San Diego's Top Weekend Arts Events: Tap Dancing, Hair Metal And Pop Stars
Speaker 1: 00:00 After the fireworks, barbecues and beach parties of the fourth. We have some different entertainment events for you to try out over this long holiday weekend. Some contemporary dance at the Bernardo winery and eighties tribute musical rock of ages. Opens at signet and Popstar. Sean Mendez will be in town. KPBS arts editor, Nina Garren is here to tell us all about it. And Nina. Hello. Hello. So let's start with the wine. You're here to tell us about a contemporary dance series at Bernardo winery. Yeah. Every summer Mo Halek dance collective, they put together this thing called summer series at the vine and they bring about a dozen performances to their little theater and it's local companies and student groups. So, uh, the series kicks off this weekend with the California rhythm project. Tell us about them. They are a professional tap dance company and their mission is to preserve the history of tap but also develop the art form. Okay. So the show at the winery is called tap roots. Can you tell us what you want? Expect dancers are going to be performing styles by black tap pioneers like bill Bojangles Robinson. He's known for being elegant and playful. Also James Buster Brown, very smooth. And the Nicholas Brothers who are known to be very daring tappers you actually have a clip from the Nicholas brothers. This is lucky numbers. Speaker 2: 01:34 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 01:38 what else will people be able to see at summer series at the vine, there's going to be a lot of groups from North County. So next weekend is a group called lethal rock dance. They're very modern and then students from Canyon Crest Academy, which is known to be an arts high school. They're going to be performing kind of what they do throughout the year and they'll have people come back, students come back to perform there. There's also going to be some ballet and there's also going to be a clowning show. Jerry Hagar is going to come and tell you what it's like to be a clown and he's going to do it through the iconic clown red skeleton. So it's a pretty diverse lineup that they have at the Bernardo winery. And again, it is a very small space. So if you are interested, go to the Mohawk [inaudible] website and find your tickets there. Speaker 1: 02:31 Summer series at the vine begins Saturday with the California Rhythm Project at Bernardo winery. Well, there's going to be a lot of aqua net and spandex excellent. As signet theater this weekend. Tell us what's going on. They are doing rock of ages, which is the jukebox musical that pays tribute to 1980s hair bands. So think Bon Jovi Whitesnake sticks journey. Um, it's a very popular musical. It opened on Broadway in 2009 and it ran for six years and it was even turned into a movie with Tom Cruise. Yeah. It wasn't really the best movie that came out in 2012 but it had a good cast. It also started Catherine Zeta Jones and Brian Cranston. Um, I think seeing it though in a live small theater environment is going to be a much better experience in the film. Well, we do have a clip from the movie though. This is Tom Cruise as arrogant rock star. Stacey Jacks performing. Pour some sugar on me. Speaker 2: 03:54 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 03:56 so is there even a plot to rock of ages? There's kind of applied and it's about a guy named drew who wants to be very famous on the sunset strip, but he also falls for a girl named Sherry who literally just gets off the bus from Kansas. And I understand signet is having some fun with this show. Yes, there's going to be a bar on the stage so you can get drinks before the show and an intermission right on the stage. And every Friday is eighties night. So if you dress up in costume, you get a free glow bracelet. And if you think maybe the music's too loud for you, they are going to be giving out earplugs. Rock of ages, open Saturday at signature theater and it runs through August 25th finally Popstar Sean Mendez comes to town. Tell us about him. He's a Canadian singer and he was a model and he got famous because he was singing cover songs on the Internet. Um, and over the years he's just become more and more famous. And he opened a few years ago for Taylor Swift's 1989 tour. How would you describe his style? Let's see. He's kind of like a mix of Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber with a couple of Latin rhythms thrown in. It's very, very catchy music. I actually evolved the pop boys. I like Sean Mendez. Okay, well let's listen to one of Sean Mendez early it. This is stitches. Speaker 2: 05:14 You Watch me beat. It's Eli kv monies and nowadays [inaudible] tripping over myself. Is that enough, Speaker 1: 05:37 John Mendez for you names? I think I got my fill. Yes. Sean Mendez performance Monday at Pachangas Arena San Diego. You can find more arts events at kpbs.org/arts and I've been speaking with KPBS arts editor, Nina Garren and Nina. Thank you. Thanks. Have a great weekend.
