Weekend Event Planner

These are the 7 best things to do in Fort Worth this weekend

While the majority of events around Fort Worth have either been postponed or canceled, there are a few that have popped up to offer the masses some entertainment while still adhering to the social distancing necessary during the coronavirus pandemic.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. While they're not all outside of the house, they all promise to provide a nice distraction from the everyday life.

Thursday, August 13

Fort Worth Museum of Science and History presents Reopening Day
After making plans to reopen in July only for an uptick in COVID-19 cases putting on a pause on those plans, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History will finally reopen on August 13. The museum has implemented a number of measures to try to ensure the safety of guests, including a face mask requirement, timed ticketing, the removal of frequently touched objects, and more. Admission price has been temporarily lowered to $9 for anyone 5 and over, and free for kids 4 and under.

The Cliburn presents Cliburn at Home
After two months, The Cliburn's virtual series Cliburn at Home will come to a close with one final Cliburn Watch Party, featuring a performance by pianist Leonardo Pierdomenico, who was given a Cliburn Competition jury discretionary award in 2017. The performance will premiere on The Cliburn's Facebook and YouTube channels at 1 pm, and will be available on-demand anytime thereafter.

Jubilee Theatre productions
It's a week of comings and goings for Jubilee Theatre. How I Got Over was first offered as a live production before transitioning to a virtual production in early July. This is the final weekend they'll be streaming the production, which celebrates the legendary Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson, and other gospel greats in a musical revue. And starting Friday, you can see their virtual production of Da Kink in My Hair, in which hurried women congregate in the salon of their West Indian stylist to have their hair done for dates, jobs and upkeep. They leave with not just a new hairdo, but a lifted soul and a lightened heart. That production will be available through August 30.

Friday, August 14

The Bellamy Brothers in concert
Thanks to a reclassification as a restaurant with live music, Billy Bob's Texas will be able to start offering concerts again this weekend, kicking off with The Bellamy Brothers on Friday. The duo's latest concert at the venue has been kicked around the calendar due to COVID, moving from July 4 to December 4 and now back to August 14. They have released 33 albums in their career, including 2014's Mermaid Cowgirl.

Saturday, August 15

Christopher Jackson: Live from the West Side
In Christopher Jackson: Live from the West Side, the Tony Award-nominated actor best known for originating the role of George Washington in the cultural phenomenon Hamilton will perform songs from his favorite musicals, pop standards, and original material, and share stories from his time affiliated with In The Heights and Hamilton. Audience members for the virtual concert will also be invited to text in questions, some of which will be answered during the live event.

Flatland Cavalry in concert
Billy Bob's Texas' second show back will be Flatland Cavalry, a country/Americana band from Lubbock. The band, which has released an EP and two studio albums, has experienced a modicum of national success, with their first album, Humble Folks, peaking at No. 38 on the Billboard Country charts. They'll play in support of their 2019 album, Homeland Insecurity.

Sunday, August 16

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth presents Red Grooms: "Ruckus Rodeo"
Sunday is the final day to see Red Grooms: "Ruckus Rodeo" at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Originally scheduled to close in March, the exhibition is an immense, walk-through work of art, covering 1,237 square feet of gallery space, that consists of painted two-dimensional surfaces and sculptural three-dimensional figures that celebrate the Fort Worth rodeo.

The Bellamy Brothers will headline the reopening concert at Billy Bob's Texas on August 14.

The Bellamy Brothers/Facebook

The Bellamy Brothers will headline the reopening concert at Billy Bob's Texas on August 14.

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Movie Review

Oscar-worthy film A Complete Unknown digs deeply into Bob Dylan

Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown.

Music biopics never seem to go out of style, although they’re rarely very good because most of them tend to tell the same story. A musician/band gets discovered, rises to popularity, experiences trouble at their peak due to (insert sex/drugs/alcohol/ego), and either finds a measure of redemption once they’ve been sufficiently humbled or dies due to their lack of control.

Paradoxically, what few music biopics fail to do is properly showcase the music that made the person popular in the first place, a mistake that A Complete Unknown doesn’t repeat, becoming a smashing success in the process. The film follows Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) over a roughly four-year period from when he first arrived in New York City in 1961 to his then-revolutionary electric set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

Dylan seeks out well-known folk singers Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and an ailing Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) when he first arrives, with Seeger taking him under his wing. Dylan starts to establish himself in the local club scene with his unique songwriting voice, meeting fellow singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), with whom he starts an on-and-off relationship. As his popularity grows, his reaction is antithetical to what’s expected, as he rarely engages with fans and focuses on his next song(s) instead of the ones for which he became known.

Directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line) and written by Mangold and Jay Cocks, the film may not be much of a revelation for Dylan superfans, but for casual fans or those who know nothing about him, it is one of the most effective music biopics in recent memory, if not ever. Not only does Mangold track the musical evolution of Dylan, but he gives the full context of the people who influenced him most, including Guthrie, Seeger, Baez, and more.

The film is not a musical in the traditional sense, but the amount of music in it makes it the next best thing. Rarely does more than a few minutes go by before someone is singing, either on stage, for someone close to them, or as part of the songwriting process. Whether you’re a folk music fan or not, the way the genre is showcased in the film will make you believe in its power and why it was so popular at that particular point in time.

Dylan is famous for his enigmatic personality, and Mangold does a great job of maintaining that elusiveness while still exploring what drove Dylan early in his career. His relationships with Baez and the fictional Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) give him some dimension, but why he continually went back-and-forth between them (or why they put up with him) is only lightly explored. The film keeps most of the drama focused on the music, and it’s this decision that makes it as compelling as it is.

Chalamet has been “The Next Big Thing” since his Oscar nomination for Call Me By Your Name, but the combination of the Duneseries, Wonka, and now this has firmly established him as the star he is. His Dylan impersonation (including singing) is subtle-yet-clear, and he has the cool factor that makes him completely believable in the role. The supporting cast is also off-the-charts good, with Norton and Barbaro making the best cases for awards notice.

While 2024 has had its fair share of great movies, A Complete Unknown - in this critic’s opinion - should now be the favorite to win Best Picture at next year’s Oscars. It bucks the trend of mediocre music biopics by giving moviegoers the transporting feeling of what it was like to experience Dylan’s meteoric rise, and why his early songs remain so indelible.

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A Complete Unknown opens in theaters on December 25.

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