The Toadies are back September 12-13 with their seventh annual Dia De Los Toadies festival, starring some of Texas' top artists, including the Old 97's and the Toadies themselves.
For the second year in a row, the music festival will take place in Fort Worth, on the banks of the Trinity River at Panther Island Pavilion. Veterans may recall that in prior years it took place at Possum Kingdom Lake and at WhiteWater Amphitheater in New Braunfels.
Joining the Toadies and Old 97's are Austin rock trio Ume, Fort Worth blues rockers Quaker City Nighthawks, reunited Dallas quintet Pleasant Grove, roots rockers Somebody's Darling, Austin pre-teen rockers Residual Kid, Fort Worth garage rockers The Longshots and synth-punkers Blank-Men.
Opening night will be an almost-acoustic evening with the Toadies and Old 97's front man Rhett Miller. Saturday will be a full-out rock show, headlined by the Toadies. This year marks the 20th anniversary of their platinum-selling album, Rubberneck, which the band will play in its entirety during the show.
Food will be available via food trucks such as Bellatrino, So-Cal Tacos, Texas BBQ by Holy Smokes, Lee's Grilled Cheese, Bombay Street Food, Butcher's Son and Gypsy Scoops. The festival will also feature a beach area where fans can cool off by taking a swim or participating in tubing and paddleboard during the show.
Tickets are on sale now through Prekindle. For information on tickets, lodging and more, visit Dia De Los Toadies.
Toadies return for the seventh annual Dio De Los Toadies in Fort Worth on September 12-13.
Photo courtesy of KirtlandRecords.com
Toadies return for the seventh annual Dio De Los Toadies in Fort Worth on September 12-13.
Actor Rose Byrne had a banner year in 2025, getting her first Oscar nomination for her starring role in If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You. Although she came up short in that race, she’s getting another chance to prove her acting bona fides in the new film, Tow.
In the “inspired by a true story” movie, Byrne plays Amanda, a down-on-her-luck woman who lives in her car and can’t find a job. Living in Seattle, she tries to stay in touch with her daughter, Avery (Elsie Fisher), who lives with her dad in another city, but circumstances sometimes limit their communications, especially when her car is stolen.
The good news is that her car is found relatively quickly. The bad news is that the tow company is charging her to get her car back, money she can’t afford. Now truly homeless, she does everything in her power to right the wrong, even taking the company to court. Without much luck, she has to start staying in a women’s shelter run by Barbara (Octavia Spencer), where she makes friends with Nova (Demi Lovato) and Denise (Ariana DeBose), among others.
Directed by Stephanie Laing and written by Jonathan Keasey and Brent Boivin, the film has relatively low stakes going for it and never really tries to make the story feel deeper than it is. The situation Amanda finds herself in is clearly a tough one, and any empathetic person would feel for her and want her to overcome her plight. But the filmmakers keep things light and never try to up the drama in any significant way.
The issue Amanda is dealing with, being price gouged by a predatory towing company, is one with which many people can relate. But aside from helpfully underscoring Amanda’s frustration by showing the increasing number of days she is without a car, they never establish why they felt this particular story was one worth telling. Her personal issues, including a growing estrangement with her daughter, fail to conjure any big emotions.
The filmmakers are very loose with their storytelling, especially when it comes to side characters. The presence of the women she meets at the shelter, and Kevin (Dominic Sessa), the young lawyer who offers to help her, never makes full sense other than a need for her to have other people with whom to interact. A tighter focus on what Amanda was going through would’ve helped both her and people around her feel more important.
Byrne is a dynamic performer who’s shown great skill at both drama and comedy, but there’s nothing special about her performance here. Hampered a bit by a blonde wig and false teeth, she feels out of sorts for much of the film. The unusually high-powered supporting cast - both Spencer and DeBose are Oscar winners - makes things interesting on first blush, but none of them outside of Sessa is given much to do, so they’re mostly wasted.
Tow will be a disappointment for anyone hoping to see more great stuff from Byrne. While she remains a fine actor, her performance and the story as a whole are nowhere near the level shown in her previous film. The real life predicament shown in the film also never rises to the level of being of something worth showing to the masses.
