...

2008 Dignowity Hill Pushcart Derby

Local artists, students and organizations go for the gold, or rather, a handpainted wooden trophy, in the 4th Annual Dignowity Hill Pushcart Derby.

Nighttime Rodeo

After the Dignowity Hill Pushcart Derby (check our MySpace for recently uploaded pics, and check this here blog later today for video), I decided to check out Ken Little's Hometown Artist's Rodeo. Although I didn't get to see Mr. Little himself, I did catch the folksy sounds of Becky Purcell and the synth-driven antics of Hyperbubble.

On the Street

"If politics is Hollywood for ugly people, then...Hollywood is politics for pretty people?"


Letters (to the On the Street Penthouse Suite)

Remember, I just publish what people send in.   If at times it seems not "San Antonio" enough, then don't blame me, at least directly.  It's not my fault On the Street is HUGE in Japan.


#1 Diamond in the...


(Barry Stone)

Howdy,

Diamond, Burnet Road, Austin, TX, 6.5.2008
can now be seen at http://www.barrystone.com/


Diamond is on view in The Fifth of July, a two person show with Anna Krachey, at Okay Mountain Gallery in Austin, Texas until August 9th.
If in Houston, please stop by Apama Mackey Gallery, I have work in a three person show there entitled, Treat, also up through August 9th.

Cheers,
Barry


#2 Valley Boy

Native south Texas actor Raul Castillo writes about good news on a film that will hopefully screen in Texas.

My People...Mi Gente
I'd like to share some Good News!!!
Amexicano, the feature film I worked on which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2007, will have it's theatrical and video release this fall, courtesies of Xenon Pictures/Lion's Gate.  For those of you in New York, the film will be playing at the Quad cinema starting the weekend of September 19th.  The producers also hope for LA and Houston screenings (I will follow up as the time nears).  I am incredibly proud of this film and would love to share it with all of you.  To kick it off, the producers have released an online trailer.  Please help me to support this amazing film by going to youtube and checking it out:

The trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkYiObnnaEQ





The Botanist



It wasn't the first time I'd stopped by Naegelin's Bakery in New Braunfels on the way somewhere else.  Going north on Old San Antonio Road one enters New Braunfels from the south and comes to the old world circular drive about thing, at which point a quick turn at the first right takes one to Naegelin's.




The art of the "hand pie" or "American empanada" is not common anymore, but at Naegelin's one can find one for less than a dollar.



The time it took for this "American empanada" gave a moment to explore this epic mural - a brief but large biography of Ferdinad Jacob Lindheimer - newspaperman,  anticleric, "medicine man to the Indians" (really?), and...



...the father of Texas botany.



This closeup suggests a troubled Zeuss.



"Lindheimer is credited with the discovery of several hundred plant species, among them a milkweed, a loco weed, a mimosa, a prickly pear, and a rock daisy."  

And I thought that was just an expression.  It actually exists?

What Would Cabeza De Vaca Do?



Though Sunday once was all about kickball at San Pedro Springs Park, now it was actually the springs themselves.



For some reason I expected no one to be there but the place was a madhouse of people.  The only drawback is the fence around the whole place, which is odd because the pool is free.  But then the fence allows an interesting game trying to chase down the paletta guy as he does laps around the outside.

K-Ice Monoplex Part I



On Saturday at the Potter Belmar Laboratory there was a rooftop screening brought to us by Minnesota's K-Ice Monoplex.  The setting was informal. The videos were engaging.  CAM, overall, hasn't had quite the same energy from the past two years, in fact it's been slipping since that point, but this event restored some faith at least.



The program ran about 2 hours, and then afterwards it was Lone Star and pasta, but I rolled on at around that point.

Newport v 2.0



On Friday night, downtown at the headwaters of Broadway at Zubiate Gallery, the band Fear Snakeface played an impressive set in the alley next door, though there was art to be admired, observed and bought.  Here, from the alley, one can see the potential partrons reaching for the checkbook.



There were two sets by Fear Snakeface.  I arrived for page two.  I remembered there had been a similar Zubiate/Fear Snake Face partnership back in December.  Tonight was different in approach, but equally successful.



This was early in the second set.  The alley was a perfect wind tunnel.  A wall of amps delivered the sounds straight this way, all the way to the dive, homeless bars across the street.    Slowly, it became a mixed crowd of artists and homeless in perfect symbiosis.  



Fear Snakeface had a new bass player and a missing guitar player and a  different attitude from what I remember from previous shows.  Sid now played an electric guitar and the folk/acoustic songs felt reinvented, via electricity.  The approach was straightforward in the best way possible.  

Many bands stake their claim in some 80s or 90s interpretation using ironic distance, ironically, as the way to stumble towards innovation.  Fear Snakeface seems timeless and yet completely contemporary through the absence of any facade.  One thinks only of their music and not any device. Hopefully we'll get to see them play live again and again as they move forward.  

K-Ice and Fire



The second performance was in situ (is that the right word?) under the Josephine Street bridge.  Hidden from cars, the location was perfect.



A 40 minute program showed a variety of video pieces, varying in length and focus.  There were about 30 people in attendance, which was a good crowd for a Sunday night at 10pm under a bridge.



The screening was followed by a participatory performance. Stephen Rife had murked through the river and set up a few structures to facilitate some pyrotechnics.



As bags of flower were thrown against the wall, the particulates would cascade down into the burning shopping cart.  



Here, Stephen Rife finishes the job and pours the remaining flour into the conflagration.  Luckily, he's a trained professional.

No More Heroes


(sin permiso)

"Some men just want to watch the world burn," said Batman's bored, tight upper lipped butler, played by the noble Sir Michael Caine in the 9,873rd role of his career.

I suppose one's reaction to the Dark Night depends on what sort of film they thought they were going to see: a) a good film, or b) an impressive spectacle.  I was expecting "b", however I walked away thinking "a", so to speak.  

The general praise has been nothing but exclamatory (not that a few bad reviews would have kept the hordes away from the opening gate.)  Then, I stumbled across a review of the Dark Night on ReverseShot (a generally well written film quarterly) that allowed me to rethink the praise.  But it's criticism is self-fueled.  Arguments are based on references to previous Batman expositions and graphic novels, which requires an investment many fans could care less about.  It didn't to the 92 year old guy who chose to sit next to me.  As I watched him make his slow ascent up the steps, I knew he would sit next to me, which he did, and after a moment or two, he introduced himself with a handshake.  A timewarp is what he was.  Anyway...and, the author wonders why the film is so 'dark'.  I don't think anyone wants to return to Tim Burton's 80s vision, including, probably Tim Burton, if Sweeney Todd is any indication.

Films specifically about the Iraq War have failed.  Dark Night jumps into the 9/11 malaise in less direct ways.  The Joker is the terrorist who brings the city to its knees in fear (and in this film universe, I never get a sense there are other cities beyond Gotham.)  Less than honorable methods are employed to chase down the Joker.  Allusions to the Patriot Act and Abu Ghraib are used in subtle or unsubtle ways, depending on your sonar.  The film is a moral quandary.  Critics have suggested various theories as to what it all means.  

I never saw there to be one theory or answer.  It seemed as if the filmmaker wanted to simply reflect (or refract) a sense of our troubling times, and more specifically, question how to act within it.  At one point Batman wants to hang up the cape and pointy ears (and raspy voice) and let the wonderboy DA take the task.  Typically, the reluctant hero of a film isn't a superhero but that's the dilemma of this film.  Batman employs dirty tricks across the board to catch the Joker - forced interrogations, wiretapping - and by the end, the only heroic option left for Batman is to play the role of the villain.   In the end, a sense of order is returned but it's blemished.  And with Batman banished to the dark side, it makes sense that the next villain will arrive under a smokescreen of smiles and sunshine...

However, the film I really want to see if Man on Wire, which seemed to be the best film from Sundance, but the chances of that might be low.





And so goes another week on and above the streets of San Antonio.  As always, to be continued...

Swap meet

San Antonio's latest fashion boutique addition, Fashion Emporium, is currently on the tail end of a T-shirt swap. Shoppers can bring in their shirts to swap (hurry, today is the last day for the swap!) and they'll be given a coupon for each shirt swapped. Tomorrow go to the boutique with coupon-in-tow and select a shirt. All swapped shirts are to be clean, pressed, and free of holes. While you're at Fashion Emporium shop around, but be sure to visit their web site or their MySpace for a coupon to receive 10 to 30-percent off T-shirts.

The Emporium is also participating in "Chic in the City" a fashion show going down tomorrow at Suede lounge (231 E. Houston) at 11 p.m. Clothes will be provided by the boutique.

The multi-layered 'Women'

Steven DaLuz's "Virgen of Biloxi" sits in her fatigues, weapon nearby; her gaze is reminiscent of Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring." The Biloxi "Virgen" sits among a group of mothers, children, grandmothers, daughters, artists, and professional-types in Many Faces of Women a 40-plus collection of work hosted by Planned Parenthood Trust of San Antonio. The show, on view through Saturday, features Kim Bishop, Carolina Flores, Katie Pell, and others.

