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CLOSE TO THE EDGE
How chaos took hold following a peaceful, orderly protest
THANK YOU, SAN ANTONIO IN MARCH AND APRIL YOU STEPPED UP AND RESPONDED TO THE COVID-19 CRISIS AND MET THE NEEDS OF YOUR COMMUNITY!
NEIGHBOR HELPING NEIGHBOR IN OUR 16-COUNTY SERVICE AREA 17,000,000 POUNDS OF FOOD DISTRIBUTED
26,000 HOURS SERVED BY
VOLUNTEERS NEIGHBORS
2,000 HOME DELIVERIES COMPLETED 33,500 CARS SERVED THROUGH LINES including a record 10,000 cars on April 9 at Trader’s Village
MEDIA
Millions of community members lent their voice to support the Food Bank through social media. The San Antonio Express-News, led by reporter Tom Orsborn, and photojournalists William Luther, Kin Man Hui and Jerry Lara, brought attention from around to the plight of our city.
600,000 INDIVIDUALS SERVED (50% ACCESSED THE FOOD BANK FOR THE FIRST TIME)
DONATIONS
Thousands of gifts providing millions of meals
Red, White & Boozy 1½ oz Tito’s Handmade Vodka 3 oz sparkling water 2 oz cranberry juice
Add Tito’s Handmade Vodka and cranberry juice to a glass with ice. Slowly pour sparkling water for a layering effect. Drop in a few blueberries and enjoy.
sacurrent.com | June 3 – June 16, 2020 | CURRENT
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EMPLOYMENT H-E-B seeks Sr. Web Analyst to develop web content in San Antonio, TX. Mail resumes to: Marisa Alcorta, 646 South Flores Street, San Antonio, TX 78204.
YOUR CITY THROUGH OUR LENS S A C U R R E N T. C O M / S L I D E S H O W S
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CURRENT | June 3 – June 16, 2020 | sacurrent.com
in this issue San Antonio Current
Issue 20-12 /// June 3 – June 16, 2020
16 Food
Publisher: Michael Wagner Editor-in-Chief: Sanford Nowlin
With time on their hands and yeast hard to find, home bakers are turning to sourdough. Let a top SA baker show you how.
Editorial
Digital Content Editor: Kelly Merka Nelson Contributing Arts Editor: Bryan Rindfuss Food and Nightlife Editor: Nina Rangel Contributors: Ron Bechtol, Chris Conde, Daniel Conrad, James Courtney, Jade Esteban Estrada, Dan R. Goddard, Lance Higdon, Steven G. Kellman, Hannah Lorence, Kiko Martinez, M. Solis, Gary Sweeney, Leah Thompson Editorial Interns: Brianna Espinoza, Trevor Flynn, Steven Hargis, Katie Hennessey
Advertising
Advertising Director: Michael Wagner
Clash of the Casseroles
Marketing and Events
Marketing and Events Director: Cassandra Yardeni Events Manager: Chelsea Bourque
Is Texas potluck standby King Ranch Chicken worth making from scratch? Time to find out.
Creative Services
Graphic Designer: Samantha Serna
Circulation
Circulation Manager: Justin Giles
The Take Away: Cheesemaker Susan Rigg Doing Work That Matters
Euclid Media Group
Chief Executive Officer: Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers: Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services: Stacy Volhein Digital Operations Coordinator: Jaime Monzon Senior Marketing and Events Director: Cassandra Yardeni www.euclidmediagroup.com National Advertising: Voice Media Group (888) 278-9866, vmgadvertising.com San Antonio Current 915 Dallas San Antonio, Texas 78215 sacurrent.com Editorial: (210) 227-0044 / Fax - (210) 227-7755 Display Advertising: (210) 227-0044 Fax: (210) 227-7733 Classified: (210) 227-CLAS / Fax - (210) 227-7733 The San Antonio Current is published by Euclid Media Group Verified Audit Member San Antonio Distribution – The Current is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. Get listed 1. Visit sacurrent.com 2. Click “Calendar” and then “Submit an Event” 3. Follow the steps to submit your event details Please allow 48 hours for review and approval. Event submissions are not accepted by phone. Copyright: The entire contents of the San Antonio Current are copyright 2019 by Euclid Media Group LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Publisher does not assume any liability for unsolicited manuscripts, materials, or other content. Any submission must include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business correspondence should be mailed to the address listed above. Subscriptions: Additional copies or back issues may be purchased at the Current offices for $1. Six-month domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $75; one-year subscriptions for $125.
Courtesy Photo / The Powelll Brothers
20 Feature
20 Music
Penned-Up Bulls
On Pause
Texas country artists waiting out pandemic to play live and promote new work
Live music is slowly returning to SA, but don’t expect concert tours or big productions until 2021
06 News
The Opener Close to the Edge
How chaos took hold following a peaceful, orderly protest against the death of George Floyd
News From Elsewhere What a cancelled gathering in Chicago says about San Antonio’s future as a “convention city”
Street Scenes
Unsheltered homelessness is on the rise in San Antonio. How much risk does that group face from COVID-19?
11 Calendar
Ruby City’s At-Home Bubble Fest 2020 Promotes Creative Use of Everyday Materials
PechaKucha San Antonio Goes Online for Volume 38
12 Arts
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Chingos Masks
These seamstresses are slaying it puro San Anto style with fashionable face coverings
Bike Boom
During the pandemic, SA bicycle retailers can barely meet the explosion in customer demand
15 Screens
Outdoor Cinema Paradiso
Can the pandemic rekindle our love for drive-in movie theaters?
CLOSE TO THE EDGE
How chaos took hold following a peaceful, orderly protest
Photographer James Dobbins captured this image as tensions rose following last weekend’s George Floyd march. Cover design: Samantha Serna.
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news
That Rocks/That Sucks
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The three highest-profile Texas officials who oppose the expansion of mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic have all previously cast absentee ballots, according to a Texas Tribune investigation. Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who claim mail-in voting would result in widespread fraud, have each voted absentee at least once.
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The federal government has selected the University of Texas at San Antonio to establish and run a $111 million research institute focused on cybersecurity, energy efficiency and development of manufacturing jobs. Under a plan revealed last week, the university will receive $70 million over a five-year cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy.
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CRE8AD8 — the SA-based events firm that’s drawn criticism after landing a federal contract to distribute food to needy families — has delivered its first 235 boxes to the San Antonio Food Bank. It has until June 30 to come up with 750,000 boxes of food under its $39 million contract. The firm had no previous business in food distribution.
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San Antonio cultural institutions including the McNay Art Museum, the San Antonio Museum of Art and Blue Star Contemporary have announced plans to reopen with new coronavirus safety measures in place. The San Antonio Public Library has also unveiled reopening details as part of a phased plan to resume city services. — Sanford Nowlin
YOU SAID IT!
“We need everybody to please take a deep breath, let the authorities do their investigation and we will hold people who are responsible accountable, but violence is not called for.” — U.S. Sen. John Cornyn,
Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com
quoted in the Express-News on the death of George Floyd. Floyd was captured on video saying “I can’t breathe” as a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck.
Twitter / @DanPatrick
ASSCLOWN ALERT
Dan Patrick It’s tempting to permanently paste Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s face in this slot and dedicate each issue’s Assclown Alert to his latest explosive bout of verbal diarrhea. Don’t worry. We won’t. After all, this state is still chock-full of politicos worthy of being called out for assclownery. That said, Patrick’s most recent appearance on Fox News sure makes it hard to resist the temptation. During a chat with host Laura Ingraham, Patrick claimed the Democratic effort to expand mail-in voting in Texas during the pandemic wasn’t just a very bad idea but one that would spell “the end of democracy.”
More than 1,000 people assembled last Saturday in Travis Park and engaged in a peaceful march to protest police brutality and the death of George Floyd. At some point after the event concluded, a smaller group of protesters engaged in a standoff with armed activists claiming to guard the Alamo Cenotaph. Later that night, police used tear gas to disperse people who hurled rocks at patrol cars and broke windows. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said he’s asking Joe Biden’s presidential campaign for a pledge to appoint “real reformers” to run the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies overseeing immigration. The San Antonio Democrat said he made the request on a phone call with the former vice president’s wife, Jill Biden, to “undo the damage” of the Trump administration’s hardline policies.
