Live Music Now

Here are the 6 best concerts in Houston this week

Holiday shopping is such a drag — the traffic, long lines, and Instead of presents that loved ones will surely forget by the end of January, give them the gift of music. It's scientifically proven to help one live a longer life - something that can't be wrapped in a bow.

Take a break from the holiday stress and maybe take in one of the following shows. Here are CultureMap's best, biggest, and notable shows for the week:

CultureMap show of the week: Brian Setzer Orchestra
The annual holiday tradition returns to Houston as former Stray Cats star Brian Setzer and his orchestra will showcase holiday tunes set to a swinging beat at Jones Hall as part of his Christmas Rocks! tour. Setzer first made his name during the new wave era with the Cats, bringing a swing strut to punk rock that recalled a lighter version of The Clash.

After that band broke up, he made an even bigger impact with his new gig as leader of the Brian Setzer Orchestra in the late-'90s at the forefront of the swing revival that earned him more notoriety and millions of album sales as a new generation discovered the fun in dressing up in flapper dresses and zoot suits, dancing to old-timey tunes, especially his "Jump, Jive & Wail." While the neo-swing era dissipated, Setzer created a cash cow by taking his band on the road to perform traditional holiday tunes in the key of swing. Not too bad, daddio.

The Brian Setzer Orchestra performs at the Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, located at 615 Louisiana St., on Wednesday, December 12. Tickets start at $35 plus fees. Show starts at 7:30 pm.

CultureMap recommends: Hayes Carll at Heights Theater
Revered Americana singer-songwriter and Houston native Hayes Carll has been building quite the reputation over the past 10 years, garnering Grammy nominations, winning Americana Music Association awards, and releasing really good music. His new album, What It Is, is out in February, songs which will no doubt be featured at his headlining slot at the Heights Theater this week.

He was recently announced as one of the performers at the Old Settler's Festival in Tilmon, Texas in April, so call this a preview of bigger shows to come. The best part is your ticket will buy you an opening set from the great Houston rock band, Vodi.

Hayes Carll plays the Heights Theater, located at 339 W 19th St., on Thursday, December 13. Local act Vodi opens. Tickets start at $26 plus a $6 service fee. Doors open at 7 pm.

Ministry at HOB
It's hard to overstate how important Ministry and songwriter Al Jourgensen has been on industrial and synth-based music. Ministry got progressively harder and downright weirder over the years, but when the band first started in 1981 in Chicago, they were much closer to Depeche Mode than heavy metal. Hits such as "Everyday is Like Halloween," "The Nature of Love," and later, "Jesus Built My Hotrod," and "N.W.O." paved the way for acts like Nine Inch Nails and White Zombie to thrive in the '90s.

Ministry headlines House of Blues, located at 1204 Caroline St., on Thursday, December 13. Carpenter Brut and Alien Weaponry open. Tickets start at $35 plus fees. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

'90s buzz bin returns: Fastball
Fastball is considered by most to be a one-hit wonder, but what a hit it was. "The Way" was one of the best rock songs of the '90s: a catchy AF tune that might be about running away from the daily grind, dementia in a pre-amber alert era, or a take on the Bonnie and Clyde story. But the three-piece that incorporated a healthy dose of Beatles melody, Texas blues, latin rhythms, and rock licks into their upbeat sound had been grinding it out on the Austin scene as a great live act for years.

They hit it huge with the aforementioned song from their album, All the Pain Money Can Buy, which went platinum in an era when alternative acts could make money. They will celebrate the 20th anniversary of that album with an intimate show at the Dosey Doe.

Fastball performs at the Big Barn at Dosey Doe, located at 25911 I-45 North, The Woodlands, on Friday, December 14. Tickets start at $28 plus fees - includes a three-course meal. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Jason Mraz
Jason Mraz, the soft butter of pop-rock, will bring his chill vibes to Sugar Land for what is billed as an intimate acoustic concert (isn't this his thing?). "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" singer will be joined by percussionist Toca Rivera. Mraz is touring behind his latest, Know, which has been garnering decent reviews from the music press. Fans of Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, and other similarly so-so music will surely love this.

