This Saturday you'll see green everywhere: in your pint of warm beer, on your bar tab, being flung from parade floats in the form of plastic beads, and on the faces of sorority girls who've been drinking since 8 a.m. It's once again time for the Dallas St. Patrick's Parade and Festival, and it's so much more than a celebration of a Catholic saint said to have driven all the serpents from the island nation of Ireland. It's about going balls to a wall of green-clad Dallasites along a 2-mile route on Lower Greenville Avenue, and it's the best people-watching this city offers. It's also about music -- which you will get an earful of (if you're 21 and up, that is) during the Dallas Observer St. Patrick's Day Concert featuring Josh Abbott Band. Start planning your parking spot now, and where you'll take legitmate, indoor bathroom breaks -- the parade kicks off at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Greenville and Blackwell Street, grinding to a halt in the bar-fortified region at Greenville and Yale Boulevard. The concert starts at noon in Energy Square, at Greenville and University Boulevard. Admission to the concert is $15; the parade is free. - Jennifer Davis-Lamm
Thursday, March 12
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion Thank you, Alamo Drafthouse (501 W. Belt Line Road, Richardson), for giving the Rocky Horror treatment to movies we loved as kids. This time, it's the delightful ditzy-girl comedy Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. The Girlie Night Quote-Along comes complete with props (gummy bears and Post-its), and you're encouraged to drunkenly shout in a manner that would normally get you banned. The movie is chock-full of hilarious lines that you'll definitely remember ("I'm the Mary!" and "I invented Post-its" come to mind), as well as a few gems you might have forgotten, like "Would you excuse me? I cut my foot before and my shoe is filling up with blood." Or the Pretty Woman observation that usually gets edited for television: "Like those sales girls in Beverly Hills aren't bigger whores than she is." Get out your shiny Gadzooks dress (as long as it doesn't exacerbate the genetic betrayal that is your legacy) and Delia's platform dancing shoes -- all those nights in the club are about to pay off. The show starts at 8 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $12 at drafthouse.com/dfw. - Tracie Louck
There Will Be Blood There's nothing like seeing a movie on the big screen. Especially a movie like There Will Be Blood. See it at the Texas Theatre at 8 p.m. Thursday.
After Dark at the Farmer's Market All of the best things happen after dark. After a day filled with shopping fruits and vegetables at Dallas Farmers Market, the nighttime is when the real party begins. Or, you know, at least some beer and wine tasting. Market After Dark is Dallas Farmers Market's official after-party, where you get the chance to shop artisan food vendors, eat from food trucks until you're doubled-over, listen to the best live music, and of course, get a little tipsy from sampling beer and wine. This happens every Thursday and this week is no different. Admission is free, meaning there's really no reason for you not to attend. Be at the Farmers Market (1010 S. Pearl Expressway) at 6 p.m. Thursday. More info at dallasfarmersmarket.org. - Paige Skinner
Hot Mikado The story behind Hot Mikado is, appropriately, an outlandish one -- it's a piece of musical theatre based on a jazz adaption of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera, which was itself one of the more over-the-top theatrical collaborations between the famed librettist and composer. The opera, The Mikado, was a topsy-turvy, comedic treatment of cruelty and punishment in a highly fictionalized 19th century Japan; The Hot Mikado was an all-black Broadway reimagination of the play during the late 1930s, featuring an exuberant adaptation of the score. Hot Mikado is adapted from that jazz production, though when creators David H. Bell and Rob Bowman set out to find the original production materials, they were mostly lost. As a result, the play has been put back together using the tidbits that they could find from The Hot Mikado, along with their own embellishments. The result is a lively creation that blends cultural elements and architecture from Japan with Swing Era fashion and sensibilities, along with elements of jazz, gospel, blues and torch songs throughout the play. Theatre Three (2800 Routh St.) presents the adaptation of the adaptation beginning this Thursday and through April 5, with shows at 7: 30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $10 to $50 at theatre3dallas.com. -Jennifer Davis-Lamm
Romeo and Juliet 18-year-old composer prodigy and current Southern Methodist University freshman, Chase Dobson, sees his Piano Concerto No.1 receive its professional orchestral debut in an event full of debuts. Performed by the daring, well-traveled pianist Lucille Chung -- an SMU lecturer who was something of a prodigy herself -- Dobson's piano concerto serves as Chung's Dallas Symphony Orchestra debut as well. The DSO also presents Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet and Schumann's Symphony No. 2, which open and close the program respectively. Case Scaglione, associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic, makes his conducting debut. Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets start at $19. More information at mydso.com - Jonathan Patrick
Friday, March 13
Wilde/Earnest If you're a fan of Oscar Wilde, you know that he preferred to critique society on his own terms, and those terms generally focused on art, style and delightful turns of phrase, as opposed to deep thematic explorations and clunky metaphors. The Importance of Being Earnest is the best example of this. It's basically a forerunner of "Seinfeld" -- a comedy about nothing, really, but still an engrossing one. Kitchen Dog Theater pays tribute to the merry triviality of Wilde's enduring theatrical romp with a frisky adaptation that highlights modern cultural obsessions and original music. KDT member Lee Trull has reimagined Wilde's work as a paean to the modern hipster lifestyle, incorporating elaborate cocktails, playlist-making and even roller skating into this tale of four contemporary young adults making their way through seemingly insignificant contemporary rituals. Featuring music from local songwriter Jencey Keeton (French 75) and choreography from Danielle Georgiou, Wilde/Earnest will open at 8 p.m. Friday and run through April 18. Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets for opening night, which includes a reception, are $36; other performances are $13 to $27. Visit kitchendogtheater.org. -JDL
