C3HA72BMWP29 The gastronomic scents, heritage, culture and romance of Italy seep into the grounds of Houston’s University of St Thomas(3800 Montrose Boulevard
Houston, TX). Italophiles stomp grapes, stuff themselves at the pasta-eating contest, watch tarantella folk dances and more at the annual Houston Italian Festival.

Three day festival on the grounds of the University of St. Thomas.

Hours:
Friday, Oct 14: 11am – 10pm
(Admission free til 4pm Friday)
Saturday, Oct 15: 11am – 10pm
Sunday, Oct 16: 11am – 6pm

Share the heritage, culture and the romance of Italy! Enjoy a feast of sight, sound and wonderful tastes. Filled with entertainment, including the popular grape stomp, pasta eating contest, Italian-American Idol Contest, I Madonnari chalk art contest and plenty of children activities, there’s something for everyone.

For more information visit the festival website at www.houstonitalianfestival.com

Come and join The Original Greek Festival, now in its 45th year, and be Greek for a day! Growing attendance over the years continues to create excitement as the word gets around, so bring your family, friends and co-workers to enjoy the festive atmosphere and our new expanded festival site. Facilities, children’s activities, Athenian playground & seating capacity have also been expanded.

When: Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday – October 6 – 9, 2011.
Where: Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral Complex (3511 Yoakum Boulevard, Houston, Texas)

For festival times and more information visit: www.greekfestival.org

Free Parking & Free shuttle
Free shuttle from Lamar High School

Pamela York will be playing at Cezanne’s July 29th and August 20th, 2011.

Canadian-born jazz pianist, composer, and vocalist, Pamela audaciously invites her audience to enter her life for a moment in time—for she is also a daughter, sister, wife, mother, and friend. To Pamela York, what matters most is connecting with people as she tells a story through her music.

Cezanne’s – The premier jazz club of the southwest is located 4100 Montrose Blvd., Montrose Houston.

Come out to the Museum of Fine Art Houston (Rienzi – 1406 Kirby Drive) for “The Fantastic Fables of La Fontaine”. They will be performing July 24, 2011. During this 3 hour long workshop, Early Music Southwest, an international collaboration of baroque music professionals, will perform “The Fantastic Fables of La Fontaine,” a musical tale of wise and foolish animals from 17th century France. The narration with accompanying chamber ensemble will delight kids of all ages. After the performance, children will have the opportunity to create fable themed crafts and enjoy a cookies and lemonade reception. The recital will begin promptly at 1:15pm.

Early Music Southwest annually presents a series of musical recitals at Rienzi. Early Music Southwest specializes in the performance of chamber music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries on original instruments, perfectly complimenting.

Admission is FREE!

Space is limited, reservations are required: rienzi@mfah.org or 713.639.7800. All “A Great Read” programs at Rienzi are generously underwritten by a supporting grant from the Sterling-Turner Foundation.

Kick off the summer in style at the Museum of Fine Arts!

Enjoy this performance on Thursday June 9, 2011 from 2pm-245pm, by Two Star Symphony, inspired by the museum’s Self-Portrait of artist Andy Warhol. The performance is taking place in the Beck Building on the second floor (5601 Main Street – Gallery 214). The MFAH offers summer programs for families every Thursday and Sunday, June 9–August 14.

Kids and families can join the Summer Art Detectives Program to investigate works of art; create art projects in the studio; read books in the galleries; attend music performances, and more!

For more information visit: www.mfah.org.

Back at long last by popular demand, Stages revives the most successful, longest-running show in Stages Repertory Theatre’s history! The show rund from June 1st through July 24th, 2011. Get your tickets early as they SELL OUT FAST!

There’s a new tenant in Armadillo Acres, and she’s wreaking havoc all over Florida’s most exclusive trailer park. The double-wide divas of this fine housing establishment have survived everything from kidnapping to no-good men to (the horror!) bad perms. But when Pippi, a “stripper on the run,” comes between agoraphobic housewife Jeannie and her tollbooth collector husband, a storm begins to brew that will shake these manufactured homes right down to their mobile foundations. All this and there’s SINGIN’ too!

For more information on upcoming shows visit: www.stagestheatre.com

If you want to shop for original painting, drawings, jewelry and everything art and would love to support future artists in Houston, then you need to come out the Annual Student Art Sale at Glassell Studio School. This is a two day event only, so make sure you don’t miss out!

The sale will be taking place May 27, 2011 (5pm to 8pm) and May 28, 2011 (10am to 5pm). The Glassell Studio School is located at 5101 Montrose Boulevard. Shop for original paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, jewelry, ceramics, and sculptures—all created by student artists at the Glassell Studio School. Come early for the best selection. Proceeds benefit the Glassell School of Art scholarship fund.

The Glassell Studio School offers courses in art history and studio art for adults, ages 18 and older. Studio courses and workshops are available in a variety of media, including painting, watercolor, printmaking, photography, ceramics, sculpture, and jewelry.

For more information on Glassell click here.

The Houston Art Car Parade is fantastic, fun and FREE…It is also the Largest Art Car Parade around!

The Art Car Weekend is the Orange Show’s biggest outreach program, a vehicle for the message that art is an integral part of everyone’s everyday life. The weekend’s events are part folk art, part fine art, part wholly artistic expression of every kind. Entirely monumental and thoroughly spectacular!

This year’s Art Car Parade will be taking place May 22, 2011 from 1:00pm to 3:00pm. The Art Car Parade runs along Allen Parkway, from Waugh to Bagby!

For your reference, the 2011 Art Car Weekend will be as follows:
Friday, May 20 – Art Car Ball
Saturday, May 21 – Sneak Peek
Sunday, May 22 – Art Car Parade

For information from the history of the event to all the details visit: www.orangeshow.org/art-car/

The Free Press Summer Fest is Montrose Houston’s outdoor weekend music festival and is being held Saturday June 4th – Sunday June 5th, 2001 at Eleanor Tinsley Park (500 Allen Parkway, Houston, TX).

We have been very lucky to have some amazing artists play the last two years, but this year’s festival lineup takes the cake. They are featuring a handful of notable acts such as the Grammy-nominated Weezer, Yeasayer, Cut Copy, Ween, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, MF Doom, Black Dahlia Murder and, of course, boat loads more. If you would like to see the entire festivals line-up visit their website at: www.freepresssummerfest.com.

On the right we have the 2010 Summer Fest Recap video taken from the Free Press Summer Fest’s website for you to enjoy.

For all the wine enthusiasts in Montrose Houston, there is a special set of people who share the same passion and excitement toward wine as you do – It’s the Houston Wine Geeks! Join their monthly “Wine Meetups” starting at 7pm. The meet-ups usually take place on the fourth Thursday of each month. Visit their website to find out exact days and locations at: www.meetup.com/HoustonWineGeeks/.

Here is a message from their website: “We are lovers of wine. We like to look at it. We like to smell it. We like to taste it. We like to talk about it. We like to read about it. We believe that the more we know about it, the more pleasure and fun we get from our wine experiences. We are WINE GEEKS! Join us for our theme-oriented meetups as we explore the world of wine from the new and unfamiliar ones to the old standbys (do we really know them as well as we think we do?).”

If you are looking for a fun and social way to meet people who share the same interest as you, this could be the right group for you.