Houston, TX

For a great list of all there is to do, check out the City of Houston’s guide and calendar of events, but here’s a few highlights of great things to do:

Friday

Dave Matthews Band
WEBSITE www.woodlandscenter.org
BEGIN 9/21/2007
END 9/21/2007
LOCATION Woodland Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Drive
NOTES With Robert Earl Keen, 7:00 p.m.
PHONE 281.363.3300

It’s How You Play the Game: Professional Sports in Houston
WEBSITE www.heritagesociety.org
BEGIN 6/5/2007
END 9/23/2007
LOCATION Downtown, 1100 Bagby @ Allen Parkway
NOTES Chronicles the highs and lows Houstonians have experienced over the years as they supported their home teams. This city has been a part of many firsts in sports history, from the building of the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” the Astrodome, to the first champion women’s professional basketball team.
PHONE 713.655.1912

Theatre Under The Stars - Whistle Down The Wind
WEBSITE www.tuts.org
BEGIN 9/11/2007
END 9/23/2007
LOCATION Hobby Center, 800 Bagby
NOTES Andrew Lloyd Webber’s London Hit. In the rural Louisiana of several decades ago, a lonely teenager discovers a mysterious stranger on her family’s property. As she demands to know his identity, he swears Jesus Christ!…and it’s as if all her prayers have been answered.
PHONE 713.558.TUTS

Weekend of Texas Contemporary Dance
WEBSITE www.milleroutdoortheatre.com
BEGIN 9/21/2007
END 9/22/2007
LOCATION Miller Theater, In Hermann Park, 100 Concert Drive
NOTES This 13th annual event presents a snapshot of the contemporary dance scene in Houston featuring new work and revivals of recent work in a range of choreographic styles set to music that ranges from classical to experimental. 8:00 p.m.
PHONE 281.FREE.FUN

Saturday
Houston Cougars vs. Colorado State
WEBSITE www.uhcougars.com
BEGIN 9/22/2007
END 9/22/2007
LOCATION Robertson Stadium, Cullen Blvd. @ Holman
NOTES College football. Located on Cullen Blvd., between Holman and Wheeler, on the University of Houston campus.
PHONE 713.743.9444

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
WEBSITE www.thegrand.com
BEGIN 9/22/2007
END 9/22/2007
LOCATION 2020 Postoffice Street, in Galveston
NOTES Direct from New York, this Pulitzer Prize winning composer and trumpeter brings his incredible fifteen piece ensemble to The Grand. 8:00 p.m.
PHONE 800.821.1894

Stages Theatre - Souvenir
WEBSITE www.stagestheatre.com
BEGIN 9/5/2007
END 9/30/2007
LOCATION Stages Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway
NOTES Comedy offers an affectionate portrait of Jenkins, a music-loving socialite whose charity concerts earned her a cult following in New York in the 1930s and ’40s, culminating in a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall. Genuinely devoted to “her art,” Jenkins was apparently oblivious to the appalling sounds she produced, and the fact that her “fans” attended for laughs, not musical excellence.
PHONE 713.527.0123

Houston, music, theater, dance

MUSIC

Summer Storm with Norman Brown, Peabo Bryson, Marion Meadows & More
Verizon Theater
www.verizonwirelesstheater.com
8/17/2007 only! 8:00 p.m.
Verizon Wireless Theater, 520 Texas in Bayou Place
713.230.1600

Women in Jazz: A Salute to Sarah Vaughan (featuring song stylists Kamil and Mickie Moseley and saxophonist Theressa Grayson)
www.milleroutdoortheatre.com
8/17/2007 only! 7:30 p.m.
Miller Theater, In Hermann Park, 100 Concert Drive
281.FREE.FUN

MUSEUM EVENTS

Mixers, Elixirs and IMAX Summer Social Series
www.hmns.org
Every Friday night until August 24, 7:00-10:00 p.m.
Museum of Natural Science, 1 Hermann Circle Drive
713.639.IMAX

Andy Warhol: Three Houston Women (Jermayne MacAgy, Dominique de Menil, and Caroline Wiess Law)
www.menil.org
Through 8/26/2007
Menil Collection, 1515 Sul Ross
713.525.9400

Frogs: A Chorus of Colors (through 9/3/2007)
and
Of Gold and Grass: Nomads of Kazakhstan (through 9/9/2007)
www.hmns.org
Museum of Natural Science, 1 Hermann Circle Drive
713.639.IMAX

