weekend event planner

Here are the top 15 things to do in Houston this weekend

Celebrate Bourbon Fest at Alba Huerta's Julep.

Photo by Julie Soefer

This weekend looks to be hot — literally — as temps are expected to soar. No matter, plenty of options about indoors and out. Look for spirited events: one raises awareness for seriously endangered white rhinos, while Bourbon Fest takes place at one of Houston's best bourbon/whiskey bars.

Meanwhile, classical music lovers can enjoy a free outdoor performance, a Heights spot celebrates sausage and brews, and FotoFest opens with compelling exhibitions.

Enjoy; here are your best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, September 22

14 Pews presents Cressandra Thibodeaux: "Shadow Projections" opening reception
In participation with FotoFest Biennial 2022, 14 Pews will host a new photography exhibition by Cressandra Thibodeaux. An award-winning Native American filmmaker and visual artist, Thibodeaux received her MFA from Columbia University’s Film program and her undergrad at U.T. at Austin and her Associates degree at the Glassell School of Art for photography. She has produced/directed/edited numerous documentaries, short films and commercials. Through Sunday November 6. 6 pm.

World Rhino Day at White Rhino Cocktail Bar
In celebration of World Rhino Day, and in an effort to build awareness for all five rhino species that are endangered, White Rhino Cocktail Bar and Gallery Furniture are hosting this celebratory fundraising event. Guests are encouraged to wear safari attire and participate in the silent auction where proceeds will benefit the Houston Zoo. Live music, free food, and additional entertainment will also be provided throughout the night. The bartenders will also launch the “Electric Rhino” specialty cocktail featuring locally owned, Eado Vodka. All “Electric Rhino” cocktail sales will go towards the Houston Zoo fundraising effort. 6 pm.

The Ensemble Theatre presents Love & Southern D!scomfort
Unfolding like a soap opera, this play (which kicks off the Ensemble’s 46th season) is a rich and timeless story about how love and southern discomfort fuel dissension when the family matriarch’s death creates crises for her heirs. Using the steamy and sultry backdrop of rural Louisiana, with the unbridled passion that only family can elicit, the story is infused with original contemporary music, steam, jealousy, joy, pain, and love. Fast-paced and emotional, this play serves up good old-fashioned drama that will leave you with thoughts of your own family ties. Through October 16. 7:30 pm (8 pm Friday; 2 and 8 pm Saturday; 3 pm Sunday).

Friday, September 23

Ars Lyrica presents Hail, Bright Cecilia!
The patron saint of the “celestial art” of music, the legendary Cecilia has inspired countless poets, composers, and musical organizations over the years. Ars Lyrica's harmonious season opener spotlights two splendid Cecilian odes by Henry Purcell for multiple voices and a colorful Baroque orchestra of period strings, winds, keyboards, lutes, and percussion.

Performers include Alexandra Gorman, soprano; Julia Fox, soprano; Jay Carter, countertenor; Cecilia Duarte, mezzo-soprano; Stephen Ash, tenor; Thomas O’Neill, tenor; Kirby Traylor, baritone; and Christopher Besch, baritone. 7:30 pm.

BridgeYear Prom
BridgeYear is a Houston-based non-profit organization whose mission is to help connect underserved youth to career and educational opportunities that provide economic stability and independence. At the BridgeYear Prom, guests can relive the best high-school memories while supporting students in the Houston community to develop skills and awareness for postsecondary pathways. The '80s-themed prom fundraising event will give attendees the opportunity to retake classic prom photos, slow dance with their crush, and nominate a new prom court. Additionally, guests will have access to the full bar and appetizers and desserts. 7:30 pm.

Karen Stokes Dance presents Mapping & Glaciers
Mapping & Glaciers reflects on the changing landscapes, both metaphorical and actual, of our times. With choreography/film/direction by Karen Stokes and original music by Samuel Lipman, the performance merges film, dance, and music to explore human concepts of territory and connection in a world of melting glaciers. The project examines manmade and natural boundaries that challenge humans through tribalism and constructs of power, and the shifting shape of our geological environment under the influence of climate change. 7:30 pm (4 pm Sunday).

