SAN ANTONIO
Taking the Long View
In the seventies a man named Jerry Retzloff made Lone Star the hippest beer in the state. The marketing guru for the San Antonio brand accomplished this by making sure a Lone Star longneck was the cold one of choice for Willie Nelson and the rest of the cosmic cowboys at the Armadillo World Headquarters, in Austin, along with the actors John Travolta and Debra Winger in Urban Cowboy. The rise of craft beer has overtaken Lone Star’s popularity to a degree, but it’s still a staple for musicians like Austin honky-tonker Dale Watson, who has a Lone Star Light logo near the bridge on his signature Tomkins “coin” guitar. Watson is one of five acts that will perform as part of the Lone Star Beer Texas Heritage Festival. The touring concert takes place each Saturday in August, beginning this weekend in San Antonio, at the Lone Star Brewery, with subsequent dates in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. Since each show is free, capacity is sure to be reached, so guarantee yourself admission by purchasing the optional $25 ticket in advance—all the money will go to charity. Joining Watson, who in June released his album Call Me Insane, are the Dallas alt-country band Old 97’s, the Austin psych-rock band the Black Angels, the Austin Grammy-winning Latin funk band Grupo Fantasma, and the Corpus Christi soul band LaTasha Lee & the BlackTies. As beer bottles clink over the blare of the tunes, remember the Lone Star slogan: “Long live longnecks.”
Lone Star Brewery, August 8, 1 p.m., lonestarbeer.com

DALLAS
Genius Bar
I.Q. is not the only measure of genius. Brilliance can be assessed through various means. On Saturday the One Day University, which offers adult education programs across the country, will explore how genius was realized by the likes of Michelangelo, the Italian Renaissance artist and inventor; Frank Sinatra, the American singer, actor, and member of the jet-setting Rat Pack; and Alfred Hitchcock, the English filmmaker whose thrillers earned him the nickname “the Master of Suspense.” This program is divided into three one-hour sessions presided over by intellectuals from leading institutions of higher learning. Tina Rivers Ryan, an art history and archaeology graduate student at Columbia University, will examine Michelangelo’s versatility—through artwork such as the Sistine Chapel’s Last Judgment fresco and the marble statue of a nude David—and how it has made him the exemplar of creative genius. Meanwhile, Anna Celenza, a professor of music at Georgetown University, will delve into how Frank Sinatra created a distinctive vocal style that continues to permeate various strains of popular music. And finally, Marc Lapadula, a senior lecturer in film studies at Yale University, will use clips from movies such as Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds to illustrate Hitchcock’s innovative camera and editing techniques. The more you know about these three geniuses, the smarter you will arguably be.
Dallas Museum of Art, August 8, 9 a.m., onedayu.com

HOUSTON
Pale in Comparison
Thursday was National IPA Day, a celebration of the popular India Pale Ale–style craft beer. It’s not a well-known holiday so all is forgiven if it was missed. Or make up for the oversight at the Saint Arnold Brewing Company’s Pub Night and Garage Sale on Friday, with their brand new Art Car IPA. The beer has a bold, dynamic personality, like the zany and exuberant rides appearing in the Houston Art Car Parade, which Saint Arnold has used as models for the new vehicles driven by their sales staff. Art Car IPA is a “very hoppy” American IPA, with a nose that ushers forth a blend of apricot, tropical fruit, and mango, and has a taste that combines the flavor of a bitter blood orange and a lightly sweet malt body. At least that’s how their website describes it. On this evening, Saint Arnold will also serve two other special beers: its cask-conditioned Endeavour and its bourbon-barrel-aged version of Divine Reserve No. 13. A variety of swag will be offered up for sale as well.
Saint Arnold Brewing Company, August 7, 5 p.m., saintarnold.com

FORT WORTH
Japan in Cowtown
The story of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is threaded with Japanese subplots. The building itself, a minimalist work comprised of five pavilions on a 1.5-acre pond and regarded by Travel + Leisure as one of the “World’s Most Beautiful Art Museums,” was designed by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Multiple programs and exhibits have since featured the food, culture, and art of the East Asian island country. Another such offering is the August series “Story, Style, and Character: The Art of Japanese Animation.” Over the course of three weeks, nine movies will be screened in partnership with the Lone Star Film Society. These include Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo, on the friendship between a five-year-old and a magical goldfish; Rintaro’s Metropolis, a futuristic story about humans and robots living in disharmony; and Isao Takahata’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, about a nymph who tests the devotion of her many suitors through incredibly difficult tasks.
The Modern, August 7–29, themodern.org

CORPUS CHRISTI
The Buck Stops Here
Not all hunters are Cecil killers. In fact, attendees of the annual Hunter’s Extravaganza this weekend in Corpus, with dates later this month in Fort Worth and San Antonio, are pretty squarely focused on deer, whether by advancing the sport of deer hunting through participation in the Texas Trophy Hunters Association, the host of the event, or by trying out the latest gear to better assist in locking and loading on a ten-point buck.
American Bank Center, August 7–9, ttha.com

AUSTIN
Cream of the Crop

The melting heat will no doubt cause people to very quickly consume the three scoops of ice cream granted with the price of admission to the ninth annual Ice Cream Festival. That should leave plenty of free time to cobble together an entry for the Popsicle Stick Sculpture Contest, using some of the 50,000 sticks provided by event organizers.
Fiesta Gardens, August 8, 10 a.m., icecreamfestival.org