“We’re not going to put up with it. And if they get away with it, Laura, if they get it, it’s the end of democracy,” said the ever-hyperbolic Republican. “It’s not just the end of this presidential campaign. If they get away with this, democracy has been shredded.” During the appearance, Patrick also demanded Twitter apologize to President Trump for fact-checking his recent tweet filled with inaccurate claims about absentee voting. Trump’s “opinion was based on fact, because the Democrats are trying to steal this election,” Big Dan the Outrage Man rationalized. Patrick was a conservative radio talk show host before running for office, and his remarks show he’s lost neither his flair for Texas-sized overstatement nor his assclownish desire to fan the flames of the culture war — even during a national calamity. — Sanford Nowlin
The San Antonio Regional Alliance for the Homeless recently released the results of a new data analysis showing a year-over-year rise in the city’s homeless population. The total of 2,932 homeless people surveyed in January represents a 2% increase over the count conducted a year ago. This year’s numbers also reflects a 7% increase in unsheltered homelessness.
James Dobbins
Close to the Edge
How chaos took hold following a peaceful, orderly protest against the death of George Floyd BY JAMES DOBBINS
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aturday evening, I marched with 5,000 other San Antonians as they peacefully protested the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The collective sorrow and rage were palpable. The victim’s name echoed between the buildings of downtown. The gathering began with a rally at Travis Park. A diverse crowd listened as speakers voiced anger about the United States’ legacy of systematic discrimination, racism and violence. They reminded the crowd that Floyd — a black man restrained by a police officer kneeling on his neck — is only the most recent victim of system rigged against black and brown people and the poor. At the same time as raised our voices against racism, This Is Texas Freedom Force (TITFF), a heavily armed right-wing group — some wearing Confederate flag patches — were allowed to “protect” the Alamo Cenotaph from vandals. The group’s members fetishize the Alamo and its complicated history while showing off military-style long arms, suggesting that they’re prepared to take lives to defend the monument. Although TITFF claimed its members were guarding the site due to graffiti recently tagged on the Cenotaph, a heavy police presence signaled that city officials were aware the group might be on a collision course with those protesting Floyd’s death.
Armed Agitators After the march ended, a small group of TITFF agitators, some dressed in Hawaiian shirts — a symbol embraced by far-right groups to signal support for a second civil war — ventured away from the Alamo toward Travis Park carrying their assault rifles. On a sidewalk outside the boarded-up Texan II bar, members of the armed group traded insults with protestors. For the first time that day, I felt fear. I watched the men insult the demonstrators while the police stood by. One of the marchers, an attorney wearing a tag identifying her as a legal observer, calmly encouraged the demonstrators to disengage. Still, the threat lingered. So did the anger. The TITFF members walked back to the Alamo with their hands on their guns, as if they were patrolling Mosul. A dozen angry protestors followed, calling the group fascists. I crossed the street with my camera to document the incident. One man took his child’s hand and led her away. From what I saw, police on the ground did little to dispel the tension that built for the next 90 minutes as the separate groups confronted each other. Directly in front of the Alamo, TITFF members brandished their weapons, as if to imply they might shoot if threatened. As more pro-
James Dobbins
testers pressed forward, those at the front squeezed chest to chest, shoulder to shoulder. The scene dissolved into insults, death threats and punches. Dozens of protestors from the march pushed between the fighting, forming a human shield. They linked arms and shouted, “Keep the peace!” It was easy to see how the confrontation at the historical site might take a deadly turn. A lone instance of bloodshed did come when someone threw a bottle, smashing a TITFF member in the face. The moment seemed to snap everyone back to the reality of how close we were to another tragedy. Both the protestors and his TITFF colleagues stopped to help the injured man, bandaging his forehead as he sat in shock, blood flowing down his face. Empathy prevailed, at least for a moment.
Hurled Rocks and Tear Gas Later, a block north of the Alamo, riot police and a group of protestors engaged in a separate standoff. It was unclear how the confrontation started, but as I moved closer to shoot photos, police repeatedly fired tear gas into the crowd, sending demonstrators and members of the media scrambling. Three demonstrators walked the streets with open-carried guns. At no time did they provoke the police, making them no different than the armed TITFF members at the Alamo. While a handful of individuals threw water bottles or rocks at the heavily armed cops, most of the protesters on the scene tried to stop their attacks. Police fired dozens of pepper balls and at least one rubber bullet. The laser sights of their weapons danced red dots over the demonstrators, both armed and unarmed. As the protesters fell back from advancing police lines, a tiny group broke off and hurled rocks at officers on a side street. This faction smashed the
windows of a police SUV, cut its tires and pitched fireworks at advancing cops in riot gear. Because civilian traffic was still allowed into the area, a panicked driver nearly hit me as I crossed the road to flee the mayhem. Elsewhere, I witnessed young men smashing windows, damaging cars, tipping over and breaking flowerpots. Angry, armed cops advanced. The potential for deadly confrontation was thick in the air.
Overwhelming Emotion I passed the 65-foot-tall La Antorcha de la Amistad sculpture near Alamo Plaza at the moment a police officer arrived to discover vandals had tagged its surface with anti-police graffiti. The tears welling in the officer’s eyes showed her disappointment. I imagined the area was on her beat, that she felt she’d failed to protect this symbol of friendship between the U.S. and Mexico. Perhaps there was even sadness for George Floyd as she read his name in the still-wet paint. For an instant, I stopped, wanting to ask her questions. Then, a hunk of terra cotta smashed on the pavement nearby, so I kept moving. I heard people talk about breaking into nearby River Center Mall. Still, for all the property damage that night, San Antonio avoided a far more painful outcome. Lives could easily have been lost. After all, President Trump had taken to Twitter earlier in the week to signal his approval of violence being used against looters. It was easy to see how someone might get the idea that defending downtown property — or a historical structure — is the same as defending the republic. One man I met on the street carried an AR-15 with what appeared to be a silencer. He told me he was there to keep the peace. sacurrent.com | June 3 – June 16, 2020 | CURRENT
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news CITYSCRAPES
News From Elsewhere What a cancelled gathering in Chicago says about San Antonio’s future as a “convention city” BY HEYWOOD SANDERS Editor’s Note: The following is City Scrapes, a column of opinion and analysis
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he clock is running down for local and state leaders to ensure voters won’t be risking their lives this election season. Sometimes the most relevant and telling news for San Antonio comes from somewhere else. So it is with Danny Ecker’s recent story in Crain’s Chicago Business. Headlined “Chicago Loses One of Its Biggest Conventions,” Ecker reported that the 2020 annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), scheduled for late November, would be held virtually. The story goes on to describe the loss of the event and its projected 52,000 attendees as a blow to McCormick Place and its owner, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, as well as to Chicago’s economy. The immediate message of the shift of the RSNA event to virtual form is that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on major meetings is far from short-term. There will undoubtedly be more cancelled in-person events, and a continuing shift to virtual formats for the balance of this year, and into next year. And as meeting organizers experiment more with virtual events and alternatives to traditional conventions, attendance at major convention venues will shrink going forward, perhaps for a very long time. But all of that is still uncertain for now, with the full impact of the pandemic — and the public’s fears going forward — not at all clear. What is clear, and unsaid in the Crain’s article, is the recent history of the annual RSNA meeting in Chicago. The radiologists have met in Chicago’s McCormick Place for decades. But in recent years, that annual event has attracted fewer and fewer attendees. RSNA saw total attendance of 62,501 in 2007, before the impact of the 2008 Great Recession. It has not come back to that peak in the years since, with attendance in 2019 at just 49,310. The decline in attendance at the radiologists’ meeting is far from unique. Attendance at the annual scientific sessions of the American Heart Association fell from almost 27,000 at the 2006 meeting in Chicago, to just 15,200 last year in Philadelphia. It’s been much