River Oaks Chamber Orchestra presents “Family”
Join a longtime classical music troupe at Miller Outdoor Theatre with a performance celebrating Houston’s diversity. “Family” opens ROCO’s season as part of the Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation In Concert Series. Expect a full 40-piece chamber orchestra led by artistic partner Mei-Ann Chen. Highlights include a world premiere piece by Michael Abels (composer for the Oscar-winning Get Out) featuring guitarist Mak Grgic; Hòa nhạc's folk song Bèo dạt mây trôi; Juan Pablo Contreras‘ Mariachitlán; and Beethoven's Symphony no. 5. 8 pm.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show at White Oak Music Hall
Rocky Horror is back in Houston with a live cast performance/all-ages show. Performed by CHAOS aka The Royal Mystic Order of Chaos, the Rocky Horror shadow-cast performed monthly at the River Oaks Theatre from 2012 until it closed its doors. The film and show is presented by Friends of River Oaks Theatre, the community-based nonprofit. Profits from the event will go toward rebooting the CHAOS cast, including buying new props and costumes for performances at the soon-to-reopen theater. As well as other programming efforts to preserve the River Oaks Theatre and keep it thriving as an arthouse cinema. 12:15 am.

Saturday, September 24

On the Water Boat & Outdoor Adventure Show
The first on-the-water boat show of its kind for Lake Conroe, with a full lineup of entertainment. This inaugural, two-day show will take place at Margaritaville Lake Resort, and admission is free. They will have over 30 boats, watercraft, powersports and more on display for preview. A battle-of-the-bands competition will be held on Saturday afternoon. As for Sunday, that’s family day! If you wanna spend the weekend hanging out on a boat – just like the Lonely Island and T-Pain! – here’s your chance. 10 am.

Sausagefest 2022
The Heights Odd Fellows Lodge’s annual festival of all things sausage returns. We’re talking sausage on a stick for $5, and a sausage plate with traditional fixings for only $15. Break out your lederhosen and dirndls for beer, sausage, music, fun, and gemütlichkeit. (For non-German speakers, Gemütlichkeit is a German word meaning a space or state of warmth, friendliness, and good cheer). The lodge has plenty of room for this celebration, and it will pop off rain or shine. Noon.

FotoFest Biennial 2022 Grand Opening
The grand opening of the FotoFest Biennial 2022 will feature the exhibitions "If I Had a Hammer" and "African Cosmologies: Redux." Visitors can meet the artists, curators, and team behind the Biennial while enjoying light bites, a cash bar, and music. They will also be among the first visitors to see artworks by artists who are redefining contemporary photographic and image-based art. There will be remarks by Biennial curators Steven Evans, Max Fields, and Amy Sadao, as well as artists featured in the exhibitions. Biennial books and limited-edition merchandise produced in conjunction with both "If I Had a Hammer" and "African Cosmologies" will be available for purchase on-site. 8 pm.

Stereo Live presents Kyle Watson: “My Machines”
South African DJ and producer Kyle Watson recently embarked on his new tour across the U.S. With the “My Machines” concept, Watson aims to tap into this expansive collection to develop a specially curated all-original set. Each show will feature a blend of selections that have remained exclusive to his collection throughout his tenure as an artist. Alongside the auditory component of the experience, Watson has put together a visual element and brand that echoes the concept of “My Machines.” Sponges will be the opening act. 10 pm.

Sunday, September 25

Houston Tidbits presents Fashion Farmers Market
Trusted lifestyle and fashion resource Houston Tidbits is bringing a major dose of style to north Houston’s City Place with its wildly popular market. Look for dozens of independent and sought-after Houston-based fashion and lifestyle vendors including Abner Hats, Bauble Bash, Carla Valencia, Confettees, Dos Margaritas Salsa, EDIT, Golden Thread, Independence Trading Post, Koco + Co, Margarita Mercantile, Meraki Wayuu, Mighty Aphrodity, Naked Natural, Saturday Silks, Sweet Elaine's Bakery, Tru Colors Gameday and more. Additionally, the event will serve as a showcase for an array of top, local wedding-related partners. Noon.

Julep Bar presents Bourbon Fest
In celebration of National Bourbon Heritage Month, Alba Huerta’s James Beard Award-winning bar Julep will host this festival, featuring tastings, cocktail lessons, light bites, and live music. The full menu will also be available for purchase. Guests are invited to taste a selection of house favorite bourbons including: Old Forester, Bulleit, Blade and Bow, Dickel, Wild Turkey and Longbranch. Ticket holders will also learn how to make classic bourbon cocktails and discuss all things mash bill and whiskey with Julep’s director of education Westin Galleymore. 4 pm.

FotoFest presents Performance: Ho Rui An: DASH
Opening with footage of an accident captured from a dashcam, DASH considers the convergence between crisis and accident within a risk-managed and financially hedged era. While the dashcam was designed to bear witness to the accidents that happen to the vehicle it was fitted for, its proliferation in recent years has inadvertently yielded a contemporary index of the accident in the vast accumulation of crash footage on the Internet. By probing what it means to move on from the accident, the lecture unravels the broader logic of “horizon scanning” that underpins the foresight programs of the Singapore government. 6 pm.

Movie Review

New Apple TV+ movie Blitz brings WWII London to life

Photo courtesy of Apple TV+

Elliott Heffernan and Saoirse Ronan in Blitz.

The horrors of World War II are 80-plus years in the past, yet they remain a fascination for many filmmakers. The latest film to tackle the era, Blitz, is centered around the German Blitzkrieg air raids on London in September 1940, but uses a more personal story to illustrate its impact.

Rita (Saoirse Ronan) lives with her 9-year-old son George (Elliott Heffernan) and her father Gerald (Paul Weller) in the lower class neighborhood of Stepney, but no one in the city is immune from the bombs being dropped by the Germans. The government has opened up some of the Underground (aka subway) tunnels for residents to use as bomb shelters, but the haphazard nature of their availability leads Rita to send George to safety in the countryside to protect him.

George, who is biracial, experiences racist abuse on the train, and instead of remaining with the other children to their destination, he jumps off and tries to make his way back to London. Meanwhile, Rita is doing her best to keep her mind off of George’s absence, working at a munition factory and volunteering at a bomb shelter, not knowing that George has put himself back in danger.

Written and directed by Steve McQueen, the film should be one that elicits emotions relatively easily, with ordinary people dealing with the effects of war and a mother separated from her only child. And while all the elements are present, there’s that certain something missing that leaves the story somewhat uninvolving. McQueen makes you want to see George make it back safely and for Rita to be reunited with him, but there is a degree of sentimentality that’s missing from the film as a whole.

Instead of going down that road, McQueen puts a big focus on the racism and bigotry experienced by various people in the film. Flashbacks give a sense of what George and his dad, Marcus (CJ Beckford), went through prior to the war, and Ife (Benjamin Clementine), a warden who tries to help George find his way home, encounters it multiple times while just doing his duty. While McQueen’s point that people of color still had to endure acts of hatred in a time when people should have been coming together, his methods of showing it are often heavy-handed.

Still, the film is well-made and remains visually engaging throughout. The combination of practical sets and CGI put the viewer right in the middle of the bombed-out London, and there are few missteps with how the city is presented. And even though the main mother-son story is only lightly effective, the trials and tribulations that each go through individually are interesting and occasionally suspenseful.

Ronan is a fantastic actor who might get nominated for an Oscar yet again for her other recent film, The Outrun, but this role pales in comparison. Whether it’s because the 30-year-old is a bit young to be fully believable in a mother role or because of the storytelling missteps, she’s merely good instead of great here. Heffernan does a solid job in his film debut, reacting ably to McQueen putting him through his paces.

Blitz joins the seemingly never-ending well of stories from World War II, and while it doesn’t succeed as mightily as other notable war films, it never becomes anything less than watchable. The family story at its center could have been more heartfelt, but McQueen is still a great filmmaker with a flair for visual composition.

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Blitz is now streaming on Apple TV+.

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