San Diego's Top Weekend Arts Events: From Punk To Payare

Whether you're a fan of punk classical or even Rockapella it's going to be a very musical weekend here with details as KPBS arts calendar editor Nina Guerin. Hi Nina. Hello. So let's start with punk rock and a grand celebration at the Casbah. Tell us what's going on. So the Casbah a small club by the airport and it's celebrating its 30th anniversary this year with over a month of shows many of those shows are reunion bands by some very favorite San Diego bands and others are new music showcases. So a lot of high profile bands have performed there. Can you give us some names. Yeah. Most famously Nirvana performed at the cows Bob. Also names are white stripes Wheezer St. Vincent smashing pumpkins no doubt. It's also helped launch local musicians like Rocket From The Crypt Louis the Fourteenth Jewel and Jason Mraz. So many of my high school bands there every one listen to her. Why is the cast with such a special place to play it. Well it comes down to the owner and the management. They always treat artists with respect and they want to come and play there. But I was there as a fan and from the fans standpoint the stage is really close to you. It's very intimate. There's no backstage so the musicians kind of just hang out with you in between sets. And plus there's two bars and pool tables and I spent a better part of my 20s and 30s at this place. Nice you know let's talk about some of the band playing that this weekend it's the Dragons right. Yeah that's a punk band that was one of San Diego's favorites in 2015. The band actually lost its basis Steve Rodriguez. So for these shows he's going to be replaced by the zeros Hector Penalosa. And let's listen to a song by the Dragons this is faid. All right and the Dragons perform this weekend at the Casbah. Are there any other reunions or shows you want to mention. There are so many but I'll just pick my old favorites like Pinback on January 24th. No knife on January 27th and three mile pilot on January 30 first. All right and let's listen to three mile pilot. This is a year of no light. The Casbah was 30th anniversary continues throughout January. It's an exciting time over at the San Diego Symphony too though right. Yes so they're in the middle of their hearing the future Festival and this is the weekend when Rafał by yet it makes his debut as its music director designate and remind us who he is. He's a Venezuelan conductor and he was named the Sandigo Symphony's new music director. It's very exciting. He's worked with symphonies around the world and he's going to bring an energy to this symphony that I'm looking forward to. Now he debuted last night in concert of Mozart and Tchaikovsky. But there's still an opportunity to see him. Yeah so last night was his first performance here. But this weekend he performs alongside his wife a very esteemed cellist Alisa Weilerstein and they are going to perform music by Strauss and Shostakovich. And after this one we'll Pyaar return. So this will be it for the season but he's going to return later for the symphony's 2019 2020 season. He's going to be conducting for 10 weeks including some summer Bayside concerts in the summer of 2020 pay Ouray and Weilerstein perform tonight through Sunday. Jacob's music center. And finally we've got an acapella specifically the weapon poofs. Please explain. So because of pitch perfect the movie people have an idea of what acapella groups in the college are the Whiffenpoofs are the oldest collegiate group they are formed in 1989 in Yale and they are pretty much the Toppo all the acapella groups they are the top dogs one of the most prestigious. So what kind of music do they perform. They do a little bit of everything they do popular songs. They do old standards and they also have their very own song that they perform at the end of each show and let's hear what they sound like. This is the poor singing the Manhattan transfers operator information. So within tubes has recently broken with tradition. Yeah for the first time in its history they've added a female singer. Her name is Sophia Kampo Moore and she's currently in the group and she'll be at this performance coming up. And how does one become a within poof. So you apply it during your junior year and if you get selected you get to take a year off before your senior year and travel and perform and then you finish college a year later. Ah the women poofs they perform at La Jolla country day on Sunday and you can find more weekend event options at Cape PBS dot org backslash arts. I like saying within poofs Yeah. So the great thing is I've been speaking with PBS arts calendar editor Nina Garin and Nina thanks so much. Thanks have a good weekend.