WB Liquors & Wine is having special deals for National Vodka Day. Photo: WB Liquors & Wine, used with permission.
WB Liquors & Wine is offering their top-selling vodkas at a great value in celebration of National Vodka Day on Monday, October 4. Customers can enjoy the following specials from Thursday, September 30 through Vodka Day on Monday, October 4 at all WB Liquors & Wine locations. (WB Liquors & Wine, 2021)
To help celebrate and kick-off the Halloween season, WB’s vodka specialists have put together a spooky vodka recipe that will work with any of their featured vodkas:
Halloween Eyeball Martini Ingredients: • 2 canned lychees + 1/2 ounce lychee juice from the can • 2 cherries (Grand Island Orchard) • 2 1/2 ounces vodka • 1/2 ounce St. Germain • 1/2 ounce lemon juice
Instructions: 1. Stuff one cherry in each of the two lychees. Skewer the two lychees with an extra-long toothpick. 2. Put lychee juice, vodka, St. Germain and lemon juice in a shaker. Add a handful of ice to the shaker and shake briefly until outside of the shaker condensates. Strain and pour into a martini glass. Garnish with lychee eyeballs.
WB Liquors and Wine has helped Texans across the state celebrate their special occasions for more than 50 years. As a family-owned business, we began with a simple desire: to help customers make the good times even better with convenient locations and an extensive variety of liquor, beer, and wine – along with fast, personalized and expert-level service you would expect from a neighborhood store. Today, that simple vision still defines our business and it is what keeps our customers coming back.
Pinks on the Patio benefits Wings and moves to Friday nights in October. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Pinks on the Patio at La Cantera Resort & Spa is moving to Friday this year with themed events to Play up your Pink from 6p.m. to 9p.m. at Sire Bar on Plaza Saba. Pink is the symbolic color of breast cancer awareness as it symbolizes good health and playfulness. (La Cantera Resort & Spa, 2021)
Every Friday Evening, October 1-29, during the month of October, the La Cantera Family will be raising its glasses – and donations – to the efforts and actions of WINGS. Since its inception in 2017, Pinks on the Patio at La Cantera Resort has donated more than $21,000 to WINGS from the overall resort wide donation initiatives.
Pinks on the Patio themed Fridays will feature either live music or DJ Celina from 6p.m. to 9p.m. and cocktail and wine specials along with tasty snacks. Two dollars from each drink special will go back to WINGS. Resort beverage partners include Belvedere, Whispering Angel Rose, Rock Angel Rose, Moët Chandon, and Western Son Vodka.
Loma de Vida Spa & Wellness, Signature Restaurant and SweetFire Kitchen will all have Pink menu options to benefit the charity. Landscaping on Plaza San Saba just off the resort’s main lobby will have a rosy hue at dusk, as Pink LED lights bring focus to the Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Every Friday during the Month of October from 6p.m. to 9p.m.
October 1 All Things Pink, Anything Goes October 8 Pink Lipstick – matted, frosted or glossy October 15 Pink Hats ─ fascinators, chapeaus, any head embellishment with a Pink hue October 22 Fifty Shades of Pink! ─ scarves and feather boas October 29 Pink Masquerade ─ feathered, rhinestone or lace
Free ticketed event up to four (4) tickets per transaction at SquadUp, search Pinks on the Patio. Landscaping will cast a pink glow nightly through October.
La Cantera Resort & Spa – Plaza San Saba patio at Sire Bar 16641 La Cantera Parkway San Antonio, TX 78256 (210) 558-6500
WINGS mission is to bridge the gap between diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, providing comprehensive breast health services to women in Central and South Texas who are uninsured – because everyone deserves a lifetime.
Key Strengths • WINGS is the only program of its kind in the country providing this kind of support for women with breast cancer. • Provided support to over 900 South Texas women with breast cancer. • Provided over $12 Million in healthcare services to women with breast cancer. • Over 95 percent of the women treated through WINGS are still living, because of the program. • Since its inception in 1999, WINGS has seen five-year survival rates for the women it serves increase from zero (untreated breast cancer) to 100 percent for Stage I disease. • Received the Guidestar Gold Seal demonstrating a commitment to transparency. • Maintains an efficiency rating of 94 percent, which is above that of the average nonprofit organization.
Landscaping at La Cantera Resort & Spa will cast a pink glow nightly through October. Photo: La Cantera Resort & Spa, used with permission.
Photo: Dark Star Pictures/Voltage Pictures, used with permission.
