Today is one of the stranger national holidays: It’s National Transfer Money to Your Daughter Day. We say celebrate the spirit of the day by surprising a friend or family member with a little monetary surprise or, better yet, invite them out to join you at one of this week’s best bets. (And yes, cover the cost. Or not, it’s up to you.) Keep reading for the best of live music, art, festivals, and more in the coming week.
Where can you find pastitsio, spanakopita, and souvlaki? And baklava, kourambiedes, and loukoumades for dessert? It’s at The Original Greek Festival, a Houston tradition for more than 50 years which returns to the grounds of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral on Thursday, October 6. Before or after stuffing your face, we also recommend taking a tour of the cathedral, sitting down to enjoy a program of live Greek dancing, and seeking out their mascot, Mr. OPA, for a photo. The Original Greek Festival is scheduled for 5 to 10 p.m. on Thursday, October 6, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, October 7, and Saturday, October 8 at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Adult tickets can be purchased at the gate for $5, children 12 and under are free, and admission is also free on Friday, October 7, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Beth Stelling once. You may know Stelling from late-night appearances on Conan or maybe Jimmy Kimmel Live. Or maybe you saw her on Comedy Central or Netflix, or caught her 2020 HBO Max special, Girl Daddy, where “she takes on and tackles all the boys in comedy and the ex-boyfriends in her life by reframing the language of sexual politics through well-crafted zingers.” But did you know she once went to Bernie Sanders’s house with Sarah Silverman for sledding and cocoa? If you’re not familiar with Stelling at all, we’re here to tell you that “she’s been one of the funniest comedians around for years,” someone “able to put a personal and hilarious spin on universal insecurities and indignities,” and she will be at The Secret Group on Thursday, October 6, at 8 p.m. Doors will open at 7 p.m. for the 18-and-up comedy show, and tickets can be purchased here for $29.50.
The next time you find yourself looking into your closet and asking if a particular item “sparks joy,” embarrassing yourself playing Pokémon Go, or asking yourself how exactly did Hello Kitty “conquer the world,” you should stop and thank Japan. And if you’re looking for another way to celebrate all that Japan has gifted to popular culture, you should make your way down to The Hardy & Nance Studios on Friday, October 7, at 7 p.m. when Insomnia Gallery presents Big In Japan: A Tribute to the Art and Culture. The all-ages-welcome, free art show will feature local Houston artists displaying work that is sure to touch on all the aspects of Japanese culture you love, from anime and manga to kaiju and, yes, Hello Kitty. Eureka Heights Brew Co. will be on hand to provide the drinks, and cosplay is most definitely encouraged.
Lauren Anderson’s legacy is like no other. One of the very first Black principal ballerinas at a major ballet house in the United States (and the very first Black dancer to be promoted to principal here at the Houston Ballet), today Anderson’s pointe shoes sit in the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History & Culture and she can claim her very own day, Lauren Anderson Day, as proclaimed by the City of Houston. And this Friday, October 7, at 7:30 p.m. Stages will world premiere Plumshuga: The Rise of Lauren Anderson, a theatrical choreopoem written by Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton that will allow audiences to hear Anderson’s story, in her own words, for the first time. The fourth wall-breaking work includes original music and choreography from the Houston Ballet’s artistic director, Stanton Welch, and the founder and director of Urban Souls, Harrison Guy. Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Sundays. You can purchase tickets here for $30 to $84.
One of Houston’s favorite arts festivals returns Downtown on Saturday, October 8, and Sunday, October 9, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: It’s the 50th Annual Bayou City Art Festival, produced by Art Colony Association, Inc. The festival includes an outdoor gallery – where guests can view artwork from 250 artists across 19 disciplines, meet the artists themselves and purchase a piece to take home – alongside two stages of entertainment, an Active Imagination Zone, a new Collegiate Art Collective, a food truck park, wine and craft beer gardens, and a new culinary art and tasting experience with six Houston chefs. Cindy Olmes, this year’s featured artist, moves between decorative art paper and acrylic paint, which she says is reminiscent of how our lives are built. “We are just all these levels and layers of our experiences over the years of the back and the forth, of the good and the bad, and it’s what makes us who we are.” Tickets are $18 for adults and $5 for children 6 to twelve, with children under five free and must be purchased in advance here.
On Saturday, October 8, at 7:30 p.m. Mercury Chamber Orchestra will open their season with Love’s Philosophy at the Wortham Center. Of course love is on the program in the form of the fourth movement, the adagietto, from Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, “a love note disguised as a musical manuscript” for his future wife, Alma and Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade after Plato’s Symposium, for which “the music, like [Plato’s] dialogue, is a series of related statements in praise of love.” Philosophy appears in Charles Ives’s The Unanswered Question, “aptly described as a piece of philosophy expressed in music,” and Franz Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 22, also known as “The Philosopher,” which is considered one of “the five symphonies that changed music.” Ticket can be purchased here for $10 to $76, or you can enjoy the program from home by buying virtual access here for $20.
Kinetic, Houston’s conductorless, artist-led ensemble, will open their 2022-2023 season with a nature-inspired program at 6 p.m. on Sunday, October 9, at The MATCH. The Wilderness Anthology includes two world premieres – Nicky Sohn’s Winter Storm Uri-inspired “What Happens When Pipes Burst?” and Patrick Harlin’s titular The Wilderness Anthology, which pairs live performance with soundscapes pre-recorded in the Amazon rainforest and the Book Cliffs – the “the overwhelming and expressive melodiousness” of Leó Weiner’s 1938 Pastorale, Phantasy et Fugue, and the first Houston performance of Paul Novak’s “a string quartet is like a flock of birds.” The piece, “structured in nine meditations and dances, alternating between somber, reflective music and a fast, animated celebrations,” was commissioned by Kinetic in 2020, and captures “the joyful spirit of coming together and making music again after a long period of isolation.” Tickets can be purchased here for $30 and a reception will follow the program.
You may know Maggie O’Farrell, only “one of the most exciting novelists alive,” from Hamnet, her bestselling novel (and soon-to-be movie) which imagines the aftermath following the death of William Shakespeare’s 11-year-old son on the famous playwright and his wife. On Monday, October 10, at 7:30 p.m. Inprint will welcome O’Farrell to the University of Houston’s Cullen Performance Hall as part of the 2022/2023 Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series for a reading from her new novel, The Marriage Portrait, which “drops us into the panicked mind of a teenage girl who knows her husband is plotting to kill her.” O’Farrell will join Maggie Galehouse in conversation followed by a book sale and signing. General admission tickets can be purchased here for $30 and include a signed hardcover copy of The Marriage Portrait. The event will also be rebroadcast on Thursday, October 13, at 7:30 p.m. and tickets for the rebroadcast can be found here.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2022.
