"Birth of the Living Dead" Trailer from Rob Kuhns on Vimeo.
Texas Theatre pries Night of the Living Dead's coffin lid open with Birth of the Living Dead, a perfectly unexpected documentary. Catch it all weekend long. The Symphony's giving an all-Hitchcock show and Philip Freakin' Glass channels Bela Lugosi in Fort Worth on Tuesday.Not your style? All right. How about comedy by Whitney Cummings, Dylan Moran, Paul Varghese, @DadBoner and Kathleen Madigan? There's also a War of the Worlds parody, a Halloween visit by Master Pancake, great art shows, opera, barbecue and even a filmmaking competition.
Let's do this.
Click on the event links for more information and share this list with your undead party posse. I'll see you out there. (I'll be the one covered in fake blood, tapping on your passenger window.)
Thursday 10.24 Dallas Observer Comedy Pub Crawl, with Paul Varghese and Friends -- Consider this an experiment. We've gotten together with Varghese to take you on a totally free, drunk tour of stand up through Deep Ellum. He and two other comics will each do a quick set at The Green Room (8 p.m.), then unplug the mic, grab the stool and take it to Anvil. From there we'll stumble to Twilite, ending at Three Links -- with new material performed at each spot. There's no cover, just pay your bar tabs. You're welcome.
@DadBoner And Friends, You Guys -- The Twitter handle of pop culture commentator, blackout drunkard and all-around fictitious guy Karl Welzein, @dadboner isn't afraid to get meta in 140 characters or less. And his not being real -- "Welzein" is the creation of comedian Mike Burns -- didn't stop @dadboner from publishing his ruminations in a book called Power Moves: Livin' the American Dream, USA-Style. Burns, Matt Braunger with local comic Clint Worth and Granada's Chris McDonald and Gavin Mulloy all grab the mic at Sons of Hermann. It's a Parade of Flesh gig. Tickets cost $15.
Dylan Moran -- This legendary Irish comic sells out every venue across the pond and saw the same with this recent U.S. tour of "Yeah Yeah." He's famous for lots of reasons: Co-writer and star of Black Books, for one. Ditto with those Simon Pegg films. But it's his stand-up that's catapulted him to superstardom.
That '60s Show at Kettle Art -- The second exhibition in its new location, Kettle dips back into an era of moon exploration, civil rights and The Pill in its front gallery. There are more than a dozen artists showing in this group endeavor, so check it out from 7 to 10 p.m.
Birth of the Living Dead, at the Texas Theatre -- This look inside the making -- the cinematic entrails, if you will -- of Night of the Living Dead is perfectly fascinating. Learn how, on a frayed shoestring budget, a bunch of friends up and made a film. They lit each other on fire. Experimented with bootleg pyrotechnics. Had a butcher/producer drop off some animal guts. And in the end, created a cornerstone horror classic. Bonus: You'll fall in love with Romero, who gets generous camera time. He's a dude you want to have eight beers with.
Friday 10.25 Whitney Cummings, at House of Blues -- Just as plants grow towards the sun, comics need a spotlight. Cummings, whose titular show was recently canceled, told the Observer that the muliti-camera comedy's end was a blessing. She needs to be onstage, and she'll do just that Friday when her national tour swings through Dallas.
Opening Night at the Dallas Opera, with Free Carmen Simulcast -- Unless you wear endangered animal skins and Manolos to walk the pup, the Dallas Opera's First Night is too fancy for you. No worries. See the Carmen simulcast, for free, at Klyde Warren. There's even music by Jager and a "What Carmen are You?" costume contest, hosted by us, your opera-loving alt-weekly. Miranda, Electra, San Diego or even the man-ruining star herself -- every Carmen ensemble is a good choice.
Kathleen Madigan at The Majestic -- Madigan's interesting because she's one of the biggest names in comedy, but often isn't considered a "household name." She ain't new to this game: She's had her own HBO special, just cut a stand-up show for Netflix and flies overseas to entertain our troops when she's not hustling the comedy club circuit. Even Lewis Black has called her one of the greatest comedians working today, and that guy hates everything.