Current exhibits at the Museum of Fine Arts
www.mfah.org

CONVENTIONS

Annual Houston Home Show - Fall 2007
www.texashomeandgarden.com
8/17/2007 through 8/19/2007
Convention Center, 1001 Avenida de las Americas
713.529.1616

PERFORMING ARTS

Tuna Does Vegas starring Jaston Williams and Joe Sears
www.thegrand.com
TUE to FRI at 8:00 p.m., SAT at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m., and SUN at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m. through 8/26/2007
2020 Postoffice Street, in Galveston
800.821.1894

It’s How You Play the Game: Professional Sports in Houston
www.heritagesociety.org
Through 9/23/2007
Heritage Society, Downtown, 1100 Bagby @ Allen Parkway
713.655.1912

Late Nite Catechism
www.stagestheatre.com
Through 9/30/2007
Stages Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway
713.527.0123

FOR MORE EVENTS, CHECK OUT

Unique Urban Outings—a list of fun and exciting events for singles, couples and families by Joshua Hinsdale, Houston Editor

Best Live Music Venues

Zvents

Have fun this weekend, Houston!

arts, entertainment, theater, live music, performances, fun, fun in Houston, Houston events, Houston live music, Houston performances, Houston events

Each year the city of Pasadena—Southeast Houston area—hosts an awards picnic to celebrate community building and spirit. With hundreds of attendees enjoying the many activities, the Pasadena fairgrounds were packed with happy people on August 11, 2007 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

In the air-conditioned Campbell Hall, attendees enjoyed life-sized chess, hot dog and watermelon eating contests, an appearance by SpiderMan, dance contest, and excellent buffet lines with choices among barbecue, catfish, and kids’ favorites. Kids and adults alike also enjoyed making wax hands and getting their faces painted. Clowns made fun-shaped balloons, as well. The Rodeo arena featured a four way super trampoline, multiple bouncy houses, a super slide and an Orbitron.

The free event for Pasadena residents also awarded Pasadena neighbors and neighborhoods for outstanding community service. The City of Pasadena’s Neighborhood Network Division (a part of the Pasadena Police Department) assists citizens in forming neighborhood or homeowners organizations as well as in helping current organizations to continue to improve the quality of life within their neighborhoods. The program also offers residents of Pasadena grant money for community improvements.

The program explains why it exists to support residents

The goal of the Neighborhood Network Division is to empower the citizens of Pasadena through funding initiatives, education, recreation and social events to work with their neighbors to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods. A well organized neighborhood or homeowners association can work with the residents within their neighborhood to address such issues as crime, social activities, recreation, land use issues, deed restriction compliance, code enforcement, landscaping and beautification, emergency preparedness and civic leadership, just to name a few.”

To learn more about the Neighborhood Network Division or how to create a neighborhood organization, contact Karen Hollon, Program Manager (pictured above) by telephone 713-477-2695 or email khollon@ci.pasadena.tx.us.

Community building is an important part of the Houston-area spirit. Bringing together residents and supporting resident efforts to improve quality of life is a crucial civic duty.

What activities, events, or programs does your community offer?

community, community spirit, community building, Pasadena+Texas, Neighborhood Network

As you expect here in Houston—where there’s always something fun for every interest and age group—there’s a lot of exciting events this weekend!

Now…for the great things to do. This is by no means everything, but it’s a few things that begin this weekend, are ending this weekend or soon, or are hot right now. If you know of any good events, please leave a comment with the information.

Check back later for a guide to the best burger joints around Houston!

Visual Arts Events

Buffalo Soldiers—Starts 8/11 at Buffalo Soldiers National Museum
1834 Southmore Blvd
Houston, TX 77004-5947
Phone: (713) 942-8920
Hours: Mon-Fri 10am-5:30pm, Sat 10am-4pm
Take a trip back in time and learn about the brave Buffalo Soldiers—an African-American troop formed in 1866 by the U.S. Army—through artifacts, videos, prints and other pieces of history.

Current Exhibits at Museum of Fine Arts Houston
1001 Bissonnet
Houston, TX 77005
Phone: (713) 639-7300
Hours: Tue-Wed 10am-5pm, Thu 10am-9pm, Fri-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 12:15pm-7pm

Catch these soon because they end soon!

