Ultimate Guide to Your Weekend, September 23-25

Do This!
Sebastian Mansicalco and Dane Cook will headline the Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival coming to Gexa Pavilion (3839 S. Fitzhugh Ave.) at 5:15 p.m. Friday. But what's cooler is that Jermaine Fowler of Flight of the Conchords, Ali Wong and Separation Anxiety host Iliza Shlesinger are also on the lineup. Tickets start at $29.95 at oddballfest.com. – Merritt Martin

This year’s frightful festivities at Six Flags Over Texas (2201 Road to Six Flags, Arlington) include five haunted mazes and seven scare zones where just about anything is lurking around every open corner. And if you need to take a break from screaming for your life, you can enjoy live Halloween-themed stage shows or ride one of Six Flags’ many signature thrill rides. Fright Fest starts Saturday. Check frightfest.sixflags.com for ticket options starting at $48.99. — Danny Gallagher

Local poet Joe Milazzo has put together a new event at Deep Vellum Books (3000 Commerce St.) where the focus will briefly be taken off of new pursuits and placed on a published poet who deserves our collective attention. The first meeting of the repertory poetry reading series Other People’s Poetry will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday and highlight Rainer Marie Rilke’s New Poems, released in 1908, which will be read by many of your favorite local poets. Admission is free. 

Eat This!
Fall is officially here but but there's no reason to give up snow cones when the temperatures are still so high. Enjoy your last few (hopefully) of the season at Sno Gourmet (7814 Meadow Road), where the ice is melt-in-your-mouth soft and topped with all kinds of creative natural flavors such as cucumber limeade.

You can get fried mushrooms a lot of places, but you haven't experienced the dish until you've had the fried wild mushrooms at Small Brewpub. Maitake mushrooms are battered with rice flour, fried, then served with a sour milk jam and dressed with pickled white fungus, pickled Sun E Farms peppers and chili sauce. "Equal parts earthy, briny, creamy and bright, these mushrooms will always start our meal at Small Brewpub," says food editor Beth Rankin.

Perhaps your typical brunch routine of pancakes and bacon is getting a little tired, and you're looking to start your day with something a bit more exotic. Malai Kitchen in West Village (3699 McKinney Ave., No. 319) is willing to help, with a Thai/Vietnamese/American fusion brunch menu that includes a delicious Hoi An hash that's akin to an omelet stuffed with pork sausage; flat, wide, deep-fried noodles; pickled bean sprouts; and dressed with a soy sauce.

Drink This!
Cocktail writer Suzie Oszustowicz says drinks that are light on the booze are gaining popularity. But CBD Provisions (1530 Main St.) in the Joule Hotel is plenty popular already, so they're going to mix their pineapple, orange and lime flavored cocktail, the One-Eyed Willie, with as much liquor as they damn well please — which is a half-ounce each of two types of rum, another 3/4 oz. of cognac, plus a few dashes of bitters. Get the recipe for your trip to the islands here. 

Denton's best music festival, Oaktopia, takes place this weekend, and there will be a lot of food for eating and beverages for drinking. We put together this list of all the best refreshments and themed cocktails at Paschall Bar (122 N. Locust St.); juice at Juice Lab, (508 S. Elm St.); craft beer at Bearded Monk (122 E. McKinney St.); and java at Jupiter House Coffee (106 N. Locust St.) that will have you covered on stimulants, depressants and detoxes. 

Hear This!
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra takes us back to the season of rebirth and revival courtesy of Igor Stravinsky and his groundbreaking The Rite of Spring, a 1913 orchestral masterpiece initially paired with a ballet about pagan sacrifice. Jaap Van Zweden’s DSO embraces the vernal-themed work of art, as well as a violin concerto by Simone Lamsma, during performances in the Meyerson Symphony Center (2301 Flora St.) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $27 to $150 at mydso.com. – Jennifer Davis-Lamm

Oaktopia has been a solid little Denton music festival these last three years, but when the organizers announced the lineup for its fourth go-round this weekend, they shocked us all. Rae Sremmurd, Erykah Badu, Andrew W.K. and Norah Jones will all be performing, along with some of our best local bands and comedians. Tickets to the festival across multiple venues in downtown Denton, which goes on through Saturday, are $50 to $200 at oaktopia.com.

Mellow troubadour Ray LaMontagne recently canceled a show at UT Austin because of their new campus carry law, but he's still coming to Dallas' South Side Ballroom (1135 S. Lamar St.) at 8 p.m. Saturday. Hear the "Trouble" singer play hits from his latest album Ouroboros, released in January. Tickets are $49.50 at southsideballroomdallas.com. 

See This!
After the Pride festival wraps up, Uptown Players keep the party going with their Dallas Pride Performing Arts Festival, which includes a plethora of plays, cabaret acts and staged readings at the Kalita Humphreys Theater (3636 Turtle Creek Blvd.). At 7:30 p.m. Friday catch Boomer Tyro is Coming Home, a tongue-in-cheek take on Tennessee Williams, and then stick around for Stigmatic by local playwright Ness Everett at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 to $15 at uptownplayers.org – Jennifer Davis-Lamm

A lot of Southern-fried musicals have been produced in Dallas over the last few years: Moonshine: That Hee-Haw Musical, Show Boat, and now Bella: An American Tall Tale at the Wyly Theatre (2400 Flora St.). But Bella, playing at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, is fresh because its 19th century story about a woman’s colorful journey to meet up with her soldier beau features a black female protagonist. For tickets, $20 to $70, and more info, visit dallastheatercenter.org. 

Cara Mía Theatre Co. offers up a paean to the possibilities of democracy with Crystal City 1969. The play, penned by Dallasites David Lozano and Raul Treviño, explores the inspiring true story of a group of Mexican-American students who walked out of their high school in protest of their treatment. The play premieres at the Latino Cultural Center (2600 Live Oak St.) at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $13 to $25 at caramiatheatre.org. – Jennifer Davis-Lamm