weekend event planner

Things to do in Houston this weekend: Brian Ching's beer bash, a very punchable face, Tokyo thrills, and more

This Sunday, we toast Dads and father figures everywhere (check out our guide to on where to take him for a great meal or Manmosa and great last-minute gifts).

We also celebrate Juneteenth, the national holiday that was born in Galveston. A Saturday Night Live star brings his update and punchable face to town, and a Tokyo festival brings the coolest Japanese vibes.

Colin Jost/Facebook

Colin Jost and his punchable face come to town.

EaDo celebrates five years of one of its most popular outdoor beer bars (founded by Houston Dynamo star Brian Ching), and Sunday sees a totally punk rock garage sale.

Enjoy; here are your best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, June 15

The Menil Collection presents Book Talk: Artists We’ve Known

Artists Mel Chin and Terrell James join book designer Don Quaintance and the Menil’s associate research curator Clare Elliott for an intimate conversation exploring the recent publication Artists We’ve Known: Selected Works from the Walter Hopps and Caroline Huber Collection. Featuring 50 artists, the book reveals the wide variety of interests and artworks that captured the attention of Menil Founding Director Walter Hopps and his widow, artist and curator Caroline Huber. 7 pm.

Bayou Music Center presents Colin Jost

Colin Jost (aka the dude married to Scarlett Johansson) currently serves as the co-anchor of Weekend Update alongside Michael Che at Saturday Night Live. In 2015, Jost wrote Staten Island Summer, a coming-of-age comedy, and he has since been seen in the films How to Be Single, Coming 2 America, and Tom and Jerry. In 2020, Jost debuted his memoir, A Very Punchable Face, a series of essays which documents pivotal moments in his life. 7:30 pm.

Houston Symphony presents Neighborhood Concert: Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church

Houston Symphony's 2023 Neighborhood Concert program is led by conductor Jacob Joyce and features a crowd-pleasing program that blends well-known classical favorites with recent works and film scores. Highlights include classical favorites like Rossini's Overture to The Barber of Seville and Tchaikovsky's Russian Dance from The Nutcracker. Houston Symphony Community-Embedded musician Rainel Joubert will be the soloist in the Violin Concerto by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the subject of the movie Chevalier. 7:30 pm.

Friday, June 16

BBQ Burgers and Bourbon at Dish Society and Daily Gather

Head to Dish Society or Daily Gather this Father’s Day weekend to treat the dads in your life with burgers and Old Fashioneds. The restaurants will feature two versions of a burger featuring Astros third baseman Alex Bregman’s winning Breggy Bomb BBQ Sauce. One has a patty topped with sauce-slathered brisket, crispy bacon, sharp cheddar, and crispy onion strings on a brioche bun, and the other is a double patty topped with sauce-slathered brisket, crispy bacon, sharp cheddar, and crispy onion strings on a potato bun. 11 am.

Anya Tish Gallery presents "Strike the Match!" opening reception

Anya Tish Gallery presents a summer pop-up exhibition of emerging, Texas-based female artists presenting large-format works in a variety of media. Branching from diverse backgrounds and finding common ground in Texas, Kristen Brashear and Heather den Uijl redefine and break the rules of traditional painting, whereas Marcella Colavecchio and Tatiana Escallon confront the viewer with provocative forms and brilliant self-authored texts. Through Saturday, July 1. 6 pm.

Art Factory presents Hair

This legendary stage musical (which had a film adaptation starring the recently departed Treat Williams) is a musical feast for the eyes and ears that depicts its creators’ observations on “hippie” culture in late 1960s America. As the transformative musical takes the audience on a psychedelic journey, they meet “The Tribe,” as they navigate the sexual revolution and young American life in the time of the Vietnam War. Through Sunday, July 2. 8 pm (3 pm Sunday).

Improv Houston presents Vir Das

As India’s biggest stand-up comedian and a Bollywood star, Vir Das has now crossed over to become a global comedy sensation, filling an international vacancy for an authentic Indian perspective. Vir was the first comedian from India to have a stand-up special on Netflix, which has since resulted in a multi-special deal with the platform for them to be the exclusive distributor of his stand-up. 7:30 and 9:45 pm (7 and 9:30 pm Saturday; 7:30 pm Sunday).

Saturday, June 17

Tokyo X

Tokyo X combines modern and traditional Japanese cultures to become one of the largest Japanese expos in the country. With more than 200 vendors, the two-day event will highlight Japanese cultural aspects from more than 30 food vendors, more than 80 cars, anime, a $1,000 cosplay prize contest, an arcade tournament, martial arts and sumo, live music, industries, a Pokémon Trading Card Tournament, limited edition custom anime statues, musical performances, and more. Noon.

Gallery Sonja Roesch presents David Simpson: "Interference and Paintings from the '80s" opening day

Gallery Sonja Roesch presents David Simpson’s fifth solo show. Light is a key element in Simpson’s paintings. Iridescent interference pigments are mixed with acrylic paint to achieve shifts in light and color such as orange to purple, metallic-green to blue, or silver to light blue. The surface of the paintings are ever-changing depending on the lighting conditions, the time of the day. and the position of the viewer. Through Saturday, August 12. 1 pm.