Companion piece and ‘Monster’ prequel, Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeywoman focuses on serial killer Aileen Wuornos. It is directed by Daniel Farrands and stars Peyton List in the title role, Lydia Hearst, Nick Vallelonga, Swen Temmel, Meadow Williams, and Andrew Biernat. Based on Aileen Wuornos’ early life in 1976, the film follows America’s most notorious female serial killer in Florida when she marries an older wealthy Yacht Club president only to inflict mayhem within her new family and Florida’s high society. (Dark Star Pictures, 2021)
Aileen Wournos: American Boogeywoman will have its US Video on Demand release on October 8 and will also be released on DVD on October 15, 2021. Video on Demand platforms include iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, Xbox/Microsoft, Comcast/Xfinity, Spectrum, Cox, Verizon Fios, Dish Network, Direct TV and through local cable providers.
Dark Star Pictures is a new-age North American distribution company, focused on bringing unique and targeted content to audiences across the country. We are committed to releasing auteur-driven, original cinema in the theatrical, digital and home video space. Our goal is to create original marketing campaigns directly catered to audiences who will embrace our brand of thought-provoking cinema. Recent releases include Tribeca Midnight Selection Honeydew, Sundance favorite Koko-di Koko-Da, Cannes Official Selection Enfant Terrible and the newly announced SXSW psychological drama Freeland.
New clip from Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeywoman
Whataburger’s Hatch Green Chile Bacon Burger. Photo: Whataburger, used with permission.
Whataburger is bringing back its fan-favorite Hatch Green Chile Bacon Burger along with the all-new Whataburger Hatch Green Chile Bacon Chicken Sandwiches. The Whataburger Breakfast Burger has returned for its third time to offer fans a unique and hearty menu offering for those late-night and early morning cravings. (Whataburger, 2021)
The new Whataburger Chocolate Mint Shakeis the perfect cup to toast the change in weather and ring in the holidays. It is the perfect combination of the classic chocolate flavor that customers have grown to love from the brand, with the addition of mint. All items are available now for a limited time and prices vary by market.
Since 1950 when Harmon Dobson opened the first Whataburger as a small roadside burger stand in Corpus Christi, Whataburger has focuses on its fresh, made-to-order burgers and friendly customer service. Today, the company is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, with more than 850 locations across its 14-state footprint, and sales of more than $2.8 billion annually. Whataburger has 50,000 Family Members (employees) and more than 60 million customers who like to customize their Whataburgers just the way they like it.
‘Callous’ is the new thriller by Ken Bruen. Photo: amazon
Ken Bruen is one of the most prominent Irish crime writers of the last two decades. Born in Galway, he spent twenty-five years traveling the world before he began writing in the mid-1990s. As an English teacher, Bruen worked in South Africa, Japan, and South America, where he once spent a short time in a Brazilian jail. He has two long-running series: one starring a disgraced former police officer named Jack Taylor, the other a London police detective named Inspector Brant. Praised for their sharp insight into the darker side of today’s prosperous Ireland, Bruen’s novels are marked by grim atmosphere and clipped prose. Among the best known are his White Trilogy (1998–2000) and The Guards (2001), the Shamus award-winning first novel in the Jack Taylor series. In his new novel “Callous,” inheriting a Galway cottage may change a trouble young woman’s life, but not the way she hopes. (amazon, 2021)
“Callous” – Kate Mitchell’s in the process of kicking her heroin addiction—with the help of alcohol—when a letter arrives informing her that her aunt in Ireland has passed away and bequeathed her a home near the ocean. This could be the start of a new and better life for Kate, far away from Brooklyn, where she and her surviving brothers are each struggling with their own dark pasts. But Aunt Mary did not die peacefully—quite the opposite. The men responsible for her murder had plans for her house: namely, turning it into a lovely seaside meth lab. One of Mary’s killers, however, finds his focus shifting when he spots a photo of the dead woman’s American niece, who bears a striking resemblance to the late opera singer Maria Callas, the beloved object of his obsession. When Kate and her brothers arrive to claim her inheritance, they are going to find something other than a piece of paradise.
