Opera can sometimes seem like an excuse for rich people to dress up and take a really fancy nap. And while the most moving of arias and fanciful costumes are worth the splurge, there's a whole lot of "what's happening" in between the breathtaking moments if you don't speak Italian. Or German. Or is it Elvish? Wagner's Das Rheingold, performed by the Dallas Opera in February, is part of the composer's four-opera Ring Cycle series. The Dallas Opera delivered the "visual magic" it aimed for with an inarguably spectacular production.

Thanks to Dallas' efforts to preserve jazz education — look to Booker T. Washington High School or the University of North Texas' music programs — the city isn't short on talented brass players. Yet Quamon Fowler still stands out as a saxophone player with his 25-plus-years of hitting jazz notes right in the soul. The musician, teacher and bandleader has released seven albums and won third place in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 2008, and he continues to melt the ear off listeners with the Quamon Fowler Quartet. He's as smooth as it gets.

Most Instagram makeup accounts are fun to look at, but Bailey Turfitt's craft is on another level entirely. The artist creates photography collections that pop on Instagram's feed as they would hanging on any art gallery. With accomplished special effects, makeup skills and an ability to turn a self-portrait into a dynamic theatrical still, her account is nothing short of mesmerizing and feels more like a great bit of performance art in 2D.

Dean Terry's mad brainchild, the experimental theater collective Therefore, made a comeback this year with AT&T Performing Art Center's Elevator Project series. The play Poems for Broken Screens was an intermedia collection of skits that delve deeply into digital existentialism, much like its 2018 predecessor, The Alexa Dialogues. The high-tech components of the show are just as masterful as its flesh-and-bone actors, including Abel Flores and Hilly Holsonback, and its impressive original music. The result was a too-real analysis of the ways technology exposes the best and worst of us.

Quite a few publications are devoted to local events (cough) but we gotta hand it to @Dallaslovelist for getting us excited for the newest pop-up or food find. From kid-friendly spots to floating hotel suites, you'll always find a destination for your weekend plans among its recommendations. Between its Instagram and TikTok, the local influencer account has more than 750K followers, so even purists who aren't fans of social media can agree that @Dallaslovelist plays a part in driving the local economy.

Modern art isn't for everyone, especially the modern art that seems inspired by the schools of artists working at Pixar and Dreamworks. But if you love the whimsy inherent in a giant sculpture of a balloon animal, then you'll be more than tickled by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. This is a great space for kids to learn about art and, most important, how to coexist in society by being civilized in shared spaces. Highlights include the massive Kaws sculpture at the edge of the museum's pond, a large installation by post-modern genius Jenny Holzer and contemporary exhibitions such as the recent Black Mirror-like take on technology, the interactive I'll Be Your Mirror. There was even a Takashi Murakami retrospective a few years back.

Singer Abraham Alexander has everything it takes to be an international star. He was born in Greece to Nigerian parents, and relocated to Texas at age 11. The R&B singer's world-weary wisdom comes through in his music and the local-honey lusciousness of his vocals. Alexander has long had support from fellow Fort Worthian Leon Bridges, and on his debut album SEA/SONS, he teams up with legends Mavis Staples and Gary Clark Jr., reminding us why he belongs on much bigger stages.

We recommend checking out DFW's original music scene, but if your cup of sweet tea consists in having some beers and singing along to songs you know all too well, then no judgment. Legacy Hall in the swanky Plano entertainment district Legacy West books tribute bands almost exclusively, but also has trivia nights, and it serves as a big sports bar during important games. The cafeteria-style venue has dozens of mini restaurants serving a variety of flavors from bourbon ice cream to tandoori chicken. So if you want to catch a Queen tribute band followed by a screening of Spice World, douse your chips in vinegar and sing along to "Radio Gaga" like you're watching Freddie at Wimbledon.

The mostly instrumental band Polyphia has such a mix of influences that it satisfies the discriminating taste of jazzheads, world-music chasers and those dudes who sit in the corner of Deep Ellum bars with an approving stank face while lost in the groove. The group's broad appeal is easily quantifiable; Polyphia has millions of listeners just on Spotify. But the Plano band that plays to huge crowds around the world isn't a household name in Dallas — at least not yet. Wait until word gets out that a local band is popular elsewhere, and local fans will flock to it; it's a Dallas tradition.

Any time a '90s-rock-influenced indie band comes out of DFW, you just know it's from Denton. And that's a true compliment. Smothered, a four-piece formed by singer Taylor Watt and drummer Simon Russell, is an alt-rock outfit that's a guitar-driven, scream-filled, grungy trip back to the nights of MTV-binging and days of Bill's-Records-browsing for the latest Tripping Daisy. But the group has 2020s values: Smothered donated half of the proceeds of their latest single "My Southern Girl" to an LGBTQ+ nonprofit. Rad.