Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company would like you to join them for a happy hour fund raiser. The event takes place at The Last Concert Cafe, 1403 Nance St in the Warehouse District on Wednesday July 30th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. The cover is $6 and includes a chance to win door prizes from Churrascos, Candylicious, Mildred's Umbrella as well as a performance by local pop rock group, The Misfires who according to their myspace......

The off-Broadway sensation bare premieres Friday at The Country Playhouse. The award-winning play focuses on two boys, Jason and Peter, struggling to hide their blossoming love affair at their Catholic boarding school. Promiscuity, drug experimentation and the ever-present problem of "fitting in" are all explored. Houstonist does love a guilty pleasure, and this show promises to indulge. The Country Playhouse was founded in 1956 by a group of theater-loving Houstonians. After several moves the group......

Houstonist is happy that we secured our Wilco tickets a couple of months ago, now that tonight's show at Verizon Wireless Theater is sold out. Jeff Tweedy and company consistently make great albums, even if the style is inconsistent with each album. The Chicago-based band's latest, Sky Blue Sky, is a little more mellow compared to their last few releases, but this song, "Impossible Germany," (the video was recorded live) is one of the......

:: 30TH ANNIVERSARY SUSAN SMITH BLACKBURN PRIZE DRAMATIC READING :: The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize honoring women playwrights from around the world, has decided to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary by hosting a reading and the awards in Houston. Five short works by local women playwrights (a talented bunch) will be presented as dramatic readings by Houston’s acting community (another talented bunch) at the Alley Theatre’s Neuhaus Stage this Sunday, March 9th at 3:00PM. Excerpts......

We’ve got a busy week on the concert front. Our favorite duo from New York arrives at The Meridian tomorrow night. They Might Be Giants have been making quirky alt/pop songs for grown-ups over 20 years now, and a few albums for the kids that us grown-ups enjoy, too. Wilco’s Friday night show at Verizon Wireless Theater is sold out, but if you’re willing to pay a little, you can still get your hands......

:: Exiles in Paris Concert by Da Camera :: At the turn of the twentieth century, musicians, choreographers, writers and painters from all over the world converged in Paris and began sharing their work and ideas with each other with the goal of revolutionizing their artistic disciplines. (We at Houstonist are expecting the same thing to happen here at any moment.) Da Camera made a series of two concerts highlights the work of these......

Tonight, catch Grammy award-winning R&B vocalist, singer/songwriter Jill Scott at Verizon Wireless. Frequent visitor Bob Schneider makes his trip from Austin a little bit shorter tomorrow by playing at the Cypress Saloon in northwest Houston. Local faves Orange Is In is opening, which makes for a great double-bill. Another local act, The Mighty Orq, will be presenting a lot of new material at his CD release show at the Meridian Friday night (you’ll probably......

::Miwa Yanagi Panel Discussion: A Conversation about Feminine Beauty:: Well, our eyes popped out of our skulls when we saw this, not just for the topic and the photography, but also because sharp-as-a-tack Peggy Orenstein is coming to town to be a part of this panel at the MFAH. She and several Houston experts will discuss Miwa Yanagi's photography and the themes it encapsulates: gender, identity, body image, age, feminism, and beauty, and how......

::Inprint Brown Reading Series Featuring Dave Eggers and Chimamanda Adichie:: Houstonist just finished reading the new books by both these authors and was *blown away.* HALF OF A YELLOW SUN, Chimamanda Adichie's novel about the Biafran War in Nigeria in the late sixties, follows the political and military developments through the eyes of several civilians, painting a human and devastating portrait of war. Similarly, Dave Eggers' fictionalized autobiography of the very real Valentino Achak......

::Dominic Walsh Dance: Celebrating Moving Bodies - Moving Minds:: Dominic Walsh wows again with this excellent lineup celebrating the fifth anniversary of the company's premiere performance. The centerpiece of the program will be Double You by with Jiri Kylian, one of the most renowned contemporary choreographers in the world today. Also on the program is the world premier of Walsh's Amadeus and a pas de deux from his full-length Orfeo ed Euridice, created for......

