Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: June 27

True Blood, that holy grail of mindless summer entertainment, has returned. The plot might be totally off the rails, and don’t we all wish Tara would just bite the dust (har, har) already? But there’s this. Which is one big reason why Monday mornings will continue to pale in comparison to Sunday evenings.

But. Tonight shouldn’t disappoint. Liz Mikel, fresh off awesome reviews in New York, is back for her regular Blue Monday concert. She’s co-opted her Dividing the Estate co-star, Akin Babatundé, to duet their favorite songs. It’s free over at South Side on Lamar. And as we discussed at the theater roundtable last week, one of the best things we can do to make Dallas even more theater-friendly is to support our local talent. Start with Mikel, who’s about a hop, skip, and a jump away from Broadway, and Babatundé, a regular Renaissance man who acts, writes, directs, and obviously, sings. That being said, if punk music is more your thing, Bryan Street Tavern also has a free show for you. The Blind Shake, a garage punk trio out of Minnesota, will play around 7 pm.

And finally, for those of us mucking around downtown this afternoon, pop over to the Texas Visual Arts Association at lunch to check out their summer exhibit of graphic novels, cartoons, and anime and comic books. I like the sound of this already, especially since it features a mix of amateur artists and professionals. It’s only around until Thursday.

For more things to do with your evening, go here.