Central Track Contributor
Shake It Out With Florence + The Machine.
An already strong week for jazz continues tonight with Snarky Puppy's dance-worthy blend of nu-jazz and funk at the Prophet Bar and Esperanza Spalding's sure-to-be mesmerizing display at House of Blues. Then, of course, as is Tuesday tradition, moviegoers will have to make the difficult choice of seeing one of the greatest or one of the worst films of all time. This week's options both offer loads of humor — but, as one might guess, for completely different reasons.
Tuesday Night Trash: Golden Queen's Commando at Texas Theatre
It's been said that if Golden Queen's Commando contained just one impromptu musical number, it would have elements from every film genre. What begins as a crime film soon displays elements of prison escape films, World War 2 secret mission films, westerns, ghost stories and a James Bond spoof. Sounds like the perfect date night movie to us.
Florence + the Machine at Palladium Ballroom
Florence Welch strikes us as the type that grew up closing her eyes and singing her guts out, blissfully unaware of the of the sheer power of her booming voice. Good thing, then, that she and her band Florence + The Machine are playing the Palladium Ballroom. It's one of the few rooms in town that can handle the magnitude of her vocals.
Esperanza Spalding at House of Blues
Words like “prodigy” and “genius” get casually tossed around in these hyperbole-rich times we live in, but, in Esperanza Spalding's case, we think they're totally fitting. She first picked up the bass at age 15, dropped out of school and enrolled in college at age 16, graduated from there at age 19, and began teaching at Berklee College of Music at age 21.
Snarky Puppy at Prophet Bar
The jazz-funk fusion band is comprised of members from the ever rich Denton jazz scene. Among the dozens of jazz greats its individual members have performed with, names like Maynard Ferguson and Dave Brubeck immediately stand out.
The Big Movie: Manhattan at The Magnolia
Woody Allen's 1979 black-and-white film Manhattan weaves a complex web of romantic and sexual relationships. The film, which earned Allen an Academy Award nominations for Best Writing and Best Screenplay, has also been called one of the funniest movies of all time — as well as one of the all-time great romantic comedies.
