Houston Events April 2012

Photo courtsey WillBluffs Flickr stream

Have you ever attended a Houston event in a rental car and forgot what kind of car you were driving when you got there, or forgot where you parked your car in a big parking lot like Reliant Stadium or Katy Mills. Those are sure signs that you are having plenty of fun when that happens to you. This weekend get set to have that kind of funky good time at some of the great festivals in H-town.

There are too many to try and name them all but, here are some that you don’t want to miss.

April 13 - 15, 2012

Kemah Crawfish Festival 2012

It’s time again for the Kemah Crawfish Festival 2012, . The three-day Houston event takes place under the iconic Kemah Bridge with $2 A Pound Crawfish and music from some ofthe best bands in the area Bon Ton Mickey, Eugene Moody and The Blues Back Band, Brad Absher Band featuring Anthony Terry, and Texas Johnny Brown will be there.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Hot Block on Holman 2.0

The Artist Collective (1413 Holman at LaBranch) in the Midtown Art Center invites you to look through the lens of Jason Woods (Jack Yates), aka Flash Gordon Parks and discuss his dynamic body of works on display this month. The "2012 HOT BLOCK” features movies, all of which have sustainability themes,“Carmen Jones,” “Medicine for Melancholy” plus:
Drinks,
Popcorn
Music
Vegan Comfort food
Arts and craft vendors, original art and sidewalk tables and chairs and bike parking. Admission ranges from $5 to $15. Art viewing is free.



17th Annual Bayou City Cajun Fest

photo courstey: FLickr

" Cajun pies, jambalaya don't you spill it ...they're cooking up... big time fun... at Traders Village"


 Two days, Saturday and Sunday, April 14 & 15, during the 17th Annual Bayou City Cajun Fest.
Free live, toe-tapping Cajun music will be performed all weekend.

FREE CONCERTS:
11am - 2p Zydeco Dots



Fifth Annual Houston Indie Book Festival

Dozens of nationally-distributed literary journals, local booksellers, publishers, small presses, literary organizations, and writers will be hob-nobbing at the Menil Park on 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.

• Children’s Area
• Binding Workshop
• Readings by Ana Maria Rodriguez and Andrea White.

13th Annual Midtown Visions Cultural Arts Tour

Come enjoy some of Midtown Houston's most creative visual and performing arts environments Noon to 5pm! You are invited to an open house at the artist's studios, galleries, complexes and collectives in Midtown .
It’s your chance to meet neighbors, greet artist and purchase artwork from the studios and see compelling installations, mixed media and performances.
Come and support your local artist!

Sunday April 15

The Women of Glenwood Cemetery Walking Tour

Be a part of a walking tour of an architecturally and/or historically significant Glenwood Cemetery sponsored by Preservation Houston.Hear the stories of some of the fascinating women who played important roles in the development of Houston and Texas, like ;
Gene Tierney
Charlotte Allen
Annette Finnigan
Florence Sterling
Alice Graham Baker
Tickets go on sale at 1:30 p.m. Tour begins at 2 p.m

Asia Society Texas Center Open House and First Look Festival

The Asia Sociarty officially opens its new headquarters in the heart of Houston’s Museum District with a four-day celebration April 12-15,
Music, dance, acrobatics, art exhibitions, storytelling, and tours of the building will be among the offerings during the two-day celebration.
Admission is free, and all are welcome.


Here are a few other Houston events that might strike your fancy. The Bat Fest, complete with Bat Chats, games and crafts for children, and an informative Bat Seminar at the Houston’s Zoo’s Brown Theater.

WorldFest-Houston - The state's oldest film festival competition. It spotlights film, video production & screenplays. All premieres will be shown at the AMC Studio 30 Theatre at 2949 Dunvale! If we missed your favorite festival or event charge it to our heads and not our hearts. Go ahead and leave the details about it in the comments section or like us on Facebook Fan page and you can post it in The Midtownlive Fanpage stream.

