- Learn more than you came for: In East Dallas’ beautiful Gothic Revivalist St. Matthews Cathedral, a multimedia hybrid performance and lesson at the intersection of the Classical and Romantic eras takes over Monday. Pianist Jonathan Tsay dissects Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, op. 101 with commentary on how the work dances with others he’ll also play. /// Brooklyn-based comedian and writer Hari Kondabolu deserves those comparisons to Public Enemy; his brilliantly angled solutions to all our social ills, from Trump’s Muslim ban (the answer, of course, involves One Direction’s lineup) to inaccessible health care (harvesting the organs of the 1 percent) get people to listen. Catch him at Texas Theatre Thursday and/or chip away at this discussion with bell hooks, which is well worth your time.
2. When it comes to candy, Manchester’s Pale Waves released one of the most sonically interesting, effusive pop singles of 2017 last month. “Television Romance” is all the Belinda Carlisle build and crossover-Amy-Grant-infectious you’ll need through the end of the year. On headphones it’s a low-key wall of sound trip. Hear it live at Three Links on Wednesday. Also Wednesday, catch the red letter Female Treble weekly DJ series at Shoals Sound & Service in Deep Ellum with Jess from summatively-named The Good Taste Collective, which I mentioned recently. (This double-rec is to say that next week she joins killer aesthete Clumsy & Shy 12/13, then it’s ’60s aficionado Wild In The Streets on 12/20; party starter Taylor Rhea closes on 12/27.) And grunge breathes easy thanks to Alicia Bognanno and her Nashville band Bully, who’s at Club Dada Thursday.)
3. Food and drink: A $4 beer special in Denton, off the Square? What could possibly validate such an exorbitant expense? Well. In a triumph for the crunch-hearth Fry Street aesthetic gone by, you can find pints in one-of-a-kind clay mugs. They’re handmade by the UNT Clay Guild; beer by Houston’s Karbach Brewing. Trade for another color starting at 9 p.m. On Wednesday before a screening of Alfonso Arau’s Like Water for Chocolate at Texas Theatre, there’ll be a decadent pop-up dinner keyed to the film by chef Anastasia Quinones featuring quail in rose petal sauce and a chile en nogada option. Of course a slice of Rosaura’s wedding cake would follow the screening.