As you enter the Navarro Campus, you'll notice Kim Bishop's "Annel," which features an acrylic-on-canvas portrait of Annele Spector (you may remember her as Ann July of Methane Sisters fame) semi-nude, an article of material is draped over her lap, her face turned to the side. Every curve of her body is featured with a nice swirl effect that makes the piece multidimensional.

Blas E. Lopez's contribution, "Mes Gallos + El Secreto II," is a colorful, diptych Pop- Artesque piece that features gallos, aloe vera, and a flying humming bird. The face of a woman is presented in two-dimensions, with one eye looking directly at the viewer while the other looks up. The piece demonstrates a typical Mexican aesthetic and a bold message: the female's mouth is covered (in an attempt to keep her silent in the outside world, perhaps).

Fiber artist Lucia LaVilla-Havelin, wife of Jim LaVilla-Havelin, director of SSAC's Young Artist Programs, is represented with a needlepoint piece, "Lifelines: Homage to Wrinkles II." It features an embroidered bust of an aging woman with milagros sewn onto a placemat — a leg, eye, hand, and chest surround the woman. Although the embroidered bust is a bit cartoon-like, with exaggerated wrinkles, it does display the frustration everyone faces once their own lifelines start setting in. LaVilla-Havelin sews milagros inside tear-shaped drops, depicting the parts of the body that may be steadily failing — with each arthritic knee or vision problem that's when reality hits: we're not as young as we once were.

Many Faces of Women gives every woman a face. The show features a sign-of-the-times from the typical mother and child pieces to fatigue-clad women fighting at war. The process is ideally depicted in Laura Nikas "We are as One," a photo collage that features females of ages 1-102. 

A reception will be held later in the week when judges will select the Best in Show, the winner will receive $300, and will be featured on the cover of Planned Parenthood's 2008 Annual Report.

Many Faces of Women
9am-5pm Mon-Fri
Through July 27
Free
Southwest School of Art & Craft
Navarro Campus
300 Augusta
(210) 224-1848
swschool.org

Reception July 26
6-8pm
Navarro Campus
Russell Hill Rogers Lecture Hall
Free

What price arts funding?

The heat, they say, can make you crazy. Maybe that explains recent events at two local arts flagships that invoked City funding to interrupt politically controversial programming.

At San Pedro Playhouse, the final, Independence weekend performances of Among the Sand and Smog — a hardcore play (favorably reviewed by the Current) about the disappearance and murders of the women of Juarez  — were canceled, further upsetting cast members already outraged that management had shut down the informal audience talk-backs they were hosting after the show.

Earlier in the run, the cast was informed via a letter from Executive Director Di Ann Sneed, read by the stage manager, that although the original plans for the play’s run had included formal talk-backs, Sneed had decided not to hold them because of difficulties with the production. The cast was also told that City funding prohibited the Playhouse from sponsoring the sort of political discussions the actors had held on their own with audience members the second week of the show’s run.

At around much the same time across town, community literary org Gemini Ink was regretfully declining the services of poet and Native-American activist Margo Tamez, whose name you’ll recognize from the Current’s border-wall series (online at murodelodio.com). “Our executive director has brought it to my attention that we need to be sure we are not making a political statement in this description, as our City-funded contract does not allow us to do so,” Gemini’s Amy Johnson wrote Tamez. Tamez declined to back down from her intent to teach a “poetry of witness, resistance and dissidence against militarization, war, and the wall ...” as she put it in an email to local activists, and the workshop was nixed.

“I wish that we did not have to make decisions based on funding received from the city,” Johnson wrote to Tamez June 19 after she refused to alter her course description further, “but unfortunately that is our position as a non-profit.”

But would such a class, or a politically oriented audience dialogue, cost these groups their substantial City stipends?

Amy Kastely, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in Esperanza v. City of San Antonio, Esperanza’s successful suit against the councilmembers who tried to defund the arts organization in the mid-’90s because of its lefty bent, says it’s unlikely.
“That really was what the Esperanza lawsuit was about,” said Kastely. “The City doesn’t have to provide arts funding, but once they decide to, and put procedures in place, they can’t make determinations within that process based on the political viewpoint of the applicants.”

Felix Padrón, executive director of the Office of Cultural Affairs, which administers City arts funds, adds that federal non-profit regs make political campaigning a no-no, but “we don’t put restrictions on content or participate in censorship when it comes to artistic content.”

The IRS regulations on which OCA’s funding guidelines are based are as opaque as most legalese, but the IRS Published Guidelines on Political Campaign Activity make it clear that the government’s restrictions apply to an organization’s actions or communications that advocate on behalf of or against a candidate, which can include legislation that is likely to be or has recently been voted on by a candidate in an upcoming election.

As the IRS makes clear, each case is decided on its merits, but among 21 examples it gives, it discusses a non-profit formed to conduct public forums at which “lectures and debates on social, political, and international matters are presented.” The organization qualifited for exempt status, say the guidelines, because “The presentation of public forums or debates is a recognized method of educating the public.”

Neither the Playhouse nor Gemini called OCA to discuss their concerns, said Padrón, perhaps because funding was a red herring.

Some of the cast of Sand and Smog had already clashed with Playhouse management over pushing back the opening date a week and replacing an unprepared actor. According to actors involved in the play and the Playhouse, members of the cast asked that the play’s original opening date be pushed back one week because a key actor had missed rehearsals and was unprepared — an individual who was cast at the insistence of the Playhouse, say some of the unhappy actors. Key cast members subsequently demanded that that actor be replaced. According to the Playhouse, once the opening date was pushed back, they planned to run the play through July 6. But on the evening of July 2, Sneed sent a brief email to the cast that read in part: “The performances of Among the Sand and Smog scheduled for July 5 and July 6, that were added to the original schedule, are cancelled. The total reservations for the two dates was extremely low.”

But some cast members question Sneed’s explanation.

“I don’t think that was the reason,” said cast member Leonard Favela, one of four actors and crew who signed a July 16 email titled “Our Voices: Gagged by the Dollar.” The email charges that “Subsequent events that had occurred behind stage curtains however suggest that other strenous factors were involved in the decision to cancel the show.”

The timing of emails between Sneed and cast members suggests the appearance of, if not retribution, a breakdown in civil communication: On July 1 at 12:39 p.m. cast member Jorge Sandoval sent an email to Di Ann Sneed expressing unhappiness and anger with her decision to stop the actors’ talk-back sessions, her method of delivering the news, and announcing that before the final performances he would stand outside the Playhouse and invite audience members to meet the cast after the show in adjacent San Pedro Park for a Q&A session. By 5:13 p.m. the next day, following a rash of heated emails between Playhouse staff, Sandoval, and Favela, the remaining shows were canceled.

The emails between cast and staff also reveal a fundamental disagreement over how a theater company should operate. “As to some of your other comments, I did not question the professionalism of the cast. If fact [sic], I believe I said that as professionals, I expected you all to understand that it was not the cast’s right to decide whether or not post-show discussion [sic] were held,” Sneed wrote July 2 in reply to a letter from cast member Jorge Sandoval. “We have never had a cast issue ultimatums about casting, rehearsals or post-show discussions before — that is just a statement of fact.”

Favela acknowledges that his original theater background is in the Guadalupe’s community theater and the carpa tradition, the populist, Mexican, vaudeville-style traveling performances of the ’20s and ’30s. He’s accustomed, he says, to engaging with the audience after performances.

“I noticed opening weekend that the audiences were left not knowing how to act,” said Favela, so he and other cast members decided to facilitate post-show dialogues themselves. “We facilitated two really good discussions between the audience and us. ... I for one got a lot out of it as an actor.”

After they were initially told not to hold those discussions because it could jeopardize funding, Favela invited audience members to meet the cast outside the theater after the show if they’d like to discuss the play. Sneed nixed that, too, this time in person, which led directly to Sandoval’s email, followed closely by the show’s abrupt end.

In a conversation with the Current that echoed some of her comments in her email to Sandoval, Sneed expressed her disappointment that a play she says she worked hard to find and bring to San Antonio has resulted in bad feelings and negative publicity. “In fact, I went through a great deal of trouble to track down the play and bring it to the Cellar,” said Sneed, who went looking for the script after she read a review of Among the Sand and Smog in The Austin Chronicle, following its premiere at Frontera Fest. “I thought, this sounds so important and good.”

City arts funding seems to have been falsely accused in Gemini Ink’s case, too. For Tamez, art and her viewpoints are inseparable, an idea she defended in an email to Gemini Ink. “I realize that the issues raised by the poor oppressed groups and indigenous of S. Texas — against the militarization and genocide of our people — is ‘political’ for some sectors and even dangerous for some groups to come out and take a position,” she wrote. “... Yet this poetics is exactly what I’ve already spoken in numerous radio and public televion and public speeches throughout the country.”

Tamez’s course description (which you can read below) did specifically talk about “communities negatively impacted by the Texas-Mexico border region” and “creative public discourse to stop the ‘muro de odio,’” but it didn’t mention specific legislation or candidates. (Tamez told the Current via email that she is on the road and isn’t available by phone until Thursday.)