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CURRENT | June 3 – June 16, 2020 | sacurrent.com
Courtesy Photo / San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau
the same with the meetings of the ophthalmologists, the orthopedic surgeons, the dentists, and even the annual biotechnology event BIO International marked attendance declines in the years since 2008. What’s the relevance for San Antonio? First, we’ve spent decades — and hundreds of millions of public dollars — investing in the competition for convention business. The Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center has been expanded, and expanded again, most recently just in 2016 at a cost of $325 million. There’s the cost of hotels, notably the 1,000-room city-owned Grand Hyatt and its $282 million in bond debt backed by the citywide hotel tax. And let’s not forget the Alamodome, originally justified as a “multipurpose convention and sports facility.” That’s millions in public dollars in search of more convention business. And what have we realized? In 1995, the city counted 744,954 hotel room nights produced by meetings both at the HBG Center and individual hotels. Last year, the total of meeting room nights came to a whopping 766,259. That’s not much of return on our investment. Now, faced with the new reality of a dramatically changed environment
for meetings and travel generally, we need to plan as a community to adapt our economy and our workforce. The national convention market was overbuilt and a buyer’s market before the pandemic, with cities from Atlanta to San Diego literally giving away their convention center space. Now, even freebies and incentives — labeled “hosting obligations” in San Antonio’s city budget — are likely to yield fewer conventions, with fewer attendees, not to mention markedly less spending. That means reduced opportunities and lower incomes for everyone from hotel housekeepers and front desk staff to banquet servers, restaurant waitstaff, bartenders and managers. They all need and deserve a second chance, not just temporary aid with federal stimulus funds. And San Antonio desperately needs to build a new kind of economy that offers a viable future for all of its citizens in the years ahead. Heywood Sanders is a professor of public policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Street Scenes
Unsheltered homelessness is on the rise in San Antonio. How much risk does that group face from COVID-19? BY KATIE HENNESSEY
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ith COVID-19 still spreading in San Antonio, some worry the city’s growing number of unsheltered homeless people are at particularly high risk for contracting the disease. A recent analysis of the annual Point-in-Time Count, a one-night snapshot of the city’s homeless, revealed an 8% increase in the unsheltered population over the past 10 years. Unsheltered individuals are those who, for a variety of reasons, sleep under bridges and in encampments rather than shelters such as Haven for Hope. To date, there have been no confirmed reports of COVID-19 among San Antonio’s unsheltered. Even so, city officials worry that without access to adequate health care and hygiene, the group could be especially vulnerable during the pandemic. To that end, the Department of Human Services has partnered with multiple agencies to set up resource hubs that provide food, showers and sanitation supplies to those on the streets. But while the city works to expand its safety net for the unsheltered, homeless service providers say the jury is still out on whether living on the streets makes people more or less susceptible to the novel coronavirus.
Motherly Advice To many of the homeless clients she serves, Dianne Talbert, executive director of Church Under the Bridge, is known simply as “Mom.” When most of society retreated indoors to mitigate exposure to the coronavirus, Talbert did the opposite, ramping up her organization’s dinner service from three nights a week to seven. Since then, she’s served home-cooked meals to more than 200 people nightly at her East Side hub. “There’s a lot of food insecurity out there right now,” Talbert told the Current. While waiting in line for a recent dinner service, CUB guests masked up and stood on designated markers on the sidewalk. They knew the drill, and they also knew about the coronavirus. Several times at dinner, a homeless guest called out “Mom” to ask Talbert for a new mask or a hygiene kit for the road. One homeless man theorized about the root cause of the pandemic, saying it stemmed from overpopulation and exploited resources. Talbert said it’s hard to generalize about the COVID-19 risks faced by the people she serves. “Many of [the homeless] have immune systems that
Katie Hennessey
are extremely compromised already, a lot of them have cancer, they’re diabetic — those guys are at risk,” she said. On the other hand, life on the streets may make some less vulnerable to infection. “They live in the elements,” she added. “Their resistance is a lot better than ours.”
Dwindling Resources While it’s unclear how much more infection risk the unsheltered face during the pandemic, resource providers say the crisis has cut deeply into the resources they can access. “There was a plethora of ways to care for yourself on the street, and now there isn’t,” said Dawn White-Fosdick, president of Christian Assistance Ministries (CAM). CAM is a resource hub serving downtown-area homeless with meals, clothing, hygiene items and showers. It responded to COVID-19 with increased services out of concern that other options for unsheltered residents were drying up. “Before coronavirus, if you didn’t get something from us, you had somewhere else to go,” White-Fosdick explained. Prior to the citywide shutdown, unsheltered homeless used downtown retail spaces to wash up in a bathroom, seek free food or collect a couple dollars. Church doors were also open. All of that added up. “Churches would put out clothing, offer a free meal, have showers available,” White-Fosdick said. “We were able to manage by just filling in the gap.” But now White-Fosdick fears the lack of resources is taking a toll on the physical health of San Antonio’s unsheltered population. Before the crisis, 25 to 50
people sought showers at CAM daily. The number now ranges between 50 to 80. “There is an overwhelming volume and distress in the situation we hadn’t seen before,” she said. “I can see a difference. They are dirtier because they’re not able to take care of things the way they were doing before. Even something like clothing becomes a health care issue.”
Aging on the Street Of San Antonio’s 2,932 homeless citizens, 27% are over the age of 50, according to the most recent Point-in-Time data. That age demographic is 93% more likely to die if it contracts COVID-19, according to the Metropolitan Health District. Catholic Worker House operates the only food hub specifically serving the Alamo City’s 50-plus homeless population. After noticing that average age of its guests was 54, CWH Director Dr. Chris Plauche last year switched its focus strictly to seniors. While some worry the homeless population faces higher infection risks due to scarce health resources and compromised immune systems, Plauche says the group has a built-in resiliency. “It could be that people who are older and homeless for a long time, they have built up their immune system,” Plauche said. Beyond that, the life of the homeless is inherently socially distanced and removed from mainstream society, she added. But she does allow a caveat. “Perhaps if you are older and you are newly homeless, there’s more concern.” As the pandemic plays out, only time may tell whether the resiliency of San Antonio’s unsheltered homeless will continue to keep them safe. sacurrent.com | June 3 – June 16, 2020 | CURRENT
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Happy
AARC has been recognized by the Elton John AIDS Foundation and granted the Covid-19 Emergency Fund which allows for us to sustain and improve HIV related testing, prevention, care and treatment through our new telemedicine software.
PRIDE
Month
Love,
Call us today at 210.688.5792 or Live Chat: AARCSA.com | 303 N. Frio San Antonio, TX 78207
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CURRENT | June 3 – June 16, 2020 | sacurrent.com
BY KATIE HENNESSEY
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othing evokes joy more than bubbles. And who couldn’t use an extra splash of joy right now? While large-scale events are still a non-starter due to the pandemic, San Antonio contemporary art center Ruby City has found a way for kids to commemorate its 4th Annual Bubble Fest safely through homebased, bubble-centric festivities. Traditionally, Bubble Fest gives kids of all ages a chance to play at various bubble stations while learning about sustainable art with SpareParts, a partnering San Antonio arts nonprofit that promotes creative reuse education. This year, the festival of ephemeral soapy creations will feature DIY bubble making tutorials and activities for the whole family in what they’re calling Bubble Fest At Home 2020.
calendar
Ruby City’s At-Home Bubble Fest 2020 Promotes Creative Use of Everyday Materials
Ruby City
The at-home rendition takes place Saturday June 6, with five unique tutorials designed by SpareParts showing families how to make bubbles with everyday materials found at home. San Antonio-based DJ Despeinada will provide an event-specific soundtrack to promote a lively festival vibe during at-home bubble experiments. Participants are encouraged to post images of their creations to social media during the digital celebration, with a chance to be recognized on Ruby City’s social platforms and win surprises from the contemporary art center.
