• 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

    Hit the Bend for Mozart tonight

    Classical music for the Bayou: Brad Sayles turns to the trees

    Theodore Bale
    Apr 18, 2010 | 6:23 am
    • Buffalo Bayou
    • Brad Sayles, composer

    Looking for new musical ideas, Houston composer Brad Sayles keeps his ears and his eyes open. While classical composers have sought to express the natural world in music for centuries — from Beethoven’s epic Pastoral Symphony (No. 6) to Respighi’s invigorating The Pines of Rome — it’s often difficult for the average listener to hear the exact connection between the two.

    It seemed evident to me that Sayles’ latest work, The Buffalo Bayou Suite, would mimic or develop the wildlife sounds of its namesake. But in an interview this week, the composer explained that during his dreamy canoe day-trip, “The birds don’t make too much noise out there in the bayou.”

    Further into our conversation, Sayles said that in any event, he wasn’t trying for a literal interpretation of the location. It was the trees that first captured his imagination: Large cypresses, huge willows, many of them emerging from dense and winding root systems. “They are a true feast for the eyes,” Sayles says, “so immediately I thought of all those dark, woody, reedy instruments.

    "Oboes, bassoons, clarinets. Instead of imitating what I heard, I tried first to capture the visuals.”

    “Without warning,” Sayles continues, “a fish jumped out of the water and nearly scared me to death, so I have a big surprise moment in the score.” It will be guest conductor Robert Moody’s job to bring that shocker to life, along with the players of The River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO), who are presenting an encore of The Buffalo Bayou Suite this evening at the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens.

    The program includes Mozart’s 35th Symphony and Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances.

    This is yet another piece in what might be called “engaged’ art, namely, creative work that helps to serve the community in a practical way. ROCO’s founder and principal oboist Alecia Lawyer already had a mission, in her words, of “creating personal relationships through the language of music.”

    In this case, she introduced Sayles to folks from Endangered Species Media Project, the creators of an ongoing film documentary about Buffalo Bayou. The larger goal is to promote preservation and public understanding of the Bayou. It’s a refreshing stance for the classical music world, which is often fraught with elitism and a disconnection from the daily lives of average individuals.

    Unfortunately, the film isn’t yet ready for inclusion in this weekend’s performance. And in a break from his usual methodology, Sayles said he had to compose without responding directly to the film images. Rather, he went on the impulses gained during his canoe trip, the “film in his head” as he described it, and now the filmmakers will have his work as their inspiration.

    As composer, sound editor, and recordist for five prior film projects (he even appeared as an actor in Nathan Todd Sims’ 2005 Echoes of Innocence), Sayles is certainly ready for this new approach to film scoring. At the heart of all his work is a great love of melody.

    He could be termed an “engaged” composer as well. Sayles sees his role as leading audiences towards new ways of thinking, or as he put it, “to draw the listener into a new experience of music, while still holding the old school of music structure and melody, but moving the boundaries, and giving the listener new places to go.”

    The Buffalo Bayou Suite

    6:30 p.m. tonight at Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens

    Tickets: $25 general admission, ($10 for students with a valid ID)


    unspecified
    news/entertainment
    CULTUREMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME
    Get Houston intel delivered daily.

    puff, puff, pass

    Comedy legends Cheech and Chong will light up Comicpalooza 2025

    Craig D. Lindsey
    May 20, 2025 | 3:30 pm
    Cheech & Chong
    Cheech & Chong/Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/cheechandchong]
    undefined

    The guest list for this year’s Comicpalooza keeps on getting bigger and bigger. It’s already been announced that Hayden Christensen – Anakin Skywalker himself – will be attending the upcoming festivities next month. Add stoner comedy royalty to the roster.

    Comedy legends Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong will come to Space City and reminisce about their five-decade career. They will talk about everything, from their big-screen run in the ‘70s and ‘80s to their line of gummies that keep getting advertised on X.

    Christensen won’t be the only Star Wars alum in attendance. Temuera Morrison will be around to talk about his path through the Star Wars galaxy, from portraying Jango Fett and his numerous clones in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith to his role in The Mandalorian as Boba Fett and its spinoff, The Book of Boba Fett. Ming-Na Wen rounds out the group of stars from the Star Wars universe. She currently portrays the mercenary assassin Fennec Shand in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

    For all those fans of the John Hughes teen comedies of the ‘80s, Brat Pack icon Anthony Michael Hall will be talking about his days making Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, as well as his upcoming turn in the new season of Wednesday.

    And let’s not forget about the voice actors. Scheduled to appear are James Cheek, best known for voicing San Lang/Hua Cheng in Heaven Official’s Blessing; Keith Silverstein, celebrated for his work as Hisoka in Hunter × Hunter and Kimimaro in the Naruto franchise; Spike Spencer, who has voiced hundreds of anime episodes across beloved franchises; and Daisuke Tsuji, most notably known for voicing Jin Saki in the hit game Ghost of Tsushima.

    Finally, for all the music nerds, award-winning composer Grant Kirkhope will talk about some of the most recognizable video game soundtracks (GoldenEye 007, Donkey Kong) he’s done.

    Comicpalooza returns to the George R. Brown Convention Center Friday, June 20 through Sunday, June 22. For more information, go to the Comicpalooza website.

    comicpaloozacelebritiescheech and chong
    news/entertainment
    CULTUREMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME
    Get Houston intel delivered daily.
    Loading...