Contributors Abe Asher, Bill Baird, Ron Bechtol, Danny Cervantes, Amber Esparza, Brianna Espinoza, Anjali Gupta, Colin Houston, Kiko Martinez, Mike McMahan, Kevin Sanchez, M. Solis, Dean Zach
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in this issue
Auditor’s Certification:
11 Rocky Start
Gina Ortiz Jones’ first 100 days as San Antonio mayor were anything but ordinary Issue 25-20/// Oct 2 - 15, 2025
09 News
The Opener News in Brief ’Anyone Can Be Questioned’
After Texas governor signs ‘bathroom bill,’ advocates warn of rising harassment of transgender people
Lifeline
Pride Center San Antonio launches new counseling service as political attacks on LGBTQ+ people grow
Clearing the Queue
Bexar County officials say up to 80% of voter registration backlog could be processed by week's end
Bad Takes
It’s up to all of us to speak out against extremists’ book bans
22 Calendar
Our picks of things to do powerful
29 Screens
Balancing Act
Reagan High School grad Julia Stier thrives as actor, writer and studio executive
Cultura Meets the Cosmos
Raza Cósmica film festival spotlights ‘constellation of Latinx sci-fi cinema’
33 Food In Demand
The lines are long at Seguin’s lauded Burnt Bean Co., but the experience may be worth it
Cooking Up Conversation
Gigi’s Deli chef-founder Matt Garcia weighs in on San Antonio’s ‘sandwich renaissance’
41 Music Rolling Tape
30 unique, unexpected and legendary live recordings made in San Antonio
On the Cover: This week’s cover story unpacks the uneven first 100 days of Gina Oriz Jones’ term as mayor of San Antonio. Cover design: David Loyola. Cover photo: Jay Godwin.
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That Rocks/That Sucks
As the State Board of Education continues to weigh revisions to Texas schools’ social studies standards, it’s added a new advisor to the mix: Christian nationalist David Barton, a former Texas Republican Party official who has claimed the U.S. was founded as a theocracy. Barton will serve as one of the board’s expert content advisers, a role he also had the last time the board revised the state standards back in 2010.
Trinity University last week received one of the largest gifts in its history: $25 million from the family of the late beer magnate Carlos Alvarez to establish a new school for the arts and humanities. The money will be used to endow the dean’s position at the new school, establish scholarships and to fund research, new faculty hires and participation in global study programs. Before his death last year, Alvarez also donated $20 million to UTSA.
Tedd Mitchell, chancellor of the Texas Tech University system, moved last week to restrict discussion of transgender and nonbinary gender identities in classrooms across the system’s five campuses. In a letter issued last Thursday, Mitchell, who is expected to step aside in coming weeks, told faculty to update course materials and make “timely adjustments where needed.” The guidance comes after Angelo State University, one of the system’s campuses, instructed faculty not to discuss transgender identities in the classroom.
Downtown’s Villita Assembly Hall is set to be redeveloped as a culinary hub. The historic structure’s owner, San Antonio-based private equity firm Escalera Capital, has struck a deal with Virginia-based developer Onset Hospitality to oversee a food and beverage program for the new food hall. There’s not yet a timeline for when the rebranded La Villita Food Hall might open. — Abe Asher
YOU SAID IT!
This appointment is a flashing red light warning that the social studies overhaul appears already to be headed off the rails and into a political swamp of misinformation and distortions.”
—TexasFreedomNetworkDeputyDirector CarisaLopezontheStateBoardofEducation adding ChristiannationalistDavidBarton to its list of advisors on a new social studies curriculum.
son, the man accused of shooting Kirk, to be publicly executed on national television after a speedy trial for the crime.
Calling for televised public executions (in Christ’s mercy) with Texas pastor Joel Webbon
Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.
While Gov. Greg Abbott and his lackeys, including Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, work themselves into a lather over remarks Charlie Kirk’s detractors made after his death, there’s been less attention paid to far more troubling remarks bubbling up from the right.
For example, the MAGA activist’s death triggered loathsome commentary from podcaster Candace Owens, who theorized the shooting was orchestrated by a global conspiracy led by Israel, and Tucker Carlson, who subtly hinted that, much as with Jesus’ death, Jews were to blame.
Meanwhile, closer to home, Texas-based Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon wants Tyler Robin-
Small-business owners at downtown’s Historic Market Square are urging residents to vote against Project Marvel this November, arguing that the proposed development is designed for the wealthy. Bexar County and the City of San Antonio are asking voters on Nov. 4 to approve the use of the visitors tax to help finance a new arena for the San Antonio Spurs as part of a broader redevelopment vision. The area around Market Square, meanwhile, has been under construction since 2018.
Camp Mystic, the site of the horrific tragedy where 25 campers and two counselors died during a July flood, is planning to partially reopen next year. Camp officials last week said they’re preparing to
“I do think that execution, that capital punishment for a capital crime with a national level crime, that justice should be carried out nationally and publicly where everyone is able to witness it if they so desire,” Webbon, the head of Covenant Bible Church and Right Response Ministries, declared during a recent podcast.
“It’s good for the public to see if they so desire,” the purported man of God added. “But more importantly, arguably, it is good for others who have murderous hearts, who may be thinking of carrying out wicked deeds against conservatives, against Christians, it’s good for them to see.”
Webbon’s thirst for public executions should come as little surprise considering the guy has previously called for the U.S. to be run by a Christian dictator who will “rule with an iron fist” and scare everyone so shitless that they’ll either convert or pretend to have.
If the country needs to back away from partisan rancor in the wake of Kirk’s death, as many elected officials have suggested, the bloodthirsty declarations of Webbon and his ilk certainly aren’t helping put us on the right track. — Sanford Nowlin
open their campsite on Cypress Lake in 2026 as they work to rebuild the site along the Guadalupe River. Officials also said they will build a memorial to those who lost their lives, a plan families of the deceased said they weren’t consulted on.
Homelessness in Bexar County jumped by 7.5% in the past year, a new Point-in-Time Count has found. The substantial rise comes after homelessness increased by 6.9% the previous year. The count found that, on a single night in January, the county’s total homeless population numbered 3,372 — an increase of 217 people. Interim Councilman Leo Castillo-Anguiano last week filed a formal request for the city council to analyze what it can do in response. — Abe Asher
ASSCLOWN ALERT
Screen Capture- Twitter / @rightresponsem
Rocky Start
Gina Ortiz Jones’ first 100 days as San Antonio mayor were anything but ordinary
BY MICHAEL KARLIS
First-term Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones promised to bring radical change to City Hall during her first 100 days in office.
Jones hit that milestone Sept. 25, and her tenure has certainly been rocky and unconventional, according to political analysts.
Some worry she squandered both time and goodwill on unnecessary fights with council. Others give her better marks, saying the former Under Secretary of the Air Force and two-time Democratic congressional candidate is experiencing a learning curve as she tries to get a better handle on city politics.
Either way, Jones has so far missed the mark on several key promises she said she’d achieve during her first 100 days. For example, she pledged to streamline the approval process for low-income housing projects, develop a home-ownership program for frontline workers and update the city’s Tenant Bill of Rights, according to her mayoral campaign website.
She also said she’d boost Pre-K 4 SA enrollment and hold “corporate landlords and investors accountable for their role in the housing crisis.”
So far, none of that’s happened, largely because she’s been saddled from her first day in office with defraying a major budget crisis, UT-San Antonio political scientist Jon Taylor said.
“Those were ambitious and great [goals], and they would have been great if the budget situation was more stable,” Taylor said. “ But, she has champagne dreams on what is a beer budget at best. We just don’t have the money to do some of this stuff.”
Jones didn’t respond to the Current’s request for comment on this article. However, in a statement marking her first 100 days in office, she blamed the city’s lack of data collection for her delay in implementing portions of her agenda.
“In exploring solutions on topics like
early childhood education, affordable childcare and workforce development, the data is not readily available to inform our decision-making, and by working with city staff, we can better understand and address these gaps to put plans in place that build a strong foundation across the city,” the statement said.
Some experts said the data hasn’t been the sole problem. San Antonio political consultant Bert Santibañez, a former staffer on Jones’ mayoral campaign, characterized the statement as an attempt at deflection.
“I think it’s a smoke screen,” Santibañez said. “I mean, whenever she’s in a predicament, or she’s looking to deflect, ‘more data’ is usually her go-to.”
Butting heads
Observers point to Jones’ so-far tumultuous relationship with City Council as another reason she’s failed to rack up major victories during her first weeks in office.
Early on, Jones got sideways with potential allies on the dais when she tried
to change how Council Consideration Requests — or proposals for introducing new ordinances — are brought up for public debate.
She subsequently lost a 10-1 vote on a pet dumping ordinance and seemingly underestimated the level of fan fervor over Project Marvel, the proposed $4 billion downtown sports and entertainment complex Bexar County voters will decide whether to move forward with in November, observers said.
“It’s disappointing,” Santibañez said. “She came in as a change agent, kind of against the status quo, and there was something inspiring about that. I think the electorate wanted to change business as usual, and she embodied that. There was a lot of hope.”
Half of City Council is new, which presented Jones an opportunity for a fresh start, Santibañez noted.
