Culture Lust Weekend: San Diego Film Festival, 'Sextet' and Entijuanarte

FILM

Forget Cannes or Toronto, because San Diego’s own film festival is in town! Boasting a packed schedule of 5 days of premieres and 5 days of parties, it’s no surprise that the SDFF has taken home awards of its own (‘Top 10 Best Party Film Festival,’ ‘Top 10 regional Film Festival’). Head down to the Gaslamp tonight (or sometime this weekend) to get a first hand look at some of the fresh faces in film.

MUSIC

This Sunday soft rap/hip-hop stylist Pigeon John (Pigeon John is Clueless, Pigeon John is Dating your Sister, Pigeon John Sings the Blues and the upcoming Dragon Slayer) will be taking up coup at the The Loft at UCSD. alongside Darktime Sunshine and DJ Abilities.

Turning 60 never sounded so good. This Sunday join Escondido’s own “composer-in-residence” Stephen Sturk as he marks his milestone birthday with a concert and CD release. The music begins after the 5 p.m. service at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral.

If you could go for some big beat and garage rock (or if you just can't wait until Sunday to get to The Loft) San Diego bands Writer and Cuckoo Chaos are playing tonight.

THEATER

Taking modern musicals to a new level, Pulitzer-Prize finalist Kristoffer Diaz ("The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety"), created the heartwarming and hilarious brother/sister story, “Welcome to Arroyo’s,” narrated by two DJ’s. Once it was Judy Garland; now it’s disk jockeys. All this month at The Old Globe.

A vanguard of both poetry and civil disobedience, Henry David Thoreau inspired literary and revolutionary minds alike. This Saturday at Cygnet, spend time with Thoreau during Richard Platt’s Ripples From Walden Pond: An Evening with Henry David Thoreau. This world premier reading is presented by WriteOutLoud.

We're big fans of Dr. Nicolas Reveles here at KPBS, as he's been a frequent guest on These Days and a mentor to our opera-loving listeners. Now we're even more impressed to see that he's composed his own opera, exploring gay desire and (in Reveles' own words) “those tender moments that brush by us every day.” "Sextet" opens at Diversionary Theater this weekend and runs for four nights only.

ART

Using unique multimedia collages on top of eight octagonal canvases, Hans Weigand’s second solo exhibition, ‘Deep Water Horizon,’ opens at the UCSD University Art Gallery. In his artwork, Weigand paints a picture of a dystopian landscape of the California Coastline (one riddled with the remnants of yesterday’s pop-culture) while simultaneously confronting the recent gulf coast catastrophe.

Head down to Tijuana for the sixth annual independent cultural project ENTIJUANARTE: Frontera Creative. Commemorating both the Mexican centennial and bicentennial (of the revolution and independence respectively), this festival is one of the most celebrated art festivals in Mexico’s northwestern region. Performance, theater, music and dance will all be featured during this three-day weekend art fair.

This Sunday, join in the conversation of “outsider art” at the Lyceum. Dovetailing with San Diego Rep's current production, The Road to Mecca, this dialogue will help audience members get “Inside the World of the Outsider Artist.” Also, check out our recent post about outsider artist Leonard Knight.

It's Free Family Art Day this Sunday at the Oceanside Museum of Art! Design your own Native American artwork (in conjunction with the exhibit "Defying Expectation: Contemporary Native American Art from the San Diego Region") while enjoying the background of stories and ceremonial music.

BOOKS

For all you literary lusters, SDCC’s Book Fair is a paradise of the local printed word. On top of the traditional music, food and festivities, Forrest Hylton ("Evil Hour in Columbia" and newly "Vanishig Acts"), Alys Masek & Kelly Mayhew (editors of the anthology "Mamas and Papas: On the Sublime and Heartbreaking Art of Parenting") and Jim Miller ("Flash") will all be reading from their most recent work. Check out the interview with Kelly Mayhew and Jim Miller on These Days here!