Rosemary Catacalos, the Gemini executive director referred to in Johnson’s email, says Johnson is relatively new to the job and didn’t precisely translate her concern to Tamez, but in any event, the real problem is that Tamez’s course description was too one-sided. “She sent a class description that was literally not an invitation to people who do not think like she does,” said Catacalos. “The issue is not the political stance; the issue is when you have a political stance, make it clear other people can participate as well.”

“The first iteration of her course description, it didn’t mention writing, it mentioned organizing and strategizing,” Catacalos added. “I’m all for that, but not in the context of a poetry workshop.”

_______________________________________________
Tamez’s course description, altered once to add specific references to poetry at Gemini’s request, according to Catacalos. The parts in blue were apparently modified from an earlier version and/or highlighted to draw attention to writing components:

Gemini Ink Course Description
Title:  POETRY of Resilience and Resistance:  Voices Against the Wall
Level:  All
Instructor:  Margo Tamez (Lipan Apache, Jumano Apache)
Date:  December 5-6, 2008
“Why I speak out?  This is our home.  My ancestors--my forefathers and foremothers--are buried in these lands since time immemorial. I’ll never consent for a wall to be built here.  Not ever.”
--Eloisa García Tamez (Lipan Apache)
This gathering of cultural workers will focus on structuring a poetics influenced by personal experiences, rooted in both passion and dissent, new visions and local strategies engendering what is being spoken and witnessed from communities negatively impacted by the Texas-Mexico bordered region: ‘traditions’ of gender, race, sexual repression and the politics of exclusion.  For 1400 miles, multiply-impacted communities argue in creative public discourse to stop the ‘muro de odio’—a poetry of the people in the tradition of older ‘canons’ and literacies of the land.  Using film, web-images, You-tubes, blogs, Facebook, Myspace, photographs, archives, and news-stories, participants will support their work to claim important space to voice and to witness.

________________________________________________
Email chronology between Among the Sand and Smog cast and Playhouse staff.

July 1, 2008, 12:39 p.m. Cast member Jorge Sandoval sends San Pedro Playhouse Executive Director Di Ann Sneed an email with a letter attached expressing his unhappiness with her decision and method of communication regarding several aspects of the production, especially her decision to discontinue the cast-run talk-backs after performances. In conclusion, he says he will stand outside the Playhouse before the remaining two performances and invite audience members to join him and other cast members in the park after the show for a Q&A.

July 2, 2008, 4:07 p.m. Sneed replies to Sandoval, telling him that “You were not engaged for any other purpose [than as an actor] nor are you authorized to engage in any other activity while ou are performing at the Playhouse.”

July 2, 2008, 4:18 p.m. Playhouse Artistic Director Frank Latson sends an email addressed to Sandoval and copied to the rest of the cast. It opens with “I am appalled at you and your entire cast for your outrageous behavior in holding talk-backs without either the permission of Di Ann (our boss) or the participation of the Playhouse Staff,” and closes with “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? I’m ashamed of you. You should all be very ashamed of yourselves.”

July 2, 2008. 5:13 p.m. Sneed sends the cast an email notifying them that the remaining two performances have been canceled, and citing low reservation numbers as the reason.

July 2, 2008, 7:54 p.m. Favela sends Latson a long response calling Sneed “cowardly” and asking Latson how dare he attack the cast in an email forum.

July 16, 2008. A public email petition/letter is circulated about the decision to cancel the two performances and shut down the actor-led talk-backs. According to Sneed, it’s signed by four of 16 cast and crew members.

Ozzy, Metallica, and...Brotherhood?!

Calling all music junkies! 
 

You have the chance to help a San Antonio band play the Ozzfest stage this year. Hard-working local metal act Brotherhood is the only SA band in the running to open Ozzfest 2008 — submissions from 200 bands have been narrowed down to 20 and Brotherhood has made the cut. They’re trying to score one of two spots on the Texas Stage at the only Ozzfest date this year, which is a one-day, massive stadium spectacular (co-headlined by Ozzy and Metallica!) held August 9th on three stages at Pizza Hut Park in Dallas, TX. 
 

How you can help: Brotherhood needs your votes! Visit this site to cast your ballot. You can vote once per day, per e-mail address until midnight on July 24…TOMORROW. So vote now and tell your fellow music scenesters — help Brotherhood represent San Antonio on the Ozzfest stage.

Art in a (sweat) box

An art show on wheels is a pretty clever idea, especially when you're getting the wheels at a 20-percent discount (thank you very much Ryder trucks). While I perused the 24-foot long truck, Ryder Richards (one-third of the Lubbock team that brought the Nomadic Gallery to the Southwest School of Art & Craft) gladly spoke to the steady stream of art patrons. On Saturday, the last day of the two-day showing, the truck was parked directly behind SSAC, in the back of the Central Library, and passersby stopped to catch a glimpse of what Richards and the all-Lubbock produced art show had to offer.

                                                    "Bravado Series," Ryder Richards (top), "Bravado Series" [detail] (bottom)

Congratulations —

Best Narrative:
I Want to Fly by Misha Sundukduskiy (Tisch School of the Arts, NYC)

Best Documentary:
A Shift for Representation: The 1977 City Council Reform, by Carlos Landa, Mayra Chapa, Shane Carroll, Javier Flores (Communication Arts High School, San Antonio, TX)

Best Animation:
Fresh Fruit, by Ed Kelley, Brenden Cicoria (St. Mary's Hall, San Antonio, TX)

Best Experimental:
Point of View, by Andy Sontag (Seattle, WA)

Honorable Recognition Awards for Narrative:
Make Up, by Justin Gallegos (Film School of San Antonio at Harlandale)
Molasses, by Jessica Torres (San Anto MultiMedia Institute, San Antonio, TX)

Honorable Recognition Awards for Documentary:
Lucha, by Justin Gallegos (Film School of San Antonio at Harlandale)
Dr. Phil or Dr. Do-Little, by Adam Williams, Cuyler Wing, Devin Soto, Hayden Bell, Phillip Turner, Ryan
Green, Tomas Segura, and Tyler Mann (Mobile Film School, Elgin, TX)

Honorable Recognition Awards for Animation:
Tired, by Brenden Cicoria (St. Mary's Hall, San Antonio, TX)
Into the Blue, by Derek Burgman (Say Sí, San Antonio, TX)

Honorable Recognition Awards for Experimental:
Quack, by Raul Flores (Film School of San Antonio at Harlandale)
American Citizen, by Kathy Vega and Michael Muro (In Progress, St. Paul, MN)

On the Street

"Trying to Balance the Equation"

Letters (to the On the Street Penthouse Suite)


#1 Bike Tsar No More?


(sin permiso)

Huggie Bear # 47 writes...

...With this great link comes news that city bike planner Abigail is leaving her post to work for VIA. They'll be looking for a replacement if you know anyone with a city planning/bicycle advocacy background.


The link mentioned in this letter is this following video.  The unintentional comedy is high.  Stratospheric.



#2 Little Opie Cunningham


(sin permiso)


In came this letter with details about the behind the scenes of the new Ron Howard film in LA.

(author's name withheld to protect the innocent)

(excerpted)

...We're working on the new Ron Howard film, Angels and Demons. They couldn't get permission to shoot at the Vatican so they built a 60% scale model in the parking lot of Hollywood Park....It is a pretty impressive set - and the dolls, well, they're the dolls 2.0. We bought 30 tables, put wheels on them, and then staple the dolls to the tables and roll them wherever they need to go.

Evidently the public indifference to the first DaVinci Code movie wasn't convincing enough.  A high budget sequel is on the way to right the ship.

Also, more about the Vatican later in regards to Mount Graham and the celestial search for space aliens to convert, not that there's anything wrong with that.



But Bernie Mac Is Fine

Home loan institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are on life support and writer Dr. Michael Hudson tells us why we're all screwed.  

It's a long, long article that I can't even get through but there are some thought provoking morsels in there to ruminate on.  He does come with some credentials, so his opinion can't be immediately dismissed.

In other words, more material to be filed under "Impending Doom".

An excerpt...

All this is as American as apple pie. Altruistic political talk aside, the reason why the finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) sectors have lobbied so hard for Fannie and Freddie is that their financial function has been to make housing increasingly unaffordable. They have inflated asset prices with credit that has indebted homeowners to a degree unprecedented in history. This is why the real estate bubble has burst, after all. Yet Congress now acts as if the only way to resolve the debt problem is to create yet more debt, to inflate real estate prices all the more by arranging yet more credit to bid up the prices that home buyers must pay. The plan is thus to pretend that the Bubble Economy’s financial unreality may be made real by Finance Socialism.







Tentacle Outreach




Saturday night Austin's Octopus Project and our own Hyperbubble played at Sam's.



The writing on the window was a nice touch, and made me try to remember if this was standard procedure at Sam's...



...from earlier in the Octopus Project set when the projector was still on.  The crowd kept chanting to turn off the house lights, which created a nice dilemma.  The projector and the house lights were on the same circuit so to dim the house, the projector had to go as well.  It seems like an odd choice of electrical wiring, and what a great way to begin talking about the show...wiring issues.