The Great Wall of China: Photographs by Chen Changfen
Through August 12, 2007
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building

Building Foundations: Ima Hogg and Bayou Bend in the 1920s
Through August 12, 2007
At the Caroline Wiess Law Building

Brett Weston: Natural Abstractions
Through September 3, 2007
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building

Performing Arts Events

Stargazer’s Guide—Starts 8/11 at Burke Baker Planetarium
One Hermann Circle Dr.
Houston, TX 77030
Phone: (713) 639-4629
Hours: Mon-Fri 12pm-3pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-5pm
The NASA-funded planetarium offers state of the art technology to provide you with an experience almost as real as being in space yourself! Watch real time images from the Hubble Space Telescope and see additional special effects of planets and more.

Romeo & Juliet—Starts 8/11, Ends 8/11 at Miller Theatre, 8:30 p.m.
Miller Theater, In Hermann Park, 100 Concert Drive
Phone: (281) FREEFUN
Web site: www.milleroutdoortheatre.com

Musical Events

Faye Robinson and The Mid City Players—starts 8/11-8/17 at Sammy’s at 2016 Main, includes Funk, Soul & R&B
2016 Main St
Houston, TX 77002
Phone: (713) 751-3101
Cross Street: Gray Street
Specialties: Dance Club, Live Music Venue
Hours: Wed-Sat 8pm-2am

Food and Fun Events

The Main Event—8/11-2/8 at Downtown Main Street, includes Community, Food & Wine
Come enjoy this car-free area of downtown. Sample food, wine, enjoy art and crafts sold by artisans, and listen to the strolling musicians.

Coming events!

Diva Row—Starts 8/13-2/11 at The Magnolia Hotel, includes Jazz and Blues music

Grady Gaines—Starts 8/15-2/6 at Sammy’s at 2016 Main, includes Funk, Soul & R&B

The Amazing Astronomers of Ancient Rome—Starts 8/16 at Burke Baker Planetarium

Rock the Dock—Starts 8/16-8/30 at Kemah Boardwalk, includes Funk, Soul & R&B

Fried Ice Cream—Starts 8/24 at Sammy’s at 2016 Main, includes Funk, Soul & R&B

Starry Night Express—Starts 9/1-9/2 at Burke Baker Planetarium

Texas Renaissance Festival—Starts 10/6

For more events: City of Houston

Houston, events in Houston, Houston events, Houston fun, what to do in Houston

There are a couple interesting news stories right now, but I wanted to do something a little different today. I thought about an event post, but instead of that, I’ll point you to a couple of the best online resources for arts and events in Houston.

• Spacetaker: Spacetaker is great for gallery openings, plays, and a lot of free festivals and classes. It’s not quite as comprehensive as some might like, but their mission statement is heartwarming and they’re good at what they do.
• Artshound:A much less exclusive list of events in several categories, including theatre, music, dance, and art. They cover lots of other stuff that doesn’t nicely fall into those categories too.
• JazzHouston: Specific to jazz music, obviously, but I like jazz and it is a very thorough list of regular and special performances all over town.
• Handstamp: A chron.com blog about Houston’s music scene. I’m not too familiar with it, but the other Houston music scene blogs I’ve read have been pretty deficient, so I’d give this one a try.
• Chron.com/entertainment: An aggregate of all different kinds of things going on in all different kinds of places. You can come up with hundreds of things to do all over the city in one night.

houston, art, events, entertainment

I was all set to write up a post about Houston’s GLBT culture in honor of Pride this weekend when I ran across this. Is Houston really America’s most heterosexual city and what does that even mean?

It means we’re sexy.

It doesn’t mean anti-gay. I’ve taken a sort of man-on-the-street, or man-on-the-internet, as it were, approach to my research, so I’ve been reading forum posts and blogs and comments about Houston and its gay community. I doubt anyone’s surprised that the consensus was that Houston is very gay-friendly - and everyone loves Montrose. Montrose is not the only interesting part of the city by any means, but that’s what a lot of people and travel guides think. A lot of people seem to prefer being gay in Houston to being gay in Austin because Houston has more of a gay “scene.” The idea is that the mood in Austin is so tolerant that there’s no need for “gayborhoods,” as they’re referred to, because gay people live all over the place. But it’s not as if there are “gay-only” areas of Houston, or as if gay people don’t live all over the place here. My next-door neighbors here in southwest Houston are two gay men. I think what’s really the case is that Houston is a more mature city than Austin, that over-sized small town, and for whatever reason, Austin just hasn’t developed anything like Montrose or any such express celebration of gay culture.

One last note on Texas cities and gay culture that’s too interesting to pass up: is Dallas emerging as the gay capital of Texas?