The documentary Our American Family will premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival 2021. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Our American Family is a radically honest, unfiltered portrait of a close-knit Philadelphia family fighting its greatest nemesis: generational addiction. Beginning with a pivotal, “nothing to lose” moment, then captured over the course of the following year, five family members tired of life plagued by addiction on center stage, each struggle to transcend their crippling histories: a mother who learned from childhood to enable her own mother’s addiction, a daughter who doesn’t know who she is without a substance, a son who learned everything about “Heroin 101” from his sister, a younger son who feels alone but acts content to ease the family’s burden, and a stepfather who wonders if addiction is really a disease or simply a by-product of laziness. What will it take to shift this entrenched, wrenching pattern in their lives? How will they each free themselves from their interlocking fates? Will they be able to make significant changes to help their next generation? The members of Our American Family invite us into their lives to find hope and to explore what is possible. No experts. No drug use. No melodrama. (Our American Family, 2021)
WORLD PREMIERE–Feature Length Documentary (USA) RT 87 mins Directed and produced by Hallee Adelman and Sean King O’Grady
Tickets are available for the Woodstock Film Festival 2021 Screenings World Premiere: Saturday October 2 at 3:45p.m. Bearsville Theater 291 Tinker St Woodstock, NY 12498
Sunday October 3 at 2p.m. Orpheum Theatre Saugerties 156 Main St Saugerties, NY 12477
Zych’s will release debut album Dante’s Inferno Part I via Metal Assault Records on October 22, 2021. Photo: google
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Justin Zych, better known as Zych, has joined the Metal Assault Records roster as the label’s first ever solo artist signing. He has toured internationally and worked with bands such as Zephaniah (Indiana), Viking (Los Angeles), Munroe’s Thunder (US / UK), Them (NY / Germany) and many more. (Justin Zych, 2021)
Dante’s Inferno Part I, slated for release October 22 on Metal Assault Records, will initiate a series of solo albums dedicated to the poetry of Dante Alighieri by Zych. Unlike other albums based on Dante’s Inferno, this album goes in-depth into each canto. The album is nearly 70 minutes long with eight intense songs (No fillers). This progressive metal heavyweight of an album evaporates the boundaries between all genres. Every track takes on its own direction with an all-star musical cast of internationally well-known musicians. Each song is also accompanied by outstanding artwork from a well-established visual artist. This is THE heavy metal soundscape to lend your ear to as you read the first eight cantos of The Inferno.
Metal Assault Records will release Dante’s Inferno Part I on October 22, 2021 on deluxe digipack CD and digital platforms. The album’s cover is a scan of a canvas piece created by Tricia Cavender. Pre-orders for the digital album, deluxe digipack CD (with a full 16-page booklet included), and special merch bundles featuring the “Canto VII” t-shirt design, 12” x 12” giclee prints of the album cover art, stickers, and guitar picks, are available now via the Zych Bandcamp page.
The album’s lead single and opening track, “Canto I – Overture” premiered on August 6 along with a stunning music video in all its 4K glory.
Dante’s Inferno Part I track listing: 1. Canto I – Overture (8:56) 2. Canto II – Gates Of Sorrow (5:23) 3. Canto III – All Hope Abandon (8:27) 4. Canto IV – Limbo (10:04) 5. Canto V – Lust (6:37) 6. Canto VI – The Gluttonous (8:24) 7. Canto VII – The Avaricious & The Wrathful (9:08) 8. Canto VIII – Into the Depths of Hell (11:21) Total Runtime: 1:08:20
Full list of participating musicians: Justin Zych (Zephaniah, Viking) – Guitars, Synths, Bass, Vocals Albert Rybka (Acracy, Kategory V) – Vocals Ronny Munroe (Ex-Metal Church, Between Worlds) – Vocals Ty Christian (Lords of The Trident) – Vocals Troy Norr (THEM, Coldsteel) – Vocals Patick Parris (Project Roenwolfe) – Vocals Zebah Latifi (Zephaniah) – Vocals Angel Cotte (Demolition Hammer, THEM) – Drums Ed Stephens (Ringworm, Vindicator) – Bass Ian Bender (Zephaniah) – Bass Paul Kendall (Valhalla) – Piano, synth, guest soloist Shaun Cothron (Zephaniah) – Guest Soloist Brian Koenig (Lords of the Trident) – Guest soloist Kyle Smith (Death On Fire) – Percussion Kenny Woods – All Saxophones Paul Rowan – All trumpets David Cooke – All trombones Ilona Orban – All violins Derek Reeves – All violas Bennett Spickelmier – All Cellos
Zych (Justin Zych) is a musician specializing in guitar, bass, and piano. He earned his bachelor’s degree in music performance from IPFW and currently teaches music online. He is an experienced international touring musician and guitar technician, who has worked with world renowned bands such as Zephaniah (IN), Viking (CA), THEM (NY/GER), Munroe’s Thunder (USA/UK) and many others.