The show was actually quite good.  I got too late to see Hyperbubble but saw the majority of OP.  They are a band that is clearly at the top of their game.  Everyone interchanges instruments.  Toto seems to be the powerhouse in the band, belting on the drums with sincere fury, then next jumping around playing bass, and then at moments there's no drums and he's on another guitar adding layers of noise.

Instrumental bands can get tiresome but Octopus Project never ceases to captivate.



Mount Graham, A Telescope and... Unconverted Space Aliens


(sin permiso)

A personal story by Jeffrey St. Clair about the University of Arizona building a telescope on top of Mount Graham, the Apaches' failed fight to protect their protected land...and the Vatican looking for space aliens to convert?

(Excerpt)

"The priest said if they spotted aliens in those scopes, it would be their mission to convert them," Vittorio said, speaking of Father George V. Coyne, the head Vatican astronomer. "But they are the aliens here and they're too fucking self-righteous realize it."

Here's a taste of Father Coyne's cosmic eschatology: "The Church would be obliged to address the question of whether extraterrestrials might be brought into the fold and baptized. One would want to put some questions to him, such as: have you ever experienced something similar to Adam and Eve, in other words, original sin? Do you people also know a Jesus who has redeemed you?" And this spaced-out priest has the nerve to denounce the Apache religion as primitive?


Art Stalk



Friday night began with a quick stop by Galleria Ortiz in Olmos Park for Fotograma, with the work of Martin Rodriguez and Guillermina Zabala.



Saturday brought us over to Second Saturday at 1906 S. Flores.  In the space behind Salon Mijangos (which was closed for the night) a performance was getting set up.



Behind the left screen was live music; the blue screen showed a video; the white screen began with some sort of religious type of ceremony.



Across the street at Gallista was a series of similarly styled paintings.  The numbers 1492 on the side give extra meanings to the race car.




And then back across the street (again) to Fl!ght Gallery where a variety of smaller scaled works were being sold.



At the One 9 Zero Six, Anastacia Uriegas showed a collection of fotos of people's beds, detailing a variety of approaches to life.



Outside, from Austin, the group Custodian rapped/performed.



They were hard working and stuck to the custodian theme, even though they weren't dressed as custodians...



And lastly, showing off skills.


And so goes another week on the streets of San Antonio.  As always, to be continued...

Last-minute Friday prophylactic!

If it were ever prudent for politician to actually act like a lame duck, it might be a president with an approval rating hovering consistently around 30 percent, and whose party stands to take a second trouncing in upcoming national elections. Not our W, though. He and his administration continue to introduce right-wing propaganda as law and generally act as if they have a mandate to knock the legal system back to circia 1918.

The latest example: proposed health-care regulations that would force clinics, hospitals, and other recipients of federal Health and Human Services funding to certify that they do not discriminate against potential hires based on their objection to abortion or emergency contraception.

You can probably figure out the ramifications of such a rule pretty quickly yourself, but I'll quote from an email from Jeffrey Hons, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Trust of San Antonio and South Central Texas:

The Dark Knight reviewed

In the closing scene of Batman Begins, newly-promoted Lt. James Gordon warns his winged ally of the threat of escalation, describing a homicidal armed robber who leaves a playing card — a joker — to mark his crimes.

“I’ll look into it,” Batman promises.

As the vigilante leaps off the roof of the Gotham PD and swoops over his city, the promise of bigger, better adventures hung in the air with him. With The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan hasn’t just made good on that promise — he’s crafted a smart, layered film that expands the comic-book-movie genre’s vocabulary. This is The Godfather in pointy ears and clown makeup.

Knight picks up maybe a week after the events of the first film, and the plot goes full throttle from minute one. Batman (Bale) and Gordon (Oldman) have a new partner in their war on organized crime: Gotham’s new “white knight,” D.A. Harvey Dent (Eckhart). Hope is on the way, but none of them are truly prepared for the arrival of The Joker (Ledger), a self-proclaimed “agent of chaos” whose goal is to cause as much mayhem as possible.

Unlike other comic-book films, Knight succeeds in creating palpable tension. In fact, the movie is almost all tension — The Joker’s campaign of terror is brutal and unpredictable, and the body count is high. Ledger’s performance lives up to the posthumous hype — his Joker is more frightening than funny, but no matter how grotesque he gets you just can’t look away.

The other performances are less showy, but just as good. Eckhart is, hands-down, the best onscreen Harvey Dent ever (sorry, Billy Dee), adding shades of gray to what could have been a bland, do-gooder role. Also welcome: Maggie Gyllenhaal transforms Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes from a preachy bore to a real, grown-up woman with intelligence and passion. It’s still a thankless role — as in Begins, the romantic subplot is never quite believable — but she makes it work. Oldman is superb as always, and Bale is still the definitive cinematic Batman (and he can finally turn his head).

Knight is clearly only the second act of a three-act morality play. Despite all the action, spectacle, and explosions (and there are many), Nolan knows that there is one conflict not so easily settled: an inner one.

The Dark Knight
Dir. Christopher Nolan; writ. Christopher and Jonathan Nolan; feat. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman (PG-13)

Obama fatigue

Obamamania is suffering a serious backlash, folks. And we're not talking about all the hooplah surrounding The New Yorker cover, either.

Just drive through Janet Cleary's off-Fredericksburg neighborhood and you'll spot it. After you pass a few Obama supporters you'll notice Cleary's homemade sign. (We forgive her for the misspelling of Barack's name … or maybe it was intentionally? Whatev. The sign kicks major patriotic ass and I'm an Obama supporter, too.)
 

 
"I think he'll destroy America," Cleary said. "He'll make it a socialist, Marxist country." She added that he'll also raise taxes and destroy our military. Cleary's sign has been up since Fourth of July, but she plans on updating it as the election nears. Her neighbors don't mind, either. "They think it's cool," Cleary said.

Mom, I'm OK

My mom doesn’t know how the hell I am, but the state climatologist knows I’m bent about global warming inaction in Texas.

Why dear old mother must suffer my two weeks of silence, while John Nielsen-Gammon politely endures my camping out on his atmo.sphere blog?

Of course, my behavior reflects my increasingly core belief that we’re in for a flurry of shit when it comes to our climate-conditioning enterprises wrought by petro goods.

But there’s a second reason for strangers being subjected to my wily digit-al (as in, emerging from my digits) dances — that is my increasing diffusion into online community life.

I’m not the only one. There are various folks about town that serve as sources for the work I do here at the Current who prefer to meet me there (smell-less multiverse factor?). That works. Connected as they are to their computers in various cubicles about town, the best way I can reach them is a direct message via Twitter.

I know they are like me. They don’t want to pick up the phone with all the encumbered risks involved. I mean, I lift the receiver and who knows? It could be the cat lady. I really don’t want to listen to her cry again. (What am I going to say, ‘Yes poisoning cats is against the law and you and the neighborhood strays are being mistreated but I can’t help you this week and by the way it likely won’t change because you are fighting a broken system’?)

So I don’t lift. I wait for the blinking light and then dial in for my message. Not every time, but enough.

For the more in demand, actual voice interactions are approaching the passé. One woman I know in real estate gives express treatment to her email and IM clients — after her personal assistant combs through the hundreds of messages and transcribes the important for her consideration. No time wasted there. Though she is not on Twitter yet, she sees the value. I mean you have exactly 140 characters to say what you need to say. “Hey, if you can’t sum it up, you don’t know what you want,” she says.

I Tweet out when I’ve updated the world about my opinion or my current condition.

Of course, moms has a hard enough time making sense of my blog. And now that I’ve integrated my Twits there, who knows what cranial pains I could be inflicting upon her? So I relent in the pushing.

She doesn’t have to know every time I respond to a lame column in the Houston Chronicle, or batter on the poorly veneered entryway of Guv Bush appointee Nielsen-Gammon, or even when I ejaculate about “global warming turning us rednecks into stupider rednecks.”

Here in the office, we liked the platform so much we launched an SACurrent twit space so you can follow SA alt-weekly events, news,  and general craftiness (and occasional fumbles) via handheld, laptop, or desktop.

Think you can spare us a couple seconds per day? We’ll Twit you right.

Why so serious, KENS 5?

Today, the Current received a Dark Knight viral-marketing cake with chocolate icing and a cell phone inside. It was in a plain box with no distinguishing marks and didn’t say BATMAN!! on it, but did we panic? No. Why? Because, 1) we are hardcore, 2) strange cake is nom-nom, 3) we were wondering why we hadn’t gotten one sooner, truth be told; we've been reading about this sort of thing happening in other cities since before Christmas.

Apparently, KENS 5 received the very same cake earlier today, and the following article appeared on mysa.com this afternoon:

Second Saturday recap

It had been awhile since I've stopped by the South Flores Arts District to check out Second Saturday and although I didn't get to check out what one9zero6 or Fl!ght galleries had to offer, I did walk over to Gallista Gallery and came across some awesome pieces.

I didn't get the name of this piece, but liked it because who doesn't like a florescent monkey, c'mon.

