all that jazz

Beloved Houston patio bar celebrates 10 years with live jazz album

Houston beer garden Axelrad is celebrating its 10th anniversary this week with a bevy of events. They will also have some new merchandise that gives people a taste of what happens during one of the bar’s most popular recurring events.

Live at Axelrad, Jazz Wednesdays, a collection of live performances from various local jazz artists who’ve played the venue’s weekly jazz concert, will be released this Saturday, April 19. At 1 pm, Axelrad will throw an album release party over at Cactus Music, where it will have vinyl copies for sale as well as a live performance from Marlon Simon Jazz Trio. Simon’s Latin Jazz Quintet has two tracks on Live, which also has exuberant, electric jazz sets from Houston Ensemble, Woody Witt Quintet, Darrell Lavigne Quartet, and Mark Simmons, Jr. Quartet.

An initial run of 150 albums will be on sale at Cactus for $25. It will also be available on the Axelrad website for $30. Those who prefer a digital experience will find the album on Spotify.

Credit for the idea goes to Bill “Daddio” Large, the father of Axelrad co-owner Monte Large. “He is, I think, probably the most frequent customer we have on Jazz Wednesdays,” says the junior Large. “He probably missed only a handful in the whole 10 years we've been open. At one point in time, he just asked me, ‘Do you guys record this stuff? This is fabulous music. You should record it.’ And a light bulb went off for me and I was like, ‘That sounds like a good idea.’”

Large got with frequent collaborator/music agency Wonky Power in going over the hours of recorded footage and finding the most worthy selections. “I invited my dad over and we sat in the studio with [Wonky Power co-founder] Mario [Rodriguez] and we just listened for the entire day, pretty much, of the songs that we had narrowed down,” he remembers.

As for Axelrad’s anniversary festivities, things will kick off on Friday night with all-night live performances from Los Yesterdays, the Gabriella Martinez Selena Tribute, Chicano Boulevard, and DJ Rose. The following day will have family-friendly activities, face painters, a vendor market, and a stilt walker, along with live performances from Bardo of Chicano Batman, Urban Heat, Corey Henry & the Treme Funktet, DJ Rubi, and DJ Jean Paul Tiblier.

While Axelrad the watering hole has been in business for a decade, the building itself has been around for the past 100 years. (Retrospect Coffee Bar, located next to Axelrad, started out in 1921 as one of the city’s first Gulf stations.) What once began as a grocery store owned and operated by the Axelrad family back in the 1920s is now a two-story, hammock-covered, all-purpose space where people can down libations, listen to live music, take yoga classes, buy some trinkets, snap up LPs and DVDs at its monthly record shop, etc.

“We really just try to embrace and support the community,” says co-owner Adam Brackman. “You know, we've been there during challenging times in the city. When a lot of people don’t have power, we're open for people to come charge phones. We do fundraisers. We have a charity and non-profit each month that we partner up with and give a certain percentage of sales from a specialty cocktail. When we created Axelrad, we wanted to make it be a place that we wanted to go to, with things like having an affordable drink, having live music with no cover, and affordable beers.

“There’s something called a ‘third place’ that we often reference,” adds Brackman. “It's not your home and it's not your work, but it's that place you're going to go to and have conversations with your friends, go on a first date, celebrate occasions. We hope that people see us in that, you know.”

Live at Axelrad: Jazz Wednesdays Album Tracklist

1. The Great Awakening
ft. Houston Ensemble
Composed by Armen Movsesyan
Performed by Chad Wesselkamper, Armen Movsesyan, Cory Wilson, and Sam Knight

Photo by Tommy Middleton

Axelrad is celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend.

2. Mi Nina
ft. Marlon Simon Latin Jazz Quintet
Composed by Marlon Simon
Performed by Marlon Simon, Felix Alonso, Jose Miguel, Ernesto Vega, and Rhumer Mora

3. #9
ft. Woody Witt Quintet
Composed by David Craig
Performed by Woody Witt, Mike Wheeler, Andrew Lienhard, David Craig, and Memo Reza

4. DC Blues
ft. Darrell Lavigne Quartet
Composed by Darrell Lavigne
Performed by Darrell Lavigne, Tim Ruiz, Tito Hernandez, and Vernon Daniels

5. My Brothers Keeper
ft. Mark Simmons Jr.
Composed and performed by Mark Simmons Jr., Jordan Bush, and Marwan Ghonima

6. Drume Negrita
ft. Marlon Simon Latin Jazz Quintet
Composed by Eliseo Grenet
Arrangement by Ernesto Vega
Performed by Marlon Simon, Felix Alonso, Jose Miguel, Ernesto Vega, and Rhumer Mora

music record cocktails concerts

Movie Review

Over-the-top thriller The Housemaid revels in camp, chaos, and excess

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid.

Both Amanda Seyfried (the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee) and Sydney Sweeney (Christy) are starring in movies with Oscar ambitions this year. By sheer coincidence, the two actors are also co-starring in The Housemaid, a thriller coming out within weeks of their more ambitious works, one that is likely to be seen by many more people than those prestige plays.

Sweeney is given top billing as Millie, a down-on-her-luck ex-convict looking to land any type of job so as not to break her parole. She finds a too-good-to-be-true lifeboat with Nina (Seyfried), who hires her to be a housemaid for her large house on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and daughter, Cecilia (Indiana Elle).

After a warm interview, Nina almost immediately becomes highly erratic, whipping back-and-forth between happy-go-lucky and rageful. It seems clear that Nina is suffering from mental health issues, as she’ll often accuse Millie of misplacing or stealing items that she didn’t take. Andrew, apparently used to Nina’s tirades, tries to protect Millie from the worst, something that grows increasingly difficult as Nina ups the ante.

Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from the bestselling book by Freida McFadden, the film is likely the trashiest mainstream movie to come out in 2025. The first half of the movie relies not on story but on moments as Nina embodies the word “hysterical” to an unbelievable extent. The resigned acceptance of the abuse by Millie, as well as the saintly patience of Andrew, make almost every scene laughable, as nobody seems to be acting anywhere close to how a person would normally react to such extreme situations.

The scenes and the performance of Seyfried are so over-the-top, in fact, that it’s clear that the filmmakers are in on the joke. It’s next to impossible not to have a little bit of fun while watching the actors react to outrageous incidents as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The worse Nina acts, the more Millie and Andrew retreat into their chosen roles, and the funnier the film becomes.

Fans of the book will know that the story changes course, eventually turning into a more stereotypical thriller that also has some relatively gnarly visuals to offer. But the trashiness continues, with Sweeney’s, um, assets repeatedly on display in both clothed and unclothed ways. The sex appeal of the R-rated movie makes it an outlier, as recent studio films have shied away from asking their big stars to disrobe completely.

Both Seyfried and Sweeney are far from their Oscar hopeful roles here. Seyfried is given free rein to act as brazenly as she pleases, and she takes full advantage of that ability. Sweeney seems to have been told to be much more reserved, and unfortunately that results in too many wooden line readings. Sklenar continues his breakout streak (It Ends with Us, Drop) with a role that allows him to show more range than either Seyfried or Sweeney.

The Housemaid is an unusual type of movie to be released at a time of year when most films are either those aiming for awards or more family-friendly fare. Despite its many flaws, it’s still an enjoyable watch that features a variety of crazy scenarios not typically seen in movies nowadays.

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The Housemaid is now playing in theaters.

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