Live Music Now

These are the 7 best shows to see in Houston this week

The concert season is in full-swing with plenty of local, national and international acts swinging through town. This week, it's the line-up of ultra-talented female singers that impresses with other notable shows by the fellas that will make for tough choices for music fans in the Bayou City.

Best show for the multimedia art aficionado
Eric San, also known as Montreal’s Kid Koala, is one of the most gifted, if not artistic turntablists on the planet. Yes, he has the scratching skills to go up with the best DJs around, but what makes him brilliant is his ability to blend different forms of media — video, graphics, and sound — into an exhilarating display. The musical genius, recently featured on the Baby Driver soundtrack and a favorite of Radiohead and Arcade Fire, will bring out his full arsenal at a rare Houston show.

The Society for the Performing Arts features Kid Koala performing next to Oscar-nominated production designer K.K. Barrett at Jones Hall, with a theatrical rendition of Koala’s graphic novel, Nufonia Must Fall. This event will include a live-adaptation of the book that features puppets, the strings of Afiara Quartet, and multiple screens and stages.

Kid Koala creates his own world at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana St., Friday, February 9. Tickets start at $34 but use the promo code ROBOTS for half-price tickets. The show starts at 7:30 pm.

Best place to hear the second coming of Elliot Smith
Los Angeles-based, 23-year-old, singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers plays a headline slot Friday hot on the heels of one of the best albums of 2017, Stranger in the Alps, after opening for Noah Gunderson at the Heights Theater last November. Bridgers, who has been writing music since she was 11 years old, has gained the attention of some of the best songwriters in the country, including Ryan Adams, and Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst. The latter appeared on one of the most heartbreaking songs of the past year, “Would You Rather.”

If you ever wondered what Elliot Smith’s love child would sound like if she was raised in Laurel Canyon bohemia, this is the show to catch.

Phoebe Bridgers sings sparse songs of beautiful melancholy at White Oak Music Hall, 2915 N Main St., Friday, February 9. Soccer Mom opens. Tickets are $13 in advance, plus fees. Doors open at 8 pm. Bridgers will also play a free in-store set at Cactus Music at 2:30 pm Friday afternoon.

Best modern day femme fatale
What a strange trip it’s been to follow Lana Del Rey’s career. First came the transformation from mediocre singer-songwriter Lizzie Grant, into her current incarnation as the chart-topping, pouty-lipped seductress that she’s known for today. Then, there was the cringe-worthy appearance on Saturday Night Live. Not to mention, the sexually violent Marilyn Manson video. Then this past week, there was a kidnapping attempt on her by a stalker.

Throughout it all, she’s been producing high-profile exercises in well-produced, breezy pop music filtered through the lens of the Twin Peaks soundtrack, speaking to multitudes of Millennials who have aped her fashion sense and embraced her romanticism of youth culture. That she’s playing a basketball arena on the back of last year’s No. 1 Lust For Life speaks volume to her power in the American musical landscape.

Lana Del Rey holds court at the Toyota Center, 1510 Polk Street, on Saturday, February 10. Kali Uchis opens. Tickets start at $39.50 plus fees. Doors open at 8 p.m.

Best chance to see a future megastar
Say what you want about reality TV mogul Simon Cowell — he’s generally right when he gushes about a future star. Grace VanderWaal, then a spritely 12-years-old, captured the hearts of viewers by winning the massively popular competition series America’s Got Talent. Now a wise-old 14 years, she’s following Taylor Swift’s playbook of starting off with a a pleasant, acoustic-driven pop record of her own songs in 2017’s full-length, Just The Beginning.

Soon enough, she’ll have fake celebrity boyfriends and a musical empire to run. Until then, be one of those who can say you saw her at the beginning when she hits Warehouse Live.

Grace VanderWaal performs an intimate, sold-out at Warehouse Live Studio, 813 St Emanuel St, on Monday, February 12. Check out Warehouse Live’s ticket exchange for a chance at admission. Doors open at 6 pm.

Best show for busting out your flannel shirts
One of the more melodic alt-rock bands to hit the mainstream in the grunge-era, Gin Blossoms hit the big-time with 1992’s New Miserable Experience, a still pretty-great album that mixed ’80s jangle-pop with heavy guitar chords of the ’90s. That album produced hits, “Hey Jealousy,” “Allison Road,” and “Until I Fall Away.”

The following single from the Empire Records soundtrack (much better than the actual movie), “‘Til I Hear It From You,” kept them on the radio for years, but the band’s legacy is firmly tied to a time when Friends was must-see TV on Thursday nights. This show will either be a fun nostalgia trip or a reminder of how old we all are getting.

