trillest parade ever

Houston hip-hop legend Bun B named grand marshal of Art Car Parade

Bun B greets adoring fans at the Art Car Parade announcement event.

Photo by Alex Montoya

Houston rap legend Bun B is having the best month ever.

He just made history with his epic H-Town Takeover at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo as the first Black male headliner from Houston (read our review of the big night here) that featured a who’s-who of Houston hip-hop. Speaking of the rodeo, Bun debuted his fan favorite Trillburgers there. This weekend, he is performing an intimate Rock the Bells show Sunday, March 27.

Now, Houston’s Unofficial Mayor will head up the city’s official tribute to all things auto and audacious. Bun B will serve as the grand marshal of the 35th Annual Art Car Parade, the organization announced. The beloved parade rolls out downtown on Saturday, April 9, the centerpiece event of the annual Art Car Weekend (April 7-10).

“It’s a great time to be Bun B in Houston,” the local icon noted with a laugh at innovation and community hub The Ion, where the announcement ceremony took place. “It’s a great thing for families, and we haven’t had a lot of opportunities in Houston to really have a great event where everyone and their family could come out and enjoy it, but the Art Car Parade is going to provide us that and I’m so proud and honored to be the 2022 grand marshal.”

Other luminaries and celebs who have marshaled the iconic parade include Dan Aykroyd, J.J. Watt, Cheech Marin, The Art Guys, Annise Parker, Kinky Friedman, Lynn Wyatt, and George Clinton.

To that end, Bun B (born Bernard Freeman in Port Arthur, Texas) is more than deserving of the title. The pioneering rhymesmith fostered the Southern and Texas rap movement as the founding member of the seminal dup Underground Kingz with his fellow emcee, the late Pimp C. He has sold millions of albums and become an pop culture phenom, sharing his keen wisdom and insight on music, politics, film, dining, car culture, sneaker culture, academia, and social justice (witness his work at the downtown George Floyd march).

“I can’t think of a better person to serve as Grand Marshal for the 2022 Art Car Parade,” emphasized Mark Sullivan, co-Chair of The 35th Annual Art Car Parade Weekend. “Both Bun B and the Orange Show are united in collectively speaking to Houston’s singular spirit, which is one that celebrates diversity, individuality and artistic expression. I can’t think of anyone more on brand for Houston’s most treasured parade than our most beloved global ambassador, and I can’t wait to see him rolling through downtown in a bright slab car with top down, rims spinning, and music slow, low, and bangin.”

Fittingly for a trill, Bun-marshaled parade, this year’s event will feature more than 250 artfully crafted cars and a large contingent of “slow, loud, and bangin” slab cars — much like the ones Bun B rolled out onto rodeo dirt during his Takeover show.

Other new attractions include more than 100 new and never-before-seen Art Cars from around the country such as Riders, bike and skater groups, wheeled contraptions, bejeweled roadsters and custom-crafted classics along with the fur-covered, metal-modified, fire-breathing varieties, according to a press release. The event was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

downtown celebrities families cars festivals

Oh, Brother

McConaughey and Harrelson comedy series 'Brothers' premieres this fall

Photo courtesy of Apple TV

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in Brothers on Apple TV.

Imaginary siblings and real life best friends Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are finally about to bring the joke home with a new Apple TV series, Brothers, out globally September 23.

The first two episodes will come out together, and one new episode will be added every Wednesday through November 4, a press release says. There will be eight episodes in total.

In a rumor that gets harder to search for the closer Brothers comes to fruition, McConaughey and Harrelson have leaned into ideas that they might be half-brothers, partially because of their longtime friendship and partially because they have a similar look that gets even stronger in old photos. The topic sprung up when Brothers was in its infancy as a project called Brother from Another Mother, and McConaughey's mom validated it by insinuating that she and Harrelson's father once had a fling.

In Brothers, a heartfelt comedy, McConaughey and Harrelson play fictionalized versions of themselves living out almost the same drama, with much more serious repercussions.

When Harrelson's family needs a place to get away after his daughter's wedding falls through, they travel to Austin to accept the hospitality of a friend, McConaughey. But when McConaughey's mother, Ma Mac (Holland Taylor) accidentally reveals that they might be half-brothers, Harrelson becomes obsessed with learning the truth. Simultaneously, McConaughey considers running for Governor of Texas. (Is this getting too real?)

Other members of the ensemble cast include Natalie Martinez, Brittany Ishibashi, Nolan Almeida, Ella Grace Helton, Noah Carganilla, Highdee Kuan, and Oona Yaffe.

Brothers is produced by Paramount Television Studios, and showrun and executive produced by Lee Eisenberg, best known for producing The Office. McConaughey and Harrelson are also both executive producers alongside Natalie Sandy, David West Read, Trish Hofmann, Bill Bost, Jason Winer, David Finkel and Brett Baer, and Jeremy Plager, the release says. Multiple episodes are directed by Trent O’Donnell, including the pilot.

Austinites were keyed into the production early when locals spotted McConaughey and Harrelson with a film crew on South Congress Avenue. Photographers also caught them in different costumes, this time on South Congress and West Riverside Drive, so it seems like recognizable places around town will be on display multiple times throughout the series.

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