Weekend event planner

These are the 12 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Even though music and theater dominate the list of events this weekend around Dallas, there's still an interesting variety from which to choose. The theater ranges from a one-man show, a Tony Award-winning play, and a revue by a Broadway star. The music includes a former boy band member, '90s one-hit wonders, a Regional Mexican band, a tribute to a dearly departed country singer, the start of a Beethoven series, and a rising rapper.

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

Thursday, July 6

My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy
My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy tells the story of actor and comedian, Brad Zimmerman, who worked as a waiter for nearly three decades in pursuit of his acting dream, and his parents, who suffered through that decision. My Son the Waiter is a tale about the grit and passion required to "make it" as an artist and the sweet rewards that come from never giving up. The production runs through July 30 at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson.

Louis Tomlinson in concert
When boy bands break up, their members often have wildly varying degrees of solo success. But since One Direction went on "indefinite hiatus" in 2016, each member has done well, including Louis Tomlinson, who has put out two solo records - most recently 2022's Faith in the Future - both of which made the top 10 on the Billboard 200 (and even better in his native U.K.). He'll perform at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Friday, July 7

Art Centre Theatre presents The Elephant Man
The Elephant Man is based on the life of John Merrick, who lived in London during the latter part of the 19th century. A horribly deformed young man, he becomes the star freak attraction in traveling sideshows. He is admitted to London’s Whitechapel Hospital and, under the care of physician Frederick Treves, evolves from an object of pity to an urbane and witty favorite of the aristocracy and literati, only to be denied his ultimate dream – to become a man like any other. The production runs through July 16 at Art Centre Theatre in Plano.

Improv Arlington presents Lavell Crawford
Audiences are becoming increasingly familiar with Lavell Crawford’s giant-sized talent from his numerous television appearances. Crawford gained national exposure on NBC’s Last Comic Standing, leading to his own half-hour standup special on Comedy Central. Crawford is perhaps best known for his recurring role on AMC’s Emmy Award-winning Breaking Bad, which he reprised on several occasions in the prequel series, Better Call Saul. He'll perform eight times through Sunday at Improv Arlington.

I Love the '90s Tour with Vanilla Ice, Rob Base, All-4-One, 2 Live Crew, and Tone Loc
The 1990s was full of memorable hip-hop/R&B acts, some for their supreme talent, and some for their ability to craft singular earworm hits that maintain popularity 30 years later. The latter will be on display as performers like Vanilla Ice ("Ice Ice Baby"), Rob Base ("It Takes Two"), All-4-One ("I Swear"), 2 Live Crew ("Me So Horny"), and Tone Loc ("Wild Thing," "Funky Cold Medina") relive their glory days at this concert at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory.

Theatre Arlington presents Major Attaway: The Genie's Jukebox
Whether you know him from Disney's Aladdin on Broadway, Orange is the New Black on Netflix, One Piece, Borderlands 3, or his numerous credits as a director and actor at Theatre Arlington, Major Attaway is a star. For two nights only on Friday and Saturday at Theatre Arlington, he'll present his cabaret The Genie's Jukebox, an homage to his record-breaking run as the Genie in Aladdin.

The Home Edit presents "Summer of Fun" Tour
Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin of The Home Edit, home organizers who help people on their Netflix show, are ready to see their friends and fans in person during their "Summer of Fun" tour. They’ll reveal some of their best tips for organizing and share candid (and funny) conversations about parenting, pop culture, business, and more. They'll be at the Eisemann Center for Performing Arts.

Fuerza Regida in concert
Regional Mexican band Fuerza Regida ("Governed Force" in English) has made a big impact on their genre since forming in 2017 out of San Bernardino, California. They released their debut album, En Vivo Puros Corridos, in 2018, and have released six more in quick succession, including two in 2022 alone (Pa Que Hablen and Sigan Hablando), which yielded their first top 10 hits. They'll play at Dos Equis Pavilion.

RuPaul's Drag Race: "Werq the World" Tour
Asia O’Hara, Bosco, DeJa Skye, Jujubee, Lady Camden, Laganja, Vanessa Vanjie, and select finalists from Season 15 of RuPaul's Drag Race will help free minds during the "Werq the World" Tour, the world’s largest drag production. The performance will take place at Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie.

Saturday, July 8

Amanda Shires and Asleep at the Wheel in concert
Singer-songwriter & multi-instrumentalist Amanda Shires will perform an exclusive live show celebrating the life and music of her dear friend and late, great pianist and singer, Bobbie Nelson. Joined by iconic band Asleep At the Wheel, they will perform selections from the forthcoming album, Loving You, a collaborative project with Amanda and Bobbie recorded prior to Nelson’s passing. The concert will be at Longhorn Ballroom.

Sunday, July 9

Fine Arts Chamber Players presents Basically Beethoven Festival
In its 42nd year, the Basically Beethoven Festival is a series of free chamber music concerts featuring many of Dallas’ top professional musicians as well as up-and-coming rising stars. Taking place over four consecutive Sundays in July at Moody Performance Hall, each performance features a different group of musicians. First up on Sunday will be Yolutra Trio and Metamorphosis Dallas.

Don Toliver in concert
Rapper Don Toliver is a relative newcomer to the genre, having released his debut album in 2020. In his short career, he's already worked with people like Kanye West, Travis Scott, Eminem, Kid Cudi, Justin Bieber, and more. All three of his albums, including his new release, Love Sick, have charted in the top 10 on the Billboard 200. He'll perform at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory.