Gin Blossoms flashback to a time when guitar band topped the charts at House of Blues, 1204 Caroline St., on Tuesday, February 13. Tickets start at $30. Doors open at 7 pm.

Valentine’s Day dates for varying tastes
Are you and your bae fans of late-’90s/early-2000s, lo-fi indie-rock, and looking for something special to do this Valentine’s Day? Then check out the return of David Bazan’s cult-project Pedro The Lion at Rockefeller’s, who produced some of the most critically acclaimed albums of the aughts in the vein of Sebadoh and Pavement.

Feeling a bit friskier and looking for something more bump-‘n’-grind? Popular rapper G-Eazy has you covered at the Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land. He’ll be showcasing his huge radio hits, “Me, Myself & I” and similarly titled “Him & I” alongside a big line-up of hip-hop acts as part of the Beautiful & Damned tour.

Pedro The Lion plays Rockefeller’s, 3620 Washington Ave., on Wednesday, February 14. Marie/Lepanto opens. Tickets start at $20 plus fees. Doors at 7 pm.

G-Eazy hits the Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land, 18111 Lexington Blvd., on Wednesday, February 14. Trippie Redd, Phora and the Anthony Russo Band open. Tickets start at $29.50. Show starts at 8 pm.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers performs a headline set at White Oak Music Hall Friday, February 9.

Frank_Ockenfels

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers performs a headline set at White Oak Music Hall Friday, February 9.

music concerts

Movie Review

Sheriff Bob Odenkirk is back in over-the-top new action movie 'Normal'

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Bob Odenkirk in Normal.

Screenwriter Derek Kolstad, who wrote the first three John Wick movies, has essentially had a blank check to do what he wants in the movie landscape since 2014. In recent years that has meant writing the action series Nobody for Bob Odenkirk, who has turned from a comedian into an unlikely action star in his sixties. Kolstad and Odenkirk are teaming up again in Normal.

A film that tries to evoke Fargo in multiple ways, Normal finds Ulysses Richardson (Odenkirk) serving as a temporary sheriff for the small town of Normal, Minnesota after the previous sheriff died. Knowing he’s just a steward until a new sheriff is elected, Ulysses takes a live-and-let-live approach to the job, letting the deputies (Ryan Allen and Billy MacLellan) do the grunt work and trying to stay out of everyone’s way, including Mayor Kibner (Henry Winkler).

A bank robbery attempt by two non-citizens upsets his best-laid plans in more ways than he can imagine. Not only is he forced to confront a crime not often seen in a town like Normal, but the robbery uncovers secrets that turn the film into an all-out bloodbath. Soon, almost everyone in town becomes involved in what comes to resemble a war, along with — you guessed it — Yakuza henchmen from Japan.

Directed by Ben Wheatley and written by Kolstad, the film is a slight twist on the everyman-turned-hero character Odenkirk played in the two Nobody films. While Ulysses is in law enforcement, he prefers to use words instead of weapons, and it’s only when he’s pushed to the brink that he crosses that line. Naturally, his skills are beyond what anyone would expect of him, allowing him to match up well with people half his age.

The film is not a comedy in the traditional sense, but instead aims for laughs by catching the audience off-guard with its ultraviolence. Some characters are dispatched in shockingly unexpected ways, with one of the only natural reactions to the jarring nature of their deaths being laughter. That’s not necessarily the case for other killings, which range from blasé to sadistic, and the only reason they count as entertainment is because the filmmakers have primed the audience to accept them as such.

After a relatively solid setup, where Wheatley and Kolstad seem to take their time getting to know the main characters, the second half of the film is pure action that dispenses with good storytelling. Like many action movies, there are double crosses, surprise revelations, and more, but the filmmakers don’t seem to care about making sense of any character arcs. All they care about is delivering mayhem, and they succeed on that front.

Odenkirk has perfected the mild-yet-intimidating nature of his action characters, and it is satisfying to see him get the better of those who have done him wrong. He doesn’t run or jump like fellow 63-year-old Tom Cruise, but — with the help of fast-paced editing — he still makes for a credible action hero. The only other actors of any note in the film are Winkler, who’s a nice presence with his sardonic personality, and Lena Headey, whose small role doesn't match up with her experience.

You have to have a certain mindset to enjoy a film like Normal, but if you can abide its over-the-top bloodiness, it’s a serviceable action film. Few would have expected Odenkirk to take on these kinds of roles at this late stage of his career, but he’s making the most of his opportunities.

---

Normal opens in theaters on April 17.

movies film