july on the rooftop

Houston's rooftop and drive-in cinema reveals scorching July lineups

This pandemic summer is more horror than comedy, but one Houston-area movie purveyor is doing its best to salvage July entertainment during COVID-19 and social distancing.

Rooftop Cinema Club has unveiled its summer lineup at its original rooftop venue at BLVD Place in Uptown Houston and the popular Drive-In at Sawyer Yards. The new listings extend the summer schedule through August 2. Meanwhile, Sawyer Yards now features $20 “Late Night Date Night” tickets on weekdays.

The movie club will continue to host its $5 Community Screenings for those impacted by COVID-19 and also those in support of Black Lives Matter. All proceeds from its first film every Monday will be donated directly to the Houston Food Bank and to the Black Lives Matter organization, according to a press release.

Guests can check the film program online for the “Community Screening” banner to find those events and book tickets.

Tickets for the Drive-In at Sawyer Yards start at $28 per vehicle, regardless of occupancy. New for July, Rooftop Cinema is offering “Late Night Date Night” tickets for $20 per vehicle (maximum 2 people) for the second screenings on Sunday through Thursday. Guests have the option to bring their own snacks, choose to order concessions from Rooftop Cinema Club, or food from on-site food trucks all done online for a safe, contactless, experience.

Doors open at 7:15 pm, with the first of two showings each night starting at 8:30 pm. Here is the complete July schedule for Sawyer Yards.

July 1 - Shrek; Pretty Woman
July 2 - The Lego Movie; Boyz N the Hood
July 3 - Jurassic Park; The Terminator
July 5 - Grease; Girls Trip
July 6 - The Muppets (Community Screening); Rocketman
July 7 - Toy Story 4; If Beale Street Could Talk
July 8 - Stand By Me; The Shining
July 9 - The Sandlot; Do the Right Thing
July 10 - The Goonies; Friday
July 11 - Jurassic Park; Con Air
July 12 - Poetic Justice
July 13 - Moana (Community Screening); Grease
July 14 - The Breakfast Club; Bridesmaids
July 15 - How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World; A Nightmare on Elm Street
July 16 - The Princess Bride; Knives Out
July 17 - The Lost World: Jurassic Park; Casablanca
July 18 - The Lion King (2019); Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind
July 19 - Grease; Pretty Woman
July 20 - Sister Act (Community Screening); What's Love Got to Do With It
July 21 - The Sandlot; Crazy, Stupid, Love
July 22 - Hocus Pocus; Poltergeist
July 23 - Finding Dory; Grease
July 24 - Friday
July 25 - Love Jones
July 26 - Up; Breakfast at Tiffany's
July 27 - Beauty and The Beast (Community Screening); Purple Rain
July 28 - Grease; Set It Off
July 29 - Friday the 13th
July 30 - Frozen II; Poetic Justice
July 31 - Space Jam; Fight Club
August 1 - The Goonies; Beverly Hills Cop
August 2 - The Sandlot; Dirty Dancing

New for July, Rooftop Cinema at BLVD Place has added a second screening after 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets start at $17 per person for a one-person lounge seat. Tickets for couples, or anyone looking for a roomier loveseat, plus large popcorn, are $24 per person. Student discounts are also available starting at $15.30 per ticket, with valid I.D. required the night of the event.

Here is the full July schedule for the BLVD Place Rooftop venue:

July 6 - Breakfast at Tiffany's
July 7 - Do the Right Thing
July 8 - Hustlers
July 9 - You've Got Mail
July 10 - If Beale Street Could Talk; The Rocky Horror Picture Show
July 11 - Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood; A Nightmare on Elm Street
July 12 - The Breakfast Club
July 13 - Armageddon
July 14 - Jaws
July 15 - The Great Debaters
July 16 - The Notebook (Open Caption)
July 17 - Love Jones; Raising Arizona
July 18 - Grease; The Craft
July 19 - Clueless
July 20 - The Farewell
July 21 - Selena
July 22 - Hustle & Flow
July 23 - Dirty Dancing
July 24 - When Harry Met Sally; The Room
July 25 - The Great Gatsby; Friday the 13th
July 26 - The Wood
July 27 - Sweet Home Alabama
July 28 - The Sandlot
July 29 - Pulp Fiction
July 30 - Grease (Sing-Along)
July 31 - Dazed and Confused; Friday
August 1 - Love and Basketball; Death Becomes Her
August 2 - Pretty Woman (Open Caption)

Drive up and chill at Sawyer Yards.

