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San Diego's Top Weekend Events: Unconventional New Year's Eve Picks

By Alison St John / Reporter, Nina Garin / Arts Calendar Editor and Producer

Published December 29, 2017 at 8:23 AM PST

This story was published more than 6 years ago.

A promotional photo of the band Rocket From the Crypt.

San Diego's Top Weekend Events: Unconventional New Year's Eve Picks

San Diego's Top Weekend Events: Unconventional New Year's Eve Picks GUEST:Nina Garin, editor/producer, KPBS/Arts Calendar

From old-fashioned concerts to a roller skate party, here are some New Year's Eve ideas that go beyond nightclubs and fancy dinners.

Rocket From The Crypt

Music

If you are looking for a very San Diego-centric way to celebrate New Year's Eve, you will find it at a Rocket From the Crypt concert.

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This punk band is one of San Diego's best live shows, thanks to a 1950s-style showmanship, an intense horn section, and the band's trademark fancy outfits.

Rocket From the Crypt knows how to do big celebrations and this is sure bet for ringing in 2018. Alkaline Trio (headlining) and Sharp Shock are also on the bill. This show is for ages 18 and over.

Details: 9 p.m. Sunday. The Observatory, 2891 University Ave., North Park. $45.

The Donkeys

Music

If you prefer smaller, intimate New Year's Eve celebrations, filled with good music and musical friends, head to The Casbah.

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San Diego band The Donkeys will perform its brand of easy, Gram Parsons-inspired rock songs. Also on the bill is Big Sur's The Range of Light Wildnerness and San Diego troubadour John Meeks.

Details: 9:30 p.m. Sunday. The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Midtown. $20 and 25.

A publicity photo from A Salute to Vienna concert.

Salute to Vienna New Year's Concert

Music

Party like it's 1899 complete with period costumes and waltzes at this 19th annual Viennese concert.

This is another San Diego favorite that features orchestra music, European singers and costumed dancers. You'll hear a variety of operettas, plus dancers gliding in romantic vignettes. A highlight is always the Blue Danube Waltz.

Details: 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Jacobs Music Center at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., downtown. $29 to $125.

Skateworld San Diego New Year's Eve Skate Party

Family

Those who prefer to be more social on New Year's Eve should consider this roller skating celebration that also happens to be a costume party.

Skateworld San Diego hosts a superhero-themed event where everyone is encouraged to skate in dressed as their favorite hero. The ticket includes skate rental, pizza and soda, plus New Year's Eve noisemakers.

Details: 7 p.m. Sunday. Skateworld San Diego, 6907 Linda Vista Road, Linda Vista. $20.

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Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.

Nina Garin

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Nina Garin previously produced and edited the KPBS/Arts calendar. She also wrotes the weekly KPBS/Arts Newsletter and produced arts segments for Midday Edition. Before joining KPBS, Nina worked for nearly 20 years as an arts and entertainment reporter at The San Diego Union-Tribune. Along with covering the local arts community, she created the "Top Weekend Events" online calendar, profiled influential San Diegans for the "One-on-One" series, and reported live from Comic-Con, New York Fashion Week, and the Academy Awards. Nina is a native San Diegan, raised in Chula Vista and Tijuana, who was exposed to local arts at an early age. As a child, she tagged along to her mother's photography classes, taught by the late Michael Schnorr. She went to elementary school blocks away from Balboa Park and visited all the museums at least twice. While earning her English degree at San Diego State University, she participated in poetry readings and covered local music for The Daily Aztec. Nina has two daughters who study ballet, piano, and musical theater. She spends her free time pinning hair buns and perfecting stage makeup. Her husband, Matthew, is also a writer.

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