Another unnamed piece really caught my attention in the adjacent room. Gallista Gallery's known for its Mexican-themed art, and this piece was no exception. The piece fit perfectly in the room and the side altar with what I believe to be a St. Raphael novena candle.

Cholismo (Calo) The Old Sland of El Barrio was one of the main exhibitions occurring at Gallista. Artist Raul Servin displayed his entire collection of oil paintings that deal with reality and destiny.  The show runs the duration of the month.

 Raul Servin's "El Veterano"

 
 … and also the works of Mary Agnes Rodriguez

*notice the Cracker Jack prize on the left corner — classic.

Then I stumbled into Xochitl Contemporary Art a new gallery space located in Gallista Gallery. Stephanie Torres' exhibition Flor y Canto merged written word and intricately looped and stylized xochitl's (flowers). Torres was quick to explain the meaning of the xochitl, and provided plenty of insight for patrons.

Stephanie Torres' "Song of Huexotzingo"

Before calling it a night, I dropped by LoneStar Studios where the performance Visions from the Aural Altar was just about to begin. The one-night only show featured music from Chris Guerra, Leonard Rader, Jaime Rader, and Travis Simpson with abstract animation by Jose Lozano and Matt Daly. As the performances statement suggested:

 "Visions from the Aural Altar is a ritual celebration of sight and sound.  As the congregation gathers at the Aural Altar, their senses will become the focus for our evening of veneration.  As we begin, visions of the abstract, the familiar, and emotion will fire off synapses of memory reminiscent of déjà vu. The visions will be soon followed by a flood of audio accompaniment.  The origins of these sonic art waves will be speculation until the second assault of haunting apparitions appears before our assembly.  From then on, the congregation will continue to worship their senses until the culmination of our service. "

Red, White, and Bruised

    The Alamo City Rollergirls hit the track this Sunday in a long-awaited, dirty derby doubleheader at The Rollercade. Dubbed “Red, White, and Bruised,” Sunday’s matchup was the first ACRG bout in two months — the league took off the months of May and June but ACRG’s travel team, Las Tejanas, traveled to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to take on the Northwest Arkansas Killbillies on June 14. In addition to the matchup between the Prim Reapers and the Missyfits on the ACRG regular schedule, Sunday’s bout included a second bout between the ACRG’s Dragon Divas and the visiting Oklahoma City Victory Dolls. The Prims stood atop league standings at 2-0 on the season heading into the matchup, having beaten both the Missys and the Divas once this season. The Divas’ record stood at 1-1, and the Missys looked to gain their first win of the season at 0-2.

    The parking lot and interior of The Rollercade was packed just before game time; I made it just in time to hear the National Anthem and team introductions. The doubleheader shook up the game format a little — instead of one bout with three 20-minute periods, the teams played two 30-minute periods each. In addition, the two bouts were split in half. The Divas took on the Victory Dolls for the first period, then the Prims paired up with the Missys for their first period. Play after halftime followed suit, with a Divas-Dolls final period, then a Missys-Prims final period. 

    Both the Dolls and Divas were decked out in red and black, the Dolls sporting red back flaps (like girly letter jackets!) embroidered with their skater names. Bodies were flying early — both teams landed players in the penalty box within the first few minutes, and scoring remained low and even. The Divas’ Devlyne Disguise wiped out hard at the 18-minute mark and both teams took a knee. It looked like she got the wind knocked out of her, but Devlyne bravely rose from the track after lying on her back for a bit. The score was tied up at 10-10 with 17:17 left to go in the period.

    It’s always interesting to see the way our league stacks up against teams from other cities. Thirteen minutes into the first period, it seemed our Divas were a good matchup for the Oklahoma City Victory Dolls. The two teams had been skating on a fairly even keel, with controlled and measured scoring on both sides. The Divas pulled ahead with a 20-14 lead right around the 16-minute mark, but the Dolls overtook the Divas at 12:35 with a 22-21 lead. A timeout at 10:14 was accompanied by a point discrepancy. The Dolls bench screamed for new points to be put up while lively announcer Ubetta Doant (sporting clown makeup) yelled towards the stat panel, “I don’t know what’s going on up there, does anybody have a clue?” The final verdict seemed to be Dolls 32, Divas 24, and back on the track the Divas last line of defense sent a Doll flying into kiddos sitting on the floor in the front row. The bout was clearly far from over at this point, and looked like it could come down to the wire if both teams could keep up the frenetic pace. The Divas closed the gap to Dolls 43, Divas 40 with 2:30 to go, and at the end of the first half the score stood at Dolls 49, Divas 43.

    Rock en Español three-piece Los Roxmantix turned up their amps for intermission entertainment, while the Missys and Prims took the track to warm up and fans headed for the beer stand. Sunday’s bout brought up an interesting question for some derby fans I talked to during the break. Do the girls hit harder when they’re playing a team they don’t know? Although there are some heated rivalries in the league, the ACRG is a close-knit group of skaters, many of which forge friendships across team lines. But I’ve got to give it up to the ACRG for keeping friendships off the track. Although it might be easier to smash a skater you’ve never met before into the rink walls, I’ve seen all ACRG skaters sending both friends and foes flying, no holds barred. 

    I talked to two of the Victory Dolls during the break also, and they relayed that today’s bout was a bit last minute for them. Apparently a different team dropped out of the scheduled interleague matchup, and the Dolls picked up the bout because they were in the area and some of their skaters have family here. They said they used to be part of a multi-team league in Oklahoma, but broke off as a travel team and are in their first year. The horn cut off our conversation, while the Missys and Prims raced around the track in a flurry of black and purple, pink and gray to start off the first half of the second bout. The Prims beat the Missys 205-24 in their last matchup, a season opening blowout in which Missys captain and exceptional skater Kitty Glitter re-injured her knee. After being sidelined for three months, Glitter was back in action for Sunday’s rematch, and the Missys hope her reinstatement can jumpstart their squad.   

    Prims lead jammer Tonya Hurting was in usual speedy form, racing through the pack and racking up points with relative ease from the get go. The Prims jumped out to a 15-1 lead less than five minutes into the bout and the lead ballooned to 35 within five minutes. The score stood at 38-3 as the Missys took a time out at 19:57 in an attempt to stanch the flow of blood. The announcers relayed what was already apparent on the track — the Missys couldn’t slow the bout down. The Prims were already at the 50-point mark with 14 minutes left in the first half, which would translate into another 200-plus point bout if they kept up the pace. The bout seemed exceptionally lopsided, evidenced by a 12-minute stretch in which the Prims scored 23 points and the Missys only 2. The Missys never gave up the fight, however, as Glitter exchanged words with the Prims Shay Manu — “Get outta my face! — as they skated side by side leading up to the final minute of the half. “There’s always bad blood!” proclaimed our announcers with excitement, and the first half closed with a score of Prims 97, Missys 18.
 
    After an exceptionally exciting first half, The Divas scored some points off the bat to close the gap — Dolls 52, Divas 51 — and Divas jammer Skully Vera continued to break through the back in her red and black cheetah print pants to give the Divas the lead, 56-52. With only two skaters on the bench, however, the tide began to change for the Divas as they struggled to keep up the pace of the first half. The Dolls pulled away to a 71-56 lead with 18:42 to go and never looked back. The Divas were still hitting hard and fighting harder, but the skaters were looking more and more exhausted as they came off the track. The Divas switched off jammers right and left, probably because they were down skaters, but still weren’t able to close the gap. The hard-fought bout ended with a final score of 112-72 in favor of the Victory Dolls, who respectfully skated over to the Divas’ bench with hugs and compliments for their new rivals. 
 

Unfortunately, since the doubleheader bout ran much later than normal, this Current staffer skipped out early to hit the hay and didn’t catch the second half of the Missys-Prims matchup. Please visit alamocityrollergirls.com for complete game stats and additional coverage of your ACRG! Special thanks to Ziv Kruger for the use of use of his awesome photos.  

On the Street

"Back From the Grave"


Letters (to the On the Street Penthouse Suite)

#1 On the Street Foreign Correspondents from Bolivia Rux and Bear Report In (From...Brazil!)


Hola Amigos y Familia -

We just finished a short audio-slideshow that will be published on The World's website next week to accompany Ru's radio story about the Doctor's Without Borders project in the Complexo do Alemao favela (in Rio de Janeiro) that we just visited for a couple days. If you have a 3 minutes to spare - we'd love for you to take a look & listen. For now - you can see it at this link: www.**&#$%##$##.com

In a private exchange I discovered, shockingly, they weren't able to debut their new piece online for all 3 or 4 of us here at On the Street but instead had to let the BBC get first dibs.  Which is fine.  We'll wait a week.  We'll let the BBC have this one, this time.  However, I was able to see and hear the piece for myself and I'm excited to show it when schedules permit.

#2 Tillamook Cheese Alerts Me to Their Subtle Movements



Hello,

I hope you are doing well and had a nice holiday last weekend. After many months of anticipation, Tillamook Cheese has just introduced two new cheddars to its speciality cheese line, Hot Habanero Jack Cheddar and Horseradish White Cheddar. The Hot Habanero Jack Cheddar is my favorite, if you like a little spice in your cheddar.


