Deshaun Watson Mania, Making a Stand for Border Families and Free Music: Houston’s Best Weekend Events — The Guru’s Spoken

Editor’s Note: Houston’s weekends are packed full of events, but how many of them are truly worthy of your time? PaperCity’s Matthew Ramirez cuts through the clutter to give you the best options in this weekly series.

Arty Saturday

Another Second Saturday hits the Washington Arts District’s sprawling Sawyer Yards campus this Saturday, September 8, from 12 to 7 pm. The artists of the Silos, Silver Street, Winter Street, Summer Street, Sabine Street and Spring Street open their studios to the public.

Spend the day among the cool, hip, re-purposed warehouses and pick up some art, jewelry, clothing, textiles and printmaking, meet artists, and more! Admission is free.

Reuniting Separated Families

On Sunday, September 9, MATCH in Midtown will host “Reunite/Reunir: A Benefit Performance for Separated Families,” an afternoon showing a wildly diverse, well-curated collection of Houston-based arts groups that are coming together to support programs by the Texas Civil Rights Project, which works to reunite families separated at the border.

The shows, spliced into four 60-minute performances, will kick off at 4 pm and again at 6 pm. Attendees will have their choice of which performances to select from, including pieces selected by the Alley, Da Camera, Houston Ballet and principal dancer Karina Gonzalez, Houston Grand Opera, the Suffers’ Kam Franklin, METdance, and Stages Repertory Theatre (among many others).

Donations start at $50 for one show; $100 for two of the four shows.

Sunday Music

Sunday, September 9, at 3 pm, Divisi Strings will partner with Discovery Green for My First Music Lesson, a rollicking afternoon for children grades one through eight.

The young ones are invited to pick up a violin and begin a life-long love affair with the instrument in these free monthly classes. No registration required. Participation is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Watson Mania

September is here, school is in session, the temperatures are slightly cooler, so you know what that means: football. Contrary to the last, oh, five or six years, the Houston Texans start their season with a no-doubt starting quarterback: Deshaun Watson, who lit it up at a historical rate in his rookie season last year before getting sidelined with an ACL injury.

If Watson performs at the level he did in the six games he started last season, he could easily be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. With a healthy J.J. Watt, Whitney Mercilus, and Jadeveon Clowney, plus the returning receiving corps of Pro Bowler DeAndre Hopkins alongside the speedy Will Fuller, and the addition of Tyrann Mathieu at safety, this is the brightest a season has looked for the Texans since 2013. Now, let us not speak about what happened in 2013 and keep our eyes forward.

Sunday at 12 pm, you can watch on your TV at home if you wish (the Texans will be in New England), but we like going to Revelry on Richmond and Pitch 25 in the East End for games.

An Electric Monday

R&B star Miguel is once again hitting Houston, by my count his third show of the year so far in the Bayou City. (I was at his April show at Warehouse Live, which was electric, even if the crowd talked throughout his set.)

He’s touring behind 2017’s War & Leisure, which was a great record that salvaged the ersatz-Prince songs of 2015’s uneven Wildheart. W&L dropped too late last year to garner a ton of critical praise, which was a shame, because front-to-back it is probably his best album.

Monday, September 10, at Revention Music Center. Drake’s OVO record label signees dvsn open. Tickets start at $30; doors open at 7 pm.