“But from the start, it just seemed antagonistic, tenuous and so much conflict,” he added. “That kind of infighting, picking fights and that kind of thing. It just seemed counterproductive.”
Crashing the presser
Arguably, the most memorable moment during Jones’ first 100 days wasn’t her meeting with a Taiwanese trade delegation or her victory in getting the council to unanimously pass a City Charter amendment discouraging members of council from signing non-disclosure agreements.
Instead, it was when Jones crashed a press conference organized by the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce in support of Project Marvel. At the event, the mayor got into an argument with local demi-celebrity Spurs Jesus.
“It definitely made for good TV,” UTSA’s Taylor said. “But, I don’t think it did anything for her cause. Had she instead worked with City Council members and expressed her concerns in informal meetings … . That’s where I think she stumbled. She just didn’t recognize the political landscape.”
Even so, St. Mary’s University political scientist Art Vega gives Jones’ first 100 days a letter grade of a low B. Although her tenure has so far been unconventional, he’s holding out hope that it could bring changes for the better.
“I think because she’s a bit of a mav-
erick, she doesn’t fit the norm, and that could be a very positive and refreshing idea,” Vega said.
Staff exodus
One of the first indications that Jones might be in for a rough ride came when former campaign manager Jordan Abelson, who’d been promoted to chief of staff, resigned after serving only three weeks in the new position.
The exodus continued in July, when longtime media representative Gary Cooper was “reassigned” from his position as Jones’ spokesman after only a week on the job. The following month, Jones’ events director and former campaign staffer, Rory Vance, left the mayor’s office.
“She’s winning at something: the record for most staff turnover in a 60-day period,” longtime San Antonio political consultant Kelton Morgan said of Jones’ tenure so far.
Morgan has seen the mayor’s office up close, having worked as a political consultant and analyst during former Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s 2017 and 2019 races.
“Ron’s first 100 days weren’t great,” Morgan recalled. “He talked about crime, traffic and jobs when he ran. That was his exclusive focus. He takes office and immediately signs the Paris Climate Accords and establishes a Housing Task Force, neither of which was a focus of his campaign. He kinda threw some elbows and maybe misunderstood how much power the mayor had.”
Morgan said Jones has shown a similar inability to read the room.
“Gina just came through the door guns blazing with demands and sharp elbows and began alienating to people on the council,” he said. “Even council members that would be her natural allies, including [District 5 progressive] Teri Castillo, who was the only council person to campaign for her, openly endorse her and back her campaign.”
Building a majority
San Antonio’s city government operates under a system in which the mayor only has a single vote on council and can only request that the city manager add items to the agenda.
“It’s a weak-mayor system, but you can be strong,” St. Mary’s Vega said. “And the way you can be strong is by building a working majority to support your agenda.”
UTSA’s Taylor agreed, saying that the way for a San Antonio mayor to be effective is by engaging in retail politics and building relationships and coalitions in casual conversations with others on council.
“Informally, go and take each council member out for dinner,” Taylor said. “Have drinks somewhere. Just casually get to know them and cultivate potential alliances on certain issues.”
However, Jones isn’t building the relationships necessary to forge that kind of coalition, District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito told the Current. Instead, the only meetings she’s had with the mayor are formal, monthly one-onone meetings that feel more like a requirement than relationship-building sessions.
“I would say the meetings that I have with my [other] colleagues are much more informal,” Alderete Gavito added, pointing to late-night phone calls and casual meetings in other members’ offices.
“It’s a lot of those relationships that I have that I’m leaning on to get things done,” she said. “That is not a monthly, formal one-on-one meeting that I have with Ric, or Leo, or Misty, or whoever. [It’s] being able to pick up the phone and call each other as we need to, right?”
Vega speculates that Jones’ inability to build a functioning coalition on the dais stems from her background in the federal government.
On the campaign trail, Jones frequently mentioned she graduated from John Jay High School, but she attended college in the Northeast and spent most of her political career in Washington, D.C. While she did run to represent a South Texas district that included San Antonio in Congress,
that’s a federal office.
Although not necessarily a bad thing, she has no working relationships with folks at San Antonio City Hall. And in this often-insular city, that can be a major burden.
“She’s bringing people in from D.C. that she knows and has worked with,” Vega said. “Now the question is finding people who will work with her style. I think she has a somewhat heavy-handed style of leadership.”
Jones’ current chief of staff, Jenise Carroll, last worked at the FBI, for example.
What’s more, the mayor outsourced her communications to Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Frontwood Strategies at a monthly taxpayer expense of $10,000. The Frontwood Strategies account executive who runs Jones’ communications, Philippa Martinez-Berrier, is based in Austin.
“The best way to establish a working relationship with the mayor is to ensure there’s a 65-mile buffer zone between you,” consultant Morgan cheekily commented on the relationship.
Further, unlike Nirenberg, whose office was fully staffed within the first two weeks of being in office, Jones’ office is still half vacant.
Taking on the world
The last time San Antonio elected a mayor with no prior City Hall experience was in 2005, when attorney Phil Hardberger took office.
“When Phil Hardberger was elected mayor, he went to every council member’s house over the course of a few weeks and had dinner and said, ‘What do you want, what are you looking to do the next two years, and how can I help you do that?’” Morgan recalled.
Instead, Jones has taken a different approach.
“It just seems like Gina Ortiz Jones against the world, and I don’t know if that’s a kind of default mechanism that she just operates under or what,” former campaign staffer Santibañez said.
Both Vega and Taylor maintain that there’s little problem with the issues Jones has tried to bring to the public’s attention.
For example, Jones’ call for an independent economic analysis on the Spurs’ proposed downtown arena — a centerpiece of Project Marvel — is completely valid given the money involved, Taylor said.
“She may very well be right about Project Marvel in terms of the cost, whether
the city can afford its part,” the professor added. “If somehow the voters of Bexar County vote it down in November, what that means is that she actually might look like she was right.”
To that point, Jones warned council colleagues on several occasions that if the city didn’t complete more due diligence on Project Marvel, the public would likely vote it down in November.
Meanwhile, Vega said Jones’ proposed CCR change — throwing them out following every election — is exactly what Congress does every session.
However, Jones’ combative efforts to push her agenda have yielded bad press and negative public perception, Taylor said.
“Perception is everything in politics, and that perception that has been given is one of turmoil, instability and confrontation,” he added.
The way forward
Political consultant Morgan said it may be hard for Jones to hit “reset” at City Hall without stepping back and engaging in some deep soul searching.
“Based on what I’ve seen from her so far, I don’t think anyone is all that hopeful that there will be some kind of fundamental reset that will kind of set things right and establish a better working environment on that council,” he said.
Vega disagrees.
Indeed, he said Jones’ apparent disinterest in business as usual feels “refreshing,” even if it came with negative side effects. The mayor also was handed a difficult situation, he added, since she was thrown into Project Marvel discussions while also trying to solve a $ 170 million-plus budget deficit.
“I think the real question is going to be how things look at the end of the year,” Vega said. “If you still have these same problems, then we have an atypical situation.”
Meanwhile, Taylor said Jones could reverse early perceptions by seeking “easy wins” she can rack up over coming months.
“Look at the Ready to Work program and jobs assistance programs,” he suggested. “Look at ways to assist lower-income people in ways that are supported by the community, supported by NGOs, and supported by the business community. There are ways she can do this.”
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Named Best Cocktail Bar Two Years in a Row! Cheers, San Antonio!
’Anyone Can Be Questioned’
After Texas governor signs ‘bathroom bill,’ advocates warn of rising harassment of transgender people
BY SANFORD NOWLIN
LLGBTQ+ advocates are bracing for a rise in harassment after Gov. Greg Abbott on last week signed a law effectively barring transgender people from using restrooms in government-owned buildings and facilities.
Republican-backed Senate Bill 8, which goes into effect Dec. 4, limits people’s use of bathrooms in government buildings, universities and public schools to the ones matching the sex they were assigned at birth. It also imposes stiff fines on any institution that doesn’t enforce the rule — $25,000 for a first offense and $125,000 for each thereafter.
Beyond the inconvenience and em-
barrassment the law creates for trans people, Johnathan Gooch, communication director for LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Texas, worries the state will experience “over-compliance” as people interpret the law more broadly than it’s written.
“Even though this law applies to government buildings, there’s concern that transgender people trying to use the bathroom in other types of spaces — a coffee shop, a bar — might face increased harassment, or that private businesses might try to enforce their own anti-trans bathroom policies,”
Gooch said. “The harm to the community even within government buildings is extreme, but there’s a real concern that it may ripple out beyond that.”
Transgender people already face harassment when they try to use public restrooms, he said, adding that the state law is likely to worsen the situation as people with anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments become bathroom vigilantes.
A 2013 study by UCLA School of Law’s Williams Center found that 70% of trans and non-gender conforming people reported being denied access, verbally harassed or physically assaulted when they have tried to use public restrooms.