(Will I publish just about anything that comes in the mail?  At most times, the answer seems to be "yes".  Has there ever been a more open inlet to the Great Halls of Big Media?)

fliphappy



The weekend was spent up in Austin doing Mid Century Modern Ranch House sitting, working on future projects, grinding through Chemistry exercises, and then for a quiet Saturday brunch, a trip to  fliphappy, the heart-warming crepe food truck featured on the Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay in the same tour that brought Flay to SA for his challenge at Los Barrios, of which I was lucky to taste the last of his asian fusion puffy taco version, and wonder privately, and now publicy, maybe he should have won...




Austin has a disproportionate number of metal Air Stream campers.  That an old school/old Austin RV park is next door only adds to the critical regionalism.



Ever present and slowly changing development always looms over one's shoulder in Austin.  Clint Hale's excellent piece this week about Hemisfair Park suggests large questions.  The potential fight to save Hemisfair from residential development...this was one is tough.  On one hand you just know the city will screw it up.  Having a downtown park is something to be saved, but is it really a downtown park?  The jungle gym set at Lila Cockrell park doesn't seem greatly utilized.  Greater density downtown seems like the logical choice to offset the slow white flight out the Old Spanish Trail towards NW San Antonio.  Yet what would be built at Hemisfair?  That the location once was actually residential housing gives validity to the idea. But with other Southtown lofts going up everywhere and others being put on hold, does this seem like the right time to build more?  And hasn't that always been the city's response to any kind of itch - build something!  On that issue, I'd say they're batting around .250, which is why I'm not greatly inspired by something being thrown up at Hemisfair.



But then on the microscopic level one can look down at their feet and ponder past narratives... suggested through a random cork.  Champagne and crepes and other forms of francophilia...

Okay



Saturday night at Okay Mountain Gallery off Cesar Chavez in Austin, Barry Stone debuted some new fotos.  The crowd was congenial and then the rain hit and people either went inside or to their cars.  We already were on the way towards the latter.



Here's one of the fotos from the show.


The New Tropics



This week had a few people wondering if the recent storms were going to be a return to the deluge of last Summer, a time when any one could throw a few seeds at the ground, walk away, let the rain do its business, and call oneself a gardener.  

The rain patterns, however, only seem 'tropical' within the narrow view that around 3 in the afternoon the humidity would crescendo and rain would develop and then balance would return.   The ongoing drought suggests anything but tropical living.

Evidently, A&M climatologists predict SA weather will become more arid overall, with sudden moments of tropical outburts.  So were going to become a physical desert in addition to being a cultural desert?  Joking, of course.  Just stay indoors and read lots of magazines and everything should be fine.


Roger Mason Jr. (The Architect?)

The Spurs were somewhat close to signing Corey Maggette from the LA Clippers.  It would have helped their scoring drought, but he chose more money to move upstate to the Bay Area to play for the Golden State Warriors.

So whom did the Spurs sign instead?  The relatively unknown Roger Mason Jr. from the Washington Wizards.  He went to UVA and has a hint of Thomas Jefferson about him.  Renaissance Man is pushing it, but he was an architecture student, he designed his own house, he plays piano in some sort of band, he supposedly comes from a family of professionals, and as we see here, is really happy talking about his Aston Martin.  

If Coach Pop puts him in the doghouse, will he build his own?



Hancock

With seemingly nothing to see in the theaters I rolled the dice on Hancock.  As others have said, the setup is intriguing: a bum superhero would wastes too much time drinking 40s and hanging out at his RV.  That alone would have been enough to develop but the filmmakers raced through that storyline to get to another one.  In the second part of the film, which feels like a different film altogether, we see glimpses of Hancock's past, going way back. Oddly, the more they try to explain, the more confusing and muddied the film becomes. I'm sure some producer with little insight felt the need to inject more melodramatic tension.  The late search to find a villain in the film throws it off course. A missed opportunity is the best way to describe it.  In that sense, all the rumors are true.



In and Out of Focus

Is 10 month old work still contemporary, especially when it's already been shown before in San Antonio?  That is engaging in semantics, I agree, but I think it's a valid question.  And the answer is probably a bit of yes and no. (Like most things.)  

One would think that new work could be found or created.   In that sense the show is a mixed bag.  The highs are dizzying.  The lows are head scratching.  However, the strength of the better work is enough to still call the show a success.  Hopefully others will go to Bluestar to see for themselves.

Here are random samplings of the show in no particular order...



The first shot was accidentally taken while still on a macro setting.  That two to five inches from the lens are in perfect focus is lost on this group of paintings, though the soft focus has a certain appeal.



The description mentioned several musical references.  I'm imagining bands from the magnetic wave spectrum, so to speak.



Trees from the forest.




From a group of 3 or 4 fotographs.  The figures on the top of the horizon recall The Seventh Seal, plus a few more.







The devil's workshop?




A reference to the First Law of Thermodynamics.  In the same sense, matter recycles.  The water in our blood could be the same water that was once in a creek in Lower Slovenia, George Washington, or a cup of watered down whiskey I got at a bar last year.

(But then there I was in my Existential Chemistry class with the noble Dr. Davis (brother of Ossie Davis) when he mentioned that the Big Bang Theory is now under intense scrutiny.  The explanation for its demise being that if the explosion of the Big Bang was that destructive, then how could have anything existed afterwards?  That, and new thoughts on the pervading but mysterious Dark Energy, call everything into question.



Their installation is later in the fotos.



This juxtaposition worked for me on a surreal but direct level.



A macro view...



...and then another.



The back room was for the most dedicated to Rubio.



The 4 Horsemen.  A subliminal reference to Mettalica's first album...?










This piece could have used a larger setting, but the size was perhaps appropriate to its nature and intention.



The video projection is not done justice throught his foto.



The foto on the left just now makes me think of a record spinning round.



Some ham-boning with Photoshop.




A roadtrip out West, now animated.



I have no idea what this over-exposure was of.



A new fotographic technique by the artist was used.  And the formal aspect is impressive.  I'm curious if people think 'nudes' are considered safe or dangerous.



And then where we began, hopefully with the show in somewhat better focus.

Some of the Hardest Working Security Guards in the Business



I showed up at Artpace at around 8:15.  Little did I know that in the time it took to get a glass of wine, chat for a bit, it was already too late to go upstairs to see the work of the Texas resident and hardly had time at all to really see anything.   But the security guards sure were earning their keep.

Someone stole a copy of this newspaper for me from Mark Bradford's piece, which was an homage and re-contextualization of the Travis Building right next to Artpace.  I'm becoming concerned that Artpace residents are bored to tears looking out their residency dorm room.  However, the work has almost always been intellectually engaging.  Perhaps On the Street should offer tour guide services for Artpace residents...

(Scooters were lined up very proudly by the front door.  In the last few months a whole new breed of scooter riders have hit the streets.  It isn't slowing down.)

The Great Waldo Pepper

In doing galacial speed research for a story idea that began in December I finally tracked down a video copy of the forgotten George Roy Hill 70s film The Great Waldo Pepper.  It was at the Semmes Branch Library.  

(A quick thought on the library - it has to be one of the most impressive libraries in town, architecturally.  It's combination of limestone, glass and steel loudly suggested the hand of Lake Flato.  Upon research, the answer is...No. However, this was discovered -

Project Architect: Rehler Vaughn & Koone, Inc.
Design Enhancement: George Schroeder

Also, the library fuses smoothly with the adjoining Comanche Lookout Park.  I'm not sure if its enough to  pull one to the Judson area, but I can see how kids would like to be there.)

Without getting into why the film was being watched, other than parts were shot in San Antonio, I will say that this film struck me as a lost jewel from the 70s.  Redford stars as barnstorming pilot in the 1920s.  It's another one of the 70s commentaries on the loss of simple life and the rise of corporatism. In that line of thought, it's as if modernism was at its last stop before the  exuberance of  80s postmodernism distracted everyone with treats from the great ahisortorical cookie jar, so to speak.

The film is a throwback and its points and angles are nicely subdued.  Surprisingly, it has some of the most daring non-CGI effects one can expect to see.  That almost all of the stunt pilots later died only confirms the ethos of the film.  It's ending might not make sense without the context of the rest of the film, but the end is an odd embrace of death, and therefore life.





Farmers Market




A comment lifted from the responses to the now "infamous" Open Letter Series, which focused it's inexact lens this time on the latest "cause celebre", the Farmers Market.

Sy writes,

Mark:

Thanks for your thought provoking piece. Having experienced several successful green markets in other cities, I admit to feeling envy at the thought of not being able to readily browse through tables of natural dyed wool and herb crusted goat cheese here in San Antonio. However, I feel that yearning for this model goes against the unique culture and character of the city and that there are issues beyond the surface that will continue to make this type of model difficult to establish with the local populace.

