Hosting Super Bowl LI was a blast, but now that all the looky loos have gone home, the price-gouging can come to an end. Food truck fare for $12.50, Uber's surge pricing and $30 to park at "Discovery Green-adjacent" just won't work for those on a budget. What does work is this week's eclectic lineup of film, dance, visual arts and music. Keep reading for ten of our favorite events that won't cost you more than $10 — and six of them are free! Check out the Houston Press calendar for even more things to do.
Walley Films: Watching Artists Work
Rice University Art Gallery
5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, free
For more than 20 years we've enjoyed the temporary, site-specific installations at the soon-to-close Rice University Art Gallery (don't feel too bad; the new Moody Center for the Arts is amaze-balls), but what really kicked things up a notch was when Walley Films began documenting these installations. Come view six years of short videos and remember some of our favorite exhibits (Anila Quayyum Agha's Intersections, Ben Butler's Unbounded and Thorsten Brinkmann's The Great Cape Rinderhorn).
EXPANDLOFT Series @ CAMH: Angel Otero: Everything and Nothing
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
6:30 p.m. Thursday, free
Puerto Rican artist Angel Otero's show opened at CAMH in December, and we can still catch his "skin and transfer" paintings and sculptures through March 19, but why not stop by this Thursday when Musiqa serves up a free concert of — you guessed it — works by Puerto Rico-born composers. Hear Roberto Sierra's Tres Pensamientos, Carlos Carrillo-Cotto's Como si fuera la primavera and William Ortiz Alvarado's Soneo de la 22.
Pushing the Elephant
The MATCH
7 p.m. Thursday, free
President Trump seems to have kicked the hornet's nest; his executive order barring citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries for the next three months has led to protests, unused plane tickets and lots of questions about how to implement the order. Learn more about issues important to refugees with PAIR Houston, a nonprofit that helps resettled youth learn how to navigate American society. It's offering a free screening of a film by Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel; Pushing the Elephant tells the story of a mother and daughter separated for a decade by civil war. Speakers will offer closing remarks after the film. Seating is limited and reservations are required.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Mason Park, Katy
10 p.m. Saturday, $9
Their relationship turned so sour that Clementine (Kate Winslet) had her memories erased. Boyfriend Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) decided it was payback time and did the same, but soon realizes he still loves her. With script by Charlie Kaufman and direction by Michel Gondry, this 2004 film stands the test of time, and Alamo is dishing it up this Saturday night.
Bruce Conner: An Assemblage of Films
Aurora Picture Show
7 p.m. Saturday, free
3:30 p.m. Sunday, free
While The Menil Collection is still celebrating California hipsters in "Holy Barbarians: Beat Culture on the West Coast," the museum is also partnering with Aurora to present a free screening of 16mm films by San Francisco Beat scene sculptor/painter Bruce Conner. His found footage assemblages drew heavily from pop culture (there's a poignant shot of Jackie Kennedy and JFK moments before he was assassinated). Come view films made by Conner between the 1950s and the 1980s, including A Movie, Breakaway, Report and America is Waiting.
EXPANDAmor Towles Meet & Greet
Blue Willow Bookshop
3 p.m. Saturday, free
A Gentleman in Moscow book signing
Brazos Bookstore
7 p.m. Saturday, free
Murder By The Book
The latest from New York Times bestselling author Amor Towles (Rules of Civility) was flying off the shelves during the holidays, with savvy shoppers snapping up copies of A Gentleman in Moscow for gifting. He'll be stopping by Murder By The Book to privately sign stock for the store's regulars, meeting with book lovers at 3 p.m. in west Houston at Blue Willow Bookshop, and then heading over to Brazos Bookstore for a 7 p.m. public book signing. The book explores what happens when a man is ordered to spend the rest of his life in a luxury hotel during the dawn of the Soviet Union.
EXPANDCelebrate Asia
Morris Cultural Arts Center, Houston Baptist University
7:30 p.m. Saturday, $10 to $20
East Asian folk songs pair so well with popular Western classical music that it makes us wonder, "Why isn't this done more often?" Guest conductor Mei-Ann Chen leads this Houston Symphony concert that includes the traditional Vietnamese song "Bèo Dat Mây Trôi" and the Japanese folk-music travelogue Yuzo Toyama’s Rhapsody for Orchestra. Mongolian violinist Angelo Xiang Yu, 2010 winner of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition, will be featured in one of the most famous modern Chinese orchestral pieces, The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto. The hourlong concert closes with Chen leading the audience in a sing-along version of "Gong Xi Gong Xi" to mark the arrival of spring.
EXPANDMovement Workshop with Takahiro Yamamoto
Asia Society Texas Center
1 to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, free
Choreographer Takahiro Yamamoto will hit the ground running when he comes to the Bayou City, with a heavy schedule of events that includes meetings with artists and activists and a sneak peek at his work-in-progress, Direct Path to Detour, at DiverseWorks on February 16. But for this Tuesday, we're recommending his free workshop. Learn about breathing exercises, light improvisational movement practice, and other tips and tricks Yamamoto has learned while perfecting his new dance piece. It's free, but advance reservations are requested; email Taylor Hoblitzell at taylor@diverseworks.org.
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EXPANDEchoes of Solitude in Grand Central
Rec Room
7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, $10
Photography guru Lynn Lane is also the founder/artistic director of the Transitory Sound and Movement Collective, which is offering up another immersive improvisational experience this Tuesday with Echoes of Solitude in Grand Central. Lane's on sound for this one, handling electronics and field recordings against a backdrop of musicians playing the bassoon, flute, piccolo, violin, viola and harp. Austin-based dance artist AJ Garcia-Rameau performs and soprano Julia Fox sings while filmmaker Ron Kiley presents cinéma vérité.
EXPANDMaraviglioso Boccaccio (Wondrous Boccaccio)
Italian Cultural & Community Center
7:15 p.m. Wednesday, $5 to $10 suggested donation
Brush up on your Italian while enjoying some great contemporary flicks with this monthly film series. Maraviglioso Boccaccio takes us back to 13th-century Florence. While the Black Death is spreading in the big city, ten young men and women escape to the countryside, where they entertain each other with bawdy tales of love and desire. Directed by Vittorio and Paolo Taviani (Caesar Must Die) and released in 2015, this film offers a new take on Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron, with its wit, practical jokes and life lessons. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. and reservations are requested; visit eventbrite or call 713-524-4222, extension 7. Snacks and beverages are included.
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