Super Bowl Blast!
Want to party with Michael Phelps, James Brolin and Common? Here’s your VIP ticket inside one of Super Bowl 51’s best bashes, the CityBook-sponsored Big Game Big Give blowout!
Feb. 6, 2017
THE OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD virtual-reality experience based on the International Space Station, which originally touched down in Houston in 2021, returns this month for a limited engagement in Sawyer Yards.
Originally known as The Infinite, the updated iteration is called Space Explorers: The Infinite, and it once again takes guests on a multi-sensory journey through a life-size replica of the ISS. Visitors will interact with various art, soundscapes, lighting design and scents.
The project is an extension of the Emmy-winning series Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, a multiplatform production filmed by and documenting the lives of astronauts aboard the International Space Station over the course of three years; the updated VR experience now includes footage of the Artemis I launch.
“We are proud to say that, since 2021, we’ve welcomed more than 400,000 people to space with Space Explorers: The Infinite,” said Félix Lajeunesse, the project's creative director and the co-founder of Felix & Paul Studios, which produces the event. “As the birthplace of NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center and a city with the cosmos as an inherent part of its DNA, Houston was the obvious choice for the American premiere of this one-of-a-kind experience, making it the perfect location for a second visit. We are thrilled to offer repeat visitors, and those who missed it the first time, a chance to virtually explore the International Space Station and experience the daily lives of astronauts in outer space.”
The experience takes place Thursdays through Sundays through the end of June; tickets are on sale now. Early bird pricing is available for visits between May 3-12.
GOODBYE CRISP AIR, hello humidity. Before things get really unbearable weather-wise in Houston, we can enjoy at least a few weeks of warmer, sunnier weather — perfect for outdoor gatherings and concerts.
On Sunday, May 5, Houston Botanic Garden continues its Music in the Garden Concert Series with Ndadie Begue, a celebration of West African culture with Houston-based, Senegalese singer and multi-instrumentalist Seyba Diouf. If you haven’t made it out to the sprawling gardens, located near the UH campus and featuring tons of walking trails and year-round exhibits, now’s a great time to check it out.
Loosely translated “fun meeting” from the Wolof language, Ndadie Begue will feature Diouf in performance with other musicians from Senegal, complementing the Garden’s current ZimSculpt exhibition of hundreds of hand-carved stone sculptures by Zimbabwean artists.
Diouf has toured internationally as a singer and instrumentalist; in addition to guitar and harmonica, he plays African percussion, including djembe, talking drum, and sabar, and xalam or ngoni — which can be described as a traditional West African lute.
Here in Houston, Diouf has made it his mission to represent the culture and beauty of Senegal. He has worked with students at both Houston Community College and Houston’s Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where he has taught talking drum workshops and accompanied West African Dance classes taught in both the dance and theatre departments. He was also integral in the restaging of the musical Fela(inspired by the life of Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Kuti) at HSPVA in February 2019, by working with the students on the Afro Beat and polyrhythmic percussive style.
The ZimSculpt exhibition, which runs through June 2, features works by Zimbabwean sculptors practicing the Shona sculpture tradition — named for the nation’s largest tribe. Since the 1960s, artists from various tribes in Zimbabwe and beyond, have transformed locally sourced serpentine stone into smooth, highly polished contemporary works of art. Visitors to ZimSculpt can observe sculptors creating these works in real time, using handheld tools including chisels, hammers, and files. There’s also an on-site, one-of-a-kind marketplace of fine African art — don’t forget, Mother’s Day is coming up fast!