This past week has been a whirlwind. Guess who won the spelling bee! Saturday was especially fun with a great day party at Alley Kat listening to DJ Sly Foxx spin and ending with a warehouse party by Third World TV that somehow had me out until 5am. Where else can I hear Teedra Moses at 4am and catch a random set from a rapper like Passport Louis? Oh, and the VHS sci-fi event at Walter’s on Tuesday was so much fun! This week I’ll probably be taking it easy but I may come out for Spectrogram and Migos X Mimosas.

Thursday, June 2: The Afro-Latin Fest at Rice kicks off and runs through the weekend featuring workshops, performances, and parties for $20! Digital health accelerator TMCx is holding their Demo Day where 12 companies will showcase their solutions kicking off at 1pm.

Friday, June 3: Houston-based multimedia artist Ronald Jones will be showing his work including a film that’s screening at Box13 Artspace starting at 7pm. I am Annie Mae – The Musical runs through the weekend and is being put on by the Texas Center for African American Living History at MATCH.

Saturday, June 4: Free Press Summer Fest, Houston’s biggest music festival (I have no idea if that’s true), kicks off this day and it was moved to NRG Stadium due to flooding. Tickets for the 2-day event including 2 Chainz, Jamie XX, Modest Mouse, Tory Lanez and more are about $160. If you go, I’d recommend checking out Leon Bridges, A$AP Ferg, Lolawolf, and Mac Miller in addition to the aforementioned acts. If you don’t want to pay for FPSF you can always check out A Show that night which will have comedians and multiple music stages throughout the night at Khon’s. It’s free and begins at 8pm. At 2pm Houston Public Library is celebrating the 5th anniversary of their Public Poetry Reading Series at the downtown Central location. Discovery Green is having a free family screening of Jurassic World and the movie begins at 8:30pm. Local rapper Fat Tony and Ill Faded are hosting a free party at Arlo’s Ballroom going from 10pm. For the FPSF attendees the official afterparty is Sauce-And-Swerve at The Sanctuary on Spring Street for $20 going until 4am.

Sunday, June 5: The Brazilian Food Festival is happening at the Brazilian Arts Foundation with free admission starting at 12pm. The Migos X Mimosas day party at Fuego’s Saloon combines 2 things in which I gleefully partake and the name alone should be enough to get you there by the 1pm start. I’d aim for 2:30 personally but early means you’ll beat the crowd and avoid terribly parking issues. The Experience Statements Dance Company is holding heART&SOUL Vol. 81: ”Social Climate” at  2020 Leeland for $10 where they’ll have a variety of visual and performance arts from 5pm. Montrose Print Market is continuing on at Saint Arnold Brewery for free at 2pm and it’ll have plenty of craft and art vendors selling their wares. I can’t adequately explain what Spectrogram is but it’s at Project Row Houses and they’ve been putting on excellent events lately and this one seems to be an interesting examination of relative value of opportunity also starting at 2pm.

Monday, June 6: Tarakaan is continuing its pop-up series with Chef Rishi Singh of Batanga with foods like goat guisado tacos and panko & basil fried oysters. Not sure of the cost for the fixed menu but it starts at 6pm.

Tuesday, June 7: Here you go.

Wednesday, June 8: Author Chaja Verveer will be speaking at Brazos Bookstore on the book Taking Flight and the Holocaust Museum Houston’s effort to commemorate the Holocaust through The Butterfly Project, a collection of 1.5 million handmade butterflies. City Centre’s free summer movie series is starting off strong with Finding Nemo at 9pm with free popcorn!

Thursday, June 9: Local startup hub Station Houston is hosting a Mentor Mix & Mingle in collaboration with Good Works Houston. This free event seeks to support social innovation entrepreneurs across the city and starts at 6pm.

RSVP now: I’m starting an Afrofuturism book club where we’ll read short stories by authors like Octavia Butler, Samuel Delany, Nnedi Okorafor, N.K. Jemisin, and hopefully include a few graphic novels. If you’re interested let me know. James Blake is coming to the House of Blues Sep. 24 and he’s likely to sell out because he was on Beyonce’s album. Presale begins today with password LEGEND. Also, discounted Anderson .Paak tickets! I also have gift certificates for this site so tell me if you want to buy. 

As always you can find these events and more on the Merlex Picks calendar!