Weekend Preview: Art, Pirates, And OB Beach Ball

CAVANAUGH: This is KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. An arts festival that's becoming a tradition in Northpark, a way to party on the beach before memorial day, and yet another reason to dress up like a pirate! All of that and more ahead on our weekend preview. Let me welcome Barbarella, author of diary of a diva for the San Diego reader. And correspondent from NBC. Hi. BARBARELLA: Thanks for having me again. CAVANAUGH: Enrique Limon, writer for San Diego City beat. Hello. LIMON: Thank you, Maureen. Super excited. CAVANAUGH: Super excited! Okay! BARBARELLA: He's trying to 1-up me. [ LAUGHTER ] CAVANAUGH: Let's start with something that sounds a little creepy. Sutures, stories with seams. Photos by Rebecca Webb. Is this a theme to this? BARBARELLA: She's a local fine art photography, also a photography structure at UCSD, and involved in curating films for Art Power. Her work is part of an ongoing series, in which she juxtaposes shots of buildings in abandons locations alongside shots of those who seem to be sharing personal moments. A misdemeanor ironing a skirt wearing only a T-shirt, and beside her is a people free shot of a trailer. In another, a couple seems to be having an argument, set beside them is a dilapidated house. It's described as unsettles, and I would agree with that. CAVANAUGH: But there actually aren't any sutures. >> No, they say rather than turn from the scene, we find ourselves longing to engage to sew back together that which is torn. So the theme of it is the metaphor. CAVANAUGH: I'm glad you explained that. It sounds fascinating. The photos are on display at JDC fine art. Is this venue new? BARBARELLA: Yes, it stands for Jennifer DeCarlo. She came to San Diego a year and a half ago, she represents about 16 artists right now. It'll probably grow. One is Scott Davis over at MOPA. So local and international. And I'm sure she's going to have a lot more shows. And she focuses on contemporary photography. CAVANAUGH: Okay. And so the show called suitures, stories with seams. Another art show, Enrique, in contrast to the one artist in the exhibit we just talked about, we have commerce of compulsion. This one has no unifying theme. It has a great title. What's it about? LIMON: No unifying theme. They say "just damn good art hanging on the walls ready to be sold." This is sure to be another great show. And the gist of it is just five artists with five different styles all coming together and presenting their latest works. You've got Christopher ca-Nicky, Mr. Device, who should be on your raider right now, and one of my favorites, Eric wickson, whose work is hostistic and provides a fictional forum for the practice of comprehension, according to him. CAVANAUGH: You should never take it on what an artist says their work is. Of [ LAUGHTER ] LIMON: I'm a big fan. I've had the pleasure of working with him in a couple of the past art fist shows. CAVANAUGH: What kind of art can people expect at the commerce of compulsion? LIMON: They are all from the new school. So expect for it to be fresh, compelling, and have a clear edge to it. Some might describe it as low brow, but I'd rather go with new outsider. Spelled NU, umlaut, because I'm BARBARELLA: Is it uber new? LIMON: It might be. Yeah. The 6:00 hour is uber new, starting at 7:30, it's just new. CAVANAUGH: What kind of venue is Voz Alta? LIMON: I've been singing their praises now for a while. Voz is a great, grassroots, nonpretentious art gallery, smack in the middle of Barrio Logan, known for presenting interesting shows on a resolving schedule. Their Latin jazz series on Thursday evenings is also killer and work checking out. CAVANAUGH: Pirate days. LIMON: ARRRG! CAVANAUGH: We talked about pirates a while ago! BARBARELLA: Maybe it's because we're a water town, but we seem to like pirates in San Diego. CAVANAUGH: I guess so. September 19th is the annual talk like a pirate day. But we can celebrate early this year. >> Pirate days is happening at the maritime museum. And it will be a family event. I'm actually bringing my father whose birthday is today. CAVANAUGH: Happy birthday! BARBARELLA: So I will be there, and it's just -- everything pirate. There'll be mermaids, games, carnival stuff, the sword fights, a lot of things for kids and adults. CAVANAUGH: Now, this is at the maritime museum. And there's I believe a treasure seeker -- BARBARELLA: Yes, let me clarify. The treasure seeker ship, it belongs to pirate ship adventures which is usually docked in harbor island. And you can go to this event as many times as you upon the. So you can get your pirate on even after this weekend. [ LAUGHTER ] BARBARELLA: It's an 83-foot black galleon pirate ship. It can carry up to 49 pirates. There's a saloon, with adult beverages. CAVANAUGH: And there's sort of a clamp-down on adult beverages, because this is pretty much a family event. BARBARELLA: Right, that's on the thin. It's geared toward all ages, but you have your pirate collectors and kids. CAVANAUGH: You have your pirate days and your pirate nights. BARBARELLA: Exactly! [ LAUGHTER ] LIMON: I'll be there in the nights. BARBARELLA: There has to be something for us evening wenches. [ LAUGHTER ] CAVANAUGH: Any suggestions for where to get a pirate costume or props? BARBARELLA: There may be contests, but there's always a shop. They actually moved from El Cajon boulevard into Northpark. And they're always good for costumes. And you can try party city for kids. They have inexpensive pirate booty, if you will. LIMON: Barbarella, please! [ LAUGHTER ] BARBARELLA: Hey, you said damn. [ LAUGHTER ] CAVANAUGH: Okay. Pirate paraphernalia, I think we call it. BARBARELLA: Thank you! CAVANAUGH: Pirate days is this Saturday at the San Diego maritime museum on north harbor drive. This event is so interesting. LIMON: It is. Of CAVANAUGH: It's the San Diego dance theatre's the door is open an intergenerational dance project. Who's behind this? LIMON: That would be the San Diego dance theatre. They are a not for profit now ins it 39th year. Continues to enrich the local dance scene with various performances and training courses as well. CAVANAUGH: Will this be a mix of dance and visual media then? LIMON: It will be. Dancers will perform in front of and around varied video and sound projections. And in fact, the stage's background will slowly morph throughout the evening as the building crumbles during a performance, and trees start growing from it. It should be quite the multimedia experience. CAVANAUGH: Now, the intergenerational aspect of this, you go to a dance show mostly and you see young people. Because they're the one who is can move! LIMON: Exactly. Well, I think Cloris Leachman on distancing with the stars opened up those floodgates. There's going to be eight company dancers, and the performance will also include 16 seniors. Students were encouraged to write journal entries about memories or life stories that were triggered from a class, and five of their stories compose this show. CAVANAUGH: Fascinating. San Diego dance theatre's the door is open runs Friday and Saturday at San Diego City colleges Seville theatre. We've been having gorgeous weather lately. Maybe we can start summer early with the Ocean Beach beach ball. BARBARELLA: It's a music and sports festival at Ocean Beach with all kinds of temporary attractions. There's a mechanical bull, night volleyball, six bands, games and food, and a ferris wheel and a giant waterslide. CAVANAUGH: And this is going to be at the Ocean Beach pier? BARBARELLA: At the pier, but also take place at Saratoga park, and the lifeguard parking lots. It's going to take up the parking lots. The waterslide is only there through Friday. That was double booked. But the ferris wheel, 70-foot ferris wheel will be there all weekend, and you can get an amazing view that you can't see anywhere else or any time else. CAVANAUGH: Wow. BARBARELLA: Because it's temporary. CAVANAUGH: Now, there's a thing called human hauling. BARBARELLA: Right! I went looking for pictures of this. It's just a race, and it's basically you put somebody on your back -- CAVANAUGH: Oh, yeah! BARBARELLA: And there are prizes for getting to the end. And I asked, is it like a piggyback? But some pictures show somebody's wrapped around somebody's head on the shoulder, and they said whatever your technique. [ LAUGHTER ] LIMON: Human hauling was my nickname in high school. [ LAUGHTER ] CAVANAUGH: Well, here you have a chance! BARBARELLA: You better win. CAVANAUGH: Is there a cost to get into this festivity thing? BARBARELLA: It is free. There are different beer gardens that you can pay to get into, and of course of the rides, it's $6 for the ferris wheel ride, $4 for the waterslide, but you can take a shuttle, you can imagine parking, and you can walk around and experience it all for free, all weekend. CAVANAUGH: That's amazing. And if we don't have the gloom we have had in May for some reason, the weather is supposed to be fabulous. BARBARELLA: It is. It's sunny today, and it'll burn off. It's hazy in the morning, and burning off. It's going to be gorgeous. CAVANAUGH: OB beach ball runs noon to 10:00 PM today through Sunday. Now we have the Northpark festival of arts. It benefits Northpark main street. What is this nonprofit organization doing? LIMON: Northpark main street wears two hats. It is a balance improvement district established by the City of San Diego, and also a main street program affiliated with the national trust for historic preservation. Their mission is to promote arts, culture, and entertainment, while preserving the historical integrity of the neighborhood. CAVANAUGH: What kind of arts will there be? The Northpark neighborhood now is so filled with so many little crafts places, little art galleries, little art studios even where people are learning how to create things. What kind of things are people going to be able to see at this festival of the arts? LIMON: Northpark craft mania will be on board, so expect to see a lot of DIY handmade goodies. And there will be a special kiddie area called kids' arts block. So it should be quite the insurance. CAVANAUGH: We were talking about 30th street in Northpark and how we got some national coverage of that because it was such an exciting, growing neighborhood. Has this become a tradition now? LIMON: It is! And people are expecting, organizers are expecting around 35,000 people to show up to this. CAVANAUGH: Oh, my goodness. LIMON: Expect world music groups, dance troupes, beat boxers, food and of course beer. [ LAUGHTER ] CAVANAUGH: Okay. It's Northpark. You have some craft beer there. The only thing you have to pay for is in the craft beer? LIMON: Yeah, tickets are $35 at the door, and they will give you some access to the best beer there is to savor. It's a pretty good deal. CAVANAUGH: Not a bad idea at all. Northpark festival of arts this Sunday from 10:00-six PM. We're going to wrap up just a little bit early in this segment. I want to thank Barbarella and Enrique because we want to note the passing of the queen of disco, Ms. Donna summer. She died today at age 63, and we're going to play a tribute to her. And thank you for listening.