Bathroom bans in other states have also had the unintended effect of subjecting cisgender women to harassment by self-appointed bathroom monitors, said Joelle Espeut, advocacy
Lifeline Pride Center San Antonio launches new counseling service as political attacks on LGBTQ+ people grow
BY MICHAEL KARLIS
Pride Center San Antonio is responding to an uptick in demand for counseling services as President Donald Trump and Texas elected officials intensify their attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, officials told the Current this week.
“This year we’ve already provided 800 hours of free counseling,” Pride Center Board Director Cristian Sanchez said. “We’ve seen an increased need for our services, and that just comes from changes in law and policy and changes in discussions regarding
director the Normal Anomaly Initiative, a nonprofit that advocates for marginalized communities.
“What we’re seeing is this doesn’t just impact trans people, it impacts all women,” Espeut said. “Anyone can be questioned to show they’re not trans. From what we’ve seen in other states, women have even been asked to show off their body parts or come up with a birth certificate.”
At least 19 other states have passed legislation banning trans people from public restrooms, according to the Texas Tribune.
The Texas bathroom bill also forbids prisons and jails from making housing exceptions for transgender inmates. Further, it bars trans people who were assigned male at birth from accessing women’s domestic violence shelters.
“This bill not only further stigmatizes trans people, it also prevents them from seeking essential services like domestic violence shelters,” Gooch said. “And we know that trans people experience domestic violence at higher rates than cisgender women. They need spaces to be safe.”
Under the guidance of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Texas Senate has passed six separate bathroom bills since 2017, but each has stalled in the Texas House. This year’s session is the first time one of the proposals passed both GOP-controlled houses and ended up on the governor’s desk.
Gooch said he worries SB 8’s passage
pendent journalist Ken Klippenstein reported in a Substack post that the FBI is looking to categorize all transgender individuals as terrorists.
will embolden right-wing lawmakers to roll out even more punishing proposals targeting trans Texans — and in even larger volumes.
During the 2021 session, Equality Texas counted more than 70 bills in the state legislature that sought to strip rights from LGBTQ+ Texans. That number doubled in 2023, then exploded to more than 200 in this year’s session.
“We’re definitely seeing an escalation carried out in the legislative space,” Gooch said. “I fear we can expect to see more of that unless Texans turn up to vote and say, ‘This isn’t what we stand for.’”
trans people and other LGBTQ people that create more exclusion, discrimination and stigma.”
As the fear builds for San Antonio’s LGBTQ+ residents, especially those who identify as transgender, the Pride Center is expanding its programming by offering free, one-off, one-hour counseling sessions.
“I’m telling you there are more people who need free counseling,” Sanchez said. “People who have mental health crises — their mental health has slipped.”
The expanded counseling services arrive as the LGBTQ+ community braces for even more attacks from right-wing political figures. Last week, inde-
“When it comes to the FBI labeling trans people as terrorists, it’s obviously ridiculous, stigmatizing and not supported by evidence,” Sanchez said. “I don’t know where that is, where that’s going and how that will practically effect people. But, I do know things like the bathroom bill are going to affect our community very practically.”
Indeed, during the last legislative session, Texas GOP lawmakers passed a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, including the Senate Bill 8, which restricts transgender people’s ability to use restrooms in state-owned buildings. House Bill 229 strips away gender identities other than the one assigned at birth on legal government documents.
The Pride Center’s new counseling services will be provided by interns in
the process of earning their masters’ degrees in social work, Sanchez said. It’s not that the Pride Center doesn’t want to pay licensed counselors, Sanchez said. However, the organization is one of many that’s lost funds amid Trump’s drastic federal budget cuts. Sanchez said the Pride Center is actively applying for private grants, but there’s just not enough money to go around.
“We are getting rejections saying, ‘We love what you’re doing, we want to support it, but we just have too many applications,’” Sanchez said.
However, the Pride remain defiant, and under new leadership added last year, they’re eager to continue their work, he added.
The San Antonio Pride Center, located at 1303 McCullough Ave., is open noon-6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and noon-8 p.m. on Mondays.
Shutterstock Michael Tubi
Clearing the Queue
Bexar County officials say up to 80% of voter registration backlog could be processed by week's end
BY STEPHANIE KOITHAN
Be xar County officials on Monday said the county now has access to the state’s voter registration system and is poised to complete 75% to 80% of its unprocessed voter registrations by the end of this week.
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai and Elections Administrator Michele Carew appeared at an afternoon press conference to assure the public that all of the county’s 52,000 unprocessed voter registrations will be completed in time for October’s Early Voting now that county elections staff has access to the Secretary of State’s TEAM system.
“As of this past weekend, Bexar County has gone live with the Secretary of State TEAM system,” Sakai said. “Bexar County, together with the Secretary of State, is moving decisively to ensure that every eligible Bexar County resident who submits a timely registration application will be able to vote this November.”
Bexar County elections staff had been in a holding pattern while the voter registration applications continued to pile up. County personnel had been unable to process voter registrations since as far back as July 2, according to Carew. But the wait is finally over.
“My team has been working all day kickstarting the backlog of applications, and it’s going very well,” she said.
Most of those backlogged applications come from the Department of Public Safety, Carew said. That means they’re digital records already in the TEAM system, which only require Bexar
County staff to verify each voter’s information to process. Each of those records could take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, Carew added.
“Based on the rate we’ve been able to process, we’re looking at being successful this week, and being able to process 75% to 80% by the end of this week,” she added.
The backlog was further compounded by the county’s prior voter registration system, Votech, going out of business in August. Carew had already decided not to renew the contract, however, which was scheduled to expire in August.
Though County Commissioners approved implementation of VR
Systems, which Carew says is better equipped to handle a city of San Antonio’s size, she said it could take up to 6 months for the new system to be fully operational.
In the meantime, the county has decided to use the Secretary of State’s statewide system, TEAM, as a stopgap solution. However, that decision further extended the wait time for processing the backlog due to the massive amount of data that had to be imported into a system that typically handles counties with populations of 200,000 or fewer.
The Secretary of State’s TEAM system initially had no record of the streets in Bexar County, meaning
voters couldn’t be placed in their appropriate precincts. This meant that Bexar County elections staff and the eight temp workers brought on to handle the backlog were stuck in a holding pattern.
Though Carew had advocated for the county to switch over to VR Systems since July, the Commissioners Court took until September to agree to implement the new system. During Monday’s press conference, Sakai said the hesitation was due in part to questions whether the TEAM system could sufficiently meet the county’s needs. The other sticking point was the price tag of more than $1 million to implement VR. That’s after Votech
Stephanie Koithan
repeatedly asked the county to help bail it out, Sakai said. The company had been threatening to go out of business for more than a year.
“I have put on record that we have provided additional moneys to them in order for them to fulfill their contractual duties,” Sakai added. “As we’ve noted, they were not able to do that, which then put us in a position of finding another vendor.”
Sakai said there will be an additional conversation with county attorneys over whether there was a potential “breach of contract” on Votech’s end.
The judge also said the substantial amount already invested in Votech and the company’s subsequent
requests for emergency funds led the commissioners to have concerns about committing to the same level of investment in a new system.
“It’s a significant amount of money that we had already invested in Votech,” Sakai said. “So we wanted to make sure we weren’t jumping from one system to another system that wouldn’t be able to do what we expect it to do.”
Counties can incur penalties for failing to meet the required 30-day window to process voter registrations, which can include reduced funding from the Secretary of State’s office, according to the Texas Election Code. However, at the press conference,
Carew said the Secretary of State’s office has assured her that it has no plans to penalize counties experiencing delays in processing voter registrations, especially because the delay is partially a result of data importation issues on the state’s end.
Even though Bexar County has begun working through its registration backlog, voters and voting rights groups still could sue the county or the Secretary of State over the delay.
When asked about some voters’ fears that the delay was part of a widespread suppression effort, Sakai said county elections staff and the Secretary of State have been working “hand in hand” to get Bexar County
integrated with the statewide system.
Carew and Sakai said voters can rest assured the backlog will be addressed in time for Early Voting, which begins Oct. 20 for the Nov. 4 election. In that cycle, funding for a new Spurs arena will be on the ballot, in addition to improvements to Freeman Coliseum and 17 amendments to the Texas Constitution.
In the meantime, Carew said voters can check their status at VoteTexas.gov. Mail-in voter registration applications sent on or before the Oct. 6 registration deadline will be honored for the upcoming election as usual, Sakai insisted.
“In simple terms, if you apply on time and you are eligible, your application will be processed,” he said.
Stephanie Koithan
BAD TAKES
It’s up to all of us to speak out against extremists’ book bans
BY KEVIN SANCHEZ
Bad Takes is a column of opinion and analysis.
With October already here and the baseball postseason underway, I encourage everyone so inclined to revisit the 1989 classic Field of Dreams.
In that film, Kevin Costner plays a 30-something husband and father who “majored in the ’60s” before pulling up stakes for Iowa to try his hand at farming. One day he hears an ASMR call of conscience amidst the rustling corn stalks.
“If you build it, they will come,” The Voice whispers, compelling him to plough under his own crop to clear way for a baseball field.
If only a similarly trustworthy deity could guarantee the return on investment of San Antonio’s new Missions stadium as well as Project Marvel. But, alas, life ain’t like the movies.
