San Antonio Current - March 6, 2024

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08 Feature Connection Lost

Millions of low-income Texans are losing access to affordable broadband service

07 News

The Opener News in Brief

Ballpark Estimates

ESPN touted San Antonio as possible pro baseball market. The numbers suggest it’s no home run.

Bad Takes

Subscriptions:

Leaders who understand Trump’s wrongness on immigration must drop their support for his campaign

16 Calendar Calendar Picks

25 Arts

Balancing Act

San Antonio creative Analy Diego multitasks in style

29 Screens

Gotta Have Faith

Stars of The Chosen reminisce on their roles as Jesus and Mary Magdalene in Season 4

31 Food Springtime Sipping

Cocktail punches taste great as the weather warms, and these highlight San Antonio producers Beer for the Dry Curious Non-alcoholic beers have improved, and San Antonio stores carry some worth a sip

34 Music

Live and Local

After reaching 100 episodes, San Antonio’s Live at Studio E shows no sign of slowing down

Critics’ Picks

On the Cover: A widely praised program that provides discount broadband to low-income Texans has become the latest casualty in Congress’ budget squabbles. Cover design: Samantha Serna.

That Rocks/That

HGov. Greg Abbott told the United Nations in a tweet to “go pound sand” after human rights groups petitioned the international organization to investigate abuses of LGBTQ+ rights in Texas. A coalition of groups including the ACLU of Texas and the Human Rights Campaign last month wrote to the U.N. urging it to look into recent anti-LGBTQ+ proposals passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Abbott.

A new art installation at the intersection of West Lambert and South Flores streets in Southtown celebrates Louis Vuitton signing Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama as a brand ambassador. The installation is designed to look like a Louis Vuitton store and features a photograph of Wemby in its door. The installation was designed by Andy Benavides and painted by Chris Montoya, both San Antonio visual artists.

HA judge ruled last week that Barbers Hill High School, located east of Houston, can continue disciplining a Black student over the length of his hair. The student, Darryl George, has spent much of the year separated from the rest of his classmates and was allegedly denied access to teaching materials because of his refusal to cut his hair in accordance with the district’s dress code. George argues the requirement violates a state law prohibiting discrimination based on hairstyle.

The first charter school in San Antonio dedicated to the education of students with dyslexia is set to open this fall, and it’s opened enrollment for kindergarteners, first graders and second graders. Celebrate Dyslexia Schools, located in the DoSeum, will be tuition-free for students.  — Abe Asher

Refusing to give up on batshit election claims with Sidney Powell

Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

Say what you will about Dallas attorney and spreader of election-conspiracy bullshit Sidney Powell, but at least she’s persistent.

Last fall, Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor charges tied to the Georgia election interference case in which 19 people, including former President Donald Trump, were slapped with racketeering charges over their attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Powell was accused of spreading unfounded claims that widespread fraud swept Joe Biden into the White House.

Despite Powell’s pleas — which came with six years’ probation and around $9,000 in fines and restitution — she’s back to pushing claims Trump actually won.

In an edition of Powell’s Defending the Republic newsletter blasted out last month, the top headline declared, “Study finds that Trump almost certainly won in 2020.” The study in question was conducted by the Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank, which based its claims on questionnaires it emailed to people

who voted by mail in the 2020 election. While Fox News and a variety of fringe publications, including Powell’s, say Heartland’s poll shows that mail-in votes were riddled with fraud, the Washington Post and other mainstream publications ridiculed the partisan survey as flawed and unscientific. Post columnist Philip Bump blasted the so-called study as “ridiculous” and declared that it “fails the smell test.”

But, hey, if there’s anything we’ve learned from Powell’s blathering about the election, assclowns never let the truth get in the way of a good story. —

“Executives shamelessly brag to investors about the company’s incredible growth and historic earnings. Millions go to the CEO, billions go to Wall Street and a middle finger goes to the workers.”

—  Teamsters General Manager Sean O’Brien on the strike by 400 workers at Molson Coors’ Texas brewery.

The plan to build a new downtown arena for the San Antonio Spurs may have taken another step forward last month when the University of Texas Board of Regents handed the City of San Antonio the exclusive option to buy or lease the 13.5-acre property where UTSA’s Institute of Texan Cultures is currently located. The site is rumored to be the potential location of the new Spurs arena, which would be built as a replacement for the Frost Bank Center.

A member of the U.S. Air Force stationed in San Antonio died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., late last month to protest the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza Aaron Bushnell approached the embassy in fatigues and announced that he would “no longer be complicit in genocide.” His final words were “Free Palestine.” He was 25.

The U.S. Supreme Court began hearing arguments in a case that will determine whether a Texas law prohibiting large social media companies from banning particular political posts or accounts is constitutional. Both Texas and Florida passed laws to counter the perceived censorship of right-wing viewpoints in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

—  Abe

CONNECTION LOST

Millions of low-income Texans are losing access to affordable broadband service

Congress’ budget bickering is about to claim another casualty: a widely praised program that helps low-income families afford broadband internet service.

The federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) provides qualifying families with a discount on internet service of up to $30 per month and up to $75 per month on qualifying tribal lands. Nearly 23 million households have signed up for ACP since its 2021 launch. Roughly 1.7 million of those are in Texas, and 122,000 are in Bexar County. Experts have called the program the most successful government initiative for conquering the digital divide. Broadband service is increasingly necessary for anything from applying for jobs, doing homework and accessing health services, they point out.

But with funding running out and Congress mired in another budget showdown, the Federal Communications Commission stopped accepting new ACP applications on Feb. 8 and warned users it will wind down the program as soon as April if lawmakers don’t act.

“It’s one of the federal government’s most successful programs,” telecom industry analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics said. “It gives low-income

Americans an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty. If we’re serious about not wanting a permanent underclass in this country, it seems like a program we should be supporting, not shutting down.”

In a recent Recon survey, roughly half of ACP participants said they are only able to afford broadband access because of the program.

“Even if half of those people are fibbing, that’s still an enormous number of people who will be losing access to the Internet,” Entner said.

Jobs, school and health

To Entner’s point, a study of ACP participants who subscribe to Cox Cable’s broadband service found that half credited the subsidy to being able to obtain home internet for the first time. What’s more, 70% of

those customers credit home internet access for helping them find a new or a better job.

Indeed, broadband has become such a part of daily life that it’s become essential not just for job assignments but school assignments, registering for government programs, banking, paying bills and renewing prescriptions, experts said.

For example, roughly a quarter of teens living in households that make less than $30,000 annually say they sometimes can’t finish their homework due to a lack of reliable computer or internet access, accord-

ing to the Pew Research Center.

Understandably, ACP participants are worried about what a future without the subsidies will bring.

A recent survey of those in the program by consulting group BSG found that that majority worry about losing their jobs, their access to health-care services and the ability of their kids to keep up in school if they’re dropped from the rolls. According to the survey:

• 65% fear losing a job or their household’s main

source of income.

• 75% are scared of losing access to health-care services such as online appointments or prescription medicine refills.

• 81% of parents on ACP are concerned their children will fall behind in school.

While some dropped from ACP may be able to use mobile phones to access services, that still comes with the cost of higher data fees. Beyond that, not all websites are optimized to work on phone screens, said Christine Parker, a senior GIS analyst with the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative.

“When folks are reliant just on their phones, studies show they’re more likely to turn to social media for their news and information,” Parker said. “When that happens, people may not be able to access the most reliable and accurate information.”

Some 95% of ACP participants told BSG they would struggle with other costs such as groceries or rent if they didn’t have low-cost broadband access.

Parker said she’s concerned many will simply try to do without.

The median price for internet access in the U.S. is $75 per month, according to a November 2022 analysis from Consumer Reports. While some cable and telecom companies offer discount plans, they frequently require consumers to “bundle” them with other services like pricey pay-TV packages or landline phone service.

“For a lot of people, they’ll find that there’s just not a cheap enough plan to keep accessing broadband,” Parker said.

