Enjoy cool weather and chill tunes at these free concerts.
Photo by Katya Horner
These toasty summer days — where minutes outside can feel like an eternity — may have some locals yearning for cooler temps in the great outdoors. With that in mind, a new entertainment series marries lush outdoor green spaces and smooth tunes.
Jazzy Sundays in the Parks, a new live music series celebrating jazz (natch) in Houston, is coming to some popular outdoor spots this fall.
The free, family-friendly concerts run each Sunday in September at Emancipation Park, every Sunday in October at Discovery Green, and every Sunday in November at The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park.
This jazzy series, postponed due to COVID, comes courtesy of Discovery Green Conservancy, Buffalo Bayou Partnership, Emancipation Park Conservancy, and a grant from the Kinder Foundation.
Music fans can expect names such as The Conrad Johnson Orchestra, which is made up of former students of the late, iconic music educator from Houston’s Kashmere High School — and is the subject of the 2011 documentary, Thundersoul. Familiar performers such as Jewel Brown will join up-and-coming artists such as The Peterson Brothers, according to a press release.
Each concert (4 pm) will kick off with a free workshop at 3 pm, where kids can learn about music and instruments in partnership with Da Camera and Young Audiences of Houston.
A showcase performance, dubbed a Series Spectacular, will be headlined by heralded American gospel and R&B singer — and civil rights activist — Mavis Staples at Discovery Green on Friday, October 15. Local star made good, Marcos Varela (a Kinder HSPVA graduate), will open the show. Doors are at 6:30 pm; performances begin at 7:30 pm.
For a full list of outdoor concerts, showtimes, and more, visit the official website.
The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.
The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).
Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.
Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).
Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.
What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.
Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.
Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.
