Stick the landing

How to watch Houston Olympic G.O.A.T. Simone Biles' big gymnastics comeback this weekend

Simone is back.

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Two years after her historic and headline-making run at the Tokyo Olympics, Texas gymnastics icon Simone Biles is returning to competition. She — along with Olympic teammates Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Jade Carey — will go head-to-head at the 2023 Core Hydration Classic, August 4-6, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

The competition will be the final qualifier to the 2023 U.S. Gymnastics Championships, one of the biggest indicators of who might get picked for the 2024 Olympic team. (Biles, Lee, Chiles, and Cary all have declared their Paris Olympic intentions.)

It will be Biles' first competition since being sidelined with "the twisties" at the 2020 Olympics (in 2021), and her first since her high-profile wedding this spring.

Gymnastics fans don't have to book a flight to Chicago to catch all the vaults, leaps, and flips this weekend. The entire event will be live-streamed, and highlights will air on major network television. Competition organizers have released the following viewing schedule, all times local to Fort Worth:

Saturday, August 5: Two sessions of women’s competition will take place, with Session 1 at 1-3 pm and Session 2, featuring all Team USA Olympic and World Championships medalists, at 7-9 pm.

Women’s sessions on Saturday will be broadcast live on CNBC and streamed live on Peacock.

Both sessions also will stream live on USA Gymnastics’ YouTube channel.

Sunday, August 6: NBC will air a highlight package of the women's competition at 2:30 pm.

Also on Sunday, the men's competition will take place in two sessions, at 10:45 am and 4:45 pm. They will stream live on USA Gymnastics’ YouTube channel.

In addition to headliners Biles, Chiles, Lee, and Carey, the women's competition will include 2021 Worlds all-around silver medalist and floor bronze medalist Leanne Wong, 2021 Worlds all-around bronze medalist Kayla DiCello, and 2022 Worlds team gold medalist Skye Blakely.

They are all names Fort Worth gymnastics fans will recognize from both the 2021 U.S. Gymnastics Championships held at Dickies Arena (at which Biles won her record seventh national title) and from the Biles-led "Gold Over America Tour," which stopped at Dickies Arena in fall 2021.

On the men’s side, competitors will include 2020 Olympian, 2017 World Championships floor bronze medalist and eight-time Pan American gold medalist Yul Moldauer, 2015 Worlds vault bronze medalist and 2014 team bronze medalist Donnell Whittenburg, 2021 World pommel horse gold medalist Stephen Nedoroscik, and 2020 Olympian and three-time NCAA champion Shane Wiskus.

A junior competition also will be contested. For more information on the event, schedule, and competitors, visit the competition website.

As CultureMap was first to report, Biles married her former Houston Texans safety Jonathan Owens in April at a secret downtown location. The power couple then headed to Cabo San Lucas for a destination wedding.

After Owens signed with the Green Bay Packers, the duo has traveled back and forth to Green Bay (hardly the food capitol Houston is, clearly) where Owens is readying for the 2023 NFL season. Doting wife Biles even asked fans for Green Bay food tips and must-do activities.

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One More for the Road

ZZ Top honors late drummer Frank Beard with Austin tribute concert

ZZ Top/Facebook

ZZ Top will celebrate their late drummer, Frank Beard (middle, after a show in Canada), at one of his favorite venues.

Texas rock trio ZZ Top will play a tribute to their late drummer, Frank Beard, at their scheduled Austin tour stops at ACL Live at the Moody Theater on August 22 and 23. Beard died Monday, August 17, at 77.

The band announced Beard's death in a social media statement.

Lead vocalist and songwriter Billy Gibbons wrote, "Today, Elwood and I lost a great friend and collaborator, and the world lost one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great and true son of Texas. His signature backbeat was key to keeping ZZ on top."

ZZ Top canceled performances in Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs following Beard's death. The Austin shows will be the band's first onstage again, offering a fitting time to celebrate the Texas great. A statement on the band's website calls the Austin City Limits stage "one of Frank’s favorite venues and in a city that had been something of a second home for him."

Beard was born near Tyler in Frankston, Texas, in 1949. He was raised in Irving, outside Dallas, and the band formed in Houston in 1969. The Austin Chronicle reported in 2013 that Beard was then splitting time between a house on Lake Travis, in Austin, and Houston. He died on his ranch in the Houston suburb of Richmond.

ZZ Top was known for its large performances and elaborate setup, none more so than the Worldwide Texas Tour, which included a Texas-shaped stage and a collection of live Texas animals.

In 1974, the band left its mark on Austin — for better or worse — at "ZZ Top’s First Annual Texas Sized Rompin’ Stompin’ Barndance & Bar B.Q." at the University of Texas. It was the first, but also the last, since around 80,000 of the band's "friends" trashed the venue, earned the disapproval of the famous Coach Royal, and were ostensibly responsible for the venue not hosting another rock show until 1995. ZZ Top's two encores had 20 years to ring out after the legendary, if infamous show.

ZZ Top will make their upcoming Austin appearances as part of The Big One! Tour on Saturday, August 22, at 8 pm and Sunday, August 23, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are still available for both shows at acllive.com.

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