Assuming it’s been a minute since you scoured Blockbuster for VHS tapes, you may have forgotten one of the film’s sadly still-relevant subplots.
“They’re talking about banning books again,” Amy Madigan, who plays Costner’s wife, informs him prior to a PTA meeting that evening.
“Really subversive books like The Wizard of Oz and The Diary of Anne Frank,” she adds facetiously.
Cut to an irate mother screaming: “Smut and filth like this has no place in our schools!”
“Mrs Perkins, the book you’re waving about is hardly smut,” the principal patiently explains. “Terence Mann is a Pulitzer Prize-winner and widely regarded as the finest satirist of his time.” Mann, played by James Earl Jones,
was a fictional author based on the reclusive J.D. Salinger, also a baseball lover. Turns out Salinger threatened to sue the production to prevent the use of his name.
“The so-called novels of Terence Mann endorse promiscuity, godlessness, the mongrelization of races and disrespect to high-ranking officers of the U.S. Army,” the implacable parent expounds.
“And that’s why right-thinking school boards all across the country have been banning this man’s S-H-I-T since 1969!”
After Madigan’s character, Annie, confronts the would-be censor, she turns her attention to those attending
the meeting.
“Let’s put it to a vote, alright?” Annie asks them. “Who’s for Eva Braun here? Who wants to burn books? Who wants to spit on the Constitution? Anybody?”
No hands go up.
“Now, who’s for the Bill of Rights? Who thinks freedom is a pretty darn good thing? C’mon, c’mon, let’s see those hands! Who thinks that we have to stand up to the kind of censorship that they had under Stalin?”
A cornfield of hands shoot up.
Upon leaving the gymnasium, an exhilarated Annie brags to her husband, “I just halted the spread of neo-fascism
in America!”
Fast-forward three decades.
“The Iowa state government passed a book-ban law that was so vaguely drafted, it left many schools confused whether any books were allowed anymore,” Cody Johnston of podcast Some More News reported this August.
“Then, a lawsuit blocked the law from taking effect, but then a follow-up appellate case reinstated the law less than a year later. And in those various stages of limbo, Iowa’s librarians had to unshelve or reshelve and re-unshelve all of their copies of more than 3,400 titles.” The deterrent of legal bedlam seems
to have been the point.
There have been “nearly 16,000 book bans in public schools nationwide since 2021, a number not seen since the Red Scare McCarthy era of the 1950s,” according to the most recent list compiled by free-expression nonprofit PEN America.
Texas plays second fiddle to nobody on this tune.
A “compassionate conservative”-era Republican turned diehard culture warrior, Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 13 this summer, which warned boards of trustees to create an “advisory council to assist in ensuring that local community values are reflected in each school library catalog.” The legislation also demands the removal of any material that “portrays sexual or excretory organs or activities in a way that is patently offensive” or that includes “grossly offensive language considered a public nuisance.”
Will the newly-appointed tribal elders ban biographies of the current president, given his penchant for grossly offensive language and his status as reigning public nuisance? Might they remove the Holy Bible upon reading Ezekiel 23:20, which graphically depicts an adulteress who “lusts after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses?”
Even the stodgy ol’ Supreme Court has repeatedly held that judging books as obscene requires interpreting the work “taken as a whole.”
Yet self-deputized smut hunters continue to recite off-color excerpts from award-winning literature as if that were proof positive.
“Whether donated or purchased, all library books must now be publicly listed for at least 30 days before the school board can approve them, and the board must approve all library material acquisitions,” according to the Texas Association of School Boards’ website.
That means school boards terrified of religiously motivated blowback, not the professional librarians traditionally entrusted with the job.
Although Field of Dreams dramatized a genuine groundswell of parental concern, data compiled last year by the American Library Association (ALA) found that 72% of book censorship attempts originate from pressure groups, politicians or administrators. A mere 16% came from parents themselves. Indeed, 60% of the challenges in the 2021-22 school year were submitted by just 11 people.
All of this sets this year’s Banned Books Week, Oct. 5-11, apart as uniquely poignant. The ALA chose the theme “Censorship Is So 1984.”
In the Before Times, March 2016, journalist Glenn Greenwald sat down with public intellectual Noam Chomsky and exiled whistleblower Edward Snowden to confess he had “misremembered”
George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece.
“I remembered the warning of Orwell being, ‘If you live in a society where you’re always being watched, that’s when you lose freedom’,” Greenwald explained. “But I actually went back and read it [for the first time since high school], and the world that Orwell was warning of was not one in which we were all being watched, it was a world in which we could be watched at any moment. What you knew is you had to act as though you were being watched, which meant ... obediently, compliantly, submissively and without dissent.”
And self-censorship risks atrophying the literacy muscles altogether.
In 2023, only 16% of Americans age 15 and up imbibed books for pleasure daily, according to a study in the journal iScience. That compares to 28% in 2003.
Before the censorial Moms For Liberty, there were the Minute Women of the USA. In 1953, a San Antonian named Myrtle Hance “combed through the books available at the [city’s public library] and declared 500 books to contain communist materials,” in the words of historian Madison Ingram’s recent Los Angeles Times op-ed.
The wife of San Antonio’s then-mayor “demanded that each book be branded with a large red sticker, so that readers would know they were ‘dangerous.’ Another city official went further calling for the books Hance singled out to be burned.”
Now for the Hollywood-worthy all-American conclusion.
“It was the chief librarian who stood in the way,” historian Ingram pointed out in the op-ed. “Julia Grothaus, who’d served in her position for two decades, rallied the support of local writers, journalists and civic organizations; the Public Library Board of Trustees refused to go along with the mayor’s call for her resignation. Only because of her defiance, the books in San Antonio were not labeled or burned.”
If that doesn’t inspire you to go get yourself a library card and start reading, good luck waiting for a voice only you and James Earl Jones can hear.
ONGOING - SUN | 11.02
SPECIAL EVENT
OKTOBERFEST, TRICKS AND TREATS AND FRIGHT FEST
The term “family friendly” means different things to different people. Some want to relax and leisurely sample German brews and scarf down brats. Some may want to offer their kids Halloween activities that are more on the fun than spooky side. Then we’ve got teens — too cool to hang out with you but not too cool to want to wander a haunted house that scares the daylights out of them. Luckily, Six Flags Fiesta Texas has got you covered. Indulge your palates at Oktoberfest, take the kids on any of the park’s signature rides, 11 roller coasters or to the all-new Tricks and Treats setup just for little ones. Drop your teens off at the
With its all-new “pay-to-panic” Haunted Mazes, screams are sure to fill every darkened corner of the park. Ticket prices, dates and times vary daily and weekly so check the
This acclaimed state-of-the-art interpretation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute by Barrie Kosky and British theater group 1927 draws inspiration from the expressive artistry of silent films. Expect to see the live performance unfold alongside animated storytelling with English translations of the sung and spoken dialogue projected above the stage. The beloved opera seems perfect for the high-contrast treatment inherent in classic 1920s filmmaking since it weaves a timeless fairytale full of both darkness and light. The production is presented in collaboration with the Orchestra San Antonio. $36-$160, 7:30 p.m., H-E-B Performance Hall at Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle, (210) 223-8624, tobincenter.org. — Sanford Nowlin
gates of hell, a.k.a. Fright Fest.
website, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, 17000 IH-10
Courtesy Photo 1927
Courtesy Photo Fiesta Texas
ARCHAEOLOGY DAY AT CASA NAVARRO
In Laredito (Little Laredo) on El Camino Real (King’s Highway), stand the last remnants of San Antonio’s original West Side. This adobe and caliche-block settlement was home to rancher and landowner José Antonio Navarro. Also a merchant, Navarro traded with port cities such as New Orleans for luxury goods including books, cloth, wine, sugar and coffee. However, most interesting is his status as one of only two native-born Texans to sign the Texas Declaration of Independence. Learn the techniques and tools used to unearth his home, which now sits comfortably within a thriving urban metropolis. $1-$5, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Casa Navarro State Historic Site, 228 S. Laredo St., (210) 226-4801, thc.texas.gov/events/archaeology-day-casa-nav. — AG
| 10.05
HORROR FEST: NOSFERATU
Nosferatu (2024), an American gothic horror film, is a remake of the German Expressionist film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922), which was in turn inspired by Irish novelist Bram Stoker’s infamous novel Dracula (1897). Nosferatu (2024) mines both the 1922 cinematic masterpiece and Stoker’s work along with Eastern European folklore and history. This iteration could very well be the costliest and best-received work of fan fiction made to date: director Robert Eggers once adapted an amalgam of the original Nosferatu screenplay and Stoker’s Dracula for his high school theatre class. It just took a spell to hit the big screen Free, 2-4 p.m., Collins Garden Branch Library, 200 N. Park Blvd., (210) 207-9120, mysapl.org. — AG
Courtesy Photo Texas Historical Commission
MON
| 10.06 - MON | 10.27
KING WILLIAM HAUNTED HISTORY WALKING TOUR
At last, the spooky season is upon us. The strange and inexplicable will again rise in historic King William, this time, though, not from the realm of imagination but from the past. Every Monday evening in October, folks will gather at the gazebo in King William Park as Curious Twins Tours and Events brings the neighborhood’s 175-year-old history to life. Guides will relay stories ranging from those gathered by historians to firsthand accounts from King William residents, business owners and visitors. After leaving from the gazebo, the tour will roam the neighborhood’s streets before ending at the Arsenal Bridge and making its way back to King William Park. $25, 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6-27, King William Park, 131 King William St., (210) 227-8786, ourkwa.org. — Dean Zach
SIXTH SENSE PARANORMAL: YOU ARE THE INVESTIGATOR!