As a composer, Zych has created several compositions for musical groups, commercials, and scores for online videos. His technical prowess and heartfelt melodies define his style and inspire young and old musicians. He has played guitar for over 20 years and continues to excel at his craft by introducing new techniques and musical concepts to his playing.
Zych has created over four hundred arrangements/transcriptions for clients over the last three years and continues to on a regular basis. Some are as simple and short as a thirty second piano piece and some are as complex and intense as a ten minute orchestral piece. His compositions reflect a mixture of romantic period composition mixed with the complex structures of 20th century composition and jazz. Add a heavy metal element to that and you get a new, diverse and extremely full sound.
Justin Zych. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Brandy Zdan’s new album Falcon will be released October 29. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Brandy Zdan is a Canadian musician, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer based in Nashville, TN. After spending several years in Texas-supergroup, The Trishas, Zdan released her self-titled debut album in 2015. In 2018, Zdan’s second album, Secretear, was released on Tallest Man Records. Around that time, Rolling Stone dubbed Zdan “a guitar hero of the highest order,” only further cementing a truth which tour mates like Buddy Guy, Will Hoge, and Aaron Lee Tasjan knew all along. Her third album, the entirely self-produced and engineered Falcon, will be released on October 29, 2021. (Brandy Zdan, 2021)
For anyone who has ever said something along the lines of “You can’t do everything”—they have obviously never met Brandy Zdan. Amongst the most tumultuous season of her life to date, Canadian-turned-Nashvillian Zdan set out to make her new album Falcon on her own—writing, playing, producing, and engineering it by herself—leaving not the slightest clue that most of the recording was done in her laundry room during her baby’s nap times. The deeply personal recording process mirrors Falcon’s deeply personal songwriting. “Falcon is my story of the last two years. A story of miscarriage, loss, grief, pregnancy, motherhood, trauma, isolation, depression, hope, and love,” says Zdan. “I wanted to express all of those tangled feelings, and I hope that it encourages other women to express their grief and loneliness in whatever ways they choose.” But it is not the hardship that Falcon blossomed from that sticks with you after listening to the album, rather the unique liberation of disclosure it provides. “Everyone talks about being vulnerable, but there’s something different about this. This is the type of shit women aren’t supposed to be vocal about,” says Zdan. “It’s a stigma that needs to end, and now that I’ve broken that barrier in my own life I want to help others experience what a freeing place it can be.” Falcon is the hyper-personal and the universal wrapped into one record, and Zdan’s songwriting prowess—the razor-sharp detailing of the detangling of her life—is what makes these songs a salve for anyone else experiencing loss, or grief, or heartache.
Recently Zdan shared a music video for “Protector,” the first single from Falcon. Leaning into a J.J. Cale-esque, vintage drum machine feel, “Protector” starts off on a jovial foot with Zdan singing the first line: “I wanna get drunk, smoke a thousand cigarettes, chew a pack of Nicorette, and play dumb.” Before the end of the feel-good groove, however, the metaphor opens itself up, revealing an inner battle between Zdan and her tendency to guard her heart from the worst of it all. “This is my plead to call off the protector side of myself so I could really get down to it and deal with some grief and pain,” says Zdan. Like a lot of the songs from Falcon, “Protector” is a masterclass in how to share a bad feeling with a good song, greasy guitar solo and all. Fans can watch the “Protector” music video at this link and pre-order or pre-save Falcon ahead of its October 29 release right here.
After flirting with the idea of calling this new album life/death/life, a reference to the cyclical nature of her experiences, Zdan instead took note of the symbolism surrounding her. While grappling with her miscarriage, she experienced a vision of a spirit floating up to the sky on a falcon’s wing. Shortly afterward, she started to see a falcon fly throughout her neighborhood. Then, the week before her daughter was born, that falcon returned to perch on her property. The bird felt like an obvious icon for what her album stood for; strength despite size, gentle tenacity, and an ability to soar through the roughest weather. Listening to Falcon, those themes of perseverance and understated courage not only come through but are so effective that it feels like being in the room next to Zdan while she plays the album, recognizing those very traits within oneself and becoming part of a community that refuses to stay silent. “This album is a victory to overcoming almost every obstacle that can be thrown at a woman, mother, and musician,” she says, “and coming out on the other side intact and better for it.”