Participants at Ruby City’s 2019 Bubble Fest
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Ruby City will be sharing videos, photos and directions for how to set up the virtual bubble celebration on all its social media channels. Prospective participants can also sign up for the art center’s weekly newsletter for further information about the event and more Ruby City at-home activities. Free, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, June 6, @RubyCityArt on Facebook and Twitter, @rubycity on Instagram, rubycity.org.
PechaKucha San Antonio Goes Online for Volume 38 BY DEANNA WILSON
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echaKucha is back, and it’s coming to you from the World Wide Web. PechaKucha San Antonio Volume 38 will take place online on June 4. If you missed out on the last PechaKucha in February, or aren’t familiar with the form, here’s how it works: each speaker follows a 20 image x 20 second format. They present a slideshow of 20 images that advance every 20 seconds, for a total time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds. “This will be PechaKucha San Antonio’s first online event to practice safe social distancing during these uncertain times,” the organization stated in a press release. The livestreamed event will be able to watch on Facebook and YouTube. The six SA local speakers include Hyperbubble member Jess DeCuir, “Curiosity Connoisseur” and former Current Food Editor Jess Elizarraras, Cappy’s chef and managing partner Gabriel Ibarra, self-starter and cer-
Josh Huskin
tified EC-12 career educator Gabriela Santiago, Compost Queens co-founder Kate Jaceldo and photographer and “animal adoption advocate” Ben Yanto. Singer-songwriter Garrett T. Capps will emcee the event. Though past PechaKuchas charged a small admission fee, the livestreamed version is free. PechaKucha organizers encourage attendees to donate online to support the event. Half of all donations will go to the San Antonio Food Bank, and donors will be
Garrett T. Capps will serve as emcee for PechaKucha’s June 4 livestream.
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entered to win a gift basket from the event sponsors that include a Bakery Lorraine gift card, Tio Pelon’s Salsita salsa, Olla Express Coffee, and other goodies. Free, 7-9:30 p.m. Thursday, June 4, PechaKucha San Antonio on Facebook, PechaKucha SAT on YouTube, pechakucha.com/cities/san-antonio.
Courtesy Photo / 2 Witches Brew
Courtesy Photo / Jessica Resendez
Chingos Masks
These seamstresses are slaying it puro San Anto style with fashionable face coverings BY KIKO MARTINEZ
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ince the pandemic started, everyone and their abuela is making face masks. But not everyone is making them puro San Antonio. We managed to track down four local shops and two independent maskmakers that are putting needle to thread in creative and stylish ways to help locals ward off La Corona.
Como La Flu Actually, the new coronavirus is far more contagious than influenza, which is why everyone should wear a face mask when out in public. And that safety concern prompted West Side resident Monica Ferdin of 2 Witches Brew to start making face coverings for her community. She felt so strongly about the need that she pawned her TV to afford the fabric and materials. “I noticed how hardly anyone around my neighborhood was wearing masks,” said Ferdin, 45. “So, I decided to make some homemade ones.” Ferdin had designed Hot Cheetos bracelets in the past, and they sold well, so she decided to stay puro and venture into making masks easily embraced on her side of town. While Ferdin’s mask patterns celebrate local favorites such as the San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Cowboys and lowriders, the ones honoring late Tejano superstar Selena are her hottest sellers. “Selena is the mask I am asked for the most,” she said. “Whatever it takes for someone to feel confident to wear a mask, I can help.” 2 Witches Brew, facebook.com/2-WitchesBrew-480839889027936.
Virgin Designs If you are one of the nearly 800,000 Catholics living in San Antonio, Fiona Arecchi of European 12
CURRENT | June 3 – June 16, 2020 | sacurrent.com
Artisan Upholstery has a mask that may be worth a few Hail Marys. Arecchi, the upholstery shop’s seamstress and owner, started making masks with the image of La Virgen de Guadalupe when the coronavirus began to threaten her usual line of business. “We did what a lot of San Antonio business owners did — scrambled for ideas,” said Arecchi, 59. “Who is más puro than the Virgen de Guadalupe herself?” Indeed, Arecchi credits La Virgen with keeping the city safe during the pandemic. “I think maybe that’s why San Antonio is doing so well in this fight,” she said. “Our Virgincita is taking care of us all. The wearer [of our Virgen mask] is protected from inhaling almost everything!” European Artisan Upholstery, facebook.com/Europeanartisanupholstery.
Nuestra Cultura Southtown boutique The Artisan has been closed since March, but owner and designer Sylvia Tijerina was determined not to let the coronavirus win. “With such a large demand and such a low supply of face masks, my decision to start making my own was an easy one,” said Tijerina, 45. An artisan by trade, Tijerina added a handful of mask designs to her product line, including Dia de los Muertos, lucha libre, avocados and nopales. “We love our culture,” she said. “If we have to wear face masks now, why not do it in style?” The Artisan, facebook.com/theartisansatx.
Drink Responsibly As more local bars reopen, customers are starting to ask, “How am I supposed to drink this mangonadarita with a mask on?”
Courtesy Photo / European Artisan Upholstery
Independent mask maker Jessica Resendez hears that and has you covered. Her mask features a tiny hole that bar patrons can slide a straw into and a small Velcro flap to cover the opening when it’s not being used to imbibe. “My friends all had the same issue and would continuously touch their face to drink,” said Resendez, 33. “So, I started watching YouTube videos and following the guidelines from the CDC on how to make your own masks.” With help from her mom Carla, Resendez formed a venture called 1320TX to make masks that allow folks to drink responsibly while drinking responsibly. Chugging not allowed. 1320TX, instagram.com/1320tx.
¡Viva Fiesta … Masks! San Antonio’s annual citywide party was a big moneymaker for Maggie Ibarra-Jimenez’s Maddie Mac Boutique, which creates custom-made cloth wear, wreaths, hair bows, jewelry and other items. When the coronavirus hit while Ibarra-Jimenez was sitting on “large collection of fabrics,” the solution was simple: start making Fiesta-style face masks. Soon, Ibarra-Jimenez and her adult children Madeline and Louis will have a new line of puro San Antonio face coverings, including familiar sayings like “Chingona” and “Barbacoa and Big Red.” Maddie Mac Boutique, facebook.com/maddiemacboutique.
Seamstress Squad Debi Lambright procured the services of 10 local seamstresses to make the masks she sells at her shop, Broadway Pinups. The masks come in a variety of SA-approved prints, including a sarape pattern, papel picado and Frida Kahlo. “I knew I had to find a way to keep my business afloat,” said Lambright, 37. “I felt if we could provide something for the community and help these women with an income right now, why not?” In April, Broadway Pinups shipped out more than 1,000 masks. “It turned out to be a lot more work than we had planned,” she said. “But it has been rewarding.” Broadway Pinups, facebook.com/dcdbroadwaypinups.
arts
Bike Boom
During the pandemic, SA bicycle retailers can barely meet the explosion in customer demand BY KATIE HENNESSEY
T
en minutes to noon, patrons waited in a crowded parking lot for the signal that Bike World’s Alamo Heights outlet had opened its doors. Some bided time inside idle vehicles, while others stood by outside, holding loose bicycle wheels, fidgeting with broken chains and pacing as they waited for the doors to open. Paper signs posted on the shop’s windows alerted customers to its adjusted hours, updated policies and service stipulations. “Due to COVID-19, our service department is closed until further notice,” one sign explained. Another announced the shop was currently unable to answer phone calls and needed to reduce hours in order to cope with “unprecedented demand.” “This is unlike anything I have ever seen,” Bike World-Alamo Heights Manager Eddie Martinez told the Current. During Martinez’s 10 years with the SAbased retailer, he’s come to expect business to pick up around springtime, but he never predicted the consumer swarm spurred by the coronavirus pandemic. “I don’t think any of us were thinking that bike shops would be in demand, or sought after when all this started,” he said. Under San Antonio’s stay-at-home order, bike shops were deemed essential businesses based on the transportation needs they fulfill. Once the order was released in late March, it was like someone had flipped a light switch, Martinez said. “All of our departments got flooded,” he explained. “Sales, services and our online store all got busy at the same time.” Under normal circumstances, business builds in each of the store’s departments on a staggered schedule. Rarely does it happen all together. And the spike in business isn’t specific to that one affluent San Antonio neighborhood. “This is happening at all Bike Worlds and all bike shops,” Martinez said. “I don’t know of any bike shop in the city or state that is not busy.”