Dim rescue prospects

A bipartisan group of lawmakers hope to resurrect the program by attaching a $7 billion measure to a larger spending package, and FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks in a recent op-ed in The Hill pleaded with members of Congress to approve it quickly.

“Closing the digital divide is about opening opportunities for all, including the millions of Americans who lack broadband because they can’t otherwise afford it,” wrote Starks, a Trump administration appointee. “At this pivotal moment, we can’t turn back.”

A bipartisan group of 26 governors — Texas’ Greg Abbott wasn’t among them — has also asked Congress to renew the program, and 174 mayors, including San Antonio’s Ron Nirenberg, sent a letter urging lawmakers to continue its funding. But with a partial government shutdown looming as of the Current’s Friday press date, experts said the outlook for continuing the ACP without a major disruption looks grim.

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat whose district includes parts of both San Antonio and Austin,

said Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and hardliners in his party are hell-bent on slashing social programs. For all its benefits, the ACP will be a hard sell in the current environment.

“They want to cut the budget because they see anything that’s coming from the federal government as bad, but they never wanted to list the things they want to cut,” Casar said. “Now that they are actually forced to talk about what they want to cut, it’s broadband for working class people, food for working class people, workforce programs for working class people — and the last thing they want to cut is tax breaks for rich people.”

The irony of Republican budget hawks standing in the way of ACP’s renewal is that the program enjoys wide adoption in both red and blue districts. Some research even suggests it has a higher enrollment rate in GOP-controlled states.

It’s also not lost on Recon Analytics’ Entner that the program helps low-income people gain self sufficiency by empowering them to earn more. Broadband provides access to the kinds of work and educational opportunities that help people improve their lives and their livelihoods.

“You have people trying to better themselves by using broadband connections to rise out of poverty, and now that’s going away,” he said. “It’s a program that has a lot of benefits for Americans, regardless of party or state, or whether they live in rural or urban areas. It’s sad that it’s become collateral damage.”

news

Ballpark Estimates

ESPN touted San Antonio as possible pro baseball market. The numbers suggest it’s no home run.

San Antonio sports commentator Mike Jimenez drew a flurry of online criticism for saying San Antonio will have trouble landing another professional sports team because the city is “poor” and “lacks visionaries.”

The comment came during an episode of the Alamo City Sportscast, a podcast during which he and co-host Joe Garcia discussed a recent ESPN article ranking the San Antonio-Austin region among the top contenders to land an MLB expansion team.

“San Antonio does nothing big,” Jimenez said. “There’s not one visionary in San Antonio. I guess probably the biggest visionary we’ve had over the years is [former Mayor] Henry Cisneros.”

Garcia also said San Antonio remains a low-income city, adding that a MLB expansion team is far more likely to end up in Austin than here.

While Jimenez and Garcia caught flak for their blunt talk about the Alamo City, some scholars said their assessment is pretty close. Others, however, said the metro area’s brisk growth and its hunger for sports may outshine its lack of financial heft.

“Not only is San Antonio poor relative to its neighbors, especially in this case Austin, but San Antonio is the seventh-largest city by population and is still only the 31st-largest media market,” said Char Miller, a professor at California’s Pomona College who’s written extensively about the history of San Antonio.

“[San Antonio] is a big place, but it can’t generate the advertising and ratings necessary to support major league teams,” Miller added.

A poor but populous city

San Antonio sports fans frequently tout the size of the city’s population when explaining why it deserves another sports franchise. Based on the population inside its city limits, SA is bigger than both Dallas and Denver, each of which have four professional sports teams, they point out.

Although metro areas are usually seen as a more accurate representation when it comes to measuring the size of an urban area, the San Antonio-New Braunfels metro is still larger than the metro areas of Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Nashville — all of which boast more than one professional sports team.

Even so, San Antonio remains far poorer than any of those cities and their surrounding metros.

In 2022, 18.7% of San Antonio’s 1.4 million residents lived in poverty, according to the latest American Community Survey. The Census Bureau defines poverty as an individual earning less than $13,590 or a family of four earning less than $29,960.

For reference, Dallas’ poverty rate was 17.8%, and Austin’s was only 11%, according to the survey.

San Antonio’s residents earn considerably less than their counterparts in other Texas cities.

Workers in the San Antonio met-

ro brought home $27.90 an hour on average last year – $3.37 less than the average hourly wage in Texas and far less than the national average of $33.22 an hour — according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

So, when Jimenez and Garcia say that San Antonio is poor, they’re not lying. And that’s a real hindrance to professional sports leagues, according to Pomona College’s Miller.

“One of the issues [of being poor] is having fewer television sets,” Miller said. “In a place like San Antonio, which is soccer-mad, there is not a Major League Soccer team. That’s pretty astonishing until you question how that team would generate off-field income, and television is the key there.”

Miller also said San Antonio’s lackluster airport with few direct non-stop flights, especially when compared to DFW International or Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport, poses another hindrance.

“That also becomes problematic in trying to think about the nature of an economy, which is both about transportation, corporate presence and television,” Miller said. “It’s hard to imagine how San Antonio pulls itself out of that hole, which is largely, but not exclusively, of its own making.”

Still hope?

Although San Antonio lacks a lot of what makes a city a desirable location for a pro sports franchise, Richard Jensen, an associate professor of sports marketing at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said it does have a shot at an MLB expansion team.

Other than the San Antonio-Austin Region, ESPN also listed Charlotte, Nashville, Orlando, Raleigh, San Jose, Salt Lake City and Portland, Oregon, as potential contenders. While the Alamo City lags those areas in earning power, it does have a highly coveted metric working in its favor, Jensen said.

“San Antonio’s got a growing population — everyone wants to come here,” the professor said, pointing out a recent study labeling our metro as the No. 1 destination for Gen Zers.

“Texas is still the land of opportunity,” Jensen added. “And San Antonio’s got a growing population, we’ve got a young population, and we have a Hispanic population.”

Moreover, with the city having already grabbed exclusive rights to more than 13 acres of land at Hemisfair last week, meaning there’s plenty of room for a new Spurs arena and a professional baseball stadium, according to the professor.

Time will tell whether MLB is willing to overlook a lack of TV screens and fan buying power for growth and available land.

BAD TAKES

Leaders who understand Trump’s wrongness on immigration must drop their support for his campaign

Editor’s Note: Bad Takes is a column of opinion and analysis.

Late last year, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain led his 400,000-strong union to a historic contract victory after an unprecedented simultaneous strike on the Big Three automakers. No one was more surprised than Fain himself, who doesn’t have a college degree, when he received an invitation to give the commencement address to the trade union program at Harvard University. He took the opportunity to

throw cold water on the fiery nativism voters have endured this presidential season.

“Nothing pisses me off more than when I turn on the news and see that one of the top two issues this election is border security,” Fain said. “It’s the same thing the billionaire class always does, they divide us; they divide us over any issue they can find, whether it’s race, whether it’s gender, who you love, what color your skin is or where you

aU.S. Border Patrol agents talk to asylum seekers who crossed into South Texas near Eagle Pass.

Germany, he proclaimed last Christmas that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” If elected again, he promised mass roundups and detention camps that would render the Trail of Tears and the internment of Japanese Americans comparatively minor in scale.

The rest of the Republican Party has predictably fallen in line, and Texas has been at the disgraceful vanguard.

On Feb. 20, Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Annunciation House, a Catholic network of migrant shelters in El Paso, for the crime of helping distressed families and weary travelers.

“Under the U.S. Constitution, states have the right to defend from invasion,” Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted on Feb. 23.

Ironically enough, James Madison, the architect of the Constitution, explicitly rebuked equating immigration with military invasion, since we are not at war with immigrants’ countries of origin. He emphatically argued that pretending otherwise would normalize a gross overreach of state power.

come from.”

He recounted to graduates that all four of his grandparents lived through the Great Depression.

“Destitute people trying to cross a border to find a better life are not our enemy,” he said. “When I see these people, I see my grandparents.”

