The Fourth of July falls on a Tuesday this year and, if you’re not careful, the long weekend might just put a hole in your wallet. Luckily, there’s plenty to keep you boredom-free at a budget-friendly rate, from a night of indie rock at Rudyard’s to classical at Miller Outdoor Theatre, a couple of art exhibits, some good books and even the not-so-ancient art of air sex (!) at The Secret Group. Keep reading for ten of our favorite events that won't cost you more than $10 — and seven of them are free! Check out the
Houston Press calendar for even more things to do.
click to enlarge Mansfield Park, the 1999 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1814 novel, screens as part of the Summer of Austen.
Mural by Jade Young (Jade O'Lantern)/Courtesy of Brazos Bookstore
Mansfield Park
Rice Cinema
7 p.m. Thursday, free
Based on arguably Jane Austen’s most polarizing novel, Patricia Rozema’s 1999 dramedy starring Frances O’Connor as heroine Fanny Price and
Elementary star Jonny Lee Miller as her love interest Edmund is a complex take that brings subtextual and background elements (like slavery and gender-based hypocrisy) to the fore and incorporates Austen’s own writing into Fanny’s dialogue to create a film Roger Ebert called “uncommonly intelligent.”
Mansfield Park, screening as part of Brazos Bookstore’s Summer of Austen, commemorating the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death, may seem to diverge from the original text, but the end product may be closer to Austen’s values than it appears.
click to enlarge Austin's Missing Pages plays Rudyard's with Winter, Tee Vee and Cleen Teens.
Photo by Ángel Delgado-Reyes
Missing Pages, Winter, Tee Vee and Cleen Teens
Rudyard’s British Pub
8 p.m. Thursday, $8
Missing Pages, a newish alt-rock four-piece straight outta Austin (with Sweet Talk's Stephen Svacina, Slow’s Garrick Thurston and Ali Copeland and Gabriel Pastura of ¿Que Pasa?) takes the stage at Rudyard’s tonight with L.A.-based Samira Winter’s four-piece dream pop band, Winter; Tee Vee, the electro-pop alter ego of Rose Ette’s Teresa Vicinanza; and local staple Cleen Teens. The show, presented by Wallflower Records, promises to be something special – just check out Missing Pages’ “
Long Way Down,” Tee Vee’s “
Angel Eyes” or Winter’s “
All The Things You Do” for an idea. Note: This one is 21 and up only, please.
click to enlarge Christopher Farnsworth’s mind reader with a very special skill set, John Smith, returns in Flashmob.
Author photo by Daniel Reichert
Flashmob book signing
Murder By The Book
6:30 p.m. Friday, free
Farnsworth's mind-reading John Smith, a former special ops agent first introduced in 2016’s
Killfile, returns in
Flashmob to take on the mastermind behind Downvote, a dark website that targets different people for death through social media. Though these days Smith is essentially a gun for hire to the highest bidder, Downvote’s latest victim, a reality TV star gunned down at her own wedding, makes the case personal for Smith, as he previously saved her from a kidnapping. The investigation takes Smith around the world in a book
Publishers Weekly calls “brilliant” and about which it says “[m]any will want to read this novel in one sitting.”
click to enlarge The work of Azerbaijani artist Makhmud Makhmudzade is on display this summer at the Russian Cultural Center – Our Texas.
Art by Makhmud Makhmudzade
“My Stories” opening reception
Russian Cultural Center - Our Texas
7:30 p.m. Friday, free
Following Maksim Koloskov’s “This is Houston. Pages From My Sketchbook” exhibit of ink and watercolor drawings of the city, the Russian Cultural Center – Our Texas opens “My Stories” from Azerbaijani artist Makhmud Makhmudzade. Makhmudzade was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and raised in Algeria before returning to Azerbaijan, where he studied at Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts. He currently lives in Baku and is often inspired by his surrounding environment, like the Caspian Sea. Admission is free, all artworks on view are available for sale, and wine will be served at the opening reception. “My Stories” will be on display until August 31.
click to enlarge Glinka, Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn are on the program when the Houston Symphony returns to Miller Outdoor Theatre for their summer concert series.
Photo by Jeff Fitlow
Tchaikovsky & Mendelssohn
Miller Outdoor Theatre
8:30 p.m. Friday, free
Though his opera was poorly received and rarely staged outside of Russia, Mikhail Glinka’s Overture to
Ruslan and Ludmila is often called a “curtain-raiser” and will open the program when the Houston Symphony returns to Miller Outdoor Theatre, led by Conductor Ben Gernon. Pianist George Li joins in for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, quick to become a staple of the 19th-century piano repertoire upon its premiere despite being savaged by the great pianist Nikolai Rubinstein in 1874, before the program closes with Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 1, his first symphony written after he turned pro at the ripe old age of 15.