weekend event planner

Here are the top 14 things to do in Houston this weekend

Dig into Chris Shepherd's (right) star-studded food fest.

Photo by Catchlight Photography

This weekend, we fully expect most of the city to shut it down when our Houston Astros take on the New York Yankees in Games 3 and 4 of the American League Conference Series on Saturday and Sunday. (Check out CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler's best food and drink options here.)

Otherwise, this weekend offers a beastly affair onstage, a lively cultural celebration, and one of the hottest food festivals on the calendar each year. Gorgeous homes unlock their doors for visitors to tour, Thursday is a total drag, and two comic legends come to town for some serious silliness.

Enjoy; here are you best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, October 20

Houston Audubon presents Avian Affair

Houston Audubon will celebrate the connection between art and nature at its annual fundraising dinner. The evening includes a seated dinner, a silent auction featuring works from local artists, a visit from art cars, a raptor experience, stilt walkers, and more colorful fun, all in the name of raising awareness and funds to protect local habitat for birds and wildlife and create equitable opportunities for people to enjoy nature-based experiences. The evening keynote will be delivered by nationally-acclaimed artist Dixie Friend Gay, who is best known for her numerous public art commissions. 6 pm.

Moores Opera Center presents La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast)

Merging film and opera, Jean Cocteau’s classic 1946 film adaptation of Beauty and the Beast (as Jean Marais as the saddest monster ever put on film) comes to life anew with a beautiful and arresting score by Philip Glass. The Moores Opera Center will be the first university opera program to produce this seminal work by two of the most important artists of modern times. Michael Riesman, music director of the Philip Glass Ensemble, joins the University of Houston as guest conductor for this special production. 7:30 pm (2 pm Sunday).

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Night Of The Living Drag

It’s that time again to watch all your favorite RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni get spooky with it. The 11th annual show features “Boogieman” (aka Yvie Oddly) in their return from the Inferno to hunt the Souls of Seven Sinful Queens. The event will also include Aquaria the Sloth, Asia O’Hara the Envying, Bosco the Lusting, DeJa Skye the Greedy, Kim Chi the Glutton, Lady Camden the Proud, Rosé the Vain, and Vanessa Vanjie the Wrathful, in one of the deadliest spectacles of drag to tour the world. 8 pm.

Friday, October 21

Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation presents Power of Literacy Luncheon

This 7th annual luncheon will be hosted by the Ladies for Literacy Guild of the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation and chaired by Gina Saour and Carolyn Mohenzadehs. Jeannie Gaffigan, actress, producer, writer, philanthropist, mother of five, and all-around comedic force, will serve as the featured speaker. Gaffigan, the wife and writing/producing partner of Jim Gaffigan, wrote the New York Times bestseller When Life Gives You Pears, a memoir chronicling her diagnosis, surgery, and recovery from a pear-sized brain tumor. 10:30 am.

Southern Smoke Festival 2022

If you are crazy/insane for some BBQ, you will be in heaven this weekend. Your favorite BBQ spots will be all over this three-day fest, making some succulent food with more than 40 of the brightest stars in the culinary world, including Tom Colicchio, Andrew Zimmern, Brooke Williamson, Aaron Franklin, and Dawn Burrell. Of course, there will be beer, wine and other delicious refreshments. Money raised will go toward Southern Smoke Foundation’s crisis relief efforts for food and beverage workers. 7 pm (1 pm Saturday; 4 pm Sunday).

The Secret Group presents Varials

Philadelphia metalcore quintet Varials will be in Houston this weekend, performing tunes from Scars for You to Remember, their just-released album. Here, the band cranks the knobs to 11 from start to finish. The utterly ferocious tracks will leave you exhausted, in a heap on the floor, clutching your chest, and gasping for breath. It's really that good and that intense. With rapid fire riffing, guttural screams that could double as the soundtrack to your worst night terrors, and thunderous percussive thrust, the band clamps down on the jugular and never lets go. 7 pm.

Steve Martin and Martin Short: You Won't Believe What They Look Like Today!

Comedy legends (and men who actually work with Selena Gomez!) Steve Martin and Martin Short will come to Sugar Land with their show, You Won't Believe What They Look Like Today!. In this special performance, Martin and Short recall their iconic careers, creative influences and most memorable encounters, uniquely presented through a blend of stand-up, musical numbers and conversations about their lives in show business. Martin and Short will also be joined on stage by Jeff Babko, Alison Brown, and The Fair Weather Friends. 8 pm.

Saturday, October 22

Autism Speaks Walk

The Houston Autism Speaks Walk, held over at Lynn Eusan Park, is back to promote acceptance and raise funds for people with autism. This year, the Walk will be held in person to bring the community together to fuel the organization’s mission and help people with autism reach their full potential. Activities include a face painter, a balloon artist, yard games, kindness chalk and wall, sensory-friendly activities, and more. 8 am.

Korean Festival Houston

Since its inception in 2009, this festival has become one of the largest, free cultural events hosted at Discovery Green, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to its cultural presentation and culinary experience. It showcases the best of Korean food, music, performing arts, and culture. Featuring vendors and performers from all over the world, the festival reaches a broad array of Houstonians, including foodies, K-Pop fans, families, and regular Houstonians hoping to experience Korean culture in the heart of Houston. 11 am.

AIA Houston Home Tour

Eight architect-designed houses representing the finest in new residential architecture will be featured in the annual, two-day tour. (Read our full story here.) Open to the public, all of the homes on the self-guided, two-day tour are located within the Houston metropolitan area, designed by an AIA architect, and completed within the last five years. The criteria used to select homes for the tour include design excellence, quality and craftsmanship, innovative design solutions and use of materials, and sustainability of design. Noon.

Heidi Vaughan Fine Art presents Transcending opening reception

This exhibition features the work of 11 Texas artists curated by Susan Budge and Heidi Vaughan. The exhibition, which coincides with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, has at its core the notion of transcending cancer and other personal challenges through art. Artists in the exhibition are Budge, Thedra Cullar-Ledford, Richard Fluhr, Linda Hofheinz, Sharon Kopriva, Charmaine Locke, Michelle O’Michael, McKay Otto, Susan Plum, James Surls, and George Tobolowsky. Through Saturday, November 26. 5 pm.

Sunday, October 23

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents "Philip Guston Now" opening day

Over his 50-year career, Philip Guston (1913-1980) shifted from figuration to abstraction and back again. This exhibition, the first retrospective of the influential artist’s work in nearly two decades, features paintings, prints, and drawings - both well-known and rarely seen - from public and private collections. The exhibition shows his willingness to engage explicitly with social injustice and to excavate the anxieties of personal conviction from his earliest works through to his last. Through Monday, January 16. 12:30 pm.

Undies for Everyone presents Bingo and Briefs

Undies for Everyone presents a night of fun and food, all to support underserved children with new undies. The event will honor Cyndy Garza Roberts, UFE board member, for her 40 years of service to the Houston community. Guests can purchase raffle tickets for a chance to win United Airlines tickets (need not be present to win). They can also play "Heads and Tails" for a chance to win a pizza oven or a weekend getaway at Lost Pines Resort. 6 pm.

The Paranormal Experience

Jamie Salinas is a paranormal investigator and an award-winning magician who will present a spooky night of mystery as he attempts to communicate with The Other Side. He will investigate one of the most haunted places in Texas, La Carafe, which has a rich history, being built in the late 1800s, and is a known hotspot for paranormal activity. Salinas will show some haunted artifacts from his collection. The evening begins with a meet-and-greet social hour downstairs at the bar hosted by Scott Wells, who will entertain guests with spooky magic. 7 pm.

Movie Review

Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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