Walead Beshty at The Power Station -- Details are vague on this one, but Beshty is known as an experimenter. The Yale-grad artist explores political and social climates through his photography, shipped sculptures, and photograms and the Power Station seems like the perfect place to house them. Check it out, the artist will be in attendance.
Hitchcock! At the Dallas Symphony -- DSO exhumes the haunted scores from Vertigo, North by Northwest, Dial M for Murder and other classics. Relive those feelings of urgency and nervous anticipation with music by Herrmann, Tiomkin, Murray and Gounod as scenes from the films project above.
Ornament is Crime at TractorBeam -- This advertising/branding hub multi-hyphens further as a gallery space, and its latest exhibition opens this Friday. It's a solo look at Morgan Everhart with music by Ruby Rhod and tarot card readings by Tarot Dallas.
Dress Up and Go to the Double-Wide -- They're having that big ol' costume contest on Friday AND Saturday night this week. Oh, and there are different cover bands each night, so go ahead and wag that corpse of yours around.
EX MUS: 5 - Nico Couck -- I love CentralTrak's experimental music program -- it's the only of its kind in our area, and each show feels like a special find. They're bringin' guitarist Nico Couck to the space Friday. He'll perform work by international contemporary composers. There's a suggested $5 donation.
Saturday 10.26 Sadie Hawkins, at CentralTrak -- This exhibition focuses on its defunct namesake holiday and is organized by Leigh Arnold, who recently curated DallaSites for the DMA. The Bridge Club, Celia Eberle, Linda Finnell, Susan kae Grant, Margaret Meehan, Nina Schwanse and Faith Wilding all contribute work on the topic of gender roles, their reversal and the current or future states of feminism. It's free.
Blues, Bandits and BBQ Festival -- Yay, meat! The blues and barbecue are the obvious draws to this Oak Cliff fest. The bandits are questionable. We suspect they mean our resident Brit, Gavin Cleaver, who's guest-judging the saucy servings.
Behind the Screen Comedy at Texas Theatre -- Comedy maven Elizabeth Howard organizes this monthly show, and it's a real gem of a thing. Taking place -- literally -- behind the theater's giant screen, Lauren Davis, Mitchell Clemons, Angel Rosales and Billy McFarland turn the space into an intimate evening of stand up. It's only $5.
APB: Atlantic Pacific Billy Improvises War of the Worlds -- Local improv troupe (and DCH teachers) APB are going back in time to that epic broadcast. You know the one. None of them have heard the thing before, so they'll create scenes based on the notion that shit's going down, intergalactic-style. It's one night only.
Sunday 10.27 Master Pancake Theater mocks Halloween, at Alamo Drafthouse -- There's a slim chance you know John Erler through his former lives as a Jeopardy champion and frontman for Journey tribute band Odyssey. You almost certainly know his mug from Master Pancake, the cinematic spoof show that's been selling out screenings for a decade in Austin. Now that Alamo's expanded, so has Pancake. We get two chances to see him, Andrew Rosas (STAG Comedy) and Mary Jo Pehl (MST3K, Cinematic Titanic) weigh in on what Erler calls "the story of a shy young man who comes home and finds himself stalked by a creepy three-note piano riff." Get them tickets, Dallas.
Four Corners Film Race -- Do you have what it takes to make a film in a week? All right, well ... what if I said there was a keg of Four Corners beer up for grabs: Would that change your tune? Thought so. It's a joint effort between the Oak Cliff Film Fest and the little brewery that could, so sign up, then meet up on Sunday at Texas Theatre.
Cuff Me! The Fifty Shade of Grey Musical Parody -- It never should have become a hit, and yet, it did. There's a touring group that's mocking the phenomenon and they've set up camp at the Eisemann Center.
Tuesday 10.29 Philip Mother Effin' Glass plays to Dracula at Bass Hall -- In the world of avant-garde contemporary composers, few rival him. See Glass and his ensemble (featuring Phil on keys) accompany Tod Browning's 1931 fang-sinker. They'll play an original score below while Bela Lugosi does his thing up high. It's one night only.