However, politically speaking, the Grand Old Party is simply going hunting where the ducks are. There’s a reliable reservoir of anti-immigrant hatred and fear to exploit. From the announcement of his candidacy in 2015 to his speech last month after defeating former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley in the South Carolina primary, Donald Trump has distinguished himself with his unabashed willingness to bogusly claim that migrants are drug smugglers, rapists, fresh out of prisons, fresh out of mental institutions or terrorists.

Evoking terminology used in Nazi

“Under the idea of preventing invasion, not only an indiscriminate removal of all aliens, might be enforced; but a thousand other things still more remote from the operations and precautions appurtenant to war might take place,” Madison wrote 224 years ago.

As if foretelling the future, an investigation by the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology in 2022 revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement “has created a surveillance infrastructure that enables it to pull detailed dossiers on nearly anyone, seemingly at any time” — all without a warrant. What they can do to the foreign “other,” they end up doing to you.

Next to the militarism of Trump and Abbott, old-school conservatives can seem downright moderate.

Take Dennis Nixon, chair of Laredo-based International Bancshares Corp., whom Express-News columnist Gilbert Garcia recently interviewed with kid gloves for the Puro Politics podcast.

Although he’s endorsed and fundraised for Trump, Nixon opposes the border wall, and criticized the billions

Abbott is wasting on Operation Lone Star as “totally ineffective.” In a January report titled “Common Sense Border Management Solutions,” Nixon noted that the overwhelmingly majority of unauthorized migrants are looking for work and many are genuinely fleeing persecution.

“It is important to note that most of those seeking asylum are not the drug dealers or rapists the media portrays them to be,” he admonished.

Oh, it’s “the media,” is it? Not the billionaire blowhard whose campaigns you helped bankroll?

Still, right-of-center folks who aren’t completely delulu can help dispel false narratives.

Government agencies “are spending all their time processing and managing migrants on the border who simply want a better life and are crossing the border to achieve it,” Nixon wrote. “These migrants make a massive, positive contribution to our economy and mean no harm to anyone. Rather than processing economic migrants, U.S. Border Patrol should be spending their time apprehending the bad guys that make up less than 10% of all encounters.”

Historically, sweeping immigration crackdowns haven’t accomplished much except escalating migrant deaths, according to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis released last year.

And would there even be a “border crisis” if there were not first a U.S. labor shortage?

“One of the criticisms, obviously, is these people are taking U.S. jobs,” Nixon told Garcia. “Nobody in the construction or food service industries or in agriculture will tell you anybody’s taking anybody’s jobs. There’s just no people around.”

Indeed, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors trade association, the construction industry alone will need 500,000 more workers this year just to keep up with demand.

Meanwhile, back in Down-Is-Up Land, this misleading Fox News headline is making the rounds: “7.2 million illegals entered the US under Biden administration, an amount greater than population of 36 states.”

But Customs and Border Protection tracks encounters, not actual border crossings. Upwards of 25% of those 7.2 million encounters may be repeat customers, thus counting the same person twice or more. And, according to the libertarian Cato Institute, the

Biden administration has expelled 51% of those apprehended, compared to Trump’s 47%, while Trump released 52% back into the country, compared to Biden’s 48%.

An open border it is not.

What’s more, talk of “open borders” itself contributes to migrants naively believing they’ll be greeted with open arms. In a poll obtained by the Dallas Morning News, 1 in 4 Central Americans surveyed said they heard “the border is open.”

Now, where would our hemispheric neighbors have gotten such an idea?

From right-wing propaganda, of course. Media Matters for America, a left-leaning journalism watchdog, tallied 3,282 mentions of “open borders” by Fox pundits between Nov. 1, 2020, and March 16, 2023.

Nixon’s own report cited “one of the primary reasons” for migration from Northern Triangle countries — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — as “perceptions of amnesty largely driven by misinformation.”

Hit with an avalanche of spurious social media posts about the jettisoned bipartisan border security package he’d spent months negotiating, U.S. Sen. James Lankford admonished colleagues who fell for the bait.

“I personally have told them over and over again, they’re false,” the Oklahoma Republican said. “For some reason we still believe everything we read on the internet.”

He also relayed a stunning anecdote: “I had a popular commentator four weeks ago who had told me flat out before they knew any of the contents of the bill that

if you try to move a bill that solves the border crisis during this presidential year, I will do whatever I can to destroy you. By the way, they have been faithful to their promise.”

One could almost muster up sympathy for policy wonks who aim to add some order to our broken immigration system, if not completely fix it. If not for the

disquieting prospect that — should another dehumanizing and cruel chapter of U.S. history unfold during a second Trump term — we’ll have politicians and businessmen like Lankford and Nixon to thank for ingratiating themselves to democracy-subverting demagogues instead of, at long last, taking a stand for what they know is right: no human being is illegal.

For my money, it’s still all these legals you gotta watch out for.

FRI | 03.08

TOM SEGURA

As one of the boldest stand-up comics working the circuit, Tom Segura doesn’t rely on rapid-fire punchlines or unhinged rants to land his laughs. (Although there will be plenty of dick jokes and no shortage of offensive detours.) Instead, Segura leverages his skill as a storyteller, and he’s willing to spend time to close the deal with an audience. However edgy, it’s a stylistic approach that harkens back to an older style of comedy — one that falls flat if the stand-up can’t deliver a punchline worth the wait or fails to offer sufficient yuks along the way. Fortunately, Segura is so good at the latter that by the time he gets to the payoff, the audience is already sore from laughter. Clearly, it’s a formula that works. Segura’s star has risen over the course of five Netflix specials, and his latest, released last summer, debuted at No. 1 on the streaming service. $55 and up, 8 p.m., Frost Bank Center, 1 Frost Bank Center Drive, (210) 444-5140, frostbankcenter.com — Sanford Nowlin

SAT | 03.09

ALAN CUMMING IS NOT ACTING HIS AGE

As he approaches six decades on the planet, Broadway, movie and TV star Alan Cumming is contemplating what it means to act one’s age.

As such, the two-time Tony winner’s latest solo show will feature him covering the topics of sex, death and debauchery while lending his pipes to a setlist that includes pieces by Cabaret authors John Kander and Fred Ebb along with contemporary faves and even a self-penned song explaining his aversion to plastic surgery. “I feel I’m still at an age where I can dance till dawn, but also be able to dole out some wisdom to my fellow revelers!” the Scottish actor said. “Wisdom is just being able to recognize the repeating patterns that emerge as you get older and maybe deciding to react to them differently. It’s just the same show with different costumes.” $29 and up, 8 p.m., Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com. — SN

SAT | 03.09

SPECIAL EVENT

POP MADNESS

Pop Madness, San Antonio Public Library’s annual pop culture convention, is returning at the perfect time — just as many students are getting out for spring break. Held at downtown’s Central Library, the extravaganza usually boasts an embarrassing wealth of guest authors, artists, filmmakers, craft and gaming opportunities, and this year is no exception. Authors ranging from San Antonio horror specialist Johnny Compton to fantasy novelist Ehigbor Okosun will be around to talk about their craft, as will artists who run the gamut, from illustrator Usagi Wasabi to comic-book colorist Wes Hartman. Those looking for a more hands-on experience can get their fix with board and video gaming on the second floor, or they can check out any number of special activities, from the Pokémon Champions Arena to the Cosplay Contest to the Origami Creation Station. Food trucks and vendors also will peddle their wares to the pop culture-mad masses. Free, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Central Library, 600 Soledad St., guides.mysapl.org/popmadness. — Dean Zach

