I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night

I remember a few years back, I was really getting into metal. This was around my freshman year in High School, and I was searching for that one thing that gave me my identity. I was never any good at sports, and I didn’t find much comfort in clubs or extracurricular classes. I was deeply involved with AFJROTC, but that didn’t really fulfill me. I started listening to heavy metal bands like Mudvayne, Slayer, Lamb of God and Pantera and started wearing black band tee shirts. Not a whole lot of people were into that kind of thing in Floresville, and the people that were into it were always so tight with each other. So I kind of just fell into place with them and felt like I finally belonged to a group, to a circle of friends who all understood me. Not too long after that, I began playing guitar, which still fulfills me like nothing else can to this day. Nothing can even come close to the feeling I get when I master that solo, nail that riff, or sweep a perfect arpeggio. So I guess my interest in the metal scene came naturally after that. It’s like a hobby: discover new music, meet new people, and gain a new appreciation for the art.

San Antonio has gained much popularity with the Tejano music scene, but not many know that San Antonio also has a very solid heavy metal scene. This doesn’t really strike a chord with the more adult, contemporary crowd or those who enjoy the Tejano scene, so it’s really a very important part of the San Antonio youth. This scene isn’t just limited to the San Antonio residents, however. People from surrounding areas, such as Live Oak, Pleasanton, and even Floresville can enjoy the venues both for entertainment and for booking their own band. This is the basis for my last blog for my Humanities class here at Palo Alto, to explain the finer points of this music scene and dispel many misconceptions.

Now, I don’t think it would be fair to the bands who work hard to create a certain sound to typecast the genre in such a wide generalization. We could probably break the local metal scene down into at least a few sub-genres. A few of the most popular sub-genres are metalcore, hardcore, and heavy metal, but it also includes death metal, grindcore, emo, screamo, and punk. The importance of the sub-genres is the way the songs are created, the emotions and lyrics that go into them, the style of playing and singing, and the artists they are influenced by. People don’t seem to recognize the fact that the world of metal is so complex and complicated that it is impossible to just generalize the entire genre. The roots of metal lay in the early metal bands of the 60’s and 70’s and have since branched off into an elaborate family tree of musical styles, and that is what makes metal so interesting to me. It is so diverse and there is always something there that somebody will like, they just have to give it a chance, and I think that local venues and accessible events will help people find something that will suit their musical taste.

As far as local music venues for local bands, the White Rabbit is the way to go. The White Rabbit is located at 2410 North Saint Mary’s in Downtown San Antonio, a convenient place for mostly everybody. It’s a pretty small venue, but has been able to accommodate some fairly big bands in the past. Some of the bigger names that have come through the White Rabbit are Static-X, Ill Nino, Gwar, and All That Remains. But The White Rabbit is so much more than that to a lot of teenagers and young adults in San Antonio. It is a bastion for local bands such as Delores Haze, Man of Sorrows, Silence the Messenger, and D-Railed.

The main focus of local venues such as the White Rabbit is on the local, up and coming bands who can’t afford to make it to bigger venues. The White Rabbit offers two stages, a main stage and a jam stage, the latter being a very small and intimate room with a far lower capacity than the main stage. There are local shows almost every weekend, sometimes even during the week. I was able to contact my step brother Gene, who does vocals for local metal band D-Railed. I sat down with Gene and asked him what his favorite part of performing live was. “The Energy that the crowd delivers is just phenomenal. It’s an exhilarating feeling to be up there, whether it’s in front of a sold out show or just a group of friends or fellow musicians.” I also asked him what he thought about other local bands and he said “Other bands in the area are just so cool. My band is pretty good with a few other local acts, so there are always other bands to play shows with. It’s also cool to see other bands that are possibly younger than us. I’m going into my 30’s this month, and some of these kids are like 10+ years younger than me and they’re just tearing it up out there!”

The White Rabbit isn’t the only one, however. There are a few other local music venues for smaller bands, such as The Sanctuary located on Main Street in San Antonio and Sam’s Burger Joint on East Grayson Street. The Sanctuary is a lot like the White Rabbit, but Sam’s Burger Joint has a very eclectic mix when it comes to live music, so local metal bands are not as common. There are larger music venues in San Antonio and surrounding areas as well, such as Sunset Station behind the Alamodome, The Freeman Coliseum and The AT&T Center, and The Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Selma across from Retama Park. These are also important hubs for concert goers seeking a larger show with bigger bands.

Even in the small town that I live in there are at least a handful of metal fans to associate with. But when we’re outnumbered at least 100 to 1 by other types of people, we have nowhere to go but San Antonio for that authentic metal camaraderie. One of those other metal fans is my cousin Chris Trevino. He’s lived in Floresville his whole life and has been listening to metal music for most many years, so he knows a lot about the local scene and venues. I asked Chris which venue was his favorite, and he told me “The White Rabbit, without a doubt. The people there are really down to earth and the performances are just so close and intimate compared to bigger stadium venues”. I also asked him about the local scene in general. “Well, first off, the local shows are a lot cheaper and there are usually more than five bands on the bill, so you get a lot more bang for your buck at local shows. The kids in these bands are also always very appreciative when people support their artistic endeavors, so it’s pretty fulfilling on both ends.”

For a final opinion, I asked a parent some questions about the local metal scene and how it affects their kids. The first person that popped into my mind was my father’s fiancée, Cecilia Arguello. She is Gene’s mother and a typical, caring parent. Her oldest son plays in a metal band and her other two younger sons both enjoy going to shows with him, so I asked her how she felt about that. “I really don’t mind,” she said, “I know my kids are good kids, as are a lot of kids who go to these shows. The thing is, if they’re occupied with music and concerts they’re not out on the streets with the drugs and the gangs that plague a lot of youth elsewhere.”

