On the Street

Warning: This was a busy week. Too much time was spent in front of books while straining the back and eyes. A lot of fotos were taken. And if a foto is worth a 1000 words, then consider what follows to be long-winded. As always, read at your own risk.

Letters (to the OTS Penthouse Suite)

#1

The first letter had nothing more than a link to this page link for an NPR blog, or something like that. It was good fun to be had at Clinton's expense.

Here it is.

#2

Author Gene Fowler wrote to mention his new book,

"Mark,

I invite you to take a gander at my new book MAVERICKS posted at www.utexas.edu/utpress. I asked them to send the Current a review copy. I Enjoyed your piece on SA punk history. My son played several times at the Taco place.

Gene"

Here is the link for his book. I hope to receive it soon and review it. Gene helped tremendously in the cover story a while back that touched upon the Mayan Order.

#3

Another letter was written from the perspective of a non-Spurs fan.

"What does the Spurs nation think of this guy?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=w8WXVJQ06Sk

And when is someone gonna actually take his ass out with a similar "Bowen" style technique?

He seems to be respected and feared in the league. I can't figger it out"

This video seems to be clear and damning. It appears as if Bruce Bowen clearly kicks another player. The fans are outraged. The announcers are appalled. Bruce Bowen has often been an unknowing participant in other Zapruder-esque examinations of wrong-doing.

A fan at a Spurs chat group slowed down the footage and showed it from another angle. The evidence implies something else...

It seems as if the other player makes several grabs at Bruce Bowen's nutz. Evidently, the national media had a good day bashing Bruce Bowen over the incident but none over the groping.

And while sports fans look for outrage frame by frame, other obvious outrages in the political arena occur in front of our eyes. I appreciate sports for being a break from the obvious lies of the government, and I do appreciate the old saying that the sports page is the only section in a newspaper that is actually true (a point I can't disagree with given the exaggerations I write weekly), however the fascination with details of sports does seem out of place at times...

While At the Coffee Shop...

...studying anatomy and physiology I overheard a couple people across the way discussing politics (and delegates and precincts.) There seemed to be a job interview occurring. The main guy looked familiar but I could not remember where I had seen him before. And then it finally hit me - he was one of Congressman Al's political rivals during the 1996 congressional race in a district that spread from west San Antonio to east El Paso. And on that note, the weekly update from Congressman Al, from the road as he hits the streets in Mississippi.

Except that he didn't answer the phone...

Instead there is this -

Ask Mark (to Ask Ron)?

In what might possibly be a recurring column to On the Street I present this exchange with local food critic Ron Bechtol where I ask the question: what wine would go well with al pastor tacos?

In this conversation one can quickly realize the knowledge and passion Ron has for food and wine. I clearly caught him at work, and one can hear the phone ringing in the background at one moment, nonetheless, he was happy to take my unlikely question seriously.

(The process should work like this: people send in their questions for wine suggestions and then I ask Ron what he would do.)

Send In The Clowns

The circus has come to town. On First Friday really tall people walked around (and over) Bluestar.

Behind the camera was Spurs legend Coby Dietrich who is almost as tall as these guys without stilts. Dietrich kept clear, probably to avoid the obvious jokes.

Deja Vu (All Over Again)

The Bluestar main gallery had an area in the middle roped off. I'm still not sure why.

This month's show seemed very, very similar to what was offered last month. In fact, here is a different version of the same foto I took a foto of last week. I didn't spend too much time in the gallery but found a few other interesting images.

I really liked this image, except for the cross on the door. I suppose it recontextualizes the space into Western thought. However the cross just seems wrong. It's a small point considering everything else occurring. The shapes on the roof really make the plaza.

In the back room at Bluestar I wandered around an intricate arrangement of work. I felt as if I was walking into someone's personal workspace or bedroom (minus the Korn poster.)

The walls have eyes. Very little space was left bare.

Wonderland

I was told that up in one of the lofts there was an interesting performance involving domesticity and food preperation. I could see it from the parking lot. Julia Child + acid seemed like a possible first impression.

What was once typical was transformed into something alien. (I was told that I went to school with the artist, so I took her out of character a bit.)

Wood Is Good

At Joan Grona Gallery I found these pilgrims, though I suppose one could reimagine them to be LBJs just as easily.

This may have been the ship they came in on. Nautical themes are almost always good (except in wearing docksiders but even that may have a return to popularity.)

Around the corner, I found the artist describing his work. The paintings were very electric but I was also impressed by the unique frames that were made for each painting. Wood is good.

Back At the Ranch

In the back alley at the UTSA sattelite space I came across several interesting works. I might even go so far as to say this was the most interesting show I've seen yet here.

Underneath that stencil were these fallen planes. It was a small room (closet) but this was a good use of the space.

Around the corner, the aerial theme continued.

What interested me most was this fascinating contraption. A still image doesn't reveal its true nature. Some robot was underneath the floor moving these wooden blades of grass as if they were blowing in the wind. A rumor spread that it was a little person from the circus underneath the platform but that rumor was never proven.

Second Saturday (@1906 S. Flores)

At Salon Mijango I arrived early, probably too early.

All the works were done in a similar mindset.

Upon closer and closer inspection the layers become more apparent.

The artist's signature...

Next door at Fl!ght Gallery I was early as well. In this image, one can see the title of the show being handwritten on the window.

This piece stood out even though most of the work was different from piece to piece. I'm sure somewhere someone is debating if a show should be unified or not but I appreciated how most of the pieces had different approaches, which could be from various reasons - inspiration, time frames...

This painting appeared to be of a local legend slipping through the bandwidths.

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