Mcallen’s Manichaus (manic house) is a great alternative art space that all serious RGV art lovers should visit. On June 6, Manichaus will premiere “Non-Composition,” a new show by artist Kris Ohlinger. The show will kick off with a reception at 7 p.m. on June 6 and will continue through June 27. Check out the flyer below and the press release right here.

Listen to the sweet, earnest indie rock of Tyler, TX band Eisley live Thursday, May 24, at South Texas College with The Myriad, and Vedera. I just discovered Eisley recently, but I’ve really fallen for the band’s delicate approach. They remind me a bit of Great Northern or The Sundays.

Eisley has a whopping 15 tracks available for streaming at their MySpace page, so give ‘em a listen and check out the video below for “Telescope Eyes.”

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I just got wind that Mexican pop band Belanova will play McAllen’s Las Palmas club on Sunday, May 18. This is one show pop music fans won’t want to miss.

If you took Devo’s blips, added Mates of State’s endless optimism, a little Sonny and Cher sunburst and some no-nonsense Latin grooves, you’d have the makings for a pretty tasty Belanova milkshake. That’s a completely superficial summation of the band’s sound, but gimme a break. I just discovered them today.

You can find tons of Belanova eye candy on YouTube. Check out the band’s video for “Rosa Pastel.” It’s one of my fav so far …

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It’s still early in the week, but we already have some local concert news for you. This week, Valley music fans can look forward to catching Texas country legend Pat Green, pop rockers forever the Sickest Kids, emo rockers Alesana and Blues on the hill in Harlingen. Check out our Events Calendar for more info and keep reading to find out a little more about these artists.

Alesana
Emo screamo band Alesana performs this Wednesday at South Texas college with, reportedly, The Chariot, SkyEatsAirplane, LoveHateHero, Our Last Night and others. Check out Alesana’s MySpace page to get a sampling of the band’s sound, which features lots of Gollum-esque screaming.

Pat Green
Texas music legend Pat Green performs Thursday at the Las Palmas Racetrack in Mission. PopMatters has an excellent interview with Green and you can learn more about him at his official Web site.

Forever the Sickest Kids
Pop rockers Forever the Sickest Kids return to the RGV on Sunday to play South Texas College with The Cab, Danger Radio, The Maine and Metro Station. Check out our photo gallery from their Spring Break show a few months back.

Belanova
Latin Grammy-nominated Mexican synth-pop band Belanova will take the stage at Las Palmas on Sunday in McAllen. Check out sound and video clips at the band’s official Web site.

And don’t forget, Blues on the Hill is Saturday at Harlingen’s McKelvey Park.

Check out the following photos from Rio Fest 2008. These were shot Saturday, April 19 in Harlingen. We’ll post more of these in our photo gallery later today …

So, the question all over the island today is, “Where is everybody?”. Don’t get the wrong idea — South Padre Island is definitely not deserted. I saw more than 100 scantily-clad young folks on the beach behind the Radisson resort earlier today (check out the pics here). Still, the local retailers and SPI regulars are saying that they expected to see a lot more Spring Breakers by today.

Word is that there will be an influx of Spring Breakers coming in from all over the nation on Thursday. According to my source, most of the major hotels on the island say they have a lot of rooms booked for Thursday.

There’s tons of stuff to do on the island this week. Check our constantly updated events calendar here and keep an eye out for more Spring Break content coming soon. Speaking of events. we’ll be at the Chamillionaire concert tonight. If all goes well, we’ll have some photos of the show tomorrow.

TheV247.com staff has been busy hitting up a number of RGV clubs and bars the last few weeks to hand out free stuff and to promote our Hottest Bar Staffer Contest. So far, we’ve been to Brownsville’s the Loft, Shenanigan’s, South Padre Island’s Coral Reef, The Radisson, Louie’s Backyard and Club Pelican West. Where should we go next? Drop a comment and let us know. Make sure to check out photos from all the clubs mentioned above right here.

Those looking to view some of the finest local art in the upper Rio Grande Valley will get the chance on Friday, Feb. 1 at the McAllen First Friday Art Walk. A number of pieces will be on display at galleries and art spaces in downtown McAllen. Here’s a list of participating venues:

Nuevo Santander Gallery; 717 N Main St
Jac-Lin

I just received a press release about a new art exhibition in Brownsville called “Strange.” Read all about it below …

Strange’, an exhibition of paintings, drawings, and ceramicsby Rio Grande Valley artists Puente, Chris Leonard,Oscar Alvarez and Philip Field opens with a reception for the artists on 24 January from 6 to 9 pm. The exhibition will run until 29 February.

Strange’ an exhibition of paintings,drawings, ceramics and computer enhanced graphis images by four Rio Grande Valley artists, will open with a reception for the artists at 6:00 pm on Thursday, the 24th of January at Galeria 409 at 409 East 13th Street in historic downtown Brownsville.

Self taught Brownsville natives Oscar Alvarez and ‘Puente’ will exhibit works alongside UTPA art professors Phillip Field and Chris Leonard from McAllen.

Gallery owner Mark Clark proudly boasts that these four are undoubtly the strangest artists currently working in South Texas and challenges anybody to produce an artist inside or outside of an insane asylum) with a body of work that is stronger or stranger than the one that he
has assembled here. “You gotta see it to belive it”, says Clark.

Oscar Alvarez paints large oils from his imagination to deal with the stress of his day job in a mortuary. Puente was forbidden to draw at age six by her parents because she negelected her school work and now depicts an imaginary story book work that resembles Hansel and Gretel on peyote. Chris Leonard creates animals in oil paint and clay that personify Walt Disney’s worst nightmares while Phillip Field depicts mundane scenes from his home life in digital technicolor. In his dream world, Field’s wife is a skinny, hairless red rat. The exhibition runs from January 24th to March 2nd. Gallery hours are from 12 to 5 Wednesday through Saturday and admission is always free. For information or directions phone 455 3599.