MON | 03.11

SPORTS SPURS VS. WARRIORS

With a little over a month remaining in the regular season, the Spurs kick off an eight-game home stand against Steph Curry and the Warriors that amounts to a late push to avoid the worst record in franchise history. Curry proved to be the difference maker when the two teams squared off in San Francisco back in November, leading all scorers with 35 points. Devin Vassell paced the Spurs with 24 points in a close 112-118 loss, with Victor Wembanyama and Keldon Johnson each contributing 22 points. It will take a team effort to limit Curry, whose timeless shooting has kept Golden State in the Western Conference play-in tour-

nament. As the Warriors hold on to the last vestiges of a fading dynasty, San Antonio seemingly has its sights set on the future. “It’s a very unselfish group,” Gregg Popovich told reporters after a 122-127 loss to the Kings. “We always have a lot of assists. We just don’t consistently shoot very well, and it makes it tough when you’re in defensive transition all the time. So that’s just a matter of forming your team as the years go by and working at it, but in this league you’ve got to have shooters all the way around.” $80 and up, 7 p.m., Frost Bank Center, 1 Frost Bank Center Drive, (210) 444-5140, frostbankcenter.com, NBA TV. — M. Solis

THU | 03.14

DRAG KRYSTAL VERSACE

The youngest queen to ever win RuPaul’s Drag Race, Krystal Versace was just 19 when she was crowned on the third season of the show’s British offshoot. But Versace has gone far beyond the Drag Race UK stage in the years since her crowning in 2021. After pursuing drag full-time at 18 — she dropped out of college to perform full-time alongside bestie Dede Licious — then winning on Drag Race at such a young age, she “fell out of love with Krystal,” she told BBC Three in 2023, explaining her decision to take a step back just as her fame peaked. But she’s since rediscovered her passion and plunged headfirst back into performing. Just last year, Versace launched her own TV show on BBC Three, Keeping Up with Krystal Versace, which follows her as she preps for her first solo show at the London Palladium. Now, the queen is stopping at the Bonham Exchange for one extravagant night. $20-$25, 10:30 p.m. and midnight, Bonham Exchange, 411 Bonham, table reservations by text only at (210) 386-4537, facebook.com/reylopezentertainment. — Dalia Gulca

FRI | 03.15SAT | 03.16

THEATER

COME FROM AWAY

With only a few wooden chairs and a company barely larger than 10 members, Come From Away tackles the heartrending, impossibly large and utterly true story of the aftermath of Sept. 11. The Tony Award-winning musical centers the often-forgotten town of Gander, Newfoundland, which — in the midst of the post-9/11 U.S. airspace closure — opened its one airport to more than 7,000 stranded passengers, doubling the town’s population in a single morning. Set in the aftermath of one of the world’s deadliest terrorist attacks, Come From Away bravely confronts themes of grief and xenophobia while sustaining a hopeful, and at times even humorous, undertone. The story’s focus is not so much on the events as the people — a gay couple retreating back into the closet, a Texan woman and an Englishman entering an awkward but endearing romance, a frantic mother of a New York City firefighter. Through unlikely friendships forged on cots in a cramped gymnasium, the “Islanders” and “plane people” open their borders — both literally and metaphorically — and rewrite the definition of home. $45-$145, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St., (210) 2263333, majesticempire.com. — Caroline Wolff

SAT | 03.16SUN | 03.17

BUD LIGHT ST. PATRICK’S RIVER PARADES & CELEBRATION

St. Patrick’s Day festivities return to the San Antonio River Walk with two days of live music and dance performances, Irishthemed floats and river-dyeing rituals. Floats festooned with decorations honoring the patron saint of Ireland will carry bagpipers and other performers down the River Walk’s Museum Reach and downtown sections at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday, March 16. The free and family-friendly event will include three chances to see the annual dyeing of the river green throughout the weekend at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday and once more at 1 p.m. Sunday. Both days will feature an afternoon of performers playing the Arneson River Theatre stage, not to mention chances to eat and shop at La Villita. Free, 1-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, San Antonio River Walk, thesanantonioriverwalk.com. — Amber Esparza

Reminder:

Although live events have returned, the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us. Check with venues to make sure scheduled events are still happening, and please follow all health and safety guidelines.

The Age of Armor

Tuesday, March 12

200 W. Jones Avenue

Free Museum admission: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.

Family-friendly activities: 10 a.m.–3 p.m.

Enjoy a fun-filled day of free activities for the entire family. Explore artmaking experiences, story time, and performances celebrating the special exhibition The Age of Armor. Food and beverages available for purchase.

Scan to register:

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DANCE

PILOBOLUS: RE-CREATION

Named after a genus of fungi known for the way it can throw its spores from distances up to 3 feet and its presence in herbivore dung (nicknames include “hat-throwers’’ and “dung-cannons”), Pilobolus is an imaginative dance company founded at Dartmouth College in 1971. From its inception, Pilobolus has centered on collective creativity, pulling from an array of genres to create modern dance experiences. The company’s 2024-25 Re:Creation tour combines innovative collaborative dance pieces with new renditions of works from the past, featuring collaborations with Darlene Kascak of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, composer and Radiolab founder Jad Abumrad, choreographer Madison Olandt and multiple former Pilobolus members. Folks can also catch a sensory-friendly performance, “Pilobolus is a Fungus,” the same day at noon, an interactive show for younger audiences exploring the natural world that’s narrated by Matt Kent. $38.50-$68.50, 8 p.m.. H-E-B Performance Hall, Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — Macks Cook

Keystone School Food and Drink Festival

Balancing Act

San Antonio creative Analy Diego multitasks in style

Born in Laredo and raised across the U.S.-Mexico border in Nuevo Laredo, Analy Diego felt the pull of art from an early age — thanks largely to the influence of her grandfather Miguel Angel Patino, who once worked as a movie poster artist.

“Some of my earliest childhood memories are sitting on his lap while he read books to me,” Diego recalled. “Instead of regular children’s books he would show me books about Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. And he loved Walt Disney. He instilled in me an admiration for Disney and artists in general.”

Patino was skilled enough as an artist that he caught the attention of a Disney exec who was passing through his hometown of Mazatlán. As a result, he set off to chase his dreams in Los Angeles.

“He tried to go to LA and start his career with Disney but he never made it past Laredo — that’s where he met my grandma,” Diego recounted.

Honing her painting skills since the age of 6, Diego intended to study studio art in college but her father Cesar de la Cruz persuaded her to pursue something more marketable.

“My dad asked me, ‘Why go to college for art if you can already do it?’ We used to travel a lot, and he noticed that I always had an interest in architecture. He said, ‘Why don’t you study architecture or interior design and then incorporate artwork into that field?’”

Fast-forward a few decades and Diego is doing exactly that, taking cues from both her grandfather’s artistry and her father’s practicality.

In addition to creating and selling artwork at the Alamo Heights gallery AnArte and the Olmos Park gift shop Feliz Modern, Diego is a busy interior designer who teaches in the College of Architecture, Construction and Planning at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Outside of her professional life, she’s also raising two kids — ages 3 and 6 — with her husband Fernando Diego, a managing partner at Metropolitan Contracting.

Making spaces

After a semester studying at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Diego weighed her transfer options and eventually set her sights on San Antonio.

“San Antonio just felt like the right place for me,” she said of her move in the fall of 2004. Between earning her bachelor’s degree in interior design in 2008 and her master’s in architecture in 2011, Diego worked for bigname firms but ultimately decided office life wasn’t the best fit.

“It was a great learning opportunity,” 27

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SELLBUY

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arts

25 she said. “But working in a big corporate office was not for me. I wanted a smaller environment.”

Diego found that smaller environment in the classroom when she started teaching architecture and interior design at UTSA, where she’s still a faculty member.

Since getting her interior design license in 2017, Diego has created a number of prominent spaces — including a handful of locations at Hemisfair. Starting off on a high note, Diego was tapped to design the model units and lobby spaces for the ’68 Apartments at the downtown development, which she gave a slick, contemporary spin with poppy accents including a color-blocked heart mural she painted onsite. That high-profile project led to others on the Hemisfair campus, such as the bright and airy Re:Rooted 210 wine bar, the intimate CommonWealth Coffeehouse and Bakery and even the retro-inspired signage for the complex’s parking garages.