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Festivals In Houston -April

Tis the season for spring fairs and festivals in Houston and all over the great Southwest including the annual “Art In the Park" here in Midtown Houston. These family-friendly events are a great way to get the family out for a fun, festivities and frolicking in the springtime.


They are part of a time honored tradition of feast, fetes and festivals that celebrate unique aspects of our community, special occasions and anniversaries of events. You can probably find a celebration in the city that pays homage to just about anything imaginable.


5th Annual Midtown Art in the Park
http://www.houstonmidtown.com/midtown.cfm?a=cms,c,58


Saturday, April 9, art fanatics, 75 fine artists, great local music including Days Drive, The Selfless Season, the sweet sounds of Clory Martin will fill Elizabeth Baldwin Park in Midtown Houston. Painting Parties with Happy Hour Studios sponsored by Central Bank. The Ensemble Theatre will have a special presentation and stick around to experience LIVE painting on stage by Nubia Seibert.


Galveston Food & Wine Festival, 2011:
http://www.galveston.com/foodandwine/

A four-day festival on April 14 - 17 of over 100 wines, 22 vineyards, 11 restaurants,and other vendors. Join wine enthusiasts from across the state. This year’s theme, Wines from Around the World.

The 44th Annual WorldFest-Houston
http://www.worldfest.org/PAGES/calendar.htm

Get ready for 10 great days in April. 55 features, 96 shorts, 6 Professional Production Seminars - All film screenings at the AMC Studio 30 at Dunvale Theaters. The Official HQ Hotel - The Marriott Westchase!

Bellaire Art Festival

A fabulous venue for thousands of local artists to display and sell their works - many of whom were just starting their careers as successful artists. Cultivating local talent

5th Annual Polish Fest

All things Polish are highlighted during this exciting cultural festival featuring the food, music, language, customs and the culture of the Polish people. The cultural festival is held on the grounds of Our Lady of Czestochowa Church in Houston.

Kemah Crawfish Festival
http://www.kemahcrawfishfestival.com/

The three-day festival takes place under the iconic Kemah Bridge, truly welcoming all into the city. In addition to the crawfish, Kemah will present the best of Cajun dishes and classic festival fare, and cooking demonstrations.


Katy Guitar Festival
http://www.katyguitarfest.com/index.html

Fill your weekend with wonderful music and activities for your entire family! April 29-30, 2011. Katy Guitar Fest and the West Houston Jazz Festival, will supply entertainment Saturday and Sunday, you will not want to miss this rockin Houston event.

23rd Annual Liars' Contest
http://www.houstonstorytellers.org/liars%27%20flyer%202011.pdf

They will tickle your fancy and curl your toes on April 9, 2011, Sat 7pm at Houston Baptist University, Mabee Theater. Checkout this Houston Story Tellers Guild annual event.


More Festivities near Houston

Austin Reggae Festivals
http://www.austinreggaefest.com/


Texas Sand Festival
http://www.texassandfest.com/eventinfo.htm
Port Aransas

Upcoming Fairs and Festivals in Houston

May 2011

Palestinian Film Festival
http://www.hpff.org/news/save-the-date-2011/

June 2011

National Black Book Festival
http://www.nationalblackbookfestival.com/eventtickets.htm

When you attend Houston Tx. festivals you can expect to leave there with more than a few prizes and souvenirs of the event. It’s an easy way to learn more details about a particular subject, interesting culture or a historical event. Numerous festivals are held in Houston each year, most of them are during the warmer months. Fall and wintertime festivals are rising in popularity.

Your agenda for family-friendly fun will be a hit with everyone in your crew if you include a stop at one or more of these wonderful Houston festivals this weekend.

More about fairs and festivals in Houston
Houston International Jazz festival
H-town Blues Festivals
Cinco De Mayo 2011
Earth Day

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Top 10 Things To Do In Houston TX - March 2011

If you have some downtime, our things to do in Houston list for this weekend. March 11-13th, is worth checking out. There are so many exciting, fun things happening that we couldn’t pack them all into a Saturday and Sunday schedule. So, we are beginning our weekend on Friday.