Photo courtesy of Vanilla Ice

Vanilla Ice and other '90s one-hit wonders will perform at at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory on July 7.

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RIP, Frank

Frank Beard, drummer of legendary Texas rock band ZZ Top, dies at 77

Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

He kept the tempo for the band’s biggest hits like 'Sharp Dressed Man,' 'Legs,' and 'Gimme All Your Lovin.'

NEW YORK (AP) — Frank Beard, the drummer for the Texas boogie-rock trio ZZ Top who kept the tempo for the band’s biggest hits like “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs,” and “Gimme All Your Lovin,’” has died. He was 77.

Beard was in hospice care when he died Tuesday, August 18 at his ranch in Richmond, Texas, near Houston, with family members at his side, according to publicist Bob Merlis. Band co-founder and guitarist Billy Gibbons, on tour with bassist Elwood Francis, hailed Beard in a statement.

“Today, Elwood and I lost a great friend and collaborator, and the world lost one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great and true son of Texas. His signature backbeat was key to keeping ZZ on top. The band of which he was part for six decades is going to keep on keeping on as he had wished,” Gibbons said.

ZZ Top sold more than 50 million records and had six singles that reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. Seven of their albums have been in the Billboard 200’s Top 10 and they earned three Grammy Award nominations.

“I’ve found the people I was meant to play with,” Beard says in the 2019 documentary ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band from Texas. “I never wanted to quit, and never wanted to get fired.”

Band's early days
Beard, from the East Texas town of Frankston, met Gibbons in a band called The Moving Sidewalks and later introduced bassist and vocalist Dusty Hill, a Dallas native, who had been in several bands with Beard.

The trio formed ZZ Top in 1969, naming themselves in part after blues singer Z.Z. Hill and influenced by the British power trio Cream and Jimmy Reed. They maintained their original lineup for more than five decades. Their signature look — long, bushy beards on Gibbons and Hill, and dark sunglasses for all — didn’t change much, either.

When Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards helped induct the trio into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, he joked: “These cats know their blues and they know how to dress it up. When I first saw them, I thought, ‘I hope these guys are not on the run, because that disguise is not going to work.’”

ZZ Top songs — with their sly and humorous lyrics — were popular in Hollywood, which used “Gimme All Your Lovin’” in “Happy Feet,” “Sharp Dressed Man” in “Evan Almighty,” “Legs” in “Air,” “Sleeping Bag” in “I, Tonya,” “Tush” in “Dazed and Confused,” “Mexican Blackbird” in “From Dusk Till Dawn” and “La Grange” in “Armageddon.”

“The best way to describe ZZ Top is we’re interpreters of a great American art form,” Gibbons told The Dallas Morning News.

Their debut release, “ZZ Top’s First Album,” came out in 1970. Their sound was described as a hybrid mixing elements of rock, blues and funk into a steaming-hot Houston stew. They called themselves a “Little Ol’ Band From Texas.”

Breaking through
Three years later, they broke through commercially with “La Grange,” a funky blues song on the album “Tres Hombres” that paid tribute to the Chicken Ranch, a brothel outside of the Texas town of La Grange that operated from 1905 until 1973 and was immortalized in the Broadway show and the film, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” Gibbons has ascribed the power of “La Grange" to its simplicity — just two chords and a Robert Johnson-inspired guitar solo.

The band went on to have such hits as “Tush” and “Cheap Sunglasses.” But their 1983 “Eliminator” — named after one of Gibbons’ custom cars — added more production elements, synthesizers and drum machines to their stripped-down sound and yielded the hits “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Legs” and “Sharp-Dressed Man.” The band toured with a Texas-shaped stage, live rattlesnakes and a longhorn steer.

Long beards weren’t always part of the band’s look. Gibbons said it happened by accident: In 1976, the trio took a long break and scattered. Beard went to Jamaica, Hill went to Mexico and Gibbons went to France.

“Although we were speaking by phone, this was pre-video phone. And Dusty and I did not know that we had gotten so lazy that we had decided to forget to shave,” Gibbons told The Tribune in San Luis Obispo in 2010. “So after three years we returned and showed up, and lo and behold here was this sort of wacky-looking image. And it just kind of stuck with us.”

A boost from MTV
The band’s rock-chic cool played well on the nascent MTV crowd and their videos, featuring models in short skirts emerging from one of Gibbons’ custom roadsters, became a mainstay.

They kept the beards, hats and cheap sunglasses in the video trilogy of “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Sharp Dressed Man,” and “Legs,” made with director Tim Newman.

“ZZ Top reveled in the humor and ridiculousness of it all, busting their synchronized dance moves and spinning their white-fur guitars. These guys always got the joke, at a time when other bands were still just nervously lip-syncing in front of brick walls,” Rolling Stone said in 2021.

In 2012, superstar producer Rick Rubin helped update the trio’s sound with the band’s comeback album, “La Futura.” The album landed at No. 6 on the Billboard chart, their highest position since 1990's “Recycler,” some 22 years previously.

Hill died in 2021.

In March 2025, the band announced via Instagram that Beard would temporarily step away from the band’s tour to tend to foot and ankle problems. Beard died weeks after ZZ Top called off its August 5 concert at the Hollywood Bowl due to his health issues.

Beard is survived by his wife, Debbie Meredith, and three children.

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