A grunion run, a Rocky Horror flash mob, beer and chocolate. It's another eclectic mix of options for your San Diego weekend.
Guests
Barbarella Fokos is the author of the Diary of a Diva column and Your Week page at the San Diego Reader.
Erin Chambers Smith is the senior editor at San Diego Magazine.
Read Transcript
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FUDGE: You're listening to Midday Edition. I'm Tom Fudge. Flash mobs and grunion runs, those are some of the things you might want to know with as you're looking for stuff to do this weekend. Joining me for the weekend preview are Barbarella focus, and Aaron chambers Smith. Barbarella is the author of a diary of a diva column and your week page the San Diego reader. Barbarella, thanks so much for coming in.
BARBARELLA: Thanks so much for having me.
FUDGE: And Aaron chambers Smith is the senior editor at San Diego magazine. Thanks.
SMITH: Nice to see you again, Tom.
FUDGE: There's a signature theatre next week. Tell us about Tuesday on twigs.
BARBARELLA: Every three months, signet theatre is hosting an event to help different neighborhoods. It's like wine and appetizers and hang out at the theatre.
FUDGE: Will there be actors there?
BARBARELLA: Actors, producers, everybody taking part in the current production will be there to meet and greet.
FUDGE: And current production, I understand, is little shop of horrors.
BARBARELLA: It is. Now -- I always say when I'm feeling cozy to my husband, suddenly Seymour, you know? Little shop of horrors, you have loser, a dits, a crazy dentist, and a big plant from outer space.
FUDGE: And why does signet hold these quarterly open houses?
BARBARELLA: Really, it's to help out the neighborhoods, they're really -- they shed a light on the theatre and the literary aspect because all of them are benefitting libraries. This one's benefitting the Kensington library. So people are encouraged to bring books and things on the wish list for Kensington.
FUDGE: Oh, my goodness. Okay. So Tuesdays on twig street takes place next Tuesday night at the signet theatre in old town. And moving on, Aaron, let's talk about home brew behind the brewery. Ballast point breweries home brew mart is hosting an event called behind the brewery. Tell us about this.
SMITH: This is gonna be a two course beer dinner at the -- at the Home Brew Mart which is like the home brewing warehouse for people who produce beer in their garage or warehouse. This is where you get all your tubes and tubs and all that kind of stuff. They're going to be bringing some of their new beers, and they're pairing up to do a pairing dinner there. Of it's gonna be two courses, and what I love about this is it's picnic style, no reservation needed. You just sort of come and bring friends and spread out throughout the parking lot or on the lane or whatever.
FUDGE: How long has this been going on, home brew mart?
SMITH: It's been around for several years, but now they're really starting to ramp up their event series and publicizing things there, because this home craft brew thing is just exploding.
FUDGE: And if you go, you can get a beer?
SMITH: They're going to have all different kinds of beers, their six-year-round beers, their new ones and special ones. A 2009 navigator Koppel bock, they're going to be having a 2011 navigator, a brandy barrel aged 2009 navigator, a pipy down Scottish ale. All kinds of different ones.
FUDGE: Spicy beer. What's on the menu?
SMITH: Mijo gastrotruck is what they're partnering with for the food this time. And I know they're going to be preparing a lam meat ball sandwich. And the home brew mart is in Linda Vista next to a Fiji yogurt. And they partnered with them several different times to craft a really interesting different flavored yogurt. So they're going to be doing a bread pudding yogurt flavored with ballast point's log fin lager as well.
FUDGE: So it's a beer yogurt. Well, behind the brewery is tonight at ballast point brewery's home brew mart in Linda Vista. And you're listening to Midday Edition. This is the weekend preview. My guests are Aaron chambers Smith, senior editor at San Diego magazine and Barbarella focus is the author of diary of a diva column, and your week page at the San Diego reader. Well, The Old Globe, Barbarella, is holding a flash mob based on the rocky horror show. For those who don't know, what's a flash mob?
BARBARELLA: It's a group of people who spontaneously break into some kind of performance. It could a musical number, a dance number, something even just strange, they could all freeze at the same time. And then they just disperse back into the crowd when it's over, a short act. For no reason other than just to sort of entertain and delight and surprise.
FUDGE: And they're all the rage. Everybody's doing this.
BARBARELLA: Everybody. Now they're giving press releases for it. It's supposed to be spontaneous. CityBeat had a great story about flash mobs are uncool. But I don't think that's the case. I think they're fun, and everybody can take part in them. And they are all the rage.
FUDGE: And so everybody's got to expect to dance when they go to this thing?
BARBARELLA: Well, you have to learn to dance ahead of time. Yes, The Old Globe put its on their website, it's the time warp. So this is from the rocky horror picture show. Yeah, let's do the -- it's just jump to the left, and then a step to the right. Yeah, so most people could probably join in. But they go on, learn the dance, and there are two different times when they're going to be playing the music for people to do this.
FUDGE: I know everybody out there wants to hear this tune. So let's do the time warp again.
(Audio Recording Played)
FUDGE: I feel old when I hear that music. Rocky horror fans are known for dressing up in character when they go to the movie. Do you expect the same of the flash mob?
