Documentary: Live From the Space Stage: A Halyx Story

In 1981, execs at Disney’s in-house record label, flush with profits from the Mickey Mouse Disco LP, created a Kiss-style rock band called Halyx, made up of “extraterrestrials” and fronted by “a punk Snow White.” Incredibly, the band—recruited by a brain trust that included TV composer Mike Post (The A-Team, Law & Order) and given a Disneyland venue for the summer—had enough talent to get signed to a major label. (And its live performance—part PPL MVR, part Daft Punk—was a hoot.) A Halyx Story, a fan-funded documentary available free on YouTube, gets inside the band’s swift rise and heartbreaking end—and explains why Disney, which remakes everything, buried this unlikely hit. It’s a lovely tribute to a shattered dream. bit.ly/2Qvo4LT. –Geoff Carter

Podcast: Sidedoor

It’s no surprise that the world’s largest museum and research complex could bring listeners an educational (and fun) podcast. Now in its fifth season, Sidedoor offers quirky stories beyond what’s on display at the museum. Host Lizzie Peabody takes viewers on a lively intellectual journey, interviewing scientists, historians, artists and more. One recent episode details bird conservation (billions have disappeared over the past several decades); another explores the glass ceiling in skateboarding; and another shows how a lingerie brand helped build spacesuits. si.edu/sidedoor. –C. Moon Reed

TV: Lovecraft Country

You won’t find a more timely show than HBO’s Lovecraft Country. Executive produced by J.J. Abrams and Jordan Peele and directed by Underground’s Misha Green, it’s a show of horrors both supernatural and societal. The plot begins as a mystery: Black Korean War vet Atticus comes home to Chicago to look for his missing father, along with his uncle and childhood friend. They embark on a road trip that takes them deep into the Jim Crow North, through sundown towns and unmarked territories, where they encounter known terrors and unimaginable ones. It’s horror with a side of history, and its resonance today is perhaps its most frightening aspect. HBO. –Genevie Durano

TV: (Un)Well

According to the Global Wellness Institute, the wellness industry—weight loss, anti-aging and beauty, holistic medicine and more—rakes in some $4.5 trillion annually. But are essential oils, fasting diets and indigenous hallucinogens like ayahuasca actually good for our well-being? While that answer is ultimately up to you, (Un)Well explores both the pros and cons of these niche industries, and serves up some food for thought for those interested in such health alternatives. Netflix. –Leslie Ventura

Music: Kelly Lee Owens: Inner Song

Radiohead and John Cale got much of the advanced billing for this record—the former covered on the opening track (“Arpeggi”) and the latter adding vocals to the seven-plus-minute “Corner of My Sky.” But Inner Song succeeds solely on the strength of its creator’s imaginative approach. Welsh electronicist Kelly Lee Owens fuses icy techno beats and warm pop melodies into a beguiling tapestry equally suited for headphones during the workday or personal dancespaces once you’re off the clock. –Spencer Patterson