The fact stands that for years, San Antonio ran a distinctly “San Antonio” urban green market down at what is now the tourist destination and endless source for city controversy known as Market Square/Famer’s Market. Hence the name. This is often not considered by today’s yuppie green market crusaders. Several days of the week, a bunch of guys would park their beat-up trucks on the first level of the parking garage and vend produce out the back. After a person was done shopping, he could head over to Mi Tierra and pick up fresh pan dulce. It was really a cool kind of set up. When Farmer’s Market was finished out for retail space, these folks were displaced. Since the concept of produce that could undercut the price of HEB had been a dominant force motivating the market, it made sense that most of those who were displaced set up shop at the flea markets south of town, where you can still find them today.

Recently, I heard from a reliable source that there had been complaints to the City about too many ugly old trucks parked around Hardberger’s arid patch at the new Friday green market on Main Plaza. While it would be great to have a thriving market in the King William area, I strongly believe that until the populace can deal with old trucks, sand-crusted watermelons and live chickens rather than gluten-free bread and scapes, it will be pretty difficult to establish a successful local green market scene. Until then, I’ll reserve a table for my homemade soaps down at the Moursund Rd. flea market.

Good points are made but driving to the far South side doesn't seem practical for a lot of people either.  Also, I'm not sure saving money is necesarily a fundamental part of farmers markets, though it should be.

Evidence A:




Not a robust scene but some great deals to be had.  A small bundle of cucumbers of $2 and a healthy young basil plant for $3 for what I noticed first. But to drive over here for a few cucumbers, is that saving money?

Outtakes



While studying about enzymes and spirit blue agar and other 'fascinating' bits from the hidden world, I noticed this random etching.  After thousands of years, it's reassuring to know that we're still crudely carving wood.




I found this walking on the streets.  I had hoped it was going to something nostalgic, or something intimate and embarassing, or something idiotic but brilliant.  Instead, it was a bizarre sugar candy country album that Itunes couldn't even recognize.  It's in the trashcan and awaiting a future life and death in the city rubbish heap at some point soon enough.

Forgotten memories.

And so goes another week On the Streets of San Antonio.  As always, to be continued...

Bonding over brocc

I had meant to include info about this workshop in my original story on urban gardening that ran last week.

There is so much cool stuff happening around on the 'greens circuit' that i often wish i could grow my durga arms and recover the pre-abused brain of younger days to adequately drape myself over it all and bring it to you with a new-model textiled bamboo bow.

Since that obviously is not happening I'll stick with the bare facts:

A Fine Calamity

SA native Sara Radle is familiar to locals for her work with the band Lucy Loves Schroeder and familiar to nationals for her participation in The Rentals, but Radle (now based in Los Angeles) will make a rare onstage return to the Alamo City on Tuesday, July 15 with a gig at Rock Bottom Tattoo Bar (1033 Ave. B), supported by Fin del Mar and Kick It!. Radle, the daughter of Westside activist and former District 5 councilwoman Patti Radle, left The Rentals to concentrate on her own material, and that new material is twangy pop of the first order, with a hint of Rilo Kiley influence. This should be one of the best club shows in San Antonio this month.

Police porridge hot

The Police Executive Research Forum’s report on SAPD’s use-of-force behaviors isn’t War and Peace, but it is over 90 pages and fairly saturated with statistics and other vital data that residents would be well served to explore.

As I editorialized in this week’s MashUp, I believe that after a sorry handling and release of the PERF report by the City, San Antonians have an opportunity to latch onto the repeated promises of transparency and public involvement to continue to guide the reform of the department.

Obviously we owe a debt of gratitude to recently-disgraced attorney James Myart, who I write about a month back. His bellicose and sometimes-outrageous exhibitions on behalf of the “least of these” simply got PERF on the table. This was obvious back in January when the only public hearing (pictured left) was held by the PERF investigators in East SA. It is also the opinion of others deep in the trenches of ongoing civil rights struggles with the PD. A view I tend to agree with.

So, what now? In talking with the Chief yesterday, the reform-minded head of SAPD, William McManus reiterated how personally important it is to him that the coming committee work and the examinations by three convened taskforces are open to the public. Those taskforces will focus on use-of-force, Internal Affairs, and “general manual.” How open they will be will depend a lot on how the proceedings may be accessed. Whether there will be transcripts or streaming video or what. They are questions that remain to be answered. It’s a new baby.

We’ll be posting the full interview online with the story. In the near future, we’ll be turning this stuff around much more quickly as we move to increase daily content offerings on a coming much-needed revamped website.

Here are a couple nuggets I had to scratch from the print version of the interview:

You've been tagged!

Not so fast, little Jimmy. Before you even think of vandalizing that wall with your spray paints and your gang symbols, how's about you sit a spell while councilman John G. Clamp reads the anti-graffiti book Graffiti in Tahiti.  (If the book cover provides any insight, it focuses on a tough talkin', taggin' shark … with an incredibly maniacal expression.)

Join Clamp as he reads from Victoria Wilson-Merritt's book to children participating in the Play Zone program at Lou Hamilton Community Center (10700 Nacogdoches Road) on July 9 at 9 a.m. The event is part of the Graffiti Abatement program, which is coordinating the 5th annual Graffiti Wipeout Volunteer Day on September 27. For more information, visit http://www.sanantonio.gov/graffiti/ 

It's raining art

While rain poured on our First Thursday (and First Friday) experiences last week, we managed to dry off and check out some of the galleries down in Blue Star, here's a glimpse of what you missed.

PS. Don't worry. Contemporary Art Month has barely begun, plan your month accordingly and check out the comprehensive schedule or pick us up on Wednesday for your very own print version.

A few pieces from Welcome to the Monkey House at UTSA Satellite Space









Albert Alvarez's "Our Father Molech"

 

Here's an interior shot of Loft 119 at the Blue Star Complex. According to their statement: "Loft 119 is a designed space emphasizing stylistic and structural excellence, conceptual awareness, color, ideas, and renewal." The locale was also the sight of a sushi-making lesson held by Eddie Oo (check out his work in the second clip below).

MoDaCoLab @ Blue Star

… and a little Big Red and sushi makin' 

Opening today: The Children of Huang Shi

The real Odd Couple

We must be in some sort of theatrical bizarro-world when Broadway Across America announces an innovative, exciting season -- and the Vexler does exactly the opposite. Yes, the same company that brought us last season's The Rimers of Eldritch and Metamorphoses turns back the clock for some truly retrograde programming. The Vexler starts off with Neil Simon's Odd Couple (does anything scream 'overdone amateur theater' more than the Odd Couple?); continues with Mark Medoff's 1980 opus Children of a Lesser God (a tolerable choice, though one suspects fond memories of the film helped in the selection); chases this with a revival of 2001's Noises Off (just what San Antonio needs: another theater dedicated to reviving its own productions); and, appalling to say, ends with a revue of selections from previous Vexler musicals. With that last choice, the Vexler now joins the ranks of all its lesser San Antonio brethren in producing plot-less entertainments for mass consumption. The Muse weeps.

The thing is, Ken Frazier has proved himself a shrewd, and occasionally surprising, selector of plays in seasons past (does anybody remember Helen Edmundson's The Clearing from six or seven years ago? That production rocked.) With the current season, however, the Vexler has taken a giant step backward -- and how vexing is that?

A different 'Vista'

        As I entered C-Art Studio, I was greeted by Richard Martinez, who was downing a cold brew on the porch. Martinez and Ricky Armendariz's show Hybrid Vistas: Two South Texas Painters, officially kicked off my CAM reviewing season last night.
        Armendariz and Martinez, both professors at the University of Texas at San Antonio, joined forces once again (they previously teamed up in 2004 for a show at Ken Little's Rrose Amarillo Gallery) to show their work. As the shows description states, the nine pieces on view showcase their "interest in bringing together varied and disparate visual influences to create hybrid statements in their richly worked paintings."
        The fusion of styles is evident once you step foot in the studio. Armendariz draws patrons in with his acrylic on carved birch plywood work "Blown off course, guided by spirits ..." a large piece that captured my attention from the get-go.

 
                                                                              Ricky Armendariz's "Blown off course, guided by spirits  ... "                                      

                                                                                                Richard Martinez's "Young American"

                                                                        Ricky Armendariz's "Tu crazy crazy crazy baby ... "

                                                                                                                 Richard Martinez's "Untitled"

Climate Heroes

Climate Protection Award winners have been announced and Texas is deep in the mix, with both Austin Energy and former Dallas mayor Laura Miller receiving recognition from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

There is a lot of Deep Green Think happening in and around San Antonio’s City Hall these days. Will 2009’s climate awards find San Antonio leaping into the national spotlight? A lot rides on the coming mayoral election,  the City's recovery of its utiltiy's reins, and international energy trends. But any real gains will only come with a continued perseverance on the part of the San Antonio public.

Those who will be serving on the various task forces being established to shepherd SA into a new era of smart energy use in transportation, housing, and renewables development, have begun to receive their draft cards. Will there be enough new blood running through the Old Guard's veins to make the many needed (and, in some cases, painful) switches? We will see.

Before we put too much time into greening our suburbs, we must find the financial means of launching a green workforce to patch and mend our thousands of lower-income homes that make a mockery of insulation.