BARBARELLA: I'd love to see 100 transvestites out in Hillcrest doing the time warp. But you don't have to be. Feel free to just take part if you're wearing your street clothes.
FUDGE: The rocky horror show time warp flash mob will take place at 5th and Robinson in Hillcrest coming up on Sunday. Moving from that to talking about eclipse chocolate is in their second week of Friday night three ways. And tell our chocolate lovers about this event, Aaron.
SMITH: We talked about a beer-pairing event. This is a wine and chocolate pairing event happening at a little chocolate cafe on El Cajon boulevard called eclipse chocolate. You get one savory bite, one sweet bite, and a glass of wine.
FUDGE: What is Eclipse Chocolate?
SMITH: It's a cute little cafe. It started out as a chocolate cafe. I remember I went there years ago when they first hoped, and they were making truffles and he chopped up little bits of cigar, and was steeping them in chocolate, and it was like the Cuban cigar truffle. And they started making cup cake, now they have a full kitchen.
FUDGE: Are there certain things we can expect on the menu this week?
SMITH: Have the menu with me today. And I'm starving for it already. They have three different veins that you can choose from for your testing. And you can opt to get all three as well. The first is the vanilla bean three way, and the savory bite is a white chocolate blood orange with croutons. And the sweet bite, black berry pardon bread pudding with cocoa anybody infused whip cream. And one that starts out with a toasted coke now prawn, and burnt Carmel mango --
BARBARELLA: You didn't bring any of these?
SMITH: And you get a glass of wine. With the last one, you get a tawny port.
FUDGE: But is the price right?
SMITH: It's very affordable, if you want just one of the little three bite pairings, it's $12. If you want to go ahead and have a full meal and get all three, it's only $28 for all three. So you're getting essentially three half glasses of wine, and three bites.
FUDGE: And that takes place tomorrow at eclipse chocolate in Northpark. My guests are Aaron chambers Smith, senior editor at voice of San Diego magazine. And Barbarella focus whose author of diary of a diva column. And Barbarella, San Diegans can take part in the nationwide photo project, which is called the smooch project, this weekend, tell us more about that.
BARBARELLA: It's everything you think it's going to be, there's smooching, there's a woman who is going around the country and trying to collect 10,000 images for the archive of smooches. And it's G-rated. It's a kiss on the cheek, most of them, in the collection so far, so you're encouraged to grab somebody you want to smooch and bring them down to Coronado to take part in this project.
FUDGE: And this woman is Bonnie Funier?
BARBARELLA: Yes, and I'm not sure how to pronounce it.
FUDGE: Nor am I.
BARBARELLA: And she's Mr. Minneapolis, and this began in 2005, she started getting into Buddhism, and had a picture of her sister kissing her on the cheek and it made her happy. She reasoned this word called muddita, which is basically the appreciative joy. And she explains it's a word used to describe the feeling one experiences when witnessing another's good fortunate. So think the opposite of schadenfreude. And she wants to spread that around by showing people happy
FUDGE: I didn't know there was a philosophy behind it, but there is. What does she do?
BARBARELLA: Ease a documenter, a photographer.
FUDGE: What does she do with all the photographs
BARBARELLA: Right now, they're going on an archive, and out of 45,000 photos, only 1200 so far have made it to the archive, what she calls exhibition worthy. People can go on there and see them, I'm assuming there'll be an exhibition later. But there's no information on that now
FUDGE: Photographer Bonnie Funier will be at the Coronado library on Sunday looking to take pictures of San Diegans kissing. And you can participate. Finally, Aaron, the grunion run is going to happen this weekend?
SMITH: Yep.
FUDGE: Tell us about that.
SMITH: It's actually one of the last weekends too of the season that you can catch the grunion run. I was excited to happen upon this, it's one of those things I tend to forget about every summer until the send of summer. It reminds me of being a little kid. I remember this was just like going to Disneyland when I was a little kid. May parents would wake us up in the middle of the night, and we'd get to go down to the beach, and everybody at the Department of Fish and Game says this weekend is the right now. Between 1030 and 1 in the morning, when the tide is really high, it sweeps in this silver tide of these grunions. They and they flip and flop and bury themselves in the sand to spawn and lay their eggs. Then when the tide washes out, they flip flop back to sea.
FUDGE: Do people catch and eat the grunions?
SMITH: That I do. They're protected for earlier months earlier in the season. April and May you're not technically allowed to touch them or catch them. I think this month you can, technically. You do have to have a fishing license. But I think it's more just the allure of it, and the experience, to pick them up, and they slip out of your hands. And it is a sight to see. I have gone before and seen none of them. So fair warning. But it's a pretty neat thing. And very Southern California. They're only indigenous from Baja about to Santa Barbara. So it's a very San Diego thing to do.
FUDGE: Find a good beach, because the grunion are expected to come ashore late little and Sunday night. Thanks to Barbarella focus, author of diary of a diva column, in the San Diego reader. Of thank you.
BARBARELLA: Thank you for having me.
FUDGE: And Aaron chambers Smith is senior editor at San Diego magazine. Thank you Aaron.
SMITH: Thanks. Happy weekend.
