Meow Wolf in Houston introduces Radio Tave, the art collective’s newest journey through a labyrinth of light, color, sound, and art.
The basic storyline follows a radio station in the fictional West Texas town of Little Thicket that got lost in an alternative universe.
The trip begins in the offices of ETNL radio, which looks surprisingly like a real small-town radio station except for the kooky memorabilia on the walls and what’s hidden in a cabinet. From there the journey gets weird.
Step into the station manager’s office and you’ve entered the mind-bending Meow Wolf universe. The manager embraces the Day-Glo underwater world that has intruded into his office and has become one with his environment.
The voyage continues down a maze of halls covered with graffiti to rooms decorated with the artistic imagination. In a tip of the hat to Houston’s famed Beer Can House there is a Beer Can Room, and the names on the cans will elicit a smile. In another room visitors step underground to see the layers of detritus under our feet.
When you reach Cowboix Hevvven you have reached the pinnacle of dive bar weirdness. This is a real restaurant serving a Santa Fe-style Frito pie and adult beverages. Former Austinite Cole Bee Wilson created the wild backstory and a barroom with a pool shark that looks like a shark, a barmaid who is out of this world, and a country & western band with a rainbow that fell to earth playing guitar while the strangest poker game in the universe happens.
Radio Tave opens in Houston on Oct. 31 as Santa Fe-based Meow Wolf’s fifth portal to artistic imagination running wild. Tickets are for timed entry slots, seven days a week. The entertainment venue is in central Houston, just off I-10 and conveniently located across the street from the Saint Arnold Brewing Co. beer garden.
1,727th in a series. Everywhere is a day trip from somewhere: Follow “Day Trips & Beyond,” a travel blog, at austinchronicle.com/daily/travel.
This article appears in November 1 • 2024.
