Arts Alive San Antonio

This week is vacation time for many people. The common email response is the automatic reply telling you that the intended recipient will be back in the office Jan. 3. Consequently, few arts events are scheduled. But there’s always some news and we have gathered a sampling for you here.

At the Tobin Center, you can ring in the new year with Little Joe y La Familia on Dec. 31. Little Joe and the Hernandez Brothers, Rocky and Gilbert, hardly need an introduction in San Antonio. Their show starts at 10:30 p.m. and takes you into the new year. Opening for them at 9 p.m. will be DJ Texas Papi.
(Tobin Center, 100 Auditorium Circle; tickets $28.50 to $58.50, tickets@tobincenter.org, 210-223-8624)

And they have a special show for you on Saturday, New Year’s Day, at the Overtime Theater, called “Nerd Court.” All “nerds and superhero fans” are urged to participate. So, what is it exactly? The participants debate the merits of various pop culture heroes, such as Batman vs Superman, and compare Star Wars and Star Trek, Picard vs Kirk, etc. “Two lawyers of our nerdiest caliber will argue the benefits of their nerd topic, while tearing down their opponents,” says the show’s description on Overtime’s site. The topics will be chosen by spinning the “Character Wheel.” (Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022 at 8 p.m.; Overtime Theater, 5409 Bandera, Suite 205; $15 at box office or online; 210-557-7562, https://theovertimetheater.org)

And we want to remind you about “Hamilton,” the big Broadway musical about one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, which will breeze into the Majestic Theater for a series of performances Jan. 5-16. (Majestic Theater, 224 E. Houston; 210-226-3333; info@majesticempire.com)

If you think of New Year’s Eve as just a big party night, head downtown where the city’s official New Year’s Eve celebration, Celebrate San Antonio, will take place. The art part of the shindig is music, with a range of styles and musicians performing at the various locations, including the Arneson River Theater, Hemisfair, La Villita and along Alamo St. (6 p.m. to midnight; free; masks “strongly encouraged:)

We also want to tell you about an event that may lift your spirits through music, ritual and self-examination, though it is not, strictly-speaking an arts event. Called the Burning Bowl Ceremony, it is organized by the Celebration Circle, which describes itself as a “co-creative community built on a foundation of shared prosperity, cultural diversity and inclusive spirituality.” It welcomes all who want to participate.

The Burning Bowl Ceremony invites participants to first let go of the past through meditation, and then focus on what they envision for themselves in the new year. Ceramic bowls are used to symbolically burn “the past.” Subsequently, all are urged to write letters to themselves defining their intentions for the upcoming year. Those are sealed and self-addressed and will be mailed to each person next December. Singer/musician/songwriter Rudi Harst and his Circle Band will welcome people and sustain the mood throughout the ceremony. (Jan. 2 at 5 p.m.; Woodlawn Pointe Center for Community Auditorium, 702 Donaldson Ave., 78201, free and open to the public. Masks required and social distancing available.)

URBAN-15’s Josiah Media Festival is continuing to show the movies created by young filmmakers from across the globe. To watch go to https://urban15.org. It’s a free window into the world. Filmmakers from Australia, Russia, India, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and other countries are included.

Poets and poetry lovers may want to attend VOICES DE LA LUNA’s Zoom monthly workshop with poet Dario Beniquez: “Elements of Poetry.” The January topic is Re-Vision: Discovering the New in Poetry.” (Jan. 6, 6-8 p.m.; free but donation accepted; for info email voicesdelaluna@outlook.com.)

This weekend is your last chance to see San Antonio Museum of Art’s exhibit “40 Years, 40 Stories” which showcases treasures from the museum’s permanent collection. The exhibit closes Jan. 2. And speaking of SAMA, the museum has named a new director, Emily Neff, who will arrive in the Alamo City in a couple of weeks.  She most recently served as the executive director of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. She’s a native Texan who started her career at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 1989. (SAMA, 200 W. Jones Ave., 210-978-8140, www.samuseum.org)

San Antonio Art League and Museum has chosen painter and multi-media artist Sylvia Benitez as its Artist of the Year. (More about that in a future feature story.)

LEGOLAND Discovery Center San Antonio, invites people to take part in the Holiday Bricktacular through Jan. 2, 2022. There will be a life-size LEGO Christmas Tree and everyone can build special LEGO ornaments. And you can take a photo with LEGO Santa. (849 E. Commerce St., Suite 910, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Jan. 2)

San Antonio Book Festival has put its entire 2021 event online. Some 200 writers took part in the fest, including nationally known names. (sabf@sabookfest.org) The 2022 festival is scheduled for May 21, 2022.

And here’s a treat! This video will amaze and amuse you as it did air travelers at the Brussels Airport. And that’s a real Rubens painting! www.youtube.com/watch?v=JREE37Q5cNM

                                                       HAPPY NEW YEAR!