This Week In Music

This week in music: Texas bands and holiday pomp highlight top 5 shows to see

The week before New Year’s Eve is usually a great time for Texas bands to hit the road for short tours, since very few nationally touring acts are playing shows. Houston will be visited by a handful of popular Texas acts this weekend worth checking out, plus one last holiday-themed show for those who hadn't had enough yuletide cheer.

Flashback to the golden age of ’90s rock
The year was 1995. It was my first alternative rock concert. Sunken Gardens Theater in San Antonio. So much baggy denim. So many wallet chains. We thought we were so cool.

Gavin Rossdale’s Nirvana worshipping quartet Bush headlined with buzz-bin psych-grunge act Hum. The openers, The Toadies, had just released their pretty great album Rubberneck with the radio hit, “Possum Kingdom,” and hey, they were from Denton, Texas!

Even though it’s been decades since The Toadies sold over 500,000 copies of their first record, they still boast a loyal following in Texas. Whether it’s a way to remember a more innocent time of growing up in the suburbs or maybe its new fans who discovered them on Playstation’s Rock Band, The Toadies still put on a damn good rock show. They are currently touring behind the 2017 album, The Lowerside of Uptown.

The Toadies play the House of Blues, located at 1204 Caroline St, Houston, TX 77002 this Friday, December 29. Tickets start at $27 plus fees. Doors open at 7 pm.

The return of Girl in a Coma
San Antonio’s Girl in a Coma has been relatively quiet in recent years as front-woman Nina Diaz pursued a solo career. Joined by sister Phanie Diaz (drums) and Jenn Alva (bass – shout out to my fellow MacArthur HS classmate), the trio puts on an awesome display of charisma and killer hooks. Once signed to Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records label, it’s easy to see the connection with a stage presence that screams the attitude of riot girl groups, the melodic punk sensibility of The Ramones and a dose of melancholy via The Smiths, from which they take their namesake. This will be a welcome return to H-town from a much underrated band.

The fantastic local indie-rock act Wild Moccasins will open along with Fight Me!

Girl In A Coma perform at White Oak Music Hall, located at 2915 N. Main Street this Friday, December 29. Tickets start at $15 plus fees. Doors open at 8 pm.

Holiday on steroids in Sugar Land
Those who haven’t quite gotten over Christmas or for those who like prog-rock with their carols, the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas show has you covered. Often overshadowed by the overtly bombastic Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Mannheim still has the goods when it comes to holiday tunes on steroids, having sold millions of albums of their takes on wintertime classics.

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas plays at the SMART Financial Centre at Sugar Land, located at 18111 Lexington Blvd, Sugar Land, on Friday, December 29. Tickets start at $44 plus fees. Show starts at 8 pm.

Indie in the “City”
Playing a one-off show after a lengthy hiatus, Austin duo Ghostland Observatory will bless Houston audiophiles with a rare appearance. Arriving at the height of the indie-dance movement that saw bands like The Rapture and Electric Six enticing hipsters to the dance floor, Ghostland Observatory made national waves with their 2006 album Paparazzi Lightning, largely buoyed by still great single “Sad Sad City.” This will be a treat for fans of the band and those who just like to boogie at their rock shows. Houston synth-act Night Drive will open.

Ghostland Observatory plays White Oak Music Hall, located at 2915 N. Main Street, on Saturday, December 30. Tickets are $30 in advance. Doors open at 8 pm.

A good reason to visit to Tomball
Suburbanites rejoice as Jim Heath aka revered psychobilly troubadour Reverend Horton Heat will play a solo show at Main Street Crossing in Tomball this Saturday. The Dallas-based Reverend rarely puts on a bad performance and will call on a storied catalog that relies on the sounds of swing, traditional country, surf and rock music in a thrilling hodgepodge perfectly complimented by a cold beer, a shot of whiskey and a dollop of Pomade in slicked back hair. It will be well worth the drive up 249 to see a legend in an intimate setting. Jesse Dayton will open.

Reverend Horton Heat will play Main Street Crossing, located at 111 W. Main Street in Tomball, on Saturday, December 30. Tickets are $25 with fees. Show is at 8 pm.

Reverend Horton Heat (center) will play a solo set at Main Street in Tomball on Friday.

Reverend Horton Heat/Facebook

Reverend Horton Heat (center) will play a solo set at Main Street in Tomball on Friday.

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Movie Review

Feuding couple fights for survival in dark comedy Over Your Dead Body

Photo courtesy of IFC Films

Jason Segel and Samara Weaving on Over Your Dead Body.

When dysfunctional couples are depicted in movies, about the worst that typically happens is an acrimonious divorce. But in the new comedy/thriller Over Your Dead Body, the husband-and-wife have already gone way past that point by the time they’re introduced to the audience, with their plans leaning toward murder.

Dan (Jason Segel) is a low-level filmmaker relegated to directing pop-up ads, while Lisa (Samara Weaving) is an actor making do in small theater productions. The film finds them heading toward a rare getaway to a remote lake cabin, but it’s clear from the start that the married couple has been at odds for months, if not years. As the film begins, Dan clumsily drops hints at an alibi for his planned murder of Lisa to his ailing dad (Paul Guilfoyle) and others.

His shoddy planning was already sussed out by Lisa, who turns the tables on him when he tries to attack her, revealing a plan of her own. The situation naturally heightens their shared enmity of each other, but their blind hatred turns out to reveal the presence of Pete (Timothy Olyphant) and Todd (Keith Jardine), two escapees from a nearby prison who were helped by guard Allegra (Juliette Lewis). What was once a shared murder plan turns into a fight for survival, forcing Dan and Lisa to work together.

Directed by Jorma Taccone (The Lonely Island) and written by former SNL writers Nick Kocher and Briand McElhaney, the film aims to mine comedy out of darkness. Dan and Lisa’s ire for each other is palpable, and their interactions early in the film are uncomfortable. As the film turns increasingly violent with the introduction of other unsavory characters, most of the humor is derived from the creative ways people are attacked and the ultraviolence that results from them going after each other.

It’s a little tough to get fully invested in the story when the filmmakers throw the audience directly into the plot with almost zero setup. There’s not even a cursory montage of Dan and Lisa being in love, so it’s hard to care a lot about their current hate for each other. Likewise, the presence of the prison guard and escapees is completely random, and the three of them aren’t utilized well in the story despite having a couple of well-known actors portraying them.

The saving grace of the film, though, is the twists and turns it takes in the final act. Everyone on screen is put through the wringer, with each of them suffering multiple injuries or worse. The mayhem becomes so chaotic that it’s almost impossible to tell what’s going to happen next, which slightly makes up for the fact that the story as a whole is lackluster. Even though the audience knows they’re being manipulated, the sequences are entertaining enough to overcome that fact.

The cast as a whole is solid. Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Shrinking) uses his comic sensibility to keep the proceedings light. Weaving (Ready or Not) has done multiple movies in this vein, so she knows how to navigate the comedy/thriller waters. Olyphant feels a little out of place, but he has a presence that elevates his part. Lewis goes a little too manic in her part, and Jardine ably embodies the dumb brute.

The comedy history of Taccone, Segel, and Weaving keeps Over Your Dead Body as a positive experience even when the story doesn’t quite measure up. The film never becomes fully predictable, giving the audience a great dose of pandemonium that lifts it up despite its other faults.

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Over Your Dead Body is now playing in theaters.

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