Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

KPBS Midday Edition

San Diego's Top Weekend Arts Events: From Randy Rainbow To James Joyce

A 2019 publicity photo of Randy Rainbow.
Courtesy of the artist
A 2019 publicity photo of Randy Rainbow.
San Diego's Top Weekend Arts Events: From Randy Rainbow To James Joyce
GUEST: Nina Garin, editor/producer, KPBS/Arts Calendar Subscribe to the Midday Edition podcast on iTunes, Google Play or your favorite podcatcher.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend and there are celebrations all throughout the county, but there's also a literary event happening in La Jolla. Plus internet sensation Randy Rainbow comes to town and the San Diego Museum of Art celebrates works from Asia.

Randy Rainbow

Theater, Comedy

Actor Randy Rainbow has been making online videos for years, but it wasn't until he did a musical tribute to the first presidential debate of 2016 that he became viral.

Advertisement

That video, “Braggadocious!,” received 28 million views in its first two days.

Since then Rainbow (yes, real name) has been creating video responses to political and current events, and now he's performing these Broadway-inspired songs on the road.

For his tour, the actor will be singing with a live band, but you can still expect to hear his trademark TV sound bites in the mix.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Balboa Theatre, 868 4th Ave., downtown. $36; find tickets to Randy Rainbow.

St. Patrick’s Day Open Reading of Irish Poetry and Prose

Books

Advertisement

D.G. Wills presents the 40th Annual St. Patrick's Day Open Reading of Irish Poetry and Prose.

This longtime tradition of reading works by beloved Irish writers will actually be coming to an end after this year. This is the last time people will crowd into the small shop to hear selections by James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wills Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Jonathan Swift, Edmund Burke, Sean O'Casey and more.

Details: 4 p.m. Sunday. D.G. Wills, 7461 Girard Ave., La Jolla. Free; find details about the reading.

On The Steps At SDMA: A Celebration Of Asian Arts

Visual Arts, Dance

The San Diego Museum of Art spotlights its Asian Arts collections with the family-friendly On the Steps event.

Throughout the night, arts groups from San Diego's Japanese, Chinese and Korean communities will have music and dance performances. There will also be hands-on demonstrations with Korean paper art, Chinese ink painting and Japanese ikebana (flower arranging).

Museum admission will be free from 5 to 8 p.m., and for a small fee there will be an 8 p.m. screening of Zhang Yimou’s critically acclaimed film, "Hero."

Details: 5 to 8 p.m. Friday. San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park. Free; find details about the event.