I'm going to a Mad Men-inspired cocktail party this weekend where the hosts are providing Fez (is that the plural?) for party guests. Fun! So while I search for something to wear with a Fez, take a look at my Culture Lust recommendations for your weekend.
How could we not start with Yo La Tengo! The venerable indie band plays SOMA Friday night at 7pm. I saw them a couple of years ago at MCASD and felt so lucky. If you miss them, check out their new album "Popular Songs."
Also playing at the Belly Up tonight is singer and guitarist Jairo Zavala, who records under the name Depedro. His music ranges from Afrobeat to pop to flamenco to prog. Zavala has played with some other top-notch bands, including personal fave, Calexico.
On the more serious tip, food critic Sheila Himmel and her daughter Lisa document Lisa's battle with anorexia and bulimia in their book "HUNGRY: A Mother and Daughter Fight Anorexia". They'll be at Warwicks tonight at 7:30 p.m. signing books. The story is told in alternating perspectives from mother and daughter and I think the contrast of food critic/mother and anorexic/daughter is an interesting one.
If you hurry, you can get over to UCSD and their niftily named gallery @calit2 (part of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology) for the opening of a new exhibition called "Tijuana/San Diego: Cooperation and Confrontation at the Interface." Seven artists from both sides of the border will be showing overtly political work about the dangers of globalization. The exhibit opens with a panel discussion and reception today from 4-7 p.m.
Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company continues production of “9 Parts of Desire,” about the struggles faced by Iraqi women. Listen to our These Days interview with the creative team behind the play.
We've had SDSU-based composer Joe Waters on These Days many times, mostly to talk about his electronic music festival NWEAMO. Now you can hear an orchestral presentation of his music performed by the SDSU Symphony Orchestra on Friday, October 16th at 7p.m. at Smith Recital Hall on the campus of San Diego State. Apparently some of the electronic sounds are from recordings of a 6-month old baby!
Device Gallery has a new exhibit of drawings by San Diego artist Clayton Llewellyn called "ftagn (waits dreaming)." His pencil, charcoal and ink drawings imagine possible by-products of our technological advances. What grows in the wake of our post-human existence? A heady question for sure, but maybe wine and art on a Saturday night can answer it. The opening reception at Device begins Saturday at 6:30p.m.
Only a few days left to check out a three-decade survey of contemporary art from San Diego's Quint Gallery. This important gallery is the life's work of Mark Quint and his impact on the San Diego art scene is evident by the show's scope. You can hear our These Days interview with him here. The show "Quint: Three Decades of Contemporary Art" runs through Saturday, October 17th at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.
Speaking of Quint, there are also two days left to catch the beautiful craftmanship on display in Roman de Salvo's solo show "Split, Splice, Splay, Display." I saw it last weekend and the work is stunning.
Next Tuesday starts UCSD's Visiting Artist Lecture Series, which offers regular jolts of inspiration and conceptual punch. The first artist in the series is Mike Plante, a film programmer for Sundance and CineVegas, and a writer for Filmmaker magazine and Cinemad. Plante made a series of mini-documentaries called "Lunchfilms." In his own words: “I buy a filmmaker lunch and in trade they give me a short film made for the cost of the lunch. It started by accident – and necessity. In all, 50 short films have been commissioned (or eaten). Rules and ideas based on whatever we talked about at lunch are written on a napkin contract. It is very easy to help a filmmaker. Buy one lunch today." Plante's lecture is Tuesday, October 20th at 6:30 p.m. in the Visual Arts Facility on the UCSD campus.
And, finally, the long-awaited film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved children's book "Where the Wild Things Are" opens in local theaters. Spike Jonze directed, Dave Eggers wrote the script. Early reviews are really mixed, but I'm going to see it anyway. Here's the trailer...
