weekend event planner

Here are the top 17 things to do in Houston this weekend

Shake up your weekend with cocktail classes at La Colombe d’Or.

lacolombedor.com [https://www.lacolombedor.com/bar-no-3]

This weekend features a host of cultural celebrations, from Latino performing arts, a popular NPR political podcast, a milestone moment for the symphony, Hispanic heritage, jazz, and more.

Meanwhile, movie fans who want to also enjoy the weather can enjoy outdoor screenings downtown, while music fans can take in cool jazz and a meaningful Ukrainian benefit show. A local sports bar hosts a purr-fect pet and animal fundraiser, and a famed boutique hotel mixes in some cocktail classes.

Enjoy; here are your best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, September 15

The Alliance presents United We Dine
The Alliance will host an international food and culture celebration that will highlight Houston’s diversity, while highlighting the important work the organization does to help refugees and underserved individuals in the community. Local restaurants will provide food sampling to give attendees the opportunity to virtually transport themselves to the countries and regions. During the event, attendees will also have the opportunity to watch live performances from the finest artists, representing various cultures from around the globe. 6 pm.

Arte Publico Press presents Showcase of Latino Performing Arts
Arte Público Press is celebrating 40 years of promoting literacy and reading through publishing excellence. In honor of the 40th anniversary, the nonprofit will host a showcase of Latino performing artists. This show will be a collaborative effort bringing together outstanding artists from the opera, symphony, ballet, and other performing groups to highlight the vibrant influence of Latin-American and Latino cultures. 6:30 pm.

NPR Politics Podcast Live
After a two year hiatus, the NPR Politics Podcast is headed back to the stage, featuring a panel of your favorite NPR voices: Ashley Lopez, Asma Khalid, Domenico Montanaro, Susan Davis and Tamara Keith. This all-star cast will dig into local and national midterm races, the big political news and issues in Texas and what they just cannot let go of. Join them for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how the podcast is made, and a chance to put your questions to the pod squad. 8 pm.

Friday, September 16

Houston Art Gallery Association presents Fall Art Gallery Celebration
Join Foto Relevance and the Houston Art Gallery Association (HAGA) for this two-day, city-wide inaugural celebration. HAGA is composed of the finest art galleries in Houston, each with their own distinct programming, representing the most outstanding artists in Texas and around the world. This weekend, enjoy extended hours at many participating galleries across town. Foto Relevance will be open late on Friday. Admission is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. 11 am.

Alley Theatre presents Lend Me A Soprano
Ken Ludwig (The Three Musketeers, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express), America’s preeminent comedic playwright, debuts a “revisal” of his classic hit with women in the leading roles. This play is set in 1934 as Mrs. Lucille Wiley, General Manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, is ready to welcome world-famous soprano Elena Firenzi for her one-night only starring role in Carmen. Through Sunday, October 9. 8 pm (2:30 and 7:30 pm).

Houston Symphony presents Juraj Valčuha Inaugural Weekend: Verdi Requiem
For his first concerts as Music Director Designate, Juraj Valčuha shares a towering masterpiece from Italian opera master Giuseppe Verdi. Traversing a sweeping emotional arc from fiery anguish and grief to radiant joy and ultimate peace, this live performance is moving and cathartic, captivating and euphoric, poignant and profound. The concert will feature the Houston Symphony Chorus and vocalists Ana María Martínez, Marina Prudenskaya, Jonathan Tetelman, and Dmitry Belosselskiy. 8 pm (2:30 pm Sunday)

The Rustic presents Jungle Fire
The Rustic is kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month with the Los Angeles-based TropiFunk juggernaut Jungle Fire, for a night of dancing and live music. With a focus on Afro-Caribbean and West African rhythms, the diverse, musical and cultural backgrounds of Jungle Fire’s members reflect LA's unique international and multicultural mix of beats, sounds and flavors. The event is free with an RSVP, but guests are encouraged to arrive early as the event is majority standing room only. 8 pm.

Saturday, September 17

10th Annual Anita Sabedra Team Hope Walk
The Huntington's Disease Society of America's (HDSA) Greater Houston Area Affiliate will be hosting this annual walk, at Middlebrook Greenbelt Park. Team Hope is HDSA’s largest, national grassroots fundraising event, which takes place in over 100 cities across the U.S. and has raised more than $20 million for Huntington's disease. Thousands of families, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and communities walk together each year to support HDSA’s mission to improve the lives of people affected by Huntington's disease and their families. 9 am.