Pitch 25 presents 5th Anniversary Celebration

Pitch 25 in EaDo, owned by Andy Aweida and Jeff Barati (The Kirby Group) along with former Dynamo star Brian Ching, will celebrate their 5th Anniversary with an all-night party. Guests can enjoy activities like bubble soccer, axe throwing, dodgeball, a 9-foot robot, free play on arcade games, and more. The Spazmatics will perform, and there will be karaoke with DJ Pete starting at 10 pm. 6 pm.

Shoeshine Charley’s Big Top Lounge presents Grifters & Shills

With their latest release Fireball all over record shops and streaming sites, Grifters & Shills has a busy Saturday planned. First off, the East Texas-based, rock/blues jam band (consisting of husband-and-wife team John & Rebecca Stoll) will be doing an in-store performance at Cactus Music. Later on that evening, they will have a record-release show at Shoeshine Charley’s Big Top Lounge. The Mighty Orq will also be on the bill. 8 pm.

Sunday, June 18

Father’s Day at Eureka Heights

Eureka Heights Brewing Company has got a whole afternoon planned for that special guy in all our lives. The Rad Dad pals from Deckle and Hide will be firing up the grills for a mouth-watering burger and hot dog popup. At 1:30, they’ll kick off the infamous Dad Joke Competition. Come early for the dad jokes and stay for the Dad Bod Wet T-shirt contest at halftime. Remember, they’re looking for real dads with real dad bods to volunteer for a chance at a $100 Eureka Heights gift card. Noon.

Punk Rock Garage Sale at Bad Astronaut Brewing

Insomnia Gallery and Deep End Records will be heading back to Bad Astronaut Brewing for this month’s Punk Rock Garage Sale. They will also welcome the Part Time food popup for the first time, alongside Bad Astronaut’s own in-house pizzas. There will be over three dozen vendors inside this massive adult playground of a venue, which features pool tables, foosball, air hockey, cornhole and more. 1 pm.

National Sushi Day at Nobu Houston

Head over to Nobu Houston this National Sushi Day. You can indulge in unique sushi maki rolls such as the new style salmon and Japanese eel & cucumber rolls, or opt for the tried and true spicy tuna or California rolls. For a more adventurous curb to your cravings, the nigiri and sashimi options such as the king crab, uni and salmon can be enjoyed by the table – or order for yourself. Regardless of the order, there is no better place to explore the art of sushi than at the iconic Nobu Houston. 5 pm.

Movie Review

Supergirl fails to take flight in a movie weighed down by grief

Photo courtesy of DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures

Milly Alcock in Supergirl.

Last year's Superman reboot brought a renewed sense of optimism for, if not the concept of the comic book movie, then at least the DC Comics universe. After more than a decade of DC films that felt mostly creatively bankrupt, the leadership of James Gunn gave the story a sense of fun. That included the brief introduction of Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, who’s now getting her own showcase in, naturally, Supergirl.

When we first met her in Superman, Supergirl was in rough shape, arriving at the Fortress of Solitude visibly inebriated. Nothing has changed at the beginning of this film, save for her aimlessly traveling around the universe with her rambunctious dog, Krypto. One of her random stops puts her in the same bar as Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who is looking for help tracking down Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) and a group known as the Brigands after they brutally murdered her family.

Kara is initially loath to offer aid, but when Krem shoots a poison dart into Krypto while escaping, her motivation goes way up, especially since Krem holds the antidote. Kara, with Ruthye doggedly following her, uses every means available to her to find Krem, a journey that is hampered by galaxies having different colored suns than the one that gives her powers, the yellow sun.

Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, the film is a big step back in the fun category, not least because Supergirl is deep in her feelings for much of the film. Her personal trauma, which is detailed in occasional flashbacks, gives a reason for her depression, but fails to land fully. The story seems to want everyone to be sad, as it includes a child trafficking ring and multiple instances of families being murdered.

Milly Alcock and Krypto in Supergirl.Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

To try to counteract that downer material, the filmmakers give Supergirl many opportunities to show off her fighting skills. While still CGI-heavy, the action scenes contain enough of a semblance of reality that they feel exciting. Unfortunately, this is undercut by the inclusion of several slow-motion sequences, giving the impression that the filmmakers didn’t trust the actors to deliver the goods on a consistent basis.

Superman (David Corenswet) makes a handful of appearances in the film, and while his presence is welcome given how well the character came across in the previous movie, it also doesn’t allow Supergirl to become her own person. Almost everything she does is colored by either her cousin or her parents, and since her powers are identical to those of Superman, there is very little that makes her story unique aside from how she’s dealing with the fallout.

Alcock (House of the Dragon, Sirens) gives an appealing performance despite her character being drunk and/or moody most of the time. She definitely sells what Supergirl is going through, so if given a better story in a future film, she’s proven her capability. Schoenaerts makes for a pretty good villain, although he’s aided by a look that includes a face full of studs. Jason Momoa has a memorable supporting role as the bounty hunter Lobo, even if his character doesn’t add much to the story.

While not a full-on disaster, Supergirl does not continue the momentum that Superman started. With a story that’s more concerned with showing audiences death scenes than a hero saving people, the film doesn’t seem to understand the appeal of a character like Supergirl or how to make her someone audiences will return to over and over again.

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Supergirl is now playing in theaters.

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