Fancy yourself an amateur detective? A budding sleuth? Or — more fitting for the season — a paranormal investigator? In an era in which the spirit world has once again become a catch-all for phenomena we can’t readily or rationally explain, the good folks from Sixth Sense Paranormal aim to dispel misconceptions about their area of concentration by placing the audience in the role of investigator. Using documentation and evidence collected in and around the San Antonio area as well as the processes and equipment required on actual ghost hunts, participants will make their own determinations whether or not those bumps in the night merit further exploration. Free, 4-5 p.m., Collins Garden Branch Library, 200 N. Park Blvd., (210) 207-9120, mysapl.org. — AG
Courtesy Photo City of San Antonio
IAm NotYour Enemy
An excerpt from a new memoir by Reality Winner
BY REALITY WINNER
This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative outlet and magazine. Sign up for their weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook, X and Bluesky.
Ihave to be careful about what I say. My plea bargain is stricter than the rules under which I lived within barbed wire. Before I went on 60 Minutes, I reached out to my old friends at the NSA to understand how the prepublication process I would have to follow works, since they have the right to review everything I publish, including this book. It turns out that the rules are extremely vague, with sweeping language like “anything related to classified information.” To my surprise, the NSA agents were friendly and helpful. We went back and forth over a document of about thirty talking points that ranged from my career in the air force to my brief time as a contractor. One of the statements was something like, “There was a war in Afghanistan. The United States was involved.” They cleared that.
The NSA prepublication review agent called me several times and finally requested— should I be willing and have the time — that I meet with her and an associate with the NSA, “to discuss the matter” (my felony).
I wasn’t sure if this was a genuine ask that I could reject or if it was basically an order. My knees got weak. I feared that this was a replay of what had happened five years earlier, when the FBI showed up at my house. Those guys were all friendly too.
“Is this about the redacted document?” I asked. I hadn’t leaked anything since I’d left prison except a lot of tears and anger.
“Yeah, and also the incident.”
That’s what they called my felony. It sounded like a minor traffic accident. I got five years for an “incident”?
I immediately said I wouldn’t meet without my attorney (fool me once!). The NSA agent said that would be fine, even though Alison didn’t have a security clearance; she explained that they were not interested in discussing the classified report itself but wouldn’t say exactly what they wanted to talk to me about. She declined to offer an office for us to meet in, though I thought that
would have been the logical place to meet, instead suggesting several times that we conduct the interview at my house. We eventually settled on a conference room in a hotel where my attorney was staying — after my trauma with the FBI years earlier, I didn’t want any government agents near my property again.
We agreed to meet at the Hampton Inn off Highway 77, in Kingsville. I showed up looking as neutral as I could, in a CrossFit Kingsville T-shirt over my boot-cut Levis and worn Nanos. My attorney wore a nondescript black dress. We both arrived a few minutes early and were waiting outside the hotel when a fit white man walked by, looking conspicuously out of place. He wore high-water pants, a baseball cap pulled low, and a polo. He had everything but an NSA logo on his shirt. That particular hotel had a sign posted on the door saying that no guns were permitted inside. When he saw it, the guy turned around and walked from the lobby right past us to put his gun box in the trunk of his car. Then he returned to the lobby and took a seat in a chair right next to the hotel’s sliding doors. My attorney finally went up to the man and asked him if he was there to meet someone at 9:00 a.m. He said he wasn’t, and we left it alone.
Soon, two women showed up in business-casual clothing and approached us, introducing themselves as a special agent and an agency psychologist. We made our way to the world’s smallest conference room and spent some time debating how to arrange the tables and chairs. They asked me to tell them my full life story, from childhood right up to “the incident.” The psychologist informed me that she wouldn’t record the conversation, but that she would have to report me to law enforcement if I confessed to a crime, if I expressed intent to hurt myself, or if I expressed intent to hurt others.
I was so relieved to have my attorney with me but was still terrified of saying the wrong thing. What if they take something the wrong way? Are they trying to improve their agency or get me in trouble again? The agent asked me to talk about the leak from start to finish, why I made the choices I made. I told them everything. I even talked about my misuse of quasi-legal substances in prison. Besides that, there really wasn’t much I could confess to. I’ve been a law-abiding person, save for “the incident.” They already knew about the eighth-grade food fight. It wasn’t fun. It was uncomfortable. They asked about my sex life in great detail. But they weren’t looking for evidence of another felony. I think they were trying to build a profile of a leaker. They wanted to know if I had any feedback for them. What would have prevented my action?
I was torn. On one hand, here was an opportunity to make it known that I regretted betraying my nondisclosure contract with the United States government. On the other, I don’t talk to cops. And during this interview, they sure felt like cops. I didn’t want to make it easier for them to destroy the next conscientious leaker’s life. I took a deep breath and, yet again, just as I’d done five years previously in that small room with
Special Agents Garrick and Taylor, chose truth.
“The NSA has some of the brightest minds in the country,” I began. “They’re honestly there to make a difference. Yet there’s no outlet for people who no longer feel like they’re on the right side. You’re requesting blind loyalty from some of the most nuanced and analytical individuals—individuals, not soldiers—to process your intelligence and make predictions. Furthermore, in 2017, and likely until 2021—you know more than I do about those four years—you had a unique situation in which the NSA was completely ignored. So now these individuals who already wondered if they were doing any good were left wondering if they were doing anything at all. The culture of the NSA doesn’t allow for anyone to question that aloud, or at least not without FBI agents showing up at their house. Your analysts need an outlet, and the director owes it to the agency to address historically unprecedented times, like those four years in which the NSA was completely disparaged publicly. We felt like we were alone in 2017, and it left me trying to single-handedly fix something far above my pay grade.”
Five and a half hours later, my attorney and I were standing outside the hotel again, discussing where to eat. We went to our separate cars, and I turned my phone on. Alison sent me a text. “Don’t look now,” she wrote, “but our friend is walking out of the lobby carrying what looks like recording equipment.” I looked over, and the polo-wearing guy was carrying a box with wires sticking out of it, fifteen minutes after my interview had ended. Maybe they can help me better remember what was said when I turn this manuscript in, since they have the audio. Cowards. They should have recorded our conversation in the open.
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Courtesy Photo McNally Jackson Books
A GOOD IMPRESSION
Balancing Act
Reagan High School grad Julia Stier thrives as actor, writer and studio executive
BY KIKO MARTINEZ
As a student at Reagan High School, Julia Stier discovered acting was a path she wanted to follow for as long as possible. She described her experience there as “boot camp for performers.”
“It was like varsity theater,” Stier, 29, told the Current during a recent interview. “Performing in [the musical] Thoroughly Modern Millie is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, because I had to tap dance on a desk as they were sliding it around the stage!”
Following her 2014 graduation from Reagan, Stier moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California. Four years later, she earned a bachelor’s in theatre and planned to continue acting in “anything I could get my hands on.” Then, the pandemic hit, and productions ground to a halt.
“That’s when I knew I needed to get a job behind the scenes,” Stier said.
Stier got “very lucky” when she was hired as an assistant for director Liesl Tommy, the first woman of color to be nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play.
“They always tell you that a desk job will be the death of your acting career, but I found it very rewarding,” Stier explained.
Today, Stier, along with her work as an actor, playwright and screenwriter, is the head of development at Cold Iron Pictures, a Los Angeles-based studio that’s produced films including Swiss Army Man starring Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe and I Do…Until I Don’t starring Lake Bell and Ed Helms.
In December 2024, Forbes named Stier to its 30 Under 30 in Hollywood & Entertainment list. She shared the distinction with the likes of actors Kathryn Newton (Abigail) and Jacob Elordi (Saltburn) along with comedian Marcello Hernandez (Saturday Night Live).
During our interview, Stier talked about some of the I-can’t-believe-this-is-really-happening moments she’s had in the industry and how working in production made her a better actor.
When you got the call from Liesl Tommy, what were you thinking?
I actually got the call when I was visiting my parents in San Antonio. It seemed like a great gig. At the time, I was like, “OK, I’m an actor, but I’m kind of a full-time freelancer now that the world has shut down.” Were there any pinch-me moments working behind the scenes with her?
Yeah, I was her assistant through the development of a new Disney+ series that unfortunately got axed right as we were going into production. It was truly crazy because I’d be sitting on Zoom calls with [Oscar-winning composer and songwriter] Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid), listening to original music that he was writing. I grew up with his music.
What was the series about?
It was a Beauty and the Beast prequel. It was going to be with Josh Gad who played LeFou in the live-action version. They were doing a prequel with him and Luke Evans as Gaston. It was about how they became LeFou and Gaston. It felt like such a shoo-in, and the music was so good. I remember when we did our first read-through, and they started off with that very classic Beauty and the Beast theme. Everyone burst into tears.
