June 25
Jill Morley's True Confessions of a Go-Go Girl was a long-running underground smash in New York -- not least because Morley, a frustrated actress turned go-go dancer, bares (almost) all in the show, using her own boobs to lure hordes of the other sort. But True Confessions also attracts the non-boob crowd, because it defies the sleazy cliches and skin-game conventions of the contemporary tell-all; as one scribe put it, the show reveals Morley's body and soul. Don't be misled; there's enough skin in Go-Go Girl to garb a bull elephant, but it's no slimy Jerry Springer affair. Morley brings real depth to her tale about the shallow American dream, and proves herself a capable actress, storyteller and social critic. She parries the inevitable feminist thrust with the truism "the sex industry is the only industry where women get paid more than men," and spins a winning yarn about playing Charlie's Angels with her three best friends as a little girl (Morley always landed the role of Charlie's male assistant Bosley). Go-Go Girl is presented in conjunction with the Houston Fringe Theater Festival. Final performances are at 8 tonight and 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Theater LaB Houston, 1706 Alamo, 868-7516.
Friday
June 26
Pretty boy Johnny Depp apotheosized that hallucinatory old crank Hunter S. Thompson in Terry Gilliam's film version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; of course, Thompson was a hallucinatory young crank then. Official word arrived recently that Depp plans to tackle the role of Jack Kerouac in a big-screen adaptation of On the Road. (Who'll play Neal Casady -- Leo DiCaprio?) Those looking for insight into beat poetry's glory days, undistilled by matinee-idol worship, would be better served perusing the works of experimental filmmaker/videographer/photographer Robert Frank, whose first movie, the 1959 short Pull My Daisy, was a filmic translation of Kerouac's play The Beat Generation that included narration by the king of the beats and appearances by Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky and Gregory Corso. The lovers Ginsberg and Orlovsky turned up again in Frank's mind-blowing masterwork Me and My Brother, a truly hallucinatory feature-length piece released a decade later. Brother is a witches' brew of cinema verite and dramaturgy, featuring acidic shifts between color and black and white and real and mock time, several scenes co-scripted by Frank and Sam Shepard and a central premise involving Orlovsky's catatonic sibling Julius -- fresh from the loony bin. A restored print, re-edited by Frank in memory of the late Ginsberg, screens at 7:30 tonight and Saturday. The Museum of Fine Arts, 1001 Bissonnet. Info: 639-7515. $5.
"Pumped Up on Art" and the Pride Parade are the final major events of the Houston Lesbian and Gay Pride 1998 fest, which continues through July 5 with a slate of lesser activities (see Events in Calendar for the rest of this week's plans). Autographed footwear of the famous, near-famous and infamous -- personalities such as Janet Leigh, Victoria Principal, Phyllis Diller, Lisa Kudrow and Connie Sellecca -- is on the block at the "Pumped Up" auction, set for 7 tonight at the 711 William Street Gallery (711 William Street, 227-0408). Admission is a $10 donation; proceeds benefit the Pride Committee of Houston. Last year's Pride Parade was North America's first after-dark alternative-lifestyle procession, and the 1998 version also trips the night light fantastic; it's scheduled for 9 to 11 p.m. Saturday on Westheimer between Ridgewood and Taft. Info: 529-6979; www.pridehouston.org.
Saturday
June 27
Not About Nightingales was penned in 1938 by Tennessee Williams, then age 27. The flawed but worthy drama is about a prison riot in Philadelphia -- and the retribution, unto death, wreaked upon its ringleaders. This production represents the play's world premiere, this particular staging its U.S. debut. Directed by Trevor Nunn of London's Royal National Theatre, it stars James Black of Houston's Alley Theatre and Britain's Corin Redgrave, brother of the actresses Vanessa and Lynn and son of the equally renowned actor Sir Michael. Today's performances are at 2:30 and 8 p.m. (for the rest of this week's showtimes, see page 63). Through July 3. The Aerial Theater at Bayou Place, 520 Texas, 230-1600. $35 and $37 (tix: 228-8421).
Several Dancers Core artistic director Sue Schroeder and musician Todd Hammes of the Tucson Institute of Percussion spent two years fine-tuning their collaboration remembering, an exploration of "the nature of memory and how it affects daily life." SDC's CORE Performance Company presents the world premiere in conjunction with the Summer Dance Festival. 8 tonight; 3 p.m. Sunday. The Jewish Community Center, 5601 South Braeswood. Info: 729-3200, extension 3223. $12; $7 for students and seniors (tix: 551-7255).
Sunday
June 28
The Combined Southwest Foodservice Expo and Southwest Supermarket and Convenience Store Expo -- there's a mouthful. But the unfortunately titled culinary extravaganza's not nearly as prosaic as it sounds. Highlights include demos by noted gourmets Enola Prudhomme and Jay McCarthy, plus the Southwest Seafood Cook-Off and the "Southwest's Best Beef Chef" competition. Enola, the sister of renowned chef Paul Prudhomme, is the owner of Enola Prudhomme's Cajun Cafe in Washington, Louisiana, and the creator of an alchemical strain of low-fat Cajun cooking. San Antonio-based McCarthy is currently whipping up world-class delights at the Havana Riverwalk Inn. Fun with food. Today through Tuesday. The George R. Brown Convention Center, 1001 Avenida de las Americas, 853-8000. More info: (800) 395-2872.
Monday
June 29
Led by last year's league MVP Cynthia Cooper and her fellow guard Sheryl Swoopes, the Houston Comets continue their pursuit of a second WNBA crown with a game against the Washington Mystics. 7:30 p.m. Compaq Center, 10 Greenway Plaza. Info: 627-WNBA. $8 to $38 (Ticketmaster: 629-3700).
Tuesday
June 30
Raised in Houston, Rick Bass was once part of the problem. But the reformed petroleum geologist has evolved into a solution-seeking activist -- not to mention one of the young lions of nature writing. Now based in Yaak Valley, Montana, Bass has backed up the often-outspoken words he's written in books like The Lost Grizzlies, The Ninemile Wolves and The Sky, the Stars, the Wilderness with serious action in the realms of environmental and animal conservation. Says Bass, "Activism takes time away from art, but so does anxiety. Engagement in political struggles is not a healthy choice for many of us ... but there would be turmoil if I didn't try." Bass reads from his first full-length novel, Where the Sea Used to Be, at 7 p.m. Brazos Bookstore, 2421 Bissonnet, 523-0701. Free.
The "Dialogue: Racism" Summer Film Series, sponsored by the Center for the Healing of Racism, opens at 7 tonight with Viva la Causa: 500 Years of Chicano History, a video based on Elizabeth Martinez's book 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures. The screening/discussion forum continues through July 29 at various locations. Viva unspools at the Trinity United Methodist Church, 2600 Holman. Info: 520-8226. Free.
Wednesday
July 1
Ray Hill has crafted a cottage industry out of rabble-rousing, be it for gay rights, prison reform or the preservation of topless bars and smut stands. Ray Hill, the Prison Years, a revival of the one-man show by the burglar-turned-activist, includes Hill's thoughts about "prison life, the 'system' and [his] run-ins with Houston's finest." 8 p.m. The Little Room Downstairs, 2326 Bissonnet, 523-0791. $10.