Falcon Track list: Dying Inside The Worst Thing Falcon’s Wing I Am Wild Protector Everyone Wants Canceleer Can You Be Alone Mama
‘Daggers Drawn’ includes short stories by Ian Rankin, Jeffery Deaver, John Connolly, Denise Mina, John Harvey, and more. Photo: amazon
Maxim Jakubowski is a noted anthology editor with over seventy volumes to his credit, including “Invisible Blood,” the thirteen annual volumes of The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries, and titles on Professor Moriarty, Jack the Ripper, Future Crime, and Vintage whodunits. A publisher for over 20 years, he was also the co-owner of London’s Murder One bookstore and the crime columnist for Time Out and then The Guardian for 22 years. Stories from his anthologies have won most of the awards in the field on numerous occasions. He is currently the Vice Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association and a Sunday Times bestselling novelist in another genre. He is the editor of a new collection of short stories, “Daggers Drawn.” Edgy, twisted and disturbing, “Daggers Drawn” is the first Crime Writers’ Association Daggers Award retrospective, a visceral and thrilling collection featuring bestselling authors Ian Rankin, Jeffery Deaver, John Connolly, Denise Mina, and John Harvey. (amazon, 2021)
“Daggers Drawn” includes nineteen CWA Dagger-Award winning short stories from the best of the best in crime fiction. The first retrospective of the CWA’s Dagger Award winners, it brings together some of the greatest names in crime fiction to deliver a cutthroat collection of serial killers, grizzled detectives, drug dealers, and expert forgers. Observe as a Senior Curator at the Tate Gallery constructs the perfect crime in Ian Rankin’s “Herbert in Motion.” Watch an unlikely romance sour into a deadly obsession in Stella Duffy’s “Martha Grace.” Face parents who discover their child has committed the unthinkable in Denise Mina’s “Nemo Me Impune Lacessit.” In Jeffery Deaver’s “The Weekender” an intense hostage situation hits its peak in the most unlikely conclusion. Keep your secrets close, and your daggers drawn
Today marks the beginning of Banned Books Week, which this year takes place from Sunday September 26 through Saturday October 2, 2021. Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden rise in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores, and libraries. It highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings the book community in their shared support of the freedom to seek and express ideas, even those that are considered unorthodox or unpopular. (Banned Books Week, 2021)
The subject of book banning is near and dear to my heart. Ever since I was young, I did not read books, I devoured them. My earliest memory of reading is in elementary school when it was time to order from the Scholastic Book Club. I remember looking forward to getting that order form and ordering at least one book every time, sometimes even two or three. Books were my friends and constant companions at a time when my family traveled during the summer when we were migrant workers. Often too young to work in the fields, I passed the time reading any books I could find. Books opened whole worlds, real or imagined, on earth and in outer space. Since English is my second language, reading helped improve my vocabulary and comprehension skills. When I picked up a book, I was in my own little world and no topic was taboo. Because of this, I learned about the beauty of friendship and love but also about the harsh reality of classism, racism, and gender inequalities which in turn helped me come to terms with the duality of life.
As an adult, my thirst for knowledge remains unquenched. When I read for leisure, it is usually horror, suspense, detective novels, science fiction, and historical fiction. My favorite author of all time is Stephen King because I started reading his novels in elementary school. Oddly enough, his books never scared me or caused me to have nightmares. Perhaps I have become desensitized to horror; that is fine by me. By reading all types of books, I discovered new schools of thought and realized that some ideas are not always what I was taught to believe and it has released me from my shackles. Now that I write book reviews, my circle of books has increased more than ever and I am still learning about other subjects that I might not have encountered otherwise.
Whenever I hear about book bannings due to people in positions of power who want to dictate what others can and cannot read, I realize that it is based on fear. They fear what they cannot control as well as any beliefs that could challenge the status quo. In the past, fear has caused people to do unspeakable acts, including burning books that they consider controversial. Book burnings are still taking place in today’s modern times. Books had a major part in shaping the adult that I am today so I strongly support the free flow of information. Due to the advancement of technology, information is available everywhere, including the dark web. No amount of banning, censuring, or challenging will deter anyone.
“If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.” Zig Ziglar
“The Ghost of Windy Hill” by Clyde Robert Bulla is one of the earliest books I remember reading. It is a ghost story for children and I absolutely loved it. I had the book and would re-read it often.
SA Examiner 