• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    Music Matters

    "No shows" hurt Houston music scene: Support these concert picks of the week

    Michael D. Clark
    Feb 25, 2010 | 3:36 pm
    • Keb' Mo' plays House of Blues Friday
    • Joe Ely at McGonigel's Mucky Duck Friday
    • Tegan and Sara at Warehouse Live Saturday
      Photo courtesy of Tegan and Sara
    • Alan Jackson opens RodeoHouston with a performance Tuesday at Reliant Stadium.

    OK, CultureMappers. If I'm going to kvetch when local live music promoters don't deliver enough acts to the fourth largest city in the United States, I must wag a finger at y'all when a great show does come along and Houston is a collective no show.

    Such was the case with the gathering of dozens at Warehouse Live for Swedish rock band The Soundtrack of Our Lives. Lead singer Ebbott Lundberg, outfitted in a tunic built for a nobleman and a beard built for a Viking, chanted like a shaman on the 60 psychedelia of "Babel On," and embraced the crowd in the sonic therapy for "Universal Stalker."

    Following that multi-stringed live introduction to the group's most recent album, "Communion," T.S.O.O.L. (Soundtrack of Our Lives' alternative name) tore into a decade plus of huge rock numbers including "Independent Luxury" and "Sister Surround," from 2001's Grammy-nominated U.S. breakthrough, "Behind the Music."

    When T.S.O.O.L. played the Austin City Limits Music Festival in 2004, fans who didn't show up an hour early for the mid-day performance couldn't get within a football field of the stage.

    At Warehouse Live, I could've had my elbows propped on the stage in front of Lundberg's microphone stand to take in one of the most powerful performances I've seen in a long time. I'd be surprised if it doesn't make my top 10 shows for 2010 come December.

    It was a bit embarrassing that more people weren't there to see it. Worse yet, it might be awhile before T.S.O.O.L. decides it is costeffective to come back to Bayou City.

    I have no idea how many CDs and concert T-shirts a band has to sell to pay off a trip from Sweden to Texas, but I am sure they didn't sell enough here. I bought most of their catalog (including a disc or two I already had) out of guilt.

    We have to collectively do better as supporters of live music if we want the elite bands to keep us on their tour stop calendars.

    All right (deep breath). Enough with my nagging. Let's get to this weeks' best shows which include several excellent club jaunts, as well as the beginning of RodeoHouston at Reliant Stadium.


    Friday

    Joe Ely, 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. at McGonigel's Mucky Duck

    His name doesn't get mentioned in the same breath as Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson or even Lyle Lovett often enough, but if Texas were to erect a Mount Rushmore of Texas songwriters and performers who changed the landscape of music in the state Joe Ely's chiseled chin would have to be considered.

    (Of course, one would first have to find a mountain in Texas big enough to chisel, but that's another story.)

    Born in Amarillo, Ely has offered his talent for verse and chorus to everyone from The Clash to Guy Clark and has worked alongside Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock's legendary Lone Star band, The Flatlanders, for parts of the last three decades. If that were all he had done he would be a candidate for a monument of his likeness in limestone and granite.

    But that doesn't even take into account a solo career dating back 33 years and featuring a cadre of songs - "Maria," "Letter to Laredo," and "Dallas,"- that all detail what it's like to fall in love, break-up and wander alone through our great state.

    Ely is the ultimate emotional tour guide. Jump on his train and enjoy the ride.

    Tickets $30


    Keb' Mo', 7:30 p.m. at House of Blues

    Keb' Mo' was born in a rough part of Los Angeles, but he grew up to play delta blues as if he was raised on the knee of Muddy Waters or Robert Johnson somewhere in the backwoods of Mississippi.

    A multi-instrumentalist (in addition to vocals, he plays the guitar, banjo and piano), Keb' Mo' is that rare talent that can be appreciated by both blues traditionalists and novices alike. He has also become a favorite of Grammy voters. Of his eight original solo albums since 1994, three have won the golden gramophone for best contemporary blues album.

    Hi latest album, Live & Mo, features six of his past favorites like "Victim of Love," played live alongside new tracks like "Government Cheese" and "A Brand New America" that seem clearly inspired by the election of President Barack Obama.

    Tickets $22.50-$39.50


    Saturday

    Tegan & Sara, 7 p.m. at Warehouse Live

    Twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin may look like some pixie-haired version of a pop act like Avril Lavigne (hell, they're even from Canada), but this songwriting duo has drawn the attention of some artistic heavyweights over the last decade.

    They were originally signed by Neil Young's management and have released a series of albums that hooked them into tours with Young, the Pretenders, The Killers and Weezer. The duo's songwriting has also been publically admired by The White Stripes who covered Tegan & Sara's "Walking With a Ghost" for an EP of the same name in 2005.