Tonight, Houston will host the U.S. debut of the first Western-style interpretation of the classic Chinese opera, Farewell My Concubine. With performances only today and tomorrow at the Wortham, this is a rare opportunity. The original Chinese opera will be performed by a Chinese cast and sung in Mandarin. Chinese opera has come to the United States so very infrequently that if you have any interest in Chinese music, art, opera or culture, you should......

::Hope Stone Dance Company premieres SEE Me:: How do we see? Do we need sight to know the world? How are we blind to ourselves? Tonight at the Wortham Center, under the direction of award-winning choreographer Jane Weiner, Hope Stone Dance Company wil premeire SEE Me, . While general admission is $25, Hope Stone, Inc. will open the 800 balcony seats free to at risk youth from local schools and after-school programs. Implicit in......

::Holocaust Museum Guest Lecture:: Holocaust Museum Lecture: "From Nuremberg to the Human Genome and Beyond" Speaker: Henry T. Greely. (pictured) Holocaust Museum Houston presents a guest lecture entitled "Medical Ethics and the Holocaust: From Nuremberg to the Human Genome and Beyond" -- From Human Rights to Human Interests. Henry T. Greely, J.D., headlines Holocaust Museum Houston’s annual Leon Jaworski Lecture as part of the "Medical Ethics and the Holocaust" lecture series. He is a......

Here's an abridged, holiday version of this week's music calendar. If you like Latin-rock, you're in luck. Tonight, Grupo Fantasma and their funky horn section returns to the Continental Club. Nearby, at Warehouse Live, Vallejo will be playing. Del Castillo visits Warehouse Live tomorrow night. Two good choices for Saturday: R&B songstress Erykah Badu performs at Arena Theater and Austin's Asylum Street Spankers - always a fun show - return to the Mucky Duck.......

So you've done enough shopping and the relatives are driving you crazy -- take an hour away from that insanity and go see some extremely fresh theater. In a Jar...at the Smithsonian, written and directed by Crystal Jackson, is running Thursday through Saturday at DiverseWorks. Six pieces of absurdist comedy (3 monologues, 3 one-acts) and none of them have to do with Santa, reindeer, chimneys, dreidels, or caroling -- thank God! In a Jar...at the......

::MFA Projection Bomb!:: We caught wind of this earlier this week and couldn't resist reposting. Introducing the first guerrilla drive-in theater on the roof of the MFA parking garage this Thursday night. Be part of a smart mob for a 20 minute projection bomb. Bring a car full! Details below, poster attached. (Good attendance would really help my thesis project). Thanks! Clint - - - - - - - - - - - - -......

A lighter week for concerts, but many home-state bred musicians are in town. Tomorrow night, we recommend San Antonio's Girl In A Coma, but if you prefer 90's rock, you might want to catch Dallas' The Toadies return to Verizon Wireless. Speaking of returns, Bandera's Robert Earl Keen brings his annual Christmas show to town Friday night. Saturday, Warehouse Live is hosting a few local bands, headlined by Million Year Dance. Not from Texas,......

Good morning, Houston. Hey, guess who's having a birthday today? Well, OK, it's technically not Houstonist — our second birthday was back on Nov. 20, but we figured that if the queen can have two birthdays, so can we. And so we're throwing ourselves a little birthday party tonight, and you're all invited. It starts at 6 p.m. at Monsoon Wok, Lamar at San Jacinto (yes, street parking is free downtown after 6). Six......

::Touring Taste of Dance Salad Film at MFA:: Ok, so you're perplexed on what to watch now that Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance have both finished their seasons. We feel your pain. I mean, how else are you supposed to practice your movers for the company holiday party? Well, dance friends, you are in luck. If you missed the 2007 Dance Salad Festival, catch a special (read: free) screening......

