Plenty of options here for everyone, with kid-friendly fun, film and stage events, and the cheapest Dom we've ever seen offered at a local restaurant. As always, we're here to help with a rundown of fun things to do this weekend.
Thursday, July 12
8th Wonder Brewery and Four Seasons Hotel host a big beer dinner
If you're the type who enjoys fine dining while guzzling a cold one, 8th Wonder Brewery will offer you the feast of your fantasies this weekend. Four Seasons executive chef Rafael Gonzalez will prepare an exquisite, three-course meal at the hotel’s third-floor Quattro restaurant, and each course will include a tasty beverage provided by, of course, 8th Wonder. There will also be a pre-meal reception at the Topgolf Swing Suite where you can also sample ales. 6:30-9 pm.
Marvel Universe Live!: Age of Heroes take off
No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you just can’t escape Marvel. Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp are in theaters. The latest seasons of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones are on Netflix. Then there is also Marvel Universe Live!: Age of Heroes, a live, family-friendly show, which has the Avengers, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy joining forces to stop archvillain Loki with special effects, stunts, motorcycles, etc. It runs through July 22. 7:30 pm.
Friday, July 13
Project Row Houses celebrates 25 years with a weekend of films
The full title of this weekend-long event is “Family, Community & Short Films: A Project Row Houses/MFAH Collaboration,” and it’s an event which, much like the Third Ward shotgun houses/art spaces collaborating with the museum for this, seeks to open people’s eyes to the diverse artistry and deep complexity of African-American culture. Two films will be screening: Personal Problems, a long-lost, shot-on-video flick from the '80s, directed by Bill Gunn (Ganja and Hess), on Friday; and Spike Lee’s semi-autobiographical Crooklyn on Saturday. And, on Sunday, that’s when the short films will play. 7 pm (5 pm Sunday.)
Thea Lim discusses her debut novel An Ocean of Minutes
Just from the plot summary of An Ocean of Minutes, Toronto author Thea Lim’s debut novel, you can tell that this is a going to be an emotional page-turner. A woman time-travels to the future in a plan to save her boyfriend after he catches a deadly flu virus. She tells him she’ll see him again in 12 years but, unfortunately, she arrives 17 years later, where her boo is nowhere to be found and America is more divided than it is right now. Lim will be in Houston to discuss and sign copies of her book, which we’re sure will be a movie starring Rachel McAdams at some point. 7 pm.
Have a good (and possibly scary) time at 7.13 Fest
Art/entertainment collective The Generators Playground and record store Screwston Records have joined forces for a festival that could either be very exciting or very terrifying. People can either show up to 7.13 Fest in gear or scary outfits (it’s Friday the 13th, remember!), take in live music, buy some stuff from local vendors, get a one-of-a-kind tattoo and chomp down of food from the Boombox Tacos food truck. Among the performers: Nick B, Den Mother, East of Eado, and Pitter Patter. Later on that evening, you got such DJs as DJ Cee Watts, and DJ Big Heavy Kenny spinning some hotness. 7 pm-2am.
Saturday, July 14
Toast Bastille Day with a cheap bottle of Dom Perignon at a’Bouzy
This Saturday is Bastille Day — better known as the national day of France — which commemorates the Storming of the Bastille, a turning point in the French Revolution, back in 1789. A’Bouzy, that classy bistro, will be celebrating the day with “Bastille of a Deal Day,” a brunch where you can buy bottles of Dom Perignon for $99 a pop. So, salute French independence by heading over to this day feast and sipping some fine champagne which, by the way, is a very popular brand for rappers. As Nas once said on “The World is Yours”: “I sip the Dom P, watching Gandhi 'til I’m charged.” 10 am-3 pm.
Houston Symphony celebrates The Music of George Michael
Please tell us that we aren’t the only ones who still miss George Michael? To younger generations, he may be known as that cheesy pop star. But, to us old-school cats, he was a singer (who died too early at 53 in 2016) who could drive the ladies and teenage girls wild, as well as also get some love from urban audiences. (His Grammy-winning Faith was number-one on the Billboard 200 and R & B charts, after all.) The Houston Symphony celebrates his legacy by performing a night of his greatest hits. 7:30 pm.
Delight in the Barbra Streisand-inspired Buyer & Cellar
It was only a matter of time until that crazy “mall” — complete with a doll shop, a costume shop, and a functioning candy store — that Barbra Streisand built in her basement inspired someone to pen a thinly veiled piece of fiction about it. That mall became the springboard for Jonathan Tolins’s 2013 one-man play, about a struggling, LA-based actor (played by Doug Atkins) who works in the basement of “a beloved megastar,” who ventures downstairs to spend some quality time with her employee. Buyer & Cellar will run at through August 12. 7:30 pm (3 pm Sunday).
Get in a roller-skating mood with Mixtapes and Roller Skates
While HBO has recently made news declaring that the premium cable giant is planning to be more like Netflix in the future, the channel has found an interesting way to hip energetic, younger folk to their programming this summer: a roller disco tour. Titled “Mixtapes and Roller Skates,” this four-city tour will have various DJs spin music from HBO and HBO Latino shows as people skate the night away. Attendees will also get previews of said shows’s upcoming new seasons. The DJs for the Houston stop will be famed hip-hop producer Just Blaze, DJ Camillo, Jasmine Solano, and Houston’s own DJ Sun. Ages 21 and up; 8 pm-1 am.
Sunday, July 15
Spoil yourself at the Spoiled Latina Day Soiree
Local lifestyle blogger Yvonne Guidry, also known as Yvonne “SpoiledLatina,” is not just another fashionista out on the hunt for the latest threads. She’s also looking out for the ladies, always ready to remind them that whether you’re a hoity-toity socialite or a single, working mom, you deserve to spoil yourself. And that’s what she’s providing with her annual Spoiled Latina Day Soiree, which is “a celebration for all ambitious women of Houston and surrounding areas to be empowered, inspired and pampered.” So, as they used to say on Parks & Rec, treat yo self, ladies! 4-8pm
Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi tickles the ivories
With a name like Ludovico Einaudi, even before you hear a note of his music, you can tell the man is a virtuoso when he’s on the piano. But if you need evidence of this Italian, classical composer/pianist’s skills, go to any music-streaming site, pick one album (like the excellent In a Time Lapse) and get swept away by his colorful, cinematic compositions. (Needless to say, the man has scored countless movies and TV shows.) Or better yet, just attend his upcoming Houston concert, titled Ludovico Einaudi: Essential Einaudi, where he’ll perform selections from his amazing discography. 8 pm.
It's $99 for a bottle of Dom at this Bastille Day bash.
