Belly Up To The Bard.
There’s just about every type of video imaginable on YouTube. For instance, if you want to relax, there’s things like 10-hour clips of nature sounds or a tour of the various waterfalls of the world.
If, on the other hand, you’d rather ramp up your excitement levels this evening, we’d recommend shutting off your moving picture devices and checking out one of the following locales. — Cory Graves
Bill Laurance Group at Sandaga 813
The Bill Laurance Group is made up of three Snarky Puppy members — Bill Laurance, Robert “Sput” Searight and Michael League, along with Felix Higginbottom, who has been touring the world playing music since he was eight years old. This amazing lineup plays some of the smoothest jazz that goes from incredibly pensive to incredibly amorous. Check out the song “Swag Times” to get a good feel of the group’s awesome ability to create the best grooves. — Roberto Aguilar
Shakespeare at the Bar Presents: As You Like It at Eight Bells Alehouse
Shakespeare has been performed in every nook and cranny in the world, from a garbage pail to a jungle forest. OK, maybe not that widespread, but you get the point. Really though, the bar is a perfect place to hear aloud all of the iambic pentameters and coy soliloquies for which Shakespeare is famous. That’s what drunk ramblers do anyway. This go round, As You Like It will be the play du jour. The cast list is too enormous to go through here, but be assured these guys and gals are up for the challenge. Huzzah! — RA
Sheer Mag at RBC
DIY Philly punks Sheer Mag have been called “perfectly poppy” and likened to King Tuff just before his breakthrough. That is to say, there’s a greater than zero chance that they got next. Catch them before they play Coachella later this year and really blow the fuck up. Laffing Gas, Slimy Member and Dress Code open. — CG
Wizards of Gore, Black Dream at Three Links
Thirty years ago tomorrow, Rigor Mortis opened for Danzig’s post-Misfits band, Samhain at defunct Dallas club The Scene. Here some dudes will try to recreate some of that magic as the surviving members of Rigor Mortis perform that band’s tunes under the name Wizards of Gore, and Black Dream does a Samhain cover set. It should be quite the blast from the past. — CG
Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat Double Feature at Alamo Drafthouse (Dallas)
In 1994 and 1995, respectively, Capcom’s Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat were loosely adapted into somewhat shitty live action films. Round One pits Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Guile against Raul Julia’s M. Bison. Then director Paul W.S. Anderson — who went on to make the Resident Evil film adaptations as well — finished him, so to speak. Flawless victory. — CG
Jackrabbit at Texas Theatre
This 2015 post-apocalyptic thriller finds a pair of hackers decoding some government secret called “The Zone,” which sounds an awful lot like The Matrix. Or maybe not. A Q&A with director Carleton Ranney and producer/co-writer Destin Douglas follows the screening, so you can just ask them about any similarities yourself. — CG