::Diverseworks Presents Jean Baptiste André: Comme En Plein Jour:: If you've picked up the Novemeber issue of ArtsHouston, you may have noticed the "clown" in the corner on the cover. No, it's not a mime. It's French performance artist Jean Baptise André. Tonight, the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts and its presenting partners Global Quality Imports, Inc. help welcome Jean Baptiste André's performace of Comme En Plein Jour to Diverseworks, for a two night engagement......

::Ken Burns' The War at the Wortham Center:: How did you spend your Veteran's Day? Did you fly a flag? Did you hug a Vet? No? Well, here's your last chance at redemption. If you missed Ken Burns' World War II Series, The War, on PBS a few months back, you can catch it again tonight at the Wortham Center, as Burns is on hand to screen and discuss the series. Burns' works are......

Today’s Photo of the Day comes from flickr user and Houstonist photo contributor Erci who brings us this grand view of the entrance to the Wortham Theater. __________________________________________________________ If you have a passion for Houston and photography, consider joining over 444 of Houston's best photographers in the Houstonist Flickr Photo Group. If Houstonist uses your photo for Photo Of The Day, submit it here. For more great photography check out the Houston Photobloggers.......

Remember when you were a little bitty Houstonist and someone would read to you at night and you could just lose yourself in the story, abandoning all other thoughts of the day? Well you can still do it now, you know. In fact, you might be all the more eager to shed your quotidian annoyances now that you're grown. Here are a few places to hear some stellar writers read from their work: Friday......

::Hot Town, Cool City Screening at Miller Outdoor Theater:: We told you about this project when it first started last year, and we were there for the 3 day long premiere at the MFA back in March. So you can safely bet we will be at Miller Outdoor Theater tonight for a showing of Hot Town, Cool City, a documentary that explores Houston's lesser known gems. On the surface Houston is about big oil,......

Houstonist rolled back our clocks on Saturday afternoon (proactive folks that we are). Today, we've jumped into the Way Back Machine to let you in on a Flick your folks may have seen in the theater - The Sugarland Express. This 1974 film is the big screen major feature debut for flash-in-the-pan Steven Spielberg. The fledgling film maker uses stars Goldie Hawn and William Atherton (the annoying reporter of Die Hard fame) to tell......

Kipling St. cleaned up a bit by Peter Brown Kipling Street, just behind the Alabama Theater/Shopping Center, will be a little more flat this week. 2136 and 2140 Kipling (pictures) are set to be demolished, and the current owner of the two properties - built in 1925 and 1938 - is listed as at-large man #1, Peter Brown. While there are no apparent plans for the land, we assume that they will not be the......

::Private Dancer::No, Tina's not coming to town. But we do have a few invites for you to join a private party at the home of Nic Phillips. In advance of the premiere of its newest production, Babka, running November 8-18, 2007 at the Barnevelder Theater, you and a guest are cordially invited to come meet the artists, board, and staff of Suchu Dance, Houston's innovative and prolific modern dance group, now in its ninth season.......

::Dominc Walsh presnts Sleeping Beauty:: Something about the end of a tough week that makes keen on the idea of watching undulating bodies float across a stage in a modern interpretation of this classic story. Ahhh, we are getting all warm and fuzzy inside just thinking about it. That could be also be the tequila shot soaking in. Hey, it's Friday. After the success of his "Romeo & Juliet," Dominic Walsh will once again take......

Into art? How about dance? You like music? Theater? Have a thing for opera? Or maybe you just (pretend to) like “culture” in general to seem smart and hip and urban? Want to impress a date while not knowing a damn thing about the previously mentioned subjects? Boy, does Houstonist have a shindig for you. Tonight brings us Culture Collision II, hosted by a fleet of Museum and Theatre District young professionals' groups, including the......

Monday? Really? AGAIN? Not buying it. Ugh. Let us help you though it with a little spoken word for a rainy day. Join the Rice University English Department as they welcome Steve Gehrke and Nadine Meyer, husband and wife and both winners of the 2005 National Poetry Series, as part of the Cherry Reading Series. Both Gehrke and Meyer have been widely published and recognized for their poetic work. Gehrke is an assistant professor of......