Flying Off the Racks
At Bike World’s Alamo Heights location, business got so intense that management made a mid-April decision to temporarily shut down its service department. “We ran out of room,” Martinez said. “And
Katie Hennessey
we couldn’t even start working on the bikes because all we were doing was checking in more bikes all day long. We had to close so we could catch up.” With services such as tube replacement, chain installation and gear adjustment unavailable, customers instead spent freely on new bikes, according to Martinez. During previous springs, the shop sold 30 to 45 bikes weekly. Since the stay-at-home order, that number has been between 200 and 300. Trek Bicycles recently surveyed U.S. consumers on why they’re buying bikes during the pandemic. Roughly two-thirds say bike riding helps relieve stress and anxiety. Americans also turned to bike riding as a form of exercise during the shutdown — 41% of respondents said physical wellbeing is their main motivation for increased bike activity. Before Bike World’s service department got overwhelmed, Martinez said many of those coming in for repair were covered with the kind of dust that collected while sitting unused in a garage for years. “Now that nobody has anything to do, they are wanting to drag out old bikes and get them fixed,” he said.
The Well’s Going Dry During the current bike boom, distributers have run out of product all over the country, Martinez said. Apparently, manufacturers can’t keep up with demand. Clay Williams, owner of San Antonio Bike Shop, a small retailer on Broadway near the
Pearl, said he’s sold every bike in his inventory. His store is predominately a dealer in Kona Bikes, and at press time, that manufacturer is sold out of all bikes except those running $2,000 and more, he added. “It is a good thing to an extent, but the well is going dry,” Williams told the Current. Sales since during the pandemic have already outstripped the Christmas season, typically SA Bike Shop’s busiest time of year.
Relief in Sight? Martinez’s employees at Bike World have been working overtime and forgoing days off to keep up with the crush of customers. “With everybody riding in the world right now, I can tell you who is not riding — it is the people in the bike industry,” he added. “When you get off a 12-hour shift, the last thing you want to do is go kill it for 30 miles on your bike.” While all other Bike World service departments remain closed, the Alamo Heights location finally resumed taking on new work last week, although with some limitations. The store also readjusted its hours back to its original opening time, but it’s still only answering phone calls as when it can. For Martinez, the unexpected hustle is bittersweet. “None of us feel like gloating because people are going through really hard times right now. If there was no global pandemic going on, we would all just be enjoying ourselves a bit more.”
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screens
Outdoor Cinema Paradiso Can the pandemic rekindle our love for drive-in movie theaters? BY KIKO MARTINEZ
A
s a kid, the towering screens at the Mission Drive-in Theater on the South Side always caught my attention when coming up Roosevelt Avenue north of Mission San José. Then, in March 1988, as a seven-year-old burgeoning cinephile, I finally found myself at the theater, piled into the back seat of my father’s Chevy Impala, popcorn in hand, about to watch some movie my parents wanted to see called Stand and Deliver. I can’t remember the second half of that night’s double feature, by the end, I was hooked. I had been to Santikos Century South Theatre — now Santikos Mayan — plenty of times before, but the drive-in was something completely different. As a kid, it felt like watching a movie from inside a comfy fort built out of pillows, blankets and dining room chairs. Plus, they didn’t care if you snuck in Whataburger. As the years went by, the Mission Drive-in became a staple of my childhood. It would, unfortunately, shutter in 2003 leaving San Antonio with zero drive-ins. Seventeen years later, and with more platforms to watch movies than ever before, it’s really no surprise a movie chain hasn’t spent the estimated $300,000 to $500,000 it would cost to build a new, one-screen drive-in theater in San Antonio. That number, which doesn’t include the price of land, incidentally, comes from the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association, or UDITOA. However, it’s an investment that may not look as ill-advised as it did three months ago. The coronavirus pandemic has given families plenty of reason to visit their nearest drive-in theater, assuming there’s one nearby. After all, social distancing isn’t an issue there, assuming you stay in your vehicle. For locals, the nearest such option is the Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre in New Braunfels — a 45-minute commute from downtown San Antonio. Despite the reopening of indoor movie theaters across the country over the past few weeks, some families are choosing not to head back too quickly. Indoor theaters say they’re implementing new safety protocols. But drive-ins, for some people, just feel safer. San Antonio resident Joseph Lopez is looking forward to getting back to Stars & Stripes soon with his fiancée. It’s a bit of a drive from
Courtesy Photo / Stars and Stripes Drive-In Theatre
his home on the southeast part of town, but he’d rather be in an open-air environment than inside a building right now. “I’m not willing to go to an indoor movie theater just yet,” Lopez said. “You can keep to yourself at the drive-in. People want to get out and do stuff, but there are still too many people that are taking too many chances. I’d rather be out under the stars watching a movie like the good ol’ days.” The current health crisis is reminding people how enjoyable the drive-in movie experience can be, Stars & Stripes owner Ryan Smith said. “Getting out of the house and having a safe movie-watching option is something people want,” he added. “The drive-in is a great solution. We’ve been excited to serve our regular guests and introduce some new people to the drive-in theater.” A quick look on Google Trends shows a steady increase over the past three months in online searches for the phrase “drive-in movie theaters near me.” According to UDITOA, Stars & Stripes is one of the 305 drive-in theaters still operating in the United States and one of just 12 that remain in Texas. For Smith, going to the movies — whether indoor or outdoor — has always been a communal experience. But at a drive-in, guests get to decide how much they want to share that experience with others. “You’ll get that sense of community at the drive-in if you want it,” Smith said. “But you
can also have a more private experience by being in your own car and in your own environment. People feel safe because they know they can social distance.” Although the number of drive-ins has plummeted over the past 60 years — the U.S. boasted 4,063 in 1958, according to UDITOA — Smith has always believed they’re a slice of Americana people don’t want to lose entirely. “The drive-in is family-friendly and affordable,” he said. “They will never go out of style.” Still, Smith isn’t sure the pandemic will inspire more entrepreneurs to build their own drive-ins. Local theater chain Santikos Entertainment told the Current it has no foreseeable plans to build a drive-in, for example. But Smith doesn’t think their popularity will wane once the pandemic ends. “It’s like going to the movie theater, camping and out to eat, all in one place,” he said. “The escapism is incredible. I think there will always be a place for drive-in movies.”
Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre
$6 per person, free (3 and under) Showtimes vary 1178 Kroesche Lane New Braunfels (830) 620-7469 driveinusa.com/nb
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With time on their hands and yeast hard to find, home bakers are turning to sourdough. Let a top SA baker show you how. BY NINA RANGEL
W
hen stay-at-home orders came down in March, Americans swarmed supermarkets to stock up on quarantine essentials such as toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and … yeast? Nationwide, common baking ingredients such as flour, eggs and milk have become some of the hardest pantry items to find. It’s easy to see why. At press time, more than 180,000 Instagram posts were labeled #quarantinebaking, making it clear that many are seeking solace in the meditative action of kneading dough. With a lack of commercial yeast and plenty of free time, more home bakers are trying their hand at sourdough, which relies on airborne yeast to start a rise. The method has its challenges, but Megan Morales, chef-owner of San Antonio’s Cereal Killer Sweets, urged hobbyists not to be scared away. “Yeast was very hard to come by during the beginning stages of quarantine, and lots of bakers wanted to try their hands at a starter,” Morales said. “Now seems to be a great time to do that, because it does need a lot of care in the beginning — that’s when starters usually fail.” A starter, the leavening agent that enables sourdough rise, consists flour and water, which are allowed to ferment by airborne yeast. Some bakers add commercial yeast to speed the process. Making a starter can be time consuming, often requiring a few days of babysitting the mixture, “feeding” it with additional flour to reach maximum leavening power. But, it’s a process, many bakers agree, that’s well worth the wait. Even as businesses reopen, many San Antonians still struggle with anxiety about venturing out. And that makes a perfect time to find stress relief in learning a new baking technique. “I think it’s great that people are taking their anxiety and doing something positive with it,” said Jenn Riesman, owner and head baker of Rooster Crow Baking in the Alamo City. While baking has long been Riesman’s bread and butter — ahem — she understands why people are newly drawn to it during a time of crisis. “Baking is all about control,” she said. “Right now, everything seems out of control.” Morales agrees: “I think baking is totally a stress reliever and makes people feel comforted.”
