Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

It's another big weekend for events in the Dallas area, with four big-name concerts, another Van Gogh-centric exhibition, two new local theater productions, a fair/rodeo that will whet your appetite for the State Fair next month, and best of all, a chance to celebrate local restaurants with your friends at CultureMap.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend.

Thursday, August 19

"Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience"
Not to be confused with "Immersive Van Gogh," a similar exhibition taking place in downtown Dallas, "Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience" allows visitors to fulfill the dream of stepping into a masterpiece painting. The 360-degree, immersive digital art experience illuminates and transforms a unique physical space into a fully immersive exhibit, where Van Gogh’s work takes over the walls via digital projections and VR experiences. The exhibition will run almost daily through November 28 at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

CultureMap Dallas-Fort Worth Tastemaker Awards
The CultureMap Tastemaker Awards is the annual celebration of the top talent in Dallas-Fort Worth's restaurant and bar communities, as selected by their peers. The mission of the event is to shine a spotlight on the people making the local restaurant scene special and honor their innovation, energy, and creativity. At the event, taking place at Fashion Industry Gallery and emceed by comedian CJ Starr, we will celebrate all of the nominees and unveil the winners, and guests will be able to sample bites and sip specialty drinks along the way.

Second Thought Theatre presents Libra Season
Second Thought Theatre will present the virtual production Libra Season, commissioned as part of their 2020 S.T.E.P. Program (Second Thought Emerging Playwrights). The play, which will be performed live each night and streamed from each actor’s own home, is about the employees of Libra Ltd., who are having a bad fall. After several stressful months of working from home, they now face a leaked memo with possible disastrous consequences. The production will run through September 4.

Friday, August 20

North Texas Fair & Rodeo
Just like the State Fair of Texas, the North Texas Fair & Rodeo returns after a year off due to the pandemic. The nine-day event, taking place through August 28 at North Texas Fairgrounds in Denton, offers activities for all ages, including live concerts, horse & livestock shows, contests, cook-offs, food, fun, games, and more. Music performers will include Midland, Flatland Cavalry, Terri Clark, Sawyer Brown, Randall King, and more.

Jelly Roll in concert
Rap and country music aren't usually two things that go well together, but Jason DeFord (aka Jelly Roll) has been carving his own unique path. The prolific artist has released 16 albums in just 10 years, including three in 2020 alone. His biggest success has come with his four Waylon & Willie albums, on which he's collaborated with Struggle Jennings, Waylon's step-grandson. He'll perform at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Uptown Players presents Fun Home
Uptown Players will present Fun Home, the 2015 Tony Award winner of Best Musical based on Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic memoir of the same name. After her father’s sudden death, Alison dives into her past and tells the story of her untraditional family dynamic, with her strict, temperamental father defining a large part of her childhood. The production, running at Kalita Humphreys Theater through August 29, is hailed as the first mainstream musical with a lesbian protagonist, and the musical explores themes of family, sexuality, and secrets.

Kesha in concert
Somehow, despite her scoring a No. 1 album with her 2010 debut, Animal, and notching multiple hits over the past decade, Kesha has never had a solo headlining concert in Dallas until now. It was supposed to happen last year, but, you know, pandemic. She'll perform at South Side Ballroom in support of her 2020 album, High Road, joined by special guest Betty Who.

Saturday, August 21

Chris Stapleton's All-American Roadshow
The third time's the charm when it comes to this all-star country music blowout event. Originally scheduled for last summer, it was postponed to November 2020 and then to this date because of the pandemic that just won't quit. The lineup is about as big as you can get, featuring headliner Chris Stapleton, Willie Nelson & Family, Jamey Johnson, and Yola. The concert takes place at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

Megadeth in concert with Lamb of God
For over 35 years, Megadeth has been one of the standard-bearers for the heavy metal genre. Their biggest success came in the early 1990s, when they had two top 5 albums in the Billboard 200, Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia. Unlike some other metal bands, though, they've soldiered on into the 21st century, releasing a new album every few years, including the forthcoming The Sick, The Dying ... and the Dead. They'll play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, joined by Lamb of God.

Kesha will perform at South Side Ballroom on August 20.

Photo courtesy of Kesha

Kesha will perform at South Side Ballroom on August 20.

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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