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These are the 5 best shows to see in Houston this week

From steamy salsa, to cool electronica, it's another hot week of music in Houston. Here are the best shows coming up over the next seven days.

Best show that will bring a taste of Miami to H-Town
Riding the wave of mainstream Latin acts in the late-'90s that included Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, the former Mr. Jennifer Lopez — also known as Marc Anthony — remains a huge draw on the Latin music circuit. Anthony boasts the most record sales by a tropical salsa artist, and this show will draw a lot of fans, despite having been rescheduled from an early October 2017 date postponed due to “scheduling and logistics issues.”

The multiple Grammy and Latin-Grammy award winner will bring the heat to Toyota Center this weekend. He hasn’t released anything but a children’s music album the last few years, so expect a mixture of his hits from over the years.

Marc Anthony stokes the heat at Toyota Center, located at 1510 Polk St., on Friday, February 16. Tickets start at $55. Tickets from his previously scheduled show will be accepted. Show starts at 8 pm.

Best chance at seeing indie-rock hero in an intimate space
Not since Cat Power has a female-fronted indie act offered such heartache — along with head-nodding tunes — like Waxahatchee. It’s no surprise that Katie Crutchfield started this project following the break-up of a relationship and band — it’s pure heart-on-sleeve, gut punch guitar music that sounds like the most confessional works of Liz Phair, and melodic sensibility of The Breeders.

Four albums in, she has yet to produce a dud, the latest being the fabulous 2017 set Out in the Storm, which chronicles a love gone sour. Following a great booking in Pedro the Lion, Rockefellers has struck programming gold with Waxahatchee, with the benefit of the more intimate space.

Waxahatchee brings the intimacy to Rockefellers, located at 3620 Washington Ave., on Friday, February 16. Night Shop will open. Tickets start at a reasonable $16 plus fees. Doors open at 7 pm.

Best electro-pop from north of the border
Valerie Anne Poxleitner, also known as Lights, has made a name for herself in her native land of Canada as a forward-thinking electro-pop star. She earned the Juno, the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy, for Best New Artist back in 2009, and later Best Pop Album in 2015 for her disc Little Machines. She’s appeared on tracks with emo-rock bands, rappers and some of the biggest EDM producers around.

Expect an epic light show and a lot of screaming fans dancing along to her high energy show. She’ll roll into town with a new single “We Were Here,” off her acclaimed 2017 album Skin & Earth, from which she wrote and drew her very own comic book series. Not too shabby.

Lights shines at White Oak Music Hall, located at 2915 N Main St., on Saturday, February 17. Chase Atlantic and DCF will open. Tickets start at $21 plus fees. Doors open at 7 pm.

Best show for beat-lovers
Toronto’s Keys N Krates keeps some exclusive company. The trio released music on DJ Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak label, as well as Diplo’s Mad Decent label, meaning their cred as electronic music artists is not to be questioned. Consisting of a drummer, keyboard and turntablist, Keys N Krates has been making waves on the festival circuit with their mix of trap, hip-hop and electronica and they are already booked for summer appearances at major musical gatherings.

Houston EDM fans will get a chance to see them in the cozier confines of Stereo Live as part of their Cura World Tour, promoting their first full-length album of the same name.

Keys N Krates plays at Stereo Live, located at 6400 Richmond Ave., on Saturday, February 17. Promnite and Jubilee open. Tickets are $12.50 in advance. Show starts at 9 pm.

Best show of the week
At the Day For Night Festival back in December, Annie Clark, also known as St. Vincent showcased herself as an artist at the height of her singular creative talent. Her tour for her latest album, Masseduction, one of the best of 2017, relies on a sparse stage set-up – a circular stage for her to stand on, a bank of video screens choreographed to her setlist, and one killer, fashion-forward performer shredding on guitar as good as any professional today. Clark returns to Houston after that triumphant December set, where she expressed her love for Texas audiences (she grew up in the Dallas area) and thrillingly ripped through her biggest alternative hits. Those who missed out will get a second chance to catch a must-see show.

St. Vincent will bring down the House of Blues, located at 1204 Caroline St., on Tuesday, February 20. Tuck & Patti open. Tickets start at $40. Doors open at 7 pm.

Toronto electronic trio Keys N Krates plays Stereo Live on Saturday, February 17.

Courtesy Facebook

Toronto electronic trio Keys N Krates plays Stereo Live on Saturday, February 17.

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Movie Review

Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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