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CURRENT | June 3 – June 16, 2020 | sacurrent.com
Courtesy Photo / Cereal Killer
In the spirit of encouraging home bakers, both new and seasoned, to try sourdough, Morales shared one of her favorite go-to recipes. These cinnamon rolls, adapted from a King Arthur Flour recipe, use a style of starter prepared in the Asian tangzhong style, which tends to make for a higher rise and moist rolls that retain their freshness.
Megan Morales’ Tangzhong Cinnamon Rolls Tangzhong (starter) 5 tablespoons water 5 tablespoons whole milk 4 tablespoons All Purpose unbleached flour Filling 1 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg Dough All of the tangzhong 579 grams of all-purpose unbleached flour 1 3/4 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon instant yeast 1 cup lukewarm whole milk 2 large eggs 1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted Icing 2 cups powdered sugar 4 ounces cream cheese at room temp 1 teaspoon of salt 3 tablespoons melted butter 1/2 teaspoon Mexican vanilla extract, preferably Blue Cattle Truck 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream Instructions:
To make the tangzhong: Combine all of the starter ingredients in a small saucepan and whisk until no lumps remain. Heat at medium until very thick and whisk for no more than a minute. Remove from the heat and set aside for several minutes. To make the filling: Mix ingredients in a bowl and set aside. To make the dough: Mix the tangzhong with the remaining dough ingredients until everything comes together. Let the dough rest, covered, for 20 minutes. After about 20 minutes, knead by hand or in a mixer using a dough hook to form a smooth, elastic, somewhat sticky dough. Shape the dough into a ball, and let it rest in a lightly greased covered bowl for 90 minutes in a cool area — 72 to 75 degrees is ideal — area — until puffy but not necessarily doubled in size. Gently deflate the risen dough, and roll out into a giant rectangle. Sprinkle the filling onto the sheet of dough, roll up like a swirl and cut in to 8 equal pieces. “These will be giant,” Morales cautions. Lightly grease a 9” by 13” pan. Space the rolls in the pan, two on the short side and four on the long side. Cover the pan and let the rolls rise for 60 minutes, until they touch and are double, almost triple in size. Forty-five minutes into your rising time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover the rolls, and bake on the middle rack for 22 to 25 minutes, until they feel set. They should be barely golden and should have an interior temperature of about 188 degrees. If they are browning too fast, cover with aluminum foil. “It’s better to under-bake these rolls than bake them too long,” Morales says. Remove the rolls from the oven and let cool on a rack inside the pan. Ice them after about 5 minutes while they still are warm and serve. To make the icing: Beat butter, cream cheese, vanilla and powder sugar together until no lumps remain. Mix until you reach desired consistency by adding milk 1 tablespoon at a time.
food
Clash of the Casseroles Is Texas potluck standby King Ranch Chicken worth making from scratch? Time to find out. BY RON BECHTOL
F
irst know this: King Ranch Chicken, the loved or loathed casserole that became a staple at weddings, funerals and pot-luck suppers all over Texas, likely has nothing to do with the fabled spread. Cows, not hens, were the engine of famed rancher Richard King’s success. It’s now thought instead that the concoction, based on mushroom and chicken canned soups combined with tinned tomatoes with chilies — Texas-born Ro-Tel to be precise — originated with post-war wives yearning to be liberated from the drudgery of housework and was disseminated throughout the state and beyond via Junior League cookbooks. A from-scratch variation on the dish was popularized by the chef at the San Antonio Junior League’s Bright Shawl Tearoom in the years prior to its 2013 closing. There are many recipes that purport to be the “original,” but one in The Casserole Queens Cookbook by Sandy Pollock and Crystal Cook seems to be as good a baseline as any. The only gussying up in that version is the use of cooking spray. Otherwise, it’s Campbell’s (one imagines) all the way. And that version does carry on the tradition of using Ro-Tel, even citing it by name. Recently, upscaled renditions have been offered by other Texas cookbook authors, including pastry queen Rebecca Rather and Austin-based Jessica Dupuy. Dupuy’s United Tastes of Texas was published in 2016. That recipe was one of the factors that sparked me to undertake a cans-versus-scratch confrontation between two different pans of the Texas casserole staple. The other was a foil pan of King Ranch Chicken I discovered in the freezer chest at Cooper’s Meat Market on Broadway just before the pandemic. Its menu listed all the usual suspects, including “rotel” and “cream soup.” And since it only needed to be defrosted and baked, it seemed to be even more liberating than the original — and a perfect, ahem, foil to play against an update. As both required the same oven temperature and more or less the same time, I could do them together and conduct a side-by-side comparison. Somewhat grudgingly admitting its importance, Texas Monthly once described King
Ron Bechtol
Ranch Chicken as “not a pretty dish. A steaming mass of melted mush, the ingredients … make it a study in beige and yellow. Nor is it at all exciting. Even with the requisite Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chilies, the flavor is resolutely bland.” At first glance, this perfectly described the look of the Cooper’s contribution as it emerged from the oven. In an act of charity, I added chopped Italian parsley. The texture of the dish also approached the mass-of-melted mush description: the tortillas had effectively disintegrated. But it was decently cheesy, and the taste proved better than bland, especially if you’re a fan of Tex-Mex flavors such as cumin and chili powder. The medium container —more or less the same size as the next recipe — set me back $34. You can google Dupuy’s KRC recipe, for which I did all my shopping at Central Market due to their well-run pandemic-era operation. For starters, be aware that two, oak-roasted chickens are perfect for the amount of smoked bird she calls for. Those will set you back about $16. I added some Spanish pimento ahumado to make up for the lack of actual smoke. I also made other tweaks and substitutions, some out of one-stop shopping necessity, some because I rarely follow recipes exactly anyway. For example, she calls for poblano peppers but doesn’t ask you to char them and rub off the skins, which I did. For the chili powder, I used one-third chili powder
Homemade or no, King Ranch Chicken isn’t a visually elegant
M dish.
(Gebhardt’s makes it more local), one-third dark ancho chile powder (this time with an “e” instead of an “i”) and one-third smoked pimento. I reduced the amount of cumin but toasted the seeds first in a dry pan, then ground them coarsely. In an attempt — my guess, anyway — at not having the tortillas turn to mush, DuPuy has you toast them, brushed with oil, in a castiron skillet. The ploy works almost too well when it comes to the top layer, as they get too crisp to cut through easily. Leaving the other layers whole, I’d quarter the ones on top. But, otherwise, the verdict was positive. There was a good ratio of chicken to other components, and the flavors were robust. It also looked good — even without parsley. But was it all worth the time and expense? Not counting shopping time, assembly took over an hour what with all the charring, chopping, frying and toasting of 18 tortillas. Also not counting ingredients I already had, such as chicken stock and sour cream, the cost was about $30, making that aspect a wash. In the end, there was no clear winner. Sheer convenience suggests the frozen route, while cheffy pride tugs in the other direction. Your call, should pot-lucks ever rise again.