How did you get to Cold Iron Pictures?
I was juggling being an actor and an assistant, and when it got to be too much, I was like, “OK, I think I need a more stable job,” which is how I got introduced to Cold Iron Pictures. I started off as an assistant and within the year, I was bumped up to coordinator and development executive. Then, last October, I got bumped up to head of development.
What is the best part of your job?
Working in production and in development has made me a better writer and a better actor. You learn so much by osmosis, and there’s so much that I didn’t know. My boss, Miranda Bailey, has been a producer for more than 20 years, and she’s made some amazing indie hits. I get to see how a script goes from page to screen. I get to do cool things like jet off to Italy tomorrow, where we’re co-executive producing a documentary that’s premiering at the Venice Film Festival.
Are you still acting?
I am! I’m currently in a play. [Last] November, I shot an entire feature. Thankfully, a lot of the films are really flexible. They understand that I have this position. So, there were a lot of night and weekend shoots. They were very accommodating, which was amazing, because it’s not easy to balance all of it. This is an industry of action, for sure.
Is it worth it?
Hell yeah! [Forbes] shouted out the fact that I’m an actor, writer and producer. I do think that being the head of development is what opened the door for me, but it was very nice to get recognized for how much I’m doing across the industry. It’s worth it, but it’s very exhausting. I drink a lot of coffee.
screens
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Huebner Headshots
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Cultura Meets the Cosmos
Raza Cósmica film festival spotlights ‘constellation of Latinx sci-fi cinema’
BY KIKO MARTINEZ
International film festival Raza Cósmica, now in its fifth year, showcases independent cinema for underserved communities and prides itself on curating a “constellation of Latinx sci-fi cinema.”
Created by the San Antonio-based organization MonteVideo and sponsored by the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI) and American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions (AIT-SCM), Raza Cósmica spotlights science fiction and sci-fi-adjacent films by Latinx and BIPOC filmmakers.
MonteVideo founder Manuel Solis, an occasional Current contributor, said he settled on the sci-fi theme for the festival because of the accessibility of the genre.
“Science fiction is often present and influential in many Latino households growing up, via television shows like Star Trek and The Twilight Zone,” Solis said. “It’s often passed down by tios and tias. [Sci-fi] allows filmmakers to imagine and create new worlds where Latino narratives are centered in new ways.”
This year, Raza Cósmica has a robust selection of films around the world, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada,
France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Scotland, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and the United States.
The opening night film on Oct. 9 is the Texas premiere of Un futuro brillante (A Bright Future) by director Lucia Garibaldi. Set in a dystopian world, the film follows Elisa (Martina Passeggi), a young woman from South America who’s selected through a lottery to travel “North” in hopes of reuniting with her sister.
“Not everyone has an opportunity to migrate and make a better life for themselves,” Solis said. “I think a film like Un futuro brillante is a great example of that – exploring immigration from a fresh lens. In the film, [Elisa] sees the value of her own community and the importance of being true to yourself.”
Other films screening at Raza Cósmica that highlight the migrant experience are Illegal Alien, which uncovers the physical and emotional journeys that Venezuelan women endure while migrating; and M.A.M.O.N. (Monitor Against Mexican Over Nationwide), a comedy that explores the consequences of banning immigration. Think of Sergio Arau’s 2004 film A Day Without a Mexican, except instead of Mexicans disappearing into thin air, they are catapulted back into Mexico.
Montelona Cine
In Demand
The lines are long at Seguin’s lauded Burnt Bean Co., but the experience may be worth it
BY RON BECHTOL
How long are you willing to wait in line — for anything, really — in the heat of a sweltering Texas summer? An hour? Two? Three and beyond on a weekend?
Those are reported queue times for entry into Burnt Bean Co., the Seguin eatery Texas Monthly recently proclaimed as serving the state’s best barbecue.
Arriving 30 minutes before opening, we joined the line on a tolerably warm Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. By then, the queue already snaked around the corner in the block flanking Seguin’s courthouse. But a mere 55 minutes later, we had gained entry into the cool and lofty inner sanctum. Another 10 minutes and we were placing an ambitious order. And five after that, our trays — laden with pretty much one of everything — hit one of many wooden tabletops. It was a success, especially considering the waits we’d been warned about. But would I be willing to wait longer, especially if brisket is the main criterion for greatness?
Not that this primal cut, Prime at that, was bad. Far from it. The bark was black and beautiful, the smoke level was surprisingly subtle, and the meat possessed that perfect blend of fattiness and firmness. But if I was looking for it to represent all that’s good and true about Texas — admittedly a tall order — it didn’t. Fortunately, there’s more to the total Burnt Bean experience than a slab of smoky beef on a piece of rough paper.
It all starts at the slicing counter immediately adjacent the cashier. Hope that when you finally arrive, so will a brisket, fresh from the prodigious pit at the back of the building and swaddled in a wrapper made semi-translucent by oozing fat. There’s something of a holy relic aspect about it all, especially the way it’s enveloped in a sacred shroud. The first slice exposes such a rosy and succulent interior, you may feel that sauce would be a desecration.
The available sauces — one beautifully sweettart, another fruity and mustard-tinted — really aren’t necessary for the brisket, though nobody’s stopping you. Still, you might find them useful for the turkey breast. A personal confession: I most often find turkey a kind of atonement for whatever sin needs it at the moment. At Burnt Bean, the bird stops sufficiently short of dryness but never achieves transcendence on its own. Cue the sauces. Those sauces are also useful on the sausages. Of the two we tried, the simpler all-beef won
food
BURNT BEAN CO.
108 S. Austin St., Seguin, burntbeanco.com.
Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. or until sell out Thursday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. or until sell out Sunday
The lowdown: Burnt Bean Co. has received numerous awards over the years, including Texas Monthly saying it has 2025’s best barbecue. All that translates into long wait times — sometimes more than three hours queued up outside. If your personal wait tolerance permits, the brisket is excellent, and the pork ribs and beef sausage are both delicious. Sides are ambitious, with Cowboy Beans and Bacon Ranch Taters slightly besting the Street Corn Pudding.
the day. It’s coarse, robustly flavored and sits within a snappy skin. We didn’t try the jalapeño cheddar, but the Cinco, though plush and chunky, didn’t prove that more is better.
Which brings us to pork ribs: these are as good as they get without crossing over into sauce-slathered territory. As easily as the crusty, peppery flesh slid from the bones, I’d happily eat them again. But I’d just as easily ignore them.
There’s no ignoring the many sides, however, and this may be where Burnt Bean truly rises above the norm.
Of the seven listed, Street Corn Pudding immediately stood out, conjuring visions of something spoonable spiked with those familiar esquites accessories, crema and chile. Maybe with a little crumbled queso fresco.
My vision is not theirs. And I’m still trying to decide if I liked what I was served. The dense and stodgy texture disappointed, but the flavor recalled both masa and roasted corn. Chewy kernels provided welcome accents, and a dusting of queso and chile capped it all. You decide. However, there’s no ambivalence when it
came to the Bacon Ranch Taters and the Cowboy Beans. Both were excellent — the thick beans for their salty, chili powder-spiked flavor and the taters for their tots-like texture and subtle hints of bacon. A misunderstanding led the server to dish up my Hot Cheeto Queso Mac without the heat. I had imagined the Cheetos’ spicy crunchiness offering a nice contrast to the melty queso and tender pasta. Make sure you get the chips.
The Pickle Pasta special made twisted gemelli noodles the star in a matrix that included dill, pimento, cubes of cheddar and chopped pickle. It far exceeded most picnic-style pasta salads, so hope it hangs around. As for a Big Red tres leches mashup, invention doesn’t always pay dividends. Despite tempting weekend specials such as a bone-in pork chop, I’d call somewhere around 90 minutes a personal wait limit for Burnt Bean. But if you think of it as a field trip, the line a way to meet kindred souls united against the common adversaries of time and temperature, then go for it.
Michelin was impressed enough to award the Sequin spot a Bib Gourmand. I wonder how long they had to wait.
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food Cooking Up Conversation
Gigi’s Deli cheffounder Matt Garcia weighs in on San Antonio’s ‘sandwich renaissance’
Big impact: A self-taught chef, Garcia worked his way around local hotspots including Barbaro and The Cookhouse before starting his own Italian sub-inspired pop-up, Gigi’s Deli, at Little Death in 2021.
Where to find him: Gigi’s Deli now has a residency inside El Tigre Coffee in St. Paul Square, and Garcia also continues to multitask as a co-founder of the Fajita Lounge.
Last book read: A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn Favorite TV shows: The Studio and Alien Earth. “I’m also so invested in The Great British Baking Show.”
Drink he always has on hand: Cherry Coke Zero
Money quote: “Anyone trying to put their food out there with a pop-up is amazing. That’s the punk rock vibe that’s been missing from the local food scene.”
When did you first know you wanted to cook for a living?
I’ve been cooking since I was 14. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I’m a child of the Food Network generation — all those celebrity chefs made it feel like anything was possible.
