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

Clichéd rom-com You, Me & Tuscany can't get by on Italian charm alone

Photo by Giulia Parmigiani/Universal Pictures

Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page in You, Me & Tuscany.

The romantic comedy has become an endangered species in movie theaters, as most of those that are released these days go to streamers like Netflix. While there have been a few recent successful rom-coms in theaters, they are few and far between. All of which is to say that a movie like the new You, Me & Tuscany faces an uphill battle before it’s even released.

Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid) stars as Anna, a former culinary school student who’s struggling in the wake of her mother's death. When she has a chance meeting with an Italian man named Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor) in New York, her dream of going to the Italian region of Tuscany is reignited. Using her last $500 and a plane ticket her mom bought her, she makes her way to Italy looking for an adventure.

With nowhere to stay and knowing Matteo’s villa is unoccupied, she finds a key and makes herself at home. When she finds an engagement ring soon before she’s discovered by Matteo’s family, she decides to pretend to be his fiancée. The more time she spends with them, the bigger the lie becomes, especially when she starts falling for Matteo’s adopted brother, Michael (Regé-Jean Page).

Directed by Kat Coiro and written by husband-and-wife team Ryan and Kristin Engle, the film at times feels like it’s not even trying to be good. While the set-up of the premise is okay, the story quickly turns into an eye-rolling mess when Anna shows up in Italy. Not one bit of the character’s story is believable, and even though Michael catches her in an early lie, every member of the family accepts her at face value despite the abundant red flags.

Of course, many rom-coms are not based in reality, and the filmmakers lean into the genre’s tropes, almost as if they were saying, “We know this makes no sense - just roll with it!” Surprisingly, the gambit works for the most part, as the odd pairing of an American woman, an English-Italian man, and his fully Italian family is enjoyable despite the many groan-worthy moments they produce. The sweet way in which the family brings in a woman still going through grief almost balances out the shoddy way in which the story is told.

Naturally, there are precisely zero surprises about where the plot is heading, as Anna and Michael grow closer despite knowing they should resist the other. Strangely, though, the filmmakers don’t go all-in on the budding relationship, choosing to slow-roll things save for one notable sexy scene in a vineyard. Coiro and the Engles play up the family aspect as much as the romance aspect, and that choice allows the film to survive for longer than it should have.

Bailey, a singer-turned-actor, has not yet found her stride on the acting side of things. Her line deliveries are often stilted and her timing is off in key moments. This doesn’t help her chemistry with older Page, who seems to be getting by on vibes and looks alone. The most enjoyable actors in the film are all Italian, including Marco Calvani, Isabella Ferrari, and Paolo Sassanelli.

There are glimpses of a fully successful film in You, Me & Tuscany, enough to keep it watchable for its entire 104-minute running time. But then they have the Italian grandmother say a gobsmacking line like “If you wanna tap-a that ass, you should tap-a that ass,” and you remember exactly what type of film you’re watching.

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You, Me & Tuscany opens in theaters on April 10.

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