“It’s happened organically,” Diego said of her design portfolio, which is about 70% commercial and 30% residential. “I’m very thankful that I started with hospitality,” she continued, citing the creative freedom and playfulness the industry can often entertain.

One telling example of Diego’s deft fusion of art and design can be seen at CommonWealth’s Jones Avenue location. Nodding to the local chain’s celebration of French culture and cuisine, Diego adorned a series of mirrors with vector illustrations featuring France’s national bird: the Gallic rooster. Blending form and function, the eye-catching mirrors have become a signature of Diego’s artistic practice.

“She’s a renaissance woman — and I’m honored to represent her,” AnArte founder Ana Montoya said. “She’s an artist, a designer, an architect, a professor and a mom — and she defines creativity.”

Aesthetic evolution

Within the San Antonio art scene, Diego is perhaps best recognized for her pop art-inspired illustrations of celebrities and icons — which run the gamut from Frida Kahlo and Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Tower of the Americas and Warhol-esque cans of fideo and tortilla soup. Ironically, it’s a style Diego has actively moved away from.

“I illustrated a lot of people I admire,” she explained. “But those were kind of like a warmup — definitely not what I want to focus on moving forward.”

Practice exercise or not, Diego’s digital forays into pop portraiture have

6Above: Analy Diego photographed amid her interior design work at CommonWealth. Below: Diego has actively moved away from vector illustrations of recognizable figures.

a distinct point of view — one that’s on full display in her mariachi and Marilyn Monroe tributes, both of which capture iPhone selfies.

“We love how seamlessly Analy merges mod aesthetics and San Antonio mainstays,” Feliz Modern co-founder Ginger Diaz said. “By distilling the design down to its elements, she transports us to a place between nostalgia and the city San Antonio will be tomorrow.”

As part of an ongoing artistic evolution, Diego has started creating paintings and illustrations based on her own photos.

“I started photographing cactus and flowers … and reading about Georgia O’Keeffe,” Diego said. “I took a creative trip to Marfa, and that’s kind of where it all started.”

This naturalistic departure has given way to a new series of paintings based on artisanal Mexican crafts that hearken to her childhood in Nuevo Laredo — with specific nods to Talavera tile and animal-centric Otomi embroidery.

During our chat, Diego offered a preview of her latest series, which she plans to show at AnArte later this year. Winning examples of her parallel interests in art and design, the new paintings almost resemble handcrafted tapestries, albeit carefully adorned with layers of glitter.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Diego’s kids find her studio practice alluring.

“They want to get involved but they want to work with the glitter — and glitter is messy,” she said. “But I give them scraps to play with while I do my thing. It’s become an art activity for all of us but it doesn’t happen very often because I like working at night — when they’re asleep.”

When asked about balancing art-making, interior design, teaching and motherhood, Diego confirmed that her plate is full. In addition to working on her forthcoming AnArte exhibition, Diego is designing several homes in San Antonio and Austin, a corporate office in Universal City and four coffee shops.

“I’m at a place in my career where I might need to let go of some my responsibilities,” she said. “Or maybe take a little break — but we’ll see.”

Gotta Have Faith

Stars of The Chosen reminisce on their roles as Jesus and Mary Magdalene in Season 4

What started as a crowd-funded project that raised more than $10 million at the beginning of 2019 has transformed into a cultural phenomenon.

Over the past five years, The Chosen, a revolutionary historical drama about the life of Jesus, has been viewed more than 770 million times in 175 countries across the world.

For its fourth season, The Chosen’s producers released the series last month in two-tothree episode blocks at local movie theaters. The block consisting of the final two episodes — Episodes 7 and 8 — dropped February 29. The Chosen’s small-screen debut for its fourth season will take place after the theatrical run.

Actors Jonathan Roumie and Elizabeth Tabish portray Jesus and Mary Magdalene respectively. The series is set in first-century Israel where Jesus, whose influence continues to grow across the land, demands his followers stand up to their Roman oppressors.

During a recent interview with the Current, Roumie and Tabish, the latter of whom worked as a professional actor in Austin for nine years, discussed the idea of the series being a faith-based show and how they confronted the challenge of portraying biblical characters.

Episodes 7 and 8 of The Chosen’s Season 4 are currently playing at local theaters, including Casa Blanca, Palladium, Embassy, Mayan, Northwest and Galaxy, among others.

What are you looking forward to the most about Season 4?

Jonathan Roumie: I’m really looking forward to people seeing the story develop and take a more mature turn in the narrative. There’s a lot of exciting things happening. A lot of major characters have these revelations. I’m really curious to see how the audience responds and reacts to all of it.

Elizabeth Tabish: For me, being on set and watching some of these performances of my fellow castmates, I was just blown away by so many moments. So, I’m excited for the world to see that.

How do you sell a faith-based show like The Chosen to someone who’s a nonbeliever?

JR: I don’t think any of us working on the show think of it as a faith-based [series]. For us, it’s a historical drama about these people in this time period. They absolutely had an effect on changing the entire world through a spiritual movement — a movement of faith. We don’t like to limit ourselves to one specific title because then it limits our audience. This show is for everyone — people of faith and people of no faith.

Atheists?

JR: Yeah, we’ve received letters from atheists. We got somebody from the Church of Satan writing us saying, “I don’t really believe in this, but you guys tell a great story.” So, if that guy’s taking the time to write a letter, what does that say about how the show appeals to a variety of people all over the world?

ET: At the same time, there are a lot of Christians who use it in their Bible study, too. So, it’s faithful to the stories of the gospel, and are very helpful in telling these stories and the lessons in them.

JR: I feel like our core audience are obviously Christians because they are the ones who want to see this story told well. But it’s also breaching those divides and breaking down those walls, which says a lot about how we’re telling this story.

Millions of dollars have been raised through crowdsourcing for the production of The Chosen. What does that say about the gap in storytelling that this show fills that maybe wasn’t there before?

ET: There was a desire for this show. The normal emotions that develop during a season — like “Will people like this or not?” — we

already had the confidence that the people who helped fund [the series] would definitely like it. It was created with a really strong bond with that core audience. We wouldn’t be here without them.

Jonathan, what mindset do you have to be in to play Jesus?

JR: I think you have to start with a state of humility because, ultimately, it’s not. The show isn’t about any of us as actors. It’s certainly not about me as an actor playing Jesus. It’s about Jesus and what he did and how he changed the world. So, for me, I start preparing for every season with a lot of prayer and discernment and reflection and solitude — the things that nourish me as a man of faith myself.

What about you and Mary Magdalene, Elizabeth?

ET: When I first booked the role, I was feeling very connected to her in Episode 1. She was in a very dark place and sort of searching for meaning. It felt like I was her, so it was very easy to get into the character as the show has progressed and as her storyline has grown. It’s been a relief to get to play some more joyful moments. Now, it’s about letting it unfold and responding with an open heart.

Springtime Sipping

Cocktail punches taste great as the weather warms, and these highlight San Antonio producers

Spring brings more opportunities for sun-drenched social gatherings, and few things better suit those kind of bright and airy soirees than cocktail punch.

Why punch? A large format make-ahead tipple served in a punch bowl or pitcher is an easy way to get a drink in guests’ hands quickly, leaving the host free to mingle and keep things lively. DIY bottled punches also make great gifts if you’re invited over for a fire-pit hang.

Fortunately, San Antonio-made products can help punch up your punch and make for boozy good times. Let’s run down a few recipes that will keep guests smiling while supporting creators of local flavors.

Grilled Pineapple Punch with Maverick Distilling Agave Blanco

Sure, you could use tequila for this fresh, pleasantly complex cocktail, but it’s hard to beat the Agave Blanco produced by Maverick Spirits (115 Broadway, (210) 447-7010, maverickwhiskey.com). The locally produced spirit offers similar flavors to traditional tequila, including agave, vanilla and honeysuckle, and it allows you to support a local business. Featuring charred pineapple, lime and a kick from poblano liqueur, this punch also lets guests add their own garnishes, such as mint sprigs and jalapeño slices, so they can customize to their tastes.