How does that old saying go? “The early bird gets the most worms.” Wouldn't you love to worm your way into a long weekend. Here’s our list of H-towns liveliest events. It's enough to keep you busy from Friday to Sunday.

Griff's 46th Annual St. Patrick's Day Festival,
St. Patrick's Day Parade
Montrose Tour
Bats On The Bayou
Bayou Regatta
Learn To Camp
Discovery Green
Birds Walk
Big Squeeze 2011 Houston Audition
Divas Jazz Salon

TGIF in H-town

Big Squeeze 2011 Houston Auditions Auditions for the Big Squeeze, a state-wide accordion competition. It’s free but you may want to reserve a spot. Get more information: 512-441-9255.

Bats On The Bayou Waugh Bridge bat colony tours gives visitors a look from a safe distance at a huge roosting of Mexican free-tail bats. It’s an awesome sight to see them departing in search of their evening meal of pesky insects.

Divas Jazz Salon To start your Houston weekend on the right foot you can get down with the delightful sounds of Divas Jazz Salon happening at Hobby Center - Zilkha Hall.

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St Patrick’s Day Parade Everything is tainted green this weekend as the city gets in gear for the annual St Patty’s parade. Expect to see fabulously decorated floats, charming leprechauns and shamrock green beverages flowing through the streets of Downtown Houston.

Griff's 46th Annual St. Patrick's Day Festival The annual St Paddy’s festival in Houston includes a variety of contest, including local beauties competing in a pageant for the title of queen. Other competitions scheduled during this weekend long Houston festival are: The Annual Greater Houston Irish Open Golf Tournament and a Irish Stew, Chili and Chicken Cook-Off

To unwind from a long list of things to do, visit Houston's Downtown District’s favorite greenspace. Vendors will be on hand at Discovery Green with wonderful homemade, handmade and made in Houston goods at the farmers market this weekend.

For those you have the energy you can get busy at the hoop dance session or to charge your body for the week ahead kick back on the grass and chill-lax and try counting pigeons as if they were sheep.

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Houston Weekend Events Nov -2010

You're in the right place if your Houston weekend event has to be one that is exciting entertaining and enriching. Hopefully the mild weather will continue and we’ll get to spend lots more days enjoying the great outdoors and some of f the Houston boat tours, festivals and concerts coming up.

For those of you who are reluctant to brave the Houston weekend weather, I have thrown in a few indoors events in Houston, so everyone should be able to find something to d o this weekend.

Festivals in Houston

Jesse H. Jones Park & Nature Center10 am to 4:00 pm
This local Houston festival features reenactments and demonstrations about the life and times of Texas pioneers and colonist during the early years of the state and during the Texas revolution period. Some of the skills on display include:

Pioneer construction skills
Spinning and weaving
Daily settler chores
Lye soap making
Settler crafts
"Native" lore
Survival skills
Reenactments
Heritage music
Pioneer cooking
Black powder weapons

Annual Texas Renaissance Festival (Weekends)
Presented by Texas Renaissance Festival at Texas Renaissance Festival
October 9-November 28, 2010
Thy merriment awaits! The Texas Renaissance Festival will open its gates for its for a few more weekends during its 36th season. The events runs from October to November each year.

Moody Gardens


Attending the kick-off of the Festival of Lights, one of the largest holiday celebrations in the region, has become a tradition for families and groups alike. There will be over 100 sound-enhanced animated light displays and nightly live entertainment to get visitors into a jolly mood .

Take a trip on the ice at Galveston area’s only outdoor ice rink. Other funtastic activities during the weekend event include:
Pictures with Santa
IMAX® 3D Theater,
Ridefilm Theater and 4D Special FX Theater. Don’t forget admission to the Aquarium Pyramid®, IMAX® 3D and Ridefilm Theaters and Colonel Paddlewheel Boat can be purchased for $5 each with a Festival of Lights ticket. Skate rental is also available for just $5.