Where did you grow up?
Born and raised right here in San Antonio. But I’ve done a lot of cross-country traveling. I’ve always loved how food connects people — whether it’s an Italian deli, a bodega or just a neighborhood spot where everyone comes for their fix.
Tell us how Gigi’s got started and the inspiration behind the name. Gigi’s began as a pop-up in 2021. I feel like San Antonio has had its own sandwich renaissance over the past few years. It’s been amazing watching other local spots take a family staple and reinvent it in their own way. As for the inspiration behind the name Gigi’s?
Marisa Tomei’s character in My Cousin Vinny — a total badass. Gigi is fictional, but she represents that fun, fearless
reading is the gateway to education — I’ve got stacks of cookbooks and old issues of Food & Wine . The magazine era was huge. That’s how many of us were able to travel outside of San Antonio without booking a plane ticket.
Any advice for young chefs trying to break into the scene?
Just because you don’t have a brickand-mortar doesn’t mean you can’t show off your food, or your drinks, your coffee, whatever it is you want to show off. I think residencies are the future in this post-COVID world. Start small. Pop up. Build a community!
What’s next for you and Gigi’s? Any plans for a standalone brick-andmortar?
Honestly? I’m in no rush. Every day is day one. That mindset helps keep things fresh.
What do you love the most about the Fajita Lounge?
We started with simple pop-ups at The Squeezebox. The Fajita Lounge really was a brilliant meeting of the minds. From there, we were able to start something real.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far?
Failure. I’ve failed more times than I can count, and honestly, that’s the best way I’ve learned. You just keep going.
Do you have shoutouts to fellow pop-ups?
The guys at Bucán Rodeo, Chef Jake, Aaron, the guys at Sahara Samurai — it’s all love!
energy I want people to experience during a visit to Gigi’s.
How would you describe Gigi’s food in three words?
Fun. Playful. Delicious. As culinarians, we can treat food like art, but it still needs to be approachable — it has to taste good first.
What’s your culinary background? I’m completely self-taught. I believe
Courtesy Photo Matt Garcia
Victory Capital
Rolling Tape
30 unique, unexpected and legendary live recordings made in San Antonio
BY BILL BAIRD
San Antonio doesn’t always get its fair due as a music town, but there’s a deep and fascinating rabbit-hole of live albums recorded here by major artists. From Motley Crue and Ted Nugent to Elvis Presley and Frank Zappa, no shortage of musicians rolled tape while performing in front of Alamo City fans. Some of the most interesting recordings are available as bootlegs from Japan, Russia and elsewhere. Let’s take a look at 30 of the most fascinating and collectible records that were captured live in San Antonio, according to record lovers site Discogs.com.
1. Dire Straits — King Biscuit Flower Hour: Live In San Antonio Part One Classic-rock act Dire Straits was captured at the peak of its powers for the ABC Radio Network’s King Biscuit Flower Hour show, which was later released on vinyl. The recording also appeared, minus radio interruptions, as Dire Straits: San Antonio 85.
2. Black Sabbath — Live in San Antonio, Texas, 1978
As befitting the Heavy Metal Capital of the World, Sabbath was captured several times
on tape, including on this tour — its last, until subsequent reunions, with its original lineup, including singer Ozzy Osbourne. It was released as a bootleg from New Zealand, of all places
3. My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult — Live in San Antonio
This industrial powerhouse captured an absolutely ferocious live performance on cassette in the Alamo City, and for many fans, this remains a highlight of the group’s entire discography.
4. Motley Crue — San Antonio 1983 Motley Crue found a welcome home in SA for its hard-driving glam metal. The San Antonio 1983 bootleg captured the rowdies at Hemisfair Arena as part of the Shout at the Devil tour. Also of note: The expanded edition of Crue’s first album, Too Fast for Love, also features San Antonio live cuts from the group’s first U.S. tour.
5. Rainbow — Long Live Rock-N-Roll in San-Antonio
Although name of this 10-inch vinyl release echoes that of the band’s third LP with Ronnie James Dio at the mic, it captures a performance here featuring later replacement Joe Lynn Turner.
6. Budgie — Life in San Antonio
Welsh proto-metal trio Budgie gained a U.S. foothold almost solely thanks to DJ Joe Anthony playing the band on KISS/KMAC. Indeed, the group reformed specifically to perform what was originally to be a one-offgig in San Antonio. This blistering live set, released in the UK, is from a 2002 show at Sunken Garden Theater.
7. Boots and His Buddies — San Antonio Jazz
In the early 20th century, jazz ruled, and San Antonio was a hub for the emerging genre. This Swedish bootleg featuring Boots Douglas as bandleaders shows off dance-ready big band jazz at its finest.
8. Kiss — Off the Soundboard
Recorded at Hemisfair Arena in 1985, this official release found Kiss, freshly free of the makeup, diving into some of its ’70s classics with a new lineup minus Ace Frehley.
9. Pearl Jam — San Antonio, TX - April 5th 2003
Pearl Jam famously sold official bootlegs of many of its live shows. This double-CD set took place at the Verizon Amphitheater in Selma, where the grunge stalwarts played classics from across its catalog and a cover of the Who’s “Baba O’Reilly.”
10. Pantera — San Antonio 1994
North Texas metal act Pantera brought the crunch to San Antonio during its ’90s heyday with this collection of live tracks drawn from seminal albums Cowboys from Hell and Vulgar Display of Power.
11. The Happy Jazz Band — Jazz From The San Antonio River
Bandleader Jim Cullum Sr. was an important figure in early jazz, playing clarinet with giants including Jack Teagarden and Jimmy Dorsey. Later on, he formed the Happy Jazz Band with son Jim Cullum Jr., who played cornet. They recorded a live album in 1964. The younger Cullum went on to broadcast performances nationwide from his club the Landing, a River Walk nightspot sorely missed by music lovers.
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music
12. Judas Priest — Saint or Sinner
Much like Budgie, Judas Priest got an early boost from heavy airplay on KISS/ KMAC. This double-LP bootleg collects live recordings from the legendary metal band during 1982 and 1983, when it had ascended into superstardom. The concerts went down at Hemisfair Arena and another undisclosed location.
13. Jimmie Rodgers — Camden - Atlanta - New York - Dallas - Hollywood - San Antonio - Louisville 1927-1933
Jimmie Rodgers, one of the originators of country music, did recording sessions at San Antonio’s Texas Hotel and Bluebonnet Hotel, which feature on this double-CD collection. Near the end of his life, he built an elaborate mansion in Kerrville before relocating to Alamo Heights.
14. Bob Dylan — San Antonio 76
This Japanese bootleg recorded at Municipal Auditorium in 1976 captures Dylan’s classing Rolling Thunder Review tour. Though the bootleg appears to be banned from Discogs, the recording can be found on YouTube.
15. Sex Pistols — Taking Texas By Storm
This bootleg LP chronicles the legendary show at San Antonio venue Randy’s
19. Frank Zappa — Guitar
Avant garde rocker Frank Zappa’s 1988 album Guitar was his bid at entering the pantheon of guitar greats of that shred-obsessed decade. His live-in-theAlamo City song from that collection was titled “Were We Ever Really Safe in San Antonio?” Based on the amount of fretboard damage he unleashed, the answer is/was no.
20. Robert Earl Keen — No. 2 Live Dinner
A San Antonio live album list wouldn’t be complete without this banger. If Americana is country music with a college degree, Texas troubadour Robert Earl Keen delivered a master class with this album.
21. Ted Nugent — Double Live Gonzo
Before Ted Nugent started embarrassing himself by inserting his obnoxious brand of politics into everything he did, he was a bonafide rock god. This album, recorded at Joe and Harry Freeman Coliseum, is what broke him through to superstar status. Listen hard to the end of “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” where the Nuge repeatedly yells “San Antonio” and someone in the crowd shouts back “Suck my bone-io.”
ary Slayer vs. Slayer show at the muchmissed Villa Fontana, which featured the LA-based thrashers performing with the Alamo City’s SA Slayer. Though the actual bootleg is hard to find, the audio files are floating all over message boards and, of course, YouTube.
26. Selena — Live: A Night to Remember Released in 1991, this DVD features Selena in a live performance at Market Square. Though it doesn’t include her later hits, the performance displays the late Tejano superstar’s brilliant charisma and her unbreakable hold on an audience.
27. Tejanos for Hunger — Somos Hermanos
This charming time capsule was San Antonio’s entry into the mid-’80s “We Are The World” phenomenon: gather big stars into one room and have them sing for a charitable cause. Despite being a classic too-many-cooks scenario, this recording is fairly memorable, thanks to being a Who’s Who of San Antonio Tejano and conjunto greats: from Patsy Torres to Sunny Ozuna to Flaco Jimenez to the San Antonio Symphony. Hell, it even featured then-Mayor Henry Cisneros on piano.
Rodeo that jumpstarted Texas’ punk rock scene. It’s also the show where Sid Vicious clonked an obnoxious fan over the head with his bass.
