San Diego's Top Weekend Events: Blues, Ballet And (Hopefully) Hill

This is kape PBS midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman. This weekend you can either indulge in Australia with the anniversary of a seminal hip hop album or look to the future with a new way of resisting ballet. Plus a popular Blues Festival returns. Joining me for our weekend preview is Nina Guare and PBS arts calendar Ed.. Hi Nina. Hello. OK. Now we are starting off with a concert that should be very exciting. Yes it's Lauryn Hill. It's the 20th anniversary of her album The Myth education of Lauryn Hill. That was a record I don't know if you remember that it pretty much swept the Grammys and gave us classics like Doo Wop That Thing and everything is everything. There are just so many good things about this album. I mean I remember it very clearly that was the soundtrack of my freshman year in college down in Florida in M University. How could I forget that one. OK. But I understand you were on the fence about recommending this one. Yes. Since then since those days in Florida Lauryn Hill has been very unpredictable in her live shows. She counsels them. She starts hours late. She doesn't always perform songs from this album or if she does she does them in ways that you don't recognize. So I'm kind of nervous about vouching for this event even though I really want it to be great. All right well so for this tour she's supposed to be playing the songs from that debut album has she been doing that kind of she's still showing a play. According to angry tweets she's singing the songs but they don't sound like they do on the album. But if you're Lauryn Hill fan in 2018 you know that that's what she's about. You're good with her improvising and being unpredictable. But if you're wanting to relive 1998 it's better to just play the record. OK. On that note let's play some of that record. This is everything is everything from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. This. Is. Philosophy possibly speaking to her right. Do you remember the music video from this. Yes this is one of my favorite videos of all time. It was a city of New York was made to look like turntables and the Empire State was in the middle lower as that giant record middle that played on the streets all the city spends so creative and it's why I still love her and have high hopes for the show. All right Miss Lauryn Hill performs Sunday at SDM shoes open air amphitheater. Let's move on to an event that's more reliable the San Diego Blues Fest. Tell us about that. This is the event's eighth year. It's a one day event. It's very kind of mellow and bluesy. Family friendly children 12 and under. Get in free and people are just encouraged to bring beach chairs and blankets and make a day of it. So who will be playing for this. A very beloved native Californian musician Tommy Castro. He's going to be playing with his band the pain killers and headlining the Sierre will be blues rock guitarist Billy Gibbons. You might remember him because he was one of the long bearded fellows in the top. If you don't remember him you might remember this you bought some music by Billy Gibbons this is Legrange. All right and I understand this festival is also a fund raiser. Yes it's put on by the Jacobsen Cushman's San Diego food bank. It's an organization that distributes to food shelters low income daycare centers senior centers churches things like that. So guests are encouraged to bring two cans of food to the event or just donate like a dollar five dollars. What you got. And from the sounds of Legrange sounds like it's going to be a live event. The San Diego blues festival happened Saturday at Embarcadero Marino Park North and finally we've got some ballet dancers that are going rogue. What are they doing. So there's professional dancers from savey ballet of San Diego and they're putting on their own show called the rosin box. As a dancer you might know that Rosin is a substance that helps break in your point shoes so that you don't slip and fall. I remember always sticking my feet in that box to get that nice chalky stuff in there so I didn't fall during those pirouettes or part of the race. What will people see at the rosin box. There will be three contemporary ballets they're choreographed and performed by local dancers. These are brand new pieces that have never been seen before and they are called Epiphanny if you will. Cracker Jack and Jessie. So these are principles and soloists from City Ballet. If you've seen any shows over there you'll definitely recognize these dancers. All right and you brought a bit of music people will hear at the rosin box this is from the piece called Cracker Jack. Sounds intense. Is this is this show specifically for fans of ballet. No it's more of a contemporary and modern feel. You will of course the elements of ballet like the point shoes and grace but you're not going to see tutus or variations that you see in classical ballet. Interesting. All right. Now you mentioned these were dancers from City Ballet of San Diego. When does that season actually begin. And what can we expect. Their shows begin in November and they're starting with a Tchaikovsky spectacular and is going to have excerpts from Swan Lake and then later in 2019 they're going to have a weekend of Balanchine masterpieces. All right the rosin box will be staged this weekend at the Geoffry off Broadway. I've been speaking with PBS arts calendar editor Nina Gaer and you can see more events at PBS dot org backslash arts. Thanks Nina. Thank you.