Indoors Events

22nd Annual Tree Lighting and Ice Spectacular
Presented by The Galleria at The Galleria -- Polar Ice Skating Center
November 13, 2010

Houston Outdoors Adventures

Armand Bayou Guided Canoe Tours

Evening Concert with the Lone Star Blue Grass Band

Buffalo Bayou Kayak Tours

Free Concerts In Houston

Sunday Concert Series at Discovery Green

The fabulous greenspace is wrapping up the Sunday series soon, but you still have time to see the live spirited performance by Runaway Sun- featuring Blues, Rock and Americana.

There maybe a few more good Houston weekend events that we missed. You’re always welcome to send in your events to us or add them to the comments section.

If you have something exciting that's happening in and around Houston that you think deserves a mention here on Midtownlive, use the contact button on the right to get the details to us.

		Houston Networking To energize your career and attract more business view the top business and professional networking events in Houston.			Houston Attractions Get discounts tickets for your family or group on the exhibits and events at many of the fun places to visit in Houston.
		Midtown Houston Apts Find deals on move in specials, rebates and pricing on renting apts and lofts in Midtown and other great places in Houston.			Festivals In Houston Here is a list of the many family friendly, exciting nieghborhood and city-wide festivals that you should know about.
		Museums in Houston Located near Midtown Houston in the Museum District, there is plenty of things to see and do at any of the great museums in town.			Houston African American There are lots of events in Houston where you can experience its rich African American cultural heritage here's a look at a few of them.

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Houston Festivals

It’s time for the 20th Annual Houston International Jazz festival, the ideal place to get a taste of the superb flavor of local and internationally recognized Jazz artist. The musically rich festival will dazzle your musical taste buds with fusion, swing and other samplings dished out during the weekend event.

Festival Performers

The Saturday Houston festival has a music lineup that brings together international jazz aficionados including Rachelle Ferrell and Hiroshima. The Latin Jazz greats Tito Puente, Jr. and M.F. Production’s Latin Jazz All-Stars take the stage Sunday, August 8.
These contemporary musicians will entertain music lovers of every genre at the Houston festival with their high-energy performances and a feast of phenomenal sounds.  


Hiroshima
It’s been a quarter of a century since Hiroshima started seasoning their music with funky pop, urban and jazz sensibilities. This unique East meets West approach is still a big hit in the jazz scene.

Rachelle Ferrell
Ferrell has worked with some of the top names in jazz, including Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, George Benson and George Duke. She is an artist who's equally at home with belting out pop, gospel, classical music and jazz tunes.

Tito Puenete Jr

Tito Puente, Jr. has stepped-out more to become more than just a casino headliner. His distinctive vibrant Latin sound can be heard at performing arts centers and at the Jazz festivals from Brooklyn to Houston.


Texas Brass Band

This group of musical artist are all about kickin’ brass. The group has cooked up a symbiotic chemistry with each other that have their fans calling them the most tight sounding horns west of the Pecos.


Parking And Additional Info

The exciting Jazz Festival takes place at Discovery Green’s Anheuser-Busch Stage and Fondren Performance Space. During this event in Houston no dogs, picnics or coolers will be allowed.

Your parking options for the Houston festival are garage and surface lots, with some metered street parking around the perimeter of the park. The best places to park are the lots on La branch.

Festivals In Houston During August

This is the last weekend for the Houston Shakespeare Festival at Millers Outdoor Theater. This year’s performances are: A Midsummer Night's Dream July 30, August 1, 3, 5 & 7,

Much Ado About Nothing July 31, August 4, 6 & 8, 8:30 pm.