Photo courtesy of Rooftop Cinema Club

Drive up and chill at Sawyer Yards.

movies

it echoes

Montrose bar sounds off with two stories of nightly DJs and live music

Photo by Rebekah Flores

Music is the main priority at Echoes.

From Tuesdays through Sundays, Montrose cafe Echoes prides itself on being a spot that offers live music on a nightly basis. But the music always differs.

Nights have saluted a wide array of artists: soul legends, pop stars, jazz pioneers, on-the-fringe performers, and more. On Thursday, August 27, they’ll pay tribute to jazz great Alice Coltrane with mixed-genre group Aurum Son playing Coltrane tunes. The following night, several DJs will be part of “Pan-Afrikan Discotheque,” an evening of Afro-Caribbean tunes in memory of Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey’s 139th birthday.

“We do that with all types: Greek music, Turkish music, Mexican music, jazz, funk, Japanese city pop-type stuff,” owner Georgeos Kazilas tells CultureMap. “We did a Radiohead night the other night. We do trip-hop nights, Italo disco kind of nights. Yeah, I'm just someone that just loves all types of music.”

Since opening up on June 7, 2022 — Prince’s birthday, BTW — Echoes has been a place where music is the main priority. The spot didn’t even start serving food until a year later, when Kazilas snapped up husband-and-wife chefs Armando Ramirez and Ana Stanciu to oversee the Greek-Mexican kitchen.

“I guess I always wanted to have a space dedicated to exploring all types of music,” he says. “And, primarily, the idea was this was gonna be a music-concentrated space. And having a bar was kind of a means to an end, a way to make a musical space financially viable, or self-sustaining.“

It started when Kazilas invited rhythm-and-blues band Curley Cormier and the Gladiators, a staple of historic Fifth Ward lounge The Silver Slipper (where Kazilas saw them perform), for a regular residency. He then reached out to more local musicians about doing themed nights.

“As you start to meet more musicians, you kind of see what they want to do and, also, what they're capable of doing,” he says. “And I would push them outside their comfort zones a little bit and speak to them and be like, ‘Hey, what do you think about doing this type of music?’ And they would listen to it and be like, ‘Yeah, I can do that.’”

While Echoes has live music at its upstairs location, customers can also get dance tunes playing below, courtesy of Ice House Radio. Originally a mobile pop-up, the online radio station now broadcasts from a space that was formerly a car wash tunnel, with various local DJs spinning tunes live.

Ice House co-founder Jackson Allers is grateful to Kazilas for giving his radio station a home. “Georgeos understood our vision when we were still in our van in the spring of 2024 and, as a result, when we moved into that old car wash space down below Echoes, we were allowed to push the musical boundaries like no other space in Houston,” says Allers. “And, our Ice House Radio community has really been allowed to flourish with Echoes. The owners and the entire staff have been diehard supporters of our little experiment.”

Kazilas continues to schedule evenings where people can sample great food as well as music they may or may not have known about.

“Again, I started this place as a music space, dedicated to exploring all types of music, and I think the mission kind of remains the same,” he says. "What I'd like people to take away is that, almost every night, you can experience quality music, as well as quality food and drinks. You know, you might get exposed to a new type of music or new songs — whatever it is.”

echoes live music ice house radio houston

july on the rooftop

Houston's rooftop and drive-in cinema reveals scorching July lineups

Drive up and chill at Sawyer Yards.

it echoes

Montrose bar sounds off with two stories of nightly DJs and live music

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