Jason Mraz headlines the Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land, located at 18111 Lexington Blvd. in Sugar Land, on Friday, December 14. Tickets start at $34.50 plus fees. Show starts at 8 pm.

Sleep at White Oak
Stoner rock fans, rejoice! California band Sleep, pioneers of the sludgy, grungy, Black Sabbath-indebted sound that influenced dozens of bands, including Queens of the Stone Age, are back with the critically acclaimed 2018 album, The Sciences, their first in 15 years.

Loud, methodical, and high as a kite, Sleep are the definition of stoner rock — a band for metal heads that enjoy some herbal relaxation instead of leather pants and Jack Daniels. Sleep first broke up in 2003, but not before they launched countless acts aping their sound. Bring your earplugs to this one.

Sleep is at White Oak Music Hall, located at 2915 N Main St., on Saturday, December 15. Pinkish Black opens. Tickets start at $25 plus fees. Doors open at 8 pm.

Americana singer-songwriter Hayes Carll plays the Heights Theater on Thursday, December 13.

Photo courtesy of The Heights Theater

Americana singer-songwriter Hayes Carll plays the Heights Theater on Thursday, December 13.

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Movie Review

New comedy I Want Your Sex saddles an all-star cast with a dull story

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Cooper Hoffman and Olivia Wilde in I Want Your Sex.

Writer/director Gregg Araki has been making provocative movies for nearly 40 years, releasing his debut — Three Bewildered People in the Night — in 1987. Most of them have had plotlines that revolved around sex in one way or another, and for his latest — his first film in 12 years — he’s putting it right there in the title, I Want Your Sex.

Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) is an aimless twenty-something who can’t even afford the rent for his apartment with best friend, Apple (Chase Sui Wonders). Thankfully, he finds a job at the gallery of artist Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde), who is open with her sexuality both in her artwork and in her day-to-day life. That soon includes Elliot, whom she convinces to enter into a dominant-submissive relationship with her, with sessions taking place both at work and her home.

Elliot, who’s in a going-nowhere coupling with Minerva (Charli XCX), is more than willing to participate, both because it lets him feel something he doesn’t get normally and because Erika offers a perspective on sex that’s much different from people of his generation. But as he gets in deeper with her, he starts to lose a sense of himself, going down a path in which he finds himself talking to police detectives Zem (Johnny Knoxville) and Zola (Margaret Cho).

Araki does his level best to make I Want Your Sex into a broad comedy, and early on it seems as if he might succeed. The deadpan way that sexual objects appear in the film (a penis-shaped rug in Elliot and Apple’s apartment, a vagina artwork with chewed gum as the medium) make for amusing sight gags. He also makes Elliot the bewildered other in multiple twosomes, with Minerva being the funniest, as she’s way more interested in studying than his ham-fisted attempts at sex.

It’s clear that Araki wants the film to be a commentary on the generational differences about sex, but he fumbles his own idea. It starts with an on-the-nose conversation between Erika and Elliot, and continues with the various dalliances, which seem to be more about making Elliot look and feel ridiculous than giving true insight. Their encounters certainly open his mind about what sex can be, but their one-note nature makes them repetitive and frankly boring, odd considering the acts in which the two engage.

The uninspired storytelling makes the 90-minute film drag way more than it should. Araki includes a few other characters to try to vary the tone of the film, including gallery workers Zap (Mason Gooding) and Vikktor (Daveed Diggs), but their early promise yields little results. The framing device of Elliot’s interview with the detectives never works, especially because Araki completely neuters the personalities of Cho and Knoxville for seemingly no good reason.

The cast as a whole goes to waste. Hoffman is showing the promise of his late father (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and even though he’s appealing here, the material pulls him down. Wilde just made her own provocative movie about sex (The Invite), and this one pales in comparison despite her heightened performance. Wonders, Charli XCX, and Gooding are all young stars who deserve to be showcased much better than they are in this film.

A film called I Want Your Sex is announcing itself as daring and alluring, but this film contains almost none of those qualities. Instead, it’s a slog that only occasionally has something interesting to show or say, mostly relying on the power of its actors to hold viewers’ attention — and failing at even that.

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I Want Your Sex is now playing in select theaters.