Eliana Miranda: Depraved Documentations Much of the work you'll see at Eliana Miranda's exhibition at Ro2 Art will be pulled straight from the headlines. The artist, who is completed her MFA at University of Dallas, uses current events as inspiration, currently taking an interest in the Mexico/United States border disputes. See her paintings on display at an opening reception 7-9 p.m. Friday or through March 24. More at Ro2art.com. -LS
Expanded Sleep Do you remember lock-ins? Those relics of childhood, where you'd fluff up your sleeping bag next to your fellow hormone-riddled middle schoolers and stay overnight in the school gymnasium or church youth building? Well, Expanded Sleep is like that, but for adults and with an artistic soundtrack. This "Performance for Somnolent or Sleeping Audience" is a music performance featuring musicians and artists from Dallas and Austin that starts at 9 p.m. and lasts until sunrise. Bring your sleeping bags, blankets and pillows to Beefhaus (833 Exposition Ave.) at 9 p.m. Friday and do what you're good at: Sleep through some art. Hey, we saw you nodding off at the symphony last night. Entrance is free, but space is limited. The doors will close to newcomers sometime around 12 a.m. More at artbeef.blogspot.com. -Lauren Smart
Joe Rogan He may be known as "that guy" on the NBC sitcom "Newsradio," the leather-jacket-wearing host of the long-running reality show "Fear Factor" and one half of the color commentary team for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. However, comedian Joe Rogan is more than a guy who makes a living encouraging people to eat puréed horse anuses and through his knowledge of the many ways to put a man in a coma using only your hands, feet and knees. He's got a unique and deep comedy style that rips the cover off of any topic he's covering, whether it's the usual comedy fodder like sex and drunken excess or deeper topics like nuclear power, gay marriage and the idolization of political pundits. However, he's not above throwing in a story or two about being around human-meat punchers like Brock Lesner for some of the dumber people in the crowd who couldn't wrap their head around political and spiritual topics if Chuck Lidell made their skull more malleable. Joe Rogan will step out on the stage of the Majestic Theatre (1925 Elm St.) at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $47.50 each. More information at ticketmaster.com. - Danny Gallagher
La Boheme Puccini's La Bohème was, in its day, the opera equivalent of a cinematic tearjerker à la Steel Magnolias or A Walk to Remember. It wasn't especially highbrow, but it attracted crowds due to its simple, sweet, hankie-wringing plot -- and still remains one of the most frequently performed and most beloved of all operas. Your doomed pair in this story are Mimi and Rodolfo, a couple of poor romantics who fall hard and fast for each other, then break up, then reunite only to see their love torn asunder by the cruel hand of (spoiler alert!) death. It'd be a massive bummer if not for the soaring, dreamy music that convinces us that true love never dies, even if Mimi does. Grab your tissues and gird yourself for the inevitable at The Dallas Opera's production of the passionate blockbuster in the Winspear Opera House (2403 Flora St.). Performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $25 to $214 at dallasopera.org. -JDL
Saturday, Feb. 14 BeautyCon If you're not at the St. Patty's day parade, you're interested in all things beauty, you'll want to head to Fair Park for this convention filled with tips from the pros and demos of the latest, greatest products.
Coed:Josh Reames and Amber Renaye For the past few months, artists Josh Reames and Amber Renaye have been using Oliver Francis Gallery as a studio space, and they've created a body of work that is sure to earn them attention. The pair are plannign to split the rest of the year between the east and west coasts, but before they head out, OFG -- rechristened OFG.XXX -- will exhibit their work in a dual exhibition titled #COED. This also marks the first show in the gallery at 209 S. Peak St. Swing through from 7-10 p.m. Saturday or by appointment through April 4. More information at ofg.xxx. -LS
Mark Tribe At the intersection of art and technology, the leading figure is Mark Tribe. An early adopter of new media, in 1996 Tribe started Rhizome.org as an online resource for anyone with similiar curiousity about how emerging technology affects culture. In his artistic practice, he's interested in using art and media to ignite conversations and change, often political. The upcoming exhibition at Zhulong Gallery, Mark Tribe: New Landscapes, will display a series of work interested in the environment and the changing human experience with nature. Large in scale, these pieces seek to explore the recreation of "untouched" landscapes in video games or virtual realities. His pieces will push the virtual back into the physical world through aerial photography in conversation with great masters of painting. There will be an artist talk at 5 p.m. Saturday, followed by an opening reception from 6-9 p.m. Admission is free. The show will remain on display through April 18 at Zhulong Gallery (1302 Dragon St.) More at zhulonggallery.com. -LS
Sunday, March 15 The Wolf Man Those who've been waiting for an Alamo Drafthouse location to open up in the comfy Dallas-proper confines south of 635, out of fear of the northern 'burbs and their wood-paneled minivans, have missed out on quality film-geek entertainment. This weekend is a great opportunity to face your fears and have some celluloid fun at a screening of the 1941 George Waggner horror classic The Wolf Man at the Drafthouse in Richardson (100 S. Central Expressway). This brunch-friendly 1 p.m. Sunday screening is the latest in a series of horror classics, and it's perfect because it will allow viewers to get home well before dark -- when Wolf Man, and minivans, are most frightening. Tickets are $8.25 at drafthouse.com/dfw. -Kelly Dearmore
Michaël Borremans: As Sweet as It Gets The paintings of Michaël Borremans each carry beauty and mystery. There is a power to his paintings, which are in conversation with art history and the masters from former centuries but each work bears a life all its own. The Belgian painter works with a moody brush, bringing to life subjects at once quiet, but unsettling. Sunday, the American premiere of a traveling exhibition of his work opens at the Dallas Museum of Art. Tickets are $16. More information at dma.org. -LS
