Views & Tunes

New golf course and restaurant launch live music series this summer

Unmatched skyline views, a gentle summer breeze, refreshing beverage in-hand, and a scratch-made meal — what's missing?

Live music, and East River 9 and Riverhouse have it. The golf course and restaurant are introducing a new Live Music Summer Series, and the best part is, it's free.

From 7-9 pm each Friday and Saturday night, June through August, grab a table on Riverhouse's beautiful patio and listen to a wide variety of local and regional musicians playing everything from country and blues to classic rock and alternative.

The diverse lineup is posted monthly on Riverhouse's website, but here's what's on tap for June:

June 16: Cole Stephens
June 17: Western Jelly
June 23: Billi Jo Jones Duo
June 24: Barditch Hippies
June 25: The Cheeney Brothers

“Our new concert series is a laid-back summertime event for the whole family,” says Clayton Freels, founding partner of the concepts. “We are excited to showcase talented, local artists, and we invite everyone to come out and enjoy the free live music, delicious food and drinks, and a fun atmosphere.”

To make the experience even more delicious, Riverhouse recently announced Abhijeet “AJ” Junnarkar as the new event and culinary director.

Prior to founding and operating his own event catering business for the past decade, AJ served as executive chef at the Downtown Aquarium, Hotel Derek, and Intercontinental Hotel.

In his new role at Riverhouse, he's already introduced an elevated private event program that caters to corporate outings, fundraisers, and social gatherings.

He's also helped refine the scratch kitchen’s culinary offerings, curating a new, expanded menu that includes several new Tex-Mex entrees, as well as fine meats and desserts.

Riverhouse is also launching a weekend brunch menu that features breakfast tacos, sweet cream pancakes, and chicken fried steak and eggs. New menu offerings will debut later this month.

For those who haven't experienced Riverhouse yet, the full-service restaurant and patio bar offers plenty of indoor and outdoor seating options for groups of all sizes, as well as a central lawn with a kids playscape and lawn games.

And then there's East River 9, the only public, nine-hole, par-three golf course inside the 610 Loop.

The links-style short course is composed of holes that range from 80-150 yards; a natural grass, 300-yard driving range with a downtown skyline backdrop; a 12,000-square-foot social putting green; and a pro shop featuring merchandise, rental clubs, and refreshments. Two staggered tee boxes play into all nine greens and provide players with the ability to play two unique nine-hole rounds.

The active, outdoor destination also features six pickleball courts. If you haven't succumbed to pickleball mania yet, the easy-to-play mash-up of tennis, badminton and ping-pong is a delight for all ages and skill levels.

Only a mile outside of downtown, East River 9 and Riverhouse are located on the site of Midway’s 150-acre East River development in the Historic Fifth Ward.

For Father's Day weekend, they're doing it up big with coffee, cigars, and cars.

A car show stocked with luxury and classic autos is happening 9 am-12 pm on Sunday, while East River 9 will be rolling custom-made cigars and you can get caffeinated at the gourmet coffee bar inside Riverhouse.

A special Father's Day menu will also be available, with bottomless mimosas and espresso martini flights to really kick it up a notch.

For more info, follow East River 9's Instagram or Riverhouse's Facebook event page.

Photo courtesy of East River 9 and Riverhouse

Grab a table on Riverhouse's beautiful patio.

concerts music golf dinner chefs promoted

Movie Review

Michelle Pfeiffer visits Houston in new Christmas movie Oh. What. Fun.

Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

Michelle Pfeiffer in Oh. What. Fun.

Of all the formulaic movie genres, Christmas/holiday movies are among the most predictable. No matter what the problem is that arises between family members, friends, or potential romantic partners, the stories in holiday movies are designed to give viewers a feel-good ending even if the majority of the movie makes you feel pretty bad.

That’s certainly the case in Oh. What. Fun., in which Michelle Pfeiffer plays Claire, an underappreciated mom living in Houston with her inattentive husband, Nick (Denis Leary). As the film begins, her three children are arriving back home for Christmas: The high-strung Channing (Felicity Jones) is married to the milquetoast Doug (Jason Schwartzman); the aloof Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz) brings home yet another new girlfriend; and the perpetual child Sammy (Dominic Sessa) has just broken up with his girlfriend.

Each of the family members seems to be oblivious to everything Claire does for them, especially when it comes to what she really wants: For them to nominate her to win a trip to see a talk show in L.A. hosted by Zazzy Tims (Eva Longoria). When she accidentally gets left behind on a planned outing to see a show, Claire reaches her breaking point and — in a kind of Home Alone in reverse — she decides to drive across the country to get to the show herself.

Written and directed by Michael Showalter (The Idea of You), and co-written by Chandler Baker (who wrote the short story on which the film is based), the movie never establishes any kind of enjoyable rhythm. Each of the characters, including competitive neighbor Jeanne (Joan Chen), is assigned a character trait that becomes their entire personality, with none of them allowed to evolve into something deeper.

The filmmakers lean hard into the idea that Claire is a person who always puts her family first and receives very little in return, but the evidence presented in the story is sketchy at best. Every situation shown in the film is so superficial that tension barely exists, and the (over)reactions by Claire give her family members few opportunities to make up for their failings.

The most interesting part of the movie comes when Claire actually makes it to the Zazzy Sims show. Even though what happens there is just as unbelievable as anything else presented in the story, Showalter and Baker concoct a scene that allows Claire and others to fully express the central theme of the film, and for a few minutes the movie actually lives up to its title.

Pfeiffer, given her first leading role since 2020’s French Exit, is a somewhat manic presence, and her thick Texas accent and unnecessary voiceover don’t do her any favors. It seems weird to have such a strong supporting cast with almost nothing of substance to do, but almost all of them are wasted, including Danielle Brooks in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. The lone exception is Longoria, who is a blast in the few scenes she gets.

Oh. What. Fun. is far from the first movie to try and fail at becoming a new holiday classic, but the pedigree of Showalter and the cast make this dismal viewing experience extra disappointing. Ironically, overworked and underappreciated moms deserve a much better story than the one this movie delivers.

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Oh. What. Fun. is now streaming on Prime Video.

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