The metal scene in San Antonio is definitely a source to be reckoned with. There are comparable scenes in surrounding areas, but San Antonio takes the cake for metal music. It’s a statewide phenomenon. We even have a unique period of time on Monday evenings on 99.5 KISS called Texas Tracks where they play nothing but rock, hard rock, and metal from San Antonio and surrounding areas. It’s a big deal here, and I am proud to say I feel close to it, and I would strongly urge any music fan in San Antonio to at least give it a chance.
Outside of Sunset Station

People waiting to get into the White Rabbit

Our Little Historic Theater

If you were a San Antonio native or from up North, Floresville would look like a little nowhere town in South Texas...at least, that's what people would think up until recently. Before, however, Floresville was a small farming community with spread out plots of land for ranches, homesteads, and small businesses. There wasn't really a whole lot goin on, still isn't that much goin on, but it's picked up a bit. So it was and always has been a pretty small community that has a pretty steady population and expanding business, so why would anybody film a movie there?



In the middle of the down town district of Floresville directly across from the courthouse is the small but popular Arcadia Theater. Now, I've had the privilege to actually work at this historic theater, which is cool because I learned a lot about it's past. I learned of the theater's role in the early years of segregation in the 1920's and about it's historic re-opening in the late 90's, but there is one role that not many theaters can lay claim to: A big-screen appearance.

It's a pretty farfetched idea, but some time ago there was a major motion picture filmed in the main screen room of our little theater! The movie was called "The Big Brawl" and it starred one of Hollywood's premiere action stars, Jackie Chan. The movie was partly filmed in Floresville, mainly in the theater, in 1980 and was directed by Robert Clouse, who also filmed "Enter The Dragon." A neat fact about the theater and the movie is that there's a scene where a knife is forced into the wooden stage area right in front of the screen, and that knife mark is still there to this day!

Besides having this small piece of pop culture history in our little theater, it's not the first. In 1974, Steven Spielberg (yes! Spielberg was in my town!) directed the movie "The Sugarland Express" in Floresville. The movie starred one of the biggest stars of the time, Goldie Hawn. It was pretty exciting to see that Floresville was picked as a location for a movie, but a commercial? That happened a few years back. Whataburger had a commercial a while back that was filmed in front of the same theater that "The Big Brawl" was filmed! This was kind of weird, though, because we didn't even get a Whataburger until last month!

A Glimpse Into the Life of an Artist

On Monday, November 9th, my Humanites 1301 class was treated to a special visit by one of San Antonio's premiere artists, Joan Fabian. During her visit, Joan share with us some of her works and her interpretations of those works. She even gave us some insight as to how she prepares for a work and where she draws her inspriration. For her, inspiration and ideas come from meditation and reflecting and points out that it may be different for other people, that is just her method.

Joan's artwork has a very unique look and her methods of creating it are pretty interesting. The art really stands out, and she always makes it a point to contrast her colors and patterns to exaggerate whe she feels is the main message or feeling of her work. She uses her shapes in such a way that anybody who is viewing the piece can connect with it in one way or another and that is really important to her. She intends to convey a certain message, but she also leaves the viewer to interpret it on their own, which is the very essence of art.

While speaking to us, Joan also told us of the trip that she had taken to Pakistan. This was seven years ago and she was visiting for a total of 6 months, which I'm sure was a hard thing to do. She was even married at this time, and her husband came to visit her for a month, but I'm sure that was a still a very difficult thing to do. Not many of us can say we visited another far away country, and for so long too. She shared with us her experiences with the natives, the students at the school she taught at, and every person she came in contact with. She even tried to assimilate herself in their society by wearing their clothes and behaving like them, but they always were aware that she was an American. Her experience was truly unique and inspiring. Needless to say, this influenced her greatly as an artist.

I am grateful for the time that Joan Fabian took to speak to us because it was very interesting and insightful. As a musician, I feel like I am an artist to, so her speech was really important to me. I can associate with many of the things that she was telling us, such as where the ideas come from, how the piece makes you feel, and how the piece makes others feel. These are things I take into consideration myself, so to hear it from her was a nice feeling.

Wildlife at Mitchell Lake

For a field assignment in my Humanities 1301 class, we were required to take a trip to Mitchell Lake located here in San Antonio, Texas. Mitchell Lake is located off of 410 and Moursund. I took the trip to the lake on November 8 or so, although this blog was due on November 1st. I just wasn't able to make it out there any sooner, so here it is now. Mitchell Lake is a historic area here in San Antonio. It is now a natural habitat of sorts, although it was previously used as a dump for raw sewage when the city had no underground sewer system.

The city discontinued use of the lake as a waste dump in 1987 and has since become protected and cleaned. The lake is owned by SAWS, or San Antonio Water Systems. Instead of being a sewage site, the Lake is now a habitat for many sorts of birds. There are literally hundreds, maybe thousands of species of birds that occupy these wetlands during different times of the year. The variety is currently very slim, as most birds have migrated during this time of the year, but there are still some avian life to be observed.

Since the lake is located right off of Interstate 410, it is very accessible to tourists, natives, and anybody who loves nature or birdwatching. It is good to see that people really take an interest in this 1200 acre wetland because it means that the effort that the city and SAWS has put in to cleaning up the site has paid off.