The community gardens are taking root. There is so much potential in this simple concept. Can we do the same with community power generation, I wonder?

'09 nomination forms, anyone?


From the EPA Awards press release:

PERF-RATED

The race to the bottom has begun. The delayed release of the requested study of the San Antonio Police Department’s use-of-force policies and procedures was posted on the City’s website today. Now the anti-authoritarian hordes are diligently chewing their way to the bottom of the 98-page document. (To wash it down, we have the SAPD’s “matrix” report of a mere 14 pages.)

D.C.-based Police Executive Research Forum returned its findings months ago, but the department chose not to release them until Chief William McManus had a chance to draft his response to the “numerous recommendations” made by the panel (141 by the PD’s count).

A quick scan reveals the following recommendations:

* A taser-discharge quota (not that you have to use them up by month’s end, fellas);

* No more shooting at moving vehicles unless there’s an actual threat involved. (Unless you have news cameras on the scene. What could be more flash?!);

* Stop threatening those filing citizen complaints with potential aggravated perjury charges.

* And when it comes to the high-intensity, camo-geared Tactical Response Unit, well, where to begin?

On the Street

"We Are What We Are"


Letters (to the On the Street Penthouse Suite)

#1 Viking Rollcall


(sin permiso)

Mark,
I just moved here from Hollywood, currently live in King William, and just read your Farmers-Market Proposal.  I too have been lamenting the lack of freash, convenient produce downtown.  How can I get involved in helping to promote your very good idea?
Lané


#2 Menudo Terremoto Williams writes to say...

Kobe v. Shaq hits the nation's daycares:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7xUQ5iHO0w



Kids behaving poorly always warms the blood.  And aren't those two a little young to have career-ending mullets? (This a video response to a rap Shaq did last week where he had choice words to say to Kobe, through rhyme.)

#3 Okay


(Barry Stone)

Hi Y'all,

I am pleased to be a participating in a 2 person photography show with Anna Krachey at Okay Mountain here in Austin, Texas.

The show opens on Saturday, The Fifth of July, from 7-10pm. More info here: http://www.okaymountain.com/exhibitions/fifth-july/

The project room will have new works by by Elizabeth Chiles, Jessica Mallios, Andy Mattern, Ben Ruggiero, Adam Schreiber, and Laura Turner.
All great photographers I have come to know here.

Oh and Weekly Picture 122 can be seen at http://www.barrystone.com/.

Cheers,

Barry


Yeah, I'm not going to have to miss the customary walk through for First Friday this month.  I'll be up in Austin, possibly checking by Mr. Stone's show among other things.  And for the historians, my turning of the back on CAM opening is not because I'm afraid to see them tear down that piece of rope that's been dangling from the ceiling in the middle of Blue Star for the last several months.  

Evidence A:



(C-14 dating on this exhibit indicates the Late Mesozoic Era.)

No, "schedules" pulled me away.  If it was only CAW (Contemporary Art Weekend) then, yeah, I'd stick around but luckily it's CAM and there will be serveral weeks to browse through galleries with no intention or $ for buying anything.   Joking,  joking...not about the $ though (fotos of galleries later in the month.)


There's "Magic" In the Night



On the way down to downtown for the DHBC ride, I realized that Avenue B has been bike laneified.  Though it says "Wrong Way" it really doesn't mean it, unless you're driving a car, but at that point you've probably already run over several cyclists and aren't paying too much attention anyway.



A very dedicated group this month.  Fixie quotient was super high.  Spandex count?  Very low.   It's all unpredictable.  Next month unicycles and fake red noses could be in.

The destination - a magician's hangout somewhere in the near Northside.  After some maneuvering through downtown we found our way to Main Street and began the climb up.  

(On a sidenote, I didn't know Luther's by SAC was quite that popular on Friday nights.  There's new management, and most likely, a new approach.  I saw this review online...

06/09/2008 Posted by Alamo1909

I choose to visit this place after spending happy hour across the street. The restaurant was about half full with customers but fully staffed with waiters. I was one of the few over 45 crowd in the place and the waiters seemed to be more interested in the under 30 something customers. My waiter was friendly but not overly helpful in aiding me with my selections. I had a Grilled Turkey Panini that was very tasty and well worth the price, however, I never got a refill on my tea and had to hunt him down to get my bill. I will return again now that I understand the staff is more interested in flirting than actually giving service to the mature crowd that is happy to give a good tip for good service.

"Flirt or get the hell on" seems to be the new mantra.  Being an expert in the mobile vendor food code, I wonder if Luther's, by staying open late on the weekend, forced the hand of the taco truck that had been doing its residency at The Saint to move locations.  Somewhere in the rule book there's something about mobile food vendors not being allowed to set up within a certain distance from restaurants.  Interesting...


*Entering Bonus Coverage*

(More details of this bar in the following paper version of the Current.  Consider this free milk.)



As our huggie bear suggested, there would be a magician in the corner of the bar performing tricks.  Lost in the velvety blacks of this awesome fotograph is a magician with cards covering his eyes.  Move those cards a few inches north and that's another form of poker.  Political correctness makes actually saying that name no longer workable.  Let's just call it "Aggie Poker" and be done with it.



Thought it seems like a listing for a law firm, it actually a poster for magicians.  Notice the animated spirit being hurled like Nolan Ryan fastball.

The bar was detailed with several vintage magician prints on the walls. The whole place, I was told, is an homage to Houdini.  Interesting, I think.



As the assistant holds the coat, back there somewhere a magician works his dark tricks to break free.



And voila, freedom.  The hard rock aesthetic and black magic have been linked before.



*Exiting Bonus Coverage*



As promised, the lost and found trails of Olmos Basin, like a set from an M. Night S. movie.



The bridge is still holding up.  The human presence is everywhere back here.  Trails intersect all over the place.  



Yellow guide wires add drama, but I not sure what their function is.  Keep in mind finding that bridge isn't a certainty depending on where you enter.  It's pretty much impossible to get truly lost but the illusion of it makes the trails all the more appealing.



And then here, like out of a Charlton Heston movie, we see signs of an industrial age.



In the back right one can see a sleeping bag that may or may not have belonged to a guy named "Lucky".



Also, there seems to be a secret color coding scheme going on.  Occasional flags can be found, possibly indicating order to the entropy.



And then this - heavily taped to make it through the flood.  I'm not even sure if Park Drive actually is that way.


*Re-Entering Bonus Coverage*

(Some possible research for an upcoming piece on un-contemporary art.   Again, giving away more free milk here.)



This shot has nothing to do with what follows, but it's an impressive cactus form dominating the front yard of where I ended up.



The sign-in book.  Was it odd that another Mark Jones, one from California, had been there less than 24 hours before?



The doors just happened to be open...



I love this part...



...the supposed foreshadowing of the destruction of the Twin Towers through some convoluted folding of a 20 dollar bill.



Some hipsters from Austin had come down to snoop around.



If only one could still dress like that in 1958.  Or better, receive instruction this way.



And of course, the Spurs.  I didn't read the article included.  The obvious question - does it mention Duncan and his penchant for Dungeons and Dragons?  



And even the Ninja was represented.

More on this whole thing later.  If you know then you know, if you don't then you will.  But even if you think you know...you still don't know.  Yeah, it's going to be that good.

*End Bonus Coverage*


Yuan

And lastly, an article to give some general insight into the high price of food and gasoline...


...here.


And so goes another week on the streets of San Antonio.  As always, to be continued...

Failing grade for border wall

It’s a strange time to be alive. We lobby aggressively for a federal germ lab that the Feds themselves say would pose less risk if it were kept on the other side of the country. We practically build ourselves out of our own economy by threatening the military with encroaching suburbs that gas prices will make unlivable in a few years. And we grant Homeland Security the powers to ignore all controls regarding the safe construction of a wall that will cede untold acreage to a No Man’s Land between the Rio Grande and us: another move the Feds are sadly shaking their heads over.

What a species we make.

And despite Congress’s granting Homeland Security Czar Michael Chertoff these supra-Constitutional powers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency still has to review the über-agency’s environmental assessments of proposed sections from the Valley to El Paso.

Unsurprisingly, they gave it an "Incomplete" — with a laundry lists of concerns tacked on. [The bureaucratese rating is “EC-2, Environmental Concerns–Insufficient Information.”]

In three undated documents, the EPA chief of planning and coordination for Region 6, Cathy Gilmore, wrote* that Homeland had not done its homework in explaining the potential impacts the wall/fence/wire/roads/lights etc. would have on land, air, water, wildlife, and cultural and historic sites, including Native American remains.

Gilmore writes: “It is unclear why an EIS was prepared for 21 miles of segmented fence in the Lower Rio Grande Valley Sector, but not for 56 miles of unbroken fence in the El Paso Sector.”

It’s a wonder they did the EIS thing at all for the Lower Grand Valley considering they had the Congressionally granted Real ID Act provisions to fall back on exempting them from virtually every other federal law. I mean, would you rumble-and-jerk through a 20-hour jam-up during hurricane season if you had clear skies and your own private HOV lane?

A Sierra Club release today illuminates a number of the findings that the EPA raised.

They include: