The Herbal List — The Best of This Week’s Events
Beep beep! Toot toot! It’s almost the weekend again and here is another week’s worth of (mostly free and family-friendly) things to do.
[Edit: Dykon Fagatron has moved from the Crocker Bar to the Pearl Side Bar at 4216 Washington Avenue. Please make note of the new location.]
[UPDATE: How could I forget about the Houston Iranian Film Festival?!? Lots of great films to choose from there, every day of the week.]
Thursday, January 28
MissDirection LP Release Party — Local rapper Lyric Michelle has been getting a lot of well-deserved attention lately. Come out to her debut LP release party, where she’ll be joined by a live band featuring Kam Franklin, Kitty Beebe, Jack Freeman, Ashley Toman, Suraiye and more. DO NOT MISS THIS. In the meantime, here’s a link to her SoundCloud. $10, Walter’s Downtown, 8 pm.
CJ Boyd, Miss Sandy, Miss YET, and Ak’chamel at Khon’s — CJ Boyd is truly an alchemist who purports to stop time with his upright bass (and loops and samples). He has been on perpetual tour since 2024, and tonight, he returns to Houston where he’ll share the stage with locals Miss Sandy (guitar) & Miss YET (bellydancing) and the new band that seems to be playing everywhere all the time, Ak’chamel. $5, Khon’s, 9 pm.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off — Discovery Green’s “Screen on the Green” presents this 1980s classic this week. Discovery Green, 7 - 8:30 pm. FREE.
Becky’s New Car — Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company presents this play by Stephen Dietz. Becky Foster is a woman caught between middle age, middle management and a middling marriage until one night when a grieving millionaire happens into the car dealership where she works and offers her a chance at a wild ride into a new life. Studio 101, $20, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm (with pay what you can performances on Mondays) through February 6.
Friday, January 29
Danh Vo in conversation with David Breslin — Artist Danh Vo’s family was US-bound when they fled Vietnam in 1979, but they ended up in Denmark, instead. His best known piece, We the People, is a full-scale (1:1) replica of the Statue of Liberty in 250 pieces (thus abstracted) and displayed on the ground allowing viewers to approach them from different perspectives. (Ever wonder what the inside of Lady Liberty’s big toe looks like?) I first stumbled upon the piece at the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris and then again in City Hall Park whilst tripping at sunrise in New York City. The piece evokes so many thoughts about migration, liberty, fragmentation, and history…I could meditate on it for a good while. 7 pm at the Menil Collection, FREE.
Payday Lenders — Pablo Cardoza of Cardoza Fine Art is hands down the best art dealer in Houston. The man truly has his finger on the pulse, and to celebrate his move into a new gallery space, he has assembled a group show of the most compelling artists working in Houston at this moment: Mark Flood, Paul Kremer, Alika Herreshoff, Chris Cascio, Angel Oloshove, Guillaume Gelot, Lane Hagood, Melinda Laszczynski, John Champion, Darcy Rosenberger, Dylan Roberts, Edgar Meza, Katie Mulholland, James Burns, Chris Henry, Emily Peacock, Brandon Araujo, Bret Shirley, Michael Abramowitz, and Dual. Cardoza Fine Art (now at 805A Willam 77002, just around the corner from the old location), 7-10 pm, FREE.
Legislate This! — Dem Damn Dames present a burlesque fundraiser for Planned Parenthood. Numbers, 7-10 pm, $20.
Cheap Date: A $20 Art Show — Another group show featuring many of Houston’s finest, with no piece over $20. Catacomb, 7 pm, FREE.
Enter the Dragon — Bruce Lee’s masterpiece is the midnight movie on Friday and Saturday nights this week! River Oaks Theater, 12 am.
Saturday, January 30
Museum Experience Day — There’s a ton of stuff happening around the Menil campus, including the Houston Center for Photography (and probably the Sicardi Gallery across the street, to boot). It’s supposed to be another gorgeous “winter” day, too. Check the event page for details. 1-6 pm, FREE.
Houston Creole Heritage Festival — Start gearing up for Mardi Gras with this parade and festival. Band schedule here. 9 am - 10 pm, Discovery Green, $10.
Autumn Knight: Wall — Autumn Night presents a series of performed sound, rituals, and actions used to re-imagine the concept of the Wailing Wall — a religious prayer site in Jerusalem — and the Galveston Seawall — a ten mile long hurricane barrier located in the city – as psychological, spiritual, and embodied places. Contemporary Art Museum of Houston, 3 pm, FREE.
Performance Art Workshop — I clown performance art, a lot…because a lot of what passes for performance art deserves to be clowned. (2013’s Italian film The Great Beauty has a killer series of running gags on performance art.) That said, Julia Clare is a performance artist I take seriously, going back to her 2024 flashmob dance intervention sexyATTACK, so I wholeheartedly endorse Clare’s workshop at Notsuoh on Saturday. 4-7 pm, Notsuoh, $15 in advance or $20 on the day of (with scholarships available).
Three Exhibitions Opening — Box 13, 7-9 pm, FREE.
Dykon Fagatron — The funnest dance party in town celebrates its one year anniversary and a move to a new location this Saturday. 10 pm - 2 am, now at Pearl Side Bar, FREE.
Sunday, January 31
I got nothin. Read a book or catch up on the Serial podcasts or go for a bike ride or turn your compost or something.
Monday, February 1
Go see Glover Gill play solo tango piano at the Continental Club for Free. Or
Go see They, Who Sound at Avant Garden for the best in local avant garde improvisational music (possibly with Nestor’s pizza oven in action). Or
Go to the Monday Night Jazz Jam at Cafe 4212. Or
Have a pizza and a frozen mojito and shake your booty at the Flat.
JUST ADDED: Robin Coste Lewis reading at the El Dorado Ballroom — Come hear the incredible Robin Coste Lewis (and Adrienne Perry) at the Eldorado Ballroom at 2310 Elgin Street. When Adrienne and I started talking about bringing her to Houston almost a year ago, she had just come out with her first book, and we were both fans of hers. Now she has a lot more fans, since she just won the National Book Award for 2024. Her book Voyage of the Sable Venus is a meditation on the cultural depiction of the black female figure in the history of art and in lived experience. It is an amazing, critical book.
Tuesday, February 2
The Idea Fund Grantees Reception — Come hear about the latest round of Idea Fund projects. Cafe Brasil, 6:30 - 8:30 pm, FREE.
