With a long Memorial Day weekend coming up, it’s a good time to consider your plans for the next few days, especially if you’re on a budget. This week, chili and country music await you in Tomball, comedy dominates in the East End and Midtown, and a couple of authors swing by our local bookstores to convince you it’s their book you’ll be toting to the beach this summer. 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.

Conversations @ The Center: Adela Andea and Pablo Gimenez-Zapiola
Galveston Arts Center
6:30 p.m. Thursday, free
GAC’s “Intersections: Art, Science and Technology” season comes to an end with conversations with two Houston-based artists, Adela Andea and Pablo Gimenez-Zapiola. Andea will discuss the juxtaposition of nature and technology in her large-scale light installations in her presentation, Within the medium light, and Gimenez-Zapiola will explore the relationship viewers have with time and space as seen through his interdisciplinary work, which utilizes photography, video projections, text and computers in My Way Of Seeing + Merging the Analog With the Digital. Come ready to ask questions; the informal lectures will include slideshows and a question-and-answer portion to follow.

The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir book signing
Murder By The Book
6:30 p.m. Thursday, free
Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich’s debut is part true crime, part memoir, a recounting of the visceral reaction her 25-year-old law student self had to confessed murderer Ricky Langley. The book follows her ten-year deep dive into not only the 1992 case – 30,000 pages of court transcripts and newspaper coverage, multiple trips to Louisiana, and hours of footage – but also her past, to reveal why this staunchly anti-death-penalty intern so desperately wanted Langley to die. Already drawing comparisons to Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, the book has made must-read lists in Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post for good reason.

14 Pews Film Academy: A Collection of Art Films
14 Pews
7 p.m. Friday, $10
The three Cressandra Thibodeaux-directed films on the program exemplify the 14 Pews Film Academy mission: to make films about Houston artists, particularly those underrepresented. Art & Activism centers on the relationship between artivists William Loyd and his transgender wife, Nikki Araguz-Loyd, as he attempts to create art while together they struggle for the right to be married. Thibodeaux takes a look at the influence of an iconic local artist in Nestor Topchy: Houston’s Phoenix, and follows art advocate Victoria Lightman in Houston Art Collectors, while also profiling artists like Dixie Friend Gay, Patrick Turk and Neva Mikulicz.

Kiss Alike – A Tribute to Kiss
Scout Bar
9 p.m. Friday, $10
Why shell out a hundred bucks to see Kiss when you can go down to Scout Bar to see Kiss Alike, Houston’s premier Kiss tribute band – also chosen one of our top ten tribute bands in 2016 – for a fraction of the cost? Overrated or not, the contagious joy that spreads through a room when everyone’s collectively lifted in song, shouting at the top of their lungs that they want to “Rock and Roll All Nite” – and party ev-er-y day – cannot be denied. Joining the band will be Tame Fury and Let It Rock – A Bon Jovi Tribute to fulfill all your “Livin’ On a Prayer” needs.

Honky Tonk Chili Challenge
Tomball Railroad Depot
11 a.m. Saturday, free
Fresh off the Rails & Tails Mudbug Festival, get ready to make the drive back to Tomball for the Honky Tonk Chili Challenge. Tony Booth, Doug Boggs, Liz Talley and Amber Digby & Midnight Flyer will supply the tunes, while chili masters from across southeast Texas compete for a spot at the Chili Appreciation Society International Championship in November. K-Star Country 99.7 will be on hand to host a Texas two-step contest (winners receive a weekend at Moody Gardens on Galveston Island), and there will also be a margarita “pour-off,” food and merchandise vendors, and a kids’ zone.