By Chip Chandler — Producer
Here's a quick take on your 10 best entertainment bets in the next 10 days.
1. Sounds of Summer
The outdoor concert series is just about finished for the season. Amarillo Botanical Gardens' annual Music in the Gardens series will close at 8 p.m. Aug. 8 with Tennessee Tuckness at the gardens, 1400 Streit Drive. And the Starlight Theatre series will continue at 7 p.m. Aug. 13 with Amarillo country singer Buster Bledsoe at Sam Houston Park, Line Avenue and Western Street.
2. 8/9/10/11
Cerulean Gallery's newest exhibition will open with a 6 p.m. Aug. 8 reception at the gallery, 814 S. Taylor St., featuring new series of works by Christian Price Frazer, Trudy Kraft, Jena Rawley Taylor, Bonnie Siebert, Sabrina Siebert and Israel Guajardo.
3. Texas
Only a few more chances to catch the long-running outdoor musical drama before it closes for the season Aug. 17. Audiences now can see a special preview of the upcoming Ken Burns documentary series Country Music, too. Also on stage this weekend: Janice's Friends, a celebration of the life of the late Amarillo performer Janice Perkins Easterday, at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 9 and 10 in the AC Concert Hall Theatre on the Washington Street campus.
4. Clint Black
The '90s music favorite returns to Amarillo for a 7:30 p.m. Aug. 10 concert in the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Buchanan St. Other live music of note between Aug. 9 and 10: Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band Bad Moon Rising at 8 p.m. Aug. 9 at Starlight Ranch Event Center, 1415 Sunset Drive; Texas country singer Chris Colston at 10 p.m. Aug. 9 at Hoots Pub, 2424 Hobbs Road; Mary Lyn Halley and Dean Yates of Insufficient Funds at 7 p.m. Aug. 9 and Amarillo classic rock band Jackie Haney & Geezers Gone Wild at 7 p.m. Aug. 10 at Bar Z Winery, 19290 Farm-to-Market Road 1541; and Amarillo rock band Broken Echo at 10 p.m. Aug. 9 at Whiskey River, 4001 S.W. 51st Ave.
5. Amarillo Sod Poodles
The Soddies will face the Midland Rockhounds from Aug. 12 to 14 and the Frisco Roughriders from Aug. 16 to 18 at Hodgetown, 715 S. Buchanan St. Plus, Coffee Memorial Blood Center's 11th annual Boots vs. Badges charity softball game will take place at 6:05 p.m. Aug. 10, also at Hodgetown.
6. The Underpants
Amarillo Little Theatre opens its 2019-20 season with this Steve Martin-adapted comedy of manners about what happens after a prim woman's bloomers fall down in public. It'll run Aug. 15 to 25 in the Adventure Space.
7. Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
Cate Blanchett stars as an eccentric mom who disappears on the eve of her family's trip to Antarctica in director Richard Linklater's adaptation of the wildly popular book. Also opening Aug. 16: animated sequel The Angry Birds Movie 2, Bruce Springsteen-themed musical comedy Blinded by the Light, shark flick 47 Meters Down: Uncaged and raunch comedy Good Boys. Opening Aug. 9: dog drama The Art of Racing in the Rain, children's action film Dora and the Lost City of Gold, mob drama The Kitchen and horror film Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Special engagements include the live Big, Loud & Live screening of the DCI World Championship preliminaries on Aug. 8; a TCM Big Screen Classics screening of Hello, Dolly! on Aug. 11 and 14; restored anime classic Millennium Actress on Aug. 13 and 19; a RiffTrax Live screening of the sci-fi junker The Giant Spider Invasion on Aug. 15 (and 20); and the nearly four-hour director's cut of the classic documentary Woodstock on Aug. 15. Plus, animated film Wonder Park will screen at 8:45 p.m. Aug. 9 at Thompson Park, 2401 Dumas Drive, and shark thriller The Meg will screen at dark Aug. 16 in a Dive-In Movie Night at Canyon Aqua Park, 1900 12th Ave.
8. Bobby Bones & The Raging Idiots
The popular radio host will bring his musical-comedy bandmate Eddie Garcia to town for an 8 p.m. Aug. 16 show in the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Buchanan St. Other live music options through Aug. 17: blues-rock trio Polly O'Keary & The Rhythm Method at 10 p.m. Aug. 14 at Leftwoods, 2511 S.W. Sixth Ave.; Texas country star William Clark Green with Thieving Birds at 8 p.m. Aug. 16 and George Strait tribute artist King George at 8 p.m. Aug. 17 at Starlight Ranch Event Center, 1415 Sunset Drive; Amarillo singer-songwriter Ray Wilson at 7 p.m. Aug. 17 at Bar Z Winery, 19290 Farm-to-Market Road 1541; and Amarillo combo Polk Street Jazz at 9 p.m. Aug. 17 at Esquire Jazz Club, 626 S. Polk St.
9. America's Horse in Art
American Quarter Horse Association's annual show and sale opens at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 17 with a reception; art will be on view (and up for bid) through Oct. 12.
10. Curry County Fair
The annual wingding in Clovis, N.M., which will run Aug. 13 to 17, will feature Stoney LaRue and Micky & The Motorcars on Aug. 15, Brigade FMX on Aug. 16 and 17, Los Palominos on Aug. 17 and more.
Chip Chandler is a producer for Panhandle PBS and a member of GALECA. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and on Facebook.
