the shows go on

Houston live music venues maintain COVID safety measures after restrictions lift

Mask on or mask off? That is the question.

Like many in the hospitality and entertainment industry, local live music venues are scrambling to decide what actions to take in the wake of Governor Greg Abbott’s announcement last week rescinding the state-wide mask mandates and opening all businesses at full capacity.

Houston venues still hosting shows instituted strict health guidelines months ago, which included limited capacity, mask requirements, staggered entry times, and enforced social distancing with tables or cordoned off sections. For now, it looks like those most of those measures will remain in place.

White Oak Music Hall, one of the largest venues to host shows during the pandemic, did so by implementing a grid system wherein small groups share a section of the outdoor lawn area. Patrons are required to wear masks should they step out of their section and concessions were ordered online. The venue effectively shut the indoor stage area and has no immediate plans to re-open it.

They’ll move ahead with upcoming grid shows, including two Blue October frontman Justin Furtsenfeld on Friday, March 12 and Saturday, March 13.

White Oak fans can also watch for the Texas Smoke Break Fest Comedy Show with Ali Siddiq, Byrson Brown, and more on Wednesday, March 17. The Texas Smoke Break Fest with Larry June, Le$f, Slim Thug, DevinTheDude, and goes down on Saturday, March 20. Meanwhile, the Read Southall Band performs on Saturday, April 17 with all current safety measures in place.

"We’re thrilled to see COVID rates declining and steps taken to open Texas back up,” Johnny So, managing partner of White Oak Music Hall said in a statement. “We’re still evaluating what that means for us and how that might affect our concerts. We're hopeful that it will allow us to book more shows and welcome more fans, but we need to ensure that those shows can be done safely."

Other venue owners echoed the same sentiment, while not committing to any quick changes to safety measures.

“We have great hope that our venues will return to normal operations very soon,” Edwin Cabaniss with the Heights Theater tells CultureMap. “If we continue to see progress, we anticipate making incremental changes to our protocols on our way to full reopening. We are just thankful to be in a position to safely-reopen after an extraordinarily difficult year - many of our peers were not that fortunate.”

Out of those that responded to requests from CultureMap, the majority of local spots said they elected to keep current safety guidelines in place. Others that shuttered completely will stay closed for the time being.

While some national artists are still touring, namely Staind lead singer Aaron Lewis performing on March 11 and South African punk rap act Die Antwoord booked for May 29 at Revention Music Center, it appears it will be some time before venues get close to hosting full sized crowds.

The following is a list of music venues that responded to requests about the health and safety restrictions in place. All of those hosting shows have hand sanitization stations throughout the venue.

Venues currently open:

Axelrad: Limited capacity; masks required inside and while ordering.

Dosey Doe: Patrons encouraged to wear masks.

Heights Theater: Mandatory social distancing; face mask required except while eating and drinking.

House of Blues: Face coverings mandatory and must be worn at all times except while eating and drinking; guest belongings must be kept in a clear bag or small clutch bag; mandatory social distancing; staggered arrival times.

Main Street Crossing: Face coverings mandatory and must be worn at all times except while eating and drinking; mandatory social distancing; contactless payment.

McGonigel’s Muck Duck: Mask requirements except while eating and drinking; capacity limits

Revention Music Center: Face coverings mandatory and must be worn at all times except while eating and drinking; guest belongings must be kept in a clear bag or small clutch bag; mandatory social distancing; staggered arrival times.

Rudyards: Mask requirements except while eating and drinking; capacity limitations.

Warehouse Live: Limited seating; masked encouraged when not seated; social distancing encouraged.

White Oak Music Hall: Face coverings mandatory and must be worn at all times except while eating and drinking; limited capacity; mandatory social distancing; drinks must be ordered through cocktail server.

Venues closed or currently not booking acts:

Satellite Houston: No shows booked at this time.

Smart Financial Center: No shows until May 15.

The Secret Group: Closed through the month of March and likely through April.

The Continental Club: Remains closed at this time.

White Oak Music Hall will continue to follow safety measures despite Gov. Greg Abbott lifting all COVID restrictions.

Photo by Eric Sandler

White Oak Music Hall will continue to follow safety measures despite Gov. Greg Abbott lifting all COVID restrictions.

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Movie Review

Avatar: Fire and Ash returns to Pandora with big action and bold visuals

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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