ART
Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream . . .
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Through March 23, 2025
More than two decades of artwork by the San Antonio–born virtuoso is on display, including new and previously unexhibited pieces. Valdez, who splits his time between Houston and Los Angeles and works in various mediums, is best known for drawings and paintings that explore fading memory, social justice, and American history. Works that depict everything from a modern-day Ku Klux Klan rally to a friend’s military funeral procession will leave a lingering emotional impact.
CONCERT
Charley Crockett
ACL Live at the Moody Theater, Austin, December 31
The San Benito native will celebrate New Year’s Eve months after releasing $10 Cowboy, an ode to hustle culture that he wrote while on tour. On tracks such as “Good at Losing” and “Solitary Road,” Crockett assumes (autobiographically) the role of a lonely showman striving for his big break. Watching him bring that hopeful energy to the stage would be a fitting way to ring in 2025.
BOOK
Sweet Vidalia, by Lisa Sandlin
Little, Brown and Company, December 3
It’s Texas, 1964, and 57-year-old Eliza Kratke must rebuild her life after learning that her late husband had another family and left her burdened with debt. After selling her car and renting out her house, she enrolls in business classes and checks into a hotel, the Sweet Vidalia, where she joins a community of young residents. The fourth novel by the Beaumont-born author of The Bird Boys is a reassuring portrait of a resilient woman who discovers her own strength.
FILM
Nightbitch
Searchlight Pictures, December 6
Director Marielle Heller’s film stars Dallasite Scoot McNairy as Husband opposite A-lister Amy Adams as Mother, a woman who struggles with domesticity and starts to believe she becomes a dog at night. McNairy’s trick in this dark comedy is creating a character that feels authentic but allows his costar to shine in a movie about isolation, identity, and unconditional love.
Image credits: Eaten (in America) and So Long, MaryAnn: Vincent Valdez, Photo: Paul Salveson; The Rope (After Marsden Hartley): Vincent Valdez, Photo: Peter Molick; Vincent Valdez: Courtesy of Vincent Valdez