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food The Take Away: Cheesemaker Susan Rigg Doing Work That Matters BY NINA RANGEL Name: Susan Rigg Job/Title: Chef and owner, River Whey Creamery Birthplace: California Years as a cheesemaker: Six Impact: Uses local ingredients, classic technique and tenacious grit to supply local establishments including Cured, Hotel Emma and La Cantera Resort with cow’s milk cheeses Money Quote: “You have to have something that matters to you, that fills a big enough space in your universe, that you can decide to focus on it and just get lost in it forever.” Tell us about your background, and how you got where you are today. When I was 10, I told my parents all I wanted for my birthday was a copy of Grey’s Anatomy. Even at that early age, I thought I was going to go to medical school, but that just didn’t happen for me. I ended up spending 15 years in retail, working for Barnes & Noble and Borders. It wasn’t what I thought I would be doing with my life, and I was miserable. I hired a life coach and spent three months working out the fact that food was a love of my life. I quit Borders, cashed in my 401(k) and went to culinary school. In 2014, I began production of the first River Whey Creamery products. What was your line of thinking when you decided to professionally switch gears? When Amazon came out, all brick-and-mortar bookstores were competing head to head with this new online model. As employees, we could see the writing on the wall. There was a moment in my life where I had to decide what would fulfill me. Before enrolling in culinary school, I took a week of vacation, grabbed a journal and really reflected. I thought I would maybe write cookbooks or do some travel writing, but everything I wrote down in that journal had something to do with food. I clearly remember my mother saying to me, “I don’t care what you do, as long as you’re happy doing it,” and the decision to get a culinary education just felt right. What do you remember most clearly about starting that journey? I remember discovering that beginning this new chapter was like walking down a hallway with 300 doors on either side. The career possibilities in the food business are endless. All I knew was that I wanted to enjoy the journey and leave the end open.
Courtesy Photo / River Whey Creamery
Now I feel that way about life in general. People get this tunnel vision where they say, “I’m going to be a blank,” and I feel like that’s a mistake. When you limit or label yourself, you close yourself off to other opportunities to become even more. How do you feel like your previous career path has helped in building your current business? Spending 15 years unpacking countless boxes of books and utilizing employee book loan programs was a dream for a lifetime learner like me. I found myself taking in huge amounts of information about a wide array of subjects, like how to manage teams and how to run a business. The people I hire are just as important as the local ingredients I source for our cheeses. All of my employees are on a developmental action plan, whether they work for me part-time or full-time, because I feel like nurturing the professional goals my staff is worth that extra money, time and effort. It’s not about individual technical skills of that person; all of that can be taught. Can and do they want to do this job? And are they a good fit? These are the most important questions when I’m considering adding someone to the team. Many people are taking this time to explore their hobbies more seriously, maybe even consider a career change. Any words of wisdom?
As shitty as people feel about COVID, it could be a huge opportunity. If you’re one of those people that hangs out on the sidelines and is just waiting around to see what happens to — or for — you, you’re going to be at the back of the line when opportunity comes around. It definitely takes guts and brains and luck, but grit and perseverance are what’s really going to make the difference. Just open yourself up to learning, see where that leads you, and don’t try to figure out the end before you get there. Token COVID-focused question: how are you dealing? You know, attitude really makes the difference. Are you going to look at the darkness every day or look at the light? So many local businesses are getting super creative right now and really taking advantage of every card that’s dealt to them. My friend Travis [Kraus] owns Parker Creek Ranch, and their home delivery business has been through the roof lately. We can’t attend farmers markets right now, so the fancy refrigerated truck that we typically use to transport product to weekend markets is now being used to help them keep up. We have to remain open and collaborative; not everything has to be a competition. Quite the opposite, the only way we’re all going to get through this is by embracing creativity and collaboration. With every dip, there comes a rise. sacurrent.com | June 3 – June 16, 2020 | CURRENT
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Courtesy Photo / The Powell Brothers
On Pause
Live music is slowly returning to SA, but don’t expect concert tours or big productions until 2021 BY SANFORD NOWLIN
T
here’s some good news for music fans as the economy reawakens. Namely, that live shows are starting to return to San Antonio. But there’s also this: touring acts and large-venue performances probably won’t come back in earnest until 2021. “Most of the promoters we’re talking to are looking at the 2021 calendar year,” said Casey Heverling, general manager of San Antonio’s 18,000-seat AT&T Center. “We’ve still got some things on the books for late summer or fall. We’re assuming those could go forward unless we hear something different, but every day we hear something new and have to adjust.” Promoters have already pushed top-drawing tours, from Taylor Swift and Blake Shelton to Rammstein and Rage Against the Machine, into next year, and cancellations have become so common that industry trade pub Billboard maintains a running online list of them. But it’s not just major acts pulling withdrawing from the road. Bands that play halls and large clubs are also waiting until 2021. In part, that’s because states are reopening at a staggered schedule. California and New York, essential stops on nationwide jaunts, are taking the longest time to reopen, so booking for the fall just doesn’t make sense. “If every three days your tour takes you someplace where you can’t book a show, you’re going to say ‘Let’s just push this back until February of next year,’”
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CURRENT | June 3 – June 16, 2020 | sacurrent.com
said Graham Williams, owner of Margin Walker Presents, which books San Antonio’s Paper Tiger, among other Texas venues. Even the agents who haven’t scrapped fall and winter dates on Williams’ books are securing backup options well into next year. “Everyone’s landing on top of each other in the spring,” he said. “Every other day on the calendar is booked.”
No Other Option Despite the cancellations, some San Antonio venues are starting to book local acts again, although in fits and starts. Restaurants and those with outdoor space, such as Loopland venue Anchor Bar, were among the first to return. Restaurants were able to expand their capacity to 50% under state orders, while bars are still operating at 25% capacity. Even so, auditorium-sized spaces such as the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts are still awaiting a green light from Gov. Greg Abbott before they begin staging shows again. Fitzgerald’s Bar & Live Music Venue was among the first SA bars to present love music once the state cleared them to return to return. It held the fifth annual Memorial Day Metal Fest shortly after the getting its all-clear from the state.
The Powell Brothers perform at Gruene Hall on the first night the dance hall has hosted live music since the pandemic.
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The venue distributed wristbands at the door to ensure it didn’t admit more than 75 audience members, per occupancy rules set by the state. It also set up hand-sanitizing stations and moved benches in front of the stage to prevent dancing and maintain distance between the performers and audience. Fitzgerald’s co-owner Sharon Tucker said she didn’t have much choice but to resume booking after she reopened. Drink sales pay the bills at venues such as hers, but live music brings folks through the door. “If we didn’t start doing music again, I don’t think we’d be around much longer,” she said. “Even if you work out a deal with the landlord, they’ve still got their own bills they’ve got to pay.” But not all music venues are in a position to reopen. Many simply have too much overhead to run lights and sound for a handful of audience members. Others worry about the liability and safety concerns of staging multi-band bills again. Those tough choices come as the National Independent Venue Association estimates that 90% of its members don’t have enough cash to last more than six months without assistance. The recently formed organization is lobbying lawmakers for federal assistance to weather the crisis. Margin Walker’s Williams said he doesn’t expect Paper Tiger to close, but the shutdown has already claimed several high-profile Texas venues. Dallas’ Lizard Lounge, a longtime electronica and goth fixture, and country bar The Blue Light, both announced their closures last month. “Music venues are the first thing to close and the last to reopen,” he said. “You can’t just reopen like
music
you’re a clothing store. I mean, what we do is mass gatherings.”
‘This Will Be Watched’ Bands, clubs, promoters, agents and fans are all watching the baby steps of venues bringing back live music. If they can pull it off, confidence will build and more gigs will return, industry insiders say. Booking agent Chad Tolar landed a gig for country and Americana act the Powell Brothers at Gruene Hall last weekend, marking the historic dance hall’s reopening for live music. “Because Gruene Hall is such a legendary venue, this will be watched,” Tolar said. “People want to see for themselves that audiences are capable of going out and having a good time and behaving themselves.” The Powell Brothers recently dropped a new single and are continuing to book gigs around the state at seated venues. However, Tolar concedes it could be a while before the act is back to its pre-pandemic schedule of gigging three nights a week. The slow build for live music is likely to hurt most for performers recently signed to big labels or working to build quick momentum, Tolar said. But those who did their time on the road will find ways to connect with audiences while they wait for larger venues to reopen. “The bands that did the time and built relationships around the country are going to be able to go back to the smaller venues where they got their start,” he said. “Instead of doing one big gig, maybe they do three- or four-night stands.”
