There are plenty of bands that use the line "We're better live than on the CD" as an excuse for their shitty studio work. But not Austin's Vallejo, the five-piece Latino rock band that can write and produce decent albums and then take the songs to a new level of intensity at a gig. And the members have the scars to prove it. Percussionist Diego Simmons sustained a five-staple gash to the head after a gig in Victoria, and AJ Vallejo (one of three brothers in the band) tore a bloody chunk out of his butt cheek when he fell off a speaker and landed on a broken bottle at a gig in San Marcos. The group offers fans the chance to experience its live shows, minus the bodily fluids, with the release of two new albums at the end of July. The first is Live Steamboat '97, a seven-song set featuring an extended jam on James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing." The other album, tentatively titled The Best Live Band from Texas You Never Heard, will feature a mix of live tracks, acoustic tidbits and rarities. Vallejo appears at Whiskey Blues on Saturday, July 5. Opening act Jagger comes on at 9:30 p.m. 502 25th Street, Galveston. For information, call 409-766-1600. $5. -- Greg Barr
FRI 7/5
Who Moved My Cheese?
The Alley Theatre takes on The
Mousetrap
It may be the Vegas revue of ensemble theater -- predictably comfortable and
hardly extraordinary -- but for mystery buffs, The Mousetrap is Wayne
Newton, Celine Dion and Siegfried & Roy all rolled into one. What began as a
30-minute BBC radio play has become a worldwide franchise. Staged for the past
51 years in London and the past 26 years in Toronto, Agatha Christie's whirlwind
whodunit is North America's longest-running play. You know the drill: Quirky
guests are snowbound at a country inn, and a dead body turns up. Guessing the
identity of the killer (or is it killers?) becomes the game for not only the
cast but also the amateur sleuths who plunk down their hard-earned cash for
the experience. We're sworn to secrecy, but we can say for sure that The
Mousetrap is no Colonel Mustard, lead-pipe-in-the-library sort of caper.
The play runs from Friday, July 4, through July 20. For showtimes and tickets,
call 713-228-8421 or visit www.alleytheatre.org.
Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue. $17. -- Greg Barr
SUN 7/6
Truly Unbelievable
The Sound of Music would seem preposterous if it weren't entirely
true. After all, the show tells the story of a widowed naval officer with seven
children who must decide between a baroness and a singing nun before sneaking
out of Austria to escape the Nazis. In Theatre Under the Stars' production of
the musical, brawny Burke Moses, best known for originating the role of Gaston
in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, plays the role of Captain Von Trapp.
8:15 p.m. Sunday, July 6, through Friday, July 11. Miller Outdoor Theatre, 100
Concert Drive. For information, call 713-558-2600 or visit www.tuts.com.
Free. -- Margaret Winchell Miller
SAT 7/5
Caribbean Trip
The new 610 Arena opens this weekend with a bang. Saturday's Houston CaribFest
concert features artists Rupee, Slingshot, Tulpree, Denise Belfon, Gillo, P.I.K.,
Socalystics, Caribbean Rhythms and the Essenz Dancers. Doors open at 9 p.m.
Saturday, July 5. 610 Arena, 5515 South Loop East. For tickets, call 713-734-SHOW
or visit www.tf2arena.com. For information,
visit www.houstoncaribfest.com.
$30. -- Cathy Matusow