    New album Sainthood finds Tegan & Sara officially leaving any residual adolescent notions behind. It is their first album featuring songs they co-wrote together (in the past they preferred to write songs individually and submit them to the other to record) and is a deep and spiritual melodic journey about love and affection that could only be told by a woman... or two women.

    This is the only group hailing from Canada that will be spinning gold this week (Take that, Team Canada hockey team. Ka-pow!)

    Tickets $33-$38


    Tuesday

    Alan Jackson, 6:45 p.m. at RodeoHouston (Reliant Stadium)

    Let's get ready to rodeo, people!!

    Alan Jackson kicks off 20 straight nights of nightly concerts following rodeo competition at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.

    It seems as if half of Nashville's Music Row, as well as some unexpected headliners like Mary . Blige (March 5) and the Black Eyed Peas (March 18), will take a turn on the mobile RodeoHouston stage. Few, however, represent the spirit of the event as well as Jackson.

    The tall, blonde crooner in the white hat and tight jeans has played at every RodeoHouston since 1992 except one (apparently he couldn't find a flight or something in 2003) which has offered locals an front row seat for a hit-making career that includes 26 No. 1 country singles (and counting).

    "Don't Rock the Jukebox," "Chattahoochee," "Livin' On Love," and "Country Boy," are just a few of the chart-toppers a fan can expect.

    The only question left is how many chart-toppers can Jackson pack into the time allotted?

    It should be fun trying to find out.

    Tickets $16-$21

    unspecified
    news/entertainment

    Movie Review

    Heartfelt movie The Life of Chuck adapts optimistic Stephen King story

    Alex Bentley
    Jun 13, 2025 | 5:30 pm
    Tom Hiddleston in The Life of Chuck
    Photo courtesy of NEON
    Tom Hiddleston in The Life of Chuck.

    Just like actors, once a filmmaker becomes known for a certain genre, it can be difficult to escape that pigeonholing. Writer/director Mike Flanagan has worked for 20 years in both film and television, and literally every project he’s done has been related to horror. He’s finally breaking out with The Life of Chuck, which is ironically based on a short story of the same name by Stephen King.



    Told in three chapters in reverse order, the film is almost impossible to describe without giving away its magic. The first section centers on Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a teacher grappling, like everyone around him, with what seems to be the world falling apart. He’s comforted to a degree by reuniting with his ex-wife, Felicia (Karen Gillan), but is also baffled by multiple ads touting the retirement of Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) after “39 great years.”

    The second section consists of little more than a slightly younger Chuck happening upon Taylor (The Pocket Queen), a drummer busking on a street corner, giving Chuck and a younger woman, Janice (Annalise Basso), the inspiration to start dancing. The final section goes back to the childhood of Chuck (Benjamin Pajak), where he’s raised by his grandparents (Mark Hamill and Mia Sara), discovers dance as an outlet, and wonders about various small mysteries.

    Flanagan finds a way to deliver a lot of story with relatively little effort. Using a wry narrator (Nick Offerman), a limited number of locations, and a series of great small performances, he creates an intriguing premise with few straightforward answers. The structure of the film is designed to confuse the viewer until just the right moment, and the revelation forces you to reexamine everything that came before.

    The biggest accomplishment by Flanagan is making what are essentially three short films and having each of them resonate equally. The film contains elements of science fiction, although the first section may hit a bit too close to home for some of those watching. All three sections, though, have a heartwarming bent to them that sells their central idea without becoming overly saccharine.

    To do so, each of the characters have to connect in a short amount of time. The casting of the film is crucial, and not only does that department succeed with the main roles, but a series of small roles are filled expertly as well. Carl Lumbly as a funeral home owner, David Dastmalchian and Harvey Guillen as parents of students, Matthew Lillard as Marty’s neighbor, Q’orianka Kilcher as Chuck’s wife, and Jacob Tremblay as a teenage Chuck are just a few of the recognizable actors that do yeoman’s work in their brief time on screen.

    Hiddleston is only prominently featured in the second chapter, but his performance there and in small glimpses throughout makes a big impression. Ejiofor is given the star turn in the first chapter and he absolutely kills, both in moments by himself and in scenes with Gillan, with whom he has great chemistry. Hamill, making a rare non-voiceover appearance outside of the Star Wars universe, and Sara, in her first notable role in 11 years, are also very memorable in the final chapter.

    The Life of Chuck is a film that’s filled with emotion, but the full impact of the story is not felt until the final moments. It has a mysterious journey that is initially frustrating, but the performances keep the film going until it gets to its satisfying payoff.

    ---

    The Life of Chuck is now playing in theaters.

    moviesfilm
    news/entertainment
    Loading...