Here's to Hope

WED 12/1

Jane Weiner of Hope Stone Dance remembers a time when red ribbons were everywhere;
nowadays, they seem positively retro. AIDS, unfortunately, is not. So on World
AIDS Day, Weiner is joining nine other area groups for Illumination Project
2004, which she calls “a little bit of a memorial service and also a service
of hope.” The performance features a veritable who’s who of Houston acts, ranging
from Houston Ballet and Stages Repertory Theatre to the Houston Gay Men’s Choir
and Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. Contemporary ballet will blend into song, performance
art will give way to modern dance, and the show will culminate in a candle-lighting
ceremony to honor those lost to AIDS.

This is the event’s third year, and its first at the Hobby Center, which donated
everything from the stage to printed invitations, leaving the proceeds to the
Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative and Bering Omega Community Services.
Light a candle for the cause at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, December 1. Zilkha Hall
at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby. For information, call
713-315-2525 or visit www.thehobbycenter.org.
$35 to $60 per couple; $25 donation for memory candles. — Julia Ramey

Paint Your Cranberries Blue

THU 11/25

The folks at Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar know it’s tryptophan — the chemical
in turkey — that brings most folks down on Thanksgiving. But a certain section
of the population was born with the blues, and ain’t nothing gonna cure ’em.
And so each year, the venerable Dan Electro Thursday Night Turkey Jam continues.
In case you’ve somehow managed to avoid getting stuffed fuller than B.B. King,
there’s even a buffet. Hell, only a stodgy Puritan would cluck in disapproval
as the hot, wailing licks of Houston’s least family-oriented bluesmen and women
take their place alongside cranberry sauce and other pilgrim-esque delights.
Consider tonight your best chance to simultaneously count your blessings and
wallow in self-pity. 9:30 p.m. Thursday, November 25. 1031 East 24th Street.
For information, call 713-862-8707 or visit www.danelectrosguitarbar.com.
Free. — Scott Faingold

Holiday Debt

It’s the only holiday story as familiar as the one about the birth of that
Christ kid. Seeing the Alley Theatre’s annual lavish production of A Christmas
Carol is practically a Houston rite of passage. But when the 32-year-old
Charles Dickens published the original story in 1843, it wasn’t necessarily
to create a major literary legacy — the author essentially tossed off the story
to help repay his growing debt. If necessity is the mother of invention, those
Victorian loan sharks can claim parentage to Humbuggers as diverse as George
C. Scott, Michael Caine and Mr. Magoo. Opens Friday, November 26, and runs through
December 26. 615 Texas. For information, call 713-228-8421 or visit www.alleytheatre.org.
$37 to $50. — Bob Ruggiero

Party Animal

What does one do when anointed the No. 1 Partier in the Nation by Rolling Stone? After the lifetime supply of free Jell-O shots, perhaps nothing. But in 1997, Bert Kreischer, whom RS discovered while covering Florida State University’s party scene, parlayed his buzz into a respectable comedy career. Will he go frat boy and run naked onstage at his shows? Take a peek from Thursday, November 25, through Saturday, November 27. The Laff Stop, 1952 West Gray. For information and showtimes, call 713-524-2333 or visit www.laffstop.com. $15 to $19. — Steven Devadanam