Ingredients

20 ounces Maverick Distilling Agave Blanco 4 ounces Ancho Reyes Verde poblano liqueur

12 ounces pineapple juice

Juice from 4 to 5 limes, approximately 4 ounces

1 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into spears

Mint sprigs, lime wheels and jalapeño slices, for garnish

Unsweetened sparkling water, for serving

Thread pineapple spears onto bamboo skewers and grill over medium heat until charred on both sides. Let cool and chop into one-inch cubes. Set aside. Combine Agave Blanco, Ancho Reyes Verde, pineapple juice and lime juice in a large pitcher and refrigerate until ready to serve. When ready, drop a cube or two of pineapple into the bottom of each glass and add a generous amount of ice. Fill each glass about 3/4 full with punch, and top each evenly with sparkling water. Invite guests to garnish with mint sprigs, lime wheels and jalapeño slices, as desired.

White Wine Sangria with ReRooted:210’s Albariño

White wine-based sangrias aren’t as widely quaffed as their red counterparts, and we just don’t get that. A crisp, dry white wine such as the albariño produced by ReRooted:210 (623 Hemisfair Boulevard, Suite 106, (210) 239-9763, rerootedwine.com) acts as a perfect base for fruit and brandy to meld, creating a lighter variation on the traditional red Spanish punch. Texas citrus shines from October through mid-May, so don’t skimp on Texas grown grapefruit, oranges and lemons, which will add brightness and flavor.

Ingredients

2 bottles ReRooted:210 Albariño

1/4 cup turbinado sugar

6 cups sliced grapefruit, oranges and lemons

1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced 8 ounces brandy

Unflavored sparkling water

Place sliced fruit in a large bowl, add the sugar and toss gently. Leave to macerate for about an hour in the fridge. Add the fruit, brandy and wine to a large pitcher and let the mixture meld in the fridge overnight. When you’re ready to serve, add ice to glasses and pour sangria over, filling each glass about 3/4 of the way. Pull some of the soaked fruit from the pitcher and add to each glass. Fill the glass the rest of the way with sparkling water and enjoy immediately.

Summer Shandy Punch with Roadmap Brewing’s Professor Plum’s Alibi

A shandy is nothing more than a mixed drink of beer and lemonade or lemon soda, but Roadmap Brewing (723 North Alamo St., 210254-9962, roadmapbrewing.com) produces a delectable plum-tinged kettle sour that can soup up this style of sipper. The beer is soured in the boil kettle before lactose sugar and over 200 pounds of plums go into the mix, creating a balance of tartness and sweetness. This sets the stage for a slightly effervescent, just-yeasty-enough day-drinking option.

Ingredients

Two 16-ounce cans Roadmap Brewing Professor Plum’s Alibi 32 ounces lemonade Lemon wheels, for garnish

Mix equal parts beer and lemonade in a pitcher and chill. Add ice, if desired, to each glass and fill with shandy. Garnish with lemon wheels.

Beer for the Dry Curious

Non-alcoholic beers have improved, and San Antonio stores carry some worth a sip

My experience with Dry January, conducted a couple of years ago, was unconvincing, especially in the realm of no-alcohol cocktails. No Nogronis for me, thanks. Several bottles of dispirited spirits — some attempting to pass for tequila, others striking out in entirely new directions — currently gather dust on my bar.

And yet, the drum beat for cutting back on booze continues, and new — and perhaps actually improved— products appear on shelves every day. Among them are an ever-widening selection of non-alcoholic beers. Just to be clear, ”non-alcoholic” beers can contain up to 0.5% alcohol. Only “alcohol-free” beers have absolutely none. How brewers achieve either of those gets a little complicated.

We don’t need to go into it in depth — except to say that there are five basic ways alcohol can be removed, and two of them, reverse osmosis filtration and vacuum distillation/evaporation, are so expensive that only large brewers can usually afford to use them. All of these methods risk stripping out flavors, or not generating them in the first place, which can end up with off-notes not masked by alcohol.

Dogged experimentation, though, has led to the creation and marketing of some surprisingly successful alternatives to standard brews, among them several produced by Athletic Brewing, a pioneering brand well represented in San Antonio. The company makes more than a dozen styles, roughly half of which have turned up on local H-E-B, Central Market and Whole Foods shelves.

Having been bitter-bombed by overly hoppy West Coast brews in the past, IPAs aren’t usually my first choice in beer. Unexpectedly, both Athletic’s Run Wild IPA and Free Wave Hazy IPA come across as refreshing, not punishing. The Hazy further balances its hoppy dryness with tropical fruit notes. You might not mistake them for the “real” thing, but in my estimation, that’s not so bad.

There’s a modestly hazy hoppiness to Athletic’s Upside Dawn Golden, reflected both in aroma and taste. It gave a clean and balanced impression overall with any bitterness mellowing as the beer warms. The maker also advertises Upside to be “crafted to remove gluten.”

A healthy but not too exuberant foam precedes the Cerveza Atletica Light Copper, which seems positioned somewhere between a typical Mexican lager and a darker brew such as Negra Modelo. There’s good, prickly carbonation and a pleasant, malty molasses

quality that results in an appealing style all its own. A chance encounter with an Athletic representative at Central Market revealed that some darker expressions, such as the All Out Extra Dark should appear later, and that I should look for the personal favorite Oktoberfest again in early September.

The packaging of Best Day Brewing’s White Belgian Style Wheat would have you believe that orange played a huge part in the aromatic and flavor profile. Not for me. Although I did get a whiff of grapefruit and even more of the advertised chamomile. Hazy and yeasty, the overall impression is pleasant, though not especially convincing as a witbier. Its calorie count of 65 is typical of many non-alcoholic offerings.

I was predisposed to like Dallas-brewed Nada “near beer” for the name alone, but nothing’s in a name, it appears. For me, at least, the Pils was “clean,” as advertised, but lacked character. Nada’s Hazy IPA, which counts “dank” among its virtues, has an appealingly dry and hoppy aroma and a crisp flavor with a citrus

peel kicker but little else. It does, however, clock in at just 30 calories.

Samuel Adams is a brewing behemoth in craft clothing, and for that reason I was predisposed not to like its Just the Haze IPA. Wrong. It poured with a big, foamy head and aromas of piney hops. There was a tamed bitterness on the palate further softened by a unique and almost creamy mouthfeel. I didn’t feel I was sacrificing anything for virtue when it came to this “malt beverage.”

Even more of a surprise came from a beer I never order in its full-octane form, the immensely popular Corona. The straightforwardly labeled Corona Non-Alcoholic opened with a little vegetal funkiness, I thought, but nailed the taste with a burst of lightly hoppy flavor that was bright, thirst-quenching and convincing — maybe even better than the original. Add lime and, January to July and beyond, nobody would know you were cheating.

Live and Local

After blowing past the 100-episode mark, San Antonio’s Live at Studio E shows no sign of slowing down

Unlike numerous other pandemic-born live-streaming video projects, Live at Studio E is still around — and still kicking ass.

The YouTube series showcasing live sets by San Antonio musical acts stands apart because it’s well filmed, sounds great and is expertly curated. Masterminded by San Antonio studio owner Brant Sankey and photographer Oscar Moreno, Live at Studio E recently taped its milestone 100th episode with no signs of slowing down.

Indeed, the series features a veritable Who’s Who of the Alamo City music scene, from roots-forward acts such as The Last Bandoleros and Garrett T. Capps to alt-rock favorites like Buttercup and Piñata Protest.

The COVID-19 pandemic shuttered live music venues and forced performers to resort to live-streaming from their homes or rehearsal spots. What resulted was a cringey deluge of poorly shot, murkily recorded videos of performers who frankly deserved better.

