Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

There are some weekends when some of the big venues in Dallas sit vacant, but this weekend they are all hosting big events. And even better, those events include a variety of types of entertainment, including concerts, a Broadway musical, a new kind of basketball, stand-up comedy, and a live podcast.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, August 16

Women Texas Film Festival
The Dallas-based Women Texas Film Festival focuses solely on the work of female filmmakers. The festival, taking place through Sunday at Studio Movie Grill Spring Valley, will feature the world premiere of Amanda Kramer’s mind-bending film, Paris Window, as their Opening Night selection, with Jenn Wexler’s SXSW hit, The Ranger, serving as the Closing Night selection. In all, the festival will showcase 10 feature-length films and 25 short films.

Rob Zombie & Marilyn Manson in concert
Both Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson occupy a unique place in the music industry in that they've achieved a great level of success without ever having a mainstream hit song. Of course, it doesn't matter if the hits don't come as long as hardcore fans keep buying their albums and showing up to concerts like this at Dos Equis Pavilion. Zombie’s most recent album was 2016's The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser, while Manson released Heaven Upside Down in 2017.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents School of Rock
Based on the hit film, School of Rock is a hilarious musical that follows Dewey Finn, a wannabe rock star posing as a substitute teacher who turns a class of straight-A students into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band. The high-octane smash features 14 songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber, all the original songs from the movie, and musical theater’s first-ever kids rock band playing their instruments live on stage. The production will run through August 26 at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Friday, August 17

Big3: 3-on-3 Basketball League Playoffs
Dallas will host the first round of playoffs for Big3, the American 3-on-3 professional basketball league. Created in part by rapper/actor Ice Cube, the games feature half-court play and rules designed for competition and intensity. The league combines former NBA players and fan interaction before and after the games to make for an exciting live experience. There will be four games throughout the evening at American Airlines Center.

Rockwall Summer Musicals presents The Music Man
In this beloved family show, Professor Harold Hill shakes up a quiet Midwest town by posing as a band leader and selling instruments to naive Iowa townsfolk. The Broadway sensation features classic songs such as “76 Trombones," "The Wells Fargo Wagon,” and “Gary, Indiana.” The production will run at the Rockwall High School Performing Arts Center through Sunday.

Saturday, August 18

Ice Cube in concert with Bun B
After his duties are done with Big3 on Friday, Ice Cube will get back to his day job with this concert at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory. Cube is a rap legend whose time with N.W.A., as a solo act, and as an actor have made him into an entertainment industry mogul. Cube hasn't released a new album since 2010, but rumor has it that he'll release the long-anticipated Everythang's Corrupt later this year.

J. Cole in concert
The reason Ice Cube isn't just staying put at American Airlines Center is because another superstar rapper kicked him to the curb. J. Cole has yet to have an album that didn't go to No. 1, starting with 2011's Cole World: The Sideline Story and continuing through his newest album, KOD. He'll be joined at this concert by Young Thug, Jaden Smith, Earthgang, and Kill Edward.

Kathy Griffin: Laugh Your Head Off World Tour
Comedian Kathy Griffin caused a big stir last year when she posted a photo of herself holding up a bloody head that looked like Donald Trump. Despite being shunned by many for the stunt and subsequently apologizing, Griffin now seems to be taking total ownership over it, referencing the image in the name of her new tour. Fans who have stuck with her can catch her act at Winspear Opera House.

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard Live
Since March 2018, actor Dax Shepard (Parenthood, CHIPS) has been hosting a weekly podcast where he talks to various other celebrities about their lives, philosophies, and "the messiness of being human." The live taping of the podcast at Majestic Theatre will feature a yet-to-be-named guest, but considering the quality of his previous guests, it's sure to a bold-faced name.

Sunday, August 19

Lyle Lovett and His Large Band in concert
A singer, composer and actor, Lyle Lovett has broadened the definition of American music in a career that spans 14 albums over three decades. Coupled with his gift for storytelling, the Texas-based musician fuses elements of Americana, swing, jazz, folk, gospel and blues in a convention-defying manner that breaks down barriers. He'll perform at Winspear Opera House.

J. Cole will perform at American Airlines Center on August 18.

Photo courtesy of Universal Music Group

J. Cole will perform at American Airlines Center on August 18.

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Movie Review

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere sees rock star at his lowest

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Jeremy Allen White in Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.

Music biopics are notoriously tricky to pull off because the stories of well-known musicians/bands tend to follow similar trajectories. Some — like the Amy Winehouse film Back to Black — have followed the discovery-to-star arc. Others, like the Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown, have kept the focus tighter to try to reveal something richer about a particular artist.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere takes the latter track, meeting up with Bruce Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) when he’s already an established star, finishing up his tour for his 1980 album, The River. Exhausted, he retreats to his New Jersey home, where he soon starts writing songs for what will become his next album, Nebraska, featuring stripped-down tunes that are a far cry from previous hits like “Born to Run” and “Hungry Heart.”

Working with producer Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) and guitar tech/friend Mike Batlan (Paul Walter Hauser), Springsteen records songs in his bedroom with equipment that is purposefully not state-of-the-art. In his spare time, he also starts dating single mother Faye Romano (Odessa Young) while trying to fight off feelings of depression that affect how he views his music, his family, and the world around him.

Written and directed by Scott Cooper, and based on the book Deliver Me from Nowhere by Warren Zanes, the film comes off as kind of like the Nebraska of music biopics in that it has a variety of effective moments but also others that are head-scratching. As documented by Zanes and in the film, Springsteen wrote the songs for Nebraska and many of those for his most iconic album, Born in the U.S.A., at the same time, and the process of seeing them come to life is interesting if slightly mundane.

However, Cooper’s focus appears to be more on Springsteen’s mental state at the time, which often overshadows the music. Cooper brings in flashback scenes detailing Springsteen’s abusive father (Stephen Graham), which play well except when it comes to connecting his memories with how he’s currently acting. Too often it seems as if Springsteen is merely a stereotypical temperamental artist experiencing mood swings instead of something more complex.

It’s also unclear why Cooper created the fictional character of Faye, as her relationship with Springsteen never adds anything to his personal or musical story. The better relationship depicted in the film is the one Springsteen has with Landau, who serves as a guiding force and protector. In fact, a deeper dive into why Springsteen trusted him so much and why Landau was so devoted to him might have been warranted.

White doesn’t particularly resemble Springsteen in any way, but he still turns in a good performance, especially when he’s emulating his singing style. Strong once again shows his commitment to inhabiting a particular role, although he’s required to be much more subtle than in projects like Succession or The Apprentice. Graham, so good in the Netflix series Adolescence, also does well here in limited scenes.

Bruce Springsteen is an iconic musician whose impact on music history is obvious, but it’s difficult to connect with this particular story about his life. Much like Nebraska itself, Deliver Me from Nowhere is a less-than-crowd-pleasing film that will likely only appeal to hardcore Springsteen fans.

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Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere opens in theaters on October 24.

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