weekend event planner

Here are the top 12 things to do in Houston this weekend

Celebrate Earth Day at Discovery Green.

While it's looking to be a bit soggy this weekend, plenty of activities vie for your attention. Grab some mimosas and check out some art or hit an outdoor concert series.

Shoppers can jump on the Nutcracker Market offerings, animal lovers can meet some wolves, and those with a green thumb can nab a free tree. Speaking of green, Sunday is Earth Day—perfect timing to celebrate our planet downtown.

Here are your best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, April 15

Mimosas & Art Show at Modern INK
Head over to Modern INK, a woman-owned art gallery at River Oaks, to experience bottomless mimosas, snack on brunch bites and meet with powerful, highly motivated women. This show features a variety of media, techniques, and intentions in art. The artwork exemplifies some of the ways that art can be used as a tool to increase self-awareness, relieve stress, solve problems, communicate with self and others, process constructs and experiences, and understand ourselves. 4 pm.

Market Street presents Spring Concert Series
Market Street’s Spring Concert Series (which kicked off last week) will feature artists performing Top 40, jazz, Latin, country, cover favorites, and more. This week's performer is Gary Kyle, a Texas singer/songwriter who has released several albums & EPs and even provided the theme song for the syndicated TV show Lone Star Roads. Guests are invited to bring blankets and lawn chairs and sit back, relax, and enjoy the performances. Admission is free. 6 pm.

Friday, April 16

Cafe Leonelli at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
If you ever felt like getting some fine food while checking out some priceless art, you're in for a treat this weekend: Cafe Leonelli at MFAH will be opening in the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building on Friday. Enjoy traditional Italian cuisine in a friendly and relaxed environment. The convenient, attended counter service features menu items such as sandwiches, soups, salads, meat and seafood dishes, baked pastas and house-made focaccia with a variety of toppings. 8 am.

Houston Ballet Nutcracker Market
Over at NRG Center, the Houston Ballet's Spring Nutcracker Market will make its return as an in-person event. The three-day shopping experience will welcome approximately 150 merchants from across the country, bringing with them a full assortment of seasonal items, apparel, accessories, gourmet food and cheerful home décor to welcome the warmer weather and celebrate the upcoming spring and summer holidays. 9 am (10 am Saturday and Sunday).

Theatre Under The Stars presents Leading Ladies Luncheon
Theatre Under The Stars will host this annual event, honoring Houstonians who champion the performing arts and arts education. Honorees will include Carrie Woliver, Shirley Stein Outstanding Champion of the Arts and Education Award, Kristina Sullivan, Arts Educator of the Year and Volunteers of the Year Anneliese Kelly, Gia Ochsenbein, and Alyssa Sunew. There will be performances by Simone Gundy with Dr. John Cornelius and students from TUTS Humphreys School of Musical Theatre and The River. 11 am.

Houston Symphony presents Hollywood Serenade: The Artistry of Caroline Campbell
The incredible Caroline Campbell joins Steven Reineke and the Houston Symphony for a fun-filled program of violin magic. The audience will hear silver-screen favorites like “Love Theme” from The Godfather, the popular tango “Por una Cabeza” (as heard in Scent of a Woman), “America” from West Side Story, the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean and more, all performed with Campbell’s signature show-stopping flair. 8 pm (2:30 pm Sunday).

Saturday, April 17

1980 Something Co and The Vintage Wiz presents BRRRtual Flea
Going down at Sawyer Yards, the BRRRtual Flea is an in-person, open-air market event where guests and vendors will come together for a fun and unique shopping experience. Vendors from all over the country will be showcasing their unique, vintage finds of all different genres and styles. It is an all-day event, with the option to purchase a limited, early-bird ticket (which begins at 7 am) to access the event before everyone else. 9 am.

Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary presents Birthday Party for the Wolves
Located in Navasota, Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary will celebrate their pack at the annual Birthday Party for the Wolves. There will be keeper chats featuring enrichment activities for our animals, a silent auction, food trucks, local vendors, kids' activities, and live music. Of course, you can always take a guided walking tour of the sanctuary, where you will learn lots of fascinating information on wolves and wolf dogs and learn their stories. 10 am.