The New Normal Even so, those in the live music business say audiences should be ready for a different experience when they return to venues — at least for the time being. Michael Fresher, president and CEO of the Tobin Center, wants to reopen in time to restart the venue’s outdoor movie series in July. However, he said large-scale tours aren’t something that will come back quickly. Instead, the Tobin’s first shows back will likely for solo performers, comedians and lecturers — acts with lower guarantees and smaller stage requirements. What’s more, the venue will use an automated system to sink seats into the floor to create larger, safer spaces between concertgoers. While the approach will mean a different experience for ticketholders, the Tobin simply can’t survive indefinitely without bringing audiences back. “If this goes on for a year, we’re going to have a problem,” he said. Corey Cowart, executive director of the San Antonio Symphony, which cut short its season due to the pandemic, said he’s confident audiences will return. However, they must be ready for a new kind of concert experience.
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“There’s a very strong likelihood — I’d say an 80% chance that live music will feel substantially different through the rest of this year, maybe even beyond,” he said. Although the symphony plans to kick off its 2020-21 classical season in late September, details are fluid due to ongoing public health concerns. Depending on how things go, it’s considering options such as playing with smaller configurations or performing outdoors. “We’re not going to be onstage until we address all the health and safety concerns, but we also have to understand what our audience is thinking,” Cowart said.
Banner Year? Deepening the pain, the live-event shutdown came as San Antonio and other cities were experiencing a concert boom. The AT&T and Freeman Coliseum, for example, hosted a dozen of last year’s 20 top-drawing acts, compared to just five in 2014. Smaller venue owners and promoters said they also were experiencing strong years. When the pandemic hit, San Antonio native Ryan Brummett was forced to relocate back home from Brooklyn. His company, Overrun Booking, had expanded its roster to
Taylor Swift is one of the artists who’s pushed back a top-grossing tour due to the coronavirus crisis.
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30 bands, and he was working in partnership with Netflix to kick off an ambitious traveling punk festival. While the setbacks are disappointing, Brummett said he’s confident audiences still hunger for live music. He expects fans to take advantage of a smorgasbord of gigs once touring resumes next year. “I know people who run record labels, and they’re telling me sales are good,” he said. “People are still buying music and merchandise through this thing. The interest is there.” While there’s pent up interest, Heverling of the AT&T Center isn’t counting on a quick rebound. For one, many are still going to be wary of mass gatherings, regardless of the safety precautions that venues take. What’s more, layoffs and lost income have cut deeply into people’s disposable income. While Heverling said some artists are likely to scale back ticket prices in response, many fans will have no choice but to cut back on entertainment spending. “I don’t think 2021 is going to be a banner year, but I think 2022 will be,” Heverling said.
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music Penned-Up Bulls
Texas country artists waiting out pandemic to play live and promote new work BY KATIE HENNESSEY
R
emember the uninhibited joy of standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a concert crowd full of screaming, sweaty strangers? One minute you’re recoiling from the drink spilled down your back, the next you find yourself embracing those around you, singing along to every word like it was written just for you. For now, that’s all gone. COVID-19 turned the lights out for the music industry overnight, leaving musicians and performers unable to work and forced to pursue innovative ways of keeping fans engaged. Artists are facing the unprecedented challenge of releasing new music without the ability to promote it in live arenas. Instead, they’re leaning on virtual platforms to drum up fanfare for new albums and singles. For Texas country artists, the approach can’t hold a candle to the thrill of connecting with a live audience. “There is nothing more special than seeing people’s eyes and watching them sing the words,” Wade Bowen told the Current. Bowen would know. Arguably one of the biggest names on the Texas country circuit, he his new album, Hold My Beer, Vol. 2, on Friday, May 8 in collaboration with fellow country artist Randy Rogers. The New Braunfels-based duo, who each have their own respective bands, jointly recorded the album as a follow-up to 2015’s Hold My Beer Vol. 1. They questioned the timing of releasing Vol. 2, considering it couldn’t be supported by a tour with venues closed up. But the follow-up album was years in the making, and they felt the timing was right. “This is a time when people are turning to music, and that’s one of the reasons we chose to go ahead and push through,” Bowen said. “We just got creative with it all. It’s something like we’ve never done before, on so many levels.” Bowen hosts a Facebook livestream concert series on Friday nights called Wade’s World Quaranstream. He used the platform to host an album release party, followed by Q&A about the record. The duo played songs from the album to an empty room at Cheatham Street Warehouse, the venerable San Marcos honky tonk. “Seeing people’s reaction to songs, that’s why we make records — so we can have that experience of getting out and getting to make people happy in that way,” Bowen said. “Not getting to do that is really hard.”
Divorced From Feedback Using virtual promotion, artists are divorced from 22
CURRENT | June 3 – June 16, 2020 | sacurrent.com
Courtesy Photo / Wade Bowen and Randy Rogers
the instant feedback of live shows, instead seeing responses when comments, questions, likes and loves flood social media. Bowen even published his phone number for further dialogue with fans, adding “it is definitely different and something that we have just found a way to be positive about.” Both Bowen and Rogers agree that the positive messages from the new album are something fans need right now. “This record is about friendships and having fun with your buddies and the ones you love,” Bowen said. The album’s title track “Hold My Beer” delves into Rogers and Bowen’s longstanding friendship, as they trade nostalgic tales of rowdy Austin bar fights and chasing girls on the Sunset Strip. The song “AM/FM” takes listeners on a country drive, with a bobble-head Jesus on the dash, a cold one in the console and a “hot little pistol” riding shotgun. The pair has tour dates on the books for late June, but they remain at the mercy of state officials on whether those will happen. In the meantime, Bowen said he’s trying to stay connected to fans, playing his music in whatever way he can and enjoying not being road-worn. Hopefully, he says, “that translates into something really special when we go back.”
Studio Shutdown San Antonio native and rising country music artist Mike Ryan familiarized himself with the Texas Country music scene during his college years, consuming as many bootleg acoustic recordings he could find from bands such as Cross Canadian Ragweed, Stoney LaRue and Wade Bowen. Over the past ten years, he’s launched his own career, releasing four albums with one more on the way. He was a couple recordings away from finishing his fifth album when studios shut down in Nashville. While waiting, Ryan went ahead and released a single off the new album, dropping “Ghost Town” on May 15.
Wade Bowen and Randy Rogers are M among the Texas artists rethinking how to promote an album during the pandemic. “I kind of feel like a penned-up bull,” Ryan told the Current. “I’ve got all this new material that I can’t go play to people, which is the best part.” Since releasing the new single, Ryan has played a full-band drive-in concert at Lava Cantina near Dallas. He’s also been hosting livestreams from his back porch on social media. But Ryan doesn’t think a virtual connection to fans is comparable to performing new songs for a live audience. “You can see your audience learn new songs, the song may have only been out for a couple of days and you already see people singing along — that’s pretty cool,” he said. Introducing tunes to a barroom full of people is also a way to gauge which should be featured as the next single, Ryan explained. He wonders whether drive-in concerts and live streaming will be artists’ primary outlets for a while. “There is a silver lining though,” he added. “There are more people paying attention on social media, and there is an anticipation building from folks. So, I feel like whenever we do go back to work, everybody is going to make up for lost time.” Co-written with Brent Anderson and Neil Medley, “Ghost Town” reflects on the memories of a past relationship. The scene is set in an old boomtown, which parallels to fleeting moments in time. It follows Ryan’s Texas radio hit “Dear Country Music,” an ode to the honky-tonk sound that shaped him. The San Antonio star is scheduled to play John T. Floore’s County Store on June 5, but he’s unsure whether more live shows are going to be part of the plan. “’Til then, we’ve just got to keep riding, keep playing, stay on the social and keep putting out music,” he said.
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