Among the many treasures (we use that word loosely) found on YouTube are clips of Showbiz Pizza’s entertaining animatronics, which were popular decades ago. In the restaurants, the robotic animals, mostly bears dressed in high school garb, were on timers, and every few minutes, they automatically whacked away at their guitars and drums, while a kid’s version of rock music blared over the loudspeakers. Twenty years later, a small-town DJ resurrected a set of Rock-afire musicians, reworked their insides a bit and started putting clips of the resulting performances online. Houston filmmakers Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb screen and discuss their documentary The Rock-afire Explosion today. It’s a look at the history of the furry rockers and the cult following that’s now grown up around them. 8 p.m. Orange Show, 2402 Munger. For information, visit www.orangeshow.org. $10.
Fri., Dec. 4, 8 p.m., 2009
This article appears in Dec 3-9, 2009.