16. GG Allin and the Murder Junkies Savage South Tour
This 2005 DVD captures notorious shock rocker GG Allin’s performance at San Antonio’s now-defunct all-ages punk club the DMZ. The video’s liner notes claim the tour was one of the most violent in history, only ending when Allin was dragged back to Michigan to finish a prison sentence.
17. Elvis Presley — Live 1972 and Goodbye San Antonio
Elvis Presley’s Live 1972 album, released by RCA, featured recordings from Hemisfair Arena. A later bootleg, Good Bye San Antonio, captures one of the King’s last performances before his 1977 death.
18. John F. Kennedy — His Last 24 Hours
Felled by an assassin’s bullet in Dallas, President John F. Kennedy spent his final days in Texas. This fascinating recording from the day before that fateful event captures a stirring speech at Brooks Air Force Base, detailing the young president’s visions for the the nation’s space program.
22. Butthole Surfers — Live PCPPEP
This chaotic 12-inch EP captures an early Butthole Surfers lineup from their San Antonio days, providing a foundational moment in their early catalog. Recorded live at the now defunct Club Meridian on Austin Highway, this may include the definitive version of the frequent Surfers show closer “The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey’s Grave.”
23. De La Soul, Blackalicious — Livewire Party: San Antonio: May 16th, 2003
This 2003 bootleg recorded at Sunset Station — the open-air venue since renamed The Espe — captures two of the all-time greats of hip-hop. RIP Trugoy.
24. The Cult — MMX San Antonio Sep. 29th 2010
Eighties rock superstars The Cult’s star fell with the advent of grunge, but the music holds up remarkably well. During the group’s 2010 tour, it released USB sticks of live performances immediately after every show. This one at Backstage Live captures the band running through all the hits, from “Fire Woman” to “She Sells Sanctuary.”
25. Slayer — Live at Villa Fontana 1984 This recording documents the legend-
28. Lyle Lovett—Live in Texas Texas singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett drew critical raves for this 2006 live album recorded in San Antonio and Austin that showcases an energetic set by his Large Band and a strong sampling of his best-loved tunes.
29. The Carter Family — Don’t Forget this Song
Considered the “first family of country music,” the Carters moved to San Antonio later in their career. This album — and an accompanying book — documents them live in San Antonio garage of Don and Dode Baxter, where they recorded their weekly radio show for the border radio station XET.
30. Ozzy Osbourne — Revelations of Mr. Crowley
If the cover date can be believed, this 1982 soundboard recording was made the same day as the infamous intent where Ozzy Osbourne peed on the Alamo. There’s some online controversy whether this recording is actually from the 2-1-0, but, hey, it’s printed right there on the cover. The real star here is Osbourne’s shit-hot band featuring Randy Rhoads on guitar.
Epic Records
critics’ picks
Thursday, Oct. 2
Boxcar Satan, Sound Cult, Virtual Limbs, Sýr
Boxcar Satan’s abrasive, Beefheart-esque take on roots music remains a highlight of San Antonio’s aughts-era musical underground. On this bill, frontman Sanford Nowlin — full disclosure: he’s also the Current’s editor-in-chief — is playing not just in Boxcar but also psych-metal act Sýr. Austin’s Sound Cult features a Who’s Who of Austin underground legends: Thor Harris (Swans), Lyman Hardy (Ed Hall), Leila Henley (Jon Langford) and Brent Baldwin (too many to name), while SA faves Virtual Limbs round out the night with a dose of fuzz-drenched, kraut rock-inspired goodness. $10, 8 p.m., Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 455-0233, thelonesomerosesa.com. — Bill Baird
Friday, Oct. 3
Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives
There’s no questioning multi-time Grammy winner Marty Stuart’s bonafides as a country legend. After all, the man got his start performing with Johnny Cash and Lester Flatt. Lately, he’s emerged as the most prominent talkinghead emissary for the history and preservation of the style, appearing in damn near every documentary on the subject that’s popped up. Indeed, he’s such a strong ambassador that it may be easy to forget that the dude is a flamboyant showman, a versatile songwriter and can absolutely shred. Marty Stuart is one of the greats, and his band name is perfect. $77, 8 p.m., Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, stablehall.com. — BB
La Lom, The Point
La Lom crafts impeccable tropical rock, similar almost to Khruangbin but without the cool-looking hair. The name, shortened from Los Angeles League of Musicians, was also the title of group’s first record on the storied Verve record label. Openers The Point, one of the best new bands in Austin, mine a similar vein of groovy, technically proficient jams that feel like the lost soundtrack to a ’60s surfer film set in Turkey, Thailand or another beautiful and far-away place. $41-$109, 8 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre. com. — BB
Saturday, Oct. 4
Cage The Elephant, hey, nothing
Cage The Elephant spent the summer as many across the musical universe did: basking in the glow of the Oasis reunion. The band served as an amazing opening act for the Gallagher Brothers, but Cage stands its own. The band’s blend of alt-rock and blues spawned a series of alternative staples including “Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked,” and it’s evolved over time, incorporating elements of psychedelia and
electronica. $95.11-$137.28, 6:50 p.m., Boeing Center at Tech Port, 3331 General Hudnell Drive, (210) 600-3699, boeingcentertechport. com. — Danny Cervantes
Sunday, Oct. 5
John Beltran, C-Thru
John Beltran made his name as one of the greats of ’90s Detroit techno. While avoiding being pinned down to any particular genre, he still specializes largely in ambient techno, which should take perfect advantage of the natural acoustics of the Echo Bridge, the city’s most unusual concert venue. Joining Beltran is C-Thru, a fellow practitioner of downtempo techno from Detroit. $25, 5 p.m., Echo Bridge, 310 Riverside Drive, instagram.com/echobridgeappreciationsociety. — BB
Monday, Oct. 6
Phantogram, Los Eclipses
Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter of Greenwich, New York-based electro-pop duo Phantogram have been friends since preschool, and their chemistry comes alive in their sound. The pair combine elements of dream pop, trip-hop and psychedelia into a unique sound undergirded by groovy beats. Phantogram’s 2024 release Memory Of a Day also draws on shoegaze for an added element of murky mystery. $54.50-$224.80, 8 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre. com. — DC
Tuesday, Oct. 7
Juan Waters
Uruguay-to-NYC transplant Juan Waters sings folk songs in both English and Spanish. He puts off a Jonathan Richman-style vibe — think lowkey humor imbued with a sincerity that’s both disarming and heartwarming. Waters, who’s eleased records on some of the coolest U.S. indie labels, including Hardly Art and Captured Tracks, is in town promoting his newest LP, Mvd Luv, which is a song cycle about his hometown of Montevideo. $54, 8 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — BB
Wednesday, Oct. 8
Warmduscher
Rilo Kiley, Pedro The Lion
LA-based indie-poppers Rilo Kiley — reunited and touring for the first time since 2008 — blossomed during the early-aughts alternative boom. The band’s fourth album More Adventurous spawned the breakthrough single “Portions for Foxes,” but it only released one more long-player before breaking up. Indie-rockers Pedro The Lion serve as a must-see opener. $71.00 and up, 8 p.m., Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s, (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre. com. — DC
Thursday, Oct. 9
Starcrawler
LA’s Starcrawler makes fun, heavy rock music, not unlike The Runaways but burnished with heavier moments. Their basic approach seems to be classic California stoner rock with elements of glam, Sabbath, and maybe even a bit of the Breeders. Singer Arrow de Wilde cuts a striking figure, which makes sense give that her mom, Autumn de Wilde, is one of rock’s most celebrated photographers and has taken iconic shots of Elliott Smith and Beck. $28, 9 p.m., Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St., papertigersatx.com. — BB
Saturday, Oct. 11
Stanley Clarke
Bassist, composer and American music master Stanley Clarke is as accomplished as they come. Not only has the celebrated jazzman collaborated with Bela Fleck, Primus, Stewart Copeland, Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck and Keith Richards and helped pioneer fusion as a found-
Stanley Clarke
ing member of Return to Forever, he did the music for Pee Wee’s Playhouse. Case closed. Clarke has both revolutionized his instrument, transforming both the electric and acoustic bass into an expressive solo instrument, while excelling in every genre he’s undertaken. $30$54, 8 p.m., Carver Cultural Community Center, 226 N. Hackberry St., thecarver.org. — BB
Monday, Oct. 13
Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Jelani Aryeh Alt-rock outfit Rainbow Kitten Surprise has come a long way from its humble beginnings in an Appalachian State University dorm. The band built a following for its light, soulful brand of indie rock on the festival circuit, which manifested in the 2018 album How To: Friend, Love, Freefall. It’s only raised that profile via breakout singles including 2024’s “Superstar” and this year’s “Dang,” from the forthcoming album bones. $61.61-$212.50, 7 p.m., The Espee, 1174 E. Commerce St., (210) 226-5700, theespee. com. — DC
“Alphabetically Correct”--in the right order. by Matt Jones
� 2025 Matt Jones
Across
1. Sideways sidler
5. “The Bubble” director Apatow
9. Destroy, as a contract
14. “Black Swan” actress Kunis
15. Three-level snack
16. “___ a customer”
17. “Moneytalks” band
18. “Jeepers!”
19. Shapewear brand
20. Instruction on liquid medicine or salad dressing