Memorial Trail Ice House Octobeerfest 2022
It’s Octobeerfest time over MTIH, with several breweries participating in this event. Also, Cortlandt & 9th will be serving up pretzels, bratwursts with sauerkraut, and schnitzels. Bayou City Horn Band will perform; more fun comes with a brief break for a stein holding competition. Wristbands for this event can be purchased for $25 (day of event), $20 (pre-order). Each wristband purchase guarantees 10 beer sample tokens, as well as tokens to vote for “Best Brewery” and “Best Octobeerfest Beer.” 11 am.

Second Annual Pitmaster Party Wildgame Edition
Dozier’s BBQ in Fulshear will host this event devoted to making dishes with smoked wild game. Pitmaster Jim Buchanan has invited 14 top Texas pitmasters, starting with two of the top five in Texas Monthly’s list of the state’s 50 best barbecue joints: John Bates of Interstellar BBQ (Austin) and Ernest Servantes of Burnt Bean Co. (Seguin). A portion of proceeds benefits the Fulshear Police Foundation. Tickets are $75 and include samples from the participants and live music by Morgan Obenhaus (beverages purchased separately). 11 am.

Craft Cocktail Class at La Colombe d'Or
Raise a glass to end summer and enjoy happy hour on the 10th floor of the La Colombe d’Or Tower, with hors d'oeuvres and refreshments, followed by a private cocktail masterclass with Bar No. 3 chief bartender Patrick Dougherty. At the cocktail workshop experience, you will learn the fundamentals and expert tips & tricks of cocktail making. Work closely alongside Dougherty with carefully curated ingredients and hand-selected bitters, seasonings and mixers. Tickets are $90 per person. There will also be a pop-up, open-air cinema screening of The Breakfast Club (including a three-course dinner with dishes from celebrity chef Paul Prudhomme) at 8 pm on Sunday. 4 pm.

Be a 9th Wonder Foundation presents Lucky9 Casino Royale
Ex-professional basketball player and entrepreneur Remi Yusuf, the founder and global director of Be A 9th Wonder Foundation, presents this inaugural event of glitz and gambling. All proceeds benefit the Foundation’s future 9th Wonder Community Center, which will feature a gym and weight room that supports adaptive fitness for individuals with special needs, and other Houston-area events. Projected events will be hosted for individuals within the special needs community, youth in underserved communities, and adolescents transitioning to career and college readiness programs. 6 pm.

Discovery Green presents Screen on the Green
Discovery Green recently announced the fall schedule of Bank of America’s Screen on the Green. As part of the 15th anniversary programming, this season’s monthly lineup celebrates the diverse ages, interests, and cultures of visitors with family-friendly movies Selena, Monster House, and The Mitchells vs. The Machines. First up, it's that 1939 Judy Garland classic The Wizard of Oz. Blankets, lawn chairs, and picnics are encouraged. 7 pm.

The Houston Jazz Collective presents The Houston Jazz Festival
As part of the Houston Jazz Festival, the Houston Jazz Collective presents The American Masters Series, featuring the hardbop supergroup The Cookers, who will perform from their new record, Look Out!. Opening for the Cookers will be Nellie McKay, a soulful jazz musician, pianist, vocalist, composer and arranger who will perform from her album, Sister Orchid. The evening will also include the artwork of acclaimed artist Jack Whitten. 8 pm.

Sunday, September 18

Pet-a-Palooza at George Country Sports Bar
Join The Diana Foundation for fun, festivities, a selection of gourmet lunches (prepared by Picnic On The Green), and cocktails. Show your support through a variety of one or more options. Purchase a purple "Pet-A-Palooza Dog Tag Pendant" for $25, buy raffle tickets for an opportunity to win one of the multiple prizes, or bring a donation of essentials such as kitty litter, dog and/or cat food. All proceeds will benefit two fantastic pet charities: Friends For Life Animal Shelter & The Pet Patrol. Friendly, leashed pets are welcome. 11 am.

Mid Main Micro Marathon
The Mid Main Micro Marathon has taken the “run” out of running and left little more than the start and finish. The course, measuring a grueling 0.26 miles, can be hard on the system, so obviously participants will need a break or two (with breakfast tacos, dance parties, coffee, and more) to refuel as they make their way around the Mid Main complex. Finishers along with family and friends will be treated to beer and music by Allen Oldies Band, Brooklyn Twang, and more. The event benefits Animal Justice League. Noon.

Candlelight x UNHCR Presents Ukrainian Benefit Concert For Peace Fundraiser
Candlelight presents a two-show series of benefit concerts in favor of refugees by collaborating with UNHCR, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, with the objective of benefiting Ukrainian citizens affected by the humanitarian crisis, and the refugees who were forced to flee their country as a result of the war. All proceeds from this Candlelight series will be allocated to help refugees affected by this conflict. 6:30 and 9 pm.

event-planner

Movie Review

Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

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.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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