For more gay Houston information, Out in Houston and Pride Houston are two fabulous resources. Pride Houston is your source for information on the yearly parade and festival which happens tomorrow.

austin, dallas, gay, lesbian, pride

Even the 90+ degree heat and lack of shade on Allen Parkway couldn’t keep me from enjoying the 20th Annual Art Car Parade, hosted by Orange Show Center for Visionary Art.

I arrived just before the start of the parade at 1pm and found a spot on a curb to watch the action. My almost two year-old son and his friend managed to be entralled for 170 of the 250+ Art Cars. The ones with the bubbles, of course, managed to hold their attention the longest as they shouted excitedly, “Bubbles! B-U-B-B-L-E-S!!!!”

My favorite cars included: 1) The two VW Bugs that were welded together, roof-to-roof, with a brave person hanging out of the upside down car on top, holding on for dear life. 2) The Houston Chronicle’s car - er - star. The Art Car was a giant, plexiglass star that appeared to be suffocating the female driver inside, even after she opened the windows to wave to the parade-goers and the 3) “M Peach Bush” car that included a live band following a floating peach with the car’s slogan and a picture of the 43rd U.S. President. On the side of the car (or rolling stage, either one) was a “Peach Cobbler” with pictures of Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice and Bush. Rumsfeld’s picture featured a black, electrical tape “X” over his head with the phrase, “Only three more to go”.

The more political cars gathered the most attention as the cruised the Heights. Most of the crowd stood up to cheer and holler their support for “M Peach Bush”-mobile, which lead to the rather staid individuals behinding us to wonder aloud, “Why do THEY always try to turn everything into a political statement? I just don’t feel that this is the proper forum for politics.”

My friend and I turned to each other, glancing over the heads of our beet-faced toddlers, with raised eyebrows. If not here, at an Art Car Parade, where can you voice your subversive political beliefs?

In fact, the Houston Chronicle (with recognized irony with their own corporate car) ran a front page story on Sunday about the mounting commercialization of the parade from corporate sponsors. Mixed in with the toy soliders for every American killed in Iraq was a McDonalds shoe, a Starbucks coffee cup and a Bubbles Car Wash car that featured (not surprisingly) a kiddie-appealing mass of bubbles floating off the Hummer.

Some of the commenters on the article called the parade a “pollution fest of corporate America”, although others defended the “art” of the Art Car Parade as a subjective experience as Andy Warhol’s pop-art Cambell Soup Can.

For me, I can appreciate the fact that security seemed minimal, everyone was allowed to drink and bring their own coolers on the sidewalk and even the “corporate cars” were all created locally by artists receiving a much-needed commission for their art.

Some of the funniest moments of the parade came during unexpected moments. I loved watching Mayor Bill White try not wave convincingly to the crowd as his car rolled along in the haze of the thick, black smoke from the car in front of him and his three, armed HPD escorts. Watching the Israeli/pro-Jewish car trailing the German van (replete with menacing looking teenagers yelling in German) was an odd juxtaposition, but to me, that’s what art is: a juxtaposition
between the ordinary and the extraordinary.

All and all. I say it was a good day. Next year, though, I might bring a portable swamp cooler and SPF50 sun block.

Edited to Note: Pictures of the event will be uploaded soon.

[tags} Art Car Parade, Pop Art, Commercialism, Corporate Sponsorships, Subversive Politics, Kids [/tags]

On Saturday, May 12th, the 20th Annual Art Car Parade will be rolling through Houston. Since 1988, the Art Car Parade has been an annual tradition. What originally began with 40 decorated cars has grown into the world’s largest and oldest Art Car Parade. The 250+ Art Cars pull in over 200,000 spectators and media from all over the world each year.

The Grand Marshal for the 2007 parade will be none other than Mr. George Clinton. He’ll get things rolling at 1:00 p.m. The parade will start at Taft and head toward downtown on Allen Parkway, then will loop around the Heritage Society at Bagby and come back the other way.

Early spectators can enjoy the Art CARtailgater from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. You can watch the cars line up, talk to the artists, and listen to live bands. It will also give you a chance to get a close-up look at the amazing work of the artists.

If you are in the area, you should definitely check it out. You wouldn’t want to miss a chance at seeing an image like this, would you?

Noggin Del Fuego by Brian “Visker” Mahanay
Photo Courtesy of Jeff DeBevec

For more information about the Art Car Parade, you can check out the official site here.

Houston, Art, Car, Art Car Parade, George Clinton, events