		Houston Networking To energize your career and attract more business view the top business and professional networking events in Houston.			Houston Attractions Get discounts tickets for your family or group on the exhibits and events at many of the fun places to visit in Houston.
		Midtown Houston Apts Find deals on move in specials, rebates and pricing on renting apts and lofts in Midtown and other great places in Houston.			Festivals In Houston Here is a list of the many family friendly, exciting nieghborhood and city-wide festivals that you should know about.
		Museums in Houston Located near Midtown Houston in the Museum District, there is plenty of things to see and do at any of the great museums in town.			Houston African American There are lots of events in Houston where you can experience its rich African American cultural heritage here's a look at a few of them.

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What To Do In Houston This Weekend

Takasha Francis

Jecaryous Johnson

Ravey Wesley

Folks wondering what to do this weekend in Houston, should really consider hanging out at the Black Book festival in Houston. It's an exciting annual events where African Americans in Houston get a chance to mingle with literary talent from around the nation.

It's filled with exciting things to do for adults and children. It's a rare chance for you to get face time with your favorite author and/or the premier Black writers. The weekend event only lasts until Sunday.

Where
May 21-23, 2010,
Crowne Plaza Hotel - 1700 Smith Street-Downtown Houston

Take a look at some of the things you can do at the Black book festival in Houston.

Friday, May 21, 2010...10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.
Private Slumber Party
w/Authors Beverly Jenkins and Brenda Jackson
(Ladies only - Ages 18 and up)


Sunday, May 23, 2010 @ 9:00 a.m.
Prayer Breakfast
Breakfast Speaker:Cheryl Lacey Donovan


Sunday, May 23, 2010 @ 4:00 p.m.
Spoken Word Poetry Slam
Poet and Host: Takasha Francis


The Black book festival is more than just a place for writers and publishers to hob nob. Their events are geared for book lovers of all ages and any professionals who would like to do some networking this weekend can get in on these cool activities.

• Book signing and discussion sessions with featured authors
• Workshops
• Seminars
• Spoken word poetry slam
• Book club give-aways

The tickets are moderately priced so everyone can come out and roam through the tons of exhibits. You can even bring your tweens and teens along to participate in these kid-friendly events.

10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Children's Reading Room
Children's authors will read books to children and provide other entertaining activities

Etiquette for Teens
Director-Gloria Franklin
CEO, Ray of Hope Publishing

Take a peak at some of the publishers, authors and promoters participating during the festival in Houston.

Author Collective
Favor Two U Publishing
Lucy Rose Publishing
Revolutionary Disciples Media

Carl Weber
Author of 10+ novels, including
Up To No Good and Big Girls Do Cry

Ravey D. Wesley
Policy: One Man’s Legacy
A novel about a man born
in the early 1900s, who dreams
of creating financial wealth for future generations,
mission to learn the secrets of finance and wealth.


J. M. Benjamin
Publisher and author of 5+ urban fiction novels,
including Down in the Dirty, Ride or Die Chick and Menace

Writers, literary professionals or if you're interested in trying to publish a book, these weekend events can help you in your career or get a want-to-be writer off on a good start.

Bringing Out the Book In You
Presenter: Cydney Rax
Author, Brothers and Wives and
My Daughter's Boyfriend

Love and Adventure in the Middle East
Presenter: Luther Burch
Author, Black American in the Desert Kingdom

Marketing Your Book On a Limited Budget
Moderator
Oswald Scott, Author and Attorney
Panelists
Troy Johnson, Founder, AALBC.com
Dana Pittman, Nia Promotions

Faith Without Fear: Finding Purpose In Your Pain
Presenter: Renee Jean
Author, Verse in Motion: Moving God's Word in Your Life Personally and Eternally


The Black book festival in Houston is not just for people in the industry. It has seminars luncheons and workshops scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday that anyone can attend.

You'll benefit from attending this festival, whether you come with a group, family or solo. It'll be a weekend full of intresting events and topics of discussion with an array of talented professionals to connect with.

Books

Art/Theater

Attractions

Parks

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