all that jazz

Beloved Houston patio bar celebrates 10 years with live jazz album

Houston beer garden Axelradis 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

New movie Friendship pairs Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd in a bizarre bromance

Photo courtesy of A24

Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd in Friendship.

Comedian Tim Robinson has gained a cult following thanks to series like Detroiters and I Think You Should Leave, in which his brand of cringe comedy is on full display. The former Saturday Night Live writer/performer has had a few small movie roles over the years, but he’s now getting his first starring role in the off-kilter Friendship.

Robinson plays Craig, a mild-mannered suburbanite with a wife, Tami (Kate Mara), and son, Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer). Craig has a boring life that involves little more than going to his middle manager job while wearing the same clothes day after day, anticipating the next Marvel movie, and helping Tami out with her at-home floral business.

He gets a jolt of energy when Austin (Paul Rudd) moves into the neighborhood. The two men seem to hit it off, with Austin — a weatherman at a local TV channel — even taking Craig on a couple of impromptu adventures. But when Craig commits a couple of faux pas at a group gathering at Austin’s house, their bond starts to fracture.

Even though the film is written and directed by Andrew DeYoung, it’s clear that Robinson had a big influence on the style of comedy it features. There are no big set pieces with a slew of jokes coming one after another. Instead, the film forces the audience to try to vibe with the very particular type of wavelength it’s giving off, one that could almost be called anti-comedy for the way the laughs come out of left field.

The 100-minute film is full of random comedic moments, like Steven kissing Tami on the lips, Craig being obsessed with his plain brown clothes, a group sing-along, and more. More often than not, it’s the way Craig reacts to both normal and abnormal situations that gets the laughs. The character is needy and oblivious, two traits that combine to make many of his actions cringeworthy.

Perhaps most importantly for this type of movie, many things in the story go unexplained or don’t make sense. Seemingly crucial elements are brought up only to fade away just as quickly, while other parts that appeared to be throwaway sections get callbacks later in the film. DeYoung and Robinson are determined to keep the audience on their toes the entire time, never knowing what to expect next.

Robinson has the perfect face for a story like this, one that’s bland enough to blend into the background but memorable enough to sell the jokes. His demeanor is also excellent, never becoming too expressive, even when he gets angry. With long hair, a mustache, and a certain swagger, Rudd is a great complement to Robinson. Only in a film like this would an everyman like Rudd be considered the suave and cool one.

There will be some that will see Friendship and come away wondering what the hell they just watched. But anyone who goes in knowing that they’re about to witness a comedy that challenges their sensibilities will likely have a great time.

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Friendship is now playing in select theaters.

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