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Arts & Culture

Culture Lust Weekend: Daniel Johnston, Culture Shock and Tara Donovan

Tara Donovan's Untitled (Styrofoam Cups) (installation view), 2008. Made of styrofoam cups and hot glue. The dimensions vary.
Photo by Dennis Cowley / Courtesy PaceWildenstein, New York
Tara Donovan's Untitled (Styrofoam Cups) (installation view), 2008. Made of styrofoam cups and hot glue. The dimensions vary.

There's some great dance, music, and art openings in San Diego this weekend. Culture Lust thinks you should see some music (Daniel Johnston!), work on your poppin' and lockin' skills (Culture Shock!), and then spend Sunday at MCASD (Tara Donovan!) Check out the deets...

Culture Shock celebrates its 10th anniversary this weekend by bringing some of the best hip-hop and break dancers to the California Center for the Arts, Escondido (Saturday and Sunday). They'll also remount "Graffiti Life," their show exploring the underground culture of graffiti.

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This Sunday brings the much anticipated opening of Tara Donovan's show at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Donovan's sculptural installations made from mass quantities of tape, plastic cups, straws, toothpicks and pins will be on view at the museum's downtown location. I've been looking forward to this show for months now - can't believe it's almost here.

Outsider artist, singer-songwriter, and unlikely folk hero Daniel Johnston plays with The Hymns, and Vision of a Dying World on Friday at Canes Bar & Grill. Lots has been written about Johnston (including Will Shilling's piece in this week's CityBeat) but you can also learn a lot from the documentary,"The Devil and Daniel Johnston."

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

If Daniel Johnston isn't your thing, why not try some kicky Tuvan throat singing?

Chirgilchin is a group of throat singers from Tuva, a small Russian province near Western Mongolia. They sing ancient folk songs in the Tuvan language and play handmade instruments at Dizzy's this Saturday night.

Since I'm not up to the task of describing Tuvan throat-singing, I'll leave it to YouTube to make the case.

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Chirgilchin Performs In New York

You know your head's bobbin' to the throat singing...c'mon, feel it, feel it.

This sounds fun to me. The Beat Mart is a record fair, film festival and art show all wrapped into one and it takes place Sunday at Kava Lounge & Gallery on Kettner Blvd.

Also opening this weekend at the University of California San Diego University Art Gallery is an international exhibition called "Off the Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art." The roster of artists from all over the world explore the global ramifications of violence against women.

And finally, if you don't have plans tonight, I have an absolutely yummy suggestion! You can go see the Japanese movie "Tampopo" which has been called the first noodle western. Get it? Spaghetti western...noodle western. Anyway, it's about the quest to open the perfect noodle house and it has lots of food-related tales within its larger story. I saw this movie years ago and have been hungry ever since. Luckily for those of you who can make it to The Loft to see "Tampopo," there will be a buffet of Asian food and some live music. Movie and dinner start at 7:30p.m. "Tampopo" is just one of the movies in ArtPower!'s Foovies series (Food + Movie).

On Sunday, I'll be at the La Jolla Playhouse after the matinee performance of "Creditors." I'll be interviewing Anders Cato, who translated August Strindberg's nasty little relationship drama from Swedish to English. Doug Wright ("I Am My Own Wife") adapted the play for contemporary audiences. If you decide to come on Sunday, stay afterward and say hello!