Press Picks

thursday
march 30
Seventh Annual Senior Olympics There's a lot of talk about how seeing hot babes on MTV and the cover of Cosmo is bad for women's self-image. Little talk-show time, however, is devoted to discussing how like a genuine wart hog many teens and twentysomethings feel when they see 75-year-old women kicking ass in competitive sports. If you're young, and need your ego bumped down a peg or two, check out the senior games. Or, if you're young and want something to look forward to, check out the senior games. A thousand or more local senior citizens will compete in everything from bowling to ballroom dancing at 11 venues around town (and one in College Station; the triathlon will be held at Texas A&M). Opening ceremonies, with torches and songs and all the rest, 7:30 p.m. Jewish Community Center, 5601 South Braeswood. Games through April 6. For details, call 551-7250.

The Quilt The NAMES Project Houston sponsors this display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Those who've lost a loved one to AIDS might want to stitch up a panel for the quilt. Those who want to stitch up a panel for the quilt but haven't the first idea how to go about such a project can get help from volunteers at 52-NAMES. The quilt goes on display at noon. Opening ceremonies will be at 6 p.m. George R. Brown Convention Center, 1001 Avenida de las Americas. Free.

friday
march 31
Open studios No way can we list all the artists who will be guiding people through their homes and workspaces this weekend and next -- there are 96 artists participating. All kinds of artists. At the opening reception, members of the public can decide whose studios they would like to tour by making a tour of the 24-inch-by-24-inch representative exhibitions each artist has set up. Artists have set up photographs, resumes and maybe some small works in their spaces. Tours through 42 studios west of Montrose 10 a.m.-5 p.m. this weekend. Reception tonight, 6-8 p.m. Lawndale Art & Performance Center, 4912 Main, 528-5858. Free, $2 for a map of the artists' studios.

BuzzFest Last year's BuzzFest was, according to the no doubt perfectly objective people who ran the thing, "two nights of blissful sensory overload." So blissful in fact that they decided to do the thing all over again today and tomorrow. All kinds of high tech experimental music and multimedia and worse will run for two long nights at the Commerce Street Art Warehouse. Research and development teams from Static Ecstasy, one of the featured bands, as well as organizers from the warehouse promise endless flickering image experiments in the video installation and the "best sound ever at CSAW (since the last BuzzFest)." Saturday's battle of the ambient bands is the big show; the focus today is space, acid jazz, acoustic and percussion sounds. Doors open at 9 p.m. and close much later than your parents would like. Unless, that is, your parents are interested in coming along. Music starts at 10 p.m. Commerce Street Art Warehouse, 2315 Commerce Street, 255-5527. $5.

eMCee The intercultural, international performance art team of Matthew and Cynthia Cupach aren't quite up to the standards of a three-a-day vaudeville team, but they're still hard-working people in show business. This evening's show is a one-time only, "gorilla performance art" (their term) presentation called "Vegetable One." If you missed 'em at Rich's last month, step on out to see this "lite-black comedy" about "vegetables, vegetarians, food preparation and botanical pain." 8 p.m. Brasil Gallery, 2604 Dunlavy. For info, call (800) 764-8120, then press 7458. $3.

saturday
april 1
April Fool's Day at the Children's Museum Whole lot going on today. On the serious side, we've got a Families First workshop on what happens to kids who watch too much TV. "Media Awareness in the Home" runs from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and pre-registration is required. The program is $10, and child care is available at $5 a head. For kids who aren't in care, there's foolishness. Kids from six to 12, kids who are always being chided for being comedians or smart-mouths can strut their stuff on-stage. There'll be two sessions for jokes and funny stories, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and 3-4 p.m. At the end of the afternoon, lauded local poets Edward Hirsch, Richard Howard, Cynthia Macdonald and Sharon Olds will read Emily Dickinson poetry. This program is called "A Certain Slant of Light," but they may go on to "After Great Pain a Formal Feeling Comes," "The Heart Asks Pleasure -- First" or even "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass." You know, for the kids. Poetry at 5 p.m. for $5. The Children's Museum, 1500 Binz, 522-1138. $5 general admission, $3 after 5 p.m.

KTRU outdoor concert Rice-heads and other music lovers will beat their Birkenstocks on the chipped pavement of the Rice Stadium parking lot. Bob, from Atlanta (not to be confused with The Bobs who play in Beantown), and Lump, from New Orleans, are the out-of-state acts. de Schmog plays midway through the show and we hope, we hope fervently, that Willis will make a surprise appearance. This seems unlikely -- for some reason, Willis and de Schmog are never seen in the same place -- but it would be great to see one of the greatest glam/cock-rock bands that never was. Willis or no, the show closes with Alejandro Escovedo. Escovedo started out a punk in San Francisco, then he morphed into a cow-punk (a soulful, craftsman sort of cow-punk) and now he's widely hailed as one of Austin's finest young singer/songwriters. He'll go on around 7, or 7:30 or maybe 8 p.m. The whole concert runs from noon-9 p.m. Rice University, Rice Stadium parking lot (entrance no. 13 off Rice Boulevard), 527-4050. In case of rain, concert at The Abyss on Washington. Free.