Though born of the same era, Live at Studio

E rose above the fray because its creators, well, actually knew what they’re doing. Sankey’s Studio E is a go-to recording operation that’s given birth to many release by South Texas bands, and Moreno has been a key photographic chronicler of the city’s music scene.

Musical origins

Sankey cut his teeth in the local music scene as part of underground three-piece rock outfit The Bombardiers, active in the early 2000s.

“We played Wacky’s Cantina sometimes, but really our home was Taco Land,” Sankey said. “The reason I didn’t leave is I enjoyed the scene built around there. We’d head down there blasting The Replacements, that live album When the Shit Hits the Fan. Also Ween’s The Pod and Bill Hicks’ routines, and we’d get out of the car salty as fuck.”

Though the Bombardiers could be termed pop-punk, Sankey is wary of the term. “It wasn’t Blink-182,” he said.

MThough Sankey was only 22 years old, the drummer Steve was already in his early 40s, a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music. The older musician hinted at a way forward for Sankey in the music business.

“He functioned on a really high level but had a cool way of harnessing it, not being a dork,” Sankey said. “I latched onto that.”

Eventually, Sankey fell into theater, playing guitar in pit orchestras.

“I was reading charts, never done that before,” he said. “I learned on the job. Right place at the right time.”

Each theater production was a unique musical challenge, often in a new genre. That laid more groundwork for his desire to own his own studio.

“It expanded my vision of music. It was all over the map! And I loved that. Made it hard to go back to being in a band, a band just focuses on one thing,” he added. “Being all over the map, it’s similar to being in a studio. I’ve done jazz records, I’ve done doom metal, cumbia. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

Making the leap

Sankey learned his studio chops alongside late San Antonio violinist Daniel Kobialka, who’d performed to acclaim in orchestras across the globe.

“I would go there and help him,” Sankey said. “That was my training. I skipped any formal studio training.”

Another formative experience was a week spent as a session player at El Paso’s famed Sonic Ranch studio.

“I learned a lot on that one,” Sankey said. “The engineer was a no-name dude. Record was written and recorded in eight days. Furious 14-, 15-hour sessions. During playback, the engineer would disappear. He was an apparition. He was transparent. I loved that.”

Six years ago, Sankey decided he’d amassed the experience he needed to made the leap. He started Studio E. Along the way, he’s developed an approach to recording he calls being “transparent.”

“I want it to sound like the people who made it: transparent. Like the band was captured under the most charismatic light possible,” he explained.

If that sounds a lot like Steve Albini, the Chicago-based studio owner known for recording anyone from The Pixies and Nirvana to the Jesus Lizard and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, then you picked up on one of Sankey’s guiding influences.

“He has great views on when you can be helping someone make a record, and when you’re trespassing on their vision,” Sankey said of Albini. “That’s an important thing that not a lot of people acknowledge.”

Sankey’s years of doing live sound for SA venues also helped set the stage for his approach.

“For me, the difference between live and studio mixing has narrowed over time,” he said. “With recorded sound, the temptation is to be real precious. But you don’t listen in isolation at a live show! It’s a bit more gestural. You turn something up. Is it helping? Is it not? It sounds simple, but it’s difficult sorting through 20 tracks, trying to figure what contributing or taking away, what’s a bad thing and what’s a good thing.”

Going live

As the pandemic ground on, Sankey joined forces in 2021 with Moreno, who’s a musician in addition to being a preeminent shutterbug, to launch their video show. Sankey provides live sound for the typically 45-minute sets while Moreno moves through the studio

capturing video.

“It was a depressing time, especially for music. Nowhere to play but bands were still practicing,” Sankey said. “It ended up being a lot of fun.”

To maintain the feel of a club performance, bands perform live, with the audio coming straight off the mixing console. During the pandemic the show provided a needed outlet for bands simply looking to play and connect with their fans.

Since then, it’s become a means for San Antonio acts to reach a wider audience in a more organic and personally connected way than putting recordings up on Bandcamp or SoundCloud, Sankey said. He said the shows regularly get comments from people in other cities and other countries, and bands have used their sessions to help book tours.

“It put San Antonio bands on more of a global platform,” Sankey said.

However, after 100 episodes, it’s all begun to blur together.

“I can’t remember them all at this point,” Sankey said with a laugh.

“When we first started, Garrett Capps was one of them. We did the first one, and he was on the phone the next day 8 a.m. ‘I wanna do one.’”

Future sounds

The new music economy’s shrunken budgets and oversaturated media landscape, not to mention improvements in home-recording technology, have made it difficult for studios like Sankey’s to survive. Just the same, he loves his work.

“I know having a studio is not smart, but tracking a record is my favorite time to be alive,” he said. “When you’re in front of the microphones, making it happen, I’m addicted to that feeling.”

Sankey sees facilities like Studio E as integral to the new home-recording landscape.

“Studios can still come in, play their part, and then get out of the way,” he said. “It’s better to spend a day or two in a studio upfront, get the rhythm section in a good place, take that home, and that’s your canvas.”

And though Sankey spurns the term “producer,” he still loves guiding bands into giving the best performance possible — whether it’s something that ultimately ends up on vinyl or reaching new fans via Live at Studio E

“If you can steer them well, and it sounds better than they would have imagined in the first place, well, that is very rewarding,” he said.

Reminder:

Although live events have returned, the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us. Check with venues to make sure scheduled events are still happening, and please follow all health

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critics’ picks

Wednesday, March 6

Brian Setzer, Yates McKendree Rockabilly will never die. Not as long as guitar whiz Brian Setzer continues to carry the torch, anyway. The three-time Grammy winner and Stray Cats founder has built his career on fusing revved-up, backbeat-driven rock ’n’ roll with swing, doo-wop and whatever else strikes his fancy. Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot! tour will cover his Stray Cats catalog in addition to solo work such as the album The Devil Always Collects, released last September. $49.50-$109.50, 7:30 p.m., Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — Danny Cervantes

Friday, March 8

Hickoids, Labretta Suede

The long-running cowpunk institution Hickoids, led by SA music guru Jeff Smith, blends hardcore country with hardcore punk in a manner that’ll leave both crowds scratching their heads. Rounding out the evening of cowpunk bliss is New Zealand’s Labretta Suede, whose exuberant take on U.S. roots music is perhaps only possible as an outsider looking in. Free, 8 p.m., Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St. Mary’s St., thelonesomerose.com — Bill Baird

Saturday, March 9

Volcán, Vanita Leo, Pochos Chidos, Sonora Hechicera and more

San Antonio band Volcán is bringing its explosive, infectious dance party to the second installment of Noche Cumbiaberra, a mini-music fest celebrating an array of Latin sounds. The packed night also features the sounds of Vanita Leo, Pochos Chidos and Sonora Hechicera, among others. $20, 6 p.m., Jaime’s Place, 1514 W. Commerce St., instagram.com/jaimesplace, (210) 564 - 9083. — BB

Sunday, March 10

Ska Explosion

San Antonio possesses a surprisingly deep bench of ska bands — and what better way to get a sense of the scene than sampling a whole bunch of ’em in one day? The prog-ska of seven-piece Young Costello, the ska-jazz of Rat King Cole and the ska-punk of Vision 98 showcase an array of approaches to the Jamaica-born reggae precursor. The bill also includes quintessential SA ensembles Spikes Like Us and Updog, along with out-of-town bands Royal Space Chimps and Madaline. $20, 4 p.m., The Starlighter, 1910 Fredericksburg Road, thestarlighter.com. — Dalia Gulca

Wednesday, March 13

Rubio, TEARS, Montufar

Chilean drummer and producer Francisca Straube’s experimental project Rubio is built from disparate sounds she compiled over the years and worked into quirky compositions built on bits and loops. The 2023 release Venus & Blue is Rubio’s third studio album and hints at the gauzy sound of a near-distant digital future set with the pulsating undertone of Latin rhythms. $15, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — DC