Trees for Houston Tree Giveaway Event at Garden Oaks
This weekend, non-profit organization Trees for Houston will collaborate with Linde and the Arbor Day Foundation to distribute 1,000 free trees to the community, during this contactless, drive-through, tree distribution event. The organizations will be giving away American Sycamore, Arrowwood Viburnium, Crape Myrtle, Red Maple, Redbud and White Oak. All trees will be 3-4 feet and fit in most vehicles. 10 am.

Color:Story 2021
Held over at Spring Street Studios, this dynamic community event/art opening/reading/poetry slam for a visual art and poetry exhibition will feature collaborative work of 20 Houston-area artists with local, national and international poets. Poets will be reading their work live at the opening. Each piece of visual art in the exhibit is inspired by and contains words of the poetry of a single writer. The exhibition will continue through Saturday, May 8. 6 pm.

Sunday, April 18

Braid Boss Competition
Houston Braids presents the inaugural Braid Boss Competition, where you'll be able to watch he most iconic and reputable braiders —with skills! — as they compete for over $5,000 in cash and prizes. First-place prize includes a $1,000 grand prize, a trophy and the title of 2021 Braid Boss, while second place is a $500 prize and third is a $250 prize. A mask must be worn at all times. Sanitizer stations will be set up throughout the event. Noon.

Discovery Green presents Earth Day
Earth Day at Discovery Green will feature a variety of environmentally-themed activities. There will be a series of short films about Houston’s environment; a panel discussion on The Nexus of Energy, Climate, and Equity in Houston; and live painting by Houston artists completing murals that celebrate the richness and diversity of the community, culture, and natural environment. Urban Harvest and Churrascos food trucks will be on-site serving healthy snacks and meals. Noon.

event-planner

Movie Review

Billie Eilish takes fans behind the scenes in immersive 3D tour film

Photo by Henry Hwu/courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Billie Eilish in Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D.

In 2021, at the tender age of 19, singer Billie Eilish was already the subject of a documentary, The World’s a Little Blurry. At that point, she had only released one album, so the film threatened to feel too early for such treatment. The ensuing five years have only made her a bigger star, though, so in many ways that movie now feels prescient for the person on display in the new concert documentary with the unwieldy title of Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D.

Directed by Eilish and blockbuster filmmaker James Cameron, the film takes viewers inside Eilish’s 2024-2025 tour in support of her latest album, 2023’s Hit Me Hard and Soft. Filmed mostly at her series of shows in Manchester, England, the movie is a showcase for Eilish’s music, but it also serves as a smaller exploration of the type of person she is, as well as the impact she has had on her legion of fans.

The draw of the film is the use of Cameron’s beloved 3D technology, which he has employed in each of the three Avatar films. Unlike in those films, where the 3D has the odd effect of making the visuals too realistic for their own good, the technique brings an intimacy to the large-scale show that underscores the unique bond the singer has with her supporters.

Eilish and Cameron go back and forth between performances at the concert to behind-the-scenes sequences, detailing the enormous effort it takes to put on a show like that and how Eilish spends her time getting ready for it. As in The World’s a Little Blurry, this film continues to portray the singer as down-to-Earth, someone who yearns to maintain the connection to her fans that she’s had since she released her first single, “Ocean Eyes,” 10 years ago.

And as the many emotional songs in Eilish’s concert playlist prove, the feeling from the crowd is mutual. While Eilish has multiple bangers like “Bad Guy,” “Therefore I Am,” and the Charli XCX collaboration “Guess,” it’s the sad songs like “Everything I Wanted,” “Happier Than Ever,” and the Oscar-winning Barbie anthem, “What Was I Made For?” that hit the hardest. The depth of feeling emanating from her many sobbing fans singing along to crushing songs cannot be understated.

For audiences of the film, though, it’s the breadth of camera angles and shot choices that make it truly dynamic. There are cameras everywhere, including in the crowd, inside a cube at the center of the stage that rises and descends, following Eilish as she traipses every inch of the long, rectangular stage, and even a small one Eilish uses to bring an extra personal touch to the in-arena screen. Combined, they capture the complete energy of the concert, something that is not always the case in a film of this type.

Eilish has almost as many movies — two — as she does albums — three — which borders on overkill for a singer of her age. But both her music and the movies show her to be a person who knows the responsibility of being a celebrity, someone who understands that her fans are the reason she’s famous at all. Her career may go up or down from here, but it’s clear she’s already made a huge impact on those who love her most.

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Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D opens in theaters on May 8.

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