It's Super Bowl weekend, which means you need some prime BBQ. If that's not your thing, Barry Manilow, Travis Linville and Londale offer some musical escape.
He writes the songs
Barry Manilow has appeared ageless for decades now. But the beloved crooner has decided, at 74, to call it a career as a touring artist. Manilow has never really veered from the path of making lush vocal pop, so don't expect much in the way of curveballs here. He'll likely pull a few songs from last year's "This Is My Town: Songs of New York," but more from that period between 1974 and 1983, when he put 25 songs in the Top 40.
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Smart Financial Centre, 18111 Lexington Blvd., Sugar Land
Details: $59-$249; 281-207-6278, smartfinancialcentre.com
Andrew Dansby
Musical Aid
One of last year's great shows, that too few saw, was a set by Travis Linville, a talented singer-songwriter who has spent much of his time helping other people like John Fullbright and Hayes Carll sound better. He's made several albums of his own, all in the rough-hewn Americana-type sphere, including his latest and best, "Up Ahead."
When: 7 p.m. Thursday Where: McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk Details: $22; 713-528-5999, mcgonigels.com
Andrew Dansby
Courtesy photo
Country Caruso
Country-music great Johnny Bush hasn't played a hometown show in what seems like ages. At 82, the Country Caruso and author of "Whiskey River" has an unreleased collaborative album with Willie Nelson and Ray Price in the can, and is plugging his latest, last year's "The Absolute Johnny Bush."
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Main Street Crossing, 111 W. Main, Tomball
Details: $30-$45; 281-290-0431, mainstreetcrossing.com
Andrew Dansby
Johnny Bush
All the news that fits
Joe Hagan ruffled some feathers last year with the publication of "Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine." The book relied on hundreds of hours of interviews with Wenner, who co-founded the influential magazine, as well as friends and frenemies, who all tell the story of a counter-culture rag that became a pop-culture cog. Hagan will read and sign "Sticky Fingers." Also appearing will be writer Samantha, who just published her first story collection, "The Dark Dark."
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Brazos Bookstore, 2421 Bissonnet
Details: free; brazosbookstore.com
Andrew Dansby
sb
BBQ & Super Bowl = Awesome
The fourth annual Super Beef Sunday, organized by the founders of the Houston Barbecue Festival at Saint Arnold brewery, will feature beer and unlimited samples of barbecue from the likes of Pinkerton's Barbecue, Harlem Road Texas BBQ and Louie Mueller Barbecue of Taylor. Bonus: When you buy a ticket, you will have the chance to pre-order Louie Mueller's whole brisket ($100) and beef ribs ($75 for three) for pickup at the event to take with you to wherever your Super Bowl merriment leads you next.
When: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Saint Arnold Brewing Co.
Details: $50; saintarnold.com/super-beef-sunday
Greg Morago
Chuck Cook
Must see "In(di)visible"
The Station Museum tackles issues of immigration, war, assimilation and invisibility from the viewpoint of 12 Asian-American artists with the new exhibition "in(di)visible." Houston-born legend Mel Chin leads the deep pool of talent from across the U.S. whose mediums range from photography and new media to painting, sculpture, installations and performance. Hong-Ân Truong and Huong Ngô perform their interrogation-inspired "AND AND AND" Sunday. The show remains up through April 22.
When: 7-10 p.m. Saturday
Where: Station Museum of Contemporary Art, 1502 Alabama
Details: Free; 713-529-6900, stationmuseum.com
Molly Glentzer
Courtesy of the artist
Sad sounds good
Houston's rootsy rock band Londale has undergone a little bit of a personnel change but remains anchored by singer and guitarist Willy Collins and guitarist Josh Hammond. They make the sad stuff sound good on the new "It's a Different World" EP, which serves as something to hold over fans until the group wraps work on its third album.
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Continental Club, 3700 Main
Details: $8; 713-529-9899, continentalclub.com
Andrew Dansby
courtesy photo
High, and low, art
Moody Center for the Arts opens its season with three exhibitions that bounce from low-tech to very, very high. Josiah McElheny's big-bang inspired installation, "Island Universe," will fill the Brown Foundation Gallery. "Pile the Wood High!" will bring sculpture, drawing and collage by Anna Helm, Lisa Lapinski and Hirsch Perlman to the Central Gallery. Leo Villareal's immersive installation, "Particle Chamber," in the Media Arts Gallery, utilizes the latest projection technology to create dynamic points of light across a hemisphere of screens.
When: 6-8 p.m. Friday Where: Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University Details: Free; 713-3478-2787; moody.rice.edu
Molly Glentzer
Todd-White Art Photography, London
Find the "rainbow"
Anyone who thinks theater is safe, old, white, conservative and male-oriented should experience Ntozake Shange's (pictured) seminal poem-meets-theatrical-experience, "for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf." Presented as a series of poems from the perspective of seven African-American women, the piece is opposite of all of those aforementioned adjectives. Obsidian Theater, one of Houston's more inclusive small theater companies, has a production starring Esteé Burks, Sonya D. Gooden and others.
When: 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, through Feb. 17
Where: Obsidian Theater, 3522 White Oak
Details: $28 adults, $20 students; 832-889-7837, obsidiantheater.org.
Wei-Huan Chen
Frederic Larson/Staff