Thursday, March 14

Los Texmaniacs, Flaco Jimenez, Augie Meyers

In what amounts to a Tex-Mex dream come true, area audiences will have a chance to see conjunto keepers of the flame Los Texmaniacs grace a historic Central Texas dance hall with two San Antonio legends, Flaco Jimenez and Augie Meyers in tow. Who knows how many more chances any of us will have to see a lineup like this strong. $30, 7 p.m., Gruene Hall, 1281 Gruene Road, New Braunfels, gruenehall. com. — BB

Friday, March 15

Desiree Cannon, Chris Acker, Dylan Earle

Three distinctly compelling takes on alt-country add up to a heck of a bill for roots fans. Desiree Cannon sings wonderfully evocative country as filtered through the DIY scene of Northern California. Her work as part of the Long Road Society, a Bay Area alliance of like-minded musicians, helped her gain a foothold. Wildman songster Chris Acker, hailing from New Orleans, brings the party vibes, while Arkansan Dylan Earle comes to his straight-up country with an edgy vibe. Free, 9 p.m., Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St. Mary’s St., thelonesomerose.com. — BB

Saturday, March 16

Pachange de San Patricia

This St. Patrick’s Day festival celebrates “traditional music from new perspectives,” according to its organizers at the Tobin Center. Basically, that means folk music that rocks. To that end, Bombasta, Piñata Protest and Los San Patricios will blast the stage. A themed food-and-drink menu will accompany the performances. Free, 3 p.m., Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — BB

Brian Setzer

Saturday, March 16

Geoff Tate and Adrian Vandenburg

For those of a certain vintage, there will always be a soft spot for Geoff Tate. For decades, Tate led Queensryche, whose thought-provoking, proggy, socially conscious sci-fi metal eventually broke through on MTV. It’s classic rock for those who came up in the ’80s. Completing this evening of nostalgia is guitar shredder Adrian Vandenburg, an architect of Whitesnake’s breakthrough 1987 album. $30-$155, 8 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St Mary’s St., theaztectheatre.com. — BB

Sunday, March 17

Fey Mexican singer-songwriter Fey, a Latin-pop icon, is embarking on her first U.S. solo tour in more than a decade. Her career launched with a bang in 1995, and she’s racked up multiple top-selling albums in her home country while expanding her audience into American dance clubs. $64-$288.50, 8 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com. — DC

NOTICE OF PROPOSED ACTION ON APPLICATIONS FOR CONVERSION OF BASE IRRIGATION GROUNDWATER TO UNRESTRICTED IRRIGATION GROUNDWATER

The General Manager of the Edwards Aquifer Authority (“EAA”) proposes to grant applications to convert Base Irrigation Groundwater to Unrestricted Irrigation Groundwater under § 711.342(c) of the EAA’s Rules. A copy of the applications, the technical summaries, the General Manager’s proposed action, and the proposed amended regular permits are available for public inspection at the EAA’s offices at 900 E. Quincy Street, San Antonio, Texas Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Electronic copies may also be obtained by request to Jennifer Wong-Esparza at jesparza@edwardsaquifer.org or (210) 222-2204.

The General Manager proposes to approve the following applications to convert Base Irrigation Groundwater to Unrestricted Irrigation Groundwater under § 711.342(c) of the EAA’s Rules:

Lennar Homes of Texas Land and Construction, Ltd. – Filed application on December 12, 2023. The application seeks to c onvert 22.300 acre-feet of Base Irrigation Groundwater to Unrestricted Irrigation Groundwater based on the development of the Historically Irrigated Land (HIL).

Lennar Homes of Texas Land and Construction, Ltd. – Filed application on December 12, 2023. The application seeks to convert 23.200 acre-feet of Base Irrigation Groundwater to Unrestricted Irrigation Groundwater based on the development of the Historically Irrigated Land (HIL).

Lennar Homes of Texas Land and Construction, Ltd. – Filed application on December 12, 2023. The application seeks to convert 19.510 acre-feet of Base Irrigation Groundwater to Unrestricted Irrigation Groundwater based on the development of the Historically Irrigated Land (HIL).

The applicants or any other Edwards Aquifer permit holder may file a written request for a contested case hearing on the proposed actions with the EAA by no later than April 8, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. in accordance with § 707.603 of the EAA’s Rules. The EAA’s Board of Directors will consider approval of the applications and issuance of the proposed amended regular permits within 60 days of publication of this notice unless a request for contested case hearing is timely filed. If no timely requests for contested case hearing are filed, the applications will be presented to the EAA’s Board on the date of the hearing for final action.

This notice is issued pursuant to § 707.525 of the EAA’s Rules. ISSUED THIS 6th DAY OF MARCH, 2024.

“They’ve Got Chemistry”--multiple times, even.

by Matt Jones

© 2024 Matt Jones

Across

1. Begs for kitty kibble

6. Device that kept Blockbuster in business

9. Can’t-miss experiences

14. Move slowly

15. Random suffix

16. “Ah, I’m such ___!”

17. Pre-Internet library feature

19. Hooded snake

20. “But before ___ ...”

21. “Pet” that actually requires seeds

23. Actor McDiarmid

24. “Dang straight”

29. Mini-albums, for short

30. Word beginning a lot of Lil Wayne album titles

31. Grass rolls

32. Hacker’s language, in the early aughts

34. Leave off

37. “Superstore” actor Santos

40. Tutor’s task

44. Dispensers that may now be interactive

45. Where frisbees may get stuck

46. Fox show with choral versions of pop songs

47. Columbus sch.

49. 1970s-’80s sitcom planet

51. Sick

52. Browser issue that might slow your computer down

58. Football position

59. Like some gummy worms

60. “Didn’t I tell ya?”

61. Second tries

63. Tests of numerical aptitude

68. Millionaire intro

69. ___ Dew

70. Former capital of Nigeria

71. Observe secretly

72. Up to now

73. Comes down in a blizzard

Down

1. 1200, to Tiberius

2. Memorable period

3. “___ the ramparts ...”

4. Collective acknowledgement from a room of beatniks, maybe

5. Coffee urn attachment

6. Quick clip

7. From Prague

8. Singer Bebe

9. Cheese partner

10. Eerie flyer

11. 1925 Edna Ferber novel

12. Bar mitzvah reading

13. Point of view

18. “Man’s ___” (viral 2018 song)

22. Part of FWIW

24. Reviewing website

25. “Nixon in China,” for example

26. Fitness motto opening

27. Less lurid

28. Checking proof

33. June Cleaver or Maggie Seaver, e.g.

35. Lance of the O.J. trial

36. Girl Scout group

38. Eyelashes

39. Deli counter qty.

41. Ninja, e.g.

42. In a new way

43. Toothpaste options

48. Colorful card game

50. Poses to propose

52. Contract conditions

53. Outdo showily

54. In a weird way

55. Delicious

56. Make speeches

57. Like Whataburger’s headquarters

62. Prefix with scope

64. Explosive compound

65. Some time ___

66. Cut (the lawn)

67. Punctured tire sound

Answers on page 29

Navistar, Inc. is seeking a Project Manager Lead - Tech in San Antonio, TX with the following requirements: Bachelor’s degree and 5 years of technical project/program management experience OR Master’s degree and 3 years of technical project/program management experience OR 7 years of technical project/program management experience. Required Skills: Oversee and manage the design and development of application-related projects utilizing Microsoft’s scalable platforms for self-service and enterprise business intelligence solutions (3 yrs). Provide technical input on projects that require programming by creating code using DAX, SQL, Visual Basic, Hadoop, Power Bi (3 yrs). Generate data based on project requirements using manufacturing software applications such as Product Configuration (Tricon CDMS by Trigent), Enterprise Resource Manager (ERP-LN by INFOR), Electronic Order File Folder (EOFF), and Parts Management System (Spectrum) (3 yrs). Provide continuous improvement of engineering processes to ensure the accuracy of the bill of materials, using engineering design and release systems such as Teamcenter, CDMS, PowerBI (3 yrs).

Apply at https://careers.navistar.com/jobs. Refer to Job # 56121.