mustaches
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Calma con La Algebra of Life: Remembering Manny Castillo
Posted by aaron on 14 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: arts organizations, essays, in yo face, music, mustaches, possibilities, public art, r.i.p., rock!, wordy
Manuel Diosdado Castillo, Jr. tragically succumbed to lung cancer on January 6th at the age of 40 – a matter of weeks after receiving the diagnosis – leaving behind a remarkable legacy of music, public artwork, of pride in and a powerful sense of responsibility for his beloved Westside San Antonio barrio. Manny was, for nearly twenty years, a singular presence in both the underground music scene in San Antonio (whose spiritual epicenter is marked by the centuries-old live oak tree at his favorite local dive/venue: the legendary, much-missed Tacoland) and in the non-profit community organization he built, originally as an offshoot project of Patti & Rod Radle’s Inner City Development, but which quickly blossomed into San Anto Cultural Arts.
My friendship with Manny goes back to a spontaneous garage rehearsal circa 1991. Marshall Gause and I were fruitlessly waiting at my folks’ house for some now forgotten drummer we wanted to try out, as our last band line-up hadn’t worked out. Marshall suggested trying to get in touch with this guy he had played a couple of times with the year before – they had enjoyed it, but it didn’t go anywhere as Manny soon left for New Orleans to follow Academic Pursuits. Marshall had a hunch he might be back in town now. After a few calls, the hunch was confirmed and we had a drummer on the way.
That first rehearsal (guitar, bass, & drums – singer Terry Brown had to work) immediately revealed an undeniable chemistry between Marshall’s hippy-punk musicologist guitar explorations, my intuitive but rudimentary bass playing (which, lucky for me, sounded better than it had much right to thanks to my chronic music obsession, a plethora of interesting audio exposure at a job selling used records, and especially Marshall’s unpretentious ability to cover for my lack of formal musical knowledge,) and Manny’s balls-out, hit-the-drums-hard-enough-to-break-at-least-one-head-per-session-but-always-dead-on-the-beat style, using complex rhythms even formally trained jazz drummers wouldn’t have the nerve to try. He was, and remains, one of the fastest, most precise drummers I have ever seen (even faster when he was nervous,) augmented by the physical strength to just bash the hell out of his drums – a steamroller cross between John Bonham, Neil Peart, Mitch Mitchell, George Hurley and Elvin Jones. All on a minimal and creaky drum set usually somehow held together with yarn.
That afternoon we quickly bonded musically over our mutual love for Rush, The Plugz, Esteban Jordan, Thin Lizzy and especially The Minutemen. Spontaneous jams we engaged in that day became the basis for numerous songs later fully developed and forming the initial base of our oeuvre (some still included in the set list at the time the band imploded.) In short order, we brought Terry back into the circle, sat around with some Lone Stars or whatever was cheap that day and soon agreed to call ourself El Santo, in homage to the legendary Mexican lucha enmascarada/film star who never lost a match.
I got a call from the neighbor that there was a loud noise upstairs.
Posted by justin on 16 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: adventure day, bird flu, in yo face, mustaches, party photos, possibilities, renegade performances
Ms. Southtown: The Last?
Posted by ben on 06 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: art paparazzi, celebrity sightings, in yo face, mustaches, party photos, performance art, renegade performances, rock!, silliness
Everything got screwed up. Emvergeoning’s calendar editor forgot to post Ms. Southtown, San Antonio’s artsiest drag beauty pageant, to our events listing; last night, when Ms. Southtown was happening, our trusty photographer was out working for The Man; and our amateur backup paparazzo filled up the camera memory right before the trophy was handed to the winner. I guess that’s why we don’t get the big bucks, and why I’m typing this from a cardboard box in an alleyway off Houston St. But here it is: Ms. Southtown in photos.
Toby Kamps (not pictured) visits San Antonio
Posted by justin on 24 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: adventure day, art paparazzi, mustaches, party photos, performance art, possibilities, rumors, silliness, sneak peeks, vs.
a late Merry Christmoustache & Happy New Year
Posted by justin on 02 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: mustaches, opportunities, outsider, renegade performances, silliness
We here in San Antonio have begun following one of the more mighty traditions of the olde world every Christmas.. we grow Mustaches and celebrate them on the eve of Christmas Day every year, at noon, in front of the Alamo. 2007 was no slouch. (this post also settles the continuous question over the need for a “mustaches” category/tag..as you can imagine, proper spelling is also an issue.)
I Can’t Go For That Necktie
Posted by michelle on 11 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: mustaches, performance art, silliness
Stencils from San Cristobal
Posted by michelle on 05 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: graffiti, mustaches
A friend recently returned from conducting sociological research on the Zapatistas in San Cristobal de las Casas. While he was there, he documented some intriguing stencil art. Justin made an immediate connection to local miscreant Scotch!
I’m in San Francisco working on a recap of some phenomenal shows at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SFMOMA and a tiny weird nail salon turned hipster gallery called Queen’s Nails…more soon!!
Diggly Wiggly 2007 photo recap (Dignowity Hill Pushcart Derby, San Antonio TX)
Posted by justin on 30 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: adventure day, art + bikes, art paparazzi, arts organizations, design, in yo face, mustaches, opportunities, party photos, performance art, possibilities, responses/reviews, rock!, silliness
Everybody has their own story about who won this year, Please post yours in the comments below.
All of these photos (and bunches more with labels) are located here.
click on the link below for more action!
Nails
Posted by ben on 12 May 2007 | Tagged as: comics, mustaches, net.art
Nails is one of the more successful Flash-based net.art projects I’ve come across. This unnerving yet hilarious series of dada self-portraits by Han Hoogerbrugge has been running since 2002. This series grew out of Modern Living / Neurotica, which began life in 1996 as animated GIF loops, but later migrated into interactive Flash. Throughout both projects Hoogerbrugge uses a primarily grayscale pallet to illustrate various states of psychological tension through terse, punchy cartoons. The soundtracks are also particularly effective at creating eerie atmospheres which allow the little animations to get under your skin.
Freddy the Hawk
Posted by michelle on 10 Feb 2007 | Tagged as: music, mustaches
Back in the salad days of VHS, perhaps the only special, visual effects you could add were on a weird, radioactive-color-scheme-slider mechanism. If you grew up in San Antonio, this song was the soundtrack to your childhood. This video of Freddy Fender seems like the equivalent of a visual menudo-panacea for all your over indulgence last night at Bar America…
a family that nests together, “rests” together
Posted by justin on 24 Jan 2007 | Tagged as: mustaches, silliness
Hairy Christmustache 06′
Posted by justin on 24 Dec 2006 | Tagged as: mustaches
We met up this morn for the first ever Christmustache gathering in front of the alamo. Due to the rain, festivities were shortened to just the photo shoot, and a few good larfs. Meanwhile, I spent